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Naruto: IY Ch. 15
🕑 Added 2025-07-24 01:13:12 +0000 UTCSilent and speechless, this made the chatterbox Jiraiya extremely uncomfortable.
Finally, the meal was over.
After following the other inmates at the table to wash the dishes, they all gathered outside for group exercises. Once that was done, they jogged laps around the field.
Before he knew it, it was already eight o'clock.
Coincidentally, today happened to be the monthly exam that prisoners took once a month. Those who scored well could have their sentences reduced at the warden's discretion.
At this moment, he was sitting at a desk, facing a test paper in front of him.
"Even prisoners have to take exams?"
The two accompanying guards explained, "Prisoners who fail to pass the Ethics and Citizenship Assessment are not allowed to be released."
"That's right. Your crimes, depending on how you look at them, are either serious or not that serious. But if you pass the test, Yahiko-sama might turn a blind eye and let you go."
Next, someone handed him a cheat sheet.
Yahiko hadn't ordered it, they were doing it on their own initiative.
Just how the world works, really.
"Take it back! I am the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku... I am Jiraiya! Do I need a cheat sheet?"
"Shoo, shoo!"
He waved his hand firmly. Though he was a dunce, he was still Konoha's dunce.
Back when Yahiko was still a brat, he had taught him how to read.
Even if that brat had grown up, so what? Could he really surpass his teacher in terms of moral wisdom?
The two guards felt awkward, but seeing how insistent Jiraiya was, and with other prisoners glancing over curiously, they gave up.
[Village Policy Question: If you encounter a fellow villager in distress outside the village, everyone must do their best to help. Those who assist will be rewarded with village credit points that can be exchanged for goods. One is gold, one is silver, and one is bronze. What would you choose?]
Without thinking, he replied, "Oh, that's it?"
"No thanks! A true ninja does good deeds without asking for rewards!" he spoke while writing.
[A traveling merchant offers to sell you information about enemy ninja movements near the village for a high price. You know this information could save lives, but you also suspect the merchant might be lying to make money. What do you do?]
"Obviously I'd refuse! Information from unreliable sources could get people killed. Better to rely on our own intelligence network."
[One day, your child is crying in the street. Your wife calms them by promising to slaughter a lamb when you get home. But it was a lie, the lamb is still too small, and your poor family can't afford to waste it. When the child confronts you, how do you handle it?]
"A full-grown lamb is worth good money. I'd teach the kid that sometimes we have to wait for better things, that's just life. If he's really upset about it, maybe I'll save him a nice piece of meat when we do butcher it later."
[You discover a child stealing food from the market. The vendor wants to have them arrested, but you notice the child is malnourished and their clothes are torn. What's your response?]
"Easy! I'd pay for the food myself and make sure the child gets a proper meal. Then I'd find out why they're in such a situation and help them properly."
Jiraiya finished writing quickly, the whole test took him only five minutes.
Looking at the others deep in thought, he shook his head secretly. Turns out, even though he was the dunce of the toad sages, that was only because he came from Konoha.
After the test, the proctor collected the papers.
At 8:30, prisoners attended classes.
Jiraiya, however, immediately slumped onto the desk for a nap. No one challenged him on it.
At ten o'clock, he and the others entered the workshop.
"Making toys? That's kinda fun."
He touched the wood labeled "Hashirama Timber."
Probably fake, right? After the First Hokage died, even the tiny bit left at the Valley of the End was chopped down and used to support the village.
But here, the supervisor claimed they had three whole warehouses of Hashirama Timber?
How could he not remember Yahiko being this shady before?
Come to think of it, on the way, he thought he saw someone familiar, Shuzen. Could it be that old guy corrupted him?
At 11:30, work ended and it was time to eat.
After quickly finishing his meal, they had half an hour of free time. Jiraiya played poker with his cellmates.
Hehehe...
These guys told stories and jokes nonstop, what an amusing bunch.
He loved it.
At 1 PM, the entire village was mobilized again for group exercises.
Luckily, he had already learned them in the morning. The exercises were nothing special for a ninja.
But that wasn't all he noticed.
Most of the time, he was sneaking glances around, the female prisoners in the next area were really nice to look at during the exercises...
By 3 PM, he was stuffed.
Prison life... and they're feeding you this well?
Plate after plate of rice and meant with some vegetables piled in front of him, he couldn't help but believe it.
As Yahiko's former teacher, he enjoyed certain special privileges, like getting to eat one more portion than the others.
