[FFML] [Naruto] One Hundred Days - Chapter Seven: After the Battle

[Aaron Nowack]

Just in time to get out two chapters this month comes Chapter 7.
Previous chapters are available upon request, or at my website and
Fanfiction.Net. As always, I welcome any and all C&C.

One Hundred Days
A Naruto Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 7: After the Battle

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Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem.
Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this
fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, tigers.
************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-one]

Yakushi Kabuto found the practice of diplomacy to be extremely
boring. In his admittedly limited experience with that art, it seemed
to him that, almost always, the outcome of the long, repetitive
discussions was never in doubt. By the time that formal representatives
of two ninja villages actually sat at a table across from each other,
both sides had already decided precisely what the maximum they would
offer and the minimum they would accept were. So much time could be
saved, Kabuto thought, if they could simply compare those lists and
instantly derive the inevitable result, be it a peaceful compromise or
continued war.
Instead, this elaborate charade had to be played out. The
elderly Tsuchikage, in his role as host, had taken great relish in
returning the three Sound ninja the Rock had captured near Iwakuro
Hojo's estate, taking great pains to point out at length how gracious he
was being. The lead Sound diplomat had been almost as lengthy in
describing the great gratitude of Orochimaru and the daimyo of the Rice
Field Country to the Rock and the Earth Country, while carefully not
giving any sign that this would affect the negotiations with the Valley
and the Hill Country.
This had taken most of a morning, after which the visibly tiring
Tsuchikage had left. The remainder had been consumed by the two lead
diplomats describing in great detail how their respective villages could
not offer any sort of compromise and demanding almost everything short
of unconditional surrender from their opposite number. Of course,
everyone knew that this was absolutely not the case, or neither village
would have sent representatives to discuss peace. The sole purpose of
the completely unreasonable opening positions was to create demands that
could be painlessly dropped in hopes of eliciting some real change in
the other village's position. Kabuto guessed that by the end of the
day, both sides would have reached their real opening offers, having
accomplished precisely nothing with the initial, false openings.
Now, the diplomats had agreed to adjourn for lunch, and the
Sound contingent was filing out of the chamber that had been set aside
for the meeting. Kabuto, playing the role of a mere aide, would not be
eating with the diplomats themselves, of course. Instead he would be
left to his own devices until the meeting reconvened. That suited him
well, of course. An opportunity to have a look at one of the five great
ninja villages was not to be missed, particularly for a spy like
himself. Much could be learned just by wandering about and seeing what
could be seen without doing anything the Rock would take offense to.
As he began that wandering, Kabuto noticed that he was followed,
and so let his course take him into an abandoned alley between two
nondescript buildings. He noted without surprise the gray-uniformed
Sound guard who approached him. Kabuto glanced about, finding that the
Rock ninja perched on a rooftop who was supposed to be watching the pair
of Sound had fallen asleep. Kabuto adjusted his glasses, smiling at the
other Sound ninja. "I didn't expect you to attend this meeting
yourself, Orochimaru-sama."
Orochimaru laughed softly, pulling down the gray mask that
obscured his face. "You're an observant one, Kabuto."
"I had best be, or you would be in need of a new spymaster,
Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto replied.
"So?" Orochimaru asked. "How did your mission go?"
"I ran across three ninja of the Kamizuru Clan, and was able to
use them to test Naruto-kun," Kabuto said as he pulled out a large
scroll. "I was also able to acquire a copy of that clan's once-lost
techniques."
Orochimaru accepted the scroll. "Excellent," he said. "So,
what of the Kyuubi brat?"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses again. "He was able to defeat the
three Kamizuru, displaying a new manifestation of his demonic chakra."
Kabuto paused as he searched for the best words. "The chakra formed a
shroud over his body, much as Sasuke-kun described, only this time there
were two tails, one smaller than the other. Naruto-kun did not seem to
be able to control himself."
Orochimaru frowned. "Interesting," he said. "We may need to
take steps, before Akatsuki moves again."
"If you order it, it will be done," Kabuto said.
Orochimaru waved hand slightly. "No need for now. Jiraiya will
take the boy to Lightning Country after this. I'll know where to find
them when the time comes. I have need for you elsewhere."
"As you will," was all Kabuto said in response.
Orochimaru nodded. "Our allies in the Mist will be making their
move soon. I want you to lead our contribution to their attack. Return
to the village and select your squads at once."
Kabuto nodded. "Understood." He smiled again. "I hope I get a
chance to meet the Mist's spymaster in the Leaf."
"Oh?" Orochimaru asked.
"Whoever it is, he or she is very good. I still have my
contacts in the Leaf Village," Kabuto said. "Most of them aren't even
aware that Naruto-kun is Jiraiya-sama's apprentice, but the Mist were
able to tell us about when they'd be leaving and warn us the night of
the departure."
"Most of your active agents were uncovered, were they not?"
Orochimaru replied. "It's not surprising the Mist's network is better
than what's left."
Kabuto frowned. "Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama aren't sloppy.
They wouldn't have written the date of Naruto-kun's departure down or
discussed it where they could be overheard. That means there's not many
people that information could have come from. Whoever it is must be
very highly placed in the Hokage's office and very trusted."
"Any suspicions?" Orochimaru asked.
"I doubt that it's Tsunade-sama or Jiraiya-sama," Kabuto said.
"Kakashi-san is highly unlikely, as well. The only other person I could
think of who would have that information is Shizune-san."
"Shizune?" Orochimaru laughed. "You'd betray me long before
she'd betray Tsunade-hime." He smiled.
Kabuto's face was impassive. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama." He bowed
slightly. "By your leave?"
Orochimaru nodded. "Go."

************************************************** *********************

The underground chamber was lit only by scattered candles, but
Jiraiya could see well enough to do his work. A large brush in hand,
the legendary Sannin was squatted in a corner of the room, adding the
final characters to the intricate pattern in mixed ink and fox's blood
that covered most of the floor of the dark chamber. It had taken far
too long for Hojo's three genin students - chosen due to them already
being involved, however slightly - to procure the fox, unfortunately.
Jiraiya would have done it himself, except that he and his fallen
student, so far as all save Hojo and those three knew, had left days ago
to return to the Leaf Village to seek Tsunade's aid.
Sighing, Jiraiya set his brush aside after making the final
stroke. He rose, stepping carefully through the pattern he had drawn as
he walked to the bier that stood in the center of the room. Laying atop
the cold stone, as naked as the day he was born, was the still-
unconscious Naruto. Jiraiya rested a hand on his feverish forehead,
sighing as he glanced at the boy's stomach. The Fourth's seal was
clearly visible, despite the fact that Naruto hadn't molded the
slightest bit of chakra in almost a week.
Jiraiya believed that he was perhaps the foremost sealing expert
in the world. If he wasn't the best, there was only a short list of
people above him. At a glance, he could identify all the components of
that familiar spiral seal. He could list the properties of each without
hesitating and, even had he not studied that seal many times before,
venture a solid hypothesis as to how they would all work together to
keep the Kyuubi enchained. All this knowledge told him that Naruto
should never have been able to unleash the power he had unleashed, and
that his student should not have been lying in a coma as he had been.
Unfortunately, the fact that it should have been impossible did
not mean that it wasn't happening. Wishing he had a Hyuuga on hand,
Jiraiya studied Naruto's still form once again. He had guesses as to
what was going on, but he did not like operating on such flimsy
information. There was no helping it, though. It was obvious that
Naruto was not going to wake on his own, so these desperate measures
would have to be taken. He could only hope that they wouldn't run into
any serious trouble before they reached the Cloud Village.
The chamber's sole door opened and shut. Jiraiya didn't bother
to look up to see who had entered. Only one person could have passed
the seals that bound the door without forcing his way through. "Are you
ready?" Iwakuro Hojo asked as he walked over to stand on the opposite
side of the bier from the other legendary ninja. After glancing to make
sure that Hojo's path had not disrupted the pattern, Jiraiya nodded.
Hojo glanced about himself. "I must admit," he said after a moment,
"this is beyond me. Tell me what I must do."
"I will need your chakra," Jiraiya answered, "and possibly some
of your blood."
Hojo nodded. "Very well. You need only tell me when."
"We'll start simply," Jiraiya said as he stretched out a hand
over Naruto's seal. Chakra began to stream from his fingertips as
glowing characters appeared on each. "Five-Element Seal!" Jiraiya
shouted as he plunged his hand onto Naruto's stomach. As he removed it,
more black markings appeared, surrounding the spiral.
"Is that wise?" Hojo asked. "That seal will disrupt his chakra
flow, and in the long run the imbalance will either break your seal or
kill the boy."
Jiraiya nodded. "You are correct; this is not going to be a
long term solution. However, before we can make any progress, we need
to completely block the flow of chakra from the Kyuubi to Naruto." As
though prompted by Jiraiya's words, Naruto began to scream loudly, and
the new markings on his stomach began to glow an unhealthy red.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he studied the reaction.
Hojo also ignored Naruto's pained screams. "What's going on?"
he asked. "The Five-Element Seal is being attacked from both sides!"
Jiraiya nodded grimly. "I expected as much." He didn't explain
any more to Hojo. "There's no time to waste." Jiraiya's hands raced
through hundreds of seals in a matter of seconds before stopping on a
final seal. The intricate pattern that covered the floor began to glow,
unearthly flames springing from the bloody ink. Hojo almost took as
step back at the sheer sense of power that radiated from the Sannin.
"Chakra Sealing Method - Demon Fox Revision!" Jiraiya laid both
of his hands on Naruto's chest. "Hojo," he stated, his voice tight with
strain. "Channel as much chakra as you can into him. We need to force
as much of Naruto's chakra into the seal as possible."
Wordlessly, Hojo complied, stiffening as he laid his hands on
top of Jiraiya's. For several minutes that seemed like an eternity, the
two ninja struggled. The Five-Element Seal faded from red to pink, then
back to black, and Naruto's scream finally stopped. Breathing heavily,
Hojo raised his hands, and a moment later Jiraiya did as well. The
unnatural flames surrounding them vanished, and with them the pattern
that had fed them. A tight spiral turning the opposite way from the
Fourth's seal now rested on top of Naruto's heart.
The larger seal began to fade away, and Hojo sighed in relief.
"Are we done?" As if to mock the Rock ninja, the fading stopped
instantly, and the new seal began to glow. Crimson lines raced down
Naruto's chest, heading from the new spiral to the larger seal.
A kunai appeared in Jiraiya's hands, and he sliced at his palm.
He held the wound over Naruto's chest, letting his blood spill onto the
new seal. Then he quickly began to trace characters in his own blood
with one finger. Hojo's eyes widened as Jiraiya's finger raced along
Naruto's skin. Each stroke of Jiraiya's finger was designed to take the
place of dozens of characters in an ordinary sealing - something it took
a true master of the art to do, and even for the best it was far from
easy.
Jiraiya's hands raced through another set of seals as he
finished. "Evil Sealing Method," he breathed as he laid one hand on top
of the small spiral. The abbreviated characters crawled up Naruto's
chest, and Naruto screamed again, though this time only briefly. When
he stopped, another seal formed a circle around the spiral over his
heart, and the larger spiral vanished instantly, the Five-Element Seal
that surrounded it following a moment later.
"What now?" Hojo asked after a moment.
As if in answer, Naruto's eyes flicked open. "Ero-sennin?" he
asked weakly.
Jiraiya let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Then he toppled over, unconscious from his exertions.

