So I've noticed that my earlier chapters are far more well written that the later ones. My recent chapters have been hella rushed. Eh I hope they're still alright?
Half way through our meal, in which Naruto was telling Jiraiya about my 'super awesome chain technique that could withhold the Kyuubi,' there was a commotion outside.
Said commotion flew into the Ichiraku joint, wrapped one arm around my neck and the other around Naruto's.
"Guess who~" she cooed into our ears while strangling us.
We choked and spluttered indignantly in her grasp.
"S-sensei!" I managed to squeak out, scrabbling at her strangling hold.
"Oh! Hey Jiraiya-sama, long time no see!" Anko finally let us go and turned to Jiraiya, grinning. We gasped for breath as she began to talk. Surprisingly, Sasuke walked in after her as well.
"Anko-chan! Look at you, so grown up! What fine assets you ha-"
"Hey! That's our sensei you're talking to!" Naruto yelled.
Anko just laughed.
"How do you know our sensei?" Sasuke asked, taking a seat beside me.
"We go way back, when I was even more young and handsome than I am now-"
"I was Orochimaru's apprentice," Anko interrupted him. "And he was Orochimaru's teammate, so we saw him often, usually when he came to annoy sensei- I mean, Orochimaru."
The mouths of Naruto and even Sasuke dropped considerably, and I realised then that they didn't know of Anko's past.
"No way! You were the student of that- that-" Naruto looked like he wanted to puke.
"It does explain the snakes," Sasuke muttered.
Suddenly Naruto was on his feet, his mouth gaping, pointing at Jiraiya.
"W-wa-wait b-but Orochimaruwasasannindoesthatmeanyourhisteammatesoyou're-you- you're a SANNIN!"
People glanced over at where we sat, the screech having very much gained people's attention.
"Oi, oi! Keep it down!" Jiraiya said. "And what do you mean, why are you so surprised? Of course I'm a sannin! I'm a wandering sage, a man of immortal beauty and strength-"
"He must be the weakest sannin; I bet his team had to carry him," I stage whispered into Naruto's ear, and Jiraiya fell off his chair dramatically.
Anko laughed at his expense and clapped me on the back.
"Why are you two here, anyway?" I asked after a moment.
"Akio-sensei had to leave on a mission for a week, so I asked Anko-sensei to teach me but when I told her about you and this guy that was going to train you she said I should get lessons with him too," Sasuke said, turning his gaze to Jiraiya dispassionately.
"WHAT! Another one! Anko-chan, I have enough small people begging me for training," Jiraiya groaned, sitting back on his chair.
Small. He just called me – well, us, but that was inconsequential - small. I did not tolerate such insults to my height.
"Oh yea? Who's begging? We don't need you! Anko-sensei can train us just fine!" I growled.
"B-but I want to learn to summon toads!" Naruto cried, the traitor.
"Well I'm not training you brats; this is my time to relax! I can finally eat dango 24/7 without having to ponder ways to torture- I mean, train you! So later, suckers!"
And with that, Anko disappeared.
My head thunked on the table.
"Ok kids, here's the deal; you, broody, I'm going to teach you to enter Naruto's mind and talk to the nine tails. If anything goes wrong, we'll have chain boy here as back-up."
"WHAT!" Naruto and I screeched at the same time.
That sounded like a Very Bad Idea to me.
"Calm down, sheesh. You'd think you had no idea I was a sannin. Naruto, you can't go very far with your Kyuubi transformation because otherwise you lose control. In a situation like that, it is too dangerous to your allies for you to fight, even if you have Sora to reign you in when needed."
"So… you want me to learn to enter Naruto's mind, I assume with my Sharingan, confront the Kyuubi and somehow make it give Naruto complete control when fighting," Sasuke summed up blandly.
"Well, essentially, but in the best-case scenario you would be able to control the Kyuubi yourself."
"You're crazy," Sasuke decided, but I could hear an edge of excitement in his voice.
It really was an outrageous idea, yet…
It was genius.
"I know a bit about the Sharingan, but I don't know exactly how it is that it can control tailed-beasts but it is possible. So, I'm going to spend some time training with you so we can figure it out. Asahi and Sora, you two can work on this,"
And then he tossed us a scroll.
"That's the toad summoning scroll. Sign it in blood and put your fingerprints at the bottom; I'll teach you the hand-signs."
"I don't want to summon toads," I pouted. "They're lame. I'm going to get a better summons one day!"
Also I didn't want to steal Naruto's thunder. But mostly I just hated toads.
