Jiraiya Returns
Over the next week they stayed in the village, doing training and some D-rank missions as Jiraiya was expected back any day to evaluate Naruto's skills in sealing and nobody wanted to risk Naruto being on a mission when Jiraiya returned. It happened on Friday. Of course Jiraiya had been in the village since Thursday morning, but he had used the chance to get some research done. He visited his sensei on Friday shortly before lunch.
"Hey, Sarutobi sensei, did you miss me?" He called out loudly.
"Jiraiya, it's good to see you. How was your travelling?" The Hokage asked and sent out his ANBU and activated his privacy seals.
"It was good. I'll soon have enough material for my new book. Icha Icha Violence. You said I had to come back to evaluate a potential seal master. Who is it? Did Kakashi go up in his level?" Jiraiya asked.
"No, it's Naruto. I have him supply our armoury and the shinobi equipment shops in the village under the pseudonym Dark Phoenix already. Naruto managed to deceive everybody until after his graduation exams from the academy a bit over a month ago. I had Asuma test him in disguise and Naruto is easily jonin level overall. The only thing he lacks is experience. All the reports I sent you about Naruto's development can be forgotten. I didn't even know he was that good. I thought that while he had some talent, he didn't use it well enough, but I couldn't really do anything about it. With Naruto being a civilian until he graduated, he was under the jurisdiction of the civilian council. And I didn't have the man-power to get him secretly trained except I'd have handed him over to Danzo, which I wanted to avoid at all cost." The Hokage said.
"Damn that is an impressive feat to get to that level so young and additionally keep it a complete secret. How did he get all the training done and got the knowledge? You wrote that you had to exchange the teachers in his class repeatedly to get him some theoretical skills." Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, until I placed Iruka Umino in that class, who, while not liking Naruto, didn't let his personal feelings cloud his professional attitude, Naruto was actively sabotaged. We now found out that as the teachers couldn't keep him out of class all the time, they didn't teach the whole class properly. When he was present they concentrated on topics that while they can be useful for a ninja, aren't vital. Many students failed their genin tests because they didn't get the information that was the most important. I have already initiated some long overdue changes in the village. The academy is now the responsibility of the shinobi council, all ninjas are instructed to ignore the orders of the civilian council as they are not part of the chain of command and I have had some of Danzo's ROOT agents help me looking through the decrees that were passed in the twelve years since Minato died." The Hokage informed his student.
"Do you think it was wise to involve Danzo?" Jiraiya asked.
"It was the only valid option. I can't be sure that the council doesn't have spies of their own in the ranks. While I can order them to not follow orders from the civilian council anymore and can enforce that, I can't be sure that some of them don't give them information. While Danzo and his ROOT are not an openly acceptable part of our military due to Danzo's training methods, you know as well as I do that you sometimes have to have ninjas in your village that take care of threats in ways that wouldn't go over well with our customers. I knew since two months after I ordered ROOT to disband that they didn't but only went underground, literally. There is a system of tunnels under the village where their base is located. I simply put Danzo on the spot. He was informed that I had him in my hand and could easily end him, but as his ROOT were useful, I didn't. While Danzo enjoys the thought to become Hokage through his machinations, he also knows that it's unrealistic to think he could be Hokage long enough or even be considered with his state of body to make a difference in the village." The Hokage explained.
"So you are cleaning house. About time if I may say so. You let the council get away with too many things." Jiraiya said, sitting down on the couch of the office.
"I know, but you also know how instable the political situation was after Minato died. We had lost a third of our shinobi, a quarter of the civilians and on top Minato himself. The clans were fighting for dominance in the village, the civilians were taking over businesses that had lost their owners, dozens of orphans needed to be placed somewhere and people were calling to execute Naruto to kill the fox. The Uchihas were the leaders in all areas. So letting the civilian council have a bit more power at the time seemed to be a small price to not have the village falling apart. If I had shown favouritism towards Naruto, I would have been out of office faster than I could have blinked. And I was his only real line of defence. With not having a suitable successor for Hokage anymore, after all, the only sannin that wanted to have the job turned traitor on us, I needed to keep the office for as long as I could and find a new successor. Which I have now and don't worry, I'm not talking about you. I know you don't want the job." The Hokage said.
