Sorry about the delays. Life must come first. The job is still secure but less help means more for me to do and less time to spend on my own. Kid is getting into sports and school activites as well. Root for her to make the softball team.
Back to Missions
Jiraiya sat in the dark looking out at Konoha. At night, the village looked like any other town in the Fire Country. The ninja that routinely ran along the rooftops and identified it as special were all hidden in the darkness. He had been sitting there holding the same glass since before sunset; occasionally taking a sip.
A knock on the door stirred him from his thoughts. Tsunade let herself into the office and reached for the lights.
"Leave them off please, Tsunade. I find the darkness suits my mood right now," Jiraiya said.
Tsunade raised a single blonde eyebrow at how serious Jiraiya was. "Drinking without me already? Its not sake I can tell that but I can't place the smell."
"Scotch. It's a Western drink. The temperature it is served at does not matter so much so one drink can last a long time if you take it slowly."
"So, what brought this on?"
Jiraiya sighed and looked towards the ceiling. "I had to sell Naruto's promotion to chunin down the river in order to get the damned Uchiha locked up. The Exam judges recommended promotion but Sensei's teammates shot that down and set it up so if I pushed it through it would look like favoritism. Then that Uchiha brat pulled something on guard duty. Enough people still think of him as a poor misunderstood victim that they do not see he is an insane treacherous little bastard just like Orochi. So, I had to agree to not push the issue of Naruto's promotion at the latest promotion board if they would support locking the Uchiha up. Not even a week on this job and I am making compromises."
He paused in his monologue to take a sip of his drink before lapsing into silence.
Tsunade sat down on the edge of Jiraiya's desk. "Was the deal worth it?"
"Uchiha was taken into custody with his bags packed and about to defect from Konoha. If I had not done it, he would have been gone and people could have been hurt trying to stop him. The boy is strong enough to take out most of our chunin in a one on one situation. I am certain he would have used deadly force to make his escape. I did what was best for Konoha but it still feel like I did the wrong thing."
"So find a way to make it up to Naruto. The preliminary stage of the next Chunin Exam is scheduled to be in about four more months in the Land of Lightning. Send him to that one. Heck, Sakura and Hinata are both ready as well. Send the whole team. Bump someone older to get them into the ten teams we can send. The fact that Naruto was recommended but denied means they would be on the top of the list"
"They are already first on the list. But they need more missions outside of Konoha to meet the Cloud requirements. The Cloud testing method is more on ability than on knowledge and teamwork like our Exam. Since the excuse Homura and Koharu used was a lack of leadership role for Naruto and the Cloud Exams tend to focus on that aspect is a benefit for him. If he comes back with a recommendation from there, they would be forced to put their support behind him."
Tsunade smiled, "So you have a plan, now you just have to get it into action. What are you going to do?"
Jiraiya pulled out a folder and handed it to Tsunade. "A movie producer is looking for some special bodyguards for his big star. I was thinking of assigning Kakashi to handle our kids during it. He did some work in the Land of Snow a few years back. Normally a C-rank but upped to B-rank pay due to the actress being Fujikaze Yukie. The producer wanted some younger ninja that could blend into the background as interns unless needed. The mission request start date is next week."
Hinata had trouble sleeping after her realization. Her father informed her that Naruto's heritage was another S-ranked secret of the village. If she told anyone, including Naruto, there would be serious consequences. She now knew two of them concerning Naruto. It did strike her as funny that so many people knew the most closely guarded secrets in Konoha but few ever really said anything about them. Likely because the known penalty for telling the one about the Kyuubi was death or long term imprisonment.
She rolled over and tried to get some more sleep. Her father resuming active control over the clan meant that she would be returning to active duty soon. She needed her rest. 'Team Apprentice' would be needed with so many Konoha ninja gone.
Sakura had heard from Ino within an hour of it happening. Sasuke had been arrested and committed for mental problems after trying to kill a civilian. She wondered only briefly about the consequences but really did not care beyond that. Her own feelings were mixed.
