Author's Note: Sorry for the long gap in-between chapters. This summer hasn't been my most enjoyable. Coupled with a good old-fashioned bout of writer's block, it's hard to keep a schedule. And I wouldn't yet say that I've reached the point where things will go back to normal and something resembling a schedule can be maintained. Rest assured that I am committed until the end. But as with everything on this site, your word is only as good as your release schedule.
With that in mind, I want to thank all my new favorites and followers, and for reaching the 50 reviewer mark. Special thanks go to Shinobi Gatana and DonningTheCowlOfTheDarkKnight who gave very long and delightful reviews (plus a few ideas for me to explore). And extra special thanks goes to Earl of Rosshire who explained to me the difference between the military terms of "Head" and "Latrine" and how the Leaf would most likely use the term Latrine. I'm probably too lazy to go back and correct it, but kudos to Earl for dropping that knowledge.
Chapter 6: Mission Start!
Onryo Kuzukawa was not an honorable man.
Honorable men didn't get into his kind of work. They'd get eaten alive for one thing and they'd much rather prefer to be on the receiving end of his kind of work for another, but when their wives and mothers brought up Onryo's kind of work they would raise their noses up with them. Bunch of hypocrites.
It didn't matter to Onryo though, he didn't become a brothel keeper in the far corner of the Land of Fire to be an honest business man. He'd seen what an honest day's work paid and never looked back.
The boss who founded this joint had been good to Onryo, and the boss who ran after him had been good to. Onryo had removed them both without a second thought. He only spared a thought to his two biggest rivals in town, but in the end decided that the profits to be made far exceeded the desire for peace in this backwater village of vice.
Three years and a whole lotta hush money to the local Leaf Ninja guards later and the Twin Lotus and the Moaning Bunny were independent in name only from the Quivering Mountains.
Now there was nothing left to do but oversee the merchandise and count the Ryo as they came in. There was always talk of expanding out to other villages, but Mr. Kurukawa was ambitious, not stupid. He needed capital if he wanted a foothold in another mob's territory. Capital that he couldn't get with his current profit margins. He needed something new, something fresh, something to put his gang on the map without gathering too much of the wrong kind of attention.
Thankfully, Lord Jashin was smiling on Mr. Kurukawa that day.
"Boss!" One of his lackeys came bursting into his office, looking like a man who wasn't going to be whipped for barging into the Cola Gang leader's office unannounced.
"What?" Mr. Kurukawa snapped.
"We've got this drunk bum in the back with a crap ton of gambling debts." The thug reported.
"He the son of a Daimyo or something? That's the only good reason you should have for wasting my time." Kurukawa snapped.
"It's not a Lord, Boss. It's a Lady. A really special lady." The thug smirked.
That got Kurukawa's attention. The kind of girls they picked up were usually homeless orphans, runaways, and the daughters of farmers. Girls who didn't come with a lot of questions. Those that did could have their loved ones dissuaded fairly easy.
"Is this one a looker?" Kurakawa asked in a dismissive tone.
"A looker? Boss, she's the most drop dead gorgeous piece of ass I've ever seen!"
Kurakawa looked curious. His men were idiots, but they didn't have crap standards when it came to attractive women.
"Alright, but this had better be good." Kurakawa said as he stood up and followed his hired thug deep into his establishment. Past the hallways of tiny rooms stinking with sweat and other unspeakable odors. Hearing the moans of men and women in pleasure and in pain. The heat radiating off the beds. It was almost enough to make a man wish for a more honorable line of work. Almost.
