Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Obvious much?
"Talking"
Thinking
"Kyuubi talking"
Chapter 10: Jiraiya's Plan
The Sannin made sure to slam the door behind him after leaving the Hokage's office. "It'll be hard to convince him, that's for sure," he mumbled over his own footsteps. He could see a few problems with his plan of action, but Tsunade had countered everything good that could come of it with some terrible side effect.
"Geez," he sighed, "how am I supposed to get that knucklehead to agree?" the old pervert wondered while leaving the building. He sighed again and realized this could be harder than he originally thought. Deep in his own thought process he didn't notice that Tsunade was having yet another fit until the chair landed in a shower of glass in front of him.
"What do you mean he left?! Who in the hell does he think he is?! That little brat!" Jiraiya easily heard Tsunade and he was afraid for both his life and whoever's life she was talking about. "JIRAIYA!!" she yelled and he stopped in his tracks.
"What now?" he asked after finally making it back up to her office.
"Naruto left the hospital of his own accord," she informed him while a few shinobi behind her were trying to fix the window.
Jiraiya sighed since he had assumed Naruto would do something like that. "I bet I know where he'd be," Jiraiya said thoughtfully before leaving.
Tsunade called out after him, "Jiraiya! Please, make sure he's okay. And get him back to the hospital so I can give him the punishment he deserves!" Jiraiya couldn't help but smile and nod his head before leaving.
"Shut up already!" Naruto gasped and grabbed his head. "I mean, really. I'm training! It requires concentration!" he mumbled before sitting upright again.
"Concentration? Last time I checked you had to get help from a pervert to even understand the meaning of the word," the Kyuubi taunted Naruto. "Besides, all of my bickering in good for you. You can't concentrate on a battlefield in private, can you?"
"Oh, shut up!"
"How many times do I have to tell you to think and not talk to me?"
"More than you have," Naruto whined and finally tried to concentrate more chakra. "Itai!" Naruto bent over to try and dull the pain. "Quit doing that! Damn fox!" he gasped again while the fox laughed.
"Stupid brat, I'm not doing anything," the fox retorted. "What does that fact that your chakra is nearly nonexistent in your own body do you not understand?"
"All of it," Naruto said before lying back in the grass. "I mean, isn't chakra a life source?" Naruto paused until the Kyuubi offered a yes. "So, if that's true, then how am I still alive?" he asked.
The fox sighed and wished he didn't have to explain again. "Get it through your big skull," he threw another insult. "What really happened is that since when that damn Yodaime sealed me into you your chakra coils were not fully developed which meant that my own chakra was developed into yours. Understand?" Naruto shook his head and fought for a steady breath.
"A child's chakra coils do not develop until they turn a certain age. The age varies from child to child depending on the parents and many other factors," he explained further. Naruto nodded; he understood at least this much. "However, when I was sealed into you, your chakra coils had yet to develop. Basically, I directly helped, in a sense, the development of your chakra."
"Oh!" Naruto finally understood. "So then even if my chakra gets completely depleted, if you can give some to me I'll live?" Naruto asked, not even entirely sure what he meant.
"Hold on, I'm not done explaining. In this fashion, your body has the ability to handle large amounts of chakra circulating through it at one time. However, there is also a downside to this," the fox added. Naruto begged for more information so the fox provided it. "The major downside is that now your body has become dependant on mine," he explained.
"What's so bad about that?" Naruto shrugged, not seeing any major drawbacks to that.
"Well just the fact that if my chakra was not being supplied to your body you would die is a pretty good example of a drawback, isn't it?" the fox sighed. Naruto nodded.
"But how does that work?" he finally asked, curious to know.
"How does what work?" Another voice chimed in before the Kyuubi could respond. Naruto turned around and jumped up, prepared to attack if need be. "Oi, oi! Don't get so hasty," Jiraiya offered before sitting down on the cool grass.
"Ero-Sennin… What are you doing out here?" Naruto plopped himself down on the grass in a similar way.
"Well, Tsunade would kill you if she found you before I had. Hm, actually, she'd still probably kill you," he laughed. "Naruto," he said which caught the blonde's attention. "Well, never mind that for right now. Tell me what it is you're doing out here first," he changed his mind.
Naruto nodded and gladly told his side of the story. "Well, first off, I hate hospitals. Too clean," he offered and Jiraiya nodded his head. "Besides, I can't be cooped up in the place for half a year! I need to train and get better and bring Sasuke back!" Naruto explained himself.
"Naruto, you don't know the extent of how bad of a condition you are in, do you?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto nodded and explained due to the look he received from Jiraiya.
"Neji told me that the chakra was basically ripping apart my body. But then the Kyuubi told me that he could try to control how much came out! It's not like he really is or anything, but maybe… Anyway, I got out of that hospital to train and learn how to live with this condition," Naruto smiled a foxy smile and laughed a little.
