Everyone has darkness

Return of the 'Hero'

Konohagakure no sato. The strongest village of Great Five Shinobi Nations. It has been three years since the dramatic events of Sound/Sand invasion and Uchiha Sasuke's betrayal. Those three years helped the village to take things under control and regain most of its power. Almost all damage has been taken care of. The days in Hidden Leaf returned to be as peaceful as they can be, yeah very peaceful.

And this day was not an exception.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

Or was it?

The enraged roar of Godaime Hokage spread through the village. She was pissed… No, scratch that – she was EXTREMLY pissed. The reason of her bad mood was none other than her ex-teammate. "What do you mean you don't know where he is?"

Jiraiya the toad sannin, one of the strongest Konoha shinobi in history gulped and started to sweat. He was afraid of this very moment for almost three years. "T-Tsunade um… I can explain…" His answer came in the form of chakra powered fist in the face that sent him flying in the nearby wall…

"Don't fucking play games with me Jiraiya! You better tell me where Naruto is, and you better start right now!" Tsunade said in anger. "I entrusted him to you, and you fucked up again. Tell me one reason why I shouldn't tear you to pieces right now…" Slug sannin paused. "…and quit being Hokage?!" For all reasons, Naruto was the only thing that kept her in that cursed village.

"Tsunade-sama p-please calm down." Shizune for all her years spent with her master, has never seen the woman in such rage. "I'm sure that Jiraiya-sama has a very good excuse…" She turned to Jiraiya. "…Right?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes "Well?"

"It was not my fault, I swear!" The hermit pleaded. "He surprised me."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "…Wait. You mean he ran off himself?" 'What the hell was this brat thinking?'

"Yes unfortunately he did." Jiraiya said, releasing the breath. He thought her reaction will be much worse. "I do not know his reasons or where did he go, but I will find out."

"Hmm… So when exactly he went missing?"

"…About a month after our departure."

"?"

The rage has returned into Tsunade's eyes. In a blink of an eye her fist was in Jiraiya's face… again.

"You mean you knew he ran away for two and a half years, and telling me this only now? No better yet answer this – if Naruto's gone what did YOU do this two and a half years, and I swear to god, Jiraiya, if I hear just one word about your fucking book, then you're dead meat."

Gama-sennin had enough. She can hit him, cut him, even make a law to close all hot springs in Konoha. But insulting his book crossed the line.

"And tell me what exactly would you do in my place huh? I knew I screwed things up, but I had my entire spy network looking for him all this time and still received no word. I don't know how he pulled this up, but it's almost as if he disappeared from the face of the world." Said Jiraiya desperately. Suddenly a really scary thought crossed Tsunades mind. The thought that make her tremble.

"J-Jiraiya what if he's been…" Knowing exactly what she wanted to ask he cut her off trying to calm her down.

"No no, don't worry. Akatsuki haven't captured him yet." The Hokage looked up to this.

"How do you know that?"

"Easy, because they are still looking for him" Tsunade thought for a few seconds…

"YOU HAVE A CONTACT IN AKATSUKI?!"

Jiraiya grinned. Yeah he was very proud of himself this moment.

"Yep! And he said that they still have no trace of Naruto" That really calmed Tsunade down. She sat in her chair and somewhat relaxed for the first time during the entire conversation.