Naruto: The villain template of me is regarded as the savior.

Bang!Bang bang!

In the Hokage's office, hearing the "knocking" sound on the door that only Tsunade could use, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that his body, which had finally recovered, began to hurt again.

However, the fact that Tsunade now came to the Hokage's office and remembered to knock on the door before entering instead of just pushing it open made Sarutobi Hiruzen feel relieved.

Originally, Tsunade's strength in the entire Konoha was in the second tier, just below him as a "Kage".

After Uzumaki Mito became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki through his nearly suicidal transfer ritual, even he, the "Kage" and teacher, did not dare to say that he could firmly suppress his disciple.

If it were a life-and-death battle where any forbidden techniques could be used, Sarutobi Hiruzen is now confident that he could kill Tsunade.

After all, he was a ninja known as the "Ninjutsu Professor". He had learned almost all the ninjutsu and forbidden techniques recorded in the Konoha Sealing Technique as long as the learning requirements were met.

Even if it was Mito in his lifetime, he would feel that he was capable of fighting with all his means at his disposal, let alone Tsunade now.

However, in Sarutobi Hiruzen's opinion, it has not yet come to that point, and he is not willing to really reach the point where the master and disciple regard each other as enemies.

"Come in." He sighed in his heart, forced a smile on his face, and spoke.

Click.

The door of the office was opened and the figure walked in.

Perhaps because of the death of Uzumaki Mito, Tsunade looks much calmer.

Originally, Sarutobi Hiruzen was very happy to see Tsunade like this.

But after Tsunade said the next sentence, the smile on his face froze.

"Mr. Sandai, please do not let a child become the outlet for the villagers' malicious resentment."

Tsunade looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen with eyes as calm as water, looking at the old man who had once been her teacher. There was no trace of intimacy in those eyes:

"No matter how you plan to deal with this matter, whether it's making the fact that I became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki public or putting all the blame on Grandma Mito, please don't involve that child."

"She is still a child and knows nothing about these things. She is not suitable to deal with such things. Please let her go."

Having said this, Tsunade's tone was filled with only respect for the "Kage", even earnestness.

"..."

I used to always be annoyed by Tsunade's disrespectful behavior, but now seeing the couple in front of me, I only have respect for Tsunade.

For some reason, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly felt a pain in his heart, and a strong feeling of suffocation surged up, making his face turn slightly pale.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time.

The last time was when he saw Jing’s dead body, and the time before that was when he saw the back of Mr. Tobirama as he risked his life to cover their escape.

"Hi! Huh..."

Subconsciously, Sarutobi Hiruzen raised the pipe in his hand, put the mouthpiece in his mouth, and took a deep puff, as if he wanted to blow the old bellows in his chest apart.

A mixture of sweet, bitter, sour and astringent air rushed into his lungs, lifting his chest high, and finally he exhaled sharply.

The smoke he exhaled smoked his fingertips. Looking at Tsunade in front of him, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only suppress all his emotions and words along with the bitter smoke into his heart.

After a moment of silence, he whispered in a slightly hoarse voice: "I promise you, although it is a little late, I will do my best to stop the spread of rumors, and I will protect the child and make Konoha her home."

"Thank you, Lord Sandaime. I will take my leave now."

Tsunade bowed slightly with an expressionless face, and did not even mention the application to leave the village. She turned around and was about to leave the office.

"Wait a moment."

Hearing the hesitant voice behind her, Tsunade paused and turned to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen and said respectfully: "Is there anything else, Third-generation Lord?"

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression became more and more depressed. He lowered his head, signed the application form for leaving the village, and handed it over. He said in a dry voice, "I have approved your application to leave the village. Go with Jiraiya to relax or go to the front line. It's up to you."

Hearing this, Tsunade looked at him deeply, took the document, and said in a slightly softer tone: "Thank you, teacher, I'm just going to the front line, I won't run around."

After saying this, under the gaze of Sarutobi Hiruzen, she bowed slightly, turned around and left.