"Oh, that sounds interesting. Who is it?" Jiraiya asked.
"Kakashi Hatake. He is at the moment the jonin sensei of team seven, consisting on Sakura Haruno, the daughter of a civilian councillor, Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor after the massacre Itachi committed and Naruto Namikaze." The Hokage said.
"So he knows about his parents and the fox?" Jiraiya asked for confirmation.
"Yes, he knew about the Kyubi since shortly before the Uchiha massacre, he overheard two Uchihas that had beaten him up and left him bleeding in an alley talking that he should die for being the container of the fox, and about his parents he found out coincidentally while cleaning the storage after a prank. He was cut by a falling nodachi in the arm and some blood spilled on the box Minato kept his important documents and a few memorabilia in. I know Naruto has a secret hideout where he lives and trains, but I don't know where it is and he refuses to tell me anything, stating that it is the only safe place in the whole village for him and he had worked too hard to keep it a secret to give it up now. From the test Asuma put Naruto through, he is low jonin level in using weapons, jonin level in taijutsu, high jonin level in ninjutsu, we guess jonin level in genjutsu, but as he is immune to lower level genjutsu, we can't be really sure about it, we need to have a genjutsu specialist test him there. His fuinjutsu is high class, but the last evaluation you should do and he is about solid chunin level in the area of poisons. We give him half a year of missions and training by Kakashi to make chunin, then half a year of leading experience with teams under his command for jonin." The Hokage said.
"Does he know I am his godfather?" Jiraiya asked.
"I haven't told him and he didn't mention it. I don't know if that information was in Minato's or Kushina's journals at their home. Naruto found it after he found the contents of the box and got his family's jutsus, sealing knowledge and some other things from there, but he didn't move in there as it is too well known that his father lived there. He didn't want to have the villagers after his head more than they already were. You'll have to see how he reacts to you. If he knows and holds you responsible for his hellish childhood for abandoning him, you'll have to try to work on your relationship. I know he respects you for your skills in sealing. And if you explained to him why you couldn't take him with you out of the village he'll probably understand it. Naruto is smart and knows to weigh arguments against each other." The Hokage informed Jiraiya.
"Okay, so where would I best meet Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.
"I can either send a messenger to get him here or you could go to training ground seven and watch his team train until they have lunch break. Normally that is around half past twelve. Though it can vary depending on Kakashi's training exercises. He doesn't let his team rest much. That is another point you should know. While Kakashi is getting back to his old strength and will train to surpass his level from his time in ANBU to get ready to take over as Hokage, he is trying to connect both Sasuke and Naruto more with the village. Naruto is a flight risk due to the treatment of the villagers. If they attack him, we'll have to let the medics in the hospital go extra shifts. He won't let them treat him like their punching bag anymore. And you know that attacking a ninja is a punishable offence and the ninja in question is allowed to retaliate. He told me that if he hadn't been sure he would have been hunted by the ANBU and brought back soon after we noticed him missing, he would have left years ago."
Jiraiya realised that this was really serious. The village would never let their jinchuriki go, but it wouldn't do Naruto any good if he got into that situation. And if he was really as good as his sensei said, then in perhaps a year or two he could be too strong for any ANBU to catch him. Konoha didn't need another Itachi out there.
"We horribly failed him. He had figured out that Kakashi is the ANBU who protected him most times in the past and was the one to always be nice to him. Therefore he really looks up to Kakashi. Sasuke was spoiled by the villagers for being the last loyal Uchiha. The Uchihas had the civilian population deceived really well. He has a superiority complex, doesn't take well to being second best and thinks as an Uchiha others are bound to treat him like royalty. Kakashi is keeping his team busy with training, something Sasuke doesn't mind at all as it makes him stronger, but the main intention is to keep the team out of the eyes of the villagers and break his idiotic opinions. I don't want to risk the villagers treating Sasuke like a prince and Naruto like a monster all the time on missions. Naruto is also doing solo-missions through his clones to earn some more money. Mostly they are craftsmen jobs. His reputation very slowly is getting better, but it will take years to get the stupid villagers to accept him as Naruto and not the fox.
