A/N

Invictus lives! New chapter, and all thanks for this chapter getting released goes to the glorious triumph of our illustrious chapter master Donaldos Trumpus, Honoured Be His Name, the Unimpeachable, the President of Presidents, the Opener of Polls, Punisher of Nomads, the Great Unifier, Commander of the Red Legion, Sacred of Appearance, Father of Barron, Builder of Walls, Protector of the Free World, Chosen of Latinx, the Undisputed, Sentinel of the Free World, Scourge of the Faithless, Vanquisher of Women, Rider of the Sacred Garbage Truck, Caller of the Bitter Truth, Champion of the Political Arena, He Who Holds The Constitution, Arch President of America, Banisher of the Haitians, High Lord Admiral of the Space Force, Tamer of the Lich King, Dismisser of the Warrior Queen, He Who Does Not Serve Time, Slayer of Redditers, Player of the Great Game, Liberator of Life, Killer of the False Gods' Champions, Tyrant of Arabia, Eternal President of America's Lands, Great Keeper of the Golden Arches, Trump of the Red Wave, Harvester of Polls, the Dreadbringer, the Undying, Master of the Mississippi River, Deacon of the Ohio River, Regent of the Appalachian Mountains, Builder of the Great Bastion, Terror of the Liberals, Founder of the MAGA Cult, Tyrant to the Foolish, Taker of Polls, Dakka Lord of the USA, Lord of the House of Trump, and many more.

This took like half an hour of time to write out with the help of my friend Everpeach. Credit to him for this author's note and me remembering I had this fucking chapter collecting dust for who knows how many months. Enjoy!

/(SCENE BREAK)

"I don't need a heavy sword to tear through steel and armour, I've got my bloodline, baby!" A youthful and energetic voice proclaimed, letting out a laugh.

"You must tread carefully, young Uzumaki. Should your chakra be reduced to a low level, you will be overwhelmed."

"I'll be stacking bodies by that point, so don't you worry about me."

"Cocaine giving you energy without containing any calories disproves basic scientific theory, and this is why they banned it."

"Plants produce cocaine. This requires no energy (no calories in cocaine). E=mc2 means cocaine (c) can be transformed into pure energy."

Cocaine can be used to power space ships, etc.

I must research this further."

BANG!

I jolted awake and flung the first thing in arm's reach, which turned out to be my alarm clock, at my door reflexively, squinting my eyes and sensing where the source of the noise was. The heavy steel clock punched clean through the door and clanged against the wall, but that hardly mattered as I felt the familiar presence outside the front door, several meters away.

Jiraiya was at the door, and he was being his typical self; made worse because of what had been dancing around my brain just seconds ago.

"This has to stop." I groaned to myself, having yet another absolutely insane fever dream of weird crap flooding my head. I'd started to actually suspect Kurama was doing something with my chakra to fiddle with my head over the last several months, because he's 100% willing to do it if he could.

BANG!

I scowled angrily at being woken up early, because I could tell that it was early without even looking at the lack of even a dim ray or two of light coming through my window blind. I actually growled when I looked at the clock on the wall that I didn't fling through the door and saw that it was 5:26.

"You said 8:00, ero-sennin!" I shouted, grumbling under my breath as I staggered out of bed and made my way to the front room. Once I managed to stumble to the door, I jerked it open and looked up at the grinning Sannin.

"Morning, sleepyhead." He said happily, looking positively radiant at seeing me. "Ready for an adventure?"

"No." I said flatly, pushing the door closed.

Unfortunately for me, Jiraiya put his foot in the doorway and pushed his entire body weight into it, forcing it back open and making me take a step back to not fall.

"I insist," He kept smiling in that annoying way he did when he wanted to antagonize me, making his way into the front room, "And why aren't you ready yet? You're dressed like a slob and your hair's a mess."

"I…" I couldn't even speak, still trying to bring all my mental facilities to bear after having just woken up. "You just woke me up and my hair isn't a mess!" The last part was added a little absentmindedly as I brushed some of the tangled red mess that was my hair away from my forehead.

"Really?" He tilted his head, before lunging forward so fast that I couldn't clearly see him and gave me arguably the most painful ruffling of my hair he'd ever given me.

"Grrrrrr!" I jerked away from him, stumbling and nearly falling on my ass as I corrected my balance and stormed back towards my room, trying to desperately untangle my hair. "I'm going to shear off your hair and sell it as toilet paper." I threatened without even turning around to look at him, pushing my bedroom door back open so I could grab my gear.

