Akatitsune

The Mystery that is Naruto Uzumaki Part 1

'Naruto, what is going on with you, why do I have this ominous feeling everytime your name comes into mind.' Tsunade thought with concern, vigorously bitting on the nail on her right thumb in frustration, a habit she had picked up since even before her genin days.

It was only yesterday in the late afternoon that Jiraiya and Naruto had returned, and everything had looked perfectly normal. Sure, Naruto had grown a lot taller and his physical conditioning had visibly improved to a great extent. Sure, he had changed his outfit, now wearing a black sleeveless top, black shinobi pants, white bandages around his ankles, blue ninja sandals and a red hoari with black flames licking the bottom edges. Yes, Tsunade had realised immediately that Naruto had grown up a bit, both physically and mentally, but still, it had seemed that both Jiraiya and Naruto hadn't changed that much to her, at least, not personality wise. had prepared for this day beforehand, she and everyone else who knew about his return had been excited to see just how much the blonde Uzumaki had grown over the last two and a half years. That was why Tsunade had prepared this particular test, she'd intended for Sakura and Naruto to team up against Kakashi as a test of their skill and development.

It came as a bit of a surprise when Naruto insisted on taking Kakashi on his own, but after regaining her barrings, Tsunade had realized that it wasn't entirely out of character for Naruto to get carried away like that, after all, this was the same person who had challenged a sannin, namely, herself to a death match even though he had been nothing but a rooky genin at the time. Naturally, Sakura had been disappointed that Naruto didn't want her involved, perceiving the situation as if Naruto thought that she was still the weak little girl from three years ago who would only get in his way or get herself killed. This served to infuriate her and lash out violently at the blonde Uzumaki.

That's when things started to get strange, the old Naruto would have taken the beating and grovelled at the pink haired chuunin's feet, pleading for forgiveness and even asking her out on a date right after the assault on his person. But this Naruto only dodged her attack, formed an instant, one handed rasengan, and directed it towards his medic teammate's face, stopping the spiraling sphere an inch away from her nose, all in an instant. He'd followed that up by threatening her with death should she ever attack him again, quoting that attacking a fellow Konoha shinobi without just cause was in violation of shinobi regulations and could be punishable by death. All of this said with a unerving calm and dangerous tone, leaving almost no doubt that the fifteen year old had every intention of following through with his threat should Sakura assault him again.

That's when Tsunade had realised that something was horribly wrong, she'd dismissed everyone, even Shizune and Jiraiya so that she can have a private word with Naruto. It didn't sit well with her that her apprentice had almost died right in front of her eyes, almost killed by her own surrogate brother, who was actually a real blood relative to her, even though he did not know it, or so she thought. Naruto had simply told her that he no longer harboured any romantic feelings for her apprentice and didn't feel like he needed or wanted to tolerate her abuse anymore. Stating that he loved another woman and had every intention of persueing a relationship with her. Naturally, Tsunade wanted to know who this woman was and even found herself angry at Naruto for loving another woman that wasn't her apprentice. Part of the reason she had trained Sakura was because he practically begged her to help Sakura, and because she herself thought that they might have a future together. Also, she now saw Sakura as more than a student, but almost like her own daughter, so for Naruto to blatantly disregard her like that really pissed her off.

However, the blonde Uzumaki would have none of it, making it clear that he would not be forced into a relationship with someone he didn't love nor would he even pretend to love her. The blonde Uzumaki was even bold enough to outright tell the Hokage that who he loved or who he had a relationship with was none of her business, leaving a frustrated and pissed off Tsunade to try and figure out on her own who this mysterious woman was. Of course, her first guess was Hinata, maybe Naruto had finally realised how much the shy Hyuga heiress loved and admired him and subsequently returned her feelings, it was the only person she could think of right now.