Thanks again for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! This chapter is more than three times as long as either of the last two. Keeping the chapters around this length is the plan from here on out although there may be some variance depending on how the story flows.
Naruto stood at the main gate, feeling both excited and sad. He loved the Leaf Village. His Village. He would miss his grandfatherly figure in the Hokage's office. He would miss the new sensei they got in the academy this year, the one who yelled at him a lot for not paying attention or for the few pranks he had played in class. He didn't have the feeling of hate directed at him though like the rest of the village did, just sadness, and maybe a little frustration. And he would miss Ichiraku ramen, the best ramen in the whole wide world, which he was sure of despite never having left the village walls. More importantly he would miss the people within the shop, Teuchi and Ayame. They too looked at him with sadness in their eyes, but they always smiled at them and asked how he was. Naruto always gave them his biggest and best smile right back and told them he was doing great, and how could he not be when he was about to chow down on the greatest version of the best food ever invented? It wasn't like when he was in his apartment alone, and the sadness tried to overcome him.
Sadness. There was so much sadness around him, and in him. Did he make people sad? Was he the reason that even the people who were nice to him looked so sad? He couldn't remember ever having done anything wrong. Maybe he was doing something that he didn't even notice. He would have to pay closer attention to himself and what he was doing.
Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by the reason he was excited. Jiraiya, the old white haired man, what had he called himself? San-nin? Toad Sage? Naruto still didn't know what either of those things meant. Obviously he knew what a toad was but what was a sage? And he knew what Sannin meant, but what did it mean to be one of three ninja? Weren't there way more than three in the Leaf Village? Who were the other two? Were they also old?
He was interrupted by the tall man yet again, this time not by his presence, but by the question that came from behind him. "Ready to go, Gaki?" Naruto spun on his heel, instantly mad about being called a brat. He hadn't done anything to earn that name. At least not around Jiraiya he hadn't.
"Who are you calling a brat, Old Man!" Sure he wasn't as old as the Hokage, he couldn't be if he was trained by him, but he was still one of the oldest ninja Naruto had seen, and his hair was completely white!
Jiraiya was perplexed. Naruto spun around like he was surprised to see him, not surprising since he had snuck up on him silently. Yet when he turned around, Naruto just looked angry, not surprised. He'd have to check that out later.
Instead of showing his surprise, Jiraiya just chuckled at Naruto. He couldn't help himself, his quick temper and developing wit reminded him of another Uzumaki he had known. "Okay Naruto, calm down so we can get going. Where's the rest of your stuff?"
Naruto was confused by that question, he had just about everything he owned in his backpack. Both his spare set of clothes and his pajamas fit in there easily, and he even added in a few cups of instant ramen. Never could be too careful. "It's all in my backpack." His confused tone betrayed his thoughts.
Jiraiya felt rage boil deep inside him yet again. Maybe he should make a trip to the council and lop a few heads off. It was early morning, he still had time after all.
"I was just asking so I could show you the first of many things you'll be learning as my apprentice." Naruto lit up at that, which he loved to see, but he still felt guilty. He still hadn't told him he was his godfather, how could he after seeing how he lived? The kid would probably hate him after that. Best to wait till they made it back to the village in a few years.
Jiraiya pulled out a basic storage scroll, one of his own making, and showed it to Naruto. Naruto balked at this a bit, thinking he was gonna see a super cool new jutsu that would help him become Hokage, instead this old man pulled out a scroll. Maybe he was starting to lose it.
"It's just a scroll?" He questioned.
"Oho! But just watch what it does! Here hand me your backpack."
Naruto thought about it for a second, he didn't wanna give up his ramen, but the Toad Man seemed pretty certain and even excited. Plus he had called him his apprentice, that means he would buy him ramen if he destroyed his current stock, right? He slid his backpack off and handed it over.
Jiraiya took the backpack and slung open the scroll and laid it on the ground with a smoothness and ease that showed his wealthy experience. He put the backpack on the middle of the scroll where Naruto saw a bunch of scribbling in a vaguely organized pattern. Jiraiya put two fingers on a certain part of the scribbles, and suddenly his backpack disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Jiraiya was showing off a bit, making a storage scroll seem like a super complex technique, but he was only human, and he wanted to see the smile on his godson's face. He put two fingers on the scroll, looked up at Naruto, and channeled his chakra to activate the scroll. He felt more than saw that the backpack was gone, sealed away into the scroll. He was looking at Naruto's face, and could see the wheels turning in his head. 'Here it comes' he thought with a mental chuckle.
