Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Ah... angry woman senses tingling... Threat Level... about a 2..."

Jiraiya looked up, spoke, and then went back down to writing in his notebook. He smiled to himself, knowing he wasn't really in danger at the moment. He just sensed that a somewhat powerful woman was after him to give him a beating, and he didn't know which woman it was either. He did see something flying at him out of the corner of his eye.

It was rapidly approaching.

He hooked his legs on the tree branch he was sitting on, before he flipped himself upside down. The top of the was destroyed as it was consumed by the black power that raced by him. He flipped out of the tree and landed on the ground.

"... Okay... 2.5..." Jiraiya looked at the damage to the tree, and modified the threat level of the girl that was angry at him. It was Rias Gremory, and she had black wings coming out of her back, somehow without damaging her clothes. "... changing it to a 1.5 actually." Jiraiya modified the level again when he saw the inexperienced woman who was raging against him.

What did he even do?

"You bastard!"

"Ah... angry redhead... and it's Rias, so this must be concerning Naruto then... hmmm, leaves a lot to be questioned." Jiraiya mused as he stepped out of range of every attack she launched. He wondered why she was after him personally though, since while he had been a horrible godfather to Naruto, he wasn't abusive towards the boy. Naruto wouldn't have told her anything that would have made her want to attack him on sight like this.

No, she came at him with a personal grudge for some reason.

Better let her vent, so he could let her calm down enough to talk to. At the moment she was too fueled by feminine rage to be able to have a conversation with. Her emotions were running far to high for logic and reason to be a part of it.

"So, is this about Naruto, or about how I've been manipulating you?"

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Ah, this is about Naruto... Threat Level.. about a 2 again. Not really dangerous, but not something I want to get hit by either." Jiraiya wasn't going to let her magic attacks hit him, even if he didn't see her as a threat. Those looked like they would destroy his clothes for sure, and he had no way to get more copies of the outside he was wearing if it were to be destroyed.

Rias landed on the ground.

She displayed an impressive amount of power at least, but her attack speed was just too low for her to hit a trained ninja with. She attacked with large swings of her arms to throw her attacks, and to charge up a big attack she needed several seconds. She was a long range fighter for sure, and she didn't even hesitate to make her intent to seriously injure him hidden. She was out for blood at the moment, and he was in her sights.

"How could you never give him love as a child, how could you train such a sweet innocent boy to be a child soldier! I'll kill you, and everyone who has ever wronged him!" Rias' fury was intense as she threw her biggest attack at Jiraiya, fueled with over half of her magic reserves. She destroyed a chunk of the forest containing at least 30 trees when she flung her magic, but it left her gasping for air for a second, before she recovered her breath.

Jiraiya had just jumped out of the way of her attack.

"Ah... so that is what this is... continue to attack me, get it all out." Jiraiya had no problem allowing her to vent all of her anger at this.

He partially agreed with it.

Her heart was coming from the right place, but she was going about it in completely the wrong way, and she was missing a lot of key facts at the moment. She was under the assumption that she even had the option of travelling to the village he was from to exact her revenge.

"Be silent!"

"Okay." Jiraiya just responded with that, closing his notebook and putting it away. She tried to rush towards him to decrease the distance.

She did not want an explanation.

She wanted blood, and she was going to do whatever it took to get it. She halved the distance between them as she charged up another big attack, and she launched it at him at a much faster speed.

"How could you horrible excuses for humanity try and turn him into... into... I don't even know!"

"An emotionless tool, a shinobi, a ninja... a warrior." Jiraiya muttered to her as he got within range of her so that she could hear him speaking calmly.

"YOU TRIED TO WHAT!?"

"Not just Naruto, in our village, children are trained for war. We're taught that emotions are things that should be discarded in favor of the mission... but we're just human. Getting rid of emotions is almost impossible... even more so for that boy... he's a complete failure as an emotionless tool... isn't it great?" Jiraiya grinned as he talked about the failure of a tool that was Naruto. He side stepped Rias when she swung smaller, more dense forms of her power at him. She wasn't getting anywhere close to hitting him though.

