A heavy silence settled between them, thick enough to choke on.
Naruto's blue eyes stayed fixed on Jiraiya, unwavering, demanding and slightly teary.
Jiraiya exhaled slowly as he looked up at the moon like a poet trying to borrow courage from the night. "You know," he began quietly, voice roughened by years and regret, "before I ever wrote my Icha Icha novels… I tried something else. Something different."
Naruto raised a brow.
"It was a simple story. A novel about a wandering shinobi who dreamed of bringing peace to a world torn apart by war. Nothing flashy, no steamy romances, just one man carrying his ideals wherever he went. I called it The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi."
There was a faraway look in the sage's eyes as he spoke. "It didn't sell. Hardly anyone cared about it. But I always held onto it, even when I pretended I didn't. It was… important to me."
Naruto wondered. Why bring this up now? What does it have to do with my parents? Was it because that book is the reason they started talking in the first place. Either they bonded over it, or…
"What was the name of the main character?"
Jiraiya hesitated for the briefest moment, then answered, "Naruto."
"My parents named me after your book's protagonist?"
Jiraiya huffed out a breath that was almost a laugh, almost a sigh. "You know… when Minato and Kushina told me they wanted to name their kid after a character I wrote, I thought they were pulling my leg. I told them it was a terrible idea. I said, 'If you do that, I am legally stuck as his godfather forever.'"
He shook his head.
"But those two… Minato had that calm, stubborn look he always got when he made up his mind, and Kushina was already bouncing with excitement. They said the name fit... the story fit and their son deserved a name with a destiny behind it. One loud enough and bright enough to shake the world."
The air went still.
"With how close you were to my parents… why didn't you ever try to be there for me?"
The question hung in the air like a blade.
"Come on, brat. I'm a hermit. Not exactly the fatherly type."
"Please," Naruto pressed. "Don't dodge it. I want a real answer."
Finally, with a heavy sigh, Jiraya answered. "I'm not just a wandering sage. I'm the head of Konoha's spy network. Every week I move from village to town to city. Sometimes I sleep under bridges. Sometimes in enemy territory. My life has been nothing but danger. Every step I take, there's a chance I won't come back. You think that's the kind of life I could drag a child into?"
"So the great Toad Sage was just living like a recluse on the road," Naruto said dryly. "Spying on villages, spying on women… for what exactly?"
Jiraiya let out a slow breath and chose not to rise to the bait. "I was protecting Konoha," he said simply. "The shinobi world does not run on strength alone. It runs on information. Intelligence can prevent wars before they start. A single message can save a thousand lives. My network… it kept Konoha standing more times than anyone ever realized."
Naruto made a face that he understood, but clearly did not like it.
"And I was trying to protect you."
"Eh?"
"Even civilians knew you were the Nine Tails jinchuriki. And jinchuriki are living weapons. To enemy nations, capturing or killing you would have crippled Konoha more than losing any number of shinobi." Jiraiya sighed. "The reason no foreign assassin ever came for you was because I made sure the world never knew where you were. I spread false reports, false sightings, even false jinchuriki identities. I used my entire network to keep you hidden."
"And that is also why I was never in danger for being an Uzumaki?"
"In a sense, yes." Jiraiya nodded. "And it was easy to hide. The Uzumaki were known for their red hair. You did not have it. No one looking at you would think Uzumaki, no matter how hard they squinted."
Naruto's fists tightened. He slammed the ground, voice cracking with emotion he could no longer keep down. "You did all of that… and you could not find a way to be in my life? Not once? Was there something wrong with me? Something that made you not want to be around me?"
"There was nothing wrong with you," Jiraya shouted, startling Naruto. "Nothing. Everything that was wrong… was with me."
"...what?"
Jiraya clenched the brush in his hand. "The world sees Jiraiya the Gallant. One of the Legendary Sannin. But when I look in the mirror... I don't see that man. I see someone who never got over his first love. Someone who was too much of a coward to settle down because he knew he couldn't love anyone else the same way. Someone who watched his students die while he lived on. Someone who wasted years chasing a monster that used to be his best friend."
