Chapter 1—A Series of Unfortunate Coincidences
Orochimaru wove through the trees, narrowly escaping Tsunade's punches as she chased after him. One such attack had come so close that he'd only just been able to put a large gnarled trunk between himself and her fist before it connected. The two ninja stopped their chase briefly while the giant tree collapsed, watching each other carefully through the flurry of falling leaves.
Then Tsunade smirked and brought her fist down on the forest floor. The ground cracked and buckled explosively, knocking Orochimaru off of his feet. Tsunade walked up to him, hand on her hip and a smug smirk on her face, but a moment later she was reeling back from the nest of snakes Orochimaru had brought forth. He flipped back onto his feet but Tsunade was already recovering. She punched another tree, deliberately this time, aiming to have it land on him. He leapt out of the way and up onto the felled trunk before sticking out his unnaturally long tongue at his former teammate and dashing deeper into the forest away from her.
Tsunade followed him as best she could but lost sight of him soon after they left the trees. Up ahead was a small mountain with an extensive cave system. She stepped up to the nearest opening and saw that it had been cut all the way through to the other side. Her heels clicked and echoed on the stone as she walked through the tunnel, looking around. There were several smaller passages branching off of the main channel, some that only extended a few feet and others that stretched further into the darkness than she could see.
When she reached the other side she looked out at the sky. Clouds had gathered on the horizon, slowly beginning to block the sun as evening drew near.
"Tsunade,"
She turned sharply. Orochimaru stepped out of a shadowed cavern beside her and Tsunade took a step back.
"Come any closer and you're dead," she snapped at him. The two of them were still for a moment. Then they both glanced around.
Tsunade sighed and leaned her shoulder against the cave wall. "What a pain," she muttered
Orochimaru came further into the light and tossed a corpse down on the cave floor between them. Tsunade stared at it for a moment. "Well then what was the point of staging that whole fight?" she said sourly.
"Killing him wouldn't have been necessary if you had been at all convincing. But don't worry about it. He wasn't important."
"Hmph." Tsunade turned again to look at the sky.
Orochimaru silently did the same, but he saw nothing that should have held her interest so thoroughly. "Tsunade… What's wrong?"
"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong."
"I know you're upset," Orochimaru laughed. "You're a terrible actress."
He saw her tense. She seemed to shrink slightly as she brought her arms in closer in the familiar stance she took up when she was feeling insecure.
"…Tell me what's wrong, Tsunade," he prompted again but she remained silent. "Can't you talk to me? We've been friends since we were children."
"…And now?" she said finally. "Even you have to admit this is ridiculous." Orochimaru laughed a little again, noting the "even you" without taking offense. "I mean," she continued. "Faking a whole battle just because one of your… test subjects saw us talking?" Her eyes went to the corpse again briefly.
"We have reputations to protect," Orochimaru answered easily.
Tsunade scoffed and turned her back on the cave's opening. "Ever since I became Hokage, it's been nothing but work – caused me nothing but trouble. I didn't even want this job in the first place." She stalked off down the tunnel suddenly at a brisk pace.
"Tsunade, wait–" Orochimaru called after her, but when he moved to follow she took off at full speed back into the forest. He sighed and ran after her, quickly catching up and grabbing her wrist. She whipped around to glare at him.
"Let go of me, Oro–"
"Tsunade," he said sharply, cutting her off. Then more gently, "Come with me."
She continued to glower at him but he did not back down. Gradually she gave in, nodding slightly, and he let go of her, then headed off in the opposite direction. Tsunade followed.