Bab 634: The New Hokage
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
August 20, x788.
After Mirajane's good news, just to make sure that she was pregnant, Alfonzo accompanied her to see Porlyusica. And the pregnancy test she took turned out to be correct. And when Shizuka, the other one of Alfonzo's wives who wanted a baby, heard about it, she took a pregnancy test, as well. Unfortunately, as she had already known, she was not pregnant.
So, for the next few days, Alfonzo and Shizuka spent as much time as they could trying to get Shizuka pregnant. Unfortunately, those happy times had to come to an end, as Alfonzo and Elicia had planned to take a quest together shortly after Amar'e's birthday. Though, there was another reason behind them taking a quest together than just work, which was made evident when they did not allow anyone to come with them. {A/N: See Songs in the Void – Chapter 69 for more details.}
Then, after Alfonzo and Elicia returned from their quest, Alfonzo had to head back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And he would have to work at a faster pace than before because he wanted to finish the job of upgrading their training grounds before the x788 S-Class Promotion Exam. Even so, a few of his fellow Fairy Tail wizards came with him, as usual.
"*Sigh* We're back again." Rika said with a smile. "At least I didn't get left behind this time."
"You should thank Lord Hokage for that." Saeko replied. "If he hadn't agreed to let some extra people come, you probably would have been left behind again."
"Why does it have to be me?" Rika asked with a pout. "Why couldn't it be Laki?"
"Are you really gonna get in the way of Laki's love?" Alfonzo asked with a smile. "I can feel it, she's on the verge of bagging Kakashi. You saw them at Little Man's birthday party, right? They were pretty much attached at the hip."
"*Sigh* I guess that's true." Rika replied while shaking her head. "I wouldn't wanna get in the way of anyone's love life."
Meanwhile, Laki, who was walking alongside Alfonzo, Saeko, Rika, and Miyuki, only smiled in her usual manner, neither confirming or denying Alfonzo's statement.
"I'm just glad Master Tsunade is in the village." Wendy said with a smile while walking a few steps ahead of the rest of the group with Carla. "Hopefully, I'll be able to learn even more from her."
"If you can, get her to teach you about that mark on her forehead, too." Alfonzo said with a grin. "Then again, you might have to take her as a master before she does that, though."
Hearing that, Wendy stopped and turned around with surprise on her face.
"How do you know about that?" Wendy asked in a dumbfounded tone.
"I know about most of the techniques that are practiced in the Leaf." Alfonzo replied. "But I only know a little about this one. I never saw the specifics."
Although Alfonzo was not telling the whole truth, he did tell Wendy what he should know. Because Danzō's base had the bare minimum amount of information about Tsunade's [Creation Rebirth] technique. However, Danzō was never able to place anyone close enough to Tsunade to learn any more about it.
"Hmm… I wonder if Master Tsunade would be willing to teach me, too." Shizuka, the last person to accompany the group, asked while placing her right index finger on her right cheek.
"Well, there's no harm in asking, right?" Rika asked as she threw an arm over Shizuka's shoulder.
"Yeah." Shizuka replied while nodding her head.
"Anyway, you guys go on to the house." Alfonzo said. "The old man asked me to go see him when I came back. So, I'll see you when I'm done meeting with him."
Receiving nods in return, Alfonzo split up with the ladies and made his way to the Hokage Tower. And almost immediately after he separated from the others, Yamato appeared next to him from a swirl of leaves.
"Yo, what's up, Yamato?" Alfonzo asked without even looking in Yamato's direction. "I thought you would have showed up before we split up."
"Well, I didn't want to interrupt." Yamato replied. "You all seemed to be having such a good time, after all."
"That's just how Fairy Tail wizards do." Alfonzo said with a smile on his face. A moment later, however, his smile turned rather bitter as he continued. "Unfortunately, some of us have the tendency to destroy everything around us while we're having fun, though."
"Haha…" Yamato laughed hollowly after hearing that. "Please, I beg you and your guild mates not to do that while you're in the village. We just finished all the repairs from the invasion."
