The sun had not yet brightened the sky when the four young jounin arrived
at the hokage's office. As Shikamaru had predicted, Tsunade was there,
sleeping uncomfortably at her desk amidst a mess of books and scrolls and
papers and drool. She woke the moment they entered the room, instantly
alert. Her focus almost immediately shifted to Ino, and when she spoke it
was directed at the battered blonde girl.
"What happened?" The question was harsh, tense, as though she already had a very good idea of the answer and the question was merely a formality.
As she had done with Shikamaru, Sakura immediately answered for her friend, relating the events of the evening as concisely as possible. As Ino stood, silently letting Sakura's words wash over her, it was almost funny to watch the hokage's face as the woman took in this new turn in events. The look of horror was comical. Actually, the whole damned night seemed pretty entertaining right at that moment. Entertaining and surreal and absolutely fucking hilarious, and before she knew it Ino was having the best laugh she'd enjoyed in years.
Peripherally she was aware of their reactions, felt two pairs of gentle hands on her shoulders as they carefully forced her towards a chair, but she could see Shikamaru and the way he was hanging back uncomfortably after all these years of working together and sharing their sweat and blood and hopes and dreams and tears, of worrying about each other as teammates and friends and something more than that, and to her that was the funniest thing of all.
As they maneuvered the hysterical girl into a chair, Sakura and Tsunade exchanged uncomfortable glances. Ino was laughing so hard she was crying, the tears rearranging the smears of blood on her face. Shikamaru had supposedly attacked himself with his own shadow jutsus, was denying any knowledge of what had transpired during the night.
The whole situation reeked of Naruto's old prankster tendencies, of his and Sasuke's particular strengths. The pair had been too quiet for too long and this situation was exactly the kind of occurrence that she had feared, that she had tried to stave off when she offered the two men their positions within the ranks of her shinobi only a bare month ago. If the past was any indication of their combined power, all hell was going to break loose if she didn't stop this now, before things got entirely out of control.
As she absently patted Ino's hair in a manner that was supposed to be soothing, Tsunade sighed heavily. This was going to be messy.
They left for the Uchiha manor as soon as Ino calmed herself enough to make a conscious decision to accompany them. In truth, Tsunade was grateful for the extra backup. Four competent jounin and the hokage, one of the legendary sannin, should be more than enough to handle a pair of half-crazy and half-possessed young men... Right?
She couldn't quite suppress the whispers of doubt in the back of her mind. Judging by the grim expressions on the faces of her companions as they made their way towards their destination, they were experiencing similar misgivings. The sun had not yet cleared the horizon. It was too damned early to feel like they were sprinting off to their doom.
Isolated as the Uchiha manner was, they reached the weathered door all too soon. In the back of her mind, Tsunade was morbidly amused at the way that all four of her jounin, her supposedly fearless ninja, shrank back, leaving her at the front of the group. Ah, the privileges of being hokage.
Resolutely, she raised her hand to knock, masking her own uncertainty with the same thoughtful deliberateness that she used to mask her true age. No use in showing weakness.
The door slipped open the moment she touched it, swinging inward without so much as a sound. Not only unlocked, but also cracked open. Tsunade could feel the four jounin behind her shuffling into a closer knot, keeping as far back as possible from the shadowed interior. In all honesty, she wanted to join them. There was a fine line between courage in the face of danger and complete and utter stupidity, and she knew in her hear that she was crossing that line now. Every instinct she possessed was yelling at her, screaming that she should get away NOW and come back when it was light with a whole score of ANBU reinforcements. She could almost taste the unease and their fear of those four jounin huddled behind her, and it mingled bitterly with her own.
This was not starting off well at all.
The sad truth was that it was far too late to turn back now. There was not a doubt in her mind that Sasuke and Naruto were well aware of her presence on their doorstep. Turning away now would be a sign of fear, of weakness. She could not afford that at such a critical time. Taking a deep breath, she did the only thing that she really could do in the situation the two had put her in: she yelled into the empty house.
"Naruto? Sasuke?" To her gratification, her voice came out strong, more steady than she felt. She would not enter their home without at least announcing herself beforehand. Even two dangerous outcasts would receive that much courtesy from their hokage.
