Part 7
A boy ran for his life.
He ran as if there was no tomorrow, as if the Nine-tailed fox itself was chasing him. Because if he didn't, he was as good as dead.
"JIRAIYA! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" his teammate shouted. Jiraiya ran. Because honestly, how was he supposed to know that Tsunade was in the bath at that exact moment? He'd just wanted a peek, honestly. It wasn't like he'd meant to peek on that side of the baths, and he'd certainly not meant to get caught.
He'd just gotten...curious about the other side, and he'd wanted to see, and he'd been stuck in the hot springs since Ebisu-sensei had left him to practice water-walking. It wasn't really his fault, he had just looked for a second!
Because he'd certainly not meant to peek in the baths. That wasn't his intention. He'd been training, trying to learn water-walking, and that's where Ebisu-sensei had taken him. And then he'd ended up peeking over at the other side of the divider, because he was just so curious! Jiraiya was capable of resisting temptation, but it just wasn't fair that he'd practically been put in front of the wall. It was like taking an alcoholic to the bar — just asking for trouble.
And then his teammate had been there, which was the worst thing ever, because of course she'd noticed. And now, he was running for his life. Because Tsunade would certainly end him if she caught him.
He couldn't even flee to the rooftops, because she was better at chakra control than him, and that, if nothing else, would spell disaster.
Jiraiya ran until he ran straight into someone. Quite literally, he ran straight into the man's chest and bounced off, rolling in the dusty street. Of course, Tsunade was still chasing him, so he couldn't exactly stay around to apologize, so he tried to scramble away.
He was stopped by two hands on his shirt, and lifted up and set on his feet.
Looking up, he caught himself staring into two bright blue eyes, like jewel sapphires.
Now, Jiraiya could say with authority, even at the precocious age of thirteen, that he was a man who loved women. He loved everything about them — their beauty, their wit, their smell, their legs, their...assets. He also loved their eyes.
So he was very certain he was staring into a pair of extraordinarily pretty eyes, which undoubtedly belonged to an even prettier woman.
He was hilariously mistaken, because he realized that he was being held by and staring into the eyes of a person who was undoubtedly a man. And not just any man, but the man who was arguably the most powerful shinobi in the village.
Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, and someone that the forces of Iwa and Kumo had been ordered to flee on sight from, had beautiful eyes. They were wide, blue, and positively sultry. It was an undeniable fact. The man had pretty eyes.
So perhaps it was somewhat forgiveable that the first thing he said to the man was, "Pretty eyes."
Beside him, Namikaze Minato's companion threw back his head and laughed. It wasn't a giggle, or even a chortle. It was full blown, full bodied laughter. Jiraiya twisted around a bit in the man's grip to get a good look at the laughing man, and his eyes widened in shocked recognition.
Because, he was looking at the Hokage. Yahiko of the Sannin, Yondaime Hokage of the Leaf, and the teacher of the Yellow Flash, was laughing his lungs out at Jiraiya.
His face reddened in embarassment.
The Hokage stopped laughing to gasp out, "Girly! Eyes!" which made Minato let Jiraiya go and rub the back of his head self-consciously.
He asked Jiraiya, "It's not that bad, right?"
Before he had a chance to respond, though, Tsunade came around the corner and saw Jiraiya. He gulped, and her face contorted with rage.
"JIRAIYA!" she said as she strode forward dangerously.
"Ahh!" he said — not squeaked, because Jiraiya did not squeak — and tried to hide behind the S-ranked ninja. It was dubious, but if anything could protect him from an enraged Tsunade, it was an S-ranked ninja. But even that wasn't a sure thing.
Luckily, the Hokage stepped in between them, and asked, "What's going on?"
Jiraiya began to try to explain his side of the situation, but Tsunade struck first. "He peeked on the woman's side of the public baths!"
Oh, shit.
"I didn't mean to!" he protested.
"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" she shouted. "YOU STILL DID IT!"
"Now, let's just calm down," Minato said carefully. He carefully looked over them both. "You're Kakashi's students, aren't you?"
He nodded, slightly glumly. At least Tsunade had stopped shouting.
"Ahh, good. Now, first of all: clearly, Jiraiya, you should know that peeking in the women's baths is not okay. You know that, right?" He nodded again. "And you won't do it anymore, okay?" More nodding, this time particularly vehemently.
"And Tsunade? You have every right to be angry at Jiraiya for what he did. But no maiming your teammates, okay? One day you're going to have to rely on him, and he may maybe save your life, so you and he need to work to get along, okay?" Tsunade looked like she was going to argue for a minute, but she relented and nodded her head.
"Now, Jiraiya, you need to apologize."
He glared at Minato. He knew that! "Look, Tsunade. I'm sorry! I won't do it again! I was just trying to do water-walking like Ebisu-sensei told me to and I got frustrated! And then I got curious and I really knew that I shouldn't but I did it anyway and I'm super sorry please forgive me!"
Tsunade stared at him with narrowed eyes. Minato looked at her imploringly. Tsunade remained defiant. Minato frowned, and glanced to Yahiko. The Hokage, who had been mostly silent during the exchange, only watching indulgently, cleared his throat.
Tsunade finally relented, and she growled out, "Fine. But if I catch you doing it again, you won't get off so easily."
"Excellent!" Minato said. "Now that that's over with, what are all of you working on? You're both in the finals for the chūnin exams, right?"
"Ahh, Ebisu-sensei said I need to work on the basics," Jiraiya admitted.
"And all I've done is the academy ninjutsu!" Tsunade complained. For once, they were in agreement.
"Ahh, but do you remember the message in the heaven and earth scrolls?" The Hokage reminded them.
