V.1-C.55│Last of the Senju V│

"So now what...?" Rin asked as the three of them now found themselves back in the same town that they have come to.

"We can't give up so easily..." Kushina replied as she looked towards the rather shady town ahead of them. "And I don't want to stay around here."

"Right..." Obito said in reply as the three of them now has to decide what they should do. "Do you think she will reply?" Obito asked Kushina, turning towards her.

"I don't know, but knowing her, I think she would at least do something..." Kushina replied before looking around for a place for the three of them to stay at.

[]

Tsunade didn't want to do anything.

She didn't really have anyone to call her family anymore, not really, and while she is friends with Kushina, she never really saw her as family.

It was impossible to do so when they had spent so little time together, and this isn't even taking into account the weirdness behind her own grandmother, Mito Uzumaki spending time with the girl.

In some ways, Tsunade felt a little bit guilty due to Kushina becoming the jinchuriki for the Nine Tail's considering it would've been herself, or Nawaki that would've been forced to become the jinchuriki.

Yes, she may not have inherited the special chakra that Kushina or her grandmother had access to, that made them especially great vessels to contain said beast, but they had an adequate baseline to do so.

Maybe not being able to control the chakra of the Nine Tail's but at least being able temper the beast. To make sure that it didn't rampage and could be somewhat used in battles.

Then again, Tsunade didn't wish that fate onto anyone, given that jinchuriki's are not exactly treated the best way and from what she knows it is only becoming worse in every village. It didn't help that the Tailed Beasts effectively rampaged whenever they escaped, which only caused a chain reaction of continued hate.

It was a cycle, the more she thought about it, but there was nothing she could do to make it up to Kushina.

She felt... ashamed in a lot of ways, given that she had just upped and left, effectively leaving behind someone that could be considered family. 'Kushina Uzumaki...' Tsunade smiled a little, but was also not willing to see her.

Kushina and her attitude, her dreams, her hair and everything else about her was a painful reminder of Tsunade's own loss. Something that she has been trying to escape the pain from for a long time now.

Nearly a dozen years even.

Standing 163 centimeters tall in height, Tsunade could say she is about above average for a woman. A fair-skinned woman, with brown eyes and straight blonde hair that parts above her forehead. Her hair has shoulder-length bangs that frame her face and the rest reaches her lower-back. Alongside having a violet diamond shape, clearly visible on her forehead.

Her current attire for the day consists of a grass-green haori with the kanji for 'gamble' on the back, inside a red circle.

Underneath she wears a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matches her pants. Her blouse is closed quite low, revealing her sizeable cleavage. She wears open-toed, strappy black sandals with high heels.

She has red nail polish on both her fingernails and toenails and uses a soft pink lipstick. She also wears the First Hokage's necklace, something which was both important to her and brought tragic memories with her.

She is still a somewhat young woman... 'Ok, I may not be as young as I was anymore, but I am still good... I think.' Tsunade thought to herself as she had gotten out of bed this morning with some purpose.

She felt strangely energetic at the fact that there were people here for her.

It wasn't nice being in isolation like she is, even with others around herself. In fact, one could kind of see her situation as... sad. Even after what she has done, what she has lost, it seemed almost as if no one cared about her in the slightest.

Sure, she is some legendary hotshot, but what is the point in that when she doesn't have anyone that she can go to. Somewhere she could make herself belong, a purpose with which she could fulfil if it feels meaningless.

Death was inescapable, and she knew that, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel saddened so much so that she has isolated herself away from even those that might be considered close ones as well.

One could say she viewed both Jiraiya and Orochimaru as friends, but even they had not deemed it worthy of their time to go after her.

It took someone that she barely knows anything of, Kushina Uzumaki to come all the way out here and she didn't even want to come to her just to see her. Of course, Tsunade would be silly if she expected otherwise, right?

The only person that Tsunade could say with some measure she has some care for at this point is Shizune, her faithful and loyal companion. 'Heh, I make it seem like she is some sort of pet...' Tsunade shook her head as she thought this, before making her way around to get properly changed.

After getting everything done, she did view herself in the mirror and thought it appropriate that a lot of people would call her the most beautiful woman in the world.

She isn't some narcissist, but that doesn't mean she is completely unaffected by the compliments for her physical appearance. She knows she has a beautiful appearance and can even use it to her advantage sometimes.

Don't get her wrong either, she doesn't get involved with anyone in anyway other that business relations. She is... a little embarrassed to say that she may still be a virgin. 'Yeah, I'm a 36 years old woman, and a virgin...' She did feel like she is missing up on her chance to settle down and have a family at this point, which made her ponder.

'Maybe I could find some potential husband material and finally start a family of my own... away from Konoha and away from the conflict...' Tsunade thought that this would be nice, at the very least.

It also wasn't like she wasn't already taking advantage of her Uzumaki genetics. 'Yeah, if people saw my grandmother at the age she was, they would be surprised by how young she appeared to be.' Tsunade definitely at least inherited the Uzumaki's strong lifeforce.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked her as she had come out of her room, all nicely dressed up and most certainly seemed willing to do some.

"Shizune, we are going to gamble!" Tsunade wanted to do something other than just staying inside and try to win back some of the money she had lost.

"Lady Tsunade..." Shizune didn't have to say much to get her own point across, her own worry evident as Tsunade was not the best gambler... In fact, she could be considered the worst, even when gambling wasn't always completely based on luck.

Tsunade just seemed to suffer the most when it came to 'luck.' "Don't worry about it. I can win back everything lost and pay back some debts..." Tsunade replied as she took along with her a big bag of ryo.

"I don't think that this is the best decision to do right now... Lady Tsunade, do you not remember what happened?" Shizune asked her as if she was forgetting something.