Click.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the closed door and was quiet for a few breaths. The only sound in the room was his ragged breathing like a bellows.

After a while, he stood up stiffly and walked to the window behind him.

It was three o'clock in the morning. The rain had almost stopped. Dark clouds half-blocked the moonlight. He looked up at the half moon hanging in the sky.

The moon tonight was not very bright. It was a red and yellow wet halo the size of a copper coin hanging in the sky. The light brown moonlight flowed from the shadow rock that depicted its own face, all the way to the pool of water above the house.

The sparse drizzle scattered the moonlight and spread it flat on the water, reflecting the dim light and illuminating the pained profile of Sarutobi Hiruzen at the window.

"Huh..." As he breathed, a spark lit up from the pipe in his mouth, and the white smoke slowly spread out into hazy sheets.

Protect Uzumaki Kushina, let the child with the Will of Fire form a bond with her, let her become the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki after Mito, and make Konoha her home.

This was what he had always wanted to do and had been doing before the Sky Legion invasion.

But after that incident, everything changed.

Mito Uzumaki hid the fact from everyone and transferred the Nine-Tails into Tsunade's body, making Tsunade the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, which completely disrupted his plans.

This was also the main reason why he reprimanded Tsunade when he saw the scene in the hospital even though Tsunade was still in grief over Mito's death.

At that time, the transfer ceremony had been completed and everything was irreversible. The most correct choice should have been to appease Tsunade, block the news and deal with the follow-up.

However, the situation at that time was so bad that it was completely out of his control. He never expected that Mito would sacrifice himself to transfer the Nine-Tails to Tsunade. Even his decades of energy-cultivation skills were lost for a moment.

As a result, it was because of his vocal rebuke that stimulated Tsunade, whose emotions and mental state were extremely unstable at the time, and made her attack her teacher directly, causing him, the Hokage, to lose face in front of so many ninjas.

In the end, perhaps he felt guilty, or perhaps it was because of Tsunade's status, strength and reputation, even though he was beaten by Tsunade and sent to Konoha Hospital, he did not hold Tsunade responsible, but just tried his best to eliminate the impact of the incident.

After doing all this, Sarutobi Hiruzen thought that the adverse effects of the Sky Corps' invasion had ended, but he didn't expect that it was just the beginning.

Under the cover of the poisonous fog named "fear gas", most of the people in the village were affected.

Even after so much time has passed, the scenes of that day still appear in their dreams, carving the fear into their hearts.

The consequence is that the villagers are tense and in a state of stress due to long-term fear, and they resort to excessive self-defense behavior out of fear, which has led to a direct increase in Konoha's crime rate in the recent period.

Not only were there conflicts between civilians, but there were also incidents of ninjas injuring people. Konoha almost turned into a powder keg and exploded.

God knows how scared he, the Hokage, was at that time.

You know, Konoha is not only home to ninjas and their families, but also many wealthy foreign businessmen and the families of Fire Nation officials.

If large-scale bloodshed occurred due to internal conflicts, he, as the Hokage, would be removed from office amid a chorus of criticism.

But this colorless and invisible "fear poison" directly affects the mind, and Tsunade and all the medical ninjas in Konoha are helpless against it.

If it was just memory, it would be fine. Although there are few ways to block memory, and they are all forbidden techniques, there is at least a way.

However, that poisonous gas did not simply repeat the memory, but directly awakened the fear in the subconscious mind.

Not to mention ordinary treatment methods, even the secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan, such as controlling the mind and invading the memory, run the risk of causing the patient to become demented, and it is impossible to enter the patient's deep subconsciousness and block it.

Later, someone recommended to him a wandering doctor named Pharmacist who was good at psychotherapy. It was after taking her advice that he developed a more gentle psychotherapy that combined with illusion.

Although it cannot be completely cured in a short period of time, it can at least relieve the symptoms when they occur, and it can be cured little by little over time.

However, as the treatment progressed, a problem arose.

The villagers' resentment and malice urgently need an outlet.

