Three 6 Nine
folder
Naruto › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
3
Views:
1,199
Reviews:
15
Recommended:
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Currently Reading:
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Category:
Naruto › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
3
Views:
1,199
Reviews:
15
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter Two
Ohayo minna-san! Hisashiburi ne? Gomen nasai!! *gives deep bow* It certainly has been too long huh? I really apologize for this overdue update, but it may be that way for a while since life is always in the way right now. But hopefully this chapter can make you guys hang on a little while *gives puppy eyes*. I really REALLY hope this chapter was worth the wait *puts index fingers together* >.< OH! And thank you for the reviews!! ^-^!!
*AN*4.30: okay...so I got two reviews that said that there's a problem with the spacing...(in which I personally agree SHH!) BUT I've got at least 5 other people that prefer it that way saying it makes a better read. So...here's the deal...I'd like more opinions on the matter. I'm not offended by what you guys think as long as it's constructive criticism and I really appreciate your honesty guys. Remember...this story is as much for you as it is for me so let me know what you think. If there are more people who agree with the spacing issue, then I'll go back and fix the stuff already posted.
I also wanted to let people know that finals are coming up...which means....SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER!! ^O^!! That also means a little more time to spend with this story and perhaps slightly faster updates (can't make promises though sorry >.
Chapter Two
Fact:
Two out of three shinobi are reported as MIA within the first six months of their career and KIA within the first three years.
Fact:
Four out of seven ninja will question the system of principles that define the life of a shinobi within the first two months of their graduation. Half of them will turn their back on the very same system they have sworn to uphold.
Fact:
One shinobi was placed last in his graduating class, but rapidly moved forward in the ranks. He redefined the ways of a shinobi by following the beat of his own drum.
Fact:
That damn beat never ceased to give Jiraiya a throbbing migraine.
‘I really need to stop hanging around blonds...’ he thought as he considered his missing student, dead prodigy, and busty former teammate.
Then he looked sideways to his left at the person behind bars. ‘...and snakes...’
Jiraiya knew how ironic his life really was. First, he is known as the famous Toad Hermit when in fact, he is constantly surrounding himself with people, though he often asks himself why. Second, he continues to train new shinobi even though he is a classic statistic of the one who questions the principles. Third, he still likes hanging around blonds regardless of the types and amount of pain they put him through: physical aches, heart aches, or head aches.
Fourth, karma must love making him suffer for his pervertedness since his life is replaying before his eyes through a very annoying blond gaki that he endured the pains of molding.
...And he still had to deal with snakes...lovely.
The white-haired Sannin sighed for the umpteenth time as he stood against the wall inside the jailhouse, legs and arms crossed, trying desperately not to fall asleep...or leave to go do more “interesting” research. Really there’s only so much slithering sliminess that one could endure. He then shifted his eyes to the adjacent cells.
And the creepy teme had a delusional worshiper and a mini me to boot. Just peachy.
He closed his eyes briefly, which gave him the appearance of being in a thinking gesture. What was unusual was that this was actually not that far from the truth. As he stood there against the wall, he, in his own special way, tried to absorb everything that had happened thus far including the times when he was still just a Genin making his way as a shinobi. Anyone who knew of Jiraiya at the very least knew that his philosophy never exceeded things that had two pairs of appendages: one on the bottom and one up top...and he wasn’t referring to the mode of grasping and transportation though they were a plus. He was a very firm believer of “the bigger they are, the hard he falls”. So to think that the man who gave birth to Icha Icha could even be slightly more introspective than that was a monumental revelation...and a cause for a late night at the bar.
“It must be painful.”
Jiraiya peeked open his narrowed eye in the direction of the comment with an effort to not do anything more than that. All he saw were a bright pair of yellow eyes staring intently at him through the darkness of the prison. He kept looking back without saying a word as the other set of eyes stared back without blinking. The staring contest ensued as the silence reigned as Jiraiya’s eyebrows started to move agitatedly while commencing the onset of sweating bullets.
Then the yellow pair of eyes blinked once and a chibi Jiraiya was doing a victory dance with fans plastered with pictures of frogs in his mind.
However, the imagery was short-lived when a noise that sounded almost but not entirely like a...snort came from the cell.
“You’ve always managed to cause serious damage to yourself when attempting something akin to intelligence. While I don’t particularly care as it would be at the very least to my amusement if not benefit should that happen, I don’t suppose that would impede your duties as the guard of three S-rank criminals.”
Where the hell did that come from?!
“You were trying to think.”
“SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ASSHOLE!” a.k.a. how the fuck does he do that?!
With a mumbling growl that’s specifically reserved for moments like these when Orochimaru verbally degraded him, he returned to his pose of deep thought, which turned to brooding by now. He did not care what the snake bastard thought and he was going to prove it by pretending to ignore him.
“Predictable as ever.”
Jiraiya’s eyebrows crunched further as his eyes were already closed. His face seemed to represent such concentration, which could be mistaken for constipation, while he was fighting the match against the pout that was trying to come out.
“You’d think by now Konoha would have someone more useful as a guard of any prisoner let alone S-class ones.”
He lost the match.
“But then again, I suppose Konoha could not afford to spare anyone of even the slightest use and thus had to place you somewhere as usual.”
The Toad Sannin had his back facing the all-seeing yellow eyes while his face was completely red with anger and eyes comically expressing his annoyance with puffed cheeks like a petulant child. Any minute he was about to throw a tantrum.
“I wonder what he would think.”
That stopped Jiraiya in his tracks and the silence that fell over the place was thicker than two Gamabuntas residing next to one another. His posture was a stiff as the prison door and he did not have any part of his body move a centimeter as his face was shadowed by the darkness of the room.
“No doubt he would be questioning the logic in entrusting you with his affairs. I can imagine the mileage he covered just by rolling in his grave.”
He was a statue growing more rigid by the second.
The yellow eyes then looked to its side in a nonchalant manner. “You failed. Like always.”
Next thing he knew, Orochimaru could not breathe. There were fingers digging hard into his throat as he looked down at the hand and the following arm attached to it through the bars.
Jiraiya’s face was still shadowed as he looked slightly down at his feet while his right arm was extended through the prison bars. Every single part of his body was stone still other than the fingers that viciously clenched around the Snake Sannin’s throat.
“OROCHIMARU-SAMA!” yelled a frantic voice to the left of the cell. Silence reigned in the cell to the right.
However, it was obvious that both engaging parties ignored the outburst as they were more focused on the issue at hand, literally. Yellow narrowed eyes bore into the shadowed face of its assaulter as if commanding it to let go. After about a minute and half of fingers increasing their pressure against their prey, a strangled noise came out of the throat.
“RELEASE OROCHIMARU-SAMA YOU BASTARD! I’LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!” yelled the voice of the left cell. Red eyes with dark tomoe finally decided to make their appearance from the right cell as the situation seemed to get a bit more interesting.
Orochimaru’s hand that gripped Jiraiya’s had a force that could crush stone into sand, yet it had no effect on the attacking appendage. Although sweating bullets he said, “Pathetic.” His face contorted slightly as the pressure slightly increased again. “Is...is this the best...you...you can do?!” he shouted as if he wasn’t about to meet his demise at all.
The shadowed face finally turned upwards. What Orochimaru saw made his yellow snake eyes widen. Sharpened blade eyes unlike he had ever seen highlighted Jiraiya’s normally goofy face now silkily deadly. The only words he heard were “Go. To. Hell.” before he found himself flying and hitting the back of his cell.
Jiraiya watched as Orochimaru sat up from his position.
Red, yellow, and wide bespectacled eyes stared at the ominous figure before them with a mixture of emotions.
“You may have been the genius of our generation, but you still have a hellova lot to learn Orochimaru. If there is one thing I know for sure is that I may be a failure, but MY prodigies have and will never be unlike some snake asshole like you. So I suggest you watch what your ten-foot slimy tongue says because I can guarantee that that blond gaki that you love to ridicule as much as me will put it in its rightful place: RIGHT UP YOUR ASS!!” he shook red in the face with anger.
A sputtering noise was heard in the cell of the four-eyed worshipper while the other two were quiet. However, yellow eyes went back to regarding Jiraiya carefully while the last cell was a dark and silently as ever, the owner having lost interest.
