DISCLAIMER: I do not and will not ever own Naruto, this is only for my own personal enjoyment...and whoever else likes these stoires.
Travels and Journeys
Chapter 2
One month passed by in what felt like the blink of an eye. My life had certainly changed from that of a lone boy living by himself in a large hidden village filled with shinobi into something else that I struggled even now to put into words.
It was wonderful but strenuous, I was still vastly amongst shinobi but I had already passed through several villages that had mixture of different shinobi from the hidden sand, hidden mist, hidden grass, and the hidden falls. There were so many more, but this was amazing; yet again I found my mind drifting away from me and Ero-sennin was again out of my sight.
This always meant something bad since Jiraiya was the most ill behaved ninja I have ever seen in my life and probably ever will encounter. I frowned to myself and placed my hands behind my head and heaved a soft sigh.
It hadn't really annoyed to me until recently when I had to practically teach myself everything when all he did was give me a new technique scroll and shoo me away like some adolescent while he gawked and swooned over any beautiful woman that came within 20 feet of his presence.
Walking through the market square of this village was actually kind of refreshing, there weren't really too many people around in this particular village compared to the last three we had just been to. The day was absolutely fantastic as the sun shined its gorgeous rays down from the stars above. I gazed up at the crystal blue sky, my mind wandering as it always did when I was by myself so to speak.
The village flashed in my head a few times as well as my recent advances in my ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were really starting to show. I could feel myself starting to get physically stronger as my chakra grew steadily each day with my training.
Unfortunately when I got up to tell Jiraiya that I had finished the next scroll, he was already gone; his bed already made neatly and his things missing. I wasn't too surprised of course: he was the biggest pervert I knew.
My stomach rumbled audibly, my hands instantly and automatically gripped my stomach as if the pain was unbearable. It must have been lunchtime already, since my stomach worked like clockwork when it came to my favorite food, ramen. Where the hell was Ero-sennin?
My mind quickly diverted all of its power from searching for my perverted sensei into the food-seeking mode. Which really wasn't hard in a moderately populated village, I quickly made my way to the nearest ramen stand and took a seat. The man running the store gave me one quick glance and put his attention back to his griddle.
"What can I get for you kid?"
I looked at him with a large grin on my face, "Two of your largest bowls of spicy shrimp ramen!"
The man gave me a weary look and nodded, I reached into my pocket and took out the money for the already cooking ramen when I felt a cold chill run up my spine. I tensed up slightly, my face growing serious as I carefully and discreetly looked around. I had quickly learned to trust my instinct when it came to situations such as this, and with the help of some of the technique scrolls that Jiraiya had so easily given up; I was quickly learning how to sense another's presence around me without much effort.
I wonder if he had actually meant for me to receive that scroll? Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I continued on with my covert search revealing zilch. Something had definitely caused that to happen, my hunger still pursuing my mind effortlessly. I gave in and paying the ramen stand man and devouring the two mighty bowls of ramen in front of me.
After the hearty meal was easily taken care of, I stood up and patted my belly with satisfaction. Suddenly, something really didn't feel right as I looked skyward, towards the roof of the building right in front of me.
Standing there were three men dressed as bandits but they definitely looked to have a stance of a shinobi. I quickly reached for my kunai without thought as the bandits took off along the edge of the top of the rooftop. I leaped into the air and chased after them, kunai in hand.
The chase lasted only a minute and we were already entering forested area, where it was beginning to get slightly difficult to keep up with them. All of a sudden, they stopped in a small clearing and turned around; seemingly waiting for me. I gritted my teeth and landed ten feet away from the bandits.
Their faces were concealed behind masks but just by looking at the look in their eyes, I could tell they were somehow analyzing me. I continued to hold my stance, I wouldn't allow myself to be caught off guard, not after I chased them out here this far.
"So boy, now that you've caught up with us...what do you plan to do now?"
