Hello, everyone. Here is the next chapter of "Konoha's young sage".
* review response:
eclipseX, Lycan91, ChaosLord SilverLink310, Dark Hearted Dragon's Master, Trooper0007, Irishfighter, raw666, Elemental Dragon Swordman, c im am a dragon, thank you!
RogueNya, soory, but old man Sarutobi already (almost) played his role. He won't be... Oops, no spoilers! =)
Bikiluf, what I meant by 'weak style' is that it lack any special offensive or defensive moves is mostly like a base from which shinobi can develop his own style. As it is, academy style is well rounded in both offense and defense, but isn't anything special in either department, sorry, if confused you. ...Naruto's personal henge and its impact on the plot... not sure, but it may be. or may not...
* jutsu list:
Shunshin - (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu
Kage bushin - (A-rank) Shadow clone - creates solid chakra-made copy of user (to be destroyed shadow clone must get moderate damage). Shadow clones have perfect copy of user's mind and memory. When dispelled, shadow clones return experience of their 'life' to user. Shadow clones split user's chakra by clones number +1 (if you create 3 clones you'll have only 1/4 of chakra left (minus chakra needed to create clones)) that's why they are mostly used for information gathering.
Fuuton: daitoppa - (C-rank) Wind style: great breakthrough - This jutsu creates a large blast of wind capable of leveling almost anything in its way.
Fuuton: reppushou - (C-rank) Wind style: gale wind palm - strong gust of wind sent towards his target. When acting in conjunction with another thrown weapon, the wind can increase its power and deadliness
Fuuton: renkuudan - (unknown rank) Wind style: drilling air bullet – user draws in a deep breath, then the user punches its stomach to release a ball of compressed air and chakra
Doton: yomi numa - (A-rank) Earth style: swamp of the underworld - This jutsu creates vast swamp. If someone happens to be where the swamp is created, he will sink and, if swamp is deep enough, may be killed.
Doton: kamiriyu no hitoya - (B-rank) Earth style: rising dragon prison - and yet another jutsu I created. This ninjutsu created a dragon head that captures and immobilizes target from below. Can be cut with chidori or raikiri, but other than this, it is almost unbreakable from inside.
Katon: goukakyuu - (C-rank) Fire style: great fireball - user exhales fire from his mouth.
Senei jashu - (C-rank) Hidden shadow snake hands - This jutsu allows the user to eject snakes from their wrist or sleeve, usually after a punching motion. The snakes are used primarily to attack from a distance and, being snakes, can inflict multiple poisonous wounds on the victim's body or hold them in place.
Rasengan - (A-rank) Spiral sphere - rasengan is a tight ball of compressed fast-rotating chakra (or yoki) that does tremendous drilling damage.
Kaze no yaiba - (A-rank) Sword of wind - cutting wind.
Kebari senbon - (unknown rank) Thousand hair needles - hardened hairs that are launched at the opponent.
Gogyou fuuin - (A-rank) Five elements seal - This is a fuuinjutsu technique. User forms an elemental seal on each of his fingers, one for each of the following five "elements": water, metal, earth, fire and wood. This seal disrupts chakra control of its target and makes jinchuuriki unable to communicate with his/her bijuu.
Fukumi hari - (unknown rank) Hidden needles - user summons poisoned needles in his/her mouth and then spits them towards the target
Doku kiri - (B-rank) Poisonous mist - user exhales poisonous gas from his/her mouth. this jutsu can be use as an offensive move, or to cover maneuvers.
Katon: gamayu endan - (B-rank) Fire style: toad oil projectile - this jutsu is done in partnership with a summoned toad. The toad provides oil to fuel fire user exhales.
Tsukiyomi - (S or S+ ranked bloodline jutsu) God of the moon - this is special genjutsu that requires active mangekyo sharingan in left eye to be cast. Tsukiyomi will create space within target's mind and trap target here. User of the Tsukiyomi will have full control over this space, including some control over time. Mostly done to torture people (up to 72 hours in the world of Tsukiyomi in the span of 3 seconds in the real world)
* other words:
kasa - bamboo hat like those Akatsumi members wear.
dosu - yakuza sword.
