Eternal Yujin
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TCoH—Chapter 3.34 [57]
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 21:03:41 +0000 UTC- - -
Chapter 3.34 [57]
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Revelry washed over me, bringing a literal warmth compared to the quickly cooling outdoors and the constant hum of conversation. My ears twitched at a familiar roaring laugh and the chorus of chuckles that followed. Jiraiya stood with a foot on the table, a saucer raised high, and half a dozen companions glancing up at him with faint amusement.
With nowhere to direct what had become a mountain’s worth of frustration towards Tsunade Senju, I stomped away from her and Shizune’s lodging towards the local pub instead. Jiraiya was likely drinking himself away inside, given where we’d split off an hour ago, and I wasn’t likely to find him at home.
He’d been a reliable person to vent to about Tsunade, having known her irritating parts all his life, and while I’d usually be cautious of badmouthing one of his closest friends, given the way she’d talked about Lord Third, he wasn’t the happiest with her.
I sighed and debated the idea before I walked over.
“What’s crawled up your crack?” he asked, flashing a toothy grin at my frown. “Because you keep staring like that, and I think this whole place’ll burn down.”
“Who’s the kid, Jiraiya?” someone asked, and it took me a decent while to realise he was talking to Jiraiya, who hopped down and slung a long arm over my shoulder.
“This,” he downed the rest of his saucer, “is—”
“A result of one of his nights out many years ago,” I replied, much to the guy’s amusement. “And despite that fact, he’s still getting loyalty cards at hostess clubs and brothels.”
The round of laughs at Jiraiya’s expense wasn’t enough to banish my sour mood, but Jiraiya haphazardly pushing me out of the establishment did make me smile. I turned around once we were under the darkening sky.
“Someone’s in a bad mood,” he said. “I see your talk with the princess didn’t go well despite the new fashion item.”
I thumbed the pendant around my neck. “...Have I mentioned that your teammate pisses me off? Almost as much as the other one.”
“Have you? I don’t quite remember… oh wait!” Jiraiya snapped his fingers. “That’s right. You’ve only told me every day since you met her.”
I grunted. “Good. Just making sure it’s well documented.”
“What’s she done now?”
His laughter was easy and grating like he wasn’t the least bit concerned about the way I was fighting the urge to put my fist through the nearest wall at the lack of progress on the Tsunade front.
I scowled. “Aside from the usual? She tried to tell me I didn’t get it. Like, I don’t know proper loss and haven’t lived my entire life dealing with it on account of naivety.” I thumbed the pendant again, feeling the cool weight of it against my palm. “Then, when I challenged her on her perspective, she didn’t even have an answer and drank a saucerful of sake instead.”
Jiraiya let out a long sigh.
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
“What do you want me to say?” He spread his hands. “That she’s a pain in the ass and an alcoholic? You already know that. That she’s wrong? You already know that, too. That you should let it go? Yeah, well, I know that’s not happening.”
I exhaled sharply through my nose and rubbed my face. “I’m going home. This is stupid.”
“You’re stupid,” said Jiraiya with a chuckle. “But it’s to be expected. Precocious or not, you’re still a brat.” He turned around, but not before adding, “Drink a warm glass of milk before bed.”
“Screw you, old man!” I said, managing to hold back my laugh.
He shrugged. “Hey, someone will before I turn in for the night!”
I could feel the frown and grimace warring at the retort, but I set off home before either could win.
“Wait!”
Shizune’s voice carried over the street noise, strained but firm. I slowed my pace, but only slightly, barely enough to invite her to talk if she really wanted to—my problems were with Tsunade, not her. A glance over my shoulder confirmed that she did.
I stopped just short of the inn, arms crossed. “What is it?”
She hesitated. Up close, I noticed the tension in her shoulders and the way she kept wringing her hands like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be there or not. “I… overheard you two.”
“Me and Jiraiya, or me and Tsunade Senju?”
“The latter.”
“So?”
Shizune inhaled sharply like she was trying to steady herself. “You don’t understand,” she said, voice tight. “Lady Tsunade—she’s not just hesitating about becoming the Fifth Hokage. Orochimaru came to her—us before you and Jiraiya did. He and one of his subordinates—a woman with a bloodline limit. They made my master an offer.” Her voice was quieter now, barely above the low murmur of passing conversations. “He said he’d bring back her little brother and my uncle if... if she healed his arms of the damage Lord Third’s jutsu did.”
