"Talking"

'Thinking'

Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons

Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting

I don't own Naruto

Chapter 14: The Slug Sannin Part 2

Council Meeting

"So why have I been summoned?" Izumi asked the ANBU who escorted her to the council meeting.

"You'll find out soon enough." The ANBU responded, before vanishing back into her hiding spot near the entrance of the meeting room.

Izumi shrugged and entered the meeting room, which already had every seat occupied except for the Uchiha and Senju seats. Hiruzen smiled at her, and gestured for her to take her seat at the Uchiha Clan's seat. She nodded and quietly walked over to take her seat.

"Now until Mikoto-san recovers from her injuries, Uchiha Izumi will be the Clan Head, as she is the most senior, and only, shinobi in the Uchiha Clan at the moment." Hiruzen announced.

Izumi was shocked at the announcement for multiple reasons. She was the only remaining shinobi from the clan that was famous for powerful shinobi? Also, she was clan head? She was only half Uchiha, and not even from the main line that descended from Madara himself.

Hiashi also was shocked at the revelation. A 14-year-old Chunin girl, a clan head? He scoffed at her appointment. "You can't be serious, Hokage-sama. This girl only graduated from the Academy 2 years ago. To think she's capable of even comprehending the things we are to discuss here, and give any sound input? I'd say it's simply preposterous."

Many of the council members nodded at Hiashi's points, and a small murmur of discussion broke out, discussing whether or not she was fit to be a clan head, even if it was temporarily. There were even talks discussing if the Uchiha were even large enough to be considered a clan.

The Sandaime had heard enough. "ENOUGH!" Everyone finally quieted down. Hiruzen sighed. Why did he have to yell every council meeting? "I want to hear no more on this. I've appointed her clan head, and that's all there is to it. If anyone has an issue with that, they can take it up with me." Nobody spoke up.

"Good. Now I want you to all know, that when Izumi here is present as clan head, you are to treat her as a clan head, not as Izumi. Give her the respect that befits the clan head of one of our most illustrious and respected clans. Is that understood?" with this statement, Hiruzen made it clear that the Uchiha was still to be treated with respect, and to be held in high regard.

"Now, while we're already on the topic of the Uchiha, let's discuss what must be done regarding their situation." The Third started.

One of the civilian council members brought up the issue of their property. "What are we to do with their clan compound? It's much too big for the handful of survivors to occupy or even manage. Why don't we move them to a smaller plot of land, and convert their compound into living quarters for more people? It's wasted sitting empty like that."

Surprisingly, it was the Uchiha's biggest political rival that spoke up against that bill, as Hiashi was the biggest advocate for clan's rights.

"Absolutely not. That is in violation of the clan agreements. The village cannot simply seize clan property without giving them something of equal value in return. As the Uchiha property is some of the largest, there is no plot of land in the village that is equal in value that is available to given in exchange. The clan has years of history, traditions, and not to mention, clan secrets, that are directly tied to that land." Hiashi defended vigorously, and the other shinobi clan heads nodded in agreement.

All of the shinobi clan heads knew death was a part of their job, and didn't want their clan's properties or rights infringed upon, even if many of them died.

"Point taken." The Sandaime agreed. "The Uchiha's property will be untouched. However, for the time being, all survivors will move within the compound, to live within close proximity with each other. In addition, they will have ANBU guards patrolling that section, at all hours, until we are certain the Uchiha are safe. Is this alright with you, Izumi-san?" Hiruzen asked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your consideration for our safety." Izumi responded respectfully.

Hiruzen gave her a small smile and a nod. "Good. Now moving on."

At the Academy

"How many days has it been now?" Sakura asked Ami, who had become her new best friend, as she and Ino finally had a falling out over Narumi, but also their rivalry over Sasuke.

"I dunno, like a week now? Why's our Sasuke-kun not coming to class anymore?" Ami wondered out loud. They didn't care that Narumi hadn't come to class for the last 2 days either.

"Alright class settle down." Iruka told the class as he walked in reading a note. "Looks like our classmates, Narumi and Sasuke, aren't feeling too well, so they won't be coming to class for a few days. We don't want them to be left behind now do we?" Iruka asked, and the class shook their heads no, most of them only for Sasuke, but Narumi's friends were worried for her as well.

