Disclaimer – I do not own any Naruto characters or places in this story except OCs.
Chapter 6 – Yondaime's legacy
Tsunade sat shock still staring at the piece of paper the messenger hawk had brought to her in the morning. It was mid morning and she had been in shock for almost half an hour and Shizune, who was standing next to her, was getting worried.
And then finally Tsunade spoke, "Shizune, get me Jiraiya right now. I don't care where he is or what he is doing I want him in this office in five minutes."
Shizune nodded fervently before dashing off to find a jounin or an ANBU or even delivering the message herself.
Tsunade looked at the door Shizune had closed for a minute before redirecting her attention to the letter she held in her hands.
'I need more sake, and if that pervert starts stealing my sake when he sees this', she sighed before standing up and moving to the window overlooking the central of Konoha.
'Tsuchikage ka? What does that old windbag want now? If this is about Iwa-Konoha war almost twenty years ago I will punch his wrinkled face back to Iwa!'
There was a timid knock on her door and Tsunade puzzled over who it was for a second before calling out a loud 'enter'.
Hyuuga Hinata entered the room shyly, another pale raven following her closely.
"You called Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade wondered for the hundredth time why Hinata hadn't come out of her shell still before speaking to her.
"Hai (yes). It's a good thing you didn't have any missions today Hinata. There aren't any jounin left in the village except you, Neji and Tamaki." Tsunade nodded to the other Hyuuga who had followed Hinata into the room.
She looked out of the window once again before continuing. "I need you two for guard duty. The Tsuchikage is arriving this evening. He had already set out three days ago but his messenger hawk was late and I got the message this morning."
The two Hyuuga females looked surprised and Tamaki voiced their doubts.
"The Tsuchikage, Hokage-sama? We are in trouble now. We already have the Kazekage in the village and having three kage in the same village…" she trailed off thinking again about what had brought this up.
Hinata was deep in thought; it wasn't everyday Konoha got visits from other kage. And certainly kage don't leave their villages unless it's an emergency or for a contract signing. This time it was none of those. They haven't even got the message till this morning!
'What is going on here? Things are getting totally weird around the shinobi countries. There was that rumor about those attacks on border villages also. I wonder if Hokage-sama knows about that.'
Hinata looked at the Hokage; she was still looking out of the window. 'She looks tired; this must be taking a toll out of her. She's older now and she should've started training the Rokudaime long ago.'
Hinata sighed. 'But that was before the Rokudaime ran away.' She smiled sadly at the memory.
"We are in a pinch here. We don't have the protection we need here. The numbers of shinobi we have are not enough. We can't divide the rest for the kage only because we need shinobi for the village protection also."
Tsunade was still looking out of the window, but she turned to look at Hinata again.
"All of our rookie nine are out for missions, only you and Neji are currently in the village. I can't dispatch Neji from kazekage protection. Sasuke and Kakashi will be coming this evening, I sent them message telling them to get the mission done or come back without doing it." Tamaki looked scandalized.
"I'm going to assign the two of you for the Tsuchikage's protection. You two will be doing the same job as Sasuke and Neji, taking turns or doing it at the same time. I don't care; fit it into your schedule."
Tamaki opened her mouth to interrupt but she was cut off when the door to the office blasted open.
Jiraiya stood in all his glory through the opened (or blasted) door. Tsunade's eye twitched and when she spoke her voice sent chills down all the room's occupants.
"Jiraiya, I hope you have enough money to buy a new door and fix it." Tsunade looked up at Jiraiya and he saw the murderous glint in her eyes. He could feel it on his skin!
"Ahaha, Tsunade-hime, why did you call me all of a sudden." he got perverted look on his face.
"Have you finally succumbed to my charm then?" he winked at the furious Hokage, literally shaking in her chair.
"JIRAIYA!" she yelled angrily, just before charging as usual to punch the gama sannin who was laughing and leering at her while dodging her fists aimed at his face.
At that moment a frantic and panicked Shizune entered the room with an ANBU in tow, looking around with fear for the cause of the broken door.
'The poor woman must have thought that the Hokage was attacked,' Tamaki thought as she watched Shizune's facial expressions changed from panic and fear to horrified and angry.
"Tsunade-sama! What are you doing? You're supposed to tell Jiraiya-sama about the Tsuchikage! Not punch him!" Shizune exclaimed as she tried to pry off Tsunade off a thoroughly beaten Jiraiya.
