Nothing Special

Chapter 86

The next morning Aceso woke up to the sound of her alarm going off at 6 a.m. she reached back, just for her hand to ram into someone, she looked over her shoulder to see nothing but green in front of her.

"Gai-sensei?" Aceso grumbled softly. He always used to comfort her after a nightmare, but that was years ago. She lifted her head to see that it was Lee, he was flat on his back, arms sprawled out, one arm hanging off the bed, the other above her head. She was still on her side and snuggled into his side, her cheeks grew pink. "Lee." She shoved him. He slowly opened his eyes, his arm rose up and he slapped the alarm to silence. He closed his eyes resorting back to snoring. Aceso groaned, she got off the bed, she headed up to the bathroom to freshen up. When she came back out in her doctor's clothes, Lee was in the center of her bed, cuddling up against her pillow and snoring even louder. She shook her head and went to work. A few hours later, she saw lightning strike the Hokage building, and water-style users putting out the fire. She quickly headed over, she was now helping Sakura, Shizune, Tonton, and Tsunade with the wet books.

"All these important documents are soaked," Shizune sighed.

"We'll have to put them in the sun to dry," Tsunade said.

"We'll take them outside and get started," Sakura offered.

"Thank you," Tsunade said. Tonton oinked as Sakura and Aceso left the office with their piles of reports.

"Good morning you two," Kurenai greeted them.

"Good morning, Kurenai Sensei," they both greeted.

"Is she in there?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes," Aceso answered. Kurenai walked in, closing the door behind her, the girls started towards the outside, but they got stopped by Tsunade's voice.

"So, you're serious about this?" Tsunade asked. "You really want to resign as Leader of Squad 8?" Sakura and Aceso both looked at each other."

"Yes, Ma'am," Kurenai confirmed. They stood close to the wall, to get a better listen.

"Think carefully about this," Tsunade advised. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata...you're the one who recommended they take the Chunnin Exam, despite their lack of experience. Don't you care about what happens to them?"

" Despite my commitment to them, I am responsible for the current situation and therefore must accept full blame," Kurenai explained. 

"The incident was unfortunate, but it wasn't your fault," Tsunade denied. 

"It's my fault. I'm the one who allowed Yakumo to become the way she is," Kurenai explained.

"I'd say that the only reason she's done so well up to this point is because of your influence on her," Tsunade argued. "Where is she now? What's her status?"

"A three-man squad consisting of two Medical Ninja and one Anbu Black Ops member is keeping a 24-hour watch over her in a mountain villa just outside of Satomi Hill," Shizune explained.

"The situation's been handled, isn't that enough?" Tsunade asked.

"No," Kurenai denied. "I must be held accountable for my actions."

Sakura and Aceso slowly and silently walked away to go dry the reports. The girls set up tables, they laid out the reports to let them dry in the sun, then Naruto came running up to them.

"Brother Naruto!" Aceso exclaimed happily.

"Oh, hey, Sakura and little sister!" Naruto greeted running up to them.

"What are you doing here?" Aceso asked.

" I don't know if either of you heard, but Kurenai is quitting Squad 8, so I came to see if I could convince Grandma Tsunade to try and talk her out of it," Naruto answered.