Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ After the Dream ❯ Falling Off the Face of the Earth ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Agent's Spiel:

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Falling off the Face of the Earth

Over the next month and a half Naruto kept a very strict schedule for himself. Every morning he attended training with Jiraiya. The only changes during that time were the new jutsus he began learning once his month of punishment was up and the shorter hours Jiraiya adopted so that Naruto would have time to recover from the more grueling training.

After training with Jiraiya Naruto would head off to train on his own. He spent the days running through his growing jutsu archive, and perfecting them. He continued spending time everyday working on the Rasengan and had made quite a bit of headway. He could nearly perform it one handed and had begun to work on finding ways to incorporate it into a fight. He had learned during his encounter with Kabuto that he couldn't just swing and hope to hit an enemy if he wasn't fast enough it was easy to dodge.

He had also practiced summoning. He had begun to learn the different levels within the range of summoning toads. Naruto could at least distinguish and purposely call out Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, Gamabunta, and two middle range frogs. During training Gamakichi had taken to coming out first just to say hello, on some days Gamatatsu visited as well. Though he would never admit he actually enjoyed the company.

Once the sun had set Naruto often set about wearing himself down. If his training during the day hadn't worn him out enough he would work on his taijutsu or run around the village until he was exhausted. When that was done he would make his way back to the clearing and sleep till the sun rose when he would go meet Jiraiya.

It didn't matter to him that he normally only slept for two to three hours a night. It didn't matter to him that he had only stepped into the village once during the day light hours. It didn't matter to him that he hadn't eaten at Ichiraku's in almost two months. It didn't matter that he was down to one meal a day - the one he took when he snuck back to his apartment in the dead of the night. It didn't matter that almost all the windows in his apartment had been broken; for the first two weeks he had brought all of the hate notes and threats back with him to his clearing and burned them with his last jutsu of the night after that it just became to troublesome.

It didn't matter that the only person he had spoken to intentionally in the past six weeks was Jiraiya, or that all they talked about were the new jutsu he was learning. It didn't matter that he had ignored Konohamaru's pleas when he had been asked to play with him two weeks ago. It didn't matter that he had fallen farther into depression than he had ever been before.

He was keeping his promise. He was getting stronger. He would be able to protect them, even if he lost them in the process. The purpose of his training wasn't to keep his friends with him; it was to keep them alive. He wasn't showing any weakness.

He wondered briefly how much longer he would be able to avoid everyone. He hadn't been back into the village in several days. He had eaten out in the forest and avoided his apartment worrying that someone might decide to wait inside to confront him. He knew a conflict was inevitable put he planned on putting it off as much as possible. If he was lucky they would already have moved on and pushed him out of their thoughts.

Had Naruto been at the Academy at the moment he was thinking that he would have known he was wrong. He would have known that the conflict was coming sooner than he thought.

XXXXXXXXX

Inside Iruka's classroom a very in depth conversation was taking place - it didn't matter that his class was still in session or that the majority of the children in the class were spending more time trying to listen in then they were reading the assignment Iruka had given them. The gathered group, consisting of Iruka and seven Jounin, was huddled around Iruka's desk speaking in very concerned whispers.

“Are you sure you heard that correctly?” Iruka asked looking at Gai. He knew the man had a tendency to exaggerate and thought for sure that that was exactly what he was doing at that moment. “Positive,” Gai responded in an unusually serious voice. The other Jounin-senseis nodded in agreement with his statement, the others looked shocked. “It wasn't difficult to overhear, she and Shizune were in an open hallway and they were practically shouting their conversation,” Gai added the others could only shake their heads. “Go through it one more time,” Anko said clutching the bridge of her nose; she hadn't been this serious or annoyed since Orochimaru attacked in the middle of the Second Exam.

“Tsunade had asked Shizune to go check on Naruto. She's been growing concerned since no one but Jiraiya has seen him more than once since Sakura's parents died. When Shizune got to his apartment she found the door unlocked, she walked in assuming Naruto was just back from training early. The place was trashed, the windows were broken out and rocks were scattered all over the floor. When she was speaking to Tsunade she had a number of papers in her hands, from what I got when she pointed them it sounded like most of them were threats,” Kurenai said repeating a summary of the conversation that she, Gai, and Asuma had heard that afternoon.

“Do they at least know that Naruto is safe?” Iruka asked nervously, though he would never admit it he wasn't very comfortable around Asuma and Kurenai ever since the Chuunin Exam nominations. Asuma nodded his head slightly, “Yeah, when Shizune saw the apartment she immediately checked the training grounds. Naruto was there with Jiraiya.”

