Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto
Jutsu: Original (Translation)
Bijū/Summon Speaking
Bijū/Summon Thoughts
Naruto mental reply
! - dattebayo
Edit 4/23/16
Chapter 50
Year 1: Yin and River
Next Day – Hi no Kuni
Early the next morning Jiraiya and Naruto scrubbed all the remaining traces of their camp after eating a quick breakfast of some smoked pork and scrambled eggs. While they weren't actually being pursued by anyone, it was just good practice to cover their tracks efficiently regardless.
Jiraiya led Naruto through the forest for half of the day before the trees began to thin out. It took Naruto a few minutes to realize that they had entered the outskirts of a ruined city. Jiraiya remained strangely silent as he led Naruto threw the ivy and vine covered remnants of an outer wall and into the heart of the ruins.
The sight caused Naruto's breath to catch when he took in the size and scope of the ruined city, and his imagination began to fill in the pieces for him. While most of the buildings had been leveled down to their very foundations, there were still some of the stone buildings standing. The design and structure of these buildings were of a type that Naruto had not ever seen before. Most of the buildings appeared to be circular and built with interlocking stones of various sizes ranging from the size of a fist to dwarfing a two story house. Almost all of the buildings were decorated or supported with rows of pillars and all of the stones were covered with weathered carvings that were indecipherable for the most part. Naruto could make out some leaf, tree, and animal motifs in the sculptures that had survived time and weather and could only imagine how elaborate the buildings must have appeared in their prime.
There were large and small canals running throughout the city, some were dry with plant life growing through the interlocking bricks, and others still contained slow moving water and various aquatic flora and fauna. Naruto wasn't certain if the water was safe to drink, but they could always purify it by boiling it first if necessary.
As they neared the center of the town, the ruined buildings became more elaborate with larger stones and pillars that were scattered or leaning against one another precariously. From the foundations that remained and the semi-intact buildings, Naruto could tell that the ruins had, at one point, been much taller than most of the buildings in Konoha. Possibly as tall as the Hokage monument itself. Naruto had to wonder at how some of the massive stone blocks were moved and stacked by the people who created this city.
Jiraiya led Naruto through the ruins to a large amphitheater type area that was sunken into the ground and ringed with large stone blocks that appeared to act as natural seating. Everything was overgrown with vines, tree roots, and grass that had pushed its way through the small cracks and began breaking down the large stones naturally.
Naruto followed Jiraiya down one of the more intact stone steps that lead down to the center of the amphitheater. He found it odd that Jiraiya had been completely quiet since they entered the ruins. Jiraiya came to a halt in the very center of the floor of the amphitheater before he spoke.
"No one really knows just how old these ruins are exactly, but there have been records about this place since long before the founding of Konoha itself. The earliest records that historians attribute to this city are over 400 years old. Some historians go so far as to believe this is the legendary city of Makimuku." Jiraiya said in a reverent tone, "Have you heard of it?"
"The Academy only briefly touched on the subject but not much about the legends themselves," Naruto replied.
Jiraiya shook his head and mumbled to himself before he continued with his lecture.
"The legends state that this city was founded by a group of tribes that desired to gather together all the tribes of humanity by using peace and understanding as a foundation to forge a better life for all." Jiraiya said in a wistful tone, "In order to accomplish this goal they needed to create a place for all to gather safely. Thus, the village of Makimuku was formed."
"As time passed this place became the center of spiritual and creative growth for humanity. More tribes continued to join, and the collective knowledge of humanity was shared amongst all. The tribes then applied this combined knowledge to make this city a grand and welcoming place to encourage all the other tribes to join." Jiraiya faced back towards Naruto before he continued with his tale, "People were in awe at the magnificent carved buildings of stone, manicured gardens, abundant fields of crops that grew practically year round, and even the working sewage system that kept the city clean without damaging the environment." Jiraiya added.
"Now, I'm sure that you are starting to wonder why I brought you to this place and for what reason I am telling you about all this, right?" Jiraiya said with a grin.
"Actually, I was very interested in what you had to say about this place. Now that you mention it, however, the thought has crossed my mind." Naruto replied.
"Good," Jiraiya said cheerfully, but his face suddenly became serious. "I brought you here to show you what good intentions built and what they destroyed."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that statement but remained quiet so that Jiraiya would elaborate.
"While all the legends have different explanations for how this city fell, they all agree on one thing. This place was destroyed in less than a day because of good intentions." Jiraiya paused for dramatic effect, "This is the city where the idea of creating a jinchūriki was born."
Naruto had been scanning some of the ruins when Jiraiya had mentioned that the city was destroyed in a day. It seemed almost unreal that something like that could happen to a place as grand and large as this. As soon as Jiraiya mentioned jinchūriki, however, his gaze snapped back to Jiraiya.
'This sounds like the place you mentioned to me in Nami no Kuni.' Naruto thought.
"Yes. I am curious to see what the humans believe to be the truth, so pay attention." Kurama replied.
"While the legends all vary on why they sought to create a jinchūriki, they all agree that the allied tribes decided to create the jinchūriki for protection or defense and that it was the Yonbi that killed every man, woman, and child in the village," Jiraiya said grimly.
Jiraiya began to pace as he elaborated further.
"Some legends say they were simply testing the concept and failed, causing the Yonbi to rampage the city. Some claim that they gave the idea to another tribe who had been attacked by the Yonbi, only for that tribe to unleash the jinchūriki on the city in an act of betrayal. Other legends claim that they sealed the Yonbi to defend against a massive invasion force, only for the bijū to break free and kill everyone indiscriminately." Jiraiya said before turning to face Naruto directly.
"I brought you here so that you can see what can happen if you don't fully consider the consequences of your actions." Jiraiya made a sweeping gesture at the ruins, "Everyone in this city died because the leaders did not consider what harm could come from their intent to protect everyone. The leaders failed to question their course of action thoroughly, and this was the result."
"The Sandaime told me once that Hashirama cited this place as his inspiration for Konoha's founding. He would often argue with Tobirama and Madara about basing the formation of a village on legends and stories." Jiraiya said.
"Hashirama told the Sandaime that he often came here to meditate after those arguments because he would start to have doubts about his goal. Was he going to inevitably cause some disaster down the line because he sought the very same path? Was it worth uniting all of the clans in peace if their rivals would ally to destroy them all?" Jiraiya said as he looked down into Naruto's eyes.
"That is the lesson I want you to take from this place. To always question what you are doing, and why," Jiraiya said seriously. "Hashirama had Tobirama, and Madara to bounce his ideas off of and provide him with two different perspectives. Views that he knew he wouldn't agree with, but he still sought them anyways. That was what made Hashirama a great leader."
