That evening, Naruto moodily thought about Jiraiya's suggestion. She had to admit that it had more plusses than minuses, the biggest being not having S-ranked missing nin after her. There was also the fact that it would reduce the negative feelings the village had against her. While she was not popular as Tsunami, she was still treated much better than in her birth form. On the other hand, it would mean giving up on the identity that her parents had bequeathed her. She had done that half-way already by "escaping" into her Tsunami identity, but it had never seemed so final until now. She had always planned on rehabilitating "Naruto." The other factor was that it would mean giving up or cutting back on the seal business—unless she let others know just how much she was able to abuse Shadow Clones.

Jiraiya and Karin gave her space to come to it on her own terms.

Just before their usual bedtime, Karin came over and sat down on her bed roll next to where Tsunami was sitting on hers. "You aren't really going to stop being Naruto, are you?" she asked. She winked at her and then whined in an over-the-top fashion, "How am I supposed to bag the next Uzumaki Clan Head and help restore the clan if you stop being Naruto?"

Tsunami giggled, despite herself. "I'm sure you'll manage."

Karin winked at her again. "You'll just have to invent a new boy Uzumaki for me."

Tsunami groaned good naturedly. "Kaaariiin, is that all you think about?"

Karin smirked. "Is there anything else?"

Tsunami slapped Karin's shoulder. "Thanks for getting me out of my funk, Cuz."

"No problem, Tsunami-chan." Karin said got up to open the blankets on her bed roll and then laid down. "Good night."

Naruto sat moodily on the bank of the stream in the meadow of his mindscape. He idly tossed pebbles into the stream.

"Hey, Naruto," his mom said as she came up behind him.

"Hey, Mom," he replied.

"What's got you so moody?" she asked. "It isn't something the old pervert did, is it?"

"Kind of, but not really," he replied. "It isn't anything he did, but rather something he said that makes way too much sense, but that I'm not sure that I like."

"Why don't you tell me about it?" she said.

He nodded and then told her about the mission they were on and the encounter his long-term clone had had with Itachi and Kisame, Jiraiya's suggestion, and his own thoughts on the matter.

His mother listened to him quietly other than an exclamation when he mentioned Itachi's involvement. "Itachi-chan was such a nice boy. I don't know how he could have gotten the way he is now. It must be that Fugaku's fault. I never did like him all that much," she had said.

When he was all done, she gave him a hug and held him tight. After a few minutes she relaxed a little bit and let him go enough so that she could look him in the eyes. "You know that I don't mind if you let 'Naruto' disappear, right? I, and your father, if he were still here, care more about your happiness and safety than about the name we gave you or your appearance. If Naruto 'dies' and you continue on as Tsunami or as another boy like Karin-chan wants, we don't mind. Do what is best for you. The Old Perv is right in that letting the group of S-class missing nin that are after you think that you are dead is a good idea."

"Do you think I should make another male persona then?" he asked.

She let him go and stared into the sky for a few moments. "I think you should. I know you don't mind being a girl and even like it at times, but I think that you would miss being a boy if you only did it here with me."

"That's true," he admitted. "What do you think I should do about Karin-chan's attempts to flirt with me?"

His mother laughed. "Flirt back. Have fun. You don't have to, but you might enjoy it."

"Do you think she's serious about it?" he asked. "Sometimes I think she is, but other times I can tell she's just teasing me."

"Who cares?" his mom said with another laugh. "You're too young to be serious about it anyway. Making permanent decisions about that kind of thing is years off. Enjoy your youth. Have fun. Flirt a little. Just let her know that you aren't ready for any type of commitment."

Naruto leaned back against the bank and sighed. He wasn't sure if he was ready to do anything like that. On the one hand, he was pretty young. On the other, he knew how serious some of the girls took things. He didn't want to lead Karin on. He pushed those thoughts away and said, "If I do make a new male persona, what name should I use? I think I'll claim him as another Uzumaki cousin."

"Well, the other name we were thinking about naming you was Menma," his mom said.

He raised himself up and turned to look at her. Both Naruto and Menma could be interpreted as ramen ingredients. "Menma?! Really?! Did you have ramen on the brain when you were pregnant?"

