I don't own Naruto, I just own. :)
In Konoha
"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" asked the cycloptic Jounin.
"Yes, Kakashi, I did. I just got a visit from a messenger toad. Both Jiraiya and Naruto know you gave Sasuke facts and training meant to break Naruto during the Chunin finals. I figured now would be the perfect time to discuss what exactly was going on in that fool mind of yours" stated Sarutobi.
"I only did as you ordered, Hokage-sama, I assumed you'd relay that to Jiraiya and Naruto to put their minds at ease", Kakashi replied.
Sarutobi fixes a fierce glare on his famous Jounin, "when did I ever tell you to use that on Naruto? I'd never, especially not with a crowd to watch it. So, please tell me how you came to this conclusion."
"I'm more than happy to, Hokage-sama. See, when it was time for Naruto to graduate, I asked to take him on as an apprentice not only to payback my sensei for all he did for me but to undo much of the harm your academy instructors no doubt did to his shinobi skills. I speculated that with his mindset and ability to learn through doing he'd easily be a mid-tier chunin in six months, a year max. You informed me that I had to take a full team and it had to include that insipid Uchiha. Against all my objections you made it clear the only way I'd have what should have been my little brother on my team is to have Sasuke and Sakura, two of his worst tormentors."
Kakashi pauses to keep from raising his voice but continues, "You then informed me that you felt Sasuke was a flight risk but Naruto was a potential threat to the village and to neutralize both I should focus more on Sasuke and Sakura while stalling Naruto's development until you deemed he no longer posed a threat. Since I didn't want to continue to stall Naruto but I saw how Sasuke reacted anytime he felt Naruto closing the skill gap, I decided that if Sasuke had a near permanent mental edge on Naruto you'd allow me to finally train him properly; Sasuke would always feel he was a step ahead of Naruto regardless of how true it is and you would have both future issues resolved. Everyone would be happy. Where have I erred in my logic, Hokage-sama?"
"So, you did this to teach me a lesson? You twist my orders and tell me you did so with the hope to eventually ignore them entirely?" Sarutobi asked, with mild outrage.
"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, I do not see the issue. A method cannot be judged simply by the result. I made Sasuke promise to never use that jutsu, a jutsu I was encouraged to teach him, on a comrade. He did, essentially making the fight a deathmatch and he lost. When Naruto gets back I'll explain everything and we'll begin his training in earnest." Kakashi said, indifferently.
"Have you gone mad? No, you will not inform Naruto that I've had you delay him, he must never know I've made such a request."
"I fail to see why, Hokage-sama. You are retiring, surely you care not for the opinion of a single genin. Besides, I need straighten out my relationship with Naruto. I can't do that unless he knows everything, I'm sure you understand."
At this point, the Hokage is weighing the benefits of outright murdering Kakashi; mostly for his casual indifference. "Kakashi, I didn't delay Naruto out of a sense of malice. But after everything he has gone through, everything I failed to prevent I fear he may be a risk to the residents here. I know in the past he never fought back, he always tried to evade the villagers but his mastery of the kage bushin coupled with some actual skill… he could have assassinated half the council in a night and we'd never be able to prove it. Hell, what would happen the next time a Hyuuga elder crossed the line with Hinata? This boy could cause a civil war. So, yes, I wanted him to find his love for the village, to rekindle his Will of Fire before he started to untap his potential."
Only years of practiced professionalism kept Kakashi from scoffing, "I don't think his love for the village is the problem. Amazing how you never seem to get that, Hokage-sama. It's actually understandable to not love people that actively hate you. His reasons for being shinobi of the Leaf may not be ideal, to you, but he never showed signs of wanting retribution. But you were always so willing to cause him immediate harm to avoid what you thought may happen in the future. More of the same, I suppose."
"You are dangerously close to insubordination, Kakashi. I'll remind you to watch yourself when speaking to me. And I know you aren't happy about Naruto's life up to this point but I had an entire village to think about and with what he contains, Naruto having little to no affective attachment to the village is a problem."
The last of his professionalism slips, this has been over a decade in the making and Kakashi lets loose on the aged Hokage, "I DIDN'T HAVE AN ENTIRE VILLAGE TO THINK ABOUT. TSUME-SAN DIDN'T HAVE AN ENTIRE VILLAGE TO THINK ABOUT. MIKOTO DIDN'T EITHER. You kept him away from all those would have happily supported the boy, you left him to the worst this village has to offer and are punishing him for refusing to see the village in a noble light. Any number of people could have given Naruto a loving home, supposed threats from Iwa or Kumo be damned. No, you chose this for him. You chose his misery and acted like buying him ramen made it ok."
