DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.
Thinking (+ flashbacks, Naruto speaking to Kurama in her mindscape, etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
Obito didn't remember everything, but he did remember certain things vividly.
He was sure that he'd died, but he couldn't remember how. And what did he remember about the moments before his death? They made no sense.
How - and why - would he be fighting ALONGSIDE Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and that jerk, Bakashi? And Itachi-jerk's little brother was there in his dreams, and he was an asshole!
The last clear memories he had of his first life were just before his mind was literally ripped apart when he took in the enormous chakra from the Ten-Tails as he became its jinchuuriki. He remembered desperately holding onto his memories of Rin; sensei was there - and how was that possible, but he was SURE that sensei was there - and Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto just wouldn't Shut. Up.
Maybe it was just a dream. But Hokage this, Hokage that… Using my own words against me: what a pain you are Uzumaki Naruto, whether my memory of you is real or not.
Speaking of pain, he could swear to Kami - who is certainly not my associate, Pein, by the way, no matter what that asshole says - that there had been some chick with long, dangerous hair that he'd been fighting. He would totally disregard that as it really seemed more like a nightmare with a hot chick in it, but she had the Rinnegan, just like Pein did. Nagato, he reminded himself of what he'd overheard Konan calling him several times. They were fun to spy on: he still couldn't tell if they were a couple or not.
They are a couple of weirdos. Just like the rest of my associates. He snorted and covered it up by acting as his silly persona, Tobi.
Obito preferred to just call and refer to "Nagato" as Pain because the guy was a total Pain in the Ass.
Somehow he woke up in his second life - if that's what happened - and Kushina-nee was lying there looking terrified of his mask, (he'd like to think her fear was caused only by his awesome orange mask,) just after giving birth, and he had to move! Before he knew what was happening, Minato-sensei was moving - don't call him that: you don't deserve to call him that - the YONDAIME had taken his kid and flashed off.
Fast; am I as fast?
He panicked at first, then saw the Kyuubi - Kami, that fucker was as big as he remembered it being the first time - coming and the Yondaime grabbed Kushina and left.
Kushina-nee had been terrified and so was he. He took control of the Kyuubi and became so angry! What had been wrong with him? Was it wrong that for a few moments, he only wanted to help? Or was it wrong because then his gut and heart were filled with a harsh, ugly hatred, just like every time he felt something good? "What is happening?" he remembered asking himself.
Maybe if that fucking Kyuubi hadn't escaped, none of this would have happened again. But it did, so now there was no choice.
Plus, he had to fix things: everything.
If he didn't think Konoha was broken before, he certainly did after seeing what happened to Kushina-nee's and Minato-sensei's - no, the Yondaime's and the Yondaime's wife's - daughter. The first time he'd spied on Itachi-jerk, the girl had been there with him, and he was healing her from an attack from one or more of their own clansmen. For a moment, he'd wanted to help out, but then he was filled with that same bitterness, and only wanted to punish her for her father's sins. In theory, it made no sense: the Yondaime had punished his kid enough, hadn't he?
But he also left me there, under the boulder. He didn't protect Rin… Bakashi promised and he didn't protect Rin either!
He reminded himself that it was all of little significance in the end. Soon his delayed plans would restart in earnest - although he'd looked and looked for the Sanbi after Yagura killed himself and he still hadn't appeared. That was a problem. He needed all nine tailed beasts in order to correct all of the wrongs of this world.
His very broken memories or dreams also featured him kicking Bakashi's ass, which had been fun.
To be careful that the other two annoying jinchuurikis (the ones that showed the most potential and power; the ones that he remembered surviving the Akatsuki last time) could not remember what he was actually afraid had happened in his first life, he sealed their minds years ago. If he could remember a previous life, maybe they could, too?
THAT would be a problem.
Little Naruto-hime had been about to be raped when he was off slaughtering his clan. What he saw of her in the trash can Itachi tried to hide her in once again made him absolutely positive that a new world needed to come to pass. Humanity was depraved.
His daydreams and wonderings were interrupted by Konan, who was furious! Hmm, this is unusual. What's this about?
"I've changed my mind, Nagato. We must punish Konoha," the paper user said loudly. It sounded like she was almost crying
Wonderful, Obito thought. Although, what did she mean by "I changed my mind?" Is she a traitor to the cause?
