Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I gain anything (but writing and editing experience) by using the plot and characters from these works. Naruto and the Harry Potter series belong to their respective creators, editors, publishers, and companies.

Summary: They were all trying to escape, whether it was from fate, war, grief, abuse, hate. They were all trying to escape. There are many Harry Potter spoilers for those who have not read the books, and just as many spoilers for the Naruto series.

A/N: This chapter does have some very suggestive themes in it, I mean it's Jiraiya, what do we expect; however, it is not explicit just implicit. Let me know if I should raise the rating, I originally had this at M but that seemed like overkill, though I do get paranoid about ratings. Anyways, please enjoy ~ dperessedchildren -edited 2/9/13

Key:

text is text

spell you can tell when it's a spell, usually as perversion of a Latin phrase

"dialogue" a foreign language, the opposite language of the world they are in


Chapitre cinq


Jiraiya and Harry had not gone far before they set up camp due to Jiraiya's debilitated state. Harry caught some fish while Jiraiya watched over the newborn, well he was almost a week old by this point, but for all intents and purposes he was a newborn.

Jiraiya watched the young baby fondly; his features softened as he the little baby scrunched his nose in his sleep. Like most new infants, Naruto's body was unbelievably (to the sannin) small; his little fingers seemed fragile even as they clenched tightly to his swaddle. The baby was also starting to develop wild blonde locks, just like his father. Though the hair was fine, Jiraiya could see by the way it was growing in that the boy would have a bird's nest for hair just like Jiraiya's new and old Konoha students.

Naruto. That was the boy's name, and it made the old man smile. Minato named his child after the main character in Jiraiya's first book, whom Jiraiya named him after Nagato. He should visit his old students. Perhaps while they were traveling around the world they'd pop their heads into Amegakure.

Harry returned during Jiraiya's musing, and presented the fish to the old man. It took a few minutes until the Sannin acknowledged the boy's presence. "What do I do?" he asked, having caught two gilled creatures. He understood that he was to catch food, and that eating most animals raw could induce sickness. He was also aware that he needed to cook the fish, but how?

"You cook it," Jiraiya stated dryly, while his gray eyes shifted back to the sleeping baby in his arms.

"How?" the Sannin looked back up at the kid, and wanted to smack himself in the head. Of course a six-year-old wouldn't know how to cook for himself, and if he did then Jiraiya wanted to talk to the kid's parents and there better be a damn good explanation for that. Then again, this boy's parent he would rather avoid in the future…

"Alright, brat," Jiraiya heaved a sigh as he forced himself up on wobbly legs. Man! Whatever that crucio thing was, it really took a lot out of him, and what was with that stick in the ANBU's hand?

"Take Naruto and watch closely," Jiraiya ordered as he passed off the infant, and gestured for the boy to sit next to him while he began to prepare the fish for cooking.

He set the fish on a rock slab after putting a metal plate on its surface. He then withdrew a scaling knife from the cooking utensils and began. First came the tedious chore of 'descaling' it, only after doing so could he chop off the head. Jiraiya then proceeded to cut along the belly and the back so he could remove the bones and insides with greater ease. Harry watched closely with his face scrunched up in unease, while he subconsciously moved the sleeping baby to face his chest and away from the atrocious smell.

"Got it?" Jiraiya asked after he finished the first fish, Harry nodded slowly in return, "Good, now it's your turn," he then set down the knife and began to wipe off his hands before taking the baby from Harry.

As the six-year-old set to work by imitating what the older man had done, Jiraiya harried him through the whole process, and teased Harry when he looked ready to be sick. It was for the best that the boy knew how to cook, in a few years (hopefully ten) he would be on missions by himself and would need to learn how fend for himself. It was best to learn how to cook now while he was still a Genin, rather than make an attempt at cooking when he was a Jōnin and end up dying from food poisoning.

With two fish ready to be cooked, Jiraiya motioned for the boy to get out a campfire skillet and place it over their fire. Once the meat was set to cook, an awkward silence filled their campsite.

"So… what was your name, Sarutobi-Sensei only ever referred to you as Namikaze-kun" the sizzling of meat filled the air as Harry sat before the fire watching it.

"That's my name," he replied softly as he tried not to frown or cry. Ninja didn't cry, he reminded himself.

"No first name?" Jiraiya joked, only to regret his words as the boy shook his head violently with tears slipping silently down his face.

"No," the boy wiped at his eyes vigorously in an attempt to keep his face dry.

"Meaning you really do not have a first name or no one will tell you it?" Jiraiya already knew the answer and shook his head angrily. How could anyone deny a child the right of having a name? Harry just remained silent and glared at the fire as the fish continued to bubble and spit in the hot iron pan.

