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NARUTO's PERSPECTIVE

Outskirts of Shukuba Town

Hidden Leaf.

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It didn't take much for the Uzumaki to pick up on his best friend's quietness during their traveling. They hadn't been out of Konoha for at least 35 minutes, and he took in all of our quietnesses with curiosity. Jiraiya tried to small talk with the girl, but to no avail, her comments were bare. Maybe she had been sick of sorts, or quite honestly, she didn't want to leave Konoha. "Our first stop on the map today..." Jiraiya held a mini paper map in his hand, with a few pinpointed marks on it. Shukuba Town. "It's a rather..bustling town I must say.." Jiraiya then began to snicker, as his mind wandered elsewhere "One that I even think Tsunade may be in.." And the sounds of the man snickered began again. Naruto eyed him with a disgusting look on his face. "Perv..." he mumbled out, rolling his eyes in the process.

[Name] didn't react much, only looking over to Naruto to see his reaction and disapproval of Jiraiya.  Naruto slowed his pace a bit, matching his walk speed with [Name]'s as he slowly shifted over to her and nudged her on her arm. "Say..[Name].. what's wrong?" Naruto questioned the girl, whose eyes traced to the dirt pavement of the ground. "You don't seem like yourself today ka know.." He even began to wonder if it had to do with Sasuke of some sort. His mind still lingered at the thought of the two getting closer again. "Is it..Sasuke..?" He then questioned without another thought pondering.

The Uchiha-Hyuga looked up at him, raising her eyebrow in suspicion at the call of his name. "No. I don't know what it is.." she responded honestly, shrugging as she held onto the straps of her backpack. "Just something..is..bothering me, I just can't put my finger on it." Jiraiya eavesdropped on their conversation, looking back at the [H/C] haired girl in curiosity. "A stop in Shukuba will fix that!" He ecstatically commented in, Naruto rolling his eyes again, "What exactly is in Shukuba for YOU?"

"Many things...many many..things.." the white-haired man smirked, his walk speed picking up at the thought of what may be there for him beside Tsunade if she resided there. "Jiraiya-sensei, that's disgusting." [Name] shamed the man, shaking her head as Naruto laughed t the girl's reaction to Jiraiya's absurdness.
...

After a while, it didn't take long for the three to arrive in the town. And just as Jiraiya spoke, it was rather busy and lively — even for being in the midday. The two Genin's watched as Jiraiya tried to prosper with every woman that passed him. Only for him to be brutally turned down every single time. "Hm..!" Jiraiya's mind seemed to wander elsewhere at the moment, "Say..[Name].., have you begun any Jutsu training?" the Sannin asked fo the Uchiha-Hyuga, who listened on intently.

"No.., actually..I don't know much..if anything at all. I was taught how to use a fireball jutsu when I was younger but I have a hard time using it.." she reminisced upon Fugaku teaching her the basics of the jutsu and her first time using the Jutsu. It wasn't the strongest of an Uchiha's fireball but it was her own unique one. She heard Jiraiya hum to himself again, shuffling around for something in his satchel. "Ah-ha!" he took out a plain piece of tan paper from his satchel, the two Genin's looked at him with confusion.

"This here..kids..! This is a Litmus paper!" Jiraiya raved on, noting the lack of attention from Naruto. "This determines one's nature..shall it be Earth, Wind, Fire or Water! It will determine such." He handed the paper over to [Name], carefully noting to her not to infuse chakra in it until she was ready.

Naruto watched carefully as the girl held onto the Litmus paper softly and gently. "What do you think it will be?" [Name] asked the blonde Uzumaki, who thought intensely as to what it may be. "Hm..water!" he took a guess, he figured something about the girl's aura gave off a dreamy like water type of affinity. "Hmm.." she stared at the paper ominously, quietly beginning to infuse chakra in it. Within that one second, the paper began to crinkle and wrinkle. Naruto watched on curiously and confusingly, wondering what it mean.

"Huh.., that's interesting." Jiraiya looked down at the paper, examining what she had for it. "And you're half of an Uchiha? I am shocked it wasn't fire.." Jiraiya then noted before he chuckled and told the girl what it was. "It seems, Kakashi would best fit to train you in lightning-based jutsu's..!" he acquired, a smile forming on the girl's face at the thought of learning from Kakashi. Though she found the man slightly ominous and strange, it would be a good experience for her.

Quick to bring out his journal after their conversation. Jiraiya noted something within it, [Name] had begun to notice the man would bring it out so often around her after certain conversations and write something down. She wondered what exactly it might've been, and also wondered may it have been related to her storytelling to the man during their first meeting. It just might've possibly been that.

After walking down a few more blocks, the man came to a rest in front of an Inn. Naruto bickered with the man over how early it still was and that they could've continued traveling within the post town before sunset. Jiraiya waved the Uzumaki away as he paid for the room, pausing once he felt the eyes of someone trace to him. "Huh..—" he turned around, eyes widening as a woman with long brown tresses and a purple dress eyed the older man.

They had taken it as a cue to grab the room keys from the clerk as he became allured to the woman, inching closer to her with a devious laugh. "Well, kids..! I shall see you later..! Practice some chakra control while I'm gone!" he then commented, before quickly hurrying off with the woman before him. Naruto yelled at the man as he ran off, scolding him for leaving them so suddenly and for a woman he didn't even know at that.

