Chapter 66 The mission

It was early morning as Sasuke and Sakura were waiting by the North Gate for everyone else. Sakura sighed as she hoped that Naruto wouldn't be late. Knowing him he could be trying to get a last meal of ramen in, saying goodbye to Hinata or both. She kind of envied Naruto and Hinata, they seemed very nice together. She cast a look to Sasuke, he was still in the new black clothing that he had for the chunin exams. His katana that he was learning to use was sheathed behind his lower back as usual. It did kind of suit him more she thought trying not to blush.

She looked down at herself she had changed her own style since her training. Gone now was that red dress she normally wore, Anko had told her time and again that it wasn't proper ninja attire. She had to admit her new clothing did allow for better movement and protection. Her tonfas were slung by her hips in a new belt and holster that felt a bit more at ease on her body. Now she had on a pink shirt and a red vest with shin protectors like Anko wore and forearm protection. It got a bit heavy at times but she was getting use to the wait.

The ninja mesh she wore over all her exposed skin was another thing she got used to. But she had been glad for it, her match in the chunin exams would have gone a lot worse for her without the protection. She still remembered how badly Ino had been cut up by that kunoichi from Mist. Sakura did wonder what happened to that team they just kind of disappeared in all the chaos. Then again looking around she could still see the scars of the attack on her village, no one could say for certain how long it would take to repair it.

"Finally he's here," Sasuke said as Sakura looked to see Naruto running up to them with a backpack on.

"Sorry I'm late!" Naruto told them.

"You're turning more and more into your father," Sasuke sighed.

"Hey I couldn't help but be late!" Naruto shot back.

"This better not involved the road of life, cats or any other excuse we've heard all before or I'll hurt you," Sasuke told him seriously.

"Hinata or ramen?" Sakura asked him.

Naruto blinked before smirking behind his mask placing a hand behind his head, "Both actually."

She only smiled and rolled her eyes she wasn't surprised at all, she had known him for years so by now she had a pretty good idea of his personality. Which was odd as Naruto also kept up ways of surprising everyone. Sakura felt that if she knew Naruto until they were both old and retired he would still be finding ways to keep surprising everyone.

"So all we're missing is Ero-sennin." Naruto said looking around.

"No you're not and stop calling me that," Jiraiya said as he made his way to them from behind. Although the genin knew who they were going on this mission with and why they couldn't help but look. Mainly at the few bandages on his face and he seemed to be favouring his left side slightly.

"What happened to you?" Naruto was the first to ask.

Jiraiya just grumbled, "You never mind about that, just fell at the wrong time at the wrong place. Anyway let's go the sooner we leave the sooner we can find Tsunade before she decides to skip whatever town she's currently in."

The four of them made their way out of the gates and onto their new mission. Although Naruto was the one to ask a few questions as soon as they were starting.

"So where will we find her?" Naruto asked the old man. "If she moves around a lot won't she be hard to find?"

"I know her well enough to know her habits," he explained to not only Naruto but the others as well since they should know this information as well. "She likes drinking and gambling so places where she can find both in good supply is a primary target. She'll also stay in our country, although she had been given leave of the village she can't leave the country."

Even the Hokage couldn't have gotten away with letting a ninja leave the village and wonder around the world as they pleased. Staying within the country was one of the few stipulations that Tsunade was given before she left. Jiraiya himself as an exception since he was the spy master for their village so him going into any country was a given. That was why he made sure to send reports now and then just in case anyone was wondering what he was doing.

Since it gave the illusion of him actually doing work he was supposed to.

"The only time she won't be is when she's ducking her creditors." He continued on.

"Creditors?" Sakura asked him wondering what he was getting at.

"She loves to gamble but the thing is, she sucks at it," he said bluntly. "In fact she's so bad she's called the Legendary Sucker." He thought about warning them about not making a perverted comment on that nickname in her presence but he figured that they wouldn't make the same mistake he had a few years ago when he came across her.

"Anyways, if she goes to ground it won't be for long."

"So how exactly do be pick up her trail?" Sasuke asked.

"I got a few ideas," Mainly from how he had been secretly keeping tabs on her all this time. He worked with the Hokage to make sure that her debts never got out of control. It wouldn't do to have her debts so high that they couldn't protect her from the law. Or the usual loan sharks as well. The last thing they needed was for loan sharks start looking to hire other mercenaries or worse, other ninja to hunt down Tsunade.

