A/N: Well hello and welcome to another chapter. Sorry it took so long, I had a VERY busy past couple of weeks. Now normally I would have been able to release a chapter earlier, but those weeks decided to beat me up for my lunch money at least three times a day. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Also a BIG thing occurred recently, and that was achieving 40 reviews and 104 follows! Sure for some people this is small, but for me, it really means a lot that so many of you like my story. If I could I'd give you all a big hug. Or a handshake if you don't like hugs. Now for some bad news. Finals are coming up, and sadly that means there is a large chance that you may not get another chapter for a while. Hopefully you can understand the plight of this poor college student. I'll try my best to get something done in the next couple of weeks, but no promises. Oh hey almost forgot. Please leave a review and let me know if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes. Thanks and enjoy!

Edit: fixed an inconstancy thanks you to the reader who pointed out that I forget about what I write. E2: I may have dropped the ball. Fortunately I picked up the ball. Everything should be better now. Thanks to Twisted Pxl for the help!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, The Legend of Zelda, or anything else I may reference. However, when I travel back in time and put stocks in Walmart and Apple, I'll be able to own everything.


Jiraiya shifted in his seat in the room's corner as his eyes darted around the small sparsely decorated room, looking for anything that could tell him about the temple he had entered. The room he was sitting in was rectangular. Jiraiya estimated that the room was five meters long and four meters wide. The floor was made of a gray tile, which was covered by a red carpet with a golden trim. In front of Jiraiya was a round willow table which was a meter in diameter. Across the table was an old oak and leather chair next to an in wall fireplace. Above the fireplace was a painting of an elderly woman wearing a small crown. The wall across from the fireplace had a large oak bookshelf covering the entire wall. The bookshelf reached up halfway to the three and half meter tall room and ended in both corners of the room. The bookshelf was sporadically filled, and had no obvious sorting. Directly across from Jiraiya was an open door. In the opposite corner of the room near the bookshelf was a small rack that had books resting on it, waiting to be returned to their proper place.

Jiraiya's fingers tapped on the table in front of him, while he contemplated his next move.

'I want to look at these books, but I can't allow this Hakkai fellow sneak up on me,' Jiraiya thought anxiously, 'If only there were two of me.'

Silence filled the room, shortly followed by a small pop.

Jiraiya motioned for his new Shadow Clone to examine the bookshelf. The clone nodded and complied.

Jiraiya returned his gaze to the door across from him, keeping an eye out for his host.

The clone picked up a green bound book, and looked at its cover. On the front cover of the tome was a golden symbol. The symbol had a small golden circle in the center. A centimeter to the right of the circle was a crescent that covered the front half of the circle. To the right of the crescent was another, larger crescent that covered its smaller counterpart.

Gingerly, the clone opened the book. The first page was covered in strange symbols that the clone could not decipher. The clone started to flip through the book, looking for anything he could understand. With a grunt of disappointment, the clone shut the book. The clone looked back at Jiraiya, who motioned for the book. The clone stepped towards Jiraiya, and placed the book on the table, and returned to the books, picking out a book bound in a simple brown leather.

Jiraiya closed his eyes, and opened the book to a random page. When he opened his eyes, he estimated he opened up to a page three fifths of the way through the book. Jiraiya looked for any symbols resembling any language, common or code, that he knew. A small frown appeared on his face as his search continued, turning the page to continue his search.

Upon turning the page, Jiraiya saw a small black and white picture placed on the top half of the page. Jiraiya moved his hand to get a closer look. The picture was of a bald man in a sumo starting position, facing a much larger creature that seemed to have rocks coming out of its back and head. The creature seemed to have tattoos all over its body, and it was in a starting position as well. Jiraiya turned the page and exhaled harshly through his nose.

'Chapter twelve, huh? At least the numbers are the same.'

Jiraiya's musings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and a faint rattling.

Looking up, Jiraiya saw Hakkai entering the room carrying a white tea pot, and two white cups.

