Chapter 35: Chunin Exams (7): Dropping a Mask, and Divulging Another.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

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End Banner has something to say: There was some confusion as to why my story was "inconsistent" after chapter 9. The reason chapters 1 to 9 are a little different from the rest of the story is that they've been rewritten, and we decided on my Pátreón page that we'll stop rewriting chapters for now. I'll rewrite chapters again after the story is finished, until then, sorry for the confusion!

In the middle of the night, Konoha's streets were empty. The lights from houses were turned off, and only a few stores were still open. Suddenly, Jiraiya stopped in front of a shop with glass walls.

"What do your friends like?" He asked. I look at the shop, and my brows instantly furrowed. The shop sold clothes. Not just any clothes, the boutique sold "adult" clothes.

I send a sideways glance at Jiraiya and asked, "What are you trying to do?"

"Listen to me." Jiraiya gestured and pinched his clothes, while crouching a little and said, "These clothes are excellent for spying, you see—"

I elbowed him. "My friends aren't spies, and they don't have that hobby."

"Well…" Jiraiya scratched the back of his head and looked at me. "You can use it."

"I'm a man. Those are female clothing," I point out.

"But as I said, it's for a disguise—"

I sent him a glare. "Listen here, you perverted bastard," I growled, "I'm not going to entertain your weird hobbies!"

"If you say so," Jiraiya glanced at me and laughed, approaching the counter with a nasty grin on his face. "Excuse me, pretty miss."

The lady behind the counter eyed Jiraiya from head to toe and frowned. "What may I do for you?"

My eyes twitched. 'Does she not recognize the legendary toad sannin?'

"How much are those?" Jiraiya pointed at the lingeries next to the counter. The lady followed Jiraiya's pointed finger and saw the lingeries, her eyebrows twitching as if a fantasy had started in her head. "All of them?" She asked.

Before Jiraiya could answer, I pulled on his sleeve. "Hey, just so you don't forget," I gave him a sharp glance, "I won't accept any of those if that's what you're planning."

"Yeah, yeah, sure you won't," Jiraiya waved me off.

"This guy…" I mumble.

As we walked in the streets, I notice something strange. "I guess you were telling the truth," I say to Jiraiya.

He nodded with a frown. "I wouldn't lie about something this serious," Jiraiya glanced at the shopping bags hanging from my arms. I saw his gaze and frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Jiraiya snickered. "Just so you know, I won't wear these," I shake the shopping bags.

"I don't expect you to," Jiraiya shrugged. "But who knows? Maybe you'll need them one day. Like, for example," Jiraiya wriggled his brows, "when you're in bed with your—"

"SHUT UP!" This damned old pervert!

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," Jiraiya finally retreated. "But regarding the empty streets, this is normal in the village," Jiraiya explained. "You just didn't know about it because you never went out at night when you were younger."

"How do you even know that?" I raise my brow.

"Well, I'm a spy. Anyway," Jiraiya glanced at a civilian. The civilian was walking briskly, his steps hurried and careful as if afraid to make a single sound, and he kept looking everywhere. When he saw us, he immediately kept his head down and turned away to walk in another direction.

"Did you see that?" He asked, and I nod.

"Ever since Danzo came into power, the village entered a tense state. The civilians are too alert as if this place wasn't their home but a dangerous battlefield instead."

I nodded my head. "It does look like that," I say. This scene looked a little familiar to me.

Because that's how I acted during my younger years here in the village.

"Aside from being alert, all families would often flock to the ninja academies. I'm pretty sure you know why," Jiraiya sighed.

"Probably," I shrug. "What about the families who refuse to let their child attend the ninja academy?"

"Oh, that?" Jiraiya let out a hollow chuckle before answering my question, "The whole family vanishes into thin air."

"Not even a sound?" I ask. What if the villagers started a revolt?

"No. Not even a squeak," Jiraiya lowered his head. "It's like, when a family vanishes, the village will forget their existence. In fact, even I was oblivious to this until a year ago," Jiraiya solemnly said.

"So be careful, Naru… cough! Hiroko," Jiraiya patted my shoulder, "I suspect that Danzo, or ROOT, has a way to make others forget the existence of another. If you don't want to be controlled, you must be as cunning as the fox."

"I got it. Thank you… uh, lord Jiraiya," I said.

"Good. Now, go back to your friends," Jiraiya said, "and meet me in training grounds 13 early in the morning tomorrow," Jiraiya patted my head before disappearing like a ghost.

