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Tsunade Senju had never feared war. She feared loss.
When she was a girl, the Senju name carried a legacy of strength... a weight she wore like armor with pride. But now, that same armor felt more like a chain. With every war, everyone close to her buried, the name meant less. The Will of Fire burned others; she only got ash.
After Nawaki's death in the Second Shinobi War, something in her broke. The boy who'd shout he'd become Hokage lay in pieces before her, caught in an explosion that no healing jutsu could reverse. She had promised herself she'd never let her emotions weaken her again. She had hardened her heart.
And then she met Dan Kato.
Dan had understood her grief... the same grief she tried to drown in sake and sarcasm. He didn't pity her. He believed in her. And for a moment, she let herself believe too. She believed she could love again, that maybe the future wasn't a graveyard. But war had no mercy for hope.
When Onoki's dust technique tore through Konoha's line, Dan was among the fallen. His chakra vanished from her sense before she could even reach him. By the time she arrived, his body was half-cut cleanly with his intestines gushing out. His lower half vanished.
When she heard Kushina... her cousin, her sister who was full of spirit... had been captured by Kumo, she lost herself again. She fought like a mad woman that day. She didn't even remember how many she killed. She wanted to hurl her anger at anything she could reach, but none of it made the grief budge. She decided to complete stay away from war and support as medical chief as she developed hemophobia.
A while later, Jiraiya was gone too.
She thought she had lost him. When reports came in that he'd been caught in the same blast that had killed Dan, she didn't even cry. She didn't have tears left. She stared at the empty tent where he used to sit, his stupid laughter echoing faintly in memory.
And then, three days later, he walked back into camp.
Alive.
Apparently, he had been reverse-summoned to Mount Myoboku just before Onoki's attack... the toads had saved him. But he wasn't the same. His jokes stopped. His grin looked carved out of something brittle. He didn't meet her eyes much anymore. He said he was thinking about something about Child of Prophecy and that it had changed because of some interference.
When she saw him alive, she ran to him, threw her arms around him, and sobbed against his chest before she could think. Then, embarrassed, she punched him square in the ribs hard enough to bruise. He winced, she healed him out of reflex, and they both laughed awkwardly... but something had changed.
Still, for the first time in months, she felt almost human again. His presence anchored her. She could breathe without hearing the echoes of dying comrades.
Until the next message arrived.
Hiruzen Sarutobi... the Third Hokage... had fallen in battle against the Third Raikage.
Tsunade read the report once. Then twice. Then she threw the paper across the tent and didn't speak for hours.
Her sensei, her last pillar, was gone. The man who had taught her how to live and fight. The one who always told her: "We protect the next generation, no matter what it costs."
She couldn't save him. She couldn't save anyone. She was nowhere near him when she was needed the most.
Every time she saw blood, the old memory returned... Nawaki's small hand covered in it, Dan's half-cut body. The iron scent crawled up her throat and turned her stomach. She'd vomit mid-surgery, sometimes, or freeze when she saw too much red.
Now, she had been called to the Suna front... to support Konoha's weakened forces. Orochimaru was called back to Konoha... he said it was an important mission for us against kumo, which would turn tides of the battle. Meanwhile, Suna had unleashed their old weapons: Chiyo, the mother of poison and puppetry, and the Third Kazekage, whose Magnet Release tore through platoons like paper.
Tsunade didn't want to go. She hated the desert, hated the war. But she went anyway. Because there was no one else left to send.
By the time she arrived, the battle had already collapsed into chaos. The smell of scorched sand and venom hung in the air. Broken puppets, Konoha and Suna corpses littered the dunes.
She followed the trail of chakra and blood until she saw it... Chiyo about to pluck the second byakugan from Hyuga family head.
The old woman was removing an eye.
For a moment, the world blurred. All Tsunade saw was blood pooling beneath the man's head... too much blood. Her hands went cold. The ground seemed to tilt beneath her feet. She bit her lip hard, tasting copper. The nausea surged instantly... the same suffocating panic that had haunted her since Nawaki's death.
Not now. Not here.
She shut her eyes for half a breath, clenched her fists, and forced her focus onto Chiyo, who did not have any blood on her. She avoided looking at the Hyuga's face, afraid her legs would give out if she did.
That's when she moved.
Her fist blurred through the air, punching straight through a defense puppet that leapt between them. The puppet frame exploded in splinters. The shockwave cracked the sand.
Chiyo looked up, startled... then narrowed her eyes.
"You're late," the old woman said, her tone dry. "I expected the Slug Princess hours ago."
Tsunade didn't answer. Her pulse thundered in her ears. She could still see the blood glinting on Chiyo's hands. She turned her eyes away, jaw tight, pretending to check her footing. If Chiyo noticed the flicker of fear, she'd exploit it. And that old lady wouldn't miss such a detail.
"You look pale," Chiyo said softly, probing.
Tsunade's lips pressed into a thin line. She bit her tongue until the taste of blood hit her again, forcing her mind to anchor somewhere where there is no blood... focus, damn it.
"Summoning Jutsu!" she roared.
A massive shadow burst into existence. Katsuyu, the giant slug, materialized with a heavy thud, her body glistening under the desert sun.
"Lady Tsunade," Katsuyu's calm voice echoed, "I sense multiple critical conditions across the field."
"Start healing. Prioritize Hyuga and Aburame units."
"As you command."
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A/N: How are you liking the story? Do let me know.
Orochimaru is given an important mission which will help konoha win against kumo. Jiraiya returned child of prophecy has changed.
She used Katsuyu mainly to cover the blood and not trigger her hemophobia.