Chapter Text
Jiraiya spends the rest of night awake after waking up from multiple nightmares, can’t find rest no matter how hard he tries, how many breathing exercises he does, how hard he tries to meditate, the only thing he is able to think about is Naruto with his bright blue eyes and how badly he is being treated by the people who are supposed to love and protect him.
He feels rage building inside his chest because absolutely nothing he saw until this moment is fair or makes any sense, the way Anko is being treated is so far of being fair it is sickening, the way Kakashi behaves is so utterly unnatural Jiraiya doesn’t even know where to begin with that, and he can only wonder why is sensei is just… allowing those things to happen or just not realizing they are happening, something that is worrying by itself, the sensei Jiraiya remembers always made sure to know exactly what was going on in his village, exactly what problems are happening and what shinobis are being hostilized, the sensei Jiraiya admires is a man who would never allow that to happen.
The Sannin breathes deeply and gets up from the forest floor, the sun is low enough so that most people are still waking up but high enough for the Hokage to already be at the tower starting his day, the perfect moment to ambush his sensei and demand answers. He has a mission and he refuses to fail this one, he will ask about all that fuckery but most of all he will demand it to be fixed before it’s too late for those kids.
He goes past the secretary and all the shinobi working as if they aren’t there, he has no time and no patience today to make small talk or explain his reasons for being there, of course people recognize one of the Sannins and no one puts up a fight to stop him, not even the ANBU guarding the office who let him pass with curious tilts of their heads. Jiraiya slams the door with satisfactory, utterly unnecessary, force and glares at the ANBU guards inside the room before speaking, voice low and tight with barely repressed emotions.
“Leave, I want to talk with my sensei. Alone ”
None of them move at his order but they do look at the Hokage as if asking for instructions and the older man rolls his eyes and dismisses them with a gesture before setting the paper he was reading down and looking at Jiraiya’s eyes with the same look he would give a child screaming for attention.
“Good morning to you too Jiraiya, I'm very well, what about you?” The man asks with a faint smile “I didn’t know you were coming to the village, when did you arrive?”
“Don’t even start with me sensei, i’m not here for this” Sarutobi arches his eyebrows and opens his mouth but Jiraiya doesn’t let him speak “I came here yesterday to see my godson, to see Naruto, and i was rather…. surprised shall we say with what i found.”
“You should have come to speak with me first Jiraiya, a lot of things happened after you left last time, big decisions were made and it’s important for you to know about them before doing something.” The tone of the Hokage is reproachful and a frown find it’s way to his expression
“You mean the fact that Naruto is growing up in an orphanage with no idea of who his parents were and how much they loved him? The fact that no one knows who he is? That he is being treated as a monster as a result? Is that what you wanted to fill me in?”
“Jiraiya we did what he had to do to protect the village and our people, it was decided that the best would be Naruto growing up incognito. We are thinking about the future and the safety of everyone here, it’s not as if it was something easy for me to decide. As a Hokage I need to be able to make sacrifices and hard decisions for the sake of the greater good.”
“But what about Naruto? Who is thinking about him and his well being? Who is thinking about his happiness?”
“All of us are! His safety is our main concern if it wasn’t we wouldn’t be doing any of this, it is safer for him to grow up as an orphan than as the child of a Hokage, he will require less protection and will have to worry less about the intentions of people approaching him like this, has more of a chance of being a normal child than he would if he knew the truth. He has a roof over his head, food in his belly and a great education at the Academy. I don't know what you are accusing me of.”
“And that is all that a child needs? I saw him sensei! I saw the way the villagers treat him, how terribly lonely and sad he is all the time, how he is always trying to get attention from everyone and how the people just refuse to show him even the minimum of care or even kindness, how is that good for him? He is a child for fuck’s sake!”
Jiraiya is angry, something hot is burning his insides and pushing past his lips, he is enraged and shocked that this is a discussion he is having, that he has to actually explain to Sarutobi that children need to be cared for, that they need more than the bare minimum, that Naruto deserves to be happy and loved and well cared for.
