A Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 18

Dawn came, and the first people to see the team come back were two chūnin-ranked shinobi guarding the gates. The boys flashed their IDs, to which the chūnin nodded and opened the gates.

Tenzō immediately cleared his mouth and grabbed onto Tsunade, and then Shikamaru, who was standing next to him. "Naruto, prepare the Shunshin. We're going to the Hokage's Office." Naruto nodded and grabbed onto the shoulders of Kiba and Neji, who looked a bit confused for a second.

"That's perfectly fine." The entourage looked to see the Hokage step towards them. Naruto – and he was sure his peers too – caught his teacher eyeing Tsunade pointedly for a few seconds. He held the stare before shaking his head. "First things first. Naruto, you can drop Shizune to the ground." Naruto obeyed and laid the woman on the ground. Jiraiya walked over to Shizune and lifted the sleeve that was hiding the seal placed on her before.

One second later and Shizune woke up abruptly, gasping for air as if she had come from underwater. "Wh-What? Where-?"

Jiraiya stood up from Shizune, as two shinobi ran up to the group. "Take it easy there. You're safe. You two, do your thing." Seconds later, a pair of medical-nin stationed near the gate helped get Chōji onto a gurney before disappearing with him in a fog of smoke. "Alright, Shizune-chan, do you also need to go to the hospital?"

"I'm fine, Jira- Er, Hokage-sama!" The woman corrected, remembering she was addressing the Hokage. A green aura began to develop in her hand, signaling to medical ninjutsu being used to self-diagnose her own self.

Jiraiya folded his arms behind him, looking at them all sternly. "Come with me, all of you."

"…In the middle of Tsunade-sama's and Naruto's bout, the two missing-nin approached us. They threatened us to not follow them and try to help Tsunade-sama. That's when I decided to use the scroll you provided me, Hokage-sama. We got help from Operative Tenzō, who then took command of our squad." Shikamaru barely finished his sentence before Jiraiya raised a hand.

"That's where he will finish his report. Your presence isn't required any longer here, boys." Jiraiya decided. He leaned back in his chair, giving them a softer look and a warm smile. "I bet you guys didn't get a wink of sleep, so get some rest. You went through a lot. If I need you, I'll call you back here."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" All of them saluted.

"Dismissed."

The teens turned to the office doors, except one Naruto who froze briefly and waited until his teammates left. The Hokage, seeing Naruto still standing in his office, waited until he heard the doors slam and raised an eyebrow at the blond. "Naruto? Need something?"

"Actually, Hokage-sama, I got something else to add to the report before you guys go anywhere with it." Naruto took Jiraiya's silence as an encouragement to go on. "I think those guys that were after Tsunade are from the Akatsuki."

Tsunade and Shizune were obviously confused. Tenzō was hard to gauge since he had a mask, so Naruto didn't bother noting him. However, the Hokage frowned. "Oh? The Akatsuki? Are you absolutely sure?" Naruto nodded at the man. "Perhaps you should just stay and add your portion of the report then."

The Uzumaki teen shrugged. "I got no problem with that."

Jiraiya only nodded, before turning to the ANBU operative. "First, what happened, Tenzō? How did the things come about with Jiongu no Kakuzu and this other man?"

"Shiro, sir. Kakuzu said his partner's name was Shiro."

"Continue then. What happened with Kakuzu and this Shiro?"

After a nod, the ANBU operative began his portion of the mission report. "As said before by Nara-san, I took command of his team. I ordered them to accompany me to track down Tsunade-sama and her would-be attackers. Then, I ordered them to protect Shizune-san until the end of the battle." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at that, not looking pleased.

"And you thought that was a good idea? What prompted you to do so?" Naruto could feel a dangerous edge to the voice of Jiraiya, which unnerved Naruto.

"I did not have prior knowledge of the bounty hunters' affiliation with the Akatsuki until Naruto said it just now. Otherwise, I would have made Nara-san's team return to Konoha with Shizune immediately after locating the targets." Tenzō clarified, not a hitch in his voice. "Regardless of affiliations, the hunters had already made it clear they weren't going after Nara-san's team. I had Hyūga-san and Inuzuka-san act like our trackers and pinpointed the location of the missing-nin. After locating one of the men fighting Shizune-san, which was Shiro, I ordered Naruto to use shadow clones and Nara-san to use the Kagemane no Jutsu in conjunction with one of my Wood Release techniques to immobilize one of the targets.

"We seemingly eliminated Shiro and secured Shizune-san. I ordered Nara-san's team to protect Shizune-san and left for Tsunade-sama. Then, Shiro recovered and attacked them behind my back. I had thought I kept them out of harm's way, but I failed to do so, and I accept full responsibility for that."

Jiraiya was silent, stewing on the words for a bit, before sighing and that oppressive air Naruto felt in the air dissipated. "Alright. I'll accept that. Continue, Naruto." The Hokage set his black eyes on the blond chūnin. "Why do you believe those men were Akatsuki-affiliated and how come it took you so long to let Tenzō know?"

"W-Well, that guy who I was fighting made it abundantly clear that I was 'lucky' they weren't 'rocking the red clouds today' but if I see them again, they 'just might.' It obviously spelled out 'Akatsuki' to me." Naruto finished, adding a sheepish smile and a hesitant shrug. "As for not telling Tenzō-san, I meant to but everything kind of hit me all at once and it… slipped my mind?"

The Hokage pinned a glare on the teen. "You're a chūnin now, Naruto. You shouldn't have to have the Hokage reminding you of this. Besides, the Akatsuki is important. Don't let it happen again, or there might be dire consequences."

"…yessir," Naruto almost mumbled. "I won't let it happen again."