The ANBU and the two Hyuuga meanwhile watched the drama unfold before their eyes. The only thing they lacked was popcorn, at least according to the ANBU.
Tsunade calmed down at the voice of Shizune and released Jiraiya from the deadlock she had him in.
The now released man took in gulps of gratefully. Then he straightened up and looked at Tsunade. "The Tsuchikage? What's he got to do with anything?"
"Shizune I need sake." Shizune hurriedly nodded and left the room for sake search. She returned minutes later, arms heavily laden with sake bottles.
Tsunade looked solemn as she walked up to her desk and sat down. Then she looked at the ANBU standing near the door.
"I want you to contact Hyuuga Neji and tell him to escort the kazekage to my office. It's an emergency and I need to talk to the kazekage immediately." The ANBU nodded and left.
Then Tsunade motioned the two Hyuuga left in the room. "I want you to report to houses or whatever you have to do. I will contact you when the Tsuchikage arrives." The two females nodded and walked out of the door.
Tsunade looked at Shizune who nodded and walked to the door and with a mighty heave fixed the door in its rightful place.
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade when she threw a scroll that lay on her desk. His eyes were wide when he finally finished reading the scroll.
"This is going to be troublesome. We have enough trouble with the kazekage here, but with the Tsuchikage here too? What the hell does Kojiro think he's doing? Just because he's a kage doesn't give him excuses for this!" Jiraiya gestured wildly at the scroll.
"Three kage in the same village? And with all the border village trouble and the rebelling! Kojiro knows this!"
Tsunade nodded her head; her eyes closed and chin resting on her hands.
"We don't have the necessary number of shinobi to protect three kage and the village. We need to gamble protection of the village or rest it upon genin." She sighed again while she looked at Jiraiya with serious eyes.
"Do you know anything about this 'individual' Kojiro says he wants to talk to us about?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "I haven't heard anything about a new powerful face. He or she could be hiding and Kojiro could have been just lucky or fallen to a rumor."
He sighed again before unlocking his folded arms and running one of them through his unruly white hair.
"To tell you the truth there's some mysterious deaths I'm trying to find out about." Tsunade looked curious at this. Jiraiya wasn't one to go after reasons of deaths.
"There have been some famous nukenin (missing nin) turning up dead all over the place. There is no single area or place where we were able to pinpoint as a special location or anything."
"It's getting on my nerves. Whoever is doing the jobs is a professional at stealth. All the missing nin are disappearing; Some of them hiding, others dead. It's annoying the hell out of me."
"Do you have at least a clue about whoever is doing this?" Tsunade was interested. 'It could be some punk playing hero though.'
"There is one rumor flying around. The thing is though, I heard it while I was in Iwa," Tsunade looked at Jiraiya sharply. 'So that's where that old windbag heard whatever reason for his visit from.'
"They say that the deaths are done by some bounty hunter, nothing new about that. But the important fact about that rumor, whether true or not is," he paused and looked at Tsunade straight in her eyes "That this bounty hunter is from Konoha."
"A bounty hunter from Konoha? But there aren't many missing nins from Konoha at all. And all the ones from Konoha were eliminated, the Oinin (Hunternin) captain told me himself. We're taking contracts from Suna now!" Tsunade argued, agitated from the news.
"I know Tsunade. That's why I'm looking into this." Jiraiya sighed.
He had been looking for the start of his rumor for months now. But he had no luck at getting any closer to finding about this 'Bounty hunter'.
"Jiraiya, we're running out of shinobi. The academy hadn't graduated yet and even if they did we're still short of at least fifty shinobi."
"Our elites are out of the village with those idiots rebelling and border village attacks and those two stupid kage coming to rest here right now aren't helping anything." Tsunade was close to pulling her hair out because of all this.
"Look, I'll help all I can Tsunade-hime. You know I will. We have the enough powerful ninja in the village. Anyone attacking will be stupid to try it even." Jiraiya smiled at her softly.
"We always pull through ne Tsunade-hime? We always did so why stop now?"
Tsunade looked at the man smiling at her. The man she had always considered an annoying but helpful tick in her brain. He was always there for her, she understood now as she thought about it.
'I thought I had lost the old frog to that bastard Pein, but he came back half dead just to tell me 'Tadaima Tsunade''.
