Eventually when she calmed herself down-
"Are you serious? Do you not see what happened to me? I'm arguably among one of the strongest shinobi in the world and I'm dying…so unexpectedly even after knowing how to heal myself within moments!"
Tachibana was quick to argue.
"That's only because you 'sacrificed' your life…if you weren't such a person wouldn't you have survived this attack!? You just threw away your life! It's almost like you wanted to die!"
Tsunade looked at Tachibana with a smile and then as if explaining to a child she spoke in a soothing tone.
"There are two ways to get stronger…you either take the help of everyone around you…or you step on their toes to get what you want. Either way you'll be making bonds with others that will drag you down eventually…bonds of either trust which will require you to sacrifice yourself…or bonds of hatred which will cause people to hunt you down."
Tachibana's lips curved into a frustrated frown.
"It won't matter if I'm just that much stronger than all of them though."
"But haven't you already seen your end? That there's someone stronger than you? Someone who can kill you irrespective of your methods? And doesn't the argument make sense the other way too? Why do you need to worry about your bonds dragging you down if you're strong enough to carry them all?"
Tachibana was silenced.
With a smile, Tsunade spoke calmly-
"Well I don't need to give you such lengthy lectures…I'm sure you'll experience at least a single war in your entire lifetime…you'll see then…that it takes more than just a few bonds to survive a war. Without people just as crazy as you, you'll find yourself succumbing to the madness of it all sooner rather than later."
Tachibana remained silent as he contemplated on Tsunade's words.
It wasn't a mistake to say that Beyonders needed genuine bonds with the people around them to maintain their humanity as they went higher in sequence.
Bonds with people would become anchors for their sanity.
But at the same time trusting someone else in this world with his secrets of being a Beyonder? Tachibana found that tantamount to suicide.
Especially when Tachibana didn't have to deal with losing his humanity to madness in the first place since he wasn't in the world of Lord of the Mysteries and there was no remnant will in his potions to drive him insane.
But that was when another thought struck him because of Tsunade's words-
'Am I still becoming more inhumane?'
It wasn't a philosophical question.
Tachibana was wondering if he was becoming someone who would happily discard everything he currently had in hopes of some elusive title like becoming the strongest in the world or something.
Since the end of such a path was clear to him even without much mental stimulation.
It was one where he would be absolutely alone at the peak with no one to share his 'strength' with.
Although he didn't have first-hand experience of what it was like in such a position, Tachibana knew well that he wouldn't be able to handle such loneliness.
'Don't I already have Grandma Mito?'
'She knows pretty much everything there is to know about me beyond me being a Beyonder. I'm sure she has her guesses regarding that too…'
But Tachibana knew well that it would be hard to call someone like Mito his 'friend'.
Tachibana clenched and unclenched his hands several times in frustration.
'Why did I even come into this world!?'
'Couldn't I have enjoyed my absolutely normal life with my actual friends!? We could've played every stupid game released! Seeing each other rage like idiots because of some silly game where you climbed mountains of trash with a hammer while inside a pot?'
But as if knowing what Tachibana was thinking about Tsunade simply grabbed his fingers and gently stroked the back of his hand with her thumb as if she were soothing his frustrations.
"Everyone has secrets…like I've never told anyone that I developed a fondness for Jiraya at some point in the last decade…"
Tachibana's eyes widened but Tsunade simply continued.
"....secrets aren't something that decide how close you are to someone else…what does is how willing the two of you are to turn foolish for each other…"
There was a silent pause before Tsunade spoke again.
"I gave everyone else something to help strengthen them…why don't I do the same for you?"
Tachibana's frown deepened, all of a sudden he felt an inkling of danger.
"I have a simple way for you to become stronger. I want you to confess to every girl you meet from now on." Tsunade said with a funny smile which caused veins on Tachibana's head to throb.
But before he could retort, she continued speaking.
"I don't care if you do it thinking that you have some grand plan which you are enacting on to manipulate your 'girlfriends' so that you can sacrifice them at the right time to save yourself!"
Tsunade's crude 'plan' left Tachibana feeling weirded out.
Although he was someone who would always think of how his actions would benefit him, not even he was cruel enough to forge 'fake' relationships with people just to manipulate them in the end.
He didn't even know if he could do such a thing without feeling absolutely terrible about it afterwards.
"Why?" Tachibana asked with a confused expression since he couldn't see how that would make him 'stronger'.
Tsunade looked at Tachibana with a silly smile, with blood trailing from the edge of her lips she looked like a vampire but Tachibana said nothing, not like he could've even said that without explaining to Tsunade what a vampire actually was.
Finally, Tsunade spoke again after battling through immense pain and her flickering consciousness.
"It's because you're too stuck up in your thoughts…you feel as if the world around you is not the one you belong to. You have this boxy aura around yourself that keeps people from truly learning about you. Almost as if you're afraid of being hurt again."
Tachibana's eyes trembled.
It was an accurate assessment of his situation.
But Tsunade's eyes were already looking somewhere beyond him.
Tsunade gripped his hand tighter as she continued to speak.
"As long as you embarrass yourself in front of other people you'll learn that the world isn't so harsh after all…you just need to give it the time to show its true face to you."
Tachibana couldn't understand how Tsunade knew him so well, but his grip on her hands tightened in return as if he were trying to gain strength from the dying woman in front of him to support himself.
It felt silly, but Tsunade's words touched something much deeper within him.
He couldn't understand what they changed but he quickly tried putting some distance between them, he felt threatened simply by being beside her.
Except Tsunade didn't let him go.
Instead, she spoke softly.
"My time's here.", Tsunade spoke in barely a whisper.
She looked at Tachibana one last time and smiled happily.
"Tell Jiraya that I really loved him. His books were terrible. I tried reading them and felt the strong urge to skewer whoever wrote them. But in the end, I felt happy that even in a world as dreary as this one, there was something other shinobi could look forward to. And if you ever meet Orochimaru, tell him…that…I…forgive…him…"
Finally, Tsunade looked at Tachibana with a hollow gaze that made him wonder if she could even see anymore as she spoke to him.
"I…hope…to…see…you…in…pure…land…someday."
Tachibana's grip on Tsunade's hand tightened as he felt it becoming heavier with each passing word.
And eventually, he was the only one holding hands anymore.
*sigh*