I exhaled through my nose. “And our conversation has made you think she might accept, which is why you’ve come clean now.”
“...She rejected them when they approached us,” came Shizune’s reply, but it tapered off—she couldn’t even convince herself.
Not after the conversation between Tsunade and me.
I clenched my jaw and then exhaled slowly, deliberately, shaking off the sudden flood of irritation prickling at my skin. I’d spent all this time trying to push her toward the Hokage seat only for her to not even be considering it in the first place—and my anger focused on her lack of character and dismal mental state.
Instead, she’d been weighing her options between eking out a miserable existence and the one person in the world she had no business even thinking about trusting.
I should’ve been furious. Maybe I would have been… if I couldn’t sympathise with her situation. After all, I was in the same position as her a month ago. Instead, all I felt was the weight of exhaustion pressing down on my shoulders.
“Nope,” I shook my head, “this is not my problem.”
“W-What?”
I turned away, stepping toward the door. “You heard me.”
“Wait—Naruto—”
“I say this not to sound callous, but you should talk to Jiraiya back at that pub near your place,” I said flatly. “He’ll know what to do.”
With that, I stepped indoors and didn’t even take off my outerwear before collapsing onto the futon, arms tucked behind my head as I stared at the ceiling.
At this point, Tsunade could do whatever she wanted—if she betrayed us to Orochimaru, Jiraiya would handle it.
For now, I just wanted to sleep.
———————————
“On your mark, Naruto-boy.”
Through the blinded darkness of our shared bedroom, I watched Jiraiya. He lay sprawled out across the bed, outerwear and all, snoring with his mouth wide open. Somehow, the general clamour of the inn’s denizens arising was once again of no bother to him. Across the gap between us, on the nightstand, I stared at the loyalty card he’d been rushing to complete.
Each circle was marked by crimson lipstick prints—with only one to go.
“Now, Elder Fukasaku,” I replied.
Kosuke, our witness—and the toad who’d reverse-summon me back—watched with anticipation as Fukasaku made a perfect flip that folded Jiraiya around the point of impact. The tiny toad pressed all the air out of him, eyes flying wide apart—and that was when I shot a pressurised spray of water square in his face.
Because he’d essentially been winded, Jiraiya’s mouth was wide open when I used the water ninjutsu. He hacked out a series of coughs before staring daggers at Fukasaku, who was on his chest—and then me—but only for a handful of seconds.
I watched in real-time as sleep readjusted its hold over him, and he slumped onto his back with a long, low groan. “What do you want?”
“Where are the chakra-sealing tags?” I asked.
“...Why?” he asked, sounding like his hold over consciousness was slipping by the second.
“I’ve got an experiment to carry out.”
“They’re in the bag. Now fuck off and let me sleep. I’ve got a killer headache, and your antics aren’t helping.”
My smile twisted with guilt—after all, this was the second morning in a row where I’d woken him up via water ninjutsu. “Sorry.”
“Mhm… fuck off now.”
Fukasaku chose that moment to hop off his chest, and Jiraiya gasped in a deep and slightly pained breath. Once I’d secured a handful of chakra-sealing tags, the old toad met my eyes before dispelling himself.
“Kosuke,” I whispered. The remaining toad looked up, goggles swaying as he turned to face me. “Stay in here for the most part. Jiraiya gave me a free copy of Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi if you’d like to read it.”
The toad frowned. “...It’s not like his Icha Icha series, is it?”
“Not at all,” I replied. “Anyway, I’d ideally like to be gone the whole day, but feel free to reverse-summon once your contract chakra is about to run out. If you’re hungry, ask Jiraiya to grab you something—tell him I’ll pay him back.”
“Aye, kid!” Kosuke saluted me. “Have fun.”
Before I could smile, my vision jerked, colours melding and overlapping in a nauseating collage before the world stabilised, and I fell to the ground. I softened the blow with a forward roll, taking in a deep breath.
“That might’ve been worse than last time.”