Yes, she had obsessed about him and almost ruined her own career as a ninja for him. But he had never accepted the offer she had made back then. He never let anyone else into his life. He only festered in his own misery and kept himself unchanged mentally; trapped in the place his brother had put him. She had outgrown Uchiha Sasuke long before he tried to kill her in the Chunin Exams.
She had left her own mark on him as well. Looking back she knew his potential killing blow had been a result of her own action. She held a small part for his final fall into madness but she put that thought aside. He had been offered salvation from too many sources; too many people willing to help but he never put his hand out once to accept the offers.
Her team would be reactivated soon. She pulled out all of her weapons and scrolls and checked them over. Hours into the night, she finally came to her father's kunai. Traces of blood still remained on the blade. She had never cleaned it after the Exams. Her father had never used it during the Invasion and it had merely been put away as it was. She twisted it for a moment in the light before reaching for the cleaning supplies.
Naruto groaned as the sunlight fell on his face. Dawn would bring the most horrible thing in the world …
His door shook under a series of heavy blows. "I know you are still in that bed, gaki! Move it!"
… PT with Anko.
He rolled to his feet and reached for his exercise clothing. After a quick run to the bathroom, he was opening the door to his apartment to see a grinning Anko-sensei.
"Good morning, Naru-kun," Anko crooned in a sugary sweet voice. "No more laying about having sweet dreams and fantasies of your pretty almost girlfriend and back to training with me."
Naruto stuttered that he did not think of Hinata like that but his blush told Anko otherwise.
'Oh, I love teasing kids in the middle of puberty,' she thought. The seed of a thought she just planted would be returned many fold in a few minutes. She led Naruto to the running track to find the medical corps bunched up with Hinata along with them as was usual.
"I am not expecting you to keep up with them for a few more days, Naruto. No chakra in the legs. I want it all physical but you can only go at the pace I tell you. Hinata will be watching so do not overdo things on your first day. If you need to stop, stop and Hinata will get my attention."
"You must be slipping Anko-sensei; that actually sounded concerned," Naruto joked.
Anko gave her trademarked evil smirk "If you overdo things and end up back in the hospital, I don't get to play throw the kunai at you this afternoon during agility training. I am not having my favorite target absent because he is too hurt to let me have my fun."
Naruto smiled back. It had taken him months to see that Anko put on an act like he did in public. Both had long standing hurts they covered up. Anko hid hers by acting sadistic but never really straying into the realm of being sadistic. Naruto hid his by smiling often when he really hurt. Hinata and Sakura were pushing him to drop that mask but he was slow to do so. Around his friends he could be himself. For the villagers; they got the grinning blonde idiot who was not worth messing with.
Anko decided to play one last joke on Naruto as the group began their run. Naruto was about to follow at the speed Anko said when she leaned close to his ear whispering, "Oh, don't those sweatpants make Hinata's tush look niiiiiiice."
Naruto blushed heavily as she pushed him into motion. She was not going to not let herself forget the things both her apprentice and the blonde boy had told her. Playing matchmaker between the teens would be fun, more so because each one already liked the other. For herself, she had her eye on a certain chunin teacher who would be getting a few lessons of his own shortly.
Jiraiya was glad to get out of the office even for just one day a week to exercise and spend time with Naruto. As Hokage he never really had a day off but he made sure that his work load was lighter by simply having all the D-rank mission reports stamped by his secretary. As he had noticed in his first day, this cleared out more than half of the paperwork that would have crossed his desk. He still looked over all over mission reports.
He took Naruto to a wide training field. The large open space suited his needs today.
"Naruto, as you know, I am currently the only summoner of toads. They choose who their summoner can be, not the other way around. When I first signed the contract, I didn't know that I had been chosen for it. I had only assumed the Third picked me for it. They have been after me to find a successor since the Fourth died. I asked them and they have approved of you signing on to be the next toad summoner."
