Chapter One - The Third's Secret Message
Even thought it had been a little over two years since Tsunade was bestowed with the title of Hokage, she was still getting lectures from the village elders. This day was no different from anyother, aside form the slight temptation to squash every single little pest that happened to cross her path. But, Shizune had warned her against taking her hostility out of them, so Tsunade had to sit through another rude confrontaion; trying her best not to start kicking and screaming.
"On another matter..." One of the elders drawled, handing Tsunade a scroll. She took it, gave the scroll one quick glance and looked at the elder. "It's a scroll left by the Third. He wouldn't say what it was for, but he just said that it shouldn't be opened until the right time. And that his predesessor should know when that is. Naturaly, we respected his wishes and never opened it. But since it's been almost three years since The Uchiha boy left and the Aatsuki growing more impatient, we thought we'd hand the scroll over to you. Just incase."
"I see." Tsunade nodded and set the scroll on her desk before she stood up. "If that's all, I'd like to get back to work. Thank you."
The elders nodded and left the Hokage's office with a humble bow. Tsunade rolled her eyes and sat back down with a rough sigh as the door shut behind the last elder. She laid her head down on the desk, quite content with not doing anything for the rest of the day. But she was the Hokage of Konoha, that just wasn't an option. Or was it? Unfortunitaly for her, it wasn't an option as the elders made a strong hint as to what she should be doing. So with a slight ammount of carelessness, Tsunade ripped the wrappings off of the scroll and threw them down on the ground as she started reading the contents of the scroll.
'To open this scroll and read it's contents, you must bind this secret with your life. For only then shall you be informed to the location of a deep seeded secret. A secret that has been kept hidden for a long while.
I was first informed of this plan years ago and was asked to keep every thing I knew about it away from everyone. However, in my old age; somethings must be written down. Just incase the village starts to crumble. But this secret doesn't come without warning. By unlocking this scroll, you have two weeks to find the others and retrive the hidden secret. If you do not, the scrolls shall destroy themselves and the secret will be lost forever. So, be swift yet careful in your search. Don't let the obvious fool you, there is more at stake here than the scrolls. Good luck on your quest.
The Third Hokage.'
Tsunade raised a brow in interest after she had read the words of the Third. Even though it seemed a bit odd that someone would go through all of the trouble to do this, it was seemingly rational at the same time. She set the scroll down and looked at the door to her office, deep in thought. Mostly wondering if the elders had in fact opened the scroll earlier. But they would have surely told her that, right? Unless, that was the reason they had given it to her now. Of course, they had opened it and by doing so, the clock had started to click down until time was up. Tsunade glared at the door and returned her focus back at the scroll, knowing that she had just been tricked by a group of old people. She gave the scroll another quick read-through and frowned.
"There's no other instructions." She whispered aloud. "It only says find the other scrolls within two weeks of opening this scroll. Urg... I hated it when he gave us challenges like this when we were kids. I normaly relied on Orochimaru on those occasions and I can't do that now. Shit. Stupid old man."
As Tsunade was caught in her own temper and memories of the past, the office door slowly creaked open and in walked a woman with short black hair, holding a small pig. She game the Fifth a warm smile, but it was quickly erased when Tsunade looked at her with a frustrated scowl.
"Yes, Shizune?" Tsunade growled, slamming her hands on her desk.
"I-uh... It's nothing." Shizune replied, forcing a smile on her face and the pig in her arms wiggled; trying to get free. "I was just checking to see how you were holding up from your meeting with the elders, that's all."
"Oh..." Tsunde sighed, trying to regain her composure. "Well, they are driving me crazy. They gave me a scroll that was left to them by the Third and told me to open it. And by doing so, I have two weeks to find an unknown number of scrolls that could be hidden anywhere. I have no clues as to where I should start looking and oh, it's get's better... If I don't find them all in two weeks, they'll destroy themselves and possibly contribute to the destruction of Konoha."
"Er..." Shizune stuttered, setting the pig down on the floor before walking over to the Hokage. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Tsunde didn't say a word, she only put her hands to her face and shook her head no. Shizune sighed and looked at the scroll that was clearly open on the desk. She read it very quickly and pressed a finger to her lips. "Uh... You haven't unlocked the scroll yet. See, look here..." She said pointing to the bottom right corner of the scroll. "It's a seal, you have to unseal the scroll first to get the information you're looking for."
"Oh shut-up. I knew that." Tsunade snapped quickly before looking at the seal, then re-read the scrolls message. "...bind this secret with your life... Heh, well if he think's I'm going to sacrifice myself for this secret, he's fooling himself."
"Blood." Shizune sighed, "You just have to use a bit of blood. Like in a summoning jutsu, that's what I figure. I'm quite sure that the Third wouldn't write this if it meant the next Hokage had to kill herself."
"I thought I told you to shut-up?" Tsunade replied just before biting her thumb. She stuck her tounge out at the little pig that had some how managed to crawl up on the desk and pressed her bloody thumb to the scroll. As the blood soaked into the scroll, the seal in the corner faded and just underneath the Third's message a tiny scrawl became apparent.
'With the first clue revealed, the second is still concealed.
Put your ramen down and stay away from the springs. You have to get the mission done, by any means.'
"I hate this. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tsunade roared, slamming her clentched fists on her desk. "Ugh. Do you know what it means? Because I have no idea."
"Er..." Shizune sighed, taking a look at the riddle. "I don't know. Um... I think it's talking about a person. Or the hot springs maybe? Or you know, it could be that little ramen shop in town. Oh what was it called again? Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto go there all the time..."
"Ichiraku Ramen?" Tsunade asked quietly before she looked at Shizune. "Go get me Nara Shikamaru, he'll be heading the search for the scrolls. But before you tell him to come here, ask him to crack the riddle first. Because if he can't figure it out, it's hopeless."
"Hai." Shizune nodded before dashing out of the office to go find Shikamaru.
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Author Note : This might be a complete one shot, depending on the responce I get. And yes, I know... The clue sucks and they won't be getting any better because I can't write riddles too well. Ah well, it's okay for now.