Woah... thank you guys for reviewing! I guess you really like last chapter, huh? :)

"…And so, to finish…" Sai bowed deeply to his small audience, keeping his dark eyes trained on the ground. "I can't apologize enough for what has happened to your loved ones. But, if you will have me, I would like to help you find Tsunade-hime, as well as the six who were believed to have been killed."

Sai waited nervously, but the awkward silence only lasted for a moment before something hard and plastic hit him in the forehead. He blinked, then cautiously reached down to pick up what looked to be like an empty container of takeout. He paused before raising his head to look at the small group before him, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Yo! Over here!"

Sai glanced over at Anko, who was waving cheerfully at him with one hand. The woman rolled her eyes at his confused expression and chuckled. "Sorry for throwing food at you, but it seemed the best way to get your attention. Look, Kakashi already said we could trust you, and it's pretty damn hard to win that guy's trust. I'm with you. You're definitely in Konoha's Youth United- which, by the way, is the dumbest name I have ever heard in my life."

Raidou shrugged. "I don't know. I kind of like it. Since we're now members, I feel kindof young- with the name 'youth' being in the title and all."

"Both of you, be quiet and focus before I take a play out of Anko's book and throw things at you to get you back on topic."

Anko waggled her eyebrows at Iruka while Raidou just grunted and turned back to Sai. "Ooh, kinky stuff, Sensei. You know, I love a man who knows how to show some discipline in the bedroom."

Iruka flinched. His brown eyes met hers for a moment before he simply shook his head and looked away, digging shaking hands into the soft dirt as he did so. "…Sorry, Anko. Not interested."

"You know, Kaka-sensei will kill you when he gets back here and find out you hit on Iruka-sensei!"

Anko's calm gaze turned into a glare focused on Naruto. "Oh, I don't know about that. Me and the copy cat used to have some fun back in the day, before he started swinging for the other team and got all tied down and domestic-"

"Shut the hell up, Anko."

The woman fell silent at Iruka's venomous glare, seeming to finally get it that he did not appreciate any jokes about Kakashi, and certainly not any jokes about his relationships. Raidou cleared his throat in the awkward silence that followed and looked back to Sai, who didn't seem to know what to say. "After that display, I'd be surprised if you still wanted to join us. We're not all homicidal maniacs, just Anko- don't let her scare you off."

"If that was enough to scare him off, I'm not sure I'd want him on this venture." Shikamaru gestured for Sai to sit and join them, then, as an afterthought, handed him a container of takeout rather then throwing it at him. "Have some dinner and listen up while we talk."

Raidou sat up a bit straighter, not seeing the need to stand since he was already taller than everyone else without even climbing to his feet. "With Sai here, I think it's time for us to fully discuss the combat formations detailed in Kakashi's letter. I took a look at them and they're sound; no better than anything I could come up with. I think we should use them. I want you all to practice them with the squad leaders he chose."

He passed out copies of the teams and formations to everyone present. then continued. "Now… we have three objectives with these teams. Objective one: Find and rescue Tsunade-sama, preferably alive. Objective two: If necessary, fight Danzou to get him out of the Hokage's chair. And, objective three… find everyone who Danzou tried to kill and get them home, no mater what it takes."

Raidou blinked when he saw Naruto's hand shoot up in the air, almost like this secret rebel meeting was something as mundane as a class. "Uh… yes?"

"We all agreed that Kakashi-sensei left us a list of who we could trust. But… Ero-sennin isn't on it."

"Ero-sennin?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Baka Naruto means Jiraiya… doesn't have any idea about how to respect a dammed Sannin."

Shikamaru frowned while Raidou glanced from Sakura to the letter with an unreadable expression. "Naruto's right," the Nara murmured. "We can all agree what Jiraiya-sama is to be trusted. He is also undoubtedly a good enough fighter to be worth mentioning. His presence alone could make or break a mission."

"So why did Kakashi-sensei leave his name off the list?"

No one answered. The entire group contemplated the question, but it was almost a full minute before Shino raised his head and said quietly, "Perhaps they wanted Jiraiya-sama to remain in the village in case Danzou planned something. If he did something that threatened village safety, and none of us were present, there must be someone to stop him."

Kiba's eyes widened. "Yeah! Shino's right! Jiraiya can probably kick Danzou's ass- if Danzou tries to hurt anyone else, Jiraiya will just step in!"