"Sorry about the wait," Hakkai said apologetically, "but I misplaced the tea and had to go all the way to the storage room to find it."

Hakkai blinked slowly as he saw Jiraiya sitting in the corner, while another Jiraiya was skimming through a book.

"Oh dear, I didn't realize I needed to bring enough for three!" Hakkai said in a panic, "I'll make sure your phantom has plenty to drink as well."

An inquisitive look came upon Hakkai's face.

"Do ghosts drink tea? Bah! We can find out."

The clone put the book back on the bookshelf, and waved at Hakkai.

"There is no need for that, I'm just a clone, not this phantom thing. I'll go ahead and see myself out," The clone quickly mentioned.

With a puff of smoke, the clone dispersed.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as memories of moving symbols inside the brown book filled his mind. Looking back at Hakkai, Jiraiya saw the old man staring with a blank look at the empty spot.

"Wh-what happened? Where did he go? Is he alright?" Hakkai asked in a flurry.

Jiraiya's eyebrows furrowed.

"He is perfectly fine, just a temporary clone I created. They are basically just an extension of myself that I can create and return at will," Jiraiya explained.

Hakkai let out a sigh of relief.

"That's much better than what I thought it was," Hakkai exclaimed.

"And just what is a phantom, if you wouldn't mind explaining?"

Hakkai shrugged.

"I guess it's only fair. A phantom is a creature made from dark magic. Unlike your clone, the phantom is its own unique being. It has its own life and desires. The creators usually give them some type of purpose, such as to protect the creator, or defend an area. However, there are some records in history of phantoms being made to find their own way of life. Unfortunately, the dark magics used to create them usually had a great cost, in either life or power, and the phantoms tended to be very, very stupid, in order for them to maintain their life."

Jiraiya stared at Hakkai.

'I don't think he is going to stop any time soon.'

"You and Naruto both enjoy spacing out at detailed explanations, don't you?" Hakkai accused.

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head.

"Well to be honest, I explained mine in two sentences, while you went on to explain an entire historical novel."

Hakkai walked to the table and carefully set down the tea, and sat in the open leather chair across from Jiraiya, and slouched down.

"No one respects their elders anymore," Hakkai whined.

With a blank face, Jiraiya stared at the sulking old man.

'This is the guy who can help Naruto control the Kyuubi? I guess I've seen stranger.'

Hakkai looked up, and stared at the green book on the table.

"Oh? Tales of Courage? Quite the choice for you to read. Out of its trilogy, Tales of Wisdom was my favorite, while Tales of Power was my least," Hakkai excitedly exclaimed, "What did you think of it?"

"I'm afraid I was unable to read the book. I can't read this language," Jiraiya explained.

Hakkai stared at Jiraiya, a look confusion on his face. Jiraiya met his gaze in awkward silence.

"Oh that's right," Hakkai suddenly proclaimed, startling Jiraiya. "No one speaks my dead language anymore. I nearly forgot how much has happened."

Hakkai's gaze fell to the floor, as a somber look replaced his usual cheerfulness.

Sensing the change in mood, Jiraiya uncomfortably shifted in his seat.

"Sorry for bringing it up, but what do you mean by that?"

Hakkai looked up at Jiraiya.

"Think you can actually pay attention?"

Jiraiya glared at Hakkai for the jab, and huffed.

"Well played old man."

With a triumphant laugh, Hakkai picked up the tea pot.

"Tea?"

Jiraiya shook his head.

With a slight nod of his head, Hakkai filled the cup closest to him with tea. He then set the pot down, and picked up the cup. He took a small sip, testing the warmth of the drink. Feeling the warm liquid filling his body, Hakkai let out a content sigh.

Jiraiya watched as Hakkai took another drink from his cup.

"Are you sure? This may be a long conversation."

Seeing the logic in Hakkai's statement, Jiraiya stiffly nodded.

