Chapter I

Lessons

"Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them."

"You're not focusing," Jiraiya said.

Sakura sat cross-legged under the shade of an old tree, a large scroll spread out in front of her. Jiraiya sat in one of the lower branches of the tree, biting into a candy bar and peering at her work from his vantage point above her head.

Sakura scowled, but resisted the urge to do something childish like stick out her tongue at the old man. Instead she grit her teeth and ducked her head, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and making a long, measured stroke across the paper with one of her pens.

Jiraiya made a "hm" sound and continued to eat his candy bar.

Sakura closed her eyes and counted to five, finally opening her eyes and making another, shorter mark. When no noise came from her mentor she continued, brush gliding across the scroll and slowly filling it with whorls and lines, forming a messy but distinct pattern.

Her mind began to drift, as it often did when she made her own seals. At first she had fought it, struggled to stay focused on the task at hand, but Jiraiya had shown her that the drift was just another way to concentrate, without the thousand and one little things that flitted through her head messing things up.

So this time, Sakura embraced the drifting, allowing her mind to wander aimlessly as she worked to turn the formerly blank scroll into something she could use.

A seal is composed of three parts – ink, chakra, and blood.

A tiny hitch in her stroke caught her off guard, but she managed to stay calm and correct it with a few deft marks. The chakra would trace a more complicated path now, but it ought to work well enough.

The chakra gives the seal the intent, the meaning behind it. Blood gives your intent a physical presence. And ink keeps the entire thing from falling apart.

Jiraiya was always talking about beauty in simplicity. A perfect seal would use the minimum number of strokes required for it to do what it needed to do. It kept things easy he claimed.

At a high enough level, ink becomes irrelevant. A master sealer can keep a seal together with willpower alone, mixing chakra and blood to create a seal on the spot.

Sakura glanced upwards, and spent a brief moment watching the sunlight trickle through the leaves above her. The land of Plains really was beautiful, even if everyone in it wanted to kill her.

With clever manipulation of seals, anything you can imagine is possible.

Sakura made the final stroke and put down her brush with a heavy sigh.

The last student I taught turned sealing into a weapon unmatched by any other.

She steadied herself with a deep breath and placed two fingers in the center of the seal, pushing her light red chakra into the patterns and bringing them to life with an invisible fire.

Let's see if you can surpass him.

There was a flash of light and Sakura slumped back into the trunk of the tree, exhausted. She rubbed at her eyes and pushed herself into a standing position, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles. "Well," she said, looking up at Jiraiya. "I'm done. You can tear it to pieces now."

Her sensei dropped to the ground in perfect silence, bending down and grabbing the scroll. He began twisting it around, pushing it places, prodding it and muttering to himself as he examined its inner workings.

"Actually," he said after a few minutes of fiddling, "I kinda like this one."

Sakura's head whipped around, her mouth hanging slightly open. "Really?" She asked. "You do?"

"Sure," Jiraiya said with a shrug. "It's not a simplistic as it could be, and you made some confusing choices in dealing with this part right here," he said, finger circling the area of the scroll that dealt with recognition of specific chakra patterns, "but there are some parts I like a lot. Like your use of spirals."

Sakura nodded. "You said last time that spirals were pretty much the perfect shape for sealing."

"Well, yeah," Jiraiya said. "Chakra naturally travels in a spiral, so it flows easily through a spiraled seal. But I'm talking about the way you spiraled the seal itself." He held up the scroll so that Sakura could see the way her patterns spiraled inwards onto the center point."

"It made sense in my head," Sakura said. "Like, this bridge right here takes it to this point here, right? So then once it gets recognized I can bypass the part that-"

Jiraiya held up a hand. "I know what it does," he said with a small smile. "The point is, I haven't taught you this yet. It's hard to arrange seals like this, what with all the bridges and the looping back. Two months of practice should not have prepared you for this kind of work."

Sakura turned away to hide the growing smile, rooting through her pack for a hairbrush.

"I mean, this is pretty awesome," Jiraiya continued. "Your understanding of this structure puts you way past where I originally pegged you. In fact…" he trailed off, and when Sakura looked back up at him he was staring off into the distance, over where Sakura knew Sasuke and Naruto were training.

