Chapter 54: Awaited Arrivals
They moved reasonably quickly through the desert, no slower than their initial trek through the lands when they initiated their assignment. Baki stayed on the back of Tenzo's Wood Clones throughout the trip as they didn't dare risk the man expending too much energy and truly making his condition critical. From Tenzo's inspections of the gouged wound on the man's arms, Baki wasn't experiencing any serious blood loss that couldn't be tended to through first aid. That being said, the pain relievers Tenzo administered seemed to have made Baki bogged down enough to require assistance by itself. The man was practically drooling on the clone's shoulders as they kicked through the sandy land.
When the group came to a stop for the day, and the nightly desert chill began to roll in, ration bars were eaten, camps were made, and watch was set. Now, with the moon shining brightly down on the stone silent desert, Naruto sat at the edge of their camp with Gaara as their instructors took their rests. Baki was in for a more restful night, it being long decided that he was to only rest until he could get true medical attention, than Tenzo as the Leaf jounin would replace Naruto for the night's watch. As it was, Naruto was sitting next to the Sand Jinchuuriki in relative silence as they kept watch over their camp for any wanderers or would-be assassins. In truth, it was only Naruto's turn to sit guard, but Gaara's inability to sleep gave them all a secondary pair of eyes all the way through the night.
Blue eyes flickered to Gaara, watching the boy dance his fingers around a thin thread of sand that rose from the grains they sat upon. Naruto, initially through this mission, didn't really know how to take Gaara. He was close with Temari and Kankuro, or he liked to think so, and by now he's had many more conversations with those two than he had with Gaara when he was in the Leaf for the Chunin Exams. It wouldn't be weird to consider himself closer to the older pair of siblings than he was with Gaara, but that simply didn't seem right. There was a connection that he felt with Gaara, one that clearly stemmed from their statuses to their villages, and it made it feel like he and Gaara knew each other without having to truly know each other. The brief homicidal fixation aside, of course.
Throughout the mission, in many of the nights that they would be forced to pass with some kind of conversation, Naruto had a chance to have those conversations with Gaara. Just like this night, all the others would have them sitting next to each other. Most of those nights were silent, but the occasional topic would flow between them. Each of those topics of conversation, though, showed how unused to familiarity with other people he was. His words would come only after thick pauses as he gathered his thoughts, explanations would be needed to better get across his point, and there were many questions that were simply answered with no answer or an admission of ignorance. Despite this, Naruto only understood the boy more. How many times had he done the same thing with Sasuke and Sakura in the early days of their team? More often than not was the clear answer.
As he sat next to Gaara now, Naruto could only consider the boy as close a friend as any of his others, as short as that list was. Sakura and Sasuke would always be his first friends, Kakashi the first person he could look at as a true guardian, and the Third Hokage as the first person to have nice words for him. However, none of them knew what it was to share a body with a Tailed-Beast and what that meant. None of them could understand what that responsibility truly meant. Gaara did, and that was all they truly needed to be friends as close as Naruto thought they were.
It made Naruto want to say something in this silence, but there wasn't much he thought of to say.
"Your brother and sister miss you, you know?" He spoke, the words almost falling out of him unknowingly. In his search for what to say, he seemed to have latched to a random passing thought and blurted it out. It wasn't even something he hasn't said before. Rather, it was one of the first things Naruto passed on to Gaara. "With how well Sakura is doing with her puppet and how good people say Tenten is at weapons, they should be back soon."
The more words he spoke the better he established where he would steer the conversation, hopefully saving him from some dry comment from Gaara to fall back into silence. Unsurprisingly, Gaara met Naruto's eyes as he spoke but quickly fell back to the sand in thought. At least a couple of minutes passed by before Gaara responded, more than a little confusion showing on his face.
"I don't know how to feel. I want to see them again, I think, but at the same time I'm not. I don't know how they'll act with me. They could still see me as some monster, even if I've tried not to be." The sand that danced between waving fingers sped up in the boy's explanation and Naruto quickly caught on to Gaara's meaning.