"That is time we can't waste. I have given Kakashi orders to put his team through the grinder. He is to strengthen the old bond he had with Naruto, make sure that Sasuke doesn't think he can get stronger outside the village faster than training under Kakashi, and break Sakura Haruno out of her fangirl mentality. That girl is so screwed up, if she hadn't been the only one with at least some useful skills in her class, I'd never have put her on the team, but that class was really bad in their skills except for the clan heirs and they were put together as the next Ino-Shika-Cho team and a tracking team with Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka." He informed Jiraiya.
"I see. Well, then I guess to evaluate Naruto's skills I better get to meet him personally. Is training ground sixty one free?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, I have reserved it for your use until next Wednesday. Don't mess this up, Jiraiya." The Hokage said seriously.
"Don't worry. I know I have a lot to make up for with Naruto. The least I can do is helping him with his fuinjutsu and see if he is interested in the toad contract." Jiraiya answered.
The Hokage nodded.
"There also is a big unknown seal in the Uchiha district. Please have a look at it after you are done with Naruto's evaluation."
"Will do, sensei." Jiraiya said. "If anything happens, I'll be with Naruto."
Jiraiya left the office through the window.
On training ground seven Kakashi just finished the morning training of his team and told them they could eat lunch. To the wonder of Sasuke and Sakura Naruto had been more sluggish today. That riddle had been solved when Kakashi asked if Naruto had increased his resistance seal level and got a positive answer. It led to Sasuke silently seething that Naruto was getting even more advanced. While he knew that Naruto was better, he hadn't considered in his calculation that Naruto wouldn't just stop getting better. That led to the realization that Itachi also wouldn't have stopped at his former level. So to be able to kill Itachi he needed to get to Naruto's level first. He knew he was getting stronger through his training with team seven. But it was a punch to his pride that Naruto was already so far ahead and was only getting better all the time.
Then a white haired man landed next to Kakashi.
"Jiraiya Sama, I didn't know you were already back." Kakashi said, greeting the newcomer.
Naruto had perked up at the name Jiraiya.
"Well, sensei told me you had a student for me to evaluate in fuinjutsu, so I came here to take him with me for the rest of the day if you don't mind." Jiraiya said.
"No, that's okay. I was already informed that you would do the evaluation of his level once you were back. By the way, is there a new book coming out soon?" Kakashi asked eagerly.
"Ho, ho, you still are a fan of my great work. Yes, I'm working on Icha Icha Violence at the moment. It should be ready in one or two months." Jiraiya said.
"That's great to hear, Jiraiya Sama. I'm looking forward to it." Kakashi said.
Naruto just shook his head. He had known that Jiraiya of the sannin was a pervert, his father's journal had told him as much, but seeing it in reality was something else.
Jiraiya looked at the three genin and immediately saw the resemblance Naruto had with Minato. While his facial form was different, he definitely was his father's son.
"Okay, Naruto, you're going with me. I have reserved training ground sixty one for the evaluation of your skills in fuinjutsu." Jiraiya said.
"Okay." Naruto answered and stood up. He could as well eat on the way to training ground sixty one.
Jiraiya led Naruto away, leaving the rest of team seven behind.
"Kakashi sensei, who is the white haired man?" Sasuke asked.
"That man is the greatest author in the elemental nations and also Konoha's only acknowledged seal master at the moment, Jiraiya of the sannin. He regularly comes to the village to give the Hokage updates from his spy-network and while he is here, he'll evaluate Naruto's level in fuinjutsu." Kakashi said.
"He's one of the legendary three?" Sakura asked in awe. "Why would he be interested in Naruto and not Sasuke?" She asked.
Kakashi sighed. He had hoped he had got farther with breaking Sakura out of her Sasuke worship.
"I told you why. Naruto is skilled in fuinjutsu, while Sasuke is not." Kakashi answered. There were more reasons but he wouldn't tell his team about them.
