Tsunade was in a foul mode right now. The trip to the land of steel was simple enough, they were in a group with twenty ninjas who were all between Jounin to Elite Jounin level after all. Add in Tsunade and their group was more than strong enough to topple at least a few small nations quickly if they were to try, so reaching the land of Steel was very simple.
No, the foul mode from Tsunade came from the fact that she could not stop on the way to any casinos since they were to travel as incognito as possible seeing as they were carrying a large amount of cash for the purchase.
She originally thought she could maybe, just maybe, visit at least one casino once she was in the land of steel. Scratch her itch so to say. However-
"How can an entire country not have even a single casino?!" Tsunade complained once more as she was riding on top of the caravan returning to Konoha.
They were currently in the most dangerous spot for the travel, seeing as they were in the land of Birds, a territory between the lands of Wind and Earth. This was a nation that, during the first shinobi war, was decimated by the One Tail alone and had not truly recovered since, becoming a disorganized mess internally with many warlords present and under heavy influence of both Wind and Earth nations and a place they used to make trade when necessary.
Konoha and the Fire Nation's influence here was minimal and Tsunade had little doubt that both Iwagakure and Sunagakute knew of their presence right now. She was so blatant about her being present because she was confident her present would work as a deterrent against the villages to not try and be foolish, so now that they had passed the midway point and should completely pass this country by the end of the day, Tsunade just felt a bit bored.
On the side, Hizashi Hyuga gave a troubled smile as he saw the woman all but whine about the lack of casinos and gambling opportunities. He and another three Hyuga ninjas were assigned this mission, they were to keep watch in rotation on the surroundings to avoid ambushes as much as they possibly could.
"... Troublesome woman." Shinka Nara, a jonin of the Nara clan and cousin to Shukaku, complained on his side as he saw Tsunade's actions. He was to serve as planner and strategist in case something goes wrong as well as help plan out their route to avoid troubles. "Did your bugs find anything?"
"Nothing." Zeku Aburame said on his side. He was someone Hiruzen put on this mission specifically to try and cover for any possible flaw from the Hyuga clan Byakugan detection.
It was a bit too much, no doubt, but it was a valid consideration overall. The Third Hokage did not want to risk any trouble on this mission, not only for the war implications but because of the political ones.
As for Tsunade, she simply did some hand signs and with a 'poof' Katsuyu appeared before her.
"Lady Tsunade, do you need anything?" Katsuyu asks, her voice calm as she observes with some happiness that Tsunade managed to actually do the summoning herself even with her PTSD not being healed and she not using the genjutsu this time.
Months with Katsuyu using the genjutsu and lowering its effectiveness very slightly with time made it so that Tsunade unconsciously stopped being 'triggered' by the sight of blood. By now something of the level of the few drops used for summoning are simple for Tsunade.
Who knows, in time she might completely get over it. It would likely take a while, but it would happen.
"So, what is the kid doing these days?" Tsunade asks her summons in curiosity. She had told Setsuna to train well during this time she was away and she wanted to make sure he was advancing well with her assignment. As for Shizune, Tsunade had no worries about the girl since she knew her well and she was not as divided into what she was focusing on as Setsuna was.
"He is doing well, his strange force technique has been growing steadily and he also has learned some new seals from Kushina. He has also been taking some of the herbs from my forest and asked me to plant some there as well just yesterday, something about him wanting to experiment with them." Katsuyu said and Tsunade nodded her head in understanding.
On the side, Hizashi noticed what Katsuyu said and was surprised by Tsunade having taught Setsuna about her jutsu.
The Strange Force technique was halfway into a secret family technique for the Senjuu, Tsunade having evolved it even further than others before her so if she actually taught it to Setsuna it would truly be quite amazing.
At the same time though, Hizashi worried since he had heard of how this was a proper A rank jutsu that needed a strong physique and extremely precise chakra control otherwise injuries would be normal.
He might not be too close to Setsuna, but Hizashi still worried for his safety and wellbeing and health, coming to somewhat appreciate the boy despite his obvious displeasure towards the clan. It was exactly this care that made him not speak of Setsuna's views to the elders and just let them continue seeing him as a disciple for the granddaughter of the First Hokage instead of someone who deeply despises them.