"Tsunade already threatened to strangle me with my own hair 20 years ago, gaki!" He called out, hamming it up and guffawing loudly at me. "Your threats are dull and sad!"

"I wish I'd gone with Itachi and Sasuke instead, almost." I muttered to myself, before making a near repeated chant in my head so I didn't fling something sharp and metallic at Jiraiya.

I stripped off my pajamas and put on my normal mesh undershirt, then pants, and all my other things, finishing it off with my armour and gear stored in my multitude of storage scrolls.

My preparations were halted for a moment when I reopened one of the seals to make sure my broken sword was still there. The sudden apprehension I felt was for nothing as both blade and hilt were deposited on my bed.

"Good." I muttered, sealing it back in the scroll and grabbing my seals that stored all my necessary possessions.

I then exited my bedroom and watched as Jiraiya emptied out my fridge of perishables.

"I can't believe you forgot to either drink this up or toss it." He said, tossing what was a very expensive carton of milk into a storage seal.

"Could you not?" I asked, feeling my face twist into a scowl at him doing that.

"Nope." He said flatly, sealing everything else in my fridge until it was bereft of all food. "Best to leave now, you took too long so we'll need to rush."

"Did I kill somebody that cursed me to suffer you or something?"

"Heh, you should join the theater if you're going to be that dramatic." Jiraiya scoffed at my question and shut the refrigerator, before walking out the door. "Come on." He gestured to follow him.

With everything ready for the weeks-long outing and the tone set, I followed my godfather out of my apartment and out to the street. Without saying a word, we both Shunshined to the outskirts of the village, past the wall, and into the open terrain heading eastward.

(/LINE BREAK)

"Keep at it, it'll get easier the more you do it." Jiraiya gave his typical words of encouragement as I struggled to continue manipulating the earth to my needs.

I just grunted and tried it again, feeling the gritty tingle through my tenketsu at my chakra being forced to act in a way that felt unnatural to me once again to crumble the spire Jiraiya set up for me.

I doubted I could ever be truly at ease when using Earth release, but I was at least making marginal progress where I could hopefully start using some rudimentary Jutsu to improve my clones' effectiveness.

Cutting the chakra feed, the spire remained intact and I looked up at Jiraiya.

"Be honest and tell me how my dad did with elemental training." I requested, genuinely curious how I compared.

"To be honest, a lot better than you." He shrugged, eying the spire without showing any expression. "But your father was something else. Don't take it to heart."

"I'm not as self-conscious as you, ero-sennin." I countered as I rolled my eyes.

Jiraiya just laughed and tried to smack at the back of my head, but I ducked under the slap.

"I'm not the one who dotes on his hair like a girl." He grinned, waggling his fingers at my face. "And I'm going to shave your head at some point if you keep calling me that."

I just glared at him, taking a large step away from him.

"And that'll be the day I kill you."

"But it is not this day!" Jiraiya shouted, before laughing again. "Catch you at camp." With that, he Shunshined away.

Gee, thanks for the training. I thought irritably, eying the stupid spire distastefully. I might as well keep trying to do more, so I decided to stay until I could break the spire with my chakra.

As I got started again, I was struck with the overwhelming and crushing worry that this trip was going to be a pain in my ass…

Again, I should've gone with Itachi.

(LINE BREAK)

"Go ahead and take a break from that!" Jiraiya called out from a short distance away, having finished his own set of daily stretches to keep himself limber. "Eat something and I'll be with ya in a minute."

I nodded my understanding and used a quick Shunshin to get to our encampment, then I sat down in one of the chairs we left next to our tents and I opened up the storage seals meant for some provisions.

Out came 4 eggs from one, and another deposited a glass bottle of raw milk.

One of the things over the last few days since we left Konoha that Jiraiya had insisted on was that I revamp my diet and do a few things that were, as he put it, 'esoteric knowledge' he learned from the toads.

I was training as I usually did at dawn, but he insisted I forgo wearing a shirt so I could get some red light from the sun on my back and chest, which was something I vaguely heard about before I died the first time. Something about how red light helped cells or something.

But my diet, which he was being a non-negotiable bastard about, was now supplemented by raw eggs and milk. Of course, he said something about the anabolic cholesterol helping with muscle growth and Tsunade confirming it.

