Chapter 22
Hitch In The Plan
The Next Day
Land Of Frost
Naruto's Cabin
Naruto and Jiraiya had a long talk afterwards, it was mainly Jiraiya asking Naruto questions about his life and Naruto asking Jiraiya questions about his Father Minato. It was a rather long conversation as the morning passed quickly and lasted well into the early evening and Naruto barely even realised he had lost a day of training.
But one thing that Naruto was very careful about was his true reason for leaving the Land of Whirlpools and he did not even think about the Chimera Jutsu while talking with Jiraiya, he would not let information about him having 2 Kekkei Genkai get out, as much as he liked Jiraiya he did not trust the man.
"That's quite a story Naruto! Fighting a Kaguya in the Land of Water then somehow stumbling into a conflict between the largest and strongest Clans in the Land of Lightning not to mention getting a cute girl as well." Jiraiya summarised everything and even winked at Naruto at the end of the sentence.
"She's not my girl." Naruto mumbled with a bright red blush on his cheeks.
"Sure, whatever you say." Jiraiya said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a dumb grin.
"So onto the most important question: Why are you out here in the Land of Frost so far away from your home?" Jiraiya asked the question he wanted the answer to the most.
Naruto was quiet for a while after Jiraiya asked that question he mulled the question over in his head, Jiraiya was patient as he waited for Naruto to answer.
'It must be something serious if he's so reluctant to tell me.' Jiraiya thought watching the blonde boy.
"I was always different from everyone else, and I'm not just talking about the blonde hair. I was never very good with Fuinjutsu and Arashi-Sensei always said I was lacking in what made a true Uzumaki and everything got worse after Mom died." Naruto started speaking and Jiraiya was committing every word to memory.
"I didn't want to go on missions and die like that, so I decided that I wanted to see the world with my own eyes without being sent to kill people and without a Clan symbol putting a target on my back." Naruto said which was not the truth but it also wasn't exactly a lie, it was just that his two motives mingled together, the first being completing Hiruko's Chimera Jutsu and the second to travel without being held down in one place.
"I see, so you wanted to see the world without bias and without expectation." Jiraiya said as he pondered over Naruto's words, they were not what he expected from a 13-year-old boy who had remained on the same island all his life.
"Where were you heading before you stopped here to train?" Jiraiya asked him.
'I think I'll have to warm him up a bit more before asking about the Ranton, I know Minato and Kushina don't have any Kekkei Genkai.' Jiraiya thought at the same time.
"The Land of Earth, I wanted to do a loop of the major countries and visit the smaller ones in between." Naruto answered truthfully there was no harm in letting Jiraiya know about that.
"I see." It was a dangerous idea especially with how unstable some countries could be and how hostile the Ninja Clans and the locals could be to foreigners.
POOF!
A puff of smoke attracted both of their attention as by Jiraiya's feet a small blue-skinned toad appeared and it opened its mouth unnaturally large and a scroll popped out shocking Naruto.
"What the!" He scrambled backwards at seeing it.
"Just a Messenger Toad." Jiraiya reassured as he took the scroll from the Toad's mouth, after he did so the Toad nodded at Jiraiya and then disappeared in another puff of smoke.
Jiraiya opened the scroll and read the contents while Naruto sat and watched with wary eyes.
"Sorry about that, just an update." Jiraiya told him as he rolled the scroll up and placed it in his pocket.
"Update about what?" Naruto asked curiously.
"About what to do with you." Jiraiya answered though that was not all that written on the scroll Naruto didn't need to about it all.
"What does that mean?" Naruto was back on the defensive now.
"Well I mean you are the son of my student and he has never met you, that message was about taking you to a hideout in the Land of Hot Water to meet face-to-face," Jiraiya explained.
"That's to the south isn't it?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, you have to pass through that country in order to go east into the Land of Earth." Jiraiya confirmed.
The Land of Frost which they were in now was small and squashed between the huge Land of Lightning and the smaller but still larger than the country he was in now the Land of Hot Water.
"Oh." Naruto went very silent after that.
"I know this is sudden and we were strangers just the other day but your father Minato does truly want to meet you." Jiraiya said to him.
