Chapter 20: Waking Dream

Chapter Twenty – Waking Dream

"You may think you're all healed, you may even look all healed, but you're NOT all healed!" - Shizune

Naruto wasn't sure when missions had gone from being exciting new experiences to the same old repetitive actions. Go out. Find and do what you left for. Return.

Having Orochimaru as your team leader usually meant less trouble for his students, and for that Naruto was grateful. She hated when they stumbled upon trouble, mostly because of Anko and Shisui.

Both were skilled ninjas, but age was a very important factor in their occupation. And though her two teammates could hold their own weight plus a little extra, it wasn't always enough. Therefore having Orochimaru on your side of the battle line was an uncomfortable, but none the less unexpected bonus.

People were terrified of him, much like Naruto had been in her younger years, and when he'd swoop in to help it almost always guaranteed they'd get out with their limbs intact. In fact, on a few occasions their enemy had turned tail and ran for their life just at the sight of Orochimaru.

Naruto peeked out from her hiding place, but one insistent tug on her jacket made her duck down again.

She glared back at Shisui who was standing hunched in the bushes together with her. His attention was elsewhere so he didn't see her annoyance. Instead he was continuously tugging at her jacket and pointing towards the ground a little distance away.

Naruto looked, but couldn't say she saw anything of interest. Her opinion must have shown on her face, because Shisui rolled his eyes at her lack of reaction. He instantly got a hold of Anko instead, using their signal to wordlessly call both her and Orochimaru to them.

In a minute all four were hunched together in the bushes while making it more difficult to keep hidden from the potential target they were tracking. No one was allowed to speak, so Naruto was forced to keep her opinion to herself though.

Shisui pointed again to the area, and Orochimaru sneaked up to get a better look. He held his thumb up, indicating the coast was clear, and the three students followed him carefully. Shisui must have picked up on a trace, and considering the nod of approval Orochimaru sent him it was one that was easily missed.

"We're on the right track now. I even suspect I know where the target is heading." Orochimaru signed to them.

As of yesterday sign language was a constant rule for this mission. Orochimaru was using the mission to train them in tracking and scouting, and had forbidden them to speak until he said it was okay. After keeping them quiet for twenty four hours, Naruto suspected he was enjoying her silence in particular. It was growing very taxing for Naruto, but it had improved Orochimaru's mood considerably. He was almost smiling.

"Does that mean we can speak soon?" Asked Naruto, her sign language much slower than Orochimaru's, but still readable.

In answer he shot her a pointed look, one that made his message much more clear than if he'd screamed the word; no.

"This is it. The target is in there." Orochimaru signed quickly to his students, pointing to a snapped twig on the ground. Even Naruto had been able to follow the trail the longer they'd been scouting. Either she was getting better at this tracking and scouting thing, or their target was growing sloppier.

"Are you ever going to tell us who we're following?" Naruto signed back.

Orochimaru shook his head, and Naruto pouted.

Shisui seemed to agree with Naruto though. "Is it not dangerous to send us in blind?"

Orochimaru simply shook his head again, and his students glanced sceptically at one another. Their sensei idea of danger and their own did not always correspond.

"The target isn't dangerous. I'll tell you one detail to ease your mind. This is a missing person case." Orochimaru signed back and pointed towards the bath house they all suspected their target had taken refuge in for the night.

Naruto perked up. Okay, that was better than many of the scenarios she'd been expecting.

"But we need to lure our target out. The target is a flight risk, and will try to escape if I'm seen. So it falls to you three to get the target out and to a meeting spot. Don't try fighting. We don't want to aggravate the target further." Orochimaru signed hurriedly.

"You said the target wasn't dangerous. That sounds like if they are provoked they might start fighting." Anko pointed out.

Orochimaru thought for a moment, before shrugging. "Maybe. It depends on how badly you provoke the target. But I wish to see how you three deal with a situation like this. If you want to become jōnin or ANBU you'll be put in situations like this. Following an unknown target with very little information about their skills and identity. We're gathering information on this mission. The target has this information, and to make the target speak I have to get them alone somewhere people won't overhear us. I'm also more or less testing your capabilities. I know perfectly well who the target is, and most of their skills. You don't, so I'm making sure you get as much practice before we return to Konoha."

Naruto barely managed to follow along with Orochimaru's hurried sign language, but got the gist of what he was saying. So basically he was making this more difficult than it had to be. Which was probably a good thing. If the target was that dangerous he wouldn't risk it. Would he?

They got up and discussed a meeting point higher up in the mountain. Orochimaru was coming back down to the small village with them to make sure they didn't mess up, but had no plans to show himself until they arrived at the meeting point with their target.

Naruto was a little annoyed he wouldn't even give the identity of their target. It felt like an unnecessary risk.

Shisui and Anko were excited though. This was their first tracking and scouting mission and Shisui looked like he was having the time of his life. Even without the Sharingan his eyes were sharp and he never missed the trail.

Their plan was first to gather information from a distance. Potential escape routes, potential hiding places and potential dangers that could occur without having to enter the bath house their target was within. It was a bath house though, and parts of the construction lacked windows for the customer's privacy.

