The next day had come rather quickly. Naruto awoke from his bed at first light when it poked its way through the room's curtains. He was anxious to have his question answered about who the VIP is and get back to his training.
Naruto got dressed as quickly as he could before shouting at the still "sleeping" Gama Sannin. "Hey! It's morning already! Now are you going to tell me who we are searching for?!" His inquiry was met with a pillow to the face. "Shut up gaki!" Jiraiya said as he used his remaining pillow to cover his face. "The journey is a long one so get some rest."
Naruto threw the pillow on the floor. "If the journey is so long then wouldn't it be better to get started sooner so as to not waste light?" asked Naruto as he crossed his arms. This was another lesson he missed in the academy. Traveling at first light allows a shinobi to reach their destination in a timely manner and spot the enemy if they lie in wait for you.
Jiraiya rolled over to face the blonde. "You know I was trying to let you get some additional sleep." Jiraiya now stood from his bed. "But if you are so eager to get started then fine."
"Finally!" cheered the blonde.
"But first some breakfast!" cheered the Gama Sannin. Naruto froze. While yes breakfast was important, Tsunade and Shizune made sure he understood that, but he really wanted to know who the VIP was. "Ugh fine" replied Naruto.
The two made their way to the Inn's eatery for a morning meal. The eatery was laid out like that of a traditional restaurant with tatami mats and floor pillows. Jiraiya ordered a grilled fish meal while Naruto got oats, fruit and eggs. Once again Jiraiya was surprised by the blonde. Last he had heard of Naruto, the boy was addicted to ramen and refused to eat anything else.
After their meal, they set out on the road again. "Okay, we've had breakfast and are away from listening ears. Now are you going to tell me who the VIP is? This mission is kind of cutting into my training time" complained Naruto.
"Well if it's training you're after, I have quite a few things that not just anybody knows I could teach you if you can handle it" teased Jiraiya. "Besides you can think of it as compensation for me dragging you along and taking you away from your medical studies" continued the white-haired sage.
Naruto thought about it for a bit but decided he would rather have his questioned answered first. "I'm not saying no, but I'd rather find out who the VIP is first." Jiraiya could understand that. Any shinobi worth their salt would rather know the mission details before making a plan.
With a shrug, "Sure kid. So the person we are searching for is set to become the Godaime Hokage." This statement took Naruto by surprise. 'Tsunade-chan was already sworn in so who could it be?' thought a bewildered Naruto.
Taking his silence as shock of being selected for such an important mission, Jiraiya continued. "We are searching for my former teammate Tsunade Senju" said Jiraiya as he dropped the bomb. "I'm sure you have heard of her as a medic nin in training and all" he said with a goofy grin.
Naruto stopped in his tracks while giving the white-haired man a deadpan stare. Jiraiya was greatly confused by the action. He figured the kid would be elated to meet someone of Tsunade's caliber. "Yo! What's up? I'd figure that you'd be bouncing up and down to meet someone of Tsunade's caliber as a medic?"
Naruto took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. He looked Jiraiya in the eyes before saying. "She's already in Konoha!" Jiraiya looked flabbergasted at the kid. "Great the kid must have taken a hit to the head at some point. May need to have Tsunade look into that" said Jiraiya as he dragged his hand down his face. Maybe he would need to give the boy some training to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"That's not possible kid. If she were, the whole village would have known. She's quite the celebrity with being the world's best medic, the Queen of Elixirs, and the magomusume of the Shodai" said Jiraiya. "Plus, if she were there my spy network would have told me. Since they didn't say that when I checked in with it yesterday, she clearly isn't there now."
Jiraiya turned away and began walking once again while giving a wave of his hand to Naruto for the boy to follow. "Now come on we have to find her." Naruto, with his deadpan look still intact, caught up to the Gama Sannin. Jiraiya could hear some faint grumbling coming from the boy slightly behind him.
"You okay gaki?"
"Yeah just fine" replied Naruto in a heated tone through clenched teeth. Now to Jiraiya, the boy seemed to be upset. "You sure? You sound upset."
"I am! I'm telling you she's back in Konoha!"
"And I'm telling you she's not!"
"Yes she is!"
"No she isn't!"
"Yes she is!" Naruto shot back but this time six golden chain with spear tips as the leading link came from his back. Naruto threw them out towards Jiraiya who ran away dodging the chains, all the while he was screaming for him to calm down and there was no need to be mad that he was wrong.
