WhIP

by footfungus

nederlands verhalen over mijn otp

215. Chapter 215

Chapter 1: Reincarnation Could've Gone Better

Chapter Text

She spent the first weeks of her new life in a constant, consistent state of confusion, too unfocused to really process what went on around her. The shapes and colors saturating her impaired vision gradually sharpened into something resembling people, often the ones she would later recognize as her parents.

The sounds they made when they spoke were simultaneously familiar and foreign: she could recognize that she was being cooed at, for example, but the words spoken in the soft tone were foreign and their meaning eluded her.

Clarity did not come gradually. Instead, she woke one morning with the fog previously clouding her mind completely gone, as if she'd submerged her head in a near-frozen pond to revitalize herself.

Well, she certainly was awake, now. In fact, she was finally aware enough for her baby senses to become completely overwhelming in their distortion and proceeded to spend the next day projectile vomiting absolutely everywhere. She was vaguely aware of her parents carrying her out of the house at some point but only spared it thought when her nausea subsided as suddenly as it had appeared.

Opening her eyes brought her face to face with a person-shaped blob with long, brown hair and white attire. There was a flash of green there, too, though she wasn't sure if it came from the same person or from another. Either way, with the issue seemingly resolved, she was too exhausted by the whole ordeal to do anything but immediately fall asleep.

When she next woke, the illness was back in full power. She had just surrendered herself to another day of feeling like absolute shit when a spoonful of liquid was shoved into her mouth, tasting so foul it couldn't be anything but medicine.

The syrup was hard to keep down but she managed it, somehow, earning a pleased hum from her probably-mother who had fed it to her.

The nausea wasn't gone, this time, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been before. She almost cried from the sheer relief of the realization but held back, lest she worried her mother.

She spent several more days doing little more than sleeping, eating and taking the gross medicine before her mind had cleared up again.

Enough for her to realize that she was a fucking baby, because, what? How the fuck didthathappen?!

She considered that she might be hallucinating, at first, or that the memories she had of another life were just daydreams. Some of the visions plaguing her mind were too vivid to fit into that mold, though.

Especially the ones surrounding her death.

So she was reborn. Okay, okay, okay. That's okay, right? She had plenty of time to figure things out before anyone would expect any adulting from her. Shit, she didn't even have to talk yet! She could do this. She could totally do this.

Except, no, she couldn't.

The world she had been reborn into looked a lot like the one she'd lived in, before. Her new birthplace was decidedly more rural, judging both by the design of her house and people's attire (or, what little of them she could make out with her shitty baby vision). The language, which she tentatively began trying to make sense of, made her pin her location to somewhere in Asia.

No issues, so far. She could stand to learn another language and her privileged upbringing in her other life would cover whatever her new family could not provide for her in terms of education.

She should've known that she'd carry her shitty luck from her past life into this one, though.

It was a day like any other that her hopes of a good life were shattered. She'd been getting better, recently, and the doses of medicine she was fed have been gradually growing smaller. Her mother finally elected to take her outside the house, carrying her bundled up form into some sort of park or a very, very big garden. She was left to crawl around on the soft green grass covering every last bit of the ground beneath, protected from the sun by the shade of absolutely gigantic trees, the fallen leaves of which she ended up playing with. There was wind on her face and she could hear water bubbling somewhere to her left.

The sheer serenity of the entire scene had her lying on her back, eyes closed, enjoying the reprieve from her normally extremely distracting senses.

Her peace was disturbed by the loud appearance of a figure that was decidedly a man's, armed to the teeth and wearing a metal chestplate. He exchanged a few curt words with her mother before bringing his hands together and disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Or, more accurately, exploding into one.

Just as sharply as it did the first time, the world around her came into focus. From her position lying on the grass she could see, for the very first time, the worry in her mother's brown eyes. She shot a glance at her pursed lips before letting her eyes wander lower, over the beautifully embroidered traditional attire her mother donned.

She stayed in a state of shock while the woman carried her back into the house, which she could now tell was nowhere near as plain as she initially thought: there were beautiful, intricate paintings of flowers and trees on massive scrolls hanging on the walls and a pleasant scent of quality incense saturating the entire space. Most notable, however, was the altar in the room she was brought into, upon which stood a mesmerizing statue of Senju Kannon - the Thousand Armed goddess of mercy, a vision in gold that shone beautifully in the sunlight of early afternoon.

The previous assessment of her family's wealth had very obviously been very, very wrong.

Her mother did not wear a forehead protector.

Her father, who arrived at the house soon after them, did.

The two adults proceeded to converse as if nothing at all was amiss, as if their daughter had not recently been brutally murdered only to be reborn into a world perpetually plagued by war and near-unimaginable violence.

As babies are wont to do, she cried. If her parents caught on to the fact that her tantrum was, in any way, different from the ones she usually threw, they didn't show it.

Realizing that she was in the Narutoverse was not the last of it.

Her parents only ever called her Tsuna but her full name was fucking Tsunade. Senju Tsunade, probably, judging by the fact that her grandfather (who absolutely doted on her) was often referred to as "Hokage-sama".

Being reborn as Tsunade was even more fucked up than simply being reborn into a world that she previously thought was fictional because, really? Really? Was she so unlucky that she had to lose even the reincarnation lottery? Fuck that.

The fact that she would be not-so-gently guided to the path of a kunoichi was not one of her many qualms with her new life: the Senju, like most other shinobi clans, were patriarchal. She'd be expected to make genin, sure, but no one would push Tsunade to advance any further in the ranks. In fact, she was certain that she would be encouraged to "settle down with a nice man" picked by her parents as soon as she was of age. Ugh.

Oh, the perks of not being the clan heir. Her future brother, who she was pretty sure was supposed to die as a kid, will have no such luck.

Whatdidirk Tsunade about her family placement was the fact that she was born, like,forty yearsbefore the main plotline of the series! She knew just enough to inevitably feel bad about it when things went south but not enough to prevent them from doing so.

Which was fantastic. Really, just fucking great.

Tsunade didn't spend much time considering whether or not she would even be using her ill-gained knowledge; she had inevitably already changed things just by being reincarnated into this world as a key player like Tsunade. There was no point in trying to let events play out naturally and hope that the good guys still won in the end - they might not. Who knows if you can even have plot armor when a story becomes reality?

Either way, Tsunade will be interfering with fate. She'll probably start wreaking havoc as soon as she is able, which only left the question ofhow.

She didn't feel particularly inclined to follow the other Tsunade's route. She was a different person, naturally, with different desires and ambitions, different hopes and dreams.

More than anything else, she wanted that which was denied her in her last life - peace and health and a loving family.

She's unlikely to get any of the above if she walked the already trodden path, seeing as Tsunade was a killer-for-hire and the last scion of her entire clan.

There was no rush in figuring out how she was going to get what she wanted, though, at least not yet. Tsunade was just starting to get the hang of the local tongue and making brave attempts at walking; no one will expect her to be making life decisions in quite some time.

So, rather than dwell on the heavy, heavy burden that will likely accompany her for the rest of this life, Tsunade allowed herself to enjoy being a child.

Her parents, Hiroki and Yoko, were pretty fucking great. Hiroki often disappeared for long missions but he made sure to be present and active in the time he did spend with his daughter. He taught her how to hold onto him when sitting on his shoulders and gave her tours of the village, sometimes bringing her to the jounin headquarters to entertain his friends. He started teaching her how to swim (or rather, float) pretty early on, too, which wasn't surprising considering they belonged to a shinobi clan. Practical skills were not something she was opposed to learning, ever.

Her mother seemed to really enjoy the whole parenting schtick, too. Senju Yoko spent countless hours softly speaking to her daughter who could understand one word out of twenty said, patiently and kindly helping her learn how to communicate. She played with Tsunade often and, oddly enough, the games were interesting: they were mainly designed to improve her dexterity, which was severely lacking at the time thanks to her chubby infant fingers. Ugh.

Her favorite people, though, were her grandpa and his brother. She felt bad about it, at first, because she didn't want to ignore all the hard work her parents put into caring for her, but the brothers were just sofun. They did not shy away from throwing her high into the air then catching her, or taking the scenic route (read: the roofs) through the village when carrying her. Hell, they even played catch with her as the ball, once! Tsunade had literally pissed herself from laughing too hard and she had absolutely zero regrets about the whole thing, thank you.

Hashirama, who had already passed the hat to his brother at the time, had more time and energy to spare. He was very in-your-face about his adoration for his granddaughter and would often come by the house to 'kidnap' her unannounced. Her mother seemed to find it hilarious, judging by her secret smiles, but only ever shook her head at his shenanigans.

Tobirama, now the Second Hokage, lacked his brother's general cheer. He never turned down an opportunity to hold her when it came by but he didn't go out of his way to have a turn caring for her, either. He didn't seem very…happy. The Hokage obviously found meaning and purpose in his work but she wasn't sure if it actually brought him any joy along with it. Tobirama never smiled or laughed or joked but he never yelled or showed sadness, either. In fact, Tsunade wasn't sure if she ever saw him showing any emotion at all.

She'd lived as an adult before, though, so she knew that it didn't necessarily mean that her granduncle was miserable. People found joy in different things and broadcasted them in different ways; she shouldn't be comparing him to his brother in that aspect.

What Tsunade did do, however, was very insistently shower him with just a bit more affection than she did anyone else. She gestured for him to carry her whenever his hands were free and immediately snuggled into him when he complied. She fell asleep in his arms often though that part was not intentional - he was just very comfortable, she couldn't help it.

Her first word wasn't planned, though maybe it ought to have been. There was an outdoor clan gathering of sorts, Tsunade wasn't sure what for, but everyone around her was celebrating. It was loud and bright and pretty rough on her senses but she didn't want to make her parents leave too early; they deserved some reprieve, too. Rather than voice her dismay, Tsunade quietly sat in her mother's lap while she talked to another woman about something related to child-proofing a shinobi's house. Tsunade couldn't follow most of the conversation but the gist of it was clear.

A loud roar of laughter drew her attention to another gathering of adults, at the center of which she could see the familiar spikes of white hair she associated with her granduncle. Realizing that he'd be much more fun to spend time with in this boring party, Tsunade began to wriggle in her mother's arms. The woman was too engrossed in her chat, however, to notice her child's restlessness. Tsunade groaned loudly in an attempt to draw the woman's attention but that failed, too.

She didn't mean to start crying but her tiny body did not process emotions well and the slightest sign of distress made her tear up. Her sobbing inevitably alerted her mother to the issue.

"Ah, it seems that Tsunade is getting tired." She told her friend, her features twisting into something between aplogy and misery.

"It is getting late." Agreed the other woman, an older redhead wearing a forehead protector etched with a design that was decidedly not Konoha's insignia.

Her mother brushed a strand of her long, blond hair behind her ear and nodded solemnly. "We should be going."

That wasn't what Tsunade wanted, though, so she began struggling in her mother's grip again. She managed to get her hands free and raise them in the general direction of her granduncle.

"There, there." Cooed her mother, picking her up. She quickly said her goodbyes and headed towards their home.

"Oji!" Tsunade cried out, not even registering that it was her own voice that spoke the word. "Oji!"

Her mother stopped in her tracks.

"What did you say?" She asked quietly and turned to her daughter, a hint of surprise in her dark eyes.

Tsunade's mind finally caught up to her mouth. She felt panic rise up her throat like bile but managed to push it down before it showed on her face, reassuring herself internally that her slip-up would not screw her over. She was in the age range where kids started talking, probably; she could salvage this.

Rather than try and hide her mistake Tsunade decided to roll with it: "Oji." She repeated stubbornly, once again reaching with her arms in the same direction as before.

A soft smile split her mother's face. "I see." She said softly and nodded, beginning to head in the direction of the target Tsunade had set.

She didn't praise her daughter for the accomplished feat nor did she seem upset about her first word being a demand for her uncle. She held Tsunade a little tighter as she walked, though, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Sorry to interrupt." She began demurely, stepping into the circle of shinobi currently monopolizing the Hokage's attention. "Tsunade asked for you to hold her."

The man's white brows rose but he plucked the girl from her mother's arms without complaint. "She talks?" He asked, his voice a deep rumble that reverberated where Tsunade's cheek rested on his chest.

"She does now." Replied her mother, mirth saturating her voice. There was something teasing in it, too, smug perhaps, but Tsunade couldn't name it without further input from her mother's expression which she currently could not see.

She chose that moment to find granduncle's gaze, shoot him the widest grin she could muster and cheerfully say: "Oji!" as she extended her arms towards him again.

He didn't smile; he never smiled. But there was a very obvious shifting ofsomethingin his red eyes and, like her mother before him, Tobirama held her a little tighter. "Enjoy your night, Yoko-san." He told her mother, voice a little hoarse. "I'll watch her for a while."

"Oji." Tsunade firmly agreed, feeling a little bit like Groot. It would be weird if she just started talking, though, right? She'll call for her mom next week or something.

Or tomorrow. Honestly, Senju Yoko deserved better.

Tobirama did indeed keep her occupied for a while longer. Tsunade happily spent that time playing with his hair once he had seated her atop his broad shoulders, trying to make sense of the conversations he had. Japanese was a difficult language to learn but she already knew enough to infer the meanings of at leastsomeof the words that popped up often in their conversation.

She didn't remember falling asleep but she must have; her eyes opened to a slit and met a red gaze as she was lowered into bed. Her granduncle donned the same stoic expression that he always did but there was warmth in his eyes and it spread until Tsunade could feel it in her own belly, too.

She felt loved.

"Oji." She whispered, giving his hand one last squeeze, then fell back asleep.

Chapter 2: The Road Not Taken

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade is having an absolute blast being a kid.

There's a deadline looming over her head, though. If she's to have any hope of not being the last Senju in twenty years' time, Tsunade has to become a kunoichi.

She considers four options: becoming a frontline fighter, a medic-nin, an assassin or a spy. The last two are shot down quickly and trauma from her previous life bars her from becoming a healer so Tsunade decides to become a Naruto, basically.

Her certainty as to her choice fades when an emergency brings her to the hospital, which is in such a sorry state that she hesitates to call it a hospital at all. The dismissive treatment of medic-nin infuriates her further.

Tsunade is left to reconsider her next play.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

You guys.
YOU GUYS!
The response to the first chapter was unbelievable! Thank you so much for your comments, your kudos and for reading my work at all :')
Special thanks to Juliedoo who left me a comment that had me feeling euphoric for a full day lol. Thank you all for your investment in this story :D
See you guys next Saturday (or, knowing me, this Saturday, as I can't seem to restrain myself from posting more lol)

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The mistaken impression of having time before she acted on her foreknowledge faded soon after the village began to change rapidly under the Second Hokage's command. There was an Academy for shinobi now! Chunin Exams were a thing! People, unsurprisingly, seemed happier the further they distanced themselves from the war and the village was flourishing thanks to its new leader.

Tsunade could walk and talk and thus became a menace, like all kids her age ought to be. She played along when her grandpa taught her gambling games, despite her parents' exasperation, and didn't take it to heart when she lost every time. The other Tsunade's rotten luck wasn't to blame for this; her luck was abysmal before she was reborn, too.

Life was good.

Like all pleasant things, though, the illusion of peace came to an end. It wasn't some grand event or a war that disillusioned her: it was the casual disregard towards the Uchiha, who may not have been treated as badly as canon Naruto was but weren't very well liked, either. The few times that she approached other Uchiha kids to play ended in immediate rejection, most often brought on by the kids' parents pulling them away.

Tsunade couldn't blame them for it; she was the Senju Princess, after all, and if any harm came to her while they played, the Uchiha would doubtlessly get blamed for it.

Understanding the reasons behind the effect made it no less hurtful.

It did force her to face reality, though: Her grandpa was going to die soon, there's going to be a war and she was pretty sure that she'll already be out of the Academy by the time it starts. Even if Tsunade herself was spared, there's no forgetting the fact that the other Tsunade was the last living Senju in canon. Something fucked up is going to happen to her clan and, with no foreknowledge as to what it was, she will stand no chance of preventing it.

Whether she liked it or not, her life as she knew it was temporary.

What was she going to do, then? Did she even want to be a kunoichi? Tsunade certainly had the making of one, even without the advantage of being reborn: She was going to have phenomenal chakra control and a metric shit ton of it to wield.

Her thoughts wandered, then. She thought of her parents, both of whom had lost siblings; her grandpa, who'd lost two of his children; Her grandma, who had sacrificed her health to become the host of the nine-tails; her granduncle, who never let go of his hatred towards the Uchiha; her future little brother, who will be born into a world at war, who might not even make it to puberty...

She was going to lose so many people. So, so many people.

Tsunade wasn't conceited enough to think that she could save all of them. Shit, she'd be lucky if she managed to saveanyand good fortune was the one thing she had a shortage of. She wouldn't,couldn'ttrust the fates to grant her wishes, even if she somehow managed to stack the odds in her favor.

No, she'll have to take matters in her own hands if she was to change anything for the better.

Kunoichi life it is, then.

The decision may have seemed simple, as it followed very well structured logic, but it really, really wasn't. Tsunade wasn't even sure if she had what it takes to be a killer-for-hire, a straight upmurderer. To be perfectly honest, she was fairly certain that she didn't, which meant that she would have to learn. She wasn't sure what she dreaded more: the learning or the lesson.

Ugh.

It took several weeks for the gravity of the decision to fully settle. Her family had commented on her silence several times but no one pushed, which was for the best; Tsunade really didn't want to be pressured into lying, especially not to a bunch of shinobi who might actually call her out on it.

With that behind her, the next question begging her attention was whatsortof kunoichi did she want to be. A frontline fighter? A medic-nin? An assassin? A spy?

The last two were shot down immediately. Assassination wasn't a good match because, while she may be persuaded to kill in her own defense and that of teammates, Tsunade would have a harder time killing on orders. Spying would likely require the use of seduction techniques and, though she was less averse to those than to straight up fucking murder, no one in their right mind would let her tread that path.

The Senju Princess was 'above' such things.

She tried not to think about how fucked up it was a job so impactful was considered something to be ashamed of. If there was no need for kunoichi with that skillset, no woman would pursue it; seeing as seduction missions were very much a thing, kunoichi playing that game were positively vital to the village's conduct. Why the fuck were they scorned, then?

What a fucking joke.

The remaining options would have her become a powerhouse or a healer. The former would involve a lot of murder, seeing as someone strong enough to qualify would be best for riskier missions and those tended to go south more often. The path of a medic was barred to her, also, as she had already dedicated one life to it and for what? She was murdered by the same person she was trying to fucking help.

Tsunade just wasn't up for doing it again.

The lesser of four evils would be becoming a frontline fighter, then. Joy.

She didn't have time to come to terms with that decision, however, before more variables were added to the equation.

Tsunade spent the most wonderful morning in the Senju gardens sometime in early fall. Her mother had settled with her back to one of the majestic trees peppered all over, leaning against it and sighing at the relief it provided. She'd been unwell, recently, and had just recovered from a severe cold. She'd brought a book with her: a history tome designed as a storybook, made more palatable for children and (naturally) ripe with pro-Konoha and pro-Senju propaganda.

Tsunade was glad for it, however bare it was; even a vague reminder as to the many things she had forgotten about the Naruto series, like the Warring States Period, was welcome. She rested her head in her mother's lap, closed her eyes, and listened.

Her mother stopped mid-sentence.

Tsunade paid it no mind, at the time, assuming that the pause was designed to be dramatic. Her immersion was broken by the spine of the heavy book colliding with her nose.

She cried out and jumped to her feet, hand instinctively rising to her bleeding nose. A glance towards her mother through eyelashes heavy with tears revealed that the woman's eyes had fallen shut and her head had lolled to the side. "Okaa-san?" Tsunade asked, pinching her nose to slow the bleeding. Fuck, it hurt.

Anxiety rose from her stomach to her throat at the lack of response, trying to force its way out as if it was bile. Her heart was beating in her ears, making it difficult to concentrate on the situation at hand but Tsunade persisted: "Okaa-san?" She tried again, shaking the motionless woman's shoulder.

Still nothing.

"Help!" She yelled while simultaneously pulling her mother to the ground with as much care as she could manage. "Someone, help!"

A press of fingers to the woman's pulse point reassured Tsunade that her mother's heart was beating, still, though it raced much faster than she would have expected of a physically fit woman in her twenties.

She gently pulled her mother's eyelid up, just a little, and was glad to find no rapid eye movement . At least she wasn't dealing with a fucking stroke. A touch of fingers to the woman's forehead had Tsunade pulling away with a hiss.

Yeah, that was one high fever she was running.

"Help!" Tsunade tried again, though she already knew it was for naught. If there were no shinobi in range to hear her earlier cries, the most recent ones would go unnoticed, too.

Tsunade tore the sleeves off her dress, pushed the fabric into her nostrils and ran towards the compound. It was the greatest physical challenge she had faced in this life, so far: running at a high speed while half-blinded by tears and only breathing through her mouth was not easy, but she would do it. For her mom. The pain she endured didn't even factor in.

Was it Tsunade's fault that her mom collapsed? Was she going to die? What about her brother, Nawaki? Would him not being born be another death on her hands-?

"Shinobi-san!" She cried out as soon as she saw the first forehead protector. Her to-be savior was a teenager, barely past puberty, with short-cropped red hair and sea-blue eyes. "Shinobi-san, I need help!"

"Oi, kid, what happened- Senju-hime?!" His eyes widened at the sight she must have made, what with her torn clothes and the blood on her face, then again when he recognized her. "Were you attacked? Where-?"

"Not attacked!" She cut him off. "Okaa-san passed out. She needs to go to the hospital. Pick me up!"

"You're bleeding-"

"PICK ME UP!"

He didn't try arguing with her again.

Tsunade proceeded to give the boy the most precise directions she could muster, informing him of her mother's present pulse and fever. She almost cried in relief when they found the woman's form exactly where she had left it. "Can you carry her?" She asked him.

"Of course." He agreed, gently picking her up, then crouched with his back to Tsunade. "Here, climb up."

The journey to the hospital was both terrifying and exhilarating. The boy took to the roofs but he lacked the care that her grandpa and granduncle exuded around Tsunade, prioritizing speed over comfort. Tsunade tried to hang on to the straps of his armor rather than his neck, knowing that she would choke the living shit out of him otherwise.

They made it to the hospital in what felt like seconds but must've been several minutes. Her mother was breathing heavily, at this point, but at least she was fucking breathing.

Emotions were very hard to deal with, in this form. Not a single second has passed between her mother being submitted to the medics' care and Tsunade collapsing on the floor, crying.

The rest of the hospital visit passed in a haze. Her nose was treated, the blood was cleaned off and a kind nurse brought her a hospital gown to change into. The red-haired boy who helped Tsunade earlier found her a place to sit in the waiting room before disappearing, only to return a short time later with dango. She didn't have it in her to speak, yet, but Tsunade shot him a grateful glance, hugged him tightly around his torso and proceeded to quietly nibble on the offered treat.

Without saying another word, the boy sat down next to her. Together, they waited.

Konoha's hospital was a flaming, stinking pile of shit.

Fuck, it was generous to call it a hospital at all. There was a shortage of staff, both professional and administrative, a very limited amount of medicine and barely enough space to accommodate a few dozen people. Tsunade felt that the general attitude among the medics was something in the lines of "keep them alive until their chakra heals them on its own" with no regard for risk or discomfort.

Where the fuck were all the medic-nin, anyway? Civilian doctors could do a lot, sure, but wasn't the whole point of being a shinobi abusing the cheaty magic system?

She asked around a bit after she calmed down. Turns out that the hospitaldoeshave medic-nin, but they were only available on emergencies! Not only that, but they wouldn't treat anyone under chunin toconserve manpower, in the nurse's words.

It was bad enough, of course, that the nurse saw no issue with the protocol. She found this to be a recurring pattern in Konoha - the people were so set in their ways, in most aspects, that they simply wouldn't notice the things they overlooked or took for granted, this among them.

"Is it because they're too busy with fieldwork? How many medic-nin does the hospital employ?"

Tsunade didn't get her second question answered, unfortunately, as the nurse found the first so hilarious that she broke out laughing, effectively forcing the dialogue into a halt.

"Medic-nin don't belong on the field, kid." She said matter-of-factly.

Tsunade saw red.

She wasn't sure if the surge of emotion had to do with the semi-traumatic event that occurred that morning, her being an emotional child or if she was legitimately just upset with the dismissal of medic-nin. How could a nurse,a medical professionalwho dedicated her life to helping people, not loathe the fact that the best healers were only available to the elite? Was it envy for their superior potential to help people? It couldn't be. Medic-nin were regarded as badly as seduction specialists, if not worse; Tsunade found it hard to believe that their status was something to be jealous of.

In the Senju clan, the medic-nin were exclusively retired field shinobi who wanted to benefit their village despite their disability or, rarely, old age. Would it be like that in the hospital, too? Was being a medic-nin the sort of profession people only went for when they couldn't do anything else?

She felt sick.

Tsunade didn't say anything, at the time, which was probably for the best. Screaming at the woman would have revealed far too much of her more…vulgarvocabulary. No one needed to know that a two-year old could curse like a seasoned shinobi and she didn't want anyone asking where she learned that sort of language from, anyway.

She returned to her place in the waiting room, dropping into her chair with a huff.

"What got you so worked up, hime?" Asked the red-headed shinobi, who had loyally stayed with her the entire time.

"Adults can be very stupid." She bit back harshly. Tsunade knew that he had nothing to do with her emotional turmoil and did not deserve her attitude but she couldn't help it, not really. This was so fucked up. How many civilians died from the common cold every year? How many ninja died from infection? Did women here still regularly die during childbirth? What about the kids?

Tsunade took a deep, shaky breath. "Sorry. I'm not mad at you."

The redheaded shinobi laughed but, unlike the receptionist from earlier, there was nothing dismissive about it. "I'm gonna have to agree with you, there." He said warmly, gently ruffling her already messy hair. "No one is immune to being stupid."

She said nothing but internally agreed.

Notes:

Hi again!
I tried to make the first few chapters less 'slow', I really did, but I think it's inevitable : There's just a bunch of things that need to happen to get Tsunade to make a few difficult decisions and she needs to work through things to get there, which takes time.
Tsunade will be going to the Academy soon, though, and things will get much more fun :D

P.S I'm trying not to worry too much about the quality of the writing so that I can focus on pushing out more chapters quickly. If you feel that the quality drops to the point that it significantly impacts the reading experience, PLEASE let me know. I'm absolutely capable of improving it but I won't be considering that unless you guys tell me that I should.
Thanks 3

Chapter 3: One Step at a Time

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade is informed that her mother is well but will remain under watch in the hospital.

The shinobi who helped Tsunade get to the hospital, Uzumaki Arashi of Uzushio, brings her to Mito. Tsunade learns that Mito's so called "illness" isn't an illness at all: her seal is imperfect and she isolates herself in fear of failing to hold in the nine-tails.

Understanding her loneliness, Tsunade decides to do what she can to alleviate Mito's burden, even if it's just spending time with her on her good days and asking her to tell stories about Uzushio.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Whooooooooooooooooooo

I'm gonna rant in the end notes - for now, enjoy the chapter!
Thank you all SO MUCH for the support on this fic. I really appreciate anyone who invested their time into it 3
Seriously, you guys are incredible and I got more feedback for those 2 chapters than i expected to get for the next THIRTY. You're filling me with the writing juice, I keep coming up with awesome ideas thanks to you!

See you next week! (or in the end notes, lol, up to you)

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Her companion blessedly maintained the silence in the time it took for Tsunade's anger made way for exasperation.

He coughed to capture her attention. he shot him a curious glance.

"I talked to the medic." Began the redheaded shinobi. "Your Mom is fine. They'll be keeping her here for a few days, though; running a few more tests and such. It's nothing to worry about."

Tsunade would've liked to claim that she was neither surprised nor relieved but those would both be lies; her conversation with the ignorant nurse did not leave her very optimistic as to the quality of care her mother would be receiving.

At the lack of response from the blonde too lost in thought to speak, the helpful stranger gently rested a palm atop her head. "Where do you usually go when your mom is busy?" He asked.

Tsunade slumped forward. "That never happened before." She murmured, her mind once again overwhelmed by guilt as she wondered if her mother's collapse could be attributed to her.

The teen cringed at that. "Um…"

The blonde sighed and shook her head, as if it would help in discarding her anguish. "You should probably take me to my grandma's." She said eventually. "She'll at least tell you where to go next."

Tsunade wasn't very close with Uzumaki Mito but not for lack of trying. Her grandmother was too sick, most days, to entertain a child; being the host of a bijuu took a heavier toll on her than it did on Kushina or Naruto, likely because her seal was the first of its kind and, for all intents and purposes, a prototype. Mito wasn't very close with her only remaining son, either, likely for the same reasons; Tsunade wondered how present she'd been in her children's upbringing, considering her illness.

It must have sucked, to give up practically the entirety of her adult life to be a jailer for a sentient force of nature. How does one even put such torture into words? How was a person to live through it? Was it not torture, to be deprived of most things that made life worth living with the goal of protecting your loved ones, only to have them snatched from you or scorning you, regardless?

Tsunade tried not to think about that, too much. She couldn't help, not now and probably not ever, and she was exactly the sort of person to be eaten alive by the guilt of non-action if she allowed it.

"Right, Mito-sama!" Exclaimed the shinobi, forcing Tsunade out of her head. He looked visibly relieved now that he had an idea of what to do with her - a plan of action. A flash of his pearly whites that revealed his canines to be just a little longer than expected later, the redhead was crouched with his back to Tsunade once again. "Alright." He said. "Climb on, hime."

They traveled atop the roofs again but, this time, at a much more reasonable speed. Tsunade could properly see the many stalls in the market, this time. She even recognized some of the people purchasing goods from them, most often from the Senju clan gatherings. Her grip around the shinobi tightened when they passed by a park where Uchiha children were playing, their melodic laughter a painful reminder to what she had been repeatedly denied.

The pair's arrival at the Senju compound was as quiet as their departure had been, with the vast majority of the clan out and about around the village. For all she had cursed that fact hours ago, when she was desperately searching for someone who could aid her mother, Tsunade was glad for it, now. She was still dressed in a hospital gown and, though she was no longer bleeding, she could feel that her face was heated and puffy from crying; a sight that would no doubt inspire many questions from whoever stumbled upon it, which Tsunade didn't feel like accommodating at the moment.

"We're here, spider-monkey." The shinobi informed her, stopping right before her grandparents' home. Tsunade didn't remember a single instance of her being invited into it.

"Ready to use your own two little feet?" Asked the redhead.

"No." Tsunade replied in a mix of bluntness and earnesty, hiding her exhaustion behind the facade of a bratty child. "You should carry me inside."

If the redhead minded the extra work, he did not voice his dismay. Instead, the shinobi laughed at her antics, pulled her up above his head by the arms and transferred Tsunade to his front where he could comfortably hold her close to his chest.

The Clan Head's abode didn't have the sort of unnecessarily lavish design which leaders in the other world often favored. Tsunade had expected, at the very least, some extremely tall ceilings and huge windows but there were none in sight; she attributed their absence to the trouble of keeping a larger space comfortably warm through winter.

The space that greeted her was a very classic japanese-style home, with tatami mats and the whole shebang - much more bare than her own and with fewer modern appliances.

The teen expertly navigated the maze of rice-paper doors laid before them, his steps so obviously made louder than before that even Tsunade could tell the difference. He stopped before one of the doors that, to her, looked just like any other. The shinobi carefully lowered both himself and the child in his arms to the floor, sitting down on his knees and placing her in his lap. "Sorry to disturb you, Mito-sama." He spoke clearly, bowing before the door as deeply as he could without squishing her. "I am here with your granddaughter."

"Come in, Arashi-kun." Her grandmother replied from within, her voice rich and regal but also somewhat tired and strained. It was only then that Tsunade realized that she hadn't even asked for her savior's name. Oops. In her defense, it has been a rough day.

Uzumaki Mito sat before a low table with a tea set atop it, her hands firmly attached to the only cup filled with the steaming liquid. She had her hair up in an elaborate hairdo with multiple pins holding it in place, their tips doubtlessly sharp enough to draw blood. Her robes looked entirely too heavy to be practical but she didn't seem the type to be deterred by the hindrance; even when ill, Uzumaki Mito radiated power and competence that were rivaled only by her husband's and his brother's. Her dark eyes were cold and her expression was closed-off but she didn't seem actively upset about the interruption; only uncomfortable.

Until she noted that her granddaughter was dressed in a hospital gown, that is, at which point her features had twisted into something Tsunade couldn't read at all.

"Please, sit." She offered kindly, though the warmth of her words did not match her tone. "Are either of you injured?"

"No, Mito-sama." The shinobi, Arashi, who Tsunade hadfinallyrealized was an Uzumaki from Uzushio, bowed again. And wasn't that a trip? Uzushio still stood. Did she know when or how it would fall? Nope. She at least knew that Kushina was supposed to arrive in Konoha before that so... in several decades, hopefully? Tsunade might actually stand a chance of at leastpartiallymitigating the disaster if it was this far off.

She was brought back to the present by Arashi's dutiful response: "Yoko-sama had collapsed due to a high fever; She's resting in the hospital and will make a full recovery. Tsunade-hime got hurt when her mother lost consciousness."

Trying not to show her amusement at the clinical, mission-report nature of Arashi's explanation, Tsunade nodded her confirmation and added: "I'm okay now, obaa-sama."

"Very well." Replied Mito, as formally as her clansman spoke previously. "Thank you for bringing her here, Arashi-kun. Would you go back to the hospital and ensure that Yoko-san is informed as to her daughter's whereabouts when she is cleared to leave?"

The shinobi bowed deeply before rising. "Of course, Mito-sama."

"Bye bye, Arashi-niisan." Tsunade offered him a bright smile. "Thank you for helping me and mom."

Some of the tension that the conversation with Mito had brought to his face had dissipated, then, making way for a soft smile. He didn't ruffle her hair again but his fingers twitched as if he wanted to, which was fucking cute. It was hard to remember that Arashi was as much a kid as Tsunade when he presented himself like a capable, responsible adult. "See you around, Tsunade-hime." He bowed again, this time to her, before departing.

She returned her attention to her grandmother, then. "Tsunade." She began. "Tell me, in detail, what happened."

The blonde proceeded to do just that. She hoped that her young age would lower the woman's guard enough for her to miss the missing details, such as the checks she performed on her mother when she first collapsed. Tsunade felt that she was doing fairly well until she got to her conversation with the nurse.

"I don't care if everyone thinks like her. It's stupid." She admitted, fury once again bubbling in the pit of her stomach. It was a miracle that she managed to dumb down her narrative from 'irresponsible and conceited' to 'stupid', at least; there was a limit to how much she could hope her grandmother to miss.

"What is?" The woman asked, encouraging Tsunade to elaborate.

Well, at least she didn't seem suspicious of anything. Tsunade huffed, leaning into her more childish mannerisms. "That medic-nin don't belong on the field." She clarified.

Mito hummed, clearly amused, though her face did not betray much of her emotions. "Perhaps." She said, very obviously indulging her granddaughter. Tsunade imagined that if she had been older, Mito would have explained why the idea that medic-nin should be taking field missions was preposterous.

Somehow it just made her anger flare sharper.

Mito was a smart woman. She knew war more intimately than Tsunade ever will, hopefully, and she was no stranger to death and loss and violence. How could she, of all people, not see the merit on having more people trained in medicine? What the actual fuck was wrong with the people in this village?

Tsunade opened her mouth to say something,anything, knowing that she really shouldn't, but was thankfully interrupted by the door behind her sliding open with great force. She almost jumped out of her skin from sheer shock but ended up only turning around to face the interruption, finding that her grandfather was the one to barge into the room. He looked winded, which was a first, and his eyes were wide with worry and perhaps a hint of fear.

He very unceremoniously joined them at the table, scooping Tsunade into his arms and holding her in a tight embrace for a few long seconds. "I came as soon as I heard." He said as he put her down though he kept a hand on her head, as if he feared that if he released her she will disappear . "Are you hurt, Tsuna-chan?"

"Nope!" She assured him cheerfully, trying to let her glee at seeing her grandfather wipe the anger off her features. She wasn't sure she succeeded, though, so Tsunade elected to press her face into his torso, hugging him in an attempt to hide her expression for a while.

"Mito, are you well?" He asked next, turning to his wife without releasing his granddaughter. Tsunade couldn't see his expression but she could see his wife's: the corners of Mito's lips had turned up, just slightly, and there was a softness in her eyes that hadn't been there before. She seemed more comfortable, too, her posture visibly more relaxed and the tension in her shoulders washed away by his presence.

"It is quiet today." Was her cryptic reply. "I can stay with Tsunade-chan for however long is necessary."

It finally dawned on Tsunade, then, that Mito's illness may have had nothing to do with the physical symptoms attached to being a jinchuriki.

Oh no.Oh no. She wasn't ill at all, was she? She was just scared of losing her grip on the seal and hurting someone.

Holy fucking shit, Tsunade hadn't even considered that.

How lonely must it be, to not only be a jinchuriki who hated the bijuu they were hosting but simultaneously secluding oneself for the safety of others? Tsunade had been wrong to compare Mito to Naruto, all this time; she ought to have been comparing her to fuckingGaara.

Ouch.

"It's okay to spend the day with grandma, then?" She asked quietly, just to make sure, perhaps do give Mito an out.

The woman hesitated, but only for a moment, before answering: "If you would like that, yes."

She very muchwouldlike that, actually. With her newfound knowledge of her grandmother's predicament, Tsunade felt even worse for the woman. She respected her sacrifice, as anyone should, but she couldn't evenimaginegiving up her own health for such a cause, not to mention giving up her bonds with people, too. Shit, Tsunade would probably refuse to take the nine-tails unless there was literally no-one else who was suitable. This was so fucked up.

"Would you tell me a story?" Tsunade asked her grandmother quietly, wiggling out of Hashirama's side-hug until she was seated in front of her grandmother again.

Mito nodded, still somewhat hesitant. Did she even know how to deal with kids? How often did she get to just spend time with her own children when they were younger? "What kind of story would you like to hear?"

Tsunade didn't need any time to consider her answer. "Arashi-niisan isn't a Konoha shinobi, right?" She began eagerly. "Is he from the village you came from? What is it like?"

"Who told you that, Tsuna-chan?" Prodded her grandfather. Ah, should she not have known about Uzushio?

"Oba-san did." She replied.

Hashirama's brows furrowed. "Which oba-san?"

"The nice one from the market!" Supplied Tsunade with a grin, earning an exasperated sigh from the former Hokage as he realized questioning her would be futile.

The perks of being a little kid.

Mito came to her husband's rescue, then. "You would like to hear about Uzushiogakure, Tsunade-chan?"

"Yeah!"

Mito smiled, then, more openly than she ever allowed herself to in public. Tsunade beamed at the display.

Then, the redhead began to talk.

She painted an image of an island surrounded by harsh waters and untamable seas where powerful tides constantly battled for dominance, leaving whirlpools in the wake of their destruction. The land itself, she said, is littered with tall, grassy hills - a stark contrast to the violent surroundings. At the center of it flowed a single river, around which a shinobi village had formed: Uzushiogakure.

She proceeded to wax poetic about the sights and the architecture, further cementing Tsunade's theory that she didn't really know how to deal with kids, but she did find it interesting. When Hashirama left to tend to some business Tsunade felt bold enough to steer the conversation towards more interesting topics: the people, the culture and the politics.

She wasn't sure when it was going to happen, though definitely during a war, but Uzushio was going to fall. If she had any hope in finding what went catastrophically wrong before the worst came to be, she needed all the information she could get.

And Mito really was a fantastic storyteller.

Tsunade ended up falling asleep to her grandmother's melodic voice, too exhausted from the incredibly taxing day she'd had to even realize that she needed rest.

Notes:

Okay, first of all, props to y'all for guessing that the helpful shinobi is an Uzumaki from Uzushio. You guys rock.

My goals for this chapter were to introduce Arashi and to start building Mito as a character. To answer your questions, yes, Arashi IS going to be a recurring thing in this fic. I like him and you seem to, too, so yeah :):)

(I'll always try to direct the story according to what you tell me you enjoy in the comments. You told me you like Arashi? You'll get him. Keep it up ;))

I also wanted to paint more of the picture of how Konoha views medic-nin and why. Next chapter will have even more of that and, obviously, it shapes Tsunade's decision.

Now, unrelated to the fic: y'all, I am DROWNING in other stuff rn. I have 2 exams next week that I gotta pass and my stress levels are unreal. I'll try my best to still post on Saturday or earlier but, more likely than not, I'm gonna post the next chapter on Sunday :( Sorry for deviating from the schedule so soon after setting it. I'll try to compensate you by posting much more often after I'm done with those two exams ;)

Ty once again for all the support so far, you guys are awesome and your comments especially have been the highlights of my days recently. Love you :)

Chapter 4: Snowballing

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

With her mother still recovering, Tsunade has an abundance of free time. She spends a lot of it with Mito and the rest reconsidering her goals for the future.

She sets up a meeting with the Hokage and bribes him with food in exchange for is time. When she asks about it, Tobirama explains the root of Konoha's disdain for medic nin.

Tsunade has an emotional breakdown in a nearby park. An Uchiha boy notices that she's crying and sticks with her until she clams down.

After weeks of deliberation, Tsunade comes to terms with the need to become a medic-nin despite the trauma from her past life.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Managed to post this on time in the end. :)
Before anything else: I would like to, once again, thank everyone who interacted with this fic. Ty for reading, thank you for bookmarking it, thank you VERY MUCH for leaving a kudos and, most of all, thank you to every person who took the time to drop a comment. I appreciate it :):)

Now, for the story: FINALLY, some progress! The snowball is rolling, now, and though it is still small, it will gain a lot of momentum very quickly. I have a few more chapters written and I'm really excited about the direction they've taken - I think you'll enjoy it :D

As always, let me know if there are topics/characters that you would like me to focus on.

See you again soon!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The following few weeks were… different.

While Tsunade's mother had been released from the hospital pretty quickly, she was instructed to not exert herself in any way and thus spent her days in bed rather than entertaining her daughter. Tsunade, in turn, spent her time between distant relatives, often staying the night.

She was bored out of her fucking mind.

Tsunade never realized, before, how much work her mother put into keeping her mentally stimulated. She was practically an adult in a child's body but she rarely found herself bored to the point of frustration, which she now attributed to the fact that her mother constantly taught her anything and everything she took interest in: the local tongue, history, culture…

Her relatives, though kind in their treatment of her, did no such thing.

They treated her like the child she was and Tsunade couldn't fault them for it, though shecouldadmit that being in their care was absolutely miserable.

She took to spending as much time with her grandmother as possible.

Mito refused her company most days, claiming to be ill. Tsunade never pushed her; on days when the woman turned her away, the girl would smile brightly and leave after voicing some well-wishes, only to arrive again the next day with renewed hope.

Her grandmother seemed to enjoy the arrangement, judging by the growing fondness in her eyes. Tsunade wasn't naive enough to believe that Mito's long absence from the field would excuse how easy she was to read; she knew better. Realizing that the woman made herself easy to read for Tsunade's benefit had her feeling stupidly, ridiculously loved.

Having a family that loved her wasthe best.

When the twodidspend time together, Tsunade found herself completely immersed in the tales weaved by the elderly jinchuriki. She graduated from tales of Uzushio (which she was determined to save, now, arrogant as that thought was) to tales of the other hidden villages. Mito was very well traveled, though she rarely left Konoha in the past few decades, and she kept in touch with friends and allies from all over who provided her with valuable insights as to the inner workings of the villages they resided in.

Tsunade tried very hard not to think about how Mito was probably Konoha's spymaster. It would certainly explain the absurd amount of documents she handled.

She was glad to be hearing these tales from Mito rather than her mom; While Tsunade loved Senju Yoko dearly, she knew her mother was completely fooled by the propaganda they were constantly fed regarding the superiority of their village, like most of the other Senju. Mito, on the other hand, loved another village as dearly as she did this one, and was therefore immune to such lies; she provided Tsunade with a much more unbiased perspective, which the girl appreciated.

The lull in activity left her with plenty of time to reconsider her future, too. She wasn't any less opposed to the idea of becoming a medic-nin than before; in fact, with the way their sort were treated, Tsunade had yet another reason not to pursue that sort of life. Not because she spared much thought for how people would treat her; she wasn'tactuallya child and didn't care much what strangers thought of her, as a result.

Her family was important to her, though. Mito had already voiced her distaste for medic-nin or, rather, her belief in their inferiority; Hashirama would likely share her opinion. Her parents will be unhappy enough with Tsunade choosing the life of a kunoichi at all but studying medical ninjutsu will doubtlessly strain their relationship even further.

Didn't Tobirama know some medical ninjutsu, though? He had a technique to raise the dead, right? There was no way he could do that sort of thing without at leastsomeunderstanding of what went on with his targets' bodies.

She decided to ask him.

Setting up a meeting with the Hokage was no easy task. Tobirama visited Tsunade often, even more so since she'd been injured, but it was always for short windows of time that he had between meetings rather than agreed upon hours. He indulged her request for an audience, though, and Tsunade ended up sitting across from the formally-dressed Hokage in his very bare-bones office, her face peeking from just slightly above his too-tall table.

"Morning, oji-san." She greeted him, placing her offering on the table: a box of still-hot takoyaki, one of his favorites, that she purchased on the way there. She still had her issues with the fact that children her age were allowed to wander alone but, when in Rome...

"Ah, Tsunade." He greeted her with a thin, tired smile. "Good morning."

"It's for you." She informed him, pushing the box forward. "I'm bribing you."

Tobirama chuckled at her bluntness but accepted the food without argument. "And what am I being bribed for, hime?" He asked, pressing the first takoyaki into his mouth then offering one to her, as well.

She shook her head, waving his hand away. "Probably around ten minutes of your time. Is the bribe acceptable?"

He pretended to consider her request for a long moment, then nodded solemnly. "I agree to your terms." He replied.

Tobirama didn't have crow's feet around his eyes, not even at forty; he didn't smile often enough for his skin to wrinkle. Tsunade did see thin lines form around his eyes in that moment, though, and fuck if that didn't make her stupidly happy.

"Do you know any medical ninjutsu?" She asked, getting straight to the point. Him indulging her request was great and all but it was no excuse to waste his time unnecessarily.

The Hokage's brow furrowed. "Are you injured?" He demanded.

"No! No." Tsunade assured him. "I'm mostly trying to understand why shinobi dislike medic-nin so much."

Tobirama relaxed, somewhat, though he still seemed on edge. His eyes remained narrowed as he scanned her, head to toe, and he only leaned back into his chair when he was certain that Tsunade wasn't hurt in any way, shape or form.

"I don't." He began. "Very few people in the village are adept in medical ninjutsu. You will learn, in the Academy, that there are different chakra natures. The ones shinobi use most often are Earth, Fire, Wind, Lightning and Water. Those are the ones we train as they are most beneficial to shinobi."

Tsunade nodded.

"There are other chakra natures, however, Yin and Yang among them. Medical ninjutsu requires the use of those, thus leading the shinobi practicing them down a path perpendicular to that of a powerful shinobi. It is time consuming and difficult; medic-nin never become strong in their own right and are a burden on their teammates as they require protection and may slow the team down."

"But... a medic-nin could save their teammate's life." Tsunade argued weakly.

"They are much more likely tocosta teammate their life." Countered Tobirama. "Medic-nin are a valuable and useful part of Konoha's forces. They are not disliked, but respected; they're not field shinobi, though, and don't contribute as much to the village. "

Tsunade said nothing.

"Why did you ask about medic-nin, Tsunade?"

"I don't think Konoha respects medic-nin." She replied bluntly. There was no anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach, this time, but despair; she was a child, after all, and there was nothing she could do to change her granduncle's mind. He was the Hokage and his word was law; as long as he held on to that opinion, it would fester within the village. "I think the villagetoleratesthem. I understand why it's like that, I think, especially considering the period of war that led to the founding of the village. But I don't think it's right and I think that Konoha can do better."

Tobirama opened him mouth to comment on her accusations but Tsunade didn't wait for his reply. Her chair screeched as she rose to her feet, pushed back on the stone floor. "Thank you for your time." She said, offering him a deep bow. "Enjoy your takoyaki. Have a good day, oji-san, I love you." With that said Tsunade quickly left the office, leaving a somewhat bewildered Hokage behind.

She went to the park, afterwards, and sat on the swing for what felt like hours. The way Konoha regarded medic-nin was stupid and dangerous. How many people died every year due to the village's arrogance?

Most importantly, could she do anything about it?

She didn't want to be a medic-nin; she'd already established that much. She would have to, though, if she wanted to bring on change, wouldn't she? Without the other Tsunade there to beat the hospital into shape, would the medical field remain stagnant? How many times would Kakashi have died if he wasn't provided medical treatment in a timely manner? How much would the plot of the story change without all the people who would die due to inadequate care? Would there even be any hope of defeating the final boss rabbit goddess lady without them?

Shit.

She really wished she would've been reborn as someone less important to the plot than fucking Senju Tsunade. There were privileges attached to the name, which she fully intended to abuse, but there was a lot of responsibility, too; if she chose not to recreate the other Tsunade's work, the world literally might end.

She got off the swing to sit on the ground, taking her head in her hands. This was too much. Even if shewasn'ta fucking kid, she was just one person, and not a superhero or a paragon of morality or someone who could carry that sort of burden without going insane-

"Oi." Someone called, towering above her with their hands on their bent knees. "You okay?"

It was only then that Tsunade realized that she was crying.

"Yeah." She said weakly, wiping the tears with her dress' long sleeve before raising her gaze to meet that of the kid asking after her well-being. He was a little older than her and had long, spiky, ink-black hair that covered one of his eyes and cute, chubby cheeks. His eyes were as dark as his hair but his face was pale, almost too pale to look healthy. Tsunade didn't need him to introduce himself to know that he was an Uchiha.

And shouldn't be associating with her.

Another wave of tears broke through the thick cage of her eyelashes but not a single sob got past her lips. She swallowed thickly and offered the boy a wobbly smile. "I'm okay. Thanks."

He didn't seem very convinced. "You're crying." He reminded her. Ah, that would explain it.

"I just thought about something scary." She admitted.

"Okay." He said, not asking anything else. He did sit down next to her, keeping his silence, which was both unexpected and, for some reason, comforting.

Tsunade... she didn't have to do any of this. She didn't owe anyone anything. This was achoiceand she would have to make it. It wasn't some cruel chosen-one sort of destiny that was dropped onto her shoulders.

She could choose to live a peaceful, happy life, or at least try to.

She found that she didn't want to. A peaceful, happy life won't be enough; not when it came at the cost of violence. If she was already stuck in a world that will claim her morality whether she likes it or not, she ought to at least get something good,great, in return.

Tsunade would no longer be satisfied with peace.

She wanted great joy and excitement, adventure and wealth and power. She wanted to be able to shape the world she had been reborn into, both into something better and into something that would benefit her, and she wanted to be hailed as a hero for it. She wanted a big, close-knit and supportive family that wasaliveby the time she reached her twenties. She wanted to have close friends who she'd be willing to give all of the above away for, and friends who would do the same for her.

She wanted to be a fire that burned and consumed and created life, to invoke awe and inspire fear. She wanted to be able to protect everything she held dear and she wanted to be able to survive what such a wish would cost her.

She wanted, she craved, she desired.

Tsunade finally, finally allowed the burden of fear, anxiety, guilt,hatego, hoping that the world will be better for it.

"I think I'm going to become a medic-nin." She told the boy quietly, not sure why she bothered with the declaration at all. There were flames burning within her, now, and there was nothing that a stranger, a kid, could say that would deter her. Hell, any harsh claims he made would only add fuel to the forming inferno

He scrunched his nose in obvious disgust. "Why?"

Tsunade wiped her tears one last time, got up and offered the boy a hand. His gaze was intense, heavy, searching. Curious.

She smiled when he took her hand, glad to find that, despite their difference in size, she could pull him to his feet.

"Because someone has to."

Notes:

Hi y'all! Hope you enjoyed Tsunade's breakdown lol. Ty for reading this chapter:)
See you soon!

I keep forgetting to tell you guys: I opened an Instagram account for writing stuff and I post my fav bit of every chapter there. If you're interested, the account name is silver_writes_fantasy :

Chapter 5: First Steps and no Last Words

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade has a training montage and finds a mentor in a retired seduction mistress.

She starts spending a lot of time in the Hokage's office, reads all the medical texts she can find and picks up every skill that is made available to her.

Her mother announces that she is pregnant with Nawaki.

A week later, Tsunade has the dubious honor of being one of the very first people to learn of Senju Hashirama's death.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Y'all, the response for the last chapter was incredible ;-; Seriously, I didn't think I'd post again so soon but you guys gave me like a bucketload of euphoria so I HAD TO.
Thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter. You're the best and I love you. I'm really, really glad that you're enjoying this story :)

As always, feel free to let me know in the comments if there are characters\topics that you particularly enjoy so that I can focus on them!

See you again soon!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

With her mind set, at last, Tsunade didn't see a point in delaying the start of her training any longer. If she was going to become a medic-nin she would have to do it the right way: Tsunade's way. She needed the village's respect and she would never earn it without becoming strong enough rival her future teammates in strength.

She needed to make sure she got on the same team, too. Orochimaru and Jiraiya would become powerful shinobi, sure, but it was Sarutobi Hiruzen's influence that she required; he would be the Third Hokage, after all, and what better way to bring change than to whisper it into a powerful man's ear?

Other than becoming a 'powerful man' in her own right, that is. Tsunade marked that down as plan B.

The Hokage's team will consist of the strongest shinobi in class, the weakest shinobi in class and the strongest kunoichi in class. She wouldn't have to compete for the spot against Orochimaru, thank fuck, but Tsunade wasn't arrogant enough to assume that her spot as the top kunoichi was guaranteed just because she was mentally older than her classmates.

She'd have to work for it, just like everyone else.

Getting into the Third's team won't be enough, of course: Tsunade would have to both maintain her spot on the team by becoming a powerhouseandlearn to perform medical ninjutsu simultaneously without falling behind. She had a background in medicine and access to a lot of knowledge that this world simply hadn't accumulated, yet, but there was also chakra to account for; who knows, her knowledge may prove useless in the face of a secondary circulatory system. She wouldn't count on her experience helping her much, in this world.

She had a lot of work to do.

Tsunade was a medical professional, though, and she knew better than to try and train herself without supervision; she was more likely to irreversibly injure herself that not. Her caution applied to physical training as much as it did to anything else: let's not forget that absorbing natural chakra, even on accident,wouldkill her. Or petrify her. She didn't remember.

She also couldn't afford to learn in ways that were ineffective, considering how much she needed to get done. She was the Senju Princess and she was going to abuse theshitout of her privilege, which is why her first stop the next morning was at the clan head's abode.

Mito was thankfully well, that day.

"What stories would you like to hear today, Tsuna-chan?" Asked the redhead as she poured tea for both of them. She touched her palm to Tsunade's cup, after, and the amount of steam coming off it lessened visibly.

"Thank you." The blonde nodded. "Actually, I'm not here for a story today. There's something I'd really like your help with."

Mito's brows rose with interest. "Oh?"

"I would like to start training to be a kunoichi." Tsunade began, pushing as much confidence into her tone as possible. "I know I still have half a year before I'm enrolled in the Academy but I would like to start learning sooner. Are there any exercises that are safe for me to do without supervision?"

Tsunade expected opposition.

She expected questions.

Instead, Mito armed her with an army of tutors.

She had Senju Inari for reading and writing, which Tsunade still struggled with despite having a relatively good understanding of the spoken tongue. Inari was a young woman of perhaps twenty five who cared both for her children and her brother's while he was on missions but somehow found time to help Tsunade, too.

Women were scary.

Senju Haruto, who was missing both arms and most of his left leg, volunteered to teach Tsunade how to meditate. He was a strict teacher and only ever spoke to criticize her, yet he did manage to guide her into the proper meditative state with relative ease. Tsunade learned how to recognize the feel of her own chakra (and wasn't that weird? There was basically magic in her and, unless she was concentrating on it, Tsunade was not aware of it al all). She learned how to recognize other people's chakra, too, for which Haruto required the help of his elder son, whose name she never caught, as he couldn't use jutsu without hands.

Those lessons were pretty fucking great, actually. Chakra was fucking cool.

Senju Aoi and Emi, a pair of uniquely beautiful identical twins, taught her taijutsu. Tsunade was bummed about learning from retired genin, at first, but the women had a lot of insight about how to fight an opponents several times their size which wasawesome. Tsunade ended up praising her luck rather than cursing it, for once.

No one in their right mind would teach a three-year-old any jutsu. The closest Tsunade got to it were her lessons with a much older woman, a retired jounin named Fuyumi - no last name.

"Even with chakra reserves as large as yours, hime, you will find that the men around you will have a much easier time executing the more complex jutsu." She said once as they were taking tea. "Women's chakra systems are much more complex than our male counterparts': there is an entire section dedicated to the construction of a chakra system for a child."

Tsunade furrowed her brow, leaning closer to the table separating them. "So we have less chakra available to us?"

"Not exactly." She replied, offering Tsunade a biscuit. They often had their lessons in in the Senju forest but Fuyumi didn't feel very well, that day, and therefore allowed Tsunade into her home for the first time. It was small and cozy and practical and very obviously not a place she shared with another person. Tsunade wasn't surprised to find that there was only one cup for tea in the woman's cabinet though she did not mind that they were sharing it. Fuyumi had a good taste in tea.

"The threshold for how much chakra you need to exert before contracting chakra exhaustion is lower, for us, as your body will prioritize keeping the secondary chakra network operational, even if you aren't with child. One could push through it, if necessary; you are likely to lose your ability to bear children if you do but It's better than being dead, I've found." She chuckled, taking a biscuit off the chipped plate she had placed upon the table separating them.

Tsunade didn't need to have the implications of the last bit spelled out for her. She'd already reached the conclusion that Fuyumi, who coincidentally had no children, had a long, illustrious career as a seduction mistress, which was likely the reason behind her not having a last name.

Misogyny sucks.

"So... even if I have more chakra than a man, I might have less chakraavailableto me, still."

"Exactly." Agreed Fuyumi, offering Tsunade a warm smile that was missing several teeth. "Our differences don't end there, though: the chakra youdohave will still be harder for you to control than it is for a man, for the same reasons. If you wish to close the gap, you must perfect your chakra control: men rarely bother, as they believe that they can do without, but it will serve you faithfully for the entirety of your career."

Tsunade lit up at that. "Can we try the exercise with the leaf again?"

Fuyumi shook her head. "Not this time." She said. "Today, I'll be teaching you to treewalk."

To say she was excited for it would be an understatement.

To say that Tsunade failed miserably at the exercise would be miserable, too.

She had good chakra control, okay? It's just that its flow was weird and tricky to manipulate and she was still very much unused to having actual magic.

It was fun, though, and she was slowly improving even if sometimes it didn't feel like it. Fuyumi assured her that her chakra will be much easier to control once she hits puberty, for whatever reasons, but that was still ways off.

She'll work with what she had.

Tsunade was not satisfied with learning those subjects, though. She pleaded before Mito until the woman agreed to teach her calligraphy, which was apparently a big part of making fuinjutsu work. Tsunade had no aspirations of becoming an expert in sealing, not yet at least, but she didn't want to be completely barred from the art, either.

She was a jack of all trades, in her other life; truly a master of none. Tsunade didn't think that sort of approach would work, in this life, but she had known its benefits and therefore would learn to be passable at every style of jutsu available to her.

Fuinjutsu included.

There were things that Tsunade was grasping well, like taijutsu and reading, and others that were more slow to progress: meditation, calligraphy and whatever the fuck Fuyumi was teaching her (chakra control? Life lessons? Who knows).

Being athletic was pretty dope. It was easier to build a habit for intense physical activity as a child. She always wanted to be the sort of person who was in perfect control of their body and, under Aoi and Emi's tutelage, Tsunade was getting there. She could stick to trees, now, though she couldn't walk on them, but that alone was pretty fucking great. She couldn't wait until she could pull a Jesus'; that would be a milestone, for sure.

She was frustrated, more than anything, with how slow going her improvement over chakra control was. It was the one aspect of her new career that she needed to master the most if she was to be a medic nin, after all, and Fuyumi's assurances that she'll get drastically better in some years didn't calm her one bit. She wasn't sure that she could afford to wait.

Tsunade did her best, though, and her best would have to be good enough.

She spent the days when she was most frustrated with her stagnation reading. She was careful about her interest in medical ninjutsu, at first, but as soon as she learned how to navigate the Senju library and was allowed to roam it alone, Tsunade began hunting down medical texts.

There weren't many of them, even in a library as lucrative as the Senju's. shit, they had the biggest collection of books in Konoha and she couldstillcount the number of medical books and scrolls on one hand. There was a lot on information about adjacent topics, like poison and the chakra system, which Tsunade devoured just as readily as anything else. Sometimes she found something useful, sometimes she didn't; its not like she had any better options unless she was willing to ask an active medic-nin to share their knowledge.

If anyone noticed her interest in medicine, they didn't remark on it. The clan got used to Tsunade's eccentricity quickly and seemed to tolerate it, for now, likely because she made sure to be perfectly polite at all times. Her parents were pleased with her interest in becoming a kunoichi, too, which was unexpected; apparently, they deemed the skills she was pursuing necessary for every woman to know, as it is often the woman's duty to care for her children's early education. Meaning that they only saw her interest in improving herself as something that would benefit her future sons. Apparently, women were expected to become genin at all for the same reasons.

Blergh.

It was easy to forget how patriarchal this society was when she came from a place of such privilege that she was immune to most of the drawbacks that came with the system.

Several months passed that way and Tsunade found that she was... happy. She had peace, for now, and her single-minded focus granted her purpose. Her parents were happy with her and she spent a lot of time with her family.

Practicing calligraphy with Mito, often while the woman told her stories, as she was accustomed to doing when Tsunade visited.

Gambling with her grandfather while simultaneously trying to learn how to read her opponents and preventing them from reading her. She expressed her interest in learning the skill to Hashirama, who admitted that his cheerful facade was designed with exactly that purpose in mind. If he was always happy, even when things appeared grim, he could trick his opponents into thinking he was in a better spot than he actually was. He warned her that the method, though useful, might not work for her; she will have to find her own path, in that regard.

She spent as much time as she could in the company of her granduncle. It took some effort to persuade Tobirama to allow her to read in his office while he was tending to civilian-related duties, such as disputes over land or matter. Tsunade would sit under his desk quietly and read, or pretend to, maintaining her silence diligently as the civilians spilled the beans, so to say.

She learned a lot about the village, that way.

Turns out that the civvies didn't like the Uchiha either, or at least took the Hokage's known disregard for them as encouragement to gossip. There were other matters discussed, too, such as the very obvious class-system in place, but Tsunade found them much less interesting.

She'd have to do something about the Uchiha.

The though didn't bother her, now that she had come to terms with playing God. It only forced her to consider when an appropriate time to step in would be, as waiting for the Massacre to occur was, naturally, unacceptable.

Huh. Danzo was older than Tsunade, right? Was he as much a dick now as he would be at the time of canon? Was he as dirty? Should she dispose of him?

Hmm. Probably not, even if she could. She didn't know how much the future would change if she were to rid Konoha of him. She wouldn't put things like being the cause for one of the wars beyond him.

Anyway.

Life was good. Tsunade was content and she was learning, albeit slowly, everything she would need to become the person she chose to be.

She knew change would be coming, this time; Tsunade had learned her lesson about becoming comfortable in this life.

It's during the summer that three notable events come to pass.

First, Tsunade turns four. Tobirama lets her sit on his shoulders for the full duration of her party and serves as her trusty steed while she steers him towards the people with whom she wishes to speak (though, honestly, she mostly wants to talk to him. They work it out).

Next, her mother announces that she is four months pregnant. Tsunade cries for hours after, too happy with the news to even attend her lessons with Fuyumi. She dances with her mother and sings with her and offers her input regarding the toys that will be bought for Nawaki once he is born. Fuck, she always wanted to have a sibling.

Last, and very much least, is an announcement that comes from one of the border camps about a week later.

Tsunade is in the Hokage's office when it is delivered and the shinobi carrying the message is either too distracted or too incompetent to notice her presence, which never happened before. She sees Tobirama tense at the sight before him and, though she can't see it herself, Tsunade can catch onto the fact that it's not a good one.

Then, the scent of blood reaches her. She covers her mout and nose with a hand.

"Hokage-sama." Says the shinobi. "Senju Hasirama-sama is dead."

Notes:

Please don't murder me! It was necessary! IT WAS NECESSARY!

Anyway, the next chapter is probably my favorite so far :) I hope you enjoyed this one! 3

As always, ty for you comments, they give me life :D

Chapter 6: Together

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tobirama tries to push Tsunade away in his grief but she fights him every step of the way and wins.

When forced to choose between trying to support Tobirama or Mito through their great loss, Tsunade chooses her granduncle. The weight of the choice, like the grief at her grandfather's passing, is pushed aside so that she may deal with it at a more convenient time.

Tobirama calls Tsunade out on that habit and cites her desire to become a medic-nin, which he had figured out, as the reason.

Neither of them can sleep that night but at least they spend it with family and not alone.
*

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

I hope you're not sick of me thanking you for your support, yet, cause a rant it coming.
I was in an extremely stressful period these past few months and, though I'm still busy as heck now, I have more clarity. I feel like I'm experiencing the degree of support you guys give me for the first time, even though I was amazed by it before, too.
Thank you for your comments, even if I didn't respond to them. They are appreciated :)
Thank you for every kudos you left. Your support means the world to me.
Thank you for bookmarking this. Thank you for the one person who added it to a collection lol :D
And most of all, thank you very much to anyone and everyone who took the time to give this fic, and me, a chance. You're all awesome, thank you so much :)

Done!

Hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Her granduncle wasted no time once the loose-lipped shinobi had departed. "Tsunade, you need to go home." He said, his words expedited by urgency. "Don't tell anyone what you heard. Am I clear?"

"Oji-san…" Tsunade murmured as she crawled from under the table, looking up at him.

He wouldn't meet her gaze.

"Not now." Tobirama interrupted her, his tone cool, almost venomous. "Go home, Tsunade.Now."

She shook her head. "I'll go in a minute."

"Tsunade-" He began, raising his voice at her for the first time, ever. In fact, she'd never heard him raise his voice at all.

Rather than argue further, Tsunade put her book on his desk and wrapped her arms tightly around his leg.

"Tsunade!" He whisper-yelled, placing a hand on her shoulder and pushing her away more forcefully than he would have, had he been calm. "Not now!"

"I'm sorry." She blurted out abruptly. Tsunade managed to hold back both her tears and her thoughts, for a moment, but her voice trembled still. "I'm so, so sorry Oji-san. I'm sorry for your loss."

He stopped pushing her, then, but Tsunade didn't dare look up. Not yet. She was too scared that, if she were to peek, she would find that he was still angry.

Instead, Tsunade talked: "I understand that you need to deal with this right now. I won't delay you anymore. But I'm telling Mom that I'm sleeping over at your place tonight." She paused to take a shaky, wet breath. "I'll tell no one of what I heard, I promise. I love you, Oji-san. I'm sorry. I love you."

She had tears streaming down her face, towards the end- it was inevitable. Tsunade could push back her own grief, for the moment, but the pain she felt on behalf of her granduncle, who had lost the person closest to him, was too much to bear.

Tsunade let go of the Hokage's leg, then, and picked up her book. She turned to the door, still unwilling to meet her granduncle's gaze, only to be interrupted by the feel of his hand on her shoulder.

This time, though, he didn't push her away.

Tsunade hesitantly turned back and found him on his knees, his crimson eyes level with her own. They were red-rimmed and filled to the brim with tears, the emotion nestled within them so raw that it shattered the dam holding back Tsunade's own grief.

Her granduncle pulled her into a tight hug and her hands grabbed at him immediately, holding on to him for dear life. She wasn't sure which one of them started crying in earnest first, as they were both quiet in their sobs; the only indication of their weakness were the wet spots they left on each other's shoulders while they stood embraced so tight that they fell just short of inflicting pain.

They stayed like that for a while, holding one another close and breathing in each other's scent. Taking comfort in the other's shaking form, their warmth, their presence, their still beating hearts that they could feel where skin met skin.

They were not alone. They still had family.

And they would get through this, together.

"I know you have to wear a mask, now, as the Hokage." Tsunade whispered into his shoulder. "But you shouldn't wear it for very long. Come home tonight, okay? I'll be waiting."

"You should be with Mito." Her uncle argued weakly, his voice hoarse, though he did not lift his head from her shoulder. "She needs you more."

"I'm not leaving you, Oji-san." Tsunade informed him bluntly. "I'll go to her after… after you tell her. I'll ask her to come, too."

"She won't."

Tsunade flinched. "Then I'll stay with her some other time." This wasn't choosing between them, she tried to convince herself. It was Mito who made the choice. Not Tsunade. She hadn't just picked Tobirama over her.

She knew, even then, that she was lying.

They took a moment to collect themselves, after, then the Hokage masked the redness of his eyes with a genjutsu. His shinobi might notice it, he admitted to her, but no one would dare call him out on the disguise.

They all knew grief, too.

Tsunade passed by her home, as promised, and informed her mother that she will be sleeping at the Hokage's that night.

"Tobirama-sama is a busy man, Tsunade." Her mother chastised her, resting her hand on her still flat belly. "I thought you were mature enough to understand that."

Tsunade recoiled, as if struck. "He invited me, okaa-san." Tsunade replied quietly.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Did he really."

Tsunade's breath hitched. "Yes, okaa-san." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "If I'm lying then you know he'll just drop me off here."

Her mother watched her with deep scrutiny painting her delicate features. After what felt like forever, she nodded grimly. "If you say so, Tsunade."

The blonde sighed in relief. "Thank you."

The blonde proceeded to spend what little remained of her allowance on takoyaki, which the merchant sold in boxes designed to keep food warm with fuinjutsu, and some basic groceries. Her mother had been teaching her how to cook, recently, and Tsunade intended to make full use of those newfound skills.

Getting into the Hokage's home was shockingly easy; in fact, all Tsunade had to do was, well, physically get there. Mito had personally designed the seals protecting the house but Tsunade, who was an approved guest, had no trouble passing through the erected barrier.

Once she sorted out the groceries and scouted the house for anything that would be of aid, Tsunade began cooking. She neither could nor wished to make something complex; she just wanted her granduncle to have some home-cooked food for a few days, for the unlikely case where hedidn'tspend all his time cooped up in his office. Inviting herself over was an attempt to have him sleep at home, at least for the first night after receiving the news.

He'd probably return late, though. Very late. He must be balls-deep in the investigation into what the fuck happened that killed her grandfather.

Tsunade tried not to think about it. She will have time to grieve later. For now, she would take care of her loved ones as best she could.

She made miso and rice balls with various fillings. She cleaned around the house a bit, too scared to go into any of the rooms lest they be trapped; this was a shinobi's house, after all. She organized some of the drawers in the kitchen that looked like it's not been used in years. Then, with nothing left to do, she laid down on the couch.

And tried not to think.

Tsunade dared not try to sleep; she knew her brain well enough to tell that she'd be having nightmares. She couldn't read, either, because doing so would inevitably lead her to think of her dead, dead,dead-! grandfather, too.

So Tsunade meditated.

She found her chakra, core core, like Haruto-sensei had instructed her to, and allowed her mind to match its frequency. The power nestled within her, like the life that it nourished, was ever-changing; pushing and pulling against itself, flexing and stretching within her. The longer she spent with her attention dedicated to it, the more familiar it became; Tsunade learned the various states that chakra occupied within her, memorized then, understood them.

With how focused she'd been on her chakra, it was very easy to detect her granduncle's presence entering her meager sensory range before he announced himself.

She elected to stay lying on his couch, though, with her eyes closed. If he didn't want to talk, that was his prerogative, and she would not deny him the option.

"Tsunade." The Hokage greeted her warily bare moments after the entrance door screeched at his arrival. "You shouldn't be awake."

Tsunade opened her eyes and sat up, carefully taking in his appearance. Tobirama was, once again, donning that same mask that she had forced him to shatter several hours earlier: a facade of stoicism that just barely suppressed his inner turmoil. She wasn't surprised at its return, of course, as she hardly expected him to get through the day without it; she was just disappointed that it was necessary.

She elected to ignore his remark about her sleep schedule. "Have you eaten?" She asked, instead. She spoke nothing of the loss he suffered; nothing of the task he attended to since they parted ways.

Tsunade doubted that he'd want to share either of those with her even if she wasn't a kid.

"No." He replied evenly.

Tsunade nodded solemnly and rose to her feet, immediately heading to the kitchen. "I got you takoyaki from the same place I bought it from last time - they're still hot. It's either that or miso and rice balls. Do either of those sound okay?"

She couldn't ask him outright if he could stomach food at the moment but shecouldget fairly close. Tsunade didn't shy away from the opportunity.

Tobirama watched her quietly for a few long seconds and Tsunade could already see the first few cracks in his otherwise impeccable mask. Good.

"Takoyaki and miso sound good."

Tsunade nodded, gestured for him to sit and began setting the table. She maintained her silence throughout their meal which she could tell caught him off guard, as he kept sneaking her somewhat anxious glances. When he finally registered that Tsunade wouldn't be behaving in a manner befitting a child her age, he visibly relaxed.

The meal, despite the circumstanced they were having it under, was pleasant.

"Mito declined your invitation." Her granduncle spoke finally, as they were drying the last of the dishes.

