Naruto Uzumaki looked around in horror at the scene around him. It had been going according to plan. He had gotten the Priest Vegeta to battle him in an open field, away from the town of Araoicho. He was making sure that he did not bleed, since he was certain the Vegeta could do all of that voodoo stuff if he ingested somebodies blood. At least, that was what he had been told by Kazama and Honoko. So, he was using what he knew and what he had learned to his advantage. He was using his shadow clones to try and tear that dangerous looking scythe away from the Priest, since it was his main weapon and tool in the fight. Naruto was certain that the second he got the weapon away from him, Vegeta would be as dangerous as the damned Daimyo's wife cat, Tora. After thirty minutes and close to fifty shadow clones, however, he was no closer to tearing apart the scythe from the man then the man was at capturing him. He had made sure with his new Shunshin jutsu to never let the man near him unless he was attacking him personally. He was trying to do all the damage that he could to see if he could put Vegeta's immortality to the test. And though Naruto had hit him with no fewer than three death blows, one of them personally, Vegeta had tanked them and was still fighting. But Naruto had Plan B that he was using as well, the best chance to destroy Vegeta. Foolishly, he had thrown off his cloak so he was able to attach 6 explosive tags to the back of the man without him realizing it. He was in control of this war.
And then everything changed. All of his shadow clones suddenly stopped, and suddenly had scythes identical to the one Vegeta was holding in their hands. Their orange jumpsuits were gone, replaced with the outfit Vegeta wore from his pants to the great robe speckled with blood. And they all simultaneously turned away from Vegeta and faced the town of Araoicho. Naruto suddenly realized there was a huge group of people watching this fight, hoping to see the monstrous Priest finally slain. He quickly hoped he could dispel the clones before they could do damage, and immediately put his hands together in the appropriate sign to destroy these rebellious creations. However, at the same time they all reared back their scythes in preparation to throw them. Naruto gathered the chakra needed to kill his clones and immediately destroyed them all. But it was too late. In their last action of life, they put momentum behind their scythes to the crowd. Naruto destroyed six of his clones. Their six scythes beheaded six members of the crowd almost immediately, decapitating women and little girls with expert precision. All the heads rolled as Naruto kept the vomit from leaping from his stomach and stopped with their eyes all looking at Naruto. It was then Naruto felt himself being hugged and turned his head to see Vegeta smiling at him, embracing him menacingly in a bear hug.
He spoke. "You made the right choice. I would have done the same thing. Don't be too hard on yourself. He had it up his sleeve." It wasn't his voice, but a voice Naruto did recognize well from recent conversation with the pervert. And then, in that same voice, he felt Vegeta whisper one more thing into his ear.
"boom!" And then there was only light.
Naruto swallowed the recollection of his nightmare deep inside of him, not letting it get to him. He could not let these things get to him. That nightmare, or the other ones, or the evil contents of the scroll he carried with him. He was trying to meditate, and had to become zen or something close to it. But it wasn't for some odd religious awakening, but rather Jiraiya's decision to make sure Naruto could draw upon the power of the Kyuubi to some degree. He could convince the fox to send him a bit of chakra and force a cloak, but Jiraiya gave him two challenges to meet. The first was the ability to create a cloak on self-command without the fox acting as a middleman. The second was being able to fully control and use jutsu with one tail of chakra on him. This was the truly difficult part. So Naruto was forced to look within and draw it out in the best way Jiraiya knew how. Or second best, after Shin nixed the "Go to Hiroshima Falls and throw him off" course of action.
Shin was acting as a counter voice to the Toad Sage, something that was a mixed bag for Naruto's future. He knew that while this was a training trip was of vital significance to the Hokage, he could not allow Jiraiya to hijack and solidify his molding on the Godaime. He had to bring him to Danzo-sama with him written in pencil, not pen. He had the oddest metaphors that he learned from his younger brother. He wondered how he was doing in Konoha and under Danzo-sama. While he was working on his fire jutsu, what was he doing?
