Chapter 7
Disclaimer : Naruto not mine. Words are mine. Not Naruto.
You might notice the title changed from Naruto's Journey to Searching for Providence...
Thats because I was inspired by a story I read...okay two years ago. But still, it had a really good ending that I'm going to do my best to duplicate. This is to tell you now that while 'my' ending is highly original, its not mine. I meant the ending to the 'series' of course. Not this training thing.
Congrats to Kai Dragoon for knowing the pairing! X )
It was fun for a while, but eh, I think I'll just put it here.
The pairing is NARU-FEMHAKU -.-;;
Update-ish : Shit. I screwed up badly...I forgot the fem part and I have a least a couple people thinking this is yaoi... Dammit.
Immortal-Sacrifice : I might've but then I'd have lied. Its not Naruhina as I said above.
Hououza - He's gonna be Chunnin level by the time he gets back to Konoha, and have a host of other skills. I'm sure that his cooking skills will impress Haku...?
Ksai : But just out of curiosity I read it today. : Thx for being bored on that day... :)
And I must say it was suprising. : Cause I'm stereotypical boy : Turning boring and overdone topics into something ALMOST WORTH READING!
I just hope you have a plan and you have a general idea of plot development. : Check my profile. The story is planned out there.
Because many authors just write unending "Naruto trains and become a God" without any plot. And when Naruto become super powerfull authors run out of ideas. I hope your fic is not the case. : They don't run out of ideas...they send Naruto to alternate dimesions or random lands full of godly powerful ninja stronger than Naruto, usually with a mythical sword or something.
I would advise to make more time skips to see Naruto at older age sooner. But I guess that my advice is not going to affect you:P : I have a time skip planned every five chapters for the first 15 chapters. Its so you can see his skills and challenges set for him grow instead of, "Naruto trained hard under Jiraiya for seven years, mastering many power jutsus like (Insert A to S rank jutsu here), Summoning, the Rasengan, while obtaining ungodly levels of speed and superior taijutsu skills. He learned it through sheer hardwork and dedication, especially cause he has lots of stamina and he trains alot"
I see, that there are so little reviews to this fic. And it deserves so much more. But I am too lazy to review previous chapters. Maybe later:P : You don't have to review the story for my sake, but thanks for the concern :)
Izatik : Great story, I like how you made your chapters go over things slowly and had naruto train over a period of time. Rather than: Naruto meets Jiraiya, Jiraiya agrees to train naruto, time skip 3 years, Naruto pwns people. (I'm very proud of it!) And for the pairing. If it's yaoi i'll scream. Seriously. Your story has too much potential for you to turn it into yaoi. (Its not)
I'd say leave out the pairing. No matter what the pairing is, you'd probably lose readers. (Hey you're right! Heh.)
If there has to be a pairing, my choice would be Naruto/Hinata. (That was my first choice, but I threw it away later, I found a more perfect pairing. This...leaves me with HinaKiba though, and I've noticed people hate that...Maybe I should kill Hinata off...J/K...-ish...)
Story starts here
A week had gone by. Jiraiya had given the boy some time off the first three days to recover from his ordeal with the Genjustu. Though reluctant, Jiraiya had to admit that if he had been forced to kill a person as well as watching his parents die right before his eyes, he'd probably have went berserk.
And in the end, Naruto really was just was a brat wasn't he? Not a machine...not a tool...not a weapon...just a child.
And as odd as it may sound, Jiraiya felt barbs of remorse sting him ever now and then. He steeled himself against the guilt. It was for the greater good, he told himself. By introducing Naruto to the harsh reality of the real world early, he would be giving him time to adjust to it. In the end, the child would remain more human than his peers in the long run. Or at least that was what he theorized.
Calling Naruto over, Jiraiya looked at the red-eyed boy. It look liked he hadn't slept as much as he should've these past few days. Grimacing, Jiraiya picked Naruto up and hoisted him onto his back. As he walked toward their tent, Jiraiya patted Naruto's back. "Hey kid, you awake?"
"Uhhmmm..."
Jiraiya smiled, "Good. I've decided we have to start training again. We'll start light. Wilderness training, I'll be taking you to a forest about fifty miles from here. You'll be living there for three days. I'll come and pick you up later."
Naruto sniffed again before hanging on to Jiraiya tighter, "You'll come back, right?"
