A few days later, the weather was clear.
At the gates of Konoha, Jiraiya, the Hokage, personally came to see off Tsunade and her group.
"Are you leaving now?"
"Yes."
Tsunade thought to herself: today's farewell might be the last time they see each other. If her past self successfully returns to the past, the memories of the future may inevitably be affected.
Elsewhere, Tōshirō was bidding his final farewell to Naruto. Once they parted, the two would never meet again.
Naruto waved at Tōshirō with a bright and sunny smile. "Come visit whenever you get the chance!"
Seeing Naruto's one-sided affection for Sakura, Tōshirō felt a bit sorry for him. He leaned over and whispered a few words in Naruto's ear.
Naruto froze in place after hearing him.
"Goodbye!"
After the farewell, Tōshirō caught up with Tsunade and the others.
Considering the hardships Naruto endured as a jinchūriki, Tōshirō thought it would be good to lessen his burdens wherever possible.
"If it were me as a jinchūriki, I wouldn't have been able to stay as cheerful as Naruto. I'd probably just think about how to take revenge."
Young Tsunade casually asked, "What were you whispering to Naruto about just now?"
"That kid's been stuck in unrequited love. I just gave him some advice to face reality sooner rather than later."
"Oh, that's probably for the best..."
Tōshirō had often spoken to Tsunade about Naruto's situation, so she understood just how tough Naruto's life had been.
As they walked, Tōshirō casually brought up a topic. "So, when you get back, how will you face Jiraiya?"
Young Tsunade dismissed it lightly. "I'll just carry on as usual."
Tōshirō chuckled. "You really don't leave him with any chances, do you?"
"What? Are you planning to push me away?"
"Just kidding. I'm no Li Xunhuan."
"Who's
"Uh, never mind. What I meant was, maybe you could find a suitable girl for Jiraiya. That way, he won't end up like his future student—always chasing after something he can't have. It'd be better for both of you."
Young Tsunade thought about it and found the idea reasonable.
The older Tsunade, walking ahead, laughed. "That's a good idea. If I'd thought of that earlier, it might've saved me a lot of trouble later on."
Tōshirō glanced at her, curious about her current feelings for Jiraiya, but he decided it wasn't worth poking around.
A week later, the group reached the desert of the Land of Wind. After crossing the vast sands for some time, they approached Roran.
Aside from sand, there was nothing but more sand. Bored, Tōshirō started talking about how the First Hokage handled distributing tailed beasts: "Look at this country—just sand everywhere. Your grandfather should've chosen to help them with afforestation instead of handing out tailed beasts. Maybe then they would've agreed to his terms..."
Tsunade paused in surprise. "You seem to know a lot. How do you even know about that?"
Tōshirō realized he'd said too much and quickly covered it up. "Oh, someone in my clan mentioned it to me once."
Tsunade didn't think much of it. Looking at the endless desert, she smiled. "You might be right. If my grandfather were alive, he'd probably find your suggestion interesting and might even try it out."
"See? I'm making sense!"
Tōshirō grinned cheekily.
He recalled the manga where Yamato once used his Wood Release to create something like a furnished apartment, complete with painted walls. If the First Hokage had that ability, making money would've been a breeze.
While they were chatting, Shizune suddenly pointed ahead. "Hey, we're almost there."
The conversation ceased as Tōshirō squinted to see what lay ahead. A ruined city came into view, and he was visibly shocked. "This is Roran? Why does it look so run-down? Wasn't it supposed to be grand and majestic?"
"You probably don't know, but Roran has been in decline for over a decade due to certain unknown events," explained Tsunade.
This version of Tsunade wasn't yet the Hokage and didn't know about the events three years into the future.
Tōshirō nodded, realizing this must've been around the time Naruto traveled back in the "Lost Tower" incident.
Young Tsunade asked, "Tōshirō, now that it's in this state, how do we return to the past?"
Shaking his head, Tōshirō replied, "I'm not entirely sure. Let's head to the Dragon Vein's sealed location first. Considering there's another person who traveled with us and is obsessed with the Dragon Vein's power, she's likely to show up there."
With no other choice, young Tsunade decided to follow Tōshirō's lead.
Though she aimed to return to the past, she had no concrete plans and could only take things step by step.
After confirming their plan, the group set off. Before long, they arrived at a building with a massive hole in it—the site of the Dragon Vein seal.
Finding the seal was relatively easy since it was so obvious. The surrounding area was marked with black patterns, and a raised circular stone in the middle had a specially designed kunai embedded in it, practically screaming, "This is the seal!"
Tōshirō found it baffling. Such an important seal was left completely unguarded—weren't they worried someone might break it and exploit the Dragon Vein chakra?
"What's this?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she recognized the kunai. "This is..."
Tōshirō asked deliberately, "Do you know what this is?"
"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, this is the Flying Thunder God kunai, unique to the Fourth Hokage," Tsunade confirmed. "But why is it here?"
Tōshirō theorized, "Could it be that during a mission here, the Fourth Hokage left this seal behind for some unknown reason? That mission might've inadvertently led to Roran's downfall. Given the timeline, it's not entirely impossible."
Tsunade nodded, finding the explanation plausible. She ruffled Tōshirō's hair and praised him. "You're pretty clever for figuring that out so quickly."
Well, duh—because I know the story…
"So, what's your plan now? Are you going to break the seal?" Tsunade asked.
