I GET MY NEW CHARGER CORD TODAY! If it's the right one, the updates will resume, starting with a mass update within the next few days along with a few plunnies that simply BEG to be written! I'll try to get some of the older stuff posted first though. Wish me luck!
Tsunade had no idea why she was in Konoha at this moment, but she fully blamed her crappy luck. Why else would she return to the one village she detested?
The entire thing could be pinned on the fact that she had pissed off the Marines enough that they put a bounty worth hunting her down for with the headhunters they had.
Pirate hunters weren't nearly as wary of her as the shinobi ones. She had taken out ten before they deemed her a big enough threat to send out the bigger guns.
Hence why she was hiding in Konoha for the first time since her departure. Not even Jiraiya knew she was there, which was what she wanted.
She had nearly broken her cover when she saw that red haired sprite deliver a vicious beating worthy of some of her old ones on her old teammate for spying on her, with the assistance of a Suna girl.
Instead she ran right into the surprised arms of the current Uzumaki clan head, the oldest shinobi of the main line, Uzumaki 'Shanks' Hotaru.
She had thought he had died years ago. Kushina had never spoken of him except in passing. Then again she had been in the village the night Naruko had been taken, scant hours after the attack.
It had taken three days before anyone realized the new Jinchuriki had been removed from the village and another day just to mount a search.
One could reach the coast in two days, one and a half if they really hauled ass and didn't stop for anything. And a lot of sea could be covered once they were gone.
Shanks took one look at her disguise, and recognized her immediately without being told. Instead of blowing her cover, he offered to buy her a drink.
"Hotaru-san," she said. The black-haired boy beside her gave Shanks an odd look.
"What?" said Shanks.
"Your first name is Hotaru?"
"You didn't really think I was named Shanks originally did you?" he said in open amusement.
"Firefly, really?" said the boy amused, before he turned back to his meal.
"The red haired sprite is one of yours, isn't she?" asked Tsunade evenly.
"Kushina's girl. I wasn't about to leave my granddaughter in a village that had recently come out of a war and an attack on their very way of life. She would be little more than a clanless orphan and you know how the shinobi treat orphans without a family," said Shanks flatly.
Tsunade said nothing. Considering the options left to the girl, he had made the most logical decision. Without a family Naruko would have had a much harder life, and she knew her sensei. He liked to play things safe.
The poor girl wouldn't have even known about her family until she hit chunin, if she made it that far. Removing her from the village was a much better idea. Seeing that little fire cracker with the same temper she had at that age had been a stark reminder of all the things that had gone wrong in her life.
Then Shanks did something that would change her heartbreak. One that would give her all the freedom of a shinobi without the past to go with it.
"There's always room for one more on the ship, and Gale could use a good female influence. I know Haku-chan has expressed a real interest in medical jutsu, but we've had the worst luck trying to acquire any. And Sage knows you would have no end of patients on the ship."
"What's the policy of women on board?"
Shanks eyes were hard.
"I have a strict no fraternizing between the crew policy. At most they would stare at you, but that would be it. They know I don't like having the peace of the ship broken because a personal relationship fell through between the crew," said Shanks flatly.
Itachi spoke up then.
"You do realize that this is a pirates ship we're talking about? You'll end up with a bounty once they hear you've signed on as their personal medic."
"I already have one. Some dumbass Marine took offense that I broke every bone in his body for trying to get fresh with me. Next thing I knew, I had pirate hunters on my ass and a fresh bounty with no real name," said Tsunade irritably.
"That'll change quick once they find out you're directly related to me. Gale's already making a name for herself among the other pirates, the only reason they leave her alone is because she always stays with a senior member of the crew. She's learning to build her reputation from the ground up."
"What's her call sign?"
"Crimson Typhoon. Partially because of her elemental chakra, but mostly because when her temper breaks she's like a force of nature," said Shanks, before he laughed, "Just like every other Uzumaki woman when pushed too far."
Tsunade laughed, a sound that broke her doubts like glass shards.