Kurama snorted at Jiraiya's praising of Hashirama but kept his comments to himself. Naruto already knew what Kurama thought of Hashirama and it usually resulted in a string of curses or an angry rant that could rival one of his Uchiha rants.
Jiraiya then pointed towards Naruto and tapped his chest lightly. "You need to be willing to reach out to others so they can provide you a different outlook on things instead of keeping everything to yourself. The more perspectives you have, the better it is in the long run. You won't be able to see disaster coming unless you have several points of view."
"The people who built this city all shared the same view of things. If they had discussed things with a rival tribe, they might have been dissuaded from such actions or found a different solution to their problems. If they did, then who knows how things might have turned out? We all might have been born here in buildings of stone speaking an entirely different language." Jiraiya said before he patted Naruto on the shoulder and moved off to prepare the sealed roof tile.
"Hmph. I find it interesting that the legends all claim it was for noble purposes." Kurama said with a snort, "Typical human lies. It is quite fitting that this place was destroyed because of their meddling."
'What if they are partially right, though? I know that most legends are not entirely accurate, but there is usually some basis of truth in them." Naruto said.
"What if Son Gokū was not entirely correct on what occurred back then? Would he have been able to see and hear everything when he was contained inside the first jinchūriki? Would he have been unbiased when he told you that story?' Naruto asked.
"I will admit it might be possible that Son Gokū's account might be biased, but that does not change the effects of their actions. The cause does not matter when the effect is the same." Kurama said patiently.
'I understand. It's not like I don't believe you about it, but there might be cause to study every aspect of our plan. Just to be sure we aren't missing something or making things worse, right?' Naruto replied.
"There is no question about that kit. Until we get the jutsu in our hands, and the seal is created we will have to re-evaluate everything continually as we proceed. As we gain more knowledge on the jutsu and the seal, more options will be revealed, and we might be able to find a safer way to solve the problem. In the end, however, there is no question that our results will be better for all." Kurama replied.
"I would not risk the destruction of our world over petty vengeance against foolish mortals." Kurama huffed "That is the kind of things humans would do."
'I have to admit that his words did make me rethink things a little. I want to be certain I am not doing something potentially dangerous to anyone else. I am more than willing to accept the repercussions, but I don't want you or anyone else to suffer because of it.' Naruto murmured.
Jiraiya smiled to himself as he eyed Naruto with a blank look on his face. It seemed his words had enough of an effect that Naruto might start questioning the Kyūbi more.
Whenever Jiraiya visited these ruins, he couldn't help but reflect on everything he had been doing in his life. He would often swing by these ruins when he had received strange or confusing intelligence to sort it out and rethink his theories on their meanings.
Looking at Naruto, however, caused him to contemplate the reasons behind creating a jinchūriki in the first place. Something that had merely been viewed as an unfortunate necessity to him in the past. He guessed the saying about the truth hitting close to home was true in this case.
Anyone could tell, just by looking at these ruins, that this tribe had been highly advanced. Most people had to wonder just how much was actually lost when this village was destroyed. So much knowledge and technology just gone in a flash. To create such buildings and maintain a city this vast without impacting the environment had to be from using jutsu. To even be capable of containing a bijū without the use of fūinjutsu was mind boggling, even if it was ultimately a failure.
Jiraiya couldn't see how it had been worth losing it all just to seal the Yonbi away, regardless of the reasoning behind it. He couldn't help but wonder if the world would have been better off if those ancient people left well enough alone.
Jiraiya looked over the roof tile he had unsealed while he waited for Naruto to collect his thoughts or finish his debate with the Kyūbi.
'I hope you are right about this Minato.' Jiraiya thought.
It wasn't long before Naruto walked over and studied the roof tile along with Jiraiya. Naruto couldn't help but be in awe at the seal he was studying. It was truly amazing the kinds of things a fūinjutsu master could accomplish.
Naruto could sense that Kurama was grumbling about him being contained in a petty little clay tile and couldn't help but smile to himself.
"You ready for this kid?" Jiraiya asked.
"Whenever you are, shishō. What exactly do I need to do?" Naruto asked. "This is entirely different than any chakra seal I have seen."
"The process is not too complicated, but it will be slow. You will have to be careful on how you direct the chakra. I will have to open your seal up a bit though so take your shirt off." Jiraiya said before he began to explain the process in detail.
"You need not worry about directing the chakra, I will take care of it on my own," Kurama interjected.
"I understand, shishō," Naruto replied before removing his shirt.
Jiraiya pulled up his gi sleeve to reveal the key. He began opening up Naruto's seal slowly until he reached the same point that he had opened the seal up in Myōbokuzan. Jiraiya then stepped back and prepared a chakra suppression seal in case Naruto lost control of the Kyūbi.
"Go ahead and start when you are ready, if I see you starting to lose control, I'll slap you with this suppression seal to buy your tenant time to settle things down before continuing," Jiraiya said.
Naruto nodded and removed his arm wraps, just in case. Once he received the word from Kurama to begin, he placed his hand on the seal and channeled his chakra into the tile to release the chakra. For a few seconds, the chakra began to rush out of the tile wildly before Kurama began to draw it into himself.
Naruto was surprised that there was not much strain on his chakra system. He could feel the searing hot chakra as it traveled through his body and into the seal directly. It wasn't painful, fortunately, so Naruto just remained still and waited for the transfer process to complete.
Inside the seal, Kurama was grinning as his Yin chakra was rapidly flowing into him and he was finally returning to his right size. His kit was going to be in for quite a shock once he had all of his chakra returned to him.
Kurama studied Naruto's chakra system carefully as he continued to draw on his chakra. He was pleased to see that no problems were occurring at all. His reinforcement of Naruto's body with the perfectly balanced chakra must have strengthened him enough to support the influx of a significant amount of Yin chakra.
Kurama wouldn't let his guard down just yet; the real problems would begin once the seal begins converting and filtering his chakra back into Naruto's system once the Toad fool closed the seal back up.
Naruto, in the meanwhile, was starting to get bored. It seemed like this chakra was endless and he wanted to explore the ruins some more. It kind of surprised him just how easily he got bored now that Fū wasn't around to distract him. He would need to be careful about maintaining his focus and patience even more now. Naruto determined that he would have to start meditating more to try temper that feeling as it would not do to start becoming restless too easily.
