Chapter 99: The Puppeteer and the Princess
Chiyo, grandmother of the future Sasori of the Red Sand, was at the zenith of her power. A master puppeteer, a poison mistress whose arts gave even Hanzo headaches. It was she who had cracked the Sanshouuo's venom on the Second War's battlefields. In many ways, she and Tsunade were natural opposites—Chiyo's expertise in toxins countered by Tsunade's genius in antidotes and healing. Their conflict was one of fundamental philosophies, fought through proxies of poison and cure on a grand scale. In her prime, both in mind and body, Chiyo was a force that could, with her Chikamatsu Ten Puppets, challenge a small army alone.
"You… you're still alive after all. It seems the fools of Iwagakure failed to finish the job." Chiyo's voice was like dry leaves scraping stone, her expression icy as she regarded Tsunade. Her intelligence had suggested Tsunade might have survived the Iwa ambush, and the subsequent loss of two Iwa squads pointed to a powerful protector. Seeing her now confirmed it.
Tsunade's eyes flicked over the more than twenty Suna-nin flanking Chiyo. A fierce battle was inevitable. But then she felt the solid, silent presence of Ragnar beside her, and her tension eased. Uchiha Mikoto, though solemn, knew her role was support; the main weight would be carried by the other two.
"You're not dead either, you old crone," Tsunade shot back, her voice dripping with defiance.
Chiyo, only in her late thirties or early forties, was far from a crone, but the moniker had stuck thanks to Hanzo's insults. In the shinobi world, perception was everything.
"Hmph. Sharp tongue." Chiyo's sneer was a command. The Suna-nin fanned out, forming a wide, tightening circle around the three Konoha operatives.
Chiyo was a strategist. A scout ninja approached, whispering a report. Chiyo's eyebrows rose fractionally. No other Konoha forces in the vicinity. Just these two ANBU with her…
A cold, calculating gleam entered her eyes. This wasn't just an encounter; it was an opportunity fallen from the sky. The Iwa-nin's failure was Suna's gain.
But Chiyo wasn't driven by the same blunt bloodlust as Iwa. She was competitive, ruthless, but pragmatic. Killing Tsunade, the Senju princess, the Hokage's disciple, would invite a firestorm of vengeance from Konoha. While Suna wasn't afraid, with the mighty Third Kazekage at its helm, a full-scale war of attrition would only benefit the other great villages watching like vultures.
A live Tsunade, however… a hostage of such immense value… could be leveraged for territory, for concessions. The living were always worth more than the dead. It was the same calculus Hanzo had almost made.
"Tsunade," Chiyo said, a thin, predatory smile touching her lips. "Is it my good fortune, or your profound misfortune? You slip from Iwa's grasp, only to deliver yourself to mine."
She paused, letting the implied threat hang in the damp air. "We are not the brutes of Iwa. You, Konoha's premier medic, would be far more valuable taken alive. Surrender. Spare yourself the pain."
"Oh? You won't kill me?" Tsunade's tone was almost bored.
"The living offer greater… negotiating power," Chiyo confirmed.
"Then you'll have to prove you can keep us." Tsunade stood straighter, her regal bearing and sheer confidence creating an aura that, for a moment, seemed to dwarf Chiyo's veteran menace. She was a Senju. And beside her stood a demon in a red mask.
"Arrogant child!" Chiyo spat, the insult meant to cut. "Even if I don't kill you, I can make you wish I had."
She was old enough to call Tsunade 'child.' Sasori's parents were already on battlefields elsewhere, respected shinobi in their own right—though their fate, intertwined with the legend of the White Fang, perhaps hung by a thread.
"Mikoto, protect yourself!" Tsunade commanded, her voice shifting to battlefield crispness. "Ragnar! Let's show this old woman how Konoha siblings fight!"
The humiliation of being hunted by Iwa still burned. At full strength, with Ragnar at her side, she was ready to unleash that pent-up fury.
"Hn." Ragnar's single grunt was agreement.
Chiyo saw their defiance and made a sharp, slashing gesture with her hand. "Take them! Alive if possible!"
The Suna-nin moved as one. This wasn't a disorganized charge; it was a coordinated assault.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique!"
"Wind Release: Tornado Breakthrough!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
More than a dozen ninja unleashed their techniques in a devastating symphony. The wind fanned the flames, the flames rode the gale, creating a roaring, expanding inferno that scoured the earth dry and turned the falling rain to hissing steam. A colossal dragon of fire, fed by the tempest, surged toward the three Konoha shinobi, its maw wide enough to swallow them whole. Supporting kunai and shuriken glittered within the firestorm, seeking gaps.
Ragnar and Tsunade didn't need to confer. They moved in perfect, instinctive sync.
They stepped forward in unison, their bodies coiling like twin springs. Uchiha Mikoto fell back a step, Sharingan already active, analyzing the storm of attacks.
"Strange Power Fist!"
"Armament Haki: Hardening!"
Their right arms drew back, muscles bunching with impossible density. Then, as if sharing a single mind, they punched.
Not at the fire dragon. They punched the air directly in front of them.
BOOOOOM-WHUMP!
The sound was not of an explosion, but of reality being punched. Twin shockwaves of pure, concussive force erupted from their fists, merging into a single, titanic wall of pressurized air. It hit the oncoming cataclysm head-on.
The roaring fire dragon met the invisible, immovable wall. For a second, it flattened, distorted, its form straining against the absolute negation of force. Then, with a sound like a dying beast, it shattered, the flames dispersing into a thousand harmless embers whipped away by the very wind that had birthed them. The supporting weapons were swatted from the sky like gnats.
The aftermath of the twin punches rolled outward, a visible ripple in the air that tore up the sodden ground and forced the advancing Suna-nin to stagger back, their formation broken.
In the sudden, ringing silence, Tsunade and Ragnar stood side-by-side, fists still extended, the air around them crackling with spent power. The message was clear.
You'll have to do better than that.
(End of Chapter)
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