Chapter 4 – Life on the Run
The sun was just beginning to peak out over the tops of the trees causing the thin layer of dew that clung to everything to glitter as if the ground was covered in tiny diamonds. It was just barely dawn, and Naruto was standing over the low stone marker that recognized the final resting place of the Third Hokage. His orange jumpsuit was gone, replaced by a simple black v-neck t-shirt with a dark red whirlpool on the back and a pair of straight black pants with a flame motif along the bottom of each leg done in the same dark red. Next to him a small backpack was leaning against the massive fox summoning contract.
"I... I'm sorry, Jiji. I didn't mean what I said yesterday." Naruto swallowed hard before continuing. "I don't want to, but I need to go. I know a lot more than I think you intended me to ever know... At least, not at my age, and I can't stay here and just let it happen again. This is good-bye, Jiji.
"I promise you that I will set things right. I'm sure you knew what was happening... what had happened... You just didn't get the chance to fix it. I will. I swear it to you. I will fix everything, Hokage-sama." Naruto brushed the beginnings of tears out his eyes as he bowed low to the stone. He never referred to the Third by his title, having always preferred to see him as the kindly old man he was rather than the leader of a village who had been forced to make choices he did not want to make.
"I will be back, and when I do, I will turn this village into the vision you always sought for it." Naruto straightened up and pulled his hitai-ate off of his forehead and retied it loosely around his neck. The next time a hitai-ate would grace his forehead would be when he returned to Konoha to fix everything that had been done under the table and in the shadows of back alleys over the past two decades.
"It's a promise of a lifetime, and I never go back on my promises."
"Naruto-kun?" The soft voice of Hinata drifted over from behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to look at the girl. She was wearing a simple pair of dark navy pants and the same black v-neck t-shirt that she usually wore under that bulky jacket, but the jacket itself was nowhere to be found. At her side she had placed a pale gray backpack along with a small bedroll.
"Naruto-kun... I-I heard what you said... and... I-I want to help." Hinata slowly untied her hitai-ate from her forehead and retied it around her neck just like Naruto had done. "N-No one should be expected t-to do something like th-that alone."
"Are you sure about this Hinata? You don't have to ruin your life for me."
"It-It is not r-ruining my life if I am with you, N-Naruto-kun. I am sure."
"I... Thank you, Hinata-chan." Naruto nodded and then looked up at the sky. "I think it's time we got going..." Naruto hefted the summoning contract onto his shoulder and fastened it so that it lay across his back. He picked up his pack and slung it over his right shoulder as he turned towards his friend, and now traveling companion. "Let's go."
"Finally! I've wanted to check out this hot spring for months!" The man spoke excitedly from his hiding spot in the tree overlooking the bath house. His white hair swayed slightly as he pulled out a small notebook and began jotting things down in between perverted giggles.
Just as the foxy blond was about to take her towel off and hop into the water with all of her friends, a pair of children walked under his tree. Normally, he would have ignored them and just continued with his research, but their conversation had caught his interest.
"... Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, N-Naruto-kun. W-We don't know wh-where we're going, or even wh-what we should be d-doing. M-Maybe we sh-should go back..." Naruto-kun? Why did that name sound so familiar?
"Hinata-chan... You know why I can't go back to Konoha... There's nothing stopping people from lashing out at me anymore because of... well... because of what I am..." Konoha... so the two were ninja, but what are they doing out here. He certainly hadn't felt a jounin anywhere nearby, and to his knowledge there were no outstanding genin missions that would run through the area. Clearly he was not going to get anymore research done today. Things just weren't adding up, and he hated it when things didn't add up. It always meant something bad was going to happen.
After safely tucking his research back inside of his clothes, he dropped out of the tree and right between the two children. The girl reacted immediately, and predictably, by gasping in surprise and falling over backwards. The boy, however, pulled a kunai and stared him down.
