Finally got around to finishing this chapter. Read on and enjoy.
Also to the anonymous reviewer, Mike. The answer to your question is he hasn't met any of them yet.
"Indeed, Naruto, my son." the the tall blonde answered him with a smile. The man bore an incredible resemblance to him an unsurprising fact considering this man was Naruto's father.
He stood quite a bit taller than he did. The spiky yellow hair of the man was shorter than his bringing out the full untamedness of it while two jawlength bangs framed his face. He wore a simple dark blue longsleeved shirt with two red spirals on the part of his sleeves that covered his upper arms. The man's pants were of matching color. Over his attire he wore a short sleeved white haori, closed by a thin orange rope. The back of the haori was covered with a flourished writing of "Yellow Flash" or Kiiroi Senko.
This person was undubitably his father, Minato Namikaze, there was no mistaking it. Normal people would likely be shocked, surprised or would otherwise question their sanity at seeing a supposedly dead person standing in front of him. But not Naruto. Aside from being too exhausted to muster the required energy to display these emotions he knew that there was a lot unexplored to the realm of magic. There were countless things humans did not yet know about magic that it was not entirely inconceivable that his father could appear in front of him, whether it was even a physical form remained to be seen. Nevermind that the finale of the battle between his father and Zeref's demon was shrouded in mystery. There were a lot of unaccounted variables that it was not irrational to believe that his father could, in some form, be alive.
"Weren't you supposed to be dead?" Naruto asked dully, surpressing the ache of his body. His father released a short laugh "Well, to be honest, I never 'died'." he explained and rubbed the back of his head "See, the spell I used to finish off Elathan was an unfinished Supreme Light Magic Spell I had developed. The finished version would have left me untouched but I never got around to that. I based the spell off the Fairie's Law after hearing tales about it. However my version is vastly more powerful and destructive it literally dissolves everything, even souls with the power of light. Although it attacks everything in its radius instead of merly those the caster perceives as enemies."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at his fathers explanation. That was an absurdly powerful magic but it raised even bigger questions "If your soul is supposed to be dissolved how come you are standing before me?" the younger blonde inquired further of his father
"I'm getting to that. The only thing that would not be dissolved and destroyed by light was other light, this would instead get assimilated and end up as part of the light of the world. To use this magic I used another magic I created which would allow me to become an avatar of light ehancing my light based magic to unprecedented heights, my body is registered as light during this state. That is why that day I did die and yet I became part of this world, part of the eternal light shining down on Earthland."
Naruto rolled his eyes "How poetic. Why don't you start composing poetry." he commented dryly. His father laughed embarrassedly "No that is a really bad idea." he hung his head "I once wrote a poem for Kushi-chan. She answered me very bluntly 'I love you a lot Minato-kun but your poetry sucks. Please never try to write another poem for me.' "
If Naruto had the energy to do so he would have introduced his face to his palm. His father was acting like such a flake, truly a testimony to the saying 'Never judge a book by its cover.'
From the knowledge he held he knew that his father was more than a formidable opponent in a fight.
Naruto gave a small sigh and closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds arround him. The soft patter of the rain filling him with a sense of calmness "So what are you doing here, tou-sama? Why do you show yourself now? What is your reason for appearing in front of me?" the teenage boy asked forcefully
"Stop being so formal." he could literally feel his father's grimace "Kushi-chan would be so angry if she knew you were such a boring and stiff kid. She would probably beat you up and then drag you around to have fun."
"Stop bringing up mother." Naruto growled out as his eyes snapped open. His eyes were now a dangerous crimson, the mark of his Blood Magic. Kushina was a sore subject for Naruto. Another reason why he had disliked Konoha. He took a few calming breaths and his eyes returned to their sapphire color "Just answer the questions, father."
"Alright, alright." Minato finally relented "As part of the natural light of the world parts of me are always called upon when someone connects to the Ethernano and forms light magic. In this way I keep experiencing the things around me. Parts of my essence are alway lingering and observing things, it is incredibly hard to focus my thoughts when I am scattered and even now nature is trying to disperse me into particles of Ethernano. So I don't have all the time in the world to be your proper father, as much as I would like to, but it's enough to set you straight." the blonde man gave a short sigh "I have seen a lot of what you have done, Naruto and I am not pleased, not pleased at all. If I had an actual physical form I would give you a well deserved hit for being such an idiot." he slumped down and spoke mockingly "I am so ashamed to have an idiot for a son." he said as he pretended to cry
"Enough with your poor acting." Naruto spat out as his anger surged "If you are merely here to berate me then get on with it." He didn't like that his anger flared like that. Perhaps it was because he was tired and didn't have enough energy to focus on keeping it inside of him or maybe it was the situation itself, of a father berating his child. His father talking to him. Having a parent. These were things that Naruto once upon a time desired and on some level he probably still desired them.
