CHAPTER 1- First impressions
Fire Country was one of the largest ninja nations, as well as one the richest and more powerful since the end of the second secret shinobi war. Another particularity was that it was the nation which shared borders with more countries than any other, something that was good for trades as much as it had been a danger during the war.
In particular, one of the countries on its north-western borders was with Kusa, a small buffer state in between the Fire and Earth countries, that, luckily enough for Grass and its habitants, had a pact of non-aggression.
On one of that small nation's roads two men, both Konoha shinobi judging from their headbands, were travelling further into Kusa towards the previously agreed meeting point with their client, the leader of a group of travelling merchants and families.
The older of the two, who was also the tallest, had spiky white hair that reached just below his shoulder, dark eyes with two red tear-like lines painted under them, dark blue pants and a long sleeved shirt of same colour with a armoured green jacket on top of it as well as metal protectors on both forearms.
He was walking slightly ahead, while the other seemed to be concentrated on something he was holding in his hand.
"Are you still in one piece back there?"
A grunt was all the answer the man received before his younger companion picked up another balloon after ditching the pierced one he had in his hand and went back to his work ignoring him.
"Seriously, you should take a break. I can't understand why you always have to be so stubborn. Besides what you're trying to do has to be the most advanced pure chakra spatial recomposition jutsu I've ever heard of. You should take it easy and not rush things."
"Shut it, ero-jijii."
The white haired man almost tripped at the insult, and looked back at the other with a betrayed expression.
"Why? How could you talk to me like that after all I've done for you? Is this the thanks and respect I get after I've taught you all you know!"
The younger ninja sighed and put his balloon away in his backpack, before grinning apologetically at his teacher. He had hair as spiky as his sensei's but a bit shorter, stopping above his shoulders, and bright blond. His eyes were light blue, and he too was wearing dark blue pants and long sleeved shirt under a green jacket. He lacked, however, the armour.
"Ah… Sorry Jiraiya-sensei, it's just that it's really hard to get this jutsu to do what I want it to, and I'm getting a bit frustrated. I know I'm close, I've got the rotation and the power I wanted, but controlling this is harder than I thought."
"Bha, you've been working on that for two years now, I doubt it'll come to you just out of the blue right now, so why don't you take a break? After all it wouldn't be any good if you exhausted yourself just before a mission, you should work on your pet projects in your own time off, at home."
Those words seemed to irritate the young blond, and his eyebrow twitched while he glared at the back of his teacher.
"Well, maybe if you weren't dragging me to the onsen, trying to hook me up with random girls like you were an old mother concerned other her eldest daughter, or just plainly annoy me on my time off, maybe I'd work on it then, sensei."
Jiraiya coughed lightly while looking ahead. Damn brat, he tries to help him with girls and this is his thanks. Really, he was already nineteen and still couldn't get a real girlfriend! He had the looks, had the brain, had the skills of a prodigy as a ninja, hell, he even had a fan club, how could he lack a girlfriend!
If this went on any longer, it could reflect badly even on The Great Seducer Jiraiya's reputation. It was his student we're talking about here after all.
He was shaken out of his thoughts when they spotted a village less than a mile ahead of them, Basue. Exchanging a glance with his student, they nodded to each other and adopted a more serious and professional demeanour.
Basue was a little run-down settlement near the borders of Hi no Kuni and Taki no Kuni, the latter being an ally of the first as well as the destination of their client's convoy.
It seemed that somehow the people living in the area had developed a sort of sixth sense, not unlike that which warns the animals when a catastrophe is imminent, and now everyone who could was fleeing from Kusa. It was common knowledge after all that a pact of non-aggression between ninja villages often wasn't worth the paper it was written on, and if it came to it the Shinobi of Grass Country wouldn't be able to defend their home from Konoha and Iwa.
What made the situation worse was the extremely hostile and aggressive policy adopted by Ame in the last four or so years. Jiraiya had occasionally told him stories about the last war and Salamander Hanzou, and if the old toad hermit was right the belligerent attitude of the Hidden Rain was a consequence of someone pissing off that man like never before.