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[Name]'s PERSPECTIVE

Hidden Leaf.
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[Name] abruptly yawned as she watched the Uzumaki before her train on his full-size bed, a few clones gathered around him too. His eye stayed closed as she looked upon him, a look of concentration on his face that caught [Name]'s attention. She smiled in his direction, her heart skipping a beat as she thought about how much he had grown as a person during their time as teammates. Both he and Sasuke had grown exceptionally within the past few months, she felt like a proud mother to them both.

"You're causing me to lose concentration ya know!" Naruto opened one of his eyes, looking at the girl who quickly whipped her smile off her face and tried looking away from the boy in a hurry. She slightly looked over at him, side-eyeing him. "Sorry.." she mumbled out as he intensely stared at her for a moment. The boy looked to be in his own thoughts at the moment as he kept his eyes traced to her. "[Name]." he called out to her, she turned to face him fully with a hum in response.

He nervously scratched at the back of his neck, clearing his throat as he mumbled out his words incoherently at first. The Uchiha-Hyuga rose an eyebrow in confusion at his sudden nervousness. "Are..you.." and then he paused again before he sighed out. "Nevermind.." he then said, scooting away from facing the girl as he now faced the cracked walls in the Inn. She tilted her head slightly as she wondered what he wanted to say to her. It must've been too prideful for him to speak of. The boy always spoke his mind.

Just as she was about to speak up, a knock at the door silenced her. With her mouth half-opened, she was quick to close it as she looked over at the door suspiciously. "Eh? Is Jiraiya back this quickly?" she questioned, her feet dangling to touch the ground of the room as she got up and Naruto watched the door. The knocks continued, but more rapidly. Quickly walking to the door, she held to the doorknob as she felt uneasy.

Allowing herself to gulp down the unease, she twisted the door and slowly opened it. Her heart raced as she opened it more and more, revealing what lied behind the door. She took in the appearance with wide eyes, and her heart dropped as she began to believe she was dreaming at that moment "[Name].." he called out to her, and panic ensued in her as she elicited out a scream before trying to slam the door shut. At the sound of the scream, Naruto jumped up from his sitting position, his eyes widening as he watched her jam at the door.

Itachi stuck his foot out to the door, stopping it from closing fully. [Name]'s heart raced as she tried pushing the door close but to no avail, Itachi's hand gripped at the door and kept it from shutting. With a swift push at the door, the elder Uchiha swung it open, with [Name] falling to the ground in the midst of it. She scrambled back quickly against the bed that stood closer to the door, breathing heavily as Itachi and another cloaked individual looked down upon her and she looked up at him, shakily.

She had never spoken about Itachi much or even thought much of him after the events that had happened years prior, but one thing she didn't realize lingered after the years of not seeing him and finding out what he did, a fear towards him had seemed to grow deeper in her. "Itachi..?" Naruto shakily said himself, he stood over on the other side of the bed that [Name] sat in front of. In her panic-filled mind, she wondered, had he been there to finish what he did years priors? to kill her? or was there another reason for it. His Sharingan-activated eyes seemed to bore into her soul. The time before her felt like it became slower, an absentminded look on his face as he turned and looked over to Naruto.

"Shall we take a walk for a moment like old times?"

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SASUKE's PERSPECTIVE
Shukuba Town

Hidden Leaf.
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He had felt that he had been living that night again, running for his dear life to see if she was there and safe. And it seemed all to be for the same reasoning once again. His mind raced at the thought of finally seeing Itachi again, the bloodlust to kill him at that very moment when he saw him. He loathed the man he once called and loved as his brother, he loathed the fact that he had been on the trail of following Naruto & [Name] and had intentions of hurting the both of them. Sasuke grimaced as he began to think upon the man heavily.

He ran faster as his thoughts raced, a scream caught his ears a few moments later, one that sounded of [Name]'s, causing him to halt and look around to navigate whereas he heard the scream come from. Civilians within the crowd pausing for a given moment also, looking around at the sudden abruption. Eyeing around, Sasuke found an Inn within his view, one where the sound came from. Presuming his run to save his team again, he hurried to the Inn.

The Uchiha ran past the Innkeeper and his angered yells, climbing the stairs as he activated his Sharingan, his anger rose as he saw the darkened chakra of Itachi's along with [Name]'s and Naruto's. He truly wanted to kill Itachi within that moment, his hands clenched in anger as he slammed the door to the floor [Name] & Nauto resided on. "Itachi..." he mumbled out at first, turning the corner as he halted again and screamed out the man's name this time. His voice echoed through the hall, the man he called for looking back at him and garnering the attention of the two others that stood out in the hallway.

"I'm..here to kill you.."

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[AUTHORS NOTE] oh these last few chapters into the start of shippuden are about to be sooo soo good. i am estimating shippuden to start around chapter 30-31ish maybe, BUT before I get there, I have a lot of heavy editing to do from prior chapters..cus whew chile.., I did not realize how many errors I had throughout this book but anyways,, I CANT WAIT FOR SHIPPUDENnnn