"Hmm," Jiraiya hummed, his frown deepening. "Continue your story. Shiro… got back up from being seemingly killed?"

"We thought we killed him. We snuck up on him when he had just downed Shizune," Naruto recapped briefly. "Tenzō-san and Shikamaru disabled him and I went for the killing blow. He didn't get back up for a while until he snuck-attack us. Then, he paralyzed me with some sort of seal, and by the time I woke up, he had nearly killed Chōji." Naruto paused to glare over to Tsunade.

"Continue, Naruto," Jiraiya commanded, almost warningly.

The Uzumaki teen turned back to the Hokage. "Then, I tapped into Kyūbi's power to overload the power of the seal that redhead guy-"

"Shiro," Tenzō added helpfully.

"Right," Naruto nodded, correcting himself. "Kyūbi's power broke Shiro's seal. I guess I tapped into too much of it and started going… Crazy. Tenzō had to step in and to… subdue me…" The blond boy hung his head, the last words almost tapering off in a whisper.

"There, there. The demon's power is supposed to be used in times of need, Naruto. That's why we're training you for it." Jiraiya stated, sending Naruto a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, I suppose," Naruto shrugged, still feeling helpless.

"So, he had some sort of weird healing powers and you fought him for a bit."

"Yeah. I got the feeling he really wasn't trying to kill me. Even got his ass with a Rasengan too," Naruto claimed, sounding a bit proud of himself. He, however, grumbled the next part. "Even if it was because of Kyūbi's chakra."

"Like I said: a jinchūriki is going to have to rely on his or her bijū's power sooner or later. You're going to need it to give an edge in these types of battles. All we can do is try to get you used to it, so you don't go berserk, right?"

"I got it." Naruto's nod was hesitant but Jiraiya saw it all the same.

"By the way, good job with the Rasengan. We'll talk later about it." That gained Jiraiya a small smile out of the kid and a slightly energetic nod. "Okay. So, Tenzō, on your side of things?"

"I helped Tsunade-sama fight Kakuzu, but after I left to check on the boys, Kakuzu – according to what I got out of Tsunade-sama on the way back – escaped. He probably retrieved his partner and they both hightailed it from us. Since his partner had astounding healing abilities, I have reason to believe he is still alive. Kakuzu himself had access to the Jiongu, a kinjutsu that allows him to have more than one heart, and mastery over all five elements. So, I had reason to believe he had hearts to spare."

"Hmm, so, not only does the Akatsuki have Itachi Uchiha, and Kisame Hoshigaki, they have Jiongu no Kakuzu and this mysterious man with almost inhuman healing abilities." Jiraiya looked down at his desk in thought.

"My Lord, if I may add, I believe Shiro was an Uzumaki."

"Wait, what?" Naruto was the first to query Tenzō, looking bewildered. "What do you mean?"

Jiraiya raised his head up at the ANBU operative and after a bit, slowly nodded. "Redhead, inhuman healing abilities? That sounds like an Uzumaki alright."

"So, wait, I was fighting someone Uzumaki? I… have a clan?"

"Had a clan." Jiraiya corrected, watching Naruto wince. The Hokage shook his head. "Geez, Naruto. Were you that much of a slacker in the Academy that you missed the lesson about the Uzumaki Clan? You know, the outsider clan that was very close to Konohagakure and the reason we wear a red spiral on our chūnin and jōnin's flak jackets? Did you even know your own orange jacket had the Uzumaki Clan crest seal spiral on it?"

"N-Never mind that!" Naruto tried brushing off his embarrassment and rosy cheeks. "I didn't know I come from a clan! I've been my orphan my entire life! Imagine my shock for a second here, Hokage-sama!"

Jiraiya sighed, rubbing his forehead as if he was trying to fight off a headache. "Listen, how about I tell you about the Uzumaki Clan tomorrow, okay? We're going to meet for your training anyway. Let's complete this report and I won't mind that you suddenly forgot that you were made chūnin a month ago, yes?" Naruto quickly cleared his throat and regained his composure. "So, the men escaped, okay. What happened after?"

'Tsunade happened,' Naruto thought immediately in his head, with annoyance. Tenzō quickly responded, to which Naruto was glad for. He would probably say something unflattering and made more of an ass out of himself. "We then gathered Shizune-san and Akimichi-san's transport and left the forest, with Tsunade-sama in tow. Something had happened with her, I guess, during the battle."

"Hmm, I bet," Jiraiya stated neutrally, sparing Tsunade a glance, and Naruto got that feeling again that Jiraiya was actually quite peeved. He must have figured out that Tsunade didn't perform her medical duties on Chōji. "Alright, thank you, ANBU Operative Tenzō and Chūnin Naruto Uzumaki for your information. I have it all noted. Any more things you have to add, you two?"

"None, sir."

"Nothing at all," Naruto added.

"Alright. Hit the hay, boys. You're both dismissed."

The ANBU saluted neatly. "Yes, my lord!" He then disappeared quickly in a Shunshin.

Naruto saluted too. "See you tomorrow, Sensei."

"Yes, yes." Jiraiya waved him off as Naruto too left quickly with a Shunshin, leaving him in the room with the silent Tsunade and Shizune. The white-haired Hokage turned to his teammate, who sat in a provided chair for the remainder of that entire talk, and sighed at her. "Oh, Tsunade. What trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"…"

"Alright, can you follow me? Or do you need help standing up?"

"…I'm not some helpless little calf, Jiraiya," Tsunade finally spoke up, looking annoyed but hardly with all the fire Jiraiya had known the woman to have. "Where are we going?"

The toad summoner quirked an eyebrow. "You sure as shit acting like one. And what kind of response is that? Come on, I'm the Hokage now."

