I don't own Naruto, but it means a lot to me.
By the second night, Jiraiya intervened.
"Kid," he called, leaning on one arm and watching the blond from across the blaze of their campfire. The clearing was dark and the night was cool, stars and clouds mingling overhead.
"We need to talk."
Naruto froze mid-bite, tearing off a hunk of grilled rabbit leg and shoving it into his mouth. There wasn't an etiquette class at the academy and Naruto wouldn't have attended it, anyway.
"Mhff?"
Naruto's cheeks were puffy with stuffed meat. Jiraiya made a noise between a groan and a chuckle.
"Swallow, then answer." He instructed. Naruto gulped, and Jiraiya made a note to remind teach the boy either table manners or how to perform the self-Heimlich.
"Sorry..." Naruto grumbled, pulling his meal away but still close at hand. "Talk about what?"
Jiraiya's eyes shimmered like the fire. "It's been two days. We've been traveling for two days and I think you've said about thirty words the whole time."
The boy was an open book, and Jiraiya found a morbid amusement in how easily he could read the pages. Confusion turned into angst. Angst turning into defiance with a side of obstinance. It didn't take any expertise in feelings or teenagers to know exactly the thoughts going through the boy's mind, but it hit Jiraiya like a memory. While his own recollection of being a teenager were dimming, those that knew him were sure to remind him that Jiraiya had been just as transparent into his teens. An open book for the world to read.
Another chapter. Jiraiya frowned. Open book the boy may be, but he wished it would have ended on a chapter different than the tired sigh the boy settled on.
"I just...haven't had anything to say." Naruto countered, his eyes drifting back into the flame and watching the popping wood. Jiraiya snorted.
"Horseshit."
Naruto's boggled, snapping from the fire to meet the Jiraiya's gaze. Did he just say horseshit?
"W-what?" he stammered. Jiraiya nodded, sagely - it was annoying how often he did that.
"You heard me. Horseshit." He said, not budging an inch. "You've got a lot to say, you're just not doing it."
Naruto opened and closed his mouth as though hoping the next time he tried it something witty and clever would come out rather than a huff of indignant hot air.
"And?" The boy's voice dour and defeatist and almost too quiet for Jiraiya to hear. "Just because I'm not talking doesn't mean somethings wrong."
Were it possible, Jiraiya's eyes would have rolled out of his head. He put his effort into making sure his response didn't carry any lingering sarcasm.
"Kid." He said, calmly. "I think we both know that's not true. We need to be honest between us."
Naruto shifted with a huff, looking every bit the teenager he was.
"Since when did you become some kind of doctor?" The blond grumbled, pulling another bite of rabbit into his mouth and chewing with an extra dose of angst. Jiraiya gave a nod, leaning his head back and staring up into the stars.
"You're right. I'm not a doctor." Jiraiya conceded, holding his own rabbit over the fires until its leg began to char. "But until we can find you a real doctor, I am here. And you've got a lot you want to talk about and you need to talk about it because the only thing less healthy than what you've been through over the past week is bottling it up until you rupture like a little blond balloon."
If Naruto thought that his teacher had a point, he did a good job of not showing it. His first instinct, a petulant "hmm", didn't have any real bite to it. Jiraiya took that to mean he was making progress.
"You don't have to cover everything. We can talk about whatever you're ready to talk about." Jiraiya offered, his voice a soothing background to the crackling fire. There was an immense irony in pressing the boy like this. The man who ran away to not have or talk about feelings lecturing his student on how to talk about their feelings. Were he here to see it, Hiruzen would have laughed his way into retirement, no doubt. But Jiraiya wasn't the student anymore, and he damn sure wasn't going to let the blond repeat his mistakes.
"Maybe we just talk about one thing that's on your mind."
Naruto tried to have a reply to that. Something quick and cutting that that stupid Jiraiya would never see coming and would put him verbally back into his place. Was he trying to call him weak or something? Some namby-pamby little loser ninja who couldn't... who couldn't...
