A Sacrifice for Another

Chapter 19

Just then, they arrived at the hot springs. Sure enough, there was Jiraiya, giggling perversely while looking through the fence. Naruko sighed and passed Haku off to Christina she walked over to Jiraiya and grabbed his hair.

"Ow ow ow!" He yelled in pain.

"Come on Ero-sennin! We have a meeting with Ji-ji!" She yelled.

She dragged him by his hair for the next minute until he got up and followed. They arrived at the Hokage tower and got their passes.

"Alright gakis, meet me at the front gates in a half hour, we'll head out after that." Jiraiya said, shunshining away.

The other shunshined to the Maini compound.

"Ne, Haku-kun, do you wanna come with us?" Naruko asked.

"Really Kaa-san!? I can come with you!?" Haku said, his eyes widening as he smiled brightly.

"Yes, but only if we go at shinobi pace." Naruko said.

"But Kaa-san! That pace makes me scared! I'm afraid I might get hurt." Haku said.

"Haku-kun, do you think kaa-san would ever let anything bad happen to you?" Naruko said.

Haku shook his head. "No Kaa-san, I know you won't let me get hurt." He said.

"Then as long as I carry you, you'll be fine, okay?" Naruko said.

"Okay kaa-san." Haku said.

Naruko smiled. "Alright then Haku-kun, bring 7 pairs of clothes and anythign else you think you might need, mmkay?" She said.

Haku nodded and ran off to his room. Naruko went into her room and started packing up some stuff in seal scrolls. She packed some clothes and threw the dirty clothes from the Chuunin Exams into her hamper. She packed her toiletries and hair stuff and then changed into a cleaner pair of clothes. After her tussle with Gaara, they had sort of gotten extremely dirty.

She picked up her bag and stuffed the scrolls into it. She put more weapons into her pouch and sealed up some extra ones, just in case.

She was heading for the hallway when she noticed something on her dresser. It was a small white piece of paper that had been folded up. She went over and picked it up, eying it suspiciously. It could be a trap, or just a simple note. Which it was, she didn't know, so she just decided to risk it and open it.

Inside, it revealed to be handwritten note. She recognized the handwriting and her eyes widened. She started scanning the page and by the end, she had tears in her eyes.

The note read...

Dear Naruko-chan,

I can't tell you how many times I've written this note. I just can't count it. But there's something I need to tell you. I'm alive. Just like you, Neji, Christina, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, I came back from the future. Yes, I've seen you around, but I didn't intrude on your space. After all, the first time I saw you, you were kissing Kakashi-sensei! I didn't want to interrupt, so I held back. I had heard rumors about you being back here, the description being 'a crazy-ass, hot blonde with shining blue eyes.' I knew it was you right away.