Jutsus

* Senjutsu
* Modo Ermitaño
* Rasengan
* Senpo: Cho Odama Rasengan
* Ninpo: Gama Daira Kage Ayatsuri no Jutsu
* Ninpo: Gamaguchi Shibari no Jutsu
* Ninpo: Hari Jizo
* Ninpo: Kaeru Kaeru
* Ninpo · Kuchiyose · Yatai Kuzushi no jutsu
* Ninpo: Rajin Shigami no Jutsu
* Senpo: Goemon
* Senpo: Kebari Senbon
* Doton: Yomi Numa
* Katon: Dai Endan
* Katon: Endan
* Katon: Gamayu Dan
* Katon: Gamayu Endan
* Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu
* Kuchiyose no jutsu: Familia_Gama
* Kage Bunshin no jutsu
* Tsukodome
* Toton Jutsu
* Fuka Hoin
* Gogyo Fuin
* Gogyo Kain
* Shikoku Fuin
* Katon: gouen rasengan

Historia

Jiraiya es un ex-estudiante del tercer Hokage. Jiraiya y sus compañeros de equipo anteriores, Orochimaru y Tsunade, se conocen como los “tres Ninjas legendarios” o Sannin. Más adelante, Jiraiya se convirtió en el sensei jonin de Minato Namikaze (futuro cuarto Hokage). Su frase preferida es “espiritu libre”.

Cuando Minato se convierte en hokage, Minato le ofrece ser el padrino de su hijo, el acepta y kushina decide ponerle Naruto porque en el libro que escribio Jiraiya (El Ninja prodigio Naruto) el niño se convierte en heroe y Jiraiya se convirtio en padrino de Naruto Uzumaki

Cuando era niño, Jiraiya desarrolló una gran amistad, aunque no carente de rivalidad, con Orochimaru. Pero cuando éste, años más adelante traicionó a Konoha y huyó de la Aldea, Jiraiya le persiguió, intentando convencer a su buen amigo que volviera. Orochimaru rechazó la oferta y atacó a Jiraiya, marchándose de Konoha para siempre. Después de preguntarse por qué Orochimaru había desertado y tras convencerse de que no volvería, Jiraiya dejó Konoha de modo que pudiera seguir los movimientos de Orochimaru. Más tarde persiguió a la Organización Akatsuki, en la que estuvo Orochimaru.

Aunque era bastante torpe cuando era más joven, Jiraiya es un ninja de Clase S, un genio que se especializa en invocar sapos y usar ninjutsu. El poder de Jiraiya es equivalente al de un maestro kage, por ese motivo, el tercero y más tarde los miembros del consejo le piden que se convierta en Godaime (puesto que ocupa Tsunade, otra de los sannin) pero Jiraya no lo acepta alegando que él es un espiritu libre y que sería un pésimo Hokage. Jiraya se caracteriza por ser un excelente maestro ninja, a tal grado que fue tutor de los ninjas más poderosos y protagonistas del manga (Naruto,Minato/Cuarto Hokage ,Pain/Nagato,Konan y Yahiko). Este talento como maestro nos hace referencia el que haya entrenado a Naruto (un Legado) haciendo que este aprenda grandes técnicas como invocar ranas gigantes y el rasengan. Pero su logro más sorprendente fue que Naruto consiguiera usar el poder del Kyubi hasta cuatro colas.

El kanji que se ve en el protector de la frente de Jiraiya (?, Abura) significa el “aceite”, que tiene que ver probablemente con el uso del aceite del sapo para la medicina y su ataque del llama-aceite con Gamabunta. También debe referirse al aceite de la montaña de los sapos, que uso tanto él como Naruto para aprender a canalizar la fuerza de la naturaleza, la energía necesaria para dominar el estilo ermitaño.

Cuando Jiraiya llego a los 18 años se le habia declarado a Tsunade, ella lo rechaza pero el no se rindió, el seguia intentando pero poco a poco se aburrió de ella .

Jiraiya es autoproclamado super pervertido. Creó la técnica transparente de escape (Toton Jutsu, ???) para espiar a mujeres desnudas sin ser visto. Él nunca oculta realmente su perversión, e incluso, parece estar muy orgulloso de ella. A pesar de esto, a Jiraiya no le gusta que Naruto lo llame Ero-sennin (????) (en la versión castellana traducido como senninfómano y en la versión latinoamericana como sabio pervertido) literalmente ermitaño pervertido o ermitaño erótico. Ya lo han atrapado con las manos en la masa por lo menos una vez cuando era joven, por Tsunade, que en su cólera, golpeó a Jiraiya , rompiéndole los brazos, seis de sus costillas, y un número de órganos internos indeterminado, con lo que le dejó al borde de la muerte.

Un tiempo después de dejar Konoha, Jiraiya empieza a escribir novelas eróticas para adultos, siendo su trabajo más popular Ven ven Paraíso (???????????, Icha Icha Paradaisu?) o paraíso del Coqueteo. En un episodio del relleno del anime, Naruto escribe bajo la firma de Jiraiya una continuación de las novelas de Icha Icha de este y el libro se volvió muy popular, significando que Naruto es capaz de escribir en el mismo nivel que Jiraiya, o que las capacidades de la escritura de Jiraiya no son mejores que las de un niño. El renombre de la serie de Icha Icha parece haberle proporcionado mucho dinero, pues el talonario de cheques de Jiraiya revela que es bastante rico (Naruto dijo que tenía bastantes ceros). A pesar de su abundancia, a Jiraiya no le gusta invitar a comidas o prestar dinero, llegando a quitárselo a Naruto y luego escapándose cuando este intenta cobrárselo.

Examen de Chunin

Durante el entrenamiento del chakra de Naruto con Ebisu en una casa de baños, Ebisu encuentra a Jiraiya espiando mujeres. Cuando Ebisu intenta reprender a Jiraiya, este convoca un sapo e inmediatamente deja fuera de combate a Ebisu. Naruto exige a Jiraiya que se convierta en el reemplazo de Ebisu. Aunque éste se niega al principio, la persistencia de Naruto y su técnica erótica (Sexi no Jutsu) finalmente persuaden a Jiraiya.

Durante su entrenamiento, Jiraiya descubre que Orochimaru había sellado el chakra del zorro de nueve colas dentro de Naruto, haciéndo difícil para Naruto realizar jutsus. Después de quitar el sello, Jiraiya empieza a entrenar a Naruto para utilizar la energía del zorro de nueve colas a su voluntad. Para esto, Jiraiya decide enseñarle a Naruto el Jutsu de invocación de sapos, demostrándole a Naruto que con su chakra natural, no podría hacer una invocación efectiva.

Inicialmente, Naruto solo logra conseguir invocar diminutos e inútiles renacuajos, tardando todo un mes en practicar la técnica, sin mayores progresos. Aunque Jiraiya trata de explicarle a Naruto que para realizar una invocación acertada necesitaría del chakra del zorro de nueve colas, Naruto era incapaz de acceder voluntariamente a este poder, por lo que Jiraiya deduce que su propio cuerpo rechazaba esa energía por instinto de auto-protección.

Faltando poco para que la fecha de los combates finales se cumpla, Jiraiya le dice a Naruto que para poder obtener el poder necesario, debía “poner su vida en el entrenamiento”, así que cuando Naruto acepta esta indirecta, Jiraiya con un dedo lo lanza a un gran precipicio (muchos metros lejano) sabiendo que a causa de la velocidad de caída, y del agua de la cascada junto al precipicio impedirían que Naruto pudiera usar su chakra para detener la caída, con la esperanza que bajo instinto de supervivencia, Naruto lograra acceder al chakra del zorro, y lo usara para invocar a un sapo lo bastante fuerte como para salvarlo. No obstante, al invocar involuntariamente al poderoso pero peligroso Gamabunta, Jiraiya decide ir por Naruto para evitar la furia del gran sapo por haber sido invocado dentro de un precipicio.

La búsqueda de Tsunade

Después de la muerte del tercer Hokage, los ancianos de la aldea piden a Jiraiya convertirse en el quinto Hokage. Jiraiya rechaza la oferta, y en su lugar promete buscar a Tsunade, que él piensa haría un trabajo mejor como Hokage. Jiraiya lleva a Naruto con él, alegando que necesita su ayuda ofreciéndole conocer a una voluptuosa mujer (eso demuestra que incluso es pervertido con su amiga de la infancia) pero también deseando proteger a Naruto contra Akatsuki que desea el Kyubi sellado dentro de él. Mientras buscan a Tsunade, Jiraiya enseña a Naruto la técnica Rasengan que este aprende rápidamente.

Cuando encuentran a Tsunade, Jiraiya intenta convencerla para que asuma el papel de Hokage. No encariñada con la oferta o la persistencia de Jiraiya, ésta le droga, haciéndole difícil que se mueva y utilice chakra. Durante la última lucha de Tsunade con Orochimaru, Jiraiya encuentra su estado narcotizado y le resulta muy difícil ayudar a Tsunade, y él además divide en dos la potencia de sus técnicas varias veces. Después de finalmente forzar a Orochimaru a huir, en gran parte debido a los esfuerzos de Tsunade, esta acepta la posición de Hokage.

La búsqueda de Sasuke

Después de que la tentativa fallada de Naruto de parar a Sasuke Uchiha antes de que abandonara Konoha, Jiraiya intenta convencer a Naruto de que se olvide de Sasuke, recordando sus propias experiencias con Orochimaru y no quisieran que Naruto pasara con la misma tristeza. Naruto decía que sería más feliz perdiendo su tiempo si eso significaba que Sasuke volvía a Konoha. Jiraiya ofrece a Naruto entrenarlo durante dos años y medio para hacerse más fuerte, Naruto acepta, y Jiraiya dice que volverán cuando Naruto este listo. En el anime Jiraiya engaña a Naruto dejándole un pergamino con sus técnicas escritas en él pero era falso y se va de Konoha para Recolectar información de Akatsuki. Después de muchas misiones él regresa y se va con Naruto como en el manga.

Relleno del anime

Durante esta parte empiezan a mostrarse las intenciones de la organización Akatsuki, en esta parte también se muestra parte de la vida de Jiraiya, como este discutía con Tsunade y Orochimaru cuando eran niños y como salvó a la aldea. Finalmente se ve como Naruto y Jiraiya se van para entrenar. En la segunda parte, el sannin menciona que en este tiempo, en uno de los entrenamientos con Naruto, a éste le salieron cuatro colas del zorro, y que detenerle le costó quedar tan malherido como cuando Tsunade le descubrió espiándole en los baños.

Regreso a Konoha

Jiraiya enseña a Naruto cómo usar más fácilmente el chakra del zorro de nueve colas. Al hacer eso, Jiraiya es por una segunda vez en su vida llevado al borde de la muerte, con Naruto en su forma de zorro de cuatro colas que es demasiado para que Jiraiya pueda controlarlo. Para controlarlo correctamente en esta forma, Jiraiya creó el sello de la sumisión para suprimir el chakra del zorro. Cuando Naruto vuelve a Konoha, Jiraiya desaparece para poder investigar a Akatsuki, su paradero e intenciones.

Jiraiya contra Pain

El tiempo que Jiraiya pasa investigando le lleva a la conclusión de que el líder de Akatsuki está en la Aldea Oculta de la Lluvia, aunque desconoce otras cosas sobre él, por lo que decide ir a enfrentarsele. Antes de esto sostiene una conversación con Tsunade, en la que ella expresa su preocupación hacia su antiguo compañero, en esta charla también se revela que el padre de Naruto es en efecto el Cuarto Hokage, de nombre Minato Namikaze. Luego Jiraiya se infiltra en la aldea de la lluvia gracias a uno de sus sapos, pero Pain le detecta.

Utiliza un jutsu de transformación para engañar a dos subordinados de Pain y les obliga a que le cuenten todo lo que saben del líder de Akatsuki y recuerda como Salamandra Hanzo, antiguo y temido líder de la Aldea Oculta de la Lluvia le dio a él y a sus compañeros el título de sannin. Decide luchar contra Pain e invoca un sapo con forma de pergamino al que llama su almacén, y en el cual está guardada la clave para fortalecer o debilitar el sello que encierra a Kyubi. Le dice que si le pasa algo, que se lo de a Naruto. Dice que sospecha que Yondaime encerró al Kyubi en su hijo con algún objetivo, y que cree que Madara Uchiha invocó al zorro cuando atacó la aldea, aunque desconoce el motivo.

Más tarde, utilizando un jutsu para manipular el cuerpo del subordinado de Pain, decide ir a enfrentarle, pero se topa con Konan,la interroga acerca de que sabe acerca del lider de Akatsuki, tras una corta batalla llega a la conclusión de que el lider es otro de sus antiguos alumnos y recuerda cuando ella, Nagato y Yahiko les pidieron a él y a su compañeros sannin que los entrenaran, siendo él el único que cuidó de ellos y les entrenó.

Pain hace su aparición frente a Jiraiya, que lo identifica como Nagato. Luego utiliza una técnica nueva (RajinShigami no jutsu) que le da a su cabello la apariencia de un león y que atrapa a Pain para que le pueda interrogar. Pain le explica a Jiraiya que quiere utilizar los Biju para crear una técnica de gran poder destructor para acelerar las guerras y finalizarlas de golpe, dando lugar a una era de paz, de la que él sería su dios. Pain escapa de la atadura e invoca una especie de camaleón con una serpiente en lugar de cola, a lo cual Jiraiya responde invocando a Gamaken, otro miembro de la familia de los sapos.

Posteriormente Jiraiya, se une con los 2 sapos (Ma y Pa)y utiliza el modo ermitaño,para llegar a su forma más poderosa.

En el modo ermitaño (?????) Jiraiya puede manejar los poderosos Senjutsus, que son impresionantes mejoras de sus técnicas principales, muestra Senjutsus como el Cho Odama Rasengan, el Cañón de Agujas, la Fritura Profunda, Elemento Fuego: Explosión Gigante y Elemento Tierra: Pantano del Infierno. Además de un extraño Genjutsu que hacen Ma y Pa con una melodía en dúo (ya que Jiraiya es malo utilizando Genjutsu). Aun así, cuando cree haber derrotado a los tres cuerpos de Pain, es atacado por otros cuerpos de éste y pierde su brazo, quedando en una posición un tanto complicada. Ahora jiraiya se encuentra al borde de la muerte pues al perder su brazo mira desde el lugar donde el y Pain se encontraban luchando y observa que hay sies poseedores del Rinnengan (Dojutsu). Jiraiya es atacado por el primer Pain que enfrentó (descubriendo que se trataba de un ninja contra el que se había enfrentado anteriormente).

