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CH3
Jiraiya stretched his legs as he reclined on a chair looking absently out the window for inspiration. He was having less and less of those ideas that he needed so badly for that new book he was writing. This however could be largely attributed to the fact that he had been banned from the two main bath houses in the village he was currently staying in. Kami! It had only been two weeks! How was a man to write a novel with no inspiration? What a waste of talent!
The third and only bath house he now had access too was old. It was mostly empty save the occasional old geezer's which came to use that same exact house out of habit. Could a man not have any peace and quiet if he was denied an exotic display of women at their finest?
Many did not realize it but many of his stories originated from his own life and the wars he had fought in. Of course no sane person would read something that was so monotone and boring so he juiced up his story to appeal to the younger generation. He wandered absently whether he should move on to the next town for his research or perhaps return to Konoha. It has been a while since he had last seen his sensei and he was loath to admit it but he missed his sadistic bastard of a teammate. Vaguely he allowed his mind to drift off remembering his last mission with Orochimaru. It had been 5 years ago…
Jiraiya adjusted the knobs on his telescope. This was just perfect! A town with no ninja was a rare find. He opened his notebook and ideas literally began pouring down black ink on crisp white paper. This was marvelous! So much beauty! He feared he would run out of ink soon!
Suddenly he felt a chakra presence. Kami! Could a man have no peace when immersed in delicate artistic work?
A familiar Anbu mask dropped into view.
"YO KAKASHI!"
The horrid bland dog face was removed to reveal a lazy eyed stare. "Jiraya-sama, Hokage-sama sent me." The scroll changed hands quickly and Jiraya skimmed the old man's letter.
MY BELOVED STUDENT,
Please return to Konoha IMMEDIATELY from your travels.
Stamped: Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzun
"Did he say what for?"
"No Jiraya-sama." Jiraya studied the boy briefly taking in the dead eye and drawn face. This was his failure, I'm sorry Minato-san I failed you in so many ways. I wish I could have been a better Sensei.
He set off with the teen who by now must have hit seventeen. Jiraya briefly wondered whether Kakashi had a woman in his life but briefly dismissed that idea. Who was he fooling? He vaguely wondered why the Hokage was recalling him so soon and in such a manner. But then again who could figure out the old man? He just hoped it wasn't Orochimaru going rogue again. He doubted whether he would be able to bring the man back like he did the first time.
Sarutobi looked old. His once brown hair was reduced to a shocking grey. More wrinkles graced his once smooth features, but the pipe and smile were as always in place. It suddenly hit Jiraya that his Sensei was getting old! He swallowed down a lump of nostalgia that formed in his throat. How much longer would he live? The eyes suddenly narrowed and he took back his previous statement. That old man was a cunning old fox using his "gentle and grandfatherly" appearance as a disguise. Well who knew his old Sensei still had it in him?
"Jiraya glad you could make it."
"I brought a copy of my latest work, Sensei." Two can play at this game Sensei, Jiraya smiled with what he considered to be a disarming smile.
His Sensei instantly pinked and cleared his throat, "Well you can leave it on my desk I will make sure to review it when I have time."
"Enough of this foolishness." A familiar voice spat. The snake sannin slid in through the window.
"Nice to see you too."
Orochimaru frowned. "I was expecting Tsunade."
Sarutobi suddenly appeared very occupied with the various files that littered his desk. "Yes well he must have been closer."
Orochimaru frowned. "Make sure you don't mess up."
"What's the mission?"
"You didn't tell him?"
"Why don't you go prepare so that you and Jiraya can leave immediately after the briefing."
"I'm ready." The Sannin hissed. "I'll brief him on the way."
Slightly taken aback by the killing intent Orochimaru was radiating Jiraya worriedly followed the sannin. Shooting back a look at his Sensei he saw those same shrewd eyes dampen with worry. Suddenly he felt a rock forming at the bottom of his stomach.
"Where are we going?"
"Hidden Rain."
Jiraya added more chakra to try and speed up his pace catching up to the sannin as they raced out of the village gates. "What's the mission?"
"Retrieval."
Orochimaru's snappy tone was not encouraging. Granted Orochimaru always seemed to be on a borderline disdain streak toward him but he would usually be more tolerant to his company.
"Who?"
"Eagle Squad."
Jiraya nearly tripped on a branch as he pushed off another tree. Orochimaru's student Tobirama was on that team. If anything happened to him, well let's just say Jiraya wasn't so sure Orochimaru wouldn't leave the village again. The cold hearted freak would probably never admit his fear but Jiraya knew what it was like to lose a student. Orochimaru's hands clenched in response to his reaction.
"I'm sure he's fine." Jiraya swallowed his mouth going dry.
"Look where that mentality got your students."
The arrow hit home, ripping open too many stitches in his already bleeding heart. But Jiraya pushed away the feeling. At least he still had a heart. His friend had lost it long ago on that battlefield with Hanzo. He and Tsunade were incapacitated for a large period of time leaving Orochimaru to fend off Hanzo alone. Not to mention Nawaki's death which Tsunade still couldn't get over, that boy had been Orochimaru's student. He briefly wondered whether his friend blamed himself for that. He knew he did. But unlike the snake sannin all of his students were dead. Heck even the students of his students were dead save Kakashi.
