Naruto couldn't remember ever feeling this comfortable before as he woke up. The pillow just felt amazing, just firm enough to support his head yet at the same time soft enough to feel like he was lying against a cloud. He snuggled into it some more, not paying attention to the murmurs coming from above him that came with the motion. He sighed deeply, noticing a scent that hadn't been there before, sweet like a dumpling or dango.
Naruto's eyes shot open wide and stared at the ceiling of the hotel room, not daring to move more than an inch at a time as he slowly moved his head. He turned so slowly he would have held up a snail to see what he was resting on, Anko's breasts. He froze in an instant, not knowing what to do; moving meant Anko might wake up, not moving meant Anko might wake up; he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, figuratively.
He decided to just go for it, staying here was too risky and there was always that kunai to think about. Before he could do anything though he felt Anko's breath hitch slightly beneath him and once again he froze.
"Morning gaki." Naruto tried not to cringe at the sweet but deadly tone Anko spoke in, instead feigning sleep so he could plead ignorance later. "Oh don't try that with me gaki, I know you're awake." Naruto kept at it, really hoping she was bluffing at this point; he could feel her breath so close to his ear now. "Did you enjoy your sleep?" She was whispering and he could practically feel her lips they were so close to his ear.
He went all in at this point, not able to bear the pressure anymore; he turned on Anko's chest, readjusting for more comfort. He hoped that it would seem so brash that Anko would have to believe he was still asleep. He had to stifle the sigh of relief as he heard the woman mumble some curses under her breath about him ruining her fun. She shifted out from beneath him, dropping his head unceremoniously to the mattress and for a moment he missed the warmth and comfort of her chest. He reconsidered though; it just wasn't worth the loss of a certain anatomical part of his body.
He stayed still for another five minutes before getting up himself; Anko was in the small kitchenette eating breakfast and he joined her, smiling happily like nothing was wrong. They sat in silence while they ate, both feeling awkward but neither of them showing it, one out of embarrassment and the other out of fear. Thankfully Tayuya woke up not too long after, or more correctly she was forced to by the annoying rays of light filtering in through the blinds.
"The fucks up with you two? You guys look like you've seen a freaking ghost." She laughed to herself before walking off to the bathroom for a shower; a decision Naruto now regretted putting off. Anko looked at him closely, not noticing how nervous he had looked because of her own embarrassment. She saw it now though and her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You were awake!" Naruto's eyes shot up and he fell backwards off his chair, crawling away as Anko walked closer to him, twirling a kunai.
"No, what!? I didn't, there was no, I couldn't have, SORRY!" And with that Naruto bolted to his feet and did the first thing he could thing off, jumping straight out of the window. Anko looked at the broken glass for a moment before smiling devilishly.
"Sorry Naruto but you touched the twins, now you have to pay the price." And without further thought Anko raced after Naruto, diving out of the now twice-broken window to give chase.
An hour later, after Jiraiya prevented Anko from seriously harming the young blonde, the group was out scouring the local gambling halls in search of the elusive Tsunade. They hit the largest and most obvious ones first; it didn't make sense for Tsunade to go there due to her history but they had to cross them off the list. As they continued to search without luck they began to feel more and more dejected. Jiraiya began to think they had wasted their time, knowing he shouldn't have listened to the blonde.
Finally though they struck luck; it was more by chance that Naruto saw the flash of blonde hair in the crowd and quickly decided to follow it. He pressed through the crowd into a smaller hall where he noticed their surprisingly large buy in. If Tsunade's moniker held true then it would be the perfect place to find her and with that Naruto went about searching for the legendary sucker. He passed through the different rooms where mostly men sat around playing poker or Cho-han.
The abundance of men made it all the easier to spot Tsunade's recognisable blonde hair out of the throngs of people. He noticed that he was on his own, the others having split up long ago to find the woman he was staring across the room at. He smirked at the opportunity and sat down at the table Tsunade was just about to join, absently noticing that he couldn't spot Shizune anywhere. It struck him as odd, if their last encounter was anything to go on then the girl was inseparable from the older blonde.
Then again, looking across at her now that statement didn't seem to hold much weight. While it was definitely Tsunade, he could tell that much, she was much younger than he remembered. If he didn't know she was in fact fifty something years old he might have said nineteen or twenty. The jutsu she used amazed him, wondering if there was some way he could get her to teach him; he was sure it wouldn't just work for her. Looking as youthful as he wanted sounded perfect to him, it would certainly scare his enemies to come across a man they thought was elderly but looked in the prime of youth.
