Chapter 27

"Hm it's down this way, I'm sure of it." Kurenai-sensei says. I notice a small shelter built near the street signs on the dirt crossroads which seemed to be in the middle of no where. But apart from that, there were two people with big strange hats.. that look like straw. I gulp.

"I-it's the A-Akatsuki.." I shiver.

"What?" Tenten asks. I point to the two people, everyone looks over. Kurenai-sensei laughs.

"No they're not Akatsuki. Their hats are flat, the Akatsuki's hates are pointy and have cloth hanging down the rims, remember?" Kurenai-sensei mentions. I sweatdrop. "And not to mention, the Akatsuki have large coats with a red cloud pattern."

"And they don't have them.." I mumble.

"Right, lets keep going. Another half an hour and we should be there." Kurenai-sensei says, then continues walking, we all follow.

And so it was, half an hour later we arrived. There was a main road straight through the ton, which had only a few buildings but a lot of steam in the air from the hot springs.

I look to the sky. "How long has this trip been?" I ask.

"I don't know but I'm buggered!" Tenten complains, drooping around.

"About 4 hours. It's close to 3pm. We still have plenty of daylight left, don't worry Setsuki." Kurenai-sensei says. Tenten anime falls.

"4 hours of non-stop walking? Man.." Tenten complains.

"Lets go find the hot springs now!" I exclaim.

"Well that's what we're here for! Come on girls!" Kurenai-sensei says, then with a small laugh she runs off ahead of us.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ino calls, chasing after her with Sakura and Hinata following.

"Come on Tenten!" I exclaim, then run after them. Tenten groans, pulling herself to her feet and slowly jogging after us.

We walk into the building, when a random guy begins shouting; "Six women have entered!"

Then the two girls standing on the inside of the door bow to us. "Welcome!" They say in unison.

We head to the changing rooms each of us strip to a towel, and one by one head out to the pool. When I got out there Kurenai-sensei, Tenten and Sakura were already soaking in. I smirk and cannonball into the pool, unable to resist.

"GAH! Setsuki!" Tenten gushes. I surface with a grin.

"What..?" I ask. All three frown at me, completely wet now. I giggle slightly, and Hinata walks out and gets in slowly, followed by Ino.

We sat and relaxed for a while, until we began pruning.. well, they did, I didn't. I don't know what it is about me and water, but it's definitely abnormal.

"Oh would you look at that?" Kurenai-sensei says, looking at her hand. "I'm pruning, I think it's about time we get out for a while."

"U-um Kurenai-sensei..?" Hinata mumbles.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"C-can we g-go explore around..?" Hinata inquires.

Kurenai-sensei smiles. "Of course, it's our vacation you can do what ever you want."

I grin and raise my hand to ask something.

"Except get into mischief." Kurenai-sensei says with a sigh.

I pout. "Not eve-"

"No." Kurenai-sensei groans.

I sigh. "Fine I'll go train then." I groan.

"Good girl." Kurenai-sensei says with a small chuckle.

"Yosh! Come on Tenten!" I say reaching for her wrist.

"OH NO!" Tenten shouts, stepping away from me. "This is a vacation! I am NOT training on vacation!"

I pout, getting anime tears.

"Learn to be more girly, come shopping or something." Ino says.

"But shopping isn't really.. my thing." I say.

"Well... go have fun training then!" Ino gushes. I pout, why is she so mean to me? I'm not even wearing my suit! I'm wearing a white kimono with a light blue sleeveless coat over the top!

"I will!" I say proudly.

"Alright. See that building over there with the red sign?" Kurenai-sensei asks, pointing to a building. We all look. "That's where we're staying. You all can head off and do whatever you like, but meet back there at 8pm. That's your curfew."

"Hai!" We reply.

"Oh, and Setsuki." Kurenai-sensei says, grabbing my shoulder just before I take off.

"Yesssss?" I reply, looking at her innocently.

"Don't go getting into trouble." She says.

"I promise!" I say, giving a quick salute. She smiles.

"Good girl." She says, letting my shoulder go. I then take off toward some small hills I saw, not too far from the town.

I see 3 large-ish cedar trees grouped together and look around the clearing. "Ha! I wont find any trouble out here!" I exclaim to myself. I sit down with my hands behind my head then begin doing sit ups.

"One.. two.. three.. four.."

