Jiraiya and the Hokage: Pre-Chunin Exam meeting

I chose not to post this right away to avoid an issue and actually completely forgot about it.

Whoops.

This takes place pre-chunin exams, and sheds a little light on the Hokage's position, Jiraiya's, and what exactly is going on there.

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The Hokage’s not one for games, but that never stops him when his student is in town. Jiraiya of the Sannin, great sage of toads, sealing master galore, no matter how many titles he gathers he will always be his precious student. Sarutobi always makes time for his students, it’s actually they who don’t make time for him despite being far less busy.

Jiraiya at least has the excuse of being a spymaster that’s always on the move, Tsunade is a remarkably worse student. Orochimaru… believe it or not he would gladly have some tea with the sprout if he decided to stop in sometime. Being banished is no reason to be rude.

Shogi is a refined game, but not one Sarutobi especially likes. There’s no flexibility in how the pieces move, it’s rigid and structured. Sure that makes him very good at the game, being far better at calculations and memorization than almost anyone else in the world, but that doesn’t make it any less boring to play with rigid movements when you yourself can move like gravity is whichever way you damn well please. Just once he’d love to have a piece use substitution or something equally out of pocket. Maybe he should make another game, it’d be worth the investment if he lives another ten years. “What has your report on Kabuto produced?”

“Root,” Jiraiya answers instantly, “definitely root. He might have ties to Suna, or somewhere else, but his mannerisms and movements stink of Root. Ask Danzo if you want more information on him, it’s not worth the effort to figure out what our village is doing when you can just ask.”

“Oh believe me, I will ask,” the Hokage grimaces, “that’s the fifth time Danzo has approached Sakura in some way. He knows not to try anything too overt after last time I caught him red handed, but it seems he didn’t fully grasp the concept that she is off limits. I may have to actually act on my threats to keep him away from her.”

“Can you blame him?” Jiraiya asks, stroking his big nose with one hand while moving a piece with the other, “For someone like him, she’s probably the best opportunity that’s arrived for years. I’ve half a mind to take her under my wing. ”

“Please do, at least if you’re still planning on taking Naruto. The boy makes a great foil for her, so it would be quite problematic if you took him away from her for any foreseeable timeframe.” There’s a great sigh there from the oldest man in the room.

“Surely she can’t get into that much trouble in a few months,” The sage says, “I don’t really want to teach a girl. She’ll get all awkward about my habits, especially my writing habits. I don’t need a banshee shriek every time I stop into a brothel to learn the local rumors.”

“Now I’m imagining her picking up skills and traits from following you around,” Sarutobi pales, “perhaps you should try lying to her. She’ll figure it out, she’s very smart, but if you at least pretend she’ll very likely pretend to believe you just to avoid the conversation.”

“And when I bring Naruto with me?” Jiraiya asks with a quirk of his brow, “won’t she want to tag along?”

“Maybe just don’t do that,” The Hokage grumbles, “I don’t need him learning that from you either.”

Two pairs of eyes roll for entirely different reasons. “What have you found about the Suna situation?”

“They’re definitely thinking of pulling something at the Chunin exams.” Jiraiya says, waiting just long enough for Sarutobi to finally find it worth it to move his piece, to move his own. “I’m unsure what, but the pieces are in place. Almost everyone they sent here is nervous about the Jinchuriki’s attachment to Sakura, including their Jonin. It’s likely a lot of their plans center around him and they don’t like that she is giving him a reason to doubt them. It’s likely they’re behind the attempted assassination on the escort mission to Konoha.”

“I had already come to that conclusion,” The elder with the big powerful hat taps his desk, “and discarded it. That would be a rookie mistake that would give away their plot, there is likely a secondary group at play and I already have someone looking into it.”

“Shouldn’t that be my job?” Jiraiya asks, almost looking a little offended.

“I expect that investigation to take months, your time is much better spent on matters of village security, not a small group that’s clearly just targeting a Genin that can take care of herself… though if you did happen to stumble across them, I am sure Kakashi would appreciate it if the issue disappeared.” The Hokage allows himself a chuckle, but Jiraiya gets the hidden message.

