Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any reference to any other thing owned by someone else.
Claimer: The OCs are mine. If any are sue-ish, well…they're still my sues.
Warning: Characters may sometimes be OOC. You have been warned.
Lost
Chapter 8
It had already been seven months since Jiraiya had last seen his student. It had also been some time since he met the trio of friends that he was travelling with, so far their wanderings had yielded no answers to the groups' questions. There were only two questions anyway. The priority, in Jiraiya's case anyway, was: Where was Naruto. While the other question was the puzzle and mystery that was Mikio's past.
Kiyomi had allowed Jiraiya to research, write, publish, and sell his books, so long as she made no appearance in any of them. Haru hadn't stopped calling him Ero-sennin. Mikio hadn't stopped consulting the Voice, unless they were too busy doing other things.
Kiyomi was a woman who acted prim, propper, demure, innocent, insance, nuts, and loco, depending on the situation.
Haru continued to act as a happy go lucky idiot most of the time. Often times getting the group into trouble, that Jiraiya and or Mikio would have to get them out of, but that didn't mean that Haru didn't help in thinking up a plan of escape and whatnot. During these times Kiyomi was the only liability, or something like that, seeing as she was usually somehow away from most of the more dangerous events that happened to cross paths with the group.
Mikio was the brains of the group, he handled everything from destination planning, to cooking. Letting Jiraiya lead on occasion, as well as pay for any and most expenses that the group had to pay.
The group of four had yet to encounter Ikkaku, who Jiraiya learned was actually named Ikkaku Sennin, his first name first and last name last, and subsequently it was also his title. The Ikkaku three of the members of the group knew was the actual Ikkaku Sennin, the one-horned rishi himself, of course he only had the one horn, everything else was different from what the usual description of him was.
So that was it, the group were just wandering aimlessly, going here and there and everywhere. Only meeting with Jiraiya's contacts every once a week, at random places all over the continent.
So far almost every week was an adventure. One of these adventures happened not two weeks after leaving Kiyomi's home.
As the group was travelling through one of the many caves in Hora no Kuni, Kiyomi was walking ahead of the group, leaving the three men behind.
Jiraiya did not feel any threats where they were and allowed Kiyomi to just walk ahead of them. There weren't many things that could hide from one of the Densetsu no Sannin.
Mikio was mentally conversing with the Voice, do he did not really pay attention to where he was going, but he knew that he was walking behind the Gama Sennin.
Haru on the otherhand had taken to bouncing on the walls of the cave, as well as swinging from stalactite to stalactite like a monkey.
They had been walking through the cave when suddenly the stalactite that Haru had grabbed onto cracked. He and the piece of limestone fell to the ground in an echoing and resounding crash. All four humans in the cave stood still. After a miinute of two of not moving, and nothing happening they just called it a close call. Haru's little mishap had not caused anything bad to happen to the group.
Kiyomi was the first one to see daylight and left the cave. But once she did, what should have happened after Haru's fall occurred. As if delayed by some supernatural force, the cave started to shake, it was like an earthquake had chosen to strike, thankfully Kiyomi was already outside away from the danger. But unfortunately the three men were still some ways away from the exit of the cave. Pumping all the chakra he could spare into his legs Jiraiya made a run for it. When he was nearing the cave exit he glanced back, only to find his other two companions rooted to the spot. So he ran back to get them. Had he chosen not to go back for them he would have escaped from the cave unscathed.
Once the Sennin reached his companions the cavern floor gave way, and fwoosh all three men fell in, along with the ceiling of the cave.
"AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" was the girly scream that escaped all three men's lips as they fell into a bottomless pit of darkness.
A giant booming sound was made when the three companions and some of the ceiling hit rock bottom. All three had somehow miraculously survived the fall.
It was four hours later that all three simultaneously began to stir. The first one to regain total control of his mind and body as well as assess the situation was Jiraiya. The second one was Mikio, who was panicking more than anything. The last and definitely the least was Haru, who had foregone the assessing of the situation and gone straight for the panicking part.
An hour later Jiraiya was calmer having assessed the situation. The group was several hundred feet below sea level. How he knew this was because after walking a ways away he encountered a river, but not any river he wanted to ever come across in an unexplored part of a cave. This river was one of magma. But for some reason, the trio could were still alive even while being so close to one of these monsters. Also there was an apparent lack of sulfur in the air, which was fine and peachy and definitely ok, but was still weird.
Mikio after seeing Jiraiya return from his little recon mission, called out to him, and informed him of a worrying development.
"Ero-sennin, there seems to be a problem, the Voice is not responding to me. Its as if He is being blocked soemhow, or is somehow unable to aid us."
"Great, Just when we needed a bit of his guidance," Jiraiya said, "Did he say anything before he left you?"
"No, we were just talking about where we should head for next, but he did say something about almost being found out or something."
"Well, then I guess we'll have to find our own way back to Kiyomi, and the surface."
While the two were talking Haru had stopped rocking on his ass curled in a foetal position, and decided to wander off, which was a bad thing in itself.
While Jiraiya and Mikio were planning on how to proceed, or go about their situation, Haru was wadering farther and farther away from them.
After several minutes of walking around, Haru had already passed by or jumped over many magma rivers. While doing this he did not notice that he was being watched. He was not alone, there was something watching him from underneath the rivers' surfaces.
Being as ignorant as he was, for some reason, he decided to see if he could skip stones on the magma river surface. He chucked some stones at the river, just to see the stones, rocks, and whatnot melt into the river. He tried doing this at different locations. Until he was finally able to make one rock bounce.
But the rock did not bounce of the river, it bounced off of a rock island in the middle of one river. Making that attempt not count as skipping stones. So he tried again. Every now and then he would bounce a rock on the island. He probably hit the island more than a hundred times.
After the most recent bounce, the island started to shake and shiver, as if some little volcano was about to erupt. Obviously Haru was oblivious to this event, and just continued to try and skip stone without much success.
Jiraiya and Mikio had come up with a plan, they would try and drill upwards by using some long distance Jutsus, like wind bullet and the like. Then if any magma would fall out of the hole or holes they would use Suiton Jutsus to get rid of the burning stuff.
But before they could enact their plan, they heard screaming, the sound kept growing louder and clearer as their source quickly made its way closer to the two. The two men then stared at the direction that the sound was coming from.
Then suddenly the what the screamer was saying was incredibly clear, seeing as the two men were being dragged or carried by Haru.
"GOTTA RUN! GOTTA RUN! GOTTA RUN!" he was screaming, "GOTTA ESCAPE! ITS GONNA KILL US! AHHH!!"
Jiraiya and Mikio who were facing the opposite direction as they were being dragged, saw that which was chasing Haru, and by proximity and the like, them.
