AN: I'm gonna try something a bit different this time around… I'm gonna have an entire chapter take place in one room. Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but if you've made it this far, you've probably noticed that I like to jump around to what other characters are doing instead of sticking to one character's shoulder the entire time. However, this chapter is the perfect time to try my hand at staying in one place, seeing as everyone needs to reconvene anyway so the story can progress.

Tsunade had her feet propped up on the windowsill while she watched the sunset, it was well past 5, and she should have been home by now, but today was a special occaision. She turned back to look at the gourd full of money beneath her desk, the current result of Naruto's betting pool.

She chuckled to herself and took a sip of green tea, yes, actual tea. Today wasn't really the day to be getting hammered; Tsunade had plans for the afternoon, all of which began directly after she debriefed Naruto.

A knock on the door broke Tsunade from her thoughts, so she spun her chair around to face the door.

"Come in."

A tuft of silver hair slowly peered into the room.

"Hokage-sama, I've got some important news for you… It'd be best if we were alone."

The Hokage got up from her desk and closed all of the shutters in the room while Kakashi shut the door. She did a few handsigns and some seals appeared on the shutters and the door, they glowed blue for a moment before disappearing.

Tsunade gave Kakashi a serious stare. "Debrief."

Kakashi looked to his pouch and produced a scroll; he then flipped it to Tsunade.

"As you know, the mission went over relatively smoothly, no fatalities... However, Deidara and Sasori weren't the only Akatsuki members in the area. We ran into Itachi and his partner, Kisame. The former… he gave me that scroll, I've checked it for traps and the like, so there's nothing to worry about there, it apparently contains the deployment plans for the Akatsuki's agents until the end of the summer."

Tsunade nodded and stared at the scroll intently, she was about to turn around and walk around to her desk again and sit down, but Kakashi interrupted her.

"That's… not all he said, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade raised her eyebrow and turned to the Jonin.

"Itachi… is he one of your agents?"

Tsunade sighed. "Technically, yes. When a Hokage dies or retires, all of his assets, including agents, are passed to his successor. I became Itachi's handler when I took office."

Kakashi nodded. "… Itachi told me some disconcerting information about Danzo Shimura. His time on this earth is limited; and he said that when he eventually passes, I need to start watching my back. According to your agent, Danzo wants my… the Sharingan for some reason… "

Tsunade frowned. "Itachi warned me about him a while back, but this is new information. I'll increase my surveillance on him… and as for you Kakashi-kun, I'm placing you under protective watch from now on… Is there any way for Itachi to notify you of his demise?"

Kakashi grabbed his chin. "Not sure… all he told me was 'be weary of red-eyed crows'… I'll be looking for something of that nature, but until then, I'm unsure."

Kakashi sighed and turned to leave. "That's all I've got for you, Hokage-sama. Sakura should have the… relatively speaking; mundane parts of my mission report with her. They're probably no more than an hour behind me, so they should be here soon."

Tsunade nodded. "Noted, stay sharp… and Kakashi?"

"Hn?"

Tsunade locked her fingers together. "Is there anyone in ANBU that you can trust? I don't know who exactly Danzo has a hold on."

"Yeah… his call-sign was "Tenzo" when I served with him, he shouldn't be that hard for you to find… and please, don't put Yugao-chan on my detail. I don't want her to get mixed up in all this."

Tsunade nodded. "You have my word, Kakashi. Stay safe."

"No promises, Hokage-sama."

With that, the man disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

Tsunade glared at the scroll and opened it, and as Kakashi said, it contained a map of the known world with the deployment schemes highlighted in red ink. The Hokage jotted down a few notes on her wrist and re-sealed the scroll, electing to give it to Jiraiya once he came back. She then deactivated the office's privacy seals with another quick sequence of hand signs.

It was here that Shizune swung the door open and plopped another stack of paper onto the Hokage's desk.

"These are some building expenses that I need to go through wi-… Tsunade-sama?"

Shizune noticed the blank space where the blonde woman usually sat the desk and turned to het mentor. Tsunade, obviously not listening, had silently gone over to her portrait on the wall and spun it around, revealing the current bet totals.

