Naruto x Digimon
Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined
Chapter 031
Originally Written: Sunday, March 19, 2023 850AM to 937AM
. . . . .
Finding Lord Jiraiya wasn't difficult. Rather, the places he frequented within Konoha made it difficult to interact with him. They couldn't ask him at Ichiraku's Ramen Stall, as that was too public a location. They definitely couldn't ask him when he was frequenting the hot springs to spy on scantily clad women for "research". And they definitely couldn't speak to him when he was at the Hokage tower.
They took to making sure he always saw at least one of them when he wasn't at a location they needed him to be. Kakashi finally managed to reach him sitting on Hokage mountain. He was scribbling on parchment, filling the immediate area around him with the smell of fresh ink. Kakashi chose to sit down near him, pull out 'Tale of the Gutsy Ninja' and start reading it for the umpteenth time. 'Naruto' was a weird name for a protagonist, but it was growing on him. The pages of the book were starting to fall out. He adjusted them as needed, glad that the pages were numbered.
"What do you want, kid?" Jiraiya eventually asked.
It took him a while to word the request so it didn't sound like he was asking too much, nor being too suspicious. It didn't work anyway. "Please teach my team and I sealing."
Jiraiya scrutinized him, paying close attention to the book. "I knew your father. You're nothing like him."
He didn't go into it any further than that, but Jiraiya hadn't needed to. Kakashi knew that Jiraiya was just another person who compared him to Orochimaru. He was probably wondering why he and his team didn't go to Minato or Kushina instead. It wasn't done often, but it was just as annoying as hearing people compare him to his father. Usually they were stating how much alike they were. How doomed he was to repeat the same mistakes. Few used contrasting them to tell him how much he was like Orochimaru.
Kakashi gripped the book tightly, and for a moment, wished he'd thrown it out when Obito teased him. If one more person compared him to Orochimaru he was going to kill them. Or try to. He was growing tired of being compared to people. The only people who didn't were his comrades in arms in Anbu, and those related to Team Minato. That was far too small an amount for his taste.
He pushed all the pages of his book that were falling apart back in between the two covers. Then he put the book back in his flak jacket. Then he stood, a scowl hidden underneath his mask. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. Of course I'm not like him."
He walked away. Fuck that man. He missed Jiraiya shaking his head and grinning, holding back an amused laugh.
Rin didn't fare much luck either. Jiraiya's eyes unfocused whenever he looked at her, and she couldn't quite figure out why.
She circled around him. Keeping her steps forceful but not too desperate. He was on the way to the hot springs, again, and she was on her way to her next shift at the hospital. Training with Nonou and Kiisu afterward, as usual. If he kept going without saying anything to her, she'd be forced to split paths with no answer.
Jiraiya stopped walking. She stood just in front of him. A hand reached out towards her, but stopped short. He shook his head. "You're just another…" he trailed off. He shook his head. "My answer is no."
"What?" She frowned. "Why not?"
He shook his head again.
"Surely you respect me enough to at least tell me that." She huffed. She stared down Orochimaru, and would continue to need to do so for the foreseeable future. She could handle Jiraiya.
"I'm not watching another great medic-nin fall to their own…minds." He dropped his hand. "You all do."
"Alright, fine." She didn't understand what he meant, but she didn't need to. His reasonings were his own and that's what she asked for. "Can you direct me to another place or source my team and I could learn from then?"
If Jiraiya directed her team to Minato or Kushina, then it wouldn't be obvious or suspicious. Dragging him into their ordeal so openly wasn't ideal, but he wasn't in Konoha often enough that it would affect him so terribly. The risk was worth it.
"No dice." He walked past her, ignoring her shouting after him.
She walked after him, working so hard to reign in her frustrated shouts that her face turned red. So much for not making a scene.
Obito knew Jiraiya thought he was amusing. It frustrated him to no end. It took him days to find a way to corner the man, and here he was laughing at him. After what he did to Rin and Bakakashi, no way was he taking this insult sitting down.
He ignored Jiraya's partially bent over position and the hand pushing his head back against his wheelchair's headrest. He still swung his fists at the man, wishing his arms were a little longer. "Who the fuck peed in your ramen you asswipe!?"
Jiraiya laughed, dropping his hand. He took a step back, almost goading Obito forward. Obito accepted the challenge and switched between moving his wheelchair forward and taking swings at Jiraiya, yelling all the while. "How dare you make Rin cry! Come over here so I can kick your ass, you coward!"
He was drawing a crowd and lots of looks, which wasn't his intention, but Rin's reputation as the best woman Obito knew was on the line. He needed to make sure Jiraiya knew the horrors he committed. He was forced to stop when Jiraiya looked past him.
"Mikoto, long time no see?" Jiraiya folded his arms and chuckled.
"Yes, it's been a while."
Obito froze and turned around. He smiled nervously. If Uncle F. had sent Mikoto, that meant he was too busy to be bothered. So how much of a scene did he make? He looked around. Mikoto Uchiha looked amused, and Itachi looked confused. Itachi looked up at his mother and pulled on her sleeve.
"Hm?" She bent down to listen to what he had to say.
"I don't think I like him." Itachi whispered.
She smiled a warm smile in response. Itachi looked away and back at Jiraiya, who was now looking at both of them confused. Obito laughed. The things you had to do to get Itachi Uchiha, the clan heir, to not like you so openly were great, powerful things. Insulting or upsetting his dear cousin Obito was at the top of the list.
"Take that, you pervert!" Obito gloated.
Running into Gai was an unusual change of pace, but from Jiraiya's research it was expected. What Gai said however, was not. He introduced himself as normal, before going into detail how Rin was now personally being trained by Nonou Yakushi.
"Lord Jiraiya, do you know the real reason why Lady Tsunade took Lady Shizune with her when she left Konoha?" Gai looked out over Konoha's buildings and forests, standing on the head of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, on Hokage Mountain.
"Is that something I should be talking to you about?"
"Probably not, but I was wondering if you knew anyway."
Jiraiya took in Hanku Akimichi's recognizable scarf hanging around Gai's neck. Just from looking he could tell that Gai needed stronger weights than what the scarf provided. He wondered why Gai was still wearing it.
"Are you going to indulge me?"
Gai shook his head. "But I will say that Team Kakashi only wishes to make Konoha Hospital a safe place for Lady Shizune to return to. Konoha Hospital means a lot to Rin, and Rin means a lot to both Obito and Kakashi."
Jiraiya gave him a look of confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Gai only smiled one of his smiles showing off his pristine white teeth. "You've greatly upset Team Kakashi, so I am afraid I can't tell you much more than that."
Jiraiya nearly pushed him off the mountain, but Gai expected that, for he jumped and started climbing down himself.
"Have a good night, Lord Jiraiya!" He called to the background of a setting sun. "I need to make it down within an hour, or I will need to do 500 push ups using just my fingertips!" Hanku's scarf fluttered behind him, looking like an animal's ears.
Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder what Dai fed his son before passing away. Maybe Dai hadn't fed him anything specifically. Rather, the meals came from Team Seven. He pushed himself to his feet, and started his trek down the mountain the normal way. He had some things to look into before he left again.
