Chapter 25- Tanzaku Town
"Where are they going?" I wondered aloud, quietly of course. I was straining to make out the chakras of Naruto and Jiraiya, who were standing in the gates of Konoha. This is easier said than done when I had to do it from a distance that allowed us to stay hidden from them in return. If only the Uchiha had managed to retain a few more of the Byakugan's properties when the Sharingan mutated from it…
"He must've noticed us in the village yesterday, but I think someone would have told him we were there anyway. He must be taking the brat out of the village to get him away from us." Kisame answered, even though that much was obvious.
"We'll just have to try and follow them whilst remaining undetected… If you see a toad, incapacitate it." I added. Whilst children in the Water country grew up with legends and rumours about giant swords (the Samehada being one of them), I had heard plenty of stories about the Sannin. Toad, slug, snake were some of the most well known summoning animals.
I noticed an orange blob, which was Naruto at this distance, bouncing up and down with what appeared to be excitement as they traveled down the road. We would have to be very careful if we wanted to avoid being detected by a shinobi such as Jiraiya.
The trip only took a day before we met with the civilization of Tanzaku Town. I found it odd that he had decided to come to such a popular gambling place. Was he optimistically hoping to find Tsunade here? Surely a planned meeting wouldn't be held in such an obvious place…
On the positive side, a lot of tourists also came here to sightsee. This played to our advantage because we could hide amongst the large crowd and get closer to our targets.
After booking a room at a hotel and leaving some of their belongings, Naruto and Jiraiya continued on their way out of the town. Knowing they would have to return eventually, we did not bother to follow them.
"So, what should we do now?" Sasuke asked, turning to me.
"We should secure the perimeter. I'll check around their hotel and see if there's any way to poison Jiraiya or otherwise gain an upper hand. Kisame, check the borders and find out if there is anyone else in the current vicinity that we need to worry about. Sasuke, check the village center and familiarise yourself with the surroundings. It'll be important if things lead to a chase. Stay out of trouble and report back here in three hours." I directed, realising I should spell things out for my brother to make sure he learnt how to conduct these missions properly.
Kisame saluted mockingly before using a teleportation jutsu to quickly get to the town's border. Sasuke nodded in understanding before leaping down from our current perch on the roof and into a quiet back alley. He was looking at escape routes first; he had learnt a lot from the academy.
I began my inspection of the room Naruto and Jiraiya had booked. I looked through their belongings for things such as ransom items and promising objects to poison, though I doubted that I would find anything worthwhile. I made sure to return everything back to its exact position before moving on to the kitchens.
Finally, Niisan had left. I knew his 'stay out of trouble' comment had been implying that I shouldn't go looking for Tsunade, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity.
When I was inspecting a quiet alleyway, a door noisily burst open. I soon found out that it was the back door to a pub.
"Now, if you two weren't so much trouble, I'd keep you around to make me rich." An obviously drunk Tsunade commented as she stared me down imperiously. Her face was flushed and she was swaying slightly, despite her stable stance. I'd been extremely lucky that she'd found me, but I felt that because she was in such a state, I wouldn't get anything coherent out of her anyway.
"Well, I have a few hours away from my brother." I replied, going out on a limb. I hoped she wouldn't take advantage of my trust.
She just nodded before saying, "Yes, yes, we need to have a little chat." Tsunade turned back into the pub and gestured that I should follow.
She sat down at a table, which already had a small bottle of sake sitting on it. She patted the area on the bench-like seat next to her, indicating I should sit. "I am willing to change our deal if you give me more information on the Akatsuki. I doubt you can raise 750 000 ryo in four years anyway."
"Technically I do have a very large inheritance because I don't think Konoha would be willing to hand it over to my brother." I replied, thinking about the size of my family and trying not to dwell on the size of the massacre. I noticed that Tsunade was swishing her sake around thoughtfully, but she wasn't drinking anymore.
"Ah, but information isn't subject to inflation. Tell me what you know about them, then we can haggle another price." Tsunade replied.
I knew that all of the other noise in the pub would drown out our conversation to anyone who might be listening. "I don't want to say too much. They wouldn't hesitate in killing me if they found out. I know my brother would defend me, but even he isn't that powerful." I knew we'd both just end up dying.
"Alright, just confirm these rumours for me then." Tsunade amended. I nodded, feeling that if I didn't talk, I wasn't really giving anything away.
"Their main headquarters, is it still in Amegakure?"
I nodded carefully. I assumed it was still the main headquarters, anyway. They could have easily shifted camp in the time I'd been away.
She fired her next question. "How many active members are there, not including yourself? Eight?"
