15

Naruto sat in room 416 of Konoha's new hospital next to the bed in which his sensei lay. The first thing Tsunade had done after the "all clear" was called was gather all the stonemasons and all the ninja who could manipulate earth, along with the architects that were in the village, and have them raise the new hospital. She'd worked them hard and they'd gotten the building raised in record time with little to no breaks in between. The hospital was ready to use, with medicine from Tsunade's own personal stock and supplies from Suna, within a day and a half of the attack. All the injured were moved into rooms that were furnished with wooden beds courtesy of Yamato-sensei.

Even with all the injuries Konoha had suffered, the people were all comfortably housed in the new fifteen-story tall hospital. There were no people left in the halls, and there were actually quite a few empty rooms. There was even an entire floor dedicated solely to the use of hospital staff.

Jiraiya, now one of these said patients, having shown up out of nowhere during Naruto and Gaara's fight, had seen Naruto and promptly passed out. Of course, that had scared the hell out of Naruto and, before Jiraiya had even touched the ground, Naruto had his supposedly deceased sensei in his arms and was half-way to Tsunade.

As luck would have it, Naruto found the somewhat sober hokage on her way into the new hospital. The moment she saw him and his passenger, Tsunade dropped all her papers and the mug of coffee Shizune had just handed her. She'd pulled Jiraiya out of Naruto's arms and rushed off towards what he assumed was an emergency wing with Shizune at her side. Naruto had made to follow her, but had been stopped by Kakashi, who had only just caught up with him, breathless and with a worried look on his face.

As they waited for news from Tsunade, the two of them sat outside the doors of the emergency area. Yamato and Sai had come there as well, as Kakashi had convinced them to come to the training grounds with him. As a group, Gaara, Sakura, and Temari found them about a half an hour later at the hospital. Kakashi informed them of what had happened and they left with Yamato and Sai to tell Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo, and Konan the news and to pass on a message to continue training, as they could do nothing to help the situation. After about another half an hour of waiting, Shizune came out of the double doors with a smile on her face.

All these events led up to now, merely an hour later, where Naruto sat with Kakashi, waiting for Tsunade to come and tell him what was wrong with his sensei. Sure he could read the clipboard that hung on the end of the bed, but he wanted to hear it from Tsunade. From the smile Shizune had worn-right before she'd been rushed back into the emergency wing to help deal with a villager that had nearly been crushed to death when searching his home to see if he could save anything - Jiraiya was alright, but Naruto wanted to know why his sensei was still unconscious.

Just at the moment Naruto was about to go and look for her, Tsunade walked through the door, looking pale and tired. She raised a hand, forestalling Naruto's questions, and walked up to the other side of Jiraiya's bed.

"He still has injuries from what I would guess to be from his fight with Pein, but they've been treated. He passed out from exhaustion." She told both the quiet Naruto and Kakashi, who was leaning against the wall close to the door.

"If he was treated by someone else, then why would they let him leave before he was well again?"

"How did you know he didn't treat himself?" Tsunade questioned.

"I saw the bandages." He shrugged. "There was something about them that was different from the way he bandaged himself; they were tighter, maybe. He didn't know that I knew that it was me who hurt him back when we were on that training trip. After that one time we were training, I saw him wearing some bandages around his chest. I saw how he moved with me, cautiously, like the older people in the village do. I asked the Kyuubi, and she finally told me that I'd gotten mad during a training session and…snapped."

"It wasn't your fault." The three occupants of Jiraiya's room jumped at said patient's tired and gravelly voice, having not noticed his awakening. "I was goading you because I knew your abilities usually rode on your emotions. It would've happened eventually and, frankly, I'm proud that you've managed to reign in your emotions around these lunk-headed idiots of Konoha for so long, with how they've treated you."

Naruto met Jiraiya's eyes and nodded his appreciation at the statement.

"While I'm sure that we all agree with you on that, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said, pushing off the wall and walking to the end of the bed, "I'm sure that we would all also like to know how you managed to avoid certain death." He performed a jutsu so quickly that Naruto could barely make out the signs for it. A silencing jutsu. "The story of which I'm sure is not for prying ears."

