Chapter 13: Trust
Chapter Text
"Where is he?! Where's Naruto?!" Iruka came skidding into the hotel room, thrusting aside the curtain that separated Naruto's side from Kakashi's side. It was only because of Sakura intimidating the clerk they'd been put in the same room. "They told me he was in the hospital!"
"He's all right, sensei," Sakura said serenely from her perch on the stool beside Naruto's bed, peeling an apple with a kunai. Jiraiya sat in the window nursing a black eye while Tsunade held her glowing hands over Kakashi's head.
Iruka rushed to the blond's side, examining him with a frown. He sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and let out a slow sigh of relief. "What happened?" he questioned Jiraiya.
"Among other things, Orochimaru," Jiraiya scowled, adjusting his ice pack.
The door flew open, slamming into the wall hard enough to shake it. Sasuke stormed in, wearing Uchiha Expression #22. "What happened?" he said, gesturing wildly to Naruto while glaring at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya glared back. "I was getting to th-"
A groan signaled Kakashi awakening, one visible eye creaking open. "Tsunade-sama?" he asked in confusion, slowly turning his head. "Sasuke," he greeted. His eye flicked to Naruto and widened. "What happened?" he asked, head whipping around to face Jiraiya.
The sannin groaned, slapping his palm over his eyes.
When Naruto opened his eyes, his first thought was the betting pool.
Had Lee changed any of his bets, which were all on Gai? Had they finally gotten Neji into it? Tenten had a balance between Gai and Kakashi, as well as Kakashi and Zabuza. Sasuke had been forced to make a scroll up with all the bets because they had so many for different aspects of a fight. Karin had said she'd wait to see how powerful they each were before betting.
"Hey Sasuke, what's the…oh hey, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto beamed, going to hug him but finding it made his arms burn. "Ow."
Iruka shook his head and ruffled his hair, huffing. "You're going to give me a heart attack someday."
"That's rare for men your age."
"Hence why it's just so amazing that you'll manage it."
"You feeling all right, Naruto?" Kakashi asked from the other bed, book in hand as his eye curved up. Naruto waved.
"I'm fine. What happened to you?"
"Itachi and his Akatsuki partner showed up at the village. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma tried to fight them and failed miserably," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes with an odd mix of sibling pride and derision in his voice. The unspoken My nii-chan's still better than you, ha-ha-ha was apparent to Sakura and Naruto.
"What the- how do you know about Akatsuki?" Jiraiya demanded.
"We all do," Sakura replied in a 'you're behind, aren't you?' tone. "Naruto knows ghosts, remember? He knows some who've died because of Akatsuki."
"Hold on, what's this Akatsuki?" Iruka interrupted, helping Naruto sit up and placing an arm around his shoulder.
"A terrorist group, basically," Naruto said dryly. "Their goal is to gather the Jinchuriki, extract their Bijuu, and use them to revive the Ten-Tailed Beast."
"What?!" Jiraiya boomed.
"…oh. I forgot to say I met Madara, didn't I?"
"And so the Sage's son got all hissy and started the Curse of Hatred on the Uchiha side, and their uncle's descendants started the Hyuuga clan. Madara didn't actually know that part, the Kyuubi told me. An aloe vera plant person thing manipulated Madara into thinking he'd be bringing on world peace, whereas he was really just going to be a host for Kaguya," Naruto yawned. That had been a fun conversation with Kurama and the Uchiha brothers. There'd been a lot of laughing on the Kyuubi's part and a lot of screaming on everyone else's part.
"I'm pretty sure Nagato and Konan would give it up if I could find Yahiko's ghost. I've been working on a jutsu that lets me make them visible for a short amount of time," Naruto continued. "That would be awesome, since he's an Uzumaki." He gave his sensei a thumbs-up.
Jiraiya's eyelid was twitching. "And just why. Didn't. You. Tell me. ANY of this?" he yelled, fisting his hands in his hair.
