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It had been a few days since Naruto and Jiraiya left Konoha for their training trip and so far they’d mostly spent their time walking. After all, they had the next two-and-a-half years ahead of them and no concrete destination in mind, so there was no need to hurry and leap through the trees.
It was getting late. The sun was seated low on the mountains off in the distance, casting the path ahead of the pair of shinobi in its warmest glow, as if leaving them a going-away present. They were far off the main highways. There was only packed dirt under Jiraiya’s wooden geta and, apart from an old oil-seller, they’d encountered nothing but small shrines and stone pillars marking the way, all sunken into the earth and blanketed with moss. With the slight breeze and the fading twilight, the world felt wholly familiar to Jiraiya, like an old friend. He breathed deeply through his nose, basking in the sense of oneness that came over him as he set one foot in front of the other.
A few steps ahead, Naruto was climbing along the edges of the path. He carefully jumped between the rock formations jutting out from the earth like giant noses. The boy had his arms stretched out to keep his balance, voice high and light as he chanted a rhyme to himself. Jiraiya smiled at the sight.
Naruto pivoted around, grinning and opening his mouth before his foot slipped on the moss-covered stone. His arms went windmilling, eyes comically wide as he teetered for one... two seconds. It didn’t help. He dropped and only just managed to wrap his arms and legs around the rock to keep from landing on his ass. Jiraiya barked out a laugh as the young ninja made like a monkey clinging to its mother’s back.
“Hey, hey, Ero-sensei!” Naruto crowed. “Where’re we going anyway? Are we there yet?”
“We’re almost there,” Jiraiya said for the fourth time, strolling past. Naruto got busy getting back up on his perch by scooting his butt up like a caterpillar. His small pink tongue was poking out between his lips, concentration childishly stark on his face.
“And we’re going to a bathhouse,” the man called over his shoulder.
“Eh?” Having made it all the way up, Naruto jumped once, twice, and then squatted on the next rock to pout down at his sensei. “A bath house? But bath houses are boring, and I already took a bath last weekend.”
The old shinobi’s expression turned pained. “Y-yeah. I could tell.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Naruto raised his sleeve to his nose and performed the same smell test he always used to check if he needed another bath. Lifting his head again, he found Jiraiya had already left him behind again. “Ero-sensei? What’s that supposed to mean? Ero-sensei? Hey, hey, wait up!“
The bath house sat nestled against an overhanging cliff and wasn’t much of a bath house at all. Really, it was just a tall bamboo wall around a hot spring with an entranceway that also functioned as a locker room. In front was a booth where Jiraiya paid for them both.
Despite his earlier protests, Naruto stripped quickly. He didn’t have any qualms about it, why would he? In the hot, oppressive summers of Konoha, most children didn’t last the morning without ditching their clothes to go playing or swimming in the river. Wearing them just felt sweaty and stuffy and besides, boys and girls from poor families, or orphans like Naruto, often didn’t own more than a single set of clothes. Going bare was preferable to ruining them.
They were left only with small washcloths dangling from their wrists and a small wooden box Jiraiya had decided to bring. The air smelled of sulfur and other minerals, and the stones underneath their bare feet were slick and wet. The hot spring was about as large as a wide pond, circled by natural rocks on one side and the steep face of the cliff on the other. A wooden tube hooked somewhere over the cliff, extended over the room of the entrance, and spewed more jade-green water into the pool. Only a handful of other bathers were there. They sat spread out into the corners of the pool with bald heads sagging like the ancient stone pillars Jiraiya and Naruto had passed earlier.
Naruto hissed when he lowered a foot into the water: it was hot, way hotter than the water at the Konoha Bath House. The fact didn’t seem to bother his sensei though, as Jiraiya was already wading towards a free spot, leaving Naruto with no choice except to make a brave face and slip in after him. He did still send a glare at Jiraiya, just to remind him that bath houses were boring and dumb.
The man only laughed, sitting down, spreading his arms and tipping his head back on the rocks. “Sit down and endure it, brat. Think of it as training,” he said. So, reluctantly, Naruto lowered himself on his butt, trying to get used to the heat surging around him. He pulled his knees to his chest, wrapped his arms around them and propped his chin up, huffing defiantly one more time.
Nothing much happened then.