Rias registered what he said, and how he said it.

Her rage increased.

"NOT JUST HIM!?" Rias was even more enraged when she heard that it was all of their children that they tried to do that to. Naruto wasn't the only child soldier, he was one of many. The fact that everyone was a child soldier, but only Naruto was hated by his peers, somehow enraged her even more. Naruto was maliciously singled out, and set aside as a sacrifice for the hatred of others. "Why him!? Why was he hated by his village, why was HE made to starve and suffer!?"

She ended each word of her sentence with an attempted murder, aiming for his vitals with every shot of her magic.

Jiraiya had to put some thought.

As much as she wanted him to shut up, she really did want the answers to the questions. She didn't try and actually stop him from talking, so some part of her was actually being rational at the moment. She was an intelligent girl, so that even in her rage fueled state, she was willing to adjust herself after hearing others.

"That boy is the Jinchuriki."

Rias stopped at a word she had never heard before.

"... Isn't he human?"

"Jinchuriki does not exist in this world... Jinchuriki means The Power of a Human Sacrifice... your anger for his sake is justified. Naruto was born with a great burden, and there was no choice but to force it on him. The power that once caused untold destruction was placed inside of him... and people hate what they fear... I don't agree with it." Jiraiya saw her eyes flicker between red and blue, showing a small waver in her anger.

They stayed red.

Her anger kept burning as she kept trying to kill him, the pause having given her a chance to catch her breath.

"There is no good reason!"

"I agree, here is no good reason to hate a person for crimes he didn't commit. When the power was inside his mother, it was kept a secret, but a slippery darkness named Danzo let the secret slip that Naruto contained the power that destroyed so many lives. Were it not for him, maybe Naruto would have been able to have more happiness... he had so little of it." Jiraiya danced around her attacks and explained only the important parts to her. It was not his place to give some teenage girl Naruto's entire life story. "... did you even ask Naruto about the happiness he experienced growing up?" Jiraiya's question gave Rias reason to pause.

"His... happiness? He was a child soldier?"

"Yes, but he wasn't the only one. Naruto's life was horrible, I won't deny it. His few moments of genuine happiness was when he ate ramen with the only teacher who didn't hate him, being served ramen by the only people who were willing to have a conversation with him... he was hated, but what was worse was he was ignored." Jiraiya saw Rias run out of magic, her next magical attack fizzled out in her hand.

She gripped her fist and ran at him.

Her took her fist to the chest, and she pulled it back to swing it at him again.

"He had power, he was special, he should have been treated well! He should have been adored as their savior for being the cage for a monster!" Rias pounded her fists against Jiraiya's body. He just stood there and took them.

"I agree."

"He shouldn't have grown up alone, and starving! People should have been there for him."

"I agree."

"Why weren't you there!?"

"I'm here now, because now I can be here. I could not be there for him then, but I'm here for him now. I had absolute faith that my own teacher would take good care of Naruto, and I was wrong to place faith in the people who were close to his parents... but most of all... I was not fit for raising a child." Jiraiya was punched in the eye. He rubbed his eye even as he took another fist to the stomach.

Rias was losing physical strength, he punches were starting to become sloppy. There were tears leaking out of her eyes, pouring out like rivers as her eyes became blue once more.

"... Why..."

Her words were losing power too, it was harder for her rage to stay the more he talked to her in a calm tone. She was losing enough energy that it was hard for her to maintain the energy to stay angry, but she kept trying to find more reasons to be angry.

"I mean, have you seen his smile?"

"It's beautiful... he shouldn't have had to..."

"I agree, his smile saves lives. I don't think even the villagers realized it, but for all their hate, but hating Naruto was their salvation. Knowing that they could look down and belittle him, instead of constantly living in fear that a monster could attack again. It honestly made them feel better knowing the power was locked away in him... and Naruto understands that. Naruto is more human than anyone else alive." Jiraiya explained with a wide smile.

