A Darker World

Sneakyfox: thanks as always for reviewing. As for how to get along well, you'll see.

Authors Note: I just want to make a quick announcement. Since this website doesn't allow people to receive e-mails when a stories updated I've decided to do it myself. If you would like to receive an e-mail when the stories updated please send me an e-mail and I will try my best to accommodate. In the e-mail please state if you want updates for this story alone or my other stories too.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Naruto wondered what was up with Konohamaru. He could tell his friend was, well nervous he guessed. Konohamaru’s grip on his hand tightened as Tazuna opened his front door and announced, “I'm back.”

As they stepped into the entryway a woman with long black hair came around the corner and hugged Tazuna. “Dad, I'm so glad you're safe.”

“Hey, I told you I would be,” he said in a gentle tone. After a moment, Tazuna pulled away from the woman, reluctantly breaking the embrace as he turned to say, “Here, let me introduce you to my bodyguard. This is Jiraiya and his two apprentices. The blonde one is Naruto and the smaller one is named Konohamaru. They'll be staying with us for the duration of the building project.”

The woman bowed her head and with a smile that almost made Naruto relax said, “Thank you for looking after my father.” Then she paused and repeated “Jiraiya? You aren't by chance the same ninja who wrote those books?”

“Why, yes I am,” Jiraiya answered with evident pride even as Naruto and Konohamaru both looked at him in surprise.

The woman smiled, her cheeks turning red. “I am a big fan of yours. Your Icha Icha series, well I have read them several times. I have to know, will you ever write more?”

“I may have a partially completed draft with me,” Jiraiya said coyly. “Perhaps you would like to take a look at it and give me your thoughts? Feedback is the life blood of an author after all.”

“I've never seen you write anything,” Naruto questioned.

Jiraiya shot him a look and said a bit annoyed, “I write sometimes when I leave you two alone to train.”

He nodded, accepting the answer and was about to ask what type of stories he was writing when a boy appeared from around the corner and hugged the older man. Tazuna ruffled the boy's hair and said, “Inari this is Naruto and Konohamaru. They will be staying with us for a while, so why don't you show them where the guest room is and then maybe you could show them your room.”

The boy turned dark eyes on them and the small smile that had been on his face fell. He stared at them, which made Naruto uncomfortable before nodding and saying, “Okay.” Then without waiting for them he started to walk away.

“Go on,” Jiraiya prompted after a moment. Naruto looked over at his teacher only to find all the adults were staring at him. Finding the situation uncomfortable he quickly tried to slip away with Konohamaru in tow, but before he had taken three steps Jiraiya said, “Boys your sandals.”

Pausing, he looked down at his still relatively new footwear and asked, “What about them?”

Silence followed his question which was only broken when Jiraiya cleared his throat and said, “Houses are like hotels,” he paused as if he was expecting something and then added, “You’re supposed to take your shoes off in the entryway.”

“Oh,” he blushed, vaguely remember hearing that before. He and Konohamaru removed their sandals and placed them back at the entryway next to the rest of the family's before heading back down the hallway.

Fortunately, the house wasn't that big and Inari waited at the end of the hallway. He was glaring at them as they approached and pointed to a room. “You’re sleeping here.”

Naruto slid open the door to the room and walked inside. His first impression was that the room probably wasn't meant to be a bedroom. His second thought about the room was it was rundown, but he had seen worse. A little paint would help a lot he thought as he shrugged off his backpack. He placed it against the wall where it was out of the way. With that done he turned back to see Inari staring at them. Naruto didn't really want to go to Inari’s room, but that was what Jiraiya had asked them to do, so he smiled and said, “Let's see your room.”

They followed Inari upstairs in complete silence. He was not sure what to expect from a bedroom, having never really been in one unless you counted the dorm or the bedrooms at the House. Still, he was disappointed when he stepped inside of the room. It was clean like the rest of the house, but also had the feeling that it was rundown. There was a bed with a desk next to it which was placed under the window. It had a nice view of the ocean, but as he continued his inspection, he didn't see much more, other than a hamper filled with clothes and a bookshelf almost evenly divided between books on the higher shelves and a few toys that looked like they were handmade on the lower.

He walked over to these and knelt down so he could get a better look at them. After a few seconds of examining them he asked, “Did someone make these for you?”

