21 21

Still mine.

/~/

"Wake up, kid! We've got a problem."

Naruto sat up abruptly from his lying position on the futon, knives finding their way to his knuckles out of reflex. "Wha–" he started, head on a swivel to take in the suite he had spent the last two nights in.

Jiraiya was leaned up against the far wall, breathing heavily and being tended to by a harried looking Shizune while Tonton squealed in displeasure at being ignored. Tsunade was nowhere to be seen.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, sheathing his knives given the lack of immediate danger.

"I need you to send clone sentries out into the city. Tsunade's gone."

The blond narrowed his eyes, seeing a guilty look pass over Shizune's face even as her healing chakra passed over Jiraiya. He formed a cross shaped seal and six clones burst into existence. "Gone?"

The last two days had been something approaching pleasant since their impromptu conversation on the roof. He had made sure not to mention Konoha's offer in her presence anymore; Jiraiya undoubtedly had his own strategy that he had no desire to interfere with – he'd probably just mess it up.

In the end, he actually got along with the third Sannin rather well. She openly mocked Jiraiya, leaving the man with less time to annoy the ever-living shit out of him when he was teaching, so she couldn't be all bad.

The Toad Sannin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She left early this morning to meet with Orochimaru." Naruto felt his eyes widen in shock and anger. "Shizune said the meeting would likely be on the east side of the city. Send your clones to scout it."

Two of the six immediate disappeared in shunshin while the other four held a tiger seal for the Meisaigakure, quickly disappearing from view save a small shimmer when they moved. Naruto narrowed his eyes in consternation at the difficult jutsu as the final four took off in their own shunshins.

"She's meeting with him?" the blond bit out, addressing Shizune directly. "What is he even doing here?"

Shizune dropped her eyes to the ground as she took her hands off Jiraiya's back. "Orochimaru and one of his subordinates approached Tsunade-sama early in the week, asking her to heal his arms that had been damaged in his fight with the Sandaime. They left before I could convince her to attack them, promising to be back within the week to get her answer."

"And apparently they've come to collect," Jiraiya butted in, drawing himself up to his full height with some effort.

"Why the fuck would she heal his arms?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "He attacked Konoha! He killed her sensei!"

"There's no guarantee that she will. Tsunade was always pretty guarded in her motivations." Jiraiya chuckled darkly. "And ruthless in her execution. She slipped something in my drink that fucked my chakra up pretty bad. Whatever she's planning, she doesn't want anyone to interfere."

Naruto processed the bad news quickly, trying to wrap his head around the delicate situation with some of the equanimity Jiraiya always managed to display. Motivations don't matter right now, he told himself. Focus on the here and now. Why she was doing what she was doing meant little in the face of the potential fallout. Worst case, she healed Orochimaru. Second-worst case, she turned on him and ended up dead in the process. "What did the subordinate look like?" he asked Shizune quietly, not missing Jiraiya's small smile at the pertinent question.

"Average height, gray-ish silver hair, and glasses."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Kabuto," he declared.

"The one you ran into during the exams," Jiraiya confirmed. "What do we know about him?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not a lot. Definitely an infiltration specialist. Went to seven Chunin Exams as a Konoha-nin and had at least B-ranked information on members of multiple villages. No idea about his combat abilities."

Jiraiya hummed as he stretched lightly in the middle of the suite before taking a deep breath. Naruto shifted as the feeling of a warm blanket washed over him as Jiraiya's chakra suddenly filled the room. "Sounds like a slippery one. If he was carrying around B-ranked info then he's got some skill to protect it," he said, echoing Naruto's own thoughts from back in the exam. He sighed, shaking his head as the chakra receded. "Assume we have an A-ranked threat on our hands. And me without full use of my chakra…lovely."

"The toxin should take at least a few more hours to run its course, Jiraiya-sama," Shizune said quietly. "I've sped your metabolism as much as I could without risking permanent damage to your body."

"Ahhh, don't worry about it, Shizune-chan! It'll take a bit more than a spiked drink to keep me down, for I am Jiraiya!" the Sannin declared, striking a pose with his arm outstretched ridiculously. Tsunade's assistant cracked a smile at the display while Naruto just shook his head. The blond envied his sensei's unprecedented ability to keep his cool regardless of the severity of the situation.

"Naruto," the older man spoke, suddenly all business. "When we make contact, you and Shizune will have to field Kabuto. Leave Orochimaru to me."

"Even with your chakra?"

Jiraiya grinned. "I've had worse odds. And if his arms are still fucked when we show up, it might actually be a fair fight."

The blond nodded hesitantly before wincing in pain as two sets of memories shoved themselves into his head simultaneously. I hate it when they do that…"We've got something, sensei. Two of my clones found wreckage on the southeast side of the city. A wall and half a building have been completely destroyed."

"Heh. Sounds like our girl. Lead the way, gaki."

Naruto spared the two ranking shinobi a glance before performing a seamless Shunshin that left him on the roof of the hotel. The others joined him less than a second later, and the blond wasted no time in speeding away in the direction his clones had found the disturbance in yet another body flicker.

Blue eyes strained to stay completely open despite the rushing wind and blurred surrounding that the Shunshin naturally led to. The jutsu was fast, too fast in some ways, and Naruto wasn't proficient enough with it to make much use of it in full combat – something Jiraiya apparently had half a mind to fix at the earliest opportunity, or so the man had said on their way to Tanzaku-gai.