"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are, just jumping out of nowhere like that?!" Jiraiya turned to take a look at the boy who had addressed him, and his eyes widened in disbelief. It was almost like staring back in time; blond hair that seemed to have a mind of its own and piercing blue eyes that stared into your very soul. This kid was the spitting image of Minato. Then it him, the way the two had been talking had made it sound like the boy wasn't very well liked in Konoha, but he had a hitai-ate, so he was definitely a ninja. The boy's name was also apparently Naruto... and he only knew one person by that name in Konoha who had the potential to be a ninja, but what was he doing all the way out here?
"Put that away before you hurt yourself, gaki."
"Why should I? You're the one who just dropped out of the sky!" Naruto looked up at the tree and then over at the building that was across from it. "Just what the hell were you doing up there anyway?"
"That's none of your business, but if you must know... I was conducting research for my books."
"Research? That's a bath house! You were peeping! Pervert!"
"Hey! I'm not a pervert. I'm the legendary Jiraiya of the sannin! I'm a super pervert!" Jiraiya shouted and struck a pose. It was obviously well rehearsed, and Naruto could not help but sigh in annoyance. Just who the hell was this nut job?
In that brief moment of distraction, Jiraiya acted, and within a blink of an eye was behind the boy, Naruto's own kunai pressed up against his neck. "Never drop your guard, gaki."
"Ano... J-Jiraiya-sama... P-Please don't hurt Naruto-kun..." Hinata's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was not quite quiet enough to go unnoticed.
"And why should I do that? This brat's the one that pulled the kunai first." Jiraiya sent the girl a hard glare and she immediately backed down. Inwardly, Jiraiya smiled. It would seem as if the kid had a girlfriend.
"Alright, look. I want some information. You answer my questions, and I'll let the gaki go. Got it?" Hinata nodded quickly in response.
"Hey! I'm right here!" Naruto shouted and struggled against the pervy old man's surprisingly strong grip.
"Quiet, kid." Jiriaya tightened his grip in response to the struggling before continuing. "First, what are two Konoha genin doing three days out from the village without a Jounin-sensei?"
"Ano... W-We..." Hinata fumbled to find words to describe exactly why they had decided to leave.
"We ran away." Naruto's short, and rather cold, response saved her from coming up with another answer.
"So you're a couple of nukenin then? Do you know what happens to nukenin?" Jiraiya pressed the blade of the kunai tighter to Naruto's neck. It wasn't tight enough to draw blood, but it still got the reaction he wanted out of the girl.
"Please don't! We had nowhere else to go!" Hinata blurt out suddenly. She couldn't let Naruto get killed. She wouldn't.
"Oh and why is that? I would think that the Hyuuga heiress would have every reason in the world to stay in Konoha." Jiraiya sent her another piercing glance. She was hiding something, but it wasn't about herself. Whatever it was, it had to do with the brat he currently had at knife point.
"I... I..." Hinata stuttered. Should she tell this man why they had left? If he was really who he said he was, then he could potentially help, but if he was just lying about his name then it could get both of them, and possibly quite a few other people, killed.
"Stop. Just stop." Naruto sighed. "She left because of me. I'll tell you what you want to know, just leave Hinata-chan alone."
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Jiraiya let the boy go, but held onto the kunai. "Now why don't we try this again? What could possibly possess two green Konoha genin to run away from home?"
"I had nowhere else to go. Konoha isn't safe for me anymore." Jiraiya looked at the boy quizzically for a moment. Was the brat talking about the Kyuubi? How did the kid even know about that?
"I can hardly imagine a few children not being safe in one of the most powerful ninja villages in the world."
Naruto looked at the man again. His face was hard, but there was something wrong with his eyes. It was almost like the man knew he was hiding something; like he was just waiting for him to say it. There was also something there that Naruto had only seen in the eyes of the Third; regret for not doing things differently. Did the man know? If he did know, why wasn't he attacking? 'Maybe he isn't like the others...'
"The Third is dead. It is not safe there anymore. Especially not for me, but you already knew that."
Jiraiya stared at the boy incredulously. 'Did that brat just read me? He clearly saw something when he was staring at me that made him want to talk, but what?'
