Chapter 14
For the first time in forever, Jiraiya felt like his hard work was paying off. The war was finally over. What was left now was boring politics that he didn't belong to. So, the chance he got, he used it to leave the village.
For the first time, he could relax and stay with the kids without worrying about being called on an emergency. Nothing was as satisfying as teaching them, and he couldn't get them out of his head.
He didn't know when, but they had wriggled their way into his heart, and there was no way to get rid of them. He cared for them, and he worried about them. And most importantly, he wanted to see them grow.
"No." So, he surprised them, waiting inside their home while they were out, with his toad costume and three smaller ones ready in his hands for them. "I have no master."
Yahiko just glanced at him for a moment before turning around and leaving, before Konan and Nagato stopped him. Well, Jiraiya couldn't give up. Especially when he already had two cute kids who accepted him and his toad costumes.
"Sensei!" Konan was first to hug him; Nagato came a close second.
But before Jiraiya could get happy seeing them, he felt their little hands tremble at seeing him. He felt the unimaginable weight in their eyes. Fear and relief seemed to flood them. It hadn't been so long since he saw them, and yet it felt like everything had changed.
There was a lot Jiraiya wanted to ask them. But he kept his mouth shut and only smiled and accepted them as they were. He might be an idiot, but even he had enough common sense to respect others' privacy. Whatever happened, if they didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't question them about it.
And as long as they were fine, Jiraiya was more than happy for them. He would respect their decisions, as it wasn't his job to question them. He was only here to teach them, and making sure that they were fine was just his selfish desire.
"Who wants cake?"
It wasn't the time to worry about things he didn't know about, but to celebrate their reunion. And this time, he wouldn't just leave them without even saying his goodbyes. He fully intended to teach them everything he knew.
"Did you make it?" Yahiko asked, carefully inspecting the cake he brought with him.
"I bought it."
"Phew, then it is safe to eat." That little brat had not changed a bit. "Next time you show up with that disgusting costume, I will presume you are an enemy. No, Nagato, Konan, do not wear them, you look like a bunch of idiots."
"But they're comfy," Konan said, putting on the hood. Oh, the cuteness was killing Jiraiya.
"And warm," Nagato added.
"So, it is a mutiny, huh?" Yahiko looked extremely disappointed. "It shall be remembered."
"Lighten up, boy," Jiraiya only laughed, enjoying their antics. "Let's eat and celebrate today, because from tomorrow onward you won't have time to rest."
"Whatever you say, old man," Yahiko replied with a full mouth of cake.
In the end, they were just kids who liked sweets more than anything else. It took them no time at all to eat it all, leaving only the lonely dog whining and asking for them to share. It was good to see them doing well.
…
Something definitely happened. Those kids were never lazy or unmotivated, but now they are training with renewed vigor. Focused, determined, and with an endless desire to get stronger, they had already mastered basic chakra control and seemed to beg for more.
Jiraiya knew they were geniuses. Prodigies in the making, but they were also hard workers and intelligent enough to realize how long the road of ninjutsu was. It was quite ridiculous that he was teaching them, of all the people.
In every village, even in Konoha, those kids would be welcomed with open arms and nurtured to be the next pillars of the village. The future of their country. And yet they were here, in the middle of nowhere, in a war-torn country. Left behind by the atrocities of the shinobi world.
"I don't like it," Jiraiya sighed again at how stubborn Yahiko was.
"Come on, Konan and Nagato already learned it." Jiraiya didn't know what to do. "Fireball jutsu is a simple and powerful jutsu that will serve you in any situation. Not only is it a good jutsu to learn first, to know the feeling of it, how chakra reacts to nature inside your body, but it is a staple in the shinobi world."
"I don't want to," Yahiko replied. "I will never use it, anyway."
"Why are you acting like this?"
"Why are you teaching us how to kill?" It was the accusatory tone that Yahiko spoke with that got Jiraiya. "You preach about peace, yet here you are teaching kids how to kill and destroy. I will not stop Konan and Nagato from learning it, but I refuse to follow this kind of path. Teach me something that could be used for others, that would help others. I am not interested in anything that harms others."
Of all people, Yahiko knew how dangerous the world was and into what he was stepping, learning from him. Konan and Nagato knew it too, so they happily learned skills that could defend them from others. So, why did Yahiko refuse to do the same?
Jiraiya swore he just couldn't get the boy. What was inside that head of his? Jiraiya knew that Yahiko was averse to violence, but everyone needed to know how to defend themselves. And he knew that Yahiko knew that too. Yet he still refused to learn anything that could be used to kill.
Jiraiya was endlessly curious about what this boy saw. What could he have learned for him to be like this? What was pushing him into this harsh path that no one would willingly step into?
"Fine, fine." In the end, Jiraiya could only comply. "I will teach you genjutsu. With your constitution, it should be easier to learn anyway. But we will also focus on your body and taijutsu."
Too bad, Yahiko's constitution and chakra nature were opposite to Jiraiya's, so he couldn't teach him what he was most confident in. And since Yahiko was very selective in what he wanted to learn, it limited Jiraiya even more. And he really wanted to teach them everything.
Suddenly, he was feeling quite old; was this how his sensei felt teaching them? Well, if Jiraiya learned anything from his sensei, then that would be patience. His sensei had an abundance of it, and Jiraiya could only follow in his footsteps if he wanted to make those prodigies into respected shinobi.