Sasuke while irritated that Naruto got attention of one of the sannin and he didn't, knew that with the area Jiraiya excelled at he didn't have a chance to get that attention. And to be honest, he wasn't interested in learning fuinjutsu either. Sure, it was useful to have the seals to use them on missions, but he didn't want to invest the time it took to learn the art. He couldn't use it while fighting Itachi after all. So he rather worked on getting stronger.
Jiraiya took Naruto to the secluded training ground.
"Okay, I think some introductions are in order. I'm Jiraiya, toad sage of Myobokuzan, wooer of women, amazingly famous author and awesome ninja." Jiraiya boasted, showing an embarrassing dance with a few toads he had summoned.
"Not to forget, super pervert, Dad's sensei and supposedly my godfather." Naruto added glaring at the man.
Jiraiya sobered.
"So you know. I wasn't sure if Minato and Kushina wrote it in their journals." Jiraiya admitted.
"The one question I have is why you didn't ever look after me. When I read about you being my godfather I was so angry. All my childhood I could have had somebody who was there for me, helped me through my life and prevented the assholes in the village, especially the Uchiha clan, from beating me up every chance they got. I had exactly two proper protectors. Two ANBU out of all the many that are under the command of the Hokage. Dog and Weasel. Kakashi and Itachi. And they couldn't be around all the time as they had other missions as well. I know you couldn't have given up your spy-network or taken me with you. I would have been a hindrance as a defenceless child during your travels, but why the hell didn't you even visit me when you were in the village?" Naruto shouted in the end.
"I had to find a way to get strong on my own. I'm pretty sure my hideout is one of the old hideouts Orochimaru used. One of the hopefully less creepy ones. There only were a few things that I had to throw out. The rest were things I could use to get stronger. I had to scrounge up weapons from the dead in the Forest of Death after the chunin exams to get proper training weapons because no shop would sell me anything. I couldn't ask any adult to help me, because they either ignored me or tried to beat me. I was only a child, completely on my own. Even old man Hokage couldn't do more than make laws and enforce them. The problem was he couldn't personally take care of everything, not with me being under the jurisdiction of the civilian council. Do you know what it would have meant to me if I had known there was at least one adult that cared for me? What a few hours of training would have done for me?" Naruto asked enraged.
"You have every reason to be mad at me. I won't deny I made mistakes. I had thought about taking care of you, but as you said, it was too dangerous for you and me. I have too many enemies of my own to take a small child with me on my travels. And if you had been with me, Iwa would have added two and two and would have known you were Minato's son. So I trusted sensei to keep you safe until you were old enough for me to train you. You probably don't know this, but in the twelve years of your life I stopped thirty nine assassination attempts from the outside that had you as their target. All the great villages hear rumours and you are a constant topic of the merchant caravan. They talk about that cute blond boy with blue eyes that is so brave and stands on his own two feet living in Konoha.
"You are right; I could have tried to be there for you when I was in the village. And I did try, but you have to realize that I got dealt a massive emotional wound when your father died, fighting the Kyubi. It wasn't your connection to Kyubi that kept me away, it was your looks. You look too much like Minato. I don't have children of my own, Naruto. In the second Great War Suna, which we were fighting at that time, had developed a chemical agent that prevented those that were contaminated by it to ever have children. Tsunade, Orochimaru and I as the sannin were prime targets for them. They also tried to get the White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, Kakashi's father, but he could escape. All of us were contaminated by that chemical. It was a harsh blow, especially for Tsunade. Orochimaru developed a vaccine against it eventually, but for us it was too late.
"When I got my genin team, Minato was the one I bonded with most. I liked all my students, but Minato, especially as he was an orphan like me after his parents had died when he was ten, became like the son I knew I never could have. I taught him all I knew even after my students had been promoted to chunin and my team dissolved. When he told me he wanted me to be your godfather, I was really honoured. But then the Kyubi attack happened and Minato died. I raised you for a year, but that was all I could afford to do as my spy-network needed to be maintained, especially with Konoha being massively weakened. My stay while you were an infant could be easily covered up as a show of strength for the other villages. One of the strongest of the village was there, protecting it. When I came back, you were four. But you looked so much like Minato. I couldn't bear seeing you looking like your father; it tore the wound I had thought had healed open again and again. So I decided as I couldn't be in the village to help you, I would take care to set up a stipend for you so you wouldn't have to depend on the orphan's fund.
