CHAPTER 05

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Time: 37 days post the birth of Naruto

Office of the Hokage

"I hate you, sensei."

Tsunade grumbled at her sensei's amused stare, hand idly signing off on several requisition forms for extra supplies for the relief camps.

"Is such hatred even warranted, Tsunade-chan?"

Tsunade hissed. "I wanted to take care of one kid. Not a village full of them."

"But, Tsunade-chan," Hiruzen sounded like a naïve genin, a tone that grated on her nerves, "you did promise to take up anything for Naruto's sake."

Tsunade cursed her big mouth. Yes, she was sent back in time to protect her family, fix major and minor problems and build a world where her loved ones would be happy.

But she could have done it without getting roped into the biggest bureaucratic role in the village. Honestly, her sensei needed to understand that the Hokage position was the strongest cage one volunteered to stay in.

Any other position would have given a freer hand in accomplishing her goals.

Tsunade sighed. This was the hand she got dealt and would work with it but she was going to be miserable, then she was definitely going to spread it around. Misery loves company after all.

"All of you are going to regret putting me in this seat." Tsunade promised with the appropriate level of vehemence.

Her sensei did not even have the grace to look chagrined. "I'm sure they well."

Hiruzen stood and placed a scroll onto the desk. "This contains all the information you need to take over from your predecessor. If there are no other pressing matters, I will take my leave, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade grumbled at the title. "No, sensei. And stop calling me that." She looked at the desk when she could not stare at the pride in his smile.

"I'm proud of you, Tsunade-chan. I don't think I said it enough. You were never a disgrace to the family or clan and you will prove yourself wrong one day."

Tsunade waited until her sensei had left the office before looking up. "I don't think I am, sensei. I know I'm a failure." Old memories threatened to rise up but she hammered them back into the recesses of her mind.

"No time for pity parties, Tsunade." She grabbed the scroll and opened it for a quick perusal. After noting several points that needed to be taken care of as soon as the village's manpower was not tied up in relief and counter-intel, she rolled it up and stored it in one of the many beads in her bracelet.

Before she moved onto the next papework, Tsunade sensed a familiar presence approaching her office door. "Just come in, Shizune."

She felt the surprise from her daughter before Shizune let herself in.

"How do you do that, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade smiled. "A nifty trick I was taught a long time ago." By Naruto, no less. Granted, she did not possess his affinity for the ability, but she had managed to develop a variant to suit her needs.

Shizune nodded, recognizing when Tsunade was referring to the future-that-would-never-happen-again. "I have the report you asked for, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade relaxed into her seat, engaging the privacy barriers to prevent eavesdropping. "Give me the rundown."

Shizune opened her report. "Relief efforts are going well. Our emergency supplies will last another three weeks but since we will be receiving reinforcement and supplies from the Daimyo in another week, we should be good on this front."

"The hospitals did grumble about adding new procedures in the middle of a disaster relief operation, but they agreed to implement them on a trial basis, pending their success."

Tsunade hummed. She might have to make an example or two with the medics to quiet them down. "Let them know if they deviate from the procedures laid out, I'll be paying them a personal visit."

Her daughter visible suppressed her flinch. "They might object to… the heavy-"

"They can either learn to do things the right way or pack up." Tsunade decided to end this argument right then and there. "I'm not in a forgiving mood."

Shizune sighed. "Very well. The Barrier Team is complaining about the changes you want implemented in the Detection Barrier around the village. Their argument is that the entire barrier will have to be taken down for a full month to put them all into place."

Tsunade wondered if people were always this obtuse. "Considering the barrier will take two weeks to be fully repaired from Ku-Kyuubi's attack, they might as well do it now. Plus, we know infiltrators will be trying to get in and have already put mitigating measures in place."

"You don't need to be a genius to understand that. Detection is not a concern right now. ANBU, Jounin and Orochimariu and Jiraiya are running down any hostiles in the area. Let them know that and also tell them to come up with sensible complaints next time."

Shizune did not hold back her wince at the vitriol. "Tsunade-sama, I understand that you're-" She stopped and stared around the room.

Tsunade waved a hand. "You and I are the only people here. The ANBU have better work than guarding an old lady."

Her daughter looked startled. "Tsunade-sama, I understand you're from a different time, but you need the security. What happens to your goals if-"

"Shizune." Tsunade spoke firmly. "If it can hurt me, then my bodyguards won't even be able to buy seconds with their lives." After all the years of fighting against the Juubi and the monsters it spawned, any threat shinobi posed did not even rate a mention.

