Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden.
A/N: Hey guys! I knows it's been a while so just for you guys: cue the dramatic music...
Previously on Secrets Revealed...
Tsunade, the fifth Hokage, was made aware of Tonbo Uchiha's existence, a fact that had been kept secret from her by the village elders and Danzo. She and Kakashi went to free Tonbo from her forced state of deep meditation.
Since then, Tonbo had been under the care of Sakura while she regained her strength after lack of movement for almost eight years. Once released from the hospital, Tonbo goes "home", which is actually the house of Sasuke Uchiha, a rogue ninja who left Konoha all together.
Later, Tonbo brings flowers to put on the graves of her lost loved ones. She falls asleep in front of Hinashou Uchiha's grave when Shikamaru Nara finds her and wakes her. After they have a short conversation about Tonbo's "brothers", Tonbo leaves Shikamaru to go home.
Shikamaru then notices the surname on the headstone and runs after her.
No, it can't be. That's... impossible. He leaped up and dashed in the direction she headed. Where would she have gone? If anything out of what she said was true, there's only one place she could have gone.
He sprinted down the path, went through one of the district gates, and caught up to her before she could get into the exact house Shikamaru had predicted she'd go to.
"Uchiha! You- walk- troublesomely fast," he said in between pants. She stopped in mid-step with her back turned towards him.
"The surname on that grave and all the graves around it was Uchiha. But that's impossible, there are only two Uchihas left, S-"
"Sasuke and Itachi," she broke in.
She still had her back towards him. "By what you said, Sasuke and Itachi would have to be your brothers for that to be true. They are both rogue ninja, but I know that's impossible. Sasuke and Itachi didn't have a sister, let alone another brother on top of it. You're about the same age as Sasuke, and you look nothing like an Uchiha," he finished.
"You want to know the truth?" She paused to sigh and then she turned to face him. "I'm not supposed to talk about my brothers, so I'll tell you this. I was not born an Uchiha, nor am I a part of their family."
She walked into the house Shikamaru had known to be Sasuke's. She shut the door behind her, leaving Shikamaru outside with a lot of unanswered questions.
Chapter 10:
Secrets Revealed: The Unofficial Ninja
Tonbo sat on the roof of her house while musing. She had her arms rapped around her knees, pulling them in tightly to her chest. She rested her chin in between her knees and closed her eyes. She had been in that spot almost all night. It wasn't quite dawn yet and all the stars were still out.
This is bad... really bad. The world really has changed since I've been gone. At this point, there isn't anything I can do either. Ugh! And on top of everything that Nara boy knows more than he should! If he calls me Uchiha again, and in a public setting, more people will start asking questions. If only I hadn't fallen asleep!
She proceeded to mentally assault herself until her thoughts were interrupted by two feet lightly touching down on the roof.
She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder to find Kakashi who then moved to sit beside her. Tonbo decided that she didn't need to acknowledge him any further and resituated her chin in between her knees.
"What are you doing out here this early in the morning?" Kakashi asked Tonbo.
"Isn't it stranger that you're out here this early in the morning? And at my house?" She was obviously tired. If her long, drawn-out and sharp-edged tone wasn't enough to give it away, the dark bags under her eyes were.
Kakashi completely dismissed her remark, "How long have you been out here?"
"Since sometime past eleven," She turned her head away from him. "I just couldn't sleep, that's all."
Kakashi knew that that couldn't be the only reason, but if he were too direct in asking her, she probably wouldn't tell him any more. "Why did you decide to come up to the roof?"
"It's just nicer out here than it is inside. I can't even remember the last time I got to sit outside for a while. I think I had forgotten how nice the world can smell," she took in a deep breath through her nose, detecting all the scents of nature through the fresh air.
Kakashi took a moment to stare at her. They had been talking to each other everyday possible for years, but up until recently, neither of them had ever seen each other before. It was almost strange to talk face to face. Although Tonbo wouldn't look at him at the moment.
"What have you been doing?" he asked her.
"I've been..." she knew the answer to his question, but she was having trouble spitting it out. "...thinking."
