Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 47 Farewell Iwa
Naruto walked out of the arena with his new Hetai-ite placed firmly on his forehead. He was pleased to see there had been no lasting damage to any of the ninja who competed in the final. Even Ino was already up and about after the massive shock she received in the first round.
"So sensei how long until we return to Konoha" Naruto asked Jiraiya once they were outside and on the way back to there hotel.
"We have to stay for a few more days until the doctors give our injured ninja clearance to travel safely" Jiraiya said.
"Fair enough, Iwa is a nice place but I do miss Konoha" Naruto said.
"I know what you mean, there are barely any trees here and Akamaru gets scared on some of these bridge's" Kiba said loudly.
(Orochimaru's Hideout)
Orochimaru was currently sitting in a chair coughing up blood, he could only last in this body for a few more weeks at the most. 'Soon I will have you Sasuke. Then I shall have the sharingan, and with it I can finally complete my dream of learning all the jutsu in the world' Orochimaru thought before coughing up some more blood.
"Your body is beginning to fail Orochimaru-sama, by the looks of things it wont be long before you are bed ridden" Kabuto said.
"It's fine I can wait until Sasuke returns from taking Suigetsu back to the western hideout, just make sure he comes to me when he return's" Orochimaru said before trying to stand but failing.
"Here let me help you up Sasuke wont be back for a week so you are going to need some rest we don't want you to be too weak when he shows up" Kabuto insisted grabbing Orochimaru's arm and helping him up from his chair and out of the room.
(With Naruto)
Naruto was wandering the streets of Iwa looking around for well anything that seemed interesting when he saw the young boy from the orphanage Iwaka in a training field working on some of the stuff Naruto had taught him.
"Your bending your elbow too much" said Naruto as he walked into the clearing.
"What... Naruto sensei! Can you help me out I forgot how you taught me to throw these shuriken" the small boy said embarrassed he forgot.
"That's alright if you forgot it just means that I didn't teach you very well" Naruto said kindly to take some of the guilt and pressure off the boy.
"That's not true your a great teacher I could barely ever hit the target before, and now I can get close to a bulls eye every time with kunai" Iwaka replied.
"That doesn't mean I am a good sensei. You know my sensei thinks of himself as a failure, despite the fact he is considered one of the strongest ninja alive" Naruto said sitting down.
"What how could that be" Iwaka asked taking a seat in front of Naruto.
"It is because when he looks back on his life all of his failures stand out far more than his accomplishments. He failed to get his long time crush to like him, he out lived all of his genin team that my father was part of. He even feels he failed to protect his sensei when Orochimaru killed him" Naruto said while Iwaka listened intently. "So despite all of the successes he has had over the years he still considers himself a failure. But despite all of that, I refuse to see him as one. He taught me to be a ninja and how to be a man as far as I am concerned all of my successes are his as well along with all of the people he has taught. That mean's if you have failed in something then I have too, so come on lets get to work helping you remember how to throw shuriken" Naruto said calmly standing up and walking over to pick up Iwaka's training shuriken.
Iwaka seemed happy about that and ran over to Naruto who began showing him the proper way to throw the small disk's.
They continued for around one hour until Iwaka could once again hit the bulls eye on almost every throw. "There we go and it didn't take long to get the hang of it once you remembered now did it" Naruto said kindly.
"No it was easy this time. Thank you Naruto sensei" Iwaka said.
"So tell me how are the weights and your chakra control exercises going" Naruto queried seeing that the boy was wearing the training weights he gave him.
"There going great I can almost feel myself get faster every day, and I can now stick the pebbles to me for as long as I want" Iwaka said proudly.
"That's great work, you will be a great ninja one day" Naruto said ruffling the boys hair.
"Training a future ninja from another village... Well you are a weird one after all I guess" came a rough voice from behind them.
"Maybe or it could be that I am willing to help where I can, old man" Naruto said without turning around.
Iwaka looked terrified Naruto had just called Oonoki the Tsuchikage an old man. "So tell me boy, how long have you known I was here" Oonoki asked with a small chuckle.
