To get to the Senju clan compound from the Forest of Death, one must pass through nearly all the other named clan compounds in Konoha, except for the Uchiha's on the east end, and the burgeoning civilian sector. A Yamanaka had recently opened a florist's and Hōka wanted to see what all the hullaballoo was about. Since it was early yet, and today's training session only seemed to have galvanised Tsunade, she tagged along. She was thinking of buying daisies for Orochimaru. He would mock her sentimentality, but heavens did she miss his acerbic cluelessness. Hell, after a week of fruitless training she would even take Jiraiya's annoying cluelessness.

Her moods brightened fractionally when she saw Kagami emerging from the Yamanaka florist's anyway. She almost didn't recognise him at first. The lack of Hokage regalia and an Uchiha-certified bland fashion helped, but he had apparently tried to tame his curly hair, which now spitefully sprang all over the place. But also something of him reminded her of Nawaki when she caught him sneaking out of her room.

Tsunade called to him first. Kagami seemed almost reluctant to talk to them. "Tsunade, and… Hōka. Back from training, I see."

Was he asking for a report, even incognito? Tsunade said, "Yes, sir. We made incremental progress where we could." Which was to say, Tsunade lasted all of one second as herself when she used chakra. Fearing that they were wearing the seal, the last few training sessions had been spent in fruitless meditation to no avail. But she didn't go berserk from just seeing the Sharingan, so it was progress all the same.

"Progress is good," Kagami said distractedly. Tsunade almost missed the odd glance he exchanged with Hōka. It was then she noticed the pot of bonzai bamboo snuggled in the crook of his arm, mostly hidden from view by his posture.

"Oh, looking for decoration for your office, Hokage-sama?" she said.

"Ah, this is –" He cleared his throat. "I am the Hokage now, and a poor leader I would be if I am ignorant of the proceedings of my people. Hashirama-sensei always started the day with walk through the village, from one end to another. And he would talk to everyone he met. Well, the village was much smaller back in the day, but I intend to follow the spirit, if not the letter."

He looked down at the pot in his hand. It was a simple clay pot, and the bamboo straight and uncomplicated, the three of them loosely connected by a red ribbon. "And this is… for you," he said, presenting it to Hōka without quite looking at her.

"O-oh! Thank you," Hōka didn't seem to know what to do with the gift, or her gaze for that matter. The awkwardness between them was so palpable Tsunade didn't need the Kyūbi's senses rustling under her tongue to notice.

"By the way, Kagami-sama," Tsunade said, "since you're already incognito, would you like to visit your poor, ailing student with me? As his teacher I'm sure you must have visited him – " Actually, Tsunade was pretty sure Kagami hadn't. " – but I'm forbidden from entering the hospital. But as you can see I'm no danger to anyone as is, so I'm sure if you talk to the Director she would agree."

"I don't make a habit of undermining the Director," Kagami said sternly, though he softened a little. "But we'll see. Right now I want you to come with me."

Hōka excused herself then, more demure than polite. Tsunade wondered briefly if she had just witnessed a rare glimpse of the Uchiha courtship in the wild. Kagami was getting too old to remain a bachelor, but with Hōka? Granted he was not old enough to be her father yet. She hurried after him to his office.

Shimura Danzō was waiting for them. He stood at rest behind the Hokage's desk surveying the village. Out of Sarutobi's coterie Tsunade saw Danzō the least. Her impression of him was that he fancied himself the Hokage's shadow, appearing only when Sarutobi needed opposition the least.

Danzō said, "None of the flowers are to her highness's liking, I take it."

Kagami glowered at his back. "Don't stand in the light too long, Danzō; you might just melt."

Danzō snorted and gestured to the Hokage regalia draped on the chair as though it was wearing them. "Pressed and cleaned, o Hokage-sama, although unfortunately it lacks a certain… feminine touch."

Kagami strode and wore the cloak and fastened the hat on his head, then took it off and put it on the desk, and then after contemplating he put it back on. "I suppose for now Tsunade will help me with that, won't you, Tsunade?"

Danzō finally turned and cocked an eyebrow at her as she mumbled noncommittally. He snorted. "Do try to remember that the Taki delegate is also due to arrive in a few hours."

Kagami adjusted his cloak, and then the hat again. Tsunade didn't have the heart to tell him it left his hair mussed. "Thank you, Danzō. Whatever will I do without you?"