"I'll go see her tomorrow." Tsunade replied quietly, the guilt at her choice somehow kept entirely out of her tone. A fucking miracle.

"She might refuse you." Warned the Hokage.

"Oh, she will." Tsunade agreed immediately. There was no point dancing around the subject. "She'll keep rejecting my company for a while, I think. But that's fine. I'll keep going so that she at least know that I don't hold her grief against her."

"Thats..." Began Tobirama. "That's very mature of you, Tsunade."

She shrugged, then very quietly asked: "It's what grandpa would have wanted."

They were both settled on the couch, at that point, and there was no way for Tsunade do vert her gaze without it being obvious. Her granduncle's gaze was fierce, penetrating and unmistakably worried. "What about what he would have wanted for you, Tsunade?" He asked. "You seem set on taking care of those of us left behind butyouwere left behind, also."

Tsunade flinched. "I'm trying not to think about that, right now." She admitted.

"That's not a very good coping mechanism." Argued Tobirama. He realized, a few moments later, that his words did not move Tsunade in the least, then sighed. "If you wish to take care of us, you need to take care of yourself, too."

"I am well, oji-san. Thank you."

"You want to become a medic-nin, don't you?" He demanded.

Tsunade froze at the accusation. "What?"

Tobirama released another sigh, this time accompanied by the shaking of his head. His fingers buried themselves in his white locks as he made a gesture not entirely unlike a facepalm. "You reside in a shinobi village, Tsunade. You can't assume your matters are kept private just because no one remarks on them."

Shit, shit, shit. She wasn't ready for this. She hadn't decided how she was going to handle the backlash yet! Okay, no panicking. She could play this off. This was not a big deal. This was nothing.

Tsunade snorted. "Shinobiareinfamously nosy."

Her granduncle didn't have it in him to smile, unsurprisingly, but there was a distinct softening to his features. "That we are." He agreed. "Now that we've established that - knowing you, Tsunade, I find it hard to believe that you are capable of doing things by halves. If you wish to become a medic-nin, I'd imagine you'd do it on your own terms and, frankly, I'm eager to see what that looks like.However," He added, his tone cool and severe, "As a medic nin, your wellbeing comes first. Youcan't affordnot to take care of yourself first and foremost - your teammates will pay the price, otherwise."

"It's not the same." Tsunade protested.

"It's exactly the same." Tobirama insisted. "You can't afford to acquire bad habits if you choose that path, Tsunade."

She just... stared at him, for a while. His mask came off further, in the time it took him to lay down his argument, revealing what looked like bone-deep exhaustion and an immeasurable amout of grief. Still, through it all, he was worriedfor her.

Perhaps the two of them weren't as different as she had initially thought.

Tsunade swallowed thickly. "Okay."

Her granduncle's white eyebrows rose. "Okay?"

"Okay." She repeated. "I'll take care of myself, too."

Her assurance earned Tsunade a firm pat on her head. "Good." Said Tobirama. "Tell me, Tsunade... How do you feel?"

She hesitated. "We don't have to talk about it now."

"I asked, Tsunade." He replied, the last of his facade disintegrating as he expressed his genuine interest in her wellbeing. She wondered if, in that moment, she looked anywhere as bad as him.

"I feel guilty." She admitted eventually. "Like I should have known. Like I could have prevented this. Like this was my fault and his blood is on my hands."

Tobirama paled so much that she could see the change in color, even with only the lamp still lit in the kitchen to light his face. "Tsunade..."

"I know it's not true." She assured him. "I know I couldn't have done anything. You asked me how I felt, tough, and I don't want to lie to you."

He had nothing to say to that.

"How do you feel, oji-san?" She asked when the silence stretched too thin.

"Guilty." He admitted. "Though I, unlike you, do carry the blame."

She wanted to argue with him with every fiber of her being but miraculously refrained. Whatever responsibility he thought he held in regrades to the situation... she couldn't dispute it, not when she didn't even know how her grandfather was killed. Instead, Tsunade was left to seethe internally.

"It's...fineif you feel that way." The words seared her tongue. "But... remember, you did your best with the information you had. Everything looks much clearer in hindsight. Grandpa wouldn't have wanted you to beat yourself up over it."

"I know."

"I love you, oji-san."

"I know."

Neither of them chose to sleep that night but they did rest, in a way; sprawled atop the Hokage's bed in silence, staring at the ceiling made from Hashirama's wood, and processing the grave loss they had suffered.

At the very least... They weren't in this alone.

Notes:

EDITING TO ADD: I keep forgetting! Are there any tags that you think this fic should have that I've missed? Please let me know! Thank you!

I wonder if I'll ever have the patience to wait a full week before uploading. I keep trying to, so that I have more time to pre-write chapters, but I'm always overwhelmed by your support and I break down lol:D
The longest I've gone so far was 4 days and I ended up posting the day before a huge exam LOL

Anyway, what did you think of Tsunade's choice? I hated making her choose but, with Mito being what I made her into, it was kinda inevitable. Do you guys like Mito at all, as a character? And, separate question, do you feel empathy for her, for what she had to give up to uphold her duty?

I keep thinking about how she's FINE with this. She's fine with sacrificing her whole life, basically, and all good aspect of it, to become a machine designed to hold the nine-tails. I can't imagine doing that; I'd rather die than be a slave to a duty that robs me of everything but itself. I think that the fact that Mito is alive and mentally still willing to bear the burden says a lot about how strong her resolve is.
I still can't help but pity her :(

Anyway, see you soon!

Chapter 7: It's a Long Way Down

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Konoha grieves for Hashirama, though none as deeply as Tobirama or Mito.

Tsunade is grounded for 'bothering' Tobirama but sneaks out at night to cook for him. He's never home but he always eats whatever she makes.

She has an argument with her mother and learns that she's going to be married off at thirteen or at seventeen, at best.

Tsunade decides to expedite her plans and chooses the catalyst that will barrel her forward: Orochimaru. After all, what better way was there to prove that she was a genius than beating an actual genius at his own game?
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Okay, so, in order:
1. I uploaded chapter 6 yesterday. If you found your way here and hadn't read it yet, this is a friendly suggestion to go back lol
2. I had a blast with the last chapter's comments. They were super insightful and inspiring, it was so fun responding to them :)))
3. Are there any tags you think should be added to this work? Hmm
4. Ty for your support, and ty to anyone who left a kudos. I was thinking of choosing a metric by which I determine when to post the next chapter so that I don't accidentally burn myself out, smth like 30 kudos to get to the next chapter maybe? It feels odd, like I'm bribing you for chapters, and I'm kind uncomfortable with it, but I'd love to hear your thoughts about it :)
5. OROCHIMARU IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER I PROMISE AND HE HAS A LOT OF SCREENTIME IN CHAPTER 9 TY FOR YOUR PATIENCE

Lol, done. Ty, as always, for reading. 3

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The following month was a blur.

The Senju, of course, were the first to be informed of the first Hokage's demise (apart from anyone involved with the tragedy, the current Hokage and Tsunade). The grief that overtook the clan was suffocating, almost tortuously so; Hashirama wasn't only well respected for his skills and work towards world peace but alsoliked, and that made all the difference. Many considered him a friend and many more adored him for his constant cheer, which he carried with him wherever he went.

A cheer which he won't be carrying anymore, ever.

Tsunade didn't know if she ought to find solace in the fact that her grandfather would be resurrected at some point in the distant future or not. On the one hand, she ought to loathe that fact; disturbing the rest of the deceased was an act vile beyond compare. On the other hand, she might get a chance to properly say goodbye.

Tsunade was horrified by the fact that she was contemplating it at all, of course, but she couldn't help it. She knew better than to blame her immoral thoughts and desires on her developing brain; it was all her, she knew, and she'll likely carry these thoughts with her well into adulthood.

Tsunade will carry the guilt, too.

She knew that Hashirama was going to die pretty early into her life.She knew that. Tsunade always thought that he'd die in a war, though, or some other great, bloody conflict, not in some sort of secret mission the nature of which was not divulged even after his death.

What sort of mission would her granduncle have sent his brother on, anyway? What sort of work demanded that sort of manpower? Tsunade didn't need to see her grandfather in action to know that he was stupidly, rediculously overpowered. The casual grace with which he manipulated wood, even out of combat, was telling enough.

The secrecy shrouding the whole ordeal was doing the tensions between the Senju and the Uchiha no favors, either. Tsunade wasn't surprised that people gossiped about Hashirama being killed by an Uchiha in the name of avenging Madara; it's well known that the former Uchiha Clan Head was the only one evenremotelyequal to Hashirama in strength so it's expected that, should he fall, it would be to someone from the same powerful lineage.

They didn't even know that Madara was alive, which Tsunade was acutely aware of. Because, fuck, attributing the First's death to an Uchiha was petty gossipbut it made sense. Madara might've taken Hashirama on, maybe? How powerful was he, at that point? Did he have Hashirama cells? Did he have the Rinnegan?

Ugh.

Either way, the disdain for the Uchiha was more raw than she remembered it being and the Senju weren't subtle in their snubbing, either. The Hokage was too busy promoting people to fill in for the many duties his brother had tended to, before, to do anything about it. Shit, Tsunade doubted he would have acted even if hecould; wasn't his hatred of the Uchiha second only to the Uchiha's hatred of him?

Everything was a mess.

Her father was on a long mission and probably hadn't even heard the news, yet. Her mother was busy helping with the funereal arrangements. Tsunade spent her time between Tobirama's house, which was always empty when she visited he at least seemed to be eating the food she left for him, thank fuck), and trying to get into Mito's.

She was denied and audience every time.

Tsunade asked her grandmother, after a few days of trying to meet with her, if it'd be better if she were to stop visiting for a time.

The woman's expression hardened at the question, then softened again. "Yes." She said quietly, her words accompanied by a sharp nod. "I think it would be best, for now. Until you're a little older.

Tsunade understood, of course. If Mito were to lose her hold on the nine-tails, Tsunade would be in the direct line of fire. With Hashirama no longer available to interfere in the case of such a calamity she was more terrified than ever of going berserk - or so Tsunade thought.

She'd just have to get strong enough to survive such an event.

Unwilling to lose the relationship she had with her grandmother (despite agreeing not to see her for what would likely be years), Tsunade elected to write letters. It was a good way to practice her writing skills, too, as they were still severely lacking.

Mito didn't write back.

Tsunade persisted.

The funeral... the funeral was hard. Not because of the loss, or how it somehow felt more real as a gravestone was erected even though Tsunadeknewthey never recovered the body.

It was hard because Uzumaki Mito and Senju Tobirama were very, very good at their job.

They were a vision of grace and power and confidence, standing strong in the face of the terrible loss the entire village had gathered to mourn. They spoke the truth and they spoke it well, presenting the strong foundation upon which the village will rely in these trying times and long after them.

But Tsunade knew better, even if her mother, judging by the pure admiration in her eyes, did not.

She saw Tobirama break down crying after hearing the news. She lied awake with him that night, spoke to him, mourned with him. There was not a single person who felt Hashirama's death more deeply or felt as responsible for it.

Mito wasn't in a much better spot, either. Her marriage to the man might not have been some great romance, by the look of things, but she loved him dearly, too. Their union was designed to forge an alliance but she had built a life with him, albeit out of duty, a life she never got to take part in due to the burden she carried. A burden that only he could alleviate, as, with Hashirama, she knew she could let loose at least a little and trust him to restrain her if necessary.

In that moment, as she spoke of Hashirama at his funereal, Mito looked as if she hadn't slept in days.

Tsunade wanted to scream.

Her mother did not take kindly to Tsunade forcing her granduncle to host her the day of his brother's death, even if she was unaware that Tsunade knew of it at the time. Sneaking out to the Hokage's home despite being put on house arrest, basically, was easy; her mother never tracked her at night. Tsuande's days, though, were heavily monitored, and while Fuyumi at least was willing to come teach Tsunade in her own home, her mother would not allow it.

"I don't know what Mito-sama was thinking, allowing you to be taught by someone like her." Tsunade heard her mutter, and another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"Mom." Began Tsunade. "Are you unhappy with the private tutoring I've been receiving?"

The woman wrinkled her nose, not averting her gaze from the dishes she was washing. "I don't see why you need it." She replied bluntly after a sort pause. "I was learning more important things, at your age, such as how to manage a household."

Tsunade felt bile rise up her throat. "Is that why you grounded me? So that I can't have my lessons?"

Heat rose in the woman's face and she turned her head just enough to meet Tsunade's eyes. "I'm not barring you from having the lessons." She began. "Hokage-sama and Mito-sama think they are good for you and I am in no position to contradict them. I do, however, think that they are bad for you. Look at how bold you've become!"

"Being bold is not a bad quality for a kunoichi." Argued Tsunade.

A plate shattered as her mother dropped it into the sink. Tsunade winced.

"There that is again!" She began, voice raised, turning to face her daughter fully. "What's with you being so set on becoming a kunoichi?"

Tsunade was too confused by the turn the conversation had taken to be alarmed by the fury in her mother's eyes. "I want to be useful to the village." She replied immediately - it was the answer she practiced and it came out naturally, even if it was only a cover for the truth.

"You already have a duty to this village, Tsunade, as well as a duty to this clan." Her mother seethed, approaching her daughter and placing her hands on Tsunade's shoulders. "You are a member of the Head Family; you have theveryimportant role of assisting in the clan's running and, though your future brothers will carry on our name, you have the equally important duty of carrying on our line."

Tsunade felt the blood drain from her face. She was suddenly dizzy enough that, had her mother not been holding her, she might've fallen over.

Her mind was running at a mile a minute.

"Mom." She asked quietly. "How old were you when you married Dad?"

Her mother eyed her cautiously but answered the question regardless. "I was seventeen." She said. "You will be wed at a similar age, unless a match is met with the Daimyo's family, in which case you will marry at thirteen."

"Thirteen?!" Tsunade choked out. "Thirteen?!" She hadn't even considered this. Fuck! How the hell did that work out with her current ambitions? She absolutely could not marry into what was basically royalty - they would never allow her the freedom she'd need to do what had o be done. Thirteen! Seriously! If it was seventeen she would have at least stood a chance of gaining influence of her own, first, fuck!

"Your father is in the capital right now, negotiating a contract."

The declaration, disguised as a casual remark, cut off Tsunade's line of thought. "What?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her mother continued: "He is set to return in a month's time; we will know, then, if the Daimyo wishes to wed you to one of his sons."

This couldn't be happening.

"Why would he want his sons to marry me?" She asked weakly. "I'm not royalty."

"You're as good as." Answered her mother and finally released Tsunade who, without the support provided by the hold, fell to her knees, crushed under the weight of her despair. "The firstborn daughter of the Senju Clan Heir. You're very pretty, too, even for your age- you will grow up to be a beautiful woman."

This couldn't be happening.

She was left to her own devices, afterwards, while her mother returned to the kitchen. Tsunade somehow found her way to her room and proceeded to spend several hours staring at the wall before her, processing what she had just learned.

The other Tsunade certainly wasn't married.

But her entire family was dead before she could be shipped off to whoever her match was. Did she even know about the marriage being discussed in the capital? Did she reject it?

What the fuck was she going to do, now? Tsunade didn't want to lose her family. Wasn't that kind of the whole point of everything she was doing? Tohavea family by the time she was old enough to marry? Was there even a way for her to maneuver her way through this shitfest without ending up married as a fuckingchildor losing her family?

There had to be.

There had to be, and shewillfind it.

Things didn't really settle in what little time that remained before Tsunade got to attend the academy.

Her detention ended, thankfully, and she could spent some more time fine-tuning her skills before she got to test them in the Academy. Her teachers were surprised and pleased with her progress when she returned; Tsunade kept to a very strict workout routine religiously, meditated often and practiced chakra control exercises when she could lose her mother's spying eyes for long enough. She took midday naps to compensate for the time she spent cooking for her granduncle at night but the lost time was worth it; He always,alwaysfinished whatever it is that she made for him, and sometimes even left short notes reading "Thank you" which Tsunade collected and stored in her room, to cherish at a later time.

So, either Tobirama was hungry enough to eat food he didn't like and Tsuande was feeding a starving man, which was great, or he enjoyed her cooking, which was even better.

It was likely the former, though.

The revelation of how opposed her mother was to Tsunade becoming a kunoichi changed things. She would have to be good enough to be able to live independently, at least until she made a name for herself, as she would not put it past her parents to kick her out if she chose to pursue a career past becoming a genin. Well, that was true for her mother -Tsunade didn't know what her father thought of all this and, in the end, it was his word that was law.

Either way, she would have to become very good, very fast. A useful measurement of how well she was doing would be Orochimaru, which was a dreadful thought; Tsunade knew that he probably wouldn't be a crazed maniac, yet, but someone who turned into that sort of monster couldn't be alright in the head as a kid. No way.

Still, she will have to measure herself against him. He was a genius, right? Tsunade had not shown genius level skill in any of the fields she practiced, yet, and she would have to find something that she truly excelled in to be granted the title even though she was, naturally, very good for her age. She won't be peerless in the academy, though: the training she received for a few months? Well, boys from prominent clans received them for a fulltwo yearsbefore going to the academy. She'll have a lot of catching up to do.

So, back to Orochimaru. He'll probably prove, very quickly, that he was the meanest, baddest dude around.

If she wanted the crown for herself... she'd just have to beat him.

Ah, Fuck.

Notes:

First things first: sorry for spoiling but it's important that you know that I will NOT be writing non-con. No way. Tsunade WILL snake her way out of this (pun intended) without being a child bride. I'm sorry if this ruins the intrigue but I would've dropped the story if I thought she was going to be married off
Now, for everything else:
I know I shouldn't say this but this chapter felt SO DRY to me. I'll definitely rewrite it at some point and add more dialogue, especially between Tsunade and Mito, but I'm leaving it as is now cause my goal is to speedrun introducing Orochimaru. I promised you a crazy snake-boi, you WILL be getting a crazy snake-boi. So, rather than edit this, I'm writing ahead. I just wrote chapter 9 and I already know I'm gonna get murdered over something I did in it LOL
I never thought I'd be so excited to be raged at.
Anyway, this is it! Ty for your support and for leaving kudos 3
As always, let me know if there is something you'd like me to focus on so that I can give it the spotlight! See you soon!

Chapter 8: Starting Line

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tobirama founds the Konoha Military Police and hands the reins over to the Uchiha. Tsunade meets the boy from the playground to whom she'd admitted her ambitions, Uchiha Shou, at the ceremony. They have a conversation that is neither polite not outright rude and ends up being most insightful for both of them.

None of her family escort her to the Academy on her first day. Tsunade meets her classmates, Jiraiya and Orochimaru among them. Jiraiya is a social butterfly while Orochimaru is quiet and polite. His odd appearance draws the attention of a few of the other kids who proceed to interrogate him about it, so harshly that Tsunade steps in his defense when Orochimaru himself would not. The ensuing argument is cut off by the arrival of their sensei: Hyuga Norio.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

To everyone who helped with my posting schedule dilemma in the comments of the last chapter - thank you. I genuinely didn't expect to recieve so much advice and insight; it was incredible. I decided that I'll try not to post more often than once per 3 days :)
It sucks, a little, because the chapter ahead is basically a chapter cut in two, lol - you'll understand next time I upload :)

Another important thing: ty so much for supporting my choice to spoil that Tsunade will not be a child bride. I'm repeating that here in case someone missed it: there will NOT be non-con in this fic. It's just another hurdle in her path. I was worried about spoiling it, initially, and your support for my decision means the world to me. THANK YOU.

Ty, as always, for your support! I'm very excited about where this is heading!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Tsunade's hopes of having a quiet couple of weeks before she finally began attending the Academy were, unfortunately, not among the Hokage's priorities.

Maintaining his control over the Uchiha, however, was.

The announcement regarding the founding of the Konoha Military Police Force was sudden and final. From what little gossip Tsunade managed to pick up with her still limited freedom -she was not allowed off the Clan's grounds- implied that the village was split about the decision. Not a Senju/Uchiha sort of split, but rather a more evenly-spread one: as many Senju as Uchiha believed the idea to be preposterous.

They had different reasons: The opposing Uchiha saw the gesture for what it was -a ploy to keep them occupied and create a facade of themnotbeing second-rate citizens- while the opposing Senju, ironically, argued that the Uchiha were being entrusted with far too much power and influence.

Those advocating for the idea among the Uchiha took pride in the acknowledgment of their usefulness while the supporting Senju, well... they just wanted the Uchiha to get off their backs over hoarding positions of power.

Tsunade thought that the whole ordeal sucked.

The ceremony celebrating the new institution was eerily similar to the First's funereal. This time, at least, the crowd was dressed in color - mostly red, rather than black. Tsunade was uncomfortable to the point that she felt like crawling out of her own skin, praying to whatever god would listen for mercy.

Her prayers were answered once the ceremony ended and the mini-festival accompanying it began.

Sort of. The kami who answered her prayer was, without doubt, a huge troll.

"Oi, aren't you the kid from the playground?" Someone called from behind her, unmistakably addressing Tsunade.

She recognized the voice.

"I am." She agreed, turning to face the boy and offering a proper, shallow bow. Her mother might be watching: speaking to an Uchiha alone might be enough to irritate the woman. Tsunade couldn't afford to slack on her manners, too.

To her surprise, the pale Uchiha boy returned the gesture. He was dressed in dark robes with red accents, like the majority of his clan, and was even more unmistakably Uchiha than he was when they last met. His hair looked neater, this time, but it was still spiky, befitting his heritage. His dark eyes were cautious, wary, as if he suspected what words would come out of her mouth next.

"I never introduced myself." Tsunade began quietly, already knowing that this conversation was two sentences away from its end. She tried not to show her pain too openly; he'd already seen her cry, no need to give him any more ammunition. "I am Senju Tsunade. Thank you very much for your help the other day." With that said, she bowed again, a little deeper this time. She'd be lying if she were to deny that it had to do with her desire tonotsee his expression when he realized who she was.

"Uchiha Shou." Said the boy when Tsunade finally dared look up at him again, his expression still suspicious but not entirely closed-off. "How does the Senju Clan feel about their beloved Princess choosing to become a medic-nin?"

The blonde couldn't help the laugh at his bluntness. Her anxiety was gone and Tsunade was suddenly very excited for a conversation that she had been dreading a moment prior.

"They aren't aware, mostly, unless they overheard you just now. Otherwise, the only people in the know at this time are you and the Hokage."

There was a glint of something... amused, mirthful in the boy's eyes, but none of it made it to his other features which were stretched into a facade of cool politeness mixed with disinterest. She called it the Classic Uchiha Face.

"Ah, soI must conspire with Hokage-sama, then." He joked.

Her resolve wavered as the remark struck her where it hurt; Tsunade missed her granduncle to the point of madness. She managed to offer the boy a wobbly smile, though: "Maybe later, when he's a little less busy." He'd never been too busy for Tsunade, before.

Shou's demeanor softened. "Maybe." He said. Then, likely having noticed that the previous topic upset her less, he asked: "So, you're still set on that awful idea?"

"Yeah!" Tsunade replied, much more cheerfully though some of her disappointment lingered in her tone and likely in her eyes. "More than ever, actually."

Shou shook his head. "A shame."

"What about you? Are you in the Academy? I'm starting next week."

"I'm a year ahead of you." He replied, grinning. "The sensei like pitting the lower years against the upper years once in a while. I'll make sure that you're my sparring partner when we get to practice taijutsu."

"That would be great!" She exclaimed, taking his hand in her own while distracted by her excitement, When she noticed how he stiffened at the touch, Tsunade released him immediately. "Sorry." She offered earnestly. "Anyway, I'd love that. I'll be waiting for our spar, Uchiha-san."

"Shou is fine." He brushed her off.

"Shou-san?" She tried, only to have the boy wrinkle his nose. "Shou-kun." She corrected, which seemed to appease him. "Call me Tsunade, then." She said, smiling brightly at the boy.

"Tsunade-hime." He affirmed. It was she who wrinkled her nose, this time, but Shou, unlike her, did not correct himself to accommodate her discomfort. "Maybe if we fight often enough I could beat that absurd idea out of you."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be a combat-nin, you know." She informed him. "No one says I have to choose one or the other."

Shou barked out a laugh at that, though his outburst didn't feel demeaning. He seemed to genuinely be entertained by her ambition. "Medic-nin don't do combat missions." He reminded her.

"Yet." She said, matching his grin. "The fact that it hasn't been done before means nothing to me. If I'll have to be the first, so be it."

"Does that sort of confidence come from being the Senju princes, or...?"

"I mean," Tsunade shrugged, "I am of Senju and Uzumaki descent so I should probably have enough chakra to be noteworthy. My chakra control is decent and getting better. I have the resources and will hopefully have the support of my clan and everything that it entails - jutsu, training, opportunities. I have the character to pull it off, too. If someone coming from a place of as much privilege as me can't do it,thenI'll admit it's impossible."

Shou just... stared. For a few seconds.

"You shouldn't talk like that." Was what left his mouth when he finally spoke. "You clearly have the resolve to try at it seriously. And yeah, you have all those boons, but they are worth nothing to those who lack fire."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows, wordlessly voicing her qurestion. Shou continued: "How many of your older cousins are content to stay genin, despite having access to most of the same resources you just bragged about? Even among the Uchiha there are those who lack ambition. Take credit where credit is due, Tsunade-hime." He told her solemnly, his dark gaze locked onto her own. "No one else will give it to you."

"That's enough, Shou." A severe man stepped out from behind the boy. He was an Uchiha, unsurprisingly, but Tsunade couldn't tell how closely the two were related. The men of their clan often looked a lot alike: tall, pale, dark-haired and very pretty.

"Apologies, oji-sama." The boy bowed shallowly, effectively silenced by the command. The man then turned to Tsunade:

"We will be taking our leave, Tsunade-hime. I hope my ward has not been an inconvenience."

Tsunade offered him a subdued smile, fearing that a brighter one would alarm him. "Not at all - he has been delightful company. Shou-kun,thank you." She said, meeting his eyes. The recognition in the dark orbs left no doubt as to whether or not he realized that she meant his last argument rather than his company in general. Her smile widened, "I hope to see you again soon. Enjoy the festival."

He didn't smile but the corners of his lips twitched promisingly. "Farewell, Tsunade-hime."

"Until next time, Shou-kun."

No one walked Tsunade to the Academy.

She was an adult in a child's body but, fuck, even if she'd been an adult in anadult'sbody it would have stung.

Tsunade didn't understand, until then, how deeply her choice to dedicate herself to becoming a splendid kunoichi cut her mother. The woman didn't even take her seriously: her mother had repeatedly said that she considered Tsunade's fixation with that career path as a phase she'd grow out of, likely as soon as she saw how far behind her male year-mates she fell. Those were her words, not Tsunade's.

So, if she was so certain that Tsunade wouldn't continue past achieving genin rank... why the fuss? Why the stink-eye? Why the yelling, the berating and, most of all, why would she so aggressively show that she withheld her support? Tsunade wasfour, for fuck's sake. It was reasonable to expect her mother to have her back.

Alas, Tsunade arrived at the Academy alone.

There were very few children there without at least one parent to escort them, even among the older years. She saw Shou's uncle, for example, even though the boy himself was nowhere in sight.

Tsunade tried not to draw much attention, as the fact that the Senju Princess was unaccompanied was bound to incite gossip if noticed.Whennoticed, rather; this was a shinobi village, after all.

She followed the staff's instructions and quietly made her way to the classroom that she will be spending at least a few years in.

The building itself was colorful and well taken care of but the classrooms were much more simple in design. They lacked the red paint decorating the exterior and were, instead, made entirely out of plain wood and stone. There was a podium for the instructor and a large blackboard on the wall behind it, so much so that it seemed impractical, to Tsunade. A smaller board would've been more convenient for both the sensei and the students.

The other half of the room was designed a little like a stadium, with three sets of stairs stretching the entire width of the room, creating a variety in floor height. Each set of stairs housed three tables atop it, the nine of them aligned into three straight lines with easily-accessible paths between them. There was another such path between the third line and the window so, no direct window seats.

A shame. She wanted to look like an anime protagonist, for once.

Instead, Tsunade chose the corner seat in the third row, furthest both from the teacher and the window. She was among the first to sit down, seeing as she had no parent to part ways from, and was therefore allowed to have her pick.

The class filled in fairly quickly, afterwards.

There were two Uchiha, maybe twins, that elected to sit together at the back of the class, though they chose the seats closer to the window; An Akimichi who had wisely brought her own stash of snacks and was enjoying them while the class waited for their sensei to arrive; a Hyuuga boy with strikingly beautiful, long, dark hair that he braided with a silver ribbon; Another Senju -her cousin, Kiyomi, who Tsunade didn't know very well- and, among those she recognized, the last were Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

They really had the whole Main Character Color Palette thing going on; White hair was not unheard of, especially among the Senju, but it wasrare; Tsunade could count the number of people with that hair color on one hand, and that isincludingboth her granduncle and Jiraiya. He was a cheerful, friendly kid who immediately made friends with everyone sitting even remotely close to him; he told jokes, made faces, recited stories and was obviously very good at both demanding attention and holding it. Tsunade felt admiration rise in her chest, along with a small pang of envy: charisma was a valuable quality to have and, unfortunately, not one she though herself blessed with. She was, and would be, good at commanding respect.

She wasn't as sure about love.

Orochimaru, of course, was the complete opposite of their (hopefully) future teammate. He sat at the very edge of the middle row, occupying the seat directly under her own, and seemed content to mind his own business. It wasn't working very well, judging by how openly he was stared at, but Tsunade couldn't fault him for it; not when his appearance was so unique. He was as pale as a fucking wall, to the point that he almost looked ill, and had hair even longer than the Hyuga's, reaching all the way to the middle of his back. Shit, evenTsunadedidn't have hair that long and she barely cut hers, ever. It was just as silky smooth but much deeper in color: his locks were a shade of black so dark that she wasn't able to see the separate hairs, even from such a close distance. His eyes were his most noticeable feature, however; their color, like molten gold, was unique enough to draw attention, but what seemed to truly pique the curiosity of her peers were his slit pupils and the eyeliner-like markings in a vivid lilac decorating his eyelids.

She had the chance to take in his appearance properly in the short moment during which their eyes had met as he was climbing the stairs towards his seat. His expression was completely blank and he seemed to dismiss her after a short glance, yet Tsunade found herself shooting him a smile on pure instinct. His eyes had widened, then, if only a little, and he had not gone out of his way to look at her, since.

To say that what his eyes looked like was a surprise would be an understatement. She always assumed that his pupils and the markings on his face had to do with his contract with the snake summons; the fact that he had both already implied that it was a bloodline thing, like the Inuzuka - or were those tattoos? Either way, even if his eyeliner-thingwasa tattoo, the slit pupils couldn't be explained away as cosmetic changes.

Good to know.

She was perfectly fine sitting quietly while she waited for the instructor to arrive, but the world would not grant her peace.

"Hey, hey, what's with the marks around your eyes?" Asked one of the boys seated close enough to Orochimaru to openly stare at him.

"I was born with them." He boy replied, his voice as void of emotion as his expression.

"They're weird!" Cheered the other kid. "And what's with the pupils?"

"I was born with them, too."

"They're like a cat's!"

"I am aware."

"Do your parents have eyes like that, too?" Another kid, a girl this time, chimed in.

"I don't know."

She furrowed her brow. "How don't you know?"

"I don't remember what my parents' eyes looked like." Replied Orochimaru and this time there was something...different,in his tone. Not quite agitation and not quite hurt, either, but there was emotion in it, now, which meant that Orochimaru had failed to maintain his default state.

"Are they dead?" Asked the girl.

"That's enough." Declared Tsunade, standing up as she interrupted the interrogation disguised as a conversation. Her voice could barely be distinguished from a snake's venomous hiss. "Mind your own business."

Both kids were visibly displeased with her interference but it was the girl who wrinkled her nose and turned her attention to Tsunade. "And who're you?" She demanded bluntly, thus outing herself as a civilian-born aspiring shinobi; not a single clan kid would have missed the Senju insignia sewn onto her clothes.

Before Tsunade could answer, however, the door to the classroom slid open, revealing a tall man wearing a Konoha forehead protector. His features were soft and aristocratic, his long, brown hair pulled into a high ponytail. His white eyes marked him as a Hyuga.

"Hello, class." He said, his voice too deep to match his appearance. "I am Hyuga Norio. You will call me Norio-sensei."

Finally, her time in the Academy officially began.

Notes:

OROCHIMARU IS HERE!

I'm gonna keep the notes short today; I said I'd allow myself to post on the 29th and it's, um, midnight of the 29th rn, so... lol yeah I have zero self restraint. At least I managed the full three days! Technically...

The chapters are going to get a little longer, from now on - please let me know if that becomes a problem! It's just that I suddenly have so much to fit into them ;-; I wish I could make this chapter, like, 3k words longer. Or at least 1.5k.

I'd love to hear what you thought of Shou and my portrayal of him! I tried to give him the classic Uchiha jerkiness and disregard of others while not letting be outright offensive to Tsunade now that he knows who she is :P

Also, I wonder, was Orochimaru's physical description as fun to read as it was to write? :D

See you again later this week! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!

PS just fun fact: I didn't like the first scene of this chapter but it's something that had to happen so I left it be. I LOVED writing the second half, though, and I loved writing the next chapter, which details he first day at the Academy and Tsunade and Orochimaru's first proper interaction, even more. I'm a few chapters ahead and suddenly all the scenes without him feel bland to me. He's THAT much fun for me to write, which I'd not expected, but I'm super happy about it!

Well, there goes my promise to keep the notes short, LOL

I'm off for real this time! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9: Mischief

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Orochimaru shows Tsunade his true colors.

Tsunade practices the technique she accidentally figured out while freaking out about Orochimaru, realizes how wide the gap between them is and elects to work on mending it.

Tobirama meets her after her first day at the Academy and takes her for a talk in his office. He warns her about how hiding her presence may land her a lot of dirty work and makes her promise to hide the skill if he and her father aren't present to protect her from that fate. When she agrees, he gives her pointers on how to improve her technique, from the POV of a sensor nin. He also warns her about Orochimaru and Tsunade promised to be wary around him.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I didn't actually upload this chapter at midnight! Yay!
... but it wasn't because I have self discipline. It's because I was busy until now (6:30 am)
Does is still count? :D

Anyway, thank you as always for the support 3 you guys make this way more fun than I thought it would be :)

One last thing: When I decided to write this fic, all I had was a collection of scenes that shape the story. Everything else is important, of course, but those were the moments that mattered most.

The first of those scenes is in this chapter :) I'm really proud of it. Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The Academy was a school designed to pop out soldiers, not researchers, and was operated as such.

It's not that Tsunade had assumed that their lessons would be of much substance, at this point, but she had failed to anticipate that the first thing being drilled into the future shinobi would be discipline which, in hindsight, was stupid of her.

Making a class of four-year-olds sit still in silence for a full class period was kinda harsh, still, albeit necessary. She expected them to be punished with physical labor, at first, as getting the students into shape was part of the plan anyway, but it was the opposite: physical activity was theirreward. They were to have half a day dedicated to games designed to build dexterity and strength while still catering to the likes of children; being forced to sit out was supposed to suck, apparently.

Not that most kids understood that, so early into their schooling.

The children coming from the larger clans, like her own, already knew to behave when ordered to. Orochimaru had no problem playing that game, either. Jiraiya, on the other hand... He'd be sitting out the second half of the schoolday for the next week, probably.

With the time to spare, Tsunade chose to meditate rather than waste away from boredom. Her teacher hadn't explicitly forbid it and she wasn't going to discard her chance by asking for permission.

Rather than concentrate on her own chakra, Tsunade decided to concentrate on that of others, this time. It was rare for her to get an opportunity to prod people with chakra without them being aware of it, and fresh recruits of the Academy were ideal targets for that exercise. She wanted to be able to sense it when someone was watching her, eventually; this was just a start.

It wasn't much fun. It felt a little like stretching without working out before or after; not redundant but not as rewarding as usual, either.

Until she stumbled on Orochimaru's chakra, that is, because he apparently had the same idea as her.

When he felt Tsunade brush against him, Orochimaru immediately pulled all his chakra back into himself. She couldn't sense the shift in the room without actively searching for it but Norio must have, as he turned to look at them immediately. His eyes narrowed as he eyed both children warily but he didn't voice any complaints, eventually redirecting his attention elsewhere.

Tsunade tried to follow Orochimaru's example and pull her chakra within herself but to no avail; it didn't fit, and some of it still leaked out no matter how tightly she packed her core. She was getting frustrated with her lack of success when she felt another person's,Orochimaru's, chakra poke her own.

Panic rose up her throat like bile, threatening to escape her mouth in the form of a yelp, because what the fuck was he trying to do-?!

And suddenly, there was enough room in her core to fit the entirety of her chakra, after all.

The teacher's sharp gaze landed on the two of them again, this time more on Tsunade than the other troublemaker. He looked... unhappy, but intrigued. That's as much as Tsunade could figure out, with his expressionless white eyes and constant frown.

At least the attention got Orochimaru to stop messing with her chakra and Tsunade could finally release it from the cramped space it formerly occupied, quietly sighing at the immediate relief.

They had what amounted to a language class the next period, closely followed by History. When a break for lunch was finally announced, Tsunade wasted no time in approaching the person she had marked as her rival.

"Eat lunch with me?" She half demanded, half requested.

"Fine." He said, following her outside without further comment. She would have sat on the grass, had she been eating alone, as she was terribly fond the stubborn weed, but Orochimaru was wearing white and Tsunade wasn't an asshole. Well, not to that degree, at least. They sat on the stairs at some unoccupied part of the Academy and pulled out their lunchboxes.

"I'm Tsunade." She introduced herself confidently, even though, internally, she was hesitant. Should she even be friendly with him? Would he use her being polite against her? Probably. He didn't seem to be a monster, though, at least not yet; the way he handled the interrogation he suffered in the classroom was proof of that. A crueler Orochimaru would have decimated the nosy pair with words alone... right?

"Orochimaru." He said, refraining from offering a last name, as she did. Tsunade thought it fair.

"Sorry about the kids that bothered you before class." She offered quietly, deciding to give empathy a go. "They were extremely rude."

"I didn't mind." He said, not bothering to look away from his food as he spoke. Orochimaru had perfect manners and moved with near ethereal grace even when doing something as mundane as eating, which Tsunade found odd; wasn't he supposed to be an orphan? Maybe? Who the fuck took the time to teach him table manners?

"You ought to." She replied cautiously. "If you don't set boundaries with people, they'll just continue pushing you until they cross a line."

"I can handle myself fine." He replied coolly, still not looking at her. "You need not interfere if such a conversation arises again."

"You looked uncomfortable." Protested Tsunade.

To her surprise, Orochimarulaughed. It was short but genuine, his entire face twisting to accommodate the expression, his eyes nearly shut with how wide he smiled. The mirth didn't leave his face, after, reduced to a glint in his golden orbs and the slight twitch of his lips, but it wasn't as obvious anymore.

He was looking at her, now, his eyes shining eerily bright, like beacons, only making his dark, slit pupils appear more foreign in comparison. The grin stretching his features was wide, almost animistic, and Tsunade could swear that his canines were sharper than what they ought to be.

What little color he had in his cheeks previously was gone, too, leaving Orochimaru pale and ghastly like a porcelain doll, or a corpse.

"And who areyou, Senju Tsunade-hime," He began gravely, his grin now wicked rather than mirthful, "to claim to know howIfeel?"

She had no answer to that. The person in front of her, all arrogance and what could only be categorized as sadistic joy... was he really the same as the timid boy who politely answered questions in the classroom? Had she already been so easily fooled?

Gods,shewas the arrogant one, wasn't she? And stupid, to boot. Sheknewhe was fucking nuts as an adult- why had she assumed that he wasn't completely off his rocker already?

Taking her silence as the victory it was, Orochimaru continued: "I regret to inform you that I had not found their words hurtful. On the contrary - I found themdelightfully entertaining. So please,Princess," he spat the word out as if it was poison, "refrain from cutting my fun short next time."

The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. There was a bone-deep chill coursing through her body, while she could simultaneously feel a flush of embarrassment rise to her cheeks. Tsunade will admit that, in that moment, she was fucking scared; Orochimaru no longer looked like a kid, no longer lookedhuman, with his sharp teeth and creepy eyes and how could someone be this fucking pale and not be dead-

Wait.

"Kai." Tsunade breathed out softly, touching her hand to her chest to break the genjutsu at the source. Orochimaru no longer looked like a character from a PG-13 horror movie but he certainly wasn't normal-looking, still, with golden eyes saturated with sadistic glee and skin only a few shades away from the bone-white it had been before.

At least he was no longer grinning like a maniac. Or looking like a corpse.

Tsunade groaned and returned to eating her food, averting her gaze. "Was that really necessary? You're such a jerk." She muttered glumly. "You could've just asked me to leave you alone next time like a normal person and gotten the same result."

"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" He wondered out loud, now also tending to what remained of his meal.

"That's fair." Tsunade yielded. "Do note that, when I'm legitimately scared, I don't really do 'flight' or 'freeze'; you might end up on the other end of my 'fight' response."

"Are you threatening me, Princess?" He asked, the mirth in his voice lingering longer, this time.

"Just warning you." She replied, shooting him her sweetest smile. Orochimaru met her gaze, then, and the amused glint in his eyes was back in full force. She didn't know how that would work out for her. "Wouldn't want to accidentally hurt a classmate."

"Just a classmate?" He lamented. "You wound me, Princess. Did we not bond over chakra exercises mere hours ago?"

"We can be friends when you stop toying with me."

"A shame."

Tsunade snorted mirthlessly. "Truly." She agreed.

They didn't talk anymore, during that break, even though Tsunade only invited him to eat with her to ask about that thing he did with his chakra earlier. She was too upset by getting tricked to bother, though, and the fact that Orochimaru managed to cast a genjutsu without her noticing at all made her anxious. It made the disparity in their level of skill all the more obvious; if she wanted to put herself on par with him, Tsunade couldn't afford to walk the 'safe' route, anymore. Shit, she was better off not doing any major jutsu until her chakra system settled during puberty, but she couldn't afford to wait.

She'd have to change strategies.

The second half of their schoolday was actually really nice.

Jiraiya had to sit out the entire exercise, as she had anticipated, but the rest of the kids got to play outside for a few hours. Tsunade wasn't really stoked about playing with kids her age but she could recognize that the games were good for training: ball games to hone their aim, tag to improve their stamina and speed, hide and seek to train their stealth. An interesting discovery Tsunade made while hiding was that, when she suppressed her chakra, the other kids seemed to have a harder time finding her, even if they weren't actively searching with their extra sense. Did that mean that people with enough chakra to enroll in the Academy used sensory techniques instinctively, to a degree? Wasshedoing that? Could she improve?

She was certainly going to try.

Playing hide and seek while simultaneously trying to process an extra sense was difficult, and it cost her; she was often too focused on the feedback from the net she cast to act in time on the information she gathered.

It was worth it, though, because by the time it was her turn to go seek, she became the only person to successfully find Orochimaru.

"Sup." She asked, popping out from behind him, surprising the boy enough to make him lash out at her in an instinctive, defensive reaction. Orochimaru clawed at her, like a cornered animal would, and Tsunade was immensely grateful for the taijutsu training that allowed her to dodge the attack in time. He didn't go for a second strike once his eyes had met hers; she could see the recognition in them, followed by realization and... intrigue? Maybe?

"Well done - you found everyone." Said Norio, interrupting the pair's staring match. "That's it for today, class. Don't be late tomorrow."

"It was fun, thanks for the challenge." She nodded up at Orochimaru, heart still racing from the adrenaline of the almost-attack, then left without waiting for his response.

Tsunade was fully prepared to walk home alone again, seeing as nothing had changed in her relationship with her mother since that morning; she doubted anyone would be picking her up.

It was fortunate that she was still extending her senses, at the time, as it allowed her a timely warning for the fact that the fucking Hokage was waiting at the gates.

Being aware of his presence there did allow Tsunade to tone down her reaction, a bit, but she still couldn't refrain from running into his arms, especially as Tobirama elected to kneel down as soon as his blood-red eyes met her golden-brown ones. They held the embrace wordlessly for a few long but much, much needed seconds before Tobirama picked Tsunade up, still holding her close, said his goodbyes to the people waiting for their children with him and left for his office.

"I missed you." She muttered into his silky, white hair, her arms still wrapped tightly around his neck, when Tobirama locked the office doors behind him.

"It's been too long." He agreed, then gently lowered her to the chair by the outer end of his desk then took his own seat. "I'm sorry-"

"Please don't apologize." Tsunade cut him off. "I understand how busy you've been, oji-san. I'm just glad to see you today."

He watched her for a long moment, contemplating her request, before finally yielding: "... very well." He modded.

Tsunade very purposefully refrained from remarking on how he ate her cooking, too, or how happy his 'Thank you' notes made her. She didn't know if it was something he was comfortable with at all, not to mention something he'd be willing to openly talk about.

As long as he wasn't starving, though, she genuinely didn't care.

"So, there's probably a reason why you wanted to see me today, right?" Asked Tsunade.

Tobirama's expression betrayed nothing. "What makes you think that?"

"If you just wanted to see me, you would've gone with me to the Academy this morning." She pointed out, trying her best not to sound as if she was accusing him, with mixed results.

Tobirama winced. "True."

Tsunade offered him a soft smile. "So?"

Tobirama sighed and shook his head. "Are you aware of my skills regarding sensing?" He began,

Tsunade perked up at that. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "Isn't your range, like, super huge? You probably felt me doing that chakra exercise, right?"

The Hokage was visibly pleased with how quickly she caught on. "Indeed."

"What did it feel like, to you?" She asked, suddenly curious.

"Like a candle has been snuffed out." He replied immediately. "I wasn't actively concentrating on you, at the time, but it was easy to find you once I knew to look."

Tsunade hummed. "So was I, like, cloaking my chakra signature?" She asked.

His brow furrowed. "Was that not your intent?"

"No." She admitted. "I was just trying to bar a classmate from touching my chakra with his. So I erased my signature?"

"Yes."

"Did I do it well?"

"For a pre-genin? Yes."

That piqued Tsunade's interest. "How do I get better?"

Tobirama paused to consider the question, eyeing her warily. "It will be difficult to explain to a person who is not a sensor themselves." He admitted. "Your method of cloaking is... sufficient. It is what most senior shinobi can muster and is likely to fool anyone barring sensor-nin, should you be able to maintain it long enough."

Not an easy task, noted Tsunade. Her exercise while playing hide and seek proved that she could barely hold the technique for a minute and needed extended breaks between uses. She could work on that.

"Is there a way to fool sensor-nin, too?" She wondered.

"You can try." He divulged. "To a sensor-nin, a cloaked presence is a void in the fabric of chakra saturating all things. If they notice the void, they will know exactly where you are hiding. If you wish to bypass that... you'll have to mimic another creature's chakra rather than fully erase your own."

Tsunade's brow furrowed. "So... make myself appear like a squirrel, or a bird, to a sensor-nin?"

Her idea earned her a satisfied, albeit tired, grin from her granduncle.

"Precisely." He agreed. A moment later, his expression turned terribly grim. "It is a good skill to have, Tsunade, but you must understand that it is a dangerous one for a girl your age to have."

She furrowed her brow. "Could I accidentally hurt myself?" She inquired.

"That is always a risk when training; try to keep stock of your reserves, Tsunade, lest you suffer chakra exhaustion. It is not what I meant, however: suppressing your presence is a skill most useful to kunoichi who bear the burden of a very specific kind of missions."

"Wet work - assassination and seduction." Tsunade replied, catching his drift.

If Tobirama was surprised that she knew enough of kunoichi's work to jump to that conclusion, he didn't show it. He probably just had no idea what sort of information was appropriate for kids to know, though. "Precisely. You will not land yourself that sort of work for a while, still, not with myself and your father alive to protect you.However." He paused. "I need you to promise me that, should we both not be present to do so, you will refrain from revealing that skill toanyoneif you can help it. Your sensei will likely be seeing me about that, soon, as well; I'll make sure he knows to follow that order as well."

Tsunade... wanted to argue that there won't be a time when he wasn't there to protect her. She knew there will be, though, as he was supposed to die at some point, too, probably along with the rest of the Senju.

"Okay." She promised quietly. She wasn't sure if she meant it, but she did take his advice to heart.

"There is another thing I would like to discuss with you." He said, changing the topic, to her relief. She needed time to process the previous one before they addressed it again. "It's about a classmate of yours."

Tsunade nodded grimly. "Are you going to warn me about Orochimaru?"

The Hokage's brows rose. "Yes."

"I don't know what he did to make you watch him so closely, but you should know that Norio-sensei isn't being very subtle with how closely he monitors him. I assume he is under orders to supervise him."

Tobirama said nothing, She continued: "I understand that you would like it best if I stayed away from him, but I won't. I only figured out how to cloak my chakra thanks to him. I know that he's dangerous and I promise that I won't trust him but I have a lot to learn from him, oji-san, and I'm not going to give up that opportunity."

"You have a lot of insight regarding the boy after only a single day of knowing him." Noted her granduncle.

Tsunade couldn't help the sort that escaped her. "He put me in a fear-inducing genjutsu over lunch." She said bluntly. "It was extremely mild and, in the end, harmless. He did nothing to actively harm me, but he enjoyed scaring me. It's one interaction, sure, but I'd say that it showed me a lot of what he's like."

Tobirama looked like he was constipated. Should she not have told him about the genjutsu? She didn't want to get Orochimaru in trouble over it, at this point in time, but she didn't want to hide things from her granduncle and this was important.

"... As long as you know not to trust him, and proceed with caution, I will not bar you from continuing to associate with him." He said eventually.

Tsunade nodded. "Thank you." She said. "Do you have more work to do today? You could come over for dinner."

The man's features softened even though his lips maintained the form of a thin line. "Thank you, Tsunade, but I must decline."

"It's okay." She said, getting up from her seat and pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you for warning me, about both things. I'll be careful. I hope to see you again soon, oji-san, but if I don't - please take care of yourself."

This time, Tobirama's lips twitched upwards into a smile. "I will. Thank you."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Notes:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I LIED! OROCIHIMARU ISN'T ACTUALLY A CUTE LITTLE BEAN!

Well, he is, but he's also completely off his rocker.

PLEASE tell me that you were as fooled by his polite act as Tsunade was! Oh, and also, did you figure out that she was in a genjutsu before Tsuande? I feel like it was such an Orochimaru thing to do that she should've anticipated it but her guard was down from earlier.

Anyway.

I never thought of Orochimaru as actively malicious - just lacking hesitation regarding harming anyone who was in his way. He's sadistic, sure, but he's not evil for the sake of evil; just selfish and amoral. God, he's so much fun to write, you have no idea. I almost regret making this fic a Tsunade POV.

Almost.

Maybe I'll write it, or parts of it, from Orochimaru's POV at some point. Mhm.

Oh, and the second part of the chapter! I loved writing this interaction with Tobirama!

I just loved writing this chapter :)

Hope you liked it, too! See you soon!

Chapter 10: Against the Flow

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade turns to Fuyumi, her former teacher, out of desperation. She convinces the woman to oversee her training in ninjutsu even though she will have to relearn all the acquired skills when her chakra system realigns during puberty. They start working on the Henge no Jutsu.

Coming home late, Tsunade earns her mother's wrath. Tired of the rift between them, Tsunade lies to her mother and claims that her interest in becoming a kunoichi is fleeting and will not last past making genin. Torn by the decision and dreading the life of deception she committed herself to, Tsunade sends a letter to Mito, asking what life as a kunoichi of Uzushio was like.

She gets a letter back and, in it, Mito details the struggles of kunoichi in her birthplace and how they dealt with them.
*

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

Hi hi hi! Another chapter is out! I hope you like it 3
Ty, as always, for your incredible support. We're at 4500 hits! and 350 kudos! isn't that crazy?
I'd brag about the comment count, too, but half of them are mine :D I love responding to comments lol.

Anyway, here it is! See you again soon!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"Hime." Fuyumi greeted her at the door, gesturing for Tsunade to come inside. "I wasn't expecting you so soon after you started going to school. Was the Academy not to your liking?"

Tsunade wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that, in a time of emotional turmoil, her feet took her to her teacher's home. Fuyumi no longer had any obligation towards Tsunade; her time as the girl's tutor had come to an end. Even then, Tsunade couldn't help but seek her out, now that she needed help - not when she knew that both her granduncle and her grandmother were too absorbed with their own problems to come to Tsunade's aid.

"I need help." She told Fuyumi bluntly, her voice breaking towards the end. "Please."

The woman smiled kindly, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening with the gesture. "Go to the kitchen. I'll make tea."

Fuyumi finally caved and purchased multiple sets of dishes, it seemed; the two cups she placed on the table before them were matching shades of baby pink. Tsunade would have found the woman's surrender amusing if she wasn't so absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Thank you." The blonde said quietly, accepting a cup filled with steaming liquid. She didn't drink.

"What happened today, Tsunade?" Asked Fuyumi, brushing a curl of long, sleek, grey-white hair behind her ear.

"I looked into a black mirror and found the reflection lacking." Tsunade admitted. "I thought I could get further on my own, but I can't. I need help but, more than that, I need someone to take my side. I need someone who understands why what I do is necessary."

"You're being awfully cryptic, Tsunade." Mused Fuyumi. "You know, it's not considered defection if you're not a genin, yet."

"I'm not defecting!" She exclaimed, clutching her cup harder, almost burning herself on the scalding-hot porcelain before she had the sense to let go. "I'm not." The blonde repeated, her tone low and determined.

"Speak plainly, then." Said Fuyumi, her dark eyes glinting in the sunlight penetrating the kitchen through a nearby window. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

"I'm going to become the first combat medic-nin." Tsunade said, the confidence in her voice unwavering. This wasn't a question, anymore; shewasgoing to achieve that ambition. What lied shrouded in shadows were the sacrifices she will have to make to get there.

Fuyumi's brows disappeared under her bangs. "Really?"

"Yes." Tsunade affirmed. "The thing is, I'm on a time limit. I can't afford to wait until I'm older before I begin mastering medical ninjutsu; I need to start studying it as soon as possible, even if it means having to relearn everything when my chakra system recalibrates during puberty."

"That would be a lot of extra work." Noted Fuyumi, though she didn't reject the idea outright. Tsunade knew to expect Fuyumi to be open-minded but it was a relief, still, to see that she was right.

"I know." Tsunade replied bluntly. "I don't need someone to push me. I am going to push myself regardless of whether you choose to help me or not. What I need was someone who'd be willing to mentor me."

"I am no medic-nin, Tsunade-hime."

"No, but you're a seduction mistress." She shot back, finally putting into words that which she had assembled from hints during their lessons, these past few months. "And today, in class, I learned to do this." With that said, Tsunade immediately cloaked her presence.

This time, Fuyumi's expression finally betrayed her emotions: her eyes widened in surprise as she eyed Tsunade up and down, eventually settling to look into her eyes again. Tsunade then undid the jutsu. "I spoke to oji-san about this today, Fuyumi-sensei, and he warned me against sharing that skill with others. I'm sure you can understand why. I don't know if you've been on the receiving end of a similar talk or not but Iknowyou know how to do this. I never realized, before, but I can't feel your presence even when I extend my chakra outwards; you've been concealing it this whole time, haven't you?"

"You're either brave or stupid, Tsunade, to be asking this of me after being explicitly warned against it by Hokage-sama."

"I'm both." Admitted Tsunade. "I'm trying to work on the latter. I believe that I stand a better chance of it with your help."

Fuyumi's expression was cold and blank, more so that Tsunade ever saw her don before. "You will be putting a target on your back." She reiterated grimly.

"I'll do that anyway as soon as I start taking combat missions as a medic-nin." Tsunade countered. "People in power never like it when the status quo is disrupted and, though I may be stupid, I am not stupid enough to think that my granduncle is the only person with power in the village or even that he can protect me from the rest."

Fuyumi hummed, taking a sip from her cup. "Perhaps you aren't stupid, after all." She said eventually. "Tell me, Tsunade, do you know how the technique you used works?"

"I don't." She admitted unabashedly. Fuyumi had mentioned, in the past, how Tsunade's willingness to admit to her ignorance was a good quality; seeing as the woman had not yet agreed to help Tsunade, the blonde felt that it would not be redundant to endear herself to Fuyumi.

Her answering grin was sharp, almost predatory. "How did you manage it, then?"

Tsunade shivered. "I panicked." She divulged.

"Good answer. Honest." Fuyumi nodded, her features easing into something less terrifying. "Erasing your chakra is impossible; as long as you live, you will leave an imprint on the natural chakra around you. Itispossible, however, to match the frequency of your chakra with that of the natural chakra outside."

Tsunade felt the blood drain from her face. "Are you saying that I've been meddling with natural chakra?!" She whisper-yelled.

"Thankfully, no." Replied Fuyumi, making Tsunade lightheaded with relief. The thought of being able toaccidentallywork with natural chakra was terrifying. She really, really didn't want to accidentally Medusa herself. "A lot of the work we do with chakra is subconscious; you may not concentrate on the chakra around you but youknowit, still; it's not too difficult to forcing your body into behaving like it."

"...Is there a but?"

"There are several." Agreed Fuyumi. "First, a sensor-nin will be able to tell that you're there even if you're hiding your chakra."

"Oji-san mentioned that."

"Good. The fix for that is using a more advanced cloaking technique, which you shouldn't do until you master this one."

"So I just... practice holding it for longer?"

"Yes." Fuyumi smiled, and though the expression itself was kind, there was something distinctly smug in her eyes. "That, and you practice keeping the cloaking on while using your chakra to perform jutsu."

"But I can't perform any jutsu." Mumbled Tsunade, recalling how easily Orochimaru trapped her in a genjutsu. Did he even need to perform seals? Fuck.

"You don't." Agreed Fuyumi. "Tell me, Tsunade: how do you feel about learning the transformation technique?"

At last, it was Tsunade's turn to grin. She knew Fuyumi would be the right person to turn to.

Tsunade's mother opened the door as soon as her daughter reached for the handle. "Where were you?" She demanded, pulling Tsunade into the house with a vice-like grip on her upper arm. The blonde winced but did not otherwise betray her pain.

"I was with oji-san." Offered Tsunade. "He picked me up from the Academy."

Her excuse, though not entirely untrue,was enough to snap her mother out of her rage. "All this time?" She inquired, somewhat more open to Tsunade's response than she would have been, before.

She didn't want to lie. Not even now, when their relationship was strained almost to the point of tearing.

Tsunade learned her lesson after their last explosive clash, though; Fuyumi was not to be discussed within earshot of her mother. "Oji-san gave me pointers for practicing a new technique I learned in class today." She explained. "I came back to the compound and practiced here." None of what she said was a lie, technically, which Tsunade hoped would work in her favor, but she was also concealing a very large portion of the truth. Her evening was, after all, spent trying to learn the transformation technique - not something her mother would approve of.

Something her mother would approve of, for example, would be if Tsunade expressed her desire to learn how to run a household. There were a lot of gears to keep turning, multiple members of staff to manage ; her mother did countless things that had to do with organizing the people or the resources of the clan. That sort of skill could be useful, surely, but Tsunade dared not ask to learn it; acquiring the skill will only make her a more desirable daughter-in-law to the daimyo.

So Tsunade had to be content with learning exclusively the sort of skills that her mother didn't approve of.

Her mother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as if she was in pain. "Why must you be like this, Tsunade?" She asked, sounding genuinely exasperated. "Nothing will come out of your fixation with becoming a kunoichi. You will never go past genin, as it is not appropriate, and all your effort will be wasted."

Tsunade... Tsunadehurt. Why could her mother not support her? She was an aspiring kunoichi, a profession she would've been respected for had she been born a man. It may not have been a standard profession for a woman, in this social climate, but it was stillrespected; no one will speak ill of her family because of her choices. Why was her mother so set on making Tsunade fit the mold she had constructed in her head? Was she not worthy of her love, now that she proved that she wasn't a carbon copy of her mother?

She hated it. It was unfair andshe hated it.

So, finally, she lied.

"Won't I have the rest of my life to spend doing everything else?" She wondered out loud, feigning naivete. "The Academy only takes two years to complete. I won't really have time for this sort of thing after I graduate, right? You said you'll start teaching me, then."

Her mother was shocked speechless.

Tsunade continued: "So, with that in mind, I want to make the most of the time I do have in kunoichi training. I'm supposed to pass some of that knowledge to my sons eventually, aren't I? Isn't it best if I acquire as much of it as I can?"

"It is." Agreed the woman, still stunned by her daughter's reply.

Tsunade could do this. She could do this. Just a little bit longer.

"I thought so, too!" She cheered, forcing her features into as convincing a grin as she could muster. "So I'm going to spend that time training. You'll be too busy with the baby to teach me soon, anyway, so that's actually the best time for it."

"That's... that's true." She agreed weakly.

"Okay!" Tsunade clapped he hands, making her mother jump at the sound. "I'm going to eat really quickly then go to sleep, okay? Today was a very long day."

Her mother eyed her warily for a a moment, then nodded, "Of course."

Tsunade's facade barely held long enough for her to make it to her room before she broke into tears, muffling her sobs with a pillow. It was hard to breathe, that way, but having her mother hear her cry would be... worse.

What was she going to do now? Was maintaining a lie for two full years worth having a relationship with her mother again? Could she even do it? And if she did manage it, what then? What would happen when she graduates and doesn't immediately surrender herself to her mother's way of life?

Wouldn't things just become more strained?

If... if she could prove herself to be exceptional kunoichi in that time, if she could become distinguished enough to justify involving her granduncle in this mess...

Maybe she won't have to choose between the life she wants and the life her mother designed for her.

She was already going for that angle, right? It's not like she had to change her plans to accommodate her recent bout of deception. And... if worse came to worst... she'll be emancipated when she becomes a genin. Tsunade may lose her family over it but at least she won't be losing her freedom.

She hated that she had to choose.

What's the point of living a second time if she didn't get to have a loving family in either?

Tsunade lay down in bed for what must have been hours - she only rose after she heard her mother go to sleep. She pulled paper out of her desk drawer as well as her writing supplies and began to write, not even bothering with a greeting, for once:

Would you tell me a story again, obaa-sama? Would you tell me what it was like, being a kunoichi of Uzushiogakure?

She snuck out to cook for her granduncle, that night, and left the note at Mito's on the way back.

Tsunade had a hard time getting out of bed that morning. She didn't exert herself much, yesterday, not physically, but every part of her body hurt. She was in the process of grudgingly getting dressed when she noticed the paper on her windowsill.

She wasted no time in rolling the letter open, not even bothering to consider that it was trapped.

Tsunade,

I might not be the right person to ask about life as a kunoichi in Uzushio.

I was the daughter of our first Kage and, like you, enjoyed privileges not afforded to the other girls my age. I had tutors for fuinjutsu, calligraphy and our clan's jutsu, as well as everything else that has been scheduled for you these past months. I was never sent on the more unsightly missions, as you won't be.

I was, however, expected to become a jounin of Uzushiogakure.

As the child of a Kage, I was expected to excel as a kunoichi and eventually take one of the key positions in the village, such as Jounin commander. My gender was irrelevant as my chakra stores were great and my talent sufficient to serve my village in such capacity.

I will not lie to you; other kunoichi did not have as easy a time as I. They were expected to be significantly better than their peers to warrant the same degree of respect, an effect you will likely experience yourself should you wish to proceed past genin rank: Konoha is not as flexible in regards to gender as Uzushio.

To combat this, the women on Uzushio constructed a system designed to promote kunoichi, in which older or more experienced kunoichi would mentor the younger ones and guide them to the best of their ability. The girls wold benefit from the system, then pay it forward by providing the same services to the next generation of kunoichi. There were attempts to shut the effort down though none succeeded: our results spoke for themselves and the village could not deny that it had more and better kunoichi in its ranks. Another attempt was made to force the inclusion of men in the initiative, though that was shut down, too, with the suggestion that shinobi form their own system.

They never did.

It's a shame, I think, that there is no equivalent of that system in Konoha; not enough women in the profession to form one, even. Perhaps that will change, one day, but for now the image I painted earlier in this missive stands.

I hope you found this story useful.

Love,

Mito

Notes:

First I would like to clarify that I am not a misandrist and do not condone the senseless bashing of men. I understand that Mito's letter would come off that way, however, which is why I'm going to explain what inspired it.

I am a university student in a country that doesn't really subscribe to the western mentality of men and women being equal, yet. The academic space is much better, in that aspect, but it is not entirely safe from the effect. My field of study is very male-dominated - think one woman per ten men, at best. To combat the fact that our questions would often be ignored in class and we would have a harder time asking for any help from staff, not to mention the SEVERE misogyny rampant among many of the male students in the degree, we formed "support groups".

The groups are completely voluntary. The links to the groups are passed around freshmen girls and the older years, myself among them, dedicate a lot of time and effort into mentoring, tutoring and generally helping the other girls. When they find their footing, those girls often stay to help others at a later time.

You would not believe how much of a stink is made about it at least once every semester. There were accusations of misandry and demands that we extend the same sort of help to men (that happened before my time). In the end, the men were told to start their own group - but they wouldn't help one another, even after they did.

I don't know why. I've not looked into it. But that's how it played out.

The way I see it, the women behind this initiative are heroes. Everyone working to uphold it deserves a cookie. I find the whole thing so inspiring that I HAD to insert it into the story, since the profession of being a ninja is as male-dominated as the field I am in and it just FIT.

So no, I don't hate men. I think that can be inferred from how lovingly I write them, for example in this story. Mito doesn't hate men, either, but she still takes pride in the whole initiative and the fruit it bore.

That marks the end of my rant, lol :D

Chapter 11: Downfall

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade forms a routine.

She trains at school, has weird interactions with Orochimaru, then goes to Fuyumi who trains her in concealing her presence, lying and ninjutsu. It an attempt to perform the Henge, Tsunade accidentally permanently alters her appearance. She manages to change it back but is scarred by the experience, and saddened by the knowledge that she had cheated herself out of ever performing a normal Henge.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Remember how I said that there are like "key scenes" that the story revolves around?
This chapter has another one :)
I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you, as always, for your incredible support. I fr love you all :)

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Tsunade slapped her cheeks, hard, and kept her palms pressed against her face afterwards. "Get it together." She muttered to herself, trying to sort through the thoughts wreaking havoc in her mind.

She read the letter several times and, each time, she found something that she'd missed before. The fact that Mito answered at all was unexpected, as she had not previously responded to Tsunade's attempts to contact her; the detailed description of kunoichi life in Uzushio was straight up a shock.

But she didn't have time to dwell over that, now.

"Good morning." She greeted her mother when she finally made it downstairs. The table was already set for one and the older blonde was seated by it, sipping on a cup of steaming hot tea.

"Good morning, Tsunade." The woman offered, smiling warmly. "Your father returned this morning."

Tsunade's brows rose and she came to a halt with her spoon halfway to her mouth. "Really? Is he home?"

"He's with the Hokage. They have a lot of catching up to do."

She deflated. "Right." She muttered. "Is Dad going to be Clan Head, now?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

The relatively pleasant morning conversion and the hesitant hug her mother offered her before she left did nothing to ease the pain in Tsunade's limbs or the acidic taste of guilt on her tongue. She couldn't enjoy her mother's gestures when she knew that the base upon which they were built was rotten.

Tsunade wasn't escorted to the Academy that day, either, but at least she knew to expect that now. There was solace, of a sort, in the knowledge that her mother didn't do acomplete180 as soon as she was convinced her daughter was not being rebellious to spite her.

She took her seat in the classroom, still feeling physically and mentally drained, and proceeded to daydream for the next twenty minutes. When she finally came to, the class had filled up and there was a pair of curious, golden eyes blinking up at her inches away from her own.

Tsunade gasped and recoiled so hard that she almost fell back, chair and all, spared from the fate only by Orochimaru's pale hand wrapping around her forearm and yanking her forward,hard. Somehow, despite there being more force applied than when her mother did the same thing the previous evening, it hurt much, much less.

"You scared the shit out of me." She blurted out as soon as she was stable again, prompting Orochimaru to release her.

"I noticed." He mused, a glint of unmistakable mirth in his eyes. "Where had your mind carried off to, Princess?"

Tsunade frowned. "None of your business. Also, Tsunade is fine."

"As you say,Princess."

She groaned and dropped her face into her open palms. Looking away from Orochimaru was never a wise idea, she knewthatmuch, but she just couldn't help it - how could someone be so infuriating with so little effort? "Still a jerk, I see." She muttered.

"I am not a creature of change." He replied, amused.

Tsunade looked up, then, and met golden orbs with her own brown ones. "That's bullshit." She said evenly.

Orochimaru's dark eyebrows rose. Fuck, why was he still standing to close to her? What's his deal?

"Assuming you know me again, I see." He taunted her, his voice just short of melodic enough to carry song.

"I don't know you." Tsunade countered immediately. "I don't know if it'spossibleto know you - I don't know if you'd ever let me and frankly - I don't care. What Idoknow, from our limited acquaintance, is that you are nothingbuta creature of change - you are the very definition of versatility and adaptability, a person in a constant state of changing their course to better suit your ambitions. You could tell me otherwise all day long but I'dneverbelieve you."

She was breathing a little heavily by the end of her outburst, once all her excited fear had evaporated. Her confidence remained, still, and she wouldn't let herself be cowed by Orochimaru's piercing gaze: instead, Tsunade stared right back at him.

"What made you reach this conclusion?" He inquired, either amused or tense about being caught out; Tsunade couldn't tell.

"You're talking to me." She explained. "You're trying to cultivate a relationship between us despite showing absolutely no interest in doing so yesterday. Something changed, something in your perception of me, that altered how I fit into your plans." God, it felt fucking weird to say that sort of thing to a four-year-old but the way he was looking at her, like a chessmaster facing a particularly difficult board, only made her more certain of her claim. "So, tell me, Orochimaru-kun." She began. "What changed?"

He held her gaze for a long moment, then, though he didn't seem to be searching her for any indication of a lie. When he was finally satisfied with his findings, Orochimaru grinned.

"You didn't send the Hokage after me."

Tsunade already had her mouth open to reply, brows furrowed in dismay -her granduncle wasn't somedogfor her to send after people- when their sensei chose to enter the classroom.

"Good morning, class." Said the Hyuga, this time earning a much more synchronized chorus of "good morning"s. from his students

He proceeded to immediately put them through what Tsunade had dubbed the Silent Hour.

She spent the entire time mentally smacking herself over how open she'd been with Orochimaru, blaming her exhaustion, while trying to muster enough concentration to train her ability to sense her classmates.

Tsunade fell into a routine of sorts.

She spent her mornings practicing her sensing during the Silent Hour, had a bunch of increasingly weird encounters with Orochimaru (though she didn't ask him to join her for lunch again), dozed through History, trained her hardest during the second half of the schoolday then headed straight to Fuyumi's, after.

Other than the facts that she felt like a stranger in her own home, Tobirama was busier than ever with setting Tsunade's father up as the Clan Head and Mito stopped answering her letters again, Tsunade was fine.

Meaning that she really, reallywasn'tfine.

Having her father home again was simultaneously great and awful. While he had no qualms showing Tsunade all the adoration her mother had previously deprived her of, he didn't have much time for it: his new duties were vast and complex and, she reminded herself, he had only just found out that his father passed. His father, who'd they all thought infallible, was gone.

Tsunade still saw Hashirama when she closed her eyes, sometimes.

Her father didn't really have time to do more than kiss them goodbye in the mornings though he did make it much more difficult to escape the house to cook for her granduncle at night. She used it for practice, though, and if her father could tell that her presence sometimes disappeared during the night, he did not comment on it. To be frank, Tsunade would not put it beyond her granduncle to have confessed their arrangement to her father; she didn't care either way, as long as he was fed.

Tsunade tried to spend as little time at home as humanely possible, what with the atmosphere there becoming more and more suffocating. Fuyumi was a blessing; She hosted Tsunade for however long she desired and gave her valuable pointers to correct her technique. To Tsunade's delight, she even agreed to teach her how to manipulate her body language to broadcast different emotions: Tsunade wasn't fond of lying but her life would not allow her to keep to partial truths for very long. Learning the skill from an expert, rather than through bitter experience, was an unexpected boon.

Fuyumi claimed that she was a natural.

The Henge didn't go as well, unfortunately. No matter how much she tried, Tsunade just couldn't manage even the smallest transformation, not to mention a full change.

"Try something simple." Suggested Fuyumi. "How about turning your hair white, to match mine?"

Tsunade held the rat seal stubbornly, closed her eyes and concentrated.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong." Tsunade admitted, exasperated. "I canfeelmy chakra move to answer me but it's just... blocked."

Fuyumi rested her hand atop the blonde's head. "You have great chakra control, Tsunade-hime, and plenty of chakra. Maybe your body just isn't ready to perform ninjutsu, yet-"

"No." Tsunade cut her off, rather rudely. "Waiting is not a viable option, for me. Please don't suggest it."

Fuyumi sighed. "Very well." She agreed evenly. "How about you try it without the seal, then?"

Tsunade stared at her. "Withoutthe seal? Isn't it supposed to be easier with a seal as a focus? Won't it be better toaddseals?"

"It will be." Fuyumi agreed. "Trying the jutsu without the seal may give us insights as to where the block you speaks of occurs, however."

"If you say so." Mumbled Tsunade.

"I do." Fuyumi nodded, then offered Tsunade a kind smile. "Go ahead, then."

Tsunade sighed deeply, closed her eyes and instinctively raised her hands into the rat seal, making the elderly woman slap them away. "Sorry."

"Continue."