"The Third Hokage is dead?" Jiraiya, of course, had already known that. He had gotten the messenger bird earlier that day, in fact. He also knew who the new Hokage was, and he wasn't sure which was worse. Clearly something was going on; everything fit together too cleanly. It was almost as if it was planned. That was why he wasn't rushing to the village. Something wasn't right, and these kids knew what it is.
"He... He was assassinated." Naruto looked up at the white-haired man in front of him. "He let his guard down... because of me. That damn Mizuki used my name to get to him!"
Jiraiya looked at the boy, and for the first time noticed the swirls of pain behind his eyes. The boy really had cared for the old man, and if he's blaming it on himself...
"Alright, that's enough. You two are coming with me. We'll talk about this more later."
The two kids looked like they were going to object, but a quick glare got them reluctantly into step behind him. For a moment, Naruto considered bolting, but then he realized that they were walking away from Konoha, not towards it.
They walked in silence for almost an hour before stopping in front of an inn on the other side of town. "My room only has one bed, so one of you is going to be on the couch and the other gets the floor."
"Ano... D-Does that mean w-we're st-staying with you?"
"Yes, it does. Sorry, but I'm not letting you two out of my sight until I get my answers."
"Alright... Let's hear it. Why did you really run away?" Jiraiya asked as he stared at the two genin sitting on his couch.
"You wouldn't believe me..." Naruto sighed.
"Try me, kid. I may not look it, but I'm a master of intelligence gathering."
"I don't think peeping on women counts..."
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that... So why did you run, Naruto?" Naruto's head snapped up when the man said his name. No one ever said his name like that anymore.
"I..." Naruto sighed. He really hoped this man already knew what he was going to say. He didn't want to have to deal with being called a monster again. "People attack me because of the Kyuubi. Without the Third, the ninja attacks would start again. I can't fight that. I won't fight that. I won't attack my own village's ninja. I just won't."
Jiraiya eyed the boy curiously. 'So he did know...'
"So you left to avoid having to fight?"
Naruto looked at the man in front of him and took a deep breath. He'd just have to trust him. "No. I left because I can't keep my promises if I'm still there." The second the words left his mouth both Jiraiya and Hinata were staring at him.
"P-Promises... Y-You mean more th-than the one you said when we left?" Naruto nodded.
"What promises?" Jiraiya arched an eyebrow at the kid. He was far too much like his father already. He could only hope his promises don't end up getting him killed.
"I... I promised the Third that I'd fix things. That'd I'd turn Konoha into the village he was trying to turn it into." Jiraiya stole a glance at Hinata as the boy spoke. She was just sitting there looking at him expectantly, so obviously this was not the one he had kept hidden.
"And you can't do that like a normal person by staying there, so you ran away?"
"You and I both know why I can't do that." Naruto sent him a glare. "And I'm not talking about the attacks." That got Jiraiya's attention. The boy does know something about what's going on.
"Kyuubi doesn't like the new Hokage... I don't think I do either. He just felt... wrong."
"You have no idea, gaki. Wait... What do you mean the Kyuubi doesn't like him?!"
"I can talk to him. When the new Hokage stood up during the funeral... He told me that he didn't like the way the man smelled. I think that means he doesn't trust him."
"Of course he doesn't trust him. He's the bloody Kyuubi!" Naruto ignored him. He knew the Kyuubi wasn't as bad as everyone seemed to think.
"My other promise was to the Kyuubi." At that, Jiraiya stopped cold. 'What the hell is that brat playing at?'
"I promised to get revenge... on the people who ruined our lives. The attack twelve years ago wasn't random... Kyuubi was provoked. He was 'aimed' at Konoha."
"You did what?!" Jiraiya stared at the boy. Nobody could be that stupid, could they?
'Boy. I'll talk to him. The frog hermit and I have unfinished business anyway.'
'Alright...'
"Kyuubi wants to talk to you..." Naruto stated as he began making hand seals.
"Wait! Kid, don't do that!"
"N-Naruto-kun?"
"Kinjutsu: Kitsunetsuki!" There was a brief surge of chakra as Naruto closed his eyes. When he opened them again they were blood red and slitted.