Regardless, an attack on Konoha would give him an opportunity to snag the jinchuuriki. It would probably take a while to gather the others, especially that missing Sanbi, but he could keep her prisoner. "But what if she were to escape? You must determine her strength."
There's that voice again, Obito thought idly. Oh well. It was a pretty smart voice, and after everything he'd been through, it was no wonder that he had developed a second personality. Just like "Madara" and "Tobi!"
Konan had just received the body of one of her Genin subordinates. She wished she'd never seen it! How could someone do such a thing to such a beautiful, promising young girl?!
"You can't tell anyone, Naruto!"
"But what if the Sabaku siblings are in danger? Suna's our ally, and I think you'd want to help, Shukaku! It's a fucking coup! That's dangerous - so many people could die!"
"I am helping them, you brat," Shukaku yelled - or screeched. Damn, his voice was annoying.
"And how would you explain that you received this information? You cannot tell the Old Monkey that you possess my siblings' chakra! You are already in enough trouble, Naruto," Kurama scolded.
"You're - you're right," Naruto reluctantly agreed, leaving her mindscape and rejoining her two rooty companions in the grocery store's pharmacy section. Maybe she could tell Jiraiya? He was a spymaster, so maybe he already knew? Highly unlikely. She'd told her godfather that she'd lived another life before all of this. That had to be weird enough for him. Perhaps his jinchuuriki goddaughter/apprentice sharing chakra with other jinchuurikis wouldn't faze him now?
Not that Kurama will share.
What a mess!
She picked up three sleeves of condoms: "extra-large," normal-sized with ribs, along with the chocolate ones. Damn, these things are expensive, she thought. Shouldn't the village be subsidizing them, to promote healthy choices and unwanted pregnancy? She decided to bring it up with the Sandaime.
"He probably taxes prophylactics in order to increase the population and increase military funding. This is a ninja village, Naruto," Kurama said unhappily. "He will always require more soldiers and money."
"That's disgusting!"
"So is humanity, kit."
"May I have one of each to blow up? I'd like to see the size differences," the weird ROOT guy said. Sai was smiling along, creepily, looking interested as well.
"Knock yourself out." Since this was really happening, Naruto decided to simply roll with it. "But you can't have a chocolate one: those are even more expensive and there are fewer of them." She watched Weird Root Boy tear open a pack and begin blowing a ribbed condom up, wincing when she saw a civilian woman put her hands over her child's eyes. At least the aisle they were standing behind was somewhat tall. Naruto sighed miserably and made a shadow clone, ordering it to henge into a child after buying a balloon so she could give it to the child as a make-up-for-my-idiot-friends'-actions present. "So what's your name?"
"412," the ROOT guy replied as he tied off the fully expanded condom. He handed it to Sai who began thudding it against his other fingers thoughtlessly as he looked at the products in front of him. Thank the gods few could see them right now.
Naruto shook her head mournfully and looked over to see if Kakashi was still talking to Tenzo while henging herself. These guys were too embarrassing to be seen with, period. Her husband was holding Tenzo-sensei up by his flack jacket and shaking him threateningly, a silencing seal obviously in place. She laughed and turned back toward 412. "Dude, that name sucks. Make up a new one."
The boy of undetermined age - definitely under 20 - tilted his head the way Sai always did when he was thinking. "Naruto."
Naruto scoffed. These ROOT guys were unbelievable. "Try again, dumbass. That's my name and I'm a girl." Rushing to warn him, she continued. "Say something stupid about my name and I'll hit you - and puncture your condom balloons."
The boy stopped blowing up the larger condom - and it really WAS larger, at least when it was blown up (maybe that's why they went by that commercial jingle she remembered: "Sumo Brand! When your member is an especially large treasure to remember") - and looked at her, pouting. It was great that he could be that expressive! If only Sai could… "Leaf."
Naruto approved of the name in a way, but that was an Annoying Someone Else's name that she really needed to check up on. As if appearing via some kind of witchcraft, she heard that boy's annoying voice behind her. "Beloved! ARE THOSE CONDOMS?!" Naruto turned around and clenched her teeth, feeling totally overwhelmed by all of the people now looking at them. Crap, Konohamaru knows my henge too well. "Did you buy them, thinking of me?!" the boy asked, a teasing tone in his voice.
Before Naruto could thrash and scold him, Moegi had already punched the boy through a carefully stacked display of calcium supplements. Naruto didn't think: she just ran. It was too ingrained within her pranking mind, that once caught, she needed to run; she'd done this for two lifetimes! She also had to get away from Konohamaru's nonsense: she had enough of it for two lifetimes, too. Kakashi caught her before she'd gone far.
