SUA... Healer - Ch 3 (Adv) - Mission Start (Patreon)

Danzou

Leaning on his walking stick, Shimura Danzou made his way down the hall of the Hokage building just before dawn. Not to have a cup of tea with his old teammate Hiruzen before the day started, alas, but to begin getting a handle on the disaster Orochimaru had left in his wake.

Just ten years ago and I wouldn’t have needed to stop for sleep, he sighed internally, though no expression marred what was visible of his wrinkled face beneath the bandages. A shinobi showed no weakness to anyone, after all. As it is, I can only hope Mitokado and Utatane didn’t manage to bungle anything too badly while I rested.

He stepped into his office, and paused at the sight of a hooded, blank-masked Root standing at ease just inside. Gesturing for his unseen guard to remain concealed, he said simply, “I did not send for you.”

“Indeed, you did not,” agreed Yakushi Kabuto. “Nonetheless, I am here. You know who I represent at this time.”

Danzou shut the door behind him, then circled the rather plain desk and sat down, gently running his fingers along the wood’s grain. Plain it might be, but this desk was older than him, having been made for Senju Tobirama by the Shodai’s own jutsu, in the days when Tobirama served in the role Danzou himself now filled: making sure the reigning Hokage’s idealism didn’t get the village destroyed.

“You have quite some nerve,” he said when finally settled.

Kabuto didn’t move. “Is that comment directed at me, or my current employer?”

Danzou regarded him wordlessly for over a minute. Both, obviously. All he said aloud was, “I am rather vexed.”

Which was a remarkable understatement. Were he a less controlled man, Danzou might very well have eviscerated Kabuto on the spot.

“I thought that the snake and I had an understanding.”

Kabuto inclined his head. “Orochimaru-sama deemed it unlikely you would object to the highlighting of the flaws Konoha has developed under Sarutobi’s… aging guidance,” he said delicately. “And that you would be able to remain professional in the event of his death.”

“And yet he did not see fit to seek my counsel, despite our previous good relations,” Danzou commented. “Instead he quite thoroughly bungled not only his own attempt, but ruined a plan nearly a decade in the making that should have seen Konoha finally assuming its rightful place as the unquestioned mightiest village.”

Kabuto took a moment to process that. “…You arranged the financial difficulties plaguing Sunagkure,” he murmured finally. “Sakin Rasa could have been appeased, leaving Suna deteriorating and putting Hi no kuni in a position to annex Kaze no kuni within…”

“Less than five years.” The boy always was rather clever. A remarkably good infiltrator, too. It was a real shame when he went rogue, and Danzou would regret it when the day came to put him down. Still, that need not be today. For the moment he still has his uses. Orochimaru is far less predictable and needs to be monitored for a while longer.

In an ideal world he’d have had the traitor killed long ago, but having such an undeniably brilliant mind focused on unlocking the secret to eternal life regrettably kept the hebi sennin as an asset.

“And will you not use this opportunity to install yourself as Hokage?” Kabuto wondered, head tilting behind his blank mask.

“Perhaps if Orochimaru’s attempt were not such a wretched failure,” Danzou mused, closing his single eye. “Had Hiruzen died and the village suffered more losses, I could have rallied the populace to retaliate against Suna, taking the country by force and sending agents to sow discord in Iwa and Kumo. As it is, Hiruzen lives, and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki defeated the Ichibi, capturing Rasa’s entire family. A mere few hundred civilian lives will not stir us to war footing, meaning my role must remain in the shadows. Jiraiya took effective command almost at once, and is no doubt off to retrieve the Senju princess to take the role of Godaime. Should he succeed, there should be no need for me to step forward. If he should fail… We shall see.”

“I see. And is there anything you wish me to pass on to Orochimaru-sama?”

“Pass on?” Danzou pondered the question. “You may pass on my recommendation that he return his focus to jutsu research, as he obviously has no head for international politics. You may tell him that if he expects further investments into his research, he needs to begin producing useful results.”

“I will of course relay your words.”

“I also know who else you regularly meet,” Danzou added, cracking his eye to gaze at the former Root once more. “He and his are not welcome in Hi no kuni any longer.”

Kabuto wisely didn’t reply to that.

“Go.” Danzou didn’t bother to watch him leave, simply lowering his attention to the first report on his desk, an estimate of the cost required to repair the damages to the West Gate.

