Naruto was beginning to think his mysterious instructor didn't exist.
He'd searched training grounds, asked shinobi around the village, bothered the Hokage, checked the Academy, wandered through shopping districts, and even investigated people who looked vaguely powerful. Hiruzen's incredibly useful clue that his instructor had taught people before had somehow failed to narrow down the population of Konoha.
Three hours into another morning of searching, Naruto gave up.
Temporarily.
"I'm taking a break."
The public hot springs seemed like as good a place as any. His body was still sore from the last few days of training, and sitting in hot water sounded significantly better than interrogating another random Jonin.
For once, Naruto decided to relax.
Twenty minutes later, Naruto sank until the water reached his chin.
"Ahhh..."
His eyes closed.
This was definitely better than searching.
Warm water loosened the soreness in his shoulders while steam drifted lazily above the springs. For the first time since Kakashi announced his mystery instructor, Naruto wasn't thinking about seals, Neji, training, or finding some legendary teacher who apparently enjoyed wasting his time.
Then something flashed in the trees.
Naruto's eyes opened.
He remained still.
A few seconds passed.
There.
A tiny glare of sunlight reflected from somewhere along the woodline separating the men's springs from the neighboring section.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
'Metal?'
He slowly sank lower.
Another flash.
Someone was watching the springs.
Naruto climbed quietly from the water, wrapped a towel around his waist, and moved toward the edge of the bath. Chakra stuck his feet to the wooden fence as he climbed before slipping into the trees.
The glare appeared again.
Naruto followed it.
Then he heard giggling.
"Hehehehehe..."
Naruto stopped.
That was not an evil giggle.
Actually, it somehow sounded worse.
He crept along a branch and looked down.
A massive white-haired man was crouched comfortably between two trees. A small telescope was pressed against one eye, pointed directly through a gap in the wooden divider.
Toward the women's hot springs.
Naruto stared.
The man adjusted the telescope.
"Hehehe..."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched.
Then recognition struck him.
'Wait.'
Long white hair.
Huge guy.
Naruto had seen him before.
The bathhouse district.
'It's that guy!'
Naruto crouched on the branch above him.
The man remained completely unaware.
Naruto's eyes slowly moved toward the telescope.
Then toward the women's side.
Then back toward the man.
A grin appeared.
"Hey, old man."
The white-haired man's entire body stiffened.
Very slowly, he lowered the telescope.
Naruto sat comfortably on the branch above him.
"Nice view?"
Silence.
The man stared at him.
Naruto stared back.
"...How long have you been there?"
"Long enough."
The man's eyes narrowed.
Naruto's grin widened.
Several seconds passed.
"What do you want, brat?"
Naruto rubbed his fingers together.
"Gimme all your money."
The man's eyebrow rose.
Naruto pointed toward the women's hot springs.
"You give me some spending money, and I don't yell really loud about the creepy old guy hiding in the trees."
The white-haired man stared at him.
Naruto smiled innocently.
"That's blackmail."
"Yep."
"You realize blackmail is illegal?"
Naruto pointed at the telescope.
"So's that probably."
Silence.
The man looked at the telescope.
Then at Naruto.
"...How much?"
Naruto hadn't expected that to work.
His confidence immediately skyrocketed.
"Five thousand ryō."
"WHAT?!"
Naruto crossed his arms.
"Fine. Six thousand."
"IT WENT UP?!"
"Seven."
"STOP COUNTING!"
Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth.
"HEY, LADIES! THERE'S AN OLD—"
A hand covered his mouth.
Naruto's eyes widened.
The man had been fifteen feet away.
Now he was standing on the branch beside him.
Naruto hadn't even seen him move.
"Let's not do anything rash."
Naruto slowly looked toward him.
The man's expression was suddenly much less funny.
Naruto bit his hand.
"GAH!"
The man recoiled.
Naruto immediately jumped backward.
"PAY UP!"
"You little bastard!"
Naruto grinned.
"Too slow, old man!"
He should not have said that.
Naruto's fist passed straight toward the man's face.
His wrist was caught.
Naruto's eyes widened.
The world flipped.
"WHOA—"
CRASH!
Naruto slammed back-first into the branch.
The white-haired man looked down at him.
"Still want your money?"
Naruto kicked upward.
The man leaned aside.
Naruto twisted, freed himself, and launched two kunai from his pouch while dropping toward a lower branch.
CLANG! CLANG!
Both were deflected.
Naruto landed.
His grin disappeared.
'He's good.'
That changed things.
Naruto formed a hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
POOF! POOF! POOF!
Six Narutos appeared throughout the trees.
The old man's eyebrow rose.
"Shadow Clones?"
"GET HIM!"
The clones attacked from three directions.
The first threw a punch.
The man ducked.
The second attacked low.
A sandal landed on its face.
POOF!
The third and fourth attacked together.