The fire crackled and Naruto swallowed. The words came before he realized he was speaking.
One thing? Yeah. He had one thing.
"I'm just..." He whispered, his voice shaking and his eyes welling. Jiraiya didn't move, his eyes glued to the blond across the flame.
"The Fourth Hokage was my dad."
It was as much statement as question, hot and heavy and cracking inside Naruto's voice. Jiraiya said nothing.
"I...have a dad." The boy continued, raising his eyes and his whole posture screamed something that made Jiraiya's insides churn.
"Yeah." Jiraiya replied, finding his own voice more conflicted than he'd imagined. "That's probably a good one to start with."
Naruto's fingers rolled against his remaining food, a rabbit tendon snapping beneath his thumb. He chucked the remnants of bone into the fire.
"Did you know?"
The question hung in the air like oil in water. There was anger, confusion, hurt - a roiling mass of emotions underneath, but the tension of exhaustion and desperation kept the mixture contained. Jiraiya nodded.
"I did."
Naruto's voice sounded like sandpaper. Dry and raspy and tearing away slowly but surely at something.
"Why?
"Why what?"
Naruto's hand gripped his log so tight a sliver of wood cleaved off.
"Why." He accused, snapping his eyes to his teacher's. "Did no one tell me?"
Jiraiya exhaled and was overwhelmed by a feeling of heavy. He couldn't match Naruto's quaking glare, and he kept his eyes drawn to the center of the flickering flame as memories filled his mind.
"The day you were born was the worst day in the history of Konoha. The Kyuubi no Kitsune appeared. It attacked the village. It killed thousands. Your father found a way to stop it, to seal it, but it cost him his life. He sealed the demon into you, and instructed Hiruzen to never tell a soul."
Naruto's feet shifted, pushing dirt.
"Old man..." He mumbled. "He knew?"
Jiraiya nodded.
"He did."
Silence lingered while the fire crackled. Jiraiya took a glance up - the stars were beautiful.
"Did anyone else know?" Naruto asked, using his foot to stamp out an errant ember from the flame. His foot fell with a muffled 'stomp'.Jiraiya shook his head.
"Sarutobi, me, Tsunade." He replied. "I know there's a few who have put two and two together, but this was a guarded secret."
Naruto's brow furrowed, the kindling in his hand snapping as his thumb tore it to shreds.
"But why?" He demanded, unable to stop the wetness growing under his eyes and the heat growing in his gut. "Why did I have to get hidden away? Why did I have to live my whole life in a gutter and alone if people knew?"
His body shook, hands twisting a kindling branch into a mangled knot. Tears fell in the dirt, an errant drop sizzling on a fire cooked stone. Naruto broke.
"Why would he leave me alone?"
Jiraiya was standing before the words left the boy's mouth. His eyes swell, body rushing forward and eyes burning brighter than if the whole Forrest had caught ablaze. He was kneeling next to the boy a heartbeat later.
"Your father made a decision to save the village, our home. He asked you to carry the greatest burden of all but knew that if anyone knew you were his son, they would come for you."
Jiraiya's own voice wavered and the scars along his back ached.
"He ordered you be hidden to protect you from his enemies." Jiraiya had never prepared for this. Decades came crashing in with a thunderous silence and it was all he could do to keep his voice afloat. "He knew it would bring you nothing but struggle, but it was the only way to keep you safe. If people knew who you were, knew you were his son and the Kyuubi's Jinchūriki, they would have stopped at nothing to get at you. You would have been a target. The village would have been a target."
Naruto's body trembled. Pain and hurt and sorrow bottled so tight the glass was shaking. Jiraiya pulled, clenching the boy in his arms and giving a hug that lifted Naruto from his seat.
"Namikaze Minato loved you more than life, itself. He would have done anything to keep you safe. Anything. " Jiraiya's voice was thunder, pounding in the blond's ears. "Don't you ever doubt how much your father loved you."