Minato frowned and gave a heavy sigh "Why do you have to cling to all that anger, Naruto? It will eat you from the inside if you don't learn to let go, just like your pointless revenge." the blonde man said. He was ashamed of his son. He was ashamed that his son had ended up a killer, a manslayer, a dark mage. But at the same time he wanted his son to be happy. He had hope that there was enough good left in Naruto to make him choose a better path a path that would not lead him towards an abyss. Naruto had already once taken revenge and now was determined to take it out on the next best target. If he did that he would be left hollow, with an even bigger hole inside of him that desired to be filled.
"I may be ashamed of what you have become but you can still turn away from the path you are heading down. There is no need for you to cling to these things."
"You have no idea what you are talking about, father." Naruto growled angrily spitting the word father out like venom "You have no idea what it's like to have your entire existence voided by superstitious morons who have no idea of anything. The sorrow, despair and anger one is feeling...it's painful." Naruto spoke with a harsh but quiet voice that softened to the end "Don't you think I know that the path I'm going down will lead me to nothing?" Naruto stared questioningly at his father who didn't back down from the impromptu staring contest "But it's the only thing I can do."
Minato gave his son a look filled with sadness which the blonde returned with contempt.
"You weren't even there, father. You don't know anything about my life. You don't even have the right to call yourself my father." the yound, dark mage continued filled by the intense fire of anger "I thought I would feel better when I made those fools pay. Make them feel all of the pain, all of the scars they left on my soul. I thought if I dumped all that on them I could be free to do what I wanted but all I was left with was a gaping longing inside of me, a longing for a purpose. Something to do. Revenge was all I had known and so I latched onto the first thing that was fit for revenge, Zeref." Naruto's eyes were downcast as he spilled his emotions "Do you know what it feels like to have no purpose, even for a single moment?" the blonde grimaced "It feels horrible. I felt like I was a dead man walking. Alive and yet dead. Without a purpose I was just like a walking corpse." there was a profound sense of liberation as he spoke to his father about this and at the same time there was a part of him that was sickened with himself for being so weak and cracking so easily.
"You are right." Minato admitted "I know I can not call myself your father." Minato he said with a sad look on his face "I didn't get to see the first time you spoke, the first time you walked. I didn't get to celebrate your birthdays or teach you anything." he shook his head "There was so much I would have loved to do with you and Kushina had things not turned out as they did..." he was quickly cut off again by his son
"I said stop mentioning mother. You have no right to speak of her." his hands balled to fists to contain his anger "If it weren't for the old fools thoughtlessness she would still be alive, I would still have had a mother!"
"Don't blame, Hiruzen." Minato spoke forcefully for the first time in their conversation "Humans make mistakes, Naruto. He couldn't have known that she would would...die." the last words escaped him in barely a whisper. The thought of his wives death was as much of a sore subject for him as it was for Naruto.
Naruto returned his fathers words with a glare but remained silent.
Minato took a few calming breaths "Please just give up on your revenge. I know I don't know what you are feeling, but it wont make you happy. It will only make you more miserable." he pleaded with his son, the mans blue eyes shining with desperation at trying to convince his son "Try to find a different purpose, try to find something that will not leave you an empty shell."
"There is nothing else for me. I am a criminal, a murderer." the blonde teenage boy laughed but it was a horrible hollow laught that caused Minato to shudder at the thought that his son was capable of such "All I have to keep me going is my burning anger for Zeref, my blazing desire to get revenge. As I am there is nothing else to fill that hole."
Minato would not give up. He was determined to make his son change his way.
"Do you want to become like Orochimaru?" Minato asked darkly. He knew it was a low blow considering that Naruto knew exactly what kind of atrocities the man had commited but sometimes a blow like that was required to shake and rattle someone out of their funk.
Naruto quieted and his glared turned into a frown. A small shudder went down his spine as he thought of the experiments the man had done.
He had kidnapped young boys and girls. In his beginning he had disguised himself as a doctor and lied to their parents he would cure some incurable disease. Later he had outright taken them by force, often times even taking mere babies.
He had given them experimental pills, injections and subjected their bodies to horrifying body modifying surgeries. In bids to unlock the second origin he had attached devices and implanated Lacrima's into his test subjects and once they had outlived their usefulness, with the mere press of a button the person was liquified into a pile of fleshy goo.
However there were many more horrifying things Orochimaru had committed and while Naruto had done nothing of the sort he saw the initial similarities between the snake like man and himself. To everyone else he had appeared as a polite, charming and talented young man. Just like Naruto. People didn't suspect him of anything they would think it to be inconceivable for him to be evil. However beneath that polite exterior, unknown to people, had been a dark desire, the willingness to sacrifice everything and everyone, to make use of people at his leisure to manipulate everyone around him. Yes, Naruto saw the undeniable similarities between Orochimaru and himself. It was a frightening thought that he could become like that man. Despite many of the things he had done he didn't feel like he was willing to sacrifice anything and everything. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? He couldn't even say. He averted his eyes from his father "What else should I use as a purpose?" the young mage whispered and Minato smiled softly at his son, feeling that he had gotten through to him.
