Naruto Senju Shippuden

Chapter 16

Naruto and Ino are walking down some random road in the centre of the Land of Fire. "That last one was doozy," Ino says with a sigh. "What did you expect? They were informants to one of the most legendary ninjas in the world," Naruto says. They had been walking for a few days and met with three of Jiraiya's numerous contacts. They all had agreed to supply information to Konoha for the foreseeable future even if Jiraiya had passed away. Naruto has appreciated Ino's company. Thanks to her, it hasn't been nearly as lonely as he thought it would be without Jiraiya in the picture. "Will you have a look at this?" Naruto asks his girlfriend. "What is it?" Ino says as she leans closer to Naruto. Her body pressed up against his. Naruto felt his cheeks heating up. Being alone with Ino might be a bit dangerous after all. Ino looks up at Naruto's face. He hadn't said anything since he asked her to look at whatever he wanted. She sees his embarrassed face and gains a cheeky smile. "Ara... little Naruto-chan isn't used to the attention..." She says as she leans in further into Naruto's side.

"Can you focus on what I want to show you instead of teasing me..." Naruto whines and hands over a scroll to the girl. He jumps away from the girl's embrace when she finally takes it. "Moh... here I just wanted to get a little closer to my boyfriend..." Ino says in a fake hurt voice and looks over the scroll's content. "It seems like a pretty aggressive fighting style... What is that "senjutsu" it talks about? And where did you find it?" Ino asks. "Senjutsu was the energy I used when fighting Kakuzu," Naruto says as he places his hands together in front of him. Black markings form around his eyes and on his forehead. "It takes the chakra in the nature around all of us and utilises it to power up my Jutsus, be it Nin-, Tai- or Genjutsu," Naruto explains and walks over to a huge boulder. "Could you lift this up for me?" Naruto asks her. She looks weirdly at him. "Why should I?" Ino asks. "Please just try it... I'll show you how it works," Naruto answers. She walks over to the boulder but doesn't lose her suspicious look. She grabs the boulder and tries to lift it but obviously can't. "Now I'll show you with Senjutsu!" Naruto says as he walks up to the boulder. He refocuses by closing his eyes. Then he grabs onto the edges where Ino had held and lifted the boulder out of the ground. "See it is kind of easy with Senjutsu..." Naruto says and replaces the boulder from where he picked it up.

"And to answer your other question: I made it. I was hoping that you could point out any flaws in it before I start training," Naruto says. "I see..." Ino says as she looks over the scroll once again. "Now that you say it, it lacks a counter for..." Ino starts as she goes over what she knew about Taijutsu. "I see..." Naruto says as Ino finishes her analysis. "I'll polish it a bit before giving it to you again," Naruto says as he takes the scroll back. He goes over the things she mentioned and tweaks them.

Naruto and Ino were meeting up with a contact on the bridge in front of them. "We will do as we did before. I walk in first to establish contact. Then, you can jump in if things go south," Naruto says to his girlfriend. She nods and moves to hide in the shrubbery behind the bridge. Naruto moves to the bridge's centre and leans against the railing, looking over the river the bridge crossed.

"You know... if you stand here for too long, people will get suspicious," A new voice says as he takes his place. He was male and middle-aged. "Hello there, Naruto-kun. It has been a while. You have grown," He says. "Mizunari Utaburo. Two years is a long time at my age..." Naruto says without lifting his gaze from the flowing river. "So it would seem," Utaburo answers. "I am sure you have heard the rumours. Jiraiya died in the line of duty last week," Naruto says. "I am sorry for your loss. I know he meant a lot to you," Utaburo says. "Thank you... But I couldn't have gotten through this without the help of my girlfriend..." Naruto says.

"You shouldn't hand out information like this... I am not loyal to you or your village. I was loyal to Jiraiya. And Jiraiya alone," He says. "I know. I am trying to open up the line of communications between you and me here," Naruto says. "You trying to build up trust?" Utaburo says. "Something like that," Naruto says. "You really are clever... I see why Jiraiya spoke so highly of you..." Utaburo says with a sigh. "Will you continue to supply Konoha information if I were your contact?" Naruto asks the man. "No way... You are too smart. I would feel inferior every time I met you..." The older man chuckles. "Good because I will be Hokage, and leaving to come to talk to you would be such a drag," Naruto says with a smirk. "Hahahaha!" The older man laughs at the teenager's joke. "So I can count on you in the future?" Naruto says as he looks at the man. He was utterly unremarkable with straight brown hair and black eyes. He didn't have any identifying scars and ordinary brown eyes. Naruto mused it was a good thing that he was so unremarkable. It made it easier to melt into the background and get away from pursuers.