The Path Of a Hunternin

Internal Grief

Senju Tsunade was regarded by her Anbu guards as a rather calm Hokage, most of the time. However, all of them knew that when the woman was angry with something or someone, her mood pretty much transformed. The team that was responsible for guarding her office knew the reason was justified, though. Hell, it wouldn't be a surprise to them if the woman gathered a considerable ninja force and march straight towards the hidden village of earth and demand the head of the Tsushikage for openly attacking a ninja of the Leaf in the middle of the Chunnin Exams, in complete disregard to the pact of neutrality signed by the five hidden nations after the end of the Second Great Shinobi War.

However, they also knew that with the meeting of the five kages on the way, Tsunade just couldn't afford to base her actions on revenge. Now, as the ninjas she requested were already inside her office, the Anbu team settled to hide within the shadows as they returned to the duty of protecting the Hokage against outside threats that may manifest, while the woman was overseeing the village's choice of action.

"I suppose all of you know why you're here, so let's cut to the chase"

Tsunade's look was one of pure calm on the outside, but everyone in the room knew that if someone even bothered to piss her off for good, they wouldn't get to live much longer. In all fairness, though, the situation called for it, in Naruto's opinion. The Hunter ninja wasn't that interested in politics, seeing as he preferred a much more…direct approach than discussing rules and negotiations breach. However, when an enemy village decides to openly attack a ninja of the leaf with blatant disregard for the possibility of open war, Naruto was smart enough to realize the midget Tsushikage's devious plan. Aside from the possible elimination of the one closest to Iwa's most hated enemy, it served as an open statement of war to Konoha.

The thing was…if the council knew about the incident, Tsunade wouldn't be able to do a thing against their wishes to retaliate.

"Kakashi you weren't there, but I trust Jiraiya already briefed you, didn't he?" The woman didn't need to hear a response as she continued. "For a long time, Iwa stood their ground, doing nothing to disrespect the pact of neutrality. Now, though, their act against Naruto's life constitutes a clear breach, which only leads to one possible situation, one which I am not considering at this point wouldn't you agree Jiraiya…"

The perverted sannin nodded and smiled at his teammate for thinking ahead.

"Indeed, that old coot planned this perfectly. Attacking Naruto served two purposes. The first reason is kind of obvious at this point…" Jiraiya turned to the masked hunter-nin as he secretly processed what the blond was thinking right now. "The other was to goad us into a new War, possibly killing thousands if not more. The man was desperate, though, I can tell. In us thinking like this, we have the political advantage, which can be used at the Kage Summit later on. Onoki is counting for you to openly attack him or either declares war against Iwa. He certainly won't expect a demanding on our part, regarding compensations"

This time Kakashi took the microphone as he added his two cents to the conversation.

"…And the Tsushikage wouldn't be able to say no, considering that he would have all the other kages as witnesses to his open statement of war. Of course, he will do everything to goad you, Tsunade-sama. He will use Naruto's image as motive for his actions, saying it was merely retribution for everything the Yondaime Hokage did to them. I bet he'll even crack a smile, only to goad you more" Tsunade nodded at Kakashi and Jiraiya's insight, before turning to the only person who hadn't spoken a word so far. If this was the normal Naruto, she would have considered this a blessing.

However, he was different now…and that was dangerous by itself. She could only shiver at what the boy could possibly be thinking right now.

"What are you thinking, Naruto? I know from Jiraiya that he didn't have the time to tell you about the promotion to Jounin, meaning you're once again authorized for the hunter-nin job. I just want to know your position in all of this? Besides attacking Konoha, they attacked you. So that grants you the right for revenge against them, which will be justified" The look on Jiraiya and Kakashi's faces clearly indicated their shock at the Hokage's words. How could she play with such a situation, considering who's inside the blond's stomach? Naruto could very well storm outside this office and cause havoc in all of Iwa while using the fox's chakra.