The seal was finally empty after 20 minutes, and Naruto didn't seem to have any adverse reactions from absorbing that much chakra. Once Jiraiya closed the seal back up, he had Naruto run through some basic chakra control and a few low powered jutsu with no ill effects observed.
Jiraiya theorized that the seal would automatically convert the chakra into a balanced ratio and that the greater risk would have appeared when the chakra entered his system at the start. So, by his estimates, it should be all smooth sailing from now on. Now it all depended on the actual ratio of Yin to Yang chakra existed in Naruto and how much needed to be converted to maintain balance.
When they sat down for lunch, a side effect of the influx of Yin chakra revealed itself as Naruto began devouring all the smoked pork they had caught the previous night. Even after eating half of the pork and three ration bars he still felt ravenous.
Kurama suspected that his body was naturally trying to generate more Yang chakra by increasing his appetite so his body could balance the massive influx of Yin chakra that had just entered his system.
Jiraiya could only shake his head as he watched Naruto burn through three days worth of food for lunch. It was a good thing that Naruto had brought a hefty amount of ryō with him. If his appetite didn't calm down, he might have to make Naruto pay for his own food until they reached the next major village where he could pull out more funds. He didn't want to stop to hunt more often because people were waiting for him. They were already a month behind because of Taki, but Jiraiya still considered that time well spent.
Jiraiya let Naruto explore the ruins for the rest of the day only eliciting a promise not to enter any of the structures no matter how intact they seemed. Once Naruto set off Jiraiya began composing and sending off various messages to his contacts via toad summons to give them an update on his schedule. Finally, he finished up another chapter of Icha Icha before the sun began setting.
Jiraiya stoked the fire they had created in the amphitheater and was preparing to find Naruto when he showed up with three rabbits and a couple of quail already cleaned for dinner. Naruto polished off two of the rabbits and one of the quail with two cups of ramen as a side before settling down to rest.
Jiraiya felt secure enough to summon a few toads to keep watch for them with promises of some sake before he settled down for the night in his sleeping bag.
Inside Naruto's Mindscape
Naruto's jaw dropped as soon as he saw Kurama.
Kurama was now almost twice as big as he was before, and his fur went from a reddish orange color to a shade between orange and light orange that made Naruto smile.
Kurama was in his typical resting position with his head on his paws, but he had an eye open to watch Naruto's reaction with a broad grin on his face displaying his amusement.
"Come to bask in the aura of my magnificence?" Kurama said in a teasing tone.
Naruto smirked, "Of course! What could be more magnificent than a giant orange fox? Perhaps an even bigger fox that is, even more, orange. "I don't think you can complain about my clothes anymore," Naruto crossed his arms and leveled a playfully serious gaze at Kurama, "If you can go around wearing nothing but orange then I should be able to also."
"Hmph. Don't be foolish. Only those with real power can pull this look off properly. For now, you will just have to settle with that fact." Kurama said with a haughty swish of his tails, "Now. Create the clones you plan on using to train and come over here. We have much to discuss now that I am whole."
Naruto created a group of clones to continue working on different seals before he settled down on his usual spot on Kurama's much larger paw to listen.
2 Days Later – Tanigakure
Jiraiya and Naruto strolled up the path leading to the small village situated in a small valley between two mountain ranges. Unlike the solid high walls of Konoha, Tanigakure had more rustic log walls created from the trunks of trees that were sharpened at their points.
Small draw bridges and watch towers also constructed of wood allowed the patrols to move along the walls, but it was impossible for anyone to attack the village from the north or west because of the steep solid stone mountainside that served as a natural defense.
Before they had reached the village proper, Jiraiya had told Naruto to conceal his hitai-ate as these villages were likely to have enemy spies from Suna and Iwa present.
While Jiraiya was highly recognizable by friend and foe alike, using a henge would be pointless since most guards had, at least, one decent sensor on gate duty. If they weren't actively wearing the Konoha hitai-ate, it would give the impression that they were off duty and merely on vacation or visiting friends and relatives. It was the main reason why Jiraiya only wore his sannin hitai-ate instead of the Konoha one. It showed other villages that he was not acting on behalf of Konoha at this moment.
After making their way through security and presenting their traveling papers, Jiraiya led Naruto to his favorite Inn and booked a room for them. Once they checked into their room and Naruto had applied his security and privacy seals, Jiraiya began to teach Naruto one of his own jutsu creations the Tōton Jutsu (Transparent Escape).
Naruto frowned when Jiraiya told him what jutsu he was going to learn first.
"You aren't going to make me peek on women are you shishō?" Naruto asked with a frown.
"That's not the main reason I created this jutsu brat," Jiraiya bopped Naruto on the head, "Though it has proven to be quite useful for that as well."
"Instead, you are going to use it to spy on some of the Tani shinobis while they train and see if you can pick up some of their jutsu from observation alone without getting caught. Tani is an ally of Konoha so it shouldn't cause too much trouble if you screw up, and they catch you, but the point is for you not to get caught." Jiraiya emphasized.
"I want you to make several clones and begin practicing until you master the jutsu. We aren't going to receive any help from anyone in this village like we did in Taki, so it's going to be entirely up to you to discover one of Tani's specific jutsu on your own." Jiraiya ordered.
Naruto nodded and created ten Kage Bunshin assigning eight of them to begin practicing the Tōton Jutsu and trying to master it. The remaining clones he set to work on a sleeping seal and the crippling seal he had seen on Gaara.
"I'll be back in a few hours. I know it's going to be boring, but I need you to stay in the room until I return okay?" Jiraiya said.
"I won't leave, shishō. I'll just continue working on my seals if I finish the jutsu before you return," Naruto said as he tried to use the Tōton Jutsu but was unsuccessful.
"It shouldn't take much longer than two hours like I said, if you get hungry during that time then go ahead and order some room service, but try not to clean out the kitchen will ya?" Jiraiya said with a smirk.
Naruto scowled at Jiraiya. "I can't help the fact that my body believes I need a much larger Yang reserve now. All I can do is eat and work out more."
Jiraiya just shook his head and waved before leaving the room to meet his contacts.
By the time Jiraiya had returned, Naruto had gotten much better at the Tōton Jutsu, but his transparency was not very consistent. He still needed to work on maintaining an even layer of chakra around his entire body to ensure that the transparency was consistent. Jiraiya believed he had it down enough to begin his pseudo mission, and told Naruto that it would help him to master the jutsu by keeping it active while moving and evading people.
Jiraiya told Naruto to maintain the jutsu and follow him to one of the inns that had a hot spring and was close to the training grounds that he was familiar with. Jiraiya then sent Naruto off to try and learn a jutsu by watching some of the genin who were training while he got some important research done.