Just then, a noise was heard. Jiraiya’s ears twitched at the sound like a cat’s. The volume of the noise increased from the cell of the yellow eyes until Jiraiya recognized for what it was. Then Jiraiya closed his eyes while lifting his head up to the ceiling almost as if saying ‘why me?’ via body language. After a couple of seconds, he hung his head and turned his back to the cell and started walking out.
The sound of Orochimaru’s hysterical laughter followed him all the way.
~*~
There’s got to be a reason for this.
‘DON’T...go there.’
There’s no other explanation for this.
‘The hell there isn’t!’
It all makes sense now. He is not a man of his word.
‘What part of don’t go there do you not understand?!’
In the end, it was all designed by f—
“SHUT THE HELL UP!!” a voice suddenly screamed into the night. Then a thud was all that was heard following it.
It seemed that the owner of the frantic voice collapsed on his hands and knees crushing the dried leaves beneath him. Heavy breathing as if running for miles without stop issued forth from his tired body. Eyes desperately shut to will away the things he had sworn would never spill from him again. How did it come to this?
Wasn’t this his cousin’s role?
Blank eyes steadily opened to stare at the dark ground before him. Not exactly the best of positions for someone who is supposed to be scouting the area for lagging enemies, but that could be set aside for now. What was a wreck like him going to defend against anyway?
“A fine example I am. Looking strong and confident in front of her when she had been able all this time. What a fool I’ve been.”
Neji proceeded to sit back on his haunches and briefly scanned the area to ensure there were no intruders before he allowed himself to relax further. This is what he wanted anyway, which is why he pushed Hinata to scout in a different direction.
Turning his attention to the sky, he noted how beautiful the stars were that evening twinkling brightly against their dark background. The heavens, it seemed, were paying more attention to them than ever before.
Neji snorted loudly.
What was the point of paying attention now when it was all over? Why bother when there was nothing to see but mere pathetic beings?
He mentally questioned these stars and, as expected, received no response in turn. Taking a deep breath into the night air, he looked all around him once more to make sure he was alone.
He then stood up shakily using the tree next to him to aid him. When fully standing, he made sure he was able to balance on his own without staggering before placing his hands in his pockets and starting his slow walk ahead. To where, he wasn’t fully sure. He just knew that he had to keep moving.
Keeping his snail’s pace, his mind involuntarily turned back to everything he could remember about the Uzumaki anomaly from the day that he met him to the minutes of his departure. Normally, this should be something that his dear cousin would agonize about, not him. And yet the pictures kept appearing before his eyes one after another. They were all mixed together with no coherency with the player jammed on fast-forward. And yet he still knew what each memory was and its significance.
There is no saving the unfaithful. All liars will be judged.
Standing still with a dry chuckle he replied, “Then I must be, as they say, ‘screwed’ if that should be the case.” Laughing a little for a couple of more seconds at his comment, it eventually died down to reveal a sober face. “I’ve lost faith. Though, I’m not sure if I ever had any to begin with,” he said to the bright stars twinkling down to him as he stared upwards.
Neji continued to stare at the night sky with hands in pockets absently, not moving a single muscle. Turmoil like no other raged inside of him that he was sure would kill him if he allowed it. But, as any proud Hyuuga, he’d be thrice damned and double dipped before the notion even formed.
Narrowing his eyes at the bright stars in intense concentration of thought, he continued to think about everything that had to do with his life and Uzumaki’s influence as a whole. It seemed the Hyuuga was engaged in quite an active silent conversation with the night sky.
Then, out of nowhere, he brought his head down abruptly and “humphed” at the situation. Slowly, a lifeless grin appeared on his emotionless face finally coming to a conclusion to his internal debate.
There’s got to be a reason for this.
‘So it seems...’
There’s no other explanation for this.
‘Doesn’t really matter if there was one.’
It all makes sense now. He’s not a man of his word.
‘...’
In the end, it was all designed by fate.
‘I’m not entirely sure about that.’
There is no saving the unfaithful. All liars will be judged.
‘As it should be I would presume.’
Neji continued forward on his slow-paced journey further in the dark forest. Like what his cousin experienced before, he had a sudden epiphany that fueled his focus and determination to see his decision through.
“Uzumaki Naruto...”
It was finally a relief to have his mind clearer than he could ever remember it being. It seemed the clean night air managed to affect the mess that was his head a couple of minutes ago.
Just as Neji was about to turn back, he stood frozen in his spot. Eyes narrowed, he silently activated his bloodline limit scanning the entire area around him.
‘Uzumaki Naruto...’
Aware that the unseen entity already knows that Neji can sense its presence judging from his posture, he prepared himself for the worst. Spreading his legs and arms apart to react to any attack coming from any direction, he tensed waiting for anything to come.
‘I will...’
A rustle to his left was all that he needed to dash forward in that direction.
‘I will find you...’
Using his Byakugan to see the chakra flow of this person, he located him/her near the tree he collapsed by earlier. Thus, he took out a kunai ready to throw it from a distance to stop the movement and perhaps to permanently rid Konoha of one living enemy.
‘I will find you Uzumaki.’
Throwing the kunai, he aimed for the upper right shoulder of the person to at least pin him/her to the tree. Sure enough, his target struck true. He raced forward to identify his catch.
‘So be prepared for me...’
Neji practically appeared out of thin air in front of the unknown enemy. His face completely shadowed by the darkness around.
‘Because when I find you...’
He checked, without touching the person, for any damage. It seemed the person was injured quite heavily prior to Neji’s attack. He bent down on his knees to closely examine the face just as the moon that was hidden behind several tall trees from before was in full view in this position, illuminating everything.
‘When I find you Uzumaki...’
Neji’s face was blanker than a sheet of paper and held a tinge of an unnatural hardness to it. Examining the person in front of him like a specimen under a microscope, he continued to assess this girl realizing in fact she was a female. Her head bowed down due to falling unconscious, he checked her pulse finding quite weak. His lifeless grin reappearing once more.
“When I find you Uzumaki,” he whispered softly with the grin in place, “I will...”
He closed his eyes briefly, while letting out a slight almost unnoticeable chuckle. He then looked back at the unconscious girl in front of him.
With a larger grin that was just a lifeless as the last he finally came to the conclusion:
“When I find you Uzumaki...I will kill you.”
He looked down at his prey, all the while having these dark thoughts. Interestingly, for a face to be stripped of emotion, in that moment an eerie streak of dark amusement seemed to reflect on his face in the moonlight. As he looked over the girl with the help of the moon and more of his attention directed towards her, he finally noticed something off. His expression going from curious to quite serious in rapid succession, he narrowed his eyes at the girl’s attire. Then his eyes strayed down to something he probably should have taken notice to in the beginning around her neck.
‘Oh...shit.’
Sighing, he stood up once more and dully turned his head upwards now facing the moon. The situation at hand will go as fate prescribed it, the heavenly body seemed to convey.
Smiling now, he turned his back from the unconscious girl walking deeper into the forest. His last thoughts while he was in Konoha being:
‘You never should have interfered with fate. Now yours will end by my mine.’
~*~
The situation was obviously delicate.
It required much thought, caution, grace, and sake naturally.
At least, that’s what she was sure her shishou was thinking right now.
“WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE?! THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET HERE TWO FUCKING MINUTES AGO!!!”
And that would be her...er...being her it would seem.
Sighing heavily as she was organizing several documents in front of her in preparation for a more than difficult meeting, the woman found herself cringing at her banshee of a boss. Don’t get her wrong, she is very considerate of the delicate situation she is going through and if making everyone’s eardrums suffer helps her deal with it...then she won’t get attached to hers.
Whether she likes it or not.
Gathering all her paraphernalia, Shizune proceeded towards the Hokage’s office with several phrases running through her mind that may at least bring Tsunade’s wrath back down to be read on a meter. Luckily, she has had many years of experience for this.
Too bad they weren’t going to do her much good this time.
Opening the door slowly and taking a deep breath, Shizune pushed forward into the office with the selected Jounins, Iruka, and Tsunade’s back facing her.
“Hokage-sama—“
“DON’T YOU EVEN START!!” yelled a wild-eyed fierce Tsunade as she whipped around to face her assistant. “DON’T YOU EVEN TRY TO MAKE UP SOME FUCKING EXCUSE FOR THEIR LATENESS OR...OR TRY TO CALM ME DOWN!! DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT TO BE CALM?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE SHOULD ALL BE FREAKIN’ CALM?!”
