"What's wrong with her?" Biwako asked Shizune, almost ready to kill.

"She has hemophobia," Shizune explained.

"What…? Isn't that…? The greatest medic-nin in the world has a fear of blood? Are you trying to make a joke?!" Biwako snapped at her in disbelief.

"Do not take that tone with me, Biwako-san," Shizune said, scolding her in a motherly way, "and yes, it's something that has to do with her past, something that would take too long to explain."

"Got it," Biwako said, expression set in stone. Then, she punched Tsunade in the ear and said, "oi, snap out of it!"

Both Tsunade and Shizune gasped, the latter likely in outrage.

Biwako shouted, "this is your only relative who's suffering here! Wake up and heal him, you wimp!"

Tsunade blinked repeatedly, as if waking up from her trance. Her gaze focused eventually, seeing Naruto's prone body held in Shizune's arms. She looked at his blood again, shaking a bit, but this time, she remained relatively calm. She said, "Shizune, report," her voice not betraying any distress she felt.

"He got severe Chakra exhaustion, Tsunade-sama, after awakening -or partially awakening- his bloodline," Shizune said.

Biwako was pacing in impatience and worry, and yet, she said nothing.

Tsunade examined Naruto herself, possibly confirming what her apprentice had told her. Then, she started glowing yellow, making Naruto glow the same color, then green. So that was the Chakra Transfer technique.

Biwako could tell that Naruto was breathing more easily after that, and sighed in relief. She turned to Tsunade, who was studying her. The woman said, "now, what to do with you? I have to somehow repay you for punching me in the ear and your earlier threats."

Biwako's mouth moved on its own and said, "I regret nothing!" Smirking smugly, despite herself. When she realized what she said, she braced for a hit.

Tsunade smirked too. She said, "good answer," flicking Biwako's forehead with one finger, sending her tumbling.

Biwako, though, landed on her feet, sideways on the trunk of a tree, sticking to it using her Chakra. "I kind of deserved that," she admitted in a bland tone which said she still didn't regret her earlier behavior.

"That's the spirit, Uchiha brat," Tsunade said, her lips twitching upwards, "by the way, your Sharingan now has two tomoe in each eye. Congratulations."

"Huh? Oh, right," Biwako said, a bit absentmindedly. She took out the hand mirror she carried everywhere and reactivated her Sharingan, seeing two comma marks on each of her eyes. "So, when will Naruto get up and what is his condition?" She said, tension back to her body.

"The usual is six to seven days of unconsciousness for this level of Chakra exhaustion, walking again at nine to eleven days and over three weeks to actively use one's Chakra again without risk of permanent damage," Tsunade said, expression unreadable, "there should be no permanent damage as long as the boy does not overdo it."

Biwako let out a sigh of relief. She said, "that's a relief. Though, with Naruto's rate of healing, it shouldn't take more than a week until he's back to using ninjutsu safely."

"A healing factor?" Tsunade said, looking more interested, "care to share?"

"His arm had broken in two places. According to the medic-nin at the hospital, it should have taken three weeks or so to fully heal for a ninja without medical ninjutsu, but it took him less than twenty-four hours - less than an hour according to Naruto himself," Biwako said, not seeing a reason to keep that information from Naruto's relative, who was also the medic-nin taking care of him.

"Interesting," Tsunade said, "just like Grandpa," whispering, seemingly forgetting that Biwako was even there in her study of Naruto.


Naruto felt like he had been stepped on by the elephant boss summon; that was his first thought as he woke up, followed by 'where am I?'

"Naruto-kun," a somewhat familiar feminine voice said, "stay put, please. You went through quite the ordeal, and need your rest."

Naruto moved his limbs around a bit. Satisfied that he wasn't in enemy hands, for lack of being bound, he let himself by lulled to sleep.

Naruto got up groggily. He felt as if pressure was being applied to all of his body, much like how training weights were supposed to be, only worse. 'Wait,' he thought, 'there's an idea. Is it possible to make a seal that weighs down all of the body? it should be great for training.'

"Rise and shine!" Tsunade exclaimed, interrupting Naruto's train of thought.

Naruto sat up with some help from who he soon recognized as Tsunade's apprentice. His eyes met Tsunade's, and he flinched.

The blond woman cleared her throat and said, "it appears we got off on the wrong foot, kid. Let's try this again. I'm Tsunade, of the Legendary Sannin."

