Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [1]

☾ 41 ☽

"Well...Hmm... I believe you can't master that move," Jiraiya told Naruto, who looked away in annoyance. "More importantly, the woman I was talking about is really hot. You want to see her, don't you?"

"Not at all," Naruto replied nonchalantly. "I'm not a kid who can easily be convinced by a perverted hermit like you. Anyway... No!"

"Then I have no choice..." Jiraiya said. "What a shame... I know a Jutsu that's more powerful than Chidori," Naruto's ear twitched. "I guess I'll take Sasuke with me," Naruto raced in front of Jiraiya.

"I changed my mind! I'll go!" Naruto shouted. "I'll go pack my stuff!" He rushed off. "Pervy Sage, wait for me!" Tsukiko stared at him as he ran off.

"Pervy Sage," Tsukiko said turning to look at Jiraiya, who sweat-dropped. "Why am I coming with you? I mean, yes, you've been training Naruto and everything, and you know his style best but why do I have to..."

"I know you're a Water Style kid," Jiraiya said. "But since everything that happened a few days ago, it wouldn't be bad to get out of the village for a bit, would it? There's a lot to see and learn. But I guess you'd be excited to know that we're going looking for Tsunade,"

"Tsunade-Sama?" Tsukiko asked, surprised. She had always looked up to the woman. "Are we going to go and bring her back to the village? Is she becoming the next Hokage?" Jiraiya hesitated but then nodded in response.

"If she agrees, that is," Jiraiya replied, shrugging. He was quiet for a moment but then said, "And you're in danger both inside and outside the village. Until Tsunade becomes the Hokage, it wouldn't be safe for you to be in here alone, either," Tsukiko stared at him. "It'll be better if you come along,"

"I-I understand," Tsukiko replied, feeling rather dejected. She had an inkling that he wasn't talking about outside enemies coming into the village either, but also inside enemies. Jiraiya patted her shoulder.

"Everything will be fine, Shirayuri," Jiraiya assured her. "If you want to come along, you should go and pack your bags. We're to leave soon," Tsukiko nodded at him and headed off to the direction of her apartment. She was rather struck by how Jiraiya called her Shirayuri.

☽

"All right!" Naruto said as he, Tsukiko and Jiraiya met up at the entrance of the village. Tsukiko had her normal-sized backpack with her essentials inside but Naruto... He was carrying a bag thrice his size, and he couldn't move it another inch. "Here I go!"

"You're putting too much spirit into it," Jiraiya commented, sweat-dropping at Naruto. "You're not training on a mountain retreat, you know that, right?" Naruto kept trying to pull the bag across the threshold. Tsukiko held up a fist at Naruto.

"Reduce that bag or I will beat you into the next century!" Tsukiko snapped, her eyes blazing with a blue fire and Naruto let out a scream of terror as he hurriedly began to pull excess things out of his backpack to decrease the size. Jiraiya sweat-dropped again.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, Naruto managed to get everything back to his apartment, get a decent-sized backpack and then the three of them set off onto their journey to look for Tsunade. Tsukiko wondered if Jiraiya even knew where she was. Or if they were just going off on a blind trail.

"Hey, hey, Pervy Sage," Naruto said. "What Jutsu are you going to teach me this time?" Tsukiko looked over in interest as well. She wanted to see what was more powerful than Chidori. Was it also something self-made? "The last time was walk-on-the-water Jutsu, so is it gonna be walk-on-fire Jutsu? Or maybe walk on Air? Hurry up and tell me, Pervy Sage!"