It was quiet, with only the splash of the artificial waterfall as a backdrop. No one was talking, and Naruto felt like he shouldn’t either. Like it would disturb something big and furry and snoozing, something that had settled around them. It was boring, but at the same time it was somehow… nice. The heat from the water was flowing into him now, unlocking his muscles one by one and making his eyelids grow heavy. Steam curled up his body, licking over his back and his chest, soothing him until his head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and even his bangs were wet and drooping.
“Don’t fall asleep now, you didn’t even wash yourself properly,” his sensei chided.
Naruto’s nose wrinkled with annoyance. “Did too!” The washing station was between the lockers and the bath. Naruto had soaped up and squatted in the corner, emptying the bucket of water over himself like he was supposed to. His sensei just hadn’t paid attention.
But Jiraiya shook his head and waved Naruto’s words away, arguing instead, “If the water’s too hot for you, then you didn’t soak yourself enough before stepping inside.” The words turned into a low rumble, washing over Naruto like the gentle shove of a wave. “Come on, up you get. Go soak. Tsunade will have my head if I tell her you passed out and drowned in a bath house.”
Naruto didn’t want to, but he also didn’t have the strength to resist when Jiraiya dragged him up by his arm and gave him a quick push towards the water gushing from the overhanging pipe. Naruto’s senses were muddled, he was barely present enough to plod under the spray and mumble about mean sensei at the same time. Like this, he didn’t notice the staring.
Jiraiya leaned back again, smiling to himself, watching, enjoying. He generally didn’t count himself to the lovers of men. A gallant shinobi warrior like him deserved the soft touch of a beautiful woman, he reasoned, but he was sacrificing a lot taking Naruto on as a student for the next few years. It wasn’t senseless to expect some gratitude, and among the noble clans and the monks it was more than accepted that some boys were meant to perform duties like they might be girls.
Jiraiya had read discussions about the refined Way of Youths and he could indeed see its appeal as he studied his young student. Naruto was athletic and slim from near constant training, but he was also shorter than his peers and even some of the boys Jiraiya had known who were a year or two younger still. Jiraiya mused if it would be wrong to be thankful to the orphanage for not feeding him enough. Puberty only being somewhere on the horizon meant that Naruto’s body was free of any unsightly hair or other overt signs of masculinity, instead leaving him all boyish chest and coltish legs, accented by a tight and nicely rounded ass; curves in the only the place that mattered for a boy like him.
Animated, his innocence was striking. He splashed water through the motions of rubbing his arms and legs, a sheen flowing over his sun-kissed skin. Naruto bent down, then stood to reach his arms up over his head like he was conscious of the entertainment he was providing. Shoulder blades flashed beneath his skin as he ran his hands through his blond hair, and when his body twisted so he could throw a glance at his sensei, Jiraiya could see that his appeal was downright feminine.
The water wasn’t very deep, and Jiraiya managed to catch a glimpse or two of Naruto’s slim penis, smooth and small, resting on the cushion of his sac still clinging tight to his body. It looked nothing like what was swelling with interest between his own legs, hidden by nebulous water.
“’m clean,” Naruto huffed after trotting back, his cheeks puffed out in a devastating pout.
“Are you sure?” Jiraiya asked, taking him by the arm and pulling him closer, turning him around.
“I am!” Naruto whined sleepily.
Jiraiya ignored his protest. “You didn’t do your back. Let your sensei rub it for you.”
Naruto grumbled, stomped his foot to splash them both but then let Jiraiya do what he wanted.
The man started carefully, at first only marveling at how broad his hands looked against Naruto’s bird-like frame, tracing his thumb over the harp-string bow of his ribs to where they wrapped around the boy’s flank. Following the curve of Naruto’s spine, down till his thumbs were right above the swell of his ass, pert and inviting like any girl’s, Jiraiya stroked up again, applying gentle pressure that pushed a long breath out of the boy. He kept on just massaging him like this for a few minutes, until Naruto’s head drooped and his eyes fluttered shut.
“Naruto?” The words were whisper quiet. The only answer was a mumble that sounded vaguely questioning.
“Just checking.”
Jiraiya settled his hands around the slip of Naruto’s hips, keeping them there, waiting for a second. When no protest came, he squeezed carefully, rhythmically, rolling the boy’s pelvis forwards in a smooth motion. A breathy moan tumbled from Naruto’s lips. His body felt like putty: safe and warm and cared for.
“Naruto?”
“Mh?”
“Do you know how to masturbate?”