Fukasaku chuckled. “My apologies.”
The sky above was a strangely beautiful meld of light gold and azure. A unique quirk of Mount Myoboku, probably. Straightening, I beheld the gigantic mushrooms around me alongside the abundance of water lilies trailing through small creeks and floating atop puddles.
“Come along, Naruto-boy. Whatever you’ve come here for, I’m sure you’ve yet to have breakfast.”
“Ah.” My stomach lurched in protest at the coming ordeal. “...I’m not all that hungry, Elder Fukasaku.”
He hopped along, clearing over a metre with each jump of the path. “Nonsense! Shima was already whipping something up before you summoned me. Accommodating you will be no trouble at all, my boy.”
“...If you insist,” I replied with a resigned slump of my shoulders once I was sure he wasn’t looking.
The elder toad’s home was surprisingly human-friendly, a detail I’d noticed the first time I’d come here. The prospect of toad food had forced the question out of my mind at the time. Not that I was at all accustomed to the toad palate, but there was no getting out of the meal, so I needed a distraction to pull me away from the trepidation of insects for breakfast.
“Say,” I called out to Fukasaku, who leapt backwards onto my head without looking back, “why is your home so… big?”
Fukasaku rumbled atop my head. “Well, as a teenager, Jiraiya was living out of Mount Myoboku—especially when his training advanced. It was only natural to accommodate him… besides, I’ve grown to enjoy the extra space to hop about.”
“I see…”
The conversation died off after that, though not out of awkward silence. As we reached the crest of the hill and caught a glimpse of the world beyond it, I spotted a familiarly shaped hut, the sight of which filled me with a faint fear from top to bottom. Shima burst out of its front door, her apron splashed with fluorescent juices my mind was creating diabolical stories for.
“You’re here at last, Naruto-boy!” Despite her hopping atop my head—and knocking off her husband all the same—to ruffle my hair, I continued my mental preparations. “Come in, come in! Let’s eat!”
I smiled—and then grimaced my way through the meal. Shima shoved seconds onto my plate, and I felt compelled to down those, too. It made her happy, and I felt bad about refusing her hospitality. However, as Fukasaku and I left, I vowed to bring her some ingredients from Ichiraku under the guise of sharing recipes.
But despite my best intentions, I couldn’t hold down the meal further than a handful of minutes from the hut. Fukasaku sighed long and deep at the sight of me emptying my guts in a hedge.
“...Shima will be upset, you know,” he said, and I could hear the frown in his voice as he did so. “That said, I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did. I’m well aware that the toad diet is not kind to the human palate.”
I turned around between body-clenching, stomach-twisting retches with tears in my eyes. “Then why subject us to this!”
“Partly as a test of character.”
“Partly?” I asked, cleaning my mouth with a tendril of water drawn from the massive faucet-like structure pouring a great torrent down into the abyss.
A smile I could only describe as wicked blossomed across the elder toad’s face. “Without the entertainments you humans possess… well, we toads have to make fun of our own.”
“You’re not nearly as benevolent as you look,” I replied, not even feigning the weakness in my legs.
Fukasaku laughed and—once it had run its course and he wiped tears from his eyes—looked at me with curious eyes. “So, Naruto, what brings you to Mount Myoboku? Judging by our discussion when you summoned me—and the chakra-sealing tags you pilfered from Jiraiya—this is no social call.”
“I’m afraid not, Elder Fukasaku.” I rubbed the back of my head, fingers catching the wild tuft tied together at the back. “There’s no way to beat around the bush on this one. I’m afraid of the Nine-Tails. I first tapped into the Tailed Beast’s chakra a handful of weeks ago during the invasion when I first met him.”
“And what did the Nine-Tails say that has you admitting to fearing it?”
“You see, I had no option but to use his chakra to heal myself. I would’ve died otherwise. And when I did, that bastard declared his intentions to corrupt the seal using my own negative emotions.” Thumbing the First Hokage’s necklace, I raised the gemstone towards him.
Fukasaku blinked. “What is that?”
“The First Hokage’s Wood-Release could subdue the Tailed Beasts. This is his necklace, and while I’m not sure what its source is, it’s no ordinary gemstone. I was thinking that maybe… it could help me combat the Nine-Tails’ influence. Not that I want to use the Nine-Tails’ chakra… but if it’s going to use emotions that have their origin in me to manipulate me, a failsafe would be useful.”
