The battle was at a lull when he arrived, both Katsuyu and Manda sat glaring at one another, their masters positioned on their respective heads. Orochimaru looked like he'd seen better days and that white-haired traitor was at his side. It took every bit of his strength to avoid rushing over there and beating the snot out of both of them, but priorities were towards Naruto and Tsunade. Besides, it was good to strategize to avoid friendly fire like a fist to the skull.

The sight that greeted him on the colossal slug made his heart drop. Blood, a lot of blood, the Tsunade he knew would be shaking right now barely able to function, but the Tsunade he saw bore the blood on her arms like it wasn't even there. Naruto was under her care, the last remnants of a brutal wound was being sewn shut by Tsunade's jutsu. Around his neck sat Tsunade's necklace.

"You're late," She spat, her eyes focused on Naruto's wound, the moment he landed next to her. A moment later her smile broke through. "Why is it that every student you have becomes a heroic moron with a death wish?"

"You're not afraid of the blood?" It felt like his mind had been lagging ever since he found her a few days ago. Not only was she healing someone covered in blood, but she was smiling too. This just felt really weird. Did she hit him and this was some dream? No, Orochimaru wouldn't be in his dreams, not in a million years.

She laughed, "Giving birth is a quick way to get over that. Besides, Sachiko rarely went a day without getting some new cut or bruise."

"Oh," so she used to be a tomboy, typical, she really was her mother's daughter. "So what's the plan?"

"You keep him off me while I heal your idiot. Then I'll heal my idiot and then we kick his teeth in," Her voice was smooth like she was talking over dinner plans. "Where's Sachiko?"

"I told her to stay back, didn't want her to get involved with this." Besides, she was an emotional wreck right now, and this was Orochimaru. He turned to glare at his former teammate, he looked paler and more distraught than usual, looks like Sensei's jutsu was having some lasting effects. Would explain why he was so desperate to get Tsunade's healing.

Tsunade snorted, "Yea, she's not going to listen to that."

He had all of one second to process that and become aware that there was a screaming white-haired woman, diving right for the giant snake and its master. Was that girl mad? "What the hell is she doing?"

A shockwave from a punch delivered to Manda's jaw gave him pause. The great snake was sent reeling his long body snapping through the air like a bullwhip, and Orochimaru along with it. Just how strong was his daughter? That punch was at least as powerful as the most powerful blow Tsunade had ever delt. Still, even at her best Tsunade couldn't beat Orochimaru, hell he could barely beat Orochimaru.

"You'll only get in her way," Tsunade warned, still focusing on patching up the last of Naruto's wound.

He felt the earth shake beneath his feet even all the way up on Katsuyu. The head of Manda was now in a fissure that was trying to swallow the snake whole, and he could hear all the pent-up anger of Sachiko exiting her in a giant scream like she was a kettle pot that had finally come to a boil.

"She can't fight Orochimaru on her own, I'm not going to let her die!" He went to move but felt his blood freeze as he looked down on at the fight below him. Manda had vanished, and Orochimaru's sword was through his daughter's stomach. Dammit! The bastard hurt his daughter. "I'm going."

"Don't." Tsunade's hand was firm against his shoulder. Did she want her to die? Or worse? What if Orochimaru placed a cursed seal on Sachiko? Why the hell was this woman just one big long string of bad fucking decisions and why the hell was he not running to his daughter's aid. "You always brought out the best in me. Even when I hated you for it." Tsunade smiled like they had time to have a moment.

Their daughter was being fucking murdered! And why the fuck weren't his legs moving. Dammit, Tsunade did something didn't she?

"In many ways, Sachiko is a result of that, and I think she's the best of you too." Tsunade took her hand off his shoulder and he felt his legs move, his balance shaken for just a moment. "Sachiko! You can go all out!"

All out? All out! Punching the mile-long snake into the ground and making an earthquake wasn't all out? "Why the fuck are you so confident in her? She's sixteen!"

This explains so fucking much about Sachiko, she had a terrible drunk of a mother that would let her fight against - why was the ground shaking again? No, it wasn't just him. Sachiko had her hands on the ground, Orochimaru's sword still sticking out of her, but it looked to hinder her little more than a sliver.

"Wood Style," What? Fucking what? "Great Tree of the Black Swamp!" Sachiko called. Branches covered in a thick black muck shot from the ground, chasing after Orochimaru and Kabuto with a frightening speed. They grew upwards, converging in the center and forming a large tree. The terrain beneath the fight shifted from shattered grasslands to a swamp of bubbling black gunk.

"Wood Jutsu?" He shouted, running up to Tsunade and nearly pushing her off of Katsuyu. "Our daughter can make a fucking tree grow out of the ground? She has the first Hokage's Jutsu? Why didn't you tell anybody?"

Tsunade just gave him a smile and looked back towards the battlefield, as the tree continued to grow upwards as new branches were created to try and damage Orochimaru and Kabuto. The jutsu kept forcing them towards the center, where the black muck was falling off the tree in thick cascades. "It's her power, and I wanted her to have the choice to use it. But I think that she has the potential to surpass my grandfather. Hopefully, she'll be taking the hat from me in a few years."

When the tree reached its full height it loomed over them, the black muck fell like rain from its bushy canopy like an angry storm cloud bringing doom to the land. A familiar scent flooded his senses, the muck, it was oil? Or at least oil based? His daughter made a giant tree that rained oil, and her mother was just beaming with pride.

This had dream written all over it.

"You didn't give me any drugs recently did you?" He asked, still watching his daughter, his daughter! Fight a winning battle against Orochimaru. Sure his arms were basically noodles that couldn't do anything, but she had his sword stuck through her waist, so it was mostly fair.

