Chapter 1: The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi

The house was neatly organized and clean, there was a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and a kitchen.

The decorations were all closely tied to the village, it had that charm of Konohagakure, a single look was all it took to feel the usual atmosphere that surrounded this hidden village.

The familiar sense of progress and peace wasn't easy to be achieved anywhere else in the world.

And yet, that meant nothing to the kid that sat on the match in the living room. His sleepy eyes held an innocent feeling of sorrow as they slowly took in the words written in the book at the table in front of him.

It was a novel, written by a man named Jiraiya.

The Tale Of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.

A book released not too long ago, Ryuuji had even bought it during the first week it appeared on the book store.

He never saw something like it before so it picked his interest.

It was a tale about Musasabi Naruto, a Jonin from a village named Shuku (literally meaning: Suddenness) who vowed to break the curse that plagues his world, his dream being to one day end the cycle of hatred, conflict, and war that occupies the Ninja world.

The reason he was feeling sad was that he finished the book too fast, it was simply the best novel he had ever read and so far he had finished almost thirty.

As he turned the page his eyes shined.

"If you liked this book and wished to get it signed by the author, Jiraiya, come to Kazen's Book store on February 2nd, and participate in his book signing!"

Blinking his eyes, Ryuuji turned to the left, his eyes gazing over his shoulder towards the calendar hung on the wall and bellow the clock that showed, "9:30" on it.

"February 2nd..." He whispered before turning back to the book.

"... The event will be held at 10:00 am!" It was written at the end of the book.

Realizing the meaning of those words he stood up with a stiff face. "I need to hurry!"

He grabbed a jacket, his backpack, and the book and rushed out of his home.

After running non-stop for 25 minutes, he managed to arrive in time. The book store was already open, it was the exact same one where he bought Jiraiya's book.

He went inside and founded a place to sit while he waited for the time, there were some people inside as well, they were browsing through the shelves while some others were at the counter, waiting to pay for the goods and leave.

None of them paid any attention to the four years old red-haired boy who was sitting on a stool and holding on his chest a book.

Ryuuji didn't mind that, in fact, he was glad that most people didn't even look at him, after all, due to him being an orphan, he had always been shy around other kids and people overall, the only person he had any level of interaction with was 'Neko'...

The masked men came to his house every few days to ask how he is and deliver Konoha's weekly allowance for orphans. He didn't receive much, just about 7,500 Ryo. It was just enough for him to buy the food for the week. Whenever he wanted to buy books he had to save and swallow his hunger.

Even though the money wasn't much, he never complained, after reading so many books, he had a rough understanding of the village's mission system, D-Rank missions paid between a thousand and five thousand Ryo and were the most abundant ones, there wasn't a single time in the history of the village that they lacked this kind of them.

This meant that the village gave him the equivalent of several D-rank missions as a weekly allowance. In the end, he felt grateful for this, although he always had a longing look in his eyes whenever he saw kids with their parents. Maybe having a father and mother would be much better than getting money... At least you wouldn't be alone, he thought.

Soon, a white-haired man entered from the back of the store, the book store owner was right beside him.

"Jiraiya-sama, don't worry, it's the blessing of my store to be able to house your book-signing event!" The man forced a smile on his face as he bowed several times.

Jiraiya had a big smile on his face as he listened non-stop to the man's flattering words, each time the man added a new adjective he would grin as if he had just won the lottery.

"Yes, yes, I'm fully aware of how awesome I am! Humph!" He snorted but the wide smirk on his face pretty much told how satisfied he was.

He approached the table where he would be signing his book, the sign above it said, "Great Jiraiya book-signing event". As he sat on the chair behind it, he couldn't help but make a comment as he adjusted himself in order to become more comfortable. "Hehe, that Orochimaru thinks he's much better than me, I wanna see the look on his face when I'm crowned the best Shinobi and Novelist of Konohagakure!"

The book store owner flinched for a moment, he coughed and said. "Then... I shall take my leave and not bother you, Jiraiya-sama!"

"Very well." Jiraiya nodded and leaned his back on the chair.

Seeing that the owner had left, he opened his mouth and shouted. "Everyone! This book signing event has finally begun!"

The villagers inside the store looked at him for a moment with weird looks in their eyes, after a few seconds they all went back to whatever they were doing.

Jiraiya couldn't help but gasp at the situation, just what's going on? Why aren't they all rushing to get their books signed? He shook his head and smiled as he comforted himself. No, probably my waves of fans are a little bit late, any moment now crows will be rushing inside looking for me!

With glistening eyes, he steeled his confidence in himself and patiently waited.

Ryuuji who was shy around strangers couldn't help but dig his head in his chest, he hid his mouth behind the book and gave Jiraiya a complicated gaze. His mind was a chaotic mess right now, he wanted so much to go up there and ask him to sign his book, but he was simply incapable of moving! His legs were shaking so much he was afraid he would fall the moment he left the stool.

So he stood there and watched the man who wrote his favorite book with admiration in his eyes. I will talk to him no matter what! He told himself, but his shyness seemed to remain the same as the minutes passed.

***

"Jiraiya-sama... eh, we will have to close the store now, it's already 6:00 pm..." The owner said, he was sweating as he looked towards Jiraiya's somber gaze.