She needed a fresh start, and there was no way she was taking the Hokage's hat with all the bad memories that threatened to tear her apart. Shizune wouldn't be particularly happy, but if this could break her out of the cycle she had fallen into, the woman would eventually see this was for the best.
Though a sudden thought occurred to her.
"What's your policy on pets?"
"What sort of pet?" asked Shanks.
"A pig. Shizune picked her up one night and she's become quite useful," said Tsunade.
Shanks blinked.
"Just keep her far from the kitchens and Lucky Roo and she'll be fine. Might have to put a seal around her to keep the thing from being accidentally eaten."
Itachi snorted in open amusement. Then an evil thought occurred to him.
"Perhaps we should get Gale an early birthday present. Think she would like a pet?"
"Don't you dare get her a cat. I've heard horror stories of those evil things and I refuse to let one on the ship," said Shanks immediately.
"Of course not. I was thinking more along the lines of a nin-hound from the Inuzuka."
"Then that is perfectly acceptable, provided she pick the dog out."
Itachi left the two older Uzumaki to talk about what roles Tsunade would play on the ship (despite being a woman she was a terrible cook) while he went to find Gale.
Their attempts to get Gale a pet were curtailed by one simple fact Itachi had completely forgotten.
Most animals could sense the fox, and by extension the fact it was an alpha predator. And cats were already not an option because Shanks couldn't stand the things and Itachi had a deep seated hatred of them thanks in part to Tora. One shared by any Konoha nin unfortunately enough to become a genin shortly before the war between Earth and Fire islands, as that was roughly when the Fire Daimyo's wife originally bought the cat.
Every shinobi who had to retrieve that damn cat hated it, and most had sworn off the things soon after multiple missions retrieving it.
Gale looked more irritated than anything, so Itachi tried another approach.
He took her to the Forest of Death, ignoring the signs and fence to get a pet that wouldn't flip out and was actually worth Gale's time.
Her Uzumaki luck kicked in and she left that forest with a new summoning scroll, several new inventive words from Kurama (the fox) and a pet kitsune that could fly on two tails. It was given the evil eye by the villagers (who still harbored a great hatred towards foxes, hence why the kitsune in the forest had been so eager to leave for the summon's realm instead) but they kept their tongues and comments to themselves after seeing the familiar nine-way split in Gale's hair.
Many who were around when Kushina was alive remembered that warning sign, and no one wanted to get on the wrong side of a girl who was quite clearly her daughter.
"No, no, no! This is how you give out maximum damage!" said Tsunade.
The healer had convinced her traveling companion to join Shanks' crew along with their pet pig mostly so they could avoid having to deal with Konoha anymore while still being useful.
Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice, went along with it because it would curtail her teacher's bad gambling habit. It was difficult to gambling and booze her life away when there was a limited supply and they were on the sea most of the time.
Besides, she was tired of dodging debt collectors.
In the meantime, Tsunade was giving Gale tips on how to deliver even more pain to perverts. Oh, and how to use her new summoning contract properly, since she apparently created a new clan. The original fox clan had taken them in, but they said Gale had to learn how to use the new contract before she was allowed to sign the original.
Shanks said she would have that mastered in a year. She learned fast and got things down even faster with motivation.
Itachi might have felt a single iota of pity for anyone stupid enough to try and perv on Gale, but Shanks didn't. He was, after all, her father and highly protective. If Tsunade wanted to teach Gale how to get perverts the world over to leave her alone, then by the Sage he was all for it.
Gale balled up her fist, channeled chakra into it with pin point precision, and then slammed it into the mountainside. The third round was going to start in two days and she really wanted to win that necklace off Tsunade, who had bet she couldn't learn the technique before the fights started.
She was already halfway there.
What Tsunade didn't know was that the fox (Kurama) was giving Gale help because he found the idea of his container pounding some poor bastard's face in for looking at her wrong hilarious and was eager to see it put into practical use.
"I... I got it!" said Gale excitedly.
"Let's see," said Tsunade.