"Let's not mess with it," Tōshirō replied cautiously. "The Dragon Vein's power is sealed here. If we tamper with it, who knows what could happen."
He added, "Everything started because of that person. The best solution is to find her and eliminate her to trigger the anchor point."
Tsunade agreed but asked, "That makes sense, but where do we even start looking for her?"
"I don't know either." Tōshirō shook his head, genuinely clueless about the matter.
What he feared most was the possibility that the person had traveled to the same dimension as him, but on a different timeline.
The "Centipede" boss he was familiar with had crossed over on a completely different timeline than the protagonist. Centipede arrived years earlier than the protagonist, and by the time Naruto met him, Centipede had already gained the queen's trust for who knows how long.
Seeing that the seal remained intact, Tōshirō estimated that the woman who crossed over likely did so much later than he and Tsunade. Otherwise, after all the time they had spent in this dimension, there should have been some change to the seal by now, yet it remained untouched.
Tōshirō shared his assumptions with Tsunade and the others.
"What should we do?"
Young Tsunade was left at a loss, uncertain how to proceed. If their return depended on the woman, they had no idea when they'd be able to leave.
"Let's wait and see…"
Tōshirō, who had some food supplies with him, prepared to camp in the area for a while.
If things became desperate, they could hunt creatures in the desert and roast them with Fire Release techniques. With Tsunade's expertise in medicine, food poisoning wasn't a concern. As for water, they could create it using ninjutsu.
So, they waited and waited. Just when they were about to give up, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
A woman intruded into their camp.
Since Tōshirō and his group had been lying in wait, they immediately spotted her as soon as she appeared.
"You… you're still alive."
The Scorpion recognized both young Tsunade and Tōshirō, momentarily stunned.
She had recently crossed over and, upon realizing she was in the future, quickly headed to Roran in an attempt to harness the power of the Dragon Vein beneath it. This led to the current encounter.
Seeing their enemy, they were furious. Even more so, this woman was the key to their return.
Without hesitation, Tōshirō charged forward. His three companions were a step behind but quickly followed.
A puppeteer without their puppets was significantly weakened, and Scorpion was no exception. What's more, she faced four formidable opponents—a Kage-level shinobi accompanied by three Jonin, one of whom, Tōshirō, had activated his Sharingan and was on the verge of Elite Jonin level.
Scorpion didn't even have time to figure out how Tōshirō had suddenly awakened the Sharingan before she was subdued without much resistance.
It wasn't that she was weak; it was that her opponents were overwhelmingly strong.
Looking at the immobilized Scorpion lying on the ground, Tōshirō exhaled deeply. "It's over."
After killing Scorpion, the anchor point was triggered. Both Tōshirō and young Tsunade began to emit a white glow, signaling their return.
Young Tsunade raised her hand, confused. "What's happening to us?"
Tōshirō, staying calm, reassured her, "Don't worry, we're likely going back."
It was truly the moment of farewell. Even though they had prepared themselves mentally, parting was still difficult. It felt as though there were many things left unsaid.
Shizune wiped away her tears.
Older Tsunade approached Tōshirō and kissed his forehead. "Take good care of my younger self for me."
"I will," he replied.
"Goodbye, then."
After their final farewells, a bright white light flashed in front of them. The intense radiance made Tsunade squint and instinctively shield her eyes. When she came to, both Tōshirō and young Tsunade were gone.
Tsunade stood frozen, staring blankly ahead.
"Tsunade-sama, it seems they've returned…" Shizune gently reminded her.
Tsunade sighed. "Yes."
She turned to Shizune and asked, "Do you feel anything strange?"
Shizune shook her head, indicating no abnormalities.
A puzzled expression appeared on Tsunade's face. If the two had returned safely, there should have been noticeable changes.
For a moment, Tsunade was lost in thought.
Shizune suggested, "Tsunade-sama, how about we return to Konoha and check?"
Tsunade agreed with the suggestion, deciding to head back. Speculation was pointless; it was better to confirm things with her own eyes.
Unbeknownst to them, shortly after they left, changes began occurring in Roran. The chakra beneath the Dragon Vein rapidly depleted, and the tall structures above began to collapse.
On their journey back to Konoha, Tsunade and Shizune stopped at an inn in the Land of Wind for the night, as the distance was still considerable.
The next morning, as the sun climbed high in the sky, Tsunade groggily woke up, scratching her exposed, soft belly with one hand while rubbing her eyes with the other. "Strange… why didn't Shizune wake me up today?"
Ever since adopting a leisurely lifestyle, Shizune had taken care of all of Tsunade's daily needs, even trivial things like waking her up—a perfect "tool person."
Without her "tool person's" wake-up call, Tsunade had overslept.
"Where's Shizune?"
The two of them were staying in the same room, but Tsunade quickly noticed she was alone.
"Did she go out to buy breakfast?"
Clueless, Tsunade decided to freshen up first. She stretched her long legs and walked to the mirror. After splashing water on her face to clear her mind, she froze in shock.
The mirror reflected a stunning figure with golden hair as radiant as silk, sharp, elongated ears reminiscent of leaves, and a blue diamond-shaped gem embedded in the center of her forehead. Her flawless beauty radiated an aura of sacredness.
"Who is this person in the mirror?!"
(End of Chapter)
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