Chapter Seventy-Four: "Second Chances"

Naruto stood before Shiho and pulled out a written document with Tsunade's signature and seal on it

"My kaa-chan," Naruto said, "Is treating this task as an S-rank assignment though no time duration was specified and I would like very much for you to help me carry this out please."

Naruto reached into the right pocket of his Jounin vest and retrieved a particular book. He showed it to the young girl who took a look at it.

"This book was written by Orochimaru some years ago," Naruto explained, "I retrieved it from the ANBU archives and I've been trying to decipher its writings ever since. From that time till now, all of my efforts to decrypt the contents in this book have failed. I was hoping that you could be an asset in succeeding where I could not. That is, if what I asked isn't too much-"

"No Naruto-san," Shiho smiled brightly, "It would be a privilege to lend my services to you. I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Thank you," Naruto nodded, "I would appreciate that very much."

Naruto handed the book over to her. She took the book and read its title.

""Blood Double"," Shiho read, "What do you speculate that this book contains?"

"A link between my last battle with Orochimaru and his possible survival," Naruto replied.

"I don't believe I follow," Shiho confessed with a confused expression, "Wasn't that renegade Sannin slain by your hands personally? I read the reports some time ago."

"Many have," Naruto admitted, "But recent events and evidence I found in my estate now leaves me to question Orochimaru's death. I believe that this book holds the keys to answering the puzzle that's surrounding the topic of Orochimaru."

Shiho nodded and opened the book. True to Naruto's words, she found that the written contents in the book were indeed coded in some form.

"This will require some time to interpret," Shiho said before looking up at Naruto, "I'll get started right away."

(Elsewhere)

Hinata and the rest of Team 8 were making their way the area were Orochimaru and Naruto last fought. Hinata explained to Shino and Kiba what it was that Naruto wanted them to do. After hearing her out, they found her explanation logical though the matter of Orochimaru's possible survival was rather troubling for them considering the fact that they, like many others, eye witnessed what was saw to be Orochimaru's demise.

As the trio was moving from tree to tree, Kiba as well as Shino sensed a form of afterglow from their female teammate. They saw that despite the seriousness of the mission Naruto requested of them through her that Hinata was happier than normal. Both boys figured what might have been the reason but decided not to delve into Hinata's personal business concerning her private life. Kiba concluded to himself that Naruto must have pressed all the right buttons with Hinata while they were away on their mission with Temari and Ino.

Kiba soon broke the silence, "Are you certain that we'll find anything?"

"Are you questioning the validity of Naruto's claim," Shino asked.

"Nothing of that nature," Kiba replied, "But it's been more than a month since that incident and possible organic evidence regardless how small might have long deteriorated or were washed away by rain."

"That might be true," Hinata admitted, "And chances of us finding anything is rather slim. However that slim chance is more than enough for us to see this whole thing through."

"At the very least," Kiba remarked, "This won't turn out to be some wild goose chase."

"Naruto-kun isn't one to waste time and resources taking or sending anyone on wild goose chases," Hinata replied, "I'm sure that there was something that wasn't paid attention to during Orochimaru's said to be final moments."

Team 8 continued on their trek through the trees. It was a while before they arrived at their destination. Landing down on the spot where Orochimaru and Naruto were battle, the team settled down to prepare their search.

"Where do we started," Kiba asked.

"I'll have my bugs scout around and do a sweep around the area," Shino suggested as he extended his arms and signaled his bugs to flow from out of his body and sweet over the ground and grass. Swarms of bugs flew out of Shino's body and over the ground.

"Let's go Akamaru," Kiba said as he got back a bark in reply. The two members of the Inuzuka clan went off to search in another spot.

"Byakugan," Hinata said before activating her bloodline limit to scan the surrounding environment.

(Back In Konoha)

Naruto was leaving the cryptography building and started on his way to the hospital. There was a certain patient he wanted to see and cross-examine. Not wanting time wasted, Naruto formed a hand sign and shunshin'd to the entrance of the hospital. Entering the building, he was greeted by the staff that acknowledged his presence as he walked by.