"I'm sure you there are things that make you happy, people that make you happy." Minato suggested and Naruto shook his head and gave a sardonic laugh
"Don't kid yourself... I have no friends." Naruto responded darkly, there were only those he had manipulated there was no way that could be considered a 'friend'
"What about the princess, does she not care for you? Does your presence not fill her with joy." Minato told his son "Or Erza whose heart you began to heal by accepting her in spite of her past."
The blonde snorted and gave his father a deadpan look "I manipulated the princess there is no way I could even be remotely considered her friend." Naruto stated and his eyes became downcast "And Erza thinks I am dead, that is not even considering the circumstances under which we parted..." he shook his head and droplets of water flew through the air, as his wet hair clung to his head
"Idiot." Minato muttered loud enough for Naruto to hear "So what if you think you shouldn't be considered their friend. The princess definitely does, actually more than that. If you think that you should be considered her friend based on your past actions then make up for it, act in such a way that will make you consider yourself a friend of hers. Friendship and love don't leave you empty and burnt out like revenge and anger."
Naruto snorted derisively and a chuckle escaped himself "Can you get any more cheesy?" he asked the man with a raised eyebrow but he did have a point. These things did sustain much better in the longterm than revenge and anger did and yet...
Naruto was interrupted in his musings as his father spoke up "Besides two girls already?" he grinned at his son "Good thing Jiraiya doesn't know about it or he would have a field day. Besides..." he smirked at his son "That Erza girl reminds me of your mom. Strict and headstrong but with a very soft side and a total minx in be..."
"I do not need quite need to know any details like that." the younger blonde spoke in a flat voice as Minato erupted into a full blown laugh. He still couldn't believe how a single person could at one moment be so serious and the next be a goofball. It was infuriating? No, that was perhaps too exaggerated. At the very least it heavily threw him for a loop.
Minato coughed at his sons reminder, trying to hide his embarassment. While his reason to form a projection of himself in the physical world was to set his son straight he couldn't act like a strict hardass all the time, that just wasn't him. Nevermind that he didn't want to leave Naruto in the believe he was a disappointment and that his father hated him.
"As I was saying..." the man cleared his throat "Please reconsider your priorities. Please turn away from your revenge."
"I..." Naruto was hesitant in declaring his decision. Should he just give up everything he had worked for these last years? Everything he had done be for naught... Friends... Love... he had sworn off those things. Would he be weaker without it? Would he be stronger?
Naruto shook his head. Even if he used these things to sustain himself...there was no place for him among those treading in the light. Even if he had different emotions, different values to keep him going he would still no longer have a purpose. He would once more be a walking corpse. He couldn't return to that.
"I'm sorry but I can't simply give everything up." the blonde spoke barely above a whisper "If I don't have a purpose I am just the same as someone dead."
Minato gave a weary sigh "I see..." he honestly had never experienced anything that his son had so it was hard for him to give apropriate advice but as a father he couldn't just abandon his duty, the responsibility to make sure his son became an upstanding person "If you can't let go of Zeref then at least let go of the desire to do it for revenge."
Naruto looked up at his father, confusion evident in his expression. He waited for the older blonde to answer the unspoken question.
"Don't try to fight against him for revenge. Instead fight against him to protect. Fight to prevent anyone suffering like you do. Fight for a brighter tomorrow." Naruto soaked in the words of his father and could not help shaking his head at the man's words. Perhaps if he was less drained, less exhausted he would have responded differently or perhaps if it was another person. There was just something different about his father, a man he had never had, an unnatural connection that went beyond that of anyone he met. Was this the bond between a parent and a child? The warmth of love that only a parent could feel for their child? That even transcended the boundaries of the physical realm.
Nevertheless he responded with a smirk "If you say any more things like that you'll give cheese a run for its money."
Minato let a faint smile grace his lips. Even if he had not succeeded in what he initially set out to do at least his words had reached his son that was what mattered.
"Just please consider what I have told you, Naruto. At least grant me that much." Minato asked and his son gave a hesitant nod "I can't promise anything."
Naruto knew that there was a lot he couldn't make up for and redemption... it was such a vague concept.
He saw his father bleeding off small golden colored flakes into the surroundings. Little by little glowing particles detached from the mans body, something the man noticed as well.
Minato gave a sad smile but it also seemed satisfied "Well, looks like it is time for me to go. I don't know when I will managed to form another body or if I will managed it at all..." that was something that could just as well happen. This time alone it had taken an incredible amount of willpower from trying to keep his presence in the physical world.
Minato walked towards his son. His feet touched the muddy ground but left no tracks. He kneeled down to his son's level and tried to give him a hug. His arms tried to sling around the teenaged boys body but they phased through.
"Remember that your mother and I very much loved you, Naruto." Naruto felt uncomfortable. Here his father was going on again about that mushy stuff the fact that the man was literally disappearing in front of his eyes didn't make it better. "We just want you to be happy."
Those were Minato's last words to him before his body completely dissolved into particles of light.
Naruto shivered and sneezed as the cold rain kept dripping down on his body.
'Shitty weather.' he cursed inwardly but it was not like he could have done anything.