It wouldn't surprise me though if he just made it all up to see me retch a few times when I slonked the eggs the first time.

Praying that Jiraiya was actually looking out for my well-being and not actually just being an unrepentant menace, I cracked the already rinsed eggs and plopped the yolks into a large glass, then poured some milk in.

A quick mixing with a fork stirred it up enough and I gulped it down, coughing at the weird taste of the egg. I then chased it down with a few gulps of water to wash out my mouth.

With my stomach now feeling full, I leaned back and sighed while looking up at the early morning sky while thinking about the next few weeks.

I had hit a bit of a plateau on my physical ability for the last few weeks, only bits of progress being made. My chakra control was still steadily getting better though so my growing chakra reserves didn't outpace my control. The biggest improvement I'd seen training under Jiraiya was me learning to incorporate more intricate seals into my fighting style, particularly the Jutsu catching kind. Just hook a larger tag to a kunai and fling in front of you to stop a dicier technique and you're good to charge forward.

All around, it was a decent enough improvement over the last several weeks since we left Konoha.

"Well that was quick." Jiraiya said from behind me, walking at a normal pace towards where I was sitting. "Doing alright, kid?"

"Yeah," I replied shortly, keeping my eyes on my currently shirtless sensei as he sat down and made himself the same concoction as I did, but with honey and what looked like crushed coffee beans, "And is the honey worth putting in it?"

"Helps with the flavour and texture." He answered right before he chugged an even bigger glass than mine. The Sannin then belched loudly, disturbing a few birds in the trees surrounding us.

This was actually a very relaxing setting, even if Jiraiya made for company that was way too similar to me for comfort. But that was fine, because he was a lovable bastard at heart and my godfather.

Weird hallucinogenic dreams and being away from Rin and my friends was difficult to adapt to, but I could get through it. I'd be back in Konoha in a month or so, and letters to Rin will be even easier since Jiraiya is with me.

"I can't even remember if I've ever thanked you for training me, Jiraiya." I said out of the blue, my eyes flicking towards his.

"Heh." He smiled, returning my gaze with one of his own. "You might have said it once or twice. Oh, and I almost forgot, I talked with Rin and the Uchihas last night while you were asleep."

That got my attention. I perked up and looked at him, trying to suppress my anticipation at more news.

"They're crossing through one of the coastal cities and are doing a few cleanup missions that the ANBU can't do because of the experiments being released by Orochimaru's pet keeping their hands full." He explained, a shadow crossing his face as he brought up his former teammate. "But don't worry, it's stuff perfectly safe for the bloodthirsty monster… and the Uchihas."

I just snorted at him trying to lighten the mood. "I'll let her know you said that."

"She'll just take it out on Sasuke." He pointed out, sitting up as he finished that. "Also, when are you wanting to train with the fox's chakra?"

That wasn't exactly expected, and I blinked confusedly for a moment.

"What?"

"You're a Jinchuriki, genius," Jiraiya scowled openly, shaking his head at my short response, "Being able to ride that chakra wave could mean the difference between you getting killed and living to have a dozen kids."

"I… um…" To be honest, I hadn't really thought of specifically training with Kurama's chakra in that way. I know that Jinchuriki are basically tactical nukes with legs from just the Bijuudama we could use, not to mention a full transformation being hard to beat.

But I had so many other weapons in my arsenal that I still wasn't confident in using yet. My lightning armour still wasn't consistent enough for me to fight with and feel safe, the Gates would never work if I used Bijuu chakra alongside them; that was straight up terrifying after I did it just one time against Kimimaro. And then I had my general fighting style that would be almost useless in a giant beast form, including my seals, bloodline, and my more delicate Jutsu.

"Judging by your silence, you either never thought of that or you're overthinking it." Jiraiya eventually said, pulling me from my somewhat anxious thoughts. "I only meant bumping your threshold from 2 tails to, what, maybe 3 or 4?"

"Oh," I said, grimacing sheepishly, "Yeah, that I've thought of but didn't know how to do it safely. Maybe start on that instead of Doton training." I added the last part hopefully. That training was kicking my ass and I hated it even more now.

Jiraiya just scoffed and chuckled. "Anything to get out of manipulating the earth, I guess. Give me a few days to make some chakra suppressant tags and coordinate a few things with Rin; I'm planning on you two piggy backing on each other for this, because Kami knows Rin's going to need it to keep pace with Sasuke when he trains his eyes."