Arriving on the fourth floor and at the intended door, he saw an ANBU standing at the door. Naruto knew that another ANBU that was posted to keep an eye on the patient was hidden in the ceiling inside the room.

"I'm here to examine the patient," Naruto said. The ANBU nodded and stepped aside and allowed Naruto to pass through without incident. Naruto opened the door and found the patient he was looking for. Currently, she was awake and sitting up on her recovery bed. He walked over to her as she turned to face him.

"You must be Tayuya," Naruto said to the red-haired kunoichi. Tayuya replied, "And what the hell do you want?"

Naruto continued, "I would like to ask you a couple of questions."

"I don't know many times I have to say it to you damn people!," Tayuya replied in exasperation, "I can't recall a fucking thing! I have no memories of my past life! How many goddamn times must I be interrogated for it to sink in?! Am I in some form of trouble or what!?"

"That depends," Naruto replied calmly, "Because all I came here for was to inquire of your current condition and stability. I am a medic-nin after all."

"…Oh," Tayuya said after calming down, "I thought you were coming here to probe me like everyone else has so far."

"You suffered a severe psychological trauma that resulted in what was confirmed to be an irreversible amnesia," Naruto explained, "Besides retaining your memories of your name, your knowledge, crafts on genjutsu and other forms of fighting much to even my amazement, your history of your past life is a blank slate. Therefore further interrogations on you would be pointless."

"Was…Was I a criminal," Tayuya asked. Naruto had a raised eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"I have permanent memory loss but I'm not blind to see when I'm treated as a prisoner in this shit hole," Tayuya replied, "I must have done some really badass shit that merits my stay here with dick-less ninjas watching my every move. Since I woke up from my coma, it was said to me that I'm this ninja from some village called Otogakure and that I was some henchman who used to work for this Orochimaru guy, whoever the fuck he was.

"I told those brainless fucks time and time again that I had no idea what the hell they were talking about and the more they pressed on, the shittier the conversation became."

"Your repetitious use of profanity is a clear indication that you're making up for your lack of vocabulary and speech impediments," Naruto remarked.

"What was that!?," Tayuya yelled angrily, "You little fuck!"

"I strongly advise that you watch your tongue and your manner of speaking with me," Naruto replied.

"What's it to you," Tayuya barked.

"Continuous use of profanity in speech isn't appealing," Naruto said, "You'll only have everyone look at you as someone to stay far from."

"Like I give a horse's ass what people think of me," Tayuya remarked.

"You seem to," Naruto countered, "You did mention how you feel like you're being treated like a prisoner under the belief that you must have done some really bad stuff before your memory loss."

"And what if I did," Tayuya retorted, "I'm still going to be severely punished or sent to prison for crimes I have no memories of because of someone I was in a past life!"

Naruto found in himself in a bind after hearing Tayuya's last words.

How do you punish someone with permanent memory loss, Naruto wondered, Any ideas father?

'Honestly,' Minato admitted, 'My guess is as good as yours. I never had to deal with a situation like that before.'

That's a lot of help, Naruto mentally remarked.

'Hey,' Minato retorted, 'I'm not a walking answer key. You can't expect me to know the answer to every single problem that comes up, especially considering the one that you caused both her and yourself.'

What do you mean?

"If I recall, you used Tayuya as a lab rat to test out your prototype Harai Fuujin, which in effect caused her permanent amnesia and the interrogators' inability to probe her for information leading to Orochimaru's hideouts, and Sasuke and Kabuto's whereabouts. Your testing the full power and potential of your Harai Fuujin cost you and others vital information this Tayuya could have given you. Your jutsu's success in removing Orochimaru's cursed seal was at the expense of her memories.'

As Naruto thought about what Minato was telling, the more it made sense to him the angrier it made him at himself.

Goddamn it!, Naruto cursed in his mind as he smacked his hand to his face, I really screwed up, huh?

"What the hell is wrong with you," Tayuya asked. Naruto took a moment to calm down while trying to think of a way to handle the situation.

What a mess this is, Naruto thought.

