Chapter Eighteen
Heyo! Finally here with Chapter Eighteen. Training trip time, it's kinda gonna be a quick slide through snippets of events that happen over the course of three years.
Jarrend: sorry about Ryuko buddy..:( I loved her character too, but...alas character development is always necessary.
Kamui5: just wanted to say, you've been a follower of this story from the start, so thank you:)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, we'd have seen more of Minato.
Rikka, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura stood before Naruto and Jiraiya. Tsunade was there as well, to see off her favorite brat, and the stupid pervert. A common thought was running through the heads of the ninja seeing them off. "Naruto sure looks a bit more serious."
His smile was still as bright as ever, but there was something about him that was gone. It had died with Ryuko, and would never return. Naruto had seen the true nature of the shinobi world, and it had forced his mind to grow up, and accept it.
He stood before the group, black shinobi pants sagged almost like Kakashi's, chunin vest unzipped, and swaying gently in the wind. A massive scroll the size of Jiraiya's strapped to his back.
"I'll be a lot stronger when I get back. So you guys train hard too." He said to them.
"Obviously we will!" Kiba shouted.
"Tch. Sounds like a drag to me." Shikamaru spoke out against the idea.
"I'll be a lot stronger when you get back, Naruto." Said Sakura.
"Write me a letter every month." Rikka said blankly. She and Naruto had bonded over the loss of Ryuko, and they had spent some time together right before Jiraiya arrived. She was one of his closest friends as of now, he kind of let everything out when he talked to her, so she knew almost everything about him.
She still had that bland and monotone outer personality that made her who she was. But she was a lot more when you looked deeper. Naruto was honestly interested in trying to figure out how to get her out of her shell more.
"Of course, I'll make sure to write."
"Jiraiya. I want monthly status reports as well. Be ready for any missions I may send you as well, the war is still technically ongoing."
"Yes Ma'am." He replied, as Tsunade had a look promising pain if he disobeyed her order.
"And Naruto, you try not to get into too much trouble, and be safe."
"I will Lady Hokage." He said addressing her with seriousness, but you could see the bright smile on his face as he said it.
"Well we need to get going then." Said the Sage.
"Bye everyone, see ya in three years!" Naruto called as he walked off into the horizon with the Toad Sage. The only one who knew of Naruto's new jutsu project was Tsunade, it was an important secret to keep, that all the secrets behind the Flying Raijin would be traveling the elemental nations.
"Oi, Sensei?" Naruto asked looking over a scroll on space-time theory.
"What's up brat?" Jiraiya asked as he slurped up a large bowl of noodles.
"Summoning jutsu is just a low scale space time jutsu isn't it."
"Hmm...yeah I guess it is."
"Space time theory is wild. There's so much to pour over." Naruto said, standing and forming four shadow clones. "All of you study this until it's carved into your brain, then dispel. Sensei, mind sparing with me? I'd like to get more practice with the new kunai."
"Geez we've only been gone a week brat. No need to rush, but I suppose we can."
A few weeks later found the two outside of a small village on the border of Wind and Fire country. Naruto was walking beside Jiraiya, examining one of the marked kunai.
"So believe it or not Sensei, father packed a genius amount of sealing formula onto this kunai. The kanji reads, Sword of love and endurance. But each kanji is actually the container for a separate jutsu formula. He has notes in one of the scrolls detailing Lord Tobirama's original jutsu formula. The extra work dad put into his formula allowed him to eventually create the Flying Raijin: Second Step."
"That's pretty impressive kid, how'd you figure that all out?"
"I've been slowly dissecting each formula to try to better understand it. The first kanji contains a formula pertaining to speed. The second has formula for space, the third having formula for time. The fourth is where I'm running into trouble." Naruto said, his face scrunched up in thought
"What's the issue?" The Sage questioned
"I can't figure out what the formula does. It'll have to wait for last I guess. I'll focus on dissecting and unraveling the first three." He said giving out a sigh.
A toad popped into existence on Jiraiya's scroll. "Hey dudes, got a message from your Hokage for ya." The small green toad said. "See ya!" He said disappearing after handing the Sage a scroll.
"Heads up Naruto, you've got a quick solo mission."
"Huh? Already?" The boy questioned.
"We're out in the field already, which means any time a mission is requested and we are nearby, if we can do it without it getting in the way of something important, then we have to do it. But in this case we, is you." The white haired man explained.