"Don't worry, I didn't bring any of the more destructive members of the guild." Alfonzo said as he clapped Yamato on the shoulder. "Why do you think I've never brought Erza, Natsu, or Gray with me."
"But you did bring Cana Alberona with you last time." Yamato pointed out.
"Well, she is one of my wives. On top of that, as long as either Lici or I are with her, Cana can be kept under control." Alfonzo explained. "But keeping the other three from destroying stuff is an exercise in futility."
"I see…" Yamato replied skeptically.
Like that, the two men continued to chat as they made their way to the Hokage Tower. When they eventually arrived outside the Hokage's office, Yamato was the one to knock, as always.
"Come in."
Hearing the calm, clearly female voice that replied to Yamato's knocking, Alfonzo raised an eyebrow. Even so, he did not linger outside of the office after Yamato opened the door and gestured for him to enter.
Just as he expected, when Alfonzo entered the office, instead of Hiruzen, Tsunade was sitting behind the Hokage's desk with the Hokage's hat hanging on the wall behind her. On top of that, she was wearing a red and white robe, looking quite official.
"So, he convinced you to take the office, huh?" Alfonzo said as he walked towards the desk. "I honestly didn't see this coming."
"Neither did I, Kid." Tsunade said before picking up a tea cup and taking a sip. She then frowned slightly after swallowing her mouthful of tea and put the teacup back down on the desk. "*Sigh* He did it while I was drunk at Amar'e's birthday party. Unfortunately, he made sure that Kakashi and Guy were there to be witnesses when I agreed."
"Ooh… That sucks." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly. "so, who's gonna take over as the master of Mermaid Heel, then?"
"Master Retsu is taking over temporarily." Tsunade replied. "As for the future, I have no idea. I'm sure Kagura will be the guild master at some point, but she's too young right now."
"Well, I wish you and Mermaid Heel luck." Alfonzo said sincerely.
In response, Tsunade shrugged her shoulders.
"Anyway, seeing me sitting here as the new Hokage is not why Sensei called you here." Tsunade said in a more solemn tone.
Seeing Tsunade's expression and hearing her tone, Alfonzo took on a more serious expression, as well.
"Yeah, I was wondering what he wanted to talk to me about." Alfonzo replied.
"First of all, he wanted to know why you kept Orochimaru's subordinates alive." Tsunade said. "Killing them would have taken next to no time for you, right?"
"That's right, they weren't very strong." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Honestly, I just wanted to see if I would be able to remove their [Curse Seals] like I did with Anko's. I mean, from what I could tell, they were much more complicated than the one Anko had. And since no one cares if they die in the process, I didn't think it would be so bad."
"I see." Tsunade replied. "Well, it's common for captured shinobi to be used as experimental subjects." Tsunade said with a nod. "Secondly, the village wishes for you to take Sasuke under your wing for three years, or so."
Hearing that, Alfonzo widened his eyes in surprise. However, he took a moment to think about it not long later.
'I guess that makes sense.' Alfonzo thought to himself while stroking his chin. 'In the canon, all the members of Team 7 had Senin as teachers. But since I killed Orochimaru, that kind of fucked that up. On the other hand, I should be able to help him widen his arsenal of [Lightning-Style Ninjutsu].'
"Rather, the village would like you and Saeko Busujima to take him under your wings." Tsunade said, correcting herself a moment later.
"That makes sense, I guess." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "Saeko taught him swordsmanship after all. And I know more about [Lightning-Style Ninjutsu] thanks to my [Electromagnetism Magic]. Hell, I could probably even figure out the Raikage's [Lightning Cloak] if I really wanted to, too."
Hearing that, Tsunade's eyes lit up in anticipation. However, Alfonzo's next words, the words she has come to hate ever since she first made a deal with him back in x785, made her expression drop rather quickly.
"Naturally, we could help him grow stronger without any issues." Alfonzo said with a smile. Then, he raised his right hand and rubbed his thumb and index finger together as he continued. "So, how much are you willing to pay for this?"
