Chapter Three: Arguing

Jiraiya sighed and sat back down on the large boulder in the field. Teenagers were so incredibly annoying...he had almost forgotten how bad it was with his last group...He shuddered at the thoughts. It made his head ache when he remembered all the confusing love triangles and drama. One of the biggest down sides of being a sensei in his opinion.

Upon turning his attention back to Naruto, he found the boy abusing a tree with his Rasengan angrily. The whirl of wind whipped leaves everywhere, and wood chips went flying off into the woods as the teen fumed. The sage watched silently until he saw the boy start to turn up the intensity of the Rasengan. He shoved it harder into the tree, only to have it recoil and throw his arm backward. And with determination and anger, Naruto shoved it back at the tree stubbornly. Jiraiya raised his voice.

"You know, if you keep doing that you're going to cause an exp-" The man was suddenly cut off as the tree exploded with the rasengan sending Naruto flying backward and wood splinters everywhere. The sage brushed the various pieces of wood off of him and shook his head. "You knew that was going to happen, you pushed it too far and you had no control." Naruto stood up and huffed angrily. "Yeah yeah..." The two looked up as they heard the soft pat of feet on the ground. Inari ran into the field, her eyes alert and her dress awkwardly put on.

"What happened?" She turned to Jiraiya who just pointed at Naruto.

"He's the one you want, he misused the Rasengan and ended up blowing up a tree." She looked over at him and raised a brow. Naruto looked away with embarrassment and anger. At this point he was going over what he thought she said...Something about his father. But going over her reaction, he was second guessing and thought he may have misheard her...and ended up frightening her over something silly. But if what he though he heard was true...then he may have a link to his family. However, he guessed both Tsunade and Jiraiya knew who they were. He had just never had the guts to ask either. He had a suspicion it wouldn't end well if he dared to ask. And that was saying something, considering not much stopped Naruto when it came to guts. Jiraiya meanwhile looked at the girl's clothes suspiciously.

"What were you up to?" She smoothed out the creases on her dress consciously.

"I was about to clean up, when I heard your...explosion. I threw on my clothes as quick as possible." She looked away with slight embarrassment on her face and walked over the the campsite. As she walked away both the sage and Naruto eyed the mark on her back yet again. Something in Jiraiya's mind sparked a bit, as if it wanted to resurrect a long lost memory, but nothing came to him right away. All that immediately came up was some sort of assignment when Minato was an ANBU member. Which meant absolutely nothing to him at that point. The sage shrugged his shoulders and looked around for his sake.

Naruto walked back to the campfire and began to take out his lunch. He had a few packs of ramen in his bag that were special reserves for when he needed a serious pick-me-up. He decided (happily) it was one of those days. He began to prepare the ramen excitedly and munched on an apple while the water began to boil. At this point Naruto noticed Inari sitting on a small rock across from him, watching him carefully. He looked away quickly. He wasn't big on apologies, pretty much anyone who knew him knew this. He would let the tension settle and that would be it. No awkward discussion, and the argument ended up resolved. Luckily, the girl hadn't tried to apologize, nor did she seem to demand an apology as Sakura would have. He sighed with relief in his mind. Thank God she hadn't demanded an apology like Sakura. He always seemed to make her more angry when he tried.

He looked back at her and she was still eyeing him carefully, her head now cocked slightly. He could hear the sage's drunken snores in the background of the awkward silence. He raised a brow and she met him in the eyes.

"Do you want any food?" She shook her head with a grim smile.

"No thanks, I'm still trying to clear the poison from my body, it would only make me sick." He squinted his eyes.

"I've never heard of that happening to anyone, that's pretty kool!" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Just the poison they gave me..." She looked away turning her attention to the ground. He doubted her answer was correct, but what did he know? He wasn't as good with poisons as Sakura was in the end. Naruto noticed the water for his ramen was finally boiling and he started to make his ramen with gusto. When it was finally done he completely lost himself as he ate his food happily, and enjoyed the unique taste of ramen that he could never tire of. When he finished he looked up at Inari who was dragging her finger in the dirt absentmindedly. He cleared his throat.

"So are you around shinobi very often?" She looked at him with her bright blue eyes, as if they bore into his mind.