"When they started talking to me I was nervous around them, too. They're nice, though. I think you'll be fine." Naruto reassured, or at least hoped to. It wasn't like he was lying either. He wasn't like Sakura, who could talk to anybody when she had a reason to, but more like Sasuke and spent too much time alone to be comfortable around other people. Gaara was no different.
"Nervous," Gaara said with a nod of his head, like he found the word he was looking for. Putting a name to a feeling. "I hope you're right. Mother isn't happy with me, she hasn't since I've stopped talking to her so much."
There was a sense of sadness or loss to Gaara's words, like he was losing something important by not talking to the Tailed-Beast within him. It wasn't something that Naruto could make sense of. The Nine-Tails was nothing short of terrifying to Naruto and not an ounce of friendship could be found between them. Gaara, however, thought of Shukaku as a parent in a twisted way, unquestionably making him lonelier than he already was. That thought alone brought a frown to Naruto's face, the thought of someone experiencing a loneliness harsher than his own.
"Are the Akatsuki truly as serious as the Kazekage says? Will they take Mother from me?" No worry filtered into the boy's voice. It stayed as deep and rasped as it always was, but Naruto didn't need to listen to Gaara's tones to know his friend was worried. How could he not be? The Akatsuki were terrifying.
The blonde only gave his friend a silent nod of his head, refraining from putting his thoughts to words. Still, a chill ran down Naruto's spine at the mention of them. Red flashed behind his eyes as the genjutsu world he spent far too much time within was remembered as precisely as it always was. This wasn't a topic broached between the two Jinchuuriki, despite the targets on their backs from such an organization. Naruto wouldn't be caught willingly speaking about them unless he was promising to himself that he'd put an end to them. It was a promise that felt futile even within his own thoughts but those thoughts were what drove him.
Gaara's mention put an end to their conversing very suddenly, Naruto no longer comfortable enough to talk about anything else. Most people would've pushed harder at Naruto's sudden retreat into his own mind, but again, Gaara and he were close in ways that only nine people, including them, across the continent could understand. The red haired boy was more than willing to continue the silence between them in comfort. Naruto, though not particularly comfortable with himself any longer, was thankful for his friend's silent understanding.
The following two days followed the same pattern of traveling quickly through the day and ending the nights in quiet conversation. Only two more nights passed and early into the third day they were already closing in on the ringed plateau that surrounded the entirety of the Hidden Sand Village. As soon as their group approached the crevice that entered the shinobi village, a pair of Sand Shinobi fell into step with them to escort them through the village without so much as a word between them. Baki was taken to the village's hospital as the remaining three were brought to the domed building that they first spoke to the Kazekage in.
Tenzo, as he always did, took the lead in explaining the mission to the Kazekage, including a hesitant description of the beast that they brought down with no small amount of resistance. The Leaf Jounin made no effort to try and explain what it was they saw, preferring to stay quiet much of their trip back to the Sand Village and Naruto had a feeling that it wasn't out of ignorance in what they fought. There was a look in Tenzo's eyes when the beast seemed to come back to life that looked like recognition, or he thought that's what he saw. Maybe Tenzo was just as freaked out as Naruto was.
Naruto and Tenzo's stay in the Sand Village didn't extend too far longer outside of that day, Tenzo persisted in reminding the Kazekage that they needed to report to the Hokage despite the Kazekage's push for thanks in their aid of his village's shinobi. Naruto thought it would have been cool, staying in the Sand and seeing what other shinobi villages were like compared to the Leaf, especially when these people didn't know who he was, but Tenzo wouldn't let up. They only stayed an extra day in the Sand Village, sleeping in the same rooms that they were given upon their first night there. Naruto was able to see some things throughout the village, many of which were a lot like the Leaf Village with people selling things on the sides of the road, trinkets he's never seen before, hops and food stands made the air smell like all the exotic foods Naruto had yet to be exposed to, and all around were people commuting to this place or that. In truth, for his limited exploration of the Leaf Village outside of training grounds or the Hokage Monument, Naruto felt like the Sand was a lot like the Leaf, just presented in different ways.