Although Alfonzo and the ladies had helped train Sasuke and his classmates before they graduated from the academy, that was just them helping out some school kids. But now, all nine of them were part of the Leaf's shinobi forces. So, the Leaf would naturally have to pay a corresponding amount to get Sasuke special training from two of Fairy Tail's wizards.
"You're such a miser.' Tsunade muttered while wearing a bitter expression.
The next two hours were spent in negotiations, with Tsunade trying to push the price down as low as she could and Alfonzo trying his best to inflate it as much as possible. In the end, they separated with Alfonzo happy with the deal and Tsunade frowning at the feeling of being ripped off.
'Don't blame me, Tsunade.' Alfonzo said to himself with a smile as he and Yamato left Tsunade's office. 'When you were only the master of a guild, I couldn't go too far. But a Hidden Village makes a lot more money than a guild does. So, there was no way you shouldn't have been ready to lose an arm and a leg when you asked me for something like this. Especially over such a long time.'
While Alfonzo was justifying his ruthless negotiation tactics to himself, Yamato could not help looking at Alfonzo like he was some kind of monster. For most of the negotiations, it was clear that Tsunade wanted to punch Alfonzo through a wall and out of the Hokage Tower. Yet, she did not even attempt it.
'I've never heard of Lady Tsunade keeping her temper in check like that before.' Yamato thought to himself. 'Usually, if anyone tried to hike up the prices like that, she would have just sent them flying. Then, they would have had to spend a few months in the hospital.'
There were actually two reasons why Tsunade did not take action despite being so upset by Alfonzo's asking price. First, the village was the one who asked Alfonzo and Saeko to train Sasuke. So, she expected him to ask for a high price. Second, and perhaps most important, was the fact that, at this point, Alfonzo was stronger than Tsunade, and Tsunade was well-aware of that fact. So, there was no point in doing something so fruitless.
Eventually, Alfonzo and Yamato reached the residence that had been set aside for the Fairy Tail wizards. And when they did, Alfonzo invited Yamato inside to have dinner with them. Naturally, Yamato accepted the offer. However, when he saw that he was not the only guest in the house, he was taken aback.
When the two arrived in the living room, the sixteen members of Teams 7, 8, 9, and 10 were all present. And that was so that they could all celebrate the three new Leaf Chunin who were promoted during the Chunin Exams that were interrupted by Orochimaru's attack.
"So, Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru got promoted, huh?" Alfonzo asked after noticing that the three he named were all wearing flak jackets. "But seriously, those things don't suit you, Naruto and Sasuke."
"You think so, too, Big Bro Alfonzo?" Naruto asked while looking at his flak jacket with a frown. "I asked them if they could make mine orange, but they said no."
"We're only wearing them to show that we got promoted." Sasuke said. "Other than today, we don't wear them at all."
"But why didn't you tell us when you guys came to visit for Amar'e's birthday?" Rika asked curiously.
"Because we wanted to celebrate with everyone.' Shikamaru said.
"Besides, teams 8 and 10 didn't go to the party." Ino added.
"I guess that makes sense." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "anyway, what do you three want for dinner? Since we're celebrating your promotion, you three can choose and I'll make you whatever you want."
Hearing that, Guy, Yamato, Kakashi, Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, Ino, Choji, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino all looked at Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru with their eyes shining. Meanwhile, Asuma and Kurenai, who had never tasted Alfonzo's cooking, seemed rather skeptical.
"Oh, and I'm not making ramen." Alfonzo said while looking pointedly at Naruto, who pouted in response.
After that, Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru made their requests. Then, Alfonzo and Miyuki went into the kitchen to cook. Meanwhile, everyone else sat in the living room to chat. And the celebration went on late into the night after dinner had been served.
On a side note, Asuma and Kurenai fell victim to Alfonzo's cooking, as well. At the same time, Asuma raised Alfonzo's threat level after seeing the way Kurenai's eyes sparkled after tasting the food.
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