Shizune as well as the rest of the occupants of the room stood frozen still and wide-eyed from the Hokage’s reaction aside from Kakashi who was busy reading his bible.
Recovering quicker than the others, Shizune shook herself slightly. “Ah...well...no-no Tsunade-sama...I-I don’t suppose...um...”
Abruptly Tsunade turned back around facing the window. In a clear-cut voice that could rival a drill sergeant she said, “If you haven’t got anything pertinent to say to me, then leave until you do. I don’t want you back in here until you get me everyone that is supposed to be here.”
Shizune was once again stunned into silence, which is quite a rare occurrence when it is by Tsunade. All she could do is stand there gaping like a fish, another rare occurrence in her book.
“I SAID GET OUT THERE!”
That woke Shizune up from her daze as she scramble to quickly leave the room. Shutting the door loudly and walking down the hall as fast as she could, she realized that she had no idea where she was going. With that thought, she slowed down until she decided to fully stop and lean against the wall. Hyperventilating appeared to be the only thing she could do now as her mind reeled back over the event that just occurred.
Tsunade-sama never, no matter what the circumstances were, acted that way with her.
She closed her eyes tightly and leaned her head back while clutching the documents tightly against her chest. She knew that Tsunade-sama was distressed, but she did not think it would make her behave in this way. Turning her head back downward towards her feet, she opened her eyes a little. Her vision slightly blurred all of a sudden until it cleared once again.
She saw two wet drops, one on each foot.
Startled to see them, Shizune lifted her head and touched her right hand to her cheek. Sure enough, it felt slightly wet.
It has been a while since she has cried. She did not think she would have a real reason to after having experiencing so many things so far. After all, a shinobi’s life is filled with reasons to cry, but after a while it seems pointless to. It’s not like they are ever going to stop.
So why was she crying?
She knew it wasn’t certainly because of the fact that Tsunade-sama yelled at her. Goodness knows she has a wonderful resume in that department to let it even get to her.
It wasn’t because she was severely embarrassed at being yelled that way in front of the other shinobi because frankly she had a feeling that they were probably more sympathetic towards her than anything. No one would want to be within range of that, let alone be on the receiving end.
After giving it a little more thought, she concluded that it also could not be because of the situation. While she was very fond of Naruto-kun to the point of him being like a younger brother to her, she knew his sudden disappearance would not make her cry primarily because she had a lot of faith in him. Sure she was certainly very worried about him, but she trusted the fact that he would keep himself safe and that whatever reasons he had for leaving, they were not for hurting his precious people or Konoha for that matter.
If not for any of these reasons, then why was she still crying uncontrollably?!
No longer able to suppress her feelings, Shizune dropped all the papers she was holding having them scatter all over the hall. She slid along the wall pressing her hands to her face as she sobbed her heart out.
“W-WHY?!” she screamed to the empty hallway.
Why did everything have to be this way?
Why did Tsunade-sama have to look...look so broken?
Why...why did she have to go back and harden herself like the way she was before she met Naruto-kun?
It seemed this time around Shizune could not find the words to say to her shishou to help her deal with this. It seemed this time around she could not be the assistant she really needed at the moment.
Crying until there were no tears left, only dry heaving, she put her hands on her knees and opened her slightly puffy eyes to look in front of her. Staring blankly at the dark red-orange wall with her head a bit buzzed and a little pained from the crying, she sat there trying to be rid of all thoughts. For once, she just would like to let the feeling of emptiness wash over her.
‘Shizune-nee-chan! Ganbatte ne!’
Shizune’s eyes shot open. Looking around her slowly as if waiting for someone to come around the corner, she strained her ears for any other sound. She could have sworn she heard someone.
“Na-Naruto-kun?” she croakily whispered.
When she received no response, she looked back down to her knees. She allowed the sounds of silence invade her ears, and letting everything and nothing all at once saturate her mind. After remaining that way for what felt like days, she managed a grin, albeit weakly, as she hugged herself a bit before she slowly stood. Looking around at all the papers scattered, she carefully picked up each one arranging them in their proper order.
After gathering all her things, the papers and herself alike, she stood up and took one last deep breath with her eyes lightly closed. Exhaling, she looked ahead with a new shine in her eyes and a grin on her face.
Turning her head behind her, she looked back at the corner almost seeing a faded orange being with bright blond hair disappearing behind it, left hand waving slightly back at her as it runs away.
‘Hai. Ganbatte, Naruto-kun.”
Looking back straight ahead, she walked forward, determined to no longer bring up problems, but find solutions—real ones. No more covering them up with words, but actually fixing them...and she going to start by finding those damn tardy subordinates of Tsunade-sama’s. She’ll find the Naruto gaki in due time and give him a piece of her mind then for everything: making Tsunade-sama sad, making her and everyone else worry, for breaking the rules again...
...And for cheering her up.
Smiling for being quite pleased with herself and her definitive decision, she turned the corner and found herself flat on the floor with her papers flying everywhere. What the hell?
She looked in front of her and instantly realized what the hell. It appears as though the things she was supposed to find...found her instead...and quite painfully at that.
“Ah! Shizune-sempai...sumimasen!” Sakura’s mouth was spewing out rapidly as she quickly tried to gather all the papers that scattered everywhere. Shikamaru, still flat on his back, exhaled loudly with a quiet “troublesome.”
Shizune couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow at the two. “Where have you two been? Tsunade-sama has been waiting for you all to arrive and start the meeting.”
She curiously noted that they both stared at her a bit, one with a look of surprise with a mixture of panic, and the other utter boredom. If she had not been paying attention, however, she would have missed the brief glance they gave each other before turning their attention back to her.
Shizune continued to look at the two expecting some sort of response to her inquiry. When she received none, all she could say was, “Well?”
Sighing, Sakura began, “Shizune,” which kind of startled Shizune with the tone and lack of honorific, “we’ve done as Hokage-sama asks. It took a little longer than expected, but...”
Shizune waited for her to continue, but it seemed she was unwilling to oblige her. “But what?”
Sakura then turned to Shikamaru, who still hadn’t moved an inch. Then out of nowhere he responded, “We found something.”
Shizune widened her eyes at that. “Really?! Excellent! We need to get whatever you found to Tsunade-sama right away!” She stood up quickly and took all the papers Sakura collected and tried to dash quickly back to the Hokage’s office. However, a hand on her arm was holding her back.
“Matte Shizune-sempai!”
Stopping in her tracks, she looked back at the two, one fully standing, the other one trying to will himself to. “Nani?”
Looking down at the point of their contact, Sakura appeared to be carefully thinking about what she was going to say next. “Hokage-sama...is not going to like what she is about to hear,” Sakura said as she looked back into Shizune’s eyes.
Shizune was surprised at the comment simply because it seemed to be a redundant thing to say. Of course anyone would assume, considering the situation, that Tsunade would not be pleased with what they would find. So why was Sakura stopping her for this? She turned to Shikamaru who seemed to find the wall to his right more interesting than the conversation going on now.
“Well, I certainly figured that that would be the case Sakura,” Shizune said exasperatedly as she turned her attention back to her. “I would be surprised if it wouldn’t. Was it really necessary to stop me just to say that?” she inquired carefully.
Determined, Sakura replied with a resounding “Yes.”
Curious now, Shizune was just about to ask why that was so until Shikamaru beat her to the punch. “We need you to see what we found first...before Hokage-sama.”
Startled, Shizune could only say one thing: “Why?”
Gripping Shizune’s arm a little tighter, Sakura took a deep breath and said, “Because we’re about to do something that she will absolutely hate.”
~*~
That...went rather well...all things considered.
After Shizune-san left the room, the Hokage’s office was deathly silent. It seemed no one wanted to, or was brave enough, or was even interested in breaking it. Everyone remained in their original positions without twitching a muscle. It was a special skill of the shinobi that they were instilled with since the days of the academy.
One kid, who behaved like child inflicted with ADD, was a bit hard-headed during that training. In fact, the kid was pretty stubborn all around.
He continuously acted out in class, skipped classes, and did poorly on quite a number of exams. He certainly was not even average let alone a stellar student. He gave more headaches than all the troublemakers of the academy combined...and that is saying something. He really knew how to drive the teachers crazy.
Especially the Hokage with his Oiroke no Jutsu. Good thing the current Hokage can’t be affected by that one.
What a serious troublemaker that one was.
And yet he was still his favorite.
Iruka found himself breaking the very training all shinobi were instilled with by smiling sadly at his thoughts. How he missed that blond troublemaker. How is he doing, he wondered.
