NaruHina: Duty

Chapter 6: Lessons from the Sannin

Jiraiya stopped by the house early in the morning. There was a quick, whispered conversation with Fugaku that broke off when Naruto came out into the entranceway. His nod to Fugaku was a little bit cool but he hugged him anyway.

He turned to his mother. She was already wearing her mission gear, ready to head out on her own, but she'd wanted to say good-bye first.

Mikoto was rubbing her eyes. She'd started off relatively well, but she'd gone through half the box of tissues by the doorway when she'd finally let Naruto out of her arms.

"Write to us when you can," she said with a sniffle.

He nodded then smiled at her. "I will, Mikoto."

She laughed softly as she looked up at him, recognizing the irony. Gone were the days when she used to reassure him on these trips with Jiraiya.

Jiraiya came over to pat her awkwardly on the arm. He looked at her red eyes. "He'll be fine, Mikoto. You know I always take care of him."

"I know, Jiraiya," she said as she suddenly teared up again. "I'm just being hormonal. It's menopause."

"Oh," Jiraiya said then he cleared his throat. "Okay, then. We're off."

With another awkward pat at her arm and a nod at Fugaku, Jiraiya turned and headed down the road. Naruto waved to his parents and followed a few steps later.

They continued on their way. Jiraiya glanced sideways at Naruto, unusually quiet.

"You want to talk about it?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Just as well," Jiraiya smirked. "I don't like to deal with teenage angst before I've had breakfast."

Naruto rolled his eyes but they kept walking.

Jiraiya left Naruto to his own thoughts while he mulled over his own conversation with Fugaku. He understood Fugaku's frustration. Hell, Jiraiya felt it himself. Naruto was always eager to learn new things and practice new jutsus, but he just never wanted to go further.

It made him wonder why a kid armed with so much didn't want to aim for the top. He could easily be the strongest shinobi in Konoha, but he just refused to do it.

In part, this was why he'd decided to take him to Mount Myouboku to learn sage mode. Maybe this would give Naruto the kick to finally accept this destiny that was laid out for him.

But Jiraiya admired Naruto's humility, the way the kid always wanted to be out of the spotlight. He always preferred to talk about his brothers whenever he was in conversation with others, always talking about Itachi and Sasuke being prodigies.

Intuitively, Naruto had understood from a young age that being somebody who stood out meant he wouldn't be able to keep the secret of his true parentage. Plus, Naruto had once admitted to his godfather that publicly declaring who his biological parents were seemed like a betrayal to Fugaku, Mikoto, and Jiraiya—who he considered were his true parents.

The sudden shift of the village's focus onto him must have been jarring. Before the secret came out that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son, he'd been a normal child with a normal childhood—or as normal as he could be, under the circumstances. But when the news broke, Naruto hadn't known how to react to the sudden attention.

Jiraiya glanced once more at his godson.

Poor kid.

A three-headed parenting system was hard, and he didn't blame the boy one bit. How the hell do you deal with the complications of knowing your biological parents were dead, then you had a strict disciplinarian raise you alongside a loving, supportive adoptive mother, and a hands-off, indulgent godfather who happened to be your legal guardian?