Konoha Notes

Chapter 422 Naruto and Jiraiya (Two-in-One)

Naruto's body swayed to the rhythm of the music, his arms arcing, his feet moving in a gait somewhere between a jump and a slide.

Speaking of which, what is this thing called again?

As Naruto moved, he tried to recall the word in his mind. Killer Bee seemed to have mentioned the pronunciation, but he couldn't remember it.

But it doesn't matter anyway.

Anyway, he just followed along with the movements, letting his body remember which beat and which direction to move in.

The first few days were so bad that even calling it a disaster would be an understatement.

For ninjas, such a simple dance presents no difficulty in terms of physical function or understanding.

Aside from lacking aesthetics, rhythm, and being overly mechanical, Naruto felt there was nothing wrong with it.

Kirabi, however, didn't seem to care.

"Doppelgangers! Use clones!" he shouted, waving his hand. "Numbers! Fill the stage with numbers! Backup dancers! Perfect backup dancers! Idiots! Bastards!"

The requirement for the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is simply to create a clone, but Naruto used Shadow Clones.

A dozen or so people are performing simple actions at the same time.

It has a greater visual impact.

As the days went by, Naruto noticed some strange changes happening to him.

After each rehearsal, the shadow clones dissipate, and memories and physical sensations flood back to the main body like a tide.

A dozen or so pieces of information about how to swing your body and how to move at beat points were stacked together.

Those stiff feelings gradually melted away with each layer of accumulation.

The movements became smoother.

My control over my body is increasing.

"Improvement! Perfection!" Killer Bee's voice came from the edge of the stage. He put his hands on his hips, threw his head back, and laughed. "At the opening ceremony in two weeks, my band will stun the entire audience! Yeah!"

"Seven Jinchuriki gather together, shining brightly on Konoha's stage! Foolish Naruto learns to dance, getting better every day, yo!"

Naruto stopped what he was doing and made a face in that direction: "Who's the idiot! It's you, Uncle, who's the idiot!"

"I'm a genius! A superstar in the music world! A trendsetter!" Killer Bee gave a thumbs up, his teeth flashing under the light.

Han sat on the speaker cabinet at the edge of the stage and said, "Indeed, it's much better than at the beginning."

The two wooden figures leaned against each other, their arms crossed over their chests.

Beside her, Yu Gao was adjusting the keyboard, his slender fingers lightly gliding across the keys, producing a series of flowing notes.

Fu sat next to Han, swinging her legs in the air. When she saw Naruto looking over, she waved.

"School starts tomorrow."

Gaara's voice came from the other side of the stage.

Naruto was stunned for a moment.

School starts?
He started counting the days on his fingers. One, two, three... twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one.

Tomorrow is September 1st.

“I’ve completely forgotten…” He scratched his head.

“They need to attend classes and train during the day,” Gaara continued.

Kirabi stopped moving.

"go to school?"

"Three babies, still students, and an accident happened!"

He clutched his head and started spinning in circles, muttering "unexpected, unexpected" under his breath. His eyebrows behind his sunglasses were probably furrowed into a tight knot.

Yukito straightened up from the wall: "It's not bad that we don't have to spend all our time on this."

Han stood up: "Let's go back."

Killer Bee stopped spinning and lowered his head in thought for a few seconds.

"It's decided! We'll rehearse tonight!"

"The sun sets and the moon rises, come right after school. Okay—! No problem! That's settled!"

Naruto blinked, and before he could respond, Fu next to him had already raised her hands and cheered, "Yay! Tonight too!"

Gaara nodded slightly.

Rehearsals have temporarily come to an end.

Everyone started packing their things. Naruto stuffed his belongings into his backpack, zipped it up halfway, and looked at the people in the room.

Uncle Bi. Uncle Han. Sister Yu Muren. Brother Yu Gao.

And Gaara and Fu.

Everyone is—

"that……"

The voice was softer than expected. Naruto himself was taken aback for a moment, then cleared his throat and asked again, "Uncle Bi, Uncle Han... everyone, did you all become Jinchūriki voluntarily?"

Everyone stopped packing their things.

Looking at the figures that had suddenly frozen in place, Naruto suddenly regretted asking the question.

But the words had already been spoken.

Han was the first to speak.

"Because the village needs it."

"That's why I became a jinchūriki."

Naruto lowered his head, thinking about things from his childhood.

The villagers' eyes, their whispers, and the unspoken words written clearly on their faces.

