Tsunade had to learn to get along without Shizune, as even after Great Hero Ramen accepted her terms for repayment of her debts, her apprentice reamined on 'detached assignment'. Judging from the letters she received from Shizune, she was working in a coastal region and mostly doing medical work.
In revenge, the Hokage took to sending a lot of her paperwork to the Great Hero Ramen offices. Since they were making the decisions, they could do some of the work as well, she decided. Her smug mood lasted for about three days, after which the papers started to return, at a rate that made it clear that they were being worked on far more efficently than she had managed. There was also a note that 'suggested that since she was spending so much less time in the office, she could do more medical work for the Village. Maybe she could train up some field medical ninja, as she had proposed during the Sandaime's first term in office.
Tsunade's support in the Village went up rather markedly after the hours that she was putting in at the hospital became common knowledge. Sakura's training also went up a notch, and Tsunade had half-a-dozen volunteers from genin sent back to the Academy after their genin exams to enter her new course for medical ninja. None of which made her feel any better about being manipulated.
She decided, in the end, to turn Jiriaya loose on her new 'manager'. After all, a corporation that was interfering in the activities of a Hidden Village might very well be associated with the Akatsuki. The Toad Hermit's response was sceptical, but he agreed to look into the matter. The fact that it would require him to spend time along the southern coast, where Great Hero Ramen was based, might have had something to do with it: the beaches along that coast were very popular with sunbathers. There was also an irritated note attached to the letter, from Naruto declaring that no one that made such super ramen as Great Hero Ramen did could possibly be up to something unsavory. Tsunade chuckled and put the note away - it didn't seem that Jiraiya's training was changing Naruto very much.
There was a near crisis about six months later, and Tsunade had to ask for several teams of ninja that were on loan to Great Hero Ramen to patrol the border with Rice Country and then to intervene to restore order after the Village of Hidden Sound abruptly left the country, having essentially decapitated the government with a wave of assassinations that slaughtered the daimyo and his ministers. The teams that returned were almost uniformly in fine condition - tanned and healthy (except for the occasional new scar), their morale high and their skills sharp.
It wasn't until Tsunade made a few discreet enquiries, careful not to disclose that she didn't actually have a clue what they'd been up to, that she discovered that they'd mostly been based around Rice Country anyway, making raids inside the country in the guise of bandits, samurai or even posing as Hidden Sound ninja, as well as enforcing what amounted to an unoffical trade embargo.
Hidden Sound, rather depleted in it's lower ranks, managed to escape of course, heading north if rumor was to be believed. Orochimaru was far too canny a snake to remain in a trap while it closed around him. It took almost three months for the diplomatic repercussions to be wroked out. It probably would have taken even longer if the economic situation hadn't been been solved by Great Hero Ramen making an investment in the region's famous Rice fields.
That little problem was barely out of the way when Hidden Mist declared war on the Wave Country's ninja village. Tsunade hadn't even known that Wave Country had a ninja village, but it would seem that they had. Normally the result of one of the Five Great Hidden Villages attacking a lesser village would be messy but over in short order. However, given the way that Tsunade found her ninja vanishing on missions that would conveniently take long enough for them to reach the contested territory, she suspected that it wasn't just one village that Hidden Mist was confronting.
For a while, she considered pulling her ninja out. A confrontation like this, even indirectly, with one of the other major villages could achieve what the Sound-Sand invasion had not begun: the start of another Great Ninja War. Before matters could go that far, however, a message arrived from Gaara of the Desert, invting her to join the Godaime Kazekage and the other Kages in arbitrating the dispute. Somehow, she wouldn't have been surprised to find that Gaara had developed a taste for Ramen.
The arbitration was, naturally, not easy and so when, in apparent frustration, Gaara proposed settling the issues in a limited contest between the best ninja that the two villages could field, Tsunade agreed quickly. Eight ninja from each village would battle over the ruins of the old Sound complex in Rice Country, entering at sunset and leaving at sunrise. Whichever village had more ninja able to reach the specified exit by sunset would have the dispute settled in their favor.
The Mizukage stepped forward for his village, supported by the current complement of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Then the Hidden Wave ninja stepped forwards and Tsunade had to restrain a despairing groan. There were eight of them, led by a muscular man in an extraordinarily loud hawaiian shirt, a lean figure wearing an eyepatch and an older man wearing white and red facepaints that covered his face entirely. All eight of the ninja wore huge staw hats to hide much of their faces, but the one in the shirt didn't hesitate to declare them to be the Mysterious Eight Great Youthful Heroes of Hidden Wave.
Tsunade could only hope that no one linked the idiots to Gai, Kakashi and Jiriaya. And for that matter, if Jiraiya was here, then where was Naruto?
"Place your bets!" came a young voice from the crowd. "Place your bets! Will the Mysterious Eight Youthful Heros beat the Seven Swordsmen... and the Mizukage? Will the power of youth beat the power of a Great Village? Hey, obachan! Place a bet?"
Tsunade rubbed her forehead as she looked down at the grinning face of Naruto and then sighed. Oh what the hell, she muttered and pulled out her purse. A hundred ryou on Hidden Wave.
Right! Naruto declared, noting down the wager and stuffing the money into his already bulging Gama-chan. One hundred ryou from the Legendary Sucker on Hidden Wave! he confirmed very loudly.
You little brat! Tsunade snapped, but he ducked her punch.