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. The kid's behavior was understandable...but it was such a contrast to how he behaved before, flamboyant and confident. Now he acted insecure and afraid...
Picking up Naruto's backpack, Jiraiya's eyes hardened. Of course. Naruto's experiences in Konoha, where he was abused by villagers, where he received no love, no care... It must have left deeper scars than Naruto had let on. This, coupled with his Genjutsu, must have cracked his optimistic and hopeful facade. Naruto was worried about him, that he'd abandon him, just like everyone else... whether it be through death or necessity.
Patting him again Jiraiya reassured, "Of course Naruto, I'd never let anything bad happen to you. Remember, I'll never ever hurt you."
Naruto snuffled as hugged Jiraiya tightly as Jiraiya started to sprint away from their camp, covering fifty miles in a matter of minutes. When he got there, he saw Naruto had amazing fallen asleep on his back. Setting him down onto the ground, Jiraiya pulled out a notepad. 'He needs his rest, might as well let him have it.'
It was three hours and twenty notebook pages later that Naruto finally woke up. Jiraiya sighed. He had just gotten to the good part where Tyler finally gets taken to a hospital for a tragic war wound and meets Nurse Jen. She takes his shirt off to heal him and can't help but notice what strong arms he has...and how smooth his back is...and...
And, then that idiot woke up.
Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "Jiraiya, aren't I supposed to be training?"
Jiraiya held back a laugh. 'What a one track mind... Training, training, training... Its all he ever does.'
"Yep you are. Its pretty simple actually, all you have to do is live in the woods for three days, providing yourself with food, water and shelter. With the conclusion of this last drill our wilderness training unit is officially over."
Naruto nodded before taking his bag and jumping into the woods. Jiraiya smiled before turning east. 'I need to head to town. He said he'll be meeting me today.'
As soon as he was a few yards in, Naruto pulled out a scroll. With bite to the thumb and a swish of blood, a trunk fell out. Both the scroll and the trunk were Jiraiya's and he had loaned it to Naruto for his Wilderness 'Stuff'. He didn't know how Jiraiya managed to get the trunk into that little flimsy piece of paper, but he knew out to get it out - and thats what mattered to him.
Throwing the trunk open, Naruto pulled out three cans of make-up. One was green, the other dark green, and the last, brown. He smeared it over his face and limbs in a random pattern, with the general rule that each color can not touch itself. Holding his hand against the trees, he smiled wanly when he saw that you could barely distinguish his hand from the enviorment.
Throwing off his shorts and shirt, Naruto took out two other articles of clothing from the trunk and donned it. Both pants and shirt made of synthetic fibers, as to be water resistant, and layered with metal plates and chain mail. It bore a camo coloring similar to what he had just applied to himself. Lastly, he took out a helmet, placing it on his head, hiding his hair. There was a reason that blond hair was uncommon in the ninja world. Such bright colors had a tendency to get you killed, and in accordance with the Darwinian Theory, blonds were a dying breed.
Naruto knew there was no reason for all the preparation, but as Jiraiya had said, "When you train, you train to fight for your life."
As a ninja, ever bit of training done would climax in a fight for your very survival, and every bit of experience one could get between now and then was important. With that in mind, Naruto took his box and his scroll, traveling further into the forest.
Two miles in, Naruto set up his camp. Taking fallen logs and stacking them on top of each other, Naruto created a small cave like structure for him to reside in. Taking dead leaves from the forest floor, Naruto piled heavy clumps onto the house's skeleton. When he was done, he had a comfortable shelter that retained warmth and had the benefit of camouflage because of the leaves stacked on top and around it.
The next thing he did was collect sticks, focusing on large dry ones to use as kindling later. Once he had two decent sized piles, he stacked them behind his new house, along with his two fire-making rocks.
Reaching into his trunk, Naruto pulled out flash tags, ninja wire, kunai and shuriken. With a determined look on his face, Naruto started to string the ninja wire over the ground, intent on trapping a dinner to be cooked over the open fire.
By then, Jiraiya had made it to the town of Kanton. Checking the sun's position, Jiraiya estimated he still had a good half hour left before the rendezvous with his contact. He immediately started searching for the local bathes.
Approximately two hours later he was awakened from his perverted fantasies by a sharp kick to the head. Turning around he saw his mole, wearing a black Akatsuki cloak. The man had black hair with bandages covered his face, excluding one eye, a dark void in his otherwise hidden face.
