Chapter 65.5- One Thousand Hands

These children, these kids, they had managed toward their way into my heart slowly and surely and I would do my best to make them better than they had been in the world where I did not exist. I would make them great. I would see each and every one of them become legends that would carve their names into the world.

“Shorirama-Sama” I turned to my secretary, only now noticing her hesitancy.

“What’s happened?” It couldn’t be something too serious could it? If she’d waited this long to say it.

“The Hokage has woken up” She said. Oh. Ohhhh. How timely. Just in time to take credit for my victories, huh?

“How fortunate. I will make my way over there immediately” I said to her, making sure none of my thoughts showed on my face. Maybe I should have actually just had Uzume do it when I could have. Killed the man in his bed to avoid the suspicion. Maybe if Tsunade wasn’t the greatest medic in the world and his student I would have gone through with it. But she’d recognise any foul play from miles away and there was no chance I;’d get her to back off from investigating. Even worse, she was the wrong type of hot headed. If she got it in her head— or more likely, if someone (namely Danzo) got it in her head— that I had something to do with it then I would have her coming for my head.

“You guys should take care of yourselves while I’m gone, and please don’t trash the office” I said, directing the last part of the sentence to a blushing Kushina.

“It wasn’t my fault, the rasengan—“

I missed the rest of what I was sure would have been a very reasonable and impassioned defence of why she’d turned this place upside down the last time I’d left her alone in here as I teleported to the Hospital.

“Shori, you’re back” Tsunade said, head snapping up to me as I appeared in her office.

“Indeed. The Hokage is awake?” I asked.

“Danzo is seeing him now. I guess you could go right in after they finish” She said. I nodded, filing away the fact that Danzo had beaten me here as there was nothing to be done about that. It meant I was going to be going in on the Blackfoot with no idea just what Danzo had told him. I just hoped the cursed seal dealt with him appropriately.

“That works for me. What’s the state of things?”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“I mean how is he doing?” She looked at me, looked to the notes in front of her, and then sighed.

“I guess there’s no harm in telling you. You’d probably have been able to guess most of it on your own. The Healing Coma seal and jutsu from the Uzumaki clan let us save his life but it meant that we couldn’t operate in time. His body has healed to depend on one lung, and adding another one might place too much stress on it and would risk his life. With only one lung, and a good portion of his innards gone though, I find it difficult to image that he’d ever be a shinobi again” She said, and her voice broke in the middle. I stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. I could understand her pain at least. Hiruzen had been to Tsunade what Tobirama had been to me. With absent parents, he had been the father she needed, and now she could not help him with this.