Raidou shot him an exasperated look. "Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that- but you're right. Jiraiya-sama is the best choice to keep the village safe if Danzou tries something."

"I'll talk to him!" Naruto exclaimed immediately, an eager look on his face that quickly slipped into a crestfallen one. "Well, um… I will, when he gets back in town. He's been on a mission for two weeks."

The scarred jounin frowned at that, then sighed tiredly. "It's what I would do. Jiraiya-sama is the greatest threat in this village to Danzou, along with those six he targeted. In fact, if he had sent Jiraiya-sama along with them on the suicide mission, there's a chance that, between the seven of them, at least one of them would make it back alive- which is probably why Danzou left him alone. He's probably going to be giving Jiraiya-sama as many missions as possible to keep him away from the village- he knows Tsunade-sama the best out of anyone in this village and Danzou surely is aware of that. If anyone would notice he was impersonating her based off her character alone, it would be him- and in a fight against the Sannin, Danzo likely knows that victory can not be guaranteed. …Jiraiya-sama won't be of much help to us if he's constantly on missions, though."

No one spoke for a few moments, then Shikamaru just raised his hand and nodded slightly. "Let me think of a plan for it. Naruto, do you know when he'll be back?"

The blond shrugged. "He told me he'd probably be gone for three weeks- so, a few days, at the earliest."

"Good. That should be enough time for me to come up with a plan. Now, until he returns, none of us are going anywhere- but we do have to discuss what our first course of action will be. Who is our priority- Tsunade-sama, Danzou, or Asuma-sensei and the others? …I know we all want to go after them, first, but we have the entire village to think about here."

Anko nodded firmly. "You're right. Well, Danzou's out of the question; even if we killed him now, the village would be without a leader, and that would just be a mess. If we after Tsunade first… I'm sorry, but I won't be of much help. I can fight Orochimaru in a pinch, but… I'll really just hinder you. Sorry." She raised a hand to slowly trace over her cursed seal, then sighed.

Raidou's characteristically cool gaze softened as he looked at the violet-haired kuniochi. "No need to apologize. He's the snake bastard traitor who marked you up anyway; not your fault."

"Don't need you telling me that, scar-face," she muttered gruffly, but it was through a smile.

"Well," Neji said, clearing his throat, "if Anko can not come with us… that will be a problem. Orochimaru won against the late Third, as we all know. And that was alone. We've heard bad things about his assistant Kabuto, and if Sasuke is with him… I don't like the idea of a fight against him. Including myself, there would only be two able jounin; his skills are on a Kage level. There are some fights that just numbers can not win; this would be one of them."

Naruto grinned eagerly. "Well, I think we all know where we can find six awesome jounin wiling to help us out!"

There were a couple of chuckles at that, and Raidou sighed in resignation. "Did you ever think of joining the debate team, Naruto?" he deadpanned. "You make such grounding arguments to get what you want. We can't possibly argue with that."

He shrugged defensively. "It's true, though!"

"Though he put it less than eloquently, Naruto does have a point," Shikamaru said with a grin. "We can all agree fighting Danzou first would be a mistake. And we just agreed we would be hard pressed to fight Orochimaru, if that's what it came down to, and win. But those six- well…"

"They could thrash him?"

"I suppose so, yes, Anko."

A silence followed those words, and everyone looked around at each other as they realized the only viable option. People began to smile, but before they could get too excited, Raidou cleared his throat and stood to tower above everyone else, surveying them all with a critical look. "While this is all well and good… you are all getting ahead of yourselves. You do realize what leaving the village without permission means? Naruto, you in particular should be familiar with this. …We will all be labeled as missing nin. Are you prepared for that?"

Naruto stiffened. He had never even considered the idea of abandoning his own village. Sasuke- like Sasuke had…

No, not like Sasuke. Sasuke had left for himself. As much as Naruto understood his poisonous desire for revenge, Sasuke had still left for his own needs and not for the sake of the village; that could not be denied. But that was not what they were going to do.

They were leaving the village to bring their precious people home. They were leaving the village to bring the real Hokage back.

…They were leaving something called Konoha to bring what made the village what it was back to it.

"I don't know about you, Raidou," he began slowly, "but I am definitely prepared for it. I don't want to live in the village that has murder and bloodshed and sacrifice as its legacy; what Danzou envisions, that's not Konoha. So, yeah, if what it takes is leaving and getting a slash through my forehead-protector, then I'm prepared to do it."

