Sealing Salientia - Chapter 33: Observations - Author: PenSmoke

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

Previously on Sealing Salientia: Even from the distance he was at, through his concussed state, he could hear the scream.

"IDIOT!"

Konoha
Wednesday, October 14th, Year 71

As Jiraiya picked himself up off the ground, he rubbed his arm gingerly. There were definitely several hairline fractures in his radius and ulna, the pain was already starting to radiate from the site. He supposed that he should have known that was a dumb question to ask, but he wasn't always the smartest person around.

He pulled several clumps of grass gently from his hair and stood up after removing most of the dirt on and around his face. After standing and wincing from the pain that shot through his leg when he attempted to stand on it, he decided that he should make a quick pitstop at the hospital before heading out for the day. Gathering his bearings, he slowly walked out of the grassy field in the direction of a healer who wasn't upset at him.

A slight limp to his gait made him slower than he would have liked, and the ringing in his ears was not helping any. He likely had a small concussion, but that was yet another reason to get moving to the hospital and get it healed up. His left leg also hurt, pain emanating from the ankle in a manner that told him it was likely twisted or strained.

A pair of feet landing in a whump behind him made him jolt around. However, the action of trying to twist around, even with ninja resiliency, made his facial muscles flinch with the pain he felt.

"I'm sorry." Tsunade gently said while holding out a green glowing hand. "I may have slightly overreacted."

The green energy made contact with his skin where the punch connected. Instantly, the arm began to feel better. He knew that she could heal nearly any injury within moments, so a few hairlines fractures in a bone was practically nothing for the medical shinobi. After holding her hand there for a couple of seconds, she looked back up at him.

"Anything else?" She spoke with genuine remorse in her voice.

Jiraiya pointed down at his ankle, and the glowing hand followed the direction. In short order, that pain also faded and he felt back to normal.

"I realized that I kinda destroyed your apartment with that punch. And I was possibly being a bit emotional." She pointed up at the gaping hole in the side of the apartment building where he lived. The entire area was blown outward, revealing both his kitchen and bedroom.

Jiraiya mentally agreed, but didn't want to say anything, in fear of the overly emotional woman lashing out again.

"So, uhm… I can pay for your apartment to be fixed. In the meanwhile, would you and Naruto like to stay with me at the Senju compound?"

Jiraiya thought about it for a moment, and decided to not tell the joke he wanted to about her using the destruction as an excuse to get her way, since she had practically demanded that Naruto come to the compound the previous night. Instead, he replied somewhat cautiously, "That is very generous, Tsunade. If we wouldn't impose, that is."

"No, no. I wrecked your house, it's the least I can do."

Jiraiya nodded, "Well, that's settled then. I'll drop by the Academy to let Naruto know. I'll bring him there after school lets out. In the meanwhile, I need to get working on my newest mission."

Tsunade smiled, and he wasn't sure if it was because she had ended up getting her way, or she was just happy that the embarrassing situation was over and done with. "I should get going to the hospital as well. I have a few students of my own to teach."

With a smile, she walked off, leaving Jiraiya with his own thoughts about what he needed to do. Thinking to himself, he mentally decided how to try and trace Danzo and this mysterious ROOT. While visiting the red-light district was one of his favorite methods of gathering information, he was fairly certain that wouldn't help in this case.

From Fugaku's information, the group was incredibly secretive, completely subverting Konoha's own will and creating sleeper agents amongst the population, as well as recruiting their own shinobi from within the normal forces. He didn't think for a second that someone as wily as Danzo would allow fools that ran their mouth at a brothel anywhere near sensitive information. So, this needed a different tack.

Thinking about the man, he realized that the best potential source of information would probably be Hiruzen or his old advisors. Since he wanted to stop by the Academy to ensure Naruto was there and tell him about new living arrangements anyway, he decided that a visit to Hiruzen was in order.

Heading off towards the Academy, he watched as several children ran and played ninja in the streets on their way to the same place he was going. They would dart through the shadows, throwing pebbles at and trying to tag each other. He smiled at the sight, enjoying the youthful innocence they showed. Occasionally, one of the kids would recognize him and point at him while whispering to his friends. Jiraiya smiled and waved when it happened, and laughed as one exceptionally brave kid threw one of his paper "shuriken" at him. Miming that it hit and pretending to be mortally wounded, he drew laughter from the children and few of the adults nearby too.

