Chapter 17

"Begin!"

Shizune opened up with a volley of practice shuriken a text book tactic to get her enemy off balance when she closed in and it worked well enough. The moment Kanbei used to dodge she was closing the distance, launching herself at the young man with a flying kick, knocking him flat on his ass despite his hasty defense with the unbalanced footing.

She jumped, looking to capitalize on her early advantage with a pounce to pin him to the ground only for the aspiring gennin to roll out of the way, kicking at her ribs with a clumsy kick that, never the less, hurt and knocked her on her side as both students scrambled to get back up.

-0-

The door was flung open with a crack that drove the knob into his wall.

"Was this your idea all along?"

Orochimaru turned around, looking up from his book as he raised a slender eyebrow. "You barging into my office looking for all the world as though you wish to strangle me? No I don't believe this was any plan of mine."

"You haven't taken on a student in six years and suddenly you're applying to take a team!?"

He snapped the book closed, smirking. "You and sensei have been pestering me to take a more active role in the village for a while now, I figured why not start with this."

"Just as Naruto's about to graduate then?"

"Coincidence. Besides I placed myself on the reserves list. I'm just there to-"

"Convince whoever gets assigned as a sensei to his eventual team to step down so you can fill in the spot."

"Oh come now." He smiled blithely. "Where's the trust Tsu-chan?"

"Oh screw you."

He marched to a chair, seating himself on it as he tossed his book on the end table and laced his hands over his stomach. "What exactly are you complaining about?"

"That you're using Naruto as some kind of stepping stone Oro."

He pursed his lips, mulling over the thought, then he smirked. "I might be just a little bit guilty of such. But what exactly are you complaining about. I'm the best possible sensei in this village, just look at Anko-chan."

"She's one of our strongest whack-jobs; I'll give you that."

"We're all a little crazy Tsunade."

"He doesn't need you making it worse, or you making some kind of statement. And his teammates won't need you neglecting them in favor of the 'prodigy.'

"Which he is. The other students will get by, but the whole point of early academy enrollment is to bring those talents to their full potential."

"And then you wonder why I say Saru-sensei spoiled you rotten."

The sighed over-dramatically, smirking faintly as he saw how his actions irritated her. If there was one thing Tsunade hated it was being dismissed. "Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to shoulder the burden of sensei's partisanship. Is that all?"

"Don't make me kick you through the wall." She growled

He opened his eyes, looking up at her, just the slightest bit more serious, though the smile remained.

"You know how this is gonna end by now. You'll shout and scream and I'll ignore you completely and do whatever I want. If it comes down to a fight; We'll blow up half the village training grounds before sensei shows up to have us pulled apart where we'll get a 'time out' and a rather stern lecture regarding the woes caused by mass property damage; and then I'll still do whatever I want. So can we skip all of that and just get to the, me doing whatever I want part?"

"You're an ass you know that?"

The smile spread. "I might be just a little bit guilty of such."

It was just a few minutes after she'd left that a familiar older gentleman opened the door to his office, in a similar fashion, driving the knob that much deeper into the cracked wall as he held an equally familiar application form. "Was this your idea all along?"

The sannin smiled, half frustrated, half sardonic. "No. I don't believe it was."

-0-

"Owwww."

"Big baby." Naruto teased.

She smacked him upside the head. "Shut up!" Then her hand returned to her jaw. "That really hurt."

He had no doubt, it looked like it hurt. If she didn't live with Tsunade she'd probably be sporting an ugly bruise for the next week. As it was it'd be gone by tomorrow most likely.

She managed to win, but one really really good punch had nearly taken her out of the fight when half the class could have sworn her jaw had broken given the sound of the hit. To everyone's surprise, and his personal relief, it sounded worse than it was and she kept herself in the fight managing to carve out a win she landed enough hits to have Zae call the match in her favor.

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