Disclaimer: Let's see. . . trash on the floor. Toys under foot. Food still on the table. Broken brooms. Broken vacumn. Nope no maid yet. Still don't own Naruto.
Chapter Twenty-Two: A New Home
Naruto followed Jiraiya as they made a brief pit stop at his cabin for his clothes and his manuscript. He'd packed the animal food and some human food while Naruto had waited in the woods beyond the perimeters of the small place. While he was packing up, Jiraiya looked through the windows and spotted Sasuke standing under a tree across the street from the place. It was obvious the boy was watching for Naruto to come in or out. So Naruto was right. The boy hadn't been convinced after all. Well he'd have a long night of it since Naruto wasn't coming in. Sneaking out the back way, Jiraiya slipped into the woods without Sasuke being able to see him from his position across the street. He set the boxes he carried down beside Naruto and motioned for the young man to wait a minute more. Then he wwent to where he knew an Anbu was still stationed to guard the cabin.
"You missed a pest," he whispered when he found the guard. The Anbu turned to look at him and straightened their spine but said nothing. "The Uchiha is hiding in the shadows across the road from my cabin. It's obvious he's waiting for Naruto so why not give the pest something to see. Make it memorable and record it for me so I can watch it later." The Anbu nodded and Jiraiya knew there wasa very wicked grin being hidden by the opossum mask. He slipped back into the deepest shadows and made his way back to Naruto who had summoned clones to carry some of the boxes and crates Jiraiya had packed.
Then they took to hopping through the trees back towards the tower and over the wall past it. Their pair of Anbu guards ranged out, one in front of the duo and one to the rear. The two Anbu tried to see everything as they made their way through the trees of Konoha. The group saw Kakashi vainly rubbing a piece of sandpaper along one of the logs forming the wall while Anko leaned against a nearby tree. She looked bored out of her mind and all of them knew it would not be long before she began to take that boredom out on Kakashi. But Naruto wondered why Kakashi was doing the sanding that way instead of using his chakra to do it. Everyone knew the only way to build chakra stores was to use chakra in as much of everything as you could. Not only was this boring as Ell but it seemed a waste of time for a ninja. He stopped and dropped down beside the one-eyed man. He said nothing as Anko came up beside him and together they watched Kakashi sanding the wall.
"Why is he doing it this way? Are you making him do it the hard way for a reason?" he finally asked Anko.
"What do you mean? This is the only way to sand wood," said Anko. Her favorite snake laid curled on a sunny rock digesting the small rodent that had scampered too close to her. Sisthlis raised up and gave Naruto a sibilant greeting, which Naruto returned.
Naruto laughed as Anko said, "No, you may not taste him. And what do you mean his blood smells as cold as yours?"
"There's the chakra way, Anko." Naruto interrupted. He really didn't want the snake to tell her mistress anything else and a conversation with a snake wasn't why he had stopped to chat.
Kakashi stopped and turned to give Naruto an incredulous look. What on earth? Cold blooded? Another way to sand wood? What was he talking about now?
In the only answer Naruto was going to give, he stretched forth his hand and allowed his chakra to form around his fist. "You can do it like this also," he said. Then he sent a visible stream of the fistfull of chakra out towards the wall. Where ever it touched, the wood became smooth as silk and honey gold in color. Kakashi and Anko stood with their mouths open. They'd never seen chakra used like this before.
"You can use nature chakra, which everyone has a little bit of or no one would be alive, to force things into growing faster or stronger or out of season but you can also use it like this. Nature chakra is the force behind all living things. We tend to think of ninjas who can force things to grow fast or into a certain shape as being nature users but that isn't true. Or at least it isn't the most common use of the ability. Furniture makers also use nature chakra to make their products, as do those who make wooden instruments for celebrations. Most don't even have to fell the trees and plants to make their goods. They can get by on just what has fallen to the forest floor by using this method of sanding to find the good wood still held inside the log."
"This wall is alive, as is most wood products, so it responds to nature manipulation. A very fine control is needed to keep from blasting the log away but practice will make it easier and build your reserves at the same time. All it takes is a little bit of chakra per log because these logs have been cut already. They are alive, due to the liquid inside them, but they have no roots so they will not grow and, as the liquid inside grows more solid, they are more easily destroyed. The more life that is in the wood the more chakra you need to manipulate it but also the more leeway you will have with it. Each log will be different but you should be able to finish the task faster if you do it this way, don't you think, Sensei? Besides, you should know doing things the commoner way will not help you as a ninja, Sensei."
"Don't call him that. He doesn't deserve that title from you," snarled Anko, straightening up from here position. Sisthlis reared up on her rock reacting to the anger of her summoner. She turned her head towards her potential prey making sweat pop on Kakashi's forehead. A flickering tongue and a small slithering had Kakashi quickly retreating in fear.