"Youuu JERK!" Naruto ground out, "I HAD RAMEN IN THERE AND NOW IT'S JUST GONE! THERE WERE EIGHT CUPS IN THERE, THAT'S ALMOST TWO FULL MEALS! YOU BETTER BE REPLACING THOSE!"
That… was not what Jiraiya had been expecting. Hilarious as Naruto's reaction was, he could feel the threat in his voice, and while he was twenty years too young to even consider beating him in a fight, he could still make his life hell on the road.
Jiraiya threw his hands up in defense, "woah woah, just take it easy there big guy, nobody has to get hurt. This is a storage scroll, and one that I made myself, perfectly I might add. The backpack and your precious ramen have just been stored in the scroll. All you have to do is channel some chakra here," he pointed to the part of the seal that controlled the rest of it, "and think about your backpack coming out. Your chakra is a part of you, and will respond to your thoughts." In truth, using a sealing scroll was even less complicated than that, but giving him some chakra theory lessons without him knowing it wouldn't hurt him.
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed at the instructions, and his mouth scrunched to one side in concentration. Finally he relented and asked, "how do I channel chakra Jiraiya-sensei?"
Jiraiya felt a great amount of pride swell up within him, and not just at being called sensei for the first time. It was clear that Naruto had tried his best to figure this out on his own, had tried to think through how the scroll worked and maybe even the different ways that he could use it. He was already looking underneath the underneath, even if it was just a little.
"Well my precious student," that recieved a smile from Naruto, whose face had still been mostly contorted in concentration, "have you learned how to access your chakra?" Naruto's eyes looked upward like he was trying to remember, and then he looked back at Jiraiya and nodded. "Good, then think about it like this. You want to start molding, or accessing your chakra. Then you want to slowly feel it moving down your arm, and pushing out of your fingertips. As I said before, chakra will respond to your will, it's not just a part of you, it is you, but since you're not experienced with it, it could take some time. Why don't you give it a shot."
Naruto nodded and sat down cross legged in front of the scroll. He brought his hands up in front of his chest in the ram seal and started to access his chakra. Jiraiya sensei had called it molding, he liked that better, it just felt right. He didn't really feel any change, but he could feel his chakra swirling so he let go of the seal and placed two fingers where Jiraiya had shown him and tried to push his chakra out through his fingers. The feeling was instant, like a wind rushing through an open window, and suddenly there was a loud pop, and apprentice and student were surrounded by a large cloud of smoke larger than an elephant.
Coughing and waving his hand in front of his face as the smoke dissipated, Jiraiya informed his student, "little too much chakra there Gaki, but we can work on your control later."
Naruto was only half listening. He was more focused on the ramen in the backpack that he was currently hugging and protecting like his life depended on it. To be fair, in Naruto's mind, his life did depend on it. This was ramen.
After a few seconds of his precious reunion with the lifeblood that fuels future Hokage, Naruto realized what happened.
"Woah! Sensei I did it! Can you store other things in the scrolls!? You said you made this one, can you teach me how to do that!? Can you store people in the scrolls!? What about chakra!? What about buildings? A tree? Can I store my arm in one?"
Jiraiya was increasingly perplexed by Naruto's questions, unpredictable was an understatement, but he was content with the curiosity the boy showed. And he learned to channel his chakra out of his fingers in no time flat for it being his first go at it. He would make a fine shinobi one day, of that Jiraiya was sure, maybe even a great Hokage too.
"Hohoho slow your roll there blondie, we can get all those questions answered on the road, but we should get going so we don't waste too much time. Plus you probably alerted the ANBU with that giant cloud of smoke, so we should get going to ease their nerves. Have you said bye to everybody you wanted too?" Jiraiya kicked himself a little even as he asked the question, knowing he had very few people he could interact with in a positive way. The boy didn't look upset or sad as he had expected though, just like he was in thought.
"Hmm I saw Teuchi and Ayame at breakfast this morning, I didn't get to say bye to Jiji or Iruka-sensei though." He thought the Hokage would be too busy to say bye to, plus he had seen him last night when he had gotten him out of the hospital. He wasn't sure if he knew Iruka-sensei well enough to say bye to him, or even if Iruka actually liked him, but now he wished he had gone to see him.