One of the creatures that were literally in hot pursuit of the three men was a giant kabuto mushi. Its shell looked to be made out of rock, but between the joints and under the wings, the molten rocks that made up the rest of its body could clearly be seen. Several creatures that were flying in hot pursuit of the three men were giant hachi, or bees, due to their colors it could easily be seen that they too were made out of molten rock.
Haru was really flooring it, the speed that he was running at could rival Maito Gai's running speed without wearing any weights. He was quickly nearing a wall, which technically should be a dead end. His companions were to busy reciting prayers to the many kami and other divine entities they knew to notice this. But instead of decelerating Haru just kept going, he was actually accelerating, moving closer and closer to the wall, and when he was about to hit the wall jumped, and started to jump from one wall to another. He was like a speed freak or more like a pinball. His pursuers had to pause just to watch their target bounce around. Then they followed him at a much slower pace, sort of. The flying ones just continued flying upwards, while the beetle, and the others that could not or would not fly started climbing up the walls.
Among these other creatures was a human shaped magma golem, it like its companions was roughly fifteen feet tall. Getting frustrated at being unable to reach its quary the golem, and the other molten creatures started throwing or basically sending fireballs and balls of molten rock at Haru and friends.
Haru kept dodging all the attacks, the attacks always narrowly missed him. His companions were now reciting prayers and the like to the Shinigami, they were asking him to take them away. The Shinigami was too busy elsewhere to listen to their pleas.
While Haru was acting like a pinball he noticed the state in which his companions were in and stopped screaming, and got a serious look on his face.
"Get your act together guys," he said to the two men, "While I find a way out of here, you two counter-attack, and ward of or block any of the things that come too close to us."
Realizing the reality of their situation, the two men decided to implement their many years of experience and knowledge and began supporting their rapidly running pal.
"Suiton: Mizurappa!" was yelled by the two men, after which they quickly spat out jets high pressure water at their pursuers. They attempted to harden the molten monsters, with torrents of water.
It seemed to be working somewhat, the monsters were hardening in some parts. Their burning passion was dying on some parts. It was these parts that the two men were conentrating on. The molten parts having been turned into stone became slightly brittle, which is something that Jiraiya and Mikio exploited. Limbs, wings, and the occasional head, were shattered. This made the pursuers even madder, which in turn made them faster, and made their attacks more frequent.
The monsters were gaining on the men, but Haru did not seem to be running out of steam. Same thing for his support crew.
The group had been travelling around the underworld for several hours, never noticing the time that was flying by, or dragging on. After surviving their ordeal, they would each get an earful from Kiyomi, as well as the feeling of lacking sustenance which was sure to make itself known once things had died down.
But those things were not yet going to happen anytime soon. The three men had come upon a problem that they had to immediately solve, a wall was coming up that they could not just ricochet off of onto another wall, because there was no longer another wall.
So both men bent their heads backwards as far as their necks would allow and started to quickly go through a seal sequence.
"Futon: Renkuudan!" both men yelled, then they quickly sucked in as much air as their lungs and gut could hold, then slammed their fists into their own guts and chests to force the air out of their mouths. The air that escaped their lips took the form of drilling projectiles that were made out of air, these bullets then carved a hole through the wall. Both men continued this process until they reached the otherside.
When they reached the other side they were met with caverns, tunnels, walls, and the like, and since they were still being pursued, the two men resumed their counter-attacks, blocks, and the like, while Haru just kept on running.
Their pursuers were not losing any steam, they didn't seem to tire, it was as if some outside force was pumping them full of energy, and forcing them to go and beat the living out of the three men.
Haru was zipping here and there and everywhere in the space beyond the wall. While it seemed like the molten creatures were everywhere, it looked like there were more of them now, than there were at the beginning of the chase.
Haru's support crew was starting to lose power, their chakra stores were slowly being emptied by the constant use of the stuff, while Haru still did not show any sign of weakening.
As he was running, bouncing, and whatever, Haru failed to notice one small little tiny piece of rock on the ground. His ignorance cost him and his companions dearly. Since Haru did not notice the thing, he tripped on it, which subsequently sent him and his two companions tumbling to the ground.
As the three men were getting their bearings back, they noticed that they were being surrounded on all sides by the molten monsters. But as they were about to surrender, to give up, to accept that there was nothing more that they could do. Just as they were about to curl up into the foetal position, a cracking sound was heard. It didn't come from the monsters, because even they stopped moving, they started looking around, searching for the source of the sound.
As the monsters' attention was focused on searching for the source of the sound, the three men, decided that that was their chance to flee. So they started to crawl away from center of the monsters.
But as they were about to get away from all of the monsters, one of the monsters, the single humaoid of the group, noticed them. It alerted the others to what the three men were about to do.
But before the monsters were able to converge on the three men there was another louder cracking sound. All those present in the underground place looked at the source, which was clearly visible. It was a visible crack in the ground where the three men previously occupied.
The cracking sound did not go away, it just continued. As the sound continued to be heard by all present, the crack on the ground was also growing.
Before any of those present could react or do anything, the ground where the first crack appeared exploded outwards, showering all those present in rock fragments. The molten monsters started to panic for some reason. The three men found out what the reason was when molten rock started to gush out of the hole in the ground. More and more of the stuff was escaping, or trying to escape from the hole.
The three men obviously wouldn't be able to survive if they were drenched in the stuff. The three men knew this as fact, but they were wondering why the monsters were panicking. The magma wouldn't be able to harm them, or would it. The answer to this question was answered when one of the monsters was hit by the gushing magma. The monster did not visibly get hurt, but the monster visibly panicked more than before. The three men were awestruck by what they were witnessing. The things were being hit by their own element, they thought that this would regenerate them, not cause them to show fear.
But instead of trying to escape again, since the panicking monsters had created many openings, the three men sat stock still on the ground. They were to shocked and scared to move.
The hole in the ground just kept getting wider and wider, but instead of the gushing growing weaker, it grew stronger. Compared to a dripping faucet, the flow of magma was no longer a single dripping drop, there was no more faucet.
A deep rumbling sound had replaced the cracking sound. Instead of the hole just growing bigger there were cracks in the ground starting to form everywhere. In some places the cracks had already turned into holes spewing the more than boiling mass of molten rock.
Mikio then noticed that below their collective asses was a crack, a crack that was growing longer, and for some reason was surronding the trio, forming a circular shape around them. Before he could report this finding to his two companions, their world went from a mere mixture of molten and solid rock, with the occasional monster here and there, to a world surrounded by molten rock. The three men also felt as if they were being propelled upwards.
"AhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" was the word coming out of the mouths of the three men as they were being propelled upward.
After a few minutes of screaming the men noticed that they had gone sky high, appearing above some clouds. Then they felt it, the pull of gravity.
"AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" the screaming began anew.
The three men were experiencing what it felt like to fall from the sky. As they began their descent, they started to feel as if they were encased in a shell of fire. Jiraiya realized that they were actually encased in a shell of fire. So he quit screaming and fished out his notepad and started taking notes. He was going to preserve this experience by including it in his next book, somehow.