Naruto was shocked. He knew that the Fourth had been able to summon toads but he had not even thought about being a summoner himself. Most jonin could not summon at all as few summons existed in Konoha. Tsunade summoned slugs and Anko summoned snakes as training tools for them but as far as he knew neither showed any inclination to get their own apprentices to sign onto the contracts.
Jiraiya summoned a man sized toad wearing armor. The toad pulled out the contract and Naruto did as Jiraiya instructed and signed in the next open space in blood. He did notice that the previous name Namikaze Minato had darkened to black while Jiraiya's name was still a fresh blood red. The few names appearing before Jiraiya's were also darkened to black.
Naruto watched as Jiraiya showed him the proper hand signs. He made them with the blood still fresh on his fingers. He was glad of all the months of charka control his teachers had him doing. He felt little strain as he pressed his hand to the ground saying the name of the jutsu.
The smoke of the summoning dispersed and he saw an orange toad about the size of a softball.
"Yo," the toad said, "I'm Gamakichi."
Naruto smiled as Jiraiya just leaned back on a tree to watch.
Time passed quickly for Naruto. Weeks seemed to blur by as he went on many mission both with his team and without. The mission to the Land of Snow under Kakashi had been a huge adventure. The actress was revealed as Kazahana Koyuki, the only child of the late Daimyo of the Land of Snow and her evil uncle had been after her for years. They managed to keep her safe and found the massive generators her father had built for the country. Now renamed the Land of Spring, the country was under the new rule of Kazahana Koyuki.
A single day of rest had them leaving on their next mission to the Land of Tea under the supervision of Tsunade. While she spent her time with her old friend Wasabi Jirocho, Team Apprentice protected a runner in the Land of Tea's annual shrine race. A missing nin from Konoha, Rokusho Aoi, was captured and his stolen Raijin sword was recovered for Konoha. The runner, who turned out to be Ibiki's younger brother Idate, was also a Konoha missing nin. Idate was forgiven at the urging of Tsunade and discharged with a clean record.
Several forgettable C-rank missions happened after that. He guarded a caravan as it meandered to several small towns over a period of two weeks near the border of Rice Country. Reports of the destruction of the Sound Village by the daimyo of the Rice Fields Country had left many merchants nervous and looking for extra protection. Next, he ferried messages to the capital with Sakura and Hinata. The only bright spot in the delivery was that the Daimyo was glad to see the trio and took time to talk to each of them and have them meet his teenage son. His mentioning that good relations between Konoha and the Daimyo were important meant little to the blonde but the girls kept Naruto in check from becoming too outspoken.
Naruto was next sent on a mission with Team Guy when a report of a village in the Fire Country was having trouble arrived. The mission ended up encountering one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. After much work on their part the village was freed but both the Swordsman and his assistant were killed in an avalanche ending the threat.
In the Land of Water, a young Academy level ninja lay dying from wounds inflicted on him. He had fled from his former comrades when they began hunting him. The latest round of bloodline extermination in the island nation would soon claim another victim. The rumor that this young man's ability to control mist and clouds was a bloodline was enough to turn friends against him. He ran away from his family when the hunt started and he hoped his younger brother Yukimaru would be safe from these people. The final sword blow came down and severed his head from his body. The last thing his purple tinted eyes saw was the seal on his stomach throb with light as his vision faded.
The Mizukage was livid when he heard that some of the ninja of the Mist had killed the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. All of his work in getting the beast sealed for Akatsuki to simply pick up was now wasted. It would be years before the Sanbi's chakra reorganized into a capturable form. He was even denied the pleasure of killing the fools himself. The chakra backlash from the jinchuuriki's death had killed all the ones responsible.
Uchiha Madara left his body double in charge one more as he left to tell Pain that the plan would be delayed another three years until the Sanbi chakra reformed at the place of it's birth.
