Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Rewritten: May 5th, 2020 - May 15th, 2020.
Chapter 23 | Twenty-three | Not Alone
About a week or so after, Sakura is called to the conference room at the Hokage Tower. She sees the council in the large room, including all the clan heads with their right-hand men. Shisui smiles at her from beside Fugaku as she bows respectfully to all of the older men and women. She takes the seat two spaces away from Hiruzen's designated spot. To her surprise, Kakashi comes early and sits on the opposite side of their Hokage, who has yet to arrive. As people continue to file into the room before the meeting is scheduled to begin, Koharu and Homura take the seats directly beside Hiruzen's. When Hiruzen steps into the conference room, the atmosphere changes as everyone wonders why he has called such an official meeting.
Hiruzen had given her the heads up before this meeting and told her that he intends on sending her with Naruto and Jiraiya to look for Tsunade. He doubts Orochimaru is going to look for his former teammate, considering he has all of his limbs intact, so if Tsunade still refuses, Sakura might be the deciding factor.
Everyone in the room is shocked when Hiruzen announces that he wants to retire. Sakura takes down notes for all the candidates brought forward by the council. Unsurprisingly, Jiraiya was the one with the most support. When no one mentions Tsunade, Sakura looks at Hiruzen. He nods at her, letting her know that it's okay for her to speak up.
"What about Tsunade-hime?" Sakura asks. She sees some of the men scowl as if they're saying, 'Female Hokage? Unheard of.' "She's just as qualified as Jiraiya-sama."
She sees the Inuzuka Clan leader smirk as she crosses her arms and sits. up straighter. "What's wrong? Afraid of having a female Hokage? Does it hurt your ego?"
Fugaku is the first to speak up after the silence that takes over. "I think Tsunade-hime would be a good Hokage. She is the Shodaime's granddaughter and one of the last Senju." Sakura is surprised that he's arguing for the Senju. "If it all goes well, we could very well be the first nation with a female Hokage."
When one of the clan heads scoffs, everyone turns to look at him. "Why do we want to be the first though?"
"Let me ask you a question," Sakura says, as she pauses to allow him to nod in response. "If your mother, your wife, or your daughter were in this position – if one of them were proposed as a candidate, would you be against it?"
At that, the men silence their murmuring and stare at her in shock.
"You wouldn't, right?" None of them respond to her, but they continue staring at her, unsure of what to say. "The only reasonable explanation for that is that having Tsunade-hime as Hokage doesn't bring you any sense of personal pride, but why is that necessary? None of the male candidates are related to any of you, but just because they were born as men, you support them?"
"Women are too sensitive," one of the unmarried men protests.
All the women in the room turn to look at him, but just as Sakura is about to snap at him, Hiruzen lets out an audible sigh, like this conversation is the reason he's retiring.
"As the first hidden village, we should lead by example. One of the other hidden villages will eventually elect a female Hokage. Do we want to potentially be first or do we want to be second, third, fourth, last?" He pauses before he continues. "As Tsunade's former sensei, I know that she is more than capable of taking over this role. She has the intelligence, she has the ability, and most importantly, she has the heart." He looks around the room, making eye contact with all the council members. "Let us put it down to a vote."
The room breaks out into whispers again, discussing amongst each other before Hiruzen holds up a hand, silencing them.
"All in favor of adding Tsunade to the candidate list, please raise your hand."
It's not a surprise when there are still a few of the council members sitting as still as a statue, not moving even a muscle, but it doesn't matter since Tsunade got the majority of the votes.
"Now the question remains...where is she on this list?"
Despite Jiraiya being first on the list, by the end of the meeting, Tsunade has made her way up to second. Sakura knows that Jiraiya is going to reject the role, leaving it to her, Jiraiya, and Naruto to convince Tsunade.
Sakura waits for Shisui outside the Hokage Tower after the meeting adjourns since he, Fugaku, and Suzume's father had stayed behind to chat with Hiashi and other members of the Hyuuga Clan in private. When she spots the familiar messy head of hair step out and hold the door open for his seniors, Sakura waves a little. He nods at her to acknowledge her presence before she waits for them to bid farewell for the night.
"Sorry, the meeting took longer than I thought it would," he apologizes as he lightly jogs over to her. "You hungry? I'm starving."
Nodding, she says, "No dango please."
Shisui presses his hand to his heart and decides to pretend like she just physically hurt him. "How could you say such a thing?"
