69 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 69
"There's nothing to forgive, you did all that you could. You are human too Tobirama, no one is perfect. Don't try to be one, it never ends well."
She whispered wisely, making him - Tobirama Senju … the man hailed as the smartest person in the world right now - feel like a child in his mother's arms.
She always was the wiser one of the two when it came to moments like these. And she had the biggest heart out of all the Uzumaki's -( and that was saying something )- in his mind.
...
"Mito-" he rasped out, coughing slowly when his throat finally gave way while she patted his back gently. She was quite surprised when he caught her wrist in his own and twisted it around slickly.
The brush and ink slip she always kept in her sleeves was swiftly taken away from her before she could even realize it and he tore apart a page from her clipboard much to her horror.
"Tobirama, what are you doing?" she almost shouted out loud in the silent room. "You're in no condition to work…" her voice died down in her throat when he raised his index finger in the air to shut her up.
It was the intimidating tick of Tobirama Senju that meant he was serious about something. And Mito knew one thing quite well - a serious Tobirama Senju was never a good thing.
So she let him be - for five minutes that is. After that deadline, Hokage be damned - she was the first lady of this village for pretty good reason.
And she would have to show it to him if push came to shove. And make him rest - forcefully, if need be.
And he did complete his task in three minutes, his skilled hands gliding across the paper and smearing Kanji in swift and elegant strokes. He handed her the ink seal and brush back, which she tucked back in her seal and Tobirama went through a couple of single handed seals.
His index and middle finger glowed blue with chakra, the Kanji for Fire dazzling on it brilliantly which he stamped at the end of his letter.
The official seal of the Hokage's order to his council had been set. And to top it all of, he wouldn't have to listen to their annoying bickering due to his condition.
Being in a hospital certainly did have it's perks.
He handed her the paper, and she looked at him to ask if she could read it.
The negative shake of his head made her fold up the letter and tuck it in her sleeve almost instantly.
"Council…" he rasped out and she nodded, pushing the man back gently by her palm upon his chest to make him lie down. He did let her do it, and grunted in relief for the support.
He was quite tired now. It was funny to think how some injuries could make even a pure blooded Senju like him to get tired…
"I'll get it to them tomorrow morning…" she said that on purpose, or else he would be forcing her bring him updates almost as soon as she got them - or worse - get someone else to do it.
So it could wait a little while, and she could have her own over due attendance at the council chambers too while she was at it.
He didn't have the energy left to argue with her and let his eyes droop for a nap while she stepped out. Leaving the room silent with nothing but soft breathing muffled by the beeping machines behind in her wake.
Her tapping heels stepped out out of the secured hospital wing before coming into the main lounge at the receptionists desk and stepped out of the main doors of the building.
Making her way for the gate, she stopped hearing an all too familiar voice call out to her from the front and breaking her out of her slightly troubled reverie.
...
Outside the Hospita
"Baa-chan!" Mito looked on at the four people coming towards her from the gates and she did smile seeing her little girl actually chirp back to life.
Though her slender eyebrow did arch upwards in amusement seeing her attire. Her red skin tight shorts were fine for a kunoichi her age or any girl her age to wear. It showed her how serious of a girl she was regarding her training and life.
But her T-shirt was the point of her current interest, it was two sizes too big and was a bit loose on her neck that made it hobble left to right with each passing step the girl made.
Clearly she didn't ever remember Tsunade owning such a garment, she wouldn't have let her granddaughter walk around in such unrefined attire. It was just unbecoming for her little princess to walk around like that.
But the girl almost took her breath away when she saw her chirpy smile, and the giggle that escaped her lips when her small form crashed in her chest couldn't have been stopped by Kami herself.
Her loose kimono sleeves hid the girl completely in her embrace while her lips pressed themselves on her head softly.
"How are you sweetie?" her voice was as gentle and caring as ever, the girl snuggled in her grandmother's arms upon feeling her nuzzling nose on the top of her head.
"I'm fine…" her muffled voice answered back almost instantly from her chest. She loosened her iron grip on the girl, and cupped her cheeks to look some more at that smile she loved so much.
But it quite surprised her seeing a permanently marked pink hue plastered over her cheeks, now this intrigued her quite a lot. Whatever had happened, her granddaughter was truly happy. And she was glad for that.