She laughed. "It was spelled going to be spelled with different kanji, of course, but I did hear that accusation from your father."

"What spelling?" he asked suspiciously.

"Probably 'masked horse,'" she said. "We hadn't decided and I mostly just liked the sound of the name."

"Right…" he said with a drawl.

She laughed. "We chose 'Naruto' for a reason. Aren't you glad you were named 'maelstrom' rather than 'masked horse?' Besides, your father wanted to name you after his pervy sensei's only non-pervy character."

He joined her in laughing. Maybe he would use the name regardless… It wasn't like being named after a ramen ingredient was a bad thing.

The next day, Naruto felt better. The talks with Karin and her mom had helped her get over her moodiness. She was half convinced to debut Uzumaki Menma at some point before they got back to Konoha.

As if to balance things out, with Tsunami feeling better, Karin's frustration was mounting over Jiraiya's inability to pinpoint their destination.

"Don't worry about it, Karin-chan," he said. "We'll find her sooner than later. My contacts have told me that she's head that direction." He waved vaguely ahead of them toward the southwest.

"There's a better way to do this," she growled. "Just stop and let me find her."

Karin walked to the side of the road and knelt down. No amount of cajoling from Jiraiya would get her to move from her spot or even pay attention to him. Tsunami watched in amusement. Half an hour after she had first knelt down, Karin raised her head and smiled. "Found her!" she crowed.

"What!?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Found who?"

"Tsunade-sama," Karin responded. "She's about 60 kilometers that way." She pointed in a direction a little bit to the south of the way the road they were on traveled.

"How?!" spluttered Jiraiya.

Karin stood up and smiled fiercely. "I'm not just a sensor—I'm the sensor. You should have relied on me from the beginning. It would have saved time." She reached up and patted his cheek condescendingly and started off down the road. Tsunami giggled in amusement and followed after her.

"How do you know it's her?" Jiraiya grumped following after them reluctantly.

Karin stopped and turned to face him. "She's a quarter Uzumaki. We're distinctive. The person I've found besides having an Uzumaki flavor also has the most chakra of anyone else I've encountered other than Tsunami. It's got to be her."

Jiraiya frowned thoughtfully before sighing and saying, "Very well. Lead the way."

"I was planning on it," Karin drawled before resuming walking.

The day after Karin had located Tsunade with her Mind's Eye Technique found the three of them standing outside a bar in Tanzaku-gai.

"She's in there?" Tsunami asked dubiously.

"It's as likely as any place," Jiraiya said as he slipped by the two Uzumaki. "Good work, kid."

Tsunami and Karin looked at each other and each shrugged and then followed the Toad Sage into the bar. Once inside the bar, Jiraiya quickly zeroed in on a blonde woman sitting at the bar sipping from a cup of sake with several bottles next to her. A young woman with black hair holding a pig was sitting next to her with a patient, but bored look on her face.

"Tsunade-chan!" Jiraiya exclaimed with exaggerated cheerfulness. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Go away, Pervert," Tsunade growled. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Now, now, Tsuna-chan," Jiraiya tutted. "Is that any way to greet an old friend and teammate?"

He deftly dodged out of the way of a backhand swipe from his old teammate.

"Ah, Tsunade-chan," Jiraiya pouted. "I'm beginning to think you don't want me here."

"Really?" Tsunade said archly. "Whatever gave you that impression." She pointedly turned away from him and started sipping from her cup again.

"Don't be that way, Hime," he whined.

Tsunami cleared her throat. As interesting as it was to see someone poke at her errant godfather's ego, they were here for a purpose. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Ero-sennin?"

"Ero-sennin?" Tsunade repeated with a snort. "I think I like you."

Tsunami smiled smugly. While she hadn't been too impressed with her older cousin so far, at least she wasn't a pervert.

Jiraiya scowled. "Right. Brats, Senju Tsunade-chan. Hime, the brats: Uzumaki Tsunami-chan and her cousin Uzumaki Karin-chan."

"Hello, cousin," Tsunami greeted with a bow. Karin echoed the greeting beside her.