"Well we'll be back before ya know it kid, so why don't we get going?"
Naruto nodded at that, he didn't wanna disturb them anyway. The two spikey haired Leaf citizens walked up to the checkout desk, where a couple of newly minted chunin were on watch duty. Jiraiya checked them out, showing the scroll from the Hokage that gave Naruto permission to leave, and the two started walking through the gate. They had made it about 20 yards when Naruto felt the Hokage behind him. He whirled around and ran at the older man, jump-tackling him with a hug. The elderly Hokage held his ground and returned the hug.
"Naruto, you would leave without saying goodbye to your old grandfather figure? My old bones could barely carry me this far out of the village to come find you!"
Naruto scoffed at this, "Old man you're the Hokage, that means you're the strongest in the village, that old person act won't fool me." Naruto harrumphed, crossing his arms in stubbornness.
"My my Naruto, not much gets by you does it?" Naruto nodded, "except maybe the presence of your favorite academy teacher?" Sarutobi rotated to give Naruto a view of the man standing behind him.
"Iruka-sensei! What are you doing here!?" Naruto was shocked, but beyond happy to see him. That meant that Iruka really did care about him. One more person to add to his list.
"Now Naruto, you didn't think that I'd let one of my favorite students leave without saying goodbye did you?" Iruka leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "and just between you and me, I think you might be my favorite out of all the other students, you can't tell them I said that though."
Naruto nodded very seriously and whispered back, "don't worry sensei, your secret is safe with me." His voice grew louder, "A great shinobi never reveals secrets, and I'm gonna be the very best!"
"It's going to take a lot of work to become the best ninja and Hokage Naruto, and you'll have to listen carefully and learn from Jiraiya whenever he's speaking, and pay close attention to his actions to learn from those too." Naruto didn't look sad at the news of how hard it would be. His chin was up and his chest was puffed out. He looked determined. "But I can see that you already know that. I have no doubt that you can do it, Naruto." Iruka donned a happy smile thinking about it. "I believe in you completely."
Naruto was shocked at this. He had only known Iruka-sensei for half a year, and here was saying he believed he could become the Hokage someday. His eyes started to water for the second time in as many days. Jiraiya had told him it was okay to cry out of happiness, but he still tried to hold it back, it wouldn't do for the future Hokage to be seen crying every single day.
The three shinobi of Konoha (Leaf) looked at the young boy with melancholy. Such a young boy shouldn't be so overwhelmed emotionally at what amounted to a fairly small gesture. Every young child should have somebody to believe in their dreams. It was unfair.
'This is my doing' Hiruzen thought, and he could barely stomach that fact. 'Never again will I allow my inattentiveness to harm this village or anybody in it'.
Hiruzen interrupted Naruto's emotions before he could let waterworks begin. "Naruto, I wanted to give you this" Sarutobi held out a cylindrical tube for him. He had decided last night that it was time the boy knew, and he had been up until the sunrise compiling everything he could for him. "That contains a storage scroll, everything in that scroll is yours."
Naruto took the scroll and looked it over. The end caps of the tube were red and had a swirling pattern on them, like he'd seen on the vests of some of the older shinobi around the village. The tube itself was also red, with black scribbles that looked kinda like the ones on the inside storage scroll that Jiraiya had given him.
"Jiji, what are these black scribbles?" Jiraiya hadn't told him exactly what they were, just how to work that scroll.
"Those Naruto, are characters for Fuinjutsu (Sealing techniques), when you combine them together, like that, they make a sealing formula. It's an old and complex art, that's very difficult. Not many shinobi practice Fuinjutsu these days. Lucky for you Jiraiya here is likely the foremost practitioner in the elemental nations." Naruto looked at the Toad Sage in awe. Jiraiya just shrugged, he was nothing special compared to Minato or Kushina. "This specific formula is called a blood seal. Only the people who have blood that is recognized by the formula will be able to open it." Hiruzen had found the old tubing in a box full of Kushina's stuff that he kept in storage. It was an Uzumaki scroll holder. The seal on it would only open to those with Uzumaki blood. Luckily it hadn't been sealed yet, so Hiruzen had gathered what he had wanted to give Naruto, and sealed it in a scroll, then sealed the scroll in the tubing. Now only Naruto or Tsunade (to his knowledge) could open it.