It was Sakura who nodded firmly next. She gazed defiantly up at Raidou and began to speak just as Naruto had. "He's right. We're not just doing this for Shishou and Kakashi-sensei and the others- we're doing it for all of Konoha, too. Danzou doesn't give a damn about this village; there's no telling what harm would come to it with him in charge."

Sai shifted rather uncomfortably and glanced from what remained of Team Seven to Raidou. "That's not true, Sakura. Danzou-sama's methods may be questionable, but he's not a power-hungry fool. He genuinely wants what is best for Konoha."

"There had better be a 'but' at the end of that sentence," Kiba cut in warningly, prompting Sai to offer up his trademark fake smile.

"But I do not agree with his methods. Kakashi-senpai, Yamato-senpai, and the others all were honorable shinobi who sacrificed much for this village, and Danzou-sama still saw no problem with killing them just because they could pose a threat to him. I'm with Naruto and Sakura. I'd rather not be a member of a village that weighs shinobi's lives so carelessly."

"I think," Shikamaru said quickly, "that I speak for all of us when I say that we are willing to go to any lengths necessary to rescue Tsunade-sama and the others. Maa, it'll be troublesome, but I think we can all agree that it's worth it. Staying behind in Konoha with what we know now- that would be a true betrayal to the village."

Naruto smiled broadly as, one by one, the members of KYU nodded in agreement with Shikamaru. He turned back to Raidou. "So, it's settled, then. We go after them and get them home, even if we have to become missing nin to do it."

And as the determination of these words settled into the eyes of every single ninja present, Naruto's smiled broadened and he raised his head to gaze up at the dark expanse of stars. Hang on, Yamato-taichou, Kakashi-sensei. We're coming.

As Raidou and Shikamaru had ordered, KYU had begun to train in the formations suggested by Kakashi. The teams were simple enough; Iruka had been placed in command of Naruto, Sakura, and Sai, Anko in command of Team Eight, Raidou of Team Ten, and Team Three led by their very own Neji, with Raidou acting as general commander over all the shinobi as well. When possible, Iruka, Raidou, and Anko trained with their new teams, who were already used to working with each other, everyone pushing themselves to new limits they had never reached before.

Naruto's training to develop an original wind-based maneuver had grown so stringent and demanding it bordered on ridiculous. Sakura took longer and longer shifts at the hospital, constantly pushing to develop her skills as a medic further, to rival Tsunade herself- because she knew they weren't bringing her along to punch and splinter rocks; her worth was in her skills as a medic. Sai worked with Iruka, sparring with him for hours everyday in kenjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, the ANBU operative pushing Iruka past the limits of his endurance.

Ino-Shika-Cho brought their teamwork to new levels. They could tell where the other two members of the team were when their eyes were closed, and the time it took to pull off their famed maneuvers as a trio decreased every day, even if only by a split second. Ino's stamina with her Mind Control jutsu had increased to where she could hold it for almost an hour at a time, Chouji was near the breakthrough that would allow him to increase his entire body size without a single pill, and Shikamaru's Shadow Possession was deadly enough to pin Raidou in place for almost ten minutes before the scarred jounin managed to break it.

Team Eight had rarely seen better days. They sparred for hours everyday, pitting their skills as trackers against one another in ridiculous matches such as hunting down a tiny scrap of metal located miles away. Anko would take on all three of them at once, and sometimes, taught them strategies to use against Orochimaru when the time came, strategies only she knew and only she should teach, only she could use as his only student still loyal to Konoha.

Team Three had always trained harder than was healthy. It was no coincidence that a member of that team had progressed to jounin before the tender age of sixteen, that possibly the only ninja incapable of using ninjutsu had made chuunin while as a member of Team Three, that one of the best weapon's users in all of Konoha was a member. But in the days when they awaited Jiraiya's return, they reached a state of almost fevered mania. Lee had always trained so hard he had often passed out, and that was no different now, but now Tenten and Neji did the same. They no longer cared about trying to keep Lee from believing that Gai was alive for the sake of his sanity if it wasn't the case, because they wanted so much to believe it, too.

Missions became opportunities to pit their skills against enemies, enemies that they all fought as the one who had taken their precious people and cut them to the ground like they were nothing more than little pre-genins fumbling around in the adult world. They all rushed through the work to return home and see if Jiraiya was finally back- but he never was.

