Hokage's Office. Dead of night.
The sound of liquid hitting the bottom of a ceramic cup broke the office silence as Tsunade slammed the bottle down on the desk and pushed the drink toward the edge of the table.
"Drink it because you look like you're going to start complaining in less than ten seconds and I prefer you do it with alcohol in your system."
Jiraiya was leaning against the window frame looking out into the village darkness, but he turned upon hearing her.
"It's not a complaint, Tsunade, but an observation from someone who values his neck and yours," Jiraiya said, taking a long swig before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Declaring war on Akatsuki right now? With the village still gluing back the bricks that fell during Orochimaru's invasion? It's like kicking a nest of giant hornets, so tell me you have a better plan than simply screaming at them to come get us."
"They've already stung us, Jiraiya, and if you haven't realized that it's because you're getting old," Tsunade replied without looking at him, focused on a map spread out on the wood that was filled with red marks. "Kisame and Itachi didn't come for a sightseeing tour or to eat dango, but came for the boy, so if we don't strike first or at least show them our teeth for once, they'll think we're easy prey and come back with more people."
She turned toward him and crossed her arms while resting her hip against the edge of the desk.
"I need time to prepare the brats and fear is the only way to buy it, because if Akatsuki thinks we're on the offensive they'll have to pull back to cover their own bases instead of attacking ours."
Jiraiya grimaced and waved the empty cup asking for more, although Tsunade ignored the gesture.
"Fear works if you have something to back it up with, but right now our Jōnin numbers are low and you know it," he replied. "What are you going to do if they accept the challenge and attack us? Send the Genin to the front lines? Because that is exactly what will happen if you escalate this too fast."
"I'm not going to send anyone to die if I can avoid it, but I'm also not going to sit and wait for them to walk through the front door again, which is why I need you, Jiraiya."
The Sannin tensed slightly because he rarely heard those words without a punch involved or a request for gambling money, so he set the cup on the table carefully.
"Do you want me to lend you money, Princess?" he tried to joke, but the smile didn't reach his eyes and vanished quickly upon seeing the seriousness on her face. "Well, I guess it's not that."
"I'm serious and stop playing the fool, because your spy network is rusty and it's pitiful to look at."
"Hey! My network is legendary..."
"Your network depends on bar rumors and escorts, which worked ten years ago, but now we are blind," she interrupted him while walking to the other side of the desk to open a locked drawer. "Hiruzen let everything atrophy trusting in the peace and Danzo corrupted what little was left for his own ends, so basically I see nothing outside these walls and that makes me nervous."
Tsunade pulled out a black scroll sealed with red wax and tossed it across the table so Jiraiya could catch it in mid-air with a quick movement.
"Your mission is S-Rank and I want you to treat it as such instead of using it as an excuse to write your novels," she said, pointing at the scroll with her index finger. "Infiltration, tracking, and dismantling, because I want to know every move Akatsuki makes before they make it, I want to know where they sleep, what they eat, who funds them, and even what color their underwear is if that's necessary to kill them."
Jiraiya tucked the scroll inside his tunic feeling the weight of the paper and the order.
"I also want to know where Orochimaru's bases are and what sewer rats remain loyal to him, because that snake isn't going to stay still while we fight the ones with the red clouds."
"That is a lot of ground to cover, even for me," Jiraiya admitted while scratching his chin. "And if I start lifting stones, a lot of things might crawl out that you might not like."
"I don't care what crawls out because I want to see it all." Tsunade lowered her voice and leaning forward a bit asked, "And Danzo?"
Jiraiya understood the change in tone, for it wasn't a casual question.
"Danzo has been quiet, too quiet for my taste."
"Exactly, his Root members were passive spectators during the incident with Kisame and Itachi, which tells me he is waiting for me to make a mistake so he can pounce," Tsunade said with her eyes flashing dangerously under the lamp light. "I want to know what he is plotting outside my walls and who he talks to, if he has deals with other villages, if he is moving illegal funds, or if he is planning a coup... find him, because I need a legitimate excuse to crush him and you are going to bring it to me, since I can't touch him without solid proof or the Council will jump on me."
Jiraiya nodded slowly because he knew that was the most dangerous part of the mission; spying on Akatsuki was suicidal, but spying on Danzo was high-level politics.
He stood up on the window frame feeling the night breeze fluttering his clothes.
"Are you sure you can handle this alone here, since with me gone you're left with less support?" he asked looking toward the sleeping village.
"I can handle the village, Jiraiya, so you worry about us not getting stabbed in the back."