Naruto’s eyelids were heavy lead weights when he blinked them open to look over his shoulder, smiling tentatively at his sensei, maybe expecting a joke. He noticed that the man was very close right then.
“Masterbate?” His innocent question had his sensei chuckling.
“Yes. Jerk off.”
“Oh.” The words made something in Naruto’s head thrill a warning, but the thought slipped through his fingers and was gone after only a breath. “Yeah,” he sighed. His hips twitched between Jiraiya’s hands but he just leaned back, nestling into the crook of the man’s arm like he belonged there all along. His eyes closed again.
“Sasuke told me I should do it.”
One of Jiraiya’s white eyebrows climbed up his forehead but he decided to shelve the information for now. “What was it like?”
“Mhh, weird. Weird and…” Naruto tried to think. Shook his head and stuck to, “Weird.”
“That’s okay.” Jiraiya rewarded him, held him tight, and rolled his hips back and forth. “Did it feel good?” Naruto remembered lying in bed on his stomach, one hand pressing his pillow to his chest and the other stuck into his pajamas, squeezing tight.
A slim shoulder rose for a lazy shrug. “Little bit.”
“You know, it can feel really good. It can be the best feeling in the world.”
“’Suke said so too,” Naruto murmured.
“Naruto.” Jiraiya stopped massaging him, wrapped an arm all the way around him and pulled him closer, brushing his fingers over bewhiskered cheeks still so plump with youth. Everything else fell away. It was only the two of them now, only their bodies and careful touches.
Cerulean eyes cracked open to find Jiraiya’s face only inches from Naruto’s own. He was smiling, gentle and almost loving as he looked at Naruto. No one had ever looked at him like that before. No one had ever been so nice or made him feel so safe before, and just like that, something inside the orphan boy bloomed open for his sensei. He gripped the man’s arm that was wrapped around him, suddenly worried that Jiraiya was going to vanish and no one would ever look at him like this again.
Jiraiya’s smile widened. “Naruto, do you trust me?”
Naruto swallowed at the question, feeling its weight on him even as his eyes shone with trust that was deeper than the blue summer sky. “I do too!” he squeaked, “You took me to find Tsunade and – and you’re letting me summon the toads and you’re teaching me the rasengan!”
“I’m glad,” Jiraiya soothed. “Do you think you could help me feel good? I can show you how to make me very happy.” Naruto nodded his head. The thought of saying no to anything the man wanted was far, far away.
Jiraiya pushed himself up and out of the water to sit on the rocks circling around. He spread his legs and tugged on his thing that now stood between them like an intruder to their intimacy. Instinctively, Naruto crossed his arms behind his back, watching the thing grow and twitch. A large hand effortlessly fitted itself around his biceps, pulling him to stand between the man’s muscled thighs.
“W-what do I —?”
“I’ll teach you. You just have to let me.”
Naruto nodded again, watching his sensei’s face, watching until he was nearly drunk with the love he thought he saw.
“Put your mouth on it.”
Naruto swallowed. A large palm cradled his head, guiding him down. Jiraiya smelled strong and warm like the water. Opening wide, Naruto wrapped his lips around the thing. He looked up for help for what he should do next.
“Wet your mouth,” Jiraiya hissed. “Swallow a few times. Your tongue is rougher than a cat’s.”
Naruto did until his mouth was wet, and when the hand pressed down on his neck the thing slid smoothly. Jiraiya groaned, making Naruto glance up in alarm, but the emotions on his sensei’s face had to reassure him, and when the hand pressed again he tried to be good and take more into his mouth.
Jiraiya was big, barely more than the head went inside before Naruto choked, gagging with tears forcing their way into his eyes. Sensei clicked his tongue, eased off the pressure when small hands started pushing against his thighs to let the boy come up for air. He patted him on the head, whispered impatiently for him to try again and said that he believed he could do better. Grabbing the boy’s ear now, he pulled him back onto his length. Naruto tried, tried, and tried but he still swallowed and choked, fighting to be let up as his pretty blue eyes turned glistening wet.
Jiraiya let him take a few more desperate breaths, taking the boy’s hands and wrapping them around his flesh. “Rub the part you can’t fit in your mouth,” he instructed, moaning when Naruto gave him a few hesitant tugs. The small hands formed a snug tunnel around the thing, with only its head poking out, pointing up at the little blond who was looking back with trepidation.