Her hands felt... odd, lying at her sides, so Tsunade raised them to her chest as she concentrated on her chakra. She gave it the same commands as always: Find the cells in her hair, locate the melanin within them and disperse it. She wasn't an expert on that sort of thing, in her past life, so she couldn't picture the actual process, but Tsunade knew enough to at least direct her chakra with the right commands.

She pushed her chakra, and it answered, but it also pulled on her in return. There was something missing, still, something blocking her, and Tsunade felt her hands being drawn together as if by an outside force. When her palms met, at last, her chakra obeyed.

She felt a chill run down her spine at the heady sensation but maintained her concentration through the process, stubbornly going through every last hair on her head to push the change. When Tsunade opened her eyes, she found Fuyumi's eyebrows raised.

"Did it work?" She asked warily, both excited and scared of the answer.

"I have never seen a transformation like it, before." The woman admitted cryptically. At that non-answer, Tsunade pulled a strand of hair out of her ponytail to examine.

It was fucking white.

She barely suppressed the scream of joy that threatened to break through her lips at her success: she was trying to keep her relationship with her teacher secret, still, and was not inclined to betray it so openly.

It was a close thing, though, because her hair was fuckingwhite.

A quiet sob broke through her lips. "I did it." She whispered.

"You sure did." Agreed Fuyumi, ruffling Tsunade's, now white, hair. "Isn't it hard to maintain the transformation, though? You can release it, now."

Tsunade looked up at her, confused.

"A Henge is maintained by a constant supply of chakra." Reminded the woman. "If you concentrate, you'll find that you're feeding it chakra, still; your body desires the return to its natural state."

The formerly blonde, now white-haired girl frowned and sensed for diminishing chakra, as ordered. "I... I'm not feeding it any chakra, Fuyumi-sensei."

Rather than argue her point, Fuyumi hummed. "Would you mind if I cut a small piece off your hair, Tsunade-hime?"

"No, of course not." She denied. "Go ahead."

With a kunai she pulled out of nowhere, which Tsunade elected toneverthink about again, the woman carefully cut a bit of her white hair off. She held it in her hand for a long moment, watching it with great interest.

"It remains white." She pointed out.

"Yes?" Agreed Tsunade, still confused.

Fuyumi grinned at her, then, and offered the cut hair to Tsunade as if it was supposed to tell her anything. "The hair returns to its natural color when cut off a Henge'd shinobi, Tsunade-hime." She explained. The girl just stared at the strands, dumbfounded. "Congratulations. You had just created your first jutsu - the Permanent Transformation Technique would be a fitting name, don't you think?"

Tsunade could do nothing but gape at her teacher.

Fuyumi had failed to predict how badly her student would take to the revelation - it took Tsunade nearly a full hour to calm down. When she finally did, with the older woman's encouragement, Tsunade used the same trick to turn her hair back into its natural, radiant gold. It took a few tries to get the shade right but Fuyumi thankfully had the patience to advise her.

"You ought to try more complex transformations now-"

"No." Tsunade choked out. "I can't."

"You can't let your fear of progress bar you from it, Tsunade." Scolded Fuyumi, sounding genuinely disappointed with her student.

"It's not that." Tsunade breathed out. "I- what I did was incredibly,incrediblydangerous. I could have killed myself in so many ways- I shouldn't have eben transformed back-!"

"You're spiraling again, Tsunade." Fuyumi cut her off. "Explain to me, clearly, what you think you did."

"I can't." She whispered. "If I do, you won't be able to perform a Henge again. Ever. Please trust me on this. If- if you still want to know, I'll explain, but there's no going back from that."

"Are claiming that there is something you know, that I don't, that bars you from performing a normal Henge?"

"Exactly."

And that something was cellular biology.

Tsunade was fucking stupid.Of courseninja didn't picture fucking cells when transforming! Cellular biology existed in this world, Tsunade checked, but it was an obscure field dominated by medic-nin - not something taught to pre-genin!

She ought to have listened to Fuyumi when she explained how her chakra may do what Tsunade doesn't knowhowif her intention and will were clear enough. She didn't have to fucking command the melanin in the cells to be destroyed - she could've just pictured herself with white hair!

But she couldn't do that, now, because sheknewhow a true transformation felt. The level of abstraction shinobi and kunoichi had managed to preserve when casting jutsu was barred to her, at least in the context of this technique; the few attempts she had made after her 'success' attested to the fact that she willneverget it back.

She will never be able to perform a Henge.

She treated chakra like a computer that needed to be programmed with exact instructions as guidance rather than a sentient force and now she will pay for it.

"Tsunade." Fuyumi forced her out of her thoughts again. "It is not shameful to wish to keep your technique secret."

Her eyes widened. "I- I wouldneverlie to you about that, sensei! It's really-"

"I know." It was Fuyumi's turn to cut her off, this time. "But that is what you ought to tell others who seek you out for guidance, in the future. If you want them to believe you, that is."

There were tears running down her cheeks, now. "Okay."

"We do seem to have a problem, however."

"I need to perfect the Henge to become genin." Tsunade said weakly.

"Precisely." Agreed Fuyumi. "Can you achieve a full transformation with your technique?"

"Not in a way that would be safe." Admitted Tsunade. What if her chakra accidentally transformed her brain, too? Would she even be Tsunade, still?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK-

"Is there a way to make it safe?" Fuyumi pushed.

Tsunade wanted to brush her off immediately, but she didn't. She gave the question a moment of thought and, to both her dread and delight, she found an answer.

"Yes. Relatively." Admitted Tsunade. "But not without the use of medical ninjutsu." Because what if she gave herself cancer? What if she accidentally transformed missing an arm or, god forbid, a kidney or a lung? She'd be dead before anyone could figure out what was wrong with her.

"Very well, then." Fuyumi sighed deeply. "I hoped to delay your meeting but, I suppose, desperate times call for desperate measures. I will introduce you to a former comrade of mine who is fairly well-versed in the field."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "You-really?"

Fuyumi nodded.

"Thank you." Tsunade breathed out, finally feeling some degree of relief. "Thank you."

"You will master your Permanent Transformation Technique in no time, Tsunade, I am sure."

"It's- it's not Permanent Transformation." Tsunade murmured.

"Oh?"

"It's True Transformation."

Fuyumi was wearing that smug, sleazy smile that scared Tsunade, again. "Interesting."

Notes:

Oh BOY did Tsunade fuck up.

You probably wondered at which point Tsunade will do something that will completely shatter canon - this is it. This is a massive, massive fuck up on her part that was perhaps inevitable but will shape the entire rest of her career.

To anyone who didn't really understand what happened, here's an explanation:
So, the thing that makes your hair have color is called melanin - the same stuff that makes your skin darker if you have more of it. More melanin will make your hair brown or black, less will make it blonde or white. Tsunade SHOULD have just pictured herself with white hair and transformed but, instead, what she pictured is the biological process that makes people go grey.

I won't be shoving a ton of chemistry and biology into this story, dw, my knowledge is only basic anyway, but this scene specifically had to have it. Tsunade, unlike me, was a medical professional in her past life: she should know this stuff.

About why she won't tell Fuyumi: if Fuyumi were to become aware of the cells and so on, as Tsunade was, and accidentally replicated the new technique, it would be impossible to do a regular Henge again. The same would apply for other techniques. That's because Tsunade's way is the "true" way, unassisted by the chakra's sentience, and the Henge is just an imitation. You can't go back after you experience the real thing.

Anyway, hope that cleared things up.

Do you guys like Fuyumi btw? Cause I adore her and would love to write more of her if you're down for that, too.

Ty for reading! see you again later this week(end)!

Chapter 12: Slippery Slope

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade meets her medical-ninjutsu teacher, Nara Keiichi, says too much and comes to regret it.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
As always, it's been three days, so here's the next chapter! Don't forget that I take your input into account when writing this, so make sure to let me know if you like/dislike the direction I'm taking with this!

Thank you all for the incredible support. I know I say this every time but I'm still floored lol :D

If you want to chat with me outside of comments, I'm silver_writes_fantasy on Instagram! I'd love to hear from you

That's it for now! Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Tsunade's meltdown didn't just magically rid her of her anxiety now that she had a set course of action. She willstillhave to master medical-ninjutsu in the span of two years -a little less, now- if she wished to graduate on time. She was fully prepared to delay her studies into medicine at least long enough to add someotherninjutsu to her arsenal but no can do.

She'd be introduced to Fuyumi's 'former comrade', soon.

The woman had brought Tsunade to the outskirts of the Nara forest for the promised meeting, within which the blonde wasn't sure was allowed. She hoped Fuyumi wasn't planning to murder her... or was very optimistic about it, too, as the Nara forest might not have been the best place to hide a body - the deer weren't carnivorous.

She probably ought to be a bit more cautious about that, though. The fact that Tsunade was only considering that possibility now that she was already far away from the Clan Compound was frankly just embarrassing.

"Fuyumi." Tsunade turned her head to the right sharply at the sudden call, though her teacher did not seem surprised by the man's appearance. He wasn't very tall, even when he wasn't leaning on his beautifully carved walking stick, and he had the very distinguishable Nara expression - a perfect mix between bored and exhausted. His hair was black, despite his obvious age, and he wore the earrings favored by his clan beautifully.

He also didn't seem happy to see either of them.

"I promised I'd hear you out if you needed help." The man continued. "But I do not recall extending the offer to any spawn of yours."

"Shut up, Keiichi." Fuyumi shot at him, surprising Tsunade: she'd never seen her teacher openly show anger, before. "You know I can't have children. She knows, too." Fuyumi added, resting a hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "Are we still at the point where we try to hurt one another or are you actually here to help?"

Keiichi sneered. "I owe you no favors, kunoichi." He reminded her.

Tsunade felt her heart drop.

Of courseit wouldn't be easy to get a medic-nin to train her. What was she thinking? She'd spent all her luck on Fuyumi, already; having another skilled shinobi voluntarily give up their time to train and guide Tsunade would be the equivalent of being struck by lightning, like, sixty times.Consecutively.

Was there a way to salvage this, or was she going to lose her new teacher before she even properly met him?

"You don't." Agreed Fuyumi, her dark eyes locked onto the man's, her expression no less hostile than his own. "But you loathe to see children perish and, without your help, this one will."

Tsunade cringed at the reminder of her fragility.

The Nara sighed and rested his face in his palm, some of the aggression seeping away from his posture. "I can't heal everything, woman. You know this better than anyone." With that said, he spared a meaningful look to her abdomen.

Oh, thought Tsunade.Oh my god.

"I'm not asking you to fix her." Fuyumi admitted, pushing Tsunade forward a little, so that the girl stood before her, though they still stood far from the brooding man. "I know you don't get out much, Keiichi, so I'll explain: this is Senju Tsunade, the First's granddaughter and the person keeping the Second sane." Tsunade winced at the rough introduction but said nothing. "I tell you this in confidence, Keiichi, and expect you to keep my secrets even if you decline my request for aid: Tsunade-hime had recently awakened what I suspect to be a kekkei-genkai." Fuyumi lied. Shelied, and Tsunade wasn't prepared for it, because what if Keiichi saw the lie in her eyes? What ifTsunademessed up and cost them the whole deal?

She looked away.

"It is neither stable nor safe and is likely to cause her injury when she attempts to master it. So no, Tsunade-hime does not require a 'fix': she requires ateacher."

"No."

"Please." Tsunade choked out, stepping forward of her own volition, this time. "If you won't teach me, at least allow me to seek you out for guidance. I will compensate you in whatever way I can.Please."

Fuyumi sighed and shook her head. "Remind me to teach you how to negotiate, Tsunade." She muttered.

Tsunade felt a heat flood her face, bit her lip and elected to keep silent for a while.

"Whathaveyou been teaching her? That was atrocious." Agreed the shinobi standing across from them.

"She's four, Keiichi, and I've only had her to myself for a few weeks, there's a limit to what evenIcan do. Give me a break."

"You've lost your touch, Fuyumi."

"You're welcome to cover her education where you find my work lacking." She challenged him. "You won't have to push her; she'd self motivated enough. Just make sure she doesn't accidentally kill herself."

"I can do that."

"You can?" Tsunade blurted out, breaking her earlier resolve to shut the fuck up.

"Gods, Fuyumi-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. So you'll take her?"

"What is she looking to learn?"

Fuyumi looked at Tsunade, then, gesturing with her hand for the girl to take the stage.

Tsunade sighed. "I have a good grasp of how our bodies work and absolutely no understanding of chakra or the chakra system." She began. "I need a good enough base in mending flesh, bone and, if possible, more complex tissue."

Keiichi's brows rose at her confident reply. Tsunade didn't take it to mean anything; if their conversation was anything to go by, Keiichi had much of the same skillset as Fuyumi, meaning whatever emotion he showed was the one he chose to broadcast, not necessarily the one he felt.

"We'll see about that."

It's not that Tsunade expected Fuyumi to stay past introducing Tsunade to her new teacher, not really, but that didn't mean that she was any happier about being left alone with the man. The way he leaned heavily onto his walking stick didn't reassure her in the least; in fact, it only made her think of him as more dangerous. He didn't seem the sort to admit that he required a walking aid, as it would disrupt the image he seemed to maintain, thus Tsunade concluded that it was either a concealed weapon or very, very much for show.

Well, she already knew that any friend/ally of Fuyumi's would be scary.

"You are not required to keep your silence, kid." He said after they had spent several minutes walking in the direction of the Nara Compound. "I don't bite."

"Yes, sensei."

"None of that." He brushed her off immediately. "I'll tolerate being addressed by my clan's name but addressing me as your teacher is overkill."

"Yes, Nara-san." Tsunade tried again.

"Better." He agreed. "We're almost there. Come on."

The house he had led her into wasn't much unlike Fuyumi's: plain looking, a little run-down and uncharacteristically small for a person she had no doubt had the money for an upgrade. Her new teacher, at least, had multiple serviceable cups for tea.

Which he poured for her, then sighed deeply when she drank. "Do I really have to start from zero?" He complained. "Don't drink things offered to you by strangers, kid."

"You're not going to poison me." Tsunade countered.

The man raised a brow, unamused. "How can you be so sure?"

"I won't argue that you're the sort to dose me with a paralytic to teach me a lesson," She began. "In which case, well, I suppose I should tell you that I have no known allergies so you didn't accidentally poison me. Probably. As foractualpoison - even if you wanted me dead, you wouldn't act on it. Either because you don't want to get in trouble with the Hokage or because Fuyumi is likely to kill you if you did. You don't seem suicidal, to me." It was... uncomfortable, talking so bluntly at her teacher, but it was he who elected to rescind the title. Tsunade needed to get the man to understand that she wasn't just a kid: she had the mental maturity to go through whatever training he put her through and the resolve to endure it.

He would drop her if he thinks otherwise, she knew; teaching medical-ninjutsu to a kid was already a stretch.

"You're awfully confident about Fuyumi's attachment to you." He noted. If he was deterred or offended by her monologue, he didn't show it.

"She bought a tea set so that she had something to serve me with." Tsunade replied bluntly. "You know her better than I do. You tell me if that qualifies as a sign of her fondness."

At that, Keiichi roared with laughter. "You got fire, kid." He said, reaching into one of the drawers in the kitchen for a vial with a clear liquid. "The antidote." He explained as he offered it to Tsunade. "For the paralytic in your tea."

"No, thanks." Tsunade shook her head. "That's the paralytic, isn't it? You're upset that you didn't think to poison me when I first came so you're trying to get the lesson to stick now by poisoning me with what you claim is an antidote."

The man's brows rose. "And if you're wrong?"

"Than I apologize in advance for passing out in your kitchen, I hope I won't be too much of an inconvenience."

Keiichi laughed, then, and something about it felt more earnest than before. "Maybe you won't be so bad to teach after all, kid."

Tsunade carefully put her cup on the table and rose to her feet. "I'll be in your care." She bowed.

In the end, she didn't pass out. She counted that as a win.

Keiichi spent the rest of the evening quizzing Tsunade on various topics related to anatomy, which she felt like she mostly did okay on. She completely bombed everything related to the chakra system but she didn't feel too bad about that - she was forthcoming with her lack of knowledge, after all, and made no attempt to hide it.

In the end, Tsunade was escorted out of the Nara compound by the man and instructed to return the next day, as soon as she was done at the Academy.

She didn't sneak out that night, instead crashing onto her bed like a sack of potatoes and barely having the energy to strip before she fell asleep.

Keiichi maintained that routine for three more days. Tsunade got restless, towards the end, as his questions got more and more obscure and further from her field of study. She still answered them, though.

"That's enough." He said at last, making Tsunade almost slam her head into the table from sheer relief. "I will take you on as an apprentice, but not openly - it's best if no one knows that you're studying medical ninjutsu, especially if you hope to have a career as a combat-nin."

"Thank you." Offered Tsunade. "I am of course not ashamed to be taught by you-"

"I know."

"-but I don't want this to stand in the way of my career."

"A wise choice." Agreed her teacher. Or was it master, now? Did he just agree to take her as anapprentice-? "You will address me as shishou, henceforth, and my given name is fine. Now, tell me, kid: where did you learn all this?"

"I read." She replied immediately.

"I read, too." He countered. "And I don't know the answers to half the questions I asked you, while you seemed fairly confident about them. What gives?"

Oh, shit.

Oh, shit.

"That's what you get for being overconfident." She mumbled to herself. There was no point denying it- not when the person interrogating her was a former spy.

"Indeed." He agreed. "Fuyumi hadn't caught on, if it's an solace to you."

"It is." Tsunade agreed. "I- I'll explain, but partially. But before that, I'll explain why I can't tell you the full truth."

"Your argument better be convincing." He reminded her. "I won't teach you, otherwise."

"It will be." Tsunade agreed, then took a deep breath and began weaving her story. "Did Fuyumi-sensei explain how we learned about my... ailment?"

"She did not."

"I can't perform a Henge." Tsunade explained. "All I can do is this." She said, then clapped her hands as if she intended to pray and turned her hair white, as she did before. It was the only trick she felt confident showcasing without the risk of damaging herself. "Cut some off." She told the man and he, like Fuyumi before him, pulled a knife out of God knows where and did just that. "Interesting." He mused.

"The transformation is permanent." She explained. "And it is not a kekkei-genkai. Fuyumi advised me against admitting to this but it's not... impossible, I think, for someone else to replicate the technique. It is likely, however, that when they learn to perform it, they will permanently lose the ability to perform a normal Henge as well as many other jutsu. Moreover, while I can at least change my hair safely, It is likely that they will not be able to do even that."

"How does your kekkei-genkai play into this, then?"

"It gives me some insight on how the human body works." She answered. If she thought of the fact that she had been reincarnated as a kekkei-genkai, which it technically-maybe was, that wouldn't even be a lie. "That's why I could answer your questions. The insight is limited, though, and doesn't factor in a chakra system at all. So there are a lot of thing I'll have to learn from scratch."

"And you're being purposefully vague, because...?"

"Because it would be very, very easy to accidentally reveal how my technique works and thus screw you over. I'm trying really, really hard not to do that."You already know too much,she didn't add.

"Very well. I believe you." He said eventually. "It's a very interesting predicament you find yourself in, kid."

"I'd really, really rather be able to do a normal Henge." She murmured.

"You'll need to be able to perform one if you hope to become genin."

"I know." She said. "But I don't want to kill myself trying."

"Is that a risk?"

"A very, very real one. It's why I refuse to do more than change my hair color to white before I learn how to, say, stabilize myself if I'm suddenly short a lung."

"That's not a standard worry for a four-year-old." Her master noted mirthlessly.

"It is not." Tsunade agreed. "Will you help me?"

He considered her for a long moment, likely mulling over everything she told him. She didn't lie outright but she wasn't truthful, either, and Tsunade was sure he'd be able to tell; now it all depended on whether or not he found her explanation satisfactory.

"For now." He offered evenly. "Don't disappoint me, kid.'

Notes:

Wasn't the scene with the paralytic awesome? I feel like I'm finally validating the BAMF Tsuande tag, lol

Also, I actually have questions this time :D
I'm trying to figure out if I'm being too vague with the info I drop on Fuyumi and Keiichi. If you're commenting on this, would you please add the numbers of the facts you HADN'T figured out while reading? There might be spoilers ahead lol

Thanks! :D

1. Fuyumi is infertile and has been since suffering a near-fatal bout of chakra exhaustion during her career as a seduction mistress.
2. Keiichi tried to heal the damage mentioned above but failed.
3. Keiichi was Fuyumi's partner when she was an active kunoichi and patched her up after her missions.
4. Keiichi and Fuyumi used to be together and parted on not-very-good terms.

And a few general questions:
a. Do you feel like I don't give enough visual descriptions? Like, what people look like and the locations in which scenes take place?
b. Are there any tags you think I should add to this fic?

Thanks! You don't have to answer these, of course 3
See you next week!

Chapter 13: Taking Deep Breaths

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

In an attempt to figure out medical ninjutsu, Tsunade accidentally cracks Yang Release. Turns out, it's a sufficient replacement for medical chakra, though much harder to master.

She hopes that the two years she has will be enough.

Orochimaru accosts her the next day with an offer to spar as partners. Tsunade calls him out on his blatantly false reasons and manipulates him into admitting his true ones, even if only partially.

Knowing that she can't waste a chance to train with her competition, Tsunade takes his offer.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Hello everyone! How are y'all doing :D
As always, three days later, another chapter is here! I start my morning with uploading these so it sets up my whole day to be great, just to you know, and I get comments the entire time which just makes it BETTER.

About comments: I wanna tell you, I legitimately BAWLED reading the comments for the last two chapters. You guys are so kind, seriously, your words mean EVERYTHING to me and the fact that you take the time to formulate such sweet encouragements kills me. There are also a few people who comment on every single chapter I post, sometimes to thank me for uploading, and it means so much to me. Thank you for always commenting. IDK if it got across how much it encourages me ;-;

Thank you to everyone who left a kudos. You guys rock, seriously.

Thank you to anyone who read this fic at all, honestly. I would've probably done this even if you didn't, just to practice my art (channeling Deidara lol) but I'm only this consistent thanks to you.

Thank you.

Rant over :) There's a fun chapter ahead! I hope you enjoy it! :D

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The best part of her new training regime was that it took place in the Nara forest.

Keiichi would meet her at the gates to the compound and serve as her escort, as Tsunade wasn't allowed on the clan grounds alone, and would have them settle by different parts of ruthless river splitting the forest in two. Its appearance was misleading: the water was crystal clear to the point that Tsunade could count the pebbles lining the riverbed but, from throwing sticks into the stream, she had learned that it was fucking fast. Shit, she'd probably be dead if she fell into it.

The worst part of her new training regime, on the other hand, was that it included resuscitating fish.

Resuscitating fish was fucking boring.

Well, to be honest, Tsunade mostly hated it because of how difficult it was. It wasn't the manipulation of chakra that hindered her, there: she could direct chakra to her palms fairly easily, thanks to Fuyumi's previous training.

It was everything else that sucked.

She didn't want to accidentally botch this the way she had the Henge; reinventing one technique would be difficult enough and that was a simple one. If she messed up with medical ninjutsu, she was done. Super done.

So she really, really tried not to allow her intrusive thoughts any hold over her mind while she worked, but failed miserably. Not dismantling the physics behind the skill she was trying to acquire was impossible, even with all the meditation she had been doing to sharpen her mind. Science was too deeply ingrained in her.

So Tsunade chose a different route.

For her chakra to perform a technique, the instructions didn't have to be detailed - in fact, it was best if they were vague, as she had learned from bitter experience. That did not mean, however that detailed instructions had to be accurate; if she made a guess as to how chakra worked and operated under it while making sure to never fact check her assumptions, she might still construct that level of obstruction that came easily to other shinobi.

So Tsunade allowed herself to consider the exercise before her.

The fish burned whenever she tried to insert chakra into it. Why? Keiichi insisted that it had to do with Tsunade not reducing the amount of chakra she used enough but she had other theories.

"Do fish have chakra affinities?" She inquired, earning a puzzled look from her master.

"It might prove difficult to make a fish to pour chakra into chakra paper." He replied, amused. "The paper might get wet, you see."

Tsunade snorted, then returned her attention to the fish laid before her. Fuyumi had tested her chakra for affinity several days prior: it was Lightning, which Tsunade had zero idea what to do with. She was kind of hoping for Fire, if she was honest, or maybe Water and Earth in hopes of inheriting her grandfather's Wood Release.

Oh, well.

She had spent a lot of time sensing for it while meditating, since, trying to get a feel for the Lightning nature of her chakra. She managed it, eventually, pinpointing what felt a bit like static on her skin. In one of her unfortunately many experiences fending off Orochimaru prodding at her with his chakra, Tsunade even managed to pick off his affinity for Wind. Which was strong against Lightning. Which was fucking great.

The fact that you could sense chakra affinities on people was really cool, though, and exceedingly useful.

That also applied to the learning of medical ninjutsu: Tsunade could feel absolutely no chakra nature from the fish in the nearby stream. The one before her, unsurprisingly, had no chakra at all.

Her mind shot back to her old world and to blood types. The chakra system was, in the end, a second circulatory system: she could "donate" chakra to a fish because, like her, it had a system to donate to - even if it was currently inactive.

It seemed reasonable, though, to assume that trying to pump a fish with no chakra nature with Lightning chakra would fry it. Would that happen with a person with, say, fire affinity also? They should theoretically still be able to mold lightning chakra if they trained hard, maybe?

What would the equivalent of a O- blood type be, for chakra? If she was to be a universal donor, she would have to convert her own to it.

Tsunade sighed.

"I'm going to try something stupid." She warned her teacher.

"Go ahead." He gestured for her to proceed. He was fairly laid back when it came to letting Tsunade test out her ideas; "I trust that you are more scared for your safety than I am," he had said once, "and thus trust you not to attempt anything too stupid. Besides, experimentation is how you learn."

She nodded, then closed her eyes. Gathering chakra in the hands she had hovered over the still fish. She stopped the supply of new chakra to her palms, then, as if using a tourniquet, and focused on what she had already gathered. Locating the staticy feeling within it took time; several minutes, perhaps, which was quite difficult with Tsunade's limited stamina. By the time she pinpionted it, there was sweat dripping from her brow.

The next step was yanking the chakra nature off the chakra, but that didn't go as well: though she did manage to remove some of it, her endurance didn't last her long enough to remove the rest.

"I'm going to try again." She informed her master, breathing heavily, as she wiped the gathered moisture from her brow.

He nodded, looking at her with interest. "Go ahead."

It took her just a bit over ten tries, and what amounted to several hours, to manage clearing her chakra of unnecessary affinities without losing her hold on it due to exhaustion. Tsunade wasted no time in resting her palms on the fish and gently leading her chakra into its pathways, and found that the fish was soaking it up like a sponge. When it suddenly started thrashing under her hold, Tsunade yelped and jumped back, immediately losing her hold on the chakra.

"I did it!" She cried out. "I-It moves! I did it!" Tsunade continued to cheer, pointing at the very much alive fish. A fish she had resuscitated.

She had successfully performed her first feat of medical ninjutsu.

The relief at the fact that it was possible at all was so immense she nearly collapsed under it. She hadn't been aware of how heavily the fear of failure had weighted on her, before; knowing that she could master medical ninjutsu, even if it was really, really fucking hard, was fucking euphoric.

A rolling, satisfied laughter broke out of her, the sound harmonizing with the various songs filling the rich forest around them.

Keiichi touched his pointer finger to the fish and it stilled again. "Do it again." He demanded.

"Can't." Tsunade wheezed. "Too tired." She wasn't accustomed to using that much chakra at once; her reserves weren't depleted, not yet, but she had been steadily supplying chakra for the exercise for what felt like ages. Tsunade was certainly more drained than she had ever been, before.

"Rest, then." He said. "However long you need. I would like to see the trick performed once more before you leave."

"Yes, Keiichi-shishou."

The sun was setting by the time Tsunade managed to replicate the feat but the delay made her no less satisfied with her results.

It wasn't a fluke. She actually did it.

"Congratulations, kid." Keiichi said, offering her a rare, wry smile. She at least thought that the wry ones were the most genuine. "You figured out the most basic application of the Mystical Palm technique. How you did it with Yang Release rather than Medical chakra, though, I have no idea."

Tsunade stared at him, her mirth and satisfaction washed away by his words faster than she would have been pulled under the nearby stream. "Please tell me you're joking." She pleaded.

"No can do, sorry." He said, shrugging. "Medical chakra is green, you know. Very hard to miss."

"What color was mine?"

"White."

She smacked her face into her palms and groaned. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooo."

—

Thankfully, the use of Yang Release wasn't as bad as, say, developing a new technique.

"Medical ninjutsu has to use either Yin or Yang release: which one depends on the user's preference." Explained Keiichi as they took tea in his house, which he served with treats, thank fuck. Tsunade was starving. "Some even use a combination of both. They are rarely the only nature of chakra making up medical chakra, however."

"What else does it contain?"

"It's not an amalgamation of chakra natures, kid." He said. "Medical chakra is its own thing."

Tsunade groaned. "Great." She murmured. "So I haven't actually figured it out."

"Yang release will serve you better in the long run, if you can master it." He shot her down immediately. "It will serve you just as well as medical chakra, though it will often prove more efficient in the context of your reserves. If you can master it, that is; you won't have several minutes to draw it out in battle."

"I know." She acknowledged. "I think I could learn to draw it out faster but holding it long enough to treat an injury may prove difficult."

"It won't be." Her master assured her. "Chakra is like a muscle, in some ways: the more you exercise it, the easier it will answer to you. That goes for chakra natures, as well. Be consistent with your use of Yang chakra and your stamina and endurance shall improve."

Tsunade nodded solemnly. "I suppose I'll train drawing it out, then."

"Not today." Warned the dark-haired man. "And not unsupervised unless your reserves are over half full. Girls your age are at risk of suffering chakra exhaustion quite easily."

"My age? When will that change?"

"Puberty." Replied the Nara. "Right now, about a quarter of your chakra is spent constantly sustaining what will eventually become your reproductive system. Your reserves should grow significantly during puberty; the drain will fall below 5%, then."

"A quarter?!" Tsunade exclaimed, outraged. "A quarter of my chakra is reserved for it?! A QUARTER?! Seriously?!"

"It's usually more, actually - closer to half, sometimes more. You certainly have the Uzumaki reserves, kid, to have as much chakra as you do at that age."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "I wish I was born a boy." She mumbled.

Keiichi chose not to respond to that.

—

"Lady Senju." Began her master as soon as Tsunade's mother opened the door, her mouth already open to chastise her daughter. Her lips closed at the sight of the elderly Nara offering her a sharp bow. "I must apologize for your daughter's late arrival home - she had assisted me with groceries, earlier in the day, and I got carried off teaching her how to play shogi, thus losing track of time. I fear that she was too polite to interrupt me." He offered with a self-deprecating smile, successfully charming the metaphorical pants off her mother. "You are raising a fine child, there."

"Thank you, Nara-san-?" She guessed.

"It's Keiichi, please, Lady Senju." He insisted. "And it is I who should be thanking you."

"Oh, there's no need!" The older blonde beamed at him. "Though, please, if you two happen to play again, do try to encourage Tsunade to return before sunset. She's a bit airheaded, at times."

It's only thanks to Fuyumi and Keiichi's combined instruction that Tsunade managed not to wince. If her master felt any sort of way about her mother's words, he certainly didn't show it.

Keiichi nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, of course! Thank you again, Lady Senju, and good evening!"

"Good evening!" She replied with a smile. Tsunade barely managed to shoot him a quick "Goodbye, Keiichi-ojiiasan!"

She tried not to pay attention to her mother's words, once the door was closed, but some of them still registered and had stuck with her. Tsunade mostly focused on the fact that she could blame any inevitable future tardiness on "Keiichi-ojiiasan".

She wasn't bulletproof, though, and some of the things her mother had said still stuck with her. Like being called an airhead, by her own mother. God, that was fucked up.

—

"Good morning."

"What the actual fuck, Orochimaru." Hissed Tsunade, turning back to face him. He sat in the row before hers, he had absolutely no reason to climb up far enough to get behind her.

Shit, at this point, she was pretty sure that he just enjoyed making her jump.

"Such language." He tsked, though he seemed more amused than chastising, judging by the delight playing in his eyes. "What would you parents think if they learned of your impressive vocabulary?"

"They'll take it in stride. I don't think I could disappoint them more than I do now." Tsunade shot back on instinct, still bitter about last night's events. She regretted the outburst almost immediately after - admitting her weaknesses to Orochimaru, of all people, was the mother of all bad ideas.

But Tsunade wasn't unarmed, anymore.

She poured all of Fuyumi's and Keiichi's training into her expression and presented a front of being annoyed, rather than hurt. "Why do you ask? Does my language damage some delicate sensibilities?" She continued casually, even going as far as to tease-? Mock-? Orochimaru.

Delight fluttered in her abdomen when he answered with a wide grin. "I thank you for you care, Princess, but if you yourself can survive it than I believe I, as well, shall live."

"Good for you." She grumbled, then turned back to her chair. It took great effort to do so; she felt absolutely no comfort with her back to Orochimaru.

She also wanted to show that she wasn't fucking scared of him, though, even if it was a lie.

Tsunade relaxed, somewhat, when Orochimaru stopped brooding over her and walked to his seat, then tensed again when he chose to speak with her, face to face, rather than take it.

"Train with me." He said eventually, his golden eyes gazing into her own from far, far too close.

"Excuse me?"

"Train with me." He repeated. "In taijutsu. Let's spar."

Tsunade wanted to reject the offer so much that the harsh 'no' was sitting at the tip of her tongue, but she waited, just long enough for her temper to cool.

And when she had some clarity, she knew that she could not turn him away.

Orochimaru was her meter, her competition. She wouldn't be surprised if he was a far superior taijutsu fighter: in fact, she would be surprised if he wasn't. Tsunade couldn't afford to turn him away: she would need to bring her taijutsu up to par, at some point, and who the fuck would she even train with to get there? Her classmates, who were actually four and not aged by their insanity, like Orochimaru? Some relative, who was thrice her size?

"Why would you want to train with me?" She demanded coolly after what felt like an eternity but was probably only several seconds of thought.

"Do you not think yourself worthy of my time, Princess?"

"Don't kid yourself." Tsunade seethed. "I'm not doing anything with you unless you give me a satisfactory answer."

"How grim." He mused.

"Is it, really? I fell like I'm being quite reasonable. What do you stand to gain from this?"

"A sparring partner, if we are a good match." He replied openly. "I've not fought someone my size, before, and would like to remedy that. You seem dedicated enough to your training that, even if it turns out that the gap in our skill is great, you will be able to catch up enough to make it worth my while. Is that reason satisfactory?"

"It is." Agreed Tsunade. "However, it is not true."

Orochimaru... the real Orochimaru wasn't so diplomatic. If that was the reason, he would've been more blunt about it: something in the lines of "out of all our classmates, you're likely the least incompetent."

This posh sort of flattery he used? That wasn't him. She didn't even need her teachers' voices in her mind pointing out the lie to be able to tell.

Tsunade sighed at Orochimaru's following silence. "Just tell me what it is, dude." She said. "Or a part of it. Especially if you think I will freak out over the reason - trust me, my tolerance for weird shit is unfortunately high." Being fucking reincarnated was pretty fucking weird, she'd say.

After another long silence, which Orochimaru spent searching her eyes with his own cat-like ones, he finally spoke: "I find you interesting." He said, confidently and with no hesitation.

Which is why Tsunade believed him. Orochimaru wasn't one to mince his words.

"Okay." She nodded. "Let's train together."

Notes:

"She didn't want to accidentally botch this the way she had the Henge"
~Ten Minutes Later~
Tsunade botches it like she had the Henge.

To clarify - I'm not trying to make Tsunade OP by giving her weird techniques; I'm just thinking how a person who can't shake off their scientific knowledge would approach learning magic and what clunky results they will get. There won't be crazy fast-passes to becoming a BAMF, I promise, only hard training and a lot of creativity on her part.

With that said, hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've written so many chapters ahead, at this point, that it almost felt like reading it for the first time before I posted it, lol. I really, really want to to keep posting often even after my semester starts so I'm stocking up on chapters :D

I hope you enjoyed this one! I only just noticed that there are THREE plotlines starring in it: Tsunade's training arc, her complex relationship with her mother and, let us not forget, Orochimaru.

I've been waiting for Orochimaru to make Tsunade his offer for a while! Their training will, unsurprisingly, determine the foundation for their relationship. What do you think, will Tsunade get Orochimaru to respect her? ;)

Anyway, I'm out, see you in three days! Hope you enjoyed reading this! See you soon! 3

Chapter 14: Clarity

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade sets up her first sparring session with Orochimaru.

During her next meeting with Keiichi, the man confronts her about her mother and informs her that Fuyumi had been banned from seeing her.

Tsunade takes the next step towards becoming a medic-nin by learning how to run a diagnostic jutsu.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Hello hello hello!
If you ever wondered if I actually change the content of my chapter according to the requests in comments: now you know ;) ask and you shall receive!

Isn't it insane how HUGE this fic has grown in, like, a month? ty so much for your support, everyone! You keep me going 3

Another thing before I leave you to enjoy this chapter: I have a twitter now! I'm not going to spoil things, there, even if I would really like to, so you're welcome to find me there and yell at me if you got something to say that you won't say here ;D

ALSO, related: I'm probs gonna start a Youtube channel related to writing - fics and otherwise- and reviewing stuff. If this is something that you'd be interested in, in the context of this fic (say, if you want to know how I went about constructing this fic from 0 to the point that I have the entirety of it planned out, in the span on 3 days) lemme know! I'll make sure to do that, too.

Done! See you soon 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

Please note that while I do write original work also, the above links lead to my socials rather than my other work out of respect for Ao3 ToS.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Setting up a time to train wasn't as easy as it was to agree to spar with Orochimaru to begin with (which wasn't easy, either). So much so that Tsunade ended up inviting him to eat lunch together, again.

"I can't, after school." She admitted when he suggested it. "I'm training something else."

"Evenings? Nights?" Suggested the boy.

The blonde shook her head. "Can't do that, either. Too much surveillance."

"That just leaves us with mornings, then."

"Will that work for you?" She asked. "We can spar, maybe eat breakfast together then head to the Academy." And boy, wasn't the thought of sharing more meals with Orochimaru alarming. It was for the best, however - the times they spent eating together, so far, ended up being the most insightful.

She still wasn't to happy about it, though.

"Fine." He nodded. "Where do you usually train?"

"We can use my Clan's training grounds. I'll have to pick you up at the entrance to the compound, though."

"I'm surprised that you'd be willing to allow me so close to your home, considering how little you trust me." He replied bitterly.

"Oh, stop it." Tsunade brushed him off, unfazed. "You wouldn't find me 'interesting' if Ididtrust you. Be more subtle in your manipulations, please."

That earned her a smug grin. "If you insist."

"Thank you." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"So, sunrise at the entrance to your compound?"

"Sure." She agreed. "Are you free tomorrow? We can set up a schedule, after."

"That's fine."

"Great." The blonde rose to her feet, offering Orochimaru a hand to shake. The pale boy eyed it warily. "You put your hand in mine-" she began.

"-I know how handshakes work, Princess." Orochimaru shot back, got up and took the offered hand. "I am surprised that you found our little deal important enough to warrant one."

"Why wouldn't I?" Tsunade asked, confused, as she released him. "Your offering to train with me is an olive branch, on your end. I trust you not to harm me unnecessarily while I am of use to you and, just so you know, Iintendto be of use to you. I'm going to be the best sparring partner you'll ever have." And if she'd have to nag Emi and Aoi for extra lessons to get there, so be it.

Tsunade was filled to the brim with confidence and purpose. This was a step forward: she just had a breakthrough with medical-ninjutsu, she was learning to lie and act and, from now on, she will be training her taijutsu skills as well. If the last bit worked out, she will have a routine that was to her satisfaction.

"We'll see." Mused Orochimaru, a glint of something she couldn't read in his eyes. Tsunade didn't mind it, much, when he became enigmatic; she had no hopes of truly understanding the boy seated before her, to begin with, and was thus not disappointed when she failed. She'll take what he gave her and supplement it with knowledge of his future self. Whatever she made of it will be good enough.

It will have to be.

"Sit." Commanded Keiichi later that day, having led her to his home rather than deeper into the Nara forest, towards the stream, where they usually trained.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked warily.

"I don't know, did you?" He asked, grinning wryly. Somehow, the cool expression was enough to make Tsunade relax, somewhat.

"I'm sure you'll tell me soon?" Her words came out as a question, despite Tsunade's best intentions, which earned her a raised brow from her master. "I'm sure you'll tell me soon." She corrected herself.

"Better." He acknowledged. "Tell me about your mother, Tsunade-hime."

And suddenly, she knew exactly where this was going. "No." She replied firmly.

"Kid..."

"We're not having this conversation." Tsunade reiterated.

"We are." Countered the man. "Does your mother speak ill of you often?"

"This is not relevant to my training-!"

"This isveryrelevant to your training." Keiichi cut her off.

"Fine." Seethed Tsunade. "My mother doesn't approve of my career choice. That's all there is to it."

"It isn't."

"I lied to her and said that my fixation with becoming a kunoichi is temporary. It soothed her, somewhat, and it's been getting better, since.Drop it."

"I will not."

"Please." Tsuande pleaded quietly. "I don't want to discuss this."

I don't want to hear you agree with her, too.

"Then don't speak." Suggested the man. "But dolisten."

Tsunade stared at him, expression blank.

He continued: "You've been wise, to lie to your mother, but you were not skilled. She knows that you've been untruthful and is biding her time until she acts-"

"She knows?" Whispered Tsunade.

"She does." Agreed the man. "You shouldn't underestimate her. Your mother may not be a kunoichi but she runs the internal affairs of your clan: Lady Senju has ears everywhere."

Tsunade felt the blood drain from her face.

"Not here." Clarified the Nara.

"She knows that I've been meeting with Fuyumi-sensei?" The blonde asked weakly.

"She does," agreed Keiichi, "and has since forbidden Fuyumi from seeing you. It is why you had found her door locked whenever you visited her, recently."

"She- but-"

"Fuyumi may no longer be a Senju, in name, but she still adheres to the clan's laws." He continued. "She will obey them. You must know, however, as she had requested that I tell you: had she not left you in my care, she would've ignored the decree. You are her student, now, and therefore take precedence over her clan."

"She said that?" Tsunade asked weakly.

Keiichi sighed. "Fuyumi is the most loyal person I know." He said. "Do not betray her investment in you."

Tsunade's expression hardened. "Never." She said, her conviction unwavering.

"Good." Agreed the man. "Lady Senju seems to believe the bull I've fed her about us playing shogi: you'll have to learn to play to keep the ruse up."

"I know how to play." Admitted Tsunade. She was a fan of board games, in her past life, and though she never dedicated time to getting good at it, she at least knew the rules. "I'm not a very good player, though."

"We'll work on that." Said the man. Tsunade noted the flicker of genuine horror in his eyes at how content she was in her admission. It was the first time Tsunade felt like he reallywasa Nara. "Before that, though, I will say what you likely already know: your mother is a fool to discard your ambitions."

Tsunade didn't even realize that her gaze had been glued to the cup cradled in her hands, until then, when she had to raise her head to meet the man's dark eyes, her own wide in shock. Keiichi continued: "She hoped for you to take on the mantle she carried, either in this household or another, and had plans dependent on your compliance. She had failed to consider that you are your own person, however, and is now paying dearly for her mistake. As she should."

"Shishou..."

"However she treats you now - remember that it is designed to make you doubt yourself and your ability. She will shun you every step of the way: when you fall behind a Hyuga in taijutsu, when you don't ace some test in History; when you fail to master the Henge at the same speed as your classmates, which is inevitable with your unique predicament, she will dub you a failure. It is not unthinkable that she would attempt to pull you out of the Academy before you make genin, if you perform badly enough."

Tsunade gasped. "She wouldn't-!"

"Shewould." Countered the man. "So make sure to keep your grades up. That's not my point: what I'm trying to say, kid, is that you need to distance yourself from her words. She'slying. She sees your potential just as clearly as I do, as Fuyumi does, as your Academy sensei likely does. She fears it, and thus tries to squash it."

Tsunade had nothing to say to that.

Keiichi sighed. "You have drive, kid." He said. "You have talent and the promise of a very unique skillset. You're creative, so you will be able to forge various tools from the material at your disposal. You will become a great kunoichi: I'm sure of it. You just need to endure until your mother cannot dispute that fact." He took a deep breath, then sighed. "And, in case that wasn't clear, you are absolutelynotan airhead."

There were tears on Tsunade's cheeks, then, which she became aware of only when her master traced them with his gaze. "Come here." He murmured, opening his arms.

Tsunade was hesitant, at first, as Keiichi had not initiated contact before - but she found herself circling the table and leaning into his arms regardless. When he closed them around her, pressing Tsunade against his chest, she couldn't hold her sobs in anymore and cried openly, earnestly.

Keiichi put a hand on her head, sighed again and made no movement to push her away.

"We're not doing Yang release today?" She wondered out loud some time later, as they were seated by the river once again. Having calmed down since their last conversation, Tsunade was filled with renewed vigor and genuinely excited to exert as much energy as possible training her developing technique.

Which was why she was surprised to learn that Keiichi wanted her learninga new one.

"You'll have plenty of time to train that during this exercise, too." The man assured her. "It is redundant to keep resuscitating fish now that you've proved yourself capable of it."

"What will we be doing with the fish, then?"

"I will be teaching you the second most useful technique to medic-nin, ranking only below the Mystical Palm Technique: the Diagnostic jutsu."

A shiver ran down the blonde's spine. "Please tell me that there's not a jutsu that magically tells you what's wrong with a patient." Tsunade pleaded, because there wasno wayshe'd be able to perform that sort of thing.

Keiichi had the gall to laugh at her horror. "There is not." He confirmed. "You can, however, learn what a healthy lifeform feels like and thus have an easier time finding anomalies in ones like it."

"Oh."

"Yes,oh." The man snorted. "Medical ninjutsu isn't a bunch of hand-waving, kid. I'm only allowing you to try this so soon into your training because you have a very good grasp of human anatomy."

"But I know next to nothing about the chakra system." She murmured, because that bit was relevant, too.

"Which we will supplement with lectures and books. I'll only give you one at a time, so that you may have an easier time concealing it from your mother, but I expect you to read it in your own time."

"Yes, shishou."

"Now, insert your chakra into the fish and feel around. Learn it."

"Yes, shishou."

Gathering the Yang chakra in her palms took time. Mapping the fish's systems in small increments, as she could not hold the chakra for long, took even longer. She did manage it in the end, though, and by the time she had to leave she was fairly confident that she had a good image of what the inside of a fish felt like.

"That must have been boring for you." She noted as the man walked her back to the village proper.

"I brought a book for a reason, kid." He said waving the thing around. "At this point, I'm mostly needed to supervise you; the learning part you can do on your own. Tomorrow, though, I will have my work cut out for me."

"What are we doing tomorrow?" She asked.

The man grinned, then, one of this wry grins she both feared and enjoyed. "You'll see."

Notes:

1. You asked for someone to address how Tsunade's mother treats her: you got it. I hope you can see that she's not outright evil, now, just ambitious and a little stupid as she fails to realize that, even with her plans subverted, she has the opportunity to construct ones that will benefit her and her clan MUCH more. She's too narrow-minded to see the opportunity, though.

2. The number of chapters I have pre-written is ridiculous.

On the one hand, I have to go fix/alter things according to your comments after some chapters, which is a lot of extra work
On the other hand, I can know, with certainty, that I'll be able to post consistently through the next 2 weeks which I'll spend overseas (and away from my computer) and the majority of my next semester, at least.
The way I see it, it's a fair trade :D

3. Another thing, which I'll be mentioning in the future as well: Tsunade and Orochimaru are going to get together as (young) adults, not children, meaning that this story will span the course of a DECADE, at least. I'm not going to detail everything - only things that are important, like Tsunade learning the basic of medical ninjutsu. There are going to be training montages that and similar things that will serve as time skips - I will only detail things in that period that are outside the norm.

Anyway. Tsunade is 4 now, right? She only had her bday a few months ago.
You can expect a timeskip soon that will bring us all the way up to 5 :)

Chapter 15: Dangerous Games

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade has her first sparring session with Orochimaru.
*

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

Lots of Orochimaru in this one! You've aptly compared him to a feral cat. I'm sticking with that description, thank you. :D

I couldn't wait the full three days to upload this - it was like having an itch, I HAD to get this chapter out.

Hope you enjoy their dynamic 3

P.S ty for your continued support, it keeps blowing me away ;-;

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

Please note that while I do write original work also, the above links lead to my socials rather than my other work out of respect for Ao3 ToS.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

True to her word, Tsunade departed from her home at the first hint of sunlight, slipping through her window and proceeding to very carefully climb down the tree growing across it. She was so accustomed, so intimately familiar with every last branch, nook and cranny there, that the task demanded no effort at all.

Judging by their chakra signatures, her parents were still very much asleep, thank fuck. There was more solace in their presence than just that: Tsunade could feel her brother's presence, too, strong and stubborn and healthy. She found herself paying more attention to it than expected, often when she was tense or trying to pretend that she didn't know that her mother was watching her; it was hard to maintain the facade, now that she was aware of the woman's interference.

Tsunade was still seething over being denied Fuyumi's company.

Her mother, of course, had the right to limit their contact: her power over the clan had nothing to do with it, as that privilege came with her being Tsunade's mother.

That didn't mean that Tsunade had to be happy about it, though.

She tried to calm down, somewhat, as she walked to the entrance of the compound, but to no avail: the journey there just wasn't long enough. "Good morning." She addressed Orochimaru, who was unsurprisingly punctual and appeared nowhere near as irritated as her.

Also, he was still wearing white. Who the fuck wore white to training? Even Tsunade changed out of her usual turquoise dress and into dark pants and an equally dark shirt. Was he really so good that he wouldn't get dirtyat allduring their sparring session?

Suddenly, Tsunade was very determined to, if she can't beat him, at least get the bastard dirty. Fuck him for being so confident.

"Good morning, Princess." Orochimaru greeted her with a sweeping bow, his golden eyes remaining locked firmly onto her own.

Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Not a fan of mornings?" He guessed.

Well, seeing as he absolutely did not give a fuck, realized Tsunade, Orochimaru was… making small talk. Huh?

Her instincts screamed at her to call him out on it but she elected, instead, to go along with his act: "Ah, forgive me for my manners, honored friend." She replied, her words accompanied by a bow much deeper than his own. "No, I do in fact adore mornings - I fear that I have not had restful sleep tonight, is all."

Orochimaru's brow furrowed.

Tsunade snorted. "I thought we were donning facades today. Are we not?"

Her opponent mirrored her smug expression. "I suppose we are." He agreed, dropping the polite tone. "Lead the way, then."

The Senju training grounds were vast and well tended to, as massive as they were varied; with her late grandfather's Wood Release and his brother's Water Release, creating different terrain conditions was child's play.

Pre-genin weren't allowed into the majority of said territories, however, if only for their safety; one didn't want to get between two sparring jounin, regardless of how easy they were going on each other.

There was, in fact, only one training ground available to them.

"This is Senju Training Ground Zero." She said as they reached the spot. "We might have to share it with others, if we ever train in the afternoons. Make yourself comfortable."

Orochimaru's cat-like eyes darted from tree to tree, boulder to boulder, as he took note of the scene laid before him. It didn't share the beauty prevalent in the rest of the Senju Compound or even in the other training grounds: the earth they walked was made from a mix of grass and rocks the size of Tsunade's head, likely left over from when this was a training ground for elemental manipulation. The sky was barely visible through the leaves of the massive trees littered all over though sunlight managed to filter through, even this early in the morning.

It was… serene, even as the scene portrayed chaos.

Tsunade was ready.

"Taijutsu only?" She asked, removing her backpack from her shoulders and dropping it onto a dry patch of earth.

Orochimaru turned to her, brows raised. "Can you perform ninjutsu?"

"No." Replied Tsunade, moments before she caught on to the fact that shecould. She literally resuscitated a fish. That had to count for something, right?

Anyway.

"But you can." She pointed out. "If you'd like to train that, too, we could."

Orochimaru snorted. "I'm not actively trying to kill you, Princess." He dawdled. "No, I believe that taijutsu will be sufficient."

So it began.

Rather than fall into one of the more familiar katas, Tsunade fell into a boxer's pose: crouching to lower her center of gravity, arms defending her face and elbows ready to block attacks to her abdomen at a moment's notice. She wasn't an expert in this style, in her past life, and hadn't practiced it much since, but the occasion called for it.

First, because Orochimaru was bound to be vicious, whatever he does, and Tsunade needed a good defense.

Second, because it was her first time facing an opponent her own size and she had a feeling that most of what she learned up until this point will be redundant at best and a hindrance, at worst.

With her eyes locked onto Orochimaru's, Tsunade waited.

The boy standing before her made no move to fall into either an offensive or defensive stance: he remained with his default posture, back straight but shoulders turned inwards, a little, making him appear more subdued. His arms hung limply by the sides of his body.

He didn't move, either.

Tsunade wasn't falling for that trick. She could tell, by the sharp, predatory glint in his eyes, that the battle had already began. A moment of distraction, even to taunt him, would cost her dearly. He'd not seen a style like hers, before, and was analyzing it; there was a lot to be learned even if she wasn't moving.

One moment, he was standing a safe distance away from her, watching her like a hawk.

The next, Orochimaru was upon her.

Tsunade ducked the kick he had aimed to her head with ease, crouching even lower, then used the built-up momentum to launch herself at him like a spring. He dodged the fist flying to his side by turning to the left but Tsunade felt the fabric of his tunic catch on her knuckles and shecraved.

Now that she knew that he wasn't untouchable, Tsunadeneededto hit him, to prove that she stood on the same stage as he.

So she tossed wisdom aside for the benefit of gratification and took the offensive.

Tsunade shot rapid-speed punches at whatever was within reach, noting the distressful fact that Orochimaru's arms remained at his sides as he dodged, his movements so fluid and graceful that he could have been made of air. He kept his eyes on own her own the entire time, even as hers darted all over, making Tsunade realize that he was keeping track of where she intended to strike by following her gaze.

Fuck, that just wouldn't do.

Tsunade let her eyes wander to the side he had left exposed when parrying another of her punches then raised her leg for the first time since the match began, shooting a fast kick to his other side.

She caught Orochimaru's eyes widen, for a brief moment, before he moved his other arm so that her kick will catch him in the elbow rather than his torso. With her attempt at diversion foiled, Orochimaru jumped back to create some distance between them.

Tsunade returned to her original stance.

"You're quick." He said.

Tsunade didn't miss how he didn't say 'fast': Orochimaru was very much superior, in speed, both in reaction time and in the time it took him to actuallymove. He'd called herquick, however, so that could only mean one thing: he was referring to her wit.

Tsunade beamed.

"And you're patient." She said. "Why not abuse my oversight and land a few hits, yourself?"

"I was curious." He replied with a shrug. "I'm even more curious, now." He continued, then closed the distance between them in the time it took Tsunade to blink.

The first strike, aimed to her neck, was deflected by her guard though her arm still fucking hurt from the force he slammed it with. The following barrage was much more difficult to counter: a mix of punches and kicks and -claw attacks?- which she dodged, more often than not, but was sometimes forced to parry. She could already feel the bruises forming on her arms.

She was momentarily distracted by the pain in a spot he had struck repeatedly and failed to react fast enough to avoid the kick he aimed to her side. It hit home and the pain spreading through her body was nothing compared to the sudden lack of air in her lungs.

She didn't fall over but it was a close thing.

Tsunade barely registered the punch flying towards her jaw in time to choke out what was a failed attempt to say "Wait!", but Orochimaru did stop, his hand coming to a halt so close to her face that she felt the gust of wind generated by the movement.

"Thanks." She said, voice hoarse, and righted herself as he did the same.

"That's it?" He demanded, his expression sour. "One hit and you beg for mercy?"

"Hit me however much you like," Tsunade replied coolly, matching his tone, "but at leasttryto keep it below the neck, dude. Anything else would be too hard to hide."

Orochimaru's posture, which was a sort of crouch that somehow managed to radiate disappointment, fuck knows how, was righted immediately. The anger faded from his face and in its wake remained an Orochimaru that looked nothing unlike his usual facade of cool competence. "I find your terms acceptable." He said.

"Good."

"You crumbled after a single hit." He righted himself, then, indicating that they were taking a break and that the first match had indeed ended in his favor. Tsunade, of course, did not dispute that fact.

"I've never been hit that hard, before." She admitted. "I shut down, a little. I'll build a tolerance through our training, I believe, or at least the endurance to not become a sack of potatoes at the first indication of actual pain."

"But you," she continued, "you're heaving, even though you barely spent any time on the offensive. I need to work on my endurance, sure, butyouneed to work on your stamina. And also, Ididmanage to hold you off for a bit, which I think neither of us expected."

Orochimaru eyed her warily. "Taijutsu is not my strong suit."

"Neither is it mine." Agreed Tsunade. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going toneglectit. You're not, either."

"You are correct."

"Good." Tsunade clapped her hands and grinned, barely suppressing the wince that followed the pain emanating from her side. "This arrangement benefits us both, then. Let's go again?"

The boy before her eyed her, up and down, then sighed in what sounded suspiciously a lot like exasperation.

"Yes."

Tsunade was extremely,extremelyupset to find that Orochimaru didn't have a single speck of dust on his white tunic when their sparring session was concluded.

She, on the other hand, had plenty of dirt and grass sticking to her clothes; Orochimaru had knocked her off her feet several times after their brief interlude, having an easier time at it the more bruised she got. He was not immune to exhaustion, either, and had slowed down significantly when they went at it for longer than a few minutes: Tsunade abused his abysmal stamina to get a few hits in, naturally, but none were enough to make the boy fall on his ass like she hoped.

He did compliment her on her form, though, which was both euphoric and fucking weird.

Orochimaru was fucking weird in general, though, so she learned to expect the unexpected from him.

They did end up eating breakfast together, as she had suggested, though they were both too tired for their usual banter and elected to keep their silence, this time. It was... peaceful, somehow, to share a meal with the boy when he wasn't actively trying to drive her mad. Who would've thought?

"We shouldn't walk to the Academy together." Orochimaru said quietly as they left the Compound, some time later. "For your benefit."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, which he likely couldn't see from his position walking next to her, and knocked her shoulder playfully against his. "I've already been warned off you." She admitted, as she saw no point in denying that fact. "By the Hokage, actually. He has since accepted my reasons and has allowed me to associate with you - I doubt anyone would go against him, in that."

"The Hokage allowed this?" Orochimaru wondered out loud, the surprise in his voice so unmistakable that Tsunade couldn't help but turn to see his expression. It was as comically shocked as she had expected - wide eyes, slack jaw and all.

Fuck, when he wasn't busy being a miniature psycho, Orochimaru was a cute fucking kid.

"Your reasons." He repeated her words after successfully schooling his expression. "What were they?"

Tsunade turned away from the boy and hummed mirthfully. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She mused, reveling in how she could see Orochimaru eyebrows twitch angrily in her peripheral.

Ah. Sweet, sweet revenge.

She was sure that her teasing would come back to bite her in the ass sooner than she's ready to actually handle the ramifications.

Oops.

Notes:

I really hope you liked this one! Fight scenes are the main thing I'm trying to get better at, these days, and this is an improvement from what I could've written, before :D I hope it was ok!

I'll warn about this again but the chapters will soon start covering longer stretches of time - sometimes months. I won't bore you with details of Tsunade's training, once she figures things out, so that we can get to a point where the characters are older, someday :D There will still be several notable events in every year of her life and I will cover those, don't worry ;D

Ty, as always, for your support 3

Chapter 16: Building Blocks

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Keiichi heals Tsunade after her sparring session with Orochimaru.

She makes her first attempts at healing fish and fails miserably, after which her master gives her a pep-talk.

She sneaks out to cook for Tobirama and find him in his home, at which point the two of them have a much-overdue conversation.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

This chapter is long and perhaps a little unrefined - my apologies.
I hope you're not sick of me thanking everyone who took the time to leave a kudos, comment or bookmark this work. I'm not going to stop, lol: thank you!
I'm between flights right now so I'm keeping this short, if you wanna read about my airport adventures head to my twitter :P

See you soon!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

Please note that while I do write original work also, the above links lead to my socials rather than my other work out of respect for Ao3 ToS.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"Explain the limping." Demanded her master as soon as they arrived at the spot by the river that he had selected for their session that day.

Tsunade groaned. "Oh, man." She complained. "I planned to make a whole exercise out of it, to see how long I can go without you noticing."

The Nara snorted and shook his head. "You're far too young to try your hand at deceiving me, kid. Try again in a few decades... when I'm dead." He deadpanned. "But the effort it appreciated. So? What happened?"

Tsunade cringed. "Can I choose not to talk about it?" She tried.

"Of course." He agreed, to Tsunade's surprise. She ought to have recognized his cooperation as the red flag that it was. "If you want me to assume the worst, that is."

The blonde groaned. "Whatisthe 'worst', in this case?" She wondered out loud, against her better judgment. Some questions were better left unanswered..

Keiichi's eyes narrowed as his gaze locked onto her own. Slowly, deliberately, he spoke: "You will leave me no choice but to assume your mother took issue with something you did and saw fit to punish you for it."

His eyes never left hers as she spoke, watching her for any signs of his suggestion nearing the truth.

Tsunade felt the blood drain from her face. "No." She tried to be firm but her voice wavered. She stubbornly gave it another shot: "Mom-No. No way. She wouldnever." The vehemence of her denial was unmistakable; Tsunade couldn't fake the sort of horror that saturated her words, in that moment, and she hoped that Keiichi could tell.

"What happened, then?" He demanded, not backing down.

Tsunade knew that she was being manipulated. Hehadto know that her mother didn't hurt her, especially after her response to the outrageous claim. Her master was just fishing for information, now.

But she also knew that there were other awful options even with the one he suggested discarded. It could have been anything ranging from a training accident to severe bullying; if Tsunadedidkeep her silence, her teacher would have his pick.

"I sparred with a classmate this morning." She admitted eventually, lowering her gaze, knowing that he would not approve of her new pastime. "Taijutsuonly." She clarified. " He's a far superior fighter and landed many more hits than I did. It was uponmyinsistence that we continued despite my minor injuries."

"Minor." He muttered, shaking his head. "Kid, you'relimping.You're not going to be healed in a day or two. Your body needs time to restore itself." Keiichi informed her, sounding more exasperated with her than usual.

Tsunade crumpled, at that. "Oh." She murmured. "So I won't be able to train again tomorrow?"

Keiichi slapped his palm against his forehead, making Tsunade cringe at the sound. Through the fingers pressed against his face, the man muttered: "I'll heal you, you little nuisance. In exchange, tell meeverythingthat happened today and explain why you thought it was a good idea to let someone beat you to a pulp."

"You would?" Tsunade perked up at that.

"Did I not just say so?"

"Sorry."

It was a little uncomfortable, feeling the man's chakra flowing through her system, mending the damage caused by the earlier spar, so Tsunade distracted herself by talking. She quietly explained that Orochimaru is a genius and she couldn't afford to pass up the opportunity to train with him,learnfrom him, so long as his interest in her lasted. "I don't think it'd be very long." She admitted. "The difference in our levels is just too great - and, unlike me, he can use ninjutsu."

"I know of the kid you speak of." The Nara informed her cryptically. "I am not at all surprised that you have found yourself drawn to him, or him to you. You're both far too smart for children your age."

Tsunade didn't bother mentioning how she was cheating, in that aspect. It didn't matter that she was older, mentally; physically, she was four, and so was Orochimaru. She may have the memories of an adult but her brain was still developing; she could tell by, for example, how she struggled not to see things as extremes and acknowledge the gray areas that made up the majority of life.

She was an of mix between a child and an adult which, when dealing with a young Orochimaru, is perhaps the best thing to be.

"But?" She asked when her master paused.

"But he's dangerous." Said the man, which didn't surprise the blonde. "And I cannot encourage that friendship."

Her answering smile was rather wobbly. "I think that my granduncle would have forbid me from seeing him if he wasn't so busy with his duties." Tsunade admitted quietly. "He did warn him against Orochimaru, though, and has agreed to not ban me from interacting with him for as long as I knew not to trust him."

"Do you not?"

"No." Tsunade replied, her voice successfully carrying the firmness of her conviction, this time. "I know not to. I don't knowwhathe did to earn your and my granduncle's wariness -if you're willing to share, that would be great- but I do know that he's dangerous and, as soon as I am not useful to him anymore, he'll either cut me off or hurt me."

Keiichi's gaze bore into her own. "And that does not deter you?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Anything physical he will inflict will heal." She said. "He won't maim me and pain itself does not scare me. Betrayal is impossible if there was no trust to betray and anything else? Anything else will pass." She smiled more earnestly, this time, though the sadness in the expression remained. "Thank you for healing me." Tsunade added, feeling the man's chakra finally recede back to his own body. When Keiichi removed his still green-glowing hands from her, she stretched to test her newly healed body and was glad to find no pain anywhere.

"I'll try not to get hurt as much, in the future." She promised.

"Do." Keiichi shot back. "Know that I will heal you, however, should you arrive to our training hurt again - until you can heal yourself, that is."

Tsunade would have never asked that of him. Ever. She wasn't going to dishonor him by saying as much, though, and instead accepted his gracious offering with a deep bow. "Thank you, shishou."

The fact that he did not oppose her sparring with Orochimaru or straight up forbid it was more than she dared hope for. Having his promise of patching her up, after... she couldn't have put her gratitude into words if she tried.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled, brushing her off. "We've wasted enough time - come. There is work to be done today."

"What are we doing?" Asked Tsunade, following him towards the fish - likely not the same one she had worked on yesterday but she couldn't tell the difference, either way.

The Nara hummed. "How confident are you that you've mapped the fish's system?" He asked.

Tsunade's brow furrowed. "Fairly confident." She replied. "Say... 85%"

"Good. I only expect you to fry a fifth of the fish at most, then."

"I'm frying fish again?" She wondered out loud, sitting down before the large fish he had placed onto the inked scroll that had become familiar, during the time she had spent laboring over it.

"No." Said the Nara. "You are healing them."

With that said, he produced a knife and cut the fish's side - a small nick, nothing more.

"Good luck."

Tsunade burned every last one of the fish brought to her.

"Sorry." She murmured when night began to fall, recalling her master's earlier remark about the success rates he had expected from her.

The man shook his head and rested a hand on her own. "You did well, kid." He said. "You don't have to grasp things immediately; I won't ever scold you for doing your best."

"My best might not be enough, though." She admitted quietly, mostly to herself.

"Oi." Said her master, resting his walking stick on the damp earth then kneeling until he was of height with her, placing his hands on Tsunade's shoulders. "Listen to me, kid: your best is always good enough.Always. There is no point dwelling on things that were not yours to control to begin with."

"But..."

"No buts." He cut her off. "You said that you wished you were a boy, before. It's not something you chose, and therefore not something you should regret. The same goes for your difficulty with ninjutsu."

Tsunade said nothing.

Her master continued: "Doing your best guarantees that, whatever measure of control youcanhave over your life, youwillhave it. That's the most you can ever hope for - the rest remains the domain of the Gods."

"I... I suppose." Tsunade conceded. "It's just that... My classmates will have an easier time with ninjutsu. I havetwo yearsto master both medical ninjutsu and my version of the Henge and... I just don't know if its possible. If my best is not good enough... I can't." She was breathing heavily. "I can't."

"You'll make it in time." The man assured her.

"How can you know?" She asked quietly.

"Because I've had many students of medical ninjutsu, Fuyumi among them, over the years. None were as determined to learn as you. The path might be more difficult to tread but you will make up for it with dedication and creativity. If you cannot trust yourself, trust me: youwillmaster your Henge in time."

Tsunade took a deep, shaky breath. "Okay." She said quietly. "Okay. I can do it."

Her teacher grinned and ruffled her hair before grabbing his walking stick and rising to his feet. "Damn right you can."

Tsunade was, once again. Completely exhausted by the time she got home. She greeted her mother, grabbed some food and crashed immediately after. It was a miracle that she got up in time to cook for her granduncle that night at all.

She followed the same pattern as always: climbing down the tree she could reach through her window then sneaking through the Compound until she reached the Hokage's home. Everything was routine, at this point.

The fact that Tobirama was home, that night, was not.

Tsunade considered leaving when she sensed him, reluctant to bother the man when he finally had some time for himself, but the Hokage appeared before her just as Tsunade turned away to leave.

She barely managed to swallow her scream.

"Apologies." Said her granduncle. "I did not mean to scare you."

"It's okay." Tsunade offered with a genuine smile. "You should rest while you can, oji-san. I'll come by some other time."

"Nonsense." He brushed her off, crouching so that he could pick Tsunade up then rising with her in his arms, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Tsunade could feel tears fill her eyes.

She fucking missed him.

"You're already up; I won't send you away. In fact, I wish to speak with you."

Tsunade knew that it was coming but it hurt, anyway. Her cheek brushed against the side of the man's neck as she nodded.

Tobirama carried her to his house and carefully lowered her onto the couch, smiling warmly. Tsunade's heart ached.

"Are you hungry?"

"You cooked?" She asked, brows raised, recalling how his kitchen had been completely unused when she first cooked in it.

"I did." He replied, looking away.

"I- I'm not hungry." Tsunade admitted, still a little shell-shocked. This... wasn't what she had anticipated."Thank you."

Tobirama, his long, white hair bobbing with the movement. "Tea, then?"

"Sure."

It was weird to be a guest in this house.

"You look tense." Noted the man when he finally returned with their tea, placing Tsunade's cup on the coffee table. "I'm not going to chastise you, Tsunade."

"You..." She began cautiously, catching her granduncle's red eyes as she spoke, "You're busy, though. So this must be important."

"Itisimportant." He agreed, spilling fuel into the flames of her growing anxiety. "I would like to spend some time with my grandniece, who has been very patient with me while I tended to my other duties, besides my duty to her."

"Oh." She breathed softly. "That- you don't have to-"

"I missed your company, Tsunade." The man said bluntly, cutting her off. "Things have calmed down, a little, and I would now like to hear how you've been."

"I... I've been well." She said. "How areyou, oji-san?"

"Tsunade." He scolded her good-naturedly. "I would like to hear more, please."

So Tsunade told him.

She spoke of how lucky she was to have a teacher so invested in her progress. She admitted to sparring with Orochimaru which, judging by her granduncle's blank expression, he already knew of. Good thing Tsunade didn't bother lying.

"You've been visiting the Nara forest a lot." He remarked towards the end of her tale.

Right. Her granduncle was, like, the best sensor-nin to ever sensor-nin.

"It's where I meet my teacher." She admitted. "I'd imagine you already knew that, though."

The Hokage nodded. "Nara Keiichi is a good man." He said. "He's not known to take students in recent years, however."

"Fuyumi asked him to teach me. As a favor."

"What does he teach you?"

Tsunade's brows rose. She'd assumed he'd know that, too. "Medical-ninjutsu."

It was good to know that she could make the fucking Hokage broadcast surprise so openly. "I was not aware that he possessed that skill." The man admitted after a brief pause.

Tsunade could only shrug.

"That's about it. My routine has kept me busy."

"I can tell." He said, his words accompanied by a small but earnest smile that made Tsunade wish she was a baby again and could excuse crawling into his arms to cuddle him. "What about the Academy? Do you have any friends?"

She took a moment to consider the question. "Not really." She admitted. "It's my own fault. I... I don't feel the need to connect with my classmates and I don't much care for the games they play during recess."

"Making friends is very important." Said the man who she wasn't sure had any friends at all. Tsunade barely suppressed a snort.

"I know." She acknowledged, rather than call him out. "And I intend to make them. Just... not yet. For now, I'm content to surround myself with adults."

"And Orochimaru."

"And Orochimaru." Yielded the blonde. "Though we aren't friends. He..." She thought back to Keiichi's words. "He's a lot like me, oji-san. We share interests and ambitions, to a degree. I can't trust him, and thus will not count him a friend, but he's the closest I can get to one, for now."

"Just..." He hesitated. "Be careful."

"I promise." Said Tsunade, scooting closer to him on the couch and putting her hand atop his.

Tobirama turned his hand so that he could hold hers. "You've always been so mature." He said quietly. "It's easy to forget, almost, how young you are. You're so focused on your future, so capable of empathy and patience, that it's difficult to treat you like the child you are."

"I am what I am." Tsunade replied bluntly. She had long since come to terms that she will always, always be different.

"It's not a bad thing, Tsunade." Her granduncle assured her, squeezing her hand. "I have no words to describe how proud I am of you. You are everythingIwanted to be, at your age - sharp, hardworking, kind and wise beyond your years. You're going to be an exceptional woman, when you grow up, regardless of where you choose to invest your talents."

"Thank you." She said quietly, finally closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around her granduncle's torso. "I missed you."

He patted her head and squeezed her, holding Tsunade a little closer. "I missed you, too." He said quietly. "I hope that I won't have to go this long without seeing you again."

Tsunade closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the moment, pushing away her thoughts regarding the fact that, if she recalled correctly, there was a war on the horizon.

A war that he was supposed to die in.

"Okay." She said. Instead of voicing her worries.

"Things have settled a little, now." He spoke into her hair. "I will be home more often. You no longer need to cook for me, Tsunade."

Yup. She knew that it was coming. "I like cooking for you." She murmured.