"I used to be, quite often actually. Now I spend most of my time in the forest on my own." He watched her face, trying to read her. Something he didn't often do-he wasn't very good at it most of the time-but something he occasionally tried.

"Did you ever try being a shinobi?" She had a far away look in her eyes as she tilted her head up and looked at the cloudy grey sky.

"Once, yes. It didn't suit me though...The life of a killer in the shadows, supposed to be disciplined and swift...it just wasn't what I wanted. I don't go after power." He frowned.

"There's more to it than that you know, It's protecting the ones you love, and keeping peace." She snorted and focused her attention back to him with a steely gaze.

"Yes, fantastic job on that, there's only several shinobi wars and battles going on as we speak...So your peace plan is magnificent. Second...protecting the ones you love...It's difficult to do, and in the end you lose more than you bargained for. It's better not to love, and to keep a level head." Naruto looked on her with a sad, and pitying gaze.

"You don't believe that...do you?" She looked him straight in the eyes, a somber look on her face.

"Yes...I really do." She whispered softly and looked away. He growled and looked away as well.

"Look, I don't know where you came from, or what convinced you that, but without people to love...you fall into a black hole of hell. And protecting them is just one step of that. And second, since when is it foolish to want peace and serenity in the world? We all want is to stop death and war, and yeah we're probably not going to stop it all the way, but we can at least try to." She was silent for a long time, and Naruto finally stood up, and she spoke to him.

"When you understand what I tell you, and experience what I have, then I can listen to your words. But for now, they are empty words of hope out of a boy who hasn't experienced certain things yet." he whipped around and glared at her.

"And when you figure out that love can only help you and not hurt you, let me know. Then I might take some of your 'advice'" He turned his head and made his way back over to the now awakened sannin who had observed the entire conversation. He looked at the man, who said nothing, and he went right back into his training. He turned his attention to Inari, who caught his eye, and smoothly turned her head away, hiding behind a curtain of white hair. He sighed and walked over to her. He watched her for a second, while she ignored him, keeping her gaze on the ground.

"You know, this journey might be a whole lot easier if you two would stop pissing each other off." She snorted.

"Sorry Master Jiraiya, but I just can't get along with him." He gave a short laugh.

"Have you even tried yet? As far as I can tell you've been working your ass off just to make him mad." She gave a soft bark.

"Maybe I have..." He shook his head.

"Like I said, It's going to be a whole lot easier if you try to get along." She kept quiet for a while and finally slapped her hand on the ground giving a cry of anger.

"Will you please tell him to get that last stance right?! If he gets any more open on that position he may as well stab himself and just save his opponent the trouble." Jiraiya looked up, and sure enough Naruto did fine on the sequence up until the last stance. He sighed and picked up a large rock, throwing it at the boy's head, which hit with a solid 'Thud'. The boy looked over angrily, ready to charge the man.

"Get your arm down on that last stance, You're wide open..." The boy growled under his breath and fixed his posture, continuing his training. Jiraiya turned back to continue talking to Inari, but he looked back and she was gone. With further inspection, he found she was at the top of one of the trees, spread out over a limb, looking at the sky. He closed his eyes and pinched his nose. Teens were extremely aggrivating sometimes.

He then opened his eyes, just as a large drop of rain came down and splatted right on the bridge of his nose. He raised a brow, and suddenly it started to pour. He heard a large protest beggining to come from his student, who very much hated the rain. Jiraiya rolled his eyes and looked over at the furious student.

"Keep going, you can stop in a while..." He took a swig of his sake and strolled under the cover of one of the larger trees. He looked up at his hair sadly. All of its perfect spikes and ridges, ruined. He mourned quietly before sighing. At least there were no women in miles to see his messed up hair. Which, in truth depressed him further. He sat underneath the tree, quietly pouting, until he heard his student shouting, yet again. He raised his brow in amusement as the boy shook his fist angrily up at one of the trees. He looked up, and remembered Inari was laying up there, now soaking up the rain peacefully. He shook his head and decided to watch the next argument unfold.

"Hey! Heeeey! Get down from there!" He shook his fist up at her, yelling to get her attention. He however got no response and continued to yell. "Get down from there! The rain is starting to get colder, you're gonna get sick!" He waited a few moments longer, still not getting any response. He growled angrily and began to jump from limb to limb, climbing higher up the tree, until he finally reached her. "Hey! Didn't you hear me?! You're gonna get sick if you stay out here any longer!" She kept her eyes closed, and stayed relaxed on the tree.

