Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto
Revised by LORDANTAS
I said nothing, but both Juugo and Suigetsu rushed at Jiraiya only after I could stand by myself.
Juugo partially changed his body, transforming his arm to a hulking mass of muscles, hoping to crush him from above while Suigetsu aimed to cut his legs.
However, Jiraiya jumped in his place, landing on the sword while his spiky white hair grabbed Juugo's arm and sent him crashing against the wall. Suigetsu tried to recover, but an upper kick met his face, his head exploded like a bubble of water, but it didn't end; Jiraiya already had seals tags on both hands, one for each of my downed teammates.
Suigetsu, who was in the process of reform, became a puddle of water when the seal touched his body, while in Juugo's case, the seal created unbreakable chains the moment it touched his chest, forming a cocoon.
He tried to break free like he always did with chains, but no matter how much he thrashed around or yelled, those chains didn't budge an inch.
"You both are thirty years too early to stand a chance against me." He boastfully announced.
It took him seconds to defeat those two. He deserved all the titles, without a doubt.
And as expected, Karin cowered behind me.
"You don't scare me." I boldly declared.
"Oh, so you are you going to receive your beating like a man?" He asked as he stepped closer.
"Karin, make sure they are all right." After my order, she slowly left my side and walked towards my teammates, her eyes never leaving Jiraiya worried that he might do something to her.
He only chuckled.
"Who would have thought that the shitty brat has a heart."
He was already right in front of me, looking down on me while I narrowed my eyes in defiance.
"They have nothing to do with this."
"So you are going to face me alone? I must admit you have balls, kid."
Subconsciously, my Sharingan activated. The growing stress perhaps was reasonable, but either way, we would welcome any sort of advantage the moment our fight broke out. My hand was already at the hilt of my blade, ready to attack at the same time; my body was prepared to dodge any of his attacks.
I knew that the Sharingan could predict his moves, but it served no purpose if I wasn't fast enough; however, I trusted my physical condition to keep up with him.
But the moment he slightly moved his arm, golden chains sprouted from the floor, surprising us, and as fast as snakes, they lunged at Jiraiya, coiling around his limbs. He desperately tried to fight them off and getaway, but they only strengthened their grip as more chains kept coming and forced him onto his knees.
My Sharingan easily detected the source of the chains, leading me to Karin, who was looking at the scene in surprise.
Jiraiya, after being subdued, looked at his surroundings until his eyes landed on Karin in surprise. "I must admit, I never expected to see these chains ever again. This particular Fuinjutsu isn't something that any Uzumaki can perform."
"It seems your so-called justice played against you." I smirked; what a convenient turn of events.
"I was just careless, nothing more. If I knew she could perform this particular jutsu, then I would have knocked her out first." His glare hardened when he turned to look at Karin, who flinched but returned to check on our teammate's well-being.
Despite being trapped, he could instill fear in others.
What followed was a staring contest accompanied by an awkward silence, but at that time, I was able to think how to use my cards; I could only hope that my cards would work, since I didn't have more of them.
"Catch." I threw the scroll; however, it only crashed against his chest and fell to the floor. I wanted to facepalm for my mistake.
What I had just done was practically mockery of his unfortunate situation.
"What's that?" However, he didn't seem to care.
"Orochimaru's corpses."
"Corpses?"
"His humanoid form worked as some sort of shell; the snake was his real body after years of experiments and augmentations." I explained for the sake of immortality; he became a monster.
He looked at the scroll his attentions shifted towards me. "What do you think to gain from this?"
"I'm asking you to listen to me."
"Listen to you? Did you listen to Naruto when he begged you to stop and come back?" He spat back.
The scene at the valley of the end replayed in my mind, but those memories were more livid; my hand clear remembered the moment it pierced his stomach and Naruto's Rasengan hitting me.
I closed my eyes. "Everything was a necessary sacrifice, but you need to hear my explanation first."
When I looked again, Jiraiya's expression changed to neutrality. "You changed; you don't fit the description that I was given. Very well, I will listen to your explanation."
'Is not like you can do anything else,' I thought.
