Chapter 106: Anbu Jiraiya
Deep within the quiet aisles of the Konoha Library, Jiraiya sat hunched over a heavy wooden desk, completely engrossed in a book.
He carefully flipped through the pages in his hand, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. Every so often, he would pause to jot down careful notes on a scroll whenever he came across what he deemed to be critical points. Several other thick volumes lay stacked neatly by his side, all of which he fully planned to borrow and read at his leisure.
His intensely serious attitude and scholarly posture might easily lead a passing observer to believe he was researching some kind of forbidden Ninjutsu or complex tactical theory. A quick glance at the actual titles of his reading material, however, suggested something entirely different.
"How to Get Closer to a Friend's Heart."
"108 Ways of Speaking That Friends Like."
"99 Methods for Giving Gifts to Friends."
"What Nicknames Can Bring You Closer to Your Friends."
Major life changes truly possessed the terrifying power to completely transform a person. In the original trajectory of the story, Jiraiya had been wild, loud, and completely unrestrained as a child. He was notoriously fond of peeping at the hot springs and possessed the dramatic, over-the-top temperament of a classic Chuunibyou youth. Now, however, he had become steady, composed, and unnervingly studious.
If nothing else, the mere fact that the notoriously hyperactive Jiraiya could sit quietly in a dusty library and read all day was enough to shock absolutely anyone who knew him.
To be perfectly honest, Stelle was also deeply shocked upon learning about this development. On Uchiha Kou's side of things, she was currently busy copying Sai by wearing a fake, plastered-on smile every single day. Meanwhile, Jiraiya was somehow also copying Sai by diligently reading these exact kinds of socially awkward self-help books every day.
If you two are already doing all of Sai's job right now, what exactly is he going to do in the future?
After finally finishing his reading session, Jiraiya gathered the remaining books, took them to the front counter, and carefully filled out his library card. As he walked out into the bright afternoon sun and made his way home, a blur of motion caught his eye. He looked up just in time to see two Anbu operatives leaping silently across the rooftops.
One of them was a distinctly petite figure draped in a standard-issue cloak. Even though her face was hidden behind a porcelain animal mask, he knew without even needing to look closely that it was Kou.
Kou could now proficiently wield a blade with her left hand and had completely mastered the incredibly complex art of one-handed hand seals. Her sheer talent and adaptability were so overwhelmingly great that absolutely anyone who had ever instructed her couldn't help but shower her with praise.
Because of her rapid growth, she had been directly assigned to the Anbu black ops to carry out official missions., her assigned teammate was none other than the powerful and highly respected Anbu Captain, Senior Sakumo.
Everyone in the village hierarchy seemed perfectly satisfied with this outcome. Everyone, that is, except for him. Jiraiya had never once forgotten his original intention. He wanted to turn Kou from a mere emotionless tool back into a living, breathing human being.
Awakening the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan and dealing with all that tragic Uchiha destiny stuff felt far too illusory and out of reach right now. But at the very least, he wanted to try a bit harder to fix what was right in front of him.
If Kou learned how to properly make friends, perhaps she could actually make friends again after eventually returning to her own world.
If she weren't so desperately lonely all the time, wouldn't her life be just a little bit better?
However, ever since Kou officially joined the Anbu ranks, his opportunities to actually see her had become painfully rare. The black ops schedule was grueling. Every time they did manage to meet up, besides grabbing a quick bite to eat or doing some light shopping, there seemed to be absolutely nothing to talk about. The silence between them was heavy.
The time they spent together was always far too short. He constantly felt like he could do a much better job of reaching her if only they had more time to interact.
To achieve this goal, he had formally applied to Hokage-sama, requesting to join the Anbu himself.
Unfortunately, joining the Anbu required extensive field experience and officially passing the exams to become a Chunin. The exam itself wasn't an issue for someone of his skill level, but his official mission completion count was nowhere near sufficient to meet the strict requirements.
High-level missions were fine. Knowing full well that he was trying to join the Anbu entirely for Kou's sake, Tsunade, who was currently obsessed with mastering Medical Ninjutsu, and Orochimaru, who was deeply obsessed with his scientific research, were both willing to set aside their important work to carry out dangerous missions with him.
But he felt entirely too embarrassed to drag his highly skilled teammates away from their passions just to grind out low-level, mundane missions. For prodigies like them, chasing lost cats and picking weeds was a pure waste of time.
Fortunately, he had trained hard enough. He had become physically strong enough and mentally capable enough of identifying danger to easily take on these lower-ranked missions completely independently.
After packing his travel supplies and carefully organizing his ninja tools pouch, Jiraiya walked with a brisk pace to the village entrance. The client was already waiting by the gates. Seeing the young ninja arrive, the client solemnly handed him a small, securely locked box, expressing his deep hope that Jiraiya could safely deliver it to a specific contact in the Land of Hot Water.
Jiraiya efficiently sealed the wooden box into a storage scroll, tucked it away, and immediately rushed out of the village toward the Land of Hot Water.
The journey was not entirely peaceful. Along the way, he encountered several groups of unsavory individuals who tried to block his path and steal the valuable cargo.
Jiraiya took on all comers without breaking a sweat, dealing with the bandits and rogue mercenaries one by one with practiced ease.
While passing through a particularly dense stretch of forest, the rustling of leaves signaled another attack. Several more armed people jumped out from the underbrush and completely surrounded Jiraiya.
