Chapter 20
Recuperation & Goodbyes
Two Days Later
Land of Lightning
Bofu Territory
Mountain Inn
Naruto was enjoying his stay in a warm inn with a bed and a fire keeping the room nice and temperate for his recovery, the Chimera Jutsu's after-effects to wear off, the Ranton Chakra was not fully absorbed yet but it was actually going smoother than with the Hyoton Chakra he took so it seemed that his Body and Chakra Coils were actively adjusting to the influx of foreign DNA and Chakra.
The room was a decent size with a nice large Futon to sleep on not even mentioning the fire pit which was currently lit. Naruto was currently sitting at the small table that was of to the side.
Samui had visited him a few times over the 2 days mostly to check up on him but sometimes she would talk about just what was going on with the Yotsuki and Bofu Clan alliance, apparently, it was being finalised today and then they would be leaving tomorrow, Naruto hoped she would have some spare time to come and say goodbye.
She couldn't come with him due to her Seal but that didn't mean he couldn't come back for her later after he learned how to break her seal.
"I'm still so sore." He complained as he sat in plain blue kimono.
"Maybe a dip in the hot springs." He mused and stood up, his legs were still feeling a bit weak but after two days of bed rest along with taking the medicine, Samui managed to get her hands on he was recovering well now.
Naruto left his room and began the short walk to the hot springs, he knew that the hot springs were small and that they weren't unisex so Males and Females had different bathing times though Naruto did not know the schedule there was no harm in checking which sign was up.
"Hehehehehehe, this is great!" A voice whispered loudly from the bushes next to the open-air koi pond that he was walking past.
'What is that?' Naruto thought as he tried to identify where the voice was coming from.
"Yeah baby, stretch your arms right above your head." The voice was male and very deep and very very perverted.
Naruto looked around a bit more and found a white-haired man crouching just behind the bush with a telescope in his hands held up to his eye. Naruto realised right away what was going on, the Hot springs for this Inn were lower than where the Inn itself was built as such the Hot Spring had extremely high walls and was also quite the distance away from the main compound.
The open-air garden where Naruto now had a view at the hot springs but the high walls paired with the distance made it so you could really only see the outlines of people in the distance and that was also not including the steam which further obscured the people down there.
"Hehehehehheheheheh." He continued giggling creepily.
"Hey!" Naruto said standing behind him but he was ignored.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Naruto demanded as he stood behind him watching the man's shoulders bounce up and down as he followed whatever woman he was staring at.
"Perv...!" Naruto went to shout the word but the white-haired man moved faster than Naruto could shout and clamped a hand over his mouth, Naruto would have fought but his Chakra Coils were still recovering and his body still ached so right now he was near enough at his weakest.
"Quiet! Kid! Do you wanna spoil the fun." The man said to him as if he wasn't just peeking on women in the hot springs.
"MMMMH RGHG MAMNMN!" Naruto grumbled very loudly and very angrily but the hand muffled most of the curses at the man.
"Calm down kid." He said flippantly as he took his hand of Naruto's mouth.
"What the Hell old man!" Naruto complained as he wiped his mouth and turned and glared at him.
"Huh!" He seemed surprised by Naruto's appearance as his black eye's widened in shock.
Naruto also got a good look at the man and felt he made a mistake, he was tall, broad and well built his waist-length spiky white hair was tied back and he also had redlines going from the bottom of his eyes to the bottom of his face not even mentioning the headband that was emblazoned with 'Oil' he was dressed brightly in red and green not even mentioning the huge scroll he had hanging from his back.
Everything about him screamed Ninja.
"What's your name kid?" He asked curiously.
"Naruto." He answered still glaring at the man.
"What's yours?" He asked.
"Me! I am Mt. Myoboku's Holy Master Sennin also known as the Toad Sage Jiraiya!" He replied loudly while also doing a pose straight out of the theatre.
"Sage?" Naruto said confused looking the man over again.
'Yep! Nothing Sage-like about him.' Naruto thought.
"More like an Ero-Sennin!" Naruto accused pointing at the man.
"Ero-Sennin!?" Jiraiya was of course offended by such a deep cutting (true) Accusation.
"Listen Naruto! I am not just a Pervert, I am a Super Pervert!" He announced proudly as he held his hands up imagining them grabbing something.
