Sunlight slanted through the half-drawn curtains, making Tsunade furrow her brow.
She pushed herself up, her body heavy. Her blond hair hung messily over her shoulders, and the bitter aftertaste of last night's sake still lingered in her mouth.
She staggered into the bathroom. Hot water washed over her skin, gradually carrying away the last traces of her drunkenness. She tilted her face up and let the water pat against her cheeks, droplets trickling down her collarbones. When she pressed her fingers to her temples, the dull ache of her hangover made her click her tongue.
She turned off the tap and grabbed a towel to dry herself. Her bathrobe hung loosely at her waist, the shadow of her deep cleavage faintly visible at the opening. Her wet hair clung to her back, dampening the fabric.
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Barefoot on the wooden floor, she left a trail of damp footprints as water droplets ran down her legs.
Tsunade picked up the glass bottle from the bedside table and sank into an armchair. She brushed the loose strands of hair from her forehead, uncorked the bottle, and took out the two rolled-up sheets of paper inside.
She unrolled the first sheet. Its contents brought her fully awake in an instant.
[Tsunade's Drift Bottle]
[1. After testing, this bottle can only be used by Tsunade and can only be received by Tsunade.]
[2. The bottle travels between Tsunades in different worlds and on different timelines.]
[3. Each Tsunade can give herself a unique name. Write that name in the recipient field, and the bottle will be received by the designated Tsunade. If the field is left blank, the Drift Bottle will randomly reach any Tsunade.]
[4. After writing your message, put the cork back in and silently think, "Throw the Drift Bottle," to use it.]
[5. Please include the above rules in every randomly sent Drift Bottle so the next Tsunade can use it.]
"I must still be drunk..."
Tsunade muttered with a frown, tossed the sheet aside, and unfolded the other one.
[Jiraiya is dead.]
The brief words stabbed into her eyes like a knife.
[I don't know which timeline's Tsunade is reading this letter, or whether that idiot is still alive in your world. But right now, I just need someone to vent to.]
[Naruto cried and demanded to know why I hadn't stopped him when I knew the mission was extremely dangerous.]
[I did try to say it, but we both know Konoha has no choice anymore. The Akatsuki threat is imminent, while Konoha is short on capable people. The Uchiha Clan Massacre has left the Hyuga half-crippled, and as for everyone else... sigh. All we have left to rely on are him and me.]
[Before he left, Jiraiya grinned and said, "You might as well bet I won't come back. Don't you always lose your bets?"]
[But this time, and only this time, I won.]
[I can't cry. I can't show the slightest weakness in front of anyone. If even the Hokage shows fear, then Konoha really will be destroyed this time.]
[This is the precious treasure Grandfather left behind. I have to... I have to protect it.]
[Recipient:]
[Sender: I Won't Be Hokage]
Tsunade clenched the letter in her hand. She flung the crumpled paper to the floor, where it rolled and rolled until it struck the corner of the wall and stopped.
"Heh," she sneered. "Jiraiya will die? The Uchiha Clan Massacre? The Hyuga half-crippled? Konoha will be destroyed? I'll become Hokage?"
"What idiot made up this ridiculous story? This is... unbelievably boring."
Tsunade's throat felt tight. She reached for the bottle she'd tossed onto the table the night before and tipped it back, but not a single drop came out.
She froze, then remembered that she'd won a fortune at the casino yesterday and had drunk far too much in celebration. She'd finished the entire bottle on her way back.
She slumped in the armchair. Morning sunlight streamed over her, but the inexplicable chill wouldn't go away.
After a long silence, Tsunade got up and grabbed the hair dryer, roughly blowing dry her damp blond hair. Hot air roared, yet her gaze kept drifting, against her will, to the crumpled paper on the floor.
What if... just what if... it was true?
But then she forced a mocking smile. What a joke. How could something so absurd possibly be real?
"Good morning, Lady Tsunade."
Shizune rubbed her eyes as she came out of the inner room. She stretched in the doorway and yawned.
Suddenly, she noticed a crumpled ball of paper on the floor. "What's this?"
The moment Shizune bent down, Tsunade flashed over and snatched the paper into her palm.
"It's nothing!"
Her voice was so sharp that even she startled herself.
Shizune paused, staring in surprise at Tsunade, who was acting strangely in every way.
Tsunade took a deep breath and softened her tone a little. "Don't worry about it. Go wash up. We're getting ready to leave."
"...Yes."
Shizune obediently answered and turned to go. She understood that Lady Tsunade didn't want her to know.
As soon as Shizune was gone, Tsunade slipped into the room and quickly rummaged through Shizune's travel bag, pulling out a stack of stationery and a fountain pen.
Tsunade lay on the bed, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the pen barrel as her gaze grew heavy.
Verifying whether this so-called [Drift Bottle] was real would be easy. She just had to try using it. If it was fake, she could ignore it. But if it was real... what should she write?
After thinking for a moment, she wrote [I Won't Be Hokage] in the recipient field, then scrawled [I Want to Be the God of Gamblers] in the sender field.
[Hello, another me.]
[This is the year 54 in Konoha. Based on what you wrote, you should be my future self.]
[This is my first time receiving a Drift Bottle. Please tell me what a timeline is, and what you mean by different worlds.]
[Also, what did you mean by the Uchiha Clan Massacre, the Hyuga being half-crippled, the Akatsuki threat, and Konoha being on the verge of destruction?]
[Please tell me. Thank you.]
As she wrote the last sentence, the pen nearly pierced the paper.
She stared at the still-wet ink and gave a self-mocking chuckle. "I've really gone crazy, writing something like this so seriously."
A short while later, a rustling sound came from outside the room. Shizune must have finished bathing and was getting dressed.
Tsunade quickly rolled up the letter she'd filled with writing and put it into the strange [Drift Bottle]. The moment the cork was secured, she took a deep breath and silently thought, "Throw the Drift Bottle."
The next moment, the [Drift Bottle] standing on the table vanished, as if it had never been there.
Tsunade instinctively touched her pocket. The two sheets of paper were still there, as if to tell her that none of what had just happened was a drunken hallucination.
Her throat bobbed. Suddenly, she felt a suffocating pressure closing in on her.
That bottle really could cross time... everything written in that letter was the future...
Tsunade suddenly wanted a drink, enough to make her stop thinking altogether. But now, an even more conflicted emotion was tearing at her reason.
Though she had long since lost all hope in that place, just as the letter had said:
Konoha was the precious treasure Grandfather had left behind.
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