Chapter Two: Some Scars Don't Heal.

Deidra hid in the depths of the cave, gritting his teeth in anger. To say the plan had gone poorly was an understatement. First he had lost his arm while trying to capture the One Tails Jinchuriki. Then, once he actually got the bastard, who should come out of the woodwork but the Nine-Tails brat Uzumaki Naruto, who had vanished off their radar over six months before, and Jiraya of the Sannin. The unexpected additions had led to disaster, with Jiraya helping out Kankuro in beating the village's former puppetmaster….

A sharp feeling in his side drew the explosion artist's attention. Pulling up his cloak, he looked down at the vicious cut in his side. It felt like shards of glass had been jammed into the skin around the large cut. The chase out of town had been terrible, with both Naruto and the Kazekage's fan-swinging sister hunting him relentlessly. In the end, the artist had nearly run out of chakra, and only a quick dodge and tossing away his unconscious cargo had saved his hide from that weird chakra-shuriken Naruto had run at him with.

Trying to stop the bleeding somehow, Deidra chewed the inside of his cheek in frustration. Not only had they failed to get one of the tailed beasts, but the chance and catching a second slipped through their fingers as well. Not to mention the death of Sasori….Lord Pein was not going to be happy with this.

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"Are you sure you have to go so soon?" Gaara asked stoicly, standing on the balcony of his office. The past few months had been some of the most enjoyable in his lifetime, the rigors of becoming the Kazekage balanced by time spent with the one person in this world he could truly call friend.

Next to him stood Uzumaki Naruto, leaning his arms on the balcony as he looked over the village. The last six months hiding away in Sunagakure had been good to him. Once they settled down, Jiraya had gotten serious about teaching him jutsus. And by fate, they had figured out his elemental nature was wind, meaning he was in the perfect place to pick up a few new tricks and develop his own, like the brand new Rasenshuriken he finally got to test out the other day on the Akatsuki.

Letting out a deep sigh, the blonde shinobi finally answered. "I really do, yeah…the news is going to hit Kohona any day now that I'm here after the other night. Jiraya is heading out anyway, says he has some leads on the Akatsuki leadership he wants to investigate." Standing upright, Naruto looked up to the clear blue skys in thought.

Gaara took the moment to take in the visage of his fellow jinchuriki. Since being banished, Naruto had ditched the Konoha hitte, replacing it with a pair of goggles he was constantly fiddling with in recent days. The top of his black and orange tracksuit, a nice replacement for the tacky orange uniform he had worn as a child, was tied around his waist, his top half only covered by the thin fabric of a white tanktop, reminding Gaara of how Naruto had complained about the heat the entire first week he stayed there.

Just then, the air seemed to shift and change. Thickening with muderderious intent and chilling as cold as ice. Defensively, Gaara looked around quickly and noticed that Jiraya had stepped onto the balcony as well. Trying to calm himself, he redirected his attention to Naruto. To many he seemed the same as before, but a careful eye would notice the tensing of his jaw and the twitch of his left eye that signaled severe annoyance. Things had been this way for weeks now, and despite all attempts to find out why, no one could pull the answer out of either of the Kohona refugees. After a few moments of tense silence, the Kazekage cleared his throat, as he often saw others do in this same circumstance. "I have some other matters to attend to regarding our security, so I will leave you two to be." With no response, Gaara did as his siblings had often told him to do in this exact situation and left the pair be.

It was Jiraya who broke the tense quiet after a few more moments alone with his pupil. "So I heard that Rasenshuriken you've been working on worked out well…" He stated with a proud tone in his voice, with no response from Naruto. Sighing deeply, Jiraya dragged his hand over his face. It made sense with how stubborn the boy was he would still be upset….

...One Month Earlier….

Jiraya and Temari entered the cave nervously. The past few months had been great as far as the Sennin was concerned, he and Naruto were getting along great and the kid was learning leaps and bounds faster then he expected. And then out of nowhere, he had stormed off in a rage earlier today, leaking the Kyuubi's dark energy the entire way.

Temari looked around as they entered the cavern. "This place is near one of my favorite training grounds…this cave wasn't here before." There was an obvious nervousness in her voice that prompted Jiraya's attention. He could see an obvious transition between the natural hollow that had developed in the stone and the entrance path. There was something unnatural to the smoothness and shape, and there was a consistency to the groves, like it was made with a very large drill…

Or a Rasengen.

"Temari, stay outside and make sure no one or no thing comes in." There was a seriousness to his voice that caught her off guard, a steel in his step that Temari had yet to see. For his entire time here, Jiraya had been a womanizing oaf, who seemed to have a wide array of knowledge but no real seriousness at any point. A part of her wanted to wanted to fight back, but the new chuunin bit her tongue and followed the orders given.

Descending further into the cavern, Jiraya gritted his teeth and braced himself. The aura of the fox's foul chakra hung in the air, but not as much as when the Kyuubi broke out. As he kept walking, he noticed the glow of a light coming from the depths of the cave, and as he finally entered the main chamber he was greeted by a small campfire. On the other side of the flame sat Naruto, in only a tanktop and boxers. But as soon as Jiraya entered the chamber, Naruto's eyes snapped open, his normal blue orbs replaced with the slitted red eyes of the beast.

Already Jiraya was forming hand seals, but he was caught off guard when Naruto closed his eyes again and took a long deep breath. "So, is it true?" The younger ninja asked, his voice horse and gravely, like his vocal cords were shot. As Jiraya's eyes adjusted to the light, he could make out the streaks of dried tears down his student's cheeks.

"Is what true?" The Sannin finally asked, his voice tinted with a mix of fear and confusion. Slowly and carefully, Naruto reached in front of himself and picked up an unrolled scroll, tossing it to Jiraya. Grabbing the paper, Jiraya reconized it instantly. It was the scroll that Kakashi had quietly slipped him while Naruto was saying his goodbyes to Iruka. Jiraya had given it to Naruto when they settled in in Suna, but ever since it had sat sealed on Naruto's desk. Nervously, the Toad Sage looked at the contents on the scroll, his eyes going wide at the first few lines in Kakashi's handwriting.

Naruto,

There is so much I've wanted to say to you over the past years, but most of all I can only ask forgiveness for being worse than trash. For too long I, and everyone else, have been following the Third's laws…

Jiraya read the entire scroll, his stomach sinking with every line. Kakashi had laid out everything; Naruto's parentage and Kakashi's connection to his parents, the details of the Kyuubi attack, and most damning of all were several mentions that Jiraya was Naruto's godfather. This last detail was one Jiraya had yet to tell Naruto, a fact he constantly regretted but could never find a good way to broach.

"Well, is it true?" Naruto growled again, gnashing his teeth in barely contained anger. Sweat was running down his body now, and Jiraya could tell the boy was using every bit of willpower he had left not to just cut loose with anger. Thank the gods this had been a quiet week otherwise, who knows what would have happened if this had come up during a fight…

Quickly, Jiraya weighed his options. The cat was out of the bag now, and making up some story would just bring up questions as to why Kakashi had said what he had. Damn that Kakashi…either he had thought that Jiraya had already told him these things, or he had done this to force his hand. Clever bastard. With no other choice before him, the toad sage hung his head in shame. The sins of his past were now catching up with him, and he had no choice but to face them. "Yes, it's all true…"

The words were barely out of his mouth when everything really went to hell. Wreathed in the orange cloak of the Kyuubi, Naruto lept through the campfire with a speed Jiraya had never seen his student pull off before. He was barely able to brace himself before his student's fist connected, slamming into his chest and sending him flying into the cave wall. Muscle memory and experience kicked in before his thoughts could even catch up, and the dazed Sannin readied himself to counter the next strike. But no strike ever came. Instead, Naruto just stood there, looming over his teacher in anger.

"All this time…." Naruto finally hissed between clenched teeth. "All this time we traveled together and you never told me….All those times I vented, all those times I told you what my questions were, and not only did you have the answers but you purposely didn't tell me." Beginning to pace the cave in anger, he ran his hands through his hair before continuing. "Kakashi, I get. He had orders. It sucks ass, but at least that one I get. But you…you were my godfather….fuck, you were my godfather! And you just…left me there in that hell!" As the pieces fell more firmly in place in his mind, his pacing picked up speed. "You..you could have still kept things a secret, you could have told me lies, but at least you would have been there….Do you have any idea how many nightmares I have because of that village? How many scars I should have that I only don't thanks to this fucking fox?"

Jiraya took the verbal assault, inwardly cursing himself. "Your right…I should have been there…I had no idea how bad things were but…that's not an excuse." He admitted sadly. "I..was selfish…and running from my own pain….I'm sorry…"

Naruto turned his back on his sensei, staring into the flickering flames. "Just….go. I just….I need to be alone, please…." He stated coldly, refusing to look in Jiraya's direction, his nails digging into his palm deep enough to draw blood.

TTTTTTTTTT

Three days later, Naruto had returned to Suna, and to many it was as if nothing had ever happened. However, the rift between the two Kohona natives was obvious to anyone who knew them. Naruto adjusted his training to either be by himself or with Temari learning more about wind nature. The pair rarely said more than two words to each other on any given day, as was most evidenced by their very disparate approaches during the Akutaski attack earlier that week. In many ways, the fact that they had made plans to leave Suna was a godsend.

With no response from Naruto, Jiraya signed and looked out over the village. "I'm going to be heading out tonight. Want to stop by Kohona and give Hime an update on things before following some leads…." This only prompted a grunt and a nod from the younger shinobi. Shaking his head in defeat, Jiraya turned to leave, stopping himself in the doorway. "You might not believe me now, but….I am sorry."

Naruto made no movement to stop his teacher. He just stared out on the domed roofs of Suna. This place had been like a home to him after his last had been torn from him, and now circumstances stated he would have to leave again. The place was just too big of a target with two jinchuriki, and if the Fire Nation heard he was a refugee here it could lead to an all out war. He wasn't the kind to put his friends in the line of fire like that. In addition, his time in Suna had proven something to Naruto; so long as he landed somewhere that wasn't tainted by the Kyuubi's past, he actually had a chance at reforging a life he could enjoy. All of the large nations were out, they were always looking for a reason to go to war with each other and his presence could be the thing that set them off. So he needed somewhere small, somewhere where it would be hard to find him but also where he was wanted….

A sly foxlike grin grew across Naruto's face. He knew just the place.