Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Narutoverse

Chapter 5

Topography Lessons

The forest in the early morning always held a somewhat mystical feel about it. A layer of fog lay just above the forest's floor, covering all the low vegetation with a heavy dew. Because of that damp layer, one would be hard-pressed to hear or notice any of the awakening fauna in the area. It also allowed for a veritable cushion as the not-so-natural blond and orange figure fell through low-hanging branches yet again.

"GUUWAAAH! AGH! AH! OOF!" Naruto's exclamations were cut short with a loud WHUMP as his body increased the indention that was already taking form on the forest floor.

Hinata, sitting a little ways away with her eyes shut, was distracted from her chakra control exercises yet again by the wanton destruction caused by the body of her not-so-secret-except-to-idiots crush. She reigned herself in from going over to check on him – again – since Jiraiya-sensei had caught her the last few times, and had told her, specifically, that she wasn't to stop what she was doing for anything short of an enemy attack. Hinata felt so useless; not only was her concentration being shattered every couple of minutes, but she couldn't even do anything to help the cause of her loss of focus.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was napping under the foliage. While Hinata had completed the exercise in apparently record time – mainly due to her almost perfect chakra control as a Hyuuga – Shikamaru was still only a little over halfway to the goal. He had simply taken the halfway point as a marker that he could at least take a short break before going at it again. He wasn't particularly bugged with Naruto's noise; he'd grown a bit too used to it as it'd been going on for over an hour now.

After a moment or two, Naruto sat back up and stared down the tree as if the tree itself was throwing him off. He didn't get it. Not a bit. What was he doing so wrong? Hinata-chan had practically done it on her second try! And how was Shikamaru higher than he was?! "Errrrggg...!" He rubbed his hair wildly in frustration. "Why can't I climb a stupid tree, y'know?!"

Jiraiya had woken the three up very early in the morning – almost immediately after dawn – and brought them to this clearing after eating a light breakfast. He had explained how learning to climb trees using only your feet led to a foundation for better chakra control and further ease of use of chakra. After he mentioned it was one of the basics of the basics for any active ninja, Naruto had claimed he'd accomplish the goal in two hours. Jiraiya just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" He had said, "Alright then, if you don't learn how to climb a tree with your feet within that time frame, you've gotta learn how to do it with the scroll on your back."

Naruto hated that scroll. It hadn't been so heavy initially, but after walking all day yesterday with it on his back he felt like it was dragging him into the ground. Not to mention he couldn't even open the damn thing! Erosennin just wanted to make his life a miserable hell outside of Konoha, Naruto was sure of it.

And where had that pervert gone, anyway?

Jiraiya was a little ways away; he could still hear Naruto's cries of agony as the kid fell, repeatedly. The Sannin finished writing on his small parchment before rolling the tiny scroll up and affixing a touch-sensitive seal on to it. The seal itself would only unlock if touched by a specific person, otherwise the message would crumble into dust. Jiraiya flipped the epistle through his fingers before slapping his hands together, then the ground, summoning a small, black messenger toad.

The black messenger toads were only used for his contacts scattered throughout the continent. Each one was assigned a different contact, and these specific toads could easily sense whether or not the contact they were allotted was legitimate or not. Their olfactory senses were unreal. Jiraiya's contacts hated the toads – they seemed a bit too obvious – even though Jiraiya had told them time and again it was the safest way to stay in contact other than meeting in person. He traveled far too much for that to be an effective way to keep in touch.

The toad, with almost neon purple squiggly lines running up and down its body, latched its tongue to the message before sucking it up as if it were a fly. "Alright, good. Now I don't want you to leave before he gives you a reply, okay? I need to know how much I should give him." The toad hopped twice in confirmation of Jiraiya's request; it couldn't talk due to the responsibilities it was given by Gamabunta, the toad's boss. Jiraiya just nodded in response before the toad reverse-summoned itself.

