Hey, guys!
Newest chapter! A little warning though, it will be short since I don't think you guys really want to read a very long chapter about two characters. But, I don't know, maybe you do. I promise that I'll make the next chapter longer.
Thanks for the positive reviews, by the way! I see that you guys have a lot of pairings you want to see in this story, but pairings will be posted in a few chapters. Anyway, I apologize for any wrong grammar or spellings and I hope you enjoy!
(Chapter 8 – New Trouble Arises)
Konoha
A man hurriedly made his way through the gates of Konohagakure, his white hair tied in a low ponytail swished as he ran. The two nins guarding the gates jumped in surprise when they saw a blur sped pass them, noticing the familiar hairstyle and the giant scroll strapped on the intruder's back; they relaxed as they recognized who the stranger was. They both sighed and went back to their boring game of 'I spy' to help pass the time, mentally whining about the lack of action.
Meanwhile, Tsunade begrudgingly worked on her tall stack of paperwork, she wasn't determined to finish the whole stack but Shizune blackmailed her into finishing at least half of the accursed paper nightmare. The blonde hokage sighed as she had laid the paper she was done working on, on to the small pile of completed desk work, she glanced at the towering stack on the corner of her table and grimaced. 'The amount of these monsters never lessens, it's like their multiplying even', she miserably thought to herself. Tsunade was about to grab another paper when suddenly, her office door slammed open, revealing her old teammate, Jiraiya.
The man was visibly tired, he was panting and gasping for air while he was bent to support himself on his knees. The Slug Sannin raised an eyebrow at him as she held her brush in her right hand and a glass of sake, which she smuggled in, on the other. She watched the red face Jiraiya cough pathetically, thinking that old age was affecting him more than her; making her chuckle.
"TSUNADE!...Damn, I'm out of shape...", the Toad Sannin wheezed, holding his chest as he sucked in oxygen for his burning lungs.
"Yeah, I know. It's pretty obvious", Tsunade said in amusement. Well, at least she had a distraction from the evil entity sitting on her desk. Jiraiya playfully glared at her with a childish pout on his lips.
"Aww, come on, Hime. Don't take what I said too seriously, I'm always in shape", Jiraiya replied with a whiny tone in his voice. If we didn't know better, we would assume that these two were flirting with each other. Or are they?...Moving on! The blonde hokage grinned at their playful banter, it was hard to ease up nowadays and relax because of all Konoha have fallen into. Trouble just keeps sprouting out of nowhere when you least expect it and it was becoming a major pain in the neck.
Her biggest worries, though, was the council. Those little shriveled up prunes were surely getting on her nerves, they keep demanding her to bring back Naruto back in the village by force. But since Tsunade kicked them off of their "gold-plated thrones", they have no choice but to sit there and be ignored while the blonde leader made her own decisions. Still, she was very wary of Danzo, Tsunade was pretty sure that a couple of that wrapped-in-toilet-paper b*stard's emotionless cronies were still lurking around (what a mouthful). And that thought made her day more troublesome.
"-nade? Tsunade!", a shout abruptly awoke the blonde hokage from her musings. Snapping her head towards her former teammate, she found him leaning on her desk with his face close up to her's. A tick mark suddenly pops up on her forehead before she grabbed the man's near face and threw him away to create some distance between them. Jiraiya landed on the ground, his limbs sprawled on the hard floor from the strength the woman had. He groaned and sat up gently as he rubbed his bruised head.
"What was that for?!", the white haired sannin cried unprofessionally. Tsunade rolled her eyes and glared at the man before her.
"Just tell me what you want, Jiraiya. I still got plenty of work to do", the blonde female stated, motioning over to her stack of paperwork. Jiraiya's face suddenly turns serious, like how he was back in the council meeting a month or so before. Noticing the look, Tsunade frowns, thinking that another information about was about to be given to her, she instantly straightens her form and nodded for her former teammate to continue.
The Toad Sannin took a deep breath and forced his nerves to relax, he faced the hokage and spills his gathered news. "I found Naruto's house", Jiraiya revealed. At that moment, the female hokage's eyes widened.
"What? H-How?", she asked shakily.
"One of my networks spotted him in a wide forest range, they followed him until they arrived at a wooden cottage in the heart of the forest. This was just two weeks ago, this week, they went back to the cottage and found out that there are other people living there with him. A young man and woman, 4 boys and 2 little girls; they all seemed very fond of the brat, too", the white haired sannin explained.