At six o'clock, after finishing some trivial prison work, it was time for another meal.
He finally understood why his cellmates had no desire to leave.
Think about it, how long had it been since he last ate three proper meals a day, with actual attention to balanced nutrition?
After dinner, there were still ten minutes left for writing letters.
One of his cellmates had come from a bandit family, it was practically a family business. His grandfather, father, and the rest were all in prison too, so he had no one to write to.
Jiraiya thought for a moment and ended up writing letters to Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, one for each of them.
How nice...
At seven o'clock, the test results came out.
He suddenly felt a little nervous. What if he got a perfect score on his first try, how would his cellmates react? Would they start looking up to him?
Hahaha...
He didn't bother hiding the smug grin on his face. But the moment he received his graded test, it felt like the sky came crashing down.
"Zero points? How could I possibly get ZERO POINTS?"
He stared at the bottom of the test paper, the grading teacher had left a comment:
"Recommend an additional two years of detention for moral re-education. This individual shows surface-level thinking and fails to understand community responsibility. In other words: He is a hypocritical, dishonest, and foolish man."
The grading was anonymous, no names on the papers, so there was no way this was done to spite him.
Besides, he was Yahiko's teacher. No one would target him intentionally.
Looking at the comment, he felt completely wronged. What part of this description applied to him? Still, he didn't show his frustration. He crossed his legs and looked calmly toward the teacher reviewing the answers.
The teacher looked helpless too. If he'd known this test was from Jiraiya, he would've gone easy on the grading.
"Ahem... You all did quite well this time, we even had someone score full marks! Come on up! Show everyone your paper."
Jiraiya looked over and saw, wasn't this the same guy who had been sneaking glances at the female prisoners during group exercises with him this afternoon?
He got a perfect score?
The man scratched his head shyly and, under the teacher's encouragement and the applause of the room, began explaining how he answered.
For the question about the village credit points, he had chosen to accept them.
For the question about choosing between gold, silver and bronze, he had chosen gold.
"But isn't refusing the reward more noble? How is that wrong?" Jiraiya muttered subconsciously.
Everyone around heard him clearly, but no one laughed. Because they had thought the same at first, they all wanted to present themselves as someone good.
The man on stage slowly explained, "If you refuse, and I refuse, then won't others in the village feel bad to ask for a reward after doing a good deed? So, if everyone refuses the reward, won't the one person who accepts it be criticized, even though they also did a good deed and deserve the reward? Without any reward, would everyone really still risk their lives to help others in danger outside the village?"
Jiraiya fell silent. His mouth opened slightly as if to respond, but no words came. Wouldn't that kind of logic make him no different from those who act purely out of self-interest? So basically like Orochimaru... cold and detached.
But... somehow, the reasoning did feel right.
"What about the second question, why is it wrong to refuse unverified information? Isn't it better to be cautious?"
"Verification," the same man said. "When lives are at stake, we should verify information rather than dismiss it outright. I would have asked the merchant for proof, checked with other sources, and if there was even a chance it was true, acted on it while staying alert for deception."
Jiraiya looked at the man on stage, the same guy who'd been joking with him earlier that afternoon. In his mind, he faintly grasped what he'd gotten wrong, but the insight slipped away.
After giving his answer to the second question, he continued, "Then... about the third question, is spoiling a child really that bad? Why can't we just call it a little white lie to teach them patience? Wouldn't waiting for the lamb to grow bring greater rewards?"
"But it's about keeping your word. When we make promises, we need to follow through. Parents set the example for their kids. If it were me, I'd pick up extra work so my child could have what I promised."
Jiraiya's eyes welled with tears. Such beautiful words.
And wasn't this approach, this sense of responsibility, all something Yahiko had learned from him?
How wonderful...
At 7:30, it was reading time.
He excitedly rushed over. Word was that Yahiko had sent books specially for him?
No doubt about it, what a devoted student!
"The Complete Collection of Yahiko's Fairy Tales"?
What kind of joke was this? He'd been hoping for a book by Pain, or something more... educational!
"First story: The Little Match Girl?"
"Actually... this seems kinda interesting." He found himself getting absorbed.
At 10 o'clock, it was bedtime.
Lying in bed, he kept replaying the events of the day in his mind. Everything had been so orderly... so fulfilling.
Maybe he should pay better attention in tomorrow's morning class?
As he drifted off, he slipped into a dream.
In it, he and Tsunade were happily living together...
