As soon as Jiraiya raised his hand…
Naruto shot off in the direction of Tsunade.
Tsunade held up her index finger against Naruto.
(Whoosh!)
"Huh?" Tsunade saw Naruto vanish from her sight.
"Hmm…"
"What do we have here…?"
Tsunade heard Naruto's voice right behind her.
She turned around to see Naruto rummaging through her purse.
"NARUTO!" Tsunade screamed.
("When did he swipe my purse?") Tsunade thought.
"Look at the number of promissory notes," Naruto said as he lifted his head.
"Naruto, it is considered to be rude for a man to check a woman's purse," Jiraiya advised.
Tsunade felt like losing her mind now.
Naruto felt a sweat down his spine.
He turned back around to see Tsunade releasing a dangerous aura.
"You are dead!" Tsunade said as she rushed towards Naruto and launched into the sky with one leg raised so high that it almost touched her head.
< Hidden Taijutsu - Heavenly Foot of Pain! >
Tsunade said as she landed her a dropkick on Naruto, only for him to dodge the last second, following which her foot landed on the ground.
(BOOOOMMMMM!!!) Piles of dust and debris flew about.
The floor of the terrace was almost destroyed.
("What the hell, she really wants to destroy me…")
("Didn't she take my gammchan the first time I met her?")
Naruto thought as he stared at the monster that was Tsunade.
"You've lost Tsunade!"
"You needed more than a finger!" Jiraiya reminded.
Though Tsunade was angry with Naruto, she distinctly heard Jiraiya and could not let the comment slide by…
"You've got nerves to provoke me Jiraiya!" Tsunade said.
"Tsunade!"
"Stop it!"
"You've lost," Hiruzen said.
Tsunade finally calmed down.
("What am I doing?")
("I am being led around by a brat like him?") Tsunade thought as she looked towards Naruto with complicated emotions in her heart.
Naruto took a step back in fear.
("She is not thinking of going against me again, is she?") Naruto thought.
"You were always terrible at gambling," Jiraiya said.
"I may not have mentioned this before…"
"But this kid has fought against Orochimaru toe to toe for almost an entire hour," Hiruzen said.
"WHAT?" Tsunade stared at Naruto.
"Not only that, he has done deeds worthy of merit, especially the invasion plan…" Jiraiya said.
Hiruzen walked towards Naruto.
"Naruto!"
"Its thanks to your efforts, that boy from the sand village gave this information," Hiruzen said as he thought back to what Hayate said.
...FB
"I do not expect you to believe my words completely at this point."
"All I know is that I owe something to this village because of the Chuunin exams."
"I do not want lives from both villages to be lost over a meaningless squabble for resources."
"??" Hayate stared at Gaara.
...FB
Naruto knew about Gaara telling the invasion plan to Hayate.
When Jiraiya informed Naruto, he was shocked, but also relieved at the same time….
("Looks like they can handle the problem by themselves.") Naruto thought.
("That boy fought Orochimaru?") Shizune stared at Naruto with a shocked expression.
She then ran to Tsunade with ton-ton in her hand.
"Tsunade-sama!"
"What do you plan to do?"
"You can call off the bet, right? Saying that it was not your intention in the first place." Shizune tried to convince Tsunade.
"No Shizune!"
"The boy deserves Respect for standing up to that man," Tsunade said as she walked towards Naruto.
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
Tsunade raised both her hands to her neck.
She took off the necklace and held it towards Naruto.
"There's only one of this kind of necklace in this world."
"It belonged to the first Hokage!"
"The money you can obtain by selling this necklace is more than enough to buy ramens for three-four lifetimes."
("The necklace granny gave me back then…") Naruto thought back to the time he always used to wear it, only to lose it in the battle against pain.
Naruto felt a bit guilty about losing the necklace back then….
"It's all right."
"I don't want it," Naruto said in a low voice.
Tsunade walked over and tied the necklace to his neck,
"You don't have a say."
"You've got guts to stand against Orochimaru and come out not just alive, but also beating him in the process."
"I know that man, and I also know how humiliated he can feel when beat down by a brat like you," Tsunade said as she took her purse back from Naruto.
"Granny…" Naruto murmured.
Tsunade froze in her tracks.
"W-What"
"did"
"you"
"call me?"
Tsunade had a scary look across her face.
("Sh*t!") Naruto regretted calling her that immediately.
Tsunade rushed up to Naruto.