Tsunade turned around in Mito's arms slightly to look back and waved back happily at the three boys following her.
"Oi be fast, you're not that old yet…" Mito bit back her chuckle seeing Naruto's ever aloof walk making Tsunade bristle at the failure of her taunt.
A blonde boy walking with his hands tucked in his pockets with no care in the world, could annoy quite a few people if he intended to mind you…
Only then did Mito's eyes narrow in on the fabric near the back of Tsunade's neck reveal itself from behind her flailing high pony tail. It was just a small symbol, but it opened up a world of possibilities in her mind.
An Uchiha crest.
Her lips curled upwards almost wickedly, oh now this was truly getting intriguing. Now she understood why the shirt was two sizes too big, it was her apprentice's shirt.
So why was Tsunade wearing it?
Oh kami she might shave off a few years of her life in assumptions alone…
The teasing material she'd get out of this was endless…
The little smile on Naruto's face when he gave her a small nod of his head told her he had been the primary reason of her little tomboy's happiness, like she had expected off him.
"Stop shouting flat-chest-ow ow ow ow…." Jiraiya winced and twisted his body when a hand was pulling his ear quite painfully, courtesy of an irate Uzumaki heiress.
"Is that any way to speak young man?" Mito scolded the boy, who shook his head in her grip and Mito let him go.
She did bonk gently Tsunade who was sticking her tongue out proudly at a fuming Jiraiya and looked on at their third teammate - Orochimaru if she remembered correctly, was his name.
She smiled and petted his head when he gave her a polite bow, these little ones were just too adorable in her eyes. As adorable as shinobi could be that is…
"Naruto-san?" Orochimaru's voice did surprise everyone, and Naruto looked at the boy in slight interest. He hadn't spoken much ever since he had first met him, so this was a surprise.
"Can we have a spar if you don't mind?" the request surprised everyone, Mito included.
Jiraiya though…
"Hey what's that supposed to mean? You never ask me that, am I not good enough for you?" the flat look that Orochimaru should have answered anyone, that is anyone other than Jiraiya. So the boy decided to answer it out loud and cut his musings short.
"No." his simple answer didn't make Jiraiya as angry as Tsunade loud giggles did. He was becoming a fool in front of his own crush! Even Mito and Naruto were biting their lips and trying to stop their shaking shoulders from bursting out into laughter seeing his fuming red face.
It seemed as if steam would sprout out from his ears any moment now…
"Why you damned bastard-ow ow ow ow… I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" he chanted on while his ear was being pulled painfully by Mito for another lesson in language.
The boys these days, no manners she sighed to herself…
"Yeah sure, I don't mind. I could use a stretch myself." Naruto answered with a lazy shrug, stretching his back to work out it's kinks from getting no training at all for two days straight.
He could do with a spar, and see what Orochimaru was made of at the same time.
Both boys started walking out, while Jiraiya ran after them while shouting out profanities at them for ignoring him completely - again.
He was too far for Mito to punish lest she used her chains so she let him go - for now.
"Hey, I'm coming too…" Tsunade words stopped abruptly when a palm clasped her shoulder firmly, courtesy of a smiling Mito who wasn't letting the girl go quite so soon.
"Where do you think you're going young lady?" the oblivious blink her girl gave her, almost made Mito crush the girl in a tight hug and never let her go.
"With them." Tsunade asked more than said, and she became even more perturbed when Mito's arm snaked around her shoulders while her index finger patted the small embroidery on the back of her neck.
"Oh…" her voice was rather amused, which further served to confuse the Senju princess even more so than before.
"But we have much to talk about sweetie, especially this shirt and the story behind it my little Tsunade …"
The way all the blood rushed to her face while horror flashed in her eyes, and the way she sputtered out denials in incoherent mumbles made Mito laugh out loud all the while pulling the girl with her. To have a rather long cup of 'tea' with her granddaughter.
Needless to say, Tsunade just didn't have any respite that day. No day was as embarrassing as this one until that point in her life.
Especially when a probing grandmother milked out all the details of that morning and teased her to no ends for it - and would probably continue to do so for many days to come.
...
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