The wasteland on the outskirts of Tanzaku was a dead place. Ruins of an ancient castle, swept by winds, stuck out of the ground like rotten teeth. The perfect place to meet ghosts of the past.
Tsunade stood in the middle of a cracked plateau. The wind ruffled her green haori. She waited.
Shizune stayed at the hotel—Tsunade had put her to sleep so as not to endanger her. This was a conversation for Sannin only.
A figure emerged from the shadow of a ruined wall.
Orochimaru.
He looked terrible. Even worse than Tsunade remembered. His skin was gray, unnaturally stretched like a mask ready to burst. He moved with difficulty; every movement was accompanied by a barely audible hiss of pain. Next to him, supporting his master, walked Kabuto Yakushi.
"Long time no see... Tsunade," the Snake's voice was hoarse, wet.
"Orochimaru," she replied coldly. "I heard you visited Konoha. Tried to kill the old man?"
"Unfortunately, it didn't work out," Orochimaru grimaced. "One... unforeseen factor intervened. But I'm not here to discuss politics. I need your help."
He threw open the collar of his kimono.
Tsunade, as a medic, instantly saw the problem.
His body was disintegrating. It wasn't a wound. It was a fundamental rejection. Orochimaru's soul was too strong and "poisonous" for the vessel he occupied. Tissues were necrotizing; chakra was burning out the channels.
"My body is dying faster than it should," he stated. "I need you to stabilize it. So I can hold out a little longer. Until I take... my true vessel."
Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest.
"And why would I heal a traitor who attacked the village? I should kill you right here and now."
"You can try," Kabuto smirked, adjusting his glasses. "But then you'll miss the deal of a lifetime."
Orochimaru looked up. A devilish fire of temptation burned in his snake eyes.
"I know what you want, Tsunade. More than anything in the world."
He formed seals. The ground in front of him swelled.
Two silhouettes rose from the mud. Formless for now, but the outlines were painfully familiar.
"Nawaki and Dan."
Tsunade's heart skipped a beat. Air froze in her lungs.
"Don't you dare..." she whispered.
"I developed a technique," Orochimaru continued ingratiatingly. "These aren't just puppets. I will bring their souls back from the Pure Land. They will be alive. They will be with you. I already have the sacrifices. You just need to nod. I will give you what the war and the 'Will of Fire' took from you. In exchange—just heal me. And don't interfere with the destruction of Konoha."
Tsunade froze.
Two faces she saw in nightmares every night were so close. Alive. Warm. Beloved.
To bring them back. Forget the pain. Forget the loneliness.
The price seemed insignificant. Konoha? The village that took them from her? Let it burn. The main thing—they would be near.
She took a step forward. Her hand reached for the silhouettes.
"Nawaki... Dan..."
You're not afraid of blood. You're afraid of loss.
The voice sounded in her head as clearly as if the speaker were standing next to her.
The cold, sharp voice of a boy with blue eyes.
You wear this pain like armor... But by doing so, you only betray the memory of those you lost.
Tsunade froze.
She remembered Naruto. The way he looked at her on the street in Tanzaku. There was no pity in his eyes. There was truth.
She looked at the silhouettes in the mud.
What would Dan say if he knew he was resurrected at the cost of destroying the village he loved?
What would Nawaki say, who dreamed of becoming Hokage?
They would curse her.
Orochimaru wasn't offering her their lives. He was offering her dolls to soothe her selfishness. He was offering her to betray what they died for.
"Come on, Tsunade," Orochimaru hissed, extending his hand. "Agree."
She raised her head.
There was no more drunken fog or tears in her eyes. The cold fire of the Senju burned in them.
"You're right, Orochimaru," she said quietly. "I was truly afraid. But one impudent brat recently forced me to face the truth."
"What?.." the Sannin frowned.
"I'll heal you," she said, taking a step.
Her palms glowed with the green light of medical chakra.
Kabuto relaxed, smirking.
Tsunade came up close. She put her hands on Orochimaru's chest.
"Heal..."
Suddenly, the green glow was replaced by a blinding blue electric discharge of a Chakra Scalpel overloaded for destruction.
"...IN HELL!"
She struck.
Destruction of the nervous system.
Orochimaru, whose instincts were faster than thought, managed to recoil, but the blow grazed his shoulder. Flesh exploded.
"YOU!" he roared, jumping back. "Stupid woman! You chose death?!"
"I chose to remain myself!" Tsunade shouted, punching the ground.
HEAVENLY FOOT OF PAIN!
The ground split. A giant crack crept toward Orochimaru, causing the castle ruins to collapse. The mud dolls of Nawaki and Dan, losing their chakra sustenance, began to melt.
The mud flowed away, exposing the terrible truth.
Inside were not the souls of loved ones. Inside were the bodies of two young Sound shinobi tied to the ritual like sacrificial cattle. Their dead, glazed eyes stared at the sky.
Tsunade saw it. Nausea rose to her throat.
"You... you used your own people as disposable material?!"
"What difference does the vessel make if the contents satisfy you?" the Sannin threw out indifferently.
Kabuto finally came to his senses.
"She betrayed us, Lord Orochimaru!"
"I will kill you, Orochimaru!" Tsunade tore off her green haori. "Kill you for daring to use them in your intrigues!"
Orochimaru spat out the Kusanagi sword.
"A pity. I'll have to take your life instead of treatment. Kabuto!"
The fight could have ended disastrously. Tsunade's gaze snagged on the bleeding wound on the Sannin's shoulder.
She froze. Her pupils dilated to the limit; her breath hitched. The metallic smell hit her nose, instantly awakening old terror. The world before her eyes swam, painted red. Her knees began to tremble treacherously. Hemophobia, her curse, was already extending its bony fingers toward her, ready to paralyze her will.
But the paralysis didn't have time to take her completely.
Suddenly the sky darkened.
From above came the whistle of a falling object.
KA-BOOM!
Something huge crashed down between Tsunade and Orochimaru, raising a cloud of dust.
The ground shook so hard Kabuto fell to his knees.
When the dust settled, everyone saw a giant toad with a pipe in its mouth. Gamabunta.
And on the toad's head stood two figures.
A huge man with a white mane of hair.
And a teenager in black, whose Chunin vest shone in the sun, and whose gaze promised trouble.
"Looks like we're just in time to crash the party," Jiraiya's voice boomed.
Naruto looked down at Orochimaru.
His Qi Sensory unerringly determined the enemy's condition.
Rot. Decay.
"Hello, Snake," he said coldly. "You still haven't croaked? Then I'll help. I'm not the same as I was in the Forest of Death."
A dense, heavy aura of Qi gathered around him.
"I'll repay the debt for that meeting. With interest."
Tsunade looked at them from below. At Jiraiya's back. And at the boy who stood next to the Sannin as an equal.
She wiped sweat from her forehead.
Reinforcements had arrived.