Akodi arose before the sun. He quickly changed out of his pajamas into his training clothes and silently left out the back door.
He had grown to enjoy these quiet moments of solitude while most of the village slept. It was an opportunity for him to ponder ideas uninterrupted. When the world was awake and there were people around, there were too many stimuli demanding his attention for him to focus on his thoughts. It was hard to deeply reflect when all his senses were vying for his attention and he often felt overstimulated.
The cool, crisp air brushed against his face as he started his morning routine with a jog to warm his body up.
This morning, he reflected on his first 2 weeks as a genin.
He absolutely loved his teammates and idolized his Jonin sensei. He appreciated the fact that they were each strong individually, although the part he was really happy about was their team chemistry.
He'd noticed that some other teams did not get along and even fought amongst each other. He saw other Jonin sensei neglect their duties and their genin suffered. Apparently, there weren't many talented Jonin left in the village who wanted to pass on their skills to the next generation.
His team was like family. Within no time they were aware of the others surroundings subconsciously and always seemed to know what the others were going to do. Even Fugaku started to develop a gentler demeanor around the bunch and started to smile more.
Akodi grinned at that as continued to run. The fearsome 'Wicked Eye Fugaku' had even laughed earlier this week when Katari accidently sprayed Hinashi with a water style jutsu gone awry and left him soaked in his pristine Hyuga clothing. It seemed that Fugaku enjoyed watching any Hyuga appear something besides perfectly collected at all times.
Akodi was happy that his team meshed well. But happy wasn't the correct word, he thought. The word was grateful.
He was grateful he had such great teammates. He was grateful he had such a devoted Jonin sensei who demanded they improve. He was grateful that his team was becoming his second family. It only strengthened his resolve to train harder each and every day so he could protect them.
He didn't mind waking up an hour before the sunrise every day to get a few extra hours of training in even if Fugaku told them not to do any additional training. He noticed that Son allowed his chakra to gently course through his body at night to replenish the damaged tissues and ease the soreness and fatigue. He also noticed that Son had been more talkative as of late.
When he first met the Monkey King all he did was talk about humans with disdain. Son started to open up to him over the last few weeks and involuntarily let more of his personality show.
It was at this time Akodi finished his jog and noticed the sun was slowly starting to rise over the horizon. A beautiful yellow-orange glow rose over the East and began to make progress over the rest of the sky.
His run brought him to a secluded edge of the Sarutobi compound and sat cross-legged under an old Hashirama tree and entered his mindscape.
…
Akodi enjoyed entering his mindscape. Time seemed to slow significantly when he was here. 2 hours seemed to be 20 minutes in the real world. He looked around the same clearing of the jungle which he always entered into. He smiled at the gentle breeze the leaves swayed in. He closed his eyes and let the cool sensation the breeze left against his face.
The sound of loud banging against a wooden cage interrupted his bliss as he opened his eyes to Son smashing his fist against the vertical beams of his cage. The Monkey King was glaring down at him. It seemed if Son couldn't be happy he didn't want anyone else to be either. He walked up to the exponentially larger primeape and smiled brightly up at Son.
"Good morning Son! Nice to see you again."
Son replied with a deep grumble that shook Akodi's bones. He had gotten used to Son's dismissive behavior. Akodi figured if he was trapped in a cage against his will than he would be a bit distant as well. He ignored it and continued speaking to the giant monkey.
"So I was thinking about my team today and the fact that you haven't had a chance to meet them yet. My teammates are super strong and my Jonin sensei is super cool! I know you don't like anybody right now but in the future I'm sure you'll end up liking them as well. You, me, and my friends. We're all on the same team you know."
Son stood tall on his strong legs and shrieked loudly before answering in his characteristic deep voice.
"Team!? You pathetic excuse for a human still think we are on the same team? You are more pitiful than I previously thought. I, the great and powerful Sage Equalling Heaven would never lower myself to working with such a poor use of existence such as yourself."
Akodi laughed loudly as he walked and sat in front of Son's cage. He lazily leaned back on his elbows as he allowed his hands to curl into the soft grass.
"You know as well as I do that you're a big softy at heart Son Goku. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret. Although, I think Nashi would love to hear about this!" He winked at the giant monkey in front of him before he fell back with hearty laughter. He laid on his back with his hands behind his head as he watched the clouds drift by.