Shizune's curiosity got the better of her in the moment. "Any new developments?"

Tsunade chuckled a bit. "The stash is beneath the desk… we may have to move it to the bank pretty soon, it's broken 500,000 ryo."

Shizune sputtered. "500,000?!"

Tsunade nodded. "The families of the people who work in this tower wanted in as well, it basically quadrupled the pot overnight."

Shizune got a coy look on her face. "So, I've been meaning to ask Tsunade-sama… who are you planning to bet on?"

Tsunade sighed; she had a tiny smile on her face. "Contrary to my recent actions concerning the arrangement with Sunagakure… I want Sakura to win… Maybe it's just an old woman living vicariously through her protégé… She and Naruto remind me of Jiraiya and myself when we were younger, though I'll admit their relationship is a lot healthier. I just hope she doesn't make the same mistake I did…"

Shizune gasped. "You didn't put any money down on her, did you?!"

Tsunade turned and raised an eyebrow. "Of course not! Whomever I bet on is done for!"

Shizune released a sigh. "That's goo- … No! You're not getting me again! You've got to get these looked over and signed by the end of the week!"

Tsunade strolled over to the window, continuing to ignore Shizune, she leaned against the windowsill and sighed.

"Sorry, I've just been thinking about everything that's been going on lately, and it's starting to really bother me. Shizune-chan? I know that my position as Hokage involves a degree of detachment, but as a medical specialist, I've developed personal relationships with most of the ninja I'll inevitably end up sending to their deaths. Only now am I finally beginning to realize it… what if Jiraiya doesn't come back? I've already lost so many of my loved ones, sometimes I wonder why I even bother..."

Shizune's eyes widened a bit and she placed Tsunade's pen back on her desk instead of trying to hand it to her.

She also approached the window, placing her hand on her master's shoulder.

"Tsunade-sama, I believe that all of us would give our lives for Konoha if the need arose, we knew what we were getting into when we chose to become shinobi. The ninja of Konoha trust that someone in your position can make the decisions that need to be made... We believe in you, and as long as we do, we'll know that our sacrifices serve a greater good that we may or may not be able to see."

Tsunade exhaled, after a moment, she turned to her former apprentice and smiled. "… You're not usually this profound, Shizune-chan, maybe you should take up philosophy or something?"

Shizune groaned. "... Maybe after I find a steady boyfriend."

Tsunade smirked at the sunset. "It's not all it's cracked up to be… kinda stressful actually. No bigger aspirations than starting a family?"

Shizune crossed her arms and chuckled. "I'm the Head Administrator of Konoha Hospital, as well as the personal attendant to the Hokage… Yeah, I think I'm good in the achievements department… I wanna settle down before I end up regretting it."

Tsunade took a sip from a the cup she had placed on the windowsill earlier that afternoon.

"Just making sure…"

"Tsunade-sama, are you drinking on the job again? We just talked about this."

"… It's tea… I swear."

Shizune frowned at her teacher. "… Sure, whatever you say."

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping sound on the intercom.

'Hokage-sama. You've got visitors."

Tsunade walked over to her desk and plopped down in her seat, she pressed a button on the telephone then lowered her head to speak into the receiver.

"Who are they? I've got an S-Rank debrief coming in pretty soon."

'Well, we've got the Kazekage… We've also got Sakura here, and Naruto as well. Then there's-'

Tsunade's eyes bulged in confusion as she interrupted. "The… Kazekage? … Send them up. Hm, they're back a lot earlier than I thought..."

Tsunade cut the intercom and leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling, she made a noise, one that denoted exasperation.

Shizune raised her eyebrow. "… What noise was that? Aren't you happy that the mission went over without a hitch?"

"Yeah… It's just, this is the last bit of peace and quiet I'll be getting for the next few weeks…"

"Why's that, Tsunade-sama?"

"… Can't you hear them arguing?"

Shizune paused and closed her eyes to listen, she began to smile at the faint sound of Sakura yelling, with the word 'Naruto' interspersed here and there.

"But the debrief won't be all that long, will it?"

Tsunade nodded. "I'm gonna be working a bit late tonight… there's more than one debrief that I need to get around to… All of which involve Naruto's fanclub in some capacity… And well… You know that Yumi's back in town, right?"

