Silently, Hinata sneaked out of the compound and headed towards Naruto's apartment.
- Naruto's Apartment-
When Hinata arrived she knocked on the door and waited for a few minutes. When she received no answer she knocked several times more .When she still got no answer she activated her Byakugan to see if he was in. When she saw Naruto sleeping in his bed, she was about to deactivate her Byakugan and knock again, but then she realized that the Naruto in bed had no chakra pathways. She franticly broke down the door fearing the worst. When she reached Naruto in bed she found it was just a doll made out of paper mache. Hinata started to look around for any trace of him and found the note that Naruto left. When she read it she collapsed to the ground and started to cry again.
- 'Sake All Night' Sake Bar twenty minutes earlier-
Sitting by herself in the corner of the sake bar was Tsunade, surrounded by at least fifteen empty sake bottles. She had been here for at least five hours drinking her sorrow away over the banishment of her surrogate little brother.
"Bartender another bottle of sake," slurred Tsunade.
The bartender was about to get her another bottle when someone else spoke up.
"No. She's had enough, so don't bother." said the person.
When Tsunade turned to see who had kept her from having another drink she frowned.
"What do you want now Shizune? Can't you let me drown out my sorrows?" cried Tsunade.
"No. We've been through this with Uncle Dan and your brother for far too long. I won't let you start again with Naruto" answered Shizune.
She then went over to Tsunade and lifted her out of the chair. She carried her out to the night and started walking down the street.
As they walked Shizune said, "Come on, a bit of walking in the night air will clear your head a bit so that you can see how selfish you're being".
"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Tsunade irritated at her apprentice.
At this Shizune then did the unimaginable. She slapped Tsunade across the face with all the strength she could muster. The loud smacking sound that could be clearly heard in the empty street.
When Tsunade turned her head back to face Shizune, she put her hand to her reddened cheek. A look of complete shock covered her face. She never expected Shizune to do something like this. Before Tsunade could come to her senses Shizune started to speak.
"Look at you, leader of the strongest military power in the elemental nations, and you're here? Drinking your pain and feeling sorry for yourself. You did everything you could to put a stop to Naruto's banishment, and yet you have not even once gone see him. You know in the morning he will be leaving the village for good. Have you even thought about how Naruto might feel right now, after everything that he has gone through? He stayed, growing up in this village with all the abuse and hardship, just so that he could one day become a ninja and then accomplish his dream of becoming Hokage. All of which has now been stolen from him. He's being kicked out of the only home he's ever known, and once he leaves he will be hunted by the Akatsuki, who will not stop until they extract the Kyuubi from him and kill him. So stop being so selfish and start thinking about someone else for a change! Naruto right now is alone and is hurting, and he needs all the people he cares about around him to help him through this. Now are you going to go to him or are you going back to that bar again and try and drink you problems away again?" Shizune ranted.
Tsunade just stood there still holding her red cheek. She could not move after letting Shizune rant. After a minute or two she collapsed on the ground and started to cry. Shizune's words had finally sunken in and had hurt more than a punch in the gut or a kunai stab ever could.
"I-I-I…..It just that I'm s-s-so tired of t-t-the village t-t-t-taking so m-m-many of the people I care about from me! First my Grandfather, t-t-t…then my Uncle, my b-b-brother, then Dan-kun and then Sarutobi-s-s-sensei and now Naruto! Why does this village keep taking away the people I care most about?" sobbed Tsunade.
"I know it hard Tsunade-sama but drinking your problems away like this won't solve anything, nor will feeling sorry for yourself."
Shizune helped her sensei up and said, "Now let's go to Naruto. I'm sure he could do with someone coming to talk to him and be with him right now".
Tsunade just nodded her head in agreement and once she was on her feet the two of them headed for Naruto's apartment.
As they walked Tsunade suddenly said, "Thanks Shizune I needed someone to smack some sense into me".
"Anytime Tsunade-sama… I did enjoy smacking you though." said Shizune with a smirk.
"I bet you did after all the trouble I caused you over the years. I'm glad that you are still with me." replied Tsunade with a small smile.
"Always Tsunade-sama, always." said Shizune with her own smile.
- Naruto's Apartment-
When they reached the apartment they saw that the door had been broken and heard someone rushed in and turned on the lights, and saw Hinata on the floor next to the small kitchen table bawling her eyes out. They also saw the life like paper-mache Naruto on the floor next to Naruto's bed.
Tsunade quickly went on her knees and went to the crying young girl.
"Hinata what's wrong? Where's Naruto?" asked a worried Tsunade.
But Hinata just grabbed onto Tsunade's robe and put her head into her chest and cry harder.
Tsunade tried to calm the girl until she noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the floor that Hinata must have been holding. When she picked it up and read it, Tsunade's own eyes started to tear up and she too started to cry, holding onto Hinata for her comfort.
Shizune went over to the two weeping women and picked up the piece of paper that Tsunade had dropped.
"Oh Naruto" she thought sadly about the poor boy that she viewed as a younger brother. She felt like crying with Hinata and Tsunade, but she knew she could do that later. Now was not the time.
Suddenly the ANBU squad that had been assigned to watch over Naruto appeared.
The squad had seen the young girl come to the Uzumaki apartment and knock on the apartment door. They knew that the young girl had feelings for the boy. All the different ANBU squads had seen the girl spy on Naruto at one point or other. It became a common joke about how the boy was so blind to the girl's feelings towards him and how the girl would faint whenever she tried to talk to him. Hell, some even had betting pool running, as to when she would finally pluck up the courage to tell him how she felt or if Naruto would ever notice.
The ANBU division had been informed of Naruto's banishment due to it dealing with the village security, but had been sworn to not inform anyone until Naruto left the village. Like most of the ANBU division the squad disagreed with the Council's decision since they knew he wasn't the Kyuubi, and knew enough about sealing to understand the level of intricacy and skill that was involved in the Yondaime's seal. This same ANBU squad, had kept watch on him long enough to know he was simply a young boy with a hard burden on his shoulders.