An idea for wind manipulation struck him in the moment, but he quickly shelved it for later. They had arrived in seconds at what looked to have been, perhaps as recently as minutes ago, a reasonably affluent quarter of the city. Civilians were crowding the rubble frantically, searching for anyone who might've been unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire.

"Yup, that's Tsunade's work alright," Jiraiya declared, taking in the destruction. "Looks like they took things outside the city to the south, if the direction of the damage is any indication. I'll take point on this one, Naruto."

The Sannin took off quickly, following the trail of rubble into the countryside with Shizune hot on his heels. Naruto spared one last glance at the floundering civilians before following suit.

He powered himself to run even with Shizune a few moments later. Her face was creased with worry, undoubtedly for her master's wellbeing given the signs of a fight leftover in the city. He'd have to let her lead if it came to a fight. She'd been under Tsunade's tutelage for over a decade; if the final Sannin was even half as good a sensei as Jiraiya was, she'd be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

A snarl split his lips at the prospect of paying Orochimaru back for the crimes he'd committed against his home. For all he railed against the general populace in his own mind, he didn't care to see them senselessly slaughtered at the whims of a madman.

The heavy feeling of latent chakra washed over Naruto abruptly. Blue eyes flicked to his sensei in time to see a change come over the man's bearing. Go time.

/~/

One moment, Jiraiya was leading them, the next, he was gone at a speed Naruto hadn't thought the large man capable of. Fast!

Shizune followed without hesitation and Naruto, seeing a clear path, dashed forward into Shunshin to keep up. He landed less than a second after Tsunade's apprentice, two steps behind Jiraiya.

The blonde Sannin was on her knees, shivering and covered in blood behind her loyal teammate. Across the plain, Orochimaru stood next to a serious Kabuto, a grin twisting his pale face.

"Looks like we're just in time," Jiraiya boomed, stepping forward. "Can't say I'm happy to see your pasty face again, Orochimaru."

"Jiraiya," the Snake Sannin all but hissed, grin widening. "What a lovely reunion! How long has it been since we've all been together?"

"Heh, not long enough clearly. Though I was sorry I missed getting a chance to cave your skull in back in Konoha."

The Snake Sannin just grinned wider, his lips stretching unnaturally. "I see your manners haven't improved after all these years. That's no way to greet an old friend," Orochimaru chuckled. "And you've brought young Naruto-kun as well! You performed most admirably during the invasion, child," he complimented.

Naruto's felt his lip curl at the sound of the man's voice, but did nothing other than draw his knives in anticipation. Slippery as he was, Orochimaru would undoubtedly use anything the blond said against him; losing his head here could lead to actually losing his head.

"Indeed, you defied even my expectations. Poor Gaara didn't stand a chance, did he?" The snake sighed theatrically. "I'm afraid our business with Tsunade-chan is complete, Kabuto-kun…"

Naruto didn't have time to react as Shizune reached out and pulled him and Tsunade to the right. The world blurred for less than a second as she carried them in shunshin away from two massive plumes of smoke that the blond hadn't even processed. Summoning! he realized.

Two brown snakes the size of most buildings in Konoha dove into the other cloud that had been left over, undoubtedly from Jiraiya's summoning. A giant, magenta colored toad wearing a black kimono leapt past them with surprising grace, deflecting the bite of one of the snakes with a shield it pulled from its back.

"Heads up!" Shizune called, a split second before Naruto's reflexes had him diving out of the way of a palm that was covered in visible, glowing chakra. He turned his dive into a roll and the Hien roared to life in his hands as he righted himself.

Kabuto stood between Naruto and Shizune, who was still covering Tsunade's front, and smiled maliciously. "I had thought to test myself against one of the Sannin today, but I suppose you two will have to do."

He disappeared in a blur that Naruto's immature eyes couldn't track. Senses screaming, he spun in place, lengthening the Hien into five foot whips that circled him defensively, forcing Kabuto to abort.

"Inventive," the spy said from just outside the wind's range. He torqued his body suddenly, neatly avoiding a palm thrust from Shizune. He jumped back a step, parrying another thrust with ease. "I would suggest leaving this to the adults, however. This is no place for you, Naruto-kun."

The spy leapt backwards to avoid a flurry of Shizune's blows. The black-haired woman ran through seals and spit a hail of tiny needles from her mouth at Kabuto, forcing him to the left.

"Come now, Naruto-kun. Leave this business to the adults," he heard the masked enemy say, voice dripping with condescension. "Truly, this is no place for genin, even on as talented as you."

The faux-ANBU's words from the day of the invasion rang in his head with the force of an earthquake. "It was you," Naruto breathed, the speech patterns and voice aligning in his mind. "It was you!" he screamed, rage for Yamato's death bubbling to the surface.

Horse-Monkey-Bird. Naruto clapped his hands together in front of his mouth and exhaled a sharpened cloud of dust that sped toward the spy, pulverizing the ground to dirt particles as it passed. "Go!" he told Shizune, who dashed back into the fray as Kabuto strafed to his right to avoid the Fujin no jutsu.

Naruto hung back, mind working furiously to find an opening. Kabuto was clearly a jonin, and for all of his advances with Jiraiya, he couldn't go toe-to-toe with the man. Close-combat would see him dead in a manner of seconds, given the gap in speed and the chakra covering the man's hands – the blond wasn't about to chance getting caught by that. Ninjutsu it is.