Naruto flinched as he closed his eyes in fear.
(clank!)
Tsunade sent his forehead protector flying.
"Mm..?" Naruto felt nothing happen.
He opened his eyes, only to see….
(author's note - Ahem! Two big rasengans near the face.)
CHU!
Tsunade kissed his forehead.
Naruto looked up to see Tsunade who put her hands over his shoulder.
"Become a fine man…" Tsunade smiled.
("and, a fine Hokage!") Tsunade said in her mind.
Naruto was stunned at Tsunade's actions.
"So do you accept yet?" Hiruzen interrupted.
"Not so fast old man."
"I still need to think this through…" Tsunade said.
"Back to the matter at hand."
"What is your plan?" Jiraiya asked.
"Currently, I have no reason to fight it out with the sand village, since the Kazekage is being involved out of desperation."
"I intend to send teams to subdue their external forces, be it sand and sound alike."
"A fight not to kill, but to make them surrender."
"The only problem is Orochimaru…" Hiruzen paused.
"Yes, you never know what that snake is thinking…" Tsunade said.
"And you rejected me when I asked you out saying Orochimaru was smart and all…" Jiraiya sulked.
"That was a long time ago," Tsunade argued back.
"But why does Orochimaru want to destroy this village?" Shizune asked.
"I reckon it has things to do with him being rejected for Hokage position and being chased out of the village for conducting experiments with human bodies," Hiruzen explained.
"But it mostly has to do with the Uchiha kid," Hiruzen concluded.
"Uchiha?"
"You mean the only boy who survived?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes."
"Not only he was after that kid, but he was also after the one who went rogue," Jiraiya said.
"Luckily, the boy has managed to disappear for the past three weeks now…" Hiruzen said.
"Disappear?" Naruto walked towards the group.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked in a firm voice.
Hiruzen felt a trouble was on its way.
Naruto closed his eyes.
< Sage Mode! >
Naruto's eyelids turned Orange.
His sense searched the entire village until it finally locked on to Sasuke who was in the Uchiha district.
Tsunade and Hiruzen were surprised to see Naruto in Sage Mode.
Especially Tsunade, who knew the difficulty of sage mode, after seeing Jiraiya's intense training.
"He is truly talented" Tsunade commented.
"He is in the village!" Naruto said causing the group's expression to change.
"How do you know?" Hiruzen asked.
"I just scanned the entire village. He is in the Uchiha district," Naruto said.
"Amazing!" Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and Hiruzen commented at the same time.
"Naruto!"
"I want you to find out what happened after we finish the meeting here," Hiruzen said.
"Mm.." Naruto nodded.
"So how do we deal with Orochimaru, not to mention the Kazekage as well," Tsunade asked.
"I'm sure you can figure something out in regards to Orochimaru, as for the Kazekage, I'll see if I can handle him by myself…"
"However, I still believe that the Kazekage can be convinced to back out, except that I cannot mention it beforehand."
"It can only be done on that particular day…." Hiruzen said.
"Regarding the Kazekage…"
"Why don't you leave him to me…" Naruto suggested.
"The Kazekage?"
"Don't be ridiculous, no matter how much powerful you are.."
"The Kazekage is a Kage level Ninja."
"I will not allow you to risk your life on such a mission," Hiruzen argued.
"Trust me; I am not going to rush my death on this one."
"In fact, I have been thinking of the people I might require for this particular mission." Naruto continued.
"People?"
"Who do you want?" Hiruzen asked.
"I want to take Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke with me on this one," Naruto said.
"Naruto there is a limit to what you want to do.."
"Don't be suicidal, and don't drag people to their deaths," Tsunade said.
"No!"
"Naruto may be able to pull this off," Jiraiya assured.
Hiruzen turned towards Naruto.
"Naruto, I know that there is more to this than what meets the eye,"
"Especially the changes that has occurred over the past few months," Hiruzen said.
Naruto knew what Hiruzen was talking about. Even Jiraiya was able to figure out a few hints.
"Now is not the right time."
"I can only tell you in another two and a half years to be honest," Naruto said.
"What is he talking about?" Tsunade asked.
Hiruzen and Jiraiya stared at each other.
Jiraiya nodded to which Hiruzen smiled.
"All right Naruto!"
"We will wait."
"Mm.." Naruto nodded as he jumped towards the boundary of the terrace,
"I will talk to Sasuke about this," Naruto said as he vanished from their sight.