“Thanks for the room and board, No-chan,” smirked Jiraiya, as the redheaded matron of the Saotome clan assisted him to his bed for his stay. The medic-nin had done a very good job patching him up, but he was still sore, and some injuries couldn’t be healed so quickly, no matter how skilled the shinobi.
Well, Tsunade probably could have cut that time in half, but she wasn’t there, nor would she have been willing to assist him if she learned just how he had been injured.
“No problem, Jiraiya,” smirked Nodoka. “After all, I'm sure you've always wondered what the inside of my home looked like.”
He chuckled nervously. Some of the seals and wards the woman had invented and placed on her property kept the Sannin from conducting any ‘research’ in the area. And while Genma had invited him in at a few points, Nodoka always changed the security configuration soon afterwards.
It was like she didn’t trust him … or wanted him to earn a peek. Hell, the security alone tempted him. Even the Uchiha baths and even the Hyuuga baths didn’t have that much security. But no one ever accused Nodoka Saotome of not making someone work for their rewards.
And he was certain any illustration of her in his books would double—nee, triple—sales.
Sighing, Nodoka looked out the window onto the estate. “I do have a bit of an ulterior reason for asking you here.”
“Oh?” asked Jiraiya. Normally, he would have asked a question in jest, perhaps that she was finally willing to pose for him. But her tone… Very rarely did she use that tone, only when she was serious.
Nodding, she didn’t turn from the window. “I need you to check the seals.”
His eyes stared at her for a moment, before they fell on his blanket. “I see. Has either of them given you cause to think the seals are failing?”
She shook her head. “Naruto’s hasn’t, but in his case it is better to be safe than deal with that beast’s chakra leaking out and manipulating him later on because we missed it.”
“And Ranma?”
She stayed silent for nearly a minute, carefully choosing her words. “I believe something happened when Yakumo’s Idou pulled them into that genjutsu, something in the way she reported my son dealing with the mental figment.”
“In what way?” he asked.
“Yakumo claimed Ranma thrust his hand into the Idou.”
“That doesn’t sound bad.”
“She also claims that several blades of light erupted from its back.”
Jiraiya’s eyes widened for a second, before they narrowed. “You believe the Nekoken is starting to peek out.”
“Once again, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Even Genma admitted he was not sure what his attempt at training Ranma in that technique resulted in, nor were the Cat Priests that found them. All they knew was that something powerful emerged that day, powerful enough to result in them adding that new seal to the one Genma ‘copied’,” she said. Genma had always been vague about where he had gotten that scroll from, as if even he himself wasn’t certain.
Jiraiya nodded, recalling his own study of what Genma had done all those years before. The process to create the Nekoken had been Genma’s attempt to use what he thought was a forgotten technique of the cat summons. No one—even Genma himself—was certain what the exact purpose of the technique had been. All they knew was that some power was sealed inside Ranma, a power that when examined, scared the Cat Priests.
He had even summoned two of the Elder Toads: Ma and Pa, to examine the seal. They had been unable to tell what exactly it held, only that it was powerful and somehow harmonized with Ranma’s chakra network.
That gave Ranma easier access to the chakra than Naruto had with the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi’s evil chakra had to be filtered through the seal before Naruto could absorb it, lest it corrupt him. Ranma however … didn’t need to, the harmony allowed Ranma’s own coils to build upon it.
Two different methods, but it still put Ranma up there in chakra capacity, second only to Naruto. He’d have to examine both boys—well, currently boy and girl—to have a better estimation on how close that comparison was.
But no gift came without a price, a price they still didn’t know for what had occurred to Ranma.
And now Nodoka wanted to make certain the Piper hadn’t just shown up to be paid. The seal not only kept whatever was behind it in check, it kept Ranma’s fear in check.
Speaking of fear… “Should I ask what you plan to get the child for a graduation present, aside from open access to your scroll library?”
Nodoka giggled in a way Jiraiya was very familiar with, a giggle she had when she had helped him conduct ‘research’ a few times. “Oh, that … is a secret.”
Jiraiya snorted lightly. Oh, like that hadn’t been the biggest clue. “No-chan, you’re like the daughter I never had.”
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(Posted Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:05)
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