“Take it in your mouth again. Lick it. Don’t stop.” It was salty and hot. Naruto only sort of poked it with his tongue at first. He had to focus on breathing through his nose and rubbing up and down with his hands, trying not to gag when his sensei pulled his ear.
Naruto wasn’t sure how long he had to keep going. His ear and his jaw were starting to hurt, and his back too from the way he spent the whole time bent over. He was very relieved when the warm hand moved to his neck again and pushed him off.
The thing came free, sending Naruto almost falling over backwards, dizzy from lack of air and wiping stubbornly at his eyes. Hands hooked under his armpits before he could recover and dropped him right in Jiraiya’s lap, his knees spread wide on either side of the man’s hips.
Naruto was captured in a squeezing hug so his sensei could press rewarding kisses on his head. The discomfort from moments ago was quickly forgotten, and Naruto managed to smile crookedly at Jiraiya’s overly affectionate display. Naruto meant to tell his sensei that he didn’t need any coddling, but before he could a hand was holding his chin and broad lips were pressing against his own.
The kiss had Naruto jerk with surprise and shock, his eyes wide as saucers. It was different from what he had imagined: Jiraiya’s lips were soft, making him feel tingly when they brushed over his. A large tongue forced its way into his mouth, exploring. Naruto’s head spun in circles. He was too distracted to do anything when Jiraiya’s hands moved down his body, touching everywhere until he was cupping Naruto’s pert butt, giving it a playful squeeze while his other hand rolled the boy's little sac around. His middle finger slid between Naruto’s bum cheeks and then he was – he was poking Naruto’s hole with a fingernail.
Naruto moaned, arching his back, pressing up into the touch. He was red faced and flustered, assaulted by unfamiliar sensations till they had him turned all around and he wouldn‘t have been able to remember his name if you asked him. All he could do was move his body to beg like a kitten.
Their mouths disconnected with a wet plop, Naruto’s head dropping uselessly against the man’s broad chest. “Mhh, that's perfect, Naruto, making me feel so good.” Jiraiya stroked a hand over his back, gently. “There’s something you can do to make me feel even better, the most amazing thing. But I don’t know if you’re ready.”
Breathing hard, Naruto’s poor body was pulled this way and that by the new feelings, by fingers fondling his boy-parts and massaging his bum. He knew he would do anything if it meant that the feelings wouldn’t stop — if it meant his sensei would keep being nice and realize how much Naruto loved him. “Please,” he whined into the broad chest. “I’ll be good. I w-want to try. I want to so bad.”
Naruto was a beautiful sight: face blush hot, chin coated with saliva from their kissing and his eyes blown wide. He curled against Jiraiya like a babe. The old shinobi thought that he couldn’t remember any girl ever looking at him with such desperate devotion.
“Good boy,” Jiraiya cooed, resuming their kissing. Naruto reached out to put his arms around Jiraiya’s neck while fingers found his little nipples. Those had a strange allure of their own; like two droplets of pink paint on the flat canvas of Naruto’s chest. Jiraiya brushed the pad of his thumb over the little nub, pinching it until Naruto groaned into his mouth, so lost in pleasure that he didn’t even react at first when a different finger, now covered in oil, found his hidden pucker and went inside — into his butt — just like that.
It burned. It felt big. Naruto broke their kiss, nibbling on his lip and panting. “W-what – tha's dirty —”
“Shh,” Jiraiya soothed, rocking him a little and pulling out, grabbing Naruto’s thigh to move his leg further out and lessen some of the strain. His fingers left a slippery trail before one eased its way back into tight heat.
The first knuckle, the second knuckle, Naruto could feel them going inside, making him blush hot with embarrassment all the way down to his chest. Jiraiya was moving around inside, and they were kissing again, and it maybe didn't bother Naruto so much.
Then Jiraiya pulled the finger out and started working two inside, and Naruto could tell that it was too much. It hurt! He clenched around them, so Jiraiya pulled them free, massaged the tension away from between Naruto’s shoulder blades and rolled his hips in his hand.
Soon, Naruto was all loose and limp again, melting into his sensei’s lips. Chuckling, Jiraiya reached into the wooden box he’d brought. A small, red berry appeared in front of Naruto‘s eyes, held in his fingers.
“Here, this will help. You only need to breathe in through your nose when I tell you to.” Jiraiya pressed a chaste kiss to the whiskers on Naruto’s cheek to get his attention before repeating the instructions. Naruto did as he was told when Jiraiya crushed the berry in his fingers.