'Now that that's settled, I figure I should probably tell Naruto how to properly climb a tree before he breaks his back.' Jiraiya stopped his thought process for a moment. 'Wait, can he break his back?' Jiraiya shrugged to himself, 'Better not push it.'

The old sage stood up and turned back around to go back to his students.

Hinata was concentrating very hard on the task given to her: a chakra control exercise designed to collect the prevalent mist in the air near the ground around her body. She had no idea what the purpose of the task was, just that Jiraiya-sensei had told her that's what she was to do. Hinata never went against authority figures. Despite the relative simplicity that the task originally presented, Hinata was struggling with the execution. She had never tried using chakra to draw things in before.

The low-hanging mist seemed to shake for a moment – she couldn't see this with her eyes shut – before going back to its relatively still nature. Hinata briefly opened her eyes, since she had felt something, before sighing in disappointment. Nothing seemed to be any different. If Jiraiya-sensei had just told her what this was supposed to do she didn't think she'd be having this much difficulty. Hinata was very much the type that needed a bigger goal to head towards, and in this way she was a lot like Naruto. It was also the reason she adapted his way of life; never giving up and always pressing forward to that one, seemingly unattainable, goal.

Hinata was still working on the 'never back down' part.

It was at that moment that Jiraiya stepped back into the clearing. Naruto took that moment – accidentally, of course – to come flying through the canopy at a diagonal and carving a rivet into the earth as he skidded several yards. His eyes were scrunched up before he slightly opened his right to stare straight into the slightly curious look of Jiraiya.

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he hopped quickly up. He never was one to just lay around. "Oi! Erosennin! What's the trick here, y'know?" Naruto spotted Shikamaru sleeping a little ways away, and he growled slightly. "And why am I the only one having problems here?!"

"Relax brat," Jiraiya clamped his massive hand over Naruto's head, ruffling the blond hair on top a bit, "That's why I came back here; I could hear your racket fifty yards away. Can't have you declaring our presence to everyone, can we?" Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto, however, grimaced. He didn't realize he'd been so loud. Erosennin and Hinata-chan both had tried to enforce the idea that silence was the key to blending in to your surroundings. He, of course, had taken better to Hinata's explanation better than Jiraiya's, but that was all in how they tried to teach him. Shikamaru didn't seem to care. More likely, he just didn't want to waste his breath.

Clapping his hand on Naruto's shoulder to lead him back to the tree, Jiraiya chuckled a bit. "Don't sweat it, kid. This spot's pretty far removed from any normal paths that would be taken. Other than us, no one'll hear you. Just so long as you're not hurt, you can yell all you want. Though it might be better for you to at least try to contain yourself."

Naruto grumbled something under his breath that Jiraiya couldn't catch as he looked back up the tree he'd been attempting to climb. The bark was torn away from his kunai, and, in some spots, his chakra blew away large chunks of the tree itself. "I just don't get why this is so hard, y'know? It's just climbing a damn tree."

"Well, your situation's a bit different from the other two's. Normally the problem would be that you're not putting in enough chakra to allow yourself to cling to the side, but in your case you're putting out too much. That's why you're getting blown so far away and causing damage to the tree itself." Jiraiya slapped his hand on the tree and looked up. "It's a somewhat delicate balance for you, so we just have to take it a bit backwards. For right now, we're going to ignore your little outburst about finishing in two hours so we can take this nice and slow for you." Jiraiya smiled down at Naruto, who looked away rather embarrassingly.

"No one ever told me putting in too much was ever a bad thing..." Naruto muttered, still looking away.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me no one ever explained why you weren't able to do a simple bunshin?" The sage shook his head in disbelief. "Your sensei at the academy probably just didn't put two and two together..Still, that's rather irresponsible of them."

Naruto turned back to Jiraiya, anger in his eyes. "OI! Don't insult Iruka-sensei like that! He's..He just..He had other things to deal with, y'know?!"

Jiraiya looked shocked at Naruto's outburst. 'This Iruka character must've really rubbed off on the kid.'