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded, already feeling pumped at that thought. Nothing like knowing I'll help Rin by helping myself and I get to ditch Doton training for now without harming my overall progress.

"Oh, and you need to time how long you can constantly use Suiton Jutsu, then compare that to equivalent Raiton Jutsu." He mentioned seriously, tossing me a watch from one of his pants' pockets that I caught reflexively. "Preferably start now. I need to know which of your affinities is more draining for you."

Thanks for the warning. I thought sarcastically. My thoughts were evident on my face, because Jiraiya looked affronted all of a sudden.

"Sarutobi would have demanded the same thing, so don't look at me like I'm a hard ass." Jiraiya shooed me away, which I did without complaint and stood up from the chair to walk westward where we had been training earlier.

"That just means you're even more his surrogate son than I thought." I gave that final parting shot, before cackling like a supervillain and flickering away with a strategic use of a Shunshin.

(LINE BREAK)

One week later. Northern Hi No Kuni.

"What do you mean you don't know any ANBU level camouflage Jutsu?" Jiraiya's eyes were wide in surprise as he looked at me up and down. "Why didn't I know that?"

We'd been traveling on foot for hours now, periodically stopping for a few minutes to rest so we could resume our journey, and Jiraiya had been giving me a rundown on a few things relating to his spy network.

The conversation inevitably led to a discussion about camouflage and what my preferred technique was.

Colour Jiraiya surprised when I told him I didn't know how to perform any.

"Remember that I have the fox screwing with my chakra control." I said, tapping my gut for emphasis. "Kakashi considered it a waste of time to teach the ANBU preferred ones. And I actually know them, by the way, I just can't do them properly without focusing too hard on them."

That was an annoyance when I realized that, and it made Kurama laugh when I spoke with him then.

"And you're wanting to master the one Ashina invented." Jiraiya deadpanned, closing his eyes slowly and groaning.

I didn't know why, but that one out of all the others interested me. Bending and refracting light around you like that interested me, and made me think of a pencil being refracted through a glass of water.

"Precisely." I nodded quickly, bobbing my head to play it up. "So where does that leave me on my infiltration skills?"

It was seriously something I needed to know. If it was a big issue, then it needed to be addressed. But then again, I managed to infiltrate the Hyuga clan compound by dumb luck and made out like a bandit.

Speaking of bandits, infiltrating encampments of the bastards was a far cry from sneaking up on Shinobi or even samurai if what Jiraiya mentioned about them was even half true.

Jiraiya went totally silent, his brow furrowed as he thought deeply about it.

Hopefully it wasn't too bad.

"I'd say…" He hummed, tapping his chin. "Going by my expert analysis, on a scale of me infiltrating hostile villages and getting out unnoticed to an explosive tag going off at your feet… you'd be comparable to the terrifying sex moans of a deaf woman at 3:27 in the morning."

"I regret the day I met you."

(LINE BREAK)

Northern Hi No Kuni, 10 miles from the Land of Iron.

"Stay focused on the target." Jiraiya whispered next to me, the two of us concealed in a cluster of bushes overlooking a small valley.

Night had fallen and the two of us had ventured out into a forested area near the village that we stopped at to clear out a few bandits. Evidently, a few hostages were taken and Jiraiya had volunteered our services for the small price of a free meal and board for the next few days.

The innkeeper, who had a daughter captured by them, immediately accepted. Jiraiya had also mentioned that it would be a good gauge for him to personally see how good my assassination skills were and what needed working on. Getting informed by a third party like Kakashi or Anko could only do so much for my current mentor, and he needed to see it for himself.

"I will." I nodded, my eyes tracking them as I focused my sensing abilities to feel the different signatures. "I count 17. With five missing civilians, that's 12 to kill."

"You fine with that?"

A briefly paused, before nodding.

"I've killed before, sensei. This is no different."

I knew that it was a lie the moment I said it. The heat of battle was one thing to kill in, assassination and slitting someone's throat in the silent pitch black of night was a different one entirely.

He was just looking out for me.

If Jiraiya knew otherwise, he didn't say anything to me about it. "Either way, trigger a tag if you think you're out of your depth and I'll be there. Good luck, gaki." He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me an encouraging look.

I nodded gratefully, before donning a mask and standing to race towards a tree that I quickly ascended up and looked down at my targets from a better vantage point. Jiraiya had already scoped the place out, but was letting me do it on my own right now.

