Boom!
Tsunade's kick was powerful and fierce, clearly aimed at taking Kakuzu's life.
Her right foot struck the ground, and the force was so strong that it split the earth beneath her.
Kakuzu wasn't someone who would just wait for death. Even though half of his body was gone and he could barely move, he used the black threads from his Earth Grudge Fear to swing like a monkey through the surrounding forest, dodging Tsunade's attacks.
Tsunade, of course, wasn't planning to let him escape. She kept chasing after him.
"Damn."
The missing half of Kakuzu's body was quickly being repaired by the Earth Grudge Fear. During this time, if he wanted to survive, he couldn't afford to be caught by Tsunade.
With his current condition and without releasing his mask monster, he wasn't confident in facing Tsunade head-on.
"I really screwed up this time. When I get back, I'm making Pain compensate for my losses."
"If they don't give me a satisfactory compensation, I'm done playing with them."
"Worst case, I'll hide in the deep mountains for decades. When this generation is gone, I'll come back out."
Why wait for this generation to die, instead of just waiting for Pain and the others to die?
It's obvious. From Tsunade's actions, it seems that both his and Hidan's intel have been leaked.
If Tsunade knows, it's possible that the rest of Konoha does too.
For safety's sake, it's better to wait until this generation is gone before coming out again.
Back when he failed to assassinate the First Hokage, then killed a bunch of people in Takigakure to steal Earth Grudge Fear, that's how he managed to survive.
Didn't you notice he wasn't around during the Third Shinobi War?
What's it mean to be the "King of Surviving in the Shinobi World"?
Kakuzu: I am the King of Surviving in the Shinobi World.
Black Zetsu: ???
"Kakuzu, stop running! Come here and let me kill you!"
With the help of his Earth Grudge Fear black threads, Kakuzu's speed and agility in the forest were far greater than Tsunade's, allowing him to escape easily.
"Only a fool would stop."
Seeing that his left side was almost fully repaired, Kakuzu had no intention of stopping to fight Tsunade again.
At this moment, he just wanted to quickly return to the Hidden Rain Village and ask Pain for compensation for his injury. He wasn't interested in continuing to take risks.
"Give up. Even your grandfather can't catch up with me. You're worse than him. Want to catch up with me? Dream on."
"Bullshit. Do you think I don't know? To put it nicely, you tried to assassinate my great-grandfather. To put it bluntly, you threw a shuriken from eight hundred miles away to sneak attack my great-grandfather. That's called assassination? You're probably trying to make me laugh to death and then inherit my debts, right?"
"QNMD, eight hundred miles away shuriken sneak attack! You Leaf ninjas are slandering me. Be careful, I'll go to the Land of Fire Daimyo's mansion and sue you for defamation! Also, why not inheritance but gambling debts? How much money do you owe?"
"Want to go to the Land of Fire Daimyo's mansion?"
Tsunade, who was tightly chasing behind, sneered and chose to answer the previous question, ignoring what Kakuzu had said behind him.
"Are you sure you want to go to the Land of Fire Daimyo's mansion? Forget about whether or not you can go with your rogue ninja status, don't you know the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is my relative?"
"Bullshit!"
Kakuzu cursed under his breath, realizing he couldn't win in a war of words. He decided to just focus on running away, ignoring Tsunade's insults as he didn't respond.
So, one ran and one chased, and the time lasted about half an hour.
When Kakuzu completely disappeared from her line of sight, Tsunade had no choice but to give up.
There was no way she could really go to the Land of Rain, right?
"Forget it, I'll head back to Shizune's side first."
When Tsunade arrived at Shizune's place, she happened to see her wearing gloves and completely ignoring Hidan's vulgar insults, as she stuffed an unknown substance into his mouth.
"Shizune, what are you doing?"
"Ah, Tsunade-sama, you're back!"
Seeing Tsunade return, Shizune acted like a caught child, instinctively hiding her hands behind her back.
Luckily, she quickly reacted, since torturing enemies wasn't something shameful. There was no need to hide it from Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama, I really couldn't help it. This person's mouth is just too foul. He keeps babbling on and on. Look~ even using Ton-Ton's waste can't block his mouth."
