TSoL Chapter 15 - Godfather

For several days, Naruto continued to practice his martial skills with his father's guidance and system, bringing most of his moves to perfection, greatly aided by his enhanced memory.

Finally stopping, Naruto went to take a shower and returned to his room, looking around. He noticed what a mess his apartment had been in the whole time he lived there, so he decided to finally clean up and repair the damaged walls and plumbing, due to which the water pressure in the shower is extremely weak.

Then, realizing that repairs cost money, Naruto immediately remembered that it was high time for him to come to old Hiruzen to receive his orphan's allowance. Looking at the calendar, he thought:

"That's right, I should have come yesterday. It's good that this is not the first time I've been a day late, and this should not arouse any suspicion."

Naruto remembered how his parents told him not to tell anyone about his knowledge of his parents, nor about the fact that he constantly sees them. With that thought in mind, Naruto put on his now-familiar white outfit with a reddish-orange coloration, and headed towards the Hokage's office.

Along the way, Naruto contemplated what to do with all the money he now has. In addition to the money that he receives from his allowance, he also had a very impressive amount from the savings of his parents, which they gladly gave him.

After that conversation with Hinata, Naruto talked a couple more times with the white-eyed Hyuuga, to her sincere joy, and learned some more details of what and how is happening in the clan. With that, a serious question arose in Naruto's mind:

"Damn, even the money I have now is absolutely not enough to support the clan. I need to figure out a way to make money." Naruto's face twitched slightly at the thought. After all, he devoted his whole life to training and becoming stronger to be a shinobi, and he never had to think about work.

He understood that when he became a full-fledged ninja, his missions would be paid, but even he understood that this wouldn't be enough for his plans. Sighing, Naruto decided to discuss this issue with his parents, as they are much better at understanding all these grown-up things that he would never have thought about otherwise.

By this point, he had already reached the building where the Hokage's office was located, and when he went inside, he immediately noticed a change in the atmosphere. All the bustle of the street disappeared, and it was replaced by the severity and sounds of stationery.

Upon reaching the Hokage's office, out of habit, Naruto opened the door without knocking, but in contrast to his previous loud greetings, he calmly said:

"Morning, old Man, long time no see. I got a little carried away with exercising, and couldn't get my allowance yesterday, so I thought I'd come by today."

Already accustomed to such a sudden appearance of a boy, Hiruzen reading the document was only slightly surprised by his calmer manner of speaking, but remembering his recent report on the boy's changes, he did not attach much importance to this.

That's just, as soon as Hiruzen looked up at the blonde, the elderly Hokage immediately froze in place with his mouth open, dropping his favorite pipe on the table. Fortunately, he had not yet had time to light it, so the documents were not damaged.

The reason for his sharp surprise was Naruto's appearance. Looking at him in bewilderment, he spoke softly:

"M-minat… I mean… Naruto?" The Hokage quickly corrected himself, drenched in sweat, afraid that he would blurt out too much. But seeing the baffled face of the blond, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Naruto was slightly surprised at the old man's strange behavior, and in the meantime asked:

"Is something wrong, old man? Are you unwell?"

Quickly gathering himself and regaining his composure, the Hokage smiled warmly and replied:

"Ah, I'm fine, Naruto-kun. It's just that I'm a little tired from all this paperwork." Saying this, the old man pointed to a table filled with a bunch of different paper stacks.

Watching this, Naruto couldn't help but wince at the thought of his possible future. Here, the Hokage casually asked him:

"By the way, Naruto-kun, what happened to your old suit?"

Hiruzen was Hokage for so many years for a reason, and he knew how to get information about some things by asking about others. And that's why Naruto did not suspect the old man's intentions to find out about his new clothes.

Only, Naruto is far from being such a fool as he was not so long ago, and he knew quite well what he could say and what not. In addition, his temperament also underwent some changes, which is why the blond calmly replied:

"Oh, my old jacket and pants were too worn out after so much training, so I decided to finally dress up in something new. As a result, my eyes fell on these clothes."

Looking at Naruto strangely, Hiruzen couldn't help but ask:

"White?... Aren't you afraid?"