Naruto shattered. The toil and sorrow bursting like a dam as he let himself collapse into his teacher's embrace. Jiraiya's own tears fell.
"But why me?" Naruto asked, and Jiraiya just wouldn't stop tightening. "If he loved me then why did..." Words were failing. The boys chest heaved as a dam of emotions ruptured. Jiraiya could feel himself being swept away by the current. He held the boy tighter but forgot who was supporting who.
"But why did he have to die?" Naruto's sobbed and Jiraiya recoiled, shaking the blond's shoulders like he'd been struck.
"He didn't want to." The sage snapped, dismissing the notion in an instant. His own voice was cracking, the weight of the conversation pressing down on his soul.
"Gods he didn't want to. But the Hokage has a job - to protect the village. He saw the threat and realized the only way to make sure he could protect the village - to protect you - was make that choice. The Hokage's choice."
The fire crackled, and neither master nor student spoke for what felt like ages. The fire burned and simmered, the crackling of wood the only sound under the stars sky. After a time, the blond pushed his mentor off, gentle but firm. He was sniffling, trying his best to regain his composure but failing. Jiraiya found himself doing the same. They sat in silence while the night wind dried their tears.
"Can I ask one more question?"
Idiot, Jiraiya thought. What a stupid thing for the kid to say.
"Of course, Naruto."
"Did you..." Naruto's eyes were watering again, but his voice was different than before. Not quite as broken, not quite as lost. This time it was nervous, cautious.
Hopeful.
"Did you know my mom?"
Naruto blinked, confused. A hint of judgment tinging his voice.
"Tsunade is...here?"
The building was a monstrosity. Wood and plaster and at least four stories of the most god awful shade of seas foam green Naruto had ever seen. All down the road, perfectly normal businesses existed. Quaint little storefronts, sensible architectural choices. The blond's eyes gazed upon the structure and was overwhelmed by the tackiness.
"Cat Burglar's Casino?" He asked, leaning back and squinting at the neon glow of the entrance signs. Jiraiya gave a shrug.
"I know Tsunade like I know the back of my hand." He shrugged, his voice caught between amusement and annoyance. "If she's in this town, she's in this building."
As they watched, two patrons pushed through the cartoon-ish saloon doors swinging in the front. One was skipping, clutching his new found winnings to his chest and all but singing. The other looked like he had empty pockets and an empty future.
Neither looked sober enough for eleven in the morning.
"When Iruka-sensei taught us about the Sannin he never mentioned..." Naruto gestured vaguely to the general avarice. "This."
Jiraiya snorted.
"Better her habits than mine." He mumbled, hopefully low enough that Naruto didn't hear before giving his student a more serious appraisal.
"Alright, let's go over the game plan one more time." he commanded, switching the subject and straightening his back. Naruto gave an eager nod as he rehearsed his lines.
"We go in. If you find Tsunade, I come find you. If I find Tsunade, I come find you."
Jiraiya beamed, flashing a thumbs up and a trademark smile.
"When it doubt, let me handle it." He gave Naruto's shoulder a pat. "You're catching on quick, star pupil."
Naruto squinted, battling the growing suspicion that he was being patronized but a firm pat on the shoulder killed the growing mutiny. Naruto followed his teacher to the door, pausing as Jiraiya made one final adjustment and turned.
"Before we get started." He interrupted, a gloved hand resting on the swinging salon door. "Do you know what Tsunade looks like?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Blond?"
Jiraiya snorted, pushing open the door and making his way into the casino with a small laugh.
"Yeah, close enough."
The casino was an explosion of color and sound. Lights and patrons flickered, crammed inside the windowless building like koi fighting over the same scraps of food. Naruto crinkled his nose, the smell of smoke and desperation physically palpable.
"This is what casino's are like?" He wondered, but found Jiraiya had disappeared into the crowd, evaporating amongst the crowd to the back left corner of the building. Naruto stood on his toes to try and spot white hair, but only noted a large bar on that side of the wall.
Surely, a coincidence.
