DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Tsunade giddily dragged her apprentice and "granddaughter" down into the basement to find a banner and some partyware that looked ancient to Naruto.

The small girl picked up a sign that said "Congratulations!" and asked what they were looking for. Being down in the basement was even worse than being at the hospital. She was glad she had a mask to help live through the clouds of dust that were being kicked up as the trio went through boxes. "Why isn't this stuff sealed up? Everything would stay like it's supposed to if it was, 'ttebayo."

Tsunade groaned but remembered her own Academy Graduation. Goodness... She had acted like she didn't care - and it wasn't as if it surprised anyone else that Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the God of Shinobi, would graduate at the top kunoichi of her class. Inside, however, Tsunade had feared failing the graduation test and shaming her family. She was good, even then, at masking her emotions - and for a moment, she allowed herself to wonder why she did it, and when that all started.

"You did it, Tsu-chan! We're so proud of you!"

"Tch! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa," Tsunade said in embarrassment outside of the Academy. The goof of her class, Jiraiya, was watching her and her family from behind a tree, and weirder still for the young girl, the Rookie of the Year, Orochimaru, was also watching from the clearing he was sitting in on the other side of the walkway. Each of them was alone, and Tsunade wondered where their parents were.

"What do you say we bring your friends to your celebration?" Hashirama asked, giving each of the boys a wink as he gestured for them to move toward him. The scene was incredibly awkward, but Tsunade's grandparents always had a smile and shared their belief that the entire village was family, and thus their love, with everyone. Briefly, the preteen wondered if her grandfather's brother, Uncle Tobirama, would be at this party, too, or if he was doing his brother's work while he was away from the office. Knowing that her grandmother would insist she be polite, she quietly asked the goof and the weirdo to join them. She really did hope Uncle Tobi would be there. He was pretty harsh, and would make the boys shake in their sandals!

"Is father coming?" Tsunade asked her grandfather quietly as the group walked toward the compound. She hadn't seen the man in a long, long time.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-chan. He's still on a mission. He did send something for you, and wants you to know how proud he is of you."

Tsunade was disappointed but unsurprised. Ever since her mother had died, her father was never the same. She'd bet money that the graduation gift he supposedly sent was actually from her grandparents. Her father never even remembered her birthday anymore... Her grandparents were most likely doing the same thing that she did for Nawaki every year: giving him an extra present and saying it was from their father.

"Where is that rascal of a brother of yours?" Mito asked before turning to go find her baby brother, who they eventually found "playing ninja" with some of the youngest Academy students.

Tsunade didn't know at the time that her father was on a mission to bring her grandfather's best friend, Madara, back to the village. That certainly ended in a disaster...

Tsunade shook her head and decided to make sure that things were better for Hashi-kun, Naruto-chan, and even Shizune.

"...and that's when your grandmother met Jiraiya-sama," Shizune finished the funny story she was telling Naruto. Tsunade sighed heavily as she picked up another small box and began to open it. Shizune had "forgotten" that on her first day of classes, she'd also met that bastard, Orochimaru. What a mess her team had been. It was a wonder they'd all survived as long as they had.

Did I ever really know you, Orochimaru?

"Why not get new stuff?" Naruto asked in irritation. Drunk Granny was making that face again where she would say that she was "lost in thought," so Naruto didn't bother to ask what she was thinking of. Every time the old hag did it, she'd just lie. Her daddy said that didn't make her a bad person as she was probably just trying to "spare her pain" or something - he also said that Drunk Granny was a bad person in lots of ways, anyway - but Naruto still thought it was bad to lie.

Sometimes it sucked being able to sense lies, but sometimes it was fun!

...Like when Shikamaru and that pompous jerk, Sasuke, would try to trick her at school! Or when Shikamaru would tell her that she'd made a good move on the shogi board! He was really thick if he thought he could fool her!

Yet she hadn't won a single game yet, even when cheating properly. That made the little girl glower. She was going to either have to learn that boring game or get a lot better at cheating. She decided to do both. Whoa to all that oppose me! Naruto cackled an evil laugh in her mind. "What's that?"