Hakkai smiled, and moved to pour a glass for Jiraiya. As the liquid fell from the pot, Hakkai saw a quick movement, as the white cup was replaced with a humble wooden cup.

Chuckling, Hakkai filled the cup, and looked at Jiraiya.

"You're just as paranoid as the other military types."

Jiraiya pulled his cup to his face, giving the liquid a slight sniff.

"I haven't lived as long as I have by being foolish."

With a smile, Hakkai put down the pot.

"No, I guess not."

Jiraiya took a small drink of tea and set his cup on the table.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind explaining the dead language."

"Straight and to the point, aren't you?"

Hakkai picked up his cup, and took a sip with closed eyes.

Jiraiya looked at Hakkai, waiting for an answer.

"A long time ago, before your history was even a thought in the goddesses' minds, there was a powerful kingdom. In this land, they worshipped three goddesses. Each goddess represented a quality; wisdom, power, and courage. The goddesses had a hero, destined to bring peace to the world when great evil sought to destroy it."

Hakkai opened his eyes to the sound of scratching. He smiled as he saw Jiraiya scribble into a notebook, and returned to his story.

"Roughly twenty years prior my birth, the hero had defeated a great source of evil, and returned the land to its rightful order. Fast forward to my birth, and the peace was interrupted with civil unrest. The cause? My birth."

Jiraiya stopped writing. He looked up at Hakkai with a puzzled look on his face.

"Your birth?"

Hakkai nodded.

"Yes, my birth. Unfortunately I am the same race as the man who attempted to take over our world, and even worse, I am a man."

"And how does being a man make it worse?"

Hakkai frowned as he took another drink of his tea.

"In my race, only one man was born every one hundred years, or at least that's what our folk lore tells us. Unfortunately, the only time the people heard of this, was when that man had been evil. They ignored the many born good because of the faults of the cruel."

Hakkai slumped back into his chair slightly.

"Many people wanted me to be put to death on the spot. However, my Queen decided otherwise."

Jiraiya took a closer look at the painting above the fireplace. The woman had a heart shaped face. Her nose thin and small. She had wise blue eyes underneath sharp graying brown eyebrows. Her lips were thin, and showed no emotion. She had long brown and gray hair that flowed over her back. On her head was a golden tiara with a blue gem held on the top of the center of the tiara. Her ears were elongated and adorned with thick small grey hoop earrings.

"Was that her?"

Hakkai smiled.

"Yes that was her. In her wisdom, she decreed that I had a special purpose for being born, and that they would raise me in a way that I would know the love of others, and I would not be shunned. She then went to commune with the goddesses to see if any insight would be given for my purpose. The goddesses proclaimed that I was here to help protect the world from evil."

Hakkai sat up straight, and started to pour himself more tea.

"Now keep in mind that evil was defeated by a hero merely twenty years before, and the people were not wanting to go through that traumatic experience again. My Queen decided that I would be trained to either be the hero, or assist the hero, whichever I needed to do."

A chuckle escaped Hakkai as he remembered his childhood.

"They quickly learned I was not the hero."

Jiraiya looked up from his notebook.

"Really? How so?"

"I was absolutely dreadful at any type of combat, no matter how hard I trained," Hakkai exclaimed with a laugh, "Every test of strength and dexterity they gave me I failed nearly immediately."

Hakkai smiled fondly while he recalled his childhood.

"Fortunately, I was, and still am, very gifted in the arts of the mind, and I picked up the concepts of magic quickly, even though I was limited by my own weakness," Hakkai said with a large smile.

"To say my teachers and my Queen were surprised would be an understatement. They sent me at the tender age of eleven to our knights' academy, where they asked me to teach one of the struggling recruits, who was twice my age, the basic stances and forms of polearms. I found the challenge exhilarating, and it came naturally to me. Within a week, I had taught the man the basic forms, and started with some advanced techniques."

