Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 83: The Boat
Several days had passed since Naruto had his house warming party and he was now preparing to leave Konoha with Yugito, Jiraiya and Tenzo.
"Hey Yamato teichou how are we getting to this island anyway?" Naruto asked.
"We are going to take a boat from the east of the Land of Fire up to the Land of Lightening where we will be meeting up with the Hachibi jinchuuriki, and several ninja from Kumo, apparently they know how to find the island" Tenzo replied.
"I don't really care how we get there, I just hope this place is going to be a nice place to live" Jiraiya added.
"Well I hate to be the bearer of bad new's, but this place it about as close to luxury as Myobokuzan, but without the friendly company" Yugito said.
"Aw man, no research and no luxury's this is going to be tough" Jiraiya moaned.
"On the plus side we will have lot's of time to train" Naruto said enthusiastically.
"I guess that is true, we will have a lot of work to do if you are ever going to control the Kyuubi" Jiraiya admitted.
"You know for someone who can get close to a year's worth of training done in a day you sure are enthusiastic about it" Tenzo said.
"Why not, it is the best chance we have to defeat that bastard Madara" Naruto said.
"I guess if something needs to be done, it is best to be enthusiastic about it" Tenzo agreed.
The four ninja continued to talk amongst each other while they waited for Tsunade who was going to tell them which port town they needed to head towards. Tsunade didn't want any security leaks, so she kept there destination a secret even from them until the last minute.
The Hokage soon arrived at the gate flanked by Shizune and Kakashi. "Good you are all here, your destination is in this envelope, good luck, and when the fighting does start, do not do anything reckless. Also the in the last meeting we made the decision that when ever you are called to a battle, you must leave either Yugito or the Raikage's brother behind. We don't want to risk the Akatsuki setting a trap to capture all three of you at once, should something go wrong" Tsunade informed the group.
"I guess I can agree with that. Team jinchuuriki is still going to kick some ass the Akatsuki wont know what hit them" Naruto said confidently.
"I bet you will, but still don't go getting over confident, you could end up like that slime of a traitorous Uchiha" Tsunade said.
"Which one?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his head in confusion.
"Does it matter, I don't think you would like to turn out like any of them" Tsunade replied.
"Yeah, you are right there. Don't worry about me Baa-chan, I am nothing like those Uchiha teme's" Naruto assured the Hokage.
"Well I guess this is goodbye, the next time we see each other will most likely be on the battleground of
war. So stay safe" Tsunade said giving Naruto, Yugito and Jiraiya a hug and bonking the old pervert on the head when he pinched her ass.
"See ya Baa-chan, don't go dying of old age while I am going" Naruto said and took off at full speed before Tsunade could react.
"Naruto! Get Back Here!" she yelled ready to chase after her fellow blond but in the end just stopped at the gate and smiled. 'I'm going to miss that gaki' she thought to herself before turning around to give a final farewell to the others.
"Goodbye Tsunade-sama, I hope you never have to call us once in this war" Tenzo said
"So do I. Oh Yugito-chan make sure Naruto pays for what he said just then. He wont be expecting you to get him for me" Tsunade said with a smirk.
"It would be my pleasure" Yugito replied.
"Poor kid, Tsunade can only beat him up, Yugito-chan can do much worse" Jiraiya said.
"Huh what is worse than one of Tsunade-sama's beating's?" Tenzo asked
"She can with hold sex, it is truly a sad day for Naruto" Jiraiya said tearing up a little.
"Your a hopeless case you know that don't you Jiraiya-sama" Tenzo said
"The way I see it, is everyone else has the problem, I'm the normal one" Jiraiya said.
"Keep telling yourself that Jiraiya-sama"Tenzo replied.
"I will, now come on at the speed Naruto travels he will be half way across the Land of Fire by now" Jiraiya said before taking off himself in the direction Naruto fled.
"But neither of you know where we are going!" Tenzo yelled but eventually just sighed in defeat and followed after them along with Yugito.
(Unknown Location)
Madara and black Zetsu were walking through the gigantic skeleton of an animal towards a cave leading to there underground hideout.
