Misuto Seishin: The Mist Spirit

27

《☆☆☆》

During the morning and most of the day, Jiraiya and I talked about how to convince Princess Tsunade to come home. She looked like she was leaning towards helping Orochimaru, which we cannot let happen. Naruto was out training, practicing his new Jutsu in order to win the bet against Tsunade. I had cast a Jutsu so I could keep an eye on him while still attending to the conversation at hand.

Soon enough, Princess Tsunade herself joined us, bringing a bottle of sake for Jiraiya and her to enjoy. She talked with us for a while but I had tuned the conversation out for a bit. I instead turned my attention to the opened connection with Naruto. I watched him practice, what he called the Ransengan, over and over again. He would charge at the trees and hit them with the swirling ball of chakra. Each hit resulted in the dent becoming larger and larger on each tree he hit. He couldn't knock down a tree, but he was progressing well. He looked tired and out of breath, sweat beading down his forehead.

"Jiraiya, I'm going to visit Naruto for a bit."

Neither of them answered so I just got up and left. I jumped off from the balcony and flew to Naruto's training grounds. By the time I got there, Naruto was on the ground. He clearly passed out due to exhaustion and over exertion of his limited chakra. After checking up on him, I looked up to see something very pleasing.

He finally was able to get the Ransengan to have enough power to split a tree in half.

I put my head down and nudged Naruto on his shoulder to see if I could possibly make him wake up. His response was a groan and flipping over onto his stomach, continuing to sleep. I snickered at his reaction and then I picked him up and placed him on my back. I flew back to the inn where we were residing and came in through the balcony.

"What happened!?" Jiraiya said, being the first one to act.

"He's fine, just passed out. I thought you would be pleased to know that he was able to snap a tree in half with the Ransengan." I boasted, feeling like a proud parent.

I lied him down on his futon and sauntered back over to the two Sanin.

"I said it was a stupid bet. He passed out while still training with it. It's hopeless." Tsunade sneered.

I held my tongue, giving Tsunade a cold stare. It annoys me that she is so pessimistic sometimes.

"Kasumi, could you do me a favor?" Tsunade asked, looking dejected.

"What can I help you with?" I asked.

"Can you go find Shizune for me? She wasn't in our flat this morning and I'm worried something may have happened to her." she explained.

During that entire explanation, she didn't meet my eyes once. It's either  because she is lying or she is too distraught with worry. I really hope she is just distraught, for her sake.

"I can. Jiraiya, give Naruto food when he wakes up later, even though I don't know how long that will be." I curtly nodded.

I flew over the town, using my usual searching methods, chakra pulses. It didn't take long at all to find Shizune. The odd thing is that she was still in their flat. She appears to have been knocked unconscious. I walk over cautiously, checking her body for any external injuries. Satisfied that I found none, I rolled her over onto her back with my paw and began to try to get her to wake up and respond to me.

"You have to stop her!" Shizune suddenly shouted as if she was back from the dead.

I jumped backwards a bit, surprised by the loud outburst.

"Stop who, Shizune?" I inquired.

"Tsunade! She's going to go through with Orochimaru's deal!" she shouted just as loudly.

"She's with Jiraiya and Naruto at the other inn. She's fine from what I could tell." I said, trying to soothe her.

"No, no, no! Jiraiya is in danger then too! Maybe even Naruto! She doesn't want any of us to follow her, hence why I was knocked unconscious. " she sighs in defeat.

"I haven't been gone for long so if we hurry back we might be able to stop her." I decide.

Shizune nods and then bolts out the door. I'm hot on her heels as I make my way towards the flat as well. We both went through the open window.

Who needs doors?

We find Jiraiya totally out, his sake half gone. Something must have really gone wrong if he didn't finish his drink. Shizune, being a medical ninja, gets right to work on helping Jiraiya. Naruto is still in his futon, seemingly untouched. I double checked on him just to make myself feel better.

"Tsunade drugged him. It's one of the drugs she knows how I make on her own. They're not available on the market." she diagnoses.

"How will this drug affect him?" I said, cutting to the chase.

"Well, obviously, he was put to sleep. Other side affects include chakra shortage, headaches, a large decrease in overall strength, and can affect his motor skills for a bit after he wakes up." she says, sounding like it was normal.

"We'll have to leave them to go get Tsunade." I sighed.

"Hold on, I have some strong smelling salts that I can use it wake Jiraiya up. We're going to need as much help as possible if we are going to fight Orochimaru. " she adds, already taking them from her pocket and putting them under his nose.

It does the job rather quickly and we explain the situation to Jiraiya, cutting out any minor details in order to save time.

"We will go on ahead. Come help as soon as your body allows you to." I order, already following Shizune.

"I'm fine! See?" Jiraiya excuses himself.

He uses chakra to walk on the ceiling to prove that he was, what he considered to be, okay. After a couple of short seconds, he could no longer keep ahold of the ceiling and he came toppling to the ground.

"Listen to my advice sometimes. Come when you are better!" I hissed.

Still lying on the floor, Jiraiya nods his head awkwardly. I look at Naruto for a quick second before scurrying after the sprinting Shizune.

《☆☆☆》

I realise that my story and the arc don't match up exactly. It is hard to remember every detail but I also want to change things up slightly so you guys don't get bored.