21

The streets were a as lively as they were in the day, but it was noticeable to Naruto that people were starting to slowly go back to their homes and resting places, for those who were out of town. It was strange how sometimes, Naruto didn't have much to think about rather than the present. But a topic weighed quite heavily on his mind- him becoming the clan head to both of his clans, now that he was a jonin. His political responsibilities had significantly increased, not to mention that he was now the last of both clans. One good thing about this though, was that he would now be allowed to live in his parents' house.

Before he could dwell on it further, a mental call from his tenant snapped his attention. 'Naruto, I need to talk to you.'

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Kurama was sounding unusually serious this time. 'Right now?'

' Yes, right now.'

Wow, not only was he unusually serious, but a little impatient and irritated as well. But for what reason? As far as he could recall, he had done nothing to aggravate Kurama. He would have asked the bijuu to continue their conversation like it was going now, but something in Kurama's tone told him that this conversation required some face to face talk.

' Alright, then.' In a blink, he was pulled into his mindscape, arriving at the valley on the edge of the great lake that represented his massive chakra reserves. Kurama was sitting right in front of him, on his hands and gazing right at him, hot air rushing past him whenever he exhaled. "What's up, Kurama?"

" I am good, if only a little bored. Even with having access to your eyes, events of the world tends to get a bit boring every now and then," Kurama smirked at the end.

Naruto smirked in return, "The world has heard your complaint, and it has been dutifully ignored. Now, what's the matter?"

Kurama's smirk disappeared as the atmosphere turned serious. "I wanted to talk to you about your fight earlier."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "You mean, with Itachi and Kisame?"

Kurama nodded. "That one. Those men are extremely dangerous, Naruto. Even at your level, you would struggle against just one of them."

Naruto took a deep breath as he considered Kurama's words. He was not wrong exactly; Itachi and Kisame were in a league all of their own. They were part of an organization that was after the bijuu sealed in the jinchuriki, so it went without saying that he would have to face them at some point down the line. "What's your point?"

" My point is that some extra training should be undertaken. More specifically, I personally think that it's time you started to learn how use the greatest resource at your disposal," Kurama offered.

Naruto didn't need to be a genius to know just what his friend was hinting at. "You want me to start learning how to use your chakra?"

" Yes."

Naruto had some lingering doubt. "Do you believe that I'm ready for this, though? After all, your power is no joke at all."

Kurama grinned, exposing the sharp row of teeth he had. "You've been ready for using it for quite some time. Don't tell me that you're chickening out?"

Naruto snorted, "Your jokes have no sense of humor. So how will we do it?"

Kurama looked Naruto dead in the eyes, "I will begin training you in the use of my chakra. I have an inkling that because you have an impressive grasp on your emotions, you will be quick to master the more difficult part of it. But remember this, Naruto, that when the time comes, I want you to be able to fully use my chakra without relying on me as a buffer."

Naruto looked at Kurama, his face not betraying a single emotion. Such a thing did not faze Kurama at all, so he waited, knowing that his patience would be rewarded. Naruto always thought things as serious as theses quite thoroughly, weighing every pro and con, to him and to others, in the present and in the future.

" If it means that I can be strong enough to protect those who I care about, I'll do it."

The resolve was as strong as Kurama was used to. Unbreakable and unshakable, pure ass-kicking resolve. He grinned, "Glad that you were not so hardheaded about this. But don't think that mastering a tail will be easy, even for you. One tail of mine does not equate to one tail of the Ichibi, you hear? It's a totally different scale."

Naruto chuckled, "I never expected something of this scale to be this easy, Kurama. And where would be the fun in life if things were always easy?"

He got up from his spot beside Kurama, "I'll see you later, Kurama."

With that, he exited his mindscape and found himself looking back at the lighted streets of Tanzaku town. He looked around, spotted the board of a shop and concluded that not even a full minute had passed since his talk with Kurama. In fact, he doubted even five seconds had passed. He inwardly grinned; the human mind was a strange place sometimes, an entirely different world where everything went his way.

"Hey, ero-sennin," he nudged the man walking beside him. He had spread out his senses, and had located the large chakra source they were towards. It was slightly larger than that of Jiraiya's, and that was saying something since the sage had massive reserves of chakra. Another source of chakra was right next to it, an average source of chakra.

"Huh?" Jiraiya looked over to his student. "What?"

"I need to use a bathroom. You keep going, I'll join you." With that Naruto turned right and walked towards a restaurant, not even waiting to hear Jiraiya's reply. The toad sage in question had a twitching eyebrow as he watched the blonde leisurely move away.

To admit, bringing Naruto was a part of his plans to convince Tsunade to return to Konoha. Not due to the fact that they were distantly related, but also for another reason. The same reason that made him feel like a dick every time he thought about it. He sighed, and continued on his way. Naruto was a sensory type, and as such, would have no problem in locating where he was. Plus he also had Naruto's Hiraishin marking on his person. Naruto always knew where he was.

With these thoughts he reached the bar in which Tsunade was in. He smiled nostalgically, 'I wonder how drunk she is right now. It has been awhile since she went inside.'

He was about to enter it when-

"I do hope you don't plan on flirting with her all the time."

He almost jumped, and he certainly did not yelp at the sudden voice next to him because he was a goddamn S-rank shinobi! He turned to glare at Naruto, who was not smirking at all, but his eyes held a playful glint in them. The same glint he always saw in Kushina's eyes that always meant that Minato was going to get his ass pranked.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Naruto smoothly replied as he entered the bar. To be honest, he really wasn't intending to scare the man. But then again, the man should have been accustomed to this from his father. He was sure the man had done this several times as well, unless he was a buzzkill. Jiraiya followed him, muttering something unintelligibly.

His eyes roamed over the entire bar, taking in everything. The couple three tables to their right, the disguised nobleman at the bar, the thief sitting right beside the nobleman, unaware of the disguise and finally, his eyes came to rest upon what, or rather, who they were after.

She wasn't exactly inconspicuous, not with that large chakra signature. With her sat a woman with shoulder length dark hair in a modest blue kimono and ninja sandals, holding onto a little pig with a necklace of pearls around his neck. She seemed to be somewhat concerned at how much sake Tsunade seemed to gulping down.

"TSUNADE!" Jiraiya yelled, as if he was actually shocked on seeing her there.

Tsunade's head jerked up, and Naruto could tell by the blush on her cheeks that she was well on her way to being wasted. "JIRAIYA?!"

Her shock was more genuine.

Naruto could tell that she was truly surprised to see her former teammate over here. Her gaze then shifted onto him, and Naruto saw, if only for a fleeting moment, the shock that appeared in her eyes before being carefully concealed. So she knows who I am, he mused. Jiraiya sauntered over to her and without even asking for her permission, he sat down.

Naruto followed suit and sat down beside Jiraiya, directly facing the dark haired woman. "Order up kid, I bet you're hungry," Jiraiya told him, and with a nod, he picked up the menu to look through it, completely ignoring the nervous gaze of the woman for the moment.

"It has been a long time, hasn't it Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked, friendly and openly. Naruto ordered, and the food was brought quickly. As he ate his salmon, he greeted the other woman.

"Good evening."

"Good evening as well. I am Shizune, you are?" Shizune introduced herself with a soft smile.

Naruto smiled back, "Uzumaki Naruto, and perhaps you should wear that senbon launcher on the underside of your forearm to better conceal it. Anyone with good eyes could spot the small bumps made by the launchers on your sleeve."

Shizune blinked in surprise. "You can see it?"

Naruto shrugged, "I tend to notice things like those pretty easily. It's more of a developed habit."

"Let's not play games here, Jiraiya. What the hell do you want?" Tsunade barked, rather harshly in Naruto's opinion. Just what had Jiraiya done to invoke such rudeness?

In the corner of his eye, he watched as Jiraiya steeled himself ever so slightly. "Alright, let's not play games then…..Tsunade, you are ordered to return to Konoha and become the Godaime Hokage."

Tsunade blinked, just staring at Jiraiya for a moment before shaking her head, as if amused. "I've been seeing a lot of old friends today," she muttered.

Jiraiya enquired, "It was Orochimaru, wasn't it?"

The silence from Tsunade and the slight widening of Shizune's eyes was all the answer that he needed.

"What happened?"

The tone of the question was calm, but Naruto could hear the suspicion in it. Anything that concerned Orochimaru was serious business, and if he was visiting the greatest medic-nin in the world, perhaps Naruto had injured him more than he thought.

Tsunade answered flippantly, "Nothing. We just exchanged a greeting, that's all."

At this point, Naruto snorted, and quite heavily, for Tsunade turned her eyes turned upon him. She spoke with in a slightly angry tone. "Something funny brat?!"

Naruto put down his chopsticks and stared back at her, a mocking smile on her face. "How about telling the truth? Orochimaru hardly seems the kind of person to visit someone to simply exchange a greeting."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Naruto, sparks of anger slowly growing. But instead of speaking to him, she addressed Jiraiya. "Who is this disrespectful brat you have with you, Jiraiya?"

Before Jiraiya could answer, Naruto did. He didn't know why, but he suddenly had an urge to exchange a war of words with her. It has been so long since he had one. He rested his elbows on the table, "Please avoid asking such pointless questions you already know the answer to, Tsunade-sama."

He kept his tone entirely respectful, but the insinuation was clear as freshwater.

We both know just who and what I am.

If she denied, she would be calling herself stupid, for Naruto wasn't hiding his resemblance to his father at all. A short gasp of air caused him to break the staring contest with Tsunade and look over to Shizune, whose eyes were wide with realization and mouth open for a gasp as she stared at him. Smirking, he turned back to the older blonde.

"And for the record, I never insulted you in our conversation. I was simply stating facts. You are the who addressed us with rudeness," he said coolly, ignoring Jiraiya's alarmed expression and minute shake of head that said, 'Don't do it!'

Tsunade glared heavily at him, whispering, "You have some nerve saying that to my face, gaki."

