The Festival (II)

In hindsight, Jiraiya should have used a Henge to hide his identity after leaving his sensei's office, but he had been too deep in thoughts to think about it back then. And who could blame him? After such a long and exhausting conversation, everyone would be elsewhere with their mind!

It wasn't as if he didn't understand why he couldn't go after Nagato and Konan yet, he truly did, but that knowledge didn't make it any easier to actually listen to the old man. After all, wasn't he their sensei? Wasn't it his responsibility to look after them? He had already failed Minato and Yahiko, could he do the same to them?

Just like he apparently did in an alternative timeline?

He understood that confronting them too early could end catastrophically. The odds were that he would die fighting them again even though he had a much better grasp on their abilities now. As much as it increased his chances, it was not easy to gauge whether or not he could actually win, especially because he wouldn't accept help from others for this. Not only that, but 'Pain' was also very valuable to Madara and his plans. While it was relatively unlikely that he would interfere in a fight, there was no way to predict how his plans would change if Pain was taken out of the equation this early. Of course, the entire point of using their knowledge about the future was to change it, but that needed to be done carefully. They needed to find the right balance between changing things and preserving enough to still have an idea of what's gonna happen.

And then there was the entire thing concerning his newest intel about Orochimaru...

Needless to say, his mind was elsewhere while he walked through the streets of the village. Unfortunately, even as distracted as he was, he noticed all the fingers that were pointed at him and the eyes that burned into his back. He was used to attention -especially from the female part of the population, of course- but too much was too much. That was one of the reasons he didn't want to come back to Konoha too often. He was a loyal shinobi of the Hidden Leaf and would gladly sacrifice himself for his home, but he preferred to protect it from afar. Much less stressful that way.

However, that wasn't an option any longer. He had a godson that needed to be looked after and while he couldn't just let all his duties fall to the sideline, the least thing he could do for Minato's and Kushina's son was to regularly visit him. Make sure he was alright and all that. Jiraiya hadn't done too good of a job with that 'last time' and he didn't intend to make that mistake twice.

Speaking of which...

"Ero-sennin!"

Distracted as he was, he hadn't even felt Naruto close by. Because of that, he had not much time to react before a yellow flash - hah! What brilliant wordplay! - crashed into him. He instinctively steadied the body when he felt the boy cling to him, putting his two tiny arms around his torso to capture him in a hug.

"Naruto," he laughed, his gloomy thoughts from before forgotten. "I'm just as happy to see you as you are, but would you let me go? People are already staring." Not every day one of the Legendary Sannin got jumped at by a child, after all.

Thankfully Naruto did as he was told, a rare enough occurrence in and of itself. He didn't stop beaming at him, though. "I didn't know you were back in the village! Why didn't you come to say hi?"

"I just returned today," he said while starting to pull him along the street to get away from all those people. "I hoped to be here for your birthday, but I was a bit too late for that. Sorry."

"Nah, it's alright! Anyway, the old man was there and talked to me some and Senja-chan came too." Ah, he thought. Senja. I knew there was a reason I liked her best of all the people that work at his orphanage aside from her ample build. "Oh, I also made a new friend!"

"Oh? A 'friend' or a little 'ladyfriend'? Are you finally- Agh!"

"Just a friend! I already told you to not be so pervy all the time, Ero-sennin!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said as he rubbed the spot where Naruto had kicked him, even though it was mostly for show. "I got it. Just a friend and nothing more. So, what's their name?"

Naruto immediately stopped to frown. "It's Sasuke! He's from the Uchiha Clan and his mother and brother are really nice too! His father is a bit strict, I think..."

Sasuke Uchiha? Really? He couldn't help but wonder if Itachi had arranged for that to happen. What were the odds of them befriending each other all on their own again?

"And how is the academy so far? Do you get along with everyone? Anything you struggle with?"

He shook his head. "Everyone is pretty cool. The girls are really annoying, though. They always gather around Sasuke during breaks and make it impossible to talk to him!"

"Hah!" he laughed loud enough to startle several people near them. "That's the curse of good looks, my boy. I had the same problem when I was in the academy myself, you see. Well, not that you would understand something like that."

"Hey, are you calling me ugly?"

"No need to be sad about that, Naruto. Just give it a few more years and the problem will go away all by itself, I promise."

"You are calling me ugly, aren't you?" Naruto launched a kick in his direction that he easily side-stepped, ignoring it as if it never even happened. "Don't dodge! I-"

"Oh, would you look at that?" he interrupted the boy. "Isn't that the place you always want to eat at? C'mon, it's my treat today."

