Hello again.
I have to say I'm a little surprised (and ridiculously pleased) at the amount of positive feedback I've received so far. Reading through the first two chapters today, I noticed several grammar and spelling mistakes (they're fixed now), and a huge plot mistake that I quickly rectified. I'll do a better job proofreading from now on.
I'm not sure if I need to bump this up to a M rating or not. There's one crude sexual joke in the chapter somewhere, and some mature themes are mentioned later on. The tone of this chapter is a little more serious than the past two. Just a bit. Hope you enjoy it.
"Naruto-kun eh?" Shizune said. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-kun."
Naruto had gotten past the shock of seeing such a tender smile being aimed, at him, and smiled brightly back at Shizune.
"It's nice to meet you too, Shizune-san." Naruto replied.
Shizune chuckled, and looked a little peeved. "Naruto-kun, no need to attach the -san. You're making me feel old when you do that. Just call me Shizune."
Naruto readily agreed, and was secretly pleased that she had taken to calling him using the -kun suffix so easily.
During the exchange, Jiraiya and Tsunade were focused on their poker hand. Jiraiya had just traded in three cards, getting himself a full house, aces over nines. He was grinning like mad inside, but managed to look impassive on the outside. He really should have upped the ante on this little bet. Tsunade wasn't the legendary sucker for nothing. Though now that he thought about it, is that title of hers a double entendre?
Oh boy. He just done it. He couldn't stop the lecherous grin from exploding out onto his face.
Tsunade decided to trade in four cards, having flopped nothing except for the ace of hearts. As she went to trade her cards in, she saw Jiraiya's face, and knew the eternal pervert was probably thinking about her in some shape or form. Tsunade shot him an icy glare that promised pain in the not too distant future. Throwing her four cards down, she drew four cards from the deck. She saw that the first three cards were the ten, queen, and king of hearts. The last card was hidden because of the way she picked them up. Tsunade put on her poker face, but it was difficult to keep up, because adrenaline was shooting through her system faster than Jiraiya can run after getting caught peeping. She then peeled the last card out from behind the king of hearts to reveal...the two of spades. Groaning out loud, because at this point she had nothing, and she knew Jiraiya had something, she threw her cards down and took her eleventh shot of sake.
"Kami, luck is never on my side."
Jiraiya laughed wholeheartedly, showing Tsunade his full house. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at his beautiful hand, and resigned herself to her fate.
"Ok Jiraiya, let's hear the nonsense."
Jiraiya was about to start, when he noticed that Naruto and Shizune really hit it off. They were talking to each other so naturally you'd think the little brat never had any insecurities.
Being serious for a moment, as he knew that the conversation between their apprentices could go a long way in developing Naruto's social skills and confidence, Jiraiya motioned the waiter to bring him two more bottles of sake (Tsunade at some point went through his second bottle, bring her shot count up to 19).
"Yo Tsunade, what the council wanted me to tell you will actually take quite awhile." Jiraiya said, making Tsunade groan in disgust. She decided she needed to be half sober for this, so she went through a quick set of hand signs, and performed a medical jutsu on her abdomen.
When Jiraiya asked her a question through a raised eyebrow, she told him, "I think I only want to hear this once, so I purged my system of some of the alcohol." She grinned. "If it weren't for this jutsu, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning so long ago...HA!" Tsunade finished inordinately proud of herself.
Jiraiya only shook his head at his former teammate as he got up and sat down at a table a couple tables away from Naruto and Shizune. The two didn't even notice Jiraiya leaving; they were too engrossed in the own conversation. When Tsunade raised her eyebrow, Jiraiya just motioned for her to sit down at his table. When she did, he whispered to her, "Some of this information is sensitive. It involves Naruto to an extent. Shizune, who I assume is a leaf ninja," Tsunade nodded, "isn't a jounin, so she isn't allowed to hear A-rank secrets."
