Tsunade trembled where she stood, soaked in gore, her fists locked tight but her body frozen. The mercenary's shadow loomed over her, blade raised high, yet all she saw was not the casino nor the enemies before her. Her vision blurred, the red blood dripping down her arms transforming into a memory that refused to fade. She was kneeling in the mud years ago, her hands cradling Dan Katō as blood poured from his chest. His skin was pale, his breaths shallow, and his hand rose only to smear another streak of red across her cheek. His voice, trembling yet filled with love, whispered, "You need to move on, Tsunade… find happiness in someone else's arms…"
Her tears fell hot and unrelenting. "No, Dan… please… don't leave me…"
The vision shifted. Dan's fading form dissolved like mist in the rain. In his place stood Nawaki, her younger brother, smiling with that same reckless determination he always had. He was small, barely more than a boy, but his eyes were fierce. "Sister… you have to move on. Tsunade… you have to defend yourself. Don't freeze… not now." His face hardened as if he were staring down death itself. His cry ripped through her memories: "Tsunade!"
Her eyes snapped open. Gone was the tremor of fear. In its place, the fire of a warrior reignited. The mercenary's kunai slashed downward towards her throat, but her hand shot up like lightning. She caught the blade in her palm. Metal cracked and snapped beneath the crushing pressure of her strength, shards falling like glittering fragments of ice. Her other hand seized his arm, and her growl was low and vicious. "You dare raise a kunai against me?" With one savage yank, she tore the limb from its socket. Blood sprayed across her body in a hot, violent rush, coating her face and chest.
The mercenary screamed, stumbling back, clutching at the spurting stump. Tsunade stood taller, crimson dripping from her jaw, and shouted not at her enemies but at the ghosts who had haunted her for so long. "You're right, Dan. You're right, Nawaki. I will not live in the shadow of grief anymore. I will move forward!"
The maimed man, desperate, pulled an explosive tag from his pouch and tried to slap it across her chest. Tsunade wrenched his wrist backward, slamming the tag against his own face. She kicked him with earth-shattering force, hurling him across the casino. BOOM. The explosion painted the walls with blood and plaster, scattering gore into the smoke-filled air.
Her eyes burned with ferocity as she turned to the other mercenaries. "It's been a long time since I've tasted the blood of my enemies."
Raven's gaze sharpened, satisfaction glinting in her rinnegan. "You've got your killer instinct back, don't you Tsunade?"
Tsunade snarled, punching the air to clear the haze of smoke. "You had to drag it out of me with a direct assault didn't you Raven."
Raven's voice was calm, almost mocking. "Nothing works better than brute force."
"Whatever," Tsunade snapped, and then drove her fist into another mercenary's face. The man's skull detonated under the impact, bone and brain bursting outward as his body crumpled.
Not to be overshadowed, Raven wove through a swift sequence of hand seals. Her lungs expanded with chakra, and she released a roaring Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. A massive fireball erupted across the casino floor, engulfing two mercenaries in flames. Their shrieks echoed as they burned, collapsing into charred husks that collapsed onto smoldering tables. The heat rolled outward, igniting the curtains and spreading smoke across the hall.
Raven's voice was steady, cold. "Wiping out scum like this—it's worth the trouble."
In the midst of the carnage, Raven turned her head and barked, "Shizune! Go to the vault. Bring us all the Ryo."
Shizune froze, eyes darting between the flames and the mutilated bodies. "My lady… what do I do?"
Tsunade wiped a smear of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand. Her lips twisted into something halfway between fury and exhilaration. "You heard her. Rob the place."
Shizune exhaled sharply, grabbed a nearby tablecloth, and began shoving bills and coins into the makeshift sack. Her steps were hurried but efficient, the dutiful apprentice following orders despite the horror around her.
Another mercenary charged, shouting Gatō's name as if it would protect him. Tsunade caught him mid-sprint, lifted him by the throat, and hurled him into the ceiling. His body snapped on impact, raining down in broken pieces. She turned back to Raven, her teeth bared. "You realize Gatō won't let this go, right?"
Raven, framed by the flames of her own fireball, nodded with grim certainty. "Of course. What better way to lure him out than to burn his casino to the ground?"
Tsunade's chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, but her laugh was raw and booming. "I haven't had this much fun in ten years!" She slammed her heel into the floor, sending cracks spiderwebbing through the stone as another mercenary was swallowed in the collapse.
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