"I see, I guess that makes sense. What's the op?"
"Eliminating a rogue chunin. He left the village about five years ago, and is on the run still, but he was sighed in a nearby village, hanging around with a group of mercenaries."
"Name?"
"Ichiro, no family name."
"Threat level?"
"Just a C-rank nin, you won't have trouble." The Sannin said.
"Got a picture?" Naruto asked. The Sannin responded by handing the boy a photo. He was a simple, black haired male with a scar across his right cheek. It was rather large, so it would be a defining trait, and help Naruto find him much easier.
"I'll be back Sensei."
"Meet me in Neba village in four days brat. We're gonna do some serious training in the fields there."
"Got it."
Naruto stood atop a building in a small village. He was crouched low, watching over a group of mercenaries that had congregated in a warehouse. A large percentage of the men were drunk, and they stood around talking amongst themselves.
"Black hair, check. Deep scar on right cheek, check. Must be my guy." Naruto thought to himself. Now he had to figure out how exactly he planned on getting to this guy. He was one of the few that wasn't plastered, so he would be more alert. There were only thirty or so guys. All non-shinobi except for his target.
Naruto decided speed and stealth were his best options. He body flickered himself behind the first drunken group. Five men collapsed but were caught and carried away by five shadow clones. A second body flicker took him to a pair of mercs. Drunkenly swaying beside a fire, both passed out on their own, falling to the ground in a drunken stupor. "Well that was easy." He thought.
He then took out four guys who were sober, they had been patrolling around, so he knocked them out and hid them away. "The rest seem to be all gathered into their makeshift mess hall…..I wonder, maybe if I wait this guy will split off from the others for a bit." The blond shinobi thought to himself.
So Naruto settled on waiting a few minutes, and sure enough the missing nin left the warehouse. He stepped outside and took a piss, and as soon as he zipped up his pants Naruto appeared beside him, the man's eyes widened as he move to grab a kunai. Unfortunately for the nin, his throat was cut before his hand reached his holster.
Naruto looked at the man sadly for a moment, before reigning his emotions in, and disappearing into the night.
Six months later.
Naruto had made slow progress with the Flying Raijin, but still hadn't fully cracked all the theory behind the four formulas. His training with Jiraiya had been coming along nicely. His chakra control was now leagues above what it had been.
He had finally been able to up the amount of times he could use his kunai substitution. As it had turned out, Minato's kunai were all made of chakra conducting metal. Meaning Naruto could coat them in wind chakra to make them sharper. But the real advantage of this had been that if he channeled a small bit of chakra into one before he threw it, the amount of wasted chakra dispersed from him was lowered. This meant that the damage the chakra slamming into his chakra coils caused, was lowered by half. His recovery time after hitting his limit was also lessened. He now only needed to get actual rest* over an eight hour period. With sixteen opportunities, If he played his cards right, he was actually able to push the Sannin to be serious during a spar. His main goal now was to beat the man.
Jiraiya and Naruto had made a bet one night after and argument. If Naruto could best Jiraiya in a spar before the one and a half year mark of their trip, Jiraiya would refocus his writing. He would put a halt on work for his "written porn" as Naruto had called it, and start a new book like "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi".
Naruto was determined to win, he had read Jiraiya's first novel, and fallen in love with the book. The Toad Sage had later told him of how it had inspired Minato and Kushina to name him after the main character.
Many times along their journey, they would set up camp, as they were too far from a town, and were in no hurry. These nights by the campfire were spent with Jiraiya recalling stories of training Minato, and stories about his mother and father together.
"I'm serious kid, Minato was terrible at naming jutsu."
"No! There's no way that the Fourth Hokage! My dad! Would ever come up with stupid, lame, or long names for jutsu." Naruto shouted with a laugh. He pointed his finger at the Sage accusingly, before shaking his head wildly in the negative. "Not possible."
"I'm serious. How about this, he had a technique named Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three. How is that not lame, and way too long?"
"Are you kidding me!? That's a super awesome name!" The young man yelled at the Sannin
Jiraiya simply laughed loudly in response, and soon Naruto joined him. "So it seems he will most likely have the same weird way of naming jutsu. Like father like son they say." The Sannin thought to himself. Soon though, the elder male realized the boy had gone silent. He turned to the blond, and saw the sadness and self doubt radiating off his facial expression. "Naruto.. what's wrong?"
