"Everything we've done?" Tsunade shrugged. "We're multiplying that by four."
"Excuse me, hag? By what?!"
-Physical: Boss-
"-And while you're doing this-" Tsunade brought out another storage seal. "You are going to be wearing weights. On all limbs."
"Baa-chan." Naruto whispered, face pale. "Baa-chan, you are joking me. The day starts off with Shizu-nee torturing me-" He shuddered, recalling her legs sliding into an oversplit, "-and midday- now- is more torture. Please don't tell me that-"
"Nah, night time is lighter stretches and meditation to increase your reserves and prepare for Gate releases. You'll love it."
"Oh ok." He put a hand on his chest as if reassured. He wasn't sure whether or not he'll actually 'love' something as boring sounding as meditation though. (His mind forcefully erased the second half of the sentence as 'Gate releasing' sounds horrible. Not to mention, controlling chakra was already horrendous, why does he need more?)
"For this, I'll only be putting one block in for each. There are seven blocks in total for each of them." Tsunade held up four beige coloured clothes with pockets in one hand and then four rectangular shaped weights with the kanji for 'guts' on them. "If our budget allows it, maybe we'll buy training resistant seals but right now, we're going old school. I snagged these off Maito Gai some time in the past and they're finally being put to use!"
"Don't kid me, Baa-chan." Naruto cocked a brow. "One only for each? I'm not that weak-ttebayo!"
"Insolent child." Tsunade chided before she tossed a single block at him. Instinctively, he raised his hand and caught it.
His hand was on the floor.
Naruto's body then followed as he stumbled under the weight; he had yet to remove his chakra limiting seals and even with the intense training regime, his natural pre-teen muscles weren't enough. "What the- what the fuc- heck is this?"
"This is only a hundred kilos, hello?" Tsunade dangled the weights in front of him. "From memory, when Gai was around his late teens, he wore the heavier versions of these. My dumbass Teammate actually asked about them and Gai repeated about something about 'Raiya being 'Youthful' or something. Each one of them were 700. That's seven times heavier than the one you're holding right now. And he had all seven blocks in, making a total of around 5000 kilos per foot."
"...I'm sorry, what?" Naruto breathed quietly.
"Baa-chan... WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? AIN'T THAT THE WEIGHT OF LIKE, TWO HUNDRED ME'S? AROUND HIS FOOT? EACH FOOT? AND THAT MAKES FOUR HUNDRED ME'S AROUND HIM? THAT ISN'T POSSIBLE, TSUNADE-BAACHAN-"
Tsunade bobbed her head slightly as she listened to Naruto continue to rant.
"...And Baa-chan, you're definitely going to make me do that, right?" He heaved with a sigh.
"Yes. Doubled. Because you'll also have them on your arms." Tsunade chuckled. "But since our three years have been cut off, we only have 6 months to get as many blocks as we can. Obviously, I'll get you to wear them for years to come anyway. Don't worry, you can supplement your muscles with chakra-"
"-Yesss..."
"And it'll grow both your muscles and your reserves. Did you know that if you use supplemented muscles for a long time, the physical energy transfers until without chakra, you're just as strong?"
"What the fuck."
"Mhm. Realise the possibilities." She deadpanned. "Supplementing your muscles 24/7- your body will adapt to the strength you're capable of. But it's really hard to deal with the process." Tsunade tapped her bicep. "Some people think I have no raw strength and I use only chakra but that theoretically doesn't work. If your muscles aren't adjusted and conditioned to handling the power, they'll deteriorate."
"You're abusing my regenerative powers, right?" Naruto caught on. "Even if I tear my muscles, the chakra will cause it to grow back stronger. My vitality and potent chakra causes any negative effects to nullify. It's just a test of mental strength and will. ...And my pain tolerance."
"You're learning." Tsunade blinked ferociously, wiping at some imaginary tears. "You're... learning."