The men entered through the second to last room at the end of the eastern most hall, the extra secluded one meant to look like a space for bachelor parties, but served a much more important purpose to Kurakawa's operations. On the wall to the left of the door there was decorated a mural of a man and women having intercourse. The woman painting was on top of the man, her spine thrown back in ecstasy and her hair twisting in the air, her right hand was held over her cheek while her left held hands with the man who looked to be drunk on lust. Kurakawa's minion didn't hesitate to walk towards the mural and place his hands of the woman's shoulder and her belly. He pressed the two spots on the wall simultaneously and heard a prominent clicking noise coming from the inside of the wall. Two seconds later, a secret door just right of the mural swung open and the two gang members spirited into the interior of the walls. Down two flights of stairs and one narrow corridor, Kurakawa and his thug found themselves in the brothal's secret basement, a dug-out storage room running the entire length and width of the building above them. The whole room was lit with torches that gave the place an eerie look that Kurakawa despised. He'd give anything to find a tasteful interior decorator to spruce this dungeon up, but you try to find a decent one who could keep his mouth shut. He was a glorified pimp, not a Daimyo.
In the center of his dungeon, surrounded by more of Kurakawa's boys, knelt two women hogtied with chakra rope. And at their feet, an actual hogtied pig with a beaded necklace and a vest. The two women had heshan bags over their heads and oddly, weren't struggling at all. Most women that they picked up tried to put up a fight. Judging by the several new shiny blackeyes that the boys were sporting, they had done just that, but realized the futility of struggling. That told Kurakawa one thing. These two were kunoichi, and experienced ones at that.
"Whom do we have here, Haruto?" Kurakawa asked his top enforcer, the 24-year-old rogue ninja known for his forehead tattoo and his pearl colored eyes.
"Two extremely powerful kunoichi. Took me and dozen other guys just to subdue this one." Haruto pointed to the older and curvier woman with a cleavage you could lose her pet pig in. "We got her in one of our casinos. She had racked up quite a debt and was too drunk to runaway properly. This other one put up a good fight too. Renly had to be taken to the doctor after he got hit with a couple of her senbon she had hidden under her sleeve. But a couple of hits to her chakra points and she was out like a light." Haruto said proudly.
"So if we know for a fact that they are tough kunoichi, why the Hell did you bring them here? You think their village isn't going to come looking for them?" Kurakawa spat.
"Nah. See, that's the beauty of it, boss. I know for a fact that these two are rogue ninjas." Haruto smirked as he grabbed the sack over the busty woman's head and gave it a yank.
The boys flinched, but Kurakawa's eyes went wide at who his captive turned out to be. Long blond hair, gorgeous face, purple diamond seal on her forehead. A face that anyone with a bingo book would know by heart. Once the pride of the Leaf, granddaughter to the 1st Hokage, the Queen of Slugs and Elixers, master of all things medical; The Rogue Kunoichi, Lady Tsunade Senju.
Kurakawa's wide eyes suddenly turned into Ryo signs.
"My, my, welcome, Lady Tsunade, into my employment." Kurakawa smirked.
The next morning, the Hokage and Jiraiya had gathered together all of the future Jounin-sensei into Hiruzen's office. Of them, only Jiraiya and Kakashi knew the true extent of their meeting.
"Thank you all for coming." Hiruzen said as he looked across at the Jounin and lone female Chunin assembled before him. Jiraiya stood next to him, heroically not saying a single word.
They were standing at attention in front of him in a straight line. The one the farthest to the right was Might Gai, recently released from the hospital in his regular ninja attire of his Jounin vest, orange leg warmers, and green jumpsuit. He appeared to be unharmed, but Kabuto's poison had left his voice hoarse. He would not be making any speeches about Youth anytime soon.
'Thank God.' Hiruzen thought.
Next to Gai was his self-proclaimed eternal rival and infamous Copycat ninja Kakashi Hatake. With his standard Jounin attire and trademarked blue face mask covering everything below his eyes he looked like what many civilians perceived a ninja to be. His Leaf headband was also slanted over his left eye like an eyepatch. To anyone who didn't know Kakashi, they would think his face was horribly disfigured. When in reality his face was incredibly handsome. Rumors had circulated for years on the former ANBU Captain's true appearance, yet when Hiruzen finally caught a glimpse of what was behind the mask, he was thoroughly underwhelmed. Kakashi looked to be the least bit interested in this meeting, but only because Jiraiya had already told him everything.