"Good. Now, since we don't want them to be left behind in their studies, we'll need a couple volunteers to take the classwork and homework over to them. It says here that they'll be staying at the hospital for now? So, who wants to take the homework to Narumi and Sasuke?" Iruka asked the class.

Many hands shot up in the air. The ones that only liked Sasuke were planning on only visiting Sasuke, and not bothering to visit Narumi to hand Narumi her homework. She was near the bottom of the class anyway; a few missed assignments wouldn't make a difference they thought.

Iruka knew this was what many of the students were thinking. He looked around for someone unbiased, and kind-hearted. His eyes fell on the form of Hinata, who was shyly raising her hand.

"We'll have Hinata take the assignments to them. Is that alright with you, Hinata?" Iruka asked Hinata as he picked her.

She gave a small nod, and responded in a quiet voice. "H-hai, Iruka sensei."

Ino wanted to visit her Sasuke-kun, and didn't mind seeing her friend Narumi either, so she decided to tag along.

"I'll help her carry the assignments, and deliver them Iruka sensei!" Ino shouted out with a raised hand, volunteering herself.

Iruka knew she was also unbiased and kind-hearted, and decided to allow her to tag along.

"That's not fair, Iruka sensei!" Sakura shouted out, and many of Sasuke's fangirls began to complain as well.

"QUIET!" Iruka yelled out, causing the class to go silent. "Good. Now, what I've decided, I've decided. Now let's start with class."

Tsunade and Shizune's Room in an Inn in Tanzaku Gai

Tsunade woke up around 9 in the evening, with a headache, and an aching pain from a bruise on her stomach. "Ugh, Shizune, bring me some water."

Shizune couldn't help but sigh at the request. It was like a déjà vu of the scene from earlier today. She was tired of living like this, and what Naruto said about her was weighing on her mind. She got up to fetch Tsunade her water anyway.

"Here's your water, Tsunade-sama." Shizune told Tsunade as she handed her the water she asked for.

As Tsunade drank the water, she remembered all the things that Naruto told her before leaving her shamefully crying. Ugh, another memory she wanted to forget. She needed a drink.

"Shizune, I need a drink. Lend me some money so I can get some sake." She told her apprentice, who blanched.

"You're going out to drink again? After everything that happened? Tsunade-sama, you're not even in the condition to be drinking, I've examined you earlier." Shizune replied, hoping to persuade from drinking again.

The words left by Naruto had left a deep impact on Tsunade as well, and began to ring in her ears. She got defensive. "What do you know about my body? I'm perfectly fine. You don't need to baby me. Now give me some money!"

Shizune wanted Tsunade sober, and to reflect on her recent choices, and the lifestyle they were living. Did she want to spend the rest of their lives like this? Is this the life she wanted Shizune to live as well? To be as unhappy, scarred, and lonely as she was? Why wouldn't she just let the past go, and start the healing process? Shizune decided enough was enough and decided to stay firm in her decision.

"No. Tsunade-sama, think about the way we're living. We're basically fugitives in many villages, and we have no ties. We barely have any money, and that's because I hide some from you and manage it. You spend all your time drunk, or getting drunk, and I have to take care of you. Can we please change this? Tsunade-sama I know you're better than this. You can help people. I want to help people too. Please Tsunade-sama." Shizune pleaded with her master.

Shizune's pleas only served to remind Tsunade of Naruto's words. It made her angry.

"Who do you think you are? My mother? You think I need you to take care of me? Do you think I'm unable to take care of myself? You're still a snot-nosed brat, Shizune, don't assume to know better than me. I've taught you everything you know, so I don't need you to lecture me, miss goody-two-shoes. If you don't like how I live, and don't want to be a part of it, then feel free to hit the road. I don't need you." Tsunade blurted out defensively, not realizing how much it would hurt her student who looked up to her, despite all her faults.