I paused, the word shit was the only thing to come to mind. I didn't really think that far ahead, and here I was; yet again stuck in between a rock and a hard place. I glanced at the three, hoping my growing fear wasn't apparent.
"Well kid, I have to give you credit for actually being able to keep up with us. Only other well-trained shinobi could really keep up with us. Are you a ninja, kid?"
I gritted my teeth, my mind was racing through several different scenarios as I tried to solve the perfect solution or at least the best solution that would at least leave me breathing. The man talking put his hand on his hips and looked his two comrades.
"Kid, I'm really getting sick of this silence and I'm not exactly having fun anymore. I'm afraid we can't allow you to leave here alive. You understand right?"
His words bounced off the walls inside my head as my muscles slowly began to tense up, the action was definitely about to start. The three of them all sprung into action, their own kunai drawn. I gripped onto mine with all the strength I had and dove forward, if I was going to die, I would do so fighting.
As if by a miracle though, a shadow snapped by and the three bandits fell limply in front of me. I halted my attack and stared blankly at the fallen bandits that laid before me, freshly spilt blood soaking the grass around them. My eyes were instantly went towards the movement in my peripheral vision.
There he stood, like a hero, but only not. Jiraiya was leaning against a tree, his arms crossed and a serious look on his face as he stared at the dead bodies strolled about before him. He gave me a short glance before he turned his attention back to them.
"I..."
I had tried to speak, but for one reason or another, I'm not sure why. I couldn't seem to find the strength to tell him why I had done what I had done.
"Naruto, have I not taught you nothing?"
My mind immediately thought up several retorts to what he had just said but I decided to keep quiet for the time being as he continued.
"I know that I have been neglecting you, but not in the sense you're thinking. I have been allowing you to learn on your own, so that you may become even stronger without having to depend on anyone. I told you that I would be there for you if you were ever in danger. But I believe it's time for me to step in and start teaching you myself."
A twinge of excitement coursed through my body as my mouth twitched into a large smile. His face still wore the more serious look I had ever really seen him where before, instantly making my smile vanish temporarily.
"You must never rush into a battle without some plan of action. Battles without plans cause death. Even if the enemy may be stronger ten fold, or perhaps you may be outnumbered five, maybe even ten to one. The right plan will allow you to proceed towards victory."
Jiraiya's words struck a chord inside my mind, he was right. Ero-sennin was actually right, his words of wisdom spoke with truth and clarity in my mind. I nodded firmly giving him a serious look.
"I understand."
It was all I said before Jiraiya smiled at me and nodded back as he walked over towards the bodies, he relieved them of their stolen bags that were filled with hundreds of golden coins. He handed several of them to me and we both headed back into town, I was really surprised that they were able to travel so fast with such a heavy load on each of them.
"Ero-sennin, how were these bandits able to travel so quickly carrying several of these bags?"
"Well Naruto, those as you may have already guessed weren't normal bandits. They were shinobi."
I paused as he took another few steps forward but eventually stopped to look back at me.
"That still doesn't answer my question and why would shinobi steal gold from a small village like this?"
Jiraiya sighed and continued walking in the direction of the town.
"Well, they steal for the same reason any other greedy individual would. They didn't have the funds for whatever they needed, so they stole gold from a place that wouldn't be able to defend themselves properly against ninja. Now for the reason of they're speed, they probably trained with heavy weights that gave them more strength to run faster with heavy loads."
My thoughts gathered slowly in my head as I shifted the bags on my back. Suddenly I felt an idea strike me as lightning would a rod of silver.
"So if you trained me while I was wearing weighted stuff, I could become really strong??"
Ero-sennin sighed again and nodded.
"Yes, Naruto. As soon as we deliver these bags to the bank of the village, we will go buy you some weights that I can have you wear while we train. Alright?"
I instantly felt the load become much easier to carry as my face broken into a large smile my spirits instantly lifted.
"Awesome!"