"Then… you won't mind if I just call you brat, will ya?" Jiraiya asked after the silence had stretched for half a minute.

Harry looked over at him with his reddening puffy eyes and gave a small smile. "Uzumaki-san called me that," he whispered after giving his consent to that nickname.

"I bet she did," Jiraiya replied in an equally soft voice with a slight smile on his face. This kid wasn't so bad; maybe teaching him wouldn't be such a chore.


By the next day Jiraiya felt much better, but he was still a touch pale and wobbly. To pass yesterday afternoon and night, he gave the six-year-old several scrolls to read, all of them pertained to the science behind seals. As they traveled that day, he handed the boy more scrolls, seeing that Harry had finished the ones from yesterday.

He was perturbed by the boy's ability to read at such a young age, though the boy was six and he was a prodigy. Granted, when Jiraiya thought about it, most children began to read at five, and most prodigies began reading when they were four. Most prodigies were capable of reading adequately by age five or six… however, unlike most six-year-olds, the boy rarely stopped to ask him a question over the meaning of a word. He also read quickly, and with an ease Jiraiya was unaccustomed to seeing in most Genin when pertaining to such a heavy concept.

Jiraiya eyed the boy as they continued their walk out of fire country. They were going to make for Kumogakure. Despite the conflicts in the past, namely Kumogakure kidnaping Uzumaki Kushina and constantly trying to amass power by stealing other countries' secrets, Jiraiya had made a good friend in the jinchūriki named B. He also had an informant he hoped to meet with while there, not to mention some of the women there were so…so fiery!

He was shivering in anticipation of the chases he would get into! However, the blood stopped flowing "down there" when he recalled what the brat's overprotective father had said. No bath houses! How was he supposed to do any research now? And he couldn't go into bars with a little kid, but that was where he got most of his information and met his informants.

"Are you researching new techniques? Are they water jutsus? And what informants?" Jiraiya jumped when the boy broke his distressed train of thought.

"I spoke aloud?" Jiraiya asked with a squeak in his voice.

However, Jiraiya put his concerns away when he saw the boy flush with shame and look away. "I-I'm sorry," he whispered, his face pulled into a grimace.

"Did you do something?" the Sannin asked slowly as he moved ahead a little to regard the boy more closely. Harry looked guilty.

"I can't help it!" Harry exclaimed with frustration lining his voice. "When I look at people I just – I just see their thoughts!" Harry's face was distorted with regret, frustration, and shame.

"Is that your bloodline technique?" at the boy's weak nod, Jiraiya wondered if he should reconsider their plans on Kumogakure. The country would be eager for such a bloodline.

"Brat, we're going to Kumogakure, and they're always looking for new weapons, do you think you can contain your bloodline technique when we're there?" Harry made a contemplative expression, not once faltering in his step.

"I don't know, but I could try not talking, that way no one would know I knew what they were thinking," Harry suggested in his childish and inarticulate voice before picking up where he left off in the scroll.

The more Harry read the scrolls, the more sense every jutsu made. It was like a light clicked on in the boy's head. Seals were the secret behind everything! They were like a medium through which one's chakra passed and was amplified. Hand signs were one form of seals, though few would believe it. Traditionally, one would think of a seal as something restrictive, something that either contributes to power or locks it away. In actuality, they were so much more and Harry only now understood this.

Seals could lengthen the effect of a jutsu, such as a transformation technique, but there were several other types of jutsus this applied to. Seals also strengthened the power behind a jutsu as well as increasing the success rate of the technique. A common example of this was the use of hand signs, most jutsus did not require them once the chakra pattern was mastered, but ninjas still used them to focus the chakra used and to amplify the power of the attack.

Seals could also specialize an attack, or be fit to complete one specific goal. Harry's father mentioned one such case. He had apprehended a ROOT operative that was planning treason, and when Ibiki interrogated the boy, the child could not reveal anything despite his desire to spill out information. James explained to Minato that Danzo had silenced the boy with a seal. A seal specialized to keep information about the conniving old council member secret.

So fascinating!

As Harry thought about the other specific seals he had seen, he recalled the seal on the Kyūbi's cage. The one when Kushina was the vessel and the new one of Naruto's were very different from each other. They both held the same purpose, but Naruto's had greater reinforcements. Said reinforcements included a small part of both the boy's parents' souls guarding the seal. There was also a part to the seal that would keep the Kyūbi from interacting with Naruto until the boy became cognizant of it and needed its help, such as in a life threatening or highly emotional situation. From what Harry could gather, Kushina always knew of her tenant, and always had access to the demon. In addition, little by lite, the Kyūbi's chakra was merging with Naruto's, thus adding to the boy's natural chakra reserves.

