Chapter Text
Jiraiya has to hold back a chuckle, he can practically feel his student’s annoyed glare on his back. They’ve been traveling for a couple of weeks now and he still hasn’t told her their training mission’s end goal. Even with her multitude of attempts at getting it out of him. With some of her leading questions, he knows that she at the very least expects something, but he’s not going to confirm anything for her. He knows that she isn’t going to initially like the plan, so he’s putting off explaining it until the last possible moment. Simply to avoid her ire, his student is a very scary little girl. This is for the best, however, no matter how angry it’s going to make his student.
The rumors and accusations coming in the past few years about Orochimaru aren’t good. He does want to believe in the good potential of his old teammate, but for him, there are simply too many rumors for him to ignore. Especially after he heard about the ones about human experimentation. He doesn’t believe in coincidences, and he’s sure as hell not going to risk his kid’s safety. He knows the Hokage is holding off judgment until the last moment. The Hokage doesn’t want to admit that one of his own personal student went bad. If the snake sanin has gone to the dark side, Konoha would be forced to either imprison him, banish him making him a missing-nin, or kill him. None of those options would be good for Konoha. Orochimaru would not go down quietly either, there would be casualties. Lots of casualties. It would be a huge black mark on Konoha’s reputation as well, which is something they desperately want to avoid. Especially right now with them in the middle of a shinobi war. His old teammate hasn’t completely lost his way yet, as far as he’s aware anyway. So, they can put off the whole situation until the war is finished with. He still isn’t going to risk the safety of Kagome so they had to come up with a plan. The last thing they want is to risk the scenario of the jewel reaching out to fully corrupt the sanin. So, the Hokage and himself had decided to play it safe and take Kagome out of the village completely during his stay. Future unplanned visits would need to be dealt with at those moments. At least with this one, they had enough forwarning the make a plan. They weren’t sure how long Orochimaru plans on staying, so they had to think of something that would last at least a couple of months, to play it safe. Better to keep her away longer than not enough. He will keep his kid safe.
So, a plan that had originally gotten pushed back because of the war is now being brought back to the present due to an internal threat. Kagome is already a phenomenal healer with her Ki, but she’s still a novice when it comes to medical ninjutsu. She also has plenty of theoretical knowledge of traditional medical operations but she has minimal hands-on experience with it. And the person he’s bringing her to is inarguably the best person to learn from… if Kagome can convince her to get past the mental barrier she’s locked herself behind. He does find it ironic that he is bringing his student to one of his teammates to get her away from the other.
“Jiraiya-Sensei, can you at least tell me where we are going? We’ve been walking seemingly pointlessly for weeks.” Kagome whines out.
A smirk pulls at his lips, “We’re almost there Kiddo. Our destination is the upcoming village.” Oh god, he hopes that she’s actually in this village because if she’s not and he just lied to Kagome he’s a dead man walking.
Kagome immediately perks up, “Really?” for the past few weeks they’ve gone from village to village. Jiraiya would order her to stay at an Inn while he asks around about… something. Oh, how she’s been tempted to try and follow him, to figure out what’s going on. But Jiraiya always knows if she’s following him and she’d rather not make him annoyed at her. When he’d get back from his info gathering he’d be either frustrated or exasperated. They’d do a bit of training before calling it a night. Then they’d leave the next morning to continue their seemingly aimless journey to the next village. Only to repeat the whole process. It’s not like they’re not getting anything done, so Kagome can’t really complain. But, Kagome is tired of traveling aimlessly, she’d feel so much better if he would just give her their destination. This reminds her way too much of walking around Japan looking for jewel shards or rumors about Naraku’s whereabouts. She half expects to be ambushed by demons at any moment. Jiraiya actually seems to be taking his job as a teacher seriously for once, which is beyond suspicious and actually makes her more worried. Every night he puts aside a few hours to give her some serious training, mainly working on Taijutsu and ninjutsu. He’s been helping her unlock an easier-to-learn lightning release that won’t electrocute her, so she can combine it with her water whip jutsu. She cannot wait for that deadly combination when she gets it down. However, this whole secrecy thing is starting to annoy the absolute shit out of her. Jiraiya has never kept secrets from her before, so why start now?
“Yup, I’m fairly certain that I’ve finally tracked her down.” Jiraiya answers. The last letter he’d received from her telling him where she is had been the first village he’d checked but that had been months ago. In the last village, they had left he’d found out she had been there merely a couple of weeks ago. So there is a very good chance that she should be in this next village.
Confusion fills Kagome at his answer, “Her?”