"In fact," he said, "maybe you can help me with a question I've had for a while now."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, so the problem is power," Sasuke said as Naruto tossed the rubber ball up and down.

"Yeah!" Naruto said. "I can get the rotation down, even in all the different directions. But when I try to boost the power I lose control of that and everything just sorta fizzes out." He flailed his arms uselessly. "This would be so much easier if I could just use a Shadow Clone to handle the different directions for me."

Sasuke shook his head. "No cheating. You're not always going to be able to use a Shadow Clone. If this technique is supposed to be your go-to for close combat, you need to be able to use it at a moments notice. And that means no Shadow Clones."

Naruto scowled. "God damn, you are such a hard ass."

"Jiraiya put me in charge of your training, and I'm taking this seriously. Plus your taijutsu is pretty damn awful, and you need all the help you can get."

Naruto shot Sasuke the bird, but placed the rubber ball back in his right palm and held it up at about eye level. The ball began to twist and rock as the blonde sent his chakra spiraling through it, stretching out in multiple directions simultaneously.

With a grunt of effort, Naruto began pushing more chakra into the little ball. As soon as he did so he began to feel his control slip away – but instead of fighting to retain it, he exhaled and simply focused on swirling it more.

The squirming and twisting became more pronounced, and Naruto let out a yelp of joy as a small tear appeared in the rubber. The outburst caused him to loose control of the Rasengan, but he didn't even care – he let out a giddy little cackle and began jumping up and down.

Sasuke scowled. "It's just a rip."

"It's progress!" Naruto said. "This deserves a ramen break."

Sasuke threw up his hands. "Fine. Have the ramen if you want to. But don't expect me to start another fire for you, that's not what the jutsu are meant for."

Naruto stuck his lower lip out and let it quiver a little in protest, but Sasuke was unaffected. "Fine, I'll make my own fire," the blonde said, scowling and pouring the contents of his canteen into a small bowl. "Now where did I put the ramen? Ramen ramen ramen ramen…"

A movement in the corner of his eye distracted him from his search, and he looked up to see Sakura and Jiraiya approaching the clearing he and Sasuke were training in.

"Sakura!" Naruto said, raising his hand in greeting. "I made a rip in the rubber ball!"

Sakura smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Jiraiya turned to Sasuke and gave the Uchiha a questioning look.

Sasuke shrugged. "He's making progress."

"And what about you?" Jiraiya asked.

Sasuke tsked and stood, pressing his hands together in a long string of seals. Lightning chakra gathered around his right hand and he shot forwards at nearly impossible speeds. When the dust cleared, Sasuke had his fist through half a tree and was breathing heavily.

Jiraiya nodded. "You're doing better, but you still don't have the refinement down yet. You can copy the hand seals all you want, but until you get the chakra manipulation down, you'll be using a second rate version. Just focus on the piercing aspect."

Sasuke nodded and sat back down.

"Still doing better than Naruto though," Jiraiya said, causing the Uchiha to chuckle.

"Hey!" Naruto said, shoving the ripped rubber ball into his sensei's face. "Progress."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever kid," Jiraiya said with a good-natured smile. "Now take your shirt off. I want to have my favorite student take a look at your seal."

"Oh come on, she's only your favorite because she has tits!" Naruto protested, unzipping his jacket and shedding it along with his undershirt. "And she doesn't even really have those!"

Jiraiya smacked his own face in exasperation as Sakura landed a pile-driver blow on Naruto's face, the force of the punch lifting him up off his feet and dumping him splayed out on the ground.

"I deserved that," the blonde muttered, groaning and rubbing his face. "Sorry Sakura."

Sakura made a small hm sound and bent down, prodding Naruto's stomach with more force than was strictly necessary. "Forgiven. As long as you start molding some chakra."

Naruto complied, pressing his hands together and focusing on swirling the chakra around his belly. He saw the dark lines of ink begin to appear on his skin, Sakura watching them intently as they linked together and formed the seal Naruto was now so familiar with.

"So you can see the spiral pattern here," Jiraiya explained to Sakura, pointing at Naruto's belly. "The seal really goes much deeper than this, what you're seeing now is a condensed version, but if you go through it you can see the spiral pattern repeated along multiple levels."

Sakura nodded as Jiraiya spoke, occasionally sending small bursts of chakra into Naruto's system – the foreign chakra tickled and left him feeling slightly giddy.