AN: Yugito will reappear in the next chapter, don't worry.
Disclaimer: still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...
"speaking"
'thinking'
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power or Gaara while using Shukaku's / jutsus"
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link'
Special thanks to LR-35 SRX for beta-reading this chapter!
Konoha's young sage
chapter 10: Godaime Hokage
Naruto opened his eyes to the reddish light of the evening sun. He was – not surprisingly – in the hospital. Though, the fact that he didn't remember how he got there made him a little nervous. He looked around and saw bear-masked ANBU standing on guard in the corner of the room.
"Um... ANBU-san, can you tell me, what happened to me? And why are you stationed there? – I'm not that important to have guards while at hospital."
"You were found about an hour after last enemy troops in the village were taken care of on the side of the road in about mile from western gates of the village. You were unconscious, for three days, and suffered both physical and chakra exhaustion. Doctor said it's miracle you were still alive when you were found." Naruto nodded.
'Looks like it was not the best idea to open fifth gate with chemicals after all...' Kyuubi jinchuuriki thought. "And about my second question?"
"There was a sign of Kyuubi's yoki being used. I'm stationed here in case demon tries to take over you. I am to be near you all the time until council decides what to do with you." Naruto immediately got a bad feeling about the whole thing: good part of the council had problems with seeing him as a separate being from Kyuubi-chan, and all of them saw her as an evil entity instead of a victim of Madara's Tsukiyomi.
"What happened to Sa... Hokage-sama?" Blond teen asked.
"Hokage-sama was severely wounded during his fight with Orochimaru and was unconscious since then." ANBU answered.
'Even better. Without Old man council are free to do anything they want. Let's pray that Sarutobi-jiji will wake up soon...' Naruto thought. Having all his current questions answered, even if it surprised him that he was given all the information he wanted to know, and seeing that it was already evening, he decided to go back to sleep and allow Kyuubi-chan and his own powers continue repairing his body.
***
At the same time in a dark underground complex on the border between Fire and Rice countries certain sannin too had problems: his partially-petrified liver wasn't working good enough to keep him alive. He was slowly dying, and neither he himself, nor his best medics could do anything with it. Of course, Orochimaru could just take over a new body for himself, but he felt that it was too early to do so... So snake sannin was planning to use the help of the best medic in the world of shinobi.
"Kabuto!" He yelled. Moments later silver-haired teen appeared in his chamber, now wearing Oto hitae-ate on his forehead.
"Yes, lord Orochimaru." Kabuto said, not bothering to bow even a little.
"I need to find my old teammate. Prepare for the at least month-long trip: it will be hard to find her if she doesn't want to be found." Teen nodded and disappeared into the shadows of the room. 'I will be healed. And you, Tsunade, will do it, whether you want it or not!' Orochimaru tried to laugh, but his liver again reminded him why he needed medic...
***
"By unanonymous voting of the honorable council of Konohagalure no Sato, Jiraya of the sannin will be proposed to take the position of Godaime Hokage. Now, to our next question." Elder named Koharu said. "I propose promotion of Sasuke Uchiha to the rank of chuunin due to his exceptional performance during invasion." There was a murmur among councilmen.
"I second!" Shouted one of the civilian members of the council.
"I am against promotion of Uchiha Sasuke." Nara Shikaku said lazily. "All reports say that Uchiha-san failed to stop jinchuuriki of Ichibi no Shukaku. What was his 'exceptional performance' if he even failed his mission?"
"Nonsense!" Another civilian councilman yelled. "Who else could save us from that monster?!"
"Troublesome." Muttered Shikaku. He did not want to argue with these fools. Not today. Several next minuted there was loud arguing between members of the council.
"Order!" Koharu said and in seconds everyone became quiet. "Who is placid for the promotion of Sasuke Uchiha to the rank of chuunin, raise you hand." Both elders, Danzou, entire civilian part of the council and heads of two minor clans raised their hands. "And now those who isn't." Only seven clan heads voted against Sasuke's promotion.
