CHAPTER 36:
SEEKING TSUNADE
As it was, Jiraiya was closer than they thought. As they dashed through the streets, they encountered him, the dark-haired woman he had set off after over his shoulder, heading back to the hotel. "What's the matter?" he demanded.
"Akatsuki!" Sakura yelled. They dashed behind him.
"Akatsuki…I see…they'd put a genjutsu on her to try and lure me away from Naruto," Jiraiya muttered. "I figured as such. You three, stay close. They'll hesitate to attempt to get to him if you're with me."
"It was Uncle Kisame, and Itachi Uchiha," Haku said.
"Sakura blinded them with her Hikariton," Naruto said, chuckling a little. "I think they're going to be dazzled for a while."
"And it works very well on activated doujutsu, which means Itachi is out for a few minutes," Sakura said. "Kisame'll recover quicker, though."
"I'll find somewhere to put this lovely young lady where she won't get hurt," Jiraiya said. He soon found a bench, which he carefully sat the woman up on. Then, he said to a nearby stall owner, "Please look after this woman, she's been attacked by a strange man."
As the stall owner nodded, Naruto said, "But what the hell do we do about those two Akatsuki guys?"
"I've got an idea," Sakura said. "Shadow Clones. Make a whole bunch of them, Naruto, transform then into us, and scatter them to every direction you can. It may distract Itachi and Kisame long enough for us to make our escape."
"Good idea," Jiraiya said. "Except we'll double-bluff them. We still need to stay somewhere for the night, so we'll send the Shadow Clones out, and have Itachi and Kisame running after them. When we head back to our hotel room, we'll put seals up. That way, if they try again, then we'll have some warning, and make our escape."
Having done all that, and having confirmed that both Itachi and Kisame were pursuing the Shadow Clones, Jiraiya sat the three younger shinobi down and said, "I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't think Akatsuki would be making their move yet. I thought they'd wait before attempting to obtain one of the Tailed Beasts. It only goes to show, in the world of espionage, not all information can be considered definitive."
As Naruto scowled, Sakura frowned. "Who's in this organisation? The Hokage told me not only Itachi and Kisame were in it, but so was a rogue ninja from Iwa called Deidara."
"Yes, Deidara, the Mad Bomber," Jiraiya said. "Noted for using clay-based explosive jutsus, creating explosives from clay sculptures. I don't know many of the members besides that. I have heard of a Suna rogue ninja called Sasori, said to be a master of using puppets. And there's Kakuzu, a Taki rogue ninja. He was once assigned to assassinate the First Hokage, but failed, and when he was sentenced to death for his failure by Taki, he escaped, though not before killing a lot of people and taking a lot of jutsus with him."
"But if he tried to kill the First Hokage, how can he still be fighting?" Naruto asked.
"I heard rumours that he used a forbidden jutsu of Taki, the Jiongu or Earth Grudge. I don't know the full details, but it apparently makes him immortal, or at least extremely long-lived, able to still fight and fight well at his age," Jiraiya said. "And of the leader, I have only heard rumours. I know only two things: he supposedly possesses a powerful doujutsu, and he calls himself Pain."
"Pain?" Haku echoed. "That sounds rather ominous."
Jiraiya nodded. "Beyond that, I know little, which is frustrating. Now, keep this in mind, you three. Hopefully, this evening's events have convinced the Akatsuki that getting Naruto now is more trouble than it's worth for now, but they will try again later. And Akatsuki is chock-a-block full of S-Rank ninja. Orochimaru was once part of them, until he was kicked out by force. Think on that, people stronger than that snake bastard. I would have to pull out the stops to have a chance against them. Our course of action hasn't changed, though. Our mission is to find Tsunade and convince her to come back to Konoha to act as Hokage."
"Why don't you act as Hokage, Pervert Sage?" Naruto asked cheekily.
"Naruto!" Sakura snarled. "Think about what he'd do if he was in charge! He'd probably want mixed-gender areas at the onsen! And more revealing uniforms for the kunoichi!"
"Well, you're not wrong," Jiraiya said with a lecherous smile. "But there's another reason, perhaps more important to Konoha's safety. I run a spy network while on my travels. It would take too much time to wrap it up or else hand it over to a successor. Tsunade has no such attachments."
"Do we have any recent photos to go on?" Sakura asked. "I've seen photos of her in books about our recent history, but nothing up to date."
"The photos from a few decades back may still be good, Sakura," Jiraiya said. "Tsunade was never one to age gracefully. She uses a Henge to appear…usually in her twenties, though in order to shake off any debt collectors, she varies her age and her appearance if they come calling, anywhere from her teens to her forties. But even if you saw her without her Henge, do not let that fool you. Even going to seed, she's still strong and skilled, at a Kage level. This is the latest picture I have of her."
Sakura frowned as she took the photo. She recognised Tsunade from pictures, and had to admit, it was as if she hadn't aged a day. Sakura felt a slight pang of jealousy, given how buxom the Sannin was. The beautiful, regal face of Tsunade, framed by blonde hair, had a distinctive diamond mark on her forehead. Next to her was a dark-haired young woman with a somewhat put-upon expression, holding a pig with a pearl necklace.