"The problem is," Jiraiya said, a frown stretching across his face, "that I've noticed an unusual amount of Kyuubi chakra leaking through recently. The seal was designed to pull chakra from the beast and mix it with Naruto's own, but it seems to me there's too much going through."

"Do you know how that could be happening?" Sakura asked.

"I have a few theories," Jiraiya said. "Naruto's been calling on the Fox a lot recently, so the seal's been weakening because of that. There seem to have been a few massive spikes all within a few months of each other, which is pushing open the floodgates, so to speak."

"But that doesn't make sense," Sakura said. Her eyebrows knitted together and she leaned in closer, staring intently at the spot just above Naruto's navel. "You told me that the seal was designed to pull only a specific amount of chakra from the Fox. Even if the gates are opening, that shouldn't change. Either Naruto's calling on the chakra, or the Fox is pushing it through."

"That's…right." Jiraiya said, giving Naruto a look. "Have you?"

"I haven't!" Naruto said, holding his hands up in defense. "You told me not to unless absolutely necessary, and we haven't exactly been doing anything interesting, so…" He shrugged.

"Then the Fox is pushing it through for some reason," Jiraiya said, rubbing at his chin. "But why would it do that?"

"Chakra carries an imprint of the its sources personality, right?" Sakura asked. "So the more Fox chakra in Naruto's system, the more the Fox can assert dominance over Naruto's psyche."

Jiraiya nodded. "Right, right. But the gates aren't open enough to allow any real manipulation. Why would the fox give up his chakra if it isn't going to have an effect…" He paused. "I don't know why, but it's worth keeping an eye on. Alright Naruto, you're done." The white haired sanin stood and rubbed his hands together before turning to Sasuke. "You're up."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but took his shirt off without complaint and turned so that Jiraiya could see the side of his neck branded with the cursed seal. There was another seal placed just outside of it, a circle of scribbles held together with a liberal number of squares and spirals.

"This cursed seal really is amazing," Jiraiya said as he began to mess with the barrier seal surrounding Orochimaru's mark. "Did I tell you all that I actually see a lot of my own work in some of the fundamentals? The bastard had the gall to steal my notes and use them to create…this." He gestured at the seal.

"You're always talking about how incredible that seal is," Naruto said, standing and "forgetting" to put his shirt on in case Sakura wanted to sneak a look at his abs. "What makes it so great?"

"This thing," Jiraiya said, not looking up from the seal, "has more depth than any seal I've ever seen before. It must serve twenty different functions, not all of which I've found yet." He leaned in closer to Sakura and pointed out a particular spot. "This here is what he stole from me. When I was younger I slapped together a few theories involving seal based regulation of nature chakra. It never got past the ideas stage, but it looks like Orochimaru managed to take that and make some headway. It isn't perfect, and from what I've discovered, at the advanced stage you actually undergo a bit of physical transformation because of the nature chakra, but damn, this is good work."

He pointed out another section. "And look here. It's vague, but you can see the basis for a seal that would allow the user to transfer his consciousness through the seal. It's an idea that's theoretically possible with the right seal and enough chakra, but it's never been achieved. This must've been one of Orochimaru's first attempts at immortality."

Jiraiya sighed and reluctantly handed Sasuke back his shirt. "I wish I could get a better look at it. I have so many questions – how does it regulate nature chakra, how does it transfer from stage one to stage two…but we'll get to them eventually I guess. This is a good start."

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Koyaiba sat in his hospital bed, listening to the rhythmic beeping of the equipment surrounding him. He had tried to explain to the hospital staff that he was fine, that there was nothing to worry about and the only thing wrong with him was hunger, exhaustion, and a few minor wounds, but they had insisted on sticking him in the bed anyway.

Two months ago, he had gotten incredible lucky and managed to be the first known person to escape from Yomi, a prison in the Waterfall village. Koyaiba had spent the last two months travelling from Waterfall to the Leaf, dodging Waterfall patrols all along the way. Injuries, among other things, had slowed him down, and he had only arrived back home a few weeks ago – to a family and village who thought him dead. Koyaiba had quickly learned of the events that had transpired in the two months between his escape and his return home.

