Scroll 2, Missing Nin
A single, crimson eye watched the blonde-haired kid – most probably aged 14 – enter the busy village streets next to the old, white-haired sannin known as Jiraiya-sama. Seeing two ninjas that hailed from the same village as her own was certainly shocking enough; but knowing that these two particular shinobi were out and about nearly stopped her heart from beating.
Shifting her lithe, long body around to gain a better view, she sharply watched as the pair of shinobi stop to look down at their map. Being lost in a small, yet busy village hidden deep within the Snow Country was not exactly the place to be. The eldest daughter of her father decided to finish her lame excuse for coffee and investigate just why one of the legendary sannin was here; and dragging along a brat-kid.
However, it was the animal next to her that interrupted her train of thought. A husky aged-beyond-prime ninken lifted his grizzled head and turned his scarred muzzle up towards her.
"I smell a pervert and a Bijuu, Rai-sama." The dog rasped out.
"Yea, I know." She replied as her uncovered eye tracked the pair into the main village tavern.
"I don't think they are here for you, Rai-sama." The dog turned his head towards the two Shinobi as they vanished into the building. "Otherwise they would have come with more force."
"Honta-chan, think about it: one of the legendary sannin walks into the village, toting the Nine-tailed brat?" Rai snorted as she pulled up the tan hood of her winter coat. "Why else would they be here instead of warm Konohagakure?"
She had long since given up hope of ever returning home to Konohagakure. Since that fateful, ugly day eight years ago; she had lost everything she had when her fiancée forced her to become a missing Nin in order to save her clan. It was too close a call in escaping; and she still had the wounds that the traitorous Uchiha had given her.
As it stood now, the kunoichi barely had the traits needed that once made her elite among the ANBU Bird-Squad. The bastard of her fiancée had thrown a paper bomb at her face; and the roll of the dice of ill-fated luck, she had no way of countering or evading the thing. The paper bomb not only had a split-second fuse, but a hidden sealing jutsu. Since then, the use of her visual kekkai genkai could only be used in her left eye – and only on those days of which she could muster enough will-power to force through the residual seal-jutsu that lay over her right eye.
That was just for using her doujutsu. Raikanami Uzaruki had fled to this remote Snow village in hopes of evading Itachi Uchiha. Not that he'd really come after her to kill her; she had his promise of her life as long as she stayed out of the Fire-Nation. She had not seen her fiancée since the day she fled her village. It hurt to not be with the one you loved.
Stuffing her payment in the still damp coffee mug; Raikanami stood up to stretch her muscles and warm them up against the warmer-chill air of the village's summer air. Covering her right side –her main weakness was her bandaged right-eye – Honta grunted as he followed his mistress into the village's main center.
The once jet-black dog was a gift from her once closet friend, Hana Inuzuka. He had been with the Uzaruki woman since he was a year old; and was honored enough to serve outside the Dog-Nin clan. Now his salt & coal speckled fur was sign enough that he was too old to be included in active battle – not that he had seen active battle for seven years now.
Following his mistress into this no-name backwater Snow village years ago; he had helped her and her eagles take down a rogue, self-appointed ninja leader. Since then, however, he had taken it easy. The canine followed her into the village's tavern, twelve steps behind the two ninjas from Konoha.
"What are you planning to do, Rai-san?" Honta chuckled to himself as they chose a spot in the corner next to the tavern's roaring fire. The years living in the cold village had been unkind to Honta; if the creaking and groaning of his bones gave any indication.
"Eavesdrop to see what that old pervert is doing here." She answered in a whisper. Pulling her head deeper into her hood, Raikanami leaned back and waved the bar-maid away.
Since she and Honta had ended up in this village; she had been left in relative peace. Peace enough that a village hero could take. Raikanami had fought and killed the village idiot – a ninja that had put himself as the local leader. A leader that was not only cruel and cold-hearted; but sadistic as well. Raikanami, being the ninja-trained kunoichi she was, had taken the villagers' offer and defeated the fake daimyo.
Since then, the villagers had – and still do – treated her like a hero. Raikanami had employed herself to protect the now-growing village and its inhabitants. She had even gone as far as established her own training school to teach villagers into a force that could defend themselves.
