Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Temari woke to a throbbing headache and a more than frustrating slothfulness to her actions. The poison she had been dosed with was obviously still affecting her, dragging out the process of waking up to the point of being unbearable. However, it did give her some time to think about what had transpired before she lost consciousness. It sickened her to do so, but she had no other choice than to do as Danzō instructed. It was either that or lose all that she had left.

She buried her face into her pillow, wanting to simply will away her problems and responsibilities and let things go back to before her world was flipped upside down. Her moping was cut short thankfully, as Temari finally noticed that she was in her own bed. From what she could remember from the night before, she had been left on the couch, and she highly doubted Danzō's men to be kind enough to put her to bed. There was the possibility of either Baki or Kankuro having found her upon their own waking and did it, but all things considered, Temari felt that a healthy amount of paranoia was warranted.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Temari looked around until her eyes locked onto the sight of Naruto… who was currently passed out on the other side of her bed. She stayed silent and unmoving for a short time, trying to calculate her next move regarding the jinchuuriki. Danzō wanted him for his own purposes, but she had a deal to honour and a Bijuu to have resealed. Even after all the time she had been given, she still hadn't thought of who would be the best fit for Suna's next jinchuuriki.

She continued to watch Naruto sleep for a while, feeling strangely content at watching someone be so calm and carefree, idly wondering if she looked as peaceful when she slept. As it was, Temari was simply happy to have a distraction for the time being. The peacefulness of the moment was torn apart as Naruto rolled over in his sleep and wrapped his arm around her waist, burying his face into her stomach to make possibly the most awkward situation Temari had ever been a part of. It only got worse, however, as her reactive tensing caused Naruto to look up at her groggily.

"You really need to learn to relax more," he said tiredly, before rolling onto his back and resting his head in her lap.

Temari glared down at him. "Are you comfortable there?" she growled irritably.

He shrugged. "I've been less comfortable. It would help if you would calm down and stop being so depressed," he paused to open one of his eyes and stare up at Temari oddly. "You and Tayuya would get along I think, she also looks kind of cute when she's angry."

The blonde blushed slightly, huffing in annoyance as she chose not to escalate things any further. She did technically owe him quite a lot, and letting him use her as a pillow was really not that big of a deal compared to what he could be asking of her. "When did you get back?" she asked curiously, refusing to make eye contact with him.

Naruto smirked. "Just after your little talk with Danzō," he said casually, grimacing slightly as Temari tensed even more than before. "Alright, now I'm uncomfortable. What are your muscles made out of? Stone?"

"Shut up!" Temari snapped. "How much do you know?" she demanded.

"About what? Danzō?" Naruto asked. "Well, aside from his blackmailing you through your brother and sensei, along with his apparent desire to control me, not much. But now that he's decided to intrude on my plans, I'm going to be finding out a lot more."

Temari frowned. "Yeah, about that. I'm not sure what kind of part I'm supposed to be playing in this little plan of yours, but until you explain it to me, then you can forget about me helping you at all," she said sternly. "I'll honour my part of the deal, and give you what you will need to get an arm built for your friend, but I refuse to go any further into this ordeal wearing a blindfold."

"I can understand that, but what good do you think you are at this point? Danzō has you on a tight leash now. It's either help me, or watch the two people you care about most die. No offense, but I highly doubt that honour conquers love when it comes to you, and you have anything but positive feelings towards me. Why should I trust anything you say anymore?" he inquired cockily.

Temari was quiet for a moment before looking down at Naruto apologetically. "You're right, you can't trust me. I will always choose my family over anything else," she said softly. "I guess that makes me a pretty poor Kage, huh? Oh well, I'm not even in control any more. I can't help you, but I don't have to stop you. I'll keep quiet and let you get out of here. It is the least I can do."

Naruto gently poked her forehead. "You are too kind hearted for your own good, you know that?" he said. "That alone could be all the incentive Danzō needs to kill your family, and you were going to do it anyway. It would be safer to just try and have me captured again."

"Trust me, I would if it was anyone else," she said. "But you… I owe you. My life is pretty much already over at this point. I'll either be controlled for the rest of my life, or be killed off and replaced. And so… I want you to take the Ichibi with you when you go. Danzō can't have it, and neither can that Akatsuki group you were talking about. Take it and find a proper vessel for it, one that will make sure my brother's death wasn't in vein."

Naruto poked her again, only much harder this time. "Stop being an idiot. Family first remember. Family always comes first. You owe me nothing… well, not quite yet anyway."

"Ow! What the hell! I'm trying to be nice here! Just take the damn opportunity and run. And what do you mean by not owing you yet? You saved the village. We all owe you."

"Technically, yes, I did. But I'm also the reason that the village is mostly in ruins right now, so I don't feel too comfortable in taking credit for 'saving it', as you put it," Naruto said. "But enough about me for the moment. I want to know what you're going to do. What move are you going to make now that you're so thoroughly boxed in?"

Temari laid back down with a blank expression. "You have until sundown to get out of the village. After that point, I will offer you no assistance or mercy. My shinobi will be ordered to capture you on sight and hand you over to Danzō," she droned monotonously. "That is the best you will get from me."

Naruto sat up and smiled. "A wise decision. Not too smart on your part, but wise either way," he said offhandedly. "But my leaving won't be necessary. You see, while you were having your beauty sleep, I teamed up with some rather… unexpected allies. Your sensei and your brother are safe from Danzō's meddling for the time being. I removed the part of the seal that allows for Danzō to kill them on command. But, he will still be able to control them and pry information out of them. That is, unless you choose to meddle back."

