Return of the Lost - Chapter 2

It’s Mindblowing… Literally



Shafuri, who hadn’t noticed Naruto’s entrance, whipped around and froze. Haltingly, she spoke, “You… You look just like S-… my brother… just like Minato.” Naruto watched her a moment longer and then looked at Tsunade who had been silent throughout the exchange. She closed her eyes, shook her head and told him, “Go eat supper; we will talk tomorrow…. If you stay at the training grounds all night again I’ll put you on some missions with Konohamaru, got it!?” Naruto simply grimaced, nodded and stepped out the door after a last look at Shafuri, leaving Tsunade to think about how much he had matured since she first met him. Looking back on it, she had been the one to initiate the bet that led to her coming back to the Village in the first place; maybe he had been more mature than she had thought at the time.

(Or maybe not *wink*)

She was silent as she studied the woman still staring in shock at the door Naruto had left through. Finally, Tsunade cleared her throat and asked Shafuri, “Well, are you going to stare at my door all day or are you going to show me you’re true form?”

(Don’t ask me how she knew that this wasn’t the true form of this being… I have no clue… she didn’t tell me XD)

Shafuri had jumped slightly when Tsunade cleared her throat; now, however, she turned slowly and studied Tsunade with an intensity that surprised Tsunade. Then she shrugged, threw a lopsided smile on her face and nodded. Her body began to shift; there was a half-hearted puff of smoke,

(Nowhere NEAR as impressive as the ones that Naruto’s shadow clones made)

and the biggest panther Tsunade had ever seen was suddenly lounging in her office. Comfortingly, he

(And yes it was VERY MUCH a HE)

still had a headband of the Hidden Leaf around his neck. It spoke in a deep gravely voice that Tsunade supposed was suitable for a panther. He said, “I am Saigyo,

(His name has absolutely NOTHING to do with Sai)

think of me as a chunk of chakra from the demon panther Saigyo who is sealed inside the Leaf nin Shafuri.” He looked thoughtful for a moment and added, “Thinking of me as a shadow clone of Saigyo would also be appropriate. Back to my message, Shafuri sent me to report to you and ask that she not be sent on any missions for the next two months or so, to recover from her many injuries. She also intended to use that time to find any family she had left in the village and surrounding areas, but that was him earlier, wasn’t it?” Tsunade, who was still in shock from the panther appearing in her office, recovered enough of her wits to respond with a grudging admission, “Naruto Uzumaki is an orphan and has no living family. He lives alone in his house on the edge of the village,

(Yes, he had a house built for the privacy and security it would provide as well as being located a good ways into the forest on the edge of the village. He also gets a decent and fairly unobstructed view of the Hokage monument for some reason)

but stays in an apartment near this administrative building most of the time. When he was young the villagers shunned him because he became a Jinchuuriki the day he was born. Now, though, he has many friends around the village, most of which are ninja he grew up with.” She paused for breath and someone knocked on the door. Suddenly, Saigyo transformed into a male shinobi completely dressed in black. His eyes and headband stayed the same but his face was covered even more than Kakashi’s usually is. He spoke quickly, saying, “This is the form that Saigyo often takes, it will be to your benefit to remember it. Now, I must go. Oh and Shafuri will be staying in the Namikaze/ Uzumaki complex,”

(THAT place will be explained later and I will be happy to answer questions about it
IF you still have them AFTER Naruto has explored the place a little)

and was gone. Tsunade was deep in thought when the knock came again. “Come in,” she said, still a little shaken. Shikamaru walked into her office dragging Konohamaru by his scarf. The rest of Konohamaru’s team, excluding Ebisu-sensei, were close behind. Tsunade looked up, took in the situation, and put on a stern face. “What’s going on here?” she almost yelled. Shikamaru dropped Konohamaru, who was quickly helped up by Udon and Moegi, and began, “I caught him trying to bribe one of the civilian officials to give him a place as an official for the Chuunin exams… under a henge.” Konohamaru, who had been muttering about the indignities of being drug around by his scarf this entire time, snapped his attention to Shikamaru and said, “Not me, Naruto. All he ever does anymore is run errands for you and go on short delivery missions! HE DESERVES BETTER!!!” Tsunade closed her eyes, shook her head (again) and sighed, “Shikamaru, you can get back to work now, I’ll take care of this.” Shika

(We’re gonna call him this from now on ‘cuz I’m too lazy to type the whole thing.
Any other name shortenings will be mentioned as I come to them)

nodded and left with a mutter of “Troublesome….” Tsunade sighed

(She seems to be doing this a lot lately… not that we don’t all know why *wink*)

again as she looked at the stubborn set of Konohamaru’s face and said, “Because your attempted bribe was not for yourself, but for Naruto, your punishment will only be for your team’s next three missions to be D-rank.” Konohamaru almost interrupted with an objection, but Moegi wisely covered his mouth. “Now then,” Tsunade growled, “it’s time for me to go get some rest; if you see Sakura on your way out, tell her I said to go home for the night. You can leave now, too.” They all nodded, though Konohamaru’s nod was a bit sulky, and left.

(That’s all! No more Tsunade for a while. She may pop up every once in a while, but it’s not gonna be often or for very long, after all… Let’s face it, she’s NOT one of the main characters, but as she amuses me and I find situations in which she fits, we might just see her again.)

As the walked out of the building, Sakura walked up with a stack of papers. They gave her Tsunade’s instructions and she said she would walk with them if they would wait for her to turn in the papers she had. They agreed to wait and she went in. Putting the papers away in the Hokage’s desk, Sakura noticed a note for her on the top of it. It said, ‘Sakura, go home, get some rest and if Naruto hasn’t yet, tell him to do so as well. Tsunade.’ Sakura frowned slightly and went back down to rejoin Konohamaru’s group. The boy himself suggested that they all go to Ichiraku’s for a late supper. Everyone agreed, Sakura thinking that Naruto was probably there, and the others all looking forward to the delicious ramen. When they got close enough to smell the mouth-watering aroma unique to Ichiraku’s, Konohamaru ran ahead. Moegi and Udon were close behind, but Sakura walked slower noticing that Naruto wasn’t there after all. About to go inside, Sakura looked around and saw Naruto walking toward her. The odd part about this was that there was a panther walking beside him and he had a look of rapt attention on his face, as though he were listening to the cat, which, frighteningly, came up to Naruto’s waist and had a Konoha headband around its neck. A block away from Ichiraku’s they stopped. They spent a moment there talking

(Or at least that’s what it LOOKED like)

and suddenly the panther disappeared in a pathetic puff of smoke.

(I swear, no smoke puff EVER stands even a sliver of a chance of being anywhere near as impressive as Naruto’s do…. Now that I’ve gotten my point across, I hopefully won’t have to mention this again… although my wording may give away just how… whispy?… all other puffs of smoke are *grin*)

Konohamaru pulled Sakura into Ichiraku’s, asking what the hold-up was, just as Naruto looked up.


(Aww sorry ‘bout the cliffy, but I have plans as the next bit is gonna make up the next chappy)