Warning Signs
Written by: Hayling
Beta: N/A
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only the plot of the stories I write and possible original characters.
Chapter 01:
"So here we are, Naruto. What do you think?"
Naruto blinked.
Then once more.
Slowly, very slowly, he craned his neck to stare up at Jiraiya, his hands resting on the straps of a large backpack slung comfortably on his back
"Do you really want me to tell you, ero-sennin?" Naruto drawled.
"Oh come on, brat." Jiraiya frowned and swept his arm in front of him in a grand gesture. "The place isn't that bad."
According to Naruto, however, it was in fact that bad.
The past eighteen months the toad sage had taken him on a trek through the entire land of Fire, parts of the Earth country and now… Apparently… the poorest part of Lightning. The blonde had seen wonderful sights, along with some bad, but this took the proverbial cake.
"You're kidding, right?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Man, even the marshes of Kusa looked better than this dump! At least it smells better!"
"Now you're overreacting." Jiraiya grinned and patted the boy on the shoulder. "Come on, we're going to get settled, and then tomorrow, it's time to meet your new teacher."
All joking aside, the village of Sekitan wasn't too much to look at. It had once had the honour of being the main exporter of coal in the surrounding region. But like the mines, the village had dried up after the third great Shinobi war. It no longer crossed any of the major trade routes, and rather than people arriving and settling, villagers left in the hopes of prospering elsewhere.
The only ones who were still there were either too old, too young, or too damn stubborn to leave.
But, of course, as Naruto was prone to do, he was exaggerating.
While not the particular hub of activity it once had been, Sekitan had reverted into a rather quaint little village. Nothing more than a small centre of shops surrounded by a gaggle of small houses, the excess having been torn down years ago.
Jiraiya, however, led the two of them to an inn on the outskirts of the village.
Unlike Sekitan, it was relatively large, but kept in excellent condition. Positioned at a broad dirt road that held memories of large caravans coming through on a regular basis in need of a place to rest. The Night Swallow Inn stood three stories high, towering above the surrounding blossom trees that stood in neat and orderly rows. A cobbled path through a perfectly kept rock garden led them to the entrance. The rice paper door slid open quietly at Jiraiya's insistence and they were immediately greeted by a weathered feminine voice.
"Welcome to the Night Swallow Inn, honoured guests! Feel free to rest at our fine establishment." The owner, an elderly lady with her grey hair brushed carefully into a large knot at the base of her head and a face that showed a lifetime of joy and sadness in a multitude of wrinkles bid them welcome with a low bow after moving from behind the reception desk. "My name is Kasumi, how may I be of assistance?"
Jiraiya and Naruto bowed in return.
"We'd like to rent a room, if we may, fair lady." Jiraiya winked saucily at the inn-keeper.
Kasumi let out a titter of laughter. "Ah, the great Jiraiya-sama, you always were such a kidder."
"Hehe, you know me too well, Kasumi-chan!" The toad sage let out a loud laugh. "How have you been holding up, business going well?"
Naruto smiled, too used to meeting people of all kinds whom Jiraiya had known at one point or another.
The grey-haired elder smoothed out some imaginary creases in her olive-green kimono. "As well as can be expected, Jiraiya-kun, we're not the thriving village we once were, you know! But more importantly, who is this handsome young man you brought with you?"
Jiraiya laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "This is my apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto."
The blonde bowed again. "Pleased to meet you, Kasumi-baa-san."
"Oho, such manners!" Kasumi smiled broadly, her wrinkled face practically beaming. "A far cry from little Jiraiya when he first came here."
"Only after I had to drill it into him, believe you me."
That statement prompted a pout from Naruto at which Kasumi giggled.
"Don't mind him, my boy. I'm sure you were not quite as bad as Jiraiya when he came here with his team mates and teacher. Why, he and that girl practically tore the place apart!"
"Good times." Jiraiya grinned fondly at that memory.