Naruto shot her a smug grin. "I'm... smart-ttebayo. Should I get glasses so I can push them up while explaining stuff?"
"Did Shizune give you cartoons to watch?" She asked before she chuckled darkly. "And I just can't wait until I'm getting you to open your Gates. We have a lot to condense in just six months."
She hummed, making a show of leaning back and squinting up at the sky. "There's a long list but the ones I can think of... Controlling tenketsu, perfecting Kage Bunshin, fine tuning your chakra control, getting you to learn tact-" She shivered dramatically. "-and attending the occasional therapy, summoning Katsuyu- maybe you'll pick up on Sage, and right: can't forget about the entire Iryo Ninjutsu program which will assuredly be a hundred times harder than this."
Naruto closed his eyes, memories of Shizune's devil grin as she stomped on his pack and the pain as his muscles were stretched- "They're gonna rip, they're gonna rip-" "Good thing I'm a Med-Nin, yeah, Naruto? Don't worry; Tsunade-sama's taught me a lot on how to heal snapped hamstrings!" "S-Snapped- Don't you mean strained? ...D-Don't you mean..."
"If you have the energy to talk, you have the energy to do another set!" "Do you feel like you're on the verge of dying?"
"'A hundred times harder'." Naruto breathes out and opens his eyes. Tsunade never lies. "...I'm gonna die."
"...Can't you handle it?" Tsunade baited with a sly grin. "I wonder if you could surpass a Jonin, or even me in raw strength in so little time."
He scowled, knowing he's taking the bait. "Of course I c-"
"Merely an Academy student before and- what? Generally people take two decades worth of training to reach that level- some people simply stop at Chuunin. For you to try... it's just an impossible task, y'know?"
And damn it, in the end, Naruto just doesn't know how to back up from the 'impossible' challenge. It was such an open taunt that Naruto knows he falls for.
"I'm going to do it." His resolve was already there, stronger than an iron wall. Tsunade would've sighed exasperatedly if it weren't for Dan and Nawaki's eyes staring back at her through cerulean orbs. No matter how quiet he acts, how close he gets to brooding, there's always that fire in his eyes that never dims.
"During this trip, I'll become stronger and stronger and stronger until I surpass you-" Naruto pointed at Tsunade with a foxy grin, "-Tsunade-baachan, then I'll become strong enough to protect all my precious people."
Tsunade scoffed, swatting away his hand before she moved to ruffle his head. "You, brat, protecting me? What a darn dream you have there. You really think you have what it takes to surpass me? A Legend? A Sannin? A shinobi that's arguably stronger than Kage?"
"Damn straight."
"Ok then," The weights were slotted in and tied securely around his limbs. She deactivated the chakra limiters in a flare of chakra. "Get moving then, Uzumaki Naruto."
It took every bit of his willpower and strength to not collapse under the weight. His arm raised in a shaky thumbs up, "Believe it, dattebayo!"
-Fuuinjutsu: Clone-
"So you've got all the primary seals down. That's around Chuunin level. Now we're going to get into the tough stuff."
"Like what?"
"Drawing... more circles."
-
"Steady." Shizune said for the fiftieth time. "I want you to be steady. Think flowy and calm. Like water- No, I didn't mean make the damned paper wet! And I thought you were a wind boy; who taught you Suito- ...Tsunade-sama..."
-Chakra-
An empty, opened sake bottle was sitting in front of Naruto. With one hand, chakra was twisted into water and the other hand flicked its fingers, Fuuton melting around it and guiding the Suiton into a thin needle prick. With barely any effort, the water slithered down the neck of the bottle, not a single drop outside. He still remembered the times where he'd cheer in success after managing to shift the water a smidge.
The first day of chakra control training had been draining; he only managed to complete the simple task after hundreds of popped Bunshin and many long hours. When he triumphantly displayed his progress, Tsunade had simply given him an applause.
"Look at who you used to be." Tsunade rubbed at her eye, sniffing dramatically as she held up a photo. It was of himself flying through the air after making the water spurt out onto himself.