************************************************** *********************

Sakura had not even stepped out of the door of Naruto's
apartment, and she already knew that today was going to be a bad day.
Despite the fact that she had gone to bed late, having spent most of the
day heading back to the village from the site of the second exam, Sakura
had not been able to sleep well. Tsunade had not been able to give her
many details of her teacher's fate, besides the bare fact that he was
probably dead. Apparently, the daimyo of the Swamp Country, who had
been the client for his last mission, had reported that Kakashi had been
slain protecting him from assassins.
Sakura forced herself to hold out hope that he still lived. The
daimyo's message had reported that the body his men had discovered after
the battle was almost unrecognizable. This was the reason that
Kakashi's status, for the moment, was merely "missing in action and
presumed dead," until Leaf ninja could examine the corpse themselves.
It was a thin hope, but one Sakura found herself clinging to. She
didn't think she could take it if she began to believe that her teacher
would not return.
It was hard to say it, even to herself, but the matter of her
teacher's potential death was not the greatest reason she knew today
would be a bad day. While terrible, the thought of Kakashi being dead
was distant and at least a little uncertain. She knew that today would
be a bad day because she was going to try to speak with her mother, and
that was neither far away nor possibly false. The Mist ninja Midori's
revelations left her no choice in the matter. She simply had to
confront her mother and find out why a Mist kunoichi claimed to be a
member of a Haruno Clan. She could not just let the matter lie, as much
as part of her wished to.
Sakura left Naruto's apartment, forcing herself to wave
cheerfully as she passed the Ichiraku ramen stand. The owner waved
back, but Sakura didn't pause. If she hesitated, she knew that she
would find some excuse to put off this visit. She could not let herself
do that, no matter how painful this conversation promised to be. She
needed answers, and this was what she knew she had to do to get them.
Sakura quickly made her way through the familiar streets that
led to her house. Despite her resolve, she froze wen a masked man
briefly appeared on the rooftop opposite her house, waving for her to
join him. Curiosity warring with fear, Sakura cautiously made her way
up to the roof, taking care that no passerby saw her progress. When she
arrived, the rooftop seemed empty, but a moment later the ANBU
reappeared in front of her. A cloaking genjutsu, Sakura concluded
easily.
"You are Haruno Sakura?" the masked man asked, though it was
more a statement than a question.
Despite this, Sakura nodded. "Yes," she said quietly.
"By order of Hokage-sama," the ANBU continued, "I am to ask you
to not contact Haruno Amaya-san at this time. Do you understand?"
Sakura's mind raced. Tsunade clearly did not want her mother to
know about Midori's revelations and that she was aware of them. Sakura
knew that she was only giving up so easily because part of her didn't
really want to see her mother, but she nodded none the less.
"Understood," she said weakly, as she thought through the exceedingly
troubling potential reasons for the Hokage's order.
The ANBU's stance softened slightly. "This must be difficult
for you," he said quietly. "You're doing the right thing."
"Thank you," Sakura managed to say, but she knew her worries
were evident in her voice.
The ANBU coughed. "I'm also supposed to tell you," he said,
"that Hokage-sama assures you that no matter what happens, she won't let
any of it affect your status as a Leaf ninja."
Sakura hadn't even thought of that, and the mention made her
even more worried despite the Hokage's promise. "Thank you," she
repeated after a moment. "Is there anything else?" The ANBU shook his
head, and faded from Sakura's sight.
For a long moment, Sakura stared across the street at her house.
Even as part of her rejoiced in the excuse to avoid her mother, the rest
of her began to once again return to the thorny knot of emotions and
questions she had been doing her best to keep buried since her encounter
with Midori. With supreme effort of will, she forced them down again.
She had no time to waste. In less than thirty days, she would be
standing in the arena against Uzuki Ami. She could not afford to let a
single one of those days go to waste - if not for the match against Ami,
then for the battles that would follow.
Her mind set, Sakura quickly headed for the library, where she
spent a number of frustrating hours in study. It was infuriating, she
decided, how the scrolls in the genin library hinted broadly at a number
of useful techniques without actually providing enough information to
learn them. Some of the simpler ones, she thought she might, with a
great deal of trial and error, reverse-engineer. That process, though,
would likely be time-consuming, error-prone, and potentially dangerous.
She needed a teacher, and in her present situation calling her options
limited would probably be overly generous.
Checking the time, Sakura realized that it was already almost
three in the afternoon. Even when there was little useful knowledge to
be gained, it seemed that she could lose herself far too easily in
study. Shaking her head, Sakura stood and returned the last set of
scrolls she had been studying to their places before leaving the library
and walking the short distance to the ninja academy.
By the time she reached that building, the young students were
already being let out for the day. Ignoring them, Sakura entered the
building, moving through the familiar halls to the back of the building,
where the teacher's offices were located. As she passed the room that
had once belonged to Mizuki, Sakura hesitated. What had happened to
him, anyway? She hadn't seen him since she'd graduated, had she?
Shaking her head to clear it of the question, Sakura continued
walking down the back hall to the office of another teacher. Once
there, rapped once on the door. "Come in," came Iruka's voice a moment
later, and Sakura entered. Her old academy instructor looked up from
the paperwork on his desk in surprise. "Sakura-chan?" he asked. "What
brings you here?"
Sakura seated herself on a stool in front of Iruka's desk. "I'm
taking the Chuunin Exam again," she said.
Iruka nodded. "I've already seen the schedule for the third
exam. Congratulations."
"Thank you," Sakura said automatically. She hesitated,
searching for the right words to speak. "Yesterday, Hokage-sama told me
that Kakashi-sensei is probably..." She trailed off. She couldn't
bring herself to say that her teacher was probably dead. "He won't be
able to train me for the third exam," she finished weakly.
Iruka's eyes widened, and Sakura could tell that he understood
what she hadn't been able to tell him. "I see," he said after a moment.
"I'm sorry."
Sakura nodded. "Iruka-sensei," she said after a moment, "I need
someone to train me."
Iruka grimaced. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I wish I could, but
I can't. The end-of-year examinations are coming up, and the academy is
short-handed since half the teachers have been called back to active
duty. I don't have anywhere near enough time." He sighed. "Even if I
did, I don't know if I could give you the right sort of training. I'm
still only a chuunin myself, after all."
Sakura's face fell. "I see," she said quietly. "Isn't there
anything you can do?"
Iruka studied her for a long moment. "I can give you a piece of
advice," he said. "Remember the motto of the chuunin."
"The motto?" Sakura asked, frowning in thought. "If you do not
possess Heaven," she muttered, "gain knowledge and be prepared."
"And if you do not possess Earth," Iruka prompted.
"Run in the fields and seek strength," Sakura finished. She
stood. "I think I understand. Thank you, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka nodded. "Do your best," he said, "and good luck."

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-two]

"You don't remember?" Jiraiya asked his student disbelievingly.
The two Leaf ninja had been relocated to another underground chamber,
though one much more comfortable than the one where Jiraiya had
performed the sealing yesterday.
Naruto shook his head. "I figured out that it was those weird
bee people, then Kabuto-san hit me, and the next thing I know I'm waking
up here."
Jiraiya sighed. "I see. I suppose there's nothing to be done
for that."
"How many days did you say I was out for?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya told him, and he began to count on his fingers. "The second
part of the chuunin exam is over, then!" he declared after a moment. "I
hope Sakura-chan's all right."
"We have more pressing concerns," Jiraiya responded. "I'm
afraid there's no way that we'll be heading back to the Leaf Village in
time for the third exam now." Naruto looked ready to protest, but a
glare from his teacher kept him quiet. "We're going to be heading to
Lightning Country now."
"Eh?" Naruto asked. "Why?"
"Because," Jiraiya said, suddenly laying a hand on Naruto's
stomach, "it seems your house guest is getting a little too frisky for
comfort."
Naruto paled instantly. "What happened?" he asked quietly.
Jiraiya didn't say anything for a moment. "You fought the three
Kamizuru and won," he said flatly. "Or rather, your body did, it
seems."
"Is that why I feel so," Naruto began.
"Weak?" Jiraiya asked. "Part of it is that you were out for
almost a week. Most of it is what I had to do to wake you up. Did Hojo
tell you anything while I was asleep?"
Naruto shook his head. "He said to wait until you woke up."
"Good," Jiraiya said. "Do you remember when we talked about
your two kinds of chakra?" Now Naruto nodded. "I had to block off your
second type of chakra with a seal."
"That's his, right?" Naruto asked quietly, rubbing at his own
stomach.
"Yes," Jiraiya said. "He didn't take kindly to that, I'm
afraid. He was trying to tear down the new seal." Jiraiya gestured at
Naruto's chest. "Have you seen the new seals there?" Naruto nodded
again. "I had to seal away most of your chakra to stop him. That's why
you feel so weak." Jiraiya paused, as though considering just what to
say. "That wasn't enough, so I had to add a third seal to keep your
chakra bottled up. That type of seal draws power from your own will,
boy. Can you feel it?"
Naruto's hand rested over his heart for moment before he nodded.
"I think so," he said quietly.
"When the time comes, you can release that seal yourself and
your chakra will start to escape." Jiraiya gave Naruto a hard look.
"Don't do that unless you're about to die."
Naruto gulped. "Right," he said quietly. A moment later ,he
spoke more loudly. "So why are we going to Lightning Country anyway?"
"We're going to visit another friend of mine," Jiraiya said
simply. "She should be able to help us with your problem." He sighed.
"It'll be a little tricky, though, since she lives in the Cloud Village.
Thankfully, Hojo will be providing us with some papers that should get
us there without incident." Jiraiya paused. "That's not the only
problem. Word of the little brawl we had is going to spread like
wildfire, and we know Orochimaru already knows where we are. There's
going to be some unfriendly people looking for us."
"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked.
"Disguises," Jiraiya said simply as he pulled out a small pouch.
"Sit still, boy. The first thing I'm going to do is get rid of those
whiskers of yours."
"Can't we just transform?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya took out a small brush and a tiny tin. "What's the
longest time you've kept the Transformation Technique active?" he asked
casually.
"Most of a night," Naruto answered after a moment, remembering
his battle against the team from Hidden Rain in the Forest of Death.
"And how exhausted were you after that?" Jiraiya began to
unscrew the tin.
"I was pretty tired," Naruto answered after a moment.
"That technique is really hard to keep up for more than a few
hours. The way you are right now, I don't think you could last more
than one or two," Jiraiya said as he stuck the brush in the now-open
tin, which contained a white powder. "We're talking about days and
weeks, here, boy. Nobody can keep a technique active for that long."
Without waiting for any further comment, he began to brush the powder
along Naruto's cheeks.
"Ow!" Naruto said, flinching away. "That hurts!"
"I said to stay still, boy," Jiraiya said harshly as he
continued to work. "This isn't just ordinary makeup," he continued.
"It's what ANBU use to hide their tattoos when they go undercover. It
won't come off in water, and it'll last for two weeks at least if I
don't take it off. It's worth a little pain."
When Jiraiya was finished, Naruto rubbed at his cheeks, glancing
at a mirror in the corner of the room. "It looks so weird," he said.
"You'll look even weirder when we're done," Jiraiya said.
"We're going to change your hair color for sure. We want to make sure
that anybody looking for an old man and a young boy matching our
descriptions will pass right over us." Jiraiya rubbed at his chin
suddenly. "I wonder," he said before trailing off.
"What?" Naruto asked after a moment.
Jiraiya ignored him, giving the boy a measuring gaze. "At your
age," he muttered, half to himself, "there's not that much difference in
body structure that can't be easily covered up with clothing. Your
voice hasn't changed yet, so with a little practice we'll be fine on
that."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded.
"Be quiet a minute," Jiraiya demanded. He began to work through
seals slowly, clearly working out the proper sequence as he went along.
"That should do it," he said as he laid a hand on Naruto's head.
Naruto's hair began to lengthen, growing at impossible speed. As it
reached his shoulders, Jiraiya removed his hand, breathing heavily.
"That took more chakra than I expected." He surveyed his handiwork.
"I'll have to do some trimming to make it look right, but it'll do."
Naruto grabbed at his suddenly long hair. "What did you do that
for?!"
Jiraiya grinned evilly. "Look at it as an opportunity to master
one of your techniques," he said as he rose from the cot he'd been
sitting on.
"Eh?" Naruto asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Wait here," Jiraiya said. "I need to ask Hojo for some
supplies." He left the chamber, leaving the puzzled Naruto alone. When
he returned almost an hour later, he carried a large bundle of clothing,
which he set down on his cot. "We're lucky that Mako girl is about the
same size as you," he commented.
"What?" Naruto asked, rising suddenly. "Ero-sennin, I am not
going to -"
"Yes, you are," Jiraiya said flatly. He tossed several articles
of clothing at Naruto. "Go ahead and put those on."
Naruto fingered a pair of panties. "Even," he began.
"Yes," Jiraiya said. "Just in case." Naruto opened his mouth,
and the legendary Sannin glared at him. "Don't argue," he said simply.
"I know what I'm doing."
Several minutes later, Naruto was staring uncomfortably at
himself in the mirror. While the outfit he wore was not overly
feminine, consisting of a dark purple shirt, brown pants, and a black
jacket, combined with his longer hair, now dyed brown and tied back in a
simple ponytail, there was no doubt that the person who stared back at
him looked like a girl. "Are you sure I have to do this?" he whined
plaintively.
"Yes," Jiraiya answered simply. "For now, girl," he said,
pausing as Naruto winced at the last word, "your name will be Naru. You
shouldn't have any trouble answering to that. Do you understand, girl?"
"Yes," Naruto answered weakly.
"Good," Jiraiya said. "Now, it might happen that you'll wind up
in some situation where other people will see you undressed. In those
cases, you'll need to transform. Show me what you think you would look
like nude."
Naruto glared at his teacher. "Pervert," he declared.
"I assure you," Jiraiya said dryly, "thirteen-year-old girls do
nothing for me. Now, do it!" When Naruto complied, he nodded. "Not
bad," he said. "The breasts are way too large, though, and some of the
other details are off." He then began to give a list of those mistakes,
and Naruto was blushing furiously by the time he finished. "Try again,"
Jiraiya commanded.
After five or six tries, Jiraiya was mostly satisfied. "What
now?" Naruto asked him.
"I want you to keep on practicing that transformation," Jiraiya
answered. "You'll need to do it quickly when the time comes. If you
can manage it without having to form the seal, even better. I'm going
to work on my disguise, and then we'll work on how you'll need to act.
Looks are only part of a good disguise."
"Who will you be?" Naruto asked.
"I'll be your uncle Jiro," Jiraiya replied, "who raised you
since your parents died when you were young. That should help explain
it when you act too much like a boy." He rose. "Now get to work, girl.
We've got a lot to do before we'll be ready to leave, and I want to
leave tomorrow."

