Chapter 73: Jiraiya's Decision-Nia's Fate

Jiraiya took the time to recollect himself as the vision he had witnessed in his mind still played over and over. Questions lingered in his thoughts as the future events had unfolded.

Was it really Nia's fate to die with unborn twins? Was it Naruto's fate to experience such a great loss after everything he's been through? Had he lost total control? Was the Nine-Tails free to reign the nations? Did the boy die as a result? What had happened next?

"Great Elder," The sannin couldn't take anymore, "You say your prophecies has always become a reality, yes?"

"That is correct, my boy." The wise toad answered, "Not a single one of my prophecies has never come to pass."

"Even so... do you believe there's a way to prevent all that from happening?"

"Hm..." He thought about it, "No."

"What?" The man gasped, "Not even doing something as simple as preventing the girl from becoming pregnant?"

"Even if she were not, she'd still be killed. Unless she utilizes her power, she will be murdered in cold blood no matter what sort of action you take."

"You mean... there is a way to save her?"

"I wouldn't say save," The Toad replied, "More like, delay."

"Delay?"

"Yes... the masked man is bent on murdering her for his own personal reasons. According to my vision, he stalks the girl every now and then because he is devoted into figuring out her relationship with the jinchuuriki. He wishes to wound her in front of him. His devotion and determination will result in her execution. That is why she can't escape death. He'll find a way."

"Hmph... what if I told you, this will be the first prophecy you've ever gotten wrong?"

"Oh?"

"Yes, Great Elder," Jiraiya nodded, "I'll take it upon myself to make sure this future never comes to be. I'm going to save her and keep the Nine-Tails from being freed from its cage."

"That's our Jiraiya-boy." Ma cheered as Pa only scolded her.

"Ma," He spoke, "You know all of Great Elder's prophecies have never been proven to be false."

"Yeah? Well, I'll prove all you wrong. My only question is: How can I release this power you speak of in the girl?"

"That... is something that will require you to subdue and withhold your emotions, Jiraiya-boy." The large toad answered, "You'll need to, as cruel as this sounds, beat her within a fraction of her life. You'll have to try and kill her yourself."

"What?!" The sannin's eyes widened, "No disrespect Great Elder, but are you sure this is the only way? I couldn't possibly-"

"If you wish to have a chance to save her life, you'll have to do this. Even if you wind up incidentally killing her, she was going to die anyway. Though... I would beware of the blue-eyed boy, for if he catches you harming the girl, he will undoubtedly try to stop you... even if it means drawing out his hidden chakra if necessary."

"All right then Great Elder, I'll do my best." Jiraiya stood tall then said, "However, before I take my leave I have one final request."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

"By any chance, do you know the identity of each guardian the masked man spoke of?"

"Jiraiya-boy, there is a way for us to figure out their identities." Pa answered instead.

"Yes," Ma agreed, "Each living guardians represents an important bond the boy has formed. There are five categories: Friendship, family, love, peacemaker, and sensei."

"Ma and I are going to perform a jutsu that'll mark the guardians hand with whatever role they play. However, the only ones who'll be able to see this mark will be just them and your jinchuuriki. You may not know this, but each guardian has a power of their own that is in some way, directly related to either keep themselves alive or assist their jinchuuriki."

"For example," Ma continued, "One guardian may be able to increase their power so they may be able to defend themselves better or protect the jinchuuriki while another may have the power to simply hold the jinchuuriki back from turning into their tailed beast."

"Understood." Jiraiya nodded as he then allowed the toads to do their thing.

"When a guardian is able to unlock a certain power, a word will be engraved onto their dominant hand. It will reveal what sort of guardian they are in the jinchuuriki's life." Pa explained as the toads made a seal and simply closed their eyes.

When they opened it back up, they revealed to have done their procedure.

"So now, we'll just have to wait to find out who're guardians besides the ones we know about." Jiraiya said as he prepared to leave, "Thanks for summoning here, but now I must take my leave."