A few moments passed with an anticipatory overcast in the room, despite the bright sunny day outside. The spell was only broken when Jiraiya sauntered in, preening and theatrics akimbo.

"Chuunin Jiraiya has returned! Obstacles overcome, enemies thwarted, the princess has now arrived safe and sound. Presenting the one and only Senju Saika-sama!"

With Jiraiya as the thunderclap, a heavy downpour descended on Tsunade. Kagami's expected guest seemed almost embarrassed she didn't live up to Jiraiya's enthusiasm. Only her red hair stood out like hearth fire, with none of the warmth in her eyes. Saika stepped into the room with the grace of a porcelain vase, chin held high, the whisker-like birthmarks on her cheeks bared for all.

"You're alive," Tsunade blurted in wonderment.

Saika flinched ever so slightly, visibly forcing herself to look at Tsunade and faked a smile. "Tsunade! Why, I almost didn't recognise you… You've grown so much."

Tsunade scoffed. "Yeah, I heard children tend to do that while you're not looking. Imagine that, in six years the baby is almost a ninja."

Birthmarks like whiskers stood stark against the flush of her cheeks, but just as soon Saika had control of her expression again. "We'll talk later," she said coolly. With more grace she bowed to Kagami. "Hokage-sama. I believe congratulations, and my condolences for poor Hiruzen-kun, are in order."

Kagami cleared his throat. "Yes, well, thank you. And allow me to extend our welcome to you as the Hokage." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but caught Danzō's eye and instead said, "I trust that your journey went well."

"Oh, very well indeed. You have excellent shinobi under your command. Jiraiya-kun in particular has been a delight." All the warmth that had been absent when she'd spoken to Tsunade suffused her every word now. Jiraiya, initially preening, withered a little under Tsunade's glare.

Kagami, Tsunade noticed, hadn't taken his eyes off Saika for a while. Nodding absently, he dismissed Jiraiya and the jounin hanging at the back. Then he got to Tsunade and paused. "And Tsunade, you wished to visit Orochimaru. Go on ahead, you have my permission."

Tsunade glared suspiciously at Saika. There was a thunderstorm building and threatening to dribble out of her ears, but Kagami said her name more forcefully. Reminded of Kagami's magical pinwheel eyes, Tsunade scurried out.

She nearly bumped into Jiraiya eavesdropping outside. He took one look at her face and said, "Hey, whoa, I was just wondering if you'd want to see Orochimaru together."

Tsunade nodded. She breathed in, out, chakra circulating without touching the red-tainted core. She thought of Orochimaru, pale and bloody in her red-tinted vision. The pressure abated, then peaked again as Jiraiya said, "But y'kno, at least your mum turned out to be alive – "

"You can have her," snapped Tsunade, and left, Jiraiya following closely.

By the time they reached the hospital she had cooled somewhat. A nurse stopped her at the entrance, however. Tsunade was prepared to deploy her best ingenue impression but for a new medic-nin who suddenly appeared. Tsunade had never seen him – she would remember a silver-haired pretty boy not much older than her – but the nurse seemed all too happy to pass the buck.

"I was just about to check on Orochimaru-kun myself," he said after introducing himself as Dan, Katou Dan at your service.

"So Orochimaru's awake then?" asked Jiraiya.

"Awake and bored out of his wits for a couple of days now," Dan said. He had an easy voice, but Tsunade tasted rotten egg as he added, "His physical recovery is most assured."

Tsunade challenged him. "And this 'other' recovery would be…"

Perfect white teeth flashing, Dan said, "Forgive me if I insinuated anything untoward. Orochimaru-kun is my first assignment; if I am a little… attached, I'm sure you'd understand."

Not really, no, thought Tsunade, she didn't understand how someone this young could have been a full-fledge medic-nin. And this handsome. But mostly his youth, and gender made him an unusual sight within the crusty walls of the hospital. The medic-nin corps drew a salary, a paltry sum compared to the contracts a reasonably dedicated field shinobi of an equal skill could grab. And the entry bar was rather high for medic-nin to begin with. Too, for an equal or even more harrowing time, medicine promised all the guts and none of the glory of field missions.

