Jiraiya decided to take the long way back to the leaf village, allowing the two to stop at various towns along the way. He wanted to assess the situation after the destruction of the leaf village. In every place they stopped at, Jiraiya noticed that tensions were high in the air. There were less people on the streets than before, people were acting guarded, and a lot of shops and homes were boarded up indicating that people did not want to be close to the area that was once the great Leaf Village. Also people seemed afraid. When Jiraiya asked some people about the cause of their fears, they told him that it was because the destruction of the Leaf village had really impacted the life style.
Since Konoha controlled and maintained peace and safety for almost whole of the Fire nation, its destruction had impacted most on the closest villages. The news of destruction spread fast. Crimes were increasing, and honest living was becoming difficult day by day. While there still were no obvious signs of open bloodshed, according to what people of the villages told the travelling duo a lot of people had lost their lives over different disputes.
Naruto saw and witnessed it all; the descents of the towns into slow chaos. He saw how departure of Konoha left a power void, which every two bit criminal wanted to fill. He began to think that if there's no one strictly enforcing peace, people start going mad with desire for money and power and begin to hurt each other. The Kyuubi inside Naruto filled him with thoughts that just reinforced his own. Every time he wanted to help someone he saw who needed help on the street, the Kyuubi would just fill him with thoughts that helping them now temporarily would be of no use. It would be just like the burning village- some real power would be needed to stop the chaos; kindness and compassion would not be enough.
Naruto's mind and heart would ache every time he saw these towns. He would be filled with questions,
Why do people hurt each other? Can't they live the right way without someone always showing them what to do? Can't they live honestly if no one's there to enforce laws? Why are people like that?
But there were no answers. So after going through a few towns, Naruto decided to ask Jiraiya about all this.
"Well kiddo," said Jiraiya," People do have a natural tendency for chaos. But they also have that little voice in their heads telling them what's right. People just decide to ignore that voice because the wrong way seems to be easier and it allows them to fulfill their wild desires."
"But why don't the people want to help each other in times like this?" asked Naruto," Shouldn't they feel more happy and content if they could help each other and be more prosperous together?"
"You're right," replied Jiraiya impressed at the insight of such a young boy, "It's just that people's wild side enjoys exercising power over others and taking everything from themselves. But I believe that soon, a time will come when people will truly be able to be kind to each other. That's my goal, my dream; to help people realize their potential."
"Is that why I've never seen you around the village before; because you're out to other towns and villages helping them realize the good in them?"
"Hahaha, when you put it like that kiddo, you make me feel like I'm some sort of Saint…..But yeah, that's mostly what I'm doing, along with stuff for the Leaf Village."
"So is that how you found me; going from village to village till you saw that one?" said Naruto, but thinking of the burning village made his heart ache again, though he tried his best to ignore it.
"No, I was looking for you for a couple of days. I have my jutsus and skills as a high level Sage ninja that help me in tracking and a lot of other neat stuff," replied Jiraiya, clearly sounding impressed with himself, "Though the way I saw you back there kiddo, I think you're not strong enough to deal with stronger ninja. So I've been thinking, while we're on this detour to the village, I wanna teach you some skills to use in fights and also a powerful jutsu."
"Really! Awesome, I'm totally ready for that!"
"Great, then we'll start right away. You'll see kid, learn from the great Toad Sage and you'll become stronger in no time. Hahahahah."
Jiraiya's pride made Naruto roll his eyes. He always made up nickname for these kinds of people, and for Jiraiya, he had just the one,
"Alright, let's do it, Kashin-Senin"
"Hey, I'm not overconfident, I just have a lot of faith in my abilities"
Naruto rolled his eyes again but he was really impressed with Jiraiya's ideals. He thought he could learn so much from him and become stronger with his help.
In the following few days, while continuing to walk through towns and villages with Jiraiya, Naruto learned how to walk on water by further controlling his chakra. He already knew how to walk against gravity on solid objects thanks to Kakashi, now he had even further control. He practiced day and night perfecting it.
Jiraiya also decided to teach Naruto his most favorite jutsu, one that was created by the Fourth Hokage and which took him years to complete; the Rasengan. He showed the boy how focusing and compressing the chakra at the palm of his hand produces a ball of swirling blue lines, which had devastating power when came in contact with any surface.