Shortly after his escape, Waterfall had officially severed ties the Leaf village. It had rejected its status as an ally of the Leaf and had instead joined with several other minor villages – Snow, Grass, and Rain – under the banner of Akatsuki.

Up until that point, Waterfall had existed as a "satellite village" to the much larger Leaf. In exchange for protection and financial aid, Waterfall had provided intelligence, supplies, and of course, hostages in the form of "student exchange programs". But now that had all changed.

Akatsuki, known by their headbands with a scratch through them instead of the traditional symbol, had expanded rapidly, swallowing up many of the ninja-less countries surrounding Rain, Grass, and Waterfall. Snow remained isolated in its position North of the Lightning Country, but from what Koyaiba had heard there was a mass exodus underway – Snow civilians were being loaded up on boats and shipped to the Waterfall village.

Though hostilities had not yet been officially declared, the mood in Leaf seemed to be that it would not be long before they were embroiled in another war. Akatsuki had been openly hostile towards Leaf, carrying out several small raids on the border of the two countries. It seemed obvious to everyone that the newfound country would not stop until it had crushed or at least thoroughly humiliated the Leaf.

Koyaiba was snapped back to reality by the sound of the door opening and closing. He turned, expecting to see another doctor or nurse, but instead found himself face to face with Hyuga Hiashi, the fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.

"H-Hokage-sama," Koyaiba said, instinctively ducking his head. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon." He and the Hokage had met not a few days prior, discussing Koyaiba's escape of Yomi and what he had learned while in Waterfall.

Hiashi simply nodded, turning to examine the machinery surrounding the Chunin. "You seem fine," he said after a moment. "Get up. Walk with me."

Koyaiba nodded, throwing the covers off himself and swinging his feet out of the bed. The tile floor was cold to his bare feet, and his muscles ached after such a long stretch of inactivity, but it felt nice to be moving again. He followed the Hokage down the hall, neither of them speaking until the Hokage led him outside.

"What you learned in Waterfall was useful," the Hokage said, staring out across the rooftops of Konoha. "It helped the scientists in project Blessed Seal understand some of the aspects of the Cursed Seal."

Koyaiba nodded. While in Yomi, he had met with the last true survivor of the Uzumaki clan – the same man who had helped Orochimaru create the Cursed Seal. The Uzumaki had told him that the seal regulated its massive amounts of chakra through an imprint of Orochimaru's personality hidden within the seal, which apparently somehow helped Leaf in attempting to create their own version of the technique.

"I'm glad I could help," Koyaiba said.

The Hokage quickly jumped to the next topic. "The situation with Akatsuki is worsening," he said. "They're calling for a Kage summit in the Land of Iron. I believe they seek the title of Kage for their mysterious leader."

"Do you think that would satisfy them?" Koyaiba asked. "Would they stop attacking us?"

"It wouldn't," the Hokage said. "I don't know why they've targeted us. Snow, Grass, and Rain were all satellite villages as well, and all were treated much worse by their bosses than Waterfall was treated by us. But Akatsuki seems intent on attacking us specifically."

The Hokage sighed. "I myself will not be attending the summit. I doubt any of the true Kage will – they will send representatives in their places. It is simply too turbulent a time to step outside the safety of the village. I will be sending Danzo in my stead. I want you to accompany him."

Koyaiba blinked. "You…you do?"

"Yes. I do. You've proven that you're observant, capable, and able to follow orders. I trust you to assist Danzo with the negotiations."

"Y…yes sir. I'd be honored, sir."

The Hokage nodded. "Good. Danzo will be taking two bodyguards, assigned by me, and most likely a genin team to serve whatever purpose he may find for them. The summit is not for a few weeks. I'll have someone fill you in before you leave."

Koyaiba bowed.

"And also," the Hokage added, almost as an afterthought, "try not to die."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The coins spilled from the slot machine like a dam had burst, sending shining gold and silver coins tumbling into the bucket below. Tsunade watched as they quickly filled the bucket and promptly cut off, leaving her with a small fortune in change sitting at her feet.

"Ah! You won, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune said from over the old sanin's shoulder. Dan's niece, Tsunade's apprentice, was clutching Ton-Ton the pig close to her chest. "Maybe now you can start making a dent in those debts you owe?"

"I don't like this," Tsunade said, ignoring Shizune's suggestion.

