AN: Well after a long argument over the phone with my mother, I learned that she cancelled the parcel. On the plus side, my Amazon deliveries arrived right on time!
AN 2: Be sure to check out Engineer4Ever's Reading Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian, now on ch 14!
AN 3: Yeah...I rewrote this one. It got weird at the end there.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
XIII
As the other three demigods rejoined the blond, Naruto chuckled sheepishly as his class' sensei stared intently at him. Scratching the back of his head, ignoring Zephyr's head butting against his other hand, the blond demigod said, "Heh, sorry about that, Iruka-sensei. These are my friends I was telling you about earlier."
"I see..." the man, Iruka, said with suspicion. He looked from Naruto and back to the others before grinning welcomingly at them, "Well, a friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine. Pleasure to meet you, I am Umino Iruka."
"Iruka Umino," Naruto corrected, "Family name last."
"...Strange," the teacher said as he processed the information. He then looked to the group expectantly. After a moment of awkward silence had passed, Naruto palmed his head and then gestured to each individual.
"This is Thalia Grace, my girlfriend," Naruto said, retrieving his hand from Zephyr's head to put it on Thalia's shoulder.
The daughter of Zeus' eyes widened as she recognized the man's name, "You're the scar-faced teacher that always overreacted to his pranks?"
Iruka sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, "Well...I guess. Though overreacting is a bit of a stretch."
"You tied me up for putting a whoopee cushion on your chair," Naruto deadpanned, making Piper and Jason snicker while Thalia smirked at the thought.
"You tried to use the distraction as a means of escape," Iruka countered.
The blond demigod opened his mouth but sighed as he failed to come up with a good retort. He settled on letting out a defeated "Touché."
"Uh, excuse you?" Iruka unsurely replied, not familiar with the word.
"No, touché is a French word that...never mind, I'll explain it later," Naruto groaned. He then gestured to the other blond of the four teens, "This is her younger brother, Jason Grace."
Jason nodded curtly, uncomfortable in being within a foreign land limiting his response. He had his left hand in his pocket, grasping his coin Julius and rubbing his thumb over it to ease his nerves.
Iruka seemed to notice his tension, simply smiling in a welcoming manner, "Hello Jason-san."
"And finally we have the charming Piper McLean," Naruto introduced the girl with a grin. Piper rolled her eyes before offering her hand to the teacher, who took it with a small smile. He opened his mouth to speak when the bells of the school began to ring, making him groan as he retracted his hand.
"Let's try and meet up after school, maybe you could show your friends around," Iruka suggested. He bowed partially to the group before disappearing back into the building.
"Well, that was a bust. There goes my free ramen," the blond mumbled as he started to walk away from the school. Thalia stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulder and making him pout as she forced him to turn around.
"We flew here to rescue you," Thalia grit out, making Naruto wince at the reminder of her fear. With a glare, she continued, "Why does it look like you don't need rescuing?"
Ooooo...You gonna be in trouble~! Helios sang before he burst into laughter.
Screw you! Naruto mentally retorted as he sheepishly laughed. Reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck, his other hand coming up to stop Zephyr from head-butting him again, the blond said, "Guess you got my message then?"
"Yeah, and your dad paid us a visit. He practically ordered us to come here," Thalia continued with narrowed eyes. "Now why is it that you decide to keep lying to me, Naruto?"
"Hey, I never lied to you..." Naruto's argument died as his girlfriend threw a thumb over her shoulder to point at Jason, making his point moot.
So, where would you like to be buried? Here or New York? Helios asked.
No one asked you! Naruto shot back as he started to fumble with sentences. Thalia's eyes narrowed.
"All right then, answer me this: why haven't you tried to escape yet?" she inquired with a bit of bite to her voice.
"Uh...Well, technically, I can leave whenever I want," Naruto replied with a small nervous laugh afterwards. Thalia gave him a glare that could've rivaled her father's when angry and then proceeded to start chewing him out, ranting about how she was forced to fly on an open chariot that she could've fallen off of while he was just wasting time making lunch dates. Piper and Jason watched with wide eyes, as the daughter of Zeus seemed to get bigger while Naruto continued to shrink under her scolding. Even poor Zephyr dimmed at the girl's wrath, ducking behind his terrified master.