Apparently, she still seemed to have some form of self-restraint, for she turned back to Jiraiya, dismissing him just like that. "Anyway, I'll pass. Only fools become Hokage."

Naruto rose and eyebrow in amusement at her reason whereas Jiraiya pouted, "That's pretty harsh for me, you know. My greatest student became a Hokage, you know?"

"Yeah? And where is he now?" She returned, though not as harshly as before. "All I'm saying is that the track record for the Hokages isn't the greatest, even sensei! The man retired only to come back after the death of his successor, and just barely survived the recent invasion. Even your student! He only wasted his life saving that village from the Kyuubi." She even looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow to emphasize her point.

Mirth and amusement slowly faded from Naruto's eyes as he glared at the woman, replaced by anger and disgust. He could bear people mocking the title of the Hokage; he easily dismissed those type of people who could never understand what that Hokage stood for. He could also bear people who mocked him for having such a dream. He had been hearing such mocks all his life. But never had he, ever, heard anyone mock his father, the Yondaime. Sure, people had their own opinions about others, but to insult a man who sacrificed his own family for the sake of his village?

And she even had the nerve to look at him, all the while insulting his father and surrogate grandfather. Naruto's opinion of her had substantially plummeted. Wasn't she aware that she was not only insulting her own sensei, but her own grandfather and granduncle as well? The two people who laid the foundation for Konoha? This was the woman who was supposed to be the Godaime Hokage?

Talk about having the will of fire. There weren't even embers inside her, let alone flames.

Jiraiya raised his hands in a placating motion to calm her down. He himself had flinched when she had insulted Minato, who was almost like a son to him. But he kept his anger in check, for that wasn't going to help in bringing her back to the village. "Now now, Tsunade, don't be like that. You have been gone for a long time-"

"I want nothing to do with Konoha, and anyone who is affiliated with it. I will never accept the position of the Hokage. Just because sensei stupidly believed that-"

Her rant was interrupted by Naruto, who spoke in a mock surprised tone, "I'm sorry, I think you are mistaken that this is a request. Sandaime Hokage has ordered us to bring you back."

Tsunade mockingly smirked at him, leaning forward. Naruto kept his eyes from floating downwards, where her breasts had been pushed together. "Let's say that I care. What is there that could make me want to come back to Konoha?"

At this point, Jiraiya watched, slightly concerned over how Naruto handled Tsunade. It was suicidal to piss her off, and there was no other person who knew better than him. He knew that sweet words won't convince her in the slightest, but he could lose her forever if he let this go out of hand. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Naruto was doing right now. Naruto was highly pragmatic, almost to the point of being ruthless. He had no difficulty in laying out the pills that were harder to swallow.

"Protection from various moneylenders, a stable home, and blackmail," Naruto rattled off, not even hesitating the slightest at the last option.

Jiraiya's and Shizune's eyes widened, for different reasons. Shizune tried to think of just what did he have to blackmail her master, while Jiraiya knew exactly just what Naruto was talking about. He harshly whispered, "Naruto! What are you doing?!"

To his shock, Naruto gently waved him away, "Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei. I know exactly what I am doing. I'll show her the reality of her situation."

Tsunade almost hissed at Naruto, "What blackmail?!"

Naruto rested his chin on his hands, "The fact that there is nothing stopping the old man from declaring you a S-rank missing nin, should we fail."

That was a sledgehammer that no one was prepared for. Jiraiya had wide eyes at Naruto's proclamation. Sensei hadn't said anything like that when he briefed him, so he had to be bluffing. But looking at Naruto's face, he realized that Naruto was not kidding at all. He looked entirely serious. Just as he was about to stop him, a hand came up to stop him, silently telling him to stay out of this. Jiraiya was sure that Tsunade would bash Naruto out any moment, but then he looked at her face.

Tsunade had gone pale from shock. She would have never thought that she could be labeled as a S-rank nin. Never considered that possibility, but then again, the brat could be bluffing. Snapping from her shock, she whispered, half angrily and half in denial. "You're bluffing!"

Naruto shrugged, "You have severed all contact with the village, haven't done anything except drink and gamble in ten years, which means no service to the village, abuse of your Sannin travelling rights and have no intention of coming back. Quite a lot of similarities to a missing nin, am I right?"

Tsunade smirked, "The old monkey would never do that to his student."

Naruto looked up in thought, "I'm pretty sure that I can convince him."

All of a sudden, he was yanked forward by Tsunade, whose hand was now fisted in his jacket. She hissed coldly. "You wouldn't!"

Naruto stared at the hand for a moment, and then stared at her. "Please let go of the collar," he said calmly. Perhaps he pushed her too far, he mused. Tsunade harshly shoved him back into his seat, settling back into her own. Naruto straightened out his collar, "Truth is a bitter pill to swallow, isn't it?"

Tsunade's glare could have killed him ten times over if she had the ability to do that. The atmosphere was tense around the table. Jiraiya was sitting on the edge of his seat, ready to protect Naruto the moment Tsunade lifted her fist, while Shizune looked ready to restrain Tsunade.

Naruto posed his question one more time. "So, will you come back for the sake of your village?"

Tsunade made no reply as she glared hatefully at Naruto for forcing her into this position. The brat may have been bluffing, but there was the possibility that he wasn't as well. And he had hit the hammer on the nail. He had compared her to a missing nin and she would admit this to no one, but the similarities were strikingly accurate. If she accepted, then she would be going back to the village that caused her so much pain and loss. But if she didn't, she could be branded a high level missing nin.

Naruto sighed disappointingly, "I see." He then, to the shock of everyone on the table, got up from his seat and brushed himself. "Let's go, sensei."

Jiraiya was still recovering from what what just Naruto said, so he could only blink in response. "W-What?"

Naruto didn't so much as look back. "We are wasting our time here. Our village is better off without her. We certainly don't need some trash who is afraid of facing the difficulties and realities of life as a shinobi, much less the Hokage. We would be the laughingstock of the entire elemental nations."

Naruto knew he really was asking for it. He knew from the moment he started talking to Tsunade that Jiraiya's plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. No sort of sweet talking would ever work on her, so he tried a different way. Jiraiya might not approve using blackmail against his former teammate, who he still cared for deeply, but as long as she comes back to the village in one piece, perfectly fine and healthy, anything goes.

So he came up with a backup plan. He knew that Tsunade was practically royalty, being directly related to the first two hokages, and the student of the third. Jiji would hesitate to put his former student's name in the bingo book as an S-rank missing nin, but he would do it for the sake of the village. After all, the man had the balls to pull off a move such as dissolving the highly annoying civilian council, even in his age. Perhaps he should have given an incentive for Jiraiya to give to Tsunade to convince her to come back, but that's beside the point. He would have to exploit Tsunade's weakness for gambling, and the only way to do that was to bait her.

And it seemed to have worked, for his danger sense rang two seconds before he felt a hand on his shoulder, forcibly turning him around, and a hand once again roughly grabbing his collar. Tsunade's enraged face greeted him, full of gritted teeth and a snarl. Naruto would have almost panicked if not for the initial success of his plan, for Tsunade was releasing quite a large amount of killing intent. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that all the people in the bar had fainted right away. Behind Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya had risen to their feet. Shizune was clutching the piglet to her stomach almost painfully, if the piglet's expression was anything to go by. He was surprised it hadn't fainted, though. Jiraiya looked….panicky, for the lack of a better word. Naruto discreetly motioned him to stay. He had this under control. Jiraiya looked doubtful, but nodded hesitantly.

Naruto finally turned his attention to the enraged blonde, and amusingly noted that they were almost the same height. Tsunade lifted her other fist threateningly, "I'm this close to sending you back to your village the express way brat!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, his expression turning stony. His hand came up to grip Tsunade's hand that was roughing up his collar. "Let. Go."

Of course, she didn't seem to hear him. Rather, she asked mockingly, "Or what?"

Now, it was clear that she was underestimating him. His grip tightened as Tsunade's eyes eyes widened a bit, "Or burn."

Tsunade immediately let go of the collar as soon as her hand had started to feel warm. Clearly, the brat could control his chakra very well. A few seconds longer and her wrist would have been burnt. Naruto smoothened his collar once more and asked, "Might I ask just what provoked such an action on your part?"

Tsunade damn near snarled at the audacity of the brat in front of her. "You call me trash and simply expect to get away?! No one is that lucky, brat."

Naruto crossed his arms and made a disbelieving expression. "Let me get this straight. You are going to attack me just because you don't like hearing that you are trash who abandoned their village. Oh," Naruto looked as if he had an epiphany, "Sorry. My bad. You are not trash….you are actually worse than trash."

Tsunade just about had it. She took a step forward but was quickly restrained by Jiraiya, who struggled to keep her from killing his foolish godson. "Young brats like you should learn how to talk to someone who can make paste out of you if provoked!"

Naruto had no problem returning the insult, "Oh, I know how to quite well. A pity that no one taught you . And what do you know about young people these days anyway?"

Jiraiya was frantically motioning Naruto to stop. The one thing that ticked Tsunade the most was whenever her age was mentioned in a mocking way. He didn't know why Naruto was doing this, but his student was treading in dangerous waters.

Tsunade finally wretched herself free from her teammate, but did not immediately move forward. She instead asked in a low, intimidating voice, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto stood in his spot, not intimidated at all. "What do you think, baa-chan?"

Tsunade and he were nose to nose again. Tsunade's smoldering rage was matched against the freezing gaze of his own. "You punk, I really ought to teach you a lesson!"

Shizune pleaded with Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama! You don't have to go that far. Let's just go-"

She was silenced when Tsunade harshly glared at her, forcing her to remain silent.

Naruto sighed, as if it pained him to say this. "If you really want to fight, perhaps we should head outside? I would rather avoid collateral damage more than what you have already done," he said, sweeping a hand around the bar to show the unconscious people.

Tsunade glared and said nothing as she almost stomped outside. Shizune hurried behind her master, looking at Naruto as if he were mad. She wouldn't be wrong, as Naruto had no problem in admitting he was crazy. Jiraiya walked over to Naruto, a stern look on her face. "Why are you doing this, Naruto? Why antagonize her so much?"