"Psh, as if you actually want that hat on your head. I doubt a pervert like you would want to give up the life of traveling around, spying on poor girls."

"Sheesh, no sort of respect for even the Hokage, Princess?" The white-haired head ninja of Konohagakure sighed, not missing the small smile now on her face. At least she was feeling a bit better enough for some light banter. He went to hold the door to his suite's lounging room. "Come on in."

Tsunade gave him a raised, perfectly manicured eyebrow, to which Jiraiya was reminded how beautiful of a specimen of woman that stood before him. "What's in there?"

He snorted at her though. "I'm not going to try anything on you. It probably would look bad for a Hokage to be thrown through a wall and into the streets. This is just a place where I feel we both would be more comfortable inside. We need to talk anyway." The Hokage then turned to his former teammate's student. "Maybe while we're there, Shizune can see what's going in the village?" Jiraiya suggested at the end of his sentence.

Tsunade harrumphed, rolling her eyes until she set her vision on her black-haired companion. "Shizune, see if you can offer your help to the Konoha Hospital. I'll come to get you after this."

"If… that's what Hokage-sama would want," Shizune uttered, looking at Jiraiya for approval.

The lone man in the room nodded. "Of course. Any effort to help us would be most welcomed."

Shizune bowed respectfully to both her master and the Hokage, then disappeared in a plume of smoke. Tsunade herself offered no more words and walked inside the room, not even thanking Jiraiya for holding the door open for her. The man didn't take too much offense to it.

Tsunade settled down on a long couch, while Jiraiya took the time to go into a cabinet on the wall of the room. He produced two glass cups and a warm sake bottle and sat them on the table. Then, Konoha's head ninja took a seat adjacent to Tsunade. While he didn't reach for anything, Tsunade nearly pounced on the cup and the bottle. The Fifth Hokage folded his arms and crossed one of his legs over the other. "Tsunade, what happened to you?"

"Happened? Nothing happened, Jiraiya," the blonde poured the drink inside the glass, not bothering to look at his face. "Nothing has changed over the years, or is going to change."

Jiraiya glared heatedly at her. "You nearly let two people die. I think that's important to note."

"Shizune's fine, and I didn't tell that ANBU fellow to bring his kids to our battlefield. You should blame him. What was he thinking allowing genin and two chūnin on that battlefield? Especially with these S-rank ninjas roaming around there? Besides, who the hell is he anyway? Last time I checked, my old friend, the Senju Clan died out about two wars backs. What's a commoner doing using our Wood Release?"

The toad sage could already see her trying to change the subject, and he wasn't having it. "You are perhaps the greatest medical ninja of all time, hailed as such since the Second Great War, and this is what you've become? A sad excuse of a woman wallowing in her pain-"

"I thought I came here to relax and drink with you, not get lectured." The last member of the Senju clan glared at the Hokage.

"It's, like, 7 am in the morning," Jiraiya complained, sighing in annoyance.

"And? Not too early to get a drink in." A crooked smile back at the toad sage and Tsunade swallowed her sake in one gulp. A few seconds, a head shake, and she grabbed the bottle again. "You never refused to drink with me before."

"I don't like drinking as much as you do. I was just being courteous."

"Yeah, probably because you wanted the chance to do something perverted."

"I guess that too." Jiraiya shrugged, not bothering to deny anything. "I'm not a mood for either really. Again, it's 7 am. I'm more interested in getting breakfast."

"Suit yourself," Tsunade remarked with a shrug, taking another hearty gulp of her drink. She already finished two glasses of sake like she had been downing water. "I mostly came in here to drink merrily until Shizune gets finished up in the hospital. I taught her nearly everything I know. I don't need to step up in there."

Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "I don't doubt it. Shizune must have talent if she's been going around the countries with you as her assistant. You two are known to come upon people and lend your talents sometimes. But still, she's not you."

The Senju heiress chuckled. "How little faith you have, Jiraiya. It's been years since you've chased my tail. Obviously, you don't know how great a medic she is."

"Did she get the Byakugō no In, or is it invisible on her forehead?"

"She doesn't have to have that to be a great medic," she reasoned, rolling her honeydew eyes. "Moron."

"Yes, but she also lacks the deep, strong chakra reserves you have. Being of Senju and Uzumaki lineage surely has been a blessing-"

"What's your point?" The woman snapped. "You're insulting my apprentice and my teachings by that poor choice of words."

"Tsunade, I need you to help us." The Hokage tried again, but Tsunade waved him off.

"No, you don't. You got Shizune. She'll have everything back and up with this village in no time. Sheesh, you guys must have gotten royally fucked by invasion."

"Tsunade, please-"

Said woman interrupted with an annoyed look on her face. "Begging before didn't get me to do anything. You know I hate begging, Jiraiya. You're lucky you have me here, drinking with you, and don't think I haven't noticed you trying to get peeks at my cleavage sitting here! Stop begging me-"

"Tsunade, I'm asking you for a favor here. You have to let things go." Jiraiya gently stated, leaning forward. "The Second Shinobi World War was-"

Jiraiya had grabbed the woman's fist, preventing himself from being hurled out the Hokage's suite of the Academy building. Jiraiya sighed in relief, "Glad I saw that one coming."

"You know that if I really wanted to, I could have reduced you to more of a dribbling moron than you now by doing all sorts of nasty things to your nervous system. Would you like that?" She spat acidly at him. "I came here to drink, maybe see how you were doing, ask about the weather, shoot the shit, you know? Then, you had to keep talking and talking, and talking, like you can't fucking read the atmosphere or something." Her eyes further narrowed, as she showed her pearly whites. "Stop. Talking. About. The. Past."