"Do you think we can trust that girl? She only seems interested in Sasuke" Black Zetsu said.
"As long as Sasuke is here with us and helping our cause she will be too. She didn't have much information on Konoha's military strength or there war procedures, but she wanted to help I could tell. As long as she doesn't hold us back I see no issue with keeping her around" Madara explained.
"If you say so, by the way when do you plan to make your first move?" Zetsu asked.
"Soon, but there are still several things I need to do, I have to pay an old ally a visit. She thinks she can escape from me and hide what is rightfully mine" Madara said.
"Heh so you're going after Konan and the Rinnegan then. I guess with that brat of a Namikaze around, we will need it" Zetsu said
"Yes she needs to pay for her betrayal" Madara said darkly
"She will probably be expecting you" Zetsu warned.
"I am sure of it, that doesn't mean she can stop me" Madara replied.
"Do you really think she will tell you where Pein's body is?" Zetsu asked.
"No she wont give it up without a fight, but I am prepared for that. There is still some things to do around here before I am ready to go collect the Rinnegan. But when the time comes Konan will pay for what she has done" Madara stated confidently.
(Land of Fire)
Naruto's team arrived at a large fishing village.
"So how do we know which boat is ours?" Naruto asked.
"Well the boat is being supplied by Kiri, so I guess we need to look for something with the symbol for the land of water" Yugito suggested.
"This is a major port of trading between villages, even if the Land's of Fire and Water have no alliances there are still bound to be several trading boat's from the land of water here" Tenzo said.
"Well then what do you suggest?" Yugito said.
"I think that it will be obvious which boat is ours when the time comes" Tenzo replied.
"You can say that again... Look!" Naruto said and pointed to the far end of the dock.
The others followed Naruto's line of sight until their eye's met a massive war boat with the Land of Water flag flying high, it was easily the biggest boat in the mariner and looked as if it was fully stocked and geared for war. A large crowd of civilian's had gathered around to get a closer look at the massive vessel, and several teams teams of Kiri shinobi were waiting on the dock accompanied by Ao.
"Well I think that is obviously our ride" Jiraiya said and took of in the direction of the large boat.
"I thought we were supposed to be traveling under the radar. This is far from under the radar" Yamato mumbled as he followed the older toad sage.
"Oh don't complain, look on the plus side, this thing is big enough that we will all have enough room to move around on. Much better than having the four of us crammed onto one of these fishing boats" Naruto said.
The four arrived at the boat and Ao gave a respectful bow as a greeting. "It is good to see you have arrived on time. If we fall behind schedule it may prove more difficult to locate the island" Ao said.
"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here! Baa-chan said it was just going to be the four of us, Killer Bee and some fresh genin from Kumo. Well other than the sailors" Naruto admitted.
"We are only staying with the boat until we reach the Land of Lightening, then we have a reconnaissance mission to perform. There is still no sign of where the Akatsuki is hiding, so we are the team sent from Kiri to join in the search" Ao explained.
"Well I wish you luck on your mission then. The longer it takes to find them, the more time Madara has to prepare" Naruto replied.
"Indeed that is why everyone is trying there hardest to scout as much as possible" Ao stated.
"Ao, we need to leave, we cant afford to be late to pick up the Hachibi jinchuuriki and the escort from the Land of Lightening" a Kiri jonnin said from the side of the boat looking down upon where Naruto and the others were still talking amongst themselves.
"Right of course, I believe it would be a good idea to continue this conversation on the boat" Ao suggested earning agreeing nods from the team traveling from Konoha.
Not long after that the boat was slowly backing it's way out of the dock and turning around. "Next stop the Land of Lightening" one of the Kiri ninja called out as the boat turned and began to head north.
Naruto and the others went below deck to find there rooms and were happy to find that they each had a comfortable sized room each, Naruto and Yugito were sharing of course. "Well this is much more comfortable than the last time I rode on a boat, my trip out to Uzu just smelled like fish, even if I wasn't staying for long it was still a pain" Naruto said happily.
"Well I am glad you are having fun, I don't like boats, I get sea sick. I think it might be because Nibi is not only a cat but also a fire demon, neither of those things mix well with water" Yugito pouted.