Tsunade sighed, but inclined her head slightly. She indicated her companion with a tilt of her head. "My apprentice, Kato Shizune-chan."

"Hello," the newly named Shizune said. "And this is Tonton-chan." She held up the pig she was carrying.

Tsunade went back to ignoring them in favor of her sake and Shizune gave them a brittle smile.

Wanting to break the silence before Jiraiya did and made things worse, Tsunami said, "My mother was your second cousin."

Tsunade turned back to her and arched an eyebrow. "I only know of one Uzumaki second cousin who survived the sacking of Uzushio and she only had a boy before she died. I admit you look a little like her, but that doesn't mean much in a world filled with shinobi."

With that she dismissed them again and turned back to her sake.

Tsunami came to the sinking realization that the woman before her was just as bad as her godfather. Her temper ignited and she snarled. "How would you know? Obviously, you don't care about your family or you would have come back to Konoha to check up on me!"

The female Sannin snorted. "He was better off without me. Being near me would have just gotten him killed like everyone else."

"You know nothing!" Tsunami screeched. She tried to claw back her temper as memories of all the times she has sat lonely in her room, the ostracization, the sabotage, the rotten fruit, the incessant bullying, and even the couple of times she had run for her life bubbled up—all the times she had wished for family and this woman thought she was better off alone. She grabbed Karin's hand and fled the bar, yelling out to her godfather, "Do what you came to do with the bitter, hateful old hag. Come and find us when you're done."

Jiraiya called out, "Naruto-chan."

She ignored him and ran, pulling her cousin behind her. She didn't stop running until she ended up in a park. She collapsed next to a tree and cried while Karin knelt beside her and rubbed circles on her back and murmured comforting words.

It took Naruto twenty minutes to get herself under control. She didn't know why she had thought that Tsunade would be different—why she thought the woman would have a good reason for being absent from Konoha. It seems that she just wandered around drinking and—if the places Jiraiya had looked into on their way here were any indication—gambling her life away. She sat silently next to Karin, both of them leaning against a tree.

Tsunade's apprentice found them after they had been gone about an hour.

"Please don't judge Tsunade-sama too harshly," Shizune said. "She's had a hard life."

"Harder than growing up a family-less orphan in a place where everyone hates you?" Tsunami asked with a sneer.

She sighed as she realized she was taking out her anger on the wrong person. "I'm sorry, Shizune-san. You didn't deserve that."

She sighed again before shaking herself and smiling. "Alright! Enough moping about! Let's do something fun!" She looked at Shizune. "Do you know anything to do around here?"

"There's the Castle," Shizune offered. "It's interesting to see."

Tsunami looked at Karin who shrugged and said, "It's as good as anything."

As Shizune led them away from the park, Tsunami asked, "What are Ero-sennin and the old hag up to?"

Shizune frowned at the disrespect, but said, "Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-san were talking privately when I left. I think they were talking about you or maybe Jiraiya-san was trying to get Tsunade-sama to come back to Konoha again—although she usually throws him out when he tries that."

Tsunami shrugged. As far as she was concerned their mission was a bust. She didn't think Tsunade was Hokage material.

"So what's your shishou's deal?" Tsunami asked. "Why is she so angry at the world that she spends all her time drinking?"

Shizune sighed and said, "She really should tell you herself, but I suppose it's not a big secret. Tsunade-sama feels that everyone she has ever been close to has died in the service of Konoha: her grandfather and uncle both died young serving as Hokage, her brother Nawaki-san and my uncle Dan-san, who was her fiancé, also both died after setting their sights on the Hokage's hat. Also, she's the last of her clan—the enemies of Konoha have always targeted the Senju above others. She feels that she's cursed."

Tsunami snorted. "There's no curse other than that of the shinobi lifestyle. If she doesn't want to be a shinobi, that's her prerogative, but this curse business sounds more like an excuse than anything. I don't like that she's denigrating the sacrifices that her family willingly made for the village and its ideals."

She didn't say it, but the demise of the Senju clan was at least partially due to their tendency to have daughters in the last few generations. The few sons had died in battle and a lack of strong clan leadership had had the daughters marrying into other clans.

