Perfectly Imperfect Love

Healing

Tsunade glared, hard, at whoever was knocking at her door. "Come in, already!" She yelled, her forehead ticking in agitation. She was immensely frustrated, ever since her complete flop of an operation went through.

More than half of the Alliance ANBU assigned to the operation were either dead or critically injured. Her best team was missing. The paperwork had piled up. And she was out of saké.

The door swung open, revealing two bloody, weathered and almost broken ANBU agents. They were lead by a low-ranking chuunin, who had a fearful expression on his face. "H-hokage-sama, these two arrived with a platoon of ANBU, b-but they wanted to speak to y-you personally." He said, his voice filled with confusion and worry.

"Leave, Lin. I can take it from here." The blonde said sternly when she recognized the soldiers, and after a quick bow, the chuunin left.

She interlocked her fingers, resting her forehead on them for a brief moment before looking up.

"Remove your masks." She ordered immediately.

They did, revealing the faces of Kakashi and Yamato. Tsunade grimaced instantly, a feeling of despair filling her.

"Where are they...?"

"We don't know. When the mission went haywire, we were ordered to evacuate...but we were led into a trap, and ambushed. Naruto was attacked by a curse-seal-nin, and Sakura was battling with us, but an explosion went off and we were separated." Kakashi said, his lone eye reflecting his worry and anger.

"I see...do you believe they're still alive?"

"Yes. If they weren't...I would have felt the Kyuubi's chakra expelling." Yamato said, slumping against the wall in exhaustion.

"I've already contacted the Raikage. This covert situation has costed the alliance enough. Talks are going down, and we're going to see if we can get permission to send the Hachibi in to take out Oto." She said, feeling the sense of wastefullness and idiocy that came with the mess of the war the Alliance had partaken in.

After the Fourth shinobi world war, a jinchuuriki's chakra was classified by the nations as a weapon of mass destruction. With the unity of the Alliance, and the lessened need for war and conflict, any use of a Bijuu needed the Alliance's unanimous permission. Otherwise, the jinchuuriki's home nation would become host to the world's wrath and legal assault.

"Are you pulling out all the troops, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, and the blonde nodded once.

"Bee-san will be able to take care of Oto. It should have been done this in the first place...but now, hopefully, the Alliance can see the dire need for direct action. I pray that Naruto and Sakura can make it out before the barrage begins." Tsunade said darkly. She had witnessed the power of the Bijuu-dama, and didn't want them anywhere near that kind of destructive power.

"Very well. Do...you want us to go in and find them?" Yamato asked warily. Tsunade shook her head, then looked out

"No. I'm sure wherever they are, they'll get home safely. You're dismissed. Go home, rest, and take a month off." She ordered, and they nodded in thanks, before they started the standard ANBU transportation jutsu.

"But..." Tsunade called before the finished the last of their handseals. "I'm just worried...what if Naruto finds out who she is?"

The two ANBU glanced at each other for a moment, then poofed out of the office. In truth, they didn't know the answer to that question, either. It was both frightening and unnerving to think of how the 'new' Naruto would react to spending eight months with the very person he tried to escape from.