"Urgh." Naruto groaned in disgust.
"Whatever I'm going back to sleep." Naruto muttered as he went to walk past him.
"Hey wait! You a Ninja kid?" Jiraiya asked him before he could walk off.
"No." Naruto lied right away as he backed up, he knew Jiraiya was a Ninja just by seeing him but he hoped his Chakra was properly suppressed by his own Seal.
"I can tell kid, I've been a Ninja for decades." Jiraiya coaxed and tried to appear nonthreatening.
"So what!" Naruto got defensive now as he took a step back and took a more defensive posture.
"Whose Clan are you a part of?" Jiraiya asked him curiously.
"I don't have a Clan." Naruto answered as he watched the man.
"So who trained you then? Most Ninjas are taught by their Clan and only a desperate Clan trains outsiders." Jiraiya said.
"An Old Man who had nothing but his Jutsu to pass on." Naruto answered which was technically correct but not the whole story.
"I see, and you're from here travelling around?" Jiraiya continued his questions.
"Why all the questions!?" Naruto was sick of answering questions now.
"Kid your a Ninja in one of the more hostile countries in the world, I'm just trying to look after you." Jiraiya backed off a little sensing that he had gone too far.
"I don't need looking after, I've gotten along just fine." Naruto said and now he was done with the conversation.
"Okay, just be careful the world is a dangerous place and there's always someone stronger than you out there." Jiraiya offered some parting advice to the boy who was walking away.
"I know that better than anyone else." Naruto muttered and Jiraiya heard it due to his enhanced sense of hearing.
"Hm." Jiraiya hummed and crossed his arms watching as the boy disappeared back into the Inn.
Jiraiya took out a scroll and with quick, precise movements jotted a coded message on the scroll then he bit his thumb enough for it to bleed.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." He slammed a hand on the floor and a toad appeared from a puff of smoke.
"Take this to Minato." He requested as he offered the now rolled up scroll to the toad.
The Toad opened its mouth wide and allowed Jiraiya to place the scroll in its mouth which it then swallowed and nodded at Jiraiya before disappearing in another puff of smoke.
'I really hope that's not who I think it is.' Jiraiya thought with a worried glint in his eyes.
Jiraiya stood there for a few moments longer before deciding to get back to what he came here to do, spy on the Bofu and Yotsuki and even more importantly get 'research' for his new novel.
Later
Ever since meeting that white-haired Ninja Jiraiya Naruto had been on edge, he had been checking his corners and trying to sense any Chakra that was approaching him.
He knew instinctively that Jiraiya was powerful though the man obviously acted like a perverted idiot, he was built like a house and had a massive amount of Chakra on top of that.
After getting some food Naruto decided to spend his time meditating in his room and continue the assimilation progress, it was even more difficult than the Hyoton because of one simple reason, he was wounded and not in perfect condition when he used the Chimera Jutsu.
'Note to self never use the Chimera Jutsu when injured, makes the assimilation process harder.' Naruto thought to himself as he concentrated on the dark grey thunderous Chakra that was currently resisting being absorbed by his own cold light blue Chakra, the Hyoton Chakra at this point was completely his own and had doubled his Chakra Capacity and Naruto knew that when he fully absorbed the Ranton his Capacity would increase even more.
Nagato had the most Chakra of anyone that Naruto knew with that Jiraiya coming in second and then A the third which said something about just how powerful Nagato was in comparison to some of the Ninja Naruto had met in his travels.
"Hooooooo." Naruto let out a deep breath as he concentrated inwardly, he was sat cross-legged in the middle of the room completely alone.
Ranton Chakra was very different to Hyoton, Hyoton was rigid and hard but it could be moulded into shape it was actually very much like clay but Ranton was different it was fluid and soft but very hard to control or guide, Naruto had a weak Suiton affinity beforehand and that was what it reminded him of the most though there was a certain wildness to the Chakra that must have come from the Raiton element present within.
What Naruto was essentially trying to do was shape electrified water with his bare hands, which of course in reality was probably impossible but in regards to it being Chakra within his body? It was an annoying and sometimes painful exercise in patience and control two things Naruto was not good at.
