Sealing Salientia - Chapter 30: Comfort - Author: PenSmoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.

Previously on Sealing Salientia: A moment later though, Jiraiya's feeling of entrapment ended up not mattering at all, as a different voice spoke up. "You knew Kushina? You knew my mom?"

Konoha
Tuesday, October 13th, Year 71

Naruto had been talking with Kurama about all the different types of chakra in his mental landscape. They had only just gotten started on where the energy came from when the assault from Kurama's windows to his senses started.

The boy found this particularly interesting, as he had just previously in the day wanted to do both meditating and be aware of his external surroundings. His normal meditation library wasn't within range to hear the sensory input that Kurama had managed to obtain, it was located too far away for the signals to reach through. But, if he was here learning with the giant kitsune, he could apparently have access to sight, sound and smell from within, which was exactly what he had wanted to obtain. While excusing himself from Kurama's tutelage, he made a promise to be back soon to learn more, as the topic that the chakric being was teaching him on was supremely interesting and important. It just so happened that one of the very few topics that was even more pressing him at the moment was his family.

Exiting his mindscape was always an interesting rush of changing perspectives. As the ruined sealscape around him slowly faded from view, it left him in a pure black void between consciousness and meditation for just a moment until the real world started to come back into focus around him. His eyes blinked a couple of times as the angry tirade from the strange woman entered his ears.

The immediacy of the assault made him think quickly, and the perceived words had his heart racing. This woman was talking about him and had said the name Kushina multiple times now. Jiraiya and Hiruzen had both made him swear not to reveal who his biological father was, but thinking back on it now, he never remembered them saying anything about keeping secret who his mother was.

"You knew Kushina? You knew my mom?"

Naruto's voice speaking up unexpectedly from behind them had a startling effect on both parties.

Tsunade whirled around at the sound, tear droplets flying off of her face at the sudden motion. The reflected light of the afternoon light streaming in through the window glinted around the room as Tsunade completed her motion.

Jiraiya immediately cut in with a "Hush! That's a secr…" but was silenced with a look over the shoulder from Tsunade.

"Kushina was your mom? I knew it!" The immediate cracking of the woman's voice was evident, as the woman's single sentence spanned at least two octaves.

"You said that she was your last family? How so?" Naruto could hear Jiraiya sigh as the man leaned onto the counter, appearing defeated, but it felt unimportant next to the potential for new information that could be acquired through this woman.

The buxom blonde that stood in front of him was unfamiliar, though he had a vague sense that he had seen her before. Long blonde hair pulled into two pigtails that draped down her back, bangs hanging low just above her eyes. She wore a green jacket unbuttoned in the front, with a grey material covering what was underneath, held together by a blue sash wrapped multiple times around her midsection, cinched quite tightly. Blue ninja pants and sandals completed the look as the woman took a couple of tentative steps towards him. Something very unusual about this woman that he had noticed right away was the lack of a clear and distinct smell. There was something clean and sterile about her that put him just a little on edge. Every person had a scent that was unique to them, and while hers was there, it felt like it had purposely been erased. As she opened her mouth to respond, he changed his focus.

"Kushina was my cousin. Well, we called ourselves cousins anyway. My grandmother was Mito Uzumaki, wife of the First Hokage. Both she and Kushina were of the Uzumaki blood. Kushina always called her 'Auntie Mito', even though I knew she wasn't her direct aunt. So that makes you the son of my cousin, which I… don't really… know what that term would be…" The lady trailed off, seemingly unsure of what to call him, before she seemed to realize that something else had been forgotten.

"Oh my, I'm sorry! I'm Tsunade. I'm a teammate of this old lunkhead." With this statement, she threw a hand up with a thumb crooked out pointing at Jiraiya, who gave an indignant shout at the title.

Pointing a finger at himself, he responded. "I'm Naruto, and that lunkhead is my dad!" Another indignant shout from the man only made his smile get bigger.

Tsunade walked up to the couch where he had been meditating, and he scooched over towards the side so that there was room for two. She plopped down into the soft cushions next to him, and leaned back in the couch, as Jiraiya walked over and sat in the opposing chair, three bowls of steaming food in hand. He passed them out to each party there and a quick round of thanks was given for the meal before chopsticks were separated and the food was dug into.

A few mouthfuls of food later, Naruto swallowed and wiped his face clean from any splashed broth. He turned to the lady sitting next to him, and posed a question. "What can you tell me about my mom?"