The blonde sat back up quickly, staring at Naruto with a combination of curiosity and determination. "Continue."

Naruto smirked and held out his hand expectantly. "Hand please," he said, Temari acting on the prompt and giving him her hand. "I'm sorry in advance for this," he said quickly, pulling her arm towards him and biting into her wrist before she could react.

Temari let out a startled yelp as she felt him bite into her wrist. Her surprise didn't last long though, as if was replaced almost immediately by searing pain as the fresh wound began to burn. As soon as she felt his jaw ease off, she pulled her hand back and glared at him angrily. "You better start giving me a good explanation!"

"I just put a seal on you. It'll link you to the seals on both your sensei and brother. Now, you will be completely aware of when they are being controlled by Danzō, as well as where they are at the time. You can choose to break his control at any time, but once you do, he will know about it. You should also be able to limit the amount of information that they divulge to Danzō. Basically, it's a way of them staying completely loyal to both you and Suna, while also giving the old cripple the impression that he is still in control," Naruto explained, pausing as he noticed Temari wincing in pain. "Got the headache yet?"

"Yes, I have the headache," she growled.

"Yeah, I expected something like that would happen. It's just your mind adjusting to things. Most of the seal's functions run off your subconscious and conscious thoughts, so it's pretty much automotive from this point," he said. "You can mostly forget about Danzō being too much of an issue for you so long as you play along with things for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to sort out a more permanent solution with enough time."

"If you already sorted everything out, then why the hell did you keep asking me what I was going to do? If I had of known this before, I wouldn't have told you to leave," Temari asked irritably.

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "I was just curious as to how you would react in such a situation. Personally, I'm a little touched that you would go so far and risk so much just to give me a chance of escape. Really thoughtful and caring of you to do that. But while we're dwelling on that, I want you to think about something. As a Kage, you are expected to give anything and everything in order to maintain the safety and prosperity of your village and its people. As a person, you were willing to give up your freedom and possibly your life for the safety of your family. See the connection?"

Temari's expression softened slightly. "So, the people of the village are the Kage's family?"

"Exactly. And as Kage, you are expected to love and protect each and every one of your village's people as if they were family," he said. "The Sandaime Hokage had a similar teaching. Something about the people being the king and shinobi being the king's loyal guard. A good idea, but flawed. Loyalty and honour only go so far, and both can be broken. Love is near faultless, and there is no stronger love than that which exists between family. Remember that, and I have little doubt that you'll prove to be one of the greatest kage to rule over Suna."

The blonde gave him a perplexed look. "Why are you telling me this exactly?" she asked.

Naruto smiled and patted her on the head. "The world is changing, and we need new Kage who don't stick to old traditions to help lead the next generations into what will hopefully be a brighter future. I hope for you to be one of the ones who help change things for the better," he explained. "I'm also telling you this because I am actually a clone. The real me is already on his way to Konoha to get Tayuya back. I'll dispel soon enough. If the real me manages to save Tayuya, he'll be on his way back here to have an arm made for her. That also gives you a little more time to think about the Ichibi situation."

Temari nodded in understanding. "I'll do my best to have everything ready for your return then. It is the least I can do for you," she said.

"Good. That'll speed things up a little," he said, standing up with a sigh. "Anyway, my job is finished here. Unless you have some other use for me, I might as well dispel now, if you'd be kind enough to give me a hand."

"You can't do it yourself?" she asked.

"I could, but it comes off extremely suicidal when I do. The mental feedback of it all makes for a very interesting train of thought on my part. So yeah, if you don't mind just giving me a quick stab with something, I'll be on my way. It is probably best to let the real me know that the discussion with you went smoothly."

Temari quirked her head curiously. "So, I just 'kill' you, right?"

The clone nodded. "To put it simply."

A cruel and malicious smile stretched across Temari's face as she stood up and collected a kunai from her bedside table.

"I'm not going to enjoy this am I?" the clone asked fearfully.

"Not really. But you don't get a choice in the matter," Temari said smugly before lunging towards the terrified clone.

Needless to say, the real Naruto suddenly had second thoughts about returning to Suna.


Tsunade forced herself to breath slowly and deeply. Her face was emotionless, but anyone in the room could tell that her temper was teetering on the edge, an edge that lead to the destructive equivalent of both an earthquake and a volcanic eruption going off simultaneously. For the individuals that stood before her, this was without a doubt one of the most humbling and terrifying experiences of their lives. To be so completely sure of your own death and destruction despite absolutely nothing having been done in the physical world.

It went without saying that the Hokage possessed a killing intent that seemed to almost stretch the realm of possibilities, and it was now currently aimed at her idiot teammate and the poor, stupid little genin that had followed his equally stupid plan. The only one who wasn't reacting to the Senju's invisible reaction to the situation was none other than Tayuya, who was still bound and was now left kneeling before the Hokage.

"ANBU, unbind the girl," Tsunade ordered calmly, her cold eyes staring warningly at the group to argue her command.

"Thank fuck. I haven't felt my arm for hours," Tayuya said, groaning in relief as the binds were removed. "Okay then, how's this going to work. You just going to kill me now, or do I have to sit in a cell somewhere and wait for it?"

