Chapter IX: Hunted
"Well, come on pervy sage, I'm on pins an needles, what's this new Jutsu your gonna teach me? The last time around it was the walk on water Jutsu. Is it walking through fire, or wait, walking on air? Ah, come on pervy sage, let's hear it already." shouted a happy Naruto as he and Jiraiya were on their quest to find Lady Tsunade.
"Alright, enough with the pervy sage already. You have no idea how amazing of a guy I am do you?" said a slightly annoyed Jiraiya.
"Huh? What, amazingly pervy?"
"Grrr. You! Alright, listen up!" Jiraiya ran to the top of the bridge they were about to cross and prepared his introduction. "The toad sage is only my cover. Allow me to reveal my true identity. From the north to the south and the east to the west, not even the spirits can defeat this Sannin. The white maned toad charmer, the red hot ninja who strikes fear in the hearts of men, Master Jiraiya, hahaha. Yes, I'm speaking of none other than myself! Hahahahahaha!"
Jiraiya finished his introduction and struck one of the goofiest poses Naruto had ever seen, even goofier than bushy brow's sensei. Naruto just gave Jiraiya a deadpan look before speaking. "Uh huh."
A dark cloud of sadness seemed to wash over Jiraiya as Naruto walked right past him, Jiraiya didn't even move, he was frozen in place like a statue as even the birds decided to mock him as they flew by. Naruto continued walking until he came to a fork in the road with two signs, he decided to stop and read them.
"A-atafaku town, that's ten kilometers from here."
"No, it's Otafuku Town." said Jiraiya as he walked past Naruto down the path.
"Oh. Hey, wait a second pervy sage."
Jiraiya stopped dead in his tracks to give Naruto an annoyed look. "Look kid, I told you already, it's Jiraiya. Come on."
"So, the fact that some big wig pervy sage chose me to be his traveling companion must mean something right? I must be a potential genius in the making, ah man it's just like I always thought." Naruto said with barely contained excitement. "C'mon, C'mon, why'd you choose me?"
"Well the truth is kid, a long time ago the fourth Hokage used to be a disciple of mine."
"Huh?"
"You bare such a striking resemblance to the fourth it's almost laughable. Sorry, but that's the only reason I got for you?" Jiraiya continued walking while Naruto processed the information he was just given.
"So wait... I'm like the fourth." Naruto could no longer contain his excitement as he ran past Jiraiya and started jumping with joy. "Ah yea, woohoo!"
"What's up with you?"
"If I'm just like the fourth Hokage that means I must possess the same level of genius that he did. I'm on my way to Hokage after all, woohoo, hahahahaha!"
Jiraiya couldn't help but smile at Naruto antics. His smile died down though as Naruto stopped cheering and squish noise was heard.
"Oh no! I just stepped in some dog doo!" Naruto shouted.
Jiraiya sighed before pointing at Naruto in a theatric manner. "The only similarities you share with the fourth Hokage are pigheadedness and that spike blonde hair of yours!"
"What was that, you senile old perve?!" Naruto took a step forward, only to hear another squish noise. "Not again!"
once again, Jiraiya could only sigh.
[...]
Meanwhile in Konohagakure, villagers and construction workers were working hard to repair the village. One of the people helping in the village repairs was a young girl with short pink hair and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless red qipao dress with slits along the sides, accompanied by a zipper and a white circle design on the back. She also wore tight dark green bike shorts with a shuriken holster around her right thigh, blue shinobi sandals, and standard Konoha headband that she was using as a hair tie. This girl was the last member of Kakashi's team seven, Sakura Haruno.
Sakura was helping to rebuild a sign to her mothers shop, that was until her mom called out to her. "Sakura, come here!"
"Ok!" Sakura called back.
Sakura walked inside the shop, the lower level was the shop while the upper level was her home. When she walked inside she noticed a box of dumplings and sweets. "Would you take these dumplings over to Ino's house?"
"To Ino's house? These?" Sakura asked referring to the dumplings.
"That's right. Don't be a bother and stay too long, alright. Everyone is so busy these days."
"Yea mom, I know. I'll see ya in a bit." Sakura grabbed the box and headed outside. As Sakura was walking through the streets she saw how hard the villagers were working, it was nice to see everybody work together as a team.
"Oh hey, I should bring some of these over to Sasuke later too." Sakura said while blushing. "I wonder if he has a sweet tooth? Oh, and Naruto too, he'd probably eat just about anything." Sakura started to think back to when the village was just starting to recover from the invasion, she remembered how Sasuke told her how Naruto saved her life, how displayed a level of power he never had before. Just thinking about that kept Sakura in good spirits. "Alright, I'll save some for Naruto too."