Jiraiya sighed again and decided to tell Naruto his idea now. "Naruto, there could be a way to fix the seal." Jiraiya didn't keep eye contact with his student for the next few sentences. "I talked to Tsunade about it, and we could only think of one way that could possibly help."
"Well tell me! What is it?!"
Jiraiya sighed again with a smile on his face. "Fine, but hear me out before making a decision. It could very well kill you, which is why you have to agree before Tsunade will even think of doing this," Jiraiya said. Naruto nodded his head eagerly and Jiraiya explained thoroughly what his plan was.
Naruto blinked a few times. "So that's all I have to do?" Jiraiya nodded. "Well, I don't know why you guys picked me to do it, but… I guess I can't say no," he said. "I could, but that wouldn't exactly go along with my nindo!" he forced another smile. At the mention of doing something like that for the one person that had managed to ruin his childhood his mask had started to slip.
With a happy sigh, Jiraiya continued. "You do know the possible consequences of doing this, right?"
Naruto smiled. "Other than maybe dying? Yeah, I think I get it," he answered sarcastically. "But, why did you guys pick me?" Naruto had to ask.
"Well, mainly because you'd probably find him before anyone else could. You have certain connections with him," Jiraiya explained.
Naruto's eyebrow raised and Jiraiya knew he wouldn't be able to avoid his student's questions. "Why? How am I connected to this guy?!"
"Let's just get back to the hospital. Tsunade will explain everything in more detail than I can."
"Brat, where the hell do you think you're going?!" Naruto rubbed the side of his head to try and force the headache out. Ever since the Kyuubi had started communicating with him he had started to get more frequent and worse headaches.
"To the hospital, like Ero-Sennin said," Naruto muttered back at the fox. Jiraiya turned around and looked at his student with concern, but Naruto just smiled and muttered that he had just been talking to himself. Jiraiya just nodded even though he had his own suspicions.
"What about training, eh? Don't you want to save your friend?"
"I do, but is that more important than getting you out of my head?" Naruto asked the fox who just growled in response. "Besides, this shouldn't take more than a few days. Then, I'll be able to train more and get better and finally be able to bring back Sasuke!" he smiled.
"Shut up! Geez, somebody is going to think you're insane! How many times do I need to tell you before you get it?"
"Naruto? Are you sure you're okay?" Jiraiya turned around with a concerned look on his face.
"Told you," the fox stated in a confident tone. Naruto nodded at Jiraiya and once he had turned around muttered smartass under his breath. "Just think, would you?"
It's hard to, Naruto struggled, but really, with you making so much noise it's hard.
"Quit whining!" Naruto gripped the side of his head again.
"Stop being so loud!" he whispered harshly. Jiraiya made a mental note that Naruto could very well be going insane.
"Quit talking!"
"I thought I said stop being so loud!" Naruto forced his voice down to a whisper even though citizens of Konoha were staring at him like he was crazy.
"Baka! I said quit talking, so quit talking!"
"If you would stop yelling I could stop!" This time, Naruto had no restraint to his voice. The citizens and Jiraiya stared at him, although their stares varied. Some stares were hateful, one was worried, and many others were curious. Naruto replied with a nervous laugh until Jiraiya finally snapped out of it.
"Come on," Jiraiya muttered and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Let's just go somewhere without making a scene for once."
"It's not my fault! The Kyu—" Naruto was cut off when Jiraiya slammed a hand over his mouth. Muffled noises came from him, and once he finally stopped Jiraiya removed his hand.
"Look, people don't need a reason to hate you so don't give them one. If word gets out about this, there's no telling what these people would do to you," Jiraiya muttered while dragging Naruto behind him.
After mumbling an apology Jiraiya finally let go of Naruto. "Just keep your mouth shut the rest of the way, alright?"
You don't know how hard that'll be, Ero-Sennin, Naruto thought before nodding his head. The fox was silent for a few moments but soon started the rant over again. Naruto sighed and restrained himself from yelling and/or grabbing his own head.
Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently and glared at the door. "Ts-Tsunade-sama…" Shizune mumbled, "Please calm down. I'm sure they'll be here soon!" Tsunade turned her glare to Shizune who quickly backed down. After returning her glare back to the door for a few more moments, she could hear quite a commotion going on outside.
"I said shut up!"
"Calm down, Naruto! What is wrong with you?"
"Once you stop yelling I will!" there was a short pause. "You have to be kidding me! You shut up first! If I shut up, you'll just keep going! Aaaaaah! You're giving me a headache already! Just quit!" The voice was easily recognized as Naruto.
"Hm?" Tsunade mused, wondering what in the world he was going on about now.
"Naruto… come on, stop yelling!"
