A/N: Hello everybody and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As you are all well aware, Ultimate Kekkei Genkai: The Jagan won the poll to host the Special Christmas Chapter for this year.
The timeline for this fic is After the 'Search for Tsunade Arc', but before the 'Sasuke Retrieval Arc'. Like the Dragon Ball Z movies, as compared to the Manga and Anime, this Chapter will have little to do with the rest of the fic as a whole. Which should be painfully obvious as Tsunade hasn't made an appearance in this fic yet and Jiraiya and Naruto haven't even left to go looking for her as of yet.
On another note, I will be setting up a poll to see if you guys would like to see a Valentines Day Special in February and which fic you'd like to see it in.
Now... To answer all of those reviews from my faithful readers!
Garuto: Sarutobi's fate will be revealed in the next chapter.
Genesis D. Rose: Naruto will get a new sword, but that won't be for some time. In the meantime he'll still carry the shattered remains of his father's sword.
Akira Stridder: How Orochimaru restored his arm after Naruto incinerated it in the Forest of Death was a sort of prosthetic using an advanced knowledge in seals, ninjutsu and anatomy. Think of an armband device that feeds off of Orochimaru's chakra, to use a Kage Bunshin variant. Of course it will be useless now as it would take too much chakra for Orochimaru to maintain two arms.
Lunatic Pandora1: Mostly, I was going for original. The Naruto/Gaara fight has been done so many ways, to various degrees of success. I'd still like to think this was one of the better ones. he problem with a Naru/Bunta Combi Henge is the fact that they were still in the middle of the village. Plus, everyone knows what a Kyuubified Naruto looks like and even some of the other Jinchuuriki when under the influence of their respective Bijuu, so I decided to take a look at how Kyuubi's Youki would affect other things. Sure, Naruto has used Kyuubi's chakra to summon Bunta, but from there on it was Naruto's will and Bunta's energy that kept the Toad Boss in the real world. So I decided that instead of a Henge that would result in the destruction of half the village, I'd dabble in the concept of a Kyuubified Gamabunta and a Youki influenced Naruto. It's a nice concept that will most likely be seen again later on in the fic, but not anytime soon, as using the Youki taxes Gamabunta even more than it does Naruto.
Tellemicus Sundance: I've been doing my best at trying to keep him from being drastically overpowered. The only true stretch I see, and I will admit to whole heartedly, is the Naruto/Gaara fight, part 2. Naruto had been able to rest between the Neji and Lee fight, and Naruto didn't really do anything except get stomped on during the first Gaara fight, so other than his quick healing and one major jutsu, he didn't really use that much chakra until he summoned Gamamusha.
The big reason why I carried the scene out like I did was because I still wanted the Summon Fight during the invasion. It was also the perfect chance to do something different with Naruto and Gamabunta and carry the fight out a different way.
The power won't come without cost, of that I assure you.
The sword breaking scene was actually more of a tribute to one of my favorite book series. The Book in Question, if you were curious, is called the Scions of Shannara. Unlike Hiei, Naruto's sword will stay broken.
Chaosknight999: I have no idea where I'm going with pairings as of yet. However, I CAN say it WILL be between Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Temari. All subsequent minor pairings involving those ladies will be established once the main pairing is decided.
Ferail: No Kurama is NOT the Kyuubi. I may include that technique later, I haven't decided yet. In fact, it almost made it into the final cut in the fight against Neji as being a sort of counter for the Byakugan. But alas, it was not meant to be...
RetardedMe: Thanks for the kudos. I personally would go for the third option. Kami-sama doesn't get enough credit for all of the hard work he puts into the miserable blue speck of a planet.
And now, for the rest of the... Err... Intermission...
Chapter 14: Intermission: Christmas 2007 Holiday Special Chapter
It was a wondrous, beautiful, picturesque winter day.
Nearly the whole village was in a buzz of excitement. Snow blanketed every corner of not only Konohagakure no Sato, but the whole of Fire Country in its' entirety. People had strung lights and various decorations from their rooftops (much to the displeasure of various shinobi), windows, doors and anywhere else they were permitted to.
The entire village was seemingly in a blissful state of harmonic peace. It seemed that with the onset of the Holiday Season, troubles and disputes with hostile villages, nuke-nin and bandits were forgotten.