Thankfully, just as Thalia lost her first wind, Jason came to his rescue, "Why don't you tell us what happened before we got here?"
"I could kiss you, Jason...Though I think that would start a lot of rumors and/or a fan club," the older blond commented as he pointed at a group of giggling schoolgirls walking past them. Thalia glowered at them, making them rush past even faster, while Jason blinked in confusion. Naruto saw this and continued, "The girls in my homeland have either two settings when it comes to good looking guys kissing: Squeal in ecstasy or rage at the unfairness of the world."
"Sounds like a clique," Piper commented with a bit of annoyance. She didn't have the best experiences with cliques, even before her dad became a big screen star. That and the girls in cliques annoyed the ever-living hell out of her; they were just a bunch of whiney high-pitched idiots.
"Wouldn't know," Naruto shrugged before stumbling as Zephyr butted him in the shoulder. Looking to his steed, Naruto said, "Zephyr, stop doing that. If you want to stick around you have to stop head-butting me."
Sorry Master, the spirit apologized.
"Stop calling me Master," Naruto mumbled as he pat Zephyr on the head.
"Ahem," Thalia cleared her throat to get her boyfriend's attention. Her arms were crossed and she was looking at him expectantly. The son of Apollo sheepishly laughed once more before sighing.
"Alright, it went like this," Naruto began.
Kiba glared at Naruto as he began unfolding a large parchment on the ground, "Why isn't he restrained? He's a traitor!"
"You want to personally get introduced to the dirt again?" Naruto asked as his brow arched. The dog-like warrior snarled before returning to his task.
Shikamaru took a drag of his cigarette while he watched Kiba unroll the large parchment, "Last year we got an A-ranked mission. One that came with instructions on how to leave the Elemental Nations."
"How?" Naruto asked, "How did you leave?"
"There was a cave at the base of the Hokage Monument, leading to the abandoned ROOT headquarters. We found an exit there," Shikamaru explained as he placed a few rocks on the corners of the paper, "Next the exit there was a triangle, which we assumed Danzo had carved into the wall and used to escape trial."
"Trial?" Naruto inquired curiously.
"It appears that Danzo Shimura blackmailed Itachi Uchiha into slaughtering his clan according to the evidence we found," Shikamaru mused aloud, "Making him a traitor to the state since he went against the direct orders of the Sandaime Hokage."
"For a shinobi, that was a pretty stupid move," Naruto mused.
"Agreed," the older shinobi said as he exhaled some smoke, "But I digress. The mission was accepted by Team Gai and Kakashi, with Gai's team staying near the employer while Kakashi's squad explored."
"That explains a bit," Naruto mused, "So they were away for what, months?"
"It took them about five months to reach their destination," Shikamaru explained, "and none of them remember the original route. The employer wiped it from their minds and the entrance was lost when the ROOT tried to retake their base. Thankfully, Kakashi marked their exit point with a reverse summoning seal, which is where we arrived from."
"Where did you arrive?" asked the blond 'prisoner' curiously.
"A small island with a large empty building on it," replied the smoking shinobi, "It looked like a massive prison."
"Alcatraz," Naruto mused, making a note of the location of the seal's location before looking at the one that Kiba unfolded, "So what's this then?"
"A similar reverse summoning seal, but this one has a twin ready to go," Shikamaru said, "Kiba, Akamaru, get Choji through first."
"Fine," Kiba snapped as he helped his partner get their large friend onto the seal. Their leader knelt down with a hiss at straining his injured leg, placing his hand on the paper and channeling chakra through it. The three on the parchment vanished in a flicker of light, making Naruto hum.
"Impressive," Naruto admitted as he stepped onto the seal. He yawned and scratched his right cheek, "Can we get a move on before we get spotted? I mean, just because we're being quiet doesn't mean we can't be found."
"What, worried your plan might get ruined?" Shikamaru sardonically asked as he pushed himself back onto his feet and stepped on the seal next to the blond.
"Just shut up and do it," Naruto snapped. Shikamaru shrugged and began expelling chakra throughout the paper, making them flicker before they vanished.
"Wait," Jason interrupted, "What happened to that giant parchment? We didn't see anything when we searched the camp."