Hakkai pulled himself from his memories and looked at Jiraiya, who had a small scowl appearing on his face.

"I understand you just want to know about the language, but I haven't had good company with a mature person in over sixty years," Hakkai growled at Jiraiya, who had started to fall asleep.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just your stories drag on forever," Jiraiya said matter-of-factly.

'I thought Naruto was exaggerating about those tapestry stories,' Jiraiya thought, 'He's almost as bad as Orochimaru is about his experiments.'

"You can continue, I'm paying attention. I promise."

Hakkai muttered under his breath about the impatient youth before continuing his story.

"After this test, my Queen told me that they would begin the process of my awakening as the Sage of Spirit."

A snap echoed through the room.

"Sage of Spirit?" Jiraiya questioned as he discarded of his now broken pencil and retrieved another from his vest.

Hakkai nodded with a smile.

"Yes, the Sage of Spirit. Without going too far into details, it basically means that I am one of seven sages with the knowledge and power to banish evil and assist the goddesses chosen hero with his destiny."

Jiraiya stared at Hakkai, his mouth slightly open and his eyes slightly dazed.

"I see," Jiraiya said in his stupor, "I assume me being a sage is not a coincidence."

Hakkai chuckled.

"I'll get to that, but for now I will finish my long winded explanation," Hakkai said with humor in his voice, "Now, where was I?"

"Awakening as the Sage of Spirit."

"Ah, yes. For eight years I studied directly under my Queen, learning everything I could about the sages, preparing for myself to be revealed. I questioned why it was taking so long, eager to fulfill my duties as a sage."

Hakkai smiled at the picture of the Queen over the fireplace.

"I do believe I annoyed her very much, constantly asking if I was ready for eight straight years. Every time I asked, she said the same thing. 'You'll know when it is time, and that time will be when I say so.' I nearly gave up hope after my nineteenth birthday, but I decided, why not ask one more time. Imagine my surprise when she told me to pack my things."

Pausing, Hakkai rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.

"Honestly, I thought she had gotten sick of it and was ready to kick me out."

Jiraiya snorted at the peculiar old man.

"She took me out to this forest, how we got out without anyone noticing was beyond me but I had learned to just accept these sorts of things. She brought me to an old ruined building with a winged sword in a pedestal in the middle of it. I asked what we were doing here, and she responded by telling me to be quiet and pay attention."

Hakkai coughed and rubbed his throat before taking a drink of tea.

"To my amazement, a glowing pale gold man was floating before us."

Hakkai paused and reached into his Kimono. Jiraiya tensed as his hand twitched towards his kunai pouch. Hakkai ignored Jiraiya's reaction as he pulled out a small purple velvet bag with gold drawstrings. The bag clinked as Hakkai opened it. Reaching in, Hakkai pulled out a bronze medallion. Hakkai held up the medallion for Jiraiya.

The medallion had a yin yang symbol on it. Both the yin and yang were bronze, but protruded slightly from the medallion.

"The man had this symbol on his robes, and he gave me this medallion. After that he touched me and the next thing I know, I woke up inside this temple."

Jiraiya blinked slowly.

"So you met a glowing guy, he touched you, and then you woke up in a temple."

"Yes, that sounds about right."

"I assume that means you have no idea how you got to this temple."

"At first, no."

"At first?"

"Yes. And if you wouldn't interrupt me, you'd find out."

Jiraiya sheepishly apologized and raised his notebook to slightly block his face.

Hakkai grunted and continued his story.

"Upon awakening, I found a book telling me that I had been placed in this temple to wait for the next hero to assist him in cleansing the evil that would plague the land. My Queen had use the last power given to her by the goddesses to reconstruct this temple and to rejoin me with my ancient self. She wished me the best of luck and warned me not to step outside the temple, as time flew differently in this holy place."

Looking up from his notebook, Jiraiya had a puzzled look upon his face.

"What do you mean time flows differently?"

Hakkai laughed nervously.