Tsunade turned to her with the same emotionless expression. "My ANBU will take you to a room where you will await my arrival. We will discuss further what is to be done with you after I have dealt with the other issues that have arisen. Until then, if you need anything, simply ask," she said.

They all watched as the foul-mouthed redhead was lead out of the room by the ANBU with a confused look on her face. As soon as the door shut, Tsunade's attention returned to the team that had brought the girl to her in the first place. "You three are dismissed. You will receive no payment for this mission, and you are hereby suspended from active duty until I deem otherwise."

"What?" Ino yelled indignantly. "You can't do that."

Tsunade glared at her fellow blonde. "Do not argue with your Kage, girl. Now get out. Be assured that I will be personally dealing with each of you once I find the time and patience," she said warningly.

Shikamaru bowed respectfully before grabbing both Ino and Tenten by the wrists and dragging them out of the Hokage's office before they could say anything else, leaving only Jiraiya to suffer the woman's wrath.

"Well, at least one of them has some proper respect for my authority," Tsunade muttered, her eyes shifting to her teammate. "If only you were smart enough to take a page from his book."

"Now, now, Tsunade. I can explain," Jiraiya said.

The woman scoffed. "Don't bother," she spat. "I know damn well what you'll say. That it was in everyone's best interest. That capturing the girl was the only way to get Naruto back to the village. That I should just trust you and that everything will work out fine once he's back and you've had a chance to talk some sense into him. You know, I really wish I could believe all that. But I can't."

"Just hear me out."

"No!" Tsunade yelled. "I am done with this! Done with you running off and doing whatever is it that you want to do. Ever since you became a sage, you have been impossible to control. You've become reckless and dangerous. Your actions could very well have just sealed the fate of this village, and yet here you are trying to convince me that it was the right thing to do. You went against sensei's wishes, against my orders, against everything! How am I supposed to ever trust you again after this?"

"I won't just leave him out there to be targeted by Akatsuki!" Jiraiya argued.

The Hokage rolled her eyes. "Oh just stop it with that pathetic excuse," she drawled. "Naruto isn't any safer here than he is out there. We couldn't find him for thirteen years, Jiraiya. No one could. Akatsuki would need to find him before they were even able to do anything, and being here only makes that easier for them. It would be smarter to simply offer our support to him so that if Akatsuki does find him, he can call us to him for help. But no, you didn't think about that, did you. You don't think about anything aside from a woman's chest and your own useless pride. Just face it, Jiraiya. There is nothing you can do now to make up for not being there when Naruto needed you. There's nothing either of us can do."

"So that's it?" he asked. "We give up? Don't you even want to try to make up for your mistakes?"

"I was trying to, you idiot. But now, since you've taken it upon yourself to capture Naruto's companion with the help of some of my shinobi, I suspect that he now assumes I played a part in your stupid idea. Any chance I had of earning his forgiveness, or ever being recognised as his family, it's all gone because of your screw up!"

Tsunade took a moment to recompose herself. "I'm sorry Jiraiya, but I can't trust you not to do something stupid if given the chance. Your rights and authority as a Sannin are hereby suspended until further notice. You are to be classed a jonin of Konoha, restricted to its walls unless ordered by me otherwise. If you step out of line, if you do anything that I deem irrational or irresponsible, I will have you completely stripped of your titles and removed from active duty until you prove you can be trusted again."

Jiraiya remained silent. He knew damn well that he wasn't talking to his teammate anymore, but to the Hokage. While he wished to argue, to keep pushing his point until she saw things his way and agreed to help him in getting Naruto to come back to the village, he knew it would only worsen the current situation. As such, he took the consequences of his actions without complaint. Besides, once he got a chance to talk to Naruto, he was sure it would all work out and then Tsunade would have no choice but to forgive him. It was all just a matter of time now.

"You had best hope that when Naruto comes here for the girl, this village is still left standing after he leaves, because if it isn't, I will personally see to it that you suffer for what you've done," she warned. "Now get out of my office."

Tsunade watched as Jiraiya left with no complaints. She knew that he was still confident that he was right, so cocksure that he had done what was best. It infuriated her to know that someone could be so naïve and self-righteous. She wished she could force him to see the error of his ways, but she had already done all she could. As Hokage, she could only go so far with such matters. One of the reasons she despised politics to begin with. The more political power you possessed, the more severe your crimes were depicted as. There were only so many times she could beat someone to within an inch of their life before it would come back to bite her.

Deciding to take some time away from the office, Tsunade headed towards the room she had her ANBU take Tayuya. Upon entering, she was a little surprised to find the redhead stuffing her face with a variety of food. Judging by the stack of plates beside her, the blonde surmised that the girl had been eating her fill since she had arrived in the room. It wasn't until Tsunade realised that Tayuya was ignoring her presence that she chose to actually do anything.

"Ahem," she said loudly.

"What?" Tayuya asked rudely, not stopping her eating as she looked expectantly at the Hokage.

"I trust that you are enjoying yourself."

Tayuya shrugged. "This could be my last chance to stuff my face before you fucks kill me, so I'm making the most of it."

"Could be?" Tsunade inquired curiously.

"Yeah. Depends on whether or not that whiskered faced moron manages to break me out of here. I have my doubts about it," Tayuya said flippantly.

Tsunade held back a chuckle at the name the girl had used for Naruto. "Yes, Naruto. You're his companion now, right?"

