__________ POV Narration __________

Tsunade sighed, her nerves calming down as she walked down the paths of that forest.

With every step she took, everything became more and more familiar, and the picture became clearer and clearer.

She stood in front of the dying figure of a young teen.

The teenager had short light-brown hair and hazel eyes. He wore a bloodied dark teal poncho top and light green pants paired with blue sandals to match the headband he proudly wore on his forehead.

It was none other than Nawaki, Tsunade's younger brother.

Growing up, the two of them had been very close. He even had the lofty dream of becoming Hokage.

That dream and his inherent lack of talent led to him getting into quite a bit of trouble with a lot of other children.

Tsunade had initially started learning medical ninjutsu from a young age to take care of him. It was there that she discovered her inherent talents in chakra control and medical ninjutsu in general.

She had healed her brother many times. And she had grown into what was likely the best medical shinobi in the entire world. But even her skill couldn't heal the dead.

He had lost his life in the Second Shinobi War, and the world hadn't been the same for Tsunade since...

She had somewhat lost herself to gambling for a while, she had been closed off in her own bubble as everything around her developed.

Meanwhile, her life spiralled more and more out of control.

Ultimately, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were able to break her out of those bad habits with a bit of help from the Hokage.

The peaceful times allowed them more leisure to help her deal with her internal turmoil and debt problems as well. They were a team at the end of the day...

It was a rather large intervention, and the Hokage who was always stingy even put his own money on the table to pay the debts she had racked up.

It had taken a lot for her to even slightly get over her self-isolation and self-destructive behaviour.

But now she was back there, in that forest where everything had gone bad.

Finding Nawaki, not being able to save him... It was the last nail in her coffin.

Her lover, Dan Katō, had already passed away by that time, she no longer had any real foothold in the world aside from her teammates.

But Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both very busy during the war, even more so for the Third Hokage. So she was virtually on her own.

And she was alone even now, as she stared silently at the form of her dying younger brother.

She knew it was an illusion, it was nothing more than a sick and twisted attempt to bring her back to that day... To force her to face her fears.

She couldn't help but feel disgusted by Ken's methods, but in a sense, it had worked.

Without even realising it, she was not afraid of the blood spilling out from her memories into the illusion. Any fear she might've had was overtaken by anger and disgust.

She walked forward, crouching down to Nawaki's dying form, only to smile at him.

Her hands trembled slightly, her fear still lingered as she now looked down at her hands, only to see them coated in her brother's blood, much like that day.

"Sorry, Nawaki... I... I can't heal this one."

She spoke out, despite knowing that it was fake, she couldn't help it. Not when seeing the very authentic-feeling look of pain on his face.

"B-Big Sis... Is that you?"

That line... It was the exact same.

She had failed to respond at the time, she was too panicked, too afraid. Back then she had rushed to try and mend her brother's broken body.

She was far too late regardless.

"Yes, Nawaki... It's me."

This time, however, her mind was clearer, even with her slight fear and panic, she was still able to react calmly.

The emotion that overtook all of the others currently was none other than sadness. Grief.

In truth, she had never really gotten over her loss, she had only buried that deep inside of her psyche.

She may not have liked Ken's methods, but it was essentially forcing her out of her comfort zone. Forcing her to do what was best for her.

It was still insensitive and very much unhinged, but she could somewhat see the merit in such a method.

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"Big Sis... Was I ever *Cough*... Did I do it? Did I become Hokage in the end?"

His weakened voice made it clear that he had already lost clarity. Nawaki was already a step into the Pure Lands.

In the past, Tsunade had even ignored that question, which had likely made the barely lucid teenager feel nothing but fear in his last moments.

This time, however, she managed to respond accordingly.

"Yes, Nawaki... You made it in the end."

It was nothing more than giving into the delusions of an illusion. But it was still what she should have said at that time.

Instead of stubbornly trying to bring life back into her almost-dead brother, she should have at least made his last moments as pleasant as possible.

"I-I did it? I did it...Haha~"

A tear came out of the young teenager's eye, falling on his cheek as Tsunade wiped it away before it reached the gushing wound on his neck.

Even though it was all a lie, Tsunade could feel the emotion coming from her brother... Happiness.

It was the best she could do.

But as she felt his breath get weaker and weaker, her mind was quickly gripped by panic once again.

She had immersed herself too much into the world, and she was now fully back there mentally.

Her hands trembled as she instinctively tried to heal the illusion, only for her brother to grab her wrists.

"It's fine, Big Sis... It's fine..."

That was all he said with his last breath, and Tsunade lost it completely by then. Her eyes filled with tears as she now looked at the blood covering her hands once more.

It was only then that the image in front of her shattered like glass, returning to a black and white sea, where she stood in the middle of it all, completely clean.

The blonde woman couldn't help but feel a bit of whiplash at the odd change, she could barely even get her emotions in check before Ken rose form the depths in front of her once more.

"That went a lot better than I expected for a first session." He muttered as he rubbed his chin. His lifeless eyes seemed to scan her for a moment before he nodded and the entire Genjutsu fell apart.