…
Sai was currently regretting his decision. How it occurred he did not know, but in a span of a mere week the kunoichi on his team, Sakura-san, had improved drastically. He had failed to notice, since such massive overnight improvement was rare, but logical in this case. She was far beneath any potential she had, especially with a legend such as Kakashi Hatake as her sensei and chakra control he truly did admire. So a concentrated effort to improve herself would allow for a drastic curve of improvement before slacking off as abilities became a greater challenge to reckon. As his older brother once explained in a discussion on talent, it was easier to become a 4 from a 1 than a 6 from a 5. Apparently, Sakura had become that 4. He had expected her to simply bitch and complain and stay a 1. So when he challenged her to another arms-tied behind his back taijutsu match, he expected another easy victory.
But now, Sakura Haruno was faster and stronger in a short amount of time. She was able to dodge his offensive maneuvers at a higher rate while delivering much superior blows that not only could land, but do damage when they did so. She would still be a relatively easy fight with his arms, it would still be a more difficult contest than the one they had the week before. But he couldn't use his arms. And he couldn't dodge in time. And that punch really hurt. Like, really hurt his face. Was his tooth loose? Did his nose break? He watched Sakura smile at her solid contact, and reinforced his belief that he would win. That he could defeat her. Like a snake he began to attack her speed at the knees with short, blunt blows that were difficult to dodge in a taijutsu setting. In fact, she attempted to jump over his kick only to receive a hard headbutt to her chest, causing her to land flat on her back. Sai was now a bit more confused, as he had read up on the female form at 13, and knew of agents in ROOT who were about that age as well. Females were supposed to be growing breasts at this age, and should have become a bit noticeable. But from what he felt with his face during his attack, they were not. While the obvious answer would be she was smaller chested, another thought entered Sai's cranium. He had read a detailed book on gender with his studies and had come across a phenomenon that seemed to describe Sakura Haruno to a T. Her appearance, her attitude, her interests, they were all easily explainable. He had to know.
"Sakura-san, may I ask you a personal question?" He asked her while she was on the ground.
She was annoyed by the most recent turn of events, but proud of her improvements overall. So she was willing to hear his question. "Yeah, Sai-san. What is it?"
"Is it possible that you are what is known as a transgendered person? Either born as a male and transitioning to female, or born as a female and transitioning to male. I believe either process would explain your flat chest, subpar appearance, violent attitude and other characteristics."
Sai did not receive a response. He just saw hate. Loathing. Utter wishes to castrate him. A desire to maim his parents. He didn't know one could read those levels of emotions from a person's face. He jumped back as Sakura flung into action with a roar and smashed her fist into the ground where he was. He was shocked to see what appeared to be a crater at the center of the impact zone. And was that the ground cracking? Apparently anger fueled Sakura-san's strength. Duly noted.
Sai was regretting his second decision that day. It was a record for him.
Looking on, Sasuke could not muster the emotion to feel pity for Sai. He had brought it upon himself. Seriously, transgender? That was one of the stupidest things he has ever heard someone ask someone, counting all the time Naruto asked Sakura out. Seriously she just isn't into you. Go somewhere else.
Kakashi could not help but feel proud of what his student had gone out and learned. And he didn't have to lift a finger, which was a bonus. He turned his attention to his other student, who was watching the fight and the kunoichi closely. "So, what do you think of Sakura's improvement?"
Sasuke stared at the fighting form of his team's kunoichi. He had been impressed to see Sakura actually sweating and pushing herself like him and the dobe had. After her defeat from the emotionless ass, she had gotten leaner and more definition in her arms and legs. Not that he was staring at her legs or anything. "I think it suits her. If she continues this, I won't be annoyed with her anymore."
Kakashi put his hand to his masked mouth as if something scandalous was said. "Won't be annoyed, you say? That seems one step closer to liking her, and one step closer to rebuilding your clan." Kakashi couldn't help but find it amusing to see Sasuke Uchiha flustered, even if it was for a moment.
Sasuke blushed red for a second before forcing it to dissipate. Not knowing exactly what to say, he simply glared at his sensei. "Pervert. I'm 13, I have years before I need to think about that stuff."