Capturing the existing jinchuuriki now would be a pointless exercise if they could not seal all the bijuu soon after capture. The beasts would not remain contained in the statue for three years without all nine present. Akatsuki would return to stage one and accumulate money and resources. Perhaps take over Pain's hometown, the Village Hidden in the Rain.
Anko looked at Jiraiya and dropped the request on his desk with a grin. The white haired man arched an eyebrow as he picked it up to read what it said.
"This is a request to take the team on a 2 week 'survival training exercise' at a beach resort. While I can understand the need to take training seriously, I cannot see a real pressing need to subsidize a vacation for you Anko."
:Look, Hokage-sama, we need this time off. The team is getting sloppy with all the missions you have been sending them on along with all the training we have them doing to get them ready for the Cloud Chunin Exams. I even thought of a really good cover story for it too. Kakashi told me they all stood out like sore thumbs during that mission to Snow Country. They looked like ninja the whole time and never relaxed. They were supposed to be undercover but they don't know how to act like civilians. This little 'training exercise' will give them some idea of how to behave in an atmosphere where they are not expected to be ninja and need to pass as civilian teenagers."
"So romping around on the beach is supposed to teach them to act like civilians? Going out to parties and mingling with the locals?" Jiraiya said with a tired tone in his voice.
Anko grinned, "Yup."
Jiraiya shook his head. "What about Naruto on this one? I can see you minding Hinata and Sakura just fine but that would leave Naruto by himself. Unless of course you intended the kids to stay together in the same hotel room with you."
Anko pointed at the area for additional personnel requested for the mission. "I added one of the few men he trusts as the 'trainer' for this 'mission', Umino Iruka."
Jiraiya sighed. Anko had this one all planned out. Jiraiya hated that so many factors were pushing him into a corner. The village was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Konoha was accepting nearly all the missions it could get. Chunin were going out on missions normally done by jonin. Teams of genin were going in place of what a single chunin could accomplish. He still refused missions with extremely low survival rates but beyond that he needed to take morally questionable missions to insure the ability to pay the troops and rebuild the village.
To make it worse, the kids were due some down time. They had gone on back to back missions for weeks. The major trouble was many daimyos and clients that had seen Naruto at the Chunin Exams were requesting the team specifically. Team Apprentice was literally the biggest cash cow team Konoha had right now. Taking them off duty for two entire weeks would cost the village a lot of money.
He remembered Tsunade had also been pushing him to give the kids some time off. She had become his closest advisor and was slowly pushing the old teammates of Sarutobi-sensei out of the sphere of influence for the Hokage's office in general. His leaned back to rub his head and saw the chunin vest Tsunade had purposely hung in one corner of the room.
'Why are you leaving a chunin vest in my office, Hime?'
'To remind you every time you look at it that every choice you make effects the future of the ninja who are working for you. To make you think what a compromise on what you think is best for the village over what is best for the ninja can cost one of them.'
Jiraiya looked back to Anko, "Will you bring me a bunch of pictures of pretty young ladies in bikinis?"
Anko grinned, "Sure thing."
Jiraiya pulled out his stamp and signed approved to the 'survival training' mission. If his source had not told him that Akatsuki had stopped with their jinchuuriki hunting, the little vacation Anko planned out would have gone nowhere.
Anko sauntered up to the half rebuilt Academy with the mission orders in hand. Iruka would be here somewhere. He had gotten a promotion within the school to one of the vice principals. Luckily, the place would not finish rebuilding for a minimum of a month so she could pull him away from all this without feeling guilty. She narrowed her gaze at her victim and pounced.
"Iruka!" Anko cried out as she leapt onto the chunin's back and wrapped her legs around him as if getting a piggy back ride.
Iruka knew the voice of the woman on his back. Even if he didn't know her voice, the feeling of chain mail against his back and waist was a sure give away. "Hi Anko. What brings you by today?"
"You, my old buddy, have been assigned a highly classified and top secret mission by the Hokage," she told him with a smirk.