Naruto signaled for water, which Shizune was quick to provide. After he drank a bit, he said, "nice to meet you. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, possibly Senju Naruto. Please take care of me." Then, a yawn he couldn't hold back interrupted him.

"I have to say," Tsunade said, "I'm impressed at how quickly you recovered. It's only been twenty hours or so; I would have expected you to be out for a week."

Naruto stretched a bit, and decided to try to get up. The brunette, who introduced herself as Shizune, advised against it. On the other hand, Tsunade said nothing, but was simply looking at him with keen eyes.

He put a foot on the floor with difficulty, then the other. He was handed a walking stick, which he used as a literal crutch, to great effect; he only stumbled a little bit. Left foot, right foot, left again- shit!

The blond boy nearly went tumbling, only for someone with a familiar scent to catch him.

Biwako, the one who caught him, said, "idiot; you are forcing me to pick up the slack. You're reckless as ever."

"Thanks, Biwako," Naruto said, relaxing without even meaning to.

"Anytime," the black-haired girl said calmly, her arms still around him.

Naruto managed to get to a chair with Biwako's help, and sat heavily, making the chair creak.

After a few minutes of Naruto catching his breath, he said, "so, how long was I out?" Stretching again.

"Twenty hours; didn't you hear Tsunade earlier?" Biwako replied, a bit mockingly.

Naruto was surprised by the fact that Biwako wasn't polite enough to use honorifics, even towards Tsunade. He knew that his friend almost never used them, but he thought her sense of self-preservation would keep her from pissing off someone so powerful. Not that he was one to talk.

"Hey, Naruto – is something wrong?" Biwako asked softly, worry in her tone.

Naruto was snapped out of his daydreams. He said, "I'm fine; just thinking."

"I hope you didn't burn out your brain," Biwako said teasingly.

"Very funny," Naruto shot back, but wasn't able to say something smart himself; he couldn't focus.

A few minutes passed in silence, then Tsunade spoke up. She said, "time for your exam; we'll see how well you are recovering, and if there is risk of permanent damage to your coils and the rest of your body."

She touched Naruto's bare arm, hands glowing, and started 'hmm'ing.

Naruto started panicking; he said, "wait, there's a chance of permanent damage? Why?!"

"Did you think that awakening a bloodline is an easy process?" Tsunade said, her voice stern, "most of the Uchiha clan couldn't use the Sharingan, but it wasn't necessarily for lack of the potential to awaken it. Some of them simply damaged the coils in their head enough when they awoke it, that they couldn't use it anymore. I once faced a Yuki clan member in the Second Shinobi World War who couldn't expel Chakra out of his right arm; it's likely, though not certain, that the awakening of his Hyouton had been the reason. He was still a real bitch to fight, though," devolving into a rant about 'fucking one-handed hand-seals' and 'damn annoying pretty boys'.

"Tsunade-sama! Language! Not in front of the children, at least!" Shizune said, shaking the poor pig back and forth.

Tsunade snorted, but didn't press the issue.

"WAIT! What about my body? Is there permanent damage!?" Naruto shouted out, impatient.

"Don't shout in my ear, damn it!" Tsunade said, almost equally as loud. Then, she said, "there's no chance for permanent damage. Even if you were to train today -and this is not permission to do that; my orders as a medic-nin is that you wait until tomorrow evening at the very least- you would still be fine in the long term, though you'd still set back your recovery by doing something so stupid. In fact, your Chakra and coils are recovering at an increasing rate; either now that you partially awakened your bloodline your regeneration is faster, or the Chakra exhaustion slowed down your recovery. My money would be on a combination of both."

"Aren't you notoriously bad at gambling, though?" Biwako said snarkily.

Naruto used sign language to tell Biwako to 'stop poking the sleeping dragon, idiot', feeling much better already, but the girl ignored him.

"Oh, by the way," Tsunade said casually, "when would you like to give your blood for a test? I've already determined that you're a real Senju by scanning your Chakra, but I'd much rather do a proper DNA test."

"Is it possible right now? I feel better already," Naruto said, getting up from the chair, stretching to get the kinks out of his limbs and back.

"I'd rather wait at least an hour; Shizune healed your cuts and broken knuckles immediately, so you didn't lose much blood, but your body is already stressed. Let me scan you again, though – I'll judge how long you need for recovery," Tsunade said.

