Long after the sun had set,
Tsunade finally agreed to let Dan and Nawaki return to their cold coffins.
She stood before their graves for a long time, unwilling to leave until the next sunrise.
The first rays of sunlight shone through Dan and Nawaki's tombstones and fell on Tsunade, as if giving her an unknown mission.
She took a deep breath, like she had made a decision and was ready to leave.
At that moment… Naruto stepped in front of her and grabbed her wrist.
"Naruto?"
Before Tsunade could react, Naruto cut her palm with a laser.
Blood gushed out, soaking her hand.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Seeing her hurt, Shizune dropped Tonton and rushed over with a kunai to protect her.
"I'm fine, Shizune!"
Tsunade stopped her, staring hard at the blood on her palm, her body trembling slightly.
But then the images of Nawaki and Dan's encouraging eyes flashed in her mind, and her heart instantly calmed down.
She clenched her fist, then swung it hard at Naruto.
Naruto moved fast, dodging to the side so her punch missed and slammed into the ground.
Boom!
Her monstrous strength smashed the ground and left a huge crater!
She… was back!
Her fear of blood was gone!
Naruto smiled slightly, waved his hand, and walked away. "Don't forget your promise!"
Watching his back, Tsunade froze for a second, then suddenly understood something.
"No wonder this kid stuck around me all this time… so it was for this…"
"Lady Tsunade, are you okay?"
Shizune ran over in a panic and looked at her palm.
"I'm fine." Tsunade shook her head.
It hurt a little when her palm was cut by the laser, but the wound wasn't deep and had already mostly healed.
"Lady Tsunade, is your fear of blood… gone?" Shizune asked curiously.
Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. Let's go to the Hokage building. I'll protect this village from now on!!"
...
The next day,
the Konoha elders started preparing for the Fifth Hokage's appointment and ceremony.
Cleaning up the Hokage's office, informing the Daimyo, and announcing the Fifth Hokage to the villagers.
Before all that was done—
Naruto didn't have any missions to do and wasn't getting promoted anytime soon.
He thought he could take a break, but Sakura came looking for him.
"Sakura, why are you here so early? What's going on?" Naruto asked, puzzled to see her show up so early.
"Well, I was planning to visit Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. Do you want to come with me?" Sakura asked carefully.
If she hadn't brought it up, Naruto would've forgotten about his teammates.
He knew Kakashi had been hurt by Uchiha Itachi, but Sasuke… Naruto remembered he wasn't at the inn town, so he wondered why Sasuke was injured.
With those questions in mind, he packed up and left with Sakura.
They first went to Ino's flower shop and bought two small white flowers, then headed to the hospital.
Tsunade had been busy with the Hokage succession matters since she came back and didn't have time to help treat Kakashi and Sasuke, which was why both of them were still unconscious.
"I don't know when Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke will wake up."
Sakura put the flowers into a vase, looking at the unconscious Sasuke with worry in her eyes.
Naruto didn't answer. He looked at Sasuke and said, "I'll go check on Kakashi."
After that, Naruto walked out of the room. Just as he was about to head to Kakashi's ward, he ran into Moegi and Udon, who were looking for him!
Udon: "Big Brother Naruto!"
Moegi: "Big Brother Naruto!"
"What are you two running around for?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Konohamaru… he… he's taken over the office!" Udon said, panting.
"Office?"
"The Hokage's office! Konohamaru won't let anyone go in!" Moegi added quickly.
After hearing Moegi say that, Naruto remembered what was going on.
Because Konohamaru couldn't accept the Third Hokage's death, he thought that everyone choosing a new Hokage so soon meant they had already forgotten the Third's sacrifice.
That's why he decided to use this method to stop the Fifth Hokage from taking over.
"Starting tomorrow, Tsunade will be handling official work, right? I was hoping to get my reward soon. Konohamaru, don't mess this up for me."
Naruto sighed and said to Udon and Moegi, "Let's go. We'll drag him out of there."
"Yes, Big Brother Naruto!"
Hearing that Naruto was willing to help, Udon and Moegi were thrilled.
Before long, they arrived at the Hokage building.
Two chunin were talking with Tsunade.
"I'm saying, it's just a kid. Do we really need to go this far?"
"But Lady Tsunade, he's the Third Hokage's grandson…"
"I don't care if he's a grandson or a great-grandson. I'm the First Hokage's granddaughter! Just do it already!"
The two chunin thought about it and realized she had a point.
They were about to make hand signs.
"Wait!!"
Udon and Moegi shouted to stop them. "Please wait, don't hurt Konohamaru!"
"Naruto?"
Tsunade looked at Naruto behind Udon and Moegi, a little surprised. "Are you here to plead for him? If you want to do something, I'll give you a day…"
"No need!"
Naruto cut her off and scolded her, "Don't you dare slack off! Didn't you promise yesterday to protect Konoha? How can you act so lazy all the time?"
Tsunade froze for a moment, surprised that Naruto had figured out what she was thinking.
She really had promised Dan and Nawaki that she would protect Konoha, but when it came to actually working, she still found it too troublesome!
So even though she had been following the two advisors' plans, she was still looking for chances to slack off.
And now, when she finally found a way to avoid work, Naruto called her out!
"Naruto, since when did you get so serious?" Tsunade said with a pout.
Naruto ignored her and kicked the door open.
He quickly dealt with all the traps Konohamaru had set up and walked straight up to the dumbfounded Konohamaru.
"Big Brother…Naruto…"
"Let's go. Don't stay here causing trouble."
Naruto grabbed Konohamaru and started pulling him out, but Konohamaru resisted.
"Big Brother Naruto, this is Grandpa's office! I can't let anyone else live here!" Konohamaru tried to fight back, but he was too weak to match Naruto.
Naruto glanced at him and thought this kid is as possessive as his grandpa!
"Before your grandpa lived in this office, the First Hokage lived here, the Second Hokage lived here… and even the Fourth Hokage stayed here."
"When your grandpa moved in the first time, the First Hokage's granddaughter—who is now the Fifth Hokage—didn't stop him!"
"When your grandpa moved in the second time, I, the son of the Fourth Hokage, didn't stop him either. So what right do you have to say this office only belongs to your grandpa?"
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