Wait! Before you guys start throwing bricks at me, please listen to my excuse!
I am a horrible procrastinator. Not sure if I spelled that right, but its true. I open the story and say, I'll write in a few minutes or maybe in a few hours and then the day comes to an end only for me not to have typed a single word. I know, it's an EPIC FAIL, but at least I got this out before I went to Florida! My family wanted to go there for the fourth of July and who am I to say no to them? Especially when I haven't seen my brother in four years! Sorry about the delay and I know I totally deserve a kick in the butt for the long period, but I'm sorry!
Onwards!
Disclaimer: I'm broke. That means I don't make money from this. Which means I do not own the awesomeness that is the Naruto series and cast.
Thoughts
/flashbacks/
"quotes"
Tsunade stood in front of the windows of her office, staring solemnly at the Hokage monument; specifically at the face of the fifth Hokage. Now what, old man? You wanted me to be Hokage and take care of that brat, but it seems like I've failed you yet again. Madara has returned and this time… Minato can't save us… What am I supposed to do ?
/"You're supposed to be patient. How do you expect to get anywhere in your current condition?"
Tsunade growled at her sensei, waving the empty bottle of sake at him, "Go away you old man! You're ruining my luck at winning!"
"You were never a good gambler, Tsunade…"
"Yeah, but I can rock the house at Pachinko! So there!"
Sarutobi sighed, sitting down next to the woman at the table, "Tsunade… what is bothering you so much that you have turned to gambling and drinking?"
She growled out between her teeth, "The fact that you're taking away from my winnings! Give me some luck or go pester someone else over your fatherly advice! Why don't you go find that heir of yours!"
The elderly man remained silent for a moment as Tsunade continued to bet and lose before he spoke suddenly, "Does me appointing Minato anger you?"
"No. That doesn't anger me. What angers me is that you're still here when I've told you that all I needed was some luck and some more sake."
At the mention of more alcohol, a man eagerly switched her empty bottle for a new one. "Actually, she is done for the night."
He grabbed her arm before pulling her up and away from the table, headed straight for the door as she cursed incoherently behind him. The moment they were out of sight of the Pachinko parlor, Sarutobi eased his hold on her, giving the woman room to move freely. "Look sensei," she growled the word as she thrust her half-empty jug of sake at him pointedly, "I know you mean well, but dragging me out of the game when I have two thousand Ryo left on the bloody table is not the way to get…"
Her words drowned into silence before she lurched to the side and vomited on the side of the street. After emptying whatever she had in her stomach out onto the dirt-paved road, she wiped her mouth on the side of her yukata before teetering onto her backside and falling down.
"Tsunade, why is it that each time I turn around, you have gotten yourself into more trouble?"
The young blonde glared up at her former sensei, unable to stare at him straight due to the intoxication that gripped her existence and muddied her mind. "Oi, Hokage-sama!" she slurred as she pushed herself up onto unbalanced feet, "Where's that blonde brat you've boasting about? Ne; ne?"
The elderly brunette sighed, "Who would think to give someone so much sake?"
She giggled obscenely before falling back down, her words morphing to incoherent mutterings. "Sarutobi-sama… I will handle her," a voice called out.
Tsunade lifted her head from the ground before seeing a blonde-haired man with dark blue eyes, his emotions unable to be shown through the color as he crouched down and carefully picked up the woman. "Put me… down…. You stupid brat!" she growled as he slowly began to walk away from the bar that had given her company for the last two hours.
"You know, Tsunade-hime, Sarutobi-sama has been searching for you all day."
"Hmph! Some ninja he is if it took him that long… Oi brat! You're making the world spin!"
Minato chuckled lightly to himself as he continued to walk through the barren streets, most of the inhabitants of the town already inside, celebrating. "Tell me, why is that you are so against me being the Hokage? I am sure that I haven't given you a reason to detest me."
"Why would you care? You're just some kid that Jiraiya raised!" she growled out between clenched teeth, glaring at the stars so that she wouldn't have to see the faint smile that spread across his handsome face.
"Is that so? And what do you have against Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Everything! That fucking pervert irritated me enough when we had to work together and now that one of his god-forsaken students has been named Hokage, the entire village will turn into a bunch of womanizing assholes!"
The abrupt laugh that came from the blonde startled Tsunade enough to glance at him as he grinned happily, "Sensei is a pervert, but I can assure you that is one thing I did not inherit from him as we've trained. Trust me, there is no amount of power in the world that can make anyone turn out like him. Although it would be interesting to watch the womens' reactions to such a predicament!"