************************************************** *********************

Yamanaka Inoichi was very obviously trying to hide his
nervousness with irritation as the pair of masked ANBU brought him
before Tsunade. "I suppose now," he said without preamble, "I will
learn why ANBU have been spying on me while I tried to train my daughter
for the third exam," he said.
As always standing behind Tsunade, Shizune looked like she was
about to scold Inoichi for his lack of respect, but Tsunade waved a hand
to quiet her. "You can go," the Hokage told the two ANBU. "I won't be
in any danger." As the ANBU wordlessly left, Tsunade folded her hands
in front of her face and turned her gaze on Inoichi. "So you noticed,
Yamanaka-kun."
"I am a jounin," Inoichi said. "Of course I noticed." For an
instant, real anger flared in his eyes. "I've already wasted a full day
of training because I didn't want to spill my family secrets in front of
them."
"I assure you, that should be the least of your concerns,"
Tsunade said dryly. "We wanted to see if you would contact or be
contacted by Haruno Amaya or our guests from the Mist. ANBU recommended
that you immediately be brought in for interrogation, but I overruled
them."
Inoichi's anger vanished instantly, and he seemed to wither
where he stood. "You know, then," he said quietly. "About Midori."
"Yes." Tsunade's eyes were hard. "I suggest you start talking
now."
After a moment, Inoichi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama." He paused,
clearly sorting his thoughts. "My student, Mitokado Takeru, met Haruno
Amaya in the Mist Village while our team was on an extended diplomatic
mission there. This was during the war with the Cloud, and we were
trying to convince the Mist alliance to join the war on our side."
"I might have left the village," Tsunade said, "but I do not
need a history lecture."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. That time was a bad time to be a member of a
clan of doujutsu users in the Water Country. Takeru saved Amaya from an
over-zealous ninja who didn't care much about the precise definition of
a Bloodline Limit. One thing led to another, and Sakura-chan was the
result." Inoichi paused. "Takeru-kun never knew, but before he died he
was still trying to arrange to have his engagement annulled and bring
Amaya to the Leaf Village."
"I see," Tsunade said. "And why is there no mention of this in
the records?"
Inoichi looked down. "The village council was looking for any
reason to reject Amaya and Sakura-chan. I told the Third, of course,
but he agreed that I should keep it out of my official testimony, and I
advised Amaya to do the same."
"And why did you not tell me this?" Tsunade pressed, her voice
sharp.
"Because," Inoichi said, looking up, "it was obvious that you
had taken an interest in Sakura-chan, and it wasn't hard to figure out
what for. I didn't want to say anything that would make her lose that
chance. If that was a crime, I am guilty."
Tsunade sighed. "Do you think so little of me?"
"I hardly know you, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said. "You left the
village when I was young and returned only a few months ago." He
sighed. "I care for Sakura-chan almost as much as my own daughter. If
Amaya had asked, I would have adopted her into the Yamanaka Clan in an
instant. I even asked to be put back in rotation to be a jounin teacher
for her class, but it was obvious that Hatake-san would get her when the
Third decided to place her in the Uchiha's team over my objections."
"Your objections?" Tsunade asked.
Inoichi smiled wryly. "You didn't have to deal with a
heartbroken daughter sobbing into her pillow every night for weeks after
that." His face turned serious. "Besides, I didn't want Sakura-chan on
a team with a dem-"
"You will not speak of Uzumaki Naruto so in my presence!"
Tsunade interjected angrily. "Do you understand, Yamanaka-san?"
After a moment, Inoichi looked away, clearly ashamed. "Forgive
me, Hokage-sama," he said. "That was how I thought at the time."
Tsunade frowned. "You've had a change of heart?" she asked,
anger replaced by curiosity.
"I was worried about Sakura-chan being on the same team as him,"
Inoichi said. "I spoke with Hatake-san, and he told me to watch one of
his team's training sessions." He shook his head, smiling sadly. "It
was blatantly obvious that Naruto-kun had the world's biggest crush on
Sakura-chan and would die before hurting her. I fought the Kyuubi, and
I don't think that demon could even understand such an emotion, much
less experience it."
Tsunade relaxed slightly. "I see," she said quietly. "If only
everyone could see what you have."
"More than you would think have, one way or another, at least
among the ninja," Inoichi said after a moment. "Naruto-kun fought
Hyuuga Neji in the exams six months ago. At the start of that match, I
doubt ten people in the arena were rooting for him. By the end of it, I
doubt ten people weren't." Inoichi grinned slightly. "Part of it was
just that Neji-kun was such an unmitigated ass that the demon itself
would probably have looked good in comparison."
Tsunade smiled herself. "I see," she said after a moment. "Is
there anything else you think I should know about the Haruno?" Inoichi
shook his head. "You can go, then," Tsunade continued, and Inoichi let
himself out.
"That was interesting," Shizune said after the door shut behind
him.
"Yes," Tsunade said. "Why don't you go tell those ANBU to fetch
Mitarashi Kimi for me? Let's see what our guests from the Mist have to
say for themselves."
Shortly thereafter, the two ANBU brought the Mist jounin into
the Hokage's office. This time, Tsunade did not tell the ANBU to leave,
and they took up positions by the door. "I wonder," Mitarashi Kimi said
lightly, "what would happen if I said something along the lines of 'my
real mission begins now.'"
"You would die," Tsunade said simply. "You are in no position
to be making jests, Mitarashi Kimi."
Kimi shrugged. "If I only made jests when I was in a position
to do so, I would not have made a single joke since the Leaf killed my
parents." Tsunade frowned at this, and Kimi grinned. "My little sister
never told you? There's actually a chance you were the one, I think. I
seem to remember hearing that the legendary Sannin were at that battle."
She shrugged. "It's not important now, though." Glancing back at the
ANBU, she smiled again. "It's actually rather convenient those two
showed up. I was actually wondering how I could get an audience with
you to make a request."
"Your request can wait," Tsunade said, "until we have discussed
one of your students." Her hands folded in front of her face. "A
Haruno Midori, I believe."
Kimi sighed. "It seems I'll have to have another talk with her.
She told Anko's student, didn't she?"
Tsunade nodded, glancing down at a piece of paper on her desk -
Midori's exam entry form. "Care to explain why we were given the name
Mizuno Midori?"
Kimi nodded. "Very well. For such a small clan, there are a
surprising number of missing ninja from the Haruno. It has to do with
some unfortunate nastiness during the Bloodline Purges. Because of my
report that a girl calling herself Haruno Sakura was working for the
Leaf, I was ordered to use this opportunity to investigate whether the
Leaf were sheltering one or more of those ninja. It was decided that
openly sending a Haruno risked tipping off the missing ninja. I chose
to have Midori enter the exam under a false name rather than split up my
team."
"There are treaties covering this kind of matter," Tsunade said.
"There's no need for such subterfuge."
Kimi laughed. "Those treaties aren't worth the paper they're
written on, and everyone knows it. Wasn't there an incident a few
months back where you found out that one of your missing ninja was
working as a jounin for the Rain? The Rain are your allies and the
treaties on missing ninja were still meaningless."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "The Mist are well informed."
"We try," Kimi said, smiling slightly. "In any case, the matter
is dealt with. You can even change Midori's registration officially if
you want."
"Oh?" Tsunade asked.
Kimi slowly pulled out a small pamphlet. "I was given what we
knew on all known Haruno outside the Mist to facilitate identification."
She flipped through the pamphlet, then handed it to Tsunade. "Haruno
Amaya," Kimi said simply.
Tsunade quickly glanced at the entry, passing over the old
picture of a young girl close to Sakura's age and looking at the only
writing on the page besides a handful of outdated vital statistics.
"Refused to take the genin exam and discharged without restriction. Do
not pursue," she read aloud before returning the pamphlet to Kimi.
"Are you satisfied?" Kimi asked.
"For now," Tsunade said. "So, what did you want?"
Kimi smiled. "I would like to train my students for the final
exam in private. It isn't feasible to return to the Water Country and
make it back here in time, though."
Tsunade nodded. "That's reasonable enough. I can set aside one
of the large-scale training grounds for use by your team. I'll have to
put guards on the outside, of course, but other than that you can have
it to yourself."
Kimi nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said politely.
"That's all I wanted. May I depart?"
"Escort our guest out," Tsunade told the ANBU. Once Kimi was
gone, she sighed. "It looks like we don't have that much of a problem
after all, thankfully," she said after a moment.
"Yes," Shizune said. "What do you want done?"
"Go ahead and drop the surveillance on Yamanaka Inoichi. Keep
watching Haruno Amaya for another week, but I can't justify any longer
unless something turns up, given how short-handed we are."
Shizune nodded. "I'll take care of it."

