Chapter Text
Tsunade sighed. Months of hard work had now been destroyed, thanks to the Akatsuki. Since the attack on Suna, requests and demands had been flooding not only Suna but also Konoha to demand that the upcoming Chuunin exams be moved elsewhere.
Unfortunately, there were a few teams that had already started their journey to Suna, if they hadn't already arrived. Gaara and the council of shinobi elders in Suna had agreed to the Chuunin exams being moved, as long as it wasn't too far from Suna and where they would have originally took place. That meant limited options, but one had been chosen and the plans had been sent to Tsunade for review.
There were three reasons why she wasn't exactly thrilled with these changes. The first was the most obvious. Such a blatant change always meant more paperwork that she needed to go through.
The second reason was the village itself. She had never heard of it before. From the surrounding villages, there were rumours that it had been around decades before but it had disappeared. Now it seemed that as of a few months ago, it was back and growing. It just didn't make sense to the fifth Hokage. Shinobi villages disappearing were a common enough occurrence and she didn't really question it but the reemergence was something strange. She didn't like the lack of information there was about this village.
Which led to the third reason she wasn't thrilled. The ones that might have had any information about the village were gone, with the exception of possibly Jiraiya and Naruto, but they had made no mentions of such a village in their reports.
The Hokage sighed again.
She just had to resign herself that there was always the possibility of something going wrong in these Chuunin exams and would have to send some of her better jounin under the guise of being the teachers of the teams.
Speaking of teams…
There was a knock on the door. Right on time, for once.
"Enter!" she called. A group of nine entered. The confusion they felt was apparent on some of the faces of the younger shinobi.
"Due to the recent attack in Suna, the Chuunin exams are no longer taking place there," she began explaining. "They have been moved and I don't feel comfortable sending more than one genin team to an unknown village. As such, I've selected Team Ebisu to be the participants. Ebisu, you have admitted that you feel that your students are ready to try their hand at the exams and if something were to go wrong, I feel like they would be the best equipped to handle the situation. Shikamaru, you'll be going as my representative. Try to gain as much information about this village as you can. They're new and our information is lacking. I want to remedy this."
Shikamaru nodded silently.
"Team Kakashi will be going with you to watch the exams and be back-up if you would need any. They'll be under Shikamaru's orders during the duration of the exams and traveling to the village and back. Suna has sent a guide to lead you to the village and I'm sure their teams are already on their way to the village. You'll leave at dawn and the exams are due to begin in a week's time."
"What village has the location for the Chuunin exams been changed to?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade glanced down at the report in front of her before looking up again.
"It's called the Village Hidden by the Animals," she said. She watched Naruto carefully as she made her announcement, in case he did know of the village and had forgotten to include it in reports.
There was no sign of recognition in his eyes. He simply looked troubled, a look which had formed as soon as she had mentioned the Chuunin exams. No doubt he was upset that he hadn't been chosen to undergo the Chuunin exams this round but there was simply no other team she could put him with. All of the current genin teams were operating with three healthy members.
As the nine left Tsunade's office, the Hokage could already hear Naruto begin to complain. With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head and watched the door close.
"Man, this sucks," Naruto grumbled. "This is going to be a whole lot of sitting around, isn't it? I don't want to sit around and do nothing for over a month! I'd rather be in the Chuunin Exams myself."
"Well, it'll give you plenty of time to train," Sakura said. "Maybe next time Tsunade will be able to find a team to place you on."
Naruto grumbled under his breath. He didn't want to be placed on a random team if he ever underwent the Chuunin Exams again. He wanted to be on his original team but that would be impossible. Sakura was already a chuunin and Sasuke had left the village.
Jiraiya was lingering outside the Hokage tower, debating if he wanted to go inside and deal with Tsunade. He had heard the rumors about the Chuunin Exams being moved and knew she would be in a foul mood if the rumors were true.
"Taking off?" he asked Kakashi as the team passed by.
"In the morning," Kakashi replied. "Will you come see us off again?"
Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe, there's something I need to talk to Naruto about if you don't get back before I leave again. How long will you be gone?"