“You don’t understand Jiraiya, this is a sacrifice we must do for Naruto’s sake, he is safer not knowing such a harsh truth and all that you saw is a unfortunate consequence of it, sometimes we must prioritize one thing in exchange for another, you have to know it, i trained you to understand it. Everything will turn out alright I can assure you. I have plans for Naruto’s future that will help him but for now this is the hand he has dealt and will have to live with. I have a duty as a Hokage, I have to do what is necessary for the village.”
“You can’t be serious, you can’t possibly be serious! What is necessary for the village? Do you mean that abusing a child is necessary for the village? And what about everything else going on? Do you see how Anko is being treated by her peers, how they are segregating her? Do you know what kind of mission Kakashi is going to, how he is living? Is that necessary for the precious village as well?”
The Sannin hits the desk sending papers flying but his sensei doesn't flinch, just sighs and rubs his temple like Jiraiya is the one not making sense and creating problems when there is none which just makes the white haired man angrier. The worst part of admiring someone is the moment where you realize that you idealized them, the moment where their actions break the pedestal you put under them, Jiraiya never expected to have this conversation with his sensei let alone the words he is hearing from the man, not even in his wildest dreams he imagined he would endorse and defend the cruel treatment of a innocent child when he had the power to put a end to all that.
Sarutobi may not be the person abusing Naruto but his silence is as much as a crime.
“For a matter of fact, yes it is. Kakashi is a shinobi Jiraiya, he is hardly a innocent child who needs to be protected from the evil of this world and he knew exactly what he was signing up for when he joined ANBU, do not talk to me like this is such a absurd, if my memory doesn’t fail me you too took missions very similar to the ones he does. And do not start with me about young Anko either, you saw what? Half an hour of it at the most? You don’t know how this situation started and how Anko makes everything in her power to make it worse more times than not. Do you know how many shinobis she sent to the hospital because they talked about Orochimaru? I suppose you don’t because you saw a piece and is using it to fit your narrative about my flaws.” The Hokage takes a deep breath, brows furrowed like he is annoyed he even has to explain it to Jiraiya and his voice is filled with a quiet warning when he continues “Naruto is being taken off, he has a pension on his name so he can live comfortably after leaving the orphanage in the future and a path in the shinobi life, do you know he dreams about being Hokage? I know that child Jiraiya, I keep tabs on him, I talk to him on occasion, I do everything in my power to give him a future in this village. Do not speak of things you do not understand”
They aren’t us.
The words get stuck in his throat, his lips seem to have been sealed shut by indignation and pain and disappointment on a man he once thought above the flaws of mortals and even after that childish worship passed he always saw in a better regard than anyone else. Jiraiya says nothing more, refuses to meet the eyes of his sensei, and just turns his back to him and walks away from the room and it feels like he is doing more, like this has a weight bigger than a confrontation of sensei and student.
They aren’t us.
You can’t treat them like you treated us. You can’t expect Anko to overcome all the insults like Orochi did in those early years, can’t expect her to put on a mask and keep it as tightly as he did, so good he fouled all of us, can’t expect her to do what he wasn’t capable off and stay loyal to a place that hates her. You can’t expect Kakashi to bounce back from those missions, to shake them off like i did, because i had you, i had Tsuna, i had Orochi, i had Minato, i had Kushina, i had people to help me let it all outside the village, you expect him to step out the darkness but don’t offer a way for him to do it, how can you shove him deeper and deeper in the shadows and expect him to find the light by himself? You can’t expect Naruto to grown up connected to the village even when he is a orphan like Tsuna did, can’t expect him to carry a legacy and the weight that comes with it with the same grace she did, Tsunade knew about all of it, about who her grandfather was, about her family and her history, she could turn back to fond memories when things turned too dark, when they were too hard, but Naruto has all of the burdens with zero of the reprieve.
They aren’t us.
He leaves the Hokage tower feeling heavier somehow, because how can he go back to his life now? How can he go back to his travels and his books when he knows what’s going on with Naruto? When he knows that the little boy is suffering for a crime he did not commit? Jiraiya feels helpless because he is just a man and as much as he wants to he can’t just fix the problem of the village with his will alone.
But.
But he can do something to help. Even if can’t change his sensei’s mind he can offer something to those kids, can be the scape they so desperately need even if only for a short period of time, he can show them there is beauty in the world, that there is happiness to be found, if he’s lucky he can even give them a bit of hope.
