"That will be thirty thousand Ryo. We hope to see you again soon!"
Two days later, at the entrance of Yakiniku Q in the Hidden Leaf Village, Jiraiya's smile froze as he held his wallet. He suddenly realized something was very wrong.
He had earned twenty thousand Ryo from the mission, but treating these two brats to grilled meat had cost him thirty thousand. It seemed... he'd actually lost money on the job?!
However, when he caught the look in the boys' eyes—a mixture of genuine gratitude and burgeoning hero-worship—the pain in his wallet instantly vanished.
So what if he lost a little money? It wasn't like Tsunade could corner him for a loan lately; his savings were doing just fine!
"Jiraiya-sensei, what's next on the agenda? Another mission, or...?"
Tatsuma spoke up, snapping Jiraiya out of his daze. Jiraiya smacked his own forehead, regaining his composure. "Missions will continue, obviously, but we're taking a break from C-ranks."
Tatsuma pursed his lips and shared a look with Minato. "Jiraiya-sensei, surely you don't think Minato and I are ready for B-rank missions already?"
"Who said anything about B-ranks? Your next move is a string of D-ranks. You need to stack up at least eight completed missions, and in the meantime, you'll be training with me."
Jiraiya shook his head, a faint smile playing on his lips. Long ago, as a fresh graduate, he too had dreamed of nothing but high-stakes, high-glory missions. But after years of grinding through A-ranks and S-ranks, he had actually started to miss the simplicity of D-ranks.
The mention of training made the boys' eyes light up. Tatsuma, in particular, was revitalized. Over the past week, the constraints of the mission had left him with almost no opportunity to "shear the wool" off Minato, causing his progress to stall.
Now that Jiraiya was taking them back to D-ranks and specialized training, Tatsuma knew the time for "farming" attributes had finally returned.
Jiraiya had already made it clear that this was a temporary squad. One of them would eventually be shipped off to Tsunade's team like a prize piglet. This meant Tatsuma would eventually lose his highest-quality "Fat Sheep." He intended to shear as much as possible while they were still together.
"Alright, head home and get some rest. Those clothes haven't been washed in over a week. Even if it's early spring and you're just kids, you both stink. I'll send word tomorrow."
Seeing the fire in their eyes, Jiraiya waved them off. He knew exactly how diligent these two were, and he had no desire to spend the entire night babysitting their training.
With that, Jiraiya vanished. His mastery of the Body Flicker was something Tatsuma deeply envied. Tatsuma turned to Minato. "I'm still buzzing from that meal. I'm not ready for sleep yet. You?"
"You wouldn't let me sleep even if I wanted to, would you?" Minato countered with a smirk. "What are we working on tonight?"
Tatsuma offered an infectious grin. "Genjutsu. My skills are a bit lacking, and you're much more proficient. Let's see how many times we can trap each other in an illusion before our chakra runs dry."
"Deal. Let's go."
The next morning... or rather, late morning, close to noon... Tatsuma finally stirred. Having exhausted both his chakra and stamina the night before, he had uncharacteristically slept for a full eight hours.
Upon waking, he found a toad sitting on his pillow, staring at him with huge, bulging eyes. Tatsuma didn't panic; he recognized the creature as one of Jiraiya's summons.
"Did Sensei send you?" Tatsuma asked, sitting up.
The toad gave a slow nod, handed a scroll to Tatsuma, and vanished in a puff of smoke. Tatsuma unfurled the scroll.
It was the meeting time and location. However, when he saw the "8:00 AM" timestamp, he glanced frantically at the clock. It was already 11:00 AM.
He scrambled to get dressed while simultaneously brushing his teeth. He didn't even have time to tame his wild, purple-seaweed mess of a perm. Biting his forehead protector and cinching his tool pouch, he sprinted out the door toward the designated meeting spot: the training grounds behind the Hokage Rock.
As he reached the base of the mountain, he spotted Minato charging in from another direction, looking equally panicked. The moment they locked eyes, they both let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.
It was a strange psychological phenomenon: being late on your own was terrifying, but discovering a friend was just as late made the world feel a lot more stable.
"You just woke up too?" Tatsuma panted.
Minato nodded, pointing at Tatsuma's chest. "Your buttons are misaligned."
Tatsuma looked down, realized he'd buttoned his shirt in a staggered mess, and quickly undid them to fix it as they raced up the mountain together.
When they reached the clearing, they found Jiraiya waiting for them, his face a dark shade of livid.
Faced with a silent, fuming Sannin, Minato looked down in shame, his shoulders slumped. Tatsuma tried to offer a strained, apologetic smile. "Jiraiya-sensei... I'm impressed. You got here so early—"
BONK!
The price of the comment was a heavy knuckle-strike to the top of his head. Having delivered the "chestnut," Jiraiya seemed to find some internal peace.
He watched Tatsuma hiss in pain and nurse his head before finally speaking. "How late were you two training last night?"
"Two... two-thirty," Minato admitted sheepishly.
The two of them had actually been ready to call it quits before midnight, but then a "spandex-clad big brother" had shown up for his own night training, and they'd gotten swept up in the enthusiasm.
Confirming that their tardiness was born of over-training rather than laziness, Jiraiya's anger dissipated completely. He didn't scold them, but he did offer a word of warning.
"Exercise some restraint. Don't think that just because you're young you can... well, you need to have a structured plan. Understood?"
"Understood!" Minato chirped.
Tatsuma's expression was a bit more complex. He didn't say a word until Jiraiya raised his hand for a second bonk, at which point he barked, "Understood!"
"Precocious brats," Jiraiya grumbled. He pulled out a large scroll and spread it on the grass. "While your chakra natures differ slightly, you both share affinities for Wind and Fire. I consider myself quite proficient in Fire Style. As for Wind, while it isn't my primary forte, I've borrowed some research notes from Orochimaru. Given your intellect, you should be able to grasp the principles on your own.
Currently, your biggest weakness is a lack of elemental ninjutsu. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, I'll be prioritizing your instruction in Fire and Wind jutsu, as well as Nature Transformation, while supplementing your other shinobi skills."
Jiraiya formed a series of seals and slammed his palm onto the scroll, which was covered in strange formulas.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke cleared to reveal a stack of smaller scrolls. "The jutsu I've selected for you include the C-rank Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique and Flame Bullet, as well as the C-rank Wind Style: Great Breakthrough and Gale Palm. I've also included my own and Orochimaru's notes on the Nature Transformation of Wind and Fire. These will be your focus."
He tossed several scrolls to the boys, who caught them eagerly. Jiraiya gestured to the remaining pile. "The rest cover Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Sealing. I was going to teach you the Summoning Jutsu as well, but... I'll wait until you have your permanent masters. Besides, the Summoning Jutsu can be... a bit dangerous."
A flicker of lingering trauma crossed Jiraiya's face. Minato didn't seem to mind Jiraiya holding back on the summoning; he was too overwhelmed with gratitude for the current haul. Tatsuma, however, looked at the pile of scrolls and spoke up tentatively.
"Jiraiya-sensei, there's actually one more jutsu I'd really like to learn."
"Oh? Which one?"
A look of pure academic thirst crossed Tatsuma's face. "The Shadow Clone Jutsu, Sensei."
Jiraiya stroked his chin. "The Shadow Clone is indeed an excellent technique, and it would be incredibly useful for your current stage of learning. However... no. I will teach it to you eventually, but for now? Absolutely not."