"I know. I just never expected to meet him like this." Naruto admitted.
"Life works in mysterious ways." Jiraiya commented.
"Is he close by is that why you could set up a meeting so quickly?" Naruto asked curiously.
"No, but Minato can be where ever he likes most of the time." Jiraiya smiled after saying that.
"Hm." Naruto tilted his head and looked confused.
"Don't worry Naruto you'll see." Jiraiya was still smiling.
"There is one question I do have that I need an answer for Naruto." Jiraiya told him.
"What's that?" Naruto replied.
"Earlier I saw you using the Ranton Nature, that is a Kekkei Genkai and I know that your parents didn't have that. So how are you able to do it?" Jiraiya asked with a heavy look on his face.
"Ever since I left, I've gotten into a few fights and I just became able to use it." Naruto lied right to his face, there was no way that he was going to reveal the Chimera Jutsu even with everything that was revealed.
"I see. There are rare occasions where people can be born with a Kekkei Genkai due to a spontaneous mutation, Minato does have a strong Lightning affinity and your mother Kushina had a strong Water affinity." Jiraiya said as he looked at Naruto contemplatively.
"I didn't know that." Naruto said and he meant it, Hiruko had never mentioned people randomly getting a Kekkei Genkai.
"It's a very rare occurrence and often kept secret so a Clan can breed it into future generations but it can happen and more than a handful of Clans nowadays have their origin in one member getting a Kekkei Genkai spontaneously." Jiraiya explained.
"Huh." Naruto let out a noise of surprise as he contemplated the new information given to him by Jiraiya.
"How quick can you get ready to move out?" Jiraiya asked catching his attention.
"Oh! Well, right now I guess." Naruto answered a little taken aback by the question.
"So are you up for starting the journey now?" Jiraiya asked as he stood up.
"I suppose." Naruto replied uncertainly but he stood up.
"Sorry to rush you but your Father and I are busy men, we can't afford to waste any more time than we have to." Jiraiya explained as he walked to the door.
"Okay, I'll be out in a minute." Naruto told him.
Jiraiya nodded as he exited the small shack leaving Naruto alone in the small home.
'I didn't expect this to happen but now I have to adapt, though I am a little excited to meet him.' Naruto thought as he went about the room packing his stuff up, sealing supplies away and more importantly his scrolls.
'I can meet him and then find a time to leave, I was lucky about using the Ranton but now that means I can't use the Hyoton which I'm better at using in a fight, my Ranton is untested.' Naruto began to plan in his head, something which Hiruko almost literally beat into his skull over their short time together.
"Any idiot can think ahead Naruto even you, just use your brain and plan what your next move is and then guess your opponents if you're wrong then readjust but there will come a time when it will become instinct and you will be able to read 5, 10, 15 moves ahead of your opponent as long as you practice now and get into the habit." Hiruko's voice echoed in his mind.
Later
Land Of Frost Road
Naruto and Jiraiya ran through the forest and got out with ease, from there they went on the road but kept the high pace as most of the roads in the Land of Frost were empty due to people migrating southwards because of the coming winter.
Naruto was actually very lucky that he left at the time he did in the early fall as the sea would have gotten very cold and very violent in the winter but he swam during the small golden period as summer gave way to fall and before the sea picked up like what happened during his adventure in the Land of Water.
"So a hideout." Naruto tried to start some conversation with Jiraiya after they spent so long in silence.
"Yeah, your father is a very cautious man so he has these little hideaways all over the continent in almost every country." Jiraiya revealed.
"Wow! That's..." Naruto trailed off torn between saying amazing or paranoid.
"Amazing and paranoid." Jiraiya read his mind and smiled.
"Mmh." Naruto nodded a little embarrassed that he was read so easily.
"Well every good Ninja is a bit of both, you can't get far in this world trusting everyone. Not even mentioning the role skill plays in keeping you alive in this world of strife." Jiraiya turned melancholic towards the end of that statement.
"So where exactly are we heading? I know you said the Land of Hot Water but I've never been there before." Naruto asked curiously.
"Ah! It's a beautiful land filled with hot springs and women, it's Ninja aren't very strong but they are skilled in information gathering so there isn't much to worry about as long as you stay low and don't attract attention." Jiraiya explained while looking very happy he was going to the country.