"Companion, slave, prisoner, make of it what you will. I'm stuck with the idiot for now."

"How has it been being stuck with him since you woke up?"

"What do you care?" Tayuya asked, giving Tsunade a strange look. "Hang on; you aren't one of those stupid therapist people, are you? Trying to get into my head until I cry like a little bitch so you can prescribe me some dumb medication that leaves me shitting and pissing in a diaper."

Tsunade cracked a smile at that particular comment. "Sadly, I lack the people skills or necessary sympathy to be a therapist. I am a doctor though. In fact, I'm the one that managed to keep you from dying when Naruto first found you."

Tayuya took a few moments before her eyes widened in realisation. "Uh, am I supposed to thank you now or something?"

"Only if you want to."

"Eh, forget it then."

"So?" Tsunade asked.

"So what?"

"How has being stuck with Naruto been?" she repeated.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. "How do you think it's been?" she asked sarcastically, pointing to her missing arm. "I lost a limb, possibly got molested while I was in a coma, got dragged across the bloody continent, and got kidnapped. Now I'm here talking to you."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Molested?"

"He denies having done anything, but I find it hard to believe. I mean, come on. I might be missing an arm, but I'm still hot. Hell, if I were a guy, I'd take advantage of me in a coma too."

"Are we still talking about Naruto here?"

"Ugh, I still hate his name. So stupid. Why not just name him cock-gobbler and be done with it. At least then it's actually funny and not just embarrassing."

"Yes, well, you'll have to take that question to his parents," Tsunade said with a smile, knowing full well how Kushina would react to such a comment. It would be very amusing to see the fear that woman would instil in Tayuya. "For the moment, however, I just have some questions I'd like to ask you."

"Yeah, yeah, ask away. Not like I have anything better to do," Tayuya mumbled. "Don't think I'm going to just tell you everything you want though."

"Fair enough. I'll start with a simple one. Do you have any idea as to why Naruto is so interested in you?" Tsunade asked.

Tayuya snorted in amusement. "Nope. But I still think he just wants to sleep with me. Either that or he wants to use me to get information for him. In all fairness though, he could want me for worse, so I'm not really prepared to complain about it just yet."

Tsunade frowned. Naruto was obviously withholding the results of her examination from Tayuya. She wasn't sure why, but for the moment she felt it best to maintain the secret. The last thing she wanted was to piss him off any more than he already would be. Still, it begged the question. Why did he have her verify the girl as a partial Uzumaki if he didn't intend on doing anything with the information. Unless he was still trying to figure out what to do with her himself.

"Has he said anything about what he intends to do in the near future? Where he might be heading?"

"Ugh, if only," Tayuya grumbled. "He's been dragging me around all this time, and I don't even know what the hell for. You're his friend, right? How about you do me a favour and find out yourself, then let me know what he wants me to help him with."

"If that were possible, I wouldn't be in here asking you," Tsunade said. "With saying that though, I need you to tell me anything you can about Naruto. You are the only person he has ever been known to show an interest in. He must have at least hinted as to why he is keeping you with him."

The redhead stopped feeding her face and put the plate of food to the side. "Look, I get that you technically saved my life and all, but I'm going to have to stop here. I've already talked to you enough as it is, and I really don't want to piss the dickhead off. On the off chance that he actually comes here to get me back, I want to make sure that I haven't done anything he perceives as betraying him. He might be an ass, but he bought me, and he most likely paid a shitload for me considering my previous owner. I'm a bitch, but I'm not a bad investment."

Tsunade chuckled. "You honestly think that he thinks of you as property?" she asked in amusement.

Tayuya shrugged. "I don't care at this point. He bought me, he feeds me, hell, he doesn't even yell at me when I'm being a cunt. If he keeps putting up with me like that for much longer, then he can think of me as whatever he wants."

"You don't have very much self-worth, do you?"

"Nope."

"Would you ever consider aligning with a village?"

Tayuya laughed. "This shithole? With all you goody-goody tree-hugger pricks. No way in hell. I'd sooner take my chances back with Orochimaru."

"Alright then. Let's go back to Naruto."

"I thought we already established that I know jack shit about what he plans on doing."

"True, but I only need to know one thing, and I get the feeling that you might know the answer."

Tayuya quirked an eyebrow at the blonde. "And that would be?"

"When Naruto comes here for you, which he will… what kind of retaliation can we expect?" Tsunade asked.

Tayuya smiled cruelly. "From what I've been told, you idiots were warned before about messing with him. You all shat yourselves at the threat he made towards this village, but you took me anyway. I'd say, in my expert opinion, and from what I've seen of him so far, that once Naruto is done here, everyone in the elemental nations will know about it," she said, before breaking into a fit of laughter. "Nah, I'm joking. I don't have a fucking clue. It's impossible to guess what that idiot is going to do."

Tsunade sighed deeply. "Well, that was disappointing," she mumbled to herself. "Anyway, you are safe here so long as you stay inside this building. It would be in both our interests for you to avoid moving around too much. Staying here will make it that much easier for Naruto to find you."

"Huh, so you aren't planning on trying to execute me?" Tayuya asked somewhat disappointedly. "Those idiots in Suna wanted to do that. I would have thought Konoha would be quicker to get it done. You know… considering I played a part in the Hokage's death and all."