Jiraiya, after one of his nights spent drinking, had also declared that he'd be the personal slave of whoever had managed that feat. Orochimaru, who had been dragged along that night, had shockingly agreed shortly before both legendary ninja passed out.
-o-o-
Near the gates of Basue stationed four wagons surrounded by a little crowd. Although all the villagers seemed to have gathered, they were a depressingly low number of people, some of whom were carrying bags and boxes.
One of those, a woman who had long black hair with some grey and white locks combed in a braid, was wearing a light blue dress that looked curiously rich and comfortable at the same time. She was also carrying a bag from which could be heard the rustle of clothes, and she put it on one of the wagons before looking around as if in search of something or someone.
"Yasame, did you get everything, dear?"
The woman turned toward the voice and came face to face with a tall muscular man with short spiky brown hair and kind grey eyes. His voice was warm, but she could clearly identify an undertone of apprehension in it.
"Yes, don't worry. The only thing still missing is the box with the silk from Tea Country we bought last year, but I sent that girl who wanted to join the convoy to get it. She agreed to work as my assistant for the journey, I hope you don't mind."
The man smiled shaking to indicate he didn't, "Of course not. And Kaiza? Do you know where he is? I wanted to ask him to control the horses…"
"Kateru!" Another man yelled running towards him, "We've spotted two men coming here, they look like they're ninja from Konoha!"
Kateru left her to follow the other men going to greet the ninja they had paid to protect their convoy. Yasame watched him go before turning and looking for Kaiza in his place. He was growing to be a good man with a big heart, but in his haste to help others he often forgot his own duties.
Meanwhile the dark haired man, Kateru, had reached the gate where two shinobi were waiting for him.
He was shocked to find out that Jiraiya, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, had been sent to carry out the mission to protect them. He was sure that the Leaf would have made them pay an extra to have one of the elite, but Jirayia had assured him that it wasn't the case.
What he didn't tell him was that this escort mission was a perfect excuse for them to investigate the rumours about Iwa's intention to break the peace with Hi no Kuni, as well as checking out the small ninja forces of Kusagakure and Takigakure.
As Kateru went on about the details of how many people were taking part on the journey, how much and
what goods they wanted to bring along, and possible itineraries; Jiraiya noticed out of the corner of his eye a group of about four or five girls looking at him and Minato.
Most importantly, however, was the fact that he could make out a distinctive kind of giggles and blushes when they were checking out his prized pupil. He hid a grin before turning to face the blond.
"Ohi, Minato, help making sure that everything's packed and good to go. We're leaving as soon as you finish."
The young jounin left to his assigned task, blissfully unaware of being under the scrutiny of several girls that were whispering and giggling in a way that would have reminded him too much of his sensei for his liking.
Unknown to both him and them, however, another person had taken in all of this and rolled her eyes. She didn't know what kind of disease it was, but as far as she could see the symptoms those girls where displaying included a limited thought process that was more or less like this:
Male: check.
Young: check.
Strong: check.
Handsome: check.
At this point here their brains, or what was left of them, became an utterly useless mass of jelly.
'And I am the younger one among them. God, spare me! Oh look, it seems he finally noticed. You're kinda slow for a ninja, you know?'
Indeed, Minato had detected something strange around him since the very beginning, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was until one of the bolder girls decided to start a conversation with him. It was only then that the sudden realization of exactly how many people around him were females hit him, along with their very friendly behaviour.
The blond shinobi did what he always did while in this predicament, he grinned scratching the back of his head, then blurted out the first excuse that came to mind, "Sorry, I have to check the other wagons", and tried to flee.
Some would call it Fate, others Destiny, some others Chance or Accident. Minato will end up calling it "the luckiest misfortune to ever happen". Many years later the red-haired, sixteen years old girl carrying a bag full of silk fabrics he knocked down will call it "sheer dumb stupidity of blonds".
And even right then and there, when she saw the precious cargo she had to bring to the tailor's wagon fall in the dirt as the box broke, she didn't beat around the bush.
"Damn, way to go mister ninja. Thanks to your clumsiness my pay will be halved, and that's if I'm lucky. Maybe all that bleach and dye you used on your hair has reached your brain too, ne?"