Naruto moved between the three different training grounds observing a few different teams as they trained. The only impressive jutsu that he saw a chūnin trying was the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist) considering it was a Kiri specific jutsu, not Tani specific. None the less, Naruto took note of the hand seals as the chūnin tried to make the technique work.
Naruto was also interested in figuring out this technique to help him with the Nidaime's first chakra exercise since he was having difficulty dispersing the Suiton chakra into mist from a body of water. Naruto believed that understanding the mechanics of this jutsu would help him learn how to break the water down completely until it was in its molecular components. Once he had that part figured out it would be easy to reverse the process and create water from the humidity or even base molecules in the air.
The second jutsu that caught his interest was what the instructor told his genin was called Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip). Since the Jōnin instructor was teaching the genin for the first time, Naruto was able to pick up all the details he needed regarding the jutsu. While the instructor didn't confirm that it was a Tani exclusive jutsu, Naruto was confident that Jiraiya would accept this for his pseudo mission if he didn't spot anything else of interest during their stay in this village.
Naruto was drawn out of his observations when Jiraiya appeared behind him looking roughed up but with a huge grin on his face.
"Not too bad there, Naruto, took me a minute to spot you once I locked onto your chakra signature. Find anything of interest to copy and learn?" Jiraiya asked.
"I did learn about Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip), but I can't be certain that it would fit the requirements for the mission you gave me. The other jutsu I was interested in was Kirigakure no Jutsu. I saw a chūnin attempting to practice the jutsu and managed to memorize the hand seals, but the mechanics I will have to figure out on my own." Naruto said while he continued to watch the genin team trying to use the water whips jutsu.
"Well. We still have a few more weeks here for you to copy some jutsu down, but you won't be able to practice anything until we hit the road again. We will have a long journey to the next village after this so you will have some time then to practice what you see." Jiraiya said.
"Let's head on back to town for now and find some place to eat. As we eat, I will give you some tips on gathering intelligence from the locals using observation and listening skills." Jiraiya said before he turned and began making his way into the village center.
Naruto followed after Jiraiya until he took Naruto to a small restaurant that most of the village seemed to buy their food to go instead of sitting down to eat. Jiraiya and Naruto went up to the counter to look at the menu posted on the wall before placing their orders.
Naruto got two large sukiyaki bowls with a side of macaroni salad and smoked trout while Jiraiya just settled for a teriyaki chicken bowl and a fruit salad. They sat at a corner table far for the entrance and discussed how to listen and observe people as they relaxed or drank. Jiraiya pointed out that the best sources of learning what was going on around you were often bars, restaurants, and even hot springs as people would talk about their troubles or worries with friends.
Jiraiya explained how it had been especially true of groups of women. While any kunoichi worth her weight in salt wouldn't think of spilling important mission details or secrets, they would still sit and talk with their friends about everything else in their lives as they socialized together.
Groups of housewives from the village were very loose with their tongues but required a lot of filtering through rumors and conjecture. Still, if you listen to enough groups of civilian women, you could discover both the popular and dissenting opinions about anything important.
"The best place to gather info from any men is likely in a bar while they drink, other then that men tend to hang out in very specific places like a friends house or a particular restaurant." Jiraiya lectured between bites, "Women will have discussions practically anywhere but are most likely to stay longer at the hot springs, or small cafes while shopping."
"Now, most women in bars are going to be on the defensive since women have to be concerned about drunks who might cross the line. So, they will be wary of someone who is drinking a lot, or is a stranger to their local place." Jiraiya said with a wave of his chopsticks, "A woman who is highly at ease in a bar is either with a group of friends, a significant other, a kunoichi who likes her drink, a single woman looking for some fun, or a spy."
Jiraiya ate another piece of chicken before continuing, "Most spies will spend an inordinate amount of time in each bar while they gather intelligence and may use tactics to ply interesting targets with laced drinks." Jiraiya pointed his chopsticks at Naruto for emphasis, "Never take a drink from someone's hand, even if you see them open and pour from the bottle directly. Avoid ordering mixed drinks from the bartender, and if you can, only order a full bottle of what you would like instead of any house sake or ale."
"How would you identify male spies easily then? It seems that a kunoichi is more limited in their options, if what you say is true." Naruto asked.
"Not particularly, Naruto." Jiraiya said with a shake of his head, "Most villages prefer to send out kunoichi to gather intelligence because male ninjas are more likely to drink heavily and womanize. This fact gives a kunoichi the perfect opportunity to seduce them and gain information with no one being any wiser."
Jiraiya saw Naruto had stopped eating for the moment and was paying close attention so he couldn't resist teasing him a little.
"Even your lovely little hime had learned the art of seducing and pleasing a man in all sorts of lurid ways," Jiraiya said with a waggle of his eyebrows complimented by his perverted grin.
Naruto blushed and looked away from Jiraiya. "Shishō! Don't say such things!"
"It's true Naruto. All kunoichi are required to learn such things. Don't worry about it. When the time comes, I'll make sure you can show your pretty little hime a thing or two when you return to the village. We can't have her passing you up in those kinds of skill, can we?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.
Naruto groaned and hit his head against the table. This subject was going to be so very awkward. He didn't want to discuss those kinds of things with Jiraiya. Naruto loudly exhaled when he realized there would be no one else to teach him such things so he would just have to deal with the embarrassment and hope Jiraiya didn't make a fool out of him.
"Now. Where were we again?" Jiraiya thought back to his lesson for a minute, "Ah, yes. We were discussing picking out spies in a bar. Any male sitting in a bar nursing drinks attracts almost as much attention as a female nursing drinks, but the man draws more of the wrong kind of attention if you happen to be a spy."
"Any vigilant spymaster would be keeping an eye on single men. If they are nursing drinks, they are likely troubled, and a troubled man is an easily groomed man. They are either targeted by spies, or an easy target for spies so that means they will have double the eyes on them." Jiraiya said.
"Anyone new in town in guaranteed to be watched to some extent. It is one of the reasons I like to find myself a woman to hang out with when I travel on my own." Jiraiya said seriously, "It brings less suspicion on me if I sit at a bar with a woman on my arm while drinking because everyone will believe my focus is on that woman only."
"So, in general, people who are constantly alone are the most suspicious in terms of watching for spies or gathering intelligence," Naruto stated.