Shizune's eyes began to water, and her lips trembled, as she held back her sobs. It cut her deep hearing her beloved master telling her she was not needed. It also made her a bit angry, the way Tsunade so easily dismissed all of the sacrifices she had made for her. Shizune had sacrificed her own happiness following Tsunade around, making sure she stayed out of trouble, and Tsunade didn't seem to care one bit. Her thoughts from earlier of being a mediocre kunoichi her whole life, unaccomplished and unappreciated, hit Shizune like a ton of bricks. Shizune couldn't take it anymore, and ran out of the room crying.

Tsunade spoke impulsively due to her own frustrations with her life, and didn't mean to hurt Shizune like that. She felt horrible inside. Shizune was like a daughter, sister, and friend, who had been loyal to her through thick and thin, and she had so callously dismissed her. She felt terrible, and needed to fix things with her, showing she cared about her. She went out to look for her.

Shizune had never ran away on her own before, so Tsunade had no idea where to look. She began looking all over Tanzaku Gai, but couldn't find her. She began to get worried, and decided to look in the nearby woods. Shizune loved nature, and pretty sights, so Tsunade figured maybe she went to a nearby creek to calm herself.

Tsunade searched through the forest, looking for her lost apprentice.

"Shizune? Where are you? I'm sorry I said all that. I was in a bad place, and said those things without thinking. I don't mean any of it. Please, forgive me. Give me another chance. I'll try to change, I promise." Tsunade yelled out as she searched for Shizune. "Where are you Shizune?"

She was so distraught and distracted by what she had said to Shizune and in looking for her, that she didn't notice 8 pairs of eyes that were watching her from above in the trees.

She entered a clearing where a nearby creek was running through, and was searching for Shizune, when she was suddenly surrounded by 2 teams of Iwa-nin.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her new "friends". "What the hell do you want? I'm busy right now, so leave me the hell alone."

One of the Iwa-nin stepped closer to her to speak. "We'll leave you alone when you pay your debts. We've been hired by Hideo to get you to cough up the 150 million Ryo you owe him."

"I don't have it with me right now. I'll pay him back later. So, leave me alone, before I make you." Tsunade threatened them.

"We'd like to see you try." The Iwa-nin responded before the 8 of them charged at her from all directions.

Tsunade brought up her leg for an axe kick, and brought her heel down on the ground, causing a shockwave and a literal wave of earth to ripple towards the charging Iwa-nin, knocking them away from her. She then charged forward and planted her elbow into one of the Iwa Chunin standing up, crushing his windpipe. She picked up the fallen Chunin, and turned around to throw him at an Iwa-nin who was rushing her from behind. The body struck the ninja, sending him back and through a tree.

"Doton: Doryuudan! (Earth release: Earth Dragon Bullets)" One of the Jonin yelled out, spitting out hardened bullets of mud at the Sannin, who used her massive strength to grab at the ground and pull up a chunk of earth to use as a shield. She then picked it up and threw it at the Jonin, who was able to dodge it by jumping over it.

They decided one hit from her was enough to take them out, while she could heal herself almost indefinitely, and decided to go with a different plan.

One of the Jonin ran at her with a kunai, but surprised Tsunade, when he used it to cut himself on his palms, and sprayed the blood onto her face. The blood splattered all over Tsunade's face, and it triggered her PTSD.

Her hemophobia, which she got after her lover, and Shizune's uncle, Kato Dan, died in her arms spraying blood all over her, kicked in, and she froze up, and was rendered catatonic.

Shizune had indeed been at the creek, staring at the peaceful sight under the moon, to soothe her aching heart. She had been further upstream however, and didn't see or hear Tsunade searching for her. She did however, see the trees get knocked over a short distance away, as well as the clouds of dust, and heard the shockwaves caused by a massive impact. She knew right away that Tsunade was in a fight.

She didn't care that they had just been in a fight, or that they were on bad terms at the moment. If Tsunade was in danger, Shizune needed to be at her side. She ran through the forest to reach her master as quickly as possible.

Right when Tsunade became visible at a distance, Shizune witnessed the man using Tsunade's fear of blood against her, and saw her master collapse onto her knees, unresponsive. She saw that she was outnumbered 6-to-1 but she ran in fearlessly, to help her sensei.

She created a quick bunshin, which ran around to the opposite side of the clearing, while she went through the hand seals needed to cast a genjutsu over the 6 Iwa-nin.

