Tsunade

**Tsunade** is one of Konohagakure's three legendary Sannin and the its' **Fifth Hokage** (*Literally meaning*: Fifth Fire Shadow). She is also known as the world's most powerful kunoichi, and its' greatest medical-nin.

## Physical Appearance

Tsunade is a light-skinned woman of average height with brown eyes, and straight, blonde hair. Her hair is waist-length with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face, along with tying her hair into two lose ponytails. She also has a violet rhombus mark on her forehead similar to her grandmother's, which she uses as a chakra gathering point known as the Strength of a Hundred Seal.

In her fifties, Tsunade has aged considerably. However, she maintains the appearance of her younger self through a unique and constant Transformation Technique. In her prime, the appearance she normally takes, she has a slender frame. Despite being known as flat-chested in her childhood, she now has a rather large bust; 106 centimeters in circumference, according to Jiraiya. Her beauty has been pointed out several times and she's been called the most beautiful kunoichi in the world by several characters.

She often wears a grass-green, long-sleeved haori with the kanji for "**Gamble**" written in black on the back, inside a red circle. Underneath she wears a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matches her pants. Her blouse is closed quite low, revealing her sizeable cleavage. She wears open-toed, strappy black sandals with high heels and red polish on both her fingernails and toenails, as well as pink-red lipstick.

## Personality

When she was first introduced in the *Naruto* series, Tsunade was cynical of anyone with dreams, especially those who want to become Hokage, believing that it was a futile dream. This mindset was expressed when Tsunade not only declined the offer of becoming the Fifth Hokage, but claimed that anyone who wanted to become Hokage was a fool. After meeting Naruto, she realizes that this cynicism is insulting to the memories of both Dan and Nawaki. After seeing Naruto's conviction to become Hokage and proving her wrong in his ability to learn the Rasengan, she has a change of heart. Despite her still blunt attitude towards Naruto, she has come to care for him deeply and puts her faith in him for the future, even agreeing to take on the mantle of Hokage herself, carrying on the dreams of Dan and Nawaki. As Hokage, Tsunade has shown the same level of loyalty to the village that previous Hokage held; during Pain's assault on Konoha, she released all of her chakra in order to save the lives of thousands of people within Konoha, at great personal risk. Upon returning to the village, Tsunade matured a great deal, taking her responsibilities very seriously. She immediately started to heal every injured person which she did with the exception of Rock Lee, who needed surgery. Upon realizing the surgery gave Lee a 50/50 chance of survival, she spent hours tirelessly studying human anatomy to find a way to emulate Kabuto's healing powers to increase his chances of surviving the surgery. Tsunade also has a great deal of faith in the next generation, and sees the potential that Naruto and the rest of the Konoha 11 hold, as well as Team Warriors ever since the characters from *Bleach*, *Fairy Tail*, and *Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood*arrived in Naruto's world during their war with Tartaros.

Tsunade typically projects a tough and rigid demeanor, even when facing great personal difficulty. She readily criticizes others for their faults, such as Naruto's immaturity or Jiraiya's perversion, though her habits are rarely any better. Another trait of Tsunade is her monstrous and quick temper. Many fear her because of this, such as Shizune, Jiraiya, and Sakura, the latter of whom has on several occasions warned Naruto on how to behave in her presence. Despite her temper, Tsunade is a reasonable person. She was willing to listen to Pain and even admit Konoha's past faults though he was the one who killed Jiraiya and was threatening her own village. Beneath this tough exterior, Tsunade truly loves her village and its people and will at times show sympathy for others, consoling Shikamaru that, while he failed his mission to return Sasuke Uchiha to Konoha, all of his team-mates survived. This is also shown when she worked hard in order to help heal Rock Lee, so that he might continue to be a ninja. In life-threatening or important situations that involve putting someone she cares for in danger, she tends to get angry with people who disagree with her plan, such as the restrictions the Konoha Elders placed on Naruto, or the argument on whether Naruto and Killer B should participate in the Fourth Shinobi World War, even calling Gaara a "child" when he disagreed with her. As with all Hokage before her, Tsunade deeply believes in the Will of Fire.

