Disclaimer: The following fanfic is a creation of me (Ryujisama), and is made for fan purposes only. I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fanfic, with the exception of Shinobu Ishimaru (he's mine ). Any characters belonging to the Naruto series belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Without further ado, here's the story.

-- Awake --

-Chapter 1-

"NNNNNAUGH!!! Damn it all! Why haven't they made a machine to do this for me yet!?" came a loud voice from inside the Hokage's office.

"She's at her limit again…" Kotetsu said with a smirk.

"What? Has she reached her third form already?" joked Izumo. The two jounins chuckled a bit as they continued to stand guard through what seemed like another normal day in the village hidden in the leaves. Inside the room the two stood watch over, Tsunade was performing her daily ritual of trying her best to look " calm, poised, and official" as she forced herself not to stamp forms without reading them. Smirking, Izumo added, "At this point, she'll be wanting a drink now…"

"… Christ on a cracker, I need a drink…" Tsunade sighed.

"And Shizune-san will remind her of her duties in 3… 2… 1…" Kotetsu counted in his head. And without a second to delay, Shizune's voice could be heard through the door.

"Tsunade-sama, you must read and approve of these forms! They've been piling up for days now. Any longer, and you could create a small bonfire with them..." Realizing what she just said, Shizune slapped her mouth, as if to try and forbid her words from ever escaping her lips; however, it was too late. Upon hearing the phrase, an evil smile crept onto Tsunade's face. But remembering what occurred the last time this happened, the smile quickly turned into a frown, and Tsunade continued verifying the remaining forms that only further prevented her from the comfort of her sake bottle. It was just another normal day. That is, it would've been a normal day.

Back outside of Tsunade's office, Kotetsu and Izumo continued to stand watch when a small gust of wind carrying a handful of sakura petals began to form a swirling whirlwind of pink in front of the two jounin. The wind suddenly died down just as fast as it came, and the form of Kurenai Yuuhi stood in its place, gasping for air. "I need to speak with Tsunade-sama!"

Kotetsu noticing she was out of breath, he asked, "What urgent business do you have with the Hokage, Kurenai-sensei?"

"There's been an incident that calls for her attention!" She said in between gasps, trying to catch her breath. Almost as fast as her reasoning was spoken, the door to Tsunade's office flung wide open to find Tsunade standing in the doorway with an solemn, yet overjoyed look on her face. Whatever it was, she'd obviously leave the forms at the drop of a hat since she now has the chance to do so with a reasonable excuse. "An incident!? What kind of an incident!?" Tsunade asked in her most "professional" tone of voice. Almost simultaneously, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Shizune sighed a heavy sigh at how perceptive Tsunade was when it came to ditching her responsibilities.

"Tsunade-sama…" Kurenai bowed out of respect before her village leader before continuing. "… It's… It's Ishimaru-san. We've received word that he has been killed inside Jutsu Training Facility Thirteen." Not exactly what she wanted to tear herself away from the forms to hear. If there was anything she didn't even want to look into that was more troublesome than stamping forms all day, it was investigating the murder of other ninja within her own village. After a long period of awkward silence between the five ninjas, Tsunade finally spoke up, "... Gather a team of medical ninja to the murder site to meet me there in 5 minutes."

Kurenai bowed again, and replied, "Yes, ma'am." With that, her form disappeared in another swirl of sakura petals just as fast as it had appeared earlier before Kotetsu and Izumo. After another moment of silence, Tsunade walked back to her desk, and began searching it for some hidden object or compartment. "Tsu… Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, not sure of what was going on through her leader's mind. Still searching her desk, Tsunade finally found a button underneath her desk that opened a secret drawer once she pressed it. Inside the drawer was a sake bottle, waiting to be opened. After retrieving the bottle, Tsunade turned towards Shizune and said, "… I'm really gonna need a drink for this…"

Later, after Shizune hurriedly made sure that Ton-ton was fed, Tsunade and Shizune arrived at the jutsu training facility where the man known as Ishimaru had allegedly been murdered in cold blood. During their journey, Tsunade kept taking sips from her trusty sake bottle, despite Shizune's constant nagging. Standing in front of the building with a handful of medical ninjas waiting for an order, Tsunade surveyed the scene in silence. Shizune, still unaware of the situation, looked towards Tsunade and muttered, "…Tsunade-sama?" As if she couldn't hear her, Tsunade immediately began barking out orders to the medical ninja that gathered there. "You two enter the building and find any and all clues as to what killed Ishimaru-san! I want the body inspected thoroughly, and the room combed until you find everything that could possibly be related!"

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune tried to get her attention again, but failed just as easily as her first attempt. Tsunade continued shelling out orders.

"You three, search the building for evidence determining the point of entry of his killer! And you, search the area for any witnesses, and get me another damn bottle of sake!"

"Tsunade-sama!!" Shizune yelled suddenly. Her latest attempt to grab Tsunade's attention was finally successful, as it was returned with a "…What?" from a slightly drunken Tsunade. A little taken aback by her yelling at her leader, Shizune took a deep breath and asked, "Who is Ishimaru-san? And why are you so troubled over his death?"

"… I'll tell you after I get my bottle of sake…" was all that she said after retreating back to her office in silence. Having given out her orders, she left the scene without receiving the comfort of her new bottle of sake. All there was to do now was to wait for the results of the medical ninja's search. Shizune stood there staring off in Tsunade's direction. Her mistress's response only increasing her curiosity.

-End Chapter 1-

Author's Notes: Well! Who is Ishimaru-san, indeed! How was it for my first fanfic since not writing any in such a long time? Anything I could improve upon that I can use in the next chapter? Questions? Comments? … Flames? Bring 'em all on! Leave me a review and I'll see you in Chapter 2.