Once he was certain Kabuto was gone, he directed a flicker of chakra at a small doodle of a mouse in the corner. The mouse’s whiskers twitched, and then the ink composing it shifted into the kanji for ‘meat’ before sinking into the paper and vanishing as if it had never been.

Niku. Ni-kyuu. Two of the rookie candidates selected for promotion, and one of them the Kyuubi container. He was still certain sending the jinchuuriki through the standard training program was a waste of its potential as a weapon, but Hiruzen had insisted on treating the thing like it wasn’t a time bomb. Then again, young Namikaze’s talent for fuuinjutsu outstripped both of ours. Perhaps your gamble will indeed pay off, Hiruzen. In the meantime, I shall continue working on cleaning up your messes.

Tenten

Departing through the South Gate was as simple as Naruto-kun waving their mission scroll at the guards. That, and the presence of Jiraiya-sama, was enough to see them sent off with a simple ‘Good luck’ and no record of their passing.

Every other time Tenten left the walls, she’d had to actually sign out. Chuunin and above were exempt, as they were trusted to always be handling village business when they left — and in the case of jounin, might be on a covert or clandestine mission — but it was mandatory for genin, as despite the popular image of a nukenin being powerful lunatics like Uchiha Itachi, the truth was that the vast majority of runaways were simply disgruntled genin who decided to take their chances elsewhere. Whether they believed they would stand a better chance at promotion in another village, planned to make a living as bandits, or simply couldn’t bring themselves to change profession within the village for various reasons…

Tenten stifled a sigh. Haven’t thought about her in years, but here we are.

One of her Academy senpai, Yamanaka Haruko, was just such a runaway. Haruko-senpai had graduated a year and a half before her, only to find that the realities of ninja life weren’t something she could deal with after being forced to kill without preparation. Konoha allowed leave for trauma, and it was entirely legal for a nin to find another job… but Haruko couldn’t bear the shame

Tenten had bumped into Haruko packed for a ‘training trip’ — literally, they’d knocked each other down and Haruko’s pack had spilled a map and a distinct lack of ninja materials. Her vision and memory were every bit as good as they were now, and a single glance was enough to reveal a route planned to bypass the paths and towns shinobi frequented. Realizing what her senpai was planning, Tenten did her best to persuade Haruko to at least go back home and sleep on the idea for one more night. Haruko, in turn, made Tenten promise not to tell anyone about her plans, bidding her goodnight… before running away that night anyway.

It left Tenten fairly certain she was the last one who’d seen Haruko, and when her former sensei went around the village questioning everyone about Haruko’s whereabouts… Tenten had lied to his face and said she hadn’t met her senpai in weeks. She wasn’t turning bandit and she wasn’t defecting to an enemy. She just wanted to disappear, because she didn’t want the shaming that would come from her clan if she ‘couldn’t hack it’ as a shinobi. But this isn’t a job for everyone. I understand that even better now than I did then.

Shaking her head, she forced her thoughts back to the present, where Naruto was hopping alongside Jiraiya-sama despite the Sannin taking the point position, interrogating him about various responsibilities expected of a chuunin.

“–gonna have to submit mission reports and stuff, right? What do I put if like, nothing bad happens and everything is normal? Do I just say that, is that enough? Is there some sorta code I’m s’posta use?”

Wonder what the rest of his cohort thinks of the Dead Last of their class now? she mused as Jiraiya replied. Not only did he handle an opponent that would have killed any of them, and get promoted ahead of most of them… but what would they think of his drive to learn now that he’s being engaged properly? I still remember Mio-sensei giving him detention for no reason… Anko-sama was right, everyone really dropped the ball, for reasons I still don’t understand…

“Sorry to interrupt, Taichou,” she called as Naruto paused between questions. “But if you don’t mind, I have a question of my own, Jiraiya-sama.”

The Sannin glanced over his shoulder. “Shoot, kid.”

“I was just wondering… You mentioned this morning that we could expect to be assigned to irregular squads, but why exactly was I tapped for this mission? I don’t have any connection to Tsunade-sama aside from idolizing her growing up…”

“But you have a connection to Naruto, making you an ideal choice for him to gain some command experience,” Jiraiya-sama replied easily.

