Strongest Shinobi

The in-between break Jiraiya had been mentioning was a hot spring. Izana, at first didn't know what it was, but Jiraiya was happily telling him about it. A hot spring is apparently an underground water source that was heated by the earth itself. It was supposedly beneficial for wounds and long time fatigue.

Izana was confused by Jiraiya's words, but understood the moment het entered the hot water.

It was like the fatigue was flowing out, leaving only the feeling of the heat of the hot spring.

Jiraiya was bathing along with him, yet he was facing towards the wooden fence.

"Jiraiya-sannin what are you doing?"

Izana couldn't exactly tell what was going on, but could only feel the disdain from Ryuujin.

[Izana, don't be like him later. Be kind to the opposite gender and respect their privacy. Otherwise karma will come back to bite you.]

Ryuujin's words only left him more puzzled.

"I'm doing research, RE-SEAR-CH. I'm writing a book you see, one of many. The hot springs and its many perks give me inspiration."

A vulgar laugh escaped Jiraiya's mouth, yet Izana still didn't understand what was going on.

Izana could even smell a faint smell of blood, but ignored it a Jiraiya didn't seem to react to it.

Eager to find out what Jiraiya seemed to like behind the fence, Izana left the hot spring and went to the opposite bath.

Inside he could hear all kinds of voices, yet still didn't understand what was so special about it.

He walked inside, after which all the sound stopped.

Izana, abashed by the silence, stood there a bit dazed.

Afterwards he was immediately surrounded by all kinds of high-pitched voices.

"What a cute kid!"

"How pitiful, he's blind."

And, "He probably went inside the wrong bath, let this onee-sama help him."

Izana, completely confused now, was sitting inside on the l.a.p of one of the women, the back of his head buried in something soft.

The women themselves were surprised that Izana didn't know what a 'woman' was.

He was given a deep and intense brainwashing session.

"You know, you have to be kind to women, especially the ones you like. Women like to get presents and flowers. They don't like it when men are peeping on them when they are bathing, but we forgive you as you obviously can't see and don't know what a woman is. Now, older women you call by onee-sama, cause they don't like to be called old. Always compliment them and don't be rude. Furthermore…"

The brainwashing went on for a long time and Izana was really dizzy when he came out of the bath.

Outside, Jiraiya was waiting for him.

As soon as Izana had left the bath and headed for their room, Jiraiya had transformed himself into Izana with the Henge-jutsu and entered the women's bath.

It wasn't until much later that Jiraiya returned, laughed vulgarly and began to vigorously write.

A slight scent of blood clung to the air, making Izana wonder how Jiraiya had gotten injured.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The next day Jiraiya took Izana to Konoha. It took nearly a week before they arrived. Izana's health improved, as did his stamina after he forced himself to walk as much as he could, so as not to burden Jiraiya.

Jiraiya looked appreciatively at the kid, impressed at his stubbornness and willpower.

Still, Izana spends most of his time on Jiraiya's back or shoulders, dozing of after having forced himself to walk.

The same happened today, yet this time Jiraiya woke him up.

"We've arrived kid. Konoha, village of the hidden leaf."

Jiraiya fastened his pace, entering the village.

Jiraiya was shortly greeted by the shinobi at the gate, after which Izana felt as if they were falling, becoming completely weightless.

Apparently, Jiraiya was jumping across rooftops to fasten his pace.

When he stopped, he knocked on a door, followed by the sound of hasty footsteps.

"Coming!"

A woman swung the door open,

She immediately began to talk happily to Jiraiya when she saw it was him.

"Jiraiya-san, it's nice to see you again. Minato isn't home, but I'm sure he will be back soon."

"I'm not here for Minato, Kushina. I'm here for the kid."

Jiraiya put down Izana and pushed him towards Kushina.

"I've never seen this type of sealing jutsu and I though, if it's Kushina then she will find a way. So here I am."

The woman stepped closer to Izana.

Her fingers stroked the sealing jutsu; a strange energy entered the bandage, which fell to the ground, the seal broken. After which Izana could see the woman in front of him.