"I have absolutely no idea."

"From a young age, I was looked at with strange eyes by everyone in the village."

"I know absolutely nothing about the Nine-Tails inside my body."

"I've never seen it before."

He looked up at the adults in the room.

"Isn't everyone the same?"

silence.

Yukito looked away. Utakata pressed a single note on the instrument, then released it.

Han did not speak.

Fu's voice rang out at that moment.

"Lord Shibuki and everyone else are so kind to me."

With a smile on her face, Fu said, "Everyone has sacrificed a lot for me."

Naruto didn't know what to say.

We should be happy for Fu, but... is he the only one who feels that way?
Knowing nothing, becoming a Jinchūriki, the loneliness before having companions...

Gaara patted him on the shoulder: "Let's go back."

Naruto nodded silently, then grinned and said, "See you tomorrow night, Uncle Han. Uncle Bi. Sister Yugito. Brother Utakata."

Han nodded slightly.

Yukito gave a soft "hmm".

Yu Gao raised his hand in response.

Killer Bee pulled out his notebook again, and it was unclear what he was writing or drawing.

When the three of them walked out of the venue, it was already getting dark outside.

"Let's go eat ramen! Gaara, Fu."

Naruto stretched, temporarily putting those heavy thoughts behind him. After an afternoon of practice, his body was now growling with hunger.

Gaara nodded without hesitation.

Fu wrinkled her nose: "Ramen again? Naruto really likes ramen."

Naruto shouted, "Ichiraku Ramen is the most delicious thing in the world!"

"Ichiraku Ramen is indeed... but you don't need to eat it every day, right?"

As Fu spoke, the three of them headed towards Konoha Village.

Just before entering the village.

A pale white blob emerged from the ground beneath Naruto's feet.

White Zetsu faced Naruto with his face, which lacked complete features.

Naruto's brain hadn't even had time to process what it was.

A huge shadow fell from the sky.

boom--!!!
A giant toad crashed onto the white thing.

Beneath the toad's rear end, the white lump, like a flattened balloon, burst open with a "plop" and quickly went silent.

A man was standing on the toad's back.

Long white hair, red coat, wooden clogs, and an oil character carved on her forehead protector.

He stood there with one hand on his hip and the other on his brow bone, striking a pose as if he had just made his entrance. Naruto's mouth formed an "O".

Time seemed to stand still for two seconds.

"Ah... Ahhhhhh!!"

"You killed someone!"

The blond boy's scream shattered the evening's tranquility. Pointing at the puddle under the toad's rear end, his voice cracked: "You killed someone!"

"You weirdo, what have you done?!"

"A weirdo?" Jiraiya raised one leg, stretched out one hand, and bent the other hand beside his face. "I am the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku, Lord Jiraiya!"

Naruto ignored him, bending down to touch the pool of white debris, muttering, "It's not my fault, is it still alive? Like this, it really is dead..."

White hair suddenly wrapped around his wrist.

"You can't just touch this." Jiraiya's voice was a bit more serious than before.

Just as Naruto was about to struggle, several figures silently fell from the surrounding shadows.

The ninjas, wearing animal masks and uniforms, moved swiftly. Two of them took out specially made sealed containers and began to process the pool of white debris.

The others dispersed, turning their backs to this side and maintaining a vigilant posture.

"And...and who is it again..."

Naruto looked at the masked men who had suddenly appeared, his voice filled with confusion.

“Konoha’s Anbu,” Gaara explained, “a special force directly under the Hokage.”

Naruto turned to look at the red-haired boy: "Why does Gaara know?"

"common sense."

These two words left Naruto speechless for a moment. He turned his head sullenly and looked at the white-haired uncle who was still standing on the toad's back.

Jiraiya walked over with his arms crossed.

"You don't even know the village's ANBU? What did you learn at the ninja academy?"

"I've learned a lot!" Naruto immediately retorted, "Transformation Jutsu, splitting..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

No, why should I explain it to him?
"You suddenly appeared out of nowhere and almost crushed us!" Naruto pointed at Jiraiya. "You're the one who should be questioning us!"

Jiraiya's lips twitched.

"They're actually paying attention to this..."

His gaze passed over Naruto and landed on the red-haired boy.

Gaara stood in front of Fu, his blue-green eyes calmly looking back at her.

"I don't want to compare," Jiraiya clicked his tongue, "but the difference is just too obvious."

He looked at Naruto again.