She put her glowing hands on his arm again, and said, "your regeneration is still speeding up – I think that using medical ninjutsu of any kind, including diagnostic jutsu, on you improves it."

"Really?" Naruto said, "what would happen if I learned medical ninjutsu?" A bit excited.

"Well," Tsunade said, "that does explain how my grandpa healed himself without using hand-seals. He simply had to use a diagnostic jutsu on himself without seals, and bam! Instant super regeneration!" Smirking lightly.

"Wow! Hashirama-sama was incredible!" Naruto said, still excited.

Tsunade said, "I suppose so," her expression strange.

Naruto couldn't understand the mix of emotions, but he studied his relative's expression. His analysis was broken by Tsunade speaking.

The woman said, "you wouldn't happen to want to become Hokage, would you?" Narrowing her eyes.

"No," Naruto said seriously, "the only thing I care about right now is keeping my loved ones safe, though Iruka-sensei and Biwako are the only ones on that list right now. I also don't want to fall behind her in the ninja arts."

He kept the fact that he used to crave acknowledgement -and still did- to himself. That was something only Biwako -and probably Iruka-sensei- knew. The same with his desire to leave Konoha behind, but Iruka-sensei probably didn't realize that.

"I see," Tsunade said in a neutral tone, "keeping your loved ones safe, huh? Keeping up with your friend in the ninja arts? Well, not a bad goal to have, either of those."

Naruto remained silent; he could tell Tsunade wanted to say more.

As if coming to a decision, Tsunade nodded to herself. She said, "Naruto, how would you like to learn medical ninjutsu, and the ninja arts in general, from me?"

"Li- like master and apprentice?" Naruto asked, stuttering a bit.

"Exactly that," Tsunade said, a hint of a smile on her face, "so how about it? Want to be my second apprentice?"

Naruto stuttered over his reply even more, but he managed to say yes… somehow. His eyes fell on Shizune, and the woman seemed elated, no hint of envy at all. He could tell that the brunet woman cared about her master a lot.

Naruto said, "you should smile more, Shizune-san. It makes you look so much more cute and beautiful," not knowing why those words came out out loud.

"Well, aren't you a little charmer," Shizune said with a grin and a light blush and ruffled Naruto's hair, making him blush too for some reason.

"Hmph," Biwako said, "congratulations, you womanizer," a teasing tone along with something else in her voice.

Naruto turned to his best friend and said, "thanks Biwako, but what's a womanizer?"

Biwako turned away, failing to hide a small smile, and said, "never mind – I'll tell you when you're older."

"We're almost the same age!" Naruto said, slightly annoyed by Biwako's words.

Biwako stuck out her tongue at him.

"As entertaining as this is," Tsunade said, "shall we get on with the blood exam?"

Naruto blinked. Then, he paled, saying, "okay, but will I have to be pierced with a needle?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and said, "aren't you a little too old to be afraid of needles?"

"You're never too old to be afraid of needles!" Naruto declared, smirking despite himself, "heck, I know a woman over forty who's afraid of seeing blood spilled."

"Naruto," Tsunade said, "shut up and take it like a man!" Glaring daggers at him.

Naruto wisely shut up; he could see Tsunade's clenched fist, and knew he was close to being pummeled by someone who was known as the physically strongest human alive.

"Your bedside manner needs some work," Biwako commented dryly.

Tsunade didn't rise to the bait. She said, "if you ever become the most skilled medic-nin in the world, then you can criticize my bedside manner," calm once again.

After a bit of resistance from Naruto, Tsunade took some blood from his left forearm and put it in a vial. She took some blood from herself too, put it in another vial, labeled them both, shook them around a bit and put them on the dresser.

Then, she went through a sequence of hand-seals and touched both the vials at the same time, frowning at something and biting her lip.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, slightly worried.

Tsunade shook her head. She said, "I'm surprised, that's all. It seems you are my grandnephew, but Na- Nawaki die- was too young to have been a father at all. So, it must have been Zairuji who was your grandfather."

"Who was Zairuji, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked softly.

"He was my older brother. We weren't very close; in fact, the only one of the family he was close to was Mito-baasama, our grandmother. He had been a wild child and a womanizer, and he fought a lot with Grandpa and our parents since early on – though with Grandpa, it might have been because of their similarities that they clashed," Tsunade said, a fond smile on her face, "what I don't understand is why he would go and get a random girl pregnant; after he fell in love, he was very loyal to his lover, Namikaze… Reera*… oh, shit."

