CH. 3 Not a Goodbye
As Jiraiya was led down the street by his unknowing godson he couldn't help but feel resentment towards his people. Here he was, a man in his forties being led by a 7 year old boy through a village towards the boy's home.
If this were any other kid he had no doubt that at least one person would stop the pair and ask why a small child is holding hands with a man who looks nothing like him.
But no, nobody came forth to intervene. Most people seemed content to just ignore them as they walked down the street, and the few that did glance their way focused their glares on the small child, not the unfamiliar strange man. "Will of Fire" what a joke.
Jiraiya then turned his attention back to the sleepy blond. Who in under an hour went from not even knowing of Jiraiya to deciding he was trustworthy enough to walk him home. In a way he was elated that Naruto trusted him so much so quickly, and he wanted to believe it was because Naruto knew on some level that they were family, even if not by blood.
But Jiraiya knew that in reality Naruto was just attaching himself to one of the handful of people who didn't try to pretend he didn't exist. That scared the Sannin, if someone wanted the power of the Kyuubi to themselves, all they would have to do is approach Naruto like he had and simply treat him like an actual person.
Someone like a man with an affinity for snakes and an obsession with power. or even more worrying, whoever it was that released the fox demon all those years ago.
Yes Jiraiya knew that there was someone involved in the Kyuubi incident, one that purposefully released it. Jiraiya wasn't there at the time, hunting down leads on his former teammate, but when the news reached him he b-lined back to Konoha and poured over the reports.
All the medics present at the birth were killed prior to the fox's rampage, and even ignoring that, Kushina was too stubborn to ever let the tailed beast out.
Someone deliberately interfered with Naruto's birth, of this Jiraiya was certain. He lost what he viewed as a son and daughter in that attack and for years all he wanted was to find the man responsible and bash their skull to paste, even if it killed him.
But now, hand in hand with his godson, he let the anger simmer down. It was still there, but in that moment his priorities shifted, everything else in the world was secondary now, his teammates, his sensei, his village, even that person who caused the demon's rampage, whoever they are. His godson came first, period.
Before he knew it he was standing in front of an apartment door. He was brought out of his musings when Naruto spoke up.
"Here we are, do you wanna come in Jiji-raiya"
"Sure kid," Jiraiya said before turning to the blond with a quirked eyebrow "what did you just call me?"
"Jiji-raiya, Teuchi-san is already Ojisan, and I can't call you Jiji because Jiji's Jiji, so you're Jiji-raiya." Naruto nodded to himself from what he saw as flawless logic.
Jiraiya was not amused "hey I'm not a Jiji, I'm only 45!" he said indignantly.
"What Really?" naruto asked in surprise
"Yes!" Jiraiya exclaimed, dragging out the s in exasperation. At least the kid wasn't going to think he was a codger.
"Oh man… that means you're really old, 'ttebayo!" Naruto looked far too proud of himself for that remark.
"I wouldn't be so quick to make fun of my age you little brat, when you get to my age might find yourself on the receiving end"
"Ha! Yeah right I'm gonna be young forever"
"Ahh shaddup kid, and get inside. You need to get to sleep soon" Naruto stuck his tongue out at the man but fished his keyring and opened the door to the room. As they stepped through the doorway.
Jiraiya took note of its condition. It wasn't anything special, a bit shabby, but not rundown. It was a bit on the small side, but that gave it a cozy feel. There was a pile of dishes in the sink and the trash was overflowing with empty cup noodle. Yep this was a bachelor pad.
"Oh shoot," Naruto suddenly cursed looking distressed "Jiji told me I should offer tea if I have a guest but I don't have any tea"
"Don't worry about it kid, I'm not staying long, you need to get to bed remember."
"Aww come on, I'm not even that tired," The blond was lying through his teeth, and badly as that statement was accompanied by a yawn.
"Nope not buying it, time for bed" he ushered his godson into his bedroom.
"But-"
"Mhm mhm, Bed." Jiraiya pointed to the door.
Naruto made a show of looking down and upset, but he couldn't hide his smile from the older nin. He closed the door to his bedroom and Jiraiya gave the apartment one last look over before walking towards the window. He opened it and hopped onto the sill.
A small voice from behind him "will I ever see you again?"
Jiraiya turned over his shoulder, Naruto was standing there in a set of blue pajamas looking like he was trying not to cry.
"Yeah kid you'll see me again, I promise"
With those parting words Jiraiya lept from the balcony. He would see the boy again, he made a point to visit at least once a year, sometimes twice.
