Orochimaru observed the two newcomers and said to his companions "That boy have unlocked his chakra, and these two look more filled out that those three."
"True." Tsunade also agreed, observing the difference between the five children.
"The first three might have been orphans, but these two doesn't seem to be. I say we kill the three and interrogate these two." Orochimaru suggested as he licked his lips with his tongue.
Shaking his head, Jiraya disagreed with Orochimaru "Nope. No killing kids. Let's question them first, alright?"
Orochimaru shrugged and said "If they pass on intel about us, then it will be on your head."
Tsunade just shrugged and said "You do what you seem fit. But make it quick, we have to get back to the camp."
Sighing in relief, Jiraya looked at the two newcomers and asked "Hello, I'm Jiraya, what's your name?"
"Asahi." Asahi told him.
"Konan, and this is Ichika." Konan said as she showed Jiraya the tiger cub.
"Alright. I have some questions for you, can you answer me?" Jiraya asked and when he saw Asahi nodding his head, he asked "Where are you coming from?"
"South from here, there was a small village called Maza Village, which was destroyed by Rain Shinobi a month ago. We were in the forest at that time and survived." Asahi told him with a shrug.
Hearing that Jiraya winced and asked "How did you survive?"
Tilting his head, Asahi said "I'm a hunter, so I hunted down deer and rabbits, while Konan collected herbs and berries in the forest."
Turning back to Orochimaru, Jiraya said "See that? They're not some spies from other village. Just war orphans."
Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't care anymore. Let's go back to the camp now."
Closing his eye, Jiraya dragged Orochimaru and Tsunade off to the corner and told them "I'm not coming back to the camp. I'm tired from this war." Then turning to look at the children he said "I'll stay here and collect intel and pass it to the camp."
Orochimaru sneered and said "Just say that you need to teach those children how to survive. Well, the first three. From the looks of it, the other two can survive on their own."
Tsunade rubbed her head and told Jiraya "You can do what you want to do. And if you can pass on important intel, I'm sure that no one will complain about you, not returning to the base camp."
Bowing to his team, Jiraya said "Thank you."
Waving her hand, Tsunade looked at Asahi and thought 'That kid have the presence almost similar to my grandfather, might be his Yang Chakra.'
Pondering for a few moments, she told Jiraya "Stay vigilant. You're staying behind the enemy lines. I don't want my teammate to die doing something idiotic."
"Alright." Jiraya readily agreed with a wry smile, then he looked at Orochimaru.
"I don't care all about your survival, but make sure to sent intel to the camp." Orochimaru said as he turned around and walked out of the cave to leave.
"Stinky." Jiraya muttered under his breath. Tsunade snorted, hearing that and with wave of her, she also left with Orochimaru, after throwing a final glance at Asahi.
Sighing, Jiraya turned around and moved towards the campfire, where the five children and a kitten was sitting munching on, what seems to be jerky and smoked meat. Jiraya paused for a moment and recalled Asahi telling him that he is a hunter. 'He must have studied how to preserve the meat.'
Sitting down opposite to them, Jiraya said "Don't worry about anything from now on. I'm staying here and I'm going to teach you, how to survive in this world."
Everyone perked up at that and Asahi thought 'I'm going to be taught by Jiraya. A sure fire way to become an S - Rank Shinobi. Well, when he decide to teach us to be a shinobi, that is.'
Looking at all of them Jiraya said "Why don't we introduce ourselves and share our dreams? I'll go first." Without giving the children a chance to begin, Jiraya introduced himself "I'm Jiraya, the Toad Sage, my dream is to find someone and bring peace to the world."
"Me too! Me too! My dream is to bring peace to the world! I'm Yahiko, orphan?" Yahiko started excitedly and ended with a bit of confusion.
Scratching his head, Jiraya said "You know what? You don't have to give out titles like I did."
The children nodded and seeing that, Jiraya sighed in relief. The black haired girl, sitting next to Yahiko introduced herself next "My name is Kyoko and my dream is to help other's like me."
"I'm Nagato, I just want some peace." Nagato introduced with his red bangs covering his eyes.
Nodding at them, Jiraya looked at Asahi and Konan. Konan was the first to introduce herself "I'm Konan and my dream is to be strong enough to help Asahi."
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Asahi also introduced himself "Asahi, my dream is to wander around the world and see everything that there is to see, also to survive."