“I cannot make any promises, but give it to me for a moment,” he said, stretching out a webbed hand.
Even if the toads couldn’t figure out how to tap into the pendant, I knew that it would kick in to subdue the Nine-Tails’ chakra after a certain point. The issue was that the point at which that would happen was somewhere close to six tails of the Nine-Tails’ chakra.
So for it to even help me, I’d have to lose my sense of reason. And even then, without an actual Wood-Release user present, the pendant wouldn’t have subdued the Nine-Tails’ chakra fully at that level of strength.
My hope here was to have the toads figure out a way for me to use the pendant’s capabilities before going berserk so that I wouldn’t run the risk of having my mental state tampered with by the Nine-Tails whenever I got angry.
But it wasn’t my only reason for seeking Fukasaku out.
“Before I give this to you, let me say one more thing. I know that, as a Jinchuriki, I’ll be expected to make use of the Nine-Tails’ powers sooner or later—probably sooner, given how things are shaping up. But I loathe the thought, and not only because of the Tailed Beast’s intentions to manipulate me.”
The elder toad only stared at me as he worked his jaw in thought.
“...I won’t pretend to not know about Jiraiya’s sage jutsu, nor will I demand that you teach me. But I’d like to,” I looked away for a moment due to the intensity of his gaze, but very quickly looked back to not give him the wrong impression, “I’d like to request the notion in the hopes that I don’t end up forced to resort to that monster’s malevolent chakra.”
“For now, let me take a look at the gem,” Fukasaku replied, pulling the necklace out of my outstretched hand. He closed his eyes, brow scrunching tightly. “Hmm… Hashirama Senju’s, you said? That explains the nature energy packed into it.”
“The gem is crystallised nature energy?”
“What? No, nothing that astounding,” he said with a laugh, giving me back the necklace. “That would be impossible. What you have is a chakra crystal—and an impossibly pure one at that. The vast senjutsu chakra stored within it is inaccessible to me—perhaps it being Hashirama Senju’s prevents it from being accessed by chakra other than his?”
I began to frown. “...That forces my hand.”
“How so?”
“If it’s inaccessible to anyone but him, then I’ll have to force the senjutsu chakra within to act.”
“Surely you don’t mean—”
“I do,” I replied, removing the chakra-suppressing seals from my pocket. “I’ll use the Nine-Tails’ chakra and see if I can elicit a reaction from the chakra crystal by forcing said chakra into it—keep count of the tails.”
It would be a long shot, but given I wasn’t willing to use so much of the Nine-Tails’ chakra that I went berserk, it was the only option I had.
…But I was not looking forward to meeting the Nine-Tails again.
The moment I reached into the seal, I could feel the Nine-Tails waiting—lurking at the edge of my thoughts, a presence both vast and perpetually malicious.
‘So soon?’ The Nine-Tails’ voice rumbled through my mind, thick with amusement. ‘I thought you were too good for my power, boy.’
I ignored it, pressing down on the creeping anger that rose alongside the crimson vapour seeping from my pores. My fingernails bit into my palm as I clenched my fists.
Fukasaku took a step back, his eyes narrowed. “One… two…” His voice stayed level, but I could hear the tension beneath it.
The chakra burned against my skin. I gritted my teeth as the bubbling shroud twisted and wailed, lashing out like it had a mind of its own. My breath came sharp and ragged. I was on the edge of the cliff and below waited an impossible wide maw awaiting to swallow me whole.
“Three…”
The edges of my vision tinged red. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, my skull, my throat. Everything came creeping in—the itch of irritation at the pendant’s stillness, the frustration at my limitations, the raw bitterness towards everything that breathed, the sheer hatred of the monster inside me—
“Four.” Fukasaku’s tone had hardened. He was wary now, and rightfully so. I could feel it—this was the absolute limit.
Any more, and I wouldn’t be the one in control anymore.