"My sensei was old and weary when he let himself die to stop Orochimaru, but he was still far beyond the point of you being of any difficulty to him. Trust me, had he only been concerned with his own survival at the time, he would still be alive and well right now. He made his choice, and he died for it, but I can assure you that he barely saw you as an obstacle," Tsunade said. "He allowed himself to die that day, so saying that you actually helped kill him is almost amusing. And no, we aren't going to have you executed. Or at least you won't be, so long as the rational people of this village have anything to say about it."

Tayuya frowned as she watched Tsunade walk to the door. "Who is he to you?"

"Who?"

"Naruto," the redhead clarified. "You wouldn't be asking about him unless he meant something to you, and he got you to heal me, so you must at least know each other. I want to know what he is to you and why you are so concerned with what he plans to do?"

Tsunade smiled sadly at the girl. "He's one of the last blood relatives I have left. It's a very distant relation, but with so few of both our clans left, it's still worth noting. I knew his parents relatively well, but I never got the chance to form a bond of any kind with Naruto aside from letting him know that I was at least a friend. That's my own fault though. I was too busy trying to drown my own problems to be there for him when he needed someone."

"So you knew him when he was younger?" Tayuya asked, receiving a nod from the woman. "Has he always been, you know, the way he is?"

She knew it was a long shot, but the Hokage could very well be the best chance she had at learning anything about Naruto. As it was, Tayuya highly doubted ever finding another person that knew anything about Naruto, or rather, anyone that was willing to tell her… if they were even friendly in the first place. Besides, she felt that her curiosity was perfectly justified. The guy was a confusing enigma to her at the moment, so she would take any chance to learn at least something about him if it meant possibly making even slightly more sense of him.

"Until rather recently, I've only met Naruto three times before," Tsunade answered. "The first time was shortly after he was born, back when he was nothing but a little bundle of excitement in his mother's arms. The second was just after his parents died, before the third Hokage made some… exceedingly poor choices. He was understandably heartbroken at the time, but also surprisingly positive for a five year old that had just lost everything,"

"The third time I saw him was the same day I agreed to return to the village and train to become Hokage. He had already been missing from the village for several years and had curiously come seeking me out. I had no idea it was even him. His habit of dying his hair must have started early, and he had grown considerably since our last meeting. I was still in a bad place back then, and as such, I brushed him off as I did everyone else. He got mad, of course, and spent a few days annoying the hell out of me, begging me to help with something. Then Jiraiya showed up. Naruto disappeared and stopped bugging me, but after Jiraiya explained everything to me, I understood why. I returned to the village that day, if only to make sure that the same mistakes that were made with Naruto were never repeated. I've also been sober ever since."

"Congratulations," Tayuya drawled. 'Well, that was no help at all,' she thought to herself bitterly.

"Look, if your curious about Naruto, then there is no better person to ask than him," Tsunade said. "After everything that's happened to him, I can't blame Naruto for keeping everything so well hidden. Chances are there isn't anyone alive that knows enough about him to sate your curiosity. Just ask him what you want to know. The worst outcome is that he just refuses to tell you."

"Yeah, because he is totally going to just tell me anything at all in the first place."

Tsunade laughed. "You would be surprised at what he might be willing to let you in on… so long as you prove to him that you aren't going to use it against him," she said. "Perhaps it's time you stopped trying to convince yourself that you're still a bad person, Tayuya. You have a chance at a new life now that you aren't with Orochimaru. Letting such an opportunity slip by would be a bad idea."

Tayuya tsk'd in annoyance. "Why don't you drop the act? You don't care about me or what I do; you only care about how I might be able to help you."

"I don't want or need your help. In fact, I'm sure that you couldn't help me at all," Tsunade said.

"Not even to help you form a bond between you and Naruto?" Tayuya asked snidely. "I'm sure a few well-placed words would go a long way, am I right?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Nothing you could do or say would ever make things between me and Naruto any better. Not that I would want you to, even if it did help," she said. "Choices have consequences, and I made too many of the wrong choices in my life. If there is one thing that the title of Hokage has helped me come to terms with, it is that sometimes it is best to live with the repercussions of your actions, not ignore them, or try to amend them. Some mistakes are meant to stay mistakes, and I am accepting mine as such."

The annoyed and perplexed expression on Tayuya's face was all that Tsunade needed to see to know that she had left the girl with something to think about. She took the chance to walk out of the room, closing the door before the redhead could say anything more. She slowly made her way towards her office, taking her time to enjoy the walk and truly admire some of the select few artworks that decorated parts of the Hokage tower.

Tsunade had no idea what the night to come would entail, or even what would be left in the wake of it, but she knew that things were going to change in a drastic way for Konoha. Jiraiya had acted on behalf of the village without intending to, and now it was just a matter of time before the consequence of his mistake was made known. She just prayed that Naruto was willing to show at least some form of mercy towards the village.

Not that she was willing to do anything to stop him if he didn't.


It wasn't until some hours later that Tsunade found herself sitting in her office, the stench of alcohol staining the air as she groggily set down the freshly polished off bottle of sake that had made up her long neglected stash. She wasn't drunk, unfortunately. What remained of her alcohol tolerance from her gambling days was more than enough to leave her capable of drinking most people under the table. But still, the sake had done its job, and her nerves were more or less calmed.

She slumped back into her chair and spun it around to look out over the village, the lights that usually lit it up now fading as the night grew too late. It was probably getting close to midnight now, and Tsunade had yet to hear anything even remotely notifying her to the potential presence of Naruto. As far as she was aware, Tayuya was still fast asleep in the room she had left her in. The blonde almost considered the possibility that Jiraiya had severely overestimated Naruto's intent on keeping the girl at all. Maybe Tayuya really didn't mean that much to Naruto after all.

