Lo and behold, this time it isn't even about laundry in any way!
Spoiler: show
Application 6: Shelter
Not for first time Naruto questioned his decision to join Jiraiya on his 'training journey', rather than staying in Konoha with his friends. Not because Jiraiya was a bad teacher, far from it; the white-haired shinobi had just the right mix of hands-off practical training that Naruto soaked up like a sponge paired with some not-boring theory so the blonde wasn't completely without a clue how the stuff he was learning actually worked.
No, the problem simply laid in the 'journey' part that accompanied the 'training' bit. More than half of their time was spent traveling from one place to another, seeking out agents of Jiraiya's network, or avoiding those of Akatsuki. Not only did it cut into their training time quite a bit, it also left them exposed to the elements, such as Wind Country's scorching sun, Water Country's freezing rain, or Snow Country's icy winds, quite often, and Naruto at least wasn't keen on losing out on valuable training time just because he had to recover from a pneumonia, or a heatstroke, or the like.
“I told you it would rain, ero-sennin!”
“Don't call me that, brat!”
“Then stop being a pervert! If you hadn't spent all morning trying to ogle or grope those girls at the inn, we'd be safe and dry and warm in the town by now! Or we could've listened to Gamasekkou and gotten some rain coats!” Naruto had stopped walking during his tirade and was flinging rainwater everywhere with his gestures.
“Bah!” Jiraiya waved Naruto's complaints aside, not even bothering to stop in his stride. “A bit rain like this won't harm you. And if you do get sick, then you obviously need some toughening up!”
“You just want more time to peek on hot springs and perv on girls, while I have to stay in bed,” Naruto accused him with narrowed eyes. “Well, screw that! If I get sick, I'll be always following you around, and cough and sneeze at the worst times, like when you're spying on women, and tell every girl I meet what a horrible master you are!”
Coming to an immediate stop, the sannin whipped his head around to give his apprentice a withering glare. “Fine!” he ground out. “Since you're obviously such a baby, do you need me to wipe your ass, too?!”
Still grumbling, Jiraiya walked off the road, while Naruto grinned victoriously. Obviously he'd been right; if you can't convince people with reason or beat sense into them, annoy the living hell out of them.
He briefly wondered what his teacher would do as he watched the white-haired man go through a short sequence of hand seals. Slamming his hands onto the ground, a near-perfect square of earth rose up like a wall. The action was quickly repeated two more times to create additional walls perpendicular to the first, and the third time Jiraiya grabbed the resulting wall and threw it on top of the other three as a roof to create a simple shelter from the weather.
“There, happy now?” he asked grumbling as he sat down inside, and Naruto quickly followed suit beside him, the two watching the rain in silence. The sannin was just about to pull out his 'research notes' when Naruto spoke up again.
“Ne, ero-sennin... I'm bored. Teach me something!”
“Aaaahhhhrgh!”
Not for first time Naruto questioned his decision to join Jiraiya on his 'training journey', rather than staying in Konoha with his friends. Not because Jiraiya was a bad teacher, far from it; the white-haired shinobi had just the right mix of hands-off practical training that Naruto soaked up like a sponge paired with some not-boring theory so the blonde wasn't completely without a clue how the stuff he was learning actually worked.
No, the problem simply laid in the 'journey' part that accompanied the 'training' bit. More than half of their time was spent traveling from one place to another, seeking out agents of Jiraiya's network, or avoiding those of Akatsuki. Not only did it cut into their training time quite a bit, it also left them exposed to the elements, such as Wind Country's scorching sun, Water Country's freezing rain, or Snow Country's icy winds, quite often, and Naruto at least wasn't keen on losing out on valuable training time just because he had to recover from a pneumonia, or a heatstroke, or the like.
“I told you it would rain, ero-sennin!”
“Don't call me that, brat!”
“Then stop being a pervert! If you hadn't spent all morning trying to ogle or grope those girls at the inn, we'd be safe and dry and warm in the town by now! Or we could've listened to Gamasekkou and gotten some rain coats!” Naruto had stopped walking during his tirade and was flinging rainwater everywhere with his gestures.
“Bah!” Jiraiya waved Naruto's complaints aside, not even bothering to stop in his stride. “A bit rain like this won't harm you. And if you do get sick, then you obviously need some toughening up!”
“You just want more time to peek on hot springs and perv on girls, while I have to stay in bed,” Naruto accused him with narrowed eyes. “Well, screw that! If I get sick, I'll be always following you around, and cough and sneeze at the worst times, like when you're spying on women, and tell every girl I meet what a horrible master you are!”
Coming to an immediate stop, the sannin whipped his head around to give his apprentice a withering glare. “Fine!” he ground out. “Since you're obviously such a baby, do you need me to wipe your ass, too?!”
Still grumbling, Jiraiya walked off the road, while Naruto grinned victoriously. Obviously he'd been right; if you can't convince people with reason or beat sense into them, annoy the living hell out of them.
He briefly wondered what his teacher would do as he watched the white-haired man go through a short sequence of hand seals. Slamming his hands onto the ground, a near-perfect square of earth rose up like a wall. The action was quickly repeated two more times to create additional walls perpendicular to the first, and the third time Jiraiya grabbed the resulting wall and threw it on top of the other three as a roof to create a simple shelter from the weather.
“There, happy now?” he asked grumbling as he sat down inside, and Naruto quickly followed suit beside him, the two watching the rain in silence. The sannin was just about to pull out his 'research notes' when Naruto spoke up again.
“Ne, ero-sennin... I'm bored. Teach me something!”
“Aaaahhhhrgh!”