Back in Konoha, Tsunade and Shizune were getting the basics Naruto would need to study for his Futon affinity, as it was his primary, as well as a few medical books for him to study in between practices or while his bunshins practiced with his Futon affinity.
For the instructions of the beginner exercise, they were copied from an instruction scroll from the Senju library. She even went out of her way to speak with a former Anbu that had once been a part of her former sensei's guard squad. Sadly, the operative had been discharged due to the loss of their arm.
Due to their expertise in Futon, Tsunade intended to have Naruto visit them when he returns from the mission he is on to continue his Futon training.
For his medical studies, Tsunade wanted Naruto to prepare for the more intensive aspect of being a field medic. This includes stitching, wound packing and the resetting of joints and bones in the field. All of this was so that the next they meet she can begin having him learn the Shosen Jutsu. He needed to know all of this information as the jutsu only allowed the medic to stimulate cellular growth and allow the body to heal itself. However, if the injury has separated too much tissue, then a medic may use too much chakra for one patient's recovery leaving many more in a dangerous position. Because of this different surgery and medical procedures for healing wounds without chakra were a must for any good medic.
A medic also needed to know about the different cells they are stimulating for this regeneration. If the wrong ones are stimulated or stimulated too much additional health problems could arise. There is also the risk cell growth not occurring properly leading to cancerous growth within a patient. To that end the first book she included was Cellular growth and stimulation: How Medical Chakra affects a Body's cells. With this Naruto should be ready to begin practicing the Shosen Jutsu under her supervision. She was also sending at least one book about fundamentals of the fields of advanced field surgery operations. Admittedly these were nowhere near as large as the first text.
Naruto would be grateful that all of this fit within one storage scroll. At the front of the scroll was a table of contents as well as instructions he was to follow when it came to covering the material within. She recommended splitting his focus between the basics of Futon as well as the large text she sent. The other material he could hold off until he could practice in hers or Shizune's presence but he must begin the larger text if he wished to learn the Shosen Jutsu. She made it very clear this was non-negotiable. She also left a small note at the bottom with another seal for Naruto to use after he gets the scroll.
Sitting on her desk was a messenger slug waiting to take the scroll to Naruto. The slug was a bright pink with violet spots all over its body while being the size of large owl. With a flourish of her brush, Tsunade concluded her messages to Naruto and began creating the seals to store the gathered items.
When she sealed the last item into the standard size green scroll, Tsunade turned her attention to the messenger slug. Placing the scroll in front of the slug "Please get this to Naruto Tsutsumi" requested the Slug Sannin. The decently sized gastropod crawled over the scroll before assimilating it into itself so it could be secure. Once done, Tsutsumi bowed its head and in a feminine voice replied "Of course Tsunade-sama. I shall deliver it at once." With that Tsutsumi vanished in a puff of smoke towards Naruto's location. With that done Tsunade joined her bunshins in completing the manageable amount of paperwork she needed to handle.
Naruto and Jiraiya were traveling down the road to the next town. The duo was quite as Naruto was still upset that they were on a useless journey to find his Hokage sensei who is already back in Konoha. Jiraiya was happy that the blonde was not trying to skewer him with the Kongo Fusa anymore. Since he had yet to receive a message from Tsunade yet and they were still traveling, Naruto decided to get some training in by going back to one of the chakra control exercises Tsunade had him do when he was training for the Chunin Exams.
Jiraiya had been interested in what Naruto was doing. He had seen the boy stop a few times on the road and pick up a few rocks that seemed to have a variety of colors. He then saw Naruto grip said rocks really tightly to the point they became powder. After that he saw Naruto hold his hands out with the dust cupped in each hand. After that he didn't pay much attention to what he was doing. What he failed to notice was Naruto had closed his eyes to focus on the world around him and the powdered rocks began to shift in his hands.
If the boy was going to be doing something Jiraiya had something better in mind. "Hey! Naruto!" he shouted getting the boy's attention. "Since I drew you away from whatever training you would probably be doing back in Konoha, why don't I make it up to you?" Naruto stopped walking but kept shifting ground rock in his hands. With promise of training, Naruto looked up towards the older man with excitement barely hidden in his eyes.
