Naruto: Starting with Tsunade-san

Tōshirō gave a slight nod before impatiently drawing his sword from its sheath. The gleaming blade shimmered with an icy, cold light under the sun's rays.

"So, this is the Kusanagi Sword, huh? Impressive..."

Initially, Tōshirō had intended to gift this sword to Orochimaru as a congratulatory present for becoming a jonin.

However, during this mission, he unexpectedly came across another Kusanagi Sword—the Totsuka Blade.

The details of how he acquired it weren't important. In any case, leaving it in a backwater place like the Land of Wano would have been a waste of its value. In short, now both of them could each have a Kusanagi Sword.

Once Orochimaru recovered from his severe illness, Tōshirō planned to gift him the Totsuka Blade as a get-well present.

Admiring the weapon for a moment, Tōshirō sheathed it and slung Enma onto his back. "I won't let Elder Itachi's expectations down."

With that, he left the Uchiha clan grounds. Before officially beginning his training, he decided to visit the hospital to check on Orochimaru and Jiraiya's recovery.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya were assigned to separate hospital rooms.

Tōshirō went to Orochimaru's room first. The room was clean and tidy, with a simple yet elegant decor. A bouquet of fresh flowers rested on the bedside table. Orochimaru lay on the bed, his arms encased in plaster. Beside him stood a middle-aged man in a white coat.

Tōshirō respectfully addressed him, "Lord Hokage..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly. "You're here to visit Orochimaru again, I see."

Tōshirō acknowledged with a hum, walked straight to the bedside, and sat down. Looking at the heavily bandaged Orochimaru, he expressed concern, "How are you feeling?"

Orochimaru shook his head dejectedly.

"Don't worry, the medical ninja in Konoha are the best..."

For now, Tōshirō could only offer these platitudes to comfort Orochimaru.

Orochimaru managed a faint, forced smile and nodded lightly.

After chatting with Orochimaru for a while, Tōshirō stood up. "Get plenty of rest. I won't disturb you further."

Leaving Orochimaru's room, Tōshirō headed straight to Jiraiya's room, where he happened to see Tsunade walking out. It seemed she, like him, had just finished visiting.

"How's he doing?"

Tōshirō quickened his pace and asked.

As an insider, Tsunade knew more about the situation than he did.

"It's not convenient to talk here," Tsunade replied softly, worried their conversation might be overheard by those inside.

Frowning, Tōshirō followed Tsunade to the rooftop, where he asked, "What's the exact condition of the two of them?"

Tsunade sighed, "All I can say is… the odds aren't good."

Tōshirō locked eyes with her, his voice heavy. "When you say the odds aren't good, can I take that as no hope at all?"

Out of professional courtesy, hospitals rarely delivered outright despair, instead leaving a glimmer of hope for the patients' families.

Tsunade averted her gaze, unable to meet Tōshirō's eyes directly.

In a low voice, Tōshirō asked, "What's the main obstacle in treating them?"

Exhaling, Tsunade explained, "With injuries like theirs, the current medical techniques are completely inadequate."

Hearing this, Tōshirō's brow furrowed deeply.

The medical technology of this era was still very primitive, far behind what would be available in the future. Even then, treating someone like Lee, who had a similar condition, required the absolute best efforts of the future Tsunade.

As of now, Tsunade's medical expertise was far from reaching that level.

Realizing this, Tōshirō gave her a scrutinizing look. Too young… far too young...

Unless there was some technique to summon the future Tsunade to the present, there was no way to resolve this.

Tōshirō pressed on, "Is there any external aid that could reduce the difficulty?"

Tsunade pondered for a moment. "There's a legendary plant called the Xufu Flower. If made into a pill, it could be highly effective for recovery."

"The Xufu Flower?"

"Yes, but the flower is already extinct. There's no way to find it now," Tsunade said with a sigh.

Tōshirō vaguely recalled that this plant wasn't native to the Land of Fire but was located in the Xufu Forest. So why was it now considered extinct?

(P.S.: I don't know when this forest or this flower appeared, whoever knows, let me know.)

After some thought, Tōshirō came to a realization. Perhaps, at this point in time, the Xufu Forest didn't even exist. It might have been someone later who planted the flower's seeds in the forest, leading to its growth there.