"Do you ever think we could actually work together outside of the mindscape? You know, like on the battlefield? It'd be really awesome if we could fight side by side against some evil organization trying to take over the world or something!"
Son huffed in annoyance but sat down and idly looked at the boy casually laying in front of him.
"Before I was captured and forced into this cage people would scream and cower at the sight of me. Never has any human sprawled so comfortably in my presence. It is infuriating."
Akodi just smiled at him before he continued cloud watching. He enjoyed keeping Son company and he knew deep down Son appreciated it even if he was too proud to ever admit it. He closed his eyes and imagined him fighting alongside Son in an epic, lava fuelled battle. He couldn't wait to utilize lava in battle. He decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for awhile now.
"Hey Son? Nashi showed me a book that explained the abilities of the tailed beasts-"
When Akodi said 'beasts' Son let out a deep, frustrated grumble and flashed his sharp teeth at him.
"We are not BEASTS, you insolent worm. Using a word with such a negative connotation attached to it in my presence would have had you turned into ash within the second if I was not in this cage! We who you refer to as 'BEASTS' are powerful chakra constructs. If you need to refer to us as anything, call us bijuu." He growled threateningly at the little boy in front of him.
Akodi sat up and looked Son in the eye earnestly. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't mean to offend you. I won't call you or any of the other's a beast again. I promise." He dipped his head apologetically.
"What I meant to say was that he showed me a book that described the different abilities that were given to the jinchuriki's. It said you had the ability to use Lava Release. It also stated your previous jinchuriki was able to use Lava Release. I was hoping you could explain to me how that worked?"
Son sat down and took a contemplative glance at Akodi. For once, he didn't insult him before answering his question.
"As I said earlier, I am a being made entirely of chakra. I know its properties better than any human could ever hope to. I will indulge your curiosity."
Akodi excitedly sat up straight on the grass and attentively looked up, eyes sparkling with wonder at the chance to learn more.
"I heard what that other creature you call your father said about how to form Lava Release. To hold fire in one hand and earth in the other. This is untrue and only shows how ignorant your race is. My siblings and I were each created with specific properties within our chakra."
"In the early days, the purpose of chakra was to form connections. Connections from person to person. Connections from animals to nature. This was what my Father's intention was before a lesser being decided to weaponize it." He growled heavily and his eyes shone with fury.
Akodi picked up on the key terms such as "created", "father", and "siblings" but he did not want to interrupt him to elaborate. He would ask Son about this in the future. For now, he kept his mouth shut and paid rapt attention.
"Us chakra constructs have the ability to naturally access the full extent of our powers, which is unimaginably more powerful than you could ever fathom. I will enlighten you to the properties of my chakra since it also courses throughout your body."
"Fire and Earth are terms given from humans to explain the natures of chakra. However, this is not entirely true. Chakra is not so black and white. You will learn that very few things in this world are either black or white- either yes or no. We all live in a world of gray and nothing is so simple. My chakra has been described as plasma. This is incorrect as well. In order for your tiny brain to comprehend, I will simplify it.:
"The essence of my chakra is unique as it revolves around heat and pressure. This heat is used to interact with liquids, crystals, and gasses either from within myself or from the surrounding environment. Another way of thinking about it is to pressurize and superheat rock from a solid composition to a liquid composition. This is how Lava is made."
"Altering the heat within the properties of chakra changes the end result. If you reduce the temperature it becomes lava rock. You humans do not have the ability to alter your chakra properties to create this chemical change. The best you could hope to accomplish on your own is fire. If you cool the property down, you get rock, which you ignorantly refer to as 'Earth Style'. As the 4 tailed jinchuriki, you have my chakra properties running through your body and as such, are the only human alive who has the potential to change the properties of chakra enough to create lava."
Akodi listened intently with unblinking eyes and a slack jaw. Son had completely blown him away with a wealth of information. Akodi thought he understood chakra before but it turns out he was "ignorant" as Son would say. He immediately wanted to learn as much as he could and vowed to check out as many books as he could carry from the library. He wanted to understand the 'properties' of chakra more thoroughly and discuss it with Son.
He found something else to be grateful for today, it seemed. He was grateful for such a wonderful and intelligent mentor and friend - even if Son didn't admit to it.