Beside Kakashi was Hiruzen's eldest son Asuma. A man of thirty with a sharp beard and a laidback grin. He was dressed similar to Kakashi, only with the sash of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas hung out from underneath his Jounin vest. Hiruzen never liked that sash. It was a reminder of the years Asuma spent directly serving the Fire Daimyo instead of the Leaf. Officially, the position was considered an honor by the Konoha Military, yet Hiruzen knew the real reason his son had accepted the position to guard the Daimyo. It was to spite him. Something Hiruzen could hardly blame his son for, what with his duties as Hokage preventing Hiruzen from being the father he should have been to Asuma. Still, they had reconciled years ago and it was considered water under the bridge between them, but Hiruzen still didn't like being reminded of that time.
Asuma looked to be relaxed at being summoned to his father's office. He was casually chewing on the end of his lit cigarette and checking out his well-known secret girlfriend Kurenai Yuhi who stood next to him wrapped in a kunoichi robe of white wrappings.
Kurenai was the youngest of the four shinobi assembled and the only one who was still a Chunin. Hiruzen had recently reviewed her file for the upcoming Jounin selection and had already determined that she was ready.
Her blood red eyes looked straight ahead at Hiruzen, wanting to look as professional as possible, as a stark contrast to her three higher ranking peers.
"What I am about to share with you is to be considered a Triple S Class Secret of the Leaf. You are to share this information with no one outside of this room unless properly authorized. Is that clear?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes, sir." Kurenai said.
"No problem, Lord Third." Asuma said, resisting the urge to respond with, "Dad."
"Hmmm…" Kakashi nodded, secrets were nothing new to the former ANBU Captain.
Gai nodded with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"Very good. I understand that the three of you have submitted your applications to serve as leaders of a Genin Squad in the next few weeks when the Fall classes graduate." Hiruzen said. Part of the problem with ninja villages as large as the Leaf was the sheer number of Academy students that required an education. To accommodate these vast numbers, there were two sets of the same grade. One that would graduate in the Fall and one that would graduate in the Spring.
"And you, Kurenai, have expressed an interest in teaching Genin as soon as you become a Jounin?"
"Yes, sir." Kurenai answered.
"Well due to unforeseen circumstances, your requests have all been streamlined. You are all now Jounin-sensei with your Genin squads having been selected."
All the shinobi in the room went wide eyed. This was practically unheard of in the ranks of the Leaf. Academy children graduated early all the time, but usually there was more of a process than this. Even during times of crisis such as war.
"What is this about, Lord Third?" Kakashi asked.
"Something huge has come up." Hiruzen said, not sure how to broach the subject.
"Something to do with the explosion at the Academy two days ago?" Asuma asked.
"Yes. There is no easy way to explain this, so I will just come out with it. The day after yesterday, twelve shinobi came to our village. Eleven of them are here to help us when one of them is our enemy. One of the eleven is unaccounted for, but the other ten have requested all of you to assist them in bringing the twelfth one to justice." Hiruzen said before pausing for dramatic effect. "The twelve shinobi are all time travelers from the future, and they have requested all of you to take up the mantle as their Jounin-sensei of their Genin Squads."
All four shinobi stood in front of their Hokage dumbfounded. Whatever explanation they were expecting, it wasn't that.
"Wait…" Gai cried, his voice sounding like he had been drinking gravel. "Does that mean that Lee and Tenten…?" He coughed. "Are time travelers?"
"You know about this, Gai?" Kurenai asked.
"On the day in question…during training…" Gai wheezed. "Lee and Tenten began to act strangely… As soon as Lee completed his spar with Neji, he and Tenten ran off to discuss something… Then when the explosion happened, they rushed towards it and then took off to search for Sasuke Uchiha…"
"The Uchiha boy? What does he have to do with this?" Asuma asked.
"He is the twelfth time traveler. The one that the ten others I have met claim is an evil rouge ninja bent on the destruction of the entire Ninja System." Hiruzen asked.