"What did you have in mind?" asked the excited blonde. Jiraiya went through some very familiar seals. With a decent sized poof of smoke, an orange toad with segmented plate armor along its chest and shoulders, an odachi in its webbed hands and a large scroll wrapped in its tongue. The toad placed the scroll at Naruto's feet as Jiraiya spoke, "I will teach you to summon the toads. With enough practice you can be a great Sage like yours truly!" he said proudly.
Naruto looked down at the scroll before him, taking special notice of his Tou-san's name next to the Gama Sannin and the latest blank space for the next person to sign. Naruto looked up from his Tou-san's name back up to Jiraiya. What he said next surprised the Gama Sannin. "Sorry but no thanks." Jiraiya went bug eyed at the words. Hoping off the toad's head, he looked down at the blonde. "And why would you refuse to sign the contract of the mighty toads?" Naruto didn't break eye contact, "I already have my own summons and they are pretty cool!" he said with a massive smile.
Once again Jiraiya was surprised by the answer. Calming himself down, Jiraiya dismissed the toad as he crossed his arms. Raising an eyebrow he asked, "Can I ask what your summons are?"
Naruto shook his head vehemently. "Nope, no way! I was told to keep that a secret!" stated Naruto as he crossed his arms, using his chakra to keep the rock dust glued to his hands so he could keep training.
Jiraiya pinched his nose in irritation. While it is a good idea to keep what summons you have as a secret, keeping such knowledge from your allies could prevent a team from making sound plans when planning mission operations. Looking down at the blonde "You have to tell me what your contract is, as team leader I am ordering you."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Gama Sannin, "I refuse!" he said vehemently. Jiraiya's eyebrow began to twitch. "You need to tell me! I'm squad leader! It allows me to better strategize for any confrontation we may run into!"
"Yeah right! You just want to trick me into giving away sensitive information! You may tell people your summoning contract whenever you meet someone but I was told to keep it safe and not to tell anyone who doesn't need to know."
"Why you! If you don't tell me I'll report you for insubordination when Tsunade is sworn in!" bit back Jiraiya. "She already is! And go ahead and tell her she won't say anything! As an Uzumaki, it is my right to hide my Clan techniques from those unassociated with the Clan!"
"The Kuchiyose no Jutsu is not a Clan technique!" shouted the blonde.
"But the Clan associated with the contract is! Like the monkeys for the Sarutobi Clan." At this point Jiraiya was losing it. The kid was right in a sense but he wasn't going to let a gaki get one over on him.
Once again Jiraiya pinched his nose in annoyance. "I'm telling you she isn't or else my spy network would have told me!" Letting out a sigh to drop this argument, Jiraiya told Naruto with a smug grin, "Let's see if you keep your stubbornness when you meet her! She can be rather stubborn" he said fondly.
So lost was Jiraiya in his reminiscing, he didn't hear Naruto's reply to his words. "Yeah she can" he said softly. With that the tension between the two seemed to die down. "Fine. Sense you won't sign the Toad Contract, the other thig thing I have to teach you is a jutsu made by the Yondaime." At that Naruto stopped all movement. Jiraiya almost thought the boy stopped breathing.
Suddenly with speed befitting his father, Naruto appeared in front of Jiraiya's face starry eyed. The scary part was he actually seemed to be levitating. That was until Jiraiya felt something heavy on his chest. Shifting his eyes down, Naruto was clinging to him by his knees. If the Gama Sannin didn't know any better, he would bet that Naruto was channeling chakra to his knees to adhere to him like he was using the surface walking exercise.
Jiraiya attempted to brush the kid off him. When he finally succeeded, "Yeah, it's called the rasengan." At that Jiraiya formed the ball of chakra in his hands. Naruto was immediately in awe of the jutsu his Tou-san created. He heard from his lessons with Shizune-sensei that it was one of the jutsu he was most known for. Sadly, he wasn't far enough in his fuinjutsu training to study the formula of the Hiraishin no Jutsu to use it himself.
For now, Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the jutsu in front of him, sensing the chakra within the sphere. He saw how it was a large amount that was being directed in multiple directions to give it the drilling power it was said to have.
Jiraiya saw the kid go wide eyed with awe at the jutsu. Before he could demonstrate it, Naruto suddenly closed his eyes and looked like he was concentrating on something. Not understanding his actions, Jiraiya shouted "Oy! Gaki! Pay attention! The demonstration isn't over yet!" Naruto quickly opened his eyes, though he had already sensed what Jiraiya had been doing with his chakra so he was eager to try it himself.
