Her head pounded, but she was used to it. It was one of the after-effects of drinking the night before, and drinking was something she did most of the time. To say she wasn't used to it would have shamed her terribly. She had been drinking for—how long was it already? Ten years? Twenty? Maybe . . . forty already? Who had really kept track of such trivial things?

There was a knock on her door. It was a regular sounding one, one that asked for permission to come into the room. But with her head pounding, Tsunade had thought it to be a hundred times louder than it was supposed to be. Forcing herself to sit up right, she barked out, "Come in!" And as the door opened, Tsunade wiped the drool off of her face with her sleeve.

It was Shizune, her face grim, but Tsunade didn't think much of it. The girl's face was always so serious. And she wondered why she didn't have a man yet. She was always so up-tight. She needed to let go, needed to have some fun. When was the last time she did that again?

"Ugh, this better be something good if you risked getting me up on the wrong side of bed today." the Hokage said, her head now being propped up by one of her arms. She had this horribly dull expression on her face that almost dared the situation to become even more tedious than it already was.

"Naruto's team is back," the ebony-haired woman said, the door opening behind her.

"Yes, and what's so special about that?"

". . . Uchiha Sasuke is with them."

There was a loud crashing sound coming from the opening. The broken vase forgotten as the two women turned around to see Sakura standing in the doorway, overwrought, her eyes wide with shock.