Kakashi gave her a smile under his mask. "It's okay," he told her.
In surprise, Tonbo snapped her head back to look at him. "Wha-?" she didn't bother to finish.
"It's okay to feel the way you do right now. I'm sure that it must be hard, coming back to such a different place. But what isn't okay, is keeping all of your feelings locked up inside you. That doesn't help anyone, and it burdens you more."
For a moment Tonbo let her emotions rise to the surface, and her eyes began to water. But she quickly blinked back her tears. "I know that. You've told me similar things before."
She then shifted her eyes downward. "I guess that I was hoping... that when I came back here, it would be like waking up from a dream. Or more like a nightmare. Instead all it did was force me to wake up to reality. Everything really did happen, and although I don't understand any of it, I still want to try and do something. I know that I can't exactly fix anything, and I don't expect to. But now that I'm here, shouldn't I try to do something useful?"
"I don't see a problem with that, and I'm glad you're not just sulking. I was also hoping that you could come to think of this as a fresh start. Who you are isn't common knowledge, so you have freedom to be who you want to be, pursue new dreams, and form new friendships. Maybe that can free you from your past," Kakashi wanted her heartache to end, but he knew that it wouldn't be as easy for her as he had put it.
"Kakashi, I understand what you're trying to do for me, but I'm sorry I just can't let go of everything that easily. It would be different if everyone in my family had died, but Itachi and Sasuke are still alive. So despite everything, I can't give up the hope that someday we could..." she trailed off.
"I think I understand what you're trying to say. You don't want to give up the hope that the three of you could be a family again. Tonbo, I don't think that's very wise... but I do think it's human." Tonbo gave Kakashi a surprised look.
"I won't ask you to give up on Sasuke yet, I do feel that there might still be hope for him. But Itachi is a different story. Even if he ever did come back, he would be executed for his crimes."
"I know." Tonbo paused for a minute and shifted nervously in her seated position. "I actually have to tell you something... because that's not the only reason why it would be hard for me to have a fresh start."
"What else is there?" he asked her.
"Well, last night a boy found me visiting the cemetery. We talked for a little while and he was pretty rude, so I left quickly. He followed me home and told me that he noticed the surname on all the graves. So... he knows I have something to do with the Uchihas," she waited to see his reaction.
To her surprised he didn't seem all that troubled by it. "We need to find out his name to make sure he doesn't start spreading rumors. I hope you didn't give anything away when he confronted you."
Tonbo put her hands up in front of herself. "Oh, no of course not. I probably just confused him. If I remember correctly, his name was Shikamaru Nara."
Kakashi's expression changed slightly. "Shikamaru huh? Well if it was him, that could be a problem after all."
"What do you mean?"
"Knowing him, he might figure it out and then proceed to recite your entire life story back to you," Kakashi mumbled.
"You're joking, right?" Tonbo gave him a flat look.
"Well, I would like to say yes, but with him it isn't impossible. He has an IQ of over 200."
Realization dawned on Tonbo as she remembered, "I think I remember you talking about him before. He was placed on Team 10 under the tutelage of Asuma Sarutobi, who is one of the third Hokage's sons." She apparently never missed anything Kakashi told her.
"Right, we'll have to talk to him a Sakura as soon as possible."
"Huh? Why Sakura?" this caught Tonbo's attention.
"Well Sakura found out about your surname too," Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed that he would have to admit to her that he leaked information in a similar fashion as she had.
"How did she find that out?"
"After you left the hospital, Sakura had to go over all your paper work. She noticed that your surname wasn't on the documents even though it's required. So when she saw me she asked if I knew your surname. I just wrote it down and left," Kakashi gave her an awkward smile.
"That probably made it look even more suspicious. You could have at least said something to her," Tonbo pouted.
"Sorry, it's not often that I have to keep something from my students."
Tonbo went silent for a moment after that. She knew the bond between student and teacher was fortified in trust.
