Tsunade

Tsunade (綱手, Tsunade) is the Fifth Hokage (五代目火影, Godaime Hokage; Literally meaning "Fifth Fire Shadow") of Konohagakure — a position which she succeeded after the death of her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and a major supporting character of the series. She hails from the village's Senju clan, and is also a descendant of the Uzumaki clan through her grandmother Mito. Along with former team-mates Jiraiya and Orochimaru, she is recognized as one of the "Three Legendary Shinobi" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin). Tsunade is considered to be the most powerful kunoichi in the world, and is celebrated as the greatest medical-nin of all time, credited with creating the official system which governs them.

Background
Tsunade is the first granddaughter of the First Hokage: Hashirama Senju, and his wife Mito Uzumaki, as well as the grandniece of the Second Hokage: Tobirama Senju, leading others to call her "Princess" (姫, Hime). In her childhood, she was spoiled by Hashirama, who doted on his first grandchild, and was even taught how to gamble by the great shinobi. She, along with Jiraiya and Orochimaru, are also former students of the Third Hokage. Like Team Kakashi, Tsunade and her team-mates were given the bell test, which Jiraiya failed and was subsequently tied to a log. Tsunade taunted him before leaving.

At some point, she almost killed Jiraiya after he was caught peeping on her while she was in the hot springs, breaking both of his arms, six of his ribs and ruptured several internal organs. Ever since then, Jiraiya has been very careful to suppress his perverted ways around Tsunade. Jiraiya mentions that this is one of only two times he has ever been close to death.

During the Second Shinobi World War, prior to meeting the Ame Orphans, Tsunade and her team-mates fought Hanzō, who gave them the title of Konoha's "Three Legendary Shinobi" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin), the Sannin, as a reward for surviving their battle with him while everyone else in the group died easily. On her own merit, Tsunade became famous for frequently counteracting all of Chiyo's poisons, earning the Sunakagure kunoichi's contempt for it. Furthermore, according to Jiraiya, Tsunade's unrivalled skills as a warrior and a medic were the reason Konoha won the war. However, Tsunade suffered painful losses prior to the Second Shinobi World War ending.

The tragic turn of events began when younger brother Nawaki was killed in action the day after his twelfth birthday, receiving their grandfather's crystal necklace which she gave him in the hopes that it would help him achieve his dream of becoming Hokage. This event resolved Tsunade to advocate for the inclusion of medical-nin to be incorporated into teams that were on the battlefield but unable to as Hiruzen informs her the conflict makes it impossible for them to utilise resources or the time to train such ninja. It was by that time that a discouraged Tsunade met Dan Katō who seconds her request of focusing on finding ways to save their comrades' lives on the battlefield.

In time, finding herself and Dan have similar ideals, Tsunade fell in love with him. As a sign of her affection, and in the hopes that this time it would help make his dreams come true, Tsunade gave him Hashirama's necklace prior to his death, with the necklace returning to her possession, rumoured as a cursed item that kills anyone other than Tsunade who wears it. Developing hæmophobia which renders her unable to take part in any more battles, the deaths of both Nawaki and Dan disillusioned Tsunade to see the Hokage title as nothing but a fool's position. With these changes of ideals, Tsunade left Konoha with Dan's niece, Shizune, taking her on as her apprentice who became one of the few people Tsunade truly trusts. Tsunade also came to own a pet pig, Tonton which she leaves mostly to Shizune's care.

In the anime, Tsunade met the Fourth Raikage, A, after he and his followers were ambushed by the ninja of the Nokizaru Group and needed her help to remove an Exploding Insects implanted in A and one of his followers. However, due to her phobia, Tsunade had Shizune carry out the surgery while she oversaw it until a bit of blood splattered on her and she excused herself from the room, going outside to calm herself down.

Appearance
Tsunade is a fairly tall, light-skinned woman with brown eyes and straight, blonde hair. Her hair is waist-length with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face. As a child, she tied her hair in twin short pigtails before becoming Hiruzen's student when she then wore her hair in a high ponytail. As an adult, Tsunade usually ties her hair into two loose ponytails. Some time after leaving the village, she obtained a violet rhombus mark on her forehead similar to her grandmother's, which she uses as a chakra gathering point known as the White Strength Seal. It will temporarily disappear when unleashing the conserved chakra and reappear after she has accumulated enough chakra. When she releases the White Strength Seal, the diamond mark on her forehead opens out into a seal that usually extends to her jaws. When using the Strength of a Hundred Technique, the markings extend themselves around her entire body.

While only in her early fifties, her form is a frail and wrinkled old appearance, more so than her age would suggest. However, she maintains the appearance of her younger self through a unique and constant Transformation Technique. In her youth, the appearance she normally takes, she had a slender frame. Despite being known as flat-chested in her childhood, she now has a rather large bust; 106 centimetres 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 haori with the kanji for gamble (賭, kake) 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 sandals with high heels and red polish on both her fingernails and toenails. She also wears a soft pink lipstick. She also used to wear her grandfather's necklace in clear view on her chest, before giving it to Naruto.