"Jiraiya… sensei!"
Hearing that, Jiraiya looked as if lightning had struck him. He stared at Naruto in utter disbelief.
Not long ago, after learning what Naruto had gone through in Konoha, he had sought the blond boy out and taken him as a pupil. Back then, that blond boy had looked at him with this same half-smile…
…and said the exact same words this blond young man was saying now.
"Naruto…" Jiraiya forced the words out. "Why…?"
He never imagined in his worst dreams that the one who had kidnapped Tsunade—and humiliated her—would be Minato's son.
"Why?" Naruto tilted his head slightly, as if genuinely curious. "Why wouldn't I?"
Jiraiya fell silent. He remembered Naruto's life in Konoha—born the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, bullied and scorned. For someone like that… it hardly needed more explanation.
Drawing a long breath to steady himself, Jiraiya tried again. "If you're Naruto, then you should know about your parents, right?"
"Of course. What are you trying to say?" Naruto asked.
"Your parents were heroes," Jiraiya blurted. "Your father was the Fourth Hokage, your mother a top-class jōnin—"
He could no longer care whether those were supposed to be secrets. He just wanted to talk Naruto down, to pull him back from the brink.
"Hahaha…"
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. A moment later, he looked past the distance at Jiraiya, eyes cooling.
"My parents being heroes—what does that have to do with me? Did I ever get even half a favor because of it?"
"Jiraiya, if you're trying to use my parents to preach at me, save it."
"What I want now… is to destroy Konoha."
Ice spread through Jiraiya's chest. His lips parted several times, but no words came.
Back then, he'd been angry that Hiruzen kept Naruto's parentage hidden—but his nature led him to let it go, to walk away from the village. Who knew that only a few years later, that choice would ferment into something this monstrous?
"B-but…" Jiraiya glanced at Tsunade, throat dry. "No matter what, you can't lay hands on Tsunade. She was one of your parents' teachers—someone they respected. How could you—"
Tsunade's face flushed so red it nearly steamed. She wanted to bury herself in a hole. A senior, captured by a junior—and then publicly toyed with in front of everyone. If this spread, it wouldn't just be her reputation—it'd stain the Senju name as well.
"My parents have nothing to do with this. I just like this cow." Naruto said coolly as he pulled Tsunade into his arms.
He sat back on a seat shaped from Shōton (Crystal Release), idly playing with the most voluptuous "princess" the Hokage line had ever seen.
"Gh—!"
Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped from his skull. Fury roared up his throat. "Uzumaki Naruto, I was your father's teacher! No matter what Konoha did to you, you shouldn't—"
"So annoying…"
Naruto's gaze chilled; his right hand snapped out with a volley of slaps.
"Katon: Hidaruma (Fire Release: Blazing Inferno)!"
A cloud of greenish sparks streamed past. Jiraiya dove aside in a tangle of limbs, but singe-holes still pocked his clothes.
"Don't lecture me from on high." Naruto's voice stayed flat. "You wandered the world for years and never once looked after me—what right do you have to talk down to me like this?"
Jiraiya knew Naruto's birthright—yet he'd never once taken care of him. And now this vagabond had the nerve to preach under the banner of "your father's teacher"? What right indeed.
Jiraiya's throat closed up. Remorse flooded him, boundless and black.
If he'd known it would come to this, he would have fought Hiruzen to the bitter end and taken Naruto away himself.
But it was too late for that now.
Jaw set, he drew a breath to speak again—when Naruto's eyes turned hard.
"If you won't leave…" Naruto rose, flexed his knuckles, and stamped forward. "Then don't."
He blurred—
"So fast—!"
What lunged at Jiraiya looked like a bolt of golden lightning. Pure speed. For a heartbeat he had the illusion of facing the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)—it felt faster than even the Fourth.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"
Jiraiya slammed his palm down, calling forth the giant toad. Bunta landed with a scowl.
"Jiraiya, again? You didn't even bathe."
He'd swallowed so many shinobi lately that even his stomach lining felt tainted; the thought alone made him gag.
"No time for jokes—move! Or you're dead," Jiraiya snapped.
Bunta blinked, then seemed to sense it. His limbs bunched—and he leapt skyward.
"Boom!!!"
Where he'd stood, a crater yawned—Naruto's strike had punched the ground in.
Cold sweat beaded Bunta's brow. "Damn it, Jiraiya—where'd you drag me this time?!" He flicked his long tongue toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya, trading blows with Naruto, grabbed on.
Naruto halted, a spark of amusement in his eyes. "Jiraiya-sensei, don't you want to know how I've treated Tsunade all this time?"
Jiraiya's face went slack.
Naruto smiled. "She was feisty when I first caught her. After a while of training, though, she got very obedient."
"By day, she's my seat. By night, she serves."
"Oh—and Jiraiya-sensei, you like that cow, don't you? But it sounds like you've never even held her hand."
Jiraiya saw red. The woman he hadn't dared touch—this brat was standing up and taunting him with her.
Worse—the brat was Minato's son. It felt like his grandson had stolen his woman.
"Jiraiya?!" Bunta barked.
Jiraiya clenched his teeth so hard they squealed. He forced out a single word.
"Go!"
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]