A few minutes of absolute silence passed. Exuding a confidence that she did not feel, Tsunade finally made the first move, boldly striding into the shadowed hallway and effectively entering enemy territory. The four younger jounin followed her, fanning out slightly so that they did not block the meager light from the doorway as they all stopped and waited for their eyes to adjust to the gloom.
The hallway was dark, much darker than the dawn-kissed sky outside. The way was narrow, extending the length of the house to end in a closed door which very likely hid a bathroom or a closet. To either side of them stood a doorway, one that was obviously a closet and the other which framed a set of stairs. The right side of the hall opened up into a larger room, one whose shaded windows faced the wrong way to catch the pre-dawn light.
She knew that if she was smart she would take herself and these four jounin out of danger and leave now.
Instead, she listened, her sharp ears catching the sound of muffled voices coming from above. They were unidentifiable, but there was no doubt that they belonged to Sasuke and Naruto.
Again, Tsunade called out their names, half-hoping that they would hear her and finally respond. This would be so much easier if they would just show their faces. They could have their chat and work from their.
The voices cut off abruptly at the sound of her voice, and for a few nerve- wracking moments there was absolute silence.
Tsunade had just made up her mind to start moving towards the stairs, flanked by the four jounin, when they were greeted by a resounding crash that had Tsunade's heart trying to batter its way out of her breast and that evoked sharp gasps from the young men and women behind her. The initial crash was followed by other, smaller thumps, easily identified as the sound of feet running above their heads, and the less distinctive sound of glass shattering. There was not a single voice to be heard.
A moment later, Naruto appeared before them in a blur of dirty blonde and torn orange. His eyes were their old strikingly blue color and his face was panic-stricken, and that was all Tsunade had time to take in before he opened his mouth and began babbling, tears trailing down his face even as he spoke.
"The curse seal's got him and I can't make it go back. He's gone crazy!" He paused for breath then, looking around as he inhaled, and when he noticed the deliberate distance between Shikamaru and Ino his smile became feral and his eyes flashed brilliantly red and that was all the confirmation of his guilt that Tsunade needed.
She was moving with more speed than any of them had ever seen her display, a kunai appearing in her had as if by magic as she calmly gathered Naruto into her arms and shoved the blade into his neck. She was gratified when her arms collapsed as his body vanished in a puff of smoke, knew that even the real Naruto would have healed almost instantly had he received the blow. One shadow clone. When there was one, there were many. How many more had that damned man produced?
As the clone disappeared, she felt a presence behind her, heard the strangled shouts that ripped from the throats of four jounin in that same instant. Spinning around with that same inhuman speed, Tsunade raised her hands to perform a jutsu, then dropped them as she silently took in the situation.
Naruto's shadow clones had flooded in through the open door way while she had been occupied with the one in front of her. Judging by the way their bodies were turned, all four jounin had sensed the impending attack and had responded accordingly. They had not been named to the rank of jounin for nothing. Even now, their eyes held no fear, only anger.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed that the blonde's taijutsu skills had improved exponentially over the years. Even Rock Lee, the ninja who had mastered the art of taijutsu, was disabled by a pair of clones, a kunai pressed to his throat in exactly the same manner that the other three jounin were being held. The look on that thick-browed face was one of disbelief, of grudging respect for the man he had once upon a time considered a sort of friend and a sort of rival.
Unhappily, she thought her options through. They had not come here to die. They had come to talk as diplomats, to understand why Ino had been attacked and to rectify the situation if at all possible. Throat dry, face locked in an impassive mask, Tsunade did the only thing she could do: she risked the lives of four jounin and opened her mouth to negotiate.
"Uzumaki Naruto, release that jutsu. Now." Her voice came out strong, and she waited, not even daring to hold her breath lest such an action give away her uncertainty, to see if he would slit their throats in an act of defiance. Right now, the release of the shadow clones was not something she could compromise on, even if it cost her four lives.
One of the unoccupied clones turned to her, blood red eyes disappearing behind that prankster's grin he had perfected as a child. When he spoke, the voice was deep, didn't sound like his at all. "You drew the first blood, hokage-sama. We are well within our rights." Neither the words nor the voice was Naruto's. They were those of a possessed man.