"What, winning? You don't like winning? Because just last night you were a huge fan of winning. You spent several hours ranting to whatever God exists to give you a bit of luck."

Tsunade ignored her apprentice's tone. "I'm just worried, all right? We need to leave."

"Tsunade-sama, don't be ridiculous…" Shizune protested. Tsunade didn't listen, simply stood and strode past the dark haired girl. She pushed open the doors to the casino, eyes flicking back and forth as she searched for what it was that was making her so uneasy.

The street outside however, was deserted. It was late at night and most civilians were in bed.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, coming up from behind. She had put Ton-Ton on the ground now, letting the pig trot along while she carried the bucket full of coins. "Tsunade-sama, should we go back to the hotel?"

Tsunade took a deep breath in an only halfway successful attempt to calm herself. "The hotel. Yes. We should go there. We'll leave first thing in the morning." She pulled her green cloak tighter around herself and shivered slightly, leading Shizune down the street back towards their dinghy hotel.

"I would be careful if I were you," came a elegant, almost feminine drawl from somewhere in the shadows to Tsunade's left.

The sanin and her apprentice stopped dead in their tracks. Though both recognized the voice, neither wanted to believe that it was really him.

Orochimaru.

The snake sanin stepped from his hiding spot as if he had simply materialized from the shadows, a sardonic smile on his face. His long hair was pulled into a utilitarian ponytail, and he wore a light purple and grey cloak draped around his shoulders. Small, golden hoop earrings hung from his ears.

"It's been too long Tsunade-chan," Orochimaru said, his face splitting into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "We really must catch up more. I feel like we're drifting apart."

"What are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, resisting the urge to take a step backwards. Orochimaru would know if she was unnerved. She had to stay calm, in control.

"I just thought I'd drop by and say hello," Orochimaru said with a shrug. "Hi, how are you doing, how's Shizune, I see she's gotten much taller since the last time we chatted. How are things with me? So kind of you to ask. I've been well, travelled around, trained an apprentice or two. I started that village you know, the one I mentioned last time? Sent the first genin team to the Chunin exams just a few months back, I'm so proud of them. Oh, and I finally killed Sarutobi-sensei."

Tsunade's eyes widened.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Yes, yes, the surprise, the shock, I know, it's heartbreaking. You always did think the old man was invincible Tsunade. You never realized that even gods could die."

"Fuck you," Tsunade said quietly.

"You wound me," Orochimaru said, placing his hand over his heart with a mocking smile. "Is that any way to address the student that has finally surpassed the master?"

"I don't know what you want," Tsunade said, "but you won't find it here. You've had your chance to gloat, now leave."

"Well I would…" Orochimaru said, "except that the reason I'm here is you, Tsunade." He smirked. "You see, a few brats managed to kill my medic, someone I had spent quite a bit of time and energy on. I figured that while I was searching for a suitable replacement, I might as well go for the best."

"You actually think…"

"If you don't come with me, I'll kill you," Orochimaru said simply. "You and your apprentice and even that filthy pig." He took a step forward, meeting Tsunade's gaze with his own. "You try to hide yourself behind that cold, 'I don't care anymore' exterior Tsunade, but the truth is your just another lost little sheep waiting for the right chance to go back to the Leaf. And I can't let that happen."

"I am not," Tsunade growled, "going back to the Leaf. And I am not going with you."

Orochimaru shrugged. "Very well. Fourteen, kill them both."

A mountain of a man clad in white and brown samurai armor fell from the sky at Orochimaru's words. His face was covered with a flat mask, with the number 14 scratched into it for all to see.

Tsunade sprung back, her reflexes kicking in instinctively. Fourteen let out a bestial roar and charged her, moving impossibly fast. He launched a flurry of punches at her that she only barely managed to dodge, and finally managed to hit her hard across the face.

The blow sent Tsunade's world spinning as she fell to the ground, desperately rolling out of the way of a finishing blow. Fourteen roared again, but was distracted by Shizune landing on his shoulders and swinging out with two thin, long knives.

Fourteen managed to throw Shizune off him, but not before Tsunade had gotten to her feet. She gathered chakra in her fist and felt familiar warmth before punching at Fourteen, releasing the chakra at the instant of impact.