That could be bad for all kinds of reasons depending on which country they were hired from.

He signed looking at the kids. "I know of a few places she was last scene. All we have to do it follow the trail of money she owes and it should point us in the right direction. In the meantime I can help give you kids a little training. I heard Kakashi boast once that he wanted to make you three into this generation's version of my team, the Sannin."

He had heard that that was the excuse Kakashi gave for picking these three for his team, although looking at what they had done so far it might be possible. Sure they were a little rough around the edges but he felt that he could almost see them as a younger version of his team back in the day. It should prove interesting to say the least to see what skills these kids had. Granted he wanted to train Naruto for more personal reasons but maybe it was the nostalgia that was getting to him.

"So when we get the time, I'm going to see what you kids got. We can do some basics so I can get a handle on your skill levels and see where we go from there."

"Cool! When do we start?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Brat, I can still see the damn mountain and the gate," Jiraiya made a mental note on Naruto's impatience. He would have to see about fixing that, if it was possible. "We have to at least make some distance. Look tonight we'll camp and I can see what you kids got, it will give me time to plan out your training."

Naruto looked a little disappointed but the fact was that he was going to get some training in later, he just hoped it didn't involved being thrown into another chasm. One time was enough for him, not to mention having to ride the boss toad hadn't exactly been fun either. Looking at his teammates he could see that Sasuke was eager to learn something new as well. Sakura looked interested but she was more relaxed about it.

"So how far is this village we're heading to anyway?" Sasuke asked if only to find out how long they would be on the road.

"A couple of days to get there, we'll spend a day or two looking around and then well head on out again." Jiraiya told them as they started their journey together.

-Unknown Location, A few Days Later-

Deep underground in one of many of his secret bases, Orochimaru was in his personal quarters as she checked over his body, well the one he was currently using. He peeled back the fake skin showing the face of a young woman. He didn't care about things like gender he was beyond such matters now. He had ascended into a higher being, something beyond such notions. He had moved beyond the limitations of being human long ago.

But he couldn't find a body that could hold him for more than a few years. Looking at the face he could see the signs of this body starting to decay. Faint veins were starting to show in certain areas, the skin felt a bit colder to the touch and waxy. This body wouldn't last too much longer and he would need a new one soon.

Already a selection process was being used but he really wanted Sasuke's body, to have the sharingan would make it so easy to learn every single jutsu in the world. Knowledge was the ultimate power and to know everything would make him a god among men. His injuries from his fight with the Hokage were healed given that the fight had ended from the entire building collapsing under them. To think that a genin was apparently responsible for it, at least that's what his spies had informed him.

It was such a shame that the Uchiha clan had been wiped out he could have taken his pick from an entire clan. Instead he was left with but only two choices, Itachi, well that was a road he wasn't willing to go down again. He had been beaten too easily so he focused on the only other living Uchiha. Sasuke was still a bit too young but with time and some training the boy could be the greatest host body he could get his hands on.

He had already marked the boy, the power would lure him over to him, at least that was the plan. So far things hadn't gone as well as he had hoped. Suna had found their dead leader and figured out that he had played them for fools. Now both the Konoha and Suna's ties were stronger and he was at the top of their list of missing nin to find. Not that he cared about it, but any Sound ninja would be fair game in their territories now.

The Leaf village hadn't been as damaged as he had hoped and he had still failed to kill his old master. Sasuke himself hadn't seemed to be using the curse seal either at last nothing that anyone could find. His spies in Konoha were limited now ANBU had been looking deeper in how far Orochimaru's spies in the village went. They wouldn't find them all but they would have to go underground for a bit.

Orochimaru replaced the fake skin onto the body's face he had no idea who the person once was not that it mattered. She had been a strong ninja and that was all that he needed to know. Looking back into the mirror his face now looked as it did decades ago. Her smirked at how only Jiraiya was the one that looked his age from his own team. As soon as he finished he heard someone knock on his door.

"Enter," the leader of Sound commanded as he sat in a large chair awaiting whoever it was. Orochimaru was pleased to see it was Kabuto the young boy was the best servant he had. No one was more loyal, dedicated and skilled. It was hard to find people like him, in fact he didn't know of anyone off hand that he trusted more than Kabuto. The boy was a rare find and one of the reasons he would never consider using him as a host, even if the boy would do it gladly. No, Kabuto was worth more as he was than just another host body.