Naruto took a deep breath, "She can't be Hokage when she is like this, sensei. Not when she is clinging onto the past without any intention of letting it go. A Hokage cannot afford to be weak minded like this. I am trying to break her out of this state of self-pity she has put herself in."

Jiraiya snorted, "Let me tell you then, you are doing a piss poor job of it."

Naruto sarcastically replied, "I wonder why we weren't going by your method. Oh! That's right, it was failing."

The retort was quick. "And yours isn't?"

Naruto put his hand on the door handle, "We'll see." With that, he stepped outside.

Tsunade eyed the brat in front of her with narrowed eyes. While he was maybe a bit good, she doubted he was anywhere near her level. She was a Sannin, while the brat before her was merely a genin, chunin level at best. There was a whole world of difference between them.

"Kid, I'll give you one last chance to apologize for what you said to me."

His reaction surprised her greatly. His expression immediately became frosty, his eyes narrowing into flinty chips of ice that was cold it burnt. The look reminded her of Namikaze Minato, whose enemies ran in the opposite direction on seeing that look. " Apologize? To you? Perhaps it should be the other way around, for you knowingly insulted a man who sacrificed his own family for the sake the village he loved, in front of his son no less."

Dead silence filled the alleyway, and Naruto was glad that the street was completely deserted. Tsunade's eyes widened, and a pinch of guilt filled her being, before she shoved it aside. Before she could say anything else, Naruto continued. He was quite fed up of her by now, "You have no idea just what the Yondaime gave his life for, and frankly, I don't think you will ever understand. You have no idea how hard the old man works each day to keep the village safe and sound. You have no idea how much he helped each person in it, indiscriminately. Your worst day can't even hold a candle to his and you think you can turn down the position because you have some personal issues? You have no idea what the Hokage stands for, yet your sensei believes you do, and here you are, betraying the trust he placed in you. All you can do is run away like a coward."

Tsunade was trembling with rage at his point. She was tempted to just thrash him to kingdom come, but she needed to show this brat why no one messed with her. She growled out, "Looks like are way too excited to go into a coma, gaki."

She swallowed her anger and listed out the rules, "Physical attacks only. First one floored wins." Jiraiya and Shizune cringed at the implications of the rules while Naruto shrugged. She was about to lose anyway, why not give her a handicap?

Tsunade smirked savagely and lifted her index finger. "One finger. That is all I'll be using."

Naruto nodded and said, "Very well, since you have laid down the rules of the fight, it only seems fair that I lay down the stakes. I win, you come back with us to the village. You win, we leave you alone. I'll even give you my wallet." He held up his wallet, which jingled with coins and sounds of crispy notes. No need to mention he kept the least amount of his money in his wallet.

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Alright, I'll make this even more interesting. If you win, I'll give you this necklace." She pulled at the necklace that was dangling in front of her impressive bust, showing him the crystal that swung on the end.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in return, but nodded. "Alright then. Sensei, please give the signal."

Jiraiya was shocked that Tsunade was willing to wager that necklace to Naruto, but then his shock turned to pity. He knew just what was going to happen, but he felt that perhaps Naruto should learn a bit of humility. He was getting way too overconfident. He sliced the air in front of him. "Hajime!"

He was confused when Naruto just took out a kunai from his thigh holster and ran towards her. A disbelieving expression came over the faces of both Shizune and Jiraiya. Jiraiya was just gaping at the fact that Naruto wasn't even going at chunin level speeds, and charging Tsunade head on. He knew Naruto planned his every fight out from the beginning and was capable of some really impressive improvisation, but honestly speaking, this one looked to be a bit foolish. Either the brat had a really good plan, or he was just acting plain stupid.

Tsunade had a triumphant and smug expression on her face as she watched Naruto apparently sprint towards her with a kunai. He was attacking her head on, seemingly without any strategy. Perhaps the son of the Yondaime failed to inherit the brains of his father. She smirked as he came within striking distance. 'All bark and no bite. That's all he is.'

Naruto swiped at her with the kunai, but she didn't even need to be sober for this even. Swaying her head to the side as if dancing to a tune, she easily avoided the kunai, knocking aside the arm like a mere fly and flicked her finger.

Right in the center of his forehead.

His head was thrown back in a jerk, his body soon following as it flew through the air, crashing painfully on the ground and tumbling on. However, instead of the gleam of defeat, shock and confusion swam in her eyes as she fully saw the scene in front of her. Jiraiya and Shizune weren't doing much better either. All had the same thought going over in their heads.

When did he do that?!

Naruto glared at his opponent as he took her in for the first time. She looked almost exactly like the picture that Jiraiya showed him, except for the strange diamond mark on her forehead. He concentrated his senses and found out that it was a seal that had a substantially large amount of chakra stored in it. He narrowed his eyes in thought, for he had never read about such a seal that is inked on the forehead.

He looked down at his right foot, which he had used to stop his clone from barreling away any further. "You all must be thinking that just when did I form the shadow clone, aren't you?"

The voice held the smallest hint of smugness as he took in the shock and confusion on Tsunade's face. He dispelled the shadow clone and sauntered forward until he was standing right where his clone was before the fight. Briefly going through the memories, he had to clamp down the urge to whistle. His clone was harsh, but rightly so, because Tsunade was pathetic.

Naruto's question snapped everyone out of their shocks. Jiraiya looked as if he was about to speak first, but Tsunade beat him to it. "When?"

The question held loads of frustration, as if there was nothing else in the world she wanted to do right now than bashing his skull. Naruto smirked, "It should be obvious by now, shouldn't it?"

When no one responded for a few moments, Naruto sighed and explained. "The clone was there with all of you from the beginning. I was never there in the bar at all."

Jiraiya's mind raced and realization struck him. "You switched when you went to the bathroom?"

Naruto nodded, smirking. "You have been talking to a clone all this time. And after going through his memories, I think it might have been the smart thing to do," he said, looking towards Tsunade with a raised eyebrow.

Surprisingly, she did not get angry at all. In fact, she was smirking. "Looks like you lose the bet, brat."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, "No, I really don't see how I lost it."

Tsunade felt anger stirring once again at the dismissive attitude but she reigned it in. After all, victory was hers. "The rules were physical attacks only. Using a shadow clone violates that rule, since it's obviously, a ninjutsu." She placed special emphasis on the word 'obvious' to mock him for his apparent stupidity. It was then that it struck her that Naruto could use the high level kinjutsu of Kage Bunshin without any fear of exhaustion, but then again, he was an Uzumaki and the Nine-tails jinchuriki.

Naruto sighed almost disappointingly. He hated talking to simpletons, but then again, it's a curse that all geniuses have to bear. "Actually, you couldn't be more wrong. You made that bet with my shadow clone, so the rules actually applied to him and not me, because I was a separate entity from him at the time. He didn't use any ninjutsu, so he didn't violate any of the rules."

Tsunade roared in anger. "THAT'S BULLSHIT!"

Naruto waved his finger at her like she was a child, "My dear old lady," he easily ignored the spike of killer intent, "That's logical reasoning. It's the same as having a proxy to fight for you. Or in this case, more like a single aspect of my personality within a physical body his own fighting on behalf of….well, me. And since it no longer exists and has returned to being a part of me, I can claim the victory on behalf of him, who is essentially myself. In simple words, I win."

Tsunade had an eyebrow twitching, complete with her jaw gaping in disbelief at the reasoning. Jiraiya was desperately trying to hold in his snickering with his fist in his mouth, lest Tsunade pounded him into oblivion. It was clear that Naruto had exploited a loophole. Tsunade never said a clone couldn't fight on behalf of the original without using any jutsu. Shizune was nervously looking at all three of them. After a full minute of gaping, Tsunade blurted out one word. "What?"

Naruto felt like banging his head against a wall. God, was this woman who the old man believed could become Hokage? They were really doomed, for the seat of Hokage demanded the knowledge of skillful, verbal bullshitting and what he said was a piece of cake compared to the politics of the seat. He felt his IQ really might have dropped a few points from being exposed to her stupidity. He really disliked the people who had enormous strength but no brains to back it up.

"Think of it this way: Is there any difference in me giving an exam or having a clone of mine do it in place of me?" He asked calmly, suppressing his irritation.

He saw that he had finally gotten through her, because she glared at him with all the amount of anger and hate she could muster. Before she could open her mouth to undoubtedly shout at him again, he spoke again. "You on the other hand, used a jutsu first. Don't take me for an idiot, I know you pack all your strikes with chakra. If you flicked me on muscle power alone, I doubt I would even have felt it."

Tsunade grit her teeth. She was starting to hate the brat more and more. She snapped her gaze to her former teammate, who immediately shut up. He seemed to have picked a rather smart student like last time. Only this time, he had no respect at all.

"Fine! Best two out of three! And this time anything goes!"

She was expecting some sort of negative reaction. A direct confrontation with a Sannin would throw anyone off their game. But all she got was a disappointed shake of head, as if he had predicted this would happen. Nonetheless, she settled into a stance, ready to pummel the kid for real this time. If she knew what he was thinking, she wouldn't have waited for Jiraiya to give the signal.

Naruto took out a single kunai as he spread his legs in a rather loose stance. 'She has a pathetically fragile ego, if she needs to beat a kid less than half her age to make herself feel better. '

Jiraiya was closely watching Naruto. He was sure of one thing- Naruto definitely had a plan to beat Tsunade this time. And judging from the confident look in his eyes, it was as if there was no way he would be losing. He sliced the air again with his hand. "Haji-"

He stopped right there, as dead silence filled the alley once again. Jiraiya actually smirked when he realized just what Naruto had done, and mentally applauded him. Shizune simply gaped in incredulousness at what had happened.

Naruto had won. In less than a second.

The fight was over before it even started.

Tsunade froze in shock as she felt the cold steel of a kunai resting on her jugular vein. She slowly turned around to see cold, azure eyes staring into her own. The same eyes that reminded her of the boy's father, who was feared across the world. They were the eyes of someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill, even for a second.