"Since you arrived around a minute ago. To be able to fly is amazing by the way. don't feel too bad about me catching you, the Mizukage is in a tree right over there" Naruto said pointing to a short but bushy tree.
Oonoki was stunned he hadn't sensed anything. "Your sensory abilities are amazing, I cant sense a thing" he said grumpily.
"It is a side effect of my use of senjutsu, I can feel all life and chakra around me. And the more I use sage mode the better I become at it. Its still not perfect, Jiraiya sensei can hide from me if he is inside one of the toads mouth's and masking his chakra signature to match it" Naruto admitted.
Mei having heard this dropped out of the tree and walked over to them "My you are full of surprises Naruto-kun" she said once she got into range that she didn't have to raise her voice.
"Well I was called Konoha's most unpredictable ninja, although that may have just been because I was the dead last in my graduating class and the first one promoted to chunin" Naruto said with a small smile.
"Dead last... How is that possible" Mei asked shocked that someone so young who had completely dominated the jonnin exams had been the dead last in his class just over four years ago.
"Well I wasn't very well liked in Konoha as a child, and I would always get harder test's than all the other students or kicked out of the class if it was an important one" Naruto said scratching his head and went to continue but was cut off.
"But your the son of there hero, how could you have been treated so unkindly" Mei asked curiously.
"Ah well you see, my heritage was not told to anyone in fear of my fathers enemies trying to kill me, so I was known as Naruto Uzumaki which was my mothers surname. But the main reason I was disliked, well more like despised was that I am the Kyuubi jinchuuriki" Naruto said not at all ashamed of the fact.
"Oh I see, so that would explain why none of the other villages have heard that there was a living son to the yellow flash" Mei reasoned.
"Anyway, as I was saying I was given much harder tests than the other students but the main reason why I was the dead last was the fact I could not make a single standard clone. They always came out sickly and half dead. Of course now I know that it was because even then I had the chakra levels that were higher than everyone else in the village making it impossible to use such a tiny amount of chakra necessary for a simple illusion, and that is why I cant use any genjutsu either, I simply have far to much chakra" Naruto said.
"Incredible" Mei said and unashamedly licked her lips thinking about the kind of chakra levels Naruto must have now that he has been trained properly.
During this Iwaka was becoming more and more shocked first he hears Naruto call Oonoki an old man, then the Mizukage shows up. It was too much for the small boy to take so... he fainted.
"Ah well we better take care of that" Oonoki said with a small laugh once Iwaka hit the ground and signaled for one of the Anbu that were following him for his protection to come and collect the boy and return him to the orphanage.
"I'm curious as to why you both are here, old man Oonoki I can understand considering I am in his village and was currently alone with one of his young villagers. But Mei may I ask why you were spying on me" Naruto asked with a friendly smile.
Mei blushed slightly. She didn't really have a reason for following Naruto except for trying to get him alone. "Ah I came to invite you and Jiraiya-dono to dinner tonight, but I didn't want to disrupt you in the middle of training the boy so I decided to watch until you finished" she lied convincingly.
"Oh, is it just going to be me and Jiraiya sensei attending" Naruto asked wondering if he could bring Yugito and then contemplating if that would be a good idea seeing just how hostile his girlfriend was towards the long haired Kage.
"Oh I was quite hoping that it would just be the three of us,you see I would like to find out more about your training you went through to help you get to the level you are now at only sixteen years old" Mei said with a smile.
"Well I don't see a problem with it you should probably ask Jiraiya sensei though, he might not want to tell people some of the toads secrets" Naruto said.
"Toad's? Are you saying you were trained by the toads" Mei asked.
"Yeah the elders Fukusaku sensei and Shima sensei there to toads that govern all of the toad summons apart from the grand geezer toad" Naruto said.
"To be trained by summons, I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing. What about you Oonoki-dono" Mei asked.
"There are a few, Hanzou the Salamander was supposedly trained by his summons, other than that the Sandaime Hokage Hituzen, toad hermit Jiraiya, and later the slug princess Tsunade from Konoha have all been trained by there summons" Oonoki said showing the wisdom his age granted.