"Sorry Yugi-chan I didn't know" Naruto said and went to comfort his fiance who had started to look just slightly under the weather.
"I'll be fine, as long as I take it easy. I hope that we are not stuck on here long though" Yugito said resting her head on Naruto's shoulder.
"You should just rest up, unfortunately I can't join you. I need to work on my skill with the Hirashin. It wont be good if we get stuck in a dangerous situation where I don't have enough time to activate my kunai at will. I still need to practice it, and this is the perfect opportunity" Naruto said rubbing his fiance's back to comfort her.
"Well then you better get to work. I will kill you again in the next life, if you get yourself captured by the Akatsuki" Yugito said.
"I'll keep that in mind, but I am more concerned about you. I could never forgive myself if I made a mistake and they took you, I would do what ever it takes to get you back" Naruto said giving Yugito a short but passionate kiss.
"Then do it for both of us, now get going so I can get some rest, who knows maybe if I fall asleep I will wake up when we get to the Land of Lightening" Yugito said optimistically.
"Alright, I will be back later to check on you. Sleep well Yugi-chan" Naruto said before grabbing his kunai holder and leaving the room.
Naruto walked onto the deck to find Jiraiya and Yamato talking happily with Ao about past experiences.
"Jiraiya sensei, I was hoping you could help me work on the Hirashin while we are on this boat" Naruto asked as he approached.
"Heh, sure thing, I take it you are still trying to get the seals to activate at will?" Jiraiya replied.
"Yeah, it is still taking me too long to make it useful in a fight" Naruto admitted.
"What are you talking about? I have seen you use the Hirashin Jutsu while you were fighting those Root members" Ao said.
"Yeah that is the first part of the jutsu, to get to stage two I need to be able to activate the seals without actively throwing them or pushing chakra into them. My father could do it, that is why he was so dangerous in one on one melee combat. He could hide a marker on his opponent and simply warp to them to deliver his attack" Naruto said.
"Actually before he died he was so proficient at it he could throw a kunai and activate the seal in mid air before it was even placed anywhere" Jiraiya added.
"Amazing, I had heard the story's of the Yondaime Hokage, but I never had the pleasure of meeting him, although with the way all of the villages were at the time it would have probably meant my death" Ao admitted.
"So what do you have planned? How are you going to train?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well I was thinking of placing my sealed kunai around the boat and warping to them individually and timing how long it takes to travel to them all. Then simply try and beat the time when I try again" Naruto suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. How many kunai do you have with you?" Jiraiya asked.
"Thirty in this holder" Naruto replied.
"And how long does it usually take to activate a seal if you don't actively throw it?" Jiraiya continued.
"Hm depending on the distance anywhere between one minute and ten. One for short distance, but if I want to travel over a long area Ten minutes is my average time.
"Well lets place these kunai around the ship then see how much faster we can get you, hopefully your speed can double by the time we get to this island where they are hiding you" Jiraiya said.
Naruto got to work and spent the next few hours attempting to improve his speed with the activation of his kunai. He did manage to get the average time down of the activation of each Kunai down from one minute to around forty five seconds by the time he took a break.
"Man this is tough" Naruto complained as he walked over to where Jiraiya was looking out over the sea.
"You just need more practice, it took Minato a long time to get proficient with that as well, you just need more practice in feeling out the seals. Once you get it down, it will become second nature to you" Jiraiya assured the blond.
"Well I hope I can get it soon, there is still so much I need to learn" Naruto complained.
"I think most ninja in the world would be thrilled to be as powerful as you are, and you just say you're not strong enough yet. That's your never give up attitude that I admire so much" Jiraiya said proudly.
"Thanks sensei, I still have to ask Bee for his help in controlling the Kyuubi, then I want to learn some kenjutsu" Naruto admitted.
"Kenjutsu? Why are you learning that? With your frog kumite you have a higher attack area and far more devastating than any blade" Jiraiya said.
"I know, but when I was fighting a large group of people, I found that my frog kumite couldn't be used to dispose of multiple enemy's at the same time. Plus if I use the Uzumaki sword that was made by one of the second last leaders of the Uzumaki clan and the Nidaime Hokage, The god of the Sea, Kaijin, I will have a never ending supply of water" Naruto said.
