39 Chapter 39 Reunion!

Staring at the bandit that was standing on top of the roof of one of the nearby buildings, Naruto couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. He had been looking forward to a relaxing adventure without getting into any kind of troubles while spending time with Jiraiya. After everything that's happened, he felt like he deserved a break.

Naruto sighed as he looked at Jiraiya. "Did you know there were bandits here?"

Jiraiya chuckled as he replied. "I heard about them, and I figured it'd be a good way to test your progress."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya. "Eh? You planned this?!!!"

"Hahaha, is it really that big a deal?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto grumbled as he took a few steps forward.

"Oh, and you can only use frog kumite while fighting, and make sure you hold back your strength so you don't kill them." Jiraiya called out to Naruto.

"Alright, let's get this over with then!" Naruto said as he sat down. He crossed his fingers and created a single clone in front of him.

The bandits stared at the duo and were slightly surprised when the blonde kid had created a clone.

"Hey boss, it looks like they're shinobis, should we really bother them???" One of the bandits whispered.

"Shut it!! There's only two of em!! We can handle em!!" The boss berated.

"Le's Get em boys!!" The boss shouted.

"UWOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The horde of bandits shouted as they started charging toward Naruto and Jiraiya.

Naruto closed his eyes and began gathering the nature chakra as his clone rushed forward and started taking out the bandits one by one.

Jiraiya watched the fight unfold before his eyes with interest. Minato would have no problems dealing with these kinds of thugs even outside of sage mode. But this is a good test to see how much control Naruto has on his strength in this state.

Naruto's clone continued to dodge each hit while throwing counters to each bandit that got close. He ducked down threw a left cross toward the bandit's gut that had slashed at his head. Then he brought his leg up and spun, performing a round house kick on another bandit's head, launching him into the side of another bandit.

"GAH!"

"UHG!"

"OOF!"

One by one the bandits were knocked unconscious until Naruto finally opened his eyes and revealed the toad slits within them. Orange markings appeared around his eyes as well as he stood up and dispersed his clone. Then he grinned and rushed toward the confused bandits. Two bandits rushed toward Naruto and they swung their curved blades toward Naruto's head and legs. Naruto leaned forward and jumped up, going into the space between the two blades, then he rotated his body and kicked both bandits in the ribs. Landing onto the ground Naruto crouched down and continued rushing forward as he weaved his way through the crowd of bandits toward the one in charge.

"STOP THAT BRAT!!!" The boss commanded the other bandits.

The rest of the bandits yelled as they rushed Naruto with even more vigor than before, trying to cut him down. Naruto stopped in his tracks, then he grabbed the nearest bandit.

"Eh?" The bandit blinked his eyes as soon as Naruto grabbed hold of him.

Naruto lifted the bandit up and began swinging him around his body, knocking away all of the bandits around him. Then he tossed the bandit toward the boss bandit that was running away.

"boooooOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSS!!!!" The bandit screamed as he soared through the air toward him.

The boss bandit turned his head and saw the bandit flying toward him.

"UWAAAAAGHHHHH!!" The boss bandit screamed as he got hit and slammed into the ground.

Naruto rubbed his hands together as if wiping the dust off of them.

"Well, that takes care of that." He said cheerfully.

"Did I pass your test Pervy-sage?!" Naruto called back amidst the groans of pain coming from the bandits around him.

Jiraiya chuckled as he couldn't help but see Minato overlap with Naruto. Taking on ridiculous amounts of opponents with ease and wearing that ridiculous grin. Naruto really was Minato's son, Jiraiya thought to himself. He then clapped his hands together.

"You pass! Naruto!" Jiraiya grinned.

Suddenly Naruto looked at Jiraiya with a weird expression.

"Hey, Pervy-sage, weren't we supposed to be taking a break from training?" Naruto asked.

"Eh? Well, you know how it is…..." Jiraiya looked away.

"How what is?" Naruto asked narrowing his eyes.

"Well I mean, the bandits had to be dealt with after all, there was no way we could just leave them be…..." Jiraiya replied while sweat formed on his forehead.

"But why did it have to be me? Why couldn't you handle it, you are the sensei…... right?" Naruto retorted.

"Well, it was a spur of the moment, I had been wanting to see your progress and then the bandits just happened to present themselves…... So, I seized the moment!! AHAHAHAHAH" Jiraiya suddenly laughed.

Naruto sighed as he shook his head. "Right.... "

Then Naruto grinned. Causing Jiraiya to feel a chill down his spine. "I wonder what Lord Fukasaku and Shima would say if they heard about this." Naruto said.