"Jiraiya will show you how to open it later, I'm sure you're excited to get going on your trip!"
"You bet Old Man! By the time I get back I'll be strong enough to take that hat right off your head!" Hiruzen and Iruka chuckled at this, which frustrated Naruto for a second before he too joined in.
"Naruto, I actually have something that I wanted to give you as well, if you'd take it." Naruto once again was taken aback by this. Iruka had surprised him twice now. Maybe he needed to start paying closer attention to people he was around.
Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out… a leaf? It looked like any leaf that he had seen fluttering about the village, about the same size too- small enough to fit in even his seven and a half year old palm. This one however looked like it was made out of clay, that had been hardened and painted the correct shade of green. He didn't really need a paper weight, but he took it from Iruka anyway and bowed as he thanked him.
"I know it's not as interesting as a storage scroll or as cool as a sword or anything like that, but I thought it would be a reminder of home for you. You could look at it after a long day of training, and remember why you're doing it, remember what your goals are, and the people you're trying to get strong enough to protect, and the village that you will one day be the leader of." Iruka said with a growing smile. He didn't know how, or even why, but this little blond student of his had wormed his way into his heart and taken root there, and he suspected there was no way of getting him out.
It was all too much for Naruto, his eyes watered again, but this time he couldn't stop the tears from falling, not that he was even trying anymore. The two people standing in front of him meant so much to him. They believed in him, and were trying to help him. They gave him gifts. Nobody had ever given him a gift before. Not even on his birthday. He would cherish both these gifts forever.
He made up his mind right then and there. He would become Hokage, and yes he would do it to gain acknowledgement from the people of the village, but that was secondary now. Now, he would gain the strength to protect the people that already acknowledged him, that believed in him, that he considered precious. That's why he would become Hokage- to protect his loved ones.
Jiraiya put his hand on his shoulder, "we should get going, Naruto." Naruto nodded and ran up to the chunin and Hokage and did his best to hug both of them in his much too little arms.
"Thank you, both of you, so much. I promise I'll become the greatest ninja either of you have ever seen." He whispered to them. The determination in his voice was something that Sarutobi hadn't seen in most of his Jonin, it was nearly impossible for an academy student, he could practically feel it. This boy was truly something else.
Naruto stepped back away from them, his electric grin reappearing on his face in a more typical Naruto fashion. "Jiji, Iruka-sensei, I'll see you when I get back. Old Man you better have that hat fitted for my size by then! And sensei, we can fight when I get back, I promise I won't beat you up too bad!" 'Something else indeed' Hiruzen thought.
"You know Naruto," Sarutobi finished with, "I hear young Sasuke-kun also wants to be Hokage. You better work really hard if you're going to beat it."
Naruto was distraught at hearing this and turned to his newly acquired teacher. "C'mon Jiraiya-sensei, we gotta get going so you can start training me! I can't lose to Sasuke, he's a jerk!" Naruto started tugging on Jiraiya's sleeve, trying to drag him along the road, much to the Sannin's amusement. He did turn over his shoulder and wave to the Hokage and his academy teacher one last time before turning back and marching away from the village in determination.
Once he was out of earshot, Iruka leaned towards the Hokage, "Uh, forgive me Sandaime-sama (Lord Third), but I haven't heard that Sasuke wants to be the Hokage, how did you find that out?"
Sarutobi sported a knowing smile and let loose a chuckle, something he'd been doing a lot while around Naruto. "I didn't, but Naruto doesn't know that, and a rivalry amongst young boys is a tried and true method to motivate them." Iruka didn't like keeping the truth from his students, but he supposed the Third Hokage had a point.
—
Toad sage and apprentice had made quite a headway to the southwest, and were setting up camp about two hours short of nightfall. Normally Jiraiya would keep moving until after sunset, but Naruto had a long and emotional day, not to mention an extremely rough night after being hospitalized.
Still in the land of fire, they had plenty of trees for cover, and they made camp about a mile into the forest, far enough away from the road to avoid all but the very best sensors.
They were in a small clearing, large enough to hold two tents and a small campfire while still leaving enough room for Naruto to train if he was up for it. Jiraiya made four shadow clones to go set up a perimeter of seals and barriers, never could be too careful. Upon seeing Jiraiya make the shadow clones, Naruto's eyes widened, "Old man, you gotta teach me that jutsu, I bet I could kick Sasuke's butt with that!"