The boy turned his attention to the baby strapped to Jiraiya's chest. Perhaps it was best for the boy to be oblivious of his tenant, but what if something should happen to the baby? What if the Kyūbi could benefit the boy more than harm him? It would have to be when the infant had developed a strong sense of himself, a strong will.

The six-year-old returned to his reading, determined to understand more.


Jiraiya had just finished quizzing the boy over seals, and felt humbled. It had only been a week, and he had only given the boy scrolls on seal theory! He had never seen someone take to the study so quickly or understand it so naturally. Even Minato paled in comparison to the boy's grasp on seal theory. The next step would be application of common seals, and once the boy became proficient at that, it would be onto specialized seals.

When the Toad Sage took on this job, he had anticipated spending at least six months on seal theory before spending a year on common seals, thereafter proceeding to complex and specialized seals. After four years of perfecting that, he would teach the boy how to make his own seals and modify preexisting seals. However, his plans were thrown to the wayside in the first week of being the brat's teacher.

Jiraiya regarded the young prodigy across from him. They were in a hotel in some small village on the outskirts of Yugakure. It had magnificent hot springs, heavenly to be exact. Since they were hot springs and not bath houses, Jiraiya felt confident he could get some research done. But now he had to think over what he was going to teach the boy, especially if he continued to learn at this rate.

"Hot spring time~!" Jiraiya sang as he shot up from his seat, an idea had come to him.


As stated before, the hot springs were heavenly, heaven on earth, the greatest thing since orgasms…yes definitely as wonderful as orgasms, especially since they were all open air! He could hear the soft conversations of women just on the other side of a rock divider, and their occasional giggles sent shivers down his spine.

Though, Jiraiya reminded himself that it was not the time to get distracted by feminine presences, especially with an impressionable six-year-old and infant in his company. Said six-year-old was currently walking across the water, occasionally his foot would sink into the spring and he would wince before adjusting his chakra flow to keep him atop the water.

Jiraiya had been shocked to find out the boy did not know how to water walk, despite having perfect control of his chakra and being a master at wall walking. So, he had the boy walk across the hot spring while Jiraiya washed little Naruto in his baby bath. Of course it was filled with warm water from the hotel, not the hot spring water.

For Harry, this was quite difficult, having to circulate his chakra in the pattern for the Hiraishin while also having to regulate the amount of chakra he put into his feet. The way chakra flowed for the Hiraishin did not affect the way other jutsus were performed, but it was awkward to have to constantly redirect the way his chakra wanted to naturally go while performing jutsus.

From what Minato had told him, once his body's chakra began circulating that way naturally, he'd be only one step away from mastering the technique. The last step was having the technique come to him like second nature. This would reduce the strain on his chakra to the point where the technique would almost become effortless, and he could do it without depleting too much chakra.

It worked this way for many techniques. Once one's body, mind, and chakra became used to the new method, to the point where it came naturally, there would be hardly any strain to the user. Of course with eye techniques it was very different, especially since over use usually led to blindness.

Without really thinking, Harry cast his attention to Naruto, who was crying at having soap fall into his eyes. In a blur that startled Harry, the boy was at the edge of the water next to the baby and he started to fall. The edge of the pool was gravitating upwards to meet his head, or so it seemed to the stunned six-year-old.

Jiraiya was in shock, but he quickly caught the boy before he split his head open. The boy had just moved from the other side of the pool in – in not even a blink of the eye! Jiraiya stared at the boy's afterimage on the other side of the hot spring.

Harry was trembling as he pulled himself out of the hot water. The old man seemed to be too shocked to tend to Naruto, so the six-year-old began to gently rinse the soap from the baby's eyes.

"How…?" Jiraiya finally asked after Harry finished cleaning up the baby and was now drying him off. The six-year-old was sitting at the edge next to the old man, Naruto was in his lap as he patted the baby's skin dry, while he dangled his feet in the water.

"I didn't mean to," at the skeptical look, Harry flushed and bowed his head. "Cousin Minato taught me everything about the Hiraishin and he told me to change the way my chakra went so I could do the technique," Harry elaborated, a slight frown marred his features.

"How does circulating your chakra a specific way make you complete the technique?" Jiraiya asked in a not amused voice. It was clear the boy was drained from the technique, hell, the child could have gone into a coma from chakra depletion.

"A lot of jutsus work that way," Harry mumbled as he looked down at the small head resting against his chest.

"Really?" Jiraiya's unimpressed question made Harry flush slightly in frustration.

"For the technique your chakra has to flow a certain way, that makes it so you don't have to use hand signs," half of the boy's words were rushed together, a trait common in most children when they wanted to explain themselves.