He smiled at the thoughts before sitting down at the table and getting dealt in; Tsunade hadn't noticed him so far and he used that to his advantage. The game went slowly with the chips going back and forth between players as slowly one after the other struck out. Naruto was marvelling at the lucky streak the old woman seemed to be having, wondering if her nickname was just a ploy to get others to underestimate her. Slowly though the cards turned in his favour and the chips around his person grew into small stacks.
He smirked as he sensed his two remaining opponents grow frustrated at his constant winnings. After the next hand that two became one and soon it was just himself and Tsunade; she still hadn't recognised him. It came down to one last hand; the cards on the table were Queen of hearts, Jack of spades, Jack of Clubs, ten of diamonds and Queen of spades. Tsunade grinned maniacally and pushed all her chips into the pot, looking very confident as she went all in.
Much more sedately Naruto shrugged an also pushed his chips in, it unnerved his opponent to see him so calm despite the large amount of money he was risking. Honestly Naruto couldn't have cared less about the money; he made a pretty decent living from his missions. Even so, he enjoyed the moment as Tsunade put down her cards, revealing her hand.
"Four of a kind, Jacks." Naruto just sighed before idly flipping over his own cards with a flick, much to Tsunade's dismay.
"Four of a kind, Queens" Tsunade slumped down onto the table in defeat as the man raked her chips over to Naruto's side of the table. He chuckled at the display before taking enough chips to cover his buy in and pushing the rest over to Tsunade's still slumped over form. The woman looked up, surprised as she felt the small mountain of chips brush her arm, and stared at the young blonde, squinting at him curiously.
"Naruto?" He smiled at her finally recognising him and walking over, but not before she raked all of the chips into a small bag. "Naruto, is that you?" He nodded with a smirk before Tsunade wiped it off his face by slapping him on the back of his head. "You little brat I would have won if it wasn't for you." He glared angrily back at her, rubbing the sore spot he now had on the back of his head.
"Hey, at least you got the money," Tsunade stopped her frown and patted the small pouch, smiling at the reassuring clink of chops inside. It was like she didn't really believe they were there and this was all a dream.
"Now I can buy into an even bigger game and double this," she said it dreamily off into the distance, not really talking to anybody as Naruto felt the sweat on his forehead grow.
"Umm shouldn't you pay back your debts first?" Tsunade rounded on him, looking like she was going to slap him again.
"What are you Shizune now?" Speaking of her apprentice turned assistant the woman came rushing onto the gambling hall, pushing past the patrons while carrying a pig that Naruto didn't remember seeing the last time.
"Lady Tsunade! There you are, me and Tonton were looking everywhere for you!" Naruto looked quizzically at the small, apparently female pig in the young woman's arms. Tonton stared straight back with a surprising amount of understanding in her eyes considering she was a pig.
"Not now Shizune, can't you see I'm talking to an old friend?" The woman seemed to notice the small blonde at that point, her eyes widening and her lips curling into a smile.
"Naruto, it's good to see you." She chuckled to herself recollecting their last encounter. "Learn any knew legendary techniques?" Naruto smiled and raised a hand to the back of his head, rubbing the spot.
"Well actually, now that you mention it-"
"Tsunade!" Jiraiya took that moment to walk into the gambling hall, immediately spotting his old teammate. He looked over her appearance with a critical eye born from years of perversion, taking in her single ponytail and two large bangs framing her youthful face. She also wore what she was fond of at the time, her nostalgia overcoming her; it was a short red skirt with a white shirt atop a fishnet vest. Jiraiya seemed to come to a decision and raised a thumb in her direction, a gleaming smile along with it.
"I like the new, or should I say 'old' look." Tsunade quickly repeated the same manoeuvre she had on Naruto, but with considerably more force. It was enough to send Jiraiya halfway through the wall of the building, earning a satisfied smile from the youthful-looking woman. When he finally picked himself out of the wall with some help from Naruto and Shizune he wobbled back over. "Good to see you as always Tsunade."
"What do you want Jiraiya?" he straightened up instantly, like he was never injured in the first place.
"Always straight to the point, come on, I'll buy you a drink while I explain it."
Once everybody was settled into the booth in a small out of the way tavern Jiraiya cleared his throat.
"Okay Tsunade, I'm going to be blunt with you. The council asked me to find you and offer you the position of Hokage." The woman and her apprentice looked slack jawed at the man, Tsunade instantly downing her saucer of sake. Naruto looked on in amusement, wondering how the woman would take such a proposition. For that matter Naruto wondered how he would take such news as he downed his own saucer.
