(Bell's Point Of View)

It has been two months since our mission with Guren and Yuukimaru, and things have been going pretty well.

We have just got back from a mission with trying to find Itachi so we could bring Sasuke back, but the deed was already done and Itachi was killed by Sasuke.

This gave Naru a little bit of hope because Sasuke fulfilled his dream to kill his brother, so he thought that he would come back home to Konoha, but sadly Sasuke didn't and we couldn't find him anywhere.

I was now in my home, reading a book, as someone knocked on my door for which I but my bookmark in my book and walked up to the door.

When I opened it, I saw that it was Kakashi-sensei and Naru who were at my door for which Sensei said that we have been summoned to Lady Tsunade for which I nodded and put on my boots then headed out the door.

When we got to the outside of the Hokage Mansion we say The Cheif Toad and Gamakichi on his head.

"Huh? Chief Toad and Gamakichi? What're you guys doing here so early? Did something happen?" This made me narrow my eyes as to why they were here as Kakashi-sensei said to keep walking for which we did.

Knocking on the door, Lady Tsunade told us to come in for which we walked in to see Sakura, Shizune, Sai, and a few toads to the right of Lady Tsunade.

"He is Jiraiya-boy's student?" The older frog asked as Tsunade spoke, "Yes This is Naruto Uzumaki The "Child of Prophecy" you mentioned... And Bell Ciera, his Anbu protector."

Naru looked confused, "A geezer frog? What the hell?" This made Tsunade angry, "Hey! Watch your mouth, Naruto! This is Lord Fukasaku, one of the Two Great Sages of Mount Myoboku. He came all the way here to speak with you."

The old frog coughed, "Well, to be more accurate, I am a Great Sage Toad. But never mind that. You are, without a doubt, Jiraiya-boy's student and his favorite girl."

Naru pointed at the old toad, "Jiraiya-boy? "Boy"?! You talk as though the Pervy Sage is a kid! Who does this geezer frog think he is?!"

Tsunade shouted at him once more, "I said to watch your mouth! This great man is the one who taught Sage Jutsu to Lord Jiraiya. He is Lord Jiraiya's master."

This shocked Naru as the toad laughed, "Pervy Sage, eh? What a fitting nickname for Jiraiya-boy."

Naru looked more confused and asked what the toad wanted him him and I for which the toad looked somber, "I'm not sure where to begin. But let's see I suppose the most important thing is Jiraiya-boy has died in battle... I know this is sudden. I don't blame you if you don't believe me. For quite some time, there were rumors that the leader of the Akatsuki was in the Hidden Rain Village. Jiraiya-boy went in person to verify the truth of these rumors... As I recall, that village is difficult to infiltrate."

Sakura looked at the toad and said that it was an isolated village as I looked down and tried not to cry, but it didn't work. Master Jiraiya... Was dead...

"Pain was Jiraiya-boy's former student... During the chaos of the Great Ninja War Jiraiya looked after some orphans in the Hidden Rain Village, which had become a battlefield. Who would have imagined that those kids However To corner a ninja like Lord Jiraiya... He possessed the Rinnegan... The Rinnegan is an Ocular Jutsu that was said to be possessed by the father of all ninja, the Sage of the Six Paths.

The legendary Ocular Jutsu The Rinnegan. Its power was beyond imagination. Not only that There were six of them who possessed the Rinnegan?! Perhaps, there's a trick to it. Most likely, only Jiraiya-boy, who was there, discovered their secret. Even after he had his throat crushed by Pain, Jiraiya-boy left a message before collapsing."

The toad turned around and took off his cloak to show us numbers that was left by Master Jiraiya right before his death.

Tear were still streaming down my face as the toad spoke, "This is that message! It's a code I'm sure he did this to prevent Pain from noticing. I've told you everything about Jiraiya-boy."

I looked over to see that Naru's hands were clenched as he spoke, "Did youlet him go, Granny? Why'd you allow such a reckless thing?! You knew Pervy Sage better than anyone! How could you send him to such a dangerous place, alone?!"

