Kyozetsukan
Konohagakure no Sato.
The village said to be one of the strongest, if not THE strongest ninja village in all of the elemental nations. Thousands of ninja, each with the power to level a small village to the ground, but there was only one who could hold the highest title of any ninja in the fire country.
Only one ninja had the right to be the Hokage.
The strongest ninja in the fire country is the only one worthy of the honor of being the protector of the country and the leader of the awesome hordes of battle ready ninja.
You would think that an honor of these proportions would make the holder of the title a very content and proud person, but this was not the case with the Godaime Hokage.
As the granddaughter of the first Hokage, and the grand niece of the second Hokage, it's in her blood. As the student of the third, it's in her training. She was born to get this job, and she's glad she is. But as happy she is with her position in life, she's still alone.
She was the only female in the genin group to be known as the Legendary Three Ninja, the Densetsu no Sannin. She is the greatest medic in the world. She has done so many amazing things in her life, saved so many lives. But the two lives most precious to her, she couldn't save. Dan and Nawaki.
She thought she loved Dan, and wanted to grow old with him.
She loved her younger brother with all her heart, and wanted to see him take his place as the Godaime Hokage.
But both of them were taken from her by the Shinigami, and she could do nothing. What's the point of being known as the greatest medic nin, a genius, if you can't save the lives most important to you?
Tsunade sighed and looked out the window of her office.
The town was illuminated by the windows and the stars, giving the streets an eerie glow. A glow she had only enjoyed with Dan once.
She has thought about the man many times. She even took his niece in as her apprentice, before she left the village all those years ago. Leaving behind everything she knew. Leaving him.
The wind carried her sigh as a small smile graced her face as the thought of the one person who had always stood beside her, protecting her and offering a shoulder to cry on when she was depressed.
"Jiraiya..."
ooooooooooooo
The deer was just minding his own business, doing deer stuff in his home forest. He never did anything wrong to anyone, if you don't think of eating plants and stuff as a great crime against nature. He was drinking from his favorite pond, deep in his forest. A place never visited by humans, and free from predators. The silence and beauty of this place was truly magical, and even something as simple as this deer could appreciate the silence in this place.
That's when he heard it!
Footsteps… Someone is running at great speed in his direction.
Where to hide? The footsteps are getting closer at unbelievable speed. He must find somewhere to hide, since he knows he can't outrun whatever was running. It's too late, the footsteps are too close.
There's no place to hide!
The deer accepted his fate and lied down by the water. If he was to die now, at least he would die in this beautiful place.
The beast… no, there are two of them. The beasts are coming closer, and he could hear their labored breaths now. They are both breathing heavy, but he could hear their hearts beating at a calm rhythm.
Then he heard one of them take a deep breath before…
"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'M WINNING ERO-SENNIN!"
A human boy came flying out of the woods, landing on the lake. He raised himself up on his feet, standing on the water when another person came jumping out of the very same threes.
The boy had blonde hair and a very loud orange jumpsuit, and three whiskers on each cheek. When the deer looked into the blonde boy's eyes, he knew he was in no sort of danger. He stood up, looked at the other man before he ran off into the woods again.
The man had white hair down to the middle of his back, and was dressed in moss green garbs covered by a red vest. He looked strong, and had an aura that radiated confidence in himself and his abilities. An aura he appears to have passed down to his blonde companion.
Jiraiya of the Sannin couldn't help but sigh. This was too much like training Minato Namikaze all over again, a speed freak. Naruto surely took after his father… not that he could tell him.
Naruto practically bounced in excitement as he yelled out to everyone who would listen, meaning no one, how great he was. He looked over at Jiraiya and flashed the old man his patented foxy smile. A smile only he could ever perfect!
"You promised to answer any questions I want to ask you if I won, and I did." Naruto proudly said to his sensei slash father figure. Jiraiya just sighed again, not knowing just how many times a Sannin had sighed this day.
"Ok boy, let's go set up camp by that little rivulet over there," the eldest ninja said as he started to walk over to a small stream of water running down from the mountains. He put down his backpack and Naruto did the same, and they unpacked whatever they needed for the night. Food, sleeping bags, a small fire… perfect!