Este al caer hacia donde se encontraba Jiraiya es partido a la mitad por una barrera que los sapos Ma y Pa habían creado. Jiraiya es atravesado en su brazo por un rara espada que le imposibilita controlar su chakra. Luego de esto Ma desaparece con la misión de llevar a Tsunade el cuerpo del Akatsuki. Finalmente, Jiraiya, habiendo perdido el modo ermitaño, sale para luchar otra vez contra Pain para descubrir su verdadera identidad, lo que consigue. Pero los cuerpos de Pain atacan a Jiraiya, uno de ellos le coge de la garganta y le clavan una especie de pinchos. El sannin está a borde de la muerte, no puede hablar y su corazón deja de latir. Cuando sus ojos se cierran recuerda toda su vida y se decepciona porque no pudo conseguir las cosas que se proponía, siempre rechazado por Tsunade, sin poder proteger a su maestro (Sarutobi) ni a su alumno (Minato) y sin poder traer a su amigo (Orochimaru). Pero al final recuerda la charla que tuvo con Minato hace mucho tiempo, aquella vez en la que se quejaba de que su libro no se haya vendido mucho, Minato le dice que es un grandioso libro y que le gustaría ponerle el nombre del personaje a su hijo, por que era alguien que nunca se rinde y que es igual a Jiraiya.

El se sorprende por esto, ya que al ponerle el nombre esto le hacia su padrino, es así que con la aprobación de Minato y Kushina su hijo es llamado Naruto. Se da cuenta de que no toda su vida fueron fracasos, Recuerda a Minato diciéndole que no había otro mejor ninja que él, que era un ejemplo a seguir para todos, la fuerza de voluntad de Naruto, la verdadera fuerza de un ninja, la fuerza para nunca darse por vencido, y que creció como sus padres lo quisieron, entonces saca fuerzas de los más profundo de su alma, y se levanta como un heroe, a pesar de que su corazón se había detenido, Comprende el verdadero significado de la profecía del gran sabio sapo, No sería solo un alumno el que cause la destrucción del mundo o que lo salve, el signicado era:

Que habría un alumno el cual intentaría destruir la tierra y otro que trataría de salvarla, el resultado de esta batalla, dependería de su decision, ya en sus últimos momentos cumple su objetivo, transfiere la información a “Pa” (quien con mucho pesar se despide) y toma su decision…. “jamas rendirse”, le deja la responsabilidad, sus sueños y esperanzas a su último alumno… a Naruto. el que habría de salvar al mundo…. Mientras que Pain se acerca para darle el golpe final. Este se da cuenta que Jiraiya envía un mensaje codificado en “Pa” en forma de numeros, y trata de matar a “Pa”, pero este logra escapar antes de la explosion del ataque, y con la explosion el cuerpo de Jiraiya cae al fondo del agua. Mientras cae y agoniza Jiraiya se siente feliz por la forma en la que muere, que según el es mucho más grandiosa y piensa en el titulo para su “próximo” libro “La leyenda de Uzumaki Naruto”.

Habilidades

Jiraiya junto con Tsunade y Orochimaru, son conocidos como los tres ninjas legendarios o sannin, título que les dio el líder de Amegakure, Salamandra Hanzou al haber sobrevivido en una batalla contra él. Cuando Jiraiya era pequeño era muy torpe (Casi igual que naruto en aquel tiempo) siempre caía en las mismas trampas que le ponian, diciendo el tercer hokage que era increíble por hacer eso. Desarrollo una técnica de transaparencia para poder espiar a las mujeres sin ser descubierto. Pero con el paso del tiempo Jiraiya, se convirtió en un gran ninja, siendo tan bueno, que al morir el tercer Hokage, los miembros del consejo le pidieron que el fuera godaime (quinto hokage), pero lo rechazo diciendo el mismo que sería un pésimo hokage por que es un espíritu libre. Es considerado como un ninja clase S y uno de los mejores y más poderosos shinobis en el mundo de Naruto.

Es un genio invocando sapos. En el combate contra Itachi Uchiha, Jiraiya invoca el estómago de la rana más grande de la montaña Myobukazan, Iwagama , diciendo en ese momento que ningun ninja habia sobrevivido a esa poderosa técnica, pero Itachi usa el Amaterasu pudiendo así escapar.

En la batalla contra los seis cuerpos de Pain, Jiraiya usa el senjutsu, tecnicas del ermitaño, donde segun el universo de Naruto proviene de la naturaleza y es la fuente máxima de un ninja, en este nuevo estado, la mejora de sus jutsus es notable en todas : Chou Odama rasengan, el cañon de agujas, elemento tierra Pantano del infierno. También uso la Barrera Cortante, la cual destrozo un cuerpo de Pain al cruzarla llegando así a derrotar al que invocaba.
Misiones Completas.

* Rango D: 58
* Rango C: 345
* Rango B: 684
* Rango A: 614
* Rango S: 138

O segundo box de DVDs de Jiraiya, contendo os DVDs do 6 ao 10, tem lançamento previsto no Brasil para o dia 18/11/2009.

Sinopse Oficial:

Entre dezenas de seriados japoneses que vieram para o Brasil de carona no sucesso de Jaspion e Changeman, no final dos anos 80 e começo dos 90, Jiraiya foi o mais popular. E o motivo disso é o mesmo que fez dele um sucesso também no Japão: a temática ninja.
Jiraiya adaptou o tradicional universo dos ninjas reais ao ritmo e cores das típicas séries de super-heróis japonesas, com guerreiros de visual extravagante, espadas laser, monstros, magias, etc. Na história, esses guerreiros, espalhados pelo mundo, vão para o Japão em busca do tesouro espacial Pako, cuja localização é apontada por uma inscrição fragmentada entre a família Yamashi e o maligno clã dos Feiticeiros.
Ele herda a armadura e a Espada Olímpica de seu pai adotivo, Tetsuzan Yamashi, para proteger a inscrição e destruir ninjas mal intencionados. Ao longo das batalhas, Jiraiya conta com a ajuda de seus irmãos, Manabu e Kei Yamashi, e de alguns ninjas que deixam suas ambições pessoais de lado para lutar pela paz.
A aguardada reedição da série em DVD é a chance de rever com imagem e som digitais a vibrante trajetória do herói que, diferente da maioria, não tinha super poderes e precisava aprimorar o tempo toda sua arte ninja para vencer os inimigos.

Episódios:

DVD 6
26 – A Primavera de Emiha
27 – Jiraiya, o Inimigo de Torra
28 – Quem sou Eu?
29 – A Revolta do Pequeno Ninja
30 – O Ninja Solitário

DVD 7
31 – A Espada de Chin Guen
32 – A Percepção Extra-senhorial
33 – A guitarra cobiçada
34 – A Caveira Assassina
35 – O Desafio dos Togakuri

DVD 8
36 – O Feitiço do Gato Preto
37 – O Homem de 2300 anos
38 – As Mil e uma Faces
39 – A Conspiração de Morgana
40 – A Traição

DVD 9
41 – Olímpica versus Satã
42 – Adeus, Mamãe
43 – O Indomável Strover
44 – O Poder do Amor
45 – A Ponte da Esperança

DVD 10
46 – Amizade Perdida
47 – Manabu e seu Primeiro Amor
48 – O Aparecimento de Paco
49 – O Último Confronto
50 – Adeus, Espada Olímpica

Obrigada pela visita e volte sempre!

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*Before I begin, let me say that this was one of the single GREATEST Naruto Friday’s in recent history … I’m not even kidding, this week was ILL*

Naruto, Chapter 469

I’m almost speechless. This week’s manga entry of Naruto is an incredible turning point in the entire series. Important events include the beginning of Kisame and Killer Bee’s battle, the re-forming of the Shinobi alliance between all the Kages (except Danzo, the Hokage), and some weird a** technique used by one of Danzo’s bodyguards against an enemy ninja.

However, and this is a big ‘however’, the most crazy thing that occurred was the highly anticipated, series-altering, straight up buck confession by Sakura of her love for Naruto!!!

Call me a nerd for my enthusiasm — I do not care.

I cannot overstate the importance of this event for 2 reasons: 1) the unspoken and frustratingly ambiguous feelings between Naruto and Sakura that have existed for the entire series (i.e. like 10 years, in our time) are finally out in the air, and 2) it is a well established plot point that Naruto has strong feelings for Sakura, and once she finally comes out and confesses her love for him … he denies her!

Like, straight up, too. No hesitation. The reasons why are slightly complex, and would take a bit of time — as well as some base Naruto knowledge — to explain, but suffice it to say that Naruto knows that Sakura’s “confession” isn’t entirely genuine. There are definitely some alterior agendas going on.

C’mon next week!!!

^Favorite moment: Is this even a question? The last page of the issue, when Naruto denies Sakura and flatly tells her he “hates people that lie to themselves”. Doesn’t get much more intense than that.

——-

Naruto Shippuuden, Episode 133

Mannn … the manga this week shocked me, and the episode nearly made me cry. What’s funny is that I know everything that is going to happen in the animated series, because I read the manga and it is quite far ahead of the anime — but every time I see this stuff in motion, it’s like I’m witnessing it for the first time.

I know Jiraiya dies in this episode. I knew that going in to this — I’ve read it already. As a matter of fact, the issue where he dies came out like 2 years ago, in our time, so it’s not even like I just read it … and I still had to fight back a couple tears.

The battle that’s been going on between Jiraiya and Pain for the last few weeks episode finally wrapped up. As we left off last week, Jiraiya was just blasted through a wall by Pain, and lost an arm in the process. As the chances of his victory — well, survival, at this point — grow increasingly slim, he reflects back on his life, and sees only a string of failures. Amidst his string of flashbacks, he successfully captures one of Pain’s bodies and kills it — incidentally, this scene was cut out of the manga, so it was cool to see how the confrontation actually happened.

Well, by now Jiraiya realizes that defeating every body is virtually impossible, as he nearly killed himself in defeating just one. He decides that the best he can do is discover the secret behind Pain’s powers, and somehow get that message back to his village. He surfaces out of the water, and is promptly attacked by Pain, gets his throat crushed, and is then immediately impaled by the remaining 5 bodies. He actually does die, but wills himself back to life, discovering that his life really was successful and that he is indeed a true hero.

Jiraiya has a flash of insight and then figures out the secret behind Pain, and sends one of the elder toads off with the message. In his actual dying moments, he floats to the bottom of the sea, and finally understands that the power and ideas he left to Uzumaki Naruto, his student,  is the true meaning of his legacy.

If you watched it, you be sniffling, too. So long, Jiraiya.

Favorite Moment: As Jiraiya floats to the bottom of the ocean — essentially dead, with 5 stab wounds, a severed arm, and a crushed throat — instead of worrying about the fact that his life is over, he calmly muses on what the name of his life story, and it’s sequel, would be. He decides “The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto” is a good name. Awesome.

Cannot wait for next week — great Naruto Friday!

_Reverend Zombie 15.05

Humanzee … is that you?

This episode picks up from 132 where Jiraiya is fighting Pain… who is actually like 6 people …. who is actually one person named Nagato. Jiraiya only manages to kill one of his god-knows-how-many bodies before he’s killed. This was a really dramatic episode. Poor Tsunade doesn’t have anyone to tease anymore. I was really surprised the ‘prophesied’ one turned out to Naruto. I was always under the impression it was Pain with his rennegagagaannblah whatever it is. great episode. can’t wait to see the reactions of the other characters. (:

And so ends The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya .

Gold Foil Dress

Female fashion has the incredible ability to attract attention — due in no small part to the fact that females are wearing the clothes. Aside from this minor detail (haha) the clothes women wear are generally bolder, cut lower, and more dynamic than male fashion. I believe the natural qualities of anything are best put to use when they’re presented boldly, and if core features of female fashion are brightness and visibility, why not accentuate this?

This is why I greatly enjoy the gold foil (or lamé) dress. The concept is to be clearly seen, without completely crossing the “PLEASE, look at me!!” line. Fall is the season of yellows, oranges, and browns, and this dress offers the ability to combine the muted colors of the season with a flair of visual interest — and there you have contrast, a critical element of good art and design.

The time of relegating gold, silver, and sequin fabrics to the stage, or Cirque de Soleil has passed! Wear them and make your life an attraction! Be forewarned though — this dress is not in season at every point in the year, nor is it even in style every year. But hey, fashion is your own, so if you wish to wear a gold foil bikini in the middle of August, in a season where polka dots are all the rage, who am I (or anyone else, for that matter) to stop you?

And, here it is in action ..

All these ladies are puttin’ it together right .. and lest any of us forget how (ridiculously) fine Kim Kardashian is:

Alright, went off on a Kardashian tangent there, but the point is … the gold foil dress is LEGIT!

——-

Hatake Kakashi

I’m doin’ my thing yesterday, y’know, enjoying life and building toward the future, when I get a text message from a good friend of mine, Fraggle — “Yo dawg when you gonna blog about hatake kakashi?!!?? He’s my favorite” … I have zero problem with that, and I love having my friends involved in anything I’m doing, so here we are!

This man is raw. Another major character in the Naruto manga/anime series, Hatake Kakashi reigns as one of the most naturally gifted, hard working, and … well … cool ninjas in the entire series. Before I was acquainted with the raw heroism and power of Jiraiya, or the ferocious intelligence of Shikamaru, Kakashi was undoubtedly my favorite character, as well.

His lineage is just as incredible as his natural and trained ability. He’s the son of Hatake Sakumo (the genius shinobi known as ‘Konoha’s White Fang’), the student of Namikaze Minato (the 4th Hokage, and unbelievably strong), and the sensei of Uzumaki Naruto (the freakin main character of the series — obviously powerful). Surrounded by rawness.

Not to mention he possesses the Sharingan … aka the god mode of the Naruto universe. Raikiri!? Try and stand against if you want. Kamui!!?? It starts to become clear why most ninja start shaking when they realize their facing ‘Kakashi of the Sharingan’.

So yeah, he’s buck. Oh, and not to mention, he has an interest in girly, slightly pornographic, romance novels — authored by none other than Jiraiya, himself. A complete charcter, in my book!

The “romantic” novel, in question^

_Reverend Zombie 14.00

Humanzee … is that you?