(Two Minutes Earlier)

Shizune and Shikamaru were making their way to the room Tayuya was being held in. Shikamaru read the reports regard Tayuya's condition and found it rather annoying. He was placed in charge of the retrieval mission after Sasuke desertion and Tayuya was the kunoichi he faced off against before Temari came and resorted to using a wind-based summoning jutsu that overpowered Tayuya completely.

When they arrived in the room Tayuya was in, they found Naruto standing by the girl's recuperating bed evidently talking to her about something.

"Naruto-kun," Shizune said making both her and Shikamaru's presences known to the pair in the room. Both Naruto and Tayuya turned to see Shikamaru and Shizune approaching them

"Oh great," Tayuya remarked with an annoyed demeanor seeing Shizune again, "It's you again. What do I owe the crap ass honor?"

Shizune chose to ignore her comment and looked at Naruto.

"What are you here for," Shizune asked.

"Doing a check on her," Naruto said, "I hope you don't intend on having more time wasted in questioning her if she can remember anything about her past."

"No nothing of that sort," Shizune replied, "But we're just trying to figure out what we can do with her. She has no recollections of her life or the things that she did in her past. How do you penalize someone with no memory of their actions?"

"How hello genius," Tayuya remarked while looking at Shizune, "I'm still here in the room you know. For a ninja you're not all that subtle."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.

"Well," Naruto suggested, "I have an idea."

"I'm dying to hear it," Tayuya snorted. Looking at Tayuya, Naruto said, "Shizune-neechan, can you suggest to kaa-chan about giving Tayuya a one-year probation period before enlisting her as a ninja of Konoha?"

Everyone in the room looked at Naruto as if he grew two extra heads.

"Run that by us again," Shikamaru replied, "What you're suggesting what?"

"Tayuya don't have memories of her past but surprisingly enough she still remembers her shinobi training and skills. If I recall from your report about your encounter with her Shikamaru, Tayuya specializes in long-range genjutsu attacks. Based on your description about the way she fights, I'd say she's a B-A class Jounin…Perhaps Kurenai could be of help with Tayuya seeing that she also specializes in genjutsu attacks also."

"Wait a minute," Tayuya interjected, "You're offering me an opportunity to join this village?"

"All I'm doing is suggesting having a chance of starting over be given to you," Naruto said, "Granting that will be up to my kaa-chan if she's willing to pardon your past crimes regardless of your condition. If not, you will be charged for your past crimes and sentenced to whatever penalty decided against you."

Tayuya thought about what Naruto was saying. The more she did, the more she realized that she completely had nowhere else to go and her past with Orochimaru wouldn't be too quickly forgiven in other places if word was to get out about her who she used to be. And if she made enemies in her past life, on her own, she saw that she would be an easily target to take out if they all came after her.

I really don't have much of a choice, Tayuya thought, "If it can get me the fuck out of this damn hospital, fine, I'll do whatever you want me to."

"Naruto-kun may I speak with you outside please," Shizune requested.

"Oh, so now you wish to be subtle," Tayuya remarked snidely.

"Shikamaru," Naruto said, "Please keep an eye on our guest."

"Thanks," Shikamaru replied, "I get stuck with the babysitting job."

"Shut your pothole you nut-less prick," Tayuya retorted as Shizune and Naruto stepped outside. Once outside the room with the door closed, Shizune turned to Naruto and asked, "Naruto-kun, are you sure about this? I mean, she participated in the invasion Orochimaru acted out against Konoha.

"She also participated in instigating another war between Iwa and Konoha by attempting to have you killed by Iwa ninjas, and she participated in assuring Sasuke's defection from Konoha to Otogakure. I don't know if Tsunade-sama will be willing to grant full, if any pardon for her past felonies, all of them S-class."

"I know," Naruto said, "But the problem also lies in the fact that I caused her amnesia and why all efforts to interrogate and probe information out of her has failed. In removing her cursed seal and taking away a great deal of power the seal gave her, I in effect wiped out most of her memories. She may act like she's tough on the outside, but I can see that she's putting up that front to mask her true fears for what might happen to her."

