AN: Thanks to all my reviewers. Once again I apologize last chapter was so late. This isn't Monday, but this is much earlier than I actually expected.
Ly Mizukage, Dual Rasengan, Night-Owl123, starry096,HanaTenshiHimeko, insanechildfanfic,Alana-StarSugarCat, Shi Rurouni of the Aphrodesiac thanks! I hope you love this one as well.
wolvesm0on I made the rule up. I never actually wrote what it said in the last chapter, but it is in here.
Only Secret too long for you? This chapter's shorter, hop you enjoy.
Azamiko you came close with that second theory about rank difference. It'll be explained in this chapter, and thanks for the favorite. Hopefully this chapter and the epilogue don't disappoint!
Kuu-sama cynical? I didn't really think they were that bad, but I'm glad they've stayed pretty much on track. I'm glad you enjoyed this.
Gabrielle no yume thanks for the suggestion, you were actually the only one who gave me anything. Unfortunately I ended up getting inspiration for that like right after I posted the last chapter, but thanks again! I hop you liked what I put her in instead.
I'm not sure I'm pleased with how this turned out and I'll admit that I didn't edit this as heavily as normal, my author's note at the bottom explains part of the reason. The other reason is that I wanted to post on my birthday and since After the Dream is no where near ready, I wrote this. I might have tried to squeeze in too many ideas, so I'm sorry if it doesn't flow well. I hop you all enjoy!
This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own the nifty quote at the end, but I give credit for that at the bottom.
B regular stuff
B internal thoughts and such
Picture Day
"Where are they?" Ino asked impatiently from her seat between her teammates.
"How should I know? They're too troublesome," Shikamaru responded, causing Ino to scowl at him.
"They still have half an hour to get here," Hinata stated, trying to defuse Ino's temper. The rookies, their senseis, Shizune and Anko were all waiting as patiently as possible for Team 7 to show up. She glanced at Shino and Kiba sitting next to her and was pleased to note that neither appeared as impatient as the others, that or they were just too indifferent to care at the moment.
Kurenai-sensei had chosen not to change their individual styles much when she had taken them shopping. Both boys wore baggy khaki cargo shorts, a bit nicer than they normally wore, and black formfitting shirts. She had noticed Ino gazing at Shino appreciatively and wondered just what the blond was up to. Over their shirts both boys wore jackets with furred collars, surprisingly even with the similarities in their outfits, the looked very different – maybe it was the fact that Kiba's hood was down for once. Her outfit wasn't very different from theirs. Although she had been a bit shocked when Kurenai-sensei had recommended the v-neck, sleeveless shirt she was now wearing, her job as a teacher wasn't exactly conducive to anything other than the normal Chuunin uniform.
"Yes, but if they don't get here early, we won't really have time to look at what they're wearing," Ino countered, breaking Hinata away from her studies.
"Like I said, as long as Naruto wears his pajama pants," TenTen said grinning, "By the way, I like your capris Hinata." Neji rolled his eyes at her but Ino looked at her curiously.
"Why do you keep saying that?" she asked.
"Have you ever seen him in his pajamas?" TenTen asked, smiling wickedly. Shizune grinned at the memory and she could hear Anko snickering. Why the insane Jounin was snickering she couldn't tell, but that didn't really matter.
"Do we really need to discuss this?" Kiba asked, rolling his eyes at the girls.
"Yeah, it's not likely that he's interested in any of you anyways," Sakura said, smiling as she pranced in.
Ino looked up in surprise at her pink haired friend. "Where are your teammates?" she asked in confusion.
Sakura sighed and turned to Tsunade. "Kakashi-sensei sent me in to see if you approved," she said, turning slowly to allow the Hokage to study her outfit.
"Hmmm…," Tsunade replied. "No mask, no orange, no black," she muttered as she gazed over her apprentice's outfit.
"Yeah, blue is a good color on you," Ino said. "Much better than red, it doesn't clash with your hair," she added, smirking as Sakura glared at her.
"My lovely flower looks lovely no matter what she wears!" Lee shouted joyously in Sakura's defense. Sakura poked her tongue out at Ino, before plopping down in Lee's lap. "Although that is a very flattering color on you," he conceded quietly.
Ino snickered and Sakura turned to scowl at Lee. She finally sighed and turned back to Tsunade. "So, do I pass?" she asked.
"Hmm…" Tsunade said, jumping out of her daze, "oh, yes of course. Now where is the rest of your team? I specifically stated that all teams were to arrive here together," she added huffily.
