In a moment of adrenaline-fuelled panic, Fukasaku makes a split second decision that wrests our favourite toad sage from the cold grasp of death!

AN: Managed another quick yet small update, was a little bored between studies, so I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.


The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant Continues by ShadowedNara

XxX

Chapter 1.5

To the Land of Toads


"What the catterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly."

—Lao Tzu


Naruto scrunched his nose up in thought as he glanced between the two Sannin, scratching his head in uncertainty. "I dunno. Is that really necessary? I mean what if this Pain guy shows up while we're out training?! Shouldn't we just train here in case something happens?"

Tsunade kept her facial expression even as the blonde haired youth spoke, while Jiraiya shook his head with his eyes closed. Tsunade had an idea of what kind of training Jiraiya was talking about, and decided to assuage Naruto's thoughts for him. "The kind of training you're going to be doing isn't something you can learn here," she explained to him, watching Jiraiya out the corner of her eye in case she said something wrong. "Only the great Toad Sage's of Mount Myōboku will be able to help you with this training, so you need to travel to the land of the toads for this."

Naruto still looked a little hesitant about having to leave, especially now that he knew that the Akatsuki was going to potentially show up on their front door step sometime soon. But he'd already been lectured about something similar like this before. Just because he was leaving, didn't mean the entire village was going to fall apart. It could stand on its own without Naruto around, as it had been doing during his training trip. If this training was going to make him strong enough to fight the leader of the Akatsuki though, then he supposed it couldn't hurt to go. He nodded to himself, mind seemingly made up. "Okay, so when do we leave Pervy Sage?"

Jiraiya's eye twitched at the name, and idly wondered if Naruto only continued to use the name to get a rise out of him. 'Damned brat. Never gives me any respect.' Even as those thoughts crossed his mind though, he was looking forward to spending a little more time with his godson in the calm before the storm so to speak. Things were going to start escalating soon, and it was all going to start with the attack by Pain. He just knew it.

He shrugged off those thoughts and scribbled another quick note, this time handing it to Naruto. 'I can't make hand seals properly with just one arm - not yet at least - so for now, I'll need Naruto to summon for me.'

Naruto slowly lowered the page and squinted at his sensei. "So I just think of this toad's name while using slightly less chakra than normal and it should work?" A stiff nod from Jiraiya was his answer, and Naruto shrugged his shoulders. That settled that then. Biting his right thumb and running through a few hand seals, he slammed his hand down onto the top of Granny Tsunade's desk as a sealing formula spider-webbed out from beneath his palm. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

A small puff of smoke erupted from the spot around his hand, revealing a red coloured toad with blue markings around its eyes and on top of its head, a pair of green goggles hanging lazily around its neck. It raised a single webbed hand in greeting, a happy grin on its face. "Yo, the name's Kōsuke. What can I do to help?"

Naruto had a wide grin on his face as he pumped a fist into the air, having succeeded in summoning the specific toad Jiraiya wanted. He quickly handed the toad the page he'd been given by Jiraiya and flashed the small toad a thumbs up. "We need you to deliver this message as fast as you can. It's super important, so you've got to hurry!"

The toad rolled the message up and gripped it firmly in its left hand, giving Naruto a reassuring grin while saluting with his right hand. "You've got it! Just leave it to me."

The small toad disappeared in an equally small puff of smoke, and Naruto glanced back at Jiraiya with a slightly curious gaze. "So uh, what now? You said Kōsuke was fast, but you never said how fast—"

In another puff of smoke, Naruto was gone, and Jiraiya turned his gaze down to look at Tsunade. He raised his hand towards her face, and her eyes instinctively closed as she anticipated his touch, but before he could make contact, another puff of smoke enveloped the office, and Tsunade was left alone once again. She let out a soft sigh before noticing a small paper lying folded on her desk with her name written on top. Tentatively she pulled the page closer to herself, gently unfolding it and gazing within. A glowing smile found its way to her lips.

Don't miss me too much while I'm gone Tsunade. We still have some unfinished business, so I'll see you soon. Now that I've got you, I'm never going to let you go. Take care...

—Jiraiya

She folded the page and slipped it into her desk drawer before grabbing her pen and looking back down at the work she'd been doing earlier, carrying on where she'd left off. 'I'll be waiting for you Jiraiya.'


Mount Myōboku...


Jiraiya arrived in a cloud of smoke with only a slight feeling of vertigo, a reminiscent feeling of his less than stellar health at the moment. He easily shook it off though as he took in the familiar surroundings of the land of the toads, smiling widely at the scenery. The climate was as tropical as ever, the oversized plants that were so generic basking in the vibrant sun. The serene nature of this land gave him an odd sense of peace. 'It's been a while since I lasted visited,' he thought a little guiltily.

