Team Eight makes their merry way through the Forest of Death.
"But we have plenty of time to get some extra scrolls," Kiba argues. "We don't need to go to the tower right away!"
"We should get to the tower as soon as possible," counters Hinata. "Besides, we might encounter someone else on the way to the tower."
"We should not go looking for a fight," puts in Shino. "Why? Because one will…"
"Hey, Hinata, Akamaru can smell something up ahead," interrupts Kiba. "Can you have a look with your byakugan and see what it is?"
"...find us," Shino finishes, but no one is listening. The only one who ever listens to Shino is Sasuke.
"Right!" agrees Hinata, and skids to a stop on a large branch. Then she activates her byakugan and says, "There are two very strong teams about to fight just up ahead!"
"Sweet!" says Kiba. "let's watch the fight and pick on the winners! They'll be really tired after this, so they'll be easy prey!" Akamaru whines and hides in Kiba's jacket.
Shino wonders what is bothering Akamaru. "I think something about the ninjas up ahead bothers Akamaru," he says. "Because…"
"Come on, you two!" calls Kiba, who is already well ahead of Shino and Hinata.
"Something is definitely bothering Akamaru," says Hinata. "I hope Kiba isn't leading us into a dangerous situation."
"If that is the case," says Shino, glad Hinata was listening. "Then we should stick together for safety."
Hinata nods and runs after Kiba. Shino follows close behind, wondering who the teams up ahead are, and how strong they are to scare Akamaru like that. Shino's mind wanders a bit, and he finds himself wondering how Sasuke and her team are doing.
After a running a short distance, Kiba ducks down behind some bushes and signals Hinata and Shino to join him. Hinata jumps down from the trees and crouches down. Shino joins them, taking note of the fact that Akamaru is still hiding in Kiba's jacket.
On the other side of the bushes, a team from the Hidden Sand is staring down a much older, more experienced-looking team from the Hidden Rain.
"Give me your scroll and I will grant you a painless death," says one of the Sand genin, a red haired boy with a large gourd strapped to his back and the word 'love' tattooed onto his forehead.
"You think you can beat me?" demands one of the Rain ninjas, a tall teenager with a bundle of paper umbrellas tied to his back.
Akamaru whines.
"What's the matter boy?" asks Kiba.
Akamaru whines again and burrows deeper into Kiba's jacket.
"He says that big guy is in danger," says Kiba, disbelievingly. "But that red haired freak couldn't possibly be stronger, right?"
Hinata has a look with her byakugan. "There's something odd about his chakra," she says. "It's almost like he has two chakras, but the tall guy from the rain has much more developed chakra. I don't know...maybe we should watch this from a safer distance…"
The Rain boy takes the umbrellas off his back and throws them into the air. "There is no escape from my jutsu!" he boasts. An instant later, a thousand needles rain down on the Sand boy.
"He wouldn't have had time to dodge that, right?" asks Kiba, sounding as if he is trying to convince himself.
Shino wonders if Kiba knows how easy that jutsu is to counter if you posses the right ninjutsu. A quick substitution or a strong shield would do the trick, Shino thinks. He is not as surprised as the Rain ninjas and Kiba when the dust clears, revealing a shield of hardened sand around the Sand genin. The needles are stuck in the sand - not one touched the Sand genin.
"How…!" the Rain genin takes a step backwards as if he never considered the possibility of a shield.
The Sand genin does not say anything, he simply raises a claw shaped hand. A moment later, the Rain genin is completely encased in Sand. "Sand Coffin!" says the Sand genin, and clasps his hand into a fist. The sand contracts, sending blood flying through the air as the Rain genin is crushed into nothing. The sand falls back to the ground as the Sand genin lowers his hand.
Shino frowns. This guy would be a nightmare opponent for anyone. Just who is he? Shino hopes that Sasuke does not encounter this Sand team.
"Here!" one of the other Rain genins pulls out their scroll and places it on the ground. "Take it, but please leave us be!"
The Sand boy raises his hands.
"Bye bye!" says the blonde girl from the Sand team, waving cheerfully.
A moment later, the last two Rain genins are reduced to nothing.