Everything happened so fast at the time. One minute he was taking out invading shinobi who were trying to take their aim at the academy students, and the next everyone stopped to observe Naruto. After a flashy performance and mysterious words, he was vanished out of Konoha.
Regardless of what anyone said or thought, Iruka did not even let the idea of Naruto betraying anyone even formulate in his mind. He stubbornly refused to believe anything of the like.
He guessed he now knows where the kid got his hard-headedness from.
In any case, wherever the gaki was, he was still a strong, loyal shinobi of Konoha in his book. And he will yell into submission anyone who thought otherwise.
Tsunade-sama isn’t the only one who can be scary.
Iruka’s thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. Members of the original Rookie 9 plus Team Gai walked in, although some were missing.
“What took you so long?” said a stern voice from the window side.
They all looked at each other before TenTen stepped forward with a bow and said, “Sumimasen Hokage-sama. There was a massive amount of bodies and quite of few stragglers to deal with. We tried to finish as quickly as possible.”
Tsunade continued to remain silent after the explanation. After a while, she slowly turned around to face the occupants of the room before she landed her eyes on the newcomers. She then nodded once to them. “Spread yourselves around. There should be more joining us soon.”
Iruka observed the whole thing curiously. While he understood that the whole point of this meeting was for Naruto, he did not really understand why he was here. Sure, he would like to know what was going on with the boy and such, but he was also aware that whatever was about to happen or be said here, there was nothing much he could do about it. He wasn’t trying to be negative or anything of the sort. He was simply being realistic in his opinion.
In fact, he really did not see what the whole point of having such a meeting with everyone here in the first place. One thing that he learned from having to deal with Naruto for so long is that he does things his own way...and there is nothing anyone could ever do to stop it. One way or another, he gets his way.
To Iruka, he preferred letting things happen at their own pace. He figures that he will find out what happened to Naruto to when he is meant to...which mostly means when Naruto feels ready to come forth with it. He doubts anyway that this meeting would even come close to providing accurate answers to Naruto’s mysteries.
The door once again opened and everyone looked up at the newcomers. Shizune, with a serious look on her face, walked in with a sense of a strong determination in her stature while Shikamaru walked more languidly but a bit more alert than usual, behind her.
“Tsuunade-sama. I’ve brought Shikamaru for the meeting,” Shizune said with a slight bow.
Tsunade looked at her carefully before nodding once to her. “Where is Sakura?” directing her question to Shikamaru. However, Shizune took the liberty of answering.
“She remained back at the site of investigation Hokage-sama. She wanted to continue processing the place to gather more information, “ she said without skipping a beat.
Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the statement, but made no further comment. “We will begin the meeting now that most of who are required are present. Make sure to leave a little more room. There are still others who should be arriving to join us.”
Everyone in varying degrees expressed surprise mixed with confusion on their faces.
Iruka, on the other hand, couldn’t contain it at that. “But Hokage-sama, who else could possibly join us?” Everyone’s eyes completely zeroed in on the academy teacher, surprised at his boldness.
Tsunade considered him for a moment before saying, “Do not worry. They are relevant and you will all find out when they arrive. In the meantime, Shikamaru please take the floor to begin this meeting.”
Iruka was a bit put out by the answer, but he accepted nonetheless. Everyone turned their attention now to the lazy genius who took center stage within the Hokage’s office looking for all the world that a bed would be more suitable for him than standing.
Sighing heavily, the teen began:
“There wasn’t much to find in one Uzumaki Naruto’s area of residence. The place was entirely clean to the point of being immaculate. The evidence recovered and data collected was not enough to formulate any conclusive theories concerning the reasons to the suspect’s disappearance.”
At that point, everyone other than Iruka, Kakashi, Kurenai, Shizune and Tsunade showed disappointment. Kakashi kept his eyes glued to his book while Kurenai merely looked indifferent. Only Iruka, Shizune, and Tsunade appeared to show looks of expectance at the answer. However, the difference between them was that Tsunade’s held annoyance while Shizune looked slightly nervous and Iruka appeared thoughtful.
“If that is the case, then why is Sakura-san still processing the scene?” Iruka inquired.
Everyone, once again surprised at Iruka’s assertive input, realized that they had not thought of that detail and looked to Shikamaru for an answer.
Straightening himself and having a sudden look of intense seriousness, Shikamaru replied, “Because what we did recover is serious enough to make the investigation to Naruto’s disappearance top level priority.”
Even Kakashi looked up to gaze at Shikamaru at that while everyone was wide-eyed at the response. Did he just say what they thought he just said?
Iruka was completely stunned. But...but that means...
“W-what are y-you saying Shikamaru?” Iruka stuttered.
Closing his eyes and placing his hands in his pocket, Shikamaru turned his head straight ahead of him in the Hokage’s direction, who was leaning over her desk with both hands staring intensely at him. “It means exactly what it sounds like.” He then opened his eyes that held a sharp seriousness as he looked right into Tsunade’s eyes.
“What we have is enough to treat this case as a top-level S-class missing nin.”
The room was in a flurry of emotions now with various “No that can’t be!” or “What is going on?” floating around in whispers throughout the room. Tsunade slammed her fist on her desk to quiet everyone down. “That’s enough!” she yelled looking at everyone who instantly ceased all noise.
Turning her attention back to Shikamaru, she asked, “What exactly did you find?”
Shikamaru obliged her by saying, “We were able to find a separate room other than what was originally designed for the apartment underneath the floor. After making inquiries to the landlord, we’ve concluded that the room was built most likely by the tenant sometime after he departed on his two and a half year training with Legendary Sannin Jiraiya. The landlord indicated that it could not have been there prior to that because of his routine check on the tenant’s place during his absence. What we discovered within the room, I believe, is something that needs to be viewed first-hand. After we lifted the floorboard to reveal the entrance to the room, a red liquid substance was found on the bottom of it.”
Here Shikamaru lifted his sleeve to reveal a faded red coloring on his hand, wrist, and a little up his arm.
“Is that...is that what I think it is?” Iruka asked. Judging from the look on everyone else’s faces, they probably were wondering the same thing.
Shikamaru looked at Iruka and said, “If you think it’s blood, then I would say yes and no.”
Everyone, including Iruka and Tsunade, was perplexed at the statement.
Shikamaru then looked at his arm and said, “After doing some tests, we discovered that the majority of the substance is actually red paint. There were only faint traces of blood within the liquid.”
...
Paint? What the hell?
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Shikamaru’s arm. “How the hell did it get on your arm? Isn’t the paint supposed to be dry?”
Shikamaru’s face displayed a dark look at that. “That’s what makes this very serious.”
Everyone could feel the dread that permeated the room at that.
*AN*4.30: okay...so I got two reviews that said that there's a problem with the spacing...(in which I personally agree SHH!) BUT I've got at least 5 other people that prefer it that way saying it makes a better read. So...here's the deal...I'd like more opinions on the matter. I'm not offended by what you guys think as long as it's constructive criticism and I really appreciate your honesty guys. Remember...this story is as much for you as it is for me so let me know what you think. If there are more people who agree with the spacing issue, then I'll go back and fix the stuff already posted.
I also wanted to let people know that finals are coming up...which means....SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER!! ^O^!! That also means a little more time to spend with this story and perhaps slightly faster updates (can't make promises though sorry >.
Chapter Two
Fact:
Two out of three shinobi are reported as MIA within the first six months of their career and KIA within the first three years.
Fact:
Four out of seven ninja will question the system of principles that define the life of a shinobi within the first two months of their graduation. Half of them will turn their back on the very same system they have sworn to uphold.
Fact:
One shinobi was placed last in his graduating class, but rapidly moved forward in the ranks. He redefined the ways of a shinobi by following the beat of his own drum.
Fact:
That damn beat never ceased to give Jiraiya a throbbing migraine.
‘I really need to stop hanging around blonds...’ he thought as he considered his missing student, dead prodigy, and busty former teammate.
Then he looked sideways to his left at the person behind bars. ‘...and snakes...’
Jiraiya knew how ironic his life really was. First, he is known as the famous Toad Hermit when in fact, he is constantly surrounding himself with people, though he often asks himself why. Second, he continues to train new shinobi even though he is a classic statistic of the one who questions the principles. Third, he still likes hanging around blonds regardless of the types and amount of pain they put him through: physical aches, heart aches, or head aches.
