23 Master!

"Sure kiddo! Just give me your money so I can finish one more round of gambling!" Clearly drunk, Tsunade told Izumi this.

Hearing Tsunade Izumi unhesitantly gave the little money she had to Tsunade.

"Come to find me tomorrow, I currently live at that hotel over there," Tsunade pointed at a decent looking hotel before turning and wobbling back into the gamblers den.

...

Arriving at the hotel Tsunade had pointed at yesterday, Izumi saw Tsunade walk out as she excitedly ran up and yelled "Master!"

Hearing a yell directed at her, Tsunade turns to the voice with a confused look. She then points her finger at herself and questioned, "Me?".

"Yes!"

"I don't remember accepting a disciple," Tsunade said with even more confusion.

"You accepted me yesterday," Izumi said with a little doubt.

"Shizune did I accept her? I don't remember much of yesterday"

"Recalling back to yesterday there was, in fact, a matter of you accepting her as a disciple, Lady Tsunade."

"Why didn't you deny her for me!?"

"You accepted her before I could say anything" Shizuna responded calmly.

"Maybe this will teach you to calm down on your drinking and gambling."

Sighing, Tsunade then said: "Since I told you I would accept you as my disciple I won't go back on my words." Tsunade paused then continued, "Follow me".

Arriving outside Hiruzen's office, Tsunade opened the door and said, "Hey, Lord Third. I've decided to accept this one as my apprentice." Tsunade said with a yawn.

Hearing Tsunade, Hiruzen was shocked. First of all, it had to be known that Tsunade hadn't shown in Konoha in years and now here she was claiming to accept an eleven-year-old as a student.

Without giving time for Hiruzen to react, she just walked out of the room.

Both Shizune and Izumi bowed and then followed Tsunade.

"I've been shocked twice in two days, I think I'm getting a little old," Hiruzen said with a sigh

...

Standing in the forest Tsunade looked at Izumi and introduced herself.

"My name is Tsunade, and I am one of the most renowned medical ninjas and also the strongest. Name your aspirations and why you wanted to become my disciple."

"My name is Izumi Uchiha and I want to become stronger for myself. When my friend was in Team 2, I was constantly protected by him. When he was severely injured, I felt helpless and could do nothing but watch. Thus I decided to become stronger, but as I grew so did he. The gap between us didn't close at all but instead widened. I want to make him look at my back, I want to be able to stand by his side proudly." Izumi explained resolutely.

"Seems like you care very much about this boy" Tsunade snickered.

Hearing Tsunade's response a blush came to Izumi's face as she said, "It's not like that!".

"As I only have my strength and medical ninjutsu, those are the only two things I can teach you. For now, we'll have a spar to test your current strength"