"Correct. The next most common group of people to suspect of spying would be a traveling couple. A shinobi couple being the most suspicious followed by traveling merchants and regular civilians. While your special abilities might prevent you from getting these types of missions, it is common for Jōnin to pretend to be a couple and gather information for a client or the village itself and most of the time the cover is as a regular civilian couple with minor chakra suppression seals applied to fool any sensors." Jiraiya stated.
"What about us, shishō? Wouldn't they want to scrutinize us more thoroughly?" Naruto asked after he finished his second bowl.
"That is just a given when it comes to us, my boy. Whether they believe you are my illegitimate son or apprentice, a lot of attention is going to be drawn to you just because you are with me. Some of our enemies might likely suspect who your parents are." Jiraiya replied calmly.
"I understand, shishō. That is why you have me focusing on more subtlety skills now." Naruto said.
Jiraiya nodded. "This is the safest place for you to hone those kinds of skills without facing severe repercussions. That is why it is imperative that you master everything I teach you here before we leave so don't split your focus too much. We will catch up on any missed training as we travel. Don't expect to move quickly from now on unless we are making our way through Hi no Kuni." Jiraiya said firmly. "We will travel at normal speeds or use transportation when available like regular people."
"Yes, shishō," Naruto replied.
After finishing their lunch, Jiraiya let Naruto loose for a few hours to shop and explore the village with an order to meet up at the most popular bar at sunset. Jiraiya left in a swirl of leaves before telling Naruto which bar he meant, so Naruto assumed it was part of his training to gather intelligence and find the right bar.
"We can always track the fool using his scent." Kurama offered.
'I won't rule that out as a possibility, but I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to mask his scent in a way to make it harder for us.' Naruto replied as they browsed through the various vendor stalls set up.
"So, we must listen to these foolish mortals as they babble about their worthless and mundane lives. Perhaps I will return to my slumber instead." Kurama said in a bored tone.
'Hey I'm not to keen on the idea either, but you never know what we might see or learn.' Naruto replied with an inward smirk.
"I doubt there is anything of significance in this place as I have not caught any scents that would peak my interest. Except for the mortal filth who thinks to follow you around town." Kurama said off hand.
'I had not noticed who is following me, but I did keep catching the same scent repeatedly. Are you talking about the man who smells of herbs and coffee?' Naruto replied as he browsed a stall that was selling scarves.
"That is the one that I have scented, but I am not certain what the fool who stalks us looks like." Kurama snarled.
Out of the corner of his eye, he was taking notice of the people around him and identified three suspicious people based on what Jiraiya described over lunch. Naruto then moved on down the street some distance before stopping at a vendor who was selling various wood carvings and items.
As Naruto studied some of the boxes and small carvings he kept an eye out for the three suspicious people he had tagged and observed one man who was wearing a moderate blue kimono with black hakama.
Naruto turned his attention back to the wares he was studying and examined a box that piqued his interest. His fūinjutsu kit was starting to get full from all his scratch notebooks and practice sheets. The box was simple but large enough to fit all his notebooks and free up enough space in his fūinjutsu kit. The box itself was very simply decorated with a series of overlapping hexagons and diamonds burned into the lid.
While the merchant wrapped up his purchase and placed it in a bag, Naruto pondered what he should do about the person following him. He obviously didn't know how skilled the person was or what the man wanted from him, but interrogating the man could cause problems if he was just a part of the regular Tani forces required to observe foreigners.
Naruto decided he would simply try to lose the man before he began to gather information about the most popular bars in the village to track down Jiraiya before sunset. Naruto looked up into the sky and saw that he had four hours, at least, to finish what he needed to. After taking the bag from the merchant and paying for the box, Naruto set his plan into motion.
He walked down the road and saw a small alleyway that would suit his purposes. Strolling casually into the nearest alley to provide himself with some cover, Naruto waited until he was completely around the corner before quickly ducking into a small alcove to form a to form a diversionary clone. Naruto henged himself into a cat and waited in the darkened corner while he studied the layout of the alley so he could find a way up onto the roofs.
The clone continued its casual stroll down the alley and made a right on the next street with instructions to keep walking around the village until it ran out of chakra.
Meanwhile, Naruto began making his way up to the rooftop by leaping from a window sill to a balcony. Naruto made his way across the balcony towards an overhang to jump onto another balcony on the other side of the alley. As he made his way up to the rooftops, Naruto spotted the man he suspected of following him enter the alley and started walking briskly before pausing at the end and looking both ways before making a right.
Naruto leaped over to the balcony before climbing onto another window sill to reach the small stairway that led up to the roof. Once on the roof, Naruto watched the man follow his clone out of sight. After taking a quick look around to take note of any suspicious people, he decided to keep his Henge for now and make his way back towards the restaurants to gather information.
Fortunately, the buildings in the center of the village were all really close together, so it was easy for Naruto to keep to the rooftops and blend in as an ordinary cat. His cover was kept intact by a large amount of strays who also roamed the rooftops, several of which took an interest in him as he made his way around the village. Naruto did his best to avoid them or scare them off with a hiss to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Naruto saw one restaurant that was particularly crowded with a small line and decided this would be the best spot for him to gather info.
Naruto made his way over to the restaurant and found a sunny perch to feign sleep on next door to the restaurant. Once he settled himself down, he extended his hearing and began listening to all the different conversations people were having in the outdoor seating area.
For two hours Naruto sat and listened to the different people who came to eat and talk with their friends. It was tedious work, Naruto had to admit, and he almost fell asleep laid out in the sun as he was. After he heard the Blue River Tavern mentioned by several different people in different groups, Naruto decided that would be the place to find Jiraiya and go scout the place before sunset.
It didn't take Naruto long to locate the bar itself, and it seemed he had made the best choice as there was already a large group of people milling around the bar. Naruto made his way down and sat on the overhang looking over the crowd, curious as to why they were all waiting outside of the bar instead of going in.
Most of the murmuring he could pick up from the crowd seemed to indicate that the tavern only opened at sunset and that today was a day of celebration for the owner who advertised half-priced drinks on fliers that were passed out by the standby station for Jōnin and Chūnin. Once Naruto heard that information, he decided he needed to skip out of there and release his henge. Hopefully, he hadn't drawn any unwanted attention to himself as chances were that one of the shinobis below him had sensor capabilities.
Naruto was cursing in his head for making such a mistake. Dashing down the stairs behind the bar, he sprinted into a nearby alleyway before he reached out with his senses to see if anyone followed him. After several minutes, he released his Henge and began making his way back to the tavern casually.
When Naruto turned the corner, he saw Jiraiya standing in the middle of the street looking at him with a smirk on his face.