"H-How?"

She hadn't even seen the boy move. There was no movement at all, not even a blur. One second he was standing ten meters away from her, the other he had a kunai resting on her neck. The only thing she had been able to notice was a tiny, blue flash. In her shock, she didn't even think further upon that.

Naruto retracted his kunai back and put it in his holster as if he hadn't just gotten the drop on a Sannin. Maybe because he already had done it before. He smiled condescendingly, "Doesn't matter, does it? You lost, again."

Tsunade just stared at Naruto as he smiled almost cheeringly, putting his hands in his pocket. "Now, as per the stakes, you will come back to the village."

Tsunade still hadn't been able to figure out just how had Naruto won. She watched as he walked with a spring in his steps back to Jiraiya. Naruto had won it fair and square, but there was one more thing that bugged her about him.

Naruto smiled as he reached Jiraiya, who was standing there, smirking. "Mission accomplished."

Jiraiya shook his head, "I don't believe you just did what you did. You put the formula on her when you gripped her wrist, didn't you?"

Naruto shrugged, "Technically, it was my clone, but yes."

Jiraiya observed Naruto closely. "You still don't seem to think she is fit to be the Hokage." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Naruto wholeheartedly agreed with it. "Yes."

Jiraiya sighed, "You don't know her story, kid. She has lost her close family in the last great war. You don't understand her position."

The argument was the weakest one, and Naruto had no problem in crushing it instantly. "Kakashi lost his father, his sensei and his entire team in the last war, yet he is still in service of Konoha. Sasuke lost his entire clan in one night and yet, he still works for the village. Sandaime lost his own wife, yet I don't see him giving up anytime soon. I lost my parents less than an hour after my birth. What's your point?"

Naruto turned to Tsunade, who was no longer looking at him in rage. Instead, she was gazing him with something akin to….understanding? Pity? Whatever it was, Naruto wasn't it the mood for it.

Jiraiya realized that Naruto was right again. But he shook his head, "Pragmatism is good, kid, but sometimes you are downright heartless."

For the first time in a long time, Jiraiya saw rage flash in Naruto's eyes when he turned back to him. Pure, unadulterated rage. "I am not heartless!"

He turned back to Tsunade, and she took a step back at the anger burning in his freezing, cold blue eyes. "I am not! You don't think I feel pity? I did feel it for you, for a short amount of time anyways. You think you're the only one in this world who has dead people? News flash, you're not! Everybody's got dead people, but that's no excuse to throw a lifelong pity-party! A Hokage should be strong, a person who is willing to put the village first, even before themselves! Your sensei believes you can do it, and you have neither the right nor a reason to betray that trust!"

Tsunade's expression went blank. "Why are you so passionate about the title of the Hokage?"

Naruto smirked, letting go of some of his anger. "Because I will be the heir to the name of Hokage. It's my dream!"

Tsunade felt her eyes widen at those words. She could have sworn that she saw the visage of Dan and Nawaki behind him. Those words were spoken with an absolute amount of determination….no, not just that. He was absolutely certain he would become Hokage. There was not an ounce of doubt in his voice.

And strangely, it did not hurt after hearing those words after a long time. In fact, it felt rather refreshing.

Naruto was quite adept at reading people. The slight widening of eyes indicated that she had a previous encounter with the same words in the past. Combining that with her hatred for the position of the Hokage and her past, it was logical that someone close to her had the same dream. It meant he was getting through to her. He just needed one last push to make her think in his favor.

"How about another bet?"

The words snapped her out of her memories as she quizzically looked at Naruto. Before she knew, the words fell out of her mouth. "What's your wager?"

Naruto smiled. "Watch." His right palm faced upwards in a half clawed position, while his left hovered in the same position over his right palm. Chakra swirled for a few seconds until…

"Jiraiya, you taught him that?!" She squawked. Though shocked, inwardly, she was thoroughly impressed. It was undeniably the rasengan. Props to the kid for getting it perfect.

Naruto let the rasengan dissipate. "As you can see, it takes me almost five seconds to form a perfect rasengan. I'll bet you that by the end of one week, I can create it with one hand, in an instant." He put pressure on the instant with a snap of his fingers.

' Aw brat, and I was just starting to like you… but I know it's a bet that I can't lose,' Tsunade thought to herself. While creating the rasengan even with both hands was impressive, it was a whole another thing to transfer the entire load to one hand. The load that you are distributing with two hands. Not to mention, circulating a load such as that in an instant was simply not possible. Even Jiraiya couldn't do that.

"If I win- you will come back and become the Hokage. If you win, we promise to not bother you, ever again."

It seemed fair enough. But she wanted to test his resolve. Just how far was he willing to go to bring her back. "Not just that, but if you lose, you will quit being a ninja."

Jiraiya and Shizune looked at her in disbelief, but she wasn't rattled at all. She serenely gazed back at Naruto, who now had a frown on his face. "These are my terms. Take it or leave it."

Naruto said nothing for a while, just gazing back at her. The terms were harsh, but he was a shinobi. A shinobi is the one who endures. The stakes had just gone up, and he could not afford to lose here.

"….See you in a week." With that, he abruptly turned and walked away, with Jiraiya following him after giving a two-fingered salute. Shizune rushed to her master.

"Tsunade-sama! That was very cruel of you!"

Tsunade waved her reprimand away, but said nothing. She looked forward to collecting her winnings at the end of the week. But there was still one thing that bothered her.

Naruto didn't look worried at all.

Naruto walked leisurely alongside Jiraiya, who shook his head and chuckled. "I can't believe you suckered her into a sucker bet. You downplayed yourself deliberately, didn't you? You could very well master it like you said in three days at most!"

Naruto smirked minutely, "It's better if my opponents underestimate me. It only increases my chances of winning."

Jiraiya frowned, "Impressive as that may be, that was really quite underhanded of you. Winning by fair means does wonders to your conscience rather than the unfair ones."

Naruto gave the look to Jiraiya, who suddenly felt as if he had spoken something extremely foolish. He spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child, making the older man feel even more stupid. "We are shinobi, who live in a world of deceit. Since when did we start playing fair?"

Naruto shook his head as Jiraiya laughed sheepishly. As they reached their room, Naruto closed the doors and remembered that he had to talk to Jiraiya about Kyuubi's training. He quickly made a few hand signs and slapped his palm on the wall. A complex array of seals spread out over the walls of the room. A privacy barrier, developed by the Uzumaki. One that Jiraiya happened to recognize as he turned to Naruto with serious eyes containing a hint of suspicion. "What's the matter?"

Naruto dropped his hand from the wall as he sat down in front of Jiraiya. He looked him in the eyes and said with complete seriousness, "I need to talk to you about something important. Since it's highly classified, it's better to take precautions to ensure nobody eavesdrops on us."

Jiraiya nodded and folded his arms, "Fair enough. Now what is this about?"

"Kurama wants to train me in the use of his chakra. More specifically, he'll be training me to master each tail."

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose in surprise. Of all the news he expected to hear, this was the last on his list. But he shouldn't be surprised, considering his godson's friendship with the Kyuubi. They seemed to be on quite good terms. Making Naruto the sole holder of the fox contract was proof of that. He echoed for clarification. "He'll train you to master each tail?"

Naruto nodded, and that got Jiraiya thinking. On one hand, this was some really good progress. Minato intended for Naruto to master the power of Kyuubi eventually, so it's better if he started training for it now. On the other hand, every time Naruto uses Kyuubi's chakra, the seal would grow weaker until such a time that Kyuubi entirely becomes a part of Naruto….or worse, decides to escape. But that was a long time, so the pros outweighed the cons. And he believed that Naruto truly was friends with Kurama.

"Alright, that is good news." He raised an eyebrow when he saw Naruto smirking. "What?"

Naruto leant forward as if sharing a secret, "You said that I wasn't fair in my bet with Tsunade, right? Well, she may not know this, but this pretty much evens it out in terms of training, right?"

Jiraiya chuckled, "You're not exactly wrong, but good one, kid."

After that, they turned in for the night. The next morning marked the start of Naruto's training with Kurama's chakra. Of course, Naruto wasn't an idiot to do it all by himself. He found an empty ground and after ensuring that no one would be alerted of his usage of Kurama's chakra, since it would undoubtedly cause panic, with seals, he set to work.

He created forty shadow clones. "Alright, I want each one of you to work on mastering the Rasengan with one hand. And you will do it the efficient way. Every time one of you has a theory that has a plausible chance of working to reach our goal, you will test it out and then dispel so that the others can try it as well. I know that it won't be achieved in just one day, but I want to be able to form the rasengan with one hand by the end of today. Understand?"

The shadow clones shouted in affirmative and spread out over the field to begin the training. Naruto had given a bit of thought to the process of how he set to mastering the jutsu. Even though he had felt that using the easy way out would be just insulting his father's memory, he didn't feel that much strongly this time. Of course, this time, he was training in two different things at the same time. Shadow clones were the best way to do it as well. Speaking of…

He formed ten more clones and told them, "Go to Jiraiya and tell him that you want to learn the Kanashibari no jutsu. If he tries to object, tell him that I have already got forty of me working on mastering the rasengan while I am personally training for Kurama's chakra."

The ten clones nodded and vanished at once in a blue flash. After his organization of his clones was over, he then sat down in a meditative position. A second later, he appeared in his mindscape, right beside Kurama. "So, how are we doing this?"

Kurama at first said nothing, opting to just stare out at the vast body of water that represented Naruto's chakra reserves. "Naruto, the first thing that we are going to do is change your mindscape a bit."

Naruto was a bit surprised at what Kurama said. "Any particular reason?"

Kurama looked down at him and smirked. "Yes. I am surprised that you haven't quite noticed. A very strange thing."

Naruto racked his brains and gazed out, spreading his senses and taking stock of all that was happening in his mindscape, searching for any anomaly. After what seemed like a few minutes, he frowned. "I don't see it. Whatever you are talking about is not quite here in my opinion."