"Yes, well…" Kasumi coughed and motioned them over to the reception desk.
The two deposited their sandals in a small alcove near the entrance and with several strides, moved across the carefully polished wooden floor boards of the main hall of the inn.
"We'll take a large room, just for the night."
"We have plenty of space available, so that shouldn't be a problem." The owner informed them. "You'll be sharing this place with only a few other visitors. An elderly man, a couple from a nearby village and a young woman." Kasumi glared at Jiraiya at this. "And no peeking this time, Jiraiya-kun. You do remember what Tsunade-chan did when she caught you peeping on me, don't you?"
Despite himself, Jiraiya shivered and let out a nervous chuckle. "O-of course…"
Naruto laughed uproariously as his teacher signed them both in and took the key from the innkeeper, then waved and smiled brightly at Kasumi when Jiraiya dragged him by the scruff of the neck up the stairs to their room, suddenly not quite as keen to remain in the older woman's presence any longer.
Naruto awoke to the filtered rays of the sun peeking through the room's single large window to caress his whiskered face.
After camping on the road for the past three weeks, it was nice to finally rest on a proper futon again. The blonde stretched languidly and yawned wildly as he cast aside his thick blanket and rose up to a sitting position.
He yawned again and scratched his neck absently as he focused his bleary gaze on the person, still snoring, beside him.
The two of them had taken to renting two rooms after a month on the road. This due to the fact that Naruto had developed a habit to, not so kindly, kick the toad sage awake whenever he started snoring.
Few things truly annoyed Naruto, but having to hear to the rumbling noise of Jiraiya's bear-like form every time he took a breath right next to him got to the boy after a while.
Arms and legs askew, Jiraiya was still oblivious to the world. And while Naruto would've normally found more than a little joy in waking this particular one of the legendary three in a somewhat uncomfortable way, he didn't quite feel up to the task yet.
Naruto had slept soundly, yes, but he had awoken once during the night, and couldn't shake the feeling he had been spied upon. Something about a pair of odd golden eyes stuck out like a sore thumb. With yet another yawn, Naruto realized he was too tired to really care about it right now, instead he flopped back down again on his back to catch a bit more sleep.
Scarcely an hour later though, Naruto found out Jiraiya didn't quite share his student's compunctions of waking up the other rudely.
"Up and at 'em, brat!" Jiraiya growled, roughly jabbing Naruto in the stomach with his toes as he shook out his wild and unkempt white mane.
"Wuzzit, whu? Wha?!" Naruto bolted awake before glaring at Jiraiya hotly. "What's the big idea, ero-sennin?!" His voice cracked as he screeched several profanities.
"Hah!" Jiraiya let out a booming bark of laughter as he watched the boy's antics. "It's a beautiful day, and we're not going to waste it sleeping. We have things to do, and people to meet!"
"So who is my new sensei anyway?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowed. With Jiraiya, he trusted the old man as far as he could throw him.
…which in all honesty was pretty far, but that's besides the point.
Naruto had horrible visions of a certain closet-pervert clone droning on and on about the theories of techniques, yet never actually teaching him any.
Not that Jiraiya had yet really either, though."My boy." Jiraiya puffed up his broad chest proudly. "Without a doubt, you'll be pleased."
"Yeah?" Naruto inquired, doubt lacing his voice.
"Of course!" He proclaimed confidently, flashing a roguish grin and winked at Naruto. "But I won't tell you who just yet, that'd just ruin the surprise!"
The blonde wanted to protest, but he noticed that Jiraiya had retreated back into a state he usually only reserved for when he had access to lots of money, alcohol and women of ill repute. Not necessarily in that order.
Which made Naruto doubt his teacher even more.
Not to mention a little bit scared.
He still remembered the last time the older man had tried to convince Naruto in at least trying some of his guilty pleasures.