“Wouldn’t one of his squadmates be better for that?”

Jiraiya scoffed. “The prissy civilian-born who couldn’t stand to be alone with him, or the obsessive head case with a barely-hidden death wish, neither of whom even knew he’d learned Kuchiyose no jutsu last month?” Naruto protested immediately, but Jiraiya shut him down. “I’ve read all your files, and regardless of whether they’ve treated you better recently, it still makes both of them a poor choice for your first command. Or can you honestly say neither of them would question your orders?”

Naruto glanced away, pouting.

Jiraiya sighed. “I’m not saying you won’t ever be assigned with them, even while we’re on war footing and not running normal team layouts. I’m saying Panda-hair here was a better choice for this mission, and those two were assigned to missions where they can do the most good with their skills and knowledge. Someone from Team Kakashi was needed for the Nara kid’s trip to Nami, after all. And sending the Uchiha out for border patrol alongside the Hyuuga girl means they’re likely to be seen by any nin they encounter… offering the world a reminder that Konoha still has both of the extant Great Doujutsu.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Tenten acknowledged. At least from what I’ve seen of them. They did okay following his orders in a crisis, but normally…?

“It’s also not the only reason,” Jiraiya continued, and Tenten looked back up curiously. “As a matter of fact, promotion or not, I wasn’t planning to bring anyone but Naruto on this trip, but Maito-san begged a favor.”

“Gai-sensei did?” Tenten wondered.

Jiraiya shot her another assessing glance. “He said you’ve shown a talent in a particular field that outstrips his knowledge.”

“Huh?” Tenten’s brow furrowed, wondering what that could be referring to. “I’m… a shurikenjutsu and bukijutsu specialist, but I’d be crazy to say I’ve surpassed him in either. Our team is ninjutsu-light, but Gai-sensei is a jounin. I don’t have the fine control for genjutsu…”

“He mentioned a secret technique you’ve been working on?” Jiraiya-sama hinted.

Her eyebrows suddenly shot into her hairline. “Do you mean fuuinjutsu!?”

“I am the foremost expert in the village,” he replied with faux-modesty. “We’ll see where you stand in general, and whether I can give you any hints while Naruto is training.”

“What am I gonna be training, huh?” Naruto chimed in right on cue. “Are you gonna teach me another cool jutsu? Like that swamp thing you do?”

“I doubt you have the Earth affinity needed to pick that up in the timescale we’re working in,” Jiraiya denied. “No, you need to finish that jutsu you started last week. Remember, the complete version is much stronger.”

Naruto deflated, but only briefly as he seemed to remember something. “Oh, right, you said that was…” He trailed off, shooting Tenten a glance, then finished, “You said it was his jutsu, right?”

“That’s right. Between that and your summoning, we’ll have plenty to keep us busy until we find Tsunade.”

Naruto

It took about three hours’ tree-hopping to reach the village they were headed to, at least at the relaxed pace they were taking. Iruka-sensei had said that tree-hopping, at least as a mode of travel, was an invention of Jiijii’s clan back during the Sengoku Jidai. He’d run straight to Jiijii’s office after class to ask about that, and Jiijii had said it was true. The Sarutobi clan learned it from their allies, the monkey summon clan, and spread it to their allies. Jiijii even called Enma-jii to explain some of the history to Naruto while he finished his work for the day so they could go get ramen.

The monkey clan had access to chakra, of course, but they didn’t actually tree-hop the way human ninja did, Enma-jii had explained. The old monkey always sounded annoyed to Naruto, but when he asked Jiijii about it once he explained that Enma-jii always sounded like that, and Naruto would know if he was actually annoyed because he wouldn’t talk at all.

What was I thinking about? Naruto landed on a branch, adhering to it with chakra to ensure he stayed on top, before pushing off in a chakra-assisted leap toward the next branch. Right, tree-hopping!

The monkey clan mostly didn’t tree-hop like humans, but they did use chakra to enhance their climbing and swinging, and to make it easier to cling and maneuver in the branches in the thick jungles of their home. They showed this to their human allies, and the Sarutobi clan adapted it for the forests of Hi no kuni.

