After realizing how much potential Naruto had, Jiraiya decided to take his training more seriously.
"Alright! Naruto! I've decided to put you through some special training!"
"Special training?"
"Yes!"
Jiraiya gave a thumbs-up, a pervy grin spreading across his face. "It'll be super exciting and full of thrills!"
"..."
Naruto felt like Jiraiya was definitely up to no good, but he still followed him to a new training location.
At first, Naruto thought Jiraiya was going to take him somewhere dangerous… but the moment Jiraiya locked eyes on a pretty lady, he realized he'd guessed wrong.
"Beautiful lady!!!"
Jiraiya's creepy grin got even bigger, but then he seemed to remember something and held himself back.
"Ahem, Naruto, let's go!"
"Go?"
"Yes!"
Jiraiya wrapped his arm around Naruto's neck and pointed at a pretty lady nearby. "Go chat her up!"
Naruto looked confused and asked, "Why?"
"Because... it's training!" Jiraiya said, pretending to be serious. "Don't underestimate this—it's actually a way to train a ninja's mindset!"
"Training a ninja's mindset?"
Naruto couldn't think of any ninja who needed to train by flirting with pretty girls.
But seeing how serious Jiraiya looked, Naruto hesitated, then decided to give it a try.
After all, it's not like he'd lose anything...
He walked straight up to the pretty lady and stopped her.
She was wearing plain clothes, so she didn't seem very rich, but her long black hair and delicate face made her easy on the eyes.
"Is there something you need, little brother?" the woman asked, looking puzzled since Naruto had blocked her path but didn't say anything.
"Uh… sorry, I thought you were someone else."
After a long pause, Naruto turned and walked back to Jiraiya without saying anything else.
"Didn't work," Naruto said flatly.
He really wasn't good at talking to girls—actually, he didn't like doing that kind of thing at all.
If someone's good-looking and capable enough, they'll naturally catch the attention of lots of girls. Girls will also be more forgiving toward them. Sweet talk is just something guys use to win girls over—or girls use to win guys over.
Of course… nobody dislikes a sweet-talker, but Naruto didn't want to be that kind of person.
"You've got no charm at all!" Jiraiya sighed, clearly disappointed. Then, right in front of Naruto, he went to chat up the pretty lady himself. Not long after, they were talking like old friends and getting along great.
But just when the woman let her guard down, Jiraiya showed his true colors, and that short-lived friendship quickly fell apart.
"What a memorable meeting~" Jiraiya said with a cheeky grin, making weird gestures in the air as if he were remembering something... questionable.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya and shook his head, a bit helpless.
If he didn't need Jiraiya's help, he'd really rather just leave.
It wasn't that he hated Jiraiya—it's just that messing around like this wasn't something he enjoyed.
"Naruto!"
Jiraiya suddenly said, "Come on, let's go train somewhere else! Don't keep looking so serious—who's going to like a face like that?"
"Actually, quite a few people like me," Naruto replied.
"Oh? So is there a girl you like? Which one? Or do you like all of them?" Jiraiya asked, nosey as ever.
"No," Naruto answered with a blank look.
"No? Don't tell me... you like guys?" Jiraiya said with a suspicious face.
"I'm twelve, Jiraiya."
"So what? I was already sneaking peeks at Tsunade when I was twelve—uh, never mind. You're no fun at all!"
Almost spilling something he shouldn't have said, Jiraiya quickly changed the topic. "Since you're not into girls right now, let's go somewhere else!"
Before long, they arrived at an izakaya.
"Drinking?"
Naruto didn't really mind the idea. It's not like he liked alcohol, but he thought having a little bit of low-alcohol sake wasn't a big deal.
"Boss lady, two bottles of sake and a plate of snacks!"
Normally, the old Naruto wouldn't be drinking at this age, but Jiraiya clearly had something special in mind—and was starting to teach him some bad habits.
"Thanks for waiting!"
The graceful lady who owned the place brought their order over and looked at Naruto for a second. "Hey cutie, do you want some juice instead?"
"Ah, no thanks." Before Naruto could answer, Jiraiya jumped in, "Don't let his age fool you—this kid loves his sake! Hahaha!"
"Little drinker? Hehehe~"
"Well, don't drink too much—wouldn't want you getting drunk~"
The boss lady smiled sweetly, lightly tapped Naruto's forehead with her soft white finger, and walked away.
Jiraiya couldn't take his eyes off her swaying figure, and only snapped out of it when he heard the sound of Naruto pouring the drinks.
Seeing that Naruto had poured one for him, Jiraiya grinned. "What a beautiful and kind lady~"
Naruto rolled his eyes and downed his drink in one go.
The light taste of rice and the soft sweetness lingered in his mouth, leaving him wanting more.
This was his first time drinking sake, and he didn't expect it to taste like that.
"Just drinking is boring. Let's play cards!"
"Cards?"
"Texas Hold'em!"
"I don't know how."
"That's fine, I'll teach you. It's easy!"
"Are we playing for money?"
"Ahem, just for fun… low-stakes fun~"
Jiraiya wasn't as into gambling as Tsunade, but he still played now and then.
"Then I don't want to play that."
Naruto took the cards from Jiraiya's hands and started shuffling.
"Let's play something simpler!"
"Something simple?"
"Yeah, Dou Dizhu."
Naruto was okay with playing games with Jiraiya, but if money was involved, he wasn't going to go easy — especially since he didn't have much money to begin with!
He still felt the pain from spending thousands of ryo just for one lunch with Jiraiya the other day — and now he had to pay for drinks too… There was no way Jiraiya was going to pay for any of it.
No way he was going to lose money *and* pay the bill!
Naruto took a bit of time to teach Jiraiya how to play Dou Dizhu. But since Jiraiya used to play cards with Tsunade all the time, he actually picked it up super fast!
He only needed to hear the rules once to get it.
"Oh, I see! That's easy!"
Jiraiya laughed loudly, "Deal the cards! Deal the cards!"
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