"I'm glad to see you got out of Konoha in one piece," Orochimaru smiled at his spy.

The boy bowed slightly and smiled. "It wasn't entirely easy but in the confusion it was easy to move around. I did have to ensure that we still had some information coming out of Konoha, now that I'm known as a spy for you there."

"It had to happen eventually," Orochimaru agreed.

"Yes but I was able to get one last piece of information, it's why it took me so long to get here," Kabuto pushed up his glasses. "Sasuke has left the village apparently."

"Oh?" Now Orochimaru was getting interesting.

"He's on a mission with the rest of his team but the odd thing is, it's not with Kakashi. My contact said that the man looked to be Jiraiya himself."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as his mind went to work, there was something going on that man wouldn't take on three genins for no reason. Although a memory of those three orphans came to mind, was the sentimental old fool trying again where he had failed? No, Orochimaru didn't feel that it was totally correct. No, the man was up to something, plus this could be either a problem or a solution.

The problem was that if Sasuke was getting training under Jiraiya then he might not view as needing Orochimaru's help to kill his brother. That wouldn't do at all, the solution was a simple one, he would find out what they were after and deal with it himself. He would show that boy what real power was and also he could also throw a wrench into Akatsuki's plans if he could kill the jinchuriki of the Leaf as well. Plus he owed the boy for ruining his fun earlier as well.

"Kabuto, I think it's time I had a reunion with my old friend," Orochimaru smirked. "Send out best trackers I want to find out where they are heading at all times but do not let them know that they are being followed. Don't underestimate Jiraiya, if he suspects something he will be even more deadly with his guard up."

Kabuto bowed to his master, "As you wish."

- Fire Country-

Jiraiya looked at the open field in the forest it was the perfect place to stop for the day. It had been a few days and already he felt he had a lead with what he had learned in the last village they had been at. Plus he was able to buy the items he needed for the next few training he was going to give. Plus it was a nice out of the way spot too.

"Alright kids, get your stuff unpacked and set up over there," He pointed off to the side. "We might as well start the next training."

"So you're not just going to watch us spar again?" Sasuke asked. The last few days Jiraiya had them spar against each other as well as show what they were capable of doing. He could understand that and the man had said he needed to know their skills but he was anxious to get to some real training.

"Yep, alright get to it, the sooner your stuff is put away the sooner the training can start," He told them smiling as he watched them run off. It was nice seeing kids so eager to learn again he found. When they were ready he had them stand in front of him as he got a few items ready himself.

He stepped up to Sakura, "Alright you're pretty good with genjutsu and water right?"

Sakura nodded her head, "Yes, I trained a bit with Kurenai-sensei and she said I had a gift for it and learned a couple of them from her. And I know two water techniques, aqua tower and the hidden mist technique as well."

Jiraiya paused, "I haven't seen you use that last one yet, when did you even learn that?"

Sakura looked a bit bashful now, "Well it's hard to move around as I can't really see that far on it. I've only really used it in training. Kakashi-sensei taught me it as I think he learned it from his fight again Zabuza."

Jiraiya nodded as he guessed that Kakashi learned it from his sharingan most likely. He knew of the technique as well, the village of Mist wouldn't like it if they found out one of their best jutsus were slipping out among the Leaf. He also guessed the other reason the girl didn't use it, you had to use your own chakra to spread it out. The larger the effect the more chakra you needed and the girl was very careful of her use of her chakra. He might have to help her expand that later.

"Well unfortunately I'm not good with genjutsu or have an aptitude for the element of water." He could see she looked a bit disappointed with that. "But I can help you learn these little things I got from Konoha before we left."

He handed her a scroll as she looked at them, opening them up she saw the scroll was about how to make water clones as well as a few other water based jutsus. She was a little confused as to why water clones were here as she had already been taught that in her training with Anko and Kurenai. At least the other two were ones she didn't know.