Jiraya nodded at the last part and thought to himself 'Survival. Make sense, everyone need to survive today to see tomorrow.'
Clapping his hands, he told the five children "Alright, does anyone have a shelter for all of us to stay? If there isn't I can go a look for myself."
"There is a small house near the river." Kyoko said in low voice.
"Good. We will make that house our camp. Do you two have anything more to bring with you?" Jiraya asked Asahi.
Nodding his head, Asahi replied pointing at the sacks place near him "No. Everything we have collected before we reached here are in these sacks."
Intrigued, Jiraya asked "What do you got there?"
"The basics. Raw meat, fruits, berries, herbs, jerky, smoked meat, roasted meat, black berry sauce, a few deer pelts, a tiger pelt...." Asahi stopped as he saw that everyone, including Jiraya was drooling, shrugging his shoulders, he continued "I'll share with you guys at the place where Kyoko told us."
Wiping his drool away, Jiraya though to himself 'He did say he is a hunter, but to think he knows how to preserve meat and make sauce from berries. Did this kid live in a forest all his life? No, that's not right. Konan said that they came from the same village.'
Shaking his head, Jiraya said out loud so that all five of them could hear him "Alright. Let's go to that house first, then we can eat some meat." Then looking at Asahi he asked stood up "What kind of meat are they?"
"Deer, rabbit and fish." Asahi said as he stood up from the ground.
*whistle* "Those are some nutrient rich meat. So that's the reason why you are filled out in right places." Jiraya muttered under his breath.
Shaking his head, he told them "Alright, let's move out. Kyoko, show us the way please."
Nodding her head, Kyoko led the six of them to the place she had mentioned. Kyoko was in the front, closely followed by Nagato and Yahiko, behind them was Asahi and Konan, and finally at the rear, Jiraya keeping a vigilant eye on the surroundings. Luckily, nothing unexpected happened on their way to the house.
Looking at house on the shore of the river, Jiraya nodded and said "Let me investigate inside. If everything checks out, we can stay here."
Then forming necessary hand signs, he said "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Two identical Jiraya appeared next to the real one and seeing that the children's eyes went wide. The clones went inside the house and searched from top to bottom, not leaving anything unturned. When the investigation was over, the clones dispelled themselves and Jiraya who was waiting outside with the children looking at him with star's in their eyes got the memories.
Nodding, he told the children "There's no one inside, no traps or any other things that indicate this house is used by a Shinobi. So let's go inside."
Jiraya took the lead and the rest followed him like ducklings. After closing the door, Jiraya said "For now, sit on the ground. I'll change into my casual clothes and I'll buy some bedding."
As ordered, they sat on the floor as Jiraya wemt into one of the room and started changing his shinobi gear. On the children's side, Asahi took out some fruits and jerky, and gave it to the rest of children and said "For now, eat the fruits and jerky. I'll take out the roasted meat when Jiraya-san come."
The three children nodded at him as they took the fruits and jerky that was given to them and started munching on it. Since both Konan and Asahi had eaten before finding Jiraya and others,they didn't eat, but Asahi gave Ichika some raw meat that was diced into tiny pieces.
After few minutes, Jiraya came out of the room wearing a dark green kimono and sat on the floor watching the children eating. Before Jiraya could say anything, Asahi handed out the roasted meat that was covered in lotus leaves individually. Jiraya nodded in appreciation and bit into the meat after removing the lotus leaf cover.
They ate in silence, and Kyoko, Nagato, Yahiko had tears in their eyes as they ate the roasted meat. Jiraya observed this and sighed in his heart 'War is a cruel thing.'
Shaking his head, he placed the half eaten meat on the ground and said "You can have this. I'll be out till morning, you all should take rest."
"Hai sensei!" Yahiko said out loud and went back to eat.
Jiraya just smiled at them and said "I'll be teaching you how to hunt, with Asahi, how to fish, cook, clean and more importantly, how to survive."
Still smiling at them, he said "I'll teach you tomorrow, today enjoy the roasted meat and rest well."
The children smiled back, and Yahiko being the defacto leader of the group asked Jiraya "Won't you be teaching ninjutsu?"
Jiraya shook his head and said "I won't. As I'm a Konaha shinobi and you guys are from Ame, it is impossible for me to teach ninjutsu."