Shizune looked like she wanted to refute the point but also knew Tsunade had shown abilities – regenerating limbs, curing incurable poisons, capturing and storing the corrosive chakra of Kurama – that made it hard to disprove her confidence.

"Just… please be careful."

Tsunade felt touched by her daughter's earnest request. "I'm more careful than I've ever been." She could not afford to take stupid risks. Far too much was riding on her shoulders.

Shizune went back to her report. "The Elders agreed to meet you in two days."

Tsunade wanted to punch something but settled for pinching her nose. "They do remember I'm their Kage, right?"

"I did stress the urgency, Tsunade-sama, but they stated that several critical operations were in their final phases and they had to be personally involved to finish it."

Tsunade decided their delay was alright. Homura, Koharu and that prick Danzo could stay alive for another two days. She had enough work on her hands as is. "Next?"

"Hyuuga Hiashi-san requested a meeting to address your… assault… of his clansman."

"The fool who tried to interrupt a medical procedure? That's who Hiashi wants to defend?"

Shizune winced. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Fine. If he wants to dig his own grave, schedule a meeting for next week."

Shizune shook her head and closed the report.

"Is that everything, Shizune?"

"Just one more thing, Tsunade-sama." Shizune's tone sounded reproachful. "Naruto."

Tsunade sat up straight, chakra primed and ready to leap at her command. "Did something happen?"

"Yes. His new mother hasn't met him for a week after signing the adoption papers. Could you let her know?"

Tsunade slumped. "Shizune-"

"You told me you wanted to be in his life, Tsunade. Half the reason you pulled off the impossible was because of him. You told me that."

Tsunade swallowed her anxiety. "I selected the best person to take care of Naruto"

Shizune nodded without fanfare. "And I'm honored that you trust him with me, Tsunade-sama. But you are his mother."

Tsunade jolted when the words left her daughter's lips.

"I understand the village is in dire straits. That the work is overwhelming, and the people need a leader, but you can't neglect Na-"

"I'm not neglecting him! I'd never do that! NEVER!" Tsunade would die before she ever let Naruto feel that way again.

Shizune looked surprised, a surprise that quickly turned pensive. "Then why? If you love him so much, then why-"

"Because he died, Shizune." Tsunade tried to speak firmly but the words left her in a quiet whisper. She stared down at her hands, hands that had held her dying son. "He died in my arms, you know. The Juubi had attacked our camp. We faced an attack every other month, but it was different this time."

Tsunade tried to swallow her grief. "It came with a new breed of monsters. Made things difficult. A lot of us realized that a third of our group would have to be sacrificed to let the others escape."

She remembered the look on Naruto's face when they told him about the plan. "Naruto… He wouldn't hear of it. Told us that we had to save everybody we could. I tried to make him understand when- when he got this look in his eyes. And I knew right then and there that he was going to do the impossible again."

Tsunade did not care about the tears falling on her lap. "He did it, you know. He pushed himself to beyond all limits and saved us all. But it cost him too much."

Tsunade clasped her hands to lessen the trembling. "Here my son was, bleeding and broken and dying. And all the world's greatest medic could do was hold him tightly, praying to the Kami to save her son."

Tsunade felt the arms of her daughter hug her from behind. "I can't- I can't look at him, Shizune. I failed- I couldn't- I w-" She took a shuddering breath. "I'm a mother who failed her son, Shizune. I even broke the promise he asked of him."

"Remember how excited you were to meet Naruto when you came back to the village?" Shizune asked.

Tsunade did not whether she wanted to laugh or keep crying. "And I was, until reality hit me in the face. He's my son, Shizune. And I-"

"Defied the laws of the world to do the impossible to save him." Shizune spoke matter-of-factly. "But a mother does right by her children, no matter what she feels."

Tsunade was shocked at hearing those words from Shizune. Those were words she had heard from her own mother.

"I understand you want to hide again. But you're here because you don't want to be that person who runs away."

"And I know Naruto will not find a better mother than you." Her daughter hugged her even tighter. "I believe that one hundred percent."

Even as the tears fell, Tsunade smiled at the utter confidence in her daughter and wondered, for the nth time, what had she done to deserve her stupid, foolish, wonderfully brave family.

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A/N: Sorry about the delayed chapter. Work got too hectic and I was wondering where to take the story. I'm back and hoping to post 1-2 chapters every week. To everyone who read, followed and reviewed the story, thank you for sticking with me.