Sealing Salientia - Chapter 18: Goodbyes - Author: PenSmoke

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

Previously on Sealing Salientia:
Ma spoke up after a moment of silence had passed. "It's settled then, in a couple of days, Naruto-chan will come and stay with us until Jiraiya-chan gets done with his work. Then they'll both stay and train together until Jiraiya-chan finishes his sage mode."

Iron Country
December, Year 68

While Jiraiya was sad to see his newest protégé go, he knew that Naruto was in the safest and most capable webbed hands that could be found. Ma and Pa were sitting on the ground next to the two of them while the three oldest were working out all the details.

"You'll check in once a month, Jiraiya-chan." Ma held up one webbed finger to illustrate the start of the list.

Jiraiya tiredly replied, "Yes, Ma." They had discussed all of this information multiple times by now and he was getting tired of repeating it over and over again. He wondered why they considered the great sage toad senile if they couldn't even remember their own sentences.

Another finger rose. "And you'll provide information on each check-in."

"Yes, Ma." Jiraiya held back the temptation to roll his eyes.

A third joined the first two. "And you'll make sure to provide some human food."

"Yes, Ma."

"And you'll…"

Jiraiya impatiently interrupted, "Yes, yes, yes Ma. We've been over this already." After the outburst, he looked down to see an amused Pa and a displeased Ma.

"Now now, Jiraiya-chan. Is that some backtalk I'm hearing from you?" Ma replied, a slight scowl present on her webbed face.

Pa spoke up for the first time in several minutes, having been content to let Ma handle the arrangements so far. "Well, if that's how he behaves, that just means extra work during Sage training to control that attitude." A smirk appeared on his face.

It was Jiraiya's turn to scowl, as he sent the fierce look at the male toad sat by his feet. Jiraiya knew what that meant. More training by moving the statues while being sprayed with water. He had been through enough of that for one lifetime already. "Fine, fine. Go ahead Ma."

She raised the appendage and lifted one finger again. "As I was saying. You'll check in once a month, Jiraiya-chan."

Jiraiya even more tiredly replied, "Yes, Ma."

Naruto giggled in the background.

An hour later, having repeated the same information at least sixteen times, Naruto finally gave a farewell hug to Jiraiya. "See ya in a year Pops." The boy buried himself into the older man's chest. When Naruto mumbled something that couldn't be discerned through the hug, Jiraiya asked if he could repeat it. Naruto asked again, "One last thing before you go. Could I have your sealing notebook to study?"

While Jiraiya would normally be reluctant to hand over his notebook to anyone for any length of time in fear of it being stolen, there was zero chance of that happening at Mount Myoboku. His bigger concern would be it getting ruined. He only had the one copy and it held invaluable secrets.

He looked at Naruto, who was giving him the biggest and saddest puppy dog eyes that he could imagine. If it wasn't for that he hadn't taught Naruto any illusionary techniques and that he knew the blonde's control over such a skill would not be able to fool him, he would swear he was being put under a genjutsu.

Giving it a moment's thought, he pulled it out with only minimal hesitation. While it did hold tons of his personal notes that would be hard to replace, he was the one who had written it so everything in there should be in his own mind. Besides, it would give the boy a chance to learn and he could start a new notebook, perhaps coming up with new ideas. "You take care of it and not get it ruined? Not anywhere near water, either. And you only write out a seal if Ma or Pa is watching. Promise?"

Naruto feverishly shook his head up and down, quickly snatching the book from the outstretched hand. He immediately opened it to peruse the contents.

As a last second thought, Jiraiya dug through his pack for a different book. "Naruto, here, have this one too." He handed over his personal copy of 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja' to the boy, who took it with a curious look. "It's my first ever novel and your parents loved it so much, that they named you after the main character." The boy loved to read, so perhaps the tale could help him discover the true meaning of being a shinobi while he was gone. It also helped Jiraiya feel like a part of him would be there to remind Naruto of his father figure.

