This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son, Razamataz22 and kalebxdd.
...
"Isn't it kind of counterproductive for us to leave with no protection like this?" asked Ino.
"Well if anyone wanted to take you lot out you'd imagine they would try and do it before we caught the mole," yawned Shikamaru. "In fact, I'd expect the journey back to be pretty uneventful. None of us, at least as far as I'm aware, are wanted targets of the Akatsuki either."
"You just don't think that your old man will be able to do a good enough job protecting you, don't you?" asked Inoichi with a shake of his head. "Sure, I don't get into fights that often these days but there is a reason that I'm the clan head after all."
"I'm pretty sure that's because it's hereditary," said Inu, the female twin.
"Oh, what do you know," Inoichi waved the remark away. "Besides, we have more than enough competent shinobi travelling with us so I dare say that extra protection won't be necessary. Although it might be difficult if our master strategist sleeps the whole way home."
"What?" Shikimaru shrugged his shoulders. "Had a bad night of sleep, is all." Another yawn escaped the Nara boy. "So where are all these competent shinobi anyway, our current traveling company seems kind of... I don't know, lacking."
Which was true. The entirety of Team Seven had yet to show up and the sun was setting high in the sky, turning the sands of Suna into a sea of sweltering heat.
"Sorry," a new voice sounded, the heads of the ninjas present turning to locate it. "Some of us had some difficulty finding their belongings."
Team Seven was walking up to the gates of Sunagakure. Naruto and Hinata were lagging behind a few yards, arms hooked together and talking animately about everything and nothing. Kakashi headed the quintet and gave a cheery wave to veil his complete lack of concernuncaring for being tardy.
Ino immediately dragged Sakura along as soon as the pink-haired girl was within grabbing range. Half the group gave them quizzical stares as the two kunoichi scampered off, whispering amongst each other and occasionally pointing at Naruto and Hinata.
"Look at her, she's practically skipping," Ino remarked. Sakura glanced over her shoulder and confirmed this.
"Right, I can't hear it for sure but I believe she's humming a tune or something," Sakura thought for a moment, then opened her eyes wide. "You don't think all the cursing we heard yesterday... was that..?"
Naruto and Hinata were completely oblivious by the gossip around them. Hinata smiled at everybody once they had caught up, as if everyone had gotten a good night of sleep. Naruto was in a very good mood also, judging by the grin that crawled over his face whenever he turned to look at his girlfriend.
"Sorry we're late you guys. Kakashi already told you we had some trouble finding our stuff, right?" Naruto scratched the back of his head, chuckling.
"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said. "We all know you had no trouble finding your things but that you just spent thirty minutes running around the hotel room, trying to get your underwear off the ceiling fan. At least be honest next time."
Naruto's face flared up like a pyre. "What was that, teme?"
Sasuke did not respond, finding it more humorous to have the blond stew in his own juices.
The whole company now complete, the leaf shinobi stood waiting just outside the gates of Suna. They would have departed the second every Konoha ninja arrived at the meeting point, but there was no leaving until they had seen to their courtesies.
Luckily for them it did not take long before a curtain of dust rose in the middle of their group, revealing Gaara and his siblings when it came down. The Kazekage wasted no time in approaching Ino, a hand extended and a semblance of a smile on his face.
"I'd like to express my gratitude for your assistance in surveying the shinobi amongst Suna's ranks," Gaara said in his most formal tone. "Thanks to the endeavors of the Yamanaka we were able to clear up the majority of our security issues, even if the outcome of the research was not what we expected it to be."
"No problem, Kazekage," Ino smiled back at the redhead. "It's my dad you should be thanking, really. I led the mission but he's the real master mind reader."
Gaara inclined his head at Inoichi, acknowledging this. He then turned to Naruto. Any mirth possible shred of mirth on his face vanished, his brows pressing down and his arms locking in front his his chest.
"Naruto." Gaara stared the Kyuubi Jinchuriki down. "Be careful, no matter where you go. These Akatsuki are not - by any definition of the word - lightweights. One wrong move and it's over." There were no 'buts' or 'ifs'. The message had to be loud and clear; having the most powerful of the tailed beasts fall into the hands of the Akatsuki would be a death sentence to the world of shinobi.
Naruto gave a brisk nod, followed by a grin from ear to ear. "Yeah, yeah," he said, waving Gaara's concerns away. "I promise to watch my back, okay? But I can't make any promises on what'll happen when I do run into them. I might be forced to kick some Akatsuki ass." He punched his fist into his palm, showing his eagerness to brawl with an enemy of unknown calibre.