"Like all the elements they are easier to do when you got the actual element to work with," Jiraiya explained to not only her but the others to make sure they all knew this part. "When you can't use the actual element you can forge your chakra into that element as you all should know. In a way you can use a part of yourself for this, using body heat to help form fire, the water inside of your body to help connect to the element of water and so on. Wind is one of the only ones you usually don't have to worry about since if you can't breathe then you're in trouble anyway."

"But I suppose if you're underwater you could use the air in your lungs. Anyways each element is different and requires slightly different skill set. Water is actually a decent one to work with from what I gathered. Anyways take the water clones for example. They only have a fraction of the strength of the person but that means that unlike say the shadow clones where you strength is equally split between them all."

"With this you'll only have to put a fraction of your strength and chakra reserves into them. This should also help you out in battle too."

"Yeah I remember," Sakura nodded her head, "I noticed that when I used them earlier but why is the water clone on this? I already know this one."

"It came with the scroll, I got it off a Mist ninja years ago and just never really could learn any of this. But since this is a real scroll from a country that specializes in water techniques it should have a bit more details on the water clones that I know Konoha wouldn't normally have. You might find some useful new information about it. But the other two should be more helpful to you." He explained to her. "The other two water jutsus in there are the water whip, which is good for capturing and I think I heard you had an encounter with the other one."

She looked to see that the other was water bullets that Mist genin she had faced used it and it had been a good offensive move. Sakura started to memorize it immediately at that point. Jiraiya looked to Naruto and already knew what he was going to teach him. He went over to a box and got an item out of it he threw it at Naruto who caught it and looked at it. It was a rubber ball as he looked at it wondering what this was going to be fore.

"Since Kakashi trained you all in that balloon thing earlier, this Naruto will teach you the next step in that training for a special jutsu." Jiraiya told him. "You see although that was a perfect example of how to shape a jutsu, it was actually the first of three steps to learning a special jutsu that only me and Kakashi know."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up with that. "So was dad going to teach us all this jutsu?"

"No," Jiraiya told them all seeing the looks he was getting. "This jutsu was created by the Fourth Hokage himself and since you all know Naruto's past, you should all understand that only Naruto is going to be trained in this as it's his heritage. I know it because I trained him and he taught it to me, he taught it to Kakashi who used it to develop the chidori. But if you want to learn this it will be Naruto's choice later on as he's the only one that should be the one to decide on who to teach this to."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say as he looked down at the ball in his hand, he never really had much from his biological parents. He had a picture of them that he kept in his room, but other than that there really wasn't much. If he could learn this then he would have something important that he could carry with him at all times.

Sakura and Sasuke looked on both getting the feeling that they could feel what Naruto was thinking. Sasuke himself knew what it was like to want something of your family. Naruto had known his adopted father all his life but not his biological parents.

Jiraiya threw an iron rod to Sasuke who caught it and looked at it as though he was being played with. He gave Jiraiya a look as though to ask if the man was being serious.

"You know that lightning technique of Kakashi's the chidori right? Well think of this as taking that training to a new level." He explained to the boy. "I'm going to train you how to use lightning and put it into your weapons as well as manipulate it even further. Lightning can be formed easily but it's hard to control as well as dangerous."

"But if you can learn how to control it, lightning could be a very deadly weapon for you that only your imagination can limit you. For this for example will teach you how to put lightning into that sword you carry."

Sasuke looked at the iron rod and he had to admit that did sound appealing to create his own jutsus would give him an advantage as no one, not even his brother would know what to expect until the fight began. Plus he was already thinking of other kinds of uses with it if he would master that element like Jiraiya was explaining.

"That rod will act like a lightning rod for you," Jiraiya explained further. "it will help you draw out the lightning but the problem will be keeping it in. It will want to run out on you, jumping from the iron to somewhere else. You'll have to keep it reigned in, in a way you're going to have to keep a hold of lightning in your bare hand." Jiraiya smirked. "That won't be easy and you better start small, you don't want to fry your own hand in one day."

Jiraiya looked around him and crossed his arms this might turn out well after all. "Alright each of you pick a large area for your own and I'll watch the three of you. Sasuke, I want some extra space for you, I don't want you accidentally throwing out a lightning bolt by accident."

The three genins quickly got to picking out their own training spots as Jiraiya started to look over their training, it brought be memories of good times in the past. Of his own training as a genin to his training of his other students. Maybe, just maybe these kids would surprise him.

Next up Chapter 4: New Training