Tsunade couldn't help but smile in return, her intoxication causing the laughter to bounce around like the sound of bells as she scoffed, "don't think just because you have common sense means I have to like you."
He nodded, "Fair enough. How about this: I'll give it my all to get your approval and you'll give it your all to stop drinking so much."
"WHAT? What type of deal is that?"
His smile softened a little to accommodate the sudden swarm of emotion within his blue eyes, "Sarutobi-sama really does care dearly about you. Please do not make him worry more than he already has to…"
Tsunade remained silent, allowing the younger blonde to carry her the rest of the way without complaint./
"What are you waiting for?" a voice asked behind her.
Tsunade turned to see the silver-haired copy-cat ninja staring out of the window just as depressed as she was. "I don't really know. I just thought maybe the old man would have some insightful saying that would be meaningless to me… At least," she added, smirking, "Until the last moment where I would end up cursing his ancestors and managing to get through it all."
Kakashi remained silent as the Hokage struggled for wards that she herself couldn't find to fit properly. "It's just…" she began hesitantly.
"This time he isn't here to give you insightful advice."
The elder ninja nodded before turning to Kakashi and nodding at the monument, "Why don't you ask your old sensei for help, then?"
The nin merely shrugged, a small uplift of his mask the only sign of his smile, "I've been trying for the last four years. 'What should I do, Minato? I have your son as my student. And he's nothing like you…' I often found myself thinking those words while staring at his monument. What I would give if only once I was able to hear his answer. But knowing him, it would be something infuriatingly unhelpful, like, 'Ask his mother!'"
Tsunade chuckled at the mental image of the blonde haired ninja retorting that very sentence. Although she had never known the fourth Hokage personally, she had heard many accounts from her sensei and Jiraiya that he had an amazing sense of humor and was often playing around, although he was probably ranked the highest of all the elite. "That does sound like something he might say…" she mused more to herself than the nin next to her.
As they once again became wrapped in silence- as they once again drifted into their own thoughts- there was a slam and the sound of rushed footsteps before Tsunade's office door was thrown open and a flustered Anko came barging in, "Tsunade-hime! You have to come to the hospital immediately!"
She was already anticipating the bad news that awaited her and knew that it was better to go there before asking any questions, so she spared one last glance to the monument before turning and taking off at a jog after the woman, Kakashi close behind her. Ever since the Uchiha's return to the village, it seemed like Tsunade was going to have to make it a habit of detesting hospitals entirely. Because every time she came to the hospital after he had come back, it had always bad news that met her, even if she was going due to the prerequisite of visiting the hospital as the Hokage.
Preparing herself for the worst case scenario, Tsunade is completely stunned to see the retrieval team she had sent out not even two hours ago all covered in wounds and bruises with several medical ninja hovering over them in a panic. "What happened?" Tsunade directed towards Anko.
Before the woman could answer her, Konohamaru leaned up from his cot, swatting away the worried medical ninjas, "We found Naruto in the Final Valley."
Dread surrounded me and I didn't even have to glance back to know that Kakashi had stiffened where he stood; the valley did not bring fond memories back to him.
"But he wasn't like himself…" Konohamaru continued, oblivious to the sudden tension between the adults.
"We engaged him in battle, but it seemed useless…" Sakura added her two cents in, flinching as the medic ninja pressed down on her arm, his hands glowing with chakra.
"Did Naruto do this to you three?" Kakashi asked.
"N-no! Our friend merely evaded us, seeming not w-wanting to fight! Something was troubling him gr-greatly," Lee stuttered, trying to push against the ninja that held him down.
Slowly, Tsunade let out a breath she had not known she was holding. 'If it had been Naruto that had injured them to such an extent- after initially trying to merely evade them- then I would surely have to report him as a missing-nin… And that's exactly what the elders want: an excuse to get rid of the Nine Tailed Jinchuriki for good without interference.'
"If Naruto didn't injure you…" Anko began, bringing Tsunade out of her thoughts, "Then who did?"
A silence fell on the room before Konohamaru muttered under his breath, "We don't know…"
"He was fast! Not even my youthfulness could keep up!" Lee added in as a med ninja bandaged a wound on his leg.
"And I couldn't match his strength. He was unbelievably strong!" Sakura added her face paling considerably.