They sat down and started heating up two cans of stew for dinner. As they waited for their food to cook, Jiraiya looked at his young student. He smiled, thinking just how much they had bonded over the years. The boy was like the son he never had, or perhaps it should be grandson since he's the son of the other boy he said the same things about. Yes, that would be about right. A grandson! He liked how that sounded.
Naruto looked up to see his teacher staring at him and smiled, knowing what the old man was thinking. He may be dense, but he was nowhere near being stupid and he knew very well what Jiraiya thought about him. He felt the same way about him after all!
But now, it was time for his questions.
"Oi… Ojiisan," Naruto said as he saw Jiraiya's eyes widen in shock. "You said you would tell me the answers to any question I had, remember? I know what to ask now!"
Jiraiya's left eye twitched at this. This may just come back and bite him in the ass later, but he did promise. "Ok, let's hear it!" he said, swallowing the lump forming in his throat.
Naruto took a deep breath before he continued.
"I want to know why you became a pervert. Have you never been in love with a girl before? Why are you not married?" Naruto asked, his eyes locked on Jiraiya's.
"Well boy, I… I'm not sure if I want to answer that," Jiraiya said, but the look in Naruto's eyes left no room for arguments. "Aaah… You kids are always driving me crazy with your questions and that horrible puppy dog eyes jutsu." Jiraiya yelled.
He took one more look at the boy before he started talking. He wasn't always a pervert, and started to remember the day he first started peeping as he started to tell his story…
Flashback no jutsu
A young Jiraiya was walking through Konoha. Since he didn't have any family, he could do more or less whatever he wanted, and now he wanted food. He was trying to decide whether to get sushi or barbeque when a voice reached his ears.
"Going somewhere Jiraiya nii-san?"
Jiraiya turned around to see a boy a few years younger than him, Tsunade's younger brother Nawaki. The boy had sort of decided that Jiraiya was his role model, which was ok with him. He liked having someone looking up to him and not put him down like others did.
"Hey, Nawaki," he said, "I was just going to get some food. Want to join me?"
The eyes of the younger boy lit up at the question. The ninja he admired asked him to dine with him… he could not refuse!
The two boys walked towards the barbeque restaurant as they chattered about everything, but mostly about how they both aspired to be the strongest shinobi in the village. Jiraiya wanted nothing more than making his sensei proud, and he could only do that by showing him his strength.
Jiraiya looked at the boy sitting by him. He looked like his older sister. In a masculine if-she-was-a-boy kind of way of course!
flashback in flashback no jutsu
When Jiraiya was six, he had lost his parents in an enemy attack. Suddenly living completely alone, Jiraiya was lonelier than ever. For some reason the other kids thought they would lose their own parents if they got too close to the white haired kid, and left Jiraiya alone.
He was sitting by himself in the park, looking at the ducks swimming in the large pond. "I wish I could be like you," he said to the ducks. Then he heard someone giggle right behind him and he turned around. There stood a girl with her brown eyes locked on his. Her blonde hair fell around her face, forcing Jiraiya to pay full attention to the pools of brown looking at him.
The girl came over and sat by him, surprising the lonely boy. He was even more surprised when she started to talk.
"You want to be a duck?" she giggled, looking at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya thought about it for a second, before he realized just how stupid that sounded. "I don't want to be a duck. I want to be like them! Not having a worry in their lives and only live with their pack swimming around all the time. They are never alone, and if they need to… they can just fly away to a better place." Jiraiya said, with a sad smile on his face.
The girl looked at him again before she asked him the single question he wanted to avoid. "Where is your family? Are you all alone?" she said with worry in her voice, making Jiraiya feel horrible for being a burden on the girl.
He shook his head and answered her.
"My parents and I was the only people from my clan left, and they died recently in the attack. The other kids think their parents will die if they stay close too close to me…" he said as his voice started to break as if he was on the verge of crying. He didn't want to cry in front of the girl, but she surprised him again.
He felt two arms circle around his neck and he was pulled into a tight hug. The next thing she said was the only thing he needed before he was pushed over the edge and he felt warm tears start to fall down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry!"
end flashback in flashback
That was the first time anyone had approached him since his parents had died over two months before. She was the only person who even tried to help him deal with his loss, and he loved her for it.