Tsunade almost smiled in response at Jiraiya, the only one who was always there, and the only one she would never let go, just like Naruto.
There was a series on knocks on the barely-there door. Shizune hurried to open it only to reveal the calm looking kazekage and Neji.
"Tsunade-sama," Gaara nodded at the Hokage sitting at her desk. She nodded back and gestured for him to sit.
"Kazekage-sama, there has been news that the Tsuchikage will be arriving in Konoha this evening." Gaara and Neji both raised an eyebrow at this.
"We don't know the specific reason for this abrupt visit but we will do our best to protect both of you. It's already after noon and he will be here shortly."
"This will be an opportunity to discuss the coming chuunin exams with him too. He doesn't go out of his country that much which I'm sure you have heard of." Tsunade grumbled out the last part, pouting a little.
Gaara nodded his head and looked amused at the pouting Hokage. Both of them didn't know how exactly they had gotten this familiarity and trust from, but both suspected it had to do with their closeness for a certain loud shinobi.
"I was thinking of going to the hot springs; contact me when Kojiro-sama arrives." Gaara got up and left silently, with an equal silent Neji following him after a short bow to the Hokage.
Tsunade sighed. 'I really don't understand that boy. And I've done too many efforts to try to understand him too.'
"Well Tsunade-hime, shall we have lunch then? I didn't get a chance to grab a snack when Shizune dragged me from my research." Jiraiya didn't notice the darkening of the Hokage's mood at the mention of his 'research'.
"YOU ARE TOO OLD FOR PEEKING YOU IDIOT! GET BACK HERE JIRAIYA! YOU PERVERT!" were the shouts that rang across Konoha in the evening, the occupants of the street the Hokage tower was located in looked up in time to see a certain gama-sannin fly from the window of the Hokage office.
It was near sundown when the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, Hitsuma Kojiro, arrived at the gates of Konoha. The man who looked like he was in his early forties had kage robes and a traveling cloak on him.
The man had a striking look, with bright green eyes and orange hair, he excluded an air of arrogance and nobility.
He was greeted by the gate guards and quickly transported into the Hokage office where Tsunade and Jiraiya along with Gaara and Neji were waiting for him.
Then he was introduced to Hinata and Tamaki when he sat down facing the Hokage, next to the silent kazekage who sat to his right.
"Long time no see Tsunade-hime. I see that you're doing well. You too as well, Gaara-sama, even though you're new at this Hokage business." Both Tsunade and Gaara nodded at his greeting, Tsunade even went as far as smiling tightly.
"Both of you and you too Jiraiya-san, are probably wondering why I am here." Jiraiya rolled his eyes at this which Kojiro ignored.
"There has been a certain rumor that has been flying around in Iwa. I am not someone who pays attention to these things but this certain one caught my attention, and also I'm sure you have noticed the deaths of the nukenin."
"Yes we have wondering about that too. But when we contacted you, Gaara-sama and the other kage we understood that whoever this person or people is either very good at stealth or this has been just a bad time for the nukenin." Tsunade replied while eyeing Kojiro.
"Yes, that what I thought at first too. But some of our shinobi wanted to find out about this mystery and of them impersonated as a nukenin to investigate it."
Tsunade looked incredulously at him. "Don't they need your permission for that?"
The Tsuchikage looked sheepish for a second before schooling his features into a neutral expression and brushing off the question.
"The one who they sent off was a prankster and they expected him to come back at night or early morning. But what they didn't expect was him to return dead."
Tsunade looked shocked and Gaara raised an eyebrow. Kojiro assessed their reactions before deciding to drop the most shocking information.
"But he still had breaths in him to describe his attacker, or you know him as the 'bounty hunter'. The Oinin that dressed up as a nukenin was one of my elites; he was from one of our important clan's main families. He knew all about Iwa history and also about Iwa-Konoha war." Kojiro looked regretful.
"He also knew what Yondaime Hokage looked like, since we have a picture of him, when he was signing the treaty with our Sandaime Tsuchikage."
Tsunade and Jiraiya both stiffened at the mention of the Yondaime. The thought running around their heads were of suspicion and worry.
'What does Minato have to do with this? If this is another one of those Iwa-Konoha war debates I will kick his ass!'