Realizing what he meant, Naruto nodded and replied:

"No, for me it will be a good incentive to improve my attentiveness and concentration, avoiding anything that can ruin or stain these clothes."

"Hoo, this is really quite a creative way to train," the Hokage stroked his beard with a smile and interest, looking at the blond in a slightly different way, because if you look at it from a different angle, then in the future this training can help avoid many deadly

problems in the future.

Now, having carefully assessed the whole appearance of Naruto, Hiruzen thought:

"Oh Kami, how much he resembles his father at his age. Even the clothes are similar." glancing at the boy's slightly grown hair, the Hokage smiled, "now that I think about it, if he continues to ignore the hairdressers, he will become more and more like Minato over time. Although, given the recent report about the prank of a certain chunin, then the part of Kushina in Naruto is definitely not going anywhere."

Picking up his pipe from the table, the Hokage shook off the spilled tobacco, and took an envelope from the desk drawer, handed it to Naruto, and said:

"Here, Naruto-kun. Here's your allowance, plus a little extra from me, as a bonus because your grades have gotten better lately."

"Oh, thanks, Old Man!" Naruto was really happy. Even if he no longer had problems with money, he still knew how to appreciate it, since his memory of a life in poverty didn't disappear anywhere.

Satisfied Hiruzen nodded and said:

"Alright, now that everything is settled, you can go, Naruto-kun. I still have a lot of unfinished business," the last part of the Hokage said with some doomed fatigue in his voice.

"Um, see you, Old Man."

After saying goodbye to Hiruzen, Naruto headed off to a new training session with his father. It should pass in the same place where he practiced water walking, so Naruto was wondering what exactly he would train this time. Moreover, his father asked him to grab strangely shaped wooden slippers, which seemed to the blonde an extremely strange request, but he did not argue, since his father, being one of the Hokage before, definitely knows how to make someone stronger.

Entering the alley, Naruto created a clone of himself, which he directed towards his apartment. This precaution was advised to him by his parents to make it appear that he always returns to his apartment while the original Naruto goes to his parents' house under the Henge no jutsu.

Thus, after reaching his "family" home, Naruto quickly found the very sandals his father was talking about and headed towards the training area.

Suddenly, on the way to the right place, a message from the system popped up in front of Naruto's face:

[A new Mission is available. Rank "C"]

[Objective - Get to the training area while blindfolded.]

[Performance Reward - 10% Sharpen the Five Senses of the Body.]

[Penalty for failure - 50% hearing restriction for five hours.]

[Would you like to accept? Yes / No ]

After reading all the terms, Naruto sighed and said:

"Damn, System-chan. Again you give me some strange missions. Although heightened senses sound cool, why do I have to walk blindly to do it?"

[All tasks of the system are generated based on the shortcomings of the user himself, and solely for his development.]

Grimacing his face, Naruto muttered in an offended tone:

"Was it necessary to talk about my shortcomings?..."

Taking another look at the mission, Naruto sighed again and said:

"Alright, I accept your mission, System-chan"

[Affirmative.]

[The mission will start as soon as you blindfold. Any forward movement without a blindfold will be counted as a mission failure.]

Grimacing, Naruto took out the medical bandage he had begun to wear on his mom's instructions from the side pocket of his pants and rolled it over his eyes.

As soon as he lost the opportunity to see, Naruto became slightly confused, since he had not had such an experience before. That is why he still remained where he was, contemplating how best to accomplish this mission:

"Damn, this is really not easy. How am I supposed to get around if I can't see anything?"

Naruto tried to calm down, and as he remembered where he'd left off, he found himself perfectly aware of the location of objects near him. Overjoyed, he thought:

"Great! Now, if I can easily remember and imagine my surroundings, then I can easily find the right direction," presenting some kind of mental map in his head, Naruto took the first steps in the direction in which, in his opinion, the place he needed should be.

Having passed the zone he already saw and remembered, the blond finally went beyond what he saw, and moved mostly by touch. After a dozen minutes of bumping into various trees and bushes, Naruto found himself getting used to walking blindly, and paying attention to the rustling of the leaves, he began to get better and better at avoiding the obstacle of vegetation.

