"Hello m'am, I'm here to meet lord third."
The woman at the front desk hearing my words, turned around.
Currently I was in the Hokage tower and was surprisingly just my fifth visit to this place. Despite the amount of times Naruto has gone here, most of my teams time was spent at the missions desk.
Which was a separate building which connected to the tower.
Something about needing to know how to get our own missions sensei said. Which does make sense as we can't go directly to the Hokage for every mission. Despite what the anime showed me.
"Lord third's student? Go right on ahead." The lady at the desk answers to which I nod. It seems that nobody would want to stop me anyways.
Walking up the stairs, it didn't take long before I stood before Hirzuen.
He didn't speak for a long time, just watched the flicker of his pipe and the way the smoke curled toward the ceiling.
"Hello Sarutobi-sensei!"
"Good morning Jiraiya. Have you rested up?" His lax voice hitting my ears.
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah. I'm here to trade in my technique."
My words causing him to get an interested look. Pulling out my notes that I wrote beforehand, I put it on his desk.
"Alright then, you'll get 120,000 ryo for this. Is that alright?"
"Actually I had something in mind." My words making him pause. "Is it alright if I exchange it for a B-rank ninjutsu?"
Watching sensei rub his chin in thought. It took just a few more seconds as looks back at my eyes.
"Alright then, what technique are you looking for? Although I'm curious what the technique is. Seeing that you know what you want already." He says amused.
"I want the [Shadow Clone Technique]" I answer to which he nods.
"Not a bad choice considering you were on reconnaissance duty last mission. I'll still give you the money and I'll give you the scroll later today"
His words were like an angel speaking to my ears.
I get to keep the money?
On top of him sort of misunderstanding the reason I wanted to use it, there was no point trying to explain it. It would just make me suspicious for no reason.
Giving a quick bow and leave as he still had some duties to attend to, I made my way outside and started to explore the market place. Just yesterday was Tsunade's birthday and giving her a gift wouldn't be too bad of a gesture.
Although it's a bit questionable what to give her.
For Orochimaru it was simple, a ninjutsu.
Tsunade though?
'I'll settle with a bracelet.' I thought. She already had a necklace from Hashirama and a ring would be inappropriate.
Looking past all the vendors some thoughts of the mission came back to my head.
'Didn't Orochimaru say his heart felt heavy...' I contemplate for a bit. I'm not completely sure how to cheer him up so maybe a little accessory would be nice for him as well.
It wouldn't hurt to get something for him too.
...
Later that day, arriving at the training field. Tsunade was already there, stretching while Orochimaru calmly read from a small scroll, his expression as unreadable as ever.
I arrived just in time to hear Hiruzen-sensei call out, "It's good all of you are here, today we will start training our elements."
His words caused all three of us to lean forward a little. Orochimaru in particular had a glint in his eyes.
This was a pretty interesting topic despite my past self sort of dismissing elemental ninjutsu. Which in hind sight felt a little foolish and immature. Especially because the main reasoning that elemental ninjutsu was sort of useless towards the higher levels of power in cannon.
But I'm still a weakling.
My thinking since that first mission changed a little after some reflection.
If I couldn't get in close to the samurai and they had some sort of hax like poison. Then I actually would of been cooked a bit. This is especially considering Hanzo the salamander's poison in the future.
Maybe that's why the future Jiraiya lost to him with the Sannin.
Still Orochimaru and Tsunade was there so Hanzo wasn't exactly a push over.
Hiruzen reached into his pouch and pulled out three rectangular slips of paper.
'Chakra paper.' I thought remembering the scene with Kakashi and Naruto.
"Using these, we will be testing your elemental affinities. It's about time each of you learned your natural strengths."
The three of us now a bit more disciplined than when we originally became a team. Silently nodded at his words which made him smile.
"To do this you must channel your chakra into the paper," he explained. "It reacts differently depending on your elemental nature. Fire burns it, wind splits it, earth crumbles it, water dampens it, and lightning wrinkles it."
He handed each of us a slip.
Orochimaru went first. He pressed his finger to the paper, and with a faint hiss, it split cleanly in half.
"Wind," Hiruzen said, nodding. "Suited for precision, adaptability, and cutting power. Fitting."
Orochimaru's expression didn't change, but I could tell he was pleased.
Tsunade stepped forward next, confidence radiating from her. She channeled her chakra and the paper began to crumble into dust between her fingers.
"Earth. Stable and unyielding..." He trails off at the end.
Tsunade crossed her arms, smirking. "As expected."
Then came my turn. I pressed the slip between my palms and focused, letting the chakra flow evenly. The paper blackened and burned up instantly.
"Fire," Hiruzen said, his voice holding a note of approval. "The same affinity as me."
His words made me think about the original Jiraiya a little bit.
'He was throwing around a bunch of fire ninjutsu in the anime. Especially since he had combination jutsu with the toads as well. Was it him spitting oil or the toads?'