"What?"

"Naruto doesn't just bond with people, he genuinely becomes a bright light in their lives. So many people have been saved him him. He's gone through so much pain, and he has become a person everyone can sympathize with... no matter what is wrong, people can look at Naruto as an example that things get better. Doesn't his smile just light up the room?" Jiraiya asked with a goofy grin spreading across his lips.

"It does... it really does..." Rias smiled to herself for a moment.

She imagined Naruto's smile, and her rage actually vanished.

She blinked.

"See?"

"... How does he smile like that?"

"Ask him yourself, he can put it into words better than anyone else. Anyway, he is going to need somebody like you to help him... his life is about to get worse." Jiraiya muttered at the end. Every day he got closer to telling Naruto the truth, and he knew that the truth was going to completely destroy the boy.

"I'm not going to let him suffer at your hands anymore!"

Jiraiya smiled at her words, and that might have been what got rid of her anger completely. Jiraiya took his notebook out, before he smiled to himself. He then have Rias another book on top of it.

"Please, read that book... it will help you understand him. Then, when I'm dead, give the book to Naruto."

"When you're dead?" Rias questioned.

Jiraiya smiled sadly, before he undid his clothes and showed the two deep wounds on his chest.

He was not long for life.

If he had just taken 1 of the wounds, he might have been able to survive, but the fact he had to take a second wound to save Yasaka's life had caused him internal damage that was slowly killing him. His heart had been injured, and his body had been flooded with chakra from the kyuubi. The wounds he got might have healed on the outside somewhat, but the truth was that he was nowhere near healed.

"I have at most a few months left to live before my wounds finish destroy my internal organs, so I'm happy to know I can leave Naruto in the hands of a good woman like you... please treat my brat right?" Jiraiya got down on his hands and knees, and he put his forehead to the ground. He made a genuine request of Rias.

Rias blinked.

She remembered punching Jiraiya in the chest several times, right where his wounds were. Yet he had taken her punches without so much as flinching, and he explained what she needed to know.

"... Why don't you just find somebody who can heal you?"

"These aren't wounds that can just be healed, the power that wounded me is like a poison. Small amounts can be survived... but I took two very powerful doses. So, I'm going to spend the rest of my time left doing what needs to be done to make sure Naruto can be happy here." Jiraiya started to stand back up.

Rias bite her lip.

Naruto took after this man so much it was insane, even the way this man wasn't afraid of death, and how he could smile that innocent smile like it was nothing. She could easily imagine Naruto knowing he was going to die, and still fight on to make sure somebody else was happy. This man was not just the cause for Naruto's pain, but he was also inspiration that helped Naruto to grow as a person.

"I'm... I apologize for attacking you."

'Don't apologize, I honestly do deserve it. My life has been nothing but a failure, but at the very least, I want to atone for everything by giving Naruto what he needs before my death.' Jiraiya thought, not saying it out loud as he covered up his wounds.

He didn't know how much time he had left.

He had to get his spy network set up, and he had to finish laying the groundwork for Naruto's future in this world.

"Why are you doing this for him, you're willing to die a slow, painful death without telling him?"

"You already understand the answer, it's the same reason you attacked me. So maybe you should ask yourself for the answer. See you later." Jiraiya casually walked off, leaving Rias alone to question herself on why she felt so much rage at Naruto's suffering.

She smiled to herself, putting a hand over her heart.

It was simple.

In such a short amount of time, his pure smiling face had become an important part of her heart. His smile lit up the room and made her happy, and the idea that his smile came from such a horrible background sent her through some much rage.

"... Because... I don't understand how he smiles."

That was where he rage came from.

She had never experienced anything like Naruto, so she couldn't properly sympathize with him about his sorrow. Instead of trying to understand his happiness, she just made the assumptions that he had never been happy, and it filled her with rage. She looked at the book in her hands, and the notebook underneath it.

"The Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Shinobi."

Chapter End!
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