Naruto attempted to wedge the second book in his pack, which was stuffed to the brim with various supplies, mostly food. The boy had been rather disgusted by the bug entrée that had been served to the toads two nights before. He had spent at least two hours quizzing Jiraiya about what was going to be served for meals while he was in the toad summoning realm. There had been plenty of conversations about eating various foods and the boy had specifically asked if he could pack up his own food to eat. Jiraiya had obliged, knowing what the kid could put away for food and that no amount of bulging backpack could contain enough food to feed the blonde for a whole month. Naruto had certainly tried though; the zippers were practically at the bursting point and every pocket was utilized to maximum potential. Failing to push the book into the cramped space, he decided to just hold on to both as the reverse summoning occurred and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya let the tear that he had been holding back slide down his cheek. He had spent more than 3 years saddled with the child and he was going to miss the boy. They had bonded over the timespan, as any two traveling companions would. The boy was practically his own son by this point. While he had trained Minato and become a father-like figure to the Yellow Flash, he wasn't around for the formative years. Minato had his own family and his own world outside of Jiraiya. Naruto didn't. The differences in how it made the white-haired man feel were stark.

Jiraiya would have killed someone for hurting his former student. Though he hadn't really had to really about that after the boy had come into his own anyway. But now, Jiraiya found that he wouldn't kill someone who hurt his current student. No, he found himself thinking very dark thoughts about what he'd do to someone who hurt his boy. And that was another thing. Minato had been his student. Always just his student, even in the later years when the kid had become Hokage.

Naruto was his boy. His kid. He found himself mentally referring to them as such all the time. He wondered what it took as far as official paperwork to have Naruto legally become his son. Jiraiya had had a lot of disciples and students over the years, reaching all the way back to those orphans he had taught in the Land of Rain years back, but none had grown on him like Naruto had.

While the toad summoner was packing the rest of his stuff up, he made a mental note to go back and check on Nagato and Konan one of these days. But for now, it was off to the Land of Lightning and checking out what the Village Hidden in the Clouds was up to.

The spymaster dropped his disguise after having met with his last contact. He had traveled hundreds of miles over the span of six months, across most of Lightning Country trying to track down the most recent rumor. The word on the street was that Kumo had done what they had been trying to do for years and finally captured a Hyuuga.

Jiraiya had been avoiding going into the ninja village itself, as that was much more difficult than wondering through the small villages scattered through the mountainous terrain. But, it seemed that in order to track down and verify this, he may have no other choice. He had no other contacts in this country that he hadn't met with and it took far too much time to cultivate a new contact until they were capable or able to release such sensitive information.

He had sent off a messenger toad back to Konoha weeks ago with the news of what he had been tracking down and the returning letter that bore the Hokage's seal instructed him to find out whether it was true no matter the cost. In that letter had learned that the Hyuuga clan had been demolished following the disappearance of the eldest daughter shortly after a Kumo delegate had been to town. There were only two known survivors, the wife of the clan head and her nephew. Returning any other Hyuuga blood to Konoha was imperative. If Kumo was allowed to cultivate a Hyuuga clan of their own and Konoha's was decimated, that would give a huge strategic gain to the Cloud village.

The problem was that the civilians he had as contacts didn't know much. They knew of basic shinobi movements and could tell when something major was happening. But for smaller movements, he had to piece together information from multiple sources to see exactly what was happening. And there just wasn't enough information out there.

He had an idea. It was stupid. And daring. And dumb. And idiotic. But it'd likely work and that's what mattered. He grabbed a piece of parchment and started to scrawl out a request to his Hokage.

'5th Hokage of Konoha, Fugaku Uchiha

I am formally requesting a mission to enter Kumogakure as an envoy to enhance our current peace and perhaps pursue an alliance. I would like to receive a mission statement back including such as a signed mission statement. If you could also send a messenger ahead of me to ensure that the Raikage is aware of an incoming shinobi ambassador.