Continuing on his way after the silliness, he was followed by a gaggle of kids to the Academy. The chorus of groans when he ducked into the office was audible and it brought a raised eyebrow from the secretary. He sheepishly grinned while knocking on the headmaster's door. Upon hearing the 'Enter!' command from inside, he quickly opened and closed the door, careful not to let any of the little brats sneak in.

Once he had managed to enter the door, he saw his former sensei's face looking up at him with a bright smile. The man spoke while pushing aside a piece of paper that he had been writing on, clearing way for a fresh sheet in case notes needed to be taken. "Jiraiya! Nice to see you this morning. What can I do for you?"

"Good morning, sensei! I have a couple of things that I'd like to talk to you about. The first is rather straight-forward. Have you seen Naruto this morning?"

The headmaster was silent for a moment, likely trying to recall the events of the morning, before responding, "No, I don't believe that I have. Is anything the matter?"

Jiraiya shook his head dismissively. "Nothing too concerning. I just wanted to make sure that I got a hold of him before he tried heading back to the apartment. There's been a… change… in living situations." When the man raised his eyebrow curiously, Jiraiya explained further. "Tsunade may have created an unauthorized window in the apartment that spans every room."

The older man paused for a moment before letting out a bark of laughter. "You mean she punched you through the wall. What did you do this time?"

Jiraiya sighed, the release of breath seeming to deflate him. It was if everyone always assumed he was responsible when Tsunade did something to him. Though, to be fair, they weren't exactly wrong. He was almost legendary for sticking his foot in his mouth around her. "I swear, it wasn't worthy of getting punched out of a multi-story building."

"You know, you could just dodge. I know you're more than fast enough."

Jiraiya laughed slightly. "You realize that when she wants to hit you and you dodge, she just gets more upset at you right? But, if you let her connect? Either you're dead and don't have to worry about it, or she cools down afterwards and you don't have to worry about it. So long as I know it's coming, it isn't too hard to brace myself against it. It's happened enough, that's for sure." He rubbed his forearm where Tsunade had connected earlier. While the medic had healed the bones and bleeding, there was still phantom soreness.

Hiruzen laughed as well. "I suppose you have a point. With the way she treats men, I think that only someone of Sannin or Kage level would ever be able to handle her."

Jiraiya's eyes dimmed at that, though he tried not to let the emotion take over. Tsunade's prior relationship wasn't something that he wanted to deal with right now, nor was tackling his own complex feelings for the woman. So, to avoid the topic, he changed to the other question he had. "Moving on, I'd like to ask you something else. May I?" He indicated his sealing matrix and gestured towards the walls.

Proceeding with the privacy seal after receiving the approval, he created the barrier around them to block eavesdroppers. Once he was certain it was up and functional, he resumed talking. "Fugaku gave me a mission today. It's technically top-secret, but I know you are already aware of the situation. He wants me to dig up intelligence on ROOT and Danzo. Many of my most popular techniques won't work for this particular mission, so I need to do some groundwork first. Can you tell me what you know?"

Hiruzen's face dropped at the mention of the crippled warhawk. "I can tell you that he hides out somewhere close enough that he can make it back to the Hokage tower within a few minutes. We were never able to uncover where he disappeared to though. I often would assign an ANBU to tail him, and he'd always just disappear inside a random building, never seeming to go through the same entrance twice. It always seemed that he knew when someone was tailing him, though I have no idea how. I would suspect he has an underground network connected to various tunnels that lead to a bunch of buildings within Konoha."

Hiruzen got up and paced around the floor of the office, continuing to talk. "I assume that Fugaku wants you to find the hideout and potential members?"

"As well as any other potential information on weaknesses, accomplices or assets that they have, yes."

"Then you need to either find some way to track Danzo himself, or identify a member of ROOT. Both of which I failed at multiple times over the years I was aware of it. While I ordered him to disband it, we both know it still runs in the shadows."

Jiraiya chimed in, "I have several tracking seals. We could potentially tag Danzo with one?"

"Unlikely. The man is incredibly distrustful and rarely makes physical contact with anyone or anything that he doesn't trust. Which is practically nothing. And, since he used to be a very high-level shinobi, he can dodge away from many things with ease. I don't doubt your abilities, but making incidental contact with Danzo to look like an accident is going to be exceptionally hard."