"It's been quite some time, hasn't it, Kayaku Jiraiya?"
"Whatever you've done to the boy, stop it! You already took..." Jiraiya stopped short remembering Hinata was still in the room. "... so much from him. Must you take his life as well?"
"I am not harming him. I have never harmed him. The only people to ever hurt him were wearing one of these..." Naruto tapped the hitai-ate hanging around his neck. "Your village brought my vengeance upon themselves."
"Like hell we did! You're the one who came out of the mist and cut our village to the ground!"
"Yes, I did, but I was not the one who started everything. Your village, your people wearing your symbol, came to my home. They took my mate and children and killed them in front of me. They butchered my family. It was only right that I butcher yours."
Jiraiya looked at Naruto as if he had just been slapped. Was the entire attack their fault? No, neither the Third or Fourth would have done such a thing. "You're lying. I knew the Fourth Hokage. He would never have ordered such an action."
"No, I'm not. I cannot show you the memories that I have, but Naruto has seen them. I cannot begin to describe the pain and rage I felt for your village, but Naruto has felt similar. I acted. I exacted the price that was demanded out of honor. Can your village say the same? Deals in the shadows, secret alliances forged in darkness, and open betrayal in broad daylight; am I really the monster?
"The Fourth was not the one who ordered my family killed. This new Hokage... This Danzou... He reeks of the man who has been pulling your village's strings for decades. I do not know about you, but I will not sit by and be toyed with. I am not forcing the boy to do this. He wants to exact his own revenge on the man who ruined his life... ruined his chance at having a family. I made him an offer, and he accepted." Naruto pulled the massive scroll of his back and slammed it down onto the floor in between the two, causing Hinata to flinch at the sudden movement. Jiraiya flinched as well, but it was from how the Kyuubi had spat out the word family as if it was his fault that the boy was all alone.
"I take it you've been wondering what this is?" Jiraiya nodded dumbly. It looked like a summoning contract, but how the hell would Naruto have one of those? And if it was, what clan could it possibly belong to.
"This was what I was willing to give in exchange for his help." Naruto opened the contract and the second symbols began to appear on the paper, Jiraiya gasped out loud.
"That's... That's... Is that real?" Jiraiya stared at the partially open scroll as Hinata tilted her head to the side, trying to make heads or tails out of the exceedingly complex seal.
"Yes, it is. The boy created it himself. I just supplied the knowledge and a little bit of chakra. There is something exceedingly special about him. I do not know what, or why, but the boy is important. We foxes have seen it, and I'm sure you and your toads have as well."
"I... Yes, we've known for a little while now... I don't say this often, but I believe I've misjudged you, and for that I am sorry." Jiraiya bowed his head at Naruto slowly before returning his gaze to the blood red eyes of the boy.
"Hah! The legendary toad sage humbled. That is indeed a rare sight. Help him, Jiraiya, if not for your sense of justice then as his father's sensei. He deserves a family. As much as I despise most of the people in this world, the boy has been through enough. Even I can see when life has been far too cruel to someone. If you are half the man your legends say you are, you will help him."
Naruto blinked a few times and suddenly sat up and looked around. "Woah... Don't think I'll ever get used to the headache that gives me." Naruto looked down at the scroll that was open at his feet. "... The Kyuubi explained?" Jiraiya nodded and Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding in. Hinata just stared at the boy next to her in shock. Naruto can talk to the Kyuubi? Someone is acting from the shadows to ruin Konoha? And just what, exactly, is that scroll?
"N-Naruto-kun... I-Is all of th-that true?"
"All of what, Hinata-chan? Kyuubi asked me not to listen in to the conversation. I don't know what you guys talked about."
"That the attack w-was provoked... That the Hokage is b-being manipulated..." Naruto nodded. "Th-Then that's w-why you l-left?" Naruto nodded again.
"Well... That settles that then. I'm going to Konoha." Jiraiya stood and looked out the window. If he was fast he'd get there by tomorrow morning.
"What?!" Naruto shouted. "You can't take us back to Konoha!"
