A/N Thank you to all my reviewers! I really appreciate all the support and suggestions. A couple people actually suggested a few things pretty close to what I already had planned for this story. They were all great ideas. ^_^ I really am grateful for the support you've shown. I know that right now it's written more in Tsunade's point of view than Naruto's. Don't worry, though. That's only for the first couple of chapter. The majority of this story will be about Naruto. On another note, this will be the only update for awhile. I'm going out of town and I won't have access to a computer for awhile. That's why I'm updating this earlier than I usually would. Anyway, thank you all for reading. Enjoy! ^_~
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto.
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The Hand Fate Deals
Chapter 1 – Deal
Naruto glanced warily towards the woman sitting next to him. She'd offered to buy him ramen at a nearby ramen stand. Never one to turn down free food, he had immediately accepted. Now he took his first real chance to study her. Her hair was bond, a color not as common in this area. She had brown eyes that didn't reveal much, but they definitely didn't show hate. That earned points in Naruto's book. He didn't quite trust her yet, but the free food was helping. It seemed that she was trying to be nice. Of course, it could be and act. However, he believed her when she said she didn't hate him. Naruto really wasn't sure why he did. Something about her made him want to trust her. Most adults he'd met in Konoha had acted with barely leashed hatred towards him. Others simply refused to acknowledge his existed. When he'd left the village, the people he'd met in other places either didn't notice him, or acted condescendingly towards him. This woman though, seemed to have an attitude towards him he recognized somewhat. There was an old man that had visited him every month or so in Konoha. He'd heard people refer to him as Hokage, but had trouble believing that someone visiting him could be anyone important in the beginning. That man, the Hokage, had treated him with respect. He had been kind to Naruto, even when he pulled pranks and caused trouble. This woman seemed similar.
He looked away again, not wanting to be caught staring. The only thing he could say, with any certainty, was that this woman was a ninja. The way she'd found him again after he was sure he'd lost her and the ease with which she had swooped down and grabbed him hinted at her skill. Her iron grip showed strength that he wouldn't have thought she had. Not to mention that she'd completely disable his legs without the use of any rope. After living most of his life in a ninja village, he saw enough to know something of what ninjas are usually capable of. Naruto stopped that train of thought before it could continue. He didn't want to remember anything from his earlier life.
"What?" He snapped from his thoughts when he realized she'd asked him a question. She sighed and shook her head.
"I was wondering if you'd like to travel with me for awhile?" Tsunade repeated. Seeing his suspicious look she elaborated. "Just for a few weeks or so, to see how it works out, like a probationary period," she explained. "If we don't get along, we go our separate ways. And don't worry about food and lodging. I can take care of that, no problem. Don't worry about paying me back." Of course, she didn't intend to leave him on his own completely even if they did go separate ways. If he didn't like her company, she'd just have to watch out for him from afar. This part of the offer, however, was necessary. Tsunade knew that he'd never agree unless there was a clear way out. He was too wary of people. It would take some time to earn his trust. She'd have to go slowly and coax him along. He was skittish as a wild animal. It wasn't hard to figure out why. He was most likely hated and badly treated by the people of Konoha. However, she was pretty sure she'd convinced Naruto that she didn't hate him, too. That was probably the most important thing at this point. He'd likely agree to her deal, especially at the offer of food, something very important to any kid who'd lived on the street for a length of time.
Naruto's face scrunched up in thought. He wasn't really sure what the word 'probationary' meant, but he figured he knew what she meant. Well, by his reckoning it couldn't hurt. If things went badly, he'd leave. Free food was always good. Besides, he was lonely. The offer she gave was extremely tempting. Maybe she could even teach him to be a ninja. Then he'd definitely be able to take care of himself. He smiled, his decision made.
"Sure, for awhile," he agreed.
"Great! By the way, I'm Tsunade," she said, holding out her hand. He accepted it gladly. It was important, Tsunade had realized early on, to show she respected him. Finally, the ramen was ready. Naruto slurped up his meal insanely fast. It was as if he was afraid it would disappear.
"You shouldn't eat so fast, you know," Tsunade warned. "It'll make you sick, especially if you're not used to eating that much."
Naruto frowned skeptically but did slow down…a little. Tsunade sighed. How had she gotten herself into this again?
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The Hokage frowned at the jounin reporting to him. They still hadn't found Naruto despite the fact that they'd been searching for a little over four months. Then again the child had a good three week head start. It was very possible that the child had managed to slip across the border into another country before jounins could find him. Once that happened, he could be anywhere. For all they knew, he could have died. That was not a happy thought for the Hokage, and he quickly pushed it aside. The Hokage couldn't help but feel that this was partly his fault… Who was he kidding? He blamed himself entirely.
Five months ago, there had been problems in the relations between Leaf and Cloud. The treaty that had been made several years ago was still shaky. It seemed there had been a skirmish between a team from Leaf and team from Cloud because of contradicting missions. One group was hired to assassinate someone and another to protect the same person. A member of each team had died. It had taken weeks to sort out the mess. As it turned out, it was a cleverly conceived conspiracy. It had been set up by a still unknown third party, with the goal of causing war between Leaf and Cloud. Unfortunately, this caused the Hokage to be rather preoccupied for several weeks. He'd neglected to check up on Naruto in his orb and he'd been late to his monthly visit with Naruto by a few weeks.