He shook her once by the arm upon catching his terrible little wife. "Are you trying to get us in more trouble?!"
"No!" Naruto exclaimed.
"You ran out without paying for the condoms! Get your ass back in there!" Kakashi followed his wife back into the store, staying close to her this time. Tenzo had rounded up the Academy students, including the Sandaime's loudmouthed grandson. Having heard what the little brat said about her and the condoms, the Copy Nin grabbed and kissed his little wife right in front of them in a display of purely possessive aggression.
"Kakashi," Naruto hissed, her face heating up: she couldn't believe he'd done that! They were supposed to be keeping their marriage on the down-low!
"You!" the young Sarutobi yelled boisterously, pointing at Kakashi. "What the hell do you think you're doing to my nee-chan?" Konohamaru couldn't believe what he'd just seen! He was always joking with Boss about her being his wife, but what that… that… asshole had done was just uncalled for! "Naruto! NAH - RU - TO," he yelled, embarrassing the blonde further. Fortunately, Tenzo was rustling the kids out.
Kakashi pushed his naughty little wife forward to the checkout lane before realizing that they needed to buy a few things Naruto had already planned for their dinner tonight.
"You are just pure trouble, aren't you?" Kakashi asked his wife. Naruto only shrugged sheepishly.
Neither of them saw Genma gawking at the whole scene. Naruto felt his presence but didn't think anything of it. That guy was always planting his senbon-sucking butt or his clones around randomly.
While Naruto and her clones started dinner preparations, Jiraiya waited on the back porch, his mind turning cartwheels as he tried to come to grips with everything... Oh, Tsunade.
"Jiraiya-sama?"
"What is it, brat?" Jiraiya groaned as he rubbed his temples.
Kakashi lamented turning the sage against him; he really wanted to make things right with the man he admired so much: the man who had taught his sensei and wrote such masterpieces. He pulled out a three-pronged kunai. "Naruto-chan has... encouraged me to learn the Hiraishin. I've had limited success and would like to ask for your advice."
Jiraiya glared up at the younger pervert, then felt his fighting spirit give up. He sighed heavily as he took the kunai from his fellow Jonin, rubbing his thumb over the seal reverently. "What do you mean, 'limited success?'"
Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly. He didn't usually ask for advice about jutsu (or anything else.) People came to him for advice, and he would "politely encourage" them to figure jutsus out for themselves. "I can travel short distances; I can feel the jump sensei told me about and see the void if I'm using the Sharingan," he said, his shoulders slumping. "It always makes me physically ill, at least temporarily."
"I was going to teach it to Naruto-chan so she can get out of... tight situations," Jiraiya said, remembering what his goddaughter had told him about her first life. He then muttered, "although I'd also be learning the technique, myself, at the same time." He thought about it for a few moments, looking over Minato's seal. "Ya didn't alter the seal for yourself? Didn't ya see the Namikaze clan symbolized through these points?" He watched as realization passed over the brat-genius' face as he traced the lines of the seal in question.
Minato had been blood-adopted into the small Namikaze clan while still a babe, he was told. They, too, were gone before the future Yondaime could even remember them, and he was back in an orphanage, this time in Konoha.
It was really good to still be one up on the man that's considered the prodigy of his generation, Jiraiya thought. Especially since Kakashi is Naru-chan's perverted husband and his biggest fan. "I'm surprised you've had ANY luck with it. Guess that's why you're considered 'The Man' though."
Kakashi was glad he had his mask on - although, of course, he had his mask on - because he knew he was blushing. "Your praise and attention mean a lot," he said in just over a whisper.
Jiraiya smirked and stood up to stretch. "You're welcome! And of course, it does, brat! I am the Great Toad Sage..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said as she came outside, interrupting them after setting her clones to different tasks in the kitchen. "We know. So what are we doing today? I want to learn the hair thing!"
"You are a brat," Jiraiya said, tapping his index finger on her cute little nose. "We'll see if there's time for that. You're going up against an Akimichi, and you also have to be prepared in case your number is pulled immediately after your match. That gal from Iwa is no joke!"