Yahiko's face fell, but he didn't push, because Jiraya staying with them and teaching them how to survive is better than nothing. Seeing that, Jiraya sighed to himself and went out of the house to set up traps and to get essential thing's required for five children, an adult and a tiger cub 'Seriously, tiger cub?'
------------------------
Day's passed and Jiraya trained them in fishing in he river, cooking, cleaning the house with the help of Asahi. A week went like that, they were having fun, Jiraya taught them how to survive in wilderness, and he set up a security system that will alert everyone else that one of them had been kidnapped, or that someone was impersonating one of them with transformation jutsu.
On one day, after eating fish and crabs for a whole week, Asahi told Jiraya "Jiraya-san. I am going to hunt in the nearby forest with Konan."
Jiraya tilted his head and said "Sure why not." Then looking at the rest he asked "The rest of you can go with Asahi if you want."
"It's alright sensei. We'll go to the market and buy some spices and fruits." Yahiko said and Jiraya agreed with it.
When they reached the forest, Konan asked Asahi "Asahi, why didn't you use your ninjutsu?"
Ruffling his hair, Asahi said "You heard what Jiraya-san told Yahiko when he asked to teach us ninjutsu. I have the same reason. He's a Konaha shinobi first and foremost, he's staying with us because he feels guilt about this war."
"Then when will I get my chakra unlocked?" Konan asked with frustration evident in her voice.
Wrapping her shoulder with his right arm, and squeezing her to his side, Asahi said "I'll ask him to unlock your chakra after we have finished our hunt, then I'll train you. Is that okay with you?"
"Umm." Konan nodded with a sweet smile on her face.
Smiling back at her, Asahi activated his seismic sense and located today's hunt: a large boar, that was located almost eight hundred meters away from them. Looking at Konan, he said "Come, we have our target."
They both started running in the direction of the boar, since their physical condition was top notch for their age, due to the consumption of nutrient rich diet, which included venison, rabbit meat, fruits, that they had hunted and collected through the year long wandering, and vegetables, grains that they bought from some villages that they stumbled upon.
The hunt was quick, thanks to Asahi's growing amount of Earth Release Jutsu, and Konan helped him in butchering the boar on the spot. As usual, Asahi left the entrails where they killed the boar for the wild animals in the forest. He didn't forget to give some entrails and raw meat to Ichika, their tiger cub. The cub had grown a bit over the week thanks to the fish and milk that Jiraya, 'Not only thta, I have been stimulating her tiny bit of chakra in hopes of her becoming a chakra beast in the future, so that she could become the summoning beast of Konan one day.' Asahi thought with a smile, thinking about the day when Konan will have Ichika fight side by side with her.
After packing all the meat, tusk and the skin, Asahi told Konan "Let's go back. The other's might have come back from the market."
"Alright. Don't forget about asking Jiraya-san to unlock my chakra." Konan reminded Asahi, as she took Ichika in her hands and a sack full of meat over her shoulder.
"I won't forget. Don't worry." Asahi reassured her and they walked back to the house in a leisurely pace.
When they reached the house, they saw that it was empty, so the first ting hey did was check security system and seeing that nothing was afoot, they relaxed and started to set up meat in dark place. A few minutes after they came back, Jiraya entered the house with Yahiko on his back, Kyoko and Nagato trailing behind him.
Konan and Asahi hurried over to Jiraya to help him place Yahikoon the bed. They didn't ask anything and waited for Jiraya to explain. Shaking his head, Jiraya answered their unanswered question "Yahiko was attacked by Iwagakure shinobi, Nagao defeated him by pure luck."
Asahi understood, and thought 'Didn't something happen like this happen in the manga too?'
Closing his eyes, Jiraya spoke, so that everyone could hear "I thought that if I don't teach you ninjutsu, then you might be able to survive the encounter with a shinobi. But I was wrong. So from tomorrow onwards, I'll be training you in the basics to become a shinobi."
Konan's eyes lit up, and Asahi understood what this meant 'In the manga, he trained the Ame Orphan team for almost three years. Will he stay longer this time?'
Opening his eyes, Jiraya told them "You five won't be my first students. I already have three students back at home, so they will be your seniors." Then looking at each of them, he said "As we will be training from tomorrow onwards, none of you will go outside today and will rest well. Got it?"
"Yes sensei!" They replied at the same time.