"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Demon Talking"
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 14: The Godfather
In all his ANBU glory, Naruto glared at the Hokage although the elder man most likely couldn't see his eyes in the darkness of his mask. The brunet wasn't upset with the Hokage. It was quite the opposite actually. He was so pleased with what the Hokage had said that it was upsetting.
"Pardon me Hokage-sama, but I could have sworn you said, 'relieved of all present assignments.'"
The Sandaime showed no signs that he had misspoken. His calm face was starting to disturb Naruto in more ways than one.
"Correct. I am excusing you from your long-term mission. I'd rather have as many ANBU as possible working full-time."
This had worked out better than the brunet had hoped. From the moment he sent that clone after the snake, he was hoping for an opportunity to tail the traitor himself. Now that the Hokage was willingly allowing him more freedom to work, he could start doing the more important things. However, it was bothering him how the Hokage had known exactly what it was that the brunet wanted. What was his reasons for granting such a privilege? Naruto understood that Sasuke was currently out of the snake's grasp and finding out what exactly the snake wanted was very important, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that it was something else.
"Understood. If I may speak freely?"
"Go ahead."
"Why? Isn't watching and judging Sasuke from the inside something you want? Is it because he's proven to be a dependable shinobi? Trust me, he isn't that dependable."
"You have it backwards." The Hokage chuckled. "I don't believe you have been showing me that you can be a dependable shinobi."
"Huh?" Naruto had heard some weird things lately, but this was by far the most surprising.
"Barging into my office, revealing your identity, and giving control to the fox are just some of your current offenses. I have never encountered such idiotic insubordination."
"That's why you're 'relieving' me of my duties?!" The brunet was tempted to smack himself on the forehead a few times. He mumbled, "I know I'm an idiot Hokage-sama. You don't have to rub it in."
"Perhaps your upbringing has caused you to be too lax. You have been involved with this your whole life after all." The Hokage sighed and puffed on his pipe. "Might I add, you've been very outspoken lately."
What was that supposed to mean? Damn loudmouth genin persona must be affecting his interactions with the Hokage. Now he was starting to act like a carefree kid around authority. Damnit.
"Everything I have just mentioned is not the true reason however." Something reminiscent of a smirk appeared on the elder man's face.
"HUH?" Currently Naruto's thoughts were swimming chaotically in his mind, and his leader was not helping one bit. It was tempting to yell at the other to wipe the smirk off his face, but that would just be proving his 'outspoken' point. Better to just keep his mouth shut.
"You are the best we have, and after what you informed me of, I am in need of your skills with him."
The unspoken man was obviously the snake that has been plaguing the village recently. Straightening himself up and switching back to the professionalism he was trained in, Naruto addressed his leader once again.
"Sir, I had full intention of doing so whether ordered to or not."
The Hokage smiled. "I am glad I can depend on you to put the village's priorities above what you feel are your own duties."
Naruto quashed the temptation to face-fault. The Hokage seriously believed that he viewed his prior long-term mission as a personal duty? Wait, perhaps the elder man wasn't wrong. Well, it didn't matter much anyways. The brunet had some snake hunting to do.
A crash sounded from outside the window. Both occupants of the room turned their heads to see the image of a man holding a very red face. The Hokage stood and slid open the window.
The man that climbed through was very tall, only some centimeters short of two meters. His spiky, white locks cascaded down his back as he adjusted his red haori, which he wore over a green outfit. Naruto couldn't help but think that the man, Jiraiya of the Sannin, had the most impeccable timing.
"Sensei, long time no see!"
'So, this is my godfather?' Naruto was not impressed at all. From what he heard of the man, he was a formidable shinobi, yet in lieu of all his prior opinions, Naruto could only think that this man was a bit too carefree for his liking. Perhaps the man was different in battle.
The Hokage proceeded to clear his throat before addressing the man. "Jiraiya, I do have a door, and I'd prefer that you'd use it."
"Nah, I'll stick to the window. Makes for a better entrance." The Sannin's eyes roamed around the room before locking onto Naruto. "Who's the brat pretending to be an ANBU?"
Naruto was not all too pleased with that comment. 'Who does he think he is calling me a brat? Just because I'm small does not immediately make me a brat. And how dare he claim that I'm only pretending to be an ANBU! I've been doing this my whole life!' The next thing he knew, he could have sworn Kurama laughed at him. 'Shut it!'
"This is Kodanuki, one of my operatives in Information and Espionage."
"Wait, the brat is an actual ANBU?" The skeptical look on the man's face was as clear as day. The brunet decided that it was time to speak up.
"I assure you, Jiraiya-sama, that I am an ANBU and have been for over six years." Gawking for a bit, the older man did nothing more than scrutinize the boy. "Hokage-sama, could we please continue with the briefing?"
That seemed to snap the Hokage out of whatever daze he may have been in. "Yes. Jiraiya, you can stay as this pertains to you." Said man nodded before seating himself on the windowsill.
"I'd like access to all information we have gathered about Sound and Sand," Kodanuki stated.
"Sand you say?"
"Yes Hokage-sama, when I encountered him, he faintly smelt suspiciously of the desert air."
As the Hokage was taking in the new information, Kodanuki noticed Jiraiya puzzling, probably about how the desert could smell when it was practically comprised of sand.
Sarutobi then turned towards Jiraiya. "Has your spy network gotten any recent information from either of those villages?"
The 180 of Jiraiya's attitude put a damper on the mood. "I haven't heard anything from Sand, but there's barely any info on Sound. I haven't even located it."