In fear that Danzou would catch on to what they were planning, Raidou had branded them all with a seal to activate if Danzou or ANBU tried to approach them and arrest them- or kill them. Once activated, everyone else's seals would respond as well, and they would know that Danzou was making his move. It had been decided that if Danzou did approach them before Jiraiya returned, they would have no option but to leave the village immediately.

It wasn't hard to see that most were excited by the prospect.

Raidou had also spoken with Genma's old ANBU team. Normally, he shouldn't even know who they were- but working in the Hokage's Tower did have its perks, after all. He had cautiously explained the situation to them and been relieved to find that hating Danzou seemed to be a requirement to be an ANBU member, and learning that their team captain could be alive and that Danzou had tried to kill him didn't do any wonders for their loyalty to the ROOT leader. Now, most members of KYU had an ANBU tail who would intervene if Danzou made his move.

And it was undoubtedly true that every single member of KYU had taken Shikamaru's 'they could still be alive' and twisted it to mean 'they are still alive'.

As Danzou refused to give Naruto any missions that took him out of the village, much to the blond's frustration, he remained home and watched and waited for his master to return so they could finally, finally leave and save their precious people. But the Sannin did not return when he had promised he would.

He almost didn't return at all.

Naruto was dragging himself home after yet another long day of gruesome, exhausting training when he heard footsteps behind him. Whoever it was clearly wasn't trying to conceal his presence, and his steps were slow and uneven, and the man's breathing was ragged. Naruto was so tired he almost considered not even turning around to check if the man was all right, but when he heard a harsh, wet cough behind him, he really didn't have a choice.

And when he turned around to look at the newcomer, he nearly had a stroke.

It was Jiraiya, and he did not look well at all.

The Sannin was stumbling down the street, eyes bleary and unfocused, half of his hair escaping from his ponytail. He wore the plate chest commonly seen on an ANBU though it didn't look like it had done him much good; the metal was rent through by a vicious blow and Naruto could see where the attack had torn shirt and skin underneath. He was clutching his left wrist to his chest, and Naruto couldn't see the injury through the hand holding it, but it looked terrible. The Toad Sage was sweating profusely and breathing through clenched teeth, and, to be honest, Naruto was surprised he was still standing.

"Ero-sennin!" he cried. He sprinted forward to grasp at him before he could fall, and suddenly he remembered, he remembered too much-

"Naruto, I'm really sorry."

"What happened, Ero-sennin?"

"I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but…"

"But what? What happened? Come on, it can't be that bad!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but…"

"You're really freaking me out, Ero-sennin."

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but…"

"But what?!"

"Kakashi was killed on a mission."

He remembered Kakashi-sensei dying, not coming home at all, he remembered Yamato-taichou dying, not coming home at all- the same couldn't happen to Ero-sennin, too!

"Ero-sennin!" he screamed, shaking him by the shoulders and staring frantically into his glazed eyes. "Ero-sennin, are you okay?!"

Jiraiya coughed and focused on him. He was shaking so much and Naruto couldn't help it; he was terrified he was going to die. "P-p-poison," he gasped, almost collapsing onto Naruto right then and there. "M-Mist. Need antidote 325-B. Antidote 325-B. Tell… medics…"

"Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya's eyes fluttered for a moment before they slipped shut, and then his suddenly limp body fell forward into Naruto's arms. The blond caught him by reflex and just stood there in the dark, deserted street, heart pounding, holding the body of one of the only ones left.

Then he took off running. Jiraiya's limp form settling into his arms as he rushed towards the hospital. Whether Kakashi was dead or not- he wasn't dead he wasn't- he couldn't let anything happen to Jiraiya. He couldn't he couldn't he couldn't. He couldn't let him go, too.

Naruto finally dragged his master into the hospital and ran right into Sakura, who looked like she had been about to leave to go home. "Sakura-chan!" he gasped in relief, and the young medic's went wide when she saw who was in his arms. "Sakura-chan, you have to help him!"

Sakura blinked, nonplussed, then abruptly snapped into medic mode and turned on her heel, walking right back into the hospital. "I need some help over here!" she called before helping Naruto get the Sannin into the building and on a stretcher. "Naruto, what happened? Did he just get back from his mission?"

"I don't know, I guess, probably- he said to tell the medics that he was poisoned; antidote 325-B, he kept saying antidote 325-B; Sakura-chan, please tell me he'll be okay! He has to be okay- he has to, if he dies too-"

"Naruto, you need to move back and let me work!"

