The Fox Summoner (Neglected fanfic)

41. The Evil Duo

Flashback - Four days ago

The team had just left Konoha with a bit of annoyance in their hearts due to team 12's refusal to join the mission. With them, they would be able to utilize Naruto's Wood Style, Sayori's Sharingan, Yakumo's Genjutsu with Anko's snakes and poisons, this mission would go a lot smoother but of course not, Naruto had to be difficult. Jiraya scowled as he looked at his team. Kakashi was capable, that he had seen numerous times so he wasn't worried about him. Naruko and Sakura were the ones that got him on edge.

He loved his litte goddaughter like she was his own, but the girl, while very headstrong, wasn't very good with emotional control. By that, he means she's very......Uzumaki like about things. She thinks with her heart and while not a bad thing, not something he needed right now. She might lash out and say something and cause a fight where it was just a meager negotiation and get them all into deep trouble. But he can at least say she's strong enough to back up her claim. It was one of the reasons why he wished Naruto would come. He was one of the few things that kept her quiet since she'd be too busy eyeing him.

Then there was Sakura. Shit. Just that name alone should be enough reason enough to worry. While he didn't really know the girl on a personal level, but he did know her through file and jeez, it's like this girl came straight from the academy and they're pretty much 16 years old. While she did train with his old teammate, Tsunade, his old crush didn't seem her worthy enough to teach her all the stuff she knew as Tsunade knew those techniques would only be used to try and win back a traitor, that's why she taught Yakumo, a person more gifted than Sakura in terms of chakra control and Medical Ninjutsu, another reason why he wanted Team 12 to come.

Plus, the more numbers the better but no, Naruto said no so they all said no. 'That damned brat!'. If he were to be fair and analyze both parties, he understood why Naruto said no but at the end of the day, he's being childish. No matter what, Menma is Naruto's brother and no matter what, brothers help each other no matter what has happened between them. If he were honest, he'd kill Orochimaru a hundred times over to have the family Naruto has but he was never that lucky. Naruto was just ungrateful for what he's been given and that makes him a brat in Jiraya's opinion but to everyone else, hes the golden boy who can do no wrong!

Jiraya sighed as be looked ahead as the team kept moving. They needed to be at Tenchi bridge at Kusa in a few days by the looks of the information they received from Yakumo herself. It takes about a day and a half to get to Kusa so theh needed to move quickly. He turned to the back and spoke. "Well, we need to get moving, it's almost noon. By the time the sun sets I would like us to be outside Konoha's border". The team nodded and began to pick up the pace though Sakura was panting heavily due to the extra push.

Kakashi noticed his student's fatigue. "Sakura, would you like a piggyback ride?". "Thanks sensei" she said as she hopped on to take a break. "Jeez Sakura, you trained under Tsunade-baa-chan and you barely have any stamina?" Naruko asked. "Shut up, Naruko. I'm not like you, who's born with godlike stamina. I'm human". "Well, be that as it may, you still need to work on that stamina, girl, or call it quits. You got tired way too easily" Jiraya said, making Sakura frown and look down in slight shame. "Y-Yes Jiraya-sama. Sorry".

"Maybe you're being a bit too harsh on my student, Jiraya-sama, she's still a bit young to-". "No, Kakashi. At this age, she should be having chakra reserves near Joinin! that's literally the worst excuse ever. Though I'm not surprised coming from you of all people!". "What's that supposed to mean?". "It means you're a terrible teacher! Look at your team. Sasuke's off sucking Orochimaru's prick for all I know-". That got a hard glare from Sakura and an amused smirked from Naruko. "Sai is back in ANBU right under Danzo's ass. And Sakura, whose mentally incapable but somehow still on the shinobi roster. All of this is a lack of your poor abilities of being sensei!".