"That's preposterous. He's not even a Genin yet, how could he be evil?" Kurenai asked.
"I would think the same thing had I not discovered him standing over the body of an ANBU agent he had murdered…" Gai wheezed. "The ninja wire was still in his hands and fresh with blood."
"If all of this is true, then let me and my hounds track him down." Kakashi said. "The four of us together should be more than a formidable enough team to recapture the Uchiha."
"I have already dispatched several ANBU tracking teams and one Inuzuka team to hunt Sasuke and Kabuto down, but the children have expressed doubts that this will be enough." Hiruzen said.
"Children? I thought they were time travelers." Asuma spoke up.
"It appears that they have retained their consciousness from their future selves from ten years in the future, but their bodies remain that of twelve-year-olds." Hiruzen said. "They claim to remember how to perform all of their jutsus they have mastered over the years, but their bodies lack the physical training necessary to perform said jutsus. They believe that your assistance will help them achieve their future levels quicker than if they were left to their own devices." Hiruzen then took a bite of the tip of his pipe.
"Personally, I think they just miss you four as their Sensei."
"So, what would we be? Babysitters?" Kakashi asked, having never fully warmed up to the idea of being a Jounin-sensei in the first place.
"From what I understand, you would be equals. They claim that they were all Jounin before they made the jump back in time. For now, you are to help train them as best you can. Should you go on missions together, you would be equals. Although it would not surprise me if they valued your experience over theirs."
"Experience? I'm not even a Jounin yet. How am I supposed to lead other kids claiming that they are Jounin?" Kurenai asked.
"They all trusted me to share this information with you. It seems they trust you four without question. Therefore, you must trust in yourself, and you will not fail them." Hiruzen wisely stated. He stood up and placed his Hokage hat atop his head. "Come, they are waiting for us down in the training fields. I'm sure they will be eager to meet you."
The Jounin and Chunin followed their Hokage and Sannin outside through the streets of the village that was in full swing to start the new day. Despite the explosion at the school a few days ago, classes were resuming outside as instructors focused on physical and combat training. Kurenai smiled at Academy students running past them, stopping only to bow at their Hokage before rushing off to buy a sweet roll from the baker before heading to class. The rest of the shop owners smiled and bowed in between their sweeping of their front stoops for the morning's customers. Overhead, Genin teams leapt from rooftop to rooftop to start their days of training or get a head start on their missions. The four Hokage faces smiled down upon the village.
Kakashi's eye caught a glimpse of one Hokage in particular. His master. Which made his mind wander to another spiky haired blond, and how much he knew about his connection between the two, on account of him being from the future.
The group made their way to the edge of the village where the buildings met the trees. Past that, far from the prying eyes of the civilians could be found the many training grounds dotting the perimeter of the village, still contained within the walls. The Jounin could all hear the familiar sounds of training before they ever saw them.
Finally breaking through the trees and seeing them for the first time, they could be forgiven for thinking that they all looked like regular Academy students. But that was only to the eyes of a civilian. To a team of Jounin, the moves these young ninjas were using were refined to the level of Jounin.
Lee spared with Tenten, Shino with Shikamaru, Choji with Ino, Kiba with Hinata, and Naruto spared with Sakura. They exchanged jabs, blocks, counters, kicks, and over the shoulder throws that Naruto had to twist his in weird ways to avoid being slammed onto his back. Naruto was stuck off balance one his feet with his belly hanging in the air, Sakura sent two kicks to both of his unprotected sides. Naruto flashed through his signature hand sign. Two Shadow Clones ran out of two puffs of smoke to harass Sakura. Now the firecracker medic of the Leaf was on the defense, forced to split her blocks in-between two Naruto's that had regained the momentum. Sakura crouched to keep her profile small. She wasn't out of the fight just yet. When one clone got too greedy, Sakura kicked low, hitting Naruto's clone in the ankle that would have crippled a real opponent, but just made the clone explode into smoke. Sakura winced, she had tried to focus some chakra into her leg and overdid the ratio, turning her leg into a glass cannon and spraining her own ankle. The real Naruto leapt at Sakura and sent a flurry of punches at her from above while his clone attacked her from below. Sakura had no choice but to block and be knocked back a dozen feet.