"I was going to!" Naruto exclaimed, defensive. "After we got Tsunade back to the village! I thought it'd just stress everyone out on the road!" Jiraiya's head slumped as he groaned.
Iruka's arm had gone rigid as he gripped Naruto, dark lines overshadowing his eyes. "And just…how far along are they in their plan?"
"I think they only have one beast so far. Maybe two. Jiji and I sent a letter to Kumo asking about the two they have. They've been restricted to in-village missions and missions near their village with squads. I told Gaara and his siblings, but not his village's officials. They'd just try and assassinate him."
"Well, that's good, I suppose. Although, I've heard the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki will pitch a fit over something like that," Kakashi chuckled.
"Can you get information from the ghosts? What missing nin they have, their abilities, locations?" Jiraiya asked, leaning forward with his hands clasped in front of him.
"Sure," Naruto said, shrugging. "I'd like to point out I wasn't completely irresponsible about this, because I told Jiji, the actual current Hokage, and he's been helping me put the Jinchuriki on alert." Jiraiya just sighed.
"Is it really a good idea to be leaving the village at all?" Iruka worried, unintentionally tightening his hold until Naruto just slumped into his chest to avoid being squished.
"It'll be fine, sensei," Naruto said, voice muffled by his flak jacket. "You'll see."
"Seriously though, sensei, your fight was pathetic."
"Shut up, Sasuke."
It was a week before the hospital released him. Naruto watched Tsunade's inauguration from his window and started making plans on how to paint her part of the monument when it was finished being carved.
It had been three days before he walk by himself. Luckily, although he'd been through the wringer, his body didn't seem to be as stressed as it usually was when he attempted transformation. His Rasenshuriken had nearly destroyed his arm, but he thought he finally had the technique down.
A sense of déjà vu hit him as he walked down the street and heard Ino calling his name. "Oi! Naruto!"
Groaning, he came to a stop, turning around and waiting for Team Asuma to reach him with a vapid air about him. Ino came skidding to a stop, panting. "Have you seen Sasuke-kun?" she asked hopefully.
"Nope," Naruto replied.
She pouted. "Aw! You're on the same squad, you'd think you'd know where he is!"
"Yo," Shikamaru said, lackluster, as he came up with his hands in his pockets. Choji and his usual chip bag followed behind.
"What do you want?" Naruto sighed.
Ino frowned. "Are you tired or something?"
"No."
"Then why are you…like that?" She waved her hands at him.
"Like what?" He stared blankly.
"Like…like…Shikamaru or something! I don't know! You're always so chipper and loud!"
He stared and stared and stared until he thought his eyes might fall out. "You…are…so…blind," he said, almost incredulously. She'd met him several times since graduating, and she still couldn't see his real personality?
"What was that?!" she shouted, a tick growing on her forehead. She looked just like how Sakura had used to act like.
She bashed him over the head, just like Sakura had used to pretend to do.
Unfortunately for the both of them, while he looked completely normal, he was hardly in any condition to go around getting bashed over the head. Hissing, Naruto crumpled, all noise blocked out by the ringing in his ears. Holy cow, it was just like the time he'd accidentally sent off a bell and gong right by his five-year-old ears.
"Are you kidding me?! I can't even go out to research for five minutes without someone deciding to punch you? He already had a concussion, you moron!" Jiraiya ranted, zooming over at the speed of sound from out of nowhere. It was eerily like Iruka's habits. "He just got out of the hospital!"
"H-he was in the hospital?" Ino stammered.
"Orochimaru already injured him enough, then some bratty little genin thinks she can go smacking people around. I'll be having a word with your sensei," he said darkly, gathering a dizzy-looking Naruto into his arms.
Ino gulped and went pale. Shikamaru and Choji watched open-mouthed, having seen Jiraiya around enough at that point to know who he was. "What's his name?" Jiraiya frowned.
"W-what?" she stuttered.
"His name. Your jounin sensei."
"S-Sarutobi Asuma," she said, looking terrified.