"Well Naruto, first, can you tell me the three man types of jutsu that shinobi use?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well there's ninjutsu! And um, taijutsu was one I think, and um... I can't remember the other." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. He was sure that Iruka had gone over it in class, but it had seemed unimportant at the time. Now, he was embarrassed that he didn't know.
"You got the first two right, and the third one is genjutsu." Naruto nodded along like he was understanding this time, and interrupted before Jiraiya could continue.
"But what about that thing Jiji was talking about with the scroll, Fuinjutsu?" He wasn't quite sure if that's what his grandfather figure had called it, but that sounded right.
"Very good Naruto, Fuinjutsu is one of the jutsu types, but it's not one of the main three. The three we labeled represent the three parts of a shinobi. Ninjutsu has to do with a shinobi's chakra, taijutsu a shinobi's body, and genjutsu a shinobi's mind. Those are the things a shinobi can train in order to increase their abilities: mind, body, and chakra." It looked like Naruto was following along, so he continued, "Fuinjutsu falls under mind. In order to get better at it you must study and learn different ways that seals and formulas work. Just about anybody can apply a seal physically, but it's very hard to come up with them and make sure that they are properly done." Naruto donned what Jiraiya was calling his concentration face, yet again. Eyebrows furrowed and lips scrunched off to one side, usually the left. It seemed to mean that he was thinking, both deeply and carefully. 'Might as well pile it on' Jiraiya thought 'it's not like we won't have plenty of time to go back over it later.' He continued, "There are other subcategories too, but we'll get into those tomorrow."
Naruto was nearly overwhelmed, he never knew that being a shinobi was so complicated and had so many things to worry about. He better pay close attention like Jiji said, and learn everything he could.
Time for Jiraiya to get to the point. "So, you wanna learn the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) that I just used? Bunshin (clones) are a form of ninjutsu, so you need to train your chakra before you can learn an advanced technique like that."
As far as Naruto was concerned, training his chakra so that he could make more of himself was totally worth it. He wondered how many of himself he could make? Jiraiya cut off his train of thought. "Now, there's two ways to train your chakra. You can either train your reserves, which I don't think will be a problem for you, or you can train your control, which judging by your use of the scroll, is going to be the hardest aspect of your shinobi abilities." Jiraiya finished.
Naruto was never one to be told he couldn't do something, so he instantly jumped on the defensive. "What do you mean it's gonna be the hardest? It sounds easy, you said chakra is just part of me, like an arm or a leg right? Then I should be able to control it easily!"
While this was an oversimplification, Jiraiya was impressed with his thought process and reasoning skills. They weren't nearly as bad as what the reports from his year and a half at the academy said. "It's not quite so easy Gaki, many shinobi train their whole lives, and never master their chakra." Granted most shinobi didn't live passed twenty, but Naruto didn't need to know that just yet. "And to make things harder for you, you have an unusually large amount of chakra, and if my mediocre sensory abilities are right, your chakra pool is heavily made up of yang chakra." Naruto looked like he was going to ask a question so Jiraiya cut him off, it was getting late and he wanted the boy to get some training in. "A lesson for another day Naruto. Just know that Yang chakra is really dense, and it seems like your chakra has about ten times more than normal. That makes it much harder to control, coupled with the sheer amount that you have, and it's basically a nightmare scenario. You'll probably never be able to even do genjutsu." Naruto looked quite sad at this, and Jiraiya realized he was laying it on a little thick, and quickly added, "don't you worry though. There hasn't been a Kage that's ever had a small amount of chakra, they all have more than you do right now, they just learn to control it through hard work and tons of practice."
Naruto's smile returned. If that's all it took, then he would master his chakra in no time! "Alright sensei, how do I practice my chakra control, it ain't gonna practice itself! And you know what, I am gonna learn genjutsu some day, I don't care what you say even if you are my sensei, and even if you did train the Yondaime, I know I can do it!"