Shino is surprised. Just how used to their teammate murdering people are these two genin? They do not even look remotely disturbed!
The third Sand genin, a boy in a black jumpsuit, picks up the Rain team's scroll and grins. "It's the one we need too! Let's head to the tower."
"But I am not satisfied," say the red head. "I still need more blood."
"Look, Gaara," says the the jumpsuit boy, grabbing the front of the straps holding on his team mate's gourd. "We don't need to go around killing people! We have what we need, let's go to the tower."
"If you get in my way," says Gaara. "I will kill you."
He says it so matter of factly, that Shino's heart skips a beat in fear.
"Come on Gaara," says the girl, holding up her hands in a peace gesture. "Listen to your big sister: we should finish now that we have our set of scrolls. We don't want to ruin the plan by drawing too much attention to ourselves."
Gaara does not move or change his facial expression for what seems like an eternity. Then he says, "I never thought of either of you as my siblings."
Shino sees the two other Sand genin tense. They are siblings?
Then Gaara raises a hand. Sand swirls in the air and condenses in Gaara's palm to form a cork. "Fine then," he says, gathering his sand back into his gourd and stoppering it with the cork. "Those rats hiding in the bushes aren't worth my time anyway."
The three Sand genin walk away, leaving Team Eight shaking in fear in the bushes behind them.
Shino cannot believe he did not consider the possibility of one of the genin being a sensor.
Jiraiya looks up at the house that used to belong to Minato. It has been so long since he was last here. Now Naruto lives here with whoever is looking after him. Sarutobi sensei and Kakashi won't tell Jiraiya who is actually looking after Naruto, just that he is being well looked after.
Jiraiya is not sure he likes the idea of people who are not Minato and …. And…. what was his wife's name again? Ku...Ku-something. Jiraiya never really knew her, so he does not remember her name. She was an Uzumaki though, he remembers that much.
Jiraiya takes a deep breath and walks up to the front door. He knocks, wondering if anyone is even home.
There is a loud bang from inside, the sound of muffled cursing and then a woman's voice yells, "I'LL GET IT!" Jiraiya hears footsteps, then a frazzled woman, who looks to be in her early sixties, opens the door. She has grey hair, swept into a tidy bun and piercing blue eyes. She has a young man by the ear. "Who are you?" she demands after sizing up Jiraiya.
The young man stops trying to free his ear and stares at Jiraiya like he is a ghost or something. "Lord Jiraiya?" he asks.
"Yes," says Jiraiya. "I am Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku. Who are you?" Jiraiya does not want to say he is looking for Naruto in case Sarutobi sensei forgot to tell him about a change of address or something. Old men can be quite forgetful.
"I wondered if you would ever turn up," says the young man, grinning. "Ow." he squeals, as the woman yanks his ear.
"Who did you say is here?" asks a frazzled looking man half falling out of the first door on the left. His greying hair is hanging on to the last of its original blonde colour, and his glasses are slipping down his has face, but he is very similar to the one person Jiraiya never expected to die young.
"Minato?" the name slips out before Jiraiya can stop it. "No, too old - who are you?"
The man cocks his head to one side in a way that would look adorable on a little kid. "You knew Minato?" he asks.
"I trained him," says Jiraiya.
"He's Naruto's godfather!" says the young man, pausing in his quest to free his ear from the older lady's grip.
"And you can be quiet and all, boy," snaps the woman, giving the young man's ear a yank.
"Eh?" the man with the glasses frowns at the woman and the young man in confusion. "What did he do?"
"Do you realize what the Second Round of the chunin exams consists of?" snaps the woman. "I do not like the idea of Naruto being in that dangerous forest with bloodthirsty foreign genin!" says the woman. "He just barely graduated!"
"Oh please," says the young man, rolling his eyes. "Naruto is probably the most dangerous thing in the Forest of Death right now."
The woman growls and gives the young man's ear a good shake.
"Ow ow ow!" The young man tries to get free.
Jiraiya feels a sudden burst of pride well up in his chest. So he is at the right house after all. "Who are you people?" he asks.
"You don't know?" asks the young man. "I'm Iruka Umino. These two are Arashi and Kazama Namikaze: Lord Fourth's parents."