A few hours later her confusion only grows more, along with a few other strong emotions. Like anger, rage, and slight betrayal. She watches slackjawed as her sensei’s figure disappears into the distance after he had literally sprinted away from her. That complete and total asshole! She is going to kill him the next time she sees him. How dare he just abandon her with a complete stranger.
They had reached the village, and Jiraiya asked her to wait for him just outside the village limits. Thirty minutes later he showed up with a very pretty blonde lady. He introduced her as Tsunade and told her that she was going to be her new teacher for the next six months. SIX MONTHS!! This Tsunade lady had looked just as shocked by the information, so this poor lady didn’t know about this either. It does make her feel slightly better that she isn’t the only one left in the dark. Jiraiya all but threw a few scrolls at Tsunade, who scrambled to catch them in her shock. He then bluntly informed them that he wasn’t staying with them during this training session.
“See you in six months Kiddo.” He saluted her with two fingers before bolting. Both Kagome and Tsunade are simply too shocked to even attempt to stop him.
Kagome is the first to break out of her stupor thanks to Magatsuchi who starts laughing hysterically in the back of her mind.
“Shut up!” Kagome thinks at him angrily. Harder laughter is her answer. She does her best to tune him out.
Tsunade blinks in shock and slowly looks down at the child that her hold teammate abandoned her with. Confusion is her most prominent emotion, but anger, frustration, and a bit of fear fill her as well. The girl looks about ten-ish, about the same age as her niece. She’s dressed in a very practical dark green fighting kimono. Nothing like she’s seen kunoichi wear nowadays, focusing more on appearance than practicality. Absolutely ridiculous. This kid at the very least seems to get that safety and being able to fight easily in the outfit is more important than looking cute. That being said, the kid’s kimono isn’t ugly or anything. It’s very tastefully designed to be both practical and cute. Her shinobi headband is tied around her neck, attached to a black band of cloth instead of the usual blue. Her long black hair is half tied up in a bun, keeping it out of her face. The fact that this kid is apparently Jiriaya’s student and he allows her to keep her hair long speaks a lot about the kid’s skill level. Jiraiya would never let a student of his keep their hair long if they didn’t know how to avoid making it a hindrance in a fight. Strapped to her back are a sword and a long bow, both seemingly too big for her to wield properly yet. She knows that the kid must be able to use both well, or once again Jiraiya wouldn’t let her carry them around. The kid has many pouches and scrolls attached to her that most likely hold all of her smaller weapons, supplies, and what looks like Fuinjutsu materials. The most surprising thing about the kid is the chunin vest she’s wearing. This kid, an actual child, already passed the chunin exams? Tsunade’s done her best to keep out of all shinobi news, especially Konoha’s since she left the village. Last she knew the youngest female to become a chunin was eleven years old. This kid is definitely younger, and the last chunin exams were a year ago already. So this kid passed at what, nine years old?
She turns her eyes away from the kid, who is still glaring in the direction that Jiriaya disappeared in, to the scrolls in her hands. There are three of them, one has her name written on it, one has what she is assuming is the kid’s name, and the third is sealed by the Hokage’s personal seal. Oh, damn. This isn’t just a Jiriaya being a lazy ass and dumping his student onto her, something that she could totally see him doing. This is something that the Hokage himself wants her to do. Well… shit. She can’t just take the kid back to Konoha and be rid of her. What is she supposed to do with another kid for six months?! She had thought she had made it clear to the Hokage that she couldn’t do anything as a kunoichi anymore. Not that she doesn’t want to, she just physically can’t. if she even sees blood she freezes up. So, why did the Hokage send a young kunoichi to her? Well… whatever is on the scroll will probably explain everything. She’ll have to sit down later tonight and read the scrolls when she has a moment to herself. Damn you Jiraiya.
A loud aggravated sigh escapes her as she looks back down at the kid who is now staring at her with big blue eyes. Ugh, why did she let Jiraiya talk her into coming out here? She should have just ignored him, grabbed Shizune, and run. Well, too late now.
“So, what’s your name kid?” Tsunade asks.
The kid gives her an incredulous look before seemingly forcing herself into calmness, “My name is Kagome Namikaze. It appears that I’ll be under your care for a while.”