"Wow. Didn't expect sensei's son to let his students be so crappy," Jiraiya muttered as he walked away, not registering the insulted expressions they wore.
"…nice going, Ino."
"I said I'm fine," Naruto complained, staring at the ceiling grumpily as Tsunade held one glowing hand over his head.
"Yeah, yeah. It may be a small thing, but people like you let small things accumulate until it's one big thing," Tsunade replied as her eyebrow twitched. He huffed.
She retracted her hand. "Just make sure not to tick anymore women off, kay?" she chuckled, waving at Jiraiya as she left through the hospital door. Naruto hadn't even been gone long enough for the room to be given to anyone else.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the awkward air that ensued, glancing over at Jiraiya only to find him staring at him with a frown. "We need to discuss something," he said, oddly serious.
Naruto's eyebrow met his hairline. Jiraiya stood up and walked over to the bed, dragging a hospital chair to sit down. "Are there any ghosts here? If so, tell them to leave."
His eyes slipped to an elderly nurse watering imaginary plants on the windowsill. "Oi, granny," he called. She paused in her work and glanced up at him, looking a little vacant. "Can you go water the plants in 4B?"
She smiled, nodding as she floated up through the ceiling. Sighing, Naruto turned back to Jiraiya, who'd been staring where he'd been looking with a curious expression. "What is it, ero-sennin?"
Jiraiya examined him closely. Naruto frowned when he realized the man wasn't even getting angry over his nickname as usual. "It seems we've been having a little disconnect," Jiraiya said, voice stern.
Despite his typical attitude, Naruto felt a tiny ball of nervousness in his gut. "Naruto, you can't just go off and practice dangerous techniques that can shred your arm and practice Bijuu transformation of all things all by yourself. Do you realize how dangerous the Akatsuki is? Their only prerogative is your death. You can't just keep information like that from me. You have to be honest with me.When it comes down to it, you don't have to like me, but I'm still your sensei."
"You think I don't like you?" Naruto carefully schooled his expression. "Well…you'd be right!" he said cheerfully, pointing at Jiraiya's forehead. The man jerked like a boulder had fallen on his head, but recovered quickly, jabbing a finger in his face.
"And that is exactly what I'm talking about! Every time I try and talk to you, you make some quip or insult me! I wasn't born yesterday, kid," Jiraiya bit out, scowling. "I know a dodge when I see one."
"Good for you," Naruto snarked, expression reflecting his sour mood. "Are we done now?"
"Not by a long shot," Jiraiya snapped back, gripping his shoulder when he tried to stand. Naruto cast him an annoyed look. "Glare all you want, we're having this discussion."
Naruto sat back down and crossed his arms, face going bland. "Why can't you put any amount of trust in me?" Jiraiya asked with a grimace. "The only time you find yourself able is when you're half dead."
Naruto frowned. "Gamakichi told me you mimic the habits of most paranoid jounin and ANBU and don't sleep on the road," Jiraiya said flatly.
"Stupid traitor," Naruto muttered.
"And among other things, you asked if I had a history of violence," Jiraiya continued.
"So?"
"So- so? What the hell, kid? Nothing about you makes sense. I have no grasp of what level of trust you have in me, what you'll come to me for help with, hell, if you'd even come to me for help."
"I don't know what to tell you," Naruto said bluntly.
He sighed. "Fine, then. Maybe this was doomed from the start." Naruto squinted in confusion as he stood. "I'll go, then."
It took Naruto a moment to comprehend. He couldn't stop his expression from shifting, for just a moment, to bleak terror.
Jiraiya stared at him. "…that's it, isn't it? You're afraid I'm going to leave?"
Bluffs were useful for revealing information.
"No," Naruto snapped, mentally panicking.
He's getting angry. Closer, then.
"Really? Then what is it? Your poker face is ace, kid, but the shinobi rules are crap. If you don't start telling me the truth, this will never work."
Naruto glared. "Feel free to walk away, then."