Hiruzen chuckling, takes out a scroll and unseals more scrolls that were inside that scroll. "One thing I do want to add is that to become a Jounin. You must be proficient in two different elements, which is why I'm emphasizing this."
'Oh. I totaly forgot a bout that part.'
It was a niche set of information from the anime but I do remember that being said somewhere in retrospect.
He dropped five small scrolls onto the grass in front of us. Each bore the symbol of our respective elements.
"These are D-rank training exercises and techniques tailored to your affinities. You'll each practice trying to either crumble, split or burn leaves on your forhead or any other body part. Once you've demonstrated proficiency, we'll move on to proper ninjutsu."
Right after his words, Tsunade immediately raised her hand. "But sensei I've already been using earth style ninjutsu."
"We will see if you can do the exercise profficiently, then if you can. I will give you a ninjutsu alright?" His words satisfying her curiosity.
Orochimaru already seemed halfway through reading his.
I picked mine up and read the label [Leaf Burning Exercise]. A low-level technique that allowed the user to control thin threads of flame between their fingers.
As Tsunade and Orochimaru began to practice a short distance away, Hiruzen walked closer, lowering his voice just for me to hear.
"You know, Jiraiya," he said, with that calm but knowing look in his eyes, "Women appreciate a man who can control his electricity. You can trust me on that department, so when you do well in fire release we can train lightning after..."
I blinked.
'Are you… trying to motivate me?' I thought looking outwardly speechless. But inwardly I was struggling to keep myself from laughing. 'Fine I'll take the bait sensei.'
As he walked away, I couldn't help but chuckle.
But I didn't start my exercise yet.
Seeing that Hiruzen was heading to Tsunade. I walked towards Orochimaru who saw me on the way.
"Yo Orochimaru, I've got something for you."
"Hmm? What is it Jiraiya?"
Taking out a necklace from my pocket, I hand it to him with a soft smile.
"A gift, just make sure not to tell Tsunade as it was her birthday yesterday. Don't want her to be jealous now." I say with a finger on my lips as if telling him to keep it quiet.
"T-Thanks." He stuttered a bit. Completely surprised, but after seeing his wide smile putting the necklace on, I knew my job here was finished.
"I'm always here if you need someone to talk to brother. I'll go train now."
My words causing him to nod robotically. Walking back to my own side of the training grounds, I took a seat on the vibrant grass. The wind started to get a little stronger going through my hair.
Now it was time for my own training.
Taking a leaf I place it on my forehead. Flowing some chakra to my forehead it quickly stuck in place.
Getting used to the feeling of chakra constantly flowing, my mind started to imagine the leaf on my head burn. Slowly but surely in my head, it started to blacken and burn to dust leaving nothing my ashes.
Opening up my eyes to see if I did it, the feeling of the same leaf being blown away happened.
Damn.
"Well, I definitely didn't do it right..." I murmur. Soon after this sensei came back but with an amused smirk. Seeing this I narrow my eyes.
"I've got some advice Jiraiya, think of a fire igniting on the tip of the leaf."
Nodding at his words, I get back to my training.
After several more attempts the leaf's tip was burned but not fully lit. By the tenth attempt I could feel the warmth on my forehead as it was started to work.
'Not bad.'
The feeling of this burning was starting to set in.
After a few more hours of sitting in on the floor and my legs feeling numb. The most I could do was burning half of the leaf. The heat was distracting me a little bit which was awkward. But i was confident in getting it down in the coming weeks.
The training ended and as I promised Tsunade, I would be paying for her dinner.
Evening had settled over Konoha. The air was cool, the orange glow of the setting sun painting the rooftops as my eyes looked around in awe. It still amazes me how vibrant this world was compared to my city life.
The aesthetic of nature was gorgeous.
My hands still smelled faintly of smoke from training, but I didn't mind. It wasn't too hard to visualise the leaf burning on my head, but my speed was a bit lacking.
Orochimaru and Hiruzen left, not before sensei could give me my [Shadow Clone Technique] scroll though.
"Jiraiya! Heyyy!" The shouts of Tsunade running towards me, broke me out of my musings.
"Yo!"
I stopped just a few steps away and held out a small bracelet. "Happy late birthday Tsunade."
Her eyes blinked, clearly not expecting that.
"Thank you so much!" The glee on her face visible to anyone right now. In a split second she snatched up the bracelet which was your basic wristband. It had a few animal teeth placed on as a sort of style.
It actually looked pretty nice.
"Come on," I said with a small smile. "Lets go eat some good food. Of course its on me." My words causing her to giggle.
"I'm gonna run those wallets dry!"
"Alright, alright. Lets see if you really can do that." I answer as we side-by-side walked towards the middle of the village.
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A/N: I'm confused by y'all. I'm just matching the energy of some people in the comments and reviews. And I'm just being generalized. I like every comment and don't disagree with peoples words but damn ig that's not enough :(
Gotta be one of those authors who needs to go get the milk now lol.
Sayonara >:)