HGBW: Ch. 118

On the Hokage Rock, two figures stood side by side atop the massive statue of Hiruzen.

"Did you see it? This is the Hokage, known as the merciful and tolerant Third Hokage."

Tsunade turned to the young man with Byakugan beside her.

"If you want to take that position, the first thing you need to do is become like him. Both ruthless and terrifying, like Orochimaru."

When she mentioned Orochimaru, her expression became somewhat complicated.

One was her former teacher, who, after becoming Hokage, gradually lost his humanity under the corruption of power.

And the other was her former comrade, who, in his quest to become Hokage, slowly descended into madness.

"Power is the only thing that matters. Strength determines everything. The story of the First Hokage clearly tells us that if your strength is enough to decide everything, then you can make the entire shinobi world play along with your childish games."

Tanaka raised his hand, gripping the air as if seizing the authority of the shinobi world.

The First Hokage's story clearly showed him that if one is strong enough, they truly can do whatever they wish.

The story of Setsuna, on the other hand, made it just as clear—if one was weak, allied with the Hyūga, and spilled the blood of the Third Hokage, they still had to gamble their life.

This was also why, after being schemed against by his Setsuna, Tanaka was not even angry.

Plots and schemes, political marriages—they were nothing more than petty tricks, unworthy of being displayed in the grand halls of power.

In the shinobi world, in the end, the one with the bigger fist makes the rules.

"Hey! You better not forget. I'm the granddaughter of that very man who made the entire shinobi world play along with his games. Speaking ill of him, do you really think that's okay?"

Tsunade glanced at Tanaka, but her tone lacked any real anger.

Having witnessed the First Great Ninja War and participated in the Second, even as the granddaughter of the First Hokage, she understood one truth.

Her grandfather's act of distributing tailed beasts to Kiri, Suna, Kumo, and Iwa was, in a way, just playing house.

If Konoha had kept all nine tailed beasts to itself, there wouldn't be a "Five Great Ninja Villages" today—only Konoha.

"Then, because you're the First Hokage's granddaughter, you should know better than anyone that what I just said is true."

"Is that so?"

Tanaka turned to look at her.

"Then show me. Show me the power you claim can decide everything."

Tsunade crossed her arms, emphasizing her impressive figure.

From their recent interactions, she had already experienced firsthand the terrifying potential of the young man before her.

She recalled their first meeting—back then, Tanaka had to rely on the spatial abilities of the Op-Op Fruit to disregard jonin-level opponents and instantly defeat the head of the ANBU.

Yet now, in just over half a month, even without the power of the Op-Op Fruit, his mastery of monstrous strength and Gentle Fist had already elevated him to the level of a jonin.

At this rate of growth, it was no wonder the entire Hyūga clan saw him as their own version of Hashirama.

"I will."

Tanaka nodded slightly.

Then—poof!

His body transformed into a cloud of white mist and vanished from the Hokage Rock.

It was a shadow clone.

"Power that decides everything, huh?"

Watching Tanaka leave, Tsunade remained on the Hokage Rock, replaying his words in her mind.

"If it's that brat… maybe he really does have a chance," Tsunade murmured to herself.

On one side was Orochimaru, gradually "falling."

On the other was Tanaka, revealing the potential of a "First Hokage successor."

The scales in her heart had already begun to tilt.

Or rather, the moment that boy stood up in the Hokage meeting, defied all opposition, and gambled half of the Hyūga clan's fortune on himself, her decision had already been made.

---

Sitting cross-legged in the training grounds, Tanaka slowly opened his eyes.

As his shadow clone disappeared from the Hokage Rock, all of its memories and experiences flowed back into him, witnessing Hiruzen shed tears as he cut down a close aide.

And, of course, his conversation with Tsunade.

Everything was clear as day.

After reviewing the memories from his shadow clone, he pondered briefly before tossing them aside, paying them no further mind.

His goal had always been clear. The One Piece world could wait.

Here, in the Naruto world, he would first become a shinobi god like the First Hokage.

By then, whether it was the Five Villages waging war or the Konoha Council scheming in the shadows, they would all just be children playing games.

Rather than wasting time fighting Orochimaru and the council in their petty power struggles, it was better to focus on Haki.

With this thought, Tanaka glanced at the five shadow clones sitting cross-legged in the distance. Then, he closed his eyes again and continued training his Haki.

Clearly—

Just like him, the five shadow clones were all training in Haki. Or rather, they were awakening Armament Haki.

According to the Haki training manual brought by Rosinante, there were essentially two ways to awaken Armament Haki or rather, to awaken all three types of Haki.

Fight against someone who could use Haki and survive the battle—this significantly increased the chances of awakening Armament Haki.

For example, Ace awakened his Armament Haki after battling Jinbei in the Ryugu Kingdom.

Luffy, after taking a Thunder Bagua strike from Kaido on Onigashima, mastered advanced Conqueror's Haki infusion.

And not just Ace and Luffy—99% of pirates in the One Piece world awaken Haki through this method. However, because they lacked the talent of Luffy and Ace, most of them were killed by Haki users before they could awaken it.

A method similar to chakra molding in the Naruto world. Step-by-step training until Armament Haki was awakened. This method was used by the Marine Headquarters and Amazon Lily.

That was why almost all Marine soldiers in the New World and the women of Amazon Lily could use Armament Haki.

The first method was brutal and fast but relied heavily on strength, talent, and luck.

However, for pirates who had survived the harsh trials of the sea—crossing from the Four Blues to the Grand Line, then pushing through Paradise to reach the New World—this method was the most effective.

The second method was more scientific and systematic but took significantly more time.

For an ordinary person in the One Piece world, it took at least three years of persistent training to awaken Armament Haki.

But this was the standard for ordinary people—not for prodigies, and certainly not for monsters.

For someone like Big Mom or Kaido, it didn't matter which method they used.

If they didn't have a way to train Haki?

Then they would just fight a Haki user, kill them, and awaken Haki in the process.

If they did have a training method? Even easier—one session of training, instant awakening.

In terms of physical talent, Tanaka was far from the level of Kaido or Big Mom.

However, he had his own unique advantages.

First, he wasn't an ordinary person.

He possessed the Op-Op Fruit and was also a jonin with a bloodline limit.

Second, he had the ultimate cheat code of the Naruto world: Shadow Clone Technique.

That was right.

If talent wasn't enough, he could just multiply his numbers.

Using shadow clones to exploit the system wasn't just effective for ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu training—it worked for developing his Devil Fruit abilities and training Haki as well.

With himself and five shadow clones, it was like six Tanakas training at the same time. And all the results of that training would return to his main body.

After a long while—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang out across the training field.

At the same time, the five shadow clones surrounding Tanaka all dispersed into white mist.

Although there was some fatigue in his expression, it was overshadowed by excitement.

He raised his hand and formed a seal in front of him. With his Byakugan activated, he looked inside himself.

Muscles, organs, and his chakra—all were visible in great detail.

But more importantly, Tanaka saw something new inside his body.

"Haki!"

Through his Byakugan's vision, he could see the Armament Haki inside himself.

A grin slowly spread across his face.