"Kakashi, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Why did you come to talk to me this early in the morning? I mean, I know that this used to be how early we would talk, but now that I'm here, you don't need to come this early anymore. It seems ridiculous." When Tonbo thought about it, Kakashi probably would have visited her this early even when she was in the hospital if it wasn't before visiting hours started.
"Actually today's different. I have to bring you to a meeting with the Hokage at nine," Kakashi began.
"But the sun still isn't up, it can't even be six yet."
"Yes, but I'm bringing you with me to visit some people before the meeting."
Tonbo read his words as if they were a coded message, in a language only the two of them could understand. "But don't you do that alone? I don't think I should intrude like that."
"I've told them enough about you and you about them. I should introduce you to them at least once."
Tonbo nodded. "Okay, I'll go get ready. You just wait out here." Tonbo scooted to the edge and hopped down from the roof and went inside.
Kakashi stayed on the roof for the time being.
Tonbo knew that Kakashi was referring to Obito and Rin, his former teammates. As Tonbo understood it, both of them had died; Obito from being crushed under a falling boulder and Rin from being punctured straight through the chest.
Kakashi knew the pain of loosing those close to him much more than Tonbo did. Yet, Kakashi never once complained about it. He never grew bitter, and he was able to move forward and form close bonds with new people. He was more than worthy of Tonbo's admiration.
Surely the third Hokage, knowing all of this, must have taken it into consideration when he had chosen Kakashi to be Tonbo's companion. The third Hokage hoped that Tonbo would follow Kakashi's examples.
"Kakashi!" Tonbo called out after emerging from the house.
Kakashi leaped from the roof down to the ground, landing gracefully on his feet like a cat might.
"If we have enough time, I'd like to introduce you to my family," said Tonbo. Kakashi gave her a nod and they walk off together.
Later Kakashi brought Tonbo to Tsunade's office to have a discussion.
Tsunade shooed Shizune, who was holding Tonton in her arms, out of the room before closing the doors.
Kakashi and Tonbo stood in the center of the room facing Tsunade's desk, waiting patiently for Tsunade to stop yelling at Shizune and telling her to go somewhere, anywhere far away from the building. Apparently Tsunade "let it go last time, but wouldn't stand for anymore eavesdropping".
Something about Tsunade's perceptiveness was frightening, as testified by Shizune's obvious guilt. "A thousand pardons Lady Tsunade!" Shizune was bowing repeatedly in the hallway.
"Apologize by leaving!" Tsunade pointed sharply down the hall in the direction of the exit. "Go now!"
Shizune screeched in terror, "Yes Lady Tsunade!" She then hightailed it out the door and down the stairs.
Tsunade waited a while to make sure she was really gone. When she was satisfied, she turned back and closed the door behind her.
"Sorry about that," Tsunade walked back over to the front of her desk. "I can't blame her for being curious, but listening in on top-secret conversations is still unacceptable."
Neither Kakashi nor Tonbo uttered a response, but this whole scene made Tonbo realize something. Where is Sakura? she thought to herself.
It wasn't particularly odd as Tsunade would have kicked her out of the room anyway, but Tonbo was reminded that Sakura knew about her surname. She was sure this would stir up some level of emotion in Sakura.
Tonbo knew from Kakashi that Sakura and Sasuke were on the same team before Sasuke left. What's more, according to Kakashi, Sakura had a thing for Sasuke and was crushed by his decision to leave in quest of greater power— greater power that Sasuke believed he could not obtain by remaining with his team in the Leaf.
The name alone surely would have been enough to cause her to shudder. Tonbo wondered if Sakura knew that she had a meeting with Tsunade and was avoiding her.
Tonbo's mind was brought back to the present by Tsunade shuffling through some papers on her desk. "Kakashi explained to me that all your records, including the record of you attending the Academy have been erased. I checked it out myself and found that even your daily attendance records from the time you did attend school have been erased."
Tsunade found the papers she had been looking for and turned around to face them. "I had always believed that the Academy's records were untouched after being recorded, but it seems the third Hokage was very thorough."
