Chapter 809 : The Best Actor!

Eagle chuckled seeing how worried Shikaku was and flickered away. Not wanting to entertain any more unconventional ideas Fujin might get and want to implement with his permission, Shikaku didn't bother communicating with Fujin by himself. He no longer wanted to discuss anything about this matter with Fujin.

Alone in his office, Shikaku thought, ‘His performance against Sunagakure and Otogakure forces and his recent achievements as a commander have caused people to overlook that his real expertise is in hunting down isolated squads. Sunagakure's terrifying ambush squads will be easy pickings for him.

I can't even imagine what that boy would do if I didn't send explicit orders to stop and not do anything. I still have to deal with this Kumogakure mess. Iwagakure is looking for a weak spot in our defenses too. I don't want to deal with Sunagakure at the same time if there's no need.’

His expression became serious as he thought, ‘Even though our forces have recovered to a great extent, there is no need to start the Fourth Great Ninja War just yet. Now is not the time for a war. Instead, it's time to take Konoha's military might to the next level.

As long as we can maintain peace for another 5-6 years, we can raise a new batch of elites from the ninjas who graduated in the last 8 years. If we raise around 1,500 new elite ninjas it'll be a game changer for Konoha. Not to mention, this time will be sufficient for Fujin to mature completely.

Along with any new geniuses that would appear in this time, we could become as strong as we were before the start of the Second Great Ninja War! That said…’

Shikaku sighed tired yet again. It was a lot of work. He thought, ‘Luckily, this isn't my work. Lord Third and Lady Tsunade can focus on it. Hmm, maybe Fujin will play a role too since the orphans in his compound will be a part of this next generation of elite ninjas. Regardless, I'll have nothing to do with it!’

——

While Fujin marched towards the Land of Wind, Shikaku contemplated the future and the two negotiation teams quickly worked on finalizing the terms, two individuals met on the outskirts of Tanzaku town. One of them extended her palms towards the other's arms and emitted a green light.

Suddenly, both individuals retreated as several shurikens landed between them. They turned their heads to see Amachi on a branch. Orochimaru's expression became grave. He asked, “What is the meaning of this? Coming here and betraying me… Tsunade!”

With a crazed expression, he continued, “What led you to such a decision, Tsunade? To try and kill me!”

With Kabuto dead, Amachi, Orochimaru's next best medical ninja accompanied him. Orochimaru had met with Tsunade a week ago. Their meeting was quite similar to what had happened in the original story. While Orochimaru was undoubtedly in a worse condition and under great stress, he did well to hide it and used Tsunade's hemophobia to ensure that she wouldn't make a move against him.

Naruto's battle with her was a bit different due to Naruto learning supercharged Wind jutsus. Unfortunately, it made no difference against a monster like Tsunade.

Coming back to the present, Orochimaru looked at Tsunade's conflicted expression and said, “Tsunade, I really did intend to bring them back to life…”

Cutting him off, Tsunade muttered, “It's merely the Edo Tensei jutsu… Do you think I can't learn the jutsu that my Granduncle created? However, that's not the way the two of them would accept to be revived…”

Edo Tensei needed a sacrifice to be used. And, in order to sustain it over a long time, even more sacrifices would be required. With their morales, neither Dan nor Nawaki would accept living in such a manner. As much as Tsunade wanted to see them, she wouldn't insult their memories and wishes in such a manner.

She glanced at Orochimaru and said, “I had higher expectations from you, Orochimaru. After all these years, all you can do is just copy that forbidden technique. No wonder you are in such a state. You've fallen too much.”

Memories of being forced to escape from Konoha, the Land of Rice and the Land of Hot Water surfaced in Orochimaru's mind upon hearing Tsunade's insults. The last month had been extremely rough on him.

His expression hardened as he said, “The negotiations have failed… Too bad… Now I'll just…”

Once again, he was cut off by Tsunade, who calmly said, “Since your subordinate saved you from dying easily and painlessly, I'll have to do it the hard way.”

The next moment, Tsunade disappeared and appeared above Orochimaru. Both Orochimaru and Amachi retreated as Tsunade changed the terrain in the blink of an eye!