Kakashi let out a lecherous giggle. "Maybe, but you never know. Why wait 10 years for that fun when you can have it in 3?" He was of course referring to the standard age of legal adulthood (outside of being a shinobi affording you many rights) of 16.
Sasuke rolled his eyes before realizing the fight was ending. "Sensei, the fight is about over." He pointed to the last attacks of the match going on. Kakashi followed his finger to a surprising sight.
Sai was currently attempting choke Sakura out with his legs as she desperately tried to pry him off of her, especially his crotch from her face. Her momentum had dwindled after the onslaught after the accusation and Sai had taken advantage. He figured with the muscles in his legs choking out Sakura would be a quick process. What he didn't know was that Sakura had once been daddy's little girl. And daddy's little girl would watch the same things as daddy. And one of those things was called wrestling. And it had a move called a powerbomb, where one had their opponent on their shoulders facing towards them before violently slamming them into the ground, back first. She remembered this move and did it on Sai. Repeatedly. After 3 powerbombs and probably a broken rib or two, Sai gave up on choking her and tried to catch his breathe after the assault that he was not expecting. Which proved difficult as Sakura put her foot against his throat rather harshly. He sighed, realizing his defeat. As Kakashi called the match in Sakura's favor, Sai made sure to remember this fact for his future on Team Seven.
Never underestimate Sakura Haruno.
…
Back with Shin, he was testing his fire jutsu while watching over a small handful of Naruto clones. They were all attempting to perfect the Rasengan, which needed to be done by making sure he didn't pop the balloon while he was trying contain the volatile jutsu within its confines. The extra work clones had put into the Rasegan during the first two stages were really helping here, as every day caused the jutsu to become closer and closer to completion. What had been the work of fifteen clones was now being done by four of them, and the original was confident he would be able to finish the jutsu very soon.
The four clones were talking with one another and discussing breakthroughs and ideas. One breakthrough from the other day had allowed Naruto to technically create a Rasegan, but the only catch was it was just a little stronger than the power needed to pop the water balloon. But it was that control that would act as a building block to those clones, as they would attempt to start out at this far lower level strength of the Rasengan and add to it over time. They were at about double the strength of the break through, but that was less than half of what it took to pop the rubber ball. So they continued on in mastering the Yondaime's legendary jutsu in record time.
A clone of the real Jiraiya, who was focusing on the real Naruto during his Kyuubi chakra training, was looking over his four Naruto clones as they continued their baffling struggle with the offensive jutsu Futon: Air Bullet. He had showed it to him a few days before, and had expected Naruto to attach to it like him to a hole in a hot spring fence, but it wasn't the case. The clones, and the real Naruto, were having issues forming this jutsu. While part of it was limited practice, as the past week had been more taijutsu and official duties training, part of it was Naruto just not getting it. He got the Rasengan. He got the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He got Summoning. He got the Shunshin, the fireball jutsu, the katas, and apparently even the chakra threads he had been secretly learning for two weeks from Shin and only knew since his second sensei had a slip of the tongue the other night. But why not the Air Bullet?
The clones slowly went through the motions of making sure the seal sequence of Bird-Ox-Bird-Rat were perfect. They didn't have these sort of problems with the Grand Fireball Jutsu even though it used more hand signals, so why was this so difficult? Jiraiya confirmed to the clones that their seals were beyond satisfactory in their execution, so now it was only a matter of an issue within Naruto himself. Or maybe...
"Naruto clone on the far left, come with me." That Naruto raised an eyebrow but listened to his sensei clone. They walked out of sight of the other 3 as Jiraiya began to look over every tree he could see. This Naruto was curious.
"So, um, Jiraiya-sensei, what are you doing?" He bluntly asked.