A mild sigh travelled through the rest of the group, but no one could prevent a smile from forming on their faces. At times it was like Naruto hadn't changed a bit since leaving Konoha.
Temari stepped forward. "Well if this is all I would like to wish every one of you a safe trip back to Konoha," she hesitated for a second. "and I hope to see you all again soon."
"Will do," answered Shikamaru, staring off into the distant deserts. "Just know that we're always willing to lend a hand, so don't hesitate to ask us."
And so with a final chorus of goodbyes, the Konoha shinobi were off, leaving Gaara and Kankuro to question why Temari had seemed so absent today.
...
The banging on the door came abruptly and in the middle of something quite important for the couple. "Fuck off, will ya?!" shouted Hidan not wanting to be interrupted.
"I only need a minute of your time," shouted Naruto from the other side of the door.
"Whattya think?"
"It's probably about the snake bastard, I should get this over and done with."
"Fuck."
Pushing himself off of Tayuya, Hidan had no qualms with walking up to the door and opening it to face the blonde Uzumaki. If Naruto was shocked to find that the former cultist was wearing no clothes and was at full mast he didn't show it. "What is it?"
"Can I speak with Tayuya, if that's alright with you?"
"Sure, but only if you answer me this," said Hidan as he took in the appearance of the blonde before him. "Why do you look like shit?"
"Cause you ain't the only one getting lucky tonight," said Naruto without missing a beat.
"Nice!" said Hidan as he raised his hand, Naruto accepting the high five from the naked man like it was nothing. "So I take it then that you wouldn't be interested in doing my bitch from the rear while I take the front."
"Blown my load tonight, need to store up for tomorrow," explained Naruto as he shook his head. Not that he would have accepted the foul-mouthed Shinobi's offer anyway.
"I fucking like this kid," said Hidan as he looked over his shoulder at the naked Tayuya who, like Hidan, seemed to have no problem with showing off her assets.
Naruto meanwhile simply knew how to act around Hidan. Jiraiya had had him practise some reconnaissance missions with his clones in situations where they would be forced to think on the spot and come up with solutions to completely bizarre problems. He had stressed the importance of being able to manipulate small truths to his advantage, to not build imaginary castles on air but on a foundation of truth. And, for the blond, that was working well for the moment. .
"So what do you want to ask me?" asked Tayuya. "And make it quick, I was close dammit."
"One of my clones survived the initial explosion that brought in the lair," explained Naruto as Hidan allowed him to enter the room.
"I heard that you guys nearly got fucked up," said Tayuya before Naruto continued.
"The place was abandoned, not surprisingly, but there was some information that had been left behind. While I tried to look for stuff in regards to the cursed seal there was nothing. What I did find, however, were some files about some of Orochimaru's friends, alive or dead I'm not sure."
"Hurry up fuckwit. I don't have all day!"
"Fine, fine," said Naruto before his eyes focused. "Who is Uzumaki Karin?"
…
"Someone looks a little chirpier today," said Shizune with a smile. "Sobriety, or at least a morning without a hangover… is a good look on you, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade nodded, flexing her hands slightly as she stared at them wide-eyed. It almost felt as if they were brand new - everything suddenly seemed to be so much clearer. "I think I finally woke up on the right side of the bed, Shizune."
"What do you mean?" asked her student, surprised to notice a hint of a genuine smile on the blonde woman's face.
"I finally feel at peace with myself," said Tsunade. "There have been days every so often where I've been able to forget about my past, where Dan and Nawaki don't even cross my mind, but today feels as though the first one in a very long time that I've been able to remember them with a grin on my face."
"Did something change?" asked Shizune. "The last I was aware, you were trying to cut yourself when you thought I wasn't looking. I wasn't sure if it would be wise for me to say anything, and I didn't want to provoke you further, so I didn't."
"Funny story, that," said Tsunade. If she had been male, had slightly spikier hair and a demon stuck in her gut she probably would have rubbed the back of her head. "I needed to overcome a ghost that had been haunting me for far too long."
"And did it work?"
"I think so."
"That's great to hear, Tsunade-sama," smiled Shizune. "I was really worried about you for a while there so I'm happy that you pulled through. So now what? Back to the casinos?"
