Eyes of God
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
A/N: Alright, I understand that I made Jiraiya a tad bit too knowledgeable with the Rinnegan. Its alright though, he only knows the specifics of one path, the rest will come along with Naruto's training. Please tell me if you guys want me to go into detail about the earlier events of Naruto's training trip, or skip to the more interesting parts. Also, I'm honored that my second story already has 100 people keeping track of it, thanks so much for your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Special shoutout to Keep Calm and Be Ninja for betaing my story!
"Speaking"
'Thinking' or emphasis
"Demon speaking"
'Demon thinking'
flashback
Jutsu
Ch3: Approaching Danger
Naruto hung his head down, wanting to punch his pillow repeatedly and vent his anger. 'How could those civilian idiots be so stupid?!' He wailed, though his mouth was unable to pronounce anything coherent through his tears. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid! They can't even tell that I'm not the Kyuubi! I-I can't do this...'
"Calm down Naruto, you're smarter than this." Jiraiya, he was there. Naruto remembered his caring attitude, just when he thought he'd have no one to care for him. Jiraiya had told him the truth about being a jinchuuriki.
"I-I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around his godfather's back, squeezing tightly. In the spur of the moment, upset by the insanity of it all, Naruto had finally let his emotions get the better of him. Too often he was kind, forgiving, and seemingly innocent, when he actually just put all of his adversities behind him and chose to move on. The Sannin should not have told him the truth so soon; an unstable child's emotions were easily exaggerated by the smallest of motivators.
"I understand, Naruto, but you've got to be rational about this. Somewhere in that dense head of yours, you know that it isn't their fault, that they have a reason. Please, trust me." The blond responded by hugging Jiraiya tighter than before, his tears drawing on his relief instead of his rage.
"Now that I've got an uncle, I know why they were so mad. If I lost you..." He trailed off, looking at his godfather with teary ringed eyes. As a child, he clung to any show of affection, especially since he had been deprived of such for the past eight years. His 'uncle' had quickly become the most important person in his life.
"Shh... You're fine. Well, you know now why I wouldn't tell you who you're parents are, yet. A shinobi's gotta have control of their emotions first; it is essential in the field." He stood up. "There's a full night ahead of me, and much to do. I suggest you get some rest and practice your meditation to gain more control over those fancy eyes. I wish there was something else I could say to you right now, something to comfort you, but I'm not a father, even an uncle. Its not like I'll ever be able to call myself your father. Take care of yourself."
With a solemn look on his face, Jiraiya waved goodbye to Naruto and left. He wasn't a father, he had failed his own godson, and now he had the chance to make things right. Emotions were too high in the room for him to worry about the latter, he'd have to clear his head with a night out. After that, he might be able to do some more right in the world, and his new student could help him out with his dreams.
Hours later, when the stars were finally shining outside the window, Naruto had finally calmed down enough to meditate. He sat in a lotus position on the floor of the room, fists pressed together as his eyes were closed in both concentration and passiveness. Focus, that was his only escape. Like with the fight with Gaara earlier, which he yet to mention to his godfather, he knew that his ability to use his dojutsu powers came from either focus or need. And right now, he needed to concentrate, clear his mind, think rationally. Being a kid, he was normally unable to achieve such a state, but the recent events numbed him, if only temporarily.
If he could just think of something other than being hated for such a dumb reason, maybe he could forget. Foolish child logic, meddling with his mind, convincing him of the impossible. Who was Naruto, then, if not someone destined to achieve the impossible, and motivated enough to do so?
As he concentrated, objects rose from the ground slowly, beginning to hover a few inches off the ground. Jiraiya's extra sandals were heavy, a virtual wall for him to conquer and advance his powers. If he could only hold this weightlessness for longer, he felt as if he could do anything. With a small smirk on his formerly impartial face, the sandals themselves joined the small cloud of dust forming.
Thrity minutes passed, complete silence in the room. The only sound, every now and then, was a small snoring coming from the room next door punctured by an object falling and smashing into the ground. His focus wavered too much, he had to hone his powers in order to keep everything suspended in air. But why was he trying to get stronger? Maybe the redhead from earlier was right, he had to live for himself.
He snapped his Rinnegan eyes open, small objects and dust falling back down onto the floorboards. He huffed. "Rediculous, I've got Jiraiya-oji. I'll prove to him that he made the right choice to train me."
3 Weeks later
"Naruto, it's your birthday in four days."