Surprise shoots through Tsunade. Namikaze? Wasn’t that Minato kid the last surviving member? Did the previous clan head have an affair with somebody… well does it count as an affair when his wife is dead? Probably not, but it is still a bit of a scandal for a clan head to have a kid with anyone without being married first. Why so secretive with the youngest Namikaze though then? While it is gossip-worthy, the previous Namikaze clan head had never seemed to be worried about things like that. From what she remembers of the man he had seemed like a family-oriented person. What would make him keep his daughter a secret most likely until she became a kunoichi? She focuses more on the details of what the kid looks like. On closer inspection, it almost looks like the mystery mistress could have been an Uchiha. Oh, the drama that would cause if it is true. The kid has the right coloring and complexion for an Uchiha while having the identifying bright blue eyes of the Namikaze. Is… is this kid the offspring of the previous Namikaze clan head and an Uchiha? It couldn’t be just any Uchiha either, it was probably a higher-ranking woman otherwise why the secrecy? Holy shit. No wonder the kid’s existence has been kept a secret until now. A kid born between a Namikaze and an Uchiha will have a lot of potential chakra. It no longer surprises her that the kid got put under Jiraiya to train. Training that much chakra is difficult.
“Well, Namikaze-chan, let’s get back to my Inn. We’re planning to head out tomorrow morning so be prepared for that.”
“We?” Kagome asks, concern building up in her. First, Jiraiya didn’t even deem it important to tell her new sensei her name. then after she had introduced herself Tsunade got a very strange look in her eyes. Kagome does not have a good feeling about that look. A look like that only brings trouble. Now, she finds out that she won’t be traveling alone with her new sensei. So, not only is she going to be traveling with one stranger for six months but there is at least one other person as well.
“Yeah, I’ll have to explain to Shizune that we’ll have a traveling partner for a while. Oh well, kid probably won’t mind.” Tsunade starts walking way, back into the village, “Come on kid, keep up.”
Much later that night Tsunade is frowning at the two scrolls. She’ll give the third one to the kid in the morning. She had wanted to read hers first. The scroll from the Hokage was basically telling her that he wasn’t her to teach the kid medical ninjutsu and traditional medical practice. That’s pretty much what she had been expecting, but she still doesn’t like it. This is going to be a wreck in the making. How is she supposed to teach anybody? She’s not a teacher, she had never volunteered to be a jonin teacher. Teaching just wasn’t her style. Plus, she’s at a bit of an impasse on how she’d even go about it. The scroll from Jiraiya had a lot of information. A brief overview of the type of missions the kid goes on, which holy shit they started her out fast and hard and hadn’t let up in the least. He had listed the jutsu that the kid knows, which is a good amount for her age. The one that caught her eye and further proved her theory was the great fireball jutsu, an Uchiha exclusive jutsu. He had then gone on to give her information on where the kid’s skill levels were in every category, what the kid has been wanting to work on, hints and tips about the kid, and a few other things. A warning not to get on the bad side of the kid as she is petty as hell, apparently. Jiraiya had even listed her favorite foods. Had this kid domesticated Jiraiya or something? What the hell, the scroll has dad vibes all over it. Then at the bottom, there is a single note that stands out above the others. All capital letters and bolded. DO NOT TOUCH HER SWORD! No explanations on why she shouldn’t touch said sword or anything, just the note to not do it. She hadn’t even thought about touching the sword before, now it’s the only thing she can think about. Why shouldn’t she touch the sword? It’s just a sword. Right? Tsunade shook her head and got down to memorizing everything on the scroll. Once she was certain she will remember everything she burned the scroll. If anyone else got their hands on the scroll it would be very dangerous for the kid. She lets out a long sigh as she watches the scroll burn. Ugh, what is she going to do?
A few days later Kagome stares down at the literal mountain of books that she just unsealed from the scrolls that Tsunade had given her. This is absolutely ridiculous. What in the hell kind of training mission is this supposed to be? She knew from the scroll that Jiraiya-sensei left for her that Tsunade, who is apparently one of the three Sanin level ninjas of the leaf, has had mental issues with blood since her husband and little brother died. Which is understandable, but then why was she sent to her if she can’t actually teach her anything? They had left the village that following morning and she had spent the time traveling to the next village she planned on stopping at getting to know Shizune, Tsunade’s niece. Shizune is very nice and seems like a genuinely happy girl, though she at times gets a strange look in her eyes when she talks about Tsunade’s certain quirks and she can be absolutely brutal with her comments if she wants to. Apparently, Tsunade has a big problem with gambling. Kagome eagerly shares her problems with Jiraiya’s obsession with women. They had bonded very quickly after that, happily tearing into their particular guardian. They would share big grins when certain comments would cause Tsunade to sweatdrop at their ruthlessness. When they had settled into the Inn at a rather large village Tsunade had handed her a set of four scrolls and told her that those were the first part of her training. That she was to read and memorize everything within the scrolls. She hadn’t thought anything of that at first. Then she unsealed the first scroll in her shared room with Shizune. They had both shrieked in surprise at the sheer amount of books that popped into existence. They had shared a look of near horror as their gazes moved in unison to the other three unsealed seals.
