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Shinobi Amongst Hunters

Chapter 1: Departure

Reaching down for his kunai, Naruto eyed his opponent in front, thinking of any way to actually defeat him. Being beaten to a pulp for years by the same perverted old man makes even the most unattentive and wild kids think of strategies.

The forest they were training in was all messed up, with so much of it destroyed in the process. There were certainly places that'd fit the training area better, but Jiraiya loved the forest all too much to leave. Naruto's fierce, yet confident blue eyes made Jiraiya smirk at the prospect of finally having his student graduate from his not-so-legitimate Shinobi academy; taking the bells he had wasn't as easy of a task as Naruto had once thought. The wide grin never left his face as Jiraiya rushed towards the blond teenager as fast as the wind blew.

The whisker-marked boy was ready. He threw the kunai at the ever-fastening old man, only for that kunai to explode and form a large smoke all around them. Jiraiya, obviously, knew that'd happen. "Show me what you got!" Jiraiya roared in excitement. To both his pleasure and displeasure, the boy did surprise him, though, by the fact that it was so unsurprising that was his choice. As the smoke evaporated, 100 naked blonde curvaceous women all appeared in front of him.

"Dammit, Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted angrily. "That's, what, the 50th time you've tried that? Get some more material, will ya? It stopped being effective after the 10th time."

Jiraiya, unworriedly, came closer to the clones, trying to figure out which is the real one as all the girls posed. Really, he was wondering if Naruto was becoming actually worse off because of his training. Then, he bit his thoughts as all the female clones suddenly got closer to him, and as he was about to hit them, it all went quiet. And a second later, it all exploded.

It did leave its mark on Jiraiya, but the long-haired man stood firmly on the ground, holding his hands in a cross, looking warily around. Then, he looked up at a tree, Naruto dropping down and trying to hit him with a backfoot, only for the man to catch it with his hands and throw him into the air yet again.

"You won't pass so easily! If I remember, you have already tried an exactly the same plan. Guess there's no helping, when I'm so good!" he laughed loudly as he watched his student flying a mile away from him. "You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone as good as me—"

Clang The bells were snapped. Looking down, Jiraiya saw a bloodied hand which had taken the bells away. Then, he saw Naruto's head pop out from the ground, a smirk so wide it could barely fit the boy's face.

"So, will you make me a departure party, or will I be able to just go and finally become a hunter?" the teen said and smashed his way from the ground, jumping up into the air.

"I guess," Jiraiya said lamely. The Land of Shinobi was a sacred place; a country forbidden for anyone from outside, in general, to enter. However, it didn't exactly forbid people to leave, but there was stigma around it.

Naruto had wanted to get out of the small island and become a hunter as long as he lived. His father, after all, did the same thing. Jiraiya just thought Minato was a lot more ready than Naruto was, so he had allowed it despite all of the Village being against letting one of the strongest of them leave.

"I'll arrange it. All of it, including the whole trip," Jiraiya said a minute later. The teacher and student slowly walked back home, as they've done a million times. Both knew that this would be the last time they'd walk the same rock-filled path that went on for miles upon miles until they could reach the so-called academy.

The long walk brought a lot of memories and uncertainty to Naruto. To his right was a crater he made after he learned Rasengan, and to his left was the lake he first managed to walk on. He would soon walk on a completely foreign land, he knew.

Noticing the unusually serious expression, Jiraiya tried comforting the boy. "Eh, don't worry too much, kid. I know you'll be fine out here. Hell, you should be hella fine out there! I heard and seen with my very own eyes that people from there are nice, unlike what's said here by our villagers! Seriously, why are the elders so afraid of them, I have no clue!" Seeing that it wasn't really helping, he added, "If anything goes that south, you can always just ask your father."

Naruto shook his head with a grimace. "Anything but that. I will do everything by myself!" he announced. "Minato had left us a long time ago. Mom might have forgiven him, but not me. I'll see what's so special out there and beat some sense into him if I have to!"

Jiraiya let out a thunderous laugh. One that could be heard in a mile radius. "What's so funny, old man?" The blond snorted angrily, shaking his fist in the air.

"Nothing special, really. It's just that you're so different from your father that it's funny to me." The answer didn't quite please the boy, but a familiar face near the academy surely did.

A girl with long black hair with two loose locks of hair with the rest pinned into a bowl. "Did you pass?" Haku asked as she spotted the wide smile the boy had.

"Of course I did! What, you didn't expect me to lose to this old geezer?" Naruto remarked, laughing all the while. "And you know what that means!"

She, as did most in the village, knew what it meant. He'd be the first to go outside in years. After Itachi for reasons undisclosed, Naruto would be the first in 6 years.

"When will you be leaving?" the girl asked, and Naruto turned to Jiraiya for an answer. Jiraiya was pondering, holding his chin with a hand in consideration, in silence for more time than Naruto could've ever expected the rash old man to take. If it takes longer than a week, I'm making my own damn boat and will swim across the ocean myself, goddammit, Naruto thought, wrinkling his nose in annoyance as Jiraiya was taking his time thinking it over.

"Considering all the annoying crap I'll have to deal with… I'd say 2 weeks," he said, the thoughtful expression twisting into a mix of worrisome and smirk. "And he won't be leaving alone."

XxX

The two weeks passed in a heartbeat. Meeting his friends, packing, eating food not found outside of the Shinobi land were just a couple of things Naruto had to do before departing. There was a high chance he would never be able to go home again.

"I'll miss you so much!" Kushina hugged Naruto, making him gasp for air. "Don't make too much trouble out there!" Turning to Haku, Kushina winked and said, "And you better take care of my little baby."

"Enough, enough," Naruto said as he managed to slip out of the tight hug that could make most bones shatter in pieces. "I'll be fine. Once I kick everyone's asses and get enough coins to make a pool, I'll bring you a gift you long have deserved."

The redheaded mother sighed. If there was one thing Naruto genuinely hated about his mother, it was her uncaring attitude about Minato leaving them behind. Naruto wanted to understand her, but her reasoning always seemed… shallow, at best.

His parents both wanted to become hunters, but that just didn't quite work out. So they compromised; Kushina stayed home while Minato sailed the seas to reach his dream. That's all there was to it, or at least, that's all Kushina ever told Naruto to explain it.

Setting his foot on a boat that could hardly be considered suitable for the journey they were about to take, Naruto waved to the couple of his friends, mother, and Jiraya his farewells.

"Good luck!" were the last words he heard when the ship's anchor was lifted.