Jiraiya didn't say anything as he stood up, he simply nodded to the owner and left the store. In his mind, however, he was pretty much crying. Why? Why no one came!? Am I so bad at writing? But I revised this book five times! Just why!? Jiraiya frowned, his fist were shaking as he felt the painful feeling in his heart.

However, just as he stepped outside his eyes focused on the small red-haired kid in front of him, it was a fairly handsome boy, he had blue eyes and his face was just like that of those leading man in plays he watched at the Land Of Hot Water.

He was sure of that because he had always been jealous of those pretty boys who got the beautiful women's attention almost like it was child play! He was getting a sour feeling on his mouth when he suddenly noticed that the kid was hugging something and there were tears in his eyes, worried that something happened with him, he put away those banal feelings of his and recovered his Jonin aura!

"Oi, kiddo! What's happening? Are you hurt?" Jiraiya kneeled to take a better look at him.

The kid looked at him and tears started to fall from his eyes, sniffing he opened his mouth to speak but failed to do so, he only managed to shake and cover his eyes because he didn't want the man he admired to see him crying.

"Ahh..." Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh helplessly at the sight, could it be that this kid had got lost from his parents? Knowing he had to find a way to calm the kid first, he looked around for a moment and snapped his fingers as he saw that Ichiraku was open and empty.

"Hey kid, do you like Ramen?" Jiraiya asked with a smile on his face.

The kid sniffed again and lifted his head to look at him, the tears were still covering his face but he nodded as his belly produced a rumbling sound.

"Then, let's go eat at Ichiraku, don't worry, you can ask whatever you want, I'll cover your bill."

Seeing the kid nodding, he accompanied them inside Ichiraku that was just a few feet away from the book store. After ordering a large bow for him and the kid with extra pork, he waited for the food to arrive before trying once more to speak with the kid.

Seeing how he had calmed and was enjoying the Ramen, he decided to say something. "So... why were you crying? Are you lost?"

Hearing his words, Ryuuji lowered his face and shook his head.

"Then...?"

Gathering his strength, Ryuuji revealed the book that he was holding with him. Seeing the cover, Jiraiya's eyes opened wide, but he was still trying to understand why he was crying when Ryuuji started to talk.

"I... I wanted to... but then I couldn't do it... and... the store... it closed before I..." Ryuuji couldn't finish his words and wherever he was trying to talk lacked sense.

Still, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel warmth in his heart, he was even cursing himself for comparing this kid to those guys he hated! Feeling so happy that there was a fan that wanted so much to see him, he couldn't help but wholeheartedly laugh!

"HAHAHAHA! To think that this was the reason!" With a big smile, Jiraiya took out a pen from a scroll somehow, making Ryuuji look at him with wide eyes, without understanding the magic he had just witnessed. "Say, do you wish to get your book signed by the great Jiraiya?"

"Yes! P-please!" Ryuuji couldn't believe his ears for a moment, the surprise was such that he stuttered while trying to speak.

Having signed the book, Jiraya's mood was improved a hundred times, all the depression and dark feelings in his hearts were gone as if they were never there.

Even Ryuuji became extremely happy, it took him hours, but he somehow did it, he got his book signed!

Now that he had got rid of his sadness, Jiraya couldn't help but take another look towards the boy that was beaming with happiness. The red hair, the blue eyes... Jiraya shook his head. It couldn't be, they were destroyed many years ago, how could there still be a kid of that clan around after so many years?

Still, not wanting to let his judgment trick him, he decided to take a deeper look into this matter.

"Say kid, what's your name and surname?"

"Hm? My name is Ryuuji, but I don't know my surname, Jiraya-sensei." The kid shook his head as a longing look appeared in his eyes. "Mr. Neko said that my father and mother died when I was still a baby..."

Neko? Is he talking about Ambu's Neko? Why is he involved with Ryuuji? As his suspicion grew heavier, he probed even further. "Say... did your parents happen to left something behind with you?"

"Yes, they left this scroll but I can't open it for some reason, even scissors can't cut it." Ryuuji took out a scroll from the small backpack he carried and put it in Jiraiya's hand without much thought, without even realize how stupid of him it was to do something like that.

Gulping at the sight of the scroll, Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. This is it! It's the same that girl Kushina gave to Minato! The secret Uzumaki Fuinjutsu Scroll! He thought to himself. In the end, he was sure of it, only the famous Uzumaki seals had the whirlpool symbol on them, besides, wasn't the seal on this scroll a variation of the four symbols seal?

Jiraiya gasped and stood up. Looking at this scroll, he put it back into Ryuuji's backpack and said. "Kiddo! Don't ever let anyone else see this scroll of yours! You hear me?"

"Ah!? O-okay!" Ryuuji nodded innocently, he wasn't sure why the man was so adamant about this, but seeing the serious face of the one he admired, he nodded with vigor.

Jiraiya sighed for a moment, his eyes swept the boy and he suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, Ryuuji, I know of a person who has hair just like yours, do you want to meet her?"

Hearing that Jiraiya knew of someone who had hair like his, Ryuuji was startled, could it be possible that someone did have hair like his? This thought never passed through his mind because as far as he knew, no one else in the world had red hair, at least, he never saw someone with this specific color of hair.

But as a kid, curiosity took the best of him and he nodded.

"Great! Let's go then, I'm sure you'll like her."