So I thought long and hard... okay no I didn't but when it came to Jiraiya I'm a little bit peeved by his character I mean he's so strong and yet you barely see it. I had a phase after shippuden started and Jiraiya was telling kakashi about Naruto's training you guys remember in the hospital and he was talking about he came near death only twice in his life and then was lifting up his shirt...
...
I was like KYAAA! fangirl. I love a hot body and on an older male just break me off a piece of... (wiping the drool) anyway I was enamored by him that moment and yet Kishimoto left me wanting for more and it broke my heart. But putting that aside I had to think more like how my character would act and I feel a Naruto from the future... this would work.
The child sat across from him an elbow on the table and his head resting in his hand. His lips were in a pout as he stared grumpily at the bottle on the table,
"Ya know i didn't drink often in the future but i have to say i miss the taste of good sake every now and then."
A waitress passed with a befuddled look on her face and he sighed,
"So you're the one who's caused a stir with the elders"
Naruto caught his gaze and sat up,
"Let's cut the crap and get to the point. Nagato has the Rinnegan"
Jiraiya glared. It would make sense that if he was from the future that he would know but it still seemed strange and he had been right when he had first appeared; he did care about his students.
"But it doesn't belong to him"
Jiraiya mouth fell,
"What do you mean? Nagato had those eyes since he was little."
Naruto nodded,
"Yes however they were implanted when he was young unconsciously; they belong to someone else they're just being kept in Nagato for safe keeping.."
Jiraiya took another sip of sake he really was learning too much today,
"And i plan to take it from him"
BAM!
The whole shop got quiet as the sound of wood splitting stilled,
"Excuse me?"
Came a growl that made Naruto smile.
"Though Nagato can use it fairly well, eventually the original owner will come back; those eyes are too powerful to currently be on this earth."
Jiraiya tried to catch his breath, thinking and trying to understand what this kid was saying but kept getting caught in a loop that told him,
I plan to take it
"You said you would help me if i help you, what are you proposing exactly?"
The blonde leaned back as he rubbed the bandaged wrapped eye.
"Basically i will let Nagato live, and you will help me with something very important."
"What important thing is that?"
Jiraiya said skeptically. Naruto sighed. There were a ton of things he could tell him to do but it would be pointless as had been Shikamaru's opinion he had to do baby steps,
"I need you to find two things and bring them to konoha. First..."
Jiraiya raised a brow,
"Kabuto"
The Kid should just die. Ever since Naruto had met the snake apprentice the guy had been nothing but trouble. He was conniving, a liar and downright evil. Another person, like Obito, that Naruto felt had no redeeming qualities. But Shikamaru could see things in pros and cons better than he could and kabuto alive had won out.
"Who is this Kabuto kid?"
Naruto sighed again, looking at the bottle of sake. With all this stuff he had to run around and do he really wished he could have a drink,
"Kabuto is a spy."
Jiraiya frowned.
"He lost everything at a young age and in order to live became a spy. A Ninja with a speciality in medical ninjutsu…"
Naruto could see the man gulp at the last few words but he continue,
"Currently he is being manipulated under Orochimaru"
Now that really made the sanin jump,
"Orochimaru..?"
Naruto nodded.
"Honestly i don't care about Orochimaru. He sucks but he should not pose a threat if everything falls into place…"
Jiraiya tilted the sake cup watching the liquid get close enough to spill then turned it so it wouldn't,
"So why do i need to find this Kabuto kid? Does he become a worse threat than Orochimaru? Does he become a main problem in this future you're trying to protect?"
YES!
He became obsessed with your old teammate. So obsessed that he becomes half snake. And if that wasn't enough he assist Madara, who is the bastard who destroys the world.
And do you know how?
That punka*s reanimates a bunch of strong corpses including the hokage's that are a pain in the a*s by the way.
Screw finding him, JUST KILL THE BASTARD ON SIGHT!
"He lived a hard life and went down a dark path. I just want to save him from that painful fate."
Naruto was glad that time had made him a better liar because he wasn't sure if he was actually 10 if he could make that line as believable as it sounded. But Jiraiya seemed to be buying it based on the look of melancholy on his face.
"I see…"
It was a small task. Telling Jiraiya to get off his self-pitying arse and bring Orochimaru back would have been too difficult. But if he told him to just get Kabuto it was a bit simpler he was sure that he could do that much at the very least.
"And the other thing?"
Naruto looked up distracted by thoughts,
"You said there were two things you wanted me to find..?"
Now came the hard part, Naruto looked at him with his head cocked to the left… It wasn't a necessity but if the future changed too much some important events wouldn't take place that probably should. And though in the long run it didn't matter…
"Tsunade"
Jiraiya looked as taken aback as he thought he would be,
"Tsunade…?"
Shikamaru hadn't said anything about tsunade but Naruto felt it was important. The woman had saved him on occasion and he knew konoha would need her medical prowess in the future. Naruto scratched at his bandaged eye again.
"Does…"
He seemed almost scared to say it, his face pale and breathing quickened.
"Is she alive… in your time?"
Well at least the pervy sage believed him that was good, he would hate to have said all this only to find the man was in utter disbelief. But that was beside the point…
"She died."
Yes and no. Yes she had died but it was only much much later. She hung around for a long while and though she had stepped down from hokage. She had still been seen often tending to the sick and directing medical staff. But the look of utter horror on Jiraiya's face was good,
"Where… Where was I?! WHY WASN'T I THERE?!"