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-three]

Sakura didn't make any effort to hide her presence as she slowly
approached the training ground. Getting accused of attempted spying
would only start her off on the wrong foot here. Best to give the
people she was going to ask a great favor of sufficient time to notice
her and prepare themselves for a visit from one of their opponents. It
was only polite, after all.
Sakura had known who she would have to approach as soon as she
had left Iruka's office, but she had still spent most of her time since
then coming up with an alternative. She knew that should her request be
granted, she would be receiving possibly the best training possible in
her weakest field, but the thought of the form that training might take
scared her. If she could have thought of anyone else, she might have
taken that option, but there were none that she could see. All the
other jounin teachers she knew were out of the question for various
reasons.
When she entered the training ground, Sakura noted with relief
that there were only three people there - Maito Gai, Rock Lee, and
Tenten. That made things easier. "Good morning," she said.
"Good morning, Sakura-san!" Rock Lee said with a wave.
"Haruno," Tenten said, nodding in greeting. Their teacher just
looked at Sakura, a strangely serious expression on his face.
"I take it Neji-san is training with his family?" Sakura asked
when it became apparent Gai would say nothing.
Lee nodded. "I look forward to seeing what he will learn in the
finals," he said simply. "It will be an interesting match."
Tenten sighed. "There's no guarantee you'll both make it that
far," she said, her voice making it clear that she had said this many
times. Her attention then returned to Sakura. "Why did you come here?"
she asked.
"Gai-sensei," Sakura said. "Have you... heard about Kakashi-
sensei?"
Gai nodded. "I have," he said softly. "You wish for me to
train you in his place?"
Tenten and Rock Lee traded a look, and after a moment Lee spoke.
"What happened?"
"He probably won't be back in time for the third exam," Gai
responded smoothly when Sakura didn't answer.
Sakura nodded, struggling to keep her face smooth. "I'm on the
opposite side of the bracket from you two," she told Gai's students.
"We could only meet in the final match, and in the unlikely event of
that occurring we'll probably have shown all our moves already. This
won't put you at any disadvantage."
"Even if we were facing each other in the first round," Lee
said, "I would agree, Sakura-san."
Tenten rolled her eyes. "We know, Lee. We know." She sighed.
"It's fine by me, I suppose."
"Thank you," Sakura said.
"I'm not a genjutsu-type," Gai said after a moment. "I can't
give you that sort of training."
"That's fine," Sakura said. "It's taijutsu training I'm looking
for."
"Taijutsu? You?" Tenten asked disbelievingly, then she glanced
at the orange warmers Sakura still wore out of habit, even though she no
longer had weights to wear under them. "Well, maybe," Tenten corrected
herself.
Gai's gaze had followed Tenten's. "You shouldn't have left the
weights I gave you before behind," he said.
"Sorry," Sakura said, glancing downward. "I didn't think of
that."
Gai shrugged. "Mitarashi was able to get them back for me, so
it's no big problem," he said. "I suspected that you might come for
another set, so I prepared these." He tossed two weights at Sakura, who
staggered as she caught them. "We'll start you off easy. That set is
only twice the weight of the pair you were wearing before."
Sakura resisted the urge to groan as she slipped the weights
onto her legs. "Thank you," she forced herself to say, even as she was
inwardly shuddering at the aches and pains that awaited her as she
adjusted to the new, heavier weights. She took several halting steps,
trying to judge how much the weight was impairing her.
Gai nodded approvingly. "Very well." He turned to his
students. "Lee!" he said sharply.
Lee stood straighter. "Yes, Gai-sensei!"
"It is said that the best way to truly master something is to
try to teach it," Gai declared. Tenten glanced between the two male
ninja and sighed, covering her eyes with one hand. "Indeed," Gai
continued, seemingly oblivious, "many times in teaching my darling
students have I noticed some aspect of the subject of that had
previously escaped me! Truly, you are all a blessing to me!"
"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried happily.
"Today, you too shall have that great opportunity!" Gai stated.
"I ask you to evaluate Sakura-chan's current level of taijutsu and to
then start working on her strength and endurance, while I work with
Tenten on ninjutsu!"
Lee nodded. "Yes, Gai-sensei!"
"Come, Tenten!" Gai stated and began to walk off. With another
sigh, Tenten followed her teacher, leaving Lee and Sakura alone.
Sakura stared at Lee for a moment. "What should I do?" she
asked finally.
Lee frowned, straightening into a fighting stance and beckoning
at her. "Come at me, Sakura-san," he said simply. Sakura nodded, her
mind racing through options quickly. Almost instinctively, her hands
formed the first seal for the Perfect Replication Technique. "No,
Sakura-san," Lee said softly, suddenly standing in front of her and
pulling her hands gently apart. "No ninjutsu or genjutsu."
Sakura nodded. "Sorry," she said, grinning weakly. "Force of
habit."
In an instant, Lee was back where he had stood before, beckoning
again. "Now, come," he stated.
Particularly with a new pair of heavy weights slowing her down,
Sakura knew that her ability with pure taijutsu was limited at best.
Lee was so much faster than her that there was no chance of getting
around behind him or at his sides, leaving her with no choice but a
futile frontal assault. Still, she charged, hoping that Lee would at
least be gentle.
The next several minutes were tiring and humiliating for the
kunoichi. She pressed an all-out attack on Lee, but the green-clad
ninja didn't seem to break a sweat avoiding her attacks. He never
counter-attacked, simply letting Sakura strike at him again and again,
dodging so rapidly that Sakura swore her fists never got within a foot
of him, even though he stayed directly in front of her. Finally, Sakura
collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. "I'm done," she gasped out.
Lee nodded. "Textbook academy taijutsu," Lee stated. "Your
family has no special style, then."
Sakura swallowed, doing her best to ignore the churning emotions
that statement raised in her. "Not that I know of," she replied
quietly. Lee raised one of his mighty eyebrows at that, and Sakura
shook her head. "It's complicated," was all she said.
Lee seemed to accept that. "Strong Fist Style is an expansion
that builds upon the standard style taught in the academy," he
continued. "Your basic technique and form is good, Sakura-san, but your
strength, speed, and endurance aren't at the level they need to be to
start learning Strong Fist Style." He grinned slightly. "We can change
that."
Sakura nodded. "What should I do?"
Lee gestured at a wooden training post. "One hundred punches
with each arm," he said. "Then one hundred kicks with each leg. If you
can't make it through that, you'll have to do two hundred push-ups." It
took all of Sakura's willpower not to groan as she stood and walked over
to the training post. Lee nodded. "Begin."

************************************************** *********************

Naruto and Jiraiya had left Hojo's estate early in the morning,
long before the sun had risen. For once, Naruto had not complained
about the early hour, for he had far too many other things he would like
to complain about. Somehow, though, he knew that voicing those
complaints would be worse than futile. During his crash course in
"acting like a girl, or at least like a tomboy" the previous day,
Jiraiya had threatened to change his own disguise to be Naruto's
boyfriend if the genin made any more protests. That was a horrid enough
fate that Naruto was able to choke down his complaints without too much
difficulty.
It didn't change the fact that Naruto felt weird, though. The
simple physical sensation of his now-longer hair was odd enough. He
always started whenever he caught his reflection in a puddle of water.
Worst of all were the few times so far their path had crossed that of
other travelers. None had given him a second glance, but he couldn't
decide whether it would be more embarrassing to be found out as a boy
than it was to successfully pass as a girl.
Yesterday, Jiraiya told him that he shouldn't mind so much,
considering that he'd created the Sexy Technique, but that wasn't how
Naruto saw it. The Sexy Technique was just a ninjutsu that was useful
against perverts; this was something entirely different and way more
perverted. Sakura would probably beat him within an inch of his life if
she saw him like this. If she even realized it was him, that was,
Naruto thought with a grimace. He couldn't even recognize himself right
now.
Jiraiya had seemed to adjust to his own disguise with much more
ease, but then it was not nearly so drastic a change. He'd hidden his
facial tattoos with the same powder that had obscured the whisker-like
marks on Naruto's face, then added an ugly, jagged fake scar down one
side of his face. His hair had been dyed brown as well and tied up into
a topknot. Naruto wasn't certain how, but Jiraiya had made himself look
far younger, now seeming to be in his late twenties at the oldest.
Finally, he now carried on his back a thin, curved sword that seemed
almost too long to wield effectively. He looked every bit the mercenary
the papers he had gotten from Hojo claimed he was.
They had stopped for lunch in a small stand of trees by the road
that seemed to have been planted for just that purpose, and now Jiraiya
was half-sprawled out on the ground, idling flipping through an
illustrated copy of one of his own books that he'd picked up in a small
town they'd briefly passed through that morning. Naruto sniffed.
"Pervert."
Jiraiya smiled lazily. "Naru-chan," he said after a moment.
It was only due to the rather intense training of the previous
day that Naruto resisted the urge to grimace at what Jiraiya had called
him. "What, Uncle?" he asked, barely remembering not to say Ero-sennin.
Jiraiya's smile widened, at though he'd noticed what Naruto had
almost said. Then his face turned serious. "There's nobody for a mile
around," he said, "so I'll talk plainly for a moment. You don't have
anywhere near as much chakra as you're used to right now. If we get
into a fight, you're going to need to know what techniques you can still
use, and what your limits are. Do you understand?"
Naruto nodded. "Yes."
"Good," Jiraiya responded. "You've already practiced the
Transformation Technique, so you certainly have enough chakra to use the
Replacement Technique. Be careful, though. You won't be able to use it
nearly as quickly as you're used to."
"Right," Naruto said with another nod.
"Let's see just what sort of shape your chakra reserves are in,"
Jiraiya continued. "I want you to make as many replications as you can
at once."
"All right," Naruto said, his hands racing through familiar
seals. "Shadow Replication Technique!" Only a single clone appeared,
then it fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The real Naruto followed
suit a moment later.
"Idiot!" Jiraiya snarled. "Release the technique quickly!" The
clone vanished in a puff of smoke, and the remaining Naruto looked a
little stronger. "Idiot," Jiraiya repeated. "Normal replications, not
shadow replications! The Shadow Replication Technique divides your
chakra evenly, and you don't have enough chakra to do anything useful
like that." He sighed. "Take a moment to catch your breath, then try
normal replications."
Naruto laughed nervously. "I'm not very good with that
technique." He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, only to yank
his hand away as it brushed against his ponytail.
Jiraiya blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"The Replication Technique was always my worst technique back in
the academy," Naruto said. "I could never make it work right."
"The Shadow Replication Technique is more difficult in every
conceivable way than the Replication Technique," Jiraiya said. "There
is no reason why you shouldn't be able to perform the Replication
Technique. Try it."
"But," Naruto began, only to cut off as Jiraiya glared at him.
"All right," he said, slowly forming seals. "Replication Technique!"
Four clones appeared around him, and he looking about in wonder. "It
worked!" he exclaimed as he let the replications vanish.
"Of course it did," Jiraiya said. He flipped a few more pages
in his book. "There's no point in even trying Rasengan. If four
replications is all you can manage, there's no way you can use that
technique."
Naruto wasn't paying attention, however. "I wonder," he said as
his hands raced through a quick set of seals. He slipped into the
ground as though it was water, then popped back above ground an instant
later. "The underground fish thing," he exclaimed once he'd finished.
"I could never get it to work right except for my shadow replications
before, but now it's working fine!"
"Interesting," Jiraiya said, his eyes narrowing. "I wish I'd
had the time to take a look at your problem before." He didn't say
anything for a moment, then nodded. "Practice the other earth element
techniques Hojo taught you," he said, "but remember that you don't have
the chakra to make them work just by pushing things around. You have to
merge your chakra with the earth the way I was telling you before."
Naruto nodded, and set to work without complaint. Jiraiya
watched him, his eyes never glancing to the book in his hands. Naruto
was having more success with the earth element techniques than Jiraiya
had hoped. While his weakened chakra reserves weren't large enough to
make most of them terribly useful, particularly with the Five-Element
Seal impairing his already poor chakra control, Naruto actually could
successfully execute the techniques. So far as Jiraiya could tell,
Naruto had somehow picked up the proper way to do things, rather than
having to rely on the raw force he no longer had.
Jiraiya frowned as he considered this. They couldn't reach the
Cloud Village too soon. If the worst scenario he could form from his
observations was true, he wasn't certain whether it would ever be safe
to undo the seals he'd placed on Naruto. Yet he knew that leaving them
would ultimately kill the boy, assuming his resulting weakness didn't
get him killed by Orochimaru or Akatsuki first. He could only hope that
his friend would be able to help his student in that case. If she
couldn't, he didn't know who else he could turn to.