Dan went on, "We have had cases where only the patient's willpower rescued them from death. Yet I cannot help but think that the reverse must be true: there will come a day where our best efforts are powerless to help a spirit lost in darkness."

The taste of bile stopped Tsunade from responding, but bewildered, Jiraiya said, "Is this about Orochimaru? What's wrong with him?"

Silver hair fluttered prettily under sunlight as Dan turned, green eyes cool as the bottom of a frozen river locked on Tsunade's. "As I said, he would recover. Though we can never measure to Hashirama-sama, we can accomplish this much. This time. Ah, here we are."

Orochimaru had a room in the dangerous chakra mishap ward by himself. Still swathed in a head to toe attire of dressings, he was staring at the ceiling when they entered, and was slow in looking over. Big, yellow eyes scrutinised Tsunade up and down, and as much as Tsunade reminded herself he was inscrutably weird at the best of days, Tsunade still held her breath.

Then he said, "Oh, it's just you," and Jiraiya seized the opportunity to needle him with, "What the hell, don't sound so disappointed," and Tsunade sighed quietly. Dan worked quickly, if he did his job at all, and declared all was well, and left, or rather made a show thereof.

Jiraiya scooted closer, whistling. "Wow, they sure did a number on you."

"They would not tell me how," Orochimaru said, as close to whining as he would ever get.

"I'll tell them to let you heal on your own, so you may observe." Tsunade leafed through the chart at the bottom of his bed. Signed by Dan. Huh. It looked good, as best as she could tell. Orochimaru was no longer intubated, at least. "Look, you're all set to be let out in a few days. What?"

Only Orochimaru would intensify his gaze upon being called on it. "Come to finish the job?"

Tsunade was just replacing the clipboard to its place, and fortunately (or unfortunately) had nothing else to crush in her hands. Jiraiya had gone very still, sitting on the chair next to him. Together the two boys were a bed of corpse flower, the sweetness rapidly overwhelmed by the stench of decay.

He had the right to be… whatever Orochimaru was being. Stabbed, and then poisoned by the very person he'd taken the sword for tended to grow certain powerful feelings in people.

Right now he was a patient, and Tsunade slipped into her hospital persona with some effort. "Don't be a twit just because I forgot to bring you flowers. Look, I… I'm sorry that I put you here, all right? And… thanks," the last she mumbled.

"That doesn't convince me that you weren't the demon fox."

"And you're in your top form, I see."

"Great, so now that that's established," Jiraiya said quickly before either could shoot back, "look, souvenirs from Uzushio! Let's all marvel at my generosity! Say, 'thank you, Jiraiya'."

Orochimaru just stared at the raggedy book placed on his bedside, boasting a title in nonsense characters. For Tsunade it was a glass ball the size of her palm. Within it sand was shored up on one side, and lapping water on the other. The surface rose and receded, the sea in miniature. Which didn't seem far off the mark. Silver gossamer threads of chakra suffused the sea water, gently tugging it through a million part dance.

"Awesome, ain't it? It's sea water made to think that the moon is closer. Yeah it sounds stupid but poetry sounds stupid. Anyway, I made it myself. Okay, so Saika-hime helped a little. Fine, she helped a lot – "

"How, by staring sadly until it moved out of pity? My mother couldn't even make it past genin." Princess Saika, master of fuuinjutsu. Hilarious. To be sure it wasn't Jiraiya's handicraft – it only smelled a little like petrichor, his personal way of offending the demon fox's senses.

"You have a mother?" Orochimaru said, as though Tsunade had just claimed the moon was her mother.

She crossed her arms. "No, I burst out of a rock golden and fabulous. What's gotten into you?"

Orochimaru just gave her a look. Tsunade shrugged. "Besides the demon fox chakra, and I've apologised for that."

In his silence Orochimaru hissed, and rattled and spat. It took a moment for Tsunade to guess what had him sulking. The absurdity caught her off guard. Orochimaru, feeling betrayed by… nothing that affected him whatsoever. And what did he imagine she would lie for anyway?

"But, hey, so," Jiraiya said quickly, and Tsunade gladly shifted her attention to him. "Tsunade, while I was away you didn't get too much trouble with your clan, did you? That ANBU assassin dude was her cousin, the clan head's son," he explained for Orochimaru's benefit. The latter now looked at her with a new light. A new, dim light. Beyond the door, a different sort of light, yellow and noxious, lit up. For an ANBU, Silver Rat was really bad at hiding his presence.

