Author Note: Ok I gave you a slightly shorter chapter but hopefully not so short you feel cheated. This was too much to add to the last chapter but I felt it was enough for it's own. Next chapter should be normal length.

Disclaimer: Of course I still don't have that maid. Hubby bought me a dishwasher instead of the copy rights. What can I say? Naruto isn't mine.

Chapter Twenty-One: Office Visit

Tsunade was there working on the reports with Shizune. Naruto watched for a few minutes, as he came in her office window, with a curious look on his face. He saw them discussing the never-ending stacks as Tsunade read one and Shizune read another. They talked about them before Tsunade marked and signed off on them. Shizune took them as Tsunade took a new report from the stack.

"If you hate those forms so much why do you do them like that?" asked Naruto.

"What Gaki? And where have you been? You just about gave me a heart attack when Gaara said you weren't in the cabin."

"I went to practice. I figured even when you won the fight I wouldn't be safe there as soon as I saw the Harpy and her toy show up so I took my guards to my practice area. Figured by the time I was done, the fight would be over one way or the other but I can't afford not to practice. I have a long way to go before I am ready for the upcoming battle."

"How'd you know we'd win? We might have lost you know."

"Nope knew as soon as you got there you'd win. You're Trust."

Tsunade saw the disbelieving looks in the stances of his two Anbu. Even though they had their masks on she knew they look in their eyes could only have been shell shocked. She smiled.

"Gaki, I think you scared your guards again. But what did you mean about these blasted reports?"

He snapped his fingers and twenty clones poofed into the office. He gestured to the stacks scattered all over the room and told them, "Sort them according to repeats, missions returned and missions to go, civilian complaints and civilian bills and pesky councilmen." Shizune snickered as she heard the "Pesky Councilmen" comment.

Pesky Councilmen?! Beside him, his two guards fell to the floor unable to stand any more. This was too much. How could he still have energy to summon clones? This was beyond unbelievable. And he spoke to them like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Shizune just looked at the two guards and mumbled with a long suffering sigh, "I'll get the restorative." as Naruto blinked at them in total confusion.

"What's with them? It's not like I took their chakra or that they had to do anything?" he muttered.

Shizune returned with the tea just in time to hear his questions. "You have more chakra at your disposal than you did six years ago Naruto," said Tsunade. Even back then, the amount you could call up was astounding to those who hadn't seen it before but now. . . it's almost like seeing a God in human form." His comment about taking their chakra dawned in her mind and almost without thinking she asked, "What do you mean about taking their chakra? You can do that?"

"I could if I needed to but Kami chose me because I have plenty of my own chakra. I don't think she would like it if I took other people's chakra just for practice." He had a thoughtful look on his face as he wondered about maybe practicing that technique. Then he shook his head and dismissed the idea. If the battle reached the point where his chakra wasn't enough, then he'd already lost and it wouldn't do any good to take the chakra from others.

Naruto lost interest in the two guards as Shizune bent down and began to revive them. Turning to Tsunade, he shrugged and said, "When they get the papers sorted you'll need to summon your own clones in order to fully make the process work for you. They can keep going as long as you need them to but clones from someone else's chakra will only give their gathered knowledge to the person who's chakra it is."

"I know how Kage Bushins work, Gaki. I just can't believe I didn't think of this."

Naruto gave her a grin that reminded her so strongly of his old childish self that she grinned without thinking. "Neither did Jijii. He's been kicking himself ever since the Fourth asked him why he never used them."

It took a few minutes for what he said to sink in. Shizune dropped the tea cup she was holding. Both guards, who were once again awake, turned to stare at him as they fought to stay conscious and Tsunade whispered, "Nani?"

Naruto scrathed the back of his head sheepishly, once again evoking the memories of the boy she had come to love and respect. "Well, both of them are in the Shinigami's belly right now. Yondaime had to wait for Kyu to show up to have an opponent and since a part of Kyu is still with me, sometimes I can hear what they say. Yondaime and Kyu don't fight very much and sometimes the Shinigami gets mad at them for it. He does like a good fight after all but they were never really enemies so fighting each other is hard for them. Kyu keeps trying to get the Shinigami to let him fight Orochimaru instead since that's who he was after when he came to Konoha in the first place."

"Jijii had to fight those arms the Shinigami grabbed until Kakashi and I sent the rest of Orochimaru's body onward. Now they, the Yondaime and Jijii, fight side by side in the Shinigami's belly. The same can't really be said for Kyu and Snakey Boy tho. Kyu keeps trying to take a bite out of him whenever they have a four way match-up. I don't think the Shinigami will keep them there for long though. That Snake Sannin seems to give him indigestion and he just can't seem to convince Kyu to work with the Snake Master."

The four people in the room were struggling to come to terms with the thought of this young man being aware of such things. It was almost more than they could comfortably believe but Naruto had always been a surprise in one way or another. Shizune muttered, "I think more, stronger restoratives are in order," and left the office while the two guards just groaned and dropped their heads into their hands.