I briefly thought before holding up nine fingers. I didn't include Tobi, he was never there.
"Do you only travel with your brother?" Shake head, no. "Is your newest member Iwa no Deidara?" Nod, yes. "How many jinchuuriki have you captured?"
I wasn't sure about this one so I shrugged and held up two fingers. Only a couple, I thought. All I had to do was fully convince myself that I wasn't giving away information and I would be able to pass a lie detector.
"Do you have the sharingan?" Nod. "Does Orochimaru know?" Yes. "Do you have a curse seal?" No, shake. "Would you return to Konoha if you could?"
I hesitated, knowing that there was a very slim chance that my brother would ever be able to go back. I did want to go, but I would rather live away from there and look after my brother.
"How did this turn into an interrogation about my personal life, anyway?" I asked before answering her original question, "I want to stay with my brother."
Tsunade nodded slowly. "Well, I ran out of rumours and questions. I don't want to go around healing evil older brothers if it's just going to come back and bite me." She replied before calling for Shizune.
"Yes, Tsunade sama?" She asked as she appeared from the crowd with a suitcase of money and the pig that wasn't too fond of my brother.
"Where are the files?" Tsunade asked, putting her still full sake bottle down. Shizune removed some papers from her person before sitting down opposite us and handing them over.
"We'll have to find a way to, er, disable your brother long enough to perform a proper diagnosis. However, I suspect that this has to do with some form of internal bleeding and possibly rupturing of alveoli." She explained, pointing at a sketch of the lungs.
She then pointed to a picture of what my brother's lungs probably looked like. I imagined it was what a chain smoker's started to resemble after a few months.
"I'm also guessing his immune system is attacking itself, or rather, him. If he starts getting weaker and weaker for no apparent reason then it probably means I'm right. If it is left alone then several vital systems will probably collapse such as breathing and absorbing nutrients from food in the small intestine."
"You mean like Coeliac disease?" I asked, recognising the small intestine problem from somewhere.
She smiled, "Yes, but gluten won't be involved. It seems you had a very thorough teacher."
"I still can't fix broken bones very well." I muttered more to myself. Breaking a bone again because you failed to fix it correctly the first time is not very fun.
"Yes, stopping excessive internal bleeding can also be quite difficult." Tsunade muttered in return, adopting an expression, which I could only describe as depressed. I noticed Shizune shift slightly, also looking a little sad.
"Anyway," Tsunade broke the silence. "Rehabilitating your brother will have to be a hit and miss affair. He'll have to be motivated to learn and you will have to reteach in a way that exploits the way he learns."
"Uchiha are generally visual learners…" I said, wondering how Niisan had gotten through the Academy in only one year. It would have been easier than the Water country, but still. He must have had learnt behaviours already ingrained as instinct or something.
"I'd better go out and do what I'm actually supposed to be doing, or my brother will get suspicious. I'll try to make a further diagnosis and contact you somehow." I stated as I stood to leave.
"Here," she interrupted, tossing me a tiny scroll. It was probably about the size of my index finger. "Seal a message in there and I'll get it." She explained, holding up a matching one. "Now get out." She said impishly, as she pointed towards the exit.
I nodded and left, tucking it into the reverse seam of my pants. Unless I got strip searched, no one would find it.
I hadn't found any way of poisoning or otherwise assassinating Jiraiya, but I had found out that he was a pervert. He did have morals though, so I could probably make a woman 'go after him' in good conscience. It wasn't like she would get raped.
When I returned to our rendezvous, Kisame was already waiting and I could sense Sasuke was approaching.
"I think there may be another Sannin here, but it might have just been a rumour." Kisame contributed without prompting.
"The only thing I can think to do to get Jiraiya away from Naruto is to get a woman to lead him away." I said as I watched the sunset, morbidly wondering how many more I would get to see. "That would probably only fool him for all of about five minutes though." I added.
"This place is a lot like Konoha with all its back alleyways and a confusing layout. But it is much less built up in most areas, so a rooftop escape won't get you very far." Sasuke said as he fiddled with his shirt.
I nodded in response and said, "We will prepare an ambush in the morning then."
Ok, so I'm back now. But I won't be able to post anything for another five weeks. More exams… But then there is ten weeks of holidays! Year 11 does have its perks.
Please leave me a review, the last chapter only got four, so I'm feeling a bit unloved.
Anonymous Reviewers:
HinaWeasel: Ok... I'm tickled pink you reviewed! Thank you for sticking with the story.
iwalkinthelight: Tsk, tsk, homework first. Like I can talk, I only have three days to finish mine off *whistles innocently* Thanks for reviewing, hope you liked this chapter.