"And I appreciate your efforts on that front." Said the Hokage, pulling away so that he could look into her eyes, so that Tsunade couldseehow earnest he was about his gratitude. "I cannot describe, in words, what it meant to me to return to home-cooked food whenever I was allowed reprieve. Thank you, Tsunade. Truly, deeply, Thank you."

She only nodded, allowing her joy at his acknowledgment to shine through her eyes.

"I cannot, in good conciousness, allow you to continue, however." He said. "You are a growing girl, Tsunade, and you have been using a lot of chakra daily. Youneedto get enough sleep so that your reserves refill properly. You also need to get enough sleep if you hope to grow your reserves even more thanks to constantly exerting them."

She knew that he was right.

"Okay." She reluctantly agreed. "I-I'll stop."

"You're welcome to visit and I will do my share of that, too." He said. "How do you spend the days on which the Academy is out?"

"I spar with Orochimaru, still, but Keiichi-shishou encourages me to have these days off ninjutsu training."

"Shishou?" The Hokage echoed, brows raised.

Tsunade smiled. "Yes." She confirmed. "It's a secret, though."

"My lips are sealed." The Hokage smiled warmly at her, his pride plain as day both in his expression and in his eyes. "If you wish, we could share meals, on these days. You need only stop by my office - I will make time for you."

With that said, Tsunade found herself hugging her granduncle again, overwhelmed by joy.

Fuck, she missed him.

"Yes."

Notes:

I think it's time that we addressed the fact that Tobirama doesn't know how to deal with children.

Even now that Tsunade no longer cooks for him, he still treats her like an adult in many ways. He's trying his best, which does count for something, but if Tsunade was an actual kid... this would be bad.

But what they have works for them, which is important. Tsunade's life is weird enough that her relationships are bound to be weird, too. I feel like he is a parental figure to her but, simultaneously, she's almost a friend, for him. He treats her more like an equal than a person under his care.

Which, against, works for them.

Keiichi's words about doing one's best and their best being good enough is my life motto, btw, hope you enjoyed it lol

Finished this right in time for my flight! WOOOOOOOO

Chapter 17: Forward

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade recounts her new, evolved routine, has a fight with Orochimaru when she inevitably hurts his ego, makes progress with medical ninjutsu and agrees to meet Uchiha Shou to meditate on their days off.
*

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

Hi guys! :)))
Did you notice that we've passed 10k hits? Did you? I DID
Ty for the comments, also! I got so many of them (on multiple chapters lol) after the last upload! They're so fun to read!

I'm on a bit of a vacation now (celebrating my birthday which was a few days ago :D) so I'm not writing much these days but I have enough (edited) chapters for the next month so don't worry, I won't be missing uploads :P It would be a good time for you to tell me in which direction you'd like me to take things, though, since I'll have time to accommodate it!

Anyway, tyvm for all your support 3 it's been making the writing of this fic immensely rewarding.
I love you. Seriously, thanks :')

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(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Somehow, Tsunade's hectic schedule morphed into a routine even more complex than the one she had before.

Tsunade spent every morning with Orochimaru, even when the Academy was out. She learned that he liked sweet foods better than salty ones and savory foods better than that, still, but couldn't pick what went into his lunchbox, as he lived at the orphanage. Tsunade started making extra of his favorites at home and bringing it with her in the mornings, insisting that the food would spoil if he didn't help her finish the meal.

Orochimaru, of course, knew what she was doing. In fact, judging by the look in his eyes when he stared at her the first time Tsunade performed that trick,heknew thatsheknew thatheknew, too.

The boy went along with it, though. In fact, he consistently finished what remained of Tsunade's food as well as his own bento, indicating that he was not being fed enough. It wasn't a surprise but it wasn't something that Tsunade had considered before, either. She started annoying him into sharing lunch with her, too, and made sure to bring enough extra food to last two meals.

At that point, Orochimaru called her out on it. "I don't need your pity." He seethed, knocking the half-full bento she had offered him from her hand. A shame; it was her mother's cooking, this time, which was much superior to Tsunade's. "Your sort are always the same. I don't need you, I don't need your help and, most of all, I don't need yourmercy." He spat out the last word as if it was venom.

Tsunade was ready for that to happen, though - has been since she first offered him food. "Do I look like I pity you?" She asked, brow raised. "Honestly, it's for my own benefit. Your stamina is frankly atrocious; I don't pity you, Orochimaru, but Iamembarrassed on your behalf. As my sparring partner, I expect you to be in top condition so that the precious time I give you is spenteffectively. If you're so hungry that you need frequent breaks to gather your strength,Iam the one left to rot while I wait."

He stared at her as if she was speaking a different language. "You're lying." He accused, but he didn't sound certain. Was Keiichi's training finally paying off?

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Of course I am." She agreed, making Orochimaru's anger return to his face. "As long as training with you is more beneficial than training alone, I would like us to keep sparring. I really don't pity you, though - It's just a tiny bit of effort on my part that costs me nothing and makes someone else's life easier. I would have done it for anyone, this honestly isn't about you at all."

"I don't need your help." he insisted.

"I know you don't." Tsunade agreed, surprising the boy again. "You were doing perfectly fine before we ever met. You're in control of your life, you're far ahead of your peers at everything, basically, and you don't need anyone's pity." She didn't speak of mercy, though. That was a nerve that has been struck and she did not intend to go near ever again, if she could help it.

"That's right." He agreed, somehow simultaneously firm in his resolve and hesitant.

"That doesn't mean that you need to do everything alone, though." Tsunade continued. "I'm not asking you to rely on people; that forces you to give up your independence and I would never suggest such a thing. It's okay tobenefitfrom people, though, as you have been from me being your sparing partner."

"I partnered with you to use you." He said coolly.

Tsunade knew what response he wanted to illicit - a flinch, a sign of hurt, for her to lash out at him the same way he was lashing out at her.

Instead, Tsunade couldn't help the laugh that broke through her lips. "I know." She informed him. "And I'm usingyou, too. But isn't using someone benefiting from them? The only way in whichthisis different is that I don't get anything in return. Is that what's bothering you?"

Orochimaru was visibly taken aback by her easy acceptance of the fact that she was being used. He stared at her for a few moments before grinding is teeth, clenching his jaw and answering: "I don't like owing people." He said.

"Who said anything about owing me?" Demanded Tsunade. "Stop putting words in my mouth, dude."

"People don't do things out of the kindness of their heart-"

"They do." Tsunade cut him off. "You may have not been on the receiving end of it often, so I don't blame you for being so narrow-minded, butI have, and I'm telling you that people are sometimes kind for the sake of being kind, even to strangers, sometimes to enemies."

"That's just stupid of them."

"Doesn't make my argument any less true." Countered Tsunade. "Either way, why do you even care if I expect something in return? There is no binding agreement, nothing to force you to comply with my theoretical future demands. Why do you care if I try collecting a debt that I invented?" She paused. "To clarify, though, I want noting from you besides what you had already offered. I'm doing this for me, not you."

"You... you really don't expect anything in return." He muttered, eyes wide and locked onto her own, as the realization finally hit him.

Of course, he followed it up with "You're so unbelievably stupid."

Tsunade, once again, broke out laughing. Gods, now shedidpity him, if the thought of casual kindness was so foreign to him. "Probably." She agreed, picking up her bento and the food that fell out of it. "I'll bring more tomorrow." She said. "I'd appreciate it if you refrained from knocking my bento over, next time."

Orochimaru just looked at her like she was insane.

"Come." She said, offering him a hand after she rose. "We're going to be late to class."

To her complete and utter delight, the boy actually took it.

The next item on her routine was her training with Keiichi.

Tsunade saw him on schooldays only, which was perhaps for the best as training with him was, more than anything else, exhausting. Even now that she no longer had to sneak out to her granduncle's at night, Tsunade just wasn't getting enough rest. It felt like her reserves were never full, even if they weren't exactly empty, and she had mentioned as much to her master.

"They are growing." He explained. "Like a muscle, when exerted, your chakra system grows stronger. Note how you've been having an easier time summoning Yang Chakra, too: it is aligning itself with you needs, forming in a way that would better suit what you use it for. For as long as you exert yourself to the point of near-exhaustion, your reserves will continue to grow. Your chakra production will not be able to keep up with the change, for some time, but that, too will increase if you continue working hard."

"So... I'm actually giving myself more chakra to play with when I'm older because I started training early?"

"Yes." Agreed the Nara. "It is why, in clans, boys often begin learning ninjutsu at ages as young as three."

"Good for them." Tsunade groaned, then returned her attention to the fish laid before her.

She was getting better at not frying it though accidents still happened, on occasion. Tsunade hadn't managed to fully heal a cut, yet, but she was getting closer: encouraging the cells to knit together was something she could do, now, and she miraculously managed it without creating cancers, which was one of her chief concerns.

Now she only needed to know how to transform without forgetting a lung or two. Ugh, this was so unfair.

It was encouraging, to see that she was making progress and to know that her reserves will continue to grow at a rapid pace. She was going to get stronger, strong enough to achieve her ambitions, strong enough to doeverythingthat had to be done.

Even if it took time.

The last bit of her routine were her weekly, sometimes biweekly lunches with her granduncle. She could see, week by week, how the color returned to his cheeks and how he no longer used genjutsu to hide the bags under his eyes. The village was prospering, balance had been restored, handing the Military Police over to the Uchiha was a huge success on all fronts, despite the doubts surrounding the initiative, and everything was going well.

Tsunade was happy.

Speaking of the Uchiha, though, there was another thing that occurred frequently enough to be of note but not enough for her to consider routine.

It all started when Orochimaru no-showed to their training, one day, so Tsunade trained alone and arrived at the Academy early, claiming the swing that Naruto would someday mope on (well, not really, not if she had anything to do with it; it was still too far off to consider, though).

"Yo." Tsunade turned around to meet the deep, dark eyes of a familiar Uchiha boy.

"Shou-kun!" Tsunade exclaimed, delighted, and jumped off the swing to join him where he stood. "How have you been?"

"What's up with this old people talk?" He complained. "Speak like a normal person, Tsunade-hime."

She rolled her eyes."Says the person calling me Princess." She pointed out.

The boy just shrugged. "So, you're having fun in the Academy?"

"It's pretty boring, most of the time." Admitted Tsunade. "I don't think school is supposed to be interesting, though. I like the games - I hope it'll get better when we start learning taijutsu. What about you?"

"We do loads of sparring, actually." Said the Uchiha. "It's cool. The classes are boring, though, I gotta agree with you there."

"Right?" Moaned Tsunade.

"You'll survive." The Uchiha teased her. "They'll have you sparring in a few months, you'll see."

"Months?!" Exclaimed Tsunade.

"Yeah, what did you expect?" He asked. "They have to teach you the forms and such, first."

Ah, right. Not all students were shinobi-born. Tsunade was so accustomed to her degree of privilege that she forgot others didn't enjoy it, sometimes. "True." She yielded. "That sucks. I wanted to spar with you."

"Can't spar with you outside the Academy, Tsunade-hime. Sorry." Shou frowned. "My uncle would kill me."

"That's fair." She yielded quietly, then perked up a moment later. "Do you meditate?"

Shou eyed her like her was just a smidgen too polite to tell her, outright, that she was stupid. "Obviously."

"Wanna meditate together, sometimes?" She asked. "I usually meditate a lot on our off days, though I sometimes practice channeling chakra, too." Depending on her empty her reserves were.

"Sure." He agreed easily. "Where? I won't be allowed into the Senju compound."

"You would if I was with you." Argued the blonde.

The boy shook his head. "Your people might be more lenient than mine, in this." He said. Then, as though afraid she would argue, the boy continued: "And you won't be allowed onto the Uchiha grounds, either."

"True." She reluctantly acknowledged. Then, an idea struck her. "How about somewhere near the Military Police building?"Where we will be seen,she didn't add,where we might prove that the Senju and Uchiha could have peace, true peace, and not just the fragile facade that the Hokage barely held onto.

"That works." Agreed Shou, obviously oblivious as to her motives. "Mornings?"

"Sure." Agreed Tsunade.

"I'll have to check with my uncle." He admitted.

"I'll be there." Promised Tsunade, because she had the benefit of not giving a shit what her mother thought about this. "If you can come, find me. Don't worry about no-showing if you can't."

The Uchiha nodded and, with that, the deal was sealed.

Notes:

Me: "Tsunade, how do we make friends in the Narutoverse?"

The blonde menace: "We invite them to train with us! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

(Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you xD)

Chapter 18: Laid Bare

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade meditates with Shou, has lunch with Tobirama and asks him to knock some sense into her after she accidentally cripples one of the animals she is training medical-ninjutsu on. He encourages her to perfect the technique she was developing which, despite her anxiety, she somehow manages.

Orochimaru and Tsunade spar for the first time in class and are bombarded by attention from their classmates, after. Turns out, they are both thought of as unattainable goals -Orochimaru, for his talent and Tsunade, for her beauty and status- and thus have plenty of admirers. Tsunade clears the air by claiming Orochimaru as a friend and admitting to her betrothal to someone else, which Orochimaru later questions her about.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I'M UPLOADING THIS A DAY EARLY CAUSE I'M GONNA BE SUPER BUSY TOMORROW*

Hi guys!
I've been a bit absent in the notes lately, I know, but it's only cause I'm really enjoying my vacation. I got to see the northern lights yesterday! It was insane! Norway is one beautiful country, for real, I'd 100% move here if I could afford it. TBH, I'm considering relocating lol. It's that pretty. :)
I'd like you to know that, even if I'm not as loud about it, I REALLY enjoy and appreciate your support. I brag about you guys to everyone who's willing to listen, lol:D
So thanks :) You guys make a lot of the hard work I do (on this fic and on writing in general) worth it.

Sending my love 3

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Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
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Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

To both Tsunade's surprise and her delight, Shoudidactually show up in the park behind the Military Police building on their next day off.

"My uncle is around, somewhere." He admitted quietly after they had exchanged greetings. "He thinks it's a trap or something."

"I can't blame him." Replied Tsunade, knowing fully well that the conversation they were having would make its way to the man's ears sooner or later, even if Shou wouldn't be the one delivering it. Children of shinobi only had the privilege of keeping secrets if their guardians allowed it or were neglectful, like Tsunade's. "I don't have ulterior motives, though. I'll be blunt, because you already know this: I'm weird, Shou-kun, and I don't have any friends in my class because I just can't connect to any of my peers. I'm more likeyouthan I am likethem, though," she admitted, "so I was hoping to have better luck making friends, like this."

"You can't ignore the fact that I'm an Uchiha, though." He accused quietly, and he was right.

"I don't." Clarified Tsunade. Then, she told him this: "When I was little, before I could even speak, my mother would sometimes take me to parks around Konoha. I remember seeing the Uchiha children play and wanting to join in but being denied: first by my mother and, when I got older, by the other kids' parents. I understand that they, like your uncle, were trying to keep their children safe." She took a deep breath. "But I wasso lonely." Her words were barely above a whisper. "And so jealous. I just wanted to play."

"Are there no children your age in your clan?" He wondered quietly.

"Very few." She replied, thinking of the one cousin who was her classmate. "My mother has deemed it inappropriate for me to befriend them, however."

"It's the same in our clan, with the Head Family." Acknowledged Shou.

"Yeah." Tsunade said, a sad smile stretching her features.

The boy sighed, shook his head and sat down, gesturing for Tsunade to do the same. "Come on. Weren't we gonna meditate?"

Tsunade would have much preferred to practice calling out Yang Release faster but couldn't, for two reasons: first, because Keiichi had warned her against training with chakra every day, encouraging her to let her reserves fill completely at least once a week. Second, because people were very obviously watching them -a bond of friendship between a Senju and an Uchiha was not a common occurrence- and she didn't want to reveal her hand so early. A single flash of white chakra on her hands and the secret will be out.

Meditation wasn't a waste of time, however, and Tsunade found that, counterintuitively, it was just as beneficial as practical training when it came to improving her Yang release. She became more and more familiar with the Lightning nature of her chakra and had an easier time pinpointing and separating it from her own, when she needed to.

It was an individual sort of training, sure, but Tsunade was glad to be doing it in the company of another. It was nice.

They chatted over lunch, later, with Shou being his refreshingly impolite self and cutting her no slack, which was even better. Their conversation was kept to topics that didn't reveal much, as neither wanted to confess any secrets to the other, minor as they can be, and Shou refrained from mentioning secrets of Tsunade's that he already knew.

When she returned home, later that day, Tsunade was so glad for her decision to include another friend in her training that she wrote to Mito about it, despite knowing that the woman was already fully aware of what her granddaughter got up to. That's just how spymasters were.

She got a reply, though only a short one, which expressed Mito's joy at Tsunade making friends and implored the blonde to be careful.

Not something she needed a reminder of.

Tsunade and Shou sometimes split at noon, rather than the evening, on days when she elected to go bother the Hokage for lunch. Seeing him regularly again was fucking euphoric and, with the privacy seals he erected whenever they ate outside, she could safely tell him about her progress with medical-ninjutsu.

"We've moved on from fish, which sucks." She admitted to him, once, several months into them meeting frequently. "Shishou doesn't kill the other animals before he lets me heal them and they're inso much pain. I practiced mending broken bones on deer, yesterday, and shifting the fragments into place just hurts themmore." She cringed.

"It is to be expected, Tsunade." Her granduncle tried to soothe her, his garnet eyes filled to the brim with kindness.

"I know." She admitted. "I- There's actually something I'm not telling you."

The man's white eyebrows rose. "I'm listening."

"I tried numbing the area before I heal something, shutting down the nerves surrounding the injury." She said quietly. "It- it worked, but it's permanent. I maimed a dear, oji-san, it won't be able to tell if its leg breaks again." Tsunade choked out. "Shishou is caring for him, now, and wants me to keep trying to reverse the technique,but I can't. This- I crippled an animal. It's not a healing technique, it's an offensive one."

"You will have to develop offensive techniques, Tsunade, if you wish to be a combat kunoichi." The man reminded her calmly.

"I know." She admitted. "I understand that. Iwilldo that. Training on innocent animals, though..."

"Is better than messing up a technique in battle."

Tsunade cringed. "I suppose."

"You may have an easier time reversing your technique if you performed the original a few more times to fully analyze its effects."

Tsunade knew that he would take that route. She knew that he would somehow push her to do what had to be done.

She wasn't happy about it, and it wasn't pleasant, but it was exactly why she brought the problem up to him: her granduncle's flawless logic wasalwaysenough to break through any barriers erected by the useless morality that she had carried along from her previous life.

It's not that morality was a bad thing, per se, but the moral code she lived by in another world was just a bad match for this one. Killing, which was abominable in her past life, was a necessity in this one, for example.

"Okay." She said quietly. "Okay, I'll try."

She succeeded.

See, the thing about nerves was that they worked off electric signals. It took a while but, eventually, Tsunade managed to force a minuscule amount of Lightning chakra into her patients when healing them, separate from the Yang chakra, and directed it to interfere with the nerves in the area. When she pulled her chakra out of the patient, sensation was restored.

The deer she had crippled with Yang chakra never recovered, though. Keiichi performed a mercy killing and Tsunade spent the entirety of the next day in her bed, crying.

It took several months for Orochimaru's stamina to stop improving rapidly now that he was eating enough and it continued improving after, too, from the sheer amount of training they were doing. It was incredible, how quickly the chakra circulating through them would automatically heal minor injuries; for Tsunade, Keiichi healed the rest. She hadn't needed his assistance in months, though, as she had improved drastically when it came to dodging.

They weren't equals, in any sense of the word, but she was steadily closing the gap between them, which feltawesome.

What was even more awesome was that, some time after they finally started training in taijutsu at the Academy, Norio had called on Tsunade and Orochimaru to be the first to demonstrate a spar. She wasn't sure if he chose them because he didn't know what they were up to or despite it, but the resulting spar wasglorious. Neither Tsunade or Orochimaru wanted to go all-out in front of their teacher -they were simply too violent for him to approve- so they went a little easy on one another, the level of the spar determined in the brief moment when their eyes met just before its start.

It wasfun.

She knew Orochimaru's style well enough, at this point, and he was familiar enough with hers, that their combat was almost like a dance. A quick routine of dodge, punch, kick, duck, weave and slide, sometimes in order while varying in others.

It was easy, though, and without great effort neither of the kids could land a good hit on another.

When the teacher finally stopped them, Orochimaru and Tsunade simultaneously bowed to one another, even though it was not expected; they didn't need to communicate with words to know that the other was as much a drama queen as they, and enjoyed the dumbfounded looks on the other students' faces even if they didn't show their mirth.

"Thank you." Said the Hyuga. "Next, Jiraiya and Nemuri."

None of the following matches were anything like the first, naturally, as none of their other classmates were sparring partners that knew each other inside and out. A lot of the attention remained on Tsunade and Orochimaru, who stood next to one another throughout the entire class, even as other students were fighting at the front.

"I didn't know you two were friends." Senju Kiyomi, her classmate, caught up to Tsunade as she was leaving.

We aren't, she wanted to say, but that was none of her cousin's business. "We spar." Tsunade replied, instead.

"Isn't heso cool?" Gushed the other girl. "He's so pretty, with the purple marks around his eyes! Do you think his children would have them, too?"

The blonde felt bile rise up her throat. "I think I'm too young to be thinking about children, mine or otherwise."And you are, too, was implied.

Rather than continue that line of conversation, thankfully, Kiyomi asked her: "Where are you going? The Compound is over there."

"I'm going to the Nara Compound." Explained Tsunade.

"Why?"

"I'm playing shogi with a friend."

Kiyomi wrinkled her nose. "If your friend old or something? Who plays shogi anymore?"

"He is old, yes." Tsunade agreed coolly, enjoying the flush rising up the girl's cheeks. "See you tomorrow, Kiyomi-san."

"Ah- goodbye, Tsunade-hime." She said, stumbling over her words.

Over at Keiichi's, at least, Tsunade had peace.

It didn't last very long - she and Orochimaru arrived together the next morning, as they always did, though this time their closeness did not go unnoticed. Despite the fact that they sat literally one row apart, both kids were swarmed by their classmates as soon as they took their seats.

"Ne, ne, Tsunade-san! I didn't know that you and Orochimaru-kun were friends!" Exclaimed one of her classmates, a tall, blonde girl named Haruki.

"Are you dating?" Asked her friend, Miho.

Orochimaru was on the receiving end of questions much of the same nature and Tsunade was displeased to find Jiraiya among her admirers. "I didn't know that Tsunade-hime talked to people!" Exclaimed one of the boys. "What is she like?"

"She's so pretty." Sighed Jiraiya.

Another of the boys agreed.

"I'm not dating him." She answered the question eventually, making sure to be loud enough that the boys heard her, too. "I am betrothed to another, as is appropriate for the daughter of a Clan Head. Orochimaru and I are friends, nothing more."

The boy in question didn't turn to face her, then, still eyeing his own crowd, but Tsunade could tell by the slight shift in his posture that he found something she said interesting.

"Oh!" Perked up one of the girls, completely unaware of the fact that the boys were now staring at the bunch, expressions saturated in disappointment. "Do you know your betrothed? What's he like?"

Another girl squealed. "Who is it?!"

"I don't know if I can say." Lied Tsunade. Her mother had explicitly encouraged the blonde to spread word of her betrothal to the daimyo's son.

"It's definitely a prince. right? It has to be!"

Tsunade barely suppressed a groan.

The interrogation was thankfully cut short by the arrival of their teacher, who had recently dropped Silent Hour in favor of extra weapon training.

Kunai were fun to throw; Orochimaru had traded his knowledge in the art in exchange for Tsunade walking him through chakra control exercises, some time ago. They kept making those little deals, trading wisdom and experience, so often that she was no longer keeping track.

It's incredible how unperceptive a bunch of to-be shinobi could be. Orochimaru and Tsunade left the classroom together, as they always did, though this time their classmates took notice; their gossip was loud enough that the pair heard it very clearly even as they left the building.

"What a mess." Muttered Tsunade. "So, which part surprised you? My betrothal or the fact that I claimed you as a friend?"

Orochimaru hummed as sat down in the spot that had long since become theirs. "You've already informed me as to what it would take for you to consider me a friend." He replied.

"We can be friends when you stop toying with me." The blonde echoed the promise she had made him what felt like ages ago.

There was a sharp glint of satisfaction in the boy's golden eyes. "Indeed."

"The betrothal, then?"

"Yes." He acknowledged just as he began to eat. "I was indeed surprised by the revelation."

"Hope I didn't ruin your plans of wifing me up in a few years." She joked between bites of her lunch.

Orochimaru snorted. "Don't be ridiculous." He dismissed her, clearly as disillusioned with the concept of marriage as she. "I do, however, wonder how running a household will affect your ambitions."

"I have two things to say to that." Began Tsunade. "First, you have no idea what my ambitions are. For all you know, I could be dreaming of being a model wife."

Orochimaru scrunched up his nose in obvious disgust but said nothing, inciting a laugh from the blonde. "Okay, yes, that doesn't suit me at all. The second thing I have to say is that, seeing as we are not friends, you cannot reasonably expect me to divulge my thoughts on such a vulnerable topic to you."

"That is true." He conceded. "A shame we are not friends, then."

Tsunade chose that moment to hand over the extra food in her bento, offering the boy a wide grin when their eyes met. "Feel free to yield to my terms whenever."

He rolled his eyes but did not otherwise grace her with a response.

Tsunade pressed her shoulder against his and looked ahead, rather than at him, finding herself deep in thought. This was nice, whatever it is that they had - comradeship, maybe, as she dared not think of it as more. She only trusted him with the secrets they shared the burden of but that was enough, because he was privy to just enough of her life that she felt close to him, even if he was ignorant to the rest.

She was content.

Notes:

Important note - the girls in Tsunade's class are what they were taught to be. They're not actually vain or stupid - they were just taught to behave that way, same as they were taught to have crushes on boys at fucking four.

They will grow up differently, perhaps, but right now they are what they were raised as.

Same goes for the boys and, say, for (future) kid Jiraiya being a pervert. It's what he was taught; it's not how he is.

This is, once again, me being pissed at the eastern society that I was raised in, lol :D

I love Tsunade's and Orochimaru's current dynamic. I like all their dynamics, actually, and how they change so often because neither of them are static people. I hope you've been enjoying it as much as me!

See you soon 3

Chapter 19: Missteps

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade begins practicing medical ninjutsu on her own body.

Her brother, Nawaki, is born a week after her fifth birthday and she dotes on him immediately. In her next spar with Orochimaru she suggests reducing their training time so that she may spend more time with her brother and he completely flips on her, calls her weak and cuts off ties.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

CONTENT WARNING: self-harm (to learn medical-ninjutsu ONLY)
If this triggers you, please settle for the summary. I warn you, though: Tsunade is going to do a lot of learning by hurting herself then healing the injury. If it's something that bothers you, this fic might not be for you - at least in the near future, when the theme is prominent. I'm sorry.

I'm not tagging self-harm cause I think it implies a different sort of story - if you think that I should, please let me know in the comments so I can remedy my mistake. Thank you :)

ABOUT MY UPDATE SCHEDULE: i have a few more chapters written but they aren't edited and I don't want to upload them as is. I'm coming back from my vacation next week, so I'll have the time to edit and update then. The next upload will be October 8th, a week from today, and I'll go back to three-day-updates, after :):)

Anyway, as always, thank you very, very much for all your support. You make editing and uploading chapter even when on vacation worth it 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"Here?" Tsunade asked Keiichi when he informed her that their training session will take place in his small garden rather than in the forest. It was mid-July, weeks before the worst of the summer had set in, and she had quite liked washing her face in the river water when the heat became too much to bear.

"Yes." He said, taking a seat on the wooden bench placed there. "Sit down."

Tsunade obeyed.

As quickly as he always did, her master produced a knife. This time, however, he cut a thin line across his palm.

Tsunade's eyes widened in horror as she glanced from the blood covering his skin to his dark eyes. "No." She pleaded.

"Yes." Argued the man, pushing the hand towards her. "I've nothing more to teach you, kid. You just need practice."

"But- what if I mess up?" She voiced her very reasonable concern.

"You've been studying both your system and mine with the Diagnostic Jutsu forweeks, at this point." He reminded her. "You won't 'mess up'."

"I can't." She choked out.

The man sighed, shook his head and mended his own cut. "Here." He said, offering her the kunai. "Train on yourself, then."

Tsunade took the weapon without hesitation.

Her master groaned. "See, that's why I wanted to have you practice on me." He muttered. "I had a feeling you would have no qualms about injuring yourself for the sake of acquiring the skill."

"You had no qualms about doing it, either!" She protested.

"Yes but I am an adult, and your teacher." He pointed out. "For all your maturity, kid, you're still too young for some things, the way I see it. But I digress- if this is what it takes to get you to practice, so be it. At least I get to keep an eye on you."

Tsunade swallowed. "Thank you." She whispered.

She turned her gaze to her hand, then, and considered what she was to do next. Her first few attempts at healing would likely scar - it was inevitable, as precision is a skill that comes with practice, not talent. Did she care, though, when she could just... transform her skin back to normal, with her Henge? Eventually?

Probably not.

She took a deep breath, released it, then cut her palm the same way her master had. Tsunade touched her palms together, ignoring both the pain and the gathered blood, and gathered Yang chakra, there. Once it was properly purified, which only took her about a dozen seconds, these days, she pushed the chakra to mend and heal, forgoing numbing the area with Lightning chakra.

She'd rather endure the pain than accidentally cripple herself, like she did that deer.

Her eyes were closed with concentration and she went about it much slower than she normally would, taking care to do everything just right. By the time there was nothing left to heal, she was sweating buckets, both out of fear and the exertion of going so fucking slow.

She dared not open her eyes, instead offering the previously cut palm to her teacher, who took her hand with no complaints. He infused the flesh with his own chakra, casting a diagnostic, before releasing her hand.

Only then did Tsunade dare open her eyes and still she wouldn't look at her hand - only at her teacher.

Keiichi was grinning smugly, like she'd never seen him grin before. There was laughter in his eyes and a hint of warmth on his cheeks and his crow's feet were deeper than she thought possible. "Congratulations," He said mirthfully. "You have successfully completed your first healing."

Tsunade raised her shaking hand and cautiously looked at the still bloodied skin. She could see a pink line where the cut had been but it washealed- completely healed, flesh and skin and all. She checked it out again with a diagnostic of her own and had found no hint of anything she ought to worry about.

She would have fallen to her knees, had she been standing - that's how strong the relief that washed over her was. "I did it." She whispered, staring at the healed skin. "I fucking did it."

"Language." Chastised her master, though he seemed amused rather than bothered by her choice of words.

"I- I actually did it, shishou. I can perform medical ninjutsu."

"Of course you can." He agreed. "Now you only need experience."

"I-how?"

"You have two options." He replied. "First, I acknowledge you as my student and you head to the hospital. With my word as a vouch, they'll allow you to practice there - even if you're not a genin, yet."

"I'll never be allowed to become a combat-nin, though." She whispered.

Keiichi nodded his affirmation. "So you either wait until you've established yourself as a capable combat-nin, or you go for option two."

"Option two?" She echoed.

"You will inevitably have teammates injured in combat. Sometimes lethally." He said, making Tsunade pale. She knew that, of course, but having not thought of it for a few months while she focused on medical-ninjutsu made te realization hithard. "You can either watch them die, then, or let them suffer, or you can trust in your skills and heal them. Do note, though, that if you choose not to practice on the latter... you may lack experience when the former comes to pass."

She considered that for a long moment, then nodded. "I'll... I'll think about it."

"Good." Said the man, then patted her head affectionately. "Well done, kid."

Tsunade spent the weeks leading to her birthday healing minor injuries inflicted by Orochimaru during their sparring sessions and sometimes healing ones she had inflicted herself. Nothing serious, or deep - just cuts, for now.

There was a celebration thrown for her birthday but it was a minor one - her mother was too far along for anything fancy. It was nice to have dinner with her granduncle and grandma, though, despite Mito leaving not an hour after she arrived.

Tsunade expressed, in another letter, how happy she was to have seen the woman, and thanked her for coming. There was so much more she wanted to say - words of encouragement, affirmation, love. But it wasn't what Mito needed, at the time.

It was a week after her birthday that something interesting occurred.

"Oji-san?" She asked curiously when she found the Hokage waiting for her at the entrance to the Academy once the schoolday ended. He didn't look anxious, or even stoic: the man looked calm and content in a way Tsunade hadn't seen since his brother's death.

"Tsunade." He greeted her, picking her up. She wondered how old she'd have to be for him to stop doing that. Until then - she wasn't complaining. "Come, I have something to show you."

"I was supposed to-"meet with shishou, she didn't say.

"I have informed him of your absence." Acknowledged the Hokage, transferring the girl to his back, nodding at her academy sensei who was watching them from a distance.

He took her through the roofs.

It didn't take Tsunade long to realize that they were headed to the hospital. She panicked, for a brief moment, but calmed down when she recalled the expression on her granduncle's face when he greeted her. "Mom is in labor?" Tsunade guessed.

"Your sibling is already born." Said the Hokage as he lowered Tsunade to the ground near the enterance.

"Already?" She asked, her heart beating in her ears.

Holy shit. She was so busy with the whole medical-ninjutsu schtick that she forgot she was going to have a baby brother.Holy shit. "Is he healthy?" She asked immediately. "Is Mom okay?"

The Hokage raised a brow as he led Tsunade through the hospital. "Curious that you guessed it was a boy." He noted. He donned the same expression that starred when they discussed medical-ninjutsu and her progress with it: a mix of pride and worry.

Tsunade, who'd messed up by voicing her foreknowledge, did not correct his mistake. Instead, she waited for him to address her earlier question.

"They are both well." He assured her. "Over here."

They entered the room from which Tsunade could sense three familiar presences: Her mother, her father and the presence that, until recently, residedinher mother.

"Hi." She said quietly as she entered, suddenly tense. Did her parents even want her there? They had no relationship to speak of, at this point, even if Tsunade and her mother remained cautiously polite with one another. The blonde hadn't actually seen her father in weeks.

"Tsunade." He mother greeted her warmly, as she hadn't done since her daughter was fuckingthree. "Come, meet your new brother. Hokage-sama, thank you for bringing her."

"Of course." The man bowed and turned to leave.

Her mother would have none of it: "You are welcome to stay." She informed him, though her words were more of a demand than an invitation.

Tsunade remembered, in that moment, why she adored her mother so much as a toddler.

With a firm nod, Tobirama shut the door and stood right before it, clearly taking the duty of the guard.

The Hokage. Volunteering for guard duty. It was fucking ridiculous.

Tsunade approached the bed and took her first look at the baby bundled up in her mother's arms. He was the cutest, smallest little potato of a human being and Tsunade loved himinstantly. "Can I hold him?" She asked before she even registered the desire, the words breaking through her lips on their own.

"Yes." Said her mother, smiling as kindly as before. She looked exhausted, wrung out, but somehow she was more radiant and beautiful than Tsunade had ever seen her. "Like this." She said, arranging Tsunade's arms so that she supported the boy's head.

"What's his name?" She asked quietly in a bid not to wake the baby.

"Nawaki." Her father replied proudly.

"Nawaki." She echoed reverently.

The adults in the room maintained a quiet conversation while Tsunade watched the child dozing in her arms. He had tan skin and a full head of hair, already, both matching her-theirfather's coloration, where Tsunade herself looked a lot like their mother.

There was a brief moment between Nawaki opening his wide, chocolate-brown eyes and when he started screaming, at which point Tsunade promptly handed him over to her mother. That moment where their gazes met was enough, though, to make Tsunade realize that she would burn the world to protect this child - be it Danzo, her Clan or her entire village. He washersto protect,hersto nourish,hersto guide and to support. He washerlittle brother and he was going to live a long, full life. He'll be Hokage if he wished it.

He washers, and Tsunade took care of her own.

She never thought she would feel empathy towards Itachi Uchiha but, in that moment, she might have done exactly the same as he if it meant ensuring that her brother was safe.

Fuck.

"Morning!" Tsunade cheered when she greeted Orochimaru at the Compound's gates the next day. She didn't even think twice before wrapping her arms around the boy and giving him a tight squeeze.

He wasted no time in pushing her off him though, judging by his expression and the lack of scathing insult, he didn't mind too much. "You're awfully happy today." he complained as they began their walk towards the training grounds.

"My mother gave birth yesterday." Tsunade shared the news with a wide grin, now walking with a bounce to her step. "A boy - Nawaki. I have a brother, Orochimaru-kun!"

"Congratulations." He offered with no inflection to his voice. "I must admit, however, that I find it odd for you to celebrate having a brother born."

That piqued Tsunade's interest. "Oh?"

"Does he not dethrone you as Clan Heir?" He inquired.

"He does." Confirmed Tsunade just as they arrived at the spot where they so often trained, dropping her backpack and beginning to stretch. "I don't much care, however - in fact, I am glad that the duty did not fall on me. I will, of course, assist my brother should he need me - seriously, you'll understand when you see him, Nawaki isso cute- but I never wanted to be Clan Head."

"Why not?" Pushed Orochimaru.

Tsunade shrugged. "It doesn't align with my ambitions." She replied bluntly.

"Which are...?"

"Good try."

Orochimaru actuallylaughed, this time, even though they've had similar exchanges multiple times, before.

"Anyway, I was thinking." Tsunade began. "I want to help my mom out with Nawaki, especially in the mornings - could we maybe reduce our morning sparring to two, maybe three days a week? We could do more-"

"What?" Orochimaru cut her off, jaw slack, eyes wide.

"I'd like us to train less frequently in the morning." Tsunade repeated, not catching on as to what, among what she said, shocked her partner to the point that he actually betrayed it in his expression.

"That's it?" He demanded coolly, his lips forming into a vicious sneer. "That's all it takes to make you discard the ambition youconstantlytalk about?"

Tsunade frowned. "I'm not discarding anything-"

"Youare." He spat, the words saturated in venom. "You putting something insignificant that will only hold you back in the way of your progress. I respected you, you know." He said, his anger shaping his words into sharp daggers. "I though you had some sense in you. I thought youunderstood. But in the end, you're just like everyone else - you'reweak."

Tsunade gaped at him, at a loss for words. Where the fuck did that come from?

"I should've known." He finished, quietly.

"Orochimaru-"

"Enough." He said, rising to his feet and collecting his things. "Do not attempt to speak to me again."

With that said, the boy, who wasalmosther friend, before this, turned away and left Tsunade alone in the forest.

Notes:

Importnat note:
... I love Keiichi. ;-;

Another important note:
NAWAKI IS HERE!

Another important note: OOOOOOOOOOOH Tsunade fucked up. She fucked up big time. Earning back the respect she had lost, which Orochimaru had only tentatively given, is going to be HARD.

(She's going to earn it back, of course; trust me, you'll love how she does that. It'll be worth the wait)

(if it's unclear why he's so pissed you can either ask me in the comments or wait until it's brought up again i like a chapter or two, I don't remember)

I loved this chapter and I hope you did, too!

Chapter 20: Failure Preempts Success

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade has a bit of a shit time being on Orochimaru's "People-I-Hate" list but manages, somehow, and uses his excessive violence to train her medical-ninjutsu.

Shou calls Tsunade out on her awful mood when they meet to meditate. Their conversation is stunted, still, as neither wants to be open with the metaphorical enemy, but they learn some things about one another nonetheless.

With nothing more that Keiichi can teach her, Tsunade thanks him for his tutelage and the pair agree to still meet weekly so that he can teach her how to play shogi.

Tsunade goes to the training ground where she used to meet Orochimaru alone, this time, and starts training her Transformation Technique.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

YOU GUYS THERE'S A FIC INSPIRED BY THIS ONE!
You should see it linked at the bottom of this work but in case you don't, it's called Beneath the Hashirama Tree by Kaykoo. It follows a conversation between Orochimaru and Nawaki, 11 years later, about what happened between Tsunade and Orochimaru in chapter 19.

It's phenomenal. I loved it.

Like, I had other things to do today, but I HAD to upload a chapter as soon as I read it. I don't think I've ever been this motivated in my life. Oh boy.

With that rant over (lol, you wish, I'm not gonna shut up about this EVER) I'd like to thank everyone else who supports this fic - from kudos to comments, you guys provide me with the writing juice to get more chapters out :D

I'M BACK TO A 3 DAY SCHEDULE BTW, NEXT CHAPTER IS IN 3 DAYS

PLEASE NOTE THE ADDED TAGS
CONTENT WARNING: Self-inflicted injury, graphic descriptions of violence
*

That's it for now :D See you in the end notes!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Tsunade didn't realize how much of her time was spent with Orochimaru until he was no longer in the picture.

It wasn't even just the time they spent sparring or eating: it was the amused glances they shared during class, sometimes, or the tricks they played on one another when playing the games filling the second half of the schoolday.

No one could sneak up on Orochimaru, except Tsunade.

No one could sneak up on Tsunade, except Orochimaru.

Now that he didn't bother, the games just weren't fun anymore.

Their teacher still paired them up for sparring, even when their rift became obvious, because they were just that well matched. Orochimaru no longer went easy on her, though: he came at her hard and fast and vicious and aiming to hurt.

They no longer traded banter mid-fight; he only provided her with hateful glares and painful, dirty hits.

At least she could practice her healing, she supposed.

Tsunade spent her mornings helping her mother care for Nawaki, these days, as she no longer had prior obligations, which seemed to please the woman endlessly. Tsunade only figured out why when the woman noted that, upon her marriage to the daimyo's son in ten years, the blonde may care for children of her own.

Tsunade hated everything.

Her solace came mostly in the form of Keiichi, who still allowed her to occupy space in his garden when she trained though that, too, was coming to an end.

"Will you deliver this to Fuyumi-sensei, please?" She asked quietly, handing him the letter she had penned for the woman.

"Fine." The man agreed grumpily, accepting the parcel and hiding it in his robe with a sharp movement that Tsunade couldn't follow.

"Thank you." She whispered a sigh of relief, then bowed deeply. "Thank you for your tutelage, Keiichi-shishou. You were the best teacher I could have hoped for."

The Nara groaned. "Get up, kid, you're just making things awkward." He muttered. "So, this is you saying goodbye, then?"

"I would like to come here when I have questions, still, if you would allow it." She admitted shyly. "But the next step of my training is one I must train on my own."

"Your kekkei-genkai." He caught on immediately.

Tsunade nodded.

Keiichi sighed. "Be careful, kid, and seek me out if you mess up. Come by to play shogi, sometime."

Tsunade's face lit up at that - she still needed to have rest days, after all. "Are Tuesdays good for you?"

"Sure."

She grinned. "Can I hug you?"

"Fine." Agreed Keiichi, despite his pained expression.

Tsunade threw herself at him as if she was seeing him for the last time, as if this reallywasgoodbye. The Narahugged her back, this time, though his touch was gentle and fleeting, unlike her tight squeezing. "Thanks." She muttered again.

Placing a hand on her head, as he always did when he was pleased with her, Keiichi answered: "You're very welcome, kid."

"I can't concentrate with your gloom spilling everywhere." Complained Shou a few days later, as they were trying to meditate.

She then heard him flop down onto the soft grass upon which they sat.

Tsunade, who didn't have an easy time meditating, either, opened her eyes to find him lying down with his gaze locked onto her.

"Sorry." She muttered, then laid down next to him. It's not like she was making any progress, anyway.

"Are you gonna tell me what's up? Or will I have to go by the gossip?"

"Gossip?" She perked up, suddenly curious.

Shou snorted. "Don't me coy, Tsunade-hime. I doubt that your classmates have been very subtle if evenminecaught wind of your little lovers' spat."

"I wish it was that simple." She murmured.

"So, what happened?"

"I betrayed his trust." She admitted. "I didn't mean to. I didn't think he trusted me, to begin with, and I didn't realize that my actions would go against his values. I wouldn't have done what I did, if I knew."

"Very cryptic."

"Sorry."

The Uchiha sighed and shook his head. "Go on."

"I never got a chance to explain - he just stormed off... but I'm not sure that I want to, anymore, because he's been outright cruel to me since it happened."

"He's lashing out." Shou said, because heunderstood. She could tell, by the sudden tension in his shoulders and the glint of pain in his dark eyes that he, too, took part in such an exchange - likely on the inflicting end, rather than the receiving one.

"Yeah." Tsunade breathed out softly.

A short silence followed, which was broken by her companion. "So, did you reject him, or...?"

"Shou-kun!" Tsunade protested, groaning. Then, seeing as he would not let the matter go, she elaborated: "No. I just tried to shift around our sparring schedule so that I could some mornings with my baby brother."

His brow furrowed. "That's it?"

The blonde nodded grimly.

Shou rolled his eyes. "What a dumbass." He muttered. "He clearly doesn't know what family is worth."

"I don't think he has any family." Tsunade admitted quietly, in response.

"Figures."

"Do you?" She asked cautiously, averting her gaze to refrain from reading something too private from his expression. He was pushing her for answers moments ago, though, and she felt entitled to do the same.

"My uncle." Shou replied earnestly. "I had a brother."

Tsunade cringed. "I'm sorry." she murmured.

"S'okay."

They didn't get much meditating done, after that.

It took her a full week after parting from Keiichi to finally get her shit together and set up shop at the training ground. It was weird to be there alone, rather than with Orochimaru, but she ignored the heavy weight burdening her chest in favor of focusing of what actually mattered.

She laid a clean cloth on the grass before her and sat down, making sure that her workspace was clean. She added her equipment to the mix: a very,verysharp kunai that she had no business being in the possession of -a gift from Fuyumi, delivered through Keiichi, to congratulate her 'mastery' of medical ninjustu- a small jar with antiseptic, which she begged off her master, and a container with clean, warm water.

Tsunade took a deep breath and picked up the weapon.

She'd reattached wholelimbsbefore, under Keiichi's supervisions - a deer's leg, a hare's ear. Sheknewshe was capable of reattaching, say, a finger, if the situation called for it, and that if all else failed Keiichi would do it for her.

It didn't make cutting off her own finger any easier.

Tsunade held the knife for a long time, waiting for her hands to stop shaking, she needed to be focused and calm for this to work. To hasten the process, she meditated as best she could and, in that state, scanned her surroundings for company.

If she was being watched, her watchers were more subtle than Tsunade was capable of detecting. She took solace in the fact that, if she reallywasbeing spied on, her watchers were at least Senju -her mother's people, not the enemy's.

With her hands still, at last, Tsunade fisted all fingers but her pinky, took a deep breath and sliced the knife at the joint, as deep as she dared.

A broken cry made its way past her lips as the pain assaulted her and she immediately dropped the knife, which proceeded to paint the cloth she had laid out red. Tsunade chanced a glance at the injury she had inflicted and sobbed when she realized that she failed to cut her finger off fully, as it still hung off her hand, though the bone had been broken.

She felt bile rise up her throat and looked away.

It was a culmination of every time Orochimaru had wounded her, in this forest, and every time she kept fighting despite it, to fight through the fog threatening to cloud her mind. Tsunade sharpened her senses as much as she could, gathered Yang chakra in her hands and began to heal the injury.

She almost didn't want to admit that it waseasy. Tsunade knew her own body better than anyone else's - it was no wonder, considering how long she spent meditating - and knewexactlywhat her body was supposed to feel like when uninjured. Focusing on her injury, she located muscles, tendons, skin and bone and stitched them together in an appropriate pattern, slowly but surely restoring herself to health.

As soon as she was focused on her craft, the pain faded from her mind.

It took some time, as Tsunade took great care mending the injury, but by the time she finished not even the pink line indicating a healing scar remained.

"Whoa." She whispered, wiggling her pinky finger to make sure it was fully functional.

Other than the memory of the pain she had just endured, Tsunade was as good as new.

She almost sagged in relief but managed to hold herself together: there was work to be done, still. Her attempt had been a crushing failure - she didn't even succeed in cutting her finger off!- and she needed to learn from it. Her first thought was that the pain had been the barrier she failed to cross and she needed to numb the area before she severed the finger -what's the risk, really, if she was attempting to grow a new one? The damage done to the nervous system if she failed to use the correct technique would be reversible.

Her mind wandered to her first spar with Orochimaru, then, which took place at the exact spot she was occupying. She recalled how he had explained that she was a slave to her pain and what she learned from it - the life of a kunoichi would be filled to the brim with physical pain. She could run from it, this time, perhaps, but not always: Tsunade needed to be able to endure pain and this was as good a time to practice as any.

She cleaned the knife in the water she had brought along then raised it to her hand again.

This time, her hands weren't shaking.

The finger fell onto the cloth and Tsunade had to close her eyes for a moment to push back the bile rising up her throat. The pulsing pain in her hand served as a good distraction.

She took another deep breath and pictured her body whole again, without a stump where her finger used to be and with the blood she had recently lost still within her. She focused on her hand, specifically, and what it ought to have felt like when healthy.

A wave of pain shot through her when she clapped her palms together but Tsunade did not let it distract her. "True Transformation Technique." She whispered, then commanded her chakra to perform its task.

Tsunade constructed the bone, first, then the tendons; she replicated the nervous system, a perfect imitation of what once was, her muscles and her skin.

It hurt like shit, of course, but at least it wasn't accompanied by the nausea brought on by the knowledge that herhalf severed finger was dangling by the skin.

With the task complete, at last, Tsunade released a breath she didn't realize she was holding, then inspected her hand.

Nothing. Nothing that wasn't normal.

A glance at the cloth reveled that her finger, the one she severed, was still there -still bleeding- which reminded Tsunade that the exercise was not yet over.

She sighed, clapped her hands and transformed again. There was no point in transforming into an injured state; instead, Tsunade transformed to have a stump where her pinky finger would have been.

She then picked up the detached digit, pressed it against the already healed skin there and, using Yang chakra, reattached it.

Wiggling it a little yielded no surprises.

"Holy shit." She whispered as she inspected her finger, which was as good as new. "Holy shit. I can actually do this."

There was a long way to go, between constructing a previously missing finger and being able to transform into a fully healthy state in the event that she accidentally injured herself while transforming.

It was good to know that she was capable of reattaching fingers with medical chakra, though.

Notes:

Can I say how excited I am about Kaykoo's fic again? No? Idc. I'm excited LOL

Now, about this chapter:
Dw, you'll be seeing more of Keiichi.
Dw, you'll be seeing more of Orochimaru, too :P
Dw, I'm not going to describe EVERY step of Tsunade's training. You got the gist of how she does it, now, and I'm gonna keep her training off screen until she tries something new and interesting (which will be soon, lol)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm gonna go re-read Kaykoo's fic, again, LOL. I'm in love.

Chapter 21: Consequences

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade starts sparring with Shou and, when he calls her out on not having bruises, she admits her healing skill to him and heals his injuries, too. He agrees to keep her secret.

Tsunade isn't doing very well, mentally, but she's not aware of it until she fucks up colossally during training with no way to correct her mistake before it is time for her to return home. She turns to Fuyumi for help, who of course assists her, but she makes Tsunade stay long enough to help her work through her emotions.

Tsunade figures out that what has been weighing her down recently was grief - the grief she felt for the Orochimaru that was lost, who will now make way for the Orochimaru that she feared.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

EDIT: For whatever reason, Ao3 marked that this chapter was uploaded Oct 8th and not Oct 11th. If you're gotten a notification of an update I'm sorry - I just changed the upload date :)

You'll notice that this chapter is written a little differently. Give it a shot - it's like that for a reason :D
I'll admit that it's unedited; I'm in the process of finishing the final draft of my novel, these days, and I write with a completely different style, there. If I were to edit this chapter it'd just sound off :P my apologies for the quality

Another thing I'd like to bring up is that, for the first time, I had deleted some comments on this fic. I'm not sure why but some people saw fit to leave long messages about how the direction in which I take this fic is stupid and I'm stupid for it. I had my interpretation of the magic system criticized, and Tsunade's Transformation Technique, as well as other things that I can't really change without fundamentally changing this fic.

It's okay if you don't enjoy this fic. I won't force you to. But leaving very long messages about why I'm stupid for writing the story that I do isn't constructive and just demotivates me from writing. You're welcome to write your own work inspired by mine, if you'd like.

Please remember that fanfiction writers are often people who have jobs and commitments and don't make money off it.

I write for YOU: your support on this fic has been incredible and I'm really, really glad that people have been enjoying it. It's why I'll not abandon this fic at any cost: I'll do this for you.
So thanks. to anyone who comments or leaves kudos or bookmarks my work. To everyone who read it. I love you. :)

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Tsunade wasn't really sure how things it happened but, in the end, she found herself sparring with Shou after school. He was nowhere near Orochimaru's level but, to be fair, neither was she; there was a lot she had to learn from the Uchiha, still.

The blonde also took pleasure in the nasty glare the golden-eyed boy shot her when he realized that he had been replaced.

Tsunade knew, of course, that antagonizing Orochimaru was perhaps the stupidest thing she could do; he was going to be one of the main obstacles she'd be dealing with, when she grows up, falling behind only Danzo and that Rabbit Goddess bullshit.

It's not like their rift wasn't inevitable; they were just too different, when it came to their morals and ambitions, tonotfind themselves on the opposite sides of a battlefield eventually.

There was pain attached to that thought, though, as well as a deep, longing ache for the friendship that could have been.

"You're pretty good about keeping bruises to where they can be concealed." Shou muttered, rubbing at his clothed side. "ButIhaven't. Explain."

The blonde knew what he was referring to, of course - the Uchiha had delivered plenty of hits to her face, these past weeks; Tsunade never bothered making the same request of him as she did Orochimaru.

In fact, she specifically refrained so that she could get accustomed to enduring pain emanating fromallparts of her body, including the ones her clothes did not conceal.

Tsunade took a deep breath, closed her eyes and spread her consciousness outward, searching for prying eyes and ears. She wasn't very confident in her skills and they weren't in a space she considered safe, this time, but she was willing to take the risk regardless.

She shouldn't be of interest to anyone, yet, and if she did royally fuck up, her granduncle had enough power to protect her, still. She didn'twantto abuse his protection, per se, but what good were advantages if you didn't use them?

"You already know the answer to that." The blonde replied cryptically, catching the Uchiha's gaze.

"Don't give me some 'improved Senju healing' bullshit, Tsunade-hime-" He hissed.

"No, Shou-kun." She cut him off, speaking softly. "You know the answer."

He stared at her as if she was speaking gibberish for a few moments, his skeptic gaze clearly questioning her sanity, before his dark eyes widened almost comically and his lips parted to exile a sharp breath. "No." He whispered.

"Yes." Tsunade nodded, her smile subdued as to not reveal how pleased she was with herself. "I could do you, too, if you'd like."

Shou was still in the process of working through the revealed information. "You'refour. There's no way-"

"I'm five." Tsunade corrected him calmly.

"There's no way-"

"I had a good teacher." She offered quietly, shrugging. "I'm not confident healing anything major on other people, though said teacher insists that I can, but bruises are easy."

"...On other people." He echoed her slip-up, at which point Tsunade hurriedly redirected the conversation back to the topic of healing.

"So, would you like my help, or...?"

"You won't kill me?" He asked, only half joking.

"Not on purpose." Tsunade shot back with a grin. When she realized how grim her words were, though, she coughed and corrected herself: "No, I won't. I have enough control to guarantee it."

The Uchiha contemplated her very odd offer for a few long moments, his deep, dark eyes boring into her own as if he tried to root out her lies.

Eventually, though, he nodded his affirmation.

"Awesome. Let's go inside, though." She said, leading the way. "Just in case."

Shou followed without protest.

After finding a relatively sheltered spot near an empty classroom and scanning their surroundings one last time, Tsunade made a show of healing herself first. If Shou realized that her chakra wasn't the right color, he didn't mention it.

When it was his turn, Tsunade raised her white-glowing hands to the boy and, as well as a questioning brow.

"Fine." He answered her silent question, moving closer to allow her free reign.

The blonde was deliberately slow in placing her hands on him and, after, in pouring her chakra into his system. He didn't appear sensitive to the change, thankfully, so she took her time mapping his system and finding any issues.

Tsunade knew where she had hit him but she was nosy, as appropriate for a child her age and an aspiring kunoichi.

There were no wounds on his body other than the ones she, herself, had inflicted.

Good.Good.

"You can heal an area without touching it?" He asked.

"Your body is one system." Tsunade replied quietly, focused on her work. "As long as I touch you, I can get my chakra wherever it is needed. It's easier with direct contact, though."

No further questions were asked in the time it took Tsunade to finish her work but, when she finally released him, Shou muttered: "I can't believe you actually did it."

"Neither can I." She admitted. "You'll keep quiet, yeah?"

This wasn't some minor secret that she was entrusting him with; this was important. It was likely that he would not be believed, should he tattle, but his uncle at least might take his words at face value.

It was one person too many, the way Tsunade saw it.

"I will." Shou promised, stretching his arm in a way that would have previously cause him pain. "They... they'll just chuck you in the hospital, won't they? If you're already this good at your age?"

"Yeah." Tsunade admitted.

"And that wouldn't be good for you?"

"It would be the worst." She admitted. "It might literally kill me. Ineedto be a combat nin."

He snorted. "So dramatic."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Says the Uchiha." She remarked. "It's as if you don't know our clans' histories: we'reconsistentlybeen drama queens. Both your people and mine."

The boy laughed at her joke, despite tensing at her first remark. "That's fair."

No one pulled her aside for weird conversations, after, and Shou didn't act any different when they next met. If he had betrayed her trust he was very, very good about hiding it.

Change did follow her confession, however: the Uchiha became more ruthless and reckless when they trained, which worked just fine for Tsunade: it was better preparation for real life, the way she saw it, and she got to practice healing on another person when not under time-pressure on a battlefield.

Not a bad development, at all.

Tsunade ended up using the numbing effect of lightning chakra, in the end.

For every new body part she maimed, she inflicted the injury with no buffer but proceeded to numb the area immediately after; it was a reasonable thing to do in combat, too, seeing as pain wasfucking distracting.

She didn't cut off anything larger than a hand because she justcouldn't, either for lack of strength or due to a mental block, but she did learn what getting stabbed in the gut felt like (the first time she did it, Tsunade occupied a spot in Keiichi's garden; after she proved capable of healing such injuries, she proceeded to practice her Transformation Technique alone).

The degree of comfort she had with inflicting pain on herself, at the time, was fucking insane.

There were very few things that kept Tsunade from going off the deep end: Nawaki, Shou, her weekly lunches with her granduncle, the rare responses to her letters from Mito. It would beso easyto rush the process of experimenting, to take unnecessary risks that were only mitigated by the fact she would probably be able to restore herself thanks to a fucking broken technique she stumbled upononaccident-

Tsunade needed a distraction. Desperately. The thing is, she couldn't afford one: there was a bit over a year left until her graduation and she needed to be able to transform into a whole different person, by then.

It was Shou who reminded her that there were other techniques that she would be tested on during her graduation.

So, how did one go about creating a clone?

Tsunade wished she could ask Fuyumi.

The blonde lasted a week before she fucked up.

Tsunade didn't realize that she had trained herself to the point of exhaustion; she'd not kept track of her sleep, that week, and missed several meals too many. By the time her fatigue caught up to her and she realized that her reserves were lower than ever before, Tsunade didn't dare waste her little remaining chakra to regrow her missing hand.

Remarkably, though, she didn't panic. She didn't hyperventilate or even contemplate the idea that she might need to return home missing a fucking hand and explain this mess to her parents. She was too tired for that.

She couldn't go to Keiichi's: it was almost sundown, already, and her mother would not tolerate Tsunade returning late. Instead, the blonde headed directly to her Fuyumi's.

Turning her hair black was much less taxing an endeavor than regrowing a hand so Tsunade allowed herself the luxury, hoping to look more inconspicuous that way. She utilized every last trick her master her master had armed her with to blend with the shadows. Thanks to the lack of shinobi in the streets at that hour Tsunade felt like she was doing rather well.

Fuyumi's home was strategically located in a rather empty and barren area, which Tsunade didn't understand the purpose of, at first, but she was glad for it now: excluding some sort of chameleon jutsu, she was confident that no one had followed her here.

She knocked on the door twice with her good hand, already knowing that Fuyumi was aware of her presence, if she was there. "Sorry to bother you." She began calmly. "I need help."

The door opened immediately and Tsunade wasted no time in stepping into the house so that the door could be shut behind her. Fuyumi looked the same as always - short but regal in her posture, her eyes deep and dark and filled with wisdom. Her white hair was pulled into a bun and there was a blade in her hand, which she hung up on the wall as soon as the door was closed.

"Your hand." Fuyumi wasted no time grabbing Tsunade by her forearm and raising it so that she could see the stub, there.

"It's not a problem." Tsunade assured her immediately, pulling back. It was hard not to hug the woman, in that moment -she missed her dearly, these past months- but Fuyumi was clearly affected by the missing limb even if Tsunade herself wasn't. "I can regrow it - I've done it multiple times before. It's just that I'm out of fuel - you'd have a chakra pill to give me, right?"

"We don't normally give them to children." The woman muttered, even as she turned to open a drawer, pulling out a small jaw with earth-colored pills.

"I know, but my reserves are big enough to handle it, I think."

"Considering you had trained yourself to exhaustion for what, I suspect, is not the first time? I'm inclined to believe it."

Tsunade cringed at her sharp tone. "Sorry." She muttered, then took the pill and swallowed it.

The rush of chakra was almost immediate: Tsunade clapped her hand to her arm, regrowing the missing limb while simultaneously trying to ignore Fuyumi's pointed gaze as she worked. With that done, she turned her hair blonde again.

"Thanks." She muttered.

"The crash won't be pleasant." The woman warned her. returning the jar to the drawer from which it came. "When you get home, eat plenty of food then head to bed. Don't eventhinkabout using chakra tomorrow."

Tsunade sighed, bowed and turned to leave. "Yes, sensei."

"Sit down." The woman commanded her, but didn't wait for Tsunade to obey - instead, she pulled her wayward student into the chair forcefully. "Explain to me how you got to the point where you allow yourself to get so close to chakra exhaustion."

"I made a mistake." Admitted Tsunade.

Fuyumi sighed and shook her head."You, Tsunade-hime, are among the most careful people I ever met, andI am a kunoichi. You're scared to death of maiming yourself in training. You may be a better liar, now, butI know you."

Tsunade swallowed. "I've not been taking good care of myself." She admitted. "I didn't realize. I'm aware of it, now, and won't repeat that mistake."

"Did you think that was going to work with me?" Accused the woman. "Talk, Tsunade-hime."

So she did.

She admitted to how hard the absence of Orochimaru, of all people, affected her. She admitted that, even if she did keep things from him, she was the most open with him out of everyone else in her life. She admitted that she was too anxious to be bored of her routine but too bored to be anxious.

She admitted to feeling lost.

"You're grieving." The woman concluded eventually. "You're grieving for him. Why?"

Tsunade wasn't- she wasn'tgrieving- was she?

"I failed him." Her voice broke. "I had a chance to help him, and I failed him, and I didn't realize what I was giving up until it wasalready gone." Because Orochimaru was just a kid but everyone, including her granduncle, was already treating him like a potential threat, a future problem that might be better off being exterminated now. If there was ever a chance of Orochimarunotbecoming a power hungry monster, if there was ever a chance of him finding somethinggoodto hold on to...

It was a bridge that she had burned, because he will not let someone else in the way he allowed her.

And Tsunade didn't even know it.

"How did you fail him?" Asked the kunoichi.

Tsunade sniffled. "I-he's not a moral person, Fuyumi-sensei. He's not a good person, either." She said. "But if there was a chance of himnotgoing down that path-"

"It's terribly arrogant of you, Tsunade-hime, to think you could have directed him down a different one." Fuyumi cut her off. "It sounds, to me, like he allowed you just close enough to not be too changed should you betray him."

Tsunade opened her mouth to protest but the woman cut her off: "It was never in your hands." She said.

The blonde had nothing to say to that.

The conversation did not continue past that -she needed to get home before sunset, after all- but Fuyumi would not let her go without a hug. "You were right to come to me." She said. "And if you hurt yourself again anddon'tseek me out, you better hope word doesn't reach me. Now go home and rest."

Home was the last place she wanted to be.

As promised, Tsunade felt miserable the next day. She sat out the taijutsu portion of the class, forcing Orochimaru to pair with other students, who were quick to refuse to work with him due to how needlessly aggressive he was being.

The boy's angry glares didn't make the headache Tsunade nursed any easier to bear.

The day after that was better, mostly because she got to sleep in, though she was bummed to learn that Tobirama canceled their lunch. she didn't think much of it until later that evening, when he stopped by their house to have a hushed conversation with her parents while Tsunade was confined to her room with a sleeping Nawaki.

He did come upstairs, after, knocking on her door thrice before entering. Tsunade offered him a wave and slowly walked towards him to give the man a tight hug.

There was something in his eyes, though, that made her pause. Something she'd not seen so openly broadcasted since his brother's death, a year before.

Something she saw whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, these days: grief.

"What happened?" Asked the blonde, bracing fro the worst.

The man sighed and sunk to his knees, resting his large palms on Tsunade's shoulders. With his red eyes boring into hers and his expression betraying the gravity of the news before he even spoke them, the Hokage spoke the words Tsunade had dreaded most.

"We are at war."

Notes:

So you know how I said this chapter is written differently? Yeah. It's disjointed and disorganized and Tsunade is very, very detached from the events taking place. Why? Cause she's espresso depresso :P With the announcement at the end of the chapter you can be sure that she'll stay kinda detached to protect herself.

"It's terribly arrogant of you, Tsunade-hime, to think you could have directed him down a different one." Said Fuyumi, and she was right: there was never any chance of Orochimaru being "good". Ever. Tsunade was naive to believe otherwise. This is a good opportunity to remind you that Orochimaru isn't going to be good or moral: it's Tsunade who'll shift in his direction, not the other way around. :P

Fuyumi doesn't get a lot of screen time, these days, but she still does a lot for Tsunade from behind the scenes ;D

I hope you enjoyed this chapter 3 Ty gain for your support. Seriously, I'm not just saying that. Thank you. :)))

Chapter 22: Standing Trial

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade spends several months disassociating, affected both by the war and her inability to help those hurt by it. Her trance is broken when she learns that Uchiha are not sent to battle.

Tsunade correctly guesses that this was the reason why the Senju clan is annihilated. She confronts Tobirama when he returns, heals his injuries and has a conversation that she hopes, at least, will convince him to reconsider his strategy.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

This is my favorite chapter to date and likely one of the best ones of the whole story, IMO. More on that in the end notes. :D

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Just like it did upon the death of the first Hokage,everythingchanged.

It was incredible how Tsunade could havemissedthe village being geared for war, considering how well prepared they were for it. Shit, there were aton of Uzushio shinobi around, being equipped with whatever the village could afford to give them before they were shipped off to fight Konoha's battles.

Tsunade fucking hated war.

She hated it in her last life, too, more than anything else in existence, but even when she was forced to take part in one she was on the sidelines, assisting the injured rather that doing the killing herself.

She never saw the front line: just the consequences it left in its wake.

Tsunade fucking hated war.

She hated that she would have to participate in it, someday, and she hated not being able to be of assistancenow. She hated that the reasons that brought this war on,as always, were stupid and did not fucking justify the death of what she'd wager would be thousands, at least. She hated knowing that the people occupying this world and ruling it were born into war, were first generation victims of it, anddidn't know better. This war, and likely the next, were fucking inevitable because people didn't just become ready for peace in the span of a single generation.

And Tsunade fucking hated it.

The first few weeks were the worst.

Everyonewas deployed, even her father, as Konoha needed to show their full strength so that her opponents would not think her weak.

Not everyone returned.

It was more noticeable the next month, when the first funerals for members of her clan were held.

Then the next. More dead. More funerals.

It took Tsunade time to realize that she was disassociating, trying to exist as separately from the war as she could, keeping to her routine religiously though she was better at caring for herself, now. She wasn't much inclined to fix that: what was the point of experiencing how war tore her people apart if she had nothing to do to change it? She considered revealing her skills to the hospital, several times, but she couldn't: if she did, she will never be a combat-nin. There might neverbea combat medic-nin. Tsunade will never earn the respect she needed to implement the changes that will give them a chance, as a society, to survive the wars still to come.

Her inability to help the people whose lives she could have saved, left to die due to the hospital being at full capacity, only made her disassociate more.

But something tore her out of it.

"Shou-kun." Tsunade said quietly, warily, when the two of them found his uncle waiting to pick him up from the Academy. "Is your uncle not a shinobi?"

The boy turned to her, offended. "Of course he is."

"I- he's here to pick you up every week." Tsunade explained. "Was he not... sent out?"

Shou looked at her for a long moment, holding her gaze, searching it for something she would have given him if only he asked.

"You don't know." He whispered, the words barely loud enough to reach her ears. "You don't know."

"...was he injured?" She tried quietly.

"Tsunade-hime," Shou said gravely, "The Uchiha have not been sent out to fight."

She gaped at him. "What?"

"Our people have not been posted outside the village." He reiterated. "Except those assigned to teams tasked with special operations."

Tsunade felt bile rise up her throat. "Why?"

"The official answer?" Began Shou. "We are tasked with defending Konoha while everyone else handles offense. The real reason? The Hokage doesn't trust us."

Tsunade would have brushed him off, or at least doubted him, if this was any other matter to do with the Uchiha.

But it wasn't.

And through her granduncle never voiced his mistrust towards the Uchiha explicitly, he did warn Tsunade off befriending Shou. multiple times. He did confine their people to the Military Police.

And Tsunade believed it when Shou told her that her granduncle,the fucking Hokage, would not trust them on teams with his own people.

"Thank you for telling me." Tsunade said through gritted teeth.

"I do not fault you for loving him." Shou told her before he left. "Though, you must know, your love for him will never be enough for me to forgive his crimes against my people."

Thankfully, he said nothing else.

The Hokage returned to the village a week later, his team -which had an Uchiha on it, Tsunade noted- looking the worse for wear. He carried himself with grace but she could tell, judging by his walking speed, that he was also injured. After sending off his team with medics, the man went directly into his office.

Tsunade didn't approach him though the two of them did lock eyes, at some point. He spared her a nod which Tsunade did not return.

Rather than accost him then and there, Tsunade headed home.

"I'm staying with oji-san tonight." She informed her mother.

"What- Tsunade!" Her mother seethed though she did not raise her voice, lest she wake Nawaki. "You can't bother your uncle when he's busy! I raised you better than this!"

"He'll sense that I'm there." Tsunade explained calmly, ignoring her mother's anger. She was too consumed by the cold dread in her gut to react any differently. "He'll sense me and return - that's the only way to get him to come home tonight. He may have not shown it, Mom, but oji-san is injured and needs rest. You may not believe me or not trust my judgment but I don't care." Tsunade breathed in sharply and repeated, just as her mother opened her mouth to protest: "I don't care. Forbid it and punish me, after - again, I don't care- but right now I'm going to oji-san's and making him dinner. Goodbye."

With that said, Tsunade turned around and left the house, purposefully slamming the door so that Nawaki woke and started crying, keeping her mother busy long enough for her to safely depart.

Judging by the screaming rising from the house a moment later and the lack of yelling from her mother, Tsunade's plan worked.

She did exactly as she said she would: bought groceries, commandeered the Hokage's kitchen as she used to do, before, and made him dinner. He settled on his couch, then, and waited.

Tobirama returned home very, very late.

"You need to go home, Tsunade." He told her immediately. "I'm not coming home tonight. I appreciate you cooking-"

"Sit down, please." The blonde cut him off. Her voice was colder than she had ever heard it, before, and saturated in so many different negative emotions that she couldn't tell them apart.

"I don't have time-"

"We've had this conversation once, before." She cut him off,again. "When grandpa died."

Tobirama flinched at the reminder.

Tsunade rose to her feet. "Is that it, then? you can't sit because it would cause you pain?"

"Tsunade..."

"I can heal you standing up, too, though you really should have seen a healer by now." With that said, Tsunade rose to her feet. "Just so you know that it's safe," She began, then pulled out a kunai.

"Tsunade-!"

He didn't stop her in time, of course. With as much anger as she had coursing through her, Tsunade didn't even need to face the mental block that usually hindered her: she slammed the weapon into her arm, tearing the muscles and veins and shattering the bone.

She didn't even flinch

"What have you done!" Tobirama was upon her in a moment, pulling her hand away, though it had the unfortunate effect of pulling the knife out, too. Tsunade wasn't bothered; the wound was far enough down her arm that she could gather chakra, there, and didn't even need to use her palms to heal the wound.

The Hokage watched, wide-eyed, as the bone realigned and her flesh stitched itself together. There was no scar left.

"You heal with Yang Release?"

"Yes." She replied firmly, shaking off his hold. "And I'm going to heal you now, too." With that said, Tsunade place a hand on his stomach. "Don't move."

She cast her diagnostic net, finding that herdumbassof a granduncle had a fractured fucking femur, a broken rib and a slew of cuts and bruises that, while not at risk of infection, could not have made his time in the office any easier.

Tsunade healed all of them.

"Thank you." The man breathed, relieved, when she was done. "I- it's amazing what you can do, Tsunade, though you shouldneverhave hurt yourself, and I'm very,veryproud of you. But I have to go now-"

"Sit." She began through gritted teeth, "down."

He seemed to finally catch on to the fact that his grandniece had no intention to leave before they spoke. Resigned, the man sat down, visibly relieved.

"We're going to talk, then you're going to eat, then you're going back into your office and fuckingfixingthis."

"Tsunade!" The man's eyes widened. "Language."

Right. She never spoke to him like this, before.

"Jun. Hiroyuki. Tsuneo. Daichi. Isamu. Akihiko. Katsuro. Shuji." She began reciting names. "Masaru. Jiro. Haru. Ryuu. Teruo."

"I know the names. Tsunade." The Hokage replied tiredly.