The density of the trees was much higher in the monkey lands, Enma-jii told him, with many more thick leaves and vines and fewer branches low enough to actually traverse the way one could in the Land of Fire, but the upshot was that several rival clans in the Sengoku era had begun referring to Sarutobi-led ambush squads as ‘drop bears’, and they had lent at first lent their expertise to their allies the Senju clan before donating the practice to the Ninja Training Institution when it was established by Senju Tobirama in the early days of Konoha.

In the present day, tree-hopping — or roof-hopping in the denser parts of the village —was so normalized that itcame as a shock to their Academy class when Iruka-sensei explained that nin from most other villages mostly didn’t travel that way. It made sense, especially once you realized there weren’t exactly a lot of trees in Tsuchi, Kaze, or Mizu no kuni… but it still felt weird.

“Hey, Ero-sennin, what do they do instead of tree-hopping in other countries?” he asked, since they had another hour of travel ahead of them.

“Gutsy-kun, that’s not even close to what we were talking about,” said Tenten-chan, bemused. “How did you get there?”

Jiraiya laughed before Naruto could answer. “Spend time around Uzumaki and you get used to the topic jumping around. Rest assured, there was a long and probably convoluted train of thought to get here,” he smirked over his shoulder at Naruto, who felt his ears burning. Nonetheless, he did answer, “Each village has a different strategy for traveling at speed that’s informed by their environment.

“Iwagakure is built into a canyon wall, so being able to walk vertically is more important than leaping; they don’t have a great method for traversing long distances horizontally but the ground is hard and rocky so they have a distinctive loping run inspired by the jackrabbits that live out there. It’s one of the ways I learned to reliably identify an Iwa squad at a distance; other groups do learn to imitate the gait, but they rarely sync up the way actual Iwa-nin do.

“Mizugakure is built on little islands and man-made pilings sunk into a lagoon, so water-walking is a much earlier exercise for them than it is for us. Most Kiri-nin can do it before they graduate their Academy… if you can call that atrocity ‘graduation’. And of course, for traversing island to island, there are swimming techniques that let them cut through the water nearly at sprinting speed and hold their breath for hours, although most stick to boats for the sake of not wasting chakra since it’s much more costly than tree-hopping.

“Suna nin actually rely on special skis for traveling moderate distances across the desert; treating the sand like it’s snow. For longer-distance, they do the same but with a sail to catch either natural or Fuuton-generated winds, and they train in their Academy for survival after being caught in a simoom or haboob in the open desert. There was also this woman I used to know there who figured out a way to do the same but on a single board with a sail attached; she was always saying it would catch on any day, wouldn’t hear a word about how the chakra control needed to direct the wind without hand seals was a bit much, especially combined with breaking habits learned from skiing.

“Lastly, and speaking of skiing, there’s Kaminari no kuni. Kumo-nin live in the mountains, so they often ski or snowboard when going downhill; going up on the other hand requires a lot of precise jumps and chakra adhesion inspired by the serows native to the area, so they’re usually the next best at tree-hopping after Konoha-nin. They still prefer to fight in the open, because their tactics are usually based on overwhelming speed, but in general it’s best not to assume a turf advantage in the forest.

“Smaller villages tend to ape the larger ones, usually because it only makes sense to do so — Ishigakure is a splinter of Iwa, so they tend to have similar habits. Cross-country skiing is the norm in Shimo and Tetsu, and neither of them can agree on who invented it first. Takigakure has been allied to Konoha for generations, and the trees there can get even bigger but grow further apart, so they use a combination of tree-hopping and swinging on vines to get around.”

The barrage of examples left Naruto floundering a bit, since he couldn’t quite picture any of the alternatives Ero-sennin had described. But on the other hand, it was a complete answer to a question he’d asked, not a brush-off. He didn’t even hint at how this is something I should know already or that I’m too stupid to figure it out. Even if he didn’t exactly follow the whole thing… he appreciated that.

Tenten-chan on the other hand was nodding along, looking fascinated, confirming once again that she was actually really smart, even if she claimed to just be average. “So you can tell where someone is from just from how they move?”

“Well, for shinobi at least,” Ero-sennin agreed. “It’s actually not that unusual, I’d venture that Maito-san can tell you where someone was born just based on their taijutsu style. Although, most people might not be able to put their finger on why they know. Accent, posture; there’s a million little hints about where and how people were raised that permeate through everything they do, that your mind recognizes subconsciously but you can only really identify when you’re trained.”