“Oh, oh wow. It’s –” Naruto’s words were cut off by a fit of giggling. The stuff he’d breathed in was like wind blowing through his head and tickling down his back, spreading out through his limbs until he flopped against Jiraiya’s chest. His muscles felt like they wouldn't really listen to him anymore.
They cuddled and rubbed together. A finger went inside Naruto again, even though it was scary and he didn’t know how it would help make his sensei feel good. One finger turned into two, but this time Naruto couldn’t clench against the attempt. He murmured into Jiraiya’s chest that it wouldn’t fit, that it would hurt, so his head was tilted up so a sloppy kiss could silence him.
The fingers did hurt. Naruto could feel how they had to stretch him to even fit inside. Jiraiya told him when to relax and when to try and push out and it helped, but it was just too tight. It was better when they left him again, but then Jiraiya slapped him on the butt and told him to lift himself up high.
Naruto tried. His legs were warm ramen noodles and just trembled when he did, but Jiraiya slapped his butt again, and then again, laughing and telling him to hurry. Finally, with his bottom already stinging, Naruto was hovering precariously above Jiraiya’s lap, his hands gripping the man’s shoulders for balance. Naruto panted and trembled, thoughts hooked and waiting impatiently for sensei to start playing with him again. Instead the man did something else: He reached into the box again and then moved his hands to his own lap. Naruto looked over his shoulder, down himself past his butt glistening wet with slippery oil to see —
“It can’t go in my butt,” Naruto stated simply, because it couldn’t, right? In response, Jiraiya hummed and continued slicking up his erection. To Naruto, it looked different from before: red and hard and angry, and it had to be ten times bigger than two fingers. He stared, wide eyed and frightened.
“It’s alright.” Jiraiya was cupping his cheek and turning his head away, playing with his body some more to distract him. “You’re going to be perfect for me, I know it. My perfect boy making me feel so good. It’ll hurt a little, but not for long. I trusted you when you said you wanted this. Do you trust me when I say that it’ll be fine?”
Jiraiya was looking at him the same as before; gentle and loving. Naruto found himself nodding at every word, all the little praises the man showered him with. A hand took him by his hip, guiding him down. Jiraiya’s other hand was holding his cock, lining it up.
Naruto whimpered when the hard thing slid between his butt cheeks, the head rubbing over his slippery hole. Everything was slippery down there, and the rest of them both was too: with sweat and steam and the heat of their bodies. Naruto knew they’d somehow entered a different place; one where he got to keep all this love and all this care for himself, and in exchange he just had to be slippery and do what Jiraiya wanted, no matter if it made sense. He pushed out like his sensei told him and with more force from Jiraiya, the head of his thing pressed inside.
“Oh!” Naruto’s expression flitted between all the emotions too big to fit into such a little boy to settle somewhere between bravery, pain, and disbelief. The stretch was unimaginable. He wanted to beg his sensei to wait and give him some time, but Jiraiya was already grasping at his butt, his hips, his own hardness to get more of it inside. It felt bigger than anything. There couldn’t be any room left in Naruto for anything except for what sensei was sticking him with. Naruto’s lips parted for a mute wail, eyes scrunching shut. His face was stark red, head craning up like he was trying to fly away and escape. Jiraiya hissed with pleasure. The boy’s ass was almost strangling him.
Only about half was inside now, Naruto quiverd like a tense bow through each slick inch, desperate breaths pushing his ribs through his skin. Until the tension suddenly gave all at once, and Naruto was left to fall limp and abandoned. Jiraiya was there to catch him, gathering him against his chest, the slim arms that were wrapped around his neck slipping to dangle powerlessly.
“Perfect for me.” Jiraiya’s praises came through clenched teeth, but he meant them. The small boy having given up fighting it, Jiraiya could force the last few inches of cock into him. Overwhelmed and skirting along the edge of unconsciousness, Naruto whimpered with pain, now fully seated in his sensei’s lap. Moving his hands under the boy’s ass, Jiraiya hiked him up some, thrusting his hips to start fucking his precious student; slowly and carefully, for now.
“Un... un... un,” Naruto grunted. His legs twitched where they were forced wide around his sensei, toes curling and uncurling every time the thing claimed its place inside him. He was vocal now, too weak to hold anything back, hiccupping and moaning and groaning at the long, careful slide in and out of him.