Suddenly Jiraiya rammed the jutsu into a nearby tree carving into the defenseless flora with ease. Seeing the power of his Tou-san's jutsu got Naruto even more eager to try it for himself. Seeing Naruto's enthusiasm, Jiraiya pulled out a small scroll from his vest. Barely rolling it open on the ground, Naruto noticed three storage seals. From the first one came out a large box of water balloons. Grabbing two, Jiraiya threw one to Naruto.
Jiraiya held up the balloon in his hand. "Alright the first step you will want to focus on is rotation." With that, Jiraiya's balloon began to get all lumpy like it was full of bee's trying to escape. Suddenly, it exploded with a loud pop. "The idea is to rotate the water in the balloon until it …." Jiraiya's words died before he could finish as Naruto's balloon promptly exploded. Jiraiya was left speechless. Soon he snapped back to reality and began ranting.
"No no no no no no no! There is no way you got that in one try!" he said as he pointed accusingly at Naruto. Naruto for his part just shrugged. Controlling his chakra isn't anything new. Separating the different colors of rock dust is a harder manipulation exercise in his opinion. He was almost struck with a water balloon Jiraiya had thrown at him, but he ducked under it before he could get soaked.
"Hey! What was that for?!" he shouted as he pointed at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya grabbed another balloon and threw it at him but this time he caught it. "Do it again! But this time I'm watching you!"
"Tch! Fine" retorted the blonde. Holding his hand out for Jiraiya to see he popped the balloon the same way Jiraiya did. Jiraiya could only hang his mouth open is shock. As he raised a shaky finger to point at the blonde all he could do was "H-H-H-H-H-H-How did you get it so quickly?" Naruto just shrugged. "It isn't that hard when you've been drilled in chakra control like I have" he said as he puffed out his chest.
'WHAT?! NO WAY?! THERE IS NO WAY THAT GAKI KAKASHI IS THAT GOOD AT CHAKRA CONTROL!' ranted Jiraiya as he was stomping the ground. Naruto was confused by Jiraiya's actions. It's not like rotating the chakra is hard. Probably the hardest part would be rotating it in multiple directions at once, though with his control that was negligible as he was already used to having his chakra move in several directions at once due to the color sand exercise he was trained to get down in both hands. Sadly, he lost his current batch in his excitement and would need to make another set later.
As Jiraiya was stomping the ground Naruto took two more water balloons and decided to see if he could pop the balloons in his hands simultaneously. Though it took him negligibly longer to do so, he decided to keep practicing if the Gama Sannin was going to be ranting.
When Jiraiya finally calmed down, he noticed the box he brought with him was empty and several popped balloons were at Naruto's feet. Jiraiya rubbed his eyes in shock. Now he was thinking he had imagined that Naruto got it down so quickly. Unknown to the Gama Sannin, Naruto actually got his time in using both hands to match the feat he had shown Jiraiya earlier.
Noticing that he seemed to be done with what he was doing. Naruto asked the Gama Sannin, "So what's next?" Jiraiya placed his hand on the second seal, pulling out a box of rubber balls. Pulling out two from the new box, he passed one to Naruto as he kept the second. "Alright, for this step you are going to want to do the same thing you did in the first step but you are going to want to add more power to it."
Before Naruto got started, he asked for a second ball. Confused, Jiraiya decided to humor the boy so gave him a second ball. Holding out his hands, Naruto makes the balls bubble up before he pops them simultaneously at the same speed as he did the first time. Afterall all he needed to change was the amount he used but not the control over it.
Once again, Jiraiya was left speechless, letting the ball in his hands fall to the ground. Before Jiraiya could go on ranting once again, Naruto threw a spare ball at Jiraiya hitting him in the head. Jiraiya scowled at the blonde who gave him a look that told him he wanted to know the next part. With a huff, Jiraiya got out the last box that carried normal balloons, though these were deflated. Jiraiya blew up two balloons before he paused. He blew up a third balloon before throwing two at Naruto who promptly caught them.
Taking a deep breath, Jiraiya explained the last step. "Alright, the last step is containment." Saying that, Jiraiya created a rasengan within the balloon, which Naruto picked up. Understanding what he had to do, Naruto formed his own set of rasengan within his own balloons, doing his best to contain both chakra spheres as he made them.