"I always intended to kill Orochimaru from the very beginning."
"Oh really? Then why so eager to abandon everything, to fight everyone and give up your body to kill Itachi?"
"Do you honestly believe that you or Orochimaru would have trusted any of my words if I didn't show any conviction or proof?"
"So what you did to Naruto was to show your determination?" His word made me recall the exact moment our eyes met at our battle.
Those memories were something; it felt different.
Guilt or anger?
I shook all those emotions away. "What else could I've done? If he only turned back, then nothing would have happened; I never intended to kill him."
Did I just shift the guilt?
In retrospect, it was Naruto's fault to be in that state. His stupid obsession with promises about friendship and not losing important people wasn't the reason for his stubbornness. He had Jiraiya taking care of him, and we weren't exactly on super friendly terms.
"Alright, let's say I believe you. Why did you want to kill him so badly that you sacrificed so much? Your so-called vengeance could have been done without running away."
"Because the bastard had a role in my clan demise, I don't know what he did, but he reaped a lot of benefits from it."
He frowned. "Explain."
"He had a room filled with Sharingans and notes about artificial Uchihas abominations, with my suspicions confirmed. I trained and waited for the perfect moment to strike and then proceeded to destroy everything related towards my clan."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Uchihas abominations? Kid, that sounds like it came out straight from a horror book."
"Because it was, a head filled with Sharingans staring at you was an abomination and the biggest offense towards my clan; Itachi may have massacred my clan, but what Orochimaru had been doing to my family was worse." I knew only about the Orochimaru experiments about Shin Uchiha and how deformed he was, nothing more.
Jiraiya's eyes softened, and he let out a sigh.
"Any sane Uchiha would have done the same, but how did you even get such information?" He asked; after all, nobody would know such secrets without a snitch.
A snitch which I lacked.
"One night, years ago, a letter was left on my bed. It was brief, but it was enough for me to understand who deserved to die by any means necessary." I lied.
"I have a feeling who might have given you the letter."
"Who?" I faked my interest.
However, Jiraiya only shook his head. "Honestly, this explains a lot of things. I won't say names, but it is better that you do not get involved in this mess, at least not yet. But why didn't you return after killing Orochimaru?"
I crossed my arms as I looked away. "As I said to Tayuya, there are more things I must do before my return."
"Like?"
I couldn't reveal my intentions to go after the Jinchuuriki of Seven Tails or other plans like recovering the legendary sword; it would be stupid. Only one thing I could let him know, because it wouldn't be a surprise.
"Neutralize my brother." I answered, with venom in my voice.
"Neutralize? You no longer want to brutally kill him?" He asked with interest about my sudden change of attitude.
I sighed; I knew that question would come up.
"After Orochimaru's death, I have gathered so much information with his notes and logs that my perspective changed; my brother wasn't the sole responsible for the massacre."
Orochimaru was a good scapegoat for everything; after all,l there was nothing he didn't or tried to do, people would believe it either way.
"I never believed the story anyway; it had too many discrepancies to my liking." Jiraiya closed his eyes.
"And Orochimaru mentioned Danzo Shimura multiple times." I added Danzo was a threat, one I didn't want to face out of fear for his possession of Shisui Mangekyou; he only needed to use it once to brainwash anybody, even other Uchihas.
If others could get rid of him in my stead, then good.
"Danzo, eh? I wouldn't be surprised; at least this gives us some ground to finally get rid of him."
"If he was responsible for my clan's demise, I will kill him." I pretended my anger towards the man.
"If you do that, then you will be labeled as a missing-nin, and the entire force of Konoha will be on you unless Tsunade gets enough evidence to get rid of him." Jiraiya quickly added before going silent while chewing his chee; he looked so focused on trying to understand and connect many dots.
On the other hand, I needed to find a log or a journal that could give them enough evidence; my words weren't enough.
"Well, kid, I must say you dropped quite the bomb on me. I will inform Tsunade about what you told me; she will decide what to do."
I mentally celebrated at hearing his words. The fight was avoided, but the last part wasn't for my liking."I need her to stop looking for me."