A good reaction as any. Shikamaru probably didn't offer him talking about tsunade because just as Jiraiya had given up on Orochimaru out of betrayal the man had given up on Tsunade out of pity. Unless Naruto did something extreme nothing he said would make this coward get up and bring either of them back. But Shikamaru either didn't know or want to know how cruel Naruto could be…
Cruel enough to laugh at the pain in kakashi's face…
Cruel enough to slaughter hundreds on the battlefield…
Cruel enough to keep a straight face….
"You ran away."
He could see the pieces of the man's heart breaking before his very eyes as he wove the painful lie.
"Tsunade after so long had finally been persuaded to come back"
Naruto leaned back casually but made sure his eyes were a calculated amount of emptiness so that it looked real,
"She came back ready to fight, and never give up…"
Jiraiya's breath hitched,
"She took her place as hokage and lifted the village with her skills. But danger started to raise… she called for you and i'm not sure what it was about but you said,
Men aren't meant to pursue happiness."
Jiraiya's breathing only seemed to get faster,
"You chased after information and were a remarkably informat but as the war loomed in, She requested you stay. That konoha needed you.. That she needed you."
The table started shaking,
"You told her that it was your job to leave, that you had to get information…."
Lies, lies, and more lies,
"It was the only time i had seen her lower her head. Orochimaru was long dead as was the third and she begged that you stay...
It's not only jutsus' and power. As Shinobi, we must be able to make sure we have proper judgment and make good decisions. If you want to live as a Shinobi, you must be wise. If you're a fool... then it will be a world full of pain. That's reality
That's what you told her… And then you ran. Tsunade died and no one heard from you again"
Naruto looked up trying to make tears come but…
What the hell was he talking about?
It was all a bunch of crap that had no basis. He almost wanted to bust into laughter that he could spin such bull in an instant.
God he hated who he became.
This was no way to treat the man that was like a grandfather to him, That had been a mentor to him, That had broken a popsicle with him.
But it was all necessary.
"I…."
Naruto looked back at the man and he should have felt some guilt at the horror reflected in the man's eyes but he couldn't..
"I would never…"
"You did"
Jiraiya looked like he had thrown salt on his wounds which was technically right,
"I Wouldn't!"
"You will"
He wouldn't but Jiraiya didn't need to know that for now..
"I WOULD NEVER ABANDON…!"
Naruto had to jump on the table to reach the man who stood taller than he remembered. But it was little consequence as anger gripped at his own heart and he grabbed a handful of Jiraiya's shirt pulling him close,
"BUT YOU DID!"
Past tense and Jiraiya caught it,
"WHEN YOU FELT OROCHIMARU BETRAYED YOU YOU ABANDONED HIM!"
Clearly a sore spot as he attempted to look away but Naruto wrenched him back refusing to let the man escape,
"WHEN TSUNADE LOST THOSE DEAR TO HER YOU COULDN'T HANDLE HER BURDEN AND LET HER GO!"
It was true, he couldn't deny it,
"AND EVEN IN THE FUTURE WHEN WE NEEDED YOU! WHEN WE ALL NEEDED YOU!
YOU WEREN'T THERE!"
He wasn't there when the nine tails attacked.
He wasn't there when the uchiha's were massacred.
He wasn't there when Orochimaru attacked.
And he was dead before Pein attacked,
When Kabuto attacked,
When Tobi attacked,
When Madara attacked.
But he couldn't say anything like that because they hadn't happened… He wouldn't let them.
Naruto took calming breaths letting go of the man's shirt and turning away back to his seat rubbing his eye.
"Just shut up"
Naruto said as he sat down. God he was tired. Seeing corpses, playing demon, there was so much to do and he was running out of time. Jiraiya sat back down heavily as if he were carrying the world on his shoulders.
"How…?"
Naruto was tempted to knock the bloke out if he asked about the future again and honestly Naruto was sure he could take the old man,
"How will i know you kept your side of the deal?"
Naruto blinked and had to consciously repress the victorious smile on his face.
"I have to take Nagato's eyes but i do plan to give him a replacement, i just haven't got it yet."
Eyes that would suit Nagato and would make up for the rinnegan; there were only one type and he knew where to find quite a few extra's.
"But i don't plan to leave him blind. I will give him my eye in return"
Jiraiya could never hide the amount of shock he was feeling. The kid only had one eye as it was and he was going to give up his other!?
"Why would you..?
"Because"
Naruto cut,
"That is how much i'm willing to put on the line,
It's not only jutsus' and power. As Shinobi, we must be able to make sure we have proper judgment and make good decisions. If you want to live as a Shinobi, you must be wise. If you're a fool... then it will be a world full of pain. That's reality"
Jiraiya visibly flinched but Naruto didn't stop,
"You were right when you said that. But i can't back down, I made a promise"
To the future
"Even if i have to play the fool for the rest of my life I never go back on my word. An eye, an arm whatever it takes i'll do it."
Jiraiya wondered if he had ever seen such determination in anyone's eyes before. So many were too naive, or confused and lost. They didn't know the pain that could come with their actions; but Naruto did. His eye bore the truth of sorrow so great it could break a man, pain so deep you would drown,
If Naruto had been a fool once he was no longer now. And Jiraiya never felt more ashamed,
"You're right…"
Jiraiya muttered as he looked down,
"All this time i thought i was making the right choice but i was… I ran away"
Naruto felt disappointed. This man whom he had made as his role model was suppose to be stronger than this..
"But no more…"
Naruto blinked as the sage's face turned from sorrow to strength,
"Kabuto… Tsunade...Orochimaru…"
Naruto could feel his eye prickle with a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time,
"I won't let any of them go! I'll bring them all back no matter what!"
Yea….
Naruto was tired. He felt so ancient compared to those around him. But that was okay…
This was good.