Author's note: I do not own Naruto or its characters. This is for the 30 Kisses challenge using list beta. This is slightly AU and set in the future. It also plays with the idea of reincarnation. Theme 23: Sanctuary.


Find Our Way Home

As much as Naruto enjoyed being Hokage, he could do without the majority of the paperwork. So he was more than happy when an interruption came. One of his assistants poked her head into the office.

"Naruto-sama, Team Three has come back with a woman who insists on speaking to you. Shall I send them in?"

"Go ahead."

Naruto did a double take when Team Three escorted the when. The konouchi was nearly identical to a young Tsunade. She was dressed simply and wore no forehead protector at all. She smiled at him.

"My name is Tsunade Inoue. I'm from Kirigakure. I am seeking sanctuary."

Naruto blinked; her name was even close. Her smile widened a little and she shrugged.

"I'm a medic by training," her voice was soft. "It can make living there difficult at times, and it doesn't help that I'm a distant relative of the current Mizukage. I'm just so sick of politics."

That was understandable. Kirigakure's politics were known to be bloody, and every medic that Naruto had ever known hated any waste of life. Still, just because her story made sense didn't mean she wasn't a threat. But Naruto was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and it wouldn't hurt for Konoha to gain another medic nin. He would just have to have some one keep an eye on her for a while. And he knew just to assign.

"You are welcome to stay in Konoha, Inoue-san. However, there are some restrictions, and you'll have an escort for your first few weeks here."

She inclined her head in acceptance. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"If you wait with Team Three outside, your escorts will arrive shortly."

The young woman nodded, recognizing the dismissal. Two of the members of Team Three went with her while the third stayed to brief Naruto on the salient details of their mission.


Tsunade let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the Hokage's office. So far so good. Konoha had been her first pick of places to stay, though she had other options on reserve if she needed them. But it looked like they were going to let her stay. She was going to have to prove that she wasn't a threat to Konoha, but that was to be expected, and it wasn't like that was going to be difficult. Tsunade hadn't been lying when she said she was sick of politics. She also had no interest in them. All she really wanted was a fairly quiet existence some place where she could work as a healer.

It was about twenty minutes later when two ninja arrived. One of the men had dark hair and green eyes. The taller of the too had a shock of unruly white hair and dark eyes. He was the one who spoke first, holding out a hand.

"Jiraiya Uzumaki."

She smiled shyly and shook his hand. "Tsunade Inoue."

He blinked a little at her. "Have we met before?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I don't think so. I haven't ever been more than five miles out of Kirigakure before."

"Huh."

Tsunade understood his confusion. Seeing Jiraiya had trigged an odd sense of déjà vu in her as well, but she would remember meeting him before. She knew it.

The other man broke the moment. "All right, you two. You can gaze into each other's eyes later. Let's get Tsunade settled in first."

He grinned at her. "I'm Akira Uchiha by the way."

Tsunade smiled. "I'm pleased to meet you both."

The two men led her to an apartment building near Konoha's hospital. Jiraiya explained as they walked that the Hokage had arranged it. She would have a day or two to settle in before she was supposed to report to the hospital for testing and then to be assigned duties. It was more welcome than Tsunade had hoped for, even if the little apartment was rather bare.

Looking at her empty cupboards, Tsunade sighed before turning to her escorts. "I don't suppose either of you know a good place to get dinner?"

Jiraiya laughed. "How do you feel about ramen?"

It didn't take very long for Tsunade to settle into Konoha. She was quickly accepted by the other medics here, and even her escorts felt more like friends after the first week than guards. Jiraiya had introduced her to both his and Akira's sisters, and it was nice to have girlfriends. She had been isolated a long time in Kirigakure before she had finally left. After nearly two months in the village, Tsunade was finally allowed to walk around without escorts, though that didn't seem to stop Akira or Jiraiya from seeking out her company.

Tsunade would admit that she had easily formed an attachment to Jiraiya of the romantic sort. She hadn't really spoken of it for two reasons though. One, she knew exactly who Jiraiya's father was, and she wasn't sure she would be considered an appropriate young woman for the son of the Hokage to date, and two, Tsunade could not help but notice the strange looks she got from the villagers when she was with Jiraiya. So Tsunade kept her feelings to herself and simply enjoyed her time with her friends and her new life here in Konoha.

And then six months later, the ground dropped out from under her feet. She had just finished her lunch when she saw them and was heading back to the hospital. It was a good thing too since her feet took her back to the hospital while she was busy panicking. As reasonable as she tried to be about ninja from Kirigakure in Konoha, Tsunade couldn't seem to stop herself panicking. She was distracted for the rest of her shift.

It didn't help when Kosuke Uzumaki was waiting for her when she finished work for the day. Kosuke looked grim.

"Come on. I want to get you out of sight. Akira and Jiraiya are trying to get some more information for us."

That wasn't exactly comforting. Kosuke dragged her off to the Ichiraku and grabbed the two of them a booth in the back where they would be hard to see. Tsunade soon found herself wringing her hands. She needed to know what was going on. Thankfully, it didn't take Jiraiya and Akira long to find them. Of course, neither of them were looking too happy either.

"They want to take Tsunade back with them."

Tsunade blinked at Akira. "I see."

Her hands were shaking. Jiraiya reached over and grabbed one of them.

"Hime?"

"I won't go back. I'd rather die first."

"Then we have a problem." Akira shook his head. "Konoha doesn't really have a valid claim over you at the moment. They could always use your family ties in order to bring you back. At least one of them is related to you in some fashion."

Jiraiya twined their fingers together. "I have an idea. Do you trust me, Hime?"

Tsunade blinked again; that was a stupid question. "Of course."

"Come on." He pulled her to her feet. "I know what we can do."


Naruto was not extremely surprised that when he summoned Tsunade Inoue to his office that his son also came with her. That Akira and his daughter also came was more of a surprise, but then again, they were a fairly tight group. As much as Naruto hated to do this, his hands were really tied. While the ninja from Kirigakure didn't have a particularly strong claim on Tsunade, it was stronger than any claim anyone here might have. Still, Naruto couldn't help but shake his head when he saw Jiraiya and Tsunade standing together with hands clasped. She might have no idea who she reminded Konoha of, but most people saw two of the legendary sannin when they say her with his son; their resemblance to the former heroes was incredibly strong.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Tsunade, but I'm afraid that you are going to have to return to Kirigakure."

"About that, Dad," it was Jiraiya who spoke, "I really don't think that's too feasible. I mean, if you go around sending off your ninja's wives, people are really going have some problems with your leadership."

Naruto blinked. His son pressed a kiss to Tsunade's temple. Both of them were smiling.

Akira grinned at him. "Sorry, we didn't invite you, Uncle Naruto, but we figured it would be better to get them married quickly, so no one could bring up any objections. Besides, this way we didn't have to endure weeks of 'Raiya fretting over how to propose to the girl."

Naruto started to smile. The children had neatly solved that problem. And Jiraiya was quite right. He couldn't really relinquish Tsunade now that she was married to one of his ninja, and besides, marriage trumped minor blood relatives any day. She was theirs for good now. Which was just as well. Naruto was pretty sure that her presence here was the right thing. The original Jiraiya and Tsunade might not have been able to have a happy ending, but he could make sure that these ones did.