The white-haired man caught one by the jacket and swung him directly into the other.
POOF! POOF!
Naruto's eyes widened as the memories returned.
'Fast.'
A shuriken left his hand.
Another followed hidden directly behind it.
The man tilted his head.
The first blade passed.
His eyes shifted.
He noticed the second.
At the last moment, Naruto threw a kunai from another angle.
CLANG!
The kunai struck the hidden shuriken.
Its trajectory changed.
The blade snapped sideways toward the man's shoulder.
For the first time, his expression changed.
He moved.
THUNK!
The shuriken buried itself in the tree behind him.
Naruto grinned.
"Almost got you!"
The man's eyes moved from the shuriken to Naruto.
"That was interesting."
Naruto's grin grew.
"Yeah, well, I'm kind of awesome."
Then the man disappeared.
Naruto's instincts screamed.
He spun.
Nothing.
"Behind you."
Naruto turned again.
A finger flicked his forehead.
THWACK!
Naruto flew off the branch.
"OW!"
He twisted in midair and caught another branch with both hands.
The man appeared standing on it.
Naruto stared upward.
"How are you doing that?!"
"Doing what?"
"THAT!"
Naruto swung himself upward and kicked.
The man stepped around it.
Naruto followed with a punch.
Blocked.
Elbow.
Redirected.
Sweep.
Avoided.
Naruto increased his speed.
Nothing landed.
It was like fighting Kakashi again, except this man somehow looked even less interested.
Naruto jumped backward.
"Fine."
His hands came together.
More clones filled the trees.
The white-haired man sighed.
"This again?"
Naruto grinned.
"Nope."
The clones scattered.
Three threw shuriken.
Two attacked directly.
The real Naruto disappeared behind them.
Metal filled the air.
One shuriken hid beneath another.
A kunai collided with the lower blade.
CLANG!
Its trajectory changed.
The man leaned away.
Another kunai struck the redirected shuriken.
CLANG!
It changed direction again.
The man's eyes sharpened.
Naruto appeared from his blind spot.
"Gotcha!"
His fist flew forward.
The white-haired man caught it.
Naruto froze.
"...Crap."
"Better."
Then Naruto's feet left the branch.
"WAIT—"
The man spun once.
Naruto became airborne.
"AAAAAAAAAA—"
SPLASH!
Naruto crashed directly back into the men's hot spring.
Every person inside turned toward him.
Naruto surfaced.
His towel floated past his face.
Silence.
Naruto grabbed it.
"Nobody saw anything."
An old man nearby slowly turned away.
Naruto's eye twitched.
Five minutes later, Naruto stood in the trees again, properly dressed and considerably angrier.
The white-haired man had returned to his original position.
Telescope included.
Naruto stared at him.
"You cheated."
The man lowered the telescope.
"How?"
"You're way stronger than me."
"That's generally considered an advantage in a fight."
Naruto hated that answer.
He pointed accusingly.
"I wasn't done."
"Yes, you were."
Naruto went to make handsigns for one of his wind ninjutsu but quickly remembered his current chakra control problem. He wisely let his hands fall to his sides.
Naruto crossed his arms.
"Okay."
The man returned to his telescope.
Naruto swung slightly.
"...You're pretty strong."
"No kidding."
"Jonin?"
The telescope stopped moving.
The man glanced sideways.
Naruto remembered Hiruzen's clue.
Someone who had taught strong shinobi.
His eyes narrowed.
White hair.
Ridiculously strong.
Old.
Perverted.
Naruto's expression slowly changed.
"Wait a second."
The man's eyebrow rose.
Naruto pointed at him from upside down.
"Are you my mysterious bastard?!"
Silence.
A smile slowly spread across the man's face.
"About time."
Naruto stopped swinging.
"...What?"
The man stood.
For the first time, Naruto noticed more than the telescope and ridiculous hair. The forehead protector was different from the normal Konoha one, bearing the kanji for oil. Red lines ran beneath his eyes, and despite his stupid behavior from moments earlier, there was something unmistakably dangerous about him.
The man placed one foot dramatically on the branch.
His white hair shifted behind him.
Naruto stared.
The man raised both arms.
"I am the mighty toad sage of Mount Myōboku! Known throughout the shinobi world as one of the legendary Sannin!"
Naruto blinked.
The man continued his pose.
"The great Jiraiya!"
PING
Career Progression quest
Objective: Pass the Chuunin Exams!
Hidden Sub Objective cleared!
Find your mysterious sensei within 1 week of starting your training month.
+ 25% to all skill advancement while training with Jiraiya
Silence.
Naruto remained upside down.
"...Pervy old man."
Jiraiya's pose collapsed.
"What?"
"You were spying on naked women."
"I WAS GATHERING RESEARCH!"
"With a telescope!"
"FOR MY BOOK!"
"That's worse!"