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Hmm..He probably just didn't want to make you aware of the Kyuu-" Jiraiya's words were cut off as a terrified looking Naruto leaped up onto the tree, and, hanging sideways, clamped his hands over Jiraiya's mouth.

"STOP!" Naruto quickly scanned the area; Shikamaru was still in his sleeping position and Hinata-chan had a look of utter concentration on her face. He took his hands away from Jiraiya's mouth. "S-sorry, Erosennin. That's.."

Jiraiya gazed at the horizontal Naruto for a minute, reading the blond kid's awkward expression. He smiled slightly. "Okay, I get it. You don't want them to know, huh? It is your right, I guess, but you do realize that you're not going to be able to keep that secret for long around them."

Naruto looked slightly despondent. "Er..yeah, I get it. The old man told me as much before we left, y'know? I just..It's too soon, I think."

Jiraiya raised both his eyebrows at Naruto's soft speech before reverting back to just a quirk of a smile. "'Too soon', huh? Well, I suppose. But we're going to have to work on that later, got it? If you don't say something to them about it relatively quickly, who knows what could happen?"

Suddenly Naruto was worried. Was Erosennin implying something? "Wh-what'd you mean? I thought-"

Quickly, Jiraiya tried to ease the awkwardly stuttering Naruto; the brash blond really didn't seem like himself when he was imitating Hinata. "Don't worry about it for now, kid. Nothing's going to happen as long as I'm around. I will have to explain the intricacies of that seal to you, though. It's somewhat...special. In the meantime..." Cracking a grin, Jiraiya continued. "...It's pretty impressive that you managed to practically master tree-walking without thinking about it."

Naruto looked confused at Jiraiya's words. He didn't quite understand what the Sannin was implying. "Whaddya mean, Erosennin? I haven't mastered anyth-" Jiraiya was simply pointing at the ground, which Naruto immediately noticed was directly in front of him. "WHAT?! HOLY SH-"

The kid's words were cut off as he lost concentration and landed face first into the earth. Jiraiya just laughed uproariously while Shikamaru simply opened one of his eyelids.

About 9 AM the troupe was back on track towards Ame no Kuni. It had taken another forty-five minutes for Naruto and Shikamaru to really master the tree-walking exercise, but all in all Jiraiya was impressed with their efforts. Normally it took about a full day or two before Genin really mastered the technique. He chalked it up to Naruto's accidental understanding of how to limit his chakra and Shikamaru's natural intelligence. Once Naruto got a feel for what had happened, Jiraiya gradually increased the weight Naruto would hold until the kid could properly climb up and down with the heavy scroll attached to his back. The sage understood that Naruto was a practical learner; the kid needed to see and feel how something worked before he really got it. Jiraiya could relate to that.

Hinata had been the real surprise.

No matter how he tried to rationalize it, Jiraiya simply couldn't figure out why Hinata was such a natural at the technique. Sure she had the Hyuuga training and the Byakugan to assist her, but in that amount of time? It was ludicrous. So the sage had set her on some more complicated exercises – she would need them sooner than later – and kept tabs on her through his peripheral vision at all times. Hinata seemed to be getting the hang of it, but from the look on her face it didn't seem that she knew.

"Listen, ojou-chan," Jiraiya had made his way back behind the group where Hinata had been walking, "Looks to me as if you're taking it a bit hard on yourself." The Sannin smiled at the girl, who had been walking with her face to the ground in defeat.

Hinata was startled to hear Jiraiya-sensei speak to her all of a sudden and she quickly looked up at the white-maned man. "J-Jiraiya-sensei! I-I'm so s-sorry. I-If I w-were just a b-better n-ninja I'd g-get it.."

Quirking an eyebrow, Jiraiya chuckled as he rubbed the girl's indigo hair. "What're you talking about? I've never seen anyone complete the tree exercise that fast. No one who wasn't a good ninja could ever have been able to accomplish that feat. You should be proud!"

Hinata just blushed at the contact and praise. No one ever complimented her.