His magic power was only very slowly regenerating after he had expended most of it in that illusory mock fight against Orochimaru. And his body still ached from all the pain Orochimaru had inflicted upon him. He knew all of it were merely illusions, things not real but his body reacted just like they had been.
Despite the protests of his arms he raised his right one and wiped some of the water away that was dripping down, only to have more of it dripping down moments later.
"What to do...What to do..." he muttered to himself and slowly his vision dimmed and darkned as his eyelids fell to a close moments before he drifted into a dreamless sleep. The magical,physical, mental and emotional exhaustion simply too much for his body to bear any longer. However he knew that he would likely suffer horribly for it, sleeping on the ground while it was raining was hardly healthy.
Naruto felt someone close to him. That someone was poking him, prodding his body in an effort to rouse him from his sleep. He didn't know how long he had slept or if he had gotten any rest at all. His eyes snapped open scanning the surroundings for the person that had woken him from his sleep. In front of him was the mischievous grinning, white haired face of a familiar person. It was the well known author of the infamous or famous, depending on who you asked, series of erotic literature known by the moniker Icha Icha. The person was undoubtly Jiraiya of the formerly legendary three mages, now reduced to two. There was no mistaking those lines going down his cheeks.
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty." the old man said in a mocking tone. He obviously meant to get a rise out of him. Naruto only grumbled something unintelligible "What are you doing here?" Now that Naruto looked around he realized that here wasn't the place he had fallen asleep. Instead Jiraiya had created a makeshift shelter for them. He was still cold, wet and shivering but at least the campfire the white haired man had created would slowly fill him with more warmth.
"I'm talking to you. Obviously." Jiraiya said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Naruto tried to curb his annoyance at the game the man tried to play with him.
Naruto exhaled slowly. It seemed he had gotten some rest because keeping his emotions in check was a bit easier now. The annoyance was still there but he barely showed any of it in his expression or the way he spoke.
"Don't play any games with me." Naruto said neutrally keeping his voice as flat as he could "I want to know what you are doing in the same place as me."
"I told you, talking to you." Jiraiya responded once more with an infuriating smile and Naruto gritted his teeth.
"You followed me for some reason or maybe you tracked me. Whatever the case I want to know why?" Naruto demanded one of his golde blonde brows twitching in annoyance
Why did he have so little control over his emotions right now? Was it still because he was tired? Or had this one talk with the apparition of his father done more than anyone before had done. He couldn't afford to decipher this mystery right now. There were more pressing issues. Like a white haired stalker.
Naruto calmed back down but his voice gained a darker edge to it. He knew he shouldn't be angering someone he was in no condition to fight but it was not like someone like Jiraiya would do anything to him, the man was...too good hearted for that.
"Here I thought that Orochimaru was the one with an interest in young boys but they clearly got the wrong person." the blonde remarked with a dark smile "Do you write those books to hide what kind of people you really lust after, old man?"
Suddenly a heavy pressure bore down on Naruto, as he felt the white haired perverts anger. However it didn't seem like the anger was directed at him for the comment but something else.
"Shut up you little sack of shit." Naruto flinched back and raised an eyebrow in surprise, despite the situation he didn't take Jiraiya to be one to swear "I told you it was to talk to you and rest assured we will have a talk." the way the white haired spoke made it painfully obvious that there was no room to argue "Do you know how much of a pain it was to track you down?" the man complained in annoyance but obviously it wasn't that, that was the source of the mans anger either.
-Flashback-
After a good month he had finally tracked down Naruto's location. It wasn't that his torn muscles had debilitated him that much. It wasn't the fact that he had obligations to his publisher, after he abrubtly had cancelled his christmas book signing, and was forced to make up for it. It was the sheer difficulty of finding the boy. Naruto wasn't a known mage. He had checked and the boy wasn't affiliated with any known guild. After checking with the registry in Era there was no boy with the name of Naruto Uzumaki or Naruto Namikaze among any of the registered legal guilds. Of course there was the chance that Naruto was affiliated with some kind of Dark Guild but he found that rather unlikely. The son of his friend had clearly displayed a good deal of talent and skill with magic. If the boy really was part of a Dark Guild then it would be a more well known one and as part of a well known Dark Guild he would hardly be as unknown as he is.
He wasn't known as a mercenary or as an independant mage, nor was he known as a treasure hunter. It was quite infuriating. It was as if the boy was a ghost. His presence was minimal. He left barely if any tracks. Just trying to get any lead on the boy was nigh impossible.
However there seemed to be a reason for being this untrackable. After he had called in tons of favors and consulted with countless of people he had caught word that a boy matching Naruto's description was reported to be staying in Mercurius. Mercurius! The palace of Fiore's king. The palace that no mage had ever been allowed to enter at least until now. How the brat had managed to accomplish that Jiraiya had absolutely no idea although that was rather secondary.
Jiraiya knew there was something off about the boy. At the very least he had turned a living person into a blackened piece of charcoal. Very few mages did kill anyone in fact the council of Era actively discouraged killing unless in the defense of one self or others. For that reason assassination requests instantly got someone the brand of dark mage and generally the guild along with it for even having such a mission to distribute.
