Last time:
Before Jiraiya could say anything, a kunai shot past him and into the wall behind him.
"Dynamic Entry!" a voice yelled.
A bright green blur shot past them and kicked Sasuke in the face, sending him flying back into the wall behind him.
Now:
"Guy-Sensei! What are you doing here?" Hanara asked, ignoring the knocked out Sasuke a few feet away from her.
Guy-Sensei shot her his trademark grin, "You see, Kurenai, Asuma, and I thought it was very unyouthful to send 2 Genin after 2 dangerous criminals and so I ran here to help. I guess I was a little over-enthusiastic," he said, his happy tone turning into a more worried one, "When I used my headband to peer into the opening all I could see were 2 sinister-looking figures, although now I can see why they were so short. I could never forgive myself if I harmed my hip and cool rival's student! If he doesn't wake up in 3 hours I will do 2000 laps around the village! If not that, I will do 4000 push-ups!"
Jiraiya sighed, "Never mind that now. You should get Hanara and Sasuke back to the village. It was smart of you to send her after Sasuke, by the way. She stopped him from killing himself and had a good plan for stalling Itachi and Kisame, too."
"As expected of Asuma's student," Guy-Sensei grinned.
"Sasuke will be okay, right Jiraiya?" Hanara asked worriedly.
"What do you mean?" Naruto exclaimed, "He's survived a lot worse than Bushier Brows-Sensei's kick, believe it!"
"I mean mentally." Hanara sighed, "Seeing Itachi going after you must've brought some bad memories and I wasn't the kindest in reminding Sasuke how weak he was compared to Itachi."
"You're right to be worried, Hanara. I'm sure he'll pull through, however." Jiraiya responded.
"What the heck did Sasuke ever do to deserve this?" Naruto questioned angrily, "You know what, we have a new game plan. I admit I let those goons scare me for a little, but that's over. No more running away. After all, it's me that they want, right? Well, okay then, let's give them what they want."
Hanara snorted, "Right, you and Sasuke are in over your heads. What would've happened if Jiraiya didn't show up? Or what would've happened if Sasuke, Pho, and I didn't show up, either? You would've been gone. That's it. Game over. No Hokage for you, mister, cuz you would've been kidnapped for the Fox, and once they got it, you'd be dead cuz no jinchuriki survives the extraction process."
'I'm being overly cruel today, aren't I? Well, too bad, cuz they need to hear it and this is the only way it's gonna get through their thick skulls.'
"Hanara's right, Naruto. If I hadn't shown up, you would have been killed. It took all I had to get them away from you. You're not in the same league. None of you are." Jiraiya said.
"Is that right?" Naruto asked angrily, "You expect me to sit around and do nothing? What type of bogus strategy is that? I can't just sit here and let them attack my friends!"
"Unless you train, that's the only thing you can do!" Hanara growled, "You can't do jackshit without your chakra, and guess what? Samehada eats that! You, because of your stupidly large reserves, can't dispel a genjutsu to save your life! Guess what? That's what Itachi specializes in. Those two are things that no amount of crazy training will be able to fix. The only way you'll be able to beat Itachi is if he's extremely weak and you learn genjutsu basics, and the only way you'll stand a chance against Kisame is if you have a Fire Affinity and train in it until you learn something as great as Amaterasu! Even then, they'll still beat you. This Akatsuki or whatever knows your weaknesses and strengths inside out and we don't know shit about them! It may seem like a stupid thing to do, but hiding around until they get someone else to go after you is the only thing you can do! They'll only be defeated if you know their strengths and weaknesses like the back of your hand and get someone else that counters them to fight alongside you!"
Naruto's eyes widened and he stayed silent.
"How can you tell that much by just one encounter?" Jiraiya asked, not looking the slightest bit angry at her scolding Naruto.
Hanara shrugged, "It comes naturally."