"The mission shouldn't have gone that badly." He attempted again. But his reply was instantly knifed down.
"They were infiltrating a lab." Jiraya nearly tripped again. There were not many things worse than death but being gunie pig to experiments was one of them. Granted the snake sannin had once left the village right after the war with the rock returning two years later after committing Kami knows what. But heck as long as all of Orochimaru's current experiments were willing volunteers who was he to mind their business? And he definitely had little qualms on using experiments on captured ninja. Originally he had his doubts but hours under Orochimaru snapped prisoners faster than days under Ibiki and sadly as much as he was loath to admit it these things had to be done. He just hoped that Karma wouldn't take a bite out of them on this day.
The rest of the trip passed in silence, he could practically feel the tension flowing off the snake sannin. They ran all day but it seemed that the both of them weren't too keen on sleeping and Orochimaru insisted they keep running. Jiraya began to feel his age as they neared the end of the second day. Perhaps he should have spent a bit more time keeping in shape. Unlike Orochimaru who had yet to break a sweat he was a rain cloud leaving droplets in his wake. They emerged in a clearing at sunset.
"There." Orochimaru pinpointed the entrance.
Jiraya placed a palm on the door and blew it off its hinges. The smells that hit him nearly knocked him out. Sterile antiseptics, sulfur, dioxin, monoxal, nitrogenous monoxous. He put a hand to his nose as they ran through the maze of bars and bones. Farther down he could hear screams. He wanted to stop and help them but Orochimaru ran right through the bars with sickly looking humans with odd sticks run through their anatomy in various places.
"There too far gone better to kill them now."
Jiraya stopped regardless and opened a large cell door only to be attacked by these demented souls. Sadly he ran through them with his rasengan. He caught up to Orochimaru who took out a small vile of blood smeared it on his finger and used a summoning jutsu. A greyish black wolf appeared it's red slits narrowing as it realized it was not summoned by its owner. Orochimaru seemed to know it regardless and held the vile of blood pointing at the maze. The wolf howled mournfully sniffing the blood and then took off in the direction of the scent.
They ran through more of the putrid smelling maze and passed a cell with what seemed to be part of Squad Eagle. The Hyuuga and Aburame were howling madly in rags along with many other individuals who wore half torn headbands of the Hidden Sound.
The wolf kept running and stopped at a large cell door. "Master's in here." He whispered in his harsh low tone. Then the summoning disappeared in a puff.
Jiraya blasted the door and lifted it out of the way to be led into another room with cells. The two prisoners in the right cell were Dove and Otter. Three bodies lay in the center, various rods were stuck painfully through the muscly flesh of their arms, the two on the side yelling deranged and the one in the middle was biting back what should by right have been bloodcurdling yells.
The sudden tension and unease of the snake sannin suddenly turned into a shredding killing intent. Placing a hand on his student's forehead he muttered a few colorful words Jiraya never heard him use. "Genjutsu." He hissed.
Jiraya dispelled the Genjutsu from the two others while Orochimaru released his student. "They're not breathing!"
"They must have been too far gone." He replied methodically, though his killing intent screamed otherwise.
"Sen' sei?" The two words came out broken and cracked. Those two words coming from the most composed of persons he had ever met save Kakashi who could even make his Icha Icha books look boring broke something in him. Jiraya was ready to vomit from the hideousness of this place. Was this what Orochimaru could have become? Was this what would have been his legacy had he not returned?
Hearing the snake sannin's even methodical voice as he commanded his student to stay awake for longer, seeing the barest amount of chakra he was pouring in so as to heal yet not hurt his student as he pulled out the rods. Just watching how the sannin operated hit him full force in the gut as well. He released the two other Anbu from their cell. Both seemed mostly in their right mind. He ordered them to free who they could and then return back.
He made his way slowly to the boy man who was around Kakashi's age. "How is he?" He kneeled down looking at the sweat covered face.
The sannins eyes narrowed as his fingers ran over black markings that were inscribed on the arms. "I need to get him to my lab. Store me in your summoning I will do what I can with what I have on me." Orochimaru removed a few scrolls which looked like they contained medical equipment. Jiraya did as he was told. The last scene he recalled was running with two Anbu away from the burning lab. The red gold fire a sharp contrast with the starry night.
Awakening from his reverie Jiraya tapped the stylus against his lips. Perhaps he would take a breather from Icha Icha and start a new series for when he had no access or inspiration to his true calling. It would be a tale of gore and blood! Of betrayal and honor! But its main plot would be a broken friendship which occurred because of a misunderstanding. Because one friend was too cold and the other to shallow to realize that sometimes words were not what one had to listen too. Sometimes actions spoke louder than words. Yep Jiraya smiled to himself, this was definitely going to be a bestseller.
