"Who are you..? What do you want from me?"
Sato smiled faintly, he didn't answer Tsunade right away.
He looked like he was in control of the situation, although he had no idea how to convince her.
This was why he wasn't saying anything, he didn't know what to say in the first place..
He had a basic plan, but that plan had a 60% probability of succeeding, he didn't like those odds.
'At least I got her to listen to me, that's half the work done right there.'
'Now I need to think of a good way to convince her, she is obviously not going to treat Itachi for free.'
Sato subconsciously tapped the table before him, Tsunade was not in her best condition mentally.
He wasn't sure what someone as mentally broken as her would want.
'Whatever, let me ask her directly.'
Sato's smile slowly changed into a serious look.
Tsunade also narrowed her eyes and waited for something bad to happen.
"I wonder if you can treat my friend here, this shouldn't be too hard for you I assume."
Sato tilted his head with a smile, Tsunade looked at the transformed Itachi and frowned.
'He is asking me for such a simple thing? That's impossible, he must have a deeper reason for approaching me.'
'Most importantly I won my gamble a while ago, bad things are definitely going to happen.'
'No way it's as simple as healing his friend!'
Tsunade clenched her fist, she peeked at Sato who seemed relaxed and fully in control, she became a bit flustered after seeing this.
Then out of nowhere, she suddenly thought of something.
'Oh I see, treating his friend is the warm up, he wants to check if my medical skills are as good as I claim them to be.'
'Healing his friend is the first test, the real deal comes after this, that's when the bad things will happen.'
Tsunade convinced herself of something which was completely wrong.
Her winning that gamble had put her on edge, so much so that she was actively looking for trouble everywhere, her trying to avoid trouble was having the exact opposite effect.
She was practically inviting trouble to her when none was supposed to come, ironically the prophecy itself was causing the prophecy to complete.
It was a self fulfilling prophecy, so to speak
"I understand everything, come here I'll check your health."
Tsunade called Itachi to her, she wanted to get this silly test over with so they can get to the real deal.
'She agreed..? This easily??'
Meanwhile Sato and Itachi were confused.
They had expected her to ask for some money in return, maybe question who they were, or reject helping entirely, but Tsunade didn't say anything.
She acted as if she was the one who wanted to treat Itachi hastily.
Neither Sato nor Itachi knew that Tsunade acted like this because she assumed this was a test of her medical skills.
She wanted to treat Itachi quickly to see what Sato actually needed from her.
Of course, Sato wanted absolutely nothing more from her, he just wanted her to heal Itachi and that's it.
"What are you waiting for, come here."
Tsunade once again called Itachi impatiently, who looked at Sato and cancelled his transformation.
*Poof*
Tsunade froze after seeing Itachi's true body.
"Is he your friend or your son..? Whatever, I don't care about your family problems."
Tsunade waved her hand and put her palms on Itachi's body.
Itachi didn't wear Uchiha's symbol so Tsunade didn't know she was treating an Uchiha.
But she was a medical Saint, she quickly found a problem with Itachi.
"Do you have a dojutsu? Looking at your strained eyes it seems that you do."
"You have a problem with your body, your yin chakra is much higher than your yang chakra, this is hurting your physique."
"In simple terms your body is incapable of supporting your dojutsu's strength."
"Your dojutsu must be pretty strong for something like this to happen."
Tsunade took her hands back and casually revealed Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan, in fact she herself didn't know what she checked was a Mangekyo Sharingan, but she knew it was incredibly strong.
Itachi blinked in shock, then looked at Sato with worship in his eyes.
"Your cat senses were right.. I didn't know I had a problem, I am sorry for doubting you."
Itachi bowed to Sato, who said cheerfully.
"Of course I was right, doctor Tsunade, I wonder if there is a way to help him."
Tsunade nodded, this was a part of the medical procedure.
"Stop using your dojutsu, give your body time to catch up with your eyes, let yin and yang balance each other as much as possible."
"I will say don't use your eyes for 5 to 6 years at least, by then you will grow up and have much stronger body to work with."
Patting Itachi on the head Tsunade told the boy.
"Let your father handle all the fighting, looking at his multicolored eyes, I assume that's your family dojutsu."
"Your father is strong, wait for a few years before fighting again, children your age should not go to the battlefield."
Tsunade was being soft to Itachi, she had just checked his body and he had mission related injures, she didn't like that.
It reminded her why her grandfather had built Konoha in the first place.
He wanted children to no longer fight, her second grandfather created the Chunin exams on top of that, to make doubly sure only ninja's who pass the Chunin exams would go to war.
But then the third Hokage came, spat on their efforts, desperately threw children in the battlefield and hid himself in the village.
"Don't train him this hard, he had some internal injuries, I healed them but I hope you don't push him too much."
Tsunade told Sato, who was sitting there speechless.
He had no idea why she simply assumed he must he Itachi's dad, and he wasn't even forcing Itachi to do missions, it was the third Hokage who was doing that!
"I will tell him to stop forcing himself too much."
Sato simply decided to nod and leave, he didn't bother explaining anything more, but just when he was about to leave Tsunade stopped him.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Tsunade quickly stopped Sato, she was waiting for the tragedy to strike but he was just leaving?
"...Uh? I was going to a hotel I guess, can't exactly spend all day in a bar."
Sato tilted his head, he didn't know why Tsunade cared.
"Ohh, hotel is a good idea it's better than a bar, me and Shizune are staying in one already, you come with me."
"Let the kid stay with Shizune, she'll take care of him."
Tsunade turned around and pulled Sato with her, she left Itachi and Shizune behind.
She assumed Sato must be looking for a more private place than the bar to offer her a shady deal.
She didn't want to involve Shizune and a kid like Itachi in this kinda stuff, so she left them behind.
Meanwhile Sato and Itachi looked at each other completely confused.
"Remind me why are we going to your place again?"
Sato stopped mid way and asked her weirdly.
She turned towards him and raised her eyebrows.
"Don't play dumb with me, I know someone as strong as you didn't come to me for something so simple."
"And you might not know, but I never win a gamble, yet when I do something bad always happens, this time it should be realated to you."
"You don't need to hide your purpose anymore, I passed your test didn't I, I healed your kid, now tell me what you really want from me."
Sato was silent, he realised why Tsunade was acting the way she was, she misunderstood everything.
But he didn't have anything he wanted from her after this, this was it, there was no hidden deal..
'Wait a minute, if there isn't a hidden deal I can make one, she could be a valuable asset.'
'I was going to turn the whole Konoha upside down wasn't I, with her support it should be easy to do so!'
Sato slowly smiled at Tsunade, his lips took on their patent wide smile.
Quite a few people had the misfortune of seeing this smile before, and Tsunade foolishly added herself to that list.
"You are very smart doctor Tsunade..!"
"You are absolutely right, I have a deal for you which you cannot refuse."
Advanced chapters ahead on patréon
www.patréon.com/ImagineMaker