You Can Try Harder, Jiraiya

The window of the Hokage office was half-open, and the night wind poured in from outside, causing the edges of several documents on the desk to rustle.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, his pipe filled with a small amount of ash, and a cup of tea that had long since gone cold rested on the corner of the table.

Jiraiya pushed the door open and walked up to the desk, pulled out a chair, sat down, and propped his legs up on the edge of the table.

"Old man, the tea is cold." Jiraiya pointed at the teacup.

"Jiraiya." Hiruzen Sarutobi took the pipe from his lips and lifted his gaze from the pile of documents. "Can't you knock first?"

"I was in a hurry to get back and report, old man."

"Report what? About Sasuke?" Hiruzen tapped his pipe against the edge of the ashtray twice, knocking off the ash that had accumulated all afternoon.

"Let's start with the conclusion." Jiraiya braced his hands against the back of the chair and shifted upward, adjusting to a comfortable position.

"Looking after Sasuke is no problem; if you want me to take him out for training, I can do it anytime. That brat is truly a genius, strong in a way that shouldn't be possible at his age."

He rubbed his chin. "Although his personality is a bit twisted... no, I should say it's twisted to an excessive degree! He's not cute at all."

"But I want to take Naruto with us as well."

"The Nine-Tails seal?" Hiruzen asked.

"I've observed it." Jiraiya pulled his legs back and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees.

"The edges of the seal are loosening. It's not very serious, but compared to the state it was in two years ago, the signs of wear are already visible to the naked eye."

Hiruzen set his pipe on the desk and crossed his hands beneath his chin.

Jiraiya watched Hiruzen's expression as he continued.

"That brat from the Uchiha clan—you've seen his summoning animals, haven't you?"

Hiruzen nodded.

"Two dogs, one black and one white, a rabbit, and a very large deer."

"A deer too?" Jiraiya paused for a moment, then scratched his head.

"Fine, I arrived late. I only saw two dogs and a rabbit at the training ground. But those two dogs were enough to open my eyes."

"What happened?"

"They aren't just extracting chakra." Jiraiya's tone suddenly dropped, the casual air fading away.

"I felt it carefully; in the direction those two dogs were lying, the things they were absorbing were mixed with the Nine-Tails' chakra."

Hiruzen fell silent.

His fingers tapped unconsciously on the desk as he weighed a situation that was difficult to judge in terms of pros and cons.

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Jiraiya decided to speak plainly.

"Old man, this thing itself isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"Naruto's seal is bound to loosen sooner or later; without the Black Dog, the Nine-Tails' chakra would directly impact his meridian system."

"At this stage, having the Black Dog outside absorbing it acts as an external buffer for the seal."

Hiruzen picked up his pipe again, bit down on it, and took a deep drag.

Smoke diffused in front of him, obscuring most of the wrinkles on his face.

"To Naruto, he has become a water valve."

Jiraiya nodded.

"You could put it that way. But this valve can only be controlled by Sasuke. That's why I said they are both more troublesome than the other; it's best if I take them both away."

Hiruzen finished the last of the tobacco in his pipe and exhaled a long stream of smoke.

"Can you handle them?"

"Regardless, I must take them." Jiraiya stood up and paced back and forth in front of the desk.

"The Eight Trigrams Seal—the number of sealing ninjas in all of Konoha who can repair it doesn't exceed three."

"And as for someone who can fully understand Minato's line of thinking, I am the only one left in this village."

Hiruzen's hand holding the pipe froze in mid-air.

"Is it serious?"

"It's not a bad thing for now." Jiraiya shook his head.

"That seal was never meant to be completely airtight. When Minato designed it, he left a small gap."

"It allowed the Nine-Tails' chakra to slowly seep out and fuse with Naruto's own chakra. This process was supposed to be very slow, taking about a dozen years to complete."

"But the speed has increased now?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes." Jiraiya bent over, his fingers tracing a rough diagram of the sealing formula in the air.

"The Jade Dog is effectively helping the seal share the pressure, but because the external extraction has caused the pressure difference on both sides of the gap to increase, the wear rate of the seal is accelerating."

Jiraiya withdrew his hand and leaned back into his chair.

"But the benefits are also obvious. During the process of the Nine-Tails' chakra being extracted, the low-concentration Nine-Tails' chakra is achieving a decent fusion with Naruto's own chakra."

"He enjoys the benefits of chakra fusion brought about by the gap in the seal, yet he doesn't have to bear the direct erosion of the Nine-Tails' chakra on his body."

Hiruzen was silent for a moment.

"You said earlier that you didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing." Hiruzen picked up his pipe again and took a fierce drag.

"Right." Jiraiya's expression turned serious.

"Because we don't know where the Nine-Tails' chakra that the dog absorbed went."

"If it was simply consumed, then it's a good thing for Naruto. But if it went somewhere else..."

Jiraiya didn't finish his sentence.

Hiruzen finished smoking the tobacco in his pipe; the embers in the bowl flickered for a moment before going completely dark.

Hiruzen spoke up: "The Ninja Beast he signed a contract with is no ordinary summon. I've lived for so long, and I've never seen anyone capable of contracting so many different Ninja Beasts."

"The boy himself says that these Ninja Beasts are bound to his own state. The Jade Dog absorbing the Nine-Tails' chakra must have been intentional on Sasuke's part."

"Regardless, I'm taking Naruto with me." Jiraiya stood up and stretched, his bones cracking audibly.

"I'll observe the changes in the seal while teaching him a thing or two. You said he wasn't very likable, but from what I saw today, he's alright—just a bit loud."

"Then I'll leave it to you." Hiruzen rested his pipe on the edge of the ashtray and looked up at Jiraiya. "By the way, there is one more thing."

Jiraiya turned around.

"If you have the chance while you're out of the village this time, find out Tsunade's whereabouts." Hiruzen looked into Jiraiya's eyes.

"Last time, Orochimaru snuck in and bit Sasuke's dog with the Cursed Seal. That boy Sasuke raised a deer that used some kind of positive energy to neutralize the erosion of the Cursed Seal. The Cursed Seal on Anko's neck was also mostly healed."

Jiraiya listened to this, fell silent for a moment, and then his expression turned peculiar.

"Orochimaru bit the dog, and the dog turned around and healed the Cursed Seal Orochimaru left behind..." Jiraiya rubbed his forehead and then burst into a fit of extremely loud laughter.

"Hahahaha! If that bastard Orochimaru knew, wouldn't he be so angry he'd crawl out of his hole just to take another bite?"

Hiruzen did not respond to the joke.

Jiraiya stopped laughing and scratched the back of his head.

"As for Tsunade, I can only say I'll try my best. You know that woman's temper; she flips out the moment Konoha is mentioned."

"For the sake of Sasuke, no one in the ninja world can provide a professional assessment of a special ability that can heal the Cursed Seal except for Tsunade." Hiruzen smiled.

"Do your best, Jiraiya."

"You really are an old man who loves bossing people around. Fine, I've noted it." Jiraiya waved his hand, pushed open the office door, and walked out.

The clacking of his wooden sandals against the floorboards echoed through the hallway, gradually fading into the distance.