"And what about the kids?" Jiraiya asked with a note of genuine concern filtering into his voice. "Will you leave the brats alone with Itachi stalking and with the threat of Akatsuki breathing down their necks? Naruto is impulsive and has the subtlety of a brick, and the Uchiha... well, we already saw what he can do."
"They won't be alone and stop treating them like they're made of glass," Tsunade assured, refilling her cup. "I am here and I am going to personally see to it that they stop being scared children, because it's time they learned to fight in the dark given that they won't always have your back to hide behind, Jiraiya; they have to grow up and they have to do it fast or next time there won't be anyone to save them."
Jiraiya looked at her for a few seconds and then smiled with that sad and wise grin he only showed when no one was looking.
"They are good kids, Tsunade, so take care of them because they are the last good harvest we have and it would be a shame if they spoiled before ripening."
"Go already before I get sentimental and throw the bottle at your head," she grumbled, turning her back on him.
Without saying more, Jiraiya let himself fall backward disappearing into the Konoha night.
Senju Bunker. Underground.
Tsunade stood in the center of the training room with her arms crossed and an expression that froze the blood of anyone who looked her directly in the eye.
In front of her, lined up like rookie recruits, were Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Karin, and to everyone's surprise, Shizune, who was adjusting her gloves with evident nervousness while rubbing her hands together over and over.
Naruto wrinkled his nose while looking up at the low stone ceiling and breaking the tense silence.
"Was it necessary to come all the way down here, Granny? We could train upstairs."
"Shut your mouth, Naruto," Tsunade snapped without moving. "We are here because what we are going to do requires that no one sees us and that no one hears us scream."
Sakura glanced sideways at Naruto and elbowed him in the ribs.
"Stop complaining," she whispered. "Don't you see the look on her face? Today she's not in the mood for your nonsense."
"Congratulations to everyone," Tsunade said. "You survived an encounter with two members of Akatsuki, but you got lucky, very lucky, and next time you will be dead before your bodies hit the floor."
Naruto opened his mouth to protest immediately taking a step forward.
"Hey! It wasn't just luck because we fought with everything we had, Granny Tsunade, so don't say we just stood there watching."
"You faced exhausted Ninjas after an ambush, Naruto," Tsunade cut him off, her voice rising in volume and slamming against the stone walls. "And regarding Itachi... Kakashi is one of the best Jōnin of this village, he has experience, he has the Sharingan, and is a tactical genius, but I want you to tell me how long he lasted against him."
Naruto closed his mouth hesitating while looking at Sakura and then at the floor.
"I don't know... it was fast," he murmured.
"It was one second," Tsunade said implacably. "A single second, a crossing of glances and Konoha's best Jōnin was taken out of combat, mentally destroyed and needing days of intensive therapy just to avoid becoming a vegetable, so tell me, what will you do when the enemy doesn't need to move to kill you and your eyes lie to you while your brain melts from the inside?"
No one answered this time.
"I'll tell you: you will die, and you will do it screaming," Tsunade sentenced.
Karin adjusted her glasses visibly uncomfortable.
"But my sensory ability allows me to see them without looking directly, Hokage-sama, because I can feel their chakra..."
"Your sensory ability is useful, Karin, but if you depend on it and they cast a visual genjutsu on you before you close your eyes you're finished anyway," Tsunade corrected her. "Besides, Itachi is faster than your current reaction capacity and the battle against Akatsuki isn't won with brute force, leave that for the idiots, but with perception and denial."
Tsunade walked in front of them with her steps hammering the metal floor.
"You made a fatal mistake that day by relying too much on your eyes, and against an Uchiha of that level, seeing is losing."
She reached into her tool pouch and pulled out five strips of black, thick, opaque cloth, tossing them to the floor at everyone's feet with disdain.
"Put them on, because from now on and until I say otherwise you will train blindfolded."
Naruto looked at the cloth on the floor and looked up at her.
"What!? Are you kidding? How the hell am I going to fight if I can't see anything? I'm going to break my nose against the wall!"
"That is the damn point, idiot!" Tsunade roared losing patience. "If you rely on seeing the fist coming it's already too late! You have to feel the intent, you have to know the blow is coming before the enemy's muscle moves."
She pointed at each one assigning tasks with a precision that admitted no arguments.
"Naruto, you have the Kyubi's chakra and that strange power of the Falna, but stop using them like a giant hammer to smash things and learn to feel emotions, anger, fear, and killing intent. I want you to dodge my punches feeling my desire to hit you and not the displacement of air, because if you wait for the air I will have already broken your jaw."
Naruto swallowed hard picking up the blindfold reluctantly.