Iruka got worried hearing that. Since he was an instructor, he had not been on a mission in over a year. "What kind of mission Anko?"
"You and me get to supervise a team of genin as they conduct a survival training exercise," she said happily.
"You sound too happy about this, Anko. Do they have to be in Training Area 44 or something?"
"Even better. They need to survive as normal teenagers for two weeks at a beach resort. You get to chaperone the male member of the team."
Iruka thought for a few seconds before realizing. "Wait a minute. That sounds vaguely like a vacation."
Anko leaned close to Iruka's ear and whispered, "I knew you were a smart chunin." She then nibbled on his ear for a moment before getting off his back.
"I can't go on a vacation now. There is still a lot of rebuilding to get done here," Iruka protested.
Anko put a shocked look on her face. "You mean you are going to leave poor Naruto all alone. Force him to sleep in the same room as three young women who will be sleeping in dainty nightwear. One of the ladies being one he has a crush on. He might end up turning into a pervert being subjected to that!"
Anko faked swooning before grinning at Iruka one more time at seeing his raised eyebrow. "A bit over the top there?"
"Just a bit," Iruka said shaking his head.
"Seriously, these kids have been constantly on missions almost since Naruto got out of the hospital. That is nearly three months straight. In another month, they are going to be leaving for the Chunin Exams at the Cloud village. If they do not get a break now, they will not be seeing one for at least another two months. Yes, the 'survival exercise' is really a vacation but they have earned it. That team by itself has pulled in enough business to Konoha to pay for this nice new school you will be teaching in soon."
Iruka sighed, "Since you put it that way. It would be nice to spend some time relaxing and playing chaperone for a trio of teenagers. I just might feel guilty about it while others will be working."
"Well, either way, its Hokage's orders so pack up your trunks and sunblock, Iruka-kun,"
The beach resort in the southern part of the Land of Fire was much hotter than it was in Konoha. Shorts and short sleeved shirts were almost a requirement to keep cool. Halfway to the resort Anko had them stop in a small town.
"Ok, I have a few rules for the three of you during our 'exercise'. One, no weapons on your person at all. Two, anything with a Konoha symbol on it will be sealed up into a scroll I have before we leave this town. That includes your headbands. Three, if you need to replace anything that has a Konoha symbol on it once we leave this town, it comes out of your personal cash, not the mission funds. With that in mind, I'll help the girls with what they need. Iruka, you help Naruto. I know they will need more trendy clothes than they have now if they are to blend in. If anyone asks, you are students at a private school back in the mountains.
Iruka led Naruto off to a clothing store. He knew he had the easier job when it came to shopping. Within a half hour, Naruto was set for clothes; a couple pair of jeans, some shorts that doubled as swim trunks and a half dozen t-shirts in assorted colors. Iruka allowed Naruto to keep his ninja sandals since they were common enough footwear throughout the region.
Anko looked through the girl's clothes and saw they had only a handful of items outside of weapons that would need to be sealed up. She did let Sakura keep most of the first aid kit. The more exotic items she held on to. Her first problem came up when she found neither girl had any kind of swimsuit other than the ones from the Academy. She led Sakura and almost had to drag Hinata into a shop that sold them.
Hinata was growing nervous as she watched Anko work her way through the racks. She glanced at a few tags for sizing and then over at each of the girls. She knew that Hinata still hid under her jacket as often as possible but Anko knew that was not an option on this trip. But she needed to have her own fun. She pulled out a blue string bikini that was little more than 3 palm sized triangles and string and held it out to Hinata. "What do you think of this one kiddo?"
"Um, Anko-sensei, I don't think my father would approve of me wearing that," she stammered out. The blush Hinata managed seemed to glow even in the bright lights of the shop.
Anko grinned, "Silly, this one is for me." The purple haired woman then held out a plain purple one piece racer back suit to Hinata. "This one is yours."