"Additionally I left scrolls for you in your apartment when I was in the village. One about hunting and fishing techniques after I found out about the behaviour of the shop keepers, one about farming and some about basic training techniques I thought would help you. I took out all the ones that were sent to eliminate you from whatever village. And I kept an eye on Orochimaru to make sure he never found out about you existing. While your clans didn't have an exact bloodline, the Uzumaki clan had special chakra, a reason why Kumo once tried to kidnap your mother Kushina. Your clan was known for its longevity. And a child with Namikaze, Uzumaki and Senju blood would have been irresistible for him. I am really sorry for what you had to go through, but I did what I could in my own grief." Jiraiya said.
Naruto pondered the answer. He knew Jiraiya was completely honest. He had seen in his eyes that he meant every word. And the money he got from the Hokage each week in person, after in the beginning somebody had tried to steal his money, had been what had got him through the hardest times. He remembered finding those scrolls when he was seven. It had been the start of his changing his ways. He had found out about a way where he wouldn't have to depend on the village to get by. While his godfather hadn't done his best, he also hadn't completely left him to fight on his own. He had done what he could. He had to admit he couldn't really understand the wounds that losing someone left. But he knew that some people had more problems to deal with it than others.
"Okay, while I can't say, I'm happy about it, I understand it somewhat. And at least you tried to help me. That's more than most others did. And those scrolls really were live-savers. They got me independent from the supplies I could buy in the village. Without knowing how to properly hunt and fish and grow vegetables, I would probably still be living off ramen." Naruto shuddered. "I suggest we start from the bottom. I'll give you the chance to get to know me and teach me what you want to. I'll try to keep an open mind about you and not push you away on principle. Don't expect me to trust you though. I have made too many bad experiences." Naruto said.
Jiraiya nodded. It was more than he had been hoping for.
"Okay, now that the air is cleared, I think we have an evaluation of your skills in fuinjutsu to do. Sarutobi sensei said you were of the opinion that you were at a seal master level. How did you come to that impression?" Jiraiya asked.
"I have read every single book about sealing I could find in Konoha. Mostly written by you or Dad. On top of that I studied the Uzumaki scrolls that Mum had. You stated that the level of seal master was signified by the person attempting to get there having to have complete understanding of all the intricacies of fuinjutsu, being able to quickly draw the commonly known seals, modify them to their needs and in the end, once they could tweak existing seals, created their own. Well, I have followed all the steps the books and scrolls described. Once I got the basics down, I found that fuinjutsu was one art that came to me easily. It was just logical for me how it worked. So tweaking seals was not that hard. And I had masses of shadow clones that could test them for me. I designed some variations of exploding seals; my favourite is a trap version that fires poisoned senbons on the one triggering them, for storage seals and chakra suppression seals.
"Then I began creating my own seals. I had read in one of the scrolls I found in my hideout about elemental jutsus and that only jonin level ninja used them. So with my problem with the villagers being out for my life, I decided I needed to learn elemental jutsu. Finding out about my main element was tricky. In the end I nicked a chakra paper while cleaning the armoury as punishment for a prank. I developed a storage seal for elemental chakra once I could use my wind element. I thought once I could use more elements that could come in useful. But after training the water element, which is my secondary, I started thinking about what techniques could get really problematic for me. Fire wasn't much of a problem with the water element as my secondary. Lightning is weak against wind, so only earth remained. I would need a very powerful wind jutsu to really get the upper hand against an earth user.