Some time later they found themselves in a crater. Mikio was the first of the three who made it out of the crater. He saw that a few feet from the crater was Kiyomi with the rest of their stuff laid out.
Once Jiraiya saw this, he just stared, Haru doing the same thing.
"The Voice apologized for being unable to contact me, he said that he was experiencing some connection issues, as if something was blocking him, or interfering with the connection," Mikio informed the group once they were all sitting around the fire that Kiyomi had started.
"So, Kiyomi," Haru said, "How'd you know we'd be popping out over here?"
"Huh?," Kiyomi answered, "Tou-san sent me a messenger pigeon carrying a note saying to expect you to arrive here. So I went here and made camp."
"How'd your Tou-san know that we'd be here?" Jiraiya asked.
"He musta seen you guys."
"Ya see Ero-sennin, Kiyomi-chan's Tou-san is this really cool guy, who's been travelling around the world looking for his students, seeing as he's always wandering the world, he musta seen us up in the sky, and calculated our tradjectory and stuff, and sent that note to Kiyomi-chan once he found the coordinates," Haru informed Jiraiya.
"Oh."
"The Voice says that indeed, Kiyomi's Tou-san figured out where we would land."
"Oh."
"Guys, the food's gonna get cold!" Kiyomi said.
"Oh."
"Ero-sennin? You gonna eat or say 'Oh' til you drop from starvation?" Haru asked, already digging in with extreme gusto.
"Oh.." Jiraiya said, "I mean I'm gonna eat," he then grabbed a plate and got some food and dug in.
Mikio followed suit.
Four weeks after leaving Tani no Kuni, the group found themselves wading in one of the many marshes of Numa no Kuni, where once again Kiyomi was walking ahead of the boys.
Jiraiya and Mikio were discussing the pros and the cons of wading in the muck of the marsh as compared to the pros and cons of walking on the surface of the waters of the marsh.
Haru was being his usual self, he was running around the two men, with his somewhat never emptying well of energy he was running circles around the two men. He was trying to create a whirlpool, with the two men in the middle of it, and once Kiyomi was on dry ground he got his wish.
After Kiyomi left the muck, a whirlpool formed with the three men in the middle of it. Unfortunately for the three men they did not realize that they were being sucked into the marsh, until it was too late.
"AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" was the girly scream that escaped all three men's lips.
The whirlpool had sucked them under and into something that normally they would have found fun, if not for the abruptness, they were dumped on a really fast moving water slide. Haru in front, Mikio in the middle, and Jiraiya bringing up the rear.
The slide was long, it went on until forever, or at least the three thought that it did. It had sharp turns, long turns, quick turns, slow turns, sudden drops, loop de loops, hoops, corkscrews, hills, etcetera. The three men went up, down, round and round, inside out, here, there, everywhere. They went through walls, corridors, doors, windows, tunnels, waterfalls, crackers, cracks, a molten monster, a flock of chickens, another wall, another door, another chicken, a big chicken, a glass wall, etcetera. They criss crossed with other slides who's riders were anything but human. The three men encountered more chickens, roosters, cows, bulls, Naruto clones, someone that looked like Ikkaku Sennin, avocados, pineapples, apples, oranges, lizards, sheep, goats, rams, a dragon, a molten monster, three molten monsters, a thing that sounded like the Voice, something that looked like Kiyomi in a bathing suit, an Icha Icha novel, Pakkun, Gamabunta, Manda, a herd of ushi-oni, a few cranes, the original Gama Sennin, Shima, and many other things. Some of these other things were wrenches, monkey wrenches, hammers, armor, katana, kunai, the kitchen sink, a toilet, a shower head, a house, and many other household appliances. These other things weren't riding the other slides per say, they were flying over and under the three men, always seeming to narrowly miss them by just a few centimeters.
This was more than the three men could take, so they did the only thing they could collectively think of: they enjoyed the ride.
Of course, once they did do that, things got a bit more hairy, not literally but figuratively, the things that were narrowly missing them started to actually hit them every now and then. The creatures that they would bump into or encounter on occasion would try and take a piece of them as a souvenir. The things they crashed into or crashed through became harder and harder. The walls became thicker, the doors became sturdier, the windows were made of bulletproof glass, the flocks of chicken became flocks of chickens that were chasing buckets of tar.
After experiencing this and being unable to think straight due to the barrage of objects and animals, the three men decided to return to screaming the living out of themselves like girls. This action instead of causing things to go back to the way they were caused their situation get even worse. Everything that flew at them hit them, everything that came across them broke bones, tore clothes, almost tore of limbs, scratched them, slashed them, almost took their heads of, and everything that they crashed into felt like the boss summon of the rhinocerous contract slammed itself into them.
So the three men decided to go back to enjoying the ride, which once again made things a whole lot worse. So they went back to screaming, which made them wish they were never born. Then they went back to enjoying, which made them wish their parents never met. Then back to screaming, making them wish that their parents were never born. Then back to enjoying, which made them wish that their grandparents had never met. Then back to screaming their throats hoarse, which made them wish that their grandparents had never been born. Then back to enjoying themselves which was getting harder and harder, which made them wish that their ancestors never evolved. Then went back to screaming although less loudly, which made them wish that the missing link in their evolution chain had never existed. Then they started to cheer half heartedly, which made them wish that the dinosaurs still ruled the world. Then they started to just groan, which made them wish that Kami would just up and die for placing them in the situation in the first place, which made them wish that they didnt wish something like that on Kami.
The trio found themselves transported onto different water slides, Haru on the left slide, Mikio on the right slide, and Jiraiya on the middle slide. Their three slides just kept them moving forwards, on and on, just moving forwards. There was nothing around them, no walls, no chickens, no nothing, just well nothing. It was just them, the water, the slides, and nothing. They were slowly getting really unerved and freaked out. They didn't know whether they should be glad, sad, frightened, or whatever, they just kept getting freaked out as every second passed them by.
A few minutes of silence passed, when the three men noticed something up ahead, it looked like one of those sheer drops that they had undergone, but unlike those, there was a stalagmite in the middle of each of their respective water slides, this piece of rock looked like it would hit that which made them men. The three men didn't panic since they were not traveling at a speed that would jeopardize their futures, that was until they started moving at a greater speed than before. They were moving so fast that the thing was getting closer and closer and closer, until it was mere inches from them.
Before they knew it they were screaming like girls again because instead of their assets being smashed against a rock, they were falling again.
A few hours of falling and screaming later, the trio found themselves on an ice slide, which like the water slide had them going through the same experiences over again.
A few different slides later, the trio were spat out of a cave opening and landed with a thump on a patch of snow. Like their last adventure, Kiyomi was a few feet away from them at a campsite, with a fire blazing at its center, as well as food being roasted on top of it.