It had become clear a while ago that the blonde couldn't get drunk, no matter how hard he tried. It was similar to his resistance to most poisons in that the Kyuubi would immediately remove the toxins from his system. He pondered the question himself, wondering what being Kazekage would be like. There was the respect and power to think about; while on the other side there would be the responsibility and enemies he might gain. There would also be a great deal of difficult decisions he might be forced to make. In the end Naruto decided that he couldn't come to a decision either way, thinking it was unlikely he would have to think about such things for a long time.
"You can't be serious Jiraiya." Naruto broke out of his inner monologue, noticing that the sake jug was considerably emptier now.
"Completely, Tsunade," the old woman stared at her former teammate for a few seconds, scrutinising his face.
"Why me?" Jiraiya looked confused for a moment, obviously not having thought the question would come up.
"What are you talking about Tsunade? You are the granddaughter of the First Hokage, grandniece of the Second and student of the Third. There isn't anybody better suited." Again Tsunade scrutinized the man.
"You of all people should know that connections and names mean nothing compared to true merits Jiraiya. You yourself are more powerful than me, why weren't you considered?" Naruto stared at the elderly sage for a moment, wondering how he could possibly be more powerful than Tsunade; he had seen her strength first hand.
"I was." That simple statement shocked everybody at the table. "But I turned them down." Jiraiya seemed to have gone quite serious by this point, more so than many of the people there had ever seen him. "You were always the more level-headed of us Tsunade, always making the difficult decisions and keeping me and Orochimaru from fighting." The woman flinched at the name of their other teammate and Naruto immediately sensed there was something she was hiding.
"Please Jiraiya, the Hokage's position is a fool's job. Everybody that takes it just dies." Normally Naruto would have been able to keep out of this conversation, keeping his emotions and opinions to himself. However Tsunade had just indirectly insulted the old man, the first man to befriend him and earn Naruto's respect, even if he didn't show it as much as he should have.
"We all die at some point Tsunade." The table became eerily quiet as everybody turned to look at the young blonde. "Every shinobi has to accept that at some point." His tone was flat and even, not a hint of emotion or sarcasm present. "At least the Hokage' died for something they believed in, sacrificing themselves for something bigger than themselves. I think the old man called it the Will of Fire once." The two Sannin felt the wave of melancholy wash over them as they remembered their sensei's favourite phrase.
"You don't know what you're talking about brat. You've never seen true pain, or the sting of the loss of a loved one." Tsunade's eyes were once again misted with melancholy as the faces of her deceased brother and former lover flashed through her mind.
"Maybe not, but at least I accept that I will face pain in my life. Whether I overcome it or not is yet to be said but I will never stop fighting to protect the ones I care about and do everything in my power to make sure the same can't be said for them." The faintest hints of a smile tweaked at the edges of Tsunade's lips as an image of Nawaki seemed to superimpose itself on Naruto's features.
"Bravely said brat, but you still have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto shrugged absently, he had said what he meant to say; how the woman took it was not his concern. All this time both Tayuya and Gaara had been staring at Naruto, wondering at the conviction behind his words. Tayuya especially seemed moved and she swore Naruto had been looking straight at her when he had said 'the ones I care about'.
"You know Tsunade, you may be right." Everybody turned to Jiraiya in shock, his companions wondering what the hell he was doing. "Maybe you aren't right for the Hokage position." He seemed to look in thought before looking off into the distance. "Maybe I was too hasty in turning down the job myself." A lustful and recognisable grin spread across his features after he said it and most of the people at the table groaned inwardly.
"Yes, I can see it now; hot springs around every corner; mixed baths all throughout the village. As Hokage I would have command over all the lovely kunoichi" His eyes glazed over for a moment and Naruto thought he saw hints of drool at the corners of his mouth. He stood up, adopting his classic 'hero' pose and looked off into the foreground. "Yes, I, Jiraiya the legendary toad sage of Mount Myoboku will take the position of Hokage and lead the women of Konoha into a new golden ag-"
He was promptly cut off from his rant by a slender fist impacting painfully with his abdomen, quickly sending the elderly man skidding across the bar. He only stopped when his face met the concrete wall sending spider-web cracks out from the impact zone. Tsunade snarled in annoyance, blowing on her fist as she sat back down with her arms crossed under her chest.
"Like I would ever let a pervert like you become Hokage." The three younger shinobi looked at the woman sceptically while Anko was just grinning crazily, wondering if she could get that strong.
"So are you going to accept the position?" It was Gaara who spoke, his monotone voice cutting through the silence that had settled. Tsunade just slumped a little in her seat, sighing deeply realising what her little display of anger might have cost her.
"I don't know," she seemed to slump even more as she said it, the full impact of the words hitting her. For a fleeting moment she had actually considered it and deep within her that didn't bode well.