Naruto stopped his assault while the rest of the group continued their spars. Sakura grimaced as she rubbed her sore butt. Naruto just smirked and offered her his hand, which she gladly accepted.
"That was better than last time." Naruto said.
"Only because I took longer to try and use my chakra enhancement." Sakura said, annoyed at herself. "I hate my young body. My muscles are stiff and weak, I feel like I've been in a coma for a month."
"Have you been in a coma for a month?" Naruto asked, being unable to recall many time whenever Sakura let herself be the injured one, that was his job.
"A couple of years ago. You were on a mission with Team 8." Sakura said as she got to work trying to heal her ankle with the barest bones Mystic Palm Technique that her chakra levels could allow.
"Why didn't I know about this?" Naruto asked, concerned.
"I didn't want you to worry. Don't give me that look, Naruto, you would have."
"Of course, I would have." Naruto said sadly.
"It was embarrassing. This one garbage rouge ninja got the drop on me and Kakashi-sensei had to carry me back to the Leaf." Sakura said as she bitterly remembered that scums laugh as he stood over her, thinking he was victorious.
"Speaking of which." Naruto said, pointing behind her. Sakura thought he was talking about the enemy ninja, then she actually turned around and saw all of their Jounin-sensei standing and watching the ten of them spar. They all looked fairly impressed, even Kakashi-sensei, who looked just as young as when Sakura first met him a half a year from now.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed in bittersweet joy. Her voice carried across the training field, alerting all the young ninjas to their seniors. Almost immediately they ceased their battles to stare at their audience. It was breath-taking, seeing their mentors again. Younger, whole, and alive. Like looking at a pane of glass housing a video of their mentors in their prime, except the longer they looked the more they realized that there was no glass, this was no Genjutsu, this was real.
Asuma and Kurenai looked at the group of kids, none of them officially old enough to be Genin, yet there was an air about them that made them seem older. Maybe it was the way they walked? Or the looks they were giving them. They were more mature than your typical Academy student, but there was also a childlike longing in them. Like sons and daughters who were finally meeting their parents after so long.
Nobody prompted it, the four Jounin just naturally stepped forward and the students paired up into groups of three and two to approach them. Kakashi found himself standing in front of Naruto and the pink haired girl he had been sparring with. Both of them, he noticed, kept glancing down at his chest for the briefest moments.
"I'm here too." Jiraiya said, drawing attention to himself. Sakura just looked over at Naruto, only guessing what he could be thinking.
"Hey, Pervy Sage." Naruto smiled.
"Pervy Sage? Is that what you called me?" Jiraiya chuckled.
"Yeah…" Naruto said as he stepped forward uncontrollably. He immediately wrapped up the Toad Sannin in a bear hug. Jiraiya could only look surprised.
"I really missed you, godfather." Naruto said, making Jiraiya and Kakashi look at each other in astonishment.
Gai found himself standing in front of his Genin Lee and Tenten. They looked the same as they always did, yet Gai couldn't help but feel like he was meeting them for the first time. Lee was smiling and Tenten was looking uncharacteristically bashful.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried out of the blue. Gai didn't question it, he hugged his favorite pupil.
"Lee!" He cried, his voice still hoarse.
Asuma looked at the three children standing before of him. By the looks of them they were the classic Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka trio that always made for good capture-and-reconnaissance teams. Although, judging by their looks, Asuma figured that they might be THE Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka trio, the leading dark-haired boy had a remarkable resemblance to Shikaku Nara, the head of the Nara clan, Head Jounin of the village, and chief strategist.
'I'm training his son. Or… I did?' Asuma thought, accidently blowing cigarette smoke into their faces. He didn't even realize that he was smoking. The kids all closed their eyes as soon as the smoke hit them, making their tears well up.