The students of two Sannin clashed in a flurry of taijutsu, their hands glowing matching shades of green as chakra scalpels sought to rend flesh. Knocking one of her thrusts aside, Kabuto pivoted and jabbed two fingers of green chakra into Shizune's right shoulder, causing her to cry out.

Speeding through seals as fast as he could, Naruto spat a bullet of wind at the small space between the two combatants. The low level Futon technique served its purpose, and Kabuto jumped back to avoid being hit, allowing Shizune to dart back to Naruto's side.

Forming a familiar cross-shaped seal, three Narutos burst into existence and rushed forward to blitz the spy in individual shunshins, knives drawn. The original turned to his ally expectantly.

"He's better than me in close quarters. We need a coordinated assault to take him out," Shizune declared as she healed whatever damage Kabuto had inflicted to her shoulder.

"My clones can flush him out," Naruto said, forming six more as the memories of his now dispatched clones made themselves known. They disappeared in body flickers to engage the spy once more. "My ninjutsu can keep him out of range for a while, but I can't keep up with his speed long-term."

In a contest of raw speed, Naruto could probably go toe-to-toe with Kabuto – the man wasn't that fast. But the blonde's reflexes weren't good enough to allow him to battle it out in shunshin given the lack of sight that the jutsu left him with. Luck wouldn't carry him far in this fight.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Kabuto's smooth voice spoke from behind Naruto and Shizune, a moment before one of Naruto's clones managed to dispel itself in a warning. He didn't dispel them! Naruto realized too late. They spun in time for Naruto to catch a heel to his chest that sent him flying towards the still downed Tsunade. He hit the ground hard and rolled, finally finding purchase with his hands and vaulting himself into a defensive stance in front of the incapacitated Sannin. Blue eyes shone with renewed rage as he looked for an opening.

The spy parried Shizune's point blank senbon thrust with a kunai, a deft twist of his wrist divesting the black-haired woman of the weapon before he jabbed his chakra covered palm into her stomach hard enough to send her sprawling. She rolled to a stop some distance away, breathing harshly, but didn't move to stand.

Kabuto turned from her downed form to regard Naruto, cocking his head to the side and pushing his glasses further up his nose. A slow, mocking smile spread across his face as he beheld the beleaguered blond, almost inviting in its condescension.

If only the arrogance wasn't warranted…Naruto grimaced and turned his head to regard the blood-covered Tsunade with a sneer Sasuke would've been proud of. Blue eyes locked with honey brown for a moment before he turned back to face Kabuto. "Some Hokage you'll make," he growled.

Two Kage Bunshin formed in response to his cross-shaped seal. "Cover me!" he bit out, and rushed forward toward Kabuto's waiting form. Naruto covered the distance in less than a second, but was still beaten to the spy by a wind sheathed kunai thrown by one of his clones. Kabuto ducked the thrown knife with ease, but was immediately forced to leap over a sweep of his legs by the original.

Naruto dropped to the ground and pushed off with his hands, moving to take advantage of the spy's momentarily airborne state. Crossed arms blocked his plyometric thrust kick with ease, though it succeeded in knocking the glasses-clad man higher in the air where he was immediately met by a second Naruto, who had substituted with the thrown kunai.

A two handed smash, blocked yet again, brought the spy back down to earth where he immediately rushed forward in a seamless shunshin toward the original. Naruto avoided a chakra covered palm with a shunshin of his own, and only had time to catch a glimpse of Kabuto's grin before the world was reduced to a blur of high speed motion.

The blond blurred to the left, towards a spot instinct and chakra senses told him Kabuto would appear in less than a moment. He appeared a split second before the gray haired spy, but his chakra enhanced hook was neatly redirected by the back of Kabuto's forearm. Naruto channeled chakra to his feet, sticking himself to the ground in order to pivot hard and spin a devastating elbow at the man's face – but Kabuto was no longer there.

The gray haired spy reappeared at Naruto's flank in yet another body flicker, chakra scalpel moving to eviscerate the blond, forcing Naruto to perform a shunshin of his own to avoid it – and the chase was on once more.

Naruto chained three body flickers together to evade Kabuto's deadly hands, eyes tearing up as he battled tunnel vision. I can't keep this up, he thought desperately, ducking a swipe at his head on instinct and nearly overextending himself in an immediate counterattack that was late by as much time as it took to blink. I have the chakra to do this all day, he knew, disappearing in another shunshin to avoid a strike at his heart. But I'm damn near running blind!

It was a minor miracle that they were fighting on an open a plain; were they in a forest, the blond suspected he'd have plowed head first into a tree by now.

In the back of his mind, he realized that Kabuto was likely toying with him on Orochimaru's orders – the thought didn't offer much comfort.

His luck finally ran out as Kabuto appeared out his body flicker a moment before he did, and the blond was forced to perform the fastest kawarimi of his life to escape the worst of the damage. He reappeared five meters behind Kabuto, holding his chest, and watched detachedly as the large rock he had substituted with was pulverized to dust by the man's strike.

The spy turned to him languidly, the mocking smile returning to his young face as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose in what looked to be a habitual tick. "Not bad, Naruto-kun," he complimented. "I didn't expect you to last quite so long at such speeds."

