Chapter 81 The search of jiraya

It had been an uneventful night for the teams although after breakfast they were all gathered in Team 7's room for a meeting on how to deal with their latest mission. Currently they were sitting around a large round table that was only a couple of feet off the ground as they were all sitting on the floor. It was a tight fit with everyone here but the Suna siblings were of course sitting together, Temari made it a point to sit as far from Naruto as possible showing a subtle hint she was still slightly pissed at him.

Given that Sakura and Sasuke weren't too keen on sitting next to Gaara at the moment they let Naruto sit next to him. Kakashi looked over the teams and ever since he had been given the mission he had worried if there would be any problems with working with Suna. Thankfully it seemed that neither team had any personal reasons to hate the other. Some people had lost loved ones or had some injured during the battle in the Leaf Village so that was something he didn't have to worry about.

Although there was a bit of tension it wasn't at the level he feared he would have to work with. So the idea he had in mind would work out to help give some teamwork for both teams.

"Now then the last reports showed that Jiraiya was in this town but although I doubt he's still here I want us to look around for information," Kakashi pulled out slips of paper with a drawing on Jiraiya with them. "These should help but in case he is still here I want to set us up into teams of two for you six."

"I want one Suna and one Leaf ninja to look around for clues, this way if we're lucky and run into Jiraiya he'd be more inclined to believe that you're looking for him with a Leaf ninja with you. Plus he knows myself and Naruto personally so it will be easier if one of us finds him. I'm also certain he would know who Naruto's teammates are as well." At least Kakashi thought so he knew that Jiraiya kept an eye on Naruto when he could and Kakashi had informed Jiraiya of who Team 7 was and how they were doing the last time they met.

Looking at the faces he came up with what he felt might be the best possible set ups.

"Naruto I want you and Gaara, Sasuke you'll be with Kankuro and Sakura you'll be with Temari."

He looked around as there didn't seem to be any problems with the team assignments, he mentally sighed at that glad that there wouldn't be any problems with it. With that he told them all to split up and take different areas of the town and meet back up later that day. With that the ninjas went off on their search for any clues about Jiraiya. Kakashi went off on his own thinking the teams could handle themselves at the moment.

Naruto wasn't sure how to make small talk with Gaara although the red headed boy wasn't giving off any kind of vibe like he was going to kill everyone around him the silence the boy had was a little unnerving. Naruto racked his brain trying to think of something as they just wondered through the town.

"So...uh...how are things going?" Naruto knew it was lame as soon as it left his mouth but he had nothing else.

Gaara while keeping his eyes forward was silent for a moment before speaking, "Things are different but they seem...fine."

"Well okay then," Naruto shrugged. "So things are good then, I mean last time we met and everything you seemed kind of..." he wasn't sure how to put it as he really didn't want to piss the other ninja off. Although he seemed okay but it hadn't been that long ago the boy had to struggle from killing anyone that looked at him the wrong way.

Gaara cast a small glance Naruto's way thinking on things since he had left the Leaf village. He had found himself changed after the events he had gone through, next to him was a boy that held one of the Tailed Beasts just like him but the boy still have others in his life. After seeing how Naruto's life was and from his talk with him, Gaara had started to try and be more open at least for him. He still had no idea how to be 'friendly' to others so he fought back the old urges that he used to give in to.

He had started to treat his older siblings nicer and soon found that after they got used to his new way of dealing with people, they were more at ease around him. In fact they talked to him more without any fear even asking how he was doing. Although Gaara didn't show much emotion on the outside the small steps that he and his siblings took to repair their relationship gave a strange warmth to the red head that although it felt strange he liked it. It was much better than the emptiness that he had tried to fill with blood.

Naruto shrugged as they looked around but if Jiraiya was here there was only one place he might show himself at. "I hate to ask but we might need directions for someplace."

Gaara looked at the boy, "You don't sound pleased about it, is this not the mission?"

"Yeah but what I have to ask for is something I know will get weird," Naruto sighed as he looked around. There were a few people around so he went up to a lone male that was working a fruit stand, there was no way in hell he was going to ask anyone with females among them, he already had enough trouble with Temari at the moment.

"Hey we need directions can you help?" Naruto asked him.

"Sure kid what do you need?" The shop keeper asked seeing them, he noticed the weapon on the kid and the ninja clothing. He might be a civilian from a small country but he knew a ninja when he saw one. Although the two did look a little young to him but ninja life wasn't what he knew about.

