Eight

Duty

Nagamine Yae, Saito Yukiko, Kawamura Goro, Enomoto Ryoko, Watanabe Sayuri, Tachibana Konosuke, Takahashi Tadaaki, Nakano Miori, Kimura Shige—

:: ::

"Good work, everyone," Tsunade told the two lines of shinobi at attention in her office. We're no longer under imminent threat, but the Akatsuki still remain..."

In the back row, Naruto stood with his hands clasped behind his back like the rest of them in the office. He made it home—he should be feeling better about that, shouldn't he? He trained, he fought, there were two less Akatsuki in this world and finally the tides were turning, just a little. Less people seeking out jinchuuriki, less jinchuuriki getting murdered, less—

She says she's sorry.

—less of anything that made any damn sense.

"Naruto," Tsunade called out, and his head snapped up. "Your injuries look more severe than the others'."

The old lady liked to ask her questions in a way that didn't sound like questions because it always got her answers faster. It probably also helped that she was scary as hell and could punch several people through several walls, but he still pulled on the smile that made him look a little dopey even when it stretched the scabs on his cheeks healing from the brief licks of orange he sometimes caught on the edge of his vision.

"Y'mean my badges of honor?" He asked. Beside him, Hinata looked back to her mentor.

"We did some emergency treatment before making our way back," she said. "Both Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei received the brunt of the injuries, but were stable enough to report to you before checking into the hospital."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't—"

"You do," Hinata interjected softly. He glanced at her in surprise, and she quickly ducked her head to avoid his eye. "Those Akatsuki are—were—incredibly destructive. Everyone on this mission requires a full-scan and green light from a medic before being put back on the active duty roster; we don't know if there are any lingering effects. Um." She peered up through the curtain of her bangs. "Ri-Right, Shishou?"

Tsunade raised her chin off folded hands and leaned back in her seat. "Anyone who skips out on the post-mission check up is subject to suspension and further consequence if this order is defied." He glare lingered on Kakashi before re-addressing them as a whole. "But after that, take the next few days off. Rest. Recover. And if there's nothing else that can't be added to the reports I expect on my desk by the end of the week," a hard gaze swept the office one last time, "Dismissed."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," came the resounding chorus before the eight-man team sans Shizune filed out of the office. Naruto risked a glance over his shoulder just before the door closed under the guise of trying to squint something out his eye.

Tsunade's face hardened as she tracked Naruto's dominant hand and the strain the new jutsu put on it and Shizune's shoulders drooped, worried, opening her mouth as she started to say—

Click.

"Na-Naruto-kun?"

He rubbed his right eye with the back of his hand as he turned towards his teammate. That bastard Sai disappeared and so had Kakashi, and Team Ten stood a little down the hall muttering amongst themselves in low tones.

"Yeah?"

"When we left to act as back-up against the Akatsuki, I left some lo-loose ends at the hospital." Hinata tucked some hair behind her ear and looped her hands behind her back. "I have some work I need to get back to, and if you won't get your check up right now, will you be sure to check in some time today? Please?"