Chapter Text
Maybe being a ninja isn’t worth it, Naruto thinks. Then, God, would the villagers love to hear that.
And finally, I hope this guy only pervs on women.
Or, maybe no one. I hope he doesn't perv on anyone.
“Come on, kid,” the man, the pervert , says. “Just lift up your shirt so I can do a quick health assessment. It won’t even hurt a bit.”
Naruto narrows his eyes, scooching to move closer to Jiji’s side of the hospital bed. I bet he says that to everyone.
“Naruto, Jiraiya is one of the greatest shinobi in Konoha, and a close friend of mine. I believe he might know why you can’t access your chakra. He’s also the Toad Sannin.” At the hokage’s words, Jiraiya puffs his chest out, grinning broadly. “I’m sure Iruka-sensei went over that in history class?”
Naruto nods. While Naruto had “extreme attention problems” in class (Iruka-sensei’s words, not his; and definitely not the other teacher’s, who preferred to call him a “hellion who would be better suited for juvie”), he still made an effort to learn as much as he could in his classes, which included history lessons.
In his head, his theoretical knowledge could help even out his nonexistent ninjutsu/genjutsu/anything other than taijutsu skills.
Not that his scores ever came back as anything higher than a D+, but still. It was the effort that counts. At least, according to Iruka-sensei.
“And you’ll be in the room when he does it?” he asks. Both Jiji and the pervert’s eyebrows raise.
“Naruto, has anyone ever… lifted your shirt without anyone else in the room?” the pervert asks. The room seems to darken for a moment, and Naruto almost feels like the walls become tense.
“No,” he says. “That’s why I don’t want you to do it without Jiji in the room.” All at once, the pressure seems to release.
“Right,” the pervert says. “Right. That’s… good.” The two men share a silent conversation that Naruto can’t decipher (something that seems to happen a lot around him), before the pervert sighs. “You know, Naruto, I’m not just the Toad Sannin. I’m also, uh… I’m your… ”
He falls silent. After a few seconds, it’s clear he won’t continue.
Jiji coughs into his hand, moving to sit beside Naruto. “Jiraiya is also a chakra expert. He’ll just need to access your three chakra cores to assess what might be causing your chakra issues. And I’ll be right here when he does it.”
Even though Jiji’s tone is soothing, it’s clear that Naruto doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. Still, he asks, “Can Iruka-sensei be here?”
Jiji’s face doesn’t falter. “I’m afraid Iruka-kun is busy grading right now. But you can go see him afterwards.”
The pervert stays silent the whole time, watching the two interact. Naruto considers, for a moment, that he’s not actually a chakra expert, and instead an assassin sent to finally kill… whatever he is.
“Alright. But I keep my pants on. I saw you by the women’s onsen and I ain’t taking chances.”
Jiji glares at the pervert, who raises his hands in mock defense, although Naruto notes that he doesn’t pretend like he wasn’t there.
A few pokes here and there, a bunch of whispered comments that Naruto doesn’t understand, and after what feels like hours, the pervert and Jiji move to the hallways to discuss things.
Naruto turns over in his bed, trying to resist the urge to eavesdrop on the two of them. While he wants to know what happened, he also knows that he was more likely than not to be noticed and sent off without a word.
Maybe they’re determining how they’re gonna kill me.
He curls up in the bed, instinctively puts a hand over his stomach. His fingers twitch as he recreates the seal in his mind, imagining the twisting lines on his skin, which hadn’t appeared since that very first night. If he closes his eyes, he can almost feel indents on his stomach.
Sometimes, he wonders if it’s all in his head, if he’s made it all up for attention, an excuse to reason why the whole world seems to hate him.
Maybe the perv didn’t find anything, Naruto thinks, and Jiji is regretting calling him. Or he’s chewing him out for not finding anything.
He lays there, the hospital bed a thousand times more comfortable than his ratty mattress that hasn’t been replaced in years (even through all the village raids and water leaks and whatnot), as his future is decided outside, and slips into the sewers.
Despite his sleepiness, Naruto immediately notices that the scenery has changed. The waters, which had always seemed to reach the exact height of his shoulders, seem to have receded to only cover his ankles. They also look like blood, instead of water.
“What the… ” Naruto says, twisting around in a circle. The water ripples out around him, and as the first ripple hits the illusive cell, two red eyes appear.
Naruto almost falls on his butt in surprise.
“Holy shit!”
The eyes blink for a moment, simply staring at him. And it’s like every single question Naruto has ever had about who he is, what the sewers are, what the fuck the seal means, has left his mind, and all he can think to say is “You’re kinda rude.”