Akodi stood up and respectfully bowed his head low to Son, who only looked curious at the gesture. When he rose he looked Son in the eye. "I humbly thank you for your teachings. I vow to learn more about the properties of chakra than anyone else before me. This way, I may gain a greater understanding of you. I promised, Son Goku, to be a good partner to you. This is the first step towards fulfilling my promise."
Son Goku stared at Akodi for a few seconds longer before releasing a huff and promptly turned around. Akodi snorted a laugh and turned around himself to leave. It was unnecessary as he could leave from any point in his mindscape but felt it was an appropriate gesture. He took a few steps but turned around and glanced at the Monkey King one more time. This time, though, it was with a look of admiration and awe at the newly discovered wisdom of his partner. He smiled to himself before he left the mindscape
…
Akodi opened his eyes and noticed only a few minutes had passed. The sun was still rising and the sky was still alight with orange and yellow hues. He still carried a wide smile across his face from his conversation with Son.
It felt like a new page had turned in their relationship. Son spoke more today with him than it felt like he had in the entirety of the last month. Their conversations typically consisted of Son insulting him and venting about how 'ignorant and hateful' humans were. Son gave Akodi something that was infinitely useful - knowledge. He would make sure to use it to its fullest extent and learn as much as he could about chakra.
He quickly went to the library and found 4 books on the fundamentals of chakra and vowed to read at least one of them tonight after training.
He looked at the clock. It was almost time to report to training ground 21 for training. He checked out the books, thanked the librarian, stuffed the books in his bag and headed off to training ground 21.
He arrived exactly at 8 o'clock and saw he was the last one to arrive. He also noticed there was a small boy standing next to Fugaku.
Katari quietly handed him his thermos full of recovery tea her mom made, having already given Hinashi his when he arrived.
Fugaku cleared his throat to gather their attention, practically oozing impatience.
"When you are done exchanging pleasantries, we actually have work to do today."
The Genin immediately stood at attention with straightened posture and hands at their sides.
"Now that you are all here I would like to introduce you to my son." Fugaku stated proudly and allowed his son to step forward to introduce himself. The black-haird boy with onyx colored eyes took one step forward and pleasantly but respectfully bowed to the three Genin.
"My name is Uchiha Itachi. It is a pleasure to meet you all." He looked at Hinashi and smiled gently at recognizing the Hyuga from their previous encounter a few years prior. He kept the smile on his face as he returned to his position to his father's right side and just a half step behind.
He looked each of them up and down, silently assessing something. "Itachi will be observing our training sessions from here on out. He will listen in on our lectures and will do his own individual training. He has his own program which he will be working on."
When his team nodded silently with no objections - not like he would tolerate any- he continued.
"I will now explain our agenda for the day. Today will be an exercise in teamwork. You three will be fighting me."
The training ground was deafeningly quiet. A light breeze moved the leaves to disrupt the silence.
"WHATTT!?" Akodi squealed. Katari and Hinashi had similar reactions, although they screamed internally instead.
"You three will be teaming up in a simulation to recover an item from your opponent. Your opponent will be me." Fugaku smirked amusedly. "This is the item you must recover." He held up a red ribbon for the Genin to observe before he tied it loosely over his left arm.
"You have 2 hours to collect the ribbon. I suggest you come at me with intent to kill. Anything else will be insufficient. Your time starts.. Now!" He disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Itachi walked to the side of the clearing and stood next to a tree to observe the proceedings.
The three Genin looked sullenly at each other. Katari broke the silence. "Well this is going to suck."
…
Hinashi activated his byakugan and scanned the nearby forest. After a short moment, he located Fugaku crouched high up on a tree. It appeared he was looking directly at him. "He must be allowing me to see him if it was this easy to find him. Of course, the objective was for us to work as a team to obtain the ribbon. He wouldn't be able to assess us if he hid for the entirety of the two hours."
He deactivated his byakugan and let his comrades know the location of their sensei. He spared a glance to the 5 year old watching this encounter. Itachi noticed Hinashi was looking at him and smiled politely to him. "He must want Itachi to get experience witnessing battle before he lets him off to the academy. That means Sensei will let us draw him out into the field so Itachi can watch."
Katari's voice broke his train of thought as she started to map out a plan of attack.
"He's not going to go all out on us, obviously, but this is still going to be difficult." She began. "If he's allowing us to find his location it means he wants to be seen. Beware of traps he may be laying." At this she gave Akodi a hard look.