Minato, who was going to apologize, immediately changed his mind as his face went red, a consequence of both his embarrassment and anger at being insulted like that.
"I'll have you know that my hair is natural miss red-wig. And it's your fault for sneaking up on me."
"Well, if you can't notice when someone is walking right next to you, then you must be a pretty shitty ninja. I wonder how the hell you managed to stay alive for so long." Here she paused and narrowed her eyes glaring at Minato murderously, "And what did you say about my hair?"
The blond jounin felt a shiver run down his spine at that. Now he remembered why you should never insult a woman's look. On the other hand, he suddenly realized that it wasn't a woman who was standing in front of him, but a girl a couple years younger that him.
Beside he was on a mission, so he decided to show some maturity and drop the matter.
"Ah, nothing, forget it. Sorry for knocking you down, do you need a hand with those fabrics kid?"
This time it took him decidedly less than before to grasp the fact that he made a big mistake. The killer intent the redhead was directing at him was a sign as explicit as one could.
For her part she couldn't believe what this moron had just called her. Kid.
KID!
When he was most likely less then twenty himself!
'I'll kill him. No, I'll torture him to death. He'll cry and beg me stop before I'll fucking strangle him with his own intestines.'
Her grimy and slightly disturbing thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of another young man, this one with shorter and darker hair and one single line on his chin, a scar from a fishing accident with a hook that happened when he was a kid.
"Hey Kushina, what's going on? Do you need any help?"
Minato had heard stories from his sensei about it, but this was the first time he could witness up close the infamous volatile and double-faced nature of the female gender work on such a scale. Faster then anything he had ever seen, the bratty redhead in front of him turned from murderous demon to cute, panicked, little girl.
"Kaiza? Oh no, I'm so sorry, Yasame-san told me to bring her these fabrics, but now they're all dirty… I'll clean them, I swear, and if they're damaged I'll repair them. I'll work for free till I've repaid you, really, I'll do it."
Minato himself had trouble believing that this was the same brat that just a second before seemed determined to eviscerate him with her bare hands with the way she was acting now. Of course, when the newcomer glared at him accusingly he knew that, regardless of whatever he could say, Kaiza would consider him responsible. Damn girl and her kawaii act. She was a devil, he knew it.
"Don't worry Kushina-chan," the dark haired youth said turning to smile at her, "I'll talk with her. After all these things happens all the time, especially when we're in a hurry to pack things."
When he finished to talk Kaiza sent another glare at the blond, who remained stone-faced without betraying his thoughts.
'Oh, great! Now I have to deal with her boyfriend antagonizing me. Sensei, where are you?'
Luckily for the Leaf Jounin someone did in fact arrive on the scene, and, even if it was only a dark haired woman, she saved him from being forced to take all the blame of the situation. Although when she called the other two youths by their names he wondered if he really was safe or not.
"Kaiza! Kushina! I was looking for you two, where were you? Never mind, Kaiza, your father wanted you to check the horses,"
"Already done, mom." The boy promptly answered.
"And Kushina, don't worry about those silk fabrics, just bring them on the wagon, we'll see if they're salvageable or not later, right now we don't have time."
"I'm on it Yasame-san." The red head replied while shooting off to gather all the pieces of cloth still on the ground.
Finally the woman looked at him and smiled apologetically, "You must be one of our escorts, a ninja from Konoha, right? I'm sorry about the confusion, but it seems that there's always some things we all forget until the last minute."
"That's so true, but we'll do anything to help, my dear lady." Jiraiya had literally materialized besides them.
Kateru joined them soon after and proceeded to formally introduce them.
"Ah, Yasame this is the famous Jiraiya-sama, he and his apprentice will be our escorts. Namikaze Minato, was it?" The blond nodded curtly, murmuring something about being neither a 'student' nor an 'apprentice' anymore.
"And this lovely woman is my wife, Yasame, while the young man over there is our son Kaiza."
The civilian family couldn't see it, but for Minato it was painfully easy to see his sensei's hand twitch the second he heard the word 'wife'.