"Um well...does this town have...well," Naruto looked around seeing no one close by. "Does this town have some kind of red light district? Or something that you can usually find in that kind of place here?"

The man gave Naruto an odd look which Naruto expected, someone his age no matter what he did asking for those kinds of places would make anyone look strangely at him.

"Kid why in the hell would you ask about that kind of thing?" The man raised an eyebrow at him.

Naruto shifted as he tried to think, "We're looking for our grandpa, he's supposed to be in this village. He's kind of tall with long white spiky hair, our grandmother sent us to get him as he's been known to hang around those kinds of places."

Naruto remembered how his dad once told him that the best lies were always something with a little bit of truth in them. It was true that Tsunade had sent them after him and that Jiraiya did like to hang around those places. He just figured if the man thought that this was a family matter then maybe he would be more willing to help. He was thankful that he wore a mask as it also made it a lot easier to lie.

The man seemed to nod looking at the two of them over they didn't seem like they were relatives but then again the one kid's mask hid a lot of his face. There was also the fact the blank look in the red head's eyes was a little disturbing. Well it wasn't any of his business really plus he had his inventory to sell at any rate.

With a sigh he pointed them in the right direction as Naruto thanked him as they left. Gaara was silent for a moment having taken in everything. He knew that lying was part of a ninjas job sometimes although he was a little confused by his reactions to the places he named. "Is there something wrong with a 'red light' district?"

Naruto nearly stumbled in his step as he looked at Gaara's blank reaction.

"You do know why they call it that right?" Again nothing but a blank look. "Okay well it's where you can find some adult stuff to do...you know with girls?"

Gaara still was giving him a blank look, "Does this have anything to do with that one girl I saw you with, the one with the white eyes?"

"Hinata-chan? Well yeah, no wait no, well...not yet we kind of do some stuff but nothing like...you know what forget about that stuff." Naruto palmed his face trying to think about this whole thing. "It has places where you can meet girls and stuff, you do know what to do with a girl right?"

Gaara just again gave him a blank look.

"Seriously!?" Naruto then thought about it as Gaara most likely hadn't even thought about girls before. He got a huge grin on his face, "Well I guess that means I can tell you all kinds of fun things you can do with the right girl."

-East End of the Village-

Sasuke and Kankuro found themselves looking through a more commercial area, Kankuro wasn't sure where they were supposed to be looking but Sasuke seemed to be actively looking for something so he just followed his lead. The boy seemed to stop at a book story as he looked at the front of the store, he stopped to see a certain set of books in the window. He seemed to scowl slightly at them before walking into the store. Kankuro looked at them and knew what they were, he had seen those books for sale all over the place.

You could see the label that showed it was for adult readers only which only made him wonder even more.

Sasuke entered the book story and saw a man working the counter he couldn't believe he was going to do this. This was one of the most humiliating things he would ask about but it wasn't like he had much choice. He walked up to the man as he looked at the young dark haired boy.

"Can I help you son?"

Sasuke tried not to clench his jaw, "I was wondering if the man that wrote those books in the window came by not too long ago? Jiraiya of the Sannin I heard was in the area."

The man eyed the young man curiously as he looked at his companion who wore an odd black outfit and with odder face paint. Although a few days ago the man had showed up, he had gotten some orders given that they were big sellers. But he didn't see why some young boy wanted to know about the author of those books.

"Look kid I don't just get authors showing up on my door step why are you so interested in the guy?"

Sasuke couldn't believe he was about to say these words but it was for the mission. "It's because I'm...a fan."

The man raised an eyebrow, "Find that hard to believe."

"Then Yoriko waited for her hero to show, she left the door to her balcony opened as an invitation for him. She knew her father disapproved of him but she couldn't stop her burning love for him. The times they shared in secret as his strong hands held her as he would take her to the highest levels of passion." Sasuke recited a part of the first book.

The shopkeeper knew that as well as he too had his own copies, given that he was able to get Jiraiya to sign his personal collection plus a few other copies. He was impressed that the kid had read the books.

"Hey that's from the first volume, surprised you were able to read that kid what did you do steal your old man's copy?" The man grinned knowing how young boys were.

Sasuke felt his eye twitch at the mention of his father as there was no way his father would have kept such crap in his home. But he kept his anger in check as he made up a story about being a fan of Jiraiya reading the books from his father's collection. He was able to get the shopkeeper after thinking that Sasuke was a fan opened up for the boy. After some questions Sasuke left the shop now with some information at least.