"Do you think you can..." He blinked. "Hey, that's Ichiraku's! Let's go, Ero-sennin! Stop dawdling, we need to hurry before there is no seat left!"

Jiraiya didn't bother suppressing his chuckle at how predictable the boy was. Honestly, how he could inherit something strange like an obsession for ramen from Kushina was a mystery to him, but he didn't mind.

It was kinda adorable to watch, really.

"Stupid old man, daring to order me back like that…"

Shizune forced herself to keep up her smile instead of groaning in frustration, but it became harder and harder with each passing minute. "I'm sure the Sandaime has very good reason to-"

"His reasons be damned!" Only her years-long experience of dealing with her mentor stopped her from flinching at that outburst. "I said I would never return to that place! I can't believe I'm even considering it when I should just ignore that stupid letter. What is he gonna do? Arrest me?"

"If you remember, that's exactly what he writes he is going to do if you ignore him."

Tsunade snorted before she emptied another glass of sake and called a nearby waiter to refill it. "And how does he plan to do that? Send some pesky Jōnin? The ANBU? Please, it's not like they're a threat to me."

"Maybe you should just read the rest of the letter yourself instead of-"

"You read it, didn't you? Just tell me what else the old man wrote."

Shizune took a deep breath to stop herself from snapping at her. This was serious, no matter how nonchalant Tsunade was about this, and she wouldn't be able to continue this conversation if she lost her cool. "It states that he will send Jiraya-sama-"

"Hah! As if that old womanizer has it in him to actually fight me."

"-and put someone else in charge of Konoha for the time being to come himself as well."

Fortunately for her sanity, that made her pause. "He will come himself…?" She shook her head. "There is no way he would leave Konoha just to bring me in. No, this must be a bluff."

"Do you think he would really do something like that?" Because Shizune didn't. She might not know the Sandaime as well as her mentor, but that seemed seriously out of character.

Apparently Tsunade thought so as well if her silence was any indication.

Even so, she wasn't sure that would be enough to convince Tsunade to go. Her mentor was unfortunately too stubborn for her own good most of the time. It would be well in character for her to just risk it and ignore the summon only to try to run away once it became clear that this time there would be consequences.

To be completely honest, she was surprised that the Hokage had let her run free for as long as he did. Everyone else would have long since been declared a nuke-nin. However, this letter proved that his patience was finally at an end.

Well, she thought. I guess I need to play dirty if I want to make sure that she doesn't make the wrong decision.

"I would like to visit Konoha, you know."

Tsunade threw a sharp glance in her direction, her eyes showing no sign of dizziness that would be present in everyone else that had as much alcohol in her blood as she. "Where does that suddenly come from? You never mentioned something of that sort before."

Shizune shrugged. "I knew you would have never agreed no matter what I say. Why bother bringing something up when you already know the outcome?"

It was the truth. It had been many years since she had seen her home and she missed it. Not enough to leave Tsunade's side for a visit –who knew what kind of trouble she would land in without her to reign her in at least a little bit?- but enough to keep her awake from time to time.

"What do you even want there?" Tsunade's voice was much more subdued now, sounding almost nostalgic as she buried her head in her arms on the table in front of her. It didn't take a genius to know what, or who, she was thinking about. "There is nothing-"

"It's still home," she interrupted her gently while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Of course I miss it. I know you do too, even if you would never admit it out loud. Besides, it had been years since you have spoken to your sensei or even Jiraya-sama. They surely miss you as well. Wouldn't it be nice to meet them again?"

All she got for a reply was an uninformative humming noise.

"Our visit also overlaps with the anniversary of the Yondaime's defeat of the Nine-Tails," she added. "There are yearly festivals and celebrations on that day, remember? Think about all the food, the alcohol… the games."

Tsunade snorted. "Now you're just trying to manipulate me."

"Well, is it working?"

The other woman stayed silent for a few minutes before she finally sighed.

"I guess it does," she said, sounding something between resigned and amused. "Next destination: Konohagakure."

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Author's Note:

I'm aware that most people don't write reviews, but I have to confess that I'm disappointed about the small number of reviews this story gets. I mean, I could understand it there weren't many people reading it, but each new chapter gets hundreds of views!

I don't like begging for reviews, but I'd love to read your thoughts and opinions. It's really demotivating to write something for hours without getting any feedback. Seriously, I go without reviews for several chapters at once sometimes! So, if you could take a minute or two to write one, I would really apprecicate it!