She made no attempt to hide her anger, hoping against hope that the prospect of an angry hokage would be enough to intimidate Naruto into obedience. She glared at the spokes-clone with all of the outrage she could muster, somehow managing to keep the rest of her body loose and impassive, ready for anything. "We came here for words, not for blood. Release the jutsu now and we'll talk."
She waited a few moments, and when he still made no move she forced herself to meet that clone's eyes, staring him down detachedly as she fought to keep her inner turmoil under control. "Do not disobey a direct order from your hokage, Naruto."
The defiance in his eyes was obvious, and Tsunade had a long moment to wonder whether he would obey her or if it was going to come to violence. She knew that if it came down to a battle of physical strength, she would lose. Worse, throughout this whole mess there had been no sign of Sasuke, an oddity in and of itself. The two were never far from one another. What worried her was that even if she and her comrades could deal with the blonde menace, they would still have the Uchiha heir to deal with. To Tsunade, he was the more dangerous of the pair.
The moment passed then, and with a resounding puff he released the jutsu, leaving only two Narutos standing a few feet away from Ino. The pair were standing side by side, hand in hand, and another puff revealed Sasuke standing on the real Naruto's left in place of what she had thought to be the final clone. That son-of-a-bitch had been using genjutsu and parading around as a clone and she hadn't detected it? She was going soft in her old age, she thought ruefully, and it was hard to suppress a shudder, to maintain that calm and collected exterior.
The four jounin were taking the situation rather well, considering. Lee was staring at Naruto, while Sakura and Ino were both glaring daggers at their former comrades in arms. For his part, Shikamaru looked thoughtful. Characteristically tired and irritated at the continued disruption from his sleep, but thoughtful nonetheless. Their reactions, at least, indicated that all were still ready, willing and able to fight if it came down to it. A small relief to stress-frayed nerves.
Without a word of protest, Sasuke and Naruto allowed themselves to be surrounded by their five visitors and escorted into what Tsunade could only assume passed as their living room. To Tsunade, this show of meek obedience meant very little. Their display in the foyer had said more than words ever could. Without breaking a sweat, without an ounce of that deadly serious energy that she KNEW they could both muster, they had easily overpowered four alert and fully capable jounin in a matter of seconds.
They had come here to investigate, to find a solution to a budding problem. Now, though, their objective had changed. They were no longer here for information; no, now they were here to negotiate not only their own safety, but also the safety of the rest of Konoha.
"What happened?" The question was harsh, tense, as though she already had a very good idea of the answer and the question was merely a formality.
As she had done with Shikamaru, Sakura immediately answered for her friend, relating the events of the evening as concisely as possible. As Ino stood, silently letting Sakura's words wash over her, it was almost funny to watch the hokage's face as the woman took in this new turn in events. The look of horror was comical. Actually, the whole damned night seemed pretty entertaining right at that moment. Entertaining and surreal and absolutely fucking hilarious, and before she knew it Ino was having the best laugh she'd enjoyed in years.
Peripherally she was aware of their reactions, felt two pairs of gentle hands on her shoulders as they carefully forced her towards a chair, but she could see Shikamaru and the way he was hanging back uncomfortably after all these years of working together and sharing their sweat and blood and hopes and dreams and tears, of worrying about each other as teammates and friends and something more than that, and to her that was the funniest thing of all.
As they maneuvered the hysterical girl into a chair, Sakura and Tsunade exchanged uncomfortable glances. Ino was laughing so hard she was crying, the tears rearranging the smears of blood on her face. Shikamaru had supposedly attacked himself with his own shadow jutsus, was denying any knowledge of what had transpired during the night.
The whole situation reeked of Naruto's old prankster tendencies, of his and Sasuke's particular strengths. The pair had been too quiet for too long and this situation was exactly the kind of occurrence that she had feared, that she had tried to stave off when she offered the two men their positions within the ranks of her shinobi only a bare month ago. If the past was any indication of their combined power, all hell was going to break loose if she didn't stop this now, before things got entirely out of control.
As she absently patted Ino's hair in a manner that was supposed to be soothing, Tsunade sighed heavily. This was going to be messy.
They left for the Uchiha manor as soon as Ino calmed herself enough to make a conscious decision to accompany them. In truth, Tsunade was grateful for the extra backup. Four competent jounin and the hokage, one of the legendary sannin, should be more than enough to handle a pair of half-crazy and half-possessed young men... Right?