"… I'm talking about the representation of me. Or more specifically speaking, my chakra," Kurama pointed out.

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the statement. Kurama was right, there was nothing in his mindscape that represented his chakra reserves. He was puzzled. "How is this possible?"

The answer to his own question came to him a second later. Based on his study of the Eight Trigrams sealing style, Kurama's chakra will flow into him bit by bit, merging with him and becoming a part of his reserves. The mindscape was his, and therefore, it only represented him, not Kurama. It was only when Kurama becomes a part of him that Kurama's aspects would be fully represented as well. Until then, Kurama would only have a small amount of control.

" That's right, but only partially. Remember the time when you granted me a little control by tearing a little portion of the seal? I only used part of that control to get access to your senses. I reserved the rest of it until a time such as this, where it would be easier to show you how to measure the quantity of my chakra," Kurama explained and motioned Naruto to watch.

Kurama closed his eyes as he concentrated and exercised the bit of control that he had in Naruto's mindscape. He had been thinking for a long time on how to best explain to Naruto. A second later, a humongous reservoir, inverted of all things and facing the sky, appeared on far left of the large sea that was Naruto's chakra. Naruto looked confused as Kurama opened his eyes and exhaled. "What did you do?"

Kurama explained as he settled down on his hind legs. "You haven't actually seen what happens when you use your chakra, right?" Without waiting for Naruto to shake his head in negative, he continued. "You chakra actually starts to disappear into the sky up above, a sign that indicates that you are depleting your reserves. Since they are your own reserves and you have been using them for a long time, you know exactly how much to use for everything you do."

He then grabbed a startled Naruto and teleported right to the strange reservoir. Naruto gave a slightly suspicious and confused look to Kurama, who just nodded for him to observe. Naruto complied and almost fell right off the ledge that they were standing on. Compared to Naruto's own reserves, Kurama's reserves were downright gargantuan. The vast, orange ocean that was Kurama's chakra was almost never ending. Almost as if it were not a singular ocean, but two or three of them combined. As expected of the mightiest of the tailed beasts. Interestingly, even though the reservoir was inverted, none of the chakra was spilling at all. It was perfectly, reflected their images like a mirror would.

" As you can see, this is the amount of chakra that I possess," Kurama explained with pride and smugness. "The main problem in using my chakra would be knowing the quantity. You can't possibly determine how much of this," he gestured to the vast water body, "is one tail of my chakra. Which is why is created it in the form of a reservoir with nine gates."

Naruto quickly grasped what Kurama was trying to explain. "The gates are to control the flow of your chakra. Each gate will open to allow the flow of exactly one tail of chakra."

Kurama grinned in pride and nodded in approval. It was nice to have a genius for a host. "Exactly, and I've made it in a way that not all of the chakra will pass through a gate. This is how you will be controlling the flow of my chakra into your body. But this is my limit, Naruto."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Your limit?"

Kurama pointed to his collar. "This seal controls how much I can forcefully send into your system. As I said earlier, you'll have to learn to control my chakra without me acting as a buffer. I'm sure you know not to open the first one very suddenly. Open it a little, so that my chakra flows into you at a steady and slow rate, allowing you to adjust to it."

Naruto nodded in agreement of Kurama's suggestion. Something like this was best taken slow. He exited the mindscape, and found himself aware of the sounds of his shadow clones, aware of every sound and feeling. He reached inside once again, and mentally commanded the first gate open open a little. He almost gasped- it was so much alive, so warm and full of energy, almost like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart, and it was just the beginning!

It felt like almost eternity until the first gate reached its limit. Naruto internally assessed himself and found several changes. First was the feral edge, almost like his emotions were trying to get the better of him. However, years of practicing to control his emotions allowed him to retain his rationality and cognitive processes. Second was the physical changes- he looked down at his hands, and grinned as he flexed the wicked looking clawed hands. Third was the chakra.

As he was using Kurama's chakra, he had shelved his own. And Kurama's one tail of chakra easily dwarfed his own, so the excess was escaping, or leaking. It was like a dense, orange flame, which were escaping from his body, covering him in a sort of an aura.

It felt exhilarating.

Kurama's voice sounded in his head. "Those flames represent the part of my chakra that is leaking from your body. In order to not waste it, you must pull it inside of yourself in order to avoid getting exhausted very quickly, and maximize your output in your attacks."

Naruto mentally nodded and tried to pull in the chakra. But it wasn't as easy. Kurama's chakra was wild and untamed, as opposed to his own. So it was difficult trying to reign it in, but he managed to do it after a lengthy two minutes, and could immediately feel the difference. He opened his eyes to observe the changes once more.

The flames were no longer leaking from his body, and after he pulled the chakra inside, he felt as though he was a tightly sealed container, with high amounts of energy tightly packed inside and begging to get out. 'Alright, how do you go about mastering this form?'

Kurama grinned. This would be most entertaining to watch. "Call two of your clones from the group of forty. Don't make your own! I want you to get used to the full power of this form."

Naruto nodded and called out to his clones, two of which came running over. "Now tell them to gather as many pebbles as they can," came the next instruction.

Naruto relayed the command to his clones, who after five minutes, had a small mountain of pebbles beside them. "Tell them to throw those pebbles at you. Your task is this: you must catch the pebbles without crushing them to dust."

Naruto thought Kurama might have been joking at first, but after thinking upon it a bit, he found it logical. In order to get used to a form stronger than your base form, he would have to be able to perform tasks such as these just like he did in his base form. He instructed the clones to start throwing the pebbles, one by one at first. He would advance to rapid succession later.

The first stone that he caught was immediately crushed to dust. Instead of the normal spike of irritation, he barely resisted the urge to snarl. He had forgotten that this form would make him experience heightened emotion. Kurama chuckled, "You must also master the same grip you have on your emotions in this form that you have without my chakra."

Naruto sighed, "This will take a while."

Another warning came from Kurama. "One last thing, you must release this form after half an hour for a total of fifteen minutes. There is a limit as to how long you can remain in it without getting your muscles damaged by my chakra."

Naruto did not protest against that as well, knowing it to be fully true. Another thing that Naruto found out when he released the form was that utter exhaustion. As soon as he had locked the tail of chakra, he almost toppled over in exhaustion. Of course, Kurama didn't even need to explain that. Since the chakra was like a shot of adrenaline, he was bound to get exhausted after it ran out due to the sudden drop in energy. Of course, after fifteen minutes, once his chakra was flowing once more through his body and he wasn't exhausted anymore, he tried again. There were times that chakra still managed to leak out, but Naruto was able to correct it until packing it inside his body became second nature to form it like a second skin.

This continued until the sun had completely set, and stars had taken over the sky. Naruto was proud to say that he had progressed to a point where the pebbles were no longer being crushed to dust, but instead tiny pieces that were visible to the naked eye. Not only that, but he had grown accustomed to opening the gate for the first tail much faster.

Slow progress, but progress all the same.

On the other hand, his clones had made remarkable progress. He was finally able to form the rasengan with one hand, even though it took him seven seconds. He had no doubt that by the day after tomorrow, he would have won his bet with Tsunade.

Jiraiya walked on, into the heart of the town where he happened upon a little bar, and on a stool sat Tsunade. He moved next to her, sitting down and ordering some sake.

"Nice night, isn't it?" Jiraiya prompted some conversation from the women who seemed content to just ignore him.

"Hm." Tsunade mumbled. "Say, Jiraiya… what really made you go and seek out Naruto? I thought you were content behind the scenes with him?"

Jiraiya drank from a cup, "Not exactly. You see, I met him when he was young, for he was trying to master fuinjutsu…." Jiraiya recounted the tale of when he met his godson for the first time. After the tale was finished, Tsunade hummed in realization.

"So you're doing it because he guilt tripped you?"

Jiraiya shook his head, "No… well, partially. I failed with my duty as his godfather before, this was the best chance I would ever get to make it up to him. I wasn't about to just let it go. Minato trusted me with his legacy."

"And your fool of a student just left him without so much as a by your leave." Tsunade grunted.

"No… he did say to treat the boy as a hero." Jiraiya defended.

Tsunade dismissively waved a hand and scoffed, "Just empty words!"

"Quite enraged on his behalf aren't you?" Jiraiya teased.

"Well… his mother and I were friends, weren't we? Certainly we were blood related. In a distant sense, he's family." Tsunade mumbled out her excuses.

"Family, right. Certainly looks like family." Jiraiya agreed.

Tsunade glared at Jiraiya. She knew where he was going with that look comment. "Oh yes, I did in fact notice quite the resemblance between him and Nawaki, you manipulative asshole."

"Guilty as charged." Jiraiya allowed. "Blasts from the past all around this week, huh?"

"Hmph, seems you and Orochimaru are just gunning for my weak spots. Bastard actually had his lackey cut open his hand and I froze." Tsunade grumbled.

"Still got that fear, huh? Too bad… take it as an omen for whatever Orochimaru has offered you." Jiraiya recommended.

"How do you know he offered me anything?" Tsunade demanded with an affronted expression. Jiraiya couldn't possibly know what was going through her mind now! She knew Orochimaru was a bastard… but when he offered to bring back Dan and Nawaki, even she had to stumble a little.

"Hime, whatever it was, it is serious enough for you to give it thought like this. Otherwise you wouldn't be sticking around, right?" Jiraiya guessed. Though Tsunade gave no appearance of it, just returned to nursing her sake, he knew very well.

"It's none of my business, it might be true." Jiraiya went on, "but I just want to make one thing clear. If you betray Konoha, I'll kill you myself." He pinned her with a dark look, intent clear in his eyes, and Tsunade knew he wasn't joking.

Tsunade thought back to the time when Naruto had called her trash. She knew exactly where he was coming from. Obviously, they were Kakashi's words, taken from his late comrade, Obito. Those who abandon the rules were trash, but those who abandon their comrades were worse than trash. He wasn't wrong at all. After a minute of thinking, she finalized her decision.

Jiraiya went back to drinking, not noticing that Tsunade had discreetly slipped a drug into his drink.