“So that means the kid hasn't been to his apartment recently,” Genma stated.

“I don't know,” Kurenai said, “Tsunade and Shizune never mentioned it. Apparently when she got to the training ground and saw him there she didn't say anything; she came straight back to tell Tsunade about it.”

“How long has it been going on for?” Ibiki asked.

“Judging by the number of notes and depending on how many were thrown in at once, it could be anywhere from one night to several months,” Responded Gai.

“Has he spoken to anyone about it?” Ebisu said pushing his glasses farther up his nose. The entire group looked up and shook their heads almost simultaneously. “Unless he's spoken with Jiraiya about it, my guess would be no. Tsunade and Shizune were both shocked by the notes and I don't think he's had contact with anyone else.” They all bowed their heads slightly at Kurenai's assumption. A collective feeling of guilt spread itself through the group. Though each of them had other responsibilities, they all felt bad that they had paid him no attention at all. Iruka felt that worse, he had been waiting for Naruto to approach him but that had obviously been the wrong thing to do.

As the bell rang Iruka turned around and waved for his class to leave. The group quietly filed out wondering what had this odd group puzzled. Konohamaru paused and fidgeted near the door for a moment until Anko shouted over to him, “Whaddya want kid?” Iruka turned back around to see who she was yelling at, his eyes softened, “What is it Konohamaru?”

Konohamaru eyed the group for a moment noting that, with the exception of his tutor, current sensei, and that weird guy in green, they were all really strong shinobi. “Are you talking about Naruto nii-san?” He finally asked; several times he had sworn he had heard his onii-san mentioned and was worried that something had happened to him. Many looked up sharply at him, but Iruka walked calmly over and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I know you're worried about Naruto, but he's strong he'll be okay. I'll make sure of it.”

Konohamaru eyed him skeptically for a moment before nodding and walking out the door. Iruka stood up praying that he hadn't just made a promise that he couldn't keep.

XXXXXXXXX

The next day when they were done training Naruto set off once again. This time however Jiraiya grabbed his arm, “Sorry brat, Tsunade wants to see you.” Naruto looked at him in confusion for a moment before shrugging it off and heading towards the Hokage's office, Jiraiya followed silently. As they walked through the village Naruto concentrated on not wincing because of the all the glares being directed at him.

Jiraiya glanced around and was shocked. It had been some time since he had walked through the village with Naruto, but he didn't remember the boy getting this many glares. He was still some distance behind Naruto so he assumed many of them didn't associate his presence with the boy's. He turned angrily when he heard a man nearby mutter, “Damn demon, haven't seen him here in over a month and he has to ruin our day by showing his stupid face again.”

“I agree,” stated the woman next him, “I was beginning to believe he had finally gone and died on us. I was thinking of planning a party to celebrate.”

“It would have been too much to ask of course. But at least he isn't being as loud or annoying as before, maybe he's finally realized we don't want-” The man never finished his sentence as a hand flew by his head and punched the wall inches from him. Jiraiya was glaring down at the man. “If I ever hear you insult my student in any way again it will be your head I hit,” he stated voice dripping with venom.

Naruto turned around when he heard the noise, he had been trying to ignore the conversation the two had been having but he had heard the man cut off suddenly. He saw Jiraiya towering over him, fist connected with a dented and cracked brick wall. The blond shuddered slightly when he realized that Jiraiya had heard as well. “Jiraiya-sama,” he said quietly, playing ignorant of the comments and trying to diffuse the situation, “Aren't we supposed to meet Tsunade-sama?” He purposely said both of their names correctly for once trying to gain all of Jiraiya's attention.

Luckily it worked and with one last glare Jiraiya walked away from the two speakers and joined Naruto. They set off again towards Tsunade; Naruto couldn't help but notice how rigidly Jiraiya was walking. Nor could he ignore the thrumming energy caused by Jiraiya's barely contained anger. The two caught a number of eyes as they continued through town. Naruto noticed barely contained glee as many of them glanced at him; he wondered if they assumed that Jiraiya's anger was aimed at him.

When they finally reached Hokage tower Jiraiya glance back at him once and set off up the stairs. Naruto purposely fell slightly behind wanting to delay his impending doom. The only reason the Hokage would call for him was because she suspected something. It probably meant that they had realized he wasn't coming back into the village often. He was actually slightly surprised it had taken this long; he had expected Tsunade to beat the shit out of him when he missed the Haruno's funeral.