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-four]

The port city was the busiest place Naruto had ever been. The
dock district alone was easily as large as the entire Leaf Village, and
if it weren't for Jiraiya's rather more impressive form cutting a way
through the throngs of people Naruto was certain he would have been
swept away by the crowds. He felt deaf, unable to make out any but the
loudest sounds from the indistinct roaring that surrounded him. He had
long since given up on trying to figure out where they were headed,
keeping his focus entirely on simply not losing sight of Jiraiya's broad
back.
Suddenly, another figure cut across Naruto's path, causing the
disguised boy to slam into him. Naruto stumbled backward, running into
another man. "Hey!" the second man said, shoving Naruto forward.
"Watch where you're going, you little bitch!"
The man Naruto had run into first laughed. "Maybe we should
teach her a small lesson," he said menacingly, slamming his fist into
the palm of his other hand as he turned to face Naruto. Despite the
fact that the street was crowded, there was suddenly a circle of empty
space around the trio.
The other man chuckled, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder. As
Naruto wrenched himself free, the man smiled. "I don't know, she's sort
of cute for such a little thing. Maybe she could convince us to be
merciful, Manabu." Naruto's eyes widened. They couldn't possibly be
thinking what it seemed like they were thinking.
"Excuse me," Jiraiya said suddenly as he appeared behind Manabu,
tapping him on the shoulder. The circle of people Naruto hadn't
realized were watching hushed.
"What do you want?" Manabu asked.
Jiraiya slugged him. "That's my niece you're talking to," he
said flatly. "Apologize."
The other man snarled, pulling out a dagger. "Your little girl
is gonna pay for that," he threatened.
In an instant, a kunai was in Naruto's hands, the point resting
on the man's gut. "I'm a ninja, pervert," he said. "Don't even think
about it." Jiraiya's hand was now resting on the hilt of his over-sized
sword.
Manabu's eyes widened. "A kunoichi? Damn it," he muttered.
"Of all the luck."
The other man dropped his dagger. "Sorry," he gasped out. "I
didn't know!"
"You think that makes it better?" Jiraiya asked. "Get out of
here, scum, before I decide to make the daughters of this city a bit
safer." The two men didn't waste time on words, vanishing almost as
quickly as if they were ninja themselves. Jiraiya glanced about at the
circle of people around him. "What are you looking at, cowards?" he
demanded, and suddenly those people too had somewhere more important to
be. Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he put up his kunai. In his
current state, he wasn't entirely certain he'd have been able to beat
his attackers without getting himself hurt. They might not have been
ninja, but they'd been bigger than Naruto, and they'd gotten the drop on
him since he hadn't been expecting trouble. If Jiraiya hadn't noticed
them, he might have been in a serious situation.
Jiraiya smiled softly at his student. "Come on," was all he
said as he turned to continue on his way. "You need to stick closer to
me."
"Yes, Uncle," Naruto said as he followed.
"Still," Jiraiya said lightly, "your first day in the big city
and you've already picked up two suitors. You certainly are precocious,
Naru-chan."
Naruto blinked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he
screeched, and Jiraiya laughed.
However, when Jiraiya next spoke, Naruto could hear the
seriousness in it, despite the forced lightness of his tone. "I also
saw another boy who was interested in you," Jiraiya said. "From back
home, actually. What was his name? That four-eyes?"
Naruto's eyes widened. Kabuto was here? "Did he -"
"I don't think he recognized you," Jiraiya said. "You've
changed a lot since the last time he saw you." He glanced backward at
Naruto, grinning. "But you'd best be careful not to remind him, unless
you want another suitor."
Naruto nodded seriously, easily understanding the warning behind
the mocking words. "Right," he said quietly.
Jiraiya nodded once, then turned away again, leading Naruto
alongside the forest of masts that was the wharfs. "Here we go," he
said, "we've reached where the ships from Lightning Country are docked."
There were much fewer people here, Naruto noted. "Why would
they all have to dock in one place?" he asked as he continued to follow
his disguised teacher.
"To make it easier to keep an eye on them," Jiraiya responded as
he stopped near a small ship that was currently being loaded. "Excuse
me," he shouted at one of the sailors. "Is this ship heading back to
Lightning Country?"
The sailor set down the small crate he'd been about to lift.
"What's it to you, stranger?" he asked.
"My niece and I need passage there," Jiraiya answered. "We can
pay."
The sailor nodded as he picked up the crate. "I'll get the
first mate," he said simply, then he walked off.
A few moments later, a stocky man approached Jiraiya.
"Passengers to Lightning Country, huh?" he asked. Without waiting for
an answer, he continued. "This isn't a luxury ship," he stated. "You
get a place to spread your bedrolls below decks and the same food the
crew eats. If we get caught in a bad storm, you'll have to lend a
hand."
Jiraiya nodded. "That won't be a problem."
The first mate's eyes narrowed as he studied Jiraiya and Naruto.
"Are you two ninja?" he asked suddenly. When Jiraiya nodded, the man's
eyes brightened. "Excellent," he stated. "Actually, I can give you
passage for free."
Jiraiya frowned. "Why?"
The first mate sighed again. "It's the slavers. We need
protection."
"Slavers?" Jiraiya asked. "There hasn't been a slave trade in
this part of the world for almost a century!"
The first mate shrugged. "Tell them that. They started up
about five or six years ago, but the past year they've been getting more
active. Even most of the pirate clans have either joined them or been
wiped out."
Jiraiya frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Where would
they sell the slaves?"
"Well, this is what I've heard," the first mate said after a
moment, smiling the smile of a man who loved to gossip. "You know that
new Hokage down south?"
Jiraiya blinked. "Tsunade of the legendary Sannin?" he asked.
"I've heard of her." Naruto had to resist the urge to snort.
"The way I hear it," the first mate continued, "the Leaf have
been buying 'captured criminals' with no questions asked for her medical
experiments." He shuddered theatrically.
"What?" Naruto snarled. "Why -"
"Easy, girl," Jiraiya said, laying a warning hand on Naruto's
shoulder. "There're no Leaf ninja here, so there's no point in getting
angry."
It took Naruto a moment to realize what Jiraiya was really
saying and calm down. "Sorry," he said.
"Bunzo!" a loud voice roared from on board the ship. "Stop
drawing out negotiations so you won't have to do any real work! Either
let them on board or let them go!"
"Damn," the first mate muttered. "I've been found out." He
looked up at the man who had yelled. "Sorry, Captain!" he shouted
before turning back to Jiraiya. "So, do we have a deal?" he asked.
"I'll be honest with you, if you shopped around you could probably get
paid for being guards. However, there's a lot less chance of you having
to do any fighting if you sign on with us. There's not a ship on the
Gulf of Storms that can outsail us."
Jiraiya nodded seriously. "Thank you, Bunzo-san. I believe we
have a deal."
He smiled. "Excellent. The captain will want to have a look at
you, but there won't be any problems."
"Excuse me," a new voice said, barely audible over the sound of
the crowds, "but I could not help but overhear. We are ninja as well,
and would also be willing to hire on as guards for free passage to
Lightning Country."
Jiraiya and Naruto turned around to see a pair of ninja wearing
white kimonos - a man about Jiraiya's apparent age and a girl who seemed
at most a couple years older than Naruto. The hilt of a sword could be
seen over the man's shoulder, but the girl carried no visible weapons.
Neither wore forehead protectors.
"The more the better," Bunzo said. "I'll need names from all
four of you. Paperwork, you understand."
The man smiled. "I am Kitakami Ichizo, and this is my sister
Rui." The girl nodded slightly
"Kitakami?" Jiraiya asked. "From the Hidden Snow?"
Both of the white-clad ninja stiffened. "There hasn't been a
Hidden Village of Snow since before any of us were born," Rui stated
harshly.
"Eh?" Naruto asked, glancing between the strangers and Jiraiya.
"Hidden Snow?"
"I'll give you a history lesson later," Jiraiya said. Naruto
groaned at this, but Jiraiya ignored him. "I see I remembered that clan
name correctly."
Ichizo nodded after a moment. "You must be fond of history."
"I enjoy it," Jiraiya responded. He turned back to Bunzo, who
had been watching the exchange nervously. "My name is Jiro; my niece is
Naru."
"No clan?" Rui asked. She gave Jiraiya and Naruto a measuring
glance, her eyes pausing on the disguised boy.
"None we care to claim," Jiraiya said smoothly.
Bunzo nodded. "Ichizo and Rui of the Kitakami, and Jiro and
Naru of no clan. You understand that we will have to take a look at
your papers and give your names and descriptions to the Hidden Rock
before we sail and the Hidden Cloud once we arrive in Lightning Country.
Just to make sure that we aren't carrying wanted criminals or the like."
"Of course," Jiraiya said. "Can we go on board?"
"You might want to wait until we're finished loading," Bunzo
said. "You four just stay out of the way until then, and I'll bring the
captain over to seal the deal."