"Until the Chuunin Exams are finished."
There was Jiraiya's opening to determine how bad Tsunade's mood would be. "Is it true? Are they being moved to a different village?"
Kakashi nodded. "Someplace called the Village Hidden by the Animals."
Jiraiya stiffened and he glanced at Naruto, whose head had jerked up upon hearing the name. Jiraiya shook his head subtly in Naruto's direction, hoping that he wouldn't say anything.
"You recognize it?" Kakashi asked, picking up on the faint cues. Naruto turned away, leaving Jiraiya to give the explanations.
"The name, yes," Jiraiya said. "It's supposedly located within the Untravelable Forest. Its shinobi don't often leave the village."
"It would be hard to do so if the forest is named the Untravelable Forest," Kakashi commented blandly. "We're to have a guide, supposedly. That should make things a bit easier."
Overhearing his words, Sakura began to comment about how lazy Kakashi could be at times. Naruto joined in after a second, trying to pretend that everything was back to normal.
Jiraiya wondered what Naruto would do if he recognized the guide. It seemed that he would have to talk to the boy as soon as possible.
"Hey, Naruto!" he called, distracting the boy from his shouts. "I want to take you out for ramen before you leave. Let's go!"
Naruto glanced up at the word ramen but he looked at Jiraiya warily. After two and a half years, he knew that nothing was ever completely free unless things were really serious.
Kakashi sighed. He knew that he hadn't been given all of the information that Jiraiya had but hopefully he could get it out of Naruto on the trip.
"What's up, Pervy-Sage?" Naruto asked as the pair walked away from the rest of Team Kakashi. Jiraiya looked around but couldn't see anyone in obvious hearing distance that would think to listen in on their conversation.
"The Village Hidden by the Animals, huh?" he asked. Naruto's face darkened.
"It's the first time we've heard anything of the village since we've left," he said. "At least this means it wasn't completely destroyed by their civil war."
"What are you going to do if you see…" Jiraiya trailed off, looking for the word. Was teammate really the right word? They had been teammates for a brief time but Konoha didn't know of that time.
"It would only be Akahana," Naruto pointed out. "Yuri fled and Izo is…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
"The second one might have returned after the fighting stopped." Jiraiya said quietly. "And what about the fox clan? What if you run into survivors?"
Naruto scuffed the ground with his sandal, thinking.
"I'll deal with it when the times comes," he said. "I'll be happy to see them and to know that they're alive but I know that my place is here in Konoha." He didn't sound completely convinced about the latter half of the sentence.
"You need to think about these things, Naruto," Jiraiya scolded. "And you need to be careful. What do you think will happen if the Akatsuki finds out that you have ties to the village? They won't strike Konoha because of its size and numerous alliances but the Village Hidden by the Animals doesn't have anything of the sort. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack by the Akatsuki."
Naruto frowned. He knew Jiraiya was right but he also knew that there were too many secrets among the clans of the Village Hidden by the Animals that the shinobi would die to keep. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack but Naruto knew that they would rather all die than give up their clan secrets to the shinobi. An attack would be preferable than being invaded by the Akatsuki.
"Be careful," Jiraiya repeated. "Try not to reveal everything you know. I know that's hard for you—"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"But don't try to be overly friendly to those you were close to, especially in the fox clan. And don't use any of their jutsu, especially—"
"That one," Naruto finished. "But Pervy-Sage, how am I supposed to get any better at it if I'm not allowed to use it?"
"Your body has its limits," Jiraiya replied. "You were lucky last time but you might not be again. Your body can't handle what that jutsu entails."
"Others can handle it," Naruto muttered, thinking of one kunoichi in particular. Jiraiya placed both of his hands on Naruto's shoulders and forced the blonde to look up at him.
"You are not those others," he said. "Your body can't handle it so don't even try. Don't use that jutsu."
After a few seconds, Naruto gave a silent nod that was quite reluctant.
"Fine," he agreed. "I won't use that jutsu." Unless it was absolutely necessary.