Tsunade also has a firm belief that Naruto, and all jinchūriki, are people rather than instruments of war. She has always voiced that Naruto is a great ninja and should be used by the village as any other ninja would be. This value is so strong in Tsunade that she yelled at the other Kage for not allowing Naruto and Killer B to fight in the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Although she eventually agrees to keep the jinchūriki away from the battles, she is outraged when A decides to kill Naruto to prevent him entering the war. Tsunade then turns on A, saying that they need to use the jinchūriki in the war if they are going to win. This shows her great faith in Naruto to end the war, as she was even willing to challenge the Raikage in order to let Naruto and B pass.

As a legendary medical-nin, Tsunade truly is a role model for other medical-nin to follow. Her first priority in any situation is the lives of others. She created four rules that guides other medical-nin on the battlefield, one of which is that they should never give up on treating their comrades as long as they are still breathing. When Pain attacked Konoha, she actively took on the role of a medical-nin, healing all the injured shinobi while even having Katsuyu protect the corpses of the deceased, and did all she could to protect the village, even if it meant risking her own life. Because of this, even the persons that were later revived by Nagato, had bodies to return to. In the fight against Madara Uchiha, she received the worst injuries, but was still the only one who regained consciousness, and still put the lives of the other Kage, before her own.

Tsunade is also a compulsive gambler, a trait she inherited from Hashirama, with a losing streak due to her terrible luck. As a result, she has been elevated to a comical status as "The Legendary Sucker" because of the gross profits others have made off of her misfortune and gambling addiction. In the rare instances that Tsunade hits a winning streak, she takes it as a bad omen that will eventually affect her, or her comrades. However, using this to her advantage she can take steps to protect herself and her comrades. The symbol on the back of her coat, 賭 (kake), means "*gamble*", or "*wager*", as gambling is one of her favorite pastimes.

Despite Tsunade shunning all of Jiraiya's romantic advances over the years, as she was still in love with Dan even after his death, she still cared very much for him as one of her oldest friends. While he was in Amegakure investigating Pain, she bets that he will die so that her terrible luck will ensure he survives. When she finds out he has died, she thinks back on their time together and mourns privately for the loss of her dear friend.

## Abilities

**Immense Strength**: Tsunade's trademark ability is her immense raw strength, with which she is able to launch her targets several meters with a mere finger flick or create fissures with a single finger jab at the ground. An opponent struck by her attacks could suffer damage ranging from broken bones, ruptured organs, or even death, as Jiraiya learned from his perverted actions in his youth. She was able to obliterate a large portion of Madara Uchiha's wood clone's body with a single punch. She was also capable of cracking the defenses of Madara's Susanoo's ribcage with a single punch, bringing it down with a second attack. The strength of her physical attack was acknowledged by Madara Uchiha himself to be stronger than the Fourth Raikage, whose lightning infused attacks are known to be extremely strong. When facing the Fourth Raikage in an arm-wrestling match, the latter had to resort a feint to throw her off-balance in conjunction with his high-speed to defeat her, as he was being overpowered. While a medical-nin normally tries to avoid direct battle, Tsunade's taijutsu has been considered unsurpassed, which she uses mainly to intimidate her opponents from approaching her in order to carry out her primary duties as a medical ninja. When entering battle directly, she is a force to be reckoned with as seen during her assault on Orochimaru and Kabuto, where she single-handedly demolished the entire landscape while attacking them.

**Immense Durability**: Tsunade also has tremendous durability, surviving the life-risking Heavenly Transfer Technique with only minor injuries in the process. She was also able to recover from a Yasaka Magatama fired at close-range. A further testament to this trait also allowed her to still move after having her muscles torn - something Kabuto noted was an impressive and praise-worthy feat no ordinary person could achieve.