• Naruto Shippuuden 132

Unser richtiger Sub ist nun online, Viel Spaß!

GermanNaruto – Team

Naruto Shippuuden Ep. 132

Happy Naruto Friday, everyone!

Cold blooded episode. I admit, I entered this week’s Naruto adventure with a bad attitude — I absolutely HATE watching an episode of Naruto the week after they use their amazing animation studio; going back to normal, the episodes always look especially horrible. I was proven wrong, as this week’s episode was — surprisingly – very good. They actually put in effort to make the normal animation look watchable. Awesome.

This week the battle between Pain and Jiraiya continued at feverish intensity. Slowly but surely, as Pain countered every one of the “Gallant Jiraiya’s” most powerful Sage Mode techniques, he and Ma & Pa toad began to figure out the sinister secrets behind Pain’s frightening abilities. Turns out, due to his Rin’negan, Pain has a shared field of vision between all of his bodies that gives him an unimpeded view of any battle field, and each body possesses a specific ability that helps the offensive/defensive strategy of the group.

After Jiraiya and the toads figure this out, they conjure up a strategy involving genjutsu to shut down the 3 bodies, once and for all. The plan actually does work — Sage Jiraiya catches all 3 bodies in the trap and subsequently impales each one of the trio. Little did they know, though, that Pain actually has six bodies, and the remaining 3 came to the aid of the fallen, resurrected them, and hit the reset button on the battle.

Just like when I read this fight in the manga about 2 years ago, I nearly cried (literally) when Jiraiya was blasted through a wall by the unknown Pain body, after he thought he secured victory. Jiraiya KNEW he won … so sad!!! And now he stands — left armless, as well — before the full Six Paths of Pain, ready to finish the battle like a true warrior.

Great episode — until next week!

The Six (jerk) Paths of Pain … wait till ya’ll meet Naruto, freaks

Favorite Moment: at 1:35, when Jiraiya kicks the living s**t out of the long-haired Pain body. EXTRA buck.

——-

No Naruto Manga This Week

This is pretty much how I feel right now. One of the great joys of my life is waking up on Friday mornings and downloading the fresh Naruto manga. Well, apparently life doesn’t always work the way you want (hey…) because there’s no manga release this week — the creator’s taking something called a “break”.

Seriously, though, I wish the author, Masashi Kishimoto, a great vacation — God knows he needs it. Producing a weekly manga CANNOT be easy.

Favorite Moment: yeah, whatever…

C’mon, next week!!!

_Reverend Zombie 12.27

The Striped Skirt

Today begins something new … Fashionisto. Though not widely known, fashion is one of my primary interests, and reigns alongside art, specifically illustration, animation, and architecture, and music, specifically performance. I have many interests, including God, family, friendship, women, cuisine, martial arts, traveling, etc., but the golden triangle: art, fashion, and music, are my primary means of physical expression. In Fashionisto, some aspect of fashion will be highlighted, explained, and shown — more than likely on women, so be ready for that.

Today is the ’striped skirt.’ It’s a fascinating piece. The skirt is a wonderful addition to female fashion, by itself — it gives the woman the power to substantially display her body, while maintaining an air of mystery and poise. Stripes are a staple pattern in clothing, so the combination matches serenely. The most interesting thing about the striped skirt is that it uses horizontal stripes, which are historically avoided like the plague for their power to make things look a bit … umm … wider, which most women do not get down with. And yet, the striped skirt places the stripes in the widest of all places, the hips, and still, well … works!

I dig it. Worn with a plain top, jacket, and a pair of powerful heels, this piece will put ladies where they need to be … on top!

Umm… just excuse that …

Oh, and lest we forget, I am a dressmaker, myself, so if any ladies read this and see something they like, or might want, contact me before you run off to Express. I’ll gladly put my sewing machine to work.

And of course, Rihanna shows ‘em how it’s done..

Take a guess which one I like best.

——-

Jiraiya

Oh, yes. Yesterday, my cousin Byron asked me to highlight his favorite character from Naruto, so I figure, “Hey … why don’t I do mine, too?”

And here we are.

Jiraiya is buck. Introduced as a female obsessed writer/comedian, Jiraiya eventually turns out to be as powerful as he is enjoyable. I got my first hint of Jiraiya’s strength, when he confronted Itachi and Kisame (see yesterday’s post for this guy) during their invasion of Konoha. Uchiha Itachi — I don’t even want to get into how strong he is — strongly advised that he and Kisame back off, because the only way they could beat Jiraiya would be at the cost of both their own lives. I was like, “…wait, excuse me??”

Itachi was probably right. Jiraiya is eventually shown to be not only stupidly strong, but also smart, stealth, and courageous, as well. By the time he entered Sage Mode, his ultimate stage of strength, I was already sold on the character.

He was eventually killed by the villain, Pain, but there is one important thing to mention — after the fight, Pain, himself, stated that Jiraiya would have surely defeated him had Jiraiya known the secret of his power. Keep in mind, I’d need another post explain Pain’s strength. Crazy.

Check the technique.

_Reverend Zombie 13.02

Chapter 14: I Can Dream About You

Yoshino sighed, looking around at the growing stacks of building materials that were destined to go back to Konoha. She shook her head – just like going on vacation – they were going to be bringing more stuff home than they took out with them. Still, she supposed this was good for trade overall. Konoha had a surplus of labor at the moment, there was an abundance of construction going on here in Wave and also an abundance of raw materials.

She looked at the stacks of lumber. To her, wood was wood. But the properties of the varieties of hardwoods that grew here in the Land of Waves seemed to be of particular interest to their clients. They’d be a veritable caravan on the way back to Konoha with all this stuff in tow. Something to do with the density of the fibers made it particularly weather resistent so the Leaf carpenters were anxious to work with it back home.

She sprang up into the trees to better overlook the cordoned off area. It might be good for business and trade but the ever expanding field was becoming more and more difficult to watch. Yoshino wasn’t the only chuunin who thought so and they’d brought it up to the team leader and he had reluctantly agreed that they needed to post a second guard.

Mugato Uchiha, everything about the guy was so…surly. Sure, she understood and respected chain-of-command, it was important to a well-ordered unit, but Mugato treated the chuunin like mere underlings. It was distasteful to say the least. He was the complete opposite of her last team leader, Asako, Yoshino thought sadly to herself.

Ugh, five days into a two week mission and the hours were dragging by. It was a lovely afternoon and she wanted to slip off into blissful daydreams about Shikaku but that wouldn’t be fair to her clients. Daydreaming in your off-hours only, Sakamoto, she told herself.

It was easy to want to retreat into daydreams. This mission was slipping easily into the drudge-work category. There was no violence or crime to speak of, no need for any battle tactics. Any minor altercations that did come up were handled either by the construction team leaders if it involved their personnel only or by Wave’s local police force if local citizenry were involved. She’d heard of a few brawls, some stolen tools from various worksites, but not much else.

The city had the potential to shape up into a nice resort, unfortunately for now there was so much construction debris that it was really cluttering up the area. Plus it had rained recently and much of the cleared areas were now muddy, soggy messes. When you could find a nice spot on one of the beaches to relax in off-hours, the construction noise in the background made it not the most restful places to be. “Bustling” was certainly a good way to describe the city, but it was so far removed from what she was longing for right now.

Trying not to slip into full-blown daydream mode, she let her mind drift back to the first time she’d spent with Shikaku at the deer meadow. It was so quiet, so peaceful, the two of them had been completely alone, almost as if they were the only two people on the planet. No sounds of construction there, only birdsong and the chorus of crickets and cicadas. His arms around her had been so warm and strong, his voice deep and thrilling…

Speaking of voices she heard a couple of them now. Turning her focus to the sound she recognized one of the carpenters at the gate, not arguing with a delivery person so much as questioning him.

“You’re sure? I didn’t know anything about this load but okay, bring it on in. I can’t imagine what our freight charges are going to be getting back home, but that’s somebody else’s problem.”

The man looked up at her and waved, “Oi, Yoshino, I came back to pick up some stuff and found out there’s more cargo to add to the lot. I’m letting him in, okay?”

She nodded back, “Thanks for letting me know.”

After the guy had dropped of the additional lumber, Yoshino saw another figure approach.

Oh, crap.

Be careful what you wish for.

The chuunin had asked to work in pairs up since the storage lot was now so large and the stacks of lumber made observation difficult. So Mugato had said he’d set up a schedule starting today.

Crap.

One of the more unpleasant surprises on the outbound trip had been that the team wouldn’t consist of only the four chuunin and two jounin who had met in the assignment room five days ago. Tsuyoshi Uchiha, Mugato’s nephew was also on the team.

Apparently on the schedule she’d been assigned as his partner this first day.

She hoped the schedule allowed for some variability in the rotation. It would be a real pain in the butt to be stuck with this jerk the next, she counted quickly in her head, nine days.

“Yoshino-san,” he sneered, looking up at her.

“Tsuyoshi-san,” she acknowledged back, trying to keep the sneer out of her own voice, he wasn’t even worth that. Ever since they’d gotten here he’d been following her around, it seemed like he was always behind her, or at team meetings, crowding next to her more than absolutely necessary.

Since he was technically thirty minutes late for the start of this shift she thought she should fill him in on the comings and goings since she had gotten here. “Zatoshi the carpenter is in the storage shed picking up some tools and there was a delivery just before…”

He cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I saw it all back at the tent.”

Yoshino rolled her eyes. What a jerk. He didn’t even have a reason for being late, wasn’t even pretending to have one. He was what? All of twenty yards away, having his morning tea and just deciding when he’d get around to showing up for his assignment.

But then she sighed, there was no one to report him to, no one to complain to. She’d discovered very early on that he wasn’t even just from the same clan as Mugato, he was the man’s nephew.

She peered down at him from her perch up in the tree as he sat down against the fence opposite her. Dark hair, dark eyes and an utter jerk. How could he be the complete polar opposite of Shikaku?

Why couldn’t he have been one of the ones assigned to this trip?

At least there was one saving grace on the trip – so far there had been no call to “reception duty.” So even though there was grumbling among the rest of the chuunin about having to pack “gear” (she laughed to think of that dress as gear) they’d never use back and forth, still she was glad there had been and didn’t appear to be on the horizon any reason for her to have to get dressed up in front of Tsuyoshi again. She couldn’t say why that thought bothered her, it just did and that was enough.

Nine more days.

She was going to be slipping in and out of daydreams a lot.

Chapter 13: Off Like A Prom Dress

Shikaku stopped by the mission assignment room Monday morning, even though he knew he was already staffed to Tsunade for the foreseeable future. He was primarily interested in what Yoshino would be working on, but also to know where Chouza and Inoichi were heading out to, also.

The room was crowded, full of jostling shinobi. Mondays were always the worst. Lots of people would be heading out for multi-day missions so the crowd was usually thinner the rest of the week. He saw Yoshino but once again they were on opposite sides of the room. Chouza and Inoichi were behind him and their names were some of the first called. They were going out to a remote village near the border to help clear out a group of bandits who were harrassing villagers in the area. They’d been gone a few days, it looked like.

More names were called and more shinobi departed. He looked up at the clock, wondering how much time he could get away with and just how angry Tsunade would be if he kept her waiting. But as the room cleared it was easier for him to make his way over to Yoshino and he plunked down into the chair beside her.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she smiled back at him, and added, “Well, I see you can get up and get dressed before you noon if you need to.”

He gave her a pretend scowl and whispered “Troublesome woman, I knew when I met you, you were nothing but trouble.” He twirled two fingers in her hair but let it slip quickly as she was called to go with the team assigned for the now-routine transport of craftsment back and forth between Wave. This group was larger than the original three-man team – there were now four chuunin counting Yoshino and a couple of older jounin that he vaguely recognized both of whom were wearing jackets with the Uchiha crest.

Since he already knew his own assignment, and thinking Tsunade would be ticked off enough already and that five minutes more wouldn’t make much difference, he got up and followed Yoshino out. The older of the two jounin was explaining the details of the mission to the group and Shikaku’s ears perked up. He thought he recognized the voice. Standing behind the newly assembled team, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed, he listened more carefully and realized that he knew for a certainty who the voice belonged to – the ANBU jerk that had picked up his friends and then later Yoshino. A prickly sensation of suspicion ran down his spine as he wondered just what the odds were against this being a coincidence.

“You, Nara, don’t you have someplace to be?” the other jounin spoke up.

Shikaku just sighed and put his hands in his vest pockets and looked the guy in the eyes and answered, “No, no, not really. Lab can’t open ’til I get there.” He stared at the second Uchiha waiting to see who would blink first.

The older guy just motioned to the second one to leave it and then returned his attention to his team of chuunin.

“All right, standard escort duty – we’ll be out for two weeks and back for two, shuttling these builders back and forth. Actually we don’t expect too much trouble during the travel time. There are however some options for bidding on additional significant ocean front resorts and the chief negotiator for our team of contractors has told me that the competition is a little less than savory. So there will be additional bodyguard duties during this trip as well. You’ll be involved in those, meetings, dinner receptions, whatever our clients plan to attend, we need to plan to attend to. So, stop by the quartermaster’s and get yourselves outfitted appropriately. I don’t want you all showing up at a cocktail party in fishnet unless it’s the kunoichi in fishnet stockings, got that? Oh, and get a kunoichi-kit, too. We’ll meet our clients at 2p.m. Be ready to leave then.”

There was a general round of chuckles at his comment as the group broke up. Yoshino came over to him, “Shikaku,” she whispered, “why are you still here, won’t you be in trouble with Tsunade?”

Shikaku leaned back against the wall as if he needed to hold it up, holding her lightly by her forearms. “Just wanted to see where you were off to. You recognize that guy?” he asked motioning to the leader of her newly assembled team.

“He’s Mugato Uchiha. I haven’t worked with him before though…” she hesitated, “although I do recognize the voice.”

“Tch, well, me, too. Troublesome. Say, since you don’t have to leave until two, do you want to get together for lunch?” he asked.

Yoshino smiled, “Sure.”

After making plans for lunch, Shikaku rushed to the lab where fortunately, Tsunade didn’t seem to mind that he was nearly half an hour late . She was engaged in an animated conversation with the other two sannin and hardly noticed him when he arrived.

“Tsunade, you can’t deny what you saw…” Jiraiya began.