There is a plan forming in his mind as he walks back to the Forest of Death, a bit of his mischievous side poking its head because even if Orochimaru was the petty one on their team Jiraiya was never too far behind in that aspect and in this moment he wants nothing more than to be petty stick a finger to Konoha.
The first, and most difficult, step is to gather the children, convince them to drop everything for a while and act their age.
His first choice is to go after Anko because she looks like the easiest one to persuade. For what he remembers of the girl she is wildfire barely contained in human skin, loud and larger than life in a way that is painfully reminiscent of Kushina, with Orochimaru’s quick and sharp tongue added to the mix and it’s not such a stretch to think that she will jump into a opportunity to break the rules and have fun.
It’s easy to find her in the stillness of the forest as she kneels in the dirt collecting herbs Jiraiya can’t for the life of him recognize, and while Anko doesn’t sense him coming she does not flinch or stattles when he drops in front of her, careful to not crush the plants. A kunai is thrown in his direction before he can say anything and Jiraiya steps to the side to avoid the blade instead of catching it because Anko is a poison specialist and heaven knows what coats her blades.
Something in the lack of worry in her posture, despiste the attack, tells him she recognizes him very well.
“Hello Anko-chan.” His smile is small, not even close to his boisterous ones, but real in a way most aren’t “Good to see you, it’s been a few years.”
“Jiraiya-sama” Aside from sharp eyes that are glued on his face like she is reading him there is no other movement from her “What do you want?”
“Why do you think I want something?” He fakes an offended expression trying to ignore the ache in his chest at the wariness on her face “Can’t I just drop by for a friendly visit?”
“As you said it’s been a few years, I doubt you would show up now just to catch up” She points out and rolls her eyes utterly unimpressed in a way that makes him think of Orochimaru “So, again, what do you want?”
“I don’t want anything, just to talk with you.”
“Well then you are the first one in a while” Anko murmurs softly but not really thinking out loud, her eyes trained on him getting an edge of mistrust “And about what exactly you want to talk about?”
“I saw what happened, with those boys.”
He doesn’t have to explain because he sees the moment she understand his words, it’s like watching a wall come crashing down because Anko just closes on herself, squares her shoulders, set her head high in a defiant angle like she is just daring him to give her shit for it, her hands curls themselves on fists crushing the herbs she is still holding, but the haunting thing are her eyes, the way they just get a almost glaze on them, resignation setting like a old friend, as if she is waiting for something that has happened a hundred of times before but at the same time refuses to accept it without putting a fight.
“So? They started it, they followed me and they started talking shit, I was just protecting myself.” Protecting , the word rings in his ears, she has to protect herself from people she should trust to watch her back at all times “If the Hokage sent you here to give me a lecture save your breath i have it decorated, so if you could leave that would be great, save us both the time. It’s not like i planned to attack them or plan to do something like that again”
“I know” He assures her and tries to not react to they way she seems taken back by his words “I’m not here to lecture you, no one send me, i’m not here on Konoha’s business and even if they had told me to give someone a lecture it wouldn’t be you i would talk to, like you said they are the ones who started it.”
Anko stares at him like he just grew a second head and Jiraiya is filled with cold fury, with rage towards whoever has made her feel like she can’t defend herself from cruel words, he wants to know who exactly has been trying to tell her she can’t react, that she needs to accept abuse. He wants to scream at every single adult in this village, asks them how far up their asses they all have shoved their heads that they have all lost all their common sense and a big part of their empathy with it.
His only consolation is that Anko doesn’t seem to have brought that bullshit, that there is a fire burning inside her that pushes her to fight what she thinks is a lost battle, that makes her look a Sannin in the eyes and basically tell him to shove his lecture where the sun doesn’t shine. When it becomes clear she doesn’t know what to say in response, isn’t ready for this turn of events, Jiraiya spills his cards.
“I came to Konoha to see my godson and I realized there are a lot of questionable things happening here, a lot of actions I don't agree with and I want to give some of you a well deserved break for the bullshit the village is pulling. There is a big festival happening a few towns away and if you want to I will gladly take you there, everything on me of course.”
“Who else would be going?”