"Wow... when did you take that photo anyway?" He gaped, "I can't imagine doing something like that again."
"Shizu-nanny and I are proud- Proud!"
"So can I do another element?" Naruto clasped his hands together. "Please, please, please?"
"Come on," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You've already gotten three-"
"But Fuuton's my primary, Suiton's my secondary-"
"And Doton's boring and too easy." Tsunade finished, rolling her eyes again. "Which is false, by the way. I just taught you the easiest Jutsus that go hand-in-hand with punching the ground and being awesome and badass. Didn't you know that most people your age can't even mould two chakra natures? I think there's something wrong with you."
Unlike how he would've reacted months ago, he simply preened and dramatically fanned himself, "Oh, stop it, I know I'm a freak of nature, dattebayo."
"But even freaks have limitations."
"Yeah, but my limit ain't here, Baa-chan," Naruto added, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm pretty sure Katon is my third-iary. It'll be even easier than Doton."
"Tertiary." Shizune popped out of the door to correct, a couple of Bunshin still flocking around her. "Mou, how many times have you read the dictionary by now? You should know this!"
"And I'm pretty sure Katon is my tertitary." Naruto corrected incorrectly, as if just to spite her.
"You... what?" Tsunade took a long look at Naruto. "You read the what now?"
Shizune gave a snicker and he shot her a dark look. "Shizu-nee told me that having someone read to me while I suffer my torture could distract me. My Bunshin decided it was a good idea to torture me even more by reading the dictionary aloud."
"Your Bunshin is you." Tsunade pointed out.
"Eh." He shrugged, "Depends. I think I was feeling petty and annoyed then so I created an evil Bunshin."
"Hm. Well, back on topic: you know, the reason why I taught you different elements was to make your control even better than it was before, right?"
"Mhm."
"You do realise I should be teaching you harder chakra control exercises now, right...?"
"But K- Katon and Raiton..." Naruto bemoaned, "They're so cool though... I know flashy is shinobi-code bad but flashy is... flashy..."
"If we have time." Tsunade agreed amiably. "And if you still have the energy to. Besides, those two are my weaker elements because Orochimaru usually takes Raiton and Katon. Jiraiya took all the wacky oil and hair Jutsu while I was just... punch... and heal. My superb control allowed me to be able to use all five elements."
"That's amazing, Baa-chan."
"Flatter." Tsunade bonked his head before tugging off some bits of grass. "Let's get a lil test, shall we? When I throw these blades of grass at you, I want you to stick them onto your body with chakra."
She drew back her hand, "Ready... se-" She threw them, hurtling them with enough power that they wouldn't flop midair.
Naruto barely flailed at her underhanded trick, concentrating and drawing little bits of chakra to where the grasses landed.
A quarter of them fell. He pouted but Tsunade beamed. "That was the leaf exercise but a hundred times harder."
Now Naruto reciprocated the beam, realising just how hard it had been. "I did amazing then!"
"That's correct, brat! But it's not perfect yet!" Her grin turned sly. "And did I tell you that I actually went backwards with your control training?"
"I kinda figured-ttebayo." Naruto admitted.
"Right- the standard chakra control exercises go in this order: leaf sticking, tree climbing, water walking, fire shielding, nature melding, and chakra-energy empathy."
"I- ...I what now?" He blinked, mind racing to the chakra exercises the Chuunin in the Academy had droned about. "The Academy only taught the leaf stuff!"
At Tsunade's expectant look, he snapped his mouth shut and asked, "Please explain?"
"Chakra-energy empathy is sensory to a next level." She started. "This includes the Sage arts and the Kagura Shingan I mentioned. Dojutsu can be closely replicated if you master this art of empathy. It's becoming in tune with the energy around you- so much so that you become a part of it and there isn't much need to go through hand seals to 'summon' or 'conjure' it. It's just there and it's your friend- not your bitch."
