The Protagonist's Struggles

The Tale of the Two Konoha Shinobi

I guess I'm supposed to put in a disclaimer, but it takes so loooong….

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…

When Jiraiya dies, believing that his story is over, he remembers that the best writers never publish their first draft.

-Note-

I'll be explaining Ghille Dhu's question in the 3rd chapter! Yay for delayed answers!

-Previously-

Jiraiya dies in the battle with Pain, but a strange event pushes his mind, and his soul, 48 years into the past, where he is surprised to meet his first team as children, and even more surprised that he is a child himself! Taking his unsuspecting sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen, by surprise in his attempt at the bell test, he succeeds in getting both bells before either of his teammates can enact the plan they would have used originally.

Tsunade was the first to recover from the shock of what had just happened. "NANI?! Jiraiya-baka got both bells?! Sensei, did you let him get the bells, or did he cheat? I BET HE CHEATED! JIRAIYA-BAKA!!!" The tiny powerhouse sprang out of the trees, fist already cocked back, and plummeted down to meet Jiraiya square on the head.

Jiraiya, intelligently, sidestepped by a wide margin, letting the mini-Tsunade, who was apparently already entering puberty, make a massive fissure in the ground in front of her. There goes the story I had where Tsunade slammed me 100 feet away with just a single fist... How am I supposed to scare my teams straight if I can't say that without lying to them? "Hold up, Tsunade-hime! Please don't hit me!" As if on cue, Orochimaru also left his cover, making a snide comment with his high-pitched, oily voice, which sounded more like a girl than a boy. "Scared of a girl, Jiraiya? Figures that you would bribe our new sensei into letting you look golden for a moment only to ruin it by cowering away from Tsunade-hime."

Jiraiya sneered back at his teammates, "You just wish you were as cool as I was, and judging by how long you two took to think, you might need a sensei more than me, here! Ungrateful bastards..." With that, the white-haired boy flung a bell towards each of his angry teammates, thoroughly confusing both of them. Orochimaru practically hissed at him. "If anyone needs a sensei it would be you! How stupid can you be, throwing away your chance at having the student of the Nidaime teach you!" Tsunade, who had just yesterday slapped Jiraiya over the head for being rude, inconsiderate, and selfish, was now rethinking two of those descriptions. He gave me his bell, and he even gave Orochimaru-kun his other bell! He's willing to spend a whole extra year in the academy for us, and he knew neither of us liked him one bit! The Senju princess swallowed hard, closed her eyes, and interrupted the arguing boys by thrusting the jingling bell into Jiraiya's face. "Here! I can't accept this, Jiraiya-ba… Jiraiya. You deserve it more than I do."

This act of kindness, and change of attitude, frightened Jiraiya, but he hid it with curiosity, tilting his head slightly and furrowing his eyebrows, all the while refusing to take the bell. "Tsunade-hime, you'd give up the bell for me?" A sudden interruption came in the form of the dinging of an alarm clock, where the future sandaime was standing. Now that the monkey summoner held the attention, he could announce their results. "You have all… FAILED!"

The two bells suddenly exploded in smoke, revealing shadow clones of Sarutobi, which disappeared as well after they had been properly displayed. This didn't happen last time! "Those weren't the bells? But Jiraiya cut them off of your belt, didn't he?" The man smirked as he pulled two bells, identical to the ones that were just in the gennin's possession, from the inside of his belt, where they had been hidden the whole time. Orochimaru noticed the immediate consequence fastest. "He's going to tie us to the posts! RUN FOR-" Jiraiya heard two thuds, and then blacked out.

All three of them woke up with their heads feeling sore, and it didn't take long for them to start struggling against their bonds. The Professor got them twice over, once with the bells, and now they were tied to the posts! "Just our luck with Jiraiya here. He makes us all fall for one big trap!" The young sage turned his head angrily, "Shut up, Orochimaru-teme. Blame one of your problems on you for once, why don't ya." The blond piped up with a hint of anger in her voice, "How about both of you stop focusing on the problem, and start focusing on the letter in front of us, and the one pack lunch it's sitting on!" All three of the young stomachs growled at once, demanding nourishment. At the same time, all three young shinobi also grumbled in defeat. "Damnit."

Orochimaru, being the over-cautious boy he always was, had planted knives in wrist slots, hidden by his cloths, so he escaped first, making sure to eat the lunch in front of both of the others. He was kind enough to read the contents of the letter aloud, in the monotonous way that one reads a letter aloud. "Dear students, Hahaha, I got all of you there. You actually thought you all failed, what a laugh. If it isn't obvious enough, you all pass, and I expect to see you back here at 0700 sharp tomorrow morning. P.S. Orochimaru, since you escaped first because of the wrist knives, you have to free the other two. If you don't, I'll quadruple your training load for our first week."

Orochimaru looked at Tsunade and Jiraiya, then to the path that led back to the village, and back to his fellow teammates again. This continued for almost a minute, leaving both of the still bound students sweating bullets. Finally, Orochimaru cut Tsunade free, and left. Tsunade followed Orochimaru's initial plan of letting Jiraiya sweat it out, but she didn't count on him snapping. "HEY NO-BREAST! CUT ME FREE ALREADY!" A very large vein popped in her forehead, but it left as she took a breath, stuck her tongue out at him, and left him alone in the field.

Jiraiya screamed in frustration, struggling vainly against the bonds for a moment before slumping down in defeat. Must forget no-breast, must forget no breast, must forget…

Chapter One, The First of the Two is Made Legend!

Ok, I was planning on explaining how Jiraiya was fighting so well in this chapter, but I guess I'll be saving it for the next one. Again, written and revised by me, blah blah blah… let the angry critics roam free!