She rolls her eyes as she complains, "You had dango yesterday."
"Correction - I have dango every day."
"Yeah, so you can go later."
He pouts a little as he asks, "Dumplings then?"
She feigns flattery as she presses her hand to her chest and says, "How did you know?" After living with him for so many years now, of course he'd know her favorite food, but they still rarely eat it since she always puts him and Naruto first.
Now that it's his turn to roll his eyes, Shisui does it exaggeratively. "Come on, you dork." Always a gentleman, Shisui leads the way, but he doesn't walk ahead of her like the men from the meeting undoubtedly do to their wives, he walks beside her.
Since Itachi broke up with her last week, she has not seen him. She wonders if he left again, but she doesn't want to ask anyone. She's not his girlfriend anymore so what right does she have to know where he is? Why should she care where he is anyway? She knows Shisui knows. His room is next to hers. He definitely heard her crying that night, but he never said a thing, for which she is immensely grateful. She has a feeling that Itachi paid him a visit later that night after she fell asleep, but Shisui wouldn't tell her if he did anyway. She knows Itachi feels guilty towards her so it's not completely out of the question for him to tell Shisui to make sure she's okay – not that she needs it and not that it's any of his business.
Sometimes she still feels like crying. Even though she's trying not to think about it, sometimes it just sneaks up on her like she's just in pain and she could just burst into tears at any moment, but she puts on a good front. She has to be strong. She doesn't want to create any awkwardness. She just wants to forget about it – forget about him.
Being sent on the mission to find Tsunade will do her a lot of good. She got permission to tell her Shishou about her true identity – and she can't wait for the semblance of her old life back.
"What were you talking to the Hyuuga's about?" Sakura asks.
He gives her a sidelong glance, as if unsure whether or not to say anything about it before he continues, "O-ji-san and Hiashi-sama have been talking about placing our academy students in three-man teams before they become Genin to help them advance faster and learn from each other."
"Oh, that sounds like a brilliant idea." She smiles. "...I'm glad."
He looks away as he nods. "Yeah, it was Itachi's idea."
The smile drops from her face as she's silent for a moment before she continues, "Of course it was."
"He left again with Obito-san, so you don't have to worry about running into him."
She smiles sadly. "Thank you for telling me."
When Shisui stops walking, Sakura turns to look at him. She raises an eyebrow at his antics before she asks, "What's wrong?"
"He's my best friend," Shisui blurts after staring at her for a brief moment. Sakura holds her breath as tears threaten to form in her eyes. What if Shisui doesn't want to be friends anymore? She had thought that everything would be okay because she and all of Itachi's loved ones are so close – but what if she was wrong. What if she's been overestimating her worth this entire time? What if - "...But so are you."
Sakura puts a hand over her heart automatically. "Oh my gosh, don't scare me like that, Shisui."
"What?" He chortles.
"I thought you were about to end our friendship."
To her surprise, Shisui doesn't laugh it off. Instead, he looks her in the eyes as he insists, "I would never do that." He smiles at her. "You're stuck with me forever, Sakura."
"It's a promise then," she teases as she sticks out her pinky.
He laughs as he voices, "You're so irritating," but he intertwines his pinky with hers anyway. When they let go, Sakura turns to continue her way to her favorite dumpling shop and Shisui follows behind her.
He had wanted to tell her how important her friendship is to him and that whatever happened between her and Itachi doesn't matter to him. She's the one who changed his fate – she's the one who saved his life. He wanted to tell her how much she means to him and express his gratitude for what she has done, but maybe this is better. He doesn't know if he'd be able to stop himself from blabbing if he started – and the worst thing he could do right now is to accidentally tell her how he actually feels about her.
"I'm going to be gone for a while," she tells him before she stuffs her first beloved syrup-coated anko dumplings into her mouth.
"Is that what I look like when I eat dango...?" He muses out loud, prompting the vein on Sakura's forehead to threaten to pop. "I'm kidding," he laughs, "Are you going to tell me what the mission is about, or is it top secret?"
Sakura shrugs as she chews. After swallowing, she stares longingly at the dumpling before looking back to him. "You'll find out when I'm back," she smiles deviously and continues, "Naruto's coming with me. so you only have to focus on taking care of yourself this time."
He pouts as he rests his chin on his palm as he rests his elbow on the table, using his chopsticks to play with the dumplings with his dominant hand. "No fair, you're going on a mission with the brat and not me, your former teammate?"