"By the unanonymous voting of the honorable council of Konohagakure no Sato, Sasuke Uchiha is promoted to the rank of chuunin." Homura, second elder of the village, announced. "And now our final question for today. You may enter." Doors opened and blond boy in hospital gown entered the chamber with bear-masked ANBU following him closely behind.
"Do you know, why you are brought in front of the honorable council of Konohagakure no Sato?" Koharu asked. Naruto shivered, understanding full well what was going on, but decided to play along with them for the time being.
'Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you.' Demoness reassured him.
'I know, Kyuubi-chan.' "I suppose, it has something to do with the events that took place during the invasion?" Naruto asked.
"True, it has." Konoha elders nodded. "You are charged with releasing Ichibi no Shukaku upon our village. Also you are charged with the attempt of releasing Kyuubi no Yoko upon our village. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"I repudiate your first charge against me as no one, even those with genetical inclination to control bijuu, like Hashirama Senju, cannot control them when they are sealed in something or someone, and it is officially know that container of Ichibi is Gaara of the Sand." Naruto saw several clan heads nod. "I also repudiate your second charge against me as any attempt of releasing Kyuubi from the seal Yondaime Hokage placed will result in death of both me and the Kyuubi." While this wasn't entirely true, as the seal will kill both parties if and only if their intents aren't right, but no one other than Naruto and his demoness knew this... And not needed to know this.
"But there was a release of Kyuubi's yoki, care to explain it?" Danzou asked.
"Kyuubi is known for incredible regenerative abilities. I used a miniscule part of Kyuubi's power along with artificially opening my own fifth gate to heal life-treathening wounds I received during my fight with Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto explained.
"Now, what should we do with this case?" Koharu asked councilmen and councilwomen.
"Execute it!" Shouted one of the civilian councilmen. "Kill it before it kills us!" Several more fools agreed with the speaker.
"I say you should give him to me. If retrained correctly, he will be the weapon Konoha needs now more than ever, weapon of the unimaginable power, absolutely loyal to the village." Said Danzou. Small portion of civilian councilmen and one clan head agreed with him.
"There were rumors about organization of S-rank missing-nins hunting jinchuuriki down. I say, that we banish him from the village and thus kill two birds with one stone: neither he nor this organization will be threat to Konoha." Added Homura. Entire civilian part of the council as well as several heads were in favor of this.
"I doubt that this organization isn't going to do something evil." Shikaku said. "And if we banish Naruto, we are just handing Kyuubi jinchuuriki to them." Heads of major clans and Danzou nodded in agreement.
"So, let's start voting on this question." Koharu said. "Those in favor of execution, raise your hands." Most of the civilian councilmen voted. "Now, those in favor of banishment, raise you hands." The rest of civilians and two clan heads raised their hands. "Those in favor of turning Kyuubi jinchuuriki into living weapon, raise your hands." Danzou, elders and a head of minor clan raised their hand. "Finally, those in favor of releasing all charges and leaving Kyuubi jinchuuriki be as he is, raise your hands." Only eight clan heads raised their hands.
"By unanonymous voting of honorable council of..." Koharu began, but was interrupted, as doors were forcefully opened and Sarutobi Hiruzen, accompanied by eight ANBU entered the chamber. Sandaime Hokage looked awful. He was sitting in wheelchair, dressed in the hospital gown, left sleeve of which was empty. Sarutobi looked pale and at least decade older than he was. But still, his aura of leader coupled with the killing intent he was releasing was enough to make everyone acknowledge, despite everything this man was Hokage.
"As an acting Hokage, I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, veto the decision of the council on this question and release all charges you put against Uzumaki Naruto."
"But, Hokage-sama..." One stupid civilian councilman tried to protest, but small increase in killing intent Sarutobi was releasing was enough to shut him up.
"Also, this council meeting was conducted without Hokage, even if he was in the village and not unconscious at the moment. I may see this as an act of arbitrariness from your side and arrest you for breaking rules of the village. Unfortunately, we have other matter to worry about right now. But next time something like this happens, you all will be severely punished." Sarutobi growled, before adding. "This meeting is adjourned." Naruto walked towards Hokage.