I panted heavily, my vision was beginning to blur as my lungs burned as if they were on fire. I slowly gazed up at Ero-sennin who was quietly writing in a small booklet, he occasionally would give me glances but other than that. All I heard out of the man were small "Oh's" and "Aha's" and the occasional, "that really sounds good."
I struggled to bring myself back to standing; I was tricked in the worst way possible. He told me to pick out a weight while we were in the store, of course I picked a nice looking one that didn't really seem to weigh that much. I picked it up and tossed it into the air several times. This would definitely be easy, I handed it to my sensei and he smiled at me.
"Are you sure this is the weight you want?"
He had asked me at the time, of course I nodded and back talked him. He shrugged and walked over to the owner, whispering into the old man's ear. He peered over Ero-sennin's shoulder and looked back at him.
"If that's what you want sir, my wife can have it done in a day."
I'm not sure if Jiraiya either said something rather intimidating or perhaps he just laid more money down on the counter, but I could hear the man speak again.
"Oh, well if you put it that way, my wife can have it done in a few hours."
Which actually turned into two, which is when we came back in there and they had refitted my jacket and pants as well as my boots with the weights. I felt like a walking brick wall as I stumbled around for the first couple of hours, then he went into sensei-mode which hadn't really happened yet.
I growled lowly and glared daggers at the perverted old man. Why me? He actually wanted to train me for once and here I was, I felt like a building with legs with the weights throughout my clothing. He said I would get adjusted to it, but the more I wore it and the further I continued to push myself through training. The more I felt this wasn't training, it was torture.
After finally reaching the top of the tree, which without these weighted clothing would have been rather simple. I heaved and panted, my lungs grasping for air to enrich my blood with oxygen as my muscles screamed and burned from just this training. I peered down at him, I could see him put his small book and pen down and him jump to my side at the top of the tree.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
I paused and looked at him incredulously; he just decided to continue without waiting for a response.
"You did well, tomorrow your real training begins. I just wanted you to get slightly accustomed to your new gear, since you're going to be wearing that constantly."
My eyes grew wide as I just stared at him blankly, I knew my mouth was wide open but I didn't really care at that moment.
"What the hell are you thinking Ero-sennin?!"
"Enjoy the trip."
"Trip?"
Without skipping a beat, Jiraiya wrapped me across my back roughly pushing me clear off the tree and plummeting down nearly five stories from the very top of the tree. I certainly fell like a ton of bricks too, I flipped myself and landed on my legs with a horrible crash. I paused and looked around, I was on the ground now and I didn't feel any pain in my legs.
Actually, I didn't feel anything in my legs. I glanced down and looked at my legs which wobbled and waved from side to side like wet noodles. This didn't look good as I proceeded to collapse face forward into the ground with another resounding crash. I could hear Ero-sennin's voice before everything around me grew black and unconsciousness took me into the night.
A year finally has passed since the day I left the village of the hidden leaf; I stared at the destruction around me. I looked back at Jiraiya with a large smile on my face, he just shook his head and continued jotting more down in his small book.
I shook my head and stared at the spiral tattoo on both of my hands that I had received so long ago that I could still feel the throbbing pain in my hand as I flexed it. Memories seemed to pour over my consciousness giving it the same shock you would get from getting drenched by a pitcher of ice water.
Flexing my hand several times before finally standing, I looked around and quickly spotted Ero-sennin quietly perched on yet another rock large enough to fit him perfectly and comfortably. Did he carry them in his back pocket or something? Oh well, I didn't tend to dwell on much.
I began my after-workout stretch, my muscles ached and burned from my intense exercises that I tried desperately not to use any of my chakra. Unfortunately after the first few initial hours of training I quickly switched over to my chakra before wearing myself out too badly.
I grumbled as quietly as I could to myself, which really didn't work around Jiraiya. Without skipping a beat, Jiraiya lifted one eye quickly followed by an eyebrow quirk above the edge of his book. Again, after only a moment he went directly back to his writing and arose from his rock.