"Watch over Sasuke and my mini-me while I'm gone," she insists, "I'm not sure if Orochimaru or Kabuto are going to come back for either of them."
"Leave them to me," he says with a smile.
She mirrors his smile. "Thanks for always taking care of her - er - me, by the way."
"It's the least I could do."
Sakura looks at his plate of dumplings. "Do you not like it?"
"I should've ordered the same thing as last time."
With a frown, she picks up her chopsticks again, picks up one of the dumplings on his plate, and takes a bite. When she looks utterly insulted by the taste of the dumpling, he can't help but laugh.
"Should we get you something else?" She sympathizes. "Or some dango takeout?"
With a beaming smile, he exclaims, "Yes, yes, yes!"
"Alright, alright, let's go."
After paying, the two of them head to the dango shop in the Uchiha district, bumping into Suzume and Shigure along the way, so they decide to eat together and catch up. Sakura had been too busy to hang out with the couple, so it has been a while. She finds herself grateful that neither of them asks her about Itachi. She's glad that, to them, she's not just 'Itachi's girlfriend,' but instead just 'Hikari, their good friend.' She's pretty sure she would have cried if someone mentioned him again - she was already so close when Shisui mentioned him, but thankfully, they didn't mention him, and she thinks she'll be okay after all.
She's glad she's not defined by her position in someone's life. She used to be more confident, she thinks. Maybe she had lost herself along the way. Maybe this is the start of finding herself again.
~:~
They've been traveling for days, from casino to casino, trying to find the gambling queen. Tsunade's not intentionally this elusive. With her reputation, it's hard for her to stay hidden and Tsunade knows it - but to jump from casino to casino, visiting sometimes even three casinos a night alone, she is actually more elusive than she thinks.
"Ugh, this is the tenth casino," Naruto grumbles, "Who are we looking for anyway? I thought we were training!"
"We are," says Jiraiya, "But you need to take breaks, don't you?"
"Well if this is what we do during breaks, I'd rather train," Naruto complains.
"Are you really sure about that?" Jiraiya asks, "Because Hikari can search for the old hag alone while I train you 20 hours a day."
Naruto hesitates and stutters, "N-Never mind. Let's continue searching then." He laughs nervously. Sakura trails behind the two as they exit the most recent casino. Tsunade was here a week ago.
"Where are we heading next?" Sakura asks.
"The next town, I guess," Jiraiya answers.
"How do we know that she's going this way?" Sakura asks.
"She tends to just cycle through the casinos," elaborates Jiraiya, "She stays far away from hidden villages so that she won't be recognized as easily too."
"Is she pretty?" Naruto asks suddenly.
"If you ask me, no. She's hideous." Jiraiya laughs, but Sakura knows it's a lie. Everyone knew of Jiraiya's affections for her Shishou. She can't forget how crushed Tsunade was when Jiraiya died. When she was drunk one night, she told Sakura that she wanted to give him a chance when he returned – but he never did. "But some say that she is the most beautiful shinobi ever."
Sakura couldn't agree any more with what most people think. Her Shishou really is beautiful – both inside and out.
Jiraiya turns to Sakura, "There's a waterfall about a mile northeast of this town. I was planning on bringing the kid there to train for a bit."
Sakura nods, "Okay." She smiles, "I'll stay here for a bit. Try some food or something. I've never been here before." Sakura had heard of this town. It becomes famous for is dango in a few years. Before the war began, the lines for the dango here hit the hundreds daily. She had always wanted to try - and what better time than now?
He smiles, "Try the dango here. It's different from ours." Before he and Naruto leave her for the rest of the day, Jiraiya says, "Call us if you need help. Watch out for perverts."
Sakura laughs. "I can take care of myself," she smirked, "I put you in your place, after all."
He laughs jovially and nods, "Okay, we'll meet you at the waterfall after sundown."
And with that, Naruto and Jiraiya leave Sakura in this unfamiliar town. She wants to explore the places that she has never been to. Who knows if she'll get another chance to see the world?
She walks through the town, watching as people interact and live their lives. There aren't many tourists, but Sakura sees some talking with the townies ecstatically. Life here seems so simple.
Through her random exploration, Sakura finds a small flower garden behind a convenience store. In the middle of the beautiful garden, she sees a tall Sakura tree, but she doesn't walk over because she doesn't want to crush any of the flowers in between. Sakura instead, sits down in front of one of the flower patches and cups one of the fully bloomed hydrangeas in her hands.