Jiraiya pointed at him.
"You have no appreciation for literature!"
Naruto pointed back.
"You threw me naked into a hot spring!"
"You blackmailed me!"
"YOU WERE COMMITTING CRIMES!"
The two stared at each other.
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.
Then Naruto remembered something much more important.
"Kakashi said you know Fūinjutsu."
Jiraiya's expression changed.
The humor disappeared almost instantly.
"And what could you possibly know of fuinjutsu brat?"
Naruto dropped the tree he was currently perched on, caught himself, and landed upright.
"I've got something I need you to look at."
Jiraiya studied him for a long moment, his eyes piercing him from above.
Then his eyes lowered toward Naruto's stomach.
"Yeah."
Naruto blinked.
Jiraiya's voice was quieter now.
"I know."
Naruto froze.
The forest suddenly felt much less funny.
Jiraiya tucked the telescope away.
"Get dressed properly, kid."
Naruto looked down.
"I AM dressed!"
Jiraiya turned away.
"Then follow me."
Naruto stared after him.
After days of searching, bothering the Hokage, interrogating strangers, and wondering whether Kakashi had invented the entire thing just to annoy him, Naruto had finally found his mysterious instructor.
He was a legendary shinobi.
A Fūinjutsu expert.
One of the Sannin.
Naruto watched Jiraiya take three steps before glancing longingly back toward the women's hot spring.
And apparently a massive pervert.
Naruto sighed.
"Why can't any of my teachers be normal?"
Jiraiya led Naruto away from the hot springs until they reached a clearing far enough into the woods that nobody would bother them. He stopped beside a fallen tree and pointed toward it.
"Sit. Shirt up."
Naruto obeyed, pushing chakra toward his stomach until the black markings appeared across his skin. The Shiki Fūin emerged first, followed moments later by the Four Elements Seal Orochimaru had placed over it.
Jiraiya's expression immediately became serious.
"Orochimaru."
"Yeah."
"Forest of Death?"
Naruto nodded. "Ever since he put it there my chakra control's been screwed. Anything that needs a lot of chakra still works, but precise stuff doesn't."
Jiraiya crouched closer.
"Why?"
Naruto blinked.
"You're the seal expert."
"And you're the one who's apparently been studying Fūinjutsu. Answer."
Naruto frowned but looked down at the overlapping markings. "The Four Elements Seal is disrupting the pathways underneath it. At first I thought it was just blocking them, but the Shiki Fūin keeps trying to compensate."
Jiraiya's eyebrows rose slightly.
Naruto traced one of the patterns without touching it.
"The Shiki Fūin reroutes my chakra. Then this thing interferes with the new route, so it changes again. Basically, the two seals keep fighting over where my chakra is supposed to go."
"Not the terminology I'd use."
"It makes sense."
"Unfortunately, it does."
Jiraiya studied him with more interest than before.
"Who taught you this?"
"Books mostly."
"Books."
"And practice."
"What kind?"
"Storage seals. Barrier stuff. Explosive tags. Gravity formulas. I've been experimenting."
Jiraiya stared at him for a moment.
Naruto frowned. "What?"
"For a brat explaining seal theory by saying the formulas are fighting each other, you're surprisingly close."
Naruto grinned.
"I knew I was awesome."
"I said surprisingly close. Don't ruin it."
Jiraiya pointed toward Orochimaru's seal.
"Alright. Forget the Shiki Fūin exists. Same Four Elements Seal on an ordinary shinobi. How do you remove it?"
Naruto stared downward.
"Break one of the main points?"
"And what happens to the chakra moving through it?"
Naruto paused.
"...Right."
Jiraiya smirked.
Naruto leaned closer. "If I just damage the formula while it's active, I don't know what the remaining parts will do. It could redirect the chakra, destabilize, maybe even make the effect worse."
"Good."
"So I stop it first."
"How?"
Naruto frowned again.
The answer wasn't destroying the seal.
It was taking away what allowed it to function.
"Interrupt its chakra flow."
Jiraiya nodded.
Naruto's eyes sharpened. "But not by ripping the chakra away all at once. I'd need another formula to redirect it. Something that temporarily interrupts the Four Elements Seal's connections."
"And then?"
"Unlock the structure."
Jiraiya smiled slightly.
Naruto started getting excited.
"If the counter-formula hits the right points at the same time, the seal stops interfering with the chakra network. Then you can dismantle it without everything inside the formula going crazy."
"Now you're thinking like a seal master."
Naruto grinned.
Then Jiraiya added, "A very inexperienced seal master."
"Asshole."
Jiraiya laughed.
Naruto looked down again.
"That's if my seal wasn't there, though."
"Exactly."
"With this underneath it, I'd have to know exactly which pathways I'm interrupting. If I hit something belonging to both seals..."
His expression became considerably less enthusiastic.