Naruto looked at Tsunade, not realizing why she stopped and cursed; then, the reality set in: there was only one Namikaze line in Konoha, as everyone knew. He said, "wait, the Yondaime was my father? What about my classmate, Namikaze Mito?"

"There's another Namikaze in Konoha? Oh, it must have been the goddaughter my idiot teammate was talking about with so much pride – I didn't pay much attention," Tsunade said, blushing a bit. "What does she look like?" She then said, serious again.

Naruto thought it over a bit. He said, "well, strawberry blond hair, eyes that are dark blue with a hint of green -the only others I know with that color are the Yondaime and me- and whisker marks like mine, only more thick… oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit!" Shouting in the end and clenching the nearest object in his fist, which happened to be a blunt kunai Biwako handed him.

The kunai bent under the force of his emotions, making an ominous creaking sound. He whispered, "I always blew her off when she tried to talk to me. Damn it! But if I didn't get the whisker marks from having a Bijuu in my gut, where did we both get them?"

Tsunade cleared her throat. She said, "I may be able to shed light on that."

"Wait, you know where my whisker marks came from?" Naruto said, incredulous.

"Yes," Tsunade said, "your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, was the container of the Kyuubi after my grandmother; my father had whisker marks just like yours."

"So, what does that mean?" Naruto asked, a bit confused, still unable to think clearly, not having fully recovered from his exhaustion.

"It means that if one is exposed to the Kyuubi's Chakra in serious amounts before they're born, they get those whisker marks. The same happens if they're 'reborn' by eating its flesh, thus absorbing some Chakra from it permanently, like a pair of brothers from Kumo," Tsunade explained patiently.

"Oh, I got it now. Who were those guys from Kumo, though?" Naruto asked.

"Their names were Kinkaku and Ginkaku," Tsunade said absently, "but that's a story for another time."

"By the way, Naruto," Biwako said, her smirk worrying Naruto, "did you really have to call your jutsu 'Call of Nature'? It sounds like it does the same as the Inuzuka dog partners' 'Dynamic Marking'."

They had discovered the notes on various clans that the Uchiha had on other clans, Konoha and outside. The notes on Konoha's clans in the Jounin and Chuunin section of the library were surprisingly thorough and complete, and had been updated very recently.

"Oi," Naruto said, carefully not pouting, "it was instinctive!"

"Do you mean that you instinctively called it that, or that you pissed yourself without realizing?" Biwako said, that damn smirk on her face.

"Come on, Biwako! Your naming sense isn't much better – I mean, you named a jutsu 'Lightning Style: Thunderbolt'. What is it, a Pocket Monsters move?" Naruto said teasingly.

Biwako scowled and said, "it's a perfectly viable name! 'Thunderbolt' sounds badass! Too many manga will rot your brain, Naruto!"

"Oh, come on, live a little! You have one hobby that isn't ninja training, and all it is is taking strolls around Konoha!" Naruto said, getting a bit more serious. "Oh, wait, did you just say 'badass'?" He then said, less serious again, blinking a bit in surprise.

Biwako slapped her own forehead and said, "only you could change from joking to serious to joking again so quickly, you idiot."

"Oi, I'm not an idiot, you jerk, dattebayo!" Naruto said, hating being called an idiot.

"You so are, you whisker-face!" Biwako said, losing seriousness fast.

"You look like a pretty-boy," Naruto said, realizing his mistake as soon as he said it.

"What did you just say?!" Biwako hissed out, glaring at him horribly.

'In for a Ryo, in for a fifty note,' Naruto thought. Out loud, he said, "I said you sound like the tsundere love interest of the main protagonist from one of the manga I've read."

Biwako's eyes opened comically wide, like she couldn't believe what she heard. Then, they narrowed, but a smirk started showing on her face. She said, "if I'm the thundere love interest, then are you the main protagonist?"

"Uh, what…?" Naruto said, shell-shocked.

Biwako patted him on the head, a mocking smirk still on her face, and sat down in seiza, closing her eyes without dropping the smirk.

Naruto could hear Tsunade's snickers very clearly. He turned and glared at the woman, but she completely ignored him.

Shizune looked just as shocked as Naruto felt earlier, then a smile bloomed on her face. She said, "Naruto-kun, how many years have you two been married?"