The only thing he could not detect by ear were the stones. Fortunately for him, there were very few large stones on the way, so there was almost no need to worry about them.

"Wow, I didn't think I could advance so fast. If things keep going like this, I'll get to the right place in no time!"

But after a while, Naruto suddenly heard a strange sound. He stopped, and purely mechanically turned towards the rustling of leaves. Naruto wondered what it could be until he finally heard the now familiar grunt.

"Oh no, it's a boar!" Naruto panicked a little. He had run into wild boars before, and every time he ran away from them as fast as he could, because these guys really don't like it when someone enters their territory. And the larger the individual, the more dangerous it is.

Listening to the Boar's weighty steps, Naruto immediately realized that he was in trouble, because this creature is definitely larger than usual. Naruto focused as much as he could and waited for the animal's actions, hoping it would ignore him.

Alas, everything went exactly the opposite. As soon as the boar saw the intruder, he immediately squealed and ran towards the blond. Realizing that the boar was moving towards him, Naruto slightly tucked his legs in, and when the sound was very close, he jumped towards the nearest tree he heard on his way here. Luckily for him, the trunk of the tree turned out to be quite large, and he was able to fix his legs on it, and then carefully climb higher by touch, finding a convenient branch to climb on it.

Sat down on a branch, Naruto sighed in relief, and smiled, thinking:

"Phew, that was dangerous. If I hadn't been blindfolded, I could have beaten this boar, but blindly, I don't intend to risk it yet."

Having been sitting on the tree for some time now, Naruto frowned as the boar didn't seem to leave and continued to guard under the tree. Realizing that this could continue for an incomprehensible amount of time, he decided to perform a very risky trick, which, even with his sight, he did extremely rarely, since it was still too difficult for him.

Listening more closely, he determined the approximate location of the next tree, and assessing exactly where the leaves rustle, outlined in his head the approximate location of the branch, he jumped in that direction, hoping to get where he needed to.

And now, already flying up to the branch, instead of the planned landing with his feet on the branch, Naruto beats his stomach against it, almost falling to the ground, but still holding on to it.

"Ee-ta-ta-ta-ta… It hurts, dattebayo!" Climbing onto a branch, Naruto sat down to rub his bruised stomach, and after the pain subsided, he listened again and realized that the boar was still grunting in confusion at the previous tree.

Not wanting him to notice where he had gone, Naruto listened again and jumped towards the next tree, in the direction of the training area. This time, Naruto was able to touch the branch with his feet, but only with his heels, causing him to slide forward. But he also managed to catch on with his hand, and not fall. The third jump had already gone well, and thus, after jumping over a few more trees, Naruto was finally completely away from the boar, and descending to the ground, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

As Naruto continued on his way, he made far fewer stops, and moved more or less calmly and almost without thinking. He himself was amazed at the possibilities of his brain, remembering all those small sounds that he used as recognition signs to recognize the environment and move on.

Thus, after only twenty minutes, he finally got to the right place, as the system informed him:

[Mission Complete. The reward will be set within a minute.]

And as soon as this message appeared, Naruto immediately felt a painful tingle in his head, reeking of strange noises in his ears, glare in his eyes, and even strange smells. But most of all, he was struck by the unpleasant feeling of rubbing clothes against his body, and a breath of wind on his skin.

As promised, it didn't last more than a minute before everything calmed down and his feelings returned to relative normalcy. After removing the bandage, Naruto looked around in surprise, and realized that the whole environment began to feel even more strange than when he woke up with a new memory.

All his senses were full of new information, which he had never received before. He heard better, saw better, his nose picked up the smells of some animals that were not even close to his position, and his skin felt slight changes in the environment, whether it be air pressure or temperature.

Although all this was not so pronounced as to go beyond the normal, since the scent of the same Inuzuka was several times sharper than the current one of Naruto, but still, now his sense of space has improved quite well.

Satisfied with himself, Naruto was finally able to lie down on the grass and relax a little, only his father thought otherwise.

Minato, who appeared next to Naruto, gave a strange look to his son, who looked a bit tired even though they hadn't even started training yet. Smiling, he said:

"Naruto, don't tell me you've changed your mind about training?"