"Well the magic cast on this place to construct it slowed it's progression through time by quite a substantial amount, although the magic has weakened greatly from the original creation."

Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"What do you mean time was slowed? What do you mean weakened? How long have I been here?" Jiraiya questioned in a frenzy.

"Time flows slower in this temple, thought that was rather obvious by how I explained it. It has weakened as the flow of time in this temple is slowly reaching the same flow as the outer world. On its conception, an hour in here would be centuries outside. This is also why you can't understand my language, as everyone else who spoke it died many, many years go. And as for how long you've been here, I'd guess it has an hour or so since you've been in here. But by the look of horror on your face I assume you'd like to hear that it's been around a day or two since you've entered."

Jiraya twitched slightly as his mouth slightly hung open.

'I've been gone. For two days?' Jiraiya thought in horror, 'With no explanation where I was going. Tsunade is going to kick my ass.'

"Well it has been great getting to speak with you, a pleasure really," Jiraiya said as he stood up, knocking his chair into the wall close behind himself, "But I really must go, lots of people worrying about where I am and whatnot."

Hakkai watched as Jiraiya shuffled around the table and moved for the door.

"I see where your student gets his goodbyes from."

Jiraiya stopped and turned and faced Hakkai's back. He had completely forgotten why he had come to this place originally.

Jiraiya stepped towards Hakkai, frustration evident on his face.

"We do have a lot in common. But that actually reminds me of why I came here in the first place. Why does Naruto believe that you can help him control the Kyuubi?" Jiraiya questioned with an air of protection.

Hakkai stood up himself, while taking a sip of tea.

"I do not know what this Kyuubi is, but I know this," Hakkai calmly spoke as he turned around and looked Jiraiya in the eye, "I was trained since a very young age to assist the Goddesses' chosen hero to conquer any challenge in his way so he could cleanse evil from this world. All it will take is time and tender care for him to grow into his destiny, is that not what you as a fellow sage believe as well?"

"My belief in Naruto has nothing to do with my status as a sage," Jiraiya snidely remarked.

"Oh? Then where does it come from?" Hakkai questioned.

"It comes from my belief in him as a person and that he will be the hero he was prophesized to be," Jiraiya exclaimed with absolute certainty.

"And where did this prophecy come from?"

"It comes from th-"

Jiraiya paused. He blinked slowly as a dumbfounded look came to his face.

'The Great Toad Sage gave me this prophecy. This sage business can't be a coincidence. Something is going on here.'

Jiraiya mentally groaned at his predicament.

'Why oh why couldn't I have ignored this place? I should be busy working on my next novel.'

"What do you want from me" Jiraiya questioned.

Hakkai chuckled as he reached into his Kimono.

"I want the same thing you want. I want to help Naruto to fulfill his destiny so the world can be saved," Hakkai started to explain.

"Yes, yes, but what does that have to do with me? What does it have to do with your story?" Jiraiya barked, his impatience starting to grow.

Hakkai took a deep breath and looked at the velvet pouch gently resting in his hand. He turned around and looked at Jiraiya. He reached into the pouch, and pulled out a closed fist.

"Catch."

Jiraiya watched a yellow object fly towards him. He dexterously picked the object out of the air, and held it between his forefinger and thumb. He was holding a yellow medallion that had three circles forming a triangle raised into the medallion, with three isosceles triangles pointing inwards in between the spaces of the circles pushed into the medallion.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and looked back at Hakkai.

"What is this for?"

"We both know that something is going to happen, and that it needs to be stopped. What we don't know is how it's going to happen. The best we can do is work together Naruto can fulfill his destiny and become the savior he was meant to be. Whether you want to accept it or not, we are both sages, albeit from completely different times. That medallion is a symbol that we have a divine purpose in saving the world. We may not be the hero ourselves, but we must accept our role."

Jiraiya looked at the medallion once more, a faint sense of familiarity coming to him. He clenched the medallion in his fist, and dropped it in his pocket.