Akodi grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Hey! It was 1 time! How was I supposed to know -"
Hinashi cut him off. "Now is not the time. Katari, please continue. You are the best strategist on this team. I want to know what your plan is."
Katari blushed at the praise but nodded. "For this to be a success we will need your speed, Akodi, to swipe the ribbon. Neither of us have the speed to do so. We need you at your fastest so go ahead and remove your weights."
At her nod he sat on the grass and removed his ankle, wrist, and body weights. He jumped around a few times and punched the air lightning fast to get used to the change.
Itachi took a step forward to get a closer look and squinted his eyes to see what Akodi had done.
"This open meadow is our best chance of victory." She continued. "Since he brought his son with him to observe, I'm sure he won't be opposed to letting us drive him here. He wants Itachi to watch this fight. I'm sure you both picked up on that as well."
Hinashi nodded and both turned their attention towards Akodi's blank face. "Oh. Umm. Yeah I totally thought that too.. Hehe." He bashfully looked at the ground, embarrassed he hadn't thought that far ahead. His teammates just stared stonily at him, not impressed.
Katari sighed and shook her head. "Alright. We're wasting time. Here's what we're going to do." She motioned for them to gather around and whispered her plan to the male members of the team. After a few moments, they stood up and turned their attention to where they knew Fugaku was waiting for them.
Akodi grinned and clenched and unclenched his fists in excitement. "Alright! Let's do this!"
…
Fugaku positioned himself high up on a tree and channeled a small sliver of his chakra to his eyes. It was nothing like what the Hyuga could do, but it enhanced his vision slightly. He also channeled some chakra to his ears and nose to heighten his senses further. It was an old habit of many years in the field. Even though this was a training exercise and he was fighting his newly formed Genin team, he would not be caught unaware.
He met eyes with the Hyuga member of his team immediately and allowed himself to be seen. "Good. He found my position within 5 seconds. Impressive. Now what will they do?"
He stayed in his crouched position and waited for his team to make the first move. Of course, he wouldn't give more than 25% of his full power but that should still be more than enough to overwhelm the Genin. He wanted to see what they would do against a much stronger opponent. They needed to learn to think quickly on their feet and problem solve in the field without succumbing to fear.
He noticed it was Katari who took a leadership role. The boys naturally allowed her to do so. It was unusual in a military village to let the lone kunoichi in a squad be the leader, but the boys respected her input and she had shown she was an adept tactician more than once. She took command and explained her plan to the boys before they began.
"Alright! Let's do this!"
Fugaku sighed and shook his head. "Very subtle, Akodi." He prepared himself for their first move.
They dispersed and disappeared into the trees and moved quickly to surround him. They all hid behind a tree and waited. Hinashi had his byakugan activated and it appeared he was scanning the area around him.
After a brief moment he had located and disrupted the traps Fugaku had set up earlier this morning while preparing for this spar.
Hinashi signaled his team and Akodi moved to join him. Katari was leaning against a tree and appeared to be concentrating. "She is concentrating on her clan's jutsu." He noted to himself. "It seems their plan was for her to wear me down and steal my chakra from a distance while the other two attempt to get the ribbon. Let's see how they adapt."
Just as Akodi and Hinashi jumped to attack Fugaku from behind, he leaped off the tree he was standing on and threw a kunai at Katari. Katari widened her eyes and used her own kunai to deflect it away. She pushed herself off the tree and jumped to the side to make space between the two of them.
Fugaku closed the space to engage in taijutsu, knowing this was where she was most vulnerable. As he threw his first punch, Katari's scared expression changed into a clever grin and she quickly parried the punch and swept Fugaku's legs from under him- much faster than Katari ever showed she could do before.
Fugaku quickly counterbalanced and landed on his feet in a wide, bent knee stance. Katari rushed him at speed she definitely did not have and engaged him in a series of hard punches and kicks. Hinashi joined in as Fugaku expertly dodged and countered their hits.
He spared a glance to where Akodi was and saw he was leaning against the tree and concentrating similar to how Katari was earlier. He allowed himself to be led into the meadow they were standing in, near the tree Itachi observed from.
Fugaku jumped back to get some distance between the two Genin in front of him.
"Using a transformation jutsu to change appearances. You knew I would want to disrupt Katari's jutsu by going after her so you changed places. Well executed. That was a good plan Katari."
