Chapter 127: Reunion

Tsunade felt herself stirring awake on a bed, making her immediately jump up into a defensive posture.

Tsunade saw Orochimaru sitting at the end of the bed, with him looking at her with concern evident in his eyes.

"Don't jump up too quickly Tsuna, I'm not sure if you have healed all the way." Orochimaru said as he got her to sit back in the bed.

After making sure she was calmed, his eyes turned angry as he yelled at her.

"What were you attempting to do?! You nearly killed yourself with whatever you did." Orochimaru said with the anger in his tone being very evident in his tone.

"Thank you, Rochi." Tsunade said to him as she realized he had followed her all this time due to his concern for her.

"I realized something was wrong and told that idiot Jiraiya about it, and that fool wanted us both to chase after you right away. It took a lot of convincing him to lead the troops back to the Village before he allowed me to follow you by myself. But I did not expect that you would almost kill yourself. What were you even trying to do?" Orochimaru asked while still having concern evident in his eyes.

Tsunade thought about it and decided that she could trust Orochimaru, with her explaining her situation with Tobirama, though not before placing seals around the room to be cautious.

"Did you find his location?" Orochimaru asked after Tsunade finished filling him in on the situation.

Tsunade nodded, with them both agreeing to go find him once Tsunade had been fully healed.

~

Time flew quickly as Tsunade showcased her regenerative capabilities as she became better in only a few hours.

It had become dark outside as Tsunade and Orochimaru moved at high speeds toward the location of the lab.

Tsunade wore a serious look on her face, with her knowing that this could be the moment that she finally saves her Grandfather and brought him home to the rest of the family.

She had failed once, and while that had taught her that she can't accomplish everything, she refused to lose someone again, otherwise, all of her struggles would have been for nothing.

She would not become the hopeless and depressed Tsunade that could be seen as an emotionally hurt old woman in the original.

Instead, she would become the 2nd God of Shinobi if she felt it was necessary to protect her family.

Unknowingly, a great change happened inside of Tsunade's mind as her will grew much stronger, with the change being unnoticeable to Orochimaru and Tsunade as they continued their journey.

After another 2 hours of traveling, the two finally arrived at a certain spot, with nothing looking strange or out of the ordinary.

"Are you sure that we will be able to find him here?" Orochimaru asked as he was unable to detect any oddities in their surroundings, even when using his enhanced senses.

"Knowing my Grandfather, he most likely deciphered some way to block forms of sensing like using Chakra or Senjutsu. The only reason I could detect his position earlier was that I was sensing everything in my range through the seismic sensing and could directly discover." Tsunade said as she placed her hand on the ground before sending a terrifying amount of force through it, creating a hole in the ground that showed an underground lab of some sort.

Tsunade went in without hesitation while Orochimaru followed, with them both still remaining cautious of any traps or sudden attacks.

However, all of that went out of the window when Tsunade turned a corner to see Tobirama inside of a tube filled with green liquid, his body floating lifelessly inside of it.

Tsunade removed his body from the tube by shattering the glass, with her using Earth Release to create a bed for him to lie on while she examined him.

She released a Seal from her wrist that brought out a plethora of Medical Tools for her to use, with Orochimaru coming behind her as he prepared to assist her with whatever she needed.

Tsunade was able to feel that Tobirama still had a heartbeat, though it was extremely faint in nature, causing her to begin infusing him with Yang Chakra to maintain his vitals while she healed any wounds or damage his body may have suffered.

And so begin an 11-hour surgery, which included Tsunade stitching up Tobirama's wounds and healing any organs that were damaged in whatever battle Tobirama had before he came into the pod.

Tsunade even began infusing some of her vitality into Tobirama due to her knowing she would not lose much due to her healing factor.

Tsunade finally finished the surgery, with a massive amount of her chakra being expended and her being extremely weakened from it.

Tsunade sat a distance away from her Grandfather, with her finally taking a deep look at her Grandfather's appearance.

Unlike how she remembered him, he appeared much weaker and skinnier, with it seeming as if he had been starved for a good while.

The age on his face showed that he had become an older man, with him even looking a bit frail after the surgery.

Orochimaru sat on the floor beside her, with them both looking proud of the fact that they had saved Tobirama.

"Thank you, Rochi." Tsunade said as she suddenly looked at him with a smile.

"There is no need for that Tsuna. You are my best friend, after all." Orochimaru said as he gave a smile back to her.