There was an enormous boom, kicking dust and debris everywhere. Tsunade smirked, but when she tried to pull her hand back she found it locked in Fourteen's grip.

Tsunade's eyes widened. The dust cleared, and Fourteen was revealed to still be standing, gripping Tsunade's hand with his own. He roared and tightened his grip, and Tsunade cried out in pain as she felt her hand breaking.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune shouted. She charged the space between Tsunade and Fourteen, dropping to her knees and sliding under their arms. Her knife flashed upwards, and Fourteen let out a bellow of pain before pulling his arm back.

Tsunade started forwards, but Shizune caught her shoulder. "Don't bother. I coated the blade with White Orchid extract. He's done for."

Tsunade stopped, breathing heavily as Fourteen collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily and gripping his injured arm. She couldn't even see any blood – Shizune must've just barely nicked him. But it had been enough. "Good job," Tsunade said finally. "Now let's find Orochimaru and make that bastard-"

She didn't get any further than that because she was distracted by Fourteen ripping his own arm off.

The armored man had simply grabbed his own wrist and pulled until his arm separated from his shoulder, blood bursting from the wound and covering the ground around him.

Blood.

So much blood.

Tsunade felt herself freeze, the all too familiar shakes returning, and she found herself unable to look away from the blood. She was only vaguely aware of Fourteen drawing a dull sickle from somewhere in his armor and stumbling towards her.

With a burst of speed, Shizune put herself between her master and the armored man, her knives raised defiantly.

Fourteen didn't give her a chance to get another shot in. Kikaichu bugs swarmed Tsunade's raven haired apprentice, bursting from his neck and going for her face. Shizune shouted in surprise and stumbled back.

Time seemed to slow down.

Fourteen swung his kama up in a high arc, cutting Shizune from her left hip to her right shoulder. The young medic fell, twisting as she did so, and her knives slipping free of her grasp and hitting the ground a half a moment before her dead body recoiled as blood – Shizune's blood – sprayed out like a waterfall of crimson.

And as Tsunade stood there, paralyzed, trembling, covered in her dead apprentice's blood, something snapped.

Suddenly, it didn't seem to matter that she was covered in blood – it didn't matter that she was terrified, it didn't matter that the last time she had been like this was when Dan had died. None of it mattered to her. Nothing mattered except Shizune's lifeless corpse and the beast in front of her.

She charged.

Fourteen roared and swung his kama wildly, but Tsunade ducked under the clumsy slash and hit him hard in the stomach. The force of the impact through the man back, and he hit the ground hard before skidding to a stop twenty feet away.

The world around Tsunade blurred as she shunshined, chakra pumping through every nerve and muscle in her body. Fourteen had only managed to push himself shakily to his knees before she was on him, grabbing him by the throat and throwing him so hard into a nearby building that the foundations shook.

Fourteen scrambled to his feet, Kikaichu swarming around him in preparation for another attack, but Tsunade was ready for that. She pressed her hands together in a swift string of seals and let loose with a Fire Release Jutsu, one Jiraiya had taught her during the last war. The heat force the bugs to retreat back inside Fourteen's body, so the armored man held up his remaining arm and let loose with a series of blast releases, filling the air around Tsunade with explosions.

A heartbeat later Tsunade was on him, and this time she didn't bother pushing him back. She hammered him up against the wall, hitting him again and again with chakra laced punches – she barely even noticed when the wall behind Fourteen gave out.

She raised her hand for another blow when something wet and slimy caught her around the wrist – she looked back in shock to see Orochimaru using his tongue as a makeshift chain. Another Orochimaru appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of her, next to the dying Fourteen, and regarded her with a cool stare.

"Normally I would let this little duel play out, but I can't afford to lose my newest pet and you seem to be hell bent on making sure I do."

Tsunade lashed out with a kick, but Orochimaru blocked it before hauling Fourteen to his feet and making a few quick one handed seals. "Yes, it was nice seeing you too. Send my love to…whoever you have left."

And then, with a puff of smoke, he vanished.

Tsunade exhaled slowly. The adrenaline started to fade from her system, leaving her a jittery, exhausted mess. The only things to do now…were bury Shizune, and try to gather together the remaining pieces of her shattered life.

And then, she would make Orochimaru scream.

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AN: Yup