Tsunade was at work in her office dealing with several emergencies as ninja were reported missing. Not missing as in 'rogue ninja unaffiliated with any village' but missing as in 'vanished into thin air', when Gamahippi appeared and disgorged the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen.
"Jiraiya," Tsunade addressed the toad vomit dryly, laying down the latest reports, which reported nothing. "I can only give you a moment. I am dealing with several crises here."
Jiraiya finished pulling himself out from the toad's mouth and stood with a tumble, an insufferably smug look on his face. "If the crisis is related to the disappearance of the Hyuga heiress and one of her guards, I've got the answer for you."
That was just what she wanted to hear, as unexpected at it was welcome, and both Tsunade's eyebrows shot high even as she laid her paperwork aside. "Explain. And does this have anything to do with Iruka vanishing out of the Academy in the middle of a lecture?"
"Yes, and not here," the Toad Sage insisted. He stepped on Gamahippi's toes to yank his jaws wide enough to enter. "Come along, I've got a safehouse established on the other side."
She gave him a low and measuring glance. While Jiraiya was the last person she'd expect to betray her, at one point Orochimaru had been on that list as well. "If this is a surprise date where to get back I have to go out with you..."
Jiraiya shook his head, almost angrily. "Nothing like that. Trust me, this is something you don't even want your ANBU guards to overhear."
Somehow Tsunade found her reticence growing. She leaned back in her chair, demonstrating increased reluctance to go anywhere. "Why don't you let me be the judge of that? And as far as privacy, this room is as secure as you and the old man could make it."
Her old teammate returned her an insufferable grin. "Yeah, but my evidence is all on the other side of this portal, and I think once you see it you'll be convinced I was right that you don't even want your ANBU knowing this one yet. Even the best of them are still human, and the urge to spread this news would be nigh-irresistible."
The Hokage summed up her old teammate with her eyes. The glee and delight in the man's face could not be faked. Whatever it was he was hiding, it had to be good, and he was just playful enough that trying to order him to spill, or bring his evidence here, would be stupid. He'd find ways to creatively misinterpret those orders just to infuriate her, and she was dealing with an increasingly political crisis that he claimed to have the answer to.
She sighed, picked up her hat, and got in the frog.
"Your diagnosis, Doctor?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with amusement from where he lay on a table.
Tsunade ceased her medical technique and wiped the sweat from off her brow, although whether it got there from exertions or stress she couldn't tell. Finally blowing off a great sigh, she acceded to the inevitable, shaking her head and smiling. "Congratulations, it's a Hokage," she told him, finishing off the in-joke he'd started with her.
Even the banter was authentic. Make that especially the banter, as he was feeling playful.
Her teacher was back.
In truth, Tsunade did not know whether to be more pleased or freaked out. Make that gleeful, as the barrier of Death had at last been broken. As a medic, she'd have to get thoroughly plastered in celebration of that. Pity she couldn't tell anyone about her reasons for celebrating yet.
Hiruzen sat up on the table where he'd been submitting to examination, knowing how important it was to establish his identity, especially to these two. And, he had to admit a far corner of his mind had wondered if he was a fake or genuine himself after the first reaction of both of his students was to faint, then greet him with a "Kai!" followed by several other illusion dispelling techniques, each more comprehensive than the last.
"Good," he responded. "Now I'd like a few things from my house..."
Tsunade quickly shook her head. "Sorry, sensei, but that's a bad idea. I've made four trips back already, checking your medical records for information to confirm if it was you, exhuming your grave to find it empty, your office to see if the secret codes you gave me were correct, and the eyes-only Hokage files to confirm things only you could know. If anyone was watching my behavior they'll know it was all centered on you. Now if I go send a genin team over to your house to retrieve your clothes and personal belongings..."
"The secret of my return will be no secret at all, and it will be worse if you go yourself," Sarutobi surmised, reading the situation the same as his student. Blast! And he'd really wanted that pipe back. He sighed, straightening up on the table. "Very well, I can make do with local resources for clothes and things. Our little Naruto has come into quite a fortune selling things. I'll just borrow from him for the duration of my stay, then pay him back once we get to Konoha."
Jiraiya, who'd been carefully watching this whole exchange, from the multiple medical exams to Tsunade's trips and what she'd found there, counting himself a second witness and independent observer, and had also come to the conclusion that his teacher was back, and was grinning from ear to ear. "I'll arrange discrete deliveries of any other supplies you may be in need of," he volunteered.