"How about the ROOT agents? How do you even know about them?"

"When I was Hokage, I'd occasionally get reports of Leaf shinobi in areas where I knew there weren't missions. Or letters from clients that thanked us for the job we had done, when I knew that I had rejected it. Or sometimes new mission requests for a continuation of a mission that we never accepted. Minato noticed the same thing. It happened too often and from too many varied locations to just be either coincidence or a rogue shinobi. But try as I did, I was never able to find who may have been involved."

Hiruzen plopped back into the seat behind the desk. "I know that we had gone through all mission records and gate records of ninja coming in or out of town, to try and match who had been out during those timeframes. But, even those who stood out as potential ROOT agents, were interrogated to be clean. They never said anything, never broke, and I couldn't risk completely destroying our ninja forces morale by executing a potentially innocent member, based on purely suspicions."

Jiraiya looked back at him. "That must have been difficult then. To know that there were traitors in your midst, but unable to find them."

The headmaster reached for a drawer, pulled out a long pipe and started stuffing it with tobacco. "It was. I suspected several things of them, but was never able to find any evidence. I'm sure you remember my letter explaining the Hyuuga massacre?"

The toad sage nodded, that had been quite the news.

"I always suspected that the Branch house would either completely dominate the Main house, or the opposite would happen. The Main family would use that horrible seal and kill everyone. The fact that every person in the compound that night died always struck me as unusual. There is usually at least one survivor of any large battle. But for everyone to perish outside of two people that were away that night, struck me as so unusual, I had no other thought but ROOT. I could never confirm it though."

"Why do you think they hide so well?"

"Because Danzo is both incredibly smart and incredibly cruel. My guess is that he won't tolerate even the thought of someone not loyal to him, and he would have zero qualms about executing a member of ROOT as an example. He also knows the village inside and out. Which allows him to hide in plain sight."

"Any ideas on how to track them down?"

"While I don't think that tagging Danzo with a tracking seal will work, if anyone can pull it off, it's probably you. If I was tasked with it, I'd probably…" Hiruzen thought for a moment. Jiraiya stared at the man while he was deep in thought, and watched as a realization came over his face. "I've got it! I can't believe I never thought of it earlier!" The exclamation was loud and sudden, making Jiraiya excited for a moment.

As Hiruzen stood up, Jiraiya followed suit. They exited the office, the Sarutobi in the lead. On their way out, the headmaster called out to this secretary. "Mebuki, I'll be back in a little while. I have to take care of something important."

They strode out of the Academy at a fast pace, not quite running, but fast enough to create a slight pushing of wind around them. Taking a couple of turns, Jiraiya noted they were heading towards the compound. He asked jokingly, "Did you forget something at home, sensei?"

"Something like that." Hiruzen picked up the pace even more.

Arriving at the Sarutobi compound a few minutes later, they entered the main house. Hiruzen immediately went to his large desk, and started digging through the drawers.

"Oh, come on, I know it's in here somewhere." Scrolls were being pulled out of the desk, quickly inspected and then tossed aside into a pile. As the pile grew, Hiruzen appeared more and more frustrated. But, since Jiraiya had no idea what he was looking for and there was no explanation yet forthcoming, the toad sage just stood in silence.

Finally, the appropriate scroll was found, and the jubilant cry come forth. "There you are!" Hiruzen unraveled the storage scroll and dispensed the contents onto his desk. A large lumpy, but mostly round, shape covered in heavy burlap cloth sat there. The clan head quickly unwrapped it, revealing a large crystal ball resting on a soft purple pillow.

"This was a gift from a friend recently. I had completed some favors for them, and they said they didn't have anything to pay me for them, but instead had this old family relic. I told them it wasn't necessary, but they insisted. After receiving it, I was astonished at seeing what it was, and insisted they took it back, as it was much too valuable to be given away for something so simple. But they were adamant that I keep it."

Hiruzen closed his eyes in concentration for a few seconds, then formed a few handsigns and cast his hands out over the sphere, whispering "Telescopic Observation Technique". Immediately the image Danzo popped into the crystal ball, walking along the streets of Konoha. The view was somewhat hazy, and only included the man himself and the surrounding area, perhaps a couple of feet in any direction. It was a view from an angle above Danzo's head, looking down on him from above.

