Chapter 7—Jiraiya: Gutsy Ninja

Jiraiya appeared rather suddenly in an upper window of the Hokage's Residence in Konoha, startling a young woman from the cipher corps who was rushing past.

"Hey there," Jiraiya said, grinning. "What's the hurry?"

"There's been a response from the Sand," she answered, and her hand closed tighter around a small scroll.

"I see." Jiraiya climbed down from the windowsill to join her in the hallway. "And who are you rushing that response to?"

"Shizune."

"Hmm, don't bother. She's with the elders right now. Here, I'll take it." He held out his hand but the woman did not hand over the scroll.

"Won't the elders want to see it too?" she said.

"Er, no."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I mean yes, of course. Look, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."

"No disrespect, Master Jiraiya, but I think I better just take this to Shizune. You can come with, if you want."

Jiraiya sighed. "No, that won't work. Oh well. Good thing this was my last stop."

"What – Ah!" The woman jumped slightly; Jiraiya had disappeared, leaving behind only wisps of white smoke. She sighed and shook her head. "I wonder what all that was about."

She looked down at the scroll in her hand and felt her face turn white. Instead of the scroll, she was holding a small book, and as she stared at it, wondering what to say to Shizune and the elders, her eyes glanced over the title.

[X]

Shizune stepped out of the meeting room and closed the door behind her with a sigh. "Don't see why they came to talk to me if they were just going to ask me to leave anyway," she muttered.

On the other side of the door, the Leaf Village elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, were discussing something they apparently did not want Shizune to be included in. After quickly demanding to know all Shizune knew of the current situation with the Hokage, they had dismissed her from the room.

Shizune leaned back against the door for a moment. It was silent inside the room and she knew they were waiting for her to truly leave.

"Oh, Tonton, there you are." Shizune stooped to pick up the little pig that had just come around the corner. She had been moping since the previous night when Tsunade had not returned. "Don't worry," Shizune said softly. "It'll be all right. She'll come back, you'll see. She's got to." She held Tonton a little closer.

"Ah, Shizune, perhaps you could help us." Ebisu walked up to her and Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon trailed after him, along with a short bald man with glasses. "This is Mr. Umino," Ebisu said, gesturing to the stranger. "He is a specialist who was called in to help with some paperwork but things got a little hectic, what with the incident on our way back and all. Anyway, he was supposed to finish his business here today and we are to escort him home again but since–"

"Ah, yes, of course!" Shizune said quickly. "Since Lady Tsunade is so busy today, I'll do my best to help."

"Don't worry, my dear," the little man said, stepping forward. "I've been doing this for years. It won't be much trouble."

"Right this way then, sir," Shizune said, turning to lead him to the Hokage's office.

"Oh, Shizune, did Jiraiya find you all right?" Ebisu asked.

Shizune stopped. "No… Did he need something?"

Ebisu adjusted his sunglasses. "Well he was getting all the details about… yesterday… from me. He said you had asked him to find out about it for you."

"What?" Shizune said. "I never–"

A loud voice from down the hallway cut her off. "I don't care if she's busy, I want to talk to her! What's the big deal?" Naruto came into view, closely followed by Sakura.

"Naruto, I told you, you can't bother her today! Will you please just go home?"

Naruto ignored her. He had spotted Shizune. "Hey, Shizune!" he called, running up to her. "Where's Grandma Tsunade?"

Behind him, Sakura was waving her hands urgently and mouthing, "Don't tell him!"

Shizune let out a breath. Thank goodness, she thought. He doesn't know.

"Lady Tsunade is very busy today, Naruto. Sakura's right, you should go home."

"What's all this?"

What now? Shizune thought. Warily she turned toward the new voice.

Three jōnin had joined the growing crowd outside the meeting room door. Shizune recognized them immediately as the team that had been sent out to track down Tsunade and Orochimaru.

"But why are you back? Did you find something?" she asked anxiously. Her hold on Tonton tightened a little and the pig let out a small squeal of protest.

"What?" one of the jōnin said. "No, Jiraiya told us to return to the village."

"What?" Shizune almost screamed.

Then someone did scream. It echoed down the hallway along with the sound of running footsteps coming toward them. The woman from the cipher corps rounded the bend, waving a copy of Make-Out Paradise furiously. "Unbelievable!" she was shouting. "That perverted old man's gone crazy! Shizune!"

Shizune flinched. She had a feeling she knew what the woman was about to tell her.

"Shizune, I'm sorry but Jiraiya took the scroll with the Sand Village's reply. He said he was going to give it to you but I really don't think–"

Just then, the door to the meeting room opened and the two elders joined the dozen people already packed into the hallway.

"What on earth is all this commotion out here?" Koharu snapped.

Shizune felt the weight of the small crowd's collective stares and shrunk back toward the wall. Everyone was looking at her – except Naruto. His attention was on the cipher corps woman.

"Pervy Sage took something? Wait, you said the Sand Village. What's going on?"