INTERMISSION​

KONOHA​

She fought back the bile gathering at the back of her throat as she forced her palm, trembling and pale, against the bloody gash running down the thigh of the ANBU by her feet. The sight of the child's blood, even the very thought of it, filled her with dread and revulsion. The air was choked with the acrid scent of burning things. Burning people. The distant roar of titans battling reverberated like thunder in a tempestuous sky as they tore the very earth apart. Yet, it was the proximity of blood that unnerved her most—a crimson tide that painted the terraformed village in shades of horror and despair. Each drop fell as a sombre note in the symphony of agony that accompanied this unforgiving theatre of war.

Chakra spilt from her core, through her palm into the wound as it coaxed the boy's body to heal itself faster. The child couldn't be any older than thirteen, yet his gaze was cold and steely, robbed utterly of whatever innocence they might have once held. Willing herself to ignore the rivulet blood leaking past her fingers she sped up the process as much as she could. The child would not die on her.

Not again.

Never again.

Tsunade mourned the absurdity of it all. What madness compelled men to descend into this abyss of violence and suffering, to rend one another asunder in the name of some distant cause? In the name of vengeance? Could there ever be a justifiable reason for such horrors? Her heart, heavy with sorrow and disbelief, yearned for the peace and sanity that now seemed so distant in this bleak hour.

In the distance, past the insidious barrier trapping everyone inside the village, she could sense the unrelenting cacophony of the battle raging on. The Uchiha boy, driven down the warpath by foolish men, tore at his foes with a savagery that sent cold shivers down her spine. The tanuki it battled had been relieved of both its arms and was now being surgically carved down to size. Jiraiya's summon laid still, unbreathing; dead. For the second time today, Lord First had been knocked out of the battle. Lord Second and Third flitted between the monstrous Susanoo's towering feet as they struggled to keep the boy within distracted long enough for Lord Hashirama to reenter the battle.

Jiraiya was… missing. Worry jolted Tsunade's heart as the realisation settled in.

He is fine, she whispered, like a mantra, to herself. He's fine.

Pushing the dark thoughts from her mind, she turned to the villain of this calamity. A boy-child no more than fourteen, yet an unfeeling beast that cares not for the suffering it inflicts. So consumed by hate, he refused to acknowledge the innocence of the bystanders to this affair, seemingly determined to drag everyone down with him. And the slug princess is left to ponder the inexplicable cruelty of this world. How she wished foolish young boys would not play at war; that never ended well. How she wished the Kages would be more preemptive with their actions; more wary of the consequences of said actions. More considerate of what impressions their careless words make on the impressionable around them. Yet again, she was proven right.

To be Hokage is indeed a fool's job.

The boy's wound soon stopped spewing blood and Tsunade could finally ease up on the treatment. With the child no longer in critical condition, she left the rest to one of Katsuyu's clones to handle. Rising to her feet, she let her gaze pan around in search of anyone in similarly critical condition. The floor beneath her feet trembled still as she raced towards a middle-aged civilian sporting a chunk of wood lodged in his gut. As Tsunade went about patching him, she spotted, from the corner of my eyes, Jiraiya rejoining the battle.

Her relief however was short-lived as she sensed two equally familiar—and equally insidious—auras flare in the distance. '

Danzo…

Orochimaru!

Tsunade's thoughts on the matter however were interrupted as she grabbed the man she was treating by the collar and leapt away. A glob of thick whitish liquid splashed on the rock she had been perched upon, chewing through the material and reducing it to corrosive slag. The Senju caught herself on a nearby cliff face, depositing the critically injured man in a small crevice before leaping away to draw her attacker's attention away from him while one of Katsuyu's clones moved to take over.

Catching herself on another cliff face, Tsunade kicked against the rock, launching herself out of the splash radius of another one of those corrosive projectiles. Another two shots were lobbed at her mid-air. She evaded but was still somehow caught by her cloak. Shrugging off the piece of clothing, Tsunade rounded to face the enemy.

Tall. Slender. Green eyes and ankle-length, auburn hair.

"Mizukage…" She spat out, a sense of dread suffusing her very bones. That little bastard managed to drag Kiri into this?

How?

Why?

Kiri was actually swindled into joining his cause? What in the world is going on?

"Princess Tsunade," Mei greeted with a small incline of her head.

"Why?" Tsunade replied in lieu of a greeting.

"Uchiha-san pays well," the mizukage replied.

"...So he paid you to kill me?" Tsunade asked, fishing for information as she called upon the chakra stored between her brows. Terumi Mei was not a threat she could afford to take lightly.

"No, he paid me to dirty my hands," the woman said with a wry smile. "Killing you in particular is so I can get the bonus he promised."

"...He wants me dead?" Tsunade asked, stilling. I haven't physically laid eyes on the child until today; why would he want me dead … Unless!

No!

"...He is exterminating them?" the Senju princess asked, disbelief leaking into her voice. Her gaze panned back towards the battle raging on outside, and then, suddenly everything made sense.

This was all a distraction.