Salamander Hanzo

Time turned back to the present.

On the southern front against Sunagakure in the Land of Rain, Utatane Koharu had arrived at Konoha's temporary camp with a total of three hundred shinobi from the Sarutobi Clan and the Utatane Clan, ready to relieve Tsunade's unit.

After Salamander Hanzo left the southern front, Tsunade and Chiyo had become bitter rivals. No matter how Chiyo refined and improved her deadly poisons, Tsunade always managed to neutralize them right away. She even injected herself with an antidote in advance and used herself as bait, trading injuries for lives to take down several Sunagakure elites!

After seeing Tsunade, Utatane Koharu gave a slight nod.

"Tsunade, hand over the records on the poisons Sunagakure has used recently, along with the antidote formulas. Then head to the northern front against Amegakure in the Land of Rain as soon as possible. Salamander Hanzo is there, and Orochimaru and Jiraiya are having a hard time holding on."

Tsunade nodded. "You know what things are like here, Elder Koharu. That old woman Chiyo has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, so stay alert."

Utatane Koharu replied, "Don't worry. We'll be careful."

Just then, a commotion erupted outside the camp. A shinobi hurried over to report, "My lady, a Sunagakure squad ambushed our supply convoy!"

Tsunade frowned, then gave a mocking laugh and looked at Utatane Koharu. "Heh. Looks like that old woman Chiyo doesn't want me leaving so soon."

Utatane Koharu's gaze sharpened. "Tsunade, Torifu and I can handle things here. You should get to the Amegakure front and help Orochimaru and Jiraiya."

Tsunade waved a hand, looking a little regretful. "All right, I'll be off, then. As for the records you asked for, I've told my assistant where everything is. I'll leave her with you. I'd been hoping to teach those Sunagakure guys another lesson first, though..."

With that, the two groups of shinobi swiftly headed off in different directions.

Utatane Koharu took a large force to support the supply convoy in the rear. Tsunade, by contrast, had only five people in her unit, herself included. Of the seventeen-person medical team at the camp, she took just one rookie who had only recently begun learning Medical Ninjutsu, leaving behind all the experienced battlefield medics she had worked so hard to train.

After several hours on the road, Tsunade and her four companions finally arrived at the northern front against Amegakure.

"Yo~ Tsuna-nee, long time no see!" (Big sis Tsunade, it's been ages!)

There had been no major clashes with Amegakure that day, and Qi Luna wasn't needed at the field hospital, so he had been wandering around the temporary camp out of boredom.

He had been using Mind's Eye of the Kagura to keep watch for any more tricks from Old Man Madara and the White Zetsu. Then five chakra signatures suddenly entered his range. One of them was especially familiar: his cousin, Tsunade, whom he hadn't seen in a while.

That was why Qi Luna had waved and greeted Tsunade just now.

"Is that you? What are you doing on the battlefield? This isn't a place for children to play house. Do Grandma and Grandpa know you're here? You didn't sneak off, did you?"

Once she recognized him, Tsunade relaxed. Qi Luna's enormous chakra was impossible to fake, and they were already near Konoha's camp, so there was practically no chance he was an enemy in disguise.

Tsunade stepped over and vigorously ruffled Qi Luna's hair. His long red locks soon ended up looking like a certain Chinese celebrity's "scruffy little dog."

"Hey, stop it, Tsunade! If you keep this up, I won't be friends with you anymore. And I won't teach you the new Nintaijutsu I developed, the one that's perfect for you!"

Seeing his hair in a complete mess, and unable to wriggle free from Tsunade's grip, Qi Luna hurriedly tried to threaten her.

"Forget it. This isn't the place to chat. Take me to Orochimaru and that idiot Jiraiya first."

At the prospect of getting something good out of him, Tsunade promptly stopped. After awkwardly changing the subject, she followed Qi Luna into camp.

Once they entered, Tsunade dismissed the other four Konoha shinobi who had come with her. Then, following Qi Luna's directions, she headed to the command tent.

At the sound of someone outside the tent, Orochimaru and Jiraiya reflexively looked up.

"Tsunade, you're just in time. We have plenty of problems that need your help, especially the Ibuse poison! More than half the shinobi we've lost here were killed by it!"

"Even aside from those who were corroded to death by the poisonous mist on the battlefield, quite a few were poisoned after returning and died in agony..."

A person's reputation preceded them.

With Tsunade's arrival, the heavy atmosphere in the tent lifted. There was no denying it: she had earned the title of "Medical Saint" on the front against Sunagakure!

Tsunade immediately grasped how dire things were on the Amegakure front. The jōnin's faces, once so grim, had finally brightened. She knew that their smiles carried expectations of her—and their trust.

Time was fleeting, and every second was precious. The enormous burden of the task weighed on her shoulders as the "Medical Saint."

She immediately gathered the medical staff and began developing an antidote for the Ibuse poison.

In the infirmary, she gave Qi Luna firm, clear instructions to assist her. With his vast chakra reserves, he could be enormously helpful whenever chakra was needed to accelerate a medicine's preparation.

Orochimaru, who still wasn't very skilled at making antidotes or poisons, watched Tsunade arrive at camp and throw herself straight into a new round of demanding work. Once the war was over and they returned, he would have to brush up on antidotes, poisons, and human anatomy...

"Strengthen the defenses around camp and assign people to patrol, especially along the key routes. Tsunade is at a critical point in developing the antidote. We can't afford even the slightest mistake!"

"At the same time, the intelligence squad needs to step up its efforts. I want to know everything Salamander Hanzo has done over the past few days, no matter how small. I have a feeling the decisive battle... is coming!"

Orochimaru's words were brief and forceful, making everyone's duties clear.

That night, nothing went wrong, and with Qi Luna's help, Tsunade quickly produced an antidote that could effectively suppress the Ibuse poison. But with time running short, this version of the medicine couldn't cure it completely.

"This Ibuse poison is incredibly troublesome. It's nothing like the poison that old woman Chiyo makes by diluting Ibuse's venom and mixing it with various other poisons."

"I can make a medicine that will cure it completely, but that would take far longer. Most of the poisoned shinobi won't last that long. For now, all we can do is use this to keep them alive..."

Tsunade distributed the newly developed medicine to the poisoned shinobi. With a heavy heart, she explained the situation to everyone, then left the temporary medicine lab tent for a while.

Night fell. Tsunade returned to the temporary barracks, her body exhausted. Moonlight fell across her, but she didn't let up for a moment. She kept reading scrolls, searching through records, and thinking about how to produce large quantities of the medicine needed to completely cure the Ibuse poison in such a short time.

She knew she bore the trust of everyone in Konoha. She had to race against the clock. If she could find a solution even one minute sooner, she might save another comrade's life...

Additional notes:

In this story, Kushina and Qi Luna are first cousins, with Kushina as the older cousin.

Their grandfather was Uzumaki Mito's brother and the eldest son of Uzumaki Ashina. So Uzumaki Mito is Kushina and Qi Luna's great-aunt, which makes Tsunade Kushina and Qi Luna's cousin.

As for Orochimaru's lack of skill with poisons and antidotes, that's my personal take: he's currently in a period of rapid growth and hasn't yet experimented on his own body. He won't start studying them until after the Sannin become famous, Dan Katō dies, and Tsunade develops hemophobia. Only after he truly understands how fragile life is will he begin exploring the dark arts—scratch that, I mean, trusting science!