I guess he already guessed what I was ready for as I began walking towards the village. We had already been to the village of the hidden mist, which greatly helped in my training. I wasn't learning directly from anyone exactly, but watching someone for a few months can really teach you a few things. As the sun went down for the day, is when my actual training began.
I copied the seals that I had watched and made notes of the previous day and continued to practice with it until it began to feel more and more natural. Being under Jiraiya's tutelage greatly made a difference since he had definitely been around the 'block' per say.
He helped me focus my chakra in the proper places and told me the meaning of the moves as well as who did them and how I would have to do them and what I would need. It was a greater list than I thought, but practicing certain moves over and over again really paid off in the end.
As of right now, we were staying in a simple village that stood at the edge of the wave country. Within the week we were going to take a 'long' boat ride up to Lightning Country to search for the village of the hidden cloud.
I was really psyched for it, but for the moment the only thing that was on my mind was food. Ero-sennin had said something about this village actually being important. A bridge was being built to better help their economy, I believe he tried to explain it to me, but I also remember that it was during dinner. Not a good time to tell me anything really.
As we headed towards our normal dining place, the ramen stall; Jiraiya had stopped and looked over towards the gate of the village. I paused and looked towards that direction, instantly my eyes locked onto the approaching feminine figure of Sakura. My heart nearly jumped halfway up my throat before I pushed it back down.
((Author's Notes: Tanbo – wan means (Rice field – Bay)....don't ask me...it was my sister's idea))
I noticed that Sasuke was walking along with them, he didn't seem happy to have the blossoming young girl practically hanging on him. There was another boy walking next to him, I couldn't put my finger on his name but I definitely remember seeing him in training school. He had the same hair color as Uchiha, but it was much shorter and spiked in only a few places. His almost orange eyes stood out the most as he stayed silent throughout the temporary stop.
I looked up towards Jiraiya-sensei and sighed, looks like food was going to wait. I was starving too, but when he made up his mind we usually went through with it. We approached the group that was being lead by an obvious ninja; his hands were buried deep within his pockets while he stood at a slight tilt, his head-protector over his other eye.
He peered down at me as I leaned ever so slightly to look at the man in the near middle, he seemed to be of his 50's or so with a long beard and a straw hat with a rather pudgy build. I was guessing they were protecting him at the moment.
I crossed my arms and stole a few glances from Sakura; she definitely matured over the mere year and a few months that I was gone from the village. I guess she noticed me staring at her, because she immediately blushed furiously and looked over towards Sasuke.
Dammit, I swore inwardly, I guess she was still hung up over the jerk. I took one look at Sasuke, his eyes meeting with mine. I instantly could feel the chill from his stare but somehow managed to hold my stare as well. Jiraiya slapping me on the back caused me to avert my eyes and sweat drop lightly and look up at him giving him a glare.
"What do you want, Ero-sennin?"
Of course I had a tone, I felt like I lost in the non-official staring contest. He gave me that one look, I sighed and immediately stood on my hands and began doing push-ups.
"One, two, three, four, five..."
That's how it went; I used to get away with back talking all the time. I still did occasionally, but if he wasn't in the mood for it. I knew it, of course it was always too late, but I didn't mind.
The lead ninja laughed as well did Jiraiya, I cursed inwardly. I would definitely make Ero-sennin pay for this later, I promised myself to it.
"So, Kakashi it seems as if you've brought your genin team here. They're already doing travel missions?"
"Yes, Sasuke did not feel as if D-rank missions were useful enough in his training. He didn't really vocalize his opinion very loudly, but Hokage caved in easily I'm afraid."
Jiraiya looked down at me for a moment with a smile on his face; I wasn't sure if that meant that I had yet again forgot to count out loud just to make him feel better. Just to make sure I sounded off the next few pumps.
"47, 48, 49..."
I was starting to sweat again, my muscles already aching and burning painfully as I gritted. Thankfully enough I was turned away from the group or they could probably tell either how pissed I was getting or how painfully this was actually becoming.
"Sounds like someone I know. You can stop now."