"I heard you. And I wont get sick, I'll be fine. A little rain never killed anyone." He growled yet again.

"It's getting colder, you're gonna freeze up here." She snorted.

"I don't see you trying to get out of the rain, why should I?"

"Because I don't sick very easily, and even if I do I heal quick." She opened her eyes and gave him a look of indifference.

"I don't get sick easily either, and I'm enjoying the rain, so leave me alone." She closed her eyes and continued to let the rain pour down on her. At this point the wind began to pick up, and Naruto was fuming. Finally, after she treaded on his last nerve, he picked her up swiftly and began to climb slowly down the tree. As he picked her up, he saw her eyes shoot open with terror and she clung onto him with a death grip.

"Put me down!" Her voice cracked with fear and anxiety. It was the most emotion he had heard out of her besides the first day they had rescued her. It made him want to laugh, he rarely ever got to torment Sakura like this, and he couldn't even imagine the toad sage ever panicking. It was the most fun he had had in a long while. "Put me down! I don't care about the rain I'll be fine! Put me down!" He laughed a bit more before replying to her.

"Sorry, but you need to get out of the rain and you won't do it voluntary. Maybe you don't care but I do." He felt her grip his jacket tighter.

"What do you care? You hardly know me." He stopped on a limb and looked her dead in the face.

"Just because I don't know you doesn't mean I shouldn't care. You're a living, breathing person. There's no reason why I shouldn't take care of you." She fell silent and he resumed his slow descent back down the tree. When they got to the ground, Naruto looked up and saw that the rain had now began to turn into snow. He shivered a bit at the cold and walked over to Jiraiya's newly picked spot in a cave, where he was busy putting together a fire. He got halfway there when Inari loosened her grip on him and looked at him.

"I think I can walk from here. You said the rain could make me sick, not paralyzed." He looked at her questioningly and gave an "Oh!" Of realization and set her down. They both got into the cave and sat on the dusty ground, which was thankfully slightly warmed due to the fire Jiraiya now had going. Naruto began taking off his jacket and shirt to lay by the fire, while Inari sat down toward the back of the cave, curling up and keeping to herself. Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and smiled.

"And all this time, I thought you had slept through all my lectures." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck with embarrasment.

"I guess my memory can kick in when I really need it." Jiraiya snorted and resumed his spot. Naruto looked over at Inari who was slightly shivering, and curled up into a ball.

"Inari, do you need to come closer to the fire? You're kinda soaked...You need to get dry." She raised her brow.

"I don't think I have the luxury of taking my clothes off, but thanks anyway." He rolled his eyes and blushed slightly. He looked over at Jiraiya, who was currently scribbling in his next Icha Icha book.

" I was just asking you if you wanted to get closer to the fire." She rolled her eyes back and scooted closer to the fire. She warmed up, but Naruto noticed she was still curled up slightly. He contemplated what to do. He briefly recalled Sakura mentioning body heat as an alternative source. He shrugged his shoulders. He scooted closer to Inari-without thinking of course- and wrapped his arm around her. She was silent for a long time, before slapping his hand off her shoulder and shoving him away.

"What'd I do?!" Naruto yelled indignantly. Inari huffed and crossed her arms.

"Sorry stud, now's not the time to make a move. Keep. Your. Distance. Or next time I'll break your arm off." She glared at him and spoke in a deadly tone. Naruto spluttered.

"I was trying to keep you warm!"

"Oh save it! You're nothing but a horny guy!" Naruto was at a loss for words, and then prepared to make his next outburst, when Jiraiya inturupted them both.

"Shut up! Both of you! Go to sleep, or do something with your time that DOESN'T involve killing each other!" Naruto grumbled under his breath and turned away to watch the snow fall. After a while of watching the snow fall gently to the earth, he was calm and turned back to see both Jiraiya and Inari were fast asleep. He rolled his eyes. It was barely the afternoon, and they were fast asleep. He sighed, took out his rusted weapons, and began to clean them. He looked back outside and thought to himself. It was going to be a loooong six months.