Chapter 1
Sometimes life can be easy, and sometimes life can be hard, for Naruto, life was bloody agonising sometimes. Today rather, the agony was solely concentrated on the ends of his rather elongating toes.
"Tell me again why I have to do this, Sensei?" Naruto grumbled, looking up at the gallant Jiraiya sitting on the rock above him. Looking over his cup of Sake, Jiraiya peered down at the fourteen year old, who was dangling over the deep waterfall by individual ropes tied to each of his toes.
"A ninja can never be a ninja, until he has mastered pain in every bit of his body." Said the Sannin absently, as he peeked a look in his telescope at another sort of… body. There were twelve of them. No older than about twenty, the girls sat at the edge of the rock pool, splashing their feet. They were completely naked, by the way. Just in case you hadn't realised.
"Yeah right!" Naruto shouted over the churning water, "You just wanna peek at the girls!!"
"Keep your voice down!" Jiraiya shouted, "A ninja can never be a ninja until he has mastered the art of silence… and of course, those babes might hear you."
"Oh, I bet you mastered the art of silence real early." Muttered Naruto,
"You were, what, about nine the first time you sneaked into a girls' bathroom?"
"What was that?" asked Jiraiya, cavalierly plucking at the main rope connecting the ones holding Naruto, upside down, above the water a hundred feet below. Accepting the threat, Naruto folded his arms and fell silent, dangling there upside down.
"Ohohoho!" Jiraiya cackled, "Yes, that's it girls! Dance! Dance in that water! Yes, you want to get nice and wet!" It was at that moment that the precipice he was balanced on began to rock side to side ever so slightly.
"ERO SENNIN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Naruto screamed, noticing the rhythmic rocking. At the sound of his voice, the girls all screamed and ran for their towels.
"No, my darlings!" Jiraiya cried, leaping upwards, in doing so, accidentally dislodging Naruto's rope. There was perhaps a moment's pause before Naruto realised he was falling. With just enough time to shout; "You perverted, wrinkly balled-" Naruto hit the water, rope and all.
-
Hidden within the leaves, not half a mile away sat a young man. With fiery red hair that seemed to glow in the setting sun's light, the boy peered at the manic endeavours before him. He gave a small laugh as the boy proceeded to beat the perverted old man with a large branch. There was something different about this one, he looked… fun. Remembering his company, the boy regained his composure and put on his "stern face" before continuing to stare through the leaves.
"That," said the man behind him, "Is the Sannin, Jiraiya. And that, is Naruto Uzumaki, your target."
-
"Master every pain in my body?!" Naruto was shouting, as he thwacked Jiraiya around the head again, "I'll master the pain in yours first!" And with a roar of rage he swung the stick up between Jiraiya's legs with a sickening crunch. The old ninja gave a small whimper of pain, his eyes bulging, before finally buckling. "Let's see where your blood rushes to now!" Naruto barked triumphantly as Jiraiya rolled on the floor, holding his gonads.
There was, perhaps a moment's pause before Jiraiya lunged forward. Grabbing Naruto with one arm he leapt through the air, just as the ground beneath them exploded. Somersaulting, Jiraiya spun in midair, landing atop a tree branch.
Naruto stared up at him, the old man's eyes were lean, concentrated. Just at the mere sight of this, Naruto felt a quiver of fear. He'd never seen the Sannin like this before; it meant danger. But what scared Naruto more was that it was clear that his master didn't know what kind of danger.
"Down!" Hissed Jiraiya, falling flat against the branch, as the top half of the tree was suddenly separated from the rest. Naruto stared as one hundred yards of tree flew through the air and came crashing down amongst its brothers, sending birds and dust flying.
Naruto felt Jiraiya throw him as the branch they were clinging to shattered into tiny shards of bark. Concentrating his chakra, Naruto landed his feet against the trunk of a nearby tree, but not before that too vanished into an array of spinning splinters. Leaping away, Naruto threw a kunai at a fleeting shadow, but it hit dirt.
Landing upon the grass, Naruto looked up to find where Jiraiya had gotten to, but his master had gone.