Jiraiya chuckled at the young boy, something he'd found himself doing a lot, completely unaware that his own sensei had the exact same thought, not eight hours earlier. The child just had a way or projecting his hope and determination onto those close to him. "Alright Naruto, I'll tell you what. We'll work backwards. When you can complete this tree climbing exercise," Jiraiya began walking up a tree, body parallel to the ground, much to Naruto's surprise, "I'll teach you the Kage Bunshin no jutsu (shadow clone technique)." The boy had more chakra than most jonin already, and it would only get bigger. Plus he had a sneaking suspicion about the heavy amount of Yang chakra in his system. He could handle the A-rank jutsu once he had a little control. "But, before you can master tree walking, you must master the leaf clinging exercise." Jiraiya plucked a leaf from the tree he was walking up and faced Naruto. Jiraiya slid his Toad Sage headband up, and pressed the leaf into his forehead and channeled chakra to it, not even having to think about having it cling, and when he removed his hand, the leaf stuck to it.
Naruto knew this exercise well. Iruka had tried to get Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru, and himself to do it after class for causing a ruckus not that long ago. It had been the most boring 7 hours of his life. What Naruto didn't realize was that it had only been three minutes before he blew the leaf off his head and took off running. His attention span needed some work to say the least.
Jiraiya saw the doubt in his eyes, and went in for the kill. "Y'know kid, when I was training the Fourth Hokage, he could stick 100 leaves to his body while moving full speed." Granted Minato had been almost 17 and it had been at the end of the training trip that he had taken as a chunin with Jiraiya. It wouldn't hurt to add a little extra motivation for the kid though.
Naruto's eyes set in determination. He would have to be able to do 101 while he was moving if he wanted to be better than the Yondaime then. Resolute, he moved to pick up a leaf, but stopped and questioned Jiraiya. "What about the scroll the Old Man gave me, can you show me how to open it?"
Jiraiya thought about this. Naruto had given him the scroll since he didn't have any way to carry it at the moment, so the Toad Sage had seen the Uzumaki crest and seal. He knew he would have to explain about his mother if The Sandaime didn't leave a letter in there to do it himself. This information could potentially be dangerous in the wrong hands. Dangerous to Naruto. Jiraiya made up his mind "Sorry kid, that'll have to wait until you can walk on the tree too. And before you ask, just know, I have my reasons for it, and you'll have to trust me."
Considering that he had agreed to take Naruto on as his apprentice, Naruto thought trusting him on this seemed fair. Besides, he'd probably be running up and down the tree by nightfall tomorrow based off of how easily Jiraiya had done it. "Okay Sensei, I trust you," Naruto then grinned. "Just be ready to show me when I figure this out tomorrow!" Jiraiya chuckled yet again. He noticed though as Naruto got to work, that he hadn't asked for any additional instructions on the control exercises. Oh well, when he gets frustrated and needs help, he'll ask, and Jiraiya would be happy to help him. Better to let him figure out what he can on his own though, or at least try. With that, Jiraiya headed out to find them some food before it got too dark.
—-
Jiraiya returned to the clearing, a string of six small fish hanging from one hand, and boy was he surprised. Naruto was standing in the middle of camp, covered in leaves. Jiraiya counted 25 on his front side alone, but he hid his shock. He didn't want to give the boy a big head after all.
"Sensei, look how many I can do! I'll catch up to the Fourth in no time at all haha!" Jiraiya was about to ask how he had managed to do it so fast when 12 of the leaves fell off the blond, and his posture relaxed. "Just kidding hehe, this is a lot harder than it looks!"
13 or so of the leaves were still stuck to Naruto, which was confusing to Jiraiya. He questioned the boy, "If you were kidding, why are there still leaves stuck all over your body?"
"Oh, these ones are clinging using the tried and true lick and stick method!" Naruto demonstrated his words by picking up one of the fallen leaves, licking one side, and sticking it on to his skin.
Now that Jiraiya looked, every leaf that was still attached was on exposed skin. "So what about those?" He pointed to the leaves that had fallen on the ground.
"Well those are the ones that I stuck with my chakra, that was the training exercise, right Sensei?"
Jiraiya was once again surprised, but he still wasn't sure that Naruto had actually done it. Not that the exercise was difficult, but the boy wasn't even eight, and he clearly hadn't been able to do that many leaves when he had left.
"Why don't you peel off the stuck ones, and show me how many you can stick with chakra?" Naruto nodded, and started picking off his 'lick and stick' leaves. When he'd tossed them all to the side, he moved to a nearby tree and grabbed a handful of fresh leaves before coming back to Jiraiya. Naruto started to move to lay down, before he was cut off by the Sannin. "Uh, what are you doing there, Gaki?"