Jiraiya didn't bother to look back at the clone but began to speak. "I should have thought about doing this before, but it somehow slipped my mind. In Konoha, there are specially grown trees made of a special wood that is treated with chakra. It is used for a variety of purposes, such as high-grade scroll paper for fuinjutsu and the wooden portion of some weapons that can be infused with chakra. The most known use of this wood, however, is it being turned into a paper that can identify one's elemental affinity. And before you ask, it means if you are a natural fire or water or earth or lightning or wind user. I happen to be of a fire affinity, the standard in Konoha. You, on the other hand, I suspect to be something different."
The clone was excited, but still curious. "That sounds great and all, but what does that have to do with us right now?"
His cloned sensei gave a knowing look at he pointed towards a specific, out of place in its lighter tone, tree. "Even if not properly treated with chakra, those special oaks can still do their intended purposes to some degree. Follow me." Wondering where this was going, he followed the Jiraiya to the tree, where he pulled out his kunai and cut off a chunky sliver from the tree with ease.
"Now, this is simple. Fortunately, it will work with a clone as well as the original. Just put some of your chakra into this piece of wood and we will see what happens." He explained to the Naruto who looked eager to find out. He took the piece of wood from the clone with a smile.
"So what will happen if it is fire? Or lightning? Or-" He got cut off quickly.
"Just pump the chakra and find out." With a nod, the clone gripped the sliver in his hand and put his chakra into the wood, wondering what would happen. A quick flare-up of chakra later, the Jiraiya told the Naruto. "Alrighty, now let me see the wood." The Naruto was happy to hand it over, and both immediately noticed their were cuts into the wood where Naruto had held it. The Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Cuts. What does that mean?" He looked to the Jiraiya.
The Jiraiya smirked. "That means, gaki, that you have a wind affinity. Which means I was making this jutsu far harder for you then it had to be. I will get Kakashi to teach you some cool stuff about manipulating wind chakra in its raw form after we get back, but for now, all you have to do is go back to your other clones and tell them to do the seals Ram-Bird instead and unleash the bullets. It should be easy after that." The clone was really interested in the 'manipulating wind chakra' part, but listened to this Jiraiya's words and ran back to his brethren to tell them the new trick. Jiraiya took his time getting back to the clones, and was happy to see that they were quickly able to perform half decent Air Bullets across the board. He called out to them as they were doing their jutsu. "Just keep practicing until it is perfect. Then I will show you something really cool you can do with that Futon: Air Bullet along with the Katon: Grand Fireball jutsu that will knock your socks off."
The smiles on those 4 clones in interest of that combination was downright sinister. What had Jiraiya done?
…
"Hiashi-sama, there is a visitor for you by the name of Asuma Sarutobi. He would like to speak to you personally in private. Should I allow him to enter and escort him here?" A young, domestic member of the Hyuga Branch family looked the faintest bit winded, as he had gone from the front gate to the secure office of Hiashi Hyuga in the back half of the Hyuga compound. Hiashi Hyuga was not busy at the moment, being the type of man who always kept on top of his paperwork and kept on top of issues with the clan, so he agreed.
"Yes, Tadashi-san. Please send for Sarutobi-san immediately." He told the boy, who informed him of his understanding. After closing the door, he signaled to the escort standing by Asuma near the entrance that his request was accepted. The escort deactivated his Byakugan and calmly transported Asuma to his desired location.
In his office, Hiashi was legitimately confused about the sudden meeting by the son of the late Hokage. They had no business to professionally attend to outside of the jounin council which was in hiatus, and no connectedness as a shinobi as he taught the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. As he waited for him to arrive at his office, Hiashi grabbed a few papers that were duplicates of an already filled inventory shipment of combat supplies and began to work on them to look busy. It was a habit he had been taught by his father in order to always look busy to those outside of the clan so they could never question the Hyuga's drive. Hiashi privately thought of it as ill-guided and something he would not pass onto Hinata and Hanabi, but it was an instilled habit. He looked up as Tadashi entered again.
"Asuma Sarutobi is here to see you Hiashi-sama." He bowed to the clan head.
"Let him in." He told him, leaving his papers out until Asuma entered the room before putting them away.