"29.. 30... 31... 32... 33... 3-"

"HEY! I'VE COME!" Someone shouts, approaching the trees. I sit up and blink. My eyes widen. "Come out! Akagi family!" He shouts at the trees. I tilt my head.

'Why is he shouting at the trees?' I then notice 2 people, well, the two people with the big hats, step out from behind the middle tree.

"Hm? What do you want kid?" One of them asks.

"That's my line!" The boy grumbles. "I didn't borrow any money from you guys!"

The two men step out from the tree, and approach him.

"So give back my necklace, dattebayo!"

"'My necklace'?" One of the men asks.

"Have we mistaken with that women's?" The other asks, holding up a necklace. Naruto-kun points to him.

"THAT'S IT!" Naruto shouts. I jump to my feet and walk over, but I guess I wasn't noticed. "Give it back!" Naruto screams, running at them. The two flinch.

"Wait!" One says, holding his hands out defensively.

"Naruto-kun!" I shout, grabbing the back of his robe, making him run on the spot.

"Give it back yo- huh? Setsuki-chan!" He says with a smile.

"What's going on?" I inquire, letting go. Naruto points to the two.

"THEY STOLE MY NECKLACE!" Naruto shouts.

"You... have a necklace?" I ask. Naruto frowns.

"It's an important one!" He exclaims. "Now I have to get it back, no matter what, dattebayo!" Naruto runs at them again and does a hand sign. "Shadow clone jutsu!" He creates 10 clones. This is not going to end well.

The two men shriek in fear.

"Here's your punishment!" Naruto shouts, jumping up in the air with his clones then going down to attack. I stare at the two men. 'They're not ninja...'

"NARUTO WAIT!" I shout, then appear in front of the two men, but he was full on serious about attacking. I quickly do some hand signs. "Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!" I flick my arm out, and a whip made of water appears, and I whack all of his clones in one swing. Except for the original Naruto, who couldn't stop himself from falling, and he tumbles on top of me.

"Setsuki! What're you doing?" Naruto questions.

"They're not ninja!" I exclaim. Naruto blinks a few times, gets off me then looks at the two men deep in thought.

"Hmmm..."

The two men freak out.

"Bah! Ninja or not! They still stole my necklace!" Naruto says, glaring at them.

"Wait! I-it was Tsunade!" One of them shouts.

"Mm?" Naruto responds.

"Tsunade was the one that borrowed the money!" They confess. They quickly give Naruto his necklace back, and Naruto puts it on.

"Huh? Tsunade?" Naruto asks.

"Hai.. she is called the legendary sucker." One says.

"Ooohh! Story time!" I exclaim, then sit down cross-legged. They sweatdrop, but sit down also.

"You see, she was playing at the Akagi family's gambling den and she lost all her money. We let her borrow the money she lost." One says.

"Here's the IOU." The other says, pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to me. I open it up, Naruto peering over my shoulder curiously.

"EHHH!" We both shriek.

"So many zeros!" Naruto exclaims.

"I'm Senta." Says the one with brown hair. "He's Bunzou." He says gesturing to the one with dark colored hair in a ponytail. "Three years ago, we were ordered by our boss to get the money back from her. We left Akagi Mountain risking never being able to return until we got the money back. We heard rumours about that woman. As expected, she moves around a lot. It was hard to find her. But recently, we received information that she was spotted somewhere nearby. We were waiting a short distance from the main road."

"And then you saw old lady Tsunade traveling with us." Naruto says. "But why were you sneaking around?"

"There's a rumour that she cannot be beaten easily in battle." Senta says. "And, if we were to reason with her, we know she wouldn't pay us back."

"True. She's cheap." Naruto says.

"We thought she would pay us back if we ransomed her second most prized possession next to her life, her necklace." Bunzou says.

"That's impossible. Besides, the room you broke into was mine!" Naruto says. Both Senta and Bunzou slouch over.

"I didn't imagine that the owner of the necklace could have changed." Senta groans.

"Um... could you somehow ask her to pay us back?" Bunzou inquires.

"What? I don't think I can, even if I'm asked to.." Naruto says.

"Maybe I could ask her!" I say.

"But she's stubborn." Naruto says.

"Yeah, but she's a girl right? Girl to girl talks usually go smoother, than when you.. ask them... for stuff.." I say.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto questions, pouncing me, pinning me to the ground.