They had been given enough money to check themselves in, pretending to be customers if they couldn't find an alternative way to get closer to the target, but was attempting to find another solution.

They did a lot of sneaking in the windows. One keeping watch of the street while the other two looked through the windows for signs of anything suspicious.

They came up with very little information of who they were looking for, but luckily got a good idea of potential routes the target would take if they attempted to flee.

So with only one option left they entered the bath house. Naruto and Anko went in alone, feeling it was more plausible that they as friends had decided to go for a bath, than to have Shisui join them as the lone male. Instead Shisui stood watch outside.

It was not a luxurious bath house by any means, and it looked completely empty at a first glance. There weren't even a clerk to greet them upon their entry, which made it very easy for them to take a look around.

The lack of people would make it difficult to go unnoticed if they were caught, but on the other hand there was no one to demand money just so they could take a quick look around in the common areas.

The small common room was empty, and so was the toilets close to the reception, even what Naruto suspected was the office was empty of people. So they walked further in, intending to check out the locker rooms.

Anko put on a henge to take on the appearance of a random man and headed for the male lockers while Naruto decided to go undisguised into the female locker rooms.

It was empty there too.

Frowning, Naruto walked into the showers, but found them just as empty. There was only one place left to check before they had to start going from door to door, and this one was difficult to enter without getting noticed.

Naruto then got a brilliant idea. She knew exactly how to find out if anyone was in the bath.

She'd watched Jiraiya spy on the women bath for years. This shouldn't be that difficult. The fences always had a peek hole. Naruto suspected Jiraiya himself had created peek holes in every single bath house from Fire Country to the ocean in Kumogakure.

Quickly she made it outside through one of the hallway windows. She ran around the building, waving lazily over her shoulder in Shisui's direction, before skidding to a halt when she found the fence separating the street and the women bath. Without any preamble she started looking for irregularities in the timber.

After a few minutes of searching she found one. Putting her eye to the crack she tried to keep as quiet as she'd seen Jiraiya be when he was on these types of "researches".

At first glance it was hard to see anything at all, but from the little she could see it looked empty. Adjusting her position Naruto got a better visual, and froze when she saw a tuft of hair at one of the pool edges.

Someone was there!

Naruto tried to get a better view, but it was hopeless. Instead she decided to head back to the lockers, keeping an ear out for any noises from the bath.

She had no idea who the person was, but her belongings had to be in one of the lockers. Few people left lockers half opened when they stored possessions in them, so Naruto quietly opened the ones that had been shut completely.

While she worked Naruto grew increasingly nervous, and cringed every time a locker made a sound, while hoping desperately it didn't carry out to whoever was outside in the bath.

Naruto had lost count of how many lockers she'd opened when she finally had a result.

She took out the garments, noticing the fabric was of ninja standards. She checked the pockets of the pants first, making sure there was nothing to be discovered there before holding it up for inspection. There was nothing special about them at all.

Naruto held up the green haori next, and was struck with how familiar it looked.

With dawning realization she understood who it was they were tracking.

Crap. Not dangerous? Orochimaru was trying to get every single one of them killed. Himself included.

Naruto sat down. Taking a deep breath while trying to figure out how to go about this. Granted, the person wasn't an enemy, but she was far from harmless.

Tsunade. They had been tracking Tsunade of all people.

She bit her lip and looked out towards the sliding doors separating the showers and the bath. Knowing at any second she could come back to get dressed again.

Naruto had already stuffed her belongings back in the locker and closed it, but she wasn't sure how to make Tsunade come with them.

No wonder Orochimaru was trying to stay clear. Tsunade would know what was up if she even felt a hint of his chakra. But Naruto, Anko and Shisui were unknown to her. Tsunade had no idea who they were, and they had an advantage there.

Naruto should be discussing this with the others. She really should have. But there was simply only one way to go about this. It might get her killed, but it would be for the best.

Anko and Shisui would see when she made her move, and hopefully they'd hurry after her. They had agreed to meet outside unless they were detained. No one would come to her aid unless she gave the signal for backup, or more than an hour had gone by. Anko was probably with Shisui already.

Naruto tip-toed silently out of the locker room, and quickly measured the hallway leading to the reception area.

She would have to be extremely quick. Tsunade couldn't be given the opportunity to even notice her presence in the building, which incidently would be very difficult.

Naruto sighed but rigged up her plan in a hurry, she couldn't afford go out and potentially loose this opportunity.

Half way through strapping up her trap she heard movements from the locker room, and knew time was running out.

"Where is she?" Signed Anko anxiously. Peeking over the bushes towards the bath house.

"She must have found something. All is quiet though. Naruto still have thirty five minutes." Shisui signed back impatiently.

They noticed a woman come walking towards the inn. She was carrying a bag of groceries, and Anko and Shisui both watched her in worry.

This was probably the missing receptionist. She'd run out to take care of an errand. It had been lucky for them so far, but Naruto was still inside. Hopefully she'd get out through a window before she was spotted.