Right on cue, the sake arrived, and Tsunade took her twentieth shot of the night. "Ahhh...feels only like shot number three." Jiraiya could only chuckle as he began to tell the message that the council wanted him to give to Tsunade. In the back of his mind, he hoped that Shizune would help Naruto break out of his shell.
"Wow, Naruto-kun. To have to fight against an A-rank nukenin from Kirigakure on your first C-mission is very impressive." Shizune said. "It speaks volumes of how skilled your team is that none of you died in the mission." She was impressed. It was ridiculous for them to continue on after meeting the demon brothers, which made the mission at least a B-rank right there. To have to fight Zabuza and his protege not too soon after made it a borderline A-rank mission, which not even a team of seasoned chunin are sent on. She frowned at Kakashi's judgment, who put his team in a situation that could have (nine times out of ten would have) killed at least one of them.
Naruto smiled at the compliment. Very rarely did someone pay so much attention to him. He could count the number of people on one hand: Iruka, Old Man Hokage, and the Ichiraku father and daughter combo. Out of those four, Ayame was the only girl, and she was always busy making his ramen when he came by for a meal, so she really didn't get to talk to him as much as the other three. In that sense, Shizune was the first girl to really sit down and listen to him, and she even seemed to enjoy it! Naruto couldn't remember a happier time in his life than what he was feeling right now.
"Shizune-chan," Naruto began. He called her this by mistake earlier on, and Shizune didn't take offense. If anything, she seemed to blush a little, and Naruto took that as an ok to call her that way.
"How come you're traveling with Tsunade-san?"
An innocent enough question. But to answer the question, she had to remember the worst memory of her life: when the last family member she had fell in combat.
Shizune faltered, but put on a grin nonetheless. She noticed that Naruto was very hesitant to ask her anything in the beginning of their conversation. She had managed to get him to be more talkative, and she didn't want to deny him an answer, which she believed would have made him be quiet for good. She didn't want that. She could see the same pain in her eyes that she saw in her own eyes so many years ago. Steeling herself, she began to answer his question.
"Naruto-kun, you learned about the Third Great Shinobi War in the academy, right?" Naruto nodded. He didn't remember much about it. More correctly, he didn't remember paying attention to Iruka while he was lecturing the class about it. But he did remember what the Yondaime did during the war. Naruto hero worshipped the greatest of the hokages, after all.
"Um, sorta. That was the one where Yondaime-sama killed a lot of Iwa ninja and earned the nickname 'The Yellow Flash', right?" Naruto tried hesitantly.
Shizune nodded. "Yes, the third war was between Konoha, Kumo, and Iwa. At the time, it wasn't uncommon for tens of ninja to die daily." Naruto blanched. Outside of the invasion, Naruto didn't know anyone who died on a mission for Konoha.
Shizune chuckled, though there was no mirth behind it. "Yes, hard to believe, isn't it?" Naruto nodded. Shizune sighed, took a deep breath and continued on. She wasn't looking at him now; she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "My Uncle Dan was a jounin for Konoha during the war."
Naruto stilled. The word 'was' didn't imply anything good.
"My parents were killed in a Kumo ambush, and I would have been just another child added to the growing responsibility of the orphanage had Uncle Dan not taken me in." Shizune then did the oddest thing. She smiled. "The time I had with Uncle Dan were some of the happiest of my life. I knew he was a jounin. I knew what that meant. I knew that he killed enemy ninja to protect our village, and that he saw friends and comrades dying around him everyday." Shizune then looked right into Naruto's eyes. "But you know what, Naruto-kun? He never brought that back home. He told me how he had lost his sister to an illness before I was born. He told me he was over it, but no one ever really is, and I knew that each time he came back to the village after a mission, he went to her grave first before coming home."
Shizune took a deep breath, leaned back into her chair ever so slightly, and continued on. "But none of that was important to me. I didn't know it then, but I know now that he was trying to do for me what he couldn't do for his sister. All I knew at the time was that he was the only one who cared for me, and loved me. And he always came back. Did you know that Naruto?" Naruto shook his head, but she wasn't looking at him." She seemed to get angry, ever so slightly.
