40 Naruto : Chapter 40
While your clans didn't have an exact bloodline, the Uzumaki clan had special chakra, a reason why Kumo once tried to kidnap your mother Kushina. Your clan was known for its longevity.
And a child with Namikaze, Uzumaki and Senju blood would have been irresistible for him. I am really sorry for what you had to go through, but I did what I could in my own grief." Jiraiya said.
...
Naruto pondered the answer. He knew Jiraiya was completely honest. He had seen in his eyes that he meant every word. And the money he got from the Hokage each week in person, after in the beginning somebody had tried to steal his money, had been what had got him through the hardest times.
He remembered finding those scrolls when he was seven. It had been the start of his changing his ways. He had found out about a way where he wouldn't have to depend on the village to get by.
While his godfather hadn't done his best, he also hadn't completely left him to fight on his own. He had done what he could. He had to admit he couldn't really understand the wounds that losing someone left. But he knew that some people had more problems to deal with it than others.
"Okay, while I can't say, I'm happy about it, I understand it somewhat. And at least you tried to help me. That's more than most others did. And those scrolls really were live-savers.
They got me independent from the supplies I could buy in the village. Without knowing how to properly hunt and fish and grow vegetables, I would probably still be living off ramen." Naruto shuddered.
"I suggest we start from the bottom. I'll give you the chance to get to know me and teach me what you want to. I'll try to keep an open mind about you and not push you away on principle. Don't expect me to trust you though. I have made too many bad experiences." Naruto said.
Jiraiya nodded. It was more than he had been hoping for.
"Okay, now that the air is cleared, I think we have an evaluation of your skills in fuinjutsu to do. Sarutobi sensei said you were of the opinion that you were at a seal master level. How did you come to that impression?" Jiraiya asked.
"I have read every single book about sealing I could find in Konoha. Mostly written by you or Dad. On top of that I studied the Uzumaki scrolls that Mum had.
You stated that the level of seal master was signified by the person attempting to get there having to have complete understanding of all the intricacies of fuinjutsu, being able to quickly draw the commonly known seals, modify them to their needs and in the end, once they could tweak existing seals, created their own.
Well, I have followed all the steps the books and scrolls described. Once I got the basics down, I found that fuinjutsu was one art that came to me easily. It was just logical for me how it worked.
So tweaking seals was not that hard. And I had masses of shadow clones that could test them for me. I designed some variations of exploding seals; my favourite is a trap version that fires poisoned senbons on the one triggering them, for storage seals and chakra suppression seals.
"Then I began creating my own seals. I had read in one of the scrolls I found in my hideout about elemental jutsus and that only jonin level ninja used them. So with my problem with the villagers being out for my life, I decided I needed to learn elemental jutsu.
Finding out about my main element was tricky. In the end I nicked a chakra paper while cleaning the armoury as punishment for a prank. I developed a storage seal for elemental chakra once I could use my wind element. I thought once I could use more elements that could come in useful.
But after training the water element, which is my secondary, I started thinking about what techniques could get really problematic for me. Fire wasn't much of a problem with the water element as my secondary.
Lightning is weak against wind, so only earth remained. I would need a very powerful wind jutsu to really get the upper hand against an earth user.
"I knew that while the primary element in Konoha is fire, there are a lot that are earth and water users. So to not be at a disadvantage, I needed lightning. But simply developing the affinity at my age was impossible.
There are restrictions what my body can take. And with lightning being opposed to my primary affinity it would be especially hard. So I decided to consort to seals. I worked for six months on it, but in the end I managed to get a chakra element converter seal.
As long as I supply the seal with the element it is attuned to, it converts it into the element I designed the seal for. In my case that was wind turned into lightning.
Over time, by using many lightning jutsus, I developed the affinity, so now I don't need to rely on the seal anymore, but if I needed a big amount of lightning chakra that would still be a viable option.
I also have some other designs, some that I wanted to discuss with you as I'm not completely sure about some arrays." Naruto told Jiraiya.
Jiraiya was really impressed by what he heard. Many had tried to find a converter seal that worked, but had given up considering the amount of fine tuning it took. If Naruto had found a way, it would indeed validate a sealing mastery. But he would wait until the end to judge his godson's level.
...
It was late in the evening when Jiraiya invited Naruto for a meal in one of the Akimichi restaurants. He assured his godson that with him being there nobody would dare to be rude and that the specific restaurant they were headed to was led by his old student Uruho Akimichi.
He had been wounded in the third shinobi war and hadn't been able to continue as a ninja, so he had taken up the second profession the Akimichis were famous for and opened a restaurant. It was going very well.
While some people were glaring at Naruto entering the restaurant, many knew just whom he was with and nobody wanted to make a sannin mad.
Jiraiya and Naruto were greeted by the owner personally, who looked at Naruto in shock, then at Jiraiya, then back at Naruto and mumbled something about being blind and should have seen it.
"Keep it for you, Uruho." Jiraiya said warningly.
"Of course, Jiraiya sensei, but why was nobody told?" Uruho asked.
"Iwa, Orochimaru, Kumo, Kiri, choose one." Jiraiya said.
"I see. Well, what would you like to eat?" Uruho asked changing the topic.
"Choose what you like, I pay." Jiraiya said. "After all we have something to celebrate."
"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto said and looked over the menu. "I'd like to have the small sushi variations for appetizer, the grilled seafood dish with vegetables and rice for main course and the season salad with yoghurt and herb dressing. And I'd like green tea to drink." Naruto said.
"I'll take the finger-food variations for appetizer, the roasted pork sweet-sour for main course with sweet potatoes and rice. I'd also like a bottle of sake with two cups." Jiraiya said.
"Already trying to corrupt him, Jiraiya sensei?" Uruho asked, writing down the orders.
"Hey, he's a ninja. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink. And I think it would be good he gets a bit of practice before I introduce him to Gamabunta." Jiraiya said, having Naruto perk up.
"You're going to let me sign the toad contract?" He asked surprised.
"Indeed. You've proven you're more than ready to become the next toad summoner. As I told you, I don't have children whom I could pass the contract on to. So I have to resort to my students.
And with your father having been my student and the last summoner, I think it is only right if you take up the mantle." Jiraiya said smiling. He kept his voice low to not give others the information.
Naruto couldn't help but smile happily. Summoning contracts were really rare. Konoha having so many of them was a reason it was seen as the most powerful village.
Konoha held, as far as Naruto knew, the monkey contract with the Sarutobi clan, the dog contract with the Hatake clan, the turtle contract with the Maito clan.
The crow contract with the Uchiha clan, and then the three contracts of the sannin, the slug contract of Tsunade, the snake contract of Orochimaru, which Anko Mitarashi had also signed, and the toad contract of Jiraiya.
Uruho went to the kitchen to have the two dishes prepared and to warn his staff to treat Naruto Uzumaki properly whenever he came to the restaurant. He was to be treated like any other guest.
None of the nonsense about him being a demon or they could look for new jobs. His warning seemed to work.
Naruto and Jiraiya got their appetizer fifteen minutes later and Jiraiya poured sake from his bottle in the two cups.
"Well, to your mastery in fuinjutsu, Naruto." Jiraiya said.
"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto replied and both drank the sake. Naruto was coughing after it.
Jiraiya laughed.
"You should be a bit careful in the beginning. Try sipping instead of drinking it in one go." He advised.
Naruto glared but followed the advice.
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