She couldn't quite suppress the whispers of doubt in the back of her mind. Judging by the grim expressions on the faces of her companions as they made their way towards their destination, they were experiencing similar misgivings. The sun had not yet cleared the horizon. It was too damned early to feel like they were sprinting off to their doom.
Isolated as the Uchiha manner was, they reached the weathered door all too soon. In the back of her mind, Tsunade was morbidly amused at the way that all four of her jounin, her supposedly fearless ninja, shrank back, leaving her at the front of the group. Ah, the privileges of being hokage.
Resolutely, she raised her hand to knock, masking her own uncertainty with the same thoughtful deliberateness that she used to mask her true age. No use in showing weakness.
The door slipped open the moment she touched it, swinging inward without so much as a sound. Not only unlocked, but also cracked open. Tsunade could feel the four jounin behind her shuffling into a closer knot, keeping as far back as possible from the shadowed interior. In all honesty, she wanted to join them. There was a fine line between courage in the face of danger and complete and utter stupidity, and she knew in her hear that she was crossing that line now. Every instinct she possessed was yelling at her, screaming that she should get away NOW and come back when it was light with a whole score of ANBU reinforcements. She could almost taste the unease and their fear of those four jounin huddled behind her, and it mingled bitterly with her own.
This was not starting off well at all.
The sad truth was that it was far too late to turn back now. There was not a doubt in her mind that Sasuke and Naruto were well aware of her presence on their doorstep. Turning away now would be a sign of fear, of weakness. She could not afford that at such a critical time. Taking a deep breath, she did the only thing that she really could do in the situation the two had put her in: she yelled into the empty house.
"Naruto? Sasuke?" To her gratification, her voice came out strong, more steady than she felt. She would not enter their home without at least announcing herself beforehand. Even two dangerous outcasts would receive that much courtesy from their hokage.
A few minutes of absolute silence passed. Exuding a confidence that she did not feel, Tsunade finally made the first move, boldly striding into the shadowed hallway and effectively entering enemy territory. The four younger jounin followed her, fanning out slightly so that they did not block the meager light from the doorway as they all stopped and waited for their eyes to adjust to the gloom.
The hallway was dark, much darker than the dawn-kissed sky outside. The way was narrow, extending the length of the house to end in a closed door which very likely hid a bathroom or a closet. To either side of them stood a doorway, one that was obviously a closet and the other which framed a set of stairs. The right side of the hall opened up into a larger room, one whose shaded windows faced the wrong way to catch the pre-dawn light.
She knew that if she was smart she would take herself and these four jounin out of danger and leave now.
Instead, she listened, her sharp ears catching the sound of muffled voices coming from above. They were unidentifiable, but there was no doubt that they belonged to Sasuke and Naruto.
Again, Tsunade called out their names, half-hoping that they would hear her and finally respond. This would be so much easier if they would just show their faces. They could have their chat and work from their.
The voices cut off abruptly at the sound of her voice, and for a few nerve- wracking moments there was absolute silence.
Tsunade had just made up her mind to start moving towards the stairs, flanked by the four jounin, when they were greeted by a resounding crash that had Tsunade's heart trying to batter its way out of her breast and that evoked sharp gasps from the young men and women behind her. The initial crash was followed by other, smaller thumps, easily identified as the sound of feet running above their heads, and the less distinctive sound of glass shattering. There was not a single voice to be heard.
A moment later, Naruto appeared before them in a blur of dirty blonde and torn orange. His eyes were their old strikingly blue color and his face was panic-stricken, and that was all Tsunade had time to take in before he opened his mouth and began babbling, tears trailing down his face even as he spoke.
"The curse seal's got him and I can't make it go back. He's gone crazy!" He paused for breath then, looking around as he inhaled, and when he noticed the deliberate distance between Shikamaru and Ino his smile became feral and his eyes flashed brilliantly red and that was all the confirmation of his guilt that Tsunade needed.
She was moving with more speed than any of them had ever seen her display, a kunai appearing in her had as if by magic as she calmly gathered Naruto into her arms and shoved the blade into his neck. She was gratified when her arms collapsed as his body vanished in a puff of smoke, knew that even the real Naruto would have healed almost instantly had he received the blow. One shadow clone. When there was one, there were many. How many more had that damned man produced?