The respite from the road was as short as Naruto knew it would be. It was another early departure for the two Leaf shinobi as they got up early to start their travels beating the morning desert Sun. However, when they approached the crevice of mountainous rock that led to the road east, Naruto and Tenzo were met with the forms of Gaara and Baki, who stood proudly with a slung arm held close to his chest. It was clear that the two sought to see them off and the gesture was more than enough to generate a warm flutter in Naruto's chest and a small smile play at his lips.
"I see you intend to return to your village so soon. Know that you both have friends here in the Sand for the next time you wish to visit." Baki gave both Naruto and Tenzo a nod of his head as he spoke his words, turning his gaze to his left as they waited for Gaara to speak his piece.
"I will see you again, Uzumaki," the boy paused, caught between speaking and not for a few short seconds before continuing, "Tell Temari and Kankuro I hope to see them soon." Gaara only stayed until he saw Naruto nod his head in reply to his less than confident words, disappearing in a flurry of sand.
They finished their farewells with Baki, Tenzo extending the same sentiments to his fellow jounin should he find his way back to the Leaf, and soon both Naruto and Tenzo were on the traveled roads once again. With how much time they've spent on the road, Naruto couldn't help but acknowledge the comfort he's found in their days of travel. Sleeping in the desert was a comfortable one in comparison to hard stone on hills of rock and grass even softer than the sand. When they crossed the border back into the Land of Fire, with the air cooling and moisture having a place underneath the day's sun, Naruto could only describe the return trip to the Leaf Village as a pleasant one. Or, it was for a time.
They were closing in on the village, the trees becoming dense enough to jump from branch to branch rather than sprinting across the ground and dodging the travelers that would pass by them. The familiarity of the greenery and nature around him brought a buzz to his chest, especially when knowing that they were less than a day out from the village. As the ground sped under him, as the air blew over his face and past his ears, Naruto suddenly felt, and saw, his vision alter. It was subtle at first, so subtle that it could've been passed off as a trick of the eye. But then, everything changed in a wave, shifting the reality around him into something entirely different and equally as real.
The trees he saw around him and traveled upon became a worn path that was very reminiscent of the Land of Wind. A sea of trees that only grew denser the closer they were to the Leaf Village were replaced by flat lands with giant masses of rock. They were unlike anything he'd seen, these massive spires of rock that made the ones atop the Hokage Mountain seem like mere shifting land. Unlike anything he's seen, but they stood in front of him like he was absorbing them with his own two eyes, taking in their majesty while also dashing through the canopies of trees. Naruto walked through these spires, traveling for days and days with the only respite being the occasional village that would be a brief rest stop for information only. Small villages then became a large bustling city, a city bigger than Naruto had ever seen. The chunin couldn't properly appreciate the expansive village, not when they trailed through narrow streets and backroads that kept them away from searching eyes. Finally, the last thing he remembered were two red jackets over brown fatigues and accusing stares before everything went dark.
Nausea and a brain-splitting headache was the first thing Naruto felt when he awoke. Weeks worth of memories tried to integrate with the memories of the life he truly lived in some kind of twisted up bundle that he couldn't make heads or tails of. The concept of "yesterday" was a hard enough task in itself, making the sorting out of these memories damn-near impossible to sort out as things were now.
As Naruto pulled his focus from his mind, his painfully throbbing mind, blue eyes were found searching the surrounding area. Night had fallen already, the sky above him more covered than he had experienced in recent, jumbled memory as only a few lights from the stars above showed through the leaves of the oaks that surrounded him. A warm light was washing over him from his right along with the cracklings of the fire Tenzo must have made. With a deep, calming breath, Naruto tried to gather himself and fight down the contents of his stomach as he made to sit up, but a voice interrupted him before he could do so.
"I wouldn't. Your first time retaining long-term memories from a shadow clone is always hard to get used to. Lay down, rest, and come morning you should be feeling better." Tenzo assured him from the other side of the fire, his form mostly blocked from Naruto's view as he turned his head to face his instructor. The flames were too bright to see around, but Naruto could peek through to see the serious face of Tenzo as he looked at his student. Naruto only gave him a nod, taking the man's advice and remaining in the position his sensei left him.
Tenzo had been more quiet than usual lately, or that's what Naruto remembered thinking before he passed out. From what he remembered then and there, Naruto remembered Tenzo and he talking quite regularly by themselves as they meandered through the Land of Claws, but those memories weren't really his nor what he was talking about. Intent on knowing, Naruto let his voice ring out through the crackling of the fire near him.