Sarutobi hangs his head in shame, "when you're making this decision one at a time, you're putting out fires and you don't see a pattern. Yes, taking a step back I see what I've done, I see how having a limited view of Naruto's well being and weighing it against the good of the village has put us in this situation. I'm not unaware that I've sinned against the boy, and maybe there were times I shouldn't have reacted as the Hokage but something else but I've seen three shinobi wars and stared into the eyes of a chakra monster as it laid waste to my home.
I watched the strongest Leaf shinobi since the Second have to sacrifice his son in order to stop a massacre beyond understanding. I just couldn't let that happen again, I couldn't let Naruto become a weapon for the clans or a ticking time bomb out for revenge. I couldn't let him be another Orochimaru. And through my duty I watched as the most open boy I've ever met became cold and manipulative. I know his affections for me haven't been sincere for some time now, I just hoped I'd be able to reach him but the truth is I could never give him the three things he wanted most; the reason people hated him, the identity of his parents, or a way to leave the village." With tears in his eyes, Sarutobi continues, "When Jiraiya and he return, we'll tell them everything and hopefully Naruto will have a better relationship with my successor."
"I hope I get to live that long, I'm pretty sure Jiraiya is going to murder me before we have a chance to discuss this" Kakashi states with his signature eye smile.
Sarutobi chuckles, "I'll make sure to inform him to come straight to my office when he returns so no accidents can occur." And with that, Kakashi shunsins away.
Moments later Kakashi appears in a par, and takes a seat on the bench. "Jiraiya finally figured out the interrogation tactics ploy. Apparently, neither he nor Naruto are happy about it."
"That was a dangerous gamble, I could see how one wouldn't approve. You could have broken the boy." the elderly man stated.
Kakashi smiles through his mask, "If his life in this village hasn't broke Naruto, being taunted by Sasuke wasn't going to do it. Besides, it was a test of Sasuke's emotional stability. Clearly he failed and I would have had grounds to get him off my team. I guess your "no half measures" philosophy really stuck with Naruto. I was expecting a… hell, I don't know what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting that. Who grafts an exploding seal on a kunai? Speaking of, what exactly did you teach him?"
"The boy is predictably unpredictable. Such an enigma used to make me uncomfortable, now I just enjoy watching him give Sarutobi headaches. As far as what I taught him, since that fool Jiraiya was supposedly training him, I had to stick to ninjutsu and battle strategy. Best use of his shadow clones. I won't get into specifics but since he already wants to fight you I'm sure you can bait him into revealing some of his cards. Just watch out for his kunai" the old man laughed.
"Hai, Danzo-sama".
"Have you been waiting long?"
"No, Jiraiya-sama, I've only just arrived myself. Haven't even had time to order a drink, not that I drink."
"Good, good. We can keep this one brief, I need to get back to the kid but if we're going to continue I'm going to need some assurances."
Itachi stays quiet. He understands Jiraiya's implicit threat. Being threatened as a shinobi is just part of the deal, implicit or otherwise. What makes this worthy of note, however, is that Itachi knows Jiraiya doesn't threaten people. It's one of the factors about this man that unnerves the fallen Uchiha. While Itachi would never say it, there may be more powerful shinobi than Jiraiya but none of them makes Itachi as on edge as Jiraiya. For the longest time, Itachi could never pinpoint why that is, unanswered questions like this can drive a prodigy to distraction but with this threat Itachi finally knows why he'd rather have a two day conversation with Pein about peace than a twenty minute update with Jiraiya… the Sannin has never treated Itachi like he's an S-Rank shinobi. His tone never cautious, just natural. His body language always relaxed, almost insultingly so. While Itachi wasn't arrogant like much of his clan, he still had pride, damnit! Jiraiya just seemed all around unconcerned with Itachi and this realization that Jiraiya simply had been unconcerned with what Itachi may do would be enough to upset even the ever stoic Itachi if it weren't coupled immediately with the realization that Jiraiya didn't need to be concerned with Itachi might do. This epiphany finally makes it way around back to the initial insight, Jiraiya letting it be known he may very well kill Itachi if he isn't given adequate reason not to.
"I don't blame Naruto for what he did… not fully. So much of what I've done has been for my village and Sasuke I'm at a loss but I was informed on his fight. The tactic Sasuke used, if it failed there was a good chance it would cause Naruto to kill him in a blind rage. Sasuke using Kakashi's damned assassination jutsu didn't help matters. I can't expect anyone to allow themselves to be killed for the sake of my foolish little brother, especially not Naruto. He has nothing to worry about from me outside of my role as a double agent, of this I am sure."