I forced my hands together in a seal to direct all this chakra, biting down on my tongue hard enough to taste liquid iron. The pain helped, grounding me just enough to stay aware of myself. For a moment, nothing happened. The chakra continued to claw at my skin, my mind, my very sense of self—gnawing at the edges, waiting for the moment my focus slipped.
Then the pendant worked. It wasn’t a glow nor a jolt of chakra bursting free. It was something subtler. Its influence was like releasing a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding in or a tension in my skull releasing all at once.
The red haze receded—but not instantly. The Nine-Tails was still there, its presence snarling and unwilling, but the crumbling balance shifted. The anger dulled, and the hatred shrank back like it was still there but behind thick glass—muted, distant, and manageable.
The Nine-Tails scoffed, but I could feel its attention peeling away from me. ‘Tch. That wretched man’s chakra. Still a nuisance beyond the grave.’
The bubbling, lashing shroud smoothed out, then dispersed entirely, retreating into the seal as though it had never been there.
My legs felt weak. I let out a long breath, my head dipping forward. I wiped the sweat from my brow, still catching my breath. The worst of it had passed, and my mind was quiet and finally my own.
I glanced up and found Fukasaku staring at me, a chakra-suppressing seal half-raised in his hand. He met my eyes and let out a low chuckle, tucking the tag away.
“Didn’t even need to use it,” he said with a grin. “You sure do keep life interesting in my old age, Naruto-boy.”
“I do my best.”
“As for your earlier request… given what I just witnessed, I’ll take it under consideration. You’ve barely known us for a few days. Bequeathing such knowledge on you would be highly irregular—but what are your circumstances if not highly irregular?”
I stayed quiet, not willing to tip the scales in either direction with my input.
“Before I agree, you must meet the Great Sage. Age weighs heavy on him, and he rested during your last visit. Were it not for your family’s ties to us and Jiraiya, I’d forgo the meeting until a later date—but your recent request demands such a meeting.”
Swallowing the ball of slight unease at his words, I stepped aside. “After you.”
Fukasaku led the way, and I followed, my mind still lingering on the sensation of the pendant’s influence. The path to the Great Toad Sage wound through Mount Myoboku’s misty cliffs, the towering fungi casting long shadows in the diffused light.
We hadn’t gotten far before I heard a voice call out.
“Oi, you’re that guy, huh?”
I turned to see two small toads perched on a broad mushroom cap, peering down at me. The orange one, slightly larger, had his arms crossed and a sceptical look on his face. The smaller, pale-yellow one blinked at me with wide eyes, his chubby hands gripping the edge of the cap.
“Yeah, that’s him,” the small one whispered loudly. “Dad said he’s his underling!”
“Huh,” the orange one muttered. “Doesn’t look like much.”
I gave them an easy grin. “Gamakichi, Gamatatsu. Nice to finally meet you.”
Gamakichi’s expression barely shifted, though I caught the subtle narrowing of his eyes. “Oh yeah? How did you know our names before we even introduced ourselves? Smells pretty fishy… and I don’t like fish.”
I just shrugged. “Your dad mentioned you. And I make a habit of paying attention to important people.”
That seemed to mollify him somewhat, though he didn’t let it show beyond a short grunt. Gamatatsu, on the other hand, was already distracted, his gaze darting to my hands. “Uh, do you have any snacks?”
“That’s sure some sweet tooth for you to ask a stranger for candy before even finding out their name.”
The little toad’s eyes went wide. “Yeah! Yeah, I do!”
“Then I’ve got a deal for you two.” I reached into my pocket, rooting around to see what I had—which turned out to be some candy I’d swiped from a roadside stall out of boredom. I held it up, watching as Gamatatsu’s throat bobbed in anticipation. “Sweets to celebrate our new friendship. Sound good?”
Gamakichi eyed me, then let out a sharp laugh. “Heh. You’re alright, I guess.”
I tossed the caramel to Gamatatsu, who caught it with both hands, practically vibrating with joy and then to Gamakichi. “Ooh, caramel!”
Fukasaku let out a sigh. “Enough wasting time, Naruto-boy. The Great Sage is waiting.”
Gamakichi waved me off. “Don’t embarrass yourself in front of Lord Gamamaru, underling.”
I rolled my eyes, continuing after Fukasaku as Gamatatsu noisily sucked on his caramel sweet.
