The Boy in the Park
Chapter Seventy-Four
"So, is everything all right?" Jiraiya appeared one day, in the middle of the afternoon, as he was grading homework in the Academy's faculty office.
"Perverted-Bastard-Jiraiya," Shinku said with a bright smile, "What can I do for you that involve castration?"
"Oh come on kiddo!" Jiraiya exclaimed, "It's been months! Can't you forgive…"
A frying pan soared through the air, catching up in flames before deadly slamming against Jiraiya's face, leaving his features permanently cast into the Stainless Steel Pan.
He fell backwards, and Shinku sighed before returning to the homework he had to correct.
The next instant, the man was back at his side.
"You know, how about going out for dinner on a men only mission?"
"I'm busy, if you haven't understood it yet," Shinku retorted.
"Oh, no need! I already talked with your sister," Jiraiya brightly smiled before gripping him by the shoulders. "And your turn ends right about now, doesn't it?"
"Is this a 'you can't refuse' invitation?"
"IT IS! Smart boy!" the next instant, Shinku felt himself transported through the air and then into an old and dingy Saké shop in a corner of Konoha. Probably in the red light district.
The moment a glorified Bunny Girl hopped by, he knew he was in the red light district and he knew he was going to kill Jiraiya. Even if he had to train, like Rock Lee, and learn how to use the Gates.
"Well, I'll have sake! Five bottles and keep them coming hot!" with that, Jiraiya began to pat his back loudly. "And that's when…"
"What, exactly, is the purpose of this?" Shinku hissed between gritted teeth.
"Well, I'm going off on a mission," Jiraiya remarked. "Into the land of rain. You know, that nice little place where everyone who enters dies or never comes back."
"You're one of the Sannin," Shinku snorted. "You're going to be fine anyway."
"Yes, yes of course," Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "If not for the fact it's the leader of Akatsuki we're talking of that I will end up too close for my tastes."
"Uh?"
"I'll be going to try and take out the head of the snake," he replied grimly. "I might not make it back."
Shinku sighed, closing his eyes. "And why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you be telling Naruko?"
"Nah, Naruko's an adult now, she can take it."
"I can take it very well too, you know," he deadpanned.
"Maybe, but you'll have to take it for her too," Jiraiya smiled brightly. "And I have to make sure you don't take advantage on her weakened state, you 'Aniki'."
A stainless steel frying pan slammed into the back of Jiraiya's head and, as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared in Shinku's sleeves.
"Can you avoid being a pervert at least for a split second?"
"I'm a Super-Pervert! I have to!"
The low growling noise from Shinku's throat made Jiraiya backpedal quickly.
"Anyway, why are you talking as if you'd be going to die? You can always escape, right?"
"Maybe, but in the event I actually do die, I want you to know something else," his voice lowered, and beneath the cover of the smoke filled den and the various yells, he explained the true problem.
"The seal on Naruko is growing weaker by the day. I…I admit I meddled with it during our training, in an effort to make her able to use it and…well, I managed to patch it up but not as well as before."
"You did what?" Shinku's voice was eerily toneless, as he whispered back to the Toad Sage.
"I wanted to give her a boost! So, anyway after that happened I didn't know what else to do and…well," he unwrapped a few dozens of scrolls. "Each of this contains a few hundred of Chakra sealing seals. Apply one to the forehead and she'll be knocked out cold before the problem can get further away. I'm giving half to you, since the other half is in Tsunade's hands already."
"Why?"
"Because we can't possibly know if the news of my death will strike her or not, and even then, it's better to have these available and spread around as much as possible than not."
Shinku swallowed, but accepted the scrolls.
"Now, listen to me kid," Jiraiya added. "Let me tell you this as a man to a man. You did a great thing," he whispered. "Very few would have done as much as you did for Naruko, very few. You might never go beyond being a teacher or flinging frying pans, but what you did for her is more than what I, a legendary Sannin, did. So, for all of that…thank you."
Then he left Shinku the tab of sake, before disappearing in the night.
The next day, he left Shinku his entire bank account —with the note to hand it over to Naruko as soon as the girl turned twenty-one.
Staring at the staggering amount of money in his hands, on that little booklet of checks, Shinku trembled slightly. He quietly placed it inside his pocket, zipped it, and decided never to use it and then throw it back at Jiraiya's face when the old perverted bastard came back.
"Ehi, Aniki!" Naruko exclaimed, suddenly appearing from the window and clinging at his neck, making him nearly stumble backwards. "What's for dinner!?"
"Ah…whatever…is fine, I suppose," he replied, before stopping for just a single instant to gaze at Naruko.
Somehow, the image of her being as tall as his knees and looking up at him came up in comparison. She had the same blue eyes of back then of course, but now rather than looking way up at him, she simply brought her head slightly up. She held her face with a semi-permanent grin, like back then.
"Ehi, Aniki?" Naruko frowned, why was her Aniki lost in thoughts now?
"Naruko?" Shinku muttered in the end. "Did I do enough? For you, I mean…"
"Uh? Oh," blinking, Naruko scrunched her face in thought. Was he referring about the Bento food? Had he been worried about that?
"Course you did enough! You know I always eat lots right? And I liked the packed lunch, like, really! I always like your lunches 'ttebayo! And the dinners, also the dinners! What's for dinner anyway?"
She smiled then as Shinku-Aniki merely chuckled, before ruffling her head.
"Glad you do," he said then. "If you let me go, I'll get to the dinner then. Tonight, we'll be doing hamburgers."
"What about Fried meatballs?"
"Fried Meatballs it is then," Shinku shook his head, before grabbing flour, eggs and the hamburger's raw meat. It wasn't difficult to make them once you formed a raw meatball, covered it in egg and flour, and then placed it to cook in a light dosage of oil. They came out fried and cooked deliciously.
"Hurray!" and with that, Naruko scampered off.
Really…it was too easy to make the girl happy. Was he really doing enough?
Author's notes
This fluff gives me the chills.