Characters: Jiraiya, Naruto
Summary: It was impossible not to get the message.
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
The obvious observations were the ones that set Jiraiya's head to pounding as he woke up. Shouldn't have done that—Ought not to have messed with it—Should have left well enough alone, no bothering with the seal. Oh yeah, those were the thoughts that gave him headaches, the ones that should have been screaming at him before he did that supremely stupid thing. Jiraiya winced; his head hurt terribly.
Wait… His chest hurt too.
There was a sterile, medicinal smell in the air, and Jiraiya realized he must be in a hospital. For a moment he could make himself believe that he's in Konoha. But soon, Jiraiya disabused himself of that fantasy. He was hundreds of miles from Konoha, far to the west in lands not on any shinobi map. This isn't home.
Jiraiya felt the pain bite in his torso and his fingers met tight bandages.
He remembered now.
Naruto was tense at the first mention of looking at the seal. In retrospect, Jiraiya supposes he should have taken that as a warning. He may be the seal master but Naruto's the one who wears the seal on his belly, he's the one who lives with the Kyuubi and therefore he's far more intimately acquainted with the aforementioned murderous bijuu than Jiraiya.
Curiosity killed the cat.
And it nearly killed Jiraiya.
It all happened so quickly. Jiraiya performed the seal that weakened the seal keeping the Kyuubi caged within Naruto. It was only supposed to weaken the Kyuubi's seal slightly; the Kyuubi wasn't supposed to do anything.
Of course, Jiraiya hadn't counted on Naruto panicking immediately after he was done. He'd had no idea a jinchuuriki could slip into the four-tailed transformation so quickly.
Jiraiya snorted. Stupidity killed the cat too. He supposed that getting a huge chunk of skin taken out of his chest was getting off lightly, considering the stories of what Uzumaki Mito had done to people unfortunate enough to be nearby when she slipped into the four-tailed transformation.
Still being alive, at any rate, was always lucky regardless of the circumstances.
He had survived. Naruto, it seemed, had survived it too, because Jiraiya turned his eyes to the left and he could see him the next bed, unconscious and badly burned. Sorry, kid. Didn't mean to.
And Jiraiya had learned.
He wasn't messing with that seal again.