To Be Understood…
Chapter 2: Jiraiya
Everyone knows Jiraiya is a pervert. He even admits to being a super pervert, which is no small feat. Most would think that he spends all his spare time peeking on women in bathhouses, and is rarely– if ever– serious. That is how he wants them to think of him. It is a simple case of façades, it helps him cope with what he has done in his past life as an active shinobi. It also helps him shield his real feelings.
The mask began after he made his first kill. He first started out like Naruto, putting up an idiotic, all too cheerful mask to fool those around him. Gradually, it became something more. Soon, he could barely tell the difference between himself and the mask. He panicked when he realized this, trying so hard to tear that mask off, both literally and figuratively. He kept scratching and pulling at his face until he bled, but he couldn't tear it off. The next day, when Sarutobi-sensei asked what happened to him, he lied saying that he got caught peeking. Of course, they all believed him because they thought he was a pervert. When they believed him so easily, he began to think about all the things he could get away with just because they thought so lowly of him.
It hurt. One thing he never realized was how much it hurt when someone you cared for thought so lowly of you. Tsunade-hime would always punch him for no reason other than the fact that she thought he was leering at her, when in fact he was admiring how beautiful she looked, with or without breasts. Orochimaru would sneer at him and tell him that he was lower than dirt or scoff when he made even the tiniest mistake. Sarutobi-sensei was the worst though. He understood that Orochimaru was more talented, more likely to be a someone in the ninja world, but that didn't mean he had to favor Orochimaru that much, did it? Sarutobi-sensei didn't have to scold him every time he was hit by Tsunade-hime or got into an argument with Orochimaru. It never made sense, how he was always told to be more like Orochimaru, when everyone knew he was already powerful in his own way.
He loves them all. He still loves Sarutobi-sensei, Orochimaru, Tsunade-hime, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Naruto. He even loves the damn village, even after everything it did to Naruto and Tsunade-hime. He loves Sarutobi-sensei and Orochimaru because even after all the hurt they made him go through, in the end, they are all still connected by an unbreakable bond. Sarutobi-sensei will still be his teacher and mentor and Orochimaru will still be his bastard of a best friend, no matter what he does. Tsunade-hime will always be his first and only love, the reason why he writes all those perverted novels and goes peeking at bathhouses, the reason he wants to come home alive during dangerous scouting missions. Minato was there for him when Tsunade-hime left, he was the only reason for living back then, when everything seemed so bleak. Minato's bubbling personality brought him back to life, and even gave him hope that not everything was wrong in his life, and that someone could see through his now permanent mask. When Minato had died, he had wanted to take Naruto with him, but Minato's last words were the hope for Naruto growing up in the damned village. He couldn't bear to leave Naruto, but he couldn't break his promise to Minato either.
And Naruto…Naruto was different. He was so much like Minato that at first it was hard to even look at him. He almost wanted to hate the kid for being so much like the Fourth and being the last thing he had left too. When he first met Naruto, he had pitied him for being the Nine-tails carrier, then that pity turned into a grudging respect. Not for the mask, but for the way he had been coping with the whole twelve years of his life. He regretted never being there for the gaki, but then, if he had, things would have been a lot more different, and he wouldn't have wanted that. Things were just fine the way they were now. He and the gaki get along, with a kind of grandfather-grandson relationship. He understands what the gaki's hiding and the gaki understands what he's hiding. They love each other all the more for it. In a way, teaching the gaki is his way of repenting to Minato for abandoning Naruto so long ago. Naruto helps him look at the bright side of things, and helps him come to terms with his mask, even accepting it. For the first time in forever, he is able to take it off without a struggle, but only around the gaki.
For now, it's enough, and he's content. Finding one person in the world who truly loves and understands you without a mask, that is the most precious thing for both him and Naruto. Maybe one day, sometime in the future, he'll have the courage to take his mask off in front of Tsunade-hime, and maybe she'll love him without it too.