"Impressive…" I didn't even feel a gust of wind! It was as if he was never there, to begin with.

'As expected of the greatest spy, my godfather, and the person who trained my father…' I chuckled. 'Hey, fox.'

'What is it?' The fox stood up attentively.

'My godfather, no, my family is awesome, aren't we?'

'. . . Sigh…'

Jiraiya looked around before deciding to place four sealing tags around the training ground. Then, he looked at me and spoke. "Naruto, take off your disguise. No one can see us, not even the hokage."

I look at Jiraiya for a moment before deactivating my Body Mimicking seal.

My skin turned started to peel off, and my body emitted white and red smoke. Chakra began seeping out of my body and circling around me. After ten minutes, the smoke dissipated, revealing my sharp facial features, my taller height, and the whiskers on my cheeks, my gem-like lavender eyes, and my red hair with streaks of yellow.

"So," Jiraiya looked me from head to toe, "this is what you look like? This is my first time seeing the real you, Naruto," Jiraiya smiled, and I too. I ask him, "What should I call you? Godfather? Uncle?"

Jiraiya smiled. "Just call me sensei. Jiraiya-sensei," Jiraiya chuckled and cupped his chin, "that sounds good. Jiraiya-sensei, ha-ha-ha!"

While Jiraiya was laughing, I was mumbling to myself. "Jiraiya-sensei… I like it," I smile.

"Okay. Let's focus now. Naruto," Jiraiya looked at me with solemn eyes. "Today, I'll pass on a legacy to you."

"My… parent's legacy?" I guessed.

"Hmm, yes," Jiraiya nodded, "I'll give you a scroll about a jutsu that your father created, but you have to learn it on your own. Instead, I plan on honing your fuinjutsu skills. From what I can see, you're still a level 3 seal expert."

A level 3 seal expert? I shake my head, "No, sensei, I already reached the fourth level. I can draw seals with only chakra."

Jiraiya laughed. "If only it were that easy. Reaching the fourth level requires you to erase the sealing chakra that your body emanates," Jiraiya explained. "As you already know, seals let out sealing chakra, and a sealing expert does the same, but they can't sense it because they've been used to doing it subconsciously."

I nod my head. Sensei was right, I can't sense any sealing chakra coming out of my body. 'Even though I'm an Uzumaki…'

"To reach the fourth level of fuinjutsu, you must retract all the sealing chakra that your body subconsciously emanates. For now, I'll seal away your sealing chakra into your body. Go ahead and get used to the feeling of not having sealing chakra," Jiraiya approached me and touched my chest. A seal was silently drawn into my chest, much to my amazement.

"This…" I scratch my head. "I don't feel anything different?"

"Well, of course, you don't," Jiraiya patted my head. "You only feel the difference when you try to draw or use fuinjutsu. Go on, try it," Jiraiya guided. Curious, I place my palm on the ground and tried to draw my current most-used defensive seal.

"Fuinjutsu: Guardian of…"

But before I can even finish speaking, my hand tensed, freezing in place, as if something was holding it down.

"Ugh…"

'What is this?' I try for a few more minutes, but I gave up in the end. I tried to draw the Guardian of Earth seal, but it felt like I was drawing an S-rank fuinjutsu, or as if I was back when I was just a level 1 seal expert!

After I stopped trying to draw the seal, the discomfort went away like a fleeting breeze. "What was that?" I ask.

"That's what happens when you try to draw seals without sealing chakra. Just now, you tried to draw a seal using only chakra, and chakra is vastly different from sealing chakra," Jiraiya looked at me with a questioning look.

"Right," I nod, "chakra is violent, especially Uzumaki chakra and sealing chakra is calm. Genjutsu chakra is faint, while ninjutsu chakra is vast."

"Hmm, good," Jiraiya praised, "you studied your subjects. Unlike me, who only messed around…"

'Actually, I didn't study too… I just learned everything I know the hard way,' I wanted to say but decided against it. Sensei was already talking about something else, and it seemed important.

"I'll teach you more about fuinjutsu later at night since you'll be most relaxed at night." Jiraiya added, "Unless you're a night owl, which I doubt."

"And what will we do at day?" I ask, not quite following where he was going with all of this.

"First of all, I have a question," Jiraiya pointed at my clothes, which were still the same as earlier when I was disguised as Hiroko. Because my body grew taller after removing the disguise, the clothes barely fitted me.