"No, it would be foolish to waste my good mood on them," said Tsunade before pausing. "I am tempted to go see what the old man wanted with me a day or two ago, although I've got a feeling that he just wanted to find a successor to stick that damn hat of his on."
"With all due respect, I think you should hear him out," said Shizune. "You are more than capable of being a great Hokage with your abilities and besides it runs in your blood."
"I might be feeling optimistic but not that optimistic," snorted Tsunade as she made her way to the door. Shizune chuckled a little. "There has been something that's been weighing on my mind though, and I think speaking to the old man would help with that."
"Oh really?" asked Shizune.
"You'll just have to wait and see, I guess," said Tsunade. It was the blonde's turn to smile. "Don't wait here for me, you can go take the day off or something. You deserve it."
Shizune nodded. "Good luck with your talk."
Tsunade waved her pseudo-daughter goodbye before walking out of her apartment's door. Proceeding towards the stairwell, she made her way out of the building.
Soon she was standing on a paved road, the radiant sunlight of a warm summer morning beaming down upon her as she shielded her eyes from the light with her right sleeve. Humming to herself quietly, she couldn't help but admire Konoha and just how much it had changed over the years.
Most of the buildings were taller and looked to be made of sturdier materials. Some of the older ones she had known as a child were a little worn down now and others had completely disappeared. In many ways, the village still seemed completely foreign yet completely like home to her.
'So this is what my grandfather fought so hard to protect,' she thought, her eyes incidentally drifting towards the Hokage monument. It was strange to see such an impassive expression on her grandfather's face: all her memories of him were of simpler times when he'd had a wide grin permanently plastered onto his features. Even in her more recent experience with his resurrected body, he'd had a ferocity about him that you could always see on his face.
She moved along, slowly and not paying much mind to the villagers surrounding her. It was late in the morning so most of the people that were occupying the roads were shop-keepers who were busy with business or young kids who didn't seem to recognise her.
It didn't take her long to arrive outside the Hokage's office and soon she was contemplating whether it was best to knock or to just barge straight in. There was a reason Jiraiya preferred the window, she realised. In the end, there wasn't much of a choice to make and she knocked twice to alert him to her presence (and likely give the old pervert time to hide his Icha-Icha books) before pushing both the doors in.
"Ah… Tsunade," he said slowly, taking the opportunity to puff on his pipe. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Perhaps you're ready to have that conversation with me now?"
"If it's about becoming the Godaime Hokage, you can forget it," she said boldly, slamming both fists down on his desk to make sure she had his attention. "We both know that, my heritage aside, I would be a horrible candidate for the job."
"I would disagree, you are a fie-" Sarutobi paused with a sigh after noticing her determined glare. "I suppose nothing I say at the present moment will convince you, so I think I'll just enquire as to why you're here."
"The state of Konoha's medical ninja… or lack thereof," said Tsunade. "It's pitiful, maybe even worse than it was the last time I was here."
"Well after the Kyuubi's attack we needed to rebuild our entire ninja force and as such we weren't able to specialise in as many fields as we would have liked," said Sarutobi. "I think you'll find that the numbers of ANBU recruits have been dwindling until recently."
"Maybe if you had a competent medical academy, half of the population wouldn't have died in the Kyuubi attack," said Tsunade passionately. "Since I'm almost certain that the academy course hasn't changed, the entire younger generation is at risk since they all know very little about medicine and its application through Ninjutsu or otherwise."
"What would you have me do?" asked Sarutobi seriously. "Konoha has been lacking expertise in the field for almost a decade and a half now and some of our most promising medical ninja disappeared during the Sound's invasion.
She looked him in the eye. "Let me open up a medical academy."
...
"So what brought this on?" asked Sarutobi. "I thought you already had your hands full teaching Shizune."
"I came to the realisation that I need to honour those who have fallen in order to protect me and that I'm not doing nearly enough," said Tsunade. "Both Dan and Nawaki dearly loved this village, not to mention my grandfather, so I feel I owe this to them."
"So then why not become the next Hokage?" reasoned Sarutobi. "My end is nearing and I would like to ensure that this village is in capable hands before I am forced to step down. Surely you could do more for the village, even just its medical side, as the Hokage."
"That's not my dream," said Tsunade. "They wouldn't like me to pursue their own ambitions for the sake of it and ignore my own - and I don't think I could ever bring myself to debase my memories of them by stealing their most precious dreams."