"Thank you, you saved my life there..." Blond boy paused for a moment. "But this was the second time this village betrayed my trust in it. When the third time happens, I will leave. And I give you my word as a sage: you won't be able to stop me or bring me back. Remember it." And then he walked out of the council chamber.
***
Next day Naruto was lying in his bed in hospital, when small orange toad leaped onto his chest.
"Oi, Naruto, do you have some sweets?" Blond shinobi looked at the toad.
"I'm at hospital, there are no sweets there. Ask Jiraya for some, it was him, who sent you here, Gamakichi?" Toad nodded. "What does he want?"
"Um... He said... Oh, yeah,.. He is leaving village tomorrow morning for a trip to find someone named Tsunade and asks if you'd like to join him." Naruto thought that this was his change to have some time away from Konoha.
"Tell him, I'm coming." Gamakichi nodded and leaped away from Naruto.
Naruto sneaked out of the hospital early in the morning next day and, after packing the gear he might need during this trip with perverted toad sage, he sped towards western gates of Konoha. To his luck Jiraya was waiting for him there.
"Ready to go, gaki?"
"Yeah, let's go!" Naruto replied. And two sages left Konohagakure no Sato... They were good hour away from the village when Kyuubi jinchuuriki suddenly remembered something. "Um... Jiraya-ero-sensei, do you know Hyuuga's kaiten?" Sannin ignored his 'title' and nodded.
"What about it?"
"Well, it was good enough to deflect and damage stone spears. So I thought, if it is possible to shrink it in size, say, make it not bigger than orange, and compress the chakra in it, it can become a good offensive move: small ball of chakra that can do drilling damage." To show what he was talking about, Naruto tried to create small ball of rotating chakra on his palm, but it blew away not a second into its existence. Jiraya was really surprised.
'Like father like son. Minato invented his rasengan thinking in exactly the same way.' White-haired man thought. "There is such a jutsu, Naruto, though it was never completed. Your father invented it not long before he became Hokage. This jutsu is named rasengan."
"I heard this jutsu name before. But I never found out what this jutsu was." Naruto said, making Jiraya laugh.
"Of course, you couldn't find what this jutsu was! Minato though about it as his family technique, though he taught it to me. Kakashi Hatake may also know rasengan – he might have copied it with his sharingan eye." Older toad sage said. "But this is all. Do you want me to teach it to you?" Naruto though about it for several seconds.
"I reinvented the idea and I'd like to reinvent the jutsu itself." White-haired man nodded.
"As you wish. But remember, it took your father three years to create this technique, and it took me six months to learn it from him." He paused. "But if you ask nicely, I may give you some pointers."
"Yeah, thank you." Naruto replied, still intent to recreate rasengan on his own.
***
Naruto and Jiraya were traveling for six days now and neither succeeded in his plans: white-haired toad sage still found no traces of his teammate, sannin Tsunade, and Kyuubi jinchuuriki still had problems with keeping a tight ball of chakra from exploding in the first second of its existence – it was like centrifugal force had something against rasengan... Two sage stopped at local inn and Jiraya went to visit some bars to listen to gossips in attempt to learn at least about where Tsunade may be. Naruto stayed in the inn, trying with the help of his Kyuubi-chan solve his current problem with recreation of rasengan. Suddenly blond jinchuuriki felt someone approaching his room. And that someone was clearly not a friend.
'I don't like this at all. Without Jiraya I can't drive away anyone above A-rank. And at least one of those two is S-rank.' Kyuubi agreed with him. Naruto felt the pair stop in front of his door and got ready to attack them and then run. Someone knocked on the door and in the next moment it was demolished by something big, wrapped in bandages. In the corridor there were two S-rank missing-nins, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, both in black cloaks with red clouds and both had kasa on their head. 'They must be from that organization council were worried about.'
"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun. I'd be glad if you will come with us on..." Itachi never got a chance to finish as smoke bomb, thrown by Naruto, exploded under his feet. Kyuubi jinchuuriki threw two kunai with shock tags – seals that converted stored chakra into electricity and stroke anyone in small radius with a powerful discharge of this electricity – towards two missing-nin not really caring whether his attack hit them or not, and dashed towards the window. Naruto ran towards the outskirts of the small town, checking his equipment.