"We'll give you some time to decide." Jiraiya had suddenly popped out of nowhere, startling everybody and nearly earning him another fist to the gut compliments of his former teammate.
"Dammit Jiraiya, you know I hate when you do that," he just nodded absently while waving his hand in a dismissive manner. He motioned for everybody to leave the woman and her apprentice with some time to think things over. However before he left he turned to Tsunade, deciding to impart the words he thought would have the most impact of the conversation.
"You do know Tsunade, that if you turn down their offer, it will naturally be Danzo they turn to next." Without any more needing to be said Jiraiya hastily walked out of the bar, following his odd band of companions as they went back to their hotel. Tsunade was left with a sinking feeling as she was now left with two very important decisions to make, and not much time to do it in.
"Jiraiya, are you sure it was a good idea to give Tsunade time to think about this?" It was strange seeing Gaara uncertain about something but he was only voicing what was on everybody's minds. The older man shrugged lightly, still looking as thoughtful as he had while walking out of the bar.
"I've know that woman for nearly forty years of my life and I still can't predict what she'll do worth a damn." Anko just chuckled at that but Jiraiya stayed oddly serious. "I don't trust her right now, there was something she was hiding from me." Naruto nodded from his position on the bed.
"Yeah, I thought that too, it was when you mentioned Orochimaru." Again Jiraiya went into deep thought, dismissing everybody from his room. He had a sinking feeling about this whole situation and he was going to have to talk to Tsunade sooner or later.
Anko, Naruto and Tayuya were walking through the packed streets of Tanzaku town, all of them slightly awed by what they saw. Gaara had elected to stay back at the hotel, lots of people just meant it as more likely someone would bump into him and generally those encounters did not go well. Currently Naruto was gawking at a large stand where the objective was to knock a small pyramid of bottles down with just three balls. It seemed simple enough; he had practised throwing kunai and shuriken for the majority of his life.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto, hand about to reach for a ball, looked up at the stall owner in confusion as he pointed to the sign hanging over the entrance. "No shinobi; you guys rip me off every time." Naruto sighed while looking around; noticing many of the other stalls had similar policies hung up to ward of headband-wearers.
"Am I allowed to have a go mister?" Naruto's eyes widened when he heard the strangely familiar voice but in a much sweeter tone. He looked around and saw Tayuya, minus her forehead protector rocking slightly on her back foot actually managing to pull off a shy look. He gawked for a moment before the stall owner broke him out of the shock.
"Of course little miss, just try to be careful with these balls okay, you don't want to hurt anybody." 'Tayuya' seemed taken aback by this, putting her hand over her mouth as she mock-gasped.
"No of course not mister." The old man just smiled at the sweet young girl while Naruto continued to stare in amazement at both the act and the fact it was Tayuya doing it. She picked up a ball and looked at it, perfectly adopting the pose of a civilian who had never handled deadly hand projectiles before. "Hey mister, what do I get if I knock down all the bottles?" The old man smiled again, knowing that it would be almost impossible to do so thanks to the weighted bottles in the middle.
"Well little miss, you can choose anything you like from the top shelf." Tayuya seemed ecstatic about this, gleefully hopping up and down before playfully sticking her tongue out of her mouth in fake-concentration. She aimed down her arm carefully before launching the small ball with all her shinobi training and skill, catching the centre of the pyramid and sending all six of the bottles hurtling towards the back of the stall. She didn't stop there though, the ball actually managed to ricochet off of the first pyramid, striking the one next to it and causing a similar collapse.
"Wow that was so cool, do I get two prizes now?" The question sounded so innocent even Naruto was a little convinced, wondering if Tayuya actually had a twin sister with incredible aim. The stall owner looked dumbfounded, staring at the scattered bottles on the ground and nodding dumbly.
"Uh, yeah sure I guess." Tayuya did another little gleeful hop before looking down at the counter.
"Oh hey, I still have two balls left." Everybody near the counter heard the owner let out an anguished groan.
Tayuya looked particularly pleased with herself as she walked down the street carrying two of her prizes for the day, Naruto of course being forced to carry the other two. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't managed to get another two-in-one shot but was still happy with the look on the stall-owner's face. Naruto for his part was just wondering whether he would be able to pull off a stunt like that, he thought probably not.
It got him thinking though, women were able to get a lot of stuff for free or at least lower their opponent's guards, either by acting cute or sexy. Perhaps he could develop a form of henge to that effect; the cogs in his head began to turn when suddenly a purple blur ran up to them. Naruto thought the young girl was oddly familiar, she was about their age with purple hair drawn into a pineapple-esque bun not dissimilar from Anko's and she wore a plain black T-shirt with a simple burnt orange skirt.
