(Hidden Leaf Village - Hokage Tower)
Unyielding sheets of rain lashed at Konoha, having continued for over a week since Naruto and Jiraiya left, and before anyone realized it, half a month had already passed.
Tsunade felt an ominous feeling rising within her. The only thing that had ever made her this anxious was the mission Jiraiya and Naruto had undertaken to Amegakure. She hadn't expected them to return quickly, but that didn't mean she wasn't worried.
As she walked into her office, Shizune gave her the basic report of the day's work.
Tsunade listened half-heartedly, yet still absorbed the day's tasks.
After the report ended, Shizune bowed and left the room, allowing Tsunade's thoughts to drift away once more.
Yet suddenly, she sensed an intruder in her office and leapt to her feet, ready to defend herself.
However, the intruder turned out to be just a small, elderly female frog. Calming down, Tsunade sat back in her seat with relief, murmuring to herself, "Jumpy nerves…" She sighed before addressing the frog. "Alright, what do you need from me?"
Shima hopped onto Tsunade's desk, fixing her with a steady gaze as she revealed her purpose. "Little Jiraiya and his apprentice have gone missing," she said seriously.
Tsunade froze for a moment, then questioned, "What? Why? What happened to them? What exactly does 'missing' mean?"
Shima shook her head:
"Their last known encounter was a battle with two Akatsuki members—one of them being their leader. The last thing I saw before being returned here was Jiraiya losing his left arm. My husband stayed behind to assist him, but neither returned to Mount Myoboku."
Tsunade slumped back into her chair, staring at the ceiling, struggling to hold back tears.
"Tell me everything you know." Tsunade spoke in a professional tone, trying to conceal her pain.
---
(Unknown Location)
Naruto came to in a pitch-black, unfamiliar room.
His brain started racing, quickly running a system check on himself.
Surprisingly, he felt relatively fine.
Why did Akatsuki heal him? Why didn't they bind him up? In fact, why was he even alive and conscious? Did they really believe that even if defeated, he remained a threat? A living Naruto Uzumaki is a threat—about time those idiots figured it out.
Looking around, there was nothing in the room he could use as a weapon.
Well, at least they weren't arrogant enough for that yet.
But he didn't need weapons—his hands were weapons enough. After all, even if he failed again, they wouldn't kill him. They still needed him.
Bandages covered most of his body, leaving him in just his underwear.
He still couldn't understand why they healed him. Why would they do something like that?
Naruto silently edged toward the door, clinging to the ceiling, patiently waiting for someone to enter—he'd make his escape the moment they did.
A moment later, the door creaked open, then shut softly behind the figure who entered.
Naruto swiftly dropped behind him, landing on the ground, ignoring the pain in one side of his body as he wrapped an arm around the man's neck, readying himself to subdue the man without a sound.
That would have been his move had the person he grabbed not used a [Substitution Jutsu] with the chair next to the bed.
"I'm glad I set up the [Substitution Jutsu] before stepping inside. Otherwise, you might've killed me just now, Naruto Senior."
When he heard a soft female voice, at first he thought it was Konan speaking. But the use of "Senior" quickly corrected that mistaken assumption. Only Sai called him "Senior," but Sai definitely wasn't a woman.
In fact, only Sai used that title—because Sai had once belonged to... Root.
"Root?" Naruto asked, leaning back against the shut door.
"That's right, Naruto Senior. We're currently at a hidden facility of Root deep within the Land of Rivers. We brought you here after rescuing you and Master Jiraiya from Amegakure." The female voice provided information again. "You really shouldn't have left your bed."
Naruto asked the question he urgently needed answered:
"You said you rescued both me and Jiraiya. Is he still alive?"
"Yes," the woman replied, allowing Naruto—leaning against the door—to exhale in relief and slide down to sit on the floor. "He's in much worse condition than you. Your entire skeleton is fractured, some organs ruptured, plus multiple puncture wounds across your body."
He glanced toward the woman seated on his bed:
"What about Ero-Sennin then?"
Maki let out a sigh.
"Master Jiraiya has multiple physical injuries similar to yours, including damage to several organs. His left arm was severed at the shoulder, and his throat crushed during the battle. He's currently unconscious. We kept him unconscious so he wouldn't discover our base's location… If you object… I can give him the wake-up antidote at the appropriate time."
Naruto covered his face with his hands:
"How in the world did you manage to pull us out? We should've been finished off already. There's no way you beat someone like Pain." He strained his night vision to make out her face. "Sorry, I don't even know your name."
"Sai Senior gave me my old codename—Maki. He said it would feel familiar to you. You used to spar with me often, Naruto Senior, before your accident in Otogakure."
Fumbling along the wall, he eventually found the light switch and turned on the lamp inside the room.
His eyes gradually adjusted to the light, and he finally saw Maki's face clearly.
The Maki in his memory—he had never truly seen before.
Her uniform always looked baggy, her hair cut short, and she always wore a mask whenever she was around you.
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