Tsunade rushed through the hospital, heedless of the shrieking doctors or nurses, her mind focused only on her destination.

The place where her brother was. She burst through the door and stopped in her tracks, her wide eyes wavering. Tears started pouring down as her wobbly steps finally reached the charred remains of her… brother. ​​

She looked at the still body. And the completely intact Necklace of her Grandfather. She could only stare in shock at it, her mind blank.

Orochimaru looked at his completely distraught teammate and couldn’t help but to feel bad. It should have been a simple mission. He shouldn’t have even been the leader! He was only a casual observer! But… they just had to be ambushed! The stupid Senju boy just had to get out of sight when he was admiring the other boy, ahem, the skill of the other boy in the team, and walk onto an exploding tag!

As he watched what remained of the Senju clan, Orochimaru yet again couldn’t help but ponder about his mortality. He knew the kid shouted about his dreams everywhere he went. But… he ended up as a corpse.

Will I have the same fate?

Somehow, that thought frightened him out of his wits.

“Tsunade, I am sorry. It was a trap…”

He stopped himself as he saw Tsunade completely non-responding with a horror-filled expression. She needed time. Orochimaru sadly nodded and left. His disgust for Konoha’s higher-ups increased. It was they who sent them there for a ‘common reconnaissance’. Even going as far as saying it was a completely safe thing. That they already checked with ANBU and are sending three genins, one Senju, one Uchiha, and one Kurama, and him right under the ambush of five jonin! This could have severely hurt his chances of becoming the Hokage! He sensed something smelly and it was not Jiraiya for once!

…

The funeral was a quick affair.

Tsunade was used to those. She attended a few every year. Her clan was now… only her. A shudder ran through her body. Only her. Only a woman who is utterly unable to recreate it. Only… god. The Senju clan is dead!

A traitorous thought started to fill her mind. She mostly wondered why was Nawaki personally requested for that mission right after she talked with her Sensei about her inability to have children. Why wasn’t the last fertile Senju kept inside the village? Why…

But she waved them away. Her sensei would never… Stupid girl, she admonished herself. These days, she completely disregarded the hospital. All she had to do was sign off the dead at the end of the day. The dead that could survive if she could bring herself to look them over. But… she didn’t care. She spent her days sitting in front of Nawaki’s grave. Pondering… what to do. In the end, it was all meaningless. Her life was meaningless.

Then her eyes brightened as she remembered the energy spike. She promised to Nawaki. She promised him she will look forward and fulfill her own dreams.

With a broken smile and hitched sobs, Tsunade decided. She will find out what caused the spike and she will find out why she was so drawn to it. Nawaki would want her to. To live. To fulfill her dreams. The sadness in her mind cleared and she started to look forward. A new determination filling her.

Tsunade suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and barely restrained herself from killing whoever dared to touch her.

“Are you fine?”

Tsunade jerked her head toward the voice and found a light-blue haired man.

“Dan…” She murmured, making the man astonished that she remembered him.

What the heck is this annoyance doing here? He is stalking me again? Geez… Trying to approach me when I am at my lowest?

Tsunade frowned. Canon Tsunade would be moved that someone cared. But then again, canon Tsunade was emotionally so down she literally wouldn’t mind dying. This Tsunade, however, had a goal. Determination to live.

The man was trying to get closer to her for two years straight! She would understand if he had a crush but… He didn’t! As a medic she could see his body reactions! Tsunade really didn’t know what the man wanted from her.

“I am fine.” She politely smiled, albeit a tad bit too forcedly for her taste.

“Ah… okay.” Dan didn’t think he would find her like this. Hokage told him to approach Tsunade and make sure she is feeling fine. He fancied himself a somewhat smart man and knew the underlying meaning of these words. If he got closer to her and got the support of the head of the Senju clan, meaning Tsunade, becoming a Hokage would be easier than ever. Hiruzen really wanted to desperately give someone the hat. Dan resisted the urge to chuckle in order to appear compassionate.

“What about…” He tried to start a conversation.

Tsunade stood up, ignoring him, and brushed past him before he could even finish the sentence.

Dan could only look at her leaving back with his cold gaze as a loud colorful curse left his mouth, making the nearby grandmas look at him threateningly while raising their garden hoes.

“Did I approach too abruptly?” He asked himself quietly. “Fuck. The bitch! Two years and she still doesn’t give me even a second of her time…” The flowers in his hand were violently thrown onto the ground as he ruffled his hair in annoyance. “If I ever get her I am going to fuck her silly until she won’t be able to think about anything else than me!”

Dan calmed down as he stomped onto the flowers for a few times from the sheer frustration he felt.

“The worst part is that I really do start to like her.” He sighed with a bitter grimace as he calmed down. “I would probably desperately fall in love with her with enough time… Hiruzen, you sly fox.” Dan muttered and shook his head as he decided to pay his respect to the deceased since he is already at the cemetery.

Tsunade marched on into the Senju Compound and entered the library. Her library. It all now solely belonged to her. She had money. She had knowledge. She had privileges. She lacked only family. They were all dead. Sigh.

Now, if only the war ended and she could leave this hellhole of sad memories and self-imposed bastards who would never give money to save lives.

Oh, she understood that Hiruzen-sensei was not to blame. Even though it was him who always rejected her medic per team proposal. It was the elders who always whispered into his ear. The trusted elders that were Hiruzen-sensei’s teammates. The same greedy bastards that would rather people die than their pocket change to suffer. The same people he trusted more than his own pupils!

Tsunade was fed-up. Fed-up with politics. Fed-up with funerals. Fed-up with Konoha. She wanted to leave and she WILL leave. She will find what caused the spike that is filling her mind and she will die happy, taking the Senju clan with her to an early grave. That was the plan.

Nodding to herself, she approached the shelves.

“Now… let me see. Nature energy, nature energy…”

She browsed through the books, looking for anything even remotely helpful for her future endeavors.

“Sigh. If only I didn’t take Shizune Kato as my apprentice.” She mumbled, not even realizing that Dan was also called Kato.

“Ah, screw it. That girl can form medical chakra as six years old! I can take her with me when I leave and then deposit her back in Konoha after her training is finished.” Tsunade ruffled her hair and with ‘Un.’ her decision was made.