Naruto, Son of the Kyuubi

Part 3

Jiraiya still couldn't find the boy. After living in the same village for so many years Naruto become a master at avoiding the sannin, irritating Jiraiya to no end. After years of asking Naruto to travel the Elemental nations, he was expecting an acceptable answer soon. He was tired of getting denied. Jiraiya's pride as a man, as well as a sanin, was far too damaged to recover after any more blows by a single boy.

The kid himself looked to be doing better socially than when Jiraiya first came to the village. He had a cute girl following him wherever he went, be it school or that ramen stand Naruto frequented. While it seemed Naruto didn't like to talk to her much, Jiraiya doubted someone could say no to a pretty girl.

Despite Naruto's social life, it really was time for Jiraiya to head out of the village; Naruto had no choice but to go with him. He'd talk to Sarutobi if need be, but the boy would have come. With the growing threat of the Akatsuki hanging over his head it was too dangerous for Naruto to stay in one place any longer. Only a matter of time before someone dangerous came to the village and Naruto was forced to leave anyway.

"Sensei," Jiraiya started, bursting into the old man's office. "You gotta get Naruto to travel with me. You already know why he can't stay here." Sarutobi didn't lift his head from his desk, possibly sleeping or drunk, but most likely avoiding having to work. "Oh come on, you old fart. Don't make me call your secretary." Sarutobi was up in milliseconds, fully conscious and ready to discuss whatever it was Jiraiya was wanting to rant about.

"Naruto, I assume. Is he still saying no?" This was the one thing Jiraiya would always enter his office to talk about, mainly to complain about something or other caused by Naruto that damaged his mental or physical health. Most of them centered around the ways Jiraiya's offer was rejected. Naruto got creative most of the time, going from writing it on Jiraiya's body, talking about a pedo very loudly in the middle of the marketplace, or using his clothing to spell it out in a very public area. But those were just Sarutobi's favorites.

"Get him to say yes." Jiraiya said, straight faced. He knew informal language could get him kicked out if he was being disrespectful on top of it, even though he was a former genin from Sarutobi's team. But it only showed how serious he actually was. This informal way of speaking was different than his disrespectful way. A tone only used for personal, important matters.

Sarutobi thought through the reasons to help Jiraiya. On one hand, Naruto would most likely be safe and he would even have Jiraiya off his back, but then the Kyuubi vessel would be out of reach and the village would have less protection. Of course, the Akatsuki wouldn't attack the village if they knew the Kyuubi Jinchuriki wasn't in it.

But siding with Jiraiya was just painful.

Had to be done.

"I will. Now get out and let me sleep."

Jiraiya left, giddy with finally being able to leave the village with this godson, even if it took the help of the most powerful man in the village in order to get Naruto to agree.

It was only a couple hours later when Naruto came up to him, packed and ready to leave for wherever the wind took them. The kid didn't look excited one bit, but he didn't put up any resistance when actually leaving the village, even without knowing what would be outside of the safety of the thought about asking what it was that caused Naruto to join him - it would be helpful to know how Sarutobi did it for future purposes - but thought better of it. Naruto wouldn't tell him, anyway.

Sarutobi never said how simple it was. He just asked one time and Naruto said yes. Even he wasn't used to Naruto being that complacent and chalked it up to Jiraiya growing on the boy.