[...]
Over in the training grounds, Sasuke was panting, hard. He had just finished drilling a Chidori into a giant rock. As Sasuke stared at the crater he made in the rock, he began to think about when the invasion started. 'I wasn't able to do anything. I don't ever wanna have to see that again... watching all of my friends falling down in front of me.' Sasuke thought about how when Sakura was trapped by the enemy he couldn't do a damn thing, so Naruto had to protect them both. 'Naruto just gets stronger and stronger... compared to him, I'm-'
Sasuke's thoughts soon took a dark turn as he thought about the one person in the world he wanted dead. He realized he needed to keep going, he made it his goal in life to become strong enough to defeat her, and he would! Sasuke made a set of hand signs as lightning began to engulf his hand, he would get stronger, no matter what!
[...]
The wind blew through the trees and bushes that Naruto and Jiraiya were walking by on there path to Otafuku Town. Unknown to them, a red eyed raven was following them from the sky. On top of a cliff not too far away from Naruto and Jiraiya, Mikoto and Kisame were watching them, just waiting to make there move.
"I'm pretty sure you could go toe to toe with him, though I'm not sure I could. He's on a whole other level." Kisame said seriously.
"Indeed. If we faced each other, both of us would be killed. That's a very unpleasant outcome. Even if there were more of us, the results wouldn't be any different." said Mikoto as she and Kisame continued to watch Naruto and Jiraiya.
"Never thought I would have to go up against one of the legendary Sannin. If we fight him... both the Uchiha clan and the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the mist will have their names dragged through the mud."
"True... but still, even the strongest of opponents have some sort of weakness."
[...]
After about half an hour of walking, Naruto and Jiraya decided to take a small break and rest at a mini temple shrine. The temple shrine itself looked old, and it was on top of a hill with a few stone steps in front of it. The shrine also had these giant bells that Naruto and his shadow clones didn't mind messing with. Jiraiya took a seat on the hill while Naruto continued to mess with the bells, much to Jiraiya's dismay.
"Keep it up kid and you'll be cursed." Jiraiya said as he pulled an energy bar out his pocket.
"Hey pervy sage? What kind of student was the fourth Hokage?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I think it's safe to say he rose to greatness because of my tutelage." Jiraiya said smugly. "So, to land me as a sensei, well kid, lets just say you hit the jackpot ok!"
"Huh?" all the Naruto clones said in unison.
"What, you don't believe me? A good sensei will naturally beget good disciples, that goes without saying."
"So wait a second pervy sage, if that's true then who did you have as a sensei?"
Jiraiya simply smiled. "Who, me? I first studied under the third Hokage."
"The third, huh?"
"Yep. This was back when the third Hokage was still a young spring chicken."
"The Hokage... a spring chicken?" all the Naruto clones asked.
"That's right, I was a young buck myself back then." Jiraiya finished with a giggle.
"Young buck!" all the clones shouted before accidently ripping two bells off the shrine. The clones disappeared, leaving Naruto alone to catch one bell and take another to the back of the head. The bells had ribbons on them witch Naruto got tangled up in as he tumbled down the shine's stairs. "I uh... got a little tangled up."
"What I tell ya, those curses are no joke." Jiraiya joked. "Wait a second, if you study with Kakashi, that means you must have gone through the bell training, am I right?"
"Huh? Yeah I did. Forgot about that." Naruto thought back to the bell test he Sasuke and Sakura took. He remembered being caught in a rope trap twice, trying to eat lunch by himself, getting tied to a stump at the end, and that dreaded Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death. Just thinking about that technique made his sphincter tighten. Naruto stopped reminiscencing about the past and continued to speak. "I was tied to a stump, man I forgot how much all that stunk."
"What? You too, huh?" Jiraiya asked surprised.
"Huh? You too? You too what?" Naruto asked.
"Never mind. Just put those two bells back where you found them."
"Easier said than done, I'm a little tied up."
Jiraiya smiled as Naruto tried to untangle himself, the scenes sure did bring back memories.
-Flashback-
"There are two bells, and since there are only two." said a young Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"One of us will get tied to the stump."
"You're pretty quick on the uptake Orochimaru." Hiruzen smiled.
"All right! I got this one in the bag." a young Jiraiya said confidently.
Hiruzen gripped the bells tightly in his fist. "I want you to come at me with the intent to kill."
Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade all took off in different directions. As time passed Jiraiya found himself buried up to his neck in dirt, strung up by his legs to a tree, and launched into the lake by the Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death. When the test was finally over, he was tied to a stump while both Orochimaru and Tsunade each had a bell.
"Well Jiraiya, it looks like I win our little wager. Enjoy your time on the stump.' Tsunade didn't mind dangling her success in his face.
"Oh shut up you annoying little troll." Jiraiya taunted. That proved to be a mistake as Tsunade grabbed him by the collar in a fit of rage.
"What did you say, you smarmy little dork!" Tsunade kept trying to throttle Jiraiya while he tried to do his best to defend himself, while being as annoying as possible.
Hiruzen sighed before trying to break up Jiraiya and Tsunade's little scuffle. "Ok, that's enough. Enough Tsunade, you and Orochimaru head home."
Jiraiya just grumbled as Tsunade let him go. But before she left she dangled the bell in front of him one more time, then she stuck her tongue out at him. She just had to get one more jab in. After that childish display, Tsunade and Orochimaru left Jiraiya and Hiruzen alone in the training ground. Jiraiya stayed tied to the post until the sun started to set.
"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Hiruzen finally spoke. "How can you become a ninja when you keep falling for the same obvious traps over and over again?"
"Yea, but-" Jiraiya couldn't finish as Hiruzen cut him off.
"You could learn a thing or two from Orochimaru."
"It always the same thing with you sensei, Orochimaru this and Orochimaru that!"
"Huh?"
"The transparency Jutsu I use is flawless when I'm out researching."
Hiruzen sighed. "Oh boy. I'm not sure I even want to know where you are with transparency."
"I haven't been caught peeping yet. It's true, I swear."
Hiruzen closed His eyes for a moment and reopened them with a slight blush on his face. "Alright, if your so sure of yourself, I'll uh... have to tag along next time."
There was a long stretch of silence as only the birds and wind could be heard. The silence was broken when Jiraiya finally spoke. "Wow Sarutobi sensei, you're a perv."
-Flashback End-
Jiraiya started to chuckle to himself, that was a really fond memory for him. He stood up as Naruto finished putting the bells back. Naruto heard Jiraiya's chuckle and decided to ask about it.
"What's so funny pervy sage?" Naruto asked with barley contained excitement.
Jiraiya just smiled and ruffled Naruto hair. "You know kid, just what I was saying before. A good teacher produces good disciples."
"Huh? What are you talkin about?"
"Just make sure everything's back to the way it was and let's go."
"Yea, yea." Naruto walked over to the bells and pulled the ribbons and saw the bells were secure.
[...]
Back in Konoha, or more specifically Kakashi's house, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy were having a meeting. They were going to take Kakashi to the hospital, but then they remembered he hated hospitals. They were all in Kakashi's room where Kakashi was lying in his bed still unconscious. As they were speaking they noticed Kakashi only had two pictures in his room, one of him and his team, and one of him and his best friends and sensei.
"They're trouble, but from the looks of things it doesn't appear that they've found Naruto yet." said Guy.
"That's what's crazy, it doesn't add up." said Asuma as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. "They had already infiltrated the village, it should be easy to find Naruto around here. Besides, Mikoto knows Naruto's face already."
"Shhh." said Guy as everyone heard the sounds of footsteps coming to Kakashi's bedroom door.
The door opened to reveal Sasuke Uchiha. "Kakashi?" Sasuke saw Kakashi unconscious in bed and gasped. "Why is Kakashi asleep, and why is this room filled with Jonin? What are you doing? What in the world is going on here?"
"Uh... not much, really." Guy attempted the best lie he could.
Before Guy or anyone else could say anything more, an unnamed Chunin came running through the bedroom door shooting of his mouth. "Hey, is it true that Mikoto has returned? And that she's come here to get Naruto?"
The Chunin only stopped asking stupid questions when he realized all the Jonin in the room, minus Kakashi, were giving him an angry look. Then he also noticed that Sasuke was in the room.
"Oh." said the Chunin.
"Idiot." Kurenai sighed.
Sasuke's face suddenly grew deathly serious as he charged past the Chunin and out of Kakashi's house.
"Oh, why does this always have to happen?" shouted an annoyed Might Guy.
Sasuke was charging through the streets of Konoha as fast as he could, he couldn't believe it, Mikoto was in Konoha. 'So she's come back to the village huh, and she's after Naruto. What does this mean?'
Sasuke eventually made it to Naruto's apartment building where sprinted to Naruto's front door. As Sasuke flung Naruto's front door open, he found Sakura on the other side. Sakura had just finished dropping off some dumplings and sweets.