Naruto's prediction was only partly false. It took him a total of four days to form a rasengan with one hand within an instant. Not only that, but he had mastered it so that he could do it with both hands. In addition to that, he had managed to learn and master the Kanashibari no jutsu (Temporary paralysis technique) with the help of Jiraiya and his shadow clones.

Shadow clones were so awesome!

Kanashibari was a jutsu that physically immobilized targets, as though they have been tied down by invisible ropes. However, the jutsu was only as powerful as its user. Naruto, with the help of Jiraiya and Kurama, was able to estimate that he was powerful enough to restrain most jonin with it, but he would have trouble restraining someone of Jiraiya's power. Jiraiya seemed to have some strange chakra that was powerful enough to counter his own, which was saying something since his chakra was incredibly dense and filled with a large amount of vitality, as is the norm for most Uzumaki.

Anyways, the usual way to use it is physical contact, but Jiraiya proved himself why he was an undisputed spymaster, for he taught him how to use that jutsu with just eye contact. It was incredibly difficult to mold and project the chakra through just eye contact. But Naruto's chakra control was refined enough that he was able to master it to that degree, though that took him the whole week to do it. Not that he was complaining.

Freezing his enemies with literally nothing more than a glance was badass.

Right now, he was wolfing down a well-deserved meal of ramen from a stand he had found. While it wasn't as good as Ichiraku's, it was ramen all the same. As he was in the process of polishing off his seventh bowl, he sensed a chakra signature coming, and immediately knew who it was.

"Fancy seeing you here, Shizune-san. How's it going?"

Shizune greeted him with a smile, "I'm fine, Naruto-kun. How about you?"

Naruto put down the empty bowl with a sigh of satisfaction. "I'm eating a well-deserved +3meal after training. You gotta admit, hard work is bitter, but the results of it are just as sweet, if not more!"

Shizune smiled and nodded. "They are. Naruto-kun, I was hoping to talk to you about the bet you made with Tsunade-sama," she requested.

Naruto made a contemplative face and stood up. He put some money on the counter and turned to her, "Let's take a walk."

They roamed in the streets, with Naruto keeping a constant lookout for eavesdroppers. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Please drop your bet with Tsunade-sama," she implored. "If not for her sake, at least for your own life. You see, the necklace that she offered you….it's cursed."

An amused smile lit up on his lips, "Cursed, you say? And pray tell, how exactly is it cursed?"

Shizune informed him in a solemn voice. "Whoever receives the necklace dies the very next day."

Naruto shook his head, "That sounds like a load of crap."

Shizune cried out earnestly, "But it's true! Her own brother and lover both dies after they received the necklace! Please, give up the bet."

Naruto sighed and turned to her, stopping their little walk. "First of all, I can't do that. Giving up has never been my way of doing things. Second, I have already accomplished what I told your master, but seeing we're in quite a busy place right now, the rasengan will have to wait until later."

Shizune wanted to protest more, but seeing the look on Naruto's face, she heaved a big sigh. "Very well, if you are so set on it. Tsunade-sama can't be found right now, so it will be better tomorrow. What will you do now?"

Naruto made a thinking face, "I don't know…." Then his face lit up with a smile as he turned to her, "How about we go for ice-cream? My treat, since I'm feeling really good today."

Shizune giggled, "Are you treating me to a date?"

Naruto smirked as she hooked her arm around his, "It's not a date, for your own sake. Otherwise, I would have to call you a cradle robber."

Shizune made a mock affronted face as they set off to get ice cream.

After a good night's rest, Naruto was up and fully rested. He cleaned up and dressed up as usual, without his vest or hitai-ate, and was about to head to the hot springs for one last time, when Shizune burst into his room, panting and looking very frantic.

"Where is Jiraiya-sama?!" she asked, sounding extremely harried.

Naruto was used to Jiraiya's random disappearances, so he just shrugged. "Beats me. What's the matter, though?"

"Orochimaru offered Tsunade-sama something in return for Tsunade-sama's unique, self-healing jutsu. I fear she's gone to accept the offer. Naruto, we must hurry and stop her!" Shizune explained in a rush as she moved to the window.

' Unique self-healing jutsu? Is that what the seal on her forehead is all about?' Naruto wondered as he followed Shizune. His danger sense rang just as she opened the window, and he pulled her back just in time for the kunai to whiz past the spot where she was a second ago.

Shizune yelped as she was pulled back, a hand on her upper back preventing her from falling over on her butt. She looked back to see Naruto's face set in an exasperated expression. However, the confusion that followed soon turned into slight panic as Naruto himself leaned out of the window.

"LOOK WHERE YOU ARE AIMING AT, YOU SENILE, PERVERTED OLD MAN!"

She leaned out of the window herself to see the man she was looking for. Naruto jumped out of the window himself, face frowned in confusion. "Who the hell managed to get a jump on you?"

Jiraiya was panting heavily, and his skin was covered with sweat as he gripped onto the window frame like it was the only thing keeping him upright.

"Damn Tsunade….drugged my drink. The effects will wear off soon, but not soon enough for the fight….Naruto, can I count on you to help me out with this?" Jiraiya ground out, looking at the blonde.

Naruto nodded as he passed a jug of water to the man. Jiraiya gratefully nodded at him and chugged down the whole thing within a minute. He gave a sigh of relief, muttering, "That's better."

However, Naruto still hadn't dropped his guard. He was sensing a highly suppressed chakra signature a few rooftops away. And it seemed to be slightly familiar, with that feeling of snakes coating from it. Without any warning, he threw three shuriken in the air, which looped mid-air to converge on the position of the spy. All three of them spotted a slight movement as the spy fled away quickly.

Shizune asked, "Who was that?!"

Naruto muttered as he walked to his backpack, "Whoever it was, I have a feeling we'll be seeing him soon enough."

He took out his hitai-ate, taking off the sash and wrapping the headband back on his head. He did not have time to take off his jacket and switch it with the vest. Shizune and Jiraiya were ready to go, even if the latter hadn't fully recovered. He gave a nod of approval for shooing away the spy.

"Let's go!" She said as she jumped out of the window. Naruto and Jiraiya easily followed suit. They spotted a faint dust cloud in the distance, and were able to hear the low, thunderous noises of something getting smashed. They all arrived at an open field, with Shizune sighing in relief and Jiraiya grinning- whatever Orochimaru had offered Tsunade, she had refused.

Running a little further, they arrived at the fight. They weren't surprised to see Orochimaru and Tsunade fighting, the former's hands looking as if nothing happened to them, but Naruto's eyes narrowed as he spotted Kabuto.

He called out to the traitor. "Kabuto! You were the one who was spying on us, weren't you?"

"Indeed, Naruto-kun. You must be an accomplished sensor if you managed to sense me, for I was highly suppressing my chakra." Kabuto admitted with a chuckle.

"Enough of this!" Tsunade spat, flying forward to smash a fist into Kabuto's face. Kabuto smirked, and with his chakra scalpel in hand, sliced a large cut across his palm, right in front of Tsunade's face. The woman automatically froze, eyes wide and body trembling minutely.

"Tsunade?" Naruto questioned, and then his eyes went wide when Kabuto landed a vicious hit to her jaw, causing her to topple backwards."

Jiraiya grunted, "Damn it… it's hemophobia. Shizune, you handle Kabuto! Naruto, you will protect Tsunade! I'll take on Orochimaru." He ordered them, striding forward to meet the snake face.

Kabuto sneered, "Pathetic! What kind of a medic-nin is afraid of blood?" He was about to punch her in the face once more, when Shizune intercepted him. "Stay away from her!"

While she engaged Kabuto in a fight, Naruto flash stepped to Tsunade and crouched down to the still, shell shocked Tsunade. "Come on, this really looks pathetic. You are the foremost medic in the world! And just who allowed you to show him your weakness?!" He scolded her, and when he received no response, he rose up and took out two of his special kunai, ready to defend her in case Kabuto slips past Shizune.

On the other end of the field, Jiraiya was having a lot of trouble. His body had still not fully recovered, and Orochimaru was bearing down on him without any signs of slowing down. He sighed in slight relief when Orochimaru backed off from swinging the Kusanagi on him, but almost groaned at what he did next.

Orochimaru cut his thumb, and in the next moment, a large, brown snake appeared. Orochimaru grinned, "Ready to die, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya grit his teeth. His chakra control was pretty bad enough, and he couldn't risk calling the smaller toads here. He would just have to fight this another way it seems.

Naruto noticed his godfather in trouble, and was about to create a shadow clone to go and help him when the things got worse. Turns out, Kabuto had managed to catch Shizune's ankles with his chakra scalpels, catching her off guard with the headhunter technique. And now he that he was done with her, he was heading for Tsunade, who still hadn't snapped out of her shock.

Naruto mentally cursed and threw the kunai before his feet, flying through hand seals, ending on the tiger, a crimson barrier enveloping him and Tsunade. It was a moderate level barrier that protected the user from low to mid-level physical attacks, so Naruto had no problem holding it. Kabuto's hand, lit with a scalpel, sliced at the barrier. He flinched and jumped back, glaring at Naruto. "What is that?"

Naruto smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

In the corner of his eyes, he watched as Jiraiya buried the snake in an earth-style swamp, and then collapse onto a knee. He mentally cursed- Jiraiya still had yet to recover from the drug. If this kept going on, Jiraiya will be killed. Kabuto seemed to notice this as well, and wasted no time in taunting him.

His pleasant voice, slightly jeering, grated on his nerves. "It looks like Jiraiya-sama isn't faring quite well. It won't be long before Orochimaru-sama manages to kill him. What will you do, Naruto-kun? Save your master, or save the woman who doesn't even care what you think of her?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "You don't know what you are talking about. To answer your question," a smirk graced his lips, "I don't see why I can't do both."

Still holding the tiger sign, a shadow clone popped up beside him. He disengaged his right hand from the seal, forming a joint tiger seal with the left hand of the clone, thereby transferring the control of the barrier to the clone. He watched amusingly as Kabuto's face went right from triumphant to annoyed, having figured out his plan. Still, the traitor was gracious enough to praise him. "Your abilities in fuinjutsu are truly astounding, Naruto-kun. But how long do you think your clone can hold this barrier for you?"

