When Artoria returned to the hotel with a little girl in her arms, Tsunade was already waiting for her — another bottle of sake in hand.
"Oh," Tsunade said, raising a brow. "So your jade rabbit is a little girl."
Artoria stopped beside her.
"I changed my mind. At first, I wanted to turn her into a little rabbit as punishment for the life she had lived. But when I looked into her soul, I saw only someone who regretted her life. So I cleansed her memories and her soul."
Her gaze briefly drifted to the child in her arms.
"She is now my second student as well."
Tsunade stared at her in disbelief.
"What? I already thought shrinking the Nine-Tails to the size of a cat was absurd enough. But turning a human back into a child while also cleansing their memories and soul… that is far beyond anything we are capable of."
Her eyes fell on the sleeping girl.
"Who is this sweet little thing, anyway?"
Artoria answered without the slightest change in expression:
"Allow me to introduce her. She is your great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. The mother of the Sage of Six Paths."
The sake nearly shot right back out of Tsunade's mouth.
She coughed violently.
"What?! What?! She is my ancestor?!"
"Exactly."
Artoria simply continued walking down the hallway.
"Where are the two little ones?"
Tsunade needed a moment to catch her breath again.
"Uh… they're sleeping in your room. How do you even manage with those two?"
Artoria continued on calmly.
"I find they bring life to my otherwise rather dreary existence."
After she had carried Kaguya into her room and carefully laid her down to sleep, she stepped outside again.
Tsunade's gaze lingered for a moment on Artoria's blue eyes, as if searching there for answers that could not be put into words.
"So," Tsunade finally said. "Now that we're alone…"
From one corner of the room came a faint, muffled sound.
There still lay a bound and gagged man.
Jiraiya.
Artoria cast only a brief glance in his direction.
"Don't you want to free your old teammate? Then Jiraiya can listen in as well."
Tsunade turned her head and was promptly met with probably the saddest look Jiraiya had ever managed in his life.
She snorted.
"But at his own risk. He is and always will be a Perverted Hermit."
Artoria's lips barely twitched.
"If he looks at the wrong thing, I'll break something else."
Tsunade gave a crooked grin.
"And I'll help you do it."
Then both women stood up and went about loosening his restraints.
Once all three were finally seated at the table, Jiraiya carefully rubbed his still-aching limbs.
"Thank you for letting me out of the ropes. And also for healing me a little. That really hurt like hell."
Tsunade's stare drilled straight into him.
"If you didn't keep peeping into women's baths, you'd have fewer broken bones. And probably a longer life too."
Jiraiya laughed dryly.
"Ha ha ha… I'm not sure that would really change much."
Then his gaze shifted to Artoria.
"But now I really want to know who you truly are. I heard the name, fine — but where did someone this strong suddenly come from out of nowhere?"
Artoria took a deep drink of sake.
"Where should I begin…?" she murmured. "Hm. I was once a king. In another world, I ruled over my land for many years, until I was eventually killed by my own child."
Her voice remained calm.
"I struck them down in the same blow."
Jiraiya and Tsunade fell silent.
Artoria set down the cup.
"After that, I asked one of my knights to return my sword to the person who had forged it. That sword had stopped my aging."
A brief, quiet moment passed.
"But he never returned it. So my soul had to wander endlessly between life and death."
In that moment, her blue eyes seemed strangely distant.
"At some point, I developed into a Divine Spirit because of it."
Then she looked directly at the two of them.
"In your words: a goddess."
"What?! A real goddess?!" Tsunade and Jiraiya both blurted out at the same time.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed slightly.
Hm. That explains why she's even more beautiful than I am. Terrible.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, felt cold sweat run down his back.
Damn it, Sensei… how could you provoke a goddess? No wonder you died. And that explains why even the Sage of Six Paths lost against her…
With a slightly trembling voice, Jiraiya asked the next question.
"How much power did you need to destroy the moon?"
Artoria thought about it for a moment.
"Hmm… perhaps one part in two thousand five hundred."
Internally, she remained calm.
Now that I've crossed the boundary beyond EX, it would probably be more like one ten-thousandth. But not everyone needs to know that.
"Whaaaat?!" both of them cried out at once, horrified.
"What exactly do you want on the Uzumaki island?" Jiraiya finally asked. "And what do you mean when you say the Sage of Six Paths is giving you an army?"
A gentle grin spread across Artoria's beautiful face.
"I will create my own divine realm," she said calmly. "But I do not intend to do it in any ordinary way. I will give it my own unique twist."
Tsunade raised a brow.
"What kind of twist?"
Artoria's gaze grew distant, almost dreamy — and for that very reason, even more unsettling.
"I will create an army of Valkyries," she said. "And then we will travel the entire multiverse together."
For a moment, silence reigned.
Then Jiraiya blinked.
"And how exactly are you going to travel through the multiverse?"
Artoria took another sip of sake.
"I have a way."
A fine, almost mocking smile played on her lips.
"You will see. When the time comes, I will grant the Sage his final defeat."
Her voice remained calm.
"Until then, you may remain curious."
Tsunade tilted her head slightly.
"What exactly are Valkyries?"
Artoria turned her gaze toward her.
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then she studied Tsunade so calmly and directly that even Tsunade became strangely aware of how still the room had suddenly become.
"Tsunade," Artoria finally said, "would you like to become my first Valkyrie?"
Tsunade's eyes widened slightly.
Artoria's voice remained gentle.
"I would make you stronger through it."
Then she leaned back a little.
"You have until we leave this world to decide."
"What exactly would you do to me?" Tsunade asked calmly.
Artoria set down her sake cup.
"I would let a part of my divine essence flow into your body," she said without hesitation. "It would merge with your chakra. Your body would grow younger again, and the limits of your body would be lifted."
Her gaze remained composed.
"Exactly where your new limit would lie, I cannot tell you."
Jiraiya instinctively shifted a little farther away from the two women in his seat.
What?! She's going to get even stronger? Next time I'll really die…
Several empty sake bottles wobbled as he awkwardly tipped his chair — and the next moment nearly went crashing to the floor along with it.
Tsunade slowly swirled her glass in her hand.
"Hmm…"
Then she raised her eyes.
"And would it also be possible to give Shizune a part of your essence?"
Artoria studied her for a moment.
"You would not remain the last Valkyrie I create. I intend to build an entire army."
A faint smile slid across her lips.
"But every army also needs generals."
Her voice remained calm, but the words carried weight.
"And that is exactly the role in which I would like to see you."
For a brief moment, silence fell.
"This world will be a different one by the time we leave it."
Tsunade raised her glass and searched Artoria's face for the slightest trace of deception.
She found none.
No hesitation.
No game.
No lie.
Only quiet certainty.
Slowly, Tsunade raised her glass a little higher.
"Then," she said, "to a long partnership."