The doors fully opened, and Hiashi saw that a chunin Branch member had escorted Asuma to his office. Asuma was a blank slate that Hiashi could not get a read on as he began to walk with a purpose into his room. Hiashi shuffled his papers together and rose from his chair.
"Sarutobi-san, I am honored that you have-"
SLAP!
Hiashi was interrupted by a humiliating slap by Asuma, as true anger began to take shape on his face. He had hid his emotions well, because the two branch members and even Hiashi had not noticed it, but Asuma was furious. Then, with a wave behind him, Asuma spoke.
"Hyugas, close the door and make sure no one comes near here until I leave. Hiashi and I will have a personal discussion in total privacy." His tone told him that refusal to obey was as dangerous as the activation of the seal, so they quickly obeyed his instructions. Within moments, Hiashi and Asuma stared each other in the face, Asuma wearing disgust and Hiashi confusion.
He rubbed the slapped cheek without taking his eyes off Asuma. "Would you please explain why you slapped me?"
"Would you explain how you are such a shitty father that you would marry off your daughter to gain power?" Asuma retorted aggressively.
Hiashi flinched. "That is a rumor I am curious where you heard it from." He had only told civilian leaders and two clan heads who had voted against Naruto Uzumaki for the Hokage election about his plans, since he knew they would understand. He was curious which of the 6 men had spilled their secrets to Sarutobi.
"Hinata herself. She thought she was alone visiting Kurenai-chan, but I happened to arrive shortly after her. And I heard everything. You will blackmail Naruto Uzumaki by saying marry my daughter or she will have a curse seal placed on her. I thought you were a half decent man, Hiashi. But you are nothing but a monster." Asuma accused the Hyuga clan head.
Hiashi flared his nostrils before turning and taking a seat at his chair. "A monster?" He asked Asuma as he looked at him. "How dare a coward call me a monster."
Asuma's eyebrows went up as he violently sat in the chair across from Hiashi. " A coward? What right do you have calling me a coward?"
"Besides the time you ran from your father and played bodyguard to the Daimyo?" Hiashi attacked a sensitive moment in Asuma's life. "I call you a coward because you let an old man who is better suited for a cell than a spot on the Hokage's side dictate the future of Konoha. I call you a coward because you let a boy take a man's job. I call you a coward because when I gave you a chance to fix those mistakes, you hid behind some offhand comment of your deceased father so you wouldn't have responsibility. That, Asuma, is why I call you a coward."
Asuma had nothing to say to his attacks, but it was not he who was the focus of this conversation. "Call me a coward if you will, but I would never do anything like what you have done to your own flesh and blood. Did you even think twice about threatening your daughter, or do you take glee in attacking your daughter when she is down? I have heard from Kurenai-chan in the past how you treated her, and I am ashamed I didn't take it up with you sooner."
Hiashi pounded his fist angrily, his eyes looking as if they were beginning to water. "Do not act like you know me, Asuma Sarutobi, like I will not pretend to act like I know you. I am only doing what I can for my village, and sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Minato Namikaze made his son a villain to save this village. This time, I will be that villain in order to protect it. I am a good man, Asuma Sarutobi, a good man. I may have done things in the past I regret, but I refuse to regret this.
That council room was full of cowards whom I would have gladly taken a step down from as candidate if they had wanted to be Hokage. You, Hatake, the Nara, even the Aburame. I only exclude Jiraiya because he has more value outside of this village, but not those who hid. And now Danzo has his hands on Naruto Uzumaki, and will try his damndest to manipulate him. You don't believe that he will not try and convince him to marry whom he chooses? And why wouldn't Uzumaki agree to follow this man! He gave him his dream on a silver platter. If he tells him to slaughter Iwa, he would obey. If he says betray Suna, the boy would listen. Danzo is in love with war because it is the only way he thinks he can get power. War and betrayal and death. So I am doing what I have to. I am goading Naruto Uzumaki to marry my daughter for the good of the village. And I would only do this with Uzumaki. From all reports, they get along with each other and are friends, there are far worse marriage proposals that I have heard for her hand, believe me. The ways of selecting your child's spouse are nearly dead, but people still try for power. And maybe I am the same as them. But I am willing to fall to their level if it means protecting my clan and my village."