"Whoops, sorry about that." Asuma said as he tried to put out his smoke to try and be considerate.
"No, you're fine." The Nara boy said, waving the smoke out of his face.
"No seriously, you're crying." Asuma said, fearing that he was going to get an earful from Kurenai for this later.
"It's not the smoke, Asuma-sensei." The blond-haired girl said softly.
Asuma's eyes went wide. "Oh."
"It's good to see you, sensei." The larger boy smiled.
Kurenai also didn't know what to make of her three "students." They looked to be an Inuzuka judging by his cheek tattoos and white ninja puppy, a Hyuga from the main branch judging by her unmarked forehead, and an Aburame judging by his choice of clothing. This was certainly an odd combo, but Kurenai could imagine that they would make a capable tracking team. Which made her wonder why she, a Genjutsu expert, would ever be chosen as their Jounin-sensei. Surely Kakashi and his summoning dogs would make a better fit, especially with the Inuzuka boy.
"Um, hello." Kurenai said, unsure of what else to say.
None of them said anything, instead they rushed Kurenai and wrapped her in the last thing she was expecting, a group hug.
"Um…" Kurenai muttered as she felt something wet run down her front where the Hyuga girl had her face pressed to her belly. The two boys had her sides pinned, ensuring that the Chunin wasn't going anywhere without prying them off. She didn't know what else to do besides pat them all on the head, two at a time.
"Um, what is it?" Kurenai asked, wondering what had happened between the four of them to make the three of them act this way. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino all looked away from Kurenai as they remembered the same thing.
It was the day of the invasion and Sasuke's Army had been spotted by the watchers on the wall.
Naruto was still recovering from his last battle with Sasuke which had left them both incapacitated, yet Sasuke's army still managed to smash through the defensive lines surrounding the Leaf. In less than an hour they would be at the gates. The civilians who had lost faith in the Shinobi Alliance had already fled. Now all that remained were the remnants of the Alliance army and their civilian loved ones.
The city sirens echoed throughout the panicked city streets like the wail of the spirit of death.
Down in the streets, near downtown, Team 8 had finished double checking their sensei's home for any more valuables to seal away inside her traveling scrolls. All was accounted for, including Mirai's mountain of stuffed animals. Now all that was left was to say good-bye.
Kurenai smiled at her three students; once cocky, arrogant, or unconfident, now three talented Jounin stood before her. She couldn't be any more proud of them. In her eyes, they were her children just as much as Mirai. She loved them all equally.
"Take care of yourselves and each other." Kurenai begged.
"We will sensei." Kiba gave her a thumbs-up while Hinata and even Shino gave her reassuring smiles.
"Big bros, big sis, don't go." Mirai begged. Hinata knelt down next to the girl she and her teammates had babysat so many times before.
"It's okay, Mirai-chan. Just stay with your mother. Be brave for her." Hinata spoke to Mirai like the big sister she never got to be with her actually younger sister Hanabi. Mirai ran forward and wrapped her arms around Hinata, who returned the hug with gusto.
"Don't worry, squirt." Kiba spoke up. "We'll defeat these invading bas…bass fish and you'll be back in class before you know it."
Mirai looked over Hinata's shoulder at her surrogate older brother Kiba.
"Can we go see the Inuzuka puppies again?" Her eyes lit up.
"Of course." Kiba smiled, knowing that the ninja dogs too young for combat had all been relocated to a far-off forest in case the Leaf fell. That way, the Inuzuka clan would live on.
"And we can go bug hunting." Shino added.
"Really?" Mirai asked, bug hunting being her second favorite thing to do.
"Yes, of course." Shino smiled behind his jacket's high collar.
"And we can even finish off the day with cinnamon rolls." Hinata promised, making Mirai nearly wet herself in excitement. This was starting to sound like the best day ever.
"You'd all better keep your promise!" Mirai exclaimed. The three Jounin just smiled at their hyperactive ball of sunshine.
"We promise." Kiba said as he and his team knelt down to pinky swear it with Mirai.