His voice cracked on the last words. "And someone who has failed… time and time again."
The silence was suffocating.
"I'm sorry… alright?" Jiraiya's voice cracked as his eyes were glassy, and for once, the great Toad Sage looked like nothing more than a tired old man. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't take on another child when I already knew that I would fail."
The toad sage just held his head.
"I've failed too many times… Nagato... Yahiko... Konan… even Minato."
Silence settled between them.
Jiraiya kept his eyes on the scroll and let his hands move. Stroke after stroke, the brush laid ink in long, sweeping lines. The smell of it rose in the cool night air. The rhythm helped steady him. Drag, lift, curve. Dip, drag, lift. Fuinjutsu required precision, and the familiarity of the motions kept his mind from wandering back to the boy behind him.
Naruto, meanwhile, tipped his head back toward the sky.
Without the lights of any village to drown it out, the night above Uzushiogakure was impossibly clear. The stars were sharp, cold pinpricks of silver scattered across an endless black sea. Some burned bright and steady like distant bonfires, others shimmered as if breathing. The band of the Milky Way stretched overhead like a river of powdered diamonds, drifting lazily across the heavens. A faint purple haze bled into the horizon, and every now and then, a shooting star carved a soft arc of gold across the darkness.
"Did you ever think of me... on your travels?"
The question hit heavier than the last.
"Whenever I saw little children playing in the streets. My mind always seemed to wander and wonder about you," Jiraiya admitted.
"Then… couldn't you have at least come by? Just… just to let me know I wasn't completely alone?"
Jiraiya hesitated before replying, "I tried once. You were five years old. I remember this little kid who had wandered off from the orphanage. He was staring at a frog shaped wallet like it was the most amazing thing in the world."
"No way."
The memory hit Naruto like a hammer. He could see it clearly now, a giant of a man looming over him, buying him that silly frog wallet and then walking him back to the orphanage. A core memory he had buried deep because the man's face had slipped away with time.
"That was me. And when I handed you back to the matron. I thought about taking you with me... I really did." The toad sage just place a hand to his forehead. "But in that moment I knew something… I knew that if I became part of your life, I wouldn't be able to leave. I'd want to watch you grow up. I'd want to see every step you took, every stupid mistake you made and every little victory. I'd want to… be there."
Jiraya met Naruto's eyes as he continued, "And I was terrified, Naruto. Terrified that if I made that choice... I would fail you... the same way I failed everyone else."
Naruto sighed, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a smoking pipe from his inventory, packed with a faintly glowing green blossom.
"You should not be smoking that weird herb, boy."
Naruto lit his pipe with fire chakra, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled a slow plume of shimmering emerald smoke to the beautiful sky.
"Do you not know the three prohibitions of a shinobi? Women, money, and drugs. Three vices that can destroy you before any enemy ever does."
Naruto just stared at him, utterly deadpan, as if looking at the living embodiment of all three vices rolled into one man. "…Right. That coming from you is real rich."
Jiraiya sputtered. "Hey now."
Naruto cut him off, exhaling smoke through his nose. "So now you want to be part of my life, huh?"
"It is your choice, brat." Jiraiya's voice was steady, but the way his fingers tightened around the brush betrayed him. "If you don't want me around, I will disappear and you will never see me again…"
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"Yeah, you are not getting away that easy, you perverted bastard."
Jiraiya's mouth opened, closed, then opened again. No words came out.
"You know, Pervy Sage… you can just say you want to be in my life."
Jiraiya's lips trembled. "But… do I deserve it?"
"No."
Jiraiya's head dropped like a rock.
"But," Naruto continued, softer now, "your answers gave me a lot to think about. I'm not gonna suddenly treat you like my godfather or anything like that."
"I do not expect that."
