Disclaimer:
Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 119: A Short Interruption: Find Tsunade!
"Oi, wake up already." Naruto kicked him again.
"Urgg… s-stop that…" Jiraiya groaned.
"You drank too much again. We should go fetch that woman. She's going to—"
The door of the hotel slammed open, and Shizune rushed in before collapsing on the floor.
"Uggg..." she groaned.
"Wow, you too? And to think you looked like the responsible type." Naruto looked very disappointed.
"Not drunk…" Shizune lifted herself from the ground, clutching her sides. "She knocked me out..."
"Oh... okay." Naruto said.
"Lord Jiraiya, please… you must stop her! She left to meet with her old teammate. That man can't be trusted." Shizune pleaded, turning to Jiraiya.
"She drugged me…" Jiraiya muttered, still struggling. "She must've put something in my last cup of sake… I can't release any chakra, and I have no strength..."
"You're as reliable as always," Naruto pointed out.
"Hey, you brat—!" Jiraiya tried to stand up but fell flat on his face.
Shizune saw this and lost all hope. "Lady Tsunade…"
"Do you know where exactly she's meeting Orochimaru?" Naruto asked. They had finally found the medic, and he couldn't let his efforts go to waste now.
"You're not thinking of going by yourself, are you?" Shizune asked, incredulous.
"You're also a medic-ninja, right?" Naruto asked, watching her nod.
"I'm far from my sensei's level though…"
"That's fine. I'll go ahead and help Tsunade. You stay here and help the useless old man recover from the poison as fast as you can. Then, come find me."
"But you'd be going against Orochimaru! He's incredibly dangerous. And the silver-haired young man with him...he's dangerous too," Shizune warned.
"Yes, but that guy was pretty crippled. I'll manage to do something...trust me."
Shizune stared at him for a moment. This didn't seem like a good idea, but she couldn't think of anything better either.
"Take the west gate out of the city. They said they'd be waiting just outside. They shouldn't be far from the walls. I don't think Lady Tsunade would venture too far to meet them."
"Then… I'll go first." Naruto was about to leave when he heard a commotion coming from the stairs.
"Here! They said room twelve."
"Hurry!"
A large group of angry men appeared at the open door and looked inside.
"Is that him?!" one of them pointed at Jiraiya.
"Who are these people?" Jiraiya asked.
"I have no idea," Naruto said.
"I think they're from a local criminal family..." Shizune recognized the symbol on their clothing. They'd had a few encounters with this particular group. "But it doesn't seem like they're looking for me," she added.
"No, it was the young blonde one!" It was the manager from the gambling house Naruto had visited the day before.
"He's the one who killed Mister Hanma!"
Both Jiraiya and Shizune glanced at Naruto.
"Oh… I may have an idea of who they are," Naruto said.
This time, the group seemed well-prepared for a fight.
"Naruto, what did you do yesterday?!" Jiraiya exclaimed.
"You know… what you asked me to do. Gather information and all of that," Naruto responded.
"Did you really kill someone?" Shizune asked.
"He did! He killed one of our best men," the manager pointed at Naruto with a shaky hand, still traumatized from the previous day.
"That's not important right now," Naruto said.
There were about ten men, all of them looking fairly strong and well-armed. At the back of the group stood an older man who seemed particularly dangerous.
"So, this is the one?" The old man with long white hair and a purple kimono moved to the front and gave Naruto a measuring stare.
"I'll deal with the boy myself. Just make sure no one interrupts us."
The old man took another step forward and adopted a fighting stance.
"It is customary in my profession to introduce oneself to those we are about to kill. I am a master of the Crane Style school, and my name is Ge—"
"So, I'm leaving these guys to you two," Naruto said casually, turning and walking toward the window.
"Wait! Don't dump your mess on me!" Jiraiya complained while pointing at the goons.
"Hold on, Naruto," Shizune protested.
"Hey! Let me finish!" the old man complained. This was the first time someone had rudely interrupted him during his introduction.
"Go after him!" the manager shouted. "Don't let him escape!"
"Naruto! I can't even use chakra," Jiraiya reminded him.
"Don't worry, these guys are pretty weak. You've got this." Naruto assured him confidently before breaking through the window and disappearing.
"He left just like that..." Shizune stared at the hole he left behind.
"You know… Tsunade sometimes does the same thing." She recalled going through something like this before.
"She does," Jiraiya nodded. The same thing happened to him.
"Mister Manager, what should I do with these two?" the old assassin asked, turning to him.
"I was only paid to kill that blonde boy."
"Those two must be accomplices. We can't just let them go. If Mister Gen can deal with them, the organization will compensate you properly." The manager was yet to recognize Shizune because he only got a picture of Tsunade and never met them in person.
"Very well…" The old man prepared himself again.
"Lord Jiraiya, leave this to me," Shizune said, readying her poisons. She wasn't sure how strong this person was, but she was confident in her ability to defeat anyone below a Jōnin level at least.
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Meanwhile, Naruto was rushing across the rooftops toward the west gate. He spotted several groups of soldiers heading in the same direction.
As he got closer, he realized why—they had reduced the west gate to rubble.
Naruto landed near the destroyed structure and looked around. There was no sign of Tsunade or Orochimaru, but several townsfolk stood nearby with frightened expressions.
"Did any of you see a blonde woman in light robes, or a creepy guy with long black hair and pale skin?" Naruto asked.
"You know those monsters?!" one of the townsfolk exclaimed.
"I saw that woman from my balcony! She broke the gates with one punch!" another added.
"Can anyone point me in the direction they went?" Naruto asked.
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