"His chakra seemed unmatched by any I've ever seen…"
A somber aura absorbed the room as the three students recollected the event as all three of them whispered at once, making the effect ominous, "And those… eyes…"
"They were ruthless…" Sakura began, "Like he could kill us with a flick of his wrist."
"It did seem like he was toying with us."
"He didn't even break a sweat…"
"And he appeared as soon as Naruto left, as if blocking us from going after him. He only fought us until he knew we couldn't follow…" Konohamaru's voice caught in his throat before he took a shuddering breath, "I think he was going after the boss. He wanted something…"
Tsunade withheld a shudder as she glanced back to Kakashi who stood somberly, for once not reading his novel as he stared back at her. "Kakashi. Get your dogs out there and see if you can come up with a scent."
He nodded before disappearing in a ploom of smoke, allowing Tsunade to redirect her attention to Anko, has anyone seen the other Naruto yet?"
Everyone remained silent which was all she needed to answer her question. "Tsunade, what is the meaning of this?"
Tsunade turned around to see the two she hated most in the world walking into the hospital, their elderly face grim as they glance around at the injured ninja. The woman spoke first, her age apparent as she frowned, "Tsunade we heard disturbing news about an infiltration of a missing-nin as well as the disappearance of the Jinchuriki Kyuubi no Kitsune."
"And where," she growled through clenched teeth, "Would you have heard such information."
"That is of no importance," the man- Mitokado- exclaimed, his glasses on the brim of his nose, "What matters is are these statements are true or not!"
Tsunade clenched her teeth together harder before taking a deep breath, chanting a mantra in her head, "I can assure you that Naruto," she accented his name, "is well and within the village along with the Uchiha and a Jonin watching over them. As for the rumors of a missing-nin within the village- I'm sure that they were speaking about the Uchiha. Is that all?"
Utatane glared at her for a moment, her stare untrusting before she turned- and without another word- walked out of the hospital with Mitokado right behind her. Anko let out a breath of relief before gasping in surprise at the appearance of the blonde that they were just talking about followed by a brooding Uchiha. "Sasuke!" Tsunade called, rushing to them before glancing at Naruto carefully, "Did you hear about the situation?"
He scoffed before glaring at Naruto, the blonde eerily quiet before glancing back at the Hokage, his face emotionless. "That's Zetsu," Sasuke hissed, glaring at the blonde before turning back to Tsunade, "But he has told me where Naruto is. And I have to go and get him."
Anko stepped forward, "Then that means it was the real Naruto who was trying to run away from the retrieval team."
Tsunade nodded grimly before turning back to Sasuke, "Is there anything you should tell us before I let you leave?"
He remained silent for a moment before he shrugged, "Naruto came to his apartment a few hours ago. He seemed delirious; he wouldn't listen to anything I said."
"He couldn't," Zetsu answered, his tone sounding odd with Naruto's usually expressive voice, "I already warned you against trying to speak to him, but you wouldn't listen. It is your fault he fled the village."
Sasuke tensed visibly before directing a glare at Zetsu; the Naruto look-alike merely shrugged, taking a seat in a nearby chair, "Hurry, Uchiha. Before Madara takes him permanently."
Sasuke growled before turning and taking off at a sprint. Not even wasting a moment, Tsunade turned to the blonde kid, grabbing his collar and dragging him up threateningly, "Where is the kid?"
He merely smirked, "No outsiders allowed. Bosses orders."
"Do I look like I care about what the hell Madara told you to do? Tell me!"
"Who said I was talking about Madara?"
Tsunade hesitated for a second before turning to Anko, dropping the clone, "Gather the first shinobi you see and follow Sasuke's chakra!"
She nodded before taking off at a spring out of the door. Zetsu straightened out the wrinkles in his jacket before smirking again, sending a chill to run up Tsunade's spine. "What do you want brat?" she snapped.
"Oh nothing… just curious… You're so busy trying to get Madara from taking Naruto when you don't even pay attention to who brought me into the village in the first place."
Tsunade stiffened, realization hitting her all too late. "Tell me, Lady Hokage," he muttered, staring at her with cold, dead eyes, "Where is Danzo?"
I know I owed this to you guys weeks ago, but better late than never, right? Anyway, a shout out to BookHippie who totally saw through my foreshadowing and guessed what was happening! Thanks for the reviews guys! Promise I'll do better on updating! Now to the buttons you all love and miss!
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