She quickly cut him off. “I KNOW what I saw. I just don’t know… what it means.” She huffed in exasperation, pushing her blonde hair back from her face. “Come on Shikaku, let’s open the door.” She turned her back on her old teammates and fumbled with her key in the lock.

“Tsunade,” his voice was genuinely soft and tender and for once it didn’t give Shikaku chills up his spine as Orochimaru spoke. “Tsunade…I know it’s hard to hear what he has to say but…for what it’s worth, I think Jiraiya is on to something.”

Shikaku stood rooted to the spot hardly daring to move more than his eyes as he cast his glance around at all three of his elders. Tsunade was rigid, wound tight as a watch spring, clutching the door handle in a death grip that he was sure was going to shatter it. Jiraiya seemed broken… empty, while Orochimaru had a look of desperation that Shikaku found as eerie as he usually found the raven-haired man’s voice.

“Get lost,” she said trying to sound lighthearted but her voice only came out brittle. “I’ve got work to do. I’ll see you two at lunch.” Her key clicked in the lock and she motioned for Shikaku to insert his own.

Eyes wide and mouth set in a firm line, Shikaku helped her open the door and the two of them went inside. Work that morning was incredibly subdued. Not that Tsunade was the most talkative woman around (for which he was quite thankful), but normally she was at least pleasant. Today she was thin-lipped and grim.

They worked silently for some time, Shikaku burning with curiosity to know what that was all about between the three earlier. But there was another, even more curious thing he wanted an answer to. It had been tickling in the back of his mind since the assignments this morning and he’d meant to ask her as soon as he’d gotten here. But all the bad vibes from the Sannin this morning had pushed that to the back of his mind.

Now it seemed like it might be as good of time as any. It seemed fairly far removed from whatever had set those three on edge. He cleared his throat and spoke up. “Tsunade, can I, um, ask you a question?”

Not looking up from the microscope she was currently adjusting, she merely answered, “Yeah, sure, what is it?”

“What’s a kunoichi kit?”

“Emergency contraception. Why?” She answered distractedly then paused and looked up at him, genuinely concerned. “Shikaku? Have you got some girl in trouble?”

“What?!? No, geez. No, I just…it just came up in conversation, that’s all.”

She studied him carefully. “Alright,” she said slowly, “if you say so.”

Shikaku was inwardly cursing himself. Clearly she didn’t believe him and the more he said that wasn’t the case the more she’d think it was. He looked at her, she was preparing to say more. Oh crap, here it comes – the lecture.

Tsunade made a great pretense of adjusting her focus on her microsope so that she wouldn’t have to look at Shikaku. “You know, Shikaku, any kunoichi can get them at the quartermaster’s but if it’s a village girl…that you know of…that you are acquainted with…,” she cleared her throat. “She can see me and I’ll get her a prescription.”

Well, hell, there was nothing he could say to that. The more he protested the more she’d think that’s why he was asking. He merely mumbled a “That’s good to know.”

Of course this did bring up the question of why Yoshino was assigned one, specifically told to get one by her team leader. What the fuck was up with that? That was something from like hundreds of years ago when kunoichi were used that way, wasn’t it?

“Tsunade?”

“Hmmmm?”

“Why would they be assigned on some missions?” He really couldn’t think of a way to ask other than to ask it directly.

Tsunade paused. “Well, a couple of reasons. In war zones where there are reports of mass rapes being used to demoralize a population, then even the kunoichi sent as part of a police force are subject to the same dangers as the population overall. In specific police cases, where you’re assisting police, a kunoichi who fits a certain type, look, might be used to lure a criminal into a situation where he can be captured, but that might endanger her as well. And then there’s the obvious and most common usage, protecting the young kunoichi from herself.”

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

Tsunade laughed. It was the first time he had seen an actual smile on her face all day. “That’s right, you never had a kunoichi on your team. It was always you, Yamanaka and Akamichi. How old are you now, Shikaku?”

“Nineteen, why?”

“Come back and ask me again in five or six years,” she smiled and wouldn’t say anymore on the subject.

Tch. Troublesome women. Acting like they know all the answers to all the mysteries of the cosmos.

Lunchtime came and he and Tsunade parted ways, locking the lab behind them. Sprinting to Yoshino’s house, since that’s where they had agreed to meet as he didn’t know what time he’d be able to get away, he knocked on the door and was pleased to see her in just a moment.

She had two bento boxes ready for them and they were going to take them back to the spot where they had watched the deer the day before. Wrong time of day for deer but still a nice place for lunch.

“Wait, before we go I want to show you something,” she said, smiling and going to the living room where her gear was out ready to pack up. “I have no idea how I’m going to pack this but still, see, isn’t it beautiful? I have it checked out for this trip in case we have any bodyguard duties at any evening events for the clients.” She was holding up a blue strapless gown on a hanger covered in a clear plastic bag.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he answered, wondering how there had managed to be an entire kunoichi section of the quartermaster’s and indeed of the entire shinobi way of life that he’d managed to overlook until now. Of course he knew about girls and kunoichi and that there were Many Pleasant Things you could do with them and had pretty match participated in most of those in one state of sobriety of another. But the fact that they had a whole way of looking at the world that was uniquely there own had quite frankly, escaped him until now. Until now, it hadn’t really mattered because until now no kunoichi had really mattered before. Weird.

“Hmmm,” Yoshino seemed dissatisfied with his reaction. “Let me put it on. Looking at it through the plastic bag doesn’t do it justice.”

Before he could stop her and tell her not to bother it was too much trouble, she had slipped away. He waited, once again (why were you ALWAYS waiting on kunoichi?) and she finally appeared. She was right, the plastic bag absolutely did not do it justice.

It was a patterned blue satin, ruched at the top, cinched in at the waist and spilling to the floor like a waterfall. The skirt moved utterly fluid as she walked, like flowing water itself. Strapless, he was wondering what was holding it up until he realized that there was nothing holding it up but Yoshino. How did that work? Just what were the mechanics of a strapless gown? Speechless, he was afraid he was going to have to utter some appropriate remark of which he was utterly bereft. However, Yoshino seemed to have gotten what she wanted just by the way he was looking at her and so satisfied she said she’d change back and they’d go on out to lunch.

Even though the day was beautiful, the sky clear blue and full of fluffy white clouds and Yoshino was by his side for lunch, Shikaku was uneasy. There was just too much going on. Tch. Too much troublesome shit. The ANBU. The lab. The creepy ANBU guy being Yoshino’s leader this mission. The utter contempt which strapless evening gowns seemed to hold for the law of gravity.

And somewhere, in the pit of his stomach he had a sneaking suspicioun that he was beginning to see what Tsunade meant by protecting the young kunoichi from herself.

Chapter 12: Blue Morning, Blue Day

Exhausted, Yoshino looked around the room at the four masked faces. “I’m telling you, that’s all I know. I was with her the whole afternoon, she seemed fine. We went out to dinner and when we returned I took over the post that night. When I returned in the morning she was… Look!” she snapped, “we’ve been over this a dozen times already – we spent the entire day together. We ate at the same restaurant, I’ve given you the name. She seemed fine all day long – no symptoms of fever, nothing until we got back. What more do you want from me?”

“Sakamoto, this is an official investigation, I would have expected you to want to get to the bottom of your mission team leader’s death.” snapped back the voice of the jackal-masked ANUB, the one who had asked for her when she’d been picked up.

Sighing, Yoshino responded, “Of course, I’m just tired. Why’d you have to do this at midnight? And how many times are we going to go over the same things?”

“I think we are done with the questioning.” She thought the ANBU might actually be smiling behind his mask but it was tired and she honestly did not care. “We would like to put you in a light hypnotic state to see if there’s anything your conscious mind may have overlooked.”

Yoshino yawned, “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place,” she grumbled.

A second ANBU stepped forward and simply said, “I’m going to put you in a light trance…” and promptly did so. Yoshino felt light, warm, relaxed. She could hear her own voice sounding faint and far away as she answered their questions. It seemed to only take a few minutes and then she was shaking her head, almost as if waking up from a brief nap.

The first ANBU put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you, Sakamoto. I know this must have been difficult for you. Are you going to the memorial service this afternoon?”

Yoshino nodded slightly, she hadn’t forgotten, she just hadn’t wanted to think about it.

After the door of the room had closed behind her the first ANBU, the one with the jackal-masked crossed his arms over his chest and turned to face his partner. “So, did she see anything?”

The second, wearing a black and white cat-faced mask shook his head, “No, she didn’t see anything that would concern us. Didn’t noticed any of the shipment back at the camp.” He laughed under his mask, “Although…she does think your nephew is a jerk.”

It was hard to tell it but the first one rolled his eyes under his mask. “She isn’t the first girl to think that. Just as long as he doesn’t do anything to cause us any problems…”

“Right,” responded the second, “just as long…”

Sleep did not come easy to her that night, much to her surprise. Walking home in the dark after midnight her mind had been busy turning over the events back in Wave, wondering if there was anything she might have missed. What sleep she did manage to get was fitful, knowing that when she got up in the morning, she was going to have to go to Asako’s memorial service.

Asako! Anko! She got up out of bed and rummaged through the bag that was still lying in her closet that she had brought back from Wave. There in the bottom of the bag was the little pink coin purse Asako had bought for Anko. Yoshino cried, knowing she would have to be the one to give it to the little girl rather than her own mother.

Morning came and still exhausted, Yoshino rose and put on her black dress. It was a fact of shinobi life that black clothing was a standard part of the wardrobe, not your everyday wear, but often enough, too often as a matter of fact.

She was ready early, the service wasn’t for a couple more hours yet. Wondering what to do with herself, she found that she had wandered over near Shikaku’s apartment. She knocked at the door and after a moment he answered it, wearing pajama pants and no shirt.

“Yoshino! Come in,” he said opening the door wide to welcome her. He’d been worried and pissed off too about the ANBU business last night, and meaning to go by her house and check on her today to see how it went. Then he noticed her dark outfit.

“Oh, is Miterashi’s memorial today,” he asked feeling somewhat at a loss. Unless it was a high ranking person, someone known throughout the village, memorial services tended to be smaller family affairs. Of course, Yoshino had said she wasn’t all that close to Asako, but still , having been on her last misson with the woman just before…Well, it only made sense that she’d go.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…wake you… ,” she said taking in his pajamas, oddly amused by the fact that it was getting close to noon and he was still wearing them.

“What, oh, no, I was awake,” he mumbled wiping a hand over his face. “Come on in, do you want some coffee?”

She sat at the small table as he brought them two cups of coffee. “Cream? Or sugar?” he asked.

“No, just black is fine,” she replied hesitantly taking a sip but finding it to be not all that bad.

Shikaku was relieved because he wasn’t sure if there was any cream and if there was if it was spoiled or not. He was also rather unsure of the location of sugar in the apartment. He thought they might have some but had no idea where it was.

They talked for a bit and then Yoshino asked, “Do you…are you busy…today?” She really hoped he wasn’t busy and that maybe he would come with her this afternoon because this was honestly something she did not want to go to by herself. “Do you think you could go with me?”

“Sure,” he replied softly. “Sure, I can go. Let me go get changed.” He kissed the top of her head before he left the table.

A short while later he emerged freshly showered and wearing his own black tunic and hakama. To his surprise, Chouza and Inoichi were both up, eating rolled omelets and rice.

“She’s great, Shikaku, can we keep her?” Chouza smiled and mumbled through a mouthful of rice and egg.

Shikaku scowled wanting to pipe back that no they could not keep her when Yoshino spoke up, “Don’t talk with your mouthful, Chouza.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Shikaku motioned at the table.

Shrugging Yoshino answered, “They were hungry and I needed something to do. Do you want something to eat?”

“Ummm, … yeah,” he answered sheepishly. She smiled and prepared another omelet.

The service that afternoon was brief, but mournful. At the end of the ceremony, Yoshino and Shikaku spoke to Asako’s husband. “I, um, I have a … I was with Asako…that is…” Yoshino was stumbling over her words as she spoke to the man. Taking a deep breath she managed to complete her sentence. “I was with Asako in Wave. We went shopping and she had a present for Anko – I had it in my bags when I came back.” She handed the small package over to him.

“Why don’t you give it to her?” he said, motioning down to the little four year old girl who was doing her best to stand still beside him. “I’m sure she’d like to know her mother’s friend brought to her.”

Yoshino knelt down, Shikaku’s fingertips at her shoulders. “Hello, Anko,” she whispered.

“Are you a friend of my mother’s?” the little girl asked and Yoshino nodded.

“Are you a kunoichi like her?” Again, Yoshino nodded trying not to cry in front of her.

Anko pointed to herself with her own thumb, “I’m gonna be a kunoichi just like Omaasan, too.” she said proudly.

“Yes, Anko-chan, yes you are,” Yoshino agreed. “Here, your mother bought you a present and I’m just delivering it for her,” she floundered not knowing what else to say.

Anko opened the small package and held out the pink purse proudly. “Otousan! Look!” she said proudly holding it up and waving it.

“Yes, Anko-chan, I see. It’s very nice. Now we have to let them go on. We have other guests to greet.” He turned his attention to Yoshino and Shikaku. “She…doesn’t fully understand. I think she just thinks her mother is on a mission.”

The two younger shinobi nodded and offered their condolences and left. Walking along with her hand in hand, an idea came to Shikaku of just the right place to take her. “Come on,” he said, pulling her by the wrist.

Stopping back by his apartment to change he rummaged around for something for her also. Laughing and glad that he’d managed to do laundry a couple of days ago, he came up with a t-shirt that had shrunk when he’d washed it in the hot water and a pair of pants that sort of fit as long as she looped a belt around her waist a couple of times to hold them up and turned the cuffs up about six inches.

Looking at him askance, hardly daring to believe she was going outside with him dressed like this, Yoshino said, “You have got to be kidding me. I am not going out in public dressed this way.”

“You won’t be in public and besides, I don’t want you to get your dress dirty. Come on.” And taking her by her wrist again, they flew through the streets and bounded off into the direction of his clan’s lands.

He finally paused the two of them at the edge of a wooded area where it met a meadow. Flopping down on his back at the beginning of the grassy area he motioned for him to join her.

“What?” she asked, curious.

“Just sit. Lie back. Look at clouds, trees, whatever.”

“I can’t just sit.”

“Yes you can.”

“No, really, I cannot just sit still.” She laughed. “I just can’t. I have to be doing something.”

“Yes, you can,” he laughed back at her, pulling her down beside him, “for me.”