"He always returned from his missions. He'd come back well before he said he would, which always made me happy. It became such that I took it for granted, that he'd always come back."
Naruto was holding on to her every word. His attention was so focused on her that even Jiraiya would have praised how hard he was concentrating.
Shizune had lost herself in her retelling, and almost forgot that she was just supposed to answer Naruto's simple question of why she was traveling with Tsunade. Shizune only meant to give Naruto some background on what happened, but once she started, she just couldn't stop. She had held back her emotions for fourteen long years. That was long enough.
"The Hokage assigned Dan on a mission." Naruto noticed that she no longer called him 'Uncle.' It was simple enough. A B-rank mission to scout out the borders for a suspected gathering of Iwa ninja. They were supposed to confirm the massing of Iwa troops, and come back with a rough idea of how many ninja were there. Dan's team went the day after. He had already done this mission several times. I didn't even worry about him when he left." She paused. Naruto quickly saw why; she was trying to hold back the tears that threatened to get out.
"It was...a trap, Naruto-kun." Shizune looked at him again and smiled. She managed to hold the tears at bay, but by doing so, had lost control of her voice. "Some of their ninja had already crossed the border, and by the time Dan's team reached the border, the Iwa ninja surrounded them. The mission was supposed to last half a day. By the end of the second day, I heard that Tsunade-sama had gone against the orders of the Hokage and took a rescue team to see what happened."
"She found Dan on the ground. He was bleeding out, and had been for hours. The Iwa ninja tortured him for information, but he refused to say anything. They raped his kunoichi teammates to death in front of him, and slit his best friend's throat because he wouldn't say anything." Naruto had turned ashen; he was learning real fast that the life of a ninja is not fun and games. He vaguely remembered the bell test Kakashi-sensei gave them, when he told Sakura to kill him or Sasuke dies. That lesson hit home, and he thought he understood the point of the lesson. How naïve he was. This was far more horrible than anything he could have even had nightmares of.
Shizune shook her head, and took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. "He couldn't say anything Naruto-kun. What Iwa wanted to know was the identity of the yellow flash. If he said that, Iwa could have infiltrated the village and killed him in his sleep, or hold his family hostage. And I know you know how essential the yellow flash was to being victorious in the war."
Naruto nodded, his expression grim. The yellow flash earned that title because of a jutsu that allowed him to travel at impossible speeds with a single seal, allowing himself to overpower enemy armies alone. He had no idea that four people gave their lives to protect the flash's identity, quite possibly saving his life and the lives of his family members. Heck, you could throw all the people of Konoha in there as well; the war would not have been won with the yellow flash.
"Now Naruto," Shizune said. Naruto looked at her after completing his train of thought. "What I just told you I have not told another soul. I ask that you please keep this a secret between us, is that ok?"
Naruto vehemently nodded. Shizune had quite possibly told him her innermost secret, and he'd sooner denounce ramen than betray Shizune after that.
"The thing is, Naruto. Ninja get ambushed all the time. I told you my own parents were killed because of one. I don't know if they were tortured for information or not, but realistically, they were." Shizune said. Naruto nodded, but had no idea where she was going with this. "In that case, Dan's death shouldn't have made me leave the village for fourteen years and not once want to return, right?" Naruto got the answer to his question, though he had already surmised as much. She left because the only person in Konoha who cared for her had been killed, and she had nothing left in the village anymore. This didn't answer why she left with Tsunade-san of all people, though...
As Naruto was about to ask Shizune why she left with Tsunade, Shizune cut him off. "Good Naruto. You're probably asking why I left with Tsunade-sama then, right?" Naruto nodded, slightly impressed with her mind reading ability. Did she have Yamanaka blood?
Shizune laughed, and Naruto flinched. This laugh did not give him the feeling of warmth that he got when he first met her. No, this laugh was mirthless, with a level of underlying fury that Naruto couldn't understand.
