Jiraiya sighed as he laid Sakura down on the couch in one of the private homes he owned throughout the elemental countries. He took Naruto's money from time to time in order to pay for sake, spend on woman, or other things. Because of the popularity of his Icha Icha series, he was fairly wealthy though he did not like showing it off so he pretty much kept it to himself how much money he actually had or how much he had on him when he traveled. Though he was used to camping out in the woods or spending time in hotel when he did not feel like it, there was just something about having your own place that led him to purchase a few over the years.
As Jiraiya looked over Sakura and she remained motionless, not having moved even one inch since place the seal he made for stopping Naruto's demonic chakra before he could go four tails and go berserk again.
'Why would something like this have an effect on Sakura, and moreover, why has it caused her to stop moving all together?' he thought then something came to him as he remembered how she simply shrugged off Hinata's Gentle Fist strikes like they were nothing even if there were a few bruises on her body from them.
Carefully looking around and closing Sakura's eyes which been wide open and staring at nothing this whole time, he placed his ear against her chest to see if he could hear her heartbeat. Jiraiya had his ear to her where the heart should be and listened…and listened…and listened; however, he did not hear a single thing. Of course he could not hear heartbeat as she did not have one being made of wood she did not even have a heart to produce the beat in the first place. Though not knowing this, Jiraiya then hurriedly checked her pulse which was nothing as well of course which then caused him be alarmed slightly since no heartbeat and no pulse meant that Sakura was dead.
Yet something else came to mind while he thought about all the information he managed to get from his informant network ever since Sakura had been captured by Sasori. While Naruto managed to escape from his reach of his network, which did not really surprise him that much. This was a kid that at twelve years old managed to paint all four of the face on the Hokage Mountain and then avoid being captured. Then only few days later managed to steal the Forbidden Scroll and get away without being caught by anyone but Iruka, who pretty skilled himself as he was able to find both time when everyone else had failed. Sasori, on the other hand, was not that hard to find as it not really that hard not to find him. When you walk around in black cloak with red clouds on them almost all the time in public, there a chance someone will notice you. That's what happened with Sasori as for the information he got from that informant was Sakura was acting strange. She doing things she would normally never do and was often seen with Sasori's arms over her shoulder and an indifferent blank expression that never seemed to leave her face regards of what she was doing.
Thinking on what Sasori was that being a puppet master that transformed though he captured into human puppet also being a human puppet himself, what was really keeping him from doing the same to Sakura as Naruto, Tsunade, and even his own thoughts were that they would not do that and simply hold her hostage as bait for Naruto. Though as time passed, the possibility of that seemed less and also another things cross his mind. What if instead of keeping her as a human, the Akatsuki let Sasori convert Sakura into a member of his 'collection' then use a simple Henge no Jutsu along with a genjutsu on her to make her appear as if she was still normal when they planned to use her as bait for Naruto? The kid was still weak against genjutsu so it could easily fool him into thinking that she was still fine.
Going over to where the Sakura was laying, he went through a number of hand signs and then placed his hand on the seal on her head and dispelled the advanced Henge no Jutsu that Sakura had cast on her by Naruto using the power of the seal to boost his attempt. He guessed it was stronger then a normal Henge no Jutsu.
He was slightly disappointed because did not want to be right, but he saw Sakura's wooden body and the 'bruises' really being cracks on her instead.
"Guess this explains why Naruto did not at least leave Sakura back at the village even if he did think he was missing nin. The only way he would not left Sakura at Konoha was that if something like this had happened to her," The frog Sanin sighed.
"That right, Ero-Sanin. Now I want Sakura back. I did not go through all the trouble of saving this kid to lose her now," Naruto said as he stood against an opened window with Ryo at his side.
"Wait, that kid is the three tailed demon?" his sensei asked as the last thing he knew that his student was doing was dealing with the turtle demon.
"Of course I am the great….owww! What that for?" Ryo asked as Naruto popped him in the head.