"Uh." Naruto cleared his throat. "I didn't do that?"
"No," She nodded, "Not even high level Jonin can do that. Even Jiraiya hadn't perfected Sage and Orochimaru could scrape the surface of it." Without mentioning herself, she continued, "Nature melding is what I got you to do. You first saturated the water with your chakra then controlled it. It's a loophole in the actual exercise."
"But chakra's meanta be my friend, right?" Naruto noticed, "Not my bitch."
Tsunade sniggered a bit, "Yeah. You were meant to feel the natural chakra and move it- not dictate it around."
"And fire shielding?" He piped up, "It sounds cool. ...And dangerous without supervision." He allowed grumpily at Tsunade's warning glance.
"Yeah, fire shielding is basically an exercise used so that shinobi become in tune and familiar with their own chakra. Instead of it being a weapon, it needs to be a part of you. No one does this step because getting your chakra to automatically protect you is 'impossible'."
Naruto scowled. "But I do that!"
"Yeah, you do." She nodded. Naruto's chakra was more present when he was hurt and always went to his damaged areas to try and heal it; he'd never even realised when each thing happened because of how horrible his self-awareness was. In contrast to what some lesser shinobi may think, it wasn't because of the Kyuubi; it was because of his Uzumaki type chakra.
"Water walking is practising the flexibility of your chakra. Tree walking is to get chakra to be able to move to places that are harder to control. Leaf sticking is to be able to move your chakra."
"That..." Naruto deadpanned, "Sounds like 'baby steps' to the next level, dattebayo."
She snorted, "You're not wrong! But it is time to go and perfect each and every one of those exercises. Well, I think you did want to try out this at the start so..."
She then jerked her fingers in a Konoha signal- Doton-Five-Metres-Square. One-Metres-Deep.
Naruto spend significantly less time to gape (as when he first started Konoha sign) and reflexively stomped on the ground; a patch of damp earth sunk down slightly. Then he paused, head tilted to the side in confusion. Tsunade walked away from it and beckoned for him to come towards her and he did, brows creased in question.
"Conjure Suiton and fill it so it doesn't spill."
He furrowed his brow and made a one handed seal, switching his affinity and chakra gathering before it filled up the small area into a muddy pool. She jutted a hand towards him, palm facing upwards and Naruto, still confused, placed his own on top of hers.
Tsuande then proceeded to lift the boy up, and chuck him towards the water.
"Stand on the water." She gave a cheery thumbs up as he scrambled mid-air. "Chakra is our friend, not our bitch, remember?"
Instantly on guard, he centred himself while airborne, Fuuton channelled around him in a protective orb in case of surrounding attacks and he landed on the water, chakra steadying him so he didn't get dirty.
Wait.
And then- he... landed on the...
"What the fuck? I'm... walking on water?" He hooted, waving his arms in victory. "Jesus who, dattebayo?"
"Language, brat!"
"Says you, hag!"
-Conspiring-
"-Yeah, so that's what I thought about them." She finished recounting (ranting) for the billionth time. "Really hated those louder fangirls. My ears. They should make a... Scream-no-Jutsu or something."
They had shoved aside a short time frame a day just to talk, rant, or plan for the future. Originally, they had spent most of their time talking about training or discussing history- as impossible as it seemed to Naruto- and now they were talking about their own lives.
Most of the time, Shizune would join with Tonton. Apparently there was also a thing called 'animal therapy' as well- that's why there's apparently a good connection between the Inuzuka and Yamanaka Clan which Naruto could never imagine. (Kiba and Ino talking? Passively?)
"Uh-huh, I know." Naruto ran through the information. He was getting quicker at processing the words now, especially since they both spoke with such energetic vigour.
"Yeah 'uh-huh'. What will you do when you meet your classmates again?" There was a careful eye studying the side of his face.