I heaved a huge sigh as I just collapsed backwards, facing towards the sky. I glanced at him through my squinted eyes; he had already turned back and was talking with Kakashi again. I slowly tried to stand up, my muscles not quite following the commands my brain was sending repeatedly.
I'm not sure why she did, but Sakura stepped away from the older man and reached her hand out to me. I stared at her for a few moments before I actually spoke up.
"Thanks anyway, but I can get myself up."
I didn't really want to sound rude, but at that moment and time I was a definite mixture of feelings. Yet alone that she wouldn't possibly be strong enough to help me to my feet. I strained but eventually I got to my feet and dusted myself off. I wiped the sweat from my brow and slowly walked away from the three, while Kakashi and Ero-sennin was a few feet away talking amongst themselves.
"Ero-sennin, I'm getting something to eat already!"
I had shouted, which I hadn't really needed to since I only stood maybe five to six feet away from the two senior ninja. He slowly cranked his neck towards me and merely gave me a normal glare that we shared often.
I finally sat down in my normal seat and laid my head against the bar, tapping my hand against it several times. I could tell the man owning the stand already knew who it was and already began preparing our usual evening meals.
"Where's the old man?"
I heard him say, all I could do as a reply was grunt nothing in particular. I could hear him chuckle softly to himself as the sizzling of the skillet drew the rest of my attention. After about five minutes, Jiraiya finally showed up and took a seat beside me. I leaned my head to the side and gave him a wry look.
He put his right hand up in defense and gave me a weak look.
"It wasn't my fault, I was merely catching up on a few things in Konoha."
I nodded weakly and closed my eyes, my body fought desperately to urge sleep into my mind and just easily let me sleep into a slumber that I probably wouldn't be arisen from for about a week or so. The occasional nightmares of Kyubi added in with the intensive training I've been committing myself to didn't help at all.
Dinner was served soon afterwards and hastily devoured. I trudged up to my room and promptly passed out on the floor mat before me.
I awoke the next morning, my body felt totally rejuvenated from my nearly comatose slumber. I slowly arose and stretched as I did nearly every morning. To my surprise in quite a few months, Jiraiya wasn't still slumbering on the mat next to mine. I didn't really think anything of it and washed up and headed out the room before too long. In just a couple more days, we would travel towards the country of lightning.
I walked outdoors and took in a deep breath, my mind took in all the samples of smells and began processing them. Suddenly everything seemed to freeze perfectly in time, the smell of blood was prominent in the air.
I took another quick whiff before I realized that it wasn't actually nearby, I still wasn't accustomed to the fact that my senses were slightly enhanced compared to most other people. I looked in both directions and picked the best possible source of the smell and took off in a dash towards the direction.
After nearly five minutes of high speed running and jumping, I came upon the bridge at the edge of the island. I ducked behind a nearby tree that was standing nestled at the edge of civilization. I silently peered from behind the tree I was hiding behind.
Sasuke was locked in combat with a long-haired combatant, presumed to be a ninja as he held a kunai and the other person held looked like a fine needle. I continued to scan the area; quickly finding Sakura stepped in front of the older man just a foot behind her. His face was placid with pure fear.
I saw the other boy, the one with orange eyes; he laid flat on the ground almost directly in the center between Sakura and Sasuke. I could see a good amount of blood filling the area around him, I took out four shuriken and flung them with the greatest amount of strength I could muster. The other warrior definitely noticed the fast-flying miniature blades as he flipped several times backwards falling back into his stance.
Sasuke flipped twice and slide backwards and glared up at the warrior, he glanced around and his eyes quickly found me. They widened slightly and turned back to the other person that was wearing a mask, the needle still in hand. I looked at the boy's wounds, they weren't too bad; yet the boy still seemed to be suffering greatly.
"Tanbo's been poisoned!"
