Meeting an Old Acquaintance

Ninja Academy.

In the classroom, Shikamaru listlessly propped his chin on one hand, half-listening to Iruka droning on at the front while asking Choji, who sat beside him focused on eating potato chips, "Hey, Choji, I haven't seen Naruto around much lately... Do you know what's going on?"

"Right," Choji replied, somehow managing to keep shoving chips into his mouth without a pause. He squinted his small, pudgy eyes in a thoughtful pose, then shook his head. "He hasn't been coming to school for a few days, I think... Strange. Sasuke hasn't shown up for a month either."

Shikamaru said nothing, staring ahead at Iruka with his usual dead-fish eyes, letting his mind wander.

Sasuke had been absent for a month, and Iruka hadn't said a word about it. And now Naruto, too... Had something happened to the two of them?

Up front, Iruka kept rambling on about ninja knowledge, but in the gaps, he worried about Naruto's situation. The person who had submitted Naruto's leave request was a direct subordinate of the Third Hokage's ANBU... That made Iruka uneasy. What had happened to Naruto to involve the ANBU?

Knock knock. The front of the classroom was tapped.

Everyone looked toward the door.

"Wow, it's Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke-kun's finally back!"

"We missed you so much, Sasuke-kun!"

The young kunoichi whispered among themselves like twittering birds.

Sasuke Uchiha looked thinner and paler, his complexion terrible. More than that, he radiated an icy coldness that warned others to keep away... It was different from his old cool demeanor. Back then, he was like a proud little lion. Now, he was more like a wounded wolf.

"Ah, Sasuke. Come on in." Iruka paused, having heard the news of the Uchiha clan's overnight annihilation.

Sasuke didn't acknowledge Iruka at all. He carried his backpack, his face dark and gloomy, and walked slowly to the back of the classroom, picking a seat surrounded by empty ones.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura Haruno looked at him from across the room. She had a strange intuition that something incredibly significant had happened to him.

But at that moment, Sasuke's eyes didn't hold her—or anyone else. Or rather... the only person in his eyes right now wasn't here.

He propped his chin on both hands, staring ahead with a cold, grim expression. The faint light in his eyes burned like two ghostly flames. I'll never forget it. That man's Sharingan, and those hateful eyes of his...

Just wait, Itachi Uchiha. I'll kill you with my own hands...

Iruka was about to continue.

Knock knock. The classroom door was tapped again.

Everyone looked over again.

"Uh..." Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. He didn't have the cool factor of the Uchiha second son, and having so many eyes on him at once was a bit stressful. "Maybe I should've snuck in through the back door..."

Laughter rippled through the room.

"See, Naruto's still the same as ever," Kiba Inuzuka said with a grin, a small dog perched on his head.

"What a weirdo," Ino Yamanaka muttered, propping her chin on one hand. Sasuke sitting so far away was disappointing.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata Hyuga murmured softly, her Byakugan eyes fixed on him.

Iruka felt the familiar headache from a few days ago creeping back. He waved a hand. "Hurry up and sit down!"

Naruto shrugged, jogged to the back of the classroom, glanced around, and then—to everyone's surprise—sat down two seats away from Sasuke.

Those in the classroom who noticed were quietly stunned. Sasuke was radiating such a chilling aura today, and yet Naruto, completely oblivious, had just waltzed over. His nerve was thick enough to be impressive.

But they misunderstood Naruto. He was usually thick-skinned, sure, but he'd always kept his distance from Sasuke. He never would've gone near someone so arrogant and popular with girls.

The reason Naruto sat there was simple: curiosity.

He knew why Sasuke had ended up looking like someone had died.

His entire clan killed by the brother he admired most—Naruto couldn't imagine that pain, but he could try.

What he was really curious about was how he had managed to make someone like that his best friend.

Maybe it was because of those eleven years of future memories in his head. Naruto felt like a completely different person... Not that he'd suddenly aged eleven years, exactly. He didn't feel any different from before, aside from the extra eleven years of experience.

Maybe maturity came from the accumulation of so-called life experience.

With this unexpected, time-spanning experience weighing on his mind, Naruto couldn't feel that same... resonance from the Sasuke in front of him that he remembered from his memories...

Probably because, ever since he'd gotten those memories of himself at seventeen, his life had veered onto a completely different path.

So... was he no longer lonely?

Was he no longer afraid of the future?

Naruto sat in his seat, lost in thought, not hearing a single word Iruka was saying up front...

A fine drizzle fell from the sky.

"This place... it's like it's crying..."

Jiraiya stood in the rain. Behind him, the summoned toad in the pond sank back into the water and vanished. He looked up at the overcast sky. The moisture and humidity in the air were so heavy it felt like being in the deep ocean. The cold, damp sensation dragged his mood down uncontrollably.

"Time to start... If it's the Six Paths of Pain, I'll have to go all out from the beginning." Jiraiya found a secluded spot and began forming hand signs rapidly—

Summoning Technique!

Poof! Poof! Two puffs of white smoke rose from Jiraiya's shoulders, and two small, aged toads appeared on each side.

"Little Jiraiya, what made you suddenly think to summon us old folks?" Shima wondered. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd been summoned, and she hadn't even started dinner yet.

"Is there some powerful enemy that requires you to go all out like this?" Fukasaku asked directly.

"Ah... it's someone who's killed me once..." Jiraiya said slowly, then suddenly clenched his fists!

Whoa... from his mouth crawled a slender toad.

"Jiraiya, what did you call me out for?" Gama Tora crossed his arms, annoyed. He'd been sleeping quite comfortably.

Jiraiya explained, "For the safety of Naruto's key, I want you to head back to Mount Myōboku for now."

"Is it that dangerous?" Fukasaku asked from his shoulder, startled. Knowing Jiraiya's true strength well, he understood that there shouldn't be many opponents in the ninja world who could make Jiraiya this serious.

"Who knows? Better safe than sorry." After Gama Tora vanished in a puff of white smoke, Jiraiya bit his finger and drew two right-angled blood lines below his eyes, warning, "You two sages, I'm about to enter Sage Mode."

"Kid, you should learn to enter Sage Mode on your own by now!" Shima complained, but she still worked with old man Fukasaku to gather natural Chakra around Jiraiya, making it easier for him to enter Sage Mode.

A perfect sage, huh... Jiraiya thought of what he'd seen in Naruto's memories and smiled silently. Just how far would Minato's child grow from here?

To directly find Nagato and Konan hiding in Amegakure, Jiraiya chose to enter Sage Mode immediately.

But then...

Jiraiya lowered his hands, which had been forming seals to gather natural Chakra. By now, his face, hands, and feet showed clear toad-like changes—he had entered Sage Mode.

"Already noticed, huh... Looking at it now, these raindrops are mixed with faint traces of Chakra. Is it Nagato's technique, Konan?"

Jiraiya stood still, speaking softly.

From the tree behind him, a cool female voice rang out from a blue-haired woman in a black cloak with red clouds: "It's been a while, Jiraiya-sensei."