"And about that exercise I'm putting you through: Don't let it bother you too much if you can't see the results of your effort." Jiraiya winked at the girl. "I can tell it's coming to you. It's a delicate technique, but it's one you're going to have to get down pat if we're to go on to the next step. For now, just try to remember what it feels like to draw the moisture in."

"Y-yes, J-Jiraiya-sensei. I-I think I u-understand." Hinata looked back up at the sage with a somewhat confusing look; it had far too many emotions running through it.

Jiraiya, though, just grinned at the small girl. "And never forget: what truly makes a shinobi great is to have the guts to never give up."

Hinata's eyes suddenly hardened with renewed resolve. Jiraiya was somewhat shocked that that's really all it took to solidify her emotions. "Yes, Jiraiya-sensei!" And he was even more surprised to not hear her stutter!

'There's probably something to that..' Jiraiya thought in wonder. "Well, ojou-chan, just keep working at it. I'll know when you're ready."

With that, the sage moved back up to his traveling position slightly behind Shikamaru who was in the lead.

Shikamru was silent. Not that that was any surprise.

So when he address Jiraiya-sensei it threw the Ssannin slightly off-guard. "It's pointless, you know. Hinata hasn't the slightest bit of confidence in herself. A few words from you won't get passed that." Shikamaru was convinced in his hypothesis. Hinata was weak and her confidence level was beyond understanding.

"Kid, when you're twelve years old it feels like the world's out to get you. It's kind of a bother, but certainly not a 'pain in the ass' as you're obviously thinking." jiraiya was speaking quietly so Shikamaru could only hear.

"That kid has something special in her. Her family may not have noticed it, but with the right training and encouragement she could be one of the best. Even more so than that Neji Hyuuga I kept hearing about."

Shikamaru sighed,"Whatever you say, sensei." Though he clearly didn't sound convinced.

"Now as for you.." Jiraiya clamped his hand down on the pinapple's head. "You've got other problems."

Shikamaru turned to face the Sannin, confused. "'Problems'? What're you referring to, exactly?"

The solemn face Jiraiya held showed Shikamaru just how serious the situation was.

"You take things for granted. Everything's a 'pain' to you. I know it's your own way of avoiding responsibilities, but that's got to clear up real fast. This training won't go as smoothy if you can't take the time to put forth some effort."

Shikamaru sighed. "Well sorry if I just don't find the things we've been doing as 'exciting' as the other two."

"And that's just the problem; Before too long those two are going to eclipse you in strength and efficiency. We're going to have to work on your work-ethic. I told our ojou-chan just a moment ago, but the truth strength of a shinobi derives from the determination to never give up. Naruto and Hinata don't seem to have this problem, but you – on the other hand – don't seem to grasp that concept."

Shikamaru furrowed his brow at that. "So what if I take things at my own pace? I don't personally care if they rocket past me. I just want to live a life of peace and tranquility."

Jiraiya-sensei turned stern. "You do realize that with that kind of attitude you'd be quickly killed right about now."

Shikamaru halted in mid sentence; Jiraiya-sensei's words definitely had a sort of logic to them that he couldn't refute.

"Therefore, I'm going to attempt to focus your training on more mundane things. Things you would normally refer to as a bother. And if those kinds of words ever escape your lips, hell's to be pay." Jiraiya had an evil glint in his eye.

'Sigh...Just great...More pointless tasks.'

As if reading his mind Jiraiya continued, "Everthing you're going to be doing is going to try and get rid of that lazy attitude of yours. You'll be doing much more than the other two in terms of run-of-the-will activities: firewood collecting, fishing, scouting, among other things. Trust me, I know how Nara work. I'm going to beat that lazy attitude right out of you because if I don't your teammates will be in grave danger. I know that when push comes to shove you've got it in you, but I need you to be alert at all times. You'd never make it past Genin with that kind of attitude."

He knew he wasn't going to win this argument, so Shikamaru just sighed miserably.