Jiraiya's eyes popped open in shock. This was an amazing technique! It was absolutely perfect for spying! Why didn't he know about this before?

Hiruzen had opened his eyes, but seemed to remain in concentration, face set on the mirrored image within the ball. He apparently could sense the question in Jiraiya's mind. As he spoke, the figure flickered in the orb before stabilizing again a moment later. "This technique only works with an appropriate receptacle, which is what this orb works as. You also have to maintain concentration of the figure that you are attempting to monitor. I haven't had much opportunity to use it, as I only just received the orb a short while ago."

Seconds passed as they watched Danzo meander down the street of the market district, seemingly ignoring everything. After about a minute of watching, Jiraiya and Hiruzen watched as their target turned around. He seemed to stare directly at them for a moment, making them both inhale sharply before the image wavered and disappeared.

Hiruzen huffed out a breath. "I think that was me losing concentration. I wasn't expecting him to turn and stare at me like that."

Jiriaya mused aloud. "With this you could watch him at any time, and if you knew the person you suspected of being a ROOT agent you could watch them constantly as well." The gears turned in his head. "Would you mind if I borrowed this for my assignment?"

Sarutobi's serious face turned into a frown. "I'm sorry Jiraiya, but I don't think your apartment is a safe or secure enough place, especially if Tsunade just destroyed half of the walls."

With that, the toad sage waved dismissively. "Well, that won't be an issue then. Tsunade invited Naruto and I to stay at the Senju compound for now, until my apartment is fixed. That place is plenty secure, and I can always add some extra seals."

When his sensei's face turned from slightly shocked to a secretive smile, Jiraiya braced for what was about to come out.

"Oh-ho. Moving in with her already? Are you finally trying to get her to succumb to your charms? You know, building your propinquity with a person is the fastest way to their heart." Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile turned slightly lecherous. "Or are you just trying to get more inspiration?"

Jiraiya tried to look offended, but the truth was that he had often written his Icha Icha heroines based off Tsunade in more ways than one. "Why, I'm appalled that you would think that the gallant sage Jiraiya would do such a thing!"

Hiruzen waved nonchalantly. "Uh-huh. And when is the next Icha Icha coming out?" Jiraiya had always provided a first-edition signed copy to his sensei after printing, and so the man had often asked when the next was coming out.

"When I finish writing it, of course. You can't rush great literature!"

"Well, if you get me an advance copy, I'll let you borrow the crystal ball for now. Provided, of course, that you ensure its' safety. Here are the handseals to activate the technique." With the quick demonstration, Jiraiya mentally copied the handseals and tested it on the ball himself.

A quick application of chakra later and the image of Naruto sitting in his classroom, chatting animatedly with other students, popped into view. The white-haired boy seemed to be slightly dirty, but at least Jiraiya could now track him down before the end of the school day. The image flickered out as the toad sage released the technique. He wrote the sealing matrix on the scroll again, wrapped up the crystal ball and purple holding pillow back into the burlap covering, and sealed it all away.

With that settled, they meandered their way back to the Academy. Hiruzen occasionally teased him about Tsunade, and he tried his best to keep the conversation light-hearted, not allowing the more negative aspects of what he had learned to leak through.

They approached the Academy, entered and parted ways at the headmaster's office. Hiruzen entered the office area while Jiraiya continued forward towards the classroom. A few steps later, and the Sannin noticed a very familiar black head of hair atop a lady in a wheelchair. He had heard of Mikoto's condition during the debriefing with Fugaku, and would have recognized his former student even if that weren't the case.

Mikoto was wheeling down the corridor, having just exited from a side hallway, facing away from him. Jiraiya did his best stealth walk and quickly closed the distance. He approached from the right side, knowing that she was right-handed, and it'd be harder for her to react from that direction. Once within a couple feet, he reached out a long arm to her left shoulder and went for a tap.

To his surprise, a split-second before he made contact, he was bonked between the eyes by a chalkboard eraser that had seemingly emanated from nowhere. He looked away from the targeted shoulder to see Mikoto staring mirthfully at him.

