Chapter 131: Two Time Travels

The older Tsunade thought for a moment, carefully choosing her words:

"She is someone who works diligently, often losing track of time and sleep for the sake of her work.

"She's like a firefly in the dark night—no matter how much she tries to hide, she shines so brightly, so uniquely.

"Every time I stand next to Lady Tsunade, I often feel out of place and ashamed of myself for not working as hard as she does."

Tōshirō and Shizune silently watched as Tsunade praised herself, looking utterly dumbfounded.

At this point in time, Tsunade wasn't exactly this kind of person. On the contrary, she was addicted to gambling, spent her days drinking, and was lazy—completely unrelated to the concept of diligence.

The older Tsunade's glowing description was so exaggerated that the present Tsunade herself felt a bit embarrassed. Scratching her head, she asked, "Am I really that amazing in the future?"

"Haha, absolutely! Lady Tsunade is such an outstanding woman," the older Tsunade replied, hands on her hips and laughing proudly. Her confidence made her chest jiggle with satisfaction.

Shizune cast her a sidelong glance, as if silently saying: Tsunade-sama, could you please have some humility?

The older Tsunade coughed twice into her fist to regain composure. "In any case, I've already explained everything about Lady Tsunade that I can. As for the rest, I'm afraid I can't reveal anything more."

The present Tsunade pouted, clearly still curious.

"Alright, enough about that. Have you thought about how you plan to return to your original time?" the older Tsunade asked, steering the conversation back to the main issue.

Tōshirō , who had been mostly silent until now, spoke up to assert his presence:

"To untie the bell, one must find the one who tied it. Once I've recovered from my injuries, the two of us plan to head back to Roran and investigate."

He recalled from the original story that defeating the boss there should reverse the temporal distortion and send them back to their proper timeline.

Tsunade nodded in agreement. The plan made sense.

"You mentioned earlier that Orochimaru and Jiraiya sustained serious injuries during that time, correct?" the older Tsunade asked.

"Yes," the present Tsunade replied, her expression showing concern. She wasn't sure if they could fully heal Orochimaru and Jiraiya's injuries.

The older Tsunade suddenly suggested, "Why don't I help you heal them?"

The present Tsunade was taken aback.

"Don't misunderstand," the older Tsunade clarified. "I'm not suggesting that I travel back with you. Rather, I'll train you to the level where you can heal them on your own."

A confident smile spread across her face, one born of her absolute faith in her medical ninjutsu. "You've seen my medical skills firsthand, haven't you?"

The present Tsunade hesitated. "I'd be very grateful, of course… But aren't you worried about affecting history?"

"Have you considered the possibility that meeting me might already be part of history itself?"

The present Tsunade froze, her expression blank as she mulled over the implications.

"Think it over carefully," the older Tsunade said.

She then called Shizune to leave the room.

As they walked down the hallway, Shizune, who had been unusually quiet, couldn't hold back her question any longer: "Tsunade-sama, are you really planning to guide your past self?"

"Why not?"

"Aren't you afraid of altering the future?" Shizune asked, echoing Tsunade's earlier concern.

The older Tsunade sighed. "Shizune, do you know that in my past, Orochimaru and Jiraiya never suffered such grave injuries?"

Shizune's face froze in shock. "How is that possible? Isn't she your past self? Could it be because… you've aged—"

Before Shizune could finish, a sharp pain struck her forehead. A large bump quickly formed.

"My ears must be failing me. Aged, you say? Care to explain that?"

The older Tsunade loomed over her, smiling with her lips but not her eyes, her expression terrifyingly sharp.

Shizune stammered, her face pale with fear. "Y-you misheard…!"

"Oh, really~?"

"Absolutely! I swear it's the truth!"

The older Tsunade despised being called old. Having followed her for years, Shizune realized she had touched a nerve and quickly tried to change the subject: "Tsunade-sama, if this younger Tsunade is unable to return to the past, what will you do with her…?"

The older Tsunade stopped walking, crossed one arm under her chest, and stroked her chin in thought. After a moment, she grinned mischievously. "How about I adopt her as my daughter? What do you think?"

"Huh?"

Shizune blinked in confusion, her mind struggling to process what she just heard.

"Haha, I'm joking, I'm joking!"

The older Tsunade clapped Shizune on the shoulder, laughing heartily.

Shizune sighed in exasperation. "Tsunade-sama, you really do love your jokes…"

...

Meanwhile, on the other side:

The younger Tsunade was discussing the older Tsunade's proposal with Tōshirō .

After careful consideration, Tōshirō thought it was a good idea.

To be honest, he was skeptical about whether Chiyo could truly heal Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

Even setting aside her medical skills, from a strategic perspective, it was unlikely that Sunagakure would want to see Konoha produce two more geniuses.

If Chiyo claimed she was unable to heal them, there would be no one around who could verify if she was lying.

"I agree with Lady Tsunade's suggestion," Tōshirō stated, then explained his reasoning.

