NaruHina: Duty

Chapter 3: Boy Meets Sage

At three, Naruto finally understood who Jiraiya was and the role he played in his life. Of course, Jiraiya had made periodic visits to the Uchihas to check up on him, but Naruto hadn't remembered who he was. He'd still been too young.

Now, though, the adults had deemed him ready to face the truth.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto. The boy with the big blue eyes stared back calmly at the man with the crazy white hair and frowned. They sat across from each other, a low table between them while Fugaku and Mikoto looked on from the side.

Mikoto had her hands clasped loosely in her lap, her smile encouraging as Naruto peered at the man dressed weirdly. He'd never seen clothes like that before. He turned his attention to Fugaku and Mikoto, who both nodded at him. With that, he gazed pensively at Jiraiya again.

"Grandpa," Naruto finally said into the silence.

"Hell, no!" Jiraiya shouted in surprise, banging his hand on the table, startling the little boy, but he didn't cry.

Fugaku chuckled and Mikoto laughed in surprise.

"Maybe we should do formal introductions?" Mikoto said.

Naruto brightened. He'd been practicing. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm three years old!"

He held up four fingers, saw the incorrect number up and used his other hand to fold down his pinky. He beamed at Mikoto and Fugaku when his fingers finally matched his correct age.

Jiraiya smiled despite himself. "I'm Jiraiya, and I guess I'm old enough to look like a grandfather. But I'm not an old geezer."

"Geezer!" Naruto parroted with delight. A new word! He liked the sound of it.

Jiraiya glared at him. Fugaku hid his laughter with a cough then said in a tone that made the boy look up with respect. "We don't use that word, Naruto. It's rude."

"Okay, sorry!" Naruto said and glanced back at the older shinobi. "Jiyaiya," he said as he held out his little hand.

"Sure, kid," Jiraiya said with a laugh, grasping the smaller one in his and shaking it. "I'll be Jiyaiya for now."

Naruto beamed at him and Jiraiya was reminded again of Minato and Kushina. The boy had Kushina's face, but he also had his father's blond hair and blue eyes. He was the perfect mixture of his parents. From what Fugaku had written about him, it also looked like he had his father's keen intelligence and his mother's rambunctious personality.

Fugaku smiled at them. "Naruto, Jiraiya is your godfather."

"Godfather? Another father?" the boy asked, puzzled.

"Yes, and there's one more, remember?" Fugaku said.

Naruto nodded as he pointed to a photo of his parents hanging on the wall. "My blood father, Minato. But it's a secret."

"This is a bit much, don't you think?" Jiraiya asked Fugaku. "It might be confusing for the boy."

"No, he knows the differences between all of us," Fugaku corrected. "Give him a chance, he grasps things pretty quickly."

"Three fathers," Naruto said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. This time, he managed to manipulate his fingers to hold up the correct amount of digits. "Jiyaiya-god, Fugaku-now, and Minato-blood."

Jiraiya chuckled. "Oh, I like that. I'm a god!"

Naruto gave him another toothy grin. "Jiyaiya-god."

"Okay, that's it! Naruto, you're now officially my favorite person in the world," Jiraiya proclaimed with a happy laugh. "You're a charmer."

"He is," Mikoto softly averred, love in her eyes.