It had been a while though. If he was correct, it was right before he'd went off on his journey of discovery away from the village and through the Elemental Nations, in search of the child of prophecy. After he'd come back from the Land of Rain, thinking Nagato to be the child of prophecy, he'd been denied chance to visit yet again by Orochimaru betraying the village and subsequently becoming a missing ninja. How much time had he spent trying to hunt down his old teammate for revenge, and then in the end, Naruto's class mate who had similarly gone rogue ended up offing him instead. Irony made itself known in the most inconvenient of times.

His thoughts were interrupted as Naruto suddenly appeared in his vision, his godson's face a mixture of confusion and awe. "Hey Pervy Sage, is this Mount Myo—whatever you called it?"

Jiraiya nodded his head in the affirmative, though rolled his eyes at the blonde in amusement. 'I'm not surprised he can't remember the name. I guarantee the brat wasn't even listening to half the things Tsunade was saying.'

A throaty chuckle was heard several seconds after as a small green toad landed between Jiraiya and Naruto. "The Pervy Sage huh? I couldn'a thought of a more fittin' name myself." The toad had white hair styled in somewhat of a mohawk, with thick eyebrows and a small goatee, as well as a high collared cape.

Naruto looked a little affronted at somebody so casually demeaning his master by calling him 'Pervy Sage', despite the fact that he himself only used the name. It was beyond ironic, though Naruto didn't seem to notice one bit, and Jiraiya almost face palmed at the idiocy of it. 'Irony is wasted on the dense as they say.'

Jiraiya nevertheless turned down to the small toad and offered a kindred smile, bowing his head lowly and speaking in a soft rasp. "It's good to see you again Boss. I never had a chance to thank you, but if it wasn't for your quick actions, I'd most likely be dead. This hoarse voice of mine is pretty much the extent of my injuries. And my arm of course, but I can hardly complain considering I basically died."

Naruto's eyes widened ever so slightly at that titbit of information. Hearing that this toad had saved Jiraiya's life, not to mention his master addressing the toad as 'Boss'... it did a great job of calming Naruto down, and he found himself developing a sense of respect for the miniature toad. His face still soured a little at the reminder that Jiraiya had lost his arm. He felt like it was a great injustice to someone like his master, who had done nothing but endure during his tenure as a shinobi. His dream was to bring about peace in the Elemental Nations, and for someone like that to have to lose their arm… the thought just angered him more, so he cut that line of thinking and focused back on the small toad.

Fukasaku smiled grimly, though looked just as relieved as Jiraiya felt. "I'll admit it was a close one, but it seems everthin' worked out in the end." He clapped his hands together and looked between the pair of student and master, gesturing behind him with a flick of his hand. "But before we begin anythin', let's eat first. Ma's been preparin' some food for lunch, so you're just in time."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the prospect of eating a good meal, and he raced after the small toad all too eagerly. Jiraiya on the other hand snickered knowingly, shaking his head as he followed at a more sedate pace. Oh, he knew just what kind of food Ma was cooking, and although he himself was used to it and knew what to expect, Naruto was sure as hell going to be in for a surprise. 'I wonder how Naruto likes his caterpillars.'

XxX

Naruto's reaction to the news of lunch was as entertaining as Jiraiya had expected, and truth be told, he'd never once seen his godson as quiet as he was now. Jiraiya found himself stifling his chuckles more than a few times as they sat respectfully within the small home of the two toads, Naruto fighting valiantly to school his features into one of appreciation as his 'lunch' squirmed lethargically on the plate before him.

Jiraiya took it all in jest and bowed graciously to Shima, grabbing the small spoon and gently bringing some of the broth in his bowl to his lips. He hummed in appreciation, sending her a wide grin. 'Ah, now this takes me back...'

He glanced towards Naruto out the corner of his eye and found his godson honest to goodness gaping at him. Jiraiya was unable to keep himself under control this time and outright laughed, his throaty chuckle taking on a raspy pitch. Naruto was looking a little confused now, but the pair of toads were going about business as usual, seemingly used to the white haired man's behaviour, even after all these years. Jiraiya just gestured at the food that was plated before his godson with a smug grin. "Eat up while it's still warm Naruto. You can't do any training on an empty stomach."

Shima winced at the grating sound of his voice, and disappeared before reappearing a moment later with a glass of green liquid in her webbed hand. "Here, drink this Jiraiya-boy. It'll help ease ya throat." Jiraiya nodded in thanks as she carried on with her housework. He sent his godson a glance as he sipped on the bitter tasting liquid, his face breaking out into a dubious grin.