The blond spat blood and sneered. "You'll find I'm full of surprises," he said. Kabuto's eyes widened in sudden realization, and the spy deftly leapt over a thrown fuma shuriken one of Naruto's clones hurled at his back.

Why would I use a shuriken instead of ninjutsu? he wondered even as a second shuriken appeared from the shadow of the first, causing Kabuto to roll right to dodge it. The first angled through the air and implanted itself in the ground directly to Naruto's left before exploding in a puff of smoke to reveal another one of his clones.

"Try to keep up, boss," the clone on the left told him, turning to face Kabuto – who was evading the other kage bunshin's hail of weapons with seeming ease – and running through hand seals.

Naruto's eyes lit up in recognition of his clone's – his – plan, and sped through his own hand seals fast enough to keep up. I even surprise myself sometimes…

Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!

Futon: Daitoppa!

The resulting firestorm wasn't nearly as massive as his Kyubi and ANBU aided effort back during the Invasion – undoubtedly his clone's inspiration for the combo – but it was still far more impressive than either of the two C-ranked jutsu could've been on their own. The wall of flame covered the distance between the two Naruto's and Kabuto in the blink of an eye, obscuring the spy from view.

The memories of the clone that had thrown the shuriken hit Naruto's mind, alerting him to Kabuto's movements.

Four seals found Naruto dropping into the earth beneath his feet using the first Doton technique Jiraiya had bothered to teach him. Being beneath the earth was an odd feeling, but he could easily make out each footfall. Jiraiya and Orochimaru's summons were clearly still clashing some distance off, and the rapid footfalls indicative of a shunshin were quickly approaching his remaining clone.

The clone strafed backwards from the spy's offensive, and Kabuto gave chase swiftly.

Now! Naruto erupted from the ground gripping his wrist as his chakra began to whirl, racing forward in a shunshin at Kabuto's exposed back.

The spy whirled around at the last moment, eyes wide, and Naruto relished the momentary surprise on the treacherous man's face as the Rasengan impacted his chest. The blond felt a light tap above his heart but paid it no heed as the spiraling sphere ground into Kabuto before detonating in a blinding flash that sent the man hurtling backwards and into a boulder some meters away.

He grinned as the final clone dispelled itself, spitting blood from Kabuto's earlier strike to his chest. "Get up from that one, fucker."

Naruto turned from the form of the downed spy to face the ongoing battle of summons some distance away, taking in the devastation with a glance. Jiraiya's horned toad looked to be locked up with the twin brown snakes Orochimaru and Kabuto had summoned, one pinned beneath its sasumata while it fended off advances from the other with its shield.

Plans of how best to help his laboring sensei had only just started to form in his mind before Naruto felt a sharp pinch in his chest, right where Kabuto had tapped him upon being hit with the Rasengan. What did he – was all Naruto had time to think as the world spun abruptly and he saw no more.

/~/

He had always been a patient man, but this weakness couldn't be abided for much longer.

He ducked his old teammate's thrust kick with contemptuous ease and a quick application of chakra saw his body wrapped tightly around Jiraiya's, squeezing the life out of him in seconds – only to have him replaced by a log in a seamless kawarimi. How utterly predictable, Orochimaru mused, having gotten bored with the fight nearly from the outset.

Truly, it wasn't even an enjoyable fight, the two of them reduced to this level; he knew Jiraiya well enough to know the man agreed with him on principle, though he'd never admit it. Stubborn fool, he thought without vitriol.

Indeed, the only redeeming factor was Naruto-kun's clash with Kabuto just inside the fringes of his awareness.

"Your spy is competent," Jiraiya complimented, swinging a fist that normally would've had the strength to tear his head from his shoulders. As it was, he managed to maneuver his dead – useless – left arm into its path in a block. Had the arm been receiving any blood flow, it likely would've only bruised.

"You noticed," Orochimaru simpered, swinging his other dead – useless – arm at his old teammate before twisting himself into a kick that had Jiraiya skidding backwards on the head of the pinned snake upon which they fought. Above them, Jiraiya's toad was locked in combat with his second summon. "Kabuto-kun could give Sakumo's boy a run for his money, old friend. On a good day, of course."

"And yet Naruto isn't dead," the white haired man returned, voice dripping with suspicion. He knows me too well, Orochimaru mused amusedly.

Outwardly, he chuckled. "I abhor waste, Jiraiya. Naruto-kun has so much potential that it would be shameful if he was cut down before he could reach it. Surely you see that."

"Heh, course I do," his old teammate said, face set in stone. "But that doesn't explain what the hell you want with my student, now does it?"

He felt his lips stretch into a wide smile. "Only the best of things, I assure you," he said, delighting in the frustrated countenance that came over Jiraiya's face. He blinked, chakra working in overdrive to twist his body out of the way of his old teammate's flying knee. He regains his strength quickly…

"You know he'll never join you," Jiraiya said matter-of-factly, blocking his return kick with ease. "Promises of power won't tempt him, Orochimaru. Not after what you've done."

"Won't they? He and I are allied against a common enemy, and I am the greatest resource he could possibly have to fight them." The Snake Sannin smirked. "I know the Akatsuki better than anyone else, Jiraiya. Far better than you. They're all old friends, you see."

