CHAPTER 53: TSUNADE

It had been a few days since Jiraiya had left the village for the search of his wayward teammate and her disciple. When the Hokage asked him to bring her back to the village that had caused so much pain and suffering to her he wanted to refuse the task. Hokage or not, he was Jiraiya the gallant Toad Sage and one of the sanins. He was confident that he could persuade the Hokage to abandon the idea to forcing Tsunade to return to the village, but after he talked to his master and previous Hokage, it was he who abandoned his own idea. According to Hiruzen, Ryujin must have had thought of something before making the request to bring Tsunade back. And even if he did not want to , The Hokage could always use the ANBU to locate Tsunade and use the Flying Raijin to directly come in contact with Tsunade. So even if he was not willing, Ryujin could come in contact with Tsunade by his own means. But if he contacts Tsunade on behalf of Ryujin, the he himself could be present at the time Ryujin and Tsunade face each other and support his friend if it comes down to that. 

After searching the nearby towns for days he got no sign of the Slug princess. Finally in a town close to the fire capital one of his informants said that he had seen Tsunade travelling towards Tanzaku Gai. Arriving at the town he decided to rest a bit before venturing out to find Tsunade. 

It was during the evening that he found a huge chakra signature from a nearby bar. Walking into the bar he found what he predicted. Tsunade , his teammate and her apprentice Shizune sitting at a table drinking sake. Well it was Tsunade who was drinking and Shizune who was urging Tsunade to leave.

Nearing them he Put on a smile and said, " Hello there Tsunade and Sizune. What a coincidence to meet you guys here."

Looking up both the ladies saw the huge white haired man. Shizune greeted Jiraiya with respect but Tsunade seemed unbothered by his presence. " Hello you old fool. What luck meeting you here. Come let's drink to celebrate this meeting." She said pointing at the seat opposite of her.

Sitting down Jiraiya began the conversation, " So then Princess, How have you been?"

" Alive." Came the drunk voice of Tsunade. She stared at Jiraiya's face for quite some time before speaking her next words, " Why did you come to visit me?"

Jiraiya was startled by the question and tried to coverup, " Can't a friend come to visit another?"

" Yes they surely can, But your timing is a bit off. I may not be a ninja anymore but I do keep tabs of what is happening around the world. SO I will ask again, Why did you come to visit." Tsunade said with some authority in her tone, her pervious drunk demeanor vanishing with each word.

" Sigh! You are no fun. Well then let's get to the point. The Fifth Hokage has ordered me to escort you back to the village. The village needs you Tsunade. He wants you to head the medical department and train new medic ninjas." Jiraiya said with a serious tone.

" Then you have travelled all this way for nothing. You know what that village has taken from me. My family, Dan, my little brother. I lost everything to that village. There is no way in hell I will go back. Go back and tell that brat to forget about me." Tsunade replied with a little venom in her tone.

" You know I told the exact same thing to the Fifth. Wanna know what he replied?" Jiraiya said in a mischievous tone.

" What?" 

" He said that the village was founded by your grandfather, Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. Hashirama viewed the entire village as his family. Every Hokage does. And you have not lost all your family yet. He said that Konoha is your Family. And till the day Konoha stands , your family stands. While you have lost many things you hold dear for the village there are still people in the village who look up to you, respect you and want to be like the great shinobi you are. There are orphans who have given their life for Konoha and children who have become orphans because of Konoha. But their sacrifices is what keeps the village standing. If you choose to ignore the village, it's future and the thousands of children who look up to you then you would be spitting on the sacrifices made the people of Konoha, by your ancestors and by your family." Jiraiya finished in a deep voice.

Tsunade's eyes were wide open hearing the words Jiraiya spoke. The had been many nights where she had dreamt that her family were ashamed of how she has neglected her duties and fled from the village. Of how she has abandoned her will of fire. But that was all, a dream. When she woke up the next day she continued to do what she did, gamble and drink her life away. But today when jiraiya said those words to her face, it hurt her a lot. Had she truly abandoned the teachings of her family, has she truly disgraced her family by her actions. Her actions have come back to bite her and now she feels helpless. Gathering her resolve she said, " Fine I will go back. But I have a few conditions if I am to follow the Hokage's orders."

" Well that's between you and Ryujin. Oh! by the way he gave me a scroll to give to you." Jiraiya pulled up the scroll from his pocket and handed it to Tsunade." He said that there was a blood seal and only you could open it." 

Taking the scroll and raising her eyebrows Tsunade asked, " How did he get my blood?"

" No Idea." Jiraiya replied.

Biting her thumb and spreading some blood on the seal Tsunade opened the scroll and began to read through it's content.

Dear Tsunade Senju,

This is the first time we are conversing I believe. I am Ryujin Uzumaki the fifth Hokage of Konoha. I write this letter to you in case Jiraiya fails to convince you through words. I am not a very patient man. So I will be quick and to the point.

I will tell you the consequences if you don't come back to Konoha. I will freeze all the Senju accounts and distribute the assets to the village. The Senju clan compound would be demolished and its land used for the construction of new houses for the village. I will denounce you as a member of the Senju clan and mark you as a missing nin. Your bounty would be staggeringly high and if someone manages to kill you, the prize money will be paid from the Senju vaults. 

I also have with me some pictures of you that you would not want to go public. Because if it does people like Jiraiya will have a field day. I hope you understand what I mean by that. Yes you are thinking correctly. That is all. If you still don't come back I will go find you myself. And when I do I shall kill you. Plain and simple.

However I am not heartless. If you still wish to leave Konoha then I shall give you a chance. Every year you can choose to Fight me to win back your freedom. If you can defeat me in single combat then I will allow you to leave Konoha and never search for you or call you back to the village again. But if you lose you will stay in the village for a whole year and follow my orders.

Kind Regards

Ryujin Uzumaki.

The more Tsunade red the more angrier she became. After reading the end she let out a scream, " That Fucking son of a Bitch. I will tear him limb from limb." Shizune tried to calm her down, " Master Tsunade, Please calm down. Please calm down." 

Looking at Shizune she roared, " I will calm Down when I beat the shit out of the brat. Come Shizune, pervert, We will go to Konoha right now." saying this she started to walk towards the exit of the bar .

" Do you have any idea what was on the scroll?" Shizune asked Jiraiya.

"No Idea. But whatever it was it had angered Tsunade to this extent. Let's go before she does something crazy." Jiraiya said to Shizune.

'Don't blame me Ryujin. You brought this upon yourself' were his last thoughts before following Tsunade towards Konoha.

Back in Konoha, " Why do I feel that some one wants to kill me?" Questioned Ryujin to himself. Thinking for a moment to use future sight, he dismissed the idea thinking, ' Whoever it is can't kill me anyways so why bother.

Walking into the Namikaze estate he found Naruto in the training ground, " Naruto are you ready for a new training?"

Naruto stopprd what he was doing and appeared infront of Ryujin in a flash. Saluting he replied, " Ready for new Jutsus Hokage-sama."