AN: Chapter title: The Search Concludes Part 3

"Naruto!" The shout was accompanied by Jiraiya landing in front of the blonde. "Call off your army before you make this any worse than it already is."

"I'm afraid I can't do that Toad Sage. My Legion is moments from finding our target." Naruto's red eyes met Jiraiya's gaze, a hand on his sword. After weeks of agreeing with him, weeks of following him with little protest, it seemed the Chunin was done with listening. His clones mirrored the blonde, each laying a hand on their sword. "It would be a waste to stop now when we're so close."

"You're searching for her with all the grace of a mad dog." Jiraiya didn't release Killing Intent, didn't take a threatening step forward. He simply spoke with authority. "Your clones stampeding through Tanzaku Quarters is only going to have Tsunade running off before we can get to her and we'll be out here even longer when I have to track her down. Again."

"…You speak boldly Toad Sage." The blonde's red eyes burned with challenge but he didn't act on it. He turned to the clone walking next to him. "Primus Pilus, order a halt." His eyes cut back to Jiraiya. "One hour. If the Toad Sage can't find her by then…" His lips were spread by a fanged grin. "We'll indulge ourselves."

"As you command Caesar." The clone brought a fist to his chest as he bowed his head before stepping away. One hand reached up to his earpiece, no doubt to issue the order.

Naruto seemed content to wait in the middle of the street for the hour.

Jiraiya glanced behind him, at the chaos Naruto had left in his wake in the less than two hours he had let him have, and he wished he had kept a tighter leash on the boy.

This was going to be a mess once the Daimyo heard about it. Tanzaku Quarters terrorized by a Hidden Leaf Shinobi? By the Jinchuriki? It was going to be just another headache for the Hokage.

'Sensei's not going to like this.' He would need to send a message ahead, give him some warning.

"Just follow me." His present problem was Naruto, keeping him from doing something like this again.

He just needed to find Tsunade and get out of Tanzaku as soon as possible. It was the best move he could make now.

He took to the rooftops. Shizune was at his side, questions in her eyes but she kept them to herself. Naruto and Fu followed a few moments later, lagging behind not out of a lack of speed but out of intention. It seemed that Naruto's army being back was definitely bringing out his worst qualities.

'He nearly causes a riot and I'm the one in the wrong?' He could feel the glare on his back, didn't acknowledge it in any way. It wasn't worth it. Not now. The main concern was finding Tsunade. 'This kid…' He almost wanted to knock some sense into him but restrained himself.

"Shizune." Naruto wouldn't overhear the two of them. "What exactly am I walking us into?"

"…A bad situation. Tsunade has been excessive before but never to this extent. She's avoided being sober since we've arrived. She's also been on a winning streak." The dark-haired woman told him what she knew, what she could say. He didn't need to glance at her to know she was uneasy, that she still wasn't comfortable with speaking about her master in such a way.

"Let's hope I have some luck of my own then." Jiraiya had prepared for her to run from him, to fight him, and even to try and trick him on the way back. But he hadn't prepared for her to be as broken as Shizune seemed to be saying and from what he could guess.

Shizune said nothing, didn't wish him luck or decry him for relying on it.

She seemed committed to keeping her opinion to herself now, set to avoid giving anymore away.

'Or is she getting ready for this mess?' He figured she had experience with this. Shizune must've seen Tsunade close to this before, could guess how she would act. He wished he could ask her but she was already withdrawing, was hesitant to say anything now. 'I'm going to need to have some good luck today.'

Too soon, they were in front of the bar. The bar Shizune swore Tsunade would be inside of.

He put his limited sensing skills to work and confirmed exactly that.

Tsunade was inside the bar. Alone. There didn't even seem to be anyone in the building. Shizune spotted the question in his eyes.

"She's been…volatile before. I reimburse the owner for any damages and his losses for closing." Jiraiya grimaced at her words before his eyes turned back to the door in front of him.

'At least I don't have to worry about collateral.' If a fight did break out, he had more options if he didn't have to worry about catching civilians in it. He wished it wouldn't come to that but dread was building in his gut. Something told him that today was going to end badly. 'Let's hope I can still take one of her punches.'

He stepped through the door.

Empty tables.

An empty bar.

Dim lights hung from the ceiling.

The only occupant was the blonde woman laying on a table, a bottle dangling from where her hand hung over the side of the table. Even after all these years he recognized her, knew her at a glance.

His teammate. His friend. The girl he had had a crush on so many years ago it seemed like a lifetime.

The woman who had saved his life more times than he could count, who had stood by him when the battlefield around them had turned to little more than Hell itself.

"Tsunade."