"Right outside," Sakura said smiling. Tsunade smiled wickedly and hurried through her office doors. One or two others tried to sneak out as well, but Sakura stopped them all, although Tsunade's shout of joy made her job a bit harder. "Now, now, no need to be hasty," she said smiling. A minute later a side door opened allowing Jiraiya and the elders in.
"Everyone here?" Homura asked, glancing around. He sighed and answered his own question when he realized that part of Team 7 and the Hokage were currently missing.
A moment later a very pleased Hokage walked in grinning brightly. "Where are they?" Jiraiya asked.
"Oh, they'll be in, in a minute. Iruka-kun and Genma stopped by so they're chatting," she replied happily.
Sakura smiled and walked out of the room to join the rest of her team. The minute she disappeared, Ino huffed and sagged back in her chair. "Blue really is her color," she muttered, causing Anko to chuckle.
"Who'd of thought Kakashi would be able to get her to change her style so much," Kurenai responded.
"Yeah, I've never seen that girl actually wear pants before, especially white ones, and light blue definitely brings out her eyes," Anko responded. Tsunade smiled wickedly at them and Anko's face suddenly lit up.
"Actually blue would be very flattering on all three," Shizune added, glancing towards the door in anticipation. Tsunade's triumphant smirk grew wider.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes and thankfully noted that less than half of the room's occupants were actually paying attention to the current conversation. Luckily, those interested didn't have to wait long before the chatting group waltzed back in. Sakura once more made her way over to Lee, the poor boy nearly wilted under the glare Kakashi sent him. Naruto smacked his sensei over the head before turning expectantly to the Hokage. The faster they were done with this, the faster he could turn to more pleasant pursuits. "So who was it?" Naruto asked curiously. If he was stuck here, the least he could do was embarrass Tsunade.
"Who was what?" Tsunade responded innocently in confusion. It was safe to say that with the exception of Sakura and Sasuke the rest of the room was confused as well. Actually, as well as they knew their teammate/boyfriend/loudmouth blond they had no clue what he was referring to either.
"Which of our clients caught you? Who's seen the same pictures of twelve year olds for too many years to fall for it?" Naruto asked grinning. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi all grinned when they realized what Naruto was referring to. The others looked at him like he was an idiot.
Tsunade appeared taken aback for a moment and the rest of the room was looking at the two in confusion. "Madame Shijimi" she finally responded sheepishly.
Naruto's triumphant grin, wiped all doubtful looks off the others' faces. "I knew it. I knew you did this on purpose," Naruto shouted back.
"Now see here," Tsunade responded angrily, "I didn't do this on purpose."
"Why the hell not?" Naruto asked. "You made the village look like they were consistently raising geniuses. It may have been a bit underhanded, but who cares," he responded.
"Is he serious?" Chouji muttered.
Tsunade grinned wickedly at the young blond standing in front of her. Admittedly, it was easier to make fun of him when she didn't have to strain her neck to look up at him, but it was still fun. "You see this is why you should be Hokage," she said smartly.
Naruto rolled his eyes at her. "Please tell me you didn't put us through this just to get me take your job?" he asked pathetically.
"That was just a side benefit," Tsunade replied still smiling. Naruto could only roll his eyes again and allow the Hokage to carry out whatever crackpot scheme she had come up with. Neji seemed to be the only one even remotely amused by what Naruto had just revealed.
TenTen wasn't simply amused, she was shocked. "Naruto, how did you come up with that?" she asked.
"Come up with what?" he asked.
"That theory," she asked.
"Like I told them," he answered beckoning towards his team. "Most of us have impressive records for seventeen and eighteen year olds. Imagine what our high paying clients would think if they saw those records and connected them with the images of twelve year olds. It may have hurt that most of us looked like idiots when we were twelve, but it still makes the village look like it has more power to it than it does," he explained. TenTen blinked several times at him and turned to see if anyone else was as confused as her. "Never mind," Naruto muttered a bit discouraged by their reaction.
"Now see Hinata," Iruka responded in his defense, "isn't this what I told your class about."
"Yeah," she responded a bit stunned. "Although, I think this particular plot adds more to the weird argument," she added once she had recovered.
"Only a blond," TenTen muttered, gaining glares from the three blonds in the room.