"It's most likely still on the roof of the First Cohort," Naruto replied with a shrug, "Don't worry, I smeared a line with my chakra before I fully vanished. They can't use it."
"So where did you end up?" Piper asked. The blond looked over his shoulder to a large white building.
"There," Naruto answered with a shudder, "The Hospital of Konohagakure no Sato."
As soon as they appeared in front of the building, Shikamaru turned to his 'captive' and demanded "What did you do?"
"I might've made it so you can't get back into Camp Jupiter," Naruto replied with a shrug.
Shikamaru said nothing, crossing his arms. Behind him, four animal designed, white mask wearing warriors with light armor appeared, hands on the swords strapped to their back. The leading warrior, Owl, stepped forward and looked at Shikamaru, "(Is this him?)"
"Mission accomplished," Shikamaru said in English, reaching into his flak jacket for his pack of smokes. He walked away, looking once more over his shoulder at Naruto, who was scowling in annoyance.
Owl looked back at Naruto and switched to English dialect, "It is by the order of the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade that you come with us into custody for questioning."
"Ha! I've got two words for that: Fuck. You," Naruto snapped back. Owl reached out to grab Naruto's arm, only for Naruto to grab Owl's wrist hard enough to crack it. The blond pulled Owl close and snarled, "Try to touch me again, and I'll snap your arm in half."
"I have orders," Owl retorted, gritting his teeth behind his mask.
"Sucks for you then," Naruto replied as he tossed Owl's arm away. He turned to walk off when Owl grabbed his shoulder with the same hand. Naruto stopped and looked up, "No one ever listens..."
Before Owl could ask what he meant, Naruto had reached over and grabbed Owl's hand. Pulling Owl forward with a rough yank, Naruto dug his shoulder into Owl's armpit before he tugged roughly on the ANBU's arm. A second later, there was a pop and Owl released a scream of pain as his arm was dislocated. The blond then wrapped his other arm around the already dislocated limb and bent the forearm over his own, earning a sickening snap.
Owl gave an agonizingly pained filled scream, to which Naruto scoffed, "Please, at least it's still attached."
He shoved Owl off of him and let the ANBU stumble backward to the ground. His team tensed and moved to attack when Naruto looked at them. A grin spread across his face and he asked, "Do you really want to try and take me on?"
"Don't just stand there!" Owl snapped as he back up to a knee, "Arrest-!"
"Stuff it!" Naruto interrupted the ANBU with a thrust kick to the chest, kicking him through the side of the white building. When the smoke and dust cleared, the blond demigod was satisfied to see Owl lying on his back on the ground, people gathering around him. Naruto turned back to the ANBU and asked, "Again...Do you really want to take me on?"
The three ANBU looked ready to attack but were held back by the arrival of another. The man had gravity defying silver hair and his face was hidden by a mask and his headband adorned with the same kanji that Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji had on theirs. The newcomer looked at the ANBU and said, "I've been put in charge of this, you are all dismissed. Go check on Owl."
The ANBU shared looks with one another before vanishing in blurs. The man shook his head before turning to Naruto and asking him-
"What's up, Naruto?" Kakashi asked as he appeared in a cloud of smoke, a new book on Greek Mythology in his hands. Jason and Piper looked surprised at the arrival while Naruto looked annoyed at being interrupted.
"You!" Thalia exclaimed with shock and anger, getting the younger demigods to look at her. Ignoring them she reached for her mace canister and prepared for a fight, "You're the creep that attacked us outside of Mt. Othrys!"
"Actually I didn't do anything," Kakashi corrected as he looked up from his book. His eye locked on Zephyr and calmly he said, "I don't know if you know this, but your horse is on fire."
"He's a special kind of summon," Naruto explained before asking, "Is she finally ready to see me?"
"She's managed to sober up a bit," Kakashi replied with a shrug, "But you should be warned that her aides are still with her."
"Well, this is going to be fantastic then," the blond groaned. He looked at Zephyr apologetically, "I need you to stay out of sight for a bit, Zephyr. Go wait atop that building."
Zephyr followed his Master's point and then returned his flame filled gaze to Naruto, nodding. Zephyr whinnied and reared back before shooting off into the sky, a trail of fire behind him. Kakashi blinked and shrugged, he'd seen weirder than a fiery horse take off into the sky when he was in the war.