"These are Senju names that were etched onto the memorial this week, oji-san.This week." Tsunade seethed.

"I know."

"Some of them haven't had proper rest since the war began. You send them out, over and over andoveragain, exhausted-"

"You will not understand war." The Hokage shot back, visibly agitated. "We don't have the numbers to allow our shinobi rest."

"You have the Uchiha!" She was yelling, now.

"The Uchiha?" Demanded her granduncle. "That'swhat this is about? You want me to send the Uchiha out to battle?"

"Yes!" Tsunade cried out. "You should have done so from the beginning!"

"The Uchiha can't be trusted."

"Bullshit-!"

"Language!"

"-You have an Uchiha on your team!"

"He's different!"

"Is your grudge against them worth the lives of your people? I'm not even talking about the village now, I'm talking about our clan-"

"I'm doing this toprotectour clan!" Tobirama was yelling, too. "Everything I ever did was to protect our clan!"

"At this rate, by the time the war is done,there won't be a clan for you to protect." Tsunade replied, her voice cold yet filled with as much pulsing anger as her earlier yelling.

She hoped, desperately, that she could reach him.

Her granduncle stared at her, mouth agape, no longer shouting retorts of his own. Tsunade took it as the opportunity it was and continued, much quieter: "I understand why you find the Uchiha untrustworthy. I understand that you're just trying yo keep your people out of the blast radius when an Uchiha loses their temper, or their mind. I understand that your best and most trusted are Senju and I understand why it's them who are sent out every time." She took a deep breath. "But oji-san, if you keep things as they are, you'd be wiping out the same people you've sworn to keep safe. Please,pleasedon't let your prejudice cost me my clan."

Tobirama just... stared. To be fair, Tsunade wasn't sure what else she expected him to do, considering he just got yelled at by a five-year old.

He'd probably need space if there was any hope of her message sticking. Tsunade rose from the couch. "You should eat: I doubt you'd had more than soldier pills and rations for weeks, some home-made food will do you good. If you need me, I'll be home - mom will probably ground me for an eternity, though, maybe two."

He said nothing. Instead, the man just stared at her, as if still trying to process her warning.

Tsunade kissed his forehead before she left. "Goodbye. Be safe."

As she closed the door, all she could think of was that she really, really hoped that this wasn't the last conversation she would have with her granduncle.

Notes:

If you ever wanted to read how meticulous I am about planning ahead: here you go.
I never expected you guys to like Tobirama. Honestly, I didn't: he's a very flawed person whose mistakes had cost a lot of people their lives. He's prejudiced. He's insensitive. At first, he was only a part of this fic, only had a relationship with Tsunade (who canonically was closest with Hashirama) SO THAT THIS SCENE COULD HAPPEN. 55k words in.
But you liked him so I get to write him more often :D

(it's also why Tsunade became friends with Shou and why he was the one to find her crying, to begin with. I plan ahead lol and dw, Shou has a lot of things to impact, still.)
(so when you asked me why Tsunade's mom had to be such a bitch, trust me: it's important. It's the first domino to fall in a series of events that will make it possible for Tsunade to become what she needs to be.)

We know that, in canon, the Senju clan was wiped out during that war. I could take it in two directions: massacre, or this. I found this option to be more interesting, particularly because of how Tsunade would be able to affect it. The end result is Tobirama getting the chance at a mini redemption, which he might take or discard: both options will be interesting and each will have consequences, both for Konoha and his relationship with Tsunade.

Everything in their dynamic was geared so that it'd be realistic for 5 years old Tsunade to even confront Tobirama about it.

I am very, very happy about how this turned out.

Anyway. I hoped you liked it :)

Chapter 23: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade's manipulations pay off and the Uchiha are preparing fro battle. Tsunade goes to see the troops off and, in the process, gets caught in Uchiha Kagami's genjutsu. The two of them have a rather candid conversation at the end of which Tsunade earns the man's respect.

Shou later confronts Tsunade about her involvement with the whole ordeal. She's honest with him and he agrees to keep another of her secrets.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I keep forgetting to say:
You know how there are different honorifics in Japanese and such? Hime is a noble's daughter, for example, but can be used as princess also. Both Fuyumi and Orochimaru call Tsunade a simple "hime": no name attached.
In my text, Fuyumi uses 'hime' but Orochimaru uses 'Princess', even though they use the same word. Why? Intent. Fuyumi uses hime as a honorific, Orochimaru is using it as a title, deliberately, cause it pisses Tsunade off. So yeah, he calls her Princess and she interprets this as such.
You'll see another example of this in the following chapter :)

Ty all very much for your support. My mental health hasn't been great lately and this fic is the one constant in my life, right now, so it's awesome that I have you guys to do this for. Love you :)

(Sorry to be grim. I'm ok, I promise. Just wanted you to know how much you mean to me!)

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

There was a sort of eerie silence in the village, the next few days, as if all gossip was stunted and kept from passing from ear to ear. It wasn't the sort of muteness followed by grief though there was plenty of that, too: it was the silence of tension, of battle readiness, of fear.

If Tsunade was right about its cause, people were right to be afraid. Her granduncle was a fine leader, certainly, but he had others do his diplomacy for a reason: Tobirama Senju had no knack for it.

How he handled the situation with the Uchiha without causing the village to implode...

Tsunade tried not to think of it. She had enough on her plate without the added burden of the village's demise on her shoulders.

Three days after their conversation, the Uchiha geared up for war. It didn't take them long - within hours, the majority of shinobi making up the Police Force were armored up, prepared for several weeks' worth of travel and battle. They stood out in the crowd of other shinobi ready for departure: where the others, especially the Senju, looked worn, tired and not fully healed from their previous battles, the Uchiha lookedregal. Their armor shone in the sunlight, their gear was new rather than mended and their dark eyes glimmered with ferocity, battle-readiness,bloodlust.

The Uchiha were going to war.

It was a sight to behold, truly, which was why the majority of the village had gathered to see the shinobi off. Tsunade wouldn't have missed it for the world: she ditched class, for the first and hopefully last time, to watch the fruit of her labor.

She hoped it would be enough.

The Hokage walked among his troops, a king among kings, looking much healed and rested compared to when they last met. His team trailed after him like loyal guards, silently watching his back as he conversed with his people. Tsunade wasn't surprised that such a precaution was necessary: there would, doubtlessly, be those among the Uchiha who would see the Hokage's change of heart as an attempt to be rid of them, once and for all, even if the majority of Uchiha were pleased with the decision,

Tsunade was surprised that the watch wasn't more covert, though. It implied nothing good.

It was not the only thing that she had failed to predict, however. Her watching the Hokage's guard must not have gone unnoticed, as she earned occasional glances from the man she knew to be the next Hokage and his teammates. Some looked contemplative, some looked curious. Danzo, whom he recognized by the spite in his eyes, seemed unhappy with her for whatever reason.

It was Uchiha Kagami's response to her that was the most unexpected, however, seeing as, when he turned to look at her, his sharingan was activated.

There was no time for Tsunade to do anything, much less look away, before the tomoe in the blood-red orbs spun slowly and she was drawn into a genjutsu.

"What the fuck." She blurted out as she was pulled into a different scene entirely, a beautiful garden with a large koi pond and red-leaved trees sheltering it from the sun.

A melodic laughter sounded from behind her. Tsunade turned sharply and came face to face with Uchiha Kagami,the one Uchiha her granduncle fucking trusted.No way. This couldn't be happening.

She tried to break the genjutsu, of course, but to no avail.

"Sorry. I didn't expect the language." He said happily. "Tsunade-chan, right?"

Disrupting her chakra flow didn't work so Tsunade went for the alternative: pain. At this point, she didn't strictlyneedto clap her hands for a transformation, though it certainly helped. She concentrated on her chakra and her chakra alone for a few long moments, then transformed to have a broken finger.

She didn't feel the pain. shit.

Kagami's eyes widened. "How did you do that?" He breathed. "You- did you just break your finger? Withchakra?!"

Shit. That didn't work, clearly,andTsunade had betrayed one of her skills. Shit.

"Tell me why you trapped me in a genjutsu and I may answer your question." She lied, her tone doing nothing to conceal her anger.

The young man's expression shifted into something not unlike horror. "I'm not going tohurtyou."

"Of course not." Tsunade agreed cynically. "That's why you have me trapped in a genjutsu that's strong enough to withstand the pain of a broken finger."

"I just wanted to talk!"

Tsunade would have snorted if he didn't sound soearnest. Wasn't he, like, twenty-five? How could her response to his attack be anything he hadn't predicted?

Or did he just not expect a five-year-old to put up this much of a fight?

"I'm listening." She dawdled, folding her hands over her chest.

The Uchiha sighed and shook his head. "Sorry. This may not have been the best way to contact you."

Tsunade said nothing. Her silence was answer enough.

"My name is Uchiha Kagami."

"I know."

"...I'm on your oji-chan's team..."

"I know."

Kagami sighed, exasperated. "He keeps saying you're a lot like Hashirama-sama, you know, but you're practically a miniature sensei, aren't you?"

Tsunade's brows rose. Tobirama thought that she was like his brother?How? She did not voice that thought, of course; instead, she said: "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was intended as such." Kagami assured her with a nod. "I won't keep you here long - it'll be hard on your chakra system, at your age. I just wanted to say thank you."

Tsunade furrowed her brow. "You're welcome?" She tried.

The Uchiha laughed at her confusion. "For getting sensei to see reason." He clarified. "I... me and Saru, we've been trying to get him to send my clan out for as long as the war raged but he wouldn't yield. I understand why he's wary..." He hesitated.

Tsunade sighed. Either Kagami was a very good liar, in which case she was fucked either way, of he was as much a lovable dumbass as he presented himself as. It was probably a mix of both, if she was honest, but her granduncle trusted him; he'd definitely know that she was trapped in a genjutsu, at this point, awesome sensor as he is. If Kagami was hostile, he would have broken her out.

Probably.

"I know about the Curse of Hatred." Tsunade admitted quietly, some of the aggression bleeding away from her shoulders. "Oji-san doesn't know that I do, though."

Kagami nodded grimly, acknowledging that he was entrusted with a secret though he did not reveal if he intended to keep it. "You, too, understand why he's wary, then."

"I do." Tsunade agreed. "But he is also a child of wartime whileIam a child of peace. He will need to live centuries before his grudge against the Uchiha even began to fade: I hold no grudge to begin with." She took his breath. "I have clarity that he cannot afford."

Kagami eyed her curiously, as if perceiving Tsunade in a new light. "I think I see, now, how you could have managed what two adults had failed to do." He said, his voice much deeper and his smile less carefree than before. With Tsunade's mask removed, she supposed, he saw fit to discard his, as well.

That was better.

"I have access to his weaknesses where you do not." She admitted quietly. "I knew, before I spoke to him, which buttons to press for an optimal result."

"And what were those?" He asked, curious.

Tsunade raised a brow, implying that he already knew the answer.

I am.

The Uchiha laughed. "I think I see, now, why sensei is so taken with you. You're a smart kid."

"Thank you." She replied. Then, Tsunade hesitated. "Keep him safe, yeah?"

"As best I can." Promised the man, the stubborn loyalty in his eyes unmistakable.

"And Uchiha-san-"

"Kagami."

"Kagami-san." Tsunade corrected herself, offering him a sad smile. "If you can't protect him... remember that you did your best and your best is good enough, okay? You're as precious to oji-san as he is to you. Please don't forget that."

Kagami's smile disappeared, replaced with a thin line and grim acknowledgment. "You really are like him." Was what he said.

Tsunade nodded. "I strive to be."

"He's a good man." Kagami agreed quietly, the changed the subject: "My people attribute the Hokage's change of heart ot me." He said. "It's what I wanted to discuss with you, actually."

She sighed. "Is it safe to assume that you are content to keep things that way?"

"Very much so." Agreed the Uchiha. "It's safer, that way."

We don't want our enemies to know how much sway you have over the Hokage, he didn't need to say.

"I won't lie to Shou." Tsunade warned him. "He wouldn't believe me, anyway."

"My cousin has been annoyingly tight lipped about any secrets you have entrusted him with." Kagami informed her. "As long as you make it clear that the truth may remain hidden, telling him will not endanger you."

Tsunade nodded her affirmation again.

The Uchiha offered her a tight smile, then. "Goodbye, Tsunade-hime." The change of honorific did not go unnoticed: at her obvious curiosity, Kagami elaborated: "I thought you were a particularly smart kid, at first, but I know better now." He explained. "This is your kingdom, isn't it, Little Queen? These are your people that you're trying to protect. You advocated on behalf the Uchiha, who barely trust you enough to train with one of our own, for no benefit other than the village's. It wasn't your clan that you're trying to save: it'sallour clans."

"What can I say." She muttered grimly. "I am one greedy bitch."

Kagami laughed again. "Sorry. The language is still unexpected. You look too cute to be talking like that."

Tsunade shrugged.

"I hope to see you again, Hime-sama." The man said, offering a shallow bow, before releasing her from the genjutsu.

Tsunade was immediately distracted by the pain emanating from her broken finger, so much so that she almost cried out. She dared not heal herself in a place so public: instead, she transformed her finger into its previous, unbroken state.

It was only after she was done that she realized no time at all had passed while she was in the genjutsu, judging by the positions of the passersby, and that her eyes were still locked with Kagami's. The surprise on his face as they darted from her face to her now healed hand was unmistakable and it made Tsunade feel beyond smug.

She even risked a cheshire grin as an answer.

The Uchiha looked away, then, but not before she caught his lips part to release a sharp laugh.

Her granduncle was in good hands.

With the departure of the Uchiha, a different sort of silence fell over the village, though it was not the silence brought on by the fact that a huge portion of the population was away.

It was the sort of silence that came with healing, with mending, with the narrowing of a rift that was left agape for far, far too long.

"I know it was you." Shou accused the blonde as soon as they next met, not even bothering with greetings. "The others think it was Kagami-niisan butI know it was you."

Tsunade couldn't help but laugh. Yep, trying to deny her involvement with the whole thing would be a waste of both their time.

"Don't laugh at me!" He raged. "Don't bother lying, either. Iknow-"

"-it was me." Tsunade finished his accusation for him.

"Exactly! I know- wait what?" The Uchiha paused.

"It was me." Tsunade repeated.

"It was?" He asked, suddenly unsure.

"Yeah." She admitted. "Kagami-san said I could tell you but keep it a secret, please. I wouldn't be safe if people knew I had that sort of sway over oji-san."

"You call the Hokage oji-san." He deadpanned. Had they never spoken of him before?

"He's my most precious person." Tsunade explained, because Shou wouldunderstand, like he did when she revealed the reason for her rift with Orochimaru.

Judging by the softening of his expression, he did.

"Why did you do it?" He asked after a long pause.

"Because it was the right thing to do." She replied bluntly. "Because oji-san isn't a bad person, even if you hate him. He's just... damaged, scarred by the war he'd lived through his entire life. He's doing his best and, sometimes, he's blinded by his experiences and can't see that what he's doing isn't right."

"That doesn't excuse his actions." Protested Shou.

"It doesn't." Agreed Tsunade. "But it does mean that, if it's pointed out to him, he'll try to do better. I'm not asking that you accept his change of heart as redemption - I'm just saying that it's proof of him being capable such a thing."

"He's lucky do have someone who loves you as much as you do." Shou yielded eventually.

"Family is a wonderful thing." Agreed Tsunade. Quieter, she added: "It's all I ever wanted."

Notes:

How did y'all know that Kagami is going to show up? Like, when I wrote this, a couple of weeks ago, I sterted off the chapter not knowing that myself. Their conversation just... happened.
But you knew! practically before I did! HOW?
You guys are so smart and I'm so proud of you lol

Anyway, yeah! That's another person added to the cast! You'll be seeing more of him though not at the same capacity or frequency as Tsunade's mentors. He has another role to play :P

Serious question: would you want to see Kagami as Hokage or nah? I thought it'd be frustrating to the readers if I chose that route, initially, but your comments made me question myself.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Ty again for your support! You guys are the best.

Chapter 24: Choking On Air

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade learns that Arashi has been crippled in
the war and will be staying in the village as Mito's apprentice for the foreseeable future.

She passes her graduation exam but her teacher, who is a Hyuga, has his byakugan activated when she transforms. He doesn't call her out but she is freaked out by the fact that he knows what she did, regardless.

She doesn't feel like dealing with her mother yet so she spends the rest of the dy with Keiichi.

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

Excuse me, can we please talk about the near obscene amount of support on the last chapter? You guys popped off wtf
Like, it was overwhelming. I'm still in shock. THANK YOU.

A special thank you to everyone who answered my question about Kagami! The consensus is that plan Make Konoha Great Again (Kagami's way) is a go, but I agree with several comments that said that it's too sharp a transition. I never wanted to make Kagami the Third- Konoha is nowhere near ready for that. But, thanks to your approval, I can put Kagami in a position of power and see what he does with his leverage :)

Thank you again for your comments, your kudos, your bookmarks, your subscriptions, for reading this work at all.

A little announcement: my semester starts this week so I'll be uber busy BUT I still plan to upload every three days. If the wuality of my work drops, PLEASE let me know. I'll just start uploading weekly so that I can do quality control.

We're a team here, right? Let's do this together ;)

Please note that there are 2 more questions in the end notes. It would be really helpful if you could answer those, too!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The war raged on but, this time, the Uchiha looked as battered and worn as everyone else. Somehow, that raised morale rather than lowered it.

The inclusion of the Uchiha turned the tides of the war: Konoha, which had previously been on the defensive, suddenly had the firepower (pun intended) to launch much more complex operations. In the weeks before Tsunade's sixth birthday there was even talk of renewed peace treaties, hopefully sometime in the fall.

She didn't spend much time contemplating the idea, too busy preparing for the exam that will earn her the hitae-ate she so craved.

Summoning clones was surprisingly easy: They were a construct made entirely of chakra and she already could manipulate hers very well. There weren't even any funky mechanics for her to mess up, thank fuck.

Her progress on the altered Henge was impressive: though it took many,manytries and she had to endure many unfortunate accidents, Tsunade could now perform a full Transformation. To practice, she would turn into her granduncle, since she was so familiar with him, though she made sure she could do the same for her teacher, which she will be tested for, and for Keiichi since he found the mimicry amusing.

He helped her work on the casting time, too, since she couldn't afford to spend half a minute changing her appearance. The shift would have to be instantaneous, or near instantaneous, for the technique to pass as the normal Henge, which is what Tsunade was going for.

"You can use smoke as a cover." Suggested the man when her transformation became sufficiently quick. "I'd even recommend it. A normal Henge, like many other techniques, is accompanied by a burst of smoke - the excess chakra poured into the technique manifests that way. You could attribute the lack of smoke to your superior chakra control but you're better off keeping it to hide the fact that your transformation is gradual."

"That could work." Tsunade agreed. "So, how do I make a smoke cloud?"

Turns out, that wasn't the hard part. Pouring excess chakra into a technique was child's play, once you knew what amount was necessary.

Making a cloud of the right size was more difficult but, like most challenges Tsunade had faced so far, could be achieved with practice.

Tsunade turned six.

No one celebrated birthdays in wartime.

Not that she minded; The only people she wanted to celebrate it with were either too young to enjoy it (Nawaki), too busy waging war (Tobirama), not allowed to interact with her outside of public places (Shou), not talking to her regularly (Mito) or not talking to her at all (Orochimaru, Fuyumi).

Tsunade spent the day at Keiichi's, playing shogi. He said nothing, which she was glad for, but there were freshly baked cookies on the table when he served her tea.

Tsunade didn't say anything, either, but she did spend the entire afternoon smiling.

"Tsunade-hime?"

The blonde turned around, finding herself standing in front of a familiar redheaded young man. "Arashi-niisan!" She cheered. "Welcome back!"

The Uzumaki laughed at her warm welcome, placed a hand on her head and ruffled her golden hair. "It's good to see you again. You grew a lot!"

"So did you!" She pointed out, noting how he was significantly taller than he was when they last met, almost four years ago. Must've been a late bloomer. "Did you just return from the front?"

The boy cringed. "I returned some time ago." He admitted. "I had to spend some time in the hospital."

Tsunade's guilt was overwhelming. Trust her to put her foot in her mouth at the first opportunity. "Are you okay now?" She asked quietly.

"I'll live." The redhead promised, offering Tsunade a tense smile.

It wasn't a yes.

It was then that Tsunade noticed the cane he utilized.

She didn't apologize; shinobi didn't need pity, even crippled ones. Arashi didn't look miserable, despite his obvious injury, which Tsunade chose to take as a sign that he was handling it well, mentally.

Maybe she shouldn't have. He was a shinobi, after all, and lying was sort of his profession.

"I'm glad you came back, Arashi-niisan." She said, instead, then changed the topic: "I'm glad that you remember me, too. Thank you, again, for helping myself and my mother." Tsunade bowed, forcing as much gratitude into her voice as she could fit.

She didn't get along with her mother, these days, but that doesn't mean that she wanted herdead. Also,Nawaki.

Arashi responded with a smile and a slow nod. "I'm surprised you remember me, too." He admitted. "You were this small-" he gestured, "-when I last saw you."

Tsunade laughed and batted his hand away. "I wasnot." She argued. "Of course I remember you. I saw you in the village several times, this past year, but you looked busy so I didn't come say hi."

"I see."

"Are you staying with obaa-sama?" Tsunade inquired as they began walking, no direction in particular in mind. Her guess was that standing still was more of a nuisance to Arashi than pacing.

"Yes." He agreed. "Mito-sama has taken me as an apprentice. I am very lucky to be learning from her."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "That's so cool." She breathed out, her voice trembling with excitement.

Arashi laughed at her enthusiasm. "Interested in seals, are you?"

"It's hard not to be, when you're surrounded by them." Tsunade pointed out. "I'm not even talking about major things like barrier seals: I'm talking about things like food storage at various temperatures and making materials impenetrable to rain. It'sso cool." She gushed.

"Interesting that you would pick those rather than more flashy applications." He pointed out.

"Ilovepracticality." She explained, earning another laugh from Arashi, who looked to be mire at ease, now. He was leaning more heavily on his cana and his smile almost,almostreached his eyes.

"You intend to learn, then?"

"I would love to." She admitted. "There's just so much I need to master, before that."

"Oh?" His interest was piqued. "Have you found a field that you're drawn to, yet?"

"I've found several." Tsunade replied but didn't elaborate. Arashi knew better than to ask.

"Well, then, maybe one day, when you're ready, I would have learned enough from Mito-sama to be able to teach you."

Tsunade felt her features soften at the implied promise and at the fact that, even now that he was injured and likely frustrated with his new lot in life, this almost perfect stranger was willing to extend a helping hand to her.

"I would love that." She said. Judging by the shy smile the redhead offered in return, he was not ignorant to the thoughts occupying her mind.

With help from Keiichi, Tsunade perfected the final details of her Henge before the exam.

She ended up infusing her clothes with chakra to make the fabric stretchy and conjured her target's attire the same way she summoned clones. It was weird to take her master's form while she felt her little dress cling to her form, even if it was unseen, but it was something she had to get used to.

The days leading up to her graduation exam were... rough, to say the least. She was the only one of her classmates who had refused to perform the Henge in class, when they were learning the technique, which resulted in a hard hit to her grades. Her skill in taijutsu and with kunai made up for that in the practical grades and she was still second only to Orochimaru, but her mother didn't see it that way.

Senju Yoko spent every minute not devoted to caring for her darling son berating her daughter for the drop in her grades, wasting no opportunities to remind Tsunade that she was warned against this outcome.

The blonde ignored her. Keiichi had coached her to be able to withstand this exact sort of torture, knowing that she'd have to face it sometime soon.

She was grateful for it. Forhim.

Tsunade arrived at the Academy on what she hoped would be her last day with her head held high and her shoulders squared, ready for whatever the world would throw at her.

The world, of course, saw that challenge as reason enough to throwOrochimaruat her.

Well, not exactly. One of her classmates, likely distracted by the anxiety of the upcoming exam, stumbled and fell onto her. Tsunade managed to brace under the weight and avoid falling on her face but she did brush her shoulder against the Orochimaru's in the process.

"Watch where you're going." He hissed, stepping away from her, his golden eyes boring into her own.

It was a gradual thing but, in the past months, Orochimaru had transitioned from hurling insults at her to pretending Tsunade simply didn't exist. She thought the latter strategy suited him much better, truth be told, as it was undoubtedly more hurtful.

She didn't bother apologizing as he had already turned and left before she could even open her mouth.

The blonde sighed.

After taking their theoretical exams and showing off some of their physical skills by sparring, the aspiring shinobi and kunoichi were told to stand in line at the front of the class and await their turn to perform ninjutsu.

They performed the clone technique, first, then a series of survival jutsu, Rope Escape among them. For Tsunade, who could dislocate her joints with a thought and with no lasting damage, these days, it was a piece of cake.

When it was time to perform the Henge, Tsunade very purposefully chose to stand close to the front of the line. She didn't want to go first, or last, lest she draw her teacher's scrutiny; the fact that she was the only one of her classmates who did not evenattemptto perform the technique before would be suspicious enough.

Orochimaru went first and, unsurprisingly, performed a perfect Henge. He spared her a sharp glance on his way to the back of the class. The clan kids were next, as they were the most confident in their skill, and every single one of them had earned their forehead protector.

A silence spread through the class when Tsunade stepped to the front.

"Go on." Said her sensei, gesturing for her to continue.

Tsunade nodded, positioned her hands in a seal she had no intention of using, and created the cloud of smoke that would serve as her cover.

She didn't have much time, after that - the smoke would hide her for less than a second.

Tsunade clapped her hands together to ease the casting of her technique and drew on the form she had practiced shifting into multiple times before. She didn't lose her balance as her weight and size increased and she remembered to make the fabric of her dress stretchy enough to accommodate the change. She molded chakra into her teacher's outfit and, with her time running out, she returned her hands to the seal she hadn't used and raised her gaze to face her teacher.

Whose byakugan was active.

Shit.Shit.Shit.

"Well done." He said, his voice betraying nothing at all, as he deactivated his kekkei-genkai. "You may transform back."

Tsunade nodded and created a second cloud of smoke, glad that reverting to her true form was less discomforting than the previous transformation. She tried very, very hard not to think about what her teacher's dojutsu had revealed to him.

She looked down to make sure that she'd transformed her clothes back, too, then went to the end of the line.

This was fine. Tsunade just passed the exam.This was fine,she lied to herself.

She remained in a bit of a daze for the rest of the exam, only roused by the hitae-ate being placed in her hands. "Congratulations." Said the Hyuga, offering her a silent nod. Tsunade didn't know what he meant by it but his gaze didn't linger so she elected not to think about it, for now.

She didn't want to go home, now that she was officially a kunoichi of Konoha. She didn't want to hear what her mother will have to say about her achievement.

So she went to Keiichi's. The man offered her an approving nod at the sight of her shiny new forehead protector, served her tea and played shogi with her in silence until it was time for her to go home.

Notes:

QUESTION TIME:
1. An issue with the chapter summary being spoilery was brought up to me. The solutions I see are: (1) keep things as is (2) mark them with spoiler warnings as I did for this chapter (3) make them vaguer or remove entirely and make a recap chapter every 25 chapters.
Would you please tell me which option you would prefer?
Thank you!

2. When Tsunade gets on a genin team, would you like their teacher to have the classic likes/dislikes/ambitions talk with them? Or nah? I'm conflicted.

See you in three days! ty again for being amazing, love you!

Chapter 25: Smiles Worth Counting

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Shou is the one to inform Tsunade that the Hokage's team returned without him.

She dons the mask of the Little Queen, as she was labeled by Uchiha Kagami when they last spoke, to visit the team in the hospital. She offers Kagami support and embarrasses the shit out of Danzo after he's rude to her.

Tsunade is woken in the middle of the night by Kagami who takes her to the hospital, where the Hokage was brought after his retrieval - alive but dying. They get to speak one final time before he passes and he gives her the first's necklace.

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Ty guys for voting! We decided on spoiler banners in the end. There was another wonderful suggestion about changing chapter summaries into recaps but I think that, currently, it won't work (I was advised against it actually). I might switch to that when the work is finished though, so thank you!

This is a bit of a longer chapter and I don't have the next one written so if there's anything you'd like me to focus on in the context of post-war, pre-genin team, let me know! I'll try to accomade it.

Ty for the incredible support on the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one, too :)

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"Is there a reason why you-"

"Shh!" Hissed Shou, continuing to drag Tsunade into an empty alley despite her protests.

"If you're a Kumo-nin Henged into my friend to try and kidnap me, I'll have you know-"

"Gods, Tsunade-hime, do youevershut up?" Seethed the boy, releasing his grip on her arm.

"No." She replied mirthlessly, more relaxed now that she was sure it was, in fact, Shou who dragged her off.

The Uchiha sighed and shook his head. "This is serious." He clarified, making the blonde sober up immediately.

"Is your uncle hurt?" She asked quietly, now trying to gauge the severity of the situation. Shou would never request her help in healing anyone else; not when it would cost Tsunade her future.

"He's not in the village yet." Denied the boy, his dark eyes boring into her own. He looked paler, somehow, which was a mentionworthy achievement considering how fair-skinned he already was. "My cousin is back."

"Kagami-san?" Tsunade caught on immediately: Shou would know that she couldn't care less about any other relatives. This one, however, was exempt on the grounds of sharing a team with her granduncle. "Their team is back?"

"The team, yes." Agreed Shou, swallowing thickly. "The Hokage… the Hokage is not."

Tsunade felt as if the rug was pulled from under her feet.

"He didn't return." She repeated slowly, or was it just time that had slowed? Was it frozen, like she was?

Why was it suddenly so cold? Why was she dizzy? Why did it feel as if someone was carving her heart out with a dull blade?

Tsunade knew that it was a possibility. Sheknew. The Second Hokage died in some war, right? It shouldn't have been too unexpected that it was this one.

But it was.It was.

'I'm not ready to lose him yet.'She wanted to say. Fuck, how she wanted to seek comfort from her friend in that moment.

It hurt. It hurt so fucking much. Fuck, the one hope she held on to was that their final conversation wouldn't be an argument.

But it was.It was.

And it was too late, now.

The blonde felt herself spiraling, falling deeper and deeper into an abyss of denial and hurt and hate and frustration and she was drowning, overwhelmed-

Kagami's words echoed in her mind, then.Little Queen,he had called her.

He said that she was a lot like her granduncle, too.

Tsunade intended to live up to the praise.

"Thank you for telling me, Shou-kun." She said, her voice strong and unwavering, her expression blank. There was still chaos in her mind but she was practiced in shoving her emotions back until a time to deal with them properly presented itself, as she did when her grandfather passed. Rather than yield to her heartache, the blonde offered Shou a sharp bow. "Would you happen to know where your cousin is?"

"Still in the hospital." Replied Shou, eying her warily, as if he feared that she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

To be fair, he was an Uchiha. Had Tsunade been one, too, she might have unlocked her sharingan in that moment; going off the rocker would've been a real possibility, then.

"Thank you." She said, bowing again. "I must go speak with him and his team."

"You shouldn't be here." Muttered Uchiha Kagami when she entered the hospital room he shared with two of his teammates: Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, both of whom she recognized. Koharu and Homura must've gotten off light enough to avoid the hospital.

Danzo had chakra exhaustion, judging by his signature. Both of Hiruzen's arms were in casts.

Kagami's eyes were bandaged.

"I will leave if you request it." She said quietly. "But there was something I wished to discuss, first. Hello, Sarutobi-san, Shimura-san."

"Hello, Tsunade-chan." The Third -was he the Third already?- acknowledged her quietly. Danzo said nothing.

"I… I don't have answers for you, Little Queen-"

"I didn't come here with questions." She interrupted the Uchiha before he could be consumed by his guilt. Fuck, that's exactly what she wanted to prevent. "Well, just the one. Do you remember the conversation we had before you left the village?"

"...I do." He acknowledged quietly.

"I think it'd do you good to hear my point again, still." She began. "You did your best. I knew my granduncle well; he'd be glad that you've all returned safely, if nothing else. So just… try not to beat yourself up over it. Casting blame is pointless; I'd rather we were allowed the peace to grieve."

"There will be no peace." Interjected Danzo, interrupting their conversation. The venom in his voice made Tsunade's skin crawl. "The belief in peace is the rot in our society. Had Hokage-sama been willing to land a more deadly, decisive blow-!"

"We couldn't target all these civilians, Danzo!" It was Sarutobi who spoke, this time. "Sensei was right to shoot down your plan-"

"Was he right to call on the Uchiha, too?" Demanded the scarred man, then turned to Tsunade. "You, child. It wasyouwho twisted his mind. If you didn't meddle in things beyond your comprehension, your beloved oji-san would've still been alive."

"Danzo-!" Warned the Third.

Tsunade didn't need him to come to her defense, however. She was still suppressing her grief, still wearing the mask of the Little Queen, still calm and collected.

Not enough to let such an accusation slide, however, even if retaliation wouldn't endear her to her future enemy. That was a problem for future Tsunade, like her grief. "Does it make you feel big, Shimura-san, to hurl abuse at a six-year-old?" She asked politely, her tone curious rather than accusing, unlike her words.

Silence consumed the room. Tsunade turned back to Kagami. "I think I overstayed my welcome, and I apologize. I didn't come here with the intention of causing you further discomfort." She said. "But please think about what I said. Remember my granduncle fondly and don't let guilt cloud your memories of him. He loved you as much as you did him."

"Hai." Acknowledged Kagami with a barely noticeable nod.

Tsunade smiled and offered a short bow to each of the three shinobi, even though only two would see the gesture. The Third was the only one to nod back. "Get well soon." She said, then left the room, with Danzo's stare burning a hole on the back of her head.

She'll have plenty of time to ponder and regret her actions, later.

For the next three days, Tsunade did absolutely nothing.

She ate, when her mother yelled at her to. She slept a few hours here and there.

She didn't cry. Not once.

Not even when, three days after his team returned, the Hokage was announced MIA and Sarutobi Hiruzen, fresh out of the hospital, officially took on the burden of that wretched hat.

Tsunade woke up well after midnight to the sound of yelling downstairs. "We don't have time!" Roared a man whose voice was vaguely familiar.

"I'm not letting you take my daughter-!" Argued her mother. The high-pitched protests were cut off by the sound of Tsunade's door sliding open.

Kagami easily caught the kunai she had launched at him between his fingers, then again when Tsunade threw another. His sharingan, the Mangekyo, illuminated his face in the darkness of the room. Tsunade met his eyes with no fear.

"Kagami-san." She greeted him coolly. He wasn't welcome here; neither in her home, judging by her mother's protests, or in the compound - Kagami may have been the Second's favorite Uchiha but he was an Uchiha, still. Whatever it was that brought him here, it had not required that he come in peace; his presence in her home implied that at least a few guards had been knocked out or trapped in a genjutsu.

"Come." He said, grabbing Tsunade by the arm. "We don't have much time."

"Will you at least tell me where it is that you're taking me?" Grumbled the blonde, carefully avoiding meeting her mother's gaze as the Uchiha picked her up and positioned her on his back. Will she be blamed for this, later? Will she be punished for being basically kidnapped by a shinobi she had absolutely no hope of countering?

Fuck, knowing her mother,she might be.

"We're going to the hospital." Said Kagami, securing Tsunade onto his back before he began rushing through the village, taking the roofs to save time.

"The hospital?" She repeated, barely hearing her own words through the wind in her face.

"Yes." Said Kagami, his voice reverberating where her chest was pressed against his back. "A team just brought the Hokage back."

There was no security. No guards. Just a hospital room with seals to control who may enter or leave it, courtesy of Mito, most likely, considering that she was sitting outside the room when Kagami brought her there.

She looked so fucking tired.

Tsunade couldn't help herself. As soon as the Uchiha lowered her to the floor, she rushed to her grandmother and jumped into her arms.

"Tsunade-chan." Acknowledged the woman, her voice quiet and saturated with sadness. Her embrace was gentle, cautious, but it was enough to ground Tsunade and stop her from crying.

The blonde said nothing. She just… held on to the woman whom she'd not seen in almost a year, allowing herself to be a child, if only for a brief moment.

"We don't have much time." Kagami interrupted them. "The Second doesn't have very long."

Tsunade didn't need to be told twice.

Kagami never said, explicitly, that Tobirama was dying. Maybe he should have. Tsunade knew, however, that only a great deal of urgency would get the Uchiha to break into the Senju compound, due to the repercussions that his actions will have in the morning.

The opened door revealed the Hokage lying in a hospital bed, his bare chest rising and falling rapidly. He was covered in sweat and his sheets were visibly damp but Tsunade could not detect any injury, not before she approached him.

"Oji-san?" She spoke quietly, softly.

"Tsunade." He groaned, turning his head sideways to meet her gaze. She rushed to his side, then, and took his hand.

He looked like shit.

Tobirama wasn't a tan man on the best of days but, lying on that bed, he seemed almost paler than the white sheets. He looked tired and drawn and his expression, normally stoic, broadcasted his pain more openly than she'd ever seen on him, before.

Not letting go of her granduncle's hand, Tsunade turned to the stranger in the room - a young woman whom she identified as a medic, judging by her attire. "What is wrong with him?" She demanded.

The woman hesitated. "I'm not sure-"

Tsunade didn't wait to be brushed off. She turned to her granduncle and asked: "Do you trust her?"

"You can't help me, Tsunade." He said, voice hoarse, catching on to her train of thought.

Or, at least he assumed so.

In response to that not-answer, Tsunade turned to Kagami. "Doyoutrust her?" She repeated her question.

"Biwako-san is a good medic and a good person." Confirmed Kagami.

Tsunade didn't need to know more. She let go of Tobirama's hand, making him grunt in displeasure, and clapped her hands.

Her transformation, as practiced as it was, took moments.

The tall, lean frame of Senju Tobirama replaced her own.

"It's not a Henge." She said in his voice, deep and gravelly. To prove her point, she grabbed a knife out of the belt of a stunned Kagami whose sharingan red eyes stared at her in a mix of horror and wonder.

She cut off a strand of her hair and offered it to the medic, whose eyes widened as much as the Uchiha's at the sight.

"Excluding my brain, every last part of my body is a perfect copy of his. I can regrow organs and body parts; I've done it before. Whatever organs you need to save him,I'll give." Tsunade said through gritted teeth. "Can you save him, medic-san?"

A long, cold silence stretched in the room as all three adults eyed Tobirama's lookalike, different emotions flashing through their wide eyes. It was Tobirama who broke it, in the end, by groaning in pain.

"I-I can't." Stuttered the woman, holding a hand to her mouth to mask her still parted lips. "I can't save him."

"He suffered severe chakra burns to the entirety of his system." Said Kagami from behind her. "It's… what he's experiencing is a lot like asphyxiating, only we can't breathe into him. Chakra infusions would only hurt him more."

"Is there no medic capable of healing chakra burns in this hospital?" Asked Tsunade, her voice saturated with despair.

"Not these ones."

"Bijuu?" She guessed immediately, the fatality of the entire situation dawning on her. Tsunade dropped to her knees, reverting back to her true form on the way down. "Fuck."

"Biwako-san." Kagami addressed the medic, and Tsunade automatically turned to him also. She found the woman staring into the Uchiha's eyes, paralyzed. "You will not remember any conversations that happened since we entered the room."

"Hai." The woman replied monotonically.

Tsunade swallowed thickly. She didn't need further hints as to what Kagami's mangekyo could do. "Please ask her to leave, also." She requested quietly, the words searing her tongue.

She knew what she had to do. If Kagami was willing to go to such great lengths to protect Tsunade's secrets, she'd trust him with one more.

The Uchiha eyed her warily but complied. When they were alone with the former Hokage, he asked "Does anyone else know?"

"My mentors, who helped me develop this technique, and my Academy sensei."

"Names."

"You're not wiping the former." She argued, getting up from the cold floor. "Oji-san approves of them."

"And the sensei?"

"Hyuga Norio."

Kagami's brow twitched. "I won't need to wipe him, but we'lltalk."

"Thank you." She murmured, then returned to her granduncle side.

He looked even worse than before, almost frustrated, judging by his frown.

Tsunade understood. It wasn't easy, for him, being unable to protect her. Having to rely on Kagami.

"Oji-san…" She began, resting her hands on his chest. "Do you want me to?"

His red eyes widened. "I would never ask this of you." He said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"But do you want me to?" her voice broke. "I-it might take some of your remaining time, but at least you won't be in so much pain."

"Whoa, wait-" Protested Kagami, whose demand Tsunade barely registered, focused as she was on reading her granduncle's eyes.

"Please." He choked out.

Tsunade swallowed again, then nodded.

She allowed Yang chakra to gather in her palms, then spread across his torso until it encompassed all the bits closest to the core of his deteriorating chakra system.

Then, she allowed it to target the nerves.

The relief on the former Hokage's face was immediate; the tension abandoned his shoulders and he no longer looked like he was clenching his jaw. A flush rose to his cheeks and he breathed a small sigh that indicated great relief.

"What did you do?" Demanded the Uchiha, now hovering over the bed with her to examine the man, with his sharingan still active. "He doesn't seem better."

"I took his pain." Tsunade replied, once again forcing back tears. An image of the deer she practically killed flashed in her mind. "Permanently." She clarified.

A hand grasped her own, where it still lay on the man's sweaty chest. She raised her gaze to meet her granduncle's, pained and almost watery, likely mirroring her own. "Thank you."

"I'd do anything for you, oji-san." Tsunade admitted quietly.

He gave her hand a saw squeeze. "I know."

Tsunade swallowed, still fighting tears. She didn't want to spend what little time they had left being consoled. "How long do you have?"

Tobirama glanced at Kagami, implying that he either wasn't told or wasn't present enough to retain the information.

"Until morning, at best." Replied the young man, his voice as raw and broken as Tsunade's.

"We should call in obaa-sama." Murmured the blonde. "Is there anyone else-?"

"Not yet." Protested Tobirama. "Tsunade… I'd like to talk to you."

She offered him a wobbly smile. "Okay."

The Hokage began by releasing her hand and reaching behind his neck, pulling on a familiar necklace until it rested in his palm.

A sob broke through Tsunade's lips.

"I'd like you to have it. To wear it." Murmured her granduncle, pressing the pendant into her hands and wrapping his own around them. "It was your grandfather's."

"Yeah." She was crying, now. There was nothing to be done about it.

"I pass this on to you, along with my Will of Fire." He continued, his red gaze locked firmly onto her own, not allowing her a chance to look away. "You need not lead our people if you do not wish it; I would never demand such a thing of you. I ask you to be kind, however, as you are now, and to continue to push people to be better."

"Oji-san-!"

"You are a wonder, Tsunade." He cut her off. "You have a potential for good, for growth, that I could only dream of. I loathe that I may not see what change you bring, what havoc you wreak, but I'm glad for the part I did have in your life."

"I love you, oji-san." She managed to say through her sobs.

His hand landed on her head, petting her. "I love you too."

After a few seconds of silence, he asked: "Will you tell me what it is you want? What it is that you aspire to?"

Tsunade smiled, more earnestly this time, though the softness of the expression did not reach her eyes. "Peace." She admitted that which she had denied Orochimaru for so long. "True peace. I want a generation of children that only heard of war from storybooks. I want a world where not a single person remembers war firsthand."

"You really are alike." Mumbled Kagami from her side, earning a questioning glance from Tsunade. "The First's necklace is only symbolic, in the end; you already carry his Will of Fire."

She glanced between the Uchiha and his teacher. "Oh."

Kagami laughed at her, then, though he simultaneously wiped tears from his black eyes. She didn't blame him for wanting his sharingan off; Tsunade wouldn't want these stolen moments etched into her brain permanently, either.

"You will watch her in my absence, won't you, Kagami?" Asked Tobirama, his eyes sharp but somehow also pleading.

"Of course." The Uchiha replied kindly, resting a hand on his teacher's shoulder. "I won't even do it for you; I find that I am quite fond of your grandniece, also."

That earned him a smile. Perhaps one of Tobirama's last.

Mito was called in some time later and was rather surprised to find her brother-in-law not writhing in pain. She eyed both Kagami and Tsunade warily but, in the end, said nothing.

They spent several hours conversing though, even in their limited time, they were not allowed reprieve from their duties. The majority of the conversation circled around information Tobirama wanted to pass on to his trusted allies before he passed; ideas, warnings, fears.

It took Tsunade time to realize how shocking it was that she belonged in that circle.

She remarked on it to Kagami, at some point, when the other pair was discussing something in hushed tones.

"Of course you do." Replied the Uchiha, shaking his head. "Were you not the one to convince him to send my people to battle? Your advice is the reason both of us live, currently."

"Sorry,what?"

"An Uchiha team came to our aid during a losing battle - after we parted ways from sensei." Kagami explained. "I, for one, would have died had they not arrived when they did."

"I can attribute my survival to an Uchiha team, also." Acknowledged Tobirama. "I can only assume it was sent after me once my team has been evacuated."

Tsunade turned to him, expecting to find unease or anger in his eyes, only to find shame in their stead. "They defeated the enemies whom I could not best and carried me here with admirable haste."

"Oji-san…"

"I am glad," he said firmly, "to have been wrong. I am glad for this chance to part from you properly."

Then, the conversation shifted into something more earnest, far beyond what Tsunade thought he'd be willing to divulge: "I have never dreamed of death in battle, honorable as it may be." Tobirama admitted quietly, squeezing Tsunade's hand. "I wanted to pass surrounded by family, with the knowledge that I am leaving them a better world than the one I had to endure. I am… content," he paused, "to leave the fate of the village in your capable hands. I am content to leave you in one another's care." He shot a sharp glance at Mito, then. "I could wish for nothing more."

The Second Hokage passed with the first rays of sunlight illuminating his sharp features, his lips settled into a small, easy smile, surrounded by his family and the man who, in another world, he could have made his successor.

Notes:

I just wanna say that my partner suggested I leave the Hokage not returning as a cliffhanger and let you stew for THREE WHOLE DAYS before telling you that he was alive.

I love you more than I love my partner, apparently.

LONG NOTES AHEAD

I'm sure you're all grieving with me. I'm sorry. This had to happen. There are several reasons why: first, because the Second surviving would change too many things and then I'd have to focus on narrating them rather than narrating Tsunade and Orochimaru's relationship and I don't think any of us want that. It seems shallow but it's not the point of the story so I chose that option. I also think that Tobirama, being a safety net for Tsunade, would stop her from reaching her full potential.

I need her desperate. I need her taking risks. You'll see :)

But another important reason why he died is because I don't believe in quick redemption. He did a few things right towards the end but that doesn't erase several years' worth of mistakes as Hokage and however many more he made before.

That's not to say that his change isn't commendable. The fact that he survived is how I rewarded him for his character development. He was supposed to die alone, in pain, and without a chance to say goodbye.

Instead, he got to be home. To be buried with his family. To say goodbye to his grandniece, who he loved as much as he would have his own daughter, and to entrust her safety to people he trusted and loved.

He got to die with the knowledge that the Senju clan survived the war, even though he doesn't know that it was supposed to be wiped out. Those two things -the survival of the Senju and being able to say goodbye- are things he EARNED by changing.

And I think that we're all proud of him. And sad that he's gone, but mostly happy that he got this rather than what he got in canon: a dead clan and no one back home who'd mourn him like Tsunade is going to.

Anyway, yeah. One last chapter for the war arc and then it's genin team time :)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

PS: I didn't mean to make Kagami an impctful character but I love him and can't stop writing him please send help

PPS I also enjoy writing Danzo. Who would've thought? Dw I only like writing him when he's being humiliated by Tsunade LOL

EDIT: since this chapter was super heavy and there's not gonna be too much fluff in the next few chapters, I'd once again recommend reading Kaykoo's work so soften the blow. It's linked to the end of this work :)

Chapter 26: Before the Dawn

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade is struggling after Tobirama's funereal.

The Hokage had named her his Heir, putting Tsunade in the running for the Senju Clan Head title (right after Nawaki) which women are not normally considered for. He also left her his fortune and all his material goods, including his journals.

She's terrified by how quickly she finds his notes on Edo Tensei.

Tsuande uses the need to secure various documents as leverage to get closer to Mito again and the woman allows it.

Her parents are pissed off about the whole inheritance thing and, when Tsuande refuses to allow them access to her granduncle's estate, the three have a fight at the end of which Tsunade moves out of her parents' home.

She spars with Shou who offers her silent support and doesn't push her to talk. She gets used to life outside the clan compound.

And, unsupervised, Tsuande begins preparations for developing a new technique.

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Alright! So this chapter is a bit of a filler where I go over all the things that are important but aren't fun for me to write, like Tsunade's family drama. It's a heavier chapter but it's worth it: their genin team arc starts next chapter and the chapters are much more fun and fluff-filled :)

Orochimaru is back, too, and his sass is turned up to 1000% :D

But that's next chapter! Only three more days! Hope you still enjoy this one :)

PS Tsunade is once again in a bit of a depressive slump and the writing reflects that, lol

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The general population of Konoha learned of the night's occurrences several days later.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Senju tried to pin the Hokage's demise on the Uchiha. They backed the preposterous claim by citing that the Uchiha were the ones to bring Tobirama back mortally wounded, which was 'awfully convenient', in their words.

Tsunade wondered whether she was going to explode or implode when she heard someone say that, next. Probably both. She didn't have it in her to pity whoever ended up being in the blast radius.

Mito put an end to the rumors quickly, using sharp words and sharper threats, but the damage had already been done.

The Second's funeral was the fucking worst.

Tsunade held Nawaki through the ceremony, allowing the baby to play with the beautiful pendant now resting between her collarbones. Her fingers wandered to it at some point, also, and when she closed her eyes she could almost pretend that the warmth emanating from it was a remnant of her granduncle.

God, she wanted her oji-san back.

Instead, Tsunade got his estate.

That's right. Tobirama decided, at some point, to name his grandniece his heir - both in title and in material goods.

Which also made his grandniece second in line for clan head, right after Nawaki, which Tsunade triedvery hardnot to think about.

He went pretty far in ensuring that Tsunade alone could access her inheritance, sealing his home and belongings to only be visible to her (with Mito's help, of course).

Naturally, that pissed Tsunade's parents the fuck off.

Tsunade herself couldn't care less about the money he'd left her, as well as any other material goods. She didn't need them and no amount of gold could buy her another day with her granduncle. Tsunade would've offered it all to her mother if she thought it'd make things better at home.

That wasn't an option, unfortunately.

Because giving away the money would imply that there is something more valuable hidden in the Second's estate, which wastrue. Fuck, it didn't even take Tsunade a full day of looking at documents to find his journals on Edo Tensei!Not even a full day! And she knew her granduncle better than to assume that it was the worst of what he had hidden in his library.

Why would he ever entrust all this to her?

Tsunade had plenty of time to burn, between training and helping at home, as she was not yet assigned a genin team. She utilized said opportunities to rebuild her relationship with a reluctant Mito who only allowed it out of respect for Tobirama's dying wish.

If Tsunade used the need to secure some sensitive documents as a stepping stone in that endeavor, no one could fault her for it. Mito found it easier to bond with her granddaughter when they were getting work done, either way.

She had one condition, though: Mito didn't want to know the contents of whatever she was sealing.

Tsunade didn't care, as long as the journals never,everfell into Danzo's hands.

"You're a genin, Tsunade, and an adult in the eyes of the law." Began her mother, her tone grave.

The woman had called on a 'family meeting' that evening: dinner, basically, followed by tea and conversation.

Tsunade knew not to expect sunshine and rainbows but even years of Keiichi's training could not have equipped her to deal with this sort of absolute bullshit.

"You've done well for yourself." Agreed her father, likely blind and deaf to the fact that he was an unwilling pawn in his wife's manipulations. It's what Tsunade preferred to believe, at least; acknowledging that both her parents were cruel, rather than plain stupid, might've broken her just then.

"Nawaki is still young, however," Continued her father, "and he requires a lot of our time and attention."

His wife tested a hand on his thigh and nodded her agreement. "We will always be your parents, Tsunade, and you arealwayswelcome here." She continued. "We may be unable to support your current career but, should you choose another, we would support you however we can."

Tsunade was reeling, her fists clenched so hard that her nails dug crescents into her flesh. How her father, the Senju Clan Head (for fuck's sake!) missed the issued ultimatum was beyond her.

She grit her teeth.

"Am I not your daughter?" Tsunade asked eventually, voice hoarse. Trust her mother to be able to break her composure despite her best efforts to stay calm, or at ast look it.

"Am I not your child, still?" The girl continued. "Do I not deserve your love, your nourishment, to have my achievements celebrated?"

"Are we not your parents?" Countered her mother, the anger she did so well suppressing, until then, slipping into her tone. "Yet you deny us access to your granduncle's estate-"

"-that's different-"

"It is," Agreed her father, interrupting their argument, "and it is much,muchworse. Do you not understand, daughter, that there may be valuables you could never hope to utilize, in that home?" His eyes bore into hers, then, as if he was pleading for her to understand. "Weapons, techniques-"

"Oji-san understood that, too." Tsunade cut him off, matching his desperation note to note. She really didn't want to be having this conversation. "And yet, he chose to leave his estateto me. I trust him to know what he was doing."

She had barely finished speaking when the sound of a loud slap resonated in the room. It took Tsunade several seconds to catch on to the fact that her head was now turned sideways and her cheek was pulsing with pain.

"Donot," began her father, his voice a low growl that made the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise, "interrupt me."

Tsunade said nothing. In fact, she didn't even turn her head back yet, too shocked by the unfolding events to respond to them.

The man continued: "You've disobeyed us on every turn for years, Tsunade. Your mother madeeveryeffort to ensure that you're educated and prepared for the life that awaits you, yet you stubbornly persist on walking a perpendicular path. Do you not understand that it is beneath you? Women of your standing should not do such gruesome work."

She said nothing. What could she say, really? This conversation was already over. The outcome of this attempted intervention was set in stone.

Did her mother really think that she could threaten Tsunade into submission? Did she really not know her own daughter at all?

Her father continued: "My uncle would not allow us to discipline you,our own daughter, and now my mother has taken up his mantle." He seethed, angry enough to betray such curious information to the daughter he was so cross with. "If you don't stop this, daughter, not only will you bring shame to your family - you will live a loveless, miserable life. Doreconsider." He spat the last word out as if it was poison.

Keiichi's voice reverberated through Tsunade's head, then, offering encouragement and support and the sort of unconditional love she always wanted to have from her parents.

None of it was enough to prevent the sharp stab of pain in her chest but they at least steadied Tsunade enough that her expression wouldn't betray it.

She won't give her parents the satisfaction of knowing how deeply they wounded her.

Tsunade donned the mask of the Little Queen, then, which was steadily becoming a habit, before turning back to her parents.

Slowly. Calmly. Like a predator who had been slighted rather than the helpless lamb they insisted on seeing her as.

She met her father's gaze and saw, perhaps for the last time, the man who had taken her on trips through the village when she was younger. The man who told her bedtime stories on the rare occasions when he was home. The man who had always been soft and kind and loving.

Then, for the first time out of many, Tsunade saw him for what he really was.

The man who'd been twisted by the duty that fell onto his shoulders unexpectedly. The man who fell victim to his wife's vicious manipulations and struck his own daughter.

"I understand." Tsunade nodded, her tone grim, though in truth she really didn't. She couldn't imagine discarding her family, pushing it away as they did, not for all the power and influence in the world.

She added, formally: "Would you still allow me to spend time with my brother?"

Her mother's features softened, at that, and there was the slightest hint of pain in her eyes. Just a ghost of it, really, but Tsunade saw it and felt nothing for the woman. Nothing at all.

"Of course." She replied, not weighted down by guilt in the least.

That night, Tsunade packed her things, picked up a framed photo of herself holding a giggling Nawaki and left for her granduncle's home.

She made herself tea in the kitchen where she used to cook for him and quickly realized that she couldn't stay there. Not even for a single night.

So she left.

It took Tsunade about half a morning to locate a small apartment she could rent. The girl chose the part of the village where orphaned genin usually lived, which would put her close to her peers and thus might prove beneficial, at some point.

She spent the next days making several investments in developing technologies that sheknewwould bring her profit, eventually, but kept the rest of the money where it was. Her grandfather would laugh at her taking to gambling again but Tsunade didn't want to pick up a habit; if she won this round, she'll reinvest the money. Until then, she kept the rest safe in the heavily sealed house.

Tsunade spent the next week getting acquainted with the shinobi part of Konoha. She traded her labor to learn basic skills from the craftspeople: how to properly sharpen her weapons, how to pack for a mission, how to clean blood off her clothes. How to select armor or weapons and how to trigger explosive tags, even if she couldn't make her own, yet.

She met Mito for tea, twice; both times her visit coincided with Arashi's and she got to sit in on their sealing lessons.

Tsunade saw where her grandmother was going with this. Mito's clumsy offer at mentorship and tutelage made her want to laugh and cry simultaneously.

She couldn't accept it. Not now. Not yet. There were several other skills she needed to perfect before she could afford to expand her horizons.

Tsunade allowed herself those weeks to slack off but the grief began catching up to her; she needed to occupy herself with something. Desperately so.

So she met up with Shou to spar. They didn't talk. She wasn't ready yet.

But he offered her a hand up every time he knocked her down, without fail, and did not comment on her lackluster performanceonce.

When she wasn't training with the Uchiha, Tsunade sat in the barrier-surrounded garden of her late granduncle's house -her newly acquired 'private training ground' - and worked on a new technique.

The most complex one she had attempted so far.

It will take time, mapping the chemicals released in her brain when she experienced satisfaction, but it had to be done; Tsunade wouldn't survive very long without it.

If she could crack the code of her body's instincts, she couldrewrite them.

It's been a month since the peace talks started. There was no war, not really, but there was no peace, either.

Tsunade had managed, in that time, to accurately replicate a boost of dopamine and serotonin in her brain.

Which was awesome, but also terrifying, because she was essentially getting herself high. Not very high -the boost was so slight that it would match the sensation of getting a minor chore done- but it was still noteworthy, and still potentially addictive.

Tsunade was too paranoid, toocarefulto risk it.

She didn't dare practice the technique more than once every three days and, even then, she made sure to take long breaks between attempts.

As soon as she had it figured out and was confident in her ability to replicate the sensation, the girl stopped completely.

The next step was to scan her body, to the last molecule, and maintain a strong image of it on her mind.

Tsunade began spending more time than usual meditating with Shou to try and bridge that gap.

Many of her mornings began at her parents' home, either caring for or playing with Nawaki. Tsunade sometimes arrived before her mother had woken and had thus granted the woman several extra hours of sleep, which she seemed to at least appreciate.

It was on one such day, while Tsunade was trying to get Nawaki to say her name, that her mother joined the pair and silently watched their interactions. Trying to get the adorable, energetic little kid in her lap to say "Tsunade" would have been a waste of time, of course, but "Tsuna" wasn't too outlandish; currently, however, the girl remained a very hilarious "Hoo-Ha." Not bad, but also not what she was going for.

"Why do you insist on going against us, Tsunade?" Her mother asked, sounding tired and pained. The blonde raised her eyes to meet the woman's gaze, finding twin wells of desperation. "Your father and I only want what's best for you. What's best for our clan. If only you could cease this stupidity regarding becoming a kunoichi,we could be a family."

'No', thought Tsunade,'we could not.'

"I am a kunoichi, mother." She replied quietly, averting her gaze when her mother's dark eyes shifted to her altered hitae-ate. It was her granduncle's forehead protector that she wore; scratched and damaged by time and battle, with the plates at the sides broken off, but still his. Tsunade didn't feel worthy of it, having barely passed her genin exams, but she couldn'tnotwear it, either.

She missed him. She missed him so fucking much.

And if the forehead protector were to be damaged in battle… her oji-san would be glad that it had served its purpose and protected her.

"Why must you do this?" Asked her mother, pinching the bridge of hrt nose. "Why is it so important to you? There are other,betterways to help the village."

Tsunade shouldn't have graced that question with an answer. It was pointless. Her mother would never,everunderstand.

But the girl loved her mother, still, through everything that separated them, so she met the woman's eyes again and told her the truth: "There are things only I can do for the village." Tsunade paused. "It'll be a while, still, before I have anything to show for it. When the time comes, however, I hope that you'll understand. I hope that you'll be glad that I chose this path."

"That will never happen." Her mother replied, her voice saturated in venom and the anger in her eyes back in full force.

I know, Tsunade didn't say,but hope does not bow to things as meager as a cruel reality.

Notes:

Again, this was a filler chapter. I made it as bearable to read as I could but I'm sorry if it was still bland. I promise that the next chapters are fun (and fluffy! kinda! But mostly sassy cause, well, Oro is there.)

(My goal is to get all this stuff out of the way ASAP so that I could write Orochimaru again LOL)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, still! I'm gonna keep the notes short, for once, cause I gotta go study (;-;) but if you have any questions about what happened in it hit me up in the comments!

Love you guys, have a great rest of your week :)

Chapter 27: Fresh Start

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade meets her genin team and they go through introductions. She's getting increasingly pissed off about how the Hokage treats Orochimaru.

He gives them the bell test.

Tsunade finally learns a little about why Orochimaru is treated like he is but brushes it off in favor of working with him. Together, they aim to get the bells off the Hokage.

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

First things first: I added an emotional/psychological abuse tag. Ty to Damn_Son who pointed out that it was necessary.
If there are any more tags missing or ones you feel this work could benefit from, let me know!

Next thing is, to the surprise of absolutely no one, a thank you. You guys are absolutely awesome with your support of this fic and I can't believe we're so close to 20k hits and I just-

I just.

Thank you. ;-;

Last thing before I let you go: it's still Oct 28th for me but I couldn't wait to post this xD Next update is still Nov 1st, though! :P

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

It was fall when the peace treaty was finally signed.

Not a week after the celebrations died down, Tsunade was summoned to the Hokage's office. She didn't need the details in the provided scroll to guess the reason behind her impending visit.

"Good morning." Sarutobi Hiruzen greeted the three genin, all of whom had arrived on time. Orochimaru's face was a blank mask of boredom, Jiraiya was bouncing on his toes and Tsunade just stood there, quietly reeling.

Because this was so fucking stupid.

Andarrogant. Stupid and arrogant.

Whose fucking idea was it to give the Hokage a genin team, anyway? Probably his own. Fuck. Tsunade wondered, for a moment, if the Third's initiative to take on a team stemmed from a desire to avoid paperwork.

She knew it didn't, though.

In the end, like Kagami, Sarutobi Hiruzen was willing to go to great lengths to keep any promises he made to his sensei, as well as any promises he had made himself following said sensei's untimely demise.

Either way, judging by the way his gaze flickered to the blonde more often than it did the other two, the Third thought that it was his duty,personally, to keep Tsunade safe where her granduncle couldn't.

Since she elected to pursue the path of a kunoichi, the best way to assure her safety was to train her himself.

Which was what brought them here.

"Are you to be our jounin sensei?" Asked Orochimaru, his tone lacking both inflection and any ounce of respect. In that moment, Tsunade absolutely adored him, the slimy fucker.

"Indeed." Acknowledged the Hokage, unfazed by the boy's attitude. "Come; let us speak elsewhere."

Tsunade still thought that it was fucking stupid that, rather than take care of a villageonly barely out of war, the Hokage was frolicing with a bunch of kids in some empty training ground. Why was he ever the Sannins' sensei in canon, anyway? It made absolutely no sense to straddle a very green Hokage with kids.

Gods. She needed to get over it, over herself; she couldn't keep quietly seething over the new arrangement. For better or for worse, this is how things played out - all Tsunade could do was make the best out of it.

The rest was her sensei's problem.

"So, how about you tell me about yourselves?" Began the Hokage, smiling kindly at his three ducklings like an indulgent mother duck. "Your likes, dislikes, your dreams. Any notable skills or ones you'd like to add to your arsenal and so on."

"I'll go first!" Cheered Jiraiya, his dark eyes wide with excitement and his fluffy white hair bouncing in sync with jumping. "My name is Jiraiya! I like girls and I don't like that public baths are separated by gender! My dream is to own a bathhouse so that I can make my own rules!"

Tsunade couldn't suppress the shudder that ran through her. For whatever reason, she had deluded herself into believing that the boy acquired his pervertedness at a later stage in life - as a teen, maybe, when the hormones hit him. She wasn't prepared for Kid Jiraya to peep on her, dear fuckingGod.

"Do you have any notable talents?" Asked the Hokage, his voice slightly strained. The blonde wondered if he regretted his decision to take three kids under his wing, yet. If not, then he will.Soon. Likely due to something Orochimaru said or did.

Serves him right.

"Yeah!" The genin in question nodded enthusiastically. "I can do haiku!"

"Oh?" Tsunade perked up at that. "Is that so?"

The boy's expression brightened as he looked at her, his grin stretching even wider. "Sure! Want to hear one?"

"We would like to hear one, yes." Agreed the Hokage, his voice betraying his amusement.

"Awesome! Here goes:

Sunny evenfall,

then ethereal forest,

betrayed by the dream."

"Very good." The Hokage nodded, his lips stretched into a genuine smile.

Tsunade could't compose a haiku to save her life so it was safe to say that she, too, was impressed. When her white-haired teammate turned to gauge her reaction, Tsunade offered him a small, hesitant smile.

Jiraiyabeamed.

"Would you like to go next?" Hiruzen asked Orochimaru. Tsunade didn't miss how the mirth previously saturating his voice was gone, now replaced with cool suspicion and weariness. She'd managed to forget, somehow, that the jounin of Konoha thought of Orochimaru as a ticking bomb, an unavoidable disaster. She still didn't know why; her grandmother would tell her, if she asked, but Tsunade wasn't sure she wanted to.

She already knew that they were right about him. She already knew what sort of monster Orochimaru would grow up to become. Prying into his past, at this point, felt like overkill.

But the thing that itched at her mind wasn't her foreknowledge; it was the Hokage's lack thereof. Sarutobi Hiruzendidn'tknow what path Orochimaru was bound to take. Hedidn'tknow that the boy would grow up to become his killer.

And Tsunade couldn't help but wonder, in a world where all adults treated him like the enemy, if Orochimaru could even be blamed for rising up to their expectations.

This… this wasn't right. If what he did was that awful, Orochimaru wouldn't have been left alive,especially not in wartime. So why was everyone so fucking cruel to him?

No. Again, she didn't want to know.

"Fine." Hissed the pale boy, rubbing at the purple marks near the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Wait. Jiraiya had eye-marks, too, and so did the Third. Was Tsunade the only plain-looking person on this team?

Fuck.

"Orochimaru." The long-haired boy introduced himself bluntly. "I like learning new techniques. I dislike people who areweak." He spat the word out, infusing it with venom.

After her last few conversations with her parents, Tsunade didn't even flinch.

"I am skilled in kenjutsu and ninjutsu." He continued. Then, to finish the introduction, he said: "I have no dream."

"Come, my boy, there must be something that you would want of the future." Tried the Hokage, proving that he didn't know Orochimaruat all. Whatever it was that he was told in the briefing about him had no bearing in reality if that's the sort of question he would ask.

Orochimaru stared at the Hokage, his eyes narrowed. "No."

The Third coughed and turned his attention to Tsunade. "Very well, then. Tsunade-chan?"

"I am Senju Tsunade." She introduced herself politely, then bowed. "I like my brother, Nawaki. I dislike war. My dreams are my own."

Orochimaru snorted. "You dislikewar?" He repeated, his tone a mockery of her own. "It's not too late to discard your hitae-ate,Princess."

"One does not need to enjoy violence to resort to its use." Their sensei cut in, backing Tsunade up. "Many shinobi - and kunoichi," He corrected himself, nodding at the blonde, "walk this path so that their loved ones don't have to. We are protectors before we are fighters, Orochiamru-kun."

The golden-eyed boy just huffed, clearly unimpressed.

Hiruzen then turned back to Tsunade: "Any notable skills?"

"I have good chakra control." She offered with a shrug. "And a high tolerance for pain."

That caught Orochiamaru's attention because, when they last sparred, her pain tolerance wasabysmal.

Tsunade had done a lot of stabbing herself and amputating body parts, since, and felt justified in her claim despite his obvious doubt.

"Very good, very good. Now, allow me to introduce myself: I am Sarutobi Hiruzen. I like salty food and sunny days and I dislike unsweetened tea and sandstorms. My dream is for Konoha to have peace -lastingpeace- and I am skilled in multiple elemental transformations as well as sensory jutsu, sealing and shurikenjutsu. I'm looking forward to teaching you three." He said, then followed his speech up with a big, genuine smile that only looked the slightest bit strained when he glanced at Orochimaru.

Tsunade barely suppressed her sneer.

Which was odd, because why the fuck did she even care about how Orochimaru was treated or how he turned out? They weren't friends. Or something.

Ugh.

The Hokage didn't keep them in the training grounds for much longer: he left them with instructions to get to know each other and to arrive at the same place early the next morning. He even advised them against eating - the whole shebang.

For the first time since she was reincarnated, Tsunade felt like she was cheating, because the bell test was gonna be a breeze.

"Wanna go out for Akimichi BBQ?" Suggested Jiraiya, all sunshine and rainbows and joy-filled grins.

Tsunade kinda pitied him for being grouped with weirdos like herself and Orochimaru.

"No." Replied the other boy on her team. Then, without saying anything more, Orochimaru turned back and left.

Okay.

"We should probably just meet tomorrow." Murmured Tsunade, watching his long hair bounce against his back as he moved so smoothly that it looked as if he was gliding atop the grass.

Jiraiya's shoulders fell. "Yeah."

"Hey, don't worry." The blonde offered with a kind smile. "We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other, y'know? We're gonna be a team."

Jiraiya brightened right back up. "Yeah!" He cheered. "We'll make the best team, Tsunade-hime, you'll see! and I'll be the strongest ninja and marry you-"

"Gotta go. Bye!" Was all she managed to say before bolting, unwilling to let the conversation devolve any further.

Cause the thought of Jiraiya having a crush on her, apparently, gave her jitters. God, why was this happening?Why? Couldn't she have a nice platonic relationship with her teammates?

Well, probably not, cause Orochimaru hated her, but whatever.

Again,ugh.

Unlike Hatake Kakashi, who wouldn't be born for a while, still, Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived for the survival exercise on time.

Good. Tsunade would have been a bad fit for someone like Kakashi, if only because her temper would have gotten the better of her sooner rather than later. She'd already fucked up Danzo's first impression of her; she didn't need to make things worse.

The blonde remained perfectly calm as the Third explained the stakes: two bells, three students, one of whom will not get to proceed with their career at this time. Her teammates' reactions were much more interesting than the rules: Jiraiya was quiet and determined, more focused than anything she'd seen him broadcast before, while Orochimaru was cold and calculating and kept shooting Tsunade unreadable glances.

The blonde, in turn, tried to maintain a poker face. She was quite successful until Hiruzen elected to add one more suggestion to the mix: "Come at me with the intent to kill." He said, voice calm but sharp and challenging all the same. "You won't be able to get the bells, otherwise."

She'd been looking at Orochimaru when he spoke and thus caught the split-second before the pale boy schooled his expression. For a brief moment, following that statement, Orochimaru's golden eyes glinted with cruelty and the corners of his lips were tugged up into something that could not reasonably be labeled a smile.

He was just as scary, then, as he was under the effect of the genjutsu he had cast when they first spoke.

But then it was all gone and only a perfectly calm Orochimaru remained.

Without further ado, the bell test began. Jiraiya was off before Tsunade could so much as open her mouth, already chasing after their sensei.

She facepalmed. "Are you going to run off, too?" She muttered to Orocimaru, who had not yet abandoned his position by her side.

"No." He said. Tsunade removed her hand from her eyes to look at him.

Orochimaru had filled out, somewhat, since they last held a proper conversation; he had clearly found a way to secure sufficient food and supplies after breaking off his arrangement with her and looked better off for it. He'd grown quite a lot but Tsunade was still his superior in height - she was taller than both boys on her team, in fact, though Jiraiya was the most muscular of the three.

The marks around his eyes seemed more prominent, perhaps longer than they were before, and that made his golden, snake-like eyes all the more ethereal and otherworldly.

"No?" She repeated, momentarily distracted by the intensity of his gaze.

"No." He agreed. "You may be beneath me in skill but there is a wider gap, still, between you and that waste of space. These bells are ours; I find myself curious as to how you intended to go about getting yours."

"With your help, of course." Tsunade folded her hands across her chest, ignoring his arrogant remark about the disparity in their skill. "I'm not delusional enough to think myself capable of stealing from a jounin, much less the Hokage."

Orochimaru snorted. "Jounin are not all that they're made up to be."

"You can't seriously think that you could best a jounin in single combat." She argued, because that was preposterous.

"I killed one. It wasn't very hard." There was venom in his voice, now, and fire entangled with the wicked words. She could tell, by the way he watched her, that he expected Tsunade to recoil at the admission. To find him terrifying, monstrous, to look at him the same way that their sensei did.

Instead, Tsunade was sharply curious.

"If you think that you can get a bell from the Hokage when he's ready and expecting you, you're not as smart as I thought you were, Orochimaru-kun."

She was prepared for him to snap at her, to sneer, to growl.

Instead, Orochimaru grinned. "I'm much smarter than you think I am." He informed her. "So. Your plan?"

Tsunade decided that this wasn't the best time to argue with him. If anything, now was a good opportunity to utilize his relatively-not-antagonistic attitude and capitalize on his willingness to speak to her at all.

"Jiraiya isn't going to work with us." She began. "He's off trying to get a bell on his own. We can't work with him but we can workoffhim."

"You mean to use him as a distraction." Orochimaru clarified.