Once he made it to the top of the stairs he found Jiraiya already standing outside Tsunade's door. Several shinobi glanced at him in sympathy and concern as he made his way down the hall he was confused by their looks but simply kept walking. When he reached Jiraiya, the Sennin knocked on the door and then entered ushering Naruto inside.

Immediately after entering, Naruto froze. Tsunade was leaning against the front of her desk watching him closely. Jiraiya forcibly moved Naruto forward to stand in front of her. Once in position Naruto looked up cautiously at Tsunade and waited for her to speak. She looked at him for a moment before reaching behind her and picking up a piece of paper, she looked it over once and handed it to him. All he needed was one glance to know it was another threat. He looked up at her while wondering who had been to his apartment. “What about it?” He asked simply.

Tsunade looked down at him and blinked several times, “You don't seem surprised by this at all.” Naruto shrugged, “It's not like I've never seen it before.”

“How long has this been going on?” Jiraiya asked moving over to sit next to Tsunade. Naruto thought for a moment before responding, “I stopped paying attention to them about a month ago.” Hopefully that would satisfy the two enough that they wouldn't actually delve into it. He had managed to avoid questions about these things for months. For years he had managed to avoid bringing them to others attention and now looking up at Tsunade and Jiraiya he knew it wasn't enough.

“So these letters,” she said pointing to a stack of almost one hundred papers “they're only from the last month or so?” She noted Naruto's slight flinch as he realized the trouble his statement had just caused. He nodded slightly and glanced up hoping that the conversation would end soon.

“How many others came before these? How long have you been receiving letters like these?” Tsunade asked looking at him in awe. Naruto thought for a moment and then shrugged, “I don't know.” Jiraiya blinked at his student for a moment before kneeling down and looking at him, “I think you do.”

As Naruto remained silent Tsunade bent down as well and forced him to look up at her. The emotion in her eyes was slightly overwhelming for Naruto but he still did not answer. “Why didn't you tell anyone this was going on?” Naruto stared at his feet and remained quiet.

Jiraiya finally sighed and walked over to the window glaring out at the village. He had always loved it and thought it was one of the best of the shinobi villages. Now he was starting to get a glimpse of the imperfections within the village. People that threatened a child for something he had nothing to do with, how pathetic could they get?

Tsunade continued to look down at Naruto in pity. The boy in front of her was not the one she had met almost five months ago. This boy was quiet, withdrawn and wary of others. Naruto had cut himself off from all of his friends and acquaintances. He wouldn't confide in anyone. Hell, he wasn't even speaking to anyone except for Jiraiya. Even that was strictly for training purposes.

Naruto continued staring at his feet. He hoped that his silence would frustrate the two Sennin enough that they would kick him out of the office. He could deal with pissing the two off, usually that just resulted in Tsunade yelling at him and Jiraiya withholding jutsus for a while. He couldn't deal with their pity.

After quite some time Naruto's plan actually worked. Tsunade finally sighed and walked back around her desk to sit down in her chair. She looked over at Jiraiya before turning back to Naruto and dismissing him. “And don't think I've forgotten that you missed the funeral,” she shouted as Naruto made it through the door.

Once out of Tsunade's office Naruto made his way quickly through the village. He kept his head down as attempted to avoid the angry glares the villagers were sending him. It was getting so hard, without the others there to help him. Without someone there who accepted him, he was having so much trouble pretending. At this rate he would probably break by the end of the week. Without his team to steady him, to affirm his importance, the stares were beginning to wear away at him.

He couldn't let it show. He had already let his friends down so much. He was supposed to protect them and he knew that he was doing that. He was also supposed to keep them happy. He couldn't do that if he let everyone know how much he was hurting. He knew he couldn't smile anymore, it was just too difficult. But Naruto would be damned if he would cry. He would never show that much pain.

XXXXXXXXX

For the next three weeks Naruto managed to continue in the routine that he had set up for himself. He returned to his apartment less and less. He returned to the village less and less. He talked less and less. Gamakichi was joining Naruto almost everyday during his training, Naruto allowed him to sit on his head and ramble on as he continued working on whatever it was he had his focus on. Gamatatsu would join them occasionally, usually to yell out encouragement and cheer Naruto on. The blond fox-boy rarely showed it but he enjoyed having the two around. He wasn't particularly concerned for their safety, after all only he and Jiraiya could call them out. It alleviated some of the loneliness he had been feeling.