Kodanuki was bewildered. This was supposed to be the super pervert spy master who had plants everywhere, yet he didn't have much information on either place.
"Hokage-sama, I'm going to head to Sand and place some extra sets of eyes and ears into their shinobi force. I don't like how this is looking. Since we have next to no intel on Sound, it would be much harder to investigate them at this stage."
Receiving a nod of approval from the Hokage, Kodanuki shifted his eyes back to his supposed godfather, who suddenly spoke up.
"Wait, what exactly is the situation in Konoha? Why do we need spies in an allied village?"
The urge to facepalm repeatedly bubbled up in the jinchuuriki as he couldn't help but gawk behind the mask. Was the Sannin this incompetent with keeping up with the latest news? How could he come back and not know?
"Orochimaru made an appearance during the Chuunin Exams," Sarutobi replied.
"He what?!" The white-haired man prepared to jump at the window, most likely to seek out his wayward teammate.
"Jiraiya-sama, before you go, I have some I'd like to speak with you about." Said man's eyes flickered back onto the ANBU as he was unlocking the window.
"And what would that be?"
"I'd like to inspect the key of the jinchuuriki's seal."
At those words, the Hokage just shook his head. Kodanuki knew that he knew that the brunet had been wanting to do this for a while, and the opportunity now was too good to pass up. On the other hand, the face of the Sannin went pale as he stepped off the windowsill and took an uncertain step forward.
"What did you just say?" His hands were slightly shaking.
Inwardly sighing, the brunet had to repeat his words. "You hold the key to the Kyuubi's seal, and I would like to see it."
Eyes widening ever so slightly, Jiraiya's head whipped around to look at the Hokage. "We have a jinchuuriki? I thought Minato took the entire fox with him to the Shinigami's stomach."
'Wow, he really is not good at this information stuff. He probably spends more time gathering materials for his books than for the village.' The jinchuuriki was rewarded with a snicker from his tenant.
"I'm a better godfather than he ever will be."
'…'
"You're not denying it."
'Point taken.'
Focusing back on the conversation at hand, Kodanuki watched Jiraiya process all the information given. Surprising that he was now finding out that his late student had actually sealed the half the fox into a newborn. The gears seemed to click in place for the Sannin as it dawned on him just who his student would use.
"Naruto's alive?!"
'Interesting. So, he knows my name. I guess that's a given since he probably had a hand in choosing it.'
The Sannin proceeded to slam his palm on the table for a Kuchiyose. A small green toad with white hair and a grey cloak appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Jiraiya-chan, Ma will be angry if I'm not there to eat her cooking." The toad summoner chose to completely ignore the creature's complaining.
"Fukasaku-sama, is it true that one of the toads holds the key to the Kyuubi's seal?"
"I was wondering if you were going to ask. Yes, I believe Gerotora currently has it."
Jiraiya's palm slammed down once again as a strange orange and teal toad, whose torso looked like four barrel rings, appeared.
"Finally! I was wondering when you'd summon me. Being a scroll toad is super boring, you know." He stretched out, two rings each for the top and bottom, to reveal a striped scroll. The scroll toad glanced over at the desk and noticed the elder toad. "Ah, Fukasaku-sama!" His upper half bowed. Then, addressing Jiraiya, he stated, "I'm guessing this is what you want to see." With a nod from Jiraiya, Gerotora unfurled himself to reveal a very large inscription of fuinjutsu.
Kodanuki didn't even wait for permission before he rushed forward to stand in front of the scroll. Whistling to himself, he had to admit that he was impressed. The Yondaime truly was a talented sealer. However, he had seen even more complex seals from his mother's books.
Ignoring how dumbfounded Jiraiya was to realize that the key was still intact, signifying that the seal was very much active, Kodanuki inspected every inch of it. He made sure to take in every last detail, and with his natural Uzumaki ability to analyze seals, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
Before anyone could interrupt him, the jinchuuriki flew through the hand seals and pressed his palm into the page. Small yellow flames spread from his hand and burnt away the symbols until the scroll was blank.
"Do you know what you've done?!" Jiraiya looked a mix of absolutely horrified and absolutely furious. On the contrary, the Hokage just sighed and took another puff of smoke.
"Uh, yeah. I nullified the key. Now the jinchuuriki's seal is under his complete control."
The ANBU almost snorted at the look of frustration on the Sannin's face as the man turned to face his sensei once again.
"How is Naruto alive? Where is he? How does this ANBU know him? Is he safe? Is he happy? When can I meet him? Does he have control of the Kyuubi?" The man took a deep breath before he said, "Why didn't you tell me he was alive?"
Both the Sandaime and Kodanuki were deeply troubled but for different reasons. The brunet could tell that the elder man did not want to explain. On the flip side, Kodanuki was have a mental battle.
'He actually cares about me like that? That's awfully strange considering that he never seemed to care before. Did he not question Hokage-sama when he was told that I was dead? Perhaps thinking I was dead is the reason he never stays in the village.'
"Kit, don't think too hard about it. You don't need a godfather. You've got your other humans, and you've got me."
'But if I revealed myself, would he want to get to know me better?' There was no response from his fuzzy friend.
He found himself being once again scrutinized by the Sannin's eyes.
"Thank you for letting me see the key. Now I really must be heading to Suna. Excuse me, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama."
"Appreciated Kodanuki-kun. You may depart as soon as you are prepared."
Kodanuki bowed and quickly used a shunshin to head back to his apartment.
Updated: 23/3/20