"Have I bloomed yet, Ino-pig?" Sakura whispers.
She remembers Ino telling her during the Chuunin exams that she finally bloomed, but Sakura never thought so. That may have been the first time she showed any sign of blooming, but she doesn't feel as if she has bloomed yet. She still doesn't - even after the Fourth Shinobi World War. It's like she takes one step forward and then two steps back every time.
She knows she has abandonment issues. She has ever since Sasuke left her on the bench. But it never felt right to talk about it. Relative to others, like Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Tsunade, and Shisui, she hasn't experienced much loss in her life.
When she hears a branch snap behind her, she whirls around to look at the intruder, but she doesn't see anyone. Getting up, she starts looking around, but she doesn't find anyone. When she spots an injured squirrel, Sakura exhales a breath of relief. For a second, she thought she felt Itachi's chakra - and the thought terrified her. It has been two weeks since he broke her heart, but when she thought she sensed him, she felt excited, and she hates it.
Taking careful steps towards the squirrel writhing in pain from a deep gash in its leg, Sakura holds her hands up in front of her to signal to the alerted animal that she has seen it. The small furry animal tries to move out of the way, but when Sakura crouches beside it and holds a glowing hand to its leg, the squirrel flinches, but settles down, as if realizing what the rosette is trying to do.
Once fully healed, the squirrel snuggles into her hand and then runs away. After she gets back, she decides it's time for dango. She briefly wonders if they'll pass by again and if she could bring some back for Shisui. He'd probably be ecstatic.
She learned to enjoy her own company when Sasuke left and Naruto was training with Jiraiya – basically around this time during her childhood, except the Haruno Sakura of this time isn't alone, and doesn't have to be alone. Sasuke isn't going to leave and Naruto is only away briefly. She has Izumi, Kakashi, and Shisui as mentors and friends. She has Ino, who has always been there, and her parents. Sakura tries to remember what she did back then, on free days, before Tsunade came into the picture – and she can't remember. Tsunade changed her life and she wonders if her Shishou even knows it.
After tasting the dango, Sakura decides that she absolutely has to purchase some for Shisui. After the owners of the fine establishment tell her that the dango should be eaten within 72 hours of purchase, Sakura decides that she could send it back to Konoha. Back at the flower garden, she summons a bluebird as tall as she is.
"Sakura-sama," the bird greets, bowing her head.
"Sei-chan," Sakura responds back with a smile. She raises a gentle hand to scratch the bird's neck. "Can you help me deliver this to my apartment back in Konoha?" She holds up the large bag of dango she purchased for Shisui for the bird to see. Sei picks up the paper bag handle in her beak and nods. "For the unruly haired boy."
Sei nods and says, "Of course, Sakura-sama," before taking flight and heading on her way. It shouldn't take longer than several hours for Sei to get to Konoha. Knowing how Shisui is going to react puts a smile on her face. Despite being older than her and acting more his age in recent times, he can still be quite a child – especially around dango. She's sure she'll hear all about it when she gets back to Konoha.
Sakura browses the local bookstore for anything that Konoha doesn't have for the remaining amount of time before she has to go meet Jiraiya and Naruto at the waterfall.
(When she showed up at the waterfall with the delicious dango, Jiraiya and Naruto were practically euphoric. Naruto proudly declared that the sweet treat delighted his tastebuds so much that he might have a new favorite food – but then took it back because of his loyalty to Ichiraku.
"I'm going to have to try to beat my last record after this," he said regretfully, feeling guilty because of how he well Teuchi treated him when the rest of the village shunned him.)
~:~
After another week, Naruto greatly improved in his chakra training and is now learning the basics for Rasengan. Sakura has been helping him with his taijutsu, but since it's not possible for him to have her super-strength because he doesn't have that level of chakra control (not that he needs it since has an infinite supply of chakra), getting better at hand-to-hand combat couldn't hurt. On a day that Jiraiya didn't ditch them (to go to bathhouses or whatever lame, perverted excuse he usually gave), the hermit offered to help Sakura with her ninjutsu – an offer she gladly cashed in on.
She's been very careful not to use any distinctly Tsunade-esque jutsu around him because she knows he would notice the moment she does. She plans on telling him about herself at some point, but not now.