'I should have known he would have noticed me.' Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto approached Jiraiya, who merely patted Naruto on the back roughly and made a gesture to follow him. Naruto narrowed his eyes but decided to follow after discreetly sniffing to make sure that someone wasn't posing as Jiraiya instead.
Jiraiya led Naruto into a bar next door and took a seat at the booth with that smirk still firmly on his face. Once Naruto sat across from him, Naruto was about to ask him a question, but Jiraiya shushed him and motioned Naruto to wait a few minutes.
Naruto's frown deepened, but he remained silent as instructed. Not long after they entered the waitress approached them to take their drink orders. Jiraiya ordered two bottles of Hakkaisan sake for their table and once the waitress left Jiraiya spoke.
"So, Naruto, I was quite impressed with how you lost that tail on you today."
"How did you know that shishō?" Naruto asked.
"That's easy. I hired the guy to follow you and report to me what you have been doing. He still hasn't shown up yet." Jiraiya said with a boisterous laugh.
"...but why would you do that shishō?" Naruto didn't understand why Jiraiya would have him followed like that.
"I needed to see just how aware you are of your surroundings. I know back in Konoha you were highly alert because of the circumstances. In Taki however, I saw that you let your guard down quite a bit. I have no problem with you relaxing like you did in Taki, don't get me wrong about that. What you need to realize is that out here you are in more danger than you realize." Jiraiya said with a serious look on his face.
"Well since I am a stranger people don't have any misconceptions about me. I figured that I would have less to worry about unless we ran into someone who knew who I was or is generally up to no good." Naruto replied.
"I hate to burst your bubble, Naruto, but a lot more people know about you than you think. The Chūnin Exam finals have put you on the map. Add to that fact that you are traveling with me and people are going to be very curious about you. At least you noticed the tail and managed a clever trick to losing him if I do say so myself." Jiraiya replied.
The waitress came and set both bottles down on the table along with two masu (wooden box cups) Jiraiya tipped the waitress with a five ryō bill and opened up his bottle and filled both of the masu before sliding one over to Naruto.
"Now then. That cat Henge of yours was pretty solid, but given the way you scampered off once you realized the tavern was primarily the haunting grounds of shinobi must mean you have realized the big flaw with that form. What you are going to work on for the rest of the night is going to help you make up for that weakness, but first we have some sake to finish!" Jiraiya said with a laugh before he filled his masu back up again.
Naruto drank the sake that Jiraiya had poured for him and grimaced slightly when he felt the burn. It was a lot stronger than what Kakashi had bought him the first time, but it didn't taste terrible. Naruto eyed the two bottles before looking at Jiraiya's suspicious grin with a feeling of dread. He had gotten pretty drunk the first time off a bottle 1/3 the size of what Jiraiya was pouring from now, and he had two bottles.
"Umm...shishō, will it be wise for me to drink that much if we are going to do some training for the rest of the day?" Naruto said nervously.
"That's the whole point kid. In order to complete this training successfully, you need to get hammered. Don't worry about it." Jiraiya said with a wave of his hand. "I will be drinking one of these bottles so you won't be completely smashed, but this is necessary, so drink up and make it quick," Jiraiya said before he filled Naruto's masu back up once more.
Naruto took the masu and drained the contents obediently but he had a feeling whatever was coming next was not going to be fun.
Next Afternoon – Unknown Location
Naruto awoke with a groan of pain. His head was spinning, and his body was sore all over. Naruto tried to sit up but the vertigo was too much for him, and he just plopped back down on the ground.
'Oooh, what the hell happened to me? Why do I feel so sore?' Naruto thought.
"So you have finally awoken kit. It's about damn time. I've been purging most of this poison from your system all night while you have been running amok like a fool." Kurama growled.
Naruto winced at Kurama's booming voice in his head. Why did it seem so much louder than usual? Was Kurama really mad at him?
'I'm sorry Kurama. I don't know what happened, but how did I get poisoned?' Naruto asked.
"You drank it willingly. First, it was just what the toad fool commanded you to drink for his so called training; later you continued to drink more of that foul stuff because of some foolish display of bravado. Stupid mortals, intentionally poisoning themselves, it's a wonder that your race hasn't died out long ago. Perhaps the world would not be in the state that it is in now if humanity had." Kurama grumbled.
'What? Why the hell would I do something like that? It doesn't make any sense.' Naruto thought.
"Hmph. You are correct about that much. However, you were not in your right mind after you drank more of that sake. Then that Toad fool sent you into another bar to complete some foolish objective to win something called a drinking contest." Kurama said.
Naruto frowned at what Kurama said. He couldn't remember anything like that. What purpose would Jiraiya have in sending him into a bar to win a drinking contest when he was already drunk?
As Naruto thought back through his hazy memories, he briefly remembered that Jiraiya had said he would need to be hammered to complete his next training mission and that he had to have it mastered that night.
'Crap! I can't remember what he taught me at all. What the hell am I going to do now?' Naruto thought.
"That fool did not teach you anything. I was paying attention the whole night and never once did he give you a lesson or jutsu to learn." Kurama said with a growl.
Naruto sighed. 'There had to be some purpose to all of this. He wouldn't have just wanted me to get black out drunk for no reason would he?'
Naruto opened his eyes and was forced to cover his face with his forearm to block out the sun that was shining down on him. Why the hell was he outside? More importantly, where the hell was he?
Naruto moved his forearm and slowly opened his eyes, adjusting them to the sunshine before he began to sit up again, slowly, and take stock of his surroundings. He appeared to be out in the middle of the woods somewhere, and the village was nowhere in sight.
'Shit. This can't be good. How the hell did we end up out here Kurama?' Naruto asked.
"We were forced to flee the village after the bar fight to avoid being imprisoned by the village shinobi," Kurama replied.
'…bar fight?...' Naruto started to ask.
Kurama huffed in annoyance "Yes. The bar fight that began when you won this drinking contest that the Toad fool insisted that you take part in."
Naruto groaned as he gripped his head in his hands. 'I have a bad feeling about all this.'
"I don't know why you bothered with such a useless event. I had to keep purging your body of that poison so you wouldn't lose consciousness." Kurama grumbled to himself before continuing, "When you won this contest a group of fools complained and attempted to have you disqualified for being underage. The Toad fool struck the one closest to you before he used Shunshin to disappear before he was spotted. The rest of the stupid mortals were too inept to realize that he was the one that hit the man and blamed you instead.
Naruto was at a loss for words. 'Why the hell would shishō do that for?'