"You know how after getting a technique down," the child began again, now trying a new angle to make the older man understand, "It's a lot easier to do it, it takes less energy"

"Yes, your muscles, mind, and chakra are used to functioning in that manner so the technique becomes…" the light clicked on in Jiraiya's head as he began to trail off. "Alright then, what else did he teach you," the Sannin challenged, not one cell in his brain thought about the giggling on the other side of the rocks.


"So…" Harry had his legs crossed as he sat on the floor and Naruto lay on a blanket in front of him. The now two and a half week old seemed content to nap while his caretakers had a staring competition.

"The key behind the Rasengan," Harry continued slowly, managing to articulate his words correctly. "Is upsetting the chakra to the point where it makes its own ball. Sort of like a cat batting at a balloon?" the six-year-old reasoned, his eyes narrowed as Jiraiya formed another Rasengan in his hand.

He could see the faint lines of chakra as they circulated in a chaotic pattern. Closing his eyes, he could see the flow better. The chakra was circulating clockwise and counterclockwise. The inner part of the orb was rotating counterclockwise, while the exterior rotated in the opposite direction, encasing the other but both feeding into each other. The result was a powerful sphere of chakra that would eventually rotate on its own.

"Brat!" Jiraiya's yell caused Harry to snap his eyes open, but it also made Naruto cry out in alarm. Harry gave the old man a glare while he picked up the distraught baby and lulled him back to sleep.

"You weren't paying attention," Jiraiya justified, with his arms folded over his chest and puffing out his cheeks. Stupid brat, not even paying attention to his elder when he's about to teach said brat an extremely special jutsu!

"I see the chakra better with my eyes closed," Harry retorted in a hiss as Naruto finally calmed down.

Jiraiya's expression was comical, his mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out of his head. "I thought only Minato-kun could do that!" Jiraiya exclaimed loudly, causing Naruto to cry again. Harry made a hushing motion to his teacher while he repeated his previous ministrations with the infant blonde. "Sorry," mumbled the old man in a very unapologetic way.

Harry briefly wondered if he would ever get used to the old man's childish moods. He never acted like that, and his father most certainly never behaved in such a manner. Occasionally Minato would resemble a child, usually after Kushina smacked him in the head for some forgetful act. But with Minato it was always a show, not how he actually felt or behaved.

Harry tried to picture his father as a child; he probably would have been uncaring with a stone face. As the boy pondered this, the image of an Uchiha came to his mind. His father probably would have resembled a typical Uchiha prodigy as a child. Cold, heartless, cruel, and driven would have been his father. He wondered how his grandparents dealt with that, did they make his father that way? Were his grandparents as focused on power as the Uchiha's were?

Now Harry was thinking about that peculiar clan. They were a strange sort, unsavory at times. They rarely associated with anyone outside their compound, unless said person was distantly related. Harry couldn't help but wonder how they were so well populated when they refused to interact with "outsiders." Of course the police corps interacted with "outsiders," but they were not very pleasant interactions.

This brought up another question. Did anyone in the clan join actual shinobi ranks, not just their special division created out of fear and suspicion? If the six-year-old heard his father correctly, one Uchiha worked in the T & I department. There might be another teaching at the academy, but Harry was positive the woman had been disowned and did not have the Sharingan trait.

Harry had heard rumors that there was an Uchiha prodigy training to be admitted into regular shinobi ranks. Minato talked about him briefly, he was the heir, son of Uchiha Fugaku. Now what was his name…Ichigo? It started with an "I". His cousin joked that he'd be quickly drafted into special ops when he awakened his Sharingan, if only because they could call him a bad omen… Starts with an 'I' and bad omen, Harry wanted smack himself in the forehead, the prodigy's name was Itachi.

Wasn't Itachi his age? Hadn't he heard that name recently? It hit him then. Harry had passed by the Uchiha compound to get to the main gates a week and a half ago, and the whole section was abuzz with news of Itachi's Sharingan awakening. It revealed itself while he was protecting his new baby brother from falling debris due to the Kyūbi attack. That part, the boy figured out from a quick glance at one of the gossiping Uchihas.

Another prodigy his age! Harry wondered if they would ever work together, and if the boy had gone through a similar training regime with his father as Harry had with his.

Harry jumped in alarm, his thoughts about Uchihas and his father as a child were cut off sharply by the fact that he was now drenched after something had hit him in the face. Jiraiya was glaring down at him with, what Harry took to be, a water balloon; one he was lightly tossing in the air and catching with one hand.

"Do I need to throw another one?" Jiraiya threatened, before he began backing away from a very menacing looking child.

"You got Naruto wet," Harry stated slowly, his green eyes narrowed dangerously at the old man. Naruto was still very much awake, but at least he was not crying, yet.

