Tsunade

**Tsunade** (綱手) is a descendant of the Senju and Uzumaki Clan, and is one of Konohagakure's Sannin. She is famed as the world's strongest kunoichi and its greatest medical-nin. The repeated loss of her loved ones caused Tsunade to later abandon the life of a shinobi for many years. She is eventually persuaded to return to Konoha and take on the mantle of **Fifth Hokage** (五代目火影, *Godaime Hokage*, *literally meaning:* Fifth Fire Shadow), where her skills prove invaluable to the village.

## Background

Tsunade is the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki. Because Hashirama was the First Hokage of Konohagakure, Tsunade is called "Princess" (姫, *Hime*). Hashirama doted on Tsunade when she was very young because she was his first grandchild, and found her deviance and her adoption of his own gambling habits highly amusing. Tsunade inherited his necklace when he died. After she graduated from Konoha's Academy, Tsunade was teamed with Orochimaru and Jiraiya under the leadership of Hiruzen Sarutobi. When Jiraiya failed to acquire a bell during the team's first bell test, Tsunade teased him, prompting him to criticise her flat chest. Despite this remark, Jiraiya had a certain interest in Tsunade from their first meeting, which only increased after her breasts developed; when she nearly killed him for spying on her while she bathed, he was forced to be more discrete about both his attraction to her and his interest in peeping.

Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki dreamed of someday becoming Hokage so that he could protect Konoha, their grandfather's legacy. On Nawaki's twelfth birthday, Tsunade kissed his forehead and gave him Hashirama's necklace in the hopes that it would help him achieve his dream. He died the next day, a casualty of the ongoing Second Shinobi World War, thus returning the necklace to her. Tsunade began advocating for the inclusion of medical-nin on all four-man squads in order to avoid future deaths like Nawaki's. Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, agreed with her arguments, but could not dedicate resources to the necessary implementation due to the ongoing war. Dan Katō, on the other hand, shared her views, and as their relationship developed he confided with her his dreams of becoming Hokage so that he could bring change to Konoha and protect his loved one from death. Tsunade kissed his forehead and gave him Hashirama's necklace in the hopes that it would help him achieve his dream.

Although their team under Hiruzen's leadership had disbanded, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya continued fighting together during the Second Shinobi World War. During one such fight in Amegakure, they were the only three to survive an encounter with Hanzō, an accomplishment for which Hanzō dubbed them Konoha's "Legendary Sannin". In the aftermath of the battle, Jiraiya opted not to return to Konoha so that he could train the Ame orphans. Tsunade would go on to make her own independent contributions to the war, frequently counteracting Chiyo of Sunagakure's poisons. Although Tsunade's actions are said to have won the war for Konoha, Tsunade was unable to prevent Dan's death, and her failure to stop his severe blood loss caused her to develop haemophobia. With Dan's death, Hashirama's necklace returned to Tsunade once again, convincing some that the necklace was cursed to kill anyone who wore it other than Tsunade. Tsunade herself became convinced that achieving one's dreams was impossible and that to be Hokage was a "fool's job". She therefore left Konoha, taking Dan's niece, Shizune, with her to train her as an apprentice. Due to her haemophobia, Tsunade retired from any direct involvement in healing or combat, instead relying on Shizune's skills whenever a need for either came up.

At one point during their travels, Tsunade and Shizune encountered with the Fourth Raikage A, where the latter requested her help in removing the Exploding Insect implanted in his subordinate. However, Tsunade was completely drunk and ended up falling asleep, completely forgetting about her conversation with A. After A insisted, Tsunade challenged him to an arm wrestling contest, promising to help should she lose. A managed to defeat Tsunade by using his speed rather than strength, and Tsunade complied and followed him to his subordinate's location. After Tsunade diagnoses the situation and realises that one of the insects was also inside A, she decided to conduct the surgery. However, Tsunade instead enlisted Shizune to conduct it, and once blood was splattered in her face, Tsunade left to regain her composure while Shizune performed the surgery and explained the origins of Tsunade's trauma to A and his team.

## Personality

Tsunade was very willing to believe in the attainability of dreams while Nawaki and Dan were still alive, and that by supporting and encouraging those dreams she might be able to help achieve them. When both died gruesomely shortly after receiving her support, Tsunade lost faith in the idea of dreaming for anything, believing that the mere pursuit of it would be doomed from the outset. She becomes especially critical of those wanting to be Hokage, as both Dan and Nawaki died trying to attain the title and the past Hokage have all died prematurely and, as Tsunade argues, pointlessly because they held the position; she concludes that to be Hokage is a fool's job.