"In the mean time, I want you to start focusing on the rubble we're walking over. Your an earth chakra nature. Try and do what Hinata's doing and focusing on drawing objects in instead of out. Since it's tangible, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get the hang of it."

The student simply nodded as he started his training.

Naruto was bored.

Actually, that was an understatement, Naruto was sick and tired of everything that was going on around him.

Hinata-chan and Shikamaru both were busy doing chakra exercises that he wanted to do; or at least thought he wanted to do. Instead, he had been trudging along for hours with the weight of the world on his shoulders. 'The weight of the world' being the new name he came up with for the god-forsaken scroll he had attached to his back. Naruto had already bugged and pestered Jiraiya beyond anything that was healthy to teach him some kind of jutsu, but the pervy sage would simply respond by saying 'Is the scroll unlocked? It's not? Then you're not ready yet.'

The blond was disgusted by the scroll. It felt like he was lugging around a huge log on his back that had no use. This was not far from the truth, as Erosennin had said, he couldn't open the stupid thing. Naruto had tried everything he could think of to open it: his hands, fire, sharp objects, etc., etc. Nothing worked, and the kid was becoming incredibly irritated. And, of course, Erosennin wasn't giving him any tips.

"Ooooi, Erosennin! Can't you at least give me something to work with, y'know?! This is getting stupider and stupider by the second!"

Jiraiya sighed for the umpteenth time. "Kid, the whole point of you carrying that thing around is for you to get used to it. Opening it up before you're ready would waste all the work you're putting into it now. When you're ready, you'll know."

The blond groaned, again. "But Hinata-chan and Shikamaru are already both doing awesome jutsu practices already, y'know?! Why am I the only one who's gotta lug around dead weight?!"

The sage turned to face Naruto head-on. "The reason Hinata and Shikamaru are performing these exercises is because they're ready and able to perform them. You, on the other hand, with your large chakra reserves - and next to zero control over them - have to focus on other things. If the scroll hasn't opened up, yet, that means you're going to have to focus on more chakra control exercises. The tree exercise was just a small step in that direction."

By now, the quartet had crossed the border into Kawa no Kuni. It was obvious by the wildly different flora and fauna surrounding them. Not to mention the gigantic river that could clearly be heard in the distance. For some reason, Naruto held felt a sense of foreboding ever since the river came into hearshot.

"Once we get near the Chikuma River, we'll make camp," Jiraiya mentioned as the group kept walking towards the sound of flowing water, "I'll also start instructing you on the art of water-walking."

Naruto's sense of dread only increased. Jiraiya seemed to sense the kids' hesitantcy.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds." The sage grinned back at his students.

Freezing, teeth-chattering, and frustrated; the students rushed into their tents in order to dry off so they could hover around the campfire in order to warm their bodies. Shikamaru had originally been put-off by the idea of a fire – smoke would alert anybody in the surrounding area to their presence – but Jiraiya simply waved off the complaints as he unwrapped a scroll and created a smokeless fire.

"You don't travel around the world on a constant basis without learning a few tricks. Smokeless fire is pretty basic; you'll learn how to do it eventually." Jiraiya was already sitting in front of the fire, the flickering flames playing creepy dancing games with his already weird make-up.

"What the hell, Erosennin?! Why'd we have to start this water-walking thing now, y'know?! It's impossible! Even Hinata-chan is having problems!"

Hinata kept silent. She was already embarrassed as she had had to take off her overcoat in order for it to not weigh her down with the inevitable water that would cover her. Luckily her blush kept most of her face warm despite every other part of her body being frozen solid from the river. Due to her natural affinity with water, she had had an easier time than the other two boys, but walking on water proved to be incredibly difficult due to its constant movement.

Jiraiya just laughed. "Water-walking, even though you're complaining about it, is the best way to learn proper chakra control. Since water is constantly changing it requires you to learn proper balance with your chakra. Without it..well..You end up like you are now." Grinning, the sage continued. "These are the basics, kids. Without'em you won't get very far with more advanced techniques. Sure, I could teach you some basic jutsu, but without proper chakra control all you'd put out are weak attacks that any average shinobi would laugh at and brush off."

