Tsunade was forcing herself to keep her eyes open. Even the sight of blood was making her body freeze. She looked around and the only thing she saw was blood and massacre.
"I-I think we should stop this Itachi. I can't do things anymore." Tsunade said as she searched around for Itachi. She was losing her mind with every passing second and now she wanted this to stop. Itachi who was watching all this didn't stop the genjutsu. He knew that they had already come halfway and Tsunade only needed one final push to get rid of her phobia. It was a now-or-never situation and for the sake of the village, Itachi couldn't stop. This woman was going to become the next Hokage. Every weakness of hers can be exploited by her enemies and many lives hang in the balance.
"I can't do that." A voice sounded from behind Tsunade. She knew that the one saying this was Itachi but the voice didn't match. Surprisingly the voice was familiar to Tsunade so she turned back and saw a light brown-haired and brown-eyed 12-year-old kid.
Tears welled up in Tsunade's eyes as she looked at the kid. "N-Nawaki...I-Is that you?" she asked in a shaky voice. This 12-year-old was none other than her little brother Nawaki Senju. Tsunade's legs which had frozen due to fear at this point moved and she stood up. They were quivering but she still managed to stand up. As she came close to the kid she went down on her knees. She was about to pull the kid close to her but then she saw blood trickling down the kid's head and nose. In a matter of seconds, even the chest area of the kid had blood on it.
On one hand, Tsunade wanted to go as far away from the blood in front of her but she also wanted to hug her brother. She knew that this was a genjutsu but due to it being of someone who was her ally she had let her guard down. She knew that the one in front of her is just an illusion but she still wanted to hug her smiling brother.
The boy stood in front of her as she was thinking about whether to hug her bloodied brother or not. In the end, she hugged him tightly. As if she didn't want to let him go. She didn't care that the blood had gotten on her. Itachi appeared quietly some distance from her.
He understood that she had gotten rid of the phobia and now there was no need to keep the illusion up and with a wave of his hand, all the blood and the shinobis except Nawaki disappeared. Tsunade was still hugging Nawaki and sobbing. Itachi knew very well how deep sibling love is and even his own heart was screaming to abandon everything and hug his little brothers but his mind was thinking rationally...his mind was thinking about the village and lives that would be lost if his cover is blown.
After nearly a minute the sobs of Tsunade died down. As she stood up and looked at her brother. She then ruffled his hair like she used to but the Nawaki in front of her didn't slap away her hand as he used to.
"In the end you are just an illusion. But you have helped me get closure." Tsunade said and turned toward Itachi and nodded. Itachi waved his hand and the Nawaki also disappeared.
"I still can't believe that such a skill exists. How much time has passed?" Tsunade asked.
"2 hours. We still have a lot of time left to discuss our next move." Itachi said. All these years, Itachi had understood that doing things alone was not the most effective way and now opponents far stronger than him have appeared. He can't handle things alone now and he needs someone inside the village who he can warn.
Tsunade wiped her tears and said "How much do you know about the after-match of Orochimaru's Invasion?"
Itachi shook his head and said "Nothing much actually except that Lord third is injured. Even you and Toad Sage Jiraya came as a surprise to me. All the other villages are trying to find out how weakened is the hidden leaf right now. Due to the animal attack that happened at the border of the land of fire, the cloud shinobis haven't made a move yet or else they might have sent some people to gauge the condition of our village."
Tsunade sighed in relief as she said "Although sensei is seriously injured the village hasn't weakened much. The loss of life and property was very low compared to what an invasion of that kind does. The only person you need to worry about in the village is Danzo."
Itachi frowned a little and asked "What about elder Koharu and Homura? They are also party to him and are tightly protected by Danzo's men."
Tsunade made an O shape with her mouth and massaged her chin with her hand and said "Now I understand."
"Huh...Understand what?" Itachi asked.
"The thing is the place where Elder Koharu and Homura were staying was attacked. The entire place was covered in blood and there were many indications of fighting but there was nobody except for one elder's arm. Those two elders seemed to be tortured and investigated at their own house and the blood all over the hall belonged to more than 15 people. But we didn't have any such deaths among the Shinobis or Anbu ranks and we are sure that 15 invaders didn't attack the house. I think those 15 blood samples belong to Danzo's people." Tsunade explained. At first, she didn't know whose blood that was but now she was sure. The missing people were root Shinobis
"Losing the 2 higher-ups that support him along with 15 of his own men and then losing the seat of Hokage." Itachi said and Tsunade completed his sentence as she smirked and said "Yes Danzo must be royally pissed."
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