"Ero-Sennin, hurry up, we're running late!" A voice could be heard, which sounded like a whine.
"Brat, we have plenty of time on our hands. I don't think he'll run away just because we're a few hours late."
"Well, if it was that easy to catch him, then why is he roaming freely?" Naruto berated the perverted old man.
He was perving on the ladies in the hot springs, which was why they were late.
One of these days, Naruto would write a better story than Jiraiya and show him that his kind of research isn't necessary to make a perverted story.
The perverseness has to come from the heart.
"Hmm, I guess we should speed up a bit. It would be a shame if we missed him because of this," Tsunade said, not accepting any excuses if Jiraiya claimed he missed Dorobou.
Tsunade would only think Jiraiya was busy with his perverted research... and her assumption would probably be right.
"Still, it's really cool that he hasn't been captured for this long," Naruto said, stars in his eyes.
He was a bit worried when he heard that Sora had gone missing from Team 10.
Luckily, they were safe and sound, but they had failed in their mission to capture Dorobou.
So Naruto was really looking forward to seeing the guy in person.
"Let's speed up. I'll let these old bones get some exercise," Jiraiya said, reinforcing his legs with chakra and flickering ahead.
Naruto followed right after, leaving craters where he dashed.
"Brat, control your chakra output. You need to control it in any state, especially during battle," Jiraiya scolded Naruto for this rookie mistake.
"My bad, I got too excited," Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.
They were talking while moving at high speeds.
"Are you sure your information is correct?"
"It should be. Then again, we should expect the worst. It's likely wrong since I've tried to find him a few times before, but those attempts mostly led to failure. I was focusing on other missions, so it wasn't 100 per cent."
"I see, but this attempt would be your best, right?" Naruto asked, looking around at the snowy terrain.
It brought back some memories.
"Yes, so let's speed up," Jiraiya nodded and doubled his pace.
Naruto followed right behind.
They were travelling at speeds beyond what a normal Jounin could achieve.
"Pervy Sage, do you really like baa-chan?"
The sudden question caught Jiraiya off guard, but he didn't let it show on his face.
"Indeed, Tsunade is my first love. I saw her in the autumn of—"
"I didn't ask how you saw her. Also, is it just me, or does every time this topic comes up, your version of how you first saw baa-chan change? Wasn't the last time in the rainy season?" Naruto suspiciously looked at Jiraiya.
"It's you! You really have a bad memory!" Jiraiya pointed at Naruto, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Hmm, I guess... then again, I don't think this information is that important for me to remember, so it really doesn't count," Naruto smirked.
He was indirectly saying that Jiraiya's words didn't matter.
"YOU DISRES—" Jiraiya began angrily but stopped midway, suddenly halting his movement.
Naruto, a bit slower, got ahead and then flickered in the opposite direction, stopping beside Jiraiya.
"What is it? Did you think of something we didn't before? Or did you sense Dorobou?" Naruto asked, looking at the old man who had a puzzled look on his face.
Jiraiya didn't answer for a few seconds, instead staring in one direction.
Naruto looked too, but there was nothing specific to see. The area was completely devoid of any vegetation, covered in snow.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Are your pervy senses tingling? Can you feel a beautiful lady taking a bath or playing in the snow?"
"WHAT? N-No!" Jiraiya stammered, flustered by his disciple's words.
He had accidentally imagined such a scene in his mind, leading him to feel embarrassed.
"Oh, too bad. It would've been a sight to see," Naruto smirked.
He had known the old man for over a year and a half, and travelling with him for so long made him understand his thoughts more clearly.
"Nothing, it probably wasn't anything," Jiraiya shook his head and started flickering back in the direction he had been moving.
"Really? We could check out that direction if you want to," Naruto suggested.
He was really curious about what they might find there.
Instincts of veteran ninjas, especially someone like Jiraiya who had spent so much time on duty, were incredibly accurate.
"Nah, our focus is to find Dorobou, and I'm definitely sure he isn't related to whatever I felt."
"Oh, maybe some hot, beautiful lady might need help."
"Maybe we should check it out after all," Jiraiya stopped and turned back.
Naruto deadpanned.
"I'm just kidding. Did you think I'd really do that?" Jiraiya chuckled.
He wasn't that predictable. He liked to act like a fool to make people think he was simple-minded.
It worked in unexpected situations when no one expected it.
Plus, people's expectations of him were always low because of this.
"I'm not convinced," Naruto shook his head.
He couldn't understand the perverted old man after all.
Suddenly, both of their eyes widened.
They felt a massive chakra burst in the exact same direction Jiraiya had been looking.
"That chakra feels very familiar for some reason," Naruto said while creating shadow clones.
"Indeed, but it's not exactly a chakra signature I know, so it's different. Anyway, get ready to move at your best. We might be dealing with something S-rank," Jiraiya said, stretching a bit.
He would've been fine without it, but he was just doing it for the sake of it.
Meanwhile, Naruto closed his eyes and stood still.
He had created 10 shadow clones—5 of them meditating, 4 scattered in all 4 directions, and the last one on standby.
A minute later, an orange shadow appeared under Naruto's eyes. "I'm ready," he said to Jiraiya, who flickered ahead without saying anything.
Jiraiya followed behind.
"Our goal is just to see what's happening. I think it's a fight," Jiraiya said.
"I'll sense them once we get a bit closer," Naruto said calmly.
He had learned Sage Mode over the past year and a half and had become quite proficient at collecting nature energy.
Jiraiya had been very surprised when Naruto learned Sage Mode so quickly.
Surprised would have been an understatement, but Jiraiya had expected some decent affinity with nature energy due to Naruto's lineage.
Minato had been better than him at gathering nature energy, so Jiraiya had thought that Naruto's innate talents might lie there.
Heck, Jiraiya had only expected Naruto to gather nature energy just to improve his sensory abilities, like he did himself. If he did better than that, maybe Naruto could fight like him with the elder toads.
But Naruto had shattered Jiraiya's expectations completely.
Jiraiya had to say little, lest Naruto get a big ego.
"I can feel three people fighting ahead. Two of them are fighting the third person..."
"What is it?" Jiraiya asked when Naruto suddenly stopped talking.
"The person being attacked is severely injured, I think. They also have huge chakra reserves, and it was their chakra we sensed earlier."
"Oh, so they're probably on their last stand," Jiraiya furrowed his brows.
It seemed they were too late. The third-party was probably trying to take the other two down before he died.
"Probably."
They both felt another chakra spike.
"It's him, only. He used a... dangerous jutsu that exploded in all directions. It was water, and then he disappeared," Naruto stopped moving, as did Jiraiya.
"You mean Teleportation?" Jiraiya's eyes widened.
The situation had become more serious than he expected.
He was looking forward to teaching Naruto a bit about fighting S-ranks.
But now, that was not really feasible.
Naruto closed his eyes and increased his sensory range.
They weren't worried about being discovered, as they were actively suppressing their chakra and using seals.
"There. He's nearby," Naruto pointed in a different direction and flickered.
Soon, both of them reached a cave.
Jiraiya and Naruto saw a bit of blood near the entrance.
They didn't need to enter the cave, as the person was sitting at the entrance, looking at both of them.
Jiraiya gulped.
"Why do you have red hair?" Naruto asked, staring at a figure that was eerily familiar to another redhead he knew.
***
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