Tsunade grasped ahold of the one thought that had been in her mind ever since she had returned to Konoha to take over as Hokage. "Somehow I bet Yondaime is very disappointed in this village," said Tsunade sadly.

Naruto shook his head. "No. He understands better than you what I went through but he also understands why. The Gods are not that cruel as to let a father watch his child tormented and nearly killed month after month without telling them why. Yondaime knows why the events played out the way they did as does Jijii. They are counting on me also. Believing in me. As you must."

"That I can do, Gaki. Believing in you is easy after all you've shown me. Letting you go is the hard part. It's letting you fight, knowing it will be the last I see of you, that's near to impossible."

"Oba-chan. Whoever said it was the last you'd see of me? Did I ever say that?"

"You said you'd be going away. Same thing Gaki." but Naruto shook his head.

"Nope. Not the same at all. So long as you want to see me, you will. I'll be right here." He pointed to her heart. "And right here." He pointed to her head. "So long as you remember and trust in your memories, no one can ever go away from you. You still see your other loved ones when you think of them. Right?" He paused to give her time to think and when she nodded slowly he continued, "It'll be the same with me. I promise."

With tears forming again Tsunade was struggling to find something to say when Jiraiya showed up hanging off the windowsill. "Hey Gaki. When'd you get here," he asked, jumping through the open window to stand on the floor in front of Naruto.

"A little bit ago. I stopped by to see where I'm to live now that the pests have found the cabin. What happened to your face this time?"

A huge grin spread across the Toad Hermits face as Tsunade, tears forgotten, started cracking her knuckles. Jiraiya stepped farther away from her before saying, "Oh your little ex-sparring partner got an up-close-and-personal Bird's Eye view of Tsunade-hime's girls and it totally freaked the poor lad out. I never saw that boy move so fast or be so scared in my life." He couldn't hold in his giggles but he did try.

"Oh so she sent you flying because of course you didn't have enough sense not to laugh outloud." Naruto shook his head mournfully. "When will you ever learn, Ero-Sannin?"

Jiraiya said, "Well, anyway there's no reason why you can't go back to my cabin. Everyone was convinced you weren't there before the fracas broke up. I don't think any of them will be back."

Naruto again shook his head. "You really don't think they'll give up, do you? The council wants my head on a platter and Danzo wants my power under his command. Sasuke wants to understand that he is truly stronger than anyone else in the Leaf and Sakura wants to make him happy. Do you really think they've given up just because they didn't find me today?"

"Well, that may not be true of Sakura any more," said Shizune, returning with a well-laden tray. She had a teapot and a bottle of very strong spirits as well as six teacups and shot glasses on the tray. As she set it down on the desk and began puring tea into the cups, she continued, "I heard from the grapevine that she told Sasuke she needed some time to think and they haven't seen each other since Tsunade-sama took her to task." She added a measure of liquor to each cup of tea before passing the brew around the room. The two guards downed theirs without any consideration for how hot the drink was and held out their empty cups, silently asking for a refill.

"And my old friend reports that she is doing a lot of soul-searching as she works on the lawn," added Tsunade, as she sipped the cup Shizune had poured for her.

Naruto just shrugged. He didn't really care one way or the other about the pink-haired girl. He had tried during his younger days to be her friend and she hadn't put forth an ounce of effort. Back then he had thought she was worth saving from the Harpy she was becoming but now he simply couldn't seem to care. Now there were bigger fish to fry that he needed to concentrate on and he couldn't afford to be distracted by a fan-girl trying to prove herself to anyone. He knew she had left the girl she had once been so far behind it would take a miracle to find herself again and he just didn't believe it was worth the effort.

Tsunade saw, in the expressions that flitted across his face, that he really didn't care and sighed. Internally, she muttered, "Sakura, you really blew it. How could you not see what everyone else, who has ever dealt with the Gaki, see so clearly? He's ten times the catch Sasuke will ever be." Changing the topic, she said outloud, "How about the Yondaime's old place? His get-away cabin. It is your place anyway seeing as how he was your father. It's only right that you get to spend at least some time enjoying what was yours by birth and it's secluded enough to give you the privacy you need. It's in the forest outside the walls and has it's own practice grounds. Lots of room for you to really come to grips with your techniques before you need them but not so far away that you won't be here where we can see you every day. I don't want to miss a single day with you."

"Is it still in Konoha? That's really important." Tsunade and Jiraiya both nodded and he said, "Ok. Where's it at?"

"Jiraiya can take you there and then go get the things he'll need. Don't argue with me, Gaki. It's not in your best interest to live alone right now and you know it. So he'll stay with you until the battle comes." She tossed a set of keys to Jiraiya and the two left the tower, along with Naruto's well fortified Anbu guards who would escort them there. One would stay on duty while the other went to get their replacements. Only when the Anbu Corp actually knew where the new safe-house was would these two guards be released from duty to go and get well and truly drunk.