"Master Jiraiya, I have a request," Guy-Sensei interjected, looking oddly serious, "There is nothing that hurts more than seeing your students fall in battle, it's like losing little pieces of your soul. Besides that, there are lots of people in need of medical attention after The Invasion. What we need is a supreme medical specialist, a master of healing arts, and soon."
"I think they're going to get Tsunade," Hanara piped up.
Guy-Sensei looked at Jiraiya with so much hope it was heartbreaking.
"That's freaky, you know that?" Jiraiya remarked, looking at Hanara with fear.
"What? We need a new Hokage and obviously, you, Lady Tsunade, Asuma-Sensei, and Kakashi-Sensei are the ones in the running. You would just make all the female population run away from the Leaf, putting in Asuma-Sensei right after his father died would be cruel, and Kakashi-Sensei probably gave some stupid ass excuse that worked. So the Elders probably gave you the task to find Tsunade. Am I wrong?"
"No, and that's what's disturbing," Jiraiya said.
"Anyway, can I come? I'll probably make the whole thing go by faster," Hanara said.
Jiraiya thought it over quickly and nodded, "We'll need your freaky mind."
'Hey! I take offence to that!'
A little while later, Naruto, Jiraiya, and Hanara were saying their goodbyes to Guy-Sensei, who had Sasuke on his back.
"All right, Guy. We'll leave Sasuke in your hands," Jiraiya said, waving to Guy-Sensei.
Guy-Sensei nodded, "Master Jiraiya, please find Lady Tsunade and bring her back to us."
"Don't worry, you can count on us!" Naruto replied, grinning, "We'll have her back in the village in no time!"
"Naruto, nothing impresses me more than guts, kid. Come here, let me give you something," Guy-Sensei said, pulling something out of his pocket, "Lee got stronger with this."
'No. Please, oh god, no! Not that green monstrosity, anything but that! I can see it in my head! Naruto wearing that, becoming a Guy clone! No!'
"Really? What is it? What is it?" Naruto asked, looking like an excited puppy.
Guy-Sensei pulled out the green monstrosity and started hyping up all its properties, causing Naruto to get even more excited and put it on immediately. He at least had the consideration to change behind a bush, though.
After that, Guy-Sensei started to leave, but Hanara stopped him, "Guy-Sensei, can you tell my team that I had to help Jiraiya? And tell Neji, Tenten, Hinata, and Lee that I miss them already?"
"Of course!" Guy-Sensei said, grinning, "Who would I be to not aid you in the youthful act of caring for your friends?"
"Riiight. Thank you!" Hanara smiled. As quirky as he was, Guy-Sensei had a good heart, and that's all she could wish for in Neji's sensei.
After a few minutes of walking (Pho deserved a break), Naruto suddenly stopped.
"What's up?" Jiraiya asked.
"What do those guys want with the Fox, anyway, Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked.
'Huh, that's true. What the hell would anyone need with all 9 Tailed Beasts?'
"This thing is some cruel beast that terrorized the whole Leaf Village! Why do they even want it?" Naruto questioned, putting his hand on his stomach, "It's just an evil fox with nine tails!"
"The Nine-Tailed Fox has appeared in times of consequence throughout history," Jiraiya answered seriously, "A ghastly spirit, destroying all in its path. Many men trembled before it. As for what the Akatsuki would want with it, or even all the Tailed Beasts, no one knows. With the way they're going about it, however, it can't be anything good. I suppose they may be thinking of seizing and controlling the power it holds, bending it to their will. It's a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that they're after you, but it is your fate. Ah, not to worry though, you have me with you!"
'I feel like I'm intruding on a special moment over here...'
"Oh well," Naruto sighed, "I just have to hurry up and get stronger! All right! Let's find this Tsunade woman so she can fix up Lee and Kakashi-Sensei! Then we're gonna get down to some serious training!"
"That's what I'm here for," Hanara smiled.
Not long after they started walking again, Naruto stopped.
"What is it now?" Jiraiya asked.
"The beautiful woman that you're looking for? Is that this Tsunade lady?" Naruto questioned.
'I thought that was already established!'
