(A/N) Hello! Miss me? A new arc begins! Also the beginning of Danzo attempting to make his plans come to fruition. Attempting being the key word. Anyone wanna guess the two hapless genin(chuunin in canon) who got harried into doing paperwork?
"We've received an invitation for the Chuunin exams," Mito said, offering the letter to Kushina.
"Oh I remember signing the permission slips for the kids to go!" Kushina chirped, taking it. It wasn't a particularly noticeable letter, although did have Suna's seal on it. "It's super cool some made it to the next stage!"
"Should we both go?" Mito asked patiently.
"I mean, we could totally leave Orochimaru in charge for a little while, just tell Kakashi and some other ANBU to make sure Danzo doesn't try anything," Kushina said, grinning. "We can take Naruto! I'm sure he'd love to get out of the house!"
"Wouldn't we all," Mito sighed. "Alright. I'll send the letter to accept their invitation and note we will be bringing Naruto."
Kushina nodded somewhat absently, already going back to the work she did have. It wasn't much, but boy it piled up fast. "I'll find someone to help with some of the paperwork later!"
"Send a clone out to do it," Mito advised. "It's faster."
"Yeah yeah, fine," Kushina said, pouting. She made the sign and a clone poofed into existence next to her. The clone nodded to the original and disappeared in a shunshin.
"Finish your paperwork and you can go," Mito said, sighing after a moment. "I'll handle any meetings for today. How's that."
"Thank you Mito!" Kushina chirped, much more cheerful after that promise. "I'll finish in record time!"
"Of that I have no doubt," she replied dryly.
Kushina did, in fact, finish in record time, setting off almost immediately and leaving Mito's clone to her work.
Her clone dispelled soon after, flooding her mind with the memories. Looked like she'd found a pair of genin to help with it! They were slated for chuunin promotion soon anyway, this would be a good learning experience!
She picked up some groceries she knew they needed for dinner, then wandered over to Orochimaru's house. Wouldn't hurt to give him a heads up before telling him then skipping off to the chuunin exams in Suna. Y'know, so he could prepare and stuff.
She knocked on the gate to his house, and waited patiently.
Orochimaru opened the gate after a moment. "Hokage-sama. To what do I own this pleasure?" He looked tired. Kushina'd have to leave some meals for him in the Hokage tower freezer. And seal them to make sure he was the only one to eat them.
"I was giving you a heads up!" She chirped in response.
"About what?" And now he sounded tired to. "Did Danzo attempt to banish me again?"
"Nope!" Kushina said, grinning. "Actually, Me n Mito were invited to attend the final round of the Chuunin exams in Suna! We sent some teams, and it looks like one made it through to the final round!"
Orochimaru, if possible, looked even more tired. "You want me to take over."
It wasn't phrased as a question, but Kushina answered anyway. "Yep! We got a couple genin to help you with the paperwork, so don't worry about that too much!"
Orochimaru nodded, sighing. "Anything else?"
Kushina shook her head. "Nope! Just that I'll leave frozen meals in the Hokage freezer! So take those out whenever you want while you're pretend Hokage!"
Orochimaru sighed again. "Right. Goodbye."
"Goodbye!" Kushina chirped, turning and walking away. She had more ingredients to pick up, and some frozen meals to make!
Luckily, Orochimaru looked quite a bit better when they were ready to leave. Kushina and Mito were both in traveling shinobi clothes, while Naruto was strapped to Kushina's chest in some sort of baby holder. Whatever it was, it was useful.
"Anything you think is too important for you to take on, put it on this shelf," Mito instructed, pointing out the shelf they had cleared and designated for important matters. "The overflow shelves are these two. Anything further can go next to the bookshelf."
She turned to the two genin. "Do well here, and you may be able to get a permanent position if you so wish, as well as a promotion. Should you pass our test of course."
The two nodded firmly and in sync. Kushina nearly cooed at them. She turned to Orochimaru instead. "You're welcome to anything in the freezer in the break room." She turned to the two boys. "You are too. Just both of you, leave some for the other." She made 'I'm watching you' motions at both of them, and left, Mito sending them an apologetic smile before following her out.
"I guess we get to work?" Was the last thing Kushina heard before the door shut behind Mito.
"Let's go!" She cheered, patting the sleeping Naruto on the head.
Mito laughed slightly. "Indeed. Let's go."
Naruto did not like Suna very much, as evidenced by his crying. This was the fourth time he'd woken up miserable, despite the cooling seals in the fabric of the carrier. The two women also had cooling seals in their clothes, and they were still miserable, so the feeling was mutual.
Luckily they reached Suna rather quickly, being welcomed in by the gate guards. Their ANBU were slightly less welcome, but given they were Hokage, it was expected.
"Just keep your ANBU under control," one of the guards grunted. "There are accommodations for you here. Do as you wish until the finals actually begin in three days."
Mito inclined her head to him. "Of course. Do you suggest any eating places?"
"The curry shop here is really good," he said, nodding to her after pointing it out. "Try it at least once. You'll be glad you did."
"Thank you," she replied, shooing Kushina inside.
"Shall we get Naruto set up in air conditioning?" Kushina asked her, petting the baby's head. He was sleeping for now, although likely wouldn't be for long if they didn't get inside soon.
"Yes," Mito agreed, quickly orienting herself. "Then you can go fetch food from the curry place for both of us while I keep an eye on him. I know you're itching to explore. Get whatever seems good, although I'm not particularly inclined towards spicy things."
Kushina cheered, albeit somewhat subdued, due to Naruto's sleeping status. "Food! Yes!"
Mito chuckled, shaking her head. Kushina was always somewhat predictable in the way young Uzumaki often were. She hoped she never changed, it was kind of nice having her to cheer things up.
(A/N) Whoo! A Chuunin exams! Do I care if they're supposed to be in Suna? No. Will you lot live? Yes. I have a poll up, so maybe check one of my Ao3 stories to find the link since doesn't like links. Sorry this is a day late, but I completely somehow managed to forget to post this!