"Besides, Ryota did her own share of felonies against me and Konoha and yet I was willing forgive and look pass her mistakes and have her given amnesty for her past actions. The major difference is that Ryota has all of her memories of her past and yet her crimes were given a full pardon while allowing her to join our ranks as a Jounin ninja."

Shizune saw his point with no words to come up with to refute them.

Naruto-kun would make quite the lawyer and negotiator, Shizune sighed, "…I'll talk with Tsunade-sama about this. Hopefully she'll see your point."

Naruto nodded and re-entered the room with Shizune. They walked in to see Shikamaru staring into the window looking out at the clouds passing by.

"Alright," Shizune said Tayuya, "I will bring your situation and Naruto-kun's suggestion on your behalf to Tsunade-sama's attention. If she approves, she'll have you put on a one-year trial basis but you most likely won't be allowed to leave the village unless authorized to with another Konoha Jounin or ANBU in your company. If you pass the probation period, you'll be allowed to join Konoha as a full fledge ninja and citizen with your previous misdeeds given a full pardon."

"Do you accept and agree to going along with this," Naruto asked.

"I have no family or anyone else to go back to and from what I was told, everyone I was told to have known are all dead," Tayuya said, "I have no past but I'm willing to have a new future."

"That's good to hear," Shikamaru said, "Because it would be too troublesome if you refused the offer given to you."

"I lost my memories not my common sense you space-taking dumbass," Tayuya remarked. Shikamaru snorted under his breath.

"Well you two look like you'll hit it off just fine," Naruto commented.

"Don't even joke that way Naruto," Shikamaru said, "I don't need more troublesome women in my life giving me more hell, mother is bad enough and being with one of your girlfriends as my teammate is just as bad."

"One of his girlfriends," Tayuya asked as she turned to Naruto, "What the hell are you, some kind of womanizing gigolo?"

Naruto sweat dropped. Taking on a more serious tone, Naruto said, "I'm the clan leader of the joint Senju-Namikaze clan and I hold a seat in the village shinobi council. And as I told you, my kaa-chan is the Godaime Hokage. If your probation is approved, you'll do well in watching the mannerism in how you address me, and others I hold in high regards. Do we have an understanding?"

Tayuya thought about what she was being told. If the very son of the Hokage who at the same time was a clan leader was vouching for her asylum and amnesty of past deeds, she thought, it would be best not to screw things up with him and do as he asked of her.

"I understand," Tayuya said.

"Good," Naruto nodded and turned to Shizune, "I'll leave things in your hands now neechan."

Naruto then started on his way to the door.

"Where are you going," Shikamaru asked.

"I have some business elsewhere to see to now," Naruto answered, "I'll see you all later."

Shikamaru was about to ask him further about it but Naruto exited the room with the door closing behind him, leaving the Nara heir with his additional questions unanswered. As Naruto walked through the hospital hallway…

"Naruto-senpai," a voice called out to him. Naruto turned to see Sakura making her way over him while dressed in her new nurse uniform.

"Kōhai," Naruto greeted, "What are you doing here?"

"Performing my weekly interning," Sakura said, "I wasn't aware that you returned back. That must mean that Hinata, Ino and Temari are back also."

"Yes," Naruto said, "Hinata is busy again on a mission with her team at the moment. It was on short notice but nothing she can't handle."

"That's good to hear," Sakura replied, "Maybe I can stop by to talk to Ino later."

"If she has the time," Naruto said, "In any case kōhai, I must be on my way now."

Without saying another word, Naruto made his way out from Sakura's sight and to his next destination.

(Meanwhile)

Team 8 was still searching around the area. So far they came across one dead end after another.

"Man I feel like we're wasting our time here," Kiba complained, "We looked all around and found absolutely nothing."

"Complaining won't find for us anything either," Shino replied, "Let's just resume our investigation."

"And I had intended on seeing Haku-chan today," Kiba muttered. Shino remarked, "If we work more efficiently I'm sure you'll-"

Shino was interrupted when one of his bugs flew back to him and reported what it and its fellow insect members found. The bug user nodded his head understanding all that was being explained to him.

"I understand," Shino said as he turned to Kiba, "Find Hinata and bring her over to where my kikai bugs will lead me."

