"You won't be. We might as well go to her directly. You're ready, right?" he asks Sasuke.

"Yeah. Don't have a test in mind but she can suggest one, I suppose."

Off to see Tsunade, then. Jiraiya's known her long enough to guess where she'd be.

If his guess was 'getting drunk', he'd be right!

She isn't happy to see them.

"The fuck do you want? I said a week, brats."

"Turns out they learn quickly!" Jiraiya says. "They've got a technique that will heal any wound that hasn't scarred over."

"Pull the other one, it's got bells on."

"It's not a standard medical technique. It's technically based off of inscribed techniques. It approaches things differently. And if I'm wrong, you lose nothing."

"Show me in six days, then. I'm not done drinking."

"I'm surprised," Jiraiya says, leaning one elbow on the bar, "that the snake let you get away with that line on him."

"He knows I could break every bone in his body. You seem a bit dumber."

"So he is here."

"Yeah. Wanted me to heal him. I told him to fuck off before I finished the job." She takes another sip.

"But he's coming back."

"Apparently I was cursed with teammates who don't know when to quit."

"What bet did you make with him?"

"I didn't." 

She takes a big swallow.

"...He offered you something."

"You want a prize for that brilliant deduction?"

"The Edo Tensei," Jiraiya says softly. "You know it's a trap."

"Oh, do I?"

"He used it on the First and the Second, forced them to fight the old man-"

"He told me. He was rather put out he hadn't killed our sensei with that."

"I'm aware he's a monster."

"Then why-" Jiraiya is half frustrated, half afraid.

"You lost them too."

" - For what it's worth, my healing technique can eventually escalate to during death - "