A quick assessment revealed that they were all just ordinary, run-of-the-mill Genin. To be perfectly honest, although Jiraiya's official title was still technically Genin as well, there were vast, impossible levels to being a Genin in this world.
He didn't even bother drawing a weapon. He easily knocked the attackers to the ground using basic Taijutsu, his strikes fast and precise. Seeing his comrades fall, one of the remaining ambushers desperately used the Transformation Technique to turn into a large rock, attempting to set up a cowardly sneak attack from behind.
But Jiraiya saw through the pathetic illusion instantly. He casually kicked the rock, sending the disguised ninja flying into a tree with a groan. He would never fall for the exact same trick twice.
Just as he dusted off his hands and prepared to leave the groaning bandits behind, he suddenly felt a very faint ripple of Chakra deep within the surrounding forest. Though the fluctuation was incredibly slight and expertly hidden, his honed senses still detected it.
Jiraiya reacted instantly. He quickly pulled out two sharp Shuriken from his pouch and hurled them directly into the dark canopy of the trees.
A familiar, cloaked figure leaped gracefully out from the branches, landing lightly on the forest floor to avoid the projectiles. Jiraiya looked closely at the porcelain mask and said in pleasant surprise, "Kou, what are you doing here?"
"On a mission. Just passing through," Kou said calmly, her voice muffled slightly by the mask.
"By yourself?" Jiraiya blinked, a bit confused. He wasn't entirely clear on the strict internal protocols of the Anbu's mission structures, but it seemed like every single Anbu operative he had ever encountered before was always part of a multi-man squad.
"Captain Sakumo is currently waiting to meet me in the Land of Hot Water."
"Great! I'm actually going to the Land of Hot Water right now too. Let's go together."
Jiraiya immediately extended a warm, enthusiastic invitation. He had just been worrying about not having enough time to see Kou, and he certainly hadn't expected to randomly run into her in the middle of a mission. This was perfect. The communication techniques he had painstakingly learned from his library books could finally be put to practical use.
As they traveled side by side through the forest, Jiraiya pulled out all the stops, trying his absolute hardest to get the silent Uchiha to talk more.
This effort would have been perfectly normal and perhaps even endearing, but then Jiraiya started directly using the specific, word-for-word lines he had memorized from the books to make friends happy. The entire vibe of their journey immediately shifted into something horrifying.
"Do you know why the homework assigned by Hokage-sama is always so gloomy? Because it has too many problems."
Silence.
"Do you know why the lightbulb is unhappy? Because it's always being screwed when it's not bright."
More silence.
"Do you know..."
Kou couldn't help but stop dead in her tracks.
She naturally knew exactly why Jiraiya had suddenly become so incredibly strange. He spent all day locked in the library reading ridiculous self-help books on how to make friends.
But had his method of learning gone completely off the rails? His entire focus seemed to be strictly on terrible cold jokes. The atmosphere was so freezing and awkward that it physically hurt.
"Does Kou think these jokes aren't funny? Then let me tell you some even funnier ones. In the sky..."
"Shut up!" The harsh words practically squeezed their way through Kou's tightly gritted teeth. She couldn't hold the persona back anymore. She simply couldn't take it.
Was this idiot actively trying to freeze her to death with secondhand embarrassment just so he could inherit her Sharingan?
"Eh? Kou, you... you just rolled your eyes, didn't you?"
Jiraiya pointed at her face, looking as thrilled as if he had just discovered an entirely new continent. If absolutely anyone else in the world rolled their eyes at him, it would be a completely normal, everyday occurrence.
But if Kou rolled her eyes, it was an event far rarer than actually seeing her smile. After all, she wore that masked, perfectly polite fake smile every single day. The kind of smile that was so obviously fake at a mere glance that it made people uncomfortable. A genuine eye roll was a massive breakthrough.
"You saw wrong." Kou turned her head away stiffly.
"I did not!"
Jiraiya suddenly felt a massive surge of hope swelling in his chest. Those library books really weren't wrong after all. They were useful. They were incredibly useful!
"How about I give you a special nickname? Let's call you..." He boldly stepped closer, sizing Kou up and looking her up and down thoughtfully. "Call you... Mmph mmph..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Kou reached out directly and clamped her hand firmly over his mouth. Who knew what kind of disastrous, friendship-ending nickname Jiraiya's currently malfunctioning brain could come up with? Knowing his track record, it might be even worse than Sai calling Sakura 'Ugly Girl'.
"I do not like nicknames, Jiraiya." Her tone was dangerously flat.
Jiraiya gave a small, frantic nod of agreement against her palm, and only then did Kou slowly release her hand, glaring at him warningly.
Such a remarkably strong, genuine emotional reaction made Jiraiya want to run back to Konoha and personally kowtow to the authors of those self-help books one by one. He had only tried two of the suggested methods so far, and Kou's reaction was already this big and authentic. He absolutely had to read a few more volumes when he got back home.
Speaking of which, Kou was currently on a long-term mission with Senior Sakumo.
Senior Sakumo was incredibly powerful and possessed a genuinely good, nurturing temperament. The elite captain must have been subtly changing Kou's rigid mindset over the past few weeks. Jiraiya figured he had just happened to stumble upon the exact right moment for Kou to finally react so strongly to outside stimuli.
Feeling entirely convinced that he had finally found the correct path to saving his friend, Jiraiya felt delightfully light all over. It was as if a massive, suffocating burden that had been heavily weighing on his shoulders for months had significantly vanished into thin air.
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