"Take good care of yourself, Jiraiya-dear." Ma said her goodbyes as the other two then gave their farewell as well as Jiraiya vanished back into the human world.

A few hours had passed since the sannin had arrived in his birth world.

"It's hard to believe those two are just over there in the fields enjoying each other's company." Jiraiya said as he placed his elbow on a wooden table bench and rested his cheek in his palm as he kept his eye on his students.

There with him was Kakashi whom the sannin had told him about the vision he had seen. Unlike him, the copycat ninja could only note at how bothered the older man seemed to be. His eyes hardly left from the direction of Naruto and Nia. It was as though he was an overprotective parent watching out for potential child kidnappers.

"I can tell that prophecy has you really on guard and shaken up." He told him.

"Yeah," Jiraiya replied, "It was horrible. I would've never guessed Nia would be killed in such a cruel way and be pregnant at the same time. I could actually feel the amount of pain and grief in Naruto's heart when she died in his arms. That girl meant the world to him. Not only that, but he was robbed of his unborn twins."

"Do you know if she's pregnant right now?"

"I had Tsunade check up on her earlier: she says everything is negative for now. For Nia's sake, we gave her some pills that'll help to prevent this pregnancy as sad as it is. I feel it's just too dangerous and too much responsibility for those two especially when their own lives are in danger. For her, Naruto's, and the twins sake, their birth will have to be postponed."

"So what're you going to do then? Will you tell them?" Kakashi asked,

Jiraiya watched as his students were quite a ways away from him near a tree. Nia had prepared the genin lunch and was enjoying her own meal with him. Beforehand, they were actually training and refining their skills as they hadn't really done so due to the distraction that came with a new relationship.

"I'm... not too sure, Kakashi," He finally replied, "I don't wanna let them, you know..."

"I understand."

"You know, that vision really opened my eyes to something," The sannin sighed, "I've been a bad master... to Nia."

"Why would you say that?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "You're the one who taught her to utilize her water jutsus. You helped her become a better kunoichi than before."

"While that may be true... I was never there for her emotionally. You see, I'm sure you know... A master should always be there for their pupils physically and emotionally. I only ever helped the girl out physically instead of helping her to develop mental strength when I should have. I knew that was her biggest weakness but I never did anything about it."

Kakashi didn't say anything.

Jiraiya continued as he looked at the kunoichi now laughing about something Naruto had joked about, "Kakashi... Nia's like an abused animal being shown affection, compassion, acceptance, and love for the first time. For a long time she's been belittled, humiliated, isolated, shunned, ridiculed, threatened, taunted, harassed, and so much more and that had caused her to become afraid of the world and made her unable to trust anyone except herself."

He paused for a moment then said, "She became cynical and constantly believed the world was out to get her. Not only that, but she was suicidal—Believing her and her life to be worthless and was prepared to end her own life. She felt as though she had no support, no care, no nothing. At least, that's how I'm assuming she saw it as. There were no life in her eyes—no spark. The only thing you could see was cold, lonely eyes and a bruised and broken soul."

"Was it that bad?"

"Yes, it was. There were many days she would be up crying when she thought Naruto and I were asleep or away. However, even though I knew she was depressed... I still did nothing. It was always Naruto. He was the one to put a smile on her face when she felt small and inferior. He never made cruel jokes about her or even talked badly about her appearance. I'm assuming he kept his opinion of her appearance to himself."

"She dwells too much on her image," Kakashi replied, "There's no room for insecurity if you're going to be a ninja in this world. I wish kunoichi would focus more on refining their skills than worry over how pretty and thin they are."

"Ah face it Kakashi, women should worry over their appearance if they wanna snag a man."

"I hope that isn't what you told Nia over there, Master Jiraiya. For all we know, that could've taken a massive hit to her self-worth."

"I haven't told her anything," The sannin responded, "She already knew that. I just feel bad that almost every time we'd go to a new village while traveling, a lot of people would already begin to shun her before she even got to say hello."

"You don't say..."