But they were comrades, a voice that sounded too much like Grandma whispered, and you, even you were ready to burn Konoha for Orochimaru's sake, odd little prick though he is.

She shook her head, both to clear her mind and answer the question. "Maybe if I were anyone but the Shodai Hokage's granddaughter." And, until recently, the hope of the clan. Tsunade was neither stupid nor blind; that made this all so much harder to bear. Damn Kabema. Damn the fox. Her own recklessness? She regretfully added that to the tally as well.

"Lured you into a false sense of security," Orochimaru said.

"Oh, here we go," Jiraiya muttered as Tsunade asked, with no little incredulity, "Who did?"

Orochimaru looked at her as though she was a particularly dim-witted species. "Your assassin – your cousin had aimed his blade at you from the moment you stepped onto the training field that day. Laid out a minor genjutsu so you noticed even less." He sounded smug. Even lying bed-bound wouldn't stop Orochimaru from lording over his aptitude with genjutsu, and her utter lack of it. "The Kyūbi breaking out of its cage was a coincident, if convenient excuse."

Jiraiya said, "But… why? She was more useless than an Academy student then."

Tsunade glared at him, but Orochimaru answered simply, "To dispose of the Kyūbi. A demon of destruction kept in check by a volatile vessel. Why not?"

"But…" Jiraiya cast a worried glance at her. "…we don't know if it'd die with her. What if it'd only set the Kyūbi free to rampage on the village?"

"It's a worthy end on its own, and nevertheless, we don't know."

"I don't care," Tsunade said heavily, "Who cares if he thought he was doing good. He was still an asshole. He's my cousin – the closest thing I have to an older brother, and he wanted me dead." She sneered. "Well, he's dead now. I'm sick of talking about Kabema. Jiraiya! You went to Uzushio!"

Jiraiya brightened at the rare invitation to narrate. "I sure did. Did you know it was literally hidden in whirlpools?"

Tsunade was only half listening, and judging by his bored expression so was Orochimaru. She didn't know what to make of his wild imagination. Orochimaru's curiousity of the human body, just a small part of an unquenchable thirst, stopped just short of the intangible. The motivation of his would be killer wouldn't have been worthy of his musings, even sick and lonely, unless he was convinced there was more. Like a conspiracy. Or whatever. Nothing Tsunade would want to discuss with an overzealous ANBU just behind the door.

Jiraiya, though, hadn't been allowed to proceed past a section of Uzushio meant for visitors. His best embellishments dried soon enough, so they parted: Orochimaru to his book, Jiraiya to a proper debriefing with the Hokage, and Tsunade… home. Eventually.

Orochimaru's ward was sequestered at the farthest edge of the hospital. Ward being an honorary title, for it was only a handful of small rooms. Tsunade had never been here; as far as she knew they were hastily carved into the building to handle the victims of the last Kyūbi outbreak. The Sarutobi clan's doton pecialists worked mighty magic when needs must.

She poked her head into the last room. Dan looked up from where he was very seriously straightening a bed's sheet. "Hullo, Tsunade-hime. How can I help you?"

Dan had a silky voice. It was pleasant to listen to, and deceptively firm. Silky hair, too. The face wasn't too bad either; she would go so far as to say he was pretty. And he was a full-fledged medic-nin, while looking not much older than Hōka, and Tsunade knew for sure Hōka wasn't old enough to drink yet. It seemed only fair that he had a perennial fog of rotten egg about him. Nobody should be so perfect.

Tsunade crossed her arms and said, "You know, my grandfather wasn't the kind of man so desperate for laud as to demand everyone remain inept. That we, as a corps, haven't yet surpassed him would have him weeping."

He tilted his head, a bland and insincere smile plastered on. "I'm sorry if I have offended you."

"You're not really Orochimaru's doctor, are you? Here to finish what your buddy Kabema started, eh?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Dan said, but Tsunade was already pulling out a kunai from her sleeve. Under his wide-eyed stare she gouged her wrist. A clean, straight cut along the major vein, missing all the other critical tissues. Blood spurted and dirtied the hospital's pristine white floor, her clothes, crimson flecks sticking to her eyelashes. Unattended to, she could bleed her heart out in minutes – though Tsunade doubted the Kyūbi would let it come to that. She fancied it was already igniting her bone marrow into producing more blood. Either way a mere novice medic-nin shouldn't have known about it at all, only that a crazy girl was dying.

