Hey guys I hope that you enjoy this chapter! It's a bit more lighthearted.
To the reviewer asking if I could change my update times I'm afraid the answer is no. I try and update routinely at the time most useful for me, because it's roughly when I get home from work. I'm not American at all and I have no idea what time I'd have to update to do what you ask and it could easily be the middle of the night so my updates will stay roughly as they are give or take a couple of hours depending on the day.

Once they were all back in the safety of the hotel room-Naruto, Jiraiya and Sakura's because it was bigger-and once Naruto had changed out of her sliced up shirt they all settled down somewhat, Jiraiya scowling slightly at Tsunade-he wasn't impressed at being drugged-apparently he had nearly messed up the removal of the seal Kabuto had placed on her because of his crappy chakra control.

Still all five of them were relieved that it was over-and Jiraiya had rather heartily congratulated Tsunade on getting over her fear of blood.
They'd ordered some food to be delivered for lunch, and after eating Naruto opened up her pack and pulled the pretty necklace out, turning to Tsunade, holding it tightly, "I... I might have been a little harsh earlier-y'know, threatening to make you a missing nin and all. You should have this back."

Tsunade looked down at the necklace, holding out her hand so that Naruto could drop it into it. "Gotta say it was an amusing thought brat. Don't apologize I needed to hear that." she paused, picking the necklace up by it's chain, then she was moving quickly, lifting it over Naruto's head and lowering it so that it fell comfortably around her neck.

"What-"

"It's yours now. Who knows maybe you'll break the curse brat." Tsunade chuckled, "You've already blown my expectations out of the water." there was a fondness in her voice.

"I..." Naruto flushed slightly as Jiraiya chuckled.

"That's as close to a 'I believe in you' as you'll get from her right now kid, I'd take it."

"Thank you." Naruto let out a breath, fingers tracing over the crystal as she bit her lip "I'll treasure it."

"I'm sure you will." Tsunade ruffled Naruto's hair.

"I can't wait to tell my mom-though I'd prefer it if she never ever ever found out I fought Orochimaru and Kabuto-"

"Hah, I'll keep my mouth shut for now." Tsunade shook her head as Jiraiya shuddered.

"Thanks for that. Rin-san made it clear what would happen if Naruto got hurt while in my care-"

"On the other hand-" Tsunade grinned evilly when Jiraiya gave her an offended look.

"You're evil Tsunade-hime."

"So-" Sakura looked hopeful. "Does this mean you can heal Kakashi-sensei?"

"I don't remember actually saying that I'd come home." there was a hint of teasing in Tsunade's voice, and Naruto's eyes narrowed.

Okay how was she supposed to take that as anything other than a challenge.

"Well your whole thing about not being able to help because of your fear of blood is like, no longer an excuse now right?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Yeah kid, but that doesn't mean I want to go home." ah-ah she could use that.

"Why do you keep calling me kid?" Naruto pouted, "I'm not a kid, you're just old-" and there was a slight twitch from Tsunade. She'd found a soft spot. Time to poke.

"I'm not old brat."

"How old are you?" Naruto asked innocently, her brows furrowing as Jiraiya nearly choked on the water he'd been drinking.

"None of your business brat."

"Sorry, it's just you look so young next to Ero Sennin-"

"Why thank you." Tsunade was smiling smugly as Jiraiya pouted-though her smile was wiped away by Naruto's next words.

"If you're the same age you must be super old huh."

"Listen here-"

"Do you just like, use a permanent henge?" Naruto kept up innocently as Sakura giggled, Jiraiya groaned and hid his face in his hands and Shizune gaped.

Tsunade looked like she was contemplating violence towards the young blonde, "Listen kid, not that it's any of your business, but I use a special transformation technique it's not a henge-"

"Cool. So I guess you look real old without the seal-not that you don't look super old to me already-" she could see Shizune's eyes widening-a look of panic in them, and Jiraiya looked ready to duck under the table and hide as Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not old brat-"

"But you're the same age as Ero Sennin so you must be." Naruto suddenly gave a rather evil manic little grin. "I've decided on what I'll call you-"

"Listen here."

"Baa-chan!" the glass Tsunade had been holding shattered and Tsunade let out a low growl.

"You are not calling me that."

"Uh huh." Naruto grinned, stretching her arms above her head before crossing them behind her head and tilting it back with a smirk, "Whatever you say Baa-chan."

"Why you little-" Tsunade lunged at her and Naruto leapt backwards quickly, an evil grin on her lips as she grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged the other girl to her feet.

"See you back in Konoha Ero Sennin-" he'd ducked under a table she noticed.