"Sensei...how do we...not hate? When someone takes something precious from us, how can I possibly hope to not want to take revenge on them. I hate that jinchuriki Han with every fiber of my being. If I see him again, I just don't know what I would do." The blond said, his fists clenched at his side.
"It's well known that I've been in love with Tsunade all my life. Although I did, just once, love another woman. During the Third World War, I was deployed alongside some of Suna's forces in the Land of Stone to combat Iwa. Anyway during all of this Kirigakure tried to flank through the Land of Rivers to attack Konoha. A group of Suna nin accompanied me to support our forces against them." Jiraiya said in remembrance. He sighed sadly, before giving a sad smile to Naruto.
"I met a Suna kunoichi named Miku. Boy let me tell you was she beautiful. She was an incredible woman. An extremely skilled fighter, probably one of the best. Anyway, her and I were split from our forces for over six weeks. We had to fight together against a lot of enemy shinobi to survive. It was harsh, and in that harsh environment blossomed love." The Sage glanced from the fire, to see Naruto staring intently.
"How long were you together, like as lovers?" The boy asked suddenly before Jiraiya could continue.
"Four of those six weeks were spent together, and we were together for another three months as well."
"What happened?" The blond questioned sadly.
"After the third month, she was re-deployed to the Iwa front. I got word two weeks later that Iwa shinobi had captured, tortured, and killed her."
Naruto's eyes shot from the ground to the Sannin. "What….what did you do?" He asked quietly. Silence settled over their camp, and Jiraiya stared into the fire for a few minutes. Finally he answered his student's question.
"I tracked down the shinobi, I found their camp, and I slaughtered them all."
"You...you slaughtered them?"
"Yup. Every last one. None of them even had a chance. And after I was done, I stood amidst the bodies and blood. And then I fell to my knees and wept. Because not only had I just lost my lover, but I had just killed so many nin, maybe they had families, someone waiting for them at home."
Naruto stared at the flames for a while. They sat in silence, before the Sannin slapped his hands on his knees and said, "well why don't we get to bed huh?"
"Oh yeah, it is pretty late." Naruto said moving to his bed, as Jiraiya did the same. But the Sannin looked to Naruto one last time.
"I know that you will have to forge your own path, and follow your own ideals. But Naruto, if there ever comes a time when you find yourself in the same sort of situation I was, don't take revenge. It's not worth it."
"I-I, I can't make you any promises Jiraiya-Sensei, but what I can promise, is that when I become Hokage, I will do everything I can to make peace with the other villages, no matter what grudges I may hold." Naruto said, he had started off shakily, but as he went along, determination filled his voice.
The older male laughed loudly, smiling at the boy, before he walked over to him and ruffled his hair. "You know, I'm really happy I made you my student."
Training Trip- Month Eleven
"Jiraiya-Sensei, let's have a match." The blond said to his master, loosening his body into a fighting stance. He stood before the Sage, unmarked tri-prong in hand. One foot firmly placed on the ground, the left bent at the knee, resting lightly on its toes. "Think you can keep up?"
"Brat, you're still about ten years to early to challenge me."
"We'll see about that, Sensei. Now, come."
"Have it your way." The Sage responded with a chuckle.
Jiraiya sped across the field, grass swaying as he rushed by. He slammed into the blond knee first, which sent him flying, but he turned into a log. Jiraiya quickly flipped around, as the boy appeared behind him in a handstand. His leg spun around aiming for the Sage's head. The Sannin caught the offending appendage, hurling the boy away, only to hear a thunk next to him. When he looked the the boy he had just thrown, the blond smirked.
A kunai appeared where he had been, and Naruto landed his first blow on Jiraiya in weeks. His fist impacted the side of the older male, shooting him back slightly. Unfortunately for Naruto he himself caught a leg in the chest. "It's great that you can use that to hit your opponent, but don't ever attack when it will leave you open, unless you have no other option." The Sage cautioned.
"Right." The blond replied launching back at the man. The elder struck out with a punch, which the boy caught. He quickly rolled over the man's back coming down the opposite side with a kick to the ribs, which was blocked and tossed away. The old man stuck out with a kick that sent the boy into the air. His eyes widened when a clone came into existence behind the boy, catching him, and slinging him back at the Sannin.
