Chapter 3
The sky over Konoha was pitch black. No stars could be seen.
- Tsunade-sama, where were you?! The meeting with some civil departments took more than four hours! They had been waiting for a whole hour! I had to reschedule for next week, they weren't happy - Shizune tried to get the Fifth Hokage to show some concern on her face about the event, but she was lying on the couch with several bottles of sake on the floor and a hand covering her eyes , indifferent to the dozens of stacks of papers to read and sign.
Shizune let out a huff of annoyance and went to organize what was most important to sign in a few hours, even though it was already late at night.
Tsunade ignored her assistant and oldest student, who kept muttering in a low voice about how many meetings they would have this week and papers to review and sign.
Yes, Shizune was her oldest student.
The first.
A child who was placed in her arms by a promise she made to her former lover, Dan. The only family Dan had left.
The memory of a little girl who followed her everywhere filled her mind.
Tsunade didn't want any students or apprentices, she didn't have the patience to teach iron ninjutsu, much less to wait for these brats, who were still in diapers, to understand everything the first time and progress on their own.
May you walk your own path.
However, fate is cruel in its games. For more than two, almost three decades, Tsunade was convinced that she would have no one left to teach. She would no longer carry this burden. But, the mantle of Konoha's Hokage was now draped across her new chair, representing that she was the newest Leader of the most powerful Village in the Five Nations.
Shit.
This damn position made her return to this despicable place, which she hated and wanted to forget everything that involved it.
Damn Uzumaki and Jiraiya child.
Even after taking on the cursed title, she knew she would be pressured to take on any apprentices or send Shizune to have apprentices. However, she was now the new Leader of this Village and had to take her role seriously, as well as Konoha's needs at the moment.
If Tsunade was forced to pick someone, she wanted to pick someone perfect for what, she presumes, the Village would need in the very near future. However, since the events of the Chunin Exams, the Shinobi Clans were stable among themselves and in relation to her. More precisely, in relation to the change of power, mainly because Tsunade has the fame she has and because she is a woman in a society as sexist and conservative as Konoha, being the choice for Hokage.
They couldn't stand the notion that not everything follows their stupid, bigoted rules. They were used to seeing and observing Kunoichis, after they reached a certain age, they got married, had children and became housewives. Submissive to your desires.
Tsunade was one of the few who strayed from that role and she would send anyone to hell if she thought she would give in to their insignificant and mediocre desires.
To complete her life and situation, she was away from Konoha for a long time, making her influence, which was practically nil, non-existent. All the Clans like to rub it in your face, whether directly or indirectly, apart from the Uchihas, who, oddly enough, didn't say anything, although she remembers that they practically lost more influence and power after the youngest left the Village for a traitor, they would keep quiet for a while.
A blessing in the midst of chaos.
Sarutobi-sensei did a terrible job of letting Clan heads and elders, those who should already be dead due to their decaying old age, dominate the political state of Konoha, that is, have the real power in decisions.
She was practically a puppet in his hands, where she had no power to make decisions. Or that was what everyone thought and liked to show with their superior looks and arrogant smiles at every meeting.
Bunch of jerks.
Do they really think they can boss her around, Tsunade Senju? Yes, they imagine.
But, the blonde will show what it's like to hold the mantle of Leader of Konoha for all of them. She will show what makes her the Hokage, a woman who was away from the Village for decades, but who was chosen by the Third Hokage in his will.
She was the last Senju. She wouldn't live to please anyone but herself.
Already knowing what she would find after setting foot in the Village and seeing what the situation was like, she pretended to want to see the files of all the shinobi, to know an estimate of the loss they suffered and how the soldiers were doing.
They looked at her with disdain at her orders.
Okay, after all, her request was a sham.
True to her intention, away from the dangerous eyes that surrounded her and even Shizune, Tsunade looked for a possible apprentice.
And she found the perfect one.
And as ironic as it may seem, Sarutobi-sensei must have thought of this possibility when placing the perfect apprentice for the future Hokage… in Team 7.
Sakura Haruno.
From a more general angle, no one would pay attention to a civilian with no status, influence, power or connections. A pink-haired fangirl who showed that she cared more about her appearance than training or being a shinobi.
But therein lies the trick, the illusion.
To anyone, she was just a fill-in on Team 7, a cannon fodder who would either die in action or retire, marry another civilian, and become a housewife.
No one would see anything in the pink-haired girl, who was in the middle of the Nine-Tailed Bijuu jinchuuriki or one of the Uchiha heirs, especially when her sensei was Hatake Kakashi, a cold and calculating man, hidden in his facade of an immutable lazy and perverted person. second category.
But he was one of the most formidable Anbus ever seen and carried out the most dangerous missions, which kept him further away from the Village than any other shinobi. It wouldn't be a surprise if he was pretending to be a mediocre teacher and then handing over the children and disappearing away from Konoha again. Other than that, it was already predicted that the last Hatake would only stay a few months until the two boys became Chunins and disappeared into the shadows.
Or part of this would have happened exactly, if it weren't for the disaster of the chunin exams and Orochimaru.
However, the only person who would notice the Third Hokage's trick in assembling Team 7 would be the person he chose as the next Hokage and knew him well enough to see it between the lines, the splendid and well-articulated plan.
Tsunade Senju.
It wasn't difficult to see what was hidden after he looked at the girl's file with new eyes.
Above average grades, first place in practically all subjects, losing a little in taijutsu and Kunoichi classes. The first would not be surprising, compared to her colleagues who have had training since before learning to cock, the girl did well.
Eidetic memory and the most fascinating thing, which no one gave importance to, but which is a formidable feat, chakra control that was close to 100%.
Above average intelligence.
To complete the package, a girl of civilian origin who was not entangled with any Clan or outside influence.
After she read and analyzed it well, she ordered the Anbu Commander the simple task of modifying all the files, both those she had from the academy, even those she knew some elders took as a precaution and the Torture and Interrogation department.
She was the perfect apprentice.
However, Tsunade hesitated, she hesitated to wait for the elders and Clan heads to bring up the subject and use their power to move her hand in choosing.
However, Tsunade could act ignorant and choose the girl, she even helped with this option, seemingly chasing her for learning practically thousands of times a week. And she would have done just that, but she didn't. Looking at the choji board that was in her office one night, she took a closer look at her playing field.
Tsunade needed influence and power to truly dominate Konoha, she couldn't trust everyone around her, many worked for the good of Konoha, combined with her own selfish desires. A sign of this, being the great segregation that dominated the ranks of shinobi.
She did not miss the large number of high-ranking shinobi, belonging solely to the Shinobi Clans.
These classifications do not match their true abilities.
Even in Anbu itself.
The few she could trust were some captains and the Anbu Commander, the others were not people she would let know what happened in her plans or important decisions, they should stay in the dark and remain there.
Mainly, when most of the ranks were filled with Clan shinobi, whom she remembers looking arrogantly at her orders.
Although, she would show them who was to be feared in the grand scheme that involved the power struggle within Konoha.
With a plan formed in her mind, Tsunade planned in more detail.
After the second week of her term, she began to act under the table.
Mainly, when she noticed a paper in her window from the brat Hatake, asking, or rather demanding, that his student be placed in the Chunin buildings and that she receive financial assistance from part of the profit he earned on the missions.
A profit that wasn't so little.
Hatake broke the expectations and rumors that circulated him, which said that he didn't give a damn about the pink-haired girl, his third student, by leaving that note and not signing the dissolution of Team 7, even though there were only two members left.
He wanted her.
A man like Hatake, cold and calculating, who ran away from any relationship and who keeps his relationships to a minimum, looking for himself, continuing with his only remaining student, only means one thing, he cared about the girl.
It was obvious that he intended to take the girl under his wing and take care of her. In other words, Tsunade could lose her perfect future apprentice for that white-haired brat.
But, it wasn't difficult to change the game or delay it in her favor. She, in all her elegance, simply burned the poorly written letter and disbanded Team 7 without Hatake's consensus.
So that he would not interfere in her future plans, mainly due to the great influence that the brat had on shinobis of Jounin and Anbu status, Tsunade assigned uninterrupted missions to him and his team, even sending multiple missions, without giving Hatake a chance to even set foot in Konoha for a long time.
She needed the girl out of the spotlight and her wolf claws.
Until her new home, she had her hand in the business. She made sure to handle everything very well, so that building was the only place Haruno could go. Tsunade had a specific goal for wanting Haruno to live there. But, not to be harsh, she helped from the shadows in buying the girl's parents' house so she would have money to survive.
However, Tsunade has to confess something, the girl was persistent and wouldn't give up for anything, and it was that iron determination that she needed for her plan to work and she knew that those emeralds wouldn't be erased by any of the cold words or insults thrown at her. she.
She was the perfect apprentice.
All the Clans wanted people among them to be the Fifth Hokage's future apprentice, but Tsunade said that she would only consider and accept those who were still young to learn from an early age, without other outside influences.
This was a signal for the Clans, in their greed for power, to choose to put the names of their heirs at stake, with the Uchihas being the only ones who did not participate in the dispute.
But, Tsunade had already foreseen this and had played her cards with a single intention, already knowing who she would choose.
Or rather, which ones she would choose.
Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuuga and Tenten.
The choice of the three girls was well thought out.
Ino Yamanaka would guarantee her power and influence in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Having one is the same as having at your side the Jounin Commander, the Commander of the Torture and Interrogation Department and the head of the Akimichi Clan, who currently has great wealth in the market and has a hand in it. The Hyuuga heiress would make her have more openness in decisions, since it was the Hyuugas who had the status of the most influential and richest Clan at the time. The girl Tenten would be the trust and support of most Chuunins and Jounins, due to how beloved Maito Gai is in the ranks.
With this move that surprised everyone, Tsunade secured her voice in many decisions, but she would have to be cautious at every step.
For her movement was a two-sided dagger. She could protect her and she could hurt her.
Lastly, there was the girl Haruno.
Your future trump card.
Tsunade prepared the ground well, to later fish for the pink-haired girl, but while she was doing this, the girl surprised her and showed that she didn't waste her time just going to the Tower, demanding learning numerous times a week. On the contrary, the Anbu Commander's report, which was the only one Tsunade is putting to know her movements aside, found that she was training alone through forbidden materials from other sections of the library, which were left in disarray after the attack. To which Tsunade ordered Fox, the Anbu Commander, to place a powerful genjutsu on them and on the shinobi who took care of the library, which would allow only Haruno to find these materials and, his presence in the place, remain inaccessible to the others.
Doing what little time Haruno had between missions makes him hard to find by his colleagues. Missions that the Hokage herself also handpicked. Designating a specific one, where it was to take care of a retired Anbu, who Tsunade knew since she was younger and could trust, who, on Tsunade's orders, trained the girl's reflexes and other things, camouflaged from assassination attempts on the girl .
Although, the old lady is really crazy, but she was a reliable crazy person.
The Fifth Hokage did the favor of increasing the mission's salary each week, preventing Haruno from giving up.
Extra money for a hungry and poor girl was an irresistible temptation.
Everything was going well, however, Tsunade knew that she had to make her move on Haruno, on the same day that she made her newest apprentices official and noticed, when the girl passed straight by the Tower. She would have to be quick to not lose the girl.
Especially, with the absurd level that the Hatake boy was completing all the multiple missions to return to Konoha, if he's not careful, knowing the brat, he'll let himself be hurt on purpose, to need to return to the Village.
And everyone knows that Hatake Kakashi will not stay in the hospital for more than a day, preferring to hide his existence than remain in the white building.
It was clear the intention of the return of a man who spent years only on missions that kept him away from the Village as much as possible.
Tsunade felt in her bones that every member of Team 7 was meant to torment his life. They were too persistent.
But, he imagines his great surprise when he finds Haruno practicing the mystical palm. The technique wasn't perfect, but it was close and for someone who she was sure only had books by her side, such a feat was impressive.
Formidable.
The blonde couldn't deny it and had to confess, she liked the pink-haired girl's spirit and even though she didn't ask to be her apprentice anymore, Tsunade already chose her, she wouldn't accept any other answer than wanting her.
She may have played the villain, but she needed to set Haruno on the path Tsunade wanted her to follow.