"OW! NOTHING! NOTHING! OW OW! GET OFF!" I whine.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY THAT NO ONE LIKES ME?"

"NO! NO THAT'S NOT IT! OW! I SWEAR!"

"THEN WHAT'D YOU MEAN BY THA-" Naruto stops and blinks, and looks over at Senta and Bunzou and sweatdrops. "As I was saying..!" Naruto says, getting off me. I take in a deep breath and sit up again. "I can't do that!"

"Please! If we don't get the money back, we can't go home!" Bunzou pleads.

"Why can't we, Naruto-kun?" I inquire. Senta grabs Naruto's hands.

"My wife and child are waiting for me!" Senta says, bringing their faces closer.

'.. What is with boys and being attracted to Naruto? I mean, I remember being told his first kiss was with Sasuke-chan.' …

They get puppy eyes. "If you could, please!" They plead.

Naruto sighs. "Alright alright, I'll try. Come on Ame-chan." He says.

" Wait, I have a plan! Who here's a neat writer?" Bunzou asks.

"Huh? I'll write it." Senta says.

"What's the plan?" Naruto asks.

"We'll pretend that we've kidnapped you both, then hopefully that way she'll want to come find you!" Bunzou says.

I click my fingers. "Good idea!"

"Alright! Tell me what to write!" Senta says, getting out some paper and a brush.

"Hmm. Alright, lets go with.. We have kidnapped.. wait, what are your names?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!" Naruto says.

"Kuromizu Setsuki!" I say.

"Right, we have kidnapped Uzumaki Naruto, and Kuromizu Setsuki. If you want them back safely.. pay back all the debt!" Bunzou says.

"Sounds good!" I say.

"Alright! We have kidnapped Uzumaki Naruto, and Kuromizu Setsuki. If you want them back safely pay back all the debt! We will wait for you at the three cedars behind the mountain. -Akagi Family. It's perfect!" Senta says.

"Now... we should tie you two to the tree to make it seem more realistic." Bunzou says.

"Oooh! It's like a game!" I exclaim with a grin, then jump to my feet.

"Wait, I've got an even better idea! I'll make clones to distract her and we'll go find her money." Naruto says. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He creates three clones, and transforms two of them into Senta and Bunzou.

"What about me?" I ask.

"You gotta keep an eye on her." Naruto says.

So, 'Senta' and 'Bunzou' tie me and 'Naruto' to the middle tree, and Senta ran off to take the letter to the village, and returned 10 minutes later.

We stood there waiting... for what seemed like forever. Me and Naruto talked to pass the time, I told him about what I've been doing, and Naruto said he had a big story to tell me.

"I'll tell you when we get back home." Naruto says.

"Why can't you tell me now?" I complain.

"Because... it's something I'd rather tell you when it's just us two." Naruto says.

Senta smirks. "So you're going to confess to her?" He asks.

"EHHH!" Naruto shrieks.

I blink, completely clueless.

"NO WAY! SETSUKI'S TOO OLD FOR ME!" Naruto shouts.

"YEAH!" I butt in, still hardly any idea what they're talking about.

"Alright alright!" Senta says.

"No, it's just something... I'd just rather not say right now.. it's something personal." Naruto says.

".. Alright." I reply. "I can wait."

Naruto nods.

"Hm.. do you think everything will be okay?" Bunzou asks.

Naruto frowns at him. "Don't worry! Dattebayo!"

"Here she comes!" Senta exclaims. I see a blonde woman in a green coat walking toward us.

"Old lady Tsuande!" Naruto cries.

"Hold it!" Bunzou shouts. "Do you know who we are?"

"You are Akagi's subordinates, right?" The woman inquires.

"Then that will make things go faster." Bunzou says. "Pay us back all of your debt!"

"Or else..." Senta says, putting his small sword from it's sheath and holding it to mine and Naruto's throats.

"OH NO WE'RE GONNA DIE!" I cry.

"They will lose their lives." Senta ends his sentence.

"I'M TOO YOUNG AND YOUTHFUL TO DIE! PLEASE TSUGAGI-SAN!" I cry.

"It's Tsuande." Naruto mutters quietly.

"TSUNADE-SAN!" I shout.

"AHH! SAVE ME!" Naruto cries, trying to escape the ropes. I do the same.

"HELP US!" I cry.

"I don't really care about his life, though. And I have no idea who this girl is." Tsunade says, scratching the back of her head.