The woman walked up to the narrow staircase in front of the entrance door, shifting her bag on her hip while she climbed the stairs. But she suddenly halted, and next moment the door crashed open.

Shisui and Anko jolted up when they saw Naruto came hurtling out the door with panic written all over her face. On her heel was a tall blonde woman with a look of pure fury on her heel.

Naruto didn't bother to come to them. Instead she was heading straight in the direction of their meeting point.

"What the hell?" Snapped Anko, not bothering with sign language anymore. They both sprang after them. But Naruto and the woman had a good head start. Shisui doubted they'd be able to catch up.

"You thieving little brat! I'll crush you like a bug with my finger alone! Come back!"

Anko and Shisui looked worried between them. Wondering what on earth Naruto had done this time.

Naruto was running for her life. She was deadly afraid of what Tsunade might do. She was not the Tsunade she remembered from her own time, but the alcoholic, gambling and traumatized Tsunade with no one to stand in as the voice of reason. Shizune was still working with her team back in Konoha.

She peeked quickly over her shoulder, just in time to see Tsunade hit the ground hard with her fist. Naruto shouted and jumped as high in the air she could manage to not get caught in the implosion.

The earth cracked underneath her, and she almost lost her balance before she got up in the air. The rumbling thunder of the cracking earth spurred Naruto on. Tsunade had to halt to hit the ground, giving Naruto the tiniest opportunity to get further ahead.

Naruto sent a quick thanks to Orochimaru for having focused so much of their training on speed with her and Shisui. If he hadn't Tsunade would have caught up long ago and she'd be a blood spatter on the forest floor.

She was trusting that the sight of Orochimaru would be enough to make Tsunade hesitant. Orochimaru hadn't said anything about keeping the target at their meeting point, just to get her there. Naruto was doing her job alright. Maybe not as sneaky as Orochimaru would have preferred, but it was getting done.

Naruto could see the meeting point up ahead, but no sign of Orochimaru. Crap… Was he behind her? What was she supposed to do if Orochimaru wasn't here?

Tsunade wasn't the fastest, but she had longer legs than Naruto, and she was eating up the distance with fewer steps. She was alsp furious, which helped a lot on keeping her speed up. Naruto was terrified, which came very handy at the moment since she probably broke one of her personal records trying to stay ahead of Tsunade.

Naruto was almost by the rock - their meeting point - when she finally noticed Orochimaru. He was coming quickly in from the side. And Naruto never thought she'd ever be in a situation where Orochimaru was defending her from Tsunade, but there had to be a first for everything, right?

Orochimaru intercepted Tsunade with such force it made the earth rumble. Tsunade had noticed him at the last possible moment, and blocked whatever it was he had attempted to do.

The result was that both of them were thrown backwards by the shock of their attacks. Naruto only saw the end result, and stopped in her track and stared wide eyed as Tsunade and Orochimaru hurriedly got to their feet.

Tsunade looked suspiciously at her old teammate and then to Naruto. Her eyes darkening as she seemed to understand what was happening. Behind Tsunade, far away in the distance, she could see Anko and Shisui trying to come to her rescue.

"What sort of prank is this? What is going on Orochimaru?" Asked Tsunade angrily and looked hard at the snake sannin.

"I couldn't let you harm my student, Tsunade-hime. Though I'm not sure what she did to get you so furious. I told my students to get you here. Pardon Naruto's lack of class and stealth. She doesn't seem to know how to do anything without making a spectacle."

"Hey! I got the job done, Orochimaru! "Not dangerous" my ass. You put us up to tracking and luring one of the sannin! She can squash any of us like a bug, and she's stubborn too! What was we supposed to do? Lure her out with a trail of sake bottles?" Naruto shouted furiously.

Orochimaru found Naruto's speech highly amusing, and even Tsunade didn't have an immediate come back. Shisui and Anko finally caught up with them, curiously taking in the situation.

"Wait… aren't you...?" Asked Shisui staring at Tsunade in surprise.

Tsunade looked skeptically from Anko to Shisui. "And I suppose these are your other two students?"

"Yes they are. Anko, Naruto and Shisui, this is my old genin teammate Tsunade-hime." Orochumaru explained.

"Whoa… You're one of the sannin!" Anko shouted astonished. She'd been poised to strike at a moment's notice, but her back straightened up and a wide, excited smile was blooming on her face.

"I am. Now give me back my pendant you brat!" Tsunade said and rounded on Naruto.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and put her hand in her pocket, sliding out the green crystal she'd barely managed to steal from around Tsunade's neck.

Tsunade would never have left her pendant in her locker, so Naruto had used her trap to steal the pendant from her. Snapping it straight from her neck. Just like Naruto had predicted, Tsunade had efficiently broken out of the trap Naruto had set up, and pursued her with vengeance.

"No wait." Orochimaru interfered. Both Tsunade and Naruto looked startled up at him. "Hold on to that a little longer, Naruto. I want to have a chat with Tsunade, and she'll run off the moment you hand the pendant back to her."