"Ero-Sennin." Naruto dead-panned.
"Hey! Don't call me that, you'll scare the ladies away." Jiraiya scolded him.
"Well you are, it's better for women to stay away from you." Naruto said straightforwardly
not mincing his words.
"Urgh! That's hurtful kid." Jiraiya groaned at Naruto's words.
They spent the rest of the trip in the northern section like this, it was mostly sniping with the occasional question and answer as well. Once they started reaching the more southern reaches and people started appearing on the road they both slowed down and began to walk.
"Why do we have to start walking now? We could easily keep going to cross the border." Naruto complained.
"Remember what I said Naruto, the Ninja Clans in the Land of Hot Water specialise in information gathering and selling that doesn't begin and end in their country and they do send scouts out to their neighbours in order to gain some advantage on the comings and goings of the Ninja travelling around or through the area." Jiraiya explained patiently.
"Oh. That makes sense I guess." Naruto said as he looked around at the small number of merchants and peddlers around them, there also seemed to be a few Samurai on the road now as well.
"Be careful around Samurai, ever since the Great War the anti-Ninja techniques used by Tenro Mifune have become widespread and there are Samurai out there that can take on Ninja easily now." Jiraiya warned as they passed a patrol of 4 Samurai.
"I've only ever been told to watch Samurai carefully but no one's ever explained why." Naruto revealed.
"Well, the Uzumaki doesn't have to worry about those kinds of things when they own the country they live in. Even your Daimyo is a relative of the Clan." Jiraiya said patting Naruto on the back.
The casual contact did not go unnoticed but Naruto let it slide, Jiraiya seemed to be a decent man and a strong Ninja so even if Naruto fought him over something he did, Naruto would probably lose so there was no point in worrying.
They travelled the slow civilian way for the next few miles, there was really nothing much to see in the Land of Frost apart from the tall thin trees and the occasional huge rocky hill that from a distance looked like a mountain, though to Naruto after he saw actual mountains in the Land of Lightning all of them looked puny in comparison.
Eventually, though the land began to even out and the forests began to get more green and looked more full of life, Naruto could even see small animals around.
"So is this the border?" He asked Jiraiya, the roads had carts and more people on them now so obviously they were heading into more populated areas.
"Nearly, the south of the Land of Frost is probably the best place to live for normal people so most of the population is located here in the south." Jiraiya explained while keeping an eye on other people in the crowd.
"Do we just cross the border like normal? I mean the Samurai must have a checkpoint between the lands." Naruto continued his questions.
"Of course not, we're Ninja after all once we get closer to the border we're going cross country and we'll sneak across a valley that's between both countries." Jiraiya explained, he had to lean down to Naruto and whisper in his ear to make sure no one else heard him.
"Okay." Naruto accepted that with a nod while also scanning the crowd himself.
It was a relatively quick journey to the southern border, Naruto and Jiraiya were naturally fast walkers and whenever the roads got empty with no Samurai or civilians around they sped up considerably.
Eventually, they reached the border with the Land of Hot Water and just like Jiraiya said they entered a forest leaving the road behind, and while leaping through the trees they came across a huge jagged valley that cut through the land like a deep cut.
"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed looking over the valley, he couldn't even see the bottom.
"Yeah, this is a rather famous local landmark legend says it was made during the battle between the Rikudo Sennin and the Juubi way back at the dawn of Chakra." Jiraiya said looking over the valley.
"What! I've never heard that one before." Naruto said.
"What! don't you know about the Rikudo Sennin?" Jiraiya was taken aback by Naruto's shock.
"Obviously I do, everyone in the Uzumaki Clan knows that we're descended from his only daughter while his oldest son started the Uchiha and his youngest started the Senju." Naruto said offended at Jiraiya's implication.
"Well, I don't know what they taught you. The Uzumaki are famously hard to know about since they reside on that island and barely ever leave." Jiraiya defended himself, it was true however in that the Uzumaki were basically isolationist in policy and only ever took truly well-paying jobs on the continent and even then they only ever sent their best out on those missions.