The pale eyed girl looked very relieved. She picked out a lavender beach blouse, a big straw hat and sunglasses to go with it so she could hold onto a bit more modesty.
Sakura didn't quite near the curves of Anko so she went for the more athletic look. She settled on a red two piece with boy shorts bottom and a horizontal striped top to 'enhance' what she did have.
The trio then went to the shoe store to buy sandals to match their new swimwear.
Hours later, Iruka and Naruto were still waiting for the female trio. Naruto's stomach was growling loudly as they had waited through lunch and it was getting to be late afternoon. Finally, they spotted the girls coming closer. It seemed they all had bought new wardrobes based on the number of bags and boxes they carried.
The girls stopped in front of the stunned males. Anko dropped he entire collection of items at Iruka's feet and smiled ever so sweetly, "Could you carry those for me, Iruka-kun?"
Iruka was stunned by the sight of Anko in civilian clothing. Her bending to set the bags down had exposed a grand amount of cleavage to him and his mind went into 'Error: Reset Required' mode so he just nodded as Anko turned to the teens, "First lesson in seduction, my young kunoichi. Hit 'em in their hormones!"
Naruto just sat confused but was suddenly scared when Hinata smiled and asked, "Naruto-kun, could you help me with my bags?" Her slight blush and small pout made him cave in faster than Iruka. She handed him the bags from one of her hands.
Sakura just handed off one handful of bags to Naruto with a gruff, "Carry these!"
Since the women had taken so long in their shopping, Anko decided they would spend the night in the town they were currently in and finish their trip to the resort in the morning. Iruka spent his time that night talking to Naruto about how their lives just got really complicated. Naruto just nodded a lot as he learned many of the mysteries of women that civilian men had to deal with on a daily basis.
The following afternoon, the group arrived at the resort area. Naruto was stunned by the amount of women in skimpy swimwear even on the street. Anko led the way to the hotel they were booked into while the team looked around at things they had only read about. Even their trips to the capital had not been like this. Soon, a blushing Naruto had his eyes focused on the ground about five steps ahead of him muttering, "I am not a pervert, I am not a pervert."
The group waited while Anko checked them in. She smiled at the desk clerk while she explained things about travel difficulties and all. The clerk was efficient and got them the room Anko had reserved. She saw it was exactly what she had asked for and walked back to the team.
"We have a small snag here people. Since we arrived late, they rented out the separate rooms we were going to have. Instead they are letting us have a larger suite. It has two bedrooms and a smaller common area between them and one bathroom."
"So we will be sharing this suite?" Iruka asked with a nervous tone in his voice.
Anko nodded before looking at the team. "This is what happens when you show up late somewhere. Your plans get messed up. We'll just have to make the best of it."
In the suite, the women took the larger of the two bedrooms and made sure the door was fully closed before getting changed. The group's first destination was the beach. Naruto and Iruka got changed in minutes then sat to wait on the women. Sooner than they expected, the door opened and Anko led out the teens. All three women had put on something over their swimwear. Anko sported an overlarge t-shirt that read '2 Good 4 U' on it. Hinata had the beach blouse she had picked out the previous day. Sakura had a plain white t-shirt over her swimsuit.
The pink haired teen had been the last one to leave the bedroom but it would not have mattered if she had come out stark naked. Iruka was too busy staring at Anko and Naruto was in a stunned state at seeing Hinata's bare legs. She leaned close to Hinata and whispered, "I think you broke his mind, Hinata. I bet he would do anything you asked right now and not even worry about the consequences."
Anko smirked, "Pinkie; that is the general idea behind these things. Show men that for all their strength, kunoichi rule when shinobi drool. Just keep an eye on how he reacts when this shirt comes off."
Both teens giggled at Anko's comment. They had seen what Anko had on under the shirt and for a split second both had considered switching sides.
Several hours later, Sakura was very bored. She had looked forward to the time on the beach but the whole thing was turning into 'a real drag' as Shikamaru would say. Civilians did not judge her by her abilities or accomplishments. They judged her by her age and she was still only 13.
