Baa-chan - 3

Naruto decided that her unprecedented strength could cause him some serious problems, 'Holy crap! She's strong! I've got to fight carefully or she'll poke a hole right through me!'

Shadow clones descended from the rooftops in pairs, attacking in unison, trying to test her defenses. Tsunade destroyed them with minimal effort, appearing rather bored. It was then Naruto concluded her defenses were up-to-snuff.

From a vantage point on top of a telephone pole, Naruto hurled a fuuma shuriken he had been saving for a special occasion, "Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!"

The deadly projectile soared for her and she leapt over it, turning to see its follow-through trajectory. Tsunade was mildly impressed when the shuriken transformed and reverted back to its original form, Naruto, and he hurled a kunai at her with a cry.

"Pretty clever…" She commented, catching the kunai and she tossed it back at him. The knife met its mark and destroyed a shadow clone. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, 'I thought for sure that was the real one! So where's-?'

The blue, swirling light of the Rasengan grazed past her face, nicking her cheek. Naruto landed behind her and let the spiraling sphere dissipate. His attack had been more of a warning, but he hadn't expected her to freeze where she stood after his mock-assault.

'Impossible! Jiraiya has taught this boy the Rasengan?' Tsunade's eyes flickered over to the toad hermit who stood watching smugly nearby, 'But how…how could he have mastered it so young? He's just a kid!'

Naruto's control over the technique was quite shocking. If he had wanted to, he could have easily blown her head off of her shoulders. Since he hadn't, Tsunade decided to seize the opportunity to put the boy in his place.

She punched a fissure in the ground and the blonde boy avoided it easily, annoyed that Jiraiya was half cheering, half barking at him from the sidelines, 'Cut it out, Ero-sennin, I'm trying to concentrate!'

After putting some distance between himself and Tsunade, Naruto summoned a fair-sized battle toad, "Do me a favor and spit some oil, will you Mr. Toad?" The blonde muttered and then grinned to see that the toad was able to comply.

From a ways off, Tsunade frowned inwardly, "What is that kid up to now? You gave him toads too, Jiraiya?"

The toad sage merely shrugged from his spot beside Shizune.

Naruto's toad spat a mouthful of pale liquid at Tsunade and she moved to dodge, her eyes widening in shock as Naruto tossed an exploding tag at the oil and detonated it.

Jiraiya and Shizune leapt out of the way of the attack as flames filled the street, missing Tsunade but leaving roadside signs and stands much worse for the wear.

Tsunade was perched on top of a lamppost and gave Jiraiya an annoyed glare. He chuckled sheepishly, "That one was Gamabunta's fault! I didn't teach him that!"

Naruto watched her disappear from her position, wondering if she was yet intimidated, 'Where'd she go?'

A relentless punch connected with his back and sent him flying down the street, crashing down to the road and digging up dirt as he tumbled. Tsunade took the liberty of dispatching the troublesome toad as well, 'It looks like he's more like Jiraiya's former student than I gave him credit for, but still, this proves nothing!'

Naruto hobbled to his feet, not ready to give up the fight, "Keep it coming, Baa-chan! Is that all you got?"

"I win."

"Like hell! That was a cheap shot! I can keep going!" The blonde boy yowled, unwilling to concede, "I won't lose to you! I'm not like you, because someday I'll be Hokage! That's my dream!"

Tsunade fell silent after he had declared his goal, as if the words meant something to her.

"I was holding back, Baa-chan. You could've had it much worse…" Naruto couldn't help but brag since he could have easily summoned Gamabunta to stomp her, "You didn't win this one, not by a long shot!"

Tsunade settled her hands on her hips and frowned at the hot-blooded boy, "No holding back next time then, kid. If you're that stubborn about it, I'll offer you a rematch five days from now. Then we can go all out and see who's truly worthy of this necklace!"