The other reason and the true purpose of this arrangement, is to dig for information on the missing Hyuuga heir. If I can manage to spend six months inside the village, I believe that I could create some repartee with various people within the village and cultivate a new spy contact of a higher clearance level. This should allow for discovery of the truth behind the rumors that I was able to share with you recently.

Regards,

Jiraiya,

Shinobi of Konohagakure'

Rolling up the scroll, he performed the summoning technique to hand the parchment to a messenger toad, who had a special linkage to be able to appear at the Third Hokage's residence in Konoha, who would be able to deliver it to the Fifth. He dismissed the summon to do his duty. He quickly scrawled a summoning matrix so that the toad would be able to return to him and sat back to wait. While waiting, he practiced his sealwork and thought of his student.

Since Naruto had left, Jiraiya had started heavy duty getting back into fighting shape. It made sense, as he was deep in enemy territory and he was going to need to be back in top form to proceed with the resumption of his sage training. His speed with activated the tattooed matrices of handseal patterns had increased to the point where it was muscle memory for the primary set. He had also tattooed a secondary set in case of damage to the first, on his leg instead of his opposing arm. It also made for a more discreet ability to use sneaky abilities while sitting down or in a relaxed and open position. He could have one hand distracting the target out in plain sight and the other seemingly hanging limply by his side, subtly triggering the skills.

He had thought of another idea too during the time between Naruto's departure and now. He had been working on them while trying to channel the chakra and made the discovery that one-handed seals were just a modification of the two-handed seals he had been used to using. They changed how the chakra flowed, but otherwise had no special effect. He had created a different set of seal matrices that had replicated how several one-handed seals shaped the energy and tattooed those into his array as well. This had opened up whole new worlds of techniques to learn. He had always failed at his students famed Flying Thunder God skill, never quite getting the balance right in the sealing. He felt now though that he was closer than ever before, just needed to modify a couple of seals to replicate that behavior too. One day soon, he thought.

His hand-to-hand combat was a little sloppy due to not having a sparring partner and not really fighting in years, but he felt that his new-found skills should offset that weakness. He felt that his abilities with the illusionary and ninja techniques were higher than they had ever been.

A subtle poof next to him alerted him to the arrival of his messenger toad on the return seal pattern next to him. He thanked the toad with a pat on the head and took the scroll case and handed him a message for Naruto that he had written a few days ago. The toad returned back to the summon realm to deliver the sage's second message of the day.

Popping open the scroll case, he noted three things. There were two letters addressed to him and a sealed scroll from the Hokage's office. The letters were from each of the Hokage, the former Third and the current Fifth. He read Sarutobi's first.

'Dear Jiraiya,

I hope that everything has gone well. Some things have happened here that I don't believe have reached you yet during your travels and I feel you should know.

First, Fugaku and I have reached an understanding. His power play that ended up in such disaster for your arm was the result of a long-term plan to help increase stability in the village. While his means were not the best, he did do what he felt was best for the village as a whole, as the unrest in the Uchiha clan had been demonstrably growing for quite some time. We have had many long talks and reconciled our differences over the past years. As far as I am aware, he still doesn't know of your involvement, or that the boy is with you. If you harbor any ill-will against him, I do not blame you. But, I would recommend trying to reconcile with him separately in the future, rather than hold a grudge indefinitely.

Second, I was appointed as Headmaster of the Academy shortly after you left and we have made incredible progress on improving our shinobi. Our graduation rates are higher than they have been in years and our mission success rates for genin have reached near perfect for the first time in history. There have also been near zero casualties from genin missions due to the increased training. I would highly recommend getting Naruto back in town as your own child for Academy training, if the Kyuubi's chakra is contained. The starting age is now six and graduation is now twelve, which gives plenty of time for kids to be kids and individual training to happen.

