Naruto: Journey Of The Strongest Teacher - Chapter 100

Ishizu POV

Kisame was going all out, but that meant the water hit everyone.

As Yugito was under the gates, she was incapacitated and unable to swim away and if no one helped her, she would drown. I saw no reason to let her die, so I activated my Sage Mode. I quickly swam towards the unconscious woman, grabbed her, and took her out.

Placing her on the ground, I turned around and jumped back in. I didn’t know Kisame too well, so better be safe and see if he didn’t kill Bee.

In the middle of the water bubble, I could see a heavily injured Kisame. His whole body was covered in wounds, but the worst injury was his left arm.

There was no left arm.

The Hashibi Jinchuriki was not dead, as I felt his chakra weakly pulsating. Kisame released the water before a laugh escaped his lips.

“Hahahaha! That was a good fight! I had never such fun.”

I shook my head. Despite such heavy injuries, he was smiling. I bet he didn’t even feel the pain of missing an arm. Battle junkies were a type of people I disliked fighting.

“Do you want me to heal you or would you rather prefer the one-arm style?” I asked him, who was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting me to heal such an injury, but, hey, I brought people back from the dead.

“I don’t want to be a cripple, so I would prefer to be healed,” answered the shark man.

Summoning the KoH, I guided Kisame inside. While it would be fast to heal Kisame, I made it slower for a single reason.

“Fuinjutsu: Six Roaring Pandas.”

Red chakra came out of Bee and filled the container. Unfortunately, he was already low on chakra due to Kisame, so 2 more marbles filled up, leaving me with 3.

In the end, it was enough.

Sure, I could get more, but it would affect him negatively. I also took a bit from Yugito just to have more chakra from Matatabi. Afterward, I opened the KoH to see Kisame walking out.

Swinging his new arm, Kisame smirked.

“Good as new. So, now what?”

I shrugged. My last Jinchuriki was waiting. My plan was coming to its end and Kisame could do whatever he wanted from now on.

“I don’t know what you want to do. Itachi will take some time before getting out and I see nothing to do for you. The only thing I would recommend is going to Kiri and asking for forgivingness from the new Mizukage. Mei Terumi is a nice lady.”

Kisame frowned.

“You do know that I am a criminal. The moment I enter their territory and surrender, I will be placed in a cell. I doubt they will get anything from me by torture, but if I hate pain. Not only that, but I will lose Samehada.”

The sentinel sword purred clearly not wanting to leave Kisame’s side.

“But they will release you once Tobi is going to start his war that will involve the whole nation. You, a former member of Akatsuki, will provide important information and are one of the strongest Shinobi alive.

Hell, you beat the Hashibi Jinchūriki, someone who could control it. Mei would be stupid to let you in prisons when the world is at stake. If it still happens, I will get you out, and as I am in your debt. How does that sound?”

Kisame shook my hand.

“Deal.”

With that, Kisame walked away to Kirigakure hoping to find a new purpose.

I made a clone that would be faster and inform Zabuza of Kisame so he would be welcomed better than getting attacked.

I sighed as I used the Summoning Jutsu. Time was flying by fast. The war was coming closer, but not only that…

“Sage Ishizu, how can I be of service to you?” asked the big panda.

“I need your help to carry me. Your speed is superior to mine. I hope you can get me to my destination as fast as possible.”

Brother Long nodded before signaling for me to go on his back.

As I held tight, the panda started running and hell did he run fast. I had to press my body into his fur, fearing I would fall down.

Scene change

In Konoha, Tsunade was debating if she should get Naruto back to Konoha or not.

A message came from the Tsuchigumo clan asking Konoha to help save a forbidden jutsu and their team was closest to the destination.

She heard nothing from Ishizu after he left Konoha. A missing-nin of Ishizu’s caliber running around freely was dangerous.

As the hokage, she had to issue the Anbu to search for Ishizu. The clans and the council discussed the betrayal of Ishizu. The civilian council was furious and demanded his head. Spouting about him being corrupted by the Kyuubi’s power.

Ishizu’s decision confused the Shinobi clans. They knew he was Namikaze’s student, Naruto’s teacher, and an influential person. Who didn’t know the crazy fuinjutsu guy from Konoha?

If he resisted, there was no other way than to kill him. Everyone agreed to such a vote.

Back in Konoha, Fukasuke managed to locate the Hokage office. He had no time to see if the pandas were victorious in fighting Pain. He just had to hope that Jiraiya was alive, but even when he was, he was ordered not to tell the truth.

Inside the office, Tsunade was sitting and drinking from her sake. She still felt hurt by the betrayal of Ishizu and used the alcohol to drown the pain away. From her periphery, she spotted Fukasuke entering through the window.

“You are the toad who went with Jiraiya. Fukasuke, am I right?”

“Yes, it is me.”

“Where is Jiraiya?” asked Tsunade and even if she tried to sound serious, there was a hint of fear inside her voice bracing for the worst.

She prayed to whatever deity and even to Ishizu that Jiraiya could come back. Even if Ishizu defected, Tsunade hoped he held up his deal.

“I… I don’t know. The leader of Akatsuki was too strong for us. Jiraiya would have died if it wasn’t for the pandas of Ishizu-kun. They took the badly beaten Jiraiya and told me to flee. I was told by their Sage to tell the others he is dead. I can only speak to you about this,” explained Fukasuke.

