They head east across the Land of Fire. Both kids were initially ecstatic to be leaving the Leaf for the first time in their lives. Menma contained his enthusiasm better than Naruto, who skipped down the path with a huge grin on her face for the first hour before she realized that there was nothing but forest for miles in all directions.
Jiraiya briefly considered stopping in Shukuba Town, but Iruka-sensei's warning was still too fresh in his mind. Bypassing the town requires taking a longer route, but keeping his testicles is worth it.
It took them five days to make it to Port City. He'd told both children to pack light. That forced them to hone their hunting skills and live off the land. Good mission training.
Of course, Naruto ingested poisonous mushrooms on the first day. Jiraiya taught Menma how to brew an antidote and thanked the gods for the Nine-tails and Uzumaki perseverance.
On the second day, Naruto skipped back to camp with three rabbits in tow. When Jiraiya asked her how she'd caught so many, she gave him a very vague description that essentially amounted to "set traps, caught food!" When he looked to Menma, the Uzumaki boy shrugged and said that Naruto had always been good at setting traps.
How that had never come up in the three months that Jiraiya had trained with them in the Leaf, he had no idea. He asked Naruto where she'd learned to set traps while she was stuffing her face with rabbit meat – Menma had cooked it – and she'd replied that she was already good at them before Iruka-sensei had "taken her under her wing." Air quotes were used to emphasize the point. The young Uzumaki seemed exceedingly proud of herself for it.
Jiraiya thought back to the mild-mannered academy sensei. Not so mild-mannered after all, if the very graphic threat against his manhood prior to their departure was anything to go by. She'd also taught a little hellion like Naruto how to set traps. It was almost masochistic, given that the poor chūnin had to herd a classroom full of brats in addition to this wildcard.
His eyes slid to the other twin, who was nodding along with Naruto's babbling while taking dainty bites of his rabbit skewer. Iruka-sensei had offhandedly mentioned that she taught Menma a few suiton basics back when Jiraiya initially started training the twins. The toad sage was fairly certain that went against academy rules, given the set curriculum that the instructors were meant to follow. Parents could teach their children anything they wanted, but the sensei were more limited. Perhaps it was a loophole because the twins are orphans?
Either way, it's clear that Iruka-sensei is more than she appears and very invested in these two genin. Mentally shrugging, Jiraiya took another overly large bite of his meal. Less work for him in the long run. He really would need to thank Iruka-sensei when they returned to the village.
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The Port City is just what it sounds like, a port city that sits on the Land of Fire's east coast. The multi-story buildings are concentrated near the waterfront, which is the center of activity. Buildings get smaller and less extravagant the further from the city center you get until they appear to fade into the endless forest that surrounds the city on three sides.
The city is close to the border with Hot Water Country and the Daimyō's Palace. That encourages traders from Hot Water to come and peddle their wares in Port, which is already a major center of trade. It's one of the busiest centers of exports and imports in the Land of Fire. All of this makes it an ideal place to gather information.
Jiraiya pays for an inn on the outskirts of town. He makes sure that it's as close to the surrounding woods as possible. Naruto whines about wanting to see the city while Menma stands silent beside her. Instead of arguing, Jiraiya tempts the genin with a new jutsu.
Naruto jumps on the opportunity and Jiraiya doesn't even bother to hide his smirk. Distraction tactic successful.
He takes them into the woods and demonstrates chakra adhesion by walking up the trunk of a tree and dangling upside down from one of the branches. He's only halfway through explaining the concept before Naruto is barreling toward another tree. The moment her foot makes contact, she's thrown backwards, leaving a sandal sized hole in the bark.
"That's what happens if you use too much chakra" Jiraiya explains, "this is an exercise in chakra control."
He jumps down from his perch, "I have a few errands to run. Work on tree climbing while I'm gone."
Naruto shouts something about lazy old geezers as he's walking away, but he doesn't stop or respond to the taunt. He'd gotten used to her cheek long ago. The worst he'd heard so far was Pervy Sage (yes, they capitalized it) and it was Menma that'd first called him that. Seriously, that kid was going to kill him. Or get him killed, if either of them called him that in front of their fine-looking academy sensei.
Jiraiya sighed and refocused on his goal, gathering information about the goings-on in the Land of Water.
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Jiraiya returned to collect the twins well after dark.
Information was always easier to pry from unsuspecting patrons in seedy bars after the workday was done. His contacts were also more active around that time. Less than savory characters, but they knew the ins and outs, so he made sure to keep in touch.
He'd also stopped to research for his latest book. There were a few bath houses in Port that he hadn't been to in a while. Less chance of recognition that way. He'd still been chased three blocks by a crowd of angry patrons thanks to one lady – with a particularly nice rack – who recognized him from the last time he'd been in town. Worth it for the research.
What he found was Menma talking Naruto through control, both their hands locked in the ram sign as they took careful steps up the trunk of an oak. They are half-way up and still climbing, though Naruto's face is scrunched in heavy concentration.