Naruto groaned. He said, "not you too, Shizune-san! We're nine years old – is that something you say to a kid?"

Tsunade, in the meanwhile, was still snickering. She stopped for a moment, only to say, "Shizune's got a point there. Snrk- bwahahahaha!"

Naruto was not amused, and showed it by carefully NOT pouting.

After Tsunade stopped snickering, she went to work again, saying, "so, Uchiha brat-"

"It's Biwako," Biwako said, dropping her previous smirk.

"Whatever," Tsunade said grumpily, "have you had a check-up? Naruto was healthy, but I don't know about you."

Biwako said, "all Academy students have gone through check-ups," frowning lightly.

"Yes," Tsunade said, "but have they been examined by me?" Full of confidence, or maybe arrogance.

Biwako put up a bit more resistance, but in the end, she gave in and let Tsunade examine her.

Tsunade put a glowing hand on Biwako's arm. After a few seconds of that, Tsunade lifted her head to look at Biwako, saying, "what the hell, Biwako! Why are there traces of a possible S-ranked Genjutsu in your head!"

Naruto saw Biwako freeze, which was a rare sight. She said, "wait – it wasn't wiped fully?" Shivering.

Tsunade looked at Biwako strangely, then said, "apart from that, you have minor nerve damage in the wrist area. Do you want those things healed?"

Biwako hadn't said yes faster in her life, Naruto thought. She sat very still, too.

Tsunade did a few hand-seals, put her glowing hands on Biwako's head and after a few minutes, said, "it is done. I recommend that you not use your Sharingan -or any Chakra around your head- for a few days. Make sure you aren't put under any genjutsu for any reason for those days, too. I will put you under my personal surveillance if I have to."

"Thank you," Biwako said, and she seemed to be more at ease than ever, "what about my wrist? Is healing nerve damage even possible?"

"Impatient brat," Tsunade said, her smirk showing she wasn't angry. "I'll get to that now. Healing nerve damage is not possible for medic-nins… other than me, of course. Strength of a Hundred Seal, Release. Creation Rebirth – Strength of a Hundred," she then said, making a Tiger Seal.

Tsunade started glowing slightly. Strange markings spread on her face, then the rest of her body, and she touched Biwako. For a few seconds, the same markings were on the young girl. Then, they disappeared, and Biwako twisted her hand around, an expression of wonder on her face.

Naruto sensed for the Chakra that Tsunade was using, and what he could tell was that it was all her own Chakra because of the same yellow 'color', but in her forehead was a store of energy that was probably much greater in quantity than Tsunade could make on her own. What had she done? Had she stored her own Chakra or something?

The markings were no longer there, only the diamond-like seal(?).The Chakra in her forehead was no longer possible to sense, and Tsunade was breathing hard. Shizune helped the woman stay on her feet.

Tsunade said, "I really am out of practice. Though this is the first time I've used this jutsu, I don't think it was supposed to tire me out this much – I didn't even use a twentieth of the Chakra stored in there," an expression of annoyance on her face.

"Wait… you used an untested jutsu on me?" Biwako said, one eyebrow twitching.

Tsunade waved Biwako off, saying, "I was certain of what it does, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it. The time I invented it was shortly before I left Konoha.(*2)"

"Hmph. Whatever," Biwako said, turning away.

It made Naruto worry, too. He said to Tsunade, "there won't be any problems with Biwako because of the jutsu, right?"

"Extremely unlikely, but I will monitor her if it will put your minds at ease," Tsunade said.

"Wait," Shizune said, "what about the Academy? You two are students there, right? Or have you already graduated?"

Tsunade clicked her fingers, saying, "I knew I was forgetting something! Does either of you have a guardian that you have to contact? It's not a good idea to go to the Academy, as the Uchiha brat -Biwako- has to rest for a few days, and Naruto needs his rest too."

Naruto looked at Biwako, and she looked back.

After a bit of non-verbal communication, Biwako said, "I will ask a messenger Hawk to take a message from each of us to Iruka-sensei. Maybe we will say that we are sick, or something like that."

Naruto nodded, but then something occurred to him. He said, "Tsunade… san. You said something earlier about my Wood Style partially activating. What did you mean?"