Fourth, karma must love making him suffer for his pervertedness since his life is replaying before his eyes through a very annoying blond gaki that he endured the pains of molding.
...And he still had to deal with snakes...lovely.
The white-haired Sannin sighed for the umpteenth time as he stood against the wall inside the jailhouse, legs and arms crossed, trying desperately not to fall asleep...or leave to go do more “interesting” research. Really there’s only so much slithering sliminess that one could endure. He then shifted his eyes to the adjacent cells.
And the creepy teme had a delusional worshiper and a mini me to boot. Just peachy.
He closed his eyes briefly, which gave him the appearance of being in a thinking gesture. What was unusual was that this was actually not that far from the truth. As he stood there against the wall, he, in his own special way, tried to absorb everything that had happened thus far including the times when he was still just a Genin making his way as a shinobi. Anyone who knew of Jiraiya at the very least knew that his philosophy never exceeded things that had two pairs of appendages: one on the bottom and one up top...and he wasn’t referring to the mode of grasping and transportation though they were a plus. He was a very firm believer of “the bigger they are, the hard he falls”. So to think that the man who gave birth to Icha Icha could even be slightly more introspective than that was a monumental revelation...and a cause for a late night at the bar.
“It must be painful.”
Jiraiya peeked open his narrowed eye in the direction of the comment with an effort to not do anything more than that. All he saw were a bright pair of yellow eyes staring intently at him through the darkness of the prison. He kept looking back without saying a word as the other set of eyes stared back without blinking. The staring contest ensued as the silence reigned as Jiraiya’s eyebrows started to move agitatedly while commencing the onset of sweating bullets.
Then the yellow pair of eyes blinked once and a chibi Jiraiya was doing a victory dance with fans plastered with pictures of frogs in his mind.
However, the imagery was short-lived when a noise that sounded almost but not entirely like a...snort came from the cell.
“You’ve always managed to cause serious damage to yourself when attempting something akin to intelligence. While I don’t particularly care as it would be at the very least to my amusement if not benefit should that happen, I don’t suppose that would impede your duties as the guard of three S-rank criminals.”
Where the hell did that come from?!
“You were trying to think.”
“SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ASSHOLE!” a.k.a. how the fuck does he do that?!
With a mumbling growl that’s specifically reserved for moments like these when Orochimaru verbally degraded him, he returned to his pose of deep thought, which turned to brooding by now. He did not care what the snake bastard thought and he was going to prove it by pretending to ignore him.
“Predictable as ever.”
Jiraiya’s eyebrows crunched further as his eyes were already closed. His face seemed to represent such concentration, which could be mistaken for constipation, while he was fighting the match against the pout that was trying to come out.
“You’d think by now Konoha would have someone more useful as a guard of any prisoner let alone S-class ones.”
He lost the match.
“But then again, I suppose Konoha could not afford to spare anyone of even the slightest use and thus had to place you somewhere as usual.”
The Toad Sannin had his back facing the all-seeing yellow eyes while his face was completely red with anger and eyes comically expressing his annoyance with puffed cheeks like a petulant child. Any minute he was about to throw a tantrum.
“I wonder what he would think.”
That stopped Jiraiya in his tracks and the silence that fell over the place was thicker than two Gamabuntas residing next to one another. His posture was a stiff as the prison door and he did not have any part of his body move a centimeter as his face was shadowed by the darkness of the room.
“No doubt he would be questioning the logic in entrusting you with his affairs. I can imagine the mileage he covered just by rolling in his grave.”
He was a statue growing more rigid by the second.
The yellow eyes then looked to its side in a nonchalant manner. “You failed. Like always.”
Next thing he knew, Orochimaru could not breathe. There were fingers digging hard into his throat as he looked down at the hand and the following arm attached to it through the bars.
Jiraiya’s face was still shadowed as he looked slightly down at his feet while his right arm was extended through the prison bars. Every single part of his body was stone still other than the fingers that viciously clenched around the Snake Sannin’s throat.
“OROCHIMARU-SAMA!” yelled a frantic voice to the left of the cell. Silence reigned in the cell to the right.
However, it was obvious that both engaging parties ignored the outburst as they were more focused on the issue at hand, literally. Yellow narrowed eyes bore into the shadowed face of its assaulter as if commanding it to let go. After about a minute and half of fingers increasing their pressure against their prey, a strangled noise came out of the throat.
“RELEASE OROCHIMARU-SAMA YOU BASTARD! I’LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!” yelled the voice of the left cell. Red eyes with dark tomoe finally decided to make their appearance from the right cell as the situation seemed to get a bit more interesting.
Orochimaru’s hand that gripped Jiraiya’s had a force that could crush stone into sand, yet it had no effect on the attacking appendage. Although sweating bullets he said, “Pathetic.” His face contorted slightly as the pressure slightly increased again. “Is...is this the best...you...you can do?!” he shouted as if he wasn’t about to meet his demise at all.
The shadowed face finally turned upwards. What Orochimaru saw made his yellow snake eyes widen. Sharpened blade eyes unlike he had ever seen highlighted Jiraiya’s normally goofy face now silkily deadly. The only words he heard were “Go. To. Hell.” before he found himself flying and hitting the back of his cell.
Jiraiya watched as Orochimaru sat up from his position.
Red, yellow, and wide bespectacled eyes stared at the ominous figure before them with a mixture of emotions.
“You may have been the genius of our generation, but you still have a hellova lot to learn Orochimaru. If there is one thing I know for sure is that I may be a failure, but MY prodigies have and will never be unlike some snake asshole like you. So I suggest you watch what your ten-foot slimy tongue says because I can guarantee that that blond gaki that you love to ridicule as much as me will put it in its rightful place: RIGHT UP YOUR ASS!!” he shook red in the face with anger.
A sputtering noise was heard in the cell of the four-eyed worshipper while the other two were quiet. However, yellow eyes went back to regarding Jiraiya carefully while the last cell was a dark and silently as ever, the owner having lost interest.
Just then, a noise was heard. Jiraiya’s ears twitched at the sound like a cat’s. The volume of the noise increased from the cell of the yellow eyes until Jiraiya recognized for what it was. Then Jiraiya closed his eyes while lifting his head up to the ceiling almost as if saying ‘why me?’ via body language. After a couple of seconds, he hung his head and turned his back to the cell and started walking out.
The sound of Orochimaru’s hysterical laughter followed him all the way.
~*~
There’s got to be a reason for this.
‘DON’T...go there.’
There’s no other explanation for this.
‘The hell there isn’t!’
It all makes sense now. He is not a man of his word.
‘What part of don’t go there do you not understand?!’
In the end, it was all designed by f—
“SHUT THE HELL UP!!” a voice suddenly screamed into the night. Then a thud was all that was heard following it.
It seemed that the owner of the frantic voice collapsed on his hands and knees crushing the dried leaves beneath him. Heavy breathing as if running for miles without stop issued forth from his tired body. Eyes desperately shut to will away the things he had sworn would never spill from him again. How did it come to this?
Wasn’t this his cousin’s role?
Blank eyes steadily opened to stare at the dark ground before him. Not exactly the best of positions for someone who is supposed to be scouting the area for lagging enemies, but that could be set aside for now. What was a wreck like him going to defend against anyway?
“A fine example I am. Looking strong and confident in front of her when she had been able all this time. What a fool I’ve been.”
Neji proceeded to sit back on his haunches and briefly scanned the area to ensure there were no intruders before he allowed himself to relax further. This is what he wanted anyway, which is why he pushed Hinata to scout in a different direction.
Turning his attention to the sky, he noted how beautiful the stars were that evening twinkling brightly against their dark background. The heavens, it seemed, were paying more attention to them than ever before.
Neji snorted loudly.
What was the point of paying attention now when it was all over? Why bother when there was nothing to see but mere pathetic beings?
He mentally questioned these stars and, as expected, received no response in turn. Taking a deep breath into the night air, he looked all around him once more to make sure he was alone.
He then stood up shakily using the tree next to him to aid him. When fully standing, he made sure he was able to balance on his own without staggering before placing his hands in his pockets and starting his slow walk ahead. To where, he wasn’t fully sure. He just knew that he had to keep moving.
Keeping his snail’s pace, his mind involuntarily turned back to everything he could remember about the Uzumaki anomaly from the day that he met him to the minutes of his departure. Normally, this should be something that his dear cousin would agonize about, not him. And yet the pictures kept appearing before his eyes one after another. They were all mixed together with no coherency with the player jammed on fast-forward. And yet he still knew what each memory was and its significance.