"Because you keep living in it!" Jiraiya roared, his frustration clear as day. "You think Nawaki or Dan would even-

"Don't you dare fucking bring up their names," Tsunade hissed at her old teammate, snatching away her fist from his grip. "You had to go there, Jiraiya, didn't you?"

"Only because you keep acting like this," the Fifth Hokage hissed right back at her. "All you've been doing is living in the past, not looking forward. All you do is drink, run, drink, run some more, and drink again. And what has it given you? Alcoholism, debts up the ass, bounties up your ass, and now, you're too fucking afraid to heal people because of blood?"

Tsunade flinched as Jiraiya continued his verbal assault. "I've seen it all through the crystal ball that the old man left me. You know the one he used to track our whereabouts when we were kids. I saw it all through Naruto's perspective. You saw Chōji on the ground, bleeding heavily, and you froze up. Started shaking like a leaf. Without Shizune, you couldn't bring yourself to heal him. You would have left him to die because you're scared."

The blonde looked down. "Shut up."

"You would have left him to die," Jiraiya repeated.

"Just shut up already!" Tsunade's eyes started leaking angry tears. She could feel them, Jiraiya could see them, but he wouldn't stop. "Why won't you leave me alone?!"

"I won't until you get it. Wake up!" The Hokage slammed his hand on the table. "This is the world we live in. People die. You act as if you're the only person in the entire fucking world who has lost people. You don't think I wanted to quit when Minato and Kushina died?!" Jiraiya glowered at her flatly, before sitting down, almost sagging in the couch. "I fucking wanted to run, to become a real hermit and hide away from the world. I had written a few books by then; I could have just become an author and lived somewhere out in the country. I would have been wealthy, probably even able to start a family somewhere, but I couldn't. The Third Shinobi World War had just finished. It seemed like the whole world was out to get Konoha. Then, the Kyūbi attacked Konoha at the worse time possible, when we were just beginning to recover. My student's kid – before he even was able to form a conscious thought – was in the middle of it all. That same kid that I swore to Sarutobi-sensei and Minato to protect with my life, and now, they got people after him because of something that he had no control over."

Tsunade sat down too. Both of them stared in silence at each other. She watched limply as Jiraiya finally grabbed his cup, but marveled as he grabbed a water jug and poured water in it. "You still aren't going to drink?"

He smirked at her. "It's only been a month or so, but I feel like a Hokage probably shouldn't be drinking on the job."

The woman blew hot air out of her mouth. "Shit, if it was me, I'd be drinking every day. Can't believe you let Old Man Sarutobi get you to accept this shitty job."

"He put it in a letter and begged me to do it. I don't like begging either as you said before, but it's the goddamn God of Shinobi begging you to do something. Plus, he was quite persuasive." The Hokage took a swig of his water. "He told me not to ask you because you wouldn't accept."

"He was right. This job is for dead men," she agreed with a sneer, finally lifting her glass. "Look at my grandfather, granduncle, your boy, and our teacher."

"Yeah? Well, if I die, I die." Jiraiya shrugged, not bothered by her superstitious beliefs, nor surprised by them. "I'm tired of running scared, being afraid of life. That's no way to live it. I'm not asking you for much, Tsunade-"

"-Just to heal a great portion of your workforce..." She muttered, taking a swig out of her drink. Jiraiya continued on as if she didn't say a word.

"-But I am asking you to help us. Hell, you don't have to stay. I'm not going to make you. But, aren't you getting tired of being afraid? Aren't you tired of running? You've been doing this for decades now, quit when you were still so young. Is that how you wanna live out your twilight years?"

"As opposed to going back to this dump?"

"It's still a life." Jiraiya shrugged. "And besides, you got to be running out of money from either the cash you saved by taking missions or your own family's inheritance. You got debts, and now people putting out bounties for your head for the money you owe. That's no way to live life."

Tsunade sniffed, a wry grin on her face. "I guess not." She sighed, rubbing her temples. Jiraiya could see she was struggling not to cry in front of him. He snuffed out the feeling of wanting to hug his dear friend. "It's… hard."

"You got to let it go."

"Yeah? Well, letting go is hard, Jiraiya." Tsunade glared at the Hokage. "How long did it take you to get over Minato? Or even stop chasing after Orochimaru?"

"Well, both are dead now, so, I'm still in the recovery process," Jiraiya responded with a lopsided smile on his face.

"…Sensei really killed the snake, huh?"

"And took himself out." Jiraiya shook his head. "We really are the last ones of Team Hiruzen, Tsunade. That's the reality of things."

"Yeah, I suppose," she paused, spinning the sake in her glass before drinking it down. "It is… getting tiresome running around the Elemental Countries. And as much as I hate to say it, but money is getting tight. I guess I could use a break."

"Plus: aren't a bit curious about the boy who may be the very last few people of one of your clans?"

"Oh yeah, speaking of which…" The blonde looked on to her friend for a moment critically, before heaving a sigh once again. "You just had to send him, didn't you?"

"Hmm?" The Hokage noised innocently, to which Tsunade growled in annoyance.

"Don't play stupid with me. You sent me one of the crudest, loudest, obnoxious-"

"Yep," the white-haired village leader nodded sagely. "Acting like a buffoon in front of the Hokage, being disrespectful. Naruto Uzumaki's a handful, I know."

"Who are you telling? Psh, damn fool. Saying that he's a 'handful' is an understatement. You got your work cut out for you with that one."

"Oh, he's got a lot to learn, that's for sure. The kid also wears his heart on his sleeve – not so good of a trait for a shinobi, especially where people are looking to stab at it."