"Well I guess that is a good idea. Well I don't know much about kenjutsu, so I cant help you much, maybe try Ao, he is from Kiri after all" Jiraiya said.
"That's a good idea thanks Jiraiya sensei" Naruto replied and left in search of the elite jonnin from Kiri with the eye patch.
(Land of Lightening, Several Hours Later)
Killer Bee and A had just arrived at a fishing village, causing several groups of civilian's to recognize A and bow respectfully.
"Yo bro you didn't have to come with me, this is my show I wont be no absentee" Bee rapped as they walked into the center of town.
"How can I believe you when you run off the second you get a chance. I am going to make sure you get on this boat and go to turtle island, think of it as a vacation" A said.
"Sound's cool, it will be good to go back there, that's the truth I ain't no fool" Bee replied.
"You will be joined on the Island as you know by several teams of genin who are using this as a training exercise. As well as Yugito-chan, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and a member of the Konoha Anbu" A informed his brother.
"Two and Nine, the jinchuuriki are rolling together again. So sign me up on the dotted line because this trip sounds fine" Bee replied.
"I really wish you wouldn't rap so much" A said shaking his head.
"I gotta be me, because I am all that is here cant you see" Bee rapped in response.
"Look just try and make sense when you talk! The boat from Kiri that will deliver you to the island turtle should be hear in just under an hour so lets go find somewhere to wait" A suggested.
"Yo fool! That sounds cool!" Bee rapped causing A to just shake his head.
The Raikage and the Hachibi jinchuuriki walked through the town until they came to the docks where there were four teams of confused looking genin with there sensei's waiting for further instructions.
"Raikage-sama, Bee-sama, our teams are ready and prepared to depart" a Kumo jonnin said when A approached.
"Do they know what they will be doing, while they are away on the island turtle?" A asked seriously
"Yes, they are well aware of there role in scouting the island and looking for intruders" the jonnin replied.
"Excellent, have you made it clear to them that you will not be joining them and they are to be taking orders from the other ninja on the island with Jiraiya-dono being the one in charge overall?" A questioned.
"Well not exactly, we informed them that they were going to be alone for this mission and there would be three Konoha ninja on the island and were not to be disturbed" the jonnin said.
"I see, well you should inform them that all of the Konoha ninja are there superiors and will take any orders they are given from them without question unless it contradicts another order. Also I think you will find that it is four Konoha shinobi, Yugito Nii has been released to join Konoha to be with her fiance" A explained.
"What! But she is the Nibi jinchuuriki! Why would you allow that?" the jonnin said.
"The Nibi is still owned by Kumo, as part of the agreement when Yugito exentually passes on the Nibi will be returned to Kumo, it is all part of our agreement" A assured the jonnin.
"But to let one of our elite jonnin go, and to Konoha of all places, how have the counsel reacted?" the jonnin said in disbelief.
"I haven't told the counsel yet, and if I can avoid it I wont" A replied.
"I see, well good luck dealing with them when they do find out" the Jonnin said.
"It will be easier than dealing with her future husband that's for sure" A replied.
(With Naruto)
"No that's wrong, I swear the youth of today has no discipline" Ao said crankily as he watched Naruto run through some kenjutsu kata with a wooden katana.
"I don't get it what did I do wrong I thought I was following the scroll perfectly?" Naruto said obviously confused.
"Your feet are wrong. They're too close together and you're arms are stiff, this style is supposed to be fluid. I don't even know why I am helping you, it's not like you need my help in a fight" Ao said.
"Because if we are going to be able to defeat Madara in this war we are going to need all the help we can get, and by making me stronger all of the army gets a stronger weapon they can call upon should they need too" Naruto explained.
"From what I saw you do to Danzo's Root, I don't think we need to worry about that too much" Ao said.
"Madara is on a whole other level to Danzo and his emotionless Root drones" Naruto said.
"That's true, but how much use will this be to you once you learn how to control your Bijuu's chakra?" Ao asked.