"I'm serious. Sometimes it would get so bad, Naruto would literally made a huge commotion and cause a crowd to form around him and the poor girl then scold everyone for treating Nia the way they did. It was outrageous." Jiraiya then took a sip out of his saki.

Kakashi sweat dropped, "That's Naruto for you... Always wanting to play the hero."

"Well Naruto is not like a lot of people. He has a warmth that can bring anyone to be his friend and a light that can bring even the most depressed and bitter people out of the darkness in their life. It's only natural Nia would let her guard down eventually."

"Speaking of that, how did Nia first view him? Was she always so kind to him?"

"I would say she was very cautious and stubborn towards him in the beginning yet clearly had a soft spot also," The toad sage put it, "They had a yin and yang, cat and dog sorta relationship. Because Nia felt unsure and distrustful of Naruto's intentions with her, she would often push him away emotionally and would shy away from his kindness. It actually took a long while before those two eventually came to terms with their feelings."

It stayed silent for awhile as the sound of the wind brushed against the trees and grass.

"Ah, I remember the time Naruto told me about that dream he had of her. Feels like ages ago." The old man then broke the silence.

"Eh? What dream?" The copycat ninja stopped reading out of his book and glanced at the older man as Jiraiya chuckled upon the memory.

~Flashback~

"Naruto, you've been quiet..." Jiraiya talked as he sat across from the blond on the grass while his back was against a tree.

"I... just had been thinking of something since I woke up, ya know?" The blond answered with a troubling expression.

"You look uncomfortable... if you need an ear-"

"I had a dream..." The teen interrupted, "A strange dream... about Curly Brow."

"Really now? You do know it's normal to dream of people you see everyday, kid. No need to stress yourself about it."

"Pervy Sage," Naruto then lowered his head as it appeared he was ashamed of himself, "I..."

He then paused as his cheeks involuntarily turned a bit red. This was enough to completely capture the older man's attention.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" He asked.

"When I woke up... my boxers were all... sticky... and wet."

Immediately, Jiraiya gawked at his student with big ol' bug eyes.

"She gave you... THAT dream?!"

Naruto kept looking down, "I don't know what happened. She was crying and I went to comfort her... but when I did, I started touching her... first her hand and then her arm. After that, I hugged her and she began kissing my cheek and then my neck once she stopped sobbing and I got her to calm down."

"What happened, kid? I thought you weren't attracted to her..."

"..." He didn't say anything, "Pervy Sage, what should I do? After we hugged, we started kissing then, even though I've never seen her naked before, she showed her jugs to me and then I couldn't stop staring at them and so I touched them then one thing led on to another and the next thing I knew, I woke up and found the sticky goo on me, ya know?"

"Naruto, calm down... You just had a wet dream is all..." Jiraiya sweat dropped.

"A what?" The genin was confused.

And so, Jiraiya explained exactly what was going on with him but the blond was still very bewildered as to why he had such an erotic dream.

"But why would it be about Curly Brow when I like Sakura?" He questioned.

"You guys were pretty close to one another last night. Especially with you two sharing a blanket by the fire and you allowing her to sleep right next to you under the same blanket since there weren't enough covers. I'm guessing that closeness sorta triggered your... dream."

"You think so...?"

"Naruto, Jiraiya-sensei..." Nia suddenly appeared behind the blond as she had just woken up and was rubbing an eye, "What're you guys doing up so early?"

Immediately, the genin's face turned blue.

"GUAH! IT'S CURLY BROW!" He freaked out and quickly turned away from her.

Jiraiya chuckled as he then said, "Why good morning! Hope you slept well Nia cause today's training is gonna be all about enhancing that water jutsu of yours."

"Kay," The girl nodded before she sat down and slightly smiled at the blond though he tried his best not to look at her, "Good morning, Naruto. Thanks to you, I was able to stay warm and protected from the bugs and rats. I'm... really glad you were next to me. It really did mean a lot. I felt safe because of you."