“Wait, does that mean even without hitai-ite it’ll be obvious we’re from Konoha?” Naruto grasped the one fact he was confident he understood from the lecture.

“For someone who knows what they’re looking for, yeah,” Ero-sennin agreed easily. “A handshake or even just looking at the way you walk can be a giveaway, not to mention your accents, word choice, and a dozen other things. Why do you think undercover work is so tough?”

“I always did better at stealth and evasion,” Naruto admitted. “Oh, but what about civilians? Do they all walk the same way? How do they get places without using chakra?”

“Slowly,” Tenten-chan groaned. “We’ve run a few merchant escorts, and it’s mostly just sitting around on carts for days, optionally watching Lee and Gai-sensei keeping pace while handstanding.”

“Huh, really? We took turns carrying old man Tazuna back to Nami no kuni… We didn’t need to protect any carts though, just the geezer.”

“Most civilians have to make do with wagons, horses, or just walking,” said Jiraiya. “Rich nobles sometimes use litters carried by servants or slaves to get around the Capital, but for traveling between cities, a cart is usually your best bet… at least for now.”

“What do you mean ‘for now’, Jiraiya-sama?” asked Tenten.

“Up in Yuki no kuni they invented a sort of cart that goes on a pair of parallel metal rails instead of a road,” Jiraiya gestured illustratively. “The wheels are fitted so they hook over the rails, letting them roll easily, see? It can only go where there’s already a track, but that also means it’s impossible for it to lose the path. That’s important up there because of the snow, and it lets them haul tonnes and tonnes of people and goods reliably between cities without worrying about draft animals freezing to death. It’s nowhere near as fast as a shinobi can run, but I actually think the idea might actually catch on if anybody ever bothered to pay attention to Yuki.”

“That’s…” Tenten trailed off, looking thoughtful. “I think I get it. That’s… kind of brilliant, actually. You’d have to use a different quality of steel here, to account for thermal expansion, but… How would you make it go?”

“Now that, I don’t quite know,” Jiraiya sighed. “There’s a cart on the front that pulls the rest forward somehow. It’s got something to do with coal and water, because I saw those being loaded into a container just behind where the driver sits, and from the smoke coming out the front there’s definitely some kind of fire involved, but I couldn’t get any closer and it wasn’t relevant to why I was in Yuki so I had to just let it go. I have some theories, but Sensei determined that hammering out the details for ourselves would be too expensive when merchants can just use their carts on the Doton Freeways.”

“Eh, what’re those?” Naruto wondered.

“You never noticed the black stone paths that lead to the gates?” Jiraiya once again answered his question without judgement. “They radiate out from the village through the nearby countryside and to make it easy for farmers and ranchers to pass through the Shodai Forest and reach Konoha.”

“Ohhh, that’s what they’re called?”

“Because they were made by the Akimichi clan with Doton jutsu, and because they’re free for anyone to use,” Tenten supplied. “It’s a lot easier for civilians than trying to get through the trees, especially since they need to bring the food they grow to the village to sell.”

“It’s a distinct reason why Konoha has such a high civilian population compared to the other Hidden Villages,” Jiraiya added. “The founders went out of their way to make sure of it, and both Sensei and the Yondaime continued that policy. That’s why villages like this exist at all.”

“Like wha-?” Naruto started, pulling up short as Jiraiya stopped on the next branch. Landing beside him, Naruto quickly spotted what Ero-sennin was talking about. “That’s the village we came for?”

Jiraiya

“Heh.” His disappointment is so obvious… he wears his heart on his sleeve even more than his parents. “Yeah, Naruto, that’s our current destination.”

Takitsuke-son was a lot smaller than Konoha, barely half a dozen small buildings around a little square, and aside from potentially stopping for a meal, he could tell neither of the kids would have looked at it twice before passing by. After a beat, Naruto even asked, “But… where’s the rest of it?”

Ah, the ignorance of greenleaves. Then again, even a lot of veterans don’t realize the value in a place like this. Their loss~ But I suppose I can’t let Minato’s kid stay ignorant.

“The Hidden Villages are called that out of tradition, not because the word is accurate,” he explained. “After all, Konoha isn’t exactly hidden with the freeways running straight to it, is it?”