The woman alone in the corner booth didn't say a word. Her eyes weren't even on him but she knew he was here.

She dragged her head up as if a heavy weight was locked around her neck, dragged the bottle back onto the table. Her eyes were red when they met his. The sunlight streaming in behind him didn't make her squint, didn't burn her eyes. She evenly met his stare before bringing the bottle to her lips.

She tipped her head back as she pulled it away, stared down the neck.

Not a drop was left for her this morning.

She let it fall from her hand, discarded like all the others around her.

"Jiraiya…what do you want?"

"Sensei wanted me to find you, to bring you back to the village." His steps carried him across the floor but not to her. He stopped at the bar and picked up two glasses and a bottle. The last time they had met, they had shared a drink at his expense.

"He's on high alert after the invasion? I'm not surprised. He wants us back because of Orochimaru."

"I guessed that."

He avoided the half dozen bottles on the ground and settled into the booth across from her. This close, he could smell the culmination of so many days of drinking. Tsunade didn't seem to care that she smelled like a brewery. Maybe she couldn't even notice the difference after so many days.

"But he wants you back for more than that too. He's given you more leeway than anyone else would have. It's well past the time you came back."

"…It doesn't matter." Her eyes weren't on him. They were in the past, in memories decades old. "It never does."

"That's not for us to decide. We're Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village and we swore to obey the orders of the Hokage."

"Like it's ever done us any good." She leaned back in her booth, stretched her arms out and over it. Her head nearly fell forward before she let it fall back against the wood behind her. "…What happens when I say no?"

"I'm not supposed to accept no." Jiraiya leaned back on his side of the table, opened the bottle. It was short work to pour two glasses and slide one over to Tsunade. She used a finger to stop it. Her eyes were red but they were sharp, were focused despite all her drinking.

Despite her despair.

He couldn't recognize the look in her eyes.

"If it comes down to it, I'm supposed to bring you back by any means necessary. But I don't want to do that. It'll end poorly for both of us even if it ends up going my way. It's not an option I like. But I'll do it if I need to, if you really think you can ignore an order from the Hokage."

"The Hokage…How much more of his life is that old man going to waste wearing that hat?" Her hand wrapped around the glass and tipped it back, downed it in one go. She let it drop back to the tabletop. Her eyes were focused, intense. "You just going to let him die in it or something?"

She was riling him up. She was saying it intentionally.

Knowing that didn't stop his hand from tightening on the glass, from the cracks splitting through it.

"I'm not here to talk about sensei." He shouldn't let her get to him. He forced his hand to relax, to release the cracked glass. "You know how this is going to end Tsunade. You're coming back with me. You and Shizune."

"No we're not." Tsunade reached across the table for the bottle. She wasn't even looking at him anymore, was only focused on it now. He kept a firm hold on it just to stop her from getting her way.

"I don't want to fight about this." Jiraiya was repeating himself. He had to, as much for himself as it was for Tsunade. "I want you to come back willing. I want you to be back home."

Tsunade let her fingers slip away from the bottle. She took his glass instead.

"I won't go back there." She downed the drink and let the empty glass drop to the table. "I can't come back to the village. Not now."

"Because you've been winning. Because you think you're some blight on everyone."

He had hit a nerve.

He didn't even know if he had done it intentionally or by accident.

Her eyes sharpened with anger, her face twisted from disinterest to anger.

'This is going to be a mess.'

Shizune found herself eyeing the Jinchuriki responsible for the clones, the user of the Kinjutsu Jiraiya had told her about.

'He's Minato's son.'

Before the Third Shinobi World War had consumed the world, before leaving with her master, she had met the man who would become the Hidden Leaf's Fourth Hokage. Jiraiya had been so proud of his student, eager to show him off to his teammates.

The man had been interesting to talk to. Such a sharp mind, so creative but calculating.

Not even Orochimaru had been able to deny the talent of the future Yellow Flash.

"You need to catch up Orochimaru! Tsunade and I both have students now. You've got to pass something on to the next generation."

'Yakushi was already working for him by then.' The apprentices of the legendary Sannin. An exclusive club with little to show for it. One dead, one a madman, and one herself. Most would've considered greatness inevitable for the three of them but only one had accomplished anything remarkable and it had been fleeting.

The Fourth Hokage had held his office for the shortest out of all of them.

He had carried more potential than any of them but he had been killed the night the Kyubi had been unleashed on the village. When his wife had lost control of the Tailed Beast. Kushina Uzumaki had lost control of the beast she had carried most of her life.

It didn't make sense.

It was something she tried not to think about.

She had known them both even if only from a distance with Kushina. Jiraiya had spoken of the two enough, how excited he was for them, and they had both died that night.