"But, he-"

The rest of Naruto's words were cut off when he was bowled over by another medic, one who was rushing to Sakura's side to help. Naruto scrambled back, craning his neck to still keep sight of Jiraiya before Sakura pushed him out of the room and pointed to the waiting room. "Naruto, you know you can't stay; I'll tell you what's going on as soon as I know what's going on, okay?"

Naruto looked from Sakura to Jiraiya's prone form and started to frantically shake his head back and forth, and the young medic knew right then and there that she had to give her teammate something to focus on or he would lose it. She leaned forward and briefly wrapped her arms around him in what, to all the world, looked like nothing more than a comforting hug. He stiffened slightly in her arms, and then she rested her head on his shoulder to whisper into his ear.

"Tell the others what's happened."

Naruto froze. When Sakura pulled back, the blond's expression remained blank and unreadable, but it quickly shifted into one of understanding, he nodded firmly. "You got it, Sakura-chan."

The two teammates parted ways, then, Sakura heading back into the trauma ward while Naruto turned to run from the hospital and inform the others. But the blond did not set out on his new mission without first casing one frightened look back at Jiraiya's room, and feel in his heart clench in his chest at the thought of losing one more precious person.

When Sakura finally came out to inform Naruto of Jiraiya's condition, he was not expecting to see a smug smile gracing her tired features. When Naruto shot her a questioning look, the pink haired medic's smile simply broadened as she walked over to sit beside him and leaned back against the wall with an exhausted yawn. "Before you ask, Naruto, Jiraiya-sama is fine. Or will be, at any rate. Did you tell the others?"

He nodded slowly, confused. "Well, yeah, of course- but why are you looking at me like that?"

Sakura simply continued to grin. "Jiraiya-sama was poisoned, as you know. We got him the antidote in time, but, unfortunately, he's going to suffer from the damage it did to his system for quite some time. At least two months."

"Wha… what damage?"

She shrugged lightly at his nervous question. "It stopped the flow of Chakra where he took the hit- his left wrist. He'll have to work to build it up again. Because of where he was injured, seals and techniques will be almost impossible. …He'll have to go on the roster of inactive shinobi until he recovers, but taijutsu and one-handed techniques like Rasengan will still be possible."

Naruto didn't get it at first. He was simply relieved that Jiraiya was okay and that he wasn't going to go through yet another loss, but then, when he looked back at Sakura and took in her still smug look, he slowly began to understand. "Wait… so… you mean, he'll be in the village- but that means-!"

"Exactly, Naruto."

Jiraiya's return and condition was possibly the best thing KYU could have asked for. With the Sannin village bound and, yet, still able to fight Danzou if absolutely necessary, nothing was holding them back from leaving. All they had to do was inform the Toad Sage of the situation and wait for his other injuries to heal- then they would be all good to leave.

That was how Naruto had ended up walking down a hospital hallway at an unreasonably fast pace, his hands tapping nervously against his sides, unable to calm his frazzled nerves. According to Sakura, Jiraiya would have to be in the hospital for at least three days, but, like Kakashi, the Toad Sage had an arguably unhealthy habit of sneaking out of the hospital days before he was meant to be released. Naruto could only hope he repeated this pattern of behavior soon, because he didn't think he could stand staying in this village a second longer, not when Kakashi and Yamato were out there.

He could only wonder why they hadn't been contacted yet. It was one thing to return to the village and show themselves off to Danzou; the man would probably send them out on yet another suicide mission. But it was quite another to at least send a message out to their teams; Kakashi could've given Pakkun a message to deliver- a 'hey, I'm alive, just so you know' wasn't too much to ask for, was it?

A voice in the back of his mind always spoke up timidly, murmuring that it could just mean that Kakashi really was dead.

But no. That just wasn't true. Iruka wouldn't be able to handle it, and if Naruto knew anything about Kakashi, it was that the man would do anything to keep Iruka happy. Even come back to life, as it were.

His conviction had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Naruto wasn't sure if he himself could handle this light tendril of hope being yanked back and finding that Kakashi really had been dead all this time. Nope, nothing at all.

"Jiraiya-sama!"

