A/N: GOD DAMN IT, KISHIMOTO STOP STEALING MY IDEAS BEFORE I CAN USE THEM! He's stolen TWO of my ideas recently.
Chapter XXIX: End of Exile
Road To Konoha: Present Day,
"Jiraiya, why did you stop? We're almost there!" Jiraiya had led them to a small clearing, well hidden by the forest's thick undergrowth, a ten minute walk from the roads edge.
"I'm waiting for my contact Hime." Jiraiya pushed a large boulder over, revealing a well built fire pit underneath and a cache of supplies in a hollowed out section of the boulder.
"I thought you needed me to heal Sensei and Naruto right away?"
"I just gave Danzo free reign of the city for four days while I was gone," Jiraiya unsealed a stockpile of dry firewood from one of the scrolls and began carefully building a small fire. "I'm not going to blindly walk into one of his traps."
"What are you going to do after you meet with your contact Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune asked Jiraiya.
"I'm going to take his trap and turn it against him of course." Jiraiya answered smugly.
"So what happened next?" Tsunade wanted to hear the whole story before they ran out of time.
"Well they spent the next day and a half digging through Amachi's base, and after they had taken sample of all of the chemicals in his machinery and sealed all of his books they collapsed the whole place." Jiraiya took some food out of his pack and began roasting it over the smokeless fire.
"After that they booked a ship back towards Konoha, left the corpses on the beach for the villagers to clean up though," Jiraiya grinned, while leaving the corpses was certainly petty, small acts of vengeance against the stupid or cowardly always made him feel better. "Sensei sent them a message saying it was safe enough to come back when they were half way there."
"And the girl?" Shizune was worried about the girl, that kind of trauma can permanently break someone's mind.
"They took her with them, she was catatonic the entire way; she's currently in the psychiatric wing of the Konoha General Hospital. She's doing much better."
"What is her name?"
"Isaribi." Jiraiya handed Shizune and Tsunade strips of meat before he continued telling them the story.
Konoha: Three Months, Seven Days ago:
Naruto smiled to himself, after more than a month away, the sight of Konoha's giant walls made him incredibly happy. Anko had gone ahead of them almost a week ago, she wanted to make sure the purple haired girl got medical attention as fast as possible and Team Seven didn't know when it would be allowed back. Kakashi and Sasuke walked side by side, just out of ear-shot of Hinata and Naruto.
Hinata had enjoyed there time away from the village, especially the last two weeks. Things were a little awkward now that Naruto knew she had been stalking him for years, but it helped him realize just how little self-confidence she had left after years of being called a failure.
Naruto had taken it upon himself to change that. The first thing Naruto did when they got back to the Land of Honey was to take Hinata out on a small date. It wasn't much, just dinner (ramen of course), but Hinata had never been happier.
Afterwards Hinata took Naruto shopping. Not that she wanted to, but people kept staring at Naruto, who had decided to just go shirtless until he could replace his beloved orange jumpsuit. She hadn't been able to find the same jumpsuit, but the black and orange one she picked out was even better, judging by how excited he was when she showed it to him. While still shirtless he had picked her up and spun her around while chanting "thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Hinata didn't know how long he had gone on for; she had passed out on the fourth revolution.
Hinata slowed down as they got closer to the gates. She wasn't looking forward to returning, like Naruto was. While she was gone she didn't have to worry about what her father or the other elders of her clan would say. She could be herself without being called weak, worthless, or a failure.
Naruto noticed her slowing down, "What's wrong?" he reached over and took her hand in his.
"I d-don't really w-want to go back home…" Hinata said softly.
Naruto gave her hand a friendly squeeze; which caused Hinata to blush tomato red, "Whenever you need me I'll be there. Besides, I don't think they can complain now that you've done two, two, S-Rank missions."
Hinata shook her head, "You d-don't know the elders of my c-clan, Naruto-kun. They'll refuse to b-believe I was any help, or they'll s-say that it w-wasn't really an S-rank."
"Do you want me to talk to them?"