"I see it seems Konoha has quite a few cases of it in recent history" Mei said.
"Yeah I guess so, Jiraiya told me that Konoha never had the toad summoners contract, and that he earned it by stumbling upon the toads home. And after passing a test they decided to train him and took him to the grand elder" Naruto said.
"What the home of the toads is said to be impossible to find unless you know the way, during the third great shinobi world war we looked for it everywhere because of the danger of Jiraiya-dono and his summons" Oonoki said.
"Yeah apparently he reverse summoned himself there by accident when he saw his sensei perform the jutsu. Not having signed a contract it didn't work of course but apparently he had such a strong affinity with the toads he was reverse summoned right in front of the sacred waterfall while Shima was out there looking for food" Naruto chuckled remembering the story Jiraiya had told him fondly.
"You see this is exactly why I would like to invite you both for dinner tonight so I can here more you are both just so fascinating" Mei said with an innocent smile.
"Well I better go tell sensei then, good bye" Naruto said and waved to the two Kage's as he left.
(Unknown Location)
Pein looked out over his domain as the rain fell around him. He just sat in silence looking contemplating his future. His seat if you could call it that was a large metal beam that extended out from the side of a huge gray tower that shot up high into the air. There were a few towers like this one scattered around the city but this was by far the tallest. The city itself seemed to be build on a a system of canals as they needed to have many small bridges that extend up as it seemed that the village was built on layers.
Suddenly the air around him rippled and Tobi appeared from thin air.
"Shouldn't you be out catching the Rokubi" Pein said in a monotone.
"We are waiting for Zetsu to locate him again" Tobi said however his usual childish attitude and voice was gone.
"I see, then why have you come here" Pein asked slightly annoyed.
"I was wondering if Itachi has returned yet. Kisame said he had personal things to do in the land of earth but we haven't heard anything from him since then" Tobi said.
"Not yet but I am not worried, he would be a fool to act against us, however his fondness for Konoha is becoming troublesome. I am finding it hard to find a way to capture the Nibi and Kyuubi while the village stands around them" Pein admitted.
"Then how shall we proceed" Tobi asked.
"Once we have captured the Rokubi and Nanabi we will send Itachi and Kisame to capture the Hachibi while I will travel to Konoha and take the Kyuubi and Nibi myself" Pein said.
"Are you sure you can, need I remind you of the people that defend that village" Tobi said.
"Pein-sama has never lost a fight, he will not loose to Konoha" another more feminine voice said and from behind them a tall women arrived, with several piercing's and purple hair with a origami flower set to one side.
"I see well at it is good to be confident but ninja like Jiraiya and Tsunade are no pushovers and neither are the jinchuuriki" Tobi said.
"It matters not. In the end they will know Pain" Pein said as he stood up and walked back inside.
(That Night In Iwa)
"I don't like this" Yugito said angrily as Naruto got dressed for the diner with the Mizukage.
"I know Yugi-chan but I cant just turn her down for a dinner request, she is a Kage after all it would look bad on Konoha, that's why Jiraiya sensei agreed" Naruto said.
"Yes but what if she tries something, I know she likes you...I swear is he touches you I will claw her eyes out before burning them to a crisp" Yugito said with a feral expression.
"She wouldn't do anything like that. And besides sensei will be there, you have absolutely nothing to worry about" Naruto reassured his angry girlfriend as he pulled on a dark blue sage cloak with bright red flames over the top of his black button up shirt and dress pants.
There was a knock on the door and Jiraiya came in wearing the same thing he always does. "You ready to go Naruto" he asked from the door subconsciously moving away from the angry Nibi jinchuuriki.
Naruto left the room and Jiraiya was about to follow when he felt his shirt yanked back. Spinning around he came face to face with with the angry Yugito. "If you leave him alone with that woman for even a minute I swear I will tell Tsunade about all the photos of women who proposed to Naruto that you still have" she threatened deadly serious.