Jiraiya grimaced, fighting his own body as it rebelled against Tsunade's toxin. "That doesn't change what you've done." He blurred in a shunshin, sweeping Orochimaru's legs and landing a knee to the long-haired man's back that sent him skyward. "You attacked Konoha, and that's not easily forgiven, teme. Katon: Endan!"

His kawarimi left nothing but ashes falling on Jiraiya's white hair. Orochimaru rose from the skin of the snake languidly, unbothered. "You overestimate the boy's patriotism. Konoha has done naught but spurn his existence from the moment the Kyubi was sealed into him. Those people mean nothing to him."

"Tch, I see you haven't changed much either. Still projecting your twisted world view onto everyone around you," Jiraiya declared, his arms held loosely at his sides. Orochimaru could see the muscles tensing and relaxing beneath the man's haori, however, and knew his old friend could strike at any time. "He won't abandon his home over some petty villagers. He's his father's son."

Orochimaru felt his lips twist in a reflexive sneer at Namikaze Minato's mention. For all his hatred of what the man represented – failure – he couldn't help but respect the man's ruthless efficiency. The boy had been a prodigy hailed even higher than he had been, and the Yellow Flash had certainly lived up to his hype.

He had envied Jiraiya's luck in getting to teach the boy, though Namikaze had emulated his sensei's style in only the most superficial of ways. There was a certain satisfaction in imparting knowledge onto one's student, a truth he had realized with Anko, despite her failings. He only hoped his next student would prove to be a more satiating endeavor.

Speaking of the boy…, Orochimaru thought, a swell of chakra at the fringe of his awareness attracting his notice. He turned in time to catch sight of a raging firestorm erupt from twin blondes and race towards his subordinate. "Magnificent," he hissed as Kabuto powered around the worst of the combination jutsu. His father's son indeed, he noted with mixed feelings, watching the boy spring from the earth and rush Kabuto's blind spot, Namikaze's Rasengan whirling in his hand.

The boy was nearly unprecedented. A barely thirteen year old chunin with two A-ranked kills, the jinchuriki of the Kyubi, the heir to the potent chakra of the Uzumaki, and the son of the Yondaime. "You've done well by the boy, Jiraiya," he complimented as the Rasengan detonated with a thunderclap that sent his subordinate flying into a boulder. He will make a fine student. "If he survives, of course," he mused aloud, his eyes not missing Kabuto's counter.

Jiraiya abandoned their farce of a fight faster than he could blink, reappearing by Naruto's side. Orochimaru took the opportunity to perform his own body flicker to check on his subordinate.

"Naruto-kun is…full of surprises," Kabuto coughed, still prone against the boulder. The explosion had burned away most of his standard purple shirt, and the impact had jarred the Oto headband from his forehead and cracked his glasses. Torn and bloody flesh was knitting back together in front of his very eyes, however, burns fading as new skin cells rapidly formed.

What a terrifying ninjutsu, he thought as his subordinate spit blood with a grimace – it appeared the Rasengan did more than just superficially wound its victims.

"A delightful trait in a lieutenant and student, I assure you, Kabuto-kun. I expect you'll witness many more of the boy's surprises, provided your little counterattack hasn't killed him," Orochimaru said, the evenness of his voice belying his murderous irritation.

The gray-haired teen met his stare with familiar deference, though insolence shone through the haze of pain he was no doubt experiencing. "A reflex, Orochimaru-sama. I apologize for my mistake."

"You do not make mistakes, Kabuto-kun," the Snake Sannin stated plainly. Between Danzo, Sasori, and himself, the boy was as sharp a shinobi as any on the continent. "I hope, for your sake, that this little experiment of yours turns out how you expect it to."

Kabuto smiled demurely as he gingerly rose to his feet. "It appears Tsunade has recovered," was all he said.

"Indeed." Orochimaru turned to see his two teammates and Shizune huddled over the young chunin's form. Tsunade's hands glowed green as she worked desperately to undo any damage that Kabuto had inflicted. The Snake Sannin felt the lingering irritation at his subordinate's test fall away as Naruto visibly twitched under his teammate's expert attentions. "What, exactly, did you do to the boy?" he asked, curious.

Kabuto hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with the sight of the very much alive chunin in spite of his own actions. "Testing a hypothesis…I severed his aorta, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru felt his eyes widen at the implications. A severed aorta would see the victim dead in less than ten seconds as the brain stopped receiving blood from the beating heart. Naruto had been prone for nearly a minute, and Tsunade, as gifted as she was in healing ninjutsu, could not reverse death.

"Well now…" he started, lips parting in a smile that hurt his cheeks to sustain even as his teammates turned as one to face him, wrath written across their faces. "I think, Kabuto-kun, that things are about to get interesting."

/~/

He came to as if he had simply been awoken from sleep in the morning. Electric blue eyes blinked open calmly to behold the similarly blue midafternoon sky, interrupted only by white clouds floating peacefully across his field of vision.

Shikamaru might be onto something...

All too soon, the familiar sounds of combat reached his ears, snapping him from his serene reverie. He sat up quickly and gasped, reaching a hand out to the ground to steady himself as exhaustion viciously asserted itself in his body. Bracing himself, he gingerly rose to his feet, careful not to move to quickly and topple over.