"Hey Sasuke."
"Where's Naruto." Sasuke asked quickly.
"I don't know, I just got here myself." Sakura answered as Sasuke began sprinting off to somewhere else. "I wanted to give Naruto some... sweets."
'If Naruto gets caught, he's dead. I won't let that happen.' Sasuke thought as he stopped in front of the one place he knew Naruto had been to today, Ichiraku Ramen. Sasuke quickly ran inside the stand to ask for information. "Old man, Naruto stopped in here today. Do you know where he went after he left?"
Teuchi thought for second before speaking. "Oh, sure, Naruto. He met master Jiraiya here at around noon. They had a little bit of ramen and said they were headed off somewhere."
"Where to?" Sasuke asked frantically.
"Now that I think of it, I believe he mentioned that outpost town a aways out from the village, yea. Then he set out with master Jiraiya."
"Jiraiya?" Sasuke asked, the name sounded familiar.
"Yea, Jiraiya, he's one of the legendary Sannin. Now, if you want to find him, you're looking for a great big old fella with a head of white hair."
"A big guy, white hair." Sasuke burned that description into his brain and sprinted out of the stand.
"Hey. Aw c'mon, if you're gonna stop by to ask some questions, the least you can do is order some ramen." said Teuchi, even though Sasuke was already gone.
Sasuke continued sprinting through the streets, he needed to get to that outpost town stat. He was about to reach the gate until he bumped into someone and they both fell down. Sasuke quickly rose to his feet as did the other person, he realized he just bumped into Izumi.
Izumi dusted herself off and noticed the look Sasuke had in his eyes, the feeling of dread that had been following her all day was now in full effect. "Where are you off to in such a hurry Sasuke?"
"She's was here Izumi, Mikoto was here!"
At the very mention of her name, Izumi froze. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion and there were no sounds to be heard. Izumi started to hyperventilate as memories from that night started to flood her mind. Izumi thought she was mostly over this, but she guessed she was wrong. Izumi snapped out of her trance like state when she realized what this meant. "You're going after her, aren't you?"
"Don't try to stop me." Sasuke said sternly.
"Sasuke, revenge isn't going to bring anyone back, and it won't make the pain go away." Izumi tried to reason. In the years that passed, she and Itachi tried to convince Sasuke that revenge wasn't the answer. At fist talking wasn't working, but as time went on the message seemed to be sinking in. Now that Sasuke found out Mikoto was here, all the progress he made was now flushed down the drain.
"Fine." Sasuke ground out.
Izumi seemed a little relieved that Sasuke seemed to be listen to her. She walked over to him to try and calm his nerves. "Everything will be fine, we need to report this to whoever is in charge."
Now that Izumi let her guard down, Sasuke took his chance to strike. He through a smoke bomb on the ground witch took Izumi completely by surprise. Sasuke quickly jumped out of the smoke while holding his breath. When the smoke cleared, Izumi was on the ground, out cold.
Sasuke walked up to Izumi's and spoke. "I'm sorry Izumi, but I know you'd try anything to stop me, and I can't waste time mixing it up with you."
Sasuke turned away from Izumi and sprinted outside of the gates of Konoha.
[...]
Naruto and Jiraiya finally made it to Otafuku Town. The place was bustling with strange people and there were shops and vendors everywhere. Naruto rarely left the village, so this kind of place was a far cry from the village he knew and loved.
"Oh man, this town is pretty weird." said Naruto as he and Jiraiya kept on walking.
In another part of Otafuku Town a beautiful woman with a short skirt blue dress, black heeled shoes and a red neckless, was walking the streets. She had long black hair, brown eyes, two gold earrings, and a pale complexion. To any man, this woman looked like a real knockout. As she was walking she felt a pebble collide with her ankle, that got her attention. She looked around her to see were the pebble came from, but saw nothing. She was about to continue walking until she suddenly had a glazed over look in her eyes.
Back on Naruto and Jiraiya's end, the pervy sage had finally found a place for them to stay. "Naruto, we're gonna crash here tonight."
"What?! But why, I could still walk." said Naruto.
"A disciple should always obey his master."
"Look, I just want to learn some Jutsu, ok."
"Yea, no kidding, that's what makes you a disciple." Jiraiya stopped his rant before it could get started when he heard footsteps. Both he and Naruto turned to see a beautiful raven haired beauty in a blue dress. She flipped her long black hair at them in a very provocative manner. Jiraiya and Naruto lost all control, Jiraiya mostly. Jiraiya was hopping up in down like a man who had just won the lottery. Naruto on the other hand was frozen in place with a perverted smile on his face, sound effects included. The woman winked at them and signaled them over with her finger.