"Not you. Me. You two are going to stay right where you are and not leave this room, or have you forgotten that you're nukenin and that you'll likely have hunter-nin on your ass? Do not leave the room until I get back. I don't care if the building is on fire. You must not be seen, got it?"
The pair nodded as Jiraiya opened the window and slid out into the quickly fading light.
"Ah! I was wondering when we'd get a chance to meet again, Jiraiya-sama. Honestly, I was expecting you sooner, were you delayed?" The man sitting at the Hokage's desk spoke. His right arm was bandaged and in a sling, and Jiraiya could just make out more bandages covering the right side of his face under the traditional hat that signified the Hokage's office. He had to admit it... The boy had summed it up perfectly; Danzou as the Hokage just felt wrong.
"Ya. I got delayed. I found an apprentice. Well, more like two actually." Jiraiya had to restrain himself from punching the man when his eyes lit up. Danzou only cared about one thing, and that was power. The prospect of him gaining not one, but a pair of ninja trained by one of the legendary sannin was clearly a very tempting idea.
"Excellent! Who are they? I'd love to meet them. Especially if they've already caught your eye, surely they're both quite skilled."
"Before we get to that, I have a few conditions that I'd like you to agree to." Jiraiya had to suppress a laugh when the man's face immediately darkened. He could certainly tell when he was about to get played, he'd give him that. "First of all, I'd like you to grant both of them the same freedom I have in regards to the village. Both of them are loyal, but I'll be outside of the village for much of their training, and I cannot risk that coming back to bite them in the ass later, so I want you to release both of them from active service and grant them permission to move about as they please."
"Done."
"Secondly, I'd like you to keep their identities as secret as possible for as long as possible. Simply being my students will make the massive targets, and as you can imagine, I do not want to endanger them simply by taking them as my students."
"Agreed. Anything else?"
"I would also kindly ask you to not send any hunter-nin or ANBU squads after them either. I'll be training them heavily in regards to my spy network, and the last thing I need is to have to dodge your ANBU as well."
"Before I agree to that, I'm afraid you're going to have to tell me their names. You understand, of course, that you're asking for quite the favor, and even I'm not generous enough to agree to something like that blindly. For all I know you could be trying to harbor dangerous criminals." Danzou's visible eye closed in an almost-glare as he watched Jiraiya carefully.
"Of course, their names are Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata. As you can imagine, having hunter-nin following us constantly would cause quite the problem." Jiraiya smiled at the man as he watched his eyes darken further. He had him trapped. There was nothing Danzou could do but agree. If he didn't then Jiraiya would simply vanish along with both of them.
"Fine, but you have to agree to a few conditions of my own." By now Danzou was full out glaring at the man in front of him. "First, only one of them can be formally declared as your successor once their training is complete." Jiraiya nodded in response. Honestly, he was expecting something like that. "Secondly, I must ask that you either only train one of them, or take on a third member and form a full team. After all, tradition must be preserved." Now that particular request seemed a little odd, but Jiraiya could still make a small amount of sense out of it. Danzou was clearly trying to increase his military gain from the situation by forcing Jiraiya to train a third.
"Finding a third teammate for them may take quite some time. How long would you permit me to find one?"
"Oh... Let's say until the chunin exams. That will give you a little over six months to find one, and of course I'll extend your previous terms onto that person as well. If you can't find one by then, I'm sure I can find someone from the village that would be more than happy to train under you." Danzou smiled back at Jiraiya for the first time during their conversation. Danzou knew full well that the man was bargaining for the jinchuriki's freedom, and that meant that he could request almost anything from Jiraiya in return, and what better than to demand another student from the legendary toad sage?
"Fine, but I need all of that in writing." Three scrolls were already sitting on the Hokage's desk by the time Jiraiya finished speaking.
"You'll find all three already signed. You just need to add their names to the top. Oh, I should probably warn you though. One of our newest hunter-nin was already dispatched two days ago to handle the situation. I'm sure you can understand that it will take at least that long to get in contact with him and have him recalled."
Jiraiya scowled at the man before grabbing all three of the scrolls off the desk and literally flinging himself out of the window. He'd have to be fast to catch that hunter-nin.