The Sannin weren't far from him. Jiraiya and Tsunade stood next to each other, and behind them stood their famed boss summons. Gamabunta towered even higher than the toad Jiraiya had summoned earlier in the fight, pipe clenched in his mouth as he glared balefully down upon Orochimaru and an injured looking Kabuto. Katsuyu was arrayed in what Naruto assumed to be an offensive position, coiled behind Tsunade with her antennae swaying agitatedly. The traitor's infamous summon was nowhere to be seen.

Signs of their battle were abundant. Massive craters where the summons had no doubt clashed littered the formerly peaceful plains. A hole that was five times as wide as Naruto was tall gaped, signifying some measure of subterranean transit – Gotta be Manda, the blond concluded.

His eyes narrowed as he picked up the feeling of someone using shunshin, swiftly palming a kunai, only to relax as Shizune appeared a moment later. "What'd I miss?" he asked hoarsely.

The black-haired woman surveyed him with something approaching wonderment, prompting Naruto to raise his eyebrows in question. She shook herself slightly. "Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama engaged Orochimaru and Kabuto for a few minutes," she said, turning back to regard her master.

Naruto quashed a swell of annoyance – he couldn't rightfully expect a full play-by-play account of the fight. His eyes shifted to the gray-haired spy, narrowing in cold fury. "How's Kabuto still alive? I got him dead center of his chest."

"His skill in medical ninjutsu allowed him to…preempt your attack, apparently. The damage was already healing when your jutsu struck him," Shizune said tentatively, as if she was still wrapping her head around such a technique.

"You gotta be kidding me…" First Gaara's ultimate defense and Shukaku manifestation, now a guy with the ability to heal wounds that hadn't even happened yet? Blue eyes surveyed the destruction of the plains and turned to regard the now conversing Sannin with no small amount of trepidation. How do I keep ending up in these situations?

The fight looked to be over, the three Sannin content now to hurl verbal barbs at each other. He measured himself for a moment, considering. A moment later he appeared in a body flicker in between Jiraiya and Tsunade, blue eyes as cold as ice locked on Orochimaru and Kabuto.

"Ah, awake at last, I see!" Orochimaru chirped, clearly pleased at the blonde's reappearance. "You had us worried."

The blonde's scowl deepened even as he felt Jiraiya lay a hand on his left shoulder. "Yeah I'm sure you were terrified for me," he snarked. Glancing up at his sensei, he received a pleased, if tight, smile that filled him with pride.

Regardless of Kabuto's arcane medical knowledge, he had done his job.

Orochimaru clucked his tongue, drawing the chunin's attention, yellow eyes glittering with an emotion Naruto couldn't place. "You know that I have no wish to see you dead, child."

Naruto scoffed. "You tell him that?" he asked, tipping his head at Kabuto. He didn't know what the hell the spy had done to him, but anything related to his chest and suddenly having the world go dark couldn't have been all that harmless.

The Snake Sannin's lips split into the unnaturally wide smile that was becoming far too familiar for Naruto's liking. "Certainly. There's only so much Kabuto-kun can do when faced with the Rasengan, however, isn't that right?"

"Quite, Orochimaru-sama," the teenaged spy said with none of his usual smugness. It appeared the fight had taken its toll on him.

"A truly terrifying technique. Minato was quite the genius, wasn't he, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru asked rhetorically. The white haired Sannin tensed noticeably at the mention of his student. "To think that his son would have even a fraction of his potential must have surprised even you."

Naruto felt his eyes widen at the same moment Jiraiya's grip on his shoulder suddenly became painful. Beside them, Tsunade visibly flinched. How does he know?

Across from them, Orochimaru chuckled cruelly. "Did they not tell you, Naruto-kun?" he asked, clearly taking the blonde's reaction for astonished disbelief upon the revelation of his father's identity.

Sly fucker, Naruto thought, Jiraiya's teachings about looking underneath the underneath rising to the surface even as he remembered the Snake Sannin's offer of allegiance. Orochimaru hadn't made a secret of wanting Naruto's loyalty back during the Chunin Exams – he was clearly trying to drive a wedge between Naruto and his home.

If not for the Kyubi's cruelty, he might have even succeeded.

"I've known about my father for months," he returned quickly, looking to knock the insufferable grin from the Snake Sannin's face.

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. "Indeed, you are full of surprises, aren't you? I wonder who told you that particular bit of history. Not Sarutobi-sensei, surely."

Even as he worked to dismiss the Sannin's words, the kernel of mistrust that had been planted in him from back when the Kyubi had first revealed his parentage wrestled its way to the surface of his mind. Back then, it had been a question of why Sarutobi, for all of the years he had known him, hadn't revealed the knowledge. And while he certainly had had more pressing concerns facing him for most of his tutelage under Jiraiya, that question still remained.

Why didn't they tell me?

"It matters little, I suppose. It is enough that you do know," Orochimaru mused aloud, repeating his words from when Naruto had revealed his knowledge of the Akatsuki. He turned to the last of the three Sannin with a disappointed frown. "I had hoped, Tsunade, that we would come to a mutually beneficial agreement today. It seems, however, that your time abroad has done you little good. For what little it is undoubtedly worth to you, I wish you luck." The smile returned, just as cruel as the last. "You will need it."

"Until next time…" he hissed, sinking into the ground, yellow eyes fixed unblinkingly on Naruto. Kabuto followed shortly.