"Maybe you should pay better attention to your surroundings," the old man countered in his childish way before tossing the water balloon to the boy, who caught it in one hand without jostling Naruto.

Harry nodded stiffly. His father would have been so disappointed with him. He might have even had to go through a surprise mental training session. Harry shuddered at the thought; the last assault from his father had been…more than harrowing. He had not been able to open his eyes the next day, nor could he think properly.

"Alright, I want you to pop that balloon with your chakra," Jiraiya's order forced the boy away from his unsavory thoughts. The man then gestured to a basket filled with water balloons, "Once you've popped all of those, we'll move onto the next step," Jiraiya then got up to leave.

"The formula's on the table next to his diapers," and with nothing more to say, Jiraiya left his new student with the baby. It was only after leaving the hotel that he realized the boy was only six years old and such actions could be considered neglect.

Cursing under his breath, he summoned his favorite toad to keep an eye on the brat. Honestly, he just wanted to get laid, no, he needed to get laid. He wasn't supposed to "defile" the kid in anyway, and the man doubted he could explain "little Jiraiya" acting up without corrupting the boy's innocence. Somehow, Jiraiya doubted the kid would ever know about sex until his wedding night. What a sad life that would be.


Harry didn't bat an eye at the toad's appearance. Instead, he focused on the task before him. He could get the water inside the ball to move counterclockwise, but the issue now was also having it move clockwise. In his mind he could see how the water should be circulated, the inner whirlpool feeding into the exterior counter spinning cyclone, which feed back into inner whirlpool.

Harry sighed in frustration as the inner part faltered when he began to make the exterior part. The toad just sat looking at him, looking at him with amusement in his large eyes. With a determined fire burning in the green depths of his eyes, Harry went back to work. After all, when did he ever get something right on the first try? Rarely, when he was training with his father.

Harry had yet to take a break, the toad chiding him for being "too stubborn." It was well past his bed time, but Harry refused to go to bed unsuccessful. As it reached eleven thirty, Naruto had his first potty problem of the evening.

Over the past week, the two ninja had been woken up at least three times each night. Naruto was content to nap during the day and feed at least five times, but when normal sleeping hours occurred, he could not stay quiet. Usually he had his diapers changed twice during the day, but at night he was changed three times if not four. Did he save his bodily functions up during the day?

Jiraiya seemed more clueless than Harry when it came to changing his diapers; however, the book Harry read was very thorough on what to do. Thus Harry was able to do it successfully after the second try. Since the old man had been of absolutely no help, he made him clean the cloth diaper, and every one after that.

Harry now worked through changing the diaper almost absentmindedly, until Naruto began urinating on him. The little blonde just giggled and clasped his hands together while Harry looked at him in shock.

"Should he be red like that?" the toad commented from the six-year-old's shoulder, how he got there from the other side of the room, and avoided the pee was beyond Harry.

Harry brought his attention to the redness the toad mentioned and grimaced at the inflammation on Naruto's bottom. Narrowing his gaze, Harry summoned his memories from the books he read on child rearing. Closing his eyes he focused on the segment entitled "Surprises while Changing."

"His skin is probably irritated from being in the diaper so long," Harry reasoned as he set to work on cooling the agitated skin, he stumbled over "irritated" having never pronounced the word out loud before. Naruto cooed softly as his irritated bottom was being healed and a new diaper was put on.

Harry quickly cleaned his hands before working on rocking Naruto back to sleep. After trying several of the lulling methods highlighted in his books, Naruto finally drifted off.

Sighing in relief, the boy set the baby back in his makeshift cradle; pillows on the ground in the form of an open topped box. With Naruto back to sleep, Harry set to work on bursting the water balloon.

"You're not showering?" the boy looked at the toad in confusion for a moment, "He pissed on you," the toad deadpanned, causing Harry to flush slightly.

"I have to burst the balloon," the boy would have gone on to say more if not for the toad's following speech.

"The old man has no clue what to teach you, and you learn too fast. Take it a little slower and Jiraiya-san would be relieved," why should he learn the material slowly? His father always wanted to move onto the next concept as soon as he explained the previous one. There were no breaks, no time to truly digest the information. Was it bad to learn too quickly, was he doing something wrong?!

Furrowing his brow slightly, Harry nodded stiffly. "Okay," he whispered slowly before making his way toward the bathroom to clean up from being target practice for the little baby. The toad just stared at the curious human before him, and wondered what exactly was going through his young mind.