Jiraiya gulped and nodded. "Yes ma'am" he said sweating lightly at the thought of the beating he would get if Tsunade found out about all the naked photo's that he kept from the arranged marriage proposal's.
"Good" Yugito said before releasing the scared Jiraiya.
"Hey sensei you coming?" Naruto yelled from the other side of the door.
"Yeah I was just having a friendly chat with Yugito-chan" Jiraiya said shakily and he stepped out of there hotel room and headed off towards the restaurant.
They came to a rather grand looking barbeque place that dwarfed the one that team Asuma would go after each meal. "Ah I am glad you could make it Naruto-kun, Jiraiya-dono" Mei said as she arrived from the opposite direction. She wore a long blue dress that was extremely low cut showing off the entire middle of her chest and only just covered her breast's indicating that she wasn't wearing a bra. She also wore blue lipstick and eyeshadow making her green eyes stand out even in the streetlights.
Jiraiya had to contain himself from taking out his little note pad and taking notes while Naruto too could not help but realize that the Mizukage was indeed a very beautiful woman.
"Shall we, I want to here all about you both" Mei said as she wrapped an arm around Naruto's who was still to stunned to resist as she dragged him inside.
"So what do you want to know" Jiraiya asked as they took there seats and ordered a drink.
"Well Kiri has been so isolated from the other nations for so long and due to the civil war it has been even harder to get information on the outside world. And now that the war is over I find the fact that we have the son of the man many declared the best shinobi in the world here as a chance to get to know the world outside of the land of water better" Mei said with a smile.
"Well I am flattered and all that but I still don't know what it is I can help with" Naruto admitted.
"Oh that's fine I just want to ask some questions about how you trained if you don't mind that is" Mei asked.
"Well I don't really mind, although with that said I don't think learning my training technique will help Kiri out much" Naruto said.
"Really and why is that" Mei asked as she subtly moved closer to the blond.
"It's because the only way anyone can train like Naruto is if they not only have his chakra level's but also have the advanced healing awarded to him by being the host of the Kyuubi" Jiraiya informed the Mizukage.
"I don't follow you what type of training could possibly need both of those, the healing factor I understand, it will allow your body to adjust to the increased gravity and restriction's from your seals. But what is the reason for the chakra level's" Mei asked with a smile.
"Well there is a kinjutsu in Konoha that is only allowed to be taught to jonnin level ninja who have high levels of chakra. It is the Kagebushin no jutsu. Shadow clones are created by splitting a persons chakra in half and making an exact replica" Jiraiya informed the Mizukage.
"Yes I could see why that would be a kinjutsu if you made too many you would surely die. But why even bother, I mean elemental clones are far easier on your chakra" Mei said.
"Because of there advantage's, like all other clones they will dispel with one good hit. But unlike other clones the shadow clones that are made up of the persons chakra will collect the knowledge and send it back to the original. It is the ultimate technique in spying because you can learn anything the clone learns without being anywhere that is dangerous. Now the problem with this is memory's, if you receive too much information too quickly your brain will basically melt from the overload. For someone like Naruto who could make well over five hundred clones when he was only twelve the chakra strain was no big deal. However for the mental strain that is where the Kyuubi comes into play" Jiraiya said proudly.
"Amazing so he has been completing close to a years worth of training for every day that he trained" Mei said in awe.
"Not quite, I don't usually let him push himself that hard but around six or seven month's or so in a day is not bad, It's a good thing too because when I found him he was useless" Jiraiya said with a laugh.
"Well you have done quite a good job he has turned into a remarkable ninja" Mei said eying Naruto as there saki arrived.
"Eh thanks I guess, but it was really more fun than anything to train him kind of like having a family" Jiraiya said. He was struggling with Tsunade's rule about not being a pervert and it seemed to have kicked in what little modesty the old toad sage had. This seemed to interest Naruto, who was surprised that he had not jumped up on the table in exuberant fashion and started performing a dance about just how great he is. Not that Naruto minded the fact he omitted his usual kabuki dance in the slightest. In fact Naruto could barely care anyway even if he did decide the dance was necessary. Naruto felt rather happy that Jiraiya considered him to be like family, because that was exactly the way he thought of Jiraiya.