Many, mostly civilians, were even speculating as to the origins of a huge, lumbering tree that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the night in the center of the courtyard of the Hokage Tower. What had really been a sight to behold was the creative and innovative ways the various shinobi and kunoichi who were assigned to decorate the tree had done so.
Parties and celebrations were being held in various places at various times among both the civilian and ninja populations. Yamanaka Ino had even invited members of the Rookie Nine, Team Gai and Haku to a small get together at her house. The same invitation was also extended to the younger three members of Team Baki should any of them find themselves in Konohagakure around the time of the party.
Yet through all the joy and the festivities there was one person who was not happy. He was not in the mood for celebrating. That after all that had happened, all he had accomplished, he felt like he had gained very little. And like every other time he felt like he did at that moment, he ended up on top of the Hokage Monument. On top of the Yondaime Hokage's head as a matter of fact.
Coming to this location served two purposes. First and foremost, he could get a great view of the village from his extremely high perch. Second, he could get away from the village without actually having to leave.
No matter how much he loved his village, and he probablly loved it more than anyone, he just had to get away from it all. This was especially true around certain dates, though no one seemed to notice. Certainly not his 'Family' and most definitely not his friends.
However to his credit, Iruka had looked at the boy rather suspiciously when the boy even said that he'd gratefully accept a 'D'-Rank mission that take him out of the village for well over a week. Unfortunately, the snow had come early and the mission had been cancelled.
Kazama Naruto sighed. He remembered back to his childhood a few years back when Ino had been depressed because her father was gone on a mission and most likely wouldn't be back until after the Christmas Holiday. He remembered her elation when her father had just barely managed to make it back early that Christmas afternoon. It had been a touching scene and even now after all that time, the memory still caused him great pain. A constant reminder of what he didn't or wouldn't ever have. It hadn't been the first time, and he doubted it would ever be the last time, that he wished he'd have had parents growing up. Even now, when he was practically considered an adult, he sometimes wished it were so.
He loved them all dearly, but they could never fill the missing part that he knew was lost forever that night a little over thirteen years ago. Sarutobi-jiji was the gentle, soft spoken grandfather, who always had a kind word or an insightful bit of advise. Kakashi-sensei was like that strange uncle that everyone loved, but was just plain weird. Ero-Sennin was loveable enough, he supposed, but the man, aside from being an unforgivable lecher, was irresponsibility incarnate.
Of all the other adults left that had made a rather sizeable impact on his life were Iruka, who had always treated Naruto as something of a cherished nephew or a younger brother and Tsunade-baa-chan and Shizune-nee-chan. The latter two and himself also shared a strong sibling bond, despite Tsunade's gambling and drinking habits and the age gaps between them. Tsunade was the authoritive older sister, always bossing people around, Naruto was the annoying younger brother always getting on her nerves with Shizune acting as the mediator between the two of them.
Even though they had gotten to know each other quite well, Hayate-sensei and Naruto still maintained a rather professional teacher/student relationship, and with more and more missions coming up as of late, the two rarely saw each other as much as they used to.
Even though he had a 'family' now, it just wasn't the same as what it would have been like growing up with one and having parents in one form or another. No matter how much he told himself they would always be there for him, he couldn't get rid of the lingering doubt that maybe, just maybe they'd realize everything up until that point had either been one huge mistake, or a rather well crafted, vicious lie.
Try as he might, images from his childhood flashed before his very eyes.
Being chased away by parents when he tried to interact with others his own age. The cold glares they would give him as he both approached and left. Their looks of scorn and burning hatred.
The older kids making fun of him and trashing the snowman he tried to make.
The Christmas gift he had spent a lot of time of thinking about and put a lot of effort into for Sakura-chan, only to be rejected (yet again) rather forcefully. The humiliation of rejection, the look of approval on her parents faces as she sent him away with nothing but a feeling of emptiness and wounded pride.
Watching Ino reunited with her father that wasn't due back for many days.
The celebrations and festivities that he was either not allowed to attend or participate in for no real reason, or was kicked out of for whatever reason seemed convenient.
Naruto shook himself from the images. They would only make him more depressed and bitter. Two things he tried never to be, but always was whenever it was either his birthday or the Christmas Season while he was in Konoha. Though he had to admit, it was worse on his birthday during the Kyuubi festival than it was during the Christmas Holiday.