The younger Tsunade nodded in agreement after hearing his argument.

As if something had suddenly occurred to her, Tsunade's expression turned odd. "By the way, have you noticed that Sister Rangiku looks a lot like me?"

Of course, she does…

How could she not?

The two of you are literally the same person.

Tōshirō thought this to himself but feigned ignorance, acting as if he didn't know. "What's so similar about you two?"

Tsunade began listing the features on her fingers, as if reciting a treasure trove: "Plenty! Like the hair, the eyes, the mouth, the nose, the eyebrows…"

Tōshirō cut straight to the point: "The chest isn't the same."

"You're asking to die, aren't you?!"

Tsunade's face darkened with anger.

"Sorry…"

Tōshirō felt that his long-standing habit of blurting things out would be tough to change overnight.

Tsunade puffed her cheeks, glaring at him angrily. "Honestly, you just can't go a day without getting scolded by me, can you?"

"Sorry, I was wrong…"

"Forget it…"

Tsunade decided not to stoop to his level, knowing it would be pointless. "Adults don't argue with petty fools."

Tōshirō immediately replied with mock gratitude, "Thank you, Your Grace, for your mercy."

Tsunade's tone shifted to seriousness. "Alright, I'm not joking around. Don't you think Sister Rangiku might not be telling us the whole truth?"

"What do you mean…?"

Tōshirō's eyes narrowed slightly as he wondered: Could it be that Tsunade has started to suspect something is off?

Lowering her voice, Tsunade continued, "Have you noticed the thing on her forehead?"

Tōshirō nodded.

"If I'm not mistaken, that's the Yin Seal—a unique jutsu that Grandma Mito mastered. It's even classified as S-rank due to its difficulty, making it impossible for an average person to learn. Considering how similar she looks to me, do you think it's possible that she might be…

"My future…?"

"...Daughter?"

Tsunade hung her head low, her ears turning red with embarrassment.

Tōshirō: …

After a long silence, he finally said dryly, "You're really something else."

"What? You don't believe me?"

"I didn't say I don't believe you."

"But your expression says otherwise."

Tōshirō: …

Putting aside the truth of the matter, Tsunade's logic was surprisingly self-consistent.

If we're in Year 63 of the Konoha calendar, and considering that Tsunade is currently around 55 years old but looks like she's in her twenties, the timeline would align. She'd have had her daughter at around 22 or 23, which makes perfect sense.

After all, at this point in time, Tsunade wasn't yet aware that she would later develop the Yin Seal into a technique that would preserve her youthful appearance.

Tōshirō decided not to linger on this topic and changed the subject. "By the way, where did you put my personal belongings?"

The clothes he was wearing now weren't the ones he had when he arrived but rather black-and-white striped hospital attire.

"Don't worry, I've kept them safe for you."

"That's good."

"Oh, by the way, while organizing your things, I found something interesting. Do you know what it is?"

As Tsunade spoke, she pulled something out, holding it in her palm for him to see.

Tōshirō looked closely.

It was a small object resembling a turtle. Its shell was blue with several white stripes, and its body was a soft pink color.

"This isn't mine. You must have made a mistake," Tōshirō said.

Tsunade was adamant. "It's definitely yours! I personally took it out of your backpack."

"But the only things in my bag were… Hmm…"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just remembered—it probably is mine. Sorry, I must've been half-asleep."

Tōshirō reached out and took the object.

"See? I told you."

Tsunade yawned, looking a bit tired. "I'm going to sleep now."

"Good night."

"Mm, good night."

Watching Tsunade leave the room, Tōshirō stared at the little turtle in his hand.

If he wasn't mistaken, this thing was the key item from the "Non-Burning Reincarnation" storyline, a rare plot device that had received good reviews.

This object, like the Dragon Vein, possessed the ability to facilitate time travel.

The thing he had previously fished out of a creature's belly was an unawakened version of this item.

If memory served, this item could only be activated by an Ōtsutsuki. So why was it now active?

Tōshirō thought carefully.

Ōtsutsuki = Senju + Uchiha

In other words: Tsunade + Tōshirō .

He theorized that the Dragon Vein, combined with both his and Tsunade's existence, had triggered the activation of the item.

Under these circumstances, his current time travel wasn't a simple case of using the Dragon Vein. Instead, it involved two instances of time travel in one go!

First, he had traveled to a timeline where "he" didn't exist. Then, he traveled to this current era.

This explained why the Tsunade of this era seemed to have no recollection of him, and why her behavior aligned perfectly with the original storyline. The timeline he traveled through bypassed his own existence entirely.

As for why such a bypass occurred, it was because his very presence here was the ultimate glitch!

Delving any deeper would require explaining why he had traveled in the first place, which involved higher-dimensional concepts beyond his current understanding.

With this in mind, it wasn't surprising that he ended up near the Land of Fire instead of Roran after traveling.

P.S.: This explanation should be somewhat plausible, right?

(End of Chapter)

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