"So are we crossing or what?" Naruto asked not wanting to argue with the man anymore.
Jiraiya just sighed then nodded at Naruto and he jumped from the tree branch he was on and cleared the valley completely.
"Be careful Naruto! It's larger than it looks." Jiraiya warned him as he landed on the opposite side.
"Whatever." Naruto mumbled to himself and then he took a step back and jumped with all the force he could muster.
Naruto sailed through the air and enjoyed the feeling of wind rushing through his hair and across his face but then he realised as he began to fall that he wasn't going to make it and instead tumble down into the abyss.
"Naruto! Shit!" Jiraiya cursed as he watched Naruto begin to fall and prepared himself to intercept by jumping up to meet him.
"Futon: Reppusho!" Naruto unleashed his most versatile Wind Ninjutsu, but he thrust out both palms down towards the ground and of course, the wind pushed him up higher due to him not standing on the ground to take the recoil and with that extra boost he crashed onto the other side in a heap.
"Ow!" He complained as he lay there in a heap.
"That was smart, using a Futon Ninjutsu to boost yourself." Jiraiya was impressed by the boy's quick thinking.
'Then again he did get across two of the major countries alone with unfinished training.' Jiraiya thought and he became more and more impressed with Naruto himself.
Crossing a country was no easy feat and crossing a major country filled with Ninja Clans was far more difficult and the fact that Naruto had crossed two and even tangled with major Clans in both regions and not only came out alive but relatively unscathed was truly an impressive feat of survival and testament to his skill even if he came across as an idiot.
'He must take after his Mother Kushina more than Minato.' Jiraiya concluded in his head and offered a hand to the boy.
"Thanks." Naruto mumbled as he grabbed the huge hand of the older man and pulled himself back to his feet.
"Come on we're close now, if we're lucky we can beat Minato and get there first." Jiraiya commented as he surveyed the area to make sure they had no tails or curious Ninja inspecting the area after detecting Chakra.
"Right." Naruto said and he couldn't stop his hands from shaking, it was a mixture of nerves and excitement he had only ever heard the rumours about the famous Kiiroi Senko who could slaughter entire battalions of Ninja and even fought of both the Uchiha and Senju Clans when they were at their height in power but had heard nothing about the man himself about his personality or attitude so Naruto had no idea what to expect.
He had gotten a few answers from Jiraiya but it felt like the man was being vague on purpose, maybe he was trying to let Naruto make his own judgement on the man or he wanted Naruto to be surprised or it was simple OpSec on his part.
No matter the reason Naruto truly did not know what to expect from the man who fathered him and it was nerve-wracking to think about what could happen.
'Just meet him and get this over and done with, then I can go back to simpler times when I just had to search for Kekkei Genkai.' Naruto thought as he jumped through the forest with Jiraiya at his side.
Whatever the outcome this meeting would change a lot for Naruto and even inform his decisions in the future.
AN:
And here is where my chapter a working day streak is broken, I kind of wrote myself into a corner with this one. Introducing Jiraiya was just a spur of the moment thing but then I realised how stupid that was so early I'm not the type of person to completely redo the chapter and avoid the situation so I've adapted and changed a few things around.
I was originally planning to have Jiraiya meet Naruto after he got his 3rd Kekkei Genkai but I got a little excited and rewatching Shippuden did not help.
Also, I did not make a mistake with the Rikudo Sennin thing, in all my Naruto fanfiction just take it that the Uzumaki Clan are descended from his only daughter while the rest is canon, it's a little pet peeve I have that the Uzumaki are just an offshoot of the Senju in Canon.
Also, should I do nicknames and the like in Japanese or English e.g
Namikaze Minato The Yellow Flash
Namikaze Minato The Kiiroi Senko
I don't have a preference either way so I leave it up to you my readers.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to 23.
Translation:
Ranton=Storm Release
Hyoton=Ice Release
Ero-Sennin=Pervy Sage
Tenro=Heavenly Wolf (Title/Epithet rather than a name)
Rikudo Sennin=Sage of the Six Paths
Juubi=Ten-Tails
Futon: Reppusho=Wind Release: Gale Palm
Kiiroi Senko=Yellow Flash