"Alright, Naruto." He whispered to himself, because all the best ninja gave themselves pep talks. "Crowded casino, blond lady. How hard can it be?"
As it turned out, a lot of blond ladies were at casinos. After twenty minutes of dedicated searching resulted in twenty minutes of women who were definitively not a sannin, Naruto was getting nowhere. He had, as though it were a right of passage, been almost puked on twice by random grown adults so drunk they could barely stand.
With a huff, the young blond stormed through a side doorway, away from the crowd and finding himself in a quiet ancillary bar. The rooms was small and mostly empty, a single bartender serving only a handful of patrons. In the corner, a relaxed man played a low and haunting tune on piano. Naruto looked back, a roar returning from the other hall. He scurried inside.
Better than that, at least, he thought, just happy to be out of the circus and in a place he could actually hear himself think. Now I just need to...
There was a soft smack, and Naruto stumbled backwards. He'd been so distracted looking around he'd completely barged into a nearby stranger.
The woman had pretty black hair and prettier black eyes that made the white stand out on her black haori. The woman leaned with a casual boredom; a classic - I'd rather be anywhere else than right here, right now as the sound of bar and debauchery trickled in from the main hall. Naruto felt his throat dry with a smack, stumbling over his feet and words as he tried to get through an apology.
"Ack - sorry miss!" He blathered. "I didn't see-"
Naruto blinked. A small set of beady eyes blinked back, centered in a chubby pink face. Naruto's head tilted and his voice acted before he could stop.
"It's a pig." He blurted, apology forgotten and head tilting at the creature. The tea-cup pig - who was wearing clothes which Naruto thought was wild - tilted its head in return. The dark haired woman nodded.
"It is." She confirmed, happy to clear up the confusion. "Her name is TonTon."
Naruto blinked, unsure of what to do with this information. He squinted, leaning closer to investigate.
"Is...she here to gamble?"
The woman's face brightened, an amused giggle escaping her lips as Naruto continued his staring contest with the small creature.
"No, she's not old enough." She replied, simply. The woman crouched, meeting Naruto's eyes and the blond blushed furiously as he turned. "And aren't you young to be in a casino, as well?"
"No! I mean...yeah but..." His voice felt like he'd dropped it and when did it get so hot in this room? Was he sweating? Naruto pulled at the end of his jacket and tried to regain his composure under the woman's amused eye.
"I'm not here to gamble, I was following my master."
The woman rolled her head back in a laugh that sounded like experience. Naruto gave an awkward but happy smile at the reaction.
"Well, that's relatable." Her voice had this soothing quality Naruto found himself instantly smitten with. She gave a small bow in introduction, accepting his apology and waving a hand to the stool near her in invitation.
"Since, I take it, you won't be participating in the hedonism, you're welcome to join me." she invited. Naruto beamed. "I'm Shizune."
Naruto ambled forward, jumping to sit in the stool as his legs dangled. He didn't know what hedonism meant, but it sounded like something Jiraiya would have liked. This woman felt like better company.
"Naruto!" He greeted, pushing his hand a little too far forward.
Shizune smiled, accepting the boys outstretched hand with a slight bow of her head. Naruto squawked, remembering that he knew about manners and should maybe try them, sometimes. He half-bowed from the stool and looked like an idiot, but Shizune's laugh melted the tension like warm rain over frost.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto." She smiled. "What brings you here to this casino?"
Naruto fidgeted, craning his neck and keeping an eye for blond hair from the corner of his eyes because he was on a mission and couldn't get distracted by pretty girls with nice smiles.
"I'm here on a mission." He answered, not remembering proper mission protocol was usually to not announce that you were on a mission. Shizune's eyes glanced up to the hiyate tied around his head, and a flicker or acknowledgment crossed her gaze.
"Ah," she said, voice stretching. "I see you are a shinobi."
Naruto nodded, a lion's pride roaring in his chest that she had noticed.