It wasn't common knowledge outside the village, but there was a rumour about ninja rule #96 that Jiraiya was the cause of its addition to the code. Said rule stated that a ninja must keep a professional relationship with the clients and their family, and never become intimate with the contractor's consort.
Now, wasn't that funny?
Officially nothing happened, but Minato managed to get his hands on a curious tale, one that went back to when Jiraiya operated as a lone jounin. According to what he heard, one day the toad sennin was assigned a mission which required him to steal an industrial secret for a rich lord who felt threatened by the fast growth of a little company in a neighbouring village.
Jiraiya didn't agree with it, knowing that he'd condemn a lot of hard workers to poverty because of the lord's greed, but as a ninja under contract there was nothing he could do but complete his assignment.
The day he returned with the information, the lord was so pleased he invited him to spend the night, and gave a banquet to celebrate the success. The following morning, however, when he caught Jiraiya laying in bed with his wife, he wasn't so happy anymore.
Of course the political consequences could have, should have, been disastrous; after all who would employ a shinobi who would bed your wife? Or your husband?
No one knows exactly how but, luckily for Konoha and its economy, the Sandaime managed to solve everything, calling in favours and using his wits. Minato knew for a fact that the other kage had tried to get the knowledge on how Sarutobi had kept it all under control more than once.
Anyway, although officially all of this never happened, Jiraiya had to be punished somehow. Many of those who somehow got wind of The Incident still think that he got away with it, but looking closely at the dates one would notice that a week after that Jiraiya, who until then had refused to even take an apprentice under his wing claiming to "not have time to change diapers for some little brat", was saddled with Minato's genin team.
The fact that the pervert turned out to be an amazing teacher never ceased to amaze both the Sandaime and Jiraiya himself. The blond will preserve the memory of his sensei's expression on their first meeting, though, especially the way the Toad hermit had stared at him when he saw that Minato was an early graduate, him being a couple of years younger then Reimaru.
It was the same face the heremit made every time Shima, the toad better known as Ma, invited him for dinner or lunch.
On the other hand their third member, Mikoto, had been older and had been joining them simply because her previous team had been disbanded.
Suddenly, pain erupted from his shin.
"Ow, the hell was that for?"
"We're leaving mister ninja," the red haired bratty girl who had just kicked him (pretty hard too) told him, "and although I'd rather not have a daydreamer as an escort of this convoy, you're being paid just for that. Oh well, if it comes to worst I guess you can be a nice meat shield."
She turned and left without giving him time to reply, but nonetheless he muttered his answer.
"Bitch."
"Now, now, my boy; with an attitude like that you won't get her." Jiraiya, who somehow materialized behind him, said sagely putting an arm around his shoulders, "You should have told me you liked 'em younger, though, it would have saved us a lot of time. Don't worry, I know just the- Hey, where are you going?"
Minato didn't waste time answering his delirious sensei, and instead went at his post at the back of the convoy. Jiraiya shook his head at him with a sigh and reached Kateru and his family who would lead the group during the trip.
In less than a minute they finally left and started their journey towards Waterfall Country.
-o-o-
From her place on the first cart Kushina observed the legendary ninja of the Leaf. She had heard of Jiraiya and his two teammates, Tsunade and Orochimaru, straight from the one who gave them their title of Densetsu no sannin.
That man, if he could be called as such, had praised their skills and teamwork while at the same time boasting on how he beat all of them three on one. He also liked to mock her for her incompetence compared to those three, something that was ridiculous to do considering her age at the time, but no one bothered pointing it out and get themselves killed. He used to tell her that he let them live so that one day she'd be able to fight and kill them to prove her skills too.
Well, fuck him and what he wanted. This Jiraiya guy seemed a good person, although in Kushina's book anyone going up against Hanzo was good, something she'd continue to think for some more years. In any case she'd rather side with the Densetsu no Sannin then oppose them. If nothing else just to spite the bastard.
As she observed him, her attention was caught by the red spiral on the back of his jacket. She knew that chuunin and jounin from Konoha wore green jackets with pockets on the front, but she always wondered what that red spiral on the back stood for, and if it was related to the fact that the leaf engraved on their hitai-ate was designed like a spiral too.