Inari, now at his eye level, walked up to him and said, “My grandpa’s friend made them for me.” The boy reached out and grabbed a little crane off the shelf and moved some of its parts before adding, “He's going to die you know.”

“You're grandpa’s friend?” Naruto said a bit confused.

“No, that guy you're with. He's going to die if you don't leave.”

Naruto didn't know what to say, so he muttered, “Jiraiya is a strong ninja.” Now that Naruto thought about it, though, Jiraiya had just told them he was strong, but aside from what they had seen in training and the toad summoning, he didn't know what else he could do.

“It doesn't matter. He's going to die. They all do.”

The blonde found the younger boy's words uneasy, but he wasn't sure why. Before he could say anything, though, there was a soft noise like something falling over. In the quiet of the room it was very loud and both boys looked over to the desk where Konohamaru had climbed on top to get a better look out of the window.

“Get away from there!” Inari screamed as he ran over to the desk. He grabbed Konohamaru’s leg and yanked him off.

As he fell, Konohamaru hit his head against the desk before crashing to the floor. The boy got up faster than Naruto could stand and shoved the other boy so hard that Inari hit the wall, his head bouncing off of it. Naruto darted between the two of them, not sure if he was trying to stop the fight or simply protect his friend. Glaring over at Inari, he could see him clutching his head, but he was getting up. Then he could hear someone storming up the stairs and a second later the door burst open to reveal a very red-faced Jiraiya.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jiraiya was not a man who was easily embarrassed. He quite freely and unapologetically spied on women when they were at Hot Springs or any other public place where they wore little to no clothing. He had also until recently quite frequently sought out the company of women even if he had to pay them. What many would be ashamed to do, or at least embarrassed to do, he did quite publicly and openly.

However, as he stared at the two eight year-old sitting next to each other at the kitchen table with identical washcloths pressed to their heads, he felt a twinge of embarrassment. The boys had not even been alone for five minutes and they had managed to get into a fight. He was pretty sure that it had taken him and Tsunade longer than that to get into their first fight and she was a woman.

Letting out a silent sigh he said, “Tsunami, I'm sorry about this.”

“Don't apologize.” She said without taking her eyes off of the boys, "I'm sure my son is not completely innocent in this. So who wants to start?” She asked crossing her arms. For a second there was silence and then both boys started trying to talk at the same time. “Quiet,” she said in a tone that silenced both boys. She nodded towards Naruto who was standing near Konohamaru and said, “Can you tell us what happened?”

Jiraiya watched as Naruto shifted uncomfortably under Tsunami's scrutiny. He had to hand it to her, she really had this parenting thing down pat and even he was worried about saying anything right now.

“Well,” Naruto started. “We went to Inari's room and I was looking at his toys and we were talking. Then Konohamaru climbed onto the desk and Inari pulled him off. I think that was when he hit his head and then he shoved Inari.”

Naruto fell silent and after a second Tsunami nodded and said, “Either of you two want to add anything?” Neither of the boys said anything and she gave him a look that he was able to interpret. With interrogations it was sometimes best to separate the suspects.

“Naruto take Konohamaru outside, I'll be there in a minute.” Quietly, Konohamaru pushed himself away from the table and Naruto put a hand on his shoulder as they headed for the door. Jiraiya was starting to feel a bit relieved at the way things were shaping up; his two were looking fairly innocent.

“Inari, what happened?” She said her son's name with a concerned but firm tone.

The boy was quiet for a second, but eventually said, “He knocked over my picture and I thought it would fall out the window.”

Tsunami let out a long sigh and suddenly took a seat in the chair across the table from her son. “Inari, I know that picture is important to you, but you could have really hurt him. You know you could've handled the situation better than you did.”She paused for a few seconds before adding, “Now, I want you to go to your room and stay there until you're ready to apologize to him, okay?”

The boy nodded and without saying a word slipped out of his chair and headed upstairs. After a few seconds, Tsunami turned to him and said, “I'm sorry. He really is a good kid, but he's been having a hard time.”

Jiraiya suddenly felt guilty about feeling relieved earlier. “No, it's okay. Konohamaru should've been more careful.”

There was an awkward silence that was broken by Tazuna who brought them back to the original reason he was here. “You know I really have to start heading to work. I've missed several days as it is.”