"So are you willing to put in time and effort then, Pervy Sage?"
"…I can try," Jiraiya said as he motioned for Naruto to pour chakra into the seal. A burst of smoke filled the area, and when it cleared, the entire ruined temple was sealed inside a massive scroll before shimmering and vanishing into Naruto's inventory.
"So, what are you planning to do with that?"
"Keep it until I can rebuild my clan," Naruto said. "Then it becomes history."
"So that is your goal... rebuilding your clan?"
"One of many," Naruto chuckled. "But yeah. It's up there."
"Then you are going to need to learn to control that monstrous chakra of yours." Jiraiya smirked.
"So you want to teach me?"
"Not to brag," Jiraiya said, puffing his chest out, "but yes. I was your father's sensei."
Naruto gave him a flat look.
"Hey, come on, I am trying here. Throw me a bone."
"Let's make something clear," Naruto said, voice steady. "I still have a lot of unresolved feelings. It's going to take a long time to untangle all of it, and it is not just going to disappear because we had one good conversation."
"I know."
"And I am not calling you my godfather," Naruto added. "You're Pervy Sage. Always have been. Always will be."
Jiraiya snorted and ruffled Naruto's red hair. "Good. Keep the 'godfather' stuff away from me. If baby you had waddled up calling me that, I would've scored some points with the ladies. Instead, I got stuck with a hyperactive red haired hurricane of madness and chaos. Lucky me, huh?"
That earned him a punch straight to the gut.
Jiraiya wheezed, folding over. "Yep. That is… definitely Kushina's kid."
"So how exactly are we supposed to fix my chakra control?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya guided him toward the riverbank.
"I am sure Kakashi told you that the hardest place to focus chakra is at the soles of your feet."
"Yeah, and if you are about to say water walking. I already figured it out after watching Kakashi use it against Zabuza."
"Well, normal shinobi train control because their chakra is limited. They have to mold it precisely or they waste what little they have. But you… your reserves have exploded in size overnight. Your body is overflowing with chakra you cannot guide properly. You do not need precision yet. You need to learn how to move that much energy without overwhelming yourself."
Naruto frowned. "So, what am I supposed to do then?"
Jiraiya jumped lightly onto the river and stood on the surface as if it were solid ground. "You are going to learn how to do this."
"Stand on moving water?"
"That is the start." Jiraiya smirked. The water beneath his feet began to churn. Then twist. Then rise in a spiraling column that lifted him several feet up. "This is the real lesson."
"What's that?"
"An advanced nature transformation exercise," Jiraiya explained. "Similar to how you use wind chakra to cut a waterfall but for water natured chakra."
"How so?"
"With wind, you create the cutting edge yourself. But water is different. Here, you are not creating anything. You are forcing an existing mass to obey your chakra." Jiraya let the pillar sink back down, the water settling calmly under his sandals. "This is why you never underestimate a water shinobi near lakes, rivers, or the sea. They turn the battlefield itself into a weapon. I would know… surviving a monster in the water is what got me named one of the Sannin."
Naruto's eyes lit up instantly. Jiraiya took that as his cue and continued, swirling a bit of water with his foot.
"Listen closely, brat. Back during the Second Great Shinobi War, we faced Amegakure's Hanzō the Salamander. And during our battle, only three Konoha shinobi survived facing that monster."
"Only three?"
"That's right." Jiraiya jabbed a thumb at himself. "Me, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. Hanzō was so impressed we survived that he spared our lives and called us Konoha's Legendary Sannin."
Naruto made a face. "Wow. The Sannin sound a lot less impressive when..."
Jiraiya smacked him lightly on the head. "Watch your mouth. You do not understand what kind of monster Hanzō was."
Naruto rubbed his head. "Alright, alright. What made him so strong?"
"First, he implanted the poison sacs of a giant salamander into his body. He fought as a living weapon, able to release poison that could wipe out an army. One breath from him could kill someone like Kakashi."