But it was absolutely needed since if he just let the Ranton Chakra run wild then it would rip apart his Chakra Pathways and ruin the Coils as well, this was the biggest danger of using the Chimera Jutsu in that it could just absolutely destroy the users from the inside out.
Naruto continued on trying to guide/force the Ranton Chakra into his Charka Coils where it could be easily absorbed and brought under his control, though the Chimera Jutsu adjusted his body to accept more Kekkei Genkai it did not mean that it was a perfect process, after all before Naruto used it it had only truly been used once by Hiruko who also had very weak Chakra not even mentioning his own constitution which was frail completely unlike most Uzumaki.
Naruto was still confused about how someone like Hiruko was born into the Clan but the man himself said he was born an Albino in a marriage between second cousins which was not unusual in Ninja Clans but most were usually large enough that marrying second cousins didn't produce many birth defects but in smaller Clans that chance rose a lot but it was accepted and seen as necessary in order to keep breed the strongest Ninja generation after generation.
It took some time but eventually, Naruto began to gain more control over the unruly Chakra and it began to get absorbed into his own at a slow but steady rate which was a big relief for the young boy.
"Finally!" He exclaimed and fell backwards laying down on the floor with a small grin on his face.
"I can't wait to get out of here." He mumbled as he brought a hand up to stifle a yawn, despite not moving for so long it was still a tiring process.
'I should be healthy enough to travel by tomorrow and then I have to leave Samui.' He thought sadly.
He had already decided that the next place he would go would be the Land of Earth, there was an abundance of Kekkei Genkai in that country as well, almost as much as the Land of Water if Hiruko's information was correct.
'If only I paid better attention when Arashi was teaching me about Fuinjutsu!' Naruto thought reflecting back on his past as a bad student.
'Can't do anything now though, all I can hope for is stumbling across a Fuinjutsu Master.' Naruto finished his thoughts on the situation he found himself in.
The Next Day
Samui had gained enough trust from both A and Kaizen to be dispatched on her own without any escort due to her efforts in the battle as well as the subsequent mop-up operation which was just rat hunting the demoralised Kinkaku and Ginkaku survivors, A was still recovering from his wounds as such they would stay at the Bofu Compound until he was healed enough to travel.
She had been visiting Naruto on and off throughout his recovery period and she was shocked at how fast he seemed to heal, it was like his body went into a strange trance where it concentrated solely on healing the damage to his body when she had asked Naruto about it he said it was the result of a Jutsu he used before he passed out from his wounds.
'Whatever Medical Ninjutsu that was, it has to be very powerful to increase his recovery like that.' She thought as she jumped over rocks as she made a straight run to the Inn where Naruto was staying.
She was unable to visit yesterday due to having pulled guard duty as such she was stationed outside of A's room while he was resting or being treated by the Medic-Ninja who was part of his personal guard.
But today she was assigned as a scout, it was more a formality as everyone knew there would be no more attempts to attack the Bofu but even so a token patrol was seen as needed as a way to project power.
"There it is." She said aloud as the Inn came in her viewing distance.
Samui did not bother with the front entrance and instead went right to Naruto's room, she could feel his Chakra residing there and it even felt like his Chakra had increased since she last felt it.
She dropped from the roof into the open-air garden and walked to his room, the Inn was sparsely populated and Samui had gotten him a room much further away from any other guests so Naruto could have his privacy while he recovered.
She reached his room quickly and knocked gently on the wooden door. "Naruto?" She called in the room letting him know it was her.
"Come in," Naruto called back.
Samui opened the door and walked into fins Naruto was fully dressed in his fixed attire, it looked like someone had stitched up all the cuts in his clothes. She also saw that he had that wooden medicine box it was shut at the moment but it was out on the floor ready to be picked up.
"I can't believe you still have that." She commented looking at the box.
"It's really useful as a cover for travelling." Naruto said as he fixed his jacket and turned to face her with a sad smile on his face.
"Hey Samui." He greeted still smiling sadly at her, which made her own hurt twitch in pain.
She knew that this had been coming ever since she placed him in this Inn to recover, he had come here for the Bofu Clan's Jutsu and he had gotten them so there was no reason for Naruto to remain in the Land of Lightning anymore.
"So it's time then?" She asked the question but she already knew the answer to it.