The woman in front of him had long, bright red hair.

Izana thought it was beautiful. He liked it a lot more than his own black hair.

Izana looked surprised at Jiraiya who he now saw for the first time.

He was surprised to see someone with such rough, white, lion-like hair.

He had red markings beneath his eyes, as well as a horned forehead protector with a leaf on it.

Jiraiya stroked Izana's head with a big smile.

"Good for you kid."

Izana smiled back at Jiraiya and bowed to Kushina.

"Thank you very much Kushina nee-sama."

Kushina smiled from Izana's words, a soft laugh escaping her mouth.

"Ara, ara, Jiraiya-san did you teach him to do that? Could it be that he's your secret child?"

Jiraiya shook his head; exasperated she would even think that.

"You really have pretty hair nee-sama, I wish my hair would be like that, it makes me warm just looking at it."

Kushina blushed slightly, as she began to stutter.

"Y-you… really t-think so?"

"I really do, Ryuujin said it seemed like the sunset. It really is a pretty colour."

Izana didn't know what Ryuujin had meant with sunset, but when Ryuujin had shown it to him, he could only agree. It was a really pretty colour.

"Enough chatter. I'll see you later today Kushina. I'm going with Izana to Minato and the Third. They'll know what's going on."

Jiraiya picked up Izana and sped across the rooftops towards a big building with the character of fire on it.

Izana dazzled by the new surroundings, was fervently looking around him, excited to see new things. Even the sky was such a pretty colour.

As soon as the entered a big room, they were greeted by a huge stack of papers and a man with bright yellow hair.

"Yo, Minato. I brought you something interesting."

Minato looked up from the papers and stared with surprise at Jiraiya.

"Sensei, when did you come back? And who's this? A secret child of yours?"

Minato standing up from behind his desk walked towards Jiraiya and clapped him on the back.

"Maa, maa, a lot of things happened, but I found this kid at the missions location. He's one of the survivors. What's most interesting is that the kid is an Uchiha. Though I'm surprised you and Kushina think off the same bad things about me."

Minato looked a bit shocked.

The Uchiha didn't report any missing persons.

"Apparently the kid was there for multiple years, with no recollection of his parents. Not that that is surprising, the kids only around three years old."

Minato didn't know what to think about this.

He summoned an Anbu and let them ask for the Third.

Within ten minutes, an old man stepped inside the room.

"Minato, why did you call for me, you should be able to handle the current situation."

"My apologies Third, a situation occurred of which I had no knowledge of."

Minato apologized after which he pushed Izana towards the Third.

Izana looked closely at the Third, a seemingly kind old man.

"Who might this be Minato?"

The third looked over Izana, but didn't find anything special, except for the large chakra reserves.

Jiraiya chimed in, telling the Third and Minato about what happened, including Ryuujin.

"Hoh, so Amegakure succeeded in their experiment. Yet what is more unusual is the origin of this kid. He should be one of the Uchiha, but not one of the abducted children.

He should be the child of an abducted pregnant Uchiha. There was one instance, but the woman was found dead in a gully."

The Third was surprised to see the child now. He looked exactly like an Uchiha.

Long black hair, which reached his waist, accompanied with sharp looking pitch black eyes.

The Third however, didn't dare to leave the child in the care of Fugaku Uchiha. He was only interested in strength, but the Third wanted to let the child grow up in a healthier environment. Jiraiya had even mentioned adopting him, but the Third refused for obvious reason, being his behaviour around women.

He had no choice but to take him to Fugaku and hope for the best.

"Jiraiya, leave the child in the care of the Uchiha. But keep a close eye on him, make sure that 'unwanted' attention isn't drawn to him." The Third was especially hinting not to let Danzo know about his excistence.

"Understood sensei." Jiraiya said, understanding what his teacher meant.

It would be a dissaster if Danzo knew about the kid, even more so because he was a special kind of Jinchuriki.

Jiraiya said goodbye and took Izana to the residence of the Uchiha.