Ch. 4: Academy days, part 1
Jiraiya was not successful in his second attempt to meet with Naruto. Fortunately, that was a good thing.
It was about 5 months after their first official interaction, Jiraiya was running across the rooftops at a leisurely pace towards the Ichiraku stand. He was about a block away from the stand when a voice to his left spoke up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you"
Jiraiya stopped and turned to see a man in standard Jounin attire with wild silver hair sitting on the roof's edge. His one exposed eye was focused on a copy of Jiraiya's latest icha icha book.
"Oh and what exactly shouldn't I be doing Kakashi?" he crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow at the scarecrow.
"I think you know," Kakashi lifted his eye to glance at the sannin before returning to the book, turning a page as he did. "Besides I don't think ramen is a good choice for someone your age, too many carbs, ya know."
'What is it with people and insulting my age, I'm not that old' thought Jiraiya
"I don't have the slightest clue as to what you may be referring to." was the toad sage's response "now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go have a meal loaded with carbs because i'm young enough to not worry about that."
Kakashi quickly stood, book gone "Jiraiya I'm serious, if you go see him now you're going to get caught" the scarecrow kept his voice even, but Jiraiya could detect the honest worry in Kakashi's statement.
"I don't care Kakashi, Hiruzen already knows, at this point I don't care what he does to me" Jiraiya said with finality as he began to walk away.
"Jiraiya wait! What if, hypothetically, the Hokage doesn't know you saw him that night"
The sannin stopped short, turning to face the scarecrow "Kakashi?"
The shinobi seemed to struggle in forming his next words "what if, again this is completely hypothetical, what if the anbu that was in charge of watching Naruto that night maybe-kinda-sorta, possibly, ever so slightly, uhhhh… fudged his report… a little."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the guilty looking nin in front of him, before they widened in sudden realization.
"You didn't." Jiraiya said, slightly unbelieving.
"Hypothetically." was Kakashi's response, looking off to the side.
"Holy shit you did, Kakashi you-" the sannin made a straggled noise before he lowered his voice to a whisper "you lied on an official anbu report to the Hokage."
"...Hypothetically."
"Do you realize how much trouble you're in if he finds out, you can get stripped of your rank, imprisoned, have your chakra sealed off!" he whisper-shouted.
"I know that but-" the 20 year old shinobi huffed. "Just because I can't be there for Minato's son doesn't mean I'm going to prevent other people from supporting him."
Jiraiya's expression softened and he let out a long breath "look kid, I appreciate the save but I don't want you risking your life and career." Jiraiya reasoned.
"Thanks for the concern but that's not your call to make, It's my life, my risk to take."
"Kakashi…" the Sanin took a second to formulate his next words "look at it this way, Hiruzen is going to find out at some point and when that happens i'd rather have you clear of the fallout."
"You don't know that, if we're careful Hokage-sama will never find out."
"There is no 'we' Kakashi, just me, my decisions, and my consequences."
"Jiraiya it's not that simple, the reports in the books already, if you go down I'm fucked too."
"No you're not, it's just one report no one will notice unless you start making a pattern. You can still bow out, you should bow out."
"That's not your call." Kakashi took a step closer "Jiraiya I can help you, I've already helped you, why are you being so stubborn about this?"
Jiraiya took a step closer "Because Kakashi, if you go down with me there won't be anyone else to make sure Naruto will be ok."
Another step "Do you think Hiruzen will be able to take Naruto under his wing while juggling his Hokage duties? Do you think that one of the clans would be willing to adopt him as a ward?"
Another step "Maybe Tsunade will come back and just decide to whisk him away with her, oh oh or maybe some Uzumaki will come out of the woodwork and give him all the family he needs, or better yet Maybe Danzo will jump on the opportunity to finally get the power of the fucking Kyuubi under his thumb and reduce naruto into one of his emotionless tools."
Another step, they were practically nose to nose "Is that what you want Kakashi?"
The younger nin didn't back down.
"Except you're forgetting one thing Jiraiya, that's only If we get caught, which will never happen." he took a frustrated breath, "I'm the top Anbu operative in the entire village and you're a sannin and a master spy. I'm sure we can figure out a method to keep everything under the radar."
The two men stared each other down, neither willing to budge. Jiraiya was silent for a minute, before he finally let out an exasperated sigh and spoke up after a moment.
"Fine, you win." The snow haired man sat down on the floor and Kakashi joined him "so what are you thinking? you obviously have a plan in mind."
Kakashi nodded "I'm on the regular guard rotation for Naruto's watch, I'm thinking that we use my ninken and your toads to communicate when it's safe for you to engage."
"You make it sound like a mission."
"I see it as a mission."
"Fair enough" Jiraiya said with a chuckle "Well it's not a terrible plan, If a little simple in theory."
"Simplicity allows for adaptability." Kakashi stated sagely
Jiraiya quirked a smile at those words "Minato used to say that."
"Yeah, he did."
The two slipped into a comfortable silence each entertaining their own thoughts.