Jiraiya watched Naruto hold his two balloons in his palms though nothing was happening. Not a ripple, not a bump, not even a shift in the rubber. Getting impatient, Jiraiya shouted "WELL! AREN'T YOU GOING TO DO SOMETHING!" Naruto was startled by the sudden shouting but kept up his concentration due to his training with Tsunade. "What was that about?!" he shouted back.
Jiraiya pointed at the blonde, "You aren't doing anything! I mean you haven't even popped your balloon yet!" Naruto was now pissed. That's what he was getting shouted at for? "Fine!" With that Naruto charged a nearby tree and slammed his two balloons into it, resulting in the same affect that Jiraiya had shown when he demonstrated the jutsu.
Naruto turned back to the Gama Sannin with a smug smirk on his face only for it to fall as said Sannin was muttering incoherently about impossibilities as he walked on towards the next town, leaving a confused Naruto behind.
Before he could walk on and catch up with the dazed Sannin, a poof of smoke and the sound of someone being summoned caught his attention. Turning around he saw a pink slug with purple dots across its body that was the size of a large owl. Naruto gave the large slug a big smile and a cheerful "Hello". The slug for its part gave a small bow as it spoke. "Greetings Naruto-san. I am Tsutsumi and I come baring a scroll from Tsunade-sama."
That got Naruto's attention and he eagerly asked the slug if he could have it. "Yes young summoner I have it. If you shall wait patiently, I shall produce it." Naruto saluted the slug and watched as the slug side crawled from its position in front of him. Naruto had to fight the urge to run over and grab the scroll once he saw it, but his lessons in etiquette kicked in so he didn't move from his spot. The slug grabbed the scroll with its oral orifice, which it then used to hand Naruto the green scroll.
"Thank you Tsutsumi" Naruto said eagerly as he opened the scroll, anxious to see what Tsunade has for him to do. Afterall, the training he has been doing with Jiraiya has been rather easy. When he opened it, he began to read the message Tsunade wrote at the front of the scroll that covered what was inside the scroll and what he should focus on until he meets up with her or Shizune again, as well as what text he should read.
Naruto, being excited about the new text to read, rolled up the scroll in his hands so he could retrieve a small notepad that Tsunade had on him, which he packed in his storage scroll, in the event he thought of questions he wanted answered while he was away from her or Shizune. Creating a Kage Bunshin, he gave it the notepad to transcribe any questions he got while he read. Afterwards he gave the gastropod a thumbs up and a thanks.
"Hey, I'm curious" Naruto spoke to the slug who gave a nod of approval for Naruto to keep going. "Is there anything I can give you guys as a token of thanks?" asked the blonde. The gastropod seemed to think about it for a moment before speaking. "Well most of us prefer food like apples if you have any, though providing us thanks is not necessary as we are happy to aid our summoners" explained the slug.
Naruto scratched his head in thought as to where he was going to get an apple to show his thanks to his summons until the slug in front of him told him of a small note just below the note that described the location of each item in the scroll. Reading it aloud,
"Dear Naruto,
I figured at some point that you would want to extend some kindness to the slugs for reasons of your own so I included some apples right under this note as many of them prefer the fruit.
Train hard and don't be afraid to prepare questions for me or Shizune to answer for you when you return. If you cannot wait, send them to either of us by one of the many messenger Slugs.
Also, I haven't found out the target of your mission but I shall and let you know.
-Tsunade.
Naruto was grateful that Tsunade prepared ahead for him. With that he popped out an apple and gave it to Tsutsumi who happily took it. It was then that Naruto remembered something else. "Oh Tsutsumi can you take a message back to Tsu-chan and tell her that the mission I'm on is to find her. And can you ask her to get the mission canceled?" Tsutsumi nodded and summoned herself away.
When she left Naruto got the book out and looked to his bunshin, silently asking if it was ready to write questions which it answered with a nod, though with a suspicious smile. With that Naruto set out to follow Jiraiya who had a pretty good lead on the pair but was stopped by his bunshin that pointed at the rubber balls and balloons that were left in the middle of the road. Ranting about irresponsible perverts, Naruto packed up the two crates by placing back in the storage scroll Jiraiya had brought them out of before getting back to his book. If nothing else, he could use the balls to pelt the Gama Sannin if he ever annoyed him further.