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-five]

Tsunade sighed as she looked at the actually relatively small
collection of paperwork on her desk this morning. It wasn't the amount
for once that made her want to just go out and get drunk, it was simply
how troublesome the matters in question were likely to be that
accomplished that task. She'd done what she could to avoid the
possibility, but she somehow suspected that she'd have to deal with at
least one angry genin this morning.
Traditionally, genin who were to participate in the third part
of the Chuunin Exam, along with their teams, were suspended from
missions for the thirty days downtime between the second exam and the
finals. This was intended to facilitate the intensive training the
fighters were expected to undergo to maximize their performance in the
final exam. Unfortunately, the Hidden Leaf's current state did not
allow the luxury of letting some of its best genin off of missions for a
month. There were simply too many missions, and not enough ninja.
Tsunade had sent out messages to that effect shortly after the
second exam had finished. Almost instantly, she'd had three upset
jounin in her office to complain. She'd managed to calm them down by
explaining that she would, if at all possible, assign them to the same
missions as their students and that that the examination board would be
asked to take the unusual situation into account when evaluating the
Leaf genin's performance. She could only hope that they had already
explained this to their students.
The door to her office cracked open. "Hokage-sama?" one of her
chuunin guards asked as he poked his head inside. "Your first
appointment is here."
Tsunade nodded. "Send them right in," she stated, and a moment
later Maito Gai and his genin team stood in front of her. Tsunade
glanced down at the scrolls on her desk and pulled out the appropriate
one. "I'll say right off that this mission is highly unusual," she
stated. "Were you ever given a ghost-hunting D-rank mission as fresh
genin?"
Neji frowned. "No," he said. "Ghost-hunting?"
"You were lucky," Tsunade said. "Occasionally a superstitious
peasant will hire us to get rid of a ghost he thinks is haunting him.
Ordinarily, we give that kind of mission as a genin team's first mission
without jounin supervision. We instruct them just to make a lot of
noise and use a flashy technique or two, then tell the client that the
ghost is gone. That usually works."
"That seems a little dishonest," Lee said disapprovingly.
Tsunade shrugged. "The clients pay a little money and in return
get peace of mind. It's a fair trade, even if they don't realize how it
works."
"What if it doesn't work, Hokage-sama?" Tenten asked curiously.
"That hardly ever happens," Tsunade replied dryly. "The policy
is to then refund the money and advise the client to seek the services
of a priest."
"So why are my students being given such a mission?" Gai asked,
sounding slightly offended. "They're hardly fresh from the academy."
"In this case," Tsunade said, "the ghost we are being hired to
eliminate is the last daimyo of the Bird Country, and the client is the
current daimyo's chief adviser."
"Bird Country?" Tenten asked.
Neji closed his eyes briefly. "It lies between the Earth and
Wind Countries, bordering the Rain," he said. "Traditionally, it is
considered to be in the Hidden Rock's sphere of influence."
"Precisely," Tsunade said, "the reason why I'm not sending a
fresh team."
"So we're being hired by some faction in Bird Country opposed to
the Rock?" Tenten frowned. "No, in that case it would make more sense
for them to go to the Sand or the Rain."
"Yes," Tsunade agreed. "For some reason, the client wants a
team of fresh genin, completely unfamiliar with the area and not
attached to any factions, to come to his country. Your mission is to
pretend to be that team, figure out the motivations behind his actions,
and resolve the situation in the best interests of the Fire Country and
the Hidden Leaf." She held out the scroll, which Neji took. "The
details are in there. I'm provisionally marking this as a C-rank
mission, with the option to upgrade it to B-rank upon completion if
events warrant. Understood?"
All three genin stiffened. "Yes, Hokage-sama," they said in
unison.
"And what is my mission?" Gai asked.
"You are to follow your team covertly, conduct your own
investigation, and provide support to your team if necessary," Tsunade
said. Gai nodded. "All right then," Tsunade continued. "Dismissed."
Tsunade's next meeting was far shorter. It took only a few
moments to assign Suzume Namida's genin team their mission to help
escort Mitarashi Kimi's team to their assigned training ground and guard
it. Unlike the other teams, the rookies didn't have anything close to
the sort of record it took to convince Tsunade to assign them to a
mission outside the D-ranks and low-risk C-ranks genin were usually
given.
The meeting after that, however, was more complicated. Tsunade
folded her hands before her face as she observed Sarutobi Asuma's Team
Ten, including the rookie chuunin Nara Shikamaru. "I am going to assign
you to an A-rank mission," Tsunade stated without preamble.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. "A-rank?" he asked. "Those are for
jounin only!"
"Under ordinary circumstances," Tsunade stated. "You should
know that, Nara-kun. After all, you have two A-rank missions under your
belt already."
"What sort of mission is this?" Asuma asked.
"One that I believe lends itself to your team's strengths. I'm
told you have the best espionage team that isn't already on a mission."
Tsunade sighed. "Last week, we received a report from Daimyo Chichiatsu
of the Swamp Country that Hatake Kakashi had been killed defending him
from assassins sent by the Hidden Cloud."
"Kakashi-sensei?!" Chouji asked, shocked.
Ino's eyes watered. "Sakura," she breathed quietly. "Does she
know?"
Tsunade nodded. "The daimyo reported that the body his men
recovered was unidentifiable, and per usual practice we've sent word
that we will be sending a team to identify the corpse and dispose of it
properly."
"Isn't that a mission for medical ninja?" Shikamaru asked.
Tsunade waved a hand. "It certainly isn't Kakashi's body."
"Why?" Chouji asked.
"The Hidden Cloud wouldn't leave the famous copy ninja Sharingan
Kakashi's body behind," Tsunade stated. "It holds too many secrets."
"So what's our mission, then?" Shikamaru asked.
"I haven't told Haruno-kun this because I don't want to raise
her hopes unnecessarily," Tsunade said, "but the daimyo's story doesn't
add up."
Shikamaru nodded. "He's still alive, for one."
"Yes," Tsunade stated. "Among other details. Your mission is
to determine precisely what happened and the current status of Hatake
Kakashi." Her eyes hardened. "If it turns out that he was betrayed by
Daimyo Chichiatsu... remove the daimyo if possible." All the young
ninja froze, as though they were unable to believe what they had just
heard.
"Wait just a moment!" Asuma shouted. "Assassination missions
like that are ANBU's job!"
"If you judge it can't be done safely," Tsunade said, "then by
all means return and I'll send ANBU. But if you can do it, I can't
afford to waste unnecessary time and ninja. The situation the Hidden
Leaf is in does not allow it. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Asuma said. "But I will file a protest."
"That is your right," Tsunade said, handing him the mission
scroll. "Dismissed." Tsunade sighed as Asuma and his team left.
Hopefully, that would be the most difficult of the morning's mission
assignments. Asuma would probably calm down once he'd thought his way
through the situation and realized that she'd left the decision on
whether to go forward with the assassination entirely to his discretion.
It was possible it wouldn't be necessary at all, for that matter.
Tsunade looked up as Yuuhi Kurenai and her team filed into her
office. She really didn't know any of the members of this team very
well, even the jounin. "We'll have to wait for just a moment," the
Hokage said. "We're still waiting on one person, and I don't want to
have to say everything twice." Kurenai nodded and Inuzuka Kiba sighed,
while the other two members of the team remained impassive.
About a minute later, the door to the Hokage's office opened
again. "I'm sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama," Haruno Sakura said as she
slipped into the room. "I ran into Gai-sensei and he needed to tell me
that -" The pink-haired kunoichi cut off, freezing as she noticed who
else was in the room.
"You," Kiba growled, and Akamaru, resting by his feet stirred,
letting out a sharp bark. Hyuuga Hinata stiffened, and Kurenai sighed,
raising a hand to her forehead. Only Aburame Shino showed no visible
reaction.
Tsunade's eyes flicked between her prospective apprentice and
Kurenai's team. Something was very clearly wrong here. The Hokage
carefully folded her hands in front of her face. "Is there some
difficulty, Inuzuka-kun?" she asked, singling out the boy who had
spoken. She was going to get to the bottom of this, and quickly, before
it could fester.
"You can't seriously expect us to go on a mission with a traitor
like her!" Kiba exclaimed.
Tsunade blinked. "Traitor?" she asked, her confusion showing in
her voice. Had word of Sakura's apparent familial ties to the Mist
spread somehow and been twisted in the telling? Tsunade noted without
surprise that Sakura's fists were clenched. "That's a very serious
accusation, Inuzuka-kun."
"I am not a," Sakura began angrily, only to cut off as Kiba
spoke over her objection.
"What the hell else do you call what you three pulled?" he
demanded. "You took advantage of the fact that we were comrades!"
Sakura looked away, unable to meet Kiba's accusing glare.
"Would someone please explain?" Tsunade asked irritably.
Aburame Shino reached up to adjust his dark glasses before
speaking. "Our teams encountered each other late in the second exam.
We agreed to cooperate in mutually beneficial fashion, but Haruno-san's
took advantage of our lowered guard and gained possession of our Earth
Scroll."
Kiba snorted. "If you hadn't gone ahead and surrendered, we'd
never have lost it."
Shino glanced at his teammate. "I told you then that it would
be easier to procure another Earth Scroll than to fight Haruno-san's
team, and I was correct. If you had not turned it over in the outer
courtyard without waiting for my word, we would have passed regardless
of Haruno-san's actions."
"That doesn't make any difference," Kiba said, grimacing.
"In any case, Hokage-sama," Shino continued, "I do not recommend
that we be assigned to a mission with Haruno-san or her teammates. It
would lead to unnecessary conflict that could harm the mission."
Tsunade's eyes were hard. "All of you will be going on this
mission. Your team's abilities make you the best team available for
this mission and Haruno-kun has relevant personal experience. Any other
team I could form right now would be sub-optimal. You are all ninja of
the Hidden Leaf. You will have to work together, now and in the future.
A petty feud like this could mean your deaths, so you'd best forget
about it now. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," all four genin responded.
"Good," Tsunade stated. "I am assigning you to a B-rank
diplomatic mission." Her eyes swept the ninja before her. "Due to the
high risk assigned to this mission, it will pay as a combat mission."
"High risk?" Kurenai asked.
"You will be traveling to Rice Field Country," Tsunade replied.
Sakura nodded, as though she'd figured out the answer to a question.
"R-rice Field?" Hinata asked, her silver eyes widening. "That's
where -"
"Yes," Tsunade stated. "It is home to the Hidden Sound."
"Has Hyuuga Hiashi-sama approved this mission?" Kurenai asked
softly. One of of the many rights the Hyuuga claimed was that of veto
over foreign missions assigned to head family members. Given the risks
of the Byakugan falling into enemy hands, it was reasonable enough that
no Hokage had ever challenged it.
"Yes," Tsunade said, "though he asked me to remind you of your
responsibilities as jounin leader." Specifically, that of ensuring that
no enemy took Hinata alive or gained possession of her intact corpse.
Tsunade was damned, though, if she'd repeat Hiashi's exact words.
Hinata didn't deserve to hear how little her father cared if she lived
or died.
"Understood," Kurenai said darkly, and Tsunade knew that she had
guessed what Tsunade hadn't stated out loud.
"The Hidden Leaf have been approached by a coalition of
independent ninja clans from Rice Field opposed to Orochimaru and the
Hidden Sound," Tsunade said after a moment. "While they are not in a
position to directly fight the Sound, they have offered to provide us
with intelligence. A meeting has been arranged with a representative of
the lead clan of the coalition, the Fuuma, to seal the deal and set up
communication channels. The details are in the mission scroll."
Kurenai accepted the scroll from Tsunade with a nod.
"Understood," she repeated.
Tsunade nodded. "Yuuhi-san, stay a moment," she said. "The
rest of you are dismissed." Once the genin were gone, Tsunade spoke
again. "Are you aware of Hatake Kakashi's status, Yuuhi-san?" she
asked.
Kurenai nodded. "Yes," she stated.
"I've been assigning everyone else in the finals to missions
with their teachers so that their training will be minimally impacted,
but that's not an option for Haruno-kun." Tsunade sighed.
Kurenai frowned. "You wish me to provide training for Haruno
during the mission?"
Tsunade nodded. "If there's time," she said. The Hokage smiled
slightly. "I'm told she has some talent for genjutsu, but little
training in that field. A small bit of guidance from another genjutsu
user could go a long way."
Kurenai was silent for a long moment. "The situation between
Haruno and my team will make things difficult," she said finally, "but
I'll do what I can."