"Right on time guys!" Kiyomi announced, "Tou-san dropped me off here after he found me crying my eyes out that I lost you guys in Numa no Kuni."
"So, uh, where are we?" Haru asked.
"Yuki no Kuni, we have been gone for two weeks, we should be dead right now, some supernatural force does not want us to die, but Inari-sama who was the closest Kami to us the whole time wants us to experience pains worse than death for some of our wishful thinking. Or so the Voice says.
"Mikio, would you stop doing that, its still freaky," Jiraiya said.
"So, you guys gonna continue to starve or ya gonna eat some grub?" Kiyomi asked the boys.
"Eat," Haru answered and grabbed a plate.
"Eat," Jiraiys replied and dug in.
Mikio was already piling the food on his plate and chowing down before Kiyomi finished her question.
Two weeks after the slide incident, the four travelers found themselves in touring one of the many tea plantations in Cha no Kuni. This particular plantation allowed the public to tour their facilities and were shown the many processes, procedures, and other things that happened in a tea plantation. This tea plantation was one of many, but among them all this one was second largest plantation in the country, the largest one being the one owned by the Daimyou. This one being owned by the Juushu Corporation which was one of the major players in the food and drink industry, it was also a subsidiary of Rosuto Younen which was a company with a hand in every industry in the continent. This company was bigger than the infamous Gatou Corporation ever was.
The history of the plantation aside, the four travellers were part of the day's plantation tour. The plants that they were being shown at the time was of an experimental variety which combined grapes with one of the subspecies of tea plants that the plantation had on hand. They grew like grapes on vines, but the leaves and the fruit tasted like red tea with a hint of alcohol.
The tour guide and the rest of the tour group found themselves ahead of the three men, Kiyomi being with the tour guide and asking all sorts of questions about the different kinds of tea.
The three men didn't notice that their fourth member was no longer near them. Jiraiya and Mikio were discussing the best way to prepare tea, while Haru was busy poking the vines that were sticking out beyond the fences on both sides of the group.
Haru was also busy trying to get a reaction out of the vines, he thought that they lookes like the tentacles of a green octopus or a squid, and was wanting to do battle with them.
It is safe to say that being an experimental type of tea plant hybrid the plantation staff weren't aware of all the things the things were capable of.
While Haru was poking the things and teasing and insulting the things, he didn't notice that some of the vines that he had poked previously had grown longer and were inching their way towards the group of three.
Haru and friends only noticed the pickle they were in when they were suddenly grabbed from behind by the plants and dragged into the foliage. Their screams were muffled by the leaves that had been shoved into their mouths to gag them, no sound except for muffled screams escaped their lips. Although if they were not gagged their girly screams would have attracted the giant bees that were at that time patrolling the skies above the plantation. That was one of the secrets to success of the plantation that the staff were not allowed to share with the tourists.
These bees were remnants of an age where giant insects had battled for survival from a numerous yet singular foe, and lost, they lost more than their foothold, they also lost some of their will, as well as their intelligence. From something that could rival humans at military strategy, they had been bumped back down to the ranking of mere insects, albeit really big ones. But that was a long time ago, sort of.
The trio soon found that they had been dragged a ways away from the plantation. They realized this realization when they noticed that they were surrounded by trees. Big ones, thick ones, the trunks of these trees were huge. When the three men looked up they could only see shadows, the canopy was that high up. But what they were standing in was another matter. It looked like grass, only taller. The vines had left them in the company of green, green, and more green.
"The Voice is not responding."
"This lookes like one of those mythical forests in Mori no Kuni."
"You've been to a mythical forest?" Mikio asked Jiraiya.
"Well, something like it."
"Where?"
"Myoubokuzan, where the Gama clan live."
"Ah, your home away from home, or something like that, yes?"
"Yes."
"So, where do you think Haru went?" Mikio noticed that Haru had already wandered away from the two conversing men.
Jiraiya started to jog in place, and to some stretching excercises.
"What are you doing Ero-sennin?"
"You know Haru, he's probably gonna come rushing by us or something with a bunch of really dangerous creatures following him trying to kill the three of us for who knows what reason."
"You're right. I'll join you shall I," and so Mikio joined Jiraiya with warming up for the chase that both men were sure would occur once Haru returned to their presence.
Haru had wandered off, farther away from the other two as he usually did. Which usually got him, and them into all sorts of trouble. Usually it was with other people, but sometimes it was with things that even he could not explain or even begin to understand.
As he was walking deeper into the deeper parts of the long grass he failed to notice numerous pair of eyes watching his every move. These were eyes that showed a deep and profound interest in Haru. These eyes were hungry eyes. These eyes were eyes of creatures that had not been able to find food for days. These were the eyes of creatures who's nests were a few feet in front of Haru.
Haru being completely oblivious to his surroundings accidentally stepped on an egg. He heard the crack and looked down at his shoe, and proceeded to wipe off the gunk that had gotten onto it. This was when his brain suddenly started working again, after days of not being used properly. He realized that he had stepped on an egg, and where there was one egg, there would be more eggs, and where there were more eggs, there would be a nest, where there would be a nest there would be a mama bird. So he turned around and found himself face to face with the mama bird, that was not a bird.
The bird that was not a bird was looked to be at least ten feet long from beak end to tail end. When it smiled it beautiful smile at Haru it showed it set of really sharp teeth, teeth that could easily slice into Haru. These birds that were not birds were big. More and more of the things started popping out of the woodwork. But before they could sink their teeth into him, Haru did what Haru does best. He ran like a madman with bats out of hell nipping at his heels. As he ran past his two companions he did not need to drag them along, they were already prepared, they were alrady jogging in place.
The three men ran, even with the aid of chakra they could not shake their pursuers. Those things were just too damn fast.
Suddenly Mikio tripped on a root, that he hadn't noticed in his haste. As he waited for death, it did not come, the creatures just ran past him, he clearly saw the razor sharp claws on their feet as they ran past.
'Those things look like meat hooks' was the thought that swiftly went through his mind.
Noticing that Mikio was not running alongside them, Jiraiya glanced back and saw that Mikio had tripped, and so he turned back to go get him, he expected that he would have to bat away some of these large lizard like things.
It didn't happen like he thought it would, the things just ran past him, and chased after the now ricocheting off different trees Haru. Haru must have done something really bad to have more than seventy of the things want to shed his blood.
But the two men didn't get to rest from their short run for long, for they too found themselves with a pack of things wanted to take a bit out of them. Standing above the were three salivating creatures that looked like the more than seventy things chasing Haru. These things looked to be at least twenty three feet tall, fifty feet long, and appeared to weigh at least sixteen thousand pounds. These three things were huge.
But before they could drop down and munch on the two men, the two men ran for it leaving afterimages in their wake. The three giants then ran after them.
