A few days later. Konoha City!
Konoha City was a large city in the southern region of the Land of Fire, widely known throughout the shinobi world as a destination built around gambling, tourism, shopping, and leisure.
Tanzaku Street. An izakaya.
A small table. A few side dishes. Several flasks of sake.
A fair-skinned, tall, obviously full-figured blonde woman and an unremarkable-looking dark-haired girl sat across from each other at the table.
"Oh my, it's been a while, Tsunade."
Jiraiya pushed through the door with the other two behind him and made his way to the table.
"Took some effort to track you down."
"Hmph. It really has been a while. What are you doing here, Jiraiya?"
Tsunade kept her chopsticks moving without pausing, took a bite of food, then shifted her gaze to the three of them.
When it landed on Naruto's face, she paused for just a moment, then quickly recovered, looked back at Jiraiya, and laughed with undisguised scorn.
"What, causing trouble for yourself isn't enough? You had to bring two Konoha brats along?"
Jiraiya laughed easily and sat himself down across from Tsunade as though he owned the place.
"These two are far from ordinary. The most outstanding talents of their generation. Let me introduce them. That annoying brat is Uzumaki Naruto. That lovely girl is Haruno Sakura."
"Uzumaki. Haruno."
Tsunade turned the two surnames over in her mouth, gave a small nod, and looked at Jiraiya with the same composed expression. "What did you come here for, Jiraiya?"
"There is something." Jiraiya nodded and spoke with gravity, skipping the pleasantries. "I'll spare you the formalities. Tsunade, you know the state of the village right now. I need you to come back. Take the lead. Become the Fifth Hokage."
Tsunade said nothing. Jiraiya's brow tightened and he pressed on. "Well? Can you do it, Tsunade?"
After a long silence, Tsunade let out a dismissive laugh.
"I'm afraid not. I decline."
"Money and your life are two different things. Gambling your life for the sake of some village is something only a fool would do."
At those words, Sakura and Naruto's expressions shifted sharply. Jiraiya caught it and shot them a quick look before they could say anything.
Seeming to catch the shift in the two younger ones' moods, Tsunade gave a cold laugh.
"My great-grandfather and great-granduncle spent their whole lives chasing some dream of peace, and neither of them ever reached it before they died. Teacher Sarutobi and Minato gave up their own lives to protect this so-called village. A pair of self-important fools, both of them."
"Hokage are garbage. Only an idiot would..."
Bang!
"Don't you dare insult the Hokage!"
"Don't you dare insult the Four Hokages!"
That was as far as Naruto and Sakura could take it. Both of them slammed their hands on the table and shot to their feet, fury blazing in their eyes.
What followed unfolded much as it did in the original story. Tsunade's words pushed Naruto over the edge, but this time Sakura was right there with him.
---
On the other end of Tanzaku Street, at the same moment.
A girl with light brown hair and a quietly composed air was walking alongside a stern-faced middle-aged man dressed in close-fitted black clothing.
"Yakumo, we'll spend the night here in Konoha City and set out first thing tomorrow morning for Konoha."
The middle-aged man's name was Kurama Yoshikawa. He was a retired special jonin from the Kurama clan.
The girl beside him was Kurama Yakumo, returning from eight months away from the village.
"Alright, Uncle Yoshikawa."
Kurama Yakumo gave a small nod. Her eyes moved steadily across everything around her. In her hands was a thick book, its pages closed, but lines of text continued to appear and fill the blank spaces as she held it.
It contained everything she had seen, heard, and thought during these past months.
Their journey had taken Yakumo and Yoshikawa deep into the Land of Lightning, with plans to continue further, but the news of Konoha's attack had cut the trip short.
The Third Hokage had died in battle. The village had suffered devastating losses. Several members of the Kurama clan had also died in the attack.
Yakumo and Yoshikawa had immediately abandoned their travel plans and traveled the whole way from the Land of Lightning back to the Land of Fire, intending to return to the village and see what remained.
Boom!
As the two of them walked, a loud crash of combat erupted in the distance.
"Sounds like a fight." Yoshikawa's brow furrowed. "Come, Yakumo. We're taking another route."
His responsibility was protecting his niece. Whatever was happening over there was none of his concern, and he had no interest in getting pulled into unnecessary trouble.