"So, Kushina-chan, I didn't catch your full name?" The Toad summoner's voice caught her off guard.
"Uh…Uzumaki. Uzumaki Kushina." 'Nononono, stupid name, stupid. Damn symbol it's your fault! Why the hell didn't I come up with a clan name before? Why didn't anyone ask before? I'm gonna get myself killed one of these days! Shit!'
Really, the name Kushina had been easy to come up with, it was what her mother had wanted to call her, and what she had secretly always considered her name. For a clan name though, despite how much she'd have liked to, using her mother's was out of the question, as it was too much of a risk in case a Rain-nin caught wind of it.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya brought a hand to his chin and assumed a thoughtful expression.
"Uzumaki… You wouldn't happen to be from Whirlpool Country, would you? I mean it seems like a native name from there."
The only things the red haired girl knew about that land was its location and some basic economic and military information she was taught in case she'd ever had to go there on a mission. Of course this was not what she said, instead she took the chance offered to her. Good thing she had a talent for thinking on the spot.
"My grandparents came from Whirlpool soon after marrying, as they didn't like living so close to Kiri, but both my father and I were born and grew up here in Grass Country, in a village near the southern border, where my mother's family lived. I don't really know much about Whirlpool seeing that when I was a kid my grandparents decided to go back there, only God knows why, and we didn't hear from them ever since."
'Wow, I'm good at this. Still, from now on I'll better plan carefully and think far head.' Mentally she scoffed at herself, knowing that she had repeated this same thing more times then she cared to count.
"I see." Jiraiya stated nodding, "And your parents?"
"Died a year ago in the epidemic that hit our village."
Kushina had actually been in a southern village that was plagued by some mortal disease the previous year, and, while she did avoid being infected, she felt ill every time she thought at the condition the sicks were left in.
"You're making a whole lot of question Jiraiya-sama." She said it playfully, but inwardly she hoped he'd stop before she contradicted herself.
The white haired hermit chuckled lightly, "Sorry, just a last one, if I may? How old are you?"
Kushina blinked before answering honestly "Sixteen."
"Oh-oh, you've just come of age, then. How wonderful." There was a subtle change in his gait and eyes, and suddenly she was reminded of the reputation the man in front of her had aside of that of a powerful ninja.
"Jiraiya-sama, I have a deep respect for your talents as a shinobi, but if you ever try to 'pick me up' I'll kick your ass with your own feet"
While saying that she was smiling in the same way Tsunade used to, prompting Jiraiya to wave his hands in front of him in a placating manner. The Sannin then sped up a bit so that he was at the front of the cart where Kateru, who was the one driving the cart, and his wife were.
"Damn, that girl has quite the temper." He muttered, eliciting a small chuckle from Kateru.
"Yeah, Kushina-chan has a very fiery temper, doesn't she? But She's also a good girl at heart, I must say I'm happy she joined us for this journey. I'd be worried if she hadn't, it's not safe for a young girl like her to wander alone." The dark haired man admitted.
His wife sighed and added "I hope she'll stay a bit longer than that."
Both Jiraiya and her husband looked at her curiously, silently asking her to elaborate. For her part Yasame assumed an incredulous expression, directed mainly at her husband.
"Oh, come on dear, I know you've never been a keen observer, but you can't have missed this."
He didn't even try hide his ignorance as he stared at her blankly.
The woman rolled her eyes before pointing at the back of the cart with a nod of her head. The two men looked back to see Kaiza offering to help Kushina with the silk fabrics that had fallen on the ground earlier, all the while stealing some glances at her when she wasn't paying attention.
"Ah." Kateru commented eloquently, "So you employed her to play matchmaker for our son."
That earned him a glare.
"I'm just helping him a bit with a nice girl he's showing an interest in. Besides it's better if I am the one who helps him since I'm definitely the one with the best taste here; after all if it wasn't for me opening your eyes you'd have married that harpy green haired witch… what was her name?"
"Ma-*cough* I don't remember." Kateru promptly stopped himself, avoiding a two hours rant and the following day-long cold shoulder, receiving instead a content smile from his sweet wife.
Jiraiya snickered softly and turned to look up ahead.
