Naruto was deep in thought as he walked with Jiraiya to Tanzaku Gai, still hung up on what had happened the day before in the small town they had been resting in.
Now it may have seemed strange for Naruto to be deep in thought, but the truth was it was a fairly common occurrence for the boy. Ranging from simple questions such as 'what should I get for dinner' or 'how can I improve my Sexy Jutsu' to questions that could leave the most skilled of philosophers stumped, such as 'why does the village hate me' to 'should I get miso or pork ramen', Naruto thought a lot in his free time, and this was no exception.
He didn't know what in the hell was the problem with Sasuke's brother or that fish dude, or why they even wanted the furball in his gut (he'd met the Kyuubi, and it didn't seem to the type to just hand out its power to anyone, regardless of how strong they might be).
But he did know one thing; they were strong. Itachi had made Sasuke look like a total punk, and practically knocked him out with just eye contact! Even when Ero-sennin had trapped them in that toad throat thing, he had used those black flames to escape like it was nothing.
And Naruto had to admit it was pretty...awesome.
'I gotta get me some of that.' He thought to himself, wondering just how he'd manage it. He didn't know a single fire jutsu outside of the simple one used to start campfires, and even then he wasn't very good at it. But the thought of whipping those black flames out kept popping in his head, and he couldn't help but fantasize about showing it off to Sakura.
"What's got you giggling back there, brat?" Jiraiya interrupted his musing, and Naruto quickly pushed thoughts of shooting black fireballs from his hands in front of an adoring Sakura away. He was about to say it was nothing, but then he thought about how he might be able to get that fire after all...
"I was just thinking, Ero-sennin. How'd you deal with those flames yesterday? The black ones?" He asked, ignoring Jiraiya's reply of 'stop calling me that'.
"The ones Itachi Uchiha used?" Jiraiya said, raising an eyebrow. Normally he'd expect the kid to ask how he could make fire like that, and Jiraiya would've taken a bit of joy in telling the kid it was totally impossible without the Sharingan. But it seemed like Naruto was taking more of an interest in sealing instead. Seeing no harm in telling him (it was in the kid's blood, after all), Jiraiya pulled out the scroll he had sealed the ever-burning flames of Amaterasu in.
"It's a sealing scroll, specifically one for sealing fire into." Jiraiya explained. "Not the most exciting thing, but it's pretty damn useful as you saw yesterday."
While Jiraiya started going off on a somewhat hypocritical tangent about how you didn't always need flashy jutsu to save the day, Naruto was already thinking of his next ploy; after all, if something can seal something, then surely it can unseal something too, right? Like a key!
He just had to get his hands on it first...
Getting the scroll from Jiraiya turned out to be a piece of cake. Jiraiya had come back at an ungodly hour after 'investigating his leads', which Naruto was sure was just code for checking out the local hostess clubs. With Jiraiya passed out in a drunken stupor, Naruto dug through the man's laundry and pulled out the scroll containing Amaterasu.
'This is gonna be awesome!'.
Naruto was fighting for his life.
Their search for Tsunade had turned into a total shitshow. That Orochimaru bastard had showed up in order to get Tsunade to heal his arms, and Tsunade's attempt to kill him had failed. What was worse was that she had slipped Ero-sennin some kind of drug to try and stop him from interfering, which meant Jiraiya wasn't performing at his best. The Snake Sannin, despite his own lack of usable arms, was still somehow going toe to toe with the weakened Jiraiya and Tsunade (who seemed to be struggling with some issues of her own), and Naruto couldn't help but worry...
He had just managed to take down Kabuto with a Rasengan, when he turned to yell at Jiraiya. "Oy, Ero-sennin! I got a plan!"
Jiraiya, currently riding atop one of his toads and trying to get his chakra under control long enough to perform a competent jutsu, was quick to respond. "That sounds great, Naruto! What is it?!"
"It involves fire!" Naruto said, reaching into his pocket.
Quickly patting the inside of his robes, Jiraiya's face paled as he noticed the distinct lack of sealing scroll. "You brat! Absolutely not! You are not gonna unleash that jutsu here, are you insane?!"
"If it can help, then let him do it, Jiraiya!" Tsunade called over, almost landing a punch on Orochimaru who just slipped around it by casually dislocating his spine.
"Oh yes, I agree." Orochimaru said with amusement, not a scratch on him from the entire fight. "I'd love to see if his fire jutsu compares to Sasuke-kun's."
That was all the invitation Naruto needed. Pulling out the scroll and channeling chakra into it, he tossed it high into the air to Orochimaru, who looked at it with almost pity.
"My word, he's almost as useless as you were, Jiraiya. Is this really the quality-" His words were cut off as the black flames of Amaterasu emerged from the seal, devouring him and his snake summon in black flames. Orochimaru screamed in agony, desperately trying to put out the fire, but nothing seemed to work. His jaw dislodged, and another Orochimaru crawled out of his throat...but the eternal fire would not be denied, and jumped to his new body as well.
Eventually his screams turned to whimpers, and eventually to silence. All that remained were the flames of Amaterasu, burning the landscape as if there had been no Orochimaru there at all.
While Jiraiya and Tsunade silently mourned the man who had once been his friend when they were kids (and Tsunade got over her phobia of blood, replacing it with a fear of being burnt to literally nothing) and Shizune securely tied up Kabuto, Naruto's face lit up like Christmas came early. Not only had he avenged the Old Man, he had just killed a legendary ninja like it was nothing.
'Man, I can't wait to rub Sasuke's face in this!'