His daughter could use the first Hokage's wood Jutsu. This was huge, it was amazing, it was, so many things that he wanted nothing more than to forget everything, go to the bar and wait for it to all work itself out.

"Black swamp style!" Sachiko's voice echoed out from within the tree. A flash followed by Orochimaru's screams joined that sound. "Hellfire Prison."

Fire.

Flames roared like a voracious dragon just woken from a century-long nap and ready to feast on the world around it. The oil that surrounded the tree ignited with an explosive frenzy, bubbling, bursting, and smoking at thick black plume that wanted to dye the sky black enough to leave a scar. Even from here the heat was unlike anything he had managed with Bunta.

"Lady Tsunade, I may dry out if Sachiko keeps this up," Katsuyu complained.

"Thank you for your help Katsuyu, you can leave." Tsunade smiled, watching the tree with the same face of wonderment that was bound to be on his face. The slug beneath his feet began to swell up and form a miniature version the creature he stood on, it began to carry him down to the parts of the ground where the fire hadn't reached. Should probably do something about that.

"For the record," Tsunade laughed. "You should try to have more faith in our emotional wreck of a daughter, but don't worry I'll tell her you were cheering her on from the start."

"The hell you are!" He was going to scold her. Even if she was strong enough to make a mountain-sized tree grow in a matter of seconds that had nothing to do with being a good parent. Seriously why was he the responsible one? He was the drunk fun loving pervert. He blamed Tsunade. "You're going to help me and tell her what she did was stupid!"

"Hey it worked didn't it?"

"Are you just going to ignore the fact that there's a sword sticking out of her stomach?"

"Of course not I was going to heal that when she got back."

"What about the fact that she set the giant tree she was inside of on fire? Or the fact that there's now the world biggest bon fire a hundred meters away from the city?"

"She's not an idiot, she won't burn to death from her own jutsu. And I'll heal any burns she gets."

"You're a terrible mother!"

"What? Because I let my daughter make mistakes?"

"No because you enable her mistakes! Do you have any sense of responsibility? Weren't you the one to say that just because you can heal me doesn't mean I should go out of my way to get hurt?"

"That's cause you went out of your way to get hurt so that I would heal you!"

"I did that once!"

"Once while sober!"

"This isn't about me!"

They had been on the ground for a few moments, flames and black smoke acting as the backdrop to what would otherwise be a great spot for a lunch. The sounds of the city in panic did little to distract him from the absolute rage he was feeling towards Tsunade right now.

It came to a stop when Sachiko stepped between them, sword still stuck in her abdomen, her body was bruised and there were a few burns on her clothes and hair. She looked between both of them, her face had the look of utter exhaustion. "Are you two just arguing or actually fighting?"

"Uhh, just arguing," He swallowed, he felt dehydrated just looking at her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," She waved him off like she didn't have a sword sticking out of her waist. She looked around, nodding once when she looked at Tsunade, Naruto and then him. "I didn't burn Shizune did I?"

"Shizune's fine, Katsuyu tended to her over there," Tsunade pointed towards a part of the field that wasn't on fire. "You did a great job, by the way, want me to take care of that sword?"

Sachiko looked down, her white hair flowing over her shoulders, "Oh, right, that's still there. Thought my stomach felt funny. Uhh, yea. I'm going to uhh pass out over in that direction."

She walked forward all of three steps before she fell forward, her face landing on Naruto's stomach earning a "Bleh" from his student that was still out cold.

"She just had to fall onto the sword didn't she?" Tsunade groaned stomping over to right the mess. "I'll heal her, you go make sure she doesn't end up burning the countryside."

"Uhh, right." The size of that task was brought to light when a house-sized branch covered in flames fell from the canopy, spraying embers up into the sky. He was a ninja, not a firefighter. He better summon some toads, the last thing Konoha needed was to deal with the political fallout that the daughter of their Hokage burned down a city.

XXXX

The earth of this area was forever changed, the fire had consumed much of the oil, and still burned in some isolated puddles of the stuff, giving off that strong familiar scent that made his head spin at times. Even when soaked from his toad's water jutsu the ground was still cracked and brittle.

The tree itself formed a pillar of charcoal, that rose out of the ground like a monument to destruction, still aglow with warmth, flaring up again whenever the wind blew strong enough. Its canopy had fallen within moments, leaving sharp hot rocks of wood soot and ash scattered about the hellish landscape. The amount of destruction was hard to stomach.

It was no difficult task to destroy an area, even he could level a house, but this damage was lasting a scar on the land that will take years to heal. Longer if the smoke rising from the cracks meant there was burning oil beneath the surface.

If there was ever a technique to kill Orochimaru it would be this. Doubtful though it may be.

The core of the tree was like stepping into a still lit oven. He'd be dehydrated in minutes and dead soon after. But he needed to confirm, even though his gut told him otherwise. He climbed the twisting maze of branches that made up the base of the tree, and at the heart where the fires had burned the hottest, he found Orochimaru's funeral pyre. A lone pillar of charcoal glowed red at the center, bound to it by branches of ash was an Orochimaru-shaped corpse.

Fighting through the heat, he examined the corpse, it was hallow, little more than a shell. Orochimaru still lived, and worse he now knew about his daughter and how strong she was. Hopefully that strength would be enough to deter the man and not spur him on.

"I'm going to drink a lot tonight," his throat was dry and his eyes burned, but he stayed until the last ash fell to the wind. If Orochimaru did come for his family then the destruction that Sachiko had demonstrated would seem like a mercy.

AN: To those of you that complained that Sachiko wasn't as good of a healer as her mother. This is why. FIRE TREES! Anyways I skipped a lot of the fight, because I don't actually like to write fights, but hey Tsunade's the Hokage now. Also Martial dispute!