"I don't know, but I can tell you that the more things I can pull out the less likely Madara is to have a counter to me" Naruto said.
"A wise and well thought strategy, commendable for someone so young" Ao said.
It was at that moment Jiraiya and Tenzo approached along with one of the sailors.
"We will be arriving to pick up the ninja from Kumo shortly" the sailor said.
"Verry well, I have to go inform my men. I guess that will have to do for your kenjutsu training. Good luck in learning the more advanced Kata's" Ao said.
"Thanks Ao, I hope you guys find where Madara is hiding soon" Naruto said happily.
Several minutes later the land mass that was the Land of Lightening, and shortly after that they had docked.
Naruto saw that the Raikage was there and went to see if Yugito wanted to talk to him but he found her asleep so he left her not wanting to disturb her.
Walking back up to the deck he found the the group from Kumo already on board.
"Ah Naruto, good to see you again" A said when he caught sight of the blond.
"How's it going A" Naruto said casually which shocked the Kumo ninja who had never expected anyone to talk to there Raikage in such a way.
"I was hoping to see Yugito as well so I could give you both my blessing to get married, but knowing her she will be sleeping from sea sickness" A said.
"Yeah, I don't think she likes boat's too much" Naruto laughed.
"She hasn't changed, when she was a little girl sent to the Turtle island to train she cried for ages about going on the boat when she returned" A chuckled.
"Yo! Mr Nine, looking good but then again with a girl like little miss two you would" Bee rapped as he came over to say hello as well.
"Hey Bee, you look pretty good yourself. And isn't that Samehada? Where did you get that!" Naruto said in awe of the large shark skin blade.
"Some creepy shark dude attacked me yo! But we crushed him with a double lariat" Bee said.
"Awesome, you took out Kisame that saves us a major headache later on" Naruto said happily.
"Yeah he was tough, sword dude here kept me from killing him several time's, but we're cool now" Bee replied.
"Wait are you saying Samehada is alive?" Naruto questioned skeptically.
"He sure is, I guess he likes the taste of Hachibi's chakra and decided to join us yo!" Bee said.
"Well I have to leave, so you are not late to the island, good luck. Oh and Bee, behave!" A said before leaving to say a quick farewell to Jiraiya.
"Oh Bee, I wanted to ask if you would help me control Kyuubi's chakra?" Naruto asked after he gave one final wave to Ao and the Raikage as the boat pulled out of the dock.
"Hm I don't know Mr nine, the Kyuubi is tough and will fight you back yo. Do you really think you can pull this off?" Bee asked.
"I have to, My father wants me to do this, he said he believed in me, so I cant let him down. And I will do what ever it takes to stop Madara and keep all my friends, and most of all Yugito safe" Naruto said.
"Hm your determined but you wont succeed. You have too much hate yo!" Bee rapped badly.
"Huh what do you, 'I have too much hate' what do I need to do?" Naruto asked.
"You need to defeat your negative emotions, if you want to stand a chance at control over your passenger" Bee said.
"Well how do I do that?" Naruto asked.
"I can't tell you, it wouldn't work if I did. It's something you need to discover for yourself. But I know of a place where you can confront your darker self. It's on the island we are going to" Bee said strangely seriously.
"Awesome, can you show me where it is when we get to the island?" Naruto replied.
"Sure thing, Yo! The waterfall of truth is the place we will need to go!" Bee said.
For the rest of the trip Naruto spent training either his Hirashin or kenjutsu. Bee was able to help him slightly with kenjutsu but as Naruto was attempting a style that didn't involve large amounts of swords his help was minimal.
Eventually they could see it, a large island that looked like it had Konoha's forest of death covering it. "Well this must be where we will be staying. I bet Anko would love this place" Naruto said as he was staring at the ominous looking island with skepticism of how homely this place would be during there stay.
End Chapter!
Ok I left out the Grand Elder Sage, mostly because it wouldn't really work with my story. I could have had him say something else but I didn't really see the point, it didn't really add anything to the manga in my opinion anyway. And I hope you're not all too disappointed i left Gai out of the mission, I will make it up to you I promise. On that note what the hell happened to Gai after he killed Kisame?