Chapter Five

Back at Tsunade's Office

Shikamaru walks in staring at the floor with his hands in his pockets. "Ah, so you're back from your mission already? I'm guessing all went well." She watched him with her elbows on her desk and her hands folded.

"Well yes, and no." she raised an eyebrow. "Good thing is we know that it was Orochimaru's men that made the attack. Bad thing is, I believe the attack was an accident." she had a puzzled look on her face. "The fact is, we have had no recorded attacks by Orochimaru in years, that is until this attack."

"I'm sorry Shikamaru, But I really don't have time for riddles, will you please just get to the point."

Shikamaru sighed "It's like his men were spying, and got caught. Orochimaru never needed spies, it's like he just knew." he looked up at her "So I think someone killed him and took his place in command."

She leaned back in her chair to digest this information. All she wanted to hear was Orochimaru was dead, but not in this way. "Thank you Shikamaru, excellent job. This stays confidential of course. You're dismissed." she gave him a light smirk.

He smiled "Of course, thank you lady Hokage" he bowed and left.

She leaned back and sipped her sake 'Unfortunately that genius is probably right'

Meanwhile In Hotaru's room

The girls knocked on here door. "Come in" came a cheery voice from the other side. The girls walked in and Hotaru smiled.

"Hi I'm Temari." Temari looked her up and down 'Oh yeah, Kankuro will notice her, hell he'll smell her' .

Hotaru smiled "I'm Hotaru. They probably told you about my parents." Temari nodded

Sakura looked around Hotaru's room "Damn girl, this room is as big as my apartment! We'll have to have a sleep over or something while Temari is here."

"OOOOO, we should have a party for her to welcome her to the village and invite everyone!" Ino's eyes were wide with excitement.

They all looked at Hotaru "Well, I guess I could ask my mom. Need money for shopping anyway." they all cheered.

They started walking down the hall and passed by Shikamaru. Temari gave him a little smile "Hey there lazy"

He smirked and grumbled "Troublesome woman" then kept walking. She grinned.

When they went inside the Hokage's office Jiraiya was with her. Tsunade was rubbing her temples and he had a grim look on his face. They perked up a little when they saw Hotaru. "Yes ladies, what can I do for you?" she said with a small smile.

"Well, first we are going off to wander the village and wanted to say goodbye…plus I need a little money." Jiraiya was smiling, already taking money from his wallet. "Also, the girls and I wanted to have a small party, to welcome me to the village, is that ok?" all the girls had their fingers crossed.

Tsunade fixed her eyes on the girls. 'I'm I going to regret this?' "Alright, but stay out of the tower, and the…actually, just have it in the lounge and nowhere else. Got it?" she glared at each girl.

They held in their excitement and nodded instead. Jiraiya handed her 100,000 ryo. Their jaws dropped. He just smiled "Now stick together, spend it wisely, and make sure you buy these ladies lunch."

"Yeah no kidding" she gave her parents hugs and they headed out.

The Streets of Konoha

Hotaru pulled out a brownish black stick out of her pack. She puckered her lips like she was going to whistle, blew a small flame and lit one end of it. She started to smoke it, the girls just stared. "I'm sorry is this bothering you? I can put it out."

"No, it's just…you…" Temari trailed off.

Ino finished her "You breathed fire!" they stared at her in awe. They were so excited about their new friend that it never accured to them that she could be a ninja with some kind of power.

"Yeah, that's a jutsu that I learned from the toads and my dad. Along with smoking" her friends were staring at her "I have my own stuff too." she had a smug look on her face.

Temari stopped staring, "Hey, lets start shopping…we can show you the training grounds later."

They nodded and started their spree. They went everywhere from shoes to make up. They decided to get some dumplings before they continue on. Of course Hotaru paid the bill. They were about to sit down when they saw a familiar face.

Sakura screamed with a mouth full of dumplings "Hinata! Come sit with us!" she smiled and sat down. Hinata introduced herself to Hotaru and vis-versa. "Hinata, we're going to look at dresses next you should come with us!"

She smiled "Umm, ok" even though she already had countless dresses.

As they walked to the store they told Hinata about the party and convinced her to go. They almost made it to the store when Ino saw someone familiar in the jewelry shop. "Oh my gosh! Is that Neji!" they all watched as he bought a ring 'TenTen is one lucky girl'. They walked off giggling.

When they went into the store their eyes almost dilated. They grabbed all sorts of dresses and headed to the fitting rooms. They took turns trying them on and getting each others opinions.

Sakura had a black kimono with pink cherry blossoms on and she was playing with a matching fan. Everyone told her to get it, then she heard a "You look gorgeous Sakura". She stopping playing with her fan, her eyes opened wide 'I know that voice…that's…' there stood Gaara, watching her with a smirk. She was bright red "Yeep". 'Nice Sakura, real smooth.'

The other girls failed to notice the audience behind them too. "HEY! We've been looking for you girls! We saw you and thought we'd join you. Plus they haven't met Hotaru." he pulled a partially dressed Hotaru over "Everyone this is Hotaru, Hotaru this is Gaara and Kankuro". Gaara nodded politely, Kankuro grinned and winked.

Hotaru blushed, Kankuro noticed. He's known for his flirting, cheesy pick up lines and being a pervert. But this woman could stand his presence, better yet she blushed instead of smacking him. She defiantly aroused his interest.

Sakura grabbed Naruto "You know it was really sweet of you guys to want to hang out with us and all, but next time Naruto, when you visit us…MAKE SURE WE"RE DRESSED YOU BAKA!!!" she smacked the back of his head.

"OH! Boys that reminds me. We're having a party tonight at the Hokage mansion and EVERYONE has to come." Temari looked at Gaara "So you three go get everybody from our year and bring them in lets say 3 hours. We'll go back and prepare everything."

Naruto rubbed his head "Woo Hoo! Party! Come on lets go!" then the three left

"We should get going too" so they made their final purchases and went back to the mansion.