Jiraiya loved it, Naruto’s high-pitched cries weren’t any different from a girl’s, and his body was soft and warm and small enough that Jiraiya could wrap himself all the way around. He picked up speed, his blood boiling now as he was finally chasing after his release and soon Naruto was being bounced up and down, his voice piercing the blanket of steam around them. Jiraiya’s climax struck him like a thunderbolt, and he buried himself deep as he found his climax in Naruto’s tight, accepting heat.
“Oh.” Naruto squirmed weakly, feeling gooey warmth spread out. “’s icky,” he mumbled drowsily. Jiraiya couldn’t help but laugh, full-bellied and satisfied.
He rested his chin on Naruto’s head and sighed. His hands traveled over the little boy again, up and down his arms before rubbing soothing circles between his shoulder blades. “Hush. It’s over, Naruto. You were so good. I’m so happy. It’s already over, aren’t you glad you trusted your sensei?”
Naruto’s motions were sluggish, exhausted. Fingers circled around his neck and pinched lightly until his head cleared up a little. Naruto pulled his leg up to shift himself around so he was sitting sideways in his sensei’s lap. This way, he could listen to the powerful beat of the man’s heart, though he did also make a face at the way his motions made the softening thing in his butt move around. He shrugged, curling into Jiraiya. Naruto felt oddly proud of himself too. The thought made his shoulders come up and he ducked his head because – because it was dumb. He hadn’t really done anything except whine a lot. Hot embarrassment mixed with the swelling pride until he couldn’t meet his sensei’s eyes anymore for fear he was going to burst. “I – it wasn’t that bad – in the end I mean,” he lied.
Above him, his words had Jiraiya smiling triumphantly. It was just as he’d predicted. Naruto had been more or less alone for most of his life. He’d never had anyone who gave him the kind of care and attention a boy needs, and now that he did, he'd realized how starved for it he was. Jiraiya would use that fact to teach him, would reward him with kindness and love each time Naruto offered himself until he’d be nothing but a good boy for Jiraiya. A good and obedient boy, and a pretty girl to use when Jiraiya needed release.
“You did very well.” Jiraiya brushed a few wet, blond curls from Naruto’s forehead to plant a kiss there and found the boy looking down between their bodies. Jiraiya wondered what he saw when he compared them. Sitting like this, two lines crossed horizontally over Naruto’s abdomen: baby-fat clinging to him like melting snow to the branches of a pine.
Naruto reached out a hand to Jiraiya’s abs. “You’re super strong. Like a hero.”
They kept on cuddling as Jiraiya started whispering into Naruto’s ear, calling him his sweet, pretty student and saying how proud he was that Naruto had been brave enough to make him feel good. He repeated the soft praises over and over while gently rubbing his hand over Naruto’s belly.
An almost meditative mood came over them, lasting until Jiraiya finally made Naruto get up. Coltish legs quivered with effort as Naruto gripped his sensei’s shoulders, resigned to do as he was told and raising his bottom until the man’s thing came free with a weird noise down there and a relieved groan from Naruto’s lips. Jiraiya stood too, tearing away the curtain that had descended over the world as it existed away from the two of them. Naruto’s knees knocked together, barely able to support his weight. He felt weak, exhausted, and terribly exposed now that the warmth of his sensei’s body was gone. Hands took him by his shoulders, steadied him and turned him around.
Naruto startled back against Jiraiya: the other bathers were all still right there. He’d forgotten about them but now it suddenly dawned on him that they’d been watching the whole time. They were grinning, panting, their hands at work under the water. It was horrible, making Naruto turn beet red as he tried to conceal his nudity. He was embarrassed of his immature body for the first time in his life.
But his sensei was there and wouldn’t leave him to face the men alone.
“It’s okay,” he said, rubbing Naruto’s shoulders. “They just like looking at you. They think you're really pretty too.”
Taking him by his hand, Jiraiya led the furiously blushing boy to the exit. A few of the other men raised their eyebrows, asking wordlessly. But Jiraiya wasn’t interested in selling his student. That wasn’t the point.
In the locker room, Naruto waited with his hands clasped over his privates as Jiraiya dressed himself. The boy’s own clothes were right there, and he stared longingly at them but at the same time found himself unable to move a muscle. He felt wobbly and unsure of himself, like the ground was shifting under his feet. Naruto waited for his sensei to tell him what he should do.