After a particularly difficult day of training with Jiraiya, Naruto once more found himself making his way through the streets of Konoha. Tsunade had summoned him back to her office and he had to fight to keep the cringe off his face when he tried to figure what had happened this time. It didn't help that he hadn't slept in almost five days. Nightmares of various friends' deaths had begun plaguing him so he avoided sleeping when possible. Although he could normally keep his fatigue from showing, five days was a bit much even for him. The bags under his eyes were beginning to show and he had noticed that Jiraiya had been looking at him oddly that morning.

As they walked past the ninja academy Naruto heard several people call out to him, he identified two of the voices as Iruka and Konohamaru but didn't bother with the rest. The more he recognized the more he would want to turn around and acknowledge them, as if the first two weren't difficult enough to ignore. He kept walking even though Jiraiya glanced back and waved at those who called. He kept walking ignoring the fact that Jiraiya was glaring at him for ignoring his friends so blatantly.

When they reached the stairs to Hokage tower Naruto pretended that he didn't see the ten rookies that were gathered there with their senseis. He pretended that he didn't hear them call out his name. He pretended that he couldn't hear the concern in the voices. He pretended that Neji and Shikamaru weren't looking at him with a mix of respect and curiosity. He pretended that the Jounin senseis and other higher ups gathered there weren't looking at him oddly. He pretended Sakura wasn't on the verge of tears when he walked within two feet of her and brushed past her out reached hand.

Apparently it was the last action that set everyone off. “You fucking bastard,” Kiba shouted out when Sakura whimpered slightly in reaction to Naruto's dismissal of her presence. Naruto looked over at him for a moment before turning to start up the stairs. While many of the Jounin gathered their looked at him in shock, Jiraiya smacked his head at his students ignorant behavior. He honestly hadn't known he would act this away around his peers.

Naruto had stepped onto the first stair when Kiba launched himself at him. Naruto was knocked forward onto the steps; he hadn't even tried to dodge. Before Naruto had a chance to recover Kiba had yanked him up by the collar of his jacket. It was a bit too warm to be wearing it but he was still pretty bruised from the melee he had staged last night with about forty clones.

“You jack-ass what the hell was that? Who do you think you are walking past us like we aren't even there?” He shouted into the blonde's face. Naruto raised a hand to wipe the spit off his face and then looked blankly into Kiba's face. After a moment he put a hand on Kiba's wrist, the boy was forced to relinquish his hold on Naruto's jacket dropping the blond back down onto the step.

Once he was free Naruto turned to continue he ascent only to run into a growling Akamaru. He sighed before turning back around and looking at Kiba, he raised an eyebrow slightly at Kiba's glare. Naruto's dispassionate demeanor seemed to infuriate the Inuzuka boy even more. He signaled for Akamaru to move and he did launching himself against Naruto's back and pitching him forward off the steps. Naruto recovered quickly turning the fall into a roll, the minute he hit the ground at the base of the steps he stood up and turned back around to face Kiba. He shook his head slightly and said one word to the dog-boy, “Don't.”

Kiba immediately growled and launched himself at Naruto again. Naruto simply dodged each of Kiba's attacks refusing to hit back. The others could only watch in shock as the two scuffled. Finally Naruto grew impatient with Kiba's relentlessness he aimed a punch straight at Kiba only to have it blocked by a very angry Chuunin Academy teacher before Iruka could chastise the two a very angry Hokage appeared on the steps. “What the hell do you two think you're doing? I call you all to my office to give you a mission and my assistants come running in to tell me a fight has broken out. Konoha shinobi do not behave this immaturely,” she said huffing as she drew another breath and turned on the adults in the group, “and you, what the hell were you so busy doing that an Academy teacher had to come all this way to stop the fight? Why did none of you step in and stop it before it got this far?”

Those that were gathered there could only look around guiltily. Naruto had dropped his fist and was staring to the side avoiding everyone's glances. Tsunade turned to Iruka and nodded slightly saying, “Thank-you Iruka-sensei for stepping in. I apologize that none of those gathered here were competent enough to do so themselves,” Iruka blushed and nervously looked over to the assembled Jounin before Tsunade continued. “I'm sure you need to return to your classes before they get out of hand.” Iruka nodded before turning around and walking back to the academy. Tsunade stared at the rest of them before turning around and beckoning for them to follow her up the stairs.

The group finally reached Tsunade's office with Naruto trailing behind them. Jiraiya was guiding his student in and lead him all the way up to her desk where he forced Naruto stand with the other rookies. He then went to lean against the wall near the other adults.

Tsunade surveyed the group in front of her for a moment before speaking up, “I have decided that the academy students need to be more aware of what actually takes place during a shinobi battle. Though many of them know a great many jutsu and are quite capable of hitting a motionless target, they do not have much experience when it comes to real fights. I can't pair them off to fight against each other, however, I can have all of you demonstrate for them.” She looked over them again and when she was satisfied that they understood she continued. “Each of you will be paired off and since there is an odd number it means one of you will fight twice. Naruto since you were so eager to fight earlier you will have two matches.” Naruto nodded curtly and kept his gaze on his feet. The others looked slightly shocked and Kiba made a move to speak the Hokage immediately silenced him.

“This demonstration is mainly geared towards those older students who will be graduating in the next year or so. That means that some of them may have been in your class at the academy. I hope that all of you will be able to behave maturely in front of them.” The group all nodded in agreement. Tsunade sighed and nodded once before brightening slightly, “Also I've spoken with Iruka and he told me that the younger students are currently studying summoning. I've decided to include them among the audience for the matches.” A number of the rookies looked up at her in confusion, Naruto only hoped she wasn't suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. She smiled at their confusion and continued, “This is because the matches will be preceded by two summoning demonstrations. I've asked Sakura to demonstrate her summoning ability and Naruto will be summoning as well.”

Naruto looked up straight into Tsunade's overly sweet smile. “Jiraiya mentioned that he's been looking for a chance for you to attempt Gama Yuendan.” This statement brought several surprised looks from the adults who all looked over to see a very smug Jiraiya. “Since you haven't had a chance to do so yet, I think it would be…educational to show the students just how powerful the summons are by showing them a combination move.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at her. The last thing he wanted to do was be forced to summon Gamabunta, outside of battle even, right before fighting two different matches. If anything went wrong he would be forced to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra, and although he had gotten much better at controlling it he didn't want to rely on it especially not around his friends. “Can I do that after the matches?” he questioned.

“If you attempt to summon Gamabunta after your matches then you might not have enough chakra,” Jiraiya said looking at Naruto.

“I'd rather run out of chakra attempting to summon than do so while fighting someone.” Naruto retorted trying to make the two Sennin understand, “Besides I've never summoned Gamabunta outside of a life threatening situation, there's no guarantee I'd be able to do so for this.”

“Jiraiya said you had already summoned him once before your fight against Gaara,” Tsunade said looking at him slightly confused. Jiraiya looked slightly panicked and made a move to shut his student up when Naruto spoke again, “He got pissed that I wasn't able to summon anything without a tail. He decided that it would be worth it to take a risk so he threw me into the ravine by the waterfall.” If Naruto had been in a better mood he would have laughed at Jiraiya's predicament. Tsunade was glaring daggers at him and even the other Jounin were looking at with disbelief. “Well he did manage to pull out something without a tail,” Jiraiya said weakly before turning and giving Naruto a glare that promised future pain.

Tsunade turned back to Naruto and sighed; before she could speak again he cut her off. “Wouldn't it be easier to just have Jiraiya tell them the story of one of his battles, or have someone talk about how Yondaime used him against the Kyuubi?” Tsunade's eyes widened slightly at the mention of the Kyuubi however she recovered quickly. “Unfortunately, Jiraiya will be gone on a mission during the week that the demonstration will take place. You'll just have to take a risk. If you can't summon him, you can't summon him.”

Naruto looked up at her and sighed. “It isn't a question of whether or not I'll be able to summon him. The question is only about the method I'll use to summon him,” he said trying to make her understand. “I would rather summon him after my fights than before because I would rather use the alternate method on him than on them,” He said biting back a glare. Tsunade suddenly gained a look of comprehension on her face. The other adults slowly comprehended his meaning, shocked that Naruto was the first to realize the risks of using the Kyuubi's chakra on his friends.

Jiraiya was the first to speak, “It would actually be better if you didn't use the alternative method to summon Gamabunta.” Naruto glared up at him but remained silent when he saw Tsunade agree with Jiraiya. His brow furrowed in thought for a moment before he looked up at Tsunade eyes wide. They were trying to force him to use the Kyuubi's chakra around his friends.

As Naruto came to his realization Jiraiya watched him closely. As much as Naruto wanted to refrain from using the Kyuubi's chakra his reluctance to do so was dangerous. If he would only use when performing stunts like summoning Gamabunta than he could possibly have difficulty using it in real battle. They had arranged this demonstration and overloaded Naruto for that exact reason. The boy had enough control that he wouldn't actually hurt someone during the fight now he just needed to realize that. Naruto gritted his teeth and nodded slightly to show he understood and Tsunade took this as an invitation to continue.

