9 Konoha
After meeting Kotetsu and Izumo, Naruto walked toward the Hokage's office, Jiraiya trailing behind him. As they moved through the streets, someone came sprinting toward them at breakneck speed.
"Huh?" they both said in surprise, but before the blur could pass them, Naruto called out, "Konohamaru!"
Just as the boy was about to dash past, Naruto grabbed the back of his shirt and stepped aside. A second later, a person with a face like a gorilla barreled past where they had just been standing.
"Huh?" Konohamaru said, looking from side to side. He looked up, his face brightening with joy. "Big Brother Naruto! You're back!" He lunged forward to hug him.
Naruto looked surprised at first, but his expression softened as he set the boy down and gently ruffled his hair. Once he was done, he asked who the person chasing him was.
"Oh, that?" Konohamaru started. "That was your teammate."
"Huh… but why was Kakashi chasing you?" Naruto asked, tapping his chin in mock thought.
Jiraiya comically face-planted into the dirt behind them.
"He's talking about the weird girl with the giant forehead," Jiraiya said as he stood back up.
"Oh, you mean Sakura," Naruto said, turning to Jiraiya.
"Yeah."
"Anyway," Naruto turned to Konohamaru, "we're on our way to meet Auntie Tsunade. Why don't you come with us and complain to her that Sakura was following you and trying to hurt you?"
"Huh… Can I do that?" Konohamaru asked, surprised.
"I mean, you are the grandson of the Third Hokage, so why not?" Naruto replied with a shrug.
With that, they continued toward the Hokage's office.
...…
"So you are telling me that Sakura was chasing you because you told her to stop calling Naruto an idiot and bad-mouthing him, and then you called her a 'pink-haired girl' when she didn't listen?" Tsunade asked, pinching the bridge of her nose in deep frustration.
"Yeah," Konohamaru nodded.
While this was happening, Shizune, who was standing beside Tsunade, looked incredibly awkward, as if she were personally embarrassed.
Naruto noticed and called out, "Shizune-nee, why are you embarrassed? Sakura should be the one ashamed, trying to hit a junior and a fellow Konoha shinobi, not you."
"Well, you see, Naruto… Tsunade-sama accepted Sakura as her apprentice," she explained, "so she is my junior, to my great embarrassment."
"Huhhh," Naruto continued his act of feigned surprise. "But why her? With her track record, if you wanted to train someone, shouldn't you be training Hinata or Ino?"
Jiraiya, sitting on the window ledge, struggled to contain his laughter.
Tsunade just kept pinching her nose while Shizune bowed her head, unable to find a retort. Outside the office, the world was silent, but inside the seal, Kurama was howling with laughter.
"Brat, I knew you didn't like that girl, but this is next-level."
Come on, you know it—this was long overdue, Naruto thought.
"Oh, while we're on this topic," Naruto said, placing a scroll on her desk, "I'd like to submit a formal application regarding the abuse I've suffered at the hands of my team."
"Naruto, why are you handing me a scroll if you wanted to complain? Just say it," Tsunade said as she picked it up.
"Well, there are simply too many cases," he replied. "If I started explaining them all, we'd be here all night. This saves us both some time."
"In short," Naruto continued, "whenever my teammates decided to call me a 'dead-last' or a 'loser,' or hit me just for saying 'hello' or 'good morning,' my sensei did absolutely nothing about it."
Tsunade began reading the scroll. Naruto had detailed almost every instance of physical and verbal abuse. In some cases, he admitted his own faults—perhaps he shouldn't have greeted them—but the primary fault lay with Kakashi for allowing it to continue from day one. Now, Sakura was escalating things by using her strength-enhancing techniques on him; that was going to reflect very poorly on her eventually. Fox chakra or not, Naruto could suffer serious brain damage from those hits.
Just as she finished reading the scroll, the office door swung open.
"Tsunade-sama, sorry I'm late, a brat was—"
TO BE CONTINUE