It’s not important enough to officially order him to look into it, but the matter cannot simply be left alone. Someone is specifically targeting a Konoha ninja and if a Sannin leveled them on a whim in retaliation, it would send quite the message. He logs it away as something to look into, possibly with Sakura. Jokes or not, he is taking Naruto, and that was no minor request. If he’s taking Naruto, he’s taking Sakura.

Jiraiya decides not to comment on that further, and his commander continues the conversation in the more important direction, Suna. “They should be nervous about him growing attached to her. Even if he’s not the center of their plans, having a super weapon with questionable loyalty is a very big deal. Jinchurki are often excluded from these events because they’re unreasonable to compete against and too valuable to risk on potential sabotage. That they even sent him implies, as the kids would say, shenanigans are afoot.”

“I think they’ve moved on from that? I haven’t heard shenanigans in quite some time.” Jiraiya shakes his head.

“I do not expect either of us to know exactly what phrase they’re using now, I was making a joke.” With that he claps, and a shadow from the corner reveals himself for a short moment.

“I do believe it would be ‘they are cooking,’ now.” The shadow says.

“You don’t even know, why do I keep you around?” Sarutobi waves him off.

“Sir, I’m thirty-” The Anbu from the corner protests.

“Barely old enough to walk.” The two old men share a quick laugh, though not one with much heart. The topic is very serious, and small attempts to break the tension find themselves too dull to even make a nick in the air.

Which is why only a few seconds later, Jiraiya continues while holding his chin, “I would suggest excluding Naruto’s team. From what my research has scrounged up, she seems to attract trouble, and Naruto is liable to go into a feral rage and blow the entire village up if something happens to her.”

“Perhaps you should take a look at his seal and make sure that won’t happen, Anbu has twenty four seven access to his current living space, they could easily let you in after dark.” The Hokage points out with a slight grin.

“Mebuki would sense me.” Jiraiya points out with an unwaveringly somber expression.

“Mebuki will keep quiet and ask me later, she knows you well enough,” Sarutobi waves him off, “Konoha misses you. There’s not many of its children that would question your presence, let alone ones that you’ve met.”

“Saying she knows me might be a bit of an overstatement, and saying our relationship is positive might be an oversimplification, but that’s true. She’s not liable to kick the door open and throw knives at me.” Jiraiya nods in agreement.

“Exactly. Check his seal, maybe reinforce it if you have to, we don’t need it malfunctioning during the exams,” The Hokage orders, “still, as valuable as she is, if there’s any chance Sakura being there could alert us to their plans early it’s most certainly the wisest decision to have her there. Especially if it means she has more chances to subvert the Kazekage’s children. Nullifying that issue is much better than having to kill the boy, even if there isn’t a plot, taking him down would likely start a war on its own.”

“Then…” Jiraiya thinks for a long moment, long enough the Hokage continues while he trails.

“As I said, you should take her under your wing too.” The Hokage reminds him, “simply send a clone into the exams. A clone should be able to handle anything Suna sent without much issue, and Naruto’s created a new method for longer lasting clones recently that I would like you to try.”

“He’s already inventing new jutsu? Just like his father…” Jiraiya’s gaze manages to look very far away without having moved at all.

“Not new, just modified, still it is remarkable. I’ve been in awe combing through records and figuring out the logistics of what he’s done ever since he told me about it.” Sarutobi chuckles.

“When was that?” Jiraiya asks.

“About three days ago. ANBU decided it wasn’t important to mention it in any of their reports that he’s got an army inside our walls.” There’s a loud scoff which tells the ANBU in the room exactly what he thinks of that.

“I can see how that might slip under their radar, he is a genin,” Jiraiya points out, “the damage a hundred of him could do is still nothing compared to one hostile Jonin, and they aren’t reporting on everytime a Jonin has a mild temper.”

“I thought this a little more important than that, but yes, that was the reasoning they gave me as well. It wasn’t a matter of national security so it slipped their minds. I reminded them that I get to decide what national security means, and as Naruto holds the nine tailed fox, I would like to know if he coughs funny.” The stress on his face is clear, as is the pipe he brings to his lips and lights with his finger. He then makes his move on the board set out in between them, taking care to make the capture he takes agonizing for Jiraiya by not breaking eye contact. “Besides, even by normal standards it is a matter of national security, his ability for destruction is on par with a Jonin any day of the week if he puts his mind to it. A hundred of him walking around undocumented ended up resulting in an entire street in the business district being evacuated and destroyed. The damage is immeasurable. We’ll be paying on that for a while.”