"Hi" She was looking straight at Naruto, completely ignoring Tayuya's presence.
"Um Hi." The girl smiled broadly at that, making Naruto a little nervous at how familiar this all seemed. The girl seemed to notice his discomfort and stuck out a hand.
"I'm Kiami." Naruto rubbed the back of his head but offered his other hand all the same.
"Naruto Uzumaki." The girl started to move like Tayuya did before with her arms behind her back and looking down at the ground while swivelling on one foot.
"I noticed you have a ton of prizes which must mean you're really strong." There was the smallest blush on the girls face when she said this and Tayuya started to see what was happening.
"Actually I'm the one who won the animals." The girl just nodded politely to the redhead before turning back around to Naruto with the same gushing smile.
"Wow, then it's so cool of you to help her carry them!" Naruto was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. Suddenly he developed his own blush as the girl sidled over and wrapped her arm around his. "Wow and you are really strong too!" By now Naruto was speechless, he had never received treatment like this before and his mind was struggling with what to do. By now Tayuya was fuming at what the girl was doing to Naruto.
"Get the fuck off of him you whore!" The girl just turned around in a small amount of frustration and glared daggers at the redhead, unlinking her arm from Naruto's all the same.
"Fine." She turned back to Naruto with a sultrier grin. "Why don't you come find me when your girlfriend isn't around?" With that the girl took off with a way in her step, quickly being lost to the impenetrable crowd, leaving behind a stupefied Naruto and a furious Tayuya.
"That was weird, why would that girl think you were my girlfriend?" Naruto's head quickly met with the ass of one of Tayuya's prizes as she launched it at him with her full strength. Of course it was only a stuffed toy so Naruto wasn't even fazed but he still looked at Tayuya curiously recognising all the signs that she was very angry.
"What, you think I wouldn't make a good girlfriend?!" With that Tayuya launched her other stuffed animal and stormed off. Naruto just stared after her, thoroughly confused at everything at the moment.
"What the hell just happened?"
'Kiami' slunk into a nearby alleyway, smirking all the way as smoke enveloped her form, out of it stepped a grinning and amused Anko. It didn't even faze her that the two chuunin hadn't seen through her henge; she was a master of infiltration for a reason. Her thoughts were more on what she had gathered with that quick 'reconnaissance' mission. She had her suspicions before but seeing Tayuya's burst of blatant jealousy at least confirmed it, the fact that Naruto was completely clueless to the girl's feeling was a definite worry.
Relationships in themselves weren't all that dangerous to shinobi, they might hurt you once in a while and be used against you but in the end it was the ninja who had to decide if it was worth it. No, it was unresolved relationships that were the danger out on missions where even a moment of hesitancy or uncertainty would get not only you, but also a teammate killed. As their current sensei it now fell to Anko to sort out the mess the two chuunin had made with their life.
It wasn't really her problem whether or not it worked out for them, what was important was that they understood what was going on, for better or worse. Anko sighed, she wasn't naturally the meddling type despite what people might think and she wasn't exactly the guru on relationships but she certainly knew one thing that would bring Tayuya's feelings to the surface. The young tokubetsu jounin slunk back into the shadows, an idea already forming in her mind.
A few days later Naruto was peacefully dozing on the couch having realised it was the much safer option. It wasn't all that comfortable but he had certainly weathered worse in his brief time. He was in that strange state between waking and sleeping where you decide whether or not it's actually worth getting up yet. Anko was already up, he could hear movement in the kitchen and at this hour it was highly unlikely to be Tayuya.
Finally the discomfort of the couch outweighed the possible comfort of sleep and he lazily swung himself up before sleepily dragging himself to the kitchen. He plopped down on a stool and went about making some quick food from one of the cartons and tubs in the cupboards. Gaara joined them not long after so all three were surprised and unprepared when the door suddenly burst open, despite the lock being closed, and a panting and exhausted Shizune broke through.
Everybody swivelled on their seats, ready for trouble; Sand was already trickling out of Gaara's gourd and Anko had a hand on a few kunai. They took in Shizune's form, noticing the few scratches on her clothes, or at least Naruto did.
"Shizune!" He rushed over, catching the woman who looked about ready to fall over. "What's wrong? What happened to you?" She took a few deep breaths before turning to everybody in the room.
"Orochimaru, you have to help Lady Tsunade." Naruto nodded with determination as Anko joined him at Shizune's side, a grim but equally determined look on her features.
"Where is she?" Shizune coughed a few times, worrying Naruto further.
"The castle, hurry." She didn't need to say it twice as Naruto was already out the door.