She had walked him home that night, and he was only left with a name on his lips.
Tsunade!
Now, six years later he had finally graduated from the ninja academy. He was a genin! And best of all, he was on her team.
Team 7 would consist of the Rookie of the Year, Orochimaru. The smartest girl, Tsunade… and him, the dead last. He never was good with history or geography, and it showed on his grades. He never really showed them his skills though, as he wanted to keep his real skills a secret.
Over the years, Tsunade had forgotten the boy she comforted that night so long ago, but he had not forgotten her.
And here he was, having dinner with her younger brother.
Said brother looked up at his idol with a smile before he jumped off the stool and yelled a "Thanks for the food nii-san," before he left in a flash leaving Jiraiya with the check. Oh well, he was the one who asked him either way, and his inheritance gave him enough money to buy the entire restaurant if he wanted… and still have money left over to buy himself a new house. He didn't care about money though, so he just stored the money in the bank, knowing he would have more by the time he needed it.
Now that he had a full stomach, he wanted to go see his team. He didn't care much for Orochimaru, but he knew he could find Tsunade close to where the moody snake. They would most likely already be at the training grounds, working up a sweat before their genin test.
Oh, how he hated that snake.
The effeminate boy was blessed with boyish good looks, and added to his dark attitude he was considered "hot" by the girls their age. Orochimaru had lost his parents in the same attack Jiraiya lost his, but everyone felt bad and comforted Orochimaru at every chance they got. Orochimaru still ended up moody, and more or less never smiled.
Jiraiya wanted to have what he had.
He didn't possess the same "boyish good looks" as Orochimaru, and he was not even close to being effeminate. Jiraiya was bulky! He had a slightly better muscle tone than most kids his age, mostly due to his family's reputation as "tanks". Jiraiya's family had always been experts in close battle, and their body gave them the power needed to land a punch harder than most ninja can even dream of. Jiraiya didn't want that.
Jiraiya found his build to be better for a defensive type of battle, as he had enormous chakra and stamina. He could probably spend as much chakra as an average jounin without breaking a sweat, but he didn't have the control needed for his extensive amount of chakra. He needed chakra control, and he needed it now.
He knew that if he could get a good grasp around his chakra, he could be incredible. But until that happened, he needed to learn many defensive jutsu so he could stay alive. He wasn't too fast due to his size, so his best chance was to immobilize his opponent and then kick the shit out of him. Thankfully, his family had a summon contract with the toads, and he knew just the jutsu to do so.
But he needed to show Tsunade how strong he really was. He wanted her to show attention to him, just like she did all those years ago. He wanted her to love him just as much as he loved her, and he was determined to show his team just how good he was now during their official genin test with their sense, the Professor Sarutobi Sasuke.
He slowly turned around, and started to walk towards the training grounds. Twirling a kunai, he walked through the streets with a huge grin plastered on his face. Oh yes, this would be sweet. He would trap both Orochimaru and Sarutobi-sensei with his Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari technique.
The villagers looked at the crazy boy with the white hair as he walked through the city while laughing like a maniac and twirling a kunai. Children ran to their parents, and shop keepers closed their shops for lunch to avoid this epitome of crazy.
If you were a passerby, walking by Training Ground 26 at that moment, you might have cursed yourself because you didn't carry antivenin for snake poison, because the place was packed with snakes of all kinds.
Orochimaru of the snake clan was killing inanimate wooden training dummies like a toddler who had just lost his favorite teddy and wanted someone to feel his pain. A group of fangirls were there as well, standing on the sidelines drooling. The president of the "I-Love-Orochimaru-kun Club" or just ILOC for short, were there as well. Tsunade had small hearts in her eyes looking at her new teammate train, and watch how his limbs moved with the grace of a snake.
This was the sight Jiraiya arrived to, and he didn't like it.
"Oyh… Tsunade-chan, why are you guys drooling over that gay snake anyway?" he said as he came up on the side of the ILOC gang.