Checking the sun again, Jiraiya muttered moodily, "You're late."
The newcomer gave a million dollar grin, "Well I was late because...I...I was studying for a blood test."
Jiraiya snorted, "Tch. You can't fool me with excuses like that!"
Smiling slyly, the man said, "Its not like you weren't enjoying it."
Feeling a faint blush creeping up his cheeks, Jiraiya went straight to business, "You said that you had something important for me?"
The man nodded solemnly. "The Akatsuki are moving. They've finally found the Jinchuriki, Naruto and they're sending an assassin after him."
Jiraiya gapped at him, "What?! But Naruto's with me! Theres no way they should've been able to pinpoint him!"
The stranger smiled wryly, "Then you should quit your little drinking habit, eh? Anyway, isn't there a kid you have to be attending to?"
Cursing at his own incompetence, Jiraiya sprinted towards the forest, leaving a trail of dust behind as his contact dissolved into thin air.
Naruto sighed contently, rubbing his stomach. He had managed to catch a boar in one of his kunai traps. He had set three rings of traps, the first consisted of kunai, to pick off any of the slower animals. If they had kept going forward, they would've hit the Flash tags. The noise and the light emitted would hopefully enrage the beast into charging forward to be eliminated by a shuriken trap. There is a distinct difference between kunai and shuriken, with kunai being heavier and less aerodynamic, having a dual use hand to hand weapons as well as throwing weapons. In contrast, shuriken were for throwing only, made to go extremely fast and extremely light, especially with the hole in the middle.
Seeing the fire still blazing merrily, Naruto kicked up dirt, promptly suffocating it. Making sure that none of the embers still blazed, Naruto set out, with buckets in tow, to find some drinking water.
Even as Naruto left, a mysterious ninja was making his way toward the forest Naruto had been instructed to survive in. The ninja was armed with a half dozened poisoned darts attached to a wrist launcher, similar to the one Naruto had been given for his birthday as well as a handful of kunai
He was one of three trainees taken on by the Akatsuki. He and Yura trained under Sasori of the Red Sand, while the other trainee, Tobi, was being taught by Zetsu. Both he and Yura were being raised to be spies, though his experience with poisons made him Sasori's helper in rearming his puppets.
Today his knowledge of poisons had made him an ideal candidate to kidnap the boy named Uzumaki Naruto. It was a kidnapping mission, perfect for his new stunning poison. He hadn't felt needed anything else to take down a small boy, even one that was a Jinchuriki. One good shot from his dart launcher was enough to lay elephants low for as long as two weeks! The other five darts he had brought were just in case he missed, which he was sure he wouldn't. But it was better to be safe then be sorry, especially when working for an organization as brutal as the Akatsuki.
The going had gotten rougher ever since he had penetrated the dense foliage of the forest. What surprised him most of all though, were the kunai traps he had encountered just a moment before. Surely his mission hadn't been leaked to this boy!
Proceeding forward with his launcher at the ready, the ninja stumbled on a green colored wire, only to be blinded and deafened. Thoughts raced through his head, 'Flash tags! He must know I'm here! I'm going to have to proceed with caution...it appears this won't be as easy as anticipated.'
He had managed to step over three other similar traps as he inched forward, critiquing each step with a ninja's eye. His hand brushed the bark of a tree. Suddenly the treetops were alive with noise as a score of shuriken blanketed the area he was in. Two of the metal disks hit him, one in the elbow as he had struggled to cover his face, and the other in the knee.
Once again stopped by his prey's ingenious trap making skills, the would-be-assassin took moment to heal his wounds. Ripping out the shuriken and adding it to his own weapon's pouch, the ninja's hands glowed area as he waved it over his wounds. He watched the wounds close with satisfaction before once again, continuing on at a snail's pace.
Naruto gave himself a brief reprieve from carrying the heavy buckets. He stretched his arms and yawned when an explosion of light came from the forest. He grinned as he continued on, 'Aw yeah! I hope its another pig!'
As he entered the forest, he slowed slightly. As a result, when he walked past a set of snapped twigs and crushed leaves, he stiffened. 'Those tracks weren't left by animals...they were left by a human. That means...'
