There was no single moment that made Senju Tsunade, slug princess of Konoha's Densetsu noh Sannin decide stop drowning her past in the cheapest sake and most expensive games she could find. Similarly, there was no great gambling win to presage coming horror, just a confusing steady stream of small wins in reasonable amounts.
The first time, she won a sum of 7 ryu at slots, after playing three hours straight and never losing or winning more than 200 ryu at a time.
"Shizune, I don't know what this is, but we're leaving."
"Of course, Tsunade—sama. I'll repack our bags."
On their way out of town, the setting sun reflects off a child closing a fence gate to get home, and dyes the child's hair nright red.
"Tsuna—chan my kinswoman will be coming from Uzushiogakure today. Konoha will be new and strange to her, so she will need an guide, and we are her only family here." Tsunade raised her head from obaa-san's fuuinjutsu scrolls and her own notes on storing chakra.
"I need all my caring to look after Nawaki—kun and the dumb boys on my team. I have none left." Tsunade at nineteen was too busy with the fuuinjutsu project and deliberately infuriating her sensei at the hospital by proving they knew less than they thought. She didn't have time for new people. Besides, she needed to look after her newly—jounin teammates on the battlefields what would soon be recognized as the Second Great Ninja War.
"When I was new to the Senju clan, Tobirama guided me about as my new brother, so that I was not alone but for the stranger I was to marry. When we created the Hiraishin together, it was in some form proof to the clan that I was more than a symbol of alliance, more than a marriage pawn. It was proof that I was valued and valuable, that my skills, the skills of my clan were a meaningful addition to the famous Senju. I will always love your grandfather, but when we first met, he was too awkward about the arrangement to see my loneliness and isolation. Your Uncle Tobi made me Senju in a way that a ceremony could not. My kinswoman, a child is come from all she knows to serve Konohagakure, which she has never seen. You will support her." The old woman's tone was folded steel.
"Hai, Mito—baa—sama." Tsunade gave a formal obeisance.
A tiny girl approaches the Konoha's great entrance. A team of shinobi, wearing Uzu hitai-ate, pass papers over to the gate—guards. When the gate guards stamp approval, the girl is walked through the gates, then the honor guard blur away leaving her hunched and awkward, chin defiant through a curtain of Uzumaki red hair.
Mito—baa pokes Tsunade hard in the side. She glares, then softens her expression, turning to her new cousin.
"Kushina—san?" Tsunade remembered being patronized to and hating it at that age. She wouldn't call the kid "kushina–chan."
"Hai! I'm Uzumaki Kushina –tebbane! Her cheeks flushed, "I mean, I'm Uzumaki Kushina full stop."
Well, if cousins decided to be this cute, maybe she wouldn't be such a pain. "Heh, I'm Tsunade, and this is my obaa—sama, Senju Mito, who was Uzumaki Mito before—"
"I know who the honorable Mito—sama is! Her fuuinjutsu breakthroughs are still celebrated!"
"Great, then. You'll be staying with her, so you're with family. If you need anyone to show you around, come find me. And if anyone gives you trouble, come find me."
The next time she played poker until the clubs closed shouting demands that they stay open, and lost a sum of 53 ryu.
"Shizune, we're leaving."
"We need to return the loan to the Yakuza who made it, since we have the money." For once, went unsaid.
"No, we need to leave. This is new and I don't like it." She needed a drink. Action matched thought. Sake cup slammed down. Refill. Stop thinking. That was the procedure and she had perfected it. So why couldn't she stop thinking?
"Shishou, we already paid for the inn tonight. Let's leave in the morning." Tonton snorted agreement, then slumped exuding tiredness."
"It is morning."
"From the wrong side. Let's find our beds."
Tsunade finished her bottle in one gulp, then let herself be led away.
A bakery was just opening, and a little girl opened the gate, wearing black.
The only thing Tsunade could feel through the numbness of Nawaki's funeral was Kushi-chan crushing her hand with recently-kyuubi enhanced strength. When Nawaki's jounin sensei came to offer his condolences, Tsunade would have snarled at him, but Kushina snapped first,
"You don't get to just show up like anyone else! It was your job to take care of him—ttebane! You had to teach him to protect himself or teach his teammates to do it for him! How dare you show up here with three dead gennin! You should have died protecting him!" Kushina didn't even flush at verbal tick, and her hair split into nine parts.
He flinched and loomed over her. "what would a gaki like you know about war and war losses?! You don't even look old enough for academy! Wait until war falls on your weak self with its death and ruin."
"What did you just say to my niece?"
"I said that she'd be useless cannon fodder on a warfront, and die even more quickly than-"
Thirty seconds later, he was unconscious in a crater made of his own body. IT would have been quicker but Tsunuade respected the dead and shunshinned him out of the cemetery.
"Tsunade—ba? You need to come back from this deployment, okay? You promised to teach me bakijutsu. I had my first day of Academy, and they called me tomato-hair, and you need to come back and teach me to do bunshins cuz they're hard, and everyone laughs at me and I really need you, okay."
Chuckling, Tsunade ruffled the offensive hair. "That's my grandmother's and your clan's hair they're mocking. It's great hair. I wish I had that instead of my weirdo dishwater blonde. And I'll be fine. I have Orochi—kun and Raiya—baka to watch my back."
"Still, I'll worry, and my grades will get worse and I won't make any friends and I don't know what I'd do if you die like Nawaki and I don't have any family to watch me become the first woman Hokage and- and-"
"Alright gaki, I'll send you regular letters with Katsuyu. And I want replies from you, too. Sometimes the fronts are pretty boring."
"No problem, I'll make up the best pranks, just so I can tell you about them and you can amuse all the other shinobi!"
Dear kami, what have I unleashed?
The third time, Tsunade won 20 ryo exactly each night for three nights straight. By this time she was almost resigned. Then, She barged in on her room while it was being cleaned. The maid looked tired, so Tsunade casually touched her elbow and ran a diagnostic.
"Congratulations. I'd offer you sake, but…"
"I'm sorry? I can't accept gifts from guests, but I'd make an exception for sake that good."
"No. Bad for the fetus. I'll drink it myself on your behalf."
"Fet—oh! Oh! I'm going to be a mother! I'm going to be a mother! I'll be a kaa-san! Michi-kun will be so excited! I'm going to be a kaa-chan!"
"Tsunade—oba—chan,
I'm sorry to be writing to you, when you want to avoid all reminders of home Konoha, but I need to tell you. I'm pregnant! You're going to be a great grand aunt! When the iryo-nin confirmed it, I jumped up and down. Minato and I spent nearly half an hour repeating variants of "we're going to be parents," "I'm going to be a kaa-san/tou-san," and "We're going to have a child!" Mina-kun mocks me, but I'm sure the baby will be a boy. We're going to name him after Naruto from Jiraiya's book, and Mina insists on making the lecher godfather. I only agreed because I know you love him (as a teammate, you can't hit me through paper anyway), and I trust him by your proxy. Still send me advice? I don't know who the best midwife is, or how to be a kaa-chan. You were my nee-chan sort of for a long time and did a brilliant job. Give me advice, I beg, I prostrate myself.
All loves,
Your favorite relative, the great Uumaki Kushina
Huh. Maybe I should check on the brat. I'm sure Sensei and Jiraiya are on top of things, but well, I'll just check. Jiraiya has an information broker in Edo. They have good gambling. I'll just wander that way. If I run into him, well…