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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, otherwise the NejiTen would be canon.

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Enjoy.

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Chapter 4. Omnisapient

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She looked up from the documents she was currently reviewing, just in time to see Shizune entering her office with another stack of papers requiring her signature. Why had she agreed to return to Konoha to play Hokage? She snorted in resignation and Tonton on her legs let out a light snore, lucky little piggy.

It was past 11 p.m. when she finally left the office for a walk. Everyone said that being Hokage was a great honor and having the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the village on her back was something she had been willing to do, but no one ever talked about all the odious bureaucratic work behind it nor the boring council meetings that made monotony the main word to define her day to day life. That's why she had started to go for walks in the evenings, usually at late hours, and the ANBU in charge of patrolling had already gotten used to see her doing it more and more often.

The first few times she only walked aimlessly, when she met someone and was recognized, they made conversation with her, or told her about some new problem so that she could help them, thus preventing her from fulfilling the objective of her walks, which was to clear her mind. So now she would go out lightly disguised and unless she stopped or someone looked at her closely, they wouldn't speak to her.

She was just another passerby, a possible tourist looking for her inn or a resident finally returning to her abode after having a little chat with friends in some place. As she walked further and further into areas she wasn't used to passing through, she began to discover that what is seen in the light of day and in public was completely different from what happens behind closed doors when privacy and darkness appear.

She had also learned that in her office she didn't find out even a third of what was really going on in the village, and this could be partly because her advisors did a good job of filtering information so that she only got what was really important, or that someone else was trying to keep her from finding out what was going on in the village she had sworn to protect. That was also why she continued to go out, in the years she had been doing it her observation skills had improved a lot.

That was how he became suspicious of the Kazekage's constant visits to the village with messages that could have been perfectly conveyed by any of his emissaries, and then of Hinata's missions to the Sand village. Until finally, after what she assumed was a tough talk with the Hyūga's family, the two involved officially announced their engagement, and the eventual move of the young girl to what would be her new home. Hiashi couldn't object to such an engagement but since they were starting to train his firstborn to take over the leadership of the Clan, he asked that they postpone her departure as long as possible while they organized some internal matters.

Many were surprised, others feigned surprise when they alerted her, but she already knew. The more time passed the less things escaped her attention. That night she just strolled around the exit of the village, being attentive that the designated guard was attentive in his work, and then returned to rest. She didn't have much encouragement that day, everything was calm, it almost seemed the calm before a storm, but she couldn't foresee yet what kind of storm was approaching.

Her morning started like any other, she had had to go to the hospital to attend to a shinobi seriously injured by an attack on the road, and only after being completely sure that he was out of danger, she went to her office, ready to continue with the mountain of documents that had the ability to reproduce itself. She picked up a new piece of paper, the academy had requested some supplies and her advisors had already attached the budget available for this so in theory only her signature was missing, but it never hurt to read. She was concentrating on reading when Shizune entered.

"Excuse me, Tsunade-sama," she didn't look up but made a head movement to let her know that she was listening to her, "there is an emissary from the Raikage that requests to speak with you in private," from the Raikage? Was that the storm coming?

"Tell him to come in," she stopped what she was doing and looked at the young man who had just entered, he looked shy, "good morning," she greeted when she saw that he didn't say anything.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama," he answered and only then he seemed to react to look for the scroll he was supposed to deliver, "the Raikage asked me to deliver this to you," she frowned as she unrolled the paper and read each of the words, "he said you have 1 month to give him your answer," he clarified apparently noticing that this was her question.

"Very well, anything else?" she saw him deny, and say goodbye, "Shizune!" the black-haired came back in immediately, and she held out the scroll for her to read.

"This is..." a direct threat, yes. She completed in her mind. "What are you going to answer him?"

"I want a list of kunoichis that meet the request," the woman nodded and left, what was she going to answer him? She didn't have many options really, the possibility of an alliance with a country with which they used to have frequent altercations wasn't far-fetched, and even less if on the other side of the scale there was the possibility of a confrontation.

It had been 4 days when Shizune finally came in with the answer, she expected a list of at least 3 women to choose the most suitable, although she had turned the matter over in her head several times and couldn't think of any, but perhaps her memory didn't keep in mind all the available kunoichis and she was overlooking some of them. So she trusted that her assistant would bring her the solution, or in case she was right and there were none available that met all the requirements that Shizune would have been proactive enough to list possible chunins that could make up for the absence of single jōnins. She knew everything was wrong when the black-haired was handed a simple note with a single name written on it, she ran her eyes over the only word written there: Tenten.

Her head immediately questioned why she hadn't thought of the brunette, and the answer was simple. Tenten was single, but that didn't mean the young woman didn't have a couple, although it was a situation she hadn't gotten involved in and let the two involved see how they worked things out between them. But that decision, no matter why they had made it, now had her in the spotlight, fully lit up to be the only candidate available to fulfill the request.

"Do we have any news on the extraction mission?"

"Tsunade-sama?"

"The mission led by Neji Hyūga."

"They sent a report 2 days ago, it is still not safe to perform it, and they are looking for a new entry point... Tsunade-sama, what does this have to do with..."

"Notify me as soon as we have news or when they report their return," she didn't say anything else to Shizune, that was the kind of thing she knew from having watched carefully... and from her nightly walks.

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It was a gaze, nothing more. A look that lasted half a fraction of a second as Neji walked out of her office after giving her the report of the mission he had just completed after several days away from the village, and Tenten walked in to receive instructions for a mission she would be leaving for the next day at noon. Had she not been at that moment watching them, she would have missed that minuscule detail. But it wasn't so, that half a split second, that connection between the white and chocolate eyes made it clear to her that something was going on there.