Tsunade didn't answer for a few seconds. Then, she said, "call me Tsunade-sensei, or Tsunade-shishou(*3), Naruto. As for the activation of your bloodline, it means that you didn't have enough Chakra to activate the full Wood Style -or maybe not a strong enough body- yet, so, while it started activating, it didn't finish the process. Thus, you got Chakra exhaustion and didn't get the Wood Style at its full potential.

»So, it won't be anywhere as efficient Chakra-wise as it's supposed to be, and some abilities may remain out of your reach. Not to mention the fact that your healing factor might become even greater when you awaken your Wood Style fully."

Naruto digested that for a few moments. Then, he said, "wait, that wasn't even Mokuton's full power!?" Shouting without meaning to.

"It wasn't – trust me on that," Tsunade said, smirking, "Grandpa could make his Wood Clones so quickly that only Madara was able to see him substitute himself with one, and made a training ground with a radius of a bit over ten kilometers practically from scratch in only a few hours. Three hundred and twenty-six square kilometers – do you know how large that is?"

"How large was the space I covered with trees?" Naruto asked, truly curious.

Tsunade smirked and said, "including the trees beyond the clearing, about fifty times less than ONE square kilometer; without them, one hundred and seventy times or so less than a square kilometer. Don't be discouraged, though – some people's Chakra reserves grow exponentially, and your Wood Style will probably get a lot less Chakra intensive when you fully activate it, too.

»According to my father, who was told by Grandpa himself, Grandpa didn't have his enormous reserves from the beginning; and now that you are going to be my apprentice, I will make sure that you improve in everything."

Tsunade's smirk turned sadistic, making Naruto shiver. Still, he had more questions. He said, "d- do you think that I have a Bijuu sealed in me, Tsunade-sensei? It's the theory Biwako and I have for why I'm hated in Konoha," a bit scared that his aunt would abandon him.

Tsunade's hands glowed a bit again, and she put one on Naruto's arm, then slipped it under his shirt. She looked puzzled, but she said, "I can't detect anything like that. Of course, it's possible, even likely, that your father sealed it in so tight that it will take years for you to use its Chakra. After all, he did split it in half using the Shinigami, according to Jiraiya when he was drinking his sorrows.

»My advice is not to worry about it except when you are improving your Chakra Control. I do have a few of the exercises that Grandmother and Kushina used to keep the Nine-tails from affecting their Chakra Control as much."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sensei!" Naruto said, bowing in respect, happy that he had a relative teach him.

He saw Iruka as a father figure or maybe an older brother, but it was different with Tsunade.


Naruto was standing in a clearing with Tsunade, again; this time, Shizune and Biwako were standing further ahead, though they were still well within sensing distance.

"Now that you are rested," Tsunade said, a scary smile on her face, "it is time to see what you can do, Naruto. Then, it's tortraining for you."

"Tortraining?" Naruto asked, starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing. "Is it too late to change my mi-"

"Shut up and show me what you can do. Now, what jutsu do you know?" Tsunade barked out.

Naruto showed Tsunade his seal-less Kawarimi (Substitution / Body Replacement).

Then, the Transformation and the Clone jutsu with only one hand-seal each, the Shadow Clone, which had one seal to begin with; the Water Clone, which Naruto could use with only a Tiger seal; the Wood Clone, which, after the activation of his bloodline, he could use with only two hand-seals rather than three; Water Style: Wild Water Wave, which he had gotten down with only three hand seals rather than four(*4) and Wind Style: Thrust, which still took three hand-seals: Dog, Rabbit and Bird.

Tsunade's eyes had narrowed, and that worried Naruto. She said, "are you able to extract the water from a leaf?"

Naruto took a leaf in his hand and did just that; all the while, Tsunade was watching with keen eyes.

"It's as I feared. You have neglected some of the basics in favor of learning more things. Are you able to cut a leaf too?" Tsunade said, her voice even.

Naruto cut a leaf, then covered another in dirt.

Tsunade examined them. Then, she said, "it took too long for you to cut the leaf; same with the Earth Style and the Water Style exercise. There are also jagged edges in the cut, though they are more minor than I'd expect; but Shizune is the expert on Wind Style, not me, so we'll leave that for later. Now, start jogging around the clearing."

"For how long?" Naruto asked.

"Just do it. I will tell you when to stop," Tsunade said, and Naruto started jogging.

Naruto was getting tired after nearly an hour of jogging around the clearing, so he started slowing down.

OUCH!