Third, in case you need a better reason to come back, both of your former teammates are now back in town. Orochimaru never left, of course, but to everyone's surprise, Tsunade returned! She came back claiming that she needed to bring Dan's niece back here to bond with others, but I feel that she grew tired of running from her demons. I immediately offered her a teaching position within the school system to teach potential ninjas medical techniques. She was hesitant to accept, but she eventually conceded. She's now a regular at the Academy and has dozens of talented young students. And as far as Orochimaru, he got promoted to be the head of a new division on research and has seemed to be on a better path now than he was. We both know how he seemed to be proceeding down into darkness years ago, consuming by hatred and rage. While there is still a bit of malice in him, I think he's benefitted from the promotion and being able to pursue his scientific research in the light. If you came back, we could have the return of the Sannin, which would be amazing for Konoha.

Lastly, I need to know if you could dig into something. [25;ABC] !"&( J%-G CA#"*)-G? G";;% K"%-:E%+ :=;"%-:E%*"&%)-.C&'"F%+ A-C%+ %-?AF (%&% D?&%-C-H%-C-:E%!"H ;:%" &+% D%-" =%-G&:%)?F H%-:%-G-;?-*#" )%;*-DAF%"-*%-G:%!JC ED%?++ %-:E%"% E%-C '%!-C(&DD&'%&=FFJ:%-:E% E";%. ?% E J%)-"%;

I hope to see you again soon,

Hiruzen Sarutobi.'

The part of the message that was in code slightly disturbed him. Considering that his sensei had given the message to a toad messenger, knowing that it was near impossible to intercept, he must have written it in fear of being spied on personally while writing the message. That certainly unsettled the spymaster. He'd crack the code later and see what the big deal was, but it could wait a minute. Unrolling the message from Fugaku, he read on.

'Jiraiya, Shinobi of Konohagakure.

The mission as requested has been approved, with the following caveats.

1: You will report in via messenger at least once a week.

2: Your point of contact will be Hiruzen Sarutobi.

3: You are not authorized to engage in any shinobi activity outside of training approved and monitored by Kumogakure, unless in defense of self with no opportunity to retreat. Any incident of self-defense must be immediately reported to both Kumogakure and Konohagakure.

4: Any requests from Kumogakure regarding any trade or re-negotiation of the deal must be approved by myself first.

5: You are to return to Konohagakure after a time period of six months.

Otherwise, proceed as you see fit. You will see a mission scroll attached with this message to present to Kumogakure.

Signed,

Fugaku Uchiha, Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure.'

Stuck to the corner of the official letter, there was a small note separately attached with a piece of tape. It read:

'Secondary mission to obtain information on missing Hyuuga approved. Report expected at end of primary mission. Burn this note once received.'

He left the third scroll from the delivery alone, as he didn't want to tamper with the seal. While he was relatively certain he could undo it without issue, he didn't feel any need to. If Hiruzen was trusting of Fugaku, then he would put his anger towards the man who severed his arm to rest for now.

A flick of his fingers and a burst of flame later, the tiny note met an incendiary end as flames licked at the paper hungrily. Setting off for Kumogakure, mission scroll in hand, he readied to discover what he could from the town. The information discovered could reignite the flames of war, or encourage an alliance of two of the strongest countries in the world.

AN: It's been just about a month since I started this story. My goal when I started was to write 100,000 words in a month. I'm almost there with a few days left to go. Should be able to pump out one more chapter and hit the goal!

I'd like to make this story at least 250,000 words total, which was my original goal. I have lots left in my brain to get out, including at least 5 story arcs that should span 50k words each minimum, so we'll keep going and see where we end up. I did some quick research and found that there are 18 stories on this site currently with 1,000,000+ words. No idea if I'll make it that high, but I certainly see it as a possibility. Wish me luck!

I've replied to every review I've received, so if you have something you'd like to suggest or a tip to help me write better, please send one in! I guarantee that I'll read it and get back to you so long as I'm updating this story. Thanks!

Lastly, I think the website's formatting messed up the cipher. Apologies for those who tried to crack it only to end up with a partial code.