Discussion between Lady Tsunade, the client and the strange man continued once the door closed behind Raven. The client was the one to speak first. And the banter went like this:
"That woman killed my son! I want her stripped of her title and gear! Then I want her handed over so I can take her back to my village and put her on trial for my son's death before killing her!"
"Are you so willing to kill an innocent woman out of arrogance? Your son died because of his arrogance all because he didn't want to listen to Raven saying no. And you point that finger of yours at her when it should be pointed at the fault of your son! But no, you would rather blame Raven — who actually tried to save your son, but couldn't!"
The client snapped! "What do you care?! You're not from around here! Lady Tsunade is the leader of the Leaf Village! You're just an outsider who has no business poking his nose in places it doesn't belong! You don't even exist in this world — claiming to be from another! No person in their right mind will listen to you!"
The strange man kept his cool. "I'm not from this world — that's true. Explaining how I came from there to here is a long story simple minds can't begin to understand."
All of the Jonin have backed up even further except Kakashi, who moved to stand between the client and the strange man.
The client stares at Kakashi with a defiant, deadly, blood-thirsty look.
Kakashi ignored the look on the client's face while he intervened before the situation blew up due to the client's hot head.
"You need to take a step back and calm down. This man is telling the truth about Raven — who also happens to be part of squad seven; my squad. I personally taught Raven since the day she graduated from the academy.
"I have known Raven the longest as well as her brother and her two friends: Naruto Uzumaki — student of Lord Jirya, and Sakura Haruno, Lady Tsunade's other student. Raven is not a killer. If your son died, he died from arrogance — the same arrogance I have seen portrayed in your personality as well as your character over the past years.
"What we need to do is hear Raven's story before any rash decisions are made."
Anger in the client's eyes grew to rage. And he snapped even louder!
"You are so willing to listen to a strange man who isn't even from this world — who wants to take that wench to a different world so she can fail yet another mission? That wench has already soured the lively hood of this very village. She will only sour the lively hood of the next client, then the next and the next one after. The only good thing for that wench is her life; her blood as payment for my son's life!
"Raven Uchiha's life is mine by right for my son's death! My son may have acted arrogantly, but Raven could have done something more than say no; to keep him from being killed!"
Kakashi now stands toe-to-toe with the client.
"No one's life is yours. The only one who decides what to do with Raven is Lady Tsunade, who — I also know for a fact, will want to hear Raven's side of the story before making any final decisions."
The client now is super furious! His eyes flame with a burning rage!
"Lady Tsunade was about to strip Raven of her ninja title until this strange man practically broke down her office door — all but halting the Hokage's act of stripping Raven's ninja title away before handing her over to me."
Kakashi cooly counters the client's claim.
"I don't remember hearing Lady Tsunade say such things. In fact, I only remember hearing her final decision be cut off when the door of her office opened and this man behind me came in stating he wants Raven to go on a quest in his world. So if Lady Tsunade thinks otherwise, I think it would be in everyone's best interest to hear what this man has to say, as well as hearing Raven's side of the story revolving around what happened during the mission she was on."
All Jonin in the office nod their heads in agreement.
Lady Tsunade makes a few final decisions. First — before she makes any final decisions, she adds her own reply to Kakashi's words.
"That's very presumptuous of you to assume I was going to just rip Raven's ninja title away from her along with her gear and headband and just hand her over to you with no second thought. If you think I'm just so heartless by handing over on of my people to you, then you don't know me at all.
"Before I make any final decisions of what to do with Raven, we're going to hear what this man has to say about why he wants Raven to take part in the quest in his world. Then we're going to hear Raven's side of the story about the mission because we don't know what happened because we weren't there."
More ferocity and sternness filled Lady Tsunade's tone when she asks her final question before following through with her plan.
"Do I make myself clear?!"
Speaking against the Hokage's final decisions would be foolish. So the client only gives a single nod!
Lady Tsunade turns her attention to the man to follow through with her plan. "What did you say your name was again?"
The man gives a polite smile before speaking.
"My name is Aule, but I'm mostly known as Mahal."
"Welcome to Kenosha, Mahal. My name is Tsunade, but my people call me Lady Tsunade."
Lady Tsunade and Mahal exchange a very strong handshake — silently telling one another they can trust each other.
"Mahal, if you would, please inform me of why you have taken an interest in mine and Kakashi's student as well as this quest you have briefly mentioned."
Mahal gives a nod. "My name is Aule of the Valar — maker of Dwarves: humans shorter than man with a longer life span than the average human. I'm from a different world known as Arda — Middle-Earth to the humans and the various creatures.
"In Middle-Earth, one of the creatures inhabiting that world are Dwarves — my Dwarves. In one part of that world, there is an ancient Dwarf Kingdom known as Erebor, ruled by the Line of Durin: the royal Dwarf bloodline.
"Erebor was robbed by a Dragon: giant fire-breathing lizard with wings! Years after the Dwarves lost their homeland to the Dragon, their king decided to try and reclaim another Dwarf Kingdom; only to end up getting caught in battle against Orcs: ferocious, blood-thirsty-life-stealing monsters. The king ended up losing his life to the most vile Orc of the entire race: Azog, The Defiler.
"After losing their king in battle along with one of the princes and the husband of their princess — the king's son vanishing as well, the king's oldest grandson was named king and years after the war — about a month ago, the new Dwarf King had a meeting with one of the Guardians who keep watch over Middle-Earth.