"Hey, not bad! You're pretty sharp!" Jiraiya smiled, "Why? What's on your mind?"
'Okay, if this is sharp, I would hate to see what you call stupid.'
"Well, you said she was one of the Legendary Sannin, same as you, right?" Naruto started slowly.
"Yes, get to the point!" Jiraiya exclaimed impatiently.
"How old is she?" he asked.
"She's the same age as me," Jiraiya informed him, "50."
They kept on walking after that, letting Naruto take in the new information in silence.
"So what's Lady Tsunade like?" Hanara questioned as they kept walking.
"Yeah, Pervy Sage! Tell us!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Ah, curious are you? Well let's see," he said, smiling, "Well, for one thing, she's kind of unpleasant. Plus, I guess there's the fact that she's known as a diehard gambler and all..."
"That's great! If she's famous she'll be super easy to find!" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto," Hanara stated, "Lady Tsunade is probably even more famous than Orochimaru and Jiraiya combined. She's the most famous of the three. Tenten says that Lady Tsunade is her idol."
"Really? How did I never hear of her before?" Naruto asked.
"Since you missed all our history lessons on the Second Shinobi War saying that they were boring." Hanara told him bluntly, "I think that even then they mentioned her gambling habits. She's known as the Legendary Sucker."
Jiraiya interjected before the verbal spat could escalate, "Anyway, famous or not, I doubt she'll be easy to find. Tsunade isn't the type to grow old quickly. Even though she's still 50 I'm pretty sure she's using a jutsu to make her seem young. I'm sure she'll look more like she did when she was 20."
'Wow! That's one useful jutsu!'
"That's not all," Jiraiya continued, "If what I'm hearing is true, she's started transforming on the fly. Going from her teens, to her thirties, forties, all so she can cut out on any moneylender she's in too deep with."
"Man, that's awful. She sounds like a real charmer," Naruto shook his head.
'When you at it like that, I'd prefer Jiraiya. I don't know, she's just drinking her troubles away rather than facing them head-on. Would the Leaf really want a Hokage like that?'
"Yeah well, Tsunade always loved gambling." Jiraiya, "It's too bad she never had any luck. Or skill, for that matter. She was made a sucker so many times, the name just stuck with her. But then she would just borrow money and skip out on her debts. Ah, it brings me back, I tell you."
"This isn't the time for nostalgia, old man!" Naruto growled, "Do you even have a plan?"
"Don't worry. This will be an easy trail to follow," Hanara smiled, clapping her hands together, "Just follow the line of angry debt collectors."
"See! This is why I brought you along!" Jiraiya grinned
"I- I thought that was-" she cut herself off, that was too obvious for Jiraiya not to realize. He was just acting dumb or something.
"When will we start my training?" Naruto asked.
"Don't worry. All our time on the road will be devoted solely to you." Jiraiya told him, "First thing's first, get that green thing off you. I won't be seen walking with a vegetable."
"Awww. But, Pervy Sage!" Naruto whined.
"Nope!" Jiraiya sighed.
Soon, they reached their destination: a small village that seemed to be hosting a festival.
"Come on, Pervy Sage! What are you waiting for? Let's start training!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Hold your horses! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, here," Jiraiya said, "We have to gather information on Tsunade here while I'm training you. Anyway, downtime is important, too. We don't want you to be overworking yourself, so before we start, enjoy yourselves at this festival."
"Woah! This'll be fun!" Naruto smiled, taking in the huge festival.
"Yeah," Hanara breathed, looking around in awe.
'I haven't seen a festival that looked this fun since my third birthday...'
"This festival will be going on for a while," Jiraiya informed them, "So we'll hang around here until it's over and then start your training here, too. Hanara can gather information while I'm teaching you as well."
"I've got some stuff I've been meaning to try out but I'll mainly help you scout out some info," she nodded.
Naruto took out a fat frog-shaped wallet from his bag, "All right!"
The two of them started to walk into the crowds of people to enjoy the festival.