Maybe he did have some brains tucked away in there somewhere beneath the mountains of perversion. Naruto resisted the urge to laugh as she took off, glancing backwards, "Catch me if you can Baa-chan."

"Oh I'm gonna catch you!" Tsunade roared the words as Naruto almost slung a laughing Sakura onto her back. And then they were off, the blonde girl kicking the door shut behind them and running as there were loud crashes that were most likely a very pissed off Tsunade punching the door down.

"She's gonna kill you!" Sakura was laughing as she clung to Naruto, "You gonna Hirashin us back?"

"Hm... Maybe. I think my safest bet is to get us to one of the kunai in the forest of death-I assume they're still there. We'll be safe there for a few days and when Baa-chan arrives hopefully her temper will have cooled down a bit."

"Shouldn't we just go straight to your mom-"

"Are you kidding? Think of the pranks we can pull if no one knows we're in Konoha." Naruto's eyes gleamed with mischief as she kept running.

"Good point." Sakura grinned, "So how long until you Hirashin us home?"

"I wanna get in one last Baa-chan before leaving." the yelling from behind them was getting closer and Naruto skidded to a halt, "Hold onto me tight okay Sakura-chan?"

"Of course." Sakura tightened her grip on Naruto, and Tsunade came into view, charging towards them-and there were practically sparks coming from her eyes.

"I am gonna kill you brat!"

"Okay. Well you have to come to Konoha to do that." Naruto waved a hand and then she Hirashined and then they were in Konoha among the familiar trees of the forest.

Sakura slipped off of Naruto's back, laughing and shaking her head, "Wow." she ran her fingers through her hair, "You do realize that makes two Sannin who wanna kill you."

"Eh, Baa-chan only wants to brutally maim me, she won't actually kill me."

"Hm, we'll see." Sakura was grinning brilliantly, "So, what pranks do you plan on pulling?"

"Well." Naruto thought for a moment before sneaking, "What do you say to the idea of giving the Hokage Monument a makeover."

Sakura's hand flew to her mouth and she gasped. "We'd be in so much trouble."

"Hard for people to blame us when we're not known to be home yet." Naruto gave an innocent grin.

"This is gonna be so funny." Sakura decided, "We need supplies though-"

"You say that as if you don't even know me." Naruto pressed a hand over her heart and gave Sakura an offended look, "After the exams I shifted some of my supplies, the seal on my right shoulder is now dedicated to prank supplies."

"Paint?"

"Specially formulated paint that's real hard to wash off." Naruto crowed, a smug grin on her lips.

"When should we do it?"

"After nightfall. Baa-chan and Ero Sennin will be rushing back here and they won't be slowed down by us anymore-"

"We didn't slow Jiraiya-sama down that much did we-"

"You didn't-you weren't the one who got kinda beaten up-"

"I mean, you didn't slow us down much."

"I did-Kurama hasn't be able to heal me like he usually does lately so of course I did, after the fake Madara asshole pummeled me."

"I tried to heal you-"

"I know Sakura-chan, and the fact that you managed to make me pretty much okay was awesome-most medics these days aren't nearly as good as you."

"I'm gonna get better." Sakura swore, "When Tsunade-sama returns to the village I'll make her train me." she declared proudly, "I promise I'll make her train me and I'll surpass her, just like you'll surpass Jiraiya-sama and your parents and Sasuke-kun will surpass his brother."

"There's something real weird about all that."

"I know." Sakura nodded. Itachi... if he was that bad then why did he save you? He... he stopped the shark guy from hurting us and Sasuke was desperate when that asshole disappeared with you and he just... Itachi said maybe you were right about some things and grabbed him and took off-I was terrified I didn't know... I didn't know if he was helping or hurting."

"It's weird as hell." Naruto admitted, frowning to herself and biting her lip, "He didn't seem all that evil or crazed to me-"

"Maybe you did what you did to Haku-san, Zabuza-san and Gaara-san." Sakura's voice was almost teasing, a small smirk on her lips, "You yelled at him and he changed his evil ways." she broke into giggles, and Naruto giggled too, shaking her head, "Our life is kinda ridiculous isn't it?"

"Are you kidding? My life was normal 'til I met you."

"Hm." Naruto looked thoughtful for a second before shrugging, "Eh, normal's boring." she declared brightly, draping an arm over Sakura's shoulder, "I like to think I've made your life more exciting at least-"

"It's so much better now." Sakura grinned, "For one thing I don't have a bunch of stupid insecurities anymore and I'm not letting a ridiculous crush control my life."

"You're gonna be one of the greats."