"..." The blond didn't know what to say as his cheeks grew red from her acknowledgment.

Seeing this, Jiraiya chuckled.

I thought I'd never see the day this kid would get shy for whatever reason.

"Nia, did you have any interesting dreams like Naruto here did?" He then asked, provoking the genin.

"Pervy Sage..." He glared.

"Erm..." Nia thought for a moment, "Yeah, I did have a dream. I hope this doesn't sound weird, but you were in my dream, Naruto."

"What?!" He finally faced her and breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Are you serious? I... you were in my dream too, ya know?"

"Really?" Nia began to blush and felt flattered, "That's... wow. I don't think anyone's ever told me they had a dream about me before."

"Well I did!" Naruto was getting a bit too excited as he believed they had the same kind of dream, "So uh, what was yours about?"

He began to comb his hair with his fingers, smile, and sat in what he considered, a more manly way. However, as Nia was just about to tell him her dream, he began thinking of his again.

The way she showed her vulnerable side to him, the way he wished to protect her from getting hurt, the way he was touching her, the way they kissed, the way she flashed her bosom and allowed him to fondle and caress them till finally the two began to have sex.

He felt wrong for having such a dream and couldn't understand why he would dream about something so perverted. It wasn't like him at all.

As Nia began talking, his eyes lingered into her eyes, then to her lips, and lastly her breasts. Noticing how his pupil was subconsciously practically checking his other student out as she talked, Jiraiya began to laugh to himself but then pretended to cough on the side of his closed fist when Nia glanced at him for a brief second before turning her attention back to the blond.

"So that's what it was about!" Nia finished telling her dream as Naruto quickly averted his eyes from her breasts before she could catch him staring, "I'm sorry if it was weird."

"Don't apologize," The genin blushed as he couldn't get his dream out of his head, "You have really nice ti- taijutsu skills, ya know?"

"You really think so?" Nia became immediately flattered while Jiraiya had to ran to a safe distance just so he could crack up over the blond's behavior.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in a huge predicament as staring at the girl's chest and remembering the dream he had had caused his imagination to wonder. He could feel himself going stiff and while Nia was speaking more about how she wanted to spend more time developing her ninjutsu skills, the blond constantly either had to adjust his pants or adjust his position without her noticing.

It was embarrassing for him to say the least and he felt shameful of himself, but his dream had felt so real. She wanted him there, wanted him to touch her, and be the one she can find solace in. They did bicker a lot, but Nia was beginning to let him get closer to him. She was starting to trust him; something he had wanted from her for a while.

"Well, I'm gonna get going now, all right?" The girl stood up and stretched as sitting had made her feel tensed, "I'm going to improve my water jutsu now!"

"Yeah, good luck with that," Naruto nervously grinned, "I'll uh... catch you later then."

"Uh huh!" Nia nodded as she then hopped away and out of ear shot.

When she did, Jiraiya came back to Naruto crawling on his knees as his side had began to hurt from him laughing so hard.

"Pervy Sage, c'mon! Get serious already! This is a serious problem, ya know?" The blond scolded, "I think I've hanged around you for too long! You're turning me into a dirty old pervert!"

"Kid, you're just becoming a man is all." The sannin finally managed to calm down and sat with his arms crossed.

Naruto again adjusted his pants, "Oh man... I really wanted to touch her..."

Hearing this, Jiraiya's cheeks quickly appeared to be filled with air like a balloon as he tried his hardest not to go into another laughing fit.

Naruto then brought his hands up to his chest and began to act like he was squeezing something, "I wanted to feel those jugs of her's, suck on them, then ram my face in between them and move it right and left really fast."

Immediately, Jiraiya fell onto his back with his hands on his stomach as he couldn't contain his laughter any longer. His tongue stuck out dramatically as he bursted out in hysteria.

Angered due to feeling he was being taken lightly, Naruto began to yell at the sannin. However, as nothing could make him stop laughing, Naruto couldn't take the ache in his groin any longer and ran off to take care of it himself privately.