"Lady Tsunade, I did not know that young Setsuna had learned that jutsu. Is it safe for him to practice it alone? Would it not be better if he only practices it when you are around?" Hizashi questioned to which Tsunade snorted.
"As if that kid needs me around to watch over his training all that much. His chakra control is quite incredible for his age and his byakugan allowed for him to understand my technique extremely quickly. Add in the advantage he showed when practicing healing jutsu, it makes me wonder if we could not arrange for more Hyugas to become medic-nin too, it is a waste for there to be so few who take this path." Tsunade said with a tone of praise.
In the past she had heard many times about how the Byakugan and the Sharingan were two of the strongest doujutsus, but she always thought that the Sharingan was the superior one for most things. However, after training Setsuna she for the first time in her entire life felt a small degree of jealousy towards another clan's skills. Training Setsuna about medic ninjutsu was exceedingly easy, she was sure that with just a few more months he'd likely be on the same level as even herself when it comes to this and a big part as to why came down to how useful those eyes were in training.
Now, if it was up to Tsunade, the Hyuga Clan should 100% become a clan who specializes not only on recognizance but also on healing. Just imagining dozens or even hundreds of medic ninjas who may reach even half of her level was enough for Tsunade to almost giggle in glee. Konoha would be way better served with this than with the current Hyuga and its infatuation with taijutsu and their own self worth.
However, it was not up to Tsunade to decide and Hizashi only could give a troubled smile.
"Sorry, I doubt that can work. The elders and the clan head both are firm in that we must keep our traditions which include the clan focus on the Gentle Fist." Hizashi said and Tsunade sagged her shoulders at his words. She knew it would not be possible, but she still hopes to one day make this stubborn clan see sense on this.
Hizashi, not minding Tsunade's thoughts, continued to try and change subjects.
"So, is Setsuna's gentle fist technique progressing well? He hasn't been returning to the clan as often so it is hard to tell."
"Oh, he is doing well enough. I honestly think he could already be Chunin by skill level alone, maybe special jounin as a medic-nin, but he is stubborn about not wanting to graduate early unless there is no other way." Tsunade said and Hizashi widened his eyes at that. He had no idea that Setsuna was already of that level.
He would have said more, but he noticed Tsunade giving him a signal that enemies were approaching, most likely from a signal given by the others around.
The time for talk was over, now was the time for fighting.
Tsunade, as the leader of the group, observed where exactly they were. This was a mountainous location which would be ideal for Iwa shinobi and their earth release, but they could not simply stop since they needed to take the caravan through this place.
After thinking for a bit, Tsunade came to a decision about how to go about it, a confident smirk on her face as she once more used her summoning technique, only this time it was not a palm sized Katsuyu she summoned. No, this time the one she summoned was the giant version of Katsuyu, the biggest one she could summon without making her too tired to fight personally (and yet, even if it was as big as the likes of Manda and Gamabunta, it was still only about 5% of the total size of Katsuyu).
"Get everything up top." Tsunade said, deciding not to pretend she could not find the ambushers.
Normally it was best to pretend and catch the ambushers unaware, but anyone that either Iwa or Suna sent would identify the multiple Hyugas as well as the Aburame clansman and understand that regular ambushes are useless. No, they would certainly come to attack them and most likely focus on destroying the supplies.
Tsunade knew this, as it was what she would have done in their place.
So, why not deny the enemy the easy target from keeping the caravan on the ground where an earth release jutsu might catch it?
The Nara amongst their group nodded his head at the decision, his mind already moving about what the ideal path forward would be.
On another spot a distance away, a short man with red hair and an irritated expression said.
"Damn, we were spotted after all. Guess we will have to go with my original plan as intended." The man said with the several other ninjas with the Iwa protector on their foreheads nodding their heads.
Seeing their agreement, the others stayed behind to wait as the red haired man moved forward a distance ahead. One, Two, three tails of crimson red chakra appeared behind him as his body was covered by red bijuu energy mixed with magma.
This was Roshi, the four tails jinchuuriki from Suna, one of the village's strongest ninjas of Iwa.
Normally the man would be against any job that Ohnoki asks of him out of sheer principle, but this time he accepted it since he wanted to show his worth to the village some more. Ohnoki was getting old and there were few if any shinobi in the village with the right strength and prestige that could come to replace him in time. Roshi was one of them, but he was a Jinchuuriki which made many fearful of putting him in charge, especially with his ideals being unlike those of previous Tsuchikages.