Yakumo nodded and started to follow, then stopped after a single step and let out a quiet sound of surprise.
"What is it, Yakumo?"
Yakumo thought for a moment. "I think we should go take a look, Uncle Yoshikawa."
"Did you sense something?"
"Yes."
"Someone you know?"
"No." Yakumo shook her head slowly. "But they're probably from Konoha."
From Konoha?
Had someone from the village run into trouble out here?
Yoshikawa's eyes sharpened. "Alright. We'll go have a look. But stay close and keep yourself safe."
Even retired, if he ran into Konoha ninja in trouble while outside the village, Yoshikawa wouldn't hesitate to step in and help.
Boom!
Tanzaku Street had been lively moments before, but the crowd scattered in an instant, everyone scrambling back out of range.
The even pavement had been shattered into shifting chunks, rubble rolling outward, the street twisted beyond recognition.
A crash rang out.
Tsunade and Naruto threw punches at the same moment. A massive shockwave erupted from the point of collision and swept outward in every direction.
Then, an instant later, Naruto let out a muffled grunt and was sent flying dozens of meters.
"Kid, you're a little too green to be matching strength and taijutsu against me!"
Tsunade gave a contemptuous laugh, planted her foot, and the ground fractured beneath her like a detonation.
She launched herself forward, closing the distance to Naruto in midair, pressing the attack.
Whoosh!
Just as Tsunade was about to catch up to Naruto, a circular wall of water rose up in her path and stopped her advance.
"Is that my great-granduncle's!?"
Recognizing the familiar wall of water, Tsunade went still for just a moment. The next instant, a sleek water dragon came rushing at her at striking speed.
"Hmph!"
She snapped back to her senses. Faced with the surging Water Dragon Bullet, she didn't sidestep at all. She simply punched it with her overwhelming strength and smashed it to pieces.
"Not bad with the Second's Water Release, girl. But at this level, don't expect me to take back what I said."
Seeing the disbelief on Sakura's face, Tsunade gave a cold laugh.
Those two should be Konoha ninja. So the person they're facing must be the enemy.
Yakumo and Yoshikawa had just arrived to find the three of them in the middle of an intense fight. They didn't recognize Naruto or Sakura, but the forehead protectors both wore identified them clearly enough.
Their opponent is extremely strong. We should help those two.
With that thought, Yakumo's hands moved quickly through seals, ready to assist.
Yoshikawa's heart lurched. He grabbed her immediately. "Yakumo! Don't!"
Seeing Yakumo's confused look, Yoshikawa said carefully. "That is Lady Tsunade."
"Oh."
Yakumo paused, then nodded. "Understood."
"But why would Lady Tsunade be fighting Konoha ninja?"
Yoshikawa shook his head. "I don't know, but we'd best not act without thinking."
While the two of them exchanged those words, the fight on the street was nearing its end.
"If you two brats can complete the Rasengan's nature transformation within three days, I'll take back what I said and apologize to you."
A wager was made between the three of them, and the confrontation came to a close.
"So Lord Jiraiya is here too. They came to invite Lady Tsunade back to the village to take the position of Hokage."
Yoshikawa murmured quietly. At that moment, Tsunade glanced back and her gaze landed on the two of them.
Yoshikawa startled and quickly bowed, managing a somewhat strained smile.
Fortunately, Tsunade's eyes swept over him and moved on, which allowed Yoshikawa to breathe again.
"So that's Lady Tsunade."
Yakumo watched Tsunade's retreating figure with an unmistakable look of admiration, a trace of yearning in her voice.
"Uncle Yoshikawa, let's stay here for three more days."
Yakumo said this with quiet seriousness.
"Well..." Yoshikawa hesitated. Yakumo pressed on. "Lord Jiraiya is here to invite Lady Tsunade back to the village to become Hokage. We could travel back together with both of them in three days."
"There are also some things I really want to ask Lady Tsunade about."
---
The battle with the Sannin will be skipped here. Roughly, Kabuto gets overwhelmed by Naruto and Sakura, Orochimaru gets surrounded by Jiraiya and Tsunade, and then, because of his fragmented soul, he gets finished off by the suddenly appearing Kurama Yakumo.
___
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