There is no saving the unfaithful. All liars will be judged.
Standing still with a dry chuckle he replied, “Then I must be, as they say, ‘screwed’ if that should be the case.” Laughing a little for a couple of more seconds at his comment, it eventually died down to reveal a sober face. “I’ve lost faith. Though, I’m not sure if I ever had any to begin with,” he said to the bright stars twinkling down to him as he stared upwards.
Neji continued to stare at the night sky with hands in pockets absently, not moving a single muscle. Turmoil like no other raged inside of him that he was sure would kill him if he allowed it. But, as any proud Hyuuga, he’d be thrice damned and double dipped before the notion even formed.
Narrowing his eyes at the bright stars in intense concentration of thought, he continued to think about everything that had to do with his life and Uzumaki’s influence as a whole. It seemed the Hyuuga was engaged in quite an active silent conversation with the night sky.
Then, out of nowhere, he brought his head down abruptly and “humphed” at the situation. Slowly, a lifeless grin appeared on his emotionless face finally coming to a conclusion to his internal debate.
There’s got to be a reason for this.
‘So it seems...’
There’s no other explanation for this.
‘Doesn’t really matter if there was one.’
It all makes sense now. He’s not a man of his word.
‘...’
In the end, it was all designed by fate.
‘I’m not entirely sure about that.’
There is no saving the unfaithful. All liars will be judged.
‘As it should be I would presume.’
Neji continued forward on his slow-paced journey further in the dark forest. Like what his cousin experienced before, he had a sudden epiphany that fueled his focus and determination to see his decision through.
“Uzumaki Naruto...”
It was finally a relief to have his mind clearer than he could ever remember it being. It seemed the clean night air managed to affect the mess that was his head a couple of minutes ago.
Just as Neji was about to turn back, he stood frozen in his spot. Eyes narrowed, he silently activated his bloodline limit scanning the entire area around him.
‘Uzumaki Naruto...’
Aware that the unseen entity already knows that Neji can sense its presence judging from his posture, he prepared himself for the worst. Spreading his legs and arms apart to react to any attack coming from any direction, he tensed waiting for anything to come.
‘I will...’
A rustle to his left was all that he needed to dash forward in that direction.
‘I will find you...’
Using his Byakugan to see the chakra flow of this person, he located him/her near the tree he collapsed by earlier. Thus, he took out a kunai ready to throw it from a distance to stop the movement and perhaps to permanently rid Konoha of one living enemy.
‘I will find you Uzumaki.’
Throwing the kunai, he aimed for the upper right shoulder of the person to at least pin him/her to the tree. Sure enough, his target struck true. He raced forward to identify his catch.
‘So be prepared for me...’
Neji practically appeared out of thin air in front of the unknown enemy. His face completely shadowed by the darkness around.
‘Because when I find you...’
He checked, without touching the person, for any damage. It seemed the person was injured quite heavily prior to Neji’s attack. He bent down on his knees to closely examine the face just as the moon that was hidden behind several tall trees from before was in full view in this position, illuminating everything.
‘When I find you Uzumaki...’
Neji’s face was blanker than a sheet of paper and held a tinge of an unnatural hardness to it. Examining the person in front of him like a specimen under a microscope, he continued to assess this girl realizing in fact she was a female. Her head bowed down due to falling unconscious, he checked her pulse finding quite weak. His lifeless grin reappearing once more.
“When I find you Uzumaki,” he whispered softly with the grin in place, “I will...”
He closed his eyes briefly, while letting out a slight almost unnoticeable chuckle. He then looked back at the unconscious girl in front of him.
With a larger grin that was just a lifeless as the last he finally came to the conclusion:
“When I find you Uzumaki...I will kill you.”
He looked down at his prey, all the while having these dark thoughts. Interestingly, for a face to be stripped of emotion, in that moment an eerie streak of dark amusement seemed to reflect on his face in the moonlight. As he looked over the girl with the help of the moon and more of his attention directed towards her, he finally noticed something off. His expression going from curious to quite serious in rapid succession, he narrowed his eyes at the girl’s attire. Then his eyes strayed down to something he probably should have taken notice to in the beginning around her neck.
‘Oh...shit.’
Sighing, he stood up once more and dully turned his head upwards now facing the moon. The situation at hand will go as fate prescribed it, the heavenly body seemed to convey.
Smiling now, he turned his back from the unconscious girl walking deeper into the forest. His last thoughts while he was in Konoha being:
‘You never should have interfered with fate. Now yours will end by my mine.’
~*~
The situation was obviously delicate.
It required much thought, caution, grace, and sake naturally.
At least, that’s what she was sure her shishou was thinking right now.
“WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE?! THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET HERE TWO FUCKING MINUTES AGO!!!”
And that would be her...er...being her it would seem.
Sighing heavily as she was organizing several documents in front of her in preparation for a more than difficult meeting, the woman found herself cringing at her banshee of a boss. Don’t get her wrong, she is very considerate of the delicate situation she is going through and if making everyone’s eardrums suffer helps her deal with it...then she won’t get attached to hers.
Whether she likes it or not.
Gathering all her paraphernalia, Shizune proceeded towards the Hokage’s office with several phrases running through her mind that may at least bring Tsunade’s wrath back down to be read on a meter. Luckily, she has had many years of experience for this.
Too bad they weren’t going to do her much good this time.
Opening the door slowly and taking a deep breath, Shizune pushed forward into the office with the selected Jounins, Iruka, and Tsunade’s back facing her.
“Hokage-sama—“
“DON’T YOU EVEN START!!” yelled a wild-eyed fierce Tsunade as she whipped around to face her assistant. “DON’T YOU EVEN TRY TO MAKE UP SOME FUCKING EXCUSE FOR THEIR LATENESS OR...OR TRY TO CALM ME DOWN!! DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT TO BE CALM?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE SHOULD ALL BE FREAKIN’ CALM?!”
Shizune as well as the rest of the occupants of the room stood frozen still and wide-eyed from the Hokage’s reaction aside from Kakashi who was busy reading his bible.
Recovering quicker than the others, Shizune shook herself slightly. “Ah...well...no-no Tsunade-sama...I-I don’t suppose...um...”
Abruptly Tsunade turned back around facing the window. In a clear-cut voice that could rival a drill sergeant she said, “If you haven’t got anything pertinent to say to me, then leave until you do. I don’t want you back in here until you get me everyone that is supposed to be here.”
Shizune was once again stunned into silence, which is quite a rare occurrence when it is by Tsunade. All she could do is stand there gaping like a fish, another rare occurrence in her book.
“I SAID GET OUT THERE!”
That woke Shizune up from her daze as she scramble to quickly leave the room. Shutting the door loudly and walking down the hall as fast as she could, she realized that she had no idea where she was going. With that thought, she slowed down until she decided to fully stop and lean against the wall. Hyperventilating appeared to be the only thing she could do now as her mind reeled back over the event that just occurred.
Tsunade-sama never, no matter what the circumstances were, acted that way with her.
She closed her eyes tightly and leaned her head back while clutching the documents tightly against her chest. She knew that Tsunade-sama was distressed, but she did not think it would make her behave in this way. Turning her head back downward towards her feet, she opened her eyes a little. Her vision slightly blurred all of a sudden until it cleared once again.
She saw two wet drops, one on each foot.
Startled to see them, Shizune lifted her head and touched her right hand to her cheek. Sure enough, it felt slightly wet.
It has been a while since she has cried. She did not think she would have a real reason to after having experiencing so many things so far. After all, a shinobi’s life is filled with reasons to cry, but after a while it seems pointless to. It’s not like they are ever going to stop.
So why was she crying?
She knew it wasn’t certainly because of the fact that Tsunade-sama yelled at her. Goodness knows she has a wonderful resume in that department to let it even get to her.
It wasn’t because she was severely embarrassed at being yelled that way in front of the other shinobi because frankly she had a feeling that they were probably more sympathetic towards her than anything. No one would want to be within range of that, let alone be on the receiving end.
After giving it a little more thought, she concluded that it also could not be because of the situation. While she was very fond of Naruto-kun to the point of him being like a younger brother to her, she knew his sudden disappearance would not make her cry primarily because she had a lot of faith in him. Sure she was certainly very worried about him, but she trusted the fact that he would keep himself safe and that whatever reasons he had for leaving, they were not for hurting his precious people or Konoha for that matter.