"Anyways," Tsunade said, bringing the room's attention back to her. "Before we move on to actually taking the pictures, I'd like to thank all of you – bar Sasuke and Naruto - for your willingness and compliance. I know such a task is below your skills, but keeping up appearances is important for shinobi, whether you realize it or not," she stated. Naruto and Sasuke glared at her, but she ignored them and went on. "That said I'd also like to thank all of your senseis, as well as Anko and Shizune, for doing such a wonderful job preparing all of you for today. All of you look wonderful, and it is always pleasure to see the end of results when some of the less attentive persons are cleaned up," she said.
"Yeah, it's such a pity that monogamy is encouraged," Ino said, glancing around at all the men.
"Well, seeing as how five of them are taken, you can always just have your pick of the rest," Sakura countered.
"Five?" Kurenai asked.
"No wait, it's six now isn't it Hinata," TenTen asked, causing the Hyuuga to blush. Well Hinata blushed; Neji glared at a smirking Kiba; and TenTen giggled. Neji is so cute when he gets protective, she thought giddily, Kami I'm turning into a fan girl.
"Even, so that's not six. Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, and Lee are the only ones currently involved. That makes four," Asuma said.
Sakura smiled and her eyes shifted just slightly to her amused teammates.
"Oh, pay up Shikamaru!" Ino shouted triumphantly.
"That is undeniable proof," Chouji agreed, pointing to Sakura's shifty eyes.
Shikamaru glanced around and noticed that he wasn't the only one in a bad position. From the looks of things, Homura and Koharu owed a good deal to the Hokage. Tsunade was simply preening as she looked at Naruto and Sasuke. "I haven't seen any proof yet," he countered.
"Then why would Kakashi-san grumble about financing his students' dates?" she countered triumphantly. Kakashi glared at no one in particular at the memory. Lee spluttered once more, catching the others' attention. "And why do you keep doing that?" Ino asked.
Sakura broke down laughing, and Sasuke and Naruto worked to school their amused reactions. "Seriously Lee, it's like all of sudden you've got these random triggers. You're acting weirder than normal," TenTen added.
"How long has this been happening?" Tsunade asked with false concern, most of her attention was on a very smug Kakashi and his well humored students.
"Since the day before your meeting last week, he was completely out of it that day, but he bolted when he saw Naruto," TenTen explained.
"Yeah, then like the next day Sakura mentioned sparring and he got all spluttery again," Ino said. Naruto and Sasuke decided they couldn't hold in their laughter anymore, seeing the two rolling around the ground clutching their stomachs was quite the sight.
Tsunade snapped a picture before they could see, and smiled smugly at the rest of the room. "Kakashi, my eternal rival. What have your unconventional students done to my most beloved Lee-kun?" Gai asked.
"Yes, Kakashi-kun, what did they do to affect Lee in such a way?" Tsunade asked, watching him with a smirk on her face.
"He just saw them sparring," Sakura choked out still laughing, Lee managed to school his reaction a bit, but TenTen noticed the trigger.
Ino smiled as she remembered her joke from the previous week. Tsunade shook her head and reached down, hoisting Naruto to his feet. The blond grinned at her and stuck out his tongue, "Not my fault you missed it." Tsunade glared at him, but ignored the taunt.
"So Sasuke-kun?" She asked, changing the subject and immediately putting both boys on guard. "Who do you think should take your place?" The others perked up immediately; Sasuke's promotion would leave an opening for an ANBU captain.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke said, watching her cautiously.
"Well now that you've been promoted…" Tsunade began.
"No, I already told you, I won't stop working with a team," Sasuke said cutting her off.
"Hmm… well that's not really a problem, but I did intend to promote Neji to captain, but if there isn't a team to give him…" Tsunade trailed off glancing not so subtly at Naruto.
"Oh does that mean Sasuke's been officially promoted?" he asked lazily.
"Yes!" Tsunade said, wickedly grinning at him.
"Hmm…then I guess this goes to you," Naruto said, handing Sasuke an envelope.
Tsunade looked at the envelope and then back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke giddily. "Yes!" she shouted out victoriously. Sakura's smirk in her direction should have raised eyebrows, but no one was really paying attention to the pink haired girl.
"No," Sasuke said after reading through Naruto's letter. Tsunade looked at them in confusion. "All requests for pay raises get taken up with payroll," he continued, causing Tsunade to look at Naruto in horror.
"Yeah, but I'm more likely to get it if you hand it in yourself," Naruto retorted.
"No," Tsunade whimpered, looking at the two in horror
"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked innocently.
Tsunade stared at the blond Jounin in shock; Iruka resisted the urge to chuckle at her miscalculation. Though knowing the young blond as he did, Naruto still had something up his sleeve. He was proven right a moment later, when Sasuke pulled out a second sheet of paper. "Hmm..." he hummed.
