15

"Hey! How come we aren't going to Ichirakus?" Kushina complained to Tsunade, they were walking the streets of Konoha.

Tsunade rolled her eyes, her adoptive little sister is way too obsessed with ramen. Even the family who owns Ichirakus says Kushina eats it too often. She goes there so much that Teuchi created a new ramen dish and named it after her! It's called the Kushina Special! Tsunade admits that Teuchi does make delicious ramen, but how can one eat it so much? "Stop complaining, you eat that stuff too much. You also knew we weren't going there in the first place."

"No I-oh wait never mind I do remember. And I'll have you know I did not eat any ramen today thank you very much!" Kushina said.

"Only because grandmother requested you lay off of it for a day." Tsunade teased the younger girl.

"Bah! What do you know you damn brat, just remember you are paying for my meal today Tsuna." Kushina reminded her.

A tick mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead. "Who the hell are you calling a brat?! I'm older than you!"

"Wanna go?" Kushina smirked.

Tsunade stared at her for a moment. "…Later..now isn't a good time."

"Fair enough." Kushina nodded in agreement. 

Shortly afterwards, they arrived at one of Konoha's barbecue restaurants. Instead of waiting outside, they saw Orochimaru was already inside waiting for them at a booth. He was dressed in a standard Konoha Jonin uniform.

"Did we make you wait long, Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked her longtime friend and teammate as they approached the table. 

"No, not at all, nice seeing you two." Orochimaru shook his head.

"It's wonderful to see you too, Orochimaru-sama." Kushina replied politely. 

Out of the Naruto fanbase, she was of the opinion none of the antagonists in the original series are true villains. She not only respected Orochimaru for his intelligence and strength, she respected the fact he was the closest one to actually being a true villain out of all the antagonists in her opinion. From most of the part one to mid way of shippuden, Orochimaru presented himself as a real villain. Sure, she didn't approve of his predatory habits of abducting and manipulating kids. However, that's part of being a villian, their actions aren't supposed to be approved of. 

The current Orochimaru still holds his curiosities, but nowhere near the extremes of his canon counterpart. Honestly, Orochimaru should have no reason to go rogue as long as he's not forced to. His skills in research are too valuable of an asset, plus in the future she can both allow and help if he ends up delving into human experimentation. She doesn't have such a high moral code where she doesn't see the benefits of it, though she will make sure to implement certain restrictions. She will not allow him to use Konoha citizens as test subjects. 

As long as she prevents Orochimaru from working under Danzo too closely, she won't have many worries about the future Snake Sannin. 

"So the old man is sending you back to help against Iwa?" Tsunade asked her friend once Kushina set up a seal to prevent their conversation from being heard by others.

"Yes, the situation there isn't great. While we aren't losing, we're not necessarily winning either. In fact we could be said to be in a worse position than Iwagakure. Thankfully the war hasn't reached its peak, it should take a couple more years or so before it gets to that point." Orochimaru replied.

"You're probably right, but…things could escalate once this crazy fool becomes a shinobi." Tsunade pointed towards Kushina, who was using a pair of chopsticks to pick up a piece of grilled meat off the grill.

"Hmm? Do you really think so? I have heard that little Kushina is the number student in her class. Rumor has it that her talent far exceeds the boy Minato Namikaze. Which is insane considering Minato's own prodigal talent. It seems Konoha lucked out by having such powerful talents in the younger generation." Orochimaru remembers the first time he met Kushina, he was surprised to see a young girl who wasn't a jinchuuriki but has chakra reserves far exceeding his own and the Third Hokage. He compared her to a tailed beast in this regard. 

"I have no doubts, don't you remember I told you and that idiot Jiraiya the reason I'm stronger than I was several months ago is because of her?" Tsunade questioned, she appreciated how her friend already had a bottle of sake here for her to drink. He knew her so well.

"I remember, Jiraiya had been complaining about how it felt that your punches were a lot stronger than normal. Saying that you were using more power against him than usual. I thought you were joking when you replied with those words as your answer." Orochimaru looked at Kushina with interest in his gaze.

"No I wasn't joking, Kushina is not only durable enough to take my punches full power without receiving any harm, she can match my super strength and surpass my max output of strength by at least tenfold." Tsunade's eyes and expression held a vast amount of seriousness.

Orochimaru knew she was speaking the truth, Tsunade would not say such an absurd statement if it weren't true. He did wonder if there was more to Kushina's extremely short probationary period outside of her being a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan.

'Either Sensei was pressured heavily by Mito-sama or Sensei knows something else about this girl that forces him to prioritize her and show favor. Considering Tsunade's words, it's most likely the latter. Now that I think about it, that idiot Jiraiya told me some time ago how Kushina's potential scared him. He admitted to me that as a child she's already vastly superior to him in fuinjutsu. His words hold truth, just by only touching the table she put up a seal that prevented our conversations from being heard by others. This alone shows her incredible mastery of fuinjutsu.' Orochimaru thought to himself.

"That's…honestly terrifying Tsunade…" Orochimaru chuckled.

Tsunade sighed in exasperation. "Who the hell are you telling? Being on the receiving end of her strength makes me respect that idiot Jiraiya a lot more. He's been taking my punches for years and somehow always recovers quicker than he should. This little devil next to me forces me to wear gravity and weight seals while fighting her at the same time to increase my strength and speed. Not even my grandfather, grand-uncle, grandmother, father or mother ever put me through this type of torture. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have your body smashed and dragged against a mountain by a 9 year old? No matter how hard you try, you can't overpower said 9 year old?" She complained. 

Orochimaru could only imagine and hope he doesn't ever have to go through such an experience. 

"Oi you ungrateful blonde brat! I'm doing this for your benefit, you have too much potential in that body of yours that is not being dragged out properly. Also, you need to remember you are the Senju Clan's pillar of representation. The strength of the Senju Clan is not judged by Mito, everyone, including Konoha's enemies, judges it by your strength. Nawaki as well but he's still too young and doesn't have the same level of talent as you. Everyone knows you're strong, Tsuna, but compared to Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama, I can guarantee the other villages take you as a joke in comparison. Hell, I bet even your own Sensei doesn't believe you will actually surpass him in power unless he's on the decline!" Kushina retorted with the cold hard truth. 

Plus she needs to start building up Konoha's strength early, the village is full of untapped potential that none of the Hokages in the original series never truly brought out to its full potential.