The Sannin's face suddenly turned serious. "If you want to continue living in the world of shinobi, you're going to have to be able to take care of yourselves. You've got your teammates, sure, but what if you're separated? What then? The best you could do right now is little better than what a match would do when struck and lit on fire. That includes your shadow techniques, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru's open mouth immediately shut. He had just about to say something about his own skills not really being in the same class. He realized that Jiraiya-sensei wasn't going to be one to help him with his family jutsu. How could he anyway? The sage wasn't a Nara, for crying out loud. That left only the earth techniques he was going to be taught, of which he had next to no knowledge of.

Naruto's ears picked up, however. "Shadow techniques? What the hell're shadow techniques?" He tried to turn his head to Shikamaru when he asked, but found he couldn't. In fact, he quickly learned he couldn't move any part of his body at all. "HEY! What the hell?! I can't move, y'know?!"

Shikamaru just quirked an eyebrow lazily. "That's a shadow technique. Kage Mane no jutsu." He stood up and Naruto stood up with him. "I can control your body with my own shadow." He stuck his pinky in his nose, Naruto imitating him, then started performing a goofy dance with Naruto mirroring.

"Huh?! Hey! What the- Oi! Stop it Shikamaru!" Naruto kept flopping around in embarrassing poses while Hinata tried her best to contain her giggles.

Jiraiya, however, didn't contain his own laughter. As Naruto started imitating a monkey Jiraiya practically fell over onto his side from laughing so hard. "AHAHAHAA! A-Alright, Shika-Shikamaru. I-I think he g-gets it." The man could barely talk through his side-splitting laughter.

Shikamaru, grinning slightly, took away his shadow from Naruto's body letting him free. This, of course, lead to Naruto leaping at him and begin wrestling with the pineapple-headed boy.

"Wh—Gerroff me you numbskull!"

"Shut it, pineapple! I'll show you what it's like to not have control of what you look like, y'know?!"

By the time Naruto sat back down in a huff in his original spot, Shikamaru had chopsticks stuck up his nose and into his bottom lip making him look like a deformed monstrosity.

This became far too much for Hinata, who started laughing out loud along with Jiraiya. Naruto, who had never actually heard Hinata laugh before blushed slightly. He couldn't quite place the sound, but it was one of the more amazing things he had ever heard. The blond ate the rest of his meal in silence before all four of them went their separate ways to bed.

The following day, the squad reached Kaze no Kuni. Jiraiya had never intended for his students to master water-walking in one day, so he had a makeshift boat stored in one of his myriad of scrolls. The kids were still forced to attempt the technique as they rowed across the wide river. When they reached the other side, they were surprised at just how quickly they all dried off.

"It's not a desert for nothing, you know." Jiraiya had said. "Besides, we've got to go this way in order to get to the spot I've got in mind."

Jiraiya had explained that they couldn't just cross the border to Ame no Kuni through Hi no Kuni where the borders aligned. Doing so would place them in a direct path to Amegakure, and that was one place they needed to avoid at all costs if Jiraiya's information was to be believed.''

So instead the group found themselves staring at towering dunes of sand that looked more like sharp mountains than anything else. The sheer sides of the dunes prohibited any thoughts of climbing, and the fact that they were so close together meant that Team Jiraiya was going to have to navigate a veritable maze if they were going to reach the entry point. Apparently this was also the side with the least amount of Ame no Kuni patrols due to the natural defenses lined along the borders.

Around this time, Naruto had the 'ingenious' idea to have a clone of his carry the scroll for him. The thing was starting to wear even his super-high energy down. Jiraiya, however, dispelled the clone almost immediately before sticking the massive tome back on the real Naruto.

"If you can't get used to carrying it yourself, you're just going to end up being a liability later. Learn to take responsibility even if you can't see the immediate reward, brat."

And that was the end of that discussion.

