CHAPTER 4 - GIFTED CHILD
Jirayia and Tsunade were staring in disbelief.
From Naruto's little hand, which was pressed in the centre of the circular seal, five black lines extended towards the kanji for their respective elements.
What had stunned the two sannin however was the meaning of those lines: the four that went towards Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water stopped just below their kanji, indicating an affinity for those elements, while the one towards Fire went way over its kanji, which started to glow red.
"Jirayia, are you sure you haven't messed up?"
"No... I'll be damned, I thought that only a Rin'negan wielder could have an affinity for all the elements."
"What about the Fire? I've never even heard of something like that happening." Tsunade asked worriedly.
"Neither I did. It must be the strongest affinity ever that has ever existed, if we can call it such. It's probably more like he has control over that element on a level that shouldn't be humanly possible."
"What do you mean with 'control over that element'?"
The toad sannin assumed a thoughtful expression and took a minute before answering
"Well, it's just a theory but if I'm right... Ah! Here's a simple test"
Jirayia stood up and went to rummage through his backpack, closely followed by Tsunade who was carrying Naruto.
Finally he found a match and lit it.
Tsunade was starting to think he lost it, what did he need a match for?
She was going to voice her thoughts when he took Naruto's hand and put it over the fire.
What happened next explained fairly well what Jirayia meant. Instead of burning the child, the fire caressed his skin flowing around it like water or wind without harming him.
The two legenday nin were pulled out of their stupor from Shizune who re-entered from the door that moment.
"Tsunade-sama, I'm back, I... Naru-chan, what are you doing up? What's going on?"
The blond medic turned towards her and put the red eyed child in her arms.
"Shizune, put him in bed, I must have a word with my soon to be deceased teammate."
Jirayia was thinking about the implications of the boy's power and failed to notice his impeding doom, "Hmm? What do you meaaaaaw!"
He yelled in pain when Tsunade dragged him outside by his ear.
"Wait a second hime, what have I done now?"
"What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? YOU SAY YOU HAVE A FUCKING THEORY AND YOU PUT A DAMNED LIGHTED MATCH UNDER MY SON'S HAND? WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU WERE WRONG, YOU USELESS LITTLE WASTE OF SPACE?"
Unluckily for the white haired sannin,
Tsunade wasn't just screaming, she was beating him.
And Tsunade wasn't known across the elemental countries only for her gambling, her skills as a medic or her bad temper.
She was also known for her freaking inhuman strength.
"Ouch! Careful!"
"I know, no need to worry Jirayia-sama."
Shizune answered while treating his wounds.
The toad sannin had multiple fractures, numerous bruises, and a broken nose that had more or less saved his life.
As soon as Tsunade's punch had connected with his face, in fact, the blood coming from it had stopped her from killing him in her righteous-motherly-fury-induced state.
However, before that, she had had all the time to cause enough damage to leave her old teammate bedridden for the next couple of days to a week according to Shizune's diagnosis.
So he was now laying in Naruto's bed while said child, who for the time being would sleep with his unofficial adoptive and very violent and protective mother, was pokeing him.
The worst part was that he was absolutely tactless,
but Jirayia thought better of asking him to stop when a certain blond haired monster, hidden under the guise of a beautiful woman's appearance, was watching them from the threshold.
Even if it was true that his new godson looked adorable with that curious expression and his head tilted to the side, under his gaze Jirayia began to feel like some rat lab.
On the other hand, if he could bring this little chibi with him at the hotspring the women would probably throw themselves at him.
"Jirayia, stop looking at him like that, you seem Orochimaru."
"Wha-? It's not that! I was just thinking of bringing him with me at the onsen and... Oh crap, no wait-"
"You do have a death wish, don't you little pervert?" Tsunade asked with a sweet smile that promised pain like he never had.
Luckily Shizune decided to distract her master from killing someone she had just fixed.
"Sooo, you want to adopt our little thief Tsunade-sama. Those were the papers you wanted, mh."
Meanwhile the little thief was grabbed by the dark haired girl who proceeded to take back pills, bandages, a couple of bottles, a needle, some of Jirayia's papers and the hermit's right sandal.
All things that had mysteriously found their way into his pockets.
"Well, why not? He needs a family and we're already taking care of him.
It wouldn't be so much different from how things are now."
Tsunade answered without looking at her.
Neither Jirayia nor Shizune could understand why she refused to say out loud how much she loved the little guy, she probably feared that admitting it would have caused her bad luck to struck again.
Jirayia added his two cents,
"And when you'll bring him to the village he can become a great ninja. After all with his bloodline-"
"What are you talking about pervert? Who said I'm coming back?
How can you be sure he has a bloodline?"
"YOU said you'll come back, don't you remember?
Just before he stole my precious research you agreed to come back and stay in the Shodaime's cottage."
Shizune turned to look at them "Really? That's wonderful Tsunade-sama."
