The imposing wooden gates of Konoha rose before them, a symbol of home that had never looked so welcome.
"Finally!" Naruto shouted, his voice hoarse from exhaustion. "I smell barbecue! We're home! Hey, Tonton, that's real food, not the berries we found yesterday!"
Tonton, nestled in his arms, let out an interested "Oink."
"Me too!" Kiba barked, dropping to the ground and rolling onto his back. "Akamaru, solid ground! Solid ground! I'll never complain about the kennel smell again!"
Akamaru jumped from his jacket and ran in circles, barking happily.
"Maintain formation," Kakashi said, his voice lacking its usual laziness. "We aren't finished yet, and the mission isn't over until the report is filed."
"Party pooper," Kiba muttered from the ground.
A swirl of dry leaves formed at the guard post, from which four figures appeared out of nowhere, their white porcelain ANBU masks blank and emotionless, and the air instantly grew cold.
The captain, wearing a Crow mask, stepped forward, and his voice was distorted, formal, and cold.
"Kakashi-san. Kurenai-san. Welcome back. The Hokage is waiting, and it has been a very long wait."
The captain's dark eyes, visible through the mask's holes, passed over the genin, assessing their fatigue, and then settled on the blond figure who had come with them.
"Tsunade-sama." The word was spoken with icy respect. "You are expected immediately."
Tsunade, who was stretching a tense muscle in her neck, laughed, a dry sound. "Of course he is. The old man is always wanting something."
She adjusted her sunglasses, her posture a mix of exhaustion and arrogance.
"I figured as much, but first, I want a decent bed, a bubble bath, and a guarantee that my Tanzaku debts will be... re-evaluated."
Shizune, behind her, turned pale. "Tsunade-sama, please, behave! We're in front of the ANBU!"
"And of course," Tsunade continued, ignoring her, "an evaluation of the Uchiha. I'm not leaving here until I see that brat and make sure this wasn't a wasted trip."
The ANBU captain tensed. "Hokage-sama was clear, and your presence is required immediately."
"Grandma Tsunade is right!" Naruto interrupted, stepping forward, which caused Tonton to protest the movement. "She's tired! It's been a long trip! And she has to save Sasuke! She's the best doctor in the world, so treat her right!"
The ANBU captain turned to him, his irritation almost palpable. "Boy, this is not your concern, so step back."
"Leave him, Crow," Tsunade said, and a spark of genuine amusement flashed in her eyes. "He's my good luck charm, and he has permission to speak."
"Tsunade."
Hiruzen's voice came from the gate, and he was standing there, smoking his pipe, his face wrinkled with worry and sleepless days, but with an unmistakable glint of hope in his eyes.
"You've finally returned home," he said, his voice soft but filled with an emotion he couldn't hide. "The weight of your absence has been heavy."
Tsunade froze for a split second, and the wall of cynicism surrounding her seemed to crack, so she looked away.
"Old man," she said, her voice softer. "You're still a sentimentalist. I'm not 'home,' I'm just passing through, and you're still as soft as ever."
Hiruzen nodded, while his gaze assessed the rest of the team. He paused on Naruto, who was still carrying Tonton with almost paternal pride.
"And Naruto," the Hokage said, smiling slightly, while the smoke from his pipe formed a halo around him. "I see you've made an... interesting acquisition: a new partner."
Naruto puffed out his chest, forgetting his exhaustion. "This is Tonton, old man! He's the best ninja pig in the world! And I'm his personal babysitter! We're a family now!"
Shizune lunged forward and snatched Tonton from his arms, her face pale with embarrassment.
"He is not his babysitter, Hokage-sama!" she said, almost hysterical. "He's an emotional support pet!"
"Oink!"
"No, Tonton, don't take her side!"
Kakashi stepped forward, cutting the scene short. "Hokage-sama, Sasuke needs urgent attention."
Hiruzen's face hardened. "Of course," and he signaled the ANBU captain.
A team of four Konoha medics, who had clearly been waiting, appeared running from inside the village, pushing a gurney.
"Clear the way! Trauma incoming!" the lead medic shouted.
"Wait," Tsunade said, her voice stopping the medical team in their tracks. "I'm going."
The lead medic looked at her, confused. "Lady Tsunade, the Hokage..."
"I won't let anyone from the hospital ruin my case study," Tsunade said, walking toward them. "Shizune, come."
"I'm going too!" Sakura said, stepping forward, her voice trembling but determined.
Tsunade glanced at her. "You? Pink-haired girl?" She paused. "Fine, I'll need someone to hand me instruments who won't faint. Move."