Naruto brushed the dirt from his pants and watched as Tsunade called for Shizune and Ton-Ton before they left, 'I'll show her! She'll see that she's wrong about being Hokage when I'm through with her!'

Jiraiya chuckled as he helped his wobbly pupil to his feet, wondering if Naruto's determination would affect Tsunade's decision on accepting the position of Godaime, "Well done, Naruto. Normally I would've stopped you, but I had a feeling you'd put up a great fight after you defended yourself against the Akatsuki. Your strategy was not half bad."

"Yeah well, she's lucky Haku-kun and Gaara-kun weren't here to tag-team her with me!"

His teacher only laughed in response, "That would definitely be something now, wouldn't it? Let's head back to the hotel now, I'm beat. We'll see if we can change her mind tomorrow…"

*

The next day, Temari and Kankuro made sure to inform Gaara that swimming was not one of their strong suits.

"It sucked," Kankuro announced bluntly, "Haku's a good teacher and all, but he makes everything look easier than it actually is."

"At least you can keep your head above water." Temari grumbled to her brother, still annoyed, "I don't like swimming."

"Join the club," Gaara smirked at her playfully, "It's a necessary evil, Temari. You'll thank him one day."

"I doubt that."

"Haku's got an unfair advantage. That guy's like a fish almost…" Kankuro added, finding his ability rather peculiar.

"If you'd rather skip out on today's lesson you are more than welcome to train with me." Gaara suggested, fed up with their complaints.

They immediately agreed and left the apartment before Haku could stop them.

*

Later that morning Tenten arrived at the Hyuga compound.

Her primary concern was that Neji had not shown up for training at the designated time. She offered to go fetch him so Lee and Gai wouldn't be torn away from their youthful practice.

At first she had suspected that he may have fallen ill; he was under a lot of stress lately and his immune system may have been suffering. Tenten dismissed that highly unlikely idea. She knew him well and his overall health was spotless.

'Hopefully the Branch House isn't giving him a hard time again…' She was aware that some of his cousins threw tantrums when they came across Neji and she knew that was always an unpleasant affair, 'It'll be safer if I just check myself!'

Hinata was tending to a small garden near the front of the mansion and Tenten figured she'd be the most help to her cause out of anyone living at the estate, "Good morning, Hinata-chan!"

The shy girl looked up at her and smiled slightly, "Oh, hello Tenten-oneesan! It's g-good to see you."

After the events of the invasion they had begun referring to each other with affectionate terms. Hinata couldn't help her habit of calling Neji her brother, and as a result begun treating Tenten as an older sister.

"Have you happened to have seen Neji, by any chance?"

Hinata shook her head, "I'm afraid not. He hasn't been with you?"

Tenten sighed, "No, he hasn't…well, no problem. I'll keep looking. Thanks anyway, Hinata." She waved goodbye to the younger girl before moving on, not ready to give up her search so easily.

'That was weird…usually Hinata's pretty good at knowing where people are.' Tenten thought as she crossed over a small footbridge into the rear of the estate, 'Maybe I should have asked her to use her Byakugan for me?'

She halted in her tracks when a very familiar battle cry pierced the air, 'That's him alright!'

Tenten looked off to her right to see Neji in a courtyard with his uncle, evading shuriken and performing complex Jyukken attacks that he rarely ever used in her presence. Her chocolate eyes widened marginally, watching as the elegant fight progressed and suddenly she found herself walking away without even trying to call out to him.

Hiashi didn't particularly intimidate her, but she had a feeling she had suddenly become unnecessary. Poking her nose in Hyuga business would only offend Neji, 'And besides his skills will grow a lot faster if he trains with his uncle!'

Just the idea of her abilities becoming obsolete made her feel weak and light-headed. Tenten found she no longer had the energy to return to her team's training grounds and spend time with Lee.

She walked dejectedly back the way she came and tried to keep her head high as passed members of the Hyuga clan. Hinata could tell something was not right as the older girl left the estate alone and she hoped it was nothing permanently damaging.