“You, my godson Naruto, Kakashi if i manage to drag him”
“You expect the Hokage to let you do that? Take the jinchuuriki to another town just to attend a festival? To let any of us go?” She looks at him in amused disbelief and explains when a confused look crossed the older man's face “People talk a lot and they are not as subtle as they think they are in this matter, it’s easy to figure out the secret about the kid.”
“And who said we will be asking for permission?” He asks arching an eyebrow and letting a small smile play on his lips
This is what sells the idea to her, better than anything else Jiraiya may have said he knows that the idea of going behind the village’s back is incredible alluring for a girl like Anko, it’s written on the way her face lightens up with a mischievous smile that make her look like a actual teenager and Jiraiya has been around this girl for a ridiculous small amount of time, is talking with her for the first time since even before Orochi left, but he knows deep into his bones that whatever mess he gets himself into for this is more than worth it just to see that look on her face.
Anko deserves nice things and if no one else is going to give it to her then Jiraiya is just going to have to do it himself.
“I like this plan” She nods, her expression changing back to something more guarded but there is still a small smile on her lips and a brightness on her eyes that wasn’t there before
“Good” He nods back, his own smile growing bigger “Can you be at the gates today at 11:23 pm sharp? That’s when they change shifts and it will be easier to sneak around them.”
“Of course i can, will not miss it for anything”
Jiraiya chuckles and says a warm goodbye to her, his next target already in mind. Kakashi will truly be tricker to convince, but Jiraiya is going to drag him to this festival even if he has to do it by force, the boy is 17 years old he shouldn’t spend his time alone or in some awful mission, not only he deserves to have a night of good natured fun, he needs to.
He is not surprised to follow Kakashi’s chakra signature to the cemetery and even less to find him standing over the graves of his teammates. The white haired man settles himself in the edges of the place sitting cross legged on the floor and waiting until the other is ready to leave, there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, moments that can’t be interrupted and this is one of those, Jiraiya not only can wait he has to, stepping up to talk with the Hatake now will be a invasion of his privacy. Not to say that the silver haired jonnin very likely can feel his presence and will come to him when he is ready.
The older man doesn’t know how long he waits, don’t actually count just meditates and appreciates the moments of silence to connect with the nature, but eventually Kakashi stops in front of him, face even more guarded than in the other night like he expects Jiraiya to go off on him for the things they saw. The Toad Sage lets out a deep breath and inclines his head to the grass in front of him and after a long beat Kakashi sighs and sits and Jiraiya is not amused to see that the other sits like a ANBU, knees under him, hands on thighs, back straight and shoulders tense, expression so blank he may as well be using the porcelain mask too.
“I went to talk with the Hokage about Naruto” Jiraiya starts and allows his shoulders to drop hyper aware of how tense the boy in front of him is “Ended up talking a little about you and Anko too, Sensei told me she has been sending shinobis to the hospital for talking about Orochimaru and that’s why they are treating her like a pariah, that she is bringing this upon herself.”
“She didn’t send anyone who didn’t deserve it.” Kakashi almost snorts and Jiraiya is pleasantly surprised to see he doesn’t seem willing to agree that Anko did something to bring it on herself “Maybe they should watch the things they say to her if they don’t want broken bones.”
“I think so as well, unfortunately it turns out that the Hokage doesn’t share my view about a hell lot of things. He very emphatically told me that letting Naruto grow like that is the best for Konoha.”
“And you don’t agree with him.”
“No, I don't. Naruto deserves better, Minato and Kushina would demand better for him” He doesn’t miss the way Kakashi tenses even more at that “He may grow up in the way Sarutobi-sensei wants him to, into a fine loyal ninja of Konoha, but he isn’t going to grow up happy or loved and in my world one of those things is more important than the other.”
“And you are telling me this because….”
“Because I want to give Naruto something , I want to give him a taste of what feeling safe and loved is like. There is a festival happening in a civilian town that I think it’s any child's dream and I want to take him there but Konoha is never going to let it happen.”
“And you want me to help you with this, to cover for you.”