As such, the man needed to get accomplishments. Enough accomplishments to shut up all those who were against him so he could take over as Fourth Tsuchikage!
As the man darted to the convoy, Tsunade saw it and turned to the others.
"It seems Iwa wants to deal with us quite a bit. You lot, keep going ahead as I stop that red monkey, remember the importance of what you all are carrying." Tsunade said while, as she jumped away, she made a request to the small Katsuyu she was carrying on her back. It was only the size of a thumb, but it was enough for communication. "Katsuyu, inform Setsuna and tell him to go to ritual room 13 in the compound. A formation is already set there, if anyone is injured and I can't heal them, have him heal them through you using the formation." Tsunade explained. That was something she had created in the past during the second ninja war and in another timeline it would be the same thing she used to heal all of Konoha from the Hokage Tower. Only recently thought she decided to engrave it inside the compound to serve in case it was ever needed in a situation like now.
"Understood, good luck." Katsuyu said as she started to concentrate on using the genjutsu in Tsunade.
As the last Senjuu willingly let that Genjutsu take over, she smiled with confidence as she darted towards Roshi who, seeing her, smiled even through the second stage bijuu mode.
"Haha, good. With you not there, the others can destroy the convoy for sure." Roshi said, glad to see that Tsunade had come over to him.
Tsunade, though, was not worried. That group was composed of several leaf jounin and her Katsuyu was with them, so it would not be so easy to get to the supplies.
Due to that, she had no problem as she punched out at Roshi, the fist of both connecting and Roshi being sent flying away. Even if Roshi had used his lava chakra mode together with his bijuu form transformation his physical strength was still no match for Tsunade's raw power, but he was not discouraged by it as he saw Tsunade's first with serious burns.
He was, after all, covered in magma.
But, his smirk vanished as she saw Tsunade's fist healing fast as she just did two hand signs and a green glow covered her hands, healing her up.
"... Well, it would not be interesting otherwise." Roshi said, his confidence not wavering as he did hand signs to continue his attack. "Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique." Roshi said as he spewed out several magma spheres at Tsunade who avoided or destroyed them all with a punch as she approached Roshi.
Even if burns appeared on her fists and body she did not stop as she approached Roshi and continued her brawl with the man. The two soon entered a stalemate as Roshi had to do his best to run away and keep a distance, avoiding her close range, but having trouble as staying on a distance gave Tsunade the chance to heal herself.
He could only shake his head inside and admit, albeit unwillingly, that this woman truly was a monster. This was a fight of if he would wear her out first, or she'd hit him enough times first.
Thus the two fought it out, the others moving ahead.
However, what Tsunade had not known was that it was not only Iwa that had come to attack them. A distance away from where they were fighting, Suna ninjas from the puppetry corps were lying in ambush.
The leader of this operation was none other than Sasori, grandson of Chiyo and hailed as the greatest puppetry genius Suna has ever had. His fame had grown explosively within Suna, especially after the fight against the White Fang of Konoha… but the man was not satisfied by it.
Sure, he had made Hatake Sakumo run away to save his companions, but the man who killed his parents was still alive! Sasori wanted to kill him, that was one of the few emotions that still shined bright within him, something that in another timeline he would have lost when Sakumo committed suicide.
Now though, his target for hatred was still alive and if this mission could hurt Konoha that would be great. Who knows, maybe he'd cut off the heads of the Konoha Shinobi and send them back to see if they'd declare war, make Sakumo come out of 'hiding' and die by Sasori's own hands.
With such happy thoughts, the man waited with five other sand shinobi for this ambush. There were very few of them, but they were all puppeteers! As long as there were enough puppets, even a single puppeteer was no worse than several platoons of trained Shinobi.
After a few minutes of waiting, finally the two sides met and Sasori moved his puppets to attack. Two of his puppets, Karasu and Kuroai moved at the same time as they darted at the Konoha Shinobi, Sasori confident he'd eliminate them in seconds.
This, however, was not what happened as the puppets were stopped by two Hyuga jounin as Hizashi moved ahead. He had experience during the second shinobi war with fighting against puppeteers and their greatest nemesis on the battlefield were precisely the type of ninjas that came this time.