“I guess not…” Naruto muttered.

“In the same way, although it’s still called a ‘village’… it’s the third-biggest city in Hi no kuni after the Capital and the port at Irutsuru-shi. Konoha is every bit a city. This is a village. Population of, I’d guess, under a hundred. Mostly farmers and ranchers who live in their own homes off somewhere out there.” He waved off to the side, where a thin column of smoke rose from an unseen chimney. “The village square here consists of an inn where the locals gather and travellers can rest, a few market stalls for people to sell and trade produce, a blacksmith, and two shrines — one to the Rikudou Sennin and one to a local kami.”

“And you think Tsunade-sama is here?” the girl, Tenten, asked dubiously.

“Of course not,” he said, dropping to the ground. Once the kids followed suit, he elaborated, “Hime wouldn’t come this close to Konoha on her own, but I know a retired merchant who travels around the country and has a summer home in this village. If he’s here, he might have seen or heard about her recently enough for us to pick up the trail.”

Pausing in front of the inn, he turned and looked back at the kids. “This is a friendly village, and fairly close to Konoha, so nin are generally regarded fondly and it’s unlikely we’ll be in any danger here. Regardless, stay alert. The chances you’ll encounter an enemy may be low, but they’re never zero.” Seeing them tense up, he sighed. “I didn’t mean ‘act paranoid’, you just need to bear in mind the possibility that something could happen so that you can react appropriately if it does. You’re allowed to relax, just try not to drop your guard completely. Remember: you’ve trained for this.”

Pushing through the door of the inn, he stepped deliberately over the loose board right in front of it, suppressing a smirk when Naruto immediately stepped on it and a loud creak sounded through the saloon. The pretty young woman playing fingerstyle biwa faltered, and the handful of locals all looked around warily.

The village might be friendly on the whole, but small communities like this were always cautious of outsiders to start… and only an outsider wouldn’t know which floorboard creaked. He could all but sense the kids’ backs stiffening as attention fell on them, and the tension began mounting before–

“Jiraiya!” A jovial voice called from the corner nearest the musician, his contact raising a hand in greeting. “What’re you doing ‘round here, you old toad?”

He grinned, and smiles quickly returned to the villager’s faces as even those who didn’t recognize him were reassured that someone did. The biwa music picked up again, and the girl playing it began humming a gentle tune.

“Don’t be like that, Takanaka-san, I told you I’d be dropping by,” Jiraiya let out a belly laugh as he dropped onto the next stool. To the barmaid, he called, “I’ll have a bottle of whatever he’s drinking, and three bowls of tonight’s stew; thanks sweetheart.” Tipping the middle-aged woman a wink had her blushing like a maiden. Heh, still got it.

“So you only drop by when you want something?” Takanaka clutched at his heart theatrically. “Such disrespect from youngsters these days!”

“Ah, you’re gonna outlive me and we both know it,” Jiraiya laughed again, playing up his boisterous persona. Accepting a cup of sake and lifting the bottle to refill Takanaka’s, he continued the small talk until the meals were served and the kids long since bored and chatting between themselves.

“Well, out with it, what brings you by? And with kids, no less? After what I heard happened, I’d’ve figured you’d be staying near the ninja village for a while longer.”

“That happened yesterday, Takanaka. One of these days I’ll find out how you learn things even faster than I do.” His voice held no bite; whatever else Takanaka was, Jiraiya knew he was trustworthy.

“One of these days I might just tell you,” the old man grinned. “So?”

“I’m looking for my old teammate,” he revealed. “Among some other things, I need to introduce her to my godson over there. They’re actually cousins.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto jump in his seat, but the kid got hold of himself admirably.

“The Legendary Sucker, eh? I guess I can see it, with the hair.”

“Surprisingly no, they’re related on his mom’s side,” Jiraiya replied.

Takanaka drained his cup once more and Jiraiya obligingly refilled it. “I haven’t seen her recently, but last I heard she was out West, near the border with Kawa.”

“Whereabouts?” Jiraiya prompted him. “Near the Capital? She doesn’t usually go that way…”

Takanaka shrugged. “Just what I heard. Some deal with a lender. Nobody in the country’s stupid enough to actually threaten her with anything other than refusing a loan, but–”

“Eventually she runs out of lenders she hasn’t annoyed and has to appease them,” Jiraiya finished. “Well, it’s a start.”