Sakura spoke up, "Enough, Naruto. You of all people ought to know Lady Hokage's feelings!"

Naru turned towards the door, "If Pervy Sage had been the Fifth Hokage, he wouldn't have let Granny Tsunade take such risks... Never!"

He ran out the door, but I didn't bother to follow him, he had his own problems that he needed to deal with.

Falling to my knees, I started to sob, remembering all the good memories of Master Jiraiya and the last interaction that we had when he kissed my forehead.

I felt someone put their arms around me for which I looked up to see Sakura cooing me to help me stop crying, but instead I just turned and cried in her shoulder as I heard the old toad speak.

"About the Child of Prophecy I mentioned earlier I can see that child truly loved and admired Jiraiya-boy. I can't help but hope that he is the Child of Prophecy... And you.. Bell-girl."

I looked over at the old toad with tears still streaming down my face as he spoke, "What was Jiraiya-boy to you..." I wiped away my tears as Sakura helped me stand.

"He... He was like the father that I never had... Sir..." He hummed and smiled at me, "I remember him telling me that he thought of you as his own daughter as well, Bell-girl. I am happy that you had such a relationship with Jiraiya-boy."

Wiping away the rest of my tears, I bowed to him and gave him my thanks for which he looked back to Tsunade, "We need to find out what the code means, Tsunade-girl."

She nodded as she told Sakura to take me home for which she nodded as we walked outside and headed to my apartment.

Once she dropped me off at my apartment , I jumped onto my bed and started to cry my eyes out. Master Jiraiya... The I thought to be the father I never had... Was gone... Dead...

After a few hours of crying, I heard someone knocked on my door, so I hurried and wiped away my tears and walked up to the door and opened it to see that it was Iruka-sensei who had a small smile to mask is sadness.

He looked at me red eyes and sighed then pulled me into a hug for which I returned and tried to cry, but none came, they were already dried up.

Once he let go, he started to speak, "I heard what happened to Master Jiraiya... I'm so sorry Bell..."

I waved it off and looked up at him, "Have you seen Naru..." He nodded then looked at me with a frown. "Actually, I was hoping that you could go talk to him... You are the closest person to him..."

I looked at him confused, telling him that I thought he was the closest person to Naru for which he shook his head.

"No way... You are definetly the closest person to him... You were the first person ever to acknowledge him, remember!"

I looked down with a blush, remembering when I first met Naru and how we became friends right off the back.

I nodded to Iruka-sensei and asked where Naru was for which he lead me to the park where Naru was crying while holding a Popsicle in his head for which I sighed and thanked our old sensei and walked up to my crush.

"Naru..." I spoke as I walked over to him and sat on the bench that he was sitting on as he wiped away his tears.

"I wanted him to keep watching over me. I wanted him to see me become the Hokage. But I only ended up showing Pervy Sage the worst, most un-cool side of me." I heard him speak as I shook my head.

"I heard Master Jiraiya only had praise for you. He was always boasting about you, saying you were like his own grandchild. He had faith that you were the one who would inherit his will... And truly believed that you would one day become a great Hokage. Master Jiraiya will always watch over you . Even this very minute, he's watching from somewhere. He wouldn't be happy seeing you sad like this. So Be your usual self, the one he praised so much. Don't stay depressed forever. For Master Jiraiya himself, one of the Legendary Sannin, acknowledged you as his promising student!"

I got on my knees and sat in front of him as I took the Popsicle from his hand and pulled it him half and gave one half to him like Master Jiraiya used to do all the time.

Naru smiled and thanked me as he stood up and asked if he would walk me home for which I softly smiled and nodded.

Walking with each other while eating a Popsicle, Naru looked up at me with a frown, "You miss him to don't you..." I nodded and looked up at the star filled sky.

"Of Course... He was like the father that I never had... I am going to miss him... And his perverted ways." He chuckled as he agreed with me and we finished off out Popsicles as we got to my house.

