Ninja Gamer

Chapter 9: Jonin Advent

I had ended up crying myself to sleep that night, Minato-san taking it with a quiet support that I don't think I could ever repay him for in my lifetime, he had seen me at my lowest and most afraid, and he helped support me through it all. Suddenly, I saw why so many loved him as Hokage, a feeling that was starting to stir within myself, although I never realized it myself.

I woke up with the others at dawn when the sun began to peek over the horizon, I showed them my stat page over breakfast as I allocated the points from leveling up into my DEX, bringing that up to 100, and to my WIS to get that to 73. I was actually as a perk popped up when I confirmed the changes I made.

Because your DEX has reach 100, you have received a new perk!
[Fleet-Footed] - Base speed, evasiveness and accuracy is increased by +50%

Huh, cool. Following that I began talking with Jiraiya-sama about the different seals I used on my clothing once I was able to get my skills to a high enough level to use them correctly. Even taking my jacket out of my [Inventory], to both show them how it worked and to show the seal work to Jiraiya-sama who took down some notes on it.

As he was doing that, I was questioning Minato-san on his Hiraishin jutsu, eagerly absorbing everything that he was telling me about it, and from the way he was talking it was like some kind of hybridization of a wormhole and dematerialization. A lot of the details went completely over my head, but I was able to glean a few useful insights, especially with the 'markers' and his awareness of their presence.

That had let to me suggesting a seal that could be used to 'mark' a shinobi's position that is then relayed to a map allowing for real time update on allied troop positions. Sandaime-sama had to raise his voice to break the three of us out of our discussion on how best to implement it to get us back on the road and moving, though he did take our distraction in good humor.

It was a surreal experience for me, a nine year old chunin to be treated as an equal by these three powerful shinobi, being asked for my opinion on current events, my view on how certain jutsus would work best in combination with other jutsus. Surreal, but an experience I wouldn't trade for the world as I remember laughing so hard at a story Minato-san told me about some of his earlier adventures with Jiraiya-sama and his old teammates that I ended up slipping off a branch and face planting on the ground.

It took us a week, but soon enough we approached the border to Tetsu no Kuni, the air getting chiller, prompting us to don the specially made all-weather cloaks that used a tiny bit of our chakra to warm our bodies, I made a mental note to copy the seals onto my clothing aloud, to the amusement of Jiraiya-sama who asked if I was planning wearing more seals than clothing.

My first meeting with the samurai of Tetsu no Kuni was actually... fairly unremarkable, we simply walked up to the border office, stated our names, affiliation and purpose within Tetsu no Kuni before being allowed entrance with a single samurai escort, who was pretty damn quick, able to lead us up to the capital of the country where the meeting was to take place.

As we entered the city I wasn't able to help myself as I looked around at the various buildings and shops that dominated the main street, Minato-san chuckled as he patted my head, causing me to attempt to hide my blush in the high collar of my cloak. Why did I get rid of my face mask? It was so much easier to hide my embarrassment with it on.

We were escorted to the hotel we were assigned, apparently the Tsuchikage's delegation was on the opposite side of the city to ensure there would be no trouble before the meeting.

"Alright, now that we are here, we can talk about your roles," Sandaime-sama announced as we got comfortable in the lounge of the diplomat suite. "Minato, you are attending as my successor, and hopefully, deterrent to prevent Onoki from trying something foolish," he informed Minato who nodded in understanding. "Jiraiya, Yuriko-chan, you both are here as our bodyguards, I suspect you won't be needed, but, better safe than sorry."