Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp. 23 Divisor {Part-2}

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“You don’t like him,” Tsunade stated, taking a deep sip from her flask, the familiar smell of sake wafting in the space between them.

Naruto snorted, draping her hands over the balcony on top of the Tower. “I don’t think I hide it very well,” the young girl admitted.

It was weird to be in this sort of stand still with Tsunade. The last time they’d seen each other, it’d been deliberately uncomfortable and aggressive, especially on the medic’s part. Now, they were talking as if they were old friends. Or old… somethings.

“Not even because you’re bad at lying,” Tsunade said. “In fact, I’m sure you have tons of things no one knows about. You’re just obnoxiously obvious about your dislike for him.”

“You’re one to talk. After all, it takes one to know one.”

Tsunade let out a small chuckle. A wind blew over them, and Naruto felt her hair fly away behind her as the stars sparkled in the sky. The moon hung over the trees daintily, and Naruto could see Rin walking down the road from her vantage point.

“He just doesn’t strike me as someone who really has the values of the village in his mind when he makes decisions.”

“Danzo is a power-hungry fool, but his interest in you is definitely not wrong. You’ve got quite a few things you keep locked and keyed.”

“To be honest, I don’t really know the full extent of what I can do,” Naru plucked at her fingers idly. “Jiji’s great but he’s under a harsh thumb. It makes me feel unwilling to try anything powerful here when he’s being dictated by his emotions.”

Tsunade chuckled resentfully. “Don’t be stupid, kid. I know at that ninja academy they teach you that a Shinobi doesn’t show their emotions ever, but that’s the biggest lie. And it’d be any ninja’s biggest lie if they said they didn’t operate under the influence of feelings. My Sensei is no exception to that.”

And Naruto supposed that the Sannin wasn’t lying, not at all. Ever since she’d been here, almost every choice she’d made had been fueled by some sort of emotion. Obito’s retrieval, her fight with Kakashi, throwing herself in front of Rin in Yukigakure -- everything. Hell, Bijuus managed to overpower their hosts through the strength of their rage - something that happened to her just recently and that had outed one of her secrets to the entire team.

They were silent for a while as Naruto thought about the depth of the Sannin’s words until Tsunade said, “If you expect me to apologize for what I said, I won’t.”

It took Naruto a second to realize that Tsunade was talking about their conversation from Minato and Kushina’s wedding.

“I’d never ask you to.”

The medic nodded towards Rin’s retreating figure that was slowly being encompassed in the darkness. “She’s going to be amazing.”

“She already is,” Naru said proudly, chin up. She glanced down to see a flash of golden hair pop up next to Rin, his head tilting back to see her and nodding in acknowledgment at her safety. Her father was so reliable.

“She is,” Tsunade agreed, “but… she’s going to be better. There’s a lot of potential in her, if she would just come out of her shell. She’s going to learn to be assertive. She’s going to have to if she’s training with Jiraiya.”

“Is he back yet? I haven’t seen him since the wedding.”

“I don’t know. The last I heard was that he was tracking down our final teammate, Orochimaru.”

Chills traveled up Naruto’s back, and she looked away. She had completely forgotten about him, so focused on the more big picture problems of the war. “Is he coming with us, too?”