Jiraiya was thoroughly stated and now had new material for his books. Looking over at his fair haired partner, the Sannin could not help but smile. She was a perfect specimen, her proportions spot on for her height and weight. It would shock many that the renowned Pervert Sage preferred real women over exceedingly busty centerfolds. Though Tsuande he could handle, what with her tall stature and wider build, it looked more natural than the girls in magazines. Of course he would over sexualize this night's events for his readers, doubting the sale's ratings if he described an average woman to his sex crazed readers.

Guilt began to eat at the Sannin, how exactly was the brat fairing? Did he already pop the balloon? Has Naruto woken up yet? Would the brat even sleep tonight? He saw a stubborn drive in the boy, the same drive he saw in Minato, the same drive he prayed Naruto would have someday. Perhaps he should go check on the brat, just to make sure he didn't overexert himself.

Sitting up, he began to search for his clothes, only to have silken arms wrap around his waist.

"Leaving so soon?" a pouty yet sultry voice asked, dark eyes looked up at him mischievously.

"I should go check on my" Jiraiya thought for a moment. He wasn't looking for relationships, something most of his lays assumed would develop after a passionate night, and so he made up a lie about having a sexually transmitted disease and telling his partner that the condom broke. That made sure they never sought him out again, but now he had a better excuse, one that did not include much lying "grandson," he stated with a cheery smile in place.

The woman was shocked, that much was clear, but a smirk made its way across her face. "Well aren't you a sexy grandpa," she teased, walking her slender fingers up his stomach. "If you're leaving your grandson alone, I'm sure he's old enough to spend one night without his ojii-san," she teased, rising up on one arm to plant a kiss on the older man's slightly parted lips.

Eh, what the hell. He had his most loyal summon watching the kid, what did he have to worry about? With a playful grin in place, Jiraiya let his libido take over.


Jiraiya walked into the hotel room they had been staying for the past… now that Jiraiya thought about it, they had been in the hot spring town for almost a week. He'd be run out of the town soon, so he'd enjoy his stay until he became unwelcomed.

The Sannin quirked an eyebrow at the sight before him; the hotel room was immaculate; there were no signs that the balloons were popped, and Harry was feeding Naruto his formula while appearing to have gotten no sleep the night before.

"About time you showed up!" barked the toad, waiting impatiently to be dismissed so he could go back to Mount Myōboku.

Jiraiya did dismiss his summon, though he did not really pay attention as he did so. "I figured you'd have popped the balloon by now," Jiraiya commented as he moved around the cleaned hotel room. The maid service only changed the sheets and did any laundry in the hampers…

Harry had his head bowed again, and Jiraiya sighed while crouching down next to the six-year-old. Placing a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder in a comforting way, he tried to cheer the boy up, "Hey, it took me a long time to get the Rasengan down," the old man had a wide smile on his face, one that was prone to encouraging people, "Plus you're young, not everything will come to you as naturally as seals do, and you have time if they don't," Harry looked up briefly, Naruto still sucking away at his bottle.

"So we won't work on anything else until I make the Rasengan?" Harry asked in a soft voice, one edged with disappointment. He had hoped Jiraiya would be a different teacher than his father.

"Why the hell would we do that?" the Toad Sannin asked as he pulled back from the child and gave him an alarmed look.

Harry just bowed his head in response, his face quickly colored. That was how he had always been trained, one jutsu at a time and he was expected to master it after the first day. Jiraiya shook his head again, for he had a good idea where the boy's thoughts were going.

"Listen, Namikaze-kun" it was painful to say that name, but he needed the boy to know he was serious, "It doesn't make you weak, it doesn't make you a disappointment, it just shows you're human. I didn't understand the Rasengan concept for months; you got it in one day. And who says you have to learn one thing at a time, this gives us an opportunity to try learning tons of different techniques, as long as you keep practicing what you've learned, you're not letting anyone down," the way those green eyes stared up at him made Jiraiya's throat constrict.

Those brilliant green eyes looked at him in slight shock, with disbelief flitting across the surface. There was also admiration and confusion, but above all else, there was relief. It wasn't relief that he was moving onto a new technique, but it was relief that he could learn at his own pace. It was relief that there wouldn't be repercussions for taking too long, and it stung to see that in someone so young.

"I take it you cleaned?" he asked as he looked away from those haunting eyes, and tried to keep his emotions in check. At the boy's nod Jiraiya stood up and continued to survey the room, "Why?"

"Toad-san told me you would be happy if I took my time," Harry began, now burping a full Naruto. "And Naruto wakes so much at night, so…I cleaned,"

"Go at whatever pace you feel you should be at," Jiraiya called over his shoulder while he wondered if the boy often cleaned. The room was cleaner than when they got there.

"Yes Jiraiya-sensei,"

Harry had just set Naruto down on his blanket, and began to pull out one of the scrolls Jiraiya gave him on seals.