Yoshino sighed, and lay on her back, her head resting on his chest looking up at the clouds with him. She dozed off feeling his fingers ruffling in her hair, light breeze playing across the two of them in the late afternoon sunshine.

Sometime later she awoke to realize that the sun had almost set, shadows lengthened and it was near dusk. She realized that Shikaku must have been awake earlier and shifted to a sitting position with her head in his lap. She started to sit up but he put one hand on her shoulder holding her firmly down and a second finger to his lips instructing her to keep quiet.

Slowly and quietly she sat up and turned to face the same direction as he was, feeling his arm slip warm around her waist, pulling her to him. A soft whisper of a gasp escaped her lips as she saw the deer slipping from the shadows one by one to gaze in the sweet grass of the meadow. Shikaku kissed her on the cheek and murmured warmly in her ear, “See? There are some things you can only do if you’re still.”

Chapter 11: Caught Up In You

Shikaku rolled out of bed, thankfully the sun was up, not o-dark-thirty like every other morning this week. Tsunade, bless her, had said they should take a day off. He sat on the edge of his bed, trying to clear his head.

Had last night been some type of weird dream? He shook his head, cobwebs finally clearing. No, it had been real enough. But what had it really been about? Was Jiraiya seriously implying that the source of all this was one of the Hidden Villages? More than one? Was he actually even suggesting that…

Bullshit. It was all bullshit. Had to be. They were just stoned and talking big.

He thought back over the previous night’s conversation and kept coming back to the image of Inoichi’s face, wide-eyed as Jiraiya carried on. Something about that image angered him, made him mad that Inoichi might even consider doing something that stupid. Stupid puppy.

“Inoichi!” he barked as he slammed open his friend’s bedroom door. “Get your lazy ass out of bed!”

“Shit, man, lemme sleep,” Inoichi mumbled pulling a pillow over his head.

“Now, get your lazy bones moving,” Shikaku laughed, pulling the sheets off his friend, “You two have been gone a whole week and I’ve been cooped up in a lab and we need to train. C’mon, let’s go down to the training field and spar, taijutsu only.”

Inoichi grumbled, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. “What is with you, man?”

Chouza appeared at the door, “What’s going on?”

“Shikaku has lost his mind,” Inoichi yawned and jerked his thumb toward his friend. “It’s Saturday morning and he wants to go goof around, sparring and shit.”

“C’mon, you guys. I have been inside for an entire week…,” Shikaku started.

“With Tsunade.” Chouza added helpfully. Inoichi smirked, wiping the last of the sleep from his eyes.

“Unpacking and running cables and piddly shit. Stuck inside for a whole week…,” Shikaku ignored the interruption.

“With Tsunade’s tits.” Inoichi chimed in.

“And I just need to beat the crap out of something, preferably your sorry hide Inoichi,” Shikaku snapped, but by this time he was smiling, too.

Inoichi draped one arm over his black-haired friend’s shoulders. “Too much pent up energy, face it, Shikaku, bro, you need to get laid.”

“Agreed,” Chouza said, “However, I suppose you’ll have to settle for getting your butt kicked, Shikaku. C’mon, let’s get breakfast on the way.”

After breakfast the three friends made their way to their favorite training grounds. “Taijutsu only,” Shikaku said, facing Inoichi first.

Taijutsu only with Chouza was pretty much a lost cause – Chouza could whip him in fairly short order. But with Inoichi it was usually a more involved match – they were more evenly matched despite the blonde’s few centimeters on him. He could work up a good sweat with Inoichi and still stand a reasonable chance of beating him. And he did want to beat him. Something about that look in his eyes bothered Shikaku no end, Yamanaka should know better than to even think about wanting any shit like that.

They started with some basic kicks and blocks, Shikaku grinning because even though he’d said taijutsu only and he would never cheat on Inoichi, the taller boy just couldn’t get it through his head sometimes that Shikaku couldn’t turn his own shadow “off.” It threw him off, adjusting for a greater reach than what Shikaku really had. And the earlier in the morning or the later in the evenings they worked out together, the greater the effect.

The two of them were really getting into a good sweat by now, Shikaku able to land a couple of good solid punchs because Inoichi was blocking a fraction of an inch off, thrown off by his shadow.

Inoichi managed to get in a good kick on Shikaku that caused him to stagger back. “Hah! pencil-dick!” he shouted.

Shikaku caught his balance and kicked back feeling the resounding thud as he came into contact with Inoichi’s thigh. “Bishi-boy,” he chided. He came in close for another punch which Inoichi couldn’t block.

The last failed block caused Yamanak to lose his balance and fall on his ass. “Cheater,” he laughed looking up at Shikaku.

Shikaku smiled, “Liar, I never once used ninjutsu.” He held his hand out, leaning forward to help his friend up.

And promptly lost his own balance as he fell face forward into the image of Tsunade’s bosom generated by Inoichi’s genjutsu. He only managed to catch himself from falling on top of Inoichi by using his shadow to brace against the ground.

“Fucker! You’re a one-trick pony, Inoichi. Can’t you come up with anything other than Tsunade’s tits?”

Inoichi was on his back, laughing up at him, “Whazzat? Shikaku? Couldn’t hear you.”

Shikaku was bent forward, hands on his thighs, catching his breath. It had been a good workout overall. “Tsunade’s tits, it’s gettin’ a little old don’t you think? Can’t you come up with something else.” In the background he saw Chouza waving to him, he lifted one hand in reply.

Inoichi was curling up in laughter. “I still couldn’t hear you!”

Shikaku had caught his breath enough to yell “TSUNADE’S TITS! Getting a little old, don’t you think?”

Inoichi was apoplectic, tears of laughter streaming from his eyes. Chouza was waving frantically to him.

Shit.

Shikaku took a deep breath, hands still on his thighs. “Motherf-, she’s right behind me, isn’t she?”

Inoichi just nodded weakly.

Shikaku straightened slowly. He looked carefully over his shoulder. Shit.

The three legendary sannin stood on the embankment leading down to their training grounds. Jiraiya was leaning his forehead against Orochimaru’s shoulder, laughing hysterically. Tsunade stood with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot furiously. Even Orochimaru was smiling at him.

“Shikaku, could I have a word with you for a minute, please?” She called down to him.

“Uh…yeah…sure,” he dusted his hands against his pants leg and groaned. Before he started to walk up the embankment he hissed down at his friend, “Payback’s a bitch, Yamanaka.”

Reluctantly, he ascended the small hill. “Yes, Tsunade, what is it?”

“I just needed to let you know that I’m going to be gone for a bit – definitely tomorrow, maybe Monday, too.” She scowled over one shoulder looking back at the cackling Jiraiya and the smirking Orochimaru. “I have some information I need to follow up on with these two,” she said, jerking one thumb back and pointing at her teammates. “I’ll send for you when we get back.”

“Yeah, um, sure, okay,” he answered, not really able to think of anything else to say. With her gone, there was nothing he could do in the lab by himself. “Is there anything you want me to work on outside the lab?” he asked.

She shook her head, “Nothing right now, if something comes up I’ll get a message to you.”

He agreed and they bid each other goodbye. Before he left, Jiraiya called back, “Remember, Shikaku, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.” Then laughingly he added, “For your own good.”

Tsunade, between her two friends, whacked the back of Jiraiya’s head with one hand. Then just for good measure she whacked the back of Orochimaru’s, too. As they walked off into the distance Shikaku heard a faint round of name calling from all three sannin that sounded remarkably like him with his own teammates.

Shikaku, having caught his breath and collected his thoughts, launched himself back down the hill, determined to show Inoichi that payback was, indeed, a bitch.

Later that afternoon, after he’d showered and changed, Shikaku left his friends back at the apartment to pick up some lunch and run some errands, the most important of which was to buy Yoshino a birthday present.

He smiled to himself, yes, they actually had “a date” tonight. She’d teased him, asking if he was sure it was actually a date this time, since he’d made such a fuss about it in front if Inoichi and Chouza last time. And he’d teased her right back by shutting her up with a kiss, like the first time, which she didn’t seem to mind at all.

So, running a hand back through his hair again, he looked at the line of shops in one of the main shopping centers in Konoha. Where to start?

Clothes? Well, he had no idea where to begin there, not sizes or styles, nada. Books? Hah, Inoichi had a better chance picking out something she’d like. He had a sneaking suspicion that he could drop the two of them off in a bookstore together for hours and they’d spend the time poring over Gojiro merchandise like two little kids in a toy store. Jewelry? Maybe?

He stopped in front of a jewelry store, an assortment of items displayed in the glass front cases. He went in the store, completely unsure of himself, never having purchased jewelry before other than his own earring, and never for a girl, certainly not a girlfriend (there was that word again) but the clerk was more than happy to assist. A short while later he emerged with a long slender velvet box feeling very satisfied with himself and hoping that Yoshino would like the bejeweled hairpins he had chosen.

They were 6″ long of black bone with a lacquer finish that sparkled in the light. Each was topped with a blue lampwork bead and an ornate silver filigree bead cap with crystal separating the beaded top from the bone of the hairsticks themselves. Silver plated blue heishi beads dangled from the top of each one.

He really hoped she’d like them because he had no idea what else to get her. When the clerk had asked him to describe the girl he was shopping for, all he kept coming back to was her sleek, long black hair. Shikaku was a little bit nervous because he had no idea how these things worked, how could two plain sticks hold up a curtain of hair like hers anyway? But the clerk had reassurred him that they would work and Shikaku had completed his purchase and left.

Back at her house, Yoshino waffled for about 1 minute in indecision over what to wear. She took out her new outfit, the cloud dragon tunic, she’d bought to wear thinking of Shikaku and she was damned if she was going to think one more second’s thought about grabby-boy Tsuyoshi trying to paw her in it. She slipped it on, loving the feel of the silk as it slid cool against her skin.

She combed her hair and pinned it back neatly with two barrettes and surveyed her look in there mirror. Satisified, she began to search around for her shoes. With one in her hand she searched for the other one under her bed, stretching to reach it as she heard the doorbell ring. Startled she jumped up and slipped the shoes on, starting towards the doors.

Earrings! She didn’t have earrings yet! She dashed to her jewelry box, looking for simple silver studs to match her outfit. She could hear muffled conversation below as her mom and dad talked to Shikaku. She smirked, well, she’d told them her date was a jounin, she just hadn’t told them he was older than her, than any other boy she’d ever brought home. She wondered what they’d think of his beard.

Rushing to her bedroom door she had to make herself not go running down the stairs. Shikaku looked up and she smiled to see the way he was looking at her. She’d take that as approval of her outfit. After an awkward round of introductions, the two of them left for dinner.

The restaurant was quiet, dark and intimate. Little candles flickered on the tables, casting a golden glow around the diners. Yoshino loved the place, loved talking with Shikaku, loved how he had one elbow on the table, his chin in that hand leaning forward and talking to her, listening to her, loved everything about the night with him.

Shikaku was totally captivated as well, watching her eyes sparkle in the candlelight, hearing her laugh, seeing how the light caught on her hair and made it shine…

Her hair!

He’d forgotten to give her her present. Reaching into a pocket on his vest he drew out the velvet box and slid it toward her. “Here,” he said, “Happy Birthday.”

Yoshino beamed. “Thank you!” then opening the box she gasped in surprise. “Oh, Shikaku, they’re beautiful, thank you!” She held them up in the light, noting how the crystal caught and scattered the glow. “I’ll… if you’ll excuse me…I’ll… I’ll just go put them in, okay?”

He smiled and just nodded and watched her walk away. He was glad she liked them.

A few moments later she returned but the transformation was remarkable, something he had completely not expected. The little silver barrettes at the sides were gone, her hair no longer swaying to her waist. Instead it was swept up elegantly, knotted and held in place by the jeweled hairsticks, silver beads catching the light as she walked. A few stray tendrils twined down on either side of her face, framing it artfully.

Shikaku was wondering if simply being a kunoichi was its own brand of genjutsu. Which one was his date – the girl he’d brought in here or this elegant young woman? Or both? How’d she do that?

“So, um, how do they look?” she asked shyly, casting her gaze down, waiting for his answer.

The effect was striking. Shikaku thought he would do anything, say anything to have her simply look back up at him now. “You look beautiful,” he said hoarsely, reaching across the table to cover her hand with his own. He wanted to leave now, to take her with him now, to simply take her…

Where?

Back to his apartment with his party boy roommates? Sure, he’d brought girls back to the apartment before. Inoichi may have been more prolific but he and Chouza weren’t completely shut out in the girl department. Of course those girls tended to be more of the party girl variety.

Back to her house with her mom and dad?

WTF? What did you do with a young kunoichi?

It didn’t matter – he just wanted to leave now, to be alone with her now, anywhere, just a walk, just anywhere to be where he could hold her. Arm in arm they left the restaurant, strolling in the moonlight. They neared the walls of the village, casting flickering shadows as they passed streetlights. He stopped and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.

Yoshino circled her arms behind his neck, pulling herself up against him. Sliding his hands down over the cool silk, he slipped them up under her tunic, sliding up until he reached the warmth of her skin at her waist. Further still, one hand covered her breast, thumb circling the center. She moaned into his kiss, turning her head slightly and he kissed roughly, hungrily down her neck across her shoulder.

Daring to, she skimmed her own hands down his body, coming to rest at his waist, fingers tickling along the waistband of his pants. He held her by her hips then, pulling her against him. She could feel his hardness pressed against her, it both frightened and emboldened her to know what she could do, what she was doing to him.

“Yoshino,” he rumbled against her ear, “Yoshino, I…”

“Yoshino Sakamoto?” a masculine voice that he thought he faintly recognized jolted Shikaku. He and Yoshino disentangled themselves from each other to stare at the two ANBU who had appeared.

“Could you come with us, please? We have some questions for you.”

Yoshino looked at Shikaku, eyes wide having no idea what was going on. “I’ll um, I’ll see you later, okay?” she whispered to Shikaku.

“Yeah. Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he mumbled watching her as she walked off into the night with the two ANBU.

Fucking hell?

Chapter 10: Jiraiya Tells The Rest Of The Story

Shikaku surveyed the apartment – although certainly not clean by any stretch of the imagination, it was at least a helluva lot better than it had been the last few days. At least you could walk through the place without tripping now – he’d spent the last couple of hours trying to stuff shit back into its appropriate shelf or drawer.

