The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #24

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Konoha, Land of Fire

–Hiruzen Sarutobi–

Trading surprised looks with Jiraiya, he swiftly recovered from this version of Tsunade before continuing, “I would recommend staying, Tsunade.”

She snorted at that, her hands relaxing as she leaned into the bed, "Of course, you would.” But there was no heat behind those words, the rage and resentment present in her tone for the past decade or so absent this time. He swiftly buried the guilt he felt at essentially talking to someone who had their mind tampered with, because now was not the time for that.

“So, what will it be?” Jiraiya was the one who took the initiative, holding a brand new Konoha headband in his hand, extended towards her. “I noticed you scratched your previous one, by mistake, I am sure. Wouldn’t want anyone to think the granddaughter of the Shodaime Hokage had gone rogue,”

His eyes widened as he looked at Tsunade, his lips parting in shock, as she refused to meet his gaze. To think Tsunade had gone so far! He had to take multiple deep breaths because he could understand not coming back to the village. He could understand not responding to his missives. He could understand her not coming back even in a teaching or healing capacity. He could even tolerate, somewhat, her action of essentially kidnapping a young shinobi from the village but this?!

His chakra spiked for a moment, cracking the table he was holding onto, before he reigned it in. When he felt like he could speak properly once more, he whispered, “Tsunade, I can forgive much but no—not that. Now,” He stood up, leaving the cracked table behind him, “I have much work to do. Once you have reached your decision, you can let one of the ANBU know. Hope you recover soon. The village needs you.”

With that said, he all but stormed out of the place and ordered one ANBU to remain on Tsunade at all times, and to alert the entire village if she tries to leave the village. He was running really low on tolerance and patience today. Her actions would have had her head separated from her body if this were any other village or even if it were Konoha but under another Hokage.

Sometimes, he really hated himself for being so weak against people he knew and loved. Then, he remembered that this was all he had now. Elder son buried in ANBU, younger son with the Daimyo, Biwako gone and he, a pathetic old shell of a once great shinobi, toiling in the office, signing more paperwork than doing hand signs these days.

Sighing at his situation once more, he ignored the supreme sense of exhaustion that came over his body and dragged his body back to the Hokage Tower. He had a lot of resource allocation to do, especially since the funding from the Daimyo came through, giving him the opportunity to fund everything essentially and then have some extra for the newer projects.

It was time for Konoha to have a dedicated Medic Corps once more, and this time, he finally had both the budget and the shinobi with expertise for that. 

Once back in his office, he called for Inoichi, and began drafting the orders to create another facility at the edge of the village, specifically to train Medics, with another General Ward to be opened, only this one would be free since the medics would be training there. He hoped that would draw in more civilian crowds, and even if the healing would be free, any money spent in the rest of the village would help immensely.

A knock on the door brought him out of his reverie as he set aside the draft papers, “Come in.”

“You called for me, Hokage-sama,” Inoichi Yamanaka walked in, weary and tired from the overall stress that had been put on everyone but mostly on the people in power but fine for now. The Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans had been the least hit in terms of their members being killed. 

The shinobi from their rank and file had been hurt, severely in some cases but they had the lowest levels of casualty out of any clan, mainly because of the synergy between them. Choza was still in the hospital suffering from chakra burns, but according to Tsunade herself, when he recovers, the Yang Chakra in his body should nearly triple in quantity, strengthening him further.

Which was good. They needed strength these days, especially in the bodies of people who had the Will of Fire still burning strongly in them. These days, he was mostly trying to remember the times when he had the Will of Fire within him, and try to impart that to anyone he could.

“Yes, I have a special case for you,” He said as Inoichi slowly sat down in front of him. This was a very unusual scenario since any special mental case that needed Inoichi’s brand of expertise would be coming from Ibiki Morino, instead of the Hokage himself. He knew that, despite it being negligible, there was some effect on Inoichi when he ripped apart the minds of enemy shinobi after shinobi so he had not ordered any of the captured spies to be interrogated by any Yamanaka, for now.

But this one was special. Even Inoichi would need time to prepare everything to begin the sessions with Tsunade since one, they wanted Tsunade to have her mind intact and healed and two, Tsunade was much stronger than any average spy and most of the times, the strength of the chakra translated into the strength of the mind, meaning it would be very difficult to use their jutsu on Tsunade if she resisted with all her might.

He took out a file from his drawer and slowly slid it forward, with the end page being the notes that Kenta himself wrote for Inoichi. The parts that were for his eyes only were taken out of those notes and he noted to himself to have a thorough conversation with Kenta when he came back, to get to the root of all the abilities he got from the Zero Tails, since the ability he used on Tsunade would have to be classified as a Kinjutsu, and forbid him from ever using it on their allies.

“Hokage-sama, pardon me but we have been over this. I already have a profile and plan for Tsunade-sama but her refusal to get treatment is still the first and biggest hurdle that we have to cross before I can even see her.” Inoichi told him with a sense of confusion since this was not the first time that Inoichi’s expertise had been asked in regards to Tsunade’s mental state.

Minato had been the second Hokage who had ordered Inoichi to do the same thing. They had been unsuccessful at the time and Minato, aware that the village was strong enough even without her presence in it, let Tsunade be, hoping that she would deal with her grief on her own and also because the previous Hokage, he, asked Minato to let her be.

Despite her actions regarding the headband, a small smile made its way to his lips as he replied, “That part is taken care of, Inoichi. Within a matter of weeks, Tsunade should be ready to have her first session. I am just telling you this so you can get yourself ready. Also, at the end, there is a special note for you, from someone who has been in Tsunade’s psyche recently, so I hope that will be helpful to you.” Inoichi looked alarmed and confused when he mentioned someone dove into Tsunade’s psyche, since, to his knowledge, there was no one else aside from him who had the necessary clearance to dive into the mind of one of the Sannin, someone who knew countless village secrets.

“If you say so, Hokage-sama,” And he left, leaving him alone, with the suffocating burden of paperwork the only company in the silent office.

Sighing, he opened one of the drawers and took out his pipe. Better the suffocation of all that smoke than the suffocation of loneliness.