"What's that?" Tsunade asked, as dread filled her.
"Nothing," Sasuke replied.
Tsunade looked incredibly depressed and turned back to the rest of the group. If Naruto intended to be mean to her, she would just ignore him for a while. She also wanted to get this damn picture day over with so she could go get drunk.
"So Neji, would you have taken the promotion?" Sakura asked, just as Tsunade had opened her mouth to speak. Tsunade turned to look at the girl impatiently.
"Obviously," Neji replied.
"What if…it meant you had to break up with TenTen?" she asked.
Neji blinked her at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he finally asked.
"Eh? You didn't know," Sakura said, looking at him sympathetically. "Rule number 42, paragraph 20, line 7 states that shinobi cannot be involved in a romantic relationship with his or her direct superior, unless said superior is the Hokage," she quoted expertly.
Tsunade glanced at Naruto and Sasuke nervously. She looked away guiltily when she noticed several of the former rookies looking at her in shock. "Oh, that rule hasn't been enforced for decades," Homura responded, causing Tsunade to grimace.
"We're actually working on revising the rule book," Koharu stated, "that rule will be one of the first to go."
Tsunade's grimace deepened when she noticed Naruto staring at her in shock. "YOU LOUSY OLD HAG!" he shouted. "You knew they were throwing that rule out, didn't you?" he accused.
"Maybe," Tsunade muttered, turning her glare to the elders.
"Of course she knew," Shizune replied, "she authorized its removal last week." Tsunade turned her glare to her bratty apprentice. It was her fault she agreed to authorize it. She would never understand why Shizune was so adamant about the need to remove that type of restriction, but her attendant had argued against it ever since she learned of its existence as a child.
"Well then, I guess I can throw this out," Sasuke said, looking at the second piece of paper from Naruto.
"What?" Tsunade replied hastily.
"Well, if that rule isn't really in effect, there's no need for Naruto to resign," he said shrugging.
Tsunade looked at the smirking duo in horror. "NO!" she wailed mournfully, "I was so close," she said, turning to the elders. Homura vaguely wondered if the Hokage was drunk again.
"Apologize," Naruto said startling her.
"What?" she asked, recovering miraculously.
"Apologize," he repeated a bit too happily.
"For what?" she asked angrily.
"Being a scheming, slippery, duplicitous-" he was cut off when Tsunade's hand found his mouth.
"No need to repeat that," she bit out, "and I apologize," she added as gracefully as possible.
Naruto's triumphant smirk caused her to huff. "See that wasn't so difficult, now was it?" he asked like he was speaking to a child.
Tsunade glared at him and Naruto grinned in return. After a moment he turned to Sasuke and held out his hand, his boyfriend handed the papers to him and Naruto studied them for a moment. As Tsunade watched tearfully, the blond tore one of them up before shoving the second one roughly into her hand. "Don't think I'm giving you a raise either," she said angrily.
"Actually you are," Naruto replied. "Jounin make more if they take on a Genin team and do individual missions, than they do if they remain on ANBU," he explained.
Tsunade was so busy glaring at the blond that it took several moments for her to realize what he had said. She looked down at the paper in her hand and a moment later, a victorious shout rang through Hokage Tower. "Victory is mine, victory is mine. Great day in the morning, victory is mine! I drink from the keg of glory, Shizune. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land!"
"She's going to unbearable after this," Shizune muttered.
"Are we going to take pictures at some point?" Hinata asked meekly, interrupting the Hokage's humorous victory dance – Jiraiya was drooling.
"Pictures?" Tsunade asked in confusion.
"Yeah old hag, as in the reason you tortured all of us for over a week," Naruto responded.
"Oh right," Tsunade replied, sweat dropping. "The photographer is waiting in there," she said pointing through the door Jiraiya and the elders had come through.
Naruto took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. "Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea for you to become Hokage," he muttered, as Kurenai quickly escorted her team out of the room. It was going to be a long day.
AN: There will be an epilogue. I really only got one or two people specifically ask for one, but seeing as how I have this nagging feeling that I left something out of this chapter (smirks) I figure I should put one up. Like I've said several times though, it will be a while. I'd like to have it up by August, but that'll only happen if I can get all the old chapters edited and everything. I cut a few scenes and stuff like that, that I would like to put back in, so it could be a while.
Tsunade's victory speech at the end is ripped straight from the west wing. It's said by the character Josh Lyman, and I couldn't resist the chance to use it.