“You couldn’t put your foot down and tell them no?” Jiraiya asks.

“I could, but then they’d probably leave. It’s not exactly hard to pick up and go when your shop is gone. No, we’ll have to rebuild and show how great we are to our merchants. It might even be a blessing in disguise, it’s an opportunity to show off Konoha’s will of fire and benevolence.” Sarutobi puffs generously at his pipe, “I already made his clones apologize. One of them apparently picked up baking so she’s making thousands of apology cupcakes.”

“She?” Jiraiya blinks in surprise. When he’s not answered, he moves on, “he had an undocumented army and caused mass property damage, and you’re still letting him into the Chunin exams? I can’t imagine you want him promoted so soon after such a rookie mistake. It shows a lack of leadership skills or understanding of the responsibility the role needs.”

“I need Sakura in the exams, simple as that. She’ll get a quest or an event and it’ll drag all the info we need out. All I need to do is make sure she has an avenue to report the issue, or get out without too much injury. That’s where your clone comes in, have it watch her from a distance.”

“I think it might be better to infiltrate myself,” Jiraiya argues with a slight shift of his shoulders, “that way I’m closer to the action. I can still do my duties here in Konoha leaving a clone or two when I jump back and forth between the forest and the village proper. I’m fast enough for that, and that way we’re not testing an experimental jutsu modification in real time when it’s important.”

“I am sure you could figure it out, but if that’s how you feel I won’t question your sense of duty,” Sarutobi gives him a smile that splits his wrinkled face brightly, “you’re still soft.”

“You’re suggesting I spend several days looking after a genin, I’m not sure I’m the one that’s soft.” The pair share a long laugh, and once again a hand gets waved in the air, dispelling the topic and signifying a return to the main one.

“I think it’s an ambush of some sort. Probably designed for the publicized tournament. We could throw them off balance by doing a different event entirely.” Jiraiya suggests.

“Konoha loves the Chunin exam tournament though, traveling merchants do too. It’s great for the local economy. We should raise security instead. For the tournament I’ll recall a good portion of our Jonin from any non-essential missions below A rank, and send in Chunin to do the job instead. The extra security could be very useful even if whatever they are planning does not actually occur.” The Hokage rubs the grey and dry hair hanging from his chin.

“And I’ll stay in Konoha for it, maybe even try to get Tsunade to come back.” Jiraiya nods in understanding.

“Don’t go bothering her, if she cared about home she’d visit. She hasn’t, so she won’t.” The Hokage shakes his head, “ungrateful girl… I understand though.”

“I don’t think there’s a ninja that doesn’t understand, that doesn’t make it right. Your willingness to let her go missing ninja without lifting a finger does often get brought up in drunken rambling,” Jiraiya says, “it sows discontent by example.”

“As I’ve stated many times, the manpower it would take to actually capture her isn’t worth wasting on a ninja that isn’t doing anything to harm us. Besides, what if one of them actually manages to hurt her? I’d feel bad.” The oldest man gives a grim chuckle.

“Yeah, there wouldn’t be a corpse left to retrieve after she got her revenge.” Jiraiya grimaces at the thought.

“Exactly. Leave her be. She’ll come home when she wants to. Let’s focus our manpower on those that actually want to be here, and make sure Konoha stays safe. Suna will buckle once they notice we’ve realized something is up. They don’t have the power to challenge us without surprise so we can end a potential war before it begins.” Sarutobi says before taking another stressed puff of his burning tobacco.

“I hope you’re right…” Jiraiya shakes his head and takes a piece on the board.

“Me too, but even if I’m not right we’ll still be fine because we’ll have prepared for what’s to come. Remember -” The Hokage begins to lecture-

-Only for Jiraiya to cut him off. “-Always make plans that take advantage of being right, and ensure minimal losses if wrong, I know.” Jiraya snickers, “you’ve told me a thousand times.”

“And I’ll tell you a thousand more times.” Sarutobi jokes..

“I sure hope not, you need your rest.” Jiraiya jokes right back.

“Mmm, that’s true.”