They had been running around the forest for quite some time. They stopped for nothing. Jiraiya didn't even notice the appearance of an army of Naruto clones that passed by. If he had he would have been able to find his lost student, but alas he found his continued existence more important than such trivial things.
Sometime during the chase the creatures had driven the three men to the edge of a cliff, a cliff covered by a dense fog. As the creatures started to close in on the three, the three took some steps back, Haru being the first one to notice the cliff that lay behind them.
But before anything more dangerous could happen to the three human, the creatures ran away from the spot that they were closing in on.
"What do you guys think scared them off?" Haru asked.
"Something that it far worse, something that must ba a lot bigger, meaner, scarier, hungrier than them," Mikio stated.
"Guys," Jiraiya pointed at a nearby bush, "That bush is shaking."
The three men prepared to stand their ground and fight valiantly, when out of the bush walked an old man with a sack of rice being dragged behind him, the three men promptly facefaulted.
"W-who are you?" Haru impolitely asked after he got back on his feet.
"Me?" the old man pointed at himself, "Shouldn't you introduce yourselves first?"
"Oh, right, my apologies, I'm Haru."
"I'm Mikio."
"And I'm Jiraiya."
"Nice to meet you three, I am called Dorotabo. That is both my name and clan name."
The old man then took a seat on the sack of rice he was carrying.
"So, what are you three doing all the way out here?"
"Haru, Ero-sennin, let me do all the talking, just go play poker or something til the adults are done talking."
Jiraiya and Haru then went a ways away from the two and whipped out a deck of cards and began playing Go-Fish.
"The answer to my question?"
"Ahh, right sorry about that," Mikio said, "We were touring a tea plantation in Cha no Kuni when we were suddenly dragged out here by some vines. Then we were chased by hungry animals. Finally I am here talking to you. Why did they run off when you arrived?"
"Oh, hmm, I don't really know," Dorotabo paused, "Maybe because they're afraid of rice or something. Hehe."
"Maybe, or maybe you are stronger than you look."
"Or maybe your Voice's presence has returned."
"H-h-how do you know about him?"
"He sent me here to find you and send you back to Cha no Kuni, Kiyomi is starting to get worried."
"How do you know Kiyomi?"
"She is a friend of my friend."
"Who is your friend?"
"Ikkaku Sennin."
"That Honored Sage is your friend too.."
"Yes, he is. But back to the reason that I'm here," Dorotabo said, "I'm here to send you back, its dangerous for you to be here. You are not equipped with the nescessary skills to survive here."
So Dorotabo threw his sack of rice at Mikio, which sent him over the edge of the cliff, then teleported behind the two playing goofs and pulled a rake out of nowhere and hit them over the edge.
"Bye!!!"
"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" was the girly scream that escaped their lips.
After three hours of falling, the three men landed in women's side of the onsen of the hotel that they were staying in in Cha no Kuni. Unfortunately Kiyomi and a bunch of other women were in the bath at the time.
AaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhHHHHH!!!!" was the girly scream that escaped the three men's lips that were seen and heard running away from the horde of women that were chasing them with all sorts of blunt and sharp objects. Kiyomi at the head of the group of enraged females.
"Jiraiya!" Haru shouted, "Somehow this is your fault!!"
"Haru!" Mikio shouted, "I think you might be responsible too!!"
"You two!" Jiraiya shouted, "Shut up and concentrate on running!!!"
The trio of men, even though they were men, were unable to get away from the rampaging horde of women.
In the shadows of a building near to their bleeding, beaten, and battered forms stood a figure that watched them intently.
'Tis not yet the right time to meet up with them. The creepy one has yet to remember who he once was.'
Haru really had a knack for getting Jiraiya and Mikio into situations that they would not normally get into. Another one of these situations occurred two weeks after the forest adventure, the three men had left Kiyomi at a hotel in Tori no Kuni that was sponsoring a cooking convention, while they went off to find an empty field where they decided to train and spar for a while. But unfortunately for them, they had Haru with them.
Haru decided to try and see how big a hole he could make if he put almost all his available chakra into his arm and fist, which he did, then he punched the middle of the temporay training ground.
Jiraiya and Mikio stopped sparring and stared, the whole empty field was turned into a crater.
"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" was the girly scream that once again escaped their lips as they fell into the darkness.
Sometime later the trio found themselves in a closet. A locked closet. They also started to hear footsteps getting closer to the closet. They knew it was a closet because there were clothes in it.
"Hey guys," Mikio whispered, "The Voice says that even though he can talk to me right now, we're on our own..again."
"Thats nice to know Mikio," Jiraiya whispered back.
"I'm scared Mikio," Haru whimpered.
Without warning the closet was opened.
"Aaaahhh!!!" a real girl screamed at seeing the three men in her closet.
The three then found themselves with the pointy parts of spears inches away from their faces. They were surrounded by soldiers, or the guards of the girl or woman that had screamed.
After telling their as to how they got themselves in closet in the first place, the spear points disappeared from in front of their faces, and the three men were led to a sitting room, and refreshments were brought out.
"So, let me get this straight. You three," she pointed at the three men, "We're out training in some open field, when," she pointed at Haru, "You, punched the ground and created a hole, which the three of you fell in, and somehow found yourselves in my closet. Is that right?"
"Yes ma'am, that is exactly what happened," Mikio replied.
"Sounds plausible, stranger things have happened in this country."
"So, uhm, if you don't mind me asking, where in the world are we?" Haru asked.
"You are in my home in the capital city of Rosuto no Kuni."
"Rosuto no Kuni? Land of the Lost?" Jiraiya wondered out loud.
"Yes, weird name isn't it."
"Somehow I think it fits," Haru said.
"Why do you say that?" Mikio asked.
"Well, for one thing, we've never heard of it, another thing is that 'We' technically are 'Lost'."
"That sounds logical," Jiraiya said, "Haru, where'd your brain come from?"
"Uhm...do I need to give you 'The Talk' Ero-sennin?"
"Wha..?!" Jiraiya's eyes figuratively popped out of their sockets, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I dunno, you tell me."
"Excuse me, gentlemen, but I didn't catch your names.."
"My apologies ma'am..I'm.." Mikio started to say but was interrupted.
"It is miss, not madame."
"Miss," Mikio said, "I am Mikio, a pleasure to meet you miss."
"I am Myoboku Jiraiya of Konohagakure no Sato's Densetsu no Sannin" Jiraiya said, stood up and bowed low.
"I am Asahi Haru, I am a wanderer of sorts," Haru said, then he too stood up, bowed, but instead of sitting back down like Jiraiya, he took the woman's hand with his own, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.
"Oh my, a gentleman," she said, "Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Shokon Megumi."
Megumi was a young woman, who looked to be in her mid to late twenties. Her hair was a rich mahogany, her eyes shined like saphires, her lips were full and of a soft pink color, and had cream colored skin. She wore a lavender kimono.