"What!? There was some kind of deeper meaning?" Jiraiya asked.
"Of course! Don't be an idiot!"
"Ow! You don't have to hit me so hard!"
Minato just prompted his teammate. "Well, they talked about heaven and earth, and how you need both to be successful. So...it's sort of saying that you need to have no weaknesses, and you need to be okay at at least everything instead of good at just one thing?"
"Of course," The Hokage agreed. "After all, there aren't any jōnin that aren't good at the basics. Even your teacher, Ebisu, made special jōnin solely on being skilled at only the simplest techniques."
"So we just have to do the basics over and over?" Jiraiya asked.
"Oh, I don't know about that," the Hokage said. "I think we can spare an afternoon to help out our students' students."
Minato also grinned reassuringly at them. "Sure. Where is you sensei anyway?"
"He went off to help the bastard!" Jiraiya blurted.
"Ahh, but let's not call your teammate a bastard," Minato warned. "Remember, he's your teammate."
"But sensei totally ditched us to help out Orochimaru!"
The Hokage cleared his throat. "I believe that your teammate is fighting the Kazekage's son, right?" At their nods, he continued, "Perhaps he's worried about what Orochimaru's opponent did to your fellow genin, Rock Lee. Gaara does not seem like he is capable of restraint."
"But that's not fair!"
"Many things aren't fair," Minato said. "But that is the life of a shinobi. But consider that your teacher put in the effort to find another jōnin to teach you in his stead. And like Yahiko-sensei said, we can spare a little time for my student's students. What are you two interested in?"
Jiraiya was momentarily floored, but Tsunade wasted no time in shouting, "Medical techniques!"
"Ahh...I don't know much about medical techniques," Yahiko of the Sannin admitted. "Nagato is the one who knows almost every jutsu. Do either of you happen to have the water element?" he asked.
"Earth!" Tsunade said.
Jiraiya just shook his head. He didn't know his chakra nature, actually.
"Hmmm," Yahiko said. "Well, you hit your teammate pretty hard. I don't know about medical techniques, but I did have a student at one point who was a med-nin that knew how to enhance her punches with chakra. She could punch through the ground, or through trees. I could show you some pointers on that, if you like."
"I can do that!" Tsunade agreed. "Though I think there was someone in the exams that did something like that..."
"Huh? Well, maybe it's become a bit more common than I thought," Yahiko said.
Tsunade was too swept up her elation to notice, though.
Jiraiya did remember the strangely helpful pink-haired girl. But the Yellow Flash was looking at him imploringly, and Jiraiya didn't want to waste this chance. He had the opportunity to learn from a genuine S-ranked ninja!
There was something he really wanted, but he wasn't sure it was his place to ask.
"Ahhh, I'm not sure," he hedged.
"There's nothing you can think of?" the blond shinobi asked. "Surely there's at least some kind of jutsu that you want to know."
"Well, I did hear from Kakashi-sensei that you taught him fūinjutsu."
"Mmmm! I did! I'm actually pretty good at sealing, y'know? But is that what you really want?" It was almost like Minato knew...
"But it's not my place to ask!" Jiraiya said quickly. "You can't just ask someone for a summoning contract! It's rude!"
"Oh, I don't know, it never hurts to ask," Minato cautioned. "And we're all shinobi of the Leaf, right? The worst that'll happen is I say no. But why do you want to learn to summon so badly?"
Jiraiya looked down at his feet. Tsunade was talking excitedly to the Hokage, as they were moving slightly away from him and Minato. He knew how he wanted to answer, but his dream...it sounded so stupid when he said it out loud. He was just an orphan kid with big dreams.
"Everyone...all ninja, we just spend all this time fighting and killing each other," he said, slowly growing more confident as he spoke, "I want to change that. I want to stop killing, to end this cycle of violence. But to do that, to do anything, I need to be strong first. That's why I want to summon."
Minato's eyes were wide as he stared at Jiraiya. But he wasn't laughing, or brushing him off as some naive kid.
"Jiraiya..." he said. "I think that's a very good reason. But it's not only up to me. A summon contract is serious business, and the toads will have to accept you too. After all, the toads are sentient beings, too. And it's a big responsibility, so don't take it lightly."
"I can do that! But...why me? I know I'm your student's student, but I'm just some no-name orphan. I'm not the kind of genius my teammates are."
"Ahh, Jiraiya. Don't ever underestimate yourself, or let others look down on you because you're not from a clan, or an orphan. Look at the kind of no-name orphans that grew up to be famous ninja. That man over there," he pointed to the Hokage. "His teammate, too. And, don't forget that you're looking at someone who used to be a no-name orphan. Now, everyone in the Five Great Nations has heard of the Sannin, or the Yellow Flash.
"And besides," he said, leaning closer. "I've heard a lot about you guys from your sensei, and I know you're his favorite. So, I believe in you, Jiraiya, and I know you'll achieve your dream."
"There's no way I'm Kakashi-sensei's favorite! He spends a whole lot more time with Tsunade and Orochimaru!" Jiraiya said vehemently.
"My student is complicated," Minato hedged, his gaze far away, in the direction of their usual training ground and the memorial stone. "It's not really my place to say, but you remind him of someone who was very precious to him. Kakashi...he's lost a lot of people, and sometimes it's painful to see reminders of those people. You remind him...and I think for him, it's hard to look at you sometimes."
"I...see," he sort of didn't, though. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to him.
Minato was undeterred. "I'm not sure you do. But it's okay. You will, eventually.
"But that's enough of that! Let's get to summoning!" he said. "Now do you know the seals?"
"Of course!" Jiraiya couldn't contain his grin.