The three talked and drank a bit more after that and began cooking there meat while still drinking heavily. Naruto thanks to Kyuubi had a rather high tolerance to alcohol and was easily able to keep up with the seasoned professional that was Jiraiya. Mei on the other hand seemed to be a little less of a heavy weight when it came to alcohol and had become quite buzzed, she was however still quite eligible and the only signs to the fact she was indeed tipsy were a pink flush on her cheeks and she was more obvious in her attraction to Naruto and had moved around to sit right next to him.
Jiraiya seeing Naruto's pleading looks for help did the thing any good father would do in that situation, he pointed and laughed silently. 'Damn you sensei you will pay for this, how am I supposed to get away from her' Naruto thought as they ate slowly and talked about Naruto, Jiraiya and what Kiri had been like since the civil war which Naruto had been unsurprised to find had been mostly just three years of rebuilding and looking for remnants of the now scattered bloodline clan's.
"Well it has been a lovely evening, we better get going though" Jiraiya said standing up followed by Naruto and a by now very drunk Mizukage.
"Um sensei I think we better help her back to her hotel" Naruto said with an uneasy look at Mei who was standing using a chair as a support but still smiling happily.
"Yeah your probably right at least walk her back, she probably wont let us do more than that" Jiraiya said thoughtfully.
"Oh no you don't both have to come, Naruto-kun here will be fine" said Mei happily as they left the restaurant. They didn't need to pay because as foreign ambassadors there food was paid for by the Tsuchikage's office or if it was too expensive a detailed bill would be sent to the other Kage.
"I don't think that is such a good idea Mei-dono, nar-" but Jiraiya didn't get further than that when Yamato arrived to deliver a scroll to the elder toad sage.
Scanning the scrolls contents he wrapped it back up. "Ah sorry Naruto I have to go see Oonoki, orders from Tsunade-hime in regards to the Akatsuki" Jiraiya said. Naruto's eyes widened in fear he couldn't let Mei walk back to her hotel alone and now Jiraiya wouldn't be with him to put a break on her advances.
They walked back and Naruto was quite happy to find that Mei had not attempted anything sure she would occasionally grab or lean on his shoulder for support but other than that they just talked normally.
That changed when they made it to her hotel however. "Here we go Mei hope you had a good night" Naruto said kindly.
"What aren't you going to help me up to my room" she said with a seductive pout.
"I don't think that is such a good idea, my girlfriend is waiting for me and I really need to get back" Naruto said trying to escape without having to escort the drunk Mei to her room.
"But I need something to lean on and help me to get to my bed" she said again.
Naruto was sweating now, he was struggling to find an excuse not to help her out. Luckily he was saved by Ao who had chosen this moment to return to there hotel.
"What are you doing, get away from Mei-sama" Ao ordered threateningly.
"Oh thank kami. You see Mei has had a little too much saki and needed me to help her home" Naruto said defensively.
"Well then, I guess I owe you thanks. But I can take her from here" Ao said causing Naruto's heart to leap in joy. 'I'm saved' Naruto thought in relief as Ao removed a now rather annoyed Mei. It seemed she wasn't as drunk as Naruto and Jiraiya had thought and once Naruto had left she stood up straight without any assistance.
"If you do that again... I'll kill you" Mei said in a sickly sweet voice that caused Ao to pale and wonder what it is he had done.
(With Itachi)
Itachi had left Iwa after the second task but had decided to go to several of the Uchiha clan Hideouts that were scattered all over the elemental nations to gather information, while mostly useless he could use it as an excuse as to why he was gone so long as well as hopefully give the Nanabi jinchuuriki a little bit more time in this world.
He walked into a dark cave quite close to the waterfall village where he knew he was supposed to meet with Kisame.
"Where the hell have you been" the shark mans voice called out.
"I went to go check on my primary target. I wanted to see if Zetsu's report was accurate and he was indeed as strong as he said" Itachi lied but with his expressionless face it was impossible to tell.