She leaned back against her desk, "I decided to look through all the classified documents for anything with your name on it. I wasn't sure where to start but it turns out that the school records were the key. Attendance records aren't something you would expect to see among the other documents in there. After that I looked for documents that didn't quite fit with the rest. I even found your adoption papers that were never approved."
Tsunade handed Tonbo a packet of filled out adoption papers. "So they really couldn't adopt me after all," Tonbo said mostly to herself.
"Yes, that's another thing I had to find out myself. Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha were the ones who wanted to adopt you, in other words, Itachi and Sasuke's parents, right?" Tsunade tried to ease her irritation.
"Yes, that's correct," Tonbo provided a short answer.
"So it looks like you've been thrown into a particularly sticky web?" Tsunade commented.
Tonbo didn't respond to her. "Alright, then back to the subject at hand. Do you still want to become a full-fledged ninja?" Tsunade asked her.
Tonbo wasn't sure why Tsunade felt the need to ask her again. She looked up at Kakashi to see if his reaction said anything. He was looking back at her as if he was also waiting on her answer.
Tonbo turned back to Tsunade. "Yes," she gave a stiff nod.
Tsunade took a second before she said anything else. Her expression didn't change and Tonbo couldn't even make a guess as to what she might have been thinking.
"That's fine, but to become a genin you still have to pass the final exams at the Academy. You're too old to start at the Academy now, and if I hadn't been able to find your attendance records, you would have been out of luck."
Tsunade gave Tonbo a small smile, "But as luck would have it, there's a graduation ceremony tomorrow. That means that if you can pass the final exams today, you can graduate tomorrow. I've already ask the school board to hold a testing session for you today at three thirty this afternoon. If you don't pass you will have to wait and take the exam again in the spring."
"Wait a minute, how am I supposed to pass the test if I have less than six and a half hours to study six years worth of school material? I haven't even started learning basic taijutsu, and in this state it isn't safe for me to perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu," Tonbo didn't think this was fair at all.
"I'm aware of that. The school board won't test you on ninjutsu or genjutsu. If you fail the taijutsu portion of the exam, you can make up for it if you do nearly perfect on the written portion. Also, the better you do at shuriken throwing and hand seals, the more points you can afford to loose on the written portion of the exam," Tsunade informed.
"But how am I supposed to do that well on the written portion of the exam if I only attended class for less than half a semester?! There's no way I'll know enough to score nearly perfect, let alone pass!" Tonbo was annoyed at this inconvenience.
Tsunade's expression turned provoked, "You should really be more grateful! The graduation ceremony has been postponed more than once! The school board is already busy with preparations and yet they still are taking time out of their day to allow you this opportunity!"
Tsunade took a moment to recomposed herself. "Besides, you have until the test begins to study. Just show up on time."
Tonbo let her level of intensity fall down a few notches too before responding. "Okay, but I still have one more concern. I don't know if you know, but if I use a certain hand seal, my chakra leaks out from a seal that I have over my chakra. It's very painful."
"A hand seal? Which one?" Tsunade had not heard this yet.
"A Half Ram seal."
Tsunade made it a point to herself to remember that. "Well the exam only requires you to preform the twelve basic hand seals of the zodiac."
"Then I should be fine," Tonbo said while only half focused. The only part of the exam she knew she could do well on was the math. That still left everything else to study that she would have to cram into whatever amount of time she would have left after leaving here.
"Good, go and start studying now. I have to go through all of these documents with Kakashi." Tsunade reached out a hand for Tonbo to hand back the adoption papers.
Tonbo handed the papers back to Tsunade. "But I was hoping Kakashi could help me study. I don't know where to start and I don't have anyone else who can help me," she complained.
Tsunade crossed her arms, "He can help you after he's done here, but that's still up to him."
Tonbo turned and looked at Kakashi anticipatorily. Kakashi sighed, "Fine, go to the library and ask whoever's at the front desk for a copy of all the textbooks they use at the Academy. I'll meet you there as soon as I'm done."
Tonbo brightened her face with a smile, "Thank you!" Then she left out the door.
"Kakashi, I know this is personal, but what does that girl mean to you?" Tsunade pried.
Kakashi paused before answering. "I don't really know myself."
