Tsunade curled her lips and looked at Hiruzen with unconcealed disdain.
Others might not see through the Third Hokage's scheming nature, but she could tell at a glance.
The Scroll of Seals was written by her grandfather, and her granduncle working together.
Now, Hiruzen was allowing Tanaka to pick one jutsu from it, either for his own training or to pass down to other Hyūga clan members.
Sounds generous, right?
But what was the Scroll of Seals?
It contained a collection of forbidden jutsu that have been sealed away. Each one, without exception, was classified as an S-rank forbidden technique.
As for A-rank techniques? They were scarce, and most of them come with insurmountable prerequisites.
Take the Wood Release techniques recorded in the Scroll of Seals, for example. Besides Hashirama, who else could even use them?
Even if Hiruzen handed over every single Wood Release technique to Tanaka, they'd be completely useless to him.
So what was left?
What A-rank forbidden jutsu could actually be learned?
For instance, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
To an ordinary ninja, obtaining this jutsu might be a treasure beyond imagination. But who was Tanaka?
With his background and abilities, would he really care about some A-rank jutsu riddled with side effects?
Tsunade understood everything perfectly.
That was why she found Hiruzen's so-called "reward" utterly laughable.
Rather than genuinely rewarding merit, it was nothing more than a performance. Just an attempt to cultivate an image of fairness and justice.
Using a completely useless A-rank forbidden jutsu to put an official end to Tanaka's massive financial contributions to Konoha's medical field.
And even then, it was all contingent on him passing the jonin exam first.
Knowing Hiruzen as well as she did, she would bet the lives of three thousand Sarutobi clan members that the Third Hokage would definitely manipulate the jonin exam, perhaps by adding extra challenges for Tanaka.
So this is why you've always guarded the Forbidden Jutsu Archive so strictly against me? As Hiruzen's former prized disciple, Orochimaru had long since shattered any illusions he once held about his teacher.
Like Tsunade, he saw right through Hiruzen's intentions.
Among the Sannin, the only one who remained blind, or rather, refused to see the truth, was Jiraiya.
Because of that, the three Sannin had long drifted apart.
"Any jutsu?" Tanaka gave Hiruzen a deep look.
He, too, understood the Third Hokage's intentions. He despised the man's stinginess. And he didn't even care about titles like genin, chunin, or jonin.
To him, those ranks were nothing more than meaningless labels, not even as useful as a single explosive tag.
Originally, he had no interest in becoming a jonin.
But getting a free forbidden jutsu from the Scroll of Seals? That changed things.
A-rank forbidden jutsu + jonin title.
Hiruzen was willingly delivering them to his doorstep. So, he had no reason to refuse.
He believed that even an A-rank forbidden jutsu from the Scroll of Seals, much like a Devil Fruit in the One Piece world, could shine brilliantly in the right hands.
Take the Edo Tensei, for example.
Before Kabuto, who would have thought that a single Edo Tensei could allow someone to challenge all five great ninja villages at once?
Worst case scenario, he could simply keep this free forbidden jutsu as part of the Hyūga clan's hidden arsenal.
"Anything below S-rank is fine." Hiruzen emphasized the restriction again.
Since becoming the Hokage, he had studied the Scroll of Seals at least a hundred times.
While most of the forbidden jutsu recorded within were ones even he couldn't master, those he could learn turned out to be largely useless.
And precisely because he himself couldn't master most of them, he felt comfortable offering one as a "reward" to Tanaka.
But what Hiruzen failed to realize was this: Just because a jutsu was useless in his hands didn't mean it would be useless in someone else's.
"I can take the jonin exam anytime." Tanaka nodded in understanding.
If Hiruzen had actually been generous enough to offer an S-rank forbidden jutsu, now that would have been shocking—and worthy of suspicion.
"Lock down Training Ground No. 3," he spoke to the seemingly empty air in the conference room.
No matter how much he wanted to suppress or control Tanaka, the fact remained—the boy was a Konoha ninja.
Since he was a Konoha ninja, his information had to be strictly sealed. He was quite possibly about to become the youngest jonin in the village's history.
Only Konoha's top brass should know about it. Enemy nations must never get their hands on it.
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
In the corner of the conference room, the air rippled. A moment later, the distortion transformed from transparent to semi-transparent, finally revealing an ANBU member.
Tanaka's eyes flickered slightly at the sight.
This kind of invisibility-based bloodline limit could be quite troublesome. At least, for those without the Byakugan.
"Tanaka, I hope this isn't too forward of me, but would I have the honor of witnessing your jonin promotion?"
At that moment, Orochimaru stepped forward.
Hearing this, the clan heads who had been preparing to leave all instinctively paused.
For most jonin exams, they wouldn't bother attending, unless it was a prodigy like Kakashi, who became a jonin at 12.
But Tanaka was different.
If he passed the exam, he would become a jonin at just eight years old.
Since the founding of the ninja villages, there had never been a case like this.
A once-in-a-lifetime event in Konoha's history, who would want to miss that?
"You know it's inappropriate, yet you still ask?" Tsunade immediately stepped forward to retort before Tanaka could even respond.
She had no patience for this nonsense.
The Sannin had only themselves to blame for their fractured relationship.
Back when she needed support the most, Hiruzen led the opposition, Jiraiya followed suit, and while Orochimaru hadn't directly opposed her, he had simply stood by and watched.
"Tanaka, what do you think?" Hiruzen did nothing to mediate the growing tension between his two disciples. In fact, he was pleased.
If the Sannin had remained united, that would have been a headache for him.
"Since Orochimaru-sama is so interested, he's welcome to come along."
Tanaka naturally had no reason to refuse such a minor request from someone as influential as the Snake Sannin.
After all, even if he denied him, his information would still leak one way or another—unless he rejected the jonin exam entirely and forfeited the A-rank forbidden jutsu waiting for him.
Compared to the scheming Hiruzen, Orochimaru's blunt curiosity was actually much more to Tanaka's liking.
"Then I'll graciously accept."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly, but outwardly, he maintained his usual amused expression.
Although this was his first direct interaction with Tanaka, after analyzing their brief conversation and the intelligence he had gathered beforehand, he had already drawn a conclusion: This eight-year-old body contained the mind of a calculating strategist.
Tsunade had already laid everything bare, yet Tanaka still agreed without hesitation. He was completely unconcerned about leaking any information.
That was… interesting.
Does he truly not care? Or does he actually want us—no, want the entire village to know about his abilities?
The more Orochimaru thought about it, the more intrigued he became.
He was genuinely curious. Just how far would Tanaka's whirlwind shake the windmill that was Konoha?