"Why won't you tell me what we're doing," Naruto whined. He dragged his feet on the dirt road theatrically, kicking up dust that tickled his sensei's nose and made him itch to sneeze.
Jiraiya snickered loudly, not bothering to hide his delight in withholding information from his protégé. He had thought it would be amusing to tell the boy that they were going to go somewhere Naruto would like to build anticipation, but he hadn't expected that the kid would never drop the topic. It was just plain obnoxious. At least it was worth a couple of laughs.
They were close anyways. He'd send the boy ahead to leave their things in a hotel room and get to the rendezvous point.
~~~
Four days prior.
"This is ridiculous," Kakashi said flatly, with closed off body language implying he was shutting the topic down. Aiko was familiar with it—that tone signaled that he was fed up and anyone who continued to annoy him would be running laps until their legs fell off or they begged for death to come. Whichever came second.
Shizune didn't take the hint, instead giving an uncharacteristic scowl. "You're not Hokage, Hatake. You have already established that you think this is a terrible idea. Your objections have been noted, and I'm going over your head."
Of course Shizune's own teacher had been the one Konoha nin who could rival Kakashi in scariness, so she was inured.
In the other room, Aiko and Yamato fidgeted uncomfortably. She was perched on the edge of a fluffy chair resting her head on her knees with shut eyes. She wished they would just stop already. After they had been unceremoniously tossed out of the room, things had been very quiet and discussion seemed to wind down… until the acidic tang of a summoning filled the air and a new argument started up.
"She's thirteen, and sealing is dangerous. Genius or not, you can't honestly think this is a viable solution."
Sasuke had left before things had gotten to that point, tired of what he saw as a pointless temper tantrum. She didn't blame him for being irritated—without knowing that the past Mizukage had been a jinchuuriki, he had no way to put together the rest of the puzzle. He was probably livid that Yamato had ordered Sai to follow him, but it was for the best not to wander around a foreign village alone. And despite how much she liked Sai (in theory, at least) he was almost certainly spying for Danzo at this point. The less he knew, the better.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I completely forgot that you were put in charge of this mission. I'll just go tell the Mizukage that we don't want that alliance after all, because you have a bad feeling about your student learning a new skill. Grow up already!"
Yamato gave a heavy sigh that covered Kakashi's angry rebuttal, staring up at the ceiling. The book he had started off with –a godawful boring looking tome with a picture of a wooden bridge on the cover—was resting on his chest sloppily with a couple lonely bent pages he hadn't noticed curled up against his chest.
"I hate it when mom and dad argue," Aiko joked sardonically, prompting a surprised huff of amusement from her companion.
The door opened and the oldest members of the team stepped out with a palpable sense of irritation. Shizune furrowed her brow, glancing around the room. "Where's Sasuke?"
"He went out for a walk," Yamato informed professionally, sitting up and closing his book gently. "I sent Sai with him."
"I'm sure he's delighted," Shizune sighed. Her hands twitched as if she wanted to reach for something. Instead she just smoothed her hands over the front of her kimono. "In any case. Aiko, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that if I can negotiate it, you have a month to learn something that takes masters years, or at least memorize enough to complete a job and fake having mastered it so that Mist doesn't know we agreed to sell skills you don't have. The good news is that you're going to be meeting with your brother when we leave here. I've sent Jiraiya a message, and as soon as I get a response we'll coordinate a destination."
Aiko felt all her air escape in surprise. She turned to her shishou for reassurance. He was all but brooding, a veritable dark cloud in the room.
"And Hatake thinks this is a moronic idea," Shizune added somewhat sardonically. She'd clearly noted the automatic deferral to a man who was definitely not in charge of this mission.
Aiko shrugged noncommittally. "If Shishou says it is, this is probably an appalling idea. But if it's the only option available, we should get going."
This was actually an interesting outcome, she mused while the argument started up again. It'd be nice to see Naruto again. She was delighted to have Kakashi as her teacher, but the sheer prestige of having a chance to learn from a Sannin was a little seductive as well.
Then she wondered why Mist didn't just have Jiraiya do this job. He already knew how. It wasn't like they didn't know who he was—he was internationally famous for much more than his books. He acted like a bit of an idiot, but he was a nearly unrivaled Fuinjutsu genius, Kage class combatant, and intelligence expert.
Then again, maybe that was the problem? Perhaps they were wary of having such a powerful shinobi within their village and within arm's reach of one of their best weapons.
If that was the case, they were walking a rather delicate tightrope between having someone dangerous who could do the sealing and having an unthreatening incompetent who could do even more damage than Jiraiya by inadvertently releasing the Tailed Beast when they fucked up the sealing.
