Aftermath (A Sequel to A Flash to the Future)

Chapter 36 - Traveling with Pervy Sage

A cool wind blew against the cloaks marked with red clouds. Dark eyes scanned the forestry and mountains before him as he kneel at the cliffs edge. A messenger bird flew in the distance, it's shriek filling the air as it had been released and sent to transmit a message from its summoner. Red sharingan eyes gazed in its direction, thinking deeply about the quest for his target.

"While you may be able to manage against him, I couldn't possibly." his partner began to speak as white eyes looked down at him. "He's in a completely different level."

The raven head didn't say anything for a moment before his eyes diverted from the bird and he sat up a little. "Yeah..." he finally said. "If we go at each other, we'll either both be killed or at best, kill each other simultaneously."

"Even if we increased the numbers, that wouldn't change." he concluded.

"I didn't expect the kid's guard would be a legendary Sannin." Kisame said. "With him as the opponent, the names of the Leaf Village's Uchiha Clan and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist would be tarnished."

"Yeah." Itachi replied. "However, any strong one has a weakness...." he trailed off as he stood.

His eyes narrowed as he finally stood. Kisame looked at the man with an unreadable expression. Itachi had always been a rather abstruse character. Every since they were paired together, he had been nearly impossible to read. While time allotted a decent understanding of him, he still didn't know the man that well. He was pretty sure everyone was aware of man's past before he joined the organization. It was his past that made him a missing nin. However, from his small conversations with the man and from their encounter with the Konoha-nin not long ago, something about Itachi's story didn't set right with him.

He didn't dare question the Uchiha about it because he knew he wouldn't answer. He almost never did and was so quiet that you could probably mistake him as his own shadow. However, Kisame was smart enough to not be deceived by his silence. In fact, it was his silence and indifference that made the man formidable. He had seen his partner in action and he could honestly say that out of all the people he wanted to fight, Uchiha Itachi was not one of them. Sure he wasn't as strong as a Sannin, however, he didn't doubt that he could take one down if he really tried. That fact only brought up more questions. Questions that he would probably never ask.

"Let's go." Itachi said as he disappeared a flock of crows.

Kisame smirked as he disappeared in a swirl of water. He may not have known much about his partner, but he sure did have style. He wondered how Itachi planned on taking down the Sannin. While it was true that every person had a weakness, what could be the Toad Sage's weakness. After a couple of moments of thinking about it, he shrugged and continued down the dirt path within the woods. He decided not to worry about it until the got there. Besides, Itachi was a capable shinobi and he had no doubt that he would come up with some brilliant plan like always.

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The Sannin and his student were about an hour away from their destination as they continued down the dirt road. Naruto had just began working on the first step to what he would know as the Rasengan while Jiraiya just walked quietly, stealing a few glances from the boy. He hummed in contentment at the peaceful silence that had settled upon the two. Of course, all good things eventually come to an end.

"Oy, Pervy Sage! Where did you say we were going again?" he asked as another water balloon deflated in his hand, rendering it useless.

Jiraiya simply groaned. "Just keep doing the exercise I showed you." he responded as he chucked another water balloon over his shoulder.