All four of us become shocked. "WHAAAT?" We all shout in unison.

"What did you say?" Naruto questions.

"... WAHAAAA I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" I cry, getting anime tears. "YOU HAVE TO SAVE US TSUNADE-SAN! YOU JUST GOTTA! MY YOUTH WILL BE RUINED! MY PRECIOUS LIFE WILL BE CUT SHORT! I'M SO SCARED! I'VE NEVER BEEN SO TERRIFIED IN MY LI-"

"Oh shut up." Tsunade gushes.

"Then, the money.." Senta trails off. Tsunade scoffs. "I mean it! I will take their lives!" He holds the sword back to our throats, my anime tears remain.

"I already told you." Tsunade says. "Their lives mean nothing to me."

"You damn old bag!" Naruto gushes.

".. That is something I might've said before." Tsunade says. "If I become Hokage, he will be one of my cute subordinates. As for her... well she could be a pretty subordinate. I can't just watch them die."

We all get small smiles. "Aww, old lady Tsunade." Naruto says.

"This is all I've got right now." Tsunade says, pulling out a wallet from her sleeve and throwing it at the ground. "Take it."

Bunzou steps forward and picks it up. "I will check it out." He says, opening it up, then sees a handful of notes in there. "Huh?"

"I can't pay all of it back, but it should cover the interest." Tsunade says.

"Hmph." Bunzou throws the wallet up in the air and slashes it with his sword, and it poofs into smoke.

"It's fake!" Naruto cries.

Tsunade spits twice, and both Senta and Bunzou grip their arms and cringe. Tsunade runs forward, punching Bunzou to the ground, then jumps forth and does the same to Senta. She then goes to untie the ropes.

"Aren't you going to pay them back?" Naruto asks.

"This is none of your business." Tsunade says.

"They can't go back to their home country." Naruto mentions.

"Yeah! Don't you think that's cruel?" I exclaim.

"Did you...?"

"Then we'll have you give it back by force!" Naruto says. Naruto poofs, loosening the ropes. I jump out and cling to her.. though her boobs kinda got in the way. Senta and Bunzou poof into smoke as well. I grin, little did she know they were all merely Naruto's clo-

"Naruto's shadow clones?" Tsunade asks.

"You have to give back the money!" I say. "You just gotta!"

"Get off me." She grumbles.

"No!"

Her eye twitches. Knowing that deadly look which I get from almost everyone, I quickly make a clone and switch places with it as they get in a small fist fight. I jump behind the bushes where Naruto, Senta and Bunzou are.

"I knew she wouln't pay us back so easily, but I didn't think she'd be that sneaky." Naruto says.

"What should we do?" Senta asks.

"We go find the money ourselves!" I say. They nod.

Next thing we know, we're on the roof hiding behind a sign, looking in through a window of a building called Tsuruya, seeing the real Tsunade sitting, sipping Sake.

"Damn it! I'm captures, yet she's relaxed by drinking sake." Naruto complains.

"It's that bag, right?" Bunzou asks, looking at a red briefcase leaning against the wall behind her. "How are we going to get it?"

"Setsuki will get it." Naruto says.

"Whaaa? Why me?" I question.

"You're stealthy, right?" He asks.

"... No, not really." I reply, remembering that one mission with my squad when I first became a Genin.. we were supposed to sneak into a hideout of enemies and I tripped over..

"Erm.. then.." Naruto trails off in thought. "Hm.. leave it to me, dattebayo." Naruto says with a smirk. Naruto then disappears.

"What's he up to?" Senta inquires, looking at me.

"Knowing Naruto... anything." I reply. We watch through the window, as the door opens and a girl with short black hair was standing there.

"Tsunade-sama, you're back already?" She inquires. "Ah, so the bag was here!" She walks over to it. "It's dangerous to leave it here, so I'm going to have the inn keeper hold onto it." She picks it up and walks back to the door. "Well then.." She closes the door.

Tsunade blinks, then pours more sake into her cup.

"I'm.. guessing that was Naruto." I say. "Come on." I jump down to the balcony of that building, Senta and Bunzou follow. The black-haired girl runs over to us and sighs of relief, then poofs into smoke, revealing Naruto.

"Here. I got it." Naruto says with a grin, holding the briefcase up.

Senta and Bunzou cheer. "All right!" Then suddenly the briefcase began flying away...