As the clone disappeared, she felt a presence behind her, heard the strangled shouts that ripped from the throats of four jounin in that same instant. Spinning around with that same inhuman speed, Tsunade raised her hands to perform a jutsu, then dropped them as she silently took in the situation.
Naruto's shadow clones had flooded in through the open door way while she had been occupied with the one in front of her. Judging by the way their bodies were turned, all four jounin had sensed the impending attack and had responded accordingly. They had not been named to the rank of jounin for nothing. Even now, their eyes held no fear, only anger.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed that the blonde's taijutsu skills had improved exponentially over the years. Even Rock Lee, the ninja who had mastered the art of taijutsu, was disabled by a pair of clones, a kunai pressed to his throat in exactly the same manner that the other three jounin were being held. The look on that thick-browed face was one of disbelief, of grudging respect for the man he had once upon a time considered a sort of friend and a sort of rival.
Unhappily, she thought her options through. They had not come here to die. They had come to talk as diplomats, to understand why Ino had been attacked and to rectify the situation if at all possible. Throat dry, face locked in an impassive mask, Tsunade did the only thing she could do: she risked the lives of four jounin and opened her mouth to negotiate.
"Uzumaki Naruto, release that jutsu. Now." Her voice came out strong, and she waited, not even daring to hold her breath lest such an action give away her uncertainty, to see if he would slit their throats in an act of defiance. Right now, the release of the shadow clones was not something she could compromise on, even if it cost her four lives.
One of the unoccupied clones turned to her, blood red eyes disappearing behind that prankster's grin he had perfected as a child. When he spoke, the voice was deep, didn't sound like his at all. "You drew the first blood, hokage-sama. We are well within our rights." Neither the words nor the voice was Naruto's. They were those of a possessed man.
She made no attempt to hide her anger, hoping against hope that the prospect of an angry hokage would be enough to intimidate Naruto into obedience. She glared at the spokes-clone with all of the outrage she could muster, somehow managing to keep the rest of her body loose and impassive, ready for anything. "We came here for words, not for blood. Release the jutsu now and we'll talk."
She waited a few moments, and when he still made no move she forced herself to meet that clone's eyes, staring him down detachedly as she fought to keep her inner turmoil under control. "Do not disobey a direct order from your hokage, Naruto."
The defiance in his eyes was obvious, and Tsunade had a long moment to wonder whether he would obey her or if it was going to come to violence. She knew that if it came down to a battle of physical strength, she would lose. Worse, throughout this whole mess there had been no sign of Sasuke, an oddity in and of itself. The two were never far from one another. What worried her was that even if she and her comrades could deal with the blonde menace, they would still have the Uchiha heir to deal with. To Tsunade, he was the more dangerous of the pair.
The moment passed then, and with a resounding puff he released the jutsu, leaving only two Narutos standing a few feet away from Ino. The pair were standing side by side, hand in hand, and another puff revealed Sasuke standing on the real Naruto's left in place of what she had thought to be the final clone. That son-of-a-bitch had been using genjutsu and parading around as a clone and she hadn't detected it? She was going soft in her old age, she thought ruefully, and it was hard to suppress a shudder, to maintain that calm and collected exterior.
The four jounin were taking the situation rather well, considering. Lee was staring at Naruto, while Sakura and Ino were both glaring daggers at their former comrades in arms. For his part, Shikamaru looked thoughtful. Characteristically tired and irritated at the continued disruption from his sleep, but thoughtful nonetheless. Their reactions, at least, indicated that all were still ready, willing and able to fight if it came down to it. A small relief to stress-frayed nerves.
Without a word of protest, Sasuke and Naruto allowed themselves to be surrounded by their five visitors and escorted into what Tsunade could only assume passed as their living room. To Tsunade, this show of meek obedience meant very little. Their display in the foyer had said more than words ever could. Without breaking a sweat, without an ounce of that deadly serious energy that she KNEW they could both muster, they had easily overpowered four alert and fully capable jounin in a matter of seconds.
They had come here to investigate, to find a solution to a budding problem. Now, though, their objective had changed. They were no longer here for information; no, now they were here to negotiate not only their own safety, but also the safety of the rest of Konoha.