The Broken Window

"Senior Jiraiya, sometimes seeing is believing, isn't it?" Uchiha Yan made his way up the drainpipe to the third floor.

On the corner of the third-floor wall, faint dark-red graffiti was visible. Some rabble had used paint to write the glaring words "Demon Fox" and "Go die."

Jiraiya's expression had already turned grim by the time he saw it.

Just then, a masked Anbu stepped in front of Uchiha Yan. "Lord Yan."

At the sight of the Anbu, some of Jiraiya's initial displeasure finally began to subside.

He stepped forward and said, "I'm the one who wants to see Naruto."

"Lord Jiraiya." The Anbu could tell that Jiraiya's tone was not nearly as firm as it had been a moment ago.

Jiraiya patted him on the shoulder. "Captain Uchiha Yan and I are just concerned about the living conditions of Konoha's most important Jinchuriki. Surely that's all right?"

"And what about these words on the walls? Aren't you going to do anything about them?" Jiraiya asked, pointing at the wall.

The Anbu heard Jiraiya's words and was just about to explain when he heard, "Forget it. Let's hurry up and go."

Hearing Jiraiya's reasoning, the Anbu could only step aside sheepishly.

Jiraiya knocked on the door.

A somewhat childish voice called from inside, "Coming! Who is it?"

Naruto, dressed in his pajamas, rubbed his eyes and opened the door.

He glanced at the two of them, then pointed at Uchiha Yan. "Y-you're the one who helped me that day, right?"

Uchiha Yan nodded. "It was just part of my duty."

"Ah." Naruto suddenly froze when he saw Jiraiya.

He leaned close to Jiraiya's face and began examining it carefully.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto's somewhat familiar face and suddenly froze.

He silently prayed that Naruto wouldn't recognize him. Otherwise, his glorious image in front of the younger Uchiha Yan would be ruined.

What he didn't know was that his glorious image was already long gone.

Uchiha Yan had known for ages that the Konoha Sannin were three problem youths who were into gambling, drinking, and women.

At last, Naruto remembered. "Aren't you that Pervy Sage?"

When he heard Naruto recognize him, Jiraiya finally let out the breath he had been holding.

His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. Just as he was about to turn around and explain himself to Uchiha Yan, he realized that Uchiha Yan had already vanished from his side without a sound.

"When did that guy leave? His strength might already be on par with mine," Jiraiya muttered under his breath.

"Pervy Sage, what are you talking about?" Naruto looked at Jiraiya in confusion. "Wait, where'd that Uchiha big brother go?"

Jiraiya came back to his senses and gave Naruto a broad, awkward grin. Ruffling his hair, he said, "That Uchiha guy had something come up, so he left. What about you, Naruto? Why are you still awake in the middle of the night?"

Naruto looked at him, utterly exasperated. "Pervy Sage, is it possible that you woke me up by knocking on the door?"

The smile on Jiraiya's face immediately stiffened. Then, forcing it back into place, he walked into the room.

But the moment he truly stepped into the "home" of Namikaze Minato's son, the shock he had felt on the balcony turned into suffocation.

Jiraiya looked around in the dim light of the old bulb.

Dusty corners and moldy walls. The wallpaper in the corner had long since peeled away, revealing large patches of black mold beneath.

What Jiraiya found strange, though, was why Naruto's home was even colder than outside.

Just then, a bone-chilling gust of wind swept through the room.

Even Jiraiya, a seasoned jonin, couldn't help shivering.

He turned toward the icy wind, which was cold enough to freeze a person stiff.

In the dim light, he finally saw that the window, which should have had glass panes, was riddled with holes.

It definitely hadn't broken naturally from age and disrepair. Several sharp stones, each about the size of a fist, lay scattered across the windowsill and the wooden floor.

When Naruto saw Jiraiya notice them, he hurriedly shuffled over, looking embarrassed.

"I already plugged up that hole before, but today's explosion shook it loose again."

Jiraiya gently moved Naruto aside and crouched down to look at the stones on the floor.

Blurred writing was still visible on them: "Demon Fox, go die!"

With his experience, Jiraiya could easily tell that Naruto was lying.

But he couldn't bear to expose Naruto's lie and hurt his pride.

"Didn't anyone do anything about it? Who did this?" he asked curiously.

Naruto thought for a moment. "A few drunks did it, but the Konoha Military Police Force showed up soon after. They took the wooden batons from their waists, beat them up, and then took them away."

Jiraiya drew a deep breath. "Besides the Konoha Military Police Force, no one else did anything?"

Naruto asked in confusion, "What do you mean? Isn't this exactly the sort of thing the Konoha Military Police Force is supposed to handle?"

Hearing that, Jiraiya felt his blood pressure rise even higher.

He walked over to the old refrigerator in the room and opened its door.

The sight inside left Jiraiya completely stunned.

There were only a few cartons of milk in the fridge.

Jiraiya picked one up and looked at it. "This milk's expired. Doesn't that kid Kakashi ever check?"

But thinking of what Kakashi had been through, Jiraiya sighed softly.

Never mind. That kid had it worse than Naruto. It was enough if he could take care of himself.

Besides, given his teacher's personality, he probably wouldn't tell Kakashi who Naruto was.

Holding the expired milk, Jiraiya asked curiously, "Naruto, why are you keeping this if it's already expired?"

"Huh? It's expired?" Naruto came over and carefully examined the carton in Jiraiya's hand.

Then he looked up. "Pervy Sage, how do you check the date on milk?"

Jiraiya sighed softly. Did Naruto really not know even the most basic self-care skills?

Then he patiently explained how to read the production date.

Naruto finally understood. "Oh, I see."

Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's hair, then looked curiously at the shabby notebook on the table nearby.

He guessed it was probably some sort of ledger.

But when he opened it, he was surprised by what he found inside.

There was a thick envelope tucked into the notebook's front page.

Curious, Jiraiya picked it up.

When he opened it, he was surprised to find a stack of crisp Land of Fire banknotes, a considerable amount of money.

"That's a lot of money," Jiraiya murmured, stunned.

He skimmed through the ledger. The handwriting had gone from extremely childish and full of mistakes at the beginning to steadily neater later on.

"X month, X day. Grandpa Third Hokage brought me this month's living expenses, XX ryo in all. Grandpa said it was enough for me to eat meat every day and buy lots of new clothes. He patted my head and said I was a good boy."

"X month, X day. Grandpa Third Hokage brought me money again and told me to eat more vegetables. But... I don't think I spent much of last month's money."

Jiraiya quickly did the math in his head. Adding the money in the envelope to the amounts recorded in the ledger, the monthly living expenses Sarutobi Hiruzen had approved for Naruto had not only gone untouched, they were well above Konoha's standard compensation.