Shizune grinned. "Yeah! We ran into each other earlier today, she hasn't aged a day since I was a kid!"

Tsunade at first spoke loudly, but the second half of her thoughts she chose to mutter beneath her breath. "Don't remind me. I still haven't figured out her secret… Wouldn't need this stupid genjutsu if I did."

Shizune refocused the conversation. "Where was this going again?"

"Right… Yumi's here, and Kouta will be here soon… She hasn't seen him since he ran away that night... It's been five years, and she's a bit arrow-happy as of late."

Shizune's eyes widened. "… Oh… Oh dear… She's gonna kill him… How's Mitsuki taking it?"

Tsunade motioned toward the door. "We'll find out soon enough…"

Shizune nodded. "I'll leave you to it then… but I'll be back, we're going through that paperwork whether you want to or not... And you may want to order a repair crew in advance for Naruto's house, you know, just in case."

The woman disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Tsunade to greet her returning Shinobi. The instant Shizune left, the door swung open; revealing a very angry looking Sakura with Naruto in a headlock, a worried Kazekage, a bored Shikamaru, and a visibly sick Mitsuki.

"Sakura-chan! I'm fine, I swear!"

Sakura tightened her squeeze for a moment, making Naruto grunt. "I told you NOT TO USE THAT JUTSU UNTIL YOU HAD A FORMAL EXAMINATION!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her apprentice and looked toward the Kazekage. "I'm glad you're okay, Gaara-chan."

Gaara nodded. "… Me too."

Tsunade looked at Sakura and Naruto. "What's going on with you two love-birds? You're back earlier than I expected."

Sakura immediately let go of Naruto and blushed. "Tsu-Tsunade-sensei! He... um-"

Naruto grinned and jumped in on the explanation. "So! I made my own version of the Hiraishin… It uses the fox's cha-"

Tsunade gave Naruto a strange look as she cut him off. "We're in mixed company, Naruto. You shouldn't talk about your… condition so openly."

"It's fine Obaa-chan, anyone with half a brain has it figured out at this point… but anyway; overusing it has some naaaasty side effects! … I think I damaged my chakra coils!"

Tsunade frowned. "That's not something to be taken lightly, Naruto-kun. Ninja who do that are usually forced to retire… Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"What's up with your features? … Your eyes especially."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and slumped over in exhasperation. "Yeah… Um, my chakra coils aren't the only things acting up…"

Tsunade stood up and walked around the desk, she looked up at Naruto pinching and examining various sections of his face.

The Hokage spoke in a hushed tone. "Have you been feeling any pain in your spinal column in the last few hours? You should be rolling around screaming."

Naruto shrugged. "That's just it! Earlier today, it was painful to even walk on walls, now I feel even stronger than ever! I even managed to teleport us all the way back! … Which is why Sakura-chan is mad at me."

Sakura stepped over and added her own opinion to the mix.

"He had internal hemorrhaging and bruising, but it's almost all gone. Even so, I didn't wanna take any chances until someone with more expertise takes a good look at him."

Tsunade looked at Sakura in surprise and glared at Naruto.

"Naruto. You are barred from using the "Hiriashin No Naruto" or whatever the hell you're calling it, from now on! That should be considered an S-Rank Kinjutsu for what it did to you!"

Naruto spoke under his breath. "Kitsune Kaminari. B-but I feel fine now..."

Tsunade was the only one who heard him, so she pinched Naruto's ear and yanked him down to her height. "I don't care how tough you are! The human body isn't supposed to conduct that much demonic chakra in such a short amount of time!"

Naruto stared at the ground, waiting for the Hokage to continue.

"Alright then…" The Hokage took a deep breath and paused to think for a moment.

"After we debrief, Naruto, I want you to go to the Hospital, Shizune can take a look at you, and if anything is outside of her expertise, I'll handle your treatment personally… However, I think Jiraiya's the one you need to examine you. Shikamaru… since Kakashi has other business to attend to, you can authorize the release of the team's payment for the mission. Girls… you all stay after, we've got a bit discussing to do."