"Of course I remember...!" Tsunade replied with a little bit of indignation, but she did so because she truly doesn't remember. She must have done something of note sometime prior to now, but that wasn't a concern for present Tsunade.

That was a concern for future Tsunade. "Now come, I'm feeling lucky!" Tsunade strolled forth, completely uncaring for what is to come to her, as if she wishes for trouble to come to her.

She wanted to be proven wrong. She wanted to know that her necklace, the necklace of the First Hokage is something that doesn't discriminate and would put an end to her life just as all the others whom had worn it prior.

Don't get her wrong again, she isn't suicidal either, given that she is way more than powerful enough to deal with any trouble that comes her way.

'Maybe I am just looking for some trouble...?'

[]

Rejoining Obito and the two others, Rin and Kushina, we can find him still wide awake as it was currently nighttime. Foolishly enough, Kushina had managed to partake in drinking some alcohol, and while she shouldn't be affected much by said alcohol because of the Nine Tail's, if affected at all due to its chakra within her, she still managed to become drunk enough to become sleepy and promptly be carried by him.

Kushina was now being held on his back. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" Rin asked seeing that Obito was... well, not struggling, but seemed uncomfortable for some reason.

"No, no. I'm fine." Truthfully, he was uncomfortable by the closeness of Kushina's body, and he kept berating himself inwardly for his completely natural reaction.

If it wasn't dark out, Rin would be able to see what is happening on the lower half of his body. It wasn't exactly elegant, and in ways most men would be proud by his current size, despite his current age of only 13 years.

"Ok, whatever you say." Rin sighed herself, not expecting to find themselves in this position. "Are we going to stay in this place...?" Rin would prefer that they do not.

Kushina moved every often, often making Obito's current problem even harder. 'Have... to... think... about... something... else...' Obito was so focused on trying to make sure his indecency is unknown.

Seeing as Obito didn't respond to her, Rin decided to come closer to him and make sure she is heard. "Obito. I was saying that we shouldn't stay here..." As she said this, there may or may not have been enough light to see certain things...

This lead to Rin deciding to shut her mouth up, every now and then taking a glance in that direction, but she wasn't so indecent as to contni- 'So that must be what I think it is...' Rin thought to herself, now becoming just as distracted as Obito was with Kushina.

She also understood that it was a natural reaction, but never before had she really paid much attention towards stuff like this. She guessed that Kushina being on his back made him like that, and for some reason it made her feel a type of way.

'W-What is this?' She didn't like that Obito was aroused by Kushina, and she had to stop her thoughts before it started to cross into dangerous territory. 'No, no. Don't look. Look somewhere else!' Rin though as her drifted upwards from Obito's lower area towards his face.

Strangely enough, this didn't help her much as things had grown silent and she was now a little bit enchanted by the look on his face. Obito was currently doing everything in his power to stop said natural reaction, but it was obviously not working.

She actually found that a little bit cute... Sure, the other part may not be such a thing, and was anything but 'cute,' but that didn't discount that she kind of admired the willpower Obito has to never give up.

It had become quite evident and clear to her that he has some sort of goal in mind to push himself so far. Obviously most of those around him and knew him also knew that there was something he wasn't saying.

While most Uchiha would be hard to read, he on the other hand was not so hard to see because of his eyes. Some would say that Obito has his Sharingan active all the time for training purposes or other reasons in relation to his duties as a shinobi.

Rin on the other hand knew about the Sharingan, and how connected ones emotions are to its activation.

'Maybe the actual reason he has the Sharingan active all of the time has something to the way of how he feels...?' Of course Rin knew that this was silly, given that Obito seemed to be a mentally adjusted person as far as she knew.

Sure, he was a bit strange, and somehow managed to attract the attention of more and more girls, which may or may not have annoyed her a little bit more than it should, but he didn't seem like he was overly emotional.

She knows he is an orphan, twice over now since the death of Granny Masumi. 'Bless her soul.' Rin sent a small prayer to the older lady kind enough to care for Obito while he was young.

Looking towards Obito, Rin knew that he was just an enigma that is hard to unravel. An onion that has layers on layers, with some layers being in a totally different dimension. 'Well, he does have that strange space-time ninjutsu, so I guess it makes some sense.' She made a little joke within her head, before coming to a stop.

She didn't even realize it, but she was just plainly following after Obito with a small smile on her face the entire way. "We are here." Obito said waking her up from her focus on Obito.

"Where...?" Rin looked around, having noticed they are no longer inside the small backwards town.

"You said that you didn't want to stay there, so we wont. As simple as that." Obito smiled as he said this, breathing a sigh of relief as he managed to set something up even with Kushina on his back.

An entire tent of her own to use, where Kushina may further complain that he didn't come to sleep with her, but so what. Obito had noticed something, and he didn't want to continue to linger around to look after a drunk Kushina whom would be totally fine in the morning. "Right..." Rin replied, not believing that he would actually take her words so seriously.

'Where did his intelligence go...?' Rin saw that he was intelligent, a lot of the time, but sometimes he made the weirdest jumps in his thoughts.

"I got to go somewhere real quick. Mind staying with Kushina?" Obito asked her, and he didn't seem urgent, but she somehow was able to sense that maybe he should do what he has to do.

"Ok...?" Rin replied unsure, but has been for a long time now, willing to place her complete trust in him.

"Thanks." Obito came up to her, and then gave her a hug. A hug of which seemed to last a lifetime, before Obito released her from the hug and left, adding. "I'll be back."

As she watched him go back towards the small town, she didn't even consider that he was going to do anything untoward. In fact, Rin moved her hand towards her heart and felt the absolute hammering her chest was having, slowly calming down after such close proximity.

'I can't be...'