"What's going on," Kiba asked.

"My kikai bugs may have stumbled onto something," Shino answered, "But we'll need Hinata to look into and confirm it."

Kiba nodded and hurried to locate his female teammate Akamaru following close by. Shino in the mean time went over to where the rest of his bugs were. It wasn't long until Hinata was found.

"What is it Kiba-kun," Hinata inquired.

"Come," Kiba requested, "Shino said that his bugs may have found something but we need you to check it out for us."

Hinata followed Kiba and Akamaru to where Shino presently was. Upon arriving, they found the bug user standing in front of the spot his bugs led him to.

"What did you find Shino-kun," Hinata asked.

"My bugs have studied this spot and found that it's been disturbed unnaturally," Shino explained.

"Let me see," Hinata said, "Byakugan!"

Activating her bloodline limit, Hinata scanned and x-rayed the ground beneath them. Analyzing the ground further, she found several unusual factors in it.

"I'm finding traces of organic materials and residue," Hinata said, "It's leading deeper into the ground."

"What else do you see," Kiba asked. Hinata kept searching into the ground until her eyes came across a hollow space with the earth.

"There's a pit of some sort about seven feet in circumference," Hinata said, "…It's surrounded by organic layers of tissue and what I think looks like…shed skin. It still looks fresh though partially deteriorated. But that's not all that's there"

"What do you see," Kiba inquired.

"A large body that's been rotting away for what might have been a few days. The body itself is serpentine in nature and appears to look like a composition of snakes."

"It was that snake monster form Orochimaru transformed into a while back during the time he was fighting Naruto," Kiba recalled.

"How deep does the pit goes," Shino asked.

"About twelve feet," Hinata answered before looking around the area again, "This spot is approximately thirty from the spot Orochimaru's corpse was laid after he emerged from out the ground after changing back from that snake monster form he was in."

"Yet you said that the body you saw inside that pit looks to have been deteriorating for the past few days," Shino deduced, "Though Naruto's battle with Orochimaru took place much weeks earlier."

"It doesn't add up," Kiba stated, "Flesh decay doesn't take that long to process."

"You're right it doesn't," Hinata replied as she looked back into the pit within the earth, "From the looks of it, something came out of that body orally and traveled up and escaped out to the surface."

"Something," Shino stated, "From all things considered, not something but someone."

"So Orochimaru's still alive out there somewhere," Kiba figured, "Both he and Naruto resorted to kinjutsus to cheat death while aiming to kill each other through kinjutsus. Ironic really. Somehow, Orochimaru managed to prevent his soul from being taken and sealed away by Naruto's Fuchi Fuujin."

"Naruto-kun was right," Hinata said, "Orochimaru fooled all of us and the rest of the nations."

"With everyone believing him to be dead," Shino added, "It makes working behind the scenes in the shadows a lot easier for him. In all accounts, Orochimaru could be anywhere."

"Or anyone if you recall the body snatching jutsu of his," Kiba interjected, "So what now?"

"We report back to Naruto-kun with our findings," Hinata said, "Evidently there isn't much more we can go on besides knowing now that Orochimaru is still alive. In what form we don't know."

Team 8 made tracks and started on their return to the village. As they were on their way, Kiba's nose picked up on something, as did Akamaru.

"You smell that too, huh," Kiba asked him partner.

"What is it," Hinata asked curiously.

"We're being followed," Kiba stated, "…By snakes."

Seconds later, the horde of large vipers came charging at them. The group dispersed in separate directions of the large vipers bit down on the ground they were previously standing on. Hinata and her teammates were in three separate spots with vipers of various sorts surrounding them.

"Looks like Orochimaru doesn't want us alive to reveal what we found," Shino said.

"Was it that obvious," a voice said. All three teens and Akamaru turned to the source of the voice. A mass of snakes piled together before a most familiar figure emerged from out of the mass of the snakes.

"Ku ku ku," the figure said, "It's been a while."

The team looked on at the Sannin that was once believed to have been killed by the son of the Yellow Flash.

"So it's true," another voice said, "You somehow survived my fuujin."