"Yes, but one won't be enough. I'll be a second distraction. Do you think you can get the bells?"

"You would trust me to give you one?" He wondered out loud, raising a brow.

"You may not like me, Orochimaru, but you'd rather have me on your team than Jiraiya. Don't play coy. So, will you hear out my plan?"

The boy hummed. "I'm willing to listen."

Tsunade sighed in relief. "Alright." She nodded. "First, tell me this : what ninjutsu can you perform?"

Notes:

Okay editing to add this but check out this haiku from thiskingdomwillendure

I love this story
I can't wait for more Oro
Ugh, but Jiraiya

I'm gonna pat myself on the back here for "And Tsunade couldn't help but wonder, in a world where all adults treated him like the enemy, if Orochimaru could even be blamed for rising up to their expectations."

I'm not absolving Orochimaru, dw, he's still responsible for who and what he is, but isn't that paragraph great? Man, I'm so happy about it LOL :D:D:D

Anyway, snake boi is back! And hes sassy! And he's (kinda) civil with Tsunade! Even though he's still a dick to her!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You waited very patiently for me to bring him back, I know, and I'll reward you for it next chapter: when Tsunade and Orochimaru execute their plan.

Oh ALSO Jiraiya finally had screen time in this chapter! I promise I'll make him not as much of a pervert, just give me time, ok? He's a good boy and a smart kid, he's just also a bit of a dumbass :D

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! AAAAAAAAAAH I can't wait to post more lol but I need to focus on uni this week so I have to keep the pre-written chapters to myself for now ;-;

Love you guys! Ty again for all the support!

Chapter 28: Fear

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

The trio go through the bell test. The Hokage puts Tsunade under the Hell Viewing technique and she sees a reanimated Tobirama wielded as a tool by an adult Orochimaru, which really pisses her off.

Tsunade and Orochimaru work together and manage to get one bell. The Third fails Tsunade and Jiraiya but lets them pass after they acknowledge the mistakes they made during the exam.

When Tsunade comes back home after it's all over she is forced to reconsider how detached she is, or isn't, from Orochimaru.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I think none of you are surprised that I lack patience and am uploading this a day early. Next chapter is still Nov 4th :D I'm honestly only doing it, every time, cause comments are so freaking fun and they make all the work that goes into this fic worth it. Can you believe that we're almost at 1k kudos btw? it's absurd.

Like seriously I thought I'd slow down once uni starts again but I cant cause I always feel so motivated after reading to comments. You guys are the best, OK?

TY again to everyone for supporting this fic 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Since Orochimaru would be the one responding to Tsunade's cues, it fell upon the blonde to find where the Third was toying with poor Jiraiya.

She didn't delude herself into thinking that their teacher had allowed herself and Orochimaru privacy unintentionally; in a test meant to challenge their teamwork, it was only natural for Hiruzen to encourage them to scheme.

They were going to abuse the shit out of said advantage.

Jiraiya may have thought that he'd be acting alone but he did, in fact, play a vital role in their plan, beyond just being a distraction; the degree of Tsunade's and Orochimaru's success depended on him as much as it did on either of them.

When the kunoichi arrived at the scene, peeking at the pair from behind a thick tree, she found the white-haired boy pinned to a tree by a whole bunch of shuriken. Jiraiya's arms were positioned above his head, his sleeves serving as a cushion for the stars that held him up. He was also very loudly complaining to the Hokage who, in turn, looked thoroughly amused.

Perfect.

The Third had mentioned a proficiency in sensory ninjutsu so Tsunade's attempt to conceal her chakra signature would work on him as well as it would have on her granduncle (so not at all). Tsunade wasn't going to make things easy for him just because, though; she pulled her chakra into herself and tried to sync it with that of a snake slithering under a nearby bush, with mixed results.

A barrage of shuriken prompted the Hokage to jump back and turn to the blonde, his eyebrows raised in mock curiosity. "I did wonder when you would join us, Tsunade-chan."

She didn't participate in his banter.

Tsunade, unlike her teacher, was not very proficient with her shurikenjutsu. Orochimaru was probably a decent shot but Tsunade couldn't claim much skill in the art herself, mostly due to lack of practice.

But something her teacher had failed to take into account, or simply did not know, was that her shishou was a Nara.

And the Nara were unreasonably, unimaginablylazy.

Keiichi confessed to her, once, that as a child he would use the clan jutsu to pull the shuriken back to him rather than go to the target and collect them himself. Why bother, when he had chakra-assisted telekinesis?

Tsunade, of course, was not privy to the Nara Shadow Jutsu. She could, however, manage chakrastrings.

Not well enough to control them, or make them dangerous, or to perform any complex functions. But certainly enough to drag the shuriken back to her, which the Hokage found quite interesting.

"A good way to preserve ammunition." He remarked, eyes locked onto the weapons she purposefully moved very,veryslowly. It was hard, maintaining the chakra strings for so many seconds, but the kunoichi wouldn't need them for much longer.

Twisting her other wrist, Tsunade yanked at the shuriken pinning her teammate's left arm to the tree, which she caught with strings while her opponent was preoccupied.

With Jiraiya's hand free he could remove the rest and Tsunade was content to leave her own shuriken on the ground, also.

"Very well done." Praised the Third. "But what now?"

Tsunade attacked.

She had no hopes of defeating the fucking Hokage,the God of Shinobi, but she needed him to attack her to commence with the next stage of her plan: that, and a similar effort from Jiraiya.

Thankfully, the boy was eager to play right into her hands.

Tsunade had no qualms about coming after her teacher 'with the intent to kill': She'd healed Shou often enough, at this point, to be confident that she could heal him should it be necessary.

Which was very likely because, again,God of Shinobi.

With that knowledge held firmly in her mind, Tsunade threw kunai at her sensei's face, shuriken at his torso and aimed kick after vicious kick to his knees and ankles.

Unlike her, Jiraiya chose to keep his weapons close: he came at the Hokage with battlecries that announced his intentions and swiped at him repeatedly in an attempt to land so much as a scratch, but to no avail. While he occupied the Hokage's hands, forcing him to parry his assault, Tsunade once again went for his legs.

Their teacher turned his head for a brief moment to catch Tsunade's eyes, which was enough to make her world shift and blur and change until she stood in a forest not unlike the one they had been fighting in, only a little dimmer and thicker and notably emptier.

Excluding the one other entity occupying the space.

Before Tsunade stood Senju Tobirama in all his glory, with his hitae-ate intact and covering the sides of his face - the same one Tsunade herself wore in that very moment. He stood tall and strong and healthy but his sclerae were black, the red of his irises standing out against the dark background. The cracks in his skin drew her attention to how his mouth was set into a frown, a disappointed one, and the ones running down his fingers pointed to the kunai he held in his hand.

Another figure stepped out from behind the white-haired man, equally tall and strong but much,muchmore cheshire and smug. An adult Orochimaru was smirking down at her, a familiar journal in hand, his snake-like eyes glinting with satisfaction.

He looked nothing,nothinglike the boy she knew. His skin was white porcelain that made him look like a corpse rather than a person, his golden eyes glowed as if illuminated by sunlight from within, the marks around his eyes were darker and sharper and so,solong. Where her Orochimaru had wicked wisdom in his eyes, this one had sadistic mirth. Where confidence and determination should have graced his lips, Tsunade could only see cruel joy at her predicament.

The worst fucking part was that, even in this living nightmare, Orochimaru was as ethereal in his beauty as ever. His otherworldly grace made him look like a king, aGodamong men, even as he stood alone in the forest that was dead or dying around him.

A creature of destruction designed to lure even the most pure-hearted person to their doom.

"I must thank you, Princessss." He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse but as alluring and alien as the rest of him. "None of thisss would have been possible had you not been sstupid enough totrussst me." He continued, his forked tongue peeking out of his mouth as he spoke.

For the briefest moment, just a speck in the fabric of time Tsunade wished she was dead.

The kunoichi raised her trembling hands to her aching chest and pressed them against the soft fabric of her dress. "Kai."

The image before her perished.

Tsunade could now see Jiraiya still valiantly trying to attack his teacher and the man easily fending off the pitiful attempts. He turned to her again when he felt the genjutsu break, perhaps to check on her.

Tsunade didn't care for his intentions, in that moment, though she found grim satisfaction in the widening of his eyes when he met her gaze.

The kunoichi knew why he was surprised, of course: if she looked anywherenearas furious as she felt, he had every reason to be alarmed.

What sort of person used the Hell Viewing technique on a child who just lost a loved one? What sort of monster would do that, even if they didn't know of the demons lurking in Tsunade's head?

This was fucked up.Hehad fucked up.

And he was going to fucking regret it.

"You shouldn't have done that." She said plainly as she approached him slowly, knowing that he would hear her even if she didn't bother with yelling. Her voice was like the calm before the storm, a misleading quiet that, to those who could read it, served as a warning of the hell to come.

There was fire coursing through her veins, disguising the fear that fueled it, and Tsunade intended to use every last ounce ofboth.

She fully intended to go easy on the Hokage, before, if only for Jiraiya's benefit. Now, however, Tsunade simply did not have the required self-control.

She launched herself at him again.

Her heart wasn't in it, of course, and the Hokage could tell. It was pretty obvious that Tsunade was setting up for something and he was confident that he could handle whatever it was that she threw at him.

But he was wrong. Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know Tsunade, not as her granduncle did, not as Kagami did, and he would pay for that oversightdearly.

"Jiraiya." She said when they both ended up a fair distance away from the Hokage, her tone void of all emotion. "I'm sorry."

"Huh? What for?" He demanded. but Tsunade was already back at trying to punch the shit out of the Hokage. She left her weapons in her pouch, this time; they would only complicate things further.

When Jiraiya next attacked their sensei, kunai in hand, Tsunade moved in a way that put her between his kunai and their teacher. Her only regret that, with her back to the man, she wouldn't get to see his horror unravel via his expression.

Jiraiya ended up stabbing Tsunade in the throat hard enough that she could feel her spine break where his kunai had struck it.

"Tsunade!" Roared the Third from behind her, louder even that Jiraiya's bloodcurdling scream. He pulled the weapon out on pure instinct, leaving Tsunade to bleed out even faster.

It hurt.A lot. But, on her way down to the ground, Tsunade managed to turn her head enough to catch Orochimaru's gaze, knowing where he was hidden, and mouth something that was hopefully along the lines of 'Now'.

The boy shunshined behind their sensei just as the older man wrapped his arms around the blonde. He tried to grab at the bells but the Third smacked him away so hard that he was sent flying into a nearby tree, shattering the bark.

"How can you focus on the bells when your teammate is bleeding out?!" He roared, his voice saturated with hurt and fear and anger so fierce that Tsunade shuddered in his arms.

Orochimaru was up on his feet the next moment, grinning wildly with a manic glint in his golden eyes.

This.Thisis what Orochimaru should look like. Smug and proud of himself and satisfied and wicked but not evil.Neverevil.

It was Tsunade's first time seeing him bleeding, or dirty, or covered in dust and earth, but Orochimaru never looked more majestic to her than he did in that moment, proudly holding up the single bell in his pinched fingers. "Sorry, Princess." He said through his teeth, still smirking even as blood painted his smile red. "I only got the one."

"I'd argue that I did all the work for this one." Replied Tsunade, drawing the Third's attention back to her. He was so shocked to find the kunoichi's clothes and skin unmarred that he dropped her to the ground, making Tsunade gather plenty of dirt of her own.

Now she and Orochimaru were matching. Great.

Her teacher then touched Tsunade's neck to make sure that she was, indeed, unharmed. There was no blood on her clothes, for the liquid had chakra in it: as long as Tsunade had a point of contact, it was no problem to absorb it back into herself again. She could just use the same technique with which she made her neck whole again (while her sensei wasn't looking).

The execution of their plan was absolutely perfect. It really was a shame that Orochimaru only got one bell.

"Genjutsu?" Muttered the Hokage, still wide-eyed and rather pale compared to his usual tan.

Tsunade just grinned.

Then, the timer rang, and Jiraiya was the first to bemoan what it signaled.

"Oh, man!"

"Orochimaru was the only one to get a bell within the time limit." The Hokage said gravely, still shooting wary glances at Tsunade. She was having second thoughts about her bold display of skill but there was no point in regretting her actions now, as she could not alter them. She'll manage, somehow, and if worse came to worst she would just confess. It's not like the Third would send her off to be a medic… right?

Anyway.

"You both fail." He continued. "Orochimaru, congratulations - I will take you as my student."

Tsunade's heart dropped to her stomach. What? Where was the talk about teamwork? Where was all the jazz about people who leave their comrades behind being worse than trash? Seeing underneath the underneath-

Wait.

Those… those were all Kakashi, weren't they? Kakashi and Sakumo.

Shit! Did she actually just fail the exam? She couldn't afford to go back to the Academy!

"However." The Hokage continued, snapping Tsunade out of her growing panic. "If you two manage to tell mewhyyou failed the exam, I'll let you pass."

Tsunade raised her gaze, her wide brown eyes meeting her teacher's.

"Really?" Jiraiya perked up at that.

"Really." Acknowledged the Third. "You may go first, Jiraiya-kun. Why do you think you failed the test?"

"You were just too strong!" Replied the boy. "We never stood a chance."

"Wrong." Said the Third, shaking his head.

"Jiraiya." Tsunade spoke quietly. "You're smarter than this. You know the answer."

The boy pursed his lips and looked away from her, dejected. "Fine." He muttered after a brief pause, slouching. "It's because I was jealous, okay? Tsunade-hime and this bastard did so much better than me in the Academy and they get along really,reallywell when they aren't busy fighting. I tried talking to both of them when we were in class but it never worked. They already have good teamwork, they always did well in spars, and It's really obvious that with two bells I would be the odd one out, y'know?"

"Jiraiya…" Tsunade muttered, her jaw falling dropping in disbelief. How had she missed this? She didn't even remember him talking to her at the Academy,ever. But he probably did, didn't he? Jiraiya was friends witheveryonein class.

Everyone, except her and Orochimaru.

"I didn't know what else I was supposed to do." He finished quietly.

Tsunade felt… awful, because everything he said was true.Everything. He was supposed to be her teammate and she had discarded him as a liability as soon as the test was announced. Fuck, she made him stab her in the throat without even considering what sort of impact it would have on a six-year-old other than the immediate discomfort.

Holy shit, shesucked.

"I failed because I didn't trust Jiraiya." She began, her gaze glued to her hands. "I was willing to work with Orochimaru from the get-go but I didn't even ponder the possibility of working with Jiraiya, only around him." She bit her lip. "I thought I could workwithhim, like that, but I was wrong; I can't work as part of a team with him until I learn to rely on him like I would in myself."

"And how do you suggest addressing this issue?" The Third prompted her. Tsunade looked up to find a small smile tugging at his lips.

She knew it for what it was.An opportunity.An opening.

"I need to train with him." She replied confidently. "A lot. Enough that I can predict his movements and trust him to know mine well enough to back me up if needed. So I'd just need… time."

The Third nodded. "And you, Jiraiya?"

The white-haired boy flushed as red as the markings under his eyes. "I should've tried to work with Tsunade-hime and the bastard." He grumbled.

"Indeed." Agreed the Hokage, then rested one huge palm on each of their heads and grinned. "I suppose you two have potential, after all. Congratulations - you pass."

Jiraiya brightened up and began cheering immediately, earning a soft smile from Tsunade and a deep chuckle from their sensei.

"Wait." Said Jiraiya once he'd calmed down, somewhat. "What about him? He hijacked Tsunade-hime's plan to get a bell! Why doesn't he get to talk about his mistakes?"

"That's because I didn't make any." Replied Orochimaru, sounding bored, of all things. "I selected my teammate as a team-leader, divulged all the information that she asked of me and followed her plan as well as her cues."

"But she did all the work!"

"We acted as a team, Jiraiya-kun." Tsunade reluctantly agreed with the pale boy. "His victory was mine. If this was a mission, it wouldn't have mattered which one of us got the bell: the team is a single entity."

"Precisely." Agreed the Hokage. "You did very well, Orochimaru-kun. I must apologize for the excessive force I used."

"I came at you with the intent to kill." The boy brushed him off calmly, completely unfazed.

The Hokage did not push him further.

They took a team photo, after that, and the Hokage treated them to mochi. He informed them that they shall be taking their first D-rank the next morning, much to Jiraiya's excitement.

When Tsunade got home later that day and unloaded the bento she made for the (likely) scenario that she would have to feed one of her teammates, she froze.

In the box, staring at her, was every last one of Orochimaru's favorites that she had absentmindedly shoved in there while in a tired daze, earlier that morning.

Every. Last. One.

Fuck.

Notes:

I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don't believe that the Nara would use their shadow jutsu to avoid picking up shuriken that missed the target. Cmon. Do it. Lie to my face.

Also omg describing how Tsunade sees adult Orochimaru is so fun. Why is he a baby? I want to write MOAR.

Anyway isn't it nice to have OroTsu be kinda civil with one another again? And the fluff of Tsunade still caring for Orochimaru despite everything? Idk about you but I'm having a blast lol :D

That's it for my rant! See you guys in a few days!

PS I added a bunch of tags of the "enemies to lovers" variety but their relationship is gonna be such a roller-coaster I'm not sure those fit lol. Might remove them later.

Chapter 29: Unlikely Allies

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

the team has their first training session: Jiraiya and Orochimaru practice water walking and Tsunade, who already knows that trick, is taught a basic lightning jutsu by the Hokage.

The team later run errands for Intelligence as a D-rank and end up in the Police Force building where Tsunade is stared at very openly. Shou happens to be there, though, and comes to the rescue by broadcasting how friendly he is with her. She's treated fine after that though Orochimaru very obviously feels a certain kind of way about the interaction.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Hello loves,
I apologize in advance if the notes are a bit messy, I've been sick so I'm pretty sleep deprived :)
The end notes for this chapter contain a question about the direction you guys would want me to take this fic in the future. I'd love it if you took the time to answer it! 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

PS you guys are legitimately the best. I just realized that I've been sick for 3 days and that whole time the only thing I looked forward to was uploading this chapter. Do you even realize how amazing you are? TY.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The most curious thing about that day's events was that, though Tsunade originally intended to heal the damage to her throat during the bell test, it was the transformation technique that answered her call.

It just… came easier, to her, apparently. Almost automatically.

Which was a very relevant development in the context of the new skill she was trying to develop.

See, Tsunade had replicated the signals sent by her brain when she experienced satisfaction and the memorized default,healthystate of her body with a very specific reason in mind: she was going to make herself into Pavlov's dog.

Rather than play with a metronome before food is served, though, she played with the stuff in her brain directly when healing, or nowa transformationwas performed.

The goal, which seemed attainable under those conditions, was to trick her body into transforming into its 'default' state whenever Tsunade was injured. It would be awfully convenient if she could be restored to health even when unconscious, wouldn't it?

So she practiced.

She started with minor injuries only; a cut on her arm, a minor transformation to mend the skin and an equally minor boost of dopamine following the successful restoration of her form.

She won't graduate to anything bigger until she has successfully automated that, at least l. If her experiment proved successful and the cut was healed without her intervention, she would proceed.

Having spent the afternoon conditioning herself in her granduncle's backyard, Tsunade returned to her home satisfied and rather tired, if she were to be honest.

Tired enough not to think about how the fact that her dinner, repurposed from her bento, would force her to face her unreasonable attachment to Orochimaru again.

At least she had further proof that the brain could easily be conditioned, maybe?

Tsunade made sure to bring different food the next morning when she met her team for training.

"Morning." She greeted her two teammates, who were already waiting in the shade of a nearby tree.

"Good morning, Tsunade-hime!" Cheered Jiraiya, cutting off the monologue he was previously inflicting on Orochimaru.

"I actually wanted to apologize for yesterday, Jiraiya-kun." Tsunade began quietly, then offered a shallow bow. "It must have been scary for you, to see me like that. I was angry at sensei and wanted to scare him but ended up making you uncomfortable, too."

"It's no problem!" He brushed her off. His smile most definitely did not reach his eyes. Fuck. "And Jiraiya is fine, Tsunade-hime."

She shot him an awkward smile. "Then Tsunade is fine, too. We're a team now, right? Pretty much a family."

The white-haired boy reddened at that. "No way, Tsunade-hime. You're aprincess."

"I am no such thing." She protested.

Before Jiraiya could argue further, though, their sensei arrived.

Tsunade didn't expect their first lesson to focus on treewalking but considered it a pleasant surprise: the fact that all three genin on the Hokage's team were capable of the skill was even better. He tested them a little to make sure they had it all figured out before advancing to waterwalking.

Jiraiya, who only ever learned treewalking because he saw other shinobi doing it and thought that it was cool, didn't have an easy time. Tsunade reminded herself that the fact that he taught himself such a skill was remarkable in itself; Jiraiya may not be as sharp as her or Orochimaru but he was still destined to grow into one of the strongest shinobi, like, ever, wasn't he? It was easy to look down on a smart kid when she had foreknowledge and life experience and, most of all,resourcesto fall back on. Tsunade always had teachers willing to guide her through her exercises, until now.

A part of her dared not admit that she stopped using said advantage, recently, because any reasonable adult would warn her off the technique she was attempting.

But Tsunade was confident.

Anyway, the point was that Jiraiya fell into the river. Immediately.

He bravely climbed back out and tried again, though.

Orochimaru was a little wobbly and clearly unpracticed but he didn't fall in. Tsunade, who had been honing her chakra control almost exclusively for the past two years, was gliding atop the water as if she was wearing skis.

"Come, Tsunade-chan, we'll find you something else to do." Said the Hokage, gesturing for her to leave the water, appearing rather satisfied at her show of skill.

"Yes, sensei." She called. Then, when she joined him, she asked: "Would you please teach me elemental ninjutsu? I don't know any." It wasn't entirely a lie; one wouldn't normally think of Yang release when speaking of chakra natures.

"We could do that, yes." Agreed the Hokage. "What would you like to learn?"

"I can mold Lightning chakra - it's my chakra nature." Tsunade divulged. "So probably something to do with that?"

"Oh?" The Hokage mused, interested. "Would you show me, Tsunade-chan?"

"Sure." She agreed, then offered her hand. "Can I touch you?"

"Of course." Said the Hokage, then cautiously offered her a hand.

Tsunade called the staticky nature of her chakra to her fingertips easily, having had plenty of practice at this point, and muted the nerves in the Hokage's palm.

He pulled away from her instinctively, then flinched when sensation returned to his fingers too abruptly. "Curious." He mused. "How did you do that?"

"I hijacked your nerves' signals - they're made of electricity, after all. No signal in, no signal out."

He furrowed his brows. "Is it difficult?"

"Not at all." Tsunade shook her head.

The Hokage hummed. "Curious." He repeated. "Would you be able to do the opposite?"

Tsunade hesitated, then. "The opposite?"

"Rather than dim sensation, could you increase it?" The man reiterated.

Oh, no. No no no no no. "Um… in theory, yes, but that would just be super painful."

The Hokage nodded. "I'd like you to try."

Fuck. She really should have seen that coming.

"Fine." She yielded, knowing a losing argument when she saw one. "But I always test my techniques on myself, first."

The Hokage's brows rose. "Do you invent new techniques often?"

Tsunade cringed. "I dabble." She admitted.

"And don't you think your sensei ought to be aware of your skills?"

"Sorry." She offered earnestly, slouching at his criticism. "Kagami-niisan has me under an oath of secrecy. You can ask him, if you'd like, but he'd probably tell you that you're better off not knowing."

Her sensei looked even more confused. "Nii-san?" He repeated, the surprise now obvious in his voice. "KagamiUchiha?"

Tsunade shot him a sad smile. "Grief sometimes brings the most different people together, sensei."

He looked at her as if she was mad, for a brief moment, but his expression soon morphed into something deeply sad and empathetic. Rather than elaborate on the topic, the Hokage redirected their conversation to clearer waters:

"Testing techniques on yourself is dangerous, Tsunade-chan." He warned her.

"I only ever do it in the company of a highly-trained medic." She promised.

"You do?" Poor sensei, she just kept confusing him further. She certainly wasn't going to explain that said medic washer.

"Yeah." Tsunade agreed. "Kagami-niisan knows them, if you need verification."

"I believe you, Tsunade-chan." Said the Hokage. Tsunade, in turn, didn't believe him for a fucking second, and she didn't even blame him for lying. They were shinobi; lying was the name of the game.

Whatever, Kagami would cover for her if it came to it.

She sighed. "I could test the technique now, if you want."

"Yes." Agreed the man. "But I'd really rather you tested it on me."

"Non-negotiable, sensei. Sorry."

With that said, Tsunade proceeded to basically cast the cruciatus on her own hand.

She tried not to go overboard and only chose a small area -her palm- and allowed the most miniscule amount of her chakra to interfere.

But those two precautions were not enough.

The spine-chilling scream that escaped her parted lips made poor Jiraiya fall into the river again while Orochimaru only turned to the blonde, sharply curious. The technique only lasted a second before she pulled her chakra away on instinct, but the ghost of the ungodly amount of suffering remained and her fingers tingled with oversensitivity.

The pain was gone but its memory remained, as it did whenever she tested her skills on herself.

"Sorry!" She shouted to a very wet Jiraiya. "It's nothing, I'm okay, just testing a new technique.

"I'd like to learn that technique, also." Said Orochiamru, his golden eyes trained on her.

"You know the deal, buddy." She replied. "Teach me something of equal value."

Orochimaru nodded absentmindedly and promptly returned to his own training.

Tsunade, in turn, faced her sensei. "Sorry." She repeated, quieter.

"That was… quite a lot more than I expected." He admitted, eying her warily.

Tsunade couldn't help but laugh. "Me too, sensei."

"Do you trade techniques with Orochimaru often?" He asked, gently taking her hand in his to examine Tsunade for injury. Her oversensitivity had already passed, by then, so the warmth of his touch wasn't unwelcome.

The only person she could touch fondly, these days, was Nawaki, and her longing for physical affection was slowly becoming more and more bothersome.

Tsunade brushed her self-pity away and nodded. "I used to, when we were younger - we were almost friends, for a time." She admitted. "I'm not naive enough to think that him rekindling our arrangement indicates any hope of befriending Orochimaru. You don't need to worry about me, sensei - I know to be careful around him."

She was lying, of course. Heshouldworry.Sheshould worry.

Tsunade actually liked the bastard when he wasn't actively being antagonistic. He was capable and hardworking and smart enough to keep up with her despite her being reincarnated and him being fuckingsix. She didn't have a lot of options for friends, certainly not in her age group, and it felt like shit to have to discard the one of the only viable options available. Thank the Gods for Shou, seriously, Tsunade would have lost her mind if not for him, like, months ago.

The Hokage nodded in approval, having thankfully missed her internal turmoil. Or having chosen to ignore it; Tsunade couldn't know, not really.

"Very well." He said, offering Tsunde a hand. "Would you perform this technique on me, now?"

She furrowed her brow. "Why? We already know it works as intended."

"Yes," he acknowledged, "but I'd like to know what we're working with."

"Your call." She said, then took his hand, looked at him meaningfully for a long few seconds and shocked him.

The Hokage didn't so much as flinch.

Tsunade pursed her lips. "Huh."

Her sensei had the gall to laugh. "Come on, try it again." He suggested.

She did. Similar results.

"Would you be mad at me if I confessed that I'm relieved?" She asked quietly, feeling slightly lightheaded.

The Hokage put a heavy hand on her head, making Tsunade close her eyes to better delight at the gesture. "Would I be upset with you for not wanting to inflict agony on your opponents?" He asked, ruffling her hair. "No, Tsunade-chan, I will not."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay."

The Third released her, then. "Would you like to hear my theory on why your technique only works on you?"

"Yeah."

He nodded. "Blocking the nerves' signals is quite simple; you place a wall of electricity that swallows any such things they attempt to send out. Amplifying signals, however, demands an understanding of how a specific person's signals are presented, which is an individual trait - one that you know about yourself and thus can replicate."

Tsunade furrowed her brow. "Why can't I just… increase what's already there?"

"Because there is chakra involved, Tsunade-chan: there always is. Think of it as a cipher that blocks you from accessing the nervous system."

She hesitated. "But if I were to figure it out…"

"Yes." The Hokage acknowledged. "With sufficient study of an individual, I believe that you may be able to replicate this technique on them."

"...Alright." She said weakly. "But the dimming of nerves is universal?"

"It should be, indeed."

Tsunade swallowed thickly. "Thank you." She said. "That was a…funexperiment."

"I find myself wondering at your idea of fun." Jested the Hokage, earning a smile from his student. "What sort of Lighting technique would you like to learn, Tsunade-chan?"

"Something mid to long-range?" She tried.

Her sensei nodded solemnly. "Give me a moment." He requested. "I know quite a few Lightning jutsu, I admit, though most are predominantly wielded by the Uchiha."

"Ah. I see why that would be a problem."

He smiled. "Indeed."

In the end, Tsunade started practicing a technique that was some sort of Lightning Arrow and actually required her to pull it back, once formed, before it was launched at her opponent.

Supposedly. She'd not gotten past summoning the necessary chakra, yet.

She was allowed plenty of time to practice, however, while her sensei returned his attention to the two boys slowly improving their water-walking.

Tsunade expected the D-rank they did that day to be something boring like painting fences or catching runaway cats.

Instead, the Hokage had them delivering documents and missives for the Intelligence Division which, um, nepotism probably? Cause interacting with the folks at intelligence wasfun.

The Hokage left them with a clone to watch out for them and left to do more important stuff like, say,run the village, so most of the genin's interaction was directly with the people they delivered missives for.

The majority of the tired looking, nice folks at Intelligence were Yamanaka, judging by their fair, pupil-less eyes, and the more sleep-deprived and snappy ones were Nara. There were people from other clans and ones whom Tsunade couldn't place, also, but those were less prominent.

Most of the things the team delivered that day were destined for the Police Force.

There were a few faces made at them the first time they came by, at Tsunade especially, but no one would turn them away outright. It was uncomfortable, though, and the blonde dreaded going back when the next missive was sent there, also.

Rather than be greeted with more sneers and sharp glances, Tsunade was greeted with a fuckingclap on her shoulder.

"Tsunade." Shou greeted her at the entrance to the building, obviously fully aware of the implications of the gesture and the fact that everyone, including both their teams, was staring at them.

She wasn't turning down this opportunity, though. The blonde placed her own hand on Shou's shoulder and offered him a genuine, grateful smile. "Shou." She said softly. "I missed you."

"You should stop skipping our training sessions, then." He suggested, giving her shoulder a squeeze before releasing her. Tsunade let go, too.

"True." She acknowledged bashfully, trying not to think about the antisocial slump she'd been in since her granduncle passed. "Tomorrow evening?"

"Tomorrow evening." He agreed. "Who brings the food?"

"I will." She offered. "I made too much, anyway."

"See you, then." He said, waving at her as he departed, likely on a mission not unlike her own.

"See you soon." She called back, then turned to her team, carefully not looking at the many shinobi (and civilians, but mostly shinobi) sizing her up. "Sorry about that. We're good to go?"

"Who was that?" Asked Jiraiya suspiciously.

"My best friend, Shou." She replied, already walking to the reception desk, vividly aware of being listened in on. "He was a year above us in the Academy."

"And you train together?" Jiraiya continued, less tense this time.

"We used to. I… haven't shown up, in a bit, but yeah. He's wicked smart and very creative." She couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth. "I love sparring with him."

"You can spar with me too, Tsunade-hime!"

"Sure." She agreed immediately. "I think your taijutsu is better than mine but we could spar on trees, if you'd like? To get you ahead on waterwalking."

"Sounds good!"

They left the building with another message for Intelligence and many, many eyes on them. On Tsunade, in particular.

She wasn't unaware, of course, though she did fail to notice that one such pair belonged to her teammate, whose expression betrayed a hint of curiosity, of wonder, of anger.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the conflicted Orochimaru :D

Not gonna rant in the end notes today cause we have a question to answer:

So, as is, there are plotlines that are more interesting for me to write/resolve (chunin exams, Kagami, Danzo) and things that are less appealing to me (Tsunade beating the hospital into competency, which I've seen other fics do better than I ever could). I only went into detail into EVERYTHING so far because the last four years are what shaped Tsunade into who she is.

What I WANT to do is gloss over the things I don't care about and focus on things that I find interesting. One of the reasons for that is because I will not write underage smut so OroTsu will HAVE to happen after they're 18. Which is 12 years from where we are now. I don't mind making this fic 700k words long but I don't want to add the romance to a romance fic so late, you know? I'd really like to start building their relationship soon.

So my question to you is as follows: are there any plotlines you would NOT want me to gloss over? I mean, I think if I just ignored Danzo y'all would stone me or smth and I wouldn't blame you.

I just have the WHOLE of OroTsu romance planned out and I KNOW you guys will love it so waiting is excruciating

Ty for answering!

PS by gloss over I mean I will still describe what happens in broad strokes but won't go into detail/dialogue. Like I did with the war, basically. It still got a few chapters but we weren't IN IT you know?

Chapter 30: Love Knows Nothing

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

The Hokage reveals that another motivation for taking a team was leading by example to his Jounin.

The trio does a lot of D-ranks.

Orochimaru moves into Tsunade's apartment building. She leaves food at his door without a word and he, also without contact, returns it empty an hour later.

Tsunade spars with Shou often and has a chat with Kagami about her ambitions. They end up discussing sexuality, also.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Thank you to everyone who answered the question in the last chapter!
The verdict: I'm going to focus on a bunch of important things and gloss over the rest, according to the requests you've made. I can't accommodate everyone, of course, but the lovely Xenocanaan came up with a brilliant solution:

If I glossed over something you would like me to elaborate on, you can let me know and I might just write it as a companion fic!:D For example, I don't plan to go too deep into the mechanics of Tsunade handling the hospital once she's already in control but if you'd like me to, say so in a comment and when I get a chance I can elaborate on it!:))

That goes for stuff I've already written, too. If you want to see a What-If scenario that would unfold if a certain character did something different, let me know. For this case, I'd be willing to write one-shots, just warning you, I'm not writing a long fic of what would have happened if Tobirama lived :S

The only thing I won't do, for now, are Orochimaru POV's: I really don't want you to have insight into his thoughts because Tsunade doesn't, either, and I want you to experience the world from her POV. :P

That's it!

Ty as always to everyone who's been commenting and leaving Kudos and just interacting in this fic or me in any way. I can't believe that I'm staying on three day uploads when I'm so so so busy but It's just been so rewarding thanks to all of you.

I will warn you that I might take a week-long break towards the end of November. HOWEVER, I'm starting a new arc now and I promise that I'll upload every three days until it's concluded, so that you're not left hanging :)

Love you guys, have a great week! 3

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Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
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(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

The following weeks formed a new routine for the trio.

They trained in the mornings -sometimes in ninjutsu, others in taijutsu- then ate lunch together by the lake in the training ground they occupied. The Third would leave them with a clone, afterwards, and send them off on D-ranks.

Tsunade initially thought that they got the most educational D-ranks by virtue of being the Hokage's students but, as it turned out, Shou was getting the same ones: counting the supplies in the armory, sharpening weapons, picking up deliveries of explosive tags from Uzushio delegations and whatnot. Tsunade guessed, eventually, that there was just no manpower to spare for painting fences so soon after a war, so they got to do jobs that would normally be a low C-rank.

Which was pretty cool, despite the circumstances.

Tsunade's favorite missions were the supply runs to close guard outposts. The Hokage escorted them personally, on these, rather than send a clone, though his presence didn't end up being necessary.

Well, not for protection; the blonde had figured out quite quickly that the Third had yet another motive when taking in a genin team.

Leading by example.

"Hokage-sama!" Exclaimed a guard in a chunin vest, offering the man a deep bow. "We were not expecting you, sir."

"Ah, don't worry, Akimichi-san." Their sensei smiled. "I'm here with my team, we're just here to deliver this." He said, removing the pack from his back. His genin followed suit, all three of them watching the interaction with great interest.

"Huh, I did hear that you took on a genin team, Hokage-sama, but I didn't…?"

"We must all do our part." The man replied to the unasked question, still smiling kindly.

Before Tsunade's eyes, the Akimichi's expression shifted into something akin to determination. "Yes, sir."

Who knew that their sensei, who was tasked with leading a fucking village, was charismatic?

(as any leader should be)

Tsunade was in her kitchen, packing up lunch for tomorrow, when she sensed Orochimaru enter the building. She was alert, at first, expecting him to barge into the apartment she was finally making into her home.

He approached her door, slowly but surely, though he eventually turned away and entered the apartment across the hall from hers.

Well.

That was not a development she had anticipated when she chose her living space but not something outside the realm of expectation, either. Orochimaru has been getting paid for the D-ranks they've been doing and there was probably some stipend for orphaned genin - it made sense that he would move out of the orphanage at some point. Jiraiya, too.

Tsunade wasn't sure how she felt about being neighbors with Orochimaru, though. Not because she felt unsafe - he wouldn't openly harm her, not at this age, not without provocation.

But Orochimaru was also an emotionally underdeveloped gremlin; he would definitely miss the significance of her not living with her parents despite being the Clan Head's firstborn. It's not something she wanted to be common knowledge - Tsunade was as close to being disowned as she could be without inviting Mito's wrath. If the Hokage caught word of it, however, the Senju clan may lose respect for it and Tsunade wasn't willing to let her clan suffer on her behalf. Not for this.

She might be disowned entirely, if they did, and then she won't be able to see Nawaki anymore and it would kill her. Absolutely demolish her.

Tsunade didn't even realize that she began packing another bento until she was already done. The blonde stared at the offering in her hands and cringed.

Why was her brain so obsessed with feeding Orochimaru? Had she conditioned herself into enjoying it, when they still trained together? Was that something she could undo?

Well, to be fair, offering food to a new neighbor who had just moved in wasn'tweird. He definitely didn't have time to shop for groceries before moving, right?

Tsunade groaned.

She took a piece of scrap paper and inked "not poison" onto it. The blonde then placed it atop the box, put both at the entrance to Orochimaru's apartment, knocked and hurriedly left.

The blonde only relaxed five minutes later, when she was certain that Orochimaru wasn't going to barge into her home to beat her up or something.

About an hour had passed before there was a knock on her door. By the time Tsunade opened it a clean, empty box stood before it.

No note.

She smiled, picked it up and returned home, ending her day with the satisfaction that Orochimaru still trusted her enough to eat her food. Probably. Knowing him, he might have thrown it away.

Whatever.

She made sure to spar with Shou once or twice a week, after their meeting at the Police Force building, and they meditated together in the mornings more often than not. If the boy regularly dragged her to increasingly public places to spend their time together, thus broadcasting their friendship to anyone who dared spare them a glance, Tsunade did not remark on it.

Though sometimes she wanted to kiss the older boy for his flaunting of their relationship. Seriously. The impact this was going to have -the Clan Head's daughter befriending an Uchiha!- was insane.

Her mother might have an aneurysm, though.

Kagami had said as much when she had brought him dinner, once.

After the Hokage's death Kagami took on the duties of the Jonin Commander's assistant: perhaps the most high-ranked post an Uchiha ever occupied within the village since its founding. He was severely overworked and constantly exhausted, which could be attributed to his supervisor's being a Nara, and Tsunade found joy in how his eyes lit up when she brought him food.

Especially spicy food. Not the standard spicy food, either - Kagami liked the absolutely inedible stuff that the peddlers from Uzushio brought with them, the masochist, but Tsunade delivered it nonetheless.

And Kagami seemed to love her for it. At this point Tsunade was pretty sure that the best way to win a Konoha shinobi's heart was with kindness and ungodly amounts of food.

"I hear you've been sparring with my cousin in the training grounds behind the Police building." He said, face flushed from the heat of the food he gobbled down.

"Yeah, Shou-kun introduced me to them." She agreed, looking at the red paste at the bottom of the box skeptically. How Kagami ate it was beyond her - even Mito refused to call that slush 'food' and she had the Uzumaki tolerance for spice. "They're nice, though a little crowded."

"They're unofficially Uchiha training grounds, you know?" Asked the man between bites.

"Unofficially." Repeated the blonde, playing with her ponytail. "No one can kick me out without causing a scene."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Accused Kagami, scrunching his nose. "My people are just surprised that you'd be willing to go there at all."

"You had me figured out when we first talked, you know? I already told you then - I am one greedy bitch."

The last word made Kagami choke on his food, as intended, and Tsunade couldn't help but laugh. "I want to protect everyone in this village.Everyone, Kagami-niisan, including your clan. I have no fear of the Uchiha."

"Maybe you should." He said darkly once he was done expecting the curry from his airways.

"I shouldn't." She argued. "Not more than I would fear an enemy, at least. Caution is warranted, of course, but never fear. I only have respect for the Uchiha, mixed with a bit of pity for the hand you've been dealt. That's all."

"Do you want to be Hokage?" He asked her suddenly, putting down his chopsticks to focus fully on her. There was some sauce on his bottom lip, still, which was stupidly cute and ridiculous.

"No." Tsunade replied earnestly. "Not now, not ever. The hat will only hinder me in reaching my goals."

Kagami's brows furrowed at that. "How?"

"Too restrictive." She said. "Too above the table. Too obviously Konoha-centered for the other villages to take me seriously. No, what I want to be, most likely, is a diplomat with the Hokage's full backing."

"That's still very over the table."

"Depends on how you play it."

Kagami snorted. "I think it might be best for Konoha if youweren'ta diplomat."

"Maybe in the short term." Tsunade agreed. "But I don't intend to give the village a choice. I'm going to become powerful enough that Konoha will have to accommodate me, not the other way around."

A silence stretched between them for a few long moments, accentuating the shift in the conversation.

"You're serious about this." Murmured Kagami.

"It was always inevitable." Agreed Tsunade.

"Inevitable how?" He pushed, leaning forward towards her.

"I won the genetic lottery, Kagami-niisan. I am of both Uzumaki and Senju descent. I may not have my grandfather's Mokuton -trust me, I tried- but I have his endurance and quick healing. I won the social lottery, also: I was born to a very well-off family which had me study under the best tutors available. I also got lucky with my mentors, and with everything else, like the team I was placed in: taught by the Hokage and paired with two boys with incredible potential." She paused. "Frankly, all the odds are stacked in my favor. It was never an option for me to be anythingbuta powerhouse. All I did was decide in which direction I wanted to channel said power."

Kagami just… stared.

Tsunade flushed. "Sorry." She grumbled, embarrassed. "I babble."

"Not at all." Kagami brushed her off, schooling his expression. "I was just taken off guard."

She didn't say anything.

"I'm glad you're friends with Shou. You're good for him." He said eventually. "He's a bit rough around the edges but he's a good kid."

"Shou is my best friend." Tsunade protested vehemently, offended on his behalf. "He's not rough aroundanything. He's the kindest person I know."

Kagami's features softened into a smile. "He is?"

"Yeah." Tsunade insisted. "He's really, really empathetic and patient, too."

"Oh really?"

"He's just a tsundere. Is… is he standing behind me or something?" Tsunade grumbled but didn't turn back, though she itched to move. The door was closed; she would have heard it open. Or would she have?

The Uchiha laughed heartily. "No." He denied, to the blonde's relief. She still shot a glance back, conceding to her kunoichi paranoia, which made Kagami laugh harder. "I was just wondering if you had a crush on my cousin."

Tsunade felt heat rush to her face but decided against transforming to force it down; it would have only made the man tease her more. "Can't I be friends with a boy without liking him?"

"Aw, Little Queen, you don't like yourbest friend?"

"Of course I-" she paused when Kagami broke down laughing again. "Fuck you, Kagami-niisan."

The man only roared louder.

"I'm not even old enough to know if I like boys at all!" Tsunde seethed, folding her arms across her chest. "Maybe I like girls. When do I even figure out this sort of thing? Ugh. Being six is weird."

She expected the man to laugh harder at her antics -it was, in fact, their purpose- but instead, Kagami pursed his lips.

"What?" She asked, suddenly worried.

"You think you might like girls?" He asked her carefully, hesitantly.

"Why, is that bad?" Asked Tsunade, suddenly tense. Shit. Were same sex relationships taboo here?

At his silence, Tsunade was quickly assaulted by an obscene amount of anger. "That's so stupid, niisan." She seethed, immediately going on the offensive. "The village sends children,childrento battle and people care if two consenting adults love each other? That's so messed up."

"I didn't-"

"What about seduction missions? Are you telling me that men aren't sometimes sent to seduce other men? Are you telling me that children aren't sent out on these missions, too? That's bulshit and you know it. Homosexuality isn't something that's reserved for the cruel and depraved, Kagami-niisan-"

"Tsunade." He cut her off, using her given name without a honorific for the first time… ever? Had he called her that before? "I wouldn't mind, at all, if you liked girls."

She deflated, falling back into her chair. When did she even get up? "Oh." The blonde breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay."

"Other people might, though." He added hesitantly. "It's… not something that's looked upon well, in our village."

"Even among shinobi?" She asked quietly.

"Even among shinobi." He agreed solemnly.

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "It's stupid." She muttered.

"There are stupider things about." He replied. "Tell me, my expert Little Snoop, have you heard about the Hyuga Main Family Juinjutsu, yet?"

Tsunade felt the blood drain from her face. There wasn't an amount of training that Keiichi could have armed her with to prevent her from betraying the truth, in that instant.

Kagami cringed. "I should've known." He muttered. "Where do you get your information, Tsunade-chan? You are awfully well informed."

"I'm very nosy and people often discard me as a stupid little girl, so…" It was true, but that wasn't what he asked for.

Kagami didn't push. "Well, we're lucky that you aren't." He smiled. "I won't tease you about Shou again. I'm sorry."

"S'okay. I didn't mind." Tsunade admitted quietly, biting her lip. "Kagami-niisan?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"If it does turn out that I like girls, can I tell you?" She looked up at him shyly, then, just in time to see his expression soften into something beautifully kind.

"Of course."

Notes:

"Not poison" is so sus LOL I wouldn't have touched the food if I were Orochimaru.
ALSO! I never thought about making Tsunade and Orochimaru roommates/neighbors. That one is 100% Kaykoo & their fic :D

The whole convo about queer people in Konoha is important for future stuff cause there aint no way I make all my characters cishet. Sorry. It's not how I roll.

Not gonna rant here today, sorry, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Ty again to everyone who responded to my question last chapter!

Chapter 31: Moments Before Disaster

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade has a breakthrough with her new jutsu and manages to get a minor injury to heal automatically.

She learns how to perform a shunshin and kawamiri and acquires a bunch of minor lightning jutsu.

The Hokage announces that his team will go on a c-rank without him, which Tsunade protests but ultimately can't do much about. She goes to Fuyumi for advice and the woman arms her with chakra pills and a very beautiful dagger.

The team leader for the mission turns out to be Hatake Sakumo, who is a teenager at this point in time.

They travel to the outpost they're supposed to be checking up on and find it overrun by enemy ninja.

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

Hi guys! I hope you've been doing well in recent days. :)
I hope you're not tired of me saying thanks, yet, cause I'm stil stupid grateful for all your support on this fic. You're the best.

Okay so remember the arc I mentioned last chapter? It starts here. Enjoy. :)

I'm not gonna rant here a lot cause I left long end notes, this time; see you guys in three days!

PS the end noes contain content warnings for the next chapter. I'll repeat those and tag them in the next chapter, too

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

After two months of training, D-ranks, sparring with Shou and bothering Kagami and Mito, whenever they would have her, Tsunade had a breakthrough.

She was sitting in her granduncle's personal training area again, the one behind what was once his home, repeatedly cutting a thin line on her shoulder with a now blood-covered kunai. After each inflicted injury Tsunade would allow her chakra to locate the disturbance, then transform her to full health. With the task done she would release a small boost of chemicals in her brain, trying to condition herself into associating the transformation with satisfaction.

The blonde was so accustomed to the routine that, when she turned to transform her arm into a healthy state and found the cut missing, she froze.

And immediately began gaslighting herself.

'I must be more tired than I thought.' She tried to convince herself.

She wasn't tired, though, and has been very alert throughout the entire process. She had to be, for it to work.

So Tsunade cut herself again but didn't lose heart when the injury did not mend itself immediately.

When the same thing as before happened about two dozen cuts later, though, Tsunade squealed.

Because itwasn'ta coincidence. Itwasn'ta fluke. Shehadn'tdeluded herself.

She had successfully conditioned herself into healing minor cuts on her arm automatically. Holy shit. Holy shit. This hadso muchpotential.

Holy shit.

She laughed out loud, grinning like a maniac, all alone in that grassy plain surrounded by Hashiarama trees.

For the first time in what was either months or years, Senju Tsunade feltfree.

She was in an annoyingly good mood for the next week, irritating both Shou and Orochimaru with her endless cheer while Jiraiya was just delighted that someone was matching his energy.

The Third was curious but when Tsunade told him she'd had a breakthrough with her secret skillset, he backed off. "I did talk to Kagami, as you advised." He admitted. "He told me that I'm better off not knowing."

Tsunade couldn't help but laugh.

Two months were enough time to advance in leaps and bounds when it came to ninjutsu. Tsunade learned the shunshin, which basically required her to speed up the flow of chakra in her system and try not to crash into a tree when she moved - her eyes couldn't keep up with her speed when she used the technique, she wasn't a bloody Uchiha.

The Replacement Technique was more complex. She cast the Diagnostic Jutsu on the Hokage as he used it, with his permission, both when he activated it and after he had basically teleported, and what she found was both scary and fucking awesome.

See, the Replacement Technique opened a fucking wormhole.

The user had nothing to do with it, though - it was the natural chakra all around them that did the work. Sarutobi Hiruzen only needed to place a polite request when he wanted to activate the technique and the ambient chakra answered, executing the actual technique.

Which was fucking cool becauseteleportation. By the Gods.

With that figured out, Tsunade found that Kawarimi was her favorite technique. She still had trouble with the landing, when she used it, but it was too exhilarating andfunfor her not to grind until she had it mastered.

Lightning ninjutsu was even more fun in practice, though, especially when she faced Jiraiya.

See, their team was really balanced in terms of attack range. Orochimaru had a shit-ton of close range offensive ninjutsu in his arsenal and a couple of long-range ones that he could use if he needed to disengage. Jiraiya had somehow managed to weaponize his hair and gain full control of it, making it into a deadly weapon, effectively making him their mid-range powerhouse. He was a superior kunai fighter, also, so he often found himself fighting close-range with Orocimaru, when the latter didn't use techniques that were too destructive.

Now Tsunade was a bit of a wildcard.

She had an arsenal of Lightning Jutsu, now, all of which were long or mid-range, but she used the Kawamiri to annoy her opponent (usually the Hokage) when she could afford to replace herself with something behind them. She was getting really good at teleporting back out before her sensei could retaliate, too, though she usually messed up her landing.

It was still fun, even if she ended up on her ass more often than not.

Sensei began sharpening her skills with shurikenjutsu, also, and with ninja wire that allowed her to cover even more long and mid-range techniques.

All she needed was the other Tsunade's super-strength and she would be well-rounded enough to focus on the skills she had already acquired and becomeobscenelygood at them.

But she couldn't afford to focus on that, yet: the auto-healing took precedence.

All in all, Tsunade was very happy with her team and her progress. The Hokage was a good teacher and cut his genin no slack: he demanded the best of them and all three of them answered.

It's only been two months but Tsunade felt stupid fucking strong. And happy.

Super fucking strong and super fucking happy.

It was no wonder, then, that their first C-rank mission would be the absolute fucking worst. She really couldn't have good things, could she?

"C-rank." Repeated Orochimaru slowly. "Outside the village?"

"Yes." Agreed their teacher. "Pack light - the mission should only take two to four days. You're just doing a routine check on one of the nearby outposts."

"'You'?" Repeated Tsunade, something cold and dangerous settling in the pit of her stomach. "You're not coming with us?"

"Sorry, Tsunade-chan, I have other duties to attend to." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm leaving you in the capable hands of one of my jonin. He'll meet you near the village gates at dawn tomorrow."

"You won't go with us on our first proper mission outside the village?" Tsunade protested quietly.

This is exactly why the Hokage shouldn't have students. He was too busy to give them the time or attention they needed. Sometimes, his clone could do the work; others, like this, made Tsunade choke on her fury at his neglect.

They deserved better.

She would've made sure he knew that, too, if the monkey-man wasn't such a goddamn good fucking teacher. Ugh.

"You've been outside the village before, Tsunde-chan - we've been to several outposts already, haven't we? And you won't be leaving the Land of Fire so there's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so." She muttered under her breath.

Tsunade was famous, among those who knew her, for her paranoia. It's why she snuck out of her home later that evening and came to bother Fuyumi again.

The elderly woman shot the girl, now dark-haired, tan and blue-eyed, an odd look before letting her in, at which point Tsunade transformed back immediately.

"I hear you no longer live with your parents." Began Fuyumi, pouring water into the kettle.

Tsunade cringed. "I did wonder when word would get out."

"We are a shinobi clan, Tsunade-hime. People are perceptive."

"What have they been saying?"

"The narrative is not in your favor, I fear - you are now the Clan Head's ungrateful daughter who is ignoring her duties to her people in favor of playing a role that is beneath her."

She moaned, hiding her face in her hand. Then, woh her lips pressed against her skin, she asked: "Do people no longer find shinobi work honorable?"

The cups Fuyumi fetched knocked against one another as she put them on the table. "They do," she said, "but not for clan heiresses with more important roles to fulfill."

Tsunade winced at the reminder of her title. "I'm not the Heir."

"No, you're just second in line for the title." Fuyumi shot back sarcastically just as Tsunade looked up at her through her fingers, meeting her sharp gaze. "You are also expected to produce an Heir if your brother cannot."

"That's not happening." Tsunade brushed her off immediately. "Also, Nawaki is going to live long enough to have children, if he wants them."

"You can't know that." Countered Fuyumi.

Tsunade glared at her. "I do." She insisted, her words heavy with something Tsunade herself couldn't name, something primal and feral andangry.

The white-haired woman sighed and shook her head, her braids bobbing as she moved. "What brings you to my humble abode, hime?" She asked, navigating their conversation towards the point of Tsunade's visit.

"I need advice." The blonde admitted, quietly accepting the offered teacup with a nod, breathing in the calming scent of chamomile. "We're being sent pretty far outside the village for the first time tomorrow and sensei is too busy to come with us."

Fuyumi tsked, which did nothing at all to calm Tsunade's nerves. "Who is he sending in his stead?"

"He didn't say."

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course he didn't." She muttered under her breath.

Tsunade laughed bitterly, mirthlessly. "I wanted to ask you - is there anything I should pack, or do, or just anything that I should look out for?"

"Trust your gut." Said the woman, her dark eyes glinting with something sharp and deadly. "Protect your teammates. And, if worse comes to worst, prepare a method of killing yourself - girls never last long in captivity, anyway."

Tsunade paled at that. "Yes, Fuyumi-sensei."

The woman proceeded to examine Tsunade's pack with her and advised her on which items to add or remove. She gave the blonde some of her chakra pills, which no one in their right mind would sell a six-year-old because most of her peers didn't have Tsunade's chakra reserves, as well as a dagger with an intricately carved handle.

"For luck." She said, pressing the metal into Tsunade's hand.

The blond swallowed thickly and nodded.

There really was no point for her and Orochimaru to walk separately when they lived across the hall from one another and were heading in the same direction.

"That's not yours." He said quietly just as the sun began to rise, his golden eyes wandering to the beautiful dagger strapped to her hip.

"It's borrowed." Replied Tsunade, her fingers brushing against the hilt nervously.

"It's chakra conducting metal." Orochimaru pointed out, making Tsunade stumble. Was it really? "Not something to lend casually."

"It was given to me for luck." She admitted, removing her hand from the blade. "I hope we won't need it."

The rest of the walk to the gates was spent in silence.

She saw Jiraiya first, his white hair reflecting what little sunlight had emerged already, though his taller companion came into view soon after.

The blonde initially thought that the adolescent boy with whom her teammate was exchanging jokes, judging by both their laughter, was a friend of his. Her guess turned out to be wrong, however; the teen, who could not have possibly been more than fifteen, wore a chunin vest and carried himself with the sort of poise Tsunade had learned to associate with high-ranked ninja. It was always fucking weird to realize that kids his age could be jonin. Fuck, even the fact that the Hokage was, like, in his early twenties or something was weird.

Imagine being a military dictator when your brain was still developing. Freaky stuff.

Either way, the white-haired teen was very obviously their team leader, which he also stated plainly when Orochimaru and Tsunade had made it to where he stood.

What Tsunadestillfailed to predict, even after having her expectations subverted once, was this:

"Name's Hatake Sakumo." He said, offering the three genin a grin. "Looking forward to working with ya."

Having Kakashi's teenaged dad lead their team on a mission was so weird that Tsunade's brain refused to compute it for a few seconds. By the time her teammates had introduced themselves, however, she had enough focus to at least do the same.

It was still jarring, though.

"So was there a message from the outpost that indicated they need to be checked up on, or…?" She asked about an hour into their run, having finally sorted through her thoughts. They kept a relatively slow pace; Sakumo may have crazy endurance and Tsunade could just heal herself if her muscles tired but her teammates were just kids, in the end. It wouldn't be fair to expect either of the boys to keep up with their pace.

"Nothing of the sort." Replied their team leader, slowing down a little to run at her side rather than ahead of her. "We do these sort of check ups often and at random intervals, mostly to deter enemy nin in case the outpost is being monitored. Genin don't usually do those missions, though - they're reserved for solo jonin."

"Why are we here, then?"

"Your sensei asked me to take you kids along, this time, just so you knew what an away mission is like. I think he has something in mind for your next one and wants to make sure you are prepared."

Tsunade hummed. "So you're testing us for him." She concluded easily.

Sakumo laughed. "What the Hokage chooses to do with my mission report is none of my business."

Setting up camp for that night took more time than expected but only because Sakumo insisted on correcting their every mistake. Tsunade would've been glad for the guidance if she wasn't so goddamn tired; running for a full day was rough even on her, though the burden was mostly a mental one.

Sakumo insisted on staying up all night for the watch though he divided shifts among the three genin: he may not trust them to watch his back but he did want them to learn how to protect their teammates properly. His words, not hers.

Other than the fact that Jiraiya's snoring was louder than a freight train, the night passed without a hitch.

The same could not be said for the next morning.

Their team leader was on edge for the better half of their journey to the outpost -which took just above two hours- though he refused to explain why when Tsunade asked. Sakumo demanded that they utilize maximum stealth when approaching the target, cloaking their chakra and the whole shebang, which might not have been a good idea; ifshewas a Konoha sensor-nin holding an outpost and became aware of four ninja hiding their presence as they approached, Tsunade would assume that they were enemies.

But she wasn't going to argue with her much more experienced team leader.

The four shinobi carefully approached the entrance to the underground bunker and were unpleasantly surprised to hear a conversation originating from its direction:

"So what now?" Asked a man, absently kicking a hollowed-out branch that as he spoke. He wore a forehead protector but, as he wasn't facing their group, Tsunade couldn't see which village's insignia was inscribed onto it.

She had a very uncomfortable feeling that it wouldn't be her own.

"We lay low here for a few days, make use of the facilities, then bolt." Replied the other man, the smoke from his cigarette spreading before his face as he spoke. "By the time Konoha dogs think to check here, we'll be gone."

'Definitely not friendly ninja.' Tsunade noted bitterly, then turned to her team leader for orders.

Because this? This was way,wayabove their paygrade.

'Retreat.' He mouthed, then did the same for her two teammates. They each responded in a sharp nod before turning to obey, moving slowly and quietly as to remain unnoticed. Tsunade's heart was beating in her throat and the rush of adrenaline made her dizzy and she was so,soscared of accidentally stepping on a twig that'd break or-

She banished these thoughts. There'd be time for anxiety later. For now, Tsunade needed focus and patience and to have full control over her body.

She was a kunoichi; a livingweapon. All she needed to do was wield it.

It took them close to an hour to retreat far enough for Sakumo to dare speak again: "We're heading back." He said, visibly tense, his voice a low rumble filled with anxiety. Tsunade wondered, for a moment, if he would've gone on the offensive had he not been straddled with three helpless genin.

"I'll escort you to the nearest settlement but you'll be on your own from there: you must find a way to contact Konoha. Don't try to travel alone."

"What about you?" Demanded Orochimaru, sounding more annoyed than worried.

"I'm going back." Said Sakumo, his tone heavy with determination. "One of our kunoichi is still alive - I'm going back for her."

"There were at least four of them." Tsunade protested. She did wonder how long it would take her to argue with orders once she was out in the field. Not very long, as it turns out. "And those are only the ones I could sense. You can't go after them alone."

"I sensed eight." Said Orochimaru, either to support Tsunade's argument or to flaunt his superior sensing skills. She could never tell, with him.

Sakumo's expression hardened into a mask that made him look at least ten years older. "These are your orders." He said coolly. "You will come with me to the settlement and call for aid in whatever way you can."

"We can't have that." A gruff, amused voice interrupted the flow of their conversation, making all four Konoha shinobi turn to its source.

A tall, buff man wielding dual cutlasses stepped from behind one of the trees, his sharp features stretched into a wicked grin. On his forehead was a hitae-ate, the symbol upon which was struck out with such violence that Tsunade couldn't make out what it used to be. In response to their shocked silence, the man continued: "we were hoping to lay low for a few days, you see."

"Run." Hissed Sakumo under his breath, his gaze glued to the other shinobi's.

"I don't think so." A feminine voice made Tsunade turn back, this time, to find a woman with long, dark hair secured in twin braids with blades attached to their ends, wearing standard shinobi grab. Her hitae-ate, though damaged, decidedly marked her as a Kiri missing-nin.

Shit.

There was a brief moment of silence, of stillness, of peace.

Then all hell broke loose.

Notes:

Hello there ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡)
I have several important notes so I'll have them numbered so that this box isn't a mess:

1. You finally have more insight into Tsunade's future skillset! How does it feel? (also, don't worry. her recklessness is going to have consequences :D)

2. Hey, look who's here! Sakumo, are you lost? jk. I just wanna say that I had him written before asking you guys what you wanted this fic to have, a few chapters ago, so I was really happy when you were as eager to see him as I.

3. I once again apologize for not being as present in notes recently. I am absurdly busy this month; honestly I have no business uploading chapters, still, but I really wanted to stay consistent so I had a bunch pre-written in October. I don't have time to edit them at all but I think the next few chapters are the best I've written so far; hope you enjoy them!

4. The kunoichi that has been left alive.
TRIGGER WARNING: R*PE/SA, don't read past this point if that's something that would trigger you, I'll set up the proper warnings in the next chapter.

I generally don't include this topic in my work but I had to, for the next few chapters to work. There is going to be NOTHING graphic - only the IMPLICATION that it happened to her, as expressed by Tsunade. NOTHING graphic. I wanted to put that warning here because it wouldn't make sense, otherwise, for the group of rogues to keep one of their enemies alive.

That's it. Sorry, I had to say it so that it didn't come as a surprise next chapter.

Love you guys, thanks again for all the support!

Chapter 32: My Kingdom For Their Lives

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

The group is attacked by enemy ninja and Sakumo is separated from the genin.

The trio try to take on an enemy kunoichi and fail spectacularly. Tsunade ends up manipulating the enemy into keeping the genin alive by convincing them that they could be ransomed off.

She is thrown into a prison cell away from the boys where she is soon joined by a rather battered Konoha kunoichi.

The two converse in visual cues for the likely case that they are being listened in on. Tsunade shows the woman her medical ninjutsu so that they can work together and the kunoichi introduces herself: Mitarashi Minori.

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I'm so excited for you to read the next few chapters. You have no idea. Just... I'll leave you to it. Have fun :D

PS warning you rn that I'll probably take the last week of November off from posting chapters 3 just so it doesn't come as a surprise when I announce it 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Sakumo didn't get a chance to bark out any more orders before the cutlass-wielding man was upon him, forcing him to duck to avoid what would've been a beheading. He tried to jump close to his genin teammates, after, but his opponent would not allow it: any such attempt was followed up by a vicious jab at his head that Sakumo could barely dodge as is.

Tsunade assumed that their last orders stood and began strategizing how to best execute them - how to best get an opportunity torun.

Seeing as their team leader had removed one of the two shinobi that followed them from the equation, Tsunade launched an attack on the second.

Someone had to force the kunoichi to reveal her skillset, since she carried no weapons openly excluding the ones in her braids, and out of the three genin Tsunade was the most…durable.

That's not to say that the blonde went for close range immediately; she wasn't suicidal. Rather than lunge at the woman Tsunade threw a barrage of shuriken at her, which the kunoichi dodged with terrifying ease. Tsunade had been learning from her sensei, though, and had attached chakra strings to the stars before releasing them.

As soon as the shuriken flew past the woman Tsunade jumped left to change the angle andpulled, successfully hitting the kunoichi with two of the stars before she ducked to avoid the rest. Tsunade had to move, too, lestshebecame a pincushion for the stray weapons.

Her teammates weren't far behind: by the time the stars impaled the bark of a nearby tree, Jiraiya was close enough to attack the woman with his hair, making a valiant attempt to impale her. Orochimaru used her distraction to disappear into the earth but, when his hands reappeared right under the woman and attempted to grab at her ankles, the kunoichi was ready.

She encircled the boy's slender wrists with her fingers and pulled him out of the ground, lifting him until he was no longer tethered. "Using the Headhunter Jutsu on a Mist missing-nin?" She mocked him, amused, dodging both Orochimaru's attempts to kick at her and Jiraiya's hardened hair. The pale boy swung forward and wrapped his thighs around the woman's arm, trying to break her hold, and paid for it dearly: the brunette channeled Lightning chakra though the limb, then throughhim. Orochimaru may have a high tolerance for pain but there was little he could do when his body wouldn't obey his commands; his legs released the kunoichi's arm and he hung limply where she held him, still suspended in mid-air.

Before Tsunade could even attempt to come to the boy's rescue the kunoichi slammed her forehead into Orochimaru's face, breaking his nose with a disgustingsnap.

That's when it finally dawned on her that that wasreal. They weren't sparring; The woman could andwouldkill them.

And Hatake Sakumo, their backup, was nowhere within her sensory range.

A year ago Tsunade might have literally pissed herself. A year ago she might have frozen in fear, weighted down by the unbearable burden of her inevitable doom.

A year ago she would have cried for her granduncle to come to her rescue.

But a lot has changed, since then, and so has she. Tsunade was no longer her mother's disappointment of a daughter, a savage where she wished for a lady. No longer the kid who trusted her loving granduncle to keep her out of trouble. No longer the girl who'd be scared of drawing the attention of the Uchiha by regularly occupying their training grounds.

She was her brother's protector. Her team's medic, even if they knew not of her skills.

She was Kagami's Little Queen and, in that moment,Senju Tsunade wasn't scared.

She was determined.

Tsunade wasn't going to rely on an outside force to save her. She wasn't going to pray for rescue.

She was going to take matters into her own hands and make sure that her team made it out of it alive: regardless of the price her actions would demand of her.

Tsunade caught the eyes of the kunoichi restraining her teammate, making her raise an eyebrow with an unspoken challenge.

"Back me up, Jiraiya, but keep your distance." She said, her voice heavy with authority, and prepared to attack the woman. Her plan was simple: get Orochimaru away from her long enough to heal him. Then, in an appropriate formation, attack her as a team once again.

She never got to execute said plan, however, as Orochimaru's hoarse voice snapped her out of her near-feral state: "More coming." He warned, his speech slurred but still clear enough to get his message across. "Four."

That was it. Tsunade knew, in that moment, that they had lost; if they had any hope of taking on their opponent, before, it had died the moment she learned that there were reinforcements en route.

They weren't dead, yet, and they weren't going to be; not while Tsunade could maintain the facade of the Little Queen.

The missing-nin, plural, had absolutely no reason to keep the kids alive. Shit, every bit of the unfolding scenario would encourage them to off the genin before they could make more trouble, either by somehow summoning help or just trying to fight their way back home.

They had no reason to keep the trio alive so Tsunade was going togivethem one.

She unceremoniously dropped her kunai to the ground, making it sink into the grass with a heavy 'thunk'. "My name is Haruno Tsubaki and I am the sole heir to my clan's fortune." She began, taking note of the four shinobi now within her sensory range. The lie was smooth on her tongue, as if she had practiced it, and Tsunade hoped that her teammates' expressions would not betray her deception. She stubbornly held the kunoichi's gaze. "We overheard your people discussing their desire to lay low. I raise you the following offer: ransom us off to my family. Keep us here until you wish to depart." The four shinobi, all men, arrived at the plain where they had battled, then, but didn't attack the genin. "Line your pockets with gold and your packs with supplies then depart from here, unhindered, for the measly cost of sparing our lives."

The Kiri-nin released her grip on Orochimaru, then, leaving him to drop to the ground like a ragdoll. Jiraiya flinched at the sound of the impact but, rather than attack the woman, he followed Tsunade's lead and discarded his kunai.

Thank fuck.

"Touya." Barked the kunoichi, her gaze shifting from Tsunade to one of the shinobi that now stood to her left. "Haruno clan?"

"Civilian." Replied the bearded man, his voice gruff and rather intimidating. That one word was the reason why she lied about her identity: whatever fortune her clan would have been willing to pay for her, if their captors knew she was a Senju, Tsunade would be dead before she could even blink.

No amount of gold was worth inviting the wrath of a powerful ninja clan.

The fact that the Haruno were, indeed, a known civilian clan in this era, was more of a fluke than anything.

"Merchants," continued Toyua, "spice traders. They're not aligned with any village but are based in Konohagakure."

"Curious." Mused the kunoichi, stepping over Orochimaru and passing by an unmoving Jiraiya to approach the blonde. She took Tsunade's face in her hand, then, her nails digging into the skin of the girl's jaw.

Tsunade numbed the area and stubbornly refused to flinch.

"What does a Clan Head's daughter doing wearing a hitae-ate, I wonder?"

"Bringing honor to my family's name." Replied the blonde, her eyes boring into the kunoichi's darker ones.

"Hm." Mused the Kiri-nin, then released her. Tsunade tried not to let her relief show. "Take her to the camp. Get rid of the other two."

"You don't want to do that." She said calmly just as Jiraiya turned to her with the most betrayed look in his wide eyes, staring at his teammate as if she had just stabbed him in the back. "My father will pay a hefty sum for me but he might dock your pay if you returned me to him toodamaged." With that said, Tsunade put her pinky finger between her teeth andbit it off, not numbing the area to make her reaction more believable.

She didn't scream. She didn't scream, but it was a close fucking thing.

Tsunade held the Kiri-nin's gaze as she spat the digit out, then grinned with her teeth doubtlessly covered in blood. "Hurt them and I'll rip off another." She warned, her voice saturated in pain. "Take them somewhere where I can't sense that they're alive and I'll bite off my tongue. Try to knock me out and I'll do the same - either way, you won't be getting your reward."

The kunoichi sneered. "You're making an awful lot of demands for someone begging for mercy."

"Trust me." Tsunade said, her voice low. "For the ransom you'll leave here with, the trouble will be worth it."

Despite the confident act she put on, Tsunade was fucking shocked that her plan worked.

She had a backup; if all else failed she could have offered herself as a medic to the missing-nin. Her skill was in high demand and not something that they could afford to discard; Tsunade would've had no way to secure her teammates' lives if she chose that route, however, and had thus left it as a last resort.

The kunoichi still didn't believe it fuckingworked. It was luck on the scale of divine intervention, the way she saw it.

And she was going to milk this unlikely advantage for all it was worth.

They had the blonde chained to the wall of the Konoha outpost cell with thick metal cuffs. Tsunade kinda hated that kids going to war was a common enough occurrence that the supplies of the bunker contained ones that fit, size-wise.

Alas.

They didn't bind her chakra, at least, and why would they? Tsunade was a green genin who was unable to overpower a single kunoichi even with the help of her team. She'd shown no aptitude to ninjutsu other than chakra strings; what meager level of muscle enhancing a non-medic could perform would not be enough to break the cuffs, either.

She could sense her team from where she was, as promised, and found solace in the knowledge that they were both alive and together. The fact that she had chakra to numb the stump that remained where her pinky finger once was, thus allowing her to focus, was pretty great, too.

Tsunade didn't have much time before the missing-nin learned that Haruno Tsubaki didn't exist, though. She needed to get her team out of there within a day or two, at most.

Difficult, but not impossible. Especially if Sakumo ended up winning his fight and coming to their rescue, hopefully with reinforcements.

Tsunade sat there, her back to the cool wall, andschemed.

Another variable was added to the equation she was trying to solve about two hours into her captivity, when the cell door opened and a tall woman in tattered clothes was thrown in rather unceremoniously, landing with her back to the blonde.

The shinobi who supplied information about the Haruno clan earlier locked eyes with Tsunade but said nothing before sealing her in the cell with the strange woman.

Who, unlike her, was wearing chakra-suppressing cuffs; the blonde could tell by the irregular flow of the energy within her.

She was also wearing a Konoha hitae-ate, now covered in blood and barely hanging on to where it had been tied around her long, purple braid.

Tsunade was pretty sure she was unconscious, for a moment, before she spoke: "Why the fuck are they keeping a kid here." She muttered, more than asked, her cheek still pressed against the cold floor.

The kid in question didn't bother with asking how she knew there was another person in the cell. The woman was a kunoichi of Konoha and a chunin, at least; she could probably hear Tsunade's breathing or whatever.

"Ransom." She replied bluntly. "Haruno Tsubaki, genin. You?"

The woman lifted her head with great difficulty, then, and turned to face Tsunade.