"I don't know." He plainly admitted. "You said around you and Shizu-nee is the 'Safe Zone', right? Well, if I'm out of the Safe Zone then I'd act like I usually do? Dumb and clueless?" He made a face. "I could act without my façade and shock everyone by being a badass. ...But that'd be un-shinobi-like."
He pouted then began to waver. "Actually, maybe... I think after more than half a year of being out of Konoha, I would have some personality development. It'd be weird if I didn't-ttebayo. Besides, I'm sure if I acted like a clown, it'd be bad on your reputation. Also- Also, our plan is to get us to stick together for longer and those Council hag-bags can't get a reason to let me stay in Konoha because of my 'impulsiveness' or something-ttebayo."
"Hol' up, hol' up, first of all, where did you learn all that stuff? That kinda subtle thing was what I was meant to teach later!"
"It's..." Naruto raised a brow, "...Obvious? And I know most about how things can affect reputation."
"True." Tsunade shrugged, "Most people don't apply that though. To be honest, even I was pretty dense when I was your age; I was a Senju-Uzumaki Princess, so I wasn't 'allowed' to go on honeypot missions and the such. Ojii-sama was overprotective and Obaa-sama insisted it wasn't necessary. I was enlightened about the psychological mind-fuck-trickery when I had to learn about politics. Jiraiya's the best at all these stuff, surprisingly, and Orochimaru was just good at everything. He loved threatening his opponents so he's good at mental torture. ...And physical torture- that creep."
That was when the scenario quizzes started to happen.
That was also when Tsunade decided that Naruto was open to learn the entire Psych unit.
That was also when Tsunade realised that Naruto was amazing in that department.
The strain on his mind was less severe with each passing day.
While his real body was getting endless exercise- apparently Tsunade really did want to abuse his crazy regenerative rate and draw out his inner Uzumaki insane strength- only stopping once a week for the mind to recover, all his other clones were either meditating, chakra controlling, or studying in some way, shape or form. Weapons, Tsunade had told him, could also be done because muscle memory was transferred along with Bunshin as well.
So an army of uncoordinated orange boys doing three different types of katas for incapacitation, evasion and weaponry? It was just another day.
While Tsunade was a Sannin, she was still strongest with her Teammates and therefore did not have much talent in their specialities. Not like Naruto cared for the chokuto or tanto or 'oil-hair-Jutsus' or anything anyway.
He liked punching and helping people; ergo, Iryo Ninjutsu and badass Nintai was just his thing.
He, the Bunshin Manager no. 1, furrowed his brow as more memories assaulted his mind.
He grabbed the nearest pack of chips- argh, vegetable ones again!- and lounged in a migraine, watching Boss outside stumble up to Tsunade before she slid another block into his weights, making him slap his skull and groan.
"Help me, Ramen God." He sighed aloud, the twinge in his temple dying down as he sorted 'failed seal death that created an explosion large enough to take out two dozen Bunshin' into yet another box of Uzumaki Naruto's mental library. He summoned a Bunshin who gave him a clumsy mock salute before he summoned another two dozen.
"Bunshin Manager no. 26." Bunshin Manager no. 1 nodded to him. "Wanna some chips?"
Bunshin Manager no. 26 grinned at him, "You know me so well!"
They both laughed in synch as Boss collapsed onto the floor, Tsunade cheering and holding up a sign reading: 'ONLY 500 M LEFT FOR ROUND 3!', uncaring that Boss was actually himself.
What a splendid day.
-Travelling-
Travelling was something that she'd reserve for the later years but as she had told Naruto, they were jampacking everything into six months- even if it means producing thousands of clones every day (thank you, Kage Bunshin Manager System).
While hundreds of clones and at least a dozen Manager Bunshin remained at Uzu to train and study, Naruto, Tsunade and Shizune started to travel to Wave. Shizune'd planned a journey schedule where they'd start at Uzushio and go in a clockwise direction around Konoha and visiting all the other Villages and Countries.