She made a noise at the back of her throat, not quite a growl, when Dan made no move. She thought he might wait until the Kyūbi fixed its host and embarrass her. The blood loss was starting to take its toll. Light-headed, Tsunade lied on the bed like an ingenue, a patient. Her right arm dangled on the side, raining still. Dan's face spasmed in abject hatred before settling on bland professionalism. He jerked as if to rummage in the cabinet for bandages, but she said, "Are you a medic-nin or not, Dan-sensei? Do you want to put on your rat mask first?"

Then he was there, chartreuse chakra pouring into the gaping wound like molten rock. Like Silver Rat's chakra when he had examined her after every training session with Hōka. The ANBU wore their masks as a political gesture of their loyalty to the Hokage before their clans of origin. Though perfect anonymity impossible, it was still considered a taboo to unveil a member of the shadowy, but honorable corps. It was still satisfying to see Dan drop the veneer of professional politeness in favor of disgust, and hatred. There, as clear to the Kyūbi's senses as to her human ones, was that so hard?

Dan worked quickly, but efficiently, she had to admit. He used as little chakra as he could get away with. A short burst for sanitation, then a more concentrated effort to coax the vein walls to knit themselves together. And none for anesthetics, the jerk. But just as soon he withdrew. The Kyūbi had decided to stop messing around and put her back together, it seemed.

"Kabema was right; this is all a game to you." His lips quirked ironically. "Princess."

Tsunade returned the gesture in kind. "So it was his idea, then? And you… I remember you. You know, I've always thought it was miraculous Kagami got there as quick as he did, and Mito-obāchan after him. Minimised the damage. That was you, wasn't it? So Kabema told you, and you… fetched the right people in case he failed, or delivered them to be the first sacrifice."

"A riveting story," drawled Dan. "I have told Hokage-sama all he needed to know." By his tone he seemed to expect her to beg for scraps. Tsunade crinkled her nose in response. "As you can see, he saw fit to assign me as your security detail."

So Kagami did. And his rodent sword, when presented with a neat excuse to have her dead – Tsunade could picture him bowing, pleading she was too fast, Hokage-sama, and the demon fox betrayed her – Dan had kept her alive. For now. But she could, probably, rest assured in the knowledge that the Hokage didn't want her dead, and this particular ANBU was faithful. Though judging by the unceasing sulphuric fume not without a lot of internal struggle.

"So Kabema…"

"Your friend survived; you have avenged him. Kabema is now dead. Are you not tired of talking about him, princess? I wouldn't wish to annoy you."

"Shut the hell up." She would have punched his pretty face if he hadn't kept her arm hostage. "Do you even care – if he'd succeeded – have you even asked Tatema – " He poked the pink skin, raw enough that his finger went through and tore through the recovering blood vessel. Tsunade snarled.

"Fascinating," he murmured, and left her. He returned with bandages and a piece of medic-nin's robe. He cleaned the blood there, and also her face with surprising gentleness. Then he bandaged her arm, told her to change, and closed the curtain around her bed. Semi-transparent fabric in the way, he said, "The world might have been rid of a dangerous demon and a spoiled princess. The demon fox might have razed Konoha to the ground. Does it matter? He's no longer here to satisfy your curiousity."

So that was it, then. Dan, the Kyūbi, even Kagami… how reassuring that she was only kept alive because nobody wanted to gamble on her death.

Dan wanted her to stay for further observation. Since Tsunade didn't have anything else to do – and going home would mean facing Saika – she obliged. She was feeling a little dizzy, and exhausted from the fox's healing, and what's a little shut eye…

Tsunade didn't remember when she'd dozed off. But when she woke up she was still in the hospital, the same room, although apparently in a different, cleaner bed. She had been awakened by the sound of her stomach growling. That wouldn't have been so bad if Dan wasn't sitting by her side, reading a thin book with pulpy title and munching on a bun. By all appearance he was a concerned visitor dressed as an ANBU. The rat mask rested on his lap. Without looking up from his book he pointed to a cart bearing hospital food. It was parked on her left, the side with the injured arm. Her face heated, and she glared at him, but as her stomach made its displeasure known a second time she took the – apology? sacrificial offering? – grudgingly. The arm no longer hurt, and it didn't protest as she lifted the tray to herself. The Kyūbi wasn't completely useless after all.