She may have been tough in the test, but her curiosity to see how far the girl's talent would go, overcame any ethics or morals.
The Fifth Hokage does not regret her actions.
Now, Tsunade understood why Hatake was in such a rush, a detached and cold man, but who showed a lot of protection to his young student, it wasn't just because she was his responsibility and student, no, it was something much more different.
The girl was a prodigy.
A well-hidden emerald that could still be polished.
There was no doubt as Tsunade watched her hold back the searing pain she felt from her hand being destroyed by the acid, yet she managed to maintain full control of her own chakra. But still, she summoned the mystical palm with the small amount of chakra she had in her body to heal.
All this without making any hand signals.
It was… magnificent.
It wasn't just perfect control to perform such an act, but rather, maintaining a line that wouldn't fray or a drop be lost, she needed to know which part needed to cure first and maintain the same flow until the entire operation was completed, what she maintained at near chakra exhaustion
Perfect.
She was perfect.
It would be a waste of talent and prodigiousness not to work this potential to the fullest. Tsunade left that park with a smile on her face, she wouldn't make her fifth apprentice a hospital or field ninja doctor.
No.
Konoha needs much more and so does Tsunade.
Her plan came out better than ordered.
All doctors follow strict rules that were created to try to maximize the shinobi's lifespan on the field and so that they remain alive outside of it, meaning that there are few who make any difference on the battlefield.
Tsunade doesn't need another one of those.
She needed something different.
Haruno, no, Sakura asked to teach everything, so Tsunade will teach and make this girl her secret joker.
Her letter on her sleeve.
One she could pull without anyone seeing.
The Fifth Hokage needed someone who could be her main shadow, someone who no one would give credit to, but who would be her sharpest weapon.
Your weapon of defense and attack.
The beautiful blonde woman got up with elegant movements from the old sofa in the office, which she had ordered to be replaced a while ago, and went to the table.
Shizune had been called to the hospital.
The Fifth Hokage could now see the scroll on his desk, which contained the brat Hatake's accomplished mission.
He was in a hurry to get back. But, as a good Leader, who knew he liked to be away from Konoha, Tsunade will help her beautiful cute subordinate.
Looks like she's going to have to keep him busier for a while.
The silence of the forest was only disturbed by the splashes of rain in the cold, dark night, which made a beautiful combination with the blood spread across the floor of the lifeless bodies at their feet.
In the middle of several and with his hand still showing lightning crossing the Iwa shinobi's chest, an Anbu wearing a Dog mask removed it without mercy and threw the body as if it were nothing. Her entire outfit was stained with blood and her grayish white hair, now part of it was red, but it began to return to its color due to the rain.
An Anbu with a Rat mask appeared nearby, with a bloody sword and along with two other Anbus, Swallow and Crow.
- Let's go back - Dog said with a voice empty of emotions.
- We can't yet - Rat waved, holding up a parchment with black tape, another S-rank mission. Specifically solo for Dog, again.
Dog nodded and headed in another direction.
Everyone who was in the clearing were captains, but by order of the Hokage, they formed a temporary team to carry out more difficult and dangerous missions, however, it has been three months and while the other members have already been able to return, even if it is for a week to Konoha, Dog was the only one that the Hokage continued to send missions without pause, even two or three at the same time.
It wasn't just Mouse who was worried about his friend, the other two were too, although it was more out of curiosity to find out why the new Hokage wanted to keep Dog away from Konoha and the miracle of Dog wanting to return to Vila.
They didn't miss the fact that missions were being completed at an alarming rate and more brutally since the last month. The Hokage won't be able to keep the gray-haired Anbu away from Konoha for so long.
The time he was inactive made him tamer, but his routine returned to that of a cold and bloodthirsty killer.
Someone ruthless.
Not far from the group, Dog looked at his hands bloodied with the blood of his enemies, his dark eye and the one containing the sharingan, rotating in intensity. It looks like he's going to have to change his plans if he wants to return to Konoha this year.
The memory of a girl with pink hair and emerald eyes flashed through his mind. Putting his mask back on, which he had taken off, he went on another mission.
The Fifth Hokage doesn't keep him under control as much as he thinks.