Naruto smirked as he picked up his kunai. "Long enough." That was all he said before vanishing in a blue flash. Truth was, he had roughly twenty seconds before the clone dispelled itself, leaving Tsunade vulnerable to attacks. Not that his clone was weak, but if he had to dispose of Kabuto, he needed the element of surprise, along with a bait.

Kabuto cursed and immediately turned to where his master was fighting Jiraiya once again, with the sword of Kusanagi. "OROCHIMARU-SAMA! WATCH OUT!"

Orochimaru was having a blast fighting his old teammate. Jiraiya was slowly recovering, but he knew that at some point in this fight, Orochimaru will pull out the boss summon, and he would be helpless against Manda if he couldn't summon Gamabunta. The drug still wasn't completely out of his system, and he hated that damn sword!

Orochimaru was in mid-swing to cut off Jiraiya's head when he heard Kabuto's warning. At first, he didn't know what Kabuto was warning him about. He was fighting Jiraiya, Kabuto had disposed of Shizune, leaving Tsunade and-

Oh shit.

His epiphany came too late, as Naruto flashed right in front of him, blocking Jiraiya and his swing with a wind laced kunai. He had no time to block as Naruto completed his spin, crashing his left foot right into Orochimaru's left jaw, sending the snake Sannin flying back. He flipped in the air to land on his feet, but Naruto was already moving.

Or rather, his hands were. Naruto spoke nothing as he swiftly cut off the wind chakra, sliced a shallow cut on a surprised Jiraiya's thumb and wiped the blood on his own palm. Five rapid hand signs, and he and Jiraiya were standing on the head of the boss of toads.

Naruto had summoned Gamabunta with Jiraiya's blood.

Before Jiraiya could say anything to his godson, Naruto had flash stepped away. Jiraiya looked over to where Naruto had gone with wide eyes. Orochimaru was snarling in rage- Naruto had robbed him of too many valuable opportunities. His eyes widened as he watched what happened next.

Kabuto smirked as he gazed at the scowling shadow clone protecting Tsunade. He was not the one to stand idly while someone turned the tables against his master. He had created a shadow of himself to finish Shizune off. He was surprised though, when he saw the toad boss suddenly appear, but then again, Naruto was the apprentice of the toad sage. He looked back to see his shadow clone almost upon Shizune, the chakra scalpel heading for her open throat.

Fully expecting for her to get killed, he was shocked when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of her, catching the shadow clone by the wrist and dispelling it with a well-placed hit. At the same time, he heard the pop sound of a shadow clone dispelling behind him. Looking back, the clone was gone, and so was the barrier protecting Tsunade.

Kabuto seized his chance and activated his scalpel, prepared to cut right at her throat. Just as the hand was about to reach its destination, another hand grabbed his by the wrist, stopping it in its tracks.

Kabuto was stunned when Naruto suddenly appeared before him, stopping his attacks. It happened too fast for him to comprehend- he had attacked the moment Naruto had attacked his clone. There was no way he was that fast to stop his attack so accurately! How did he even counter the instant that he appeared?! It made no sense!

Naruto flashed right to Tsunade's mark, his danger sense slowing down his perception to show the scalpel heading towards his side, since the previous target was now blocked by him. But he had no intention of letting that scalpel touch him. His left hand caught the wrist behind, stopping the advance. He saw shock fly across Kabuto's face, but he had no intention of letting his enemy regain his thought process.

With a little bit of force, he cleanly snapped Kabuto's wrist, the sound almost music to his ears.

Kabuto couldn't hold back the scream when Naruto broke the bone cleanly, his wrist bending forwards at an angle it really shouldn't. It was a surprise the bone didn't break out of the skin. He was given no chance to numb the pain with his healing ability, for suddenly, a whirling noise caught his attention.

By breaking Kabuto's wrist, Naruto ensured he wouldn't be able to block his next attack because of the sudden, high influx of pain. A rasengan formed in his right hand in an instant, spinning at high speed, slightly bigger than his hand and with a gleeful roar, he drove the spiraling sphere of chakra right into Kabuto's stomach. "RASENAGN!"

Naruto watched with a smirk as Kabuto flew back from the powerful attack, blood flying from his mouth. He flew back so far and fast that he smashed through a rock, breaking it into pieces and skidding backwards until he was stopped painfully by a second one. He fell forward on his stomach, yelping and coughing, the pain nearly overpowering. Doing an internal diagnosis, his eyes widened in extreme shock- he had broken more than a few bones, along with his torn and near liquified internal organs and muscles. The eyes widened further when he discovered that he couldn't heal as fast as usual! Just how strong was that jutsu?!

Naruto turned around to face Tsunade, who had seemed to finally snap out of her shock. She was still looking at him with fearful eyes, as if she was still looking at fresh blood. "What are you….."

Naruto held up a hand, "Wait a second." He flash stepped to Shizune, who was still unconscious, picked her up and flashed back. Tsunade choked upon seeing her unconscious apprentice. Naruto assured her, "Don't worry, she's just unconscious. I was able to stop Kabuto from killing her."

Tsunade hastily crawled over to Shizune, checking her pulse. It was a little weak, but thankfully it was still there…

"Kabuto managed to catch her ankles with his chakra scalpels. I only know that, not what happened before," Naruto's voice made her look at him, tears falling from her eyes. She looked back to Shizune, her hands glowing green. A tremendous weight seemed to leave her shoulders; Shizune did not require any immediate attention.

She shakily stood up and faced Naruto, who was smirking softly with his hands crossed. "You saw what I did, right? I win."

Tsunade's expression was of a surprise and relief, which turned into a shaky smile. She tightly hugged Naruto, ignoring the surprised grunt from the boy. After a long time, she sobbed like a little girl. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…." She didn't know what she would do without Shizune.

Naruto was surprised, but upon hearing her crying, he wrapped his arms around her. It was a surprise to see her crying, not at Shizune's state, but in relief. "It's ok….." he whispered, tenderly rubbing her back. If not for the situation, he would have had a nosebleed upon feeling those mounds against his chest. He figured that everyone needed an emotional outlet like this sometimes. Ironically, this was the second time he had a girl hugging him while crying because he saved someone who was close to her.

On the other side of the field, Orochimaru was cursing the brat for all his worth. Naruto had proven himself way too good to be left alive, if he was able to dispose of Kabuto in a single hit. "The brat you've taken on is quite good, huh Jiraiya?"

He was currently dodging attempts to either get squashed or sliced by the toad boss. Jiraiya sneered at Orochimaru, "Looks like your apprentice needs only one hit to be taken off the field, teme."

Orochimaru weighed his options. He could not let Kabuto be killed at any cost. The guy was too valuable with his medical knowledge, and he was the only one Orochimaru trusted with his secrets the most. But he could also not let Naruto live, for he was too good for his liking, and would no doubt give him trouble in the future, if Akatsuki got a hold of him. He needed to be taken care of right now as well.

' Looks like I don't have a choice,' he thought as he bit his thumb, preparing to summon the snake boss, Manda. In a flourish, the snake boss appeared, as sour as ever.

" Orochimaru! You dare to call me?! You better have my hundred sacrifices ready!"

Orochimaru chuckled, "Of course, Manda. I just thought you would like some toad meat today."

Manda glared at Gamabunta. "Disgusting toad!"

Gamabunta chuckled in mirth. "I'm sure my wife would love a snakeskin wallet!" With that, the two summons clashed in battle.

With Jiraiya's summon taken care of, Orochimaru immediately jumped off Manda, running for Tsunade and Naruto. Jiraiya cursed and leaped after him, hoping he could stop him in time. "NARUTO, WATCH OUT!"

Naruto, who was still rubbing Tsunade's back, snapped to attention at Jiraiya's warning. A second later, his danger sense rang loudly, alerting him of Orochimaru's approach. He was about to flash to a marker, but did not expect for Tsunade to disentangle from him, placing herself before him to shield the boy with her own body, and Orochimaru's sword ran right through her chest.

Both Naruto and Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock, and the latter retracted his sword. "It wasn't my intention to hurt you, Tsunade. Just move aside, my aim is the boy."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, his anger at the old woman's stupidity evaporating. It seemed that Orochimaru held two grudges against him now. The first was foiling his plans of Konoha, the second was almost killing Kabuto. His eyes then widened at Tsunade's next words.

"You won't touch him!" She snarled, wincing from the pain in her chest.

"Why do you defend him?" Orochimaru asked curiously.

"Because it's my responsibility from here on out… as the Godaime Hokage of Konoha!" She declared. A second later, she shot forward and punched the snake Sannin sending him flying.

She took a deep breath and formed the tiger seal. "Ninpo: Sozo Saisei!"

To Naruto and Orochimaru's wonder, the diamond on her forehead morphed and extended, forming tattoos around her face. Her wounds closed up and healed at an astounding rate, and she looked fully revitalized when she opened her eyes. Orochimaru was almost salivating as he witnessed the effects of the jutsu he had come for in action, while Naruto was gaping at the medical miracle Tsunade had pulled off.

What followed next was a battle of epic proportions. He witnessed firsthand, the power of three of the most powerful shinobi to come out of Konoha. 'No wonder they are called legendary,' he mused as he sat back and watched the show. Kabuto still hadn't managed to get up, so no worries there. Shizune regained consciousness somewhere when Tsunade was reintroducing Orochimaru to her fists, so that was also good. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough chakra to heal her ankles on her own.

The battle came to an end when Tsunade drove the Toad boss's tanto straight through the snake boss's mouth, pinning him to the ground. Orochimaru finally decided that he wasn't going to win this battle anytime, so he decided to flee. He looked over to where Kabuto was and winced- his right hand had barely managed to sit up and was only just managing to remain in his position. He body flickered to Kabuto, ready to assist him to flee. Jiraiya and Tsunade appeared before him, their summons disappearing as well, stance battle ready. He glared at them- he had taken way too many hits from Tsunade, and Jiraiya-baka had managed to give him a hard time as well. "Be stubborn if you wish, Tsunade- I have other ways to remain alive."

