"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.
...
"Hm...you're quite fast on your feet," said a deep voice; it was the one who had been with Hidan, the one named Kakuzu. It was still too dark to make out his features; all Naruto could make out in the dim light was a dark, bulky outline.
"How did you find us so quickly?" Naruto asked, his heart pounding in his ears.
"I commend you for thinking of using the wind in your favor as quickly as you did. I'll admit, I was fooled at first, thinking the four of you had split and headed separately for the forest. In fact, I'm pretty sure my idiot of a partner is even now still headed for the forest. But unfortunately for you two...I'm not him." With that, Kakuzu suddenly shot forward, heading straight toward them – but this time, Naruto was ready.
He held his hand out before him, urging his chakra together. Rapidly, streams of blue light began to encircle his palm, swirling faster and faster until it had formed a tight ball.
Digging his heels into the earth, Naruto sent lightning chakra into his feet, igniting his nerves – and with an explosive sound, he too kicked off, raising his hand into the air to meet Kakuzu.
...
"So you're a ninja, big guy?" The girl he had fondly nicknamed 'grapefruit-breasts' slapped lightly at his knee, rubbing her namesake against his arms. She was dressed in a chinese-style qipao dress that was slit dangerously high up along her thigh.
"Gwahahaha! I'm not just a ninja," Jiraiya let out a loud laugh, his face flushed red with sake. "I'm one of the legendary Sannin – they call me Jiraiya the great Toad Sage!"
"Wow, a Sannin," gushed the identically-dressed blonde girl on his other side, who he'd tenderly nicknamed 'bubble butt.' She paused, tapping a manicured nail against her plump lips. "What's that again, Fukumi?"
"Gosh Fukuyu, don't you know? It's like - like - you know, that communist guy."
"Stalin?" said bubble butt dubiously.
Jiraiya had no idea what they were talking about.
Women, he thought affectionately.
Following the advice of the fisherman he'd met at The Wet Dog, Jiraiya had soon managed to find himself in the shadowy region of the harbor city, where he'd been welcomed with open arms into the private room of a slightly more trashed bar. Guzzling down fried squid and vats of sake with a beautiful woman on each arm, Jiraiya was having a hard time remembering what he'd been so serious about just hours ago.
"So what're you here in Wave country for?" Grapefruit-breasts had returned her attention to Jiraiya, and was now lazily stroking his chest with her long nails.
"What else but to meet you ladies?" Jiraiya said as smoothly as possible – an effect that was slightly ruined by his missing his mouth with his cup, spilling some sake on his shoulder instead.
"Oh, you're so silly!" Bubble butt giggled. "Let me guess - you're on some super top-secret ninja mission, aren't you?"
"I can't say," Jiraiya said regretfully, closing his eyes in sorrow. "If I did tell you, I'd have to kill you. And if you two ladies were gone from this world, what meaning would be left to living?"
The two women burst into high-pitched giggling, clutching at his arms.
"You can tell us! None of us will remember in the morning, anyways," Grapefruit-breasts said in a sing-song voice, this time rubbing her breasts along the nape of Jiraiya's neck.
"Not after what we plan on doing with you, anyways..." Bubble butt breathed into his ear, her breath coming out hotly against his skin.
At her words, Jiraiya's eyes widened and he fell into a fit of coughing. When he'd finally regained his breath, he wheezed, "So - where were we?"
"But first - what's the magic word?" Grapefruit-breasts jumped up on his back playfully and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"The magic word?" He blinked.
Bubble butt wrapped her arms around his arm possessively. "You know...the word you have to say to get anywhere here."
"Wahaha! Oh, that one!" he said, thinking back to the fisherman with bad teeth.
Grapefruit-breasts' cold fingers caressed his face. "Yes, that one."
"'Akatsuki,' wasn't it?" Jiraiya said lightly.
"Wrong," Bubble butt hissed.
Jiraiya's eyes widened, but before he could do anything, Grapefruit-breast's weak grip on his head immediately turned iron-strong and she twisted her hands, snapping his neck. At the same time, with a flash of gleaming steel, Bubble butt's hand slashed across the front of his exposed neck. Warm blood spurted out, dotting her expressionless face with red.
