The afternoon in Tanzaku Town still carried an air of decadence and clamor, cut off from the smoke and flames of war.
The smell of cheap sake in shabby taverns, the feverish shouts and despairing sighs in gambling dens, and the languid solicitations of streetwalkers in the streets and alleys blended into the unique backdrop of this lawless place.
Deep inside an unremarkable, even somewhat dilapidated hot spring inn lay its quietest private courtyard.
The paper doors were shut tight, sealing out the noise. Tsunade slumped beneath the veranda, her back against a cold pillar, clutching a nearly empty sake flask as she gazed blearily at a half-withered plum tree in the courtyard.
Her long golden hair hung loose, covering half her face, but it could not conceal the bone-deep exhaustion and numbness that seeped from within.
Some time had passed since she had learned from Orochimaru of the wretched fate of her other-world self, since she had learned that Konoha had split and war had broken out again.
Alcohol seemed to be losing its numbing effect, and the sting of sobriety grew ever sharper. Yet the more sober she became, the more fiercely that helplessness and cold, bone-deep weariness surged within her.
She did not want to get involved, nor could she do anything.
Konoha? It had long since ceased to be her Konoha.
War? Had she not seen enough blood?
Nawaki's and Dan's faces always surfaced in the dead of night, accompanied by the heavy stench of blood.
"Just... let it all rot." She muttered to herself and swallowed another mouthful of burning liquid, trying to douse the lingering anxiety in her heart that even she despised.
Suddenly-
Outside the courtyard wall, the familiar, decadent clamor of Tanzaku Town seemed to be silently erased for an instant by