"Sakura, Hinata, you are a team so start acting like one," Tsunade continued turning toward the girls. "Sakura, you will use your chakra threads and the vibration of the floor through your punches to 'see' the terrain as if you were a spider in its web, while you, Hinata, have to understand that your Byakugan is useless if they blind you, so refine your perception to feel the flow of pure chakra without depending on physical vision; you have to synchronize without speaking because on the battlefield speaking is revealing your position."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," both said in unison, although Sakura seemed doubtful.
"Karin, Shizune. Karin, you will track ten clones of Naruto moving through the room solely by their chakra signature and if you miss one you will start from scratch. Shizune..." Tsunade looked at her assistant who was pale. "You have a practice dummy with an open wound on the stretcher in the back and I want you to suture it perfectly without seeing it, only touch and healing chakra flow."
"But, Tsunade-sama... that is blind surgery, it's..."
"It is necessary, so start now!"
The chaos was immediate and absolute.
Naruto put on the blindfold and in his first attempt to take a "stealthy" step he tripped over his own feet and went face-first against the metal floor with a dull thud.
"Dammit!" he shouted rolling on the floor. "Who put that box there?"
"There is no box, Naruto, it's your own clumsy feet," Sakura shouted at him from somewhere to his left, moving also blindfolded and with her hands extended like a zombie.
Sakura threw a chakra thread attempting to hook onto a column to orient herself but calculated the distance poorly and the thread tangled around Hinata's leg, who let out a small cry before falling to the floor.
"I'm sorry, Hinata! I didn't see you!"
"That is the problem, Sakura-chan, no one sees anything," Hinata replied from the floor rubbing her knee.
On the other side of the room, Karin was spinning around and pointing at the air.
"There! No, wait, that's a chair! Dammit, Naruto's chakra is everywhere!"
Shizune, in front of the dummy, had her hands shaking so much she dropped the needle twice.
"I can't feel the edges of the wound with gloves on if I don't look..." she whispered with panic.
"Take off the gloves then and use your skin!" Tsunade shouted at her from her corner observing the disaster with a critical eye. "This is pathetic and you look like a bunch of drunks playing games! Naruto, get up off the floor! Karin, concentrate!"
Naruto stood up rubbing his forehead while frustration boiled in his chest, for he hated feeling useless and not seeing made him feel weak.
"This is impossible!" he shouted throwing a punch at the air that hit nothing and almost made him lose his balance from the inertia. "I can't feel anything, it's useless, I only see black and I'm getting dizzy!"
Sakura sighed loudly several meters away.
"Calm down, idiot, your screaming helps no one," she said instinctively throwing another chakra thread that traveled through the air and wrapped gently around Naruto's wrist, a touch barely perceptible, firm but not aggressive. "You are so full of anger and the desire to hit something that you can't feel anything else, so stop screaming in your head, Naruto, and feel through my thread."
Naruto froze suddenly surprised by the phantom contact on his left wrist, a thin line connecting him to something real in the middle of the dark nothingness.
"Sakura-chan..."
"Shut up and feel," she ordered tightening the thread slightly. "I'm here."
"She's right, Naruto-kun," Hinata's voice arrived from his other side, moving with hesitant steps while guiding herself by the sound of Naruto's ragged breathing and Sakura's voice.
Hinata reached out searching in the darkness with open fingers until she brushed Naruto's sleeve, moving her hand down until finding his and, with a shyness that the blindfold couldn't hide but with a new firmness born of necessity, covered his right hand with hers.
"Try to feel my chakra," she whispered squeezing his hand gently. "Use it as a reference point to know where you are."
Naruto stood paralyzed, for suddenly the world ceased to be a black and terrifying void by having two fixed points.
For a moment the whirlwind of frustration in his chest calmed and he stopped trying to "see" images with closed eyes to simply feel, perceiving Sakura's worry traveling through the thread like an electric vibration and Hinata's peace and stability through his skin.
"I... I feel it," Naruto murmured with his voice dropping in volume until it was almost a whisper. "It feels good."
"Better," Sakura said with her voice more relaxed now that she felt Naruto stop resisting. "Now breathe and don't move so abruptly."
From a corner, observing in silence, Tsunade crossed her arms and leaned against the wall seeing the physical and chakra connection forming between the three.
"Hmpf," she snorted, but a small smile curved her lips softening her severe expression for a second. "What a complicated training these brats have found just to hold hands."
Then her command voice broke the moment like thunder returning them to the reality of the bunker.
"Very cute, but this isn't a dating club! Separate before I go there and beat the three of you so you learn to dodge for real! Karin, you lost clone number four again so you are distracted! Shizune, that imaginary patient just bled out on your table! Again, and this time do it right!"