Three patrolling in one ring Eastside, another ring of three Westside, and the rest guarding the prisone- I paused and focused on the central cluster even more, closing my eyes to feel their chakra better.

Two of them had a distinct thrum to their chakra, and neither were moving.

Sensors.

Looks like there were a couple of Chunin level bandits, possibly missing nin or genin flunkies that managed to learn a thing or two while taking the path of criminality.

That complicated things, because they might sense me even with me suppressing my ungodly levels of chakra.

I needed a plan, and I needed to think of one quickly before they possibly switched their guard rotation. Taking a deep breath, I shifted a small tendril of chakra into the lightning element and I snaked it through my brain to speed my thoughts up and dilate time so I could think of a plan faster.

Flooding it wasn't in the books. My speed was insufficient to blitz them and be quiet about it. A loud distraction would cause them to kill the hostages.

Going in loud wasn't an option, so another was needed.

What to do. What to do. Aha! A plan formed in my mind that would work.

I focused on the west patrol and made a clone while focusing on one of them, then I repeated it two more times with a new target.

After doing it a total of seven times, I had enough chakra distributed where I could probably suppress it enough.

"No chakra blades." I instructed, tossing a kunai to each of them from my holster. "You know your targets. Await my signal."

The six assigned to patrol pacification nodded and quietly made their way to the positions I visualized in my head before spawning them, and I followed suit.

The seventh clone followed along and would branch off when I was in position for the first sensor, and then we'd execute the most important part of this operation.

My steps were sure and I avoided the sections of the forest floor that had the most leaves, my breathing faint as my nerves started to affect me at the stakes involved.

Focus, you got this, Naruto.

A creek about 100 yards to my right ran down into the small valley where the encampment was and I followed the stream downward for a couple minutes. Eventually, I reached the floor of the valley and kept moving, crouched so I made for a smaller profile in the dark.

My chakra was on the tightest leash I could manage as I crept closer to the crackling fire at the center of the camp, and everything seemed to be going fine so far.

One of the sensors came into view as I arrived at a small collection of shrubs that I knelt by and I sensed for anything suspicious, but there was nothing. Next to the sensor, I could see what looked like cages in a circle surrounding the largest fire at the center of the encampment.

I'm going to pull your throat out through your mouth. My lip curled into a growl, my teeth bared as I stared at what looked like a girl my age that was in the nearest cage.

A small gap between the cages and the interior patrols was spotted by me, and I took the risk to kill one of the sensors.

I'd have a couple minute opening before they circled around, and I'd be ready.

"Get the second one, and sense my chakra for the signal." I whispered, receiving a nod and my doppelganger made its way through the thicket and to the direction of the second sensor.

Count to thirty. I thought to myself, shutting my eyes and taking several deliberate breaths as I counted to ten in three different languages. It helped to force me to focus and not disengage mentally.

30. Game time.

My broken sword hilt sprang free from one of the storage seals in my right bracer and into my waiting hand. Tensing my legs, I shot forward at full speed, knowing the crackling of the fire would obscure the sound of my steps.

The distance between us was closed within 2 seconds and she barely turned before the jagged edge of my blade, wreathed in chakra, sank into her neck and severed her spine and trachea with a wet crack.

A faint gurgle left her throat as her lungs released the breath she had and I shoved her off my blade, flicking the blood off of it and looking up at the cages.

There was a second flash of chakra that was a few hundred meters to my right, then the presence of the other sensor faded into nothing.

Everything according to plan.

A few of the captives started to make exclamations and one cheered, but I shushed them hurriedly.

"Quiet." I hissed, glaring at the ones making the noise. "The rest are still alive."

They quieted down and I walked over to the cage with the young girl in it, and I flinched at the terror in her eyes when she looked up at me.

Her clothes were filthy and torn partially, and her light blue hair was stained with dirt and grass stains. She was definitely my age, and I could tell she looked familiar.

"Hey, it's okay," I said gently, still maintaining my sensory vision so nobody could sneak up on me, "Is your father the innkeeper of the Green Dragon in Tokijin village?"

That caught her attention, and she nodded nervously.

"Yes, he is." She whispered, her arms and legs still tucked close to her.

"Well he sent me, and I'm gonna get you out of here." I assured her, before I turned around and flipped the corpse over to get a closer look.

Women. 5'5-5'6. Black, shoulder length hair. Gray eyes. Round face.

