Tsunade’s Strength

Tsunade POV

"Dan, how are you here?"

I couldn't believe my eyes. Blinking a few times just to make sure this wasn't a dream. Dan, my lover, the man I had hoped to marry, was standing beside me. That shouldn't be possible. I saw him dying in my arms during the war.

And yet he stood before me, smiling at me like he did when he was alive.

"Someone took over the Edo Tensei that forced us to fight the Shinobi Alliance you created. Whoever it was, gave us the chance to move our bodies. Many took the chance to fight off the Zetsu clones, but I could feel you were in danger, so I used my soul technique to help you," explained Dan with a smile on his face.

"Will you stay with me?" I couldn't help but ask. My heart was still longing for him.

But to my sorrow, he only shook his head.

"I am sorry, Tsunade. Even if there was a chance to live life once again, I have been dead for a long time and have found peace in the afterlife. My death must have brought you much pain, but I want you to live your life to the fullest. Let me help you once more."

General POV

Dan would be forever thankful for the person who allowed him to see the love of his life. His death came too quickly and he never got to say some important words. However, their meeting had to be cut short since their enemy didn't wait for them.

Madara, after Tsunade dodged his finishing blow, didn't stop and let her off just like that. He was curious as to how she could evade his blade when at death's door.

Maybe there was something about Hashirama's granddaughter? Perhaps she wasn't as weak as he initially suspected.

"It seems like you have regained your strength. Though I wonder how you'll be able to do anything if your last efforts were wasted," Madara remarked as he once again slashed with his Susanoo.

The other Kage watched from the side. All four of them were too exhausted to help her. To their surprise, a large blue sphere formed around Tsunade's fist and grew larger.

Raw condensed chakra.

One must say that while this feat was amazing to watch only those who had perfect chakra control could perfect this.

Clenching her fist, Tsunade threw her fist right at the sword. The moment sword and sphere met a blinding light and an explosion of sound filled the air.

Gaara and the rest of the Kage had to shield themselves from the light, but when the light disappeared, they could see that Tsunade was not only unharmed she actually managed to push away the sword.

"Oh?" Madara raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe there is some of Hashirama's blood running in your veins, since only he was capable of meeting my Susanoo with his fist. Entertain me with a dance, would you?"

In response, Tsunade bit her thumb and performed the Summoning Jutsu. As the giant cloud of smoke disappeared, a giant Katsuyu stood in front of Madara, opposing his Susanoo.

Katsuyu was a bit smaller than the Susanoo, but one must not forget a crucial thing. Unlike the Ryugu Cave and the toad mountain, which had a large variety of how much chakra to use for each summon, Katsuyu was the only one of her species, and her abilities were perpendicular to the amount of chakra used to summon her.

A long time ago, when they were still students Jiraiya, being the idiot he was misused the summoning Jutsu and got teleported away.

Orochimaru was the first to think his teammate had did. To him Jiraiya was an idiot who couldn't perform basic things.

"He will do something stupid, earning the ire of the summon before getting torn apart."

Tsunade had her doubt though not fighting Orochimaru on his opinion. To everyone surprise Jiraiya emerged 1 week later, unharmed and with a summoning contract.

This prompted both her and Orochimaru to find their own contracts, not wanting to be left behind.

Then, before the war began he came to both and bragged about becoming a Sage. Something only her grandfather had accomplished without forming a contract with a summon.

Tsunade also approached Katsuyu and asked/demanded to become a Sage since she saw the feast Jiraiya could do with the help of the Toad Elders.

One could say she had been jealous of Jiraiya, though she would never confirm it, and only smashed Jiriaya to a pulp whenever he dared to accuse her of such a thing.

At that time, Katsuyu had declined, deeming her unworthy. Tsunade was still allowed to summon Katsuyu and with her superior chakra control, the Sannin could summon a rather large Katsuyu that even now could heal every Shinobi in Konoha.

However, she lacked the amount and chakra control to become a Sage and it would have stayed that way if not for Dan's body providing her with massive amounts of chakra.

One particular girl floated in the sky and observed the spectacle. With her superior intelligence, Yamai didn't need long to realize what was happening while the Kage were dumbfounded and gave Ishizu the information she gathered.

'The Edo Tensei's gigantic chakra supply compensated for the chakra control.'

Ishizu hummed as he closed his eyes. His Sage Mode would compensate for the lack of sight as he thought about it.

"For the lack of better terms I would call it a Pseudo Sage Mode. I am surprised their chakras can merge smoothy, enabling Tsunade to take in the nature energy.

As long as Tsunade doesn't lose consciousness she essentially can hold that state forever. A Sage Mode Tsunade… will be funny to record.'