"Days before Dan died, the yellow flash and Jiraiya-sama went to the Hokage and said there was a breach of security; that their information network regarding Iwa was compromised. Heavily classified information was being leaked to the enemy, meaning someone of high rank in Konoha was the traitor. Jiraiya-sama didn't know who the leak was. He only knew that it existed. He recommended that all missions regarding Iwa be put on hold until either the leak was found or they received new information from a new source. The thing was, is that the Hokage knew that by holding missions back against Iwa, he would let Iwa get closer and closer to Konoha. And there was no telling how long it would take Jiraiya-sama to earth out the leak. Finding a new source of information on an enemy nation is hard enough, let along having to find one that's reliable. Given an impossible situation, the Hokage did something that I will never forgive him for." Naruto's eyes widened. He waited for her to continue, but Shizune was shaking. She wasn't scared or sad or anything like that. No, she was shaking because she was having trouble containing her fury.
"Shizune-chan," Naruto said. Shizune looked at Naruto and calmed down for a second. Then Naruto asked her what the old man did, which brought back her shaking with renewed vigor.
"The Hokage decided to send a team out to the Iwa border, to give off the illusion that we were still ignorant of their plans, in an attempt to lure the spy out." Naruto closed his eyes. He knew what that meant. "The plan worked, Naruto-kun. It worked. The Iwa spy, extremely relieved that he hadn't been found out about yet, proceeded to do his normal duties. But by that time, Jiraiya-sama had narrowed down the number of potential leaks to ten. Eight ANBU, the yellow flash, and Jiraiya-sama each followed one of the potential leaks around. The one Jiraiya-sama followed happened to be the leak, and he was dealt with accordingly. A major victory for the village." Shizune spat out.
Naruto realized what the old man had done to Shizune. He had sent her uncle on a true suicide mission. He sent them knowing of the dangers they were going to face. He sent her uncle on a mission knowing that he wouldn't come back alive. The four deaths probably saved more lives in the long run, but how can you explain that to the survivors of the dead?
Shizune was nearing the end of her answer. "Well there you have it Naruto-kun. I'm sorry I dragged the answer out so long. I didn't mean to, but once I started to talk about it, I couldn't stop. I'm sorry for telling you all that..." Shizune couldn't stop one tear from falling.
Naruto saw the tear fall. "It's ok Shizune-chan." He put on his trademark smile, which got a small grin from her. "I'm actually really touched that you told me all that. It means you really trust me and stuff, right?"
Shizune chuckled, and nodded. How had this little boy wormed into her heart so quickly? She found it easier to talk to him than anybody she had met before, even Tsunade-sama. It had to be the combination attack of his smile and his eyes. The cheeky smile that he wears to mask what he really feels. Who did he think he was fooling? And his eyes...if you look into them long enough, you see all the pain that he's endured in his life thus far; an amount far too great for someone his age. But it's because of that that he's so empathetic, and can understand your pain on a level no one else can.
"There's just one more thing, Shizune-chan." Naruto began to ask. Shizune turned to face him and looked at him funny, her facial expression asking him a question. "If you don't mind, Shizune-chan, I didn't really understand why Tsunade-san was the one you left with. I can understand why you would want to leave, but I don't see why she wanted to. I remember her saying earlier that she didn't love the village at all. Why is that?"
If possible, Shizune's facial expression showed even more pain than she did during the entire retelling of her uncle's death. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said in barely above a whisper words that Naruto would never forget.
"Oh that, Naruto-kun? That's simple. She loved him. She was his fiancee."
AN: Ok, going way off into the world that is my AU. I didn't really plan for this, but I just went with the flow, and here I am. One of the reviews I got asked me if I was going to follow through with the canon. My answer to that is "Mostly, but when it does, it'll be for different reasons than given in the canon." Still no awesome Naruto X Shizune romantic stuff, but I wanted them to develop a strong connection before any of that began.
I hope the readers like how I took this. The story so far is a sine curve of emotions, in my opinion.
Positive Reviews/Questions/Constructive Criticism are all appreciated. If you're going to flame, try to throw a legitimate argument in there so I can gain something out of it.