Having tracking teams going after me would be a nuisance.
"I can't make that decision; kid better said I should be dragging your ass back to Konoha right now." He frowned.
"I need my freedom." I thought I had obtained what I wanted, but he showed me; otherwise, he was stubborn, and Tsunade also had the same problem.
"I told you I cannot decide that."
And Orochimaru's corpse didn't seem to be enough.
I couldn't hide my smirk.
Why not abuse more of my slight advantage then?
"I will exchange all of Orochimaru's notes about Akatsuki if you give me what I want." After I dropped another bomb, he somehow, with sheer strength, stood up while the chains tried to send him back to his knees.
Anybody would get away, but I remained in place, looking at him with the same eyes as before.
"Start talking." He demanded.
"I need a formal letter detailing my pardon and freedom to roam the elementals nations without any kind of problem and to transfer my clan fortune into a different account if you want me to divulge those secrets." I made my demands clear; I would no longer need to worry about them coming after me, I wouldn't have any obligations to them, and money wouldn't be an issue anymore.
"I need that information now." He leaned closer, but that was enough for Karin to perform the ram seal, and the chains pulled him down to his knees again.
"Have you forgotten in what position you're in?." I frowned as I felt a surge of chakra going to my eyes.
"Do you think I cannot escape? That I haven't fought against these chains in all my years of experience? Let me show you how wrong you are, then." As soon as he finished speaking, he spat a seal to the floor, the contents instantly spread all over the floor, and the chains surrounding him slowly lost color and dissipated, leaving him unrestrained and free to move wherever he wanted.
He proceeded to stretch his limbs as if trying to provoke me before flashing a smug smile.
After all, he was a seal master.
Without thinking twice, he quickly turned around and closed the distance towards Karin, who looked at him in shock; Jiraiya had all the intentions to do exactly what he said he would have done.
But I wasn't going to allow that to happen.
My hand had already unsheathed my blade and placed it right above his neck, preventing him from taking one more step.
But just as I finished, he also placed his weapon at the back of my neck simultaneously; I could only guess it was a kunai.
"I see you still want to fight, but I can bury forever those secrets that you desperately seek." I warned, without looking at him.
He applied some pressure with the tip of my skin, sending shivers down my spine. "Oh really? One session with Ibiki will be enough to make you talk, but my fists can be just as effective."
I, too, applied pressure on his skin."The Uchiha wasn't the only clan Orochimaru had been studying in all these years."
"What are you getting at?" He removed the kunai from my neck just like I did, our mutual understanding.
I turned to look him in the eye. "He was very detailed with his notes that even a genin can repeat the process."
I wasn't one hundred percent sure of my words, but Orochimaru wasn't one who would study a single topic forever; such trivial things wouldn't stop his pursuit for knowledge.
It took seconds for Jiraiya to assume and understand.
"You would wipe your own memories?" He asked with wide eyes; disbelief plastered all over his face.
It wasn't what I was thinking, but it would work as well. "Why wouldn't I? My life had been tragedy after tragedy. A new fresh start is rather tempting." I snarled.
There were no lies in those words. This new life was only filled with memories of tragedy in both the past and future.
Jiraiya only looked at me in silence and tried to speak, but nothing came out whenever he opened his mouth.
He finally sighed in defeat. "Very well. I will speak to Tsunade and try to convince her."
"Good to know that you are that stubborn, and I will leave this town soon."
"You aren't going to wait?" He frowned; he probably was expecting me to remain in one place.
"Of course not, I'm on a tight schedule." The Kiba blades were waiting for me.
Jiraiya scratched his head, trying to come up with a solution."When you are done, go to Tanzaku Gai, Tayuya will be waiting for those notes."
"Not you?" I raised a brow questingly, that sensitive information should be handed to him directly, but I wasn't going to complain. It wasn't my responsibility, after all.
He kneeled to grab the scroll and store it inside his clothes. "I have a lot of work to do, so I won't be able to wait for you." With that said, he looked at the window and disappeared in a gust of wind.
