Chapter 20: The War begins.

Jiraiya was waiting with his teammates for Sarutobi-sensei to show up. He looked awesomely spiffy in his new green Chuunin jacket. He'd traded it for his overcoat, and looked awesomely mature and cool and tough now. Chuunin within a year of graduation!! Who was the dunce now!

"Sarutobi's late." Commented Orochimaru, who had also donned the green Chuunin vest. Tsunade had refused to wear it, saying it was too heavy, and clunky.

Jiraiya looked up as he heard a sound, and saw a squadron of ANBU black ops darting through the trees, away from Konoha.

"Did you see that?" He asked, His teammates nodded.

"I wonder what's going on, there have been a heap of Jonin coming back, and then leving again too. As well as some of the Chuunin." Tsunade said, looking in the direction the ANBU had vanished to.

"Yeah, and there's another Jonin exam tomorrow, too." Jiraiya said. His father had been complaining all week about Ara being so busy with the preparations.

"What do you think Orochimaru?"

The pale boy looked up, his arrogant demeanour fading.

"War. They're going to fight again." He said, wrapping his aroms around himself. "The Proctor said as much, before the survival test, remember?"

The Chuunin fell silent, none of them had been born by the end of the second great ninja war, when Madara Uchiha and the Hokage, Hashirama Senju had forged Konoha from the rival clans of the land of fire, but all of them knew that the cost had been extreme, Orochimaru most of all, having lost his father to it, and, indirectly, his mother, who had recieved serious wounds that had resulted in her death during the premature birth of her son.

"Why so grim, you three? You're Chuunin now, why not celebrate?" Sarutobi asked, coming into the clearing with a forced grin. All three instantly noticed that there were extra kunai and shuriken in his pouches and leg sheaths, as well as a variety of other ninja paraphernalia that he usually didn't carry with him.

"Sensei, are- are you going to fight too?" Tsunade asked, her voice hitching. the jonin nodded gravely.

"Yes, since the three of you are chuunin, you don't need a Jonin sensei anymore, and I'll be better able to protect you by eliminating threats before they get to our border and become your problem."

"Sarutobi, there you are." A tall woman with raven dark hair and pale purple eyes entered the glade, along with a stockier redhead man, with two thin swords complimenting the standard ninja gear.

"Children, these are my teammates from when I was a gennin and chuunin. Himeko Hyuuga and Jisuke Cotaro." Sarutobi indicated the two Jonin with a grin.

"We need to go, Monkey-man." Jisuke said, acknoledging the three with a nod.

"So these are the little demon-slayers...you're lucky to be alive." Himeko commented, running a hand through her long hair.

"Saru (means monkey in japanese) taught them. They've probably got hundreds of jutsu up their sleeve already."

Sarutobi shuffled his feet.

"Actually, only Orochimaru-kun has the talent for ninjutsu. Tsunade is a taijutsu-type and Jiriaya....is the determined type..."

"Hey!! I was the one who beat that dumb fox!! And I managed to summon one of Snake-boys dumb reptiles."

"Without a contract?" Asked Jisuke in surprise.

"Yep. He was bleeding all over the floor, so I used Snake-boy's blood." Jiraiya said proudly, poking his tongue out at his sensei.

"Tch. The knuckle-heads all die young in wars." Himeko said, scowling. "The Idealists too. Let's go, we're meant to be at the border by tomorrow afternoon."

Sarutobi nodded, and turned back towards his students. "Take care of each other, and please don't let yourself get killed..."

"Sarutobi-sensei!" Tsunade wrapped her arms around her teacher, Jiraiya closely following suit. Even Orochimaru looked stricken at the idea of losing his teacher.

After a minute, Sarutobi disentangled himself.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll see you three son." With that, their teacher pasted a grin on his face and ran off with his teammates.

*

Shikashi, Ameko and Mizuko were training with some other new chuunin, as well as several gennin, when Jiriaya and his team showed up. The twins immediately stopped and went over to congratulate him on becoming a chuunin, and ask if the wild stories were really true.

"Hey Tsunade, Orochimaru." Shikashi smiled slightly at tsunade, who was glaring at the twins and Jiriaya, before turning to Orochimaru. "Does your team want to train with us? There are six other chuunin, but we're all on probation until they get Ara-sensei and a couple of other Jonin to test our fighting skills, next week, so we want to be as prepared as possible, right, you two?" the last words were directed at his teammates.

"Coming Shikashi-kun." Both groaned in unison and turned back."

"Fine, we'll train with you." Tsunade said, with an evil grin at the twins. Shikashi wondered if she liked Jiraiya, or was simply possessive, as she began stretching.

THe training session that followed proved that, like or possesiveness, Tsunade was just as willing to pound in Jiraiya's face as anyone elses.

*

Meanwhile, running through the forests and hills of the Fire Country, Sarutobi and his teammates were being followed.