“Actually no, I want you to come with us. With all offense all decisions made for him are bullshit and i want Naruto to know about his parents and how much they loved him so he can at least have that when things get rough and you are one of the only people in this village who really saw how much having him meant to Minato and Kushina. I’m asking for a day Kakashi, just forget the rules and the orders from the Hokage for one day so we can give a child some deserved comfort.”
Pulling on the guilt that is so deep into the boy that it’s a part of his flesh brings a bitter taste on his mouth because Jiraiya can see how his words hit several of Kakashi’s sore spots, he may try to hide it but it’s clear as the day for the Sannin the way he almost curls himself in shame. It’s a familiar posture, a familiar feeling. But at the same time Jiraiya knows it’s the only way he can come close to get Kakashi on board with his plan, if he says the truth, that he wants him go to the festival so he can forget about missions and blood and death and heavens know what more, the silver haired shinobi will never agree.
He sees the mental battle in the jonnin’s mind, his conscience against his sense of duty, but at the same time Jiraiya knows this is a battle he has won. The thing about loyalty that many people don’t realize or seem to ignore is that it’s hardly a certain, loyalty is a living thing that needs to be feed and taken care off so it can keep on growing and creating roots, it’s not a natural trait in your average person and loyalty can only stretch so far without proper tending, and Jiraiya sees on Kakashi what he has seem in so many faces before, it’s not really loyalty that drives him, it’s duty , it’s the weight of what he considers his failures, and duty will never weight as much as loyalty.
“Only if we can take someone with us” Kakashi finally agrees shoulders dropping like he is exhausted just from the dilemma Jiraiya pushed onto him
“Who?” The Sannin asks in surprise even if he already knows he will agree.
Jiraiya’s first impression of the ROOT boy is that he is at the same time too young and too old.
His appearance is somewhat childish in his eyes, not very tall, skinny, with limbs that are too long and awkward in a way that screams “growing teenager” in such a way that it clashes with everything else, with the way he holds himself like a soldier, with the way he moves while fighting a figure in a white mask that shows no mercy. Jiraiya wouldn’t call that a training session because none of them are holding back, there is no care in avoiding harm, whoever is fighting that boy is fighting like he would in a battlefield and from where Jiraiya is watching, Kakashi silent at his side, he can make out bruises and blood on the boy.
And then suddenly there is wood. Wood coming from the soil to chase the older man and a branch manages to grip his left arm and soon enough he is stuck in a natural prison but the man disappears in a cloud of smoke that can only mean a clone and one, the real one he guesses, is behind the boy with a dagger in this throat, tigh enough to draw blood but not to cause permanent harm.
Jiraiya can do nothing but gap in utter shock.
Mokuton ? Did he just witness someone using Mokuton?
Saying that that is impossible is putting it short. No one after the first Hokage ever showed anything close to it let alone the full thing, it wasn’t a bloodline so no other Senju, not even his children, carried the ability with them and so it is safe to assume the Mokuton died with it’s first and only user. But here Jiraiya is watching a teenager who can’t be much older than 16 using it as if it’s normal and Kakashi doesn’t look really surprised either, there is no change in his posture, nothing that indicates this is a surprise to him and the white haired man gaps knowing better than to speak and risk being heard by the man wearing the mask, whoever he is Jiraiya has a feeling he will not take kindly to their presence or for what they are about to do.
Kakashi shrugs at him and signals a “later” and the Sannin sees himself obliged to just nod because what else can he do now? They are not in the position of making conversation right now.
What is clearly meant to be the most mean spirited brutal training session Jiraiya has seen in the last years ends with the masked man kicking the boy to the ground, almost making him hit his head in a rock rather than on the grass, and saying something that makes the boy wince more than the physical blow before disappearing as silent as a shadow. Jiraiya recognizes ANBU when he sees it but there is something on his gut screaming otherwise.
ANBU doesn’t train it’s members. They arrive ready to be sent to missions and everything they learn after joining they learn by themselves, be studying or by experience, they hardly ever train between themselves outside their units and most importantly they don’t give training to teenager boys with supposed dead abilities in the deep of the woods.
“ROOT” It’s Kakashi who breaks the silence, watching as the boy stays in the ground to pick his breath “They are members of ROOT.”