"You stole her pendant?" Asked Shisui exasperated. "You should clear your crazy plans with us ahead of time, Naruto! We've talked about this before."

"There wasn't time. I had no idea how long I had, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity. And hey, it worked!" Naruto said in defense.

"She's like a cat. It's like the girl has nine lives..." Muttered Anko and rolled her eyes.

Tsunade looked from Anko and Shisui and back to Naruto. "Fine. I'll listen. Not that it matters. What does sensei want this time? I'm not coming back. I'm not helping in the war. He should know that already." She huffed.

Naruto stiffened. Tsunade had been this way the first time too, but she had forgotten how cold she'd been in the beginning. "We have already heard your arguments, Tsunade-hime. No, I was sent here for three reasons. The first one was to find out if you were alive, which you are, so that's something I guess." Orochimaru said and rolled his eyes at Tsunade's antics.

Naruto looked from one sannin to the other. Finding their dynamic strangely playful. When they were not being nemesis it seemed the two got along quite well.

"Why don't we make some dinner? My students have had little rest today, and I think Naruto is in desperate need of some water after the marathon sprint you two had up the mountain. Care to join us, Tsunade-hime?" Orochumaru asked and gestured towards a camp fire already set up to be lit.

So that's what he'd been doing while they did the dirty work. Orochimaru could be infuriating at times.

"I never imagined you'd ever take on students, Orochimaru." Muttered Tsunade and looked at each of the children in turn.

"Me neither. Things change though. They're a fascinating team." Orochimaru answered and looked at each of them in turn. "Their dynamic is quite different than ours was. All three has great potential, it's just a hassle to get it out of them."

Naruto glared at Orochimaru while Anko and Shisui shifted awkwardly.

"Your personality has potential too, Orochimaru, but it sure is a hassle dragging it out of you." Naruto snapped back.

Orochimaru shook his head. "I guess you can imagine which one Naruto is closest to if we compare them to our genin team, Tsunade-hime." Orochimaru said in a drawl, hardly bothered by Naruto's attitude.

"You should feel lucky anyone bothers to train you brat." Tsunade said and sent Naruto a glare.

Naruto had yet to give back the pendant, but Tsunade hadn't asked for it either. The sannin probably knew she wouldn't get rid of them before Orochimru had said whatever he came to say.

"So why did you really become a sensei, Orochimaru? I thought that was more Jiraiya's style." Tsunade asked conversationally.

"Sensei wouldn't stop bothering me about it. So I took an apprentice. Anko here." He explained and gestured to Anko who was eating quietly next to him.

"How did the other two get dumped in your lap?" Asked Tsunade curiously. She was slowly growing more relaxed, the previous tension and the bad confrontation with Naruto had her in a very bad mood to begin with.

"I decided to fulfil the team." Orochimaru replied casually, and Tsunade barked out laughing.

"That is complete bullshit. Honesty this time please." She demanded between chuckles of laugher.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed and then he looked at Naruto and Shisui in turn. "I gave it a shot to have Naruto on my team. The girl was a mystery when Jiraiya brought her to the village. But today I think I'd choose having Shisui on my team rather than Naruto."

Tsunade looked curiously at Naruto. "Jiraiya brought you to Konoha?"

Before Naruto could respond Orochimaru clarified the situation. "A few years back. Right after you last saw him. Jiraiya fished her out of the river and brought the stray to Konoha. She showed potential."

"Wait… You completed the team to have Naruto as your student?" Asked Anko, a trace of hurt audible to all of them.

Naruto frowned and stared daggers at Orochimaru. "Of course. It was too much of a coincidence. The one guy I didn't want as a sensei happened to become my sensei. Why do you think I was so against this in the beginning?"

"Beginning? You're still throwing tantrums about it." Shisui murmured.

"I thought we were getting along, Naruto." Orochimaru said in his most sickly sweet voice.

"We are." Naruto answered and rolled her eyes. "I accepted my fate years ago."

Orochimaru felt the need to explain the situation further, and turned towards Tsunade again. "I was curious about her healing abilities. First the she fell down a waterfall, and then there was an outing where Naruto was the only one who didn't get injured or sick." Orochimaru explained. "Shisui ended up with me too, but he's probably the biggest surprise of my students so far. He's intelligent, well mannered, very talented and great at strategy. A prodigy actually. Just like Anko. I guess Naruto is a prodigy in her own way… If you look away from the fact she's rude and not very smart."

Naruto clenched her teeth together and took a calming breath. She was surprised he admitted this in front of everyone, but then he'd already told her this before. It didn't really matter how he'd become her sensei, it wouldn't change that he was.

Naruto kept her mouth busy by stuffing it with food. Not happy at all about how she was being discussed between the two. She sounded like a dog being put in the rescue shelter.

"I see. Since she's still on your team I guess she must be showing some potential." Tsunade guessed, still talking as if none of the three students were there. Naruto had the urge to splatter some soup in her face.

"Right before this mission she activated her chakra chains. Naruto is an Uzumaki." Orochimaru explained, which instantly peeked Tsunade's interest. She looked Naruto up and down.