"Wait, kids? Are they...you know...Naruto's?", Tsunade eagerly questioned, gaining a mirthful chuckle from the other.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Hime, but no, they're all adopted, from what my network observed. I'm assuming that the other two adults are some sort of care takers for them when Naruto's not around", Jiraiya answered. The blonde hokage was slightly disappointed but from the other sannin's report, it looks like Naruto was actually happy with, what she was concluding was, his new family. There was a brief silence for Tsunade to fully process the news, Jiraiya stood there as he waited for his ex-teammate to let the information sink in.
"...Alright, Jiraiya. You can go, thank you for the report", Tsunade finally spoke before continuing her neglected paperwork.
"Okay, I'll just go-Wait! What?! What do mean I can go?!", the Toad Sannin exclaimed loudly, feeling very confused. The blonde village leader raised a perfectly trimmed eyebrow once more and waved her hand carelessly towards the other.
"I mean, you can leave now...Bye", Tsunade lamely shooed at him while she tried to focus on her work.
"Wait, you're not going to do anything?! We finally found out where the brat is and now, you're not going to do anything!?". Well, Jiraiya was slightly surprised, he was certainly confident that the blonde woman was going to call a bunch of her nins, make them rush to the location of the mercenary's cottage home and try to convince him to go back to the village. Looks like he was wrong.
"...Not really, I'm just going to try and think of a way to talk to Naruto without actually separating or scaring the kids he adopted. Really, Jiraiya. There are kids with him, we can't just take him away from them. We'll mentally scar them for kidnapping their big brother or father figure. Plus, those care takers you were talking about, I'm betting my entire sake stash they're also very important to the brat. We can't just rush head on in front of their home, that's just wrong and will cause more trouble for us", the busty hokage explained calmly without tearing her eyes away from her job.
After quietly pondering about what Tsunade had said, Jiraiya reluctantly agreed to her reasoning. Sure, he had spent the last few years in search of his ex-apprentice and was very determined to get in touch with him, but matters weren't like how he had expected it to be. Naruto had his own family now and they can't just take the blue-eyed demon away from his own perspective of paradise, he can tell that the brat was truly happy with his new home. It was actually nice to know that Naruto was finally having the family he had always wished for.
The more than he thought about it, the more he feels guilty. He felt horrible knowing that he wanted the son of his old student to be taken away from his one true happiness. But, he really needed to talk to Naruto, they needed to talk to Naruto; he needs to understand that they were sorry and that they really needed him back. Konoha was deeply buried in mud and they all needed his help, he was the only one who can aid them.
Okay, maybe at this point, you're all thinking, "Oh, you just want him back to help you guys from whatever problem you have?!".
Yes, that is true and yes, they were being selfish here but! It it true that Konoha is in deep trouble with all the shortage of missions a-and essentials! At this rate, Konoha will be submerged in an economic crisis! And yes, they understood that it was-alright, is- their fault and why this was happening but they needed the help of their once neglected hero.
Hateful or not, the blonde mercenary would still help his old home, right? Jiraiya had to admit it, there is nothing left in Konoha that he can keep protecting the village for, but there were still innocent people who had nothing to do with Naruto's banishment, living here. The sannin can't just leave those kind of people, it was against his (and Naruto's) ways as ninjas. He knew that it was also why Tsunade was still sitting on her seat as hokage, she was still trying to save the village which was once their peaceful home.
Sighing he gazed at the blonde hokage's face, which held a look of determination as she signed the paperwork, and slowly nodded. "Okay, Tsunade. I'll go with whatever scheme you're plotting, but it better work. And this time, it better go smoothly without anyone getting hurt", the Toad Sannin said with a small smile that symbolized his trust. Tsunade moved her eyes up towards her ex-teammates with her own orbs and returned the smile.
"You can count on me, Jiraiya. I just hope nothing goes wrong...Now, give me the location of this cottage", she constructed her face in to a dead serious expression; prepared to tackle the situation head on. Unfortunately for them, a shinobi hiding in the shadows heard everything, clear as a bell. The nin left after listening to the location of cottage the blonde mercenary lived in and stealthily made his way to their hideout.
Arriving at the underground headquarters, the masked nin respectively bowed in front of his master, who stood impassively. "Well? What have you gathered?", the man demanded coldly.
"I found the target's home location, Danzo-sama", the ROOT anbu monotonously answered. Danzo held an evil smirk the entire time he listened to the lifeless shinobi's report. The mummified council member laughed humorlessly before he called for 8 more of his anbu, who all appeared in thin air.
"Go and capture Naruto Uzumaki. Take his so-called family if you must and keep him in chakra restricting binds for safety . Understood?", Danzo commanded, earning affirmative nods. The ROOT anbu squad disappeared, running off to perform their master's wishes. Smirking in triumph, the mummified ex-ninja walked calmly back to his house to prepare for his plan (which I doubt will work) to finally unveil.
Finished