"Ah, Iie Iie (no no)! I'm not going to talk about the Iwa-Konoha war here. It was thirty or so years ago. We are past that now," Kojiro replied with an assuring smile at the scowling face of Tsunade. Jiraiya wondered if he was telling the truth.
"What I am getting at was what an .. Acquaintance of mine told me when he heard the dying man's words. He was a friend of Sandaime Hokage and he one of members of my council."
Kojiro took a deep breath. "The Oinin of mine who posed as the nukenin was the grandson of this man, you may know him probably. His name is, Hashimoto Atsuko."
Both Tsunade and Jiraiya started at the name. 'Hashimoto? That old geezer is still alive? And his grandson is dead? What in the world. He was sensei's best friend! I wonder if he knows about Asuma. Sensei told Atsuko-san everything. He even knows about Minato and Kushina! Kami-sama, Naruto!'
"I see that you remember him. He was the one who explained the gibberish his grandson said just before he died. Apparently he had described a person; he hadn't got a very good look but enough to see who he resembled." Kojiro closed his eyes.
"Atsuko-san won't tell me his name only that this person who had been doing the killing was none other than," he opened his bright green eyes and looked dead straight at Tsunade's amber eyes.
"The Yondaime's legacy."
Shocked silence rang through the Hokage room after this exclamation.
'The village is as vulnerable as always I see', helooked at the market buzzing with life. 'They could get attacked right now and none of them would even know.' He looked at the ninjas lazing in the open shops, buying groceries and goods.
'How pathetic.'
Then his eyes caught a familiar face among the strangers. There were two men in early twenties with the two girls he was watching. One of them was smoking a cigarette and the other had a large dog with him.
'Jounin huh? That's good I guess. They are powerful enough for the title. I wonder just how much they have grown.'
The wild haired man with dog suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. He looked at his dog which let a string of sharp barks after sniffing the air. The man nodded and looked to his left right where their watcher had been.
There was no one in the middle of the street, only the sides were bustling with late shoppers. The man frowned a bit before shrugging and looking at his companions.
"What is it Kiba?" the pretty blond asked him.
"Nothing Ino, I just thought I smelled someone I knew. Probably a faux or a combination of cooking. Heh heh" she sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
The woman called Ino rolled her eyes. "Let's go Sakura; the dog boy's episode is done."
The pinkette next to her nodded her head before leading to a bakery shop in front of them.
No one noticed the black cloaked figure walking straight to the Hokage tower in their right.
No one but the last one in the group, the pineapple like ponytailed man looked at the retreating figure. A contemplating look on his face before his eyes widened and mouth dropped open, the cigarette falling to the ground.
Naruto!
Jiraiya was the first one to recover from the shock.
"What do you mean Yondaime's legacy? How would that old geezer even know about it?" he questioned angrily. 'This is bad, very bad. If the word of this gets out we're done for.'
Tsunade seemed to be thinking along the same had a frown on her beautiful face.
Gaara looked from the sannin to the Hokage, confused. Then he looked at the gama sannin and was surprised to see a look of very hidden worry and fear on his face. 'He's afraid? Of what?'
"Don't worry Jiraiya-san. I didn't tell anyone about this. I don't think Atsuko-san will either. It won't do us any good and it won't do you any good either." Kojiro hoped they would buy that line. This kind of blackmail didn't come that easily.
There was sudden bang on the Hokage's door which fell open. Neji and the ANBU stationed in the office sprang into fighting stances, their weapons unlatched and ready.
But the smoke and debris cleared away only to reveal a panting Shikamaru, this stunned everyone who knew him. 'He ran from wherever to here?!'
Shikamaru locked his eyes on the Hokage who now stood behind her desk; he ignored every other occupant in the room as he marched up to her desk.
He only got one sentence out of his mouth before Tsunade fell down with a 'plop' into her seat in shock.
"Naruto is back."
'What is this world coming into? First the ever closet geezer Kojiro comes to Konoha, and then Shikamaru who Never ran, comes running into the office, and then,
'He's' back.'
Tsunade looked at her most intelligent advisor and captain of ANBU panting in front of her desk and spoke calmly as she could.
"Explain. Now."
Shikamaru nodded seriously before starting to describe what had happened. 'Mendokuse, but I need to get this done so I can go back to watch clouds.'
"We were supposed to come tomorrow but we finished the mission early. We thought about having some free time before reporting back to the office." He drawled lazily, His hands in his pocket.