…
"When it comes to genjutsu, the most important thing is for your target not to realize they are under it," Jiraiya explained to the kids. "We will start simply, with changing senses. Smell, taste, feelings of cold and warmth, then go to hearing, and lastly to sight."
Jiraiya didn't know much about genjutsu as he never had much interest in it. Still, his sensei had forced him to at least learn the basics, and he knew how to identify it and break it. So, if he reverse-engineered it, he might be able to teach them how not to get it identified and broken.
Yahiko seemed a lot happier about it. Too bad Jiraiya made the mistake of not realizing how kids would use it against him. In the end, he presented himself as a target, so it wasn't like he could blame anyone else.
After he showed how it worked on them, how to see through it, and how to break it, he let them try using it on him. And then all hell broke loose. At first, he easily saw through their attempts and only encouraged them to try harder.
Then the days passed. And Yahiko learned how to alter the smell to such minute detail that it was hard to notice. Jiraiya liked how Yahiko used it to enhance certain smells. The smell of rain, of fresh grass, was pleasant. So, when Jiraiya started to smell his sweat a bit too much, he didn't realize it.
If only it stopped there. Now, every time he relaxed, he smelled blood or something burned, and that got him tensed up as he thought enemies were coming. After reminding Yahiko how dangerous it was to mess with him like this, Jiraiya only fell deeper into the pits of hell.
He couldn't even go to the toilet in peace, as Yahiko was always prepared. And Jiraiya could only vent his frustration through sparring, which didn't work out well for him either, as the kids seemed to enjoy the rougher training.
And then they started to learn how to mess with his other senses. And if it wasn't bad enough that he would sometimes feel like he was boiling alive or freezing to death, Yahiko got Konan and Nagato into the game too.
Lastly, after weeks of learning, they discovered how to mess with him using his hearing. By now, he didn't know if he was imagining the flies flying around him or if it was Yahiko messing with him. He couldn't even sleep with the buzzing sound in his ears, just quiet enough for him not to realize where it came from, but loud enough for him to keep him awake.
The only thing Yahiko didn't mess with in Jiraiya was his taste. For whatever reason, Yahiko took cooking far too seriously. So seriously that Jiraiya couldn't even joke about it.
He swore that if not for the greatest feeling he felt after his students learned something from him, he would have left a long time ago or killed that little rascal. It was way too much for Jiraiya to handle.
…
From above.
Jiraiya blocked the falling foot as Konan pressed on him with all her weight. She had become far too agile for her to be able to move above him without him even noticing.
From below.
Jiraiya jumped as Yahiko's leg swept under his feet. Even Jiraiya would have fallen if Yahiko's leg had managed to hit his ankles. His strength had grown exponentially, and he had learned perfect timing and precision to maximize the damage.
Now, where was the last one coming from as he was still midair? Jiraiya realized he was fucked just before he was hit from the back. As he rolled to his feet, the kids had already separated and were surrounding him.
He had taught them not to trust their sight and to learn to use other senses too. Now it was used against him. Yahiko used genjutsu to block his hearing at the precise moment when Nagato got behind him. And Jiraiya didn't even realize it before it was too late.
Not only had their individual strength grown a lot, but their teamwork was excellent too. It was like he was fighting three people sharing the same mind. They never used any signals, nor did they speak to each other while facing him, but those kids still understood each other perfectly while Jiraiya was left blind to it all.
"Lightning release: Lightning chain level two—spiderweb."
Aside from his naming sense, Yahiko was a genius in implementing his jutsu. Jutsu that he himself created. Like the name suggested, a lightning web started to spread through the wet ground, reaching for Jiraiya's feet.
But that was also a trap. Jiraiya was now used to how Yahiko liked to use tricks to confuse his opponent. It was nothing but an illusion to make Jiraiya jump in the air, where Konan would strike him, or step back, where Nagato got a better chance to get to him.
So, Jiraiya stepped forward into the lightning web. And he fucked up. As he stepped forward, he saw Yahiko smirk, and Jiraiya got shocked with electricity into his body, paralyzing him for a second, before being kicked in the face by Konan and punched in his side by Nagato.
"It is our victory, sensei," Yahiko said. "You are doing dishes tonight."
Now Jiraiya was glad that Yahiko didn't even try to learn any powerful jutsu that could hurt and kill others. For all his aversion to violence, that kid was malicious in his planning, to the point it might even have surpassed Orochimaru. Jiraiya probably should stop holding back against them if he didn't want to be beaten up every time.
Yahiko was someone who would use everything to win, but would never try to kill or harm someone, no matter what. Even this jutsu shows it. Lightning nature was probably the most dangerous of them all, but he used it only to paralyze someone rather than harm them.
It had only been half a year since Jiraiya came back and started teaching them ninjutsu, and already Yahiko could create his own from nothing but his imagination. And to think he had the worst chakra control of the trio.
Jiraiya could only shudder at what would happen once Yahiko's Yin and Yang energies balanced out and his chakra control got better. What kind of monster would he be? Jiraiya couldn't wait to see him achieve his full potential, as for the first time in his life, he felt his dream might come true.
Yahiko could grow to be one of the strongest shinobi in the world, and his mindset of never hurting others could truly bring an era of peace. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself, but Jiraiya couldn't contain his happiness in seeing how far those kids had grown and what changes they would bring once they set foot into the world on their own.
A.N. As always. Thanks for reading and supporting me. If you want 7 early chapters of this story and 42 chapters in total with all my current stories, please consider supporting me on pa treon ironworlf852. Thanks in advance.