"During their meeting, a decision to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor was made, but in order for the Dwarf King to reclaim his home, he needs to also reclaim a very special stone from underneath the Dragon's feet. The Dragon already knows the smell and taste of Dwarf better than anyone. In order to steal back the very special stone, the Guardian made the decision to hire a Burglar: someone whose smell won't be recognized by the Dragon. Someone who is very skilled with stealth."
Mahal takes a moment to catch his breath before continuing.
"After the meeting, I have personally been searching for the Burglar to help the Dwarf King on his quest. Someone very skilled and very unique I unceasingly searched for."
Mahal's eyes meet all of the faces un dividingly drinking in his words.
Lady Tsunade gently urges the Dwarf Maker to continue. "Then what?"
Mahal smiles while he answers.
"I found Raven. The time was four weeks before she was to leave on her mission. The problem: there was a barrier between my world and yours. The amount of stamina and strength to work beyond such a barrier is increasingly large. So I had help from my wife with forming cracks in the barrier so I could slowly prepare Raven for the quest.
"Then I watched my Chosen One during her mission. I was blown away by her skills and abilities used on the mission. But the seasoned warrior of the client wouldn't listen to Raven when she refused to let him scout for the enemy. And now Raven is being blamed for killing the client's son when she actually tried to save him.
"By the time the mission ended that evening, the client's son — as well as her squad, were all killed except for her. When Raven finally caught up to the client's son, she tried healing him because he was still alive.
"However, so much blood had been lost; he just couldn't be saved — though Raven poured all of her chakra out just to heal the client's son — or at least to just get him breathing again. But he died, and Raven mourned his life because she couldn't save him. The warrior's life was mistakenly put in her hands just as the lives of her squad members had been!
"Raven can tell her story in depth; I'm only telling what I saw while watching my Chosen One. Her mission was a very advanced mission that called for so much strength and skill — while I watched Raven pour all of her power into the seasoned warrior, she drained herself to the point of having to call on another source for power; green turning to orange."
Lady Tsunade and Mahal lock eyes. The Hokage raked her brain over the information she just learned. So it was true, Naruto wasn't the Jinchuriki host anymore; Raven was — obviously for reasons regarding around the matter of protection due to the Akatsuki still being on the hunt for the Nine Tails — obviously not knowing Naruto had transferred the Nine Tailed Fox into Raven's body to keep him safe just in case the Akatsuki had caught Naruto!
That wasn't surprising, though! Raven's character raked itself through her brain!
Raven was kind and compassionate, she was very fierce, very fearless! Raven was also a very skilled fighter who always cared for her fellow ninja and her friends! She didn't have the tendency to be cocky like her older brother, Sasuke!
No! Raven was cut from a whole entire different cloth! She had never once acted like she was better than everyone while being so focused on wanting revenge like her brother had! No. Raven always humbled herself — putting herself at the same level as those her brother considered inferior — used to, anyways; Raven managing to knock some sense into her older brother's skull with help from Sakura and Naruto!
But callously hurting people — carelessly allowing another to get hurt — even die while doing nothing?! That was not Raven! Raven would rather stand in line of the one to get killed over letting someone else take that position!
Raven was very much the complete opposite of her brother! She would do everything in her power to keep others from being hurt — even killed!
Kakashi: Raven's other Sensei, always recommended his student for missions when a client asked for a ninja — and not just because of her skills — mostly because of her heart! All of the Jonin recommended Raven for many missions: D-rank to A-rank because of the huge, unending care her very heart pumped out! Everyone had certain things they were good at: Raven was very good at missions!
Lady Tsunade had once kept a good count of scars Raven received over the years from her missions! But as time wore on, the Hokage had lost count of how many scars now littered the Chunin's body! But how many scars had the Chunin received to her heart?! That was the big question.
Lady Tsunade felt pain gnaw at her from the image of very horrified look in her student's eyes while she had openly accepted the fault and blame of the client's son being killed as if she had actually killed him! The very horrified look had been accented by a twisting emotion at the back of Raven's eyes that clearly reflected to a horrifying feeling being protruded by her very beating heart!
What happened during the mission? What was it Raven saw that would cause her to be so mortified?!
Lady Tsunade broke the silence. "This quest you wish for Raven to join; how long will it take, exactly?"
Having kept quiet during the whole exchange, the client suddenly spoke up when he heard Lady Tsunade's question. "You're actually going to believe this man who claims to be from a different world where a quest to kill a Dragon and reclaim a lost kingdom supposedly takes place?! Are you serious?!"
Lady Tsunade let out a sigh indicating her patience with the client is at an end. "Kakashi, can you please remove our client?"
Kakashi gives a nod. Grabbing the client's arm, the Jonin escorts him out of the office. "Of course."
Mahatma resumes the explanation about the quest. "The journey to Erebor will take about a year: crossing from one side of Middle-Earth to the other. If Raven goes, she will accompany thirteen Dwarves, their king — also happens to be their leader, and Gandalf, the Guardian who met with the Dwarf King. Gandalf will want her. My Dwarves will be suspicious at first, but they will grow to love and accept her as well."
Lady Tsunade taps her finger against the desk top. She knew Kakashi wouldn't want Raven to go by herself on the quest. Tsunade decides having one other ninja accompany Raven during the quest — along with his companion.
"If it pleases you, I would like to request one other to go with Raven on this quest."
Mahal raised an eyebrow. "Who?"