"You watched me sleep? How is an ANBU not like a pervert?" she asked.

Dan shrugged, turning another page. Tsunade sniffed the offering, more out of concern with freshness than toxicity. She took a mouthful, and confirmed that it was indeed bland, healthy hospital ration.

He waited until she'd gobbled all of it before saying, "I have a sister about your age. She's hungry all the time."

"Uh-huh. I bet she's cute."

"She's also at that age where she can't stand men for more than three seconds. Including her older brother."

"So you're hanging out with me instead? That doesn't make you sound creepy at all."

He smiled beatifically, then dove behind his book. "Was Tatema another one of your cousins? Sounds like another one in the series: Tatema, Kabema, Hashirama, Tobirama."

"Kabema never mentioned him?"

"It was never relevant to the mission." Tsunade wanted to ask him what mission, but he said, "Should he have?"

"Well, if Kabema ever knew anything it was because Tatema had told him. In fact, I'll talk to him, and you'll eavesdrop like the stalker you are."

Even as she said so Tsunade was already taking off; her shadow followed not a second later. This was Konoha, so she barely drew notice streaking through the village in broad daylight, dyed in blood. The Senju compound was once again deserted. No faux-concerned relatives stopped her. Tatema's father had left his house too, for once, and Tatema himself was not in the archives.

She did, however, nearly run into Saika. The rate at which Saika paled, once the initial surprise wore off, could outrace an exsanguinated patient. "Tsunade! What happened?" she said breathlessly, red eyes taking her in like a search light. It shone in alarm at her arm. Her hand shot as if to throttle Tsunade, abruptly halting to caress air instead.

Tsunade waved, bandages and all, to Saika's visible consternation. "Got a bit careless is all. And you? Have you even seen O-bāchan? Nawaki? Does his name ring a bell?"

Even as the rest of her became smudged Saika's whiskers lit up. What were those things anyway? They were too smooth to be scars. Saika said, "I… There was something I needed to… I have been away for a while – "

"Half of my life, and Nawaki's entire life. What's another few minutes, eh? Or never, I'm sure no one can tell the difference." Tsunade turned to leave.

"Wait!" Saika pleaded, and the pathetic note scratched her ears so much Tsunade did. "I realise I haven't been a good mother to you, or Nawaki. I'm sorry. I truly am. I never meant to take so long – "

"Therefore, naturally, you never wrote."

"It was… necessary. I went to Uzushio – to our homeland – to study under the greatest fuuinjutsu master. Your great-grandfather. As part of the training I was to not have any contact with the outside world until it was completed. I don't have your talent, or your grandparents'. But even so I had meant to return in a year, at most two. Not six."

"You shouldn't have to return at all."

Saika went silent, dispersing in sunlight as though she was a fog. Then she pulled herself together and said, "Could you find it in yourself to come inside with me? There's something you need to know."

She went first, but Tsunade hung back. "Hey, stalker-sensei," she said out of the corner of her mouth, "Your orders are to watch for my safety, right? Surely a hunky ANBU such as yourself can do that from the outside. This is secret clan stuff, you understand."

She didn't think he would agree, especially after her little breach of etiquette in the hospital. But a chartreuse likeness of a man flared behind her eyes, and very slowly and deliberately retreated. It perched on the roof of Tatema's house. Still within sight of the archives, but far enough. Tsunade gave him a thumbs up.

It was pure curiosity that made Tsunade follow. The archives was as small and musty with the weight of history. Tatema had gone through with the rearrangement of the books, but everything else was the same. Saika was drawn to the empty wall at the end, and Tsunade followed suit. Saika laid her palm on the surface, muttering voicelessly to herself. Then she asked for a kunai, and Tsunade took one out and sliced her own palm. Saika let out a small gasp.

Tsunade barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. The only child of the man they called the god of shinobi, and she acted like a delicate civilian. Was this really her mother? She stuck the bloody palm on the wall. It seemed to come alive, and hungry. It sapped more of her blood, but before she could withdraw her hand the blood ran on the wall. A thousand red worms turned ancient racing to the edges, and then dying. The dried husks formed some sort of a drawing… no, a writing, except they were not any characters she knew. But even as she thought so she started reading, the meaning making itself known to her mind.