The afternoon flowed quickly and, in the evening, when it was time to take her walk, she opted to head to the brunette's house looking to check what she seemed to notice. Because after analyzing it a bit he thought she might have misinterpreted things, they were teammates, it could be simple joy of crossing paths, but her instinct told her otherwise.

Besides, what did she expect to discover? Several hours had passed, by now silence reigned in most of the village. With her usual stealth and walking apparently aimlessly so that the guards making rounds wouldn't suspect the exact place she was going to, she arrived at the house. The lights indicated that the occupant of that dwelling was resting, but as she was about to turn around and go around the place to continue her journey she noticed that from the window overlooking the backyard, she could perceive a light. And driven by curiosity she jumped the gate to see, noticing that as her steps approached the window the silence that should be the only thing present diminished, and the unmistakable sound of two people fused in an act of passion made its presence known.

She couldn't believe her eyes, she blinked several times to see if the image changed, but it didn't. The moans increased, and despite her age she couldn't help blushing. Inside the room was Tenten, completely naked and standing with her hands leaning on the wall to try to give herself support before the merciless onslaughts that were being fitted by the Hyūga, who was behind her in equal dressing condition and apparently not managing to be deep enough inside her, holding her by the hips and moving faster and faster.

She was unable to move, her legs had anchored themselves to the grass while her head continued in disbelief both because she was appreciating such an intimate moment, and because absolutely no one suspected it was happening. A scream and a grunt sounded almost simultaneously, she had to retreat, she had discovered more than what she had come for, and she didn't want to be caught spying, she left the visual field and heard the words exchanged.

"I'm finally back, and you have to go," said the masculine voice.

"I told you it will only be 2 days," there was silence, "will you stay here for those days?"

"You know I won't, besides I haven't slept in the Clan since your last mission."

She didn't listen anymore, she retired to her home and the next day at the hospital she looked for the brunette's medical file, in the 'sexually active' section she erased the NO box and filled in the YES.

Since that day she never saw them in the same way again, but the glances that lasted fractions of a second and weren't perceived by anyone else were still there. How long had it been since that? 2 years? A little less or more? And they were still not saying a word.

Another week passed, Shizune didn't understand her reluctance, if she had already agreed to fulfill the request – why not hand over the mission to Tenten? Personally she was looking for other alternatives but half of the time they had to answer had already passed without advancing even a little, so she finally called her.

She gave Tenten a week to decide, and as a coincidence even though they hadn't given any warning, that same day at dusk the other shinobi who could change the answer arrived. If they proved their relationship, the brunette would no longer be the only available option, and they would directly have to talk to the Raikage to negotiate the condition of rank or age to present another woman that would guarantee the alliance.

She was worried, despite everything it was a vital mission for the village so once she signed the last document for that day, she took her usual disguise and without wasting time she went to Tenten's house to corroborate that they were indeed still as close, finding a scene quite similar to the first time, she left immediately. She hadn't slept a wink all night, so she was in her office first thing in the morning. Thinking that at any moment they would come in and talk about the situation, but nothing happened.

About 1 hour later she could see Neji in her office delivering the pending report of the previous day, nothing in him revealed that he knew about what happened, although he looked tense. Without wasting any more time, she told him to wait, and sent for Tenten, one way or another that farce was over now.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama, Neji," Tenten greeted as she entered.

"Very well, the reason for summoning you both here is very simple, I want you to answer me truthfully and bluntly," she paused only to stare at them, "Are you two a couple?" the brunette looked surprised by the question, probably remembering the exclusion in the mission, but the Hyūga looked like a statue. "Well? I don't have all day."

"No."

To her mind came the image of a crystal glass touching the floor, that second when you know it's going to break, when the first fracture appears and with speed it spreads all over the surface before it bursts into a thousand pieces. That's how the young woman in front of her looked at that moment.

"We are just teammates, Tsunade-sama."

"Tenten?" she asked, the chocolate eyes had gone completely out before she went to the ground.

"N-Ne... Neji has told the truth, we are just teammates."

"Very well, you may leave," the disappointment permeated her voice, "one week, Tenten."

The brunette disappeared at a fast pace, evidently betrayed by the man present in the room who in one way or another had just let her know that he only saw her as someone to have sex with, and that was it. The afternoon was advancing at a slow pace when the brown hair peeked out again, she could see that even though Tenten had tried to hide it, she had been crying.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," her voice was little more than a whisper.

"Come in, Tenten."

"I just wanted to give you my answer to the mission," Tenten inhaled deeply before speaking again. "I accept," the word was vocalized clearly as the brunette handed the scroll back to her and walked away.

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Tenten would probably never know, and none of those around her were able to understand the spiral of almost self-destruction Neji fell into after attending that wedding, he wouldn't stop in the village for more than a night, before leaving again. C, B, A type missions, whatever it was he accepted it. It was perfectly clear to her that he felt guilty, and he did know the reason for the question so he answered what he felt was right, and belatedly realized the mistake he had made.

After 2 months she tried to force him to rest and thought she had succeeded, until she discovered that he had found a flaw in her methods, and if she refused to give him a mission he would ask Shizune for it. And somehow managed to outwit them for another 2 months, before finally leaving him as inactive in the system so that he couldn't evade her in some other way.

For having the title of 'genius', the truth was that the Hyūga had been a complete idiot.

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I confess that I would love to do in the future a series of oneshots with the things Tsunade discovers on her night walks. Any idea what she might discover?

P.S. Sorry for not updating sooner, adulthood attacked and I can barely find the time.

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

Hope you like it!

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Regards, Sally K.