"Eh? Hey, wait... Naruto... you wouldn't." Jiraiya called out.

"Who knows, it might slip out that even though Pervy-sage promised to only take me out to get some fresh air, he forced me to fight bandits." Naruto said as he placed his hands behind his head.

"I'm sure Shima would be very upset with your way of raising children." Naruto grinned.

Jiraiya gulped as he looked at Naruto, then he brought his hand up and coughed to clear his throat.

"What do you want so that it doesn't slip out?" Jiraiya asked.

"You treat me to some all you can eat ramen at Ichiraku's!!" Naruto replied instantly.

Jiraiya sighed as he hung his head low. "Alright..."

Naruto grinned and laughed while Jiraiya silently said farewell to his savings through bitter tears.

Naruto suddenly turned around and stared at a particular direction. Noticing this, Jiraiya walked toward him with concern.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto faintly smiled to himself before responding. "It's Kakashi-sensei and the others…..."

After hearing Naruto's words, Jiraiya paused for a second before speaking again. "Do you want to see them? We can always go somewhere else."

While he did have Naruto fight the bandits, there was no worry about Naruto's safety in his mind. He had just wanted to give Naruto a chance to enjoy a break from everything, and he also knew that they forced Naruto to leave the village on a sore note. So he was afraid Naruto might have mixed feelings about seeing anyone from the village.

Naruto shook his head as he replied. "It's fine, actually I'm glad they're here, I never had time to say anything to Sasuke and Sakura."

"In that case, we'll just wait for them here." Jiraiya smiled. He was glad that Naruto didn't seem to be upset about what had happened.

...

...

...

Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Lee were within sight of the town where the bandits were. It had taken them three days after setting out from the Hidden Leaf.

"Finally! My feet are killing me!!" Sakura complained.

Kakashi smiled slightly as he heard Sakura's words. Sasuke ignored her while Lee on the other hand moved right next to Sakura.

"Sakura!! If your feet are hurting, why don't I carry you the rest of the way!" Lee offered as he placed his bag in front of his chest and offered to carry Sakura on his back.

Sakura stared at Lee for a second in surprise before waving her hand.

"No way in hell!" Sakura flat out refused.

Lee looked at Sakura as if he'd been stabbed in the heart.

"Oh... Okay…." Lee sulked as he dragged his feet while following the group.

"Now, now, Sakura, Lee was only trying to be nice, there's no need to be so harsh with him." Kakashi tried to salvage the situation.

"It's alright Kakashi-sensei!! I won't let this get me down, if I can walk the rest of the way on my hands, then one day, Sakura will surely accept me!!" Lee shouted out with fire in his eyes.

"…...Right..." Kakashi replied as he watched Lee jump onto his hands and start rushing toward the town with vigor.

Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at Lee who was now upside down in front of them. Why did he join our team of all people? They wondered.

"Well, we'll take a day or two to figure out the situation of the town, then we'll take care of the bandits. Besides, we need to meet up with the sand shinobi in order to formulate a plan of action." Kakashi informed the other two.

Then the trio caught up with Lee and together, they walked into the town. However, they noticed that there was some kind of commotion happening.

"Is there some kind of festival happening?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, why don't we find out?" Kakashi replied.

"Everyone seems to be gathering over there!" Lee pointed out.

"Then that's where we'll go." Kakashi said.

The group made their way toward the crowd and saw an old man in the back.

"Excuse me sir!" Sakura called out.

"Uwah! I'm sorry, you frightened me for a second." The old man laughed.

"I'm sorry, but what's going on?" Sakura asked.

"You must be travelers, well you came at the right time, two people just came and wiped out the group of bandits that were staying in this town!" The old man explained excitedly.

"Eh?" The group exclaimed.

"It was incredible, and it took only one of them to take them all out, he did it single handedly too despite only being a young boy!" The old man continued on.

Kakashi walked over to the old man and placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Excuse me, could you tell me more about these two?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about the two, they just came in themselves, but there right over there, so you can go see them!" The old man replied.

Kakashi glanced over and sure enough, the crowd only went so far and they had left a large space in the center. Then he faced the old man once again.

"Thank you very much, we'll be going now." Kakashi bowed his head.

"No problem, why don't you stay at my inn if you're staying in!" The old man replied.

"You're too kind, thank you." Kakashi smiled as he waved goodbye to the old man.

"Now then, let's go take a look at the mysterious saviors of this town." Kakashi suggested.

The trio nodded in agreement and they all made their way toward the center of the crowd. As they got closer, they could hear two people laughing among the crowd. Soon, they saw the unconscious bodies of the bandits that were tied up and piled together. Then as they shifted their eyes, they all looked on in surprise upon seeing who it was.

