Prologue.

The morning sun shone through the open windows of the Hokage's office. The cool spring breeze brought in the crisp scent of freshly mowed grass and damp soil from the sudden shower the previous night. Kakashi stood next to me as we gave our report on a recent mission we'd had to Kusa. The Akatsuki were getting ready to make their move, and soon, the ripples would reach Konoha. Naruto –we informed Tsunade as well- was progressing steadily in his fuinjutsu studies, and was in the process of trying to befriend the tailed beast sealed inside him, or at least, making some sort of deal with it.

Kurama was its name, and he was more bitter and sassy than we had originally expected- the creature had a lifelong grudge against its human captors, and was not amused with his current host in the very least. He was too weak, a tiny little existence, too puny to even hold a candle to him. The fox, turns out, had such a big ego, that whenever Naruto started spacing out, I knew he was –most likely- having a row with the creature.

Naruto himself had grown incredibly fast in the three years that had gone by since both his team mates left with the two male sannin. His respect for the opposite gender had peaked under Tsunade, not that he'd had a choice when his shishou could crack his head into the ground with her pinky. The fact that he had been living with a pseudo-sister for three years, had also helped on that account. He had stopped asking if I was on my period the first time I'd bear him black and blue after a week of ANBU survival training.

Not only that, but his abilities had improved exponentially under the tough love of a Kage, an ANBU operative, and an internationally feared Jonin. He had never lost his flamboyant, unpreoccupied attitude towards life and work, so much so, that he was now bursting into his Shishou's office unannounced and uninvited, with a bright smile on his face.

"Yo, Obaa-shishou, guess who just nailed a nerve recreation, reconnection and rehab surgery?" he asked puffing out his chest and raising his chin, "Your one and only apprentice, dettebayo!"

Kakashi and I sighed in unison. It wasn't the first time he'd done that, and it surely would not be the last, not as long as the security seals in the room were down.

"Naruto, one of these days, the seals in this room are going to dry your reserves and set Kurama-san free. I doubt he'd be very forgiving, even with the efforts you've been making to befriend him." Lady Tsunade rubbed her face tiredly as she addressed her student.

"No worries, Shishou, I always check the seals before I come in." he chuckled, "Besides, I had to report the return of Sakura-chan and that pervy old man."

Of course Naruto would be the first to report his team mate's return. He had been working on his chakra sensing aided both by a reluctant Kurama, and a hell bent Katsuyu. The Slug summon, passed down by Tsunade herself, was determined to make a collaboration with the tailed beast work. She had made it her personal mission to help Naruto convert Kurama's chakra into neutral, healing chakra adequate for iryo-ninjutsu. So far, they had succeeded in purifying Naruto's chakra, which, according to Katsuyu, was a step in the right direction. Naruto had only been doing chakra based healing for six months, and he was already carrying out full surgeries on his own, unsupervised. As a consequence, his awareness of chakra – be it his own or somebody else's- Naruto's chakra sensing had skyrocketed, and so had his popularity within the village.

"Thank you, Naruto, now go wait outside. These two have a report to give. Now scram." Said the Hokage as she shooed him out.

Naruto left the room with a little bow and a spring in his stepas he headed out of the room and to welcome his friend back home.

"Now, Akane-san," said Tsunade somberly once the door closed behind her apprentice. "tell me about Doyun-san's mission."

"He found them, and it's not good news." I answered dutifully.

"Akatsuki is making their move soon, they have several bases scattered across the elemental nations and our main contact needs immediate medical attention, or we lose risking him. It's starting, Hokage-sama, and I don't think Konoha's ready for what's coming."

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