A Growing Affection

Chapter 68: Deliberations

"Good morning," the Fifth Hokage was in a remarkably good mood as she  surveyed the stadium style classroom. Tsunade was at the front of the  room, as were the ten proctors of the Jonin Trials. The seating area  held the elders Homura and Koharu, plus the other thirty members of the  Jonin council, and a handful of other Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin who had  come to watch the proceedings.

"For those of you who did not know,  this is the evaluation meeting for the Jonin Trials completed  yesterday," she informed the onlookers, "in case you responded to the  summons without reading it, or just wandered in here. We will be going  through each of the participants, and the proctors will let us know if  that person passed or failed. After that, we will open the floor to  questions and comments before deciding each candidate's fate. Any  questions?"

No one spoke up, so she continued.

"If there are  no objections," the Sannin's tone indicated there had better not be,  "We will start will our three Jonin who are renewing their credentials.  First on the list being me."

Shizune paled, while Gai started to weep softly. Neji, Choza, and Kakashi all were very careful not to display any reaction.

"Do any of my proctors object to my retaining my official rank?" Tsunade ignored their reactions. They all shook their heads.

"Good, then next..."

"Hold  on," Koharu interrupted, "You seem to be skipping ahead. Not to mention  it looks like you coerced these examiners into voting for you."

Tsunade's smirk did not fade, but she inclined her head and waved her hand to indicate the elder Kunoichi should continue.

"Shizune,"  the Third Hokage's female teammate addressed the Fifth Hokage's  assistant, "You administered Tsunade's Genjutsu examination on Tuesday,  correct?"

The younger medic glanced at her teacher, and then nodded.

"And she met the requirements?" Homura picked up the thread.

"Yes,"  Shizune said softly, "She more than met the standards for the test. She  broke three Genjutsu each for ranks D through A. And she exhibited  three S-Rank, four A-Rank, and six B-Rank techniques of her own."

This sent some murmurs through the gallery, but Koharu ignored them, and pressed, "And can you name them?"

Shizune  shuddered, and then listed the thirteen jutsu. And as she did the other  Jonin all noticed a common thread. Almost half of the techniques were  for interrogation or breaking morale on a military scale. Understanding  filled the elders' faces, and Koharu glared at the medical expert.

"You tormented her?" she demanded.

"That's  a little harsh," Tsunade countered blandly, "Six out the thirteen is  less than half of the techniques I showed, and some of the others are  used for therapy. Heck, I didn't use my worst techniques, nor did I hold  them so tightly Shizune could not break free. All in all, I'd say it  wasn't much worse than watching a horror film... or two."

"Shizune, do you have any complaints?" Koharu asked.

"No,"  the medic shook her head, still a little green around the gills, "I  knew going in where Lady Tsunade's Genjutsu specialties lie. As she  said, she could have done much worse, had she wanted to."

"Gai,"  seeing this would lead nowhere, the female elder switched her target.  Might Gai had halted his tears, though he still looked uncomfortable.

"Yes, ma'am!" Gai snapped to attention.

"Why are you so upset?" Koharu demanded, "Did something happen yesterday?"

"Yes," he said stiffly, "Lady Tsunade completed all thirty stations in my test in just over two hours."