"What's wrong? You've been quiet lately." Naruto asked, not entirely expecting a real reply from the jounin. Why would he? Tenzo has every right to be secretive, and as Naruto's teacher, the blonde had little room to question the man. However, a flash of a separate camp came to mind and questions of red clouds that made him too uncomfortable for his liking. Hopefully, like Tenzo's questioning of Naruto during their secondary mission, Tenzo would give him something close to a real answer.
Tenzo sat quietly for a time, his eyes switching between looking at Naruto and the fire nearby, straightening himself for his answer.
"I use Wood Release as a product of experimentation of Orochimaru, before he defected from the Leaf in the wake of the charges that followed him." Tenzo began, voice turning sterner and his face harder. Naruto focused more toward his sensei, the man's words catching all of his attention. "I know what that man's experiments look like, what works he was delving in. I grew up around monsters, smaller monsters that were almost the same as the one we fought. Not in look, they all looked grotesque in different ways, but just as resilient and just as strong."
Naruto sat with this information, not only in what it meant for them as shinobi on a mission but also as insight was gained from his teacher. The man glossed over it, but the information was too striking to be brushed off, the fact that he was the product of experimentation. Someone as infamous as Orochimaru was the reason he had the power of the First Hokage. It was too deep to wrap his mind around it there and then.
"Why didn't you tell the Kazekage?" He asked his teacher, confusion and a small amount of accusation present in his voice. Kakashi made it clear in team 7 that they were to be particular and precise in their reports to the Kage. A leader needed to know all the information they could provide in case it became pertinent in the future.
"We may be in an alliance with the Sand Village, but remember what mark it etched into your headband. No matter what, a shinobi's loyalty is to their Kage and their village. That is their duty as shinobi." Tenzo's voice kept its firmness but lightened in the opportunity for a lesson to be learned. The young chunin couldn't help but acknowledge how familiar those words sounded on his ears, words that he once heard from the old man that made it a point to look out for him.
Duty. It was a word he's heard many times since becoming a shinobi, a word with many meanings when it came to their ways of life. As a Jinchuuriki, duty would define his life and he didn't know how to feel about that. What was left if his whole life revolved around duty?
She wasn't disgruntled. Tsunade Senju didn't get disgruntled. Disgruntlement was a feeling attributed to whiny girls that didn't get what they wanted. No, Tsunade was pissed. When Jiraiya came to her, sat down with her, and spoke to her like an adult over what was required of her to keep some semblance of freedom in her life, she accepted it. As much as she loathed returning to the Leaf and being paraded around a village that stole so much of her happiness, Tsunade could accept that she had little else in terms of choices. Kakashi was the Hokage now and he was far less likely to grant her what old man Sarutobi had. Had that been all that she would have to put up with, Tsunade was sure that she could take it with grace as she always did. If only it could have been so simple.
Instead, as she walked along a road that, decidedly, was further from the village than they should've been since leaving Tanzaku Quarters, Tsunade could only glare at her former teammate as he walked ahead of her by more than a few yards. They would've been within the Leaf days ago, but Jiraiya was adamant that he spread all he could the circumstances around their encounter with Orochimaru. From toad to Anbu, Jiraiya was spreading around to all that would hear him and it served to only grate on the Senju's nerves. She tried to separate from him, to go off and return on her own, but he detested the very idea.
"It's my job to bring you back, princess." he'd say. Or, "you could just as easily disappear the moment I take my eye off of you." and each time she'd be rebuffed by his excuses and increasingly lecherous gaze, Tsunade felt her patience shred away strip by strip. Certainly, there was logic to his explanations, even if he would try and twist his own words into something he didn't mean, but she didn't have to be a tag along to his obsession over Orochimaru.