"Eh?!" They all exclaimed in shock.

"N-Naruto?!" Sakura whispered in shock.

"UUUUWWWOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! NARUTOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Lee suddenly shouted as he rushed toward Naruto while still on his hands.

Hearing the sudden shout, Naruto glanced over.

"Geh!?!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw Lee rushing toward him on his hands while tears and snot streamed down his face.

Lee bent his arms and then pushed off, launching him toward Naruto. Lee was sailing through the air with his arms outstretched in an attempt at hugging Naruto. Tears and snot trailed behind him as he shouted toward Naruto.

Naruto quickly dodged and Lee flew past him and tumbled onto the ground.

Kakashi scratched the side of his cheek at Lee's sudden behavior. While Sasuke was in a shocked stupor from suddenly seeing Naruto, but after witnessing Lee's actions, Sasuke snapped out of it and regained his composure.

"Yo!" Naruto waved toward them while grinning.

Lee jumped up and ran straight up to Naruto while the rest took their time to walk toward him.

"Narutooo!!!! You're alright!! I'm so glad!!" Lee bawled his eyes out as he took hold of Naruto's hand.

"Y-yeah!" Naruto agreed as Lee's over the top personality overwhelmed him.

Soon Kakashi and the others had surrounded Naruto as well.

"It seems that you're doing well, Naruto." Kakashi smiled.

"Yeah, training with the toads has been great! I'm a lot stronger now!" Naruto agreed as he made a fist.

"But I can still get stronger!"

Lee stared at Naruto with fire in his eyes, while nodding his head in agreement.

Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair upon hearing his words. "That's great, Naruto."

Naruto grinned in response.

Suddenly, he glanced over and saw Sakura.

"Hey, Sakur-" Naruto began.

Sakura suddenly lunged forward and pulled Naruto into a hug.

"You IDIOT!!" She cried.

Naruto stared at Sakura in surprise.

"I told you that I'd be the one to protect you during the chunin exams and then you went off like that!!!" She berated.

Naruto smiled softly toward Sakura and then hugged her back. Then he pulled away and looked at her, seeing tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry for making you worry Sakura." Naruto said softly.

"But I'm fine now, and I'm stronger than ever!" Naruto grinned.

More tears streamed out of Sakura's eyes as she hugged Naruto again. Seeing this, Kakashi smiled as well, he knew how much distress Sakura was under because of what had happened. Sasuke stared at Naruto with a weird expression on his face. Kakashi noticed this expression and couldn't help but feel worried, he knew how Sasuke thought of Naruto as his rival, and suddenly losing that rival must have been a huge blow to Sasuke as well.

After Sakura finally calmed down, she released Naruto from the hug and then got embarrassed upon seeing the tear stain on Naruto's clothes.

"I'm glad to see you guys again, but what are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked.

"We're currently on a mission to deal with some bandits in this town." Kakashi answered.

"Oh, do you mean these bandits?" Naruto asked as he pointed toward the pile of unconscious bandits.

"It would seem to be the case, but we'd better find out more about them to make sure you guys didn't miss any." Kakashi replied.

"But what are you and Lord Jiraiya doing here?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know, I'm still wondering why Pervy-sage brought us here as well" Naruto answered.

Then the group looked over at Jiraiya who was currently surrounded by gorgeous women laughing like an idiot with a perverted grin on his face. Seeing this caused Naruto to sigh in exasperation as he had seen this happen time and time again.

"Looks like he's gathering information," Kakashi said as he watched the scene before him.

Naruto squinted his eyes at Kakashi because he couldn't believe what Kakashi was saying, but quickly remembered he was a fan of Jiraiya's novels. Causing him to sigh and shake his head.

Suddenly, they heard the shuffling of feet behind them, causing them to turn their heads. The crowd had dispersed making way for a group of four people walking toward them.

Gaara…. Naruto thought as he saw the familiar figures appear.

"Looks like the members of the sand for our joint operation have arrived as well." Kakashi said.

Sakura stared at Gaara and the other two genin that she remembered from before and shivered. Why is it those three? She wondered as she cursed her own luck.

Sasuke stared at the sand shinobi with interest, especially toward Gaara, he could tell that he was stronger than he seemed to appear. I would have liked to fight against him if the chunin exams hadn't been canceled, Sasuke thought.

Soon, Gaara and the others arrived to where Naruto, Kakashi and the rest were.

"My name is Gaara, we're here on the orders of the Kazekage to assist you in the mission." Gaara spoke.