Naruto sent Jiraiya a withering glare before gulping audibly and looking down at the plate of—he gulped again—caterpillars. He gingerly reached for the twitching insects that had been boiled to perfection, two fingers carefully bringing his catch towards his mouth. Time seemed to slow as he oh so carefully plunged the insect whole heartedly into his mouth, being careful not to allow it to touch the sides of his lips.

Naruto closed his mouth and immediately wished he hadn't, the texture alone sending shrills careening up and down his spine. Tentatively he bit down, a sickening crunch that sounded like a bang echoing in his ears. The taste was definitely worse now, infinitely more so, and he bravely took one more bite before swallowing the rest whole with great difficulty. Before the insect even left his mouth, a glass of water was already being pushed to his lips, water spilling out at the edges as he attempted to flush down the creature and rid some of the lingering taste.

Jiraiya watched the entire proceeding with a twisted sense of humour, laughing at the predicament Naruto had found himself in. After a couple more times of watching his godson put himself through agony though, he decided that the blonde had suffered enough. Grabbing his pen and notepad, he quickly jotted down a message before handing it to his godson wordlessly. 'I guess I can take it a little easy on you for now.'

Naruto eyed the paper wearily, his face looking slightly pale, though ultimately decided to see what Jiraiya had to say. Naruto looked between the note and Jiraiya a few times before grabbing one of the insects on his plate and generously smothering it in a dip of some kind in the middle of the table, a dip he'd written off as some sort of paste made from crushed insects. In other words, something that he should stay very far away from. Turns out he was wrong though.

Just as before there was a slight hesitation as he placed the insect inside his mouth, but this time his entire face didn't cringe at the invasive taste, and he swallowed the caterpillar in the next second with ease. Whatever that dip was, it greatly helped with the process of forcing this 'food' down, and Naruto sent his godfather a thankful glance before finishing the rest of his plate with haste.

When he was finished, Jiraiya cleared his throat and pointed back in the direction they'd first appeared. "Why don't you go find Gamakichi so long and catch up? We'll come find you in a minute and get everything started then."

Naruto couldn't have looked more relieved if he tried, and he stuttered a hurried thanks to Shima before scurrying off. Once Jiraiya was sure Naruto was gone and well out of earshot, he turned a somewhat serious gaze to Fukasaku and cleared his throat again, finding it feeling a lot less scratchy after whatever it was Shima had given him. "Before we begin the training, I just thought you should know that I'm almost certain Naruto is the child the Great Toad Sage prophesised about."

Fukasaku's eyes widened imperceptibly, and even Shima ducked her head back into the room, staring at Jiraiya in surprise. "You mean that boy is the child of prophecy?"

Jiraiya nodded in the affirmative. "I've never been surer about it. Back when we were fighting Pain and I was on the brink... I came to a realisation. I'd always though that it was Nagato," he explained, taking a small sip of the green liquid to ease his throat before continuing. "I mean he had the Rinnegan, so in my eyes it had been almost too obvious. But it turns out I was mistaken. Horribly so. I know I've said I'd found the child of prophecy before, more than a few times, but this time is different. This time, I really mean it when I say that Naruto is the child of prophecy."

Fukasaku scratched the tip of his goatee contemplatively, his eyes narrowed in thought. "If what you're sayin' is true, then we've got no time to waste. We haven't heard the last of Pain, and it won't be long before he comes knockin' on the Hidden Leaf's front door."

Jiraiya nodded grimly. He and Tsunade had come to the same conclusion earlier. They were going to need all the help they could get, so Naruto needed this training. Speaking of which... "I hope it's not too late Boss, but I was hoping that while we're training Naruto, I could finish my own training. I never really got around to mastering Sage Mode back when I was on my journey to find the child of prophecy, or chasing that bastard Orochimaru all over the Elemental Nations, and now is as good a time as any to finish it."

If anything Fukasaku's grin got wider, and he hopped atop Jiraiya's shoulder as they left the small cottage. "As if you had any choice in the matter Jiraiya-boy. I think it's about time you finished ya trainin' too. Ma and I aren't gonna live for ever you know."

Jiraiya snorted at that. "You might not live forever, but you'll sure as hell outlive me." He nodded his head gratefully though, an excited grin lighting up his features as they strolled through the foliage of Mount Myōboku at an even pace. "Thanks Boss. Now let's go find that godson of mine. We've got some training to do."


AN: Here's the next chapter. Also still a relatively small one, only 2.8k words. After this one the chapters should all be roughly 4k words, so updates won't be coming as fast as they are now. Any feedback you have is appreciated, hope this chapter was all right.

ShadowedNara