He’d actually even done laundry this afternoon – rounding up everything of Inoichi’s and throwing it in a pile on the guy’s bed and doing the same for Chouza’s crap. Then he’d stuffed all his own clothes into a duffle bag and hauled them downstairs to the laundry room in the apartment building’s basement.

He had to give Tsunade credit – once things were up and running she kept to a much more manageable schedule. Today they’d collected some gas chromatograph information and set up some extractions to run over night. They’d actually gotten out of there at 4pm today – unbelievable. He’d swung by the mission room and checked – Chouza and Inoichi were inbound as of today. Yoshino was on a day mission – she wouldn’t be back until later in the evening.

Well, he hadn’t made plans with her until Saturday because he hadn’t known what his schedule would be like. So that left him the whole evening to hang out with his two teammates and catch up once they got home. Which wasn’t a bad thing. Not at all. Especially if they were able to bring a little something back.

He frowned. He wasn’t sure what the status of things were now. Chouza and Inoichi had certainly had their hands slapped last go around. Maybe they wouldn’t try to buy this trip. He frowned again – if their seller was even still doing business.

The door to the apartment opened and true to his nature Inoichi bounded in yelling “Hand check!” and wrestled him to the floor. Freakin’ golden retriever puppy. A slightly (only slightly) more subdued Chouza was right behind him, heading for the fridge and looking for a beer.

Inoichi seemed disappointed that Shikaku didn’t have his “little girl friend” up here with him, as he referred to her, emphasizing the words in a way that implied something that was not the case. Shikaku just rolled his eyes. He also scowled when he saw where the two had dropped their bags and made a mental note to tell them to pick it up later and put their shit in their own rooms.

The three friends messed around in the kitchen and finally pulled together a meal, grilling outside since the weather was warm.

After dinner, as the twilight lengthened they sat around inside, shooting the breeze and catching up on the last week’s events. Shikaku gathered that since neither of them had lit up yet, they hadn’t resupplied on their latest mission. But the beer was cold and the evening was warm and the three of them were planning what to do for the rest of the night other than just sitting around shooting the breeze.

The question of what to do with the rest of their evening was answered when they heard a *poof* and a hearty greeting, “Good evening boys, how’s it going?”

“The hell-?” Inoichi jumped out of his seat, the sound had come from just behind him. Shikaku just stared open-mouthed unable to believe what he was seeing.

Jiraiya-sama and Orochimaru-sama stood in his living room.

“Jiraiya, you could just use a door like a normal person,” Orochimaru said in a bored tone.

“Fuck me…,” Shikaku spluttered.

“Hadn’t planned on it, kid,” Jiraiya quipped, “Say, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Shikaku stood speechless. Finally he found his voice and motioned weakly around the room, “Um, guys, this is Jiraiya-sama and Orochimaru-sama. Um, sirs, these are my roommates, Chouza Akamichi and Inoichi Yamanaka.” There, was that proper enough because his head was spinning and he sure as hell couldn’t remember what protocol called for in this situation.

He thought about muttering some inane pleasantries like ‘please have a seat’ or ‘can I get you something to drink’ but that problem was solved when Jiraiya plopped down into a chair, drew out his pipe and said, “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em boys.”

The quietness that descended over the room was profound. Even if they did have any weed on them, they sure as hell weren’t going to light up with the sannin present.

“My, my, Jiraiya, it appears you were right again. ANBU is raining on everyone’s parade. I wonder why?” The voice was soft but it sent chills down Shikaku’s spine. He shuddered.

Jiraiya packed his pipe away and drew out something else. “Guess I’ll have to chase the clouds away, huh, Orochimaru?” He opened the pouch he’d taken from his pocket and rolled a joint. After lighting it and taking a deep draw off it he held it out to Shikaku.

“Shit…,” Shikaku muttered, “Would you mind telling me why you’re here in my living room lighting up with me and my friends?”

“It’s a strategy session,” Jiraiya responded, laughing, “and I need you in a strategic state of mind. Besides, great ice-breaker don’t you think?”

“Honestly…,” Orochimaru snapped, snatching the joint out of Jiraiya’s hand as Shikaku hesitated. “you’d think it was going to bite you.”

Jiraiya looked up at his teammate in glee. “Orochimaru – I didn’t know you were smoking tonight.”

“Only because I’ll need to be as strategic as they are in order to get through your explanation again,” he muttered, drawing deeply then passing the joint to Shikaku.

Warily accepting it, closing his eyes and taking his first hit off of it, Shikaku was overcome with the sense of surrealism. He must be dreaming. That was it, sleep deprivation over the last few days. He exhaled, opened his eyes and looked around the room, handing the joint to Inoichi. No. They were all still there. Two of the sannin. In his living room. Getting high. With him.

Jiraiya waited until the joint had been passed back to him. “So, tell us what you’re working on Shikaku.”

Shikaku shifted uneasily on the couch. “You, um, you know I can’t do that.”

“Good boy,” Jiraiya smiled, “So, how about if I tell them, and you can fill in any gaps if I leave anything out?”

Shikaku hesitated, technically the project hadn’t gone black until the day the door with the funky double-keyed lock was activated. And technically nobody had told him that it was classified before that day. So technically if Jiraiya already knew all that stuff the night he and Orochimaru had dropped the samples off then what they knew wasn’t black and could be told, right?

Shikaku nodded and Jiraiya promptly filled in the background for Chouza and Inoichi. Shikaku didn’t have a problem with the lab description or anything that first night. But when he started to go into the pill’s effects which Shikaku had learned the second day, he shifted uncomfortably and started to say something. This seemed to be hovering dangerously close to the “classified” part.

“Think I shouldn’t go any further, Shikaku?” Jiraiya asked softly.

Shikaku cleared his throat. “Well, um, I think you are getting into what I was told was the classified portion of the project.”

Jiriaya’s eyes twinkled. “Well, nobody told me it was classified, and since I’ve gotten my information independently, I’ll just keep going, okay?” And even though the inflection made it sound like a question, Shikaku knew that it was an order.

And Jiraiya filled Chouza and Inoichi in on the effects and side effects of the drug. Chouza had about the same level of concern that Shikaku recalled feeling when he first heard about it. But Inoichi sat very still, the word still on his lips, Tsukyomi.

“What is it, Inoichi?” Shikaku remembered that that was the thing he was going to ask Inoichi when he got back. He waited for his friend’s reply.

“It’s a … an alternate dimension, generated, you can … twist space and time, to the wielder’s wishes. But that’s only something Sharingan users can do.”

Jiraiya just smiled. “Until now, that was true. But with this handy little pill, a high-level genjutsu user, a true adept, would be able to invoke Tsukyomi, too. There’s just one tiny little hitch…”

Shikaku spoke up quickly, interrupting Jiraiya, not liking the look on Inoichi’s face, “Addiction. Complete dependence. True. Phsyiological. You have to keep taking it or you die.”

“But who would do such a thing? Why create it?” Chouza asked.

“Why indeed? Ask Inoichi. Would there be a market for it?” Jiraiya replied.

Inoichi shook his head, “Fuck, yeah, if it works as advertised.”

Shikaku sat on the couch, something still not making sense no matter how ’strategic’ he was at the moment. So what? So why the fuck was Jiraiya here, telling Chouza and Inoichi exactly the same thing Tsunade had told him in the lab yesterday?

Maybe it was the grass or maybe he was just a little bit pissed off to be put in this absurd situation, but regardless, he said so. Out loud.

“So, fuckit, man, you’re just, you’re just saying the exact same shit Tsunade said yesterday. Just to my roommates okay, no big, but fuck, what’s the big deal?”

Orochimaru, now sitting beside Jiraiya, cocked an eyebrow and gave him a faint smile. He turned to look at his own teammate. “I think he wants to know what you’re going to add to Tsunade’s version of events, Jiraiya. I think he’s demanding it.”

“This drug didn’t just show up, overnight, okay?” The boys nodded in unison, eyes wide. “It’s been designed. Targeted to work a certain way. Targeted to provide a specific benefit at an outrageous cost. It took a lot of effort and a lot of resources and a lot of money to go into producing something like this.”

Shikaku thought of Tsunade’s lab and nodded vigorously in agreement, no doubt about that.

“So, who has those types of resources?”

Shikaku’s head wasn’t working all that well, being a tad bit “strategic” by now, plus a little bit high. He could come up with the names of a couple of industrial candidates, maybe one of the larger drug cartels. He threw those names out.

Jiraiya smiled, good try he told him, but still, think outside the box.

Shikaku racked his brain – it must be right in front of him, Jiraiya was smirking at him like he should have come up with it by now. He reached to take the joint from Inoichi again and took another hit. He almost laughed, shit, if the other guesses were wrong, then the only other thing he could think of with enough resources able to pull off something like this would be a government. Laughingly he said so as he passed the cigarette back to Chouza.

“Bingo.” Jiraiya said simply.

Shikaku laughed. Seriously – it was absurd. He said so.

“Absurd, really?” Jiraiya asked. “Who else has the resources?”

“But…why?”

“You can be sure that when defense becomes an industry, the underlying motive becomes profit. I can tell you right now, in every council hall of the five great nations, wherever there’s a hidden village their greatest concern is ‘Oh my God, peace might break out.’”

Shikaku started to protest but Jiraiya held up his hand to silence them. “Governments have the resources to pull it off. They have intelligence gathering organizations, like ANBU,” he nodded his chin toward Chouza and Inoichi, “to learn the trafficking network between villages and nations, and they have enforcement, the police force to handle information and distribution internally to a nation, a village.”

“Control something like this and you have an enormous amount of power. You can introduce it to an area and then withdraw it, leaving victims to their own painful death by withdrawal or else blackmail them for a regular supply. You can sow fear between opposing nations that one side’s genjutsu users have powered up and they need to get in the game to compete. Produce and control something like this and you have sway over our entire way of life.”

“But Tsunade…” Shikaku started.

“Tsunade doesn’t want to face the facts that it is very likely shinobi behind this. Shinobi stand to benefit the most from maintaining the status quo. This drug and others like it make that possible. Tsunade doesn’t want to admit that …”

“Tsunade doesn’t want to admit that a fish rots from the head down!” Orochimaru snapped. “And I wonder if you do?”

Jiraiya looked away. Orochimaru was glaring at his friend’s back, almost daring him, begging him to turn around and face him. Shikaku was quite sure that this ranked right up there with the look Jiraiya gave Tsunade the other day as one of the saddest things he’d ever seen.

“So what do you need me, us, to do?” Shikaku asked.

It took Jiraiya a moment to respond. “Just do what you normally do. Go to work at the lab. Go on missions. Bring back ’souvenirs’. Just let me know if there’s anything you see unusual from your routine. That’s all I ask. For now.”

Chapter 9: Hold Me Now

Shikaku looked at the clock, 1am again, shit! This was becoming surreal. He didn’t know why Tsunade didn’t just order up a cot and keep him there around the clock. He grinned, now that would give them something to talk about, wouldn’t it? Inoichi, Chouza, heh, Jiraiya, yeah, let ‘em talk.

Tsunade was waiting impatiently at the door yet again, tapping her foot, hurrying him up. Just like a woman, he thought, keep you there forever, then when it’s time to go it’s time to go and why the hell aren’t you ready yet?

He searched around for his house keys, where the hell had he left them? Briefly, Shikaku thought about waving her on, he’d find the damn house keys and lock up later. Then he caught himself. Stupid Nara.

Starting today, it took two keys to open the lab door, two keys to lock it. Tsunade had one, he had the other. There had to be two people in the lab at all times. Of course, the stated reason for this was that it reduced the chances of someone stealing a key and entering – they’d have to steal two keys from two separate shinobi. The unstated, and therefore real reason, though was that there always had to be two of you in the lab – keeping an eye on each other.

He found the keys and walked out with Tsunade to lock up. They bid each other good night, agreed to meet at 7(again!) in the morning and then went their separate ways. The cool night air was refreshing, it woke him up, even if just for a bit.

He thought he’d do something he’d been meaning to do for a couple of days now, since Monday, and that was to check out the duty roster and find out where Yoshino was, and Inoichi and Chouza too, while he was at it. He sauntered on over to the mission assignment room, there was always somebody there who could look it up for him.

Once in the room, he scanned the list, looking for Yoshino Sakamoto and found her name and that she was listed out on escort duty to Wave for a couple more days. And as another interesting note, he saw that yesterday was her birthday. Well, actually, day-before-yesterday since it was now past freaking midnight. But still, he thought, it would give him one more reason to ask her out again when she got back.

He saw that Inoichi and Chouza were out until tomorrow (today, tonight, whatever, dammit he was tired!) They’d had to courier some scrolls to Amagakure. Must be fairly important documents if they were using two jounin just for courier duty. It nagged at him that they’d been sent back to Rain. Probably just coincidence, he was just tired, dreaming stuff up.

He yawned and stretched and poured himself half a cup of the noxious brew in the coffee pot that had undoubtedly been sitting there for several hours. After one sip he winced and poured the rest down the drain. Hell, he didn’t care if he fell asleep walking home, no way was he drinking that. It wasn’t worth lying awake jazzed up if you were jazzed on motor fuel. Bleah.

Just then he turned around and saw… Yoshino. A very disheveled Yoshino with red-rimmed eyes. There was some tall dark-haired guy with her and they were being accompanied by a mission debriefing specialist. This did not look good. Something must have gone wrong.

He hurried over to her and spoke, “Hey, Yoshino, you back early?”

She turned toward him, “Oh, Shikaku, we…we…we had a casualty, a death on the team. On team leader…” her voice trailed off.

“Who?” he asked. Damn. This was never good news. But what could have happened? They were just shepherding a bunch of construction people. He hadn’t heard of anything of concern going on in the area.

“It was… Asako, Asako Miterashi did you know her?”

He shook his head. The name was somewhat familiar but he really didn’t know her. “What happened?’ he asked.

“She was…she was sick…night before last. I was on guard duty that night. She wasn’t feeling well when I left to stand my post. In the morning we found her, in the tent, she was…she must have died in her sleep.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry. Were you two close?”

Yoshino shook her head. “Not really – I’d gone on a couple of missions with her before, but no, not really, it’s just that it’s so, sudden, you know?”

Shikaku nodded “So, they pulled you out?”

“Yes, they sent a new team when…”

He just nodded again. She didn’t need to finish that sentence, he knew she meant they’d sent a new team when they’d come to get the body. Typical if they weren’t in the middle of a war and could spare the shinobi. They would review all they could with the remaining team members. But, shit, what a way to go, not even in a battle or anything, just …ill.