I threw the Popsicle stick in the trash can that was next to my apartment and I turned to Naru and hugged him which surprised him as I spoke, "Please... Stay who you are Naru... Don't let this defy you... Be the Naru was all know and love... Okay?"

I felt him nod as I let go and I opened my door and said good night to him as I slowly shut the door with a smile.

I knew that tomorrow was going to be a better day...

**********Time Skip brought to you by 6 more days of school left**********

It was the next day and we were all in the Leaf Village Intel Devision as we looked at the picture of the toads back that had the message that Master Jiraiya left us.

Shikamaru, a scientist, and I were waiting for Naru to give us any info on what he knows from what the message says.

"You haven't said a word. You see something, right? I talked to Lady Hokage and Kakashi Sensei, but neither of them had any clue. That means Lord Jiraiya probably left this message with you in mind. No, I'm positive he did." Shikamaru said as I spoke.

"If anything pops up in your mind, tell us. We're not asking you to instantly decode the message." Naru hummed the pointed at the picture, "There is one thing that's been bothering me since I first saw this. Well There's all these numbers. So what's with this one katakana letter?"

We all looked at the photo trying to see that katakana he was speaking about so he pointed out to us for which we thought was the number nine, but then Naru explained to us why it wasn't

"Well Pervy Sage was writing books all the time He was an author, after all. And I traveled all over with him. He always made me read his handwritten drafts, and asked what I thought about them. They were really boring though... And whenever there was the letter "ta," it was hard to read because it would look like the number nine."

This made me smile as Shikamaru spoke, "A penmanship quirk! That was his habit, huh? So what you're saying is When writing the katakana "ta," Lord Jiraiya had a habit of shortening his first stroke. So the first and third strokes get connected. And since he rounds his second stroke, it looks like the number nine. Let's see This is a sample of Lord Jiraiya's writing."

He pulled out a page from Master Jiraiya's work and the "ta" letter was there that looked like a nine.

"It's the same! Lord Jiraiya knew that Naruto would remember his habit of writing the katakana "ta" like the number nine. Frankly, this was the common link between Lord Jiraiya and Naruto. Why didn't you mention such an important thing sooner?! That's it! It's when you were reading Lord Jiraiya's manuscript that you found out about his writing habit... Then the code refers to that book you were reading!"

The scientist nodded at Shikamaru's genius and praised him while blushing and spoke, "Frankly, Lord Jiraiya's book must contain a hint. Those numbers must represent character numbers, line numbers or page numbers. I'm certain they hold the key to the code."

I looked over at Naru, "Naru, which book is it?" He brought a finger to his chin and started to think, "Umm Hmm Make-Out What was it?" Shikamaru asked how many books were published, "I'm not sure Four? Five?"

I felt a familiar Chakra so I looked over at the window to see Kakashi-sensei holding up Master Jiraiya's newest book that had the "ta" symbol on it.

"It's been on my mind, so I decided to stop by when I overheard your voices. I think I caught most of it. This is the book you're looking for."

Naru smiled and nodded as he said that, that was the book as I thought, "I see... Only Naruto would've known that. So Master Jiraiya did pass the key on to Naruto."

We read off the rest of the numbers for which the scientist spoke, "When a character is used in a code, it could signify word placement or line number, but the established protocol is to check the page number first. Sothe numbers separated by commas are 31, 8, 106, 7, 207, and 15. Six sets. Meaning there are six pages worth of information. Let's start with page 31. Flip to that page, please."

Kakashi-sensei did as he was told and asked what to do next for which the scientist told him to read it.

I see Kakashi-sensei's face blow up a very dark shade of red and was sweating heavily as Naru shouted, " What is it?! Hurry up and read! Hurry it up!"

Kakashi-sensei slowly started to read all six pages and when we were done I asked what we got as the scientist spoke, "Well? If I read the first characters of the code in order The-Real-One's-Not-Among-Them... That's what it says."