Gale balled up her fist and slammed it as hard as she could with Tsunade's earth shattering technique.
The ground under her caved like cheap paper. Tsunade was impressed.
"Well done brat. And just in time for the tournament to start. Here, this is yours now," said Tsunade, putting her grandfather's necklace around Gale.
Somehow, she felt Gale was the one person who could avoid the curse that seemed to follow that damn necklace.
"Can I get some ramen?" asked Gale, puppy dog eyes full force.
Tsunade chuckled. If there was one thing that seemed to be genetic among the clan (aside from red hair and an easier time learning fuinjutsu) it was a love of ramen.
"Tell you what. Since this is the last time I'll see Konoha for a long, long time, why don't we buy out the ramen stand out of their stock and enjoy it while we root for your friend Gaia?"
Gale perked up at that.
Gaia was up against some idiot from Konoha from the Hyuuga, so as a good friend Gale cheered the loudest for her.
"Go Gaia! Kick his ass!"
Gaia flashed her friend a big smile, before she decided to have fun with her opponent. Unseen by the crowd, she put an exploding paint tag in her hand and waited.
The idiot came within range, so she used something Gale had picked up from Shanks, who said it was one of the old Uzu tricks to put arrogant brats back in line. Fun for pranks too, according to him, because they always tended to faint if they though you were using an exploding tag.
They called it the 1,000 years of humiliation.
"Secret Taijutsu technique! 1,000 years of humiliation!" whispered Gaia under her breath.
Neji, the creep, screamed like a little girl as he realized the sand had gone up his ass while attaching an exploding tag of some sort. So imagine how embarrassed he was when he found out it was a common paint tag designed to look like an exploding tag.
Gale was howling up in the stands. She definitely owed Gaia a treat for using one of her favorite pranks on this jerk.
Neji looked at his rear embarrassed beyond all measure that she had pulled that gag on him. He had heard tales from some of the older branch members that Kakashi loved to use that on his genin before he failed them.
"You called your own cousin weak because she understands the value of kindness. You beat her within an inch of her life because she refused to stand down to your anger towards a seal she has nothing do with. Everyone has their own issues with family and that is no excuse to take out your so called fate on someone who wants nothing more than to get along with her 'nii-sama'," said Gaia coldly.
Gale had taught her a very important lesson on the value of family. Just because you were blood didn't always mean you were going to get along. But after seeing the way this jerk treated his cousin, a girl so kindhearted that she had trouble bringing herself to harm her family, pissed Gaia off. It was clear that Hinata had been born in the wrong house for her gentle temperament, and someone needed to teach this jerk a lesson.
Gale was her sister in all but blood, and everyone in Suna knew it. She alone could approach Gaia when she was in a really foul mood and the sand around her started to act up in an all-too-familiar way that indicated she was getting homicidal. Temari was a second choice because she was slowly learning to be a better sister by trying to talk Gaia down first, even if she was naturally wary of the sand trying to kill her.
Gaia didn't kill Neji, but she certainly delivered her point loud and clear to the fate-obsessed Hyuuga. Don't bring your personal problems to a fight, especially against your own family.
While Gaia headed back up the stairs, she ran into a familiar face.
"So what did that guy do to piss you off so much?"
"Did you see that girl with the pale lavender eyes looking rather sickly in the stands? Short hair and timid nature?" asked Gaia.
"Hyuuga right? What about her?"
"She's his cousin, and during the first preliminary matches in the second round he nearly killed her all because she happened to be their heiress and the Hyuuga have a rather nasty habit of branding the so called branch house. He decided to take his anger at the situation out on her," explained Gaia. And it had really infuriated her at the time.
Gale however rubbed her chin in thoughtfulness.
"This needs to be properly investigated. You head on up to the area you were in and I'll see what I can do to make her life a little better. I've heard a few things last time I was here that really bothered me about that clan."
Gaia nodded, assuming that Gale would somehow con the Hyuuga into handing over their heiress and gain a new crew member. At this rate she would have her own pirate ship, and she fervently hoped that Gale would have a place for her too.