"Boy, does he…" Tsunade shook her head. "You oughta knock that crap out of him quick. Especially when he's a chūnin. I don't know why you or, if Sarutobi-sensei did it, decided to promote him. He's more fitting to be a genin with that attitude."

"Oh, you're not the only person who said that. That goes in one ear and comes out the other with me. Despite Naruto's faults, I don't regret my decision. I see a lot of potential in the boy. That's why I promoted him. He's quite emotional, yes, but at the same time, he's got serious talent. You must have seen that with the way he used the Rasengan and managed to even subdue an S-rank shinobi."

"Sounds like he's gotten lucky if you ask me. Especially if he had to rely on that thing's chakra, but," she paused to let out a begrudging huff. "I suppose not many normal shinobi can use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu so much and have mastered the Rasengan at such a young age."

"And in such a short time too," Jiraiya boasted with a grin about his student. "Kid's going places. Still, you're right. He needs some working on with his hardheaded attitude. I heard he challenged you to a fight."

"Exactly. I was just having a good night before this, minding my damn business. Then, he came to the restaurant Shizune and I was in. Starting shouting and challenged me to a fight. Then when I smacked him silly, he started telling me that he was going to be Hokage." Tsunade complained, putting her lips to her glass cup. After she took a sip, she muttered, "Hmph, a punk like him as Hokage?"

"Doesn't help also that Naruto looks a lot like Nawaki did, only bleached blond, huh?" Jiraiya didn't even hide the small smile from his face.

The Senju woman glared at him, but it wasn't as heated as before. "You totally planned this."

"If you say so."

The woman groaned. "So, what do you want me to do again? Heal your people?"

"Can you do it?" Jiraiya asked, looking serious again. "I know it's a bit much to ask, especially with this impromptu therapy session we just had here."

"Impromptu indeed. I will… see." Sighing, Tsunade took a gulp of her drink, before filling it back up quickly with some more sake. Jiraiya was sure now that she had drained almost half of the bottle alone. "Going to need maybe another bottle of that 'liquid courage,' if you don't mind."

"Hey, I'm not trying to encourage your rampant, crippling, and deliberating alcoholism here," the Hokage whined, but nevertheless went to the cabinet and brought out another bottle of sake.

She kept on the half-empty bottle and pour herself another glass of sake. "Well, sorry, Hokage-sama. You're going have to. After all, I'm here to heal your people. Maybe I'll even stick around a bit to get some supplies."

Jiraiya smiled at that. "Of course, take all the time you need."

"I can do without the placating smiles, Jiraiya," Tsunade uttered, sounding exasperated. She grabbed his cup from his side of the table and then poured some sake into the glass. "Now, are we going to finally have a drink together, Hokage-sama?"

"You're such an alcoholic, princess. But I do love the way you say 'Hokage-sama'," Jiraiya remarked with a wag of his eyebrows which earned him a shake of Tsunade's head. The man took his glass from the woman before clinking it with Tsunade's cup. He then muttered a quick "Cheers," and took the burn that came with the drink with a straight face. Because at the end of it all, he won.

Unsurprisingly, nobody waited up for Naruto after he left the Hokage Suite. He wasn't looking for them to do so anyway. Naruto was tired and instead of dragging himself nearly across town to go home, he simply used the Shunshin no Jutsu to transport himself to his apartment door. He barely remembered walking inside the house and locking up. He did remember hitting his bed though, and not waking back up until it was the afternoon.

Sometime around 3 pm, Naruto got up back up and ate a little bit. He got out of his house to walk around the village, not really aiming to see anyone at all. Before he knew it, it was time to get some dinner and then went to for a bite at Ichiraku. No training was done, just relaxing. Besides seeing Ayame and her father for dinner, he planned to see no one.

Halfway through his second bowl of ramen, Shikamaru showed up, however.

"Naruto. I had a feeling you would be here."

"That sounds like you wanted to see me." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Nara teen, who pulled up to a seat next to him and sat down. He allowed the boy to put in an order to Ayame before speaking again. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I guess I wanted to touch base and talk about what happened a bit. It was a hell of a night that we had."

"Yeah," Naruto retorted with a sigh. Seeing Shikamaru's grimace, the blond teen tried giving his friend a smile. "But everything will be okay. We completed our mission, got that old hag back to the village, and got back in one piece. I even think Chōji will be okay."

"You think so?" Shikamaru questioned.

"I mean, you tell me. Chōji's made of sterner stuff, right? He was bleeding – a lot – but I think he'll be okay."

"Yeah." Shikamaru folded his hands in front of his face, as he leaned forward, not looking at Naruto. "Yeah, I got to trust in it."

"Did you go and check on him?"

"He's in ICU. I didn't get the chance to do so since I went straight home after our talk with the Hokage. Visiting hours is limited, last time I checked. I'll check tomorrow. As for today, I just wanted to rest and get some sleep. Barely got that today." The Nara boy then scrubbed his eyes quickly. "Chōji… he looked bad."

Naruto winced. "Yeah, he did. Well, he's in good hands. You don't need to rush out to see him. Relax a bit, okay?" When his former team leader shook his head, Naruto questioned, "What's wrong now?"

"I just," Shikamaru stopped to rub his temples with a sigh. "I just wish I wasn't so useless."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean that I was useless in that mission, Naruto." Shikamaru gave him a sideways glance. "Seriously. Everybody did something while I just… froze up. That redhead missing-nin…"

"Ah, Tenzō-san said his name was Shiro," Naruto informed his friend.

"Well, Shiro did something to me. Some sort of paralysis technique that stunned me and I couldn't do anything. Chōji tried protecting me. He could have died because I was so useless. I was standing there with my mouth open, gawking, ready to piss my pants. I watched him take a blow that could have severed something like an artery and I did nothing." Naruto could see the boy balling his fists on his black pants under the eating stand. "What kind of leader does that on a mission? I couldn't do anything for him."