A beat. Then, the sewers seem to shake with the creature’s rage, causing Naruto to fall on his ass.
“I’m rude?” the creature asks, and its voice is everything Naruto imagined it to be, raspy and dark and terrifying. “ I’m rude? HA! You are the rude one, you wretched Uzumaki! You come into my prison every day just to torment me with your patheticness!”
Naruto jumps back to his feet, offended. “I’m not the weird creature who’s living in a boy’s stomach!”
“You think I’m here by my own choice? You really are as stupid as your teachers say!”
“Shut up! SHUT UP!” Naruto screams, moving to stand in front of the cell door. “I’m not stupid!”
“Oh, but you are,” the monster says. “Poor, stupid little Uzumaki, can’t even figure out why the whole world hates him!”
“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” Naruto screams, gripping the cell bars. “What does that make you, huh? You’re just as stupid a monster as I am!”
“DO NOT CALL ME A MONSTER!” the monster roars.
“THEN WHAT ARE YOU?” Naruto screams, nose pressed against the bars, and what he really means is What am I?
Just as soon as the anger starts, it ends. The creature’s eyes move further away from the cell bars, becoming tiny red dots.
“Leave me,” the creature says, and Naruto can feel the same push from years ago. He can almost feel his eyes fluttering open, but he shuts them tight, willing himself to stay. He wasn’t about to wait another five years for answers.
“Answer me!” Naruto says. “Answer me and I’ll leave.”
The two stare at each other, both unwilling to back down. A sigh emanates across the whole sewer, the creature’s breath causing large ripples across the ground.
“I am…
t̴̨̠̅̌̈́̈̒̃̿͒͗͠ḩ̸̢̛͉̟̠̻͖̭̣̥̤̠̈́̓̓̂̍̃̅͆͑̾̚͜͝͝ḙ̵̢̡̹̩̮̠͚̦̪̘̲̬̹̍̌̀͌̄͛͘͝ͅ ̸̦̩̳̣̫̥͓͂k̷̰͍̲͍̤̣̼̬͚̇͌͊̅̊͆̐̃̋̓̕̕̕͘̚y̶͖̻̪̞̟̌̏͆u̴̲̙̹̦̹̭̝̱̯̣̲̲͗̾̂̊̂̌̋̓̔́̂̓̌͠ȗ̴͔̤̤̺͇̥̫͕̭̻̗̖̣̺̰̿̄̂̌̒̔͠b̶̨̨̢͇̯̖̲͍̼̍̑̑̀į̵̥̠͙̜͙̬̳͚̳̠̼̼̥̀͑̓̃͐̌̍͋͛̽̋̐͘͠͝,”
Naruto’s ears ring at the creature’s voice, a searing pain splitting his head apart. He clutches at his hair, waiting for the pain to pass, as the creature still stares.
Finally, it does, and Naruto opens his eyes to see the seal on the doorway… not quite glowing, but pulsing in the same way it did five years ago. He didn’t understand what it was doing back then. Now, Naruto knows that it means the seal is in use, siphoning chakra from its storages.
The creature sighs, although Naruto can’t tell if it’s from his reaction or the creature’s inability to express what he wanted to say. “Well? Now you know.” And the same push comes.
But Naruto isn’t about to let that be the end of it. Five years, he thinks. I’m not leaving it here.
“No I don’t! Who are you? Are you… ” Naruto takes a deep breath. “Me?”
Even without being able to see the rest of the creature, Naruto can hear the sneer in its voice nonetheless. “No, you idiot Uzumaki. I am… ” the creature sighs again, and the eyes move downward and disappear, as though it's layed down and closed its eyes.
“I’m not leaving until I have an answer,” Naruto says. “Who are we?”
“ You are a wretched spawn of the Uzumaki. I am…”
“I am Kurama.”
And with that, Naruto is whisked out of the sewers, and back to Jiji gently shaking him awake.
As it turns out, the pervert wasn’t much help in figuring out Naruto’s chakra situation. He is, however, very helpful in getting Naruto into a restaurant that he’s only dreamed of going to:
Akimichi Family Barbecue.
While Naruto was very, very happy going to Ichiraku any day of the week, he also knew that almost every week, there would be at least one person in class talking about the delicious meal they had with their family at Akimichi Barbecue. To make matters worse, Naruto had to pass the restaurant on his way back from school every day, with the scent of cooking meat and the sound of laughter wafting through the air like a tantalizing piece of… well, meat.
He knew, though, that trying to go in would result in some Akimichi clan member kindly (or, sometimes not so kindly) telling him that they couldn’t serve him without an adult. He knew, of course, that that was bullshit, as Iruka-sensei had once tried to take him and they said that the adult had to be related to Naruto.