Tsunade is forced to reconsider her cynicism upon meeting Naruto Uzumaki, who demonstrates two things to her: just because a goal seems impossible does not mean it actually is, as Naruto is able to master the Rasengan unprecedentedly quickly despite seemingly lacking any natural talent; and just because the dreamer dies does not mean the dream itself does, as Nawaki and Dan's desire to become Hokage lives on in Naruto. Because Naruto is so very much an exception to how she thought the world worked, Tsunade puts her faith in dreams once again, a desire so strong that she overcomes her fear of blood. She becomes Hokage herself, partly so that she can live Nawaki and Dan's dream for them, but also so that she can pave the way for Naruto inevitably holding the title. Becoming close to Naruto, he became the only person she allowed to refer to her as "Grandma", knowing it was out of affection.

As Hokage, Tsunade is committed to protecting Konoha and its villagers, willing to give her life for her village and allies if necessary. Just as she once did, Tsunade supports all other dreams that she can: when Rock Lee tells her he dreams of being a ninja despite knowing he may die trying, she does not argue his decision and, in the anime, does all that she can to ensure he survives. She does this because Nawaki and Dan loved Konoha and so she keeps their dreams alive by doing so, but also because Konoha's continued survival honours all those who gave their lives creating it and keeping it safe. Although her reasons are somewhat different, the outcome is nevertheless consistent with the Will of Fire. Tsunade is similarly optimistic about the next generation of Konoha's ninja, especially Naruto, convinced that the village's future will be in good hands because of them. She in fact becomes angry when others lack this same faith in Naruto and his peers, believing it is better to let them try and then fail than to assume their failure is inevitable and thus prevent them from trying. Demonstrations of her own faith include but are not limited to: congratulating Shikamaru Nara for his failed mission because at least none of his teammates died; and not labelling Sasuke Uchiha a missing-nin because she trusts that Naruto can someday convince him to return to Konoha.

Despite her many noble qualities, Tsunade is not without her faults and vices. She is blunt and short-tempered, prone to striking Naruto for his immaturity or Jiraiya for his perversion; she is widely feared because of this tendency. Her own behaviour isn't much better than theirs, as she drinks constantly, sometimes sleeps on the job, and tries as much as she can to have other people do her work for her. One of her favourite vices is gambling, which she acquired from her grandfather, Hashirama Senju. Despite how often and how irresponsibly she gambles, Tsunade has notoriously bad luck, causing those who have made huge profits off of her to mockingly call her "The Legendary Sucker" (伝説のカモ, *Densetsu no Kamo*). Tsunade is fully aware of how unlucky she is, and so whenever she hits a winning streak she takes it as a bad omen and prepares for the worst; she has at times tried using her bad luck to her advantage, betting on outcomes she doesn't want so that her unluckiness will prevent them from happening. Hashirama finds Tsunade's many bad habits highly amusing on a personal level, but when he is told that Tsunade is Hokage he immediately worries about what misfortunes she's brought upon Konoha.

Jiraiya assumed that there was a mutual attraction between him and Tsunade from their first meeting, a statement that only served to annoy and anger her. Despite his many advances over the years, Tsunade never reciprocated his feelings, only ever loving Dan, even decades after his death. Jiraiya wasn't discouraged by this and claimed that her repeated rejections had not only made him stronger, but they've provided excellent material for his *Icha Icha* series of books. Though he concluded that to be happy wasn't his fate. Tsunade doubted he believed his own words and she commented that he did not need to put on a brave front when he returned from Amegakure. When Jiraiya ended up dying during that same mission, Tsunade privately mourned for the loss of her dear friend and team-mate. Her greatest desire was to be with her lost loved ones, while supporting Dan as he lived out his dream of being Hokage. Despite this, she chose not to have Dan and Nawaki reincarnated when given the chance as she realised it would go against everything they stood for.

Despite Orochimaru's contribution in their victory in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade remains guarded against him due to a long history of betrayal and distrust. This influenced her thoughts of anyone related to him, and she was furious at Naruto, in his capacity as the Seventh Hokage, for allowing Orochimaru's child, Mitsuki, to immigrate into Konohagakure. Mitsuki's heritage alone led Tsunade to develop a prejudiced view that he is as dangerous as his parent.