Sarutobi nodded. Good, that meant he'd be getting a pipe soon. He felt almost naked without it, oddly enough. Then a glint entered his eye. "I wonder, could either of you retrieve for me a memento of my wife? I kept one in the office, that is if you haven't thrown it out."
Tsunade regarded him curiously. "I haven't had the chance to redecorate yet. All of your stuff was just shoved into a drawer, as there were too many emergencies to deal with then - not that they've really stopped since."
Sarutobi smiled. He could almost feel that pipe back in his hand. "Then if you could get for me the contents of that drawer. I have a Warlock and a Priest to talk to about my dear, departed wife, and perhaps a few more lost friends."
Tsunade's eyebrows shot up, her spine shot straight, and eyes went round. "You don't really think?"
Sarutobi smiled, Hokage to Hokage. "Lets try it and find out, shall we?"
"As a Mage, intellect is the source of all your power," Naruto recited to himself, brooding over a stack of scrolls he had to study. The mantra did a little to help, as the Old Naruto would long ago have been rolling about on his back complaining in deep groans over how booored! he was! Right before pranking everyone else to the verge of insanity as punishment for his suffering, of course.
Hey! At least things wouldn't have been so boring that way!
As the New Naruto, Naruto the Mage, Naruto the Adventurer, Scourge of Bandits and seeker of treasure, he knuckled down to endure it. But his newly won patience was fraying.
The Third Hokage had, using Naruto's money, bought them all a safehouse well in the back of the Noble Quarter of Stormwind, then he and Ero-sennin had sealed it for privacy. On the surface, Naruto had nothing to complain about. It had a big enclosed courtyard, lots of rooms, and was the nicest place he'd ever stayed in, bar none.
On the other hand, he hadn't been let outside of the place for a WEEK!
Only the fact that he could understand Jiji's reasons, and had Iruka and his friends to train him (the ordinary, boring old ninja way, not the cool 'cast a spell - now you know a new jutsu' way) had kept him from going insane, and taking everybody else with him!
Mornings it was practice in the yard, mostly physical stuff, although with a ton of chakra control training mixed in, using Tree Climbing to jog around on the inside surface of the courtyard walls while carrying heavy weights. They'd put in a pond that they'd then spar on top of. Naruto couldn't count how many times he'd fallen in, and they weren't allowed to use any of the cool stuff! No fireballs or frost novas, none of their newly acquired abilities at all!
It wasn't fair! Here he'd gotten ahold of awesome techniques and no one was letting him use any!
"Sorry Naruto," Iruka had apologized that first day, when he'd complained about it then. "I teach what I know, and none of the Hokages have authorized me to move on to the new stuff yet."
Naruto groaned and rubbed his head. Of course, it would be better if he had more of Iruka's time, but he knew he had a lot of work helping Shion catch up to where a regular Academy graduate should be. Personal, one on one attention was bringing her up fast, and Naruto still had more of Iruka's time than he ever had back in class, and it was all the same personal, one on one instruction like Shion was receiving, and it helped a LOT!
But every day he could feel more sanity slipping from him. Soon he was going to prank someone or DIE!!
"Hey, Naruto? It's time," Temari called out to him from the doorway of his room, and the blond boy felt all of the stress drain away from him, transforming into excitement.
Bounding out of the room, he cheered, "Sure, Temari-chan!"
On that first day of close confinement, after having been caught sneaking into the room where all of the adults kept holding secret talks strategizing with each other with a pot of honey, three tubs of glue, and a hive full of bees, Jiji had asked (more like hired, really) Temari to take him out into the yard to teach him some of her ninjutsu. And they'd had a few hours each day practicing wind techniques ever since.
Of course, the second time he'd been caught sneaking into the chamber where the grown ups held secret talks, this time with a bucket of blood and some ropes, along with a camera and some blunt kunai, they'd also sent Zabuza out for another few hours of instruction each day.
Naruto was lucky so many of his group knew healing spells, as the mist swordsman's training regime was brutal!
Haku just glowed with happiness when he was around, though. So it wasn't all bad. And if he was forced to study geography or math, at least now he could understand that it was all useful, as he couldn't teleport anywhere safely without it unless he was going to a specific few defined areas. None of which, as it happened, served any ramen.
Besides, sealing scrolls and explosive notes were awesome, and Hinata would be teaching him penmanship after this.
"Are we agreed?" Sarutobi asked the table full of powerful shinobi, Tsunade on his right, while Gaara of the Sands sat on his left, the Kazekage with his ever-present gourd full of sand beside him.
