The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #15

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Konoha, Land of Fire

–Kenta ‘Akimichi’ Senju–

Before she could voice any protests, he continued, “My name is Kenta Senju.” Making Shizuen choke on her words.

“Yes, I would like to meet my coward of a clan Head, please.”

Shizune smiled nervously at him while he stayed calm, hands folded in front of him, as he waited for the coward who was just behind the screen separating the two areas, probably listening in on this conversation. “Uh-Um, Tsunade-sama is not here. I can give her your message, if you want to.”

He smiled at her, “No. I would like to talk to her, face to face. Now, I don’t want to put you in a difficult position but I know you guys are planning on leaving soon and I have to leave tomorrow morning, with the Daimyo so if you could please tell her to come out, that would be great.” 

Shizune gave him a strained smile and was probably about to make another excuse when Tsunade of the Sannin, finally decided to grace him with her presence. He normally kept a tight lid on this ability but for the sake of this conversation and to make stuff easier, he lifted the lid on the Zero Tails’ chakra a little bit and was surprised at the walking talking bundle of negative energy headed towards him.

“No need for that, Shizune. I can take it from here.” Tsunade drawled out, trying to portray a nonchalant demeanour as she walked in and looked at him top to bottom, all the while he smiled the same.

“Senju, huh? Can’t remember you at all. Are you sure you’re a Senju?” She asked him, leaning on the table, while Shizune increasingly looked anxious sandwiched between them, as an invisible pressure was being built up in the room.

Tsunade noticed that so she gave the girl an out, “You can go take a break, Shizune.” She added before Shizune could say anything else, “I will be fine. Just take a break, you haven’t had a proper one in days.”

Shizune nodded, looking increasingly anxious about the whole thing as she left, practically on her tiptoes. The second the door closed, he sighed and answered her previous question. “Yes, I am a Senju. Three quarters of Senju, in fact. The rest is Uzumaki.”

Her eyes widened minutely at that, most likely shocked at the fact that such a close blood relative was alive all along, without her knowledge. He mentally sighed as he noted the emotions. A cocktail of shame, guilt, anger, resentment, and even rage, before she schooled her expression, likely to further antagonise him because Tsunade Senju, so scarred by the loss of her loved ones, could not let anyone get close.

Before she could say anything else, he catapulted into silence, “You would know about me if you had done anything else but drink yourself to unconsciousness, spending the money in the Senju treasury, crying about your pain.”

The words hit her like a physical blow as her eyes widened in rage, her chakra roiling under her skin, probably itching to hit him. Before she could do that, however, he lifted a hand, stopping her, “Not here. Meet me in Training Ground 44.”

She opened and closed her mouth, her fists clenching and unclenching themselves, as if hesitating about something. He made sure to pour oil over those swiftly dying embers of fire,  “Unless you are too scared?”

Her gaze snapped up to him, full of anger and determination, as she snapped at him, “Fine.”

Not the response he expected but fine. He shrugged and leapt out of the window, waved at the  ANBU to come closer, “Tell the Hokage that we will be sparring in the Forest of Death. Make the appropriate arrangements.”

He did not give the ANBU any time to process the statement or object to his orders before jumping off towards the direction of the massive forest, housing lethal flora and fauna, used to train veteran chunin or new Jounin in a massive enclosed space because the regular training grounds would not be able to sustain the damage. Also, because no other training ground was as enclosed as the Forest of Death.

A spar between the two of them, though he doubted it would be a spar since Tsunade was just a bomb of emotions waiting to go off, would spill over out of the training ground, disturbing the village, whose people were already traumatized from the NIne Tails’ attack and most certainly did not need a reminder of that night.

He sensed Tsunade soon following behind him, along with an ANBU while the other went off in the direction of the Hokage Tower. In his haste, he didn’t even skip the clan compounds, jumping over the Uchiha Clan compound, scaring off some of the patrol guards, as Tsunade did the same.

Well, it would look like they were going to get an audience today. Tsunade’s situation was not something that could be solved within a day, a week or even a year. It was a complicated mess, held together only by the fact that she probably received sturdy mental training when she grew up, and some connections with people still alive because what he sensed back then were emotions more likely to be found in a person who was suicidal.

Her actions would certainly indicate her will to die, not in combat, not while fighting for her grandfather’s dream but while drowning in drinks in the middle of nowhere in the Land of Fire.

Pathetic.

He most certainly did not have the time to help with her emotions though he was certain that if he worked closely with a Yamanaka who knew intimately about the abilities of the zero Tails Jinchuriki, he could help accelerate the process vastly.

Within a minute, he was standing in a clearing that was about to get a whole lot larger, Tsunade landing in front of him, creating a crater, moments later. He sensed the chakra of Jiraiya and Sarutobi heading here, along with dozens of other smaller ones.

“Kenta! What are you  doing?” Was the first question that Sarutobi asked him, while Jiraiya looked on from a treetop, looking at him with conflicted emotions on his face.

He didn’t answer the question right away, waiting for the others to arrive, and lo and behold, arrive they did. The Uchiha Clan Head was the first to arrive, followed soon by the Hyuga Clan Head, then came the classic Ina-Shika-Cho combo, clan heads of their respective clans, along with a dozen other people, aside from the ANBU who surrounded the clearing.

Once a sufficient gallery was present, which Tsunade noticed, something that did not help her emotions, though she did an admirable job of keeping the emotions bottled inside, he finally replied to Sarutobi’s previous question, “Hokage-sama, this is a matter between fellow clan members. Please, maintain distance.”

Sarutobi opened his mouth, likely to stop this madness but then he took a look around, and saw that all the Clan Heads were present, the major ones anyway. If he tried to interfere in official Clan Business now, it would just look bad. Plus, everyone here was curious as to what was happening with Tsunade and how he was going to become the CLan Head since officially, Tsunade had not accepted it but since there was no one else to assume the position, it lay dormant for years.

Sarutobi likely planned on handing him the seat with an official letter from Tsunade but he could most certainly frame this as him getting the Clan Head position from Tsunade by means of combat, a tried and tested method in all of the Elemental Nations.

Realising that he was beat, he instead tried to contain the fallout, “Standard sparring rules, then. No maiming, no permanent damage, no kill blows, no forbidden techniques,” Sarutobi stared at him at that and he snorted, like he would need to rely on the Zero Tails’ abilities to win here. 

“Spar stops when someone is knocked out, or is incapable of fighting. Agreed?”

He locked eyes with Tsunade while replying, “Agreed.” 

“Agreed.” She did the same, only with a scoff.

He also sensed the Daimyo and his guards mobilising towards their direction as well. He did not know if it would be a good thing or not but that was a problem for Sarutobi 

For now, he just wanted to make sure that Tsunade Senju, the greatest medic Konoha has ever seen, remained in the village, not gallivanting around the country.

Sarutobi’s hand flashed out, creating a small flame on his fingertips, showcasing his expertise with all five chakra natures as he flung the flame towards the centre. The second the flame hit the ground, both of them shot towards each other, leaving craters on the ground, fists drawn back.

Tsunade clearly looked surprised at his opening move, as their fists collided a moment later, creating a small shockwave, putting up dust as he looked into the surprised eyes  of Tsunade, “Holding back will do you no good,”

He spun in his place and kicked Tsiunade’s forearm as she slid back, a red spot on her arm. Assuming a standard combat formation, he waved at her, “Come.”

Her snarl of rage was all he heard before she shot towards him, with renewed intensity, fully intending to smash him back. 

He smiled as he stilled. It was a good thing that he was much, much stronger than he was fifteen years ago.