Tsunade finished her own bite before answering, "Kushina was a fiery woman. They called her the 'Red-Hot Habanero', because her temper was something incredible. When she got angry, she could take down a whole battalion of ordinary soldiers." Another slurping bite ended the quick recollection, which gave Naruto a chance to interject his own comment.

"She was a ninja?"

"Of course. Both of your parents were. And I don't mean the lunkhead." No more noise was elicited from Jiraiya at the continued insult, though the perceived glare still made Naruto giggle a little. It wasn't often he got to laugh at the man's expense. "She had abilities like nobody else had seen in decades."

Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat, only restraining himself as to not spill precious ramen. "Like what?" the excitement and giddiness in his voice could not be restrained, and it brought a soft smile to the woman's face who opened her mouth to answer. Before any words could leave her throat though, another voice cut in from across the room.

"You know. I told you earlier that I'd tell you all about your mom later." Jiraiya's voice was slightly sullen. "And you were supposed to keep your parents a secret, you know. Not just blabbing to any random stranger that you don't know."

Naruto immediately retorted with, "You and the Third only said to keep my dad a secret, you didn't mention my mom."

Jiraiya opened his mouth to reply, stopped the motion as he thought, and then clacked his jaw shut audibly. A further deflation of the man's shoulders left him looking like a mushed banana in the chair as he realized Naruto was indeed correct. As the silence from the man continued on, Naruto looked back to Tsunade, eyes pleading with her to provide more details.

The blonde lady was more than happy to provide. "Well, since Kushina was your mother, and that guy just tried to keep a secret who your father is, I assume you know who he was, yes?"

Nodding his head excitedly, Naruto awaited more details.

"Kushina was always this big fiery ball of personality, not afraid of telling anyone exactly what she thought of them, even if it was rude or odd. She made her reputation by having a skill that nobody else in years had used, called her Adamantine Chains. She could wield several chakra-based chains at will, using them to do a whole bunch of crazy things." Tsunade's eyes had lit up while talking about the woman, seemingly happy to get to talk about her. "She was fiercely independent up until a particular mission went wrong. She never told me all of the details, but she was rescued from danger on that mission by your father." The eyes grew softer, fondness pouring through. "He must have done something that moved her, as she became a whole new person after that. Mito had always told her that she needed to find a balance of strength and love, and your father brought that out in her."

Tsunade leaned back in the couch, letting loose a deep breath, causing her chest to heave. Naruto noted Jiraiya staring at her, but paid it no mind. His attention was much more on her words than anything else.

"For months, she played hard-to-get with the man. But, anyone with working eyeballs could tell that they were smitten with each other. They constantly picked on each other, with her doing the majority of it. And then he was promoted to the highest position he could be. And they flirted with the idea of being married more and more, though they never did take that step. A few months later, they started living together. Kushina was softer from that point on, smiled more, and her temper cooled. She could still whip any chunin in a fight with ease, but she turned motherly. A quick visit to the hospital confirmed that was exactly the reason. She was pregnant. As the months wore on, they found out it was a baby boy. You. We had kept in touch right up to a few days before you were born, and she had even told me your name ahead of time." Tsunade wiped a newly fallen tear away from her eyes and the distraction made Naruto notice that his own cheeks were wet. "She was so looking forward to being a mother and raising you. She loved you so much, even before she knew you."

The silence that fell after that sentence was only punctuated by a couple of sniffles from the white-haired boy as he tried to hold back tears for the mother that he had never met. A few seconds later, as the silence lapsed into conversation again, Jiraiya's voice spoke up.

"For the record, your dad was every bit as excited as your mom was. He wouldn't stop talking about it. Every single ANBU heard him gushing about it at least 20 times a day while on guard duty. His student and myself heard it at least double that. The man was incessant in chatting about you. " Jiraiya's voice was somber, but it held a tone of forlorn happiness, reminiscing about a happy moment in his past.

Naruto found himself leaking tears from both eyes as the droplets streamed off of his chin. He hadn't ever really felt sad about his parents not being there since the night he learned about them. Curious, yes, but never sad. It was just how life had been, never really talked about. And now that the moment had arrived where he was being told about them, he felt this horrible tearing in his guts, like part of his insides were being ripped out from his body. It didn't hurt like a physical puncture wound, but mentally it tore through him, causing a rippling wave of melancholic sadness to wash over him. The reaction to curl over in tow took over, and his tears began to drip to the carper below instead of to his shirt.