I heard Sakura shout from behind me, I looked inside my small pouch that held several different medicinal ointments and vials of medicine that were wrapped in thick cloth. I poured some of the liquid in the boy's mouth and some atop the wound, making it sizzle and bubble. I took the opaque ointment and rubbed it into the gash in his upper right arm.
I hoisted the boy in my arms and taking a gigantic leap backwards as the area we had just been sitting in was littered with fine metal needles. I sat the boy back down and quickly wrapped a simple bandage around the gash. I growled lowly and cracked my neck to each side.
Okay, now I was pissed. I could deal with needles, I really could. Chuck huge swords at me if you wish, but never EVER try to poison me. I drew a kunai and slowly began my walk towards the battlefield.
"You are quick, but your efforts are useless against the poison in my needles."
"Shut up."
The boy was obviously stunned by my words, I couldn't see anything through his mask but by the way he changed his posture, he was getting slightly nervous. He turned slightly and flung nearly a baker's dozen worth of needles, which both Sasuke and myself dodged easily. But amazingly so, I saw him perform a string of hand seals with one hand.
The water bubbled and flashed around us, I cursed inwardly and looked around at the mirrors beginning to form up from the puddles of water. I had heard of a technique like this going through the village of the hidden mist. I placed my hands in my favorite seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
I yelled fiercely, as the smoke cleared the area there were now eight of me standing around Sasuke. Each of them had a similar smirk I had been wearing; we all exchanged a quick look and gave a thumbs up. They grabbed their kunai and readied themselves in a stance as my own.
The shinobi in the mask slowly melded with the ice mirror, his image flashed over the entire collection of mirrors that surrounded us. Sasuke backed up behind me, his grip on his kunai was obvious.
"There is no escape from my demon ice mirrors, you can not keep up with my speed now..."
He trailed off as he began his series of attacks. He really wasn't kidding, I could clearly see him glide through the air, either throwing his needles at us or slashing at us hand-to-hand. Only problem was that even though I could see it, my body wouldn't quite respond as he attacked. My clones had already fallen to the shinobi's attacks. Which surprised me a bit, but I didn't let it get to me yet.
After the first few minutes of constant battle, I could already see the wear it was having on Sasuke, the blooding dripping from his wounds. I touched my hand to my face and growled lowly, I was bleeding also. Although it wasn't as serious as Sasuke was getting since my body seemed to heal itself rather quickly, it was the fact that I was getting beaten so easily and I could see it happening.
I felt so weak; I was beginning to bite at the bits. I could hear the other ninja yell loudly enough to catch our opponent's attention.
"Haku, stop playing around. We need to finish this quickly."
I gritted my teeth, who did this man think he was. Naruto Uzimaki wasn't going to fall so easily. I slowly began to unzip my jacket; Sasuke stared at me through the corner of his eye. I tossed the heap to the side; the ground cracked and caved in slightly to the immense weight and pressure.
I rubbed my arm, trying to get the aches and pains out of it.
"That should be enough for you."
I had said more as a statement towards no one in particular, Sasuke raised a weary eyebrow as I watched the mirrors intently. A moment later, everything appeared to be slowed to a crawl as I watched the real Haku jump from his mirror and slowly over the stop of us. I grinned and jumped up, spinning myself mid-air.
I was able to do it fast enough to where I caught Haku in the mid-section with a full roundhouse kick. Things seemed to pick up its normal velocity as Haku burst through his own mirror and out from the area about 15 feet. I landed proudly and gradually made my way out of the new doorway that Haku's speeding body had created.
So, this is what I got for training in those really heavy clothes. I opened and closed my hand several times before turning my attention back to the rising boy. His mask slowly came off into three pieces as his face had bounced promptly off the ground then proceeded smashing through his own ice mirror.
He wiped the small trickle of blood running down the left side of his mouth. His eyes were a bit wide as his mouth turned up ever so slightly into a smirk.
"I have never seen one so fast, other than my master, Zabuza."
"I know, I know. Save the compliments and autographs for after I beat your ass."