Tsunade may had said nothing herself but she had been quiet when the news had reached them. Introspective. Whatever conclusion her master had reached, she had never shared it with her. But she had drank almost as heavily for the next few days as she did now.

She had buried whatever it was as deep in her thoughts as she could, drowned it in alcohol.

'What would she think of his son?' Tsunade would need a single glance to know who Naruto Uzumaki's parents were. She had almost believed in Minato Namikaze as much as Jiraiya, saw him as the future of the Hidden Leaf just as much. His death might've been the final push for her despair.

If he couldn't live, if he couldn't change the world, who could?

She focused on the present and the blonde in front of her.

He was more focused on the green-haired girl next to him.

'The Hidden Waterfall…when did the village make that alliance?' It was a bold move from the smaller Hidden Village, would put them in the crosshairs of the other four by allying with the Hidden Leaf. 'After the invasion?' It would make sense. But how had the Hokage managed to convince such a cautious village to agree to an alliance like that.

Blue eyes noticed her staring.

"You must be this Shizune I've heard about. The Toad Sage did say that she traveled with a younger companion." Naruto Uzumaki seemed set to finally speak to her, turn away from the Kunoichi he had been speaking with at last. "We've traveled quite far to bring your teacher back with us."

"Jiraiya told me." Her response was rather tense. She was on guard with reason. She had seen the blonde's face on hundreds of different bodies spread across the entire city.

The amount of power he had to create hundreds of clones and still seem completely fine...Even if the technique was different from the Shadow Clone Technique, used a medium in some way to produce the clones, the amount of Chakra to create stable clones at these numbers was astronomical. It was terrifying to think how much power he must have to pull it off.

Shinobi that could hold the title of Kage would struggle with what he was managing to do with ease right now. She couldn't see the slightest sign of stress on his face, the slightest sign of Chakra Exhaustion. She could find none of the signs that showed his body was taxed, that his reserves were running closer and closer to empty. He had too much power for something like this to stop him, to exhaust him in the slightest. Despite his age, she couldn't help but feel more than a little intimidated at the sight of the blonde.

It was, to her, natural to be afraid of a monster.

"Ah, he must have spoken with you before his pursuit of the flesh sent him on another one of his wild chases." Naruto frowned as he spoke. He may not have even noticed himself but his eyes flashed red, his pupils changing to become those of a fox before reverting once more. "I will need to speak with him. He is beginning to embarrass me with his antics. A teacher can reflect just as poorly on the student when he acts without restraint."

"Jiraiya is a great Shinobi even with his habits." Shizune wasn't blind to the disdain the blonde spoke with. She was sure most would be surprised that Jiraiya had taken on another student after the Fourth. Being his son no doubt helped convince Jiriaya to take him on.

The boy may be more like his father than she thought. Even if he behaved nothing like the man.

"He is a capable teacher if nothing else. His strength has at least not disappointed me so far." Naruto couldn't help the grin that came across his face. "I will no doubt eclipse his strength soon but for now he remains worthy of teaching a Caesar."

'Caesar.' Shizune couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the term. She had heard it before. In all the lands she had been to, in all the towns she had traveled to, she had come upon it exactly once.

"The libraries here used to be the greatest in the world." Her master stood amongst ruins of shelves and stone, her eyes distant. "I dreamed about coming here when I was a little girl." A bitter smile crossed her face. "All those stories from my grandparents. Hashirama swore the Uzumaki Clan had all the knowledge in the world. Mito always laughed when he said that, would tell him they only had a little bit."

Everything was a ruin around them.

Shelves long rotted away. The building itself had been burned in parts, collapsed in others. Part of it was submerged, swallowed by the river that had cut through the village.

"Kushina wasn't lying about this place. No wonder she never wanted to visit again."

During the weeks they had spent in those ruins, Tsunade had shared stories during the night. Of the long lives of the Uzumaki Clan, the stories Mito had shared with her of the clan's founding. Of monsters and demons they had battled in the past. Of the ancient seals that would keep them bound for centuries to come. Of demonic trees that would consume the world. Of horned creatures that could save the world and destroy it. Odd stories.

But the name Caesar was familiar. It didn't appear in what was above ground. Always below. Deep below the ruins of the village. In tunnels Tsunade had told her were almost millennia old. Tunnels that were half collapsed, at times leading to chambers taller than she could ever believe and other times so narrow that she could hardly squeeze through them. Her master had called them part underground city and part underground labyrinth. Tsunade had called them the work of Caesars but hadn't said anything else.

She had been too busy clearing rubble, consulting the maps she had sketched, the list in her journal, to answer her questions.