Naruto nodded and grinned, he then disappeared in a flash of orange light. Sakura's eyes widened at first in shock, but then descended into anger, her teeth began to grind together while Tsunade face-palmed. Mitsuki began to chuckle to herself as she watched the two medic-nin display their frustration.

Tsunade looked toward the former-ANBU; "Dammit, Naruto… I'll get a report from him later… Mitsuki-chan, any complications with your head injury?"

Mitsuki shook her head. "I was a little loopy for a while, but nothing out of the ordinary happened."

The Hokage smirked and raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to have to retire you if you keep getting hit in the head. Before long you'll be chair-bound and drinking your meals through a straw."

Mitsuki plopped down on the couch and shut her eyes. "I'm sure you can wake me up if I ever go comatose again, Hokage-sama."

"… Let's not take any chances with that, your mother would shoot me."

Mitsuki groaned. "I'd rather not think about how I'm gonna deal with that for the time being."

It was here that Shikamaru piped in. "I'll be headin' out then, I'd rather not get caught up in your girl talk, or whatever it is you all plan on doing."

Shikamaru vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the four women in the room.

Tsunade's eyes swiveled back to Gaara, who during the exchange had taken the liberty of removing Tsunade's photo from the wall. She was examining the betting pool on the back of the portrait.

Tsunade grinned at the Kazekage, and waltzed over. "I've been meaning to ask Gaara, to what do I owe this visit of yours?"

Gaara-chan gave Tsunade a blank stare. "I'm here on an extended vacation… I've decided I'll be living with Naruto until further notice."

Tsunade sputtered for a moment since this was news to her. After regaining her composure, she smirked and swiveled her eyes toward Sakura, for whom this was also the first time hearing this information. The girl was as pale as a ghost and completely frozen in place, Mitsuki on the other hand appeared slightly miffed, probably due to the impending comission of a sand-cleaning detail, as well as her rapidly approaching "family reunion".

Sakura produced a small stack of papers from her backpack and handed them to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sensei, these are our mission reports; Naruto's is a bit… brief, but I'm sure he can give you all the details of what happened on his end."

Tsunade walked back to her desk and sat in her chair, looking Sakura and Mitsuki in the eye.

"Alright you two, shoot."

Sakura spoke plainly. "Well, this was a rather eventful mission to put it simply. We managed to defeat Sasori of the Akatsuki… with the help of Sasuke Uchiha."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke's still alive then?"

Sakura gave Tsunade a weak nod. "He… wasn't all that happy to see us… After we defeated Sasori, Sasuke ripped a strange-looking capsule out of the puppet's body. If he's still affiliated with Orochimaru, there's no telling what he has planned."

Tsunade nodded. "I'd actually like to hear more about what happened on the way there, I hear you all ran into trouble."

Sakura sighed. "Naruto's past is coming back to haunt him… You probably don't know much about our first real mission."

Tsunade locked her fingers in front of her face. "No, enlighten me."

Sakura felt her stomach turn as she thought back. "I'm an outsider to this story, even though I was there, Naruto would be able to give you more, but… When we were genin, our first real mission was a C-Rank escort to a small fishing village near Kiri… It was listed at C-Rank, but Kakashi-sensei designated it an A-Rank mission when we were ambushed by a pair of chuunin, it didn't get any easier from then onward."

Sakura crossed her arms beneath her chest and stared at a lamp on Tsunade's desk.

"We had to protect a bridge builder from any would-be-assassins while he attempted to complete work on the Great Naruto Bridge… These assassins ranged in skill from chuunin, to S-Rank nukenin, the S-Rank in question being Zabuza No Kiri. That man had an apprentice, her name was Haku, and Naruto ended up forming a close relationship with her, a relationship that he avoids talking about in detail, even to me… Niether Zabuza, nor Haku managed to survive the chaos that enveloped the village after their employer turned on them, and even though the mission was successful, Naruto never really got over it…"

Sakura gave a weak smile. "You met him several months afterward, so you probably can't tell, but he's never been the same… He's not as… vibrant as he used to be, as hard as that is to believe."

Tsunade took the information in and refocused the conversation. "So, how does this relate back to the mission, Sakura?"

