AN: I tried to make this as plausible as possible, but this really started because I liked the chemistry that seems to flow between Ino and Naruto; yes this will be a NaruIno! I hope it's not too bad so far; it's not as happy as I had thought it would be... It kind of ended up on a tangent to but I like it so I hope you'll all bear with me. I just adore the Tsunade/Naruto relationship.

Please note once again that this does contain significant spoilers. If you are not up to date on the manga you might want to hold off on this one. The Shippuuden anime hasn't gotten to this part yet, so please don't rely on that.

Naruto walked along the streets of Konoha; he weaved among the usual traffic of civilians going about their daily routine. He sighed as he looked at the sling where his right arm rested, swathed in layers of bandages.

'It's been a really long week.' he frowned as he thought of his friends in team 10, 'It must be worse for them.'

He turned a corner and plunged back into the crowd of busy shoppers; as he walked he thought back to how he had ended up in his current situation:

He had awoken that morning to someone banging on his door.

He rolled over trying to ignore the racket the person was making, hoping they would get the point and go away. He had lain in bed for a full five minutes, glaring at his ceiling while whoever was outside continued to pound on the door relentlessly.

'I'm not on duty. There is no way in hell I'm getting out of bed until I'm good and ready.'

There had been a moment of silence, but he didn't get a chance to relax because the knocking continued on his bedroom window making the curtains tremble with each blow. Naruto glared in the direction of the noise.

'Persistent aren't we?'

"Uzumaki-san! Uzumaki-san! Please get up! Godaime-sama wants to see you!"

There was a moment as the voice waited for a response, "Uzumaki-san!!"

Naruto growled in frustration as he flung the curtains aside and slammed the window open, "Fine! I'm up! What the hell does she want!?"

The dark-haired Kunoichi jumped at the sudden response; Naruto had never really been a morning person, but his years with Jiraiya had magnified the problem and now he was downright cranky when he was awoken before he damn well felt like it. Constant late-night excursions tended to make one protective of one's downtime.

The girl quickly composed herself; steeling her heart against the frightening glare she was receiving from the disheveled blond, "I'm sorry, I don't know Uzumaki-san. She just told me that she wanted to see you."

Naruto turned away from the younger ninja and rubbed his eyes with his good hand, "Can't it wait? I'm on medical leave."

The girl shook her head, "No, she told me to make sure you come now."

Naruto sighed and sat up in bed, "Fine, fine. Tell her I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Sorry, she told me to stay and escort you to her office." Naruto raised an eyebrow at her, "She said that she didn't want you to 'blow me off and go back to sleep'."

Naruto groaned and rolled his eyes, 'She had me pegged huh? She must have been talking to Ero-sennin.'

"Alright, why don't you come in and sit down. It'll take me a minute to get dressed with my arm like this."

He moved off of the bed to give the younger girl room to enter; she slipped through the window just as he stood. He ignored his blanket as it slipped off his body and onto the floor, revealing that he was clad only in a pair of dark blue boxers.

The Kunoichi felt a shiver of appreciation run down her spine as his well toned muscles flexed under his lightly tanned skin. He turned to face her and pointed to the door of his room; "You can wait out there. I'll try to be quick."

The young girl blushed and nodded, "Ah- okay."

Naruto rolled his eyes as she closed the door behind her, "Man, what the heck was wrong with her?"

He looked at his bandaged arm then began rummaging through his dresser looking for a shirt, "Crap, this sucks."

Ten minutes later he left his apartment wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and his usual orange pants, with a lightly blushing Kunoichi following in his wake.

Twenty minutes after he had been so rudely awakened, he had found himself standing in front of Tsunade's desk, with Neji, and Kiba on either side of him. They waited patiently for the Godaime to return from wherever she had gone to.

Naruto ran his good hand through his unruly hair trying in vain to tame the golden spikes; out of the corner of his eye he looked at Neji and frowned to himself.

Neji caught the look and turned to his younger friend, "Is something wrong Naruto? Is your arm bothering you?"