Jiraiya spoke from a junior position on the table, which, considering some of the shinobi present, was a perfectly accurate position for him to hold. "I still think we should have someone look into the Warlock class. They have a lot of lore about demons that could be useful."
Sarutobi reached up to pull a pipe from out of his mouth, only to realize he didn't have one yet. Jiraiya had delivered him tobacco, but had been sure Tsunade was returning his pipe. Only when he'd asked, all she could say was it had not been in his drawer full of things, and she didn't dare to go his house looking for it.
Yet the Third Hokage kept being surprised by how hard it was to set a habit of more than half a century aside.
He consciously forced his hand back to the top of the table. "Delving into experiments with demonic power has nearly destroyed this world countless times. I will not allow us to make those same mistakes if I can help it. We should leave those avenues of study alone as everything I've learned about it says this knowledge is both corrupting and contagious. One problem we do not need is demon worshiping cults flourishing on our own world."
"Are you sure you're not overreacting? We've dealt with dangerous things in the past," one of the unidentifiable shadows of ninja pressed.
Sarutobi considered that question heavily before replying, "I have spent most of my time here, from the moment I woke, questioning these people on their powers and history, and I shall have to study a great deal more to understand more fully. However, from the best of my understanding thus far, these people have had ten thousand years of dealing with demons, and every attempt has ended in disaster - often catastrophes of global proportions. Let's not repeat their error. From what I've been able to determine, such practices are like lighting a beacon in the spirit realms, guiding the forces of darkness to any world where those demonic arts are put to use. I'd rather not condemn our world to housing thousands of mini-Kyubis later in return for a little, momentary advantage now, or be forced to leave any of our people behind rather than contaminate our home. The forces those Warlocks deal with have quite literally destroyed planets in the past, and actively seek to do so again. Besides, there is plenty here for us to learn without putting our souls and entire world at risk of ultimate destruction - which these Warlocks here have courted many times."
"As for the rest?" one of the unnameable shadows asked.
The Third Hokage nodded, summing up hours of meeting in a few words. "A few broad strokes can cover our rules for interacting with the natives for now. For one, let us keep our skills unique to our people. Ninja skills as we use them are unknown here, and remain our best advantage. Let's keep it that way for as long as possible. On that one we can all agree. The nations of this world do not fill us with confidence, and alliances shift among them as easily as they do among ninja villages. They already hold tremendous power, we've agreed not to give them any more. For that matter, I'd like to keep them from ever learning how to reach our world, as it could prove disastrous.
"As for the rest," his hand twitched toward a pipe again. "I am all for the most ambitious of plans presented here."
Tsunade stopped by a window to look out on the inner courtyard, seeing Naruto and the girls dressed like the locals, in a foreign place, and most of them being normal for the first time in their lives. Naruto wasn't hated by anyone in Stormwind, in fact he was very popular. Twice daily a woman named Circe came by to check in on him, and the guards who had watched over him that day had nothing but praise for the lad, praise that they passed on as they swapped tales with their friends over ale, improving the relations of the whole city towards the plucky youngster.
He was blossoming here.
Shion was just concluding basic kunai drills under Iruka's watchful eye, moving on to taijutsu basics. It had turned out Naruto needed these lessons too, so shared them alongside her, his own skills having been sabotaged by Mizuki, other bad teachers, and worse equipment back home. Since the Hyuga disdained anything but their own Gentle Fist style as beneath their dignity, the heiress was profiting from those drills as well, while Temari was assisting Iruka as their teacher - especially the ninjutsu portions.
They were all blossoming here.
Here the Hyuga girl had none of the pressures of being an heiress, nor did the priestess live bound by her own chains of duty. The Kazekage's sister had escaped the pains and trials of her position, and the bloodline carrier out of Mist was seated in a grassy corner of the yard chatting with her mother just like an ordinary girl.
She shook her head, wishing she could spent more time with him. But she and the Kazekage, while mostly here because of him, had their own duties and could only disappear for the briefest times.
They had far too many enemies who must not learn of this place.
The Fifth Hokage was just on her way to a toad transport back to her office when she ran face-first into a small basket with a red bow on it, her name on a hastily scribbled note, and a white kitten inside looking up at her with the most adorable cute eyes.
'Kid must have purchased it using a clone,' was Tsunade's first thought, which was quite a feat as he'd been watched religiously, since as far as they could tell the entire population of more than two continents wanted to kidnap the boy to experiment on him. Security was tight, with Iruka and Zabuza involved in keeping him inside and safe, and even most of the girls tasked with keeping him entertained and busy.