“Glad to help, my friend,” Takanaka slapped him on the back. “I don’t suppose I could ask for a little help in return?”

“Yes, I can cover your drinks,” Jiraiya smirked, and the slightly drunk Takanaka cackled.

“Careful, I might make you regret it! Wahahaha!”

“What do you actually need?”

“Ah, these old bones are getting restless again, so I thought I might make a little trip up to see the Hidden Leaf. If I did, of course I’d need to budget–”

“Of course,” Jiraiya rolled his eyes, knowing Takanaka was richer than anyone thought.

“So I was wondering what sorts of things are expensive there right now.”

Translation: What can he sell at a good margin? Well, it’s not like the village doesn’t need trade now more than ever. “Basic tools and lumber are probably a bit pricey,” Jiraiya sighed. “Nails and screws, lacquer and paint. Food is probably going to be a bit expensive, too. On the other hand — and you didn’t hear this from me–”

“Of course not.”

“–but I’d be willing to bet on the village selling some bonds with a good rate of interest shortly,” Jiraiya finished with a grin.

The grin only widened when he heard Naruto whisper to Tenten, “Wait, what’s that mean?”

They wound up spending the night in Takanaka’s barn, setting up a pair of bedrolls in the loft instead of needing to pitch a tent. Tenten drew the first watch, and slipped out the side to sit on the roof while Jiraiya lit a candle to scribble a few notes in his journal. Mostly a coded summary of his conversation with Takanaka, but also jotted down a few ideas for his next book as they occurred to him.

“Why’d you call me your godson earlier?” Naruto asked suddenly.

Jiraiya paused and glanced over his notebook.

Naruto was sitting on the edge of the loft with his feet dangling, absently shredding a piece of straw in his fingers. “Like I get that it’s just a cover story and it doesn’t matter, but–”

“Naruto.” The kid broke off and dropped the hay. “That wasn’t a cover story. You are my godson.”

Naruto’s big blue eyes fixed on him, wide with shock, and Jiraiya had to suppress the urge to invent a Jikuukan jutsu that would allow him to slap his past self upside the head. Right now he’s obviously wondering where the hell I’ve been his whole life… and he’s right to.

Closing the journal around his finger to hold his page, Jiraiya moved over to the edge of the loft himself and sat down. “Your dad named you after the main character of the first book I ever wrote. It didn’t sell very well, but he always insisted he really liked it. Judging by her nickname for you, your little girlfriend up there liked it too.”

Naruto flushed. “Tenten-chan isn’t my girlfriend.”

Rather than teasing him over it — despite how fun that would definitely be — Jiraiya reminded himself that Naruto hadn’t had a parental figure to give him advice in his life. If he did, he probably wouldn’t have ended up pining after Anko-chan, where there’s enough of an age gap that heartbreak is basically guaranteed. So instead, he tilted his head and asked, “Would you hate it if she was?”

His gaze dropped. “I… guess not.”

“You like spending time with her, right? Whether training or just chatting?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think she’s pretty?” Jiraiya prompted him gently.

“I mean… yeah…” Naruto mumbled. “Her eyes are really pretty. And I’ve never seen anyone wear a shirt like hers either but it looks nice.”

“It’s a style from out West past Kaze no kuni,” Jiraiya revealed. “Plus it seems she’s pretty dedicated to her training, hmm?”

“Yeah, she helped me a lot for the Chuunin exams.” Naruto tugged at the flak vest he hadn’t taken off.

“And she’s even given you a nickname. Maybe this isn’t what young people usually think of, but in my experience, the best foundation for a relationship is a solid friendship. After all, how can you love someone if you don’t like them first?”

Naruto blushed even darker and didn’t answer.

“There’s another reason she was tapped for this mission, you know,” Jiraiya said, making Naruto look up again. “Your sensei — Anko-chan, I mean — thought it would be a good opportunity for you to tell her about the secrets you’re carrying.”

“Eh!?” Naruto yelped, loud enough that Jiraiya was mildly surprised Tenten didn’t stick her head in to ask what was wrong. “I can’t tell her about–!” He clenched a hand over his stomach.