Jiji-raiya never stuck around for long, a few hours at most, usually less. But each time was cherished, the toad sage was never critical of the blond, he took delight in his tales of pranks and instead of insulting Naruto for his grades he would offer to help, if only a little.
They usually meet at the ramen stand, sometimes Naruto would find Jiraiya there, sometimes Jiraiya would show up part way through the meal. Every time Jiraiya paid for the both of them, before walking the boy home..
A few times Jiraiya would come with gifts. A frog shaped wallet, a book on sealing, another book about a gutsy ninja and a white swirl charm he put on his coat.
Everything out of the man's mouth was either encouragement, inspiration, or support. In the brief instances where the two interacted, Naruto knew what it felt like to have a father.
I don't usually do authors notes but I felt that this chapter was short enough to justify it. First of all I want to really thank all the people who have favorited/followed/reviewed this story. It really means a lot to me that this story has been so well received.
I want to be clear that this isn't supposed to be a bashing fic, I don't like bashing characters. I know it might seem like it sometimes with how Hiruzen is treated, but honestly I don't think there's much room to portray him any other way with what we're given in cannon. I sent a review response detailing my thoughts on the Third a while back and i'll just put it here now.
'I've always seen the Sandaime to be sorta akin to a Dumbledore figure. He's the old master, the best in his craft and has a reputation of being so intelligent that he almost never makes a bad call. however that means that If/when he does make a bad call its results are borderline catastrophic.
Going back to the Dumbledore example I can see a parallel in Dumbledore is to Voldemort as Hiruzen is to Orochimaru. Both are genius level teachers who took in genius level students in their craft, but in failing to recognize the innate darkness in those students and doing nothing to prevent it, they enabled incredible destruction to occur.
And just as Dumbledore made the questionable decision to put Harry with the Dursleys and leave him unaware of his wizarding heritage, Hiruzen made the mistake of letting Naruto's Container status out thinking he would be accepted as a hero. This backfired and he left Naruto to deal with the Village's coldness basically on his own.
Because he is a genius who is always right, he doesn't know how to recognize when he messes up or what to do to fix it. If you never make mistakes, why bother learning how to fix them.'
At this point in the story, the Third still thinks he's in the right about his decisions with Naruto. He doesn't think the situation is great, or even okay, but he thinks it's the best he could do all things considered. This will change, Hiruzen will have a point where he realizes how bad he's handled the situation.
As for Jiraiya; people have said it a million times in a million fics, posts, and convos: Jiraiya's treatment of Naruto at the beginning was disgusting. He lusted at his Oiroke Jutsu, stole Naruto's money, and left him alone in unfamiliar places to go drinking and whoring. What kind of man treats his godson like that?
Well the answer is simple, he wasn't Naruto's godfather at the time, in fact he was barely more than a culture reference. Now what do I mean by this?
I think that at the time of Jiraiya's introduction Kishimoto did not have any connection between Jiraiya and Minato. However I do think that this was around the time he came up with the concept of Naruto's dad being the fourth. I reread the chunin arc and I noticed that while Naruto is trying to summon a frog there's a section where we just kinda watch Hiruzen muse about everything going on in the story. This is the first time Naruto is referred to specifically as "the legacy of the Fourth" and it's also the first time we get to actually see what the Fourth looked like.
So at that point in the manga we have 'Naruto is the Fourth's son' being hinted at and we have 'Jiraiya is Naruto's teacher' but 'Jiraiya was Minato's teacher' does not yet exist as a concept.
But even with that caveat there's still the issue of Jiraiya's behavior being gross no matter what. To me the reason for Jiraiya's behavior is simple, it's a joke. But not in the way we might think at first glance. The treatment of naruto isn't the joke, the behavior itself is the joke.
In Japan 'The Tale of The Gallant Jiraiya' is one of the most popular stories taken from their mythology. Think Heracles. When you Imagine Heracles, what's the image in your head? As a westerner with context, Heracles is a 7 foot tall dude with an 8-pack, who looks like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallon, and acts like a cross between Rambo and The Terminator.
Now let me introduce you to the character in my story: Heracles. He's 4'7'' scrawny, with a bowl cut, he hates violence and likes stuffed animals.
In 'The Tale of The Gallant Jiraiya' the character is honorable, chivalrous, detests vices, and is a pillar of morality and justice. So in Naruto the character is the opposite of all these qualities, and that's supposed to be the joke. Its referential humor and as most of us in the west don't really go deep into the cultural influences in anime and manga, we don't get the reference.
Anyway…. The next chapter is gonna speed through the academy, it'll basically be snapshots of important events for the story and context. Character interactions galore. After that we'll dive right into the series.