Okay, I can work with this. I made a clone and had it Henge in a rough approximation of the sensor, then I sealed the corpse in a scroll that I quickly rolled up and stuffed into a pouch in my flak jacket; my plate armour and karuta were sealed away and I was sticking with soft armour to be covert.

I quickly made myself scarce and ran up the nearest tree large enough to hide me and I stuck myself to one side with chakra, keeping myself out of sight from the returning patrol that came waltzing in.

Four of them. One had chakra reserves comparable to a senior Chunin, denoting possible experience as a Shinobi or Ronin.

He'll be the first to die.

My clone sat in the same chair as the sensor and had its head dipped forward, adopting a faux look of concentration.

"Oi, Chuyo!" The senior of the four called out, walking faster than the others to my clone. "We bagged a deer, so it's venison for the next couple da-... what's that?"

I tensed, my heart pounding in my chest. Did he notice something off?

"Is that blood?"

Son of a bitch. I forgot to kick dirt on the damned bloodstain.

"Loud!" I shouted, kicking off the tree and forming a hand seal as I made a controlled fall to the ground.

Suiton: Teppodama.

A condensed ball of water the size of a beach ball shot from my mouth towards their direction and struck two of them, smashing them into the ground from the impact.

The shock was enough for my clone to ram a kunai into the shoulder of the Chunin level one after he diverted it away from his throat.

A growl of pain came from him, but it was cut short when my feet touched the ground and I Shunshined forward, my blade tearing clean through him and bisecting him mid chest.

The one survivor let out a cry of fear and tried to run, having frozen in shock at first.

I hardly even needed to look as I flung a kunai at him, the sharpened steel blade sinking into the back of his neck and severing the connection between his brain stem and spine. He didn't even gasp, just collapsing bonelessly to the ground with a soft thud.

The flare of chakra from my use of Ninjutsu just now had my positioned clones across the forest springing the trap, and I felt the aftereffects with my sensory ability.

The other signatures abruptly winked out of existence, faint flares of chakra coming from my positioned clones as they Shunshined in to kill the patrols.

12 enemies dead, no hostages lost.

But it almost went bad. If I had been a tad slower, they might have scattered and warned the others enough to prevent my clones from cleanly getting their targets.

Too close.

"Stupid." I cursed myself, walking up to the two severely injured bandits from my Jutsu and I mercy killed them, jamming my blade into their necks to ease their passing. I wasn't a medic, and the wheezing and contorted limbs didn't bode well for their survival. So I just killed them.

With all enemy signatures gone, I signaled my clones with a flexing of my chakra to pop, which all but the one at the corpse of the second sensor following the order. That one Shunshined to my position and stood silently.

Without fanfare, I walked towards the cage with the girl in it and gave her a reassuring look.

She looked at the bodies, then to me, and she seemed to relax.

I pointed my blade, now glowing a faint gold as I pulsed a small amount of chakra through the Uzumaki forged blade and jammed it into the lock, tearing through the metal no problem, and the broken remnants of it clattered to the ground. I then opened the door to let her out.

The girl jumped up and practically jumped into my arms, hugging me with all her might.

"Thank you," She cried quietly, gripping me like I would disappear, "Thank you so much."

I let her hold onto me for a minute, my eyes focusing on the clone that had killed the other sensor and had returned. I flicked my eyes at the other cages, and the clone nodded its understanding.

As my clone started breaking the others out, I looked down at the girl who was by far the youngest taken.

"What's your name?" I asked, rubbing her back soothingly.

"E-emi." She hiccuped, her grip finally starting to lessen.

"Emi… that's a pretty name." I smiled, hearing the final lock clatter to the ground and the four other prisoners were freed.

"Stay with them." I stared at my clone, straightening my arms to free my hands from holding Emi so I could form a cross seal. Another clone was spawned and immediately walked over to the other clone.

I let go of Emi and looked at the other freed captives.

"Do you need medical attention?" I asked.

All of them shook their heads.

"Just some bruises that will heal." The oldest, a middle aged woman with silver white hair replied. "You're far too young to be anything more than a Chunin, and yet you killed that bitch," she spat the word out as she glared at the lifeless corpse of the sensor I killed. "And the others."

My eyes didn't leave hers when I spoke.

"I'm not a normal Shinobi. Besides, my Sensei is here as well, and the other bandits are dead right now."