The Snake evaded anyone that looked for him for decades, and Jiraiya was damn well included in that. Whatever whispers he was spreading would only make the man look more like a fool letting the creep get away again. She didn't have to be a part of it all. Especially when Shizune, who walked only a step behind Tsunade, was still grieving over Tonton's death. Sniffles or whines could still be heard from the girl on occasion, showing the exact moment when she remembered the pig that she dressed up and carried around everywhere she went. Callously, Tsunade wanted to have a word or two with the woman by how intensely attached to Tonton Shizune was, but Tsunade also knew that it was probably another repercussion of the lives they lived. One couldn't really make a host of friends if they changed towns as quickly as they did. So, instead of saying anything, Tsunade was forced to listen to the whines on top of Jiraiya's careless wandering.
"Where the hell are we off to now?" She called ahead to Jiraiya, her familiarity of the countryside failing her as she couldn't tell where they were no matter how hard she gazed at the trees around them. "Some other small village that has a toad and a brothel for you to visit in no particular order, perhaps?"
Despite the bite in her voice, Jiraiya turned his head enough to show the curled edge of his smiling lips and the amused crinkle of his eye. "What do you take me for, princess? I'm a Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, I don't have to purchase my company." Jiraiya fell into a giddy laugh at his words, but Tsunade was less than impressed, making sure her eyebrow was expressly arched when their gazes met again. "I'm not surprised you can't remember where we are, it's probably been too long. We came from the northwest, so we won't be able to see it until we're right on top of it."
Jiraiya's voice was serious, his humor from seconds ago all but forgotten. She took in his words, but they meant nothing to her at first, like he had completely ignored her question. However, with one more glance around their immediate area, blanks began to be filled and an iciness filled her stomach that only grew as the seconds passed. She made it a point to even avoid the dense forestry that sat around the village she was intent on abandoning, not wanting to see the beauty that her grandfather built before giving his life to his village. They couldn't see the village yet, like Jiraiya said, they wouldn't see it until they were essentially at its gates, but in truth they were probably only hours away.
Upon that realization, time seemed to warp for Tsunade. As much as she wanted things to slow, as much as she wanted to extend her time away from the Hidden Leaf Village, her wishes were thoroughly ignored. The hours of travel passed by like seconds to her as she fell into spiraling thoughts. Ice that settled in her stomach became pure dread when the tall, proud gates of the Leaf Village peered over their trail, the four stone faces of those that died or were nearing death in servitude of the shinobi village.
The eyes of the stone faces eerily followed her path as they approached the gates, Tsunade feeling the disapproval from them grew with each step she took toward the large gates that were opened at the midday hour. Even the face that was new in her experience, a face that has been there for over fifteen years, passed its judgment all the same. How could they not? These were the best the Leaf Village had to offer, all of them sacrificing everything they could of themselves to see to the village's continued prosperity and here she was returning from a trip of her own volition. She was returning down the path she created in her quick flee from the pain of the sacrifices they readily gave away. Surely, that judgment of her was justified, even in her own mind, but Tsunade couldn't stop the bitterness from rising within her at the same time.
Tsunade made no attempt to listen in on Jiraiya's discussion with the chunin that stood guard at the village's entrance, she ignored the silent awe that two of the three Sannin together created, but she couldn't help letting her eyes wander as they walked through the village. Fortunately, Jiraiya didn't take this time to spout his nonsense over this or that, Shizune was too busy admiring a village she likely had no potent memories of despite it being the place of her birth, and Tsunade could fight her struggles in whatever peace that could be found.
All the buildings around her were so familiar, but almost unrecognizable at the same time. Even if she wasn't there for it, the stories of the Nine-Tails' destruction were heard and detailed too many times to count. Tsunade knew that many buildings had to be rebuilt, she was aware that many things have changed in the years away, and now she couldn't help but acknowledge what wasn't there. They paced down the main road of the village at a steady stroll and Tsunade's gaze focused on a small shop that once was a bakery that her grandfather and great-uncle would take her to, but in its place now was some diner that probably sold the some things as a diner down the street that it competed with. No longer was it a place of the few fond memories she held. This new sensation of loss, a lesser loss than she was used to but loss all the same, followed her all the way to the Hokage Tower. Shizune, on the other hand, had excitable questions at the ready, many of which he himself couldn't answer due to his own time away from the village but she was jealous of the zeal her long-time companion showed.