Oh there were still enough requests to deal with the extermination of wild beasts, demons and the like but all missions pertaining to humans were about subduing so that the offenders could be arrested.
Still, the boy had killed someone. He actively dodged subjects about his past. He avoided the company of others. There was so much Jiraiya didn't know about the blonde boy and he felt like Naruto never told him the full truth about anything.
The first time around it had been unfortunate that the Ghost Surgeon had prevented him from following Naruto but now Jiraiya was determined to stick long enough to the boy to get the whole truth out of him.
The white haired author stared at the entrance to the capital Crocus. He nodded determinedly and entered the city walking straight towards the palace.
Some people gaving him cursory glances as they recognized him. Some of those that recognized him stared at him in awe, those made up the majority and the rest glared at him with disapproval. But the looks of his adoring fans and disapproving haters didn't matter to him right now.
He arrived at the castle gates. Two guards were stationed in front of them. Both wearing their polished, ornate armors. Tabards with the Fiore seal and carried two helbards.
"Halt!" they crossed their two weapons in front of the gate barring him from entering the building "State your name and what business you have here."
"I am Jiraiya..." the white haired man began but was instantly cut off as the left guard interrupted him excitedly.
"Jiraiya?! THAT Jiraiya? Author of the Icha Icha series." the guard asked his eyes shining as he mentioned his book series. The guard on the right looked just as excited at the thought of meeting him.
"Yes..." he began but was interrupted once more
"It's a great honor to meet you in person, Jiraiya-sama." the two spoke in unision and gave him deep bows in reverence of his skill as a writer. The two rummaged in their pant pockets pulling out their respective copies of a book with an orange cover. On the front cover was a woman being chased by a man. On the back was a red circle with a diagonal line going through it.
"Please, Jiraiya-sama, can you autograph my book?" one of the guards pleaded and shoved the book towards the white haired man
"Mine too!" the other exclaimed and pushed his book into the mans arms
"Of course, anything for my loyal fans." Jiraiya laughed boisterously and grinned at them before pulling out a pen and quickly scrawling an autograph on both of the books. With tears in their eyes they accepted the books back.
"Thank you so much, Jiraiya-sama." they cried tears of joy. Their idol had signed their favourite book series. That made up for the boring guard duty they had to fulfill.
"So what are you doing here, Jiraiya-sama?" left decided to ask "If you want to get into the palace I have to disappoint you. Only with permission of the king himself are you allowed to enter."
"Ahh. No, no." Jiraiya quickly shook his head. He had gotten a bit side tracked autographing the two guys books but he had not wasted much time at all "That's not why I am here." he said "I heard a certain Naruto Uzumaki was here in the palace and I was looking for him."
The two guards looked strangely at eachother "Another person looking for, Lord Naruto?" one of the chimed questioningly
"What do you mean another one?" Jiraiya instantly demanded to know and lefty rubbed his head sheepishly
"Well about a week ago someone else was looking for him. It didn't end pretty. Apparently the guy was following the dark mage Orochimaru, but you would know everything about that." the guard explained and Jiraiya's eyes widened. He had read about that but the identity of the mage that had been involved head been kept a secret.
'So Naruto was the one to fight against this Kimimaro.' Jiraiya concluded and narrowed his eyes. What reason could the boy have had to keep his name out of the papers? Normally young people jumped at the chance to spread their name. Also Orochimaru really seemed to have it out for the son of Minato. If it was just anger about him destroying that one base he wouldn't have wasted another person after the first had failed. There was something else about his old teammates interests he had yet to uncover.
"Oh yeah. It was all over the news. And the fight was supposed to be really high level stuff." the guard on the right hand side noted with a nod of his head "The Rune Knights that came from Era really had their work cut out for them. They spend quite some time on the after fight cleanup. Really annoyed them too because they were just supposed to get statements on the fight and question anyone involved in it."
"Yeah, I remember that. Those were a turbulent couple of days." the other one said in agreement with his companion "Didn't Lord Naruto get carried back into the palace all banged up after it?"
"Yeah. Hisui-sama was really worried about him." the two guard apparently had completely forgotten Jiraiya was still there until the white haired man spoke up again.
"Why are you calling him Lord Naruto?" Jiraiya inquired last he knew Naruto wasn't any kind of royality
The guards laughed "It sort of started as a joke because he carried himself with a certain dignity we only knew from foreign ambassadors, minor nobles or the royal family. But after word spread that he had saved Hisui-oujo-sama from getting sexually assaulted every called him that out of admiration." one of them explained and the other added "Also there is the fact that Hisui-oujo-sama and Naruto-sama are apparently an item." he waggled his eyebrows to accent his words and Jiraiya could not help but giggle.
He temporarily forgot about his interest in the boy's mystery shrouded past and gave the boy an imaginary pat on the back.
'Already rescuing and wooing princesses at his age.' the white haired man giggled and pulled out a small notepad on which he began to write his thoughts down 'Perfect plot for my next book.'
