Naruto: Legacy Undone

"Sarutobi." He laughed, opening his arms wide before hugging the stiff village leader like he always did.

As expected his old friend awkwardly returned it after a moment.

"You didn't send word you were coming." Sarutobi drawled as they pulled apart.

"I was behooved to keep my plans a secret on pain of not being shown where to acquire the best ramen in the country.

Sarutobi raised a single bushy eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips before he tilted his head to peer around Koutou's shoulder where five Shinobi he easily recognized knelt, waiting for him to give them leave to stand again and welcome them home.

Still...

"There were six when last I checked..." He drawled.

Koutou turned, looking over his shoulder to the five men. He chuckled.

"I suppose the boy simply couldn't contain himself."

-0-

"We almost had him..." She was practically stabbing the meat on her plate with the chopsticks. "Fucking alarm. Fucking Kawarimi. Fucking sensei.

"We'll get him next time." Kyofu said absently, smiling as she scratched the lizard summon under the chin, feeding it fish in between bites of her own meal.

"That's what you said last time." Ryoko said with her mouth full.

"And we got closer this time than we ever have. If at first you don't succeed..."

"Then try and try and try again" Ryoko finished bitterly, once more stabbing her food as though it was the guilty transgressor here.

Kyofu chuckled. "We're two chuunin who can nearly take down one of the Sannin! Come on, stop being so glum."

"It'd be cooler to be two chuunins that can take down a Sannin. Cutting out the nearly makes it sound so much better."

"Well maybe if you had a third member..." someone sing-songed behind them.

The ladies stiffened, turning to look before a grin swept up Ryoko's features. "Anko!"

The purple haired Jounin grinned, twirling a stick of dango between her fingers as she wiggled them in a mock 'hello' in one hand while eating off the last dumplings on the was dressed, mostly in black and dark purple, her clothes were form fitting, leaving only her navel and arms exposed. "Hey girls. Miss me?"

"Maybe." Kyofu smirked, the lizard summon crawling up her torso to coil around her shoulder and neck.

"How'd your mission go?" Ryoko asked.

"Not bad. Killed the guy, killed his guard, hitched a ride back. Simple."

"You make it sound more boring than simple." The silver haired teen shot back. "You're actually making me dread getting that strong one day. Where's the fun in life without challenge."

"You could always just go back to sensei to challengingly get your ass kicked."

The glare she got in response was just priceless.

Anko looked around. "Where is the old man anyway?"

"Don't know." Kyofu shrugged. "He dismissed us after the match. We came to eat."

"Probably stuffed his face in a book somewhere."

Anko nodded. "Right, well I'm off then. I'll see ya around." The snake mistress replied before swiveling on her heel and marching off.

When the girls finally left their training grounds to return to the village, it was with some surprise that they noticed a rather peculiar sight on their homes most noticeable landmark.

It was painted.

Ridiculous swirls and graffiti criss crossed the four faces in headache bright colors. The Sandaime actually had a sign above his head that red 'He's really really old'

Kyofu raised an eyebrow. "How the hell did they manage to pull that off in the middle of the day?"

"Dunno. Clever bastards whoever they were...or our guards just suck that badly."

-0-

The hospital was a place of quiet, (At least outside of the maternity and pediatric wards.) a place where the sick and wounded could recover; nursed back to health in peace and comfort by some of the best medical minds and hands in the whole of Hi no Kuni. Some might have even been lucky enough to be treated by the undisputed best.

Such as it was, the surprise of quite a few nurses and patients, was great indeed when suddenly an ear piercing shriek nearly deafened whomever was within two hundred or so square feet from the source, even a few people on the floors above and below the source.

"Oh my god you're here!" The delighted laugh drowned out the sound of cracking ribs as the victim was subjected to a bone crushing hug.

"Hi Tsunade-nee." He groaned, laughing, literally, breathlessly as he returned the hug as best he could. "Can you let go now?"

She pulled away, holding him by the shoulders she looked him up and down. "You've gotten big! I've got to tell Dan, I've got to tell Shizune. I've got to tell-" She stopped the smile overpowering her face. "Oh they'll be so glad you're home!"

She looked him up and down. "You've gotten so much bigger now!" She repeated. . She remembered the little boy that barely reached her hip, now here he was at her navel or so. The Daimyo's seal was emblazoned on his shoulder right beneath the leaf symbol.

He still hadn't grown out of his love for orange though...

Naruto smiled, warmed by the welcome. "You know where Ryoko-chan and Kyofu-chan are? I wanna see em but don't even know where to start."

"Orochimaru probably dragged them off to the woods somewhere. Oh I've got to tell everyone!"

"The staff called me to find out what you were yelling abo-Ahh!"

This time Naruto was fairly certain his ears were bleeding as he was suddenly glomped from behind, his body lurching forward as Shizune damn near tackled him and picked him up, squeezing the air out of him like an oversize plushy!

"Naruto you're back!"

How Shizune's little arms were applying more crushing force than Tsunade he had no idea...but it was happening...

"I've got to go tell Dan." And just like that Tsunade abandoned him to his painful fate, even as he reached towards her for help.

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