Asuma looked at his man, so passionate in his defense of his crime, he nearly bought into it. Nearly. But he knew that his plan was far from perfect. "You say you are going to be the villain of this act. So then, how do you intend to make it so you have any power, and it is not your daughter who is swayed by Danzo as well."
Hiashi looked ashamed for once, turning away from Asuma. "My clan breeds a fanatical loyalty within its members. Even Neji-kun, at his most hateful, would never have imagined laying a finger on his fellow Hyuga. My daughter being the obvious exception. So even now, even when she hates me to my core, Hinata is a Hyuga and will listen to me. And the Hyuga clan offers something that even Danzo and his ways could never give to the boy."
"And what is that?" Asuma asked, knowing he was coming to the answers he wanted to get from this man.
"Family." Hiashi replied simply. "The boy is a life-long orphan, but marrying into the Hyuga offers him the largest family in Konoha. Grandparents, a father, a sister, cousins and more. The boy is known to seek attention, and we in the Hyuga can provide him with all the attention he craves."
"It sounds like you want to indoctrinate the boy into the ways of the Hyuga. He has promised to destroy that curse seal of yours. Maybe you are doing this as an elaborate stunt to make sure it continues." Asuma countered Hiashi's story with a somewhat believable argument.
Hiashi let out a small laugh. "If the boy can end the seal, then good for him. If he can't, then it continues. I have long since accepted that the matter of the seal was beyond my two hands, and it is up to everyone else to see if it continues or not."
Asuma felt like he was being honest. Which meant his first plan was truly honest.
"What if you are wrong. What if, despite everything you try, you don't get what you want?"
Hiashi let out a heavy sigh. "Then I don't. But at least I tried. At least I fought to save Konoha from Danzo. What are you fighting for?" He questioned Asuma in a powerful tone, in a tone that was both literal and rhetorical, the sort of question men change their life answering. "I now ask you to leave, and keep this secret with you. Or not, legally I can not stop you from telling anyone this. But I hope you do what is right."
Asuma stood up and began to walk toward the door before pausing as he reached out for the handle. "I will do what is right. And you will do what you think is right. Let's see which right is right." Not even bothering for a response, he opened the door and shut it behind him, leaving Hiashi alone once again with his thoughts.
…
Finally, they were able to spend another night in a hotel room, Naruto couldn't help but think to himself. It had been a while since they were last in a town, and overall Naruto was wondering if maybe this journey was a bust. They had been gone for about 3 weeks by now, and though Naruto had learned a lot and could keep learning a lot by doing this, he was worried about the village. He was supposed to be Hokage Kami damnit! And some alcoholic healer shouldn't be important enough to keep him from his duties for so long. He had dreamt of being Hokage forever, and now that it was here he had this random mission to attend too. Jiraiya had made it clear it was important and all, but Naruto was still working on being more patient. He thought he had improved with that, but definitely not to how patient Jiji had been with him. Naruto sighed as he laid in his bed, with the kind of non-social Shin with him in the other bed polishing his sword while Jiraiya had scoured for information. He had sent a clone with him in order to the experience, but the real Naruto was glad to have the break from action. Heck, he had finally perfected the Rasengan all by himself. Yeah, he needed two hands for it while Jiraiya needed one, but he could still kick ass with it. So yeah, he could do nothing, something he was aware would be a rare commodity in the future.
"Shouldn't you be doing something?" Shin seemed to read his mind and say the opposite.
Naruto shook his head from his bed. "Shin-san, I have been working hard for weeks, and will have to work even harder for years once I get back. I remember, a few years ago, Jiji told me he rarely got breaks from his job, so he had to enjoy the time he could find. So I am taking his advice right now, and enjoying this time."
"But this is specifically time for you to train. You need to become as fit for the Hokage position as possible. Wasting time may seem like a luxury now, but it could prove dangerous if it causes you to fail in your duties in the future." Shin counterargued.