If not for any of these reasons, then why was she still crying uncontrollably?!
No longer able to suppress her feelings, Shizune dropped all the papers she was holding having them scatter all over the hall. She slid along the wall pressing her hands to her face as she sobbed her heart out.
“W-WHY?!” she screamed to the empty hallway.
Why did everything have to be this way?
Why did Tsunade-sama have to look...look so broken?
Why...why did she have to go back and harden herself like the way she was before she met Naruto-kun?
It seemed this time around Shizune could not find the words to say to her shishou to help her deal with this. It seemed this time around she could not be the assistant she really needed at the moment.
Crying until there were no tears left, only dry heaving, she put her hands on her knees and opened her slightly puffy eyes to look in front of her. Staring blankly at the dark red-orange wall with her head a bit buzzed and a little pained from the crying, she sat there trying to be rid of all thoughts. For once, she just would like to let the feeling of emptiness wash over her.
‘Shizune-nee-chan! Ganbatte ne!’
Shizune’s eyes shot open. Looking around her slowly as if waiting for someone to come around the corner, she strained her ears for any other sound. She could have sworn she heard someone.
“Na-Naruto-kun?” she croakily whispered.
When she received no response, she looked back down to her knees. She allowed the sounds of silence invade her ears, and letting everything and nothing all at once saturate her mind. After remaining that way for what felt like days, she managed a grin, albeit weakly, as she hugged herself a bit before she slowly stood. Looking around at all the papers scattered, she carefully picked up each one arranging them in their proper order.
After gathering all her things, the papers and herself alike, she stood up and took one last deep breath with her eyes lightly closed. Exhaling, she looked ahead with a new shine in her eyes and a grin on her face.
Turning her head behind her, she looked back at the corner almost seeing a faded orange being with bright blond hair disappearing behind it, left hand waving slightly back at her as it runs away.
‘Hai. Ganbatte, Naruto-kun.”
Looking back straight ahead, she walked forward, determined to no longer bring up problems, but find solutions—real ones. No more covering them up with words, but actually fixing them...and she going to start by finding those damn tardy subordinates of Tsunade-sama’s. She’ll find the Naruto gaki in due time and give him a piece of her mind then for everything: making Tsunade-sama sad, making her and everyone else worry, for breaking the rules again...
...And for cheering her up.
Smiling for being quite pleased with herself and her definitive decision, she turned the corner and found herself flat on the floor with her papers flying everywhere. What the hell?
She looked in front of her and instantly realized what the hell. It appears as though the things she was supposed to find...found her instead...and quite painfully at that.
“Ah! Shizune-sempai...sumimasen!” Sakura’s mouth was spewing out rapidly as she quickly tried to gather all the papers that scattered everywhere. Shikamaru, still flat on his back, exhaled loudly with a quiet “troublesome.”
Shizune couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow at the two. “Where have you two been? Tsunade-sama has been waiting for you all to arrive and start the meeting.”
She curiously noted that they both stared at her a bit, one with a look of surprise with a mixture of panic, and the other utter boredom. If she had not been paying attention, however, she would have missed the brief glance they gave each other before turning their attention back to her.
Shizune continued to look at the two expecting some sort of response to her inquiry. When she received none, all she could say was, “Well?”
Sighing, Sakura began, “Shizune,” which kind of startled Shizune with the tone and lack of honorific, “we’ve done as Hokage-sama asks. It took a little longer than expected, but...”
Shizune waited for her to continue, but it seemed she was unwilling to oblige her. “But what?”
Sakura then turned to Shikamaru, who still hadn’t moved an inch. Then out of nowhere he responded, “We found something.”
Shizune widened her eyes at that. “Really?! Excellent! We need to get whatever you found to Tsunade-sama right away!” She stood up quickly and took all the papers Sakura collected and tried to dash quickly back to the Hokage’s office. However, a hand on her arm was holding her back.
“Matte Shizune-sempai!”
Stopping in her tracks, she looked back at the two, one fully standing, the other one trying to will himself to. “Nani?”
Looking down at the point of their contact, Sakura appeared to be carefully thinking about what she was going to say next. “Hokage-sama...is not going to like what she is about to hear,” Sakura said as she looked back into Shizune’s eyes.
Shizune was surprised at the comment simply because it seemed to be a redundant thing to say. Of course anyone would assume, considering the situation, that Tsunade would not be pleased with what they would find. So why was Sakura stopping her for this? She turned to Shikamaru who seemed to find the wall to his right more interesting than the conversation going on now.
“Well, I certainly figured that that would be the case Sakura,” Shizune said exasperatedly as she turned her attention back to her. “I would be surprised if it wouldn’t. Was it really necessary to stop me just to say that?” she inquired carefully.
Determined, Sakura replied with a resounding “Yes.”
Curious now, Shizune was just about to ask why that was so until Shikamaru beat her to the punch. “We need you to see what we found first...before Hokage-sama.”
Startled, Shizune could only say one thing: “Why?”
Gripping Shizune’s arm a little tighter, Sakura took a deep breath and said, “Because we’re about to do something that she will absolutely hate.”
~*~
That...went rather well...all things considered.
After Shizune-san left the room, the Hokage’s office was deathly silent. It seemed no one wanted to, or was brave enough, or was even interested in breaking it. Everyone remained in their original positions without twitching a muscle. It was a special skill of the shinobi that they were instilled with since the days of the academy.
One kid, who behaved like child inflicted with ADD, was a bit hard-headed during that training. In fact, the kid was pretty stubborn all around.
He continuously acted out in class, skipped classes, and did poorly on quite a number of exams. He certainly was not even average let alone a stellar student. He gave more headaches than all the troublemakers of the academy combined...and that is saying something. He really knew how to drive the teachers crazy.
Especially the Hokage with his Oiroke no Jutsu. Good thing the current Hokage can’t be affected by that one.
What a serious troublemaker that one was.
And yet he was still his favorite.
Iruka found himself breaking the very training all shinobi were instilled with by smiling sadly at his thoughts. How he missed that blond troublemaker. How is he doing, he wondered.
Everything happened so fast at the time. One minute he was taking out invading shinobi who were trying to take their aim at the academy students, and the next everyone stopped to observe Naruto. After a flashy performance and mysterious words, he was vanished out of Konoha.
Regardless of what anyone said or thought, Iruka did not even let the idea of Naruto betraying anyone even formulate in his mind. He stubbornly refused to believe anything of the like.
He guessed he now knows where the kid got his hard-headedness from.
In any case, wherever the gaki was, he was still a strong, loyal shinobi of Konoha in his book. And he will yell into submission anyone who thought otherwise.
Tsunade-sama isn’t the only one who can be scary.
Iruka’s thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. Members of the original Rookie 9 plus Team Gai walked in, although some were missing.
“What took you so long?” said a stern voice from the window side.
They all looked at each other before TenTen stepped forward with a bow and said, “Sumimasen Hokage-sama. There was a massive amount of bodies and quite of few stragglers to deal with. We tried to finish as quickly as possible.”
Tsunade continued to remain silent after the explanation. After a while, she slowly turned around to face the occupants of the room before she landed her eyes on the newcomers. She then nodded once to them. “Spread yourselves around. There should be more joining us soon.”
Iruka observed the whole thing curiously. While he understood that the whole point of this meeting was for Naruto, he did not really understand why he was here. Sure, he would like to know what was going on with the boy and such, but he was also aware that whatever was about to happen or be said here, there was nothing much he could do about it. He wasn’t trying to be negative or anything of the sort. He was simply being realistic in his opinion.
In fact, he really did not see what the whole point of having such a meeting with everyone here in the first place. One thing that he learned from having to deal with Naruto for so long is that he does things his own way...and there is nothing anyone could ever do to stop it. One way or another, he gets his way.
To Iruka, he preferred letting things happen at their own pace. He figures that he will find out what happened to Naruto to when he is meant to...which mostly means when Naruto feels ready to come forth with it. He doubts anyway that this meeting would even come close to providing accurate answers to Naruto’s mysteries.
The door once again opened and everyone looked up at the newcomers. Shizune, with a serious look on her face, walked in with a sense of a strong determination in her stature while Shikamaru walked more languidly but a bit more alert than usual, behind her.