Now, you wouldn't call Jiraiya stupid, but anyone with half a brain knows that you just don't piss off a bunch of fangirls by calling the target of their affection a snake. Jiraiya got to learn the reason why first hand, that lucky SOB.
"Shut up you damned idiot! Don't make fun of Orochi-kun. He has faced more hardships than you in your entire life, so why don't you just go home to your mommy and cry… Maybe she'll love you, even though I wouldn't understand why!" Tsunade yelled at her other teammate, not noticing that the usual sparkle of mischief and life in his eyes suddenly vanished.
Jiraiya really didn't need this right now. Not from her!
She was supposed to be his friend! She was the only one to ever comfort him. He got strong for her. He lived for her! And he really didn't want to cry in front of the girl he loved.
Jiraiya puffed his chest and looked Tsunade straight in the eyes and gave her a huge smile before he turned around. "I guess you're right Tsunade-chan… I'll go home now!" and with that, he left in a swirl of leaves, stunning everyone present.
Tsunade turned all of her attention back to watching her Orochi-kun train, only to see him looking straight at her. She felt a blush coming on when he turned his back at her before stopping. "You shouldn't have said that!" Orochimaru said, before he to vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving a group of stunned girls behind.
As the girls started to leave, Tsunade was confused. What did Orochimaru mean when he said that she shouldn't have said that? What was this 'that' he was talking about, because frankly, Tsunade had said a whole lot?
When Sarutobi Sasuke came to the training ground, he was expecting to see his new genin team… or would be genin team as soon as they passed his test. The very same test given to every "Team 7" since the Nidaime was a genin. But when he arrived at the training ground, only the female genin of his team was present.
"Good evening Tsunade-chan. You wouldn't happen to know where your teammates are, would you?" the brown haired jounin said to his young student with a kind smile on his face.
Tsunade looked up from the ground and stared at her sensei.
"Orochimaru just left a little while ago, but he'll be back soon. I guess he just went to get something to eat or something. As for Jiraiya… he was annoying, so I told him to go back home to his mommy where he belongs, as she would probably like having him around more than I would." Tsunade said to her sensei.
Suddenly, the kind smile on her sensei's face vanished completely, and was replaced with a look of anger and… disappointment? "I have much to thank your family for Tsunade, and I have always praised Hokage-sama and his younger brother, my own senseis, for the greatness of their hearts. I was hoping that you had inherited this trait from your grandfather and his brother, but it seems I was wrong…" he said, and as he turned around he added one more thing.
"I'm disappointed in you!"
And then Sarutobi Sasuke left in yet another swirl of leaves, leaving a startled Tsunade on the training ground. What the hell was going on? Why did everyone leave in swirls of leaves?
And what the hell happened to her genin test?
flashback end
Jiraiya looked over at his young student. It amused him greatly how a story about his childhood had done the impossible, and kept Uzumaki Naruto silent for hours. But now they were fed, and Jiraiya didn't feel like talking anymore.
"Naruto, let's go to sleep now. It's late, and we must cover quite some distance tomorrow if you want to get back to Konoha any time soon. The boat from Usuigakure no Sato leaves only once a week and we need to take that boat." Jiraiya said as he started to tuck himself into his sleeping bag.
Naruto looked at his sensei and grandfather with watery eyes. 'He knows the same pain as me!" he said, before he to tucked himself in and fell asleep.
AN:// I'm really sorry about this guys, and I know a lot of you wanted to see more of Scarlet Flash and Trying it on for Size, but this just had to get out somewhere.
I just wanted to have one fic where Naruto didn't play a part, and the latest chapter of the manga really made me think about Jiraiya a lot. So I decided to go for a Jiraiya story, and it will end up as JirTsu after A LOT of flashbacks.
But don't fret true believers, because coming up next is Scarlet Flash chapter III, titled "Genin". It will be slightly longer than the 3000 words I usually put into a chapter, but I had a lot of things I wanted to put in there. But that's stuff for the AN in another fic
Small dictionary:
Usuigakure no Sato: The Village Hidden in the Rainwater. This is a fictional village, and will not reappear.
Konohagakure no Sato: You know!
Kyozetsukan: feelings of rejection