As for Jiraiya, this moment was noted as one of the funniest situations he witnessed.

~~~ Flashback Ends ~~~

"That didn't seem like a pleasant moment for Naruto." Kakashi gave his response, "Nor did it seem like his usual self."

"The kid was just growing up," Jiraiya replied, "After all, they were always around one another and each day they would get closer and closer. Naruto just has a soft spot for vulnerable people."

"How would you say he came to like this girl, Master Jiraiya?"

"Getting to know her played a large role but like I said before, her vulnerability definitely gave him the urge to defend her. I'm sure you noticed by now, but Naruto's never really looked at a person in particular. And by that I mean, he always observes and hears how a person is treated and how they're treating everyone else."

"That is true." Kakashi agreed.

"With Nia," Jiraiya continued, "Yeah, she was a bit cold, distant, and harsh to him at first, but Naruto knew she was only acting that way because she's been treated terribly and so patiently tried to comfort her when he could and gave her time to soften up. When she finally did warm up to him, it was only a matter of time before that kid would grow a soft spot for her which eventually turned into feelings of love much later."

"That explains a lot."

"She really was like an abused animal being shown compassion for the first time though, Kakashi."

"Explain what you mean when you say that." The jonin responded.

As Jiraiya began to clarify what he meant, Naruto and Nia had finished their lunch some time ago and was now  having a pretty serious talk.

"Naruto... you're always staring at me now," Nia moved some hair behind her ear, "Is there a reason why?"

"Curly Brow," Naruto looked at the girl in the eye, "You're... pretty. I think you're pretty, ya know?"

Immediately, Nia felt a tightness in her throat. Almost like a sudden anger. She didn't like that she had randomly felt that way but she couldn't help but feel he was lying to her, but even so, she knew her condition was acting up and so, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. It was a compliment, meaning she should take it.

However, pretty had always been a word far out of her reach. If anyone were to ever call her that, it was always a lie. Empty words.

"Even if no one agrees with me, I don't care," Naruto stated as Nia was having difficulty maintaining eye contact with him, "I actually think that you're cute and everything. I think you're a good girl and definitely one of a kind."

Though touched, Nia felt the natural and instinctive urge to keep her guard up. It couldn't be helped.

She looked down, "I'm trying hard... not to counter everything you just said. I'm going to just take the compliment and-"

"I think you're the most beautiful girl on the planet." The genin then blurted out and next leaned forward till he got the girl to look him in the eyes, "Seriously! I really really like you, Curly Brow. I love you."

Hearing this, Nia rubbed her hands down her face slowly.

"Oh my goodness," She breathed as she could feel the butterflies in her stomach again. Despite this, on the outside, it appeared she was beginning to get an attitude.

"What's wrong?" Naruto questioned as he believed she didn't like what he said, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I... it's just... I don't hear this too often, or I mean... I'm so used to insults that I'm still trying to learn how to not let compliments go in from one ear and out the other and just let it flow in me." Nia revealed, "You didn't say anything wrong."

Naruto smiled anyway, "At least you're trying."

"Yeah," The girl nodded, "But don't worry, I do appreciate them. Especially since they're coming from you. I do believe when you say these things even if I feel the whole rest of the world would tell either one of us otherwise. In your eyes, I know I'm worthy and that you believe I'm someone that deserves to be treated kindly too."

"That's right! You didn't deserve to be treated like nothing because of how you look. You didn't deserve having everyone misjudging you either, ya know? You're kind, but you were really hurt. I know you're not exactly the type to be kind to someone who you know has been making fun of you, spreading rumors or has been pretending to be your friend while stabbing you in the back, but I totally understand why you were the way you were and you're getting better now and that's all that matters."

"Naruto..." Nia smiled as her face began to warm, "Thank you. This is why I love you."

"I'm not very good with words, but I always like to speak from here." The blond placed his hand on his heart, "And while on that subject, can I tell you something? If I'm speaking from the heart, I might as well say this."