The Great Toad Sage sat atop his massive, moss-covered throne, the sheer size of him dwarfing even the large chamber. His ancient, wrinkled skin sagged beneath the weight of centuries, his half-lidded eyes cloudy with age. A strange, flattened hat sat askew on his massive head as if it had been placed there and then promptly forgotten.
Fukasaku stepped forward, bowing. “Great Sage, I have brought Naruto-boy, our newest summoner and the son of Minato Namikaze.”
Gamamaru’s throat puffed out slightly as he took in a slow, wheezing breath. His gaze drifted vaguely, unfocused, before settling—more by chance than intent—on me.
“Hmmm…” He let out a long exhale. “Minato…”
I stiffened.
Then, just as suddenly, he frowned. “No… too rough… unkempt…”
I blinked.
“Yellow,” he muttered, nodding to himself. “Bright like the sun. Like a field of dandelions in the wind. Like… like…”
Fukasaku and I shared a glance. A long silence passed. Gamamaru’s mouth worked soundlessly as if he’d forgotten what he was saying entirely. Fukasaku gave me a pointed look, his expression somewhere between exasperated and resigned.
“…Like a hydrated man’s piss,” Gamamaru finally concluded, nodding slowly. “Yes…”
I stared at him.
Fukasaku coughed. “Great Sage, please.”
“Ah, yes.” The Great Sage blinked slowly, then turned back to me. “…You are touched by something strange, boy.” His voice was softer but infinitely clearer. “A presence not of this world, yet bound to it all the same. The cycle turns… but your thread is woven from something else entirely.”
“W-What?” I asked, more floored by the sudden shift in the conversation than what he had revealed.
Then, the realisation made my gut plummet. I knew all at once what he was referring to. The life I had lived before this one. But he shouldn’t have been able to tell. Only one other being knew, and that was because he and I had been together since before I was born.
And he hated me.
Fukasaku cleared his throat. “Great Sage, do you approve of him?”
Gamamaru didn’t answer immediately. His throat bulged slightly as he took in a deep breath, releasing it in a slow, wheezing exhale.
“…This boy’s path is twisted,” he murmured. “Like a river that has forgotten its source, winding and winding, yet never spilling into the sea.”
I swallowed. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It is neither good nor bad,” the Great Sage replied, the weight of his voice pressing against my ears. “Only… strange.”
Fukasaku shifted slightly, his expression wary but patient. “Does that mean…?”
A long silence.
Then, Gamamaru nodded. “He may learn.”
Fukasaku let out a quiet breath, his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. “Thank you, Great Sage.”
Gamamaru’s gaze lingered on me for a beat longer, and I could have sworn there was something amused in the old toad’s expression. But before I could even begin to decipher it, he simply closed his eyes and let out another long breath. “Hmm… Minato…”
I let out a breath of my own, still rattled by his earlier words.
Fukasaku gestured for me to follow, and we left the chamber.
The crisp air of Mount Myoboku was a welcome relief after the weight of that conversation. The mist had thinned somewhat, revealing the lush, green expanse of the mountain below. I rolled my shoulders, shaking off the last remnants of tension.
“Well, that went better than expected,” I muttered.
Fukasaku hummed. “You have a habit of defying expectations, Naruto-boy.”
“And you’re willing to teach me, now?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I said I’d consider it if the Great Sage approved of you.”
“Come on, you just got approval from the Great Sage. What more do you want from me?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Patience—a virtue that will help you greatly on your journey towards enlightenment.”
“…Fair enough,” I replied.
Fukasaku nodded. “For now, rest. You’ve had a long day.”
I exhaled. Rest didn’t sound so bad—
But then the ground beneath me shifted.
Again.
My breath caught as I felt the unmistakable tug of a reverse summoning, stronger this time, yanking me away with a force I couldn’t resist.
The world blurred, my vision twisting, my stomach lurching—the wooden beams above me creaked softly, and damp wood, along with the scent of a spring afternoon, filled my nose. And right in front of me, looking up with wide, expectant eyes, was Kosuke—the small, crimson toad I’d left behind with instructions to summon me back if something went wrong.
And given the furious knocking on the door, there was no question about it.