He quickly put the notepad back into his pockets before composing himself again.
"Is Naruto still here? I would like to talk to him." Jiraiya finally got to the point of his visit but the guard on the right shook his head
"You are out of luck. Lord Naruto left the palace a few hours ago to continue his journey."
Jiraiya cursed under his breath that was horrible timing but maybe he could still catch up if he knew where he was heading.
"Did he say where he was going?"
"Um..." lefty scratched his chin in thought "I think he mentioned something." he turned to his friend "Do you remember what he said?"
"I think he mentioned visiting the Heart Kreuz shop in town before he would head out." the guard shrugged "Dunno what he would want in a shop for woman."
"Maybe buy a gift for Hisui-oujo-sama?" left suggested and the right guard nodded after a second of giving it a thought "Could be, yes."
"Alright thanks for the info." Jiraiya turned around and sprinted away to get to the shop as fast as he could
The shop was relatively central in the city. He hurried into the shop. At the cash register there was a relative unassuming brown haired girl who looked bored out of her mind. To the right side a cute blonde haired girl was helping a young teenage girl with raven hair pick out an outfit and on the left a group of girls was taking a look at the selection.
As he stepped into the shop all eyes turned towards him. The girls all glared at him and seemed repulsed by him having stepped into the shop.
The blonde girl, who was one of the girls working here, said something to the raven haired girl who nodded in response.
The blonde girl then walked towards Jiraiya.
"I am sorry sir but this is a women's clothing store. I am afraid I have to ask you to leave." her eyes narrowed "If you plan any untoward action I will not hesitate to call the city guards. So please leave."
"No, no. You misunderstand." Jiraiya tried to defuse the situation "I heard that a certain Naruto Uzumaki visited this shop. Blue eyes, longish blonde hair."
Julie shuddered "The scary guy." she muttered which Jiraiya took note of "Yes, he was here. Why are you asking about this?"
"Did he mention where he was going?" the author prodded for more information and Julie gave a soft sigh.
"No, he didn't mention where he was going." the blonde girl shook her head and Jiraiya cursed his rotten luck
"You talking about the blonde hunk?" the brown haired girl at the pay desk drawled "Looked really good. Seemed charming. Exuded confidence. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Had fashion sense and wore really good clothes? That guy?" despite how enarmored her description of Naruto seemed her drawl didn't seem to change. In fact she seemed even more bored than before, if that was even possible.
Jiraiya hoped she really was talking about Naruto "Yes, that guy. Do you know where he went?"
"Hmm, I guess so." the brown haired cashier answered "Passed him while I was on my way for my shift. I remember him walking towards the western exit of the city." she gave a wistful sigh "Too bad I had to get to work. I wouldn't have minded pulling him into an alley and duhuhuhu..." her voice was still more of a drawl than anything else as she trailed off into a monotonous, perverse giggle and some blood dripped out of her nose
"Thanks for the info!" Jiraiya rushed out of the shop towards the western city exit
"I wonder why that guy was asking about Uzumaki-san?" Julie leaned her head into the palm of her hand in confusion
"Tch." the brownhaired cashier made a derisive noise as she wiped the blood away "Probably some kind of pedophile stalker." despite her drawl there was a distinct amount of anger in her voice "If he even lays one hand on that hunk I'll kill him. Gutter trash like that just deserves to die."
Julie somehow got the impression that her co-worker wasn't joking when she said that "Sometimes you are really scaring me, Irma-chan. I hope you know that."
Irma however was blankly staring into the air a thin line of drool dripping from her mouth "I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked absentmindedly causing Julie to sigh at her co-workers behaviour
With a bit of luck he would be able to track Naruto down before he got too far. The road to the west was for a good deal relatively straight forward. Very few twists and turns until you got out of the valley the capital resided in. Even after getting out of the valley the road was merely a single mountainous track with no real way to traverse the off-road parts without spending more time and effort than it was sensible to spend. So for now all he had to do was follow the main road and hope he got into the range of Naruto's magic signature to track.
About one and a half day he had spent trying to track the boy. Occasionally he had felt the unique flare of the boys magic to orient himself but there was still a good deal of distance between them. He purposely travelled at a slower speed and kept his own signature surpressed to that the boy wouldn't notice him, as he had before and get even further out of his reach.
But now he had finally caught up to the boy.
'There he is.' Jiraiya noted with a hint of relief as he spied a familiar mop of blonde hair. The body of the boy was propped against the based of a tree. Strands of soggy yellow hair covered Naruto's eyes but Jiraiya could still see that the boys eyes were closed.
He approached the body and noticed the calm and rhythmic breathing of the boy which told Jiraiya that the blonde was still well alive, if severely wet and quite cold.
With a few applications of magic, which didn't seem to rouse the boy in the least he created a small shelter from the rain and started a crackling camp fire to warm the boy and dry him.
'What is he thinking sleeping here?' Jiraiya tried to think of any sane reason someone would sleep during the rain on the cold and wet ground. Especially Naruto, as little time as he had initially spent with him, didn't strike him like one to do this without reason.