Now that the old pervert sannin was nosing around, it was most likely a cover to spy on her and take her down. Raikanami would be an idiot if she were to let an old pervert like Jiraiya ruin her mild life.
XXX
"Look, kid; we'll take a day or two to see of that earth master is in this village before moving on, ok?" The white-haired sannin growled out to his young, blonde student. "I mean, the rumors are pretty strong that she resides here."
"SEE! I knew we were here for the women, Ero-sensei." Naruto scowled up at the old male ninja that had dragged him into the small, remote Snow country village based on several strong rumors that a jounin-class earth-style jutsu master was in the area. However, since their discussion on which type of element would be best suited to use against Sasuke's fire-style jutsu, they had agreed on searching for earth-style jutsus. It was their plan to train in jutsu element that would ace over the Uchiha fire-style.
"This is so stupid, Ero-sannin, why are we going to waste even an hour here in this tiny village!" The stripe-cheeked boy was building fire to his fuming. "The chance that we are going to find a ninja in this place is nil!"
The blue-eyed sannin turned away from placing his order with the bar tender and focused on Naruto only for a second before letting his gaze free at the six or so patrons in the rather small tavern room. "Look, if there is even a remote chance of catching an earth-style master here; then we could be steps ahead of ourselves."
The bartender pointed them towards an empty table before busying himself with preparing Jiraiya's drink order.
"Besides, we've been on the road for a solid week, Naruto. I'd say you deserve a rest!" The old pervert walked over to an empty table; just now noticing the hood-covered head placed within the shadows. The person's body stance had habits enough to remind him of the shinobi upbringing – the way they had the hood covering their head, the fact they sat in an out-of-the-way corner and last but not least; the grizzled old dog that sat at the person's feet. "Tell, you what, you go post this on that huge board outside and go find us a hotel room for the night."
Naruto stared at his sensei with hard eyes; watching the old man scribble out a message on a scroll. This was just another lame attempt of Jiraiya's fostered upon him to get Naruto out of the way. Naruto, sadly enough, had no decent excuse to give to wiggle out of the chore.
"Man, why do I also get stuck with the stupid pointless chores." Naruto grumbled as he took the note and trudged out the door into the chill air.
Jiraiya, smiling to himself as the bar maid gave him his sake, stood up and lumbered over to the person near the fireplace.
"It's warm in here with a coat, I would say." The sannin had that instinct that this ninja-like person was a female. As to why she had her features hidden was something that tugged at his curiosity. "Why don't you take off that coat, miss, and I'll order us some sake to warm us up!"
XXX
Great, just superb. The old pervert has decided to nestle up to me for some female companionship. Rai had only two options: reveal herself to the old sannin, or put up a genjutsu and roll with the flow. Honta was pinned against the wall due to the position the old Toad-master had placed himself in. The old pervert was too well positioned for it to be called a random sitting. The dog could only look at her and whine. It has a given, unspoken word between them that they remained in their act for as long as possible. But when Jiraiya had ambled up to her, that act was cut very, very short: she was not in the mood to cast a Genjutsu and pretend to remotely enjoy the sannin's company. So that left one option: to cut to the chase and kick him out.
"Well, why are you so far from home, hm…Jiraiya-sama?" Her voice came soft in volume, but deadly in annoyance.
"WHAT!" The old man flinched back in astonishment. Raikanami used this opening to pull her hands together and create a lightning fast series of hand-signs to open her chakra paths for her jutsu.
XXX
Naruto had tacked the note onto the shoddy notice board that was old, stinky and rotted. The rot and smell were most likely products from the wet, chilly air that pervaded this backwater village. If Jiraiya was ever going to help him complete his training, then stopping in remote villages like this wasn't going to help.
Naruto had been away from home for a year now and missed his friends terribly: Sakura, Yukari, Kakashi, Iruka and the rest. He wondered what they would be doing when the earth trembled slightly and Jiraiya went flying out of the tavern with a stream of mud trailing near his stomach.
"Ero-sennin!" Naruto called out as he ran over to his fallen sensei-master. "What happened!"
Jiraiya was in the process of rubbing his jaw as he sat up. "Well, kid, I think we found our earth-master…" the white-haired man nodded his jaw towards the tavern's opening.