Challenge.
"No, I think I'll badger you until you tell me the truth."
"Ero-sennin-" Insult. Dodge.
"What? Am I irritating you?" Jiraiya drawled, glaring daggers. "Neither one of us leaves this room, and if you Hiraishin away I will track you down."
Naruto's cheek spasmed. "What. Do you. Want from me?" he hissed, leaning closer as his eyes narrowed.
Jiraiya glowered. "I just told you-"
"No!" Naruto threw his hands up. "What do you want from me?"
"What?" Jiraiya didn't comprehend.
Use your words, Naruto, Sakura's voice echoed in his mind.
"I know, I know. You wanted to train me. But why?" Naruto pointed in his face. "Why after all this time? Why bother helping me first when you could have taken Orochimaru down with granny? Why do you want me to hang around?" A sour expression crossed his face, and he held up his hand to count off. "People only do things for three reasons. One, they want something or get something out of it. Two, they hate you. Three, they like you. What did you get out of it?"
"…wow. You're jaded." Naruto looked ready to throw a chair. "Did you ever consider it would be the third option?"
"You barely knew me," Naruto replied. "I barely knew you. So yes, I found out all I could about you from the toads. And Kami-dammit, you stupid oaf, I hate you so much." Jiraiya was momentarily crestfallen, but Naruto had already stood up so he could glare down at him. "Because you made me like you! You're- you're- you're utterly goofy and funny and you're a raging pervert who writes stupid perverted books but you've never let me down since we started and all I want is to make you proud of me and I hate that. Whenever I liked anyoneoutside Iruka-sensei they inevitably ended up trying to screw me over and nothing I ever did was ever enough. I hate that you make me want to please you because I'm effing scared that I'll screw up somehow and make you hate me and I don't do pity parties. I'm scared you'll run off- not for a few weeks or months, I know how spy networks operate and I know what going undercover means but I mean for another twelve years. It never once occurred to me that someone outside of Sasuke and Sakura could become my family but then you just show up and you- you- you ruin everything. It feels like I'm standing here with my freaking father still around," Naruto seethed.
Jiraiya gaped at him with a closed mouth but eyes as wide as twin Rasengans. "And so- yeah, I didn't tell you I knew about things, because I'm the freak who sees ghosts and I've always been just'the thing' so I don't have experience being open and honest with people who I haven't known since I was six. And it makes me angry how I still trusted you almost from the very start, despite every cell in my body telling me it was a stupid thing to do and it would get me killed. I trust you with everything and it freaks me out."
Silence fell in the room. Naruto took a few breaths, slowly blowing air out his nose. "…you make me really, really mad sometimes, ero-sennin."
"…I'm sorry," Jiraiya said, expression not changing. "I know you know my excuses, but…I should have been around. I'm not going to leave again."
They stared at each other. "You could never disappoint me," Jiraiya said at length. "And you're not a thing."
After several long moments, Naruto burst into tears.
Tsunade came swishing into the room cheerily, holding a clipboard. "Well, Nar- what the hell, Jiraiya?!"
"I-it's not what it looks like!" Jiraiya squeaked, frantically trying to calm his student down. "I swear!"
"Jiraiya," she growled, raising a fist.
"Ack!" He flipped out of his chair in his antics.
Naruto reigned himself in, wiping his face with the hospital pillow. "I-it's okay, granny, he didn't do anything," he stammered.
"Are you sure?" she asked with narrowed eyes, fist still in the air.
"Yeah," he coughed awkwardly into his hand, embarrassed.
"Didja hear that? Huh? Huh?" Jiraiya asked, pointing wildly to Naruto.
"Very well," she said, lowering her fist with a suspicious aura. "You can leave now, but be careful." She exited the room, glaring over her shoulder.
They sat in silence for a moment, Naruto on the bed and Jiraiya on the floor, before Jiraiya cleared his throat. "So…want to ditch this joint and get some barbeque?"