That, of course, didn't stop the exuberant blond from trying to convince Hinata to slide down the steep dunes like a slide. The shy girl hadn't immediately followed the blond, but when he grabbed her wrist she practically lost all control over her body and soon found herself sliding down the sand much faster than any normal slide she had ever experienced as a child. Shikamaru, when invited, simply shrugged and said they should probably just keep going, but Naruto flatly ignored the party-pooper.

This continued for a little bit, with Naruto's clones catching both children before throwing them back up a ways in a sort of endless slide. While Jiraiya found it an interesting, albeit useless, usage of kage bunshin he had to stop the kids eventually. Shikamaru had been right; they needed to keep going if they were going to have enough time to cross the border at the best opportunity.

"Okay, okay. That's enough you two. As much fun as that seems, we have to get to the proper location at the right time. Ame no Kuni's borders are extremely strict and we've got to get to border crossing fairly quickly if we're going to avoid detection." Jiraiya dispelled Naruto's clones so both Hinata and Naruto landed softly at the base of the dunes; Naruto sticking his tongue out and Hinata trying to look only slightly disappointed.

"If the borders are so strict, Jiraiya-sensei, how exactly are we supposed to get across anyway?" Shikamaru asked logically. "We certainly can't just walk across."

Jiraiya winked. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. I've done it before, so we'll just be using the 'Jiraiya Way'."

All three kids looked at each other with just a bit of worry. 'The Jiraiya Way'? They sincerely hoped it didn't involve toads.

After about two hours of hopping, the red and green toad spat out four slimy shinobi.

"Ack!" Naruto begin furiously wiping and shaking off the oil and slime that was sticking to his body. "You've got to be kidding me, Erosennin! That was the most disgusting thing I've ever had to deal with, y'know?!" He quickly remembered his 'encounter' with Sasuke. "Okay, second most disgusting thing."

Shikamaru just quietly wiped the gook off himself while simultaneously getting splattered in the face by Naruto's method of removing the gunk. He slowly wiped his face clean. "Naruto, watch where you're aiming you dumbass. This is all ready a pain in the ass to get rid of."

The blond suddenly stopped his violent shaking. "Oh. Whoops. Sorry, y'know? It's just so disgusting!"

Hinata had covered her head with her hood, so she was the least covered. "N-Naruto-kun, t-that isn't v-very n-nice..M-Mr. Toad helped u-us s-so much.." The presumed heiress bent down and patted the toad on the head to the happy gurgle. She smiled kindly as she thanked the toad politely for getting them where they needed to go.

Jiraiya smiled. "See? Our little ojou-chan knows how to treat those that help us out, doesn't she?" He pointed two fingers at the two boys. "You brats could learn a thing or two from her. Besides," Jiraiya looked into the overcast sky, "If it's not raining now..."

Suddenly a downpour occurred wiping the toad's oil off the remaining members, especially Jiraiya who hadn't done a thing about it.

"...There we go. Better get used to it, too; There's a reason they went with the name 'Ame no Kuni'"

"You've got to be kidding me, y'know?! First toad gunk then a rainstorm?!" Naruto was fuming. "Anything else you'd like to notify us about, Erosennin?! Like, y'know, random explosions?!"

Just laughing again, Jiraiya shook his head. "In this part of the country that's highly unlikely. Most people congregate down in Amegakure which is a ways southeast of here." The sage looked around at the darkening atmosphere. "Now, we've better hurry. There's a place we've got to reach before it gets completely dark. It'll be our residence for the time being."

The four quickly started running northeast, hoping to find at least some sort of shelter.

However, what they found was far from satisfactory. Even Jiraiya was left speechless.

"What the..What the hell happened here?" Jiraiya looked over the dilapidated building. "It looks like it was blown up.." Jiraiya mused to himself for a minute. 'That might explain the lack of communication those kids gave..'

The shelter in question was a wreck. Part of the roof was missing and the house itself was overgrown with plant life; as if no one had even taken care or seen the place in decades. Jiraiya found himself frowning at his old, temporary home.

