The tale of Mayumi

Chapter 7: An Unexpected Invitation

We sat in stunned silence as Kakashi continued speaking, his voice calm and steady, unaffected by the drunken haze clouding our minds.

He explained why he had been searching for us, his words carrying weight I couldn't quite grasp in my current state. Then, without much ceremony, he slid a scroll across the table toward me. The emblem stamped onto the wax seal was unfamiliar, but the name written inside made me sober up almost instantly.

Tsunade Senju.

I blinked. "Wait... Lady Hokage is Tsunade?" I exchanged a baffled glance with Hikaru. "As in Tsunade Senju?"

Kakashi nodded, taking a sip of his tea. "The same."

I leaned back, exhaling sharply. "Well, damn"

Hikaru let out a low whistle. "For a drunk gambler, she did pretty good."

Kakashi's single visible eye flicked between us. "So you do know her."

"Yeah," I muttered, still processing the news. "We met her a couple of years ago."

Two Years Ago – A Chance Encounter

Hikaru and I had been passing through a dense forest, looking for a safe place to rest, when we stumbled upon a brutal scene. A woman—dressed in dark robes with a piglet clinging to her shoulder—was tending to another woman, who lay unconscious on the ground, covered in blood.

Surrounding them was a group of hostile-looking men, grinning like they had already won.

They were wrong.

Even with her hands glowing with medical chakra, the woman kneeling over the injured stranger didn't look afraid. If anything, she looked annoyed. I would come to learn that this was just how Tsunade operated—like the world constantly exhausted her.

She didn't ask for our help, but we jumped in anyway.

Hikaru took on most of the attackers, moving so fast I could barely track him. I, on the other hand, struggled. My powers were unstable back then—erratic and unreliable. I managed to take out one guy, but controlling my abilities in the heat of battle was nearly impossible. Hikaru had to cover for me more than once, taking blows that should have been mine.

By the time we got the injured woman to safety, Tsunade had already healed her wounds like it was nothing. Hikaru, still bleeding from his own injuries, brushed it off, but Tsunade wasn't having it. With a roll of her eyes, she planted a glowing hand on his shoulder and healed him, too.

Then, with a smirk, she cracked her knuckles. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some idiots to deal with."

Hikaru immediately started to follow her, but she turned to me. "Stay with the girl," she instructed. "We won't be long."

I hated that. I hated being left behind, feeling like dead weight. But deep down, I knew she was right—I would only slow them down.

So I stayed.

They returned an hour later, looking entirely unharmed. Tsunade had an amused smirk, and Hikaru looked way too pleased with himself.

That was the beginning.

The injured woman turned out to be Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, or apprentice, or whatever she was. She and Tsunade were traveling together, so we ended up joining them for a while.

Tsunade even tried to teach me medical ninjutsu, thinking it would be useful for healing Hikaru when he inevitably got himself hurt. But I had a problem—no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't mold chakra. At all.

That realization hit me harder than I expected. I had been struggling to control my powers, and now I couldn't even do something as basic as chakra manipulation. I felt useless.

So, I made a decision.

If I couldn't use chakra, then I would push my abilities to their absolute limits. I wouldn't be dead weight anymore.

Despite my frustration, I actually enjoyed traveling with Tsunade. She was reckless, fun, and had zero patience for nonsense—which meant she and Hikaru constantly butted heads.

She was also the one who introduced me to alcohol.

Shizune and Hikaru always nagged her about it, but I never saw the issue. She was a grown woman; she could do what she wanted. Plus, I liked drinking with her. Unlike Hikaru, who spent half the time trying to scold me, Tsunade didn't care.

We even started sneaking off together to drink, leaving Hikaru and Shizune behind to stress over whatever they stressed about.

The only thing I never encouraged was her gambling.

At first, I didn't understand why Shizune got so worked up about it. But after watching Tsunade lose every single time, I realized... yeah. She was horrible at it. It was almost impressive how bad she was.

Eventually, our little group came across an abandoned house near a small village.

And for the first time in years, Hikaru and I had a place that felt like home.

So, we said our goodbyes.

Tsunade and Shizune continued on their journey, and we stayed behind, turning that abandoned house into something of our own.

We hadn't seen them since.

Apparently, in that time, Tsunade had returned to the Hidden Leaf Village... and somehow ended up becoming Hokage.

Back to the Present

I tapped my fingers on the wooden counter, staring at the scroll in front of me. Tsunade wanted us in the village.

Hikaru crossed his arms. "And if we say no?"

Kakashi didn't seem surprised by the question. "Then I leave and tell her you declined."

"No threats?"

"No threats." Kakashi shrugged. "It's an invitation, not an order."

I glanced at Hikaru. He looked serious, the way he always did when something actually mattered.

We had spent the last two years wandering, taking whatever jobs we could find, making just enough to survive. But what if there was something more for us in the Hidden Leaf?

What if... this was the next step?

I looked back at Kakashi, then at the scroll.

"Guess we should see what she wants, huh?"