The Hokage Tower, on the other hand, was exactly how she remembered it. Every minute detail that her eyes caught from the tower's lobby to the stairwell that they climbed to the highest floor and into the hallway that led to the Hokage's Office. It was all as it was before she left with the exception of Minatio's portrait that sat fourth on the wall to her left next to all the previous Hokages. When they arrived at the door, Jiraiya paused his entrance, holding his hand on the door's knob before he opened it to shoot a look toward her. She was as annoyed by the gesture as she was thankful for it. She was no child that needed her hand held to do something she didn't want to do, but at the same time, the deep breath that his pause gave her settled her nerves enough to gain the confidence to push through the threshold of the office.
Again, as brown eyes scanned over the office the three of them entered, Tsunade found more things that were the exact same in the many years since she's been in this office than things that have changed. The biggest and most notable of these changes was who sat behind the desk itself. For the longest time, her sensei sat behind that desk and he did so for so long that most people likely assumed that would be how it would be when the world came to a close. It was assumed that Hiruzen Sarutobi, the God of Shinobi, was meant to carry the Leaf into forever. Now, however, in Sarutobi's seat was a man that was still nothing but a runt last time she saw him. Tsunade's only thoughts of Kakashi Hatake before seeing him right in front of her was a boy that was essentially just out of diapers. Here and now, he was a man that she had no grounds with. She wasn't one of the legendary Sannin to him and he wasn't a distinguished shinobi to her, and yet she was still technically his subordinate.
"It is good to see you again Jiraiya, and I see you've completed your mission of retrieving Tsunade and…?" Kakashi's single visible eye shifted to Shizune and let his trailing voice act as its own question.
"Shizune, Lord Hokage. I follow Lady Tsunade." The girl answered with noticeable nervousness in her voice, making sure to bow her head to the Hokage as she responded. Tsunade had to hold back a scoff and a roll of her eyes at the girl's discomfort. It made them look like total fools if they couldn't properly introduce themselves. Kakashi, though, seemed to care little and less about Shizune's answer.
"Right. As I was saying, it's good to see you again Jiraiya and I hope you can supply an extensive report of your encounter with Orochimaru. My Anbu squads have been investigating the compound you've passed along and I hope to hear back soon." Kakashi summed up, fixing the papers on his desk as he spoke and reading whatever was on them as if he would rather be doing anything else than speaking to them right now. Tsunade felt her fingers itching to punch a wall, the desk, or the Hokage himself in her frustration at being essentially ignored but kept her sense and refrained from something so rash. The Hokage's eye then turned to her with no small amount of steel in them, sharp and hard like a well trained shinobi could. "Now, Tsunade, I believe we have some things to discuss. Jiraiya, take Miss Shizune to the lobby so arrangements can be made for where she'll be staying."
"Take her to the Senju compound, Jiraiya. Shizune will be staying with me." Her words interrupted the dismissal the Hokage gave to the pair next to her, sending the Toad Sage a glare to make sure he understood that she was utterly serious about it before he left. When Tsunade looked back at the Hokage, he only gave her a relenting nod at the demand before they were all that was left in the room. Tsunade held Kakashi's gaze in silence, a brief war of wills clashing between them as quiet tension mounted at the coming words from the young Kage.
"I don't want there to be any misunderstandings between us, Tsunade. I was never a fan of Hiruzen's leniency with you, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru. As a former jounin-sensei, it is a sentiment I can understand, but you three were not subtle in abusing his kindness. As of now, you are still a shinobi of the Leaf and protected as such, but I have no qualms removing you from duty and leaving you to your own life if that's what you want." She hated the tone this boy used with her, so much so that she couldn't help the scoffs that came from her throat or the nasty glare that was met firmly by the man. Who was he to judge those that had done more throughout the Elemental Nations than he had before he was even born? She's much too old to listen to a scolding from a man damn near half her age.
"Cut the crap, Hatake. If you really wanted to cut me off, you wouldn't have sent Jiraiya to fetch me. Tell me what you want so I can be on my way." Jiraiya already filled her in on what she was here for, and frankly, she wasn't necessarily looking forward to seeing her sensei in whatever condition he was in. But if it would get her out of here quicker, Tsunade was willing to power through the sight as well as she could.