"Hey man, it's okay. We just turned chūnin."

"Doesn't excuse anything."

The blond scratched his head. "Come on, stop being so hard on yourself. Seven months ago, or so, we were all in the Academy together. I still remember us struggling in the Forest of Death for the Chūnin Exams. We were just put in a shit situation and Chōji protected you."

"Hmm."

After Shikamaru's noncommittal hum, Naruto sighed and turned his whole body towards the boy. "Listen, I can tell you I know how you feel. On my first mission, my former team and I got attacked by these two mercenary ninjas, right? I froze up for a few seconds and the missing-nin almost killed me, until Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei stepped in and beat them. I was so mad at myself for my stupidity. Then, I got tripped up again when me and Sasuke was fighting another missing-nin on the same mission. He took a blow for me that I thought was fatal. Even recently, I had a mission where I was working with Sasuke and Sakura and we got attacked. Three times, I couldn't do much. I could have beat myself up for all of that, but you know what I realized?"

Naruto's gaze at Shikamaru hardened. "You can't stay too mad at yourself forever. It doesn't do anything for you. Take that energy and apply it to training and getting stronger, because that's all you can do. You need to get stronger, in order to protect those precious to you. Do you get what I'm saying? All you can do now is get stronger so you can protect Chōji next time, right?"

Shikamaru sighed deeply as if a burden was lifted off his shoulders. His frown turned into a wry smirk. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, man." Naruto smiling, feeling happy that he got through so quickly to his peer.

"Even if you said it in a cheesy way. Who the hell calls their friends 'precious ones?'"

Laughing, Naruto shrugged. "Just something I heard from another person who referred to who he cared about like that."

"Heh, it's still apt, I suppose."

"So, yeah, don't feel too bad about what happened. We can't be expected to become super powerful after that little time of being shinobi. Plus, those bounty hunters we fought were, like, S-rank class shinobi, you know?"

"I suppose…" The Nara's smirk became a small smile. He closed his eyes. "It's weird hearing you say something so rational."

"The hell does that mean?! I try to make you feel better and you do me like that?!" Naruto nearly screeched in shock and betrayal, though he somewhat was hamming it up, knowing that Shikamaru was just teasing him.

Shikamaru laughed for a bit at him. "I mean, you weren't rational a few hours ago, damn near ready to scream off at Tsunade-sama."

"Oh, that bitch? I mean, they say she's the best healer in the world but she fucking didn't bother healing Chōji! I was so pissed."

"I know." The Nara shook his head. "So was I. I couldn't let it show. I couldn't panic. That would have made me feel worse." He rubbed his shoulders with his right hand idly. "But I guess if we low-rank shinobi freeze up in a battle like that, so can she."

"Sheesh, I hope that doesn't happen to me again. What's the point of getting that strong if I just freeze up as I did before? I wonder what the hell happened. Tenzō-san said she got shook up by Kakuzu, but I don't know, it didn't seem like it."

Shikamaru's eyes widened a bit. "I've been meaning to ask you, Naruto, but how do you know Tenzō-san? You obviously knew who he was when he just got summoned. Not a lot of people just casually know ANBU members' codenames."

"Ah, well," Naruto started, wondering if he was allowed to tell Shikamaru that about his training with Jiraiya and how Tenzō was helping, especially when needing to subdue his bijū chakra. "I get some training tips from the guy from time to time."

"Oh yeah? I wonder how you got hooked up with training with ANBU. That's cool." Shikamaru shrugged, not really prying too much further. "Still, I wonder if that played a part in your battle with Shiro. I mean, you didn't freeze up like me. Hell, you had the guts to fight the guy one-on-one. All with that strange chakra you had."

"Oh. You saw that, huh?" Naruto looked down, swirling the ramen broth in front of him with a spoon.

"Yeah, of course. I'm sure everybody saw it and if they didn't, felt it. It was pretty fearsome." Shikamaru chuckled and it didn't seem too contemptuous or mocking. "I never knew you had that power though. No offense, Naruto, but you seem like the bragging type."

"H-Hey!" Naruto pouted, despite feeling awkward.

The Nara teen snickered but attempt to cover it up with a hand. He still had a smile planted on his face as he waved the hand back and forth in a placating manner. "Now, now, I didn't mean to offend you but still, you can't lie. You're the type of person that would show off any sort of technique just because you think it's badass, so I'm curious how I never saw this ability you have before in the Academy. It's nothing I ever heard of. I mean, normally, chakra is blue, not red. Is it some sort of bloodline you have?"

"Ah…" Naruto balked again, wondering what he could say. On one hand, he could say it's a bloodline and be done with it. On the other hand, he wanted to say the truth but he didn't know how Shikamaru would react. The Nara was his friend, despite how limited their interaction was, but how could he even get into the mess that was having a demon inside him?

Would Shikamaru still be okay with him after it? Naruto bit his bottom lip, stewing on it.

Lucky for him, he got a few seconds to think so more on it as Ayame came out with Shikamaru's ramen as if she heard what they were talking about and came to his rescue. "There you are. Our house special, the Ichiraku Ramen, with green tea."

"Ah, thank you, ma'am."

"Anything else you need?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Not at this time."

"No problem! Just let me know!" Ayame turned, but not before giving Naruto a meaningful look. He nodded quickly at her, mentally thanking her for looking out for him. He would be sure to buy a few more bowls as a token of his thanks to the young woman before he left the shop.

"Ah, sorry, yeah, uh, what did you ask me before? If my ability is a bloodline?"

"Mmhmm…" Shikamaru confirmed, waiting for a proper response.