"Troublesome..." Naruto sighed.
"You're starting to sound like me, Naruto..." said Shikamaru.
"I didn't even sense you come up here," commented Naruto.
"Even your eye can't see everything Naruto," said Shikamaru.
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked with a slightly demanding tone.
Shikamaru sighed. "Ino sent me to find you. Sakura told me that you'd probablly be up here."
"I figured it would be too 'troublesome' to go out looking for me," Naruto slightly smiled as he said this.
"Yeah, it is... But it's more troublesome if I don't do as Ino and Sakura tell me to," said Shikamaru. "Sometimes they put even my Kaa-san to shame with their bossiness..." Shikamaru visibly shuddered.
"Especially when they're together and agreeing on something,"chuckled Naruto.
"So why don't you make it less troublesome for the two of us, and come back with me to Ino's house," said Shikamaru.
"Gomen... I... I can't..." Naruto told the normally lazy shinobi hesitantly.
"Sakura told me you would say as much... So she told me to tell you that you were to be there within the next half hour no matter what," said Shikamaru.
"I was expecting to be on a mission so I didn't get anyone anything..." Naruto admitted hesitantly.
"You still have time, Christmas isn't for another few days yet anyway," said Shikamaru, who then paused, looking at Naruto for a moment. "That's not it is it?"
"Yeah... No... Well, not entirely..." answered Naruto, "I really wasn't expecting to be in Konoha this year..."
"Because you didn't want to be," said Shikamaru, "Sakura said you were acting strange lately. Like you almost sounded desperate when requesting a multi-day mission."
Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Sharp as ever, Shika..."
"It was the same around your birthday too, remember that mission me, Hinata, Kakashi and you went on?" asked Shikamaru, "I volunteered because you just wanted to get away from the festival, but that wasn't the only reason was it?"
"What makes you say that?" asked Naruto.
"Because Christmas has nothing to do with the Kyuubi," replied Shikamaru, "I don't know why I never saw it before... Or why no one else noticed... I guess I never really thought about it. Explains why Sasuke refused to come after you too."
"Figured me out, eh?" asked Naruto sadly.
"Yeah... I'll tell them you're busy or somethin' and that you'll try to be there later," said Shikamaru.
"That's only going to make things more 'troublesome' for you," said Naruto knowing how Ino and Sakura would likely react. One of them were bad enough when they were driven to get something they wanted. It was much, MUCH worse when the two were working together towards the same goal.
Naruto was certain that if the girls dropped their rivalry with one another and both decided to share the man of their dreams no one, not even Sasuke's "cool and mysterious" (emo) attitude would be able to stand up to the combined force of their charms.
"Yeah... Consider it your Christmas present..." said Shikamaru turning to leave.
"Shika... Arigato..." whispered Naruto, though the lazy nin heard.
"No problem, Naruto," said the cloud watcher as he left.
"I had wondered why you hadn't come to bug me about training you," said another familiar voice just moments after Shikamaru had left.
Naruto jumped slightly at the suddenness of the voice, but did not show any other reaction. He did frown after a moment. "You and Kakashi-sensei are always able to sneak up on me, even when I am focusing the Jagan... How do you guys do it?"
"I am on a level equal to a Kage, and Kakashi is arguably the most powerful and skilled Jounin in the village," said Jiraiya, "Then there's also the fact that we either trained, trained with, or was trained by your father. So we were bound to learn a trick or two."
"What did you want Ero-Sennin?" asked Naruto irritably.
"What do you think? To check up on you," said Jiraiya, "I was worried that you haven't been bugging me as much lately, but then I figured you got a mission. It wasn't until the Nara boy came looking for you that I decided to look for you."
"Look for me? You probablly just followed Shikamaru, letting him do all the work," snorted Naruto.
"Be that as it may, I still found you," he defended, "Interesting thinking spot though..."
"It always has been... For as long as I can remember I always came here to be alone, to think, or just to get away from everything," said Naruto, "I think I'm gonna have to find a new spot because it seems whenever someone finds out where it is, they tell someone else..."
Jiraiya chuckled at that remark, "It's not like they come and bug you when your up here unless it's real important."
"Does Baa-chan need me for a mission? Is Konoha in danger? Are any of my friends hurt or dying?" asked Naruto, "I don't really see going to a party with all my friends and THEIR families as an important reason to bug me while I have my Sasuke moment."