The two friends sat in silence for a while, though that was until they began to see signs of Tobirama stirring awake.

They both went up to him as they awaiting for him to wake, though Tsunade felt something was wrong, causing her to grab Orochimaru and jump back as Tobirama jumped up and attempted to slash them with a hand of his coated by chakra that was sharpened using shape transformation.

Tsunade quickly realized her Grandfather's confusion and quickly spoke "It's me Grandpa, it's Tsuna."

Tobirama immediately stopped as he muttered "Tsuna?" after which he fell to the ground, though Tsunade caught him.

Tsunade then sat him back up on the bed, though she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face as she looked at him excitedly.

Tobirama seemed to have gained some form of clarity, with Tsunade's adult face overlapping with her young one as he quickly spoke

"Stop that crying Tsuna, it won't solve anything."

However, Tobirama's words simply made her cry more as she hugged him deeply, giving her the warm embrace she had not felt since she was little.

A man like Tobirama would wish for a detailed report on everything that happened over the years, but he felt that he was needed by Tsunade more than anything right now, making him simply hug his granddaughter as she vented all of her feelings out.

~

Tsunade's fatigue finally hit as she passed out asleep in Tobirama's arms, though he then turned his gaze towards the other person in the room, that being Orochimaru.

"Give me an explanation of everything that has happened while I was in the pod." Tobirama ordered.

'Such an invisible pressure can be emitted by an old man? One that hasn't even fully accessed his chakra again yet, but he can still give off such a powerful feeling? Is this the level I need to reach in order to gain that title?' Orochimaru thought as the questions flashed constantly in his head.

Orochimaru then explained the developments in the World, from the growth of Konoha to the 2nd Great Shinobi World War and its heroes to the power structure of the Village and its Higher Echelon.

"I see. I did expect for Hiruzen to be a bit soft regarding his friends, but I never thought he would allow them into the Higher Echelon of Konoha. This concentrates the power of Konoha too closely into one party's hand, and if not for the patriarchs, they would have already achieved this. And whenever they took full control, the Village would begin to be split based on their personal beliefs, weakening Konoha to an extreme degree. But, while it may be too late to alter the position of Hokage, it is not too late to apply my presence into the landscape." Tobirama said out loud, amazing Orochimaru with his deductive skills and planning capabilities.

"We shall worry about this later, once you two get some rest, we can return to the Village tomorrow. And thank you for helping my Granddaughter save my life." Tobirama said as he let Tsunade onto the surgery table she created while standing wobbly, also letting Orochimaru rest as well.

Tobirama stood in his lab as he looked proudly at his granddaughter.

'While I expected her to find me, I was simply expecting her to find my body so that she could give me a proper burial. To think that my Tsuna would grow into such a powerful shinobi is incredible. I'll have to use my time left to make it up to her. I know that you are just as proud Elder Brother.' Tobirama thought while looking at the night sky.

~

Tsunade, Tobirama, and Orochimaru set out to Konoha and arrived after a day of travel.

Tobirama's chakra reserves finally recovered, allowing him to travel on his own and go with the two without holding them back, though they still stopped frequently to allow them to rest.

The trio walked to the gate and the guardsmen looked as if they were slacking off.

"Has Konoha fallen so low." Tsunade and Orochimaru heard Tobirama mumble, making the sweat.

"Can I get your name, registration, and pa-" The guard began, though he stopped once he saw the faces of the three.

One was The Snake Sannin, Orochimaru, the next was the woman who defeated three armies and the Slug Sannin, Tsunade, but the final man's face was what made him truly falter.

He had only seen his face in history books, though seeing him alive and standing before him made for an extremely great sight.

"L-Lord Second?" The man seemingly asked, while his partner seemed too shocked to even speak.

"Can I not return to my own Village?" Tobirama asked, a bit amused by the whole situation.

"We shall be heading to Lord Third's office now." Tsunade said as she felt that a meeting was currently taking place in the hall.

"No, that can wait, we have somewhere more important to be." Tobirama said as he body flickered towards the Senju Compound, with Tsunade smiling as she followed behind him.

Orochimaru simply smiled at the coming reunion, with him heading home to have one with his own family.

The two arrived at their house, with Tsunade opening the door to reveal the entire family but Haru and Ashina inside.

"We're home." Tsunade said as she and Tobirama entered, with tears erupting from the faces of Kuna, Ayako, and Mito embraced them in a tearful reunion.

Read chapters ahead on P@treon.com/KillerDJ2023