“All right, just give me a minute to check on my two and we will go,” Jiraiya said making his way to the back door. Stepping outside, he saw Naruto sitting down, his feet dangling over the water. Konohamaru was lying down with his head resting in the others lap. Naruto looked up at his approach and he knelt down to be closer to their eye level as he said, “Konohamaru how are you feeling?”

“My head hurts.”

Jiraiya smiled slightly at that. “Yeah, it tends to do that when you hit it like you did. You're not feeling nauseous, though, are you?”

“No,” the young boy said quietly without looking up at him.

“All right, but Konohamaru if Inari apologizes to you I want you to say, that you're sorry too okay?”

“Fine,” Konohamaru said surprising Jiraiya.

He had been expecting the boy to say something like, "but I didn't do anything wrong." Well, there was no reason to complain about that he guessed. “All right, I'll be back later today. You two take it easy and don't go too far from here.”

Both boys agreed and he stood and left without saying a word. He collected Tazuna and the two of them started off heading to the uncompleted bridge. They walked in silence for some time before the client spoke up. “Sorry about earlier. I was hoping that having another kid around his age would've helped him, but that would've been too simple I guess.”

“You don't have to apologize. I was hoping that they would get along too,” Jiraiya said almost absentmindedly scanning for possible ambush spots. As they were in the village they were just about everywhere.

“He's a good kid really,” Tazuna explained, “but since his father died, he changed. I can't really blame him. He was murdered right in front of him. No kid should see that.”

“No they shouldn't.” Jiraiya agreed, wondering how much he really wanted to learn about the recent history of this country. He had to remember that he was technically an outlaw, and if he did anything to draw too much attention to himself, Danzo would send people after him. Not that they could kill him, but it would be inconvenient. So he changed the subject slightly. “A similar thing happened to Konohamaru. Only it was his entire family that was killed. Even now, I'm still unsure how he survived.”

“Really, how long did it take him to get over it?” Tazuna asked.

Jiraiya wasn't sure that ‘get over it’ was the best choice of words, but he understood its meaning. “Konohamaru was much younger when it happened so I don't know.” Even as he brushed off the question, though, he did wonder how exactly Konohamaru had survived that day. It was strange that Danzo would kill everyone else in the Sarutobi clan and leave one small boy alive. It was almost cruel and despite his many flaws, Danzo was not cruel, he was simply ruthless.

“Oh,” Tazuna said seeing his hopes dashed.

They continued to walk together in silence until rounding a corner when the bridge suddenly came into view. This was the first unobstructed view Jiraiya had of the bridge and he was pretty impressed. It looked as if it was halfway complete and it looked sturdy. Two carts could easily pass each other without one having to give way to the other on it. “They haven't done much since I left,” Tazuna muttered more to himself than to anyone else.

When they arrived at the construction site, Jiraiya did a quick analysis of the terrain and found that while it wasn't ideal it could be a lot worse. The nearby woods was a little worrying, having been recently cleared there were a lot of small brush growing in now and of course there was the water. Tazuna wanted to do a quick inspection tour before the rest of the crew arrived so they made their way to the end of the bridge.

The attack came without any warning. There was an explosion to their right side which was followed immediately by the shrieking of twisting metal. One of the nearby cranes had just had its supports blown out and it was falling. Tazuna was frozen in disbelief as it started to fall in his direction. With a burst of speed Jiraiya pushed the man out of the way as the crane's arm crashed onto the bridge only inches behind them.

Jiraiya rolled to his feet realizing that Tazuna wouldn't have an easy escape route even as mist started to roll in. “Stay low,” he snapped. The mist became thick, the visibility dropped to only a few feet. It became so thick he wondered how Raiga intended to find his target. Well, they were on a bridge so maybe he planned some sort of big attack. Raising his hand to his mouth, he bit his thumb preparing to use one of his strongest defensive techniques if he had too.

Jiraiya resisted the temptation to close his eyes as he concentrated on his hearing. A six sense of his, which had been developed over years of battle, told him there was someone to his right, but it didn't seem right so he ignored it. When the attack did come, it was from the left. Raiga was going directly for the target, ignoring him.

Jiraiya managed to cut in front of him, grabbing the man's sword hand and slamming his elbow into the man's abdomen, right where his diaphragm was. Forcing the air out of his lungs, he had just enough time to realize that something wasn't right when he heard a crackling sound. Jumping back, he saw the figure he had hit explode into water as a Lightning Ball ripped its way through the clone. The ball of energy slammed into the pavement and exploded leaving behind a small crater.