"That...was awesome," Piper said with a grin. Jason nodded and Thalia begrudgingly agreed that the take off looked better when not part of it. The blond sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at Kakashi.
"Let's go get this over with," Naruto said, getting a nod from his former teacher. Kakashi turned around and led the four to a large red building with a pale orange tiling rooftop. It was about sixty feet in height and rounded, giving it a width of, once more, about sixty feet. There was a large circle above the entrance with a strange symbol carved into it. Naruto caught their curious gazes at the symbol and explained, "The kanji for fire, you'll see it a lot because that is the name of this land."
"Hi no Kuni," Thalia muttered, "I remember you telling me about it. I just...never expected it to be so, so green."
"It was named such for the weather," Kakashi answered while turning another page in his book, "Always warm, usually clear skies save for the occasional clouds."
"Here we are," Naruto said as he put his hand on the massive building's door and pushed it open while Kakashi got the other. The three newcomers were surprised that after the door was opened there was a large wall not ten feet from them. Adorning the side of the wall were five large pictures of four men and one woman, more of the strange language written beneath the frames.
"This is the Hokage Mansion," Kakashi explained, "Each Hokage lives here during their role as village leader, and depending on the person it can be either a short stay or one for the rest of their life. From left to right are the first to fifth Hokage: First, Hashirama Senju."
"He doesn't look as serious as he does on the mountain," Naruto mused, referring to the smiling face that greeted every newcomer to the Hokage Mansion.
"Next came his younger brother, Tobirama Senju," Kakashi said, gesturing to the image of the white haired man, "And no, he wasn't old. That's just how his hair was."
"It's normal for people here to have strange colored hair," Naruto explained to the confused Piper and Jason. Thalia recalled the other shinobi she met six months prior and shuddered at the thought of the girl with pink hair. That was natural?
"After him came the First's student, Hiruzen Sarutobi," the aloof shinobi said as he pointed at the slightly older looking man with a pointed goatee. Naruto smiled fondly at the picture, remembering the last few years of his pseudo-grandfather's life.
"And then came-" "Naruto's dad," Thalia cut Kakashi off, glaring at the blond with a small smile on his face. Jason whistled in awe while Piper gaped. The daughter of Aphrodite looked to the son of Apollo, getting a shake of the head, stating that now was not the time for answers of the Greek variety.
"I was going to say my sensei," Kakashi grumbled, making Thalia swivel her gaze to him in surprise while Naruto's eyes rolled.
"Something that would've been awesome to know while training," the blond said, getting a deadpanned look from the man.
"You wouldn't shut up about it if I had said anything," retorted the silver haired masked man. Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly at the accurate reply. So what if he had idolized the fourth before discovering his true identity? It wasn't that bad.
"And the last one?" Jason asked. Kakashi cleared his throat and prepared to speak when a woman's shout in a foreign language cut him off.
"(THEY'RE LATE!)"
"Is waiting for us," Naruto said with a smirk. He gestured to the stairs on the left and the four followed him up. After what felt like an hour of stair climbing, Kakashi finally broke away from the layers of stairs, leading them to another set of double doors that he opened. What was revealed made the three foreigners blink in surprise.
It was a massive office with a couch to the far left, the same images in the welcoming hall on the wall above it. On the opposite wall was a large bookcase filled to the brim with its namesake. The large windows straight ahead of them gave a fantastic view of the large city-like village, which seemed to go on forever from where they stood. In front of the windows was a desk and standing on either side of the desk were two women.
One looked very plain, yet pretty in the same manner that most secretaries did. Two kind black eyes looked in their direction, matching her shoulder length black hair. She wore a solid black yakuta with white lining. Sandaled heels covered her feet and in her arms was a...pig wearing a pearl necklace and vest?
That was hardly the strangest thing, as the other aide had bright pink hair, cut to the same length. Thalia immediately recognized her as one of the four that had attacked them outside of Mt. Othrys and it put her on edge. In order to keep her cool and not attack the pink-haired weirdo, she shifted her gaze to the last woman at the same time that Piper and Jason did.