"Ah?" Naruto looked up, and when he saw his father, he abruptly jumped to his feet.

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he replied:

"No, nothing like that. It's just that System-chan gave me a strange mission again, which made me nervous and sweaty. But don't worry, I did it, and even got a cool bonus!"

"Is that how it is?" Minato looked at his son with interest, "what's the bonus?"

After Naruto told him about System-chan's mission and his reward, Minato nodded in satisfaction and said:

"It's really good training. You never know what might happen during a mission. Loss of sight or hearing is one of the possible misfortunes that can occur in combat. So this kind of training can help you not to get confused in similar situations."

Here, Minato looked at the small bag on Naruto's belt, and said:

"I see you brought those slippers. Great, put them on."

"Ha? Put on?" Naruto was a little surprised, but again, he didn't argue too much, "whatever you say, but it better be a really amazing training, ttebayo."

The slippers mentioned were Japanese sabo Geta slippers, except that the ones Naruto had had two thin heels that were even higher than normal ones. Putting them on his feet, Naruto felt extreme discomfort from his favorite stretchy sandals.

Seeing that Naruto had finally put them on, Minato said:

"Okay, now we'll get back to the tree and water walking training."

"What? But I already know how to do it! I literally used tree walking when I got here, blindly!" this time, Naruto was really confused.

Smiling, Minato said:

"Oh really. Then how about trying to stand on the water?"

"Easily! Having said that, Naruto immediately decided to prove his words with deeds."

But instead of doing it carefully from the shore, he jumped further, hoping to land on the water five meters away. To the crushing shock of the young blond, and the merry laughter of the elder, Naruto immediately plunged into the water, unable to stand on the surface for even a second.

Having surfaced, and having got out on the shore, Naruto looked at his wooden slippers in amazement, and finally began to understand what the training would be, and therefore said displeasedly:

"Damn, I should have guessed there was some trick to it…"

Looking at his son, Minato smirked and said:

"As you have already noticed, the shape of these sandals complicates the concentration of chakra in the legs to an incredibly high level. That is why you will re-learn to walk first on water, and only then on trees, since in this case it will be easier with water."

Looking at his father and then back at the slippers, Naruto asked:

"How did you come up with this weird training?"

Looking at his son in surprise, Minato smiled, and remembering his younger years, he said:

"In truth, this training was not invented by me, but by my sensei. When I was your age, he also made me learn to walk again on water and trees in those strange slippers."

Thinking about his father's words, Naruto finally realized that he didn't even know who his father's teacher was, so he asked:

"By the way, Dad, who was your sensei?"

Startled at this question, Minato finally realized that he and Kushina had forgotten to tell their son not only about his godfather, but also about how they had chosen a name for him.

Hitting his face with his palm, Minato said:

"That's right, we forgot to tell you," looking at his son, Minato smiled and said, "you must have heard his name already." his name is Jiraiya and he is one of the legendary Sannin. Moreover, he is your godfather."

Hearing those words, Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and he asked in amazement:

"So you were trained by one of the sannin, and he is also my godfather?"

Minato nodded his head as he continued to smile at his son. Naruto thought about something, and asked with a slight sadness:

"Then… Why have I never seen him? Did he not want to see me?" Naruto didn't know how he felt about it. On the one hand, he has someone like a parent who is still alive, but on the other hand, this person never bothered to visit him, which could not but be frustrating.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why this happened either, since I don't have full information about what's going on, Naruto. But I will never believe that he would not want to see you, since he was really excited about your birth. After all, you were named after the main character in one of his books."

Blinking his eyes in surprise, Naruto said:

"The main character of the book? Was he cool?"

"Of course, one of the best." Minato replied with a smile, remembering how his sensei described the hero of his book.

Yes, you're right dad. I'm going to take your sensei's training so that I can show him later that there is nothing difficult in the exercises of this man who ignores his godson!

With these words, young Naruto began a new training under the guidance of his father, slightly embarrassed by the words of his son.

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Author's Note:

As I wanted, here is a longer chapter. This time it's about improving our main character, and discovering some information. I hope you will enjoy. Thanks to everyone who is still with me. ^^

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