'Two vacuum seals, ten explosive tags, one more shock tag, two kunai in pouch, seven in seals, twelve shuriken, reel of steel wire, another smoke bomb, my shuriken, three soldier pills and a gate-opening pill. Three empty scrolls, brush and ink well.' Nothing much against two S-rank missing-nins, Naruto had to conclude. 'I hope I can last long enough for Jiraya to find me.' He though, stopping in the field where they could fight without fearing to harm civilians...
"Interesting seals you have there, Naruto-kun." Said a voice from behind. Turning around, blond jinchuuriki saw that Itachi and Kisame already found him. What was that he thinking with, when he hoped to outrun two S-rank ninjas?
"This jinchuuriki has rather fast legs. I say we cut them." Shark-man named Kisame said, placing his giant ...sword on his shoulder.
"Pein-sama said that we are to bring him alive." Itachi said, looking at his partner.
"But I won't kill him! Just cripple." Kisame responded. Uchiha sighed.
"It won't be necessary." He looked into Naruto's eyes and the blond saw that normal three-tomoe'd sharingan Itachi had moments ago transformed into something that looked like black three-bladed shuriken. "Tsukiyomi!" Naruto saw real world replaced with black and white illusive with only full red moon settled on the sky. For a moment nothing happened. Then avatar of Itachi appeared with long katana in its hands. Giant cross started rising from the ground behind Naruto, but before anything else could happen, spear of fire hit Itachi's avatar's head, destroying it.
"You are so paying me for saving your pretty ass." Said Kyuubi's voice before world Naruto saw returned to normal. Nothing changed during the time failed tsukiyomi was active. Nothing, except for some more blood that was leaking out of Uchiha's left eye. Naruto immediately flashed through handseals.
"Kaze no yaiba!" A pale-white arc of wind was launched from blond's hand towards two missing-nins. Itachi, even in this close proximity from Naruto, managed to jump away from the jutsu's path. Kisame on the other hand just placed his sword in front of him and it ...consumed the jutsu, making strange sounds and tumbling after that. From Naruto's point of view, Kisame's sword was a compositions of many scales that could somehow absorb chakra. Scales... That's it! If Kisame wasn't after him, he'd thank shark-man for the idea strange sword gave him.
"Hey, easy there! If you want to be in one piece after we capture you, you better not throw jutsu like this at us." Kisame said, baring his sharp pointy teeth. He got his response as Naruto, after dodging low-level genjutsu from Itachi, flashed through another sequence of handseals.
"Doton: kamiriyu no hitoya!" Kyuubi jinchuuriki said and a dragon made from really hard stone rose from underneath Kisame, capturing him in its mouth. Naruto saw man's sword start sucking chakra out of the stone dragon, but it will take some time before the stone will be brittle enough to be broken easily.
"Katon: goukakyuu!" Itachi sent fireball at Naruto, but the teen evaded it, attaching explosive tag to one of his kunai at the same time. The blond threw kunai with the tag at still captured Kisame, but Uchiha's own kunai saved Shark-man. Another fireball later, Kisame was free.
"I will kick your ass, brat!" Blue-skinned man roared, but before he could do anything, earth shook: big toad with some kind of forked weapon and large shield land in the field.
"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun. I am to protect you from these two, am I?" Gamaken asked, readying himself for a battle. Jiraya on his back too got ready to fight with Itachi and Kisame. Shark-man bared his teeth, too ready to kick some ass, but his partner had another plans.
"We should fall back now, Kisame." Itachi said. "With Jiraya of the sannin there we have no guaranties of our mission being successful." Kisame looked discontent, but agreed with Uchiha, and two missing-nins left the field via shunshin.
"Looks like my service there is not needed anymore." Gamaken said. "Have a good day, Jiraya-kun, Naruto-kun." And he disappeared in a big poof of smoke. Naruto walked towards Jiraya, who, judging by a lipstick on his left cheek, worked really hard to find traces of Tsunade.