The three demigods from the United States felt their eyes widen at the sight of the woman that sat behind the desk. She had pale blonde hair with shoulder length bangs, honey brown eyes that were narrowed in their direction and in the center of her forehead was a purple diamond.
However, what surprised them the most was everything below her face, primarily the massive mounds on her chest. The image in the hallway was cut off at the Hokages' necks, leaving her chest size a mystery. So the sight of the pale blonde woman's watermelons –still thankfully covered by her grey kimono and green jacket– threw them for a loop.
Piper was wondering how that was anatomically possible, considering their size in comparison to the woman's head was only less by a margin.
Thalia was too shocked to even think coherently, though she did wonder what Tsunade did to get them that big.
Jason, being a hormonal young teenage male, just thought one word as his face lit up bright red: Damn.
The three were shaken from their stupor when the woman grabbed the stapler on her desk and chucked it towards them. Naruto's hand shot up and caught it before it could hit him in the face, lowering it with a look of annoyance on his face. Tossing the impromptu weapon back, the Guardian asked, "What did I do to earn a stapler being thrown at my face?"
"You know damn well what you did!" the woman retorted with a glare, "Explanations are well overdue, Brat!"
"I have a name, Baa-chan," Naruto shot back with a frown as he crossed his arms.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "Alright then, Namikaze-"
"Uzumaki," corrected the blond as he stepped further into the room. Thalia, Jason and Piper all exchanged glances before following his example and walking in. This earned the woman's attention.
"Who the hell are they?" she asked.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "They are my team."
"You already have a team, idiot!" the pink-haired woman shouted while the woman behind the desk and the other aide gained baffled looks.
"That team broke up more than ten years ago, Sakura," Naruto snapped, "When the Uchiha shoved his hand through my chest!"
"But you-!" "Just save it. I'm not here to talk to you," Naruto cut Sakura's retort off before looking at the woman behind the desk. Standing in front of the desk at attention, Naruto said, "I have to resign."
You could hear a pin drop twice over it became so quiet. The dark haired aide was the first of the four natives to recover, "N-Naruto you can't be serious!"
The blond demigod sighed and felt the depression build up within him as he addressed her.
"Dead serious, Shizune," Naruto said to the woman, making her fumble her arms as she nearly dropped the pig, "Careful, don't drop Ton-Ton."
"Explain. Now," Tsunade curtly said once she recovered from her shock.
"It's too difficult to explain and you wouldn't believe it if I told you," the blond sighed out, "Just let me resign."
"It's not that simple, brat!" Tsunade snapped, "Eight years ago you would have never said the word resign. Hell, I was under the assumption you didn't know what it meant."
"I know what the word means," Naruto said in annoyance as he put his hands on her desk, "Gods dammit, do you know how hard this is for me? I don't want to sever my connection here but you are forcing my hand by sending people after me! I have a different contract I am obligated to fulfill, and dammit you are going to sign your own death warrant if you keep trying to take me away from it!"
"What the hell are you talking about, brat? Talk with some sense!" Tsunade demanded.
Naruto grabbed at his head with a groan before recomposing himself. Taking a deep breath, the blond calmly said, "I am Naruto Uzumaki, son of Apollo, God of the Sun."
The room was once again speechless. There was a thump and Piper turned to see Kakashi with his book holding hand empty, the book on the ground. The first to recover this time was the Hokage, who grabbed the blond's shirt and pulled him down to look her in the eye.
"Who told you that load of bullshit?" Tsunade asked with narrowed eyes, "Your father's name was Minato Namikaze."
"Which was an alias of Apollo's," replied the blond, "I told you that you wouldn't believe me."
"Because it's a load of horseshit," snapped the Hokage. Naruto glared at her, since he couldn't lie and that even trying to would get him even further interrogated, and she glared back in disbelief.
The two remained silent after that exchange, glaring at each other. Their contest of wills was broken when the doors were thrown open and two old people, a man and woman, entered. They both had long white robes on and the scowl of a tired warrior on their faces. The woman smiled lightly in Naruto's direction before looking to Tsunade, "Congratulations Tsunade-sama, you've brought our village's hero home. Now, we must prepare him for-"
"Hold it there, Grandma," Naruto interjected with a scowl, "Last I checked this was a private meeting."
"A meeting for what?" the woman asked briskly.