As though Iruka-sensei wasn’t as good as —
Anyway, the look on the host’s face as he was in the middle of rejecting Naruto (he was, unfortunately, one of the unkind ones) but then saw the pervert was priceless. Naruto wished he was rich enough to own a camera so that he could’ve kept the sight forever.
After a lot of sputtering on the host’s part, another Akimichi took over (someone who looked awfully like an older Chouji and whom Jiraiya greeted marginally more formally) took them to a secluded area of the restaurant, with seats so nice Naruto was scared to ruin them.
The same man ended up taking their order and, despite Naruto listing off basically every menu item (who knew when he’d get to experience this place again!), the pervert didn’t say a single word in protest.
“How’s the food, kid?”
And even though Naruto really, really wanted to hate the guy, the way to his heart truly was through food.
So it was more of a reluctant tolerance, now.
“Ish good!”
“Good, good,” the pervert says. Despite the plethora of food around him, and the fact that it was his idea to get dinner together, he seems to be mostly moving the cooked meat across his plate. “Look, Naruto, what happened with that host… Does that happen to you a lot?”
Naruto, mouth stuffed full of meat, nods. The pervert’s lips purse. “I see.” Naruto continues shoving food down his mouth as the pervert sits there, occasionally nibbling on a piece or two.
After about ten minutes of just the sound of Naruto’s (admittedly very loud) eating noises, they hear a ruckus near the front of the restaurant, loud enough to be heard at the back where Naruto and the pervert are.
“I can’t be eating my food with that, that, that monster here!”
“That boy is a paying customer. And so is his companion, Jiraiya the Sannin .”
“I don’t care if it was here with the fucking Shodaime! I refuse to let it in here!”
“He’s a child!”
“It’s a monster who killed my baby boy!”
The arguing continues, although it quickly becomes muffled as the Akimichi from before moves the angry man out of the restaurant. Throughout it all, Naruto is still eating, trying to use the sound of his chewing to drown out the noise. He sneaks a peak at the pervert.
He seems to have lost all his appetite, his already rather pale complexion becoming sallower. His chopsticks are sitting, rather unhygienically, on the table, forgotten.
Naruto swallows his mouthful of food, staring at the pervert’s cheek tattoos rather than making eye contact. “If you wanna leave, we can.”
“Huh?” he asks, startling.
“I’m full, anyway.” Which was far from the truth, but he had eaten at least one bite of basically everything on the menu. And even though he was used to it, being called a monster still hurt his stomach at least a little bit.
Maybe my stomach pain is actually just Kurama being pissed at us being called a monster.
“Are you sure?” he asks, as though Naruto hasn’t just demolished enough food to feed five whole families.
“I’m sure,” Naruto says, and the pervert must not be that great of a ninja because he takes his words at face value.
“Alright, then let’s…” The pervert’s eyes dart towards the entrance, then to Naruto. “Let’s go out the back way. The Akimichis know where to bill, anyway.”
With that, the two leave the restaurant, and Naruto quickly realizes he’ll need to figure out an excuse to leave.
“Well, I don’t know where you’re staying, but I should probably get back home, so… ” The pervert just stares at him. “Thanks for the food!”
And Naruto begins to walk away, silently praying that he’ll never have to see the man again.
After about twenty steps, though, the pervert strides up next to him, making Naruto stop.
“Say, how do you feel about ice cream? I used to take your… I used to take someone I knew for ice cream after training.”
“But we weren’t training,” Naruto points out.
“Sure, but I still feel bad about what happened earlier. Whaddaya say, kid?”
Well, some ice cream never hurt anyone.
The ice cream is good. Great, even.
It’s just a store bought popsicle, the kind that his classmates would get as after school treats, but Naruto’s never had.
He knew that, if he mentioned it, Iruka-sensei would probably buy some for them to share, but he already knew how much of a financial strain their ramen outings were on his meager teacher’s salary.
Not that ice cream was more expensive than ramen, but Naruto couldn't very well ask for both,m and he much preferred Ichiraku to a popsicle he’d never tasted.
But it was good. Him and the pervert sat in a more private area of a park, just eating their popsicles, watching the sun set. Naruto almost wanted to ask why the pervert was doing all this, if being kind to a monster would help him defend Konoha, but he kept his mouth occupied with the ice cream instead.
Finally, the pervert breaks the silence, throwing his finished popsicle stick perfectly into a nearby trash can. “You graduate this year, right?”
Naruto nods, then frowns. “If I pass the exam.”
