Finally Found You, My Dear Tsunade (An Early New Year's Greeting to Everyone)

(Author's note: Please don't join the wrong group. The group name is the "I, Naruto, Will Never Be a Saint" Ninja Group.)

Naruto and Jiraiya found Tsunade at an Izakaya. With her were her young attendant Shizune and a Little Pink Pig.

The four of them and the pig took their seats. No one spoke. Tsunade drank one cup after another, while Jiraiya watched her with a heavy expression tinged with nostalgia.

Naruto looked at Tsunade's stunning face and her enormous, enormous...

Then he glanced at Jiraiya and couldn't help thinking of himself, Sakura, and Sasuke.

In the original story, the three of them were called the New Sannin. Sasuke was like Orochimaru, Sakura was like Tsunade, and he was like Jiraiya.

Then fate really did have a sense of humor.

Jiraiya had never won Tsunade's heart, not even before his death. By the original story, Naruto would fare no better. But he was luckier than Jiraiya: Hinata had always loved him in silence.

Jiraiya really had it rough!

With that thought, Naruto glanced at Jiraiya with a flicker of sympathy.

"I never thought I'd run into an old friend here today." Tsunade drank another cup, a flush spreading across her face.

Jiraiya filled her cup again and said somberly, "You've seen Orochimaru, haven't you?"

Tsunade and Shizune were startled.

"Can you tell me more?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nothing to tell. I happened to run into him and said hello."

Tsunade shrugged and drank. Then she pulled a deck of cards from her robe, motioned for Jiraiya to play, and asked, "What do you want with me?"

Jiraiya took the deck, shuffled it, and set it on the table. "I'll get straight to it. The village wants you to come back and become the Fifth Hokage."

Tsunade, Shizune, and even the