Jiraiya stares intently at Itachi as if he's trying to find even the smallest hint of dishonesty in the boy's words, when he is satisfied he cannot he starts to go but leaves Itachi with this, "You know, I hear a certain snake is in town. He surely didn't help with your brother's mental stability. Might be a good outlet to channel some of those feelings toward, after I conclude my business with him. Something to think about." And with that Jiraiya departs.
In a clearing just outside of town we find a horde of Naruto clones attempting to complete the final stage of the rasengan. Tsunade sees the controlled chaos and amongst the clones see's one sitting in the lotus position, assuming that to be the original she approaches, which Naruto senses.
"Hello Tsunade-san, is there something I can do for you?"
"Not initially, I just didn't feel like being cooped up at that inn all day. Whenever Jiraiya finds me he never allows me to drink or gamble in peace so I have to find alternative methods to spend my days, until he leaves."
"Do you know why we haven't left yet? You gave him your answer, I'm not entirely sure what else we're here for, not that I'm in any rush to head back, mind you."
"Orochimaru contacted me just a few hours before Jiraiya and you found me. Jiraiya asked me to help him spring a trap on our former teammate and try to deal with him once and for all. I may not want to return to the village but it doesn't mean I want it to burn and I haven't had a decent fight in ages so I figured why not."
"Ah" is all that Naruto says.
"So, I see your clones are trying to finish the rasengan but what are you doing?"
"When I discovered that my shadow clones could transfer memory I was elated at the potential but what I quickly discovered was not only the harms of dispersing too many clones at once but also I found it hard to retrieve certain bits of information. Facts and figures, mostly as skills or jutsu I'd be using shortly were easier to recall. I figured since I don't have a photographic memory I'd need to find a way to store this information and it just so happens the Konoha library had a book on developing a mind palace. It took about a week of my clones experimenting before I got it down. So now, I supercharge fewer clones, allow them to make more clones and while they are gaining information or training for the day the initial supercharged clones are store the information for easier recall."
Tsunade looked impressed at Naruto's answer but quickly her thoughts turned to someone else who used to amass a great deal of knowledge and power, scorned by the village and how he eventually turned on Konoha, bringing an invading force to destroy it. Tsunade hoped Naruto wasn't on the same path.
"Naruto, why do you train so hard? I know it isn't for the sake of the village so what drives you?"
Naruto cocks his an eyebrow at Tsunade's seemingly direct question, taking a few beats before answering. "I'm not sure I have just one reason, Tsunade-san. Part of it is so I can protect myself however I'm more than enough for any group of civilians and outside of the invasion I doubt a fellow shinobi would attack inside the village. Part of me loves learning about the shinobi arts, I find them fascinating, how the seemingly impossible becomes possible. Another reason is because of my first c-rank mission."
"What happened, normal c-ranks are just dealing with bandits and such, nothing major."
Naruto laughs, "Almost everything that could go wrong on this mission did." Naruto proceeds to tell Tsunade about his time in Wave Country.
"And people say I have bad luck, that's quite the story, Naruto."
"It is but I'm glad it happened. I know that as shinobi we often do questionable things for questionable reasons. Helping the people of Wave likely will never be what shinobi primarily do. But maybe it could be more of what we do? The idea of helping people who can't help themselves and helping them to help themselves appeals to me. Wave is free now, what they become is entirely up to them and ultimately it's because they found it within themselves to act."
"You sound like Jiraiya. Ever since we were kids, he spoke about shinobi and our ability to be more, to be heroes. It's funny to see that reflected in his apprentice, I'm guessing without him even knowing it."
"Uh, I suppose so."
"Although I wonder why he gave up his chance to see that future, something like what you both talk about can only be accomplished if you become Hokage and I know sensei would have asked him first."
"I may have some insight on this but I'm pretty sure Jiraiya wouldn't be pleased if I told you."
"Naruto, that just means you have to tell me so spill."
"Ok, when we were traveling to find you he told me he was offered the position. I asked why he turned it down and he gave some stock answer about his spy network. Obviously bull but I let it go. Later that night, we arrive in some small town and check into an inn. Jiraiya immediately leaves and returns a few hours later drunk off his ass but still lucid enough to converse with. Seeing my opportunity I asked him again why he turned it down. Jiraiya stated that him being Hokage would be of a similar mold. The kages are always known for their destructive capabilities. He said that you have something no other kage has, not only the power to protect your village but because you are known as a healer you can help people starting seeing shinobi as more. Jiraiya theorized that as long as kages are chosen primarily on battle capabilities war is inevitable."
Tsunade can only sit there in stunned silence. While she often treats Jiraiya like an annoyance and a pervert, a pattern they established early as a genin team, she knows there are depths to him that people rarely see but to think he'd place this much faith in her was astounding. Maybe she could...
The two blondes sat in silence for a little while longer, only the sounds of failed rasengan attempts being heard.
Alright, until next time!