“Oi! Open up, kid! Now!” The innkeeper’s voice was thick with anger and urgency, his heavy fists hammering against the wood. “Your long-haired guardian was found passed out drunk at a bar hours after his female companion left! He won’t wake up!”
I sucked in a sharp breath as hot, searing anger flared through my chest.
Tsunade.
I had been so focused on my irritation toward her that I had completely forgotten what she was planning to do to Jiraiya—the spiked drink.
“Damn it,” I hissed through my teeth, already moving for the door. “Thanks for the reverse-summon—I’ll bring you something when I’m next around.”
Kosuke saluted and disappeared as I crossed the room in two strides and yanked open the door. The innkeeper, a stocky man with sweat beading on his forehead, scowled at me.
“Where?” I said, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Bar two streets down. They’re trying to wake him, but he’s dead to the world.”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I bolted past him, my pulse thudding hard in my ears. I’d find Shizune, get Tsunade’s location, and then make sure she undid whatever the toxin Tsunade had fed Jiraiya was doing.
…Then I’d make sure to kill Orochimaru here and now—he was at his weakest, and if he scurried off here, he’d be able to use his arms. The issue would be to get Tsunade out of the way—if not help me outright. Even if he, for some reason, possessed the knowledge to truly revive anyone, it’d be a long while before he’d be able to make good on his promise to Tsunade.
And I could use that to snap the fraying link between the two and avenge Lord Third all the same.
“Shizune!” As I turned the corner, I saw her leaning over Jiraiya, who was somewhat conscious and propped up against a wall. “How’s he doing?”
“I’ve managed to purge the toxin,” she replied. “It was never lethal… just thrown his chakra network out of sync to weaken him.”
Which conveniently eliminated his ability to wield senjutsu. I ground my jaw shut. “How long 'til you guys can go to the meeting place?”
“It’ll be a little while. Lord Jiraiya’s body isn’t doing well—frazzling his chakra network wasn’t its only purpose, after all. Why?”
Jiraiya chuckled weakly, glistening with sweat as he turned to me. “My body’s… fine. R-Right as rain, even.”
“I’m going on ahead,” I called over my shoulder. “You know where the meeting place is.”
“Wait, what are you doing?” Shizune yelled after me. “Naruto, that’s not safe!”
“I’ll see if I can make any headway where that hag’s concerned—but hurry up!”
Because if Tsunade was a lost cause, I’d need Jiraiya and Shizune’s backup to keep her off my back.
———————————
Tsunade stood alone, arms folded, her expression composed but unwelcoming. She didn’t look surprised to see me. If anything, she looked tired.
“You’re wasting your time,” she said flatly. “You can’t convince me.”
I clenched my fists at my sides, inhaling sharply through my nose. Maybe I had approached this all wrong before. If reason hadn’t worked, if appeals to her sense of duty had fallen flat, then I needed another angle.
Not to convince her to return to the village—no, I wanted her to rethink trusting Orochimaru.
“You think Orochimaru is telling you the truth,” I said, watching for any shift in her expression. “That he’ll give you exactly what you want, no strings attached? You’ve known him for so long, surely you’re not that stupid.”
“I don’t care what he’s got planned so long as he keeps up his end of the deal.”
“I met him once, before the invasion,” I said. “In the Forest of Death. He made me an offer. If I joined him, he’d bring back my parents.”
A flicker of movement, the twitch that preceded the tightening of her jaw. It was gone in an instant, but I’d seen it, and she knew I did.
“He said he could do that and more, but I knew he couldn’t be trusted and turned him down. Do you know what he ended up doing instead? He attacked the village and used the Reanimation Jutsu to bring back your grandfather and granduncle to do it. Sarutobi-sensei died to seal them—I’m sure Orochimaru kept that little detail to himself.”
Tsunade’s lips parted slightly.
“And the only reason my dad wasn’t among them,” I said, “was because Sarutobi-sensei made sure of it. And my mom—” I hesitated, just for a second, before pushing forward. “Orochimaru was going to summon her too, probably. He was going to force her to fight against the village…. so to stop him, Sarutobi-sensei used the Reanimation Jutsu himself.”