Back in her office, one of Tsunade's bunshin had found the mission record outlining Jiraiya's task. What she found out certainly was enough to make her want to drink, because if the fool had stuck around a little longer in the meeting this was issued, he wouldn't be out wasting the village's and Naruto's time.
Suddenly there was a poof of smoke on her desk, causing the Anbu to tense. When it cleared Tsutsumi was once again back in her office and the Anbu relaxed. "Hello again Tsutsumi" said the stressed Slug Sannin. "Greetings Tsunade-sama" the slug replied with a bow. "I ask for you to pardon the interruption but Naruto-san asked me to deliver a message to you."
Tsunade raised a quizzical eyebrow to this, curious as to what Naruto could want. She just sent his lesson plan so he couldn't have made much headway into Cellular growth and stimulation: How Medical Chakra affects a Body's cells. "What is his message?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice. "He requested me to inform you that his mission is to locate you and bring you back to become the Godaime. He also asked you to cancel the mission. Though the mission seems rather odd to me Tsunade-sama as it is my understanding you already are the Godaime" relayed the pink slug.
Tsunade let out a groan. "Well at least I won't have to tell him." She returned her focus to Tsutsumi. "Thank you for his message Tsutsumi. That will be all, you can return to Shikkotsu Forest" said the Slug Sannin. With a bow of her head, Tsutsumi left in a puff of smoke.
As soon as the summons was gone Shizune walked into the office but with only a single sheet of paper, it could either be for the village's reconstruction or another correspondence from Suna. Seeing the irate expression on her master's face, Shizune asked "Tsunade-sama, is everything okay?" Letting out a long sigh Tsunade answered her first apprentice. "No Shizune. I am irritated as I just found out Naruto's mission is to locate me and convince me to become the Godaime."
Shizune was left silent as she stood in front of her master's desk, confused at what she just heard. "Huh?" was her only reply. Figuring Shizune was confused about how such a mission was assigned, Tsunade clarified "It seems that during the meeting I crashed Jiraiya had proposed a mission to locate me to become the Godaime. However, he left before I entered and took the position."
"So how did this mission still go through if you were named the next Hokage?" asked the confused assistant. "Probably because no one was willing to admit to the boss of a mistake made to save themselves from any perceived repercussions. Like any job" she says with a heavy sigh. "So instead, they kept silent hoping it would blow over?" Tsunade gave her first apprentice a look that said "this is how it always goes."
Letting out another sigh, Tsunade brought out a bottle of sake and dish. Taking a single dish, she told Shizune, "Call the Elders in to my office, I need to talk with them." Nodding quickly, Shizune left to retrieve the Elders.
After some time, the three Elders stood before Tsunade who she herself looked rather annoyed as she had her hands cross before her face as she leaned on her desk with Shizune behind her as she held onto Tonton. "So" Tsunade starts with a neutral but heavy tone. "Is there a reason that you or the Clan Council neglected to mention to me Jiraiya not only went on a mission to locate myself but also decided to take Naruto with him?"
Homura and Koharu were rather nervous, Danzo was calm as he had been in this situation many times before. "Well you see Tsunade-dono" began Koharu, "He had already left the meeting before you arrived and you know how he can be when he wants to set out" finished a nervous Homura who was fidgeting with his glasses.
"Yes of course I know how he can be. But he approached Naruto who in-turn informed me he was leaving on a mission. If I had known at the time what his mission was I could have walked with him to Jiraiya's location and prevented him from leaving" said Tsunade, who was irritated at bureaucrats passing the blame along to cover their hide.
"Pardon me Tsunade-dono" spoke Danzo, "But why would Naruto approach you about him leaving on a mission than say Kakashi?" Tsunade looked at him for a moment before speaking. "He is my second apprentice. I met him before the final stage of the Chunin Selection Exams and took him under my wing" explained the Godaime. This filled in a lot of information for the Warhawk. "Well that certainly explains his sudden interest in medicine" commented Danzo while the other two were left in a state of shock.
Danzo broke the silence that set in after that revelation. "We are sorry for not informing you of this Tsunade-dono, but nothing can be done to change the events that have already happened." Koharu and Homura nodded vehemently with the declaration.