We dashed towards one another, fighting fiercely with a kunai in my hand and a steel needle in his. Sounds of metal clashing repeatedly, echoed and bounced around the area as we were fighting at high speeds I had only been hoping to achieve. I had to agree he was fast, but I could feel myself holding back from pushing myself too hard. The fight went on longer than I really wanted, but it abruptly ended. Our weapons collided and held fast against one another, he began doing seals with one hand again. I could see his attention wasn't on the exact task at hand.
The seals unfortunately matched up and nearly three dozen needles bounced airborne into the air and flew down at me. I hadn't really known what had happened next after I broke away from combat to dodge the deadly ice needles. I looked around briefly to see Haku no longer near me.
I turned around just in time to see lights shinning brightly from what looked to be a decent high-level jutsu, then blood spray. The lights then dimmed, my eyes straining to focus on the non-illuminated area as my mouth turned down into a frown. Haku was standing firm; Kakashi hand planted firmly where his heart once had resided. Zabuza was staring down at the two.
Without missing the chance of vulnerability, Zabuza grabbed his blade from his back and swung through the air. But, he was already too weak and too slow; Kakashi had already grabbed the lifeless body of Haku and placed it gently to the ground nearly 20 feet away from the towering shinobi.
I began walking over towards the ongoing battle as it seemed to be drawing towards a close, I watched as Kakashi took another attack, finally disabling both of his arms.
"You're done, you're arms are now useless. You can not continue in this fight."
It was the only thing I heard Kakashi say as he began walking away from Zabuza. I watched in amazement as the mist slowly rolled back away from the bridge, what looked like an army of miscreants littered the entire bridge. They all held a hungry look on their face; their weapons were as varied as they were. A man stood ahead of the angry mob, he wore miniscule glasses and held himself up on a strong black cane.
"You disappoint me Zabuza. Devil of the Mist, more like baby devil of the mist; I'm here to kill you for being so weak...Actually, I came here to kill you anyway, since I hadn't planned on paying you anyway."
He spoke loud and clear over the entire length of the strong bridge, he held an evil smirk upon his face as I finally made it over towards the two standing shinobi. The entire area was rank with the smell of blood as the two were also covered in Haku's blood with a mixture of their own. I watched as the short man walked over towards Haku's body and peered down at it with a sneer on his face.
I could see he mumbled something to himself, or the deceased Haku; but he immediately began kicking it over and over again. Zabuza instantly became enraged and took several steps forward, his teeth gritted. This wasn't right, I knew it, but what could I do other than start a personal war with about a hundred people. I mean, hell I could probably do it, but I don't how I could feel with killing that many people.
I looked over towards the towering shinobi as he looked over towards me, tears actually streaking down his face.
"Let me borrow your kunai, kid."
It wasn't really asking, more like a statement actually. Yet, the mere look on his face made my spirits tumble and fall. I pulled a kunai from my pouch and tossed it in his direction. The next minute and a half was nothing but pure amazement of what: anger, sadness, love, and the sheer strength and will of a ninja can prove against the odds. He had grabbed the kunai with his mouth and charged forth blindly into the crowd.
I watched as he was quickly swallowed into the mass of people, blood sprayed and many shouts and screams could be heard. One minute, thirty seconds later; I watched a head jolt from the crowd and fly high through the air for about six seconds before crashing back down into the angry mob.
After a few moments of silence, the crowd turned towards Kakashi and myself. I drew in a breath and sighed, this was really turning into one of the shittiest days I've had in a long, long time. A few individuals took a step forward and jutted out their weapons in defiance.
"You killed our meal ticket you bastards. Now we're going to kill you and pillage this pathetic little town of everything it's got!"
I shook my head and didn't bother looking at Kakashi, I was figuring he wasn't enjoying this new turn of activity any more than I was. I cracked my neck several times and put my hands in the cross seal.
"Full power Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
The chakra around me ripped and flickered like a flame for a moment before it diminished and quickly returned within me. Nearly two hundred of myself covered the other end of the bridge. Out of spite and just to be a jackass, they all began cracking their knuckles or stretching while some just flexed.