Sakura was prepared to defend Naruto if Madara or anyone came for him as Itachi and Kisame did in her time, but no one did. Without Akatsuki and Obito as his puppets, what is Madara going to do? What about Kaguya and Zetsu? She's sure there are other Zetsu clones out there but she hasn't seen any signs for a few years now.
Recalling that Orochimaru had approached Tsunade to fix his arms that the Sandaime sealed, Sakura wonders if he's still searching for his former teammate if his limbs are still fully intact and functional.
She gets her answer when they arrive in the small town that her Shishou told her they originally tracked her to and she decides to sense Shizune's chakra.
"Hikari-nee-chan, what are you doing?" Naruto asks when he sees her close her eyes in the new town.
"Hush for a second please," Sakura says.
A brief moment later, Sakura finds Shizune. They're not that far away.
"Jiraiya-sama," Sakura says, "They're here!"
Jiraiya whirls around and looks at her. He wonders how she knows, but he dismisses it. The girl is rather mysterious, but Hiruzen trusts her and that's all that matters. Sakura leads them toward where Shizune is and when they arrive, Jiraiya spots the vivacious blonde almost immediately, but when he sees Shizune and Tonton with her, he wonders how Sakura knew Tsunade wasn't alone.
When his chakra signature prickles Tsunade's senses, she immediately whirls around to look at him. Sakura watches as a smirk graces Jiraiya's features and Tsunade stares at him like he owes her money or something. When her Shishou sighs and points them out to Shizune, the younger woman smiles animatedly and rushes over with Tonton in her arms.
"Jiraiya-sama, long time no see!" Shizune greets, "What're you doing here?"
"Shizune, this town is famous for its bathhouses," Tsunade interrupts before Jiraiya can respond, "What else would this perv be doing here?"
Her former teammate scratches the back of his head and smiles cheekily as he says, "Tsunade, don't think so lowly of me in front of children, please." Sakura wonders if somehow, Jiraiya's mannerisms rubbed off on Naruto before they even met.
Tsunade looks over Naruto and then looks at Sakura. "Little girl, what're you doing with this pervert? I hope you've been cautious."
Sakura nods. "Of course."
Laughing a little, Tsunade turns back to Jiraiya. "So if you're not here for the bathhouses, I guess you've been looking for me." She yawns before she continues. "I did hear something about an old man looking for me..."
Jiraiya sighs as he says, "Why don't we go somewhere quiet to talk?"
"Only if you're paying."
So Sakura finds herself sitting across from her unknowing Shishou after asking for time alone with the only female Sannin and everyone had respected her wishes, leaving the two blondes alone.
"So why did you want to speak to me alone?" Tsunade asks, propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her palm.
Sakura smiles a little, "They call me Hikari," she introduces.
"Yeah, so?" Tsunade drinks from her bottle of sake like she's tired of pouring the alcoholic beverage into her sake cup.
"But my real name is Haruno Sakura," Sakura says, "I am from the future and I am your apprentice."
Tsunade stops drinking midway. "I heard about you from Katsuyu, but…" she pauses, "Prove it."
Sakura simply points to the Strength of a Hundred seal on her forehead, "My forehead was probably made for this."
Tsunade actually laughs. "I have to admit, it looks pretty good on you, but better on me, of course." She silences for a bit before continuing, "...But I've still got to test you. It isn't a secret that I have the seal."
Sakura nods. "I understand."
"If you truly are my apprentice, you should be able to punch a hole through that wall with just your pinky," Tsunade says, smirking.
Sakura laughs, "Public disturbances were always more your thing."
"Oh, a quiet apprentice, I see?"
"Far from quiet."
"Oh, did I teach you to have my self-control too?"
"Of course," Sakura responds sarcastically.
Tsunade laughs, "Fine, let's go to the forest. You - "
"I know, I know, I'm paying for all of this." Jiraiya already ran out on the bill. She can feel his chakra signature hiding two shops away, waiting for someone else to pay the bill.
"I'm liking you more and more, 'Hikari.'"
Sakura smiles. She really had missed Tsunade.
As they leave the bar, Jiraiya returns to question what's going on, but Tsunade simply waves off his question and says, "We're sparring."
"But you're so old and she's just a child," Jiraiya gasped, signing his death wish.
"Shut up, Jiraiya," Tsunade snaps, "At least I don't look old."
Jiraiya pouts, "As sharp-tongued as ever, I see."
"You shouldn't have expected any less," Tsunade sighs.
Sakura smiles as she follows behind them.
