Under the shade of the trees, Tsunade was—rarely enough—engaged in some actual training.
Today, Tsunade wasn't wearing her usual inconvenient kimono, but instead, a training outfit: the Shihakushō.
Yes, the Shihakushō—an item she'd obtained from a system-issued mission.
The upper part of this outfit was a halter-style top that left her back exposed. Her arms were covered by long black sleeves, while the bottom half was an extremely wide-legged hakama that reached her ankles and cinched at the cuffs. With her bright ponytail swaying behind her, she looked impressively valiant—even if her body was still immature. That is, if you ignored the headband on her forehead that read "I Want to Be a Top Student."
Of course, due to the sideboob-exposing nature of this outfit, Tsunade had wrapped white cloth around her chest. But the larger her chest grew, the more troubled she became. At this rate, she'd soon reach a point where even that cloth wouldn't suffice.
The reason Tsunade used this Shihakushō, despite its rather… daring design, was because of its incredibly convenient functions: auto-resizing to fit the user, automatic repair of damage using chakra, and—best of all—no need to wash it.
All in all, while it didn't directly enhance her combat ability, it was extremely practical.
The only thing Tsunade found embarrassing was the fact that it exposed her back, thighs, and sides. Still, she'd gotten used to it over time. Besides, after a certain battle, she learned the value of a backless top—namely, that when she activated her monstrous strength, it wouldn't tear her clothes apart.
Yes, the only time Tsunade lost to Jiraiya was because her own strength had shredded the back of her top.
But back to the matter at hand—
At this moment, Tsunade was practicing the Summoning Jutsu.
That's right, she had ultimately accepted the mission "I Want to Be a Top Student - III." Truth be told, if she'd succeeded in completing the mission "Following in the Footsteps of the Sages," Tsunade—who knew herself to be a bit of an academic dunce—would never have chosen this path. But that mission had ended in failure, and the alternatives looked even less reliable. So she went with "Top Student III."
After all, the Top Student series of missions at least had records of being completed, and their failure penalties were still within an acceptable range.
So, early that morning, Tsunade had woken to find her body burdened with added weights and, without complaint, began training here—a place officially approved by their sensei, Sarutobi.
Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi had already become the Third Hokage and barely had time to mentor them, the trio still kept up the habit of training here.
Of course, for Tsunade, training here wasn't always about progress—it was often just an excuse to escape her parents' nagging. Same reason she kept running over to Jiraiya's place. Sometimes she'd even come just to try out a newly acquired jutsu.
The only two who actually trained seriously were Jiraiya and Orochimaru—especially Orochimaru. Ever since losing his parents in the First Great Ninja War, he had become more silent, more intense. Every time Tsunade arrived here, the first person she'd usually see would be Orochimaru.
But today, oddly enough, he was nowhere in sight.
"Summoning Jutsu!!"
Tsunade shouted with a hoarse voice, dropping to one knee and pressing her palm to the ground, which was already covered in handprints. Black incantation marks spread out rapidly in all directions.
With a loud boom, a cloud of smoke exploded around her.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing. Just Tsunade standing there alone.
"AAAAAHHH! What the hell is going wrong?!"
Tsunade let out a pitiful howl like a defeated dog before flopping flat on her back.
She didn't want to move anymore.
To explain simply, chakra is the mix of physical energy extracted from the body's 130 trillion cells and mental energy developed through training and experience. Tsunade had spent the entire morning ruthlessly squeezing out chakra from her body—like seducing 1,200 men all at once.
Don't ask what that feels like. Ask the Yellow Emperor.
She had followed every single step exactly as described in the system's guide, yet no matter what she did, the summoning failed. The mission "Top Student III" wasn't one where you immediately summon a contract beast. It had two phases.
The first phase, which she was currently stuck on, involved summoning a prepared item. Only after successfully doing that could she move on to phase two: summoning an actual contract beast.
Unlike the traditional method where one must sign a blood contract with the summoned creature, the system-based Summoning Jutsu didn't require one—well, not initially. You only signed the blood contract after successfully summoning the beast.
In other words, once Tsunade reached phase two, she could summon her own beast without ever needing to sign a contract in advance. That's why she'd chosen this task—after all, it's not like she could go buy a husky, train it into a ninja beast, and summon it later.
But now, stuck in phase one with zero progress, Tsunade was losing all hope.
Sunlight trickled through the trees like a warm caress, lulling her toward sleep—until a familiar voice called out nearby.
"Tsunade, you actually training? That's rare."
Startled, Tsunade flipped upright like a carp and turned toward the voice.
It was a pale-skinned boy with vertical golden pupils, his eyes outlined in long purple markings that stretched down to his nose. His silky black hair was more lustrous than most girls', adorned only by two pink hair clips.
If he weren't so gloomy and cold, always keeping others at arm's length, he'd be an unbelievably popular, adorable boy.
This was Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya's teammate.
"Even I train seriously sometimes, you know."
Tsunade was not happy with Orochimaru's tone. Sure, she wasn't a "genius" or even a "hardworking genius," but she had made sacrifices to get stronger. It's just that those sacrifices weren't exactly something she could talk about openly.
"Oh?"
Orochimaru didn't argue, but his expression clearly said he didn't believe her. Tsunade didn't bother defending herself any further—after all, her efforts weren't something ordinary people could understand. Explaining would just make her sound arrogant.
People always thought of her as the kind of genius who grew stronger just by goofing off. She hated that perception. If she didn't work hard, would her chest have gotten this big at such a young age? The price she paid for strength—she could talk about it for days, and still not be done. She'd never be able to repay it in a lifetime.
But most people couldn't see past the surface.
"You're all idiots, that's why."
Oops. She said that out loud.
Tsunade glanced awkwardly at Orochimaru. As expected, he was staring at her with a strange expression.
"I didn't mean you're an idiot," she said firmly. "Definitely not."
Her tone was confident and full of conviction. Very persuasive.
"Oh."
Orochimaru responded flatly, but clearly didn't buy it.
Tsunade decided to stop explaining and graciously forgave his ignorance.
Orochimaru, as always, maintained that cool, detached demeanor. He was never as outwardly expressive as Jiraiya. In fact, that might be why Tsunade got along better with him—they didn't constantly bicker like she did with Jiraiya.
"Fight me."
Orochimaru suddenly said.
"Ew. No thanks."
Tsunade didn't do well with long, slippery things like snakes.
"If you win, I'll wear girls' clothes for a week."
"…"
Tsunade looked at him like she was seeing a ghost. When the hell did he unlock that side of himself?
"I mean, I don't judge your hobbies or anything… but what does that have to do with you wanting to fight me?"
"Isn't that your hobby?" Orochimaru stuck his tongue out slightly, licking his lips in a way that was… hard to interpret.
"…"
Ah. Now she remembered.
There'd been a system mission titled "There's No Way My Snake-Girl Is That Cute," and its goal was to get at least 10% of Konoha to witness Orochimaru in drag. So Tsunade had gone full power, burned her cosmic energy, and forced Orochimaru to give in through violence.
He didn't wear dresses anymore, but the legend of the Snake-Girl still echoed through Konoha.
And the reward she'd earned from that mission had since transformed into a jutsu—Shinigami Kiss.
Realizing the connections, Tsunade instantly made up her mind.
"Come on! Face me head-on!"
(End of Chapter)
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