Meeting Jiraiya Again

After Naruto and Menma finished eating, they said goodbye to Itachi and Shisui and left the dango shop.

The two of them wandered aimlessly down Konoha's main street, stopping now and then. The owners of many shops greeted them enthusiastically, calling out "Young Master" over and over.

"I still don't get it. When did they start acting like this?" Naruto glanced around, then turned to Menma and asked.

"Oh, that. It started after the time Kurama went berserk inside us. Once they found out our dad was the Fourth Hokage, they started acting this way." Menma gave him a rough explanation, answering with his hands in his pockets.

Menma knew the truth: they didn't genuinely accept him and Naruto. They were mainly intimidated by Menma's strength, and influenced by Minato's status.

"Wait, is that... the Toad... Sage?" Naruto suddenly looked in one direction and spotted a very familiar figure.

Menma looked that way too. An uncle with long white hair and an all-red outfit was sitting cross-legged outside the bathhouse, a lecherous grin on his face.

Jiraiya's... peeping? Menma thought. "Come on, Naruto. Let's go say hello to Lord Jiraiya." With that, Menma headed toward him.

"Hey, Toad Sage! What are you doing here?" Naruto shouted.

Jiraiya jumped and hurriedly turned around. Naruto was staring at him curiously, while Menma looked at him with disdain.

"Hmph! Lord Jiraiya's peeping, isn't he? That's really pathetic." Menma snorted, exposing him outright.

"Huh? How could what I'm doing be called peeping? I'm observing local customs, looking for material for my novel. What would a little brat like you know?" Jiraiya retorted.

"Huh? Peeping? So the Toad Sage is a pervert!" Naruto said, having heard their conversation.

"I have no interest in arguing with you two brats." Jiraiya turned back to look inside again, lechery written all over his face.

"Brother, we should call him the Pervy Sage from now on. I think it suits him better," Menma said to Naruto when he saw this.

"Mm-hmm, I think so too." Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Pervy Sage! You're peeping here!" Naruto shouted, loudly enough for the people inside to hear him.

Hearing the commotion outside, the people inside fled in a panic.

Jiraiya exploded at the sight. "You two brats!" He gave Naruto and Menma two hard punches on the head.

"Ow! He even hits people!" Naruto rubbed his head, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

"He got mad because we called him out, huh? Tch, he can't even handle the truth." Menma rubbed his head and muttered under his breath, pouting.

"You little brat!" Jiraiya heard Menma muttering and punched him again.

Thump! The punch landed squarely on Menma's head.

Menma sat on the ground, rubbing his head, then got back up.

"Brother, let's go. We shouldn't hang around someone who couldn't even protect his own students." Menma tugged Naruto along as he spoke.

"Hey, brat! What do you mean by that?" Jiraiya asked, watching them walk away.

"What do you think I mean, Lord Jiraiya? Let me spell it out: why weren't you in Konoha that day? You keep calling yourself a sage, yet you couldn't save our parents." Menma stopped, but didn't turn around. His face showed no emotion.

Naruto froze when he heard that. He looked back at Jiraiya, then at Menma, and immediately grew upset.

"No one could ever measure up to Minato Namikaze, could they, Lord Jiraiya? But even so, you still weren't there that day. If you hadn't been so careless and gone chasing after the Child of Prophecy, our parents wouldn't have died, and we wouldn't have become orphans!" Menma's words were full of disappointment.

Tears streamed down Naruto's face. He tugged at Menma's sleeve as if trying to tell him to stop.

Menma still didn't turn around. He simply left. Naruto wiped his tears, glanced at Jiraiya once more, then followed.

Jiraiya's heart was in turmoil. He felt that Menma was right. If he'd been in Konoha at the time, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way.

Actually, Menma didn't dislike Jiraiya. Quite the opposite: in his previous life, he'd wept bitterly when Jiraiya fell in battle against Pain. He was doing this simply because he wanted Jiraiya to stay in Konoha for a long time, so that he could teach Naruto better.

It was nearly noon. After that commotion, the two had lost all interest in continuing their stroll. They went to the Kage Rock where Minato's face was carved and gazed down at Konoha.

Menma lay down and looked at the clouds drifting across the sky, contentedly saying, "Now this is the life. I wish every day could be this leisurely." He sighed.

Naruto, usually a chatterbox, was unusually quiet. He lay down too, gazing at the sky, tears still trickling from the corners of his eyes.

"Huh? Why are you crying again?" Menma turned his head to look at Naruto.

"I'm not crying. I just got sand in my eye." Naruto wiped away the tears at the corner of his eye and continued looking at the sky.

"Blue skies and white clouds. This is the life I've always wanted: comfortable and peaceful, with no worries or pressure." Menma reached out as he spoke. Looking at his small, youthful hand, he couldn't help sighing.