Two people were walking down the road. The taller, Jiraiya, had his hands behind his head as he walked with not a care in the world. The short one, even short for a boy, was none other than Uzumaki Naruto, who finally had some of the happiness that he wanted. Sure, training sucked and he hardly accomplished learning simple academy style katas, but he was going places. At least Jiraya said he was.
After the day in Suna, they spent the rest wandering around, staying for a day or two in some smaller, rowdier towns. The Sannin, on orders from Hiruzen, had a few people to meet in the Land of Fire to check for any rising criminals or find nukenin. Apart from the training, Naruto would classify the rest as 'thankfully boring,' considering that he didn't want another life-threatening encounter with a crazy madman.
By the end of the three weeks, the blond had actually figured out that the recharge time for his jutsu was, according to Jiraiya, five seconds. The problem was that he couldn't use it one time out of ten. The Sannin also helped him to figure out that he could change the size of the gravity pulse, even force it to have directionality. That didn't mean that he was much better with using it. If he made the blast bigger, he couldn't do anything too large yet without his eyes hurting badly and feeling tired, the recharge time would increase. So far, neither he nor his uncle had any idea how to unravel the mystery of the other five paths, but Jiraiya seemed to think that it came from being put in stressful situations, needing a solution.
The toad sage promised to help him discover them after Naruto had mastered the academy style taijutsu and at least one ninjutsu of each element. Ninjutsu training was scheduled to begin after he could do the hand seals with genin fluency. Naruto wasn't the sharpest when it came to memorization, hand seals needed much of it, so he was upset at the requirement.
"Meh, its not really that special."
"Course it is, you idiot. Its the day you were born, and by Kami if you have to be grateful for something, at least choose that."
"You know, I would be grateful if I didn't have to have such a perv of a godfather!"
"Ehhh!?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "You found my books! I thought I hid them," he chuckled, amused by his student's antics.
"They're disgusting!" Naruto stuck out his tongue to prove the point.
"Yeah... You're probably too young to have read them."
"I'm almost nine years old!" He crossed his arms and stepped in front of Jiraiya in defiance.
"Exactly," smirked the Sannin, patting the boy on the head. He walked straight through Naruto, knocking him stumbling to the side of the path, nearly crashing into a wagon going the other way. Naruto replied by hitting the white haired man in the stomach, accomplishing nothing but getting sore knuckles.
"Hmph, when can you teach me cool jutsu!? I want to be an epicly awesome shinobi!" The wagon owner turned towards them, muttering something about troublesome shinobi under his breath before sighing and continuing his lame journey.
"Once your hand seals are faster than the speed of a snail. You know, you can't rely on those fancy eyes of yours for everything. Nagato didn't, and I expect you to work your hardest to have the same level of skill as him. When he was ten, he was at least chuunin level and didn't even know about the Rinnegan."
"Nagato this, Nagato that, and you won't even take me to Ame! Promise me you'll take me if I work on those hand seals all day tomorrow," Naruto followed Jiraiya as they resumed the trek.
"Ame is a dangerous place..."
"Oh yeah? And Suna wasn't?"
"It's nothing compared to Ame," an irritated Jiraiya snapped back. "Besides, I've heard rumors recently that both Hanzo and those orphans that I trained, including Nagato, probably died with him. So yeah, now it's most likely a lawless village full of thieves and murderers, but who knows? They're just too secretive."
Naruto groaned obnoxiously, comically hanging his head down. "I'm so bored. Why does it take so long to get to Tonika Village?"
For the fourth time that day, Jiraiya chose to completely ignore that overused question in favor of peace and quiet. The village was always a nice place to go, and it would be an easy place to stay at when he began to teach Naruto ninjutsu. Some places... didn't appreciate shinobi as much as others. The sensei and student, now a fully fledged family, continued walking in an awkward silence, each running out of conversation points after a three week journey.
Standing in the center of an osais, Tonika Village was a pretty village by sunset. The desert around it stretched for a few miles and was little fun for the two, as the journey lasted all afternoon until sunset. Many yellow lights illuminated the windows of moderately large houses, each where only a single family stayed. By no means were they considered wealthy, but the village did gain a great deal of favor from the Hokage for reasons Jiraiya wasn't familiar with. Though, he was certain it was related to some type of dangerous weapon that they were containing.
If that suspicion was true, then the large amount of guards was easily explained. When the two had finally passed through both the wasteland and the forest, they came upon a small wall surrounding the pretty village. In the center was a stone lined circle with large pillars sticking out from it, all of which looked out of place in the village. Like Tonika was built around it.