Naruto cursed to himself. Shin was right. Yeah, relaxing was nice, but he was trying to prove he could be Hokage once he got back and became Hokage. He hated it that Shin was right.
"Fine, Pervy Sage left his bag of educational books, I think. Can you get me the one on Fire Country? He was on my ass that I had to know where everything was for missions, and I haven't put much effort into it yet. Might as well do that now." Naruto may need to work hard, but he could also be lazy this once.
Shin didn't mind. "That seems like a good idea, Naruto-san. Knowing locations is essential for a Hokage. Especially since some towns have similar sounding names." He put the sword on the bed and reached over to rummage through Jiraiya's bag. No traps, which meant he had hoped this would happen. He found the book in question, and underhand threw it right into Naruto's waiting hands.
"Thanks Shin-san." He immediately dove into the book, looking for the interesting stuff to catch his eye before he started reading the boring stuff that he would fall asleep on. The more energized you were, the longer you could learn the boring stuff was a phenomenon Naruto found worked for him in the academy. He read about a gambling town only 30km east of their current location, and made a note of it in his head. He began to focus in on the topography of the names of certain tracts of forest and of certain springs and lakes and rivers and Naruto fought to remember every part of it and stay up at the same time. It was one of the harder things he had done on this training/tracking mission to date.
He had been reading the book for two hours before Jiraiya returned with a look of frustration on his face. "This town doesn't seem to have any good news about where Tsunade-chan is either. This is really getting frustrating."
Naruto looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya. "That sucks and all, but where is my clone? I don't seem to have his memories."
Jiraiya put a finger up. "Wait for it, wait for it..." Naruto got the memories back and flinched with a disgusted look on his face. "As you know, your clone thought he could outdo me and had a lead. I knew it was just a man trying to become your sugar daddy. Take that as a lesson for the real world."
Naruto did not want to think any more about the bare chested bear that tried to seduce his clone and immediately tried to erase the memories from his existence. He distracted himself. "Well, I have an idea. I noticed it when I started reading this book earlier, but Tanzaku Gai is only like 30 kilometers east of here. That is like half a day's walk. It has a lot of gambling and bars. It seems like the kind of place this Tsunade chick would be." He pointed to the book.
Jiraiya stared at him for a few seconds before slapping his head. "Tanzaku Gai. Of course she is going to be in Tanzaku Gai. Why wouldn't she be in Tanzaku Gai? It is their special season, and it is beautiful there right now! Naruto, you are a genius. We head to Tanzaku Gai in the morning!" Naruto was excited and couldn't wait.
Elsewhere, Tsunade won a 125000 ryo hand with a King and Queen full house in poker. She tested her luck again, and got 4 aces to win a 100000 ryo pot. She turned to Shizune and Tonton who were excited for her sudden luck.
Tsunade quickly brought down the mood as she whispered to them. "I think our stay here won't be as long as projected, Shizune-chan." Shizune was confused, and Tonton raised his eyebrow in confusion as well. Wasn't winning a good thing?
…..
So, I was inspired to right this chapter and get in over with. And I want to tell you a secret about how I am writing this story. My secret to writing it is that I'm trying not to write it. Confusing, but my creative writing teacher in high school taught me to never force your characters into doing something they wouldn't normally do. So sometimes, it leads me to places I don't expect. The Sakura-Gai sequence last chapter is a good example of this.
And if you are rereading this, this is where I had a whole spiel about a transgender bit that I cut out of the story on 6/9/16. This was done because the plotline (which would consist of Hiashi getting on Naruto's good side when Naruto angers a clan by being insensitve to the person Kakashi mentions and he helps him through it) has been dropped. And since it is not there anymore, I have decided to remove it from my story. Unless a published nobel, this is a living document and I can change it if I need too. I kept the bit in Sai says to show his insensitivity and his proclivity to read for information about everyday life, however.
All in all, I had fun writing this and I hope you are having fun reading this. After pretty much leaving this story for dead, it has pretty much become my favorite story to write. So drop a review of what you think, and wait until next time.