Tsunade sighed as the pressure on her was partially gone. Only when she saw a healthy Jiraiya face to face would she be happy.

“I don’t know how I will tell Naruto about Jiraiya. I can’t lie and tell him he is dead. I am not powerful enough,” sighed Tsunade, slumping down on the chair.

“I will do it. I don’t feel it is right to tell Naruto a lie, but he has to gather the strength to fight Pain. He is just about to master Sage Mode completely and when he does, I have no doubt he will defeat Pain,” said the toad elder.

In the end, Tsunade decided to wait for Naruto to come back to Konoha and wait so the toad elder could tell him the news personally. Tsunade sent a messenger bird out to inform the group to split up. Naruto’s team would go and help the Tsuchigumo clan while the rest shall return to Konoha.

In the land of Fire, Naruto and the others received the mission and encountered the girl and Utakata, who quickly left after seeing the Konoha Shinobi.

The girl, Hotaru Tsuchigumo, told them to let her alone when they heard something coming through the trees.

Naruto and the rest quickly jumped to protect Hotaru, only to be blown away by the massive beast that ran into them.

“Long… stop. We are here.”

Ishizu clutched his head, trying to stop vertigo. Long moved fast.

“I hope you were happy with me, Sage Ishizu,” commented brother Long with a bow.

“Yes, yes. You did a good job,” Ishizu waved him off, placing a hand before his mouth to stop the gag reflex.

“Are you the one that is after me?” asked Hotaru.

Ishizu’s eyes fixated on the girl in front of him. The Utakata filler arc wasn’t one of his favorites, and he bȧrėly remembered the story. Something to do with a giant fuinjutsu bomb sealed into the back of a girl. She must be the one. And if she is here, Utakata shouldn’t be too far away.

“I am not. I came here for another reason,” casually answered Ishizu.

“Ishizu-sensei, what are you doing here?” Naruto asked, seeing his sensei coming out of nowhere.

Ishizu froze for a moment. Naruto greeted him normally, which meant that Tsunade didn’t inform his student of him being a missing-nin. He had to act normally, and even if it was painful, deceive Naruto.

“I got a mission to find a certain person. I got the information that he was around this area, but it seems like he is somewhere else.”

“Sasaki-san, who are you looking for?” asked Yamato.

“A secret. I can’t disclose my mission if the enemy is listening or somebody I don’t know,” said Ishizu as he looked at Hotaru.

“Then we won’t tell you about our mission,” said Naruto as he puffed his cheeks.

Ishizu eyed Hotaru. While he didn’t know the girl specifically, he was a master of fuinjutsu and naturally had studied about the secret.

“You are the carrier or the Dohatsuten. Granddaughter of En no Gyouja.”

“Hey, that’s not fair. How did you know that?” asked Naruto.

“Naruto, Jonin like Sasaki-san, knows about things concerning fuinjutsu,” explained Yamato, having seen the explosion from his root training.

“I could accompany you but I need somebody to trace my mission.”

Ishizu did his summoning Jutsu and quickly dodged to the right as a panda tried to jump on him and landed on Naruto.

“So mean, Ishizu-chan. I want to hug you and not Naruto-kun. Why are you even with them? Didn’t you betr…” faster than ever, Ishizu tackled the panda and covered her mouth with his hand, preventing her from being stupid.

“Are you stupid?! Focus, Yang Yang. I need you for this mission. You know what to do.”

Yang-Yang’s face turned crimson as she saw Ishizu’s hand on her mouth.

“You kissed me.”

“What?”

“Your hand. It touched my lips.”

Ishizu ġrȯȧnėd in frustration. Why must the pandas be so… argh!

“Stop being an idiot and find him.”

“If you’ll give me a hug, I’ll do it,” Yang Yang grinned.

Ishizu had no time to being annoyed with her and opened his arms before she crushed him.

“E-enough.”

Grinning, Yang Yang stopped crushing her summoner and left. Her mission was to find Utakata and mark him so Ishizu would know where he was.

Since Ishizu was with them, the team left for the hidden village.

Yang Yang POV

It was hard to muster a smile while looking at Naruto, but I had to act as my Sage was still a Konoha Shinobi. Either way, I had to fulfill my mission.

I ran through the wood to find the Shinobi, who used bubbles as his weapon. At one point, I felt a high chakra collection and followed the scent. The forest ended and on the grass plain, 4 people surrounded a young human.

The 4 must be people after the bubble guy, but he said they were not worth our notice. I could see it. The barrier they made together was not weak. No, weak was not the right word.

Pathetic, laughable, or a shame to good Fuinjutsus would be a better word. From the strength that came of the Jinchūriki, I knew he could break through the barrier, but it would take some time.

So instead of waiting, I used the nature energy to infest the Fuinjutsu and break it from the inside so the young man wouldn’t notice me. Not only that, but I left a bit of nature energy on him so I could find him at any time.

Still, my instincts told me to stay away from the girl that was with Naruto and my Sage. She felt like a huge container of nature energy sealed by a seal that had a special key. I couldn’t imagine the damage that would be produced if the seal would break.