When Azula caught wind that Tsunade had thrown hands with the Raikage, her heart nearly dropped to the floor. Not because she doubted Tsunade's strength, but because she knew exactly how that fight would go.
Tsunade hits hard, sure, but the Raikage hits hard and moves like lightning on crack.
Thankfully, it wasn't a one-on-one beatdown. Tsunade had backup—Tajima, Kagami, and a handful of Uchiha and Senju heavy hitters standing shoulder to shoulder against the Raikage and Kumo's finest.
Kumo eventually pulled back, probably because they realized they didn't have another Kage-level fighter to tip the scales.
Still, Azula couldn't shake the thought that Tsunade might come out of this battle feeling a little... crushed.
It's that feeling when you've worked your butt off, gained confidence, finally feel like a boss—and then someone stronger shows up just to remind you there's always a bigger fish?
Depressing and discouraging.
But when Azula finally saw Tsunade, she was surprised by the lack of moping or existential crisis. Tsunade looked... fine. Actually, more than fine.
The moment she spotted Azula, her whole face lit up like she'd just found the last piece of mochi. She tried to play it cool, really tried, but her face completely betrayed her. That smile just slipped out anyway.
Her mouth, though, listened to her brain, unfortunately.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tsunade said, crossing her arms as if showing her 'pride'. "If I had Uncle Tajima and Kagami backing me up and still couldn't handle the Raikage, then you're just underestimating me."
Azula blinked. That's... not what I meant, but okay. I'll let you have this one.
She wasn't about to say, "Hey, I was actually worried your fragile ego couldn't take the hit," because that would go over like a lead balloon.
Tsunade rose from her bath, water dripping everywhere, and that's when her expression shifted. Confusion flickered across her face, then something sharper.
"Why'd you activate your Sharingan?"
Then, as if on cue from some cosmic comedian with terrible timing, a memory surfaced in Tsunade's mind. It was something Azula had mentioned offhandedly once, probably while she was explaining why she'd set a training dummy on fire with her eyes.
"The Sharingan can be activated unconsciously in case of intense emotions," Azula had said, ticking off fingers. "Fear, joy, excitement… it may even lead to its evolution."
Tsunade, who had shared more baths with Azula than she could count, had always found the concept of nudity between them to be about as noteworthy as breathing. It was just… normal.
A fact that, up until that precise, unfortunate moment, she had considered perfectly mundane.
Now, standing under the stark, unfiltered light, that assumption hit her with the force of a Gamabunta-sized hammer.
"HENGE NO JUTSU!" she yelped, the words exploding from her. In a puff of smoke and chakra, an illusion of her usual clothes snapped into place over her skin. It was a flimsy, transparent lie, a digital fig leaf in a world of analog truth, but it was all she had.
And, miraculously, it was enough.
Azula's eyes, which had been doing a very enthusiastic jig of rotating Tomoe, suddenly stuttered to a halt. The three commas, which had been blurring together into a new, terrifyingly complex pattern, separated and went still.
She wasn't looking at Tsunade's henge, not really. She was looking through her, or rather, at her in a way she never had before. When had that happened?
When had the gangly girl with scraped knees and mud in her hair turned into… this? It was like watching a flower bloom in fast-forward, except you blink and miss the flower entirely and suddenly you're just staring at the seeds, wondering where the time went.
Time, she thought, the word appearing strangely in her mind. It slips away so easily. One day you're teaching someone to control chakra, the next… they're standing there, and you're realizing you haven't really seen them in years.
You've just been… with them. And time, that thief, never sends a warning.
For a split second, the very fabric of the universe had been poised to grant the ninja world a brand new, incredibly awkwardly-acquired Time-Space Mangekyō Sharingan. All it would have taken was one more second of unbroken eye contact.
But alas, Tsunade's henge, an illusion of clothes over reality, was enough to break the spell.
...
...
...
Tsunade's POV
Brain, I have questions. So many questions.
I don't even remember walking to my bed. My legs just moved on feeling alone while my consciousness was busy buffering like a crashed slug.
Next thing I know, I'm wearing clothes? When did that happen? Who authorized this?
Okay, let's take a breath and process what I just witnessed.
Azula literally saw me naked and her eyes went FULL SHARINGAN. Just BAM - tomoe spinning like she just witnessed the secret forbidden technique of Tsunade's Entire Body.
And here's the thing that's actually blowing my mind: activating the Sharingan unconsciously with her chakra control? That's like grandma Mito passing a whole day without tea. It shouldn't be possible.
Wait.
Wait wait wait wait wait.
So... those romance manga Jiraiya leaves lying around like the absolute pervert he is? The ones where girls get all flustered around other girls?
Like, even JIRAIYA knew about that dynamic when he was SIX. SIX! And he's the densest man alive! Meanwhile I'm over here thinking I understood the assignment, and apparently I've been reading the wrong textbook this entire time.
I've had people crushing on me. On Azula too. Plenty of them. But whenever I tried to feel that spark everyone talks about, I felt nothing and honestly, even when I really REAAAAALLY tried to force it, my heart was like "No!"
And now I'm remembering that one time I stumbled upon that manga of Jiraiya and Orochimaru. My first thought was literally: "Wait, men can do that? With each other? Is that legal?" Then immediately followed by: "OH. Then women can also... OH."
And then my traitor brain, without permission, without warning, just casually projected me and Azula into that scenario and I didn't think about it again because I'm a COWARD who avoids emotional realizations the way I avoid green vegetables.
But now I'm also remembering EVERY SINGLE TIME Azula paid 'suspiciously close attention' to women. Like. All women. Young ones, older ones, the lady at the market, that kunoichi from the next village over.
And I thought she was just... being polite? Being friendly? Being impressive?!!
A light bulb moment so bright it could power the entire camp.
SHE'S BEEN ATTRACTED TO WOMEN THIS WHOLE TIME.
THE ENTIRE TIME.
AND I MISSED IT.
HOW DID I MISS IT?! I'm a SENJU.
We're supposed to be perceptive! I can read people in battle! But my best friend has been out here with her women attracted to women 'radar' and I just thought she had really good manners?!
HELP.
My brain has left the building. It's gone on vacation. It saw the 'Tsunade's Emotional Realizations' sign and noped right out.
I'm on my bed now. Rolling back and forth like a chicken being roasted. It's probably the middle of the night and I have officially entered my 'staring at the ceiling questioning every life choice that led to this moment' era.
This is fine. Everything is fine. I'm just going to roll here until the sun comes up and pretend I don't have to have A CONVERSATION about this eventually.
"But the question is, does Azula love me specifically?" And something I didn't even dare to murmur, what if it's a one-sided crush?