"At this rate, the only one who'll actually want to become Hokage will be the moron who painted the monument before he became a Genin," said Sarutobi as he shook his head slightly. "It's alright, I understand as both a sensei and something of a fatherly figure to you, I am proud of you."
"Thank you," said Tsunade with a nod before looking out to an opened window. "Y'know, I can hear you out there, you idiot."
Both student and teacher shared a chuckle when they heard Jiraiya yell as he fell from the window ledge to the ground in surprise.
"I do have one question to ask you though," said Sarutobi. "How exactly do you plan to teach medicine, or at least advanced medicine, with your fear of blood? Isn't that what has been holding Shizune back from advancing to your level?"
"I think I'm over that hurdle now," said Tsunade with a bit of a grin. "And even if I'm not, Shizune will be there to help me."
"That also begs the question of who your academy will be open to," said Sarutobi. "We have a couple of novices in the field who know a fair bit so you could target them and try to improve upon their skills. Or you could open the doors to anyone who wants to learn medicine, the only problem is that it'll be hard to get the program off the ground."
"Well, from my brief inspection of the hospital in the few months that I've been here, I can say that most of your so called novices have about as much to learn as most beginners," said Tsunade. "You're right, though. There aren't enough advanced medic-nin who can teach others so that we can open the doors to just anyone, but we do need to target Konoha's youth."
"I'm sure Iruka and the other instructors will have no problem with letting you come in to do a few workshops with the academy students," said Sarutobi before pausing. "But that's not what you have in mind, is it?"
"No," said Tsunade before shrugging her shoulders. "Well I mean there would be nothing wrong with doing that but I think it would be a good idea to offer some of our current ninja a chance. There are plenty of Genin and Chunin, hell even a couple of Jonin, who could do with an introductory lesson."
"How do you propose to get these people interested in it in the first place?" asked Sarutobi.
"I think I know a hyperactive blond loudmouth who could help out," said Jiraiya, nursing a small wound on the side of his head, as he leapt through the window.
"Naruto's friends are a good starting point but there are many younger shinobi who have joined Konoha's ranks in his absence," said Sarutobi. "My grandson for one."
"I guess we should send a message to all the Jonin senseis then?" asked Tsunade.
"That's a good idea," said Sarutobi. "Most of our Genin are still in town and we'll try and grab whichever Chunin aren't away on missions."
"Speaking of hyperactive Chunins and missions," said Jiraiya. "Do you have any idea how much longer it is until the brat is back?"
"Starting to miss him already?" queried Sarutobi with a smug grin. "But to answer your question, I received a hawk from Suna a few days ago saying that they arrived safely. I would expect them to be back shortly, whether they manage to find what they're looking for or not."
"The Akatsuki are too good to leave evidence behind if they don't want to," said Jiraiya. "I don't think they'll manage to find anything."
At Sarutobi's raised eyebrow, the man couldn't help but grin from ear-to-ear.
"What?" exclaimed Jiraiya. "I'm not renowned through the Elemental Nations for nothing!"
"That's probably because you're a registered sex offender in half of those nations," said Tsunade before shaking her head.
...
Konoha's gates were open wide when the collective group of shinobi arrived, wishing them welcome with grandeur. Naruto barged across the walled border with Hinata in tow and a hand clutched around her wrist, dragging the Hyuga girl along. When he had returned from his journey with Jiraiya there had been no time for him to really rest and enjoy the feeling of being back home, before being sent off on a mission. He would set that right.
The others weren't feeling so hasty though. Kakashi lazily dragged his feet into town, surveying his surroundings with his one visible eye half-lidded and his hands in his pockets. Sasuke and Sakura came in behind him, most of their recent squabbles forgotten as they talked about the smaller stuff in life.
Shikamaru was the first to detach from the crowd, remarking that he needed to sit down and rest for a while and that it would be foolish to let the perfect cloud-watching weather pass. Ino had briefly contemplated following her teammate to grill him to discover the root of his odder-than-usual behaviour on the journey back but ultimately decided to let him go so that she could brag to the rest of her clan about her success in leading the Yamanaka on the mission.
Kakashi turned on his heel to look at his students as well as Hinata.
"Now, how about we go out to dinner?" He reached into his pocket and revealed his wallet. The contents jingled. "We haven't been together as an actual team for years and I thought it would be nice for us to do something together again."
Naruto and Sakura were quick to agree, Sakura driven by her desire to loom over Sasuke like some ceaselessly horny dog and Naruto seeing an opportunity to quench his cravings for ramen. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, saying it would be fine by him.