"What is it?" The kunoichi began to get a little nervous.

He gave her the most serious eyes she'd ever seen. Did he have something to confess to her? Did he have a deep dark secret? What was it? Everything was intense.

"Curly Brow," He spoke slowly as he placed her hands in his, "I should've told you this a long while but I had always been afraid of your reaction until now."

At this, Nia began to feel something was wrong. Her heart pounded in her chest and she took deep yet quicker breaths.

"What?" She asked as worry gripped her being.

Naruto looked down and groped the kunoichi's breasts rather roughly.

"You have such a nice pair of tits and I really wanna smash my face in between them, ya know!" The genin admitted before doing as he wanted and rammed his face between Nia's bosom as he quickly smashed them together with his hands and turned red as he moved his face side to side at a quick pace.

"NARUTOOO!" Nia instantly became embarrassed and tried to back away as the boy just wouldn't pull away from her.

"Curly Brow, I love them so much! I love you so much, ya know?" He muffled as he kept himself buried.

Although caught off guard, Nia sighed as she was just glad the boy was just admiring her chest. She wrapped her arms around his head gently and allowed him to enjoy her body as a large smile spread across her face as he did so.

He always made her feel more womanly, more human, and more loved.

Back where Kakashi and Jiraiya were, the sannin stood up and placed his saki in the garbage.

"It's time, Kakashi." He gave a solemn look, "I gotta do what I must do in order to save that poor girl's life and to keep Naruto from giving in to grief and thus allowing himself to completely become the nine-tails like he became in the vision."

"Whatever happens, Master Jiraiya... Just be careful," Kakashi then also stood up and placed his hands in his pockets, "I'll do what I can to make sure Naruto doesn't interfere with your battle with Nia. Just know... don't kill her."

"I don't intend to do so, but... if she incidentally gets killed, she was going to die either way."

"Master Jiraiya..."

"You just make sure to keep Naruto busy. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just hope... Nia will be alive by the end of this match also.

With that, Jiraiya began to head over to the couple as Kakashi followed closely behind him.

'Master Jiraiya...' Kakashi observed as the older man clenched his fist as he walked, 'This must be hard for you... I don't blame you.'

---

A/N - Okay yep! Jiraiya will be fighting Nia in the next chapter.

Also, I just wanna let you guys know that I know you guys really enjoy this story and I really appreciate you guys and everything but you guys really should know that this story is not a priority in my life. Writing fanfiction is just a hobby for me. A VERY FUN one!

However, I do have a life I need to attend to and so I may not be able to post every couple-few days like you all would like me to do unfortunately. However, I do try to post every weekend so please be patient 😊
Sometimes I spoil you guys with two chapters in a week lol.

Now I'm not going to lie, sometimes you guys get those chapters early due to the amount of comments you guys give a new chapter and because of some of y'all telling me just how much you love this story through inbox (which I truly appreciate)

Hell, you guys even send me FANART 🤣🤣🤣 AND I LOVE THAT LOL (y'all can always hmu with fan art! Just letting you guys know lol)

Also another thing: I've heard from quite a few people that sometimes you're afraid or intimidated to message me through inbox. Honestly, you guys shouldn't ever feel intimidated by me lol. I know a lot of you think I have a lot of reads, or that I'm popular, or that I have a lot of followers and that makes you feel I'm probably stuck up, but I'm really not lol. In fact, if it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't be anything on this site.

If you're a fan, I'm always happy to chat you up as long as you're not disrespectful. I'm not mean at all, feel free to talk to me. I'm pretty chill lol.

One last thing, remember how Jiraiya was saying Nia was like a abused animal being shown affection and true kindness for the first time? I got the perfect video to show y'all what he means.

Just pretend the dog (emotionally) is Nia, and the person trying to touch the dog is Naruto 😅 it's sad but here it is.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Okay! thanks for reading everyone! Please comment and vote and have a great night ❤️

QOTD

1. Favorite part?

2. Favorite line?

3. How many chapters do you think this story will have lol