"The four of us were in the market district and the girls were shopping when Kiba apparently smelled someone he knew. Akamaru confirmed it also. But we didn't see anyone in the direction the smell and presence came from."
"I looked at the other direction where tower was located at in an impulse, and I saw him." He straightened up and looked at Tsunade seriously.
"He has changed a lot. But it's him. He had a black cloak and a bandana on but the wind came and showed his hair."
"There are not many blondes in shinobi countries. The only ones I've ever seen are from Yamanaka family, and I know all of them, and him."
Tsunade nodded to confirm his statement. Even she hasn't seen any ninja blondes except from Yamanaka clan and his family.
"Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya looked at the boy, his face unreadable.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Nara Shikamaru was not one to run about asking anyone anything. It was too troublesome for him, but this was a special case. 'What was he doing?'
"It was five years ago." Jiraiya answered solemnly. "I lost track of him after he left to look for a 'friend' of his. He asked me not to come and I didn't. I trusted him." He growled out the last part.
"Shikamaru, I need you to take Neji and two other ANBU and search for him." Tsunade was in a dilemma, again. If he was in the village he was to be found at all costs.
She looked at the other occupants of the room. Jiraiya was sitting on her window ledge as always but his face was unreadable. Gaara who was sitting in front of her desk had an odd glint in his eyes.
Kojiro sitting next to him looked angry for some reason she guessed was because he lost the blackmail material. It was of no use when the object of the blackmail was in her grasp.
Tsunade stilled suddenly when she felt a presence in the room; a very familiar presence. And it seemed like all the others recognized it too, judging by the shocked and incredulous looks on their faces.
"I don't think there is any need for that, Tsunade-sama." A deep voice behind her spoke.
"After all who you're looking for, is in this room, ne?"
Tsunade turned slowly, she saw Jiraiya standing shock still eyes wide and hands slack, the same pose he had right after he had felt the chakra signature.
She looked at the figure crouched on her window pane. His face was masked; the mask covered two thirds of his face. Covering his cheeks, left forehead, keeping his lower face uncovered.
It was beautiful mask, she mused in her shock; Shaped exquisitely to cover only needed areas. The porcelain mask was painted half in orange and half in silver.
The orange half in his right side of the face was designed as a half of a face of a dragon and the other silver half covered the left side of the face and the other half of the dragon's face.
The figure, a man in early twenties, judging by his body, lifted his face to Tsunade's, his azure eyes boring into the golden amber eyes of the Hokage.
"Hisashiburi desu ne (Long time no see), Tsunade-hime-sama." His voice ran in the sudden tense silence in the Hokage office.
Tsunade's breath hitched.
"Naruto!" her voice was echoed by another voice which she recognized as Jiraiya's.
Sasuke stepped inside the entrance of the Hokage tower. Kakashi had ditched reporting, saying something about finding his dolphin. Sasuke snorted.
That man was too perverted for his own good. Judging by the black eye he had when he came for the mission.
He stiffened when he felt something in the air. A fragrance he hadn't smelled for years. He felt for the chakra signatures in the Hokage's office. His ebony eyes widened in disbelief as he recognized the new presence.
He quickly channeled chakra into his feet and ran as fast as he could to the location of the presence.
'Wait, please, wait Naruto'
He stepped inside the office and skidded into a halt in front of the Hokage, his face right in front of hers. He didn't stop to see who else was in the office. He was still thinking about the presence he felt and its sudden disappearance in the middle of his run.
"Where is he?" he growled at the blonde woman. His anger spiked when she refused to answer.
She seemed like she was in a trance, looking at something beyond his shoulder. Confused at the reaction from the normally hot headed Hokage he started to turn but was stopped short when he heard a voice behind him speak.
"So you're finally here. I was wondering when you would turn up… Sasuke." He shivered involuntarily when he heard his name be spoken in that voice.
'That voice, he sounds just like…' his eyes widened in shock for the second time when he snapped out of his trance and spun around to face the owner of the deep sensual voice. 'The voice in his dreams.'
He gaped at the man in black cloak still perched in the window pane of the Hokage tower before he found his voice to utter the name of him. The name of the person he had been looking for such a long time.
"Dobe"
A/N- finally done! I hope you like the chapter. It seems a bit 'not enough' for me though. Please reviews k?