"This place is pretty cool," Naruto commented as they entered through the miniature gate. He realized how worthless it was, considering that there was only twenty feet of gate and the rest was naturally protected.
"Not many come here," the guard barred their way. He was a round man with a small, spiky beard, and a large black mustache. He had short, black hair that stuck up, held in place by a white bandaged wrapped around his forehead. A pair of red glasses rested on his nose, giving no one the impression of a reliable guard.
Jiraiya smiled at the fat man. "I'm on business from the Hokage to see Hiroto, the village head. The papers are here if you need them." The white haired man forked over three pieces of paper to prove their identity and their goal. The militia guard looked them over, not really checking them for authenticity. His mind wasn't in it, and who faked official papers from the Hokage?
"Apologies. Its my job to make sure people are here in peace, especially the shinobi."
Naruto interrupted them, "Lets get going already! I'm hungry!"
The glasses wearing guard chuckled. "He's your son? I'm thinking of teaching kids like him if this job doesn't work out."
"I really hope he's not my son," he snickered.
"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up to hit the man on the shoulder. Jiraiya kept bickering with the kid as they walked past the guard into the village.
"Have a good stay! My name's Dokku if you need me..." If they heard him, they made no sign of stopping their insane conversation, so he went back to guarding. Well, his shift was up anyways. In his opinion, he probably wasn't cut out to be part of the militia...
The next day was uneventful. Well, most of it was. Jiraiya had left to hand Hiroto a letter that he received from a messenger during his travels. Naruto was bored out of his minds, endlessly repeating a few patterns. Once he decided that was boring, he wandered around to buy some lunch with the money Jiraiya left.
He was going though the market district, a small place, when he spotted a shop that captured his eye and peaked his curiosity. Weapons and Arms, the sign read in black print. 'Huh, well he did tell me to spend the money how I wanted, and I've never been in a weapons store before.'
It was awesome for any kid, almost dream like. It was a small store, but it was jam packed with absolutely anything you could see. Katanas, tantos, bo staffs, wakizashis, spiky mace-things, and a whole bunch of other odd contraptions that left Naruto speechless. Kunai, shuriken, they had it all.
"What do you want kid?"
"Uhh, I'm just looking. It's all too expensive for me anyways." The man that he couldn't see, he was in the backroom, grunted at that and went back to whatever he was doing. Naruto heard some hammering, no doubt from the man forging a sword, but he paid it no mind, he was intrigued. Jiraiya had given him kunai, but he never held a sword before.
He grabbed small wakizashi off the shelf and held it with one hand. It was boring, basic black with a grey handle and white bandages to give it grip, but it was badass in the boy's opinion. The first thing he noticed was how light it was, then how sharp the blade was. Like the child he was, he swung it down in an arc, playfully twirling it around. He may not have been able to pay for it now, but a sword of some sort was definitely something that he wanted for his birthday.
Afterwards, he grabbed some lunch and returned to the hotel, where he found Jiraiya waiting outside the building. He had a look of urgency on his face, one of the rare expressions that Naruto had yet to see from the man. What could have been so important?
"We have to leave. Now!" He grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and they started walking back towards the gate. "Hurry, we have to get there before the lead goes cold."
"What happened!?" Naruto shouted as the man forcefully dragged his godson through the gate. Dokku gave them a short nod before returning to a conversation with his friend.
"Sensei sent me a letter," he said in a grave voice.
"Jiji!" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki exclaimed. "What'd he say?"
"A criminal organization called the Akatsuki, can you run all the way to Tanzaku-Gai with breaks for sleep and food?" That trip would be an entire day at jounin speeds, how could he get there in two without having trained for enough?
"Maybe, bu-"
"Good, then run," Jiraiya took off, running through the forest towards the forest around the town.
'But I'm only eight...' Naruto finished in his head, struggling to keep pace with his uncle. No matter what, he would not be a burden.
More so, he was concerned about the recent worry. What could have the toad sage so worked up? Trees whizzing by, he found the breath to ask. "What is so important about the Akatsuki? There are other criminal organizations out there?"
"Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame... Orochimaru," he paused as he said the last name, "they're all S-rank missing-nin. I need to find out more before this group becomes larger," Jiraiya explained, giving Naruto all of the information from the letter.
Nothing was really known about the group so far, they hadn't done anything, but they could not have ever expected to know half of the madness originating and circulating around the Akatsuki. As an experienced and hardened shinobi, however, the Sannin clearly knew the dangers of such a group, just not quite how world-changing their motives were. Still, they could only be savory at best.