Tsunade gave a smirk, "It looks like she has you wrapped around her finger."
"Not quite," Kakashi completely ignored the devious look he was being given. "Why don't we start going through all of these papers?" he changed the subject.
Tsunade seemed disappointed that he wouldn't say anything more than that. "Fine."
Kakashi didn't have time to try and explain his complicated relationship with Tonbo. After all, he was on a mission. If Tonbo's birth certificate is here, her original surname and the names of her parents will be on it. With that I can start tracing her lineage to see if there's a record of anyone with abilities similar to Tonbo's.
Thanks to the fact that Kakashi knew what would be on the exam, Tonbo was able to pass, but only just so. The math portion, as expect, was flawless with only the answers and without any work written.
Everything else on the written exam was good enough; all credit to Kakashi. Hand seals and shuriken throwing got good marks. She did the best she could on the taijutsu, which she found was definitely not her strong suit, but she didn't completely fail that part of the exam.
If she had failed the taijutsu portion, she wouldn't have passed due to her incompetence at writing.
Her lack of skills in writing may have had something to do with the fact that she had learned to read a bit late. Back when Itachi was tutoring Tonbo, he found out that Tonbo could barely read anything. He had found himself wondering how she had passed the entrance exam into the Academy to begin with.
Since they didn't teach kids how to read at the level she was put into, Itachi was the one who ended up teaching Tonbo how to read. If she had stayed at the Academy longer, she might have passed successfully with top marks.
Instead, her school record would state that it took her eight year to graduate with mediocre scores. She definitely wouldn't be a favorite if she ever attempted to pass the chunin exams.
When the next day came around, Tonbo found herself trying out various hairstyles in front of a mirror before giving up and wearing her hair down as always. She had never concerned herself with appearances before, but she would be surrounded by a swarm of people she didn't know.
She didn't particularly like large crowds. She was hastily placed in an extra seat a teacher set out for her at the ceremony.
She was the last one called and because her affiliations still had to remain secret, they only called her given name. "Tonbo!"
Tonbo rose from her seat and traced the steps she had seen all the students before her take. When she walk onto the stage, bowed and proudly accepted a forehead protector bearing the symbol of the Leaf Village.
Despite the fact the everyone clapped politely, you could still hear the murmuring that swept through the class of students. She did look odd being taller than all the other students. That, the fact that none of the students had ever seen her before, and that she apparently only had a given name, all would sprout rumors later on.
After the ceremony had ended, she went to the store to buy a different color for the cloth of her forehead protector. The shade of blue that everyone receives them in didn't quite match the shade of blue of the blue band she wore around her calf.
She couldn't find one that matched perfectly, so she decided that since black was a neutral color, it would work fine. She imagined that Sakura and Ino would probably scold her, telling her that there was a better color out there for her than black, as it would now be the only black she wore.
She planned on solving that problem by buying black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backs of them when she started to make money. She knew that she would have to rely mostly on hand-to-hand combat from now on.
After leaving the store and dropping her stuff off back at home, she started heading to Tsunade's office. She still had to be placed on a team, plus she had a favor to ask her.
When she walked up the stairs to her office room, she heard multiple people speaking in hushed tones behind the closed door. She knocked and heard everyone on the other side of the door grow suddenly silent.
"Who is it?!" she heard Tsunade boom from inside the room.
"Tonbo!" she called out.
She heard some whispers and then someone shushing everyone else. "Come in Tonbo," Tsunade said in a much more pleasant tone than before.
She opened the door to see a lot that spoke for itself, she didn't need to guess what they were talking about. In the room with Tsunade was Kakashi, Sakura, and Shikamaru.
"So Uchiha makes an appearance after all," Shikamaru said looking over his shoulder.
Sakura made sure to give him a piercing glare, but due to the fact that his focus was on "Uchiha", he didn't notice.
Tonbo gritted her teeth, "Don't call me Uchiha, Tonbo is just fine."