Jiraiya sighed heavily, sinking to the ground in a heap. "Slimy bastard," he growled, shaking his head. "Now that that's finally dealt with, can we get to the business of actually un-fucking up my chakra, Tsunade?" Naruto felt his lips twitch in spite of himself – of course Jiraiya could brush off the battle with ease – settling himself on the ground next to his beleaguered sensei. The fight had taken its toll on him as well.

Tsunade scoffed. "If Shizune did what I think she did, there's nothing more that can be done. It'll leave your system in a few hours."

"What? You gotta be kidding!"

"Are we done here, Jiraiya?" Naruto nearly jumped from his seated position as Gamabunta rumbled behind them. Forgot he was here, the blond thought, chiding himself for his slip in situational awareness.

"Yeah, we're all good, Bunta. Thanks for your help today."

"Ha! Any opportunity to kill Manda is worth my time. Just make sure you're in better shape next time, you useless pervert," the giant toad said before disappearing in a massive cloud of smoke. Katsuyu followed shortly.

"Super pervert," Jiraiya muttered irritably. He turned his eyes to Naruto, subdued. "Suppose you and I have some talking to do, don't we?"

The blond shrugged indelicately. "Get your body fixed first. I can wait a few more hours." And I could probably use a nap, too.

Jiraiya hesitated, clearly torn, before nodding once. "You did well today, Naruto. Really well. That Kabuto kid is pretty tough."

"He was too fast," Naruto returned, all grimace. "Could barely keep up with him. Pretty sure he could've killed me more than once and I wouldn't have even had time to react." The spy's orders to leave Naruto mostly unharmed weren't lost on him; Orochimaru's interest had saved him from a rather messy death.

Or did they? he wondered, thinking about whatever technique Kabuto had used on him at the end of the battle.

"Shunshin paced combat is tricky," Jiraiya said, all understatement, breaking Naruto from his musings. "It's all reflex and experience, neither of which develop overnight." The large man paused, seemingly weighing his words before, "Before Hiraishin, it was your father's specialty. I have a few drills he developed. We'll start working on them as soon as we're on our way back to Konoha."

Naruto couldn't help the small grin that split his lips at the prospect. The more high level opponents he encountered, the more it became clear that most high level fights weren't decided by who knew the most ninjutsu. Itachi had blitzed him with skill he had barely even dreamed of; Kabuto, test of his mettle or no, had shown him his limits almost as effectively.

Namikaze Minato's notes would go a long way in helping him break those same limits. And he already had an idea of how he might be able to speed – Ha – the process along.

"What about her?" the blond asked, jerking his head in the direction of the quietly conversing Tsunade and Shizune. "We did have a mission here…"

"Who, Tsunade? Hmm let's see…Hey, hime! You coming back home with us or nah?"

The blonde Sannin glanced their way, amusement dancing in her eyes. Honey brown locked with electric blue and for once Naruto didn't feel unsettled. "Heh, looks like it," she said quietly.

Jiraiya boomed a laugh, slapping Naruto on the back. "Well there ya go, kiddo! Mission accomplished."

/~/

He didn't start when he heard the distinctive clunk of Jiraiya's geta on the rooftop. He was having a lot of conversations on roofs these days, it seemed. First Tsunade and now Jiraiya – maybe Orochimaru will come offer me training tomorrow night, he mused humorlessly.

"View from up here ain't half bad," he heard Jiraiya mutter as the large man sat himself on the ledge beside him.

"Doesn't suck," he said, quoting one of Ino's favorite phrases.

Jiraiya didn't bother responding and Naruto didn't bother prompting him. They both knew exactly what this talk was about. The blond didn't expect his sensei to have any particularly satisfying answers as to why he hadn't told him about his father, or even why he hadn't so much as appeared in his life before the Chunin Exams if he had been so close to his old student.

Emotions were tough enough to manage in regards to the living, let alone the dead – and Jiraiya had never struck him as particularly adept at managing his own grief; their conspicuous absence from the Sandaime's funeral spoke volumes. But that didn't mean Naruto was about to make this easy for him.

The Sannin heaved a sigh as the silence dragged on for over two minutes, finally turning to look at his charge. "Look, Naruto, I'm no good at this kinda thing, which I think you know by now–"

"Yeah I got that."

"Right…anyway, I'm gonna be upfront with you: I don't have any really good explanations for why I wasn't, yanno, there when you were growing up–"

"Figured."

"Not ones that matter, at least. I was doing my job and that was enough to keep me away," Jiraiya finished, turning back to the view of Tanzaku-gai's bustling nightlife. "As far as not telling you about Minato…honestly I just didn't know how. Or when. Or what to say. And I'm sorry for that. You deserved to hear it from someone who knew Minato for who he was, not Orochimaru…or whoever it was that told you."

Naruto debated letting him know that it was the Kyubi who had deigned to reveal his lineage, but bit his tongue at the last moment. Aside from opening the can of worms that was the Kyubi's ability to draw him into his own mind from time to time – Which I should probably deal with at some point – the knowledge would likely only make Jiraiya feel worse about the whole situation.

"I'm not really mad," he finally spoke. "I was mad when I first found out, but that was a while ago. The old man had his reasons for not telling me, and you were off doing whatever it is that you do. But it's the past and you can't change it. I do want to know why though."

"Why what?"

Why the fuck no one told me, you fucking lecher. "Why didn't the old man tell me?" he asked instead, reigning in his emotions.