"My resignation," Naruto nonchalantly replied.
The two looked aghast at the sentence before the old man stepped forward, "Now see here, you fool! You are our Jinchuriki, our strongest defense and like your mother you will do your duty!"
"You do not talk about my mother!" Snarled the blond, focusing his Killing Intent on the elders, "You don't even think about my mother, do you understand me?!"
"We have ways of making you cooperate," the man said. He looked to the sole shinobi in the room and said, "Get Yamato in here!"
"So he can do what? Grow a tree around me? What good would that do?" Naruto retorted with a snort. He grabbed the edge of his shirt and lifted it up, revealing his bare and toned stomach to the room. The blond then , "See this? I'm flaring my chakra and nothing is showing up. What does that tell you?"
"Where is the Kyubi, boy?" the old woman demanded once she had recovered from her stunned state. "It is the weapon of Konohagakure no Sato-!"
"The hell it is! I don't remember hearing about anyone other than an Uzumaki being able to handle the Kyubi, if it should belong to anyone, it's me!" He rounded back on the old man and jabbed his finger into the elder's chest with each word that follow. "In short: Fuck! You!"
"You don't have the right to do this! The power of the Kyubi no Kitsune belongs to Konoha!" The elder retorted after stumbling back a bit. "We were given it by the Shodai Hokage."
"He didn't have the right to disperse the biju to begin with and probably regretted doing so after it happened. In my opinion, the Kyubi belongs to whomever it wants to belong to, and if you can't accept it then tough tits!" Naruto shot back, his bracelet gleaming unnoticed in the bright room. The demigods were standing in a stunned silence; Piper at the way the blond continued to rant, and the two Grace siblings at how volatile Naruto could be when he wanted to.
"So there!" Naruto finished by crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out at the two elders, giving them a raspberry. The others in the room resisted the urge to palm their own faces at his sudden jump to a childish response. The elders on the other hand were furious, both red faced and embarrassed at being refused a vital asset.
The woman began again, "Namikaze-sama, we need the Kyubi in the upcoming war-!"
"Don't make me kill you, because I will if you keep pushing me," Naruto cut her off, "I'll make what I did to Danzo look like child's play in comparison."
The two immediately narrowed their eyes, "You lie!"
"Nope!" Naruto shot back with a smirk as his unique eyes gleamed, "I blew his head the fuck up. It was all over the walls...brains, eye, Sharingan eye."
That certainly got the two to frown as they quickly left the room, Naruto's threat still hanging in the air and fresh in their minds. The rest of the silent room stared at the tense blond like he was a bomb waiting to go off. After the doors closed with a slam, Naruto turned back to Tsunade and pulled the metal clip from his belt, slamming the insignia face down into the Hokage's desk.
"I. Resign." Naruto stated firmly. Tsunade stared down at the forehead protector in horror. When she got word that Naruto refused to come home, she wouldn't believe it. She never once expected him to be serious about this, that maybe it was all leading up to a grand prank of some sort.
When he started to rant nonsense, Tsunade understood that it was happening, that Naruto was severing his ties with the village. Still, a part of her wouldn't back down. In a desperate attempt to keep a strong warrior, and a pseudo son, in her village, Tsunade looked back up at the whiskered teen and asked, "What about your dream to be Hokage?"
As he brought his hand back, Naruto stiffened at the question. His unique sun-filled eyes gave her a look that made Tsunade realize this was a lost cause, and his words only cemented that; "I wanted to be Hokage primarily for acknowledgement, so that people would see me and not my burden. I have found a way to achieve it outside of here, why would I want to leave that behind?"
With a smile that lit up the room he continued, "I even found someone that will go against the odds to stand at my side. Someone I could spend the rest of my life with."
Thalia's cheeks dusted pink, but a small smile came to her face. She was still mad at him, there was no doubt about that, but that line? Her knucklehead could be real smooth when he wanted to be.
"I suppose there's no delaying it any further," Tsunade reluctantly sighed out, "Sakura, go and get Genin Uzumaki's file."
"Tsunade-sama you can't seriously be thinking about accepting his resignation!" Shizune said with wide eyes. Sakura had a matching look on her face, whereas Kakashi, who picked his book back up, had gained a small look of depressed acceptance. He had hoped that Naruto might want to return, but as long as the blond was happy then there was nothing more he could ask for.