“So, are you finished with the debriefing? Do you want to get coffee or something? Go somewhere and talk?”

She smiled up at him. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

It was 1:30 in the morning and he was going to have to be back at it at 7am with Tsunade. But for now it didn’t matter. Idly he thought that maybe he could get through tomorrow with soldier pills, but then hastily dismissed that idea in light of his earlier discussion with Tsunade and Jiraiya. So, maybe he’d go through a couple of pots of coffee tomorrow, drink up all of Tsunade’s tea. Yoshino was back and even if it was the middle of the night, he was going to get to spend some time with her.

They walked over to an all-night cafe and slipped into a booth there. Yoshino asked him how his last few days had been and he filled her in on what little he could about the job, what he was allowed to tell. The awkwardness of it began to sink in to him – it hadn’t really mattered so much with her and Chouza and Inoichi all out of town the last few days, but how did you go about this business of being on a classified mission and not being able to talk about it with your friends, your teammates, your …girlfriend?

Well, that was an interesting word – how had it slipped in there?

But back to his predicament – he had been on classified/clandestine missions before – plenty of them – but always with Chouza and Inoichi. And they were always away from Konoha. It was …weird …to be working on something right here and not be able to tell anybody about it.

“And you’re working on this …project…with Tsunade?” she asked, her eyes flicking over as if she was looking at something just past his shoulder then they flicked back up to meet his. “Anybody else?”

He had one elbow on the table, his head propped up on that wrist. Poor kid, he thought, she looked as sleepy as he felt. “Yeah, with Tsunade” he mumbled, yawning and trying to keep awake. “Nobody else.”

“Well, look, Shikaku, I know you’re tired. Thank you for the coffee, I really should be getting on home now.” She started to get up from the booth.

What the hell? What had happened here? Why was she leaving so abruptly? And her eyes had done that same funny thing as Tsunade’s earlier today with Jiraiya – all soft to steel in nothing flat.

Tsunade. Shit – had he actually just said ‘Tsunade and nobody else’ to her? And why did she keep looking at his shoulder…

“Son-of-a-bitch!’ he started jerking back in the booth as if he’d been stung.

“I do beg your pardon!” Yoshino snapped in a voice that he was sure must be a variant of some Water Style Ice Jutsu and if it wasn’t it sure as hell ought to be.

“It’s Inoichi’s shirt!” he yelled brushing furiously at the blond hair still at his shoulder. “It’s like living with a damned golden retriever puppy, shedding and hair and shit all over the house!” Fuck this shirt business. From now on he was just going to wear one of those damned fishnet undershirts and his jounin vest – if you spill something on that freakin’ fishnet then no stains. No stains, no fucking laundry.

He threw up his hands in exasperation, then let them come to rest, open and facing up on the table. He dared to look up at her eyes, he seemed safe for now, they were twinkling almost with mirth, almost as if she were going to laugh. “Look, you’re right, it’s late, I’ll walk you home.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said softly.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I know that. Believe me. I know that. But what I’m saying is…I’d like to walk you home Yoshino Sakamoto.”

“I’d like that, Shikaku Nara,” she answered. Then hand in hand they left the cafe.

Halfway to her house he paused and pulled her to him, bending down to meet her lips as she turned her face up to him. “I missed you,” he whispered to her.

“I missed you, too,” she mumbled back, feeling him wrap his arms around her and holding her close. She melted against him and all the tension and worries of the last few days evaporated into the night air.

Chapter 8: Tsunade Explains It All

Shikaku woke up and looked at the clock. Shit! Late. Best not to keep Tsunade waiting. He scrounged around in a drawer for a clean shirt and realized they were all worn and strewn around the room, some more worse for the wear than others.

Shit. They were seriously going to have to do some laundry soon. Well, Inoichi and Chouza weren’t back yet. He’d pilfer what he could. Wandering into Inoichi’s room, he yanked a (hopefully) clean black t-shirt out of the drawer. No time for breakfast, he sprinted on over to the lab.

Now he was sitting on the same stool he’d tumbled off of last night when Jiraiya and Orochimaru showed up and Tsunade was explaining the significance of the pills the two of them had brought her last night. And Shikaku was leaning with one elbow propped up on the acid-resistant countertop, his chin resting on his hand and his eyes drooping.

“Shikaku! Are you listening to me?” Tsunade’s voice was sharp. He sat up straight, stifling a yawn.

“Yes, umm… so they’re like soldier pills?” he asked hopefully, seeming to recall that she’d said something about that a little bit ago.

She stood with her hands on her hips like she had last night only this time she was facing him, glaring at him. She took a deep breath in exasperation and he really should have appreciated the gesture more but he was just too tired.

“No! They are not like soldier pills! There’s a world of difference…I…did you have any breakfast?” Her voice softened just a little bit then, seeing how he was looking at her with his eyes wide open almost as if he was afraid that if he blinked he’d fall asleep.

Shikaku wave his hand, “S’all right, I’ll get something later.”

“No, you’ll get something now. Come on, you need to eat.” And with a firm grasp on his elbow that brooked no negotiation, she got him up off the stool and steered him out the door.

A little bit later, they were finishing up the last bites of breakfast and tea at a shop in the village. Shikaku had to admit that the caffeine had done wonders. He wondered if there was a coffee-maker in the few remaining boxes of equipment yet to be unpacked. If not, he might need to pick one up and bring it in. Especially if she was going to be having him keep the same schedule they’d been running at so far.

They were just about to leave when Jiraiya showed up. “Kid, you lucky devil, you must have done something right if you’ve got her buying you breakfast,” he joked good-naturedly as he slid into the booth next to Shikaku, effectively trapping him.

Tsunade held her tea cup to her lips with both hands, peering at Jiraiya over the top of it like a hawk. The ragged fingernail was glaring to Shikaku, reminding him that this was serious and that he really should try to keep it together.

“What are you doing here, baka!” she snapped.

“Ah, Hime-sensei, I didn’t want to miss your lesson this morning. I showed up at the lab but you weren’t there. Imagine my surprise to find you two breakfasting together.” Jiraiya spoke softly now, toning down the bombastic comments Shikaku had heard from him so far. The white-haired sannin reached up and gently took Tsunade’s right hand, the one with the torn nail and coaxed it down from the cup. He held her hand in his, stroking the back with his thumb.

Then with a playful, upturned smirk Jiraiya had added, “Guess I should have known after last night, sensei.”

Almost, Shikaku noted, it had almost worked. He’d seen her eyes go so soft when Jiraiya took her hand. Then the big goof had to go and throw that zinger at her, at his expense, too, he might add. And bam! Her eyes had gone from soft to steel in nothing flat. She’d jerked her hand away so fast she’d nearly spilled her tea. But why had he done it on purpose?

“Bastard!” she hissed under her breath. A couple of the patrons in the booth next to them still turned their heads in their direction. “You know there’s nobody but Dan.”

“Oh, really Hime?” He smiled and brushed one hand against Shikaku’s shoulder where a wayward strand of long blond hair lay.

“Wait… No… Shit… Hey, this is Inoichi’s shirt!” Shikaku spluttered. “I was just borrowing it! I haven’t had time to do laundry!”

Jiraiya clapped his shoulder in a friendly fashion. “No need to explain to me, kid.” Tsunade just rolled her eyes and muttered something into her tea cup.

“Okay, Jiraiya, you’ve had your fun, now seriously what brings you here this morning.”

“Seriously, Tsunade, I came to hear your explanation to your…assistant.”

“But you already know…”

“I know,” he replied, leaning back against the booth. “I just want to hear what you tell him.” His gaze with hers was level, steady when he added, “and what you don’t.”

Tsunade sighed. “Fine. Come on, let’s get going.”

The three of them made it back to the lab. Shikaku felt he would never understand what was going on between the two sannin. One minute they were cutting up with each other, calling each other names like last night when they were behaving like him and his two teammates. Then this morning there seemed to be all sorts of unresolved sexual tension between the two of them (completely UNLIKE anything between him, Inoichi and Chouza he added hastily to himself.)

Back in the lab, Tsunade got down to business. Now that he had some caffeine in his system and his blood sugar wasn’t plummetting, Shikaku was able to pay attention to what she was saying.

The pills were like soldier pills only in that they provided a boost of sorts, but not to chakra in general. They were targeted to enhance specifically the chakra and those brain centers most closely involved in genjutsu. The pills appeared to be able to provide basic genjutsu performance levels to those shinobi who previously had exhibited no predispostion for genjutsu at all. For those who were already genjutsu adept they could provide an incredible amount of power.

Tsunade paused in her explanation at that point and looked at Jiraiya almost as if she were expecting him to contradict her. “Jiraiya? Did you have anything to add?”

He shrugged, “I told you, I just came to listen.”

Tsunade looked uncomfortable but continued on. “Yes, well, for experienced genjutus users, the power boost appears to be off the charts, surreal, almost…” she floundered and looked again at Jiraiya.

“Poor man’s Tsukyomi,” Jiraiya added softly.

Shikaku straightened up, watching Tsunade’s reaction. She looked down at the floor, unable to meet Jiraiya’s eyes. When she finally did look up at them again, her eyes were haunted, scared. Of what? Shit. Tsukyomi. He’d heard of that but for the life of him couldn’t remember what the fuck it was. He’d have to ask Inoichi whenever the blonde finally hauled his ass back into Konoha.

Then a chill ran down his back as he remembered Inoichi and his ANBU spook. And just where had Tsunade and Jiraiya gotten their information about what these pills were capable of?

“So that’s the gist of it then – a soldier pill type of boost for genjutsu users?” he ventured to ask.

“Well, there is one other difference…,” Jiraiya offered.

“They’re addictive.” Tsunade said flatly. “Soldier pills aren’t. People might develop a bad habit of using soldier pills, but all in all the downside after the rush wears off and the chakra depletion sets in a day or two later is usually enough to even prevent that from happening. I’ve seen a couple of cases of soldier pill habit, but for the vast majority of shinobi they only use them when they really need them and only for their intended purpose.” She shook her head and poked at one of the little pills. “These things are addictive – physiological dependence. And once you start it appears that you have to keep it up or…you die.”

“Where do they come from?” Shikaku asked.

“That’s what we’re here for – to find out who’s producing them. And possibly come up with a way to interfere with the physiological characteristics while…” her voice trailed off, “still preserving the genjutsu-psycho-pharmacological attributes.” Her voice had trailed off and her gaze had trailed away to the side of the room opposite Jiraiya.

The white-haired man sat very still, studying his teammate quietly for a few minutes. He cleared his throat and asked, “Are you, um, are you done, Hime?”

“Yes,” she answered very softly.

“Okay, well, then, I guess that wraps up the lesson for today, sensei,” Jiraiya said, rising to his feet, the good-natured tone in his voice sounding false and hollow to Shikaku’s ears this time. “See you ’round kid.”

Jiraiya had made his way to the door when Tsunade’s soft voice stopped him, “Jiraiya, I’ll…I’ll see you later, okay?”

Shikaku sat very still observing the two, Tsunade never looked up from the floor and Jiraiya never turned from the door, his back to her, his hand on the doorknob.

“Yeah, sure, Hime, you know where you can find me,” he said without once turning around.

Shikaku had no idea why, but it seemed like he had just witnessed the saddest thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.

Chapter 7: Missing You

One bad thing about her current assignment, Yoshino discovered, was the downtime. Oh, if you had to be off duty, then the islands were certainly a great place to be, unfortunately, you didn’t get paid for it.

That wasn’t precisely correct, she’d discovered. They did get a per diem allowance since they were out of town due to the mission. But the mission itself involved escort duty. Once the tradespeople were actually at their destination, the shinobi weren’t actually escorting – so no duty – no duty pay. As soon as the clients were satisfied they had a good working environment they would probably arrange a routine transfer service between the two villages so that the shinobi escorting the in-bound crews could turn right back around and take the departing crews back to Konoha, maybe on a two week cycle. The goal would be a couple of teams of tradespeople, a couple of teams of shinobi escorts bi-weekly.

But for now, she, Asako and Tsuyoshi were stuck here for three more days while the crew settled in and verified that their working conditions were acceptable.

Boring.

Asako had negotiated a little bit extra for them by offering their services as sentries for the tools and supplies they’d brought with them from Konoha. The crew chief agreed it was a good idea, not because crime was particularly bad there, but just because there was so much activity going on it would be hard for them to keep an eye on their own things. Since the village was already full to bursting with tourists and construction people, they’d established a small camp at the edge of town and one shinobi was always on duty there so that the villagers would feel comfortable leaving the belongings they had brought with them.

This afternoon, guard duty had fallen to Tsuyoshi. That left Yoshino with the whole day free. She was wondering how to use it and considering she didn’t have much money to spend she was leaning towards just relaxing on the beach for the day. Yoshino rummaged around in her rucksack and found her swimsuit. Preparing to change in the tent she shared with Asako she was interrupted by her roommate’s return.

“Oi, Yoshino, how do you want to spend your birthday?”

Yoshino brightened, “How did you know?” She’d been deliberately trying to not think about it. It’s not like she was a little kid anymore, needing a cake or anything like that. Still it was nice that someone remembered.

Asako just shrugged and winked at her. “I’m a good team leader – try to stay up on all my team member’s stats. So, what do you want to do? Beach? Shopping? Or since the pay for this sucks and everything in this town is at tourist trap prices, maybe just window shopping.”

Grinning, Yoshino agreed that window shopping would be the best. She put her swimsuit back and the two women headed into town after letting Tsuyoshi know where they would be.

They’d wandered aimlessly through the shops that lined the streets, starting with those nearest the ocean and working their way back into the heart of the town. Yoshino noticed that all the children’s shops were catching Asako’s eye. She remembered that Asako had a daughter but was ashamed that she couldn’t recall how old she would be by now. In light of Asako even remembering her birthday, this made Yoshino feel pretty low for not having more information herself about the people she was traveling with.

“So, um, Asako, how old is your daughter now?” Yoshino asked.

“Anko? She’s four now, hard to believe she’ll be starting school this fall.” It was Asako’s turn to brighten and babble happily about Anko’s antics. She may have sounded happy, but Yoshino could tell she must miss her, being away like this. She questioned her about it.