Naruto was, of course, thrilled to learn such a powerful technique. And the mention of Fourth Hokage having made the jutsu only added fuel to his excitement. He took it on himself to master the technique in days rather than years. That way he could prove how he is qualified to become stronger than all the Hokages.
"Just you wait Kashin-Senin," he said to Jiraiya," I'll have this down soon enough and then I'll be ready to deal with any enemies"
Jiraiya nodded, and feeling that the boy just might be able to do it, being the keeper of the Kyuubi, the Fourth's son, and one of strong will, he will then tell him everything he wanted to when he set out to find him because then he might be ready for it all. And even if he still is not, he would still have to tell him everything because he cannot afford to delay it all any longer. It all depended on whether Naruto would be able to learn the jutsu or not.
Almost two weeks had passed since Jiraiya rescued Naruto from Zetsu. Their detour had come to its end and now finally they were near where the leaf village had once been. The whole time on their detour, Naruto had thought about his friend Sasuke and his sensei Kakashi and wondered where they might be and that if they were alright or not. He had not guessed that the detour would take this long, otherwise he might have ditched the Kashin-Senin and gone on his own again to search. But then again, he had no idea where to go look and Jiraiya had offered to train him so maybe it was the right thing to stay with the Sage.
The same day, they reached the outer boundary of the Leaf village and Naruto still had not mastered the Rasengan, despite working day and night but that became the last thought on their minds when, standing at the edge of the tree-line, they saw that some reconstruction had begun in the devastated area; men and women labored to carry logs and cement and other construction material, some of them looked to be in charge of supplying food and water, some were tending to anyone who got hurt while working. Camps were set up for each purpose.
"How are there leaf ninja there?" asked Naruto, "I thought everyone died when the village was destroyed."
"They're the ones who were sent to other countries on Espionage and spying missions," replied Jiraiya, "They probably came back when they were cut off from the village. I sensed that the connection with the village was severed too, but I wanted to look for you first instead of coming to the village."
"How did you know that I wasn't here"?
"We'll talk about that soon. Look-"
Naruto looked and noticed that many of the people working were not from the leaf, not even ninja. His sights suddenly fell on familiar faces and he said with joy,
"Kashin-Senin, look, its Tazuna and people from their village! They're expert builders; they'll have the village back on its feet in no time!"
"Really?" stated Jiraiya, "Well I wonder where the village would get the money to pay for all this, or are they thinking of getting a loan or debt or something."
"No no, those builders are friends; they'd do it for free. I'm sure. I wonder if Inari's with them too…."
Naruto was ready to run off to them and give them a hug when Jiraiya put his hand on the boy's shoulder, held him back and said,
"Wait, look."
Naruto saw Tazuna approach one of the leaf ninja and say something to him. Then suddenly, instead of replying to the builder, the ninja punched him hard, causing him to fall on his back. Naruto's eyes widened.
Why would he punch him like that? Aren't the builders helping them, then why?The ninja walked over to the fallen old man and kicked him. Then kicked him again. People from the Waves village started to surround them and beg the ninja to let it go. But the ninja pulled his hands back and started weaving hand-signs for a jutsu.
"I can't take it anymore!" said Naruto, and pulling both his hands' index and middle fingers into a plus shape, he yelled, "Shadow Clone jutsu!"
Hundreds of solid clones of Naruto appeared and bridged the gap between him and the dispute. They came between Tazuna and the ninja and some of them held the ninja down before he could cast his jutsu.
"Naruto!" exclaimed Tazuna, "My boy! You're finally here".
"Sorry I'm late old man." said the original Naruto as he ran up to the old man, helping him up.
"What's going on Naruto? We came to help your village as soon as we heard what had happened but when he got here a few days ago and asked about you, the ninjas here took us into custody and forced us to work like this. We've been working for days now, and we can't go home, we don't get much to eat or a place to rest. Worst of all, whenever we ask about you the ninja here start treating us even more badly. We just wanted to help you out. I never thought the leaf village could fall to such a low level, and Inari….they already beat the kid up so much for asking after you again and again that he….he's in a coma, lying in one of the tents."
