slug princess in the green haori || naruto and tsunade

iv

Naruto walked the spiral path to Lady Tsunade's office with his hands behind his head. His loud steps echoed through the quiet halls. He figured he wasn't close because he couldn't hear yelling. Lady Tsunade—Granny might just not be home.

"Maybe I'm just growing up..." he mumbled under his breath.

As he walked by a window he saw the Hokage's staring down, passing by in step with him. A landmark that had been there his entire life. Naruto smiled. He was so glad the statues had survived the destruction. The fact that they still stood being there made him all the more determined to reach it. From here he could see Tsunade's visage in the stone. The morning sun had just started cresting over the mountain.

Naruto hurried the rest of the way and pushed open the door to the Hokage's chambers.

He still didn't hear her. Instead, he saw Tsunade with her head down on her desk. Her blond twintails frazzled and loose in their hairties. Surrounding her were high stacks of paper, half-empty bottles of ink, and books he figured were about treatises, agreements and other boring stuff. On the far side of the room was half a bottle of sake that had probably been moved by Shizune.

"Are you sleeping on the job, Fifth?" he asked out into the room.

Tsunade shuffled around. "Closer to dead than asleep," she mumbled into her desk.

"The Hokage should rest at her own place instead of on the job, right?" he thought, rubbing the back of his head.

Tsunade looked up and trained her brown eyes right on him like he was a target. "You don't know anything about it."

"Heh," he laughed nervously, "I guess not."

She looked at him. "You're still a welcome sight."

"I mean getting yelled at when I come here is normal, so no worries."

"Why are you here, then?" she had to ask.

"Oh. I just wanted to tell you that my mission went off without a hitch!" He smiled wide and gave her a thumbs up.

"It was a C-Rank mission," she looked seriously at him. "I know you're still a Genin, but after everything that's happened lately, don't worry about reporting back. I'll handle the paperwork. It's all the same to me," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. She'd been sweating a bit, sat by the windows all day hard at work. Her low-cut blouse made it easy to tell.

"I get it... but I also know that what you need is to get out of this cramped room!" He went over to one of the windows and pushed it up. "See? It's a nice day!" He turned to her. "It's like how if I train too much in one place I go crazy."

She laughed at him. "And what do you suggest the Hokage do with her time?"

"Well I was gonna go do some training today, actually!" he sort of asked, sort of said.

"Maybe it's just the Shinobi way to overwork, eh? I do wonder how you handle yourself out there. I've only seen you in one fight lately, and those weren't the best circumstances."

He suddenly got a little nervous.

She continued, "Just don't expect my help. I've already got a student."

She stood up from her desk and her chest shook.

Naruto looked out the window again, "I've never thought of you like a teacher anyway."

Tsunade came up beside him and had to look up a few inches. "Well, don't you forget I'm still one of the legendary Sannin! So let's see if you can impress me," Tsunade put a hand high on his shoulder and led him out of her chamber.