"Yeah, it is." Naruto answered anyway but he looked just as sad as she felt.
Samui had always prided herself on her calm, cold and detached demeanour it was a mechanism to defend herself from the Yotsuki who took her from her home. She had seen with her own eyes what happened to the female Slave Ninja and so Samui made it look like nothing they did to her hurt her or affected her, and for the most part, it worked many would lose interest once they realised they would not get a reaction out of her.
But Naruto was different he didn't come from the Land of Lightning and he hated what he saw, most people in the Land of Lightning accepted the reality of Slave Ninja, most civilians pitied them, actual Ninja looked down at them as did Samurai and other Slave Ninja just didn't care far too concentrated on their own misery or advancement if they were skilled.
"It was always going to happen, it is the life of a wandering Ninja." Samui rationalised in an attempt to make herself and Naruto feel better.
"If I was better at Fuinjutsu then you could be coming with me." Naruto says and Samui realises why he is so withdrawn, it's from the guilt of not breaking the Seal that was placed upon her almost 7 years ago when she was taken from her village.
"Naruto you are not at fault for that, if anything you've given me hope for a better future." Samui said as she moved forward and grabbed his hand.
"What!" He seemed taken aback by her sudden burst of emotion.
"The only future I thought I had was either dying on the battlefield or becoming a breeding sow for the Yotsuki but now I have a chance at escaping and that is more than I ever could have hoped for." Samui told him sincerely as her blue eyes looked deeply into his.
"Oh." He said quietly and his cheeks got more flushed at the close contact between them.
"I promise I'll come back and you know.." Naruto began to speak again but Samui cut him off.
"You never go back on your word because it's your Ninja Way." She finished the sentence for him.
"Exactly." He said with a smile.
Samui let go of his hands and took a step back from Naruto.
"Don't take too long." She said to him with a smile.
"I won't, don't you worry I'll be back before you know it with kickass Jutsu as well." He boasted thumping his chest.
There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other but then Naruto nodded and turned around, picked up his medicine box and strapped it to his back.
"I'll be back Samui." He did not even say goodbye before using the Shunshin Jutsu and disappearing in a puff of smoke like a dream fading from reality.
"I know you." She whispered to the empty room.
Samui stayed there for a few minutes longer than after giving the room a once over, she left and did not look back, there was no tears in her eyes after all Ninja were not suppose to cry.
Their goodbye was not as private as they wanted it however as directly across from Naruto's room Jiraiya was sat on a chair watching them through his telescope.
He was too far away to hear whatever they were saying but he knew what young love was when he saw it and that was a rather emotional goodbye.
"Wow! He's a little charmer isn't he." Jiraiya told the toad that was sitting next to him.
The toad did not reply instead it opened its mouth and a scroll popped out which Jiraiya took and opened it to read the message within.
The message within was straightforward.
Follow Him
Find Out His Mother's Name
And If He Really Is My Son
Jiraiya read it with a raised eyebrow but then he shrugged, he was sent here to check the situation between the Yotsuki and Bofu but if he wanted Jiraiya to follow his maybe son then Jiraiya would.
Minato had become a different man since he heard about Uzumaki Kushina's death and no longer received information about his son with her.
This Naruto had the same name and looked just like Minato so Jiraiya was 90% sure the boy was Minato's son but in a world like theirs it could very well be a trap and Naruto could still be with his family in the Land of Whirlpools safe and away from the conflict on the continent.
"He definitely has the same way with women like his Father." Jiraiya giggled and stood up and went to follow the kid.
The result of this chance meeting would very soon spiral into events no one could have predicted.
AN:
Here is the big 20 hope you all enjoyed it, I'm loving writing this story.
I'm also going to keep the Poll open until Sunday and then shut it down, I haven't looked at the results at all because I want it to be a surprise so that is something to look forward to.
I bet none of you expected Jiraiya here but he is my favourite Naruto character and I really couldn't wait to bring him in it also makes the parting between Samui and Naruto more tragic since Jiraiya could easily break the seal on her.
Translations:
Ero-Sennin=Pervert/Pervy Sage
Kuchiyose No Jutsu=Summoning Technique
Ranton=Storm Release
Hyoton=Ice Release