"Why don't you take a nap?" the old man suggested as he took the scroll away from the boy whose brow furrowed in equal parts confusion and indignation. "Growing boys need their energy," Jiraiya intoned, and tapped the six-year-old on the head with the scroll, a goofy smile was distorting his face.


After a week and a half in the hot spring village, they had yet to be kicked out. It was a miracle! Though it was probably because Jiraiya had very little time to chase skirts, thus no infuriated husbands or affronted females to kick him out. Having an adorable six-year-old and infant probably helped him as well. It certainly got him some tail when he needed it!

Trysts aside, the man's time in the village was spent training the brat and taking care of baby Naruto. He also had picked up a bit of information he thought the Hokage would be interested in when he made his monthly report.

Jiraiya had never had a more enthused student. Everything he taught the brat was lapped up with bright eyes. Those eyes were bright with the love of learning, whether this was innate or developed from intense training, Jiraiya could not say. From what the old man could remember of the boy's father, from Minato's Genin days, he was more power hungry than thirsty for knowledge. This boy just loved to learn; whether he used these techniques or not, did not matter to the boy, he just desired to understand.

As their second week there began, Jiraiya started quizzing the boy on different seals: asking him what each seal did, what the symbols meant, and what the diagrams implied. When the boy answered incorrectly or missed something in his answer, which was a rare occurrence, he would flinch as if anticipating a blow or reprimand. But when he received neither, his eyes would grow wide and he'd ask one hundred and one questions on the topic he missed. This usually led to a very long but intellectual conversation on seal theory.

As the boy became proficient at identifying seals, Jiraiya began teaching him the most basic one, secrecy seals. Harry quickly progressed in the level of secrecy seals, until he finally reached the point where he could make a seal that required his blood alone to open it.

But throughout all of this, the boy continued his work on the Rasengan. He could successfully maintain the inner whirlpool while creating the exterior cyclone, but when it came to the chakra flow becoming self-sustaining to the point of breaking the balloon, he failed. Perhaps it was the constant rerouting of his chakra, to maintain the circulation pattern required for the Hiraishin that interfered. But how was Jiraiya to know? He couldn't sense energies like his two Konoha students could.

The boy also meditated for at least an hour each day, claiming it was a training his father had him do. Apparently it was a way of harnessing a second technique in his bloodline. The boy was dead to the world when he did this, but Jiraiya did not mind. He usually played with Naruto during Meditation Time, as he dubbed it, but something seemed off today.

Harry was frowning while he meditated. His expressions became more and more distraught as time passed. Suddenly, the boy was screaming and clutching his head, the scar on his forehead began to bleed as well. Tears flowed unbidden down his face, and though Jiraiya wished to comfort the boy, he now had a crying Naruto to deal with.

By the time Naruto was calm again, Harry was also "calm". The six-year-old had his knees pulled to his chest, his green eyes were wide and haunted. Tears still slid down his face and his body was shaking.

Setting Naruto down onto his blanket, Jiraiya kneeled in front of the boy and gently placed his hands on the boy's arms. Emerald eyes traveled slowly up to meet Jiraiya's own gray ones.

In that moment, Jiraiya found himself in a copse. Around him the ground was littered with dead wild flowers, and the earth was torn up like one's flesh after being cut by a kunai. Several of the trees were withered in the bright midday light, but Jiraiya's attention was pulled away from the scenery to the young boy crying in the middle of the clearing.

There was a menacing laugh in the air, one that chilled the Sannin more than Orochimaru's laughter ever could. The boy flinched, and tried to cover his ears as a woman's scream was heard throughout grove.

"No! No! Take me, kill me, not my son!" a woman pleaded, her voice desperate and panicked. The cruel, dark laughter filled the field again. Jiraiya did not comprehend the words, but that did not hinder him from understanding the emotions behind the woman's words. She was pleading for a life, he could tell. Perhaps it was her husband or child's life?

"Give me the boy," it was a man's voice, a deep baritone filled with disdain, cruelty, and mocking. "Give me the Chosen One," the man hissed. What he said, what his intentions were, they were lost to Jiraiya. The Sannin could only shudder at the man's voice as dread filled him.

"No! Kill me, spare my baby!" the woman pleaded, only to be met by the same cruel insane laughter. She was offering herself, begging for the man to kill her instead of his intended target, and it made Jiraiya's fist clench. Stupid woman, madmen like that won't spare anyone, they'll kill the person pleading and then kill the target without batting an eye. But he commended the woman for her bravery, for her love.

"Avada Kedavra" the man hissed, this time the language was different than what he had heard before, and the copse was filled with green light coming from above them.