With that settled, Mirai turned to her mother, who's gaze still lingered on her three students.
"I am so proud of all three of you." Kurenai said.
"Go, Sensei." Kiba insisted, not wanting to be pushy. But the sooner the two of them got inside the bunker, the sooner the three of them could breathe a little easier. Kurenai took her daughter's hand and joined the sea of people swarming into the bunkers inside the Hokage mountain.
Team 8 headed back towards the city gates and made it half way before the sky shattered. Their heads snapped back to see the aftermath of the Hokage mountains having been blown up. The third, fourth, and fifth Hokage heads vanishing behind a cloud of dust so thick not even Hinata's Byakugan could penetrate it, and Kakashi's head had been blown in half, the rest crumbing away.
Kiba, Shino, and Hinata blinked. They were back in the past, standing before their younger master, whom they had failed to protect. Kiba had to shake his head to stop himself from seeing Mirai standing behind Kurenai-sensei's legs. Hinata gripped her fist, the guilt weighing the heaviest on her shoulders.
"Um… Are you three, okay?" Kurenai asked, weirded out by the fact that they all stared at her with tears dripping down their cheeks. The three of them all blinked and wiped their tears away.
"Yeah, we're fine, Sensei." Kiba answered.
"Okay, that's enough reuniting for now." Shikamaru said as he wiped his eyes. "We've got work to do."
Everyone reluctantly broke away from students and Jounin-sensei, each of them feeling like they had just reunited with old friends they had forgotten about.
"We already have our first mission decided." Shikamaru said. "Team 7 and Lord Jiraiya are going out into the Leaf to hunt down and bring back Lady Tsunade Senju, the Slug Sannin."
The Jounin-sensei all looked at one another.
"Lady Tsunade has been a rogue ninja for twenty years." Kurenai said. "No one knows where she is."
"Me and Pervy Sage found her in Tanzuka last time around." Naruto said. "We had to fight Orochimaru, but he was looking for her to fix his arms last time. He won't be looking for her right now."
"And when exactly did you find her?" Kakashi asked.
"Over a year from now after the Sand and Sound invasion. Orochimaru had killed the Third Hokage at the cost of both his arms. You and Sasuke had also been put into a Genjutsu coma by Itachi, so we needed her to wake you up."
"Lady Tsunade also healed my back after the Chunin Exam preliminaries." Lee said as Tenten rubbed his back out of sympathy. She remembered all too well how defeated he looked after his fight against Gaara. The Flames of Youth their sensei always talked about looked extinguished for a time.
"And you were also bringing her back to serve as the Fifth Hokage." Sakura added.
Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Princess Tsunade? THE Princess Tsunade? Geez, no wonder the village fell."
All the time travelers shot daggers with their eyes at Asuma, even his students that had embraced him like a long-lost father.
"She had her faults…" Naruto defended.
"Many faults." Sakura interjected.
"…but she led the Leaf as good as any Hokage that came before her. She led us through the 4th War. She led the Medical Division of the Shinobi Alliance during the 5th War, while taking the time to train me to be the 7th Hokage. Right up until her death treating the sick on the front lines." Naruto stated with pride.
"I see…" Asuma sighed, now humbled. "My apologizes."
"She is also the Sannin who trained me." Sakura said. "She taught me everything I know about being a medic and I was the best damn medical ninja in the world before we went back in time. If she can train me again then I will be better than I ever was before, and the Leaf's medical division will get the kick in the ass it needs a year earlier. Nothing but good can come from that."
"That sounds like a Youthful idea, but what will the rest of us be doing in the meantime?" Gai asked.
"Training." Shikamaru answered. "And trying to make contact with our eleventh comrade Sai. He was a Root agent, now he's most likely back under Danzo's clutches." He said gravely. "Sai is good at keeping secrets, but I'm not about to leave him hung out to dry for longer than we need to."
"Here, here." Naruto said.
With that, the young ninjas said their goodbyes to Naruto and Sakura while their Sensei counterparts joined them in training. Team 7 along with Jiraiya then headed out to pack up their things for a long-term journey.