Naruto shook his head and smiled at the taller man, "No, I was just wondering how you keep your hair so freaking perfect. I can't seem to control mine at all."

Neji seemed surprised by the comment, "Actually I never gave it much thought. It' s just like that I guess."

Kiba laughed, "Somehow that figures." he turned to the blond between them, "Since when do you care about your hair anyway Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't really, but it's getting kind of long, and it keeps falling in my eyes."

Kiba snorted, "Well get it cut then dumbass. Get Sakura to do it."

Naruto was about to retort, but at that moment Tsunade walked back into the office carrying a small box. "Good Morning boys." she nodded to the blond, "I'm glad to see Nami was able to drag your lazy butt out of bed."

Naruto glared at her, "I was trying to sleep you old hag! It figures you'd send the most persistent genin in the city. She had my neighbors pretty pissed."

Tsunade shrugged, "Well then you should have gotten up earlier, don't blame that on her. For crying out loud, Jiraiya was right, you are grouchy in the morning."

Naruto growled, "I'm on leave, so why the heck are you bugging me so early?"

Kiba and Neji exchanged surprised glances, both of them were stunned that their friend had no problem getting into an argument with a woman who could rip out their beating hearts and hand it to them.

The Godaime frowned at her subordinate, "It's not that early brat! You get up earlier than this everyday for training."

Naruto frowned, "Yeah, well I'm tired. I can't sleep with my damn arm hurting this much!"

Tsunade's eyes widened and she strode over to the young ninja; Naruto groaned and clamped his mouth shut, obviously annoyed with himself.

With one hand she forced the young Shinobi to sit on the edge of her desk; then she set the box down next to him. "Why didn't you tell Sakura or Shizune or me that it was hurting you that badly Naruto? We're here to take care of you."

Naruto's eyes softened, "I'm alright Baa-chan."

Tsunade sighed and began to unwrap the bandages around his arm, "Neji, Kiba, you two can have a seat; this will take a few minutes."

Both ninja did as they were told; Akamaru curled up at Kiba's feet as they watched their leader treating their wounded friend.

Tsunade frowned, "Well here's the first problem. The bandages are way too tight. Sakura didn't do this."

Naruto inhaled sharply as pain suddenly surged though his arm when she relieved the pressure on the injury. "No...she didn't..." he clenched his other fist, "Sakura-chan is on a mission, but she said to have it changed everyday so I went to the hospital..."

Tsunade watched him sympathetically and placed her hand on his arm, using her chakra to ease his pain, "Naruto, do me a favor."

The young man looked up at her, "Yeah, Baa-chan?"

She patted him on his head with her free hand, "When it needs to be changed make sure you only come to Sakura, Shizune, Ino, or me. I'll always make time for you. This is a serious injury; it needs to be handled properly or there could be permanent damage to your arm okay?"

Naruto nodded, "Okay, Baa-chan. Thanks."

Kiba exchanged a concerned look with Neji, but neither of them said a word.

Tsunade opened the box at their side and began to re-bandage her favorite Shinobi's arm, "One more thing brat." she paused waiting until she had his full attention, "If something hurts, let me know. If you do then I can do something about it. There's no need for you to suffer. Got it?"

Naruto laughed happily, "Alright! Alright!" he smiled at her, "Thank you Baa-chan."

Tsunade stepped back and examined her handiwork, "How does that feel?"

Naruto carefully put his arm back in the sling that hung from his neck, "Still a little sore, but a lot better than it was."

Tsunade sighed heavily, "Alright, your arm should be okay in a week or so. I'll make you some medicine to control the pain and help you sleep, I'll send Nami by with it later today alright?"

Naruto smiled in resignation, "Okay, thanks Baa-chan." he frowned, "But, I'm not sure I like the idea of being drugged up Baa-chan. If something happened..."

The blond trailed off; he didn't need to finish his sentence because everyone in the room knew what he meant. Tsunade frowned, they were faint, but she could see the tell-tale circles forming under his eyes; the lack of sleep was beginning to wear on him.