Shikamaru only shrugged with his hands in his pockets for a response. It was then Tonbo noticed that instead of avoiding her eyes like she had assumed, Sakura was staring intently at Tonbo. Tonbo had a shrinking feeling and found herself averting her eyes and turning towards what she deemed the friendliest face in the room; Kakashi.
"What's going on here?" not that she needed to ask.
"It's actually not a bad thing that you came right now. We were attempting the shortest explanation we could think of," Kakashi almost looked relieved that Tonbo showed up. Perhaps things weren't going all that well with their conversation.
"Yes, why don't you come in and join our discussion?" Tsunade beckoned.
She saw Kakashi nod in agreement, so she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
"Fine, where were you guys?" she sighed.
"Actually, since we weren't getting anywhere, why don't you try and give your best explanation?" Tsunade asked.
Tonbo looked at both Shikamaru and Sakura who were obviously waiting for some great explanation Tonbo didn't have. Well, looks like I don't have a choice, she told herself.
"Alright, listen up. A long time ago now, I was being taken care of by an Uchiha family that planned to adopt me. While they had temporary custody over me, they changed my surname. They could not adopt me before they were killed, and therefore, I was never an official member of the clan. For my own protection, my ties with the clan are being withheld from the general public, meaning you can't tell anyone about this," Tonbo spat out in one long stream of information.
Shikamaru and Sakura both looked at her skeptically. "What about the fact that you were calling both Sasuke and Itachi your brothers and that you're living at Sasuke's house?" Shikamaru questioned.
Sakura widened her eyes, "Sasuke's house?"
Tonbo had forgotten in that moment that Shikamaru had seen her go into Sasuke house and that she had revealed to him in the cemetery that both her living brothers were rogue ninja. She had just trapped herself.
"Uh, yes, that just so happens to be the family that wanted to adopt me. With Sasuke and Itachi being rogue ninja, the seriousness of this is even greater. We don't even know if they know I'm alive, which is all the more reason to keep this a secret," Tonbo tried to turn this around.
Sakura's mouth was agape, she was completely shocked. She closed her mouth as she recomposed herself and then spoke, "But you also said that you had a younger brother, Sasuke didn't have a younger brother."
"Yes, well I called him my brother, but in reality he was originally just Sasuke's best friend. He was over at Sasuke's house so often that it was weird when he wasn't there. The three of us were best friends but we considered each other siblings," Tonbo was beginning to feel pressured.
"Didn't he have parents of his own? Where were they?" Sakura persisted.
"Uh, of course he did. I didn't see his mother very often because we didn't go over to his house very often."
"What about his father?"
"I never met him, I don't know who he was."
"You should know, your story doesn't sound very good," Shikamaru put in.
Sure she realized that to most people all she's been saying would sound like one lie after another to cover up the one before. In fact, if she had heard this from anyone else, she probably wouldn't have believed them. But this was the truth, so how could she convince them?
"It's all true," everyone turned to look at Kakashi. "Everything she's said is the truth."
"But how would you know that? All you have to go off of is her word just like the rest of us," Sakura looked angry.
Tonbo felt hurt all of a sudden that Sakura didn't believe her. But to be honest, she couldn't blame her.
"The third Hokage told me everything he knew six years ago. Everything she's ever told me has matched up with what he said that day," Kakashi looked at Sakura directly as to further his seriousness for defending against her accusation.
Tonbo realized that with Sakura having acted as her doctor while she was in the hospital, she could have pointed out a number of more odd things, but it appears she decided to hold her tongue.
Tsunade was still struggling to be convinced herself. She still wanted to be sure that Tonbo wasn't a treat to the village, and much of what was just said was more than she had known. It would appear that both Sakura and Shikamaru knew much more about the situation than she did, and she was not happy about that.
But Tsunade decided that she would still remain quiet for the time being to see if the other two skeptics would accept everything as fact.
"Well I guess we have no choice to believe her," Shikamaru said nonchalantly.
Sakura simply crossed her arms and looked the other way without putting up any protest.
Keeping her composure as to not reveal that she ever had doubts, Tsunade spoke carefully, "What changed your mind?"