Jiraiya quickly stuffed a hotel room key in Naruto's hand. "Here's the room key, I want you to go up to the room, train for a bit and work on your chakra, and go straight to bed ok."
Naruto was outraged. "WHAT?! OH, SO I SUPPOSE YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME IT'S TIME FOR THE GROWN UPS TO PLAY NOW, IS THAT THE VIBE HERE YOU BIG PERV!"
[...]
"That outpost town isn't that far off!" said Sasuke as he continued sprinting to the town."
[...]
"Oh man, Every time I'm with that pervy sage I always end up getting shafted." said Naruto as he started to work on his chakra in the hotel room.
[...]
Sasuke finally made it to the outpost town and saw how packed full of people it was. 'This is it.'
Sasuke was sprinting through the town so fast that he failed to notice that he passed by Jiraiya and his new lady friend. He also failed to notice two cloaks move past him as well. Sasuke stopped running when he realized he no idea where to start looking. "Guess I'll just have to go door to door."
Meanwhile at one of the stands, Jiraiya was sharing a large cup of something with his new lady friend. "Here's to you."
The woman just giggled at Jiraiya before they both toasted.
[...]
"I'm starting to think he has no interest in training me at all." said Naruto as his two shadow clones agreed with him.
[...]
Sasuke was still searching building after building looking Naruto, but was having no such luck in finding him.
Jiraiya on the other hand was trying to win a prize for his lady friend at a booth. "That one there, you like it?"
The woman just nodded. As Jiraiya through a ring around the small item the woman was looking at.
"Haha, see, 100 out of 100, I never miss."
While that was going on, Sasuke found another inn to check. He ran up to the receptionist to ask her some questions. "Is there a dopey looking blonde kid staying here, around my age, he's traveling with an old man, a guy with white hair."
"I'm sorry, but this inn is for women only I'm afraid." the receptionist said kindly. Sasuke ran out of the inn to continue his search.
Sasuke was getting tired, he had been running nonstop. He found another inn and asked the receptionist if he had seen a kid matching Naruto's description, the receptionist told him that this was an inn for old people. Sasuke charged out of that inn and found another one to explore.
Jiraiya on the other hand was enjoying some food with his lady.
[...]
Naruto continued his training until he heard a knock on the door. Naruto thought about sending a clone to go open the door, but he saw that all 13 were taking a nap. "Uh guys, when did we all decide it was nap time?"
[...]
Sasuke slammed his hand on the receptionists desk and prayed to kami that Naruto was here. "Is there a dopey looking blonde kid staying here? He's traveling with a big guy with white hair."
"White hair you say?" the receptionist asked.
"Are they here then?" Sasuke asked, hoping his search was over.
The receptionist put her hand to her chin in thought. "Hmm, did I see someone like that at the shift change?"
While Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance at the receptionist, Jiraiya and his lady were trying even stronger drinks. "This is a really bitter drink, do you think you can handle it?"
The woman nodded.
"Well, bottoms up."
While Jiraiya was drinking the receptionist finally remembered. "Oh yea, a blonde kid and a white haired old man."
"So there here then? What room?" Sasuke practically shouted.
The receptionist pulled out her sign in sheet and started to look through it. "Let's see... that would be room one on the second floor at the end of the hall."
Sasuke ran up the stairs as fast as he could, leaving the receptionist all alone. He found the room and began knocking.
[...]
The knocking on Naruto's room door intensified as he dispelled his clones to go answer the door. "I heard you the first time. Just give me a second to unlock the door."
[...]
Sasuke waited as the door opened to reveal a dopey looking blonde kid and a white haired old man, but they weren't the ones he was looking for.
"You're not..." Sasuke couldn't finish his sentence, he was too stunned, he found the wrong people."
[...]
Naruto opened his door and was greeted by an ominous sight. Standing before him was a woman dressed in a black cloak with a red cloud pattern. She had fair skin with long black hair and two bangs on the sides of her face that framed her cheeks. She also had a Konoha headband, but the symbol had a long slash mark going across it. She had bad omen written all over her and Naruto knew it, but the thing about her that scared him and froze him in place was her eyes. Sharingan.
...
Author's Note: Mikoto has found Naruto, Sasuke Knocked out Izumi and found the wrong people, and Jiraiya is having himself a grand old time with a nice lady.
Have a nice day and keep on reading.
