Blonding

Chapter 26 : Grateful

When Jiraiya finished his assignment in the village and headed for the Hokage Tower to wait for Minato, he found the Fourth Hokage already sitting at his desk, rapidly scribbling away on several pieces of paper, each spread across the writing surface without a regard for whatever already laid underneath.

Minato looked up from his pen and smiled - a genuine smile, for the first time in what seemed like ages. "Ah, I take it you're finished then, sensei?"

Jiraiya just grumbled in a way that sounded vaguely affirming, before throwing himself down into one of the small oak chairs in front of Minato's desk and rubbing his bloodshot eyes.

"I really, really need to get some sleep," he mumbled to himself, and Minato just murmured in agreement.

After a few more moments of nothing but the sound of a pen scratching away, Jiraiya looked back up at his prized student, observing the man as he worked.

Much to his surprise, the subtle smile from before had refused to budge from the man's face, and it sat pleasantly on his features as he worked...

...and was that a hum Jiraiya was hearing?

"My, my," the Toad Sage smirked, "Someone's in a good mood."

Minato jumped slightly, his pen hovering over the next line on the paper he was currently working through. "Oh?" His smile turned sheepish, and he leaned back in his chair, the joints creaking as he did so. "I didn't think I could honestly feel any emotion other than tiredness at this point." He yawned. "Is tiredness even an emotion?"

"Meh, not my particular area of expertise," Jiraiya shrugged, before he leaned forward onto his palms, elbows propped up on the desk in front of him. "Soooo, spill it. What's got you so happy?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Did you, heh, acquire some 'compensation' for your services this afternoon?"

Minato didn't even bother to humor the man with a response other than an abject sigh. "Come now, sensei. That's just inappropriate. And in regards to your second question, I wouldn't say that I am the one deserving of any credit. That man - Naruto - was the one that did all of the work."

Jiraiya hummed, all business once again. "That's a good point. And I have to say, what he was doing looked an awful lot like something you would've come up with, Minato."

The smile vanished from Minato's face, replaced by a slight scowl. "I know. That's because it was. I have no idea how he did it, but he broke into my study and took the jutsu formula for... something I've been working on. But when I went there earlier, there was no sign that the cabinet I kept it in had been opened. The seals I had placed on everything were still intact." He narrowed his eyes. "And to top it all off, he had both the understanding of the jutsu itself and how to work it - enough to pull it off almost effortlessly."

He ran his fingers through his hair, picking out bits of debris as they combed it back. "I could really go for a shower, too, now that I think of it," he muttered to himself, before clearing his throat and folding his hands together across his desk, crumpled paper making way as he leaned his body weight onto them. "The fact that he knew it is cause for alarm in itself, but..." Minato shook his head. "This has got to be premeditated. It's got to be."

Jiraiya shrugged, then smiled. "Well, you'll get the answers as soon as the Torture and Interrogation creeps beat it out of him. I'm sure they're having a field day right now. Man's brain's got to be like raiding a vault."