Author's Notes: Yes, I am alive. I have now, for you, a new story I hope you will enjoy. Instead of the sequel story of The Three Years, I bring you another, hopefully just as satisfying, story.

I came across an old review that asked for a "Three Years" story with (instead of good old Sasuke) Naruto and Jiraya. At the time I gave the idea no thought, but now finding it months later, I've decided to go along with it. And I'm enjoying myself.

Hopefully, I'll have lot of material for this one, and I hope it makes you guys laugh. (That's what I'm here for, even if I don't think I'm funny…) Please enjoy my new story and thanks for putting up with my lazy attitude till now and beyond. Love ya all!

Chapter 1

The "Other" Beginning

Heroically, Naruto turned back to see the village he was leaving. Konoha: the place he'd called home for all his life and now he was departing for three whole years. Jiraiya, his teacher, stood waiting for him a few paces forward. Everything seemed okay, except…

"Why's no one here…?" Naruto mumbled suddenly.

"Huh?" Jiraiya yawned.

"Sakura…and my friends! None of them came so see me off!" Naruto snapped.

"It's really not that exciting." Jiraiya sighed.

"Of course it is!" Naruto growled. "It's me! I'm leaving! Doesn't that matter to anyone?"

A man walking near the gate turned to Naruto and shouted, "It matters to me!"

Jiraiya leaned over to Naruto. "You know him?" he asked and Naruto shook his head slowly.

"Anyways," Jiraiya stretched. "We really should be off now. Your friends will see you in three years."

"But…won't they miss me?" Naruto sniffed. This was defiantly the time to use boyish tears.

Jiraiya shrugged. "I'll bet the reason they're not here is that…they're all busy."

"Really?"

Somewhere in Konoha…

Sakura and the other rookie ninjas (and Team Gai) were all seated at one of the biggest tables of a very nice looking restaurant.

"Lee," Sakura said suddenly. "Are you sure Naruto said he was leaving tonight and not earlier?"

"I asked him myself." hiccupped Lee while he poured the contents of two bottles onto his curry; one labeled Hot Sauce and the other Vodka.

"Why are we even here, anyways?" Kiba asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure." Sakura said, thoughtfully. "But for some strange, odd reason, I woke up this morning and felt the urge to…celebrate. Weird, huh?"

"That's what I felt, too." Choji muttered in wonder. "I wonder why…"

"I didn't feel like that…" Hinata sniffed, clearly looking depressed.

"No one cares what you think." Shino told her quietly.

Back to our heroes…

"Yeah," Naruto said, nodding. "I'm sure they're just busy. We only just ended the filler arch yesterday."

"That's right." Jiraiya agreed, glad now that his pupil was not going to break down into tears. "Let's go."

Naruto did a last and very cool fist pump towards Konoha, as if to acknowledge the village in the only was he knew possible: gangsta-style. When he was finished being to total G that he is (or thinks he is), he followed his teacher quickly through the trees.

On any usual day of traveling, Naruto usually acted himself; talking a mile-a-minute…that sort of thing. But today was different. Naruto was silent and Jiraya was silent. Finally after an hour or so, Jiraiya looked over at his pupil.

"You…um, excited to start intense training?" he mumbled awkwardly.

"Yeah, sure." Naruto sighed. Again awkward quietness fell.

After another ten or fifteen minutes, Naruto looked back at Jiraiya.

"What the heck are we suppose to do for three years?" Naruto asked.

"Train, I suppose." Jiraiya shrugged. "Wasn't that the main idea?"

"Aren't we doing anything else?" Naruto groaned.

"Look, isn't this what you asked for?" Jiraiya mumbled impatiently. "You know, to save Sasuke?"

A sudden look of utter depression fell onto Naruto's face and Jiraiya stopped talking immediately.

The two leapt monkey-style through the trees for another three boring hours until they both came to a small inn.

"We'll stay here for the night." Jiraiya announced.

"It's only four in the afternoon." Naruto sighed. "We still have a lot more time to keep going."

"Do as I say." Jiraiya growled, walking forward to the check-in lady. When they reached her, Jiraiya leaned in elbow on the surface of the desk in the coolest way possible. (For someone who's fifty, at least.)

"Hey," he grinned in a smooth voice. Behind him, Naruto pretended to gag.

The girl looked up from her magazine. "Here for a room?"

"Sure am, darling." Jiraiya chuckled. The girl looked over his shoulder in concern for his young, blond companion, who was making odd faces and sounds.

"Is he okay?" she whispered. "He looks sick."

"I'm sick, too." Jiraiya said loudly, shoving Naruto out for her vision. "Sick of being lonely. Do you feel the same?"

"Okay, that's enough!" Naruto snapped, pushing his was back into view. "One room please. Ignore him, he's my senile grandfather."

"I am not your grandfather!" Jiraiya snapped. "And I am not senile!"

"How could you say that to me?" Naruto suddenly sobbed with such emotion he actually looked upset. "You're the only family I have!"

"Sir, is there a problem?" the woman said, coldly.

"We just need a room." he said through a forced smile. When the woman handed them their keys, Jiraiya dragged Naruto firmly away by the collar of his hunter's-orange jacket.

Jiraiya opened the door quickly and shoved Naruto in first. "Bed."

"I'm not five, ya' know." Naruto pouted.

"Could've fooled me, with that behavior." Jiraiya grumbled. "Look, I'm going to bed too. I'm tired."

"Because you're old?" Naruto muttered under his breath. Jiraiya looked over at him but seemed to not have heard and continued to put out some bedding. When he was done Naruto got into his own pile of blankets and was quiet.

"What do you expect training to be like?" Jiraiya asked suddenly. "I just wanted to know what you've been guessing this'll be."

"I haven't thought much about that." Naruto said honestly. "I've more been thinking about what I'll be like afterwards."

"Really."

"Yeah…" Naruto grinned and slowly fell into a day dream…

Naruto's Fantasy World

It was midday and suddenly a pink-haired, gorgeous girl spun around in surprise. "Naruto!" she cried. "You're back so soon!"

"I know, Sakura." said a very handsome-looking ninja whispered. "I exceeded Master's expectations and we came home with a year to spare."

"Oh, Naruto!" she blushed. "You must be really strong and brave now!"

"You'd better believe it." he grinned. "Just watch: I can shoot lasers…from my eyes!" And with that he blew up a nearby building with red bursts of light from his eyes. Sakura beamed at him.

"I can pick up…really heavy things!" Naruto bellowed. "With only my pinkie finger!" And he pulled a heavy boulder off from the ground and chucked it.

"I'm also a wonderful dancer." Naruto told her in the most heroic way possible. "But that's not all I can do." And with that, he levitated off the ground.

"You can fly!?" Sakura cried with delight. Naruto zipped around her head for a moment before answering, "Yes, indeed."

Still floating, he held his hand to her. "Would you like me to take you for a ