Jiraiya's life was full of failures. His first failure was being a decent human being but being a pervert was not something he regrets. But the same can not be said for the rest of his life. When the toad sage gave him the prophecy, he didn't pay it much attention. He was young, arrogant, and never understood what peace actually entails. But then the second shinobi war started and that changed him. He fought and killed in name of Konoha but when the haze of war cleared, all he could see was his hand covered in blood. They always felt filthy since. He saw so much meaningless death and found himself powerless to change anything. All could see was a world trapped in an endless cycle of hate and war.
After the end of the second great shinobi war, he was ashamed of the atrocities his own village caused therefore when he met three orphans in Ame, he felt responsible for them. He taught them to become competent ninjas, but when he saw Nagato's Rinnegan, he remembered the prophecy and believed perhaps Nagato is the child of Prophesy. Nagato's desire to keep others safe inspired him to write his first novel. It was an instant failure but he was already used to them at this point. He left the orphans after they were strong enough to protect themselves. But then the news of their death reached him, leaving him devastated.
Then came Minato, a bright child way more mature than he ever will be. His desire for peace moved Jiraiya and he took him as an apprentice. As years passed, he came to believe Minato to be the child of prophecy.
The Third Great ninja war begins and he vowed to not involve in the fighting. He left the village in the guise of operating an intelligence network. The war burned on, but Jiraiya never went to Konoha but his contributions as intelligence were enough. Then Minato butchered thousand Iwa ninjas in the blink of an eye and for the first time since war Jiraya went back to Konoha. Minato still had his smile but his eyes now carried a haunted expression. That night Minato confessed over sake that his hands feel filthy. When the war ended, Minato became Hokage, married Kushina Uzumaki, and got her pregnant. They decided to name their child Naruto after the main character of his first book and named Jiraya Naruto's godfather.
Nine tail's attack was entirely out of blue. By the time I made it back to Konoha, half the village was in ruins, Minato and his wife dead, his godson having to carry the burden no child should ever have to. He only allowed seeing his godson for an hour and that too just to check his seal. His own sensei forbid from ever contacting Naruto for a jinchuriki need "proper environment" to grow. Powerless and broken he left the village and spent five years drinking away his pain. But his guilt of failing Minato and his godson finally overwhelmed him and he returned to Konoha.
Perhaps as an act of rebellion against Hokage or perhaps for Naruto to continue his parent's legacy, he gave Naruto Fuinjutsu scrolls while making sure Hokage does not get any wind of it. But he never accounted for anyone else finding it. But then again being dead drunk tend to make you overlook things.
Standing up from his hidden position, Jiraiya took another sip of sake before throwing the bottle into the growing pile and decided to meet the boy his godson is so fond of.
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Itsuki woke up with a start. Someone had broken the seal on the window. Whoever broke in had a humongous chakra, even larger than the third Hokage. That instantly put me on edge moreover, the emotions coming off that person were confusing. Sadness, regret, pain and so much more, it felt like a person had lost all mental inhibitions.
I moved left the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind me. I could make out a slight hint of sake in the air and looked behind the dinner table. A partially transparent figure was crouching behind the table.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" I asked while discretely pulling a kunai out of the pouch and holding it behind me.
Upon hearing my question, the figure dropped the improper jutsu and became visible, and before Itsuki stood the toad sage Jiraiya in all his drunken glory. The Medical-nin in Itsuki realized Jiraiya was suffering from symptoms of extreme alcohol consumption and from the looks of it, he had been drinking enough alcohol to knock out an elephant. The ways his eyes were unfocused and chakra fluctuated, desperately trying to fight against the effects of alcohol, the lack of mental inhibitions made sense.
"Ie am... the gret Tode Sage, here me and obeey." Jiraiya at this point was too far gone. The alcohol in his system muddled his thoughts. The only goal in his mind was that his godson needs to carry on the legacy of his parents.
He pointed at Itsuki's chest and said "You aree gonna heellp teeech myee godson that about seali.... " Before he could finish, he felt a prick on his neck and the whole world went black.
Itsuki standing in front of Jiraya vanished and the real figure of Itsuki standing upside down on the ceiling appeared. Jumping down, he crouched in front of the fallen figure of Jiraya and pulled a senbon out of his neck.
Itsuki smiled, he could work with it. He just got permission to teach Naruto from a figure whose authority is only second to Hokage and elders and they could not cancel an order that they do not know of. Now he just needed to make sure he and Jiraya are on the same page.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jiraya woke up with blinding headache but he was already used to those. He was also used to waking up in unfamiliar room. What he was not used to was waking up with his chakra bound. That made any sleep vanish from his eyes. He immediately sat up and was surprised to find himself not bound. Looking around, he assessed the situation. He was in some kind of room, single bed, a study table too short for an adult.
The door opened and a boy around ten years old with black hair walked in.
"Ah you are awake.", the boy exclaimed.
Jiraya remembered the boy, he had read his file, Itsuki a boy who was close to Naruto but too high profile to be assassinated due to his prodigious talent in Medical Ninjutsu. Last he remembers, he was spying on Naruto when the boy came and he heard the heartfelt conversation between the two. Then he drank himself to oblivion. No, he went to the boy and...
"Holy s**t, I got bested by an academy student!!!" 'and the fact he all but said Naruto is his godson and asked him to teach the said godson the said about sealing and if he gets a hint about Uzumaki clan then ...' Jiraiya was panicking, it would not take Itsuki to connect the dots and figure out who was Naruto's father.
Itsuki rolled his eyes. He could practically read the thoughts off Jiraiya's face. Clearing his throat to get Jiraiya's attention, he stated "Last night's you made a proposal, I accept it."
Jiraiya's jaw dropped and before he could say more, Itsuki replied "Perhaps the seal holding you is enough demonstration of my qualification to teach your 'Godson'. Moreover, I can't possibly ignore a direct order of Sannin."
Jiraya replied, understanding my line of thought "And if someone higher than me finds out?"
Itsuki replied with a smile, "Then it would be on you, after all, how many know you have a godson. Moreover there is a big what if." meaning behind the words was clear, If I know about Jiraya's godson then it must have been Jiraiya himself who could have told. He could not deny the accusation if he was found. The threat in the words was also clear to Jiraiya, if the situation blew out of proportion then many would come to know about his Godson. It's only a matter of time before someone figures out Naruto's lineage and considering Naruto's blond hair and blue eyes, so similar to Forth Hokage, it won't take much time. Then Naruto would have to bear the enemies of his father, both inside and outside the village.
Jiraya asked after some thinking, " How sure are you to be able to hide all this?" In a ninja village, very few secrets ever remain secrets. His teaching Naruto is bound to come out sooner or later but if it could be delayed until Naruto becomes a chunin when Hokage promised to allow Jiraya to take Naruto as a student, then perhaps it could work.
Itsuki merely smiled at Jiraya's question and made a half tiger seal. Lines of seals covering the entire room materialized for a second before vanishing but one look and Jiraya could not help but widen his eyes. He was currently sitting in the middle of a highly advanced sealing formation of levels he only heard of in Kushina's stories of Uzugakure. He was also feeling a little dizzy and for the life of it, he was seeing Itsuki laying on the bed but he knew he was still on the chair in front despite all his senses saying otherwise.
'An ensnaring seals formation?' Jiraya wondered in his mind. Soon seal materialized again for the second time and the illusion disappeared.
"What would you want to help Naruto? What do you stand to gain?" Jiraya asked.
"Tell me Jiraya-sama if you find a child hurting, lonely, and hungry; would you rather help him or walk away?"
Jiraya did not reply. He remembered about the orphans in Ame.
Itsuki extended his hand forward. Jiraya looked at him for a second and then his giant hands engulfed Itsuki's small hands and Toad sage let out a loud laugh.
"Your formation may be good but Sensei has a technique to spy from distance. He may get suspicious if he is not able to see Naruto."
Itsuki nodded, formation was not able to ensnare scrying so it was designed to stop it altogether. Jiraya really was a sealing master to figure it out so quickly.
"Don't worry kid, I will take care of my pervert sensei spying on Naruto.", Jiraya said with an evil laugh.
In Hokage's office, an old pervert shuddered.
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Author Notes-
Had anyone noticed in many Naruto posters, he usually had some form of a scroll with him despite having no mention of him doing sealing in the original story? The idea of Naruto becoming a seal master under everyone's nose really tickled my fantasy.
Jiraya is a character that will be heavily involved in the story later, that is why he had such a long intro at the start.
Next up Danzo's schemes against Itsuki will begin and with the Uchiha massacre on the horizon, Itsuki is bound to observe some action.