The Showdown Begins Early

Oh no, it's definitely Tsunade.

Naruto sensed something was wrong, as if he had seen something he shouldn't have, and quickly looked away and turned to leave.

"You brat!! You're ignoring me?"

A dark figure descended from the sky, landing heavily on the ground. The ground shattered like an eggshell, cracking open a fissure more than a meter wide.

Tsunade bent her knees and looked up, staring at Naruto with an unfriendly gaze.

"I'm sorry, Lord Tsunade."

Naruto demonstrated his extremely flexible moral bottom line; not knowing what he did wrong didn't matter, he just apologized first.

Dog Sister Na Sai, Dog Smash Aunt Ma Si.

"You tried to run away when you saw me, didn't you?"

Tsunade high heels, gracefully kicked a nearby rock, shattering it, and walked up to Naruto. She looked down at him, squinting, and bent forward.

"Um... my eyesight isn't very good." Naruto quickly shifted the blame and immediately offered the food he was carrying. "Lord Tsunade, please accept this gift."

Hearing him say that, Tsunade's gloomy expression softened a little, and she tossed her hair and said.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't eaten anything either, so I won't stand on ceremony."

Naruto's fake smile was, in a way, voluntary.

Anyway, it was brought for Jiraiya, so maybe he's already eaten it. But where else could he go if he didn't try to persuade Tsunade in the middle of the night?

There were no pedestrians on the street, and the surrounding lights were dim. A few people stood in front of the few shops that were still lit, looking curiously in this direction, but not daring to approach.

"Running into you in the middle of the night is really a downer." Tsunade acted like a bully, completely ignoring the stiff expression on Naruto's face.

"Yes, yes, please return to the village and succeed Fifth Hokage," Naruto said with a helpless expression.

"Is this how you ask for a favor?" Tsunade asked.

"If Lord Tsunade really doesn't want to go back, that's fine. If I really can't stand it, I'll run away." Naruto yawned. "Actually, you don't need to think about me."

"You really have the nerve to openly express your thoughts of defection in front of the Fifth Hokage."

"The Fifth Hokage?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"Although I'm still considering it, I'll definitely be the Fifth Hokage once I go back, so in a sense, I am the Fifth Hokage for now."

"Is this what older women say? How cunning." Naruto said with a deadpan expression. "No, to be precise, it's a complete fallacy of sophistry."

"Before returning to the village, you were just one of the Legendary Sannin, not the Fifth Hokage. Although that statement was very misleading, I know that getting you back to the village is not an easy task."

"Don't try to guess what a woman is thinking. It's ridiculous that you're saying such serious things with such an air of importance." Tsunade poked Naruto's forehead with some force.

"Ouch." Naruto gasped and clutched his forehead.

Tsunade smiled easily, finished eating all the tempura sukiyaki, and then handed the bag back to Naruto.

"Thank you for treating me to food."

Naruto's face twitched. "Consider it a invitation," he said. Not knowing how to respond, he simply remained silent.

"Kid, you'll die if you unleash the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki completely, won't you?" Tsunade asked.

"Maybe," Naruto said, then added, "Maybe not. Who knows? What others say isn't very reliable; you have to try it yourself."

"Saying something like that is really... aren't you afraid of dying?"

"There's nothing to be afraid of. If you think about a bleak and desolate prisoner's life ahead, what's the difference between that and being dead?" Naruto said, shrugging.

"Your hatred for the village is truly terrifying," Tsunade said.

"It's not so much hatred as it is. No normal person would like that village. If you want Jinchuriki to protect the village, you have to show the corresponding attitude."

Naruto's expression was not good.

"Actually, I don't care at all. I've become Jinchuriki for no reason. Maybe I'll never be free in this life and will be a weapon until I die. If that's the case, I can barely bear it."

"Isn't your tolerance limit a bit too wide?" Tsunade retorted.

"But there has to be some compensation, right? This constant Jinchuriki makes it impossible to be a ninja for even a day," Naruto said, frowning. "If there's no benefit, then I'm going to lie down."

"You really have a lot of resentment about you." Tsunade wasn't angry at all. She smiled and pinched Naruto's cheek. On the contrary, she felt more comfortable with his honest words.

It would be abnormal to keep it to yourself.

"Are you laying your cards on the table with me?" Tsunade squinted at Naruto. "You little brat, you're quite something. You've completely outmaneuvered your age."

"You're not the Fifth Hokage anymore. If you're not planning to go back to the village, it won't hurt for me to say a few more words, right?" Naruto changed his form of address from "you" to "you" this time.

Tsunade noticed this detail, her lips curled slightly, but she didn't say anything.

"What if I became the Fifth Hokage?"

Tsunade ruffled Naruto's hair. The height difference between the two wasn't very noticeable, but Naruto would definitely surpass Tsunade in a year or two.

"If Lord Tsunade becomes the Fifth Hokage, then if I support her to the death, I should have special privileges, right?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Maybe," Tsunade said as if teasing a child, her red lips slightly parted. "If you can convince me to go back, I can help you sort out any trouble you get into in the future."

"It's a deal then."

Watching Naruto's departing figure, Tsunade's smile slowly faded.

Her golden eyes reflected the dim Tanzaku Town. She knew Orochimaru was lying to her; the dead could not be resurrected, and what was resurrected was nothing more than a corpse.

But she still wanted to do something foolish, even if it was just a last fantasy.

If Orochimaru were still alive, she would relentlessly try to revive Nawaki and Dan; only Orochimaru's death could put an end to that desire. It wasn't the only way, but it was the best.

Taking advantage of Orochimaru's injured arms, approach him alone and kill him.

On the rooftop, Naruto crouched in the shadows, intending to make do for the night and avoid Teuchi by Tsunade in the middle of the night.

The idea of killing Orochimaru with bare hands is simply immature.

Putting everything else aside, to be honest, Death Reaper, whom even the Orochimaru Reaper couldn't take, couldn't possibly be killed in a single blow by Tsunade, who's afraid of blood. Not to mention that Tsunade still has a fear of blood, making it even more difficult for her to exert any combat power.

This was practically a gamble with her life. If she managed to get close to Orochimaru during the treatment but failed to kill him in one blow, Orochimaru Tsunade likely be in grave danger.

Thinking of this, Naruto sighed and murmured to himself.

"Just hold on a little longer. Orochimaru only has Kabuto by his side. As long as he can get the Seal Removal Method, he will be free."