Naruto whistled. He quietly wondered if Blooming Purple Moss or regular Purple Moss Clumps would work on that kind of poison.
"Second," Jiraiya continued, "Hanzō was the greatest underwater fighter the shinobi world had ever known. Amegakure specialized in aquatic combat. Their equipment and techniques lets them move, strike, and vanish under water as easily as walking on land. And Hanzō… was the pinnacle of that style."
"How do you even fight someone like that?"
"You do not," Jiraiya said dryly. "You pray. His summons were salamanders the size of houses. His poisons could choke entire lakes. And underwater, he was untouchable. A whole Konoha platoon died before they even understood what was happening."
"But you survived."
"Because we each countered one part of him. I trained under the toads, so I had techniques to fight underwater. Princess Tsunade could counter his poison. And Orochimaru's snakes could contend with the salamanders. Without those weird combinations, we would have died like everyone else."
Naruto let out a low whistle. "So if I ever have to fight Hanzō, I can use this water manipulation exercise to fight him underwater."
Jiraiya threw his head back and laughed so loudly the birds scattered. "Fight Hanzō? You?" He wiped a tear from his eye. "Brat, if you ever tried, you would not even get the chance to scream before he turned you into a puddle."
"Hey..."
Jiraiya waved him off. "Relax. You have potential, but do not go imagining yourself in the big leagues yet. Focus on mastering your own strength first. One day you might climb that high, but right now you need to learn how control your chakra."
"I still do not see how an elemental manipulation exercise is supposed to help my chakra control," Naruto said, rubbing his temples.
"Because, brat, you have an absurd amount of chakra now. Way more than before. If you try to practice control with little exercises, it is like trying to tame a tornado with a paper fan."
"…that sounds stupid."
"It is stupid," Jiraiya said bluntly. "Which is why we are not doing that." He pointed at the river. "You need an exercise that demands your chakra. Something that forces you to push it out, shape it, then rein it back in. Controlling a whole body of moving water does exactly that."
"So… waterbending makes me better at chakra control?"
"Not waterbending, you little gremlin," Jiraiya corrected. "You are using water natured chakra gathered at your feet aka the hardest place to mold and release chakra properly. If you can stabilize it there, while also commanding a river, then the rest of your chakra control will improve dramatically."
Naruto smacked his fist into his palm and grinned. "Lucky for me, I have some experience with water chakra."
"Oh? With your natural affinity, that makes sense."
"I did not have a water affinity back then."
Jiraiya blinked. "You are telling me you suddenly developed an affinity out of nowhere?"
Naruto shrugged. "Blame the Rune. Or the dragon scale. Or both." He chuckled and walked toward the river.
Jiraiya froze at the word dragon. That single word hit him harder than any punch Naruto could throw. His mind snapped back to the prophecy the elder toad had whispered to him weeks ago. The prophecy of a dragon that would one day attack Konoha. Until now, his leading theory had been simple. Orochimaru. If that snake ever mastered Sage Mode, he might shed his skin enough times to become something dragon like.
It had been a logical theory, after all.
Orochimaru hated Konoha, and Pa had informed him that all snakes dream of becoming dragons. It made sense.
But now…
Another possibility crept in.
Is Lordran the summoning realm for dragons?
The thought was so absurd, so terrifyingly plausible in its absurdity, that Jiraiya muttered it aloud before he could stop himself.
What in the world did you get tangled up in, Minato…
Naruto continued without noticing Jiraiya's spiralling thoughts. "So when I was training with Sasuke in elemental manipulation, I figured something out. The biggest part of learning a new nature is imagination and practice. You do not get an affinity for free, but you can fake it if your control is sharp enough."
Jiraiya nodded absentmindly.
Naruto stepped onto the water. "And when I was fighting Capra, there was this moment where something just clicked. Ayame once taught me how to make an omelet. You heat the pan until the water droplets roll right off. So I thought, what if I use that concept with water chakra? Apply the same idea and let the water chakra coat my body."