They'd increase speed, stamina and chakra control by travelling via running across the water. It'd also teach him what to pack on long journeys etc. After reaching Wave, they'd teach him politics, history, customer service and civilian trading life.
Then continuing to the West, they'd teach him about poverty, caution and survival. In between the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth laid multiple countries caught in the crossfire of wars. Needless to say, those areas weren't very pretty.
Based on how he coped, they'd also breach the topic of prostitution and drug and human trafficking. People could go to extreme measures for respite in those poor places. Tsunade hopes that what she mentioned to him were the worst things there.
Because things can be worse than that.
(Humans like feral creatures scrambled over each other. Ragged screams too high pitched to be from one older than the age of ten. Half eaten corpses. Bite marks looking eerily like human ones. The red coating faces. Crimson stained teeth. Deranged people lunged towards her, mouth wide open.
Cannibalism .
Storehouses half filled with rotting corpses still chained to putrid smelling walls. The other half laid starved bodies attached to lowered heads with blank eyes, the spark of sanity absent. Needle marks litter their inner arms and more than urine was stained on the rag that covered their crotch.
Human experimenting. Rape. Human trafficking. Slavery.
And perhaps their jailer died for the door handle had been dusty and the victims had been picked off, one after another by starvation, infection-
"Ah. Are you Mister's new playthings?" The foul smell, crumbling discoloured skin- Their eyes saw nothing. The voice was an airy drone.
"Gangrene." Jiraiya breathed, face pale. "Oh- You poor-..."
Orochimaru was similarly irked, face blank but throat bobbing as his nose wrinkled. "It'd be better to put these children out of their misery." He murmured quietly, reaching for his blade. "They'll be dead sooner or later either way."
'Children,' She'd thought with nausea, scanning over them and instinctively categorising each and every injury and disease these... children had.
"Don't be a jerk now!" Jiraiya hissed angrily, face turning a peculiar colour with the red of anger, green of disgust, and blue of fear. "Tsunade can heal them- She's- She's surpassed Hashirama-sama as well, ya know? She can fix them. I won't give up on them. They're alive and- and-"
"She won't." Orochimaru whispered for her. His intelligent eyes, afraid and angry because she could always tell, glanced to meet her own. Orochimaru wasn't 'weird' or 'nasty' or 'wrong in the head' like Jiraiya thought. He was just sincerer- braver- than Tsunade.
She felt their injury like her own, knew those diseases like the back of her hand. She hoped that they died without their sanity. She hoped that their memories had merely been a blur. She hoped that they wouldn't live past this day-
"We have a mission." Orochimaru continued with a steely voice, trembling fingers tightening around the handle. It was just a cover. He was playing the villain, preserving the wide eyed innocence and pure nature of the young man who'd just entered his twenties.
Hell, they'd all just entered their twenties but a Princess can't fall back on age and Orochimaru was too sharp. Jiraiya was a dead-last, the fool that'd gotten tied to a tree stump. He falls into animal traps and throws shuriken as confetti. He trips over his feet and walks into walls.
Tsunade knew and he knew: Jiraiya was an idiot and thus, he was pure.
"We're already wasting time by not ignoring them like we ought to." Orochimaru flicked his golden eyes onto Jiraiya and they both flinch, the latter just not noticing so. "It won't take long. It'll be their mercy, and it'll be our kindness."
Jiraiya was smarter than he let on but even then, his fierce compassion and determination overrode any observant nature he'd developed, especially since it was never turned against his comrades.
Because that day when those children's corpses hit the floor and Orochimaru cleaned the blood on his blade, ignoring the outraged rants that Jiraiya was spewing, Tsunade hadn't lifted a finger, hadn't spoken a word. She'd given a grateful smile and gripped his shoulder in thanks and sorry.
Orochimaru knew and she knew: this world was an ugly, ugly place and it would only get worse as the war fought on.)
The wars she's trudged through have proved how despicable mankind can fall in times of need.
