The Women's Bathhouse: A Chance Encounter with Jiraiya

Work hard! Train hard!

Half a month later, at the training ground in the backyard.

"Hah!"

Tsunade planted her feet and threw a punch!

Boom!!

A crack split the half-height boulder before her straight down the middle. Then it broke in two with a crash.

Stone fragments scattered across the ground.

Tsunade slowly drew back her fist and nodded, satisfied with her handiwork.

"This might sound like a humblebrag, but this body's talent is seriously incredible."

She rolled her shoulders.

She could feel the power surging through her body and how much tougher her pectoral muscles had grown in half a month.

She couldn't help marveling at it.

People said success was ninety-nine percent hard work and one percent talent.

But there was a second half to that saying.

That one percent of talent was more important than ninety-nine percent of hard work.

Far more important!

Hard work only determined how far you could fall.

Talent determined how high you could climb!

Take Might Duy, Might Guy, and Rock Lee.

Which of those three hadn't worked harder than most people could imagine?

But look at what they achieved.

For all that effort, their levels of strength

were worlds apart.

That was the difference talent made.

As the Senju princess, Tsunade had extraordinary talent and strength beyond compare.

Perhaps she really had put in the work to master Medical Ninjutsu.

But physical training?

She didn't believe for a second that the original Tsunade had worked especially hard at it.

These past two weeks, though,

she had trained almost day and night.

She got up at four every morning to run.

At noon, she did strength training.

In the afternoon, she practiced Chakra control.

At night, she memorized Sealing Jutsu formulas with Mito.

Every hour of her day was packed!

Her Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines gave her terrifying powers of recovery and vast reserves of Chakra.

They let her withstand training far beyond what an ordinary person could bear.

And Tsunade loved every minute of it.

Even Mito felt sorry for her and urged her not to push herself so hard.

Each time, Tsunade readily replied, "Okay, Grandma, I know," then turned around and kept training.

"For a brighter future! A little suffering now is worth it!"

Tsunade smiled and touched her forehead.

A pale purple mark the size of a mung bean had appeared there over the past half month.

The beginnings of a Yin Seal.

Tsunade had barely set foot outside during those two weeks.

Under Mito's guidance, she had managed to form the first trace of the Yin Seal.

Now that the mark had taken shape, the rest would be slow, steady work.

She had to channel the Chakra that naturally leaked from her body into it, day after day.

Eventually, the Yin Seal would become a complete diamond-shaped mark.

"Phew..."

Tsunade exhaled slowly and flexed her joints.

"It's been half a month. I've more or less absorbed the original Tsunade's memories. Time to go out for a walk."

"I bet those two miss me, too."

Jiraiya.

Orochimaru.

Normally, the three of them would have been carrying out missions together.

But Tsunade had cited "secluded training in a family secret art"

and submitted a request for a year's leave to the Third Hokage.

Would Hiruzen Sarutobi dare refuse the Konoha Princess?

She'd pull out his beard if he did!

Besides, the Shinobi World was relatively peaceful right now. Konoha could spare her.

Tsunade peeled off her sticky training outfit, revealing the sweat-soaked undershirt beneath.

She was about to head inside for a shower.

Then she stopped.

A thought struck her out of nowhere.

"Wait."

Tsunade looked down at herself, then toward the distance.

A lecherous grin slowly spread across her face.

"If I'm going out anyway, why the hell would I bathe at home?!"

"The women's bathhouse in Konoha... Slurp, slurp."

Tsunade sucked back her drool.

She chuckled.

Her eyes practically shone.

In her previous life, when she had been more or less a guy,

the women's bathhouse had been a legendary forbidden land.

She had longed to see one but had never had the chance.

But now!

Who was she?

Tsunade!

A woman!

She had every right to walk into a women's bathhouse, didn't she?

"Heh heh heh..."

She gave her sweaty body a quick wipe with a towel.

Then she dug a clean change of clothes out of her wardrobe.

She grabbed another towel and a fresh pair of underwear,

then called toward Mito's room,

"Grandma, I'm done training! I'm all sweaty, so I'm going out for a bath!"

Without waiting for Mito to answer, she darted out the door.

"I can't wait..."

"After all these years, I'm finally going into a women's bathhouse for the first time!!"

Jiraiya?

Orochimaru?

What did those two matter compared to a trip to the women's bathhouse?

She had forgotten all about them!

"Hey, girl, keep walking straight ahead~ Keep walking~ Don't look ba-ack~"

Tsunade strode along, humming a tuneless song.

Villagers turned to look as she passed.

"Lady Tsunade's in a good mood today?"

"Did she find a new gambling house?"

"Surely not. Last time, she lost so badly she pawned her forehead protector."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! She'll beat you up if she hears!"

Tsunade paid them no mind. Her head was full of steamy images.

Her steps were so light she felt she might take flight.

The Konoha Hot Springs stood on the east side of the village.

It was a three-story wooden building.

A curtain hung over the entrance, and white steam billowed from within.

Tsunade spotted the building from afar, and her heart began to race.

"There it is, there it is..."

She took a deep breath and slowed down, pretending to be calm.

But just as she reached the edge of the bathhouse and rounded the bamboo grove that screened it from view,

a furtive figure suddenly flashed past the corner of the wall ahead!

Tsunade stopped and turned to look.

A young man in combat gear with spiky white hair

was creeping along the bathhouse's outer wall, hunched low.

Young, handsome Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya?!"

Tsunade's eyes widened. She nearly lost her composure.

Holy crap! Did he come straight here to peep at the women's bathhouse after finishing a mission?!

He's got no shame at all!

Tsunade followed him without thinking.

Those two weeks of physical training hadn't been for nothing.

Her footsteps were much lighter than before.

She crept up behind Jiraiya without a sound, and he didn't notice her at all.

Jiraiya stopped at the base of the wall.

He glanced left and right to make sure no one was around.

Then he gripped the edges of a gap in the wall.

He twisted himself into an impossibly awkward position, pressing almost his entire body against the bathhouse's wooden exterior.

His right eye was fixed on a tiny crack in the wall.

His left eye was squeezed shut.

Soft, appreciative little clicks escaped his mouth.

"Tch. What a loser."

She curled her lip in disdain.

But for all that,

she couldn't make herself leave.

Well, I'm already here...

Tsunade swallowed and glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby.

Then she carefully edged closer.

Beside Jiraiya, she gripped the same gap and pressed her face to the wall.

I'll just take a look... See what's inside...

But with a single glance, Tsunade's eyes went round!

Steam filled the bathhouse, blurring part of her view.

She could still make out the scene.

Several young women were washing themselves beside the pool.

Pale skin appeared and vanished through the steam, and droplets of water traced their curves...

Water splashed. Laughter and playful shouts mingled in the air.

Tsunade couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Holy... holy shit..."

Her mouth fell open, her face rapt.

"So this is... a women's bathhouse...?"