The bunshin made its presence known to the Iwa-nin, and it threw a barrage of senbon at the Iwa-nin. Shizune used a genjutsu to simulate pain in the places her bunshin threw senbon at, as her bunshin was merely an illusion.

Two of the Chunin froze in pain momentarily, and Shizune used the opening to unleash her poisoned senbon launcher and fire on their exposed backs. The other 4 shinobi were able to easily break her genjutsu, and jumped away from the barrage of real, poisoned senbon, while the other 2 were not so fortunate and got hit with the paralyzing darts.

The other 4 shinobi charged at her, and began throwing earth jutsu, as well as shuriken and kunai, which she was struggling to dodge. She avoided most of them, only taking a few cuts and scrapes, but was clipped by a boulder that was thrown at her by an earth jutsu, and she fell to the ground. The 4 shinobi surrounded her, and closed the distance, until they were in taijutsu distance. She sat up, and activated her chakra scalpels, and swung a circle around her, trying to keep them away.

One of the Iwa Jonin hardened his skin with Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Iron Spear Jutsu), and rushed in to grab her wrists. He then planted his knee into her stomach, and threw a devastating uppercut at her chin to send her flying backwards.

Shizune landed on her back, bleeding from her various cuts and also from her mouth. She knew her jaw had cracked with that last punch, and her back was killing her from landing awkwardly. The chakra scalpels faded away from her hands.

The Jonin approached again, and picked her up by the neck.

"You, know, she's kind of pretty. It would be a shame to just kill her." He commented with a lecherous grin.

The other 3 shinobi came close to check her out. Shizune felt violated, as their eyes traced her form hungrily, starting from her feet, up her slender legs, and up her body towards her face.

"Mmmmm, it's been a while since I've had a woman. We've been busy tracking down that Tsunade bitch." Another Jonin commented. Two of the standing Chunin licked their lips perversely.

"Why don't we have a little fun with her first, before we get rid of her? It would be a waste not to."

Shizune understood what this meant. They were planning on taking advantage of her. She closed her eyes. Damn. This is it. She had been saving herself for a man she truly loved, and now these perverted scumbags were going to take her purity from her. She decided she wasn't going to give it away without a fight though. They were going to kill her afterwards anyway.

She loosened up, giving the appearance of giving up to her captors.

"Giving up, eh? Smart girl. Maybe if you're as tasty as you look, we'll let you live as our servant." The Jonin holding her up said, as he let go of her throat to rip off part of her black kimono around the legs. Shizune used this instant to use a jutsu she had created on her own.

"Ninpo: Dokugiri no Jutsu! (Ninja arts: Poison mist technique)" and a purple mist began to pour out from her mouth. The man in front of her covered his mouth and nose to avoid the mist, and let her go completely to jump back, and she used the opening to reactivate her chakra scalpels and charge at the man, hoping to kill him.

She was stopped in her tracks, when the other Jonin stabbed her in the side with a kunai. She collapsed on to the ground, and the other shinobi surrounded her and began kicking her all over.

"Hey don't ruin the face! Keep it pretty so we can enjoy ourselves!" One the Chunin yelled out, and they all laughed as they agreed. Shizune began to feel her consciousness wavering after taking so many blows, but still held on barely.

She was considering giving up, hopefully it would all be easier if she just passed out. Her eyes began to close, when blood began spilling out of one of the Chunin's necks, the head now removed from its place.

The 2 Jonin and the remaining Chunin were suddenly vigilant, wondering who had attacked them. A voice rang out in the forest. "Came to the forest to get some fresh air, only to smell the stench of some disgusting pieces of shit. Oh well, guess I'll have to clean it up."

The Iwa-nin were offended, and looked around to see who it was. "Who are you? Show yourself if you're not a coward!"

The voice chuckled. "Ironic, isn't it? You're using your numbers to take advantage of a woman, and you call me a coward? Aren't ninja supposed to be stealthy anyway?"

The Iwa-nin gritted their teeth at being called out. "If you think you're so strong, come out and face us!"

The voice chuckled. "I never said I was strong, but if you want to see me so badly, I guess I'll indulge you all." Naruto stepped out from behind one of the surround trees, his mother's katana dripping with the blood of the headless Iwa Chunin.