Jiraiya smiled at the last comment, "Do you really, and I mean REALLY want to be alone?"
"I..." he paused, "I don't know... A little bit of both, I guess..."
"Trust me Gaki, I know the feeling," said Jiraiya, "Me, Tsu-hime, and Orochi-teme all went through this when we lost our parents in the war. Tsunade had it a bit better than us because she still had Nawaki, the Shodaime and the Nidaime. Then of course they got killed, but by that time she still had Dan. We all know what happened from there... Her leaving hurt a lot worse than Orochimaru's betrayal."
"You still... Like... Her don't you, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya smiled, but did not answer, his silence told Naruto more than enough. "Listen, Gaki... Don't wait for the unattainable to come around..."
"But-..." Naruto began, only to be cut off.
Jiraiya shook his head. "I know you've already decided to give up on her, but that doesn't mean you're over her, and you probablly won't ever be completely. Being your first crush, she'll always have a place in here." Jiraiya tapped his chest where his heart was located. "Just... Don't spend years waiting for something that won't happen. If you find a chance to be happy, take it."
Naruto nodded. "You know... I was expecting you to talk me into going to Ino's house for the party..."
"Of all the things I am, I'd like to think I'm not a hypocrite," said Jiraiya, "I've avoided things like that since my parents died. I went to Tsu-hime's place and your old man's once or twice, but well..."
"Yeah..."
The two fell in an easy silence looking over the village.
"You know what the real difference between us is though..." said Jiraiya.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya in confusion, because he knew Jiraiya was not talking about their age, height, nor was he referring to Naruto's little furry tenant.
"I didn't have any real close friends like you do. After my parents died, I kept everyone at a distance, even Tsu-hime. By the time I was ready to let her in, Dan came along and I missed my chance," Jiraiya told him, "When Dan died, it was the last straw for her, she closed herself off from everyone, except Shizune, who she used as a sort of link to her dead fiancee. Of course I'd pretty much cemented my reputation by then so any moves I made she'd have thought I was taking advantage of her."
Naruto looked at Jiraiya, before looking back at the village.
"Don't... Don't ENTIRELY be like me..." Jiraiya ordered.
"Entirely?" asked Naruto, an eyebrow raising questioningly.
"Well, I won't object to you taking up the devout learnings of pervertism and becoming a renown super-pervert like my self!" stated Jiraiya proudly, "Because I like you so much, I'll even take you as my apprentice and show you the Way of the Ero-Sennin!"
"Baka Ero-Sennin..." Naruto mumbled shaking his head, a smile gracing his face.
Jiraiya took a deep breathe. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the Yamanaka and Haruno girls are throwing this Christmas Party for you, they wanted to make sure you celebrated the Holidays properly."
"Why?" asked a shocked Naruto.
"Because they're your friends, Gaki," said Jiraiya, "They even got that Emo-Uchiha to help out. You wouldn't want all that hard work to go to waste now, would you? Besides, you'd hurt their feelings if you were the only one not to go."
"I thought you weren't here to talk me into going?" asked Naruto.
"I'm not, I'm just giving you information so you can make an informed decision," Jiraiya stated. "Besides, if you do decide to go, it's not like you have to stay. Show up, say hi to a few people and then come back here and spend the rest of the night brooding like your teammate. Who knows, maybe you'll have fun and be like your normal self and I won't almost mistake you for a Henged Uchiha."
Naruto seemed to think over Jiraiya's words before turning around to leave. He paused for a moment and looked back over his shoulder.
"Thanks... Jiraiya-sensei..." Naruto whispered.
"No problem, Naruto..." Jiraiya answered. "Now get goin' you don't have much time left before Sakura's time limit expires. 'Guest of Honor' or not, that Sakura girl will thump you pretty good if you're late and if she's anything like Tsu-hime angry... I bet they hurt quite a bit."
"Not as much as they used to... Many years of 'Sakura beatings' have given me a high pain tolerance," said Naruto as he began to make his way to the Yamanaka residence.
Jiraiya looked back over the village, seemingly waiting for something with a sad look on his face. "You've been over there for a while, care to share what's on your mind?"
Stepping out from her hiding place was a rather busty blonde woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. "Jiraiya..."