With that in mind, Tōshirō couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. Traveling back to such an early time had its downsides—many of the key pieces of information from the original story were completely useless now.

Tōshirō grabbed his hair in frustration. "Is there any other way?"

Tsunade racked her brain. "There's a legend about something called the Box of Ultimate Bliss. It's said to grant any wish. Do you think we could use it to heal Orochimaru and Jiraiya?"

The Box of Ultimate Bliss?

(P.S.: Also, whoever knows when it appeared, let me know which movie or episode it was in.)

Tōshirō was stunned for a moment before quickly dismissing the idea. "You believe in that kind of myth? You're a medical ninja. Don't forget what happens when you blindly grasp at straws."

In the original storyline, some fool had spread the rumor that this thing could grant any wish once opened.

To make the legend seem more credible, they even linked it to the Sage of Six Paths, claiming it was one of his ninja tools.

But based on Tōshirō's understanding of the Sage of Six Paths, there was no way this could be one of his tools.

Even though the original story described it as such, who knew if it wasn't like the Uchiha tablet that had been altered by Black Zetsu to lure the ignorant into opening the box?

If you had read the full and correct version in a certain book forum, you'd know: opening the box released a creature called Satori, which captured people and shoved them into the box. It was hard not to believe that this was the true purpose.

For all anyone knew, the Box of Ultimate Bliss might be sealing away some kind of super-monster. Once Satori had fed enough people into the box, the seal could very well break.

"This won't work, and that won't work either," Tsunade growled in frustration, grabbing Tōshirō by the collar and shaking him roughly. "Then tell me, what should we do?!"

Tōshirō sighed helplessly, his collar still clenched in her fists. "If you're asking me, I don't know either."

Unless they could bring the older, more experienced version of Tsunade here, there wasn't a reliable way to treat the two of them.

But where was he supposed to find the future Tsunade?

A ten-year rocket?

No, it might take twenty… or even thirty years to "launch" that rocket.

Realizing her outburst, Tsunade calmed down, letting go of his collar. "Sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

"It's fine," Tōshirō reassured her. "You're just worried about your comrades. Honestly, I'm partly to blame for this mess too. If I hadn't been so greedy, this might not have happened."

"Sigh..."

Tsunade didn't even know how many times she had sighed that day. She felt like she had sighed more recently than in the entire past year. "In any case, let's go see Lord Sarutobi. Maybe he'll have some ideas. He's the Hokage, so he might have more connections than I do."

"That's all we can do," Tōshirō agreed.

The two of them went to find Hiruzen, hoping he could provide a solution for treating Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

Hokage's Office.

The Third Hokage sat with his hands clasped on the desk, his expression solemn. He had been deeply troubled by the condition of his two disciples. "Tsunade, Tōshirō , I have two missions for you both."

Tsunade's face darkened with dissatisfaction. For the first time in her ninja career, she resisted a mission. "Orochimaru and Jiraiya are like this, and you expect me to have the mind to carry out some mission?"

"Tsunade, let the Hokage finish," Tōshirō interjected, glancing at Sarutobi. "I'm guessing this mission has something to do with healing Jiraiya and Orochimaru, right?"

"That's correct," Hiruzen confirmed.

Hearing this, Tsunade's mood improved slightly. "You should've said that sooner, Hiruzen-Sensei!"

"You didn't even give me a chance to speak," he replied with a sigh.

"…Ahem," Tsunade cleared her throat. "What's the mission?"

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe. "To treat Orochimaru and Jiraiya's injuries, I've reached out to various experts. Among them, Chiyo from the Sand Village seems the most promising. She's a master of poisons and one of the best medical ninjas alive today. I plan to ask her for help in treating them. If even she can't do it, then I'm afraid there's no one in the world who can."

Hearing the mention of the Sand Village, Tsunade's mind immediately recalled its reputation. It was a village on par with Konoha, part of the Five Great Nations, and a rival force.

"The Sand Village of the Land of Wind? They frequently clash with us from the Land of Fire. Why would she be so kind as to help us?"

"Of course, it's not out of kindness. That's why Konoha will need to do something for her and her village in return."

"And what is that?"

"We need to assist the Sand Village's ninja in capturing someone. The mission will take place in the Land of Wind, in a nation called Roran."

(End of Chapter)

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