There was a bit of an awkward silence when they realised that there was someone else listening in on their conversation.
"Hinata?" Kakashi caught the girl's attention. "Would you like to join us for dinner? I promise it'll be my treat."
"Yeah!" Naruto bellowed his enthusiasm at the prospect. "C'mon Hinata! We''ll have something to eat at Ichiraku's and then we can... go over to my place?"
Hinata blushed a little, both in surprise and gratitude. Then she shook her head. "Thanks a lot, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata made a small bow. "But I'm afraid that I can't come along. I have to report back to my father first and he will be expecting me to join the rest of the clan for dinner."
"Aw, seriously?" Naruto, loud as ever, voiced his complaints. "Why don't I just send a Bunshin in there henged to look like you. I swear, stealing you from the compound was so easy I could do it thrice. They'll definitely fall for the old Bunshin-switch."
Hinata giggled, kissing him partly to win his silence. "That's really sweet, Naruto-kun, but not a good idea." Naruto's excitement deflated like a punctured balloon, so she quickly added. "We can hang out tomorrow, though. You can have dinner with me and my family and we can do whatever at night. Maybe go to your place or something... maybe watch a movie?"
Naruto grinned wide. "Right, a movie. Sure thing!"
Hinata smiled at him. "I knew you would understand." She kissed him on his cheek. "I will see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Naruto repeated, watching her as she skipped off to the Hyuga compound.
"So," Kakashi's hand landed on Naruto's shoulder. "Are you still joining us for dinner or are you craving something else entirely?'
…
"So even though all signs seemed to point to something going completely wrong, nothing really did?" asked Hokage, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh morning air coming from his open window. It was hard to convince himself that his perverted student wasn't loitering just outside, eavesdropping on his conversation with the large group assembled in front of him.
"We somehow managed to avoid actually getting into a real fight with anyone," said Naruto, a little bit of disappointment evident in his voice. "Well, unless you count the little bout that Gaara and Sasuke had."
"That certainly sounds interesting," said Sarutobi as he looked towards the Uchiha. He wondered how the avenger, after a few years of tutelage from him, would have stacked up against a fresh green Kage. There was still only one likely outcome. "You'll have to tell me about it later because the mission reports I received were very… lacklustre in every sense of the word."
Shikamaru had submitted a blank page. Kakashi had handed in a report that very briefly talked about some kind of crisis with Iwa. Naruto had tried to give him the packaging of his breakfast ramen earlier on and Sakura, ever the perfectionist, still hadn't submitted hers. Inoichi had deferred his report to Ino, saying that if she wanted to claim that she had been in charge she could have the joy of writing up a dull recollection of the events that had occurred.
Sasuke and Hinata were the only ones who had submitted anything that he was able to make sense of. Sasuke described an encounter with the Akatsuki, a Sharingan and maybe Itachi - he wasn't too sure about that one - but barely mentioned anything about the actual mission itself. Similarly, Hinata wrote about adventuring off to some secluded base with Naruto (after some deliberation, she had brought herself to cross out the 'kun' attached to his name) but failed to address the actual outcome of the mission.
"So after managing to avoid this encounter with the Akatsuki," said Sarutobi as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, "you proceeded to Suna and continued on with the mission. Eventually the Yamanaka clan's mind readers managed to find something to do with a disaster in Iwa?"
"Not quite," said Ino, brushing a loose strand of hair from her eyes with her hand. "I found a 'mole' but it turned out to be a plant from Iwa that had been present for the better half of a decade. Dad took a closer look because he's still better at these things than me and he said that as far as he could tell, nothing had been tampered with inside the guy's head either."
"Do you know what the Kazekage's response to this was?" asked Sarutobi. Communicating by messenger hawk was a chore born out of necessity, it was by no means optimal.
"I think that after taking advice from his council, he was contemplating sending out a counter espionage team to Iwa," said Sakura.
"Probably to gauge how far Iwa's spy network spans," shrugged Sasuke. "Ninja, after all, thrive in the element of surprise so taking that from them could give Suna an upper hand in the future."
"It also wouldn't be a bad idea to understand what Iwa plans to do with the information from the mole. If it's just a passive plant meant to keep tabs on Suna, they could demand monetary reparations so that an international incident doesn't occur, but if they plan on doing bad stuff… well," Naruto trailed off slowly, noticing that every pair of eyes (or in a certain masked Jonin's case, single eye) in the room was staring blankly at him. "What? I've been reading up on this stuff, I'll be sitting on the other side of the desk one day, y'know."
