"I have even tried going back to some places out of the locations that Shiksku provided."
He had even decided to do extra. Currently, he was in one such place which Shikaku did not mark.
…
"You are here again! Good sir."
The owner of Touka noodles greeted Reko politely. He was happy to retain a regular customer who paid well and ordered his best food. This town was not really that good for his expensive cooking. Although, he did sell lots of cheaper variants pretty well.
"Please order what you would like to have."
The shop owner requested politely.
"Hey!! Isn't that guy kind of familiar??"
Naruto mumbled to Jiraya who was standing close by as he saw the figure of Reko sitting in the noodle shop.
The shinobi attire seemed very familiar to him. It looked like the leaf village's?
"Reko?"
Jiraya seemed to recognise the individual sitting and eating lavishly in the expensive noodle shop. This was a familiar figure, a talented shinobi of their village one of the few young guys he was acquainted with.
"Ohh. Finally." Reko seemed really happy after he turned around and recognised the other party. To his surprise, it was none other than Jiraya and Naruto. The people he had been searching for almost a week!!
"Finally…" Jiraya also appeared to be surprisingly very happy to have seen Reko. Even Reko was kind of surprised to see the happiness in Jiraya's eyes.
'Were we this close? I don't remember us being that familiar with each other..'
Reko stopped his hands from taking another bite as he looked at Jiraya suspiciously.
However, Jiraya did not seem to mind those expressions. He sat on one of the available seats of the noodle shop comfortably before happily shouting.
"Shop owner!! Five big bowls with all the seasonings! This young boy here will pay."
As his order reached the shop owner's ears, the owner instantly glanced at Reko for confirmation.
He was unsure if these two cheapskates were really acquainted with the rich looking young man eating lavishly in front of him. He was waiting for Reko to confirm the order.
If this turned out to be an attempt to scam him? Haha, then he would beat the shit out of those cheapskates.
"Huh? Okay."
Reko looked confused before it finally hit him. The reason why Jiraya looked so happy was because Reko, a junior, would obviously pay for their meal. Nothing more, nothing less.
He nodded for the order to be confirmed. Money was not a problem for him. He literally did not have any expenses except for the food he consumed.
"Five? Give me six!! I need to eat my fill today" Naruto had a certain shine in his as he also leaped and sat on one of the available seats. He understood Jiraya pretty well by this time.
And thus, he realised that this was the moment to have their belly filled with free food. He could not miss it and ordered one extra bowl.
"Sure. Give him too."
Reko chuckled, easily able to see through the thoughts of both student and the teacher.
Reko waited for both of them to eat peacefully. While eating, Jiraya continued to happily chat with Reko. Once Reko revealed that he had been learning directly from Tsunade, Jiraya began to brief him about his travels and the activities they had been occupied with.
After the brief chat, Reko concluded that Jiraya was doing pretty well in training Naruto. But on a certain day, the tailed beast decided to strike back. The injury was serious but Jiraya managed with his skills.
Since then, he had sensed one or two powerful individuals, nearly Kage level, and had been avoiding them. He was aware that in his current condition, it was not possible for him to survive. So. he used his experience to hide and remain low for a while.
Unfortunately, he had been finding it pretty difficult to hide these days, especially the last three days. He kept feeling an individual with a very strong aura searching for him, finding him.
He had barely concealed his chakra at times.
"So? You guys were waiting here, hiding from a certain someone?"
Reko looked at them with a look of pity, they looked like starved people who had been finally fed after a rough week.
"Correct!"
Both of them nodded at Reko's question. They had a really tough time hiding away from those pursuers, especially when they lacked money too.
'Am I too good or too bad? Even a legendary sainin was subconsciously hiding from me.'
Reko was stunned. He kept looking at the student teacher duo before he paid the bill for their meals.
"Why are you here though? It is pretty far from the village."
Before walking away, Jiraya decided to ask him about his reason for travelling so far. Since he was training under Tsunade, shouldn't he be in the village with Tsunade?
"Are you on a mission?"
Naruto also seemed curious and chimed in to ask.
Reko looked at them for a second, wondering, how should he explain it? Should he say that he was searching for them?
"No. I was the one you were trying to hide from."
Reko answered honestly. He was the one who had been coming back to this place for the last three-four days. And he was indeed searching for them.
"You were tracking us??"
Naruto looked stupefied as he heard Reko's words. Why was a fellow village shinobi searching for them? Did something happen in the village once again?
Was there another big attack on the village?
"Did Tsunade send you?"
Jiraya however seemed more composed.
'He was able to learn ninjutsu in an instant. So, it should not be a surprise for him to learn medical techniques with the same speed.'
Jiraya had first hand witnessed the affinity Reko possessed for ninjutsu. It was as if he was loved by nature.
"Yes. I was done with my training pretty fast. So, she sent me here."
Reko nodded at Jiraya. The legendary Sainin had guessed it perfectly. He was sent by Lady Tsunade for treatment.