Later, when it was discovered what happened, he'd had the pleasure of demoting three chuunins to genin status and two jounins to chuunin status. Not only that, but they were assigned constant D-ranked mission for a year. They were, of course, not happy with this, but the punishment was well-earned. Apparently, the three chuunins were a recently promoted team. They were in their mid-teens and had all lost someone to the fox demon. Somehow, they got it in their heads that it would be a good idea to vandalize Naruto's little apartment. Naruto had come home when they were still there. They had taunted and tormented him until he'd run away in tears. Their Jounin instructor, Mizuki, found out, but failed to punish his team or report them. The jounin assigned to sentry duty spotted him, but did not report Naruto's departure, as he too hated the child. When questioned later, he even said that he hoped Naruto had died. As it was, Naruto's absence was not noticed for three weeks.
"I see. You're dismissed," the Third told the jounin, who had finished his report. Even as the jounin disappeared, another person appeared in his place.
"Kakashi, did you find anything?" the Hokage asked the newcomer. Kakashi was one of the jounins searching for Naruto.
"Well, I found something interesting, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied. The Third just knew that he was grinning under that mask.
"And?" the Third prompted, not amused.
"I found Naruto," he informed the Hokage, whose eyes widened.
"Oh? And you didn't bring him back?"
"I apologize, Hokage-sama. However, he was in the company of someone and seemed rather content. I thought to inform you before disrupting them. I took this picture in a village about one mile outside the countries borders" Kakashi explained as he walked to the desk and handed a picture to the Third. In the picture, there were several beautiful girls in bikinis. The Hokage twitched.
"Kakashi?" he asked, handing the picture back. Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Err…um…my apologies, Hokage-sama. Wrong picture," the silver haired jounin said rather nervously. He pulled out a different picture and giving it to the Hokage. The picture was of a boy and a woman facing each other and shaking hands. From this view in the picture, he could see the profiles of both their faces. One was definitely Naruto, and the other was…
"Tsunade," the Hokage breathed, blinking in surprise.
"I saw them leave the ramen shop together. I followed them to an inn. It seemed they were staying together," Kakashi stated as the Third studied the picture.
"I see. So, Tsunade is taking care of him. In that case, I believe I will call off this search. If she is taking care of him, then we have nothing to worry about. It is probably safer for Naruto to travel with her than to return to Konoha. Kakashi, your new orders are to observe them and report back to me in two weeks," the Hokage commanded.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi agreed, before disappearing.
"What I would like to know," the Hokage said to himself, "is how Naruto managed to get under Tsunade's skin." He shook his head. It was possible that he would never know.
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"Tsunade-san," Naruto said suddenly. He and Tsunade were currently walking down the road barely and hour out of the village.
"Just call me Tsunade," she responded automatically. In the week since they'd met she'd been trying to convince him to call her simply Tsunade. They had spent the past week in the village. Naruto had spent the time judging Tsunade, while Tsunade had tried to earn Naruto's trust. Tsunade had finally gotten sick of hanging around in what she considered a two-bit town. So, with Naruto's approval, they had begun their trek out of the village that very morning.
"Tsunade-san," he repeated stubbornly. Tsunade sighed, throwing her hands in the air.
"Yes?"
"Would you teach me how to be a ninja?" he asked nervously, fearing her answer would be negative. She blinked. And here she had thought she would have to ask him if he wanted to learn. Well, she wasn't going to complain.
"I thought you'd never ask," she said, smiling. Naruto bounced around excitedly. He'd lightened up some in the past few days…around her anyway. In public he was still rather subdued. "I have to warn you though. If you become my student, you'll have to stick around for longer than a few weeks. You know, a ninja like me doesn't choose a student lightly," she told him seriously. Indeed, this was the first time she'd actually be teaching in years. She'd never taken an individual student either. Her previous teaching had mostly been done in classes for future medic-nins. She had debated whether or not to teach him in the first few days they'd spent together. She honestly didn't think he'd make a good medic-nin like she was. The demon sealed inside him caused his chakra to take on a slightly destructive quality because of how the two chakras mixed. It would be difficult to use this chakra for healing others. She would be able to help him hone natural regenerative abilities, however. She'd noticed how he healed very fast the very first day they'd met. The bruises she'd caused on his arm had faded completely by the end of the day. With some work, he'd probably be able to regenerate almost instantaneously. Despite the fact that he would probably never be a medic-nin, she could still teach him plenty of other things. Besides, someone had to teach him, since he wouldn't be returning to Konoha anytime soon.
"I guess that would be alright," Naruto agreed. Tsunade nodded.
"We'll begin tomorrow, then," she informed him.
"Cool."
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"You can come out now," Tsunade said, rising from her seat by the campfire. She had waited patiently for Naruto to fall asleep before addressing their shadow. Whoever it was had been watching them on and off for the past week. The jounin chuckled, entering the clearing where they had camped. Tsunade knew from his forehead protector that he was a leaf ninja. He looked vaguely familiar.
"Tsunade-sama," he said respectfully. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. The Third Hokage sent met."
"Copy ninja Kakashi, eh?" Tsunade frowned, recognizing him now. Kakashi had been the Fourth's student at one time. "He sent you to spy on me?"
"Er…well…observe, actually," he said cheerfully. She snorted and crossed her arms.
"Naruto or I?" she questioned getting straight to the point.
"Both of you, actually. We've been looking for Naruto for some time. When we found out that he was in your care, I was ordered to observe you and report back," Kakashi explained.
"I see," Tsunade said. "In that case, go back to the Third and tell him not to worry. I will look out for Naruto from now on."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. I will," the jounin replied before departing.
Tsunade sighed wearily. At least that had been taken care of. Sitting down once again, she fell into a light doze.
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