"God help us all," muttered Shikamaru, shaking his head in disbelief. "Anyway, Naruto also led Sakura, Hinata and Temari on a wild goose chase through the desert to find one of Orochimaru's old labs but that didn't result in anything. Can I go now?"
Hinata's eyes widened slightly at the mention of their small adventure to Orochimaru's now-defunct outpost. It took all of her willpower to not reach towards her neck and soothe the itch that had been irritating her for the past few days like a mosquito bite - she hadn't used its power for years now but even when it was the only strength that she had known, it had not played up in such a strange manner.
There was no voice trying to entice her into letting go, into hitting back at the world that held so little regard for her. Just mild irritation. And though she had gone to the hideout with the intention of finding something that would help relieve her from her curse for once and for all, it seemed to have nothing but aggravated her dormant mark further.
"What brought that on?" asked Sarutobi, this time actually curious.
"We ran into one of the members from the Sound Four at Suna," said Naruto. "Well the only one still alive after I… y'know…"
The blond didn't finish that sentence but most of the people in the room quickly understood what he was talking about. Those who didn't either didn't care particularly much or thought the matter was too troublesome to warrant further investigation.
"She had turned rogue, defected from Orochimaru, and got with this batshit crazy cultist before deciding to seek refuge in Suna," continued Naruto. "Anyway, she said some interesting stuff that got me thinking about Hinata's cursed seal. Turns out there was this base but the bastard booby trapped it before we could get in."
"How unfortunate," said Sarutobi, meeting Naruto's gaze with his own. With nothing more than a glance, the two were able to have a conversation of their own.
"It was really nice of Naruto-kun… and Sakura and Temari, though," said Hinata, somewhat sadly. "I guess it just wasn't our lucky day."
"I suppose that will cover it," said Sarutobi. "Now unless any of you have anything else of importance to add that can't wait until you all either rewrite or submit your reports, I think that draws a close to this debrief."
Several groans rang throughout the office.
"Oh and before I forget," said Sarutobi offhandedly. "My student, Tsunade, has decided to open up a medical academy for Konoha Ninja at long last. I've allocated her a temporary room in the Academy where she'll be holding an introductory lesson so do spread the word amongst your peers and fellow ninja. Also stop by if you get the time."
"No can do," said Shikamaru as he shook his head.
"I think I've already found my true calling," said Sakura, declining the Hokage's offer.
Kakashi whistled innocently.
"I'm going to need to have a word with you, jiji," said Naruto, his voice as assertive as it was collected. "Privately."
While the other ninja in the room came up with excuses to refuse the Hokage's suggestion, no-one seemed to notice a certain lavender eyed kunoichi perk up slightly.
...
The building in front of her didn't really catch the eye. Hinata inspected the structure, only two stories high and most of it still under some form of construction. A banner had been draped over the upper balcony reading 'Konoha Medical Academy' in crudely painted lettering. Activity was going on in and around, shinobi running amuck to finish the work at hand.
The Hyuga girl stood there for a minute, caught in her contemplations and unable to move. But when she thought of all the possibilities that this place offered her she soon found herself walking inside.
Shizune was sitting behind the front desk, leafing through a stack of papers as TonTon ran back and forth while carrying piles of lumber that would squash any other pig to bacon bits. Hinata's voice hitched in her throat when she tried to catch the medic-nin's attention.
"Uhm." she stood there, twiddling her thumbs together. "Would Tsunade-sama happen to be around?"
Shizune reared her head up. "Oh, Hyuga Hinata was it?" upon seeing Hinata nod she waved to an empty chair. "Have a seat, she should be back any minute now."
"No need for that," Tsunade made her presence known while stomping into the Academy building, her coat fluttering in behind her. She stood still and eyed Hinata. "Ah, Orochimaru's pet gone rogue , huh?"
Hinata blushed furiously at the comment, feeling hurt. She took a deep breath, remembering that she had to control her emotions. Finding her resolve she spoke. "Tsunade-sama my name is Hyuga Hinata and -"
"I know who you are, girl," Tsunade cut her off without remorse. "Just state your business and be done with it."
"Right," Hinata exhaled and put her serious face on. "Tsunade-sama, I want to join your academy and learn how to be a medic-nin."
...
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