The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #20

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Naruto or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let’s goooo!

Konoha, Land of Fire

–Kenta Senju–

They walked out of the room, giving the patient peace and quiet, as he asked Shizune the question that would make or break his proposal here, “Are you happy with the situation?”

Shizune looked startled at the line of questioning and it was understandable since it was something deeply personal but he did not have the time to be subtle right now.

He needed answers so the next part of the strategy could be formulated because doing all of this for Tsunade was worth it. It would all be worth it, even if she held a lifelong grudge against him, if Tsunade could be persuaded to use her abilities for the good of the village that her grandfather founded, keeping her resentment and feelings aside.

“Um-Uh, I don’t–”

He cut her off mercilessly, utilising the knowledge that someone of her inexperience should be more amenable to offering information as long as they were off balance. Not feeling much guilt over that, he continued, “You know precisely what I am talking about. I am talking about the situation that Tsunade will take you to once she wakes up and decides that the village will be fine now, where you will live like nomads, without any bonds with the people around you, running from debt collectors. That situation,”

Shizune wrung her hands, clearly nervous as she spoke hesitantly, “It is not optimal but Tsunade-sama does the best she can, really!”

He sighed at the defense, as if it was ingrained within her to automatically jump at Tsunade’s defense. This was getting ridiculous. He was definitely sensing a mental condition of sorts, which would not be surprising..

After all, Tsundae did kind of whisk away Shizune when she was barely a shinobi, showing her dreams of grandeur and then forced her to remain with a barely mentally functioning woman who was on the run from debt collectors. He could clearly see signs of a very unhealthy dependent relationship here.

Another thing to add in the reports to Sarutobi. It would seem that it was not just Tsunade who would be going to the Yamanakas for professional counseling. At least when it came to Tsunade, they could very easily perform mentally evasive jutsus to accelerate the process vastly, not something they could risk with a shinobi of Tsunade’s calibre.

A calibre of which he was very recently reminded of.

He raised his hand, stopping Shizune from defending Tsunade any further, “I am not asking you to sing praises about your teacher here, Shizune-san. I am here to ask you, do you wish for the situation to remain the same,”

Tears gathered in her eyes as she tried to stick to the story that would not make her teacher look bad but eventually, the dam burst as Shizune began blabbering about. He made meaningful eye contact with the ANBU hidden in the room who got his message as Shizune began speaking her true thoughts.

“No, I don’t want us to go back to living like fugitives in our own country. I don’t want to have to wake up either an empty clearing in the forest or to a shinobi who was so out of it she would barely respond to her name.” The outburst, accompanied with the negative emotions like resentment, anger, rage, guilt and even shame at speaking like this made him raise an eyebrow.

It was good that she was speaking like this, especially in the company of the ANBU. This should force Sarutoobi to force Shizune to reintegrate with the village’s forces, or ideally, be sent on a short vacation before being absorbed as a doctor permanently.

Because as far as he can tell, she did not have the mentality of being a shinobi, in the field, medic or otherwise. She might have had that mindset once upon a time but her time with Tsunade had clearly left its mark on her, another crime that Tsunade unknowingly committed.

To waste your time? Not cool, especially since in some ways, shinobi belonged to the village and the Kage. But understandable, especially since S-class shinobi always had the rules applied differently to them.

But to waste the life of someone else? Another shinobi no less? Well, he clearly remembers the records of the Akimichi clan, wherein it was written that any shinobi who wished to or succeeded in killing himself would forever get his family marked as traitors as it was considered harming the clan by depriving it of a valuable resource.

Some might consider it old fashioned but he would still like that to be true. This single thing alone brought Tsunade down so many notches in his mind.

“I don’t want to nurse her. I don’t want to be the one to tolerate the sleazy debt collectors, to ward them off when she had knocked herself out. I hate it!” 

He sighed at that, moving to stop her from speaking anymore since it was clearly painful and he had already got what he needed. If, after this, Sarutobi still bent the rules to allow Tsunade to take Shizune with her, then, he might really need to use his newfound authority as the Senju Clan Head to converse with the other Clan Heads.

Sarutobi was clearly the only viable candidate to become Hokage, of that he was certain, but that did not mean he was infallible, and could be allowed to do as he pleased. If some decisions were to be yanked away from his authority? So be it.

She either did not see his gesture or did not care as she continued, “I don’t want to go back. I…also don’t want her to go back. I cannot see her destroy herself anymore. She doesn’t deserve that. She is hurting and she needs help. I am…I’m not the one who can help her anymore.”

He hid the smile on his face as he felt Tsunade’s chakra stir awake and Shizune speak with literally the perfect timing, as if the Sage himself was organising everything.

Shizune chuckled bitterly, “Ironic, isn’t it? Being the greatest healer in all the Five Great Nations and she cannot heal herself for the wounds are not of the flesh.”

After that, Shizuyne slumped, clearly mentally and emotionally exhausted, as she looked up at him with hope, “You defeated her, right? You can help her, right? Please, can you help Tsunade-sama? She is not a bad person, just…she is hurt and doesn’t know what to do. I am sure she can–”

He raised a hand to forestall her pleas, as already intended to do that but Tsunade and Shizune did not need to know that. The situation was turning out to be better than he had ever expected it to be.

“I understand. I will talk to the Hokage, and see if she can be forced to stay here and get help. I have to leave soon but once I come back, I will personally see to her recovery, alright?”

“Yes,” Shizune smiled, “Thank you for that.”

“Alright,” He smiled, glanced at the ANBU and left through the window.

“Tell the Hokage that Tsunade will most likely remain here. Begin the search for a viable candidate for her therapy,”

With that said, he jumped over the village walls and into the forest surrounding Konoha.

Smiling as he stilled and took in Nature Energy, he realised that things would not go nearly as bad as he thought they would go, before they turned for the better. With Tsunade back in the village, Jiriaya will be free to resume his duties and Tsunade can work on getting the fatality ratio down.

She could do that much without ever seeing the patient, such was the value of a medic of her calibre.

And Sarutobi was willing to let her be. Once more, he shook his head in dismay. The extent to which emotions can compromise old and tired individuals was astonishing.

Old Shinobi might be the single most dangerous breed of shinobi but they would clearly sustain too many emotional wounds to function at their optimum mindset. He really had to admire Onoki for that, to remain the only rock of his village for so many years, without any hope of retiring in the future.

It really sucked that the only recorded Kage to have ever retired was Sarutobi and even then, he barely got half a decade’s worth of time to enjoy his retirement before he was sucked back into the meat grinder that was the life of shinobi in this world.