"All right, let's go catch some fish. We may not be short on money, but it's nice to experience the simple life once in a while." Menma sat up and looked at Naruto.

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Why don't we invite Kiba and the others too?" Naruto sat up and made the suggestion.

"Then let's go. If you want, we can invite Sasuke too." Menma thought it over and said.

"Sure, that works. Let's split up." Naruto agreed and suggested.

"Okay. You go find Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba. I'll go find Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji," Menma said.

"Great! It's settled!" Naruto set off first.

Menma made four Shadow Clones and assigned each one someone to find and something to buy, then headed for the stream where they used to catch fish.

Before long, everyone gathered beside the stream. As soon as they arrived, they saw Menma leaning against a large boulder, legs crossed and hands clasped behind his head, looking utterly at ease.

"Hey, Menma, you're awful! You sent your clones to do the work while you slept here!" Naruto said, sounding a little resentful.

"You... couldn't do the same?" Menma said, turning his head slightly.

"Told you, this guy only knows how to show off," Naruto whispered to the others. They all agreed.

"Weren't we supposed to catch fish? You invited me, and I haven't even eaten yet," Choji complained, though he kept snacking.

Menma sat up and joined the group. "How about this? The girls can gather firewood, and the boys can catch fish." Menma glanced around and noticed Sasuke wasn't there. He'd already guessed Sasuke probably wouldn't come.

"That's not enough. How about we see who catches the most? The one who catches the least has to admit he's not a man. Sound good?" Kiba suddenly suggested.

Everyone looked at Kiba. What ridiculous competitive spirit. Naruto hadn't even waited for them to start before running to the stream to get to work.

"Hey, Naruto! I haven't even said go yet!" Kiba shouted, hurrying after him.

Shikamaru was at a loss. He had no choice but to follow. He figured he only needed to catch one more fish than whoever came last.

That left only Menma and Choji, looking at each other.

"Choji, aren't you going?" Menma asked.

"I'm too hungry to have any energy. I'll sit this one out. I'll go help Ino gather firewood instead." With that, he headed in the direction Ino and Sakura had gone.

The others took off their shoes and shirts and waded into the stream to catch fish. Menma alone stayed a little farther away from them.

With Kiba and Naruto there, things were bound to get rowdy on their side. Once they started making a racket, the fish would be frightened away, and then there'd be nothing to eat for lunch.

As the saying goes, people need food as much as iron needs steel; skip a meal, and hunger will hit hard. With that in mind, Menma used Shadow Clone and started catching fish.

Seeing Menma in the distance, Naruto immediately used Multi-Shadow Clone.

Kiba was furious at the sight. Then he looked at Shikamaru, who was taking it easy, and brightened up again, sure he wouldn't come last.

After a while, all four of Menma's clones were holding two fish each. Menma himself carried a small bucket over to Ino and the others.

After setting down the fish, Menma dispelled his clones. Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru came over too.

Naruto's two clones set down the fish they were carrying before dispelling. Kiba put down his fish too.

"Looks like Menma has eight fish, Naruto has six, Kiba has two, and Shikamaru... doesn't have a single one?" Ino said, looking at the fish on the ground.

"So Shikamaru came last, huh?" Naruto said with a grin, looking at him.

"No! Kiba came last!" Shikamaru pulled out four tiny shrimp, each the size of a pinky finger, and argued back.

"..."

"What? Even tiny shrimp are still meat. Besides, nobody said they had to be fish." Shikamaru said when he saw everyone's expressions.

"Then eat your shrimp and starve," Naruto said. The others nodded in agreement.

"There are plenty of shrimp, and I've got crabs too." Menma set down the bucket, and everyone finally noticed it was full of shrimp and crabs.

"So who came last in this competition?" Kiba looked at everyone expectantly. They all turned to Menma.

"Good grief. A ninja needs to see through a trick within a trick. Shikamaru's right—you never said it had to be fish. When setting the rules for a contest, you need to be clear and precise," Menma said. He thought Shikamaru made a good point.

"Then it can't be me, no matter how you count it. Choji doesn't even have a single shrimp." Kiba wouldn't give up and looked at Choji.

"Choji said from the start that he wasn't taking part." Menma shrugged helplessly.

"But..." Kiba had barely started speaking when Naruto cut him off.

"Come on, Kiba, are you a man or not? If you're a man, you have to honor your bet." Naruto looked at Kiba with contempt.

Man, that meant Kiba wasn't a man whether he admitted defeat or not. Menma had been about to say it himself, but Naruto had beaten him to it.

"All right, all right. You're all hungry, aren't you? Then cook the fish instead of sitting around!" Menma played peacemaker, draping an arm over Kiba's shoulder.

The group spent the afternoon laughing and joking. Before they knew it, the sun had set. After reluctantly saying goodbye, they all went home.