I was originally going to write a fic comparing Team 7 to the Sannin, but this came out instead. That's okay though because I must say that I'm rather happy with it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, we would have much more Sannin love!
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Tsunade felt like crying. Not because she was sad, but because she was frustrated. She was a person who had very little sense of restraints, which made the whole situation that much harder. She didn't understand how her friends and family were dealing with this so calmly. And Jiraiya! She had never seen the man so lost. If it were any other occasion, Tsunade would have been sure to mock him torturously. However, as things stood, she was far too distraught herself. It was for this very reason she had just stormed up to the hokage's office and almost thrown the door off its hinges. The door remained desperately clinging to it's bonds, but the wall behind it was nearly obliterated by the force of the door slamming into it.
"Sarutobi-sensei!" Tsunade called viciously.
When the old man turned to his female pupil, his attention was drawn to the desperate, unshed tears glittering in the strong woman's honey-amber eyes.
"Tsunade…" the old man began to speak mournfully.
"No, you listen!" the woman demanded, crossing the room in several quick steps.
Jiraiya carefully watched the pair from the door, the racket Tsunade had been making having drawn his attention.
"Why won't you send a competent search party after him?" the woman growled, basically shouting, as she harshly poked her old teacher in the chest.
Jiraiya winced, imagining how much the force behind that one manicured finger must hurt, but if Sarutobi felt it at all he did a good job of not showing it.
Instead, he calmly told Tsunade, "You And Jiraiya hardly constitute a competent search party." The statement came off as cold.
Tsunade lowered her head, weakly muttering, "Why?" It was all she could get out without her voice cracking now.
Sarutobi looked sympathetically at his students, both the one in front of him and the one at the door. It killed him a little more inside to see two of his greatest students breaking into little pieces before him.
!#$&()
By the time Tsunade and Jiraiya finally reached Orochimaru it was a couple weeks later and against Sarutobi's orders. However, it was too late. The Great Sannin were no more, and for the first time in their lives Tsunade and Jiraiya felt completely defeated.