“Of course you can,” Jiraiya said calmly. “You’re the only person your age who can tell people, under Sensei’s law; if I said it to her, it’d technically be illegal. But I’m not just talking about that. I’m also talking about your parents.”

“You think…?”

“That’s something else that you should still keep quiet,” Jiraiya acknowledged. “But ask yourself this: Do you trust her to keep something secret if you ask?”

“I… Yeah,” Naruto nodded slowly. “Yeah, I do.”

“There you go, then. She reminds me… well, she doesn’t actually act anything like your mom at all, but I’ve got to admit, she’s got a fire that reminds me of her.”

Naruto didn’t say anything, so Jiraiya just ruffled his hair.

“Just think about it.”

Smirking, Jiraiya returned to his notebook. Maybe a student romance for the next book? I wonder if Takeuchi-chan might be available to illustrate, her style’s cute and innocent enough…

A/N: If you’re enjoying this story, feel free to check out my discord server at https://discord.gg/H6V854Fvbg

Yakushi Kabuto was (at least in the anime) a member of Root routinely tasked with espionage missions, including among Akatsuki (as a contact of Sasori) before he legitimately defected to Orochimaru. Their relationship is ambiguous, but seems to be based on mutual benefit.Likewise, Danzō maintains contact with Orochimaru, who gave him the arm transplant containing both Senju and Uchiha DNA, because they’re able to be useful to each other… although at the moment Danzō is pretty pissed.

Irutsuru (written いるつる) is the Japanese transliteration of ‘ilchul’ (Korean: 일출), which is in turn derived from the hanzi 日出, all of which mean ‘sunrise’. The Japanese reading of those kanji would be pronounced ‘Nisshutsu’ (にっしゅつ) or ‘Hiji’ (ひじ), the latter of which is an Eastern-facing port town in Ōita Prefecture.Basically, this is Hi no kuni’s port city on the Eastern sea, nearest to where Uzushiogakure used to be (hence the Korean influenced name, since I like to assign Korean culture to Uzushio.)

Glossary

Niku (肉, ‘meat’) is a code here for ni (に, 2) ku (く, 9), using the same goroawase I talked about in Chapter 4 of Summoning Up A Connection. It’s a fairly common pun in Japan, and some restaurants or grocery stores will run a special on the 29th day of the month.

Sengoku Jidai (戦国時代, lit. ‘Warring States Period’) – the period before the establishment of the Hidden Villages, which ended about 50 years before Naruto’s birth; the same term also refers to the two century interregnum in Japanese history between the decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate in the mid-1400s and the establishment of the Tokugawa in 1615.

Simoom (Arabic: سموم , lit. ‘poison wind’) and Haboob (Arabic: هَبوب, lit. ’blasting/drifting’) are specific names for types of dust storm (AKA sandstorm)

Serow is the common name for ungulates in the genus Capricornis, which are related to both antelopes and goats as well as modern sheep; the species native to Japan is called kamoshika (氈鹿, lit. ‘coarse-pelt deer’)

Rikudō Sennin (六道仙人, lit. ‘Sage of Six Paths’)

Kami (神) – divine spirits of Shinto religion; commonly translated as ‘deity’ but also encompassing nature-spirits, ancestor spirits, folk heroes, daimons, and so on. A better understanding is that ‘any being whatsoever which possesses some eminent quality out of the ordinary, and is awe-inspiring, is called kami.’

Hime (姫) – a noble’s daughter or colloquially ‘princess’; in this case short for Namekuji-hime (蛞蝓姫, ‘slug princess’), referring to Tsunade — Danzō also refers to her as Senju-hime (千手姫)

Biwa (琵琶) is a short-necked lute; in Japan it is traditionally played with a bachi (桴) drumstick as a plectrum, but like other lutes can be plucked with the fingers.

Canon Jutsu

Dōjutsu (瞳術, lit. ‘Pupil Techniques’) – technically, any ninja abilities that utilize the eyes; more commonly refers to:

[San] Daidōjutsu ( [三] 大瞳術, lit. ‘[Three] Great Pupil Techniques’) – the Byakugan, Rinnegan, and Sharingan. Jiraiya mentions the ‘two extant’ ones because the Rinnegan is considered a myth. (He knows better, but he’s not going to mention it casually.)

Jikūkan Ninjutsu (時空間忍術) – Space-Time ninjutsu