His eyes opened in surprise as a warm hand laid itself over his shoulders, and a ridiculously strong force yanked him into something warm and soft. Delicate manicured fingers stroked his hair as he was pulled deeper into the embrace, this woman comforting him as best as she knew how to. He was now completely wrapped up in one arm, the grip immensely strong, but not too tight that he couldn't breathe. It was a pleasant sensation, and he felt himself relaxing.

A barely audible whisper reached his ears. "Lucky."

The hand ran over his hair, smoothing the jagged spikes temporarily in a calming manner as the tears slowly dried out and his eyes drifted downwards. The warmth was intoxicating as he drifted off to an unconscious state after the emotional outburst combined with a long day.

Jiraiya watched Naruto be held by the buxom blonde and was both resentful and pleased. The woman still seemingly had a protective streak for those she considered family, which had started with her little brother Nawaki. Pushing away the disturbing thoughts of what had come of those that she had considered close in the past, he watched the interaction between the two.

Tsunade's hand had drifted off of the head and had moved down to rubbing the whisker marks on the cheeks of the boys, tracing them curiously. A surprising noise started to come from Naruto, almost like that of a cat purring. The noise faded out as Tsunade looked up at him in shock for a moment, stopping the action.

Tsunade's honey eyes met his black ones, the question not even needing to be asked. Jiraiya shrugged, confusion present, it wasn't something that he had ever heard come from the boy either.

A moment later, Tsunade resumed the gentle stroke of fingers over cheek markings, and the vibrations resumed louder than before. The boy had curled up into a small ball into Tsunade's side, purring lightly from the attention.

After the silence had stretched past the point of being comfortable, and was encroaching on the awkward stage, Jiraiya decided that he might as well try to save some face. "I didn't want to keep it a secret from you, princess."

The slug summoner didn't even look up from her charge before responding, "And yet you did. What could possibly be so important to not tell me about family?" The soft gentle voice that she had been using with the child was long gone, steely tones through gritted teeth was all that was left for him. He knew that in a way he deserved it for expecting her to believe it, but he hoped that she could see his reasoning.

"When I left, it was just three that knew. Myself, Sarutobi, and the Black Ops Commander." Jiraiya launched into the tale of what had occurred on the day he had stolen away with Naruto under cover of darkness. He felt that it would be the only way to salvage any possibility of preserving their friendship, by telling her everything. She already knew most of the secrets anyway. He told her of the council meeting, Fugaku's rise to power, the loss of his arm, and how they vanished.

Tsunade reacted with a gasp at the mention of the Kyuubi. She obviously hadn't completely known about that part, though he could tell she wasn't completely surprised. Kushina and Tsunade had been close, it would be no surprise that during a medical check-up that Kushina was the jinchuriki would be revealed. And with Kushina gone, the chakric demon needed to be placed somewhere. That it was specifically in the boy next to her was probably the biggest surprise, but she followed up the light gasp with a very unexpected reaction.

Laughter.

When he raised an eyebrow at the interruption in his story and the odd behavior, he received a response of, "To think, one of the most powerful beings to ever exist is literally purring while curled into a ball, like a little fox cub. It's almost like he's a pet."

He had to snicker at that thought. Picturing the Kyuubi as a small multi-tailed kitsune curled up on a lap and purring, or doing tricks for treats was certainly amusing. The moment of shared laughter dispersed all tension between the two old teammates, and as the chuckles faded, they sat in silence for some time, finishing their shared meal.

After the food was consumed, Jiraiya gathered up the takeout containers and took care of them. He pulled out a scroll, summoned a large ceramic with three large X's on the side, and a picture of a toad hiccupping above it. Searching the cupboards, he got a couple of saucers out and poured out a couple servings of sake for the two of them. He walked over to the sitting area, set the jug on the table in between and handed one saucer to Tsunade. She accepted the dish, swirled it lightly, and sniffed the bouquet of the alcohol before taking a sip. Jiraiya sat down and took a sip of his own. He felt the alcohol slither around his tongue, burning the edges of his lips as it entered his mouth. The beverage was strong, and the sake would make most eyes water.

This, of course, meant that Tsunade loved it. Evidenced by her slamming the saucer back after the first sip as well as the loud "Ahhhh" that followed. Jiraiya filled the saucer in her outstretched hand, and watched her recline back in her chair again. The woman had developed a bit of a drinking problem since her past was so full of bad memories. After her fiancé Dan had died, she had left the village in search of escape, which she found in the arms of alcohol. Jiraiya was familiar with hiding pain in vice, he was a prime example of it. He also knew just how impossible it was to break such a habit externally. Such motivation had to come from within. So, even though he knew it was detrimental to her, he let her partake as much as she wanted.