Suddenly Jiraiya broke the silence to ask "well now what am I gonna do today?" to the open air.
At some point Jiraiya had to drop off the info he gathered at the hokage's office, but that wouldn't take long. Ever since that last meeting their interactions have gone from super chummy conversations to 'everything you need to know is in the report, bye.'
He didn't have any interest in walking around the village, there was nothing new to see. He entertained the thought of going out into the woods so he could relax and hit the taima, but with the events of the last few minutes he really didn't feel like it. There was always the ol'reliable: go and gather some research.
"Well" Kakashi spoke up, interrupting Jiraiya's train of thought "would you be up for a spar?"
Jiraiya gave the ninja a questioning look "Umm, sure I guess, can I ask why?"
"Well it's just that I don't really get to spar with people above my level so I just wondered if you could maybe help me by giving me an opponent like that to work against. Or maybe it's to give me something to work towards? Don't get me wrong Gai is a great rival but we're about the same level so-"
At this point Kakashi was just rambling nonsense to the sanin, who was currently massaging his temples. It suddenly occurred to Jiraiya that the cyclops in front of him was still only 20 years old, just recently grown into his prime and still not quite adept at the whole 'adulting' thing. Which led to Jiraiya considering his relationship with the copycat.
On paper they seemed really close, Jiraiya's student became Kakashi's master, which in shinobi culture meant Kakashi could be considered his pseudo-grandson. But even outside of the "Ninja lineage" they were cousins. Jiraiya didn't know the exact terminology but his grandmother and Kakashi's great-grandmother were sisters.
Despite this he never really interacted with the boy all that much. He and Kakashi's father were close in the academy but didn't talk much after graduation, spending time with their own teammates more often than not.
Jiraiya didn't even know Sakumo had died until way after the funeral, at the time he was outside the village for a sabbatical in the Uzushio ruins.
He considered taking the younger Hatake under his wing when he finally heard the news, but Minato already beat him to the punch. So he left the whole situation alone for the time being. But it seems like now is the time to change that.
Jiraiya prided himself on being able to see the person first and the ninja second in a shinobi. And now that he was finally giving Kakashi a good look, he saw a man who lost his father a 5, his teammates at 12 and 13, and his mentor at 15.
A man who spent the last five years of his life aimlessly going through the motions with little to no defined purpose.
A man laiden with emotional trauma and struggling to find a meaningful connection with anyone or anything.
A man who was attempting to make a new connection the only way he really knew how.
A man who was still babbling at him like a nervous schoolboy.
"Ok ok, you can stop now, I'll spar with you, Jeez" Jiraiya didn't want to be too nice, he still had a reputation to uphold.
"Ok cool" Kakashi gave him that weird eye smile, Jiraiya didn't know why but it just gave him the heebee jeebees out whenever Kakashi did that.
"Alright then, which training ground should we go demolish"
Kakashi shrugged and made a 'mhhmhh' sound.
"Ok how about field 13 over in the western sector" Jiraiya suggested
"I don't see why not. wait isn't that the one by the hot springs?"
"Yeah that's the one, oh don't give me that look you're one of my best customers"
"I'm just an enjoyer of titillating works of literature, there's nothing wrong with that."
"You read porn in public"
"Yes I do but who supplies me with that porn hmm? I'm just an innocent victim enticed into addiction at a young age, you can't hold me accountable you pervert"
The sanin took the high road in this exchange, and slapped the scarecrow in the back of the head "oh shutthefuck up Hatake."
He then leapt off the roof towards the training ground.
"I bet Minato-sensei didn't have to take abuse like this" Kakashi muttered to himself before following after the sage.
Jiraiya would win the spar, obviously he was a sannin. super-genius or not Kakashi was still only an upper A-rank ninja in the grand scheme of things. But the Jounin wasn't upset, in fact he seemed oddly gleeful at the loss. When they both sat down to point out flaws in each other's technique Kakashi took the criticism gratefully.
They did work out a system to make sure Jiraiya only approached his godson when under Kakashi's watch. It was basically Kakashi's original plan but a little more detailed. The Jounin would make a perimeter with his nin-ken wherever naruto went and before entering the village jiraiya would send in a toad, usually Kosuke.
One of the dogs, Pakkun more often than not, would catch the scent and give the toad the all clear who would then give it to Jiraiya. If Kosuke found no ninken then Jiraiya avoided Naruto's usual spots.
Anyone not in the loop would assume Kakashi was being extra careful with the mission itself, Naruto was still the container of the beast after all. Meanwhile the few in the know about Naruto's heritage would assume agent Inu was just being extra careful with the safety of his sensei's legacy. It worked rather well, for a time.
Luckily the plan worked perfectly for Jiraiya's third attempt. Naruto was at Ichiraku, go figure.
He could already hear the blond's voice from a few stands down, the kid had some lungs on him that's for sure. Jiraiya stepped into the stand with a finger in his ear.
"Jeez kid, think you could talk a little louder, I don't think Suna got the message." The sage said with good-natured sarcasm.