Before their conversation could continue, there was a knock at the door, which Megumi told to enter the room.
"Megumi-sama, Kazuo-sama is here to see you," the servant said.
"Send him in here then."
"Hai, Megumi-sama."
Moments later a young man entered the room, knelt before Megumi and kissed her hand, got up and stood before the trio.
"Hello, I am Giman Kazuo," he introduced himself.
Kazuo was a young man who was in his early thirties, he had jet black hair, yellow eyes, an athletic build, and a tanned complexion. He wore a black kimono, as well as black hakama pants, on his feet he wore black tabi socks and black zori sandals.
He faced Megumi and said, "When I heard from your guards that someone had broken into your house, I rushed here as fast as I could. I was so worried."
"You needn't have worried so much Kazuo. As you can see these three are no threat to me, and they mean me no harm."
"You say that now, but I have noticed that this frog faced one beside me has been staring at your ample chest, and not at your lovely face."
Jiraiya then found himself kissing the floor thanks to Haru whacking him soundly on the head. Haru had been sitting on the floor infront of Mikio, so that Mikio could watch him and make sure he didn't get them into trouble.
"It is refreshing to be admired by some random lecher."
"The last man who looked at you like that ended up a enuch."
"That was because that sennin set him up to it."
"Uhm...excuse me...but which sennin are you two talking about?" Mikio asked.
"Ikkaku Sennin," both Megumi and Kazuo answered.
"So he's been here too.."
"You know that sennin?" Megumi asked.
"Yes, I know him, Jiraiya knows of him, and Haru is one of his dear friends," Mikio replied.
"Oh, not that many people know him personally. I'm glad to have met you," Megumi said.
"I too am glad," Kazuo stated, "Now, tell me where he is hiding."
"Sorry Kazuo-san, but that guy never tells us where he goes," Haru said.
"Ah, Kazuo, before I forget, they need a way to get back to Tori no Kuni. Do you think you could help them?"
"I..well.." he looked at the three men, "I'll see what I can do. I'll have to pull some streings and stuff..I'll see what I can do."
After saying that he bid them farewell and left.
"Uh, Megumi, why did he act all flustered about helping us get back to Tori?" Mikio asked.
Megumi sighed before answering, "There is a law that says that no one may pass, above or below the boundaries of Rosuto no Kuni, but this rule has a few exceptions. I think you are one of these."
"Oh, so in the mean time, where will we be staying?" Mikio asked.
"I'll have some rooms prepared for your use," she said, "You may explore the rest of my clan compound, but do not leave the compound walls."
"Understood," Mikio said.
"Got it," Jiraiya agreed.
"Sure thing," Haru stated.
"Good, then I'll see you later tonight for dinner, its only two in the afternoon, enjoy exploring"
The four of them then parted ways, Jiraiya went off in search of an onsen, Mikio went off in search of a library, and Haru went off in search for something to do.
After dinner ended, they all went to their rooms to sleep. All the people, except for Haru. He found something to do. His other companions did not know it, but Haru knew how to play the flute. So since he assumed that everyone else was sleeping, he decided to play a soft and mellow melody, while sitting in one of the branches of a blossoming sakura tree in one of the gardens in the compound.
When he finished playing, he heard some clapping, looking around he found a second floor window open, looking out of it, he saw Megumi smiling at him. So he jumped up to the window, and hung on the wall using chakra.
"That was good, I wish I could play like that," Megumi told Haru.
"Eheh," Haru just scratched the back of his head in mild embarassment, "I wasn't that good."
"Yes you were," she insisted, "I really wish I could play like that."
"If you like," Haru said, "I could come into your room and teach you."
"As long as no one finds out, its fine by me," she said, and bade him to enter through the window, which he did.
A few hours after breakfast and the whole compound was filled with movement, the members of the Shokon clan were scurrying about here and there, they were all searching for Megumi, who was the clan head. They were searching for her because she didn't eat breakfast with the heads of the minor families within the clan as she usully did. Joining in on the search were Mikio and Jiraiya who were also looking for their missing friend and travelling companion who did not eat breakfast, he has never missed a meal, unless they were running away from whatever was chasing them because of him.
The one place that none of them thought of looking was Megumi's room. Normally, if they were thinking straight, that would have been the first place they would have looked, because it was possible that Megumi had just decided to sleep in. The only person to think of looking for her there had been Kazuo, who did not even know that she was missing. He had arrived sometime after breakfast to find the compound in chaos, and decided to look for Megumi to find out what had happened. So he went to her room. She being an old friend of her's knew that she liked to spend her mornings after breakfast in her room, so he went there straight away.
Jiraiya and Mikio spotted him as he was on his way there, so they asked him where he was heading off to, and he told them. Thinking that maybe Megumi had spotted where Haru had run off to, they went with him.
The sight that greeted them sa Kazuo opened slid aside the door to Megumi's room was that of Megumi being lying on top of Haru. Even though both should be considered as consenting adults, and even though both still had their clothes on, the thought popped up in the minds of the three men would have been categorized in the crazy category had the three men stopped to think and notice the details. But in their shock and panic rational thought had not entered their minds.
'Shit! If word gets out that she slept with an outsider the Shokon clan is going to lose a lot of honor! And if the Shokon lose honor, the Giman clan will lose some as well by association! Argh! What am I to do???' were the thoughts running though Kazuo's head.
'We are so screwed. The Shokon are going to kill us. We are so screwed and its all that airhead's fault! We are so screwed! Voice! Get in here! I need an escape plan! When we get out of this mess I'm gonna kill him them leave him alone in a room with Kiyomi!' were the thoughts that were running through Mikio's head.
'WHAT?! HE GOT THE GIRL IN LESS THAN ONE DAY?! WTF?! Why wasn't it me??? Notebook, notebook, must write this down, my next book will have this in it! It'll sell, sell like mad, like how mad that idiot Haru is for doing this to us! If we survive whatever the Shokon are gonna do to us, I'm gonna have Bunta sit on him, Mikio's gonna murder him, Kiyomi's gonna feed the three of us to Inari! We Are So Screwed! Oooh her kimono is showing a bit more skin than nescessary,' Jiraiya was thinking, he whacks himself on the head for that last thought, 'Must focus! Must think up an escape plan! Let's see..if I summon some toads they'll know I'm a Konoha-nin, that could spell war with Konoha, that would be bad, Tsunade would kill me! GAH! I'm gonna die! We're gonna die! Haru will be the first one to die! ARGH! If he got her pregnant we may never get to leave here!!! Then I'll never find Naruto, and Tsunade will find a way to find me, then she'll castrate me, then she'll kill me, then Mikio'll never get his memory back, then that Voice in his head is gonna make him and us go nuts for letting Haru get us into this mess, then Kiyomi is gonna kill us when she finds out, cause we let Haru get us into this mess. Then Mikio'll kill me cause I made Kiyomi mad, and sad, and SHIT!!! They're all going to kill me!! I'm going to die!!! MOMMY!!!'