She showed restraint with the second saucer, not immediately downing it, instead placing it on the table between them after a sip. "Well then, Jiraiya, what now?"

His internal thoughts mirrored his words. "Other than me staying here, I have no idea. Seems like the world has plans for me, I just wish I knew what they were."

"Are you planning on staying here?" At Jiraiya's look of confusion, she clarified. "In this apartment?"

The toad sage didn't really understand what she was saying. This apartment was perfectly suited to his needs. They could both sleep in here without issue, and as ninja, they probably wouldn't spend much time there outside of sleep and maybe some meals.

His continued confusion must have been apparent still, as she spoke up again. "You can't raise a kid like this. I tried with Shizune, you know. Kids need room to grow and thrive. You need a proper place for him. He can't just sleep on a couch forever."

"You have no idea what this kid has been through already. We spent more than two years in the toads summon realm at Mount Myoboku and we were on the road for years before then."

"Wait… you took him to Mount Myoboku? That's… just… How irresponsible are you?"

Jiraiya felt slightly insulted. He was under the impression that he had been doing a pretty good job as a father figure, and to have someone who had just met the boy judging him for his efforts gave an angry feeling welling up in his chest. Tamping it down for the moment, as this was Tsunade, he responded as calmly as possible. "I'm perfectly responsible, thank you very much. Naruto is growing up to be a splendid ninja."

"Regardless, you can't just have a bachelor pad for the kid. You should have him come live with me at the compound."

Jiraiya now let the anger out that he had been restraining and practically yelled, "Excuse me?" He got up from the seat, staring directly at her. He noticed the twitch of muscles from Naruto at her side, and lowered his voice as to not wake the child. Instead of the yelling that he wanted to do, he reduced his voice to a barely audible seething hiss that felt more in place coming from his other teammate. "I'm not sure exactly what you're thinking, but you don't just get to walk in out of nowhere, claim that the kid is family to you, and try to take him away from me. That is NOT how this is going to go, princess. That boy there is MY son in all ways that matter, and your opinion, as much as I would normally listen to you, matters for nothing in this case." He continued levelling his gaze directly at her.

A moment later her beautiful eyes broke the staring contest, averting their gaze instead to the sake saucer sitting on the table. She grabbed at it and threw the entire shot back, and he noticed that the clear alcohol wasn't the only liquid on her face. Her eyes were now tightly shut as the beginnings of tears were again forming at the corners. For the second time in as many hours, the strongest woman he knew was crying in front of him.

His rage subsided a bit and he softened. The woman in front of him had always been a weakness. Strong as she was smart, beautiful as she was bossy, she tripped all of his triggers perfectly. And when she was acting vulnerable in front of him, the self-proclaimed gallant man couldn't help himself. He knew that she would never show such emotions to anyone if she didn't want to, which meant she trusted him enough, even after all these years of being apart.

"I'm sorry." Tsunade mumbled as she made to get up and go. As she was attempting to disentangle herself from the boy that had curled up into her side, Jiraiya got up. The motion made her stop the half-hearted endeavor of extricating herself from his snuggling and look at up him again.

He could clearly see the two tears drop off of her chin as her face looked directly at his. Jiraiya sat on the small amount of room that was left next to her on the couch, which was relatively little. He wedged himself in next to her, and spoke up. "No, I'm sorry. That was too far. Your opinion does matter to me, it's just that I'm a little overprotective about the boy consider what he represents." As he spoke, a hand rose nervously behind his head in a gesture that he had picked up from his last student whenever he was dealing with an upset Kushina. "I've never seen you cry so much. What's wrong, Tsunade?"

The woman sitting on his couch could apparently no longer hold in whatever was going on, as she simply broke down. Slumping over into him, she threw her arms around his shoulders, long heavy sobs wrenching from her throat. She squeezed him tightly, almost too tightly. Thankfully, he had dealt with Tsunade fights plenty enough to know how to handle the intense pressure that her squeeze could dole out. Her form melted into his side, and as much as he did enjoy the feeling, he was much more focused on what was causing this sort of reaction from her.

He could hear some mumbles and feel her mouth moving against his shoulder, but couldn't make out the words through the clothing and over the sound of sobs. Having lots of experience with women, he knew that the best thing to do in this situation was just to be there for her and let her work through it without intervention. He simply rested one hand on her back, rubbing a small comforting circle in a place that could not be mistaken as being any sort of sexual contact.