The two women let go of the Sannin and backed away; with a thud, the body dropped to the floor of the room. The white hair fanning around it added a sense of finality to their deed.
"See?" said the blonde, looking down at the body with a slight sneer on her face. "There was nothing to be nervous about."
Her partner poked the body with the heel of her pumps. "Zabuza-sama said he'd be strong, though."
"Give a ninja a woman and some sake and he's only a man," the blonde said sagely.
"I guess so...are you sure he was a Sannin?"
"That would be 'is' not 'was,'" said a voice from behind them.
Stiffening in shock, the blonde let out a cry of alarm, but before she could do anything else, something long and white had wrapped itself around both of the girls' bodies, immobilizing them. Squirming fruitlessly to free themselves, they saw before them the ninja they had just killed regarding them with a grave look on his face.
"But how?" cried out the blonde. She looked down at the ground – just in time to see the dead Sannin and the puddle of blood explode into a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing behind. Her heart pounding painfully against her ample chest, she slowly raised her eyes to meet the other ninja's, and what she saw there made her tremble.
"Now ladies," said Jiraiya. "Where were we?"
...
Missing Kakuzu by what felt like the width of a hair, Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the earth, sending out a great wave of mud. Before Naruto could move out of the way, his face crumpled in pain as he felt a crushing force slam into his ribs, sending him flying backwards. Then even before he'd landed, Kakuzu was right in front of him again – moving as fast as he could, Naruto ducked low below his leg, and kicked out sideways in a leg sweep, but dodging that, Kakuzu jumped high into the air.
Grimacing in pain, Naruto propelled himself after him with another crackle of lightning chakra, flashing into the air just above Kakuzu. With his teeth gritted, he concentrated on the ball of blue chakra materializing in his hand, determined to take advantage of his aerial position.
The moonlight was just behind him, and in that instant Naruto could finally make out what Kakuzu looked like. Dressed in a large black cloak that was fluttering in the wind, the man's face was mostly covered, but Naruto could see a pair of green pupil-less eyes staring straight back at him. They widened, as Naruto's hand plunged straight for the man's heart –
But in a smooth motion that seemed almost impossibly fast, Kakuzu's arm struck out at Naruto's hand, driving it outward so that it missed him, and with another turning kick that connected on his shoulder, sent him crashing down into the ground.
With another grimace, Naruto managed to twist on his hands to lessen the impact – which still sent out even more waves of mud in every direction, separating him from Kakuzu. As they waited for the mud to settle, Naruto hastened to clamber to his feet. Seeing tiny stars circling around him, he swayed – and then almost jumped, as suddenly, a raucous sound – was that squawking? – filled the air.
"Naruto!" He heard Mayu call out urgently. He turned and saw not only Kakuzu bearing down on him, but further back, what looked like a dense, dark cloud descending upon them. Immediately understanding her intention, he struggled to gather himself together – and then flashed away, dodging just in time Kakuzu's leg.
Landing a safe distance away, Naruto saw the flock of shrieking birds set instead on Kakuzu, screeching and nipping at the ninja. Impatiently, the man batted at the bird, ripping it in two – but instantly, the parts recombined back into a whole bird once more. This time, Kakuzu kicked out widely, destroying almost half the flock – but again, the birds reformed, and continued to peck at him. Lowering his leg, Kakuzu made a tsking sound of impatience; seemingly deciding to ignore the birds for now, he instead returned his gaze back to Naruto.
"I didn't realize," Kakuzu growled, sounding as if he were talking to himself. Whereas he had only regarded Naruto with passing interest before, his concentration was now wholly on him. For some reason, his eyes seemed especially fixated on Naruto's hair.
"What is your purpose for attacking us here?" Naruto called out, with a pant. Kakuzu took a step toward him, and his eyes narrowing, Naruto lowered himself into a defensive stance before continuing.
"You're an intelligent one, aren't you?" said Kakuzu, not sounding even the slightest bit winded. "At least, more so than the last jinchūriki we captured."
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