Naruto came in with a heel drop, the elder man sliding out of the way. The boy body flickered into existence beside the man, pressing his attack. He landed his second blow this match in the man's lower back. The Sannin skidded away a few feet, before he opened his mouth and spoke. "My turn."
The Sage launched across the field and caught Naruto by the coat, hurling him into the air. The boy righted his body, only to be hit in the chest by Jiraiya's knee. "Oof!" Naruto gasped as the air was forced out of him. The Sannin swung his leg around intent on hitting the boy in the ribs, only to kick away a kunai. The man leapt back, knowing that kunai could become a experienced blond ninja at any moment.
"Over here!" Came a yell, and as the white haired man spun around he saw ten shadow clones staring him down. "Let's go!" One called, the group charging toward the teacher.
"Hair Needle Senbon!" The Sage called, hundreds of needles shooting from him dispersing the clones before they could do anything.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A large ball of fire burned through the remaining senbon, barreling its way toward the Sannin.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" Yelled the larger male. His eyes widened when a massive fuma shuriken came bursting from the water wall. He smirked, jumping over it before hearing a pop behind him. He turned quickly, and was met with a blond, who hurled a handful of kunai at him. He quickly deflected these, only to hear the impact of three new kunai, thrown from behind him. One landed directly to his rear, the other two landing at his sides. He spun around quickly, only to watch all three disappear, as three blonds appeared in their place. The three boys kicked him into the air, before throwing two kunai at him. One came dangerously close to Jiraiya, while the other flew past his head. The closest knife disappeared, a blond taking its place, who landed a harsh kick the the Sannin's midsection. He flew farther back into the air, only to be sent to the ground by a heel drop. The Sage impacted the ground, and Naruto smirked. He then face faulted as he watched Jiraiya disappear in a puff of smoke.
The boy's shoulders sank, before he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "Not bad kiddo, not only did you manage to take one of Minato's techniques and make it work with your little trick, but you also managed to beat one of my clones."
"Thank you Sensei, but how am I ever going to beat you, if it takes so much just to beat your clone?"
"Naruto, even you can't expect to progress too fast. You may have a cheat, and your damn sure a prodigy, but things take time. We've been gone almost a year, and you've already improved by leaps and bounds. Be proud of your progress, and don't rush too much." The man advised.
"I know you're right, but how can I ever hope to reach dad's level?"
"Naruto, when you have those resistance seals released, and you combine them with your kunai trick, and your body flicker. I'd say your already on par with speed of the likes of Shisui of the Body Flicker, and I bet you could even give Kakashi a run for his money. But with that speed, you need experience. No matter how fast you are, inexperience will still get you killed. There's going to be a point in this trip where you're probably going to be the best you can be speed wise until you fully unravel the Flying Raijin. And at that point the only ways you'll have of getting strong will be spreading out your ninjutsu arsenal, and gaining a lot of experience." The Sage explained.
He sighed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Kiddo, I've watched strong ninja with tons of jutsu and huge amounts of skill fall to ninja who have nowhere near as much to work with. The reason they win is because the usually have years of experience over the enemy."
"I'm sorry, you're right Sensei."
"Of course I am! Now, how about we go get something to eat?" The elder asked, and the boy simply smiled in response.
Elapsed time since departure from Konohagakure, one year, and six months.
"Naruto! Come here!"
"Yes Sensei!"
The boy appeared beside the Sannin, who had a toad perched upon his head, and a scroll in his hand. "We have a mission kiddo."
"What's the job?"
"A platoon of Suna shinobi have encountered a large amount of Oto shinobi on the border of Wind Country, and River Country. Their pinned down, and we're closest. There's a high chance that if there is that many enemy nin, Orochimaru could be there." The Sage briefed the boy.
"Alright let's go then."
When Jiraiya and his apprentice arrived at the rendezvous point, they were met by two Suna jounin. "Lord Jiraiya, pleasure to meet you. My name is Tabuchi Hisato."
"Nice to meet you too, what have you got for us?"
"Our platoon was on its way to one of our outposts on the border of River Country. Long story short we encountered and engaged a group of Oto shinobi, only to be met with at least an entire company of enemy nin."
"I see. That is strange, especially all this way from Sound Country." The Sage replied. "So then, what do you need us to do?"