"Getting the leaves in place obviously, Old Man." Naruto replied before laying all the way down on his back. He then started placing the leaves over his body in even increments until he had about 15 laid out. He closed his eyes, and made his concentration face, willing his chakra to hold the leaves in place. When he felt that they were secured, he very slowly started to stand back up, doing his best not to disturb the leaves. After several seconds, he was standing, now grinning, in front of an uponly shocked Jiraiya.
The Toad Sage couldn't believe it. The boy had just gained two leaves seemingly in between two different attempts, without failing even one time. This level of talent was generally classified as prodigious. He wouldn't go so far as to call the boy a prodigy yet, considering this was just one exercise, but he wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be one, considering who his father was. Never mind the fact that he had cheated at the exercise. He had circumvented what was likely a lack of pure control, most likely from his sheer amount of chakra, by inventing a new way to go about the exercise. And he had done it without one single clue from an outside source. Simply amazing.
"You cheated brat." Again, it wouldn't do to let him develop an ego.
"What do you mean I cheated!? I even grabbed fresh leaves so you wouldn't think that I'd licked them!" Naruto was upset at the accusation. He had done it all on his own, he couldn't understand why he was being accused of cheating.
"I know that, but there are different types of cheating. There's cheating to pretend you can do it, and then there's cheating to find a different way to do it. Basically you took a shortcut by laying down. The leaves are meant to go on one at a time to demonstrate full control, and in a way where gravity will make them fall if you don't use chakra the whole time. What you seem to be doing is getting them in place, and then coating your whole front side in chakra to make them all stick at once." Naruto's face was falling at the explanation, so Jiraiya marched on with it. "Still, you have to control the output properly, which is impressive, and the ingenuity that you showed coming up with that strategy isn't something I want to discourage." That cheered the boy right up, and it should. Not more than an hour after initial instructions and he was already blowing away any expectations Jiraiya had for the next two weeks. "You can keep doing it your way for now, and we will work on finer control later. It'll probably be quite the challenge for you to even get one down given the amount of chakra you have."
Naruto just nodded at this, but something shifted in him. His determination was nearly radiating off him, and suddenly Jiraiya thought he might not have as much trouble as he initially expected.
"Well let's get some food in us, you must be exhausted after the last two days. If you wanna work on the control after dinner, you're more than welcome to." Naruto nodded again, and Jiraiya used a small katon (fire release) jutsu to light the wood that had been gathered earlier for a campfire. He noticed how close of an eye Naruto had been watching him with when he had done that and just chuckled internally. He remembered when he was young and was all about learning jutsu too. Back before the wars changed him.
Naruto watched as his white haired sensei sharpened a stick with a few quick movements and a kunai, and proceeded to stick the six fish on to it, making a kebab of sorts. As Jiraiya put the fish over the fire like a rotisserie, Naruto went over to his backpack and grabbed two cups of the ramen that he had brought with him. "Hey Old Man, can you possibly boil some water for this ramen?"
Jiraiya nodded, but asked "do you really need to eat two cups? If you only brought eight of them you'll run out in another day or two."
"I'm only eating one, the other one is for you." Naruto replied quietly, "if you want it that is."
Jiraiya knew that for whatever reason, this was a big deal for Naruto to be sharing his ramen. "Sure I do, thanks Gaki."
"You're welcome Geezer." Jiraiya let the nickname go this time.
As Jiraiya prepped the meal, Naruto stopped paying attention and picked up two leaves. He stuck out his forearm and put both the leaves on top of it, one on his wrist by his hand, and the other right by the crook of his elbow, almost on his bicep. He tried to channel chakra only to the one on his wrist, and when he felt like he had it, he turned his arm over, letting gravity take hold of the leaf higher up on his arm. Only it didn't. Despite being nearly a foot apart, both leaves stuck fast to his arm. Dismayed, he cut the chakra to his arm and let them fall to the ground, and took the now cooked fish and ramen that Jiraiya was offering him and began eating.
"Do you know what shinobi means to be a shinobi Naruto?"
Naruto thought about this for almost a whole minute, taking a few more bites of the bland fish before answering. "Well Jiji is the Hokage, the strongest shinobi in the village, and he always says that the whole village is his family and that it's the Hokage's job to protect them all." He said in a quiet seriousness, "so I guess protecting your loved ones is what it means to be a shinobi," he finished.