************************************************** *********************

Naruto shivered from the bitter wind, even though he was wearing
and had zipped up the jacket of Mako's Jiraiya had given him as part of
his disguise. Winter was coming, and he was much farther north than he
was used to. It didn't help that there wasn't much to get in the way of
the wind on a small ship sailing across the Gulf of Storms. "How can
you stand the cold in that?" he asked.
The target of his question was Kitakami Rui, who sat on a
convenient barrel, idly sharpening a dagger. She wore a short white
kimono in the same style she'd worn yesterday, one that left most of her
arms and legs bare. She looked up at Naruto, amusement in her violet
eyes. "In the Snow Country," she said, "we would call this a warm
summer day. It's not cold."
Jiraiya, standing nearby, laughed. "Don't scare the girl,
Kitakami-san. More like a slightly chilly autumn day."
Rui blinked. "You've been in the Snow Country, Jiro-san?" she
asked.
"When I was young, before Naru started traveling with me."
Jiraiya answered. "I was hired to escort some people there from the
Fire Country."
"Ah," Rui said. "Did you meet any of our clan then?"
"No," Jiraiya said after a moment, "I don't think so."
"Ah," Rui repeated, and her attention returned to her dagger.
Naruto shifted from foot to foot. "You said you were going to
teach me something today, Uncle," he reminded Jiraiya eagerly. What
sort of technique was he going to learn?
"I did, didn't I?" Jiraiya said, squatting down beside his
student. "Let's see. I promised you a history lesson yesterday, I
believe."
Naruto's face fell. "I want to learn a new technique!" he
protested.
Jiraiya grinned. "Maybe if you pay attention," he said. He
glanced up at Rui briefly. "Do correct me if I make any errors,
Kitakami-san." The kunoichi only grunted. "All right, girl," Jiraiya
said as his attention returned to Naruto, "the Snow Country lies to the
north of Earth Country. Decades ago, it was home to the Hidden Village
of Snow, which was one of the most powerful of the lesser hidden
villages, almost as strong as one of the five major powers."
Rui glanced up. "It was a major power," she corrected.
Jiraiya smiled at her, shrugging. "I won't argue the point," he
said. "It was close enough to make no difference, really. The Hidden
Snow's mastery of ice element techniques gave them strength beyond their
numbers."
"Ice element?" Naruto asked. "I thought there were only five
elements."
"Five major schools of elemental techniques, yes," Jiraiya said.
"Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning. However, there are dozens of
less common schools in existence. Except for a few bizarre examples,
most of them are combinations of or specialized variants on one of the
major schools. Ice element techniques, of course, are derived from
water element techniques. They can be very powerful, but are extremely
difficult to use in warm weather and often vulnerable to fire element
techniques."
"You're very knowledgeable," Rui stated, her eyes narrowing.
"I've studied a lot," Jiraiya said, rubbing at his fake scar.
"It's helped me more than a few times."
"So what happened to the Hidden Snow?" Naruto asked. The sooner
Jiraiya got done with the story, the sooner he could learn a new
technique.
"We were betrayed," Rui said harshly.
"The Snow used to control the balance of power between the Cloud
and the Rock," Jiraiya explained, "but eventually the Cloud and Rock set
aside their differences and crushed them with the help of some missing
ninja from the Snow. That was... oh, about forty years ago. Every so
often, a militaristic daimyo in Snow Country will try to reform the
village, but none of that has ever amounted to anything more than a
collection of mercenaries wearing forehead protectors."
"The Hidden Snow cannot be refounded," Rui said softly. "Not
yet." Jiraiya looked up at her curiously, but she only shook her head.
"All right then," Naruto said. "What about that technique?"
Jiraiya sighed. "Fine," he said as he stood. "If only so I
won't have to listen to you whine all day." Rui chuckled at that. "A
lot of the techniques you can use, Naru, are earth element techniques.
As you may have noticed, those won't be terribly useful if we're
attacked now."
Naruto nodded. "Right," he said.
"On the other hand, there's plenty of water around." Jiraiya
walked over to the side of the ship, his hands flicking through a quick
sequence of seals. Then he stretched out one hand, and a ball of water
formed quickly in his open palm. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet," he stated,
and the globe flew from his hand. Naruto's eyes followed it eagerly
until it fell into the ocean. Jiraiya turned back to his student.
"Don't try this technique when there's no water around," he warned.
"You haven't got the chakra to be trying to create matter out of thin
air or the control to take it from your body."
"Right," Naruto stated. "What were the seals?"
Jiraiya glanced at Rui. "As pleasant as your company is," he
began.
The kunoichi laughed. "Understood," she stated, putting up her
dagger and leaping off of the barrel she was sitting on. "I'll be
going." She glanced at Naru. "Perhaps sometime later we could spar,
Naru-san," she suggested.
Naruto glanced at Jiraiya, who nodded. "I don't see why not,"
the older ninja said. "So long as it's just a spar."
"Good," Rui stated. "Having been trained by someone as
knowledgeable as you, Jiro-san, it will be interesting to see what
strength she hides." She nodded once more, then walked away.

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-six]

The Hokage's pronouncement that the "petty feud" resulting from
the events of the second exam should be set aside had, predictably, had
very little effect. Kiba was clearly doing the best he could to ignore
Sakura's presence, but the pink-haired kunoichi could not avoid noticing
the series of snarls and glares he sent her way. It was easy to tell
that he would like little more than crushing her in a painful way during
a rematch, and in other circumstances Sakura thought that he might have
started such a battle already. That thought was more than a little
discomforting, considering that in theory at least they were supposed to
be teammates right now.
Still, Sakura preferred his barely restrained aggression to
Hinata's quiet stare. Sakura had never quite felt comfortable around
the Hyuuga heir. She was always looking at Naruto in a weird way with
those eyes of hers, and while Hinata was never anything but polite to
Sakura, the pink-haired kunoichi had always somehow gotten the
impression that Hinata didn't like her very much for some reason. If
that hadn't been the case before, it certainly was now. Calling the few
brief words the two kunoichi had exchanged this morning frosty was
making them sound far friendlier than they were.
Strangely enough, Shino, the only member of the team Sakura had
actually wounded herself, seemed the least unfriendly. Then again,
reading Shino was hard in the best of times. For all Sakura knew, he
could be boiling over with rage inside. At least, unlike his teammates,
he wasn't making an effort to stay as far away from Sakura as possible
while remaining in formation. Still, Sakura made a mental note to keep
a very careful eye out for any suspicious bugs.
That, Sakura knew, was a serious problem. They were headed for
the Rice Field Country, domain of the Leaf Village's most dangerous
enemy. There was entirely too much possibility that they would have to
fight ninja from the Hidden Sound. Spending any time at all worrying
about attack from her teammates was spending far too much time. Tsunade
had been very right when she had said that sort of thing could mean
their deaths. Her very presence was a burden, endangering the mission.
The worst part was that Sakura knew that this was her fault.
She had been the one to propose that her team take Team Eight's Earth
Scroll. It had seemed so clearcut then, during the exam. The rules of
the exam were the rules - every team for itself. They had needed the
scroll, and the other members of the so-called "Rookie Nine" had
possessed one. Time had been running out, and the proper course of
action had seemed obvious. Take what they needed. Use deceit and
surprise to nullify the advantages of a stronger foe, just like they
were taught in the academy.
Sakura had never imagined that she would be going on a mission
with the victims of her plan so soon afterward. She had never thought
that she would feel this guilty. She tried to console herself by
remembering what Shino had said the day before. Team Eight had gotten
another Earth Scroll and failed because they had not made it past
Ibiki's final test in the outer courtyard. She had to agree with Kiba,
though. That didn't change anything. It wasn't like she had known that
would happen when she had made her decision.
Yuuhi Kurenai sighed suddenly, attracting the attention of all
four genin under her command. "Let's stop for today," the jounin said,
glancing at the sun, which had just begun to set. "If we go much
farther, we'll get close enough to the border that we might run into
Sound." She glanced at the four genin. "Right now, I don't think that
would be a good idea."
All four of them clearly understood what she referred to. Or at
least, that was what Sakura guessed, given the three stares she was
suddenly on the receiving end of. Her shoulders slumped. She just
couldn't take much more of this, not with everything else that was going
on. That was the only good thing about this mess, that it was
distracting her from worrying about Kakashi's fate, the fact that she
still hadn't talked to her mother about Midori, or the upcoming third
exam.
"Look," Sakura said as she set down her pack. "I'm not going to
say that you three shouldn't be angry at me. I would be in your
position, but Hokage-sama was right. This could get us killed."
Kurenai nodded slightly at that. "For what it's worth, I'm not terribly
happy about what I did, but I didn't see any other way at the time. If
you want to hate me, that's fine, so long as we work as a team for this
mission."
Shino silently turned away from her, setting down his own pack
and beginning to set up the tent he and Kiba would share for the night.
The other male ninja and Hinata didn't follow suit, still staring at
Sakura. "You call that an apology?" Kiba growled after a moment.
Akamaru barked as though to punctuate his master's question.
"No," Sakura stated. "I call it the truth."
Kiba stalked up to her, forming a fist and aiming it at her
face. "Kiba!" Kurenai snapped. Sakura just closed her eyes, tensing as
she anticipated the blow.
It didn't come. "Damn it," Kiba snarled. "If you weren't a
girl, I'd hit you, but it's not right for a boy to act like that."
Sakura began to relax as she heard him turn and walk away.
Then someone slapped her. Sakura opened her eyes, staring at
Hinata in disbelief. "I'm not a boy," the Hyuuga heir stated calmly,
then she too walked away and began to set up the tent the kunoichi would
be sleeping in. Sakura rubbed at her cheek, then followed. The two of
them worked in silence, for which Sakura was grateful. Kurenai sighed
as she watched them, but she didn't say anything either.
A few hours later, the campsite was completely set up and the
five ninja had eaten an uncomfortable, mostly silent dinner.
Afterwards, Sakura walked over to her pack and pulled out a pair of
gloves and a set of metal arm weights Gai had given her. She couldn't
afford to waste any time, not if she hoped to make any real progress in
her taijutsu in less than thirty days. Sasuke had done it, but he was
Sasuke. She wasn't.
"Training for the third exam?" Kiba asked, more than a hint of
bitterness in his voice. Sakura only nodded as she slipped on her
gloves.
"Training with a partner," Shino commented suddenly, "can be
much more effective than training alone." He paused. "It would also
allow us to become more familiar with your fighting style. That is part
of teamwork." Sakura glanced at him. Was this the bug user's way of
saying he wanted a rematch?
Kiba grinned maliciously, cracking his knuckles. "I'd be happy
to be her partner," he said slowly.
"No," Kurenai said dryly. "I want her to be able to fight in
the morning." Kiba sighed, then his teacher continued. "Still, Sakura,
Shino has a point. I would like to see you in action before I have to
command you in a life-or-death situation."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei."
Shino stirred, but it was Hinata who stood first. "I'll spar
with her," she stated. Sakura nodded again, and a moment later the pair
of kunoichi were standing ten paces apart just outside the campsite.
Sakura quickly ran through her options. She knew Hinata was a
bad match for her, just as she had been in the exam. Genjutsu would be
useless and taijutsu would be extremely dangerous against the Gentle
Fist. She would have to keep her distance and hope Hinata hadn't
mastered the Heavenly Spin. For an instant, Sakura considered taking
off her weights, but this was training, not real combat.
"Begin," Kurenai stated, and Sakura's released the shuriken she
had been readying all the while. In an instant, a kunai appeared in
Hinata's hands, and the Hyuuga expertly parried the projectiles, then
threw her own weapon. Even with the weights slowing her down, Sakura
was able to dodge, but by then Hinata had begun to charge, her Byakugan
activated.
Sakura formed a seal with one hand. "Katon: Claw of the Fire
Dragon!" She didn't aim to hit her opponent, instead simply forming a
barrier with the fiery talons to keep her at bay. As Hinata jumped away
from the fire, Sakura released the technique, hurling more shuriken at
the Hyuuga.
As Hinata landed, her eyes narrowed. "Heavenly Spin!" she
shouted, and the oncoming missiles were harmlessly deflected by a
twisting wall of chakra.
Sakura's heart fell. What was she supposed to do, then? There
was no way she could penetrate Hinata's absolute defense. All she could
do was drag this out as long as possible. As Hinata charged again,
Sakura leapt away, drawing and throwing a kunai in one smooth motion.
Hinata leaned aside, letting the blade pass harmlessly by. Sakura's
hand rested on the hilt of another kunai as she waited for her foe's
next move.
Sakura's eyes widened as Hinata began to form a very familiar
set of seals. Since when had she had the chakra to use that technique?
"Shadow Replication Technique," Hinata stated, forming a shadow clone on
either side of her. As one, the three Hyuuga charged.
In an instant, Sakura had re-activated the Claw of the Fire
Dragon, swiping at one Hinata with the flames. There was a puff of
smoke as the clone vanished, but now one Hinata had gotten behind
Sakura. Before Sakura could react, both of her opponents dropped to all
fours. Her eyes widened again as faintly visible chakra began to pour
from every part of Hinata's two bodies.
"Dual Piercing Heavenly Spin!" the two shouted in unison.
Sakura futilely threw up her arms as the two whirling blurs of motion
sped toward her. She felt one hand strike her, knocking her into the
air. The next blow never came. One Hinata went flying into a tree,
vanishing in a puff of smoke. The other Hinata stood still, restrained
by one of Kurenai's arms. Sakura landed heavily on her side.
"That's enough," Kurenai stated. "This was a spar. There was
no reason to use a soldier pill."
Hinata nodded curtly. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei."
Sakura half-rose, clutching at her side where the one blow had
struck. "That was," she began.
Kiba grinned. "An imitation of the Inuzuka Clan's Beast Mimicry
Style taijutsu, using the Hyuuga's Heavenly Spin," he stated proudly.
"Sakura," Kurenai stated as she released Hinata. "Are you all
right?"
Sakura forced herself to nod and rise. "I'm fine," she said.
"Good," Kurenai responded. "That's enough for tonight."
As the other four ninja began to walk back into the campsite,
Sakura stayed behind, clenching her fists. Damn it. She had come so
far since six months ago, but it still hadn't made any difference.
Hinata had come so much farther. If that had been her first match in
the third exam, it would all be over. So much for her promise to
herself to never be left behind again.
"Damn it," she said out loud, her fists tightening. She could
feel her eyes watering, but she forced herself to hold in the pointless
tears. She wasn't going to cry. Instead she walked over to where she
had left her arm weights and slipped them on. Without saying anything
to her companions she approached a convenient tree, then slammed her
fist into the trunk. Her other arm followed suit a moment later.
"One," she counted to herself as she brought her first arm back
for another punch.