"Well, I guess… It's something I am just learning how to control." Which was somewhat true anyway, right? Relative to about a month ago, Naruto had just started using the Kyūbi's chakra more and getting down how to channel it better. "It's not something I like using since I don't have the greatest control over it yet."

"I see."

"Yeah, well, it's just a power I discovered I have recently. No one else in the village has it, nor the ability to do so." Naruto shrugged, wondering how convincing he sounded. A shinobi should have mastered the art of lying, but Naruto would be the first to admit that he wasn't that much of a good liar. "I couldn't say what it is."

"Maybe it's some sort of family bloodline."

"I don't have a family if you remember."

"But you are of a clan, Naruto. The Uzumaki Clan? Remember?" Naruto's face dawned with realization. Shikamaru rubbed his face in disbelief. "Boy, how did you get through the Academy again?"

"Well, I have been meaning to look up them." Especially since that Shiro fellow was apparently from the same clan as him. He thanked the Nara inwardly for reminding him. "But I haven't quite gotten around doing that."

"I would check the libraries."

"Yeah, that's a start." Naruto smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem." Shikamaru then turned to finally start eating his food. Naruto tasted his food and was a bit annoyed that it was lukewarm, but ultimately, he was happy he got to cheer up Shikamaru. He was still a bit disappointed in himself that he didn't have the guts to tell his Nara friend the truth behind the "red chakra" but maybe later on down the line he would get around to doing so.

After a bit, Shikamaru paid for his meal and left Ichiraku, leaving Naruto to eat two more bowls before he himself left for home.

The next morning, and before he started doing any sort of training on with the Hokage, Naruto decided to go to the hospital. It wasn't only to check on Chōji but also to check on the other person in the hospital: Kakashi Hatake. His former squad leader had been put under a genjutsu by one of the Akatsuki men, Itachi Uchiha, and hadn't come from it at all. Since he hadn't gotten the chance to come to visit before yesterday, Naruto was going to visit the comatose man in ICU.

Going up the stairs of the hospital, he was shocked at the sight of Tsunade, leaning against a wall of Kakashi's room. "Er, what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like, kid?" The woman snorted. "I'm working here."

"But… why?"

"Because I'm a medic-nin?" The blonde raised an eyebrow. "And what's your business in ICU? Visiting someone? Hey, is Kakashi Hatake your teacher? I thought Jiraiya was."

"Kakashi-sensei was my former squad leader before I became a chūnin, actually." Naruto frowned a bit, in confusion. "So, wait, you're healing people now? What the hell happened from before then?"

Tsunade frowned herself before sighing. "Listen, I… had a problem, and I fixed it. That's all you need to know. Both your friend, Chōji, and your sensei, Hatake-san, are fine now. With Chōji, some surgery was performed but Shizune finished him up before I even came here."

"That's a relief," Naruto remarked, letting go of a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"Yeah. As for Hatake-san, he's going to need some more time to recover. A bit of mental evaluation, and some therapy before he's ready to return back to duty. Probably a month before I get him back up to speed. That's the gist of it."

Naruto didn't know what to say. One minute he really hated this hag's guts, and the next, she was the savior that everyone needed in this village. "…Thank you."

Tsunade smiled a little bit before nodding. "Well, at least someone's pleased with my work. Not that I lacked praise since all the doctors did was fawn over my performance." She then yawned noisily. "Man, got me working almost day and night doing this shit. Jiraiya is something else. You two better be glad we're here. It was a mess before me and Shizune started cleaning up, so to speak."

"Ah, I should let you get back to doing… whatever you're doing now."

"Taking a break, kid," the busty blonde woman sighed, folding her arms under her chest in an interesting way. Naruto tried to not stare, feeling a blush creep up against his cheeks. Damn teenage hormones. "As for you, I think Hatake-san went back to sleep. Don't go disturbing him, okay? It's probably going to take a day or two before he gets his bearings back. He also wasn't all that coherent anyway when he was brought out his coma. A lot of patients are like that when they wake up."

"Alright," Naruto nodded, and then after contemplating it for a second, gave her a bow. "Thank you so much for saving them."

"Hmph, so you do have so manners. Well, I guess I accept. You're welcome. I supposed I wasn't doing the best in my own situation, huh?" She closed her eyes, a smile on her face. She uttered her next words softly. "It took Jiraiya… and you… to snap me out of it."

"Er, what did I do?" Naruto raised back up and scratched his hair in confusion. "I pretty much remember me calling you a 'fucking old bitch.'"

For some reason, Tsunade chuckled pleasantly and leaned off the wall. She then went to pinch his cheek, hard. Naruto yelped, getting reminded of her crazy natural strength. "I'm letting you off for that one with just that. Try not to get so crude with a lady, kid. I'm just trying to help you when you deal with girls later on. Well then, I'm about to end my break." She suddenly frowned. "I have another patient Jiraiya wanted me to see to especially. A young boy by the name of Lee."

Naruto rubbed his face. "Oh yeah… Rock Lee. I heard his injury was pretty bad. But if you can heal Kakashi-sensei, you should be able to fix Lee easily!"

"Things aren't as simple as just healing, kid. Unlike Kakashi's coma, Lee's issue is much worse," she muttered, closing her eyes. She opened them up, seeing Naruto's concerned look and decided it was time to leave. "Alright, enough talk. You got your thing and I got mine. I'll see you later."

"See ya," Naruto said back to the departing Tsunade and ducked into the room of his jōnin-leader, stewing in thought. He knew something was up with Lee, but if this lady could heal hundreds of others who were suffering in the hospital in the span of one day, and get Kakashi out of a coma, she could help Lee.