Jiraiya sometimes has an overactive imagination, and sometimes over thinks things. Poor him. After he finished his inner turmoil, he fainted, and drool could have been spotted coming out of his mouth, but unfortunately nobody cared to look at what happened to him. Kazuo, and Mikio were in similar states.
But the concensus of their thoughts were more or less along the same lines: I am going to die.
At half passed noon, the Shokon were about ready to call in some outside help. But the memebers that were about to leave to do that were stopped dead in their tracks when they spotted an awake Megumi sitting in the main receiving area eating some udon, with Haru sitting across her eating some ebi tempura with some agedashi tofu.
Suddenly the two found themselves surrounded by a helluva lot of members of the Shokon clan shouting and simultaneously voicing many different questions. A few minutes later Kazuo, Jiraiya, and Mikio joined the cacaphony of noises.
"SILENCE!" Megumi had had enough of all the shouting and just shouted.
Once everyone quieted down she explained that she slept late and decided to just sleep in. For some reason, even though some members did not want to believe her, thinking that something bad had actually happened to her, decided to just accept her explanation.
Haru explained to his friends that he too was up all night and fell asleep somewhere on the second floor of the main house, and had just woken up, when he bumped into Megumi who asked him to join her for a bit of brunch. Somehow Kazuo, Jiraiya, and Mikio did not believe the duo. But decided to not press the matter and just left the two alone.
Mikio finally found the library and decided to read up on the history of Rosuto no Kuni.
Mikio had found out that the country was actually made out of nine formerly independent lands, which were unified into a single country slightly more than a thousand years ago. After the unification, walls as tall as some mountains were constructed around the country, and mixture of a dense forest and jungle was grown within a day beyond the walls, the forest-jungle mix went from a foot away from the wall to four hundred forty miles away from that point. The actual borders of the country was actually at the very edges of the fores-jungle mix. All day and night long, the this excessive growth of green was covered in a perpetual blanket of either thick mists or a dense fog. Many countries surrounded it on all of its borders, but one particular country on one of its eastern borders had caught Mikio's interest, it was Kaze no Kuni. One of the formerly independent countries once held onto a part of Kaze no Kuni's vast desert.
The history book that Mikio was reading stated that Rosuto no Kuni had within its borders its own desert, it actually had two of them, the deserts could be found within the Great Barrier, which was what the walls were called. Somehow, whoever unified the nine lands had been able to move an entire desert somewhere else.
The book also continued to discuss and explain that the country had every single kind of terrain imaginable. Every kind of land mass could be found within its borders, almost every kind of body of water too, the only ones that were not available were the sea and the ocean, anything else, one would be able to find if he or she knew where to look.
The book suggested some books if the reader wanted to find out what different flaura and fauna could be found in the country, but Mikio decided that he only wanted to know more about the history of the country and the country as a whole in general.
As he continued to read, Mikio found out that the country had regional governors, only some of which being descendants of former daimyou clans. The ranking system of the government was split into two groups: the ruling class, and the working class. This was a common system shared by the other countries. The working class was made up of the commoners. While the ruling class was further divided into five groups. The first group consisted of only one clan, with apparently only one member, the founder of the country.
How the founder of the country had lived for so long, the book had no clear explanation, only speculations and theories, one of these being that he had befriended a kami, which granted him immortality. Another theory was that after founding the country he had attained an enlightened state and became a sennin. Another theory was that the single member was actually many people, they just didn't want the people to know that. Yet another theory was that the founder, whose name was not mentioned in the book, walked in and out of time. There were more than a hundred other theories.
This first group was known as the Daimyou class, the daimyou's clan was known as the Juushu clan.
The second group was known as the Court class, which consisted of the nine governing families, their power was second only to the daimyou. The nine clans were the Shokon, Giman, Genri, Kuraku, Hyakume, Tabou, Tokage, Musha, and Noufu. These nine were the clans incharge of running the nine provinces of Rosuto no Kuni. The clan was not nescessarily the provincial governor. But the position was assigned by the clan head.
The third group was known as the Lower Noble class. This group was made up of the nine lesser noble clans, these were the clans of the former daimyou clans of the nine lands. The book stated that they had only recently gained back some of their prestige. These nine clans were allowed to retain their noble status in honor of the fact that their ancestors were able to keep their lands safe from invasion and keep their people happy and content. These nine clans were the Kazan, Sanjou, Kugai, Hakugai, Dokugaku, Chokugan, Ichida, Kakushidate, and Ginou.
The book Mikio was reading summarized the events that led to the unification, as well as some of things that happened after it.
During the time before the unification, the nine lands were ravaged by war, which left the land bereft of life. The land was dying due to all the bloodshed that polluted the soil. The land would have died had the Juushu not come with his armies to conquer the lands. The lands were united by the arrival of one who commanded a greater threat than all the nine were to each other. The nine banded together to defeat and expel this threat to their rule. But the threat saw the state of the land and of the people, and wanted to free then of the cycle of bloodshed, so he cleansed the lands of the taint of the rulers who had forgotten how one of the responsibilities of a ruler, which was to care for the people. The war that allowed the Juushu to conquer the nine lands, was a short yet decisive one. The Juushu battled each of the nine daimyou in each of their home turfs. After the breath of life had left the bodies of the warmongerers, their bodies were laid to rest, with all the honors that their positions and ranks in life were due. He then noticed that the population was so small. Even with his armies, it would not do if he let such a population live in his newly acquired land. So he sent out messengers to all the wandering clans, to all the homeless clans, to all those that needed a home, he invited them all to live in his country, all that he asked for in return was their trust and loyalty.
He had nine friends, these nine he assigned to govern the nine provinces. The nine former ruling clans, he grante continued nobility, but with lesser honor. His nine friends were also given the initiative to promote eighteen clans of their choosing to noble status, nine of these clans would govern one of nine prefectures in each of the nine provinces, the other nine would be assigned other duties.
All in all there were one hundred eighty one noble clans.
The fourth group of the ruling class was made up of one hundred sixty two clans, these were the eighteen clans that helped govern each of the nine provinces.
The fifth group of the ruling class was the Samurai-Ninja class, which consisted of a great number of samurai and ninja clans, all of whom swore fealty to the Juushu but mostly received their orders and such from the provincial governors.
A sub-class that joined the two classes was the warrior class, which was composed of all elisted men and women of the army.
Not officially included in the ranking system of government, but still given equal prestige as a noble were the cultural leaders, the religious leaders, monks, priests, shamans, the geisha class, actors, and the like.
Mikio learned through his research, that the country valued Masters of any kind. Be they teacher, doctor, chemist, strategist, novelist, chef, designer, florist, it did not matter what profession, but as long as someone was exeptionally gifted or had mastered their trade their were greatly valued. Knowledge was an asset that could get one far. Story telling in some part of the country was considered as currency. Knowledge and stories were as good as money, they were both assets and comodities.