************************************************** *********************

Naruto cursed as the ball of water he could almost feel about to
form in his palm failed to actually appear. A few days ago, he had
finally thought that he was getting the hang of performing those earth
element techniques the way Jiraiya had wanted him to. He had felt the
few dregs of chakra he had left to himself permeating the earth under
his fingertips, making it move almost like a part of his body. It had
been an entirely different feeling than how he had normally felt using
those techniques.
That sudden breakthrough wasn't helping him very much now,
though. He thought that he could feel the water vapor in the air before
his hand, but there wasn't anywhere near enough of it to form a ball on
its own. When he tried to spread his chakra out further to gather in
more water, it dissipated like always. If only there was some way to
bring the water to him instead.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as an idea occurred to him. After a few
minutes of pleading with the nearest sailor - highly embarrassing, but
Naruto tried to think of it as simply a variation on his Sexy Technique
- Naruto was squatted over a bucket of seawater. Nodding to himself, he
rapidly worked his way through the sequence of seals Jiraiya had taught
him before. As soon as he'd formed the last seal, he laid one hand flat
on the water's surface.
Concentrating furiously to call on every bit of stamina that
remained to him, Naruto channeled chakra into the water. As he raised
his hand, most of the bucket's contents rose with it. Naruto stood,
staring happily at the globe of water hanging from his palm. Then his
eyes widened as it began to distort, seeking to escape the bonds his
chakra had forced it into. He raced over to the side of the ship,
thrusting out his arm. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet!" The pulsating sphere
of water flew away from his hand. Unlike Jiraiya's, it only made it a
few yards before losing its coherence. Naruto didn't despair as the
now-ordinary water rained down onto a patch of ocean, though. He was
finally making some sort of progress.
"Not bad," Jiraiya said from where he had been watching his
student with one eye as he flipped through the perverted novel he had
bought earlier in the week. "I was wondering how long it would take you
to think of that."
Naruto glared at his teacher. "Maybe if you actually tried to
teach me something instead of making me figure everything out myself,
I'd have already mastered this technique."
Jiraiya sighed. "Didn't we have this discussion once already,
girl?"
Naruto sighed as he remembered that conversation. "Can't you at
least give me a hint?"
Jiraiya put up his novel with another sigh. "Watch me closely,"
he said. "I'll go through this slowly." He formed the seals carefully,
then held out a hand. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then Naruto
began to see tiny droplets of water hanging in midair before Jiraiya's
palm. They began to flow together into a tiny sphere, which grew
rapidly as more and more droplets appeared and merged with it. Jiraiya
again strode over to the side of the ship, releasing the ball
wordlessly. "There's your hint," he said as he pulled out his book
again.
Naruto frowned. All the droplets he'd seen had been forming
near Jiraiya's hand, but there was no way there was that much water in
that small a space. His own efforts had shown that. Naruto shivered
from a sudden gust of wind. His eyes widened. That was it! Quickly,
before the insight left him, he raced through the seals for the
technique once more.
This time, he channeled his chakra into the air before his hand
like he had into the bucket of water, rather than trying to seek out
individual water particles. Controlled by his chakra, those particles
moved anyway, forming into tiny droplets. Instead of casting his chakra
out wider in search of more water, Naruto began to move his hand. More
and more droplets appeared as he caught more water vapor in his ball of
chakra. Slowly, a smaller globe of water formed in the center of the
field of chakra. With a happy yell, Naruto released the projectile.
Again, it dissolved into a harmless spray of water after a few feet, but
Naruto didn't let himself get discouraged.
"You certainly are good at coming up with backwards ways to
perform techniques," Jiraiya commented with a shake of his head.
"You're supposed to mold your chakra so that it attracts water vapor,
not bring your chakra to the water."
Naruto glanced at his teacher. "How am I supposed to do that?"
he asked. Jiraiya only sighed.
"Your training session not going well?" Kitakami Ichizo asked as
he approached. His sister followed behind him. As always, the two were
wearing white kimonos.
Jiraiya turned to Ichizo. "My niece can be a difficult student
sometimes," he stated.
Rui smiled. "Perhaps you would like to take a break? I am
still interested in a spar."
Jiraiya glanced at Naruto. "Naru-chan?" he asked.
Naruto took a deep breath. His unbelievably small-seeming
chakra reserves were drained from the morning's practice session, but he
though he was up for a spar. "Any time," he said, grinning.
A few moments later, a space had been cleared on the deck for
the match. A few off-duty sailors milled about curiously. "All right,"
Jiraiya said, "this is just a spar, you two. Don't do anything
serious."
Rui glanced at him. "I'm not some hot-blooded brawler," she
said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"That was more for Naru-chan," Jiraiya said dryly. Naruto
shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't like he could pull out any serious
techniques in this state, not without releasing the seal Jiraiya had
warned him about. "All right, then," Jiraiya said. "Begin."
Before the sound of the word faded, three shuriken were in the
air, flying toward Naruto. He tried to dodge, but too slowly, two
shuriken striking him in the arm and chest. Rui didn't make any sign of
surprise as a puff of smoke revealed the water barrel that had actually
been hit. The real Naruto plunged a hand into the barrel and pulled out
a small globe of water before charging.
Rui's eyes narrowed as she leaped backward, tossing more
shuriken into the air. With a cry of "Suiton: Pressure Bullet," Naruto
released his attack, then rolled aside, letting Rui's attack pass
overhead.
Rui, meanwhile, raced through seals as Naruto's projectile
neared her. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Wall," she intoned. A mirror-like
sheet of ice appeared out of thin air, Naruto's Pressure Bullet
impacting it harmlessly.
Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly. "Impressive," he stated.
Ichizo grinned. "Rui's just getting started."
As though prompted by her brother's statement, the kunoichi
formed another set of seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards."
The wall of ice shattered, but rather than collapsing the razor-sharp
pieces hung in the air briefly, then began to fly toward Naruto.
Naruto formed a single seal as he breathed in deeply.
"Whirlwind Shield!" he shouted. Though the blast of wind that resulted
was not nearly as impressive as he was used to, it was enough to push
most of the oncoming ice shards aside. A handful still made it through,
scoring minor wounds his arms and legs.
Panting, Naruto studied his opponent. He couldn't believe that
he was already reaching his limits. Ordinarily, he'd be barely getting
started now. Jiraiya hadn't been kidding when he'd told Naruto that he
wouldn't have as much chakra as he was used to. Taijutsu was his best
bet, Naruto decided. He didn't have the chakra to waste on any more
techniques. Without wasting time on further thought, he charged,
tossing a handful of shuriken to keep Rui occupied.
A dagger appeared in Rui's hands as she parried the shuriken.
Then Naruto was upon her, sweeping her legs out from under her with a
sudden kick. Rui arrested her fall with one hand, bringing her own leg
up for a fast strike at Naruto's face. The disguised boy danced back,
giving Rui time to regain her feet.
"You're not bad," Rui admitted, relaxing slightly. "I'm glad."
Naruto backed away slightly. "Glad?" he asked.
"We might have to fight together," Rui said, "if pirates or
those slavers attack. With all the sailors, there would be enough
burdens around without having to take care of a kunoichi who can't
handle herself in a fight. I'm glad that's not the case."
It took Naruto a moment to realize that the "kunoichi" Rui was
speaking of was himself. Then he was momentarily annoyed that Rui had
thought he would be a burden, but he pushed that aside. She's admitted
she'd been wrong, after all. "Thank you," he said after a moment.
Still, Naruto had to wonder. Sure he hadn't been at full
strength, even for his present situation, but he'd been pushed to his
current limits by such a short match. What good was he going to be in a
real fight?

************************************************** *********************

[Day Forty-seven]

Yuuhi Kurenai was not the type to get angry. Otherwise she
would never have been able to be friends with Mitarashi Anko. Anyone
with a bad temper tended to not last long in close association with the
woman known throughout the village as the Leaf's most psychotic
kunoichi. The fact that Anko thought that title was a complement was
enough to make most of the rest avoid her when at all possible. It took
a rare equanimity to actually enjoy her company.
Had Kurenai not possessed that composure, though, she would have
been more than a little upset at the Hokage. Having to take her genin
team into Rice Field Country - the very domain of Orochimaru - was bad
enough, even if with care it could probably be done safely. Having to
do it with an addition that was disrupting the teamwork of the group
terribly was even worse. Combine that with the unusual but
understandable request from the Hokage that Sakura be given some
training while traveling, and even Kurenai was feeling at least a little
irritated.
At least the mess yesterday had cleared the air a little bit.
Hinata's uncharacteristic aggression was a puzzle though. Kurenai had
actually thought at first that the Hyuuga heir had offered to spar with
Sakura precisely to prevent the practice devolving into something more
dangerous. It was embarrassing, but Kurenai had been so shocked when
Hinata had taken a soldier pill that she hadn't even thought to
intervene until it was almost too late. She should have realized that
Hinata was unusually angry as soon as she had slapped Sakura.
But why? It wasn't like her to bear a grudge, but Hinata had
been the one who Sakura's team had initially ambushed and almost
trivially knocked out of the fight. It seemed almost impossible, but
had she developed enough pride that it needed to be avenged?