During ch.7 YMBiS


You Must Believe in Spring
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Seasons In-Between


Wednesday, March 25th 2:17 PM KST
Konoha, ANBU Base/Tsunade's office

Tsunade snapped her gloves off, strode out of the operating room, went directly to her office, and yanked her door shut behind her with a satisfying SLAM. (It had taken engineers weeks to design doors that didn't break every time she had a streak of temper. The cost of the research and production actually balanced out the number of doors she used to cycle through.)

A familiar face was waiting for her.

"You wanted me, Baa-chaan?"

"Ah, Naruto," she took a bottle of sake hidden behind a book on a shelf, and downed about half of it. "What were my orders?"

"To stay away from the infirmary," Naruto replied promptly.

"Oh, so you did hear," she smiled and put an arm around him, waving her jug in the other hand, "That is good; I don't have to test your hearing. And you are here because…?"

"I'm a clone!" he said proudly. "You didn't say no clones."

"So, I didn't" she admitted. "But for future reference," she slid a look over to him as she tightened her grip on the back of his shirt. "When I say no, Naruto, I mean NO. No clones. Not clone-clones, not shadow-clones, not water clones, not fire clones, not ramen clones, or any other kind of harebrained clone you can think up. Do. You. Understand. Me?" She turned him to face her, her nails digging into his shoulders as he winced. "No. CLONES."

"S-sure!"

"Excellent!"

"Th-thanks baa-chan," he sighed in relief, does that mean I can-"

POOF!

Tsunade closed her grip on the clone's shoulders with force enough to dispel it and 6 of its closest copies.

"Harsh."

"I don't know what you mean," she sniffed demurely.

"Out of the supply in your desk?" Jiraiya asked lazily, nodding to the oddly concealed bottle.

"Shizune doesn't know where I keep the emergency emergency sake," she handed him the bottle before falling back in her chair wearily. "Smooth enough to go down fast and strong enough to peel paint."

Jiraiya had a swig and handed it back, coughing. "Well, I can see the second part. Why going for the big guns?"

"Inoichi scanned Anko and Ranka's minds. From what we can piece together, they were held captive and experimented upon extensively. Ranka wasn't expected to survive; there is no telling what the damage is physically or psychologically. He had a subconscious memory of the lab techs saying they'd have to put him in a coma for at least a month to allow him to recover."

"Can we track the techs?"

"Anko killed them."

"What about Ranka and Anko?" Jiraiya asked, taking the empty bottle from her with the intention of throwing it away somewhere Shizune wouldn't find it.

"Both are in restorative rest. Ranka is in a low-grade coma while we monitor him; his chakra levels are dangerously low. If Anko hadn't found him when she did, he would have died before the end of today. As for Anko, we can't do a deep mental probe without precautions. Looks like either her or Kabuto put some kind of safeguards in place; not that she is one to scan lightly anyway." She paused and looked at Jiraiya. "She was sent back with some kind of chakra-based-surveillance-jutsu-snake sealed in her curse mark. It was detectable by Byakugan and Sharingan. It's been expelled and her mark has been better sealed."

"The Sharingan was used to see chakra like that?" he asked, rubbing his chin. "That is unusual. Are you going to have Sasuke take a look?"

"He's busy trying to contact Anko's summons to get more information."

"Good luck with that," Jiraiya snorted. "Snakes are notoriously picky summons. Do you remember the times Orochimaru had with Manda?"

Tsunade smiled a little at that. "Yes. Even though the first Manda was killed long ago; his grandson was a stubborn shit of a snake." Tsunade shuddered. "Give me a slug any day."

Jiraiya was spared commenting by Shizune's entrance.

"Kankuro's evaluation went well," she flipped through her clipboard. "A little strain but no ill-effects. I've recommended that he stay one more night under observation to be certain. Gaara would like to meet with you to discuss their departure."

"That brat," Tsunade muttered. "I should make him stay and eat only Jello and tapioca for a week." She looked up at Shizune, wearily. "What's my schedule."

"You're booked solid until an hour after lunch."

"Lunch?" she frowned. "When did I schedule lunch?"

"You didn't," Jiraiya shrugged. "And we're already five minutes late."

"For?"

"For you to quit being stubborn and just follow my lead for once."

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, drumming her red nails against her sleeve.

"I can think of no less than fifty instances where that was a terrible idea, and that is without even trying."

"Name one time when it had to do with food - and discount any instances where a wilderness or remedy was involved."

She held his gaze before muttering "Fine."

Shizune stepped to the side to let them pass, smiling to herself.

"Those two never change."