Natsumi Uzumaki

Tsunade Senju Part VI

(Recap)

You've made a grave mistake, Tsunade," Orochimaru reminded her for what seemed the hundredth time. Clearly the prospect of missing out on recruiting her rubbed him the wrong way. She spat blood to her right with a hateful glare at her former teammate. "Unfortunately for you, Tsunade, I did not come unprepared to deal with you. Kabuto!"

Kabuto looked to his master and nodded; Tsunade could see the resentment in his eyes as he hesitated for a moment before going through a string of seals to use whatever trump card they had stored just in case... "Chakura Mesu!"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and just as quickly widened as Kabuto ran the Chakra Scalpel down his torso, cleanly cutting through his clothes and the layers of his skin on his chest.

And just like that Tsunade was twenty years old again. On the battlefield. Dan's bloodied body appeared in front of her. He gasped for air and gurgled blood. Her hands drenched in his blood.

Tsunade's memories came back to haunt her with a greater fury, gripping and unrelenting.

"Dan! No, don't die on me now! Not now! Dan! DAN!"

Tsunade felt sick, on the verge of vomiting as Kabuto pulled aside the layers of skin and fat to show his organs to her in order to exploit her severe haemophobia.

"Who would've thought the greatest medical jutsu expert in the world was afraid of a little blood!" Sasaki sneered as he rushed forward to Tsunade, who fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands, fighting the ghost of her memories. Even now, in the midst of battle, decades later, images of her loved ones tormented her so.

CRASH!

(Recap ended)

white appeared in front of him. A split second and palm thrust to the chest later, the Kabuto flew through the air for the third time and crashed through two trees before coming to a skidding stop on the opposite side of the clearing.

"On your feet, Tsunade!" Jiraiya commanded. "You stupid woman," Jiraiya shouted at her, though his voice was somewhat gentle.

"Jiraiya!" Orochimaru screamed furiously, gripping his sword tightly and hating the very image of his former teammate. "Why is it you are always there to foil my plans? Enough!" Orochimaru rushed forward,

Orochimaru's body transformed midair, shifting into a more snake like figure. His body gained freakish length and his scaly skin became more prominent. As he closed in he was brought to a sudden halt as mud erected before him, hardening into a thick wall of earth.

Recognising the jutsu instantly, Orochimaru remembered with bile and hatred how his former sensei had used it against him in their bout only mere months ago. "WHO?" Orochimaru demanded with a scream. He reverted to his human form and looked around, half expecting to find the culprit.

"ME!" shouted Natsumi's clone as it appeared a short distance away, hurling a salvo of kunai with exploding tags attached to them. Orochimaru dodged and deflected them easily enough; however most of them sank in the earth wall behind him and detonated, sending thick, jagged chunks of earth his way.

As Orochimaru batted chunks away with his sword , slicing and dicing the chunks of earth like butter or some other soft substance, and retreated a short distance, a stream of fire came bearing down on him from behind. Snarling in anger, Orochimaru dived through the fire, much to the audible surprise of the clone, protected by his tough skin, modified with extracts of snake scales: a result of his life's work to become the Ultimate Being.

Where is Natsumi?" Tsunade asked still a bit shaky from seeing blood.

I send her to bring Shizune here in case we need another healer" Jiraiya said.

Kabuto gripped his Kunai as he was about to help his master but something stopped him.

CRASH!

A giant toad crashed down with such force the earth gave away, forming a deep impression on the landscape as it landed next to two Sannin, destroying multiple trees as it landed. "RRRBIT!"

Shizune jumped of the road and rushed to her master's side. "Tsunade-sama!" she called with relief. Natsumi looked to Jiraiya. "Ero-sennin, how did you get here before we did?" She was somewhat annoyed, despite the look of things.

How the hell did Jiraiya move so fast, from what his clone had reported through their mental link, Jiraiya had been poisoned – by Kabuto, no less! For him to beat them to this location... Natsumi had a new respect for the sage. He was something else.

Jiraiya kept his eyes locked on Orochimaru. "Let's just say this isn't the first time Kabuto tried to poison me," he gave a wry smile as though remembering something humorous, "I've built a resistance to his poisons, more or less."

Right." Natsumi jumped down in a crouch position next to Jiraiya just as Shizune reached Tsunade, hurriedly charging her own hands with green chakra, though it was quite unnecessary as Tsunade's wounds were not the problem. "What's happened to her?"

"There's no time. How about you use some of that medical expertise on me instead, I'm still poisoned," Jiraiya reminded her.

Shizune nodded, looking to Tsunade for a moment, and then moving to Jiraiya with green chakra in her hands. She placed her hands on Jiraiya's chest; as he did so Jiraiya looked to Gamahiro and whistled appreciatively. "You got Gamahiro to be your familiar? Not bad, brat, not bad at all," Jiraiya complimented, shifting his gaze from Gamahiro to Natsumi with an approving nod. The massive toad gave a croak and bowed his head respectfully.

Natsumi gave a small smile. It wasn't really the right time, but they, and she rarely got compliments from the sage that weren't accompanied with an insult or two-

"Of course, it only took me a month to summon toads his side," Jiraiya added airily. "And to think it took you this long despite my help... It's kinda embarassin', don't you think?"

You should had kept your eyes on me" Kabuto said as everyone turned around and saw he was about to stab Tsunade.

Natsumi appeared infront of Tsunade as she took the hit.

Natsumi-chan?" Shizune placed a hand over her mouth. "Are you alright?" she asked. He gave no response. "Natsumi-"

Blood gushed out of her mouth. Natsumi fell forward, her eyes rolling back into her head as he fell with a dull thud.

"Natsumi!"