She's not sure if she will ever be able to defeat her Shishou, but she knows that she'll be able to hold her own. As Sakura stands across from Tsunade in a clearing, she ties up her long hair, knowing that Tsunade means business, and puts on her gloves - the gloves her current opponent gave her years ago.
Tsunade looks at the gloves. She's reminded of her first pair of gloves, gifted to her by Orochimaru and Jiraiya when she became a chuunin. It's almost identical to how her first pair looked.
Jiraiya also seems to notice this.
"Ready?" The curvaceous blonde asks.
"Always," Sakura answers with a smirk.
Tsunade mirrors the smirk and charges forward, chakra-laced fist raised in the air. Sakura dodges her attacks skillfully, flipping back and forth to avoid it. Then, Sakura aims a kick at her Shishou. Tsunade blocks her attack but is knocked back several feet.
"My, you've certainly learned from a great teacher," Tsunade boasts with a proud smile.
Sakura nods and smiles. "Clearly."
Tsunade uproots the tree beside her and flings it at Sakura. Sakura punches the tree into smithereens and Tsunade appears behind the splinters, ready to knock the younger girl out, but Sakura blocks it.
The fight continues with the two of them at a stalemate. Neither of them want to use their more powerful jutsu because it isn't that serious of a fight, but their taijutsu is evenly matched, so the fight simply goes on.
"Agh, I'm tired," Tsunade announces, "That's enough. Let's all go drinking."
Sakura purses her lips. "The boy is underage, Tsunade-sama," she reprimands, causing the older woman to howl in laughter.
"You barely look of age yourself."
"I'm 18," Sakura pouts. 'Technically 23, but who's counting?' she keeps to herself. The legal drinking age for shinobi is 18 anyway.
"Then it's fine," Tsunade continues, waving a hand back and forth, "Shizune, please take the lecher and the brat somewhere rest for the night and then come out to join us for a drink."
Shizune sighs and does as told, adding, "I'm not coming back out. I'm taking tonight off." Jiraiya wakes Naruto up from his spot against a tree, where the boy had dozed off during the spar, and then follows behind Shizune with the boy in tow, deciding he'll ask Naruto about the young woman he lives with in private.
Leading Sakura to a bar she likes, Tsunade sits down at her regular booth and Sakura takes the seat across from her. With a wave of her hand, the waiter heads to the bar to fetch Tsunade's regular drink. Sakura raises two fingers to let the waiter know to get two of the same order.
Noticing this, Tsunade laughs. "Don't tell me I taught you to drink too!"
Sakura shakes her head. "Curiosity got the best of me when I was 15."
"Any good at gambling?"
"I cleared your debt."
With a gasp, Tsunade stammers as she gets up, "What? What're we waiting for? Let's go to the casino!"
Sighing, Sakura says, "No, that's a job for when you take the current Haruno Sakura under your wing." A smirk graces her features. "Besides, what fun would it be if I cleared your debt now?"
Tsunade rolls her eyes as she says, "Maybe I taught you too well." When Sakura laughs, the older woman continues, "Well, go ahead with what you had to tell me."
"Jiraiya-sama already told you that we're here to get you to become the Godaime Hokage."
The Sannin nods, recalling their conversation over dinner. Her former teammate didn't let her give an answer immediately and told her to think it over. Tsunade bites her lip. She doesn't need to think it over though. She knows she doesn't want the position.
"Jiraiya would make a better Hokage."
"That lecher? As our Hokage?"
Tsunade laughs. "I haven't even been back to Konoha for years."
"Well, I know for a fact that you will become a great Hokage. It's a part of my history after all."
Tsunade smiles sadly. "Give me time to think about it." She can't wrap her mind around how she accepted the position. How could she? She has spent the decade gambling her life away and drinking herself to oblivion.
"In my time, Naruto was the one who convinced you," Sakura relays, "I'm sure, that with time, he'll convince you again."
"That brat?"
Sakura nods. With a reminiscent smile, she continues, "He's amazing. He'll prove it to you, you'll see."
An unreadable expression appears on her Shishou's face for a moment before she smiles and says, "Only if you clear some of my debt while I wait."
Sakura pours sake into Tsunade's sake cup and then her own. Lifting the cup from the table, she holds it up to Tsunade, waiting for the older woman to touch her sake cup to it.
"Deal."
With a smile, Tsunade lifts her cup and taps the edge to Sakura's sake cup before they both down the shot. "Alright, so tell me more about yourself, my apprentice."