I Think I

Chapter 9:Paintings

The sun was shining brightly on her back, but she hardly felt it. Instead, her mind was whirling with thoughts on Sasuke.

Well, it's obvious now what he thinks of me. I should have realized a long time ago that I've lost my friend Sasuke. He's right; he trying to kill me twice is an obvious statement of his 'friendship' with me, Naruto thought sadly. It hurt a lot to hear him say that he viewed her only as Itachi-bait. Not even as a person, merely a tool. She had known it from the start, but actually hearing him say that proved to be a lot more painful than she thought it would be.

I'm not going to be depressed over him,she decided firmly. He can choose to be a prick and an idiot if he wants to be, I'm just going to be a friend to him. I've trained so hard all these years to bring him back because I didn't want to lose him, because he's still my friend, so I'm going to be his friend even if he doesn't want to be mine. Coz friends are always there for each other no matter what.

Having made up her mind, she nodded once to herself, then smiled as she looked up to the sky. Directly in front of her was the Hokage Monument, every feature of each face clear in the afternoon sun. Her eyes rested on the face of her father, and she smiled wistfully. Then, she caught sight of Tsunade-obaachan's stone face, and her eyes widened.

"Kuso! Gotta go meet Tsunade-obaachan before she gets really pissed!" she said to herself, then shunshin-ed to the door of the Hokage's office. She took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face, and kicked the door open.

"Tsunade-obaachan!" she called out loudly, grinning as she leaned away from the empty sake bottle that came flying her way and crashed on the wall outside the door.

"Gaki! Learn to knock!" Tsunade said irritably, then looked up in concern. Her eyes roved over Naruto's figure and took in the dark circles around her eyes, the slumped shoulders and the lack of cheerfulness in her eyes, although her face was cheerful as usual. "How're you doing, Keimei?"

Naruto waved a hand carelessly. "I'm fine, obaachan," she replied, and flopped into a chair in front of the desk.

Tsunade narrowed an eye at her, but didn't debate the issue. "Do you want to reveal the Yondaime was your father? I can arrange for a public announcement to be made, although it might land you in a bit of danger due to your father's enemies. I think Iwa hasn't let go of its grudge yet, but I'm sure you can handle yourself just fine. But it's about time the public knows that you are the daughter of the Namikaze Minato…" Tsunade trailed off as she saw Naruto shaking her head.

"No, don't announce it – at least not yet. I want to be acknowledged for who I am, not who my father was. I don't want to be in his shadow," Naruto explained in a determined voice. Tsunade considered what Naruto said, then nodded.

"Very well, if that's what you want. It is your secret, anyway. But I insist that Konoha know the daughter of their hero, if not now then at least sometime in the future. They should see that the girl they've been shunning is in fact the daughter of their hero." Tsunade's eyes gleamed. Naruto gave her a small, tired smile and decided to change the subject.

"What did you want to see me about?" she asked.

Tsunade blinked. "Oh yes. Did Kakashi check up on you?' she asked, and went on as Naruto nodded once, "I called you here to inform you that you have been selected as a jounin instructor for the new genin teams that will be graduating in four days' time."

Naruto's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Nani?" she asked loudly. "Jounin instructor? You mean like Kakashi-sensei?"

Tsunade nodded. "Yes. As you probably already know, I've restructured the Academy schedule such that the students graduate half a year earlier than when you were a student. The teams will be formed in two days, right after the genin Academy exam. I will view the genin team list on the same day as the exam, and if it looks fine to me, you will be administering the selection test the day after the teams are announced, which would be the day after the exam."