"Ugh! I'm so hungry!" Naruto whined as his stomach growled. "I'm going to go run down to that ramen stand that we passed on the way here yesterday. You want anything, Hinata-chan?"
"J-Jiriaya-sama told us to n-not leave the room..."
"Ya, well, the pervert didn't look at his fridge before he said that! There's no food at all in here, and I'm starving! We'll be gone all of five minutes, Hinata-chan! I'll even get it to go!" Naruto was pouting at the poor girl now.
"O-Okay, Naruto-kun..."
Five minutes later the pair was headed back towards the room. Naruto with two full bags of take out in his arms, while Hinata had a small plastic bowl in her hands.
Unannounced to the two genin, they were being followed closely by a pair of cloaked figures.
"Remember that this is your mission. I've been specifically ordered not to interfere unless absolutely necessary, and even then, I'm only to act if the mission is being jeopardized." The taller man in the dog mask whispered.
"I know. It's just the dobe and the failure. This won't even take five minutes." The shorter person in the hawk mask responded. Kakashi had to force himself not to sigh at his student's frame of mind. It was certainly going to get Sasuke killed one of these days, and in all honesty, it almost felt as if the Hokage was trying to get the boy killed.
"Alright then... You know what to do, Taka." Kakashi remained out of sight as the boy silently crept closer to his pray.
"See? Absolutely nothing happened, Hinata-chan!" Naruto smiled at the girl behind him as he crossed the alley just outside of the hotel they were staying in. Out of nowhere, a black blur slammed into him, sending Naruto careening into the alley in a shower of plastic and ramen.
"Hn. Once a dobe, always a dobe..." The figure stood up and unsheathed the standard issue ANBU ninjato on his back and began walking towards the blond who was only just pulling himself out of the trash that he had landed in.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she skidded to a halt at the entrance to the alley, her ramen clattering to the sidewalk just as the hunter-nin was bringing his sword down on the still recovering blond. "Look out!" Naruto rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a fatal blow, but the tip of the blade still clipped his left forearm, leaving a deep gash down his arm.
"Damn it! You made me spill my dinner you bastard!" Naruto screamed as he tackled his attacker into the wall, but the boy in the hawk mask managed to get his feet in between Naruto and himself, and launched the boy back into the opposite wall.
"Hn." Sasuke smirked under his mask as he watched the blond struggle back to his feet. Did he actually get weaker?
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata screamed as she came running into the alley, already dropping into her taijutsu stance. "Naruto-kun! We need to get out of here!"
"Right!" Naruto shouted as he hopped onto the nearby roof and made a break for the edge of the village.
"Tch. Pathetic." Sasuke dodged pair of juuken strikes and jumped after the blond with Hinata right on his tail.
Once Naruto made it to the clearing, he chanced a look behind him only to narrowly avoid the tip of his attacker's sword. "Woah!"
"Cut the crap. I know you're better than this!" Sasuke shouted as he came at the blond again, sword raised.
"Wha?!" Naruto jumped backwards in order to avoid another strike before going on the offense, only to have all of his attacks deflected easily.
'Why the hell are you still using that stance? You're fighting against nature. Let go!'
'Shut up! Now is NOT the time fox!' Naruto shouted mentally as he just barely managed to dodge another sword slash that would have separated his head from his shoulders.
'You were not born to fight like this. Just let it happen. You're going to get us killed if you keep this up!'
'Ugh! If it will get you to shut up, fine!' Naruto screamed inside of his head as he rolled to the side to avoid a pair of kunai.
"Look, I don't know who the hell you are, but we don't want to fight you!"
"Hn." The masked boy ignored his plea to stop and dove at him sword first, only to find Naruto no longer in front of him. 'How the hell did he get past my guard again?!'
Naruto's palm slammed into the small of Sasuke's back, sending him stumbling forward and right into Hinata's range. By the time the boy realized the danger he was in, Hinata had already struck his right wrist causing him to drop his sword and forcing him to jump away from the Hyuuga.
Sasuke took a deep breath and reassessed his situation. This was taking much more effort than it should have.
