The Hidden Leaf Village
We returned to the Leaf Village two days later. Our mission was a complete success and the Hokage was very pleased with the outcome. After everything was said and done, Lady Tsunade said that she was willing to take me on as an apprentice instead of Ino (who had been sent on a long mission and wouldn't be back for quite sometime). I kept my face blank but, deep down, I was kind of excited. I've always wanted to do something rather productive with my life for a change. Back in the other world, my parents were hellbent on keeping me down and providing them with the alcoholic beverages and drugs. I was the scapegoat for them should they have gotten caught. I would have taken the fall and I would have gone to prison for their crime. My parents weren't idiots when it came to their habits. Tsunade smirked at me, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"You can smile, you know." The Hokage said. "You'll start training tomorrow morning. Dismissed."
Kakashi took off to read his newest book by Jiraiya while I decided to hang out with Naruto. In the time that I had arrived here, Naruto and I had become really good friends. We were more like brother and sister, often pulling pranks on each other and getting yelled at by the neighbors if we were being loud. It was fun. He was definitely the brother I never had. I was an only child and, considering the home life that I had suffered, I was glad that I didn't have any other siblings. They would have suffered as much as I would have and I would have had to protect them. Don't get me wrong, I believe in protecting the innocent but I would have taken most of the beatings for them so, nevertheless, I was glad not to have siblings in that family.
"So you're going to train with Grandma Tsunade?" Naruto asked.
"Uh, huh." I nodded.
Since I would be training to be a medic, I would have to refrain from participating in battle in order to insure that the rest of the team survived. However, I got the feeling that this would be different. Since the Narutoverse timeline had been altered, the rules here were more than likely to have changed as well. Sakura Haruno was a trained medic but she had to refrain from battle just for the reason that I gave. However, since there would be two medics, I would probably be trained the same way as Haruno with the exception that I would be able to participate in battle. As far as I know, that was a possibility in itself. Naruto and I discussed this possibility and he was all for it because he knew for a fact that fighting a medic would make things extremely difficult for the opponent.
"I would know." Naruto said.
I nodded again. I remembered the time that Naruto, Jiraiya and Tsunade had faced off with Orochimaru and Kabuto that one time. I clearly remembered that Kabuto had used his medical skills to cut the muscles in Naruto's heart, which would have killed him if it hadn't been for the Nine-Tails (if I recall correctly) stepping in. If Naruto had died, then the fox demon would have died along with his Jinchuriki, thus he had to save Naruto. I shivered at the thought before shaking that cold feeling off. I knew that the adventure here in the Narutoverse was only beginning. There would be more trials and tribulations to face and definitely more Akatsuki to face off. Deidara had a grudge against me, so I had a good feeling that I would more than likely be facing off with him again sometime in the future. If that was the case, then my training with Tsunade could not have come at a better time. I would definitely have a better chance against the blonde shinobi.
"I'm going to hang out with Konohamaru," Naruto told me. "I don't feel like training right now."
"You? You don't feel like training? What's wrong with you, Naruto?" I teased.
He gave me a big, wolfish grin before taking off. That was fine with me. In the meantime, I would do some meditation before I began my own personal training.