Naruto didn’t get his clothes back. Sensei kept them balled up under his arm, their backpacks in his hand. Naruto had no choice but to follow him naked past the man in the booth by the entrance with his hands still trying to cover his private bits and his shoulders pulled up to his ears. When he glanced over to the stranger, the man just smiled knowingly because, Naruto realized, he knew: he knew what Naruto had done in the bath. Shame and humiliation rolled hot in Naruto’s belly, and he ran to cower next to his sensei.
There was a clearing in the woods close to the bath house where Naruto was finally allowed to stop. “Spread out your bedroll,” Jiraiya ordered, taking pleasure in the way his cute student jumped to it. When he was done, Naruto came back to stand in front of his sensei, studiously looking down at his own naked feet. The boy's normal bravado was nowhere to be seen, stripped away to reveal the vulnerability hidden beneath, leaving him with nothing to hold on to except for Jiraiya. Right then, Naruto looked very small. He started to shiver in the cold air of the night. Jiraiya knew it wouldn’t last. He expected Naruto to be back to his usual self by tomorrow, but they had taken the first step together. Naruto would't forget the shock of how good Jiraiya’s care and attention had felt.
“Lie down.”
Naruto did, on his stomach, arms curled up under him to protect from the cold. But then he wasn't cold anymore because sensei was lying on top of him, squishing him and covering them both with a warm blanket.
Naruto squirmed to curl towards him, staring with huge eyes. “S-sensei?”
“I’d like it if you shared my bed from now on,” Jiriaya announced, a smile bright on his face as he petted Naruto’s side under the covers.
Naruto’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t mind, right then, it felt like he wouldn’t ever mind anything. “Uhm, o-okay,” he blushed. Arms pulled the little boy in tight until he had to crane his neck to keep looking up at his sensei’s smile and kind eyes.
“Would you like that too? Sleeping together?” Jiraiya could see by the way Naruto glowed that the boy was oblivious to the true implication of the question.
“I would too,” Naruto admitted, even as he felt ashamed of doing so. “You’re – you’re my sensei, and you’re super strong —” Naruto’s voice was tiny when he continued, “You’re the nicest anyone has ever been to me.”
“You’re nice too, Naruto. You were very nice to me tonight,” Jiraiya soothed. Under the covers, his fingers dipped towards the boy’s ass again. Jiraiya caught the moment Naruto understood, the moment he swallowed nervously at how he could be nice for the man.
“Was it good? the best feeling ever?” Naruto’s question was hesitant, conflicting emotions clear on his face. He wiggled his butt and Jiraiya could see how the motion made him flinch. No doubt Naruto was very sore.
“It was so good.”
“Better ‘an ramen even?” Jiraiya huffed into Naruto’s wet mop of golden hair, chuckling tiredly.
“It was the best. It was absolutely perfect.” The words made Naruto’s ears burn, a wide grin splitting his face as his heart thrilled in his chest.
“Of course, of course!” Naruto boasted, nodding against Jiraiya’s chest. “I’m the best. I’m the best at everything, even at —” he faltered for a moment, eventually just waving his hand in a way that encompassed them both. “Even at stuff like that! It’s easy if you’re awesome like me!”
“It’s really something. Most boys aren’t so brave because they think it’s scary and hurts too much,” Jiraiya offered with a smirk, watching Naruto preen in response. Just like that, the pain that throbbed up Naruto’s back transformed into a boyish badge of pride that Naruto would’ve worn taped to his chest for everyone to see if he’d been able to.
“Tha’s dumb,” Naruto snickered, even as exhaustion started to pull on his limbs. He rested his eyes for a moment. “You aren’t scary at all an' shinobi don't get hurt. I thought it was like a tough Ninja mission, an’ no mission can beat me, believe it!”
Moments later, the boy was already off somewhere in dreamland; the last drops of his strength finally used up. Jiraiya shifted to look up at the night sky, Naruto's blonde head resting on his chest, poking out from beneath the thick blanket. Quietly, Jiraiya marvled at how fiercely he could feel his lust for his cute little student burn now that it had been ignited. It was proof that he'd made the right choice, and that Naruto was meant for this. Jiraiya could already imagine it: himself, the gallant shinobi master, with Naruto by his side. Young and cute, the boy would be like a single flower caught between his fingers, highlighting Jiraiya's manhood in turn. Other men would glare and mutter jealously and for once girls would be chasing him, chasing after what they felt they couldn't have. Jiraiya's smile turned lecherous at the thought. Taking Naruto with him had truly been the best decision for both of them.