"Ton-Ton's waste?"
Tsunade quickly stepped back, distancing herself from Shizune.
At the same time, she glanced at Ton-Ton, who looked shy and a little worn out.
"You dirty woman, wait. How dare you insult the followers of the Jashin-sama like this? Eat shit. Once I recover, I will definitely not let you off. I'll make you into RBQ and feed you my... every day."
"Eat shit, you talk too much."
Tsunade's arrival made Shizune pause her feeding operation, but before the situation could calm down, Hidan took the chance and started talking again.
However, Shizune wasn't giving him any mercy. She grabbed a lump from the ground and shoved it into Hidan's mouth.
"Ugh~"
Watching this disgusting scene, Tsunade realized for the first time that Shizune could be this terrifying.
"Tch, just stay quiet."
Now that Tsunade had returned, Shizune lost interest in feeding Hidan anymore. To keep him from speaking again, she simply grabbed a big handful of grass and leaves from the nearby bushes, mashed them up, and shoved them into Hidan's mouth.
This finally managed to completely block his mouth.
"Take Hidan's head. Let's go and clean up his body."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Throwing her gloves aside, Shizune forcefully held Ton-Ton in her left arm, grabbed Hidan's hair with her right hand, and followed Tsunade.
On the way, Shizune asked with slight confusion, "Tsunade-sama, your hemophobia?"
"As you can see, it's gone."
Hearing this, Shizune almost jumped up in joy.
As fellow medical ninjas, she knew too well how dangerous hemophobia could be for people like them.
Now that she knew Tsunade was completely healed, she truly felt happy.
"Really? That's great!"
"Eh, it's fine."
Looking at the happy Shizune, Tsunade calmly smiled.
In fact, Tsunade had long since gotten over her hemophobia she suffered after witnessing the death of her brother and lover.
She just never told anyone about it.
Hemophobia was her excuse for leaving Konoha. With her knowledge of the Third Hokage, if he knew her hemophobia had been cured, he might send a lot of people—or even come himself—to bring her back.
The difference between her with hemophobia and without was too great.
To avoid returning to that painful place, she had to keep pretending she hadn't recovered, so the Third Hokage wouldn't bother her.
It was only because of the message from the Third Hokage that she was so concerned, which is why she decided to return to the village this time.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone back.
And here she was, back in the village, being drafted by the Third Hokage to go to the Land of Waterfall and stop the Akatsuki from capturing the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
At first, Tsunade naturally refused.
However, the Third Hokage offered her a condition that was very tempting.
That was to resurrect her brother, Nawaki.
Before going to the Third Hokage's house, she had already met with Minato and Kushina and knew it was a true resurrection, not the dirty, reanimated version like with the Edo Tensei.
She even tried to negotiate, wanting the Third Hokage to agree to bring back her lover, Dan Kato.
But then the Third Hokage said something that stunned her for a long time.
"I don't have a good impression of Dan, and for Jiraiya's sake, I won't resurrect him."
Tsunade sighed. She didn't know why the Third Hokage disliked Dan.
But in order to bring her brother back to life, she had no choice but to agree to the Third Hokage's request and head to the Land of Waterfall.
Note From Author:
Tsunade's hemophobia being cured—just think of it as my personal twist.
When I was watching the anime, I always felt something was off.
She clearly knew Orochimaru knew about her hemophobia, yet she still dared to show up.
Do you think Orochimaru wouldn't lay a hand on her?
She was the one who made the first move. Doesn't she know that she has such a big weakness, a fear of blood?
Also, when she was fighting with Kabuto, Naruto stood in front of her, preventing any life-threatening danger, which is why she was shaking the whole time.
When Kabuto took care of Naruto and was about to get serious with her, her fear of blood immediately disappeared.
So, I tend to think that her fear of blood was already gone. She was just pretending to still have it on purpose to avoid returning to Konoha.
*********
Support me on my ko-fi account and read upto 15 early chapters,
https://ko-fi.com/aayume