Crimson crept under Naruto's skin as he reflected back on that occasion. He had only barely been able to stop the black-haired Misami-san from whatever it was Jiraiya had cooked up. Instead they had simply talked all night, and Naruto had gained valuable insight on various subjects he previously had no idea about.
Mainly women. And not the perverted stuff Jiraiya wrote (and talked) about either.
It had been quite refreshing really.
"-won't stay that long, so it's probably best that…" Jiraiya trailed off as he noticed his student hadn't been listening to him. "Oi, Naruto." He grumbled, and lightly bopped the boy on the head.
"Huh?" Naruto swivelled his head quickly, blinking. "What is it?"
Jiraiya harrumphed. "I said you and your teacher won't stay that long, so it's probably best that the two of you just camp out of the village. Your teacher will probably want to test you anyway, and I don't want Kasumi-chan after me if you destroy her property."
Naruto nodded slowly.
"Besides, you'll save on money."
The blonde couldn't help but snort at that, but nodded again all the same. He noticed that while Jiraiya did like to spend some of his money, or Naruto's, on luxuries, he didn't spend it all that brashly.
When asked why, Jiraiya had simply shrugged. And asked in return: "You didn't think that I could build a ring of spies and informants on my good looks alone, did you?"
Naruto's comeback that day had earned him the dubious pleasure of being trained in evasion while his sensei pelted him with razor-edged shuriken.
Still, Naruto figured the real reason the old pervert didn't want to return to the inn had something to do with the memories of how he had suffered at the hands of Tsunade there a long time ago.
Nearly twenty minutes later, however, Naruto's patience was wearing thin. They had trekked from the inn, after eating a quick breakfast and bidding a hasty farewell to the nice old lady who ran the place, to the nearby forest. And while the boy enjoyed the outdoors, he was eager to meet the person Jiraiya obviously held in high regard.
Occasionally teasing was all well and good, but Naruto was no fool. He had yet to meet anyone as strong as Jiraiya and those of his former team.
'Perhaps obaa-chan came here to train me?' Naruto thought hopefully, but immediately squashed that idea. As fond as he was of the fifth Hokage, there was no way that was going to happen, and he very much doubted that Orochimaru would be particularly willing to teach him some techniques either.
That, of course, irritated Naruto further. He didn't want to wait, he wanted to train!
"Ero-sennin, when are we meeting this new sensei anyway?!" He asked, lower lip sticking out petulantly and narrowing his eyes to slits. "I'm tired of waiting!"
"Heh." Jiraiya shook his head before cocking it slightly. "We're already here." He gestured with his outstretched arm to outline the small break in the forest they stepped into. "And so is your teacher, isn't that right, kitten?"
Naruto raised a fist and was about to ask what the pervert was talking about when an echoing voice rang out from seemingly all around them.
"I told you I hate it when you call me that, Jiraiya-sama."
Naruto's hand dropped down and his eyebrows raised as a blur jumped out of the canopy above their heads and landed silently in a crouch before them.
"But I suppose you're incorrigible." The woman stated blandly before rising to her feet and Naruto managed to get his first good look at her.
Her black pants and shirt would could be considered plain if not for the supple grey armour wrapped around her chest and two red clouds on her lower left leg and right breast. Fingerless gloves that covered bandages reaching up to her elbows, simple open toed sandals and a blood red sash tied around her waist finished the simple and practical outfit. She flicked a long thin ponytail wrapped tightly in a long roll of bandages that reached down to her hips over her shoulder and focused her eerily pale blue eyes on Naruto.
Jiraiya smirked as the boy reacted to the new arrival's sudden appearance.
"You! Y-you're from the hidden Cloud!" He shouted as he noted the hitai-ate wrapped securely around her forehead.
Unperturbed, the Kunoichi nodded, lifting her hand to brush a few stray strands of her platinum-blonde hair out of her eyes, and introduced herself. "Hello Naruto, my name is Nii Yugito, and I will be your teacher for the foreseeable future."
Chapter end.