"The platoon is pinned down in a canyon. The only shinobi we have as back up are me and my partner. That's why we called for reinforcements. We need you to liberate our platoon, and then we can find and assault the enemy's compound." The Suna jounin explained.
"Hmm, sounds reasonable. Alright show me the layout of this canyon. Also if he's still alive after this battle, you should strip the idiot who lead your platoon into a damn canyon and a prime ambush position of his rank." The Sannin said. He couldn't believe they had managed to get an entire platoon stuck in a canyon.
The Suna jounin explained to the two Konoha shinobi that the canyon was only carved about sixty feet into the ground. On one end where it opened up slightly more, the Suna platoon was pinned. Around it, along the ledges above them, and in the canyon directly in front, sat the Oto nin. There were only about two platoons of Oto nin now, the rest having pulled back to where ever they had come from.
"Naruto, what do you think?" The Sannin asked the boy.
"Let's take a closer look. Lead us there please." He said to the Suna jounin.
The four shinobi found themselves on a rocky outcrop, a few hundred yards away from the beginning of the canyon, where the Suna nin were pinned. Naruto had placed his finger to the ground and began counting aloud as soon as they had arrived. The Suna jounin had stared at the blond in confusion. When he looked to the Sage for answers, the white haired man just smiled.
"I count eighty enemy nin Sensei. The good news is most of the Suna nin are still alive. Maybe not for long, but they are still alive." The blond reported.
"Good, so what do you suggest?" The Sage asked his apprentice. He knew the only way to truly make the boy better, was to give him as much experience as he possibly could.
"Around the ledges atop the canyon, there's only ten nin. The rest are based in the canyon. I'll take care of the ten. I should be able to do it with five kunai, they are based in pairs of two. That will also leave me with eleven chances left." The blond explained to his sensei. While he had spoke he had laid out a group of unmarked tri-pong, all the while the Suna nin stared at him in confusion.
"Alright, so what about the nin in the canyon itself?" Asked the eldest male.
"Well A, we could drop a toad on em, but I've been using that so much in this war it's kind of boring. B, you and I could drop down and most likely man handle all of them. Oto jounin are shitty if not grouped together, and I'd bet half would run at seeing you in the first place. C, I can form a bunch of clones, and I can just drop a shit load of Rasengans on them." The blond said.
"Nope, sorry kiddo. I'll drop in, and handle the main force after you've taken out the surrounding nin. Afterwards, you flicker down behind them and start taking them out while they are either distracted, or running. Leave one alive. I have questions." The battle hardened Sannin ordered.
"Alright fine." He replied two clones bursting to life behind him. He looked at the Suna nin. "You just sit here and watch alright?" With that the two clones were off, and the Suna nin watched in awe as they threw kunai at each pair of Oto nin. Naruto's eyes flashed open, and he disappeared. The friendly foreign nin looked confused as a kunai appeared where the boy had just been.
Jiraiya chuckled lightly. "Just watch."
Naruto appeared next to the first pair, and before they could even recognize his presence, he had already buried a kunai in one's neck. He swept the feet out from the other, landing in a crouch above his targets chest. He quickly shoved the knife down into the man, and he was gone, a new kunai appeared where he had been, and it fell harmlessly onto the ledge.
"Rasengan!" Echoed through the canyons as another ledge where a pair had been disappeared entirely. The next pair had begun to look over, distracted from their inspection of the kunai that had landed before them only about forty seconds ago. They turned away before they could watch it disappear, and both were dead before they could even feel the special shaped kunai bury itself in their necks.
The next pair were still inspecting the strange kunai, when they saw the pair slightly below and across from them fall dead. "What the fu-." One was cut off as he was kicked into the wall, his tanto pulled from its holster, and buried in the his comrades chest. The blond kicked the hilt of the tanto, shoving it deeper into the man, and launching him off the ledge. He swung his hand around and buried his now oh so familiar blade into the other nin's temple. He flicked the blood off, before he sighed, and disappeared once more.