Something, and Naruto thought it was a rock, had hit him in the ass-cheek!

Tsunade laughed quietly, but Naruto could hear her. She then said, "don't slow down, Naruto. Oh, we need to train your situational awareness and dodging ability, too, so make sure not to get hit again; I won't throw the rocks so weakly and slowly next time."

That was weak and slow!? What the hell! Naruto didn't say anything, though; he only continued jogging.

After he finished that training, with his bruises disappearing near-instantly, Tsunade had him show her his taijutsu. She also had him demonstrate his strength technique (or, rather, his version of her technique). Tsunade said, "I call it the Byakugo no jutsu (Strength of a Hundred jutsu). You seriously learned it in a week? I'll have you show me what Chakra Control exercises you know next."

Naruto showed her how he stuck leaves on himself, then left them on when he climbed a tree, and later when he walked on water. He had to dodge a few rocks again, this time on the water, but his aunt said that his Chakra Control was 'adequate for his age'.

According to Tsunade, Naruto's taijutsu was a bit of a mess; learning from scrolls and an Academy teacher who didn't know the styles very well will do that. She beckoned Naruto to follow her, and they went up to Biwako and Shizune.

Tsunade said, "Uchiha brat. Show me your taijutsu," without hesitation.

"It's Biwako," the girl said, but she showed Tsunade her stances without a protest, other than narrowed eyes.

"Interesting," Tsunade said, "your taijutsu is certainly better than Naruto's. Can you use it well without the Sharingan, though?"

With that, Tsunade had Naruto and Shizune walk away from the two of them in order to spar with Biwako. Naruto looked on with worry.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Shizune said, "Tsunade-sama DOES know how to control her strength."

Naruto nodded at her and turned back to Biwako and Tsunade. As expected, Biwako lost handily.

Then, Tsunade told her to go all out, and Biwako activated her doujutsu and shouted, "Lightning Style: Thunderbolt!"

That jutsu was mid-ranged, and the longest range Raiton she had; mainly because the Lightning Element wasn't meant for true long range.

Tsunade sidestepped, the jutsu apparently failing at its purpose.

Naruto could sense the Chakra of a Shadow Clone -or Biwako herself- under the ground, though – Biwako obviously used the light of the flashy ninjutsu to cover for her making a clone.

Tsunade lifted one leg… and stomped the ground, dispelling the clone.

Biwako herself had finished the hand-seals of Phoenix Sage Fire, and Tsunade swayed just enough for the small balls of fire to miss her – unfortunately for Tsunade, Biwako revealed that she had hidden shuriken inside those fireballs; shuriken that she controlled using… near-invisible wires…?

That move was new; Biwako never used ninja wire in their spars, nor did she put shuriken in Housenka no jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire / Phoenix Flower jutsu).

Tsunade kicked the ground again, while holding a one-handed hand-seal, with a whisper of 'Earth Style: Mud Hazard', which sent a splash of mud… right into Biwako's active Sharingan.

She recoiled, the shuriken went to random directions and Tsunade put a kunai at Biwako's throat before Naruto realized what had happened.

Biwako admitted defeat, and Tsunade said, "that was impressive."

"Impressive? Are you mocking me?" Biwako said, obviously annoyed, eyes still bloodshot.

Tsunade simply shook her head. She said, "don't be absurd, Biwako; it WAS impressive – for a Genin, not even an Academy student. You made a great opening move by using that Raiton as a distraction and attack both. Using Housenka no jutsu wasn't even a mistake, per se. But you need a much greater speed of reaction AND faster hand-seals to accompany your Sharingan.

»Did you notice how with one jutsu, I accomplished more than one thing? Rather like your use of 'Thunderbolt'. Except the jutsu I used is one of the most basic ones in the Earth element; it's barely D-ranked, while yours is probably at C-rank."

Biwako's focus on Tsunade's words was absolute. She said, "so, I need to focus more on my reflexes and improving my hand-seals?"

Tsunade simply nodded.

"Does that mean you will train both of us, Tsunade-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade said, "I'm willing to help her from time to time, but you will be my focus."

Shizune spoke after many minutes of silence on her part. She said, "I'll help both of you, too. My primary element is Wind, but I'm a fair hand with ninja wire and weapons, especially senbon."

Tonton let out a squeal, and Naruto smiled at Shizune, saying, "that's great, Shizune-san!"