Sakura shuddered. "Orochimaru's done it again… He took Haku's body and used the Edo Tensei on it… She's back, and not in a good way… Naruto had to fight her again."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Gods… he seemed so energetic… but now that I think about it, you can never really tell with him, can you?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, you can't, and that's what worries me."

The Hokage took a drag of her tea and leaned back in her seat. "I'll have to get the details from him later. As for-"

Tsunade cut herself of when she saw the clock; it was nearly 6:30, she sighed and smirked at Sakura.

"We can continue this conversation afterward. Sorry to cut you off… but we have a meeting."

Mitsuki spoke from her spot on the couch. "With who?"

Tsunade's smile disappeared and turned into a frown. "Ah, dammit."

Sakura raised her eyebrow. "What?"

Tsunade slouched down in her chair. "I forgot to reinforce the windows…"

Sakura scratched her head, while Mitsuki seemed to know exactly what was going to happen next.

The raven-haired kunoichi groaned. "Oh, here we go."

The instant Mitsuki finished her sentence, the window shattered, and a tan trench coat came somersaulting into the room.

Anko landed on the couch next to Mitsuki and gave the Hokage an earnest look of anticipation.

Tsunade just glared back.

Anko suddenly spoke up. "You couldn't have mentioned whatever this is when we met earlier today?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "That was a private meeting, thisis a special occasion."

Anko crossed her legs. "So, what're we waiting for?"

Mitsuki sat up and stretched. "Everyone else."

Just then, Hinata and Hanabi walked into the office, they both bowed toward Tsunade before looking around the room.

Hinata appeared visibly worried. "Hokage-sama, might I ask the purpose of this meeting?"

Tsunade motioned for Hinata to wait. "In due time, we're still waiting on one more guest."

Hanabi looked around, making sure to glare at each one of the girls before locking eyes with Gaara. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as the two girls gave each other emotionless glares, upon close examination, one could see arcs of electricity bridge the space between their eyes.

Hanabi glared at the Kazekage. "You will be a most formidable rival, I am unsure as to why I sense this feeling to be true, but it matters little."

Gaara's sand seemed to quiver and twitch with anticipation. "… Likewise, small girl."

Tsunade called over to the two girls. "Let's bring it down a notch, I already have a window to fix."

There was a short, yet tense silence until some platinum-blonde hair slowly poked through the shattered window.

Ino's gave the room the once-over, and if one looked hard enough, one could sense the spinning gears inside the blonde's head. Ino's inquisitive expression slowly formed a pout once she realized who exactly was in her company at the moment, she gave an exhasperated sigh before fully stepping through the window.

Tsunade motioned for Ino to join the group of women on the opposite end of the room. The teen complied and stood next to Sakura, Tsunade immediately began speaking.

"So, as most of you know… some more than others… Naruto has become quite the catch recently. Understatements aside, I'd like to direct your attention to the Kazekage, show them the tally, Gaara-chan."

The women all looked at Gaara, who had turned the picture around to reveal the betting pool.

There were varying displays of emotion, though Anko's was the most outwardly colorful.

The Snake Mistress grinned and began to laugh as the payout of the betting pool was heavily skewed in her favor by a wide margin.

Sakura's eye twitched in annoyance, she shrieked despite herself being favorably ranked at #2 out of 7.

"Tsunade-sensei! You turned all this into another opportunity to gamble?! … You didn't put any money on me did you?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No. I'm no fool. The reason I'm showing you all this is to put this fiasco in perspective… There are seven of you. Seven… Now, the good news is, I'm barring Naruto from taking any missions until further notice due to some outstanding medical concerns, which means he'll have plenty of spare time in these coming months."

There was a break in Tsunade's words, prefaced by a sip of her tea.

"Now, as far as the betting pool goes, it's gotten a bit… ridiculous."

Tsunade lifted the gourd of money onto the desk; it made a hearty 'thunk' when it hit the mahogany desk.

The Hokage was about to speak again, but was cut off by Hanabi. "I've counted it and at the moment it adds up to f-"

Her voice reverberated across the room. "Five-Hundred-Thousand Ryo."