The blond boy turned and jumped out of his chair to give the white haired man a tackle hug.
"Jiji-raiya! You're actually here" he shouted.
"Naruto, shhhhhh" the sage put a finger to his mouth. "I'm a super-secret special ninja remember, I'm trying to be as covert as possible."
He delivered the statement playfully but internally Jiraiya was in a slight panic. He glanced at an adjacent roof where he saw a hand dart out with an OK hand sign before quickly darting back. He let out a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile the Uzumaki boy dramatically threw his hands to his mouth before whispering "Sorry Jiji-raiya, I'll be more quiet so you stay cobert"
The sage just ruffled the blonds hair "ahhh, it's ok kid, just try to use your inside voice ok."
Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically and the two sat down.
"So what were you yelling about anyway?"
The blond let out a long groan before saying "It's Hokage-jiji, I keep asking him about my parents and he just won't tell me who they are."
Jiraiya shifted in his seat uncomfortably. If he was being honest he hoped this conversation wouldn't come up at this point. Not until Naruto made Genin at a minimum and he could take the boy as his official apprentice, also as far away from the village as possible. That way he would at least be able to tell Naruto the truth. But here and now? His godson wasn't ready nor able to keep such a thing secret.
"Well kid that does suck, but I'm sure he has a good reason for it."
"What reason could he possibly have?"
The sannin let out a long breath "well he's the Hokage, even if he doesn't tell you why you have to assume he has your best interest at heart."
"I guess but it still sucks." the boy said dejectedly.
Jiraiya seemed to debate something within him before asking "has he told you anything about them?"
"Yeah, he told me they were Anbu who died in the Kyuubi attack and that's why he can't tell me who they are until I'm at least a chunin, whatever that means."
"Chunin is a middle ranked ninja, why don't you know that? you should know that by now."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly "I uhhh, might have skipped that class."
Jiraiya gave his unknowing godson a disapproving look.
"What? They're sooooo boring, why can't they just teach us cool jutsu and stuff like that."
"They will, eventually" Jiraiya said, "but you have to get through all the boring stuff first or you won't be allowed to learn the really cool stuff."
Naruto looked like someone just told him to lick dirt off the road.
Jiraiya spoke up again "let me give you a piece of advice, they gave you the scrolls and textbooks for this semester right?"
Naruto nodded.
"Back when I was in the academy I found everything a lot more engaging when I read it on my own, not when I learned it in class." Jiraiya told the blond.
This wasn't exactly true, Jiraiya only got into that habit after he graduated since Hiruzen refused to teach him anything "cool" until he had a solid grasp of everything the academy tried to teach. But it turned out that once he actually broke open those scrolls the information inside was a lot more interesting than how the instructors portrayed in their meandering lectures. The only reason he decided to specialize in Fuinjutsu is because of a small scroll on their Uzumaki allies that was written at the time of the village founding. Hopefully it will be similar with Naruto.
Who had just slammed his face into the counter in protest. "Ugh books, that's even worse than Iruka's lectures."
"Oh really? When was the last time you opened one up?"
Naruto looked away with red colored cheeks.
"That's what I thought. Trust me kid you'll be surprised, those scrolls are actually way more interesting than your teachers make it out to be."
Naruto just looked down and mumbled something unintelligible.
Jiraiya said "come on it's not that bad, you know some kids never get the chance to read the stuff you get in school"
Naruto gave him a sharp, seething look before returning his gaze to the floor. The Sannin narrowed his eyes in thought before it hit him. He mentally slapped himself. Orphaned boy, little to no adult guidance, thrown into the school system with no preparation. Of course the boy is struggling to read the material. Jiraiya you stupid bastard.
The white haired man let out a breath and began digging around his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out some bills and placed them down on the counter.
"Naruto, If you need any help I'm right here."
The boy shot him another bitter look before saying "I don't need anyone's help"
"Alright I can respect that, but I want to make sure you have everything you need to succeed"
Naruto looked back at the old Sennin and seemed to have a conversation with himself. Jiraiya was about to say something but Naruto's next words stopped him dead.
"Did you know my parents?"
Jiraiya looked at his godson and steeled his resolve. Naruto, like any orphan, wanted something, anything he could connect back to his parents. But that just wasn't safe for Naruto, he couldn't know anything about them, anything at all. But even one hint at their true identities could lead to a domino effect where he actually discovers the truth. Naruto had to be trained, ready and able to defend himself from the worst the shinobi world could throw at him. He just wasn't ready, Jiraiya had to say no.
"Yes, I knew them"
god damn-it.
Yeah, i'm not dead and neither is this story. Sorry its been awhile I just couldn't get this chapter to work right in my head. my original plan was to post this massive 10,000+ word chapter that got all of the academy out of the way. But I kept running into hiccups and kept changing my mind about the order and a whole bunch of other stuff. So I figured I should just post what I'm happy with for now and get back to it from there. Oh and Heir ch. 2 will be out soon for those of you who read my other story. And I have another story releasing soon, 'The Other Seal' so keep an eye out for that one. See you later.