"Who knows how pea-brained humans think? At least, you are still proving to be above them by failing to comprehend such idiocy. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that the depths of stupidity are boundless." Kurama huffed.
"Continuing on with this tale of utter foolishness," Kurama said with a grumble, "You were forced to defend yourself against the whining fool and his group of clumsy apes. You defeated their group quite easily and several other idiots who attempted to subdue you. Once you had eliminated all those useless weaklings you left the bar to find the Toad fool who had fled long before." Kurama explained.
'I can't believe he would just start that fight and then leave me there like that! What kind of bullshit is that?' Naruto thought with a scowl.
"That is along the same lines that you thought last night. You went to seek out the Toad fool and take your revenge," Kurama answered, "As you searched out the Toad fool you overheard a conversation between some of the shinobi police and the village head's wife. Apparently a thief had stolen something called 'underwear.' You suspected the Toad fool was guilty of such a thing due to his perverted nature and decided to investigate."
'I really don't like the direction this story is going.' Naruto thought to himself.
"You followed the village head's wife to her home when I reminded you that you were capable of tracking that fool by scent," Kurama said with a grumble of annoyance."Instead of tracking the Toad fool, however, you followed the trail of the thieves only to discover a group of drunken fools."
"Against my wishes, you decided that you would subdue the thieves and return the stolen items. At least you had the presence of mind to use a disguise even if it was a foolish one." Kurama said with a huff.
'What kind of disguise did I choose.' Naruto asked with resignation.
"The usual Henge that you always choose. Perhaps those fools will be too humiliated to admit a cat defeated them." Kurama replied with an amused tone.
Naruto grimaced when he heard that. How was kicking a bunch of people's asses as a cat not going to attract attention?
"You then gathered the undergarments and were making your way back to the village head's house when you spotted the toad fool passed out on a bench in the park," Kurama explained.
'I planted all those underwear on shishō, didn't I?" Naruto thought.
He hoped he did. If Jiraiya really started all this mayhem for no reason, the asshole deserved it.
"Correct. It didn't take long for the village police to come and take the toad fool to jail. While this was occurring, however, a few of the ninken the police had with them noticed you and began to give chase. You managed to evade them all by running through a gathering of humans in a large building. You managed to duck under tables of food before making your escape out of a window. The ninken and police were not able to avoid the obstacles so easily as you and were set upon by the humans of the gathering."Kurama said.
'Is that when I fled the village?' Naruto thought.
"No. Instead you wasted your time roaming the village rooftops defeating any tomcat that challenged you for entering their territory. After defeating several of these cats, you then decided to leave the village and explore the woods at night." Kurama said with a snort.
'Okay, so not only did I wreak havoc in a bar, which means that I am wanted by the police to some degree, I framed my shishō for theft of panties and bras, ruined someone's party, then beat up a bunch of cats... I suppose that is less embarrassing then having sex on a park bench where everyone can see you.' Naruto grumbled.
Naruto slowly got to his feet and began to stretch himself to reduce some of his stiffness.
'Well the first thing I need to do is find the village, then I will need to sneak in somehow without being discovered. After that, I will need to find shishō and get him out of jail if he hasn't gotten out himself.' Naruto thought.
Naruto began patting himself down and doing a mental inventory of what he had. He could live without his messenger bag, but he really didn't want to lose all his stuff like that. Hopefully, the police have not figured out which room they were staying in just yet.
"We must head west to find the village. From there I would suggest you Henge into a bird and fly over the fence closest to the mountain face. I sensed fewer guards there as we fled the village last night." Kurama offered.
'It's a good thing I decided to learn how to fly when henged as a bird.' Naruto replied.
Naruto dashed off to the west to find the village. Once he got close enough, he henged into a sparrow and flew over the walls. Naruto flew towards their inn first and landed on the window to peek into their room.
Naruto saw his bag was still inside the room, and his barrier was not tampered with, so that was a positive sign. After a few minutes of debate, he decided it would be best to take his bag now in case he needed to break Jiraiya out of prison and flee. Naruto peeked around and reached out with his senses to make sure the coast was clear before he henged into a different cat and used chakra enhanced paws to push the window open.
Once in the room, Naruto quickly gathered up everything that belonged to him and Jiraiya, sealing it away into scrolls in his messenger bag. Once Naruto slung the bag over his shoulder, he reactivated his Henge as a bird and flew out the window to scout for the prison.
As Naruto was flying towards the village center, he spotted Jiraiya speaking with a few of the police and landed on a nearby tree branch to listen in.
"Look, I'm sorry about the whole misunderstanding Jiro. I was just following the same method that I used on Minato to teach him how to suppress his chakra. You remember how well that went right?" Jiraiya said.
"I understand Jiraiya, but how the hell did things get so out of hand?" Jiro asked.
"I don't really know, the boy drank almost as much as Gamabunta and just wouldn't pass out at all," Jiraiya said in exasperation, "I started the bar fight so you would have a reason to throw him in jail. I didn't think Naruto would ever fight back against authority figures like that. He must have been more inebriated than I imagined." Jiraiya mumbled the last part.
"When I went to find you and explain everything, Naoko found me in the park and began thrashing me. She said I stole all of her underwear before she knocked me out with a rolling pin. When I woke up, I was covered in her panties and being hauled off to jail." Jiraiya said.
"You are just lucky that those four idiots found in the town square with paralysis tags on them admitted to stealing Naoko's underwear as part of a prank." Jiro grumbled, "Now we have to do another sweep for drug dealers since those idiots claim that a calico cat defeated them with a red ribbon on its ear. Those idiots probably got into some hallucinogens again."
Jiraiya laughed nervously "You never know, maybe it was a summon with a noble streak."
"I hope so, that would be one less thing to worry about in all this mess," Jiro said with a sigh, "Anyway, I won't be able to help you train your apprentice anymore. The River Daimyō is pissed at the police department because a few of our ninken and their handlers trashed the wedding reception of the Daimyō's favorite niece."
Jiraiya grimaced. It was always bad news to piss off a Daimyo like that. To ruin a wedding reception had to be extra bad news since there would be diplomats attending.
"The ninken and the handlers claim that they were chasing a suspect, but none of the people at the wedding reception saw the suspect, so he isn't buying it. Now he is going to be cracking down on us with all kinds of absurd inspections and oversight." Jiro whined.
"I'm sorry, Jiro. What a tough break you got there," Jiraiya said sympathetically.
Suddenly an idea came to Jiraiya. Hopefully, it would smooth everything over, so he didn't have to cut Naruto's training short in town. He really needed Naruto prepared for Yama no Kuni and Tori no Kuni.