"Yep!" He pointed to the symbol, half in an effort to accentuate, half in overwhelming pride of the Konoha crest. "Do you know Konoha?"
Shizune's lips pursed, her gaze turning from the blond and looking back out over the bright lights of the casino.
"Yes." She responded, and her voice sounded quiet against the arcade whirl of machines. Naruto swallowed, suddenly wondering if the reason Jiraiya's headband didn't have the Konoha leaf on it was to avoid the sudden void that entered the back of Shizune's voice.
It reminded him of talking to Inari.
"Yes, I'm familiar with Konoha shinobi."
Naruto didn't know how to follow up, and he shrank into his seat with a "Oh." The casino noise filled the silence between the two, and Naruto wished he didn't feel like the cause. Shizune's eye watched the boy slump, and she gave a rough cough as she snapped back her focus.
"What brings you to this small town, Naruto-kun?" She asked, and the warmth in her voice returned. Naruto swelled. "This is a few days journey from Konoha."
"Well." Both Naruto and Shizune turned, swiveling in their chair as Jiraiya swirled a darkened drink in his glass against the bar.
"He's here with me, and I have to say at this point I'm glad I brought him." Jiraiya poured a long sip of brown liquid, the cup clanking against the counter top as he watched the remnants swirl.
"It's good to see you, Shizune-chan."
The dark haired woman's mouth gaped, and Naruto watched as a fluster brushed across her whole face. She turned her gaze back to the blond before back to Jiraiya, visibly connecting dots.
"Jiraiya-sama." She exclaimed. It was weird, Naruto thought, at the change he noticed in Shizune's voice. She wasn't scared, of that he was certain. Alarmed, but Jiraiya did have a shitty habit of coming out of absolutely nowhere and startling people. He was remarkably stealthy for a two meter tall mop of white hair. But there was something in the way Shizune wrapped her arms around her pet pig, protective and pulling away, that made Naruto's stomach sink. He talked to her like a friend. She didn't reciprocate.
"I didn't know that you were coming." She stammered. Jiraiya smiled, taking another sip of his drink and visibly cringing at the wonderful burn that flooded his throat.
"Bit of an unplanned journey." He said, finishing the drink in two more gulps and rising to his full height. "But you must forgive me, Shizune-chan, my manners are lacking as we aren't here without purpose."
Jiraiya rounded the bar, stopping a half meter away from the two but feeling like a giant. His body faced Shizune, but his eye line was glued over the casino floor. Naruto tried to follow, to see if there was something more dramatic than flashing lights and depleted savings at the end of the gaze. He couldn't see over the slot machines.
"I need to speak with her." Jiraiya said, very much making it sound like a request but Naruto could tell it wasn't. Shizune looked like she had been expecting the not-request, her features steeled.
"She doesn't want company right now."
"I bet not." Jiraiya answered, his voice caught between a dark laugh and a burning fire. It was so razor thin Naruto couldn't tell if he wanted to speak or fight, at this point. Jiraiya flicked back the rest of his drink in a single gulp, shoving the glass aside preparing for either.
"But she needs it."
For a moment, Shizune appeared contemplative. She eyed Jiraiya like a woman eyes a stranger, which was weird because apparently they already knew each other. But Shizune looked so...unsure. So protective of whatever Jiraiya was about to say or due to her master.
The raven haired woman breathed deep, giving a simple nod. Her eyes certain, albeit cautious. It was almost as if she was daring Jiraiya to misbehave.
"This way."
Shizune turned, pushing off from the bar and stepped onto the casino floor. Jiraiya head cocked, Naruto took it as a signal to follow as they pushed back through the main hall. The floor was like a circus, money flowed out and booze flowed in, cries of joys and defeats mixing against the smell of smoke. Shizune's small frame disappeared behind the shifting crowds, Naruto resolved to just follow Jiraiya through the madhouse.
Eventually, the trio slipped away from the floor and up a quiet wooden staircase. The noise of the main hall slowly faded into the distance while the decor of the hallway became increasingly priced.