The last pair had watched all of this, and one quickly grabbed the unusual kunai, and threw it away from the ledge. As it got about a foot out, Naruto appeared and seeing he was not on solid ground he body flickered behind the two, kicking one off, and throwing a kunai after him. He quickly turned to the other, he planted a kick in the man's chest that sent him upward, he body flickered up the canyon wall behind him, and stabbed a blade into the man's spine. "I didn't expect them to pick up so fast." He thought, and he substituted with the kunai he had thrown after the man he'd kicked off. The man righted himself in the air. He saw the kunai coming, and moved to deflect it, only to be met with a blond Konoha chunin, who held a blue ball of chakra in his hand. "Rasengan!" The boy yelled, as he slammed it into the man's chest, and launched him to the ground, dead.
At that moment, Jiraiya leapt down in front of the Suna shinobi in the Canyon. He leapt into the air before them, toward the Oto nin. "Ultra Big Ball Rasengan!" He shouted, a massive Rasengan forming in his hand, which he slammed into the front line of Oto nin. Some Oto nin immediately fled, they knew that had encountered Jiraiya of the Sannin, and they had just watched him wreck ten shinobi in one move. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet!" The Sage shot a massive concentrated bullet of fire from his mouth, burning many of the enemy shinobi to a crisp.
As Jiraiya dealt with the shinobi that had stayed to fight. Naruto landed before the retreating group, he immediately used his body flicker to take advantage of their shock and dispatched all but one of them. He landed before the last enemy nin, and spoke one simple line. "Surrender." The nin's eye's went wide, as he felt an unexpected amount of killing intent swirl around him. He slowly dropped the kunai he held, and got to his knees. Disarmed and will to fight broken, Naruto placed the man's hands behind his head and held them there.
He craned his neck to look at his approaching Sensei. "All yours Sensei." The boy said as Jiraiya grabbed the man.
"Naruto. Go check up on the Suna nin."
"Yes sir."
Naruto and Jiraiya now found themselves sprinting through a corridor of a underground bunker constructed by Orochimaru. They had located the base, and as the Suna nin took on the shinobi defending the exterior, the Konoha shinobi had slipped in. They had full intentions of wiping out the Oto nin inside, searching for Orochimaru, and then leveling the base.
"Sensei let's stop a moment, I can probably find him." He stopped and placed his finger to the ground. "He's here."
"How can you be sure?"
"It's simple really." Naruto smiled at his sensei before continuing. "Sasuke's here."
Jiraiya sighed as they took off running once again, this time guided by Naruto's slightly better understanding of the base. They finally came to a large throne room. In the chair sat Orochimaru, beside him, was Kabuto and Sasuke.
"Oh Jiraiya, how unexpected. I didn't think you'd be crashing my party with the Suna nin."
"Oh come on now Rochi, I wouldn't miss any party of yours." Jiraiya retorted.
"Uzumaki." Came the stoic voice of Sasuke.
"Uchiha." Naruto replied. All three Konoha nin played out their acts perfectly.
"Sasuke….why don't you deal with your little friend." The snake Sannin said with a sneer.
"Orochimaru….I came to you for power, not to fight Konoha nin….but for this one, I'll make and exception." Sasuke said with a sneer of his own.
Sasuke launched at the blond, sword drawn. He swung down at him, but the blade was caught in the prong of Naruto's kunai. Sasuke looked at the strange knife in confusion. "That's new."
"That it is." Naruto said, as he looked toward his sensei. The Sage was seen to be in battle with the snake Sannin. They struck at each other with harsh blows. Impacts hit so hard they echoed through the room. Both shinobi flew through hand signs, summoning their bosses. Gamabunta and Manda's immense size ripped through the hideout, the ceiling destroyed around them, the sun now bearing down on the room. As the Sannin battled, Naruto turned back to his own fight.
Sasuke made the unison sign at Naruto. A sign they had agreed that if they encountered each other once he left, would signal the necessity to pass along intel. He looked into the Uchiha's eyes, as he tried to see what the next move would be. The Uchiha's Sharingan flashed to life, and Naruto found himself in a calm forest clearing.
"Naruto, this is a unique genjutsu I created just incase I needed to talk to you. I call it, Sharingan: Slow Time. One minute in the world gives us an hour here to talk."
"Well S'ke, that's pretty impressive."
"Naruto… something's different about you, what changed?"
"I lost someone close, nobody you know though. It's a long story, and we don't have time. What have you got for me?" The blond asked his face serious.