Tsunade said, "my primary element is Water, though my skill with Earth Style is better than most Iwa Jounin, as Biwako saw first hand. I'm more than a fair hand at Fire Style, too. As for Lightning Style… well, I can use it. That's all."

"What about Yang Style and Yin Style?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade did a double take. She said, "so, that's how you learned the Byakugo no jutsu in one week? You had already trained yourself in Yang Style?"

Naruto shook his head. He said, "it took me less than three days to complete the exercise of making a leaf hard as iron. I just… get Yang Style. In comparison, it took me over six months to make a leaf look transparent using Yin Style, and only a small part of it; I still haven't finished that exercise. I don't doubt it will take me over a year to finish."

"Interesting," Tsunade said, her eyes lighting up. Then, she said, "as for me, I'm the leading authority on Yang Style; most medical ninjutsu, including the Mystical Palm, are based on Yang Style. Though, between you and me, the Mystical Palm and the Chakra Transfer jutsu might not be ninjutsu, per se. If there's anything left over of the legendary 'Ninshu', it's probably those two jutsu."

"Ninshu?" Naruto asked, the word striking a chord deep within.

"Not important right now," Tsunade said, waving him off.

A few days later, after Tsunade left a lot of books for Naruto -and a few for Biwako- in storage seals to study, the two children returned to Konoha.

When one is summoned with the Gyaku Kuchiyose no jutsu (Reverse Summoning jutsu), they have two choices: they either return to their original position in time, or they have to return manually (or be summoned again). Biwako was summoned by a Hawk again, and then summoned Naruto.

Naruto could see that the village was on high alert as he walked to the Academy with Biwako, though at a bit of a distance, so that people don't find out about their friendship. He eavesdropped on a few ninjas jumping on the nearby rooftops, and he heard something about an intruder coming into Konoha from above, passing through 'the barrier'.

Wait – were they talking about the Hawk? Naruto didn't know whether to be worried or just laugh.

In the end, the ninjas of Konoha started settling down, though Naruto could tell they were still on edge.

Iruka's keen eyes paused on Naruto for a few moments, then on Biwako. The lesson today was about the Second Shinobi World War, especially the Sannin and their achievements – funny, considering Naruto had been with Tsunade less than two hours earlier.

Iruka's assistant, Mizuki, was present today to 'learn the ropes' or something like that. The assistant looked at Naruto, his eyes narrowing a bit, but he immediately hid it expertly.

'Weird,' Naruto thought, 'Mizuki-sensei never hid his dislike for me. If anything, he dislikes me more now than before Maifa.'

Iruka told Mizuki to pick a student and ask them a question on the material.

Mizuki picked Naruto, saying, "so, Naruto – what was Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin best known for?"

Barely holding in his laugh, Naruto said, "she was known for her physical strength and healing prowess as a medic-nin. She was the only one who could counter the poisons Chiyo of Suna made, and could punch the ground hard enough to crack it."

Tsunade had told Naruto about a few of her achievements, and Chiyo's name had come up more than once.

Mizuki paused, then talked to Iruka in whispers.

In the meanwhile, one of Naruto's classmates said, "you made that up, Naruto! There's no way a woman can break the ground!"

The classmate's name was Nori, or something like that. He probably wouldn't even graduate. Especially if Sakura, Ino, Ami and even Hinata killed him today.

Naruto could see the glares aimed at Nori, and would stay very far away from him for at least a few days.

Mizuki said, "that is correct, Naruto," smiling in a fake way.

Naruto shivered, despite himself. That smile was creepy.

Fortunately, as Naruto and Biwako found out later, nobody found out that the intruder was a Hawk, nor that Biwako had something to do with it. Biwako also set up a Reverse Summoning Seal in the Uchiha district, so there would be no need for the Hawks to infiltrate Konoha again.

As for being summoned by Tsunade, she could do it through the Slug contract, which Naruto signed, but that's a story for another time.


* From Layla. In turn, 'Layla' is a song by Eric Clapton.

*2 Yes, here, Tsunade hasn't used Creation Rebirth in any way. She's physically in her late twenties, not forty-seven, because of her Uzumaki and Senju heritage and [SPOILERS]. There's no need for her special Transformation usually.

*3 Shishou means 'Master', as in Master and Apprentice

*4 Canon has it use only three hand-seals, but here, the explanation is that Yahiko had shaved off one of the hand-seals too.