Jiraiya proceeded to cry while Naruto excitedly went ahead and signed it. Jiraiya gave him the rundown of the seals, and then turned to me.
"Fine! An annoying scrawny brat like you clearly doesn't deserve such awesomeness! You can work on this instead."
I caught the scroll he threw me and unravelled it excitedly.
What would it be? A cool jutsu? Maybe he wanted to teach me the rasengan? Now that I would be totally down to learn!
I read the title.
'Basic jutsu.'
My excitement dissipated almost immediately. I read the first jutsu on the list. Earth style: Head-hunter jutsu.
Wasn't that the jutsu Kakashi used to use a lot? The one where he'd come up from the ground? Or sink into it.
I read down the list more. There were 3 basic jutsu of each nature on the list, ranging from D-rank to B-rank.
I went to complain, but Sasuke and Jiraiya were already deep in conversation. I sighed. I'd just have to learn them quickly and then get him to teach me something useful!
The only one that looked even vaguely interesting was the B-rank lightning style jutsu that basically caused lightning to spring from your palms. I could imagine it would be useful in combination with my chains. I decided to start with that one.
Sasuke ended up searching for Itachi for help. That was how determined he was to pull this off; I could understand why. Having control of the nine-tails would be the ultimate weapon, and not only that, Naruto would be able to release him without having to worry. We would be the ultimate trio!
Itachi, however, seemed to disapprove of this idea of Jiraiya's, stating it could end badly and he'd rather not be a part of it.
This just made Sasuke even more determined, if only to prove his brother wrong.
Naruto let him practice on him; on the third day, he figured out how to use genjutsu to open Naruto's mind to him, being something of a genjutsu prodigy (Shisui would be proud) but he said that there was a chakra blockage, like the Kyuubi was locking him out.
I, on the other hand, was struggling with the jutsu that had been heaped on me. It was easy to forget that jutsu are incredibly difficult to learn, especially with only one arm.
But I grit my teeth because damn if I couldn't learn these I may as well give up on learning any cool jutsu!
So that's how we spent the first week of the month leading up to exams; Naruto struggling to summon toads bigger than a large orange, Sasuke struggling to figure out exactly how to get past the barrier in Naruto's mind, and me struggling to learn these so-called basic jutsu.
I guess I should have seen it coming. I vaguely remembered Naruto being pushed into a giant crevice and being forced to access Kyuubi chakra, but I had disregarded that memory because surely there was no reason to push Naruto into a highly dangerous situation when he knew how to access the Kyuubi's chakra, even if he did tend to lose control easily.
Well, I was technically right. It didn't make me wrong, though.
On day seven after a long, hard day of lots of work and little to no progress, we trudged back to the village behind Jiraiya.
Naruto was complaining as usual, while Sasuke was glaring at the ground in front of him as he walked, as if he could set fire to it, and I had my hands in my pockets and was staring glumly up at the clouds.
And then suddenly Jiraiya stopped and turned, causing the three of us to pause.
"Asahi," Jiraiya began seriously, "do you trust Sasuke with your life?"
Shock radiated among the three of us like a tangible thing.
Naruto looked confused, but he nodded with a surety anyone would be proud of.
"Of course!"
Jiraiya smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"And would you trust in Sora to stop the Kyuubi no matter how many tails?"
"Believe it! Sora is the best!" Naruto basically yelled.
I felt faint, my heart was in my throat. I had a horrible suspicion I knew where this was heading.
"I sure hope you're right."
It wasn't Naruto's forehead protector he tapped.
It was mine.
Naruto seemed to realise something was amiss, felt something in the moment Jiraiya's finger touched my protector for his hand whipped out and grabbed mine.
But it did nothing, for suddenly the both of us shot away like bullets, Naruto clinging to my hand for dear life.
And then, there was nothing beneath us, nothing but a gaping black void.
And there was that surreal moment where we hung in the air, the moment before gravity decided to have its way with us.
And then it took us.
We screamed.
We were falling, clinging to each other for dear life. And I saw a flicker of movement, a silhouette on the edge of the ravine as we fell deeper.
It hesitated for only a moment.
Sasuke dived after us.
It took me a while to settle on who I wanted Jiraiya to push into the ravine; at first I was like Naruto and Sasuke get pushed, with Sasayaki following, but then I was like nahhh maybe Sasayaki gets pushed in, and Naruto and Sasuke dive in after her like heroes. But I settled on Naruto and Sasayaki because I wanted Sasuke to have his moment of glory XD
You could make a case that Sasayaki shouldn't have been the one pushed, but eh I want it to make it a team thing so it's happening.