Who had resolved, before ever going on this mission, to never lose her grandfather's necklace. Ever. For that reason, Tsunade had designed a space for it within her own body and kept it concealed within her own flesh.

Until then.

Without saying another word, knowing that they might be listened in on, she allowed a transformation to take hold and push the pendant to the outside, revealing the jewel to the now wide-eyed kunoichi.

The woman might not recognize Tsunade but, the blonde knew with utter certainty, there was notoneKonoha-nin who wouldn't know that necklace.

Her gaze darted from it to Tsunade's and back several times before she mutely mouthed 'Haruno Tsubaki'.

The blonde nodded, allowing her resolve to flood her face, then reabsorbed the jewel back into herself.

She wasn't sure how the kunoichi would take her odd display of skill so, to make it clear what Tsunade had to bring to the table, the blonde turned with her back to the still lying kunoichi and, with the hand that was missing a finger, scratched her palm hard enough to draw blood.

She very carefully healed it, then, though transforming an injury so minor would've conserved more chakra.

When Tsunade turned back she found, to her great relief, determination painting the features of the strange woman.

"Mitarashi Minori." She introduced herself, her fair eyes never leaving Tsunade's. Then, the kunoichi nodded. "Jonin."

Yes. There was hope for them, yet.

Notes:

So many things to say:
1. I WANTED MINORI TO BE ANKO'S MOM. Why is the timeline so inconsistent? In the anime, Oro looks like a teen when he has his team and Anko. Timeline-wise? HE'S LIKE 25. I'm SOOOO upset. Imagine how cool it would've been? But yeah. I can't do that. God, that's so frustrating, I wonder if you can tell how pissed I am.
2. Writing Orochimaru losing a battle was interesting. I can't imagine him being bested so it was straight up difficult to write him being beaten up. I hope that the fight he put up was convincing :)
3. I actually never asked you guys - how do you feel about Tsunade's Little Queen mask? It's made a few appearances, now, and I really enjoy writing them, like in this chapter when her resolve turns to steel with which she defends her team. I feel like the Little Queen is the culmination of what Kagami believes her capable of and, though she can't be Her for long, Tsunade can suppress her emotions to be the Little Queen from time to time.
4. Did you guys expect the kids to pull a Team 7 move and win? Hope I didn't disappoint you. :p
6. I have this image of chibi little Tsuna-can grinning like a maniac, her teeth covered in her own blood, and Orochimaru looking at her from where he lies on the ground as if he's seeing her for the first time. Now you do, too!

I know that it's another cliffhanger, kinda! I'm sorry! The next chapter is in 3 days xD

Ty guys for the tremendous support, once again, you're the best 3

Chapter 33: Red Hands

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

Tsunade heals Mitarashi and releases her from the chakra suppressing cuffs by amputating then reattaching her hands. The kunoichi then uses her summons to call for reinforcements.

Before they arrive, though, Sakumo returns for his team. The enemy nin decide to kill Mitarashi as vengeance for Sakumo killing several of them so Tsunade and Mitarashi have to preemptively escape from their cell. Tsunade makes her first kill using Fuyumi's dagger.
*

SPOILER WARNING END
*

Notes:

PLEASE note the added tags for implied SA.
There is NOTHING graphic, only an implication, but I don't want you going into it blind.

SCHEDULE UPDATE: next chapter is in 3 days, as usual, which makes it Nov 19th, but I'll then take a break for the rest of the month. I'm sorry, loves, but I'm running out of pre-written chapters and I don't want to leave you hanging in the middle of the arc. So chapter 35 is scheduled for December 1st but if I manage to get some good writing in before that I'll try to post around Nov 26! Ty guys for encouraging me to take breaks, I really appreciate it, your care for my mental health means the world to me and I feel so lucky to have your support 33

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"You expect to be ransomed off, then?" Asked the woman, still not making a move to rise from her position on the floor, likely too exhausted and injured to manage the effort involved.

"Yeah." Replied Tsunade, then repeated her cover story: "My Dad is the head of a merchant clan. The shinobi here figured that I'm worth more to them alive; I'd imagine they would make contact with my father's people within a day or two at most." Now Mitarashi knew their timeframe, too.

"Yet they cut off your finger." Noted the kunoichi, recalling what she saw when Tsunade had revealed her skill in healing.

"I bit it off." The blonde admitted, earning a raised brow from the woman. "They were gonna kill my teammates."

"How does maiming yourself contribute to their survival?"

"My father would reduce their reward if they returned me too damaged." Explained Tsunade. "I threatened to bite my tongue off if they killed them. I can sense them, from here - they're both alive."

"And your team leader?"

"Off fighting one of the shinobi from this group; the one wielding dual cutlasses." And, as she spoke the words, Tsunade transformed her face and hair to look like Sakumo's, providing the kunoichi with every last relevant detail she could spare.

Any guards posted outside and listening in on their conversation would learn nothing of use from it as long as all the important information, or rather anything that their enemies did not already know, was delivered through visual cues.

Tsunade transformed back.

Her ally was looking more and more invested in the situation. Her response to the reveal of the team leader was unmistakable relief: Mitarashi must've thought Sakumo capable of defeating the rogue shinobi, which was encouraging. Tsunade honestly didn't know him, or evenofhim, well enough to trust in his skill.

Mitarashi apparently did.

"So you were with the Konoha-nin stationed here?" Tsunade asked softly, knowing that she would be pressing a sore spot but she needed to know more. "How many of you were there? It didn't look like this group had too many shinobi."

"There were four of us." Mitarashi replied, her voice tense, though she did not sneer at Tsunade for her insensitive prodding. She understood the need for it. "There were twenty of them - we managed to kill four. Their leader and the kunoichi in the group wiped the floor with us before we could do much more. Most of the others are only chunin-level shinobi."

The blonde swallowed thickly. Two jonin, one of which Sakumo could hopefully handle, andat leastfourteen weaker ninja (who were still way out of Tsunade's league but Mitarashi was confident she could take them in a one-on-one).

They might be able to break out if the Kiri kunoichi was distracted but it'd be a stretch, even then.

They needed reinforcements, or Sakumo. Preferably both.

Tsunade said something to imply as much: "Oh man, do you think any other teams will be passing by this area soon?"

"Definitely not." She said, though her wicked, bloody grin contradicted the words.

Mitarashi Minori crawled to the wall, then, leaving a trail of blood on the stone beneath her when she moved. She used said wall as leverage to pull herself up to a sitting position, then, once again revealing her torn clothes and allowing Tsunade to see the sharp scratches on her chest.

Once seated the kunoichi, now with fire in her eyes, raised her trembling, cuffed hands to her mouth and gently closed her teeth around her thumb.

Fucking summons.Of course.

Tsunade nodded her understanding. "Do you think they'll feed us?" She asked the woman. 'Will they be coming by anytime soon?'

The kunoichi laughed, wincing when the action agitated her injuries. "I wouldn't count on it."

Good.

Tsunade wasted no more time. She transformed to have stumps for hands, making the cuffs fall down to where she caught them on her calves to muffle the sound. She transformed to have hands again and slowly lowered the metal rings to the floor. Scurrying to Mitarashi's side, Tsunade began by pressing her hand to the woman's chest and casting a diagnostic.

If she had any doubts about why the kunoichi, out of the four shinobi in the outpost, was the one that was kept alive, the results of her scan made them disappear.

Tsunade grit her teeth.

Mitarashi, who had been rather stoic and collected so far despite the ordeal she endured, sighed with relief as Tsunade numbed her nerves and tended to her injuries. She didn't bother with bruises and minor cuts, like the ones on her chest; there was no knowing how much chakra their jailbreak would require. Tsunade did tend to torn muscles and broken bones, though, as well as any injuries that had to do with the reason why the kunoichi was taken hostage.

They were minor, compared to her cracked collarbone for example, but not all wounds were of the flesh.

When Tsunade was done the older kunoichi bumped her shoulder into the blonde's, prompting her to lift her gaze. Mitarashi's fair eyes were filled with such an absurd amount of gratitude that Tsunade almost stumbled away from her due to the sheer overwhelming weight of it.

Instead, she managed a choppy nod.

She tended to the woman's cuffs, next; she would need her chakra to call on her summons. Mitarashi remained still, though tense, as Tsunade used chakra scalpels, which she had not yet refined and were thus rather dull, to amputate the woman's hands at the wrists. She numbed the area, of course, and Mitarashi made no move that indicated pain, but watching her hand be chopped off must've been rather jarring. Not a lot of people were as accustomed to the sight as Tsunade.

The blonde reattached the first hand before beginning to work on the other.

They were not disturbed, thankfully, for the entire duration of the procedure. When she was finally free, Mitarashi immediately bit her thumb and, with a small explosion of smoke, summoned… a rat?

Yeah, definitely a rat.

She said nothing to it. The kunoichi only looked at the small, gray creature meaningfully and gestured with her chin to the cuffs, then to the door.

The rat nodded and rushed out of the cell, slipping under the heavy door with ease.

When it returned, it nodded to Mitarashi, who tsked.

Rather than give up there, however, she spoke quietly: "Man, there really is no way for us to get out of here unnoticed, huh?"

The rat nodded and departed from the cell again, using the same route. When it returned next it nodded again.

Which was good news, this time. Mitarashi's answering grin would've been scary if the woman wasn't on Tsunade's side.

She proceeded to summon a dozen rats, then, one after another, all as small as the first and not looking the least bit like summons; shit, Tsunade knew what they were andstillstruggled to see them as such. The mischief then slipped under the door, one after the other, heading to gods know where to do gods know what.

The kunoichi looked very smug, though, So Tsunade took it as a sign that her plan had progressed well.

The pair then settled into their previous position - Mitarashi laid on the floor the same way she was dropped onto it what must have been an hour before, hiding both the cuffs and her hands under her form, while Tsunade kept her unbound hands behind her back the same way they'd hung there when she was cuffed to the wall.

And they waited, slowly recovering their chakra reserves.

The rats, or rather the first rat, returned some time later. It looked at Mitarashi meaningfully and nodded, then pressed itself into her tattered clothes and disappeared into the folds there.

The kunoichi looked up at Tsunade, then, and grinned again.

She didn't need to have things spelled out to her; not in this scenario. Tsunade knew, without a shred of doubt, that Mitarashi's summons had successfully called for reinforcements.

Now they only needed to hope they got to them in time.

Their plan was perfect, or at least as good as it could get. Help was on the way, Tsunade made sure that her team is still alive and both she and her newfound ally were gathering chakra in the meantime.

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones with plans and, more importantly, there were figures who weren't privy totheirs.

Like Hatake fucking Sakumo, who'd apparently rather die than leave his comrades behind.

Tsunade couldn't sense his approach to the base and neither could Mitarashi, so it was their guard from whom they learned of his arrival.

Both kunoichi tensed when their door swung open, revealing three shinobi with Kiri hitae-ates, the insignia atop them crossed out. "Thatfriendof yours just killed my brother, bitch." Said one of them as he stepped into the room, grabbing Mitarashi by the hair and pulling her head up until she hung limply from his hand. The woman moaned in pain to conceal the rattle of the cuffs she held in her freed hands.

Neither kunoichi moved.

"It's a bad fucking idea-" argued one of the other men, not stepping through the doorway.

"He killed. Mybrother." Repeated the first shinobi through gritted teeth, tightening his grip on Mitarashi's hair. "So I'm gonna bring him his whore's head. Blood for fucking blood."

"We need to kill him!" Argued the third shinobi. "If you killherand he runs off-"

Mitarashi locked eyes with Tsunade for a brief moment then and, in that time, communicated everything that needed to be said.

The two kunoichi discarded their bonds simultaneously, lunging at the shinobi who'd breached their cell. Mitarashi moved so fast that her form was barely a blur in Tsunade's eyes, punching the shinobi holding her in the throat before he could so much as raise his gaze from where she'd been lying on the floor. She then grabbed one of the kunai handles peeking from his pack by the ring at its end, twisted it around her finger until she could close her hand around the hilt, gripped it and slashed his throat.

Tsunade, who was nearly immune to the fear of injury as a result of the grueling training she had put herself through, slid between the legs of the tall shinobi moments before he fell to the ground, ending up in the corridor that led to their cell and facing two more shinobi. She rolled to the side to dodge an attempt to impale her with a katana then used the momentum to roll back onto her hands and do a backflip, at the end of which she was on her feet and eying her opponents carefully.

One of the fuckers was carrying Fuyumi's blade, which had been looted off her as soon as she was captured.

He was going to regret it.

The two kunoichi weren't in a very good position, seeing as the shinobi stood close enough together to avoid friendly fire, which they abused by launching an attack on the two using that same element. Tsunade trusted Mitarashi to duck into the room in time and focused on herself as soon as she saw the hand seals the shinobi used: Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

She enhanced her muscles with chakra and picked up the still form of the shinobi whose throat was slit, proceeding to use him as a human meat shield.

She wasn't burned but the heat from the fire jutsu alone threatened to knock her out, for a moment. What she wasn't prepared for, though, was the disgusting scent of burnt flesh that now emanated from the charred corpse she was holding up.

No amount of gore could have prepared her for this.

There was no time for such a strong reaction, so Tsunade blocked the nerve signals coming from her mouth and nose, dropped her human shield and launched herself at the two shinobi.

She went for taijutsu, knowing that her chakra would have to be used for healing soon enough and hoping to conserve enough of it to ensure that none of her allies died here. Tsunade managed to land a kick on the shinobi who had cast the fire jutsu, her muscles still enhanced, and though his knees buckled as a result he still managed to cut her shoulder on the way down. In the split second it took Tsunade to numb her pain the shinobi had already righted himself and launched another attack, swiping at her with his katana.

Tsunade would've been scared, in that moment, if she didn't know that she could heal from almost any injury he inflicted. For that reason, she was bold: Mitarashi had closed the distance between herself and the other shinobi, now battling him with her stolen kunai, and Tsunade just needed to keep the other enemy distracted long enough for her to come and finish him, too.

The shinobi in question seemed to arrive at the same conclusion, though, so he abandoned his fight with Tsunade in favor of assisting his fellow missing-nin.

Mitarashi lost ground immediately, going on the defensive, and Tsunade's attacks were easy enough for them to dodge or parry that she couldn't turn the tides in her ally's favor.

The dagger she had received from Fuyumi reflected the light of another fire jutsu, which Mirarashi barely escaped, drawing Tsunade's attention to it. She wasted no time in reaching for it, barely managing to swipe her fingers against the hilt before she was kicked away so hard that, for a second, she couldn't breathe.

That one moment of contact was all she needed, though. Tsunade yanked on the chakra string she had stuck upon the metal and caught the dagger as it flew towards her, using her position almost directly under the katana-wielding shinobi to stab him in the crotch, which just happened to be the only squishy bit she could reach from her position.

While the first shinobi's death gurgle was quiet enough that she missed it, this one's scream was loud enough to nearly rupture her eardrums.

He tried to swipe at Tsunade with his blade but his movement was sluggish and uncoordinated, proving that, unlike Tsunade, he could not fight through that degree of pain. She used his inability to strike her to pull the dagger out, roll back to her feet and stab him in the stomach.

Once in, Tsunade twisted the blade.

The shinobi screamed again though there was more of a gurgle there, this time, and when he dropped to his knees, she used her newfound leverage to slit his throat.

He fell at her feet, blood already pooling beneath him.

His chakra signature disappeared pretty quickly.

Tsunade turned to Mitarashi and found her seated on her opponent's shoulders with her knees locked around his neck as she held his head and twisted it, breaking his spine.

The woman fell to the ground when he did but righted herself quickly, wiping off blood onto what little remained of her clothes -her top was gone completely, at this point, leaving only a barrier of gore to conceal her skin- and dropped her kunai in favor of picking up the fallen shinobi's sword.

She looked Tsunade up and down, taking in her likely equally bloodied appearance, and nodded. There was something gentle and sad in her eyes despite her set jaw and the frown dominating her lips.

The kunoichi thankfully refrained from commenting on whatever it was that she found in Tsunade's expression worthy of such pity. Instead, she spoke, cold and calculating: "Let's get your teammates before they think to get them, too."

Notes:

A group of rats is called a mischief and I think it's too cool NOT to be in this fic. :P

Tsunade's first kill :'( How do you think she'll process it? I already have that bit written but would love to hear your guesses! 3

I'm kinda unhappy with the writing in this chapter - it just isn't smooth, you know? And I know that it's okay cause the plot is good & also I'm busy so it's justified but I'd maybe like to return to these chapters when I finish this fic done ans edit them. We'll see :):)

Love you guys lots, ty for cheering me up on the last chapter, I'm doing much better now! 3

Chapter 34: Trusting an Enemy/Saving a Friend

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THESE NOTES IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER

The two kunoichi recover Jiraiya and Orochimaru and Mitarashi barely realizes that they don't know Tsunade is a medic before she accidentally snitches. The group is intercepted by enemy shinobi who injure Tsunade. She ends up separated from the rest and corner by four ninja.

An Uchiha ANBU comes to her aid - the reinforcements Mitarashi called. He gets stabbed in the abdomen but wins the fight. Tsunade recognizes him as Shou's uncle and heals him but asks that he, too, keeps her secret.

When the battle is over Tsunade faces the fact that she is now, officially, a murderer.

The adults do cleanup and the gang returns to Konoha.
*

SPOILER WARNING END

Notes:

I hope you guys aren't yet sick of me thanking you for your mindblowing, incredible support 3 you're the best!

Reminder that I'm taking a bit of a break to write more chapters. I'll upload on Dec 1st at the latest (so in 12 days) but if possible I'll come back for my 3-day-upload schedule earlier! Ty very much for your patience!

I hope I manage to come back sooner, for my sake, not yours. I really love interacting with you guys in the comments or on twitter and it's been a highlight of my life in the few months I've been working on this fic. So stay tuned! You might be hearing from me sooner than expected!

Love you guys 3

PS there's an actual OMAKE at the end of this chapter! It has NOTHING to do with the current plotline but a commenter, LimerickSoliloquy, inspired it to write it and I wanted to give you some extra crack in this heavy chapter. If you like it, let me know! I could write more of those lol :D

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Turns out that Mitarashi Minori is very,verygood with a katana; Tsunade ended up contributing absolutely nothing as the woman offed the one shinobi patrolling near the boys' cell.

A sharp bit of metal came flying at them as soon as they opened the heavy door; Mitarashi deflected it with ease.

Orochimaru was upon her before she could do much else, wrapping the chain on his cuffs around the woman's sword in an attempt to break one of them, Tsunade wasn't sure which.

"Oi, Orochimaru, chill!" Tsunade yelled, stepping out from behind the jonin.

The boy didn't freeze at the sound of her voice; instead, he jumped back, putting some distance between himself and the katana-wielding kunoichi.

His golden eyes widened slightly when he took in Tsunade's appearance and, to be fair, she couldn't really blame him for betraying his surprise; she could feel flakes of dried blood shift against her skineverywhere, from her forehead to her toes. Whatever she looked like, it wasn't pretty.

He didn't look too good, either, with his broken nose and the blood covering the bottom half of his face as well as the entirety of his neck, but at least he still had enough fire in him to fight.

Watching the enemy kunoichi wipe the floor withOrochimaru, who Tsunade held in such high esteem, was… difficult. Life-changing, perhaps. She was glad to see that he wasn't as discouraged or shaken by the experience as she.

"Tsunade." Replied Orochimaru, his voice monotone and not revealing an ounce of the emotion visible on his face. Something warm and comforting settled in the pit of her stomach at his easy acknowledgement.

Jiraiya, in turn, made no attempt to conceal his shock at her appearance: "Tsunade-hime?!" He screeched, his face pale to the point that it almost matched his hair. "What happened to you?!"

She didn't grace that with an answer. Though she did note, with some degree of wonder, that Jiraiya didn't even comment on the fact that the woman accompanying her was half naked.

Must've been the gravity of the situation.

"Mitarashi-san is a Konoha-nin." Explained the blonde, not wasting any more time. They were running out, as is. "We're breaking out. C'mon."

She didn't need to cut her teammates' hands off, thank fuck - the two kunoichi managed to loot the keys to the handcuffs (chakra restraining ones for Orochimaru, smart move on the enemy's part) off the dead shinobi in the hallway. Tsunade caught the two boys up on their situation while Mitarashi eyed them warily.

"Can you perform elemental ninjutsu?" She asked the other genin.

"I can." Replied Orochimaru evenly. "I am adept with Fire but I also have some Earth jutsu in my arsenal."

"I can summon water but I can't control it much." Added Jiraiya. "Tsunade is good with Lightning jutsu."

"She's better off conserving her chakra." The jonin shot him down.

Jiraiya's brow furrowed. "Why?"

The kunoichi in question tensed visibly, drawing the older woman's attention with her jolt of surprise. Mitarashi didn't need more than a glance at Tsunade's pursed lips to catch onto the situation. "She spent a lot of it breaking me out. We can't afford to deal with chakra exhaustion right now."

Jiraiya accepted the excuse but Orochimaru, judging by his sharp stare that pinned Tsunade in place, certainly did not.

Fuck.

The group made their way out of the outpost, then, avoiding the shinobi within to the best of their ability as they navigated the dark hallways with Mitarashi's guidance. They weren't stealthy enough, however; Tsunade soon felt enemy-nin closing in on them from both ends of the passage they were in.

"Shit." Hissed Mitarashi, gritting her teeth audibly. "Prepare for impact."

What followed was an absolute mess.

There were elemental jutsu swung around -a ball of fire, a bolt of lightning, water to flood the floor and wind that threatened to cut them if they didn't dodge its assault in time- and Tsunade hurteverywhere. Someone had stabbed her in the thigh, at some point, which she managed to numb rather quickly, but the multitude of minor injuries she endured in an attempt to defend against her opponents was near overwhelming. She ended up split up from the group, at some point, with four shinobi on her tail. Tsunade pulled the blade out of her thigh, transformed the affected area and ran as fast as she could, though she wasn't sure where she was heading.

She wasn't familiar with the labyrinth underneath the outpost, though, and thus quickly ended up at a dead end.

With four shinobi closing in on her and nowhere to run, Tsunade wondered if this was the end of her journey.

She didn't need to dwell on that idea very long.

A fifth figure broke through the line of enemy-nin, making one of them explode in a burst of flames as it passed by, placing itself between the remaining three shinobi and Tsunade.

It was a tall, broad shouldered man who came to her aid, his features concealed under a rabbit ANBU mask.

In the brief moment when their eyes met, Tsunade saw them glint a familiar garnet.

Holy shit. Reinforcements had arrived.

ANBU Rabbit proceeded to fight the remaining shinobi on his own while Tsunade healed the more severe of her injuries, knowing that she would only hinder her savior if she tried to interfere with his fight.

Tsunade's heart fell to her stomach when she caught one of the shinobi manage to stick a kunai in the ANBU's abdomen but she stayed in place, still, rather than join the fray.

He kept fighting through the pain, though, his movements slowed but still sharp enough to cut the remaining two enemy-nin down. Only when there were four corpses at his feet did the shinobi turn to Tsunade again.

Tsunade was breathing heavily, her bloodstream oversaturated with adrenaline, as she locked eyes with the man. She didn't know his eyes, not through the mask, but in a moment of clarity between heavy breaths and swallowing down her bile and fear, Tsunade recognized his chakra.

"You're injured." She stated the obvious, her voice high-pitched and breathy.

ANBU Rabbit said nothing. Instead, he turned away from Tsunade and began walking in the direction of her team.

Walking. Not running. Despite the urgency of the situation, ANBU Rabbitwalked.

"Stop." Said Tsunade, jogging until she was at his side.

The ANBU didn't respond to her demand in any way whatsoever.

"Uchiha-san,stop." She repeated, more firmly this time.

To her great relief, he did.

She circled him until they stood face to face, where his deep,angryrad gaze could pierce her eyes in a way that made her feel like her soul was exposed.

Tsunade was not deterred, though. Fuck, compared to the bloodbath she had just witnessed, his attempt at intimidation wasn't even a drop in the ocean of her fear.

"This is for Shou." She said quietly, barely registering the widening of the man's eyes as she pressed her white-glowing hands to the flesh above the stab wound, never dropping the man's gaze.

She almost expected him to move away from the touch, forcing her to explain her intentions, but he thankfully didn't. This man, who was old enough to have lived in the time the Senju and Uchiha were at war and still carry the burden of generational hatred, allowed Tsunade to touch him where he was most vulnerable.

His garnet eyes widened as he caught on to what was happening; Tsunade deliberately refrained from numbing the area so as to not alarm him, despite the pain involved.

When her work was done and all that remained of the wound was new, flushed skin, the man's fingers hovered over her own. Tsunade moved her hand away so that he could touch the affected area and confirm his suspicions.

"No one can know." She said quietly. "Please."

"Shou?" Asked the Uchiha, his voice grave but not aggressive, to Tsunade's relief.

"Has been keeping my secrets for a while." She replied, confirming that the man's nephew was already in the know.

With his eyes still locked onto her own, ANBU Rabbit nodded.

Tsunade swallowed thickly and returned the gesture. "Would you please get myself and my team out of here, Rabbit-san?"

Another nod.

This time, when they departed from the bloodied hallway towards her team, they ran.

The ANBU team that came to their rescue had two more members and, by the time they arrived at where Tsunade's team was, ANBU Raven and Butterfly had taken care of the rest of the enemies and gathered the team that had previously been split up. Orochimaru and Jiraiya were covered in blood, though, and Mitarashi held a visibly dislocated shoulder breathing heavily through the pain.

Jiraiya was staring at his bloodied hands, wide eyed, watching the digits as if he did not recognize them. His lips were parted and he looked like he desperately wanted,neededto scream but couldn't manage it.

At the sight of the shock painting his features, Tsunade could no longer suppress the horror at what she herself did.

She had just killed a man. She was amurderer. She stabbed himtwiceandslit his throat-

She stepped away from the ANBU at her side and emptied the contents of her stomach. She could smell burning flesh again but it was in her mind, this time; she wondered briefly how long it'd be before she managed to sleep again.

Tsunade vomited a second time.

The ANBU escorted them back up to the surface where they found Sakumo triumphant over the kunoichi with blades braided into her hair, pulling a kunai out of her chest and kicking her still form to the ground. He was breathing heavily and bleeding profusely from a long gash along his chest but he was alive.

The missing-nin who had formerly occupied the outpost were not.

"I told them my name was Haruno." She said quietly to ANBU Rabbit as the shinobi were sealing the corpses in scrolls. "They were looking to ransom us off. At least one of them would be heading for the Haruno family to start negotiations."

"Noted." Replied ANBU Raven, then summoned a bird that matched his mask and sent it to the village with orders to pass said warning to the Hokage.

Tsunade fell to the grass, exhausted and emotionally wrung out, and rested her forehead on her bent knees.

What a shitstorm of a mission.

Tsunade spent most of the journey to Konoha close to her teammates, unwilling to part from them again. Everything about the last mission was too close for comfort; they got lucky multiple times and could only attribute their survival to the Gods' mercy. Sakumo was most affected by the turn the mission took, though, as he had blamed himself for subjecting the genin to captivity. He kept his eyes on the three of them constantly and tried to support the two genin who were shaken by their first kills.

It got too overwhelming for Tsunade, at some point, as she was still trying to pretend that she wasn't drowning in guilt, so she reluctantly left her teammates in favor of running at the front of the group with Mitarashi, who took point. It was only then that Tsunade realized that the kunoichi was no longer half naked; seeing as all the men in the group were fully clothed and the shirt she was was distinctly not a woman's…

Did she have to loot it off a fucking corpse?

Is that even fucked up, at this point? Tsunade just killed a man.

"Why don't they know?" The kunoichi asked quietly when the wind hitting their faces got particularly strong, enough to swallow her words so that no one but Tsunade could hear them. Probably.

"What do you think would happen if they did?" The blonde replied quietly, trusting Mitarashi to figure it out. The woman considered the question for a few seconds then nodded solemnly.

Tsunade continued: "Konoha needs ninja like me on the field, Mitarashi-san.Desperately. One outlier is sometimes enough to carve a path for a thousand more."

The woman's blue eyes met hers, then, and Tsunade conveyed anything and everything she didn't dare put into words through her gaze.

How she didn't want to be doing this. How it fell onto her to carry that burden because no one else would.

She then looked ahead again to focus on the trajectory of her run.

"I see." Mitarashi said after a long, tense pause. "You can trust my silence, then."

Tsunade felt a weight she didn't know she was carrying alleviated. "Thank you." She replied, as quiet as the initial question was.

She was thankfully spared further conversation.

The group didn't stop on the way to Konoha; they didn't have any critical injuries that warranted rushing but Sakumo decided against sticking away for another night. He cited getting back to report the outpost abandoned sooner as the reason but Tsunade suspected he just wanted to get the genin home.

It was hard, running for this long, and they had to reduce their pace due to the genins' exhaustion at some point, but they did make it to Konoha by dawn.

A sight that Tsunade thought she might never see again several times in the span of the last couple of days.

The rising sun was never before so beautiful.

OMAKE - Tsunade's...Proportions(crack that has nothing to do with the chapter, think of it like clearing your palate)

"You've been complaining about the size of your breasts for years, Princess, and I agree." Orochimaru began, folding his arms across his chest. "They disrupt your balance, make it harder to find fitting armor and, even with your monstrous strength, I can't imagine that the burden of their weight would be worthy of dismissal."

Tsunade cocked her head. "They're not that bad." She assured him.

"They may not be, but now that you no longer hide your ability to change your form at will there is no need for you to settle for anything short of the best. Make yourself taller, if you choose to, or male, or build more muscle, or less. Remove your breasts if they hinder you-"

"Howdareyou?!" Jiraiya screeched, jumping between Orochimaru and Tsunade with his back facing her, arms stretched out as if to protect her. "Howdareyou suggest such a thing?!"

Then, he sharply turned to face Tsunade. "Don't listen to him."

Jiraiya blinked and when he opened his eyes, there were stars in them. He was leering, his gaze glued to her chest, and his fingers were twitching in a manner that made Tsunade somewhat uncomfortable. "Does that mean that you can make them bigger?" He asked breathlessly.

Tsunade would have smacked him for the remark if not for the expression of absolute exasperation it drew from their other teammate, who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if in pain.

"Yes." She replied simply.

Jiraiya screeched and, to her surprise, pulled out a notepad and a brush and began scribbling something in it. "Bye!" He screamed in her face a moment later, then scurried away like the little goblin that he was, giggling lecherously the entire time.

Tsunade looked at Orochimaru and found his gaze glued to his departing teammate.

"He had a good point." She remarked, grinning when his eyes finally met hers.

Orochimaru just shook his head and shunshined away.

Notes:

About the Omake - if you think that it's inappropriate to shove it into such a heavy chapter, let me know and I'll move it elsewhere. I only put it here to hopefully cheer you up a little after the shit I put you through, reading this arc.

I didn't kill off a single named character, btw! Are you proud of me?
jk, dw, I only kill characters when necessary, in this fic. I'm not going to torture you by killing all the characters you love just to prove that I can. Pinky promise.

Did anyone see Shou's uncle coming? Cause I've kinda been hinting that he was one of the few people she'd be willing to betray her secret for, for Shou's sake, but it was pretty subtle so I do wonder :D

Anyway, I do hope that you enjoyed the chapter! I'll see you guys soon, hopefully 3

Chapter 35: Special: Orochimaru POV

Summary:

An Orochimaru POV of select moments from the First Kill arc.

Notes:

Is this actually happening? Did I actually give you guys the one thing you've been asking for from the very beginning?

Yep. This is an Orochimaru POV.

I'm not gonna delay you any further, enjoy the read, but I do have some updates/notes at the end. Love you guys 3

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Orochimaru had quite a few of his bones broken on his short life: a bunch of fingers, his leg, his wrist. The Hokage even broke a few of his ribs when he thought Orochimaru unaffected by Tsunade's fatal-looking injury.

He still didn't know how she managed it. Pride prevented him from asking even though he wanted desperately to understand how she crafted an illusion so vivid that the Hokage fell for it.

He needed that technique for himself.

The broken ribs were worth seeing the Hokage's features contort in rage and horror. The absolutely terrifying grin Tsunade shot him when she thought their plan to be a success, though… that, he would have givenmuchmore for.

Which brought him back to that moment, where he lay on the ground assaulted by a barrage of electricity, with his nose broken to shit.

Out of all the injuries he endured, thishadto be his least favorite, especially with how tears kept falling out of his eyes despite his best efforts to suppress them. It's not his image he cared for - it was the fact that he couldn't fuckingsee.

There was static in his ears and his body wouldn't obey a single one of his commands, which was annoying, but he still caught the moment Tsunade dropped her weapon as she conversed with the enemy kunoichi.

He should've been afraid, maybe, or angry that she gave up on his,theirlife so easily.

Instead, Orochimaru found that he was just disappointed.

He swore to himself once, already, to never lay his hopes in the girl again. He was a fool to allow her deception to consume him once; Orochimaru was not one for repeating his mistakes.

But then he learned that she'd been sparring with another person the entire time she wasn't training with him (obviously, an inferior opponent) and that she could craft illusions of the highest caliber. That she could manipulate her chakra much,muchbetter than he could wield his own and mastered techniques in a way completely opposite his own - by sensing the movement of chakra during their use rather than trying to mimic it.

He learned that she was a capable kunoichi, for all of his previous doubts.

Then she had to go and give him food and he remembered that she was a sentimental fool, for all her potential, and he wasangry.Angry that she had the support of a powerful clan at her back, the resources to best nourish her progress, the support of a family that loved her and, most of all,chakra control and reserves superior to his.

She didn't deserve either of those. Tsunade would only use her unfathomable advantage while she's young, not even reaching her physical peak before she discarded it all to marry and have a brood of her own.

She was pathetic, but he still allowed himself to suspend his disbelief and give her a chance to prove him wrong. To show that she's more than her parents' expectations, more than another fool with no ambition to back their power.

When Tsunade's blade fell to the earth, Orochimaru's hopes fell with it. When Jiraiya followed suit, he was already too emotionally detached to care.

Then… then Tsunade bit her fucking finger off.

And it wasn't an illusion, this time; he wouldn't buy that. He could see the white of bone flash for a brief moment before blood erupted from the stump; for all her talent, Orochimaru refused to believe Tsunade capable of such masterful illusion.

She spat the digit out andgrinned,blood covering her teeth and chin, and the fire in her eyes made her look focused rather than feral as she continued to speak to the enemy kunoichi.

And Orochimaru was forced, once again, to reevaluate how he saw the Princess. They were dead, all three of them, but she wasn't cowed; rather than fear it was anger that he found in her eyes, determination, confidence. Even faced with death she was as fierce as she was outside of battle, like bottled up intensity and laser focus poured into a container barely large enough to hold them.

He couldn't blink. He couldn't look away. And, in his heart, Orochimaru would admit that he was glad that this was the last thing he saw before he was killed.

But… he wasn't killed.

None of them were.

"What did she do?" He rasped some time later, when he was improved enough to at least control his speech. It was hard, talking when he couldn't breathe through his nose, but he managed it.

Orochimaru needed to know.

Jiraiya turned to face him sharply though he didn't move from his position by the wall. "Haruno…negotiated with the enemy-nin." Said his teammate hesitantly, making absolutely no sense. "She reasoned with them and convinced them to ransom us off to her father."

And then it clicked for Orochimaru.

The way Tsunade spoke to their captors, her posture straight and defiant, hinting at her status which sheneverallowed normally. The fact that she was kept apart from them. The fact that the three of them were alive at all.

"Can you sense her?"

"No, but she can sense us." Replied Jiraiya. "That was her one demand. If… if she doesn't sense us, she'll bite off her tongue and k-kill herself."

"I see."

He didn't. He didn't see.

How she managed to turn their crushing loss into a scenario where all three of them lived in the span of minutes was beyond him. Orochimaru would be the first to admit that he was more likely to sacrifice the others to save himself, if he thought it possible.

But Tsunade savedallof them.

And he once again found that, despite his best efforts, he didn't understand her at all.

Their door opened with no warning to reveal a topless kunoichi covered from head to toe in blood.

Orochimaru was fully prepared to play dead or unconscious at the first sign of company, having deduced that it would be his best chance to use the makeshift weapon he acquired, until he saw a flash of bloodied blond hair just behind the woman's hips.

He didn't think.

Orochimaru threw the shard of metal he found at the woman, aiming to pierce her eye, but she managed to parry it with her sword. He jumped her, then, wrapping his chains around her sword in hopes that the blade would shatter his bonds and return his chakra.

"Orochimaru, chill!" Tsunade yelled, snapping him out of his frenzy.

He retreated.

The boy watched his teammate step from behind the woman she dubbed a Konoha-nin, covered in blood and gore. The two women reeked of burning flesh, also, making Jiraiya retch.

Orochimaru himself almost missed the scent, too distracted by the sight of Tsunade. Her fingers were wrapped around a dagger which she held so tight that they were snow-white and void of blood.

Most importantly, though, Tsunade was no longer missing a finger. That's when Orochimaru knew, for sure, that her technique was no mere illusion; he saw the pain on her face when she bit it off. No one,no onewas a good enough liar to manage that.

She looked focused and determined again, like she did when she mutilated herself, but there was more to her expression now: Tsunade was afraid. Not of her captors, or death: Tsunade looked like nothing would scare her more than her own reflection, in that moment.

Ah. So she had her first kill, then. He did wonder how bad she'll take it.

He wasn't surprised to know that Tsunade had a hand in breaking the kunoichi out; at this point, Orochimaru had to acknowledge that he absolutely didn't know what she was capable of.

They got separated. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were still under the diligent protection of the jonin Tsunade brought to them but the Princess wasgone. He could still sense her, in the distance, as well as the four chunin-level shinobi following her.

Orochimaru tried to clear a path to her but the enemy's numbers were too great; even with Jiraiya joining the fray, there was little the three of them could do beyond surviving.

Then the masked men came and made easy work of the enemies they'd been fighting tooth and nail.

Mitarashi addressed them by their masks.

Orochimaru extended his senses to search for Tsunade again and found her in the company of one powerful ninja, heading towards them. Konoha-nin operated in cells of three; it's good that at least one of the group came to her rescue.

They were reunited with their team leader and Orochimaru couldn't believe that they were all alive. Alive and relatively healthy, even.

This… this isn't how things were supposed to play out. Nothing about the situation made sense. It went against anything and everything he learned to expect of consequences, of fate.

But Tsunade subverted it.

And, even as he watched her throw up repeatedly, likely facing the weight of her actions, Orochimaru knew that he would never see the Princess the same way again.

Notes:

Okay, notes!
IMPORTANT:
1. So I didn't mean to but because I have the plot planned out so well for the rest of this story, it's kinda switched to arc-based rather than me writing Tsunade's life. I mean, the last few chapters were an arc, and the next few chapters are one, also.
My point is that there is only ONE are left before the chunin exams, the way I see it, and I'm gonna make a huge timeskip for it. IF THERE'S ANYTHING YOU WANT TO HAPPEN IN THE NEAR FUTUTE, please let me know so that I can add that in :) 3
If I happen to kinda ignore somethign that you find interesting, let me know! I might be down to write a companion fic detailing it.
2. Next chapter is up, as promised, on December 1st! I'mm be back to a 3-day schedule, then :)

FUN:
1. This chapter exists thanks to your comments. Yep, I 100% did not intend to write this chapter, it kinda wrote itself, and it's only thanks to your comments. The reason why I didn't want to do an Orochimaru POV is because I feel like it'd be cheap to show him falling in love with Tsunade - like I'm not capable of showing it from her POV, without spoon-feeding you. But you know what? I'm a good enough writer to know that I can do it well, so I'm down to give you the occasional Orochimaru POV. What do comments have to do with it, you ask? Well, you guys have been VERY good about uncovering teensy little details I drop in chapters and could betray that Orochimaru gives a shit. For example, Kaykoo pointed out, in the last chapter, how quick Orochimaru was to come to Tsunade's defense when she appeared with Mitarashi, which I intended to have read like him just making an escape attempt, but Kaykoo was RIGHTi.
Anyway, yeah. Ty guys for your support on this fic ~
2. I, um, might have lost patience and written the first Orotsu sex scene this fic will have.
Might have.
And it might have ended up being 5k words and I won't tell you why because, despite its nature, it contains so many spoilers to this fic LOL.
We're still a while off from me posting it cause a lot of plot still needs to happen but, just so you know... 5k words of smut. And I'm def gonna write more haha, I have at least 4 more sex scenes that are plot-relevant and I'll probably throw in more just for fun. Mwahahahaha

Anyway, yeah, I'm really excited for you to read it. Alas, we must wait!

Ty all for the incredible support, the comments, the kudos, reading this fic at all. I love you guys so much and I really hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Chapter 36: A Crack in the Glass

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING*
The genin are dropped off at the hospital by Sakumo after the gang has return to the village. Tsunade is kept in the hospital for potential chakra exhaustion. She's visited by Fuyumi who helps her work through the guilt of her first kill and tells Tsunade about her own. Keiichi arrives some time later and Fuyumi fills him in with sign language, which Tsunade decides to learn asap.
Together the three of them plot Tsunade's next actions.

SPOILER WARNING END*

Notes:

I missed you guys SO MUCH
Like, I didn't even expect to, but it was so so hard not to post for so long. I really like talking to you Q-Q
Anyway, there's a lot of info here, let's start with fic related stuff:

SCHEDULE UPDATE!
These are the chapters I'll be uploading this month:
Dec 1st - ch 36 Dec 4th - ch 37 Dec 7th - ch 38 Dec 10th - ch 39 Dec 13th - ch 40: SAKUMO AND MITARASHI POV SPECIAL Dec 16th - ch 41 Dec 19th - ch 42 Dec 22nd - ch 43 BONUS ART

Now, the alternate pov chapter doesn't advance the plot (it does have side-plots, though, and explains things I glossed over previously) and I didn't want to scam you out of a chapter so chapter 40 is TWO CHAPTERS LONG :D (it's also my fav out of all of this month's chapters, I'll tell you about it in the end notes on December 13th LOL)

I'm thinking of doing one alternate pov chapter every month so let me know who else you'd like to see. I was thinking of writing Mito in January ;p

Now, for stuff unrelated to the fic:
I'm going to be very honest and very open with you. I create a a lot of different content - I do cosplay, a little art, gaming , writing of different sorts, music, rants, you name it. This isn't even my only fic! I have two other accounts that I've posted from!
Why do I separate them, you ask? Because I like all the different aspects of me to stay separate. Idk why. And, most of all, I'm never very open about myself on the internet.
So what changed? I did, and it's thanks to you guys. I really liked talking with all of you and I did end up opening up a little and it felt great to share myself with you.
Because of that, I decided that I will no longer separate any future content I create - I'm going to share all of it on one account, THIS ONE. Yup, I chose to permanently associate my face and my voice with a (future smut) fanfic. Go me.

Anyway, I'll try posting on tiktok once in a while :D So if you check out what I look like and are curious about what I get up to, here it is:

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

Love you guys lots, ty for finally getting me to open up. Enjoy the chapter :)

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Sakumo dropped the genin off at the hospital but didn't linger, himself, with the excuse of needing to report to the Hokage. Tsunade was pretty sure that he just felt too guilty about the ordeal they endured to stay.

He should. With genin for company, Sakumo should have retreated as soon as he so much assuspectedthat something was off. Tsunade understood and respected his desire to assist his comrades even at the cost of his own life, she did, but dragging dead-weight genin into it just wasn't a good approach.

He wasn't the one Tsunade was pissed with, though; that dubious honor was reserved for the Hokage, who allowed them to go on such a mission without him to begin with. A part of her tried to come to his defense, insisting that he couldn't have predicted the events that led to two of his genin making their first kill, but Tsunade silenced it. She silenced it because, even if it was ultimately a sin she was willing to forgive, the kunoichi would need to see the Hokage show remorse, first.

Unlike Hatake and, as it turns out, Mitarashi, Tsunade didn't particularly hate hospitals. This one was shit, sure, and the care they offered was subpar at best, but she didn't run from it like fire the way the older kunoichi did. Shit, Mitarashi barely agreed to get checked out before bolting and even that required coercion on Sakumo's part.

The hypocrite.

Tsunade couldn't blame the woman, honestly. If she found herself in the older kunoichi's shoes she'd probably want to be alone for a bit, too.

And shower. Shower often and in scalding water, until she could no longer feel the ghost of touch on her skin.

Tsunade herself was kept under supervision in the hospital for 'dangerously low chakra levels'; dangerous for someone not of Uzumaki descent, perhaps, but nowhere near as low as she regularly got when training. Especially not after she had almost a full day of plain old running to recover some of it.

She didn't argue, though; Tsunade could use the time to process some things.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya were both released, the former with a fully healed nose. Poor kid had to run with a broken one for a full day; she honestly respected the shit out of him for not even complainingonce. It was Orochimaru, so it's not like sheexpectedhim to, but it was still pretty fucking badass of him.

She didn't need to like him to acknowledge that he was cool.

Jiraiya, despite being the most physically healthy of the three of them, looked like absolute shit. He still wasn't talking, too busy staring quietly at his trembling fingers, weighted down by the knowledge that his were the hands of a killer.

He was also the first to be released, which was stupid as fuck and proved that Konoha's hospital was a flaming pile of poop. Tsunade was so angry that she forgot to be miserable, for a bit.

She was only ordered to stay under supervision until noon but, less than an hour after the group made it through the village gates, Fuyumi was already in her hospital room.

"Should you be here?" Tsunade asked the gray-haired woman hesitantly, unwilling to look up high enough to meet her gaze.

She couldn't. She wasn't ready for whatever it was that she'd find in her mentor's expression.

"No." Replied the elderly kunoichi, then approached the blond and took her face in her hands.

Tsunade closed her eyes before they could meet Fuyumi's.

The woman gently turned her student's face to the left, then to the right, and proceeded to examine Tsunade's whole body in a similar manner, her touch much gentler than the girl had grown to expect.

The repetitiveness of the gesture, somehow, and Tsunade's pulse slowed a little at the prolonged, almost affectionate contact.

"You're not hurt." The woman concluded eventually, releasing Tsunade.

"They think I might have chakra exhaustion." Murmured the blonde, cautiously peeking from under her eyelids.

She was level with Fuyumi's shoulders. She could afford to look at those, for a while.

The older kunoichi snorted, shook her head and took a seat on the chair closest to the door, like a sentry tasked with keeping Tsunade safe.

Perhaps she was, under her own orders.

"So?" She prompted the blonde.

"I think you might not want your dagger back." Tsunade muttered, gently pressing the base of her palms into her eye sockets.

"What makes you think that?" The woman inquired evenly.

"I castrated someone with it." Tsunade admitted quietly. Once she started talking about it, though, she couldn't stop: "Does it even matter, though? I slit his throat almost immediately after. It's not like he was going to have a chance to father children, anyway. And so what if I stabbed him in the groin? How is it any more gross than anywhere else?"

"Tsunade-hime…"

"There was a kunoichi there who they only left alive because she was a woman. By the time she was thrown into a cell with me they were already through with her. How am I to know he didn't take a turn, too? If he did, I'm glad to have castrated him. I'd do it again, Fuyumi-sensei- it was good that I- it's good that I-" She couldn't continue though her choked out sobs, not anymore, and all the words she really wanted to say never got a chance to leave her parted lips.

How she regretted taking a human life.

How she regrettedhaving to.

"You've had your first kill, then." Said Fuyumi as she rose, then slowly approached the bed upon which Tsunade sat and joined her atop it, pulling the girl into a tight hug. The blonde began crying in earnest, then, long, mournful sobs that didn't even begin portraying her misery. She pressed her face into her sensei's shoulder and screamed into the fabric there, breaking upon her like waves against a cliff, trusting Fuyumi to stay firm and serve said purpose.

The older kunoichi ran her hand through Tsunade's still blood-covered hair.

"You did well, Tsunade-hime." The woman assured her quietly when her throat was too hoarse to cry more and she remained with her mouth agape, screaming mutely about her fate, crying into her sensei's tunic. "You protected yourself. You protected your team. You protected your protected yourbrother."

Tsunade hiccuped, taken off guard by the mention of Nawaki. "I don't want the dagger back - you were right. But that's because it has served you as it may no longer serve me andI'm glad for it. You did well, Tsunade-hime." She repeated.

"I killed a man." She argued, her throat so wrecked that the words were barely audible.

"You protected yourself." Fuyumi insisted calmly, carefully untangling a knot in Tsunade's gory hair as if she couldn't care less about the flakes of blood she brushed through with every touch.

Tsunade didn't try to protest a second time, too consumed by the kind touch and its implications - the fact that Fuyumi, at least, did not think any less of her.

The older woman sighed. "I performed my first kill with that dagger, too." She admitted quietly, making Tsunade tense in her embrace. Fuyumi held her tighter, still, so that the blonde could not move away from her embrace; maybe she wasn't ready to look into Tsunade's eyes, either. "I was ten; it was before the village was formed. We intercepted a team of Uchiha who were protecting the merchant we were sent to kill."

"They were even younger than us. Eight or nine, maybe, and that's a generous estimate. Their team leader ordered them to kill us, though, so we had to retaliate with the same degree of violence."

Tsunade raised her reddened eyes to watch the woman as she spoke, finally,finallymeeting her gaze.

For the first time perhaps ever Tsunade saw the dark orbs filled to the brim with emotion - in this particular case,grief.

"They killed my sister, Aya. It was her dagger; my mother gifted it to her when she turned twelve. I grabbed it off her corpse and stabbed her killer in the eye."

"Fuyumi-sensei…"

"It bought me no solace or the satisfaction of revenge." The woman continued. "But it let me live long enough to end up here and pass this story, and this blade, to you. And for all the pain I endured… I can now say with confidence that it was worth it."

Tsunade nodded jerkily.

"I performed my last kill under Konoha orders with it, too." She continued quietly. "I… I compromised the mission objective to save a friend, my partner."

'Keiichi', she didn't say, but Tsunade heard his name even if her mentor would not speak it. "I was dishonorably dismissed for it, as the target was meant to be returned to the village alive, but I don't regret it." Fuyumi said, her eyes glinting with determination and pride. "And neither should you. You protected your own and though you may not be happy with the means, you should at least be happy with the result - your team is alive, are they not?"

"Yeah." Tsunade choked out.

"Then you did the right thing."

After a brief pause to allow the blonde to acclimate, her sensei began demanding answers. "Tell me everything - from the moment you left the village."

And Tsunade, knowing that her sensei would not have asked if she wasn't certain that they had privacy, did just that.

Fuyumi cut her no slack; she asked questions, demanded clarification and pressed for details that Tsunade was not yet ready to discuss.

But it did her good, in the end, to face what happened, what she did. Tsunade wondered, in passing, just how long she would have suppressed the memories if Fuyumi did not confront her when the scars were still fresh and her mind was still vulnerable.

"We're going to have company." The woman warned Tsunade seconds before there was a knock on the door. Tsunade couldn't feel a person's presence behind it.

"Friendly?" She asked cautiously, examining the woman's posture to better glean an answer. Fuyumi hadn't gone on the defensive but she had tensed, somewhat, and her features had morphed into a frown.

"Debatable." She answered, sneering, and Tsunade knew exactly who to expect.

"Come in, Nara-san." She called, if only to get in the habit of not calling him ;shishou' in public. The implied disrespect still burned her from the inside, though, and she would later apologize for it even knowing that he would scold her for doing so.

As expected, the door opened to reveal Nara Keiichi, leaning onto his cane, looking rather tense.

Until he laid eyes on Fuyumi, that is, whom he could not have possibly sensed within the room thanks to her superior technique.

"I- I apologize. I'll leave-"

"You may stay, Keiichi." The woman cut him off before he could turn away. "Tsunade-hime is as much yours as she is mine; I will not deny you this visit."

Keiichi hesitated for a brief moment then schooled his features and nodded. "Thank you."

Tsunade wondered, not for the first time, what they were to each other. What set of circumstances put them in a position where they obviously respected one another but would not agree to stay in the same room without a bedridden Tsunade for moderation. Especially now that Fuyumi admitted to going against orders to save Keiichi's life and standing firmly behind that decision.

"You've come at a good time." Began Fuyumi, gesturing for Keiichi to take a seat on the chair at the edge of the room, while she remained seated on the bed. "We have privacy for now, but I expect that Tsunade will garner more attention once word of her exploits spreads; we need a battleplan."

The Nara's eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"I-I can't do it again." Tsunade whispered, curling into herself, as if the movement would defend her from the images flashing in her mind or the constant, unrelenting scent of burning flesh.

"You won't have to." Fuyumi assured her. She then proceeded to communicate with Keiichi in sign language, which he clearly understood judging both by his expressions and him signing in return.

Tsunade had two thoughts at that moment: first, that she was glad that she didn't need to hear the story a second time, even if she wasn't the one telling it; living through the events once was enough. Second - she desperately,desperatelyneeded to learn to sign, too. How was that not a skill taught at the Academy? Silent communication was far more useful a skill than, say, flower arrangement. For fuck's sake.

"Kid." Keiichi addressed her when Fuyumi's explanation was done -much faster than anticipated, she must have given him cliff notes- his eyes filled with worry. "Good job coming back alive."

Tsunade offered him a wobbly smile. "I got lucky." And she did; theyalldid. This mission should have ended with three dead genin and a jonin that was either just as dead or that much more devastated.

"You did." He agreed, to her great relief; she wasn't in the mood to argue that point. "But you also played your handperfectly, despite your disadvantageous position. I could not be more proud of you."

Her eyes filled with tears again but this time it was not helplessness that fueled them: it was relief. "You… you're not upset with me? For what I did?"

"I wouldneverbe upset with you for surviving." He replied, rising from his seat and approaching the bed, though he did keep his distance from Fuyumi. "You saved the lives of your team and another kunoichi. They're alive thanks toyou. Do you recall when I advised you to practice your skills before there was a need for you to rely on them?"

She nodded.

"And you did, did you not? You practiced, and it's what allowed you to act as you did. You got lucky, yes, but it was effort and skill that put you in a position to capitalize on that luck anddon't you forget that."

"Okay." She whispered.

"We do need to discuss how you play your part going forward." Fuyumi reminded her. "That's two more people who know you can heal; one who knows of your Transformation Technique, or at least suspects."

"I- I don't think either of them would betray my secrets." She admitted quietly. "Mitarashi explicitly agreed not to, and- she understands, sensei. She understands what will become of me if she did. I just don't know how she'll explain our escape in the mission report."

"And the ANBU?" Asked Fuyumi, not bothering to question how Tsunade knew what the masked shinobi were, at all; it was expected, at this point, for the girl to know things that she shouldn't.

"I think he'll keep my secrets, too… for a while. I'll probably have a warning if he did choose to betray my secrets to the Hokage. He… might spread word among the Uchiha, though."

Fuyumi tsked. "Of course he's an Uchiha." She muttered.

Tsunade didn't mention knowing his identity or him being Shou's uncle, thus within her sphere of influence; if she hoped that he would keep her secrets, the least she could do was keep his. Even if it meant using the techniques Fuyumi and Keiichi taught her to lie to them.

Shit, who was she kidding? Both of her teachers would be proud of her deceit.

"He only knows that you're capable of medical-ninjutsu, correct?" Asked Keiichi.

"He had the sharingan." Tsunade reminded him grimly, though she did not feel as awful as she did five minutes before. Scheming felt… nice, like she was in control. Was that why they brought the topic up?

It was a good fucking strategy.

"So he definitely knows that you use Yang Release."

"Yes."

Fuyumi sighed and shook her head. "The Uchiha won't divulge that information to the Hokage, if only to snub him. Imagine how embarrassing it would be for others to know his student's skillset while he does not."

"They must assume that Hokage-sama is oblivious for that to work." Keiichi pointed out.

"They will." Replied Fuyumi. "He would not have put the First's granddaughter in a frontline team, if he knew."

Tsunade cringed. "True."

"So what next?" Asked Keiichi, shifting his gaze from the blonde to Fuyumi.

The woman stared at him rather coolly for a few long seconds before speaking:

"We do what we do best." She said. "Welie."

Notes:

And, like you all suspected, NO ONE is talking about the ease with which Tsunade maimed a comrade. No one is going to, either, but not because they're as indifferent to it as she.
It's Konoha. I'd imagine that maiming a comrade that way would be unthinkable, even to someone like Fuyumi. An enemy? Sure. A comrade? Nope.
And no one wants to open that can of worms.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Can't wait to post the next one, I think you'll like it a lot XD

Love you guys!3

Chapter 37: Unlikely Savior

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING*
Tsunade admits to Keiichi that all she ever wanted was a family that loved her and that, in a way, she thinks she has one, after all. She trains with Shou, who supports her quietly as always.
Tsuande can't sleep the first night back in the village, plagued by nightmares to the point that her her chakra is too restless for Orochimaru, who is her neighbor, to sleep through. He invites himself into her home, chastises her, then drags her out to train to tire her out. Tsunade ends up falling asleep outdoors and wakes up to find that Orochimaru spent the night there, watching over her. She then returns the favor as he, too, takes a nap.
*SPOILER WARNING END*

Notes:

Hello loves!
I've had the busiest three days so I'm sorry for the short replies to your comments! It was my partner's birthday and I had a surprise party organized and it was SO STRESSFUL lying to them. Like, I think that I'm a phenomenal liar. But lying to people you love is HARD omg.

Anyway, I'm back! And I missed you! I hope you like this chapter as much as I did, more on that in the end notes ;D

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

Fuyumi informed her that she had a tail before Tsunade was even allowed to leave the hospital.

The woman slipped away, then, before her presence in Tsunade's room had become known, but Keiichi stayed. He played shogi with her for hours, keeping her mind off the things shestillwasn't ready to face, as well as the fact that she had finally drawn someone's unwelcome interest.

"You know." Tsunade began quietly as she took her turn. "I think all I ever really wanted was a family that loved me. And… it didn't work out the way I imagined it would."

Keiichi nodded. "It was no fault of your own." He reminded her warily, as if expecting Tsunade to argue his point.

The blonde smiled, though her eyes remained glued to the board. "I know. That's not what I was getting at."

Keiichi cleared his throat. "Go on, then."

"I think I do have a family that loves me." She explained quietly. "I have Nawaki. Oji-san… oji-san loved me enough to challenge decades worth of trauma and prejudice. He loved me enough to protect me from anyone, even my own family if it came to it."

Tsunade swallowed. "Mito-baasama loves me, too. She's… she's been dealt a difficult hand and she still extends her aid to me, over and over and over again. Then there's Kagami, and you, and Fuyumi-sensei." She paused. "It's… a bit of an unconventional family, but it's a good one. You're… you've been very good to me,for me. And I'm very grateful."

Keiichi groaned, "Gods, kid, you're such a sap." He complained, then placed a hand atop her head. "You're lucky I like you."

Tsunade choked on a laugh. "Yeah." She agree. "Yeah, I am."

She went home, keeping track of her newly acquired tail.

Tsunade went home, but her mind didn't.

The blonde couldn't even fathom the thought of approaching her kitchen - it was as if her senses had sharpened, in her absence, and she was suddenly very much aware of all the scents saturating the space - smoke and roasting fat and cooking meat andburning flesh-

She needed to eat, though, so she got food from a street vendor. Tsunade managed not to throw it up but refused to return home, knowing that she'd lose that battle if she was forced to face the scents again.

So she went to find Shou.

He was free, thankfully, and though Tsunade did decline his suggestion of sparring she was down to meditate or do katas with him.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked her about an hour in, having spent the majority of that time practicing shurikenjutsu after his attempt to improve his fire jutsu almost made Tsunade faint. That's what Tsunade meant when she told Kagami that Shou was the kindest, most considerate person she knew - he didn't push. He didn'tneedto know what she'd been through to offer her kindness. He saw her flinch when he used fire andstopped, no questions asked, never even contemplating if that's something Tsunade wanted.

He wasn't ready to hear it, yet, but Shou was a part of her little family, also.

"Not much to tell." The blonde replied, accounting for the fact that she still likely had uninvited company. She'd go off that assumption until Fuyumi said otherwise; Tsunade's sensory skills just weren't at a level where she could assume that she was in the clear just because she couldn't pinpoint any prying eyes. "Just a mission gone bad," she continued, "but my team made it. So It's alright."

It really, really wasn't.

Tsunade had to come home, at some point, if she wished to maintain the illusion of being even remotely okay.

She tried to sleep. She really did. Tsunade even went as far as numbing the nerves on her nose again in hopes of expelling the horrible, unyielding scent of burning flesh from her mind.

But it didn't work and, the longer she spent lying in bed tryingnotto think of what she did, the worse it got.

She watched herself stab the man she killed in a thousand different places, slitting his throat at different angles and sometimes even impaling his eyes, going for a more direct kill. However she did it, regardless of any precautions she took, her hands always ended up drenched in blood.

Those weren't the worst images her mind threw at her, though.

She heard the enemy kunoichi laugh at her suggestion to ransom them off before crushing Orochimaru's skull under her steel-reinforced boot, making it burst like a watermelon and spraying Jiraiya, who could only scream before his throat was slit and his mouth filled with blood.

She watched as more violence was inflicted on Mitarashi while Tsunade herself sat bound in chakra-suppressing cuffs, unable to doanythingto help her or even just end her misery.

She saw Shou's black eyes shift into garnet with a single black tomoe as she stood before him, telling him earnestly that she was with his uncle as he died, that she waswhyhe died, but couldn't save him.

And she drowned in the anxiety accompanying the knowledge that every single one of these outcomes was more likely than the one they ended up with. The understanding of how unfathomably lucky she was to have all the right skills to avoid what would've been a tragedy - from her Transformation Technique, to her healing, to the way her mother taught Tsunade to carry herself as befitting her status as a Clan Head's daughter.

Not a single one of the lessons life had taught her went to waste, in that mission, andit scared her.

Tsunade was exhausted, severely sleep deprived and stuck so deep in hallucinations of flames and blood and gore anddeaththat she nearly shit herself at the sound of pounding on her door.

She jumped out of her bed and rushed to the entrance of her small apartment, unnerved by the presence she sensed there.

"What happened?" She demanded, her voice filled with urgency, as she opened the door for Orochimaru.

He didn't look anxious, as she had expected, pointing at the fact that he wasn't a bearer of bad news or a warning; No, Orochimaru wasangry.

Her teammate pushed past her unceremoniously, shoving Tsuande away by the shoulder as he entered her apartment uninvited before closing the door behind him.

"You need to get a hold of your chakra." He seethed, his golden eyes reflecting what little light penetrated the window, like a cat's. "It's all over the place and it's driving me up the wall."

Tsunade would've been more taken aback by Orochimaru admitting to experiencing emotions, even if it was just annoyance, had she not beenso fucking tired.

"Sorry." She offered. "I can go somewhere else for the night. I don't think I can get a handle on it anytime soon."

He sneered. "You can't control your chakra?" He demanded. "You?"

'How flattering' she thought. "Yeah." Tsunade agreed. "I'm too tired to rein it in. Sorry."

"But you can't sleep." He concluded.

Tsunade offered him a wobbly, helpless smile.

He sighed and shook his head. "Gear up and meet me outside. You have five minutes before I come back and I won't be polite a second time."

With that said, Orochimaru turned and left her home, slamming the door shut behind him, making no attempt to conceal his irritation with her.

Tsunade stared at the now closed door, dumbfounded, for a full minute before his words finally registered.

It only took her two more minutes to gather her pouches and weapons, high-strung and battle-ready as she was, and she spent another washing her face and slapping color into her cheeks before leaving the building to meet her teammate.

"Come." He said, dressed in mission gear himself. She worried, for a moment, that Orochimaru might suggest they leave the village, and relaxed when he instead led her to some training grounds that chunin usually occupied during the day.

"Fight me." He demanded.

Tsunade needed no further encouragement.

She wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline of the battle that eased the burden on her shoulders or the familiarity of it; sparring with Orochimaru again felt like rearranging the puzzle pieces that made her up into a frame thatfit, and it wasincredible.

Fighting him was as easy as breathing. She could trust him to go for the most destructive attacks and could thus predict and defend against them. In the few times where the scent of burnt flesh or the sound of gurgled, choked out screams distracted her, Orochimaru was right there to push her out of the way of an attack that would have cost her an arm, or a secret.

After the first few times she began returning the favor and Orochimaru, too, did not protest when she used chakra strings to yank him out of the way of a lighting jutsu. He froze in the face of it like Tsunade froze when he used fire, as traumatized by her element as she was by his.

Exposure therapy had never before been so effective.

After about an hour of constant sparring both ninja were running out of chakra and sweating profusely from exertion. It was easy, deciding to end their session there.

Tsunade flopped back onto a rather soft patch of grass, closing her eyes and breathing in the scents of the forest. There was smoke clinging to everything she smelled and she could feel static on her skin but she didn't fear them, anymore, not in that paralyzing sort of way that made her defenseless against them.

She could still hear screams and smell burning flesh but the horror accompanying the sensations just wasn't as acute, anymore.

"Thank you." She breathed, pouring her heart and soul into the words. She hoped that, with her eyes closed, Orochimaru would be less inclined to snap at her for the audacity of sharingfeelings.

"Don't let it happen again." He shot back venomously and Tsunade knew that she did, indeed, earn his mercy.

"I'm gonna nap here, I think." She said, having fully forgotten about her theoretical tail. "Too tired to move." 'And I can finally sleep', she didn't add.

Orochimaru said nothing.

Tsunade didn't bother waiting for him to leave. She sighed, relieved at the alleviated pressure, and fell into unconsciousness.

When she was roused by the first light of dawn, Orochimaru was still there. Tsunade jumped up sharply to find him immersed in some scroll, shooting her a blank look when he noted her sudden interest in his reading.

"You need sleep, too." She said quietly, recalling that Orochimaru, like her, hadn't slept in days.

He nodded, rolled his scroll closed and threw it to her. "Your watch." He said, voice a little hoarse from disuse, before lying down on the, curiously enough, flower-covered area that he had selected as his watchpost.

Tsunade caught the scroll, smiling.

Orochimaru stayed with her forhoursto ensure that she was safe as she took her depression nap in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Shit, he trusted her to do the same for him.

That wasn't all, however. The scroll he let her borrow… It depicted a jutsu, aLightningjutsu, that allowed the user to channel electricity through the earth with the goal of stunning their opponents.

It was a B-rank technique, not something Orochimaru should have access to, under any circumstances.

And he gave it toher.

Tsunade put it away, for a bit, as to not ruin it with the fat tears rolling down her cheeks. 'Thank you' she mouthed, knowing that Orochimaru wouldn't want to hear the words a second time.

Once she'd calmed down, somewhat, Tsunade wiped her cheeks dry and began reading the scroll, determined to learn as much from it as possible before Orochimaru woke up or either of them was called to report on their mission.

She was going to become stronger. A lot stronger.

Strong enough to protect her team. Strong enough to slay her enemies without losing herself, afterwards. Strong enough to support Jiraiya through whatever he was going through, which Tsunade had no doubt affected him at least as much as her experience had affected her.

She was going to be everything her teammates needed her to be and more.

Team seven was going to be ok.

Notes:

Orochimaru: helps Tsunade out of his own free will, disguising it as being annoyed by her.
Everyone in Konoha except Tsunade: *surprised pikachu*
Tsunade: Oh cool, that's nice of him

I'va had that OroTsu interaction planned for a while. I hope you enjoyed it :D

It's been a long time since I'd last been this happy with a chapter. Wow. I can't believe that this is unedited and I'm so proud of myself.
You all know, at this point, that I write original work also. I don't edit these chapters (the comments sometimes correct my typos, lol, ty to whoever does that!) so my original work is MUCH more refined. It's hard, sometimes, to post something so raw and I'm so so so glad you guys like it as is.

But this chapter, specifically, is closer to my edited style than my raw style, so I'm much happier with it. I'm curious, can you tell the difference?
Some things that made me see it:

1. scents and visuals, like the burning flesh or Orochimaru sleeping on a flower patch.
2. The way Tsunade's nightmare hallucinations turned out. Everything about them feels so gross and vivid to me, like the watermelon bit. Like, it made me a little sick to read, which is GOOD.
3. Metaphors. How Tsunade feels that fighting Orochimaru rearranges the puzzle pieces that make her up, for example.
4. specific lines, how the horror of Tsunade's memoris is still there but less acute.

Those are things I usually add when editing cause I just forget them but, as you see, here they are.

The point of this long rant is that I'm very happy with this chapter. Ty for reading it lol 3 I really, really hope you like it too!

Chapter 38: Under the Surface

Summary:

SPOILER WARNING*
The three genin are called into the Hokage's office, where they give their reports. Mitarashi covers for Tsunade and hides her use of medical ninjutsu.
Tsunade is asked to stay and talk with Hiruzen, after, at which point he informs her that she'd been recommended for chunin. Tsunade loses it completely and stops mincing her words. She's finds the idea of a promotion preposterous and says as much, though not as kindly.
She agrees to forgive him if he helps Jiraiya work through the trauma of his first kill and asks that he give Orochimaru a chance, too.
*SPOILER WARNING END*

Notes:

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii
I missed you guys! Even though it's only been three days! I'm not even exaggerating, I genuinely feel like this fic is a conversation between us and I've left you on 'read'. It's hard, y'all Q-Q

I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

They were summoned to the Hokage's office several hours later. Orochimaru looked to be at least somewhat recovered but still had dark bags under his eyes.

Jiraiya… Jiraiya looked worse.

He was pale and drawn and clearly hadn't slept a wink. Tsunade felt bad for neglecting him, initially, but realized that she would always have to take care of herself, first; she'd be of no help to him in her previous state, anyway.

And… it was Orochimaru who took upon the burden of caring for her, which Tsunade still couldn't wrap her head around.

Rather than speak to her white-haired teammate, Tsunade approached Jiraiya from the side and entwined her fingers with his. He flinched and tried to pull away, at first, but she would not relent.

Tsunade needed him to know that, even if he was disgusted with his hands which, by their feel, he spent the whole night scrubbing, Tsunade was willing to touch them, hold them.

She met his gaze, for a brief moment, and tried to convey that. Tried to express how she wasn't disgusted with him nor was she afraid; she was just glad that he was here. Alive.

They were called into the room after a short wait and found Sakumo already there, as well as Mitarashi who was sitting on the windowsill.

"Hello." The Hokage greeted the three of them cautiously.

Tsunade wanted to scream.

Heknewthat he fucked up; she could hear it in how carefully he monitored is tone, how slowly he spoke that one word.

The Hokage knew that he fucked up and he was trying to get a feel of how hard he'd have to work to make up for it.

Tsunade wasn't going to make it easy.

She calmly endured the pleasantries and his questions as to their health (physical only;fuck him) before the Hokage requested their mission reports. Tsunade made hers concise, knowing that the jonin and her teammates would fill in whatever information she omitted. A scribe wrote the whole conversation down, documenting the mission that was supposed to be a simple outpost check.

Mitarashi even came up with a story about how Tsunade broke her out without mentioning the use of medical ninjutsu, bless her fucking heart.

And then it was over. The report was done and they were dismissed, ordered to meet the Hokage the next morning for their usual training.

"Tsunade-chan, please stay behind."

Of fucking course.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." She replied, snubbing him by not addressing him as her sensei. The choice of honorific didn't go unnoticed and the man winced at its use, though he did not chastise her for it.

"Please sit down." He said, gesturing to the chair before his desk.

The same chair she occupied whenever she visited her granduncle, in this very room.

What would her oji-san think of her? How would he feel about what she's done? Would he be as upset with Hiruzen as she?

Gods, she hoped so.

"Tsunade-chan." The Hokage began solemnly. "I'm sorry to delay you further as I'd imagine you'd like to rest -chakra exhaustion is no easy ailment to endure- but there are a few more questions I must ask you."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

He winced again.

"I-" he paused. "Two jonin had recommended you for field promotion to chunin."

Tsunade nearly fell off the chair, barely catching herself on the end of the desk. "What?"

"Such promotions are not handed out easily, in peacetime-"

Tsunade slammed her fists on the desk as she rose from her seat. "Absolutely fucking not." She growled.

The Hokage tried to chastise her: "Language-"

"No." She cut him off, discarding her precious mask of mock politeness. "You don't get to screw up colossally and try to buy my forgiveness with a promotion."

The Hokage seemed to at least be listening. "I admit that I've miscalculated-"

"You've notmiscalculated." She seethed. "You made a decision that you knew, even then, was wrong, but you were willing to gamble with our lives because the odds for catastrophic failure were so low. Well, guess what? They weren't low enough."

"Tsunade-"

"This mission should have ended with all of us dead." She continued, ignoring his attempts to cull her anger. "It's pure luck that we aren't, and that's not to say that we're fine:twoof your students had their first kill on that missionand you weren't there."

"You're correct." He acknowledged, no longer trying to conceal his overwhelming feeling of guilt. The man's shoulders sagged, his face fell and he looked to be struggling not to avert his gaze in shame. "You should have never gone on this mission."

Tsunade pursed her lips and said nothing.

Her teacher took that as permission to continue: "You should've never left the village without me. I allowed my duties as the Hokage to come before your safety and you almost paid the ultimate price for it."

That… didn't quite dissolve her fury, but it was a start. A good one. Tsuande dropped back onto her chair, arms folded across her chest, listening to the solemn-looking man as he finally admitted to his part in the colossal failure that was their last mission.

"You did a very good job covering for my mistake." He said. "You kept your teammates safe where I couldn't. The plan that ended up ensuring their safety, from start to finish, was yours; it's why you were recommended for the promotion ."