"She does look like Kushina actually."

Naruto scowled back "Hey! I'm right here, old hag. Stop talking like I'm a display in a shop window, dattebayo!"

"What did you call me?" Shouted Tsunade furiously.

"You're-" Naruto started saying, but both Anko and Shisui put a hand each over her mouth before she could get the sentence out.

Orochimaru sighed. "Enough about my students. Let's get to why I'm here in the first place."

"Finally!" Tsunade said exasperatedly and looked back at Orochimaru.

Naruto sourly followed Anko and Shisui away from camp. Orochimaru had ordered them away because what he and Tsunade were about to discuss was confidential.

Instead they were put to the task of getting up tents in a camouflaged area. They quickly got up three tents, one for Orochimaru, one for the girls and one for Shisui.

"I'm not even sure this is necessary." Muttered Naruto and looked up at the sky. It was a little cloudy, but that didn't mean there would be rain.

"We've already put them up. You can sleep outside if you want, but I'm taking the tent." Anko answered and pointed to the one man tent they usually shared on missions. Naruto never bothered to bring her own anymore. Anko had no problem sharing hers, and Naruto preferred not bringing unnecessary gear.

Naruto was in a bad mood. At first she thought it would be great to see Tsunade, and in a way it was, but not when Tsunade was being her old bitchy self.

"So how long have you known, Naruto?" Asked Shisui and came trotting over to her. His hands in his pocket and an unreadable expression on his face.

"Known what?"

He sighed and looked over to Anko who was watching them with a similar expression as Shisui. "That Orochimaru handpicked you for the team?"

Naruto huffed. Of course… She hoped this didn't cause trouble for them. She'd already fought with Anko enough about Orochimaru as it was. "I've known since… the mission where Ebisu died." Naruto answered and sat down on the grass.

"He admitted it right after he and Choza returned. I asked and he admitted it. Apparently I'm a lab rat for him to research. I guess he found out the mystery though. Since I'm an Uzumaki and all that." Naruto said grumpily and ripped some grass from the ground, twirling the strands tightly around her fingers.

Shisui sat down next to her. "Well, at least you're not the left over." He said with a humorless chuckle.

"Or the cast off." Anko huffed and came over to join her. Naruto couldn't help but snort.

"I think we're all his lab rats. Orochimaru doesn't care about passing on his skills. He's more interested in discoveries." Naruto muttered. "We must be showing results for him to still keep bothering with us."

"Do you honestly believe that?" Anko asked seriously. "He's our sensei. Maybe he picked us because he found us curious in the beginning, but personally… I don't care what he's done before. I'm just glad Orochimaru is our sensei. Not because he's a sannin, or a war hero, or might become Hokage someday, but because he's him."

"Really?" Naruto asked with one eyebrow left.

"Well… I think his past does play a big part of who Orochimaru is, but I trust him. I trust he wants what's best for our team, and I value him as a sensei. He's not really… um… he can be scary at times, sure, but you need to harden up to do stuff like he does. All jōnin has their quirks. It's almost a rule." Shisui explained nervously, peeking over his shoulder in fear of being overheard.

"I don't trust him… I'm fine with his personality, many ninjas develop some level of insanity because of all the shit we go through, and I respect his skills. But my problem with him is that I can't shake this uneasiness when I'm with him." Naruto admitted quietly.

"You let your first impression of people get the better of you, Naruto. You first met Orochimaru when we were caught red handed sneaking out after curfew, and you've never allowed yourself to forget it." Anko snapped annoyed.

"Then why am I friends with you, Anko? The first time we met you pulled my hair and called me a crybaby because I happened to walk past your table. You were a bully and a brat." Naruto pointed out.

Anko opened her mouth to defend herself, and then slowly closed it. Looking thoughtful. "Yeah… How on earth did we become friends?"

Naruto shrugged her shoulders, a small smile on her lips. Shisui chuckled at their antics.

"I want to be wrong though. I want to be wrong about Orochimaru." Naruto said slowly. It was painful to admit, but she genuinely hoped she was wrong.

"What do you expect to happen?" Asked Shisui curiously.

"Not sure… Just…" Naruto trailed off. Not sure how to explain the possibility of Orochimaru harming thousands of people to use them for lab research, go completely insane and attempt to destroy Konoha. To Anko and Shisui it would probably come off as quite farfetched.

"But you're giving him a chance right? He hasn't let you down yet has he?" Asked Anko smugly.

"That's true..." Naruto murmured and closed her eyes. In truth she'd thought a lot about this subject recently. It had been constantly at the back of her mind, but somehow overlooked because of the many distractions of being sent back in time.

It was this thought process which eventually had made her confront the Kyūbi just a few days ago.

It had been an unpleasant conversation, but afterwards she'd felt a sense of peace. She had tried to wait out the demon fox, hoping he'd crack first and start talking to her, but to no avail. And Naruto wasn't known for her patience.

A lot had factored into her decision to square things up with the fox.

