Sasuke took off his shirt and threw it in the laundry basket, stretching slightly.
He went to his 'training room' and sat down, it wasn't really much of a training room, but since he got his fill of physical training with the Restaurant, it was mostly used for Chakra Control exercises.
He put his hands close together, slowly gathering Lightning Nature Chakra between them, shaping it into a string, the goal of this exercise was simple, tie a knot with the lightning without it merging with itself or breaking.
He summoned Orochimaru, the man overlooking his training and offering corrections when necessary.
But it being simple does mean it was easy, Lightning Nature Chakra liked following the path of least resistance, which meant having it touch itself without it all trying to flow into a single path was... hard.
Very hard.
The first time he tried to do it, he couldn't even make a loop, much less a knot.
But now? Now he could manage two knots and almost complete a third one before his control slipped too far.
"Behind you, Sasuke-kun, a pervert followed you home." Orochimaru said, tone amused.
Yet, it seems that training won't be happening today.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked the room at large. "I'm busy."
The wall behind him rippled slightly, revealing Jiraya.
"Huh? Pretty good senses." The old pervert praised with amusement. "Seems like you haven't been slacking off after leaving us, eh?"
Sasuke scoffed, finally looking at him.
"Jiraya of the Sannin, why did you follow me home?" He asked coldly. "Come to drag me back to Konoha?"
Sasuke had recognized both of the guests that came in today, he didn't particularly care that they were here, if they wanted to speak with him, they would come to him directly, and it seemed like his guess was right.
And considering that he heard that Konoha was allying with The Order, the chances of them causing trouble was low.
"Are you willing to go?" Jiraya asked, sounding a little hopeful.
Sasuke's eyes flashed red, his Sharingan activating, his expression was harsh, Jiraya raised his hands in a placating gesture.
"Come on kid, what's so bad about it?" He asked calmly. "Orochimaru is gone, even if you only want strength, there are plenty of powerful Shinobi in Konoha to teach you."
He didn't expect much, he knew the Uchiha had some problems, and even if he didn't know why Sasuke was working at a random Restaurant, there was a chance he would listen.
But instead, Sasuke's glare morphed into something that seemed like pure hatred for a split second before returning to just harsh.
"No." He said firmly. Jiraya sighed internally, he really didn't want to make this a fight, but at this point, it might be his only option.
Jiraya prepared a Body Flicker, ready to knock him out with a sneak attack, but paused as an arm wrapped around his shoulder.
"Hey Sasuke, how you doing?" A casual greeting came from beside him.
Jiraya slowly turned his head, looking at a burned face, golden eyes stared back at him with amusement.
"I'm doing fine, Ayumu." Sasuke replied dryly. "I assume you're here to see him out?"
"Yup, Yup!" He answered cheerfully. "Can't have random people running around harassing the fine citizens of Wave!"
Jiraya felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up, he tried to pull away, but found himself stuck in place.
"Ah, I didn't know I was considered a citizen of this fine country," Sasuke commented, sarcasm clear in his voice.
"You live here, work here, and hold no loyalties to any other land, so yes! You are a citizen of Wave." Ayumu chirped in answer. "Now, don't mind me, just continue whatever you were doing, this creepy old man will be gone soon enough."
Orochimaru let out an amused huff, Sasuke would never have thought that dying and being relegated to an occasional spectator and teacher would improve someone's disposition this much, but Orochimaru was a much more pleasant person ever since he died.
He still didn't trust him, and the occasional disturbing comments didn't help, but it was an improvement, he actually acted like a person.
But Sasuke simply rolled his eyes at Ayumu's words, but didn't comment, turning around and returning to his exercises.
"Now then..." Ayumu said.
A drop of dark liquid fell onto Jiraya's shoulder, and then two more, before finally it turned into a constant flow of darkness, obscuring his vision.
When he could see again, they stood on a hill overlooking the city, the full moon hanging overhead.
The man released him, Jiraya quickly jumped away, adopting a combat stance.
"Hello there Jiraya, pleasure to meet you." Ayumu greeted, seemingly completely at ease.
Jiraya remembered a burned man called Ayumu from the reports of what happened in Wave during Gato's fall, his Sensei had been very disturbed to realize that someone outside of Konoha almost certainly knew of Naruto's heritage, but Jiraya had, at the time, been distracted by the Invasion and couldn't look into it.
Now it seems like he was meeting that same person, the description matched at least, the name was also the same, and Sasuke clearly recognized him.
"You are the one who told Naruto about..." He trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.
Ayumu smiled brightly.
"About Konoha's most talented Seal-Masters, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki? Yeah." He confirmed. "It was such a tragedy that someone from the Uzumaki clan didn't know about them..."
Jiraya could smell the bullshit coming off of him from a mile away, this man wasn't even trying to sound honest.
"Why?" He simply asked, he could get to the whole Sasuke stuff later, his godsons safety took priority, and if this man had plans for him, well...
"Because I was annoyed at Kakashi, and I thought it would be funny if he had to deal with it."
Ayumu sounded honest, there was nothing indicating that he was lying, but Jiraya didn't believe him for a second.
"I don't believe you." He declared coldly. "Tell me the truth."
The burned man tilted his head slightly before he started chuckling, but it quickly died down.
"Wow, that hurts me deep in my soul, I am a very honest person." The amusement left his voice. "But we aren't here to talk about my motivations, we are here to talk about something else."
The pair of gold ringed eyes bore into Jiraya's own dark ones.
"This whole allying with Konoha is Haruka's brain child, ya know?" Ayumu pointed out casually. "She wants peace, cooperation, all that good stuff."
"She does seem to have a thing for diplomacy..." Jiraya allowed cautiously, what was he getting at?
Ayumu's expression was still relaxed, but he didn't blink once as he continued speaking.
"Don't get me wrong, she isn't naive or foolish, she has seen plenty of suffering and evil, and understands quite well that the world isn't as pretty as some would like it to be." Ayumu continued. "But even so, she still seeks for a better future."
"What doe-"
"Shush, I'm monologuing."
Jiraya closed his mouth again, deciding that he might as well listen to what the man had to say.
It was surprising how much information he had uncovered over his life by people just ranting.
"But then I see people like you, she extended her hand in friendship, basically having to trick you into accepting it, and the moment it's slightly inconvenient to talk things out, you go straight for the aggressive option." Ayumu's tone turned from its casual one to something far sharper. "It's kinda irritating, how do you think she would have felt if she woke up tomorrow to a report of two Shinobi having a fight in the middle of a residential area? One of which being one of her guests and the other being someone who is trying to live peacefully?"
Jiraya couldn't help but frown slightly, that would have been bad for relations, but he stood by his choice, it would have been better for both Sasuke and Konoha if he was brought back, even if some feelings were hurt.
"What did you expect?" Jiraya asked finally. "The Order is harboring a Missing-Nin from Konoha."
But he knew at this point he was just being argumentative, the Order was never informed of Sasuke or his defection, why would they? Advertising to the world that there was an Uchiha running around that wasn't under the protection of a Great Village and wasn't called Itachi would just invite people to try and snatch him up.
Ayumu simply stared at him, clearly not impressed.
"I expected for someone so obsessed with peace, that you would stop shoving it on other people and start practicing it yourself." He said bluntly. "You despise the Cycle of Hatred but are unwilling to do anything about it beyond hoping that the next generation will somehow magically get rid of it."
Jiraya tensed, this man needed to be captured, he only spoke of his dream to his closest people, with the knowledge that he displayed about Minato and Kushina and his ongoing interactions with Naruto and Sasuke...
Well, that meant Ayumu had some way of getting information that he shouldn't have access to.
He knew this was probably going to be a pain in the ass, but they were isolated, there was a good chance that he could capture this man if he figured out his ability
"Please surrender peacefully, I promise on my honor as the Toad Sage that you will be unharmed." Jiraya's tone was firm, he hated being the bad guy, but the safety of Naruto and Konoha came first.