"And what are our roles?"

Hakkai raised his right hand and muttered several words under his breath. Jiraiya tensed and discreetly performed handseals, preparing a substitution jutsu. With a final word, three small balls of multicolored light floated inbetween Hakkai's fingers. Effortlessly, he juggled the light between his fingers.

Sensing Jiraiya's tension, Hakkai closed his fist, and the lights disappeared. Jiraiya let out a small breath.

"You can teach him everything about your time, while I can teach him about my time. I can prepare him to use ancient magics, and teach him how to wield the sword of evil's bane."

"Sword of evil's bane?"

"Yes, you saw it sitting in the middle of the temple, did you not?"

Jiraiya's brow furrowed as he thought of the solid grey blade resting in its pedestal.

'That hunk of junk? It looked incredibly dull and doesn't even have a pommel. It's basically just one bar of metal,' Jiraiya thought skeptically.

Hakkai read Jiraiya's look of confusion and smiled.

"Don't judge it by appearances. When the time comes, the blade will return to its former glory, and will be a powerful tool in defeating whatever horrors come," Hakkai said with utmost confidence.

Jiraiya hummed slightly as he rubbed his right thumb over the fingers of his right hand. He stood silent as he contemplated everything he had heard. With a grunt, he turned around and walked out of the small study room and onto the balcony. He walked straight to the large door, not bothering to look around the temple. As he pulled open the door, he was stopped by Hakkai's voice.

"Well, what are you going to do?"

Jiraiya turned his head and looked at the old man, and looked back outside.

"As much as I would like to help, there is something I need to find out first," Jiraiya said in a flat voice as he took a step outside, "Thanks for the tea, but I really must be going."

Not hearing anything from the old sage, Jiraiya closed the door behind him, and moved his thumb to his mouth. Biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood, Jiraiya formed several handseals and slammed his hand on the ground.

With a poof of smoke, Fukasaku appeared.

"Ah! Jiraiya!" Fukasaku exclaimed excitedly, "We were worried about you. You'd gone missing for a day and a half, and we couldn't even bring you to Mount Myoboku with the reverse summoning technique!"

Jiraiya smiled apologetically at the old toad.

"Sorry Fukasaku-sama, I kind of lost track of time," Jiraiya gently spoke, "Speaking of Mount Myoboku, could you take me there? I need to speak with the Great Toad Sage about something I just learned.

Fukasaku gave Jiraiya an inquisitive look.

"Yes of course boy! There's just one thing, though. Could you explain what happened?"

Jiraiya chuckled dryly.

"I will, but I don't think you're going to quite believe it. But first, let's go to Myoboku so I don't have to explain it twice."

Fukasaku nodded as a cloud of smoke covered them. When the smoke dissipated, where the two had disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

The sound of footsteps on the rough stone echoed through the clearing, as a small child wearing a skull mask touched the ground where the pair had been. The child shook his head and adjusted his hat. He bent down and touched the grass where Jiraiya had been standing, and let out confused grunt. The child moved and knocked on the wooden door. The door slowly opened, revealing a content Hakkai.

"Ah! Skull Kid! What can I help you with?"

Skull Kid looked at the ground as he mumbled out a reply.

"Um, the man I helped bring here, he reminds me of my friends. I wanted to know if, uh, you think he will come again."

Hakkai smiled at the child warmly.

"I believe he will do what is right. Now, would you like to stay? I was just about to make a stew from a new recipe! It supposedly was created by yetis."

Skull Kid nodded his head and stepped into the temple. Hakkai motioned for Skull Kid to follow.

"Now, this soup is supposedly one of the best meals of my time. People from all over Hyrule came once the Hero of Twilight brought back the recipe to a humble little store in town. Hopefully it lives up to the hype."


A/N2: Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I'll admit I got a little carried away. I enjoy writing Jiraiya and Hakkai way too much. See you all next time!