Since the boy was sleeping Jiraiya honed in on the boys magic and it was there but not much 'As if he exhausted it all.' the white haired mage concluded 'But he doesn't have any wounds which would indicate a fight. And any fight in which he would receive no injuries would be unlikely to tax him enough to drain all his magic.' he took another look at the boy. Despite the wet and slightly disheveled state of the boy there was no dirt or anything on him that hinted towards any kind of strenuous activity. Feeling the area around him for any irregularities in the air he noted that the ethernano levels were completely normal which meant that, if any, very little magic had been used around here. So why was Naruto so exhausted?
The white haired mage scanned the surroundings with all the experience of a mage of his power.
Jiraiya soon noted an irregularity around a formation of rocks. Like something wasn't supposed to be there. He approached the rocks and noted that one of the rocks was shimmering, like an illusion, but the shimmering indicated that the spell was losing power and was only barely sustaining itself using the ethernano of the air. He gave the rock a prod and it shattered into thousand tiny pieces like glass which ended up fading away like an airy sort of mist.
He saw a set of stairs leading down into some kind of underground complex.
Had Naruto stumbled upon another of them? It was a possibility 'Only one way to find out though.'
Jiraiya's heavy steps echoed in the empty halls as he stepped deeper and deeper down into the underground building. Certain lights on the wall were lit, like they were supposed to lead to something 'Or someone.'
Jiraiya took meticulous care to not step into any traps, if there were any until he arrived in a large spacious room which could very well have fit at least more than a hundred people without problems.
Towards the back of the room was a stone like throne, which looked severely uncomfortable.
Jiraiya would have thought that it was maybe the tomb or secret hiding spot of some ancient noble with the way this place was deserted and styled but there were no traps at all.
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw a body lying down on the ground, close to the throne. Carefully Jiraiya walked towards the body, to check if the person was alive or dead. What the perverted mage saw shocked him to the core. His jaw was hanging. While the skin was dry and shriveled like a mummy he recognized the pasty, chalk white complexion and the contrasting raven hair anywhere.
It was his old teammate, Orochimaru. Aside from the mentioned fact that the skin of the snake like man was completely dried up there was also a small gaping hole in the mans midsection. But there was not blood at all. Jiraiya noted how the edges of the wound were completely cauterized and the were residues of magic all over it 'As if he's been hit with a mini-Jupiter canon.'
That certainly explained the lack of blood but not the shriveled up skin. There were very few abilities capable of that. Dehydration magic which could rip water from sources. It was usually used in arid and desert regions if one had run out of water and nothing to get it from an cacti. But the process was far too slow and arduous to use it in a fight, especially against a mage of Orochimaru's power. So Jiraiya chucked that out of the window.
The next type of magic that could do this was Fire magic but Orochimaru's skin was not burnt or balckened. Jiraiya did not see the aftereffects of any fire raging at all in the room, let alone one strong enough to completely dry a person to a mummy like state.
Another option would be heat magic. But Heat magic was very imprecise and easy to diffuse in large areas, nevermind that Orochimaru's skin lacked the usual blisters and red scalding which would be typical of that magic.
The last magic he could think of was some kind of sand/desert type magic to achieve a similar effect as to the dehydration magic but faster. However the effect didn't spread very far and would thus cause someone to dry up very unevenly. Whatever magic had affected Orochimaru it did it in a perfectly symmetric and even way.
Jiraiya was about to shelve the mystery for another time when he remembered something.
'Wait! There was something else...' he remembered how a while back a dark mage only referred to as 'The Crimson Reaper' had run around and killed people. He had marked his start in Konoha that dreadful massacre day and then was all over Fiore. The victims had always been found in a particular way. Dried up, with completely pale skin and no more blood in their body.
'The dried up body would fit... I didn't notice the paleness because Orochimaru always looked like that...' Jiraiya felt disgusted at what he thought about doing. Desecrating a corpse, even of a person as vile as Orochimaru was just disrespectful. Nevertheless he took a deep breath and then used solid scrip magic to make a cut along Orochimaru's skin. But there was no blood at all coming out of the wound. There was just this large horrible gash that exposed the man's red innards.
'But the Reaper was supposed to have died...' Jiraiya shook his head with a horrible realization 'No, his body was never found and it was just assumed from all the blood found in the area that he died and was washed into the ocean, together with the assumption of the Scarlet girl who said she killed him it was merely assumed he had died...'
Jiraiya came to a horrible conclusion "No, no, no, no..." he muttered under his breath as he rushed out of the room and back towards the open. He had asked Naruto about the massacre only to have him tell him he had left Konoha. Of course he would have survived it if he was the one that was the perpetrator! It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. The son of his friend Minato, a dark mage? The thought alone was so alien and revolting and yet he could not deny the undeniable amount of evidence.
He had arrived back at the camp he had created and saw that the blonde was still asleep.
With grim determination Jiraiya poked the boy. He needed answers. He would get answers. There was no denying him.