Shizune opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. They walked to the castle in silence.

They toured the castle like tourists. Tsunami found herself being slightly awed by the age of the place. Konoha itself didn't have anything that old—the village had been founded less than seventy years ago.

"Tsunami-chan?" Karin exclaimed suddenly. "Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama are about to encounter two men with large amounts of chakra on the other side of the castle. Their chakra is disgusting!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tsunami said. "Let's go check it out."

Karin quickly led them around the outside of the castle where they arrived just in time to see Orochimaru and Kabuto step out from where they were hiding to confront Jiraiya and Tsunade who looked like they had still been arguing. Kabuto saw them and smirked at Tsunami, winking with his pure white eye. She scowled in anger at him sporting her teammate's eye that he had callously stolen from her while attempting to permanently maim all three of them.

Orochimaru cackled evilly. "It looks like the teams all here. All we need now is Sensei… But wait…" He cackled evilly again.

"What do you want Orochimaru?" Jiraiya growled. "Did you come here just to gloat at your treachery?"

"I have need of Tsunade-chan's services and am willing to give her what she wants more than anything in this world," the snake Sannin purred unctuously.

"There's no way that you can give me what I want," Tsunade growled.

"Oh, but I can," Orochimaru said with a giggle. "Jiraiya-kun knows. Dan-san and Nawaki-san alive and by your side."

Tsunami growled, knowing he referred to the foul technique he had used to bring back the First and Second Hokages and bind them to his will. She could see that the older woman was sorely tempted.

"If you want your brother and your fiancé to hate you forever, then go ahead," Tsunami growled out.

"What?!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"He proposes to use an evil technique to bring the spirits of your loved ones back to puppet likenesses of their bodies as his slaves," she spat out. "Do you think they would love you for their being dragged out of the Pure World and used to destroy everything they stood for?"

"It's true," Jiraiya said. "He used that ill-advised technique of your uncle's to bring him and your grandfather back to try and kill Sensei and destroy Konoha. Sensei had to use a kinjutsu to use the Shinigami to banish them, but Sensei got a bit of revenge out of it." He waved at Orochimaru. "Hey, Oro-chan, aren't you going to wave back?"

Orochimaru sneered. "Does it really matter how I do it as long as I can? I'll even swear to not use Dan-san and Nawaki-san for my own ends."

"And the words of a traitor are worth what?" Tsunami said.

Tsunade shook her head. "I'm not getting involved with either you or Jiraiya-san, Orochimaru-san. Just go."

Orochimaru cackled. "That's what you think! Kabuto-kun, get her."

A snake extended out of Orochimaru's mouth. The snake in turn spat out a sword and then retracted. Orochimaru's elongated tongue slithered out of his mouth in turn and grabbed the sword. He leaped toward Jiraiya. Kabuto advanced toward Tsunade.

Figuring her godfather could take care of his arm-less former teammate and wanting some of her own back against the traitorous genin, Tsunami rushed to her older cousin's side. Karin and Shizune moved with her.

"Do you really think you can stand against me, boy?" Tsunade asked the advancing Kabuto.

"I think I would surprise you," Kabuto said with a smirk, "but it's a moot point anyway since I know your weakness."

He withdrew a kunai and slit his wrist with it, squirting blood at her, splattering the kunoichi and the ground around her. The woman screamed and went catatonic.

"Help Tsunade-sama!" Shizune commanded as she leaped in between her shishou and the advancing shinobi.

"How is the world's premier medic nin scared of blood?" Karin asked incredulously.

She examined the catatonic woman while Tsunami stood guard.

"As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with her physically," Karin said. "She's just checked out mentally."

Shizune was not doing very well against Kabuto. Evidently, he had been sandbagging his performances in the Chuunin Exams.

"I'm going to help," Tsunami said as she circled around to be on the opposite side of the traitor from Shizune.

"Do you really think you can sneak up behind me, Tsunami-chan, after I received the gift that your teammate so thoughtfully gave me?" he said with a sneer.

"Who said I need to surprise you to take you out?" Tsunami replied.