"Why do you wear so many masks? Doing that can corrode your own personality and in the end, you'll lose your own identity," Jiraiya pointed out. "Aren't you afraid of one day losing yourself?"

"But I need…" I tried to defend myself.

"You need to hide from others, I get it," Jiraiya nodded, "But I suggest you stop using multiple identities. I know that your Yukito identity is important because of your company, Ginko, but what about your Menma and Hiroko identities? Why do they exist?"

"Then what should I do?" I ask. A good student should do nothing but listen, learn, and ask, but I have to admit, I'm a little frustrated at being questioned like this.

"Simple," Jiraiya grinned, "you hide out in the open. Like what I'm doing right now. I didn't report to the hokage that I am currently in the village because Danzo will order me around. But I didn't wear a mask," Jiraiya puffed his chest, "Instead, I walked around the village with my usual appearance, yet no one found me. Why? Because no one can sense me. Even if they were looking at me straight in the eye."

"They'll see me if I want to be seen, and I'll be hidden if I want to hide," Jiraiya boasted.

"Is… that so? But that seems impossible… never mind," I chuckled. The evidence is right in front of me, but I still tried to deny the truth. That's a little silly of me.

"It's good that you understand it," Jiraiya nodded. "Now, I'll teach you the art of disguise, concealment, and spying!"

My eyes widened. "Don't tell me… Do you plan on passing down your legacy to me?"

"That's right, Naruto, so you better listen well," Jiraiya smiled. "First of all, I'll pass down my summoning beasts with you. The toad summons."

I scratch my head. "Umm, I already have a summoning beast."

"Oh? Let me see it," Jiraiya was intrigued. "And don't worry, you can sign with multiple summoning beasts."

"That…" I rub my arm, a wry smile on my face.

"What? Is something wrong with your summoning beast?" Jiraiya frowned.

"Well, my summoning beast is a type of chakra beast from the Uzumaki's beast wave. He's a giant crow, and for some reason, he can't be summoned outside the land of whirlpools for some reason," I sighed, missing my feathered friend. It's been several months since I last saw Karasu.

"Is that so? How odd," Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "This is the first time I heard that a summoning beast can't be summoned outside of their territory."

"Well, for now, you should sign the summoning contract of toads," Jiraiya advised. "The toad summons is one of the three holy lands, the other two are the slugs and the snakes."

"Tsunade and Orochimaru?"

"Yes, those two have the slugs and snakes summoning beasts respectively," Jiraiya nodded. "Each of the holy lands has its specialty. The toads are great with sensing, perception, and body enhancements, the snakes are great with mental strength and flexibility, and the slugs are great with healing abilities," Jiraiya said, reminiscing about the past when the trio still had each other's backs.

"Another unique feature of the holy lands is that they have their own sage modes."

"Sage… modes?" This is the first time I heard anything about sage modes.

"Yes, and I plan on teaching that to you after your chakra volume reaches a certain point. You currently have a low-kage chakra level, which is enough, but it's better to be safe, and you're still young anyway. Also, don't weaken your body too much, or you'll forever be incapable of learning sage mode, understood?"

I tilt my head. "What do you mean by weakening my body?"

"I meant don't use your blood too much, or you'll end up like Orochimaru. Orochimaru can mold sage chakra, but he can't enter sage mode because of his weak body," Jiraiya sighed.

"For now, forget about the sage modes," Jiraiya said, "sign the toad's summoning contract."

Jiraiya summoned a toad holding a scroll and handed the scroll to me.

"Hello," Benjiro waved his hand.

"Hello," Akemi returned the gesture.

"You are… Hiroko's teammate, Akemi-san, right?" Benjiro asked

"Yes," came Akemi's response.

"Cough," Benjiro drily coughed and whispered to Akemi, "My master said that there's something strange with Hiroko, may I ask if Akemi-san knows anything about it?"

Akemi narrowed her eyes. "And who's your master? What right does he have to interfere with our lives?"

"Well," Benjiro chuckled, "my master can turn your village to dust if he gets irritated, so please, answer truthfully, Akemi-san. Who is Hiroko? And why does he have an abnormally large chakra volume?"

Akemi froze on the spot. Her eyes turned sharp as a sword and moved to meet Benjiro's flattering eyes. Akemi's stomach churned looking at this "kind" boy's face.

"How unsightly."

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If you want to read more chapters in advance (up to chapter 45 and OneShot stories) and influence the story, you can check out my Pátreón page!
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