"This is a banner that was made generations ago. It's one of the reasons we're down here, Naru-chan," Tsunade said lightheartedly. "And why we don't 'just buy new stuff,'" she added using finger quotes, "is because there's such a thing as tradition, plus this is embroidered beautifully." She showed Naruto and Shizune the gold and ivory banner but could tell that Naruto didn't really understand why she considered it so special. "This has been in my family for generations: since before the village was founded. All of this has," she said, looking longingly at everything in the room that had been stored for who knows how long. "Now there's just me left."

"What about me?! I am - I, well, I WAS an Uzumaki. Doesn't that count for something?" Naruto asked, pouting terribly. Her blue eyes had welled up with tears, but she was tough! She blinked the tears away and didn't know why what Drunk Granny had said that made her so sad. She'd wanted to be a Hatake ever since her daddy found her and she knew his name. But for some reason either not being an Uzumaki or Drunk Granny dismissing her made her chest ache.

After staring at the child for several moments, Tsunade ruffled her hair. The girl's question and teary face laid heavily upon her heart. "Well, I'm still the last Senju, but my Grandma Mito always said she was an Uzumaki through and through. That makes us kin, you brat… and that makes me your elder! You will respect me, henceforward, and obey every word I say, now that I've thought of it." She had to turn away as she said the last part to hide her smile at the outraged child. Naruto was just too easy to rile up.

"You - You… You're a brat! And I'll obey you when you stop gambling and drinking, goddammit!"

"Naruto-chan!" Shizune yelled in a scolding voice, shaking her head at the girl from the shelves she was standing behind. "Do not curse! And you, Tsunade-hime, shame on you for…"

"Yeah, yeah." Tsunade turned back toward the little blonde. "You know, brat, you're a lot like me." She rolled her eyes as the little girl scoffed at her. The kid was a mini-her only - oddly enough - with what felt exactly like her grandfather's chakra, alright, whether little Naruto liked it or not. "I've been thinking more about it, and I think that you... could be a decent med-nin. I mean, if my grandfather could do it, then why not you, hmm?"

Naru stilled as she looked at the disguised old lady, wondering whether she was being serious. Drunk Granny had told her shortly after meeting her that she had too much chakra to be a decent medical-nin; surely she wouldn't be so cruel as to mock her dream, would she?

Naruto knew that she could hurt people: she'd been trained to do that ever since she could remember. But healing people? And then not hurting them again, the way that Snake-aniki always hurt her after he made her better? That would be a dream come true. "Can you teach me to make the green stuff that heals people?" she asked in a small, tight voice.

"We can try," Tsunade said easily as she continued going through boxes, looking for things that she could use for Hashi-kun's party to celebrate his forthcoming graduation from the Academy. "There's a lot of training to do before you can heal someone, Naru-chan."

"I can do it! Can we start right now?!"

"You have to listen to everything that Shizune and I tell you, follow what we say to the letter, and continue your training with your brat-father and the Pervert. PLUS attend the Academy. Think you can keep up?"

Naruto began bouncing, higher and higher. "Yes! Yes!"

"Tch! Don't use chakra when you're hyper," Tsunade scolded as she grabbed then held the girl's shoulders down. When the child immediately obeyed her, Tsunade knew that Naru was even more serious than she thought. She smirked at her and gave her next orders as her master. "You'll call me Tsunade-shishou, not Drun... what you called me before. Now go get me some sake: it's in my room in that urn I keep those antique parasols in."

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou!" Naruto ran from the room.

Shizune laughed softly at the girl's eagerness and returned to Tsunade's side. "I won't say anything about the sake this time, and only this time…" She took a moment to savor the happiness her little family was experiencing. "It's nice of you to mentor her, too, shishou."

"Don't call me that! You're my niece, pure and simple. Thank the gods I won't have to hear that horrible name she called me ever again! And Shizune? You'll be the one to train her. I'll just supervise you two every now and then."

If Tsunade was expecting a reaction out of the onyx-eyed young woman, she didn't get one. Shizune anticipated this, and really did hope that she could help Tsunade achieve her dream of having a true medical professional on every team that took a mission outside of the village. Training Naru, with all of that demonic chakra plus the wild, hot chakra that was her own, would be difficult but rewarding if she was successful.

However, she was surprised when not one little girl showed up at the hospital for training, but five wanted to learn from her. They were such a handful, Shizune was forced to enlist Tsunade's help.