She glanced at Orochimaru and said, “Come on, Orochimaru! Let me see how well you can fight in your current condition.”

Orochimaru chuckled and said, “Come to think of it, we haven't fought before, have we?”
Tsunade replied, “Indeed!”
Amachi asked, “Are you planning on fighting her today?”
Orochimaru ignored his question and advised, “Don't be careless. If she hits you, it's over.”
Amachi chuckled and replied, “It'll be interesting to see how this body holds up against one of three Legendary ninjas!”

To Tsunade's surprise, Amachi's body started transforming! Green scales appeared on his skin as he transformed from a shady-looking human into something similar to a fishman. With a maniacal grin, he arrogantly said, “This is the Kaima form I developed. Even a Sannin can't damage me in this state!”

Tsunade muttered, “Makes sense that you are his subordinate. You're even weirder than him. Regardless…”

Tsunade's figure disappeared as she rapidly moved towards Amachi. Amachi suddenly spread his arms and the scales on his body began moving.
‘Scale Senbon jutsu’

Dozens of sharp scales flew out at high speeds towards Tsunade. Due to their numbers, it wouldn't be easy for a normal ninja to dodge it easily. However, he wasn't facing a normal ninja. And, compared to Kabuto, Amachi's strength was lacking by a huge margin. Tsunade dodged them easily as she continued moving forward.

Amachi grabbed a scalpel and said, “Impressive! As expected of one of the Sannins! However, this is it!”

He swung his scalpel towards Tsunade, who muttered, “Too slow…”

Her fist moved towards Amachi's head. However, before she could reach him, Amachi changed the direction of his scalpel and sliced his left palm! Blood spurted from the cut and sprayed on unsuspecting Tsunade, who immediately froze!

An evil grin appeared on Amachi's face as Tsunade shivered and fell to the ground. Terror was visible on her face. He said, “Come on, did you actually think I'd be arrogant enough to take someone like you head-on? Especially when you have such a huge weakness?”

Orochimaru suddenly appeared next to Tsunade and said, “To confront me by yourself despite Jiraiya being present here. I truly wonder what you were thinking, Tsunade. Now, you'll heal me irrespective of whether you wan…”

Orochimaru suddenly stopped moving towards Tsunade. His words stayed stuck in his throat as well, as he saw a fist coming straight at his face! At such a short range, he couldn't evade. It landed on target and sent Orochimaru flying for over a hundred meters!

At the same time, Amachi was stunned as well. He was so shocked and terrified that he couldn't even move! He could only stutter, “H… How??? You should be…”

Amachi couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. The one who hit Orochimaru was none other than Tsunade! Despite being covered in blood, she still moved and attacked at her full strength!

As her fist moved towards Amachi again, she exclaimed, “Figure that out in hell!”

Much like Orochimaru, Amachi didn't have much of a chance to dodge at such close range. While he wasn't caught by surprise like Orochimaru, he was too slow compared to Tsunade. Her fist landed on his chest before he could make any move.

Instead of flying away, a massive hole opened up at the center of his chest. Cracks spread through that hole as Amachi screamed in terror and pain. The spread along his chest and eventually, his upper body, consisting of his head, neck and upper half of his chest, tore away and was sent flying while his remaining body fell to the ground.

Without giving him a second glance, Tsunade flickered towards the direction in which Orochimaru had flown. She stopped when she heard a maniacal laughter echoing through the area!

“Hahaha hahaha!” Orochimaru's condition was beyond terrible. His face was bloodied! He could feel that even his skull had been fractured! Yet, he laughed like a madman. Finally, he glanced at Tsunade and asked, “When did you cure your hemophobia?”

Tsunade indifferently replied, “When do you think?”

Her reply surprised Orochimaru, who immediately felt something was off. His eyes widened as he realized, “Could it be? No, it can't all be an act. You definitely had hemophobia after Dan died. That can't be faked. However…”

It suddenly clicked in his mind and disbelief appeared on his face!

[A/N: A slight twist to canon here. Hope you guys enjoyed it. More details in the next chapter :)]
[A/N: Next chapter (probably): When Gods want you dead, what can mortals do?]