The hospital didn't look different.
Tsunade stood at the eastern entrance of Konoha, her arms tucked inside a long cloak, chin lowered. The morning sun was bright, but her thoughts were darker than the corridors inside.
If this was truly the same hospital, down to the arrangement of the exam scrolls and chakra flow diagrams, then.... Don't tip that old man off.. No need to let them know that I know too much.
The infrastructure hadn't changed in decades. The mistakes would repeat unless she corrected them quietly — without disrupting the timeline enough to trigger suspicion from Danzo or the elders.
And that meant playing dumb. Hahaha..that's what I'm best at doing.
"Lady Tsunade, you're back?" said a medic as she passed the front desk. A civilian woman, mid-thirties. Tsunade vaguely remembered she would die in a border skirmish in four years.
"I'm always back," Tsunade said giving a sunny smile.
The woman laughed awkwardly, standing too straight. "We weren't sure you were cleared. The chakra collapse—"
"Was a minor issue," Tsunade cut in, walking past her. "Tell me, what's today's surgery roster?"
The woman hesitated. "A double aortic rupture. Genin got nailed by a spiked club during drills. No one wants to touch it. That's… well above their pay grade."
"Perfect," Tsunade said without smiling. "Prep the theater. I'll handle it."
The surgery should've taken forty minutes with a full team and chakra-assisted support.
Tsunade completed it in eleven.
Clean, bloodless, flawless. Her hands moved like they were guided by ghosts.
She whispered seal triggers mid-incision, rewrote the heart's chakra grid on the fly, and closed without so much as a scar.
Three interns stood frozen afterward, mouths agape.
And when she finally completed the surgery. No one clapped.
But someone whispered,
"She wasn't this good last week…"
"Was she always this good?"
"As expect of Tsunade hime"
Tsunade ignored it. Washed her hands. Walked out.
And then she finally remebered. Ahhhhh..... shit. I should have kept low profile.
But then, hmph.. I did it.. let that old man come..
By midday, word had spread. "The great Tsuande-hime, the prodigy rivaling the First Hokage"
Man they give this title too easily..
And then, of course, came the knock on her breakroom door.
"Come in," she said.
The door opened. Wide smile. White hair. Stupidly tall.
"Looking healthy, Tsunade-hime." He shouted as he entered.
"Jiraiya," she said, folding her arms. "You're early. What happened, your favorite brothel kick you out?"
He grinned. "They said I wasn't romantic enough. Can you believe that?"
"I can."
He laughed — but his eyes didn't.
They sat across from each other in the cramped, quiet staff lounge. He had tea. She had water.
"Word is," Jiraiya said, "you saved a genin's life before breakfast. Using a seal formation nobody's seen before."
"Word spreads fast."
"It does... "
Tsunade sipped her water. "You're not here for a visit, are you?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm fine."
"yaaaaaa.." Jiraiya took a long pause.
Silence.
Jiraiya leaned forward. His smile faded. "shh.. Doesn't feel right.. I can smell it with my toad nose. Something's off... You smell different... Did you change your shampoo? Did you change your underwear? I know something changed.. I can't just put my hand onto it.. Hahahahahahahahha"
He brust into laughter.
She met his gaze. Should I punch him like I usually do? sigh.. this bastard.. he did sacrifice, let him leave in one piece just this once..
She waved her hand, the she tested the waters, "Jiraiya… If I ever told you something insane. Outrageous. Something that made no sense — would you believe me?"
He blinked. The expected punch never came. He was getting suspicious by the minute.
"Yes. But I'd still ask... tell me honestly did you change your" he pointed at her chest "uuuuu.. you know.. hehehe"
She looked away. Control. Control. Control.. omh namo abhitaba.. lord give me power to purge the demon in my heard..
She then breathed heavily. "Sh..." she grind her teeth, "Don't speak another f**king word.., Scram before I make you go home in the stretchers. Leave here bastard." she started shouting all of a sudden "Scram.. you idiot. I am going to kill you with my hands.. no no my hand will dirty.. Bastard I am going to kill you with my legs"
Before she could say anything more, Jiraiya ran away. He knew he was in for a serious beatdown if he still stayed here.
She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Even a 50+ old Tsunade couldn't keep calm Infront of Jiraiya and that too not in a good way.
Later that afternoon, she visited the chakra seal labs beneath the hospital. The smell of ink, blood, and hot chakra was exactly as she remembered. Half-finished projects lined the walls. Low-level researchers fumbled with prototypes.
One seal caught her eye — a flawed chakra storage formula etched into a copper tag.
It was a failure. Always had been.
If this version of the seal made it into rotation, it would eventually be used in medical kits across the border — where it would rupture under duress and kill two medics during a Sand ambush. She remembered the bodies. And the reports. And the stink of burned chakra. She had experienced it already..
She grabbed a brush. Dipped it in ink.
Corrected the binding script. Strengthened the heat limit. Reinforced the sigil with a reverse polarity tag.
The assistant on duty, a pale-eyed girl from the Aburame labs, watched her in silence.
"Hime-sama, you shouldn't be able to do that," the girl said timidly.
Tsunade glanced at her. "Well. I can. Grandma Mito taught me."
She handed the fixed seal back. "Burn the old ones."
Then she left.
That night, Danzo received a message from an unmarked courier.
"Tsunade Senju has altered five confirmed protocols this week.
Chakra theory, seal structure, and emergency med practice.
Knowledge level inconsistent with prior experience."
Danzo did not respond, he stared at the letter for awhile longer..
Then he simply lit the letter on fire and stared into the flame.
The next morning, she was summoned to a minor council meeting — nothing formal, just resource allocations for minor clans.
Tsunade wore a pale grey kimono. Minimalistic. High collar. Her hair pulled back in a single tail. No makeup. No smile.
The other clan reps eyed her warily. Too young. Too matured for her age.. Just a day and she seems like completely different person. But then again, changes are definitely welcomed.. she was too rowdy before.
A Hyūga elder, one of the branch family counselors, made a passing remark during funding discussions:
"Medical-nin, of course, require only minimal field resources. They are not meant to see combat. Most kunoichi lack the temperament."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
The room stilled. The pressure, what is the term.. Aura.. yeah aura, she was suppressing everyone with just here presence.
She didn't raise her voice.
She didn't curse.
She simply smiled — a thin, clinical curve.
"Interesting," she said. "By 'temperament,' you mean what, exactly?"
The elder hesitated. "Emotional disposition. Kunoichi tend to be more empathetic. A good quality in healers, but a risk in war."
"I see," she said. "So what you're saying is — empathy gets you killed?"
"No, I—"
"Because I'm curious," Tsunade continued, voice silk-sharp, "how many lives you've personally saved on the battlefield. Or are your hands too clean for that kind of work?"
The room went very still.
Well you know you can't argue with angry women, or a girl in this context. And especially Tsunade-him. She would beat right there, right Infront of everyone..
So, they did what was best....
No one defended the elder. No one looked at him.
Tsunade didn't press further. She didn't need to.
She'd already made the point.
That night, when the village was asleep, Tsunade walked alone to the Archives.
The scrolls beneath the Hokage Tower weren't easy to access — especially not the classified chakra observation records. But she'd helped design the locking seals in the future.
They opened for her like old friends. Anyway, I am the princess..
She walked past the war logs. Past the forbidden scrolls. Past the vault containing records on the Uchiha.
What she wanted was deeper.
She found it.
"Document No. 067-A: Chakra Deviation – Civilian Incidents"
She unrolled it carefully. The ink was faded. The script still in Tobirama's era formatting.
Civilian deaths. Strange chakra collapses. Children manifesting chakra wells that burned out their coils by age five. Adults losing memories after channeling too much energy.
Tsunade read until her eyes ached.
It was there.
The first signs.
Before the wars. Before the Sage's myths. Before Kaguya stirred beneath the fabric of chakra, something had started breaking inside humanity.
And no one noticed.
No one wanted to notice.
Except her.
She rolled the scroll closed.
Tucked it back into the vault.
Sealed the lock.
Then, in the quiet dark, she whispered:
"They're already planting the seeds…"
She emerged into the night air with her hands behind her back, head tilted to the sky.
The stars above Konoha twinkled peacefully, like they hadn't birthed a race of devouring gods.
She would smile later. Now, she had to prepare.
The timeline was still soft. The soil still loose. If she planted the right things — people, policies, secrets — the harvest would be hers to shape.
And when the stars came again to claim what they thought belonged to them?
They would find a village waiting.
And one woman who refused to lose it twice. "F**k them" she muttered.