Something Precious

Chapter Fifty Eight

Naruto covered his breathing holes as the dust and debris from the demolished cave blocking blew around him in a thick cloud, only furthered spurred by the breaking of the chakra barrier.

He was on guard as he sensed two of the three shinobi who were trapped in the cave infuse their chakra; ready for the possible threat. He carefully stepped through the rubble hoping gracefully over the bigger stones as they blocked his way and being cautious of the shifty rocks preferring not to faceplant at this particular moment.

"Don't move!" a deep, resonating and painfully familiar voice shouted from somewhere within to cave. His head snapped up and his eyes which watered from the dusty air struggled to adjust to the dark. He took another step closer to the trapped shinobi in hopes of setting sight on them.

"I said don't move!" the same deep voice shouted. Naruto took a sharp intake of breath.

There was a slight shuffle and then a sigh as one of the shinobi relaxed out of their defensive state. "Calm down Jiraiya, don't you see his headband?" a hissing voice said warily, too tired to be properly patronizing.

Naruto heard a resigned breath of relief and his eyes adjusted to see the tall form of his former (future?) master plopping down on the rocky ground, leaning against a towering stalagmite. The pressure from the pair's infused chakra dropping to nothing.

"Finally," Jiraiya said, his voice tired and wary. "I thought we'd die here. What took so long?"

Naruto felt prickling behind his eyes and was grateful for the darkness of the cave, for surely the moisture that now collected in them was no longer entirely from the dust. He waited a moment longer than usually acceptable to answer as to ensure his voice would remain strong and not waver.

"Uh- I-I only got the mission this morning," he said, his voice traitorously hoarse. Naruto almost rolled his eyes at his own stutter but the weight in chest kept him from it.

He had thought he was ready for this. He had spent all day preparing for meeting Jiraiya again. He didn't expect it to be this difficult, after all, he had already met his father, his mother, his sensei, and his enemy, how bad could this possibly be? But somehow this seemed different than that because Jiraiya looked exactly the same. He sounded the same and his mannerisms seemed the same as best as Naruto could tell, and he had been close to Jiraiya in a way he had never been with anyone else. Jiraiya had been the closest Naruto had ever come to having an actual parental figure in his life. He would never forget the pain of losing him so suddenly. So yeah, meeting him for the second time, alive and well and ignorant this own demise was unexpectedly difficult.

Unaware of Naruto's inner turmoil, Jiraiya raised his bushy brows in curious interest. "Really? I don't think even Minato could get here quicker. Good job kid. What's your name by the way?" he asked good-naturedly, but his voice croaked with dehydration.

This time Naruto shocked. The friendly tone bringing back too many bitter-sweet memories and melancholy feelings. He took another breath as he reached into his back pouch to pull out the water skins and pass one to each of the men, which they accepted with gratitude and proceeded to chug down their dry throats.

Naruto took this time and searched for the third sannin. He remembered what the chunnin had said about one of them being hurt and both Jiraiya and Orochimaru seemed alright with the exception of fatigue.

"Where's Gr- where is Lady Tsunade?" he questioned, concerned when he couldn't find her.

Orochimaru - still drinking his water - pointed to a stalagmite that rose thick and high from the stone. Looking more closely at it, Naruto saw a hand peeping around into view from the other side.