"You're just an upstart demon that lost control of yourself once you gained a third tail and lucked out that I was there, otherwise you would have been captured by the Akatsuki as those idiots from Orochimaru did not stand a chance. I am shocked that out of all the tailed demons, only you, the one that was out of control, remained unsealed the longest," the red tinted blond told him.
"So, Ero-Sanin, are you going to hand over Sakura or do I have to take her?" Naruto asked.
"Well, there's not much Tsunade or I can do to help her at the moment, so take her," the Sanin said. He knew taking Sakura back to Konoha like this was dangerous since there was a possibility they were just see her as a thing. Something to be taken a part and examine to see just what made it possible for her to being this way. That or simply treat her as if she was some sort of weapon which he was sure that Danzo would want.
"So you are just letting me take her and go? I am missing nin, right? Why are you simply letting me take Sakura away even though she is Tsunade's apprentice and has number of her secrets as well?" Naruto asked.
"Simple. It's because you are not missing nin as Tsunade guessed you would run off like this and, luckily for you, made it an official mission for you to find Sakura and Sasuke. Though the council is getting antsy as neither one of the you are their precious Uchiha so they all ready to have both made into missing nin, despite the fact that losing you two would potentially hurt Konoha far more in the long run then simply the loss of Sasuke," Jiraiya told him.
'I have to thank baa-chan after I have gotten Sakura back to normal,' Naruto thought. That was the reason he never saw his picture in any bingo books or posted on wanted wall for bounty hunters.
"Though, there is one thing I would like to know before you go, Naruto," his sensei asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" he responded.
"What happened to your seal and why is Sakura's movement seemly connected to Kyuubi's chakra? Despite being a human puppet, she was moving, even fighting against Hinata, Kiba, and Ino, but stopped the moment I placed the same seal I would on you while we were training to control your tailed form," the Frog Sanin asked.
"Ryo, close that window and come here. This is going to take awhile," Naruto sighed as he became explaining what happened between his battle with Sasori and what happens as result.
'I cannot say that he did not deserve that, but what a way to go!' Jiriaya thought as he heard how Naruto had Sakura get their revenge on Sasori for all he done to them by making genjutsu that made him think he was human again and able to feel pain then rip him to pieces and grinding them into dust bit by bit.
"You ripped the seal off and let Kyuubi out? What if you hadn't come out on top in the merger and Kyuubi was the one that had instead?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well, at that moment, I truly did not care. All I wanted was for Sasori to die and die as painfully a death as possible. I was screwed either way really. I would have died from the Akatsuki taking Kyuubi out of me like Gaara had or die from releasing Kyuubi myself. At least by doing the latter, the Akatsuki wouldn't have been able to get their hands on Kyuubi as easily and my revenge on Sasori would be complete," Naruto told him.
"Already, next question: What is up Sakura? How can she move on her own despite how she is right now?" Sanin asked curiously.
"It seems to be side effect of the jutsu I used to make so I would not have to carry her everywhere and Sasori's own sick human puppet conversion process which is a fusion of the human and demonic puppetry. It did something to awaken her consciousness, at least partially, and that is part of the reason I went looking for Ryo. The three tailed demon has knowledge of all kind of puppetry jutsu, both human and demonic, to make a way that would fully awaken Sakura's consciousness," he explained to his teacher and Ryo as well who was wondering how he could repay Naruto for saving him and helping him regain control of himself.
"Interesting. Well, among the three of us, I am sure that we will come up with something," Jiraiya said.
"Wait, you are going to help us? But…" Ryo started before Naruto stopped him.
"Ero-Sanin is seal master that taught the person who sealed Kyuubi into me back when I was a baby, so he would be a great deal of help," Naruto told him. It was kind of weird referring to talk about Kyuubi and himself individually now since he had merged with the nine tails.
With all this settled, the process to create something that would allow Sakura's consciousness to become fully awake finally began.