Jiraiya sighed and nodded. "You're right in that, but I'm not entirely sure how I did it either. Let me ask a question of my own first: Did you get my message?"

Tsunade's face grew grim and she nodded. "Yes, we got it, and it helped quite a bit, but…" She told of what had happened to the village and how Naruto had dealt with Pein, and a simplified version of what had happened with Madara.

"I see. I wish it could have happened differently, but we're lucky so few died." Jiraiya looked down at his hands which were clenched in his lap. During Tsunade's telling of the story, he'd moved himself into an upright position, sitting against the wall that his bed was pushed against.

Naruto frowned. "It's not your fault, sensei. The only reason I beat Pein was because I had the Kyuubi. Not to mention, you didn't know what his abilities were and I did. You only did what could have been done according to the situation."

Jiraiya looked suspiciously at Naruto and studied his students face for a minute; Naruto stared back. Jiraiya sighed again.

"A lot happened while I was gone, didn't it?"

The blond nodded. A moment later, Jiraiya could have sworn Naruto tensed and his eyes widened, but the expression passed so quickly that the Sannin figured he was just imagining things. Tsunade and Kakashi watched the interaction quietly, noticing that some of the tension in Naruto's shoulders held had lessened, happy to see it, sad that they had to interrupt it.

"What happened on your end, Jiraiya? We got your message and assumed the worst and apparently, Pein thought he'd killed you, too." Tsunade asked gently.

"Hell, even I thought he'd killed me." The Sannin scratched at his long, platinum blond, spiky hair. "The last thing I remember before waking up in that room was sinking to the bottom of a very deep pool of water. Next thing I know, I'm in what looks like a safe-house, all bandaged up, and wearing new, dry clothes with the Uchiha crest on them. Of course, the least of all the surprises," He said sarcastically. "Was seeing Itachi Uchiha sitting at my bedside with a pair of glasses on, quietly reading one of my books. That was quite amusing after I got over the shock of it." Jiraiya smirked at the memory.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade all looked thunderstruck at the news, but, after a second, Naruto registered the last bit of information Jiraiya had given them. He burst out laughing and grinned with his sensei.

"Ha-ha…Wh-which book was it?" Naruto said between laughs.

"Actually, it was the most recent one. Itachi even asked me to sign it after I calmed down. I almost reopened my injuries when I saw him, I jerked up so fast.

Tsunade growled in irritation and hit Jiraiya on the head lightly. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Now. Besides the fact that, according to Sasuke, Itachi is dead, why would Itachi help you? Have all the Uchiha's just suddenly started changing their minds about their life paths or something?!"

"Well, according to Itachi's explanation, he only infiltrated Akatsuki as a spy. I tend to believe him, as he went against Pein's intentions and saved my life."

"Why isn't he with you now?" Naruto, whom Jiraiya noticed was taking everything in splendidly, asked. He seemed to have an air about him that already had everything figured out, but that he was just asking for the sake of the other two in the room. The blond walked over to the window after standing from his seat by the bed.

"Because I didn't know he'd planned on leaving." A new voice entered the room from the window behind Naruto. Instantly, two kunai and four shuriken were thrown at Itachi by Tsunade and Kakashi; reacting to their reflexes against unwanted intruders.

Naruto merely stepped in front of the projectiles and caught all four shuriken easily, knocking aside the two kunai, which embedded themselves in the wooden floor. He turned and greeted the raven that now leaned against the window seal.

"Hey, 'tachi-san." He said with a smile. Itachi stared at him with that trademark Uchiha stare, although Naruto saw traces of a smirk playing at the edges of the man's lips. There was a little surprise there too, if Naruto was right.

"You didn't have to catch those, Naruto-kun." Itachi said.

"And let you cut your manicured hands 'cause you can't see the things?! I would never!" Naruto grinned. Itachi deadpanned him. "All right, all right. So you're not completely blind. Close enough. Can't a guy be nice anymore?"

Naruto chuckled as he turned away from the glare of an incensed Uchiha, facing the looks of astonishment behind him.

"What?" He asked innocently, clearly enjoying the agonizing confusion he was creating.