As she handed the picture to Naruto, Sakura asked, "Who's the other woman?"
"Shizune, her assistant and apprentice. She was the niece of Dan Kato…" At this, Jiraiya's face hardened slightly. "Tsunade's lost love. I'd suggest not mentioning Dan in front of Tsunade, not unless you want to feel one of her famous punches."
"What's with the pig?" Naruto asked, handing the photo over to Haku.
"A ninja pig, believe it or not," Jiraiya said. "Tonton. Now, there's another couple of things you should know. Firstly, she's a noted gambler, but with usually appalling luck. She's known colloquially as the 'Legendary Sucker'. Secondly, she is a haemophobe. In other words, she freezes up at the sight of blood."
"But…she's one of the most famous medical ninjas Konoha has ever produced!" Sakura protested.
"Look, it's a long story. And we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow, so we need our sleep. Tomorrow, I'll start you guys on learning the Rasengan. Keep in mind, though, that I'm not going to be doing much in the way of hand-holding. I have no objection if someone amongst you figures out how to do it, and teaches the other. But I'm going to give you goals to achieve, and you've got to figure it out yourself. I've already given you a basic outline of how to do the Rasengan. Once we're underway, we'll start this in earnest."
It wasn't until they were in the next town over that Jiraiya had inspiration on how to teach them the Rasengan proper. They had arrived at a city with a festival going on, and Jiraiya tried to restrict their spending to 300 Ryo each, and take their wallet with him, citing the shinobi vices. Haku, sensing something was up, encased Naruto's wallet, the toad-shaped 'Gama-chan', in a near-unmeltable block of ice, and had said he had frozen their funds. Jiraiya looked distinctly unamused, but had acceded that it was a good way to keep the funds at a manageable level, and allowed Haku to keep the wallet with him, as long as it remained frozen. Sakura got the impression that Jiraiya had wanted to use the money inside Gama-chan, though. They had found Jiraiya's dropped savings passbook shortly afterwards, and realised he was rich, presumably from his itinerant lifestyle and his profits from Icha Icha. Maybe he was also a miser when it came to his own money.
If it had been his intention to pilfer Naruto's money, it didn't stop him from happily indulging in women and sake with his own money when they found him again, when he earlier claimed he was gathering intelligence. In the process of berating him for his conduct (Jiraiya had, after all, indulged in the very vices he had warned them against), however, one of Naruto's treats slipped from his hand and hit the coat of one of a pair of thugs. One of them claimed to be a former Iwa ninja, and attacked. Jiraiya formed a Rasengan and sent the two thugs flying into a nearby stall. Seeing the spilled balloons, Jiraiya bought all the ones available from the damaged stall.
As they left town, Jiraiya gave a demonstration of the rotation concept. The three young shinobi watched as Jiraiya, through injections of chakra, caused the balloon to warp, ripple, and then explode. Sakura noted that the balloon began bulging in multiple areas, suggesting multiple rotations in different planes. If it was just one, the balloon would be bulging along a single plane, maybe the equator.
Sakura and Haku grasped that concept quickly, and taught Naruto patiently, though Jiraiya did need to help Naruto out by teaching him his natural chakra rotation. It took far less time for Naruto than Jiraiya thought, even with Sakura and Haku's help. Even so, he needed two hands to rotate the chakra. Sakura suggested that, if he couldn't get the hang of it, using a Shadow Clone to help with it might be what Naruto should do. Jiraiya acceded that it was probably wise.
The next stage was the one Sakura knew she would have trouble with. This time, they had to explode a rubber ball with a focused infusion of chakra. Jiraiya had anticipated this, and found a smaller rubber ball, still with thick walls, but hopefully manageable by Sakura.
It was Haku who managed to finish this next step first. Jiraiya noted that of the three, Haku was perhaps the most balanced, in both having large chakra reserves (though not at Uzumaki or jinchuriki levels) and power, along with precise control. Naruto and Sakura managed to get to the point where they burst a hole in the ball, but not actually exploding the ball. Jiraiya gave them a little mark on their palms to help focus things. And just in time, too, for they finally got a concrete lead on Tsunade's whereabouts, from a man who had managed to win big from her earlier.
It was while they were on the way to Tanzaku that Haku succeeded in being able to create a Rasengan…and not long afterwards, quite by accident, so did Sakura!
The Rasengan ball was the size of a pebble, but it was undeniably a Rasengan, a swirling ball of blue chakra in the palm of Sakura's hand. Jiraiya and Naruto, already shocked by Haku managing to make his own Rasengan, were gaping, their eyes comically wide.
After a moment, Jiraiya asked, "How…"
"You told us the three steps," Sakura said. "I guess I tried combining things too soon when I got frustrated, but maybe my chakra isn't powerful enough to burst that ball."
Jiraiya stared. "Not much power, but I'm guessing your chakra control helps in keeping what little power you can use into it." They were on the road, and then, Jiraiya thought, "Slam it into the trunk of that tree." He indicated a nearby tree.