-Flashback End-
"Okay so tell me what happened back in the underground complex?" Jiraiya pressured the boy for information, he wouldn't give the boy a chance to weasel out of this.
Naruto gulped. He couldn't fight Jiraiya with his exhaustion. He would of course lie but then the man would likely find out. It seemed that the friend of his old man already had a good idea what was going on and just wanted to hear it all from Naruto's own mouth.
"I fought with Orochimaru." Naruto responded calmly and Jiraiya gave him a calculating look
"And?" the white haired man prodded and almost growled "Go on."
"I killed him." Naruto confirmed without any inflection to his voice "That's what you wanted to hear, wasn't it. Now leave me alone." Naruto replied calmly and tried to lay back down to go back to sleep but Jiraiya stopped him forcefully
"Not so fast. I said we would talk. The talk is over when I say it is over." Jiraiya barked at the blonde who nodded rather stiffly "So I saw the corpse. Orochimaru died in a rather peculiar way, wouldn't you say?" Jiraiya grinned menacingly at the boy in front of him "Dried up and completely void of blood. Kind of like he was drained. Really interesting wouldn't you say?" Naruto's eyes widened ever so slightly 'Damn it.' he cursed inwardly if only he had been in a better shape after the fight he would just have burned the corpse to a crisp. But it seemed Jiraiya had stumbled upon the thing he tried to keep hidden.
"Now this kind of killing methode was in use not so long ago by a particular dark mage called the Crimson Reaper. Coincidentally the guy started out in Konoha, murdering everyone in that village. Coincidentally you were one of the only survivors and you have a motive since you admitted they denied you your existence." the eyes of the mage in front of him narrowed to dangerous slits and he could feel the full force of the mans aura weighing down on him "Now fess up boy. Are you the Crimson Reaper?" the man almost roared as blue magic power rolled off of the white haired mage in spades
The blonde gritted his teeth. And remained silent.
Jiraiya reigned his aura back in as best as he could "It is better you tell me now. Otherwise I drag you to Era before the council and tell them everything I know and with my word against yours you will get a hefty sentence in their high security, isolation cells."
Naruto released a deep breath to get rid of the anger that was brimming inside of him "Yes, I am the Crimson Reaper." the blonde retorted with all the composition he could muster "Are you happy now?" suddenly Jiraiya's fist collided with Naruto's face sending him flying, causing his aching body to ache even more.
Naruto rubbed his jaw to alleviate some of pain that was throbbing in that part of his body.
Jiraiya stalked over to the blonde and he would actually admit that Jiraiya was a thousand times more scary than Orochimaru. Perhaps that was because of the juxtaposition of the man's normally good natured, perverted, behaviour against this stern, overbearing, unrelenting mage. In any case he stared into the man's eyes which burned with a hidden inferno as he was pulled up by his clothes.
"You fucking bastard." he growled and threw Naruto back down onto the ground "I should fucking kill you. I grew up in that village, I was taught there, I met my first and some of my best friends there and you...YOU! You dare to take all of that away because some people were mean to you?" the white haired man spat in fury "That is the kind of behaviour I would expect from a petty, stupid, child." Jiraiya tried to calm himself down with deep breaths "You are lucky that I am not like you. Killing you, as satisfying as it may seem to me right now will get me nothing. It will alleviate everything I am feeling towards you right now but it wont make anyone alive again."
"So instead you are going to report me and have me thrown into jail." Naruto stated dryly he wasn't in the mood for another 'heartfelt' talk especially when Jiraiya wasn't even his father.
"Psh no." Jiraiya grinned deviously as he denied Naruto's statement "You could rot away in a cell that's true but what good will that do?" he shook his head "Nope, you are going to accompany me. You are going to do the things I tell you and I will have you repent and atone for what you did, so much that when the realization of it hits you, you will return to Konoha, prostrate yourself before the village gates and beg, bawling like a baby, for forgiveness." the mage smirked darkly at him "If you try to run away or do anything to me be rest assured that your secret is going to be spilled to everyone."
Naruto noted that even someone like Jiraiya seemed to have a more darker, devious side to them. The blonde gave a sigh.
"Did I miss it being 'Talk down to Naruto day'?" Naruto muttered in frustration "First..." he trailed off and stopped himself from saying anything at all as he realized that Jiraiya gave him a curious look.
'Did he talk with someone else before this?' Jiraiya asked himself 'But there were no signs that another person was here...' A new mystery for him to solve.
'First my father and now the pervert.' he finished in his head 'I feel like chewing gum.' Naruto laid back down on the uncomfortable ground, next to the warming campfire.
-Spell Grimoire-
Dehydration Magic Caster Type Magic
A magic that does exactly what it says it does. It dehydrates targets by draining water out of them. First created in areas with very arid climate and in deserts to keep those who had used up all their water alive.
Trying to dehydrate living creatures with this magic is highly ineffective as it will take more time than it is worth.
Heat Magic Caster Type Magic
This type of magic creates blasts of heat. This heat can be used to heat anything from water, to food and even used offensively against living things.
However this branch of magic lacks precision in open spaces and against moving targets.