Aiko… well. Before this topic had come up, she would have said that her fuinjutsu skills were respectable. After her crash course under Anko's guidance, she had continued making them as a late-night hobby when she couldn't sleep. Explosive notes and sealing scrolls were expensive as all hell, so it wasn't a bad idea to make her own.
Not that she used either of them often, to be truthful. Aiko kept a small supply of both on her person most of the time for times when nothing else would do the trick, but they weren't a large part of her combat style. In the past, she had gotten plenty of practice supplying Naruto, who liked to pack everything but the kitchen sink and explode whatever he could whenever he could. Bit of a mad bomber, that one.
But being asked to seal a tailed beast… well, that was fuinjutsu on a completely different level. Aiko wasn't likely to ever put down her own skills. Her character flaw would lean more closely to valuing them too highly and underestimating others'. She knew that she had some really cool abilities, rockin' genetics, and intelligence significantly beyond what she allowed others to see. She was arrogant enough to believe that if she wanted to, she could become a sealing master capable of doing such a thing. But she wasn't quite arrogant enough to think that she could do that in a month.
Then again, she knew very little about the theoretical differentiation between expert fuinjutsu and layman practitioners' fuinjutsu. From what she understood, the parts of the discipline she was unfamiliar with had a lot more to do with ways of thinking. Creativity, sensing or making connections, and using cold hard logic were entirely different skill sets than the memorization and repetition of basic principals in standardized formats.
Then again, she'd been honing her creative abilities for years, so she might adapt well to fuinjutsu.
It didn't matter either way. She had her orders, so she had to do her best.
At least it turned out that Mei was perfectly willing to allow a little over a month's time for sealing preparations. She needed to find a suitable container anyway. Aiko winced at that when it was mentioned. It was hard to remember that she would be subjecting a real person to that kind of life. Was it evil? She would never go so far as to say that life as a jinchuuriki wasn't worth living, but it did make things much harder. Would that child hate her?
They almost certainly would, if she didn't do a good job.
So all she had to do was perform perfectly on a tight deadline. No big.
~~~
Jiraiya started snickering at the dumbstruck expression on his apprentice's face. He really did look pretty thick when he let his jaw hang open like that. Even grumpy little Kakashi-kun seemed to let his expression lift momentarily at the sight before returning to his normal glower.
"Aiko! Bastard! Sensei!" Naruto shrieked, running forward to pull the impassive little redhead into a hug that turned into a spin with her feet in the air. She patiently endured his attentions with a hint of an amused expression around her eyes, patting awkwardly at his back.
It was like a reversal of their parents—little Kushina had always been so exuberant. Minato had appreciated the attention, but never quite known what to do with it all.
The thought was a little painful, so he turned away. He thought he saw a hint of ruefulness in Kakashi-kun's gaze that indicated similar thoughts, so he turned his attention to Tsunade's adorable little apprentice. She was still cute, of course, but she looked like she'd been through a wringer. He politely chose not to mention that.
Jiraiya slid on the charm like a silk coat, practically slithering up into her personal space and dropping his voice a few pitches. "Fancy seeing you here, Shizune-chan. Have I ever told you that you've really grown up into a beautiful young lady?"
"You could try to sound a little less like a pedophile," the grumpy looking brat lurking by Shizune's side (as if to use her as a shield from Naruto's enthusiasm) grumbled. Jiraiya spared him a scowl. Why had Tsunade taken on that brat again?
"Jiraiya-sama, thank you for meeting us here," Shizune politely bypassed the insult and the disgusted 'tch' sound that the boy made at being ignored.
He leered. "Of course, anything for a pretty lady." Then he eyed the rest of the group. "The rest of you can leave, though."
None of them laughed, probably warned by his reputation. Hatake gave him a smile through his eyes, though, so he counted it as a win. It was always nice to be able to cheer up that gloomy brat. Even Minato had had a hard time with that. Finally, he took pity on the girl and pried her brother off by the scruff of his collar. Naruto dangled, scratching and hissing like an angry kitten, but Jiraiya just held his arm out a little further. When the boy tried to bite him, Jiraiya irritably shook the boy. "Stop that, you're embarrassing me. You'll have plenty of time to catch up." Then he leered theatrically at the girl. "You can call me shishou." He turned back to Shizune, already done with dutifully acknowledging his goddaughter. "Anyway, we shoul-"
"No."
Jiraiya startled, turning back to the girl. She'd seemed so quiet in the few times he'd seen her. It was hard to believe she was as disrespectful as her brother. Not for the first time, he noted that there was something creepy about the kid, something just a little off. He couldn't quite explain it, but she seemed to be evaluative and removed even when she put an expression on her face. All the muscles moved correctly, even the creases around her eyes, but it seemed like a dead mask over her real thoughts instead of a reflection of her emotions.
