Yay finally posted a new chapter xD it was taking me quite a while but it's up. I will probably decide who Tsunade picks for the mission by the next chapter and if not then definitely by chapter 9, so if you have a favorite Chūnin or Jōnin that you'd like to see (read) in the story then let me know soon (: Also I'm sorry if you're a big Ebisu fan, because i will make fun of him in this chapter. (: he's just so uptight all the time I love it xD
Disclaimer- No, Naruto is not mine...
Chapter 7: "The Missing Jinchūriki"
"I already looked there!" Udon whined as he was ordered to once again look in the Ichiraku Ramen shop for the fourth time.
"He goes there all the time, just look again!" Konohamaru was tired and was definitely at his last nerve. The group that consisted of Udon, Moegi, and himself had had no luck finding Naruto. They had searched for an hour at his usual spots, his apartment, the ramen shop, the hospital, and the whole downtown area; all of which led to more whining from the two and a very irritated Konohamaru.
"Let's give up already, he's obviously not around here" Moegi said coming out of one of the pastry shops Naruto usually visited. Moegi and Udon gave Konohamaru their best puppy dog look and he sighed. He couldn't resist his friends sometimes, nodding in a defeated manner; the short boy started walking back to the academy with his friends in tact when he heard a familiar voice that made him scowl.
"Omago-sama, what are you doing here? Why aren't you at the academy?" the panicking voice belonged to none other than his personal sensei, Ebisu. The tall thin man with round dark glasses went from panic to irritation as he figured out they must have skipped class today.
"This isn't how the honorable grandson of the third Hokage should act, haven't I taught you better?"
Konohamaru scowled and was about to state his case when another voice disturbed him.
"Konohamaru-kun?"
The boy looked to his right and saw a very pissed off looking Iruka coming their way, no doubt that he would give them detention for a month if he knew they left class, but the face lost its threatening demeanor when he also spotted Ebisu.
"Ebisu-san? What are you doing here with these kids?" Iruka questioned; had something happened while he was gone?
"W-well"…Ebisu paused to adjust his glasses but caught the glance of Konohamaru, he looked quite distressed, Ebisu was used to seeing Konohamaru get scolded by his academy teacher as well as the detention but he had never seen Konohamaru this way, it unnerved him greatly. 'Maybe it's best to get the whole story from Konohamaru-kun before jumping to conclusions'
Ebisu cleared his throat and was stoned set on his objective, his shinobi trained brain kicked in.
"Yes, well, I-I had um-"
Konohamaru saw the true intent behind Ebisu's words.
'He's trying to cover for us, you're the best Ebisu-sensei' Konohamaru thought with an internal admiration.
The young genin smiled at his sensei and decided to help the struggling shinobi.
"Iruka-sensei, Ebisu went to go get us from the academy because he-um he" Konohamaru looked around the crowded streets of Konoha to see anything that could help him with the excuse he was giving his teacher and then he thought of a great one as he remembered what he had in his bag, "he forgot he lent me these" the young boy pulled his backpack from his shoulders and opened it revealing a skinny book and some papers in a folder.
Ebisu smiled at his young clever apprentice and nodded at the confused Iruka before him, taking hold of the objects in Konohamaru's hand.
"Oh thank you Omago-sama I forgot we were looking at these yesterday and I let you borrow them, Iruka-san, I needed these documents urgently for you see they-", If Ebisu had one regret in his whole life it was opening that folder and book.
Everyone would have seen the stoic shinobi's eyes bulge out of their sockets if it hadn't been for the round dark glasses hiding them. He was so confused and mortified he wanted to disappear. For the 'books' and 'documents' were actually what looked to be very graphic pictures of many naked female forms to put it in euphemistic terms.
Everyone huddled in the group got a very good glimpse of the images before Ebisu had closed it like his life depended on it. Konohamaru and his friends gave Ebisu a strange look while Iruka was very irritated. All he could think of was why had Ebisu lent Konohamaru those things in the first place..seriously!
"I-I…I'm…I-"
It was the most awkward moment in history, they all just stood there staring blankly at Ebisu who was now sweating out of every pore in his body and visibly shaking, his brain going frantic trying to think of anything he could say or do that wouldn't make him look like a pervert/pedophile in front of his fellow Iruka.
