The Path of a Shinobi (Reader x various)

Reunion

Naruto and I stayed in Jiriaya Sensei's embrace sniffling and sobbing our eyes out as he patted and rubbed our backs like a mother would do to console her children.

"Uuuuh... sniff..." Naruto was the first one to pull away and used his sleeve to wipe away the fresh tears that were on his whiskered cheeks. "It was...so lonely without you," he choked back.

"I-I can't believe you're here!" I sobbed as I tightened my hold on him afraid to let go and have him vanish from this world again.

"Well, I surely didn't expect to get reanimated, but here I am!" He chuckled and I pulled away and used the palm of my hand to wipe away my own tears.

Naruto and I stood there facing him with puffy red eyes while Jiriaya Sensei flung away a tear from his eye that managed to slip out due to the little reunion we were having.

"It's great to see my students again!" He exclaimed in pure delight and we cheekily smiled at him.

"We're really glad to see you again. We really missed you..." I sadly mumbled at the end. He placed his hands on top of our heads and ruffled our hair.

"Of course you would! What's life without me, one of the great-"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it Pervy Sage," dismissed Naruto as he didn't let him finish his grand introduction. Our Sensei pouted and removed his hand from my head and grabbed Naruto in a headlock.

"You brat!"

"Pervert!"

"Knucklehead!"

"Stingy old m-"

"Easy there ladies," I interrupted them before they started screaming more insults at one another. They glared at me and as they did, I couldn't stop the corner of my lip from lifting upward.

I missed this.

Jiraiya Sensei released his hold on Naruto and contently sighed at the two of us. But as I stood there missing the moments that we wouldn't be able to share anymore, my mood changed. Their banter only served as a reminder of the last day I saw him leave to meet his demise while we were ignorant of what was to come.

I ended up smacking our Sensei on the arm and he was about to laugh it off, thinking I meant in a playful way until he saw the unpleasant expression on my face.

"Why would you go and do something so reckless?! You didn't have to fight them alone!" I angrily shouted at him, mainly because he left us and he was all I really had left when it came to a parental figure or someone I could rely on. But not anymore.

"I needed information on them! And it proved to be helpful!" He rebuked and I clenched my fists, before shouting at him and unknowingly staring at him with my Sharingan.

"It did prove to be helpful and it's all thanks to you, but...Pervy Sage...you're more important to us," muttered Naruto.

"Your life mattered! It mattered to us! It wasn't worth throwing your life away!"

"Whose to say I wouldn't have died when he invaded the Leaf? It's better to sacrifice one life rather than hundreds of others. That information was crucial to come out alive and victorious."

"I get that, but...we would've been there to help you and figure something out! I-I hate how you left without even telling us that it could've been the last time! We wanted you to stay here with us...until the very end..."

He could clearly see the anger and anguish flaring in my eyes and a tinge of regret started to surface within him as he realized how much of a toll his death really had on us. He knew he needed to do it to protect his village, but he didn't want to leave this world again with one of his students despising him for what he did.

"I-" He took a step forward and reached his hand out, but stopped once he felt his body freeze in place.

"Pervy Sage?" Naruto took a step towards him, but wad taken by surprise when he was kicked away by Jiraiya Sensei and sent flying right into a tree.

"He's being controlled now!" I shouted over my shoulder and I watched as he began to create a Rasengan in his hand. He ran towards me and I jumped midair to avoid that direct hit from him. While in the air, I created my own Rasengan and dived down and slammed it where he was once standing a second ago.

He backed away and kept a few feet of distance from us. Naruto who had an aching back now made his way back next to me as he grumbled under his breath for the harsh kick.

"I guess we'll have to fight him. It was bound to happen sooner or later," I sighed as I mentally and physically prepare myself for this battle.

"Come at me with all you've got! Think of it as training with your master again!"

"Guess we'll have to show you how much we improved and beat you old man," smirked Naruto as our Chakra Mode instantly cloaked our bodies and we went into a fighting stance.

It's master versus students now.