"You found something?" Blond jinchuuriki asked. Surprisingly, white-haired self-proclaimed super-pervert nodded.
"Tsunade was there about month ago. She left the town through northern gates, so now she is most probably is somewhere in the Grass or Bird countries – they have best casinos."
"Then we should go there as fast as possible." Jiraya had to agree with the teen: Tsunade was hard to track and if they found her trace, it's better to follow it while it's still relatively fresh.
***
It took Jiraya almost two more weeks to localize his teammate's location... Currently two toad sages were walking through small town, surrounded by rice fields, in the Bird country. It was almost noon and Jiraya decided to stop in the tavern for lunch. But as soon as he entered the building, he stopped dead on his tracks. And started laughing madly.
"What happened?" Naruto asked and white-haired sannin pointed at blond woman with two pigtails sitting in the dark corner along with short-haired brunette.
"After all searches it took just a bit of luck to find her." Jiraya finally answered, calming down. He walked towards the table where Tsunade sat and coughed to make her notice him. "Can I sit with these two pretty ladies?" He asked. But that didn't impress female sannin at all.
"What do you want, Jiraya?" She asked in not exactly friendly tone. Naruto too walked to that table and sat there along three adults.
"I'll get straight to the point, then. First, Sarutobi-sensei was poisoned by Orochimaru and we all want you to save him." Tsunade looked rather impassive about this and Jiraya noticed it.
"Our snake-loving friend already told you about sensei, didn't he? " White-haired sannin asked and his teammate nodded. "He wanted you to heal his liver?" Another nod. "What did he proposed you in return?" This time Tsunade answered nothing. There was a short pause before female sannin spoke:
"And what is the second reason you are here, Jiraya?" Older one of two toad sages paled a little: Tsunade might not like this. And if she doesn't like something, things may become really painful.
"Well... Council wants you to take position of Godaime Hokage." Blond woman didn't show any reaction at first. Which in Jiraya's opinion was a bad thing. Then the hell broke loose...
"What sane person would want to be Hokage? Out of four of them three died in a battle and the last one is an old goat, who might join them really soon..." Before she could continue, Jiraya and dark-haired apprentice of Tsunade named Shizune had to restrain Naruto as the blond jinchuuriki looked ready to rip female sannin into tiny pieces. "What's wrong with you, blondie?"
"I don't know what's wrong with you, woman, but you just said that my father was a fool, as well as your own grandfather, granduncle and your sensei!" Naruto shouted. "They all did their best to protect people they carried about and say they are fools?!" Tsunade looked at the boy.
"Yes. They were fools. Especially your father. He was the biggest fool out of four." She got what was coming when Naruto's pupils became slitted and he broke free from Jiraya and Shizune. Thankfully for Tsunade, her inhuman strength was enough to stop jinchuuriki's fist. "I don't have money to pay for the damage we might do to the bar, so let's settle this outside." Naruto had to agree with her there – if they were to fight, it was better to do outdoors.
"So, blondie, why are you protecting those naïve fools called Hokages?" Tsunade asked Naruto as they walked outside of the tavern. "I may understand protecting your father, but the rest?"
"Hokages were and are the people who live and die in order to protect people of the village. They are heroes!" Young jinchuuriki replied. Blond sannin sneered.
"You words aren't working on me. Maybe your fists will have better effect?" With his mind Naruto understood that he stood no chance against Tsunade as she was one of the sannins, S-rank ninjas, but he was angry enough to just ignore it and fight. He produced a shock tag out of his pouch and then attached it to the kunai he unsealed from his hand. Seeing knife with unfamiliar seal thrown at her, female sannin decided that it would be better to get away from it, but her infamous luck, or, better, lack of luck, were still with her and the tag went off before she got out of its range and she got shocked. Kyuubi jinchuuriki decided to use this moment for as much as possible and launched six shuriken at his opponent, but Tsunade wasn't one of the sannin for nothing and dodged this attack with no problems.
