Re: Akimichi

Two weeks passed, Chouji and Shikamaru ended their visit to Shikkotsu Forest as they were summoned by the third Hokage, Sarutobi Horuzen, to formally inaugurate them as a Chunnin.

"Man, Home sweet home~" Chouji couldn't help but grin, He along with Shikamaru and Asuma were currently queueing in front of the gate of Konoha.

"Yeah, home sweet home. Finally, I can get more sleep..." Shikamaru yawned as he lazily leaned himself on the carriage beside him. Shikamaru's face was currently adorned by panda-like eye bags as the side effect of his lack of sleep. 'Though playing with Gengar really improve my overall abilities.'

"Yup, there's no place like home." Asuma nodded, though it's not a long time, he missed his Kurenai dearly. 'Though it will be more perfect if Kurenai let me smoke...'

The trio waited patiently as they were not in a hurry. After they passed the gate, they saw two persons -One woman and one girl- chatted with each other as they giggled occasionally. One has a raven black hair color while the other has a platinum blonde hair color, they were Kurenai and Ino.

As Kurenai and Ino noticed the trio figures approaching them, they both smiled and said at the same time. "Welcome home!"

"We're home!" The trio replied with Chouji holding Ino's hand and Asuma embracing Kurenai's waist.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru grunted in annoyance. 'Maybe it'll be good if I have someone too...' But after having that thought, he remembered the women around him -mainly his mother, Ino, and Sakura- then shuddered. 'No, they are always acting cordial and friendly. But I can never tell that if they're really getting along or not...'

His father's situation becomes even more vivid in his mind and it made him dreaded women even more. '...Besides, they think that they can boss us, men, around. Damn, women are troublesome...'

Shikamaru sighed and took a bottle of water to wash his face to keep his mind away from these thoughts again. They all then proceed to a restaurant together to have their lunch early, all of them have a good occasion as they congratulated both Chouji and Shikamaru for their promotion to Chunin and spent their time together until noon passed then back to each of their own house to get some rest.

---

"Yo! Chouji! Shikamaru!"

The next day, Chouji and Shikamaru were finally formally promoted as a Chunnin. On their way back, they met with Naruto along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and Guy.

"Good morning, Jiraiya-sama." Shikamaru bowed as a sign of respect to greet Jiraiya and then greet the other in a less formal way.

Noticing an unknown woman with them, Shikamaru approached Naruto and asked him in a low whisper. "Who's that young blondie? why does she look so haughty?"

Hearing Shikamaru, Naruto tried his best to hold his laughter. "She's one of three sennin, her name is Senju Tsunade. Ah! Although she looks young, She's actually in her fifty!"

On the other side, Chouji was ignoring Naruto's and Shikamaru's not so low whisper as he was shocked seeing a woman beside Jiraiya. His eyes opened wide and his jaw reaching the ground. Shikamaru may not recognize her as she was out of the village for far too long. But she was his idol! There's no way in hell that he didn't recognize her!

Chouji even went to a great extent to spent a few hundred thousand Ryo to bought her clear portrait. Those big racks, curvy waist, silky blonde hair, and mesmerizing eyes... He can't be wrong!

She is the only known Senju alive!

One of three Sennin!

The granddaughter of the First Hokage!

She is the one and only Lady Tsunade!!!

"G-GOOD MORNING, TSUNADE-SAMA!!!" Chouji's face was flushed out of excitement, how can he not? The woman of his dream was now in front of him!

"Hoho, you recognize me from the first sight, boy?" Tsunade was slightly taken aback, she didn't think that a Konoha teenager will recognize her now. After all, it's true that she has been out of the village for years already.

'It's either he's highly knowledgeable or I'm underestimating my own fame...' Tsunade thought. Even though it did surprise her, she replied Chouji's greeting with a teasing grin. "Good morning, you're quite handsome, aren't you?"

"T-Thanks. You're beautiful too, Tsunade-sama." Chouji was gone red, this time it was because he was shy and feel flattered. Imagine that you meet with your idol and she flirted with you!

"Hoho, you have a sweet tongue, eh? I bet you have a queue line full of your fangirls." Tsunade chuckled, they exchanged a few more pleasantries before they continued with their own business.

"Well then, see you later! I will show you my awesome new technique!" Naruto grinned as he waved his arms. "You're in for a surprise!"