"That's ridiculous." Tsunade countered harshly. "Even if I was the most brilliant tactician in Konoha, it's pointless to name me chunin if I'm not even strong enough to win a one-on-one against my genin teammates. I don't have the power to back up the promotion, sensei, and giving me one would only put me in more danger." She paused. "And even if that wasn't the case and I was a powerhouse, a prodigy, you can't afford to bump me up a rank on my first C-rank without it stinking of nepotism. Just… don't." She asked him, resigned. "Please."

He looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Tsunade wondered if he finally realized that she didn't match the image of the Senju Princess he seemed to pin on her, still.

"I agree." He said finally. "I don't think you're ready for a promotion. Not only because you lack strength-" Tsunade appreciated, in that moment, that he didn't sugarcoat it, "-but because you lackexperience. I commend you for your performance in this mission and I'm glad to know how reliable you are but I wouldn't have promoted you, even if you agreed."

Tsunade sagged in relief. "You were testing me?"

"Not testing." He denied, then paused briefly to consider his answer. "I suppose I just wanted to know what you had to say."

"Are you happy with the answer?" She muttered.

"No." He admitted. "You are far too jaded for your age and I fear that a part of the fault, perhaps a significant one, lies with me. I… I will strive to support you better in the future."

"It's not me you need to support." She said quietly. "It's Jiraiya. He's… he's a mess, sensei, and I don't think I can help him. I-I don't know how." Tsunade admitted. "I don't think he'd manage on his own."

"I'll handle it." The Hokage promised her. "It is not your burden to support him through this, Tsunade-chan: as you said, it'smine, and I assure you that I'll help Jiraiya-kun in whatever way needed."

She nodded.

The Hokage continued, much more determined: "I will not fail him a second time."

"Then I forgive you." She said quietly. "I understand that it's hard to juggle your duty to the village and your duty to us. Just… remember that the village also has elders and people like the Jonin Commander or the Police Force to turn to." Tsunade eyed him meaningfully. "We only have you."

The Hokage took a deep breath and nodded, acknowledging her claim. "I will keep it in mind."

"Is there anything else you needed?"

"No… but I thought you might." He said, his features softening into something more fatherly. "You worry about Jiraiya-kun but you've been though quite an ordeal, yourself."

"Orochimaru helped me work through the worst of it." Tsunade revealed quietly, finding great satisfaction in the surprise saturating the Hokage's expression at the mention of her teammate. "And the rest I can handle on my own, given time."

"Orochimaru-kun… helped you?"

"He's actually pretty great when you learn to understand that his words and body language are absolutely detached from his feelings." She explained. "That, and when you figure out the lense through which he sees the world." There, she hesitated. "I think you should give him more of a chance, sensei. He'll never have an opportunity to grow if he keeps being shoved into the mold of what is expected of him."

The Hokage sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It seems that I've failed all three of my students, after all."

She didn't bother affirming the remark. He deserved to wallow in guilt for however long it'll ravage him.

Shit, he'd deserve to endure the guilt that would've plagued him if theydiddie. Tsunade was willing to forgive him, if he held true to the promise of helping Jiraiya, but she sure as hell wasn't willing to forget.

The Hokage was going to have a very hard time regaining her trust, after this, and Tsunade didn't feel the slightest bit bad about it.

"Oi!"

The blonde almost dropped her bag of groceries at the loud, echoing cry, as did several of the other market-goers.

Tsunade cautiously turned back to the source of the voice. "Kagami-niisan." She greeted the Uchiha politely with a minor nod, not meeting his gaze.

"'Kagami-niisan'my ass." He seethed, taking the paper bag off her hands and wrapping an arm around it while his other lifted Tsunade, as easily as it would if the two weighed the same, making her squeal. "Why the hell am I finding out about your missiona full dayafter you've returned?"

Tsunade leaned against his shoulder, hiding her face in the folds of his flak jacket. "Didn't really want to talk about it." She admitted eventually.

Kagami sighed and she could feel his chin brush against her hair as he shook his head. "I wouldn't have made you." He assured her. "C'mon. Show me to your home, we need to drop your groceries off."

Tsunade didn't have it in her to protest.

She hung onto him, finding solace in the close contact and his smell, which didn't contain even the slightest bit of smokiness to it, while Kagami kept to his promise of not questioning Tsunade while he carried her home. The door opposing hers opened just as Kagami inserted the key she provided and an obviously curious Orochimaru peeked out of his apartment, eying both Tsunade and the tall man carrying her.

"Hello there." Kagami offered kindly, obviously amused by the munchkin watching him cautiously, though he made no move to put Tsunade down.

The boy's eyes locked onto Tsunade's, then, and after he'd confirmed that the blonde did not look distressed to have the man carrying her around as if she was a toddler, Orochimaru turned back and shut the door behind him.

Tsunade couldn't help the short, surprised laugh that escaped her at his antics.

"Funny little dude, your neighbor." Said Kagami as he led them into her apartment, leaving the bag on the counter. "He's your teammate, too, right? Orochimaru-kun?"

"Yeah." Tsunade agreed as they left. "He's not as bad as you all think he is." She said, then reconsidered. "Well… he isn't,yet."

"I know." Kagami acknowledged. "But most who worry about him are looking into his future, rather than his present, anyway. You know him better than me, I'd imagine - are they wrong to be wary?"

Tsunade didn't need time to consider the answer, though it did take her a moment to string the words together. "No." She divulged quietly. "They really aren't."

Notes:

You know Naruto's talk-no-jutsu?
I think I accidentally gave Tsunade scold-no-jutsu. But, to be fair, I'd also be discouraged if a kid annihilated me like that.

A thing I found interesting when re-reading this chapter: I think that it's the first time that Tsunade faced a problem she doesn't know how to fix (Jiraiya's mental state). Usually she's not in a position to help, like with the war, but this time she just doesn't know how, which is fair - she may have the memories of an adult but she's just a kid. And the Hokage is right, it's not her job to fix what he broke.

I'm just happy that my characters aren't perfect - it's my worst fear, tbh. Tsunade is going to make mistakes, big ones, but I don't want her to feel perfect even if it's just for now. I hope she doesn't read like a Mary Sue, to you, also (but let me know if she does! please! so that I can fix it!)

It was a bit of a shorter chapter, I'm sorry, but ch39 is longer and ch40 is 2 chapters long, lol xD Hope you liked it! See you guys soon! 3

PS isn't Orochimaru so cute when he's being a sussy little gremlin? I love him

Chapter 39: Oops!...I Did it Again

Summary:

*SPOILER WARNING* Kagami brings Tsunade to the Uchiha compound and does whatever he can to ease the burden she now carries.
Tsunade starts working on her super strength in secret and, at first the results are disastrous. It takes her a full year to develop it, with Kagami's help.
During that time Orochimaru loses all respect for her again and even the Third is disappointed with her - he thinks that she doesn't train outside on their shared sessions, an assumption that is supported by the gap in skill that's growing between Tsunade and her teammates.
She ends up revealing her new skill in a training session which Kagami comes to watch in a comedic and cathartic ending to the saga. *SPOILER WARNING END*
*

Notes:

So I've been very good with not gushing about your support for the last few chapters but you guys have been popping off so much I couldn't keep my mouth shut. You're all amazing. Thank you 3

I'm so happy to be back to posting chapters. That week and a half of silence is still haunting me ;-; Anyway, enjoy!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"You can't be fucking serious." Tsunade protested as Kagami carried her to the entrance to the Uchiha compound. "I can't be here!"

"You can, if you're with me."

"You're insane. People are gonna go ballistic over this-!"

"I'd say that I don't care but I'd be lying." He replied, still perfectly calm. "I want them to know that you're welcome here."

"Nii-san…"

"Who said that you're the only one who's allowed to be greedy, Little Queen?" He asked, grinning. "Now stop complaining. I'm only bringing you over to make you dinner. You like salty food, right?"

There were tears in Tsunade's eyes as she nodded her affirmation.

The two ninja were stared at in the few minutes it took Kagami to reach his home within the compound but no one protested her presence openly, to Tsunade's great relief.

Kagami didn't push for information, as promised, though he did talk: "You never cook on your first day back after a mission gone bad -ever. You don't eat takeout, either: it's your friends' duty to make sure you have something homemade. So you better hone your cooking skills, Little Queen, if you wish to wow your friends."

She laughed. "I don't remember going over that in school when we studied the ninja code."

"Your education was severely lacking, then." He replied confidently, earning another burst of surprised laughter from the blonde.

Kagami told her about his week, then, and lamented the piles of paperwork that awaited him at his office on the morrow. Tsunade enjoyed the reprieve his mindless chatter allowed her and, though she couldn't find it within herself to voice it, she was grateful.

It was only when they were done eating that Kagami brought up the heavier topics of conversation again: "You don't need to tell me anything, Princess, but Iamhere to listen if there's something you need me to know, or want to talk about." He began. "You owe me nothing - remember that. But if I can help, I need you to tell mehow."

Tsunade put her chopsticks down and considered his offer for a long moment. She… didn't feel like she needed someone to hold her head above the water, anymore. What she told the Hokage was true; she was well on her way to a state resembling stability, again.

But there was something she did need Kagami to know.

"I healed two people during that mission." She offered, watching as the Uchiha's eyes widened at her admission, "and one is at least vaguely aware of my Transformation jutsu, though they might have mistaken it for medical-ninjutsu."

"Names, please." He replied tensely.

"Mitarashi Minori knows both - she lied on her mission report for me, though, and I explained why I want things kept secret. I… I don't think she'd snitch."

"I know her." He nodded. "I'll watch her, but I'm inclined to trust your judgment, regarding her."

Her brows rose. "Why?"

"Because you saved her life." He replied solemnly, proving that he already knew the details of that wretched mission. "And though we, as shinobi, are loyal to the village, we as Konoha-nin are also loyal to our friends and comrades. Your secret is kept for the benefit of the village, not its demise; I believe she'd see that."

"I… I told her as much." Tsunade realized. "I told her that I wish to carve a path for others like me to follow."

Kagami nodded and ruffled her hair. "My statement stands."

Tsunade offered him a weak smile. "Thanks."

"And the other person?"

"Shou's uncle." She replied. "I don't know his name."

Kagami caught on quickly. "He was on the ANBU team that retrieved you."

"Yeah."

"Did you get to talk to him, too?"

"Kinda." Tsunade hesitated. "He asked me if Shou knew."

"And you told him the truth?"

She nodded.

Kagami sighed. "His name is Uchiha Masato." The man informed her. "He… he's a good man to have in your corner, Little Queen, and the fact that word had not yet spread within our clan means that he chose to keep your secret."

"I think… I think that I'm not afraid of it getting out, anymore." She admitted after a brief pause. "That's not to say that Iwantpeople to know what I can do, but… I think I have enough allies to handle the backlash, if word was to spread. Two jonin have recommended me for a promotion after this mission."

"Theywhat?"

"I know!" Tsunade exclaimed, glad that he shared her reaction. "There was not a single enemy in that base that I could've taken on my own. It's ridiculous!"

"It's not." Argued Kagami, taking his chin in hand. "I don't think anyone thought you'd get a promotion but recommendations look good on your record. Do you know how the chunin exams are structured?"

"...kinda?"

"The last stage is a one-on-one fight. Every year."

"Oh. Right, yeah."

"These sorts of recommendations are what get you that vest even if you lose your fight."

"Oh!" Tsunade perked up. "So they only did it to give me leverage in the future?"

"I'd imagine." He agreed.

"Alright." She nodded, pleased. "I'm less upset about it now."

He raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be flattered at the recommendations?"

Tsunade eyed him warily. "No." She replied. "Not until I know that, should we find ourselves in this situation again, I'll be able to properly protect my team."

Kagami assured her that she was no longer being followed, when she left, so Tsunade headed to her next destination without fear despite the late hour.

Her attempts to get her body to transform injuries without her guidance had to be put on hold; all the endurance in the world would be worth absolutely nothing if she lacked the power to utilize the advantage it gave her.

So Tsunade stood in the training ground, facing a large boulder, and charged her fist with chakra.

She took a deep breath, corrected her stance and prepared herself for impact.

The kunoichi poured everything she had into that one punch, desperately believing that she was capable of shattering the boulder, but its face barely cracked at the contact.

Tsunade's hand, however, was turned to mush.

She screamed as every last bone from her wrist down became powder, vanishing the entire arm before the pain became unbearable. Tsunade fell to her knees, breathing heavily, holding on to the stump at her shoulder as she recovered from the sudden and unexpected explosion of pain.

It took her a long time to calm down but, with her heart no longer hammering in her chest, Tsunade dared transform to have an arm again.

She may not have predicted the degree of pain accompanying failure but the blonde certainly didn't think herself capable of mastering the skill overnight; she reexamined her still somewhat depleted chakra reserves, changed the way she saturated her fist with chakra and tried again.

This time, when her bones broke, Tsunade was at least able to numb the arm, rather than vanish it, and made the corrections to her destroyed anatomy more deliberately and only where they were necessary. She couldn't afford to burn all her chakra in twenty attempts.

The night was long, but fruitful, as it ended with Tsunade successfully punching the boulder without enduring any broken bones, though there were plenty of cracks; her target sustained no damage from the attack, however.

It was going to be a long, long process, she knew, but Tsunade was willing to put in whatever work necessary.

She was going to become strong enough to protect her teammates.

The following months were unlike anything Tsunade had to endure before.

Hiruzen seemed to have performed his duty, this once, and served as a mentor to Jiraiya. The boy was still detached and somewhat quiet, which was unnerving, but Tsunade tried to supplement his silence with jokes and kind touches and any form of support she could.

It took time but, in the end, Jiraiya fully came back from that wretched mission and rejoined the rest of them.

What made that period different from others that had shaped her life was that, while Tsunade threw herself at mastering a new technique with single-minded focus, she wasn't alone this time; Orochimaru and Jiraiya were right there with her, eager to bridge the gap that had made them such easy targets when they suffered their loss.

Orochimaru, for one, refused to be defeated by the same method twice, so he elected to assist Tsunade in practicing her lightning jutsu by playing target dummy. The more lighting he endured, the better his chakra system responded to the assault and defended against it. His results stopped improving at some point, though, so he sought an alternative.

"Again." He wheezed, his shoulders shaking, his palm stretched out before his face as he demanded that Tsunade shot another lightning arrow.

"No." She refused, putting her own hands down, also sweating from the exertion.

Orochimaru sneered and opened his mouth to say something doubtlessly hurtful but she spoke before he could: "You're wasting time. Eat, rest and we'll try again."

"I don't need to becoddled-"

"I'm hungry." Tsunade cut him off. "If you want someone to shoot lightning at you, ask sensei."

That, of course, shut him up; neither of them wanted to go anywhere near Hiruzen, who had left two of his genin to self-study while he helped Jiraiya catch up to the other two in skill.

The pair watched as their other team members sparred, Jiraiya now using his hair both for defense and offense with much more ease and speed than before, occasionally hardening it with chakra to block a particularly tricky attack.

The other two genin had learned their lesson about getting close to them while they sparred long ago, and neither of them was reckless enough to repeat the mistake.

"Fine." Orochimaru huffed, taking his meal beside Tsunade despite his earlier protests.

He did that often, these days - act as if she was an ant beneath his feet then show her casual acts of camaraderie. Tsunade no longer tried to decipher Orochimaru and instead sought to treat him with respect and no pity - he seemed to like that best.

They continued their training after their meal, with Tsunade shooting bolt after bolt of lightning at Orochimaru who no longer cried out as it struck him. She didn't pour a lot of chakra into her attacks, trying not to hurt him, but it must have been uncomfortable regardless.

She was about to suggest that they end their ninjutsu training for the day, as she wished to conserve chakra for her evening training, when Orochimaru caught the lightning in his outstretched palm, his brow furrowed in concentration, and successfully channeled the chakra from it to his other hand: shooting a bolt of lighting out of his other palm, which was facing a nearby tree.

Even with the low voltage Tsunade used, the top layer of the bark exploded.

The two genin stared at the tree for a few long seconds, both filled with utter disbelief.

Then, Tsunade squealed. "Do it again!" She cheered, preparing to cast another Lightning Arrow. "Again, Orochimaru, again!"

He nodded, his golden eyes glinting with excitement even though his expression remained blank, otherwise. The boy took his stance again, palm hanging before his face, and nodded to signal that he was ready.

Tsunade quickly formed the necessary hand seals and shot her arrow, which Orochimaru redirected just as swiftly as he did the first.

They repeated the process three more times before dubbing it a success.

"Congratulations!" She grinned as she approached him, clapping Orochimaru on the shoulder. The contact shocked her, what little static remaining on him transferring to her, but she couldn't fucking care less.

Cause now it washerturn to learn how to redirect lightning.

The Third treated them to mochi, that day, to celebrate their success. Jiraiya filled their booth with conversation the entire time and, though more training awaited her that day, Tsunade couldn't have been more excited for it to begin.

It took her a year to master her super strength.

She'd been falling behind her boys, recently, as they dedicated their time outside of training to the same skills they performed when they sparred. The two shinobi surpassed Tsunade in every skill they shared: she couldn't hold against either of them in taijutsu for more than a few minutes while the boys could fight one another for a full hour before needing a break. Orochimaru's swordsmanship had improved in leaps and bounds, as did his fire jutsu, and Jiraiya now fought with his hair as easily as he did his arms or legs. The gap between them got so vast that Orochimaru lost respect for Tsunade again, no longer willing to work with her in their group sessions, instead choosing to pair with Jiraiya.

Even Hiruzen commented on her falling behind and suggested calling up favors to have her tutored and trained by friends.

He went as far as to say that he was disappointed that she wouldn't train outside their assigned hours and tried to persuade her to reconsider her choices.

Tsunade wouldn't budge.

Only Kagami knew what she was up to.

He helped her develop the technique, actually, keeping track of the various versions of it she attempted with his Sharingan, when he could spare the time to come watch her train.

It was for this service that Tsunade invited him to watch their training session one morning. She didn't need to explain her reasoning before he eagerly accepted, smirking in a way that promised trouble.

"Kagami?" The Hokage asked, his brow furrowed, as the pair arrived at the training ground. "Am I needed?"

"No, no." the Uchiha assured him, shooting him a cheshire grin. "Nothing of the sort. I just wanted to watch your training today." With that said, Kagami very unsubtly activated his sharingan.

"...alright." Allowed the Hokage, justifiably suspicious.

Tsunade was struggling not to laugh.

"Hey, sensei, are you very attached to this training ground?" Tsunade asked casually.

"I… I do not care for it, no." He replied. "Do you not like it, Tsunade-chan?"

"Oh, no, it's great, I just wanted to make sure."

"...Right."

"Jiraiya, Orochimaru, fight me." She demanded bluntly, offering the two boys a toothy grin.

"No." Orochimaru shot her down immediately, while Jiraiya hesitated. "I don't know about that, hime…"

"Okay!" She chirped. "I'm coming at you, ready or not."

And that was the only warning the two boys got before she launched the assault.

She went for Orochimaru first, because she wasn't sure Jiraiya had the speed to counter her; Tsunade was not afraid to enhance her speed the same way she did her strength, now that she knew how, and utilized that advantage to throw a feint at Orochimaru before shifting so that she was behind him.

The boy turned to her, wide-eyed and taken off guard by her improved dexterity. "Dodge." She advised him, grinning toothily, before shooting another punch - aiming to hit, this time.

Orochimaru wisely heeded her suggestion and didn't try to parry, which he was rewarded for a moment later when her punch made contact with the tree beside which he stood and shattered it into splinters.

"Oops." Tsunade mused cheerfully as she pulled her hand back, then proceeded to laugh at Orochimaru, whose shock now showed openly on his face.

She heard Kagami mimic her reaction while Jiraiya screeched in horror at the sight.

Tsunade proceeded to do the equivalent of playing tag with the two shinobi for the next hour, smashing every last tree and boulder in the vicinity before finally resorting to crashing a heavily enhanced fist into the ground and destroying their playing field.

She only laughed louder when she caught the sight of her sensei holding both boys up by their arms, having saved them from being buried under the rubble. Tsunade wiped tears from her eyes, holding her stomach which felt like it was about to burst from exertion. She would've fallen to her knees had Kagami not caught her by the collar of her dress, flashing her a proud grin and petting her hair.

The wait, the mockery, the criticism of her sensei… they were all worth it.

"You weren't joking about the training ground." the Hokage lamented as he dropped the two boys off by Tsunade's side, putting an end to her tearful laughter.

"Sorry." She offered breathily, still smiling, her cheeks radiating pain. Gods, it's been a while since she endured hurt that she had no need or desire to heal.

It felt so good to close the distance between them, again. She wasn't delusional -the boys would fare much better against her now that the element of surprise was gone- but was fun to toy with them as if they were nothing, even if only for a little bit.

"Where the hell have you learned this technique?" Demanded the Hokage, pinching the bridge of his nose. Tsunade could sense that they had company, now: a whole bunch of ninja who were drawn to the (now destroyed) training ground by the commotion.

"I developed it, of course." She replied matter-of-factly. "What did you think I spent my evenings doing, this past year?"

And oh, the shock painting his features paid off every last time he spent arguing that she should put in more effort.

"How do you keep coming up with these techniques?" He asked, exasperated.

Tsunade grinned wider. "Let us compete in the next chunin exams and I'll tell you."

Notes:

Can we all take a moment to appreciate how good of a nii-san Kagami is?
Thanks. :D

(I love him. I don't know how he became this sort of character but I love him. I'm so happy I decided to write him, it was a total accident lol) (he kinda wrote himself? Which tbf is a very Kagami thing to do, so...)

With that done, SUPER STRENGTH IS HERE BBY
I'll of course elaborate more on how she managed it later into the fic & you'll get more insight about the timeskip in the next chapter, which is Mitarashi's and Sakumo's POV (AND IS TWICE AS LONG AS THIS ONE OMG)

I know the middle part of the chapter was a little clunky but I didn't have time it edit it, sorry! I thought the last pat was super fun tho xD Especially that Kagami was invited to watch.

Also, poor Orochimaru. Tsunade confused him AGAIN.

Sorry for the messy notes today I'm a little sick, I really hope you enjoyed the chapter! Love you guys!

Chapter 40: Sakumo & Mitarashi POV Special

Summary:

*SPOILER WARNING* The Hokage strong arms Sakumo into offering to train Tsunade. She declines the offer, gets him to apologize for his part in the mission gone-wrong and makes sure that he learns from it. Tsunade then threatens the shit out of Sakumo to never put her team in needless danger again and convinces him to take Orochimaru as an apprentice for kenjutsu.

Mitarashi Minori developed a phobia of hospitals after the mission where she was taken into captivity. She throws herself into a string of missions and gets injured often enough, for it. When she finally has a bone broken and has to take herself of the mission roster, Minori seeks out Tsunade.
The two kunoichi make a deal: Tsunade will teach Minori basic first aid and heal her when necessary and, in exchange, Minori will pass the knowledge to others and make sure they spread it too.
Within months, every Konoha jonin knows of the Mystery Medic-Nin. When Minori's brother's life is saved by a comrade who knew what first aid to apply thanks to Tsunade's teachings, the girl earns Minori's loyalty. *SPOILER WARNING END*
*

Notes:

(chapter was edited, this isn't an update, sorry )

Hi! The end notes are long so I'll only write the important stuff here:
1. TW for mentions of SA. Nothing graphic but it's a Mitarashi pov and she does go a little into dealing with what she'd gone through.
2. Friendly reminder that this update is 2 chapters long! So buckle up, lol, and I'd love to hear what you thought of the POVs!
3. To clarify: this takes place during the one-year-long timeskip.
4. You guys, this fic is not over 100k words long. Ty so much for sticking around with me ️️️

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
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Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

PART 1 - Sakumo POV

One does not simply decline when the Hokage asks for a favor.

Hatake Sakumo thought he did a pretty good job avoiding the Senju princess since the disastrous mission he led her team on, months ago, but some things were out of his control - like a military dictator asking for help with his wayward student.

"I don't understand why she won't commit to her training." The man admitted, openly discussing his frustration.

"Have you tried talking to her?" The teen suggested warily because, well, what else was he supposed to do? It's not like a fifteen-year-old would have the tools to handle a problem that even theHokagewas having trouble with.

"I have. She insists on progressing at her own pace." He sighed heavily. "Would you talk to her, Sakumo-kun? You're close in age…"

"I'm almost ten years her senior." He protested immediately.

Hiruzen wouldn't waver.

"I don't think she'd be any more likely to listen to me, Hokage-sama." Sakumo divulged eventually, recalling the ire with which she eyed him on their journey back to the village. "But I can try."

The man seated before him sighed in relief. "That's all I ask."

And that's how Sakumo found himself in the Senju compound one evening, just before sundown. The Hokage directed him to the Second's estate, where Tsunade supposedly spent the majority of her free time, warning him that the barriers erected around the territory wouldn't let him in without her permission.

So Sakumo did something he hadn't done in years:

He knocked on the door.

Shit, it's been months since he last entered any building through anything other than a window.

Senju Tsunade stepped out of the house about a minute later, closing the door behind her. Sakumo didn't expect Tsunade to invite him in, considering the nature of their acquaintance, but the haste with which she shut the door behind her still made his stomach churn.

The girl didn't trust him.

"Hatake-san." Tsunade greeted him politely, offering him a tense smile and a shallow bow. "How can I help you?"

His sharp nose picked up on the scent of her sweat as well as the sharp tang of chakra exertion. "Ah-" He hesitated, taken off guard by the fact that, contrary to the Hokage's belief, his studentwasinvested in her improvement. Sakumo's mouth opened before he could process his own thoughts: "Would you like to learn kenjutsu?"

Tsunade stared at him as if he spoke a different tongue, for a few long seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Sensei put you up to it, didn't he?" She choked out between giggles."Sorry about him. I tried to tell him to knock it off."

Sakumo felt heat rush to his face. "He's wrong, isn't he? About you neglecting your training."

Tsunade tilted her head sideways, curious. "How could you tell?"

"I have a sharp nose." It's not like his clan's affinity was secret, anyway. "I can smell it."

"Right!" Exclaimed Tsunade, her lips splitting into a grin. "Sorry about that, I probably stink. I've been sweating like a dog - pun intended."

That forced a sharp, surprised laugh out of Sakumo. "You know about my clan's summons?"

"I do now!" The blonde cheered. "I was making a jab at the smell thing; thanks for the free information."

Sakumo snorted.

"Anyway, since you're already here, let me treat you to dinner. I bet sensei didn't bother offering you compensation for your time."

"That's unnecessary."

"It's really not." Tsunade argued, already beginning to walk away from the house. "Does ramen sound good?"

One does not simply decline the request of a military dictator… or his student, apparently.

Sakumo participated in the friendly conversation the Senju princess weaved with terrifying ease, resorting to the use of his experience as a shinobi to get a read on the situation. He was being manipulated; that much he could glean from the sour smell of lies saturating her skin. Sakumo couldn't, for the life of him, guess what she was trying to achieve, however.

"You don't have to do this." He cut her off, at some point. "I know you're not fond of me, Tsunade-hime, you don't owe me cordiality."

The blonde's brows rose. "What makes you think that?"

"You've not forgiven me for my part in the mission that almost got your team killed." He replied bluntly, as if ripping a bandage off an infected wound.

The blonde grimaced at his choice of words.

Her response to the accusation was expected; the words that followed were not.

"You never apologized." She pointed out, just as blunt, her tone shifting to something with far more gravity than before. Tsunade leveled him with her gaze, her brown eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, filled with wisdom that had absolutely no business being there.

"Would you forgive me, if I did?" Sakumo's voice was hoarse and saturated in grief and shame, even to his own ears. "My oversight could have,should havecost you your life."

"Does it matter?" The blond demanded coolly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why would my response have any bearing on your apology?"

Apologies are offered, not traded.His father's voice reverberated through his head.Offer your shame freely or not at all.

It was a lesson more aligned with his family's samurai roots than his shinobi heritage; ninja had no room for shame, for dishonor; only loyalty. Under samurai rules, however, Sakumo would shoved a blade through his gut for the errors that cost him the girl's trust.

He ought to have arrived at this meeting better prepared; Sakumo should have never underestimated Senju Tsunade, especially after her absolutely phenomenal performance in the mission that he, himself, had botched. A mistake that should have cost him his reputation, his career or his life ended up only costing an assortment of minor injuries and one of his subordinates' faith in him.

And the reason for that grace sat before him, her features shaped into a tense frown, patiently awaiting his response.

"No." He acknowledged. "It doesn't matter - I'm sorry."

Tsunade took a deep, heavy breath and nodded. "Did you learn?"

Sakumo's brows rose. "Sorry?"

"Did you learn your lesson?" The blonde reiterated. "Would you do the same thing again?"

"No." He replied immediately. "I was wrong to risk your lives for the chance of saving another comrade."

"Why?"

Sakumo clenched his fists. "Because you were under my protection-"

"No." Tsunade cut him off, her harsh rejection dripping with venom. "It's because it wasineffective. Calling for aid as soon as you suspected foul play would have been much more likely to earn you the desired results."

"... That, too." Sakumo acknowledged after a brief pause.

Was he just fucking schooled by a six-year-old?

"Alright." Said Tsunade, slapping her hands on her thighs before turning back to her ramen. "If you know better than to make the same mistake a second time, I forgive you."

He clenched his jaw. "That's it?"

Sakumo was not born yesterday, thank you very much. He saw how easily the girl donned a mask of authority, how harshly she scrutinized him, how she judged him for his transgression. Shit,hewouldn't have forgiven her as easily had their positions been reversed.

"Well, you look like you've been torturing yourself over this for months." Tsunade reasoned with suspicious lenience. "I see no reason to torment you further. Oh, but Sakumo-san." The blonde spoke his name sweetly, shifting to meet his gaze again.

When her brown orbs met his black ones, this time, the girl's entire demeanor changed. Her eyes sharpened into something violent,predatory, and her lips formed a tense, thin line. Tsunade's chakra was pulsing with such aggression that even the shopkeep, acivilian, turned to look at her warily.

"Put my teammates in needless danger again and I'll make you regret it." She warned coolly, her long hair floating around her, shifting in sync with the rhythm of her killing intent. It wasn't sharp, or pointed, as it would have been if she could control it; no, this was pure instinct, a raw, unfiltered hint at the anger she contained within.

His heart was beating in his throat as he watched her, mesmerized, too consumed by the foul tinge to her chakra to respond in any way that wouldn't have made the situation worse.

Just as quickly as the first change occurred, the girl before him shifted back to her previous, cheerful self. "About those kenjutsu lessons." She began with a smile, as if she didn't just threaten him a moment ago. Sakumo wondered, briefly, if she chose to ignore the fact that the shopkeep serving them had pissed himself or if her nose just wasn't sensitive enough to pick up on the smell.

"You should talk to Orochimaru. I think it's a skill that will complement his existing arsenal best, out of the three of us - if you want to take an apprentice, it should be him."

He eyed her warily, already preparing for whatever it was that this enigma of a little girl would throw at him, next."...right."

"It's up to you." Tsunade clarified. "I'm not going to coerce you into it, unlike sensei."

He grunted his affirmation, earning a smile from the blonde. "Come on, Hatake-san, get another bowl. Tonight's on me."

Hatake Sakumo left the Senju compound even more lost and confused than he was when he entered but at least he wasn't hungry anymore.

"She sent you, didn't she? Tsunade." Orochimaru spat her name like it seared his tongue.

Sakumo frowned. "She did."

"I need neither her noryourpity." He seethed. "Leave me be."

"I don't pity you." Sakumo denied vehemently. Gods, was he also this exhausting, at age six? He thought that teenagers were supposed to be bothersome but the Hokage's students were making a hard go for the title. "I don't think she does, either. I don't care for your tantrum, Orochimaru-kun: if you are to be my student, there will be no room for such pathetic displays of immaturity. I'm offering to train you - take it or leave it, but waste no more of my time."

The boy pursed his lips, as if biting back another angsty response, and kept his silence for a few blessed seconds.

"I would like to be trained by you, Hatake-san." Orochimaru replied eventually, though he looked like the words pained him.

Sakumo would have to see about beating that stubborn pride out of him, if he were to take Orochimaru as a student; arrogance was not becoming of a swordsman.

Gods, what had he gotten himself into? How the hell was he coerced into volunteering for this bullshit?

"You may call me Sakumo-sensei." He spoke firmly, not allowing his irritation with himself to slip into the words. "Let's spar, Orochimaru-kun."

Sakumo often lost himself in his thoughts, when they trained, over the course of the following months.

Orochimaru was… he was just a boy. He was vicious, certainly, particularly in battle, and he had no qualms about using dirty tricks and cunning to get his way.

But he perked up whenever Sakumo praised him and nodded with determination whenever he was criticized, looking encouraged rather than offended. The longer he trained him, the more Sakumo realized that the kid wasn't quite the monster his elders had painted him as

He still elected not to broach the topic of the event that had earned the kid his sketchy reputation.

Orochimaru… Orochimaru wasn't the scary one, out of the Hokage's three students.

It was Tsunade.

And Sakumo couldn't help but wonder how long it would take others to figure it out and, more importantly, how it would affect his student.

Shit, he should have known that he'd grow fucking attached.

PART 2 - Minori POV

Another day, another mission, another broken bone.

At least none of her teammates died, this time.

Minori wasn't unhappy, per-se, with the Hokage's decision to clear her for duty almost as soon as she recovered from her short bout in captivity; the distraction was a welcome one and, frankly, she didn't really feel like spending time with her loved ones, at the time.

She didn't want to have to answer questions.

Her brother would be worried fucking sick, at this point, but Minori had to put herself, first; Kyou wasn't one to hold his questions back long enough for her to be ready to answer them and Minori just couldn't - she couldn't talk about it, yet.

More than anything, she knew that bringing up the ordeal that she endured would get her labeled a 'whore' for it, even if she was the victim of the violence rather than its propagator.

Minori loved her brother dearly and knew that he loved her, too, but Kyou didn't love her enough to examine his prejudice against women.

Which was why she went on a mission, then on another one. Minori passed her psych eval with no issues and was sent out again, and again, and again.

She got injured quite often -an expected outcome, when fighting short range - but they were usually shallow cuts and bruises that she didn't bother treating beyond the use of an antiseptic.

The bruises stacked, however, and a sharp pang of pain distracted her mid-combat at the most inopportune moment, hence her broken arm.

Minori wasn't reckless, however, and knew that, with that injury, she'd have to seek help. She understood the need for it, comprehended the fact that she cannot leave the village until her arm is healed, but she still couldn't bring herself to step into the fucking hospital.

She tried. She really, really tried. Minori spent several hours sitting on the roof of a nearby building, watching shinobi and civilians alike go in and out of it, trying to work through the lump in her throat and the static assaulting every last inch of her bare skin.

But she couldn't.

She asked the Hokage for a week off -enough to get over her sudden phobia, or whatever the fuck it was- and he was eager to provide.

Minori spent the rest of her day wandering around the village, trying not to flinch too visibly as shards of bone shifted against one another whenever she moved. Gods, she really should learn how to at least set the bone-

The woman stopped in her tracks, right there in the middle of a rather busy street, earning a series of curses from the man that had been walking behind her and knocked into her when she stopped, further irritating her injured arm.

She turned to him quite sharply and saw his mouth already open to yell at her. He shut it when his eyes caught the gleam of her forehead protector, though.

The man mumbled something crude under his breath and walked away, not daring to voice his earlier thoughts now that he knew Minori could kill him with her pinky.

Good.

It was with sudden clarity that the kunoichi turned back and began walking in the opposite direction.

See, she didn't take too kindly to Uchiha Kagami watching her for the week following her return from captivity. He was absurdly hot, sure, and she would've climbed him like a tree if he was so inclined, but she really wasn't in the mood for dealing with a stalker. He wasn't even being subtle about watching her, which clued her in to the fact that Kagami wasn't just trying to sneak a peek; the spreading rumors of the Uchiha allowing the eldest Senju girl into the compound filled in the rest of the blanks.

Minori didn't bother talking to him - she took to following Tsunade around, instead, showing that she was willing to be just as annoying as he.

Kagami seemed to find her resolve acceptable and, eventually, stopped following her. Minori stopped tailing Tsunade, too.

She did learn the girl's schedule in that short time, however, and thus knew where to find her - on her way to her granduncle's house, having just left her parents' home after spending the afternoon playing with her little brother.

Minori was waiting by the heavily sealed door when the blonde arrived.

Tsunade seemed to be in good spirits, judging by the bounce to her step, and her mood did not waver when she laid eyes on the unwelcome guest ambushing her by the entrance to the house.

"Mitarashi-san!" She greeted her pleasantly. "It's good to see you."

"You look well." The woman offered in return, though her eyes remained glued to Tsunade's, rather unsubtly watching her for changes.

"Iamwell." The girl agreed, her features shifting into a kind smile. "What brings you to the Senju compound?"

Straight to the point it is, then.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something." She divulged.

Minori didn't elaborate.

Tsunade eyed her, then, up and down and up again, and her lip curled in dissatisfaction when she completed her examination. "Come in." The blonde said and, after briefly pressing her palm to the wooden door and closing her eyes, led Minori into the Second's home.

"We won't be overheard, here." Said Tsuande as soon as the door shut behind them, gesturing for Minori to take a seat on the couch in what must have been the living room as she disappeared into the adjacent kitchen. "Am I correct to assume that you're injured?" She called from the other room.

"Broke my arm." The woman admitted, taking a seat carefully, trying to not agitate her injuries. "I'd like your help, if you wouldn't mind. If not, could you show me how to set it?"

Tsunade returned shortly with a steaming kettle of tea and two stacked ceramic cups. "I can do both." She offered. "Honestly, teaching you basic first aid should only take about an evening or two. I try to conserve my chakra on weekends so, if you'd like, I could teach you."

"Just like that?" Minori asked cautiously. "Shinobi don't usually give away their techniques freely to anyone but their students, Tsunade-hime."

"Well this one is an exception." Said Tsuande, pouring both of their tea. "If you'd like to repay me, pass that knowledge on to your friends and ask that they, too, do the same. There's no chakra involved - anyone should be able to do it."

"What's in it for you?" Demanded the older kunoichi, still not buying the seemingly senseless offer.

"Less people for me to heal once I take over the hospital." Tsunade replied. Minori wasn't sure if she was joking. "We should start with healing you, either way - come on, I'll set your arm, you can watch."

The blonde proceeded to numb the area almost as soon as she touched it, making relief wash over Minori in waves. The sudden absence of pain radiating from her arm drew her attention to all the other places that hurt.

The chibi medic proceeded to maneuver Minori's arm with great care, showing her how to set it properly, then encouraging the woman to try it herself. The process wasn't as difficult as it would have been had Minori been in pain, probably, but she appreciated the lesson regardless.

Satisfied with her results, the blonde proceeded to cover the break with white-glowing hands, piquing Minori's curiosity, and slowly but surely undid the damage.

"I forgot how much harder it is to heal others." Tsunade admitted, sweat beading on her forehead. "That's what I get for only ever healing myself, I suppose."

"Do you get injured often?" Asked Minori, not actually expecting the Senju Heiress to answer.

"In training." She agreed. "The perk of being a medic-nin is that I get to play around with techniques anyone else could never master due to the sheer amount of failures one must endure before they succeed."

"What does failure entail?"

"I broke my wrist three hundred and fifty four times today."

Minori could feel the blood drain from her face. "How are you not hospitalized for chakra exhaustion?"

"I developed a technique that makes it ridiculously cheap, chakra-wise, to heal myself." The girl divulged. "I unfortunately can't apply it to other people."

"I see."

You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this."

Minori grit her teeth, starting down at the slip of a girl seated next to her, treating her injury. "I am."

"It's because you kept my secret." Said Tsuande. "You lied for me. And I was really, really hoping that you'd tell me why."

Ah. So Minori did have something she wanted, after all; that, the kunoichi knew how to deal with.

"'One outlier is sometimes enough to carve a path for a thousand more'" She said. "Those were your words, not mine. Are you surprised that I approve of the picture you painted?"

Tsunade smiled and removed her hands from Minori. Sensation returned to her arm but there was no pain left; only a slight tingle.

The blonde wordlessly moved her hands to her shoulder, next. "It's fractured." The blonde explained, answering the question in Minori's eyes. "As is your collarbone, your hip and your ankle. We still have work to do."

The kunoichi nodded sharply, trying not to betray her surprise at the extensive list of injuries she never even noticed. "Thank you."

"About what I said." The blonde spoke softly, steering their conversation back to the previous topic. "Thank you for believing in my vision."

"I'm not an optimistic woman, Tsuande-hime," said Minori, "but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief long enough to see you give it a shot."

"That's good enough for me." The girl replied, smiling, moving her hands to Minori's collarbone.

"Why is the chakra white?" The woman asked after several minutes of silence, as Tsuande was finishing up with the last of her injuries.

The blonde offered her a smile and said nothing.

Minori did wonder how pushy she'd have to get before Tsunade decided to keep her silence; had she gotten an answer to that question, her next attempt would have been discussing Kagami. A shame, really, as she really was curious about the nature of their relationship.

"About those lessons." Mitarashi said eventually, just as the blonde completed her work. "If I were to take you up on those, I'll pay you."

"I don't need any more money, Mitarashi-san. My granduncle left me enough."

The kunoichi pursed her lips in an attempt to hide her surprise.

She heard that Tobirama named Tsunade his Heir. She figured that he allowed her to access his house, considering that they were in it.

She could not have possibly guessed that he would have left her his fortune. Shit, he probably left her all of his research, too; no wonder Tsunade repeatedly injured herself trying to master a technique, it was probablyhis.

Gods, that made Tsunade among the most influential people in the village, even if she didn't know it, yet. How did her family and the Clan Elders take that revelation? Probably not well, considering that Tsunade no longer lived in the compound.

So many things suddenly made sense, Kagami's protectiveness of the girl among them.

"Then I shall not pay you with money." She said, managing to keep her voice void of emotions. "Choose a skill from my arsenal and I will teach you."

"That's unnecessary-"

"And let me come here to be healed, should the need arise. In return, I will pass the knowledge you bestow upon me to others and make sure they do the same."

Tsunade chewed on her lower lip. "I'll teach a course of medical ninjutsu at some point, when I no longer have to keep my abilities a secret." She began. "Agree to attend at least one seminar, in addition to the previously laid out terms, and you got yourself a deal."

"Done." Minori agreed easily, taking Tsunade's offered hand. "Is this weekend good for you?"

The blonde didn't capitalize on Minori's end of the deal in the first few months but insisted that it was only because she was busy. Tsunade admitted that she already had a request in mind and assured the woman that she would voice it, in time.

Minori, in turn, poured all her effort into mastering the few skills Tsunade passed to her, then taught them to others and explicitly ordered them to do the same. Within half a year every jonin of Konoha knew how to set a broken bone, how to stop heavy bleeding with strategic pressing of their fingers to arteries and how to breathe into someone who'd been drowned.

Minori, like everyone else, claimed that she picked up the skill from another and didn't know which of Konoha's medic-nin put the abridged course together.

She said as much to Tsunade when she visited her again for another healing session. The girl laughed heartily, amused by her deceit, and rewarded Minori with more tips and tricks that might or might not come in handy in the life of a kunoichi. Minori performed her duty as diligently as before.

It was when she got word that her brother almost died on a mission that the gravity her actions finally settled.

She rushed to the hospital, so consumed by worry that she forgot to be afraid of the memories that awaited her there, and barged into Kyou's room.

Which he shared with one of his teammates, Sadao, who nearly lost the two fingers he held against the artery in her brother's inner thigh for thetwelve hoursit took his team to return to the village.

Sadao stopped him from bleeding out. Fortwelve hours, he was the only thing standing between her brother and certain death.

"You're choking me." The man jokingly complained when Minori squished the living shit out of him in a tight hug.

"Thank you." She whispered, not relenting.

Sadao just laughed. "I didn't do anything." He brushed her off. "The medics even managed to salvage my fingers. I thought, for sure, that they were goners."

Minori stopped listening, then, as the two men proceeded to argue who should be credited for saving Kyou's life - Sadao, or the Mystery Medic-nin.

But Minori knew. Sheknew.

And if she no longer judged Uchiha Kagami for his devotion to a little kid with far too many secrets, having fallen into her net herself, no one would be the wiser.

Notes:

The notes are long but I think that they're interesting and genuinely worth a read, if you're up to it :D

1. Mitarashi thinking that she'll be called a whore for being a victim of SA? Yeah, that one is a true story. Not mine, but a true story. Welcome to eastern cultures, that's how we treat women. (It was so horrifying a story that I couldn't NOT incorporate it here. Can you imagine saying such a thing to an SA survivor? Dear God.)
2. About Tsunade's first aid course: that's also inspired from reality.
I think I've mentioned before that I did military service. We were taught, in basic training, some of the things that Tsunade taught the other shinobi. I took a civilian first aid course, too, so the difference in focus between the two was very obvious.
That story about someone saving a comrade's life by pressing their fingers to the artery in their inner thigh? It's a true story that I was told in basic training. The person performing the act did lose their fingers though, cause they pressed them so hard and so long that there was no bloodflow in them for hours.
Saved a friend's life, though.
I think that every shinobi should be taught the basics of first aid but Naruto clearly wasn't so I assumed it wasn't a part of the Academy curriculum. Tsunade would have noticed that, too, which is why she did what she did.
The best part? She thought nothing of it. She did it because it wasn't hard, and she could.

3. So I told you guys that I REALLY liked this chapter, right? This is why:
I didn't realize when I was writing this but Sakumo and Mitarashi get to see a COMPLETELY different side of Tsunade, each. Sakumo gets to see her when she's scary; Mitarashi gets to see her when she's kind.

Tsunade is and always will be a combination of those two things. She's just a child, now, but I already promised you that she will be very morally grey. Tsunade won't always be the angel child we adore; Sakumo was the first to get a glimpse at what she could be, what she will be, and he was right to be scared.

But that's not the only aspect dominating Tsunade's personality; there's also her empathy and kindness. I'm not going to take that away from her. You don't have to be apathetic to be feared.

Anyway, I didn't plan to show this dicotomy. I just wrote the scenes and realized after and I'm so so happy with hom it cam out. I hope you liked it, too!

Chapter 41: Bloom

Summary:

*SPOILER WARNING* *
Tsunade accidentally discovers that her brother has Wood Release and immediately ushers him to the safety of her grandmother's home. With Mito ensuring their privacy, Tsunade informs her parents of the development, prompting her father to try and use Nawaki as a stepping stone to Making the Senju Great Again.
He's outvoted by the three women with whom he takes council and they agree to keep Nawaki's gift a secret.

Bonus scene: Tsunade and Orochimaru spar and have a very confusing conversation that makes perfect sense to the boy but leaves Tsunade wondering. *
*SPOILER WARNING END* *

Notes:

HOW did you guys pop off like this in 3 DAYS? The response to the last chapter was incredible. I love you so, so much, thank you for being so invested in my work Q-Q

fr, I wasn't expecting it at all. You guys are incredible. We passed 100k words, passed 40k hits, you guys keep showering me with an absurd amount of kudos and comments and I just... Man oh man, I'm just really lucky, huh?

Sorry for the long rant lol. I'm just shaken. In a good way.

As always my socials are:

twitter

tiktok
And if you wanna chat with me while I'm live on twitch (7pm CET today and probably most of tomorrow lol), I'd love that 3
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(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"Nee-chan!" Nawaki cheered as she approached the house, finding him seated by the entrance while her mother was hanging up some laundry.

"Nawaki!" Tsunade replied with just as much enthusiasm as she picked him up. The boy squealed in delight as he was swung around mid-air.

"Good morning, Tsunade." Said her mother, not looking away from the chore she was tending to.

"Good morning." The blonde replied politely, putting Nawaki down for a brief moment to summon two clones, ordering them to assist her mother. "Is it still okay for me to take him to the park today?"

"Not today." Her mother rejected her request immediately. "Your father will return from the capital in a few hours - we're having a family lunch."

"I see." The girl nodded, sitting down on the grass next to Nawaki with her back to her mother. She didn't deserve to see the hurt in Tsunade's eyes at the blunt implication that she wasn't a part of the family, as she was not invited.

She really, really hoped there'd be something left of their relationship by the time she made jonin; maybe they could mend it, then.

"So, Nawaki, what do you want to do today?"

"Story!" He cheered, bouncing on the grass. "Nee-chan tells the best stories!"

"Do I?" She mused, smiling at the boy indulgently.

Any real talent for storytelling Tsunade would reserve for Jiraiya; what she had to offer, that Nawaki seemed to enjoy, is insight into different cultures. Her stories were more versatile, for it, more unique, but most of all they often focused on friendship and adventure more than they did honor and strength.

"Tell me the about the pirates!" He pleaded. "The good ones- not the ones that are mean to the people in Uzushio."

"I can do that."

Tsunade didn't take breaks very often - shit, she couldn't afford them if she hoped to stay ahead or at least match her teammates in skill. They were all growing at a rapid speed and dallying could cost her the advantage she bought with her newly revealed skill of making things go boom.

But she needed them. Both to let her body rest and to keep her mind on track, especially after difficult missions like the one they'd gone on that week.

The Hokage barely ever took them out of the village after their disaster mission and, even when he did, things tended to go well - no one really dared go against a fucking Kage level opponent.

Tsunade sometimes still loathed him for not extending his protection to them that first time.

They did go outside the village sometimes, though, if only to fulfill the quota of missions they needed to take the chunin exams. This last mission had them clearing the area north of the village of bandits and though killing them didn't throw her off as much as her first kill did, it was still rough.

Hence the need to sit on the grass, cuddled with her adorable little brother, as she took a much needed break from the constant battle that had become her life.

Gods, she loved Nawaki so fucking much.

He fell asleep in her lap while she regaled him with tales of peace and joy and discovery, of camaraderie and unconditional love and growth.

Tsunade spent about an hour running her fingers through his soft hair, humming a song that probably belonged in her previous life, before Nawaki jerked awake.

His wide eyes locked onto her own, still somewhat clouded by sleep, but Tsunade barely noticed that she drew his attention.

The grass they sat on grew taller when he jumped and a patch of nearby weeds had sprouted flowers.

No fucking way. There wasno fucking way.

"Hi there, little bro." She said softly, offering him a strained smile. Tsunade channeled some of her chakra within his system, then, using her diagnostic jutsu to try and glean information about his chakra nature.

And Nawaki… Nawaki felt likelife. Like the leaves blowing in the wind, like thick roots forming a complex network of connections, like tall trees and branches that bore delicious fruit. It was subtle, barely a hint, but she couldn't miss the sensation now that she knew what to look for.

Tsunade nearly choked on her own tongue.

"C'mere." She said as she picked her brother up and rose from the grass, earning a delighted giggle from the boy. Her mother, who had not kept up with her training after making genin, could no longer pick him up for extended periods of time.

Tsunade, with chakra enhanced strength, could hold him up forever. She didn't even need her super strength to accomplish that.

"Tsunade?" Her mother addressed her, visibly surprised by seeing her daughter within the house that she had made every effort to avoid entering since she moved out.

"I'm taking Nawaki to baa-sama's house." The blonde informed her.

Yoko's features immediately morphed into something akin to anger at her daughter's audacity.

Before Tsunade got yelled at, though, the girl managed to mouth one word: 'danger'.

Her mother, thankfully, got the message.

Tsunade continued: "You and father should join us, when he arrives. It's not urgent but you should definitely come, too."

'No immediate danger for you but I'm getting Nawaki to safety now' was heavily implied.

"Have fun." Was all her mother said, gesturing for Tsunade to leave.

Even with her heart pounding in her ears so loud that it covered Nawaki's delight by being taken through the roofs-route, Tsunade felt immensely relieved. Her mother may not like her, or agree with her choices, but she trusted Tsunade with Nawaki; she trusted her daughter to put her little brother first, no matter what it cost her.

Which was good because Tsunade wasn't a good enough sensor to tell if someone had witnessed what Nawaki did nor would she know if they were being followed. She needed to get her brother to safety, toMito, as soon as possible.

She wished her oji-san was here. He'd knowexactlywhat to do in this situation.

"Tsunade-chan. Nawaki-chan." The red-haired woman greeted them rather coolly, eying the blonde warily. "I was not expecting you."

"Were we followed?" Asked Tsunade, cutting right to the chase, not even bothering with greeting her grandmother.

Mito's expression changed immediately, morphing from discomfort and perhaps irritation to a stone mask that betrayed no emotion. She kept her silence for a brief moment while she scanned the area, then shook her head. "You were not." She replied. "What happened?"

"I can't tell you without the proper safeguards." Replied Tsunade, putting her brother down. Nawaki, completely unaware of the tension saturating the room, immediately ran to hug his grandmother's legs.

She didn't return the gesture but she did pet his head.

"Our parents should arrive soon, when Father gets home. I don't think it's a conversation that we should have more than once."

"I understand." Replied Mito, gently pushing Nawaki off, and began setting up the necessary precautions.

By the time her parents arrived at Mito's estate, her father still dressed in travel clothes, the woman had prepared the necessary seals and Tsunade made tea.

"What's the urgency?" Demanded Tsunade's father, clearly unimpressed. It seemed that only one of Tsuande's parents trusted in her judgment when it came to her little brother: her father just looked like he was moments away from yelling at his daughter for wasting his time. "You shouldn't bother your grandmother, Tsuande."

The blonde turned to the woman in question. "Obaa-sama?"

"I've taken appropriate measures to ensure this conversation remains private, Tsunade-chan." Replied the woman, clearly taking her as seriously as her mother did, not at all upset with being interrupted mid-day.

The blonde took a deep, shaky breath, then swallowed in an attempt to exile her heat from her throat. She hugged her brother closer as he continued to babble to no one in particular, talking about one of his friends.

She dreaded the words that came out of her mouth next.

"Nawaki has Mokuton."

Her mother's teacup, which Tsuande should've perhaps warned her against picking up, shattered as it made impact with the floor. Tsunade picked her brother up on instinct, yanking him up and around, so that it was her arm that the shards of glass impaled rather than his.

Nawaki began to cry as blood started dripping down her arm, mixing with the scalding hot liquid that previously filled the cup.

"I'm okay." She assured her brother, moving her arm away so that her injuries were out of his line of sight, hugging him close to her chest as he sobbed.

"He has…?" Began Mito, the only one among the three adults not shocked by the ease with which Tsuande protected her brother and ignored the pain of her injury.

"He called on it unconsciously; made flowers grow. It happened when he woke up. I don't think he could replicate the effect while awake."

"Are you sure?" Pushed her father, his tone once again shifting into irritation and disbelief.

"You're a shinobi." Tsunade replied dryly. "Search for it in his chakra. If I could sense it, knowing what to look for, then so can you."

She half expected him to yell at her for her disrespect but the man thankfully heeded her suggestion, as attested to by his quiet gasp and the blurted out "Shit."

"No one can know." Tsunade said quietly, Trying to soothe her brother by petting his hair with her uninjured hand. "No one. The four of us knowing is more than enough."

"No one- are you mad?" Demanded her father. "If my son carries my father's legacy-"

"Dear, she's right." Tsunade's mother interrupted her husband quietly.

"It doesn't matter that he's Heir to one of the most powerful clans in Konoha." Tsunade said quietly. "We… we were severely weakened by the war, otou-san. We can't boast the strength and influence we had before it."

"Which is exactly why we need to capitalize on this." Argued the man. "This… this is a blessing from the Gods. With Mokuton back in our line-"

"You'll get Nawaki killed." Tsunade cut him off, her voice colder than ice. "You don't have the resources to protect him: not from enemy villages and not even from people in your own."

Tsunade wondered, in that moment, if her brother's death in the other reality had to do with that particular gift. She knew Danzo went to great lengths to acquire Mokuton, but… how did he get the original samples? Did he have to do with her brother's death?

Was… was Nawaki dead at all, or was he kept alive, unconscious, in some dark cave where he was harvested like a resource-

Tsunade wanted to throw up.

"You need to choose which you value more - your clan's reputation or your son's life."

"Of course I value Nawaki-"

"Then you will not reveal his talent." It was Mito who cut him off, finally participating in the conversation. "You will nourish it in private and instruct him to keep it secret until he's old enough to protect himself from the violence that will follow the revelation."

"Mother, we can protect my son just fine."

"You cannot." She argued coolly, her gaze tinted red and locked firmly onto her son's. "Icannot. There is not a single entity in this village that could ensure Nawaki's safety if you chose to spread word of his abilities."

That, thankfully, shut him up.

Tsunade was delegated to entertaining her brother while the adults hashed out a strategy of managing Nawaki's newly revealed talent, listening in with one ear, looking at her brother as if desperate to burn his image into her brain.

"I love you so much, little bro." She told him quietly, brushing her nose against his. "And I promise: nee-chan is going to keep you safe.

Bonus scene - Sparring

"Spar with me." Orochiamru demanded a few days after she revealed her monster strength, a request he'd not made in nearly a year.

It felt like victory.

"Sure." Tsunade agreed. "Tired of team training?"

It's all the Third subjected them to, that week. His reasons were sound: if they were to compete in the chunin exams, as per Tsunade's demand, they needed to be able to function as one unit. The fact that Tsunade had a style of combat completely unlike what she wielded formerly needed to be accounted and adjusted for which was, apparently, a lot of work.

The boys were a little miffed at her for it, too.

"It's… repetitive." Orochimaru agreed. "I'm also curious as to whether I can best you."

Tsunade huffed. "Of course you can." She agreed. "You're faster than me. Now that you know what to look out for you should have no trouble striking preemptively or when I've already committed to an attack."

He raised one brow. "Why did you agree to spar with me, if you know I'd win?"

"Training, obviously." Replied Tsunade. "You're not the fastest opponent I'll have to face; I'm best off practicing survivingyoubefore I face someone whose speed is superior."

Orochimaru hummed. "It's refreshing, how easily you accept and acknowledge your weaknesses."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Yes."

Tsunade choked on her spit, then, having failed to anticipate Orochimaru's acknowledgement.

Their spar lasted a bit longer than she expected, in the end, and Orochimarau's movements grew a little sluggish from the ensuing exhaustion, but he still managed to slip behind her and press a blade to her throat, eventually.

If she was honest about her skillset, this would not have counted as a win. What's a slit throat to a medic who can restore it immediately?

Orochimaru, of course, only suspected foul play with her 'genjutsu'; he'd not yet figured out that it was healing that gave her an edge.

"You're not scared." He pointed out, pressing the edge of the kunai a bit closer to her throat.

Tsunade pressed back against him to make some distance from it before turning her face sideways to face him. "Of you slitting my throat? Not really."

"I could."

"I know."

"Imight."

"I know." Maybe that was admitting to too much, huh?

"But you're not scared."

"No."

Orochimaru released her, then, hiding the blade away as he stepped back and away from her. His golden eyes were locked onto her own and filled to the brim with emotion, a stark contrast to his normally stoic facade, but Tsunade couldn't read it; whatever it was that Orochimaru experienced completely eluded her.

He watched her silently, like a predator, for several more seconds before speaking again:

"You should be."

With that said, Orochimaru turned and left. Tsunade remained alone in the clearing, confused, worried, and somehow still helplessly amused.

Notes:

You asked if Tsunade was going to have Mokuton.
I said that she wasn't.
BUT YOU GUYS NEVER ASKED ABOUT NAWAKI! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(And yes, I had this planned pretty much from the very beginning. I'm such a schemer, you wouldn't believe it. Do you know how hard it is to stay my tongue when I'm responding to comments? There is SO MUCH that you don't know. It's the best thing ever and the worst thing ever simultaneously, lol)

The bonus scene was something I wrote today (like, right now) cause you guys inspire me so so much. It serves a purpose but it's not crucial at this point of the story. Well, only to show that Tsunade isn't suddenly a jonin-level fighter: she's very hard to take on if she has the advantage of surprise but against an opponent who knows her skills she'd be easy to counter. I'll explain more about that when Tsunade explains how she achieved her super-strength :D

Again, I love you guys, tysm for reading this fic. 3

PS since I have tiktok, if there's anything related to this fic that you'd like me to address (without spoiling) or clarify, let me know! I could def do that and link it to your comments :p

That's it, that's it. See you in 3 days for ch42!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
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Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

Chapter 42: Composting

Summary:

*SPOILER WARNING* *
Kagami resolves to make the chunin exams a political tool to ensure peace by making the different villages interact during them. Tsunade praises the decision but it does mean that the Hokage is too busy to go on missions with them, leaving the trio in Sakumo's hands again.

She returns to Keiichi's after a mission gone bad, exhausted, where the two of them are attacked by four enemy-nin.
The ensuing fight has both of them injured and all four of the enemies dead - Tsunade has to drain herself almost completely to help Keiichi save his own life.

The pair are taken to the hospital and receive treatment. *
*SPOILER WARNING END* *

Notes:

Friendly reminder that I don't post chapters on the last week of the month! Chapter 43 will be up on Dec 22nd but chapter 44 will have to wait until Jan 1st :D
Don't worry though, I'm not going to leave you with a cliffhanger. I'm going to resolve (most) of the conflict of Nawaki's Mokuton arc in this chapter and the next, so you're not left hanging. It's another reason why the special POVs were one chapter rather than 2 ;D

I hope you guys don't mind but I really want to thank you again for the support on this fic. Thank you, you've all been fantastic from the very start, I love you.
Enjoy the chapter!

My socials:

Our communitydiscordfor shitposting, memes, fic recs and more shenanigans.
Mytwitter/xfor updates about uploads/delays.
Mytiktok,instagramandyoutubefor content about how to live life to its fullest :)
Mytwitchfor writing/studywithme streams.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

They had another mission go bad late winter though this time it was theweatherthat screwed them over, not enemy-nin. The Hokage didn't accompany them, on said occasion: Sakumo, who often filled in for him when he was too busy to teach his genin, was the team lead.

Tsunade didn't even hold it against him, this time; that dubious honor was reserved, curiously enough, for Kagami.

Kagami, who took him upon himself to make the chunin exams an event shared among the villages to strengthen the bonds of peace, inviting a metric shit-ton of foreign shinobi to Konoha for the upcoming ones.

It was a fantastic decision, in her opinion, and Tsunade told him as much; the timing for it could not have been better, either. They had just come out of a war, no one had the resources to start yet another one; this was a chance for Konoha to flaunt its relative prosperity and abundance of young talent without the repercussions that would otherwise follow an exam in which children are routinely killed.

It was still a political mess, of course, and would be conducted as such, which was what had Tsunade miffed: did Kagami really have to try out this new format when she's supposed to take the exam? Couldn't he have waited until the next one?

The Uchiha responded to her accusation by laughing, ruffling her hair and assuring her that she'd be just fine.

Either way, the Hokage was justifiably busy and Tsunade couldn't even complain about it, this time, which somehow irritated her even more.

Sakumo worked well with the trio, especially now that Tsunade no longer hid her strength, though he often complained about their dynamic.

Last time he led their team Orochimaru refused to work with Tsunade on anything and Jiraiya constantly felt the need to play white knight. This time, the boys were more wary of the blonde than anything, still getting used to her newly acquired skill. Orochimaru tried to beg it off her, once, offering her weapons training and ninjutsu in return, but Tsunade just told him that he couldn't replicate it even if he had very detailed instructions.

Which was true; he just didn't have the necessary degree of chakra control. His was great, good even, but she was in the 99th percentile; there were just some things no amount of training could replicate.

(She tried not to think about the fact that this was Orochimaru she was working with and, frankly, even if therewasno way to replicate that degree of chakra control with training, Orochimaru will eventually just synthesize one. Because he was Orochimaru.

It's his tenacity and wit that made him such a terrifying opponent, after all.)

Either way, it was a rather exhausting week and Tsunade returned to the village cold and wet and too dirty and bloodied to go cuddle Nawaki for comfort; her mother wouldn't allow the girl near him unless the only hint of her chosen career was her hitae-ate.

So she went to Keiichi's.

"You look like shit."

"True." The blonde acknowledged, then discarded her pack and went to wash her hands. Keiichi would never complain but Tsunade had made an effort to only touch his shogi set with clean hands, even when she visited after training or missions. "Wanna kick my ass?"

Keiichi coughed to mask his amusement but Tsunade caught it, still. "If you insist."

They were on their third game when Keiichi's hand froze mid-air as he was moving a pawn.

"What?" Tsunade asked warily, because it wasn't like him to rethink his turn.

The piece fell to the board as Keiichi rose to his feet and pulled a sword out of his cane, parrying the kunai of a masked shinobi that who to attack him from behind. "Run!" He cried out, sending a distress signal with his chakra, then turned to face his opponent. With one powerful kick, the ninja was shot off into the garden.

Tsunade wouldn't have followed that order even if she could; she wasn't leaving Keiichi to fend for himself, what the fuck. The appearance of three more shinobi gave her a good excuse to disobey.

All four of them were dressed in navy robes and wearing masks that covered all their features, no hitae-ate in sight.

So, definitely enemy-nin, and not missing-nin, this time.

Fuck.

"Justrun!" Repeated Keiichi, his voice strained, moments before one of the four attackers made to slash at his own comrade.

"Oi, what-?" Said another of the shinobi, easily dodging the attack, but he was cut off:

"He's a Nara!" Called the assailant who Keiichi kicked into his garden earlier. He must have attached his shadow to theirs, then, what a fucking genius. "Kill him first, then get her!"

So, they were here for Tsunade. Shit. Shit shit shit. What had she let slip? To who?

Was this fucking Danzo's doing?

Tsuande didn't run, despite her shishou's plea, and attacked the shinobi under the man's control. Another of the enemy-nin countered her before she could slit his throat with the kunai she pulled out of her boot - the majority of her weapon remained in her pack, which she'd removed when she arrived.

She was actually hoping he'd do that.

Her weapon, together with the arm the shinobi used to parry it, exploded into a mist of blood and a rain of bone shards as her super strength tore through his flesh with ease.

"What the fuck?" Cried another of the shinobi, the words barely audible over the high-pitched screeching of the man she disarmed, quite literally. "Isn't she supposed to have Wood Release?! What the hell is this?"

Oh.

Oh.

Of course that'd be why they were here; Gods, Tsunade did wonder how long it would take for word of her brother's talents to slip out. Shit, did that mean that there was another team going after Nawaki-?

No. They thoughtshewas the one with Mokuton.

She didn't linger on her worries any longer; instead, Tsunade and Keiichi both utilized the opening she made by jumping at their assailants, aiming to maim or kill.

The shinobi made sure to keep their distance from Tsunade, after that, having learned their lesson about underestimating her, but had no qualms raining ninjutsu on her: nothing lethal, mostly earth jutsu that were doubtlessly meant to subdue her. A particularly tricky attack from below had the ground swallow her up to her hips and crush the bones in her legs, making Tsunade scream.

"We got her!" Reported the one-armed shinobi, holding the stump at his shoulder.

They did not, of course, have her, and they would've known that if they noted how Tsunade stopped screaming once she had numbed the pain in the destroyed limbs.

She punched the earth with a fraction of her power, just enough to loosen the earth's hold, then repaired her legs and climbed out of the rubble to assist Keiichi who was now fighting off three and a half shinobi.

She managed to sink her blade into one of their throats before the shinobi realized that the kunoichi was free and whole, leaving it to hang off his neck as she attacked another with a barrage of taijutsu which he wisely dodged.

Tsunade heard Keiichi cry out to her right but she couldn't afford to look at him as the shinobi she was fighting assaulted her with fire jutsu, clearly having given up on taking her alive. He was much faster than her so she couldn't close the distance, which is why Tsunade left him be and went to lend her support to Keiichi.

Who was now fighting two opponents and a huge bird summon of some sort, swiping at them with a multitude of shadow blades and just barely keeping them at a distance. Tsunade jumped them from behind, again, but this time they were ready; one of the shinobi managed to impale her with his sword, obviously expecting Tsunade to be deterred by having metal tear through her lung.

Instead, she numbed the area, slid further forward on the blade and plunged her hand into his chest, easily smashing through his ribs and pulling his heart out before crushing it before the shinobi's eyes and shaking off the remaining gore.

He fell to the ground but his blade remained stuck in her so Tsunade had to pull it out before transforming her lungs to a healthy state, returning the blood that had filled them to her veins.

"She's a monster!" Cried the shinobi she maimed before Keiichi got him with an extended shadow blade which he wielded almost like one would a whip.

"Do you think you could capture him?" She yelled to Keiichi as they faced the last enemy together, both heaving from exertion.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Keiichi yelled as he slammed his hands into the necessary seal, shooting his shadow at his opponent, only to have the technique disrupted when an explosion consumed his torso, powered by a paper tag one of his opponents had pleased there.

"Shishou!" Tsunade screamed as smoke consumed him. She would've run for him if the last living shinobi wasn't upon her almost before the cry left her lips, trying to overwhelm her with earth jutsu while Tsunade desperately attempted to at least get them away from where she last saw Keiichi.

"You monstrous fucking bitch!" Yelled the shinobi as Tsunade punched through another of the earth barriers he'd raised only to have him breathe fire into her face. She managed to dodge the majority of it though the heat still melted off her eye and destroyed her ear, the pain of which Tsunade thankfully didn't have to endure thanks to her numbing technique.

She crouched under the flames while the jutsu was still in full force, half her face melted off, and punched the man in the gut.

He rained over Keiichi's garden in many, many pieces.

Tsunade fixed her face, her eye and her ear, not bothering with the hair that's been burned off, before running to Keiichi.

She found her shishou already in the process of healing his injuries, because he was just that fucking great, though Tsunade still dropped to her knees to assist him.

He took care of his lungs, which were the most crucial, while she salvaged his other organs, extending her chakra to numb the entirety of his torso to which the man responded with a blissful sigh of relief followed by a bloody gurgle.

When his insides were finally in a functional state, what felt like hours later but must've only been minutes, the pair worked on mending Keiichi's broken bones, together.

She flopped onto the grass beside him, breathing heavily, actually on the brink of chakra exhaustion this time; she'd not even had time to recover after her mission.

"You good?" She asked him between heavy breaths, adrenaline still coursing through her veins, ready to pop a few soldier pills and pour more chakra into him if necessary.

"I'll live." He croaked back, lying beside her, equally drained.

That's how a group of Nara shinobi answering Keiichi's distress call found them several minutes later, their clothes torn and both of them covered in blood and gore while their four opponents lay, mostly in pieces, around them.

There were no words exchanged, for a while - just a trio of very confused Nara shinobi staring at an old man and a little girl in tattered, filthy clothes who lay on the red grass, breathing heavily despite the smoke saturating the air.

"You should probably get us to the hospital." Tsunade suggested helpfully, snappin the kunoichi among them out of her stupor.

"Did any escape?" She demanded in the familiar Nara dawdle.

"No." It was Keiichi who replied. "There were only those four."

"Four?" Repeated another of the Nara. "I only count three…"

"Sorry, I blew up the last one." Tsunade offered with relative honesty. "He's kinda in pieces over there." She gestured with her chin to the corner of the garden completely covered in gore, making the man flinch. "So, um, hospital?"

For all the Konoha hospital was crap, it was a pretty good place to recover from chakra exhaustion. They had all the right foods and, to Tsunade's surprise, pretty comfortable overnight beds, in contrast to the hard mattress she was given when she stayed there for monitoring. Keiichi was given a much more thorough examination than Tsunade after explaining how he sustained his injury. He took credit for healing the wound on Tsunade's abdomen, also, and she claimed that the fire jutsu that burned her hair off just managed to miss her ear, which was of course absolute bullshit.

When the staff was sure that neither of them was going to die anytime soon, the pair got to stay in the same hospital room. It had a really large window, which was nice, though the view was somewhat obscured by the two shinobi stationed outside their room.

Right. They were attacked by enemy-nin.

"You did well, kid." Said Keiichi. "How are you feeling?"

"About what I did?" She guessed, shifting in her bed so that she was facing him.

"Yeah."

"Honestly?" Tsunade paused. "I feel nothing."

"That's…"

"Don't say good." She cut him off. "I know it's not. It's more likely that I'm just… suppressing my emotions, cause I've never killed so brutally before."

Keiichi hummed. "That's a possibility."

"But honestly." Tsunade continued, "I don't think that's it. Killing them waseasy,shishou, because I knew that if I didn't, they'd hurtyou."

And she was inclined to believe that it was, indeed, the case, because all Tsunade could think of for the entirety of that fight was how Keiichi, even with his skills as a medic-nin, was much easier to kill than she.

The man in question opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the door being pushed open at a surprising speed, revealing a very anxious-looking Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Notes:

Lots of violence in this one, lol :D

I feel like Tsunade's skillset is so interesting in this context because, while she's not truly strong yet, if you're not expecting super strength she's really hard to counter. Like, if the enemy-nin didn't underestimate her, she would have for sure been kidnapped.

Also, did you guys notice my first (deliberate) change from canon? Kagami is bringing the multi-village chunin exams back! In canon those were only a thing after the next war, which is still almost 20 years away, but I really wanted the chunin exams arc (which is the next one after this! It'll probably cover the majority of next month's chapters) to be fun and interesting.

I have really good plot and scenes planned out for it, well at least in my opinion, but I couldn't execute them with only Konoha-nin.
So you're getting to see a joint chinin exam 20 years early :D

The reason I decided to do this is the Rule of Cool: in the end, writing cool, epic scenes trumps being true to the source material. Also, since Kagami lived in my version of the story, I can just blame him for the changes :D

Anyway, I'm saying this again, but I PROMISE to resolve the mystery of wtf just happened in the next chapter. No cliffhangers for you :p

See you guys in 3 days! 3

PS I really hope you enjoyed the name of the chapter (Composting) in the context of what Tsu-chan did to those poor enemy-nin xD

Chapter 43: Lemons and Lemonade