Before falling back in time she had started wondering if it was possible to be civil with the Kyūbi. The eight tails and Killer Bee had managed to form a partnership, so that meant there was a possibility to at least cooperate. Maybe.

But falling back in time had made their progress falter and crash completely.

At first Naruto had been so furious she didn't want anything to do with the fox again. Just the thought of the demon had made her blood boil.

It washis fault she was in the past all alone. It was his fault she was forced to lie to the people she loved. It was his fault things would never be the same. It was his fault! All of it.

But they say time heals all wounds, and Naruto had come to realize there might be something in that saying. As time passed Naruto had started feeling less lost. Less alone. And her memories and frustration had dimmed. The feeling of being out of time and place had slowly ebbed away and she had started seeing her new situation as a new beginning, instead of a horrible end.

In a way she had gotten so many people back. She had Ero-sennin, Sarutobi-jiji, her mum and dad… They were all alive again. How could she feel horrible about that?

Leaving everything she'd known back in the future had been the prize for getting back the people who died prematurely. It had been crushing at first. Especially the first few months, but Naruto had never been one to let grief break her.

So instead she had learned to deal the only way she knew how. She had put on a smile. And after a while that smile had become genuine. It was thanks to all her new friends. Some days she wasn't even sure which reality she would prefer. The one at the brink of the Fourth Shinobi war, or the Third war which she was currently a part of.

It had taken time. Too much time really, for her to come to terms with it fully. And along the way Ebisu had died. Which was shamefully also something Naruto had blamed on the Kyūbi. It wouldn't have happened unless Naruto had been in the past.

And then Naruto had met Itachi.

Maybe it was just the tip of the iceberg. The drop that made the water flood over the glass edge. So many conflicting emotions had erupted in her at the sight of the little boy playing with his older cousin. The thought of Itachi killing Shisui had been completely surreal. It was sick to think two people who had been so close could end up in such a situation.

Naruto could finally understand what had made Sasuke go so insane. To think you knew someone, loved them like a brother, just to come home and have it all turn into a nightmare.

Naruto had therefore spent her time up to this mission half concentrating on chakra chains, and the other half thinking about Itachi. Going from ways to keep Itachi away from Shisui, to wondering if Itachi could be saved, to who else could be saved in case Itachi went down the same route as before.

Naruto had driven herself mad with worry at the idea of Shisui so close to both Itachi and Orochimaru at the same time. Two people who both had a habit of making the life of the Uchiha hell on earth.

Then, like every normal day, she had seen Orochimaru helping Shisui with his latest technique. The sunshin.

Naruto had seen this scenario many times before. Despite his many flaws Orochimaru was actually quite a good teacher. He was being patient but strict. Like always. But he had looked genuinely pleased when Shisui had done something correct. And a foreign thought had entered her head.

Was Orochimaru the same person as she'd first known?

She had stared at them for a long time during training. Pretending to be concentrating on her own chain training while she spied on their progress.

Orochimaru never showed his usual creepiness. Not once in the years he had acted as their sensei. Sure, he was unsettling from time to time, but so were a lot of people. Gaara had scared the living daylight out of Naruto when they had first met, but as they had become friends Naruto had come to see him as one of her most precious people.

Could Orochimaru be redeemed? Jiraiya had thought so at first. Could Naruto help that happen? Was it already happening?

Then she'd thought about Itachi, and the same question had applied to him. But more along the lines of keeping him the way he was now. He was just a child. His future sins didn't apply to him right now, despite Naruto's habit of forgetting that.

And when she had finally realized she could do something. Make a difference. The chains had erupted from her on training ground three.

It had been a sense of peace. A sense that she could truly and genuinely help that had somehow activated the chains.

Maybe it was getting rid of her doubt that was what hindered her. Letting go of the past completely, and try to see everyone the way they were now, instead of how they had been then.

It was hours later that Orochimaru and Tsunade returned. "Tsunade-hime has agreed to come back to Konoha for a few days." Orochimaru explained the moment his three students looked up.

Naruto's eyes widened. She hadn't seen that one coming.

"Well, I have one more demand before I do such a thing. Give me back my pendant." Tsunade demanded and looked hard at Naruto.

She grinned widely back, feeling truly happy for the first time today as she jumped to her feet.

For old times' sake, Naruto had tried on Tsunade's pendant. As she retrieved the pendant from around her neck, Tsunade stared with fearful, wide eyes. "Here you go! It's a really cool pendant." Naruto said as Tsunade snatched it out of her hand.

"It's not a toy! Why did you put it on? This thing is cursed." Tsunade said with fear and clipped the pendant back around her neck. It glinted faintly even in the dusk.

Shisui and Anko looked confused at her words, while Naruto simply tilted her head. "If you say so."

Tsunade was annoyed at her reply. "Why did you steal the pendant? I believe you went through my locker before you attempted a more direct form of thievery. Why not just take my clothes? Much less risky." Tsunade asked her thoughtfully.