The Aburame clan whose insects could find and eat the chakra strings as well as break the puppets from the inside, as well as the Hyuga clan whose vision can let them see clearly the chakra strings so they can cut or follow them. Needless to say, the Third Hokage had prepared for this situation as he made the preparations by choosing this group to follow Tsunade.
"... Irritating." Sasori said in a monotone tone as he and his squad summoned out their various puppets, the two sent first having been dealt with by the hands of those two Hyugas who also had some experience from the Second Shinobi War.
The genius of Sand Shinobi pulled out his thirty puppets all at once as the others summoned several puppets as well. Hizashi grimaced as he saw this scene but his heart was firm. He'd win this and make the sand shinobi retreat!
On the other side of Katsuyu, the giant slug helped some of Konoha shinobi as the group from Iwa got to them. They were all members of the Explosion Corps, an elite team from Iwa who all had the Explosion release. Their leader, Gari, cursed as he tried to fight the Konoha shinobi but it was clear that things would not be so simple.
Sure, the man was a strong elite jonin with years of experience and had no fear or personally dying, but the Konoha shinobi in front of him either used water release to dampen any fires he creates or used lightning release to contain and counter the explosion release. Sure, they were not as suited to face the earth release jutsus he launched, even being relatively weak against it, but Katsuyu's enormous body was giving them trouble regardless and pieces of her detached from the main body to launch acid at them.
Even when he managed to explode one of said parts, the blown up pieces just turned into more small Katsuyus which could still launch extremely corrosive acid.
The battle continued on for several hours, enemies retreating and coming back several times as the skirmish did not stop and the Konoha shinobi, in time, started to grow wearier. Injuries started picking up, but they were soon healed by the Katsuyus touching them and, after a long time, Suna had no choice but to retreat.
Sasori was not satisfied by this. After the last fight against Sakumo his confidence was at an all time high so being unable to kill more than two of the Hyuga Jonins was not something he appreciated. He might have managed to do more, but when Katsuyu started intervening on that side of the conflict things went entirely to shit. Her acid breaking and damaging several of Sasori's puppets which he decided to leave behind.
What he seeks is eternal artistic perfection, clinging on to puppets that were defective and broken is not something he would do.
"... I need to invest more on anti-acid resin for future puppets." Sasori grumbled as he ended up losing a grand total of 21 of his 32 puppets.
Oh, and the other puppeteers too, but his worries about his puppets were way higher than those inconsequential guys. At least those destroyed puppets showed him some flaws of his current designs and the ones he'd make in the future would be much more deadly and cover the flaws he saw this day. Next time, he would become much, much more dangerous.
As for Iwa, when Konoha turned all their attention to them, Gari decisively sounded the retreat after he killed another two konoha jounin, both from the Sarutobi clan. The man was not so dumb as to stick around and risk his men's lives when there was little chance of success or victory.
He could only curse that Tsunade's summon beast was far too useful and was the main reason why this mission failed. If not for it and her stopping Hoshi a distance away then they would have succeeded without a doubt.
Finally, as the group from Konoha regrouped, Tsunade cursed as she saw that a total of eight of the twenty shinobis perished on this mission. That was no small loss, even if they still managed to at least cause some serious damage to both the explosion corps and kill several puppeteers from Suna the damage was still much more serious than what the last Senjuu found acceptable.
Still, she had a smile on her face as she saw that of the few injured present they were clearly being healed at a visible speed with the help of Katsuyu and, by extension, Setsuna.
'That kid, maybe I should talk to him about signing the Slugs contract.' Tsunade thought to herself as she had to admit that he was clearly doing a good job.
As she approached the group the others stopped to stare at her in shock since, on her hand, she was carrying over nothing less than a large furry tail.
As it turns out, during the intense combat Roshi lost control for a little while of his Bijuu and he transformed fully into his giant form, the Bijuu only retreating back into the seal thanks to the pendant Tsunade carried with her helping weaken it enough to where Roshi regained control. But that window of opportunity was only helped by Tsunade literally catching the Four Tails bijuu by one of its tails and swinging it around until the tail was ripped out.
With everyone looking at her, Tsunade smirked and said.