That particular thought was thrown aside rather quickly however, as a slight glimmer in the night sky caught Tsunade's attention. Without much thought, the Hokage spun her chair to the side slightly and leaned back, narrowly avoiding a disturbingly familiar looking three-pronged kunai, which embedded itself deep into her desk. In a flash of red, and a pulse of what could only be described as 'spatial tingling', Naruto was standing on the other side of her desk, already quickly retrieving his kunai.

Tsunade glanced down at the mark left on the desk and looked up at Naruto with a smirk. "And here I thought Minato was a special kid. Barely out of your teens and already mastering techniques that no one else could ever dream to use. I'm impressed."

Naruto frowned at the woman as he looked sideways at the empty bottle on her desk. "I thought you were sober?"

"I was," Tsunade agreed. "But tonight, I think, is a special occasion; one that I'm pretty sure I don't want to be sober for."

"Were you involved?"

"In taking the girl? No."

"Was she interrogated?"

"Not since arriving at the village. I've kept her on lockdown inside the tower. No one but me has had any direct contact with her save for the ANBU that guarded her and tended to her needs. But, a Yamanaka was a part of the team that helped capture her. It is likely that Jiraiya had her try to scrounge up some information from inside Tayuya's head."

"I trust you understand that I can't ignore what Jiraiya has done," Naruto said. "This has gone beyond simply wanting me back in the village. He is now directly challenging me, and it is putting people in danger whether he knows it or not."

Tsunade looked down shamefully. "I know, and I wish I could do more to control him, to make him see reason, but he is too caught up in his own beliefs. The toads have convinced him that you are the child their prophecy refers to, and now he is committed to training you and ensuring that you aren't going to bring destruction to the world," she said, failing miserably at holding back a snicker. "Sorry, but that always sounds so stupid when I say it out loud."

Naruto smiled sadly. "I can't leave the village peacefully, Tsunade. You know that," he said. "I can't have people thinking that I am easily trifled with, and I can't have Jiraiya continuing his search for me. An example needs to be made. A warning for what happens when I'm crossed."

She mimicked his expression. "I understand. And I forgive you for what you have to do. I'm just sorry that I couldn't help you. That I wasn't there for you when I could have been. I'm sorry that it's all come down to this."

"You can still get out, Tsunade," he said softly. "I am willing to let you leave; to live and continue fighting to make this village what your grandfather wished it to be."

"No," she replied. "The title of Hokage is a sinking ship. This village is a sinking ship. It's already taken everything I cared about, and now, I think it's only fair that it drags me down with it too. After all, I had my chances to do the right things, and I let them pass by. There is no hope for this village so long as it continues to live with the smugness that now exists in its leaders. They need to be reminded that they aren't above everyone else. No one is. I think they've been long overdue for that lesson."

Naruto frowned. "I'm not joking."

"Neither am I, Naruto," Tsunade countered. "Although before everything goes to hell, I do have one question. It's been bugging me for some years now."

"Yes?"

"A few years ago, you came seeking me out for something. I never thought much of it at the time, or even for a while after, but for the past couple of years, it's been scratching at my mind. What did you want that you needed someone like me to help you?" she asked curiously.

Naruto's eyes widened for a brief moment before he forced himself back into his emotionless façade. The flash of sadness that flickered through his eyes in that moment of surprise was all Tsunade needed to see to know that she had yet one more horrible mistake to atone for, it was just a matter of finding out how bad of a mistake it had been on her part.

"Back then, I was still trying to piece together what was left of my mind. Filtering through the lies and the truth to figure out just who I really was. I had a friend helping me as best she could with what little we had at the time. But she ended up getting hurt while trying to help. You should know what Bijuu chakra does to the human body," Naruto explained coldly.

"The wounds got infected, and we didn't have money for medical treatment. It got bad, really bad. It was my fault, and so I took it upon myself to fix things. I had heard about you, about the Sannin and their unmatched skill. I thought one of you could have helped. Jiraiya wasn't an option, since he was already trying to track me at that point, but you and Orochimaru were. I couldn't find the snake, of course, but I found you. I had thought, back in my naivety, that you would help me. But you didn't… I buried her later that week."

"Naruto… I'm…"

"Sorry?" he interrupted. "I know. But it doesn't change what happened."

Tsunade gave a bittersweet smile. "I suppose that is just going to make what comes next that much easier for you then," she said. "For what it's worth though, I am truly sorry, Naruto. For everything."

"You said that Konoha was overdue for a lesson in humility. Perhaps you are too. Maybe all you ever really needed to do was learn how to be humble, to stop worrying about this village and what it's taken from you. It was all that loss that drove you to become the best medic in history, so why let that same loss be the reason that you don't help others to not feel the same pain that you do?"

She almost laughed at the fact that she was being lectured to by a boy less than half her age. But she wasn't going to ignore his words. Naruto was wise, in his own way. He would have to be, after so much struggle and hardship in life. It was just a shame that they couldn't have this conversation earlier in life.

"I guess I'm too late to see what life like that would be like," she mumbled. "Another mistake to add to the list."

