"Pervy Sage?"
"Hello!"
Jiraiya arrived near my hospital room's window, riding a toad.
He sure loves his theatrics.
He jumped through the window and sat on my bed.
"I have come here to make a formal announcement.
You are now officially my disciple. In three years, I will make you a full-fledged ninja."
"No thanks."
"When I was— Wait what!?"
I shook my head.
"Kakashi-sensei is a better teacher than you. Even though he arrives three hours late, atleast he doesn't steal my money to play hookey with escorts. I just want to learn fuinjutsu and the other jutsu of Fourth Hokage, the one which he used to teleport."
The memories of Tsunade mission is still fresh on my mind.
Jiraiya wastes a lot of time, and my money.
Moreover, if Itachi was able to drag him away by using the oldest trick in the book, a beautiful woman, I am not very confident in his ability to protect me while we are outside village.
Afterall, I am not too sure about my plot-armour.
Jiraiya eyed me, and asked, "How do you know that Fourth Hokage had a teleportation jutsu?"
...
OH SHIT!
I can't believe I slipped up so early!
Naruto doesn't even know what chakra natures are, so how will he know about Fourth Hokage's signature jutsu!?
Jiraiya sighed.
"No need to panic. You are very bad at being a ninja. Your expression is on your face.
Tell me what you are hiding. I won't tell anyone, even Tsunade."
Does he think I am a little kid who he can easily fool!?
Fine! I will mess with him!
I looked around, and asked Kurama, 'Hey, can you sense around and see if someone is spying on us?'
'Why would I— Grrrr! Why did this 'anime' pause!? Start it back! Or I will tear you apart!'
I just paused the battle between Rimuru and Ifrit.
I looked around a bit more, and Kurama relented.
'Fine! No one is spying on you!'
I resumed Kurama's show, and whispered in Jiraiya's ear.
"When I drew a lot of Kyuubi's chakra while fighting Sasuke, and almost died, Dad appeared. He said something about leaving his chakra in my seal. He was surprised to find out that you weren't taking care of me."
"..."
He turned around, and started sighing with regret, shame and self-depriciation.
"You are very bad at being a ninja. Your expression is on your face."
"Brat! Why are you repeating my words to me!? Look, I am sorry! I was chasing after Orochimaru, who defected not long after you were born. I am sorry that I neglected you."
I shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. I guess it's a good thing. My reputation isn't very good as it is. Becoming Hokage would have been very difficult if I was associated with a pervert like you."
"Hey! Minato became Fourth Hokage—"
"On his own merit. You didn't teach him much of your jutsu, but instead copied his signature jutsu. He didn't become Hokage because of you, but despite of you."
"Minato will never say that!"
"He did!"
"...Well... he did have some difficulties with Kushina because of me... I can't believe he will talk behind my back like this."
Sorry Minato for using you to ward off the suspicions.
"Anyway, he said that Uchiha Madara has a teleportation jutsu, and the best way to counter it is Flying Thunder God. He said that he taught his Hokage guards a watered down version of it, so I can also get some ideas from them."
"Uchiha... Madara?"
"Yeah. He attacked the village by controlling Kyuubi when I was born."
At the mention of Uchiha Madara, Kurama was very pissed. But he still didn't tell me that the man who controlled him that time wasn't Madara.
Yeah. Thought so. He wouldn't just trust me this easily.
"...Does this mean that he is still alive?"
"Yeah."
Jiraiya was tense hearing that.
"According to my intel, Akatsuki will not be back for you until 3 or 4 more years. And I think... Madara might be behind Akatsuki."
Honestly, I never understood why they would wait for so long.
"Why are they suddenly going to wait for years? Didn't Itachi and Fish-guy come for me earlier?"
"Don't tell it to others, since it is a top-secret. Aside from you, there are 8 other Jinchurikis, holding 8 other tailed beasts like the one you are holding.
The Jinchuriki of the Three Tails, the Fourth Mizukage died recently. And it takes 3-4 years for Three-tails to revive. This led to Akatsuki's plans to stop for now.
Moreover, Orochimaru's immortality jutsu also has a time constraint. He has recently switched body, so he can't attempt to take over Sasuke's body for another 3 years."
Then Jiraiya looked at me seriously.
"Sasuke went to Orochimaru willingly. It doesn't matter what you do for him, he will not change. I have seen shinobi come and go. And Sasuke is of the same cloth as Orochimaru.
Forget bringing him back. It is the tragic path of self-righteous fools."
"But he is still just 13—"
"Age doesn't matter in the shinobi world. Itachi was also 13 when he murdered his whole clan."
Ah. He is right.
Itachi was 13 when he massacred the Uchiha clan. Obito was just 14 when he killed Minato and Kushina, controlled Kurama to kill thousands of villagers, and even used a newborn Naruto as hostage to accomplish his delusional goals.
Both can never be forgiven, no matter the excuse.
A child who commits acts of terrorism is no longer a child, but just a terrorist, plain and simple. A monster who can't be allowed to exist and should be hunted down without any shred of sympathy for a child.
"But Sasuke hasn't done anything worse than almost killing me and being the reason for almost all of us dying. He is also being manipulated by a defector from Konoha.
Konoha didn't do anything to save the Uchiha clan, and it let Orochimaru roam around freely.
Konoha is also responsible.
So, as long as Neji, Chouji , Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sakura forgive Sasuke for the crimes he committed, and he repents, I will still try to save him.
But if he goes any further...
...I will kill him myself."
I will prevent Sasuke from becoming a terrorist. And if he still doesn't listen, I will kill him, even if he is necessary for winning the Fourth Ninja War and the Otsutsukis in the future.
I will just have to bear the burden of becoming stronger than both Sasuke and Naruto combined.
Jiraiya put his hand on my head.
"Alright. I will teach you fuinjutsu and Minato's teleportation jutsu. After that, I will leave you into Kakashi's hand."
And so, my training began.
-----------------
patreon.com/Indrasheesh100