Naruto jumped down into the center of the river and looked at the men as the young girl tripped a fell. "Hey! You shouldn't treat a woman like that!"

Putting his hands together he was joined on the river by three shadow clones. They simultaneously ran at the opposite shore. The men began running into the forest. The Narutos followed closely and then raced in at once, each landing on a punch on each guy.

The guys fell unconscious one by one, Naruto was satisfied and the clones disappeared. Making his way back he had to laugh to himself. "Those guys were wimps… That was way too easy!"

He stopped at the edge of the shore and looked around to the woman. He turned and looked around for her then ran down river and found her lying next to a tree. She kept trying to get up, but failing. "Hey, lady," he said kneeling down next to her, "if you keep doing that, you'll just wear yourself out."

"Huh," She said looking up at him like she didn't even notice him before. "You're from Konoha? Do you know Jiraiya?" She said sitting foreword, "please, I need to speak with him!" She fell foreword on to the dirt.

"Hey! Hey!" Naruto said shaking her, there was no response though. "Shit!" He said and grabbed her and began to run back to the village with her on his shoulder.


"You did the right thing bring her back here when you did." Said the old woman Jiraiya had introduced as Mrs. Mistsubi, she had thick silver hair tied back in a bun with a plain white kimono on. She had let Naruto set the girl down on her bed and began work on her right away. "If you hadn't of brought her when you did, she would have died within seconds of the poison."

She grabbed a bowl of water and forced the water into her body which lurched. Mrs. Mitsubi forced the water back out with large amounts of black liquid in it and drops of blood. "Naruto, was it? Hand me that syringe and bottle of blue antidote."

Naruto handed it too her and a young boy walked inside and sat down. "Grandma, do you need help?"

"Yes, Tori, grab her legs and Naruto grab her shoulders, she's going to lurch." Mrs. Mitsubi unscrewed the bottle and screwed on the needle. She injected it into the girl's arm. The body moved wildly and uncontrollably. Slowly the movements stopped and they let go.

"Is she alright?" Jiraiya said walking in with a young girl in his arms.

Mrs. Mitsubi turned around, "She'll be fine now, just needs her rest."

"Hey, Jiraiya, where's the woman who needs to see you urgently?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya shifted and held the child out.

"Isn't she cute, her name's Kimichi. She's Nershii's baby sister. I haven't got to see her yet so Nershii tricked me downstairs to play with her." Jiraiya said taking her normally back in her arms. "Watch this, Kimichi, who's the cutest baby?"

Kimichi stopped and hid her face behind her arms and giggled. "'Michi! 'Michi!"

"She can't really say her own name yet, but she's still cute." Jiraiya said. Nershii walked up, "Nershii, can I keep her, look at how cute she is! Right Kimichi?"

The baby tossed and giggled more in his arms. "'Michi! 'Michi! Uh.. ahba!" She said grabbing Jiraiya's forehead protector. "Abbu dahu awlia!" She said frustrated that it wouldn't move.

"You can play with it at dinner, okay, Kimichi?" Nershii said taking her little sister. "Say bye uncle Jiraiya."

"Bye unle hira!" Kimichi screamed and Nershii took her downstairs.

Mrs. Mitsubi smiled, "Now that… is a cute baby." She tapped Tori on the shoulder and led him out of the room. "Hey Jiraiya, when's Arembeu-san going to show?"

"She's not, age must be getting to her. I'm mean, I'm over fifty, you're over seventy, and she's well beyond both of us." Jiraiya said. "I hope I never have to retire… I'd be completely bored!"

"Same here, hope I get killed in battle before I get in a chair." She said and walked into the main room with Tori.

"Naruto, I'm going to go and talk with Nershii's mom, I'll be back whenever." Jiraiya said. "Oh, and if you're going to stay here and watch her, don't scare her when she wakes up."

"Wait! She asked to talk to you before she went unconscious." Naruto said stopping him before he left the room. Jiraiya scratched his head. His shrugged. "When she wakes up you can bring her to see me I guess, but I don't know why anyone would want to… She's a fan! That's it, she loved the books so much she fought off those men to get here!"

"She was nearly killed by those men; I don't think it was fighting them off."

Jiraiya shrugged again, "I like my version better." He said and went off smiling to himself reciting his version of the story. Naruto rolled his eyes and sat down on the floor watching her, waiting for something important to happen.

He took a deep breath in and looked over the surrounding room. It was simple and shabby, just a bed, a table and a window in an old grey room. It was at this time Naruto decided to get some air. He opened the window and sat down at the edge of the bed. She wasn't going anywhere for a while. Leaning out the window, Naruto grabbed a handful of small white flowers and set them in his lap and began to pick the petals away, one by one. Each time he ran out, he simply reached out and picked some more until they were gone and he was looking at the empty green grass. "Damn, now I'm bored again!" He accidentally yelled.

The girl turned over and he got off the bed waiting for her to sit up. She turned again and finally opened her eyes looking around. "Huh?" She turned and saw Naruto at the end of the bed.

"You're lucky to be alive, you had poison everywhere and a few pretty bad wounds. Mrs. Mitsubi healed you right up though." She sat up and grabbed her head. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked losing his smart ass mood.

"I think… some water… You wouldn't mind, would you?" she asked between pains.

"I'll be right back." Naruto said running out into the hall and finding the lot of Ninjas sitting around. "Jiraiya, she's awake. Also, she asked for a glass of water."

"I'll get the water." Nershii said rushing back into the kitchen.

Jiraiya handed of Kimichi to Mrs. Hiyate and slowly went down into the room. "Naruto, come on." Jiraiya said in an agitated voice. Naruto followed him until he stopped in front of the bed staring at her. "So, what's your number?"

The girl looked at him then looked down. "582… So you already…"

"You are safe." Jiraiya said strongly. Nershii ran in with the water and Jiraiya took it from her and motioned for Nershii to leave. He sat on the edge of the bed and handed her the water. She grabbed the see through glass with both hands and gulped greedily. "Slow down, there's plenty of water… What's your name?"

"582… But one or twice, I was called Tekaimaru. I think I was born then taken." She said then continued until the glass was empty. "I was wondering if I could seek safety in Konoha."

Jiraiya smiled and patted her on the head. "That's completely fine, but we aren't heading to Konoha, we're just leaving it actually." He said. "Naruto said you asked for me. Why?"

"He always said you were such a fool, so I knew I should go to you!" She said perking up. Jiraiya sighed and got up off the bed. He motioned for her to come; she quickly left he bed and followed the two shinobi out to where everyone else was.

"Everyone, this is Tekaimaru." Jiraiya said holding out a hand. She waved slowly.