"Still haven't you realized that thing is an enemy? Idiot."

"Enemy...enemy?!"

Naruto looked left and right.

"Trespass?!"

Jiraiya slapped him on the head.

"There's a limit to how slow you can be, Naruto!"

Naruto clutched his head and let out a loud "Aww!"

"Putting aside talent," Jiraiya shook his head, "this kind of keenness... it's really hard to have any expectations for it."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure disappeared from the spot.

The giant toad then turned into white smoke and dissipated.

The secret service team has completed the on-site cleanup and all members have quickly evacuated.

Naruto watched their disappearing figures, feeling somewhat bewildered.

Naruto rubbed his aching head and muttered to himself, "What the hell? Appearing and disappearing all at once..."

He looked at Gaara, then at Fu. The red-haired boy remained calm as always, while Fu blinked, seemingly still processing the chaos that had just transpired.

“Let’s go,” Gaara said.

The three of them started walking again.

The steam from Ichiraku Ramen temporarily dispelled everything that had just happened.

Hot soup, char siu, and chewy noodles quickly made Naruto forget about the things he couldn't figure out.

He ate his noodles with gusto, mumbling about the funny things that happened during rehearsals. Fu occasionally chimed in with her own comments, while Gaara listened quietly.

But after saying goodbye to Gaara and Fu, Naruto walked home alone, and those thoughts that had been temporarily suppressed quietly resurfaced.

He pushed open the door to his home, finding the room empty and the furnishings familiar. No one greeted him with "Welcome back," nor did anyone ask him "How was your day?"

Naruto threw his backpack on the ground and lay down on the floor, staring blankly at the patterns on the ceiling.

When he doesn't know his own identity or what's inside him, he can't connect those things to himself.

Enemy, invading... Is that white thing coming for him?

Just then, a suspicious laugh came from outside the window.

"Hey hey hey..."

That sound...

Naruto got up and drew back the curtains.

On the eaves outside the window, a person was crouching with their back to him. They had long white hair, were tall, and were holding a monocular telescope, pointing it towards a building in the distance.

The angle of the telescope, and the man's slightly forward-leaning posture with his shoulders suspiciously trembling.

Naruto's temples bulged with veins.

"What are you doing outside someone else's house?!"

He flung open the window, his roar echoing through the night sky.

Jiraiya was so startled that his hand trembled, and he almost dropped the binoculars. He hurriedly turned around, a suspicious red mark still lingering on his face.

"What toad sage! He's just a lecherous sage!"

Naruto was about to leap out of the window when Jiraiya grabbed him and pulled him up.

"Hey! Calm down!"

"Let me go! I'm going to find Godai-neechan and Shuji-nii-san! I'm going to arrest you, you pervert!"

"Pervert?!" Jiraiya's voice rose. "I'm gathering material! Gathering material! I'm a bestselling author! I'm doing this to get inspiration for my writing!"

"Who would believe the words of a voyeur like you!"

Naruto struggled, flailing his arms and legs in the air.

Jiraiya clicked his tongue, picked up Naruto with one hand, and climbed into the house through the window. He put Naruto on the ground and casually closed the window.

Once Naruto had steadied himself, he immediately assumed a fighting stance and formed hand seals.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jiraiya raised his hand to stop him. "Honestly, it's only at times like this that her personality seems a bit like Kushina's."

"Kushina?" Naruto asked, puzzled, his hand seals loosening slightly. "Who was that?"

Jiraiya remained silent for a few seconds.

Those eyes looked at Naruto, their gaze completely different from before: "You shouldn't address him like that."

What should I call you?

“Kushina,” Jiraiya said, “that’s your mother’s name.”

Naruto's brain seemed to suddenly freeze.

Mother?

These two words swirled in my mind, but I couldn't quite put them into practice.

"Perverted Immortal...do you know my mother?"

"And what about my dad?"

silence.

"Is it true that the third-generation grandfather said they are dead?"

"Is he really dead?"

"who are they?"

Questions kept popping up, and the pace of her speech quickened, as if she was afraid that if she stopped, she would never have the courage to ask them again.

Naruto didn't know what expression he had on his face at that moment, but he saw Jiraiya's gaze becoming deeper and heavier as he looked at him.

A blond boy was reflected in those eyes.

His eyes were wide open, filled with confusion and longing.

"Why……"

The sound finally escaped from his throat.

"Are you going to leave me alone?"

(End of this chapter)