The afternoon flew by, worry and curiosity overflowing both of them.
"Can we slow down, there's no way I can run this fast," Naruto complained, staggering a bit and stopping.
"I'll carry you, but we have to get to Tanzaku-Gai soon, before they disappear completely."
It was twelve hours later when Jiraiya had finally succumbed to fatigue from carrying the blond so far. They were about halfway to Tanzaku-Gai, but they had earned a rest. Tired and hungry, the both of them sat down by a small fire and warmed their hands in the solemn night October air. Travelling all day was of no problem for the Sannin on normal occasions; however, Naruto wasn't used to long periods of time awake and sleepless, even if he had gone a day or two without eating properly in the past. For the Sannin, it was extra painful to drag a kid along at the strenuous speeds.
"Rabbit stew?" Jiraiya asked, handing Naruto a small wooden bowl full of it. Sealing let any fuuinjutsu master carry practically anything they needed with a big enough scroll. Yes, even a live rabbit...
"Thanks!" Naruto pipped up, grabbing the bowl, frowning at the lack of noodles, then ravenously beginning to devour it. The toad sage shuddered, Uzumakis had enormous appetites.
"Oi, Jiraiya-oji, this is pretty good!" he managed.
The anxious godfather gave a smile back, not too intent on talking. Instead, he took up worrying about his former teammate, Orochimaru, knowing whatever he was in the criminal organization for, it couldn't be good. For anyone. On a more personal note, he still believed he could save the snake summoner, no matter how far gone his sensei may have thought the man. While it was a wake up call for Hiruzen, Jiraiya still thought people, namely his friend, had good in them, hidden somewhere.
"Are you alright?" The blond asked, noticing how Jiraiya stared distantly into the fire.
He snapped his eyes up. Come on, brooding in front of such an innocent kid? He wasn't an Uchiha. "Heh, sorry there Naruto. I was just worried that I might have to somehow keep you out of the way if we do go after the Akatsuki."
"No way! That'd be soooo boring. Besides, you're an S-rank ninja and have yet to do anything super-cool other than summoning those icky toads."
"Icky!" Jiraiya grunted back, not really fully involved in the argument. "I am too a legendary shinobi!" Deciding to cheer himself up, he placed his bowl on the ground and stood up.
With an extravagant pose, he exclaimed, "I have defeated evil foes and even fought kages! You have no idea what an S-rank means."
"Yeah, yeah. And with all your senseiness that you obviously excell in, all of your students ditched you."
Jiraiya's jaw dropped at the boy's complete and utter idiocy and ignorance to his skills. Of course, it was in a playful way, having been close to the boy for a while. "It wasn't my fault. Minato Namikaze, your fath... fellow student, died saving Konoha. Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko were all from Ame anyways, I didn't have the political power at the time to take them to Konoha." He nearly slapped himself for becoming so careless around his godson that he almost revealed Naruto's heritage. Hey, even spy masters and professionals slipped up around their closest, most trustworthy friends. At least his wasn't in front of some powerful political figure or strong shinobi.
"It sounded like you were saying..."
"You know what, I'll give you a demonstration of a jutsu, but you have to promise to stop running your mouth constantly when I'm caring you."
Naruto rolled his eyes and mumbled back in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry you can't stop your hair from swinging at my neck, or that you can't stay steady when jumping between trees..."
"What was that!" His uncle figure shouted in an accusatory tone.
"N-nothing, Oji-san. I said that you're a great person to talk to."
Detecting the lie with an inward sigh, Jiraiya responded with a grin, "just for that, you'll take watch all night and I can get some beuty sleep." All night was actually only three hours, Jiraiya was in a rush and they would probably get a chance to rest when they got there.
"Senseeeeiiiiii!" Naruto complained, tossing an empty bowl at Jiraiya.
"No more for you," the man said, placing Naruto's bowl next to his own, only to return to eating his dinner.
Smirking evilly, Naruto's eyes ripped a bit, glowing slightly in the night, and the empty bowl flew right back into his outstretched hand. He scooped some stew from the pot and kept eating.
"What was that?" Jiraiya sighed.
"BanshÅ Tenin," the blond replied as if it explained everything.
"Well, good night," the toad sage, smirked back, knowing that his student had to stay on watch. Ignoring the complaints, Jiraiya extinguished the fire and cleaned the bowls and pot, sealing them back up in his scroll. Resting his head on an unsealed pillow, the man fell asleep, anxiety hardly leaving him alone.