I could finally deactivate my Sharingan and let my eyes rest; better said, I could feel my whole body relax.
A long sigh of relief followed before looking at my surroundings, which had been damaged, and my teammates were slowly recuperating; well, Suigetsu was still a puddle that occasionally moved; at best, he was comparable to slime, and Juugo was sleeping peacefully with the same bird from before using his hair as a nest.
"So you always wanted to kill Orochimaru?" Karin asked as she dusted her clothes.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I was worried."
"Your intervention was useful. We completely avoided a confrontation that I wasn't ready to face, but I didn't know you could summon the famous Uzumaki chains." I needed more time to gather enough confidence to face all those Kage-level shinobis; Jiraiya's sudden intrusion weakened my confidence. Fighting those mongrels at the research facility didn't help in practicing my abilities, but only to rub my ego. I needed to fight real shinobis.
"Me neither; when I saw him move, I felt terrified, and the chains appeared from the floor." Karin's reply created some doubts.
"Can you do it again?"
"I don't know."
"Try with the table." I pointed at the small table that surprisingly survived unscathed the whole ordeal.
Karin's gaze shifted towards the place I was pointing and performed the ram seal with her hands and closed her eyes; however, nothing happened, and the more seconds passed, the more disappointing it became because having Karin chains would be beneficial, especially when snatching the Jinchuurikis and, if trained enough, a freed Bijuu.
But my disappointment disappeared the moment I saw thin trails coming out from her back. But compared to the chains that trained Jiraiya, they were pathetic in every sense.
They couldn't even reach the table before dissipating into nothingness.
"Is more difficult than I imagined." She dropped her shoulders in dejection.
"But you can use them. That's what matters, nothing that constant practice cannot achieve. However, something had been bothering me. How did you fail to detect those two?" I looked at her, Karin was supposed to be one of the best sensors in the elemental nations, yet we never noticed those two until they were already next to us.
Karin closed her eyes and tried to focus for a while but shook her head. "He knows how to hide his chakra signature perfectly, and Tayuya knows as well, it is like trying to find a crab moving underground if they came jumping, running, or using any sort of chakra, then I would have immediately detected them."
Her explanation was understandable, however, it meant that her ability was flawed and way too lax.
"You should sharpen your sensory skills then; there can be patient enemies like him." Many could easily see a bird flying in the sky, few could see a fly passing through, and even fewer could see a mosquito in the distance.
Karin was our eye in the sky, but she needed to become our eye in the sky.
"So...Do I get a reward for saving you?"
I only gave a flick to her head.
She rubbed the sore spot, looking at me offended with puffed cheeks.
"Don't mess around. We have work to do."
AN: As if I would send him to Konoha that soon, some of you guys are impatient or just skim through the chapter.
And to clarify some doubts, this AU not only changes plot or character(Do I really need to say this, AGAIN?) but how certain things works as well like the Sharingan, I know how it works and it had been explained but still changed a bit just to fit for the story and explain other moments you will see in future chapters.
About Konoha, I kind of knew but your explanation only reassured me. Is difficult to find stories where there is a strong political play and dynamics along with cunningness and cruelty, I think I only read one where none of the villages were portrayed as the Good guys but as real militaristic villages always looking a weakness to exploit and a strong dynamics of politics treating their shinobis as mere tools like they are supposed to be and showing all those words of comradery or honor is just propaganda to increase their ranks. I mean most stories are always portrayed with clear good and bad guys where the good guys can do no wrong. Pretty much why I loved Pain arc and how he showed that there are no heroes in wars only monsters.
But demonizing is not something I like to do it feels cheap and lazy writing hence why I loathe bashing.
And the more I see about Karin and what had been done to her the more I realize how she was wasted. At the end of the day she was used a mere empty cheerleader for Sasuke. *Sighs*
Well is not like she was the only unfortunate one but those characters didn't have much relevance in the story.
Fun Fact: The three sannins are based in the japanese folklore tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, the only difference with the story being that Jiraiya actually marries Tsunade and that Minato speed is thanks to Tengu Magic not seals.