Still, he cared enough to slip his guards for her?
She knew she ought to yell at him, to report his getting out, even with just a clone. Yet somehow she did none of those things, and a smile lit her face as the Slug Sannin went back to her office full of paperwork, a basketful of kitten in her arms.
'A dozen Cure Disease spells on me and my joints don't ache, my liver spots are gone, and I feel a good thirty years younger,' Sarutobi thought to himself as he made his way late to bed. 'And still long days and nights of meetings, study, and more meetings is hard on me.'
But it was essential they plan out what they were going to do in regards to this place, and the positive wealth of opportunities and powers that it offered.
"Jiji?"
The Third Hokage got startled out of his funk to discover Naruto waiting in the darkness outside of his room, carrying a hefty purse. 'That's right, I'd forgotten,' the Third scolded himself for keeping the child up so.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. I should have gone to bed hours ago, and you need rest even more than I."
"S'okay," the boy murmured sleepily, rubbing dreams from his eyes, causing Sarutobi to realize he'd caused the child to wait up long enough to have actually fallen asleep curled up at the foot of his door, and making him feel doubly guilty for the extra delays. He could have left off studying some of those books for tomorrow.
Or at least not asked for the boy to wait up for him, to pass on the purse personally. He'd thought it would only be a moment of the child's time, not hours past midnight. On a mission, ninja who was so careless could cost lives, and he would have given them a severe tongue lashing at best, punishment duties more than likely.
Not that it had ever stopped Kakashi.
"Jiji? Why do you need so much money? I've only got a couple of gold left."
'And curse me for thinking the boy's bank account was infinite, while I had him trapped here inside, not performing any missions,' Sarutobi thought as he accepted the boy's bag of money with a much heavier weight of responsibility than when he'd first asked for it. So many old habits shaping his actions. He was just used to having the entire resources of a major village at his disposal. But Naruto was not Konoha, and a slight expense for a village was a crushing blow to the accounts of any single ninja. He ought to have known better and planned for that as well.
Part of his mind now dedicated itself to going over the troubles involved in getting a bank draft from Konoha's mission accounts converted to gold, then exchanged for local currency here, and all of the possible trails that could leave and information risks inherent. Sarutobi had another shot of gratitude for the boy as he helped him to his feet and led him down the halls to his room and bed, as borrowing from the lad had spared him those headaches until now.
"Jiji?"
Reminded he had not yet answered the boy's question, Sarutobi decided a little lesson could be built around his answer. "Naruto, what did they say in the Academy about a crisis?"
"Crisis is also opportunity," the boy recited, choosing not to tell the old man he'd read that in his books this past week, or that Iruka's order of books from Konoha had been his first real opportunity to study the Academy textbooks. All others having mysteriously gotten lost or misplaced within hours of his buying them.
Sarutobi was just tired enough to miss what Naruto was omitting. "Yes, a crisis is also an opportunity. Now what can you tell me about Stormwind's economy?"
A huge yawn and a confused, "Jiji?" was all he got out of Naruto, convincing him it was a little late at night for a sleepy child to comprehend the full lesson, so he cut it short.
"Before you stepped in, every farm and mine in this country's territory was under the control of bandits. All of them. Stormwind survived only by the sea trade. Then you went out and captured those bandits, but Stormwind's army did not reassert control. No, even when brought back from overseas they just got deployed elsewhere. Now that is not a sound economic policy, but the nobles here are used to the way things are, and don't desire to change it."
Another yawn, and eyes struggling against fluttering closed, convinced Sarutobi that he had cut the lesson shorter yet. "After you rescued those farms, Naruto, no guards were sent to keep them safe, so other threats: murlocs, and trolls from the south, or more human bandits, just moved in to fill the void. Now a farm or a mine the owners cannot use is useless to them, so often they get sold very cheaply - if anyone is to buy them at all. But as it happens, that little purse you just gave me is enough to purchase all of the land that is now under dispute. And, since I happen to have a large number of ninja in my service, I thought I could protect them myself, since Stormwind isn't going to."
Convinced the boy was already asleep, Sarutobi lay him in his bed and pulled the covers over him, only for Naruto to shift one last time before dropping into a complete slumber. "Hey Jiji? When can I train again?"
"You can train in the morning, Naruto," Sarutobi smiled. "Now go to sleep."
Of course, Sarutobi had no idea at all, tired as he was, that he and Naruto could be talking about completely different things when it came to training.
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(Posted Tue, 04 Jun 2013 07:58)
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