Shizune's eyes widened. It was that mean blonde boy from earlier! What was he doing here? She wondered.

"Heh, it's just a kid. He got lucky taking us by surprise." The last Chunin said, but the older Jonin's face began to pale, and he began to stutter.

"I-i-it's the Yellow Flash!" he stammered out as he began to step backwards.

The Chunin looked at Naruto in fear. "It can't be! They said he was dead!"

The other Jonin tried to calm them down. "It's not the yellow flash, you idiots. Look at him. He can't be older than 16 at most. He's probably some wannabe. Come on, let's get him."

The other two seemed to regain their courage, and began to surround the blonde boy, who had a bored look on his face.

"I'm actually his son. So, are you guys just going to circle me, or are we gonna fight?" He asked them, and one of the Jonin shot forward with an Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Iron Spear) hardened fist.

Naruto decided to blow off some steam from earlier and take his time killing them. He used his sword to parry the Iwa-nin's blows and deliver some shallow cuts to the man's limbs with lightning-fast slashes from his sword, just to show the Jonin that he could cut him easily, whenever he wished.

The Jonin gritted his teeth and motioned for the Chunin to join him, but the results were the same, Naruto dodging every one of their strikes with ease, even with his eyes closed, and he struck them with the blunt back of his blade to humiliate them. That stopped when a pair of hands grabbed his ankles from beneath the ground.

The other Jonin had used the distraction created by the other two to use his Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding like a mole technique), and tunneled under Naruto to grab him, and pull him under, into the tunnels up to his neck, where Naruto would be severely limited in mobility.

Shizune watched her savior get pulled into the ground. 'It's over. He should have killed them when he had the chance.' She thought to herself. She noticed Naruto's face begin to distort, and steam emanating from him.

"Futton: Bunshin Daibakuha (Boil Release: Clone Great Explosion)." Naruto whispered from behind a tree he was hidden behind. The Naruto that was buried up to his head in the tunnel then exploded with a giant burst of scalding steam, which severely burned the 2 Iwa-nin that were fighting him. All of the skin that was not covered up, including their faces, began to peel off painfully, and they fell to the ground screaming in pain.

The Jonin that had pulled him underground however, got the worst of it, and the tunnel channeled most of the explosion and steam towards him, steaming him to death like an unlucky lobster.

Naruto decided to finish off the writhing shinobi on the ground, and made a couple rapid hand seals as he came out of his hiding place to use his Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique). The blue flame incinerated all of the fallen shinobi, reducing them to ashes after a few seconds.

Shizune couldn't keep her mouth closed at the fighting prowess displayed by Naruto. He was the son of the Yondaime? She recalled the days when she used to live in Konoha and vaguely remembered a vibrant, happy, and not to mention, kind and polite young boy, named Naruto, who was the son of the Yondaime. This cold, rude, yet amazingly powerful young man was the same person? She was in shock from the revelation, but also from blood loss from her stab wound, and promptly passed out.

Naruto went over to a still catatonic Tsunade, and used a water jutsu to get the blood off of her face, and also to wake her up.

Tsunade saw the signs of a vicious fight around her, and saw Shizune bleeding heavily from her side. She began to flinch from the sight of blood again, but everything within her was screaming at her to go help her apprentice.

"You're really not going to help her?" Naruto questioned Tsunade in disbelief. Tsunade wanted to help Shizune so bad, and glared at Naruto for assuming she didn't want to. She forced herself to slowly inch herself closer to Shizune.

She put her hands over the wound, but she froze. The blood was too much, and she was starting to teeter again.

Naruto slapped her. "Get yourself together. If you can't save the people you love, then what's the point of being the greatest medic in the world? Don't let her be another regret in your life, and get your shit together."

Tsunade nodded, and forced herself to stay focused as she healed Shizune. It was difficult, but her dormant training began to come alive again, and she got into the groove once more. She healed up her beloved student, who began to stir. Shizune sat up with a wince, to notice all of her wounds had been healed. She looked up at her master with teary eyes. She knew what this meant. She had finally gotten over her fear of blood which plagued her for years, and she did it so she could help her.