Their arrival had been quite eventful when Anko removed her t-shirt to reveal the very tiny string bikini she had bought. Iruka was a subservient drooling mass after that and obeyed Anko's every whim. 'Geez, the guy would eat sand right now if Anko sensei asked him to,' she thought. 'Naruto is not much better. He is waiting on Hinata hand and foot. Even in a one piece her chest looks bigger than mine.'
"I'm going for a walk," Sakura announced. Anko was the only one who noticed her statement and replied, "Have fun." The snake summoner then went back to teasing in her prey in the form of one Umino Iruka. Naruto and Hinata were down by the waterline exploring whatever had washed up.
Sakura huffed and headed off past groups of people. A majority of the people were older teens and adults. Families with small children made up the rest. 'I must be the biggest loser out here,' she thought once she got to an open area. 'I thought this would be a fun thing. At least back in Konoha there would be people my own age. The only guys I have even talked to so far took off right away. I mean that one guy didn't have to say he isn't into little girls.'
She picked up a ball sized rock and without thinking, just threw it out into the water. It sailed out nearly a quarter mile before plunking down into the water "Wow, impressive arm," a voice behind her said. Sakura spun around to see a teen a year or two older than she was. The dark haired boy smiled at her, "You must be an athlete."
Sakura blushed. "Um, sort of. The private school I go to has us involved in a lot of activities."
"I'm Hiro. I go to a private school too. You on a school trip as well?" he asked.
"I'm Sakura. Yeah, my teachers are down the beach a bit. The purple haired one with no shame and the drooling one next to her. How about you?"
"He is back at the hotel right now. He had a little too much to drink last night and said he wasn't moving until the ground stopped spinning and his headache went away."
Sakura giggled. "We just got here this morning and haven't seen the nightlife yet. I was hoping the beach would be fun but everyone here so far treats me like a child."
Hiro smiled, "I get the same problem. I wanted to go out with some people I met yesterday but as soon as I got to the clubs, they were like, 'Go home kid' Very frustrating. Back at school, I am treated like an adult."
Sakura nodded knowingly.
"So, what's the school's name?" Hiro asked.
"It doesn't really have one. It is owned by the Fire Temple back in the mountains. Those monks are big on physical fitness but I could never live like that."
"I go to one in the capital. 'Daimyo's School for Wayward Boys'.
"Oh, so does that make you a bad boy?" Sakura asked with a smile.
"You interested in finding out?" Hiro asked with a smile. "It's really not as bad as it sounds. Lots of orphans and such," Hiro chuckled.
The pair slowly walked down the beach talking after that. Sakura barely noticed they had walked far from the area her teachers and friends were and had entered into the beach area for another hotel.
"You want something to drink?" Hiro asked.
"Sure," Sakura replied.
She watched as the teen walked up to a vendor and bought a couple of drinks. She knew that sometimes guys tried to pull stuff with drinks so she made sure he didn't slip something into hers. He presented her with a sealed bottle and she smiled at him. It was nice and cold. She popped it open and took a drink of it while he sipped at his own. The drink was tangy and she did not recognize the brand name but his was the same only a different flavor so she did not worry. Hiro pointed to a bench and led her over to it.
Sakura relaxed as the pair sat and drank for a while. The people kept walking past on the beach while the pair made small talk. When the drinks were finished, Sakura started to stand up but found herself getting dizzy. She blinked her eyes a few times before passing out.
Anko was drowsing in the sunshine while Iruka rubbed more lotion on her back. 'This was such a good idea' she thought. 'I could get used to being pampered by this guy.'
Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "Mistress, something has happened to the pink one."
Anko's eyes flew open and she saw the tiny head of one of her summons sticking up out of the sand. "Where? How?"
The snake hissed out his reply, "Down the beach near the next hotel. She was engaging in a courtship ritual with a male and she drank something. She passed out. I returned immediately to inform you."