"Fuuton: reppushou!" Blond kunoichi was forced on defensive again as a dangerous gust of wind fleed past her too close for her comfort. Deciding to end this fight before she was attacked with more nasty jutsu, Tsunade dropped from Naruto's sight, reappearing right in front of him. To her surprise, the boy managed to dodge her punch and caught her wrist. What a mistake... She moved her arm up, sending Kyuubi jinchuuriki soaring into the air. The she understood her own mistake: Naruto had wind affinity and now could easily attack her from above. And he did that. "Fuuton: daitoppa!" Tsunade jumped out of the jutsu's path and hit the ground, making it split where Naruto would land moments later.
"Looks like I win." Said female sannin walking towards Kyuubi jinchuuriki who struggled to get out of the crack he landed into. "But you are good for Hokage-loving gaki. Almost made me fight you half seriously." She said "You gave me some entertainment so I won't even take your money." Tsunade added, dropping on the ground Naruto's wallet she picked while attempting to punch him.
For the past three days Naruto and Jiraya stayed in this town. Old pervert did several more attempts to persuade his teammate into becoming Hokage or, at least, into coming to Konoha to heal Sarutobi-sensei. But all his attempts were in vain. Another reason why Jiraya stayed was the fact Orochimaru will visit Tsunade again. And as his liver was half-petrified, he was far from his prime and could be killed. In the morning of the forth day everyone minus Tsunade slept in, most likely due to some medicine blond sannin added to their food. This all meant that she wanted to deal with Orochimaru on her own... She too was naïve after all: even if it hurt Jiraya's pride greatly, snake-loving freak was the strongest one among three sannin in one on one fight. And he, most like, won't be alone too.
"We need to find Tsunade-sama quickly." Shizune said. Then she turned to Tonton, pet pig. "Can you trail Tsunade-sama?" The pig gave out affirmative grunt and sped into the rice fields, followed closely by three shinobi. It took them about fifteen minutes to arrive to the battlefield, and when they did arrive, there already was a fight between Tsunade and Orochimaru and his right hand Kabuto. And female sannin was losing... Shizune immediately sped towards her master to heal her wounds.
"Oh, why didn't you say that your sacrifices will arrive on their own?" Taunted snake wielding sannin. Then he turned to the new arrivals. "Nice to see you, Jiraya, Naruto-kun." White-haired toad sage answered him by flashing through handseals.
"Kebari senbon!" A hail of hardened hair was sent at Orochimaru, but the man dodged them easily.
"Looks like I'll have to use it then." He bit his finger to draw some blood and spread it over tattoo on his left hand then. "Kabuto, get here at once!" There was explosion of white smoke and two giant brown snakes appeared. Jiraya and Naruto nodded to each other.
"Doton: yomi numa!" They called simultaneously, creating deep swamp under the snake, which started sinking into the mud. Naruto started another sequence of handseals while Jiraya dashed forward.
"Fuuton: daitoppa!" Blond jinchuuriki launched his attack, forcing snake-loving sannin and his henchman to evade it.
"Rasengan!" White-haired sannin pushed tight ball of spinning chakra into Kabuto's stomach. "One down, heh." But while Jiraya was busy putting silver-haired teen out of fight, Orochimaru got behind him.
"Gogyou fuuin!" Snake sannin placed the seal onto Jiraya's body. "Looks like we will fight one on one, Naruto-kun." Three mud clones of the man rose from the ground at immediately attacked young jinchuuriki, who produced several shadow clones to fight them. The real Orochimaru dashed towards Shizune and Tsunade intent to deal with them while Jiraya is out and Naruto is busy.
"Fukumi hari!" Tsunade's apprentice summoned several poisoned needles into her mouth and spit them at advancing snake-wielding sannin. But he dodged them with no problems and summoned kusanagi sword from his stomach. Shizune moved her sleeve up, showing senbon launcher attached to her hand. She the launched five poisoned needles from it, along with another attempt at hitting Orochimaru with 'fukumi hari'. Unfortunately for her, all needles were deflected by sannin's sword. As he got close enough, dark-haired girl attempted to used another jutsu from her arsenal. "Doku kiri!" She breathed out dark-purple poisonous mist...