Naruto waved her hand dismissively, but she was much more worried about fighting Kurotsuchi than she was about Choji. Choji was pretty strong, though, and she wasn't sure whether or not she'd be able to sense one of his expansion jutsus as they launched or hit, since they were just a part of him. She should have paid more attention during that team training. Or even trained with Choji while they were growing up in something other than taijutsu!
Kurotsuchi didn't have a match assigned to her. She was the odd man out and would be going up against the winner of an undetermined previous match, and Naru had a bad feeling that they'd arrange for it to be her. Sometimes being the daughter of the Yellow Flash was troublesome. She snorted to herself at her internal use of that word. "I've got chakra to spare, but yeah: she's going to be tough. Choji, too."
"Your speed and chakra reserves will do the Akimichi in, but we need to prepare in case he uses a food pill. If the Iwa nin draws your number, though... Well, that's what we need to work on, as well as deepen your skills with the toads." Jiraiya turned toward Kakashi. "I'm taking her to the Mountain tomorrow. We'll be gone as long as it takes." He looked back at his goddaughter. "Don't pout, you brat! I'm doing you a huge favor!"
"I'll just miss Kakashi," Naru admitted softly. She couldn't even look up at the men; what she said was embarrassing to admit. She was a ninja; she shouldn't even think about things like that. Her assignments and training came first! "So what are we doing right now?" she said awkwardly to ease tensions, a fake smile plastered on her face. Jiraiya scoffed at her and Kakashi had just disappeared, no doubt from embarrassment, she... hoped? The blonde closed her eyes to reach out her senses and figured that he was on his way to the Memorial Stone. She could sense Tenzo closing in on him. She found her eyes welling up and chastised herself, laughing it off. "I'm an idiot."
"Yes," Jiraiya agreed, wondering what was going on between the two, or if it was just Kakashi being the awkward kid he'd always been.
"I shouldn't have told him I loved him."
Jiraiya slumped, sitting down on the porch's steps. "You feel how you feel, but I don't know, Naru-chan," he sighed. "I always thought it was best to keep shit like that to myself, too," he continued, looking into the surrounding trees at seemingly nothing. "Now I think it's better to speak up and just say how you feel. You could regret it if you don't." He smiled sadly at his goddaughter before slapping his knees and standing up, resolved to both take their minds off their love life - or lack of it - and train her ass off. "Let's spar, taijutsu only. Meh, you can use your clones; I don't care."
"Yosh!" Naru got into her beginning taijutsu stance. "And nazuke-oya?" She saw Jiraiya's head tilt and eyebrows raise in surprise that she wasn't referring to him as a pervert. She also hoped that she was calling him the right thing: she was positive that he named her. "I'll be glad for you to see what I can do with the toads this time. I love you, too, ya know." She scratched her head clumsily, finally deciding to run to the surprised man that she'd missed so terribly after his death in her first life, and even growing up in Konoha again this time, throwing her arms as far as she could get around his giant self.
"Hmph," Jiraiya said, still startled by her little display of affection. He petted her little blonde head, remembering doing the same to her father when he was about the same height and very young. Lord, she's short. "I love you, too, brat. And now I'm going to kick your ass."
Naruto ran a few steps away, laughing for a second, then attacked him.
Tsunade showed up for dinner early and ended up training with Naru, too. She punched Naruto so hard that all of her clones burst, leaving the younger blonde groaning in the dirt from the rush of their memories and her broken face.
"You didn't dodge quickly enough, gaki!"
"Gomen, gomen," Naruto groaned, slurring. Even Kurama was cursing the old hag in her mind, making her headache worse. "Can you take the hotpots off the stove?" She'd had to make extra food at the last minute because another "surprise" person or two were coming to dinner, as well. Feeding six or seven Jonin-level shinobi was a lot of work.
"Shizune!" Tsunade waited for her poor niece, ("slave," Naruto thought was a better word,) to dart out of the house. Shizune scolded her mentor for hitting Naruto so hard. "Get whatever the brat's making out of the oven and turn off the stove" Shizune moved to do just that, but Naruto yelled at them.
"Don't take that bullshit lying down, Shizune-nee!" Naruto yelled, still recovering while lying down, herself. "And you!" She pointed her finger rudely at Tsunade, "be polite and respect Shizune-nee. You should appreciate her more!" She managed to get to her feet, just to be Tsunade-flicked in the forehead with her monstrously strong finger. It sent her flying into the trees. She cursed her former grandmother-figure to hell and back loudly as she groaned on the forest floor. She almost got knocked outside of their home's sealed barrier.
