The Wet Dog was one of the better-known taverns along the pier, with the best sake found anywhere along the coastline – or so the drunk sailor that Jiraiya had interrogated claimed, anyways. And so, he found himself sitting down behind the countertop, swirling warmed sake around in a cup while keeping an eye out in the crowd for anyone who looked like they could be by themselves.
Soon enough, with a scraping sound, a flushed-looking man dressed in the telltale (and rather threadbare) cotton coat of a fisherman settled into the wooden chair beside him. Flagging the barman down with a finger, the man let out a loud hiccup. His unfocused eyes traveled across the bottles and flasks of sake behind the counter, before moving on to his neighbors. When Jiraiya felt the drunk man's eyes on him, he looked down at his cup, before taking a sip from it.
"You a foreigner?" The fisherman slurred, leaning his face haphazardly against his hand.
"Mhm."
"Where from? Fire - hic - country, by the looks of it."
Jiraiya made a noncommittal sound, and put his cup down on the countertop. "How about you?"
"Born and raised in Wave," the fisherman hiccuped.
"You fish for a living?"
"Among other things..." The barman had brought him a small plate of fried seaweed and octopus, and he began to chew at it, making an audible crunching sound even over the din of the tavern.
"Other things?" Jiraiya repeated.
Crunch. "Can't survive - hic - here no more doing just one thing."
"Economy not doing well?"
"Yeah, this place's gone to the dogs...crunch...market might as well be non-existent...lucky to get 100 ryō for an entire shipment of fish, even."
Jiraiya let out a whistle. "For an entire shipment? Sounds rough."
"Tell me about it," the fisherman let out a grunt, bobbing his head. "If I had anywhere else to go - hic - I certainly wouldn't still be here."
Jiraiya traced the rim of his cup with a finger. "Still, you sound like you're doing rather well for yourself."
"Well...I pay my dues, yea? That's the secret to survival around here...if you know what I mean." As drunk as he was, the fisherman had lowered his voice with a furtive look around, but the barman was serving another customer at the other end of the counter.
"Huh," said Jiraiya, injecting as much admiration as he could into the single syllable.
"The thing is - hic - everyone knows the daimyō ain't in control no more, yeah? It's the gangs who run the place now. It's all about staying on their good side..." The fisherman broke off to noisily pop another octopus leg into his mouth, and as Jiraiya waited for him to continue, he watched as it was crushed into bits between the man's yellowed teeth. "You don't get in their way - crunch - and you give 'em what they want...and they'll leave you alone long enough to scrape enough ryō together to buy a night's stay in bed and some sake for your belly..." The man broke into a raucous laugh, and patted his stomach. Jiraiya followed with a rumbling laugh, holding his sake cup to the other man's face.
"You seem like a sensible sort of man...say, you wouldn't happen to know, would you? If I wished to invite some fairer company into my bed without fearing for my neck around here..."
The fisherman immediately placed a knowing hand on Jiraiya's shoulder, having recognized a brother in need. "You need speak no further, my good man. You'll be glad to know that with just one word, you'll be guaranteed a restful night anywhere around here."
"Oh? And what's that?"
The man grinned, his teeth gleaming in the sickly light. "Akatsuki."
Immediately, Jiraiya had to stop himself from reacting to the name, giving the fisherman only a small nod of acknowledgement. With forcibly stilled hands, he raised the sake cup to his mouth, draining the rest of it.
Akatsuki!
The criminal organization that Jiraiya had devoted so many years of his life to researching – the organization that Orochimaru had joined after defecting from Konoha – could they truly be operating here? In Wave country?
Whatever the case, one thing was certain: his decision to stay behind in Wave country had been the right thing to do. Something big involving Akatsuki was about to go down, and there was a good chance it had everything to do with the current fiasco with Gatō. Jiraiya hadn't been sure what he would do after discerning the cause behind the country's ruination – there was a limit to even what he could do – but now that he knew the Akatsuki had a hand in this place, he knew he had to do something, even if that 'something' only involved further intelligence-gathering. That was what he had been doing all these years, after all, even going so far as to let down the Third's hopes of him taking up the mantle of Hokage. But in as much as it had been his determination to retrieve Orochimaru, it had also been for his home, Konoha.
Because no matter how many years it had been since he'd actually been there, when it came down to it, Jiraiya would never let down Konoha, even at the cost of his life.
...
"A-are you sure about this, Naruto?" Mayu asked uneasily, as she took off her cloak. "You do know that if they don't fall for it – "
"We'll be sitting ducks. I know." Naruto took off his cloak, and immediately, he felt goosebumps rising on his arms as the harsh wind bit into them.
"To be fair, that Hidan guy doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the box," said Rai, his own cloak already tucked under his arm. "His partner gave me some bad vibes though...what was his name again? Kakasu?"
"Kakuzu," Sai answered, and the others turned to him. "He's an S-rank missing-nin from Takigakure."
"How do you know that?" Rai asked, looking rather taken aback.
"He's been listed in the Bingo Book for quite some time now."
Rai opened his mouth to question him further – as it were mostly jōnin and ANBU who held bingo books – but Naruto held up a hand. "Enough. Later. Focus on the mission at hand now. Are you all ready?" He looked at each of his teammates in turn, and with focus refilling their expressions, they nodded. With a nod back, he brought his hands together in the clone seal – "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
With puffs of identical clouds of smoke, a dozen Narutos fell into place on the ground beside them, matching their punishing pace. Naruto – the real one – flung his cloak at the pair nearest him, and one immediately tugged the hood over himself. At the same time, Mayu and the others also threw their cloaks at a pair of clones, until there were four clones wearing each of their cloaks.
With every cloaked clone paired with one without, all twelve of his clones shot off into slightly different directions – but headed ultimately for the forest.
"See you two soon," Rai muttered, before turning sharply on his heel and heading east,away from the forest. Sai – with a reluctant glance back at Naruto – quickly followed suit.
"Stay safe," Mayu whispered back, her voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. Naruto heard her step into place beside him as they ran in the opposite direction, west.
The forest was large; even though they weren't headed directly for it, the black mass of trees grew rapidly bigger and bigger as they closed the distance. Without their cloaks, the chilly night wind struck harshly into their faces as they raced along the marsh, the cold bog water seeping into their sandals.
Naruto looked back, but there appeared to be nothing there beside the long stretch of marshland they had just crossed. The bloodlust too had faded, leaving behind just the beating of his heart in his chest, and the shallow breathing of Mayu running next to him.
"Have your birds found them?" he asked Mayu, who brought her hands together to make the bird seal.
"They can't get near without being detected, but it looks like Hidan is headed straight for the forest," she said, her voice tinged with relief.
"And Kakuzu?"
"None of them see him."
"Alright. Keep the bird on Hidan, but make sure it's not detected, and keep the other birds searching for Kakuzu. Have Rai and Sai reached the end of the forest yet?"
"They've just reached the other end," Mayu confirmed. "They'll be out of range soon."
"Good, keep your birds with them for as long as you – " Naruto broke off and his eyes widened. Without even enough time to shout, he raised up his tantō to protect himself.
With a grunt, Naruto had just barely managed to raise it in time before a powerful kick slammed into the flat side of his blade, sending him flying backward. Still struggling to hold his tantō in front of him, Naruto dug the heels of his sandals into the ground and felt the wet earth wedging alongside his soles from the sheer force behind the kick. Finally, he came to a stop, his legs covered with cold slabs of mud.
"What happened?" he heard Mayu gasp.
The dark figure that had attacked him out of seemingly nowhere hadn't followed him, choosing instead to cross his arms and regard Naruto with an almost leisurely interest.
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