"Fuuton: daitoppa!" But it was easily blown away by Orochimaru's wind jutsu. Snake sannin raised his sword, ready to stab the girl through her head, but Tsunade pushed her apprentice away and got the sword through her shoulder instead. "So, you care for someone still alive after all." Traitorous sannin said. "But you're still out of luck: I see no problem with killing you first." He started the sequence of handseals when something – Naruto's vacuum seal – pulled him backwards. This provided an opening for Tsunade and moments later Orochimaru received an incredibly strong punch right into his stomach, sending him flying. Blond sannin removed kusanagi sword from her shoulder and threw it after its owner, in the end nailing him to the ground through his liver.
"Are you OK, Orochimaru-sama?" Asked Kabuto, who finally recovered from being hit by rasengan, appearing by his master's side.
"It could have been better." Replied snake-wielding sannin, returning kusanagi back into his stomach. The battle of this level was taking toll on him... He looked around: Naruto was busy fighting one remaining mud clone, while his kage bushin tried to remove 'gogyou fuuin' from Jiraya's back. Shizune was healing her arm, that was broken when Tsunade saved her life. Blond sannin herself was healing the wound on her shoulder. It was a good time for the attack. "Fuuton: renkuudan!" Tsunade could see that she had no chance in dodging this jutsu – it way to powerful to do that at such a close range. But before the ball of compressed wind could reach her, Naruto appeared in its way, placing Orochimaru's own mud clone as a shield in front of him. Jutsu exploded at contact with mud clone, sending Kyuubi jinchuuriki fly right into Tsunade. "Senei jashu!" Snake sannin called, but Naruto rolled himself and Tsunade away from the advancing snake. He threw a kunai at its head then, killing it. There were no attacks from Orochimaru coming. Something was wrong.
"Jump!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he received a memory from his shadow clone: while smoke from the explosion covered him, Orochimaru summoned snake boss Manda and made him to attack from underground. Earth shook moments before giant jaws of the snake boss broke through the surface. Tsunade got lucky and was fast enough to get away from Manda's mouth. Naruto was not. Or... Wind jutsu tore through downside of snake's snout and Kyuubi jinchuuriki jumped through the hole. Manda dove back underground, barely evading giant blade of Gamabunta's dosu. Naruto appeared by Tsunade's side, along with Shizune, just a moment before blond sannin summoned the head of slugs, Katsuyu.
"Katon: gamayu endan!" Jiraya called, performing fire jutsu of incredible power alongside with Gamabunta, but they again missed Manda as he returned back underground. Suddenly toad boss leaped high into the air and threw his dosu to Tsunade. Just as he landed, Manda attacked him from underground, but Gamabunta caught him. Female sannin then nailed snake boss to the ground through his head with 'Bunta's dosu. There was a big explosion of white smoke, as Manda unsummoned himself.
"You won this time, but Konoha will fall from my hand one day." Said Orochimaru sinking into the ground. Kabuto left the battlefield some time before his master... Gamabunta and Katsuyu disappeared in the giant poofs of white smoke too. Tsunade looked at Naruto then.
"Why did you save my life risking your own?" Kyuubi jinchuuriki smiled.
"It is my task to protect future Hokage!"
"I don't know, what makes you think that I will accept the position..." Female sannin turned her head to her apprentice. "...But now I understand, what you meant, saying about heroes, who protect people they carry about. Maybe I am a fool too, but call me Hokage-sama from now own."
***
Eight days later two sannin and their apprentices entered Konohagakure no Sato. Next morning Tsunade visited hospital. There she woke Kakashi and Sasuke from tsukiyomi-induced coma – these two too ran into Itachi. Than she visited her sensei... Sarutobi Hiruzen looked awful. He was as pale as a ghost and looked like he was at least hundred years old instead of his sixty eight.
"I'm sorry, sensei, but it's too late." Tsunade said after performing diagnostics on Sandaime Hokage. "At this stage even I can't save you. You have only six, maybe seven days left. I'm sorry..." But Sarutobi managed to last eight and a half, before leaving this sinful world... On the next day after his funeral Tsunade was named Godaime Hokage, fifth great fool as she called herself jokingly...