Three days later.
Konoha High Command still hadn't found a fix; they and Jiraiya were still 'working hard' in the Hokage Office!
But—alas.
What the Konoha High Command didn't know was that the Uchiha's side-plan had already kicked off three days ago.
Uchiha agents and spies from countless Ninja Clans, working hand-in-glove with the Police Force, had been sowing the 'inquiry letters' among the villagers; it was only still in the fermentation stage.
A private booth in an Izakaya.
Tsunade was already tipsy; empty liquor bottles littered the room.
"Lady Tsunade, you're done for the night!"
Shizune sighed in exasperation; the sight of Tsunade made her head ache.
Yet Tsunade merely sneered.
"A chance to openly bill the Village? Rare as a unicorn—of course I'm drinking my fill!"
With that,
she tipped another cup, a bitter glint in her eyes.
Yes!
She wasn't born a drunk; she drank only to drown her sorrows.
Long ago she'd merely loved to gamble, rarely touching alcohol. But ever since Nawaki and Dan died she'd become obsessed with the bottle.
Only when drunk could she briefly forget the ache in her heart.
And this time the Village, desperate to make her Hokage, had decreed she could put every tab on the Village ledger. Even if she still refused the hat, free wine is free wine.
Shizune could only sigh again.
In the end she gave up, attacking the dishes instead.
Tsunade, meanwhile, grew more agitated with every drink.
"What are those idiots yelling about? Can't a woman drink in peace?"
"Shizune, go see!"
She flung her empty bottle and barked the order.
Shizune, helpless, obeyed.
Moments later she returned, face bloodless.
"Lady Tsunade, let's go."
"The people outside are planning to storm the Hokage Building!"
"We need to leave—now!"
Panic flickered in Shizune's eyes.
She was skilled in medical Ninjutsu, but no fighter, and felt no loyalty to a Village she'd left as a child.
Her first instinct was flight.
Tsunade's drunken haze vanished in an instant.
"Smash the Hokage Building?"
"Yes!"
Tsunade blinked, stunned.
Ordinary folk daring that? Impossible.
Something was very wrong.
She tossed her bottle aside and strode into the main room just as a man bellowed:
"Friends, countrymen! We've bled for this Village—our kin lie dead on battlefields—yet for two years the Village hasn't paid our pensions!"
"Advisor Nara discovered the funds the Daimyo sent have vanished into thin air! We filed a inquiry letter days ago, but the Hokage Building stays silent!"
"What does that tell us?"
"The High Command knows the books are rotten, yet they block our audit—proof the rot starts at the top!"
"Think of our dead comrades, of the mission fees bought with their lives—shall we let some Village big-wigs pocket that blood-stained money?"
"Never! Follow me—tear down the Hokage Building!"
With a sweep of his arm the speaker charged out; the crowd, eyes blazing, followed.
Every coin they believed stolen had been paid for in blood.
Tsunade, now stone-cold sober, signaled Shizune; both slipped into nondescript disguises and tailed the mob.
Her jaw dropped at the sight greeting her: the Hospital ablaze, shops owned by High Command clans smashed, the Mission Desk and Anbu HQ besieged.
Tsunade went white, scalp prickling.
Shizune stammered, "Lady Tsunade… do we help?"
Tsunade shook her head, mute.
This wasn't spontaneous—someone was pulling strings.
And she needed only an instant to name the puppet-masters: the Uchiha.
Images of Nawaki, Dan, and the slaughtered Senju flashed through her mind. Why should she bleed for a corrupt regime?
She wanted only to run.
But she knew Jiraiya would hunt her down.
Since escape was impossible, she made her choice to dodge his pestering once and for all.
"Shizune, do you trust me?"
"With my life, Lady Tsunade."
"Then let's go—to the Uchiha."
Shizune blinked. "The… Uchiha?"
"The Uchiha," Tsunade repeated, calm as still water, and turned toward the Uchiha Clan Compound. Shizune, bewildered yet loyal, followed.
Her bond was with Tsunade, not the Village; where Tsunade went, she went.
Before they even set foot inside the compound a patrol intercepted them—until a Nara in the squad recognized the legendary medic.
"Lady Tsunade? What brings you here today?"