After a good 10 minutes of simply remaining stationary, the crying finally stopped, leaving only a sporadic hiccupping noise left resonating through the silent apartment. Another moment later, Jiraiya could feel her start to push back against him, straightening up to sit properly, to which he removed the hand from her back to accommodate the movement. A small stream of constant apologies flowed from her mouth, which he let happen for a few seconds before shushing her.

"It's okay princess. Do you care to talk about what's wrong?"

"It's about… Orochimaru."

That took him for a bit of a loop. He knew that Orochimaru was still in the village, and last he heard the man was not dead, which was the only immediate cause he could think of for Tsunade to cry that much over him. "What about him?"

"Well… He and I, well… It felt like… you know…" Tsunade trailed off, not looking directly at him.

He remained silent though, both not knowing what to say, and realizing that it probably wouldn't be best to assume anything.

"You know how when we were kids, you used to ask me out all the time?"

Jiraiya mutely nodded, not sure where this was going.

"Do you remember what it was that I said?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes to try and remember. Thinking about it for a second in silence, he replied, "I think it was something like, I'd rather go out on a date with…" And it clicked for him. Mouth frozen in the position of the start of the last word on his lips, his mind reeled with the implications. That would mean that she had really done it? "Orochimaru…" he trailed off, his limbs locking up in shock.

Tsunade's nod may have been a tiny movement, but it moved Jiraiya's entire world. "He and I… well… We had been going for almost a year now, but he was just as cold and aloof now as he was then. I had thought he might warm up and we could share the same camaraderie as we always had as teammates. But, it seemed that nothing was ever changing. I confronted him on whether or not he actually loved me. He looked at me and told me that I was just another experiment in his designs after immortality. He thought that if he could sire a son with a strong kunoichi, he would be able to transcend mortality that way. That was yesterday."

Jiraiya felt a mixture of emotions as the story went on. Starting with jealousy, it morphed into anger, finally ending on sadness. He felt horrible for Tsunade, while also feeling like he wanted to go punch the snake sannin through a wall. Though if Tsunade hadn't done so already, well, he probably wouldn't need to. He sat there, attempting to process everything when the next bombshell dropped.

"I went to the hospital today for work after seeing you at the Hokage tower. I had noticed I wasn't feeling quite right. All morning long I had felt a bit sick and queasy. So, I ran a diagnostic on myself. Turns out, I'm pregnant."

The shock that Jiraiya had felt before now felt like nothing. Tsunade was pregnant? By Orochimaru? Had he been teleported to an alternate dimension? He didn't want to say anything, but felt an overwhelming need to clarify. "And it's his?"

Tsunade bit her lip. "Mhmm. He's the only… uhm… the only one… I've… you know… been with."

He did know what she meant. And he wished that he didn't. But that wasn't important right now. Right this very second, he had a woman that he had loved for decades, baring her soul and most private secrets to him after bawling her eyes out. There was only one solution to this quandry.

Jiraiya leaned into her and wrapped her up in the biggest hug that he could. Feeling her tense up for a second, and then relax, he hugged tighter. They sat like that in silence well into the night. Jiraiya comforting Tsunade whilst Naruto slept next to them.

AN: Upon re-reading the last chapter, I realized that I had apparently uploaded an older version of the chapter that didn't have the entirety of the content in there. There was supposed to be a little more that happened at the end of Jiraiya and Fugaku's meeting that I had meant to include. I have updated it, so the correct content is there. If you are following the story line, I recommend going back and re-reading that scene, as it throws some intrigue into the plot that might otherwise be missed. It also provides context for other things that are going to be happening in the next few chapters, so that they don't appear out of the blue.

So, who saw THAT coming? Like I've said previously, I've thrown a bunch of ideas that I've never seen done in any fanfiction together, hopefully in a way that makes some amount of sense. Tsunade and Orochimaru being an item came to me after re-watching the background of Jiraiya before the fight scene with Six Paths of Pain, where she made the quip about being with Orochimaru before being with him. I realized that I've never heard of or read anything that capitalized on that, so here it is.

I hope that the scene flowed well with the two Sannin. I've had personal experience in comforting someone in a situation like that, so what I wrote was from real life, adapted to fit their characters and personalities. Let me know if anything with it feels wrong or grotesque.

Hopefully you guys are enjoying it! Here's to next week!