The Land of Hot Water was a small island nation. Precisely because it was surrounded by the sea on all sides, it was rarely touched by war—even during the fiercest period of the Third Shinobi World War.
The scenery here was beautiful, resources abundant. The average life expectancy reached fifty years, and living standards were comfortably well-off. More famously, the country was dotted with hot springs everywhere. In the endlessly turbulent shinobi world, it could almost be called a rare paradise.
There was also a hidden village here—Yugakure, the Hidden Hot Water Village. It was a small and relatively weak ninja village, but as the saying went, gold always shines eventually. This village would later become famous as the birthplace of a certain missionary—Hidan.
After leaving Konoha, Tsunade choosing to stay here was, in hindsight, a very wise decision. And under Katsuyu's guidance, Hagoromo managed to find her without any trouble.
"Over here."
Tsunade said as she led the way. She was still maintaining the appearance of an eight-year-old girl, yet her stride carried the presence of someone eighty years old.
The kind of presence that said: Don't mess with me. I walk straight through.
"Lady Tsunade… where exactly are we going?"
Hagoromo followed behind her, asking in a rather aggrieved tone.
At the moment, the White Yasha urgently needed a platoon of medics.
Not because he'd been overwhelmed by loli cuteness—but because he'd been brutally reduced to near hand-cripple status.
Earlier, he'd been momentarily fooled by Tsunade's childlike appearance and forgotten that she was, at heart, a walking natural disaster. So he'd placed his hand on the head of the greatest kunoichi of the modern era.
Tsunade had very calmly removed his hand—and then flawlessly played the role of a terrified little girl threatened by a villain.
She grabbed two of Hagoromo's fingers.
Tightly.
Hagoromo raised his hand to confirm. The fingers were red, purple, and black, swollen to a truly impressive degree.
How was he supposed to form hand seals like this?
Fortunately, Tsunade still had a sense of proportion. She'd caused only external injuries—no explosive fractures.
Still.
It hurt like hell.
Painful, but treatable.
Very painful, but treatable.
"First," Tsunade said, "don't casually call me by name in this town."
"Second, we're going to find Shizune. We got separated earlier."
Separated?
More like ran off, wasn't it?
"Then those people just now were…?" Hagoromo asked.
The group earlier had indeed been searching for Tsunade. They'd only surrounded the 'little girl' to ask whether she'd seen the person in the portrait.
After all, Tsunade had vanished around a corner. They were simply questioning witnesses indiscriminately.
Even thugs had it rough these days—no one had ever seen someone dodge debts so brazenly.
Once Hagoromo and Tsunade looked at the portrait and truthfully stated they hadn't seen that person, the group left. Hagoromo let out a quiet sigh of relief. At least he hadn't had to electrocute a bunch of civilians.
"Casino people," Tsunade replied, then added casually, "As for which casino, I'm not sure."
The legendary cash cow continued to create new legends.
Just as Hagoromo had suspected.
But really—how many casinos did she owe money to?
Answer: all of them on the island.
"We're here."
While Hagoromo was mentally calculating Tsunade's debt index, she stopped in front of a tavern.
This was the agreed meeting point in case she and Shizune got separated. It was obvious Tsunade had been in this country for quite some time—she knew the town well.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shizune was already waiting there.
"Shh—didn't I tell you not to call my name for now?" Tsunade hissed.
She was still in debt-dodging mode and clearly intended to keep this appearance for as long as possible.
"S-sorry, La—… huh?"
Shizune's gaze shifted to Hagoromo standing behind her.
It had been over a year since they'd last met, but Hagoromo's recognizability was extremely high. Compared to before, he'd simply been scaled up proportionally—evolving from a life-size figure to a 1:1.06 model.
"Hagoromo…? Why are you here?"
"Well… that's a long story. For now, could you please save me first?"
Hagoromo sat down across from her and raised his injured hand slightly.
He absolutely did not dare ask the original culprit to heal him.
Tsunade didn't spare Hagoromo's hand even a glance. After being chased by debt collectors all morning, she was hungry. She immediately waved over the waiter and ordered food.
Unfortunately, in her current form, alcohol was off the table.
Shizune examined Hagoromo's hand with concern.
"This injury… how did you even get hurt like this? It's surprisingly precise—looks terrible, but it's actually not serious."
She quickly reached her diagnosis.
A classic case of psychological trauma-type injury.
Shizune was about the same age as Hagoromo. While her medical ninjutsu couldn't compare to Tsunade's, she was already well past the beginner stage.
With Tsunade as her mentor, not improving would've been harder than improving.
Her judgment was spot-on.
Hagoromo's face twitched as he recalled the pain. To avoid suffering it again, he stated an unshakable truth:
"I fell."
"..."
Shizune was speechless.
Fell? Fell into this?
This was clearly caused by overwhelming force—
…Force?
She glanced at Tsunade and immediately understood.
But that glance nearly made her jump.
She leaned close and whispered urgently, "Lady Tsunade, we're over budget!"
One of the Legendary Sannin being chased by casinos was bad enough—was she planning to dine and dash now?
Because of Tsunade's gambling, the pair were painfully broke. Every meal required careful budgeting.
Tsunade waved it off. "Don't worry. Today, someone who just received a large mission payout is covering it."
Then she turned to Hagoromo.
"Medical treatment costs money, you know. Right?"
"…Understood."
Hagoromo was stunned.
Tsunade broke his fingers, had her disciple heal him—and then charged him for it.
A full service package?
But that wasn't the main issue.
What was concerning was Tsunade's wording—someone who just received a large mission payout.
"Shizune, check the rest of his injuries later," Tsunade added.
Shizune blinked. There were more injuries?
Yes.
Quite a few.
"The thing people outside are spreading," Tsunade said directly to Hagoromo, "that was you, wasn't it?"
She'd basically already confirmed it.
"Kushina's disciple"? Tsunade could guess who that was immediately. And loudly announcing one's own presence like that was something only Hagoromo would do.
Hagoromo appearing in the Land of Hot Water, so soon after the battle in the Land of Lightning, only made it more obvious.
Hagoromo nodded silently.
Shizune had already begun treatment. The swelling in his fingers receded visibly.
That wasn't because Shizune was especially skilled—
It was because Tsunade was.
"So even Jiraiya has fallen this far," Tsunade said with clear disdain. "Sending a kid like you on a mission like that."
That sounded… resentful.
Probably lingering bitterness toward Konoha.
But how did she know it was Jiraiya's assignment?
Hagoromo felt he should at least defend his teacher.
"Maybe it's because I can fly. I can retreat quickly if things go bad, so the risk isn't—"
He was cut off.
"No," Tsunade said flatly. "It's just because your techniques happen to counter certain types of ninja."
"…Fair enough."
She had a point.
A very convincing one.
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
complete fic (all chapters ) are already up on Patreon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789