Akodi and Katari transformed back into themselves again. Katari walked out of the woods followed by a clone that looked just like Fugaku.
As she walked closer to join her team she spoke. "We needed to even the odds a bit. I hope you don't mind fighting yourself." She twirled a kunai around her index finger and smirked before she threw it at him. Akodi also threw a kunai at the same time.
Fugaku dodged both as Hinashi appeared in front of where he landed and attempted to close his chakra points. Clone Fugaku shunshinned to where the kunai were thrown and caught both of them with great skill before helping Hinashi engage Fugaku.
Fugaku smiled as he started to take the fight more seriously. He saw what his students were capable of and was pleased with the results. He pulled out 2 kunai and clashed with the clone Fugaku, although quickly had to jump pack to avoid Hinashi's Wind style jutsu.
Akodi ran through a series of hand signs before slamming his palms on the ground.
"Earth Style: Slowing Sludge!" A pool of black sludge erupted underneath the real Fugaku's feet but he quickly replaced himself with a log via substitution jutsu.
He watched his team fall into formation. The Clone Fugaku took the lead with Akodi and Hinashi slightly behind, followed by Katari taking the rear. She was still holding the sign for her Kekkei Genkai, the Reflective Spirit Jutsu, as she continually stole his chakra.
Fugaku was starting to feel a slight drain on his reserves but it wouldn't impede him. It was time he started to use something besides taijutsu in this fight.
He sped through hand signs so fast it only appeared as a blur before bringing a hand up to his mouth.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A ginormous fireball shaped like a dragon roared to life and appeared to be in complete control by Fugaku. He sent the dragon towards the group, albeit at a slowed pace to allow the Genin a chance to react.
Simultaneously, Akodi and Katari released their jutsus.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"
Akodi erected a wall from the Earth that was tall and wide enough to protect the group while Katari released a small wave of water towards the fire dragon. It would not be enough to beat the fire jutsu but it weakened it enough so it did not destroy the mud wall.
Katari sent Clone Fugaku to re-engage with the original while she directed the boys towards the final phase of their plan. They nodded and disappeared.
Hinashi assisted Clone Fugaku in distracting Fugaku. Hinashi dug into his weapons pouch and pulled out an explosive tag and wrapped it around a kunai. He threw it towards the ground in front of Fugaku.
The tag exploded on impact and created a bright flash. Fugaku closed his eyes for a quick second to shield himself from the bright light. Katari simultaneously performed a weak vestibular genjutsu targeted towards only Fugaku that made him feel dizzy. It lasted for only a split second before he disrupted it.
While his eyes were closed, Akodi appeared in a shunshin right next to him and reached out for the ribbon tied around his arm.
Fugaku knew he was there. He sensed Akodi appear and reach out. He could have moved.
He didn't.
Akodi grabbed the ribbon and pulled it free from Fugaku's arm. All 3 Genin's eyes widened at realizing their plan had worked and they had actually recovered the ribbon.
In celebration, Fugaku stabbed Clone Fugaku with his kunai straight through the eyes to dusrupt it. It disappeared in a puff of smoke.
He turned to acknowledge his students and gave them each an approving nod. He gestured for them to follow him to the tree Itachi observed the fight from and motioned for them to sit.
Katari and Akodi grinned wildly in excitement while Hinashi allowed a genuine smile across his face.
Fugaku also allowed a crinkle of a smile to turn up the corners of his mouth.
His team had done well. Much better than he had thought. A sense of pride filled him.
"Congratulations you 3. You demonstrated good teamwork skills and were able to adapt well to a change in your plan. I originally held myself back to high Chunin level. Once you demonstrated this would be too easy I increased the difficulty to Special jonin level. Again, very well done."
They smiled even wider at the feedback. Akodi's face looked like it would balloon up and float away by how ecstatic he was at the praise.
"Your teamwork has grown quickly in the past few weeks. Tomorrow you will begin by taking 2 D rank missions a day each morning. We will break for lunch before returning here by 1 in the afternoon. We will continue to work on teamwork skills as well as improve specific individual skills."
"Katari. You need to develop and improve your taijutsu and Water ninjutsu repetoir. We will continue with that tomorrow. Akodi. You need more work on chakra control and need to improve your taijutsu form. Hinashi. You need to improve your stamina and strength. Now come. Let's go get bar-b-cue for lunch. I think you all deserve a special treat."
