In a tavern in Konoha, Tsunade, the village's Fifth Hokage, took a hearty swig of sake without a shred of decorum, slammed the flask down on the table, and said happily, "Ah, that hits the spot! Sneaking out for a drink during work feels wonderful. Now this is living."
No sooner had Tsunade finished speaking than Shizune appeared out of nowhere. "Lady Tsunade, you've snuck out drinking again! Do you know how much trouble this causes me? How many people you're inconveniencing? The Fourth Hokage is already complaining. Huh? Lady Tsunade? Lady Tsunade, where did you go?"
Shizune had been sternly reproaching Tsunade, but the next moment, when she came to her senses, Tsunade was gone. She hurried out of the tavern and found that Tsunade had already walked some distance away, sake flask in hand. "Lady Tsunade!" Shizune grumbled, then rushed after her.
When Shizune caught up and was about to speak again, Tsunade said, "All right, Shizune, stop fussing. Minato is still there handling the Hokage's work, isn't he? It's already too late for me to go back now, so I won't. Come see what those kids are up to with me. They all happen to be in the village lately instead of out on missions. Checking how Konoha's future talents are growing is part of the Hokage's duties too, isn't it?"
Shizune asked in confusion, "Lady Tsunade, do you mean...?"
Tsunade smiled. "Come on, you'll see when we get there. They should be there right about now." With that, she led Shizune toward Konoha's Training Ground, and Shizune followed with a puzzled expression.
At the Training Ground on Konoha Back Mountain, Neji was training. Not far away were two green precious beasts-er, a slip of the tongue, wild beasts-no, that wasn't right either. Oh, everyone knew who