"...I might mess with my seal."
"And what's behind that?"
Naruto stared at him.
"A giant angry fox."
"So?"
"So I decided not to touch it!"
Jiraiya smiled.
"Good."
Naruto blinked.
"Good?"
"Knowing when you don't understand enough to mess with a seal is one of the most important lessons in Fūinjutsu."
Jiraiya looked at the overlapping formulas again. "You've got gaps. Big ones. Your terminology needs work, your fundamentals are uneven, and I can tell you've learned things completely out of order."
Naruto frowned.
"But?"
Jiraiya's mouth curved upward.
"But you aren't just copying formulas."
Naruto became quiet.
"You look at them and ask what they're doing. You noticed the interaction between two seals, recognized that the underlying formula was compensating, and were smart enough not to experiment on something you didn't understand."
Jiraiya tapped Naruto's forehead.
"That's harder to teach."
Naruto slowly grinned.
"So I'm a genius."
"Don't push it."
Naruto laughed before looking down at his stomach again.
"So how would you do it?"
Jiraiya stood.
"Do what?"
"Remove it!"
"Oh."
Jiraiya flexed his right hand.
Naruto stared suspiciously at him.
"Why are you doing that?"
Jiraiya spread his fingers into a claw.
Chakra gathered across his fingertips.
Naruto's smile disappeared.
"Wait."
Thin markings appeared in the chakra coating Jiraiya's fingers, each point forming part of a small sealing array.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"You're making the counter-seal with chakra?"
"Now you're paying attention."
Naruto leaned forward.
"So each finger acts like one of the—"
Jiraiya moved.
"—wait, what are you—"
THOOM!
Five fingers slammed into Naruto's stomach.
"GUH!"
Every bit of air left his lungs.
Naruto folded around Jiraiya's hand as chakra blasted through the Four Elements Seal. Five glowing points appeared beneath Jiraiya's fingertips before thin lines connected them for barely an instant.
The effect was immediate.
The Four Elements Seal shuddered.
Then unlocked.
Its markings peeled away from the pathways of the Shiki Fūin, losing their hold one point at a time before disappearing entirely.
As Naruto collapsed onto his hands and knees,
PING
Four Elements Seal debuff has been removed, Normal chakra control and Kyuubi rage mode now available!
For being able to talk somewhat equally with a seal master and for gaining increased knowledge your sealing knowledge has greatly improved!
Advanced Fuinjutsu LVL 2 (8/20) -> LVL 2 (11/20)
"YOU—"
He sucked desperately for air.
"—COULD'VE—"
Another breath.
"—WARNED ME!"
Jiraiya looked down at him.
"I did."
"You made a claw!"
"That was the warning."
"THAT'S NOT A WARNING!"
Jiraiya laughed while Naruto contemplated attacking a Sannin for the second time that morning.
Then Naruto froze.
Something felt different.
Very different.
He sat back slowly.
His chakra wasn't quiet—Naruto doubted his chakra had ever been quiet in his life—but the constant wrongness was gone. The strange resistance he'd grown accustomed to had vanished, like someone had finally untangled a knot he'd been dragging through his coils for days.
Naruto lifted one hand.
Chakra flowed into it.
Smoothly.
His eyes widened.
"Oh."
Jiraiya watched him carefully.
Naruto sent chakra toward his feet.
No stuttering.
No sudden surge.
No feeling like his own network was changing directions halfway through the command.
Naruto stared at Jiraiya.
"You fixed it."
"Of course I did."
"With one hit."
"Don't simplify my art."
"You punched my seal off!"
Jiraiya's eye twitched.
"I applied a chakra-formed counter-seal through five simultaneous contact points, interrupted Orochimaru's formula without disturbing the Shiki Fūin, and released the foreign matrix from your chakra network."
Naruto considered that.
"...With a punch."
Jiraiya smacked him over the head.
"OW!"
"Respect your elders."
Naruto rubbed the growing lump.
Then his annoyance faded.
He looked back down at his stomach.
The Shiki Fūin remained.
Orochimaru's seal didn't.
Naruto's grin slowly grew.
Jiraiya immediately recognized that expression.
"What?"
Naruto stood.
"My chakra control works again."
"Yes."
"My elemental techniques work again."
"Presumably."
Naruto's grin became enormous.
"And I've got almost a month before I fight Neji."
Jiraiya stared at him.
Naruto cracked his knuckles.
"So what are you teaching me first?"
Jiraiya smiled.
Maybe Kakashi hadn't exaggerated quite as much as he'd thought.
"First?"
He pointed toward the ground.
"You're going to show me exactly how badly you've taught yourself Fūinjutsu."
Naruto's smile vanished.
"What happened to being impressed?!"
"I am impressed."
Jiraiya sat down.
"That's why this is going to be painful."
Naruto suddenly had a terrible feeling about his new teacher.