---

After arrived at Konoha, Tsunade's first destination was the Hospital. It was mainly because of Guy's consistent urging and begging for her to heal his pupil.

"Yo, good morning, Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

As they arrived at the hospital, they saw Lee was beside his bed doing one hand-stand push-up. As a doctor herself, Tsunade was ticked seeing a patient was doing a hard exercise instead of taking rest properly. On another side of the bed, Sakura was seated while training her mystic palm technique.

"Hurry up, sit down on the bed." With her finger pointed at the bed, Tsunade commanded Lee. She was upset seeing a stubborn patient like this. "Little girl, why don't you stop him?"

"E-eh?" Not knowing how to respond, Sakura was embarrassed. She didn't know how to stop Lee from doing his training, she knew that Lee's d.e.s.i.r.e to become stronger to prove his ninja way.

"Boy, are you deaf too? I said hurry up and sit down on the bed before I make you!"

Feeling confused, Lee turned his head to look at his sensei. After got a confirmative nod, Lee slowly placed his b.u.t.t on the hospital bed. Immediately, Tsunade did several checks on Lee. Her eyes turned grave and a deep sigh escaped her mouth.

"There are numerous bone fragments lodged within vital parts of your neural framework. Currently, you're in no condition to perform as a Shinobi. I'll be direct, would you rather be a cripple and stop being a shinobi or gone through a surgery to gamble your life?"

"...I will gamble my life. Because I've promised myself, that I will be a great Ninja in the future. And I want to... No, I will prove that I'm able to be a great Ninja with only Taijutsu." Lee's eyes were resolute, no shred of hesitation appeared.

"Eh? Wh-what do you mean by that? Rather, who are you?"

"Good, then I will also try my best. To date, it is no exaggeration to say that I am the only one capable to perform this surgery. But, not only it requires a large amount lot of time, but it is also incredibly risky.

"Fortunately, the Nara clan was kind enough to lend their secret medicine book. With it, I was able to learn a few things to raise the chance of this surgery. Take a good rest and consume more calcium and zinc these three days, we will begin your operation three days later." Tsunade said before he stood and left the room along with Might Guy.

"Don't ignore me!" Sakura was frustrated, while Lee scratched his head and tried to calm Sakura down.

Outside of the room, Guy could be seen kneeling toward Tsunade with his forehead touching the floor, his tears continuously flows down on his cheek. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama..."

---

Three days passed, in these three days quite a lot of things happened. Chouji went on another date with Ino, Sakura still went to the hospital to accompany Lee, and the Daimyo was inviting a few more fire guardian candidates to fill the gap left by the ones who refused to be one. Unknown to everyone, Hiruzen made Itachi "coincidentally" met with Sasuke then escaped under the nose of a few Konoha Jounins including Kakashi and Kurenai. It was mainly for two reasons, to re-ignite Sasuke's passion, and to remind the council to not overstep their boundaries regarding the Uchiha business as Itachi was still alive and kicking.

Hiruzen also finally decided that it was time for him to hung his mantle as a Hokage. With the help of Jiraiya and Shizune, Hiruzen managed to convince Tsunade to take the mantle as the Fifth Hokage. Though the first candidate was Jiraiya, the man held an important role that hasn't been able to be replaced yet.

"This village has changed quite a bit while I was gone..."

Tsunade was currently on top of the Hokage office building, behind her was her teacher and the third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen, along with Jiraiya and the member of Konoha council.

"Starting today, this village is your responsibility as the Fifth Hokage. No matter what, don't let the will of fire be extinguished." Hiruzen stepped up and turned his body toward Tsunade, he was not wearing his Hokage robe anymore. Instead, Hiruzen wore a brown Hakama with a "Fire" character written on his back in red.

"I won't..." Tsunade unhesitatingly nodded, she won't let her grandfather's treasure -the will of fire and the village- ceased. "I will guard it with my life!"

"Hehe, though I hope you're strong enough to face every Kage's natural enemy, the paperwork." Hiruzen grinned, he was happy that he finally freed from the mountains of paperwork and finally can enjoy his days peacefully. 'All that left are the external threats, especially from Kumo and Iwa...'

"Don't worry, I will triumph over it," Tsunade said with a relaxed grin, unaware that the term of paperwork will become her nightmare shortly.