Asako shrugged. “You do what you have to do. “

Yoshino hesitated, full of questions, but unsure quite how to go about asking them. “Yes, but…”

“Not because I have to have to in order support us. I mean, in a way, I guess that is true because it’s my job but I could probably get another job. But, it’s hard to explain. It’s different for everybody I guess. I have to because I’m a shinobi, because just about everyone in my family as far back as I can remember were shinobi. Not all of them, mind you, but the majority. And, it’s who I am, it’s what I have to do to be me.”

“Don’t you miss her?” Yoshino asked, remembering her mom home every day when she came home from school.

For just an instant she saw a flicker of anger in Asako’s eyes but it quickly passed. “Of course I miss her. I miss her every day I’m away from her. I would venture to guess that your mom misses you, too, when you’re gone. Like today, on your birthday?” As soon as she said it she saw the flicker of pain in Yoshino’s eyes and Asako regretted how catty it had come out.

“Look, Yoshino, I’m sorry about that. But yes, I do miss Anko, but would she be better off if I were at home but not me? Do you see what I’m saying?”

Yoshino nodded. “I’m sorry too, that didn’t come out right. I guess what I should have said is how do you manage?”

Asako laughed. “Be sure to marry a man with a large family and young parents. You’ll have plenty of aunts and uncles to share the load, your kid will be a lot happier with a passel of cousins to spar around with and your highest priority mission in life once the baby gets here will be transporting it to and from the grandparent’s house.”

Camaraderie restored, they went into a children’s boutique and picked out a pink frog coin purse for Anko.

The next store caught Yoshino’s attention. It was a ladies clothing store with stunning displays in the window. Asako caught the look in Yoshino’s eye.

“Come on, we’re goin’ in,” she grinned, grabbing Yoshino by the elbow.

Yoshino resisted. “No, honestly Asako, I couldn’t afford anything in there, I’m sure.”

“Window shopping, remember? We don’t have to buy anything but we can sure as hell have fun trying on, right?”

Yoshino relented. Inside was a bewildering display. Yoshino wandered among exquisite kimonos, elaborate haori, obi, hakima all in the richest silks and most elaborate patterns she’d ever seen.

Asako was teasing her, holding up one gaudy outfit after another. Yoshino just shook her head at each one, trying hard not to giggle at Asako’s outrageous suggestions.

But then, Asako held up one that took Yoshino’s breath away. Completely un-gaudy, it was actually rather plain until you looked closely at it. Rich, deep blue, it was a sleeveless tunic with a high collar, silvery-white piping around the edges, hem and sleeve. A dragon was embroidered on it, a single silver thread tracing the outline of the creature among clouds. It was very understated, but Yoshino thought it was very elegant. Holding it in her hand she felt the silk spill like water through her fingers.

“I think this is the one,” Asako laughed, seeing how Yoshino was mesmerized by it. “Why don’t you go try it on?”

The saleslady was happy to assist them finding an appropriate black hakima to go with it, same rich liquid feeling silk. Of course, once she had it on, Yoshino knew she just had to have it, even it meant returning from the entire mission with a netzero gain to her bank balance. Looking at herself in the mirror she couldn’t help wondering if Shikaku would like how she looked in it. She lifted the hem of the tunic, feeling the cool silk between her fingers and wondering, too, if he’d like how she felt in it. Giddy, she would never admit to anyone but herself that the embroidered clouds reminded her of the night they’d kissed before she left.

After she’d paid for her purchase, they realized they’d been gone for several hours and it was time to return so that one of them could relieve Tsuyoshi.

When they returned, they found Tsuyoshi leaning up against a tree with that sullen, disinterested look that seemed to be characteristic of Uchiha. He was good looking enough, but the problem was, everything about his demeanor said that he knew it and you should too.

He spoke more words than she’d heard him utter the entire trip. “Hey, Yoshino, I hear it’s your birthday. If Asako will take watch tonight, I’ll take you to dinner.”

Yoshino stood there, not quite knowing what to say. He wasn’t asking her to dinner. As a matter of fact, the way he’d phrased it all he’d ask was for Asako to stand guard, and that not very politely. The presumption being that she’d go, that she’d want to go.

“Oh, go on,” Asako poked her shoulder. “I don’t mind standing watch tonight. You two go on.”

“Yes, um, okay, um, thank you, Tsuyoshi,” Yoshino stammered, not really looking forward to this at all but not seeing a way out of it.

“Wear something nice, ” he said in an offhand, dismissive kind of way, “I know a great restaurant.”

Yoshino was still holding her parcel as she slipped into the tent. It was a ridiculous thought, she knew, but the outfit was special to her. She didn’t have anything else on the trip to wear though. But still, she’d kind of bought it with Shikaku in mind, wanting him to see her in it. The fact of the matter was, though, that they’d only had one date. What if they never even went out again? One date. That’s all it was. She sighed. Today was her birthday after all. She might was well wear it today.

Dinner turned out to be every bit as bad as Yoshino feared. Not that the restaurant wasn’t great, it was. But other than ordering, Tsuyoshi had hardly spoken more than ten words. The walk back was even worse, he kept brushing up against her shoulder, crowding her. She kept inching away, but he inched with her. Yoshino rolled her eyes in the darkness. They were back at the camp he didn’t honestly think she was…

Then two ham-fisted hands were on her upper arms, pulling her close to him, mouth covering hers, tongue rammed down her throat and…

Yoshino stamped hard on his instep and jumped away as he yowled. “Bitch! What was that for?”

“What was that for you jerk!?” she hissed back.

Asako came around the corner. Yoshino looked at her in concern, even in the moonlight she looked, ashen, shaken.

“Keep it down, you two. The clients are asleep.” Her voice quavered. “Look, Yoshino, you’re going to have to relieve me, now. I must be coming down with something. And what ever just now happened – it’s over. You two got that?”

Tsuyoshi offered a muttered ‘hai’ and sulked off to his tent.

Yoshino ducked into their tent and quickly changed. Asako seemed to be trembling even more just in the few minutes it had taken her to change. “Asako, are you okay? Do you want me to get a doctor?” Yoshino asked with concern in her voice.

Asako brushed her away. “Nah, just coming down with something that’s all. Get me a couple of aspirins out of the med-kit would you?” Yoshino quickly hurried to comply. As she handed them to her, Asako said, “You go ahead and take point until sunrise, I’ll see you in the morning. And be sure and put on some insect repellent. The mosquitos are murder tonight.”

Yoshino obeyed her team captain’s orders and took her post. As she sat beneath the moonlit sky, watching the constellations wheel overhead she thought of that evening with Shikaku that seemed like forever ago, even though it was only three days. She sighed, wondering if Shikaku was thinking about her at all. Did he miss her the way she was missing him right now? Morosely she realized that the answer to that question was ‘probably not.’ After all, he was working with Tsunade.

• Naruto Shippuuden 129/130

GermanNaruto – Team

“No hay nadie que no sepa de mi nombre, soy el gran Jiraiya Sama…

Pero esta misión va a ser difícil hasta para mí”

Chapter 6: So Far Away From Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and stand to make no profit from posting this story.

Shikaku yawned and stretched. It was getting to be late in the evening, he wondered when Tsunade would be ready to call it a night.

Looking around the lab he did take a measure of pride in the work they had done getting the lab ready and the equipment set up over the last three days. Well, after he’d cleaned up the broken glass. He was proud of his work since then.

Most of it had been pretty standard stuff, not much different than you’d see in one of the chemistry labs back at the Academy, tubes, flasks, gas spectrometers.

The building also had a reverse pressurized room with two separate levels of keyed entry required for access. Now that had been interesting. He’d never worked in one of those before and the little “push” of the air as you entered the room, plus the slight popping in your ear made you pay attention to the fact that there was some scary shit that was going to be going on here. There wouldn’t be a room like this if there wasn’t a reason for it. And the reason was to keep things ‘in’ that had better not get ‘out’.

The work had been slow going because it had only been the two of them working on it. He thought about asking Tsunade about that but then decided against it. There was only one obvious answer – the fewer people in here, the better.

The days had been long but the work interesting. And the pay was ridiculously good, too – A-rank and he really couldn’t see a reason for it. The building was complete, but empty, they were essentially a two-shinobi moving-installing-cabling-testing-debugging-stocking-system-checking crew. Of course the answer to the pay scale question was obvious, too – keep your mouth shut Shikaku.

That was easy enough – he didn’t know jack shit anyway, only that Tsunade looked like a kid in a candy shop. Except every once in a while when she thought he wasn’t looking he’d catch her with her thumbnail at her lips. He realized then that for the first time in his life she had nine perfectly lacquered nails and one ragged thumbnail.

Extremely scary shit was going to be going on here. Fuck. And the fewer people who knew about it the better.

So, since he’d been such an idiot showing off in front of Tsunade back when he was 14 and first working with her, she knew that he was capable of pretty much anything she might need setup wise. So she’d picked him as her one-person go-to guy. Wasn’t that just like a woman? Hauling out something from four or five years ago and using it to her advantage?

He slumped onto a stool wishing she would just call it quits for tonight. Shit it must be after 1a.m. They’d been here since 7 in the morning until after midnight for the third day straight. He closed his eyes and leaned his head to one side, stretching the muscles in his neck.

He might be peeved that his past had come back to haunt him but he was actually very glad of the work, not just for the pay but because it kept him busy during the day and too tired during the night to dwell on Yoshino too much.

He missed her.

He actually missed her.

How was it possible to still be missing a girl after three days when you’d only ever spent 8 hours with her in your entire life? Four hours the night they were grading the exams and four hours on that incredibly awkward first date that Chouza and Inoichi, plus the fucking ANBU had screwed up. Shit, he hadn’t even gotten to say anything to her before she left.

He yawned again and let his head slump forward toward his chest just a little bit. Maybe he’d just close his eyes for a few minutes while Tsunade decided either what she wanted to do next or else it was time to go home.

He was peacefully relaxed, thinking about kissing Yoshino when he felt two soft warm hands on his shoulders and he jerked his eyes open.

“Shikaku, I’m sorry, I’ve kept you here too much. You’re exhausted.” And those two soft warm hands began to knead his knotted muscles at his neck and shoulders, healing chakra slowing seeping in from her hands to relax them.

Somewhere, there was an inner-15-year-old Shikaku exclaiming “Tchaa! Tsunade’s touching me and I didn’t even have to bump into her!”

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Shikaku was struggling half-heartedly to maintain control, uttering internal exclamations to himself like ‘Down, boy!’ But it was only a half-hearted attempt, really. And when she moved her hands further down his back, running thumbs down and pressing gently along his shoulder blades he closed his eyes and thought that maybe he could just dissolve into a puddle right here and now.

He closed his eyes again wondering if he dared to lean his head back. Because if he did he could have his head pillowed on Tsunade’s tits. Talk about your wildest fantasies!

He was just planning his motions out – lean his head a little to the right as if stretching the muscles there, then back just a little bit like he was rolling to the other side and pausing somewhere in the middle of that circuit and bingo! His head would be on Tsunade’s…

“Careful, kid, she’s a maneater,” came a booming baritone voice followed by a deep chuckle.

Shikaku’s eyes jerked open at this most unwelcome intrusion and he nearly jerked up out of the chair but Tsunade, with both her hands still on his shoulders pushed him back down.

“Shikaku, sit still!” she ordered. She leaned over him almost possessively and he felt her breasts against his back. Nirvana achieved and he couldn’t even savor his moment of bliss. Damn. Life sucked.

“Actually, I hear she prefers boys,” a second voice spoke in a soft tenor accompanied by it’s own faint laugh.

“Well, then, that makes two of us, doesn’t it Orochimaru?” she snapped back, standing up and pushing away from Shikaku with a flick of her wrist that tumbled him out of his chair.

“Sheesh, Tsunade, don’t treat the kid like that,” Jiraiya said, stepping over and extending a hand to help Shikaku to his feet.

“So, you admit you prefer boys?” Orochimaru smirked, “Guess you were right Jiraiya, Dan is her boy-toy. How much do I owe you?”

“I dunno, Oro,” Jiraiya laughed, looking at Shikaku, “This one’s got a beard. Straddling the fence between men and boys, hmmm, Hime?”

“Straddling something,” Orochimaru agreed. Shikaku felt the tips of his ears go pink.

“Shut the fuck up, creeps!” Tsunade huffed.

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsunade, not in front of the children,” Jiraiya chastised, winking at Orochimaru.

Shikaku rubbed his eyes. Here he was about to achieve heaven on earth – his head on Tsunade’s tits. And who knew what other wonders might follow. And it had to be interrupted by her teammates? The legendary sannin? Who were now standing in front of him bickering and calling each other names the way he did with Chouza and Inoichi.

Shit, piss and double damn fuck. He was too tired for this shit.

“So what are you two assholes doing in my lab at 1:30 in the morning?” Tsunade asked.

“We bring you offerings, oh Princess of Bitch-a-lot,” Jiraiya said, enjoying watching Tsunade fume.

“That’s right, Lady On-the-Rag,” Orochimaru chimed in, sidling closer to Jiraiya just in case they pushed Tsunade too far and she decided to take it out of both their hides. “We have what you seek.” And he held out a small plastic bag containing two bright green pills.

Instantly she was all business. “These are the ones from Wave?” she asked Orochimaru who nodded.

Jiraiya held out a similar bag and answered before she asked, “And these are the ones from Rain.”

Tsunade held them in each hand. “Shikaku, why don’t you go on? I’ll get these labeled with Orochimaru and Jiraiya and we can start again in the morning.” Her voice took on a somber tone, “I’ll fill you in on what this is all about, then, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Shikaku answered, yawning. “See you in the morning.”

He sauntered back home, entering the apartment quietly so as not to disturb his roommates if they were home. Shit. He didn’t even know if they were home. He thought about checking their rooms but decided that would be a little too parental. He hadn’t seen either of the two of them for three days. He hadn’t seen Yoshino either. He thought about getting a beer out of the refrigerator, but decided against it since he’d have to be up in four fucking hours anyway.

Shikaku went to his room and stretched out on his bed, still in his clothes, the last thought he had was he wondered what Yoshino was up to in Wave. That was where Orochimaru’s “sample” had come from. What was going on there? And Rain, wasn’t that where Jiraiya’s sample had come from? The same place the ANBU had been so interested in when Chouza and Inoichi had returned from there. What was up? What missions were Chouza and Inoichi on? He’d have to check the board tomorrow.

And what was Yoshino doing?

Was anything major going on in Wave?

His dreams that night were a tangled mess of black and gold hair.