I was confused because I thought at that there was only one group of Pain, not more...

"We ought to relay this to Lord Fukasaku. He fought with Pain, so he may know something. Then let's go right away to the Lady Hokage to ask this Lord Fukasaku to come." I said to Shikamaru who nodded and the scientist asked if she could come for which she nodded.

Getting to Lady Tsunade's office where Lord Fukasuku was waiting for us and when he relayed the info that he got, he spoke, "Of those six, not a single one reminds me of Nagato. Yet a completely unrelated Pain knew of a conversation that the Rinnegan-bearing Nagato and I shared alone. The faces are different, but I definitely sense Nagato in them. I don't know This alone is too vague. But there's something? I've already told you what I know about Pain. Even if he dies, he can resurrect himself. So I can't say just from speculations. Under such conditions, taking Pain on is too dangerous. We must uncover all his secrets first."

I nodded as I looked at Lady Tsunade, "What about the other sources of information? How are the autopsy and interrogation coming along?" She said that she didn't know for which Naru started waving his arms around.

"Oh, come on! We can't be wasting time right now!" Lady Tsunade shook her head, "Interrogation aside, an autopsy requires minute cell and tissue analyses! These things take time! It'll be a week at the soonest."

Naru groaned as I put a hand on his shoulder, telling him to be quiet as he just turned around and said that he was going to speed up the process as Sakrua, who was next to Lady Tsunade spoke.

" You get in Master Shizune's way, and I'll give you a beating!" He turned around, "I will avenge Pervy Sage! I can't just sit around doing nothing!"

Lord Fukasaku shook his head, "But Naruto-boy Even if we decoded the message, it has nothing to do with you. In any case, at this point, you couldn't beat Pain. Tell me. Even Jiraiya-boy couldn't beat this opponent. Are you saying you're confident you can? Well If you were to fight him now, you'd die a senseless death."

Naru looked mad at he old toad, "Then Geezer Sage, are you telling me to forget about avenging the Pervy Sage?" He shook his head.

"No such thing. Being asked to come was quite opportune. I was planning on coming to get you, Naruto-boy. How about it, Naruto-boy? Want to train in Sage Jutsu under my guidance?"

I smiled, "I see Naruto learning Sage Jutsu... That is a great plan."

Naru asked if it really was that awesome for which I smiled at him and nodded as Lady Tsunade spoke, "es. Lord Jiraiya was the only one capable of using it in this village. Pain defeated Jiraiya who had summoned Lord Fukasaku and Lady Shima. What that means is At this point, no one in the Leaf Village can defeat Pain."

Lord Fukasaku nodded, "I am just as mortified... I, too, want to avenge the death of my student Jiraiya-boy. I believe that the only one who can do that is you, Naruto-boy... You want to avenge Jiraiya-boy, don't you? Then come with me. I'll train you in Sage Jutsu at Mount Myoboku. Everything that I drove into Jiraiya-boy, I will do the same with you."

Lord Fukasaku asked Lady Tsunade if it was alright and she nodded then looked at me sadly for which I rose my hand up smiling. "I know I can't go with him... It's fine... He will be in safe place where no one can get to him."

She nodded as Naru looked shocked, "Wait a minute... Bell can't come!" I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as I said that he would be fine and I that I will be right here when he needs me.

He smiled and nodded as Lord Fukasaku asked if he wanted to do it, "Pervy Sage did it, right? Then I can't lose to him! I'll do it!"

We all walked to the front gates as we said our goodbye's. I hugged Naru, saying my goodbye's as I spoke. "Like I said, I will be right here when you get back... Just don't worry and you will be fine! When you come back, you will be even stronger!"

He nodded as he let go and he was reversed summoned to the Land of the Toads where he was going to learn his sage training.

I just hope that I was right...

I hope that everything was going to be okay when he got back...

How wrong I was...

Hey Guys!

The episode's used in this chapter were Naruto Shippuden Season 8 Episode's 1 - 3!

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