"What why didn't you tell me we could have taken him together" Kisame said angrily.
"I wasn't there to fight him I just wanted to observe his skill level for myself, if I had you there we would have had a full scale war right in the middle of Iwa" Itachi reasoned.
"Pfft fine, so what did you find out" Kisame said now eagerly.
"He is completely immune to my genjutsu and is superior to me in taijutsu while I am better than him in ninjutsu but not by much. He also uses some strange form of chakra I can't see it with the sharingan but I can feel it coming off of him. He found me while I was watching him during the second task, luckily for me my foolish little brother did as well and I was able to escape with my life" Itachi said.
"So he is really that strong that he made you run away, I never would have thought I would live to see the day, what about Tsukuyomi did that work" Kisame asked.
"I was unwilling to attempt it, should it fail or as would be the most likely outcome the Kyuubi healed him before I could attempt a capture I would be severely weakened" Itachi informed the taller Akatsuki member.
"We have his healing on record it should have still worked" Kisame said defiantly.
"Yes but in case you have forgotten Naruto's other chakra source seemed to heal him at an even faster rate and combined with the Kyuubi most injuries that he sustained seemed to heal like they were not even there. With that said he did not receive any substantial wounds to test the extent of his healing" Itachi said.
"Well we should at least inform Leader-sama, what else have you been doing it couldn't have taken that long just to get back" Kisame said.
"Well I was injured so I couldn't move very fast, I then went to check out several of the old Uchiha hideouts for information from the animals that occupy them, cat's mostly but they hear things, didn't get much only that Sasuke had been to one of the southern bases with some large tube of water that could talk" the stoic Uchiha said calmly.
(With Jiraiya)
"Come in" came the voice of Oonoki as Jiraiya entered the Tsuchikage's office. "Ah Jiraiya-dono to what do I owe the pleasure" the elderly Kage asked.
"I came to ask you about the locations of your jinchuuriki. During the second task Itachi showed up in an attempt to take Naruto as you know. My guess is they would have been targeting your jinchuuriki first and maybe changed target when they saw Naruto would be open" Jiraiya said.
"I will not divulge that information, if a country has its jinchuuriki taken it is should make efforts to retrieve it themselves, I do not require your assistance in this" Oonoki said.
"Very well, but should you need assistance in dealing with the Akatsuki, Konoha will be willing to help" Jiraiya said flatly.
"I will keep it in mind, now if you will I have paper work to finish" the short Kage said grumpily as he took out another sheet of paper from a large stack that was much taller than he was.
Jiraiya left after that he got the impression that Iwa had already lost the Yonbi and Gobi which meant that they now had at least three with shukaku.
(Two Day's Later)
Naruto was packed and ready to go. The doctor's gave Ino the all clear and Naruto was missing Konoha, he missed his own bed, and his new apartment. Most of all he missed being able to stay in bed half the morning with Yugito while he couldn't be disturbed unless it was an order from Tsunade.
"So ready to go Jiraiya said sticking his head through the door to check to see if they had packed everything up.
"Yes where ready Jiraiya sensei no need to fuss about us" Naruto said with a smile.
"Well I want to get back to Konoha I will have you know I am quite behind on my research" Jiraiya said with a lecherous smile.
"Sure what ever you say sensei, was behaving for a couple of weeks really that bad" Naruto asked seriously.
"I don't know, was the six months you spent without ramen bad" Jiraiya retorted.
"It was like torture, I would rather be forced to watch Gai and Lee's Unbreakable genjutsu for hours on end" Naruto said but then seemed to think better of it. "Actually I take that back, nothing is that bad"
"Well that is kind of how I feel right now, and I totally agree, that jutsu is nothing but pure evil" Jiraiya said with a shiver at the thought of it.
Around half an hour later Naruto and the group from Konoha waved goodbye to Iwa and were on there way back to Konoha.
End Chapter.
Hooray for the Horrors of filler chapters, the way to turn three lines of plot into a complete chapter.