Tanzaku-Gai was a rowdy place, gambling hub, and just a different kind of area in the shinobi world. A tourism town, known for their magnificent castle, full of drunkards, idiotic civilians, and a good deal of thief-run markets and illegal gambling hubs. Not like they enforced the laws anyways. All in all, it wasn't a place for kids to go, and Naruto may appear as a normal kid, even more idiotic, but he couldn't be more aware of the dangers. In a way, it was like the slums of Konoha, not that they were true slums per say.
Jiraiya led the boy, he was finally silent, tired to an ugly-looking bar. It reminded the Rinnegan wielder of the place that he first saw Jiraiya in, making him grin a little in remembrance. What would his kids say, if he had any, when he told them that the only reason he got so awesome was because he walked past a bar like this. Oh, the thought!
The bartender was pouring an obscenely large glass of beer for one dirty-looking traveller when they walked in. Some heads turned, a few snorted out loud at the sight of a young kid. One or two recognized the man from Iwa's bingo book, or the history books, as one of the legendary Sannin. The grunted in disbelief, thinking of how it wasn't such an important event, hopelessly returning to their drinks or bar food.
"Jiraiya-san," the bartender greeted gruffly, quietly.
'Odd,' Naruto noted, 'that guy didn't use -sama like most who knew him. Probably the informant. Course he is, Jiraiya-oji practically lives at these places.' The man had a worn face, like he had a rough past, accentuating his middle aged features. While he might have been in his early thirties, he appeared as if he was in his late forties.
"Ah, Kazumi," he leaned closer to make sure no one could hear, "I'm looking for information about the Akatsuki."
The man placed down his rag and slid a drink to a woman a few feet away. "Akatsuki, I haven't heard of 'em."
"Look, we both know you hear everything going on this town. Tell me, you're supposed to give me information." Naruto tried to listen to what they were saying, only for Jiraiya to hold a hand back, pushing lightly on his chest. "Sit down, Naruto, let me deal with this." With a nod, the blond left and found a table to sit at, bored.
"Hmph, as if. I wouldn't say anything about a group like that with my family on the line. Maybe you're starting to get worse at finding things yourself."
"Your family wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. You owe me, and I'll get what I want to know from you whether you decide to cooperate or not," he whispered, dangerously. Jiraiya may have done torture and other morally grey things on missions, but he didn't do it much anymore. Kazumi didn't have to know that.
He grunted again, forcing the Sannin to rub his forehead in annoyance, "I get paid double for this moth of helping you."
"Fine, just tell me!" he whispered urgently, raising his voice enough for the nearest people to hear.
"All I know is that they're taking mercenary jobs. Bounty hunts and alike; I think they're building up for something big. All of 'em have got these black cloaks and red clouds on 'em, fits their name. Supposedly, there were two here yesterday, staying at the place across the street. Said something about hunting some group if that makes any sense."
"Where are they now?" It was the afternoon, most people shouldn't still be in the same hotel, not if they wanted to avoid anyone trailing them. Then again, they probably wouldn't have thought that they'd be followed.
"I'd check the room first, see if they're there. Could be anywhere by now, though," he added leaning back against a rack of bottles, shrugging.
Jiraiya leaned over, seriousness on his face. "Is Orochimaru with them?"
"That snake friend of yours," the man replied nonchalantly. "Haven't heard of him. Must be around four or five members in there by now, he might not be one."
"Thanks," standing up straight, the Sannin turned around, walking to the exit. "Naruto!" he commanded, breaking the kid from his daydreams. They exitted the building, a few people pausing from their drinks to give a short glare at the man, then they returned to their normal loud conversation. The streets were filled with the normal hustle and bustle of the daily life. Unfortunately for Tanzaku-Gai's business, very few people were on the streets today. A cart or two went by, maybe five or so civilians were anywhere near. The town didn't wake up until night
"Naruto, stay outside I'm goin... Get back!" Coming out of that very building were two people in black cloaks, red clouds on them. One had a leaf headband, turned to the side of his head, slash running through the middle, but his face could not be seen to the two. The other was unusual blue, a trait Jiraiya knew to describe the missing-nin Hoshigake Kisame.
At the sound of Jiraiya's shout, both turned to face them. "Jiraiya-sama, how nice to meet you here." Uchiha Itachi, S-rank missing-nin of Konoha, known for his mastery of the sharingan and knowledge in just about every vital shinobi category. Tactical genius. His face was much older than that of a fifteen year old, slick black hair held back in a ponytail. Lines were formed under his eyes in his neutral expression.