All of Naruto's clones began to fill with rage on hearing Tazuna's account and mention of Inari's state really hit a nerve. He wanted to beat up the ninja but he tried extremely hard to control his anger.
Presently, other leaf ninja started to gather around as well. They kicked Naruto's clones off the downed ninja and picked him up, and everyone got into stance to fight.
"Well, well, well," spoke one of the high ranking ones among them," I knew you were overconfident, but I never thought you would have the nerve to waltz right back here after what you did."
"I didn't do anything wrong," replied Naruto, "You're the ones hurting the people who came here to help."
"And lying on top of it? Give it a rest boy, everyone here knows you're the one who destroyed the leaf village! That is why no ninja here will ever bear to hear your name!"
Naruto's eyes widened; he could not believe what he was hearing. He had always loved the village, even after all the people had done to him. He could never think of harming it, he wanted to be Hokage of the village and lead it to prosperity. He had tried to save it till its last moments.
"How can you say that!" yelled Naruto back at the ninja, "I always loved my village! I tried to save it!"
"Enough with the lies!" the ninja snapped back at him, "Everyone in the village hated you. It's impossible for anyone to not want to destroy in such a case. That monster inside you probably helped you do it. And now we're going to make sure we have our revenge for decimating our village and destroying everything we ever had."
Naruto began to have the dreadful feeling again; the feeling of his heart sinking. He had been feeling it a lot these past days. His heart felt like it was breaking. He always knew the people did not like him. But he never thought that they would blame him for something so diabolical, especially when he tried so hard to save the village. His eyes began to fill with tears. His clones began to dissipate because of jumbled emotions.
"No!" pleaded Naruto, "I….I would never do such a thing!"
"Enough!" replied the ninja, "ANBU units, get into formation. Attack the boy at will! Leave him only inches from death! Then we'll find out who his accomplices are."
The ninja left everything they were doing and each of them began to weave their own hand signs to attack with their most deadly jutsu. But before they could do anything, a loud voice came,
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
The ground under the ANBU turned to a pool of mud and they began to sink into it, causing their jutsu casting to be interrupted and their attack to be delayed. They looked behind Naruto and their eyes widened to see the most senior spy of their village was standing.
"Jiraiya-sama!" said the ANBU leader with surprise, "What are you doing!? This is your jutsu isn't it? Release us. We have to get that boy!"
"Not on my watch you're not," replied Jiraiya, "This boy is under my protection, and no one touches him while I am breathing!"
"But you're supposed to be Lord Orochimaru's team mate and best friend and the village's best spy! How can you side with someone who destroyed the village"!?
"Because this boy isn't the one who destroyed the village"
Everyone's eyes widened at Jiraiya's proclamation. And Naruto's eyes retained a bit of hope as a small smile appeared on his face-he might just not be alone yet.
"Lord Orochimaru told everyone that the brat was the one who did It." said the ANBU, "He said that he was here when it happened and he barely escaped".
"He was lying." replied Jiraiya, "I've been away all this time doing research and I know he tricked the village and became Hokage and he's been deceiving everyone ever since. He overthrew old man the third using politics and killed him. And you all have been seeing what kind of Hokage he has been. He has been kidnapping people who won't be missed and doing experiments, he's been keeping ties with enemies to feed his own ends. All this time, he never cared for the village".
"You're the one who's lying Jiraiya-sama. We would never go against our Hokage."
"You mean the Hokage who left you all in the time of most need? The Hokage who never cared for the people in all of his 5 years of rule? Come to your senses. The destruction of the village was not done by Naruto. It was orchestrated by someone else wielding great power and Orochimaru helped them do it! If I'm wrong, then prove me wrong; show me where Orochimaru is, how he is helping the village?!"
"What is all this noise?" came a voice from behind the tents," We can't really focus on planning the relief operations with all this fuss…."
Jiraiya and Naruto both looked up to see the figure who spoke these words, and they were shocked to see the tall man whom Jiraiya was just speaking about. But even more shocking was that there was someone else behind him-a woman. She was looking down as she walked with Orochimaru to the place of the dispute.
"Tsu-Tsunade!?" said Jiraiya shocked, "What are you doing here with Orochimaru!?"
The woman kept silent and spoke nothing as she kept looking towards the ground, refusing to even raise her gaze.
To be continued...