The Godaime Hokage shifted her gaze from the blond to her loyal aide, "Do you think I want to? Unfortunately, the law is the law and as a genin, Naruto has the right to resign from his post without question."
Looking back at the blond demigod, Tsunade asked, "Is there anything else, Uzumaki-san?"
"There is one more thing," Naruto said as he reached into his back pouch and pulled out a vial of green and black liquid. Placing it on the desk, Naruto said, "I need a cure for this."
"You have balls to ask me for a favor after what you just did, you brat," replied the Hokage with a frown, "Why should I waste my time on a little vial you claim has a disease?"
"You owe me," simply replied the blond.
"And how the hell do you figure that?!" Tsunade snapped, making the demigods cringe at the anger and look at the blond. Surprisingly, he kept his cool rather than explode like he did moments ago.
"Would you even be in this village if it weren't for me and Ero-Sannin?" Naruto asked as a brow quirked.
"Don't you bring him into this! And that's irrelevant to the point," Tsunade argued.
"Is it?" Naruto asked as he looked to Shizune, "Shizune, if we never came and retrieved you and Tsunade, where would you be in ten years? Enjoying a free life without worrying about debt collectors catching up to you and your hung over teacher?"
"W-Well," Shizune shifted uncomfortably as all eyes went to her. In defeat, she hung her head and softly answered, "No."
Naruto looked back at Tsunade, getting an annoyed growl from the pale blonde. Before either of them could speak, Sakura interrupted and said, "Shishou doesn't have to do you a favor, Idiot!"
The blond demigod snapped a glare onto her form, "I wasn't talking to you. Weren't you supposed to be getting my files anyway?"
Sakura looked livid, but a stern glare from Tsunade, who realized that Naruto had a point with his question, had forced her to keep her mouth shut. As she left the office in a huff, Sakura sent brief looks of anger to the three demigods, considering it their fault that Naruto had changed.
With the pink haired woman out of the office, Naruto looked back at Tsunade and said, "If there is anything left of the Uzumaki in you, you will help me. If not for your kin, then for the young girl who is stricken with this disease that I promised I would cure."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed, "'A girl?'"
"It's her blood that is set before you," the blond informed the medical genius.
"You'd better not be making this up," crisply warned the Hokage.
"I swear on my mother's name that it is a patient in need of desperate help. If it were anything else, I wouldn't have bothered coming back," Naruto replied. He hoped the play on Tsunade's maternal instincts and her pride as a doctor would sway this in his favor. If not, well, then he can kiss Bianca goodbye as well as his soul for eternal damnation. Hades was very, very protective of his children and very bitter to those that failed him.
Tsunade kept a hard gaze locked on Naruto before looking down at the green liquid within the vial he had set before her. She grabbed it and held it up to her eye with a scrutinizing gaze before looking back up at him.
"I'll do it," Tsunade said as she put down the vial and pointed at him, "But this is the last thing I'm doing for you, Brat."
Naruto smiled in relief and bowed his head. Quietly so that only the woman before him could hear, he affectionately said, "Arigato Baachan."
"Yeah, yeah, just get out of here before I change my mind," waved off the woman. Naruto stood upright before turning to leave. He nodded to the demigods and they followed him, making Tsunade's brow furrow. After the four teens had left the room, Tsunade spoke to the man reading in the corner, "Kakashi, keep your eye on them. They have something to do with this."
"The older girl was one of the few Team Kakashi faced in the Foreign Land," chimed in the jonin informatively, "She and Naruto seem close."
"Watch them," Tsunade said as her eyes went back to the vial in her hand. The silver haired shinobi vanished in an explosion of smoke without another word. With honey brown eyes narrowing on the dark green and black liquid, Tsunade mumbled, "Just what has that brat been up to?"
AN: Ah, a much better update in my opinion. Longer, better ending, got rid of the rant that was not my own (thanks for letting me use that Eng), and I think I managed to set a new standard for how fast my chill leaves. Well, next time I guess we'll find out how the rest of Konoha takes to the newcomers. Will I be able to get to the-oh, wait I asked that already. Will the next chapter be as long as this one was?
Guess we'll find out next time:
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