Tsunade didn't even get a word in before she returned to the real world, where she found herself on a comfortable chair, with Orochimaru and Ken both in front of her.

"Aand she is awake..." Ken spoke out first, his calm smile spoke volumes, it was as if he had not just tortured her by forcing her to re-experience her brother's death.

But surprisingly, she was not quite as devastated as she had been back then. She was feeling much the same as before the Illusion had begun actually...

Orochimaru stepped forwards, he was quick to check up on Tsunade's health, shining a light into her eye to make sure she was fully conscious.

But before he managed to do it on both eyes, she fully recovered form the shock, and her anger rose once more.

Tsunade slapped Orochimaru's hand away, making the snake Sannin drop the flashlight and slither off to the side.

The Blonde Sannin quickly marched towards Ken, her face clearly promising Pain. But Ken didn't even move.

Even as she struck out, her punch aiming straight for his face, Ken only stood in place and 'looked' at her with that same calm smile.

Orochimaru's reaction was quite different. His face filled with panic as he had failed to anticipate Tsunade turning violent.

Not that he could be blamed, he had also not known the full contents of Ken's 'Session' with Tsunade.

The Snake Sannin still tried to stop Tsunade, but his extending arms failed to reach her in time...

"Hah!" In that punch, she gave it all that she could.

But Ken merely lowered his head slightly, blocking her knuckles with his forehead as he took the hit without much issue.

Tsunade felt the bones in her fist and arm crack slightly from the reversed shock of her strike, she felt as if she had punched an indestructible and unmoving object.

"The forehead is usually one of the most sensitive spots in the human body... That does tend to apply to me as well..."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she saw blood flowing on Ken's face, his calm smile remaining unchanged as she quickly retracted her punch.

Just as Orochimaru's hands wrapped around her limbs and pulled her backwards. She struggled for a moment, but her mind and gaze were still stuck on Ken.

The Blind Assassin had put no guard up, he had not even bothered to grow scales to block the strike, something that Tsunade was well aware he could have done... Hell, it would have likely completely broken her arm if he had grown scales.

Still, Tsunade's punch would have easily pulverized any regular man's head. But for Ken, it only left a slight mark and caused a bit of bleeding.

"Why... Why did you let me hit you?" The Slug Sannin's eyes narrowed as she watched the Blind Monster lick his own blood from the side of his cheek.

"Hm? Oh, it was merely in your right to do so." The wound on Ken's forehead healed in an instant as he stepped forward.

Orochimaru's muscles jerked in reaction to the Assassin's movement. For a moment he feared that he would squash Tsunade's head like a watermelon.

But at the same time, he knew that the Blind Assassin wouldn't do such a thing. If he wanted to, he could have killed Tsunade in the instant she raised her fist at him after all.

He would've had the justification after all.

Seeing as how he was still not hostile, and Tsunade had calmed down slightly, Orochimaru let go of the Blonde Woman and stepped to the side, his eyes still warily studying the situation.

"My right? Well, I guess you did deserve it..." Tsunade scowled a bit as her eyes narrowed at Ken.

"I knew that my methods would be a bit... Unorthodox, I expected such a reaction out of you. Still, it seems that this first session of ours has worked wonders..." Ken slowly raised his hand and pointed to his bloody forehead.

And it was only then that Tsunade realized... She hadn't even flinched at the sight of blood.

She was so mad that she had completely forgotten about her fear. Even when looking down at her bloody fist, she felt as if she could slightly keep her composure a bit better than before.

She still felt very squeamish now that the situation fully set in, but at the very least she was not on the verge of passing out.

"I... I was not expecting your methods to actually do anything other than traumatize me all over again, honestly..." Tsunade's eyes turned back towards Ken, who simply shrugged.

"The human mind is a fickle mistress. If your mind was any weaker, then that would have been the most likely result.

But I had placed my bets on you having a stronger mind than most, given your pedigree..."

Ken slowly took out a handkerchief and handed it over to her, after which he took one out for himself as he wiped away his own blood.

Tsunade, with slightly trembling hands, managed to wipe away the assassin's blood from her bruised knuckles.

When she looked at the slightly led material in her hands, she couldn't help but sigh.

"No, I am not stronger than anybody. Just a few weeks ago I was a complete mess."

The Sannin shook her head as she turned and threw the handkerchief towards a trashcan, Orochimaru's eyes traced it for a moment, before returning to Ken's bleeding form.

"Don't sell yourself short woman. Many would have broken down more thoroughly given the circumstances... I guess it helps that you had started getting your life together beforehand."

Ken sighed as he slowly turned to leave the room.

"Make no mistake, recovery from trauma can be a very long process. Seek me out when you feel ready.

The next step is something that you need to make after all. You know where to find me~"

Tsunade couldn't help but smile as she looked at Ken's departing back.

"You're one tough bastard... Even if I decide not to go ahead with your treatment methods in the future, I'll at least seek you out for a drink."

The Sannin waved at the Blind Assassin, while Orochimaru just looked confused by the whole ordeal.

"..."

'One less job for me, I guess?'