Naruto calmly weaved several hand seals together. "Yes, I'm afraid," he said before gently breathing out a small orb of flame. "Far too late." The flame began to drip, the floor igniting immediately upon its touch as the orb of flame started to grow at a steady pace. "Goodbye, Tsunade," he said softly, vanishing in a flash of red.

Tsunade smiled and closed her eyes. "Goodbye, Naruto."


Tayuya woke up to a cold chill slithering down her spine, directly opposing the warm breeze that blew through her hair. She almost immediately regretted opening her eyes, as she was welcomed to the sight of the several hundred-foot drop down to the village below. Her immediate reaction was to cling to the nearest thing as tight as she could, which just so happened to lead her to discover just where she was.

She was atop the Hokage monument, being carried in Naruto's arms, one of which she was holding onto like a lifeline. It didn't take long after her short assessment of the situation for her to calm down, but even then, she was left slightly on edge. It wasn't the height, or even the fact that she had mysteriously woken up in a guy's arms, but rather the look in Naruto's eyes that was disturbing her. Tayuya was sure she had seen the worst of the worst when it came to haunting looks, but now, she felt herself doubting that surety.

The normally relaxed yet calculative light in his eyes was replaced by a cold emptiness that hid the slightest signs of regret. It wasn't until she followed his gaze to see what he was staring at that Tayuya was left completely speechless. The Hokage tower was burning, the flames towering up into the night sky and lighting up the village like a flare. Hundreds of people had gathered around it, all trying desperately to extinguish the fire, only to have it fight back with more ferocity with each effort. It was obviously the work of a jutsu, and a very powerful one at that.

It didn't take a genius to know that simply burning a building wouldn't be enough of a message to a village, even if it were the most secured and defended building, which also happened to be positioned right in the middle of everything. Tayuya was able to come to a conclusion rather quickly based on what she could see and understand, but it only made her stomach sink slightly. Naruto's cold eyes, the ridiculous efforts being made to put out the fire, it was all she needed to see to make sense of what he had done, of just what kind of message he was sending to Konoha.

In simple terms, he had told them, with absolutely no chance of misinterpretation, that he was not to be messed with, trifled with, or toyed with on any level. But it wasn't the message, or even the method of sending said message that left Tayuya truly shocked. No, it was the fact that he had done it because of her… for her. It wasn't over pride, it wasn't because they had attacked him, and it wasn't even because they were making his life harder. It was because they had taken her. They had stolen her from him, and this, this was how he responded.

Tayuya thought back to Tsunade's words from earlier in the night, about Naruto not seeing her as an object he owned, and found herself feeling unsure as to what that entailed. If he didn't view her as his possession, as something of potential value that he owned, then what did he see her as? What was she to him that would invoke such a violent reaction to her simply being taken away? She didn't know yet, and she wasn't exactly confident in guessing. All Tayuya knew, was that she, for whatever reason, was important to Naruto, and even if it was the last thing she did, she would find out why, whether she liked the answer or not.

Her attention was drawn back to the burning Hokage tower as the flames erupted upwards, twisting and contorting into a denser form as it began to take shape. A head, legs, long ears, claws, and a bared maw full of teeth were all overshadowed by a single trait that the creature possessed. Those of whom were gathered around the tower were paralysed in fear and a sickening nostalgia as the flames consuming one of the village's most sacred structures took the form of the Kyuubi, all nine tails swishing through the air angrily, leaving trails of fire and ember in their wake.

Tayuya wasn't fooled for long. Genjutsu was her specialty after all, and she had the fortune of spending a long period of time close to Naruto, becoming accustomed to his expansive field of chakra and the nature it possessed. That didn't make the jutsu any less impressive for her though. Seeing someone so casually combine fire nature manipulation with such a massive scale Genjutsu was something Tayuya was going to remember, and also strive to rival if possible. But while she, and a few other shinobi of the village were able to see through the falsity of it, the message such a scene portrayed was not lost by them.

The fake Kyuubi was a signature to show them who was responsible, but it also acted as a way to humiliate Konoha. The nine tails was without a doubt one of the greatest catastrophes to befall the village, and it left a wound that had yet to fully heal. Despite that, Konoha went on to boast about their survival, their victory over the greatest of the Bijuu, and now, that façade was being crushed. To have the Hokage tower destroyed by something that merely held the form of the Kyuubi was a massive slap to the face. As soon as word got out about it, then the other villages would know that without someone like the Yondaime Hokage around, Konoha wasn't anywhere near as powerful as they claimed.

It was a double-edged sword, however, and Tayuya knew that Naruto had considered it in such a way. Sure, this tactic got the message across, and it left its mark on the village, but it had its ramifications as well. There was little doubt that Konoha would ignore the warning, wanting to lash out in an act of revenge or 'self-defence', and with such a bold attack, it also stood to reason that the village would adopt a far more militaristic nature to ensure no further attacks succeeded. An act that might give them a few months or years of reprieve, if they were lucky, would only result in a harder future, and a more challenging enemy to deal with later on. That only made her more curious. He would have to know how bad of a move to make this was, yet he did it anyway, and he barely seemed to care about it.

"Why?" she asked quietly, earning Naruto's attention.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Tayuya wriggled in his arms, forcing him to put her back on her feet. "Am I okay?" she repeated in disbelief. "I should be asking you that. Look what you've done! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Naruto smirked at her. "Is that your way of saying that you care if I die?"