The legendary medic just mumbled something incomprehensible.
"And he must have a bloodline limit, it isn't natural to have all the affinities and that thing with fire."
Jirayia continued "Probably his eyes are like they are because of that, and his whiskers marks on his cheeks are part of that too."
"And his talent for stealing.
Shizune is it me or it's the third time you've gotten back that sandal?"
Shizune stopped with said object in her hand, and indeed it was the third time she has taken that back.
She glared slightly at Naruto,
"You're not stealing this as soon as I put it back in its place, are you?"
The child grinned widely and nodded happily.
Shizune's eye started to twitch while the other two adults snickered.
"It's like this, mh? You know, this means war.''
With that said Shizune began to tickle him making him roll on the floor laughing. The sound was joyful and pure like a waterfall and caused Tsunade to smile fondly, it was the first time they heard his voice.
Shizune however was relishing her success in overpowering him.
"Aw, who's ticklish? Come on, give Shizune-neechan what you've stolen or I'm not letting you go."
Jirayia smiled too at the warm display, another theory forming in his mind.
It was a long shot, but it would explain the traits of his 'bloodline' and why he was alone in the woods.
However he couldn't bring himself to ruin the happy and peaceful moment, he would speak with Tsunade about it later, when Naruto was sleeping.
Five days later Jirayia had made a full recovery and started packing to go back to his business.
He knew better than saying the word 'research' with Tsunade nearby.
It was now night and he would leave the next morning at dawn.
He had already said Naruto goodbye because the child had gone to bed early.
This however also meant that he had to tell Tsunade about 'it' now.
"Tsunade, I was thinking about Naruto's bloodline limit."
"What about it?"
"Maybe it isn't a bloodline. I know that I said it must be, but there could be another reason, one that would explain his multiple chakra nature,
his features (eyes and whiskers marks) and why you found him in forest alone."
He paused as if afraid to say what he thought.
After a couple of minutes, when it was clear he wasn't going to say anything else on his own, Tsunade decided to push him a little,
"Come on let's hear your great intuition."
Jirayia took a deep breath and looked her straight in her eyes, "He could be a jinchuuriki..."
Tsunade seemed worried by his words, but not about her precious child having one of the nine bijuu sealed in him.
Her muscels tensed as she eyed her ex-teammate warily, "What if he is?"
"Please Tsunade, do you really think so little of me? I am a seal master, and I can see perfectly well that he's just a child. I feel insulted,
I thought you knew me better than this."
She relaxed, "Right, sorry."
"The only way to know for sure is if you would let me look at him for a seal. This way I can even fix it if it needs to be, or Minato-"
"NO. If you find a seal on him you will fix it.
And even if there isn't one you're not going to say anything to anyone about him.
We agreed that we'll come back to the village when he's six to attend the accademy, but until then I don't want anyone to know about him.
Those old fools on the council putting pressure on me or him are the last thing we need."
"I understand but I'm sure that Minato would help you. He doesn't like them too much himself after all."
"Jirayia, not. A. Word. To. Anyone. It's either like this or you'll never see nor heard of us ever again. Please, do it for me, it's all I ask."
The toad sannin realized with horror that she was begging him and her eyes were watering.
"I've already lost Nawaki and Dan, I lost my otouto and the man I loved, I can't loose my son too, I just can't."
In a rare moment of sensitivity he hugged her without any second purpose.
"Ok. If it's so important for you I won't say a word. Now let's go to see if there's a seal or not."
"Just try to not wake him."
The next day Jirayia left.
He had made sure to ask Shizune to keep an eye on her blond sensei to prevent her from going back on her word and not coming back to the village in three years' time.
He would also try to track them down and visit his godson again some time before then. After all he had trained the current hokage, and Naruto had the potential to be another great ninja.
And he was a good kid too, somehow he couldn't help but grow fond of him.
He knew it wasn't going to be pleasant lying to Minato, but he promised Tsunade, even if it was pointless and stupid.
But in the end he was looking forward to seeing the council's faces in three years, when they found out about Naruto and his bloodline.
Jirayia smiled, he had never been happier to be wrong than when he saw he didn't have any seals on him.
Siegfriedzz has won a cookie for guessing the affinity thing.
My chapters are short, I know. this is probably the last chapter before they go to Konoha.
I've made it so that they'll come back when he's six 'cuz I didn't want him there when the Uchihas are killed. I can't stand them, so they'll be killed. End of story. For now.
Below this sentance there's a general description of Naruto's personality in this fic, don't read if you don't want to.
VERY LITTLE SPOILER: NARUTO'S FUTURE SELF:
Naruto will be very lazy, he'll be strong but he won't bother showing it. He's also going to be very smart but he won't talk much and half of the times he'll say weird things.
The only restriction on the team assignment are that Sasuke is in Kakashi's team and Hinata in Kurenai's. If you want the classical teams or new ones it doesn't matter as long as
you say me something.