He was probably just seeing things where nothing existed.
"I'm very sorry, but I cannot call you shishou." She ignored the scandalized "Aiko!" from Shizune and gave a short bow, letting her hair slide down to expose her vulnerable neck in a show of submissiveness. "Sensei. I can only have one shishou."
Jiraiya let a little smile tug at his lips. He wasn't altogether opposed to insolence, especially when it was paired with loyalty. Hatake looked mildly floored. Perhaps he hadn't realized he was held in such high regard.
If Jiraiya was a different type of man, he might have minded the snub. As it was, he let it wash right off his back with a nod. "So be it." To lighten the mood and lift the irritated expression from poor Shizune's exhausted features, he gave a dramatic scowl and pointed at his wayward apprentice. The boy had wiggled out of his grip when Jiraiya had lost interest, and was standing with his arms crossed aggressively. "You may call me sensei, as long as you do not allow his disrespectful habits to taint your own ladylike disposition!"
There was a far-too-loud snort from the dweeb in the face-framing leaf headband. He turned red as a cherry when most of the group turned to look at him with varying expressions. The kid looked like he wanted to body flicker a mile away, but he didn't apologize.
"What is going on here?" Naruto demanded. "I don't want you anywhere near my sister, you big pervert!"
Something twitched in Jiraiya's eye. The kid made it sound like he was completely unable to control himself, liable to victimize a goddamn child. He really didn't appreciate the connotations of his apprentice's constant accusations. Jiraiya was many things, some of which he even acknowledged as faults. He was a super-pervert, not a pedophile or rapist. He liked to admire and flirt with all women because it was enjoyable. It made him feel gallant, it made them feel pretty, and sometimes even served a useful purpose like distraction or information gathering. It could be amusing to flirt with someone who was uninterested or unsuited, like Shizune-chan. But he would never touch a woman without her permission. He was gallant, a real gentleman!
"I'm not worried," Aiko offered blandly. "And what's so bad about being a pervert anyways? Everyone is. If we weren't, we wouldn't reproduce. Are you trying to claim you stare at pretty girls because your mind is as pure as fresh snow? Do we need to have a talk about where babies come from?"
Naruto turned a red that nicely commented the purple tint of the Uchiha brat. Jiraiya wasn't entirely certain why that one was coloring. Guilty conscience, perhaps? Lack of oxygen from a sudden inability to breathe?
'By all the kami, this Uzumaki is going to be an excellent student. She has the one thing her father lacked- a proper appreciation for the place erotica has in high culture.'
"But Aiko, he's sooo old!" Naruto blustered desperately, waving his hands. Annnd there went the last of his patience.
"Stop being such a disrespectful brat!" Jiraiya roared. He bopped Naruto on the head—not very hard, but enough to express his displeasure.
After Naruto was done smothering his sister and whimpering about a little love-tap, he'd turned to some sort of intricate awkward little boy 'I missed you but am too insecure to say so' dance with the grumpy little Uchiha that ended in a tussle in the dirt with Naruto pinned face-down in the dust. The scarily pale teen merely watched silently, thoughts completely hidden behind dark eyes. Jiraiya took the distraction as opportunity to quietly question Shizune-chan as to the details of what he had to do. What he learned wasn't really anymore encouraging than the little she'd communicated to him via slug. (Though convenient as a method of communication, slugs' poor short term memory made sharing complicated messages a Bad Idea).
Before things got any less intelligent, the group made their way into town proper to invade a noodle restaurant. The proprietor was visibly terrified by the large group of heavily armed ninja, so they seated Naruto at the end between his sister and Kakashi in the hopes that they could curb his enthusiasm.
It quickly became clear to Jiraiya that Hatake was Not Happy about something. He made the mistake of mentioning this to the woman on his right.
Shizune winced visibly, as if reliving several days of lecturing and Hatake's unique …well, let's call it charm. (He was the kung-fu master of passive aggressive bitchiness. Even Jiraiya knew that.)
He knew the feeling. Tsunade was not best pleased about this arrangement, even less so that (apparently) Hatake had possessed the gall to try to tell her he would be staying. He'd lost that battle, but had perhaps won the war. Apparently, Hatake had managed to teach some of that insolence (presumably so as to give Tsunade aneurisms far into the future).
