Disclamer: I don't own Naruto… Masashi Kishimoto does.
Minor Spoiler. Don't read if you don't want to spoil the surprise.
Story idea from a conversation Tsunade and Jiraiya had in the Manga... You know the one.
January 25th
Tsunade felt a depressed sigh escape her lips. Normally she wouldn't get this drunk in the middle of the week. But she felt the occasion called for it.
It was his birthday today.
She watched the liquid in her cup slosh around as she rotated it in small circles.
He would have been fourty-seven today. But like all the other people in her life, he had died.
She allowed a wave of guilt to wash over her.
She wasn't there when he died. She doubted there was much she could have done, but she could have helped to save a few more lives that night.
She took a large swig of her sake.
But she hadn't been there, she wasn't even in the village that night.
She was out wandering the country side, at his request. He told her that she needed to get out more, see the country.
It had taken him years to convince her, but he finally did, and she went. She enjoyed the country side for many months. Out on the road she wasn't a ninja, but the skills did come in handy for the occasional bandits she had ran across. Other villages welcomed her as just a traveler, and she enjoyed it.
Then when she made it back to Kohona she discovered he had died.
In a battle against the Nine-Tailed fox, just days earlier.
He had defeated the fox and sealed it inside a baby.
Only one person stood in her way when she demanded to see the child.
His mother.
Tsunade's gaze was on a stack of papers she should have been going through, but in her mind's eye she was staring at a pissed off red head.
The woman was from the Whirlpool country, and she was beautiful. Pissed off, and loud as hell and didn't care who heard her, but beautiful.
When the woman refused to let her see the infant Tsunade had used her last resort, her status as one of the Legendary Sannin.
The woman's rant was cut short and her bright blue eyes were wide, her face had gone pale.
"Tsunade?"
She had whispered her name so softly the medic-nin had almost missed it. After a firm nod, the red headed woman had wrapped her in a hug so fast Tsunade couldn't remember seeing her move.
"I'm glad you're here." She had whispered against Tsunade's neck, her voice had sounded so defeated.
Tsunade blinked from her memory and poured herself another glass of her strong comfort drink.
The child was the exact image of him.
'Still is' her drunken mind scoffed.
A smile touched her lips. Yes, yes he still is.
She rose from her high back chair and walked to an open window looking our over the village.
His attitude was exactly like his mother's. He was loud, brash and often didn't evaluate the situation long enough before attacking.
An orange clad figure caught her drunken eye.
He was walking with the Uchiha boy he had brought back to the village kicking and screaming half a year ago, the shy Hyuuga girl, and Tsunade's own pink haired apprentice. His two best friends and his girl friend.
But he looked exactly like his father.
His hair had grown out over the last year, making him look even more like his father.
Tsunade leaned against the windowsill and looked out through the other window.
Below her own Hokage statue, she could see his.
Her son.
It was her only child's birthday today.
Her eyes fell once again to the back of Naruto's head. It damn near killed her the first time Naruto called her 'Granny Tsunade'.
Another small wave of guilt hit.
Her only grandson didn't even know he had a grandmother right under his nose.
Tsunade tipped her cup back and downed the full container.
Dan would have been proud of his boys.