"I don't quite see how this is in any way some sort of 'shelter', Jiraiya-sensei." Shikamaru needlessly pointed out before being clocked over the head by the sage's fist.

"It didn't used to look like this, lazyass. Something must've happened here after I left." The Sannin crossed his arms in concentration.

The area itself wasn't so bad off. Just the house. There was a small lake off to the side where a stone bridge made it's way adjacent to the water. The grass was lush, due to the constant rainfall, and the wide-open space surrounding the area was perfect for any sort of ambush that might occur.

"Well, for now we'll have to make due with what we can." Jiraiya started forming hand signs before placing his hands on the ground. "Douton: Daichi no Fuseya!"

Almost instantly, an earthen dwelling erupted from the ground. It was simple and small, but it would do the trick.

"Wh...Wait a second, why didn't you do this before, Erosennin?! If you could've done this the entire time why did we always get stuck in tents, y'know?!" Naruto was already knocking on the wall of the earthen building testing its constitution.

"Because, brat, it's raining. And who knows how much heavier the rain's gonna get. The tents we've got wouldn't be able to handle the strongest of the Ame no Kuni rains."

Hinata was inside the makeshift hut preoccupied with the fact that there was only one room. Jiraiya had followed her inside.

"Don't worry, ojou-chan. I know it's kind of lacking in privacy, but the house that we're going to be using doesn't exactly have much in that regard anyway. You're going to have to get used to it..though.." Jiraiya formed some additional hand signs before some of the wall on the inside expanded creating a very small room. "That'll have to do for now. How about it?" Jiraiya grinned down at his blushing protegé.

"U-um..Y-yes, Jiraiya-sensei. I-It'll be f-fine..I t-think.."

Jiraiya clapped her shoulder. "Good. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Last time I was in this area I had the same composition of two boys and one girl to deal with. There is a room in the house, but it's about the same size, so this'll have to do for now."

Turning to the other two boys who had just entered and were looking around the barren enclave. "Tomorrow we're going to be working on fixing up that house. This is only temporary; it is made of earth, so the rain will eventually cause damage to the structure. Hopefully the rain won't get too heavy that we spring leaks tonight. In the meantime, settle down, make yourselves as comfortable as you can." The sage looked thoughtful for a moment. "You've got about two hours before I think you should head to sleep. Shikamaru, Naruto: you're playing go. Hinata, since you've at least gotten the grasp of the water exercise I taught you it's time I instruct you on what you should be doing next: Creating water and mist from the air."

Hinata looked stricken. She, of course, could draw water in from actual water sources, but directly from the air? That seemed impossible.

Jiraiya grinned. "Don't let the idea get the better of you. Water is all around us, so it's just a bit more complicated. It's still the same principle. Besides, you're going to have to get this down soon if what I expect to arrive is actually going to get here on time."

Lilac eyes only looked at Jiraiya in confusion as Hinata tilted her head to the side, not having a clue as to what Jiraiya-sensei was talking about.

"You'll see soon enough, ojou-chan." Jiraiya laughed as he started unraveling a scroll with their dinner.

Side Note: This chapter may be replaced in the future with a better version. I'm somewhat unsatisfied with how it came out, but I kinda just wanted to post it up ASAP. Now I did say I wouldn't put author's notes in the chapters, but good god I'm glad these two chapters are relatively done with. I have a whole new respect for Seinfeld. Writing about nothing is incredibly mind-numbing, and I've found that I hate writing traveling chapters more than anything. I didn't burn out like some people may have thought, I just...really hated writing these chapters for some reason. Oh well, I've got a whole bunch of ideas and plans for their stay in Ame no Kuni.

By the way, it is Ame no Kuni, so thanks to all those people who corrected me. My Japanese map for some reason doesn't list the name of the country, it just has a big purple splotch with the name of the Hidden Village in a general area.

Lexicon:

Kawa no Kuni – River Country

Douton: Daichi no Fuseya – Earth Release: Earthen Hut