Aiko had made the phenomenally inappropriate decision to calmly inform the Mizukage that she would not be party to sealing a tailed beast into an infant (and didn't that make Jiraiya feel like shit?) and so to expect a missive detailing the specifications she expected the new jinchuuriki to fit. She had dodged giving those specifications on the spot by saying that she would need to confer with Jiraiya first as he was more experienced. Jiraiya had been told to convince her to use an infant—their developing chakra systems made the jinchuuriki much more powerful and made the transition easier—but he wasn't sure if he had the heart to do it. It was possible to put a tailed beast into an adult, after all, and even Minato hadn't been certain he believed the benefits outweighed the fact that an infant could not possibly consent to a life-changing procedure. He'd been a big believer in self-determination.
Obviously, Minato had made his choice and done it anyway when he had needed to. But then again, Aiko had seen what it was like for a jinchuuriki to grow up around people who had been victimized by the beast they carried. He wasn't sure he wanted to start that conversation and hear what she had to say about how Naruto had grown up.
The hints he had were bad enough.
"Ah." He cleared his throat uncomfortably, figuring it would probably not be reassuring to tell Shizune that he agreed with Hatake about the wisdom of this endeavor. He had no expectations that Aiko would be able to manage this, largely because it was unwise to have any expectations at all before he had gauged the girl's aptitude and current abilities. "I'll take care of it, Shizune-chan. You can count on me."
Oh, hell. Jiraiya silently damned his chivalry, but he'd had to do something to wipe the sadness and stress lines off the girl's face.
Thus committed, the toad Sannin was anxious to find out what he was working with. He rushed through his meal as politely as possible, and then cleared his throat to catch attention. "Alright. Naruto, Aiko, say your goodbyes. We need to get to work."
Naruto pouted, but his sister was more businesslike. At least, he would have thought so until she went around the table passing out hugs, starting with her shishou and moving to Shizune before inflicting one on a suddenly very tense Sai. The Uchiha balked when she got to him, but she blinked down at him innocently as if he made no sense. Eventually, with a sigh he compromised with a handshake. The dweeb in the face plate snickered, until he got his own hug.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's enough." Effortlessly, he picked up a teenager in each hand and hoisted them up. Aiko was mildly surprised, but Naruto was resigned and hung limply.
"Bye everyone!" Naruto waved, getting half-hearted replies from the table before Jiraiya set off to the hotel where he'd reserved two rooms.
"Alright girl. Tell me what you know about seals."
The abrupt subject change seemed to take her off-guard, but she amicably and competently enough talked about core concepts and demonstrated proficiency in the standard language and sigils when he quizzed her. She had little to no theoretical knowledge about the higher level work that he and her parents had both practiced. That was what he'd expected, to be honest, but it would have been nice to be starting with more.
Naruto looked on blankly while Jiraiya heaved a sigh and slumped against the wall, hands in his pockets.
"Are there any useful similarities between sealing physical material and volumes of chakra?" The girl looked curious, but also mildly concussed. Maybe it was just her large, dreamy eyes and default expression. Jiraiya re-evaluated his earlier hypothesis that there was something creepy about her. The more he looked, the more she looked like her mind was a million miles away contemplating unicorns. That could explain the detachment, he supposed.
Still, the question wasn't a bad one.
"Very few," he admitted honestly. "It's going to be even more difficult because this seal is going to have to be adapted for non-human chakra. Luckily, your study materials here," he jerked his head towards a now-napping-Naruto, "will at least provide you with an example of demonic chakra so you can get a feel for what you'll be working with."
"I see." Aiko twisted a lock of hair around her fingers, and he had to blink away from the light it reflected into his face. "Will… Can this work?"
Jiraiya considered telling her a nice lie, like he had Shizune. But he shook his head. "I can't teach you the kind of mastery over seals it takes to understand and design a process like this in a month. I couldn't if you were the Sage of Six Paths, for crying out loud. But," he held up a finger to stop the slump of her shoulders, "I can teach you to fake it like the best of the Red Lantern District professionals. I will probably end up designing the seal you'll use and help you memorize it, as well as the most likely problems that could occur and how to recognize and deal with them. Mist isn't going to have anyone who will be able to tell the difference. So as long as nothing horrible and unforeseen happens, we're going to cheat like a Nara."
"Nara cheat so often?" she asked, sounding mildly amused.
He shook his head gravely. "The important thing isn't how often they cheat. It's that they cheat intelligently."
At least she had a good memory. Naruto was decidedly displeased about being left out of what was going on, so Jiraiya started him on learning the sigil set just to shut him up. Aiko proved to be a convenient study aide—all the whining he'd given Jiraiya died in his mouth when his sister raised an eyebrow at him.
Which was really unfair, he noted. Why would he listen to his sister and not his teacher? It defied logic.