**Immense Endurance**: As a direct descendant of the Senju clan, Tsunade inherited an incredibly strong life force and physical energy, granting her great durability, stamina and chakra reserves. At the same time, as also a direct descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, her life force is blessed with immense vitality and endurance, giving her the potential for an exceptionally long lifespan and allowing her to survive most otherwise fatal injuries and in most cases continue battling. She also has a high tolerance for physical pain, as she was able to deliver a heavy kick to Orochimaru after being sliced in her shoulder, and stabbed through her chest. to still land a powerful blow to Orochimaru. Throughout the fight with Orochimaru, she was able to push herself to fight on despite being tired and injured. She was also able to continue fighting with extreme force against Madara's Susanoo army despite being impaled through her abdomen with two Susanoo blades. Even after being bisected, she was still able to survive the ordeal, regain consciousness, summon Katsuyu, and survived long enough to start healing the other Kage, which she completed after she herself was healed by Karin under the orders of Orochimaru.

**Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant**: While a medical ninja normally tries to avoid direct battle, Tsunade's taijutsu has been considered unsurpassed, which she uses mainly to intimidate her opponents from approaching her in order to carry out her primary duties as a medical ninja. When entering battle directly, she is a force to be reckoned with.

**Enhanced Speed and Reflexes**: In battle, Tsunade has displayed great speed, flexibility, and ferocity. She was able to incapacitate Shizune with a quick strike before the latter could react. In her battle with Kabuto Yakushi, she showed enough skills to attack while on the defensive, giving the younger shinobi very little time to react to her attacks. She was also able to use the Body Pathway Derangement technique on him when he thought she was incapacitated, use her feet to counter Orochimaru's sword moments after her hands were bound, and even intercept Manda mid-strike while lifting Gamabunta's sword. Before Mei could react, Tsunade intercepted all five of Madara's flame dragons, dissipating them all.

* **Proficient Acrobatic Skills**: As a field medical-nin, Tsunade is reputed to be highly skilled in the art of evasion; skills she deems necessary for field medics since their healing abilities would be pointless if they are unable to survive and be the last to die. These are skills and views she instilled in her own disciples. Tsunade showed herself to be very nimble, able to attack from various angles, even while in mid-air, to effectively pressure her opponents.

**Medical Ninjutsu**: Much of Tsunade's fame comes from her being able to perform any procedure flawlessly to cure and heal injuries that others would consider impossible or a lost cause. She can do so through the usage of no more than chakra or basic tools. Upon her return to Konoha, she quickly healed the psychological damage done to Sasuke by Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi, fixed the damage done to Lee's spine, and later counteracted the effects of the Three Colored Pills on Chōji Akimichi, something his father stated would have been impossible if she weren't there. Tsunade has also been noted to be capable of making powerful sleeping potions that are also colorless; Jiraiya notes she is the only one in the world who could spike a drink without a ninja knowing it was drugged. With her remarkable knowledge of the human body and converting her chakra into electricity, Tsunade is capable of sending electric waves into the opponent's nervous system by striking the back of the neck. This then scrambles the electric signals within them and disrupts the way their body moves, such as attempting to move the right hand would cause the left leg to move instead, and so on. It is unknown if this is Lightning Release. In a similar manner, Tsunade has also shown the ability to use medical ninjutsu adversely and use it to harm, even kill, instead of heal. She can use a single chakra-infused strike to effortlessly cause internal damage or incapacitate a target as she did the latter to Shizune when she tried to stop Tsunade from meeting with Orochimaru. Tsunade is also able to create a chakra scalpel both for surgery and to inflict internal lacerations and even attack the internal organs. The most extreme example of her medical prowess is her Creation Rebirth, a technique that makes use of the massive amounts of chakra stored in her Strength of a Hundred Seal to continuously create new cells in her body, healing any wound and even growing back missing organs. It gives her a form of "immortality" in battle that even Orochimaru expressed envy for. However, as cells can only divide and be created a set amount of times, the technique shortens her life-span. Because of the risk associated with the technique, Tsunade only uses her regenerative techniques in extremely desperate situations. These techniques are considered to be the absolute pinnacle of medical ninjutsu, and Tsunade developed them under the resolution of protecting those dear to her. Indeed, Tsunade created an extension of the Creation Rebirth known as the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth - Strength of a Hundred Technique, which causes the seal to extend all the way down her body. While this technique is active, any wounds Tsunade receives will heal instantaneously, without the need to make hand seals or even a conscious effort. She was also able to instantly heal Shikamaru, who was suffering from severe chakra depleting simply by laying her hands on him.