"If you really want to die at least trying, be my guest."
I made sure to say it loud enough before the entire group ended up turning tail and running very quickly in the other direction. I smiled and looked at my literal blood brothers. They all smiled in unison and in the same fashion we pumped our fist into the air.
"We're bad ass!!"
They all vanished in a large cloud of smoke; Kakashi was already placing the dying Zabuza next to Haku. I made my way back over towards Sakura, the old man, and Tanbo. Sasuke had finally made his way over to the three, as I eventually got closer, I could already tell that Tanbo hadn't gotten any better. At least he was still breathing. I knelt beside him and checked his pulse, still very low. I shook my head and looked back at Sakura and Sasuke with the doubt I had obviously apparent on my face.
Kakashi had finally made it over to us as I handed the sickly boy into the arms of the older man. I smiled at Sakura as best as I could, given the circumstances and the reek of death all around us. I gave Sasuke only a glance before looking at Kakashi. He already covered is eye up and just stared at me with his lone eye for a few moments.
"Good luck with everything. I've done all I could for Tanbo. It's all up to you guys to get him to a hospital now."
I turned but Kakashi's voice instantly halted me from moving any further. I didn't bother to turn around as I just listened.
"Thank you for your help."
I smiled to myself.
"I won't allow any comrade of mine to die on the battle field, if I have anything to do about it."
That was the last thing I had said before leaving the bridge. After my long walk, I reached the hotel in which we were staying and entered the building. I had received several weird looks upon entering the establishment, not to mention walking through town. I had blood in several different places on my clothes, cuts all over my face, and my black shirt was ripped in several spots while I hadn't bothered to zip up my training jacket yet.
I opened the door to the room and my mouth instantly fell open, merely hanging there. Jiraiya was laying flat on the small mat, his small notebook opened and lying neatly on the bridge of his nose. I could hear his snoring from underneath the booklet. I gritted my teeth and trudged over to where he slept. I raised my clenched fist and was about to bring a whole new world of pain upon the Ero-sennin.
I stopped mid-way and sighed lightly. Screw it; I was way too tired for this. I walked into the washroom, cleaning myself up; I changed into a new pair of clothing and put my training jacket back on. I thus proceeded to collapse and take a quick nap that lasted about eight hours.
When I awoke, the window was wide open and the mat next to me was completely empty. I slowly stood up and gazed out the window, the stars shined brightly in the dark night, not a touch of moonlight blessed the land tonight on the night of a new moon. I heard the door give way a small creak noise as it opened, without even thinking my hand reached for a kunai and tossed one into the door frame of the door. Jiraiya stared at me with a frown on his face, his eye twitched.
"So you're finally trying to kill me..."
I sighed and shook my head, I instantly began to scratch the back of my head. Which is what I always did if I did something either dumb or embarrassing. I grinned.
"Where were you all day Ero-sennin?"
He put his hands on his hips and gave me a wry look.
"I could ask the same thing of you."
"Well you see..."
He held up his hand to stop me and just chuckled lightly.
"No, there's no need. I know what happened. I've talked to Kakashi about what happened. You've managed to impress me, Naruto."
I smiled immediately until it donned on me and I frowned and glared at the older man.
"What the hell is that supposed to be, so what did you end up doing anyways??"
He scratched the underside of his chin as a blush touched his cheeks as well as one of his stupid smirks.
"Well..."
I gripped at my hair and began yanking as hard as I could.
"You're hopeless Ero-sennin!"
End of Chapter 2
(Author's Notes: Eh? Eh? Second Chapter finished 3rd about done....What will Naruto get himself into next??? I got most of the ideas for all the weigh training stuff from DBZ...yes, lame in my opinion, but I thought it'd be great to add that in there. Hope I'm not making it too OOC...oh and of course you realize why some things aren't happening...I hope. Welll review, review, review!!!. Thanks.))