Taking a quick glance at the others, I turned towards the Southwest where I could faintly sense Jiraiya. At least he had his chakra leaking out so I could tell where he was.

"Follow me, so we can get back to your village." I said, starting to walk. They followed along and didn't say a word as we trekked to my godfather.

It took about 3 hours for us to get back to the village after we linked up with Jiraiya, and we received a hero's welcome once we got to the main street that ran through its center.

Jiraiya waved off any offers of free drinks and we both retired to the room he had reserved for the next couple of nights, and that was where I was at currently.

"I monitored your plan with a few clones." Jiraiya said, sitting on the bed as he scribbled down a letter while a messenger toad was perched on the table. "Can you point out any errors or how you could have done better?"

I sighed and nodded, fiddling with a kunai uncomfortably in the chair a few feet away from him.

"The sensor I killed bled out onto the ground and the stain alerted them when the patrol came back. That could have been avoided if I had a scroll out already and sealed the body in it, then kicked some dirt onto the smaller blood pool."

Jiraiya grunted his approval, finishing up the letter and folding it in half.

"Anything else?" He asked.

I thought for a moment, but I couldn't think of anything else.

"No, can't say that I missed anything. My clones did their job and I divided up my chakra so I could sneak in."

"Good, I was wondering if that was why you did that." He said, sitting up from his position on the bed and handing the now sealed letter to the toad. The toad then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Now that it was the two of us, he spoke his mind.

"Simple breakdown on where you did things either wrong or more complicated than necessary: you're right on the sensor you killed, but you also didn't maim the other sensor and interrogate for information. This wasn't an intel gathering mission, so that can be excused. Also, you should have broken the hostages out first and had several clones made to act as protection. You had plenty of time to break them out, then signal your other clones to kill the patrols; had your plan backfired, they wouldn't have even been able to run and they would have still been in the line of fire."

As Jiraiya said that, I felt the urge to shrink back from his gaze. It wasn't the jovial and laid-back godfather of mine that financed himself off of smut novels, this was the student of the Sandaime, and peer to some of the strongest Shinobi alive, and the way he was sharp and to the point about my mistakes hurt… because it was true.

"You also didn't need to have a clone for each of them, this is where breaking out the hostages comes in," Jiraiya reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of seal paper, "See what this is?" He waved the sheet in front of my face.

"An exploding tag?" I asked unnecessarily, wondering what he was getting at.

"Something you can make a hundred of in about ten minutes with your clones." Jiraiya stated simply, putting it back in his pocket. "What would have been easier; you doing what you did, relying on your clones to track each patrol… or breaking hostages out, as I said, Henging some clones as them while another couple escort them away, and you trigger a signal for the patrols to come in and you detonate a few tags?"

I could have slapped myself, that was how annoyed I was with myself when he pointed that out. Those bandits weren't sturdy or perceptive enough to evade some even rudimentary traps.

"Unnecessary complication on my part." I muttered, cursing myself once more.

"Aye, which was something Orochimaru did constantly when he was a teenager." Jiraiya explained, his face twitching as he said the name. "But you still did decently, and you'll have plenty of practice in the future."

The way he said the last part didn't exactly fill me with hope. "That sounds more like warning than encouragement."

"Eh," Jiraiya's brow creased as he seemed to think that over, "You wouldn't be wrong. Bandits prey on unprotected towns and villages during wartime, and there's another on the horizon. You got just a small taste of what was the norm 15 or so years ago and 25 years ago, and things will be getting worse before they get better."

None of that felt good to hear, and the fact that I knew that was how war often worked killed any chance of me naively hoping that Jiraiya was embellishing.

"Hey," Jiraiya stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder, "Don't be sad about that. Shit happens and you did your part today. That girl, Emi wasn't it, is back with her father now and everyone else you saved."

Even after laying out a dark reality about our world, Jiraiya manages to clutch the silver lining.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Good," He smiled, before he walked back to the bad and laid back down, "Now go and get some sleep, you got some training tomorrow and I won't tolerate you slacking, gaki."

"Yes, Sensei." I said stiffly, stifling a grin as I went over to my cot and laid down on it, turning my back to get the light of the lamp out of my eyes.

That night, I was not disturbed by any strange dreams or thoughts.

(END CHAPTER)

No bottom author note. Just hop on my discord server for updates and for art I have for Naruto. Link to my Discord, just remove the space: discord /2XN2rzuFpM

Raging..