Kankuro who had silently bee watching the entire time couldn't get a grin off his face. Who would have thought that the seemingly cold and calm last of the Uchiha had secretly been reading adult books.

"Didn't know you were such a fan of those books," Kankuro nearly burst out laughing at expression on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke bristled at the comment, "I'm not but that idiot teammate of mine made me listen when he read a chapter out loud."

Although it had been a long time ago the memory of that moment was burned into his brain. Back in the academy Naruto had learned the head hunter technique and used it on Sasuke once. Naruto made him listen as he read out one of his father's books out loud in front of everyone. Of course Naruto had gotten punished for it but Sasuke had never forgotten that humiliation. Now that he thought about it he never did get him back for that day. Well that was a thought for another time given that event had actually been useful for once.

But he would be just perfectly glad to forget that had ever happened or what he had just gone through. His father might be turning over in his grave at the lies he had just used to get the man's trust back there. He hoped the others had other luck.

-North end of the Village-

With Temari and Sakura they were making their way through what looked to be a market. So far there were some interesting stores but as they asked around no one seemed to have noticed anyone that fitted Jiraiya's description. After an hour they were getting a little frustrated about the lack of finding anything.

"Maybe we should have asked for a red light district," Sakura muttered.

"Okay what is it with you Konoha ninja and that?" Temari asked her.

"It's not all of us," Sakura said in her defence. "It's just that Jiraiya-sama is, well he's kind of a major pervert." She hated to admit that one of the greatest living ninja of their village was such a perverted old man. When in the academy they had a whole chapter based around the Sannin but they had never mentioned anything of Jiraiya's hobbies. It was a depressing thought about what else was missing from history about what else had been changed. Then again maybe they hadn't said as much for a reason as she doubted impressionable kids shouldn't know about that kind of thing.

Temari had a slightly surprised look on her face but quickly wiped it off, it seemed that the Leaf village had some kind of pervert problem.

Suddenly a woman's cry got their attention as a woman ran out of an alleyway just ahead of them. She looked a little worse for wear, her clothing looked slightly tattered as she looked around her in a panicked state. She saw the two female ninja and quickly got up and went over to them.

"Please can you two help me, they're going to kill him!" She tugged on Sakura's arm. "Please we were just walking by when they grabbed us they said they wanted our money but we didn't have much. I just got away but they'll kill him if I don't get help."

Sakura gave Temari a look that said that they couldn't just ignore it but Temari was looking at the girl with narrowed eyes as though she was seeing things that Sakura was missing. The girl tugged harder on Sakura's hand making the young girl follow her as Temari followed not wanting to be separated but she was extremely quiet as they followed the young woman. She took them down the alleyway as they took a few turns before she led them into a dead end.

Sakura was a little confused but saw Temari stiffen looking behind them as Sakura heard footsteps behind them. They turned to see the way they had came being blocked by a dozen men. All of them looked like hard men who had lived hard lives, recently sporting several injuries as well. They all carried with them various weapons and were giving them nasty looks as well.

The woman got a gruesome grin on her face as she quickly jumped away from the two of them.

"Nice going Lisa," A big man that looked to be their leader spoke up. "Looks like you caught us a couple of nice easy marks. Now be good little girls and hand over all your valuables."

Sakura inwardly groaned at how easily she had been led into this but looking around they only seemed to be just a regular street gang. There didn't seem to be any ninjas in the group so they most likely didn't have professional training in combat. What was strange was how Sakura felt no apprehension at all in this moment. There had been a time where she might have been afraid to be so outnumbered but she had faced much worse in her time as a ninja.

She had faced rogue ninja, even killed a man, she had trained under some of the best of their village, had fought against resurrected dead ninja and been in several major battles. In comparison to all of that this wasn't a worry for her. The sudden thud of Temari's battle fan made her look at the older girl as she had the same confidence on her own face.

"I knew something was up," Temari spoke up looking at them all. "The girl just happened to get away without being chased and without any real injuries on her body? You need a better line of work and you'll find that we're not going to be easy to deal with."

Sakura pulled out her tonfas gripping them in a defensive hold as Temari gripped her fan with both hands. The men paused not expecting much of a fight but they were just girls and they didn't seem to have anything too dangerous on them. So they made their way forward to attack the girls, Temari moved in first with surprising speed with the heavy weapon as the slammed it into not just one opponent but three of them and also sent them all flying back.