"You are in range of my divination." The soft voice of Hinata pulled Sasuke from his thoughts, but it was far too late to avoid the incoming attack. "Hakke Juurokushou!"
"One palm!" Sasuke tried to twist out of the way of the first strike, but the girl was too close and it landed squarely in the center of his chest. "Two palms!" Before he could even register the first hit another pair struck the inside of his elbows. "Four palms!" Sasuke backed away from Hinata only to have both his forearms and shoulders struck next. "Eight palms!" The next eight strikes slammed into various points on his chest causing him to cough up blood. "Sixteen palms!" Suddenly the blindingly fast strikes seemed to slow down to a crawl, and Sasuke was easily able to slide between them and even land his own punch into the girls gut, sending her sailing through the air.
"You bastard!" The scream came from directly behind him, and he barely had time to turn around before the fist connected squarely with his face, shattering his mask and sending him down to the ground.
Sasuke pulled himself up onto his hands and knees and coughed up some more blood before staring at the blond idiot that had just socked him in the face. The pain from the punch and juuken strikes was severe, but it was far from crippling.
"Sasuke?!" Naruto gaped at the boy in front of him. What the hell was Sasuke doing wearing ANBU gear and attacking them?
"You bastard!" Naruto charged his former teammate in a flurry of blows. His first punch came in low, under Sasuke's raised guard, but the boy easily saw it coming and stepped away from the strike causing the blond to falter. Naruto reacted immediately by turning his stumble into a forward roll followed by a jump. The action caught Sasuke by surprise, but with the aid of his sharingan, he was easily able to predict the boy's landing spot and had a fist waiting for him.
The battle continued in much the same way for several minutes. Naruto remained unable to hit the broody boy, while Sasuke was forced almost completely on the defensive. His sharingan made avoiding the strikes trivial, but Naruto's assault was vicious and left little room to retaliate without leaving him open in such a way that it would be impossible to react against a counter strike.
"This... This must be the power of the sharingan!" Sasuke laughed to himself as he finally managed to slip inside of Naruto's guard during a lull in the boy's attack and slammed his foot into his stomach, sending him tumbling across the ground. It was all too easy.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she rushed Sasuke, hoping to catch him off guard. Unfortunately, she was nowhere near fast enough to beat the sharingan, and she soon found herself on the ground next to Naruto who was just returning to his feet.
"That's it! You can beat me up all you want. Hell, you can kill me if that's what you're trying to do, but you're going to leave her out of this!" Naruto growled out dangerously, a faint red aura was beginning to surround him. Sasuke idly noted the change in his target's chakra, but it didn't matter. Nothing could stand against the might of the sharingan.
"Yeah? And a dobe like you is going to stop me? No, I don't think so. I have my orders, and they're to bring you back to Konoha... dead." Sasuke smirked and began forming hand seals.
"Katon: Goukyakuu no Jutsu!" He yelled out just before inhaling and sending a massive ball of fire hurtling towards the pair, fully intending to cook them both alive.
As the technique ended, Sasuke's smile turned into a frown when he spotted a massive horse sized fox sitting next to his target, its tail wrapped protectively around the pair like a fuzzy orange-brown cocoon. Huge scorch marks on either side of the fox gave testament to the power of his technique, yet the grass just behind him was untouched.
"That was way too close..." Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as the fox vanished in a poof of smoke.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's shaky voice caused the blond to look over his shoulder at her. "Wh-What was that?"
"I'll explain later." Naruto spoke quickly before drawing a kunai and charging the raven-haired boy with renewed anger.
Just as the two were about to connect, a swirl of leaves erupted between them and both of their wrists were caught deftly by Jiraiya. "Phew... For a second there I thought I wasn't going to make it in time."
Kakashi watched from the tree line as Sasuke's hand slowly dipped into his kunai pouch. If the boy attacked Jiraiya, he'd die for certain. 'Guess I need to step in after all...'
A second later he was standing behind Sasuke, his hand firmly digging into Sasuke's shoulder to keep him from attacking.