The little girl maintained a blank expression as the room's attention shifted to her, she briefly looked around at the strange expressions directed at her and flushed, and she looked down at her hands and spoke very quietly, apparently she felt the need to explain herself.

"Well… A-according to the apparent volume of the gourd as well as the timbre of the sound it made upon impact with Tsunade-sama's desk. 500,000 … Roughly… I... I would need to count it manually to be certain."

Tsunade gave the young girl a strange stare. "… No… That's right… also impressive... 500,000… Okay then… Sorry where was I?"

Anko smirked and spoke loud enough for the room to hear. "You were on the part about where the "investors" put all their money on me. I mean, I AM the only one who's… connected with him..."

The woman punctuated her boast by performing an obscene gesture with her hands. Ino groaned and rolled her eyes, Sakura pouted a bit, but seemed relatively calm, and the same could be said for Hanabi as well.

Mitsuki's eyes flared up a bit and she began to play with her hair, pretending not to pay much attention, while Hinata turned beet red and clenched her fists. Gaara merely stared for a moment, before turning to the Hokage, waiting for her to continue.

Anko picked up on this gave the Kazekage a coy look. "I get the feeling you know something that we don't, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara-chan stared at Anko for a moment before crossing her arms and turning her attention to one of the tassels on her belt.

"Sex with Naruto… I take it you assume that you're the only one who's accomplished as much... Don't."

All of the other women in the room aside from Sakura (who just grinded her teeth together as she thought back to her sleepless night in the adjacent room) did a double take and stared incredulously at both Gaara-chan, as well as each other.

Anko raised an eyebrow at the Kazekage for a moment, she then pouted and shook her head. "You cheeky devil."

Tsunade sharply inhaled with a smile adorning her face, almost as if she were trying to hold in a laugh. There was a nearly silent sort of energy bouncing around in the room, the Hokage could feel the tension building, so she opted to move things along.

"As I was saying… This betting pool is getting out of hand… Yesterday, I was discreetly notified by my agents that news of this little wager is beginning to spread, and that the entire village could know within a month. In light of that, I'd like for you all to keep this under wraps, and by wraps, I mean, don't tell Naruto. He's got enough on his plate, and well… This is the last thing he needs right now."

There were hushed murmurs echoing throughout the office as soon as the Hokage finished speaking. Tsunade allowed the energy to decrease a little before she returned to her speech.

"… I've been doing some thinking about what to do with the money once one of you snags Naruto... In case you were wondering, there will be no form of reward for the 'winner' of this competition. Naruto's gonna find out about this eventually, and I'd rather not have to see one of you try to explain how you did this for him and not the ridiculous cash pot."

Ino place her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "Then… why are you telling us this, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade elaborated. "Because, I do plan on setting aside enough money to pay for your wedding and your honeymoon... whenever that may be… I believe one of you should benefit from this in some way, it's only fair, seeing as we're making money off of your emotional distress."

More murmurs filled the room until Hinata of all people spoke up. "Hokage-sama, might I ask about Naruto's condition? Will he be too sick for us to see him anytime soon?"

Tsunade gave an audible sigh. "To be honest, I'm not sure... assuming a shiny object somewhere hasn't distracted Naruto, Shizune should be examining him as we speak. She'll summon for me if she finds something outside her expertise, so until then, we'll have to wait. Any more questions?"

Mitsuki's hand slowly rose toward the ceiling. "I-It... concerns my mother… She doesn't know about… me… does she?"

Tsunade appeared genuinely worried when she replied. "Mitsuki-chan, will she not approve of you and Naruto being closer? … No, I haven't told her anything about the betting pool yet, nor have I mentioned anything concerning your interest in Naruto… if that's what you're asking…"

Mitsuki exhaled in relief and her body de-tensed from anticitpation. However... shortly after this exchange, there was a sudden chill in the room, everyone froze and looked in the direction the feeling was coming from... It was Hanabi, she was staring directly at Mitsuki with a nefarious smirk on her face, it made everyone in the room shudder. Mitsuki broke into a cold sweat, realizing her mistake by mentioning such pertinent information in the presence of Hanabi Hyuga of all people.