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune mumbled out with tears streaming down her face. Tsunade hugged her student tightly.

"Shizune, I'm sorry for everything I said. I didn't mean it. I'll promise I'll change. I can do it, but I need your help. I need you to kick some sense into my ass whenever I start relapsing. Please help me change."

Shizune nodded with a teary face, and the two held their embrace.

"Let's go back to Konoha. There are people there who need our help. Besides its time for you to take your exams, and I've got a lot to teach you." Tsunade told her student with a smile. Shizune still had tears streaming down her face, but responded with a wide smile.

Naruto had to admit that he found the scene in front of him to be a little touching. His cold exterior showed small cracks, with a small smile forming on his face. He was also in a much better mood, now that his mission to bring back Tsunade had been accomplished. She had even gotten over an apparent fear of blood, which seemed to be the thing holding her back from doing surgeries.

Naruto approached them, and took out a scroll. He unsealed a jacket that hadn't been seen in a while. He covered up Shizune's torn clothes and exposed skin with the Yondaime's coat, and stepped back to give the two their moment.

Seeing the coat, Tsunade finally realized why the name Naruto sounded so familiar.

"You- you're!" Tsunade stammered out in realization.

"Shut up old hag. You're ruining the moment." Naruto responded as he rolled his eyes.

At the Hospital

"Ano, where can we find Uchiha Sasuke and Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto?" Hinata asked the receptionist of the hospital.

"Uchiha Sasuke should be in the room with his mother. Go to room 302. As for Naruto-san, he checked out a couple days ago, in a somewhat unofficial manner." The receptionist replied.

"I'll go look for Narumi-chan. Do you mind taking Sasuke-kun's assignment to him, Ino-chan?" Hinata asked her blonde friend, subtly giving her the opportunity to see Sasuke alone.

Ino was sharp on social cues, and caught on immediately. Her teal eyes sparkled in gratitude. "Hinata-chan! You're the best! Of course! I'd love to! Good luck finding Narumi!" Ino rattled out rapidly, as she hugged Hinata before taking the assignment and the flowers they brought and running off to the 3rd floor.

Hinata giggled softly with a hand over her mouth, finding Ino's reaction to be funny. She then thanked the receptionist and walked outside to search for Narumi.

Meanwhile, Ino found room 302, and knocked.

A disheveled looking Sasuke opened the door, looking like either he hadn't slept well in days, or he had been crying. Maybe both.

"Hey Sasuke-kun." Ino greeted the Uchiha boy. He responded with a grunt.

"Iruka sensei told me to get your assignments to you, so you don't fall behind in class." Ino told Sasuke.

"…Thanks." Sasuke answered with one word, but Ino was glad to hear his voice.

"No problem! Mind if I come in?" Ino asked, holding up the get-well flowers she had brought for his mom. Sasuke appreciated the gesture and grunted to let her know she was allowed in.

"So how are you holding up?" Ino asked as she emptied the vase that was in Mikoto's room, to exchange the old flowers for the new ones she brought.

"… Managing I guess." Sasuke responded.

Ino knew it would take more effort to get him to open up.

"I see. Good to hear. Is your Kaa-san doing any better?" Ino asked as politely as she could. She was treading on thin ice with that topic.

Luckily for Ino, Sasuke was not offended, as they were friends, and knew she meant well. "… Not really." He replied.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Sasuke-kun." Ino placed a hand over one of Sasuke's to console him. "You're a good son. You know that? I'm sure your mother would be very happy and proud to know how you've stayed by her side and took care of her."

Ino was sure she saw the smallest of smiles on his face with that compliment.

"… Thanks, Ino. It means a lot to me." Sasuke told her sincerely. "I appreciate you coming over to see how I'm doing and bringing flowers for my kaa-chan."

Ino felt like she was walking on clouds, but hid it from her face, and gave him a restrained smile in gratitude. "Of course, Sasuke-kun. We're friends after all. We got each other's backs."

Sasuke's smile widened slightly. After losing so many of his clan, he had been feeling lonely, with only Narumi and Naruto visiting them, as they were both in the hospital. It felt good knowing he had more people that cared about him genuinely.