It wasn't working, and Iruka was now really regretting taking the shortcut back to the academy so he could have dodged this whole ordeal and mostly finding out his respected fellow was a closet freak.
Iruka decided it was time to head back to class and see if anyone else had decided to leave early. He'd deal with all this later, and try to block it out of his mind somehow.
"Yes, well I have to go", he looked to the three children standing to his right, "Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon"
"Hai sensei", the three said in unison straightening their posture.
"I will give you all a week of detention, would have been a month but Ebisu did have a…reason"
He decided to leave the 'good' out of his sentence. The spiky haired teacher nodded at the three genin and nodded at Ebisu but kept his eyes away from the man, he really didn't feel comfortable looking him in the eye just quite yet.
Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon stared after their teacher until he disappeared from sight and then turned to Ebisu. The sweating was still there and the pity look from the three remained as they saw the man glaring at the folder as if trying to burn it with his eyes.
Enough was enough.
"Ebisu-sense-", Konohamaru couldn't get out much as he was quickly interrupted by his sweat covered teacher.
"Konohamaru-kun!" the voice was squeaky and alarming; the man cleared his throat and continued. "Where did you get these?" the slim man held it up but urgently brought it back down as a bit of the folder opened.
Konohamaru's eyes squinted as he tried to remember.
-24 hours ago-
"Konohamaru-kun!"
The boy recognized the deep voice instantly; he had always been friendly with the man as he had always been around his grandfather.
"What are you doing here Jiraiya-san?"
"Oh I need you to do me a big favor boy, you see I'm going on a mission and Kakashi-san is quite busy at the moment and I can't disturb him so I need you to deliver these to him whenever you see him"
Jiraiya pulled out a folder and a slim hard covered book from his back. He handed it to the boy with a knowing smirk for he knew the boy had always been the curious type.
"Don't hesitate boy; if you're curious go ahead and look, even young boys like yourself should be informed in the marvels and wonders that this world has to offer".
Truth be told Konohamaru wasn't really that interested in the contents of the folder or book he thought it would be boring mission files that adults usually handled so when the tall white haired sennin spoke of these 'marvels and wonders' he was now really intrigued.
Jiraiya smirked at the boy and looked over his shoulder as he opened the folder.
He remembered being very disappointed after opening the folder; he thought it would be a cool new ninjutsu or something along those lines. He told Ebisu the story and really wasn't sure why everyone was over reacting. He didn't get what the big deal was about, or why Jiraiya had been acting like such a fool, he had always been exposed to these sorts of things; he had mastered one particular jutsu just like Naruto in this exact aspect and was damn proud of it too. 'Adults are so weird sometimes' he thought rolling his eyes.
After Ebisu had calmed himself down as best he could and had added Jiraiya to his 'list' they carried on and got back on track to the reason he had covered up for the kids in the first place.
"Omago-sama, why are you and your friends skipping school?"
The boy's once calm face was now alert and vigilant. "Ebisu-sensei, we need to find Naruto-nii-chan, there is something strange going around Konoha and we-" he spread his arms wide motioning to his friends and Ebisu "need to protect the village, and I know I can count on Naruto nii-chan".
The man unconcerned and aloof as ever decided to go along with this a little more as Konohamaru had given him the details as they walked.
"Okay omago-sama, I know I can trust you and have always respected your word, so that's why I'll lead you to Naruto"
"You know where he is Ebisu-sensei?" the boy's eyes lightened up in an instant at the words.
"Yep, he's at the training grounds with Kakashi-senpai and Yamato-san, he's quite busy I hear but I think you can manage to tell him what's going on, if what you tell me is correct and no one is doing anything about this incident then Naruto-kun is your best choice".
Konohamaru nodded and followed his teacher and friends to the training grounds.
Next chapter will either feature Hidan and Sunnora or Tsunade and the new mission candidates (: again sorry Ebisu-san, you're awesome!
Review and let me know who you'd like to see for the mission ^-^
(and to Gaarasgirl23- no I can't add Gaara to the mission, has to be someone from Konoha, lol just letting you know)
thanks everyone for reading!