"Because it was in your locker. You kept the pendant on you. Few people wear jewellery when they take a bath, but you did. Which means it was too valuable to be left anywhere else. So I took the pendant since you'd do much more to get that back than if I'd taken your sandals, dattebayo." Naruto answered cheekily, quite proud of herself for thinking up such a good explanation.

"That is surprisingly insightful for someone of your intelligence, Naruto." Said Orochimaru, a look of surprise on his face.

"I have my moments." Naruto smiled smugly back.

Tsunade chuckled and shook her head. "This pendant belonged to my grandfather, Senju Hashirama."

"The First Hokage?" Asked Anko amazed. Staring at the pendant with wide eyes.

"Yes. It's also cursed. Everyone who wears it but me ends up dead." She said and shook her head.

"Really?" Asked Shisui skeptically, but cast a slightly worried look at Naruto.

"Really." Confirmed Tsunade with a deep frown, her eyes also on Naruto.

"It's just a pendant. It looks cool and all, but it can't be that special." Naruto muttered and looked at the pendant again. It was weird seeing it on Tsunade. Naruto had gotten so used to see it around her own neck.

"Tsunade-hime has her reasons to believe so, and even I wonder sometimes." Orochimaru admitted and looked meaningfully at Tsunade. She sighed and shook her head.

"Hey! I tried the pendant on, but I'm not going to fall over dead anytime soon. I have a lot to do before I die dattebayo." Naruto muttered annoyed, folding her hands in front of her and staring hard back at Tsunade.

"Naruto isn't in danger is she?" Asked Anko, looking at Tsunade with a mix of uncertainty and worry.

"It wasn't a gift..." Tsunade said thoughtfully. "Only the people who I've given this to have died shortly after." She said and shook her head. "She stole it, so let's hope the curse hasn't grown stronger."

Shisui bent forward, his curiosity about the subject was obvious on his face. "Why did you give it away?"

Tsunade took a moment to reply, brushing away some hair from her face and efficiently drawing everyone's attention to her. "I gave it away for some sappy, naive reason before I knew better. Both had the same dream of becoming Hokage. Ridiculous really. And I gave it to them as a show of faith. Since it belonged to the First Hokage. Both died right after."

Anko and Shisui both stiffened and looked at Naruto. Both knowing very well about Naruto's future dreams.

"What?" Asked Tsunade and looked between them.

"They are reacting because my dream is to become Hokage." Naruto explained slowly.

For a moment a look of concern flashed on Tsunade's face, before it was replaced with contempt. "You truly are an idiot then. Only naive, fools become Hokage. Grow up brat, and get over your delusions. Dreams never come true." Tsunade snapped.

Naruto gritted her teeth. She'd been through this discussion, but for some reason Tsunade was hitting a nerve this time. It had the first time too, but this time it was more potent. "Shut up." She said so low in the back of her throat it reverberated through the air.

All four looked startled at almost animalistic sound. "I never go back on my word. I will become Hokage one day, that is my dream, and just because you've given up doesn't mean the rest of us have."

Tsunade looked at her with a sneer. Her eyes hard and taunting before replying. "You're young. I get it. This is just some healthy advice from someone who's already been through a war. Sometime, maybe tomorrow or in a few years, if you're still alive, you'll see my point. When you lose those you love then you'll see that dreams are just for those who doesn't know what pain feels like. You can only dream as long as you're asleep, come back and talk to me again when you've woken up, brat."

Naruto bit her lip. Her anger so potent it was palpable in the air. She had lost everyone. She had lost her own time, damn it! How could Tsunade talk about loss when she had no idea what the word even meant? It wasn't an excuse to give up! It was a reason to continue!

"Actually, Tsunade-hime… " Orochimaru said slowly, drawing all of their attention to him. "Naruto-chan knows pain. She lost her whole family and her home four years ago. That's how she ended up in Konoha."

"Exactly." Naruto hissed back at Tsunade. "Before I came to Konoha… I had friends. I had… I had everything. And then suddenly there was nothing. No one who knew me, no one even noticed me. But it's not a reason to give up like you have… When you lose someone you train harder. You work more so it doesn't happen again. You make sure you don't make that mistake so that the next time the situation comes up you know what to do. And you do it better. I want to become Hokage, because when I take the title I can protect people from the pain I felt. I don't wish that on anybody! Not even my worst enemy! And I certainly will never use the death of my own comrades as an excuse to give up, and turn my backs on the ones who still needs me."

There was a ringing silence when Naruto finished speaking. Even Orochimaru was at lost for words.

"You're too young. Just wait and you'll see, as long as you stay alive, life will always turn out for the worst." Tsunade said in defense and shook her head. As if age was all that mattered here.

"Then I guess you're too old to remember what it was like to be young, because if you did you'd never use that as an excuse."

"I think… Naruto has a point." Orochimaru said eventually. Naruto looked startled at him. He'd been backing her up more than usual these days. "In fact… Naruto has a habit of ending up in bad situations, but till now she has always come out on the other side stronger."

Naruto was happy when they came back to Konoha. It was a relief to see the gates grow larger for every few steps.