"Naruto; your body needs sleep in order to heal. You'll take much longer to recover if you don't rest properly."

Neji stood, "Excuse me." the Hokage turned to give him her attention, "If it makes you feel better, I'll stay over with you Naruto."

Naruto stared at the older ninja, stunned by the offer; "Neji..."

Kiba got to his feet and moved to stand by the Hyuuga, "That's a good idea! I'll stay over too. What do you say Naruto?"

Tsunade smiled fondly at the young men, "I think it's a wonderful idea." she turned to the orange-clad blond, "Naruto, would that make you feel better?"

Naruto just gaped at his friends, who smiled back at him, "I—ah, I guess so. Uh thanks guys."

Kiba laughed and slapped his friend on the back nearly knocking him off the desk, "Don't worry about it Naruto. Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble!"

Neji smiled, then turned to Tsunade, "So Godaime-sama, what did you want us for?"

Naruto looked up from where he had Kiba in a one-armed headlock, "That's right, you called for us." he released his hold on the Inuzuka who stood looking rather ruffled, "What's up Baa-chan?"

Tsunade walked around her desk and sat down; resting her chin on her hands, "Very well. Take a seat."

Kiba and Neji returned to their seat on the couch and Naruto grabbed a nearby chair, swinging his leg over and resting his arms on the back of the chair.

Tsunade nodded to them; "As you know, your friends in Team 10 have recently lost their sensei. They haven't gone on a mission since they exacted their revenge on his killer more than a week ago, and their fathers have all expressed concern over the way they are dealing with the situation. Apparently they haven't even been talking to each other. Kakashi, Shizune, Iruka and I have all tried to talk to them, but we haven't been able to get through to them. As a last resort we thought that we should have their peers talk to them." she sighed, "I gave this a lot of thought and I decided that the three of you were best suited to handle this."

Neji raised one graceful eyebrow, "Tsunade-sama, I don't know them that well. I've gone on several missions with Nara, but the others I hardly know at all."

Naruto turned to regard the Hyuuga with a grin, "That may be true, but the two of you think alike." Kiba and Neji both looked confused so he continued, "Both of you are really smart,calm, logical people, right now you can probably understand him better than anyone else."

Tsunade smiled in approval, 'When is comes to the people he cares about, this boy is a genius.'

"Excellent Naruto, that's almost exactly what Kakashi said."

Naruto grinned, "I think I know why you picked us Baa-chan."

Kiba absently rubbed Akamaru's ears, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Naruto grinned, enjoying having the upper hand in the conversation, "You and I used to play with Shikamaru and Chouji when we were kids, and we've been friends for a long time. None of our other friends are as close to them as we are. My guess is you were called to talk to Chouji."

Kiba nodded seriously, "That makes sense, but what about Ino?"

Tsunade smiled, content to let Naruto flex his mental muscles, 'If only he thought like this all the time he would be unstoppable!'

Naruto's grin widened, "Since Sakura-chan is away, I'm here for Ino-chan." he rubbed his head sheepishly and a light blush spread on his cheeks, "Her and I have gotten pretty close since I got back."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her favorite ninja, 'Hmmm? What's this?' she smiled to herself, 'I wonder if Sakura has finally lost her chance...'

Tsunade crossed the space between her and Naruto than ruffled his hair lovingly, "Exactly kid. You know if you put that much thought into everything you do then you'd never get caught off guard again."

Naruto frowned at the masked compliment, "Uh, yeah, thanks a lot Baa-chan."

Tsunade laughed, "Anyway get going you brats. That's your mission for today. Operation: Cheer up Team 10!" she turned to Kiba and Neji, "Take care of him you two."

Kiba smiled as he saluted their leader, "You got it Godaime-sama!"

Neji chuckled, "We'll watch out for him."

Naruto pouted, "Hey! I can take care of myself just fine!"

Neji bowed to Tsunade and turned to leave her office with Kiba and Akamaru close behind him, "Naruto are you coming?"

Naruto sprang up from his seat and ran after them, "Hey! Are you guys listening!? Hey! Guys!!"