Tsunade's appearance changed from her usual one as her chakra pool expanded from the nature energy. Her skin became more slimy, reflecting the light and giving it a more elegant view. The white sclera changed to a sky blue and blue tear marks appeared next to her eyes.

Large arm-like tentacles spawned from inside Katsuyu, and they targeted the Sasanoo's legs.

"Hn," Madara responded by swinging his sword and bisecting the arms.

What he didn't expect was for the two to reconnect right after. Katsuya's arms grabbed the legs, and the newly formed fingers gradually dug into the armor and breaking it apart.

Again Madara's Susanoo swung its sword, but this time not to cut the arms. Instead, he went straight for the main body, the point where Tsunade stood.

If killing the construct failed, one had to go for the main body instead.

What followed was a surprise to everyone. The sword's speed was too fast to see and the rest of the Kage thought that the sword missed, but something else happened.

Indeed, the sword cut through Tsunade's lower abdomen, literally bisecting her into two halves, but the reason why Tsunade was still alive was known only to 3 people.

Madara narrowed his eyes as his Rinnegan observed Tsunade.

'Her healing speed is in overdrive. The moment my sword cut her body, it instantly regenerated the damage. With that amount of speed, I would say it was so fast that even her nerves didn't register the damage. In conclusion, her brain didn't register there even was pain.'

"Take this!"

The arms that dug into the armor pulled up and the Susanoo's feed left the ground, letting the upper body slowly fall to the ground.

Crouching down, Katsuyu's gigantic body leaped into the air, where a mucus ball formed next to Tsunade's left arm.

While the mucus looked big in volume, it certainly didn't look like it could do any harm to the massive Susanoo that was lying on the ground.

Yet Madara wasn't a fool. He has lived and fought a variety of enemies, with Hashirama being the strongest. Many veterans of war develop certain instinct during their battles that allowed them to survive and keep on fighting.

Madara's instincts told him that the attack wasn't an attack he could take lightly. Crossing his arms in front of him, he realized why his instincts were right once more.

The force from the mucus ball didn't destroy the arms, but left them with many cracks. Just for a second, barely seen by anyone who wasn't closely focusing on Madara's face, a small smile crossed his face.

"Ah, maybe this dance won't be as disappointing as I had thought. Guess even I can be proven wrong."

The two arms dissolved, and new ones quickly formed.

Seeing the fight between Tsunade and Madara, the rest of the Kage knew they couldn't just stand still and watch like children. They were the Kage and all of them decided to fight.

There was, however, a problem. How would they help if 25 Susanoos were standing in their way?

As the fight continued, Yamai continued to observe the battle and retell the actions to Ishizu, who was closing in on the battle between Obito and Naruto.

Ishizu POV

I honestly didn't expect such canon divergence from taking over Kabuto's Edo Tensei to happen. All I wanted to do was to stop unnecessary bloodshed and get rid of the Zetsus.

How would I know that a fusion between a living being and an undead corpse's soul was possible?

I knew from the moment I met with Po that this world wasn't 100% canon. The butterfly effect would, at some point, be seen in the actions I took.

The ones I saw were minimal at least and didn't affect my process; much. Saving the Jinchūriki and Jiraiya was one major deviation from canon, but I had yet to see the changes.

Never did I expect that a simple change… ok it was a pretty big change to block like 30-50% of the enemy's power but the outcome should be a happy reunion.

Long lost and dead family or friend turned foe once again to friends. A happy story those who fought here would tell their children.

I would go down in history for something good, hehe. If it was included in the future that is.

To think that Dan would use this chance to use his soul technique to help Tsunade was, in my expectation. A heart-filling reunion and a boost in chakra like in the anime were to be expected.

So color me impressed when I feel that Tsunade and Dan somehow fused, temporarily I assume, to not only get a massive boost of chakra but for Tsunade to achieve a Pseudo Sage Mode.

An answer to why Tsunade never achieved Sage Mode was never given, but I knew it was possible. Sage Mode on itself isn't something you can just learn like any other jutsu. It is time-consuming, takes dedication, and is also dangerous. You also need a good amount of chakra and a healthy body.

I actually had a good theory for why Tsunade couldn't achieve Sage Mode. It has to do with the deaths of Dan and Nawaki. Their deaths broke Tsunade, blocking her from the path of a Sage; but that's just speculation and can't be proven.

It was a shame I had to focus on my primary task and couldn't watch Sage Mode Tsunade with a giant Katsuya battle Full Body Susanoo Madara. Since the Edo Tensei couldn't stop Madara, my hope was on Tsunade surpassing her grandfather and flinging the Uchiha back to the afterlife.

"Ah, you win some, you lose some. That's how life works. Let's see what the future has to offer."