Forgetting about his water, Naruto followed the tracks swiftly and silently. His kunai traps had been set off, but a multitude had been deflected into the surrounding trees. The intruder was a ninja...
Exploring further revealed a Flash tag trap having been set off as well as two shuriken traps.
Just as he passed his last little ring of traps, he saw his unwanted house guest rummaging through his trunk. In a fit of anger at the invasion of his privacy, Naruto raised his right sleeve, leveling his dart launcher at the ninja. With the pull of a trigger, a single dart zipped toward the person, imbedding in their buttocks.
The assassin stifled a cry of pain as he pulled a small metal dart out of his butt. 'Another trap? Luck-'
His thought was cut off when another dart embedded itself into his hand. 'And maybe not.'
Using a system of triangulation to figure out Naruto's position, the ninja threw his two stolen shuriken at Naruto. It hit nothing. Peering harder, the ninja realized he couldn't see the boy at all!
Another dart shot at him, but this time he was ready, as he plucked the dart from the air.
Brandishing a kunai, he charged the approximate area that his target was supposed to be in. Naruto, who saw the advancing figure, jumped into the trees. As the man passed below him, Naruto jumped down, throwing a shuriken.
Acting on instincts alone, the ninja whipped around, deflecting the projectile with his kunai. To his delight, his elusive target finally stood in front of him. Staring at curiously at his attacker for a moment, Naruto made a hand seal, "Bushin no Jutsu!"
The assassin groaned as dozens of little green targets ran around the area. He didn't have enough weapons for all of them... Channeling chakra to his arms, the ninja thought, 'Chakra Scapels'. His hands were surrounded with a yellow glow as he spun around, destroying half the clones right there. Within another thirty seconds, he had confirmed the destruction of the last bunshin, but the original was nowhere to be seen.
To be defeated by such a low level jutsu was shameful, but to let a target escape was unacceptable! Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through his throat. He heard the soft 'twang' of the release of the dart before he felt it perforating his throat. His eyes widened as he grasped his throat with his hands, trying to stem the flow of blood. A green glow aura once again surrounding his hands, he hurriedly healed his wound, imperfectly as it turned out. A hole shaped scar marked the entry and exit of the projectile.
Infuriated to an unprecedented level, the assassin leveled his dart launcher, shooting all six of the toxin covered darts at Naruto. Suddenly, a large bulk covered his view of the boy and intercepted his darts.
The ninja stuttered, "Ji-Jiraiya! Of the Sannin!"
Jiraiya's eyes were a flaming red as he punched the ninja in the face, with a strength reminiscent of Tsunade. Shards of glass cut the ninja's face as his glasses broke. 'Shit, this has escalated beyond my control, time to make a tactical retreat...'
In a small poof of smoke, the assailant disappeared, leaving a panting Jiraiya and a confused Naruto.
He found himself in front of the Akatsuki base, being looked upon appraisingly by Sasori. "So it seems that you have failed in the capture of a five year old."
Taking out a stick resembling a cattle prod, Sasori walked closer, "Failing to capture a five year old is not acceptable in the Akatsuki."
The ninja's eyes widened as the cattle prod was shoved into his stomach.
His screams echoed through the cave. But there was no one to hear them.
Jiraiya lay on his knees, feeling the venom traveling through his blood stream. 'This poison...it causes paralysis... Damn, I don't have much time left before I'm unconscious.'
Beckoning Naruto over, Jiraiya whispered, "N-Naruto, consider this your next training exercise, Information Gathering. I need you to find Tsunade and bring her to me. The darts...the darts were poisoned. Tsunade is a skilled medic-nin, she should be able to heal me. She's blond and has a horrible streak in gambling."
Coughing, Jiraiya finished, "Ask around the surrounding towns, she's still in the Fire Country some - somewhere...the nearest one is due east, about forty-five miles from here..."
Naruto looked on wide-eyed as sweat dripped down his brow. 'This is just like th- the genjutsu! But...Jiraiya...he's not going to die. I'll find this Tsunade person, you see if I won't!'
As Jiraiya kneeled over, Naruto had already jumped up heading east. "I WON'T LET YOU DOWN ERO-SENNIN!'
Jiraiya's last thought as the world blackened was, 'Stupid brat, no respect...at...all...'
To Pinstripe666 : I'm not reconsidering. The pairing will work fine. If you have something against Haku, I'm not the person to sympathize with you.