"M-Most of them don't l-like you, or K-Kakashi-sensei very much, I d-don't think it will help…"
They walked the rest of the way to Konoha in silence, still holding hands. There was a large crowd waiting for them just inside the gates, led by the Hokage himself.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?" The Hokage bellowed. "COME WITH ME IMMEDIATELY!" He turned and stalked towards the Hokage tower, the crowds parting silently before him.
Naruto swallowed nervously, he had never seen the Old-Man so mad before, at least not so mad at him. Team-Seven followed the Hokage through the silent crowd.
When they arrived at the tower, the Hokage slammed he door to his office open and ushered them in with a twitching scowl on his face. The door shut behind them with an ominous thud.
The Hokage sat at his desk, and watched them from over his steepled fingers. He was silent for what felt like an eternity to Naruto, before his twitching scowl turned into a wide smile and he burst out laughing, "You should have seen the looks on your faces!"
"Don't worry sensei," Jiraiya hopped into the room from the open window. "I took a picture." He had a small camera in his hands and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "But how about you tell them the reason for the show in front of the village?"
"Yes, well, the civilians, headed by the former civilian council of course, demand that you be 'punished' for the death of Haruno Umeko…"
"But I didn't do anything!" Naruto interrupted the Hokage.
"I know, Naruto, and so do they. But the civilians refuse to listen to reason. Danzo has actually insisted that you be publicly executed for the …what was it?" The Hokage stopped to rummage through the papers on his desk. "Oh yes," He found the document he was looking for, "'The horrible and inexcusable murder of Konoha's greatest civic hero.' No less then six times while you were away."
Before Naruto could interrupt again Jiraiya spoke, "Don't worry about it Naruto. In a public session the Jonin council ruled that the evidence was circumstantial at best, and likely an attempt to frame you."
"However…"The Hokage continued, "Because the Jonin Council couldn't completely clear your name, the Civilians demanded that you be punished in some way." A smirk tugged at the corner of the Hokage's lips. "When they heard that all three of you were being field-promoted to Chunin…"
"WHAT?" Naruto interrupted Hiruzen and leapt out of his chair. Naruto's eyes shone like twin stars.
"You didn't tell them?" The Hokage asked Kakashi. When the silver haired Jonin gave a bored shrug the Hokage rolled his eyes and continued, "Normally, anyone of the missions you have taken since you left, especially combined with the mission to the Land of Waves would have been enough for a field-promotion to Chunin…"
"Does that mean we're Chunin now?" Naruto interrupted excitedly.
"Let the Hokage talk, Naruto…" Kakashi reprimanded Naruto without looking up from his book.
"As I was saying, they demanded that you never be promoted to Chunin." Before Naruto could interrupt the Hokage held out a hand. "I denied their initial request of course, but when they suggest that I force you to take the exams instead so, and I quote, 'you could see how inadequate you are compared to real shinobi,' I couldn't resist their offer."
"You didn't…" Kakashi looked up from his book, "And they fell for that?" All three of the adults burst out laughing.
"Would someone mind actually telling us what's going on here?!"
"The civilian's 'punishment' is actually a good thing for you." Jiraiya began, "A Genin who is field-promoted is put on probation for a year, and then must take a series of difficult tests before being allowed to assume the rank of Tokubetsu-Jonin, only after another year of probation are they allowed to become full Jonin."
"All of that doesn't apply if take the Chunin Exams and pass." The Hokage continued where Jiraiya left off. "The probationary period is only six months, and the test is much simpler, in addition there is also the option of being field-promoted to full Jonin, which is denied to those who were already field-promoted to Chunin. "
"Basically if you do well you could be a Jonin in as little as nine months from now, instead of two years." Kakashi summarized.
"Now that your 'punishment' has been handed out," The Hokage pulled a large stack of scrolls towards him, "It's time for your debriefing, and payment. In little over a month you have accumulated quite the collection of missions," he gestured to the pile of scrolls,
"First, one D-Rank and one C-rank from your original mission, there is nothing classified about these two missions, you may tell whoever you whish about them." He pulled six scrolls from the pile and handed them to Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata, "Here is your pay.