Handling of a Suna battle fan took a lot of strength and stamina to use and Temari had been training for years with the weapon. To her the heavy weapon was something she could easily handle. To the men it felt like they had just slammed their chests into a horse's kick.

Sakura wasn't one to be outdone as she moved in among a small group of the men. She was more quick and agile dodging their blows and using her tonfas on their weak points. She hit them in their elbows to make them drop their weapon, the back of the knee to drop their legs, she twirled the weapons around to use the small handles to hook one man and pulled him into another. She would use small powerful strikes to their solar plexus, under the armpit or the temple. She moved like a whirlwind among the thugs.

Temari didn't even have to unfold her fan she could tell that the men were an undisciplined rabble. They telegraphed their moves so easily to her that it was easy for her to stay ahead of them. She managed to get a look at Sakura while she was fending off her own attackers. The younger girl looked to have everything under control in fact her skills looked to have sharpened a bit. She did remember Sakura's fight in the finals it had been a drawn out fight but here she looked to have improved since then.

Well that was good, male ninja outnumbered female ones so it felt like as a woman you had to work harder in order to get recognized. So when Temari saw a female ninja with some skills it was a nice thing to see. Plus at least the Leaf village had more than just perverts in their village. Temari twirled her fan around to bash it into the face of one man, quickly pulled back to hit the one that was coming up behind her then followed it up with a low sweep to take the legs out of the third man.

Sakura had also been watching Temari when she could and it was easy to see that the older girl had some skills. She made her attacks look effortless as she seemed calm. Her movements were powerful and precise as she wielded the large weapon like Sakura wielded her own smaller weapons.

It didn't take long for the two of them to have the entire gang on the ground moaning from various injuries. Both young ninja were showing little signs of being tired and thankfully weren't sporting any injuries given that the men hadn't had a chance against two trained ninja. Sakura rolled her shoulders thankful that Kakashi had helped to set the new vest so it fit her well. Putting it to the test in battle hadn't been on her mind today but she was thankful that she had now. It felt like it had fit perfectly on her during the whole fight.

"Can't believe this happened again," The large leader of the group spat onto the ground. A tooth flew out given he had been hit in the face by Temari's weapon earlier. "First the old white haired pervert and now two little girls. Some gang we are, we'll be laughing stocks if this gets out."

"Hold up what did you just say?" Sakura heard him and stepped towards him. "You said something about a white haired old man, was it long spiky hair and dressed in red?"

"Like I'm going to tell you anything!" He shouted up at her only to be silenced when Temari slammed her fan down next to his head. He slowly looked at the black metal weapon and then slowly up to the blonde young woman who was grinning down at him with a dark look in her eyes.

"I think you'll find that it's better to answer her question," Temari told him with the threat in her voice very obvious to him.

-Later that Day-

By the end of the day they had all gathered back into the hotel room to see if they could have found any leads. Kakashi looked over them all as they all seemed slightly tired from searching the place. He had looked up to try and find any kind of hidden signs that sometimes Jiraiya used for pickups but nothing was seen. Plus he had tried looking over the area to find evidence that he had been around. The only lead he had found was that one of the public baths needed repairs from someone being caught drilling holes into the women's section.

"So how did the rest of you do?" Kakashi asked them.

"We found out that he sold some of his books here," Sasuke had gotten that much out of the owner of the book story. Apparently his books were one of the more popular ones and Jiraiya had shown up with a black eye to see if the story would like some more. He also apparently signed some of them so that the owner could sell them at a slightly increased price.

"The owner did say that there were other stores he could sell his books at," Sasuke pulled out a list. "These are the stores and where they are found but he didn't say anything about where he was going from this."

Kakashi took the list and nodded, this could help narrow down their search if only for a moment.

"Sakura, Tamari what did you two find?"

"We did have a run in with some kind of gang," Sakura told him feeling slightly impressed by herself. "They were pulling some kind of scam about a girl asking for help and then tried to gang up and rob people."

"When we beat them they said something about being beat up by a ninja before," Temari continued on. "From how they described him it sounded like Jiraiya, from the looks of it they said he was packed up for a long trip."

"They just told you all of this?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura and Temari shared a look before they both smiles, Temari a smiled just a bit more dangerously as she spoke up. "We asked really nicely about it and they were very cooperative because of it."

