The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #23

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Naruto or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let’s goooo!

Konoha, Land of Fire

–Hiruzen Sarutobi–

“What do you think, Sensei? Will she listen?” He looked up from the request he had been looking at for a while now, the one that Kato Shizune requested, as an official Chunin of Konoha, to be moved to the Konoha General Hospital as a medic, stationed permanently.

He took a moment to organise his thoughts before replying, with a melancholy sigh, “I don't know, Jiraiya. I don’t know. This,” he waved the letter to show Jiraiya, “is proof that we were wrong to just let things be as they were."

Jiraiya’s gaze remained on the letter as he took it from his hands and read it, again and again, before setting it down with a sigh, “Tsunade will not like this.”

“No,” He whispered, “No, she will not, but that doesn’t mean that we can blame young Shizune like this. She is actually the victim here,” He stopped Jiraiya from defending Tsunade, “No. We cannot defend her actions any longer, Jiraiya. It is the truth. Shizune is the victim of our actions more than she is of her circumstances. We let her be with Tsunade for so long, thinking that any day now, Tsunade would come to her senses and come back to the village. But how many more years can we force Shizune to sacrifice her entire life, just on the chance that Tsunade will come back?”

Jiriaiys slumped, clearly stumped at the problem. For years, they had pushed this problem, hoping that time would solve it but now? Now they could no longer wait. IT would either solve itself for them or blow up spectacularly in their faces and Konoha could not afford the second option.

Kenta was correct, Tsunade must be inside the village, if not for her medical skills then for her sheer presence, which would bolster morale across all the forces of the village. He had just hoped that this problem would be solved by his successor and not be forced back into his lap once more.

“Come on,” he sighed and stood up, the sun was peaking out now, “Tsunade should wake up anytime now. Not seeing Shizune by her side would already be a devastating blow. We should not let her remain alone right now.”

Jiraiya nodded as they moved to the General Ward within seconds. He smiled at the receptionist, as she stuttered and took them to Tsunade’s room, which was on the top floor, with a nice view and even tighter security, not that the ANBU he had stationed around her room would be of any use if Tsunade truly used her strength and wanted to leave.

He paused at the door before exhaling and opening the door, giving the hidden ANBU a look as the entire squad left, and Jiriaya boy sealed the room with his seals, giving them utmost privacy.

He took a seat as Jiriaya leaned on the door, as he looked at the sleeping form of Tsunade, “I know you’re awake, Tsunade. You can’t fool me.”

There was a moment of silence where he wondered how long Tsunade would take this farce, only for her eyes to snap open and her face to scrunch in annoyance, “What do you want, old man?”

He maintained eye contact, keeping quiet, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation until Tsunade calmed down, “There, that's better. Now we can all have a nice, calm conversation about your defeat–”

“Defeat?” Tsunade scoffed at that, crossing her arms as she glared defiantly at him, “Who said it was a defeat? That bastard cheated! I don’t accept the results of that spar.”

“Tsunade,” He said, helplessly, “The Daimyo was the one who witnessed that match, and despite being a civilian, he knew when you were beat. No use denying it now, you lost and Kenta won, fair and square.”

“Tch,” Tsunade grumbled but did not say anything else. So, he took that as his cue to explain the matter regarding the Senju Clan Head position, only for Tsunade to interrupt him once more, making him sigh as he suddenly felt all his age catching up to him.

“Who is that bastard, anyway? How come I never saw him? Is he really a Senju?” she rattled off, her chakra remaining surprisingly stable all the while. It would seem that what Kenta said about syphoning off her most negative emotions at the forefront of her psyche was true because at this point, Tsunade would unconsciously begin leaking out chakra, knocking out genin and civilians alike in her vicinity, hence the seals that Jiriaya applied as soon as they entered the room.

Taking a moment to think of the implications of Kenta’s more fine tuned abilities, he continued, “Kenta was previously a member of the Akimichi clan. He is the son of a Senju and a half Uzumaki and Akimichi, making him your closest living relative since the Uzumaki were considered your cousins.”

“He....has been on a long term mission, for the past fifteen years,” Her neck snapped towards him at that. Long term missions spanning multiple years were not uncommon, with some extending towards a decade as well but someone of Kenta’s calibre, undergoing a mission that long? That was unheard of.

“It is classified," He answered her unasked question before moving on, “Now that we have established that he is a Senju and he has defeated you in front of witnesses, whilst claiming it was a clan matter. Do you understand where I am going with this?”

Tsunade first looked at him with confusion, then realisation, then horror as she whispered, her hands clutching the sheets, tearing into them, “No….”

He sighed, “Yes, Kenta-kun is now the official Clan Head of the Senju Clan, occupying the seat that has been inactive for decades now.”

Tsunade remained silent, her shoulders shaking. After a while, surprisingly, without any violent outbursts, she whispered, “What does it mean for me?

He traded surprised looks with Jiraiya as he instantly replied, “Uh, Kenta-kun has decided that he wants you to remain in Konoha. In what capacity? He does not care. You can remain in the hospital, or you can stay inside the clan compound; it doesn't matter. He just wishes for you to remain inside the village,” after a moment’s thought, he added, “Both, for your sake as well as the village’s sake. We could truly use you in the village, Tsunade. We need you.”

Tsunade looked at him with red eyes, clearly shaken about the whole reveal but taking it far better than he had expected her to. He did not expect anywhere near this level of clarity and calm from her, a scant few days ago. The difference was like night and day. If he knew that Kenta did not have the Sharingan and could not cast Genjutsu so subtle, he would have had trouble believing that Tsunade’s mind was not tampered with, save for her emotions.

Then again, emotions did make a large part of who they were as humans but he was not going to go into the specifics and philosophy of the human mind right here and now. Maybe later, when Inoichi and Kenta were both in attendance so they could dive deeper into the fascinating study of the human mind.

“What if I want to leave?”

He sighed at the question, maybe he had celebrated a bit too early. IT was actually Jiriaya who answered in his stead.

“You can’t.”

Tsunade looked at him as he explained, “He has said, rather decisively, that he will oust you from the Clan, forbidding you from using the Senju name, if you wish to leave the village and continue your previous lifestyle. As is his right, he can then come after you if you use the Senju name without his permission, and if the previous fight was any indication, that will just lead us right here, back to square one. With you back in the village, against your will.”

“Tsunade,” He interjected here, not wanting Jiraiya to be so blunt with that information, “Know this. Kenta kun cannot imprison you against his will but…” he trailed off, knowing that while imprisonment of any shinobi was under the guidelines of the Hokage, but deciding the compensation from any shinobi, especially for a sensitive clan matter, was in the hands of the Clean Head.

Kenta could very well have the compensation in terms of amounts of money that Tsunade simply did not have and then that would just…complicate everything. No shinobi would want to be discredited like this and Konoha simply could not have Tsunade’s name, a legendary shinobi of Konoha, be dragged through the mud like this. Previously, they handled the legitimate lenders of Tsunade and prohibited the shady ones from publicizing her debt but if Kenta did that? There was not much even he could do.

Tsunade nodded, having realised what he was going to say.

“Shizune,” Tsunade began, “she is going to stay regardless of whether I leave or not?”

He traded surprised looks with Jiraiya once more. How could she have known that?

Hesitantly, as if expecting an explosive tag to go off, “Yes. She has expressed her desire to remain in her current position as Medic in Konoha General….and I am inclined to grant her request.”

Tsunade chuckled bitterly at that, “Of course, she would. She deserves that, far more than I do. What was I thinking? Dragging her around like that.”

This was…..unexpected.