I Will Become the Wind

CHAPTER 4 | Scorched Earth

They left the town via toad, after gathering their things and wrapping Naruto's injuries.

"Orochimaru's base was partly destroyed when you broke through the trap, and there's no way to fix it so he won't notice," Jiraiya explained. "He may know about it already."

"But why do we have to travel like this? It's gross—and we shouldn't be running away!" Naruto's protests would have continued further, but a sudden large hop sent him face down into the fleshy floor inside the toad for the fifth time.

"We're not. Do you even understand what it means to be undercover?"

Naruto pushed himself back into a sitting position with a scowl. It wasn't just the thought of running away on principle. They might have let vital information slip from their grasp by not staying around and investigating Orochimaru's base some more. Or by going after Itachi.

"We still have time to take more books, or something," Naruto said. "I mean, anything! Now it's like all of that was a waste of time. How are we supposed to find Orochimaru now?"

A sly grin appeared on Jiraiya's face and he sat down cross-legged, plopping hands on his knees with finality. "Oh? You mean like the ones I have stored in here?"

He pulled a storage scroll from the folds of his gi and waved it around casually.

"Whaaaaat?" Naruto scrambled to get closer. "When? How?"

"I got them from that room. It was easy to find, since you blew a hole in it," Jiraiya said. "It wasn't as much as I would have liked, since I was in a hurry, and I had to be careful not to spring any more traps. Most of them I haven't been able to get into yet because I want to make sure they are safe to open."

"What the hell, Ero-sennin? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I wanted us to concentrate on getting away from there as quickly as possible. We can at least keep Orochimaru in the dark about who was snooping around in his base. If we are lucky, he'll think Akatsuki did it."

Naruto leaned back against the soft wall. He was gradually getting used to this method of transportation. "So what'll we do now? Are we going to Oto this time?"

"Yeah. Unless we find out anything else, that is probably going to be our best bet. I wish we had something more solid to go on. But for tonight, we are going to stay just outside of Oto. It will give you a good night's sleep to rest up, and I can see if there is anything to learn from the materials I took."

Naruto was slightly disappointed, but he knew better than to argue at this point. He felt of his leg wound through the bandages, and it still hurt a bit. The trap in Orochimaru's base had left his chakra reserves low for a few hours, despite the temporary boost from Sage Mode. His wounds were just now starting to heal up.

All the excitement and fighting was settling into his bones now that they were just sitting and waiting to arrive at their next destination. Naruto did not resist the sleep he could feel tugging at him. His eyes fluttered closed against the sight of Jiraiya pulling out a few books to examine. The rhythmic motions of the toad were strangely soothing.

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Fire.

A haze of smoke hung low over the charred ground. It had already come and gone here, but the smell of fire still remained. The burned undergrowth crunched beneath Sasuke's feet as he stared blankly through the destruction. The occasional flake of ash drifted through the air. The wind shifted, pulling the smoke along in its wake.