Soon Jiraiya would have to adapt to the constant unpredictability of the boy, or else his newest student would start to think of him as a fool with how often he was caught off guard. Not that Naruto was seasoned enough to tell when he was, but it was good practice regardless. "That's one hell of an answer Gaki, but it's not quite right." Naruto donned his 'frustration face', a very similar look to his concentration face, but his brows furrowed a little more, and his eyes held a different kind of fire. Jiraiya marched on. "To be a shinobi means to endure. It's not about how many jutsu you have, or how cool the ones you have are. It's not about killing, or even fighting, and it's not even about protecting your loved ones or clients either. Being a shinobi is about enduring anything that is thrown at you. It's about having guts, the guts to give it your all, get knocked down, and give even more the next time. It's the guts to never give up." Jiraiya was speaking with more and more intensity and passion, but now calmed to a slow and serious drawl. "Our world is harsh and cruel, a lot of ninja don't make it past the rank of genin, because they can't handle the life of a ninja, they don't have what it takes to endure the pain. There hasn't been a kage, alive or dead, who didn't have to endure hardships that would break most jonin. If your goal is to be Hokage, I just wanted you to know that. There are no shortcuts, it will be hard, and at times, it will suck, but enduring it will make you that much tougher, that much stronger, and that much more capable." Jiraiya was finally finished. The speech might have been a little rough for a boy that age, but he saw greatness in his future, and he wanted to make sure that the blond terror lived long enough to realize it.
Naruto was wide eyed by the end of the speech. Till now, Jiraiya had been mostly… aloof. He knew the man was strong, and he could see seriousness in him, but he had also been relaxed the whole time that he had known him. But during the speech he had shifted, and Naruto had seen the true seriousness of a man who was proclaimed one of the legendary three ninja, and the sensei of the Yondaime (Fourth Hokage).
"Now, about your initial answer. It sounds to me like you've found your nindo, your ninja way."
"Ninja way?" Naruto asked confused.
"Yes. To be a shinobi means to endure. That is your what. Your ninja way is your why and how. Your reason for doing it, and how you will go about doing it. It's kind of like an oath." Naruto nodded at that, it made sense."
"What's your ninja way, Sensei?"
Jiraiya thought for a few seconds. "You want to be Hokage, so your ninja way is to always protect those precious to you, no matter what it takes. My goal is to bring peace to the world, and end the cycle of hatred." Jiraiya looked sad as he said those words.
Naruto looked into his sensei's eyes and held his gaze. Seconds passed before Naruto nodded and said "That'll be my nindo too."
"Sorry Naruto, you already have yours, and I don't want you to change it on my account."
Naruto shook his head, "I'm not changing it, I'm adding it. They'll both be my ninja way. To protect my precious people no matter what, and to bring peace to the ninja world."
"What happens if your two ninja ways collide, and following one path goes against the other? What if protecting your loved ones is detrimental to bringing about peace?" Jiraiya asked. The question wasn't theoretical to him. He had started the cycle of hatred fresh in many people by killing shinobi in order to protect his village.
"Then I'll get strong enough to make another path, one that follows both nindo's, believe it." Determination radiated from him once again, and Jiraiya found himself believing the boy.
"You are something else, y'know that?" He turned around so the boy wouldn't see the single tear streaking down his face. "Get some sleep kid, we have another long day of travel tomorrow." Jiraiya ducked into his tent and within 30 seconds, Naruto could hear him snoring away. 'Must be an elite shinobi trick to be able to fall asleep that quickly' Naruto thought before he silently picked up the two leaves he had been working with. If he was gonna be strong enough to protect his new sensei, Sarutobi-jiji, Teuchi, Ayame, and Iruka-sensei, he'd better get to work.
Hope you enjoyed it! Please review and let me know! Also let me know if the length of this chapter was good or if shorter/longer would be better. Next chapter should have a small time skip, I'm trying to lay the foundation of what Naruto is like in this Universe (Although hopefully he still 'feels' like Naruto) before I skip ahead to more of a canon timeline, it'll probably be a few more chapters before we get to genin team assignments.
Also, with longer chapters it's much harder to do translations at the top of the page logistically, so I will just be doing them in parenthesis mid story, especially for jutsu names.