Naruto and Sakura were the first to reach the main gates of the Leaf village. The five-story tall seal enchanted gates looked impenetrable from the eyes of a Genin looking up at them, but the two Jounin knew just how much of a misconception that was. As kids, they would look at the walls surrounding them and feel safe from all harm. Now those walls could have been made of paper for all the sense of security they gave the two of them.
"So, Sakura-chan. What do you think of our chances?" Naruto asked.
"Of finding Lady Tsunade or stopping Sasuke?"
"Saving the future." Naruto clarified.
"I'm confident as long as we've got you."
"You've really got that much faith in me?"
"I've learned not to underestimate you. It tends to make me eat my words."
Naruto smirked. "Right back at you." He said just as Kakashi and Jiraiya arrived to meet them.
"Any ideas on where to look for her?" Kakashi asked as soon as they got underway at the main gates.
"I'll have to recheck with my spy contacts, but last I heard, she wasn't in any foreign land, which means she is still in the Land of Fire."
"The largest country on Earth." Sakura said.
"No one ever said it would be easy." Naruto counseled.
"But maybe it doesn't have to be hard." Kakashi said as he pulled out a scroll containing a map of the Land of Fire with all its villages and towns. "Where did you say we found Tsunade in your timeline?"
Naruto stepped forward and studied the map for a hot second. "Tanzuka, right here." He jabbed his finger on the west side of the country. "About a year and a half from now, she'll be there."
"So we know that she won't be there now." Jiraiya said as he took out a colored ink brush and made a large circle around Tanzuka. "That leaves us with the eastern providence of Fire."
"And Lady Tsunade would not go far without several stops to gamble and drink along the way." Sakura added.
"So which villages are the party towns?" Naruto asked.
Wordlessly, Jiraiya took his brush and highlighted over a dozen cities without even batting an eye.
"Seventeen…" Kakashi said. "A good place to start, at least."
"So long as we check out the other party villages along the way." Naruto added.
"Good thinking, kid." Jiraiya said as he highlighted a few more villages leading to the east providence.
"This sounds like a good plan." Sakura said.
"So let's get to it." Kakashi finished as he rolled up the scroll.
Meanwhile, at an unknown underground hideout. A boy with skin as white as a ghost gasped a sharp breath as he was dosed with icy cold water. His 13-year-old body thrashed about, only to rediscover that he was bound upside down with his hands tied behind his back. A meat hook hung from the ceiling, holding the boy an inch from the concrete ground. He opened his one un-swollen eye to a completely black room save for the one beam of light illuminating the spot where he hung. He blew out more water from entering his nose. A metal bucket hit the ground and a man in a white ANBU mask stepped out from the shadows and into the light. The eye holes of his mask looking like pits to the boy who never thought he would see them again in his life.
"Are you ready to talk now, boy?" The black ops agent asked, his voice like roots creeping into the boy's ears and wrapping his brain in tendrils.
The boy did not answer, as he knew it would only be perceived as weakness. He would not break, nor bend, for soon he knew that his friends would rescue him. Sure as his name was Sai.
Author's Note: I gotta confess, one major block I had to publishing was whether or not I should include/cut a few scenes. The biggest one had to be the Konoha 10 waking up to begin their day. They would stretch, hang out, have someone grab breakfast, and then plan their first mission. Also, I would have had the girls talking in the showers, nothing descriptive, but it did make me think I was oversexualizing them, since I would never bother to write about the guys taking a shower. I digress. Of course, then I rewrote it to include Shikamaru's perspective as he wakes up early to plan their next move and feels bad about Temari dying. But I could not bring myself to write him being consoled by Choji. And frankly, he doesn't have a part to play in the Tsunade Retrieval Arc to come, so by that point I realized I hadn't updated in two months and just had to bite the bullet and publish what I had. Hardest thing for a writer/artist to do. Tell me what you think so that I can feel like I made the right call. Or tell me how I can make it better.