"True" Tsunade replied, but her look became cold "If you ever hide such information of importance from me again …." She let the threat hand in the air though Danzo seemed to be the only one not affected by the chill that permeated the room. "YES TSUNADE-DONO!" quickly replied Homura and Koharu, "Yes Tsunade-dono" replied Danzo in a far calmer tone. "You are dismissed" with that the three Elders left.
Letting out another sigh Tsunade summoned a messenger slug, this one neon green with black spots. This one spoke with a masculine voice. Tsunade grabbed two blank sheets of paper as a scroll would be such a waste for such a small message. "Greetings Tsunade-sama" the slug said with a bow, "I am Kazue, how may I be of assistance to you?" he asked.
"Hello Kazue. I have two messages for you deliver. One of which I need you to take to Jiraiya. He is traveling with Naruto so use him as a means of locating Jiraiya. The other I need you to take to Mount Myoboku. In the event Jiraiya fails to heed my message hopefully the toads can help convince him to return" she says but doesn't have much confidence in the plan as Jiraiya often acts on his own accords.
"Do not fear Tsunade-sama" said Kazue as he bowed his head "I shall ensure the messages are delivered swiftly and promptly." Kazue took the two letters swallowing them as Tsunade told him the order she was handing them over in. "The first one I am handing you is for the toads, the next one is for Jiraiya. Give him his first as it will ensure the toads are able to act in the event they question him about heeding my message." With a nod, Kazue was off to do his duty for his summoner.
Tsunade leaned back into her chair with a sigh. " Do you think Jiraiya-sama will listen to your message Tsunade-sama?" asked Shizune. "Honestly, I don't think so. He can be really dense at times, needing to see things for himself to believe them or follow his gut which has mixed results of its own" replied the Godaime. "For now, we need to hope that Jiraiya will listen to the messages or else I may need to go get him myself so that idiot will listen" said the annoyed blonde.
Neji was tired. 'I can't understand how Lee can do this every day?!' the Hyuga thought as he was breathing heavily with his hands on his knees. He had been joining his sensei, Might Guy, for the man's morning workout. Neji was doing this to make up for the short comings he discovered during the invasion as he fought against Suna and Oto shinobi.
A problem arose however when he learned he wasn't used to this intense and extensive of a workout. Sure, Guy sensei made sure his Genin trained physically, but what he and Lee did is far beyond what the other Genin when through during team training.
Neji was left tired, sweaty, exhausted, and in pain from the strain on his lungs and the muscles he rarely used for his Juken. He was pulled from his thoughts as his sensei shouted towards him. "Yosh! Neji! Now is not the time to be tired! We must push forward in the spirit of Youth! For us to grow stronger, we must push ourselves and set new goals to achieve! Now grab some water and let's keep going!" shouted Guy as Neji continued to pant.
Neji could say nothing as he watched his boisterous sensei shout and act as if they didn't just do half a marathon with incremental sprints throughout the run. Neji wanted to stop here but ... he thought of his failures at being too slow to close the gap during his fights. He also thought of his friend Lee. He wouldn't quit and it allowed him to defy fate. If he truly wanted to be the master of his own destiny then he would need to fight on himself.
Neji gave his sensei a look. Guy saw something in the boys pupilless eye. A fire he had never seen in the boy before. It seemed the heat in Neji's eyes went from his bitter anger to that of a man who has learned what he has and will do everything he can to protect it. Guy gave his student a nod, and they continued their training.
Shikamaru lay on the ground, bruised tired and really regretting asking for more intense training. His teammates, Ino and Choji, weren't faring much better especially with Ino's complaint about how tough the new training was. Though that didn't stop her from participating.
Originally Asuma was getting ready to lay down some kind of speech about how he was going to start making their training intense like how when he had gone through when he was a genin but was beaten to the punch by Ino. She had said that they needed more intense training, claiming she didn't want to lose to Naruto, who was being of aid to her home.
Truth be told it had bugged Ino how she was pretty much useless until clean up and repair missions were being assigned. That meant for a whole month she had to sit back and watch as some of her friends helped out and were seen as protectors while she had to watch from the sidelines.
Shikamaru was no better. Originally, he believed he could skate through life without a care in the world. But now ... now he was getting hit with the reality he lived in. At any time, someone or something can happen that would lead to those he cared about being in danger. In a controlled environment he lost. Shikamaru's tactical mind could do nothing as he had neither the skills nor the resources to put up a fight against a foe who had a counter to the meager skills he has.