Sakura nodded firmly.
"Naruto," Kakashi said. "You and the rest of the team, go to the tower and describe the situation. I'll stay with Tsunade-sama. Kurenai, you're in charge."
"Understood," Kurenai said.
Naruto watched them take the gurney away, with Tsunade, Sakura, and Kakashi following closely, and the feeling of uselessness hit him.
"Come on, Naruto," Kurenai said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have to give our report."
The intensive care room at the Konoha hospital was immaculate, and Sasuke lay on the bed, pale, almost translucent, connected to several chakra-monitoring scrolls.
Tsunade stood by the bed, her face serious, focused, and stripped of all frivolity, as her hangover had vanished, replaced by a professional intensity that filled the room.
Shizune and Sakura were at her side, assisting in silence, while Kakashi watched from a corner, his arms crossed and immobile with worry.
"Shizune, prepare a full chakra flow diagnostic. Complete," Tsunade ordered, her hands glowing with soft green medical ninjutsu as they hovered over Sasuke's body.
"Sakura," she said, without looking away from the Uchiha. "Give me a verbal report of your actions, exactly, every detail."
Sakura swallowed, and the sound was abnormally loud in the silent room. "It happened in the Land of Waves. Haku... the enemy... used a needle jutsu and Sasuke-kun protected me. He got in the way."
Her voice broke, but she forced herself to continue. "He fell, and I thought he was dead. I... I don't know. I was desperate. I just... put my hands on him one night when no one was looking and wished for him to live. I screamed, and then I felt a burst, a sensation of something breaking inside me and spilling out."
Tsunade nodded, her hands still moving. Worse than I thought, as the cellular necrosis is deep. The senbon needles were designed to kill slowly, but this other energy... it's instinctive.
Her eyes narrowed, because it's the same energy I felt when I met the brat.
"Shizune, chakra scalpel," Tsunade ordered.
"But Tsunade-sama, the tissue is too damaged!" Shizune protested. "If you cut, you might...!"
"I'm not going to cut," Tsunade said calmly. "I'm going to test the response of this... energy."
Kakashi said nothing, but Sakura saw him clench his fists.
Tsunade sent a precise pulse of her own medical chakra, green and experienced, into Sasuke's chest.
The reaction was instant and violent.
A pale pink aura, almost invisible, erupted from Sasuke's body and collided with Tsunade's energy. There was a hissing sound, an energy crackle, and Tsunade's chakra was pushed back, rejected.
Tsunade stumbled and snatched her hand back sharply, with a pained gesture.
"What the hell...?!" she gasped, looking at her own hand. "It rejected my chakra! It identified it as a threat!"
"Did I hurt him?!" Sakura cried, panicking. "Oh, god, I made it worse!"
"No... not you," Tsunade said, her eyes now shining with a scientific fascination that replaced the shock. "Your... 'ability'... is protecting him. It's acting to defend him, protecting the body."
"What does that mean?" Kakashi asked from the corner.
"It means," Tsunade said, "that it's keeping him alive, but it doesn't know how to heal him, since it only knows how to protect. It's at a stalemate: Haku's jutsu is killing the cells, and this pink energy is stopping them from dying, but it's also stopping anything else from getting in, including my medical ninjutsu."
"Girl," Tsunade said, her voice urgent. "Put your hands on him. Now."
"Me? But I don't know what to do!"
"You don't have to do anything! Just put your hands where you had them before! I want to see the flow!"
Sakura obeyed, her hands trembling as she placed them on Sasuke's chest, and they instantly glowed with the same pale pink light.
Tsunade placed her own hands over Sakura's, one on top of the other.
"Synchronize your breathing with mine," she ordered. "Don't try to heal, don't try to do anything. Just feel, feel my chakra, and let it guide you."
Sakura closed her eyes to concentrate, felt Tsunade's chakra envelop hers, and, together, they pushed.
This time, the pink energy didn't fight back because it recognized Tsunade's intention through Sakura's filter, so the two auras, the green and the pink, merged and flowed into Sasuke's body.
The process was slow. Tsunade extracted a small ice needle from Sasuke's shoulder and then, using the combined chakra, began to reverse the necrosis, so the color slowly returned to Sasuke's face.
"Incredible," Tsunade murmured. "Her control is innate. It's... it's the greatest natural medical talent I've ever seen in my life."
The operation lasted for an hour, during which sweat beaded on Tsunade's forehead and ran down Sakura's face. Finally, Tsunade removed her hands, and Sakura collapsed against the wall, exhausted but relieved.