Kakashi kept her gaze for a few seconds longer before silently relenting, standing from his seat and walking toward the door without so much as a word. Her eyes followed the man, idly, acknowledging that he wasn't wearing any of the traditional clothes that a Kage was to dawn, going as far as to leave the hat on the table he left. Tsunade kept her words to herself as she watched Kakashi open the door and throw her a questioning look.
"Are you coming?" He asked with a dry voice, cocking the door open a bit more as he walked through it and left her in the room alone. Shaking herself from her lack of action, Tsunade followed behind Kakashi with a brief hop in her step to catch up to the man. She made to call out to him as she entered the hall but he was already heading into the stairwell, halting any questions.
They climbed down the stairs, their footfalls echoing through the stairwell rather loudly, as Tsunade followed Kakashi's leisurely pace. She thought about saying something, anything, as they made their way back down to the ground level, but she had a distinct feeling that she would get nowhere asking the man anything and instead waited until she had a better grasp of where the man was taking her. When they made it to the ground floor, she was surprised when he turned to walk the path beside the staircase, as if there was anything to be found in the narrow crevice between the staircase and the wall beside it. Tsunade waited with her arms crossed as she watched Kakashi inspect the wall of the staircase, as if he was searching for something, but was brought to even further confusion when he gave a single sharp knock at some unremarkable point on the wall.
"Well?" She called to the man when absolutely nothing came from the man's odd prying, but received nothing in return. It took a few seconds, seconds of awkward waiting as the Hokage made no move to acknowledge Tsunade's question, but then it opened. As if there was a door within the plain, untouched wall, a perfect opening of darkness in the white wall appeared. It was Kakashi's turn to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Well?" He replied with the same snark she gave him before he disappeared into the darkness, sinking down like he was traveling down another flight of stairs. She followed behind him with no small amount of trepidation, short steps and watchful eyes carrying her the whole way down the narrow spacing of a hallway, or whatever it was. The dark stairwell was almost pitch, aside from the faint glow that shone just at the foot of the flight of stairs, but Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.
Idly, Tsunade was reminded of the musty underground compound that Orochimaru snatched her into, leading to more than a fair share of suspicion at whatever she was allowing herself to delve into. Still, she was in the middle of the village and the Hokage was leading the way. If someone was panning anything nefarious, it's a little too late to get ahead of it now. She walked down the lightless stairwell, taking her time to not clatter down the steps she couldn't see, but when she reached whatever basement she was led into, Tsunade wished she hadn't.
Kakashi stood still and quiet, peering through the window with his hands pushed into his pants pockets. Through the subtle reflection of the glass he gazed into, Tsunade immediately saw the dour look of the small portion of the man's visible face, that small portion being more than enough to read the man. She approached the window, acknowledging that there were several windows down the hallways that were much the same as this one, all of them having corresponding doors to the left of them. When she looked into the window, Tsunade's heart practically broke within her chest.
She chose to leave it all behind, she declared that she had lost too much, and she never felt guilty for leaving a village that showed no care for her happiness. Now, staring at the fragile, thin, and deathly form of her former sensei, Tsunade was beginning to feel the bitter edge of regret filtering into her. Cheek bones were painfully visible, the sunken eyes were exacerbated by the down lighting of the single hanging white light, and the rises and falls of the old man's chest were so shallow they practically weren't even there. Tsunade didn't know when she started crying, but the salty taste of her own tears weren't foreign to the woman.
"You want to know what I want from you? Give him at least one more day to live a real life. He doesn't deserve to go into death with his last day being one he thought was another tragedy." That was all Kakashi had to say for her, choosing to stare solemnly at the old frail body of a legend that danced so close to death.
For the first time in a long time, a long forgotten burn settled in Tsunade's stomach. She hated that this is what it took to regain such a feeling.
Here we are, back in the Leaf with everybody having things to do and people to see. After a long lay-off, old Third is coming back into the picture, two of three Sannin are in the Leaf, and many things are there to be covered.
From where I'm at, there will be narrow paths I have to balance on to pull off what I need to, but I think I have a way to do it properly. We shall see, of course, and I'll be back sometime on Saturday.