"Hello, sensei. It is nice to see you again. Did Naruto invite you to show us a chakra demonstration? I asked him yesterday to talk to you about it." Mikoto asked in her usual polite, but formal, manner.

Jiraiya straightened back up, pretending that he hadn't been about to try and prank his former student, nor been caught in the act. "Did you now? No, he didn't. I was just here to talk to him before class quickly. But, if a demonstration is needed, then the gallant Jiraiya has no choice but to accept!"

Mikoto giggled slightly. Her laugh was always melodious, a delight to listen to. Fugaku was a lucky man, indeed. She replied a moment later with, "If you would follow me, please?" As they started moving, she spoke again. "You have something, right there," motioning to between the eyebrows. Jiraiya reached up and wiping away some white powder, left behind from the eraser bouncing off his forehead.

One walked and one wheeled down the hallway until they entered the classroom, with him holding the door open for her. Upon entry, the class immediately quieted down from the rather loud raucous noise that they heard when the door first opened. A clear call of "Hey Pops!" was heard from Naruto, to which Jiraiya responded with a smile and a wave.

"Class, Jiraiya here has agreed to the chakra demonstration that we talked about yesterday." Turning to him, she motioned him forward. "Your Naruto said that there was another type of chakra beyond the 5 elemental and Yin/Yang. Nature chakra is what he called it. Would you care to elaborate?"

Jiraiya was slightly surprised that this was what he was being asked to demonstrate. But, processing the thought while stepping towards the center of the classroom, he supposed it made sense. He hadn't really ever shown off Sage Mode in front of many people. He had used it in front of his teammates and his sensei and Minato. But never Teuchi or Mikoto, nor most other people. He quickly deduced that it probably wasn't taught at the Academy due to a combination of it being so dangerous and that most people hadn't ever even heard of it.

Reaching the middle of the semi-circle, he looked up into the expectant eyes of the kids gathered there, noting Naruto's slightly self-satisfied smirk. He decided to start with some caution and talk first about the dangers of it. Besides, it did help to be still while you gathered the energy. He had only just started to be able to gather it while on the move.

"Hello everyone! My name is Jiraiya of the Sannin. It is nice to meet you all. I'd like to start by saying that, under absolutely no circumstances are you to try and do what you see here today. It is incredibly dangerous to learn, and it only takes a couple of seconds to be permanently and irreversibly turned into stone."

A cry erupted from the back row, as Naruto burst forth. "See! I told you!"

"Naruto!" An eraser came flying from where Mikoto was, whacking him in the head. "Sit down and be respectful, please."

Naruto sat back down to some giggles from his classmates, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, Miss Mikoto."

Jiraiya held back a chuckle himself. It seemed Milkoto had taken that proficiency with thrown weapons from shinobi to teacher. He released the nature chakra that he had gathered and let it flow through him. When he opened his eyes again, he whirled around, dunking his fingers into the warpaint jar he had in his sealing supply pouch, smearing an additional line under his eye, this one with a ninety degree bend an inch down and shooting off towards his ears.

The areas around his eyes had darkened to a red as well, creating a visibly striking look. His long white mane of hair grew noticeably longer with the addition of the new energy. Unlike what his imperfect sage mode looked like, he did not gain any new warts or wrinkles, and his nose didn't turn bulbous as it once had. Instead, his skin completely smoothed out, making him look quite a bit younger, removing all the wrinkles and the wart on his nose that he normally had.

His sensory abilities shot out tremendously as well, and he could pick out each chakra signature in the room, as well as pick out nearly everyone in the building. As his peripheral area expanded, he began noticing several odd things. First was the amount of chakra in this room. There was way more than he was expecting. He knew his own signature was kage level. Mikoto was mid-jonin level in chakra, and Naruto in pure chakra was jonin level already, if not higher, due to the Kyuubi.

But the amounts of several other people were very surprising. There was a dark-haired boy that looked like an Uchiha with what he would call high chunin, possibly low jonin levels. Three other boys already had mid-chunin level chakra reserves as well. Judging from the appearances, they were clan heirs. It was slightly amusing because they look exactly like miniature versions of what had to be their fathers, Shibi Aburame, Shikaku Nara and Chouza Akimichi. There were several others that had genin level already as well, likely those that had been clan trained at home. The amount of potential in this room was staggering.

