Towards the Sun

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Fifth Hokage was examining the voluminous piles of record files atop her office desk. They contained information on all the foreign ninjas presently in Konoha, their purpose here and the expected duration of their stay.

Uchiha Sasuke had just left, and she had an imminent meeting with the team of medic nins since it was almost nine o'clock. She paused in her reading, recalling her conversation with the young Uchiha. The latter had entered the room with a purposeful look set on his face. Yet, as soon as she had asked him for the reason behind this impromptu visit, his expression had switched to a blank stare. He had then showed her the scroll which she had received the previous day from an unknown sender, who had also attached to the scroll a generous sum of money as early payment - a strange glint suddenly flashing in her eyes, Lady Tsunade had immediately sent the first person passing nearby to deliver the precious item to its addressee.

After seeing the blank paper, understanding had dawned upon the Hokage: poor Sasuke had to keep the mission a secret until success (or eventual failure), while the current circumstances were preventing him from declining this troublesome task. But Lady Tsunade had already done everything in her power to reduce the duration of his 'punishment' down to the number of years he had spent away from Konoha as a missing nin.

"Hah... What is taking them so long to come?" muttered the blond woman, swiveling around in her blue office chair to face the windows. She cast a sweeping glance outside, trying to locate members of the medic team. "Oh?" She had just spotted Uchiha Sasuke - he was easy to recognise with that gravity-defying hair sticking out at the back of his head - near the entrance of the Ninja School, holding someone in his arms. "Ah, the youth... They sure have it easy..."

Judging by the long hair and the short stature - the person's crown reached hardly as high as Sasuke's chin - it was most probably a girl. Her assumption was confirmed when, with lightning speed, the person in Sasuke's arms pulled back, stumbling slightly, and turned around in the direction of the Hokage Tower. It was Hyuuga Hinata. Blushing, she looked back for a moment, probably to talk to the young lad, then faced ahead and began walking. An amused smile gracing her red lips, Tsunade noticed that the girl was trying to maintain a dignified air as she advanced. After all, she was the heiress to the Hyuuga clan. This also explained why she was targeted by ninjas from the other countries. Ever since the report of the recent attack, the Fifth Hokage had decided to keep an eye on the young lady. She had even gone as far as adding Hinata - her chakra control could rival a medic nin's as she was an adept of the Gentle Fist Art - to the medic team, which would be led by her loyal assistant, Shizune. Just to be on the safe side.

Looking back at the Uchiha, Tsunade now realised that her students Sakura and Ino were also down there. From this distance, it was hard to tell but she was almost sure that the two teenage girls had pink hearts for eyes as they conversed animatedly with a bored-looking Sasuke. It seemed as though all thoughts of an important meeting with the Hokage had completely fled their minds like leaves on the wind. The Sannin woman felt like opening her window and throwing her shoes at the two hormone-driven girls to make them hurry up a bit. They were supposed to be inside her office by now. Thankfully, it appeared that Sasuke had noticed the fuming Hokage by the window; he proceeded to utter something brief to the girls while gesturing towards the Hokage's office. Seconds later, Sakura and Ino had disappeared from view, leaving a thick cloud of dust in their wake.

At two past nine everyone was present and, after a brief exchange of morning greetings, the meeting finally began.

"Alright!" exclaimed the Hokage to ensure that she had the attention of the dozen of shinobi gathered in the oval room. Her gaze momentarily rested on the three girls in the group and she narrowed her amber eyes. Why had she accepted their lame excuse for their lateness? Maybe she was going too soft on them; she had decided to let it pass this time after three pairs of puppy eyes looked pleadingly up at her. Now that Sakura, Ino and Hinata were working part-time at the Ninja School to replace the hospitalised Chuunin teachers, they were undoubtedly adopting their pupils' charming tactics. Looking at the bright side of the picture, such skills might be useful during missions. Might.