Kitsune and Neko

Chapter 17

- Flashback (When Naruto was travelling with Jiraiya.)

Naruto was sitting on the edge of the roof of the house that they were living in, his spiky hair, that he had dyed sky blue, was blowing madly because of the morning wind while he was watching the horizon. His jaw-length ear tails that closely resembled Jiraiya's and Minato's, were tied in the middle with orange bandages and his cerulean blue eyes looked distant. He had also covered up his whiskers with a partial henge to complete his disguise. He had woken up an hour earlier than usual and couldn't sleep again so he came up here to do some thinking.

"What are you thinking about?" Jiraiya said sitting down next to Naruto with one of his knees bent and the other leg dangling from the edge of the roof. He had not slept the whole night because he was filled with ideas for his latest book of the Icha-Icha series.

"Nothing much, sensei." he said, breathing out. "Just thinking if Sasuke was right." He said, still looking at the sky. Upon no reply from Jiraiya, he continued. "When he fought, he said that Konoha wasn't making him as strong as he could be. Konoha would never let him reach his true potential and I have realized that it is somewhat true. I mean, I became much stronger in the last one year than my whole lifetime in Konoha." He let out a sigh. Jiraiya could sense a 'but' coming. "But dad, Kakashi-sensei, Hashirama-jiji, Tobirama-jiji, Madara Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Sandime jiji, Baa-chan and even you became some of the most powerful and feared shinobi across all the shinobi nations, while being in Konoha. I just don't know what to believe anymore." He said shaking his head.

"Look, kid. All of the shinobi you just mentioned had become powerful because they had a goal which they focused on, something to protect. They wanted to achieve their goal no matter what which is what ignited the determination in them to work hard towards it. Take Minato for example. He always wanted to become Hokage, end the third great Ninja War and achieve peace. During the time I was training him, he worked twice as hard as other ninjas his age. He learnt Ninjutsu under me and Fuinjutsu under your mother, Kushina. In his spare time, he read the scrolls that interested him the most. He managed to complete two of his goals and also managed to maintain peace for a while." Jiraiya said proudly.

"Just like him, you too wanted peace, so you trained hard for the last year to try and achieve it. The problem with being in the village is that you get distracted easily and you have to follow certain rules. I am not saying that all the distractions are bad but there are some which waste your time. Then again another reason is the lack of books and scrolls in Konoha. While the Konoha library is massive, eighty percent of it is closed off by the civilian council and village elders, thinking that learning the jutsus would be dangerous after Orochimaru left the leaf. "

"Minato had to break a lot of seals including the Senju blood seal to gain access to all of the scrolls and immediately made copies of them. The library which is present in your house has most of the original scrolls and the rest are copies of the scrolls from Konoha's library. The library not only has all the scrolls from the Hidden Leaf Village but also important scrolls from different villages. Even if the C-Rank and B-Rank jutsu section had been kept open, Konoha would have much stronger shinobi. I realized this when I met Sarutobi-sensei's rival, Danzo. This is one of the main reasons that I travel and collect intel. I feel restricted in Konoha. What I want to say is that it doesn't matter whether you are in the village or not, as long as you have the determination and the will to complete your goals, you will become stronger." Jiraiya finished off. This was a side of Jiraiya that very few people had seen. Most people knew him for his aloof and perverted nature, but he was also a very wise man.

"Thanks sensei. It's all much clear to me now." Naruto said, a small smile had made its way across his face.

"No problem kid, now that you are already up we can start training early. That way we can visit the hot springs later and do some research." Jiraiya said, a faint blush was visible on his face from his perverted thoughts.