My journey to the Leaf village was a long one, but it was worth it. My first stop was the bathhouses, because I stank like a pigsty . It was where I met Ebisu. He was a little bit perverted, trying to get a glimpse of the females, however he was afraid to show it. We exchanged some friendly words nonetheless and I made my way to my next stop, Ichiraku Ramen. It was there where I first met Iruka Umino, a chuunin teacher at the academy. Iruka-sempai then introduced me to the other prominent shinobi around the village. I met the Hyuga clan, the Nara clan and even Kakashi-Sempai, the copy Ninja . For the first few days, I slept on the streets, as I was used to during my travels. But then people started to invite me to stay at their houses for a small while. I had never felt so liberated, and I was incredibly grateful to those families, doing whatever I could to repay them for their hospitality.
My stay at the leaf village eventually took me to Naruto Uzumaki, the number one unpredictable knuckle-head of the Village. I admired his ambition to become Hokage, and he showed it in a certain training session. I was observing from a distance, and in an instant, so many shadow clones appeared at once. He would take his signature technique, Rasengan to a new level. Naruto eventually mastered his technique, and used it to defeat Hidan and Kakuzu, with the help of his comrades. I was left at the village, honing my own skills in the same training ground. I practised against my angels, they were incredibly loyal to me. It appeared that somebody was watching from a distance the whole time. I heard his voice. 'Your determination is no different from Naruto's '. It was Jiraiya-sama, one of the Sannin. For some reason, my heart was beating quickly. I was simply starstruck. We had a brief conversation, and then he concluded with this:
'So young man, what is your dream?'
'I dont know, I figured that if I travelled, learnt and honed my skills, I would eventually find my purpose.', I replied.
'That's fair enough, but if you dont have a dream, you will never succeed. Think about what you want for yourself and tell me tomorrow. Until then, think about it. I also want to prepare!'
'Prepare for what Jiraiya-sama?', I asked in curiosity.
'Our sparring session. Your a very good warrior, and I want to aid you in your training and through a fight you can possibly answer my question.' I was amazed by his words, and I repeated them to myself over and over during the night whilst thinking of my family at the same time. Eventually, I dozed off to sleep.
It wasn't until the following morning that I realised what I had let myself in for. I was going to spar against one of the Sannin! I woke up, ate, did some light practice, and braced myself. He arrived.
'One word before we start. We don't go easy on eachother...'
I made the first move, charging towards him with my sword in one hand gracefully exchanging attacks with his kunai. I found an opening, and sliced him through the middle. It was a Shadow clone the entire time!
'Rasengan!', he yelled, as he aimed to ram the spiralling chakra sphere towards me. I dodged quickly, knowing I needed some assistance.
'Kuchiyose-no-jutsu!' we both shouted. Jiraiya-sama summoned his toads, and me, my angels.
We cancelled eachother out, showing no mercy. Eventually, our summons had to retreat and it was me against Jiraiya sama again. It was my sword against his kunai, I knocked him off balance, disarming him. I went in for the kill. The sound of chakra emanating from his hand, the Rasengan. He used it to defend himself from my sword, and then, second by second the Rasengan was in a tug of war with my sword. My sword couldn't take it anymore, it eventually crumbled under the rotary nature of the Rasengan. He was going to finish me off with his fire style jutsu and with my last ounce of chakra, I protected
myself with a chakra shield. It barely helped, as I was burnt in some areas, but I lived on. This was however, a victory in defeat, as I learnt alot.
I was catching my breath, Jiraiya-sama was catching his. I said to him, 'I'm honoured to have fought you. The Rasengan is a very powerful technique. I wish to learn it someday! I watched Naruto training to improve his Rasengan. I had never seen such commitment. He was going to learn that technique!'
'Yeah, Im sorry I destroyed your sword, young man. You do remind me of Naruto too. I suppose the least I could do is teach you Rasengan', he replied.
'Thank you! And Jiraiya-sama, I have an answer to your question. After travelling, gaining strength and wisdom, all I want to do at the end of the day is return to Markovia, my home, and rebuild it from the ground upwards. Nothing will stop me!'
Jiraiya-sama smiled proudly, just like my father. I still couldn't believe it, I fought a Sannin!