"I'll stop once he stops!" Naruto retorted.
How far away are they? Tsunade wondered. And who the heck is this guy that's yelling at Naruto?
"Naruto!" Tsunade finally recognized the second voice as Jiraiya. She could hear the desperation in his voice and she could clearly pick out the tacking of feet running. Tsunade raised an eyebrow and opened the door.
"Oi, Jiraiya! Naruto! What the heck is going on?" She asked and sighed when she saw what had happened. Jiraiya looked up to see Tsunade with her hands on her hips and a murderous look on her face. He hoisted the now unconscious Naruto onto his back and looked at Tsunade.
"Well, it's a long story, but I think we should look after him first." Naruto was shifted on Jiraiya's back so that it would be more comfortable for Jiraiya.
After a moment Tsunade sighed and nodded. "Fine, after checking up on him, you're going to tell me the full story." Jiraiya nodded and followed Tsunade the short distance to Naruto's room and watched while she silently healed him.
Tsunade shat back in the chair near his bed a few minutes later, completely satisfied with her tying down and healing of Naruto. "Idiot pushed himself too far," she mumbled before turning her attention to Jiraiya. "Now then, what's the story?"
Jiraiya sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "I found Naruto in a clearing in the forest that he had deemed his training ground. When I did, he was already talking to the Kyuubi. Really, though, at the time it just looked like he was talking to himself," he corrected himself.
"I told him about the idea and he agreed, but we might have to tell him about Minato to get him to actually do it," Jiraiya admitted before looking at his godson. Tsunade caught his gaze and also looked at the boy.
"Well, he should be perfectly fine, unless of course he doesn't manage to come back. It is risky, but I will be supervising his condition at all times," she added to try and calm Jiraiya down.
"Listen, you won't be able to show your face in Konoha until he wakes up. This room will not be accessed by anyone except me and I'll tell the council that you and Naruto have gone on a simple mission that could take up to a week," Tsunade made up the plan as she thought it up.
The Sannin paused for a moment. "Will I be able to visit him?" he asked softly and looked up at Tsunade who sighed.
"It might cause some trouble, but I'll see what I can do. Otherwise, only Yamato and Kakashi can know his location and condition. I don't need word of this getting out." Jiraiya nodded and they both decided to wait until Naruto woke up before continuing the conversation.
Naruto opened his eyes and instantly wished he hadn't. "What am I doing back here?!" he asked before trying to move his hands to cover his eyes. "Huh?" he asked before trying to move again. Again, he found that he couldn't move. After struggling for a few minutes he heard laughter.
"Tsunade tied you down, I don't think it'll be that easy to get out," Jiraiya said.
"I can get you out, it won't be hard at all!" the fox spoke again which gave Naruto another twinge of pain.
Tsunade spoke up next. "So you actually agreed to Jiraiya's 'plan' of action?" Naruto nodded his head slowly and Tsunade continued. "Well then do I need to go over it?"
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune pitched in, "I haven't heard what this plan is, but I'll help in any way I can!" Tsunade sighed and guessed that she would have to explain it.
"Alright, well then here goes. As we all know, the Yodaime died while sealing the Kyuubi within Naruto. However, his soul is not truly in the land of the dead, but somewhere in-between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Unfortunately, this will only be true if my research is correct," Shizune nodded to show that she understood.
"Also, the only one that could be enough of a seal master to fix this seal without killing Naruto is the Yodaime. Therefore, we need to retrieve him from between these two worlds. Now, in the oldest medical books I could find, it just so happens that when a person was in a coma they were considered to be between life and death, hanging only by a thread."
"What does that mean?" Shizune asked her mistress.
"Simple. It means, theoretically, that if a person was put into a coma they would be in the same plane as the Yodaime," Tsunade explained. "It would be much more likely for Naruto to find the Yodaime within this plane than any of us."
"I still don't see why I'm the most likely candidate," Naruto whined.
"Well, for a few reasons," Tsunade muttered while searching for a way to best explain it to Naruto. Jiraiya looked over at her with warning in his eyes. She understood the message and decided not to tell Naruto. "One is simply because being in a coma should slow down the damage being inflicted onto your body. Another is because of your own willpower. With that, I think both your body and mind can survive on two different planes. And the third reason is that with your determination, you probably won't give up until you find the Yodaime."
Naruto nodded and accepted the reasons without a question. "So, when do we start?"
Note: Whoa! Who was expecting that? Well, officially Scars of a Martyr has 10 chapters, which I am proud of. So, regarding the pairing, I don't really know if I will or not. I might have some fluffy stuff between a few characters while Naruto is in the coma, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. Anyways, that's all I have to say for today.
R&R as always!
Elizabet639
P.S. I promise Naruto won't be this stupid for too much longer.