"A high rollers club." Jiraiya mused, his frustration momentarily giving way to something like nostalgia. "Color me surprised." Shizune was far less amused, a huff escaping her lips. By the fourth door, she stopped and jutted a finger inside the closed room.
"She's in the middle of a game." She began, "so you'll have to get the rest of the table to..."
It was like getting smacked by a tidal wave. Chakra flared, Naruto and Shizune both staggering as an oppressive heat emanated from Jiraiya's body. Without a word, he grabbed and tore at the screen door, slamming it wide. The room was extravagant, green floors and golden ceilings with torchlight casting a smokey shadow over a gilded display.
A table of five men stared back, a growing sense of doom filling them all. Jiraiya's voice was casual, calm, but there was a lightning behind his eyes and the wood groaned from an unseen pressure as he entered. He didn't acknowledge a single one, his eyes were glued to the blond hair and green eyes of the dealer.
"Get out."
The pressure pulsed at his commandment as the floor started to buckle the rafters. One of the men grasped at his throat and heart as the rest scurried like rats out the side door. Dignity and chips forgotten at the table. The dealer remained motionless. Annoyed.
"You ruined my game, you know." The woman said, pushing a strand of blond hair behind her head and frowning. Her fingers ruffled through the cards creased in her hand. Pair of queens. The cards folded in her hands. These were good cards. She should have known something would come and ruin her luck if she's holding two pair before the turn. Tsunade flicked her bent cards to the center, imagining throwing Jiraiya with the same ease.
"That was a good hand." She said, but it sounded like a threat. Jiraiya was in no mood for games. Maybe he'd just been in a piss pour mood since leaving Konoha, but now he was feeling every year of his age. He was thirty years too old to deal with Tsunade's games.
"Hiruzen is paralyzed." He said, leading with the hammer and laying it on the table with the weight of an anvil. Tsunade was busy pulling in the abandoned chips from her terrorized competition, but the declaration halted her mid-rake.
For a moment, at least.
"I heard." She answered. Her voice wasn't gloating, but it wasn't sad, either. A surgical scalpel, balancing the line between life and death and apathy and heartbreak. Jiraiya squinted, confused.
"You knew?" He stepped through the doorway until his frame towered over the table. Shizune gave Naruto a small shove, herding him into the room while she went to shut the door behind them. Privacy was probably warranted.
"How could you know?"
Tsunade gave the man she knew for a fact to be Konoha's spymaster an annoyed looked.
"What, I'm not allowed to hear things?" She replied, and Naruto had to bite down his sudden urge to throw a chair at the woman who was apparently the only person in the world who could fix the old man. She couldn't do that if he threw a chair at her. Probably. From the way his shoulders tensed, Jiraiya felt the same way.
"Hiruzen can't move his legs or his arms and you knew." Jiraiya layered the emphasis at the end with his whole chest. You knew. His words were like stones pounding down a mudslide.
"You knew...and yet you're sitting here...Playing a damn CARD GAME."
Jiraiya's fist was a rocket, moving with the raise of his voice. His open palm slammed into the table faster than Naruto or Shizune could follow. There was a groan, and the wood made spider-web cracking sound. Chips feel from the perfect towers and sounded like glass as they toppled to the floor.
Tsunade glared, not breaking her shuffle.
"I'm not involved with Konoha and I haven't been for a decade." She hissed, voice low and clearly not intimidated by Jiraiya's show of strength. "I'm not going to get involved, now."
"Not involved?" Jiraiya balked, because apparently he'd been taking crazy pills for fifty years and had lost all sense of what it meant to belong. "You're a Senju! You've been involved with Konoha since the day you were born."
"And what has that gotten me, Jiraiya?" Tsunade's voice was level but there was an edge that threatened to rip the table in half and shove the other half down Jiraiya's throat. A heat built, pushing and pushing and Naruto realized it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. He looked to Shizune, who shifted. She could still breathe, but she was sweating.