"Next an A-rank for the defense of Takigakure," He handed each of them a scroll, "The location of the entrance to Takigakure is an S-rank secret, as is the existence of the Hero Water.
"Plus a B-rank for the recovery of the Raijin no Ken," The Sandaime eyed Sasuke, before handing the scrolls over, "which I'll need returned immediately." Sasuke sighed and unclipped the Raijin no Ken from his belt, and placed it on the table.
"Next, an S-rank for the rescue of Fu, Jinchūriki of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi. Any information concerning Itachi is an SS-rank secret, as is Fu's status as a Jinchūriki."
After handing each of them their payment scrolls the Hokage continued, "Despite the danger a rogue summons presents, your rescue of the Daimyo's wife is only B-rank. However your defense of the Land of Sea is A-rank and your confrontation with Amachi is clearly S-rank."
He handed them the last of the scrolls. "Amachi's experiments are classified at A-rank, and Amachi himself has been moved up to S-rank missing-nin in our Bingo book."
"Let's see, One D, one C, two B's, Two A's, and Two S's. Congratulations on completing a year's worth of Jonin grade assignments in a month!" Jiraiya spoke as soon as the Hokage was finished speaking. "There are some people in the waiting room, who wanted to see you as soon as you got back."
Team Seven Pocketed the stacks of scrolls and stood to leave, "A-Are you coming K-Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi shook his head, "There's something important I want to discuss with the Hokage and Jiraiya. Run along, I'll catch up with you later."
As soon as Team seven left Kakashi pulled Amachi's Log book out of his vest. "Naruto only read the first quarter of the book, so he didn't notice this but…" Kakashi leafed through the pages until he found what he was looking for. "Here read this entry."
Log Entry One Thousand Sixty Four:
I Cannot Believe It! I traveled halfway across the continent to show my findings to Orochimaru, I was made to wait for HOURS and he greets me in a damnable fuzzy bathrobe! Then he has the nerve, the NERVE to claim my research was reprehensible! We all know what he did to get kicked out of Konoha and my research is reprehensible? When I tried to argue with the man his purple haired lap dog threw me out by the scruff of my neck!
"Is he talking about Anko?" The Hokage asked.
"I assume so; they recognized each other when they met."
"I don't see the problem here." Jiraiya said, "We know she used to work for him."
"Sensei, check the date of the entry." Kakashi pointed to a series of numbers in the margin next to the entry.
"Four years ago? I don't…Oh…OH… Are you sure?" The Hokage asked, "Absolutely certain?"
"Positive."
The Hokage and Jiraiya shared a look. "I'll get some of my best men on it Sensei."
Location: ?, Date: Present Day?
"…ugh…" The sensation of falling face first into a frozen lake woke the man. He woke to darkness, and water. Chains, so cold they burned, secured to his body by metal spikes wrapped around his arms, and kept him from falling face first into the water. The ends of the chains faded up and away, into the gloom the surrounded him.
He could feel his chakra flowing into the chains through the spikes. It made him light-headed and dizzy. Still, he tried to stand, if only to get his face away from the dark, sewage smelling water.
When the world stopped spinning he was able to get a better look at his surroundings. A, seemingly endless, dark tunnel stretched away from the wall he was chained to. Dozens of pipes ran up and down its length. It was not, as he had first assumed pitch black. Malevolent red light poured down through a giant gash in the ceiling.
"We-Where am I?"
A/N This chapter was originally about 6000 words long (give or take, I haven't finished it) But I decided to split it in to three to give my self a buffer zone.
Now I feel I owe you an explanation for the terrible update schedule I've been keeping lately (i.e.: None) this story was started when I was unemployed. During the six month hiatus I got a new job, it's a 45 hour minimum work week Sunday to Friday, frequent over time and around an hour to an hour and a half commute each way(by bus), in short it sucks and I have almost no free time. However I have recently retrieved my laptop (I lent it to my younger siblings) and am using it to write during the bus ride to and from work, and during my lunch break. I hope this along with my new buffer of two chapters will allow me to update my stories at one chapter a week (and increase my buffer).
Ciao
Xahn777