บท 94: Is this Bloke really one of the Sannin?
"Ehhh?" Naruto complained. "Why!? Why the hell should I have to go on a research trip with you, Pervy Sage? I don't care about your pervy books, and besides, I don't have time for that; Kakashi-sensei's going to teach me the Chidori!"
If Naruto wasn't going on Jiraiya's trip, then that would be the end of Tenten's rescue operation! How exactly was Sakura supposed to escape the village and save Hinata, if Jiraiya's trip didn't occur in the first place!? The stubborn idiot was ruining everything!
"I don't think Lightning Style's really your thing, Naruto," said Sakura gently, trying her best to be supportive. "Have you thought about learning some Wind Style, like me? Sure, lightning is flashy, but wind is much cooler, don't you think?"
"See, even your girlfriend agrees with me," said Jiraiya coaxingly. "Besides, you'll learn much more by coming with me on this research trip. You'll also get paid, because this is an official mission: there's this veeeery special woman we need to find… a real beauty… and we can drop by the red-light districts along the way in our free time— it's win-win, see?"
Sakura's ears perked up upon hearing the words red-light district. Suddenly, she was feeling a lot more motivated!
"No way," said Naruto stubbornly. "Don't wanna!"
Jiraiya turned on his heel and began walking away, shrugging his shoulders and raising his hands in the air, as if to concede his defeat.
"Well, it's too bad, then," he said, sighing. "I was going to teach you a Jutsu that's even more amazing than the Chidori, a really cool one, but I guess I'll just have to ask Sakura to tag along instead…"
"Like hell I'm leaving Sakura alone with you!" Naruto shouted angrily. "You just wait for me, and I'll be right back once I've packed some stuff— don't you dare leave without me— and that Jutsu had better knock Kakashi's and Sasuke's socks off!"
It had all happened in a blur. Sakura wasn't too sure how it had come to be, but it looked as though she had ended up getting roped into this training trip, without even having to ask. And despite herself, Sakura was beginning to look forward to this trip— as long as Jiraiya didn't have her cooking and cleaning their clothes, like some sort of maid, while the men went out to train…
'I wonder if Tsunade's boobs will look even bigger in person than on the TV?' said Inner Sakura dreamily, miraculously glazing somebody other than Sasuke, for once. 'I can't wait!'
Finding Tsunade and installing her as the Fifth Hokage were Jiraiya's primary goals for this trip, other than teaching Naruto his father's Jutsu.
The village was still smouldering with righteous fury after the Konoha Crush, but it's not as if the higher-ups could launch wars as they pleased— only the Hokage had the right to declare war on a rival village. Until a new Hokage was found, the Leaf Village couldn't retaliate— only passively defend.
Although, with the high numbers of casualties they had suffered, the village was in no state to be launching any wars or to be asking for any reparations, from either the Land of Wind or the Land of Rice Paddies…
So, for now, the situation was radio silence— the Hidden Sound and the Hidden Sand had offered no excuses for declaring a surprise war, and the powers that be that surrounded the Land of Fire kept watching on eagerly, waiting to see if the once powerful Leaf Village would once again choose the path of weakness, of forgiveness… or choose to let the fires of war ravage the continent once again.
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Half an hour later, Sakura, Naruto and Jiraiya had left the Leaf Village and hit the road, and Naruto was over the moon. He finally had Sakura-chan all to himself, without that stupid Sasuke strutting around— looking all handsome and broody and stuff— to distract her! And as soon as he mastered that special Jutsu that Pervy Sage had mentioned, then Sakura was sure to fall for him!
"What are you sniggering about, Naruto?" Sakura asked Naruto suspiciously.
Even though Naruto had covered his mouth with his hand, it was still obvious to Sakura that he was giggling about something— and knowing his love for pranks, it didn't bode well for her, as one of his travelling companions...
"Nothing…" said Naruto, struggling to maintain a straight face.
The strange group continued walking in silence; a silence that was only punctuated by the regular clacking of Jiraiya's clogs against the hardened earth beneath his feet. Sakura and Naruto were wearing standard-issue shinobi sandals, but Jiraiya's wooden shoes didn't seem especially comfy…
"So, hey, Pervy Sage," said Naruto, breaking the silence and interrupting Sakura's reflections about footwear. "What Jutsu are you going to be teaching us? Is it really as cool as you said?"
"First of all, you gotta quit calling me Pervy Sage in front of the ladies," said Jiraiya irritably, giving Sakura a quick sidelong glance in order to obtain his daily dose of the female form. "You can't go around calling me like that; it makes things really difficult for me to explain, you know?"
Suddenly, Jiraiya turned around and jumped in front of Naruto and Sakura, striking a Kabuki theatre 'Mie' pose.
"I'm the master of toads, the legendary white-haired Sannin!" Jiraiya shouted obnoxiously. "The ladies' man so handsome that his face can silence a crying child! The name's Jiraiya-sama— that's me!"
Naruto and Sakura just stood there dumbly, not looking particularly impressed.
"Did you really just refer to yourself with the -sama honorific?" Sakura asked pointedly. "Lame."
"The ladies love the titles," Jiraiya added with a wink. "Are you taking notes, Naruto? This is important."
Sakura rolled her eyes— ladies' man… as if! Most of the titles that he had just rattled off were self-proclaimed! You couldn't just come up with titles for yourself— titles were something you'd get by achieving either fame or infamy. For example, the Sannin title had been given to Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru after their battle against the Demi-God of Shinobi, Hanzō of the Salamander.
"So, about that Jutsu…?" Naruto asked tentatively.
"I'll tell you later," said Jiraiya grumpily, unsatisfied with Naruto's and Sakura's reaction to his display…
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