Questions he'd never consider where now pushing himself to the fore of his mind as he thinks but on one came to his aid in solving the questions before him. Could he look Choza in the eyes if he was so weak he lost his friend? Could he live with the idea he could have been stronger to keep his friend safe but he wasn't because it was too much work?
These thoughts plagued him the entire time he was sidelined while some of his old classmates aided in the village's recovery. It was this change in attitude that lead him to agreeing with Ino when it came to more intense training. Shikamaru was the first to slowly pick himself up followed by Choji and Ino. With a cocky smirk he asked his sensei Is that all you got while he kept panting. His answer was a smirk from his sensei before the intense training resumed.
While Konoha and its citizens were recovering in their own way from the assault, many of the prisoners were locked away such as the children of the late Kazekage who were in a detention cell within Anbu HQ. They were taken there due to their high-priority status as well as the special containment cell for jinchuriki the Yondaime set up for Konoha after his encounter with the Hachibi's host during the Third Great Shinobi War.
Gaara was silent as was Shukaku as the red head sat in his cell. The large tanuki was embarrassed as it lost by being sat on so it kept silent in the hopes of forgetting this loss. With the newfound silence Gaara was left alone with his thoughts, sometimes remembered what he was told from the last person he ever had a meaningful connection with.
His uncle had told the poor boy that he was never loved, giving rise to the selfish and murder crazed ideology the boy created as a means of shielding himself from the pain of loneliness. Now he had lost. To him, his life was now forfeit and that he should die.
Unknown to Gaara was that his silence was worrying his siblings. Never before had Gaara ever been silent and not eyeing up his next kill. Now he was silent and huddled in a corner, trying to bury himself in the darkness that surrounded him. "Gaara" called out Temari. She received no answer. "Hey bro, you okay" asked Kankuro. He too received no answer. "Ga …" before Kankuro could continue his words Gaara spoke up. "Leave me alone" he said in a fearful monotone. "Gaara talk to us!" pleaded Temari. "Come on! Why won't you talk to us man?" questioned Kankuro.
The two were met with silence that seemed to stretch on for hours before the Suna jinchuriki answered. "I lost" was his reply. This response irked his oniisan. "SO?" was Kankuro's harsh rely which Temari glared at him for. Not hindered by the reply Gaara continued, "I lost therefore my existence is forfeit. With every kill I was able to prove that I existed. Now I am going to die because I was beaten" replied Gaara. His reply silenced his siblings. They had never known the reason that Gaara killed. They figured, like everyone else, that Gaara killed because he was bloodthirsty from Shukaku or because someone got in his way. Now that he explained it, it made sense as to why didn't just kill anyone that got in his way but those that would be missed or draw a crowd.
They were snapped from their thoughts by Gaara's next statement. "I guess my death would make you feel safe as I am a monster to both of you." That immediately got to both Temari and Kankuro. "That's not true Gaara!" they both shouted. The next thing Gaara said silenced the two, "If that's not true then why did you leave me alone? To wallow in loneliness and the fear of everyone else?" he snapped back as he looked towards them.
They had no response initially. But ever so softly they spoke up with Temari going first, "We did try Gaara." This stunned the red headed boy. "We tried to get close to you but the sand would lash out sometimes. We were afraid that it would hurt us. It's why we didn't get close to you until we started our shinobi training." Gaara said nothing for a while. "We stuck with you even when you threatened to kill us because you are our brother even with the monster of Suna stuck inside you" spoke Kankuro.
Gaara was hesitant but he did speak again. "H … How do I know you won't hurt me like Ojisan Yashamaru?" Temari and Kankuro remembered when they were told that Gaara had killed their Ojisan. They never knew the circumstances behind it. But there was one thing they did know, despite his murderous personality Gaara never lied. So that meant that, in some way, their Ojisan had betrayed Gaara.
Despite their soft answer, Gaara heard it all the same. "Because were siblings" spoke Temari. Kankuro nodded as he raised his hand for a thumbs up, "And we always got each other's back's no matter what." Slowly, pain stakingly slowly, Gaara seemed to form a smile. In some way's Gaara knew his siblings were right. Ever since they had become a team, no matter how much he threatened them they always stuck with him. Kankuro even stood his ground against him during the second phase of the Chunin Exams. Perhaps he could trust his siblings.