"You don't get to come here and lecture to me about what I have to do for Konoha." Tsunade all but growled. "You and Hiruzen and Orochimaru can cripple and tear and sever your limbs all you want..." Tsunade rose, and she kicked her chair so hard that when it hit the wall it didn't really break, more disintegrated.
"Leave me the hell out of it."
Jiraiya's nose twitched, a sudden smear crossed his face like he'd smelt something rancid. His voice dropped, and the room's temperature followed. Naruto had to remind his lungs to breathe.
"How did you know that Orochimaru is missing his left arm."
The words hung like ice. The big sharp ice that hung from the ceiling that if it fell went 'slllickt' and impaled things and people or anything unlucky enough to get caught beneath. Tsunade shattered the glare, cursing her mistake under her breath.
"He came to you." Jiraiya continued, because suddenly everything was starting to make painful sense and his blood pressure was starting to get painfully high. "You actually sat and listened to the lunatic that just tried to burn your home to the ground, tried to kill our teacher, tried to kill ME?"
Jiraiya was shouting, and Tsunade refused - couldn't - meet his gaze. The sage pressed the attack.
"Whatever he's offered you, whatever he's trying to give you is a lie, Tsunade! You know that!" Jiraiya's voice was loud but there was a desperation in his voice that made Naruto feel sick. Feelings older than he was getting thrown back and forth and Shizune and he just...watching. Spectators to asteroids colliding. Something Jiraiya had said had clearly affected Shizune, though, Naruto could feel the shuddered breaths and hot tears welling in the young woman's eyes.
"Tsunade." Jiraiya's voice collapsed, fist balling and slamming again into the hardwood. "Tell me, damn you. What is Orochimaru holding over you that's making you act like this. The Tsunade I knew would never..."
"The Tsunade you knew?" The blond woman exploded, chakra surging and obliterating the poker table's remains in a single blow.
"The Tsunade you knew died in the second shinobi war when her village sent the last good things it had out to be slaughtered."
The Slug Sannin was heaving, body physically shaking and her heart a frothing maelstrom. Jiraiya, if anything, slumped. His anger and frustration morphed into a dark and hollow sound that barely scraped out from his throat.
Understanding. Sorrow.
"Tsunade." Jiraiya's voice was a whisper, but there was something broken inside. Next to him, Shizune burst, hot tears now staining her cheeks in unfiltered sorrow. Naruto realized he didn't understand what the hell was going on but he knew it was awful.
"You know he can't bring them back."
Bring them back? Bring who back? Naruto's eyes bounced between Jiraiya to Tsunade, Shizune to Jiraiya. His eyes lingered on Tsunade, who was shaking her head back and forth as though motion would refuse the response.
"Leave."
It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a threat. Tsunade's head was hung, strands of hair leaving her eyes in darkness as she pointed towards the door.
"No."
Tsunade twitched. Jiraiya stood from his chair and planted his feet.
"I'm warning you..."
"I'm not leaving, Tsunade."
The woman's fist clenched, a cracking sound snapping through her knuckles. Jiraiya's flexed his neck, stance widening and eyes going dark.
"I won't tell you twice."
Enough.
That was enough.
"Both of you, knock it off!"
The pressure that had filled the room, pushing and pounding, dissipated with a snap. Tsunade's head twisted, and Naruto found her green eyes on him for the first time since they walked in the door.
"Who the hell is this child?" She snarled, eyeing the blond up and down. Naruto's voice fizzled.
"Blond hair, blue eyes, and those..."
Tsunade trailed off as her eyes lowered, catching the distinctive three pronged kunai hanging secured to Naruto's side. A rush of realization splashed across her face, and she snapped back to Jiraiya with, if it was even possible, a deeper outrage.
"You didn't." She said, disbelief matching disgust. Jiraiya didn't flinch as Tsunade burst into a scalding laughter.