Sakura did, slapping the mini-Rasengan into the trunk. A buzzing, drilling noise filled the air, followed by a bang. Sakura withdrew her hand, and stared. The hole was an inch in diameter and about twice as deep…but on a person's torso, it could be a lethal wound.
Jiraiya whistled, impressed. After some thought, he said, "We'll call that one the Koishi Rasengan, or the Pebble Rasengan, because of its size(1). Sakura, Haku, I'll be frank, I'm bloody impressed. It took Minato Namikaze three years to create the Rasengan. And it took me a lot longer for me to learn how to use it than you guys are. Even Naruto's doing better than I did." Giving Naruto a quick glare, he said, "Don't get cocky. You're stil yet to finish the second step. Sakura and Haku can help you from this point on. Now, for extra credit from Haku, I'd like to see if you can combine the Rasengan with your Hyouton. One of Minato's goals was to combine the Rasengan with his chakra nature. I don't expect you to do so, I just wondered if you can do something by combining it with your bloodline limit. Now, once we get there…I'll have you two talk to Tsunade first, Haku and Sakura."
"Why?" Haku asked. "Surely you know her better?"
"Yeah, and if I come waltzing in, well, while we're friends, we've come to blows before. There's a few reasons. I reckon you two have quite some tact and diplomacy. And then, well, it's a bit of a dirty psychological trick, but needs must when the devil rides out. I'm hoping you two will remind her of herself and the man she fell for, Dan Kato." Jiraiya then looked at Naruto. "I'll be frank, Naruto, you might lose your temper. She's not fond of the office of the Hokage, thinking those who assume the office are self-sacrificing fools. And considering your dream, well…"
"Hey, if she badmouths me or the Hokages, I'll just kick her ass."
"Naruto," Sakura said, facepalming, "she is one of the Sannin. To put it in terms you'd understand, she'd kick your ass. She can focus her chakra into her muscles and limbs, strengthening her blows immensely. It's said that a single punch from her can level a mountain. Jinchuriki or not, that's still going to leave a mark."
Jiraiya nodded. "She's right, Naruto. And you get more flies with honey than vinegar. Anyway, there may be another problem."
"What's that?"
"Orochimaru. My sensei stole the use of his arms using the Reaper Seal at the cost of his life and soul, but, if there's anyone who could restore Orochimaru's arms, it'd be Tsunade. She is quite possibly the best medic ninja alive, after all. And I would not be surprised if he is going to offer her a deal."
"Would Tsunade take such a deal?" Sakura asked, horrified.
"Normally, no. She hates him as much as I do. But Orochimaru, if I know him, may offer to revive Dan and her brother Nawaki with the Edo Tensei. That might just tempt her enough to heal him. There might be other things, but I'd stake money on those two being revived by the Edo Tensei."
"But the Edo Tensei means they are under Orochimaru's control, doesn't it?" Sakura asked.
"Yes. But I don't know whether Tsunade knows that little detail about her grand-uncle's jutsu. The clock's ticking, and not just because of Orochimaru, either. The longer Konoha is without a Hokage, the more likely there will be an attack from without by another village…or from within."
It went without saying with Sakura and Haku that it was Danzo and ROOT Jiraiya was talking about. Even so, as they continued on to Tanzaku, the three young shinobi felt a little ill at ease. For Sakura, it was so many things: the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Root…and the fact that she knew that Tsunade, one of her idols, was probably going to push herself off the pedestal Sakura had put her on…
CHAPTER 36 ANNOTATIONS NO JUTSU:
This is more of an interval and exposition chapter. I had a flick through Volume 17 to see what Jiraiya and Naruto's trip was like, and I was annoyed by Jiraiya spending all of Naruto's money, hence Haku's 'freezing funds' scene. I'm trying to reconstruct Jiraiya a little, or at least make him less selfish, but I needed to address that scene, hence Haku's action. I thought Haku, given his training under Zabuza, would be the first to master the Rasengan, and that Sakura, with her chakra control, could create a much smaller one faster than Naruto can create a standard one. However, I also decided that Sakura and Haku would help Naruto with it however they can, and they'd be more successful than Jiraiya's relatively hands-off method.
Review-answering time! EternalVoidinsilence: I'm not as familiar with Naruto as with other works, so I have to be careful where I do diverge from the stations of the canon. In any case, this story was written mostly as an antidote to the plethora of Sakura-bashing fics out there. I do like many fics that have Sakura-bashing in them, true, but I actually find doing so in my works hard. Sasuke is more worthy of being bashed than Sakura.
Duner89: Itachi would actually keep his temper. The one impression I got of him was extreme stoicism. He'd be more likely to knock her unconscious rather than, say, use a Tsukuyomi on her. Kisame, however, would certainly torture her, probably by cutting her up with Samehada.
Reishin Amara: Sakura doesn't have the chakra reserves for something like that. But she could still develop the jutsu…and Naruto or Sasuke use it. Or even Haku.
1. I don't know what the correct grammar would be for this, and it took me a while to consider a name for Sakura's mini-Rasengan. I decided on something that was slightly poetic, hence 'Pebble Rasengan'.