The man couldn't withhold a heartfelt laughter, his eyes shining with mirth as he ruffled the boy's blond hair, "I had my spine busted Naruto. I want to see the world again."
The boys grin shrunk to a wistful smile. He remembered far too well how deeply the man had fallen in to depression after having his spine broken. He didn't die but he lost the use of his legs and left arm in the process. If Pein had just struck him a little higher than he would have died and it was only thanks to the toads from Mount Myoboku that he didn't succumb to his injuries completely.
He wasn't going to allow that to happen, not this time or ever again. From this moment on Jiraiya was his father and he would protect him as such, no matter how much they joked about the newly acquired title of parent and child he would take it seriously. Ero-sennin was irreplaceable and he wasn't planning to go through the torture of losing him.
Besides.. he never wanted to see the fire leave the mans eyes again. Watching him sink deeper and deeper into himself was painful, and he'd rather turn blind than watch it again.
"Don't overthink it. It won't happen again." Jiraiya reassured, and Naruto nodded.
"You can bet your ass on that it won't." steel in his voice.
Sometimes Jiraiya forgot that Naruto was much more than a nine year old boy and his apprentice. He'd forget that the boy next to him was the Rokudaime Hokage and hailed across all nations, said to have become the most powerful man since the era of the Shodaime and the hero of the Fourth Shinobi World War. He felt so proud of him that the mere word didn't do the feeling justice. Naruto was a man that had no equal and he'd been a part of shaping him in to that man. And then he'd make promises. Promises he never broke, no matter what, and Jiraiya himself couldn't help but believe every word of it.
Unconsciously he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, squeezing down while Naruto looked up at him with a bright and reassuring smile. This time would be different, much, much different.
This time there was no Sasuke, no Akatsuki and if Madara got in their way then they'd just have to grind the mans bones to sawdust and scatter him to the wind. But for now- Naruto looked up to the bright blue sky- right now there was no such issues. And if Naruto had anything to say about it, there never would be.
After waking up the following day after their return to Konoha, Naruto had a quick breakfast consisting of an omelette, rice and miso soup and then he left to go to the Mission Office. While he didn't need the money or the experience more than on paper, he was getting restless sitting around and doing nothing. Besides, it didn't hurt to use the time to train.
D-ranks had far more uses than people gave them credit for. For starters; they helped form an image of the 'genin' in the eyes of the civilians. Sure, he wasn't a genin but they didn't know that and for all they knew- he was just some random brat that tried to make it big in the world of big bad assassins.
It also helped the villages economy, and since they would enter a war in a couple of months, the extra income was always welcome. Naruto knew far too well how important the economy was when you got pulled into a war.
Then, of course, it was the more obvious things; doing D-ranks like mowing someone's lawn or ploughing a field of potatoes helped build muscles and in return- strength.
But more importantly; it taught you patience. Which was also a lesson Naruto never managed to learn. Naruto was many things, and patient wasn't one of them.
Still, it didn't deter him from walking towards the Mission Office in the morning. It was quite nice to walk the streets when the sun had just risen, the stores was just opening and the merchants put their goods on display for customers. Everything from fine silks, beverages from countries far away, weapons, jewelry, food and numerous other things. But the best thing to Naruto was the air. It was cool, not quite warm like it was during the middle of the day but rather refreshing like a declaration of a new day.
Naruto entered the building with light steps and stopped behind two genin teams. At least he assumed they were genin considering the moaning they did regarding yet another D-rank. The jounin-sensei's in the room looked ready to shuck the kids out of the window, and Naruto had to bite the inside of his cheek least he laugh at their faces.
Man, he was happy he never had a genin team. He liked kids alright but taking care of newly minted genin? No, thanks. He might not have been the sharpest kunai in the pouch but even he knew that he'd been the biggest pain in Kakashi's ass since the day he graduated from the academy. Not to mention he was proper useless as well. Always bitching and moaning about jutsu's left and right and completely neglecting to realize that he was, in fact, absolute shit.
So, it was with poorly concealed amusement that he shoved his hands into the pockets of his black pants and begun to whistle quietly.
One of the jounin looked back and found the blond boy rocking back and forth on the ball of his feet, obviously trying not to laugh at them and pointedly avoiding eye-contact. If the man wasn't so bloody tired of the whole thing he might have found it funny as well. But the truth was that he wanted to stab himself in the knee and put the three genin up for adoption. Not that he could actually do that.. he had a Hyuuga and an Uchiha on his team so that wouldn't be appreciated. Still, he hated them. With a burning passion.
"Who're you?" a short boy with brown hair and red claw-marks on his cheeks asked. Well, he growled as he pointed at Naruto like the boy had offended him with his mere presence. "I haven't seen you before! And I know everyone!"
His jounin sensei, a man that seemed to be around the age of twenty-five, slapped the boy across the head in exasperation. "Don't talk to your superiors like that Ogata-kun."
"Superior?" the boy snorted, "He looks younger than me!"
Naruto raised a brow, and arms stretched behind his head, "Where's your ninken?"
He'd seen enough Inuzuka and knew that the markings on his face were that of the Inuzuka clan. Not to mention the boy's attitude reminded him a little too much about Kiba's.
"I haven't gotten it yet." Ogata frowned, "How'd you know who I am?"
"Doesn't take a genius to identify an Inuzuka." the blond said simply and held up tree fingers, "First one to goad you, brash and the clan markings on your face. I'm pretty sure you're not considered a real shinobi in your clan until you get your ninken, so maybe you should stop yapping before you embarrass yourself any further."