Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage, was currently engaged in a losing battle against a mountain of parchment. Her desk was barely visible beneath stacks of logistics reports, damage assessments from the invasion, and village budget requests.
"That old man!" Tsunade roared, slamming a stamp down so hard the mahogany groaned in protest. "Hiruzen dumped forty years of administrative neglect on me and had the audacity to die before I could punch him for it! And Jiraiya... that perverted bastard dragged me back here just so he could go 'research' in the hot springs!"
She reached for a bottle of sake, only to find it empty. A vein throbbed on her forehead as she glared at the doorway. "And don't even get me started on that brat Kenji Sato. If he hadn't bought up my gambling debts, I'd still be in a bar in the Land of Fire instead of this paper-filled tomb!"
The door slid open without so much as a courtesy knock.
"You know, Princess, for a woman who just achieved the highest rank in the land, you sound remarkably like a Genin complaining about weeding a garden," a smooth, teasing voice rang out.
Kenji Sato strolled into the room, hands in his pockets, wearing a grin that was far too wide for the current mood of the office. "Having fun with the 'Will of Fire', Tsunade-sama? Or is the 'Will of Paperwork' more your speed?"
A massive red tick mark appeared on Tsunade's temple. She didn't use a jutsu; she didn't need one. In a blur of speed, her fist connected squarely with the top of Kenji's head.
THWACK.
"OW!" Kenji yelped, rubbing the massive, smoking bump that instantly formed on his skull. "Hey! I'm a major donor! You don't hit the guy who pays your bills!"
"Kenji-kun!"
Karin, who had been hovering nervously in the hallway, rushed to his side. Her red eyes were wide behind her new glasses as she reached up to check the injury. "Are you okay? Does it hurt? That mean lady shouldn't have hit you!"
On the other side of the desk, Shizune also scrambled forward, her professional facade cracking. "Kenji-kun! You shouldn't provoke her when she's like this! Let me see... oh, that's going to be a nasty bruise."
Tsunade froze, her arm still raised. She watched in stunned silence as her loyal assistant and this mysterious new girl fussed over the boy like mother hens.
"Well, look at this," Tsunade huffed, her eyes narrowing as she sat back in her chair. "My personal assistant is already compromised, and now you're bringing in more groupies, Kenji? Who is this?"
Her gaze shifted from Kenji to the girl clutching his arm. Her amber eyes locked onto the vibrant, unmistakable shade of crimson hair. Tsunade's jaw dropped. The anger vanished, replaced by a look of profound shock.
"Uzumaki..." she breathed out, the word carrying the weight of a dying clan.
"Sharp as ever, Princess," Kenji said, wincing as Shizune's medical chakra began to soothe the bump. He gently nudged Karin forward. "Karin, introduce yourself. This is Tsunade Senju. She's your long-distance relative—and the only person in this village with enough muscle to keep the vultures off you."
Karin didn't beam. Instead, she adjusted her glasses and fixed Tsunade with a cold, unkind glare. "I don't care who she is," Karin whispered, her voice sharp. "She hurt Kenji-kun."
Tsunade blinked, then let out a dry, incredulous laugh. "Hey, little girl, what's with those eyes? I'm the Hokage. I can beat him as much as I want—it's practically a village tradition."
"Karin," Kenji said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. She's just... expressive. Tell her the story. Tell her why you're here."
Karin hesitated, looking at Kenji for strength. Then, looking back at Tsunade, she began to speak. Her voice was flat at first, but it grew heavier as the memories surfaced.
She spoke of the escape from the Land of Whirlpools as her mother and a few other tribe members fled the destruction. They were separated during the flight, and she eventually took refuge in Kusagakure. Her mother possessed a unique ability: her blood could heal anyone who consumed it.
"The village accepted us because of that talent," Karin said, her knuckles turning white. "But they didn't treat us like people. My mother became a literal healing battery. Every day, after missions, ninjas would come to bite her. They cursed us, abused us, and beat us."
Her voice trembled as she mentioned the further horrors her mother endured before Karin was born. "My mother told me to never let anyone know I had the same ability... but one day, she died. They bit her until there was nothing left to give. She was bitten to death by the very people she saved."
The room was deathly silent as Karin described how the Grass ninjas discovered her own power and turned her into their next "bitten ninja". She had been sent to the Chunin Exams as a mobile med-kit, only to be left behind to die in the Forest of Death until Kenji found her.
The silence that followed was heavy enough to crack the floorboards. Shizune was trembling, her eyes shimmering with tears of pure, empathetic rage.
But Tsunade? Tsunade looked like a storm incarnate. Her amber eyes were clouded with a murderous, golden light. The idea of an Uzumaki—a descendant of the clan that built the foundation of Konoha's sealing arts—being treated as a literal battery was an affront to her blood, her profession, and her title.
BOOM!
Tsunade's hands gripped the edge of her massive desk. With a single, explosive surge of strength, she flipped the entire thing. Hundreds of reports and files flew into the air like white confetti.
"Used as a battery?" Tsunade hissed, her voice vibrating with a low, terrifying frequency. "They used a child of the Uzumaki as a healing station and discarded her when she was empty?"
She stood up, her height making her look like a giant in the small room. "Shizune!"
"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama!"
"Draft an official declaration. Not a message—a demand for reparations and a notice of war for village-sanctioned human rights violations against the Uzumaki clan!"
Tsunade turned to Karin, her expression softening into something almost grandmotherly for a brief second. "You're in Konoha now, Karin Uzumaki. And I am the Fifth Hokage."
She looked at Kenji, a fierce, proprietary grin returning to her face. "Good work, Kenji. For once, you've done something that makes me proud to have you in this village. As for Kusagakure... I'm going to personally ensure that the Grass never grows on that village again."
"Woah, calm down there, Princess," Kenji said, raising his hands as the papers settled. "No need to hurry. We just went through an invasion, and your appointment hasn't even been officially announced to the public yet. You want to start a war before you've even had your first cup of morning sake in that chair?"
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