Anko sat up quickly and reached for her t-shirt.
"What's wrong Anko?" Iruka asked.
"The snake I had keeping an eye on Sakura said she passed out after drinking something down by the next hotel.
"I'll grab the things and Naruto and Hinata. You go get Sakura," Iruka said.
Anko nodded and pulled her t-shirt down over herself. She ran down the beach toward the hotel the snake had inclined it's head to. Her chakra increased her speed as she ran over the sand; leaving no trace in it of her passing.
Sakura opened her eyes and looked around at the darkened room she was in. Voices nearby were drawing closer as she tried to clear her head. She could not focus her chakra to activate her Mystic Palm technique and just got more tired as she tried. In spite of her caution, she had been set up and drugged. That soda vendor had to be in on it.
She could hear Hiro's voice on the other side of the door "I think this one is a good one. She should get a decent price for us. She was wandering the beach all alone and upset."
A silky voice sounded next, "You are lucky I am still searching for new recruits, boy. The last few test subjects you lured in barely lasted a day each. It is difficult to operate in these resort areas but this is where the ones tossed aside come to looking for a new start."
Hiro's voice spoke again, "This one might be special. She threw a rock a long distance out to sea and has the strangest pink hair. I thought …" The voice cut off with a gurgle as the silky voice spoke loudly.
"You captured a NINJA! You FOOL! This means she will be missed or was on a mission to find out about disappearing teens. KABUTO, we are changing locations within the hour!" The gurgle stopped with a slapping sound and she heard something drop to the floor.
The door to the room opened and light spilled in. It back lit a man of medium height with a large rope belt tied in a bow behind him. As he stepped closer, the lights turned on and she saw his pale skin and slit eyes.
"I have seen you before child. Yes, you are Sensei's pet project. The fool thought he could inspire people with a group of children and make a new Sannin out of them. Sakura-chan, isn't it?"
"Who … who are you?" Sakura stuttered out as he fear cleared her mind slightly.
"Ah, that's right. We were never introduced. I am of the original Sannin. I am Orochimaru."
Next Chapter: Curse Marks
Review Notes:
The whole issue that the elders were pushing hard on is that they do not want to lose control of the Kyuubi that is in Naruto. They know that there is a group hunting him but they cannot stop him doing missions or put him in a jail cell because of Sarutobi allowing him to be a ninja in the first place. Too many highly placed people know about Naruto. The Daimyo already knows about him and that he is the son of the Fourth. With that, he cannot simply be 'disappeared'. Their last best option is to keep him as a genin as long as possible and close to Konoha or highly supervised.
For the anonymus reviewer who called Fail on chapter 28. Everything cannot go Naruto's way. Other characters have their own agendas and all want them to succeed. Life is a series of compromises and eveyone makes them one way or another. Fail Denied.
I do not mind bad reviews. I never have and I leave them in the listing. I encourage strong critiques of my work even if they are negative. A person named Narutomaniac was one who rarely had anything positive to say but has not been around in a long time. I also leave anonymus reviews open because no one has abused that feature on me yet. At nearly 1000 reviews, I have only had cause to delete only one because it was abusive.
End Notes:
I am taking a few chances in my writing in this chapter. I was going for more fluff than I am comfortable with. I am also giving a plausible reason why the Akatsuki would simply stop going after Naruto and the jinchuuriki for a few years. I added in a created character based on the splash page of the nine jinchuuriki. The 3-tailed has one shown but is it free by the time of Shippuden. I used the theory that Yukimaru is related to the 3-tail jinchuuriki in some fashion that give it the small amount of control the anime shows. Since the Fourth seal is different than most seals and intended to keep the Kyuubi trapped and have it die with Naruto one day; killing a normal jinchuuriki should release the bijou. The having it need time to reform over a period of years gives the needed 3 year delay that canon has. My story is moving further and further off of canon as this chapter shows but other events in the wider world are still happening as original.