"In a year and a half, Orochimaru plans to gather his forces and try for a coup d'etat in Kusagakure. He has a hideout in Fire Country, just on the border of Grass Country. I plan to kill him then, but his forces under him may still try to enact his plan. I could see maybe Kabuto doing it. Either way, I'll probably need help. And then, I plan to immediately go after Itachi as soon as possible. Let the Hokage know that I insist on being given a mission to do so." The black haired shinobi explained.
"Fair. I'll be there, let me know two days before hand via that hidden toad summoning formula. I'll get our forces on site." The blond responded. "Alright let's make a believable fight huh?"
"Sure. Let's." The Uchiha said, and the two immediately found themselves battling in the room once more. As the Sannin's fight dragged on, Jiraiya was quickly gaining the upper hand.
Sasuke appeared behind Naruto in a body flicker, prompting the blond to comment. "Well now, you certainly got fast." He chuckled afterword, before he flickered behind Sasuke at great speeds. "But I'm still faster."
"Hn." The Uchiha retorted, before swinging his sword around on his friend. Naruto quickly countered with his kunai, holding the sword at bay. "I think I'll have Orochimaru raise the bounty on your head." The sole survivor commented.
"Oh? Have you suddenly acknowledged my skill?" The blond replied.
"No I just want you dead." To anyone else nearby, it would have sounded like Sasuke meant it, but to Naruto, who knew the truth, it was just a sarcastic jab.
"Oh how very Sasuke of you." He replied.
"Hn." They flew at one another again, only to be interrupted by a loud yell.
"Sasuke! We're leaving!" The Snake Sannin yelled.
"Not if I can help it!" Jiraiya yelled, moving through hand seals, but the Uchiha appeared behind Orochimaru, and the two were swallowed by a snake that then dispelled.
"Shit! They got away." Said the Toad Sage as he stood beside Naruto.
"It's fine Sensei, he'll be dead soon." Naruto said with a cryptic smile. Jiraiya's face fell slightly at the thought of his once great friend's death. But he knew it was for the greater good. He hated to leave it in the Uchiha boy's hands, but it would probably be the only option.
A loud explosion was heard later that day, as the entire complex collapsed on itself. Orochimaru's experiments and note all blasted and burned away.
The blond and his sensei set up camp later that night, and as Jiraiya settled down to sleep, Naruto prepared to write yet another letter to Rikka and his friends.
Dear Rikka,
This is the eighteenth letter. A year and six months is a long time to be gone. I miss all of you a lot, but I'm getting seriously strong. I've done twenty missions for the village during our trip. Jiraiya-Sensei trains me till I drop. I ran into Sasuke today, during an op. Tell Sakura I'll definitely bring him back to the village once I come back. Anyway, I'm curious how you've been doing? I wonder if you've changed at all? You're definitely just as close of a friend to me these days as Sasuke was, and Sakura is. I hope we can spar when I get back. Don't worry, I haven't gotten injured at all lately, and I promise I'm being careful. I want to come back fast enough to protect you all. I'm stupid fast already, but it's not enough. Anyway, I definitely miss you. And don't worry, Jiraiya-Sensei's pervy ways haven't rubbed off on me, I'm still a good guy. Same old Naruto….but I don't know….Rikka, I killed ten men today in under two minutes. They...they probably had families, and loved ones. I've been taking them away, sending them to the afterlife without a second thought. It's starting to weigh on my mind….maybe I will talk to Sensei about it. Anyway, I have to go to sleep now, Jiraiya and I plan to travel across River Country for the next few days.
-Uzumaki Naruto.
P.S. tell Kakashi that Jiraiya is releasing a new make out book soon, so I'll try to get him a signed copy.
Annnnnnnddd that's a wrap. I dunno, skipped some time there ya know. Naruto is faster now, and can use his substitution sixteen times. The rest I talked about, is that to fully recover from hitting his limit, he must get a full eight hours of sleep. If he doesn't he won't be able to rest his chakra until then. But I suppose if he molded chakra the whole time as he fought constantly for a prolonged few days, he could probably regain ability. Essentially I just needed to give him a handicap. He uses unmarked flying Raijin kunai, as he is training with them and learning how to use them instead of the normal kunai. More on the learning of the Flying Raijin next chapter, and hopefully a mission or something. Sasuke's genjutsu is not the Tsukuyomi, so don't worry. It's a special one he developed himself. But yeah that's all for now. Darling in the Fox out!