On one of the pages was a passage that caught Mikio's eye, it stated that Juushu after conquering the nine lands had amassed so much knowledge that he did not want to waste it, so he chose ten students from the milions that lived in the nine lands. To each of the ten he bestowed one branch of his knowledge. Once Juushu had decided that his ten students had mastered the knowledge that he bestowed upon them, he named their ten clans the Juushichou, whose prestige and honor was equal to that of one of the lesser noble clans.
After reading so much he decided to put down the book, it was getting late, and he was getting sleepy, nevermind getting hungry, sleep seemed more important.
That night Haru once again sat on one of the branches of a sakura tree in the garden that Megumi's window overlooked. Once again after he played he heard clapping. After which he would spot Megumi watching him from her window, where he would then go and offer to teach her. But that was not all that they did, they also talked, about many things. This pattern occurred on every night until the night that the trio was to leave.
It had been a whole week since the trio had found themselves locked inside Megumi's closet. Kazuo had been able to pull a few strings, and had found a way for the trio to get back to Tori no Kuni. As much as Jiraiya and Mikio would miss Megumi and Kazuo they still wanted to get back to Kiyomi, who they somehow knew wasn;t really all that worried about them, but they were worried about her, and missed her too.
Haru on the otherhand, didn't seem to want to leave, it took him longer to say goodbye to Megumi than the two other men. He knew that he had to leave, Kiyomi would be worried if he didn't return, then she'd take her worry out on either Jiraiya or Mikio, or both. He still also had two help the two men find what they were looking for. So he promised Megumi that he would one day return.
Kazuo led the trio to the doors of the castle keep of Juushu Oujou, or the Castle of the Ten Masters, and told then to enter and get to the top floor, where they would have to look for a balcony on which they would be able to watch the setting sun. Then he wished them luck and left them to their fate.
The three men then did as they were instructed. They had to wait the whole day until sunset, during which all three felt someone hit them in one of the instant knockout prssure points, and they blacked out. Jiraiya was able to catch a glimpse of their attacker before succumbing to the darkness.
His last thoughts were, 'Blonde hair?'
Some hours later the three men would find themselves tied to their beds in the hotel that they were supposed to be staying in naked and tarred with chicken feathers. This is how Kiyomi would later find them. After getting over her shock, she would untie them, and attempt to kill them with the help of all the women at the convention.
Two weeks after finding themselves in Megumi's closet the three men had once again left Kiyomi at a hotel, this time they were in Sawa no Kuni. The three men had asked Kiyomi if she wanted to go fishing with them at one of the fishing holes in the country, she didn't want to go with them because it was a swamp.
The three men were sitting beside each other on the bank of the swamp where they were fishing. It had already been two hours, and still Jiraiya and Mikio had yet to catch any fish. They were used to catching fish the ninja way, but there was a law in Sawa no Kuni that prohibited such a practice, so they were forced to catch fish with fishing rods.
Haru on the otherhand had been very successful. He had caught more than twenty fish, the bad thing abou this was that he after catching a fish he would throw it back in. It seemed like the only time he was really serious was back when they were still in Megumi's compound, as well as when Haru was in the presence of Kiyomi or other less dangerous people.
Haru's pattern of catch a fish and throw it back had caught the attention of some really big crocodiles that would stay still in the water in front of Haru. Mikio and the Voice thought that maybe they were waiting for Haru to fall in. But thankfully he didn't, but unfortunately Jiraiya did. One of his notepads fell in, and so he jumped in to get it. He had to wrestle some of the crocs just to get out, but he eventually made it back to dry land. When he was dry he just picked up his fishing rod, sat down, hooked on some bait, and continued to fish, as if he didn't just fight some big crocodiles.
The trio were used to dealing with more dangerous things due to Haru's antics, and even though the crocodiles were there due to Haru's antics, they were still smaller compared to the number of other things tha got all three men screaming like little girls.
This adventure was actually the tamest and lamest of their adventures. It was both lame and tame by their standards since the Voice talked with Mikio every now and then. He usually was out of the coverage area whenever they were in real touble.
This was one of the few off days that the three men had.
These were only a miniscule number of the adventurs that the group, meaning the three men, had. There were so many more, actually everyday was an adventure in itself.
It had been eight months since Jiraiya had last seen Naruto. Seven months since he had lost his student. Even though he didn't deserve the events that led to it, he had also gotten closer to Kiyomi, she allowed him to use her as a model for one of the clothed characters in his latest book.
Mikio had not gained any of his missing memory, his amnesia was really bad. But he did find out that he had gotten stronger, faster, and his chakra stoes had grown as well, all thanks to Haru, and occasionally Jiraiya.
Haru, well to gauge his growth was really hard. Its safest to say that his attraction to trouble had grown exponentially, that was when he wasn't using the his brain. There is also the fact that he had gotten faster, he had gotten so fast that one time some Iwa-nins that the group had passed by fainted from shock at watching him run so fast, they actually shouted, "ITS A GHOST!" Jiraiya figured out that Haru resembled Minato. This was confirmed when another group of Iwa-nins shouted, "THE YELLOW FLASH IS BACK FROM THE DEAD!!!", while another group shouted, "RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!"
The trio were camped outside of one of the towns in Kuma no Kuni. Kiyomi had gone into town to get some supplies, but when she returned she had brought with her a surprise.
"Hey guys!," she called out to them, "Look who I found!"
All three men then looked at her and her companion. Then Mikio and Haru bolted to their feet and tackled the guy who was walking beside Kiyomi, and started to beat the living out of him.
Once the whole group was back by the campfire, with the guy dressing his wounds, Jiraiya looked at the guy as if trying to recall anything that his companions had said about anyone that looked like the guy did.
"Hey man," the guy said, "Stop staring, I'll tell you who I am," he then stood up and did a little dance that looked like Jiraiya's introductory dance, but it was way more silly and way more embarassing for any student that the guy would ever have, if he ever got around to getting a student.
"I am the great, the power, the sexy, the unattainable and immortal Ikkaku Sennin!" then he struck a ridiculous pose which sent Mikio and Haru to the ground rolling the living out of themselves laughing.
While Jiraiya, just stared, and stared, and jumped the man, dragging him to the ground while hugging him. Then he bolted to his feet, and did his little dance, and introduced himself.
After finding out who he was Ikkaku fished out a scroll and unsealed its contents and begged Jiraiya to sign his Icha Icha books.
After all the commotion, and after the heavy beating the four men received thanks to Kiyomi, they all went to bed, Jiraiya and Kiyomi in different tents, since their relationship hadn't gotten to the point where they could sleep in the same tent together.
From four to five, Ikkaku Sennin had arrived.