Jiraiya regarded him, a blank mask for a moment, before, "Minato was on track to be the strongest shinobi in history. Stronger than Sarutobi-sensei, stronger than the Shodai and the Nidaime. He was damn near perfect as a ninja."

The Sannin turned back to watch the cityscape. "Iwa hated him for what he did in the Third War but the rest of the world was just scared of him. Hiraishin made him a ghost; he could flash in, kill you, and be gone before the person standing next to you even knew what happened. If he touched you, you were as good as dead. If one of his kunai was near you, you were as good as dead. Sensei always lamented his death, wondering what world he could've created if not for the Kyubi – I did too, for a while. But sometimes I wonder if it might have just led to more war. His existence was a threat to every village on the continent, and being Hokage might've just made the others ally in an attempt to remove that threat."

Naruto felt goosebumps break out across his skin, his mind connecting the dots and understanding the nature of the secret in an instant.

"If other villages knew who I was, they'd have killed me." His potential as Namikaze Minato's son would demand nothing less from them, Naruto knew. I'd probably do the same in their position, he realized.

"They'd have tried, at least," Jiraiya confirmed. "And even if they failed, your life would've been reduced to complete isolation for your own safety. That's no way to live."

The blond shuddered. Even the barely restrained anger and distaste the villagers had for him was preferable to solitary confinement.

"So Uzumaki it was."

Jiraiya nodded. "Your mother's clan was a much better option. Kushina was a good kunoichi, the Uzumaki a strong clan at one point, but the world could very easily overlook a lone Uzumaki if they found out about you."

"A Namikaze, not so much," Naruto stated.

"Got it in one."

"What was he like?" he asked, more curious than he had ever been even as he tried to process just the kind of ability the man must've possessed to inspire such fear. No wonder Orochimaru is so dead-set on me working for him. If I can be a fraction as good as he was, I'd wanna train me too.

"Focused," the Sannin said without hesitation. "I've never met someone who had his drive. Not even Orochimaru. He had his lighthearted moments, don't get me wrong, but they were few and far between the older he got. I think he knew just how talented he was and wanted to reach that peak more than anything."

"It's about finding and breaking your upper limit." Asuma's words in Wave Country rang loud and clear in Naruto's ears.

The blond cocked his head to the side. "And my mom? If he was that focused I can't see him really settling down and having a kid…" Unless he was like Sasuke, he thought with some distaste. His friend spoke often enough about wanting to restore his clan, but Naruto knew well enough that was a tangential goal. It was all part of the plan, but held little true significance.

"Heh, Minato saved her life when they were around your age now. Kushina barely let him out of her sight after that. As he got older, your mom was the only one who could calm him down." Jiraiya shook his head fondly. "Pretty sure she was the one who kept him sane all during the Third War."

A foreign warmth spread through Naruto at the idea of his mother, a smile taking over his face. Jiraiya, noticing, clapped the blond on his shoulder. "She was a hell of a woman," he said quietly.

Naruto nodded, basking in the warmth of thinking about his parents for a long moment before he forcefully withdrew himself. He knew from personal experience how easy it was to get lost in fantasy; he'd have time enough for that back home in Konoha.

"And what were you doing all those years when I was a kid?" he asked, refocusing on the reason why he was having the conversation at all.

"Espionage," Jiraiya returned with some of his usual swagger. At Naruto's deadpan expression he elaborated, "A lot of what I deal with is classified A-rank and above, but I've been primarily in charge of Konoha's foreign intelligence since the early part of the Third War."

It didn't reek of his usual bloviating, and Naruto felt both eyebrows rise. He had known Jiraiya was a well-respected shinobi for his combat prowess, but running a network that kept an entire hidden village in the loop about the rest of the world was a big ask. Any lingering anger at the man not being present in his childhood vanished as the scope of his sensei's job was made apparent. Being in charge of that and trying to take care of a child in any way, shape, or form would've made life infinitely more difficult – and duty always came first.

And doesn't it always, Naruto thought. His father was likely the greatest example of that.

"How'd you get that job?" the blond asked, curious about his sensei's past.

"Hatake Sakumo killed himself."

"Ah." That'll do it, I guess.

"Yeah…so you're sure you're not mad?" Jiraiya pleaded.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure. I dunno…I don't like it, but from what you've said both you and old man Sarutobi had pretty good reasons for what happened. And it's not like I can change it anyway. I'm glad I at least know why now."

"That's a mature outlook," the Sannin commended. "It'll serve you well."

"Here's to hoping."

A comfortable silence settled on them for a few minutes as Naruto digested everything he had been told. He had always heard that the Yondaime was legendary, but to hear it in such plain detail was startling. All of a sudden his stated goal of surpassing his father seemed a bit more dubious. You really were a badass, weren't you, dad?

He'd have to find out more about what Jiraiya did as well. From what he could tell, the lifestyle looked to be nearly perfect, once one got over the responsibility of the position, of course. He travelled the world in a way that few, if any, shinobi got to. The idea of not being confined to Konoha-proper was more than slightly appealing to Naruto – being able to serve the village and protect his friends without having to deal with all the villagers on a regular basis was a tantalizing thought. Freedom. With pay.

"So…if you're really not mad," Jiraiya began, snapping Naruto from his thoughts. A shit-eating grin was plastered on the man's face that immediately had the blond on edge. "I suppose now is a good time to tell you that your parents made me your godfather."

"I'm gonna kill you, sensei."

/~/