Chapter 82   - Ch82. Meeting 1

Tsunade was walking on the streets of Kirigakure in her disguise as an old lady. As she promised to the Mizukage, she often worked at the hospital and helped with the healing. Despite that, she never really went out of her way to show her expertise. Till now, she was still regarded only as someone who can deal with bruises and cuts at best. Thanks to that, nobody really expected her to come and help. She was more of a volunteer who helped only when she had free time. Because of her 'inexperience', she was mostly assigned civilians or academy students as her patients and due to that, she was well regarded among the non-shinobi population of Kirigakure and people usually greeted her quite a lot. She had her reputation, after all.

Lately, however, she didn't really have time to just go and turn off while healing people. She was too engrossed in practicing with her new bone-manipulation and with the war coming... Tsunade knew she would most likely be recalled to Konoha in due time so she was currently devising a plan on how to 'avoid' that fate.

Her new bone-manipulation... Now that was a coincidence of her lifetime. She found out, Kaguya clansmen had a special body but it was too special even by the Bloodline standards and when she first started to study it more deeply, she even marveled at it, thinking if they could still be called humans. They didn't only have the ability to manipulate their bones but also could make slight changes in their bodies like creating openings for their bones to stick out and then reseal those. Contrary to the popular belief, it wasn't a fast regenerative factor but actual body manipulation. Thanks to this, Tsunade became even more durable and since her bones were now extremely strong, she could load more chakra into her strength technique without fear of breaking her arm.

The thing was, the specialty of Kaguya somehow, and she had no idea how, complemented the special body of Senju! When she found out, she spent days on end looking for why. Unfortunately, she never once thought about asking Rei...

Anyway, she found out she could possibly 'awaken' this bloodline after implanting the bone marrow of Kaguya into her body. And when she was completely sure it was safe, she instantly decided to do it. Konan was not the only woman of Rei who wanted to get stronger for his sake, after all. With two shadow clones to do the surgery and turning off her pain receptors, it was a breeze. Her Senju physique clicked seamlessly together with her new Kaguya one.

It was only when she bragged to Rei afterward and mentioned this little fact, Rei surprised her by telling her about the legend of Rabbit Goddess. Her first feeling was... being glad Senju never mixed with Uchiha. To think that Sharingan was just a downgraded version of even stronger dojutsu... She was aware of Eternal Mangekyo but to think there was something even more powerful... Her second thought was being glad the legend was so forgotten. Hyuuga had a massive ego even without knowing the progenitor of chakra had Byakugan.

Finally, it made her realize that if these bloodlines came from one body, then it should naturally be possible to 'unite' them to one body again. Maybe that's why she didn't feel any 'resistance' from her new Kaguya 'part'. This little tidbit had dangerous implications and it wouldn't do for anyone getting to know the truth. She had no idea how Rei knew and both she and Konan refused when he offered to tell them. But she didn't really dwell on it.

As she was walking through the streets, she suddenly saw a familiar man. Her eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped at the sight. "How the hell did he get here?" She mumbled for herself and instantly ducked into the side-alley.

There, she quickly altered her facial features to slightly different ones and her blonde hair colored themselves brown. Stepping outside, she hightailed it towards the man who was making a fool out of himself right in the middle of the street. Tsunade fancied herself a patient woman but she had her breaking point. Unfortunately for the man, just seeing him was enough for Tsunade to reach it.

She took his ear into her hand so quickly he didn't even manage to spot her as she sneaked up on him and dragged him away from there while he was groaning and m.o.a.ning in pain from being dragged by ear. The entire village had a show out of it.

When they finally reached training grounds, Tsunade finally released the man and crossed her arms under her chest. "What are you doing in Kirigakure, Jiraiya?" She asked in a stern tone.

Jiraiya went instantly rigid. He knew that stern, unamused, and irritated voice. He gulped. "Tsu-Tsu-Tsunade!?" He babbled out bewildered.

Tsunade sighed to herself and released... well, not really, she just altered her transformation technique to look like her 25 years old self. "Yes... it's me." She admitted.

"What are you doing in Kiri!" Jiraiya asked, making her roll her eyes.

"That's my question."

"I am gathering intel!" He exclaimed proudly only for his face to pale at her next question.

"In a brothel?" Tsunade asked unamused. Before Jiraiya could spout more nonsense about why he was there... and to avoid him asking uncomfortable questions, Tsunade continued. "And here I thought I would be able to take a calming bath in the famous bathhouses of Kiri..." She knew Jiraiya would be suspicious and most likely won't really fully buy her excuse but she didn't elaborate further. His thoughts were his own and she already gave her explanation. "My holidays are ruined. To think I would see you here... In the middle of a hostile village. Your sneaking skills are really top-notch." She said dryly, diverting the topic by praising him while also dissing him. For all of his skill, Jiraiya had one glaring fault and Tsunade was very aware of it. He loved her. Well, not like he would ever get her to sleep with him but damn if it wasn't useful sometimes.

"Hehe! Of course! After all, I am the Gamma-Sennin!" Jiraiya cluelessly boasted, ignoring her fed-up tone... or at least he appeared clueless. Tsunade knew how sly her teammate was. He was even worse than Orochimaru. There was a reason why he took the spot of the favorite of Sarutobi from Orochimaru, after all. "But even then seeing you here is a surprise..." He narrowed his eyes and mentally went through every rumor he heard from Kirigakure... there was this one blond 'nurse' helping in Kiri hospital but he doubted Tsunade would be stupid enough to do that. That would be treason, after all!

"I guess this really means the war is on the horizon." Tsunade sighed, making Jiraiya uncomfortably shuffle. "Oh, stop pretending. We are both too experienced to not see it." She rolled her eyes at him, making him laugh awkwardly. "I doubt you are here to summon me, however... right, spymaster?" She snorted.

Jiraiya amusedly shook his head and said. "No, no... Sensei is still a bit sad about how you parted the last time." Suddenly, his face morphed into a serious one. "But yes, the war is inevitable now. In a decade at most, it will start."

As he said that, Tsunade resisted the urge to grin. This was what she wanted to hear. Seeing Jiraiya in Kiri almost gave her a heart attack... as even she doubted he would be able to pull 'this' off. But she didn't approach him out of sentiment. He was the spymaster of Konoha and that meant he knew more than he probably should. And Tsunade would gladly goad some of this intel out of him for Rei. After all, who else than an old friend from Konoha would Jiraiya babble to?