Chapter 4

The wooden floors echoed as I walked through the hallways of the Hokage tower. It was still dark outside and it was quiet. I was beginning to wonder if there was actually someone around or if Genma had made the whole story up, but as I got closer to the Hokages office I began to hear Tsunade's deep laughter as well as a barely audible voice.

I knocked.

"COME IN SASUKE!"

As I entered the office, a strong scent of booze, cigar, coffee and hangover immediately attacked my nose, if I could describe the smell in a single word it would be puke. There were a couple of bottles of sake on the desk and a few more on the floor as well as a half lit cigar that by now would have left a very awful mark on such a nice floor.

I was not surprised to find Tsunade half-drunk and trying her best to keep her head off her desk, what I was a little surprised about was the red head sitting right in front of her.

"Glad you could join us Uchiha." Tsunade could barely open her eyes, and the words were practically forced from her mouth, but she was trying very hard to look serious so I supposed this ridiculousness had a point to prove. "Straight from bed I see, I've got to say I never took you for a pajama guy, especially not red ones." Indeed I was wearing very red pajamas, and although my face burned with embarrassment I had no problem with it, they were by far the best pajamas. "Anyway let me get to the point, as you can see, we have the honor to be visited by the Kazekage himself, we have several issues to attend that sadly cannot be solved in one day so he has decided to stay a few days here in Konoha, now you know how important it is that the Kazekage enjoys his stay here, for the sake of his comfort and of course to strengthen bonds between Suna and Konoha..." She paused and look at me then she sighed audibly as if trying to make me understand her point. "and seeing as how all your missions for the next two weeks have been canceled due to lack of teamwork and intolerance you have the privilege of escorting the Kazekage, that is until all businesses are settled."

What?!

There was no way I was ok with this. Lack of teamwork? Intolerance? Escort?! What the fuck did they think I was?! A fucking Geisha?!

"Why me? Naruto was part of the fucking problem too! And Shikamaru certainly likes dragging Gaara's sister all over town, maybe he would do that with him too!" I was too much on the edge to be able to take this. No missions. No leaving town, maybe there was a suicidal form included?

"I will not say this again Uchiha, The KAZEKAGE, not some ninja, is hiring YOU as an escort. If you refuse, which you may do if you please, you will be terminated immediately. Is that clear?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama." And just like that her word was my command. Gaara didn't say anything about the incident he didn't even flinch and to be honest at that point I didn't give a shit of how he felt about the whole situation.

"You may leave for now, but do come pick the Kazekage up in an hour or so… we still have things to talk about." Talk my ass... Why the hell couldn't she just call on one of her assistants if the Kazekage needed a tour guide?

"Yes Tsunade-sama."

I was about to close the door behind me when I turned to look back. To be perfectly honest it scared the shit out of me. I had never seen Gaara so expressive since this morning, the amused smile he was wearing was a bit strange, but to actually wink at me, now that was just plain scary, maybe the lack of sleep was affecting me.

"Not that I don't love the red pajamas you're wearing Sasuke, but you might want to consider changing into something more appropriate before coming back." Tsunade burst out laughing.

That bastard! talk about denigrated…