Naruto raised his head at the sound of a frantic woman's cry, and he sprinted towards the hospital room, musings forgotten as his fear returned-

Inside, he found a very disgruntled nurse standing a few feet back from the bed, her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her mouth in a frown. Jiraiya was watching her with petulant, apologetic expression, waving his hands apologetically as he exclaimed, "-and, now, you just misunderstood, I thought I had glimpsed a bee in your blouse and I only-"

"Jiraiya-sama, you pervert!"

Naruto was brushed aside as the nurse stormed from the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving the disappointed pervert behind to shake his head sadly. "Of all the pretty young things who take groping as a compliment, I have to get the one who slaps me. All well. It's kinky; I'll take it. Ahem… yo, Naruto!"

Relieved to find nothing was wrong with Jiraiya- except for the fact that his extraordinarily perverted tendencies were still intact, which most of Konoha probably could've lived without- Naruto stepped forward and smiled. "You know, Ero-sennin, you scared me! Running up to me to pass out on me. I've had enough of my elders passing out on me with Kaka-sensei."

Jiraiya's eyes widened in surprise at Naruto's offhand reference to Kakashi, the blond not seeming to feel any pain or sadness at all when even the mention of his sensei's name had made him look depressed just three short weeks earlier. He opened his mouth to ask what had changed, then ended up just waving him off with his one good hand. "Well then, you should be used to it by now."

"Just because baka-sensei did it all the time doesn't mean I liked it! Ugh… I'm sorry, Sakura-chan always tells me I shouldn't yell at patients, but I always forget. It's not like you can blame me for it! I mean, you're always getting yourself into trouble in the hospital. Do you know how many times a nurse has hit me because of something you did?"

Jiraiya grinned and shrugged as a way of reply. Privately, he mused at how remarkable it was that Naruto suddenly seemed like his old self again, and he knew well and good that three weeks was not long enough to grieve for one's sensei, especially at Naruto's age- but what was he supposed to say? Naruto's happiness didn't seem like a facade, it looked real, but that didn't put Jiraiya at ease.

He was surprised when the blond's eyes were drawn to the uncomfortable cast on his wrist and, oddly enough, it looked like he was fighting the urge to smile. "What, Naruto?" he teased, raising his injured arm. "Is my misfortune so amusing you want to laugh at a poor, tired old man like me? Oh… you young people, having no respect for your elders nowadays…"

Naruto scowled. "I actually brought you something to help pass the time, you know. Kakashi-sensei used to love them when he was stuck in the hospital, but I guess you're just different-"

"Hey, hey! What now? What do you have for me? Come on, you can't leave your master to rot in this place, Naruto! What do you have?"

The blond grinned innocently and slipped a small notebook out from his pocket, rather than a book with a colorful title page that warned all children to stay away. At first, Jiraiya was confused, but when he got it and flipped through it to investigate, he cried out in delight.

"Well, I thought reading your own books would be kind of boring… even though I thought Icha Icha was boring in the first place… so I tracked down your drafts that I saw you working on a whole lot. Don't authors work on drafts all the time?"

Jiraiya nodded eagerly as he flipped to a particularly steamy hospital scene he had stopped working on because he had lost inspiration. When he thought of the feisty nurse from before, ideas and fantasies came rushing back to him that made him itch for a pen, and he clutched the notebook tightly as he gave his student a thrilled smile. "Naruto, I will definitely treat you to ramen for a week when I get out of here. Thank you!"

Instead of replying in kind, Naruto hesitated, then reached up to scratch the back of his head awkwardly. The motion made Jiraiya frown, and he almost put the notebook aside for later. It wasn't like his student to seem so nervous and unsure of himself. He paused, then opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Naruto beat him to the punch.

"Well, um, actually… that was supposed to be an icebreaker… I really need to talk with you. Like, right now."

Naruto's tone was unusually serious, and all hint of a smile had completely vanished from his normally happy features. Jiraiya actually set his notebook on the bedside table and gave Naruto his full attention, now worried. "Oh? What about?"

Naruto bit his lip and glanced over his shoulder. "I'll have to talk fast… Raidou's out there guarding the door and he's using a privacy jutsu, but we can't attract attention so as soon as someone notices him he'll have to go and I want to get this done as soon as-"

"So start talking about whatever it is you have to tell me and stop procrastinating. Though I am kind of interested as to what Raidou's doing here. Namiashi Raidou? Black ops, ANBU Raidou?"

"Yes, but that's not important." Naruto shifted uncomfortably, then closed his eyes and decided to just come out with it. "It's about Kakashi-sensei."