Mitsuki's eyes lit up like green laser pointers and she instantly crossed the room, kneeling so that she was eye to eye with the young girl.

"Something I should know about, Princess?"

Hanabi's smirk remained. "Merely keep your distance from Uzumaki-san... and we'll have nothing to discuss."

The Hokage tapped her desk with her finger, it made a sound loud enough to snap everyone out of the intense standoff. Her voice was firm and powerful. "Hanabi, Mitsuki. Save it for later!"

She looked around the room, raising an eyebrow at the young women, awaiting any more outbursts. After an acceptable bout of silence, she once again refocused the conversation back to the meeting.

"Alright then, in closing, I'm going to respectfully ask you all to give Naruto some space for the next 24 hours, or at least until we can finish our medical examinations… Sakura, you've lucked out as far as that goes, seeing as we'll need your assistance with a few medical procedures, stay here. The rest of you are dismissed."

The rest of the girls slowly filed out of the office, with Ino sticking her tongue out at the medic as she left. A few moments afterward Sakura was the sole remaining girl in the room aside from the Hokage. The pinkette made a angry face at the Hokage and crossed her arms, if one looked close enough, one could see the steam coming off of Sakura's body.

Tsunade just smirked and leaned back in her chair.

The apprentice finally spoke after a tense silence. "Tsunade-sensei… why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what, Sakura-chan?" The Hokage's smirk increased in its smugness.

"I had a plan concerning this mess, and as soon as it starts to come together, you throw a wrench in it by bringing Gaara into the fold! And now this?!"

The older woman took another sip of her tea. "So you say you have a plan to truly capture Naruto's affections?"

"I-… That's not what I mean!"

"… Then what do you mean, Sakura? From what I've gathered, your reunion with Sasuke didn't go as planned, and he was less than happy to see either of you."

Sakura took a deep breath. "I… Don't know anymore. I tried talking to Naruto-kun before we came back, but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth, I ended up deflecting and we haven't gotten any farther."

Tsunade nodded and threw in her own 2 cents. "I know more than anyone what you're dealing with right now. However, you have to be able to look at the bigger picture sometimes, letting this pass you by may be the biggest mistake you'll ever make. I can tell that you still have something there for Sasuke, but you have to understand that he's taken a path that you can't follow."

The Hokage showed Sakura a picture of her genin team under Sarutobi.

"Sakura, dear… There's a reason he didn't let you come with him back then, I found myself in a similar position when Orochimaru began to stray from us, and it's disturbingly parallel to your situation, at least from what you've told me. Now, I'm not going to tell you to just discard any sort of feelings, and I'm not going to tell you to jump into something you're unsure of… However, when all of the people around you can see it, maybe you should take a step back and examine things objectively. The will of the heart can be clouded by the mind, and vice-versa. You're at a crossroads right now, and you need to figure out which path to take."

"My head, or my heart… Tsunade-sensei… I'm unsure as to which path is which... Is Sasuke in my mind, or in my heart? The same goes for Naruto-kun as well."

Tsunade walked around her desk and ushered Sakura out of the office and they began to walk down the stairs.

"Sakura, that's a question you can only answer on your own, but as you've likely heard many times before, you're on a bit of a punch-clock. Now come on, I think it's time we had a Q&A, I'll cook."

"Th-thank you, Tsunade-sensei."

"Any time, my dear."

FIN

That's it for now, this chapter was more of a writing exercise for me, and despite the lack of progression, I felt that this needed to happen for plot reasons, this way, I'll be able to excuse some of the upcoming shenanigans I have planned.

If you haven't read it yet, the 1st chapter of Prologue Orange is out, and after chapter 38 drops, I'll be working on the next installment of the prequel, seeing as the majority of you prefer a 3:1 ratio at the time of writing this chapter. If you want a different ratio, head over to my profile and put down your vote in the poll. It should only take you like 10 seconds.

The votes are as follows:

3 Flash : 1 Prologue Ratio: 11 Votes

2 Flash : 1 Prologue Ratio: 5 Votes

Random Release Schedule: 4 Votes

Stay tuned in and make sure you vote if you feel like it should be a different ratio!

Signin' Off

~Breath of the Wiz