This was truth itself. The origins and history of the shinobi world, and its destiny. So absorbed was she that Saika had to hold her shoulder to get her attention. "What do you see?"

"It's… can't you read?"

"No. At present it's speaking only to your blood."

Tsunade snorted, but told her anyway. It was a story. Humanity wrought in eternal war, the rabbit goddess from the moon and the demon tree, the mother of all chakra. And all shinobi, apparently. The mythical Sage of Six Paths and his sons, the just-so stories to explain the Uchiha and Senju's eternal feud.

There was something about the Sage's teachings too, but Saika said, "What about the bijū?"

"Uh… the Rikudo Sennin split the Juubi into nine smaller tailed beasts with his Rinnegan – great, more potential doujutsu for the Uchiha – and chucked the remaining husk to the moon. Nine of them, really? Just one is a pain in the ass."

"Not all of them are as destructive as the Kyūbi, although they are certainly not human. Civilisations fell at their whims. Though in the end the Shodai Hokage subdued them all. Contained each in a jinchūriki, fashioned after Obā-chan."

"What, all nine of them?"

"Your Ojī-chan then made the bijū gifts for the other hidden villages, so they wouldn't go to war. Even one as small as Taki. They had sent an assassin after him, because they were small and desperate. He defeated the assassin, effortlessly, I was given to believe. But visiting the village, he was moved into sympathising with their plight. He gave them the Nanabi, so that they could stand against the larger villages."

Somehow it was this deed, and not his subjugation of nine primordial chakra demons, that propelled Grandpa into mythical territory for Tsunade. Saika said, "Well, they've lost their jinchūriki. The Takikage was just here begging for Kagami-kun's help."

"Well, that's stupid. But whoever wrote this wanted 'the heirs of the body' to take care of them. Did Ojī-chan know?"

A strange look passed through Saika's face. "He never talked to me about it. It was Tobirama-ojisama who showed me, although neither of us could unlock it."

Tsunade withdrew her hand. The writing faded in an instant, leaving a smooth stone wall. "So you came back for this."

Saika blew a long, pained sigh. "I came back for you, Tsunade. You, and Nawaki, were the reason I left. In time Obā-chan will die, but the Kyūbi might not die with her. And the Kyūbi of all bijū will not stay quiet after such a long and humiliating incarceration. Obā-chan believed it must be contained, and I'm inclined to agree. Yet it is only her Uzumaki blood that made her fit to be a jinchūriki, the same blood that flows through me to you and Nawaki. It's a wretched life, being a jinchūriki. I couldn't bear it. I had to leave. I had to learn, and seek a better answer.

"My poor daughter. I've failed you. The demon fox should never have been your inheritance. Please forgive your useless mother… please give me a chance to fix this."


The bit with Hashirama and Taki and the Nanabi was borrowed from EndoplasmicPanda with permission.

I haven't been putting up notes because, haha, self, why so pretentious. But I might as well:

1. On names: Hashirama and his brothers followed a naming convention of household item + ma (間, loosely translated as space). I'm simply extending the convention to an entire branch of the Senju family beginning with Hashirama's great-grandfather. Kabema is written 壁間 (wall+space) and Tatema 盾間 (shield+space).

For the women, the third databook gave Tōka's name as 桃華, or peach flower. Flowery names wouldn't be amiss for Hashirama's descendant, so Tsunade's phantom Senju parent was born Saika 彩華, or colored/painted flower. Yes, probably the same Sai whose weapon was painting. Hōka, on the other hand, has nothing to do with flower. 放火 is a set that means setting fire, and 砲火 means gundpowder. Perfectly good Uchiha name, right? So her father, Setsuna, named her 蜂窩 or beehive, also pronounced the same, because he found the baby's cry shrill and annoying.

2. Let's pretend for a moment that the Sage wrote a tablet for the Senju too, and the contents are pretty much the same so I didn't have to write more exposition.

3. Dan's little sister is Shizune's mother, who in canon died and gave Dan the motivation to advocate Tsunade's ideas - and a dead sibling to bond over with Tsunade. We have no age for her, although she can't have been too much younger given Shizune's own age.

4. Saika should be the last major OC for a while.