"Unbelievable." She exclaimed, and it felt so wrong because this wasn't funny at all. "You come here, accuse me of delusions and then go around teaching children the Hirashin! Of all of the irresponsible, holier-than-thou grandstanding you have ever pulled this has got to be one of the most bullshit hypocrisies I have ever -"
"Orochimaru used the Edo Tensei to summon Minato. When Naruto intervened, Orochimaru ordered Minato to strangle his only son."
Jiraiya's words dropped like iron and sliced like a knife. The room fell so silent Naruto could feel his own heart beating. Tsunade lurched, cut mid-rant and breath socked from her chest.
"W-wh," she wheezed. "What?"
Jiraiya's face sunk, eyes dark and heavy and every word felt like pain.
"The Edo Tensei. Orochimaru summoned Minato to kill Sarutobi and take over the village." Jiraiya spoke slow, metered. Naruto fought the flashbacks that raged inside his mind and his little fists balled so hard his palms started bleeding. Shizune, for the first time, broke her gaze from her master and gave Naruto a horrified stare. He wished he was invisible.
"But the Edo Tensei doesn't bring back people. It brings back monsters." Jiraiya looked in Naruto's direction, and there was a new sadness that felt like shame. Something hot and wet ran down Naruto's cheek and he didn't know what it was but he sure as hell knew he wanted this conversation to end.
Now.
Gratefully, Jiraiya clocked the discomfort. He lowered his shoulders and let a deep sigh take the remaining tension away, carried by his own exhaustion.
"We're going to be staying here for the next week, Tsunade. Shizune." Neither of the two women answered. Shizune was doing her best to look at Naruto like he needed to be scooped up and held like a newborn child. Tsunade was staring into the crater that was the poker table, eyes shaking and focus a million miles away.
"You want us to leave for tonight, and I agree. It's time for us to go. But, Tsunade, I want to make a deal."
The Slug Sannin's eyes flickered at her own name. Her voice never came to answer, but Jiraiya got enough eye contact to continue.
"Whatever deal," The word left Jiraiya's mouth like poison spit. "You are considering with Orochimaru, you ought to know damn well what you'll be getting on the other side."
He pointed a heavy finger at Naruto. The blond swallowed.
"It just so happens that my student is need of a medical professional who can talk him through the shit that he's been wading through. You and I both know I sure as shit aren't qualified to be offering anyone psychiatric support."
Tsunade blinked, turning a gaze towards Naruto filled with an overwhelming sense of confusion. Naruto was able to reciprocate.
Jiraiya watched the display and gave a long, pained sigh.
"I'm not sure you're in the state to help anyone right now, either." He acknowledged. "But there's a very short list of people he can actually talk to, freely, and we're going to play the cards we're dealt. Shizune is more than qualified and I trust her with my life."
Jiraiya held up a finger, looking tired and frustrated and whole lot less than the Great Jiraiya the Gallant.
"One week. You let Shizune help Naruto. In exchange, I tell you exactly what comes out when Orochimaru offers you Dan and Nawaki from an Edo Tensei'd grave."
His deal spoken, the Toad sage was by Naruto's side in one fluid movement, a hand reaching for his student's shoulders. It looked steady, but the moment it hit his arm Naruto was aware of the rattling tremor in his master's grip.
"We'll be at the river, tomorrow. East side, after sunrise." Jiraiya called, ushering the blond out the door and leaving the women to the silence that had been there when the entered.
"We'll wait for your answer, there."
The last thing Naruto saw as they turned the corner and disappeared into the casino were Tsunade's green eyes boring into his soul.
Continuing to cross post at the request of a friend who doesn't use Ao3, hope y'all don't mind. New stories will all be over there.
An interesting chapter that wasn't meant to be. I was originally trying to write the next chapter but it wouldn't work without a little bit of drama before we get back into some fights - this is Naruto, after all. Next chapter is currently getting edited, so I'll hopefully be doing more on my next flight.
Naruto feels a bit more like a teenager in this, and it's been a heavy week for him. I hope he finds a little peace next chapter.
As always, please let me know what you think!
Silly