Naruto motioned the snake to stay put and hissed at her in her own tongue. She stopped moving and dipped her head towards him in a show of respect she had never even bestowed towards Anko. Anko just stood there with her mouth open wondering how it was that Naruto could speak the language of the snakes. "It is my title to give and I choose to give it to him. You were not standing in his shoes. Your heart was not his heart. And so you do not know what demons he fought for they were not your demons."
Kakashi dropped his head in shame. "She is right, Naruto. I do not deserve that title. Maybe someday I will but not now. She had her own demons to fight and she did not give in like I did. I gave in on my own nindo."
Naruto seemed to give his words some thought but the truth was he was really just letting Anko process them. He already knew how far Kakashi had come in this journey of understanding through punishment. "I believe you are closer to it now than when you demanded it, Sensei. BAck then you thought yourself too good to waste time merely teaching and it never occured to you to earn the respect you wished to have. Like the Uchiha you thought yourself entilted. What you once demanded, I believe you now know must be earned." He paused and then added as an afterthought. "Sensei may not be the title you were born to wear but it is the title you will wear until I am told otherwise."
"I would suggest you use fallen logs to practice on so that you won't have to rebuild the wall every time you blast one to smithereens. When you are good at it, you will be surprised at how easy the work will go. Gotta run now. Good luck." He dashed back into the trees leaving a stunned Kakashi and Anko both looking at his after-image. Title he was supposed to wear? What? Kakashi looked at Anko who was looking at him in puzzlement.
Both shrugged and he turned to some logs laying on the ground. "Shall we practice?" he asked her.
Naruto caught up to Jiraiya and the Anbu. Jiraiya asked where he'd disappeared to. Naruto told him and chuckled. "Kakashi-Sensei is so off-balance I'd be surprised to find he can stand up straight."
"I bet," growled Jiraiya. He was not nearly as forgiving a person as his student was and he knew Tsunade felt the same way. Neither of them would be forgiving Naruto's old team any time soon regardless of what Naruto wished. "Why are you so forgiving of that man? It makes no sense because I know you don't like him."
"Easy. What he did, he was supposed to do. No, I don't like him, and I doubt I ever will, but he had his role to play in my life to get me to this point and it was a role he could play. Kakashi-sensei has had a hard life, Jiraiya-sensei and I will not make his struggles less by disrespecting him now when he needs his strength most."
Jiraiya didn't pretend to understand but the answer had told him what he needed to know. Naruto wasn't acting off of some old instinct. He actually thought he should show Kakashi some respect for the struggles of the man's life to date. And Jiraiya had to admit Kakashi had not had an easy life. A genius never did it seemed.
They spent ten more minutes flying, or jumping, from branch to branch before they reached the small front clearing where the house was located. The two Anbu had stayed close by when he'd dropped down at the wall and they'd seen and heard every word that had passed there. They had also heard the words pass between the two men they guarded. The jutsu confused them but his words to the disgraced Jounin puzzled them more. Why was he so forgiving of the man? So what if he'd had a hard life. A lot of nin did but they didn't go abandoning their comrades to whomever came along and found them. It had been that jounins job not to leave any Leaf nins behind for capture or mutilation and he'd done that. As far as they were concerned that Jounin was a traitor and he was lucky he was not in prison or dead already. But it was not their place to pass judgement so they remained silent and kept their opinions to themselves. They knew the man had got off lightly. As soon as they made sure the premises were secure one of the Anbu broke off and headed back to the village for their relief shift.
The other hopped into a tree where she could keep watch on one side and the front door as well. The day had shown her a lot of things she had never thought to see. She settled in to think as she waited for her relief.
Jiraiya and Naruto went inside and began poking around in the various cabinets and cupboards they located. They found ramen and more ramen in the kitchen, which caused Jiraiya to groan while Naruto chuckled. In the bedrooms, they found clothes. All descriptions of clothes, from workout to formal. There were rags to fancy styles. It was obvious that the Yondaime used the place as a way to escape notice. His library was full of scrolls and books. There were scrolls of old fairy tales as well as bound scrolls detailing, they assumed, his most treasured techniques since each required what looked to be a drop of blood to open.
Naruto left Jiraiya peeking into things as excited as if he'd just stumbled upon a hidden hot springs full of gorgeous centerfold calendar girls. For a few minutes he just stood still in the doorway and watched as the old pervert sniffed and cackled his way around the room. He even got down on his hands and knees and was actively sniffing each join where two boards came together.
He smiled as he left to go explore the rest of the place. Four bedrooms made a lot of room, he thought, as he climbed the winding stairway. He checked into each wardrobe or cupboard but except for empty hangers or odd remnants of old outfits there wasn't much to see. He decided to go to bed and finish the exploring tomorrow. It had been a busy full day and he was more tired than he wanted to admit.
Author Note: Ok, I know that it doesn't seem like alot happened in this chapter but a transition was needed and this was the best way I could think of to do it. I promise that very soon all your questions will begin to find answers. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you as soon as I have the next chapter ready to load. Like this chapter, the basic information is already written. I just need to fill it out and proof-read it to catch what error I can. Remember, your reviews let me know when I miss something.