"Listen, I got an advanced copy of Icha Icha Violence which I can autograph for you." Jiraiya said as he pulled out a red book from his pocket and held it out for Jiro to take, "I hear the River Daimyō is a big fan, so this should help get him off your back."
"Thanks, Jiraiya. If this works, then I will consider us even. I hope you find your apprentice unharmed after everything that happened last night. I'm sorry that my guys couldn't track him down for you." Jiro replied.
"I'm sure he is fine. Naruto is very resourceful, after all, and quite skilled. With any luck, he has already made his way back to the inn and is resting." Jiraiya said.
After Jiro had left Jiraiya turned towards the tree with a scowl on his face.
"I know you are there Naruto, so you might as well get down here and face the music," Jiraiya said.
Naruto sighed before he dropped his Henge and leaped down from the tree. As he neared Jiraiya, he stood in his stoic pose waiting for the backlash to come. Now he understood what Jiraiya was planning, but Naruto felt he couldn't be held entirely accountable for everything that happened because, frankly, Jiraiya had been the catalyst for most of the events.
Well, the stolen underwear was just a convenient coincidence that he was more than happy to exploit, given the circumstances, but how was he to know that Jiraiya had an ultimate plan in all this?
"You caused me a lot of trouble brat. I still can't believe how much you drank and kept going. What the hell caused you to fight the police like that?" Jiraiya asked sternly.
"Honestly, I don't remember what happened beyond our first bottle. I woke up feeling like crap in the middle of the woods with no memories of what happened to me. It's only because of my "friend" that I even have any idea of what happened last night." Naruto replied before he glared at Jiraiya.
"Why the hell would you even set me up to get arrested anyways?" Naruto snapped.
Jiraiya sighed before answering. "Look Naruto, I used a similar method on your father, but I didn't realize that you would essentially be a bottomless pit when it came to sake. Your father passed out completely after his third bottle, only to wake up in prison with Jiro accusing him of causing all kinds of crimes while he was drunk." Jiraiya snickered at the memory.
"When put into a cell with a supposed serial killer your father was able to suppress his chakra signature completely out of fear. It's not easy to learn how to suppress your signature through ordinary means," Jiraiya explained, "Instead of taking three years he managed to master it in that one night."
"For you, it will be ten times as difficult because of your massive reserves of chakra in your gut," Jiraiya added.
"Hmph. If the Toad fool wished us to learn such a thing, then he should have simply requested it instead of coming up with some foolish attempt at an elaborate scheme." Kurama snorted in contempt.
'Can you teach me how to suppress my chakra as he says?' Naruto asked.
"The seal used to contain me makes it almost impossible for you to suppress your signature as he describes," Kurama said, "It might be possible with a seal, but we would need to create one that would siphon your chakra continually."
'Why would it be impossible to do that?' Naruto asked.
"To mask your chakra signature, you must slow your chakra flow considerably. The seal regularly adds my chakra to your system which will cause a buildup that could rupture your tenketsu or pathways," Kurama explained, "Without a seal, I could help you suppress your chakra, but after a few hours we will need to flare our chakra together to stop any ruptures from forming."
'...and flaring our chakra defeats the whole purpose of masking our signature in the first place.' Naruto said with a sigh, "If only shishō had bothered to tell us that in the first place all this bullshit could have been avoided."
Oh well, at least, I got him back by framing him for the underwear theft.' Naruto smirked inwardly.
"Shishō, it is impossible for me to suppress my signature anyways. There is a workaround that I know about but because of the nature of my chakra I can't hold for longer than a few hours, and I would have to flare our chakra after that, or I could damage my chakra system." Naruto stated.
"Well... shit. That is going to be a problem." Jiraiya said with a frown.
'I keep forgetting that there is an extra challenge to consider when training Naruto. Who knows what could have happened while he was blackout drunk, the Kyūbi could have broken loose of the seal or wreaked havoc.' Jiraiya thought.
"Look Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't run it past you first. It's just that the Sandaime taught that method to me and I used it on your father without any problems. Honestly, it slipped my mind completely that there are reasons as to why I have to take a different approach with you." Jiraiya said solemnly.
"Don't expect me to run everything past you first, though. I feel it is more effective to learn when you puzzle things out on your own. It's easy just to copy something but fully understanding it requires you to get your hands dirty. That kind of understanding can only come from real experience." Jiraiya said.
Naruto sighed as he thought over everything Jiraiya said. Naruto could understand where Jiraiya was coming from, and it did make sense, but he had always been able to grasp things quicker when he was in the right mindset.
Now, however, he couldn't rely on having that mindset entirely because people could catch him while he was vulnerable or distracted. He wouldn't always have time to calculate and analyze things before forming a plan. He would need to be able to improvise or plan under pressure which is what Jiraiya was trying to instill in him.
"Okay, shishō. I think framing you for stealing the underwear was punishment enough. I understand what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.
"You're lucky that Jiro is an old friend, brat," Jiraiya said with a growl, "Do you know what kind of problems that would have caused if Jiro had not been my friend? You would have been trapped without any support for at least two years!"
"Well. I was on my way to scout out the prison and possibly break you out if it was necessary." Naruto said sheepishly, "By the way, I have all your stuff from the inn because I was worried we might have to flee the village after what happened last night.
Jiraiya just narrowed his eyes at Naruto making him fidget uncomfortably. If he were in Naruto's sandals, he would have done the same thing, but he wouldn't let him know that. Better to make Naruto sweat a bit or the kid might start to get ideas.
"Are we going to be staying here for much longer?" Naruto asked timidly.
"Yes. We will be staying for at least two more weeks until your infiltration and subterfuge training is complete," Jiraiya grumbled, "It is necessary for when we head to Yama no Kuni (Land of Mountains) and Tori no Kuni (Land of Birds). We will need to be vigilant since both of those places are hostile territory."
"I understand, shishō," Naruto replied.
"Good. Let's drop our stuff back off at the inn and relax for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we will continue with your jutsu analyzing and information gathering.
"I have a chakra suppression seal you can probably use, but most people avoid it because it cuts off, at least, half of your reserves." Jiraiya said before lightly smacking Naruto on the back, "Maybe your "friend" can help you alter it to make it more useful because honestly, you are like a beacon to sensors and experienced shinobi."
"I'm always interested in new seals, shishō. I'm sure we can make it work before we visit those villages, so you don't have to worry about that," Naruto said confidently.
Naruto and Jiraiya made their way back to the inn and unpacked again before they set out to relax at the hot springs and have a leisurely lunch.
