With that, Madara said no more. He glanced sideways, then vanished in the blink of an eye.

A few minutes later, the fire in the town still raged. The heat from the burning flames slowly roused the drunken Shizune.

"My head… it hurts so much…"

"Eh?!!!"

"What… what's going on?"

Shizune snapped back to reality, her eyes wide with shock as she took in the sea of fire around her. She tried to remember what had happened, but her memory was a blank slate, ending at the moment she and Tsunade had finished their last glass of wine in the izakaya.

Just then, she noticed Tsunade lying unconscious beside her. Nearby were two strange men, also unconscious, their conditions unknown. Judging from their attire, one of them was clearly a shinobi from the Hidden Cloud.

"Lady Tsunade!"

"Damn it, what happened while I was drunk? Did she get into a fight with the Cloud ninja?"

Shizune had no time to think. She rushed to Tsunade's side, placing a hand glowing with green chakra on her chest. "She's still alive, but her chakra flow is a mess. Could it be… a genjutsu?"

"Genjutsu Release!"

Shizune slowly injected her own chakra into Tsunade's body. After a moment, Tsunade's eyelids fluttered, and she gradually awoke.

"Thank goodness! Lady Tsunade, you're finally awake!" Shizune gently helped her up, carefully wiping the sweat from her brow. "What happened? Who cast this illusion on you? And who are those two men?"

"Illusion?" Tsunade turned her head, her voice weak. "That dark-skinned, muscular man… he seems to be… the leader of the Hidden Cloud, the Fourth Raikage."

"Huh? The Fourth… Raikage?" Shizune was shocked. She never imagined the man was such an important figure. "Was it him? Did he do this to you? Did he set this town on fire?" Although he was the Raikage, the strongest of the Cloud, Shizune was not afraid. Anyone who dared to harm her mentor would face her wrath.

"I… I don't know." Tsunade's mind was a blank. She felt that something significant had just happened, that she had met someone else, but she couldn't recall who it was, no matter how hard she tried. She remembered the Raikage coming to her in the izakaya, asking for help, but everything after that was a blur.

Seeing Shizune gritting her teeth, ready to confront the Raikage, Tsunade raised a hand to stop her. "Shizune, don't be angry. It has nothing to do with the Raikage. My memory… it's gone. Please, help me wake them up. I have to ask them what happened."

"Wake them up? That's impossible! You know what these Cloud ninja are like! What if they—!"

"Just do as I say!" Tsunade snapped, her patience wearing thin.

"Yes… yes!" Seeing her insistence, Shizune had no choice but to walk over to the Raikage and Samui, one by one releasing them from the genjutsu that held them.

"Ugh… my head hurts."

"Huh? What's going on?" The sea of fire around them confused the Raikage and Samui. Seeing Tsunade and Shizune, the Raikage immediately shot to his feet, his voice sharp and accusatory. "Tsunade! What in the hell happened here? What have you done to this town?"

Tsunade shook her head helplessly. " I was about to ask you the same thing. It seems you, like me, know nothing."

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