The Genin and Itachi started salivating at the sound of BBQ and quickly followed after Fugaku.
Akodi quietly whispered to his team, "I told you he was the best!"
…
Hokage's Office
"Sensei, you wished to see me? What is this about? I have a surgery scheduled in 20 minutes," The blond-haired legendary kunoichi said. It was rare that she was summoned to see the Hokage so she was curious as to what he wanted..
The aging Hokage took one last puff of his pipe before greeting his student with a genuine smile. "Tsunade. Always straight to the point. It is nice to see you as well." He chuckled before he walked to the informal seating area and motioned for her to sit down. Impatiently, she strode over and huffed as she sat down. She leaned back into the chair and crossed her legs
Hiruzen slowly sat down and made himself comfortable before speaking. "I would like to update you with our plans for the war." She furrowed her brow but let him continue. "I sent a messenger to see Jiraiya, Minato, and Kushina on the Northern front. Minato will take over as the leader on the border of Iwa while we send Jiraiya on a diplomatic mission. He will travel to Kumo with an offer to form an alliance."
Tsunade raised her brow. It was shocking that Konoha would offer an alliance to Kumo. It would be more shocking if they even accepted. Besides herself and Orochimaru, Jiraiya would be the only other person who could walk into a shinobi village and remain untouched during a time of war. Not even the 4th Raikage would be foolish enough to attempt to assassinate the perverted Sannin.
"I'm curious as to why I'm hearing this?" She asked, eager to hurry back to the hospital. She impatiently tapped her finger on the chair. The large dose of caffeine she'd just ingested was making itself known. She was irritable.
Hiruzen sighed and leaned forward in his chair. "I'm telling you this because your services will be needed again. Suna's poison's are killing our shinobi at an unprecedented rate. As you've seen, they're unable to make it back to the village before succumbing to the poison. I don't have anybody else who can neutralize these poisons." She scowled at the news. She didn't like leaving the hospital and absolutely did not want to go back to the horrible front of the Suna war.
Before she could retort, Hiruzen continued. "As you are aware, Orochimaru and his team have been stationed there. Orochimaru has taken command. You would be able to spend time with your younger brother, Nawaki. I will also be giving you command of the front. I have a special task for Orochimaru."
Tsunade questioned the glint in his eye. Now she was curious. "What would you have him do? If it's another diplomatic mission you can just forget about it. He's not really the diplomatic type."
Hiruzen chuckled heartily before a knowing smirk appeared on his face. "I am well aware of his tendencies, Tsunade. Orochimaru has become complacent. He's bored with sitting idly around. Suna and Iwa are forming an alliance. Do you see where I am going with this?"
"You're sending Orochimaru into Suna?" She asked disbelievingly. "Alone?"
"I hardly think he will need back up." He leaned back in his chair and appeared proud of his star pupil. "Besides, anyone else I send with him would get caught up in friendly fire. His mission is tol cripple Suna to the point they will be unable to render any sort of aid to Iwa, by any means necessary."
Tsunade leaned back in her chair and re-crossed her legs. She contemplated all of this new information. She spared a glance at her sensei, known as the God of Shinobi. While he may appear an elderly man, he is still the war hardened militaristic leader that led Konoha to victory in its past wars. Although one question remained on her mind.
"Why send Jiraiya to Kumo then?"
"I want them occupied. It is a slim chance they will accept our offer. However, it opens the door for negotiations in the future. The 4th Raikage, A, is still young and prideful. He will also push to finish this war soon. I would rather him turn his attention elsewhere for now. If we can delay them from attacking us during negotiations it will buy us time to complete this operation. I will ask you to leave the day after tomorrow. This should give you time to get the hospital's affairs in order and prepare. Your stay will be indefinite until this war is completed, pending future instructions."
Tsunade just stood up and left as her scowl deepened. She didn't like being told what to do and being ordered to take over command for her sensei's war was definitely not something she was excited about. She slammed the door on her way out and Hiruzen heard her yelling at some poor Chunin messenger outside the door.
He sighed deeply and refilled his pipe before taking a long drag and shutting his eyes. It was always such a pleasure speaking with Tsunade.
"She would make a great Hokage someday, if she wanted it."