Looking up in alarm, Jiraiya saw a woman falling to the floor of a nursery, her expression horrified. There was a baby behind her, wild black hair with bright green eyes. A black stick came into view; it appeared as if Jiraiya was doing the deed. "Avada Kedavra" the man hissed again, but when the green light erupted from the end of his stick and hit the baby, it rebounded and the cruel man began to scream.

"No! No! Take me, kill me, not my son!" it was the woman again, but the view point had changed. From what Jiraiya could gather, he was watching the scene from the baby's perspective. The woman had her arms spread out to her sides as she tried to shield the baby from the man's view.

"Give me the boy! Give me the Chosen One!"

"No! Kill me, spare my baby!"

"Avada Kedavra" Green light filled the area again, and the woman fell to the ground, thus revealing a tall and regal man behind her with that dark stick in his hand, but behind him was James, or as he was now called, Shika. His brown eyes watched in horror as, what Jiraiya presumed to be, his wife fell to the floor dead. The horror grew as the regal man repeated the…the jutsu at James's son. After the light refracted back, James eyes looked dead. It was as if the man's heart broke, along with his will and mind. He just picked up the baby and began a long incantation with his crying son in his arms.

Jiraiya knelt beside the boy who continued to cry, his eyes clenched tightly closed.

"Namikaze-kun?" he questioned softly, and when he received an increase in tears as his response, the old man brought the boy into a loose embrace. "Those were memories weren't they?" they both knew the answer.

"Why do you have that," man did not seem the appropriate word, "that monster's memories?"

Harry's tears continued to fall down his face as he clung to the older man. Jiraiya's presence was comforting to the boy.

The world around them changed, it flew past them, to relocate them in a long dark hallway. Jiraiya quickly deduced that they would need to walk, and that this must be the boy's mind. Standing up slowly and shifting the little boy to his hip, he began walking down the hallway.

There were no doors, just a very long and dark walkway. With each step it became harder to move forward. Something evil was at the end, something grotesque. That presence, knowing that it was there, made it difficult to continue on. It went against every instinct in the Sannin's body to keep walking, and he could feel his will breaking the closer he came to the end of the hall.

However, when he finally persevered through that oppressive air, they came to a dead end. As Jiraiya scratched his head in confusion, Harry removed his face from its hiding place in the crook of the old man's neck. Sniffing, he waved one hand at the wall in front of them. The wall then melted away to reveal a misty veil with a seal hovering in the center.

Jiraiya gasped. The seal, though in a different language, was similar to the ones on jinchūriki. However, it had the ultimate protection, death. A soul was trapped behind the veil, and only death of the vessel would allow a two way interaction to occur. It was likely the soul would take over the host's body when the host passed on. But none of that kept it from communicating with them.

It laughed insanely. The soul behind the curtain hovered on the other side, just laughing. It was the man's laugh, they knew that now, but both ninja noted the weakness in the soul. They pitied it. It was broken and twisted; it wasn't even a real soul, just a fragment of its former glory.

The man was now speaking, of what the two did not know, but images came to them unbidden. There were women screaming beneath that vile man as he did horrible things to them. There were children looking up at him fearfully only to be killed by a flash of green light. There were grown men put under that red light Jiraiya had been subjected to only a three weeks ago, and after they were tortured they had to watch their families be killed in front of them.

Jiraiya wanted to hide the boy from this, to take him somewhere far away. But how?! How does one escape their own mind?! The soul felt no regret, no remorse for his heinous actions on humanity, and it came to them so clearly that it sickened them.

Jiraiya found himself crying along with Harry. He held the boy tightly as he began walking backwards down the hallway. Perhaps that thing was once human, but he was no longer so and there was no way for him to redeem himself.

Once they were back in the clearing, Harry's mind having shifted mindscapes, Jiraiya fell to the ground and rocked the six-year-old back and forth. He could only guess what Harry must be thinking; perhaps he thought along the same lines that most jinchūriki did when they first discovered their tenant.

"You're human, you're real, and so much good can come from you," he whispered to the sobbing child. "You are not that thing, you are human, you are a ninja of Konoha, you are human," his words started coming out like a mantra, one that steadily brought the child to sleep, thus pushing Jiraiya from the boy's mind.

Little time seemed to have passed, and for that Jiraiya was thankful. Harry was curled up to his chest sleeping, but his face tear stained and troubled. Shakily, Jiraiya laid down on the ground, and just held his new student, as he tried to make himself believe what had just happened had not occurred. It was a fool's hope, but he had always been called a fool.


A Suivre


A/N:
So that is all I have edited thus far, again let me know if the rating should be changed, before I thought M was unnecessary but perhaps it is, I don't know. Anyways, thank you for reading ~ depressedchildren