She didn't fool anyone at the table but as long as no one was killed and the local police or whatever law enforcement this town had, didn't show up looking for some questions answered before they left Kakashi let it go. Although it wasn't like any police group could handle them it would just be a minor inconvenience to deal with such a hassle. Looking at Naruto and Gaara he wondered what they had found out.

"He plans to go up North," Naruto told them seemingly smug in what he had gathered. "In fact he was hoping to stop in at Three Pass village that's near a mountain. He was hoping to stop there since he heard some good things about that village so he might be there now. Maybe at some place called the Kitten Club if we hurry."

Kakashi blinked in surprised as did everyone else but Gaara. "How did you find that out?"

"I have my ways," He smiled smugly crossing his arms.

That was when Sasuke who was sitting next to him finally noticed the smell coming off Naruto. He took a stronger sniff of the air and looked accusingly at the boy. "Are you wearing perfume?"

Naruto nearly jumped and looked shocked at him before trying to deny such a thing. That was when Kankuro noticed the same smell coming off Gaara. He eyed his little brother wondering why he smelled like that. "Gaara...why are you covered in perfume too?"

He really hoped this wasn't some new thing with Gaara the unstable killing machine was something he knew how to cope with. If his little brother had picked up some new and strange hobby to supplant his old one he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"It was most likely from those women," Gaara shrugged not caring how he smelt.

"What women?" Temari demanded to know not liking where this was going. Especially given how Naruto looked panicked and was making 'stop' gestures towards Gaara.

"The women at that strange club that Naruto took me too."

It was so quiet in that moment you could literally hear a pin drop at that point. That was until Temari's hand slammed into the round table they were sitting at.

"What club did you take my little brother to?" She demanded from Naruto.

"It was for the mission!" Naruto defended himself from the anger of the Suna female. "I figured that Ero-sennin would have gone to the more adult places first so I went looking for one."

"So you went to a brothel then," Sasuke said deadpanned towards him.

"You took my brother to a brothel!?" Temari was nearly seeing red in that moment.

"Naruto I know we had that talk but I think we might need to have another," Kakashi looked at his son. Although he did trust his son completely he was just being a good parent and making sure nothing happened.

"Naruto how could you?" Sakura demanded from him. "What if Hinata found out about that?"

"It wasn't a brothel!" Naruto shouted out. "It was just one of those places you pay women to hang out with you and nothing happened I would never betray Hinata-chan like that!"

"Ah so it was a hostess club," Kakashi felt a bit better at that. Those types of clubs the women would flirt with you and tease but they never had sex with the clients. It was just a place for men to escape into, a fantasy world where for one brief moment they didn't feel like losers or rejects and felt like the men they always wished they could be. Of course it was all an illusion but to some the illusion is all they had in life.

"You took Gaara to a hostess club?" Kankuro looked at his little brother and got a small grin on his face. "So how was it, meet any interesting girls?" That earned him a smack to the back of the head from Temari who was fuming.

"I said it was for the mission!" Naruto explained seeing her reaction from it. "I mean I know that he likes those types of places and after we managed to get in, which wasn't easy, we started asking around. The only way they would answer our questions was to pay for their time as they put it. So we just paid them to hang out and talk a bit."

He didn't feel it was safe to tell her that he was also trying to loosen Gaara up some and show him a good time.

"I thought you also said it would 'teach me about girls'?" Gaara asked him.

Naruto paled at Temari whipped her head at him, "Traitor!" Naruto managed to get out before dodging Temari's fan coming down on the spot where he had been.

"Hey calm down!" Naruto told her as she started chasing him around.

"I'll calm down when I teach you not to try and corrupt my brother with your perverted ways!" Temari angrily told him giving chase.

Sakura sighed, "Maybe I'll keep my mouth shut about that to Hinata. I think Naruto is going to get punished enough as it is by the looks of things. "Then she noticed Sasuke smiling as Naruto jumped out of the window with Temari chasing her.

"What's with you?"

Sasuke just shrugged, "Getting even for an old score apparently." He said cryptically although at first he hadn't meant to but his line of questions had lead to this. Ah yes the end of the day was turning out just fine for him.

Kakashi sighed as he got up, "I better make sure she doesn't kill him."

"Hell if she catches him death might be a mercy," Kankuro commented as the man went to the window to catch up to the two blondes. "My sis may be slow to get angry but when she does well it's not pretty. So Gaara...where was this place again?"

Next up Chapter 19: On the Trail