“Are… are you gonna open up the other three?” Shizune asked in slight horror. She had been in the room when her aunt explained Kagome’s first task. If there were this many books in the first one, how many more are there in the other three?
“I probably should, just to see exactly what I’m dealing with I guess,” Kagome answered slowly. Then with trepidation unsealed the other three seals. Shizune had helped her stack up the books into neat piles, they took up the entire wall of their Inn room.
“There is no way you’re gonna be able to read all of these in six months. Auntie gave you a fool’s errand.” Shizune stated staring in horror at the wall of books.
Determination flowed through Kagome, she would get this done. She refuses to waste six months, especially when a war is going on and she could be doing something much more productive. Jiraiya had written to her that she would have to be, and she quotes, her usual bulldozing personality and bash down the walls that Tsunade has locked herself behind. I know you can do it kiddo, use that weaponized kindness of yours and your ability to make friends with anybody. Good luck! Oh, the next time she sees Jiraiya he is such a dead man. She can feel the evil grin pulling at her lips, oh yeah such a dead man. Maybe she could even pull Minato and the terror trio into it. He’ll never see it coming. She’s pretty sure she could even talk Kushina into helping her if she explains the situation. However, that is a future Kagome problem. Present Kagome’s problem is all of these books she has to plow through.
“No, no I can totally do this. I’ve learned the art of speed reading and memorizing from school (in Japan and learning everything about this world). Plus, I think I’ve read a bunch of these already. I’ve been reading up on theoretical medical ninjutsu for a while now, I want to know as much as I can about healing. I like being on the front lines and fighting, but at the same time, I want to be able to save my friends and teammates if something happens. Medical ninjutsu is just that. Will you help me sort through these Shizune-chan?”
A small smile pulls at Shizune’s lips at the sheer determination flowing through her new friend, “I’d love to Kagome-chan!”
It took them all day, but they finally got all the books organized. The two girls reorganized the books into four different piles; already read, easy material, series, and difficult material. She was happy to see that her already read pile was probably a good fourth of the books, she sealed those away into one scroll and set it aside. That is a huge time save right there. She’s now happy that she had grabbed as many medical books as she could get her hands on during her first year of lockdown. Who would have thought that would save her right now? For the time being, she also sealed away the difficult books and the series into their own scrolls. She will start with the easy books, plowing her way through them. She figures it should only take her a couple of weeks to get through the easy books. Well, easy is subjective. The information within the books isn’t going to be a walk in the park in any context, they are medical textbooks. Anything with medical information is going to be difficult. She could probably get through the books quicker, but reading isn’t the only thing she plans on doing.
She does still need to keep up with her training. She’s not going to let herself get sloppy during the next six months. She pulls out a blank piece of paper and starts writing down her basic schedule. Something that she’ll be able to loosely follow to keep her skills up to par and work on some new things as well. She’ll have to train herself until she figures out how to break through Tsunade’s barrier. After she wakes up she’ll start with some sword drills, a good morning warm-up. Then she’ll have breakfast with Shizune, and Tsunade if she felt like joining them. From breakfast to lunch she’ll dedicate herself to reading. After lunch, she’ll do some Taijutsu and weapons practice, something that would be much more productive if she had a sparing partner. She’ll have to make a shadow clone of herself to spar against. Maybe Magatsuchi will have enough spare energy to manifest himself for a few hours every couple of days so she’ll have somebody to push herself against. After a few hours of practice, she’ll go back to reading. She’ll have supper and continue reading for a while after that as well. Then at the end of the night, she’ll work on some ninjutsu and chakra control before calling it a night. Well, she does want to still work on her skill with her bow so maybe she’ll switch out bow practice every other day with her sword drills. Yeah, it’s a pretty good basic schedule to stick to. Obviously, she’ll be able to switch things out for something else if she needs to but it’s definitely a good starting point.
After she finishes with the easier books she’ll delve into the series next. Then she’ll finish it up with the difficult/high-level books. She figures that if she pushes herself to be as productive as possible she will finish up the books within three months. It’s a lot of time to spend reading, but she has a feeling that Tsunade will outright refuse to teach her anything until she finishes the books. Tsunade probably thinks that these books will take her the whole six months, if not longer. Kagome is more than ready to prove her wrong. Bring it on Tsunade-sensei, Kagome is ready to go to war.