The black and white-furred dog that Naruto had glanced at in the tavern growled as it leapt out of the broken door.
"THAT is our earth master!" Naruto gaped in stunned thought. "A dog!"
"No, Honta-chan is not your earth-master, kid, I am!" A feminine voice flowed into his left ear as the ground underneath his feet opened up. Naruto jumped back, immediately forming a defensive position, his hands occupied with kunai. However, when he saw who came out of the ground; his reaction surprised even the attacker.
"Yukari-chan!" the blonde pointed in confusion.
"Who?" Jiraiya asked.
"My sister!" the woman blinked.
"Your sister?" Naruto yelled, confused.
"Raikanami!" Jiraiya finally recognized the voice as he drew Naruto back behind him as he began perform a jutsu. "Get back kid; she's a missing Nin from Konoha!"
"Say what?" Naruto cried out, trying to push the strong arm of the sannin away.
"Oh, isn't this a riot." The dog growled, as he lowered himself to the ground to pounce. "Some runt kid ruins our cover, Rai-sama. I'll make sure he doesn't live to tell about it!" Honta pounced.
"HARI JUTSU!" Jiraiya shouted and turned his white hair into a thick blanket of spiny needles; like a porcupine. The sannin leaned left to intercept the in-air dog.
"Honta! NO!" The older looking Yukari cried out as she too, leapt forward as Jiraiya moved.
"Ero-sennin! Yukari-lady, wait!" Naruto's troubled voice entered the fray.
"Doton Doryuuheki!" The red-eyed lady shouted. The woman slammed her foot into the ground and the action brought up a huge wall of brown, muddy earth to separate his sensei and the leaping dog. The speed that the Yukari-lady had brought up the dirt-wall had impressed Naruto enough that he stood up and interjected his voice.
"STOP THIS!" His voice caught both the attention of Jiraiya and the Yukari-lady. "We aren't here to fight; we're here to find an Earth-master."
XXX
The blonde-brat had guts, trying to stop a fight between two jounin level ninjas. Not that she was going to continue to fight after the boy had piqued her curiosity by calling her by her sister's name. She still had to intervene for Honta's sake – the pervert was going to impale her companion. She watched with mild disinterest as the mud wall lost its form and slopped back into the muddy pile it had grown from. Honta was shaking dirt and mud off his coat as he retreated to her side.
"Alright, blondie, I'll halt my attacks if you explain why you and the pervert sage are in this village."
The cheeky kid glared at her before going over to mutter something to the grey-haired toad-sage that was releasing the jutsu on his hair.
"Are you ok, Ero-sannin?" Naruto still held his eyes on her as he checked on his sensei.
"Look, kid, I'm waiting for an answer." She clucked as Jiraiya's hair lost its spiky form and returned to normal.
"Just why did you attack Ero-sannin?" The blonde-boy accused her. "I know he's into women and stuff, but that's no reason to fight him."
"Kid, I attacked because he's a threat to my life here." Raikanami sighed tiredly and sat down on the disrupted mud. "Heck, why do I even care, I've been so tired lately."
"What's your name, lady?" Naruto relaxed slightly as she sat down.
"My name? I am Raikanami Uzaruki."
"UZARUKI! Same as Yukari-chan!" Naruto was surprised now. Here he was standing in the middle of nowhere and faced off against his friend's older sister – of whom he did not know existed. "Are you related to Yukari Uzaruki!" He dumbly asked.
The kid isn't the brightest ninja in the pack… Rai thought to herself as she watched Jiraiya glare sharply at her. "Yea, the same as Yukari-chan, just how in the name of the seven kami do you know that name? Is she alive?"
"Raikanami-sama, if you would allow us the chance to explain things…" The old sannin finally spoke up; placing his hands on his knees as he lifted himself off the ground.
"Tch, you shut up, Ero-sama." Raikanami's name for Jiraiya sent the blonde-haired kid into a giggling fit. "I'll only talk to the kid; I don't trust you to keep your hands to yourself, Ero-sama."
"I'll only talk to you if you promise to teach me that cool Dirt Wall, lady." Naruto stopped laughing and pointed to Raikanami.
"Deal."
"Alright!"