"Lady tsunade is waiting for you in her office, so please come inside!" Shizune spoke as she gestured for us to follow her.
We did what she wanted and followed behind her. As we entered the office of the Hokage, we were greeted with the sight of lady tsunade sitting at her desk as a mountain of peppers loomed over her. She had dark circles under her eyes. She looked up from the work she was doing as she smiled a little and spoke.
"Team Riku...It was about damn time! Here for your mission report?" She said looking at sensei.
"Yeah, so..." Sensei began to report all the details about the mission as we all stood behind him quietly.
"...After that we returned to Konoha." Sensei said, finishing the report.
"I see...that much happened." Lady Tsunade said while pinching her chin.
"Alright! Well done! The mission was a total success! You all did great, Team Riku!" Lady Tsunade said smiling at us.
We all smiled after hearing her after all being praised by your Kage is a thing that every ninja dreams about. But there was one person who was not smiling instead he had a frown on his forehead. That person was sensei. Of course we didn't know that since sensei had his back on us but we soon found out that something was wrong when sensei suddenly spoke.
"Lady Tsunade, the mission was not a C Rank mission, Was it?" Sensei spoke in a chilling voice as he put one of his hand on the table Lady Tsunade was sitting at.
Seeing sensei doing that, Seiten visibly trembled as he imagined what lady Tsunade would do in response to sensei's action. But even then we didn't move as we tried to make our presence as little as possible.
And Lady Tsunade on the other hand contrary to what we all thought was extremely calm, As if she had anticipated what sensei would do before we even came here. She looked into sensei's eyes with a calm look. She didn't have her smile like she had before but she also didn't look angry which was even more scary.
She leaned back on her chair as she looked at us for a second and then looked back at sensei as she finally decided to open her mouth.
"Alright! You three can go now! Your Sensei and I have a little business to take care so he will be staying with me for a bit." As soon as the word 'go' left her mouth, we all immediately run out of the office as we hurrieg towards the entrance of this building.
After reaching the entrance, we stopped as we took a few breaths. We all looked at each other and smiled.
"Damn! I think we are gonna need a new Sensei tomorrow!" Mio decided to speak first as she chuckled at her own words.
"At least have some faith in sensei! How can you kill him like that!" Seiten spoke in a dramatically sad voice but his face had a smile.
"If we are gonna compare sensei to Lady Hokage then I am sure Sensei is gonna lose. So we might just have to find a new sensei." I also spoke as we all laughed together.
After a bit Seiten turned around and started walking away as he said-
"Alright then, catch you later."
"Wait! I am also coming! See you soon, Mio!" I said as I also started walking towards him. My house was also in the same direction so we were going to walk together for a while.
"Wait, guys! Where are you going?" Mio shouted from behind as we both stopped and looked at her.
"Well? Aren't you going to your home too, Mio?" Seiten asked as he titled his head a little.
"...Did you forget that this mission was the last mission Sensei was going to be with us? He is retiring after this, did you forgot that?" Mio asked in a little sad voice which made us remember about sensei's situation.
This was sensei's last mission...he wanted to do this one last time before he retires and now, it's over. So sensei would be retiring now.
"I-I *Sob* I d-don't want him to retire. I-I Want him to be our Sensei forever!" Mio spoke as tears after tears kept coming from her eyes as they dropped onto the floor. we both just watched her as she cried her eyes out.
"...I guess we should wait for snesei here." I said as the other two nodded.
Now I feel stupid for laughing about our earlier joke. Finding a new sensei? Hah! Give me a break!
...
Inside the Hokage office-
"So Riku? It seems that I own you an explanation." Senju Tsunade spoke looking directly in the eyes of the jounin standing in front of her. Her eyes were fierce like a hungry tigress as she scanned Riku's face.
"Indeed." Riku on the other hand also was not scared as he kept his gaze locked to Tsunade's. As they glared at each other, at the side stood Shizune, shivering as she thought about what kind of crime has she committed to be in this kind of oppressing environment.
Fortunately for her though, soon Tsunade stopped her glaring as she finally decided to speakー
"Yes. The mission that I gave you was a B Rank mission and not a C Rank mission." Tsunade said as she kept her gaze at Riku's face.
"I had already figured that out but why did you not tell me that it was a B Rank mission? And why did you instead say that it was a C Rank one?" As Riku spoke his frown deepened as he looked at Tsunade's unchanging face.
"I must ask YOU the same question, Why do you think I did what I did." Tsunade said still leaning her back to the backrest.
Hearing Tsunade's response, Riku was silence. He had a lot of time to figure out Senju Tsunade's intentions and he knew that her intentions were not wrong but what she had in mind was really not what Riku wanted. Riku knew that he can't be the top ninja, no, he can't even be an average ninja but it was fine. He didn't want to be the top ninja. He only want to stay as a ninja.
"In the fight between Karan and that Elite chunin, if Karan had gotten even a small cut from that poisoned kunai, your entire team would have fallen to enemy. And all of that to save you." Tsunade said accusingly. Again, Riku was silent. Most would say that Riku was not at fault for what happened in this mission but as he was the sensei and the team leader of the team, anything going wrong was inevitable his responsibility. And beside that, Tsunade was not really saying that to blame Riku for whatever happened in this mission. She only wanted Riku to surrender in this argument.
"Riku, What do you want to do?" Senju Tsunade said in a much softer tone. She was asking about his ninja currier. She was asking him, What now?
"*Sigh*...I suppose, that I should..." Riku said as his hand slowly started moving towards his arm. On his arm a konoha armband was tightly wrapped. This band was there for so many years now that he felt that it was natural to wear it for him but now...
He slowly took it off and brought it towards his face. He looked at it closely for a while. Just from it looks, anyone could say that it was quite old. There were a few scratches on it from old battles as well. Riku slowly brought it towards his mouth as he kissed it and then slowly put it on the table.
...
Outside the Hokage Towerー
*Tak**Tak**Tak*...
The three of us were waiting for sensei outside the Hokage tower when suddenly we heard footsteps approaching. From the inside of the tower came out a figure of sensei. We all looked at him and soon noticed one thing...there was no Konoha armband on his arm.
As soon as he appeared, Mio ran towards him and hugged him as he patted her head. I and Seiten both also walked towards him as he looked at us and spoke-
"Why do you all look so down? Mio? Are you okay?" His words confused us. He spoke like nothing happened.
"S-Sensei...your armband..." Mio spoke as she still held one of sensei's hand. Hearing Mio's words sensei looked enlightened as he smiled at us.
"Ah! You mean this?" He said as he brought something out of his pocket. Which made all of us surprised.
There on Sensei's hand, his armband was hanging down. It looked exactly how it looked before. Seeing that, we all looked at sensei with surprised expressions.
"How?"
----------
Happy ending?