The evening wind was a bit gusty.
On a street in Tanzaku Town, two figures, one tall and one short, stood facing each other.
Shizune looked around nervously, constantly trying to talk her master out of it. "Lady Tsunade, he should still be a genin who just graduated from the academy not long ago..."
"Don't worry, I won't get serious with a genin." Tsunade smiled confidently and held up a single finger. "To deal with a brat like this, one finger is enough!"
"You're really looking down on people!" Naruto Uzumaki suddenly clenched his fist.
Tsunade flicked her hair and covered her lips with a light laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. Do I really need to get serious with a genin?"
"Well, sorry, but today this genin is going to send you to the hospital!" Naruto clenched his fist and responded coldly. Since becoming a ninja, he had never faced an enemy he couldn't defeat. This woman was far too arrogant.
"Come on, brat!" Tsunade stood her ground, watching calmly as the yellow-haired genin rushed toward her. She coolly extended one finger and blocked Naruto's punch.
Feeling the immense power coming from that single finger pressed against his fist, Naruto couldn't help but look up in surprise. "So strong..."
Unimaginably strong. Among all the ninjas he had fought so far, Tsunade's strength was probably the greatest.
"My turn..." Tsunade laughed lightly. She swung her finger, maneuvering around Naruto's arm, and aimed to flick him on the forehead.
Shizune anxiously shouted a warning from the side, "Lady Tsunade, be careful!"
After hearing the reminder, Tsunade looked down in surprise. She saw that Naruto's fist had opened into a palm, where a ball of brilliant azure light was now glowing...
Fortunately, the warning gave Tsunade just enough time to dodge.
"Spiral Shockwave!"
The azure chakra shockwave instantly swept through the entire street. Tavern signs were shattered by the blast, and a deep trench was carved into the ground. The boy who had just unleashed such a powerful ninjutsu slowly retracted his palm, as if he had done nothing at all.
Tsunade's brow finally furrowed, and a few drops of sweat began to appear on her cheeks. "This brat... is not like a genin at all..."
Whether it was the ninjutsu he had just used or his stable mindset in battle, his identity was shrouded in a layer of mist.
Naruto slowly looked up and opened his palm again. A chakra cyclone gathered in his hand, forming a starry ring. As he clenched his fist, the ring shattered and attached itself to his knuckles.
"How impressive... brat!" Tsunade rushed towards Naruto at an even faster speed. She slammed a finger on the ground, and a crack spread from under her finger, racing towards Naruto.
The aura coming from the boy's fist made even her tremble. She absolutely could not let him release that attack.
"Still so arrogant?" Naruto just frowned. He pushed off the ground first and charged towards Tsunade, his own fist smashing forward. "Spiral Punch!"
If it were anyone else, that punch would have left them severely injured and on the verge of death. But against this woman, one Spiral Punch wasn't even enough.
Since obtaining the First Hokage's chakra, Naruto had been very clear about one thing: great power meant having more life force in his body. What's more, even if he beat the blonde female ninja to the brink of death, he had a way to save her. He just didn't know if the Nine-Tails would go crazy...
Soon, Naruto realized he was overthinking things.
"I really don't know what to do with you!" the blonde ninja sighed. She retracted her finger, clenched her hand into a fist, and smashed it toward Naruto.
Bang!
A dull thud echoed through the street. The next moment, the ground beneath Tsunade's feet instantly shattered. The houses around them almost simultaneously developed fine cracks, which then quickly burst open, causing the homeowners to flee in a panic.
A hint of admiration appeared on Naruto's face. This was the first ninja who could take a Spiral Punch head-on, and it was a drunk woman... Even the chakra gathered in his Spiral Punch had been dispersed by the sheer power of her fist before it could be released.
"Senior, help me pay them..." Naruto took out his wallet, threw it to Shizune, and turned to look at Tsunade. "This place is too small. I can only use my weaker jutsu here. It's not easy to send you to the hospital like this!"