Everyone turned and found Naruto approaching them cautiously. He came originally to check up on their progress but he didn't expect Orochimaru actually appearing before them.

"More or less," Orochimaru said, "That jutsu of yours gave me a real scare. Something that's extremely rare. You ought to be proud of yourself for accomplishing such a feat. But like I said before, I'm immortal, therefore I'll never die."

"If that's the case," Naruto said as he pulled out his tri-pronged kunai, "Let's see if yellow won't be the last thing you see."

"Don't waste your time boy," Orochimaru replied, "I didn't come here to resume where we last left off. I will admit that I'm not strong enough to fight you. But that will change in three years' time when my new body will be ready and up to speed. Until then…"

Orochimaru's form burst into a pile of snakes that scattered away from the group and into the dirt. The vipers burst into white smoke and disappeared from the scene, leaving Naruto and rest with him alone where they were.

So Orochimaru was never actually here talking to us, Naruto realized, He was merely using his snakes as a mouthpiece.

"His new body," Kiba asked.

"He intends to use an S-class kinjutsu he created to possess Sasuke's body in three years' time," Naruto clarified, "Orochimaru seeks to become this so-called ultimate being that has mastered and learned every jutsu under the sun. He believes that the best and fastest way of learning jutsus the easy way is by having the Sharingan."

"If that's the case," Kiba figured, "I'm surprised he didn't try to go after Itachi."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did at first," Naruto stated, "Itachi though is a most formidable ninja and one not to be taken lightly."

"We now know for sure that Orochimaru is alive," Shino said.

"Yes we do," Naruto said in a grave tone, "Though he made his survival to us known, I doubt he'll be causing much trouble for the time being as he's presently attempting to keep a low profile in his weakened state."

"Should we alert the others about this," Kiba inquired.

"Only kaa-chan, jiisan and ero-jisan," Naruto said, "I'm certain that ero-jisan will try to have his spy network look into Orochimaru's possible whereabouts. For the time being it would be best if we don't make public what we know and found out; to do otherwise would lead to more problems than we can handle considering how many within and outside of Konoha wanted him dead."

The others nodded in understanding.

"Let's return and report back to kaa-chan," Naruto suggested as they turned and started on their way back to the village. On the way, Hinata saw the disturbed look on her lover's face.

"Orochimaru's return being confirmed clearly made you upset," Hinata stated.

"I'm more troubled about how he pulled it off," Naruto replied.

"Maybe he did what you did," Kiba said.

"No," Naruto countered, "That jutsu I used decapitated and sealed away the life force from his head. Not only that but the prototype infūin (shadow seal) I used to revive myself was a kinjutsu that I personally created and no one but myself knew of its existence."

"In three years," Shino spoke up, "Orochimaru will make his presence known to all after he possesses and occupies Sasuke's body."

"So how will we go about finding them before he gets the opportunity to do so," Kiba asked.

"We won't for now," Naruto said, "We have nothing to go with in tracking him down."

"But what about that Tayuya girl that worked for Orochimaru," Kiba said, "Can't you-"

"Permanent amnesia," Naruto interjected, "She's a dead end."

"Beautiful," Kiba replied cynically.

"Let's not worry to much about it for the time being," Naruto advised, "There's no point in worrying too much over matters we have no control over."

The group continued on their trek back to the village and to the Hokage Tower. Meeting with Tsunade, the group reported everything that took place as the Slug Princess listened to all that she was hearing. It went without say that her son's suspicions of her traitorous former teammate's survival were verified as fact. Tsunade told Team 8 that what they knew was going to remain as an S-class secret until further notice and that they weren't to bring it to anyone else's attention without her authorization.

After dismissing Team 8, she told Naruto to remain in the office so she could talk with his further in private. She waited until the Genin team left the office. When they were gone she turned her attention to Naruto.

"I heard from Shizune that you suggested having Tayuya registered as a Konoha ninja," Tsunade said stating the conversation.

"I trust that she gave my reasons for the suggestion," Naruto replied.

"It was hard getting many in Konoha to accept Ryota as part of this village," Tsunade said.