"… Thank you, Ino." Sasuke gave her a rare side hug. Ino nearly passed out in bliss, but a Yamanaka had a strong control of their mind. She barely held on.

Things were looking good for Ino, until all of the sensors on Mikoto starting beeping. Her heart rate, her brain activity, and other vitals were showing more activity. She was waking up from her coma. Mikoto barely opened her eyes to see her precious son, Sasuke. She had heard her son watching over her and talking to her while she was unconscious, and was happy to see him.

"Sasuke-kun! Your kaa-san! She's waking up!" Ino told Sasuke, hoping it was good news.

"Kaa-chan!" Sasuke exclaimed and rushed over to hold on to Mikoto's hands.

Mikoto tried to move, but then started to cough up blood.

The doctors rushed in after hearing all of the activity from the equipment, and saw Mikoto coughing up blood. They immediately injected a drug in her, that would make her fall into a drug induced coma, in order to keep her still, and protect her damaged heart.

She was carted off to the ICU, and Sasuke was left standing there in shock, all the events happening in a blur.

Ino was head over heels for Sasuke, but knew this wasn't the time to try and make any moves on him. She gave him a sincere hug as a friend, to console him.

"It's ok Sasuke-kun. I'm sure she'll be ok. The doctors will fix her right up. Keep a positive attitude, and everything will be alright." She whispered softly, as she rubbed his back gently to soothe him.

Sasuke didn't know what else to do. His mind was racing, at the prospect of something going wrong with his mother. He simply wrapped his arms around to hug Ino.

'Naruto nii-san. Where are you? Hurry up.' Sasuke thought to himself. He had put all of his hopes on the blonde boy he saw as a brother. Now all he could do was pray and wait.

*Author's Note*

Back again with the second part of the Slug Sannin Chapter!

The chapter I uploaded yesterday was getting long, and I wasn't able to finish it, so I decided to cut it into 2 parts, and upload them in consecutive days, after I finished the second part today.

If anyone is wondering why Naruto has the Minato's coat with him, Minato had a few of those coats, and is the only coat that Naruto carries with him. He doesn't really need coats due to his ability to regulate body temperature with his Boil Release, but he carries it for sentimental reasons.

So, one of you brought up a good idea regarding the pairing with Pakura. They said I could just give her the average score between Samui, Izumi, Mei, and Anko (since Shizune is leading by a significant margin), and start counting her score from there. If I were to do this, any vote with her name in it will replace your initial vote. For example, if gogos14 voted Mei/Anko/Samui, and then voted Mei/ Pakura/ Anko, I'll get rid of his initial vote, and use his new vote.

However, it would be unfair for the other character pairings that a lot of you wanted but were discarded, as the top 5 were chosen from the most popular characters from the initial vote. For Pakura to bypass that and go up there would be unfair, as she really only has 1 vote. So let me know if you guys think she should have a spot with the top 5 to make it into a top 6.

Maybe I should remove Izumi, which would keep the number at 5, as I'm starting to really think I should have her be loyal to Itachi. It's a violation of the bro code to go after your bro's ex, and Naruto wouldn't do Itachi dirty like that. Though I found that there aren't many good stories with an Izumi Naruto pairing, and this story does have a good, natural way to pair the two, if you ignore the initial Itachi Izumi pairing, so I kind of get why a lot of people want the pairing. Although I'm not sure it would make a difference, as Shizune is leading by a good margin.

Let me know what you guys think. At this point, it's still easy to write both Shizune and Izumi to become sister figures to Naruto, rather than lovers, and I wrote Izumi to be a sister figure initially anyway. Her surge in popularity kinda surprised me if I'm being honest.

Anyway, here are the votes at the time of this chapter being posted.

Shizune 151

Samui 88

Izumi 78

Mei 81

Anko 78

A lot of the important events that were to happen in Narumi's academy years are out of the way now, So I think we're in for a time skip either in this upcoming chapter, or the chapter after it. I want to get started with Narumi's Genin days, and finally have her become a kunoichi. Lol if you think about it, this was all a very long prologue, as canon Naruto starts with Naruto becoming a Genin.

Thanks again for reading another chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys think in a comment or review!

Until next time!