“Well that was really the only reason I called all of you here. If there are any more questions feel free to ask your senseis or any of the others here today. All the Jounin present will be overseeing the demonstrations.” She looked at them once more before singling out Naruto and Kiba. “Because of the irresponsible behavior both of you displayed I feel a punishment is necessary. Kiba I'll allow Kurenai to choose yours. Naruto because Jiraiya is hopelessly incompetent,” she said causing Jiraiya to glare at her and several others - really just Anko - to snicker at him, “I'll ask that you remain afterwards, I'll decide on your punishment then.” Naruto sighed and nodded. “That's all,” She said looking at the others. Shikamaru glanced at Shino once before walking out, everyone slowly filed out after him leaving Naruto with Jiraiya, Tsunade, Anko, Ibiki, Genma and Ebisu.

“Where have you been for the past month?” Was the first thing out of Tsunade's mouth the minute they were alone. Naruto looked up at her in confusion. “I've been training with Jiraiya,” He offered. Tsunade grinned at him and he suddenly realized how frightening the sight was as she bent over and patted him on the head. “Naruto-kun,” she said in an overly sweet tone causing him to flinch slightly and look up at her cautiously, “You haven't been to your apartment in three weeks, nor have you been seen in the village during the day time in almost two months.”

Naruto looked down refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Jiraiya sighed before walking over and smacking Naruto on the head, “You know you could make this a lot easier by actually saying something for once.” Naruto glanced over at him once before returning his gaze to the floor. The rest of the group watched curiously as Tsunade's eye began twitching slightly. She finally lost her cool and lifted Naruto up by his shirt collar glaring into his face, “Don't you understand how worried you have us. I had Shizune stay at your apartment for a week waiting for you to come home and you didn't show up once. You have Iruka going out of his mind because you haven't spoken to him in almost two months. Sakura asks about you everyday and I know the rest of your friends have showed a good deal of concern as well.” She paused slightly to catch her breath and as she did so she got a good look at the circles underneath Naruto's eyes. “And when was the last time you got any sleep?”

Her last question caused the majority of the people in the room to squint at Naruto for a closer look. Anko had to refrain herself from whistling when she saw the rings under his eyes. Ebisu nudged his glasses farther up his nose and shook his head, obviously upset that the boy had been pushing himself so far. Naruto remained silent which only caused Tsunade to grow angrier. “Damn it Naruto, just answer the questions.”

Naruto finally spoke. Without showing any emotion he stared out the window and kept his voice flat. “I haven't slept in five days. I spend most of my time out in the woods training,” …I enter the village only at night because that way I don't have to hear people talk about what waste my existence is, he added silently before continuing, “I apologize for the fact that I've worried people.” The others gaped at his blunt answer. Tsunade stared down him not quite knowing how to respond. Even Jiraiya looked startled and he had already guessed Naruto's answer.

After several minutes Naruto tore his gaze away from the window and looked up at Tsunade. “What's my punishment for fighting Kiba?” Tsunade immediately shook her head and regained her composure. “Oh, that,” she said intelligently as she rubbed the back of her head for a moment. “Well…” she said before trailing off and looking at the others for help. Jiraiya actually smirked at her; he knew the woman didn't actually have the heart to punish the kid. Suddenly her face lit up and she looked down at with another rather evil smile on her face. “From now on, one of those four will be with you at all times and will oversee your training when you aren't with Jiraiya. Also you are to be back in the village by eight every night and whoever is watching you that day will make sure it is done. If I find that you have broken any of these rules I'll have Jiraiya stop teaching you new jutsu for six months.”

Naruto looked up at for a moment before nodding. He was a little angry at the smug look the old hag's face. He knew those stupid rules weren't punishment so much as her way of keeping an eye on him but he was still pissed. “Fine, is there anything else?”

Tsunade thought for a moment before shaking her head, “No, Ebisu will be watching you today. Whoever is assigned to you for the day will meet you everyday after training with Jiraiya. That's all.”

“Understood, Hokage-sama.” Said Naruto before turning and walking out the door. Ebisu quickly recovered and followed him out sparing one last glance at a shocked Hokage. Once he had disappeared the others continued staring at Tsunade, the woman looked absolutely heartbroken. “He's never called me that before.” She whispered before waving them out of her office. A number of tears slid down her cheek after the others had exited.