"Most of the villagers won't have to know that Tayuya used to work for Orochimaru," Naruto said, "I will admit that with Orochimaru still being alive I'm surprised that he didn't come to finish Tayuya off."

"She has total memory loss because of you therefore she poses no threat to him as an instrument the interrogators could exploit," Tsunade reasoned.

"All the more why I say let her join our village," Naruto said, "With no memories of her past life she has no ties with Orochimaru. Give her one-year probation as a new kunoichi of Konoha and if she proves to be a risk or threat to the villagers, then actions that ought to be taken to have her taken cared of would be at your complete discretion."

He's doing almost the exact same thing for Tayuya as he did for Ryota, Tsunade thought. Looking at her son, she inquired, "Why are going through all this trouble for this girl? She was part of the team that aided in attacking Konoha and helping in Sasuke's desertion."

"Ryota did things against me personally in the past that merited death and she has all of her memories of them yet I spared her to both occasions and she was all to join our village despite her origins and history," Naruto explained, "The person Tayuya was in her previous life is dead. In spite of her current demeanor toward us, I can tell that this new girl she became is trying to mask her true fears for what might befall her for crimes she did in the previous life that she can't recall doing at all."

Tsunade was able to see Naruto's point though she heard something similar from Shizune earlier. After a few moments of silence…

"I'll give it some thought before I come to a decision," Tsunade said. Naruto nodded.

"Is there anything else kaa-chan?"

"No," Tsunade said, "That will be all."

Naruto made a quick exit and left the office. Tsunade leaned back on her chair and opened the drawer of her desk to take out her battle of sake and a small cup.

"That boy is going to bring me gray hairs," Tsunade remarked as she poured for herself a drink to calm her nerves.

"That's quite a profound statement to make about the boy hime," a voice from behind said as he entered through the window and stood behind the blond female Hokage. Tsunade sighed, "…I'm assuming you heard what we were talking about then."

"Every word of it," Jiraiya replied with a calm tone, though Tsunade was able to sense the seriousness in his behavior, "I was honestly hoping that Naruto was actually wrong about Orochimaru's survival. There's no telling how Sarutobi-sensei will take the news once he finds out about this."

"I'm sure he won't do anything reckless though he won't be happy at all about Naruto's suspicions being confirmed," Tsunade said, "Anko on the other hand-"

"Will have a steady head and will not do anything foolish," Jiraiya interjected, "I'm certain Naruto will make sure of that."

"What will you do about Orochimaru," Tsunade asked. The Toad Sage rubbed the back of his head and said, "I'll have my spy network look into it and see what they can find. It'll take some time seeing that I've been looking into the Akatsuki organization and their intention for the Jinchuurikis."

"Just the thought of whatever the Akatsuki has in mind for the Jinchuurikis makes me want to forgo the very idea of announcing Naruto's Jinchuuriki status to the villagers," Tsunade said.

"Well we can't protect him forever," Jiraiya remarked, "Like it or not, he'll have to face some of the most dangerous enemies on his own and we won't be there to keep him out of danger. The past and recent events that took place in the boy's life are proof of that."

"I know that Naruto can take care of himself," Tsunade retorted, "I raised him after all!"

"And I helped educate and train him as well," Jiraiya said. Both Sannins took a breath to relax themselves. A minute later Jiraiya said, "I saw that you were going to have a drink. Mind if I join you for one? I'll treat you to one later."

The idea to punching and sending Jiraiya flying across the sky to the other side of the village was tempting. Tsunade though decided not to act on it considering that Jiraiya said that he would treat her to a drink later.

"Sure," Tsunade agreed as she passed him a second cup hidden in her desk drawer, "I could use a drinking buddy."

After pouring sake into their cups, the two Sannins indulged themselves in the momentary escape from reality.

Orochimaru is back and as always he's up to no good! Naruto negotiated having Tayuya join the ranks of Konoha's ninjas though a decision hasn't been made yet? Will Shiho unlock the secrets behind Orochimaru's book or will she run into a dead end like Naruto? Will the former Oto kunoichi be allowed to join the village or will Tsunade still have judgment and sentence carried out against her because of her past crimes? Find out next time.