"Why don't we head to our accomodation first? We will talk once we reach there."
Jiraya suggested heading back to the room first. It was not safe for them to be here in public, discussing these sensitive topics.
Reko and Naruto followed Jiraya, understanding the significance of privacy.
"Do you have a letter? A mission slip? Anything?"
"It was very difficult to reach you and since Lady Tsunade is in the sacred land at the moment, I don't have a very solid document.
But I do possess the map given to me by Shikaku Nara."
Reko handed over the map he had gotten from Shikaku to Jiraya as a proof. He did not have much evidence. But did he need one? Absolutely not!
"It seems likely that this was made by Shikaku. Very well."
Chop
"Hmm? I thought that I made it clear. Tsunade sent me to your aid. What do you mean by attacking me?"
"Multi shadow clone Jutsu!!"
"Haah! If you had wanted, I could have shown you more evidence. Why bother wasting your chakra?"
"I don't know what your intentions are but I cannot disobey Pervy sage. Because you have paid for our meals, I'd go easy on you."
Naruto continued his assault on Reko, sending clones one by one, sometimes even dozens ganged on him.
Reko kept dispelling the clones with great ease. A punch to each clone and the shadow clone would disappear.
"Great fireball jutsu!!"
Jiraya also came to aid, not directly joining the hand to hand combat but assisted with his ninjutsu from behind.
Like every other fire release ninjutsu, this one was very easily dodged by Reko too.
However, in the camouflage of fire, Naruto had disappeared. And the moment he finally appeared was right before Reko, with a Rasengan in his hand.
"Rasengan"
He shouted as his habit and pressed it against Reko's body, in his stomach.
"Huh? He disappeared?"
Naruto looked around, baffled, trying to find where Reko had disappeared. He did not feel his attack hitting any surface.
"Hmmm. It's pretty difficult getting a Jinchuriki in a Genjutsu. What do you say?"
Reko asked Jiraya who was seated in a chair in front of him. In between them, a table was placed with snacks and drinks which both of them were snacking on.
"You have done pretty amazing for your first time. You are already very proficient in this."
Jiraya believed it was pretty amazing. He had good idea of how far a Genjutsu could go. Without kekkei genkai, this was already peak of what many could achieve.
"What is happening? We are not fighting?"
Naruto snapped out of the illusion and witnessed Reko and Jiraya enjoying snacks.
"Well. If you are interested, you can fight. But to answer your question, no we are not finding. He is a fellow leaf shinobi."
Jiraya made it clear that Reko was on their side. He had already seen the mark on his forehead, signifying Tsunade's special technique.
It made no sense for him to still battle Reko, even for fun.
"Then this?"
Naruto looked around, confused. What was happening?
"You were in a Genjutsu. Didn't the fox inside you tell you?"
Jiraya seemed curious as he asked. Normally, a Genjutsu technique didn't work on a Jinchuriki because of the presence of the tailed beast.
"No. He has been silent these days after what happened that day with you."
Naruto answered as he looked at the mark left behind by his attack on Jiraya's chest. The fox had been pretty silent from that unsuccessful attempt.
He had stopped interfering with his chakra control from that day.
"Oh, I see."
Jiraya nodded. This seemed pretty bad for their training. He would have to think of another method to utilise nine-tails chakra.
"Does that mean he is a medical shinobi and he would be able to heal you?"
Naruto was optimistic, hoping that Reko would be able to fully heal Jiraya.
"Yes, most likely."
He had suppressed his injuries by himself. It did not mean that he had healed or recovered. Now that Reko was here, he hoped that he would be able to make a complete recovery.
"Don't worry. This is an easy job for me."
With Reko's skills, it was an easy job. He began with running a full checkup of Jiraya's body before beginning to heal and mend the bone injuries.
Two hours passed.
"How's it? You feel good?"
Two shadow clones of Reko dispelled as he asked Jiraya for review. He had gone forward and healed simultaneously with his shadow clones, almost fully healing Jiraya.
The process was not tense. Jiraya had done the basics himself. So, there were no complications for Reko to deal with. Though, it did consume lots of chakra, almost half of his total.
"Hmm. It's ok."
Jiraya moved his hands, flexed his muscles, and tried many types of movements before confirming that he was all okay now.
…
"Hah, it seems we will need another month before she masters this technique."
Tsunade muttered as she remained seated on the ground. She had been teaching Sakura for a long time now.
The girl was really hard working and had a talent for medical ninjutsu. Unfortunately, Reko had given her self esteem a big hit.
The young lady did not have much confidence as she kept falling behind Reko in lots of fields. Reko had already left a week ago, but she still needed another month to learn it all.
"I wonder if he found Jiraya already?"
She hoped to get back to the village quickly to learn more about it. Shizune alone was enough to assist Sakura these days. So, she was wondering if she should get back to the village early.
"Let it be. I can wait for a month."
Tsunade sighed as she leaned back, exhaling deeply, her curves pressing against the sand on the beach as the sun kissed her body.
...
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