The other man had a feral shark-like appearance. Two small eyes sat above gill-like black lines on his face, his teeth were sharp in an amused grin. A large bandaged sword was strapped to his back, the scratched out Kiri forehead protector, and Jiraiya's knowledge all figured that this man was an ex member of the Seven Swordsmen.
"Where's Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked, backing into a stance. Some of the civilian passer-byes saw the general signal of a shinobi fight and began clearing the streets so fast, one would wonder how unusual fights were in this part of the town. Naruto backed away a little, behind Jiraiya, but he could not flee. He couldn't be completely useless, no matter how out of his league these two were supposed to be.
"He left," replied Itachi simply, loosening the collar of his cloak. Red, his eyes were now red, Jiraiya noticed. The Sharingan blazed like an omen of death and power, predicting his every move.
His partner laughed a little. "Oh, come on Itachi! You didn't have to make it so easy for them. We should grab the kid, that way we won't have to later." With an exaggerated motion, the man swung the bandaged sword from behind his back and stuck it, blade first, on the ground. One hand gripped the handle, the other resting at his side.
The Sannin narrowed his eyes. "What do you want with Naruto?"
The renegade Uchiha interrupted Kisame, just as he was about to speak. "It is irrelevant. Kisame, we cannot capture him yet, Leader-sama has not given the order." Could they want the Rinnegan? Maybe, it was a legend. Then why couldn't they capture him, Jiraiya wondered, deciding that it could, in fact, be the Kyuubi as well. Actually, there were a multitude of reasons they could want to capture Naruto, from ransom to power.
The ex-Kiri nin laughed at his partner, swinging his sword in front of his chest, hungry for a fight. Samehada, the sword, rattled in its bloodthirst as well. "Since when have you been good at following orders? Wiping out your entire clan hardly is truly an act of obedience!" Jiraiya could have sworn that the passive look in Itachi's features broke for just a second. What was it? Pain? Guilt? It was too short.
"I'm Jiraiya of the Sannin! Just try to get past me!" He had to act, now! Before things could get out of hand. Information could be extracted from them later, but paramount for the toad sage was Naruto's safety. 'Don't look at the eyes,' he reminded himself, thinking up strategies. They needed to get out of the streets, avoid the civilians, but how? How could he draw them away from Naruto and the entire town of innocents.
Finally slipping into a moderately involved stance, the stoic Uchiha placed a foot forward. It was always best for him to appear unprepared, when in reality he was ready to move in a split second. "I suppose we have no choice, Jiraiya of the Sannin."
"Naruto get away!" The toad sage shouted, worried that the Rinnegan would get
"Let's get this started!" Kisame shouted, charging forward.
"Shinra Tensei!" The blond boy shouted, meters away, holding his hand up. Kisame, caught unaware, flew back, landing softly next to Itachi on his back. It only worked to increase the bloodlust in the air. Naruto was proud of himself, but scared beyond his wits end at the same time.
"Dammit, Naruto, you can't even hold your own against them."
The jinchuuriki backed a bit further away. "Sorry, Oji-san. I'll stay away," he said, still not registering the full gravity of the situation.
He jumped onto a large wagon, using it to hop onto a one story house's black shingled roof. He stayed as far back from the impending fight as he could, over forty feet, but so he could still see what was happening. The place was deslote, silence descendig like a fog. The once populated streets were abandoned, and people were hiding in their houses.
Kisame chuckled, dusting himself off as he stood up. "Now, that was a surprise. Leader-sama is going to love this." He tilted his head to give Naruto an evil look. "Well, lets begin."
A/N: Dang, did that fight have a bit of buildup or what? Ha, now you guys gotta wait till next chapter to find out what happens with their fight. I know, Jiraiya should not have found out so much about the Akatsuki this early, but this is all logical. The Hokage gets information, he sends it to Jiraiya, then he acts. The butterfly effect here should be more than logic enough for this to be a sensible event. Trust me, there will be a large gap before any large scale fights after this one, so don't think that I'm doing too much too fast. This event will give Naruto a goal, push him harder to succeed.
I said Naruto would unlock his path here, but I didn't write about as much of his training as I'd thought, so it'll be put off.
Thanks so much for reading, and don't hesitate to give me constructive criticism! Hell, go and rage at this if any of your points actually make sense (not really, but don't be afraid to be a little harsh).
Jiraiya out