**Transformation Technique**: Despite being in her early fifties, Tsunade's Transformation Jutsu makes her appear as if she were still in her twenties. She readily alters what age she appears in order to avoid her gambling debts. Tsunade's unique transformation seems to be permanent, as she can maintain this form without exerting any effort, even while injured or asleep. The transformation dispels when she runs out of chakra from the Strength of a Hundred Seal, reverting her to her natural appearance.

**Summoning Technique**: Tsunade can summon slugs of varying sizes, although she has only ever been seen summoning Katsuyu. The slugs' primary abilities seem to revolve around spitting acid and splitting into smaller slugs. Tsunade apparently has a mental connection with Katsuyu, as she was able to get reports and send out messages through Katsuyu during Pain's assault on Konoha. Tsunade can transfer her chakra to a large number of slugs over long distances, to restore their chakra or even perform techniques on them. By having the slugs spread out and attach themselves to wounded individuals, Tsunade is then capable of healing multiple injuries at different locations simultaneously. This technique proved particularly helpful during Pain's invasion which helped Tsunade preserve the life of the villagers even after a devastating attack by the enemy forces.

**High Intelligence**: While normally appearing carefree or short-tempered, Tsunade is a capable leader. A keen thinker, Tsunade is also highly observant and analytical, allowing her to see through most deceptions, and is rarely caught off-guard. Most commonly, Tsunade will choose the best ninja available to construct a team after looking over the assigned mission. In the anime, she was able to analyze and replicate the basic mechanics of Kabuto’s regeneration technique to better the chances of Rock Lee's life-risking surgery being a success.

* **Expert Strategist**: In battle, she has shown great ingenuity, able to quickly pick up on her opponent's fighting style and battle pattern to better avoid damage and plan her attacks around that. These traits are to keep herself alive in battle so she may heal her team-mates; things she drilled into Sakura while training her. Her mental fortitude is also noteworthy, as she overcame her paralyzing fear of blood through willpower alone, something every eyewitness found miraculous.

**Immense Chakra Power**: Tsunade has immense supplies of chakra, simultaneously healing a large number of people using the chakra-taxing Mystical Palm Technique with Katsuyu's help over a long period of time. Even more impressive is her chakra control, excelling in all forms even as a child. Her innate talent allows her to precisely gather chakra from any part of her body and use any technique to its maximum potential with no wasted chakra or timing. Tsunade's signature ability is building up and releasing her chakra with precise timing upon impact, greatly amplifying her already legendary strength enough to launch her targets several meters or create ground fissures using a single finger. She could also guide Gamabunta's giant tanto down into Manda's mouth from the air, shatter Madara's Susanoo ribcage with only a couple blows, and knock down a humanoid Susanoo with a single punch.

* **Masterful Chakra Control**: The peak of Tsunade's control is her ability to form the Strength of a Hundred Seal, which allows her to store massive amounts of chakra on a point on her forehead and then release it; a feat that only Tsunade and her own student have accomplished, further showing the difficulty of attaining it. Upon its release, she can either use the stored chakra to activate techniques such as the Creation Rebirth and Ninja Art Creation Rebirth - Strength of a Hundred Technique, or simultaneously heal and protect the entire Konoha villagers from Pain's powerful Shinari Tensei. She can also transfer chakra to others, as seen with Ōnoki to facilitate his large-scale Dust Release technique, which increased in volume to be at least one hundred times its usual size. The more chakra Tsunade stores inside her seal, the more ferocious her techniques become.

## Relationships

### Family

* Hashirama Senju (Grandfather; Deceased)

### Friends/Allies

* Shizune (Bodyguard and lover's niece)
* Team Warriors