How the hell had he managed to use a long-range attack in mist this thick? Yes, he was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, but still, how had he known where to aim. Had he aimed for the clone or could he somehow see in this mist?

It was only then he noticed that there were smaller particles suspended in the air. They were so small and fine that he had easily overlooked them before. However, he immediately realized that these were somehow connected to the man's ability to aim accurately in this mist. Well, then he had to stop playing around. Landing close to Tazuna he said, “Sorry about this,” and quickly summoned the Toad Mouth Bind.

Technically, the Toad Mouth Bind was meant to trap an enemy, but since it was impossible to break out of it was also impossible to break into. Tazuna had only enough time to say a startled, “What!” Before being cut off.

Freed from the immediate need to protect his client, he jumped onto the fleshy mass that was protecting Tazuna and shouted, “Raiga Kurosuki, I have no desire to...” He stopped as he started to feel the hairs on his arms start to rise. Realizing he was now the tallest object in the area, he jumped towards the water just as a lightning bolt struck where he had just been standing.

Landing on the water’s surface, he spun around, his ears ringing trying to see if there was any damage, but he couldn't see through the mist. His hearing quickly returned to normal and he was just about to shout his plea for negotiation when he noticed the mist started to lift. Unsure of what was happening Jiraiya kept his mouth shut.

After a few minutes the mist had completely vanished and he scanned the terrain but couldn't find any hint that the other ninja was still here. Had he withdrawn? That seemed unlikely, but then he realized what had happened. He had placed the man's target in a protective barrier that he had probably just hit with one of his more powerful attacks. Since he could still see the fleshy mass on the bridge, Raiga had obviously been unable to break it. So he had withdrawn to strike again later. Jiraiya let out a long sigh at his failure. He had not even managed to say a complete sentence to the man.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Naruto ran his fingers through Konohamaru’s hair. He carefully avoided the ice that was wrapped in a dish cloth still pressed against the others head. He had seen Konohamaru take some hard hits during taijutsu practice, but he didn't seem to be bouncing back like he normally did. Konohamaru suddenly sat up and removed the cloth from his head and let the ice slip out into the water below. It made a small splash and they both watched as the ice floated back to the surface.

“Feeling better?”

Konohamaru nodded and suddenly asked, “Why does everyone hate me?”

The question took him aback, but without much thought he answered “Nobody hates you Konohamaru.”

“Yes they do!” Konohamaru snapped, “Nobody ever wants me around.” He turned away from him and pulled his knees close in to his chest and buried his head into them.

For once, Naruto didn't know what to do for Konohamaru. In the back of his head he remembered something Sakura had told him. “You're his only friend.” At the time he had dismissed it, but then Hanabi had said something similar. “I like you and Jiraiya likes you.”

“He's just nice to me because he likes you. That's how it always is. He even spends more time with you then he does with me.”

Naruto scooted a little closer to the boy and said in a soft tone. “He spends more time with me because you're smarter than me. Sometimes he has to explain something two or three times to me, but he tells you once and you get it. I've even asked you for help, remember?”

Konohamaru nodded a little, but he didn't turn around. He was about to give him a kiss on the neck in hopes of making him feel better when a voice said from behind them “Are you two okay?”

Naruto turned to see Tsunami stepping outside. He smiled and answered, “Yeah, we're okay.”

The woman smiled as she approached and knelt down near Konohamaru. “Are you feeling okay?”

Konohamaru nodded, but still didn't say anything.

“I'm glad you're not hurt and I'm sorry Inari hurt you. Please don't hate him for what happened. He's been very sad lately.”

“It’s okay, we'll just stay out of his way,” Naruto said.

“No,” Konohamaru suddenly spoke up. “I'm going to make him my friend.” His pronouncement caught everyone by surprise, but then he turned to Naruto and said, “You'll help me, right Naruto?”

“Um sure,” he answered hesitantly.

Tsunami raised a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Well, as long as you two are nice about it, go ahead.” Then she added, “Hey, how would you two like a snack?”

In response to her question, Naruto's stomach rumbled and he placed a hand over it. “If it's not any trouble, we didn't eat breakfast yet.”

“Well, then I'll have to make you two something.”