I breathed lightly, ignoring the swaying in my chest. To achieve the things he wanted, Orochimaru struck where it hurt, whispered sweet nothings into your ears just to buy loyalty that he would never repay. Use Tsunade as he intended to use me—and unlike myself, Tsunade was broken enough do it, downsides be damned.
Before she could reply, someone crashed into the meeting place, screaming with an agony that made my hair stand on end. A woman staggered into view, half-falling against the ground. I didn’t know her, but her appearance was striking enough to leave an impression: short dark hair, a hauntingly beautiful face twisted and angry, and a body wrapped in some kind of crystallised shell.
Within the shifting armour, flames burned—a black fire, alive, writhing like it wanted to consume her whole. I knew those flames—a level of fear more consuming than any battle high had me in its grip.
The Akatsuki were here, and presumably for me… and without Tsunade’s co-operation, I’d likely die here and now.
Turning to Tsunade, the burned woman snarled a pained sound out between her teeth. “Heal me,” she demanded. “If you don’t, the deal is off.”
Her words immediately had me brandishing my trench knives. Having killed Kabuto, it only made sense that Orochimaru would bring another lackey as his caretaker. Tsunade froze. I could see the conflict flicker across her face, the way she wavered for just a second before she started moving toward the burned woman.
I moved to strike. Tsunade stopped me.
Her hand caught my wrist, firm but—unexpectedly—gentle. “I’m sorry to have looked down on your suffering on account of your age,” she said quietly.
Then she knocked me away without any of the gentleness that I’d heard in her voice. I hit the ground hard, my body digging a path through the dirt—but I didn’t stay down. I was up again in an instant, pulling my trench knives free, chakra crackling along the edges.
Tsunade was already moving, her hands glowing with healing chakra as she kneeled beside the burned woman and healed her other injuries. I charged without a second thought, and Tsunade intercepted, stopping me halfway there.
We clashed, the force of it sending tremors through the air. I realised through the prickle of gooseflesh along my arms that she wasn’t holding back—and even at her lowest, she was stronger than me.
I knew I couldn’t overpower her—not unless I was willing to use the Nine-Tails chakra, but I didn’t need to. I ducked under a strike, twisting into her blind spot, but she pivoted faster than I expected. Her knee shot up, forcing me to break away before she could catch me in a grapple.
“Tsunade!” I said, barely avoiding another strike. “You’re making a mistake!” She didn’t answer. I blocked a heavy downward strike, feeling the impact rattle through my arms. I gritted my teeth. “And even after everything, she went back to the Pure Lands after a few hours!”
She faltered for half a second. I didn’t know what made me keep talking, what made the words spill out even as we fought, but I continued to babble, unsure of half the things I was saying.
“It’s not true revival or reanimation!” I yelled, sounding every bit as desperate as I felt. “Merely a temporary return from the pure land at the cost of a life. And even if Orochimaru could genuinely revive your brother and dead boyfriend, what makes you think they’d want anything to do with you?”
My words had the desired effect of stopping her in her tracks. I threw myself forward, flinging a spray of blood at her as I rushed past her and closed in towards Orochimaru’s subordinate. The woman took one step back and then another, pink crystal bubbling as her jutsu fought to contain the Amaterasu.
I decapitated her using my chakra conductive blade, watching as the ruinous flames burst free of their confines and her body became the kindling for her pyre.
- - -
Comments
DeathTheKidd113
Excellent chapter
Xardas2995
The whole thing could turn into an interesting standoff. Officially Itachi and Kisame are after Naruto though Orochimaru is also on Akatsukis hit list. Unofficially Itachi just wants Orochimaru dead and not fight Konoha. Tsunade is kinda on Orochimaru side for now. Naruto is against Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. Had this funny idea that Naruto and Akatsuki stomp Orochimaru together with a temporary truce. Still think Kisame would like the SI if they ever managed to talk without immediately trying to kill each other. Kisame got sick of the lies in the world and being ordered to kill his own comrades. Naruto is facing something similar with Danzo now. Itachi, Kisame, Tsunade and Naruto have similar backgrounds. All of them were squeezed out by their respective villages, broken and then thrown away. Naruto is still at the beginning of this path I guess, but he also already has issues with Konoha as an institution.