Naruto, Shisui and Anko had been forced to share a one man tent for the last part of the mission. Tsunade had kicked Shisui out of his own to use for herself, and the three students had squeezed into Anko's tent to keep out of the rapidly worsening weather. Naruto had to start remembering to bring her own tent one of these days, but she'd gotten used to relying on Anko for everything she forgot.

It looked like the weather was turning again though, since the sun was peeking out for the first time in days.

Tsunade had very little interaction with Naruto. Wordlessly they had agreed to disagree, at least for now.

Naruto was not sure how to convince Tsunade this time around. Last time their circumstances had forced them on the same side in a violent battle, and somehow everything had turned for the better at the end of the whole ordeal. Tsunade had overcome her own blood phobia, Konoha had gotten their next Hokage, and Naruto had gotten a friend she cared deeply for. This time around it had turned awkward.

Naruto hadn't given up though. Tsunade had agreed to return to Konoha with them for a short time before she left again. What and why was confidential, and Naruto had no idea what Orochimaru had said to make the slug sannin agree to return to her home village.

Naruto walked with her two teammates in the front while the sannin were following little behind. Talking casually back and forth the way only old friends could. It was unsettling how well the two got along. Naruto still found it absurd.

"I'm hoping you're willing to go see sensei first, Tsunade-hime." Orochimaru said when they arrived at the gate.

"Only after I've had a visit to the closest bar." Tsunade snapped back. Her temper had grown shorter the closer they had gotten to Konoha.

"Actually, we'd all prefer for you to be sober for this conversation. Believe it or not, but you'll have to keep your wits intact for this meeting."

"How much?"

"How much what?"

"How much wits? Full on concentrated, slightly stumbling, or partly conscious? You should remember that I'm usually more compliant after a few glasses. Right now the only thing I want is to break something, and I think sensei would get annoyed if I took it out on his desk again."

Shisui peeked worriedly over his shoulder. Like most people he was not sure of how to act around Tsunade. Her open alcoholism, gambling and lack of grace were putting him off his first admiration for her.

"Fine. One glass." Orochimaru answered pointedly.

"One? I've worked up my tolerance considerably since we last met. I'll take three. That way I can calm down enough before we start this farce of a meeting."

"Two." Orochimaru negotiated.

"We'll see." Tsunade answered and took off at a street corner. Leaving team Orochimaru to stare after her in various degrees of annoyance.

Orochimaru looked worriedly after her for a moment and then turned towards his students. "I need to follow her. You three report to the mission desk and sort out the report. I don't have time right now." And then he was gone in a whirlwind of leafs.

Naruto groaned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Orochimaru planned this. Everything to get out of paperwork, right?"

"That's you, Naruto." Shisui pointed out unhelpfully.

"I'm more up for paperwork than having to part Tsunade from her sake bottle. Lives will be at stake." Anko said drily and shook her head.

"Hey, at least we'd actually be doing something productive. Mission reports just feel like a way to fill out shelves in the archive. Are they ever used for anything other than dust gathers?" Naruto mused aloud.

Shisui thought for a moment before answering. "Well, filling up shelves in the archive with reports is quite similar to Tsunade drinking sake. You can make them skip one, but you know there'll be more later."

They ran into team Minato at the mission desk, where they too were being handed papers to fill out before their verbal report with the Hokage.

They all greeted one another, sharing a few details from their latest mission. Kakashi had brought Pakkun with him, and Naruto was distracted by the puppy who was attempting to pronounce her name.

"Shisui, I need to speak with you." Minato said and stepped carefully around the ninken to not thread on him. Shisui looked curiously up while receiving his own form.

"I have a proposition for you, but we'll discuss the specifics later." He said and then smiled disarmingly at everyone who was looking curiously at him.

"What do you need to speak to Shisui about?" Asked Obito and came up next to them. Minato roughed up Obito's hair and chuckled.

"It's confidential. And it might be nothing." Minato explained before heading for the table people could use to fill out the report.

"We're your team! We're not supposed to have secrets!" Obito moaned and hurried after Minato.

"Give it up, Obito. Confidential is confidential." Said Anko dismissively.

"Still..." He huffed and took a seat next to Naruto.

"Neh, how's the rasengan coming along?" Asked Naruto excitedly.

Obito instantly turned flustered, and fiddled with the pencil in his hand. "Oh… um… I haven't actually had any time… We're always on missions, you know. Minato-sensei showed me the beginning steps… But I only had an hour to actually work on it." He muttered ashamed.

"Hey, I get it." Naruto said in understanding. "We're constantly on missions too. So I'll give you a month instead, dattebayo. One month, and then you have to show me your rasengan."

Obito grinned appreciatively at her, while Kakashi sat down on Naruto's other side, Pakkun hanging over his head. "You can give him a year, and I'd still bet he'd not be past the second step."

"Really? Why don't you show me your rasengan, Kakashi?" Naruto answered annoyed.

Kakashi shook his head, not bothering to reply before he started writing efficiently on his report. Ignoring Rin and Pakkun stifled chuckles in the background.

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To be continued...