Naruto was quite literally salivating as he examined the food the waitress had placed on the table. He pulled his chopsticks apart, raising an eyebrow when Jiraiya slid out of his side of the booth.
"You go on ahead," the sannin said, eyes curving upward like Kakashi's. "I just gotta go talk to someone." He pointed with his thumb to a booth containing several jounin.
Naruto shrugged and dug in. He tended to experience emotion in short, intense bursts, and recovered quickly enough. He lifted a piece of chicken and started chowing down.
Jiraiya tapped Kurenai on the shoulder, making her pause with her chopsticks midway to her mouth and look up. "Jiraiya-sama!" she exclaimed.
"Mind if I slide in?" he asked, gesturing to her side of the booth.
"Of course," she replied, sliding to the wall so he could sit down.
Asuma and Gai gave him a curious glance from the other side of the booth. Jiraiya plastered on a smile, drumming his fingers on the tabletop for a moment. "I actually have business with you, Sarutobi."
"With me?" Asuma blinked and set his chopsticks down. "What do you need?"
"Earlier today," Jiraiya began, "my cute little student was walking down the street when that blonde brat of yours hailed him down looking for Sasuke." The jounin tensed, Kurenai looking a tad embarrassed. "That wouldn't be so bad, if she hadn't bashed him over the head hard enough to knock him to the ground when he'd just gotten out of the hospital and had a concussion, thus forcing me to take him back to said hospital not half an hour after he'd been released to heal a new, albeit minor, injury. Now, as I'm sure you can all understand, if he were at his best this wouldn't have hurt him. Unfortunately for us all, fighting my wayward teammate and turning your arm into a massive fox claw three times reeeeally tires one out. I've been reliably informed this has gone on for years. Now, there's a difference between Tsunade giving me a good deck or that pink-haired teammate of theirs sending one of them flying because of something stupid they did and your student deciding to accost mine. They've been around each other for years, I'm sure it hasn't been a point of division with them. The thing is, the Uchiha kid even threatened her and she still hasn't learned. If it happens again, none of us will really like what I do," he said with a serene smile. The air was tense, not one of them moving a muscle. Even Gai had frozen with part of a noodle halfway into his gaping mouth. "I advise you to reign her in, because I don't give out second chances. Now, of course, I'm willing to give you room here- you're sensei's son, so I'm giving you a warning instead of filing an injunction against her to teach her a lesson. See my cute little student?" He'd taken a bite of some of the beef on their table and made a plate without them noticing, and used the pair of chopsticks he'd procured to point at Naruto across the restaurant. They all followed his gaze obediently, staring for a moment.
Across the restaurant, Naruto felt someone's gaze on him and looked around suspiciously. Probably people staring at me because I'm the 'freak', he thought with an eye-roll. A fly landed on his chicken, and he darted towards it with his chopsticks. It swerved out of his grip, landing on his nose, and he went for it without thinking, pinching the sticks around said appendage.
Ow! Cursing in his head, he dropped his utensils and held his nose, glaring at the fly.
"…harmless, really," Jiraiya continued. They all turned back to him, still speechless. "That's all the business I have with you, Asuma." He stood up and wiped his mouth with one of their napkins, dropping it by his barely-touched plate, and patted the Sarutobi on the shoulder. "Oh, yeah, Gai. I heard one of your students tried to off his cousin."
"Er…"
"Well, I heard Naruto set him straight but if his head isn't on all the way…make sure it is," Jiraiya said, sending the Green Beast a blank stare.
"…of course, Jiraiya-sama," Gai replied, sweating and giving him a weaker-than-usual nice-guy pose.
"Good. Good talk." Jiraiya dusted his hands off and crossed the restaurant to Naruto, sliding into the booth. "Oi! You ate my chicken!"
"Ha-ha, snoozers are losers ero-sennin!"
"Woo," Anko whistled, flopping over the back of the booth from the one behind Kurenai. "You guys got in troooouble. I'm telling everybody."