"I'm gonna be by your side I know that much. The three of us are gonna stick together. You'll become Hokage, I'll become your head medic and Sasuke-kun will... be something, probably Anbu commander or something I dunno. But we'll stick together."

"Of course." there was no hesitation, now doubt in Naruto's voice, and there was a smile on her face, "And Kakashi-sensei and mom can just watch the chaos unfold as I refuse to take anyone's crap."

"It'll be so much fun." Sakura's eyes had a gleam in them, "So, what do we do while we're waiting for nightfall."

"Hm... that is a good question." Naruto looked around, "Maybe make camp?" she suggested after a moment of thought, "That'd make sense right."

"Yeah... and maybe some training too." Sakura suggested after a moment of consideration. "I've been working on this earth jutsu..."

"I'll help." Naruto grinned, "In fact, let's find somewhere near water to set up camp and I'll make some shadow clones to do that while I help you."

"Awesome."

And so that was just what they did.

It didn't take them long to reach a river, or for Naruto's clones to set up a nice little camp, and Sakura and Naruto went across the other side of the river to work on the jutsu- it wasn't complicated but it did require fine Chakra control-which was perfect for Sakura.

When it was used it would tear clumps of earth from the ground by the users feet and send them speeding towards the opponent-if done right it could cause a lot of damage, as was proven by the state of the tree Sakura had been using as a target by the time they were done-which was approximately when they heard two sets of footsteps crashing through the forest and a familiar voice yelling, "NARUTO-SAN!"

Naruto and Sakura just had time to exchange startled looks when Karin and Sasuke burst into their campsite, the former almost leaping across the river to tackle Naruto with a hug, "Naruto-san I sense you! I was freaked out until Sasuke-kun pointed out that you must have come using a special technique you know or something."

"Hey Karin-chan." Naruto smiled and hugged the red haired girl back, "Sorry if I freaked you out-I honestly forgot that you'd sense me." she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as she pulled back.

"Why did you come here?" Sasuke's brows were furrowed, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we were just-" Sakura giggled, "Well, Tsunade-sama was being... difficult, so Naruto just repeatedly called her old so she'd chase her so we
made a quick getaway."

"You... you purposely antagonized one of the Sannin?" Sasuke snorted, shaking his head, "Of course you did dumbass-"

"Don't call her dumbass-"

"Did I ask your opinion?"

"No, but I'm gonna give you it!" Karin whacked Sasuke over the head hard, and Sasuke shot her a dirty look.

"Naruto-chan why is your cousin more annoying than you?"

Naruto pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling her own giggles, "It's nice to see you two getting along-"

"He's so annoying!" Karin burst out, "He arrived back with Gai-san and he just showed up at the house with a bag and he's not stopped following Rin-san around since-"

"I wanted to protect her." Sasuke was blushing faintly, "Since you weren't here. Not that she does much other than go to the hospital to look after Kakashi-sensei and I'd want to visit him anyway."

"I.." Naruto's expression softened, "Thank you Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah well, she's your mom and you love her and since I've officially declared that you're my sister that means I've gotta protect the people you care about-" Sasuke's voice was gruff as he tried to hide him embarrassment."

"I appreciate it-"

"Now that's what I call growth." Sakura's voice was teasing, gentle. And it said a lot that they'd reached a stage where Sasuke didn't get angry at that but laughed instead and picked up a handful of leafs to throw at her.

"Shut up Haruno-"

"Awe, you don't love me too?"

"You're like a fungus, you've grown on me." Sasuke shot back, and Sakura erupted into giggles-and Karin was grinning too.

"So why are you still staying out here then?"

"Oh, right." Naruto grinned, "We figured we'd take advantage of the fact that no one knows we're back yet and pull an Epic Prank-"

"I can literally hear the capital letters." Sasuke groaned, "What are you planning Naruto-chan?"

"Hm... if we tell you will you help?"

"That depends on what it is."

"We're gonna paint the Hokage monument-"

"Oh kami." Karin giggled, "Are you serious?"

"Deathly." Naruto nodded sagely, "Are you in?"

"When do we do this?" Sasuke asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"After dark tonight-"

"We'll tell Rin-san we want to go camping-she's been going on at us about at least trying to get along."

"Hmph." Karin gave Sasuke a dirty look, "Naruto-san might have forgiven you but I haven't forgot that you upset her-"

"Karin-chan we're fine now-"

"Doesn't mean I have to like him." Karin said stubbornly. "I don't care how cute he is."

"Because I really care about your opinion." Sasuke snarked, rolling his eyes. "We'll go and get a tent and some stuff and we'll meet you guys here later."

"Awesome." Naruto gave a two fingered salute, "Sakura-chan and I'll be waiting.