Well that explains a bit. Being the Hokage student gives Jiraiya some access to information that never reaches your average shinobi but even between the closest circle of the Hokage details about Danzou’s unit are more times than not conjectures and gossip, no one even knows exactly how he recruits the members since very few people even know that ROOT exists and they hardly even pick members between regular ANBU, it should not be surprising to Jiraiya that Danzo would train and make his own soldiers. It makes him curious however about how Kakashi of all people seems fully aware of the organization’s existence.
“Mokuton?” Jiraiya asks because that is the most pressing strange part, dead kekkei genkais just don’t show up in random kids being trained by a shady asshole
“The experiments that Orochimaru was doing with kids? The one that finally got him caught? He is the only survivor of that, Danzo somehow got his hands on him and has been training him ever since, no one outside some ROOT members and most recently the Hokage even know he exists”
“But you do”
“We… We met on a mission not long ago, it’s a long story. He is a good kid, just lost, trying to find his identity.” There is something almost soft in Kakashi’s expression and Jiraiya wonders what he is not telling, what he knows about this boy that makes him so moved by his struggles
“What is his name?”
“ROOT members don’t have names.”
“What?”
“For what I could gather from him, what is not much by the way, is that they are not allowed to have identities of their own, they are weapons to be used for the good of Konoha so they just get codenames when the situation demands it.”
Unsurprisingly Jiraiya feels disappointed and angry and fiercely protective over a kid who probably doesn’t need his protection at all.
What else is happening in Konoha which is just so far off the scale of okay and acceptable that it falls right into despicable and evil? What is happening in this place that it makes people in power think that is okay to abuse and torture and use kids and teenagers as they please? He could expect something like this from Danzou who was never a person Jiraiya would call trustworthy or capable of empathy, but to think that his sensei is just sitting there in his robes, smoking his pipe and turning a blind eye to all that, hiding under the excuses of “it’s for the good of the village” just so he doesn’t have to face the reality, too comfortable in his own little world where everything is going to turn out okay to realize that things are just building to a point where disaster is so close he can taste it? That is the real chaka entranced punch in the gut.
“Does the Hokage know about this?”
“I don’t know, he must know something but if he knows what a hell experience being a member of ROOT is i don’t know.”
Again the Toad Sage wonders what else Kakashi knows, what else he saw or heard about ROOT that makes his expression look so troubled and worried, what dirty details he is hiding because Jiraiya is certain that this brutal training session is only the tip of the iceberg, just a brief insight of the reality of life with ROOT.
“What does he like to be called?” He tries instead because there has to be something, a codename that stuck at least
“Tenzo”
“Okay, I'll talk with him or you go?”
“I go”
Jiraiya just nods and watches as Kakashi jumps out of their hiding place and arrives in front of the younger boy in time to help him to his feet. He is too far off to listen to what is being said and the young Hatake is too much of a closed book for him to read his body language but the boy, even if it's clear he is watching himself, still lacks the finesse of masking his reactions that comes with experience and prolonged human interaction.
He reads surprise and a bit of distrust soon followed by palpable confusion, a glance to where he is and the older man shows himself, smiles kindly and waves even if he somewhat expected the lack of response.
The talk lasts forever and it's funny in a way to watch as Kakashi takes his role, trying to convince a troubled overworked youth to take a day off even with all the consequences of such an act. Well at least it looks like not all is lost, the silver haired genius clearly cares about this boy and has enough of his thrust to convince him to agree even if it takes quite a while.
Jiraiya can't deny that a weight is taken off his shoulders when the ROOT boy finally nods, light distrust lacing his every move, and gives a questioning glance in his direction once more, as if asking himself what Jiraiya is planning, but there isn't any hesitation in him what surprises him in a positive way.
Tenzo nods one last time before disappearing into the woods, silently as a shadow molding himself with the trees in a way that is not natural and leaves him with his breath stuck somewhere in his chest.
He knows what Orochimaru did, read some reports, heard it from his teammate himself in that last fateful encounter where the snake master turned his back to him one last time, but to see the effects of it on the flesh is something else, a punch to the gut. The fact that the boy had to survive being a lab experiment just to be stuck with whatever the fuck is Danzou’s idea of training is even harder to swallow.
Fuck, right when he thinks Konoha can’t let him down more something like this pops up.