His first instinct was to send a missive to Minato. Jiraiya had to clamp down on that instinct hard. Losing Naruto had changed Minato in small ways that made him unpredictable in some things. His second instinct was to take the boy and run. He is a sanin and there wasn't anyone within miles who could match him. It would have been easy to drop a sleeping genjutsu on the entire family and to take the boy. Then he could send a message and Minato would send his fastest ANBU team to collect his missing son. His first thought was how well adjusted Naruto was. How happy he looked. For years he had imagined a starved child whose life was being used as leverage against his father, or a weapon that was pointed at Konoha. His second thought was how normal the Kents were.
They lived on a few acres of farmland that was very isolated and quiet. It was out of the main trading areas and as such was not subject to heavy foot traffic. He pegged the mom as a ninja the moment he saw her. There were some things that you do not forget, physical reactions that do not fade with time. Not ones that were instilled from living through a war. She looked old enough to have participated in the last war but she may not have partaken in it, not actively. Jiraiya was not rude enough to ask nor did it matter to him. She had already recognized him as a superior warrior. It shows in the way she moves, delicate and cautious as if she was waiting for him to act. As if she was waiting for him to attack.
To kidnap Naruto.
As he let himself be dragged around by an excited eight-year-old, Jiraiya let himself look underneath the presented truth.
Fact: At least two of the family were shinobi. The mother for sure and perhaps the oldest son, the one with the unassuming hairstyle and hunched posture. He moves like a person who was uncertain of his strength typical for shinobi children who were growing into their skills. He looks like his father more so than the red-haired mother.
Fact: Naruto is learning how to be a shinobi. His knowledge is rudimentary and everything points to his learning to be slow paced. He is proud of what he does know and Jiraiya claps when the boy hits the target with his kunai.
Fact: Being here makes him feel...angry. That, someone, had robbed him of his grandson's childhood, of his pupil's fatherhood- But he could not hold onto it. Not when his grandson's bright blue eyes and whiskered face breaks into a smile as he lands another kunai onto the target.
Jonathan Kent is a very soft-spoken man who calluses on his hands and a tan that spoke of hard work in the fields. He doesn't know anything about being a ninja and when asked about how he met Martha, he regales them in a lovely story that has the two boys at the table groaning. "Hey, it's very romantic." He says in protest.
"Yeah, like ages ago. Your stories always take so long!" Naruto whined. "And you always start with How I met your mother-"
"And you never really do start with that," Clark adds.
"Yeah."
"Is that how everyone feels?"
"Yes, dear." Even Martha was in on the joke. "We would be ungracious hosts if we were to bore our guest."
"Ooh! Ooh!" Naruto waved his hand in the air. "What about...how you guys found me?"
There was a sharp clatter of plates and a feeling of heaviness in the air. "Not something to share with a stranger, bud." Even the easy-going civilian could sense the change in the atmosphere.
"But he's not a stranger! And my story is awesome!" Naruto hopped to his feet like some bouncing ball. "Long ago in a far dist-"
"Isn't that the beginning line of the Gutsy Ninja book?" Clark asked a small smile on his face.
"Duh. It's a story about me, the greatest awesome world famous ninja!" Naruto punctuated his words this with a fist in the air.
"Of course dear." And mom to the rescue.
Jiraiya burst into a short bark of laughter before standing. "Excuse me, I have to go to the restroom."
In the end, he did send the message to Minato via one of his frog summons. And now, he has to do something unthinkable.
Weaving the genjutsu around the minds of the adopted family was fairly easy. He had gauged Mrs. Kent's abilities as no more than a genin and judging by her story, she never attained any rank higher than that. It makes sense why she was able to leave her home village and marry a civilian. There were plenty of low-level shinobi who would never amount to anything above a civilian. Some people were born without a large chakra pool, without a decent teacher or they hamstring themselves.
The kyuubi container he was slightly worried about but all four of them went down without a struggle. They will wake up in a few hours once the genjutsu wears off and by then, he will be long gone.
He could have asked Naruto to come with him, charm him into joining him on some ninja journey but Jiraiya had a feeling the parents would protest. Naruto was only eight and that was a bit young to be galivanting around the country side. Even if eight year olds could become chunins and kill fully grown men without a sound.
With Naruto tucked under his arm and disguised Jiraiya became his journey.
Clark was having a really good dream. He was warm and happy like he was being swaddled. It was one of those recurring dreams when he was younger and he could see...he could almost hear them.
His birth parents.
Blearily he opened his eyes and sat up. Or tried. Clark flopped onto his side and he felt really tired. Like he should close his eyes and sleep. His vision was blurry with the hard edges becomes soft and fuzzy. He turned his head with some difficulty spotting his parents lying on the ground as if they were dead. At least his hearing was still good. He could hear their steady heartbeats.
"Mom?" Clark slowly ambled over to her and shook her shoulder. "Mom? Mom?"
Martha's eyelids fluttered as she struggled to stare at her son. It took an achingly long time for her put her hands together in a hand seal. "Kai."
The tiredness faded like mist and all of Clark's senses snapped into clarity. "Mom? Where's..where's Naruto?"
He couldn't hear him no matter how much he strained.
"Clark. It finally happened." Martha looked terrified and saddened all at the same time. "I was hoping you'd be older, that he'd be older-" There was something sobering about seeing his confident mother so confused and lost. "You have to find him. You have to protect him."
It reminded him of when they first found Naruto, when he held the swaddled toddler against his chest and ran back home. The smell of blood in the air and death that surrounded his mom. And now it finally happened, the thing they were protecting Naruto from, the men who were stealing children-
Clark's eyes glowed red at the thought.
"I'll bring him back. I promise."
