Tsunade at Death's Door

"Exactly, brothers! Trust the Leader. That jutsu just looks impressive," one of the Chunin beside them chimed in.

"We believe in the Leader!" Hearing Reindali and the others say that, the men believed them, too, and their fighting spirit soared.

"Bring it on, kid! We're not scared of you!" Seeing his men regain their confidence, Reindali quietly relaxed. Hopefully, so many of them could withstand this attack.

"Hmph! You fools have no idea what you're dealing with. You think you can withstand this with your numbers? Take this!"

Lightning Release: Kirin!!!

Guided by Tianqi's Chidori, Kirin plunged toward the people below.

Boom!!!

The blast unleashed a tremendous force, destroying everything within two kilometers. The people below vanished, leaving only Reindali, battered and sprawled on the ground, barely clinging to life.

Tianqi had deliberately controlled Kirin to spare him. With his strength, Reindali would never have survived the attack otherwise.

"Well? You can tell me who's pulling your strings now," Tianqi said, looming over Reindali.

"Cough... Is there any point in saying anything now? I'm not going to live much longer anyway," Reindali said weakly, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Hmph! Still being stubborn, trying to bargain with me. Fine, I'll put you out of your misery." Tianqi could tell Reindali didn't want to die. He was just using his imminent death as leverage to negotiate. Tianqi wasn't about to indulge him. He ended Reindali's life with his Tang Dao.

"Nice try, thinking you could pull one over on me. You think I wouldn't know even if you kept quiet? This place is close to the Land of Earth, so your backer has to be that old Ōnoki."

"Ōnoki's always plotting something. The last war barely ended, and he's already started gathering people everywhere. Hmph, if Ōnoki dares to pick a fight with me, I'll remind him just how terrifying the Uchiha can be." Tianqi wiped the blood from his blade.

Before Ōnoki became Tsuchikage, he was just an ordinary shinobi, but he was incredibly determined. That was why both the First Tsuchikage and the Second Tsuchikage had thought highly of him and intended to groom him as the next Tsuchikage.

As a young man, Ōnoki had traveled to Konoha with the Second Tsuchikage to discuss an alliance. But on the way, they ran into Madara!

Even though they were supposed to become allies, Madara showed them no hospitality whatsoever. Worse, he looked down on the Tsuchikage and Ōnoki. To Madara, there was no such thing as an ally.

Madara made it clear that Konoha needed obedient underlings, not allies! And of course, he had the strength to back up his arrogance.

That way of thinking ran counter to the First Hokage Hashirama's belief in alliances, and it made Ōnoki and the others resent Konoha's betrayal.

Under Madara's overwhelming power, even the Second Tsuchikage, who possessed Kekkei Tōta, had been badly injured. What chance had thirteen-year-old Ōnoki stood?

From then on, Ōnoki was traumatized. For decades afterward, he lived in fear of Madara.

"Poor Ōnoki. Madara scared him when he was young. Maybe he thinks that now Madara's dead, he can throw his weight around again. Invading smaller countries on his own to build up his forces... Once I've obtained the Eternal Mangekyō, I'll have to teach him a lesson." Tianqi put his blade away in the Kamui Dimension and went off to finish off the remaining nobodies.

Elsewhere, after Kirin appeared in the sky, the enemy fell into disarray. Jiraiya and the others seized the chance to take them down.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The wind fanned the flames, and the flames rode the wind. Jiraiya and Orochimaru unleashed a combined jutsu, taking out several shinobi.

To Tianqi, these shinobi were nobodies. But for Jiraiya and the others, they were extremely tough opponents.

"Huff, huff... What's Tianqi doing? At this rate, we won't be able to hold out," Jiraiya panted.

"Huff... Don't worry, huff... He should be on his way. We have to hang in there." Orochimaru had already been strong to begin with, and now he'd used up even more of his strength. He was panting heavily.

"Can you two keep going? If not, I'll take over," Tsunade said, looking at them.

"No, Tsunade. You have to protect Tang He. If he dies, we'll fail this mission," Orochimaru told her.

"Forget the mission! At this rate, you'll both die!" Tsunade said anxiously.

"How about I go get help? I know a shortcut to where they're holding the people of the Land of Hot Water." Tang He couldn't bear to watch the three children die right in front of him. He couldn't do that.

"No! Everything's in chaos out there. You'd be walking to your death. I won't allow it!" Jiraiya immediately refused.

"Maybe..."

"Orochimaru, how much Chakra do you have left?" Jiraiya ignored Tang He and turned to Orochimaru.

"Just a little. Enough for one last jutsu." Orochimaru checked his Chakra.

"I can manage one more, too. There are still more than twenty shinobi in front of us, and we can't win in a Taijutsu fight. Let's use one last combined jutsu and go all in." Jiraiya looked at the enemies before them.

"Fine! Let's do it together." Orochimaru didn't hesitate. He wanted to make one last stand with Jiraiya.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Boom! A massive fireball shot toward the shinobi and exploded, but this time it only took out one of them. The others had already seen the jutsu once and were ready for it.

"It's over. We're dead." The two exchanged a glance and collapsed, their bodies drained of strength. They'd exhausted their Chakra. They could still speak with their eyes open, but their bodies wouldn't move.

Just then, a sudden turn of events: a shinobi leaped out from behind Tsunade and thrust a Kunai at her.

"Watch out, Tsunade!" The two lying on the ground saw the shinobi trying to ambush her. They wanted to move, but couldn't, so they could only warn her.

Stab! Thanks to their warning, Tsunade turned and dodged the fatal strike, but the Kunai still cut her arm.

"Damn it, there was another one hiding behind us." Tsunade clutched her bleeding arm. She'd already taken care of several people who had charged at her, but she hadn't realized there was another one behind her.

"Heh heh, I've been hiding here for ages. I can't believe you still managed to dodge. But now you've lost an arm, and your teammates are down. You've got no backup, so you're no match for me anymore."

"If you surrender and come with me, I might let you live." The ambushing shinobi leered at Tsunade. He didn't want to miss out on such a stunning young woman.

"Spit! A shinobi like you thinks I'd surrender and go with you? Dream on!" Tsunade spat at the leering shinobi.

"If you won't come willingly, then I'll kill you. I can still have you after you're dead. You just won't know about it." The ambushing shinobi licked the blood off his Kunai and charged at Tsunade.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya shouted.

"Am I going to die? I haven't even become a shinobi like Grandpa and Great-Uncle yet. I wonder where Tianqi is right now. Will I ever get to see him again?" Seeing the Kunai just inches away, Tsunade gave up resisting and closed her eyes. She thought of Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Tianqi.

Without realizing it, Tianqi had already claimed a place in her heart.

Whoosh. Half a day went by, yet Tsunade felt no pain.

"Why hasn't anything happened? Have I already died without feeling it? Is this what being dead feels like? I don't feel anything." Tsunade opened her eyes and muttered to herself.