A/N: Well… Here's the new chapter… that's all.

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Continued…

"So, where have you been?" Tsunade asked while she raised an eyebrow.

"Well… after the Kyuubi attacked, there was this old lady that asked me to help her get to another continent, and after a decade of walking, we eventually got there… then, once I came back, a black cat crossed my path. It stayed there and I waited until it left… but it didn't. After a few days of waiting, I found out that the cat was already decaying…" Yondaime let out a little smile. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched after hearing the somewhat familiar excuses.

'So that's where Kakashi and Obito got their excuses…' she thought as a nerve appeared on her forehead.

"Anyway…" Yondaime continued, "… after I buried the cat in the desert near Sunagakure, I tried to get back here… and that was when I got lost in the road of life…"

"You and your lame excuses! You were probably the person that taught Obito and Kakashi how to make excuses!" Tsunade growled at him, putting a fist in front of his face.

"Ehehehe…" Yondaime sweat-dropped.

"Now tell me… Where have you been? Seriously." Tsunade sat down on the table, since she just threw her chair out the window.

"Hmm… After the fight with the Kyuubi?" Yondaime got seriousness written all over his face.

"Yes… that Jutsu you used… it guarantees death to its user, so how the heck did you survive?"

"Actually…" Yondaime put a finger underneath his chin, "… I really died, and the Death god actually gobbled up my soul. But after ten hours, he threw up and returned my soul to my body. He said my soul tasted like ramen and that ramen is the last thing he would eat." Yondaime giggled at the face of the death god throwing up after eating his soul.

"Are you serious?" Tsunade asked Yondaime with a huge amount of disbelief.

"Dead serious." Yondaime stared at Tsunade, making sure his point got through.

"Alright! Now that you're here, I can finally return to gambling!" Tsunade jumped around the room like Naruto after passing to be a Gennin.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, GRANNY, but since the Fourth Hokage is officially dead, you are the only Hokage left." He looked at Tsunade with a sly grin.

Tsunade was about to retaliate when a loud voice echoed through the halls. The voice of a certain Ero-sennin.

"Tsunade! I need cash!" Jiraiya shouted as he ran into the office. Once inside, his brains turned upside-down, his jaw dropped, his eyes widened, his fingers twitched… err… he was extremely surprised.

"Oh… hello, sensei." Yondaime greeted him with the 'Uzumaki grin'.

'WTF? Aaah!" Jiraiya turned pale, "what are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead!" he points a finger at his former student.

"Well, I'm still living and breathing." He said with a slight grin, but his eyebrow twitched a bit.

"I-It c-can't b-be… are you, like the ghost of Christmas past?" Jiraiya trembled and goosebumps appeared on him.

"Look, sensei… I can explain." He tried to get nearer to Jiraiya.

"Wait! Don't get near me! I promise I won't peep anymore! I'll stop writing perverted novels!" Jiraiya pleaded.

"Don't! I read those!" Yondaime pulled out his copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

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Meanwhile, near the lake, Hizachi and Kakashi were sitting next to each other.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Shouldn't they realize by now that you already stopped pushing at Ino's head?" Hizachi sat awestruck.

"Well… I guess… it's been a good five minutes since I removed my hand and they're still at it." Kakashi was awestruck as well.

Hizachi approached Naruto and Ino. He knelt down beside them and smiled.

"Naruto, Ino, Kakashi's been gone for five minutes and you're still kissing each other."

Upon hearing this, Naruto and Ino blushed heavily as their eyes widened. They pushed each other away and got a comfortable space between them.

"Well… they finally decided to stop kissing each other." Kakashi let out a little giggle.

"Actually… I thought they were getting to the point of no return." Hizachi said while smiling. Kakashi looked at him a bit puzzled.

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked.

"You read those perverted books everytime. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

Kakashi sat down and thought for a few moments… until a thought entered his head and hit him like a brick flying at Mach 5.

"Oh… so that's what you meant…" Kakashi's face became quite red after thinking of what might have happened.

While they were still having their little conversation, Naruto and Ino couldn't help but listen to what the two adults were talking about. Their faces became red as the DHL trucks and they looked down on the ground as they immersed themselves in deep thought.

Inside Ino's head…

'What just happened? First, I was crying, and then the next thing I knew, we were kissing! Damn that Kakashi-sensei! He pushed my head downwards!'

Out of nowhere, another Ino appeared inside her mind.

'Stop blaming other people! I'm sure you enjoyed every single second of what happened.'

'Another Ino? Who are you?' she asked her… twin.

'I'm the Inner Ino, like Sakura's Inner Sakura.' Her mental twin replied.

'Like… Sakura…? NOOO! She infected me with her virus! I shouldn't have entered her mind! Now I have a big-forehead virus!'