As a member of the same clan as Uzumaki Mito, Uzumaki Kushina became the unlucky guy.

That red hair was already extremely eye-catching, and coupled with that surname, she naturally became the target of public criticism.

When the rumor appeared, Sarutobi Hiruzen had already received a report from the Anbu and originally wanted to dissuade and block it.

But on second thought, he began to hesitate again.

No matter how unwilling he was, the fact that Tsunade became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki could not be changed, and he could not take the Nine-Tails directly out of Tsunade's stomach, so now Uzumaki Kushina seemed to have lost her value.

In other words, becoming an outlet for the villagers' malice and resentment and maintaining Konoha's internal stability is her greatest value now...

"Hiss...cough cough! Cough!"

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression became even more miserable. He subconsciously took a deep puff, but felt a sharp pain in his throat. He couldn't help coughing a few times and spit out the smoke in his mouth.

"If you continue like this, your body will collapse sooner or later."

The office door was pushed open and someone walked in with light footsteps.

"Koharu? Yan? It's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?" Hearing the voice behind him, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't turn around. He put down the pipe in his mouth, lowered his head and gently shook the ashes out the window.

"Biwako is worried about your health."

Mitomon En and Utatane Koharu walked behind Sarutobi Hiruzen and looked at the white smoke slowly rising in front of him. The latter said bluntly: "She said that you only came home once during this period, and you only looked at Asuma once before leaving."

"She also said that Asma's child is very smart and now can call her mother and brother, but she just can't call her father."

Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent, puffing on his cigarette without saying a word.

"It's just an internal matter. We are here to help you, right? You should take this opportunity to rest a little. Worrying too much will only make you tired and sad."

Mitomon En also said helplessly: "Also, the situation on the front line has finally eased a bit. It's fine if Jiraiya and Tsunade are ignorant and want to leave the village. As the Kage of the village, you shouldn't act on impulse at this time and let them leave."

Anyone could hear Mitomon En's dissatisfaction with Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Forget about Jiraiya, that crazy guy, but Tsunade is now the village's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. What if something unexpected happens on the battlefield?

They, Konoha, will lose the Nine-Tails, their biggest "deterrent"!

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki must never leave the village without orders. Even Uzumaki Mito followed this unwritten rule when he was alive.

Logically speaking, facing Tsunade's plan to leave the village, Sarutobi Hiruzen should have tried his best to dissuade her, but now he did not stop her at all and directly approved Tsunade's application.

"Rest is for the dead. It's not too late to sleep peacefully after ensuring the war is over."

Sarutobi Hiruzen turned to look at them, the bitterness on his lips disappeared, and he smiled: "As for Tsunade... don't worry, Jiraiya has not been idle during his time in the village. Although he usually looks unreliable, he will definitely protect Tsunade with his life."

Mitomon En and Utane Koharu frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with his perfunctory explanation.

It’s not a question of whether to trust Jiraiya or not, but the current Konoha can no longer withstand the consequences of any accidents.

"I'm not too old to be unable to move. If anything unexpected happens, I, as the Hokage, will take full responsibility."

Before the two could try to dissuade them again, Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke directly, completely interrupting them.

Mizuto Menen and Tsunade looked at each other and realized that their old friend was determined to let Tsunade go, and they couldn't help feeling helpless.

"You don't have to think that I let them go out of personal feelings."

Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly spoke up, his tone cold: "Do you really think that the Second Ninja World War will end like this?"

Hearing this, Mito Kado En was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously frowned and said, "What else? With the cooperation of Hanzo and the Hidden Rain Village, the Hidden Sand Village is already at the end of its strength. It won't be long before it is completely defeated, and the Second Ninja World War will naturally end."

Koharu, who was sitting next to him, pondered for a moment, squinted his eyes as if he had thought of something, and his expression gradually became solemn.

"No, you think too simply." Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head and sneered, "That daimyo does want the Wind Country to lose, but do you think he wants the Rain Country to win?"

War is the knife used to divide the cake.

The Rain Country is not worthy of it.