Word was already spreading however, and Naruto took wager after wager that day oddly enough, almost all of them on Hidden Mist. When the Mizukage and two of the Swordsmen staggered out of the ruins at sunset, the Hidden Wave team was only down to six ninja. The Mizukage wound up almost getting lynched by the disappointed punters.D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
In revenge, the Hokage took to sending a lot of her paperwork to the Great Hero Ramen offices. Since they were making the decisions, they could do some of the work as well, she decided. Her smug mood lasted for about three days, after which the papers started to return, at a rate that made it clear that they were being worked on far more efficently than she had managed. There was also a note that 'suggested that since she was spending so much less time in the office, she could do more medical work for the Village. Maybe she could train up some field medical ninja, as she had proposed during the Sandaime's first term in office.
Tsunade's support in the Village went up rather markedly after the hours that she was putting in at the hospital became common knowledge. Sakura's training also went up a notch, and Tsunade had half-a-dozen volunteers from genin sent back to the Academy after their genin exams to enter her new course for medical ninja. None of which made her feel any better about being manipulated.
She decided, in the end, to turn Jiriaya loose on her new 'manager'. After all, a corporation that was interfering in the activities of a Hidden Village might very well be associated with the Akatsuki. The Toad Hermit's response was sceptical, but he agreed to look into the matter. The fact that it would require him to spend time along the southern coast, where Great Hero Ramen was based, might have had something to do with it: the beaches along that coast were very popular with sunbathers. There was also an irritated note attached to the letter, from Naruto declaring that no one that made such super ramen as Great Hero Ramen did could possibly be up to something unsavory. Tsunade chuckled and put the note away - it didn't seem that Jiraiya's training was changing Naruto very much.
There was a near crisis about six months later, and Tsunade had to ask for several teams of ninja that were on loan to Great Hero Ramen to patrol the border with Rice Country and then to intervene to restore order after the Village of Hidden Sound abruptly left the country, having essentially decapitated the government with a wave of assassinations that slaughtered the daimyo and his ministers. The teams that returned were almost uniformly in fine condition - tanned and healthy (except for the occasional new scar), their morale high and their skills sharp.
It wasn't until Tsunade made a few discreet enquiries, careful not to disclose that she didn't actually have a clue what they'd been up to, that she discovered that they'd mostly been based around Rice Country anyway, making raids inside the country in the guise of bandits, samurai or even posing as Hidden Sound ninja, as well as enforcing what amounted to an unoffical trade embargo.
Hidden Sound, rather depleted in it's lower ranks, managed to escape of course, heading north if rumor was to be believed. Orochimaru was far too canny a snake to remain in a trap while it closed around him. It took almost three months for the diplomatic repercussions to be wroked out. It probably would have taken even longer if the economic situation hadn't been been solved by Great Hero Ramen making an investment in the region's famous Rice fields.
That little problem was barely out of the way when Hidden Mist declared war on the Wave Country's ninja village. Tsunade hadn't even known that Wave Country had a ninja village, but it would seem that they had. Normally the result of one of the Five Great Hidden Villages attacking a lesser village would be messy but over in short order. However, given the way that Tsunade found her ninja vanishing on missions that would conveniently take long enough for them to reach the contested territory, she suspected that it wasn't just one village that Hidden Mist was confronting.
For a while, she considered pulling her ninja out. A confrontation like this, even indirectly, with one of the other major villages could achieve what the Sound-Sand invasion had not begun: the start of another Great Ninja War. Before matters could go that far, however, a message arrived from Gaara of the Desert, invting her to join the Godaime Kazekage and the other Kages in arbitrating the dispute. Somehow, she wouldn't have been surprised to find that Gaara had developed a taste for Ramen.
The arbitration was, naturally, not easy and so when, in apparent frustration, Gaara proposed settling the issues in a limited contest between the best ninja that the two villages could field, Tsunade agreed quickly. Eight ninja from each village would battle over the ruins of the old Sound complex in Rice Country, entering at sunset and leaving at sunrise. Whichever village had more ninja able to reach the specified exit by sunset would have the dispute settled in their favor.
The Mizukage stepped forward for his village, supported by the current complement of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Then the Hidden Wave ninja stepped forwards and Tsunade had to restrain a despairing groan. There were eight of them, led by a muscular man in an extraordinarily loud hawaiian shirt, a lean figure wearing an eyepatch and an older man wearing white and red facepaints that covered his face entirely. All eight of the ninja wore huge staw hats to hide much of their faces, but the one in the shirt didn't hesitate to declare them to be the Mysterious Eight Great Youthful Heroes of Hidden Wave.
Tsunade could only hope that no one linked the idiots to Gai, Kakashi and Jiriaya. And for that matter, if Jiraiya was here, then where was Naruto?
"Place your bets!" came a young voice from the crowd. "Place your bets! Will the Mysterious Eight Youthful Heros beat the Seven Swordsmen... and the Mizukage? Will the power of youth beat the power of a Great Village? Hey, obachan! Place a bet?"
Tsunade rubbed her forehead as she looked down at the grinning face of Naruto and then sighed. Oh what the hell, she muttered and pulled out her purse. A hundred ryou on Hidden Wave.
Right! Naruto declared, noting down the wager and stuffing the money into his already bulging Gama-chan. One hundred ryou from the Legendary Sucker on Hidden Wave! he confirmed very loudly.
You little brat! Tsunade snapped, but he ducked her punch.
Word was already spreading however, and Naruto took wager after wager that day oddly enough, almost all of them on Hidden Mist. When the Mizukage and two of the Swordsmen staggered out of the ruins at sunset, the Hidden Wave team was only down to six ninja. The Mizukage wound up almost getting lynched by the disappointed punters.D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.