“Tsuunade-sama. I’ve brought Shikamaru for the meeting,” Shizune said with a slight bow.
Tsunade looked at her carefully before nodding once to her. “Where is Sakura?” directing her question to Shikamaru. However, Shizune took the liberty of answering.
“She remained back at the site of investigation Hokage-sama. She wanted to continue processing the place to gather more information, “ she said without skipping a beat.
Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the statement, but made no further comment. “We will begin the meeting now that most of who are required are present. Make sure to leave a little more room. There are still others who should be arriving to join us.”
Everyone in varying degrees expressed surprise mixed with confusion on their faces.
Iruka, on the other hand, couldn’t contain it at that. “But Hokage-sama, who else could possibly join us?” Everyone’s eyes completely zeroed in on the academy teacher, surprised at his boldness.
Tsunade considered him for a moment before saying, “Do not worry. They are relevant and you will all find out when they arrive. In the meantime, Shikamaru please take the floor to begin this meeting.”
Iruka was a bit put out by the answer, but he accepted nonetheless. Everyone turned their attention now to the lazy genius who took center stage within the Hokage’s office looking for all the world that a bed would be more suitable for him than standing.
Sighing heavily, the teen began:
“There wasn’t much to find in one Uzumaki Naruto’s area of residence. The place was entirely clean to the point of being immaculate. The evidence recovered and data collected was not enough to formulate any conclusive theories concerning the reasons to the suspect’s disappearance.”
At that point, everyone other than Iruka, Kakashi, Kurenai, Shizune and Tsunade showed disappointment. Kakashi kept his eyes glued to his book while Kurenai merely looked indifferent. Only Iruka, Shizune, and Tsunade appeared to show looks of expectance at the answer. However, the difference between them was that Tsunade’s held annoyance while Shizune looked slightly nervous and Iruka appeared thoughtful.
“If that is the case, then why is Sakura-san still processing the scene?” Iruka inquired.
Everyone, once again surprised at Iruka’s assertive input, realized that they had not thought of that detail and looked to Shikamaru for an answer.
Straightening himself and having a sudden look of intense seriousness, Shikamaru replied, “Because what we did recover is serious enough to make the investigation to Naruto’s disappearance top level priority.”
Even Kakashi looked up to gaze at Shikamaru at that while everyone was wide-eyed at the response. Did he just say what they thought he just said?
Iruka was completely stunned. But...but that means...
“W-what are y-you saying Shikamaru?” Iruka stuttered.
Closing his eyes and placing his hands in his pocket, Shikamaru turned his head straight ahead of him in the Hokage’s direction, who was leaning over her desk with both hands staring intensely at him. “It means exactly what it sounds like.” He then opened his eyes that held a sharp seriousness as he looked right into Tsunade’s eyes.
“What we have is enough to treat this case as a top-level S-class missing nin.”
The room was in a flurry of emotions now with various “No that can’t be!” or “What is going on?” floating around in whispers throughout the room. Tsunade slammed her fist on her desk to quiet everyone down. “That’s enough!” she yelled looking at everyone who instantly ceased all noise.
Turning her attention back to Shikamaru, she asked, “What exactly did you find?”
Shikamaru obliged her by saying, “We were able to find a separate room other than what was originally designed for the apartment underneath the floor. After making inquiries to the landlord, we’ve concluded that the room was built most likely by the tenant sometime after he departed on his two and a half year training with Legendary Sannin Jiraiya. The landlord indicated that it could not have been there prior to that because of his routine check on the tenant’s place during his absence. What we discovered within the room, I believe, is something that needs to be viewed first-hand. After we lifted the floorboard to reveal the entrance to the room, a red liquid substance was found on the bottom of it.”
Here Shikamaru lifted his sleeve to reveal a faded red coloring on his hand, wrist, and a little up his arm.
“Is that...is that what I think it is?” Iruka asked. Judging from the look on everyone else’s faces, they probably were wondering the same thing.
Shikamaru looked at Iruka and said, “If you think it’s blood, then I would say yes and no.”
Everyone, including Iruka and Tsunade, was perplexed at the statement.
Shikamaru then looked at his arm and said, “After doing some tests, we discovered that the majority of the substance is actually red paint. There were only faint traces of blood within the liquid.”
...
Paint? What the hell?
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Shikamaru’s arm. “How the hell did it get on your arm? Isn’t the paint supposed to be dry?”
Shikamaru’s face displayed a dark look at that. “That’s what makes this very serious.”
Everyone could feel the dread that permeated the room at that.
“Why is that?” Tsunade asked with a tinge of nervousness.
“Because we found that the purpose of the faint traces of blood was part of a jutsu to keep the paint wet for as long as the jutsu was in effect.”
“I don’t understand,” Iruka cut in before Tsunade could say anything, “how does that make this an S-Class missing nin case?”
Shikamaru looked gravely at everyone before saying, “I never said it was Naruto’s blood.”
WHAT?!
The fervor of noise returned once more and Tsunade was too stunned to even do anything about it. Iruka looked like the Ice Age just hit him on the spot.
“B-but then whose blood was it?”
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and keeping his lips firmly tight. Shizune looked down at her feet clutching her papers even harder.
“It...it was some—“
SLAM!
Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin as they shot their attention to the door behind Shikamaru. There stood a heavily breathing Jiraiya clutching a body covered in a dark blue robe entirely wrapped around it to him.
The only thing anyone could do at that point was gape after what they have been discussing. Finally, Tsunade was able to snap out of her shock. “Where the hell have you been? Where are the others and who the hell is that?!”
Jiraiya, still winded, could not respond to all of that right away. Iruka carefully looked at the body he was holding before realizing that the person was still alive, but heavily injured.
“Hokage-sama! This person—“
Shizune was two steps ahead of him and striding over to Jiraiya. She was already using her healing abilities to take care of the major wounds.
Concentrating on the scene in front of her, Tsunade directed her question to Jiraiya, “Who is she?”
Surprised, everyone looked back at the body and realized that it was in fact a female.
Jiraiya, having a grave face much like Shikamaru’s earlier, said, “I found her in the forest pinned to a tree on my way here.”
Tsunade glared at him. “She could be an enemy! What the hell did you bring her here for? Is that why you’re late?!”
“Hai. But trust me...you’re going to want to hear this.”
At that, everyone was instantly attuned.
“Tsunade-sama!” Shizune called.
Tsunade and everyone for that matter looked at the medic nin. They looked at what she was holding up for them to see. It seemed to be the hitai-ate of the girl.
And it was the sign of it that widened everyone’s eyes.
“What is she doing all the way out here?” whispered Iruka.
“It seems,” Jiraiya tiredly started, “Sunagakure was trying to send us a message.”
Sure enough, the hitai-ate of the kunoichi before them was that from the Hidden Village of Sand. Suna was aware that Konoha was engaged in war, and while they were going to aid them in battle, it seemed the Akatsuki were one step ahead and decided to engage the sand nins on their land to block them from reaching Konoha.
“What was the message?” Tsunade asked.
Jiraiya looked at the girl and squeezed her arm lightly so as not to cause her pain, but wake her up slightly. At that, the girl slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head, her short brown hair falling around her face. She looked utterly exhausted and her eyes held much pain and weariness.
Shizune lifted her hand to the girl’s face to brush away her hair. “It’s okay now. You’re safe. You can tell us what you need to,” she said soothingly.
The girl opened her mouth to talk, but a dry sob came out instead. Everyone was relatively surprised at the reaction.
Sighing, Jiraiya spoke up for her, “Sunagakure is in absolute disarray and chaos right now.”
Tsunade looked sharply at him. “Were they defeated by the Akatsuki?”
Jiraiya snorted at that, “Hardly. There was no way the Akatsuki had enough man-power to defeat an entire village of shinobi...only enough to delay them.”
Everyone once again looked quite perplexed at the toad Sannin’s statement.
“Then what happened?”
Jiraiya looked uneasy and quite unwilling to say anything.
“They’re gone.”
Everyone turned their attention to the owner of the quiet voice of the Suna girl.
“Who’s gone?” Tsunade asked.
The girl looked up tiredly once again and said one thing before she fell unconscious:
“The Sand siblings have gone missing.”
Mah...this chapter is twice as long as the other ones...just cuz I felt bad lol. Or rather it just happened to work out that way *shrugs* Anyway, more cliffies it seems but hopefully there were some answers too ne? Hoped you enjoyed it! R&R please!!!