But the most ugliest of those were tucked away and cleanly removed by unflinching ANBU.
Med-Nin see the worst of conflicts whether there is war or not. Desensitisation is a horrible but essential thing.
Disabilities, marks of disease, scars, disfigurations, mutations... Naruto never looked at the diagrams in the textbooks with disgust or apprehension. Tsunade doesn't doubt that the horrors that he'll have to see as a medic will only strengthen his determination, not cause it to waver.
Iwa was to be avoided... was what she'd planned especially with their visceral hatred of Minato. But this might also be a testament to his disguising, infiltrating and acting skills.
She was throwing him into the woods but if he survived (and he definitely will) then he'd come out stronger.
Tsunade wasn't like before; she was a Sannin, not to mention, they didn't even have Konoha insignias or hitai-ates. She was confident in her strength to protect Naruto if anything happened.
(She was confident that her slow but building tolerance to blood was worth the sleepless nights filled with a metallic smell and thundering rain. No land was more terrifying than the land she visits in her sleep.)
But Kiri was just another story. They were not going into that place. It was thick with chakra and there were hardly any civilians. The shinobi there were all bloodthirsty not to mention the Mizukage...
They'd already visited the borders of Kumo but if they had time, maybe they'd go back. Naruto really enjoyed the mountainous areas (if they weren't hiking) because of the air and height. Perhaps it gave him a sense of liberation that he didn't have in the walls of Konoha.
So now they were currently running on water at a surprisingly fast pace. Naruto still had his weights on and it had been a few hours of running- he wasn't tired at all. Well that was the minimum; Shizune, who wasn't specialised in strength, could deal with at least triple this much exercise. Granted she wasn't wearing hundreds of kilos worth of weight but...
"We're just ten minutes from the border of the Land of Fire so we're running til you're half-dying, brat!"
"What?" He cried. "I thought we were stopping for food!"
"We are." Tsunade nodded. "But only once we reach land."
"Nooo-"
"Oh shut up," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "At this pace, we'll reach land before three hours is up."
He perked up, "What, really?"
"Mhm. That's why you're getting two extra blocks, my dear brat." She summoned two blocks of a hundred kilos and tossed it to him, watching in amusement as he scrambled to make sure he wouldn't sink into the water.
"Kill me now..." He moaned.
True to her word, Tsunade had stopped for dinner but a few hours afterwards (lecturing about the importance of proper digestion), they'd set off again. This time in the dark because it was 'good training'. Shizune simply gave him a pitying 'get used to it' expression.
(There was reason why she could fight at an above Jonin level even though she had minimal chakra capacity and a civilian background. Dan was the uncle she'd never known but she knew that he had been a prodigy for a civilian- the only in their small family to rise the ranks. Tsunade's harsh training and high expectations was what made Shizune into the woman she was today. There was struggle and frustration behind her strength and Naruto was only seeing the surface of it.)
By the time he reached Wave, he was dead on his feet and dawn still hadn't broke.
Tsunade double checked the intent seal that Shizune'd stitched on the back of his orange haori before she slapped his back. "Well in the future, you'll have to have the strength to run for days nonstop. Go find a place to chill and cool down. I'll go talk to the boss of this place to find a place... if anyone is even awake at four am... Wave doesn't have shinobi but keep your eyes open just in case. We'll pick you up if you don't find us before dawn breaks."
Naruto gave a wave before he wandered to a remote looking area and starting to stretch out his wobbly muscles.
His jaw cracked open in a yawn and Naruto vaguely remembered Tsunade saying to keep his eyes open before he decided he wouldn't get killed or kidnapped if he took a two hour nap.
He passed out in a bed of medicinal herbs that he told himself he should pick when he woke up.
An hour later, the haze of the morning sun casted light shadows over a slim figure.
As he peered down at the silent sleeping child next to a bed of herbs, Haku shifted the basket so it rested snugly in the crook of his elbow and pondered on what to do.