She growled angrily. "Don't change the subject!" she yelled. "I am sick of being left out of the loop with you. I want to know why the fuck you're doing all of this, and I'm not doing jack shit until you tell me why I'm apparently so fucking important to you!"

"I don't think this is the time or place to talk about it."

"I don't give a flying fuck! You're telling me right now or else I'm walking my ass right back down there to wait for my execution!"

Naruto was silent for a few seconds. "Fine then, you want to know why you're important to me. It's because of your organs."

Tayuya went silent as she stared at him owlishly. "Um… the fuck? My organs?"

"Orochimaru replaced most of them with the organs from someone else… an Uzumaki," he explained. "Your body's natural ability of accepting alien material and chakra allowed for you to adopt the organs almost perfectly. But, with so many organs having been replaced, your body didn't have enough of your own chakra left to alter the organs to your body, so it altered its chakra and then what was left of your body to match the organs. And now, you are practically an Uzumaki yourself."

"Okay, that's great and all, but why not just take the organs?" she asked irritably. "I assume you knew all of this before I was fully healed, so why didn't you just do away with me and secure the organs if they're so valuable to you."

"I considered doing that, but you're the only person that I imagine can handle having such a drastic transplant of so many Uzumaki organs. Besides, I wanted to find out if you were worthy of them before I decided to just kill you."

"And am I? Am I worthy to be a stupid fucking Uzumaki?"

Naruto chuckled. "So far."

"What if I don't want to be? What if I just want to be me and live the rest of my pathetic life like a normal person," she asked, pausing to glare at her missing arm. "A normal useless person that is," she corrected bitterly.

He sighed deeply. "Look, I'm not good at this sort of stuff, okay. I keep to myself for a reason. If you want to go off and live a normal life, then I'm not going to stop you. But before that happens, I need to at least give you a fighting chance."

She rolled her eyes. "Fuck off. You just want to make sure that I don't die so I can shit out more Uzumaki, am I right?" she asked, earning a surprised look from Naruto. "Yeah, I know that the snake fucker replaced some things down there too, dickhead. I'd have to be a retard not to."

Naruto frowned. "I had no intentions of using you for that, I swear. But if you were to decide to have kids one day, then I would prefer to know that you are at least safe to do so," he said. "The Uzumaki were wiped out for a reason, and I doubt that the villages that did it back then would be comfortable with any trace of the clan resurfacing. They would hunt you down and kill you if word got out, or worse."

"Yeah, I get it. Jeez, as if I wasn't completely fucked in the first place, now I have this shit to deal with," she grumbled. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to Naruto and punched him in the stomach. "That's for keeping it from me. Next time you keep a secret like that from me, I'll stab you. Understand?"

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, I understand."

"Good," she said. "Now, I think it would be a good idea to get out of here before they start looking around for you. But don't think this is over just yet. We are going to have a nice long talk about just where this bullshit is going, and you are going to tell me exactly what is it you're planning on doing from here."

"I think that's fair enough," Naruto said. "But for now, I think we should get back to Suna. Temari is expecting us at some point and the sooner we can get an arm made for you, the sooner you can get used to it."

Tayuya smirked. "How hard can it be?"

Naruto held back a laugh. "You'll find out soon enough," he said ominously.

In a flash, they were gone, the false Kyuubi soon losing form afterwards as the flames that had now burned down the Hokage tower finally began to die down. It wasn't until sometime after that the severity of the attack was truly understood by the village, as a single charred corpse was pulled from the ashes, identified easily by the jewel that was now melted into the flesh of the forehead.

Tsunade Senju, the fifth Hokage, and one of the legendary three Sannin… was dead… and there was absolutely no question as to who killed her.

Within the week, Naruto Uzumaki would become one of the most feared and wanted shinobi in the elemental nations, whilst in the same time Konoha would become one of the most ridiculed villages to hold the honour of being among the five major forces of the continent. It was now just a matter of time until Konoha responded to the attack, and there was no doubt that everyone else in the world would be watching the spectacle with their complete attention.

But if there was one thing that was certain, it was that by the end of everything, by the time the feud between Konoha and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was over… only one would be left standing.

It was now just a question of which one would survive, and which one would fall.


A/N:

So this chapter didn't take me all that long to write up in the scheme of things, much faster than I expected actually. Of course, I do think that it has something to do with the fact that I got to write another character to their death, which is always a fun time for me. Tsunade will be missed by a lot of us, but her death was somewhat necessary for my plans. The next chapter or two will finally see Naruto and Tayuya getting back on the move, so be prepared for the 'Suna Ark' to be coming to a close. I also have literally no idea where I should send them after that, but it shall be worked out in the process of everything. Any suggestions on what you guys want to see happen would aid in this process, so bring on the requests. It should be noted though, that I intend on having a time skip that correlates with the time skip in the anime. So, I'm mostly asking for what you guys might want to see before the time skip happens.

In other news, it looks like i'll be moving house again relatively soon, so don't be too surprised if there is a mild delay on the next chapter. After that is all over though, I should be back to my regular erratic schedule that I know you all hate.

Reviews are really appreciated, but please do me a favour and hold back on the potential flames I know you all want to throw at me for killing Tsunade, or rather the pathetic way that I had her die. As said above, any suggestions or requests regarding where Naruto and Tayuya will go after Suna and what they might do are also much appreciated. No guarantee that I'll follow anyone's suggestion to the T, but it might really help me formulate my own plan and design.

Till next time.

Soul out!