“You’ll pass, kid,” the pervert says, and it’s with the same kind of belief that Jiji has when he says it, but not the same kind that Iruka-sensei has when he does. “You know what you want to specialize in?”
Sealmaking, Naruto thinks, but says “Taijutsu.”
“Ah. ‘Cause of your chakra situation.”
The pervert side eyes him, and Naruto nods. “Mm.”
“What, you some kinda Uchiha?” A pause. “You know, I thought you’d be a lot more outgoing than this.”
Despite all of Konoha’s beliefs, Naruto does know how to be polite, even to an old man’s ramblings. “How come?”
“I mean, you just seem like you’d be a ray of sunshine, or a prankster. That’s what sensei always said you were like. Or, I guess, Jiji to you.”
“I can be pretty rowdy in class,” he says.
“I bet! You prank your teachers a lot?”
Naruto smiles slightly. “Yeah.”
“What’s your best prank?”
And, even though he really, really wants to hate the pervert, Naruto finds himself launching into the stories of his greatest pranks, egged on by the man’s excitement. Where Iruka-sensei would’ve found a way to turn the conversation into a lecture, the pervert — Jiraiya — finds ways to improve upon his prank ideas.
“Next time, you should try adding itching powder to the handles! That way, a couple of minutes after they think they’re safe, they’re suddenly itching like their life depends on it! And if they touch anyone else they infect them with the powder, too!”
Naruto laughs, mentally jotting down notes. “You know, I thought you were gonna be some lame pervert, but you’re not that bad!”
“Hey, I’m not a pervert, I’m an appreciator of the female body!”
“Sure, sure,” he says, still grinning. Jiraiya grins back at him, and they sit like that, basking in the fading light.
This time, it’s Jiraiya who wants to leave first. “Well, kid, I should probably get going.”
“Oh.” Naruto says. And even though just an hour ago he was praying to never see him again, he can’t help but feel disappointed. “Um, yeah, I should too.” Despite their words, neither of them move to leave.
“Kid, earlier, at the hospital, I was gonna tell you something. Something… you might not like me for.”
“What is it?”
Jiraiya frowns, turning to stare into the almost fully set sun. “Well, I… Naruto, I’m… ” Jiraya bites his lip. Then, in one breath, “I want to mentor you.”
Naruto’s mouth falls open. “Huh?”
Jiraiya smiles, almost sheepishly. “I want to mentor you! Once you're a genin, obviously. And… And only once you’re at least strong enough to keep up with me.”
“Is… Is that what you and Jiji were talking about?”
Jiraiya stills, just barely, but Naruto notices nonetheless. “Yeah. I mean, it’s your choice, but… I am a seal master, and I heard you’ve been interested in seals for a while.”
At that, any apprehension he has fades away, and his only thought is, “Yes!”
Naruto lays awake that night, mind only churning one thought over and over again.
I’m going to learn sealmaking. I’m going to learn sealmaking. I’m going to learn sealmaking.
The excitement makes him itch to see the seal again, to trace its lines with his fingers, to feel the indents on his skin. He wants to know what it really means, this mystery that’s plagued him for half his life.
After a few hours of restlessness, the excitement finally ebbs away, leaving Naruto to think back to earlier that day. When the sewers, for the first time in five years, had changed. And in the moment with Kurama, in the cell, after he tried to tell him something. It was like…
It was like when Jiji would tell him he couldn’t learn sealmaking until he was a ninja.
He rolls onto his stomach, eyes shut tight in thought. He starts to wonder. Why now? If there was something wrong with the seal, why did Jiji only check on it now?
He tried to think if anything had changed, but the only thing that seemed to be different was the fact that he just turned thirteen, and, as Jiji and Iruka-sensei have both pointed out, the last chance for him to become a ninja.
What else, though? What else changed?
Think, think, think.
The creature’s words had caused a pain to shoot through his head, the same exact spot that the pervert checked for chakra blockages.
Afterwards, the seal was pulsing, the same way warming seals do when activated, the same way all seals do when siphoning chakra from storage.
Even though Jiraiya had checked his head, hands, and feet, his seal had only been on his stomach, nowhere else on his body.
And five years ago, when Iruka-sensei had first shown the class what seals were, he had only needed to touch the corner of the paper, not the ink lines.
I’m not the monster, Naruto realizes. Or even the seal. I’m the chakra source.
I’m the never ending chakra source.
And then, he thinks about Jiraiya’s offer, the insistence that he could only join him once he was strong enough to not get into trouble.
And that’s why they can’t kill me. Because once the chakra source runs out…
The seal breaks.
And Kurama can get out.
Naruto can almost feel burning red eyes on the back of his neck, watching.
Waiting.