Whatever she had been searching for, whatever she had been after that had dragged them to those ruins, she had found it underground in one of those places. Deep enough that Shizune had been terrified of the tunnel collapsing on them, on the ancient stone giving way despite Tsunade's reassurances.

'Where did he hear that name?' It couldn't be chance.

There had to be a reason. There had to be a source.

"D-Do we have to be here?" An awful chill had blown in, brought a freezing rain. She shivered despite the fire. "I'm s-sure the archives in the village have what we're l-looking for."

"Not a chance." Her master had an awful intensity to her. The cold didn't bother her and neither did the rain. Even after a near week of all of this searching she didn't seem dejected by not finding what she was after. "We need to be here. It has to be here. She wouldn't lie to me."

'Where could it be in the Hidden Leaf?'

"Yes. Caesar." Naruto's grin widened when he saw her face, mistook the look there for confusion. It was always enjoyable to educate the ignorant of his title, of his right. "We haven't been properly introduced. I am Naruto Uzumaki, Caesar of both my magnificent Orange Legion and my glorious Uzumaki Empire."

He didn't add up.

"And this is Fu." He smiled at the Kunoichi next to him. "She is only the latest to see the glory I will obtain, will bear the seal of my Legion soon enough."

"You shouldn't tell everyone that you know." Fu didn't seem to mind. There was an eagerness to her face, a spark in her eyes as she spoke. "I may want to keep it hidden until it's official."

His smile was paired with a laugh, some private joke between the two of them.

Shizune turned her eyes back to the bar. She wished she knew what the conversation inside was like.

If Tsunade was as bad as she thought she was, if she had been driven so far to the bottom of a bottle…

Could Jiraiya even reach her?

Tsunade hadn't raised her voice. She hadn't ripped the table in half.

Her voice was quiet.

Dangerously quiet.

"Get out, go back to sensei, tell him you failed. You couldn't find me and you don't know where to look. The next time we meet, you won't like what I do to you."

"That's not an option. It's either come back with me now willingly or I have to go back to the village, assemble a team, and we come and find you. Sensei gave me this chance to find you, bring you back. If you refuse, things are going to get messy."

Her glare didn't let up. Her fury didn't calm. She wasn't going to compromise.

"Don't make him do it Tsunade. He's held off for all this time because of who you are. If you're labeled a Missing-nin, if he has to put a bounty on you, it'll hurt more than just you."

Shizune first and foremost.

Tsunade knew it.

He hoped this was all bluster, that she would see reason.

"Do you think you can make me go back to that place after all this time?" He wished it didn't come to blows but Tsunade's patience was nonexistent. His was being tested.

He shouldn't be here.

Hiruzen should've sent an ANBU Black Ops unit to bring her back.

He should've sent Kakashi and Gai.

Not him.

"Tsunade, think about this. If you say no now, I can't promise you anything. I can't help you."

Her fury was submerged for mockery. "And what can you help me with? What? Do I need to disappoint someone else, let someone else die." She should stop. She wasn't drunk enough for this. To hurt him. "Or was killing Minato not enough for you?"

She knew she had gone too far even as the words left her mouth.

Jiraiya's face blanked.

A part of him was furious. How dare she. Minato had taken on a burden like no other, had gone through so much for a man so young, and given his life for the Hidden Leaf Village. He had even given up his dream of being a father to protect the village as the Hokage.

A part of him was hurt. She knew exactly what to say to hurt him the most. She knew how much he had agonized over not being there, how long he had believed it had been his fault for not teaching Minato enough, for not training him enough. She knew all of that.

But most of him was numb. He had to be. He had carried the weight of Minato's death for over a decade. He would carry it for the rest of his life. His death and so many others.

He couldn't overreact.

He couldn't.

He couldn't.

He couldn't.

He rose from his seat.

Tsunade's eyes were wide and alert. The alcohol wouldn't slow her down, wouldn't stop her.

"I can't stand seeing you like this. I can't stand seeing you destroy yourself more and more every time we meet. I could ignore it though. I could let you do it to yourself because you're a grown woman. You have the right to make that choice, to decide to run from every time life gets hard. I've done it before. I know what it feels like. But you can't drag others down with you when you decide to run, decide to hide. Shizune doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve someone like you ruining her."

He could hurt her too.

From the way her hand curled into a fist on the table, it had worked.

"You don't know a damn thing."

"I know enough. You can't control yourself and you're killing her. How many times did you do it? How many times did you hurt her?"

She stopped controlling herself.

He took the first blow and was powered out the front of the bar.

AN: 3/3 chapters for this update. 1-3 months for the next update.

Review/PM if you want.

Peace.