A new diary recipient

Tanzaku Town.

It was famous for its hot springs and gambling.

That had successfully attracted the legendary sucker to settle here. Yes, Tsunade herself had just finished losing her money and come to the hot springs to wash away the day's frustrations.

Gloom hung over her from head to toe. A voluptuous, mature woman wrapped in a bathrobe stepped across the floor on bare feet, her toenails painted red.

She reached the edge of the hot spring, and a splash rang out. Her shapely legs vanished into the water in an instant.

"Ahh~ That feels good~"

Wrapped in the hot water, Tsunade instantly relaxed after a full day of losing and adjusted the long blond hair piled atop her head.

"What rotten luck today."

As she complained helplessly about her bad luck, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Lady Tsunade, why did you come here again?"

Shizune hurried inside as well, also wrapped in a bathrobe. Holding a little pig, with her long black hair falling to her waist, she looked deeply worried.

"We're already out of money!"

"Oh, come on! I just had bad luck today. I'll definitely win it back next time, and then I'll treat you to a feast!"

Tsunade glanced sideways at Shizune, who had just entered the water beside her, and patted her chest in assurance.

Shizune rolled her eyes slightly, looking helpless. A meal once Tsunade won some money? Would she ever get to eat it?

It seemed unlikely. She shook her head helplessly and soaked quietly, enjoying the peace of the moment. At least no debt collectors were after them right now.

They soaked for a long, long time...

By the time they had washed away the day's physical and mental exhaustion, evening had arrived. The sun set, and only then did the two pay for their bath and sneak back to the inn.

"Bedtime, bedtime!"

Bang!

"Damn it! Who put something this hard on my bed?"

Tsunade quickly got up, holding her head. She glared at the thick book that had appeared on her pillow.

"Was it those debt collectors?"

It's not like I'm refusing to pay! What's the rush? I just don't have any money right now!

I'll pay once I have it! Yet they keep coming every day like they're hounding me to my grave. If I weren't in the wrong, I'd beat them to death with my fists! They even dared to break into my room!

Thinking this, she picked up the Diary and read the words on its cover.

(Diary Instance.)

(...)

"Whose diary is this? Why did they leave it here?"

In a Ninja world where intelligence was everything, someone keeping a diary and letting it fall into another person's hands was rather strange.

Tsunade kept turning the pages. All the talk of someone from another world and some tree-planting competition left her completely confused.

Still, she knew what the Sharingan was. Could this be the Uchiha Clan's sole survivor?

That suspicion was dispelled after she turned another couple of pages.

After all, the Diary mentioned interactions with Sasuke Uchiha, which automatically ruled out Sasuke Uchiha as its author.

"Danzo? He really is a blight. No wonder my great-uncle didn't choose him as Hokage."

Reading the Diary's criticism of Danzo and the author's worries after awakening the Sharingan, Tsunade felt no fondness for him either.

The rest was just idle chatter, and Tsunade quickly flipped through several pages.

"What does this video mean?"

She quickly turned a few more pages and found the video of Sasuke Uchiha and Shimura Danzō.

Beep!

...Time to watch the video.

Less than ten seconds in, her body began trembling.

Shake, shake, shake~

By the time the video ended, Tsunade had kept her eyes shut the whole time. Her body shook like a leaf, her ample figure trembling as though struck by an earthquake.

"Blood!"

Tsunade's trembling lips managed to utter a single word.

Yes, the battle between Sasuke Uchiha and Shimura Danzō was full of blood. It was practically drenched in it.

Danzo was crushed into bloody pulp and pierced through, and blood streaked Sasuke's face.

In the original story, even the blood from a cut finger could have such a tremendous effect on her. With this duel's realistic imagery, the impact on the current Tsunade was no less than facing a new war!

It felt as though her heart had been gripped tight, while memories of the war tore through her mind.

Tsunade parted her lips and gasped heavily, pressing a hand to her chest as the pressure surged.

"Hah~ Ngh~ Wh-why is it so real?!"

It was so realistic that she wanted to die. Since this was her first time using it, she did not even know how to exit. She could only listen, but imagining the scene from the sounds was even more terrifying.

"Hah, hah~"

Trembling, Tsunade closed the book and hurled it aside.

Bang, bang!

Then, drained of strength, she collapsed facedown on the bed. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it, breathing rapidly as she tried to ease her racing heart and the memories that had resurfaced.

After half an hour of recovery, she finally felt better, and her gaze involuntarily drifted toward the book she had thrown aside.

"What on earth is this thing?"

After a brief consideration, Tsunade decided not to read any further. She was afraid there would be more videos that would trigger her fear of blood again.

Yet she had only been lying down for a short while when the Diary she had thrown onto the floor began glowing gold.

With her back turned to it, Tsunade noticed the room growing brighter. She instantly frowned and turned her head, seeing words appearing in the Diary on their own!

"Whoa, it can do that?"

After a brief consideration, Tsunade decided to take another look. At worst, she could skip the videos and only read the words!

Then she got up, strode over to pick up the Diary, and returned to the bed to open it.

"I actually take someone on as an apprentice?"

Tsunade shook her head slightly, puzzled by the Diary's claim that she might someday take a girl named Sakura Haruno as her apprentice.

It could reveal things that would happen in the future. Did its author have some special ability?

Had that earlier talk of a tree-planting competition predicted some future crisis?

"Or does something happen in the future that makes me change my mind?"

Tsunade pondered as she looked at the Diary. At least for now, she had absolutely no desire to take an apprentice. She did not even want to return to Konoha.

She had flipped through it so quickly that she had skipped right past the video of Pain's invasion, so she did not know she would become Hokage in the future.

[Still, it should be fine. If things really do change, being a civilian would be pretty nice too. The future crisis isn't something learning a couple of skills can change. It'll still come down to the savior.]

[If I can become her apprentice, I'll have another source of healing in the future. As for befriending Tsunade, forget it. She's an old granny with a seriously awful temper, no matter who she's dealing with. Besides, I don't have money to lend her.]

Tsunade: ???

"Fine. Fine. Fine!"

Seeing those words, Tsunade felt deeply insulted and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Just you wait, brat. You'd better hope I never find out who you are!"

How dare he slander her age? Didn't he know a woman's age was off-limits?

Tsunade instantly flared with anger and waved her fist. It was lucky she did not know who he was, or she would have gone back to the village and given him a beating.

"Heh. You'd better hope I don't figure out who you are!"

Seething with anger, she turned the Diary back to its first page. This time, she read very carefully, examining every single word.

She wanted to use these scattered clues to discover the identity of the Diary's owner.

She wanted to narrow down the possibilities, drag him over, and pin him hard against a wall with one arm braced beside him. Then she would make him put a hand over his heart, look at her face, and tell her whether she was old!

"Just you wait, you little brat!"

After that, only the rustling of turning pages could be heard in the room.