Tsunade ran through the night wind, pulling off her iconic green gambling robe as she went.
She kicked off the ground and hurtled straight at Lin Zi, driving a punch into his face.
Lin Zi dodged like a slippery snake, tilting his head just enough for her fist to whistle past his nose.
But Tsunade was faster than he expected. The moment her first punch missed, her second attack—the Heavenly Foot of Pain—came crashing down!
Boom!
Lin Zi leaped back. The ground where he had been standing was kicked into a crater several meters across. While still in midair, he formed Hand Seals before his chest.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Rumble!
The ground surged violently. Sharp stone spikes and thick walls burst upward, closing in from every direction like a trap, trying to imprison Tsunade in their midst.
But Tsunade didn't even look. She kicked off a rising stone pillar and launched herself into the air.
She landed on one knee atop a boulder, then pushed off hard. Twisting in midair, she brought her long leg down over Lin Zi's head like a battle-axe!
"Tsunade! You can stop now!" Jiraiya shouted from behind, chasing after her and gasping for breath.
There's just no stopping this woman... Lin Zi cursed inwardly. She's even more stubborn than I thought.
He took a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
A red dragon of light roared from his mouth. Its claws gripped a black orb, which burst in midair with blinding light and a piercing boom.
The sudden sonic blast made Tsunade falter. Her vision went white, and her eardrums rang.
"I don't want to hurt you, Tsunade." Lin Zi sighed as countless black snakes shot from his sleeves. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
A dense swarm of snakes surged toward Tsunade like a black tide, coiling around her wrists, ankles, and waist as they struggled to hold her back.
Meanwhile, Lin Zi began forming Hand Seals at high speed. Beneath his skin, it looked as though countless living things were writhing.
Great Snake Manipulation Technique.
His whole body looked like a dead snake shedding its skin. The outer "human skin" split from the top of his head and slithered limply to the ground.
His true form was a gigantic serpent forcing its way out of his throat, its body woven from thousands upon thousands of tiny white snakes.
As its tongue flicked in and out, the air around it rippled and warped, as if its countless little mouths could tear apart and devour even light and Chakra.
But at that very moment, Tsunade broke free of the snakes.
Grimacing through the lingering effects of the White Rage Technique, she drove a punch forward!
The pressure from her fist cut through the air like an invisible blade, grazing Lin Zi's serpent body.
Slice.
His skin split open, and blood spattered out. Lin Zi frowned and glanced down at the wound, but didn't think much of it.
But when he looked up at Tsunade again, he saw that she had suddenly gone rigid.
Tsunade stared at the few drops of blood on the grass. Her pupils widened, and her breathing turned rapid and ragged.
The blood drained from her face, which had been fierce with killing intent just moments before. Her lips began to tremble, and her teeth clicked together with a faint chattering.
Hemophobia.
"Do something... Jiraiya..." She raised her head, trembling, her voice as faint as a whisper, filled with a fragility and despair he had never heard from her before. "What are you... waiting for...?"
The world spun before Tsunade's eyes. The blood dripping onto the forest grass spread wider and wider, growing redder and redder in her vision.
In a daze, she saw Dan lying in a pool of blood, covered in it and reaching out to her. Nawaki was beside him, a gaping hole in his chest as he cried out for his big sister.
"No... don't..."
Tsunade froze in place, her pupils unfocused. She couldn't even straighten up.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shizune came rushing out with a scream. She was trembling with fear, tears almost spilling from her eyes, but she still spread her arms and stood firmly in front of Tsunade, refusing to retreat even half a step.
"Orochimaru! Don't come any closer!" she shouted at Lin Zi, her voice shaking.
Lin Zi was still in his Great Snake Manipulation Technique form, his tongue flicking in and out.
Seeing this, he clicked his tongue and brought his hands together.
"Disperse."
With a rustling sound, the giant serpent came apart in an instant. Countless little white snakes peeled away from his body like a retreating tide, turning into white smoke as they slipped back inside him.
The terrifying pressure vanished in an instant. All that remained in the forest was the night wind rustling through the leaves.
Lin Zi crouched down and pressed a palm glowing with Ryūchi Cave Senjutsu Chakra against the wound on his arm.
The flesh drew together as if gripped by an invisible hand. The bleeding stopped at once, and not even a scar remained. Natural Energy swept the smell of blood from the air.
He looked into Tsunade's hollow eyes and suddenly spoke.
"In my world, what you're afraid of is getting injections."
Tsunade didn't react. She was still trembling, tears streaming silently down her face.
Lin Zi leaned closer, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on her. His voice was quiet, but it struck with the precision of a blade.
"It seems your fears all come from the same place: some kind of guilt. I don't really know what happened to you, so I can't comfort you for now."
His words pierced the hallucination before Tsunade's eyes.
Her pupils contracted sharply. Tears flooded down her cheeks and fell onto the grass.
But at the same time, her ragged breathing gradually settled, and her fingers, clenched in the dirt, slowly relaxed.
Jiraiya stood nearby, mouth opening as if to speak. In the end, he said nothing. He just silently watched Lin Zi crouched on the ground, his expression complicated.
Lin Zi stood up and brushed the dust from his knees.
"Tsunade, you need to get up. There's no time for this world's version of you and me to catch up."
Tsunade braced herself against her knees and stood. She clenched one hand into a fist and briskly wiped the tears from her face.
Then she slammed a fist into the ground. With a boom, dirt flew and turf peeled back, as if she meant to pound all the weakness, fear, and humiliation she had just shown into the cracked earth.
She raised her head. Her voice was still a little hoarse, but she forced the words out with stubborn resolve. "Hey... in your world, did I ever beat that thing?"
With his back to her, Lin Zi didn't turn around. "Of course. She may look like a little kid, but she's stronger than you think."
Tsunade stood there stunned, looking down at her palm, which still trembled slightly. Then she managed a bitter smile. "...I guess I'm kind of jealous of her."
Jiraiya came over and offered her a hand. Tsunade used it to steady herself.
Jiraiya lowered his voice and leaned close to her ear. "Minato mentioned it in his secret letter... On the night of the Nine-Tails attack, someone like him saved Kushina—and Minato himself."
Tsunade's pupils contracted sharply.
She looked up at Lin Zi's silhouette at the edge of the forest, as if she were seeing the weight of his presence clearly for the first time.
He wasn't an enemy, a missing-nin, or even the snake she knew. He was something she couldn't yet understand, an existence that stood on Konoha's side.
Shizune clutched Tonton nearby and muttered under her breath, "Lady Tsunade... he really doesn't seem like a bad person."
The night wind swept past. Lin Zi seemed to hear her, and his shoulder twitched almost imperceptibly. He simply started walking out of the forest, his voice drifting back to them.
"Let's go. Didn't Jiraiya explain? The people of Kumogakure are after you, Big Fat Sheep."
Before you continue