"I knew that while the primary element in Konoha is fire, there are a lot that are earth and water users. So to not be at a disadvantage, I needed lightning. But simply developing the affinity at my age was impossible. There are restrictions what my body can take. And with lightning being opposed to my primary affinity it would be especially hard. So I decided to consort to seals. I worked for six months on it, but in the end I managed to get a chakra element converter seal. As long as I supply the seal with the element it is attuned to, it converts it into the element I designed the seal for. In my case that was wind turned into lightning. Over time, by using many lightning jutsus, I developed the affinity, so now I don't need to rely on the seal anymore, but if I needed a big amount of lightning chakra that would still be a viable option. I also have some other designs, some that I wanted to discuss with you as I'm not completely sure about some arrays." Naruto told Jiraiya.
Jiraiya was really impressed by what he heard. Many had tried to find a converter seal that worked, but had given up considering the amount of fine tuning it took. If Naruto had found a way, it would indeed validate a sealing mastery. But he would wait until the end to judge his godson's level.
It was late in the evening when Jiraiya invited Naruto for a meal in one of the Akimichi restaurants. He assured his godson that with him being there nobody would dare to be rude and that the specific restaurant they were headed to was led by his old student Uruho Akimichi. He had been wounded in the third shinobi war and hadn't been able to continue as a ninja, so he had taken up the second profession the Akimichis were famous for and opened a restaurant. It was going very well. While some people were glaring at Naruto entering the restaurant, many knew just whom he was with and nobody wanted to make a sannin mad.
Jiraiya and Naruto were greeted by the owner personally, who looked at Naruto in shock, then at Jiraiya, then back at Naruto and mumbled something about being blind and should have seen it.
"Keep it for you, Uruho." Jiraiya said warningly.
"Of course, Jiraiya sensei, but why was nobody told?" Uruho asked.
"Iwa, Orochimaru, Kumo, Kiri, choose one." Jiraiya said.
"I see. Well, what would you like to eat?" Uruho asked changing the topic.
"Choose what you like, I pay." Jiraiya said. "After all we have something to celebrate."
"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto said and looked over the menu. "I'd like to have the small sushi variations for appetizer, the grilled seafood dish with vegetables and rice for main course and the season salad with yoghurt and herb dressing. And I'd like green tea to drink." Naruto said.
"I'll take the finger-food variations for appetizer, the roasted pork sweet-sour for main course with sweet potatoes and rice. I'd also like a bottle of sake with two cups." Jiraiya said.
"Already trying to corrupt him, Jiraiya sensei?" Uruho asked, writing down the orders.
"Hey, he's a ninja. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink. And I think it would be good he gets a bit of practice before I introduce him to Gamabunta." Jiraiya said, having Naruto perk up.
"You're going to let me sign the toad contract?" He asked surprised.
"Indeed. You've proven you're more than ready to become the next toad summoner. As I told you, I don't have children whom I could pass the contract on to. So I have to resort to my students. And with your father having been my student and the last summoner, I think it is only right if you take up the mantle." Jiraiya said smiling. He kept his voice low to not give others the information.
Naruto couldn't help but smile happily. Summoning contracts were really rare. Konoha having so many of them was a reason it was seen as the most powerful village. Konoha held, as far as Naruto knew, the monkey contract with the Sarutobi clan, the dog contract with the Hatake clan, the turtle contract with the Maito clan, the crow contract with the Uchiha clan, and then the three contracts of the sannin, the slug contract of Tsunade, the snake contract of Orochimaru, which Anko Mitarashi had also signed, and the toad contract of Jiraiya.
Uruho went to the kitchen to have the two dishes prepared and to warn his staff to treat Naruto Uzumaki properly whenever he came to the restaurant. He was to be treated like any other guest. None of the nonsense about him being a demon or they could look for new jobs. His warning seemed to work.
Naruto and Jiraiya got their appetizer fifteen minutes later and Jiraiya poured sake from his bottle in the two cups.
"Well, to your mastery in fuinjutsu, Naruto." Jiraiya said.
"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto replied and both drank the sake. Naruto was coughing after it.
Jiraiya laughed.
"You should be a bit careful in the beginning. Try sipping instead of drinking it in one go." He advised.
Naruto glared but followed the advice.
TO BE CONTINUED...