"Do you really think a genin and the apprentice of a washed-up has been can stand against me?"

"You're a genin too, Kabuto," Tsunami replied.

"Being a genin of Konoha was merely a cover," he said with a smirk. "I'm really a jounin of Oto!"

"As if being a jounin of a pretend village means anything," Tsunami replied with a sneer. "We all know Orochimaru couldn't stand being around anyone that was actually strong."

"You know nothing of Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto screamed.

Shizune spat out a cloud of purple gas at Kabuto while he was distracted with Tsunami which engulfed him. However, when the gas cleared, Kabuto was gone.

Tsunami stretched out her senses and felt him underground.

"Underneath you!" she shouted at Shizune, but she was too late—the traitor had already leaped up behind her, slashing at her heels on the way up. Shizune toppled over in pain. Tsunami sent an Adamantine chain flying at Kabuto, forcing him to leap away from the downed kunoichi.

"Now it's just you and me, Tsunami-chan," Kabuto smirked.

He advanced on her with glowing blue chakra surrounding his hands. Knowing that he had used the technique to hamstring Shizune, Tsunami knew better than to let him get close. She summoned five Shadow Clones.

"It's never just me and anyone," Tsunami retorted.

Her clones moved to surround her foe. She could see Shizune trying to heal her legs while Karin was trying to rouse Tsunade. She was also aware of Jiraiya and Orochimaru fighting a short distance away.

"Again with the surrounding," Kabuto tutted. "It's not going to work."

"Says you," she retorted.

She and her clones all threw kunai at the Oto nin. He managed to dodge several of them, but was hit by two of the blades. He just shrugged off the wounds and she could feel his chakra in the wounds, indicating that his healing of the self-inflicted cut earlier was not a fluke. He flicked senbon at three of her clones, dispersing them. She summoned more. She and her clones started launching Adamantine chains at him. He dodged or deflected most of them. Those that speared him, did so with only grazing hits with their pointed tips, which he ignored.

She needed to land a chakra-locking seal on him to stop his self-healing. She could generate one on the end of her chains. It would only last a second or two at her current skill level, but with the attendant disorientation that accompanied it that would probably be long enough to finish him off. Unfortunately, the seal would require a good, solid hit on him and he was just good enough to avoid those. She would need a distraction. Shizune was still injured and Karin wasn't skilled enough—that just left one choice.

"So you're just going to give up then, Tsunade-baachan?" she called. "You're going to let more of your family die and your apprentice too?"

"So you've seen the writing on the wall then, Tsunami-chan?" Kabuto asked with false politeness.

"I guess you didn't really love Dan-san after all!" she called.

"I loved him more than life itself!" Tsunade roared, finally coming out of her stupor.

"What would he think of you if you let his niece die to your weakness and his village go to ruin because of the machinations of a madman?" she retorted.

"There will be no more dying of my loved ones!" Tsunade exclaimed as she charged Kabuto.

Tsunami jumped out of the way and Kabuto himself barely avoided being pulverized as Tsunade's fist cratered the ground where he had been.

Tsunami and Tsunade worked together to corral Kabuto. The Oto nin prioritized avoiding the Sanin over the younger kunoichi and so Tsunami was able to get more hits on him. Finally, Tsunami speared him in the back with her chains and manifested the Chakra Stasis Seal on him. Kabuto froze as his chakra momentarily stopped working. Tsunade landed a devastating punch on his chest, collapsing it. The force of the blow turned him toward Tsunami and she sent another chain straight through his stolen eye, killing him.

"No!" yelled Orochimaru. "You cost me my servant!"

"He tried to take more of my family from me!" Tsunade replied.

"So you've once again thrown in your lot with Konoha?" Orochimaru asked.

"If that is what it takes to protect those I love and my grandfather's dream, then, yes, I have!" Tsunade replied.

"Then you will die with Konoha too!" Orochimaru screeched.

"Not if I have anything to say about it as the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato!" Tsunade proclaimed.

Tsunami, Karin, and Jiraiya cheered.

Shizune asked, "Are we going home, Shishou?"

"We're going home, Shizune-chan," Tsunade replied.

Orochimaru fled.