Inside Naruto's head…

'What just happened? First, she was crying, and then the next thing I knew, we were kissing! Damn that perverted Jounin! He pushed Ino's head downwards!'

'Stupid kid! I'm sure you loved it!' the Kyuubi said

'Shut up, you old fox! Quit messing with my head!' Naruto retaliated.

'There's no reason to hide. You are the only one that could hear me. Come on, don't be shy.' The Kyuubi said with a somewhat childish tone.

'Shut up! If you don't, I'll send a demonic hound after you!' Naruto pointed a finger at the fox.

'How do you plan on doing that? You can't stuff a hound through your ears!' a demonic laughter followed.

'It's my head. I could imagine a hound into existence!' Naruto shouted at the greatly feared Kyuubi.

'Let's just see about that! No dog can beat me!' the Kyuubi used his very own foxy grin.

'Alright, here it goes!' Naruto sat down in front of the Kyuubi. He thought and he thought until he got to the point where he was about to pull his hair off. The Kyuubi laughed at him after seeing Naruto's desperate effort. He continued laughing but stopped when he heard a growl behind Naruto. Two glowing eyes soon followed.

'What the…?'

Behind Naruto appeared a large… extremely large… version of Akamaru. Naruto grinned with pride while the fox just sweatdropped.

'In case you didn't notice, that is not a hound. That's Kiba's freakin' dog!'

'I know! I don't know what a hound looks like! I just read about it in books!'

'You're so stupid…' the fox sighed.

'I don't care…'

'Come on…all this for just what happened earlier? You're so immature.'

'I still don't care.' Naruto sat down and crossed his arms. Then, some sick idea entered the Kyuubi's mind.

'You won't tell me? Fine. That just makes you a coward then. A coward that is not fit to be a Hokage… and here I was thinking of numerous ways to help you in your dream. After all, if you try to chase your dream and you die in the process, I'll die with you as well. That's the last thing I want to do. I'm too young to die!'

'Too young to die? You're centuries old!'

'For demons, it's still early adulthood.'

'Whatever, old fox!'

'So, are you going to tell me?'

'No…'

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The next day, Kakashi and Hizachi were called into the Hokage's office. Shizune greeted them at the door before letting them in. Kakashi walked in, followed by Hizachi and Shizune.

"Master Hokage… why did you call for us?" Hizachi asked, finally getting used to calling Tsunade in that manner.

"As you know, we have an incredible shortage of ninjas here in Konoha. Earlier this morning, Naruto and Shikamaru asked for permission to take a Class A mission. I granted them their mission and they are currently going after Sasuke."

"What? You can't be serious!" Kakashi nearly dropped his mask with the surprise he got.

"I'm not joking. Right now, some of them may already be engaged in combat. Pretty soon, this Class A mission will become a Class S mission." Tsunade said monotonously.

Kakashi, on the other hand, went on his way towards the window.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tsunade asked with a touch of strictness.

"I'm going after them. Those two will kill each other." with that, he leapt of the window before the Hokage could say 'Wait!'

"That was fast." Hizachi remarked while scratching his head.

"As for you, Ninmei Hizachi, the Yondaime talked to me last night. He told me all about you." Tsunade's face lightened up a bit.

"He did, did he?" Hizachi chuckled.

"Yes. He said that you have exceptional skill and that you should be promoted to Jounin as soon as possible."

"That's nice" he faked a smile 'Exceptional skill? He hasn't even seen me fight yet!'

"It is. Therefore, by the power invested in me by the council and the people of Konoha, and by the referral of Yondaime Hokage, I hereby promote you to Jounin level." She took a darker vest from her drawer and throws it at Hizachi, "That's your new Jounin vest. Wear it with pride."

"Heh… thanks!" Hizachi faked another smile 'I don't need to be a Jounin. I'm Shichijuudaime Hokage for Konoha's sake!'

"Anyway, he only told me after Jiraiya left, so he would most probably be surprised to see you in a Jounin vest."

"I see. I guess I should get going." Hizachi waved but was suddenly stopped by Tsunade.

"Wait. You still have a mission to do." Tsunade threw a stare at him.

"What kind of mission?" Hizachi turned around to look at Godaime.

"A Class S mission. You can take a Jounin of your choice with you. All you have to do is to locate Otogakure, since out of all the Hidden villages, it is the only one that is truly hidden. Get what I mean?"

"Yeah, I hear you." Hizachi said lazily.

"You will leave tomorrow morning. In a few days, Jiraiya will go after you, so you have to leave some sort trail behind you, understood?"

"Yes."

"Very well, you may leave."

With that final word, Hizachi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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A/N: There, I am in the 2 digit chapter zone. Wish me luck!

Anyway, here's another question:

Who should accompany Hizachi on his mission to find Otogakure and why?

Shizune

Anko

It would be better if you could give me a list of their Jutsus, so as to make the next chapter more Naruto-like. Please review!