He then disappeared with Kabuto, gone as if he wasn't even there.

"Tch! I guess we won't be seeing him for a while, "Tsunade muttered, breathing deeply and walking towards Naruto. She was surprised and happy to note that Shizune was now conscious. Jiraiya and Naruto on the other hand, stared at Tsunade. In the fleeting moment that her seal had restored, they had managed to catch a glimpse of what she really looked like. She looked so old and fragile, much more so than Jiraiya. Was that the price of her technique?

She healed Shizune's ankles, allowing her to walk, albeit weakly, due to lightly chakra exhaustion. Jiraiya grinned and slapped Naruto on the back, throwing him a bit forward. "Damn brat, I don't give you enough credit! You took Kabuto out in just one hit! I haven't seen anyone move that fast since your father!"

Surprisingly, Tsunade also joined the conversation with high spirits. "So that was Hiraishin, wasn't it?"

Naruto smirked, "Wow, I'm surprised it took you so long to figure out, considering you yourself have a mark on you."

Naruto pointed the mark out to her on the side of her wrist, the place that no one usually sees with their own eyes. Tsunade suddenly looked scary and turned to Naruto, a fist shaking. "And just when were you planning to tell me that?"

Naruto kept smirking, "It slipped my mind….. baa-chan."

"Don't call me that, brat!"

Naruto laughed cheerfully as he easily avoided the swat of her hand, but Tsunade smiled fondly as she gazed at his face. 'He really is just like them.'

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, getting up and stretching after a good night's sleep. Jiraiya was already awake, sitting by his bed, smirking at him.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" He teased.

Naruto just raised an eyebrow in deadpan, not seeing the humor at all. He put the covers aside and got up, heading to the bathroom. "When are we leaving, ero-sennin?"

"Today. Shizune is downstairs, checking out. Tsunade is taking care of some last minute things. You freshen up though- we'll most likely leave in an hour," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and took his time to complete his morning duties. Twenty minutes later, he came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist and another rubbing his hair dry. He sighed in relief- the hot shower was great in here. Jiraiya was just packing up his and Naruto's belongings, when the door opened to reveal Tsunade and Shizune.

Naruto raised a brow when Shizune suddenly went red in the face and faced away from him. He then smirked, but slowly put on his clothes. He innocently asked her, "Shizune nee-san, are you alright? You look a little red."

Jiraiya giggled perversely, but stopped as soon as Tsunade glared in his direction. Naruto mentally smirked, 'Whipped, for sure.' Tsunade turned to Shizune and whispered something in her ear, which caused the girl to utter a small meep and scuttle out of the room, a confused Tonton clutched tightly in her arms.

Naruto asked her curiously as he put on his shirt, "What did you whisper in her ear?"

Tsunade waved her hand dismissively, "Just some lady talk. Nothing you need to be concerned about."

Naruto shrugged and unsealed his jonin vest and put it on, surprising Tsunade. "You are a jonin?!"

Naruto smirked, "Let me guess, you thought I was just a mere genin, right?"

Tsunade only nodded as she watched Naruto tie up his jaw length bangs and put on his hitai-ate. She barely held her gasp- Naruto looked a literal clone of his father!

She snapped herself out of shock and slowly walked towards him, surprising him hen she lightly brushed his cheek while looking into his eyes. She whispered, "You really do look just like your father…"

Naruto smiled as he gently removed her hand, "I would be worried if I didn't. I am his son, after all."

Tsunade smiled and nodded, taking off her necklace. She pulled it over Naruto's head, smiling slightly, "The necklace, as promised."

Naruto cradled the necklace, inspecting the crustal that hung. It gave off a strange feeling, a strong sense of contentment and soothing. "Who does this belong to anyway?"

Tsunade picked up her suitcase, "My grandfather, the Shodai Hokage."

Naruto, to his credit, only raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. No wonder it felt soothing- Senju Hashirama's Mokuton was capable of calming down tailed beasts, and Naruto strongly suspected that the bloodline limit had a much higher connection to something other than just earth and water.

Naruto slung on his big and moved to the window, "Let's go then!" He then promptly jumped out of it.

Tsunade lightly scowled, "He seems to have the same hate for doors like you, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya grinned, "Why use doors when you have windows?"

Tsunade gave a weary glance to her teammate as they walked downstairs. "Am I going to regret this?"

Jiraiya pondered on this and replied, "Mostly, yes. But deep down, you will know that it would be totally worth it."

They met Shizune and Naruto downstairs, who were making light talk. Naruto turned to Tsunade with a grin, "You better be prepared, for you have a lot of work to do when we get back to Konoha!"

"I'll take whatever you dish out brat!" Tsunade assured him with a smirk. Suddenly, she moved forward and gave him a soft peck on his forehead. Moving back, she saw the bewildered look on his face, accompanied by a bright blush. Naruto looked away from the group when he couldn't will it away.

"Besides, who's going to teach you how to be a proper Hokage if not me?" She challenged.

Naruto smiled at her high spirits. 'Looks like the will of fire still burns within her.' Out loud, he just waved his hand, "Hai, hai."

They all set off in high spirits, back home. The reward for bitter hard work really was sweet.

Hiruzen had gathered the council for a meeting to discuss the rather surprising offer he received from Sunagakure for the renewal of their alliance. After he dissolved the civilian council, what remained was the heads of various shinobi clan heads and the elders, Homura and Koharu, along with Danzo as well.

After reading the scroll out, he put it down, gauging the reactions of his council.

Koharu quietly commented, "This is certainly interesting. It seems our esteemed colleagues in Sunagakure wish to make amends for their foolishness."

Homura snorted, "Of course, they do. Recent reports suggest that Iwagakure is testing their borders. If they don't make amends with us, Iwa will crush them. However, we cannot let Iwa get a strategic advantage such as that, even if we have another flash among us now."

Surprising everyone, Danzo spoke up.

"It would be in our best interests to accept." Upon seeing the rest of the council look at him in mild shock, he internally and continued. "As you are all undoubtedly aware, I would prefer to simply crush them outright for their betrayal, but circumstances argue against it. Since we cannot punish them without drawing attention from other countries, especially Iwa, I see no harm in accepting a deal that will benefit Konohagakure far more than Sunagakure."

"Logically, you are correct, Danzo-san," Aburame Shibi droned in the usual Aburame monotone. "This offer does seem to be to our advantage, but I find your stance puzzling. You have always petitioned for Uzumaki to be trained by you as a weapon. Accepting this offer would seem to directly counter the position you've held for nearly a decade and a half."

Danzo considered how to respond and replied. "It is true that I wanted him to be trained as a weapon."

Hiruzen picked up on his friend's choice of words. "Wanted?"

Danzo knew what context his old rival was talking about. "Yes, wanted. At first, I had worries that he would grow up to be a weak, average shinobi or worse, a straight idiot. But he has proved his strength in the invasion, stopping a tailed beast very effectively without resorting to his own. He is the second coming of his father."

That was all he needed to say on the subject. It was a well known fact just how much Namikaze Minato was feared. While the short term he was Hokage, no nation dared to make a move against Konoha. If Konoha had someone who was just as powerful as the Yondaime, he could sleep without any worry.

"Moving on," he cleared his throat, "Sunagakure is now offering the daughter of their late Kazekage - by all reports a powerful kunoichi in making - in marriage to Uzumaki." He smiled grimly, "I suspect that Sunagakure has discovered the boy's heritage."

"Troublesome," muttered Shikaku. "If they hadn't discovered Uzumaki's heritage, this deal would be completely in our favor. I remember this Temari girl from the exam- she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. On top of that, she is a very proficient wind style user, which is quite rare in Konoha. The deal is evened out if they know Naruto's heritage. Marrying the children of two kage will produce exceptionally powerful children, not counting the fact that Naruto is the Kyuubi's jinchuriki and his children will no doubt be influenced by its power. But they don't know that."

Everyone sat back to consider his words and examine the agendas behind the offer. Hiruzen, meanwhile, was contemplating what effect would this have on Naruto. He was asking for a lot from Naruto by asking him to do this. He was sacrificing the boy's chance at love by arranging a marriage for him with a person he didn't even know. A huge weight suddenly made itself known on his shoulders, and he sighed in sadness. Sometimes, he hated being the Hokage. Decisions such as these, putting the good of the village before his shinobi, made him sick to the bone. He knew Naruto would never forgive him for this.

"At this point, I don't see any option but to accept this offer. It is slanted too far in our favor to decline without tipping our hand regarding the boy's heritage. If we chose to decline by announcing that heritage, I have no doubt Kumogakure, and ESPECIALLY Iwagakure, would react unfavorably," he announced with a heavy heart.

"We also need the boy to produce more Uzumaki, as possible future containers for the Kyuubi, if not outright shinobi for our future ranks," Danzo added, but before he could continue, a heavy, potent killing intent flooded the room.

"You are going too far, Danzo." Hiruzen whispered with narrowed eyes. "We already have placed a heavy burden on him by making the jinchuriki against his will, which he knows, mind you. He knows his heritage, and he knows that that his own father cursed him to this life. I think I can safely say on his behalf that he would sooner set the Kyuubi free rather than making his own progeny the jailors of the beast."

Danzo grit his teeth, "He will do what is asked of him by the village!"

Hiruzen snapped back, "And I have no intention of asking him to do that! I'm also sure that neither does the next Hokage! Remember Danzo," he warned his rival, "If you push him too far, you will lose him. For him, his family will always come before the village." Until he becomes Hokage, that is went unsaid.

Danzo put his blank mask on again, but he was seething inside. Uzumaki's children would have made some very valuable additions to his ranks of root, but it seemed Hiruzen wasn't willing to go that far. Looked like he would just have to wait for a few years.

Hiruzen turned to the council, "Since we are in agreement, let us send our response."