That would've sucked. There were ROOT guys out there, and she was exhausted! She rolled over and got up to go take a shower, sending new clones to finish dinner and deal with Baa-chan. She wouldn't do it tonight, but Baa-chan had assured herself a good retaliatory prank after that damn flick.
.
A bell rang and Naruto realized it might be a doorbell. Did the house have a doorbell? Usually, the few people who had been keyed or dragged in just pounded on the door! Running to greet another surprise person, (she hadn't really been surprised that Tsunade was coming - and she should have considered that Shizune would be with her,) she found Tenzo standing there, holding flowers and a cheesecake. "Oh, hi!"
Tenzo wilted. Naruto-chan didn't know he was coming? She looked surprised. Hell, HE was surprised to be here! Yes, he'd been here once before, but this time he'd been invited by the pretty, shy medic, Shizune-san. Was it a joke? And Uzu- - no, "Hatake-chan:" that sounds weird - was wearing a little dress and looked like she was carrying no weapons! Should he have changed?
"Come in, come in! Naruto looked around outside after dragging her sensei into her house by the elbow and didn't see Sai or Weird ROOT guy, ("412 or Leaf," she reminded herself,) so he must have ditched them. "Welcome! And you didn't have to bring anything, but this sure is sweet!" Her clones were already there, grabbing his stuff. She hopped up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, just like Yoshino always did whenever someone brought stuff to the Naras. She pushed Tenzo into the dining room and forced him to sit down. He was being silent, stoic, and stiff, which was a drag.
Kakashi glared at his kohai, who was apparently one of their previously unidentified "guests." His glare was playful in his mind, just to make Tenzo more uncomfortable. Naruto seemed to have realized that Tenzo was good entertainment. Either that or she had a new kissing habit which he'd have to speak with her about.
Naruto and her doppelganger put the two hotpots in the middle of the dining room table before asking if anyone else was coming. Jiraiya looked at Tsunade, who blushed - BLUSHED! - and shook her head. Everyone dug into the fun meal. The light chatting was mostly about the food, when they'd had something similar, how Naruto and Tsunade learned to cook, along with a few things here and there about the upcoming Chunin Exam Finals.
Naru found it a little exhausting and she was already tired. Tsunade was oddly quiet, even as she downed a lot of sake, which used to make her quite talkative. Tenzo's posture was ramrod straight throughout almost all of the meal, and he spoke only when spoken to. Kakashi seemed annoyed but comfortable, and Shizune's nervousness was making Naruto uncomfortable. And Jiraiya? Who knows! He, like Naruto, usually liked to place those with him at ease, but tonight he was pretty quiet - and giving Tsunade significant looks.
As Naru moved to get the messy table cleaned up - she honestly needed a break from everything she was unintentionally sensing - Jiraiya tapped his chopsticks on his glass. "If you don't mind, Naruto-chan, why not have a seat. Tsunade-hime has something to say."
Naru sat back down agreeably but felt unnerved. What in the world was going on tonight?
Tsunade smiled but continued looking at her plate for a long time before speaking. Straightening up and crossing her arms under her chest, she finally began. "Decades ago, I had a baby. It was during the war, and my teammates and I had hefty bounties on our heads," she continued despite the discomfort that was clear around the table and sucked down some more sake. Naruto grabbed one of the little bottles and drank straight from it, riveted to the information she'd never heard about before. "Orochimaru met me to deliver the baby. I immediately put him up for adoption..."
"You had no right," Jiraiya snapped.
Oh, dear gods, don't tell me, Naruto silently prayed. JIRAIYA was the father?!
Tenzo wondered why he was here. He didn't like situations like this! Having never had a family, he also never had any family drama! Something he was now incredibly grateful for...
Tsunade didn't answer what Jiraiya said. Her eyes welled up with tears before clearing in determination and continued her story instead. "The orphanage I placed my son in was bombed."
"Our son," Jiraiya said harshly.
Oh shit: Tsunade's not denying it!
"He never... I thought he never had a chance. I saw what remained of that bombed-out orphanage! It hadn't even been a year since Dan..." Seeing the anger on Jiraiya's face - fuck, he was even putting out Killing Intent, although he probably wasn't doing it intentionally - Tsunade turned to Naruto.
It was hard to talk. "I'm sorry for your loss, Baa-chan, Ero-sennin," Naruto said softly. Jiraiya scoffed.
