The Sealed Kunai by Kenchi618

Part 31 - To Be The Shield or The Sword

To Be The Shield or The Sword

Tsunade stood on top of the Hokage Tower looking up at the sunset drenched mountain that now bore her visage, "You need to go see the brat. His house is starting to look like the inside of a hodge-podge file cabinet. Get him to calm down some."

Jiraiya looked at her from the corner of his eye as he looked out onto the village, "Get him to calm down? He isn't losing it about the whole Akatsuki thing is he? I figured that he would be taking it way better than that."

Tsunade shook her head, "He's not losing it. I mean it isn't like he's scared of them, or scared of them taking him, nothing like that. He seems more tense these days though, more along the lines of the way he used to be when I first met him."

Jiraiya looked at her as understanding washed over his face. That was enough proof that he was feeling the squeeze of the situation. When Naruto was with Jiraiya looking for Tsunade he was scared. He would never have said so, he would never have even shown it but Jiraiya could feel the fear on him no matter how well he hid it. He was weak, he had just been attacked by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, and a few days prior to that he had just been unsealed and had a multitude of questions and concerns to work out. That had to have been a stress tidal wave hitting right after a simultaneous stress earthquake and volcano. Coming back to Konoha to see the boy mellowed out after the failed Sasuke Retrieval really did Jiraiya's mind good.

Tsunade continued, "Every wall of his apartment living room is plastered with all kinds of amassed information; patterns of known movement, hot points of contact, eyewitness reports of known members, personal files on whatever he could get on each, which for more than a few isn't very much. He has a room full of clones going over this information and either spends the rest of his time studying with Hamako or in the Forest of Death, and that would concern me if he hadn't been using it as his own personal playground for the last few years."

Jiraiya made a noise of acknowledgement, "Maybe I should take him with me again? A trip elsewhere should do him some good. Maybe I can get into what his deal is once we get away from the village, maybe he's just nervous... it's understandable, he has a lot on his plate."

Tsunade took a moment to think about it, "A trip to where though? I don't think I can swing another training mission. I barely got the last one through the channels since I was sending him alone. The elders sure loved that idea." Tsunade said sarcastically.

Jiraiya waved it off, "Just give us any old rinky-dink chore. Preferably one that takes us out of the country for at least a week, that kid can be one tough nut to crack when he wants to be and I have a feeling he isn't waiting for someone to spill his guts about his anxiety to."

"Alright then." Tsunade said as she turned to face him at last, "I'll get it set up soon after a go over what we need done. He just got back from a short courier run earlier today so I'll leave it up to you whether or not to see him now or later."

Jiraiya scratched his chin, "Where is he now?"

Tsunade smirked, "The Forest of Death if I would hazard a guess."

Jiraiya let off a sweatdrop, "I'll go see the kid later."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Outside of Training Area 44 a.k.a. Forest of Death)

The light of the moon bathed him as Naruto was on his hands and knees dripping sweat after his most recent episode with his most prolific adversaries, the giant spiders in the Forest of Death. Naruto panted and glared at the sword in his grip on the ground, "*pant pant* You certainly crap out at the absolute worst times imaginable. I swear you do it on purpose." Naruto then proceeded to flop face first on the ground to give himself a moment of rest.