That's all he could hope for anyway. But for now, he should probably go and let his former teammates know that Kakashi-sensei had made it out of his coma and was resting now. His hand went for his favorite hand seal.

Around 11 am, Sasuke went through a taijutsu kata, trying his best to ignore Sakura, who sat on a wooden log post with a dreamy look on her face. As usual, his teammate was more concerned about catching a chance to see him work and gush about how "cool" he looked instead of actually training herself. She is just as insufferable as Naruto used to be when he was on the team.

Thoughts of the blond then started to climb inside his head. He wondered what the moron was doing now – doing missions and fighting strong people or training his hardest, maybe with a teacher who wasn't injured or lazy when he was healthy. It irked him so much, which made him strike the training dummy in front of him harder.

Where was the boy anyway? After Sasuke got out of the hospital yesterday, healed up by the surprisingly Tsunade of the Sannin, he went looking for him, even knocked on the guy's door, but he wasn't there. He assumed though that the boy may have gone on another mission outside the village not involving them – something else that burned him inside more than he wished it did.

Getting bored with this light training, Sasuke debated whether or not to actually seek the boy out and maybe see if he was still in the village. He was itching to fight him and it wouldn't be hard to track him down, but if he was off on some mission, then he would have to wait until he got back.

Luckily enough for the Uchiha, Naruto decided to appear in front of them in a plume of smoke. "Yo, guys! Guess who's back?"

"Oh, Naruto! How's it going?" Sakura asked the blond in a pleasant manner.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned at the pink-haired genin. "And Sasuke too! I had a feeling you two would be here! Perfect timing."

"Hmph, what's up, dead last? Here to grace us with your presence for a reason, Chūnin-san?" Sasuke took his eyes off his training dummy and turned to inspect the former troublemaker of the Ninja Academy. The boy was dressed in a black shirt and the standard orange pants and black sandals he usually had on. Even as a chūnin, the Uzumaki would never stop wearing orange. Moron.

"Well, actually, I'm just a clone. The real Naruto is in the hospital, visiting Kakashi," the clone explained, scratching his head a bit.

"I hope he isn't causing Sensei trouble…" Sakura frowned, looking disapprovingly at Naruto's clone.

Naruto's stand-in shook his head vigorously. "Nah, in fact, he's about to leave. But Boss wanted me to tell you guys that Kakashi-sensei woke up out his coma!"

"What? No way!" Sakura smiled brightly. "That's great to hear!"

"Yeah! You guys should come with him tomorrow and visit Kakashi-sensei! That way-"

"Hold up," Sasuke interrupted, gaining both Sakura and Naruto's confused attention. "Forget all of that for a second. We can all visit Kakashi later. Instead, why don't you tell the real Naruto about having a little spar today?"

"Oh?" Naruto's doppelgänger blinked. "Well, I guess so, but can you wait until tomorrow? Boss, er, Naruto's got some training today to do with his teacher-"

"Naruto's getting some one-on-one training?" Sasuke sneered.

"Well, yeah," the shadow clone answered back truthfully with a shrug. "What did you expect? He's not on a team anymore, so he got someone to train him."

"Who would want to train that dead-last?" The raven-haired teen scoffed in derision.

"Eh, he's not at liberty to say… I think? Actually, does Sensei care whether or not anyone know…?" The clone rubbed his chin, mulling over telling Sasuke and Sakura anything.

Sasuke felt his anger increase. "So, what? You're too afraid to say who's been given the short end of the stick in training you, dead last?"

"The hell is your problem? You've been acting moody since this conversation started. Probably more than usual." The clone frowned at his creator's former teammate. "Look, you and Naruto can fight – boy, that sounds weird when I say it – tomorrow. He'll be training all day today."

"Fine. Alright then, tell Naruto this: meet me tomorrow in Team Kakashi's training grounds."

"Fine. What time though?"

"Around 10 am. That way when I'm finished whooping his ass, I don't skip lunch."

The clone raised an eyebrow. "That's what this is all about? A chance to beat him up? I thought this was going to be a friendly spar."

"I see it like this," Sasuke started as he walked closer and stared down at Naruto's clone. "I want to know if Naruto actually has gotten stronger or he's letting his promotion get to his head."

"Ah, man, you're talking about that crap back in the hospital?" The clone groaned, putting his face in his right hand. "Look, that was stupid. I, or rather, Naruto's sorry about-"

"Oh, he's going to be sorry if he doesn't bring his 'A'-game tomorrow," Sasuke declared, giving the clone a perfectly haughty look. "Tell him to be here, at 10 am, not a second late."

Sasuke then turned to his female teammate, who, for some reason, had a worried look on her face. "Sakura, you're coming tomorrow. Since Kakashi-sensei isn't here, you're going to be refereeing this match, got it?"

"I like how you just decided she's coming…" Sasuke ignored the clone's disapproving glower. "Sakura-chan, you don't have to-"

"Um, no, i-it's o-okay…" Sakura trailed off, looking down. "It's probably for the best."

"Good." Sasuke nodded.

"Alright, bastard, calm down. I'll get the message to him now." Naruto's clone grumbled as he started to leave. He was stopped when Sasuke held a hand up.

"No need. You're a shadow clone and clones can instantly give their creator information when dispelled." Before the clone could even utter a confused 'Huh?' Sasuke had sunk into his guard and sent an open palm strike to his head, making the clone explode into smoke.

Smirking, Sasuke turned to the training dummy again with a new purpose in his eyes.

It was time to prepare for tomorrow.

End.

A/N: And so, the Tsunade chapters are done with. A lengthy chapter to square away a few things. We'll be picking up the action again soon with this next arc I have planned.

Byakugō no In – Strength of a Hundred Seal