"How much did you hear?" he asked directly.
"Everything after he complained about you and Kakashi being able to sneak up on him," answered Tsunade. Jiraiya sighed, but said nothing. They were silent for a few moments, before Tsunade spoke up again. "Jiraiya..."
"Don't... It's already too late. We're both so far set in our ways that we'd drive each other nuts," he said seriously.
"I... I didn't know..." Tsunade said defensively.
"I don't want your pity, Tsu-hime," he said sternly, "You know... You were the main reason I set up my spy network. I used it as a way to not only to keep tabs on you, but help you pay off your debts too."
Tsunade's head turned sharply towards Jiraiya in shock.
"When you left, you were so stricken with grief and Shizune was still just a small girl, I didn't want anything to happen to you. Until Arashi came along, you were about the only bright spot in my life."
"What about Sensei and Orochimaru?"
"Do you really have to ask?" asked Jiraiya, "Between Sarutobi-sensei's blatant favoritism, Orochimaru's cold personality and my own jealousy and resentment. They may have been like a second father and a brother to me, but they weren't what kept me going through the really tough times..."
"You said you helped pay off my debts... How? Shizune would have noticed..."
Jiraiya smirked. "Who said she didn't know? How do you think I was able to keep track of you? I would have taken far longer than a month and a half to find you if it wasn't for your apprentice being a part of my own spy network."
"I had always wondered how you were always able to find me over the years," commented Tsunade.
"Yeah... But finding you was the easy part... Getting you to come back..." said Jiraiya, "That Gaki is an amazing kid. He'll be even better than Arashi I think."
Tsunade shivered due to the cold. "Jiraiya... How about joining me for a drink? I've spent enough time during this particular holiday alone..."
"Tsunade...?"
"I've spent all this time wallowing in the past, thinking about what could have been, thinking about what I've lost, that I lost sight of what I did have..." she said sadly, "Taking things for granted... Taking you for granted... You... You've always been there haven't you?"
Jiraiya didn't answer.
"Always, when I was at my worst, when things got really bad, you would always show up. You'd always make me laugh, or just piss me off, but always you took my mind off of them for a little bit and made the pain hurt that much less, even for just a small a moment." she pressed on, "No matter how horribly I would treat you sometimes you always came back for me..."
"I'd go to the ends of the Earth and beyond for you, Tsu-hime... Always and forever..."said Jiraiya, he touched her face gently, he then pulled her face towards him and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He smiled when he saw her light blush. "I'm gonna pass on the drink though..."
"Wha- Why!?" she asked in shock.
"Because I want you to be sure. I want you to have no regrets. My feelings are pretty clear, but we're too emotionally charged to think through this just now..." explained Jiraiya, "If anything does come of this, I want to be sure of your feelings."
"Who'd have thought you were such a romantic?" she asked him playfully.
"If you'd have read any of my books, you'd have known that," he said, then he winced slightly before mentally preparing him for the patented 'Tsunade Anti-Pervert Punch'.
"You're just too much sometimes... Ero-Sennin..." She couldn't help but giggle at his dumbfounded look on his face because he hadn't been sent flying. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but you have to spend Christmas day with me."
"I promise... Baa-chan..." he chuckled lightly as he lowered his hand to his side and stepped back from her.
"It's a date..." Tsunade confirmed. "Oh and Jiraiya..."
Faster than Jiraiya could blink, Tsunade's hand shot out.
"That's for being a pervert and calling me old..."
'Shit...' was Jiraiya's only thought as he watched everything slow down. Tsunade's hand was inches from his face, her finger slowly extending as he flicked him in his forehead.
"Aaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" Jiraiya screamed as he was sent flying.
Naruto was a few blocks away from the Yamanaka residence and flower shop, marveling at the various Christmas decorations around the town as his sensei flew overhead. "Baka Ero-Sennin... You never learn do you?"
A/N: A day late, I know, but it still came out all right I think. Expect updates on Ultimate Experiment pretty soon and the possible posting of another new fic, Ultimate Kitsune: Youko Naruto. Like this one and Rei Shinobi, it's another YuYu Hakusho - Naruto fusion. Before anyone asks, there WILL NOT be a fourth one that fuses Naruto with Kuwabara.
Anyways... Please review and let me know what you think of this intermission chapter!