Additionally, his senses noticed several odd things about several of the people in the room. He wasn't surprised to feel Naruto's seal glowing brightly with energy, but he was surprised by several others that he saw. There was a completely unassuming boy with long black hair who had multiple seals on him. He was just sitting in a corner, half paying attention and half drawing a picture. There was also a myriad of seals on Mikoto and her wheelchair that competed for attention as well. Finally, there was a huge sealing matrix that spanned the entirety of the room, connecting together with lots of little pieces of paper strung throughout. And looking further out, it stretched into every room of the building, and even beyond. That was definitely something that was going to warrant further study outside of this moment.

Re-focusing, he noticed that most of the students were staring directly at him, some already impressed by the change, others dismissive of the changes that had taken place. He needed to continue the demonstration, not get distracted by everything around him.

"Everything in the world contains some level of chakra. Usually, this chakra is completely separate and inert. However, it is present in all things, which means that there is practically an unlimited supply of it. Going through training under a sage creature, you learn to be sensitive to nature chakra. With more advanced instruction, you are able to manipulate it and use it for your own abilities."

Jiraiya bounced in preparation of what he was about to do. "This is what the toads and the other summoning creatures call 'Sage Mode'. It increases physical strength and durability, stamina, speed and reflexes." He turned around to face the chalkboard. "It especially increases perception, as you are tied to every single object around you by manipulating their chakra."

"This last is possibly the best part of this ability, as it allows the user to perceive incoming threats even without seeing them. For my demonstration, I'll invite everyone here to try and hit me with any thrown object."

Jiraiya heard Naruto sigh, and he had to hold back a laugh. Back when he had freshly discovered this ability, he had Naruto throwing things at him endlessly just to play with it. He had felt like a little kid showing off to Ma and Pa, and it had exasperated the boy greatly.

He could also hear a couple dozen rustling sounds as the kids grabbed various objects within reach. Within a couple of second, pencils and erasers were being thrown at as fast a speed as the kids could manage. Which, compared to his own reflexes, was pathetically slow. He bent his head to the side to dodge a pencil thrown like a dart, twisted his hips to rotate sideways to dodge a notebook and a shoe, and then ducked to avoid an elastic.

Two whistling sounds entered his perception and he raised his hands for them. Even facing away, he plucked the two dulled kunai from the air a couple of inches from his head. Whipping around, he launched them into the desks of their origin points.

"I think you misplaced those ones boys." Jiraiya said with a laugh.

Naruto and the Uchiha boy looked at the kunai implanted in the wood of their desks, then at each other. They shared a smirk and then a laugh. Mikoto gave a slight glare to the raven and snow-haired boys, but said nothing.

A couple of cries of "So cool!" and "That was awesome!" rang out, and the class mostly turned into gushing about the minor display. These kids were so impressionable. He spent the next half hour showing them various things about senjutsu, all the while ensuring that he maintained how dangerous it was to try and learn, and to never attempt it on their own.

After finally bidding goodbye to the kids gathered around him, and giving Naruto a noogie on his way out, he departed the classroom. Keeping the sage mode active for a short while longer, he went up to the design he had noticed throughout the building to inspect it.

His eyes quickly bulging out of his head, he sprinted to Hiruzen's office. Knocking the door open without even bothering to knock, he wasn't surprised to see his sensei quickly putting away the instantly palmed kunai. He called out, "You need to come with me. Now." He left no room for argument in his voice, and was glad to see that his former sensei didn't ask questions. Hiruzen immediately jumped to his feet and followed the running sage down the hall.

Jiraiya took his own knife from his weapons pouch and started carefully digging in the wall before speaking in a hushed whisper. "I believe I can assume that you don't have a security seal running through the entire school, correct?"

Hiruzen looked on in confusion, but nodded his affirmation.

Jiraiya had been hoping that Hiruzen would have allayed his panic by saying that there was indeed supposed to be something there, but no such luck occurred. Using his advanced sense, he carefully stayed away from certain portions of the wall, carving a small rectangular shape in the wall with an untouched vertical stripe in the middle. Once he reached the inside of the wall, his worst fears were revealed.

There, attached to the inside of the wall, and connected via seal matrices to multiple other points, was an exploding tag, primed to detonate.

AN: Not much to say here. Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcome!