"Minato? Now this is rare. You actually have moments where you look like this…"
When Tsunade saw Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake walking into the room Shizune had booked in advance as cautiously as thieves, she had already returned to her most familiar appearance. She could not help raising an eyebrow and looking at Minato Namikaze in surprise.
"I remember that ever since your academy days, you were always the perfect and dashing shinobi type, right? It's just coming to see me. Why do you look so careful and timid? If I haven't drunk myself stupid, this should still be within the Land of Fire, right?"
"The situation forced me to be more cautious."
Minato Namikaze slowly straightened his back and spoke to Tsunade, whose appearance had almost not changed at all from the past.
"It has been a long time, Lady Tsunade…"
"I've heard your legends all this time, Minato. From defeating Kumogakure's A-B Combo, to making Iwagakure shinobi allowed to abandon missions without punishment the moment they see you…"
Tsunade picked up the wine cup beside her and took a small sip. Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at Minato Namikaze's side waist.
"But for even you, who inherited the Flying Thunder God Technique, to suffer such a serious injury… Could it be that Kirigakure, which did not participate in the last Shinobi World War, has quietly become stronger than Kumogakure and Iwagakure?"
"Overall, probably not."
Minato Namikaze shook his head, then sighed helplessly.
"But this time, Kirigakure produced a truly unbelievable monster. To be honest with you, this is already the second time I have been injured and defeated by him."
"What!? How… how is that possible…"
Hearing this news, Shizune covered her mouth in shock and disbelief.
"There is actually someone who can defeat you, Lord Minato?"
"Embarrassing as it is, the ones defeated were not only me. Kushina, who went to the front line with me to participate in the battle, was defeated as well…"
When he spoke of this news, which could make the pupils of anyone who knew the inside story quake, Minato Namikaze's expression could not help becoming downcast.
Tsunade looked at his expression, then at Kakashi Hatake, who was clenching his fists to the side. She let out a long sigh, raised her hand, poked the frozen Shizune, and instructed her.
"Shizune, treat Minato first… If the Third allowed you to drag an unhealed wound around to search for me, then it looks like the situation the village is facing this time is far from ordinary."
"Y-yes! Lady Tsunade."
Shizune jumped when she was poked, then hurriedly ran to Minato Namikaze's side and sat down. She began using the Mystical Palm Technique to treat the wound on his waist.
Seeing this scene, Minato Namikaze's heart tightened. He opened his mouth and asked, "Lady Tsunade… your hemophobia still hasn't improved?"
"Yes. It is exactly as you see, Minato."
A mix of helplessness, sighing, and despair appeared on Tsunade's face. She turned her face away, her fingers trembling slightly as she played with her hair.
"I know why you came, Minato. You must want me to go back and treat Kushina or someone else. That is why you came looking for me, someone who left Konoha long ago, even while dragging around a sick body like this…"
"But unfortunately, I can no longer be a medical-nin who sees blood every day. Even healing you like this through your clothes makes me afraid enough that my whole body trembles. I can't even circulate chakra properly…"
Looking at Tsunade, who was no longer even willing to face him properly after discovering the wound on his waist, Minato Namikaze opened his mouth, but did not know what he should say.
That was true.
If Lady Tsunade's knot in her heart were that easy to untie, then Jiraiya-sensei would definitely have persuaded her to return to Konoha long ago…
But without Lady Tsunade's support, just how much longer would Kushina have to fight that strange chakra on her sickbed before she recovered?
"If the situation is truly that urgent, then let Shizune follow you back for a while."
Seeing Minato Namikaze fall silent, Tsunade also did not want this junior whom she had watched grow up to be too disappointed. She named Shizune and lowered her head.
"Although she is still young, Shizune has studied medical ninjutsu with me for a long time. If she follows you back, she should be able to ease Konoha's medical pressure a little."
"But Lady Tsunade, if I follow Lord Minato back, won't there be no one by your side to look after you?"
When Shizune heard Tsunade suggest throwing her back to Konoha, a trace of panic appeared on her childish, doll-like face.
Seeing that, Tsunade shook her head in amusement. Half mocking herself and half reassuring Shizune, she said, "That's enough, Shizune… At the very least, I was once a shinobi known as one of the Sannin alongside Jiraiya and the others. No matter how lost and broken I am, I have not fallen so far that I can't even look after my own daily life."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
Shizune bit her lip and spoke carefully.
"What I'm worried about is that if I'm not by your side, your habit of borrowing money everywhere and gambling all over the place will become more and more frequent… That really isn't good."
"What does it matter? Anyway, I'm just losing a bunch of scumbags' money to another bunch of scumbags."
Tsunade waved her hand, pointed at the Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead, and said to Shizune, "Or are you worried I'll get caught by them? How could that happen? As long as I slightly adjust my apparent age, then change my clothes a little, even if those casino guys walk right in front of me, they won't be able to connect me to the fat sheep who gambled at their place… Ah."
As if she had suddenly remembered something, Tsunade turned and asked Minato Namikaze, whose expression had relaxed considerably after his wound healed.
"Right, Minato… You just said Kirigakure produced an incredible monster, correct? Can you tell me his intelligence?"
"Of course, Lady Tsunade."
Minato Namikaze nodded and began listing the intelligence he had on Rei Kaguya in concise language.
"That person's name is Rei Kaguya. He is a descendant of the Kaguya clan. His age is roughly around fifteen. His mastery of the Dead Bone Pulse is very high. He specializes in taijutsu and Water Release. His chakra volume is extremely enormous, and his vitality is also terrifyingly strong. His defense is extremely high, and his recovery ability is also frightening. He is almost like a humanoid Tailed Beast…
"Not only that, he has also mastered Sage Mode, as well as a very dangerous kind of gray bone whose destructive power far exceeds ordinary Dead Bone Pulse. Kushina was severely injured by that gray bone. She still has not woken up even now."
"Do you know what this intelligence reminds me of, Minato?"
Listening to Minato Namikaze's explanation, Tsunade closed her eyes and asked calmly.
"What?"
"My grandfather, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake's expressions froze at the same time.
"Are you serious about that judgment, Lady Tsunade!?"
After a moment of silence, Minato Namikaze asked in a grave tone.
"Who knows?"
Tsunade turned her head and looked at the sky outside the window. Her voice was dreamlike.
"What the real Rei Kaguya is like can only be known after meeting him and fighting him. But having chakra and vitality comparable to a Tailed Beast, mastering Sage Mode on his own, and possessing a Bloodline Limit one level higher than his clan… These traits are indeed very similar to Grandpa Hashirama."
"Speaking of which, Minato, you were so cautious when you came to find me. Could it be because… that Rei Kaguya is in this town?"
"As expected, nothing escapes you, Lady Tsunade."
Minato Namikaze sighed, then seemed somewhat relieved as he said, "During my previous battle against him, I left an unremovable Flying Thunder God formula on his body and can sense his location. Then, before I came to find you, I discovered that the formula was inside this town…
"To be honest, at the time, I really thought that he had come to find you based on intelligence, just like me, Lady Tsunade…"
"What use would there be in finding me? I'm just a fat sheep who uses gambling and debt-dodging to escape from life…"
Tsunade stood up, pushed open the bedroom door, and walked inside.
Then, before closing the door, she turned back and looked at Shizune.
"You should rest for a while, Minato. Give Shizune some time to pack. Once she finishes, take her back to Konoha with you… I'm a little tired, so I'll rest first."
She closed the door, blocking Minato Namikaze's unspoken words behind her.
Tsunade stood alone inside the room and took a deep breath. At the same time, an image naturally surfaced in her mind.
It was the scene of her and Shizune sitting in that small roadside shop, eating while laughing at the casino thugs passing outside, when the boy at the neighboring table had suddenly turned his head and cast a thoughtful gaze at her.
At the time, she had not paid too much attention to it.
But thinking back now, that boy whose aura was as steady as a mountain might have been the extremely dangerous Rei Kaguya Minato had spoken of. If he truly was as strong as Minato described, then perhaps he had already discovered her true identity from Shizune's soft complaints at the time…
Minato was injured.
Kakashi was too young.
Shizune was not a combat-type shinobi.
If that Rei Kaguya suddenly attacked, she would not be able to protect them.
"Hurry up and take Shizune back, Minato…"
Tsunade clenched her fists and murmured in a voice only she could hear.
"I don't want to see young people like you die in front of me again…"
…
Elsewhere.
Rei Kaguya, who was being deeply remembered by Tsunade, was sitting on a smoothly moving carriage, silently using the curse mark to sense the changes in natural energy in the air.
"Compared to before, the curse mark's activation speed seems to have become a little faster… Looks like Ryuchi Cave's general location is indeed north of the Land of Fire."
"But if I follow this road north, the closest point to Konoha will only be a little over a hundred kilometers…"
"I wonder if you can sense me stimulating the curse mark from this distance, Orochimaru~"