Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-26388300-20160316175437/@comment-26704954-20160316192952

@Rachin123

I agree. Tsunade wasn't in a one-on-one, perfectly prepared fight. The entire premise of Nagato's attack centered on the aspect of ambush; Tsunade was taken off guard in an environment where she had to protect more than anything.

I'd also like to add that I believe Tsunade gets a bad deal sometimes from fans, myself included. This may be in part to her first real fight we witnessed: her blood-phobia handicapped duel with Kabuto, where she got her ass kicked. But she has been noted as having extraordinary combat abilities by Jiraiya, and Orochimaru commented that, to a normal shinobi, a single strike from her would claim victory. One punch! And though I'm loathe to reference the databook in any way, it does list her as having masteful taijutsu abilities, the greatest among the Sannin. She also possesses the ability to scramble an opponents brain signals and distort their movements, as well as the trump-card Creation Rebirth: according to Tsunade herself, as long as she has the necessary chakra, she is incapable of dying by any means. That's insane.

I believe that, on top of giving Jiraiya at least some healing, she would also contribute a lot to the actual battle. At the very least, she would enhance their odds of escape, an event that would change the story entirely.