"My spoils of war." She said with a confident and heroic tone that made all others gulp as they could well imagine how Tsunade got her hands on one of the tails from the Bijuu.
Looking around Tsunade saw several puppets, entire and in pieces, thrown around. Normally puppets were deemed as useless by anyone not from Suna, not because they were weak or something but because puppets normally were designed to be undone or just explode if someone were to try and dissect them in the wrong way.
The village hidden in the sand always took this extra step to ensure that no other village could recreate their art, they were so paranoid about no one stealing the manner with which they create puppets that the technique was only passed from teacher to student and there was no unified place to learn it properly.
As such, in normal cases any shinobi would just destroy the puppets from a safe distance and leave it be, but Tsunade had a unique idea as she saw those puppets. The war was clearly getting closer and closer from happening, Tsunade could see it and with how boldly both Suna and Iwa were acting she was sure it would not take too long before it exploded.
Personally, she'd give at most another five years before it explodes, maybe less, and after her last experience with a war she didn't know if she would be able to handle if once more those she cares for died. She did not fear for the likes of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Hiruzen, or even Kushina as they were older and had their own hole cards that made them unlikely to perish in a war, but her two apprentices were an entirely different story.
Shizune was one that Tsunade felt she could at least make sure she'd stay in the Konoha Hospital, back in the village helping there and saving lives while very, very far from any real danger… but Setsuna was different. If a war starts she has no doubt the Hyuga clan would send him to the frontlines and, her student or not, she would be unable to stop this. The Byakugan was simply too valuable to allow to stay in the village, the clan needing to send a high amount of ninjas as for their quota and Tsunade had no doubt that there would at most be four or five ninjas from the main branch while anyone above the age of six with the Byakugan in the side branch were likely to be sent.
She has seen it happening back in the second shinobi war after all, heck it was even stated in the contract the Hyuga clan signed when joining Konoha that the main branch was only obligated to send one main branch ninja by every 50 side branch ones and the command of the side branch ninjas had to go through the main branch ones that were to command them. It was a disgusting agreement in Tsunade's eyes, but it was the only way at the time for the Hyuga clan to accept joining Konoha instead of going with their allies of the Kaguya clan in the land of Water.
Personally, Tsunade thought that the only reason this was accepted was that her grand uncle Tobirama wanted to make the Uchiha clan, the long time rival of the Hyugas, uncomfortable. He had a really big hate boner towards the Uchiha clan.
Anyway, with the puppets around Tsunade sent a mental message to Katsuyu who divided several parts of herself and covered every puppet she could find, swallowing each and every one of them. Hizashi, seeing this, approached Tsunade and asked.
"Lady Tsunade, why are you doing this?"
"I just want to see if the kid can figure out how those puppets work and make use of them. At least, if he can use puppets, he would be safer if a fight does happen as he can use them to face the enemy first and not risk himself now that he is still so young." Tsunade explained and Hizashi wanted to protest against this decision from the slug princess.
Setsuna was already deviating too much from the traditional path of a Hyuga, if the clan elders hear he was going so far as to use puppets in battle instead of the gentle fist they might use the cage bird on him just out of spite. It was a ridiculous thing, Hizashi and anyone smart enough could say as much, but no one accused the Hyuga clan elders of being actually smart. They were simply born on the position and, in most cases, never once had to actually go to the front to fight or go through any life or death struggle.
It was not their fate to do such lowly things, after all.
Hizashi, however, was smart enough not to complain and say 'no' to the woman who clearly was thinking about what was best for her student… and had just thrown a twenty meters tall monkey by its tail as if it was nothing much. Let it not be said that Hizashi was a fool, one didn't survive as head of the side branch of the Hyuga clan without a good head on his shoulders and very keen survival instincts.
Still, he could not help but speak up.
"I hope he succeeds, but make sure that he doesn't stop or abandon his training with the Gentle Fist."
Tsunade, more or less guessing what Hizashi was thinking, nodded her head in understanding. She also would rather not give those old peacocks who do nothing good to have an excuse to cause any trouble with her student… especially since she might just end up going through a bit of a masacre if that happens and that would mess up with the village her grandfather worked so hard to build.
And so, despite the losses, the caravan managed to withstand the ambush they went through and reached Konoha after another week of travel.