"Jiraiya-sama. We were not expecting you to be here..."
"Ah, sorry about that, Inu-san, but I'm afraid that your mission orders have changed. These two are no longer nukenin. I'm sure you'll be receiving word about it within the next few days. Until then I'd appreciate it if you called off your pursuit."
"Of course, Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi bowed towards the white haired man briefly before tightening his grip on Sasuke and literally dragging him away. "Come on Taka, we need to treat those wounds of yours." As the pair reached the edge of the clearing they both vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"I thought I told you to stay inside!" Jiraiya shouted as he immediately focused his attention on the blond he still had a death grip on.
"Tell that to your refrigerator! Hinata-chan and I haven't eaten in two days. We needed food!" Jiraiya eyed the boy and looked around carefully before sniffing and catching the distinct scent of ramen practically dripping off the blond. "Well, it looks like you've had your food, so let's head back. We need to discuss some things."
Naruto looked like he was about to explode at the old pervert for assuming that he had eaten just because he had left the room, but he was saved the trouble when Hinata spoke up on his behalf.
"Ano... J-Jiraiya-sama? We never g-got to eat. We were b-bringing it back to the room when we w-were attacked. Th-The food was ruined during the fight..." As if too emphasize her point, Naruto's stomach rumbled loudly causing the girl to blush.
'At least one of them has the decency to be embarrassed...' Jiraiya mused to himself. "Fine, we'll stop on the way back to the room, and its Jiraiya-sensei now."
"I... I am not sure that I un-understand?" Hinata's shy voice was barely above a whisper. Jiriaya sighed; he'd have to fix that sooner rather than later.
"You two are now officially my students, so you better get used to calling me sensei."
"Sure thing! Whatever you say, Ero-sensei!" Jiraiya stumbled ever so slightly at the name the blond had decided to use. 'Kami... He really is too much like you, Minato.' This was going to be one hell of a ride, of that he was sure. 'At least the kid seems to recover quickly.'
A/N:
Well there you have it, the other ~6k words I wanted to include in the last chapter, but just couldn't fit in. Those of you wondering about how Naruto can switch personalities with the fox so easily as well as control his chakra, the answer is coming within the next chapter or two, but if you're impatient the short of it is that the two must be 'in sync' for it to go so smoothly. Don't expect him to be throwing around four tails of power whenever someone looks at him wrong.
Jiraiya's last name is a pure shot in the dark. Kayaku appears on the summoning contract for the toads way back in chapter 92 of the manga, and since we know both Naruto's and Minato's names, I'm assuming that that is Jiraiya's. It also fits since Jiraiya is derived from the Japanese for "young/quick thunder" and kayaku means "gunpowder"
For those of you curious about why Sasuke is in ANBU, allow me to paint a picture for you. Danzou is pandering to the "last Uchiha's" wishes. I'll be going into more detail about it in later chapters :P
Lastly, I'm in the middle of writing the first chapter to a third story. I have no idea if I'll be continuing it past one chapter, but it's going to be Naruto / Temari, so if that's your kind of thing be sure to check it out.
Next on the list after that, however, is Warriors of Fate, so don't be expecting to see another Butterfly chapter for at least a month, maybe two :/
Techniques:
Kinjutsu: Kitsunetsuki – Forbidden Technique: Fox Possession
Hakke Juurokushou – Eight Trigrams, Sixteen Palms of the Hand
Katon: Goukyakuu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique
Other Terms:
Jiji – Grandfather. Naruto's nickname for the Third Hokage
Hitai-ate – Forehead protector
Gaki – Brat. Also happens to be Jiraiya's favorite name for Naruto.
Sannin – Literally translates to "the three nin" or "three people" This is the name given to Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru by Hanzou during the third great ninja war.
Ano – This is essentially Japanese for "Umm"
Nukenin – Missing/Runaway ninja
Taka – Hawk/Falcon. Sasuke's ANBU codename.
Ninjato – Ninja sword. A straight edged blade used in favor of a traditional katana. All ANBU have them strapped to their backs.
Inu – Dog. Kakashi's ANBU codename.