"Right now there's no proof that she's lying. We can debate whether or not her story makes since or not all we want, but without proof, nothing will be accomplished."
He looked back at Tonbo, "That doesn't mean that we still can't have doubts, but until we can prove otherwise, we'll have to go along with what she says. For now we'll just have to keep our mouths shut."
"You don't sound like you believe me!" Tonbo threw at him.
"I haven't decided whether I actually believe you or not yet," he smirked.
"Well then, as long as you swear not to tell anyone about this, then would you mind leaving? I have my own business with the Hokage, I didn't come here without a reason after all," Tonbo was clearly irritated by him.
"Fine, I swear," he said as he walked past her to leave out the door.
Something about the way he said that irritated Tonbo even more, but she restrained herself from saying anything.
"I swear too," Sakura said as she followed Shikamaru's footsteps and passed Tonbo without looking up at her.
Tonbo felt the cold aura Sakura was wearing. She could only stare at Sakura's back as she left.
"Do you want me to leave too?" Kakashi asked.
Tonbo brought her attention back to Kakashi and Tsunade. "No you can stay if you'd like."
Kakashi nodded and stayed where he stood. "Okay, what did you come here for?" Tsunade asked.
"Well now that I'm a genin, I was wondering what team you were going to place me on."
"Oh, that. I'm afraid that situation is rather complicated. The class you graduated with was already split into even teams of three. We also don't have any teams right now that are missing a member."
"But what about Kakashi's team?" Tonbo asked.
"With Naruto gone with Jiraiya and Sakura under my tutelage, Team Kakashi has temporarily been disband. It will remain that way until Naruto returns. Plus, with the way you are now, you'll need someone who can teach you taijutsu," Tsunade then turned to Kakashi.
"I think you know who I'm referring to. Will you bring her by there tomorrow morning?" she asked him.
"Of course, and if you make it an order it will be easier to explain," Kakashi responded.
"Very well then. Tonbo, I should have you know that since he already has a full team of his own, you will not be an official member. But he will be the best person to teach you even if he can't be your sensei."
"Okay, thank you," Tonbo bowed in respect. She was a bit disappointed, but she knew she shouldn't complain about it.
"I have one more thing I want to ask you about," Tonbo said after rising.
"What is it?"
Tonbo walked up to Tsunade sitting behind her desk and cupped her hand to whisper in her ear.
Kakashi couldn't hear any of it, and he was surprised that Tonbo had something she wouldn't say out loud in front of him. "So there really are things you won't tell me?" he asked.
Tonbo completely ignored him, much to his annoyance. But he let it slide.
Tsunade widened her eyes a bit. It was an odd request and she wasn't sure if she would be abusing her power as Hokage if she complied, but she figured she'd humor her just this once.
"Alright," Tsunade tore a slip of paper off one of the blank sheets she had laying out on her desk.
She scratched something down on it and handed it to Tonbo. "It has my signature, so they shouldn't mind," she told Tonbo.
"Thank you, I really do appreciate it." That was probably the most genuine act of gratitude Tsunade had ever seen from Tonbo.
"Alright, hurry up and go ask them."
Tonbo skipped out the door excitedly.
"Kakashi, you should probably go tell Gai what to expect," Tsunade leaned her chin against her hand.
"With all his energy, I'm sure he won't mind." With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
After giving Tsunade's order to the school board and waiting while they debated for a while, Tonbo was on her way to the cemetery.
There was never anything exciting about visiting someone's grave, but for now, Tonbo felt happy. Even if they were dead, Tonbo believed that they could still hear her if she spoke to them, and she truly believed that she could make Hinashou feel happy.
She walked up and down the rows until she came to his headstone. She knelt down in the grass and fiddled with what she had in her hands for a bit.
Then she tied the blue forehead protector around the top left corner of the headstone. She clapped her hands together and closed her eyes.
Today I finally graduated from the ninja Academy. Now all three of us can become great ninja together. We each promised that we wouldn't leave you behind, so now we can begin our journey together. One day we'll all be together again, and we can look back and remember together. We are shinobi, and we will never loose our bonds.