Sasuke's breathing became deep and regular, and the chakra monitor beside him, which had previously been blinking red, now showed a steady green line.
"That's it," Tsunade said, her voice tired but triumphant. "He'll live, but the rest will take time and a lot of work."
Sakura sobbed, a mix of relief and exhaustion. "He... he's safe."
The door opened and Hiruzen entered, who had been waiting outside. "How is Sasuke?"
"There's hope," Tsunade said. She thumbed toward Sakura, who was being helped up by Shizune. "Thanks to this girl and her incomprehensible healing chakra. But I have my conditions for staying, and they aren't small."
Hiruzen smiled, relief flooding his face. "I knew you'd say that."
*****
An hour later, in the Hokage's office, the afternoon sun stained the room with golden hues while Tsunade had her feet brazenly propped up on Hiruzen's desk. He simply exhaled smoke from his pipe.
"So, old man," Tsunade said, her voice a lazy purr, but her eyes were sharp. "The Uchiha brat will live, because I will heal him."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"But I'm not doing it for your pathetic 'Will of Fire' or for your debts, but rather I'm doing it for the girl. Her ability... her chakra... it's a medical anomaly that I must understand, and I can't leave her alone."
"I figured as much," Hiruzen said, with a tired smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"And for the loud-mouthed kid," Tsunade added, almost reluctantly. "I like his stupidity; he's a good kid."
"And your conditions, my dear Sannin. I know you wouldn't stay for less."
"First," Tsunade said, counting on her fingers. "No more problems with my debts, a clean slate. And a budget: an official 'field research' allowance that allows me to... 'explore Konoha's economic opportunities' at the local casinos."
Hiruzen snorted, a cloud of smoke escaping his pipe. "A gambling fund. And what if you lose? Who will cover those astronomical losses?"
Tsunade smirked. "That's what the brat is for, my good luck charm. He doesn't lose, and he'll come with me, as he is my research assistant."
Hiruzen choked on his smoke. "Naruto... your assistant? Tsunade, he's a genin, he has a team, and he has Kakashi."
"He's my genin now and I don't care. Kakashi can find another problem student. Second: I want a position at the hospital as Director, with complete freedom to research and restructure, because that place is a disaster, and full access to all the genin's files. Especially the Uchiha and the Haruno."
"Done," Hiruzen said without hesitation, as the hospital needed a firm hand. "Control of the hospital will be yours. Anything else? I'm surprised you're not asking for a mountain of aged sake."
Tsunade's expression turned serious, and her gambler's attitude vanished.
"Yes," she said, her voice firm, with steely determination. "I want to train the Haruno girl. Personally."
"Train her?"
"Her chakra control is the key to this ability. If you leave her with Kakashi, he'll just have her punch rocks until she's tired, because he's a combat idiot, not a healer. I want to teach her to heal, to control, to be a true medical kunoichi. One who won't break like I did."
Hiruzen looked at her, and genuine pride shone in his eyes. "An excellent proposal, Tsunade. It will be an honor for Sakura to have you as her mentor. You have my word."
"And one more thing."
"Yes?"
"The brat. Naruto. I want full access to the Fourth Hokage's documentation on the Kyuubi's sealing, and to the seal itself."
Hiruzen tensed. "Tsunade, that is Kage-level information... it's..."
"I'm a Sannin and the best living sealing expert after Jiraiya!" she snapped. "That 'healing' energy from the girl... it's related to the brat! I'm not stupid, old man! Something is going on with that seal, and if I'm going to be in this village, I need to know exactly what it is!"
Hiruzen stared at her for a long minute. Finally, he nodded. "Done, but with the utmost discretion."
Tsunade stood up, looking out the window at the village rooftops. "And not just that: those kids... Naruto, the Hyuga... they have something. I have a feeling about it, and Kurenai sees it too."
Hiruzen smiled, satisfied, tamping out his pipe. You did it, Naruto. You always achieve the impossible. Even bringing back people who had left. Even giving hope to those who lost it.
The door opened and Shizune entered, with Tonton under her arm, her face pale with relief.
"Tsunade-sama..." she whispered, almost crying. "Are you staying? For real?"
Tsunade turned, and the mischievous smile returned to her lips. She winked at her.
"For now, Shizune. The old man still has to pay for my drinks, and there's a loud-mouthed kid I have a pending bet with. This time, luck is on our side."
And so, Hiruzen thought, looking out the window at the sun setting over the village, the Daughter of the Leaf returned, like a new hope for a new generation. Who would have thought that a brat with an impossible dream would be the key.
*****
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