Just to be a jerk, Jiraiya calls out a loud greeting that startles the girl enough to lose her tentative focus. She falls twenty feet and lands in a bush. Uzumaki vitality and the healing abilities of the Nine Tails keep her from sustaining serious injury.
Menma still glares at him for the remainder of the evening.
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They travel through Port the next day. Naruto stares at everything with wide-eyed wonder and Menma does the same, though he's a lot more subtle about it.
Jiraiya pays a fisherman to give them a ride to Wave Country. The man raises an eyebrow but shrugs and pockets the money. Naruto looks ready to explode from excitement when he announces that they are going to cross the sea.
She spends the ride yammering in his ear about how cool this is, and where are we going Pervy Sage? Some super-secret-awesome training ground where you'll teach us how to be kick ass ninja?
"Well…you're kind of right" Jiraiya responds.
That starts a fresh round of pestering that persists as they disembark and make their way through the village that has cropped up on the opposite side of their destination.
It has been a few years since Jiraiya visited, but the ramshackle huts and falling-apart houses are a glaring contrast to the well-maintained homes he remembers. From the rumors that he'd heard, a new party has been muscling in on trade in Wave.
With Port so close, Wave isn't an important trade destination. Neither the Fire Daimyo nor the Hidden Leaf have any stock here, not since the fall of Whirlpool. They wouldn't be keeping an eye on this place and, therefore, wouldn't have caught wind of this new player. Rumor has it that the guy is just a run-of-the-mill seedy business type though. Less human conscious and brains than ambition, head almost too big to fit in the fake throne room that he's building for himself.
Jiraiya has no beef with him. Though the state of the town reminds him a little too much of the Village Hidden in the Rain as it was in the Third War.
Naruto and Menma are silent as they walk beside him. Given the state of their lodgings back in Leaf, this isn't entirely foreign territory for them. But the slums in a thriving village are different than the slums of a poverty-stricken island.
Jiraiya is grateful when they reach the edge of the village and disappear into the trees. They are thinner and younger than those that populate the forests of fire country, worn by strong sea breezes, tropical storms, tsunamis, and hurricanes. Small but sturdy.
They walk through the night and finally reach their destination in the early morning, emerging from the underbrush to a misty dawn settling over the ruins of the Village Hidden in Whirlpools.
Jiraiya remembers the devastation on his Sensei's face when news came of Whirlpool's destruction. How his always calm and collected sensei had put his head in his hands and shed tears for their sister village, the friends that he had lost there. In remembrance, the Uzumaki spiral was added to Leaf flak jackets, though few remember the significance of that now.
Jiraiya had received rudimentary sealing training from a few Uzumaki delegates as a genin. That was the extent of his interactions with them. But Sarutobi had known Mito Uzumaki, traveled to Whirlpool as part of her escort, and was thick as thieves with the third Uzukage. Seeing the destruction that Mist left behind makes him sympathize with his sensei.
"That spiral…" Menma says, pointing to a familiar red swirl on a half-destroyed wall.
"That's the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan" Jiraiya says.
"Like…like us? Uzumaki?" Naruto asks.
Jiraiya nods, "Exactly. These ruins, everything that you see here - used to be the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. The Uzumaki were the largest clan in Whirlpool, famous for their skill with sealing jutsu, longevity, and red hair."
Naruto runs her fingers through a blonde pigtail. "But our hair isn't red…"
Jiraiya doesn't answer, just soldiers forward. It takes a long moment for the scrape of two pairs of sandals to start after him.
If asked, Jiraiya wouldn't have a good answer for why he brought the twins here. His original intention had been to take them through Port and along the coast, circling down South and dipping into the Land of Tea for a tête-à-tête with some old contacts and a bit of research.
But then he'd remembered Wave Country and Kushina speaking fondly of the pure white sand, foaming waves, and idly running her fingertips over her pregnant belly.
"Even if Whirlpool is no longer standing, I would like my children to see it at least once. Leaf is my home, but Whirlpool is my blood."
Jiraiya hadn't spoken to her much, but Minato always said that Kushina never missed Whirlpool. She preferred the trees to the open air and sea breeze. She had no family there either, not that they had ever mentioned. But she had joked that Whirlpool had the best Ramen in the world and she would love for her children to taste it.
Now that he's standing here watching Kushina and Minato's children gaze at the ruins of their ancestral home, it feels like a very sad consolation prize.
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"Hey I found something!" Naruto calls.
Jiraiya turns a corner to find both kids huddled around what looks like part of a seal.
"It was under this stone!" she says, pointing at the chipped flagstone beside them.
Jiraiya takes a step forward, either to pull them away from the unfamiliar marking or take a closer look, he hadn't decided yet, when Menma placed a hand on it.
The seal flared a brilliant white and the ground rumbled, then fell away. Naruto shrieked, Jiraiya cursed, Menma may have said something too, but Jiraiya was too busy running through the summoning seals to pay attention. They hit bottom before he finished, and the sky disappeared as the hole closed.
Jiraiya laid on his back – only bruised and not broken – and groaned, long and low.
Why had he thought any of this was a good idea again?