Scoffed!
"When Jiraiya saw you in Wave, he thought you and I shared certain traits." Here, Tsunade swallowed hard. Naruto's heart began thudding even harder, a terrible and suspicious feeling in her gut. "When I saw you, I wondered, too." She glanced down at Naruto's chest but looked away.
Naruto wanted to crawl under the table. She couldn't help how big her chest was! And hell, they both had Uzumaki blood: of course, there would probably be some resemblance. Look at the Naras, for example, she thought: they're all variations on a dark, ponytailed, lazy theme!
"I did blood tests; I was already doing some lab work." Here Tsunade glanced at Tenzo who looked like a statue. "Outrageously; UNBELIEVABLY," her voice cracked, "Minato was my son."
"Our son."
Naruto sat there with her mouth hanging open, not realizing that she was lucky she wasn't catching flies. "You can't be serious," she breathed in disbelief. She knew they were very serious, though; Jiraiya was the picture of restrained fury, and Tsunade looked almost broken, for lack of a better word. "You're umm... You're my grandparents," she said in just over a whisper. Kakashi took her clammy hand under the table and held it, but she couldn't look back up again.
No one was saying anything!
"I'm glad?" Naruto asked more than said. "You're both caring and nice," she said softly. The younger blonde scratched her head and took out the clip that was holding the sides of her hair back as she continued to stare blankly at the table. "And old, so... okay?"
Realizing what she'd just said, the younger blonde blanched. "Sorry."
Tenzo sprang out of his chair. "I've had a nice time. Thank you for this evening." He tried to sunshin away, but Jiraiya was sitting beside him and he grabbed the Mokuton user.
"Orochimaru got hold of some of Tsunade's DNA after giving birth. That bastard teammate of mine used some of it on you," Jiraiya said, his grief heavy and thick all around him.
Everyone aside from Jiraiya darted their eyes back and forth between Tsunade and Tenzo for the longest time in silence. Then Tenzo passed out. Shizune immediately assisted him on the floor. Kakashi sighed in exasperation over Tenzo's tendency to do that, especially in emotionally charged, non-mission situations.
Naruto didn't really remember what happened after that. It was just so shocking! And S-ranked information, although she didn't know if the Sannin could classify things on their own like that. Who knows, though?
Oh, gods, I hope they didn't tell JiJi.
She stood in the shower, letting the water hit her face as she considered all of it. She felt sorry for her father: she knew he was an orphan, and as an orphan who didn't know who her parents were in almost all of her past life, she knew that it hurt. She felt sorry for herself: she still had a family out there all this time and never knew it. She felt really sorry for Tsunade: she must have been unbelievably grief-stricken to give up a child - a Senju child - and then to think he'd been killed? Terrible. But most of all, she hurt for her godfather. Godfather/Grandfather!
Gods, that was still so weird and unbelievable!
Kakashi stepped into the shower and began rubbing her wet shoulders. He grabbed the soap and began running it over Naru's body before he gently turned her around.
Looking at him, all that Naruto could think was that Kakashi was orphaned, too. And just like her - only worse - Tenzo never knew who his parents might be. And he still didn't, as far as she knew. Tsunade's DNA may have affected him though, it seemed. Maybe it had even saved him. Fucking Orochimaru, she thought angrily despite this.
I don't want to die and leave a child behind.
Poor Jiraiya. He had a son, a family like he always secretly wanted - and unknowingly, that missing family was his student. Jiraiya had said that he thought of her father as his own child, but... Wow. Now he was probably grieving her father's death all over again, as well as everything he missed out on. Kakashi seemed to almost be reading her sad, sad thoughts.
"Let me make you feel better."
Naru nodded her head and wrapped her arms around her husband. It took a while to take her mind off things, but the water hadn't gotten completely cold by the time he hauled her out of there, put up additional silencing seals, and put their earlier purchases to good use.
"The thing I can't get over, Tsunade, is how you lied to me," Jiraiya said as he walked Tsunade to the estate's barrier. "In all the time I've known you, I've never lied to you. I thought..."
"I'm sorry, Jiraiya."
"Yeah," he felt himself shiver either from the night air or the chill in his heart. "Saying that night between us was a dream on my part? I don't know if I can forgive that."
Tsunade felt like she'd just lost her best friend. She nodded her head, called for Shizune, and made her way home.
If only she'd told Jiraiya the truth about that drunken night.
If only, if only… If only.