"That is clever," Jiraiya admitted, snapping back to the present. "Using water to counter fire."
"What fire? The Capra Demon threw a wave of lava at me."
Jiraiya nearly choked. Every lingering thought about prophecies, dragons, and Minato evaporated the instant Naruto casually dropped that bomb. "DEMON. LAVA?!"
Naruto did not even get the chance to answer. He stepped onto the river, focused, and pushed his chakra downward and immediately blasted far too much. The entire river exploded upward in a towering column of water, launching Naruto straight into the sky like a screaming, red haired firework.
Jiraiya watched him fly with a sweatdrop. "He is a little too calm about this."
Naruto twisted in the air like being thrown into the sky was part of a normal warm up routine.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya rubbed his temples. A headache threatened to split his skull as there were so many questions he had and thoughts about everything.
"I need to talk to Ma and Pa about this," Jiraiya muttered. "If anyone knows where Lordran is, it is them."
Naruto splashed down into the water with a laugh, barely phased.
Jiraiya glanced at him. Should I give him the toad contract? Would Minato would want me to if he had a summoning contract with Lordran?
Meanwhile, back in Naruto's tent, something peculiar was unfolding.
A smear of Naruto's dried blood that soaked deep into the soil hours earlier had begun to pulse faintly, like a dying ember catching breath. From that spot, a tiny mushroom pushed its way up through the dirt. It was an orange mushroom. Pale veins ran along its surface in delicate branching patterns.
At first glance, it seemed harmless... almost cute.
Until it twitched.
Then it popped fully out of the soil and started waddling forward on stubby roots, moving with the frantic, blind energy of a newborn animal.
The Shrumeling squeaked, if one could call that faint wet rustle a squeak, and its mycelium began to twist together. Fibers braided, hardened, thickened into crude limb like appendages. The little thing staggered toward the tent flap and was promptly devoured whole.
Oscar paused with the mushroom creature half sticking out of his mouth. He chewed once, delicately, and swallowed.
Naruto's leaking woodchakra had clearly altered the soil. These bizarre "Shrumelings" kept sprouting every few hours from Naruto's mercurius, and Oscar had taken it upon himself to dispose of them. He sighed, the way only an exasperated lizard of noble bearing could sigh, and lay back under the moonlight, letting the soft glow ripple across his scales. For a moment, he closed his eyes and imagined a hot bubble bath with Naruto scrubbing behind his crystals.
The thought made him smile.
That smile vanished instantly when he heard another rustle.
Another Shrumeling's cap burst from the ground with a wet pop.
Oscar's eye twitched.
By the grace of all ancient lords, he thought in refined irritation, if Master Naruto does not learn to restrain his leaking chakra, I swear upon my crystal bloodline… I shall bite his balls clean off.
With weary dignity, the crystal lizard rose and padded back into the tent, resigned to yet another long night of fungal extermination.
Meanwhile, several kilometers away, Naruto was being launched into the sky for what had to be the twentieth time, spinning end over end while wearing the most unimpressed expression imaginable. Jiraiya watched from below, pinching the bridge of his nose as another geyser of water erupted from the river and punted Naruto upward like a ragdoll.
"Focus your chakra, brat!"
Naruto, upside down mid air, shouted back, "I am focusing!"
He then cratered into the river for the fifteenth time.
Back at the campsite, Team 7 slept soundly. Sakura had slapped noise blocking sealing tags onto the walls of their tent the moment Naruto attempted training with Jiraiya, and all three teammates were blissfully unaware of the chaos outside.
Tomorrow, they would begin their journey back to Konoha.
And waiting for them there was a completely different kind of disaster. One involving the Hokage, Danzo, political fallout, clan secrets, and the maelstrom of the shinobi world known as Naruto Uzumaki.
But for tonight?
Only the river, the moonlight, and a very tired lizard dealing with the fae.