The street was genuinely too narrow. It could barely accommodate one of the Nine-Tails' tails, let alone his giant chakra hands or some of the more powerful Rasengan-derived techniques.
"Interesting..." A smile flashed across Tsunade's face. "Then let's go. Let me see what this brat can do!"
Shizune, holding the fox-shaped wallet in a panic, still wanted to stop them. "Lady Tsunade..."
"Don't worry about me, Shizune!" Tsunade said softly as she followed Naruto. "A talented junior has appeared in the village. Aren't you happy?"
"Lady Tsunade..." Shizune nodded weakly.
Only after Tsunade and Naruto had left did she snap out of it. After hastily paying for the damages, she began to search the streets for Jiraiya and Hashirama. They were the only ones who could possibly break up this fight.
Fortunately, both Jiraiya and Hashirama had memorable appearances. It didn't take Shizune long to find the white-haired old man's trail.
Jiraiya was still tirelessly telling Hashirama stories about Tsunade's past. He knew very detailed things, but the problem was that he would always insert strange personal comments.
For example, that he was a man you could entrust your life to... or that he had liked Tsunade since they were children and had always been by her side... or that he was actually a devoted and long-suffering man...
Although Jiraiya kept interspersing his own self-promotion, Hashirama could still feel from his words that Tsunade's life was full of misfortunes. It seemed that since his own death, a series of tragedies had begun in her life. The strongest ninja had died, and with no one left who could suppress the entire ninja world, one tragic war after another broke out everywhere.
Hashirama was completely lost in confusion. "Was I wrong? If I had listened to Madara back then and completely ended the rule of the five great nations, perhaps there wouldn't have been later wars. Madara wouldn't have left the village, Tobirama wouldn't have died in battle, and Tsunade would have lived a happy life..."
"..." Jiraiya couldn't pass judgment. Many years ago, he and his disciple Minato Namikaze had discussed this very issue, but their thinking was constrained by the First Hokage's legacy, and they had never found the right answer. And, they had never considered the question from this angle.
Now, hearing Tsunade's story, Hashirama was deeply moved and began to question whether what he had done back then was right or wrong.
"For that era, ending the war as soon as possible was the right thing to do," Jiraiya explained after listening for a while. "For this current peaceful yet chaotic era, we don't know how to proceed. But I believe Naruto will definitely find the answer!"
"That little guy?" When Hashirama thought of Naruto Uzumaki, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Hahahaha... I also think he can really find the answer!"
Just as they were about to change the topic to Naruto, Shizune rushed in, her expression panicked. "Lord Jiraiya, Lord First Hokage, Lady Tsunade is fighting with a little yellow-haired fellow from the village!"
"Eh? Yellow hair, is it Naruto! We were just talking about him..." Jiraiya laughed a few times, then suddenly shuddered. "Are you kidding me? I can't even guarantee that I could beat that brat Naruto!"
-----
Bonus:
If one day, they met.
Indra: We must use power to make people submit!
Madara Uchiha: That's right! We must unify the entire ninja world!
Naruto Uzumaki: And ensure your own longevity, so that people can't start wars after you're gone!
Indra: Madara, did something get mixed in here?
Madara Uchiha: Huh? That kid down there... seems like... damn, it's Hashirama's reincarnation!
Indra: This kid is Asura's reincarnation! Lock the doors, grab your weapons!
If one day, they also met.
Asura: Love... love... we must let people feel love!
Hashirama Senju: Everyone will surely understand each other eventually...
Naruto Uzumaki: Understand what? Unification is the right path. The light of the righteous path shines upon the land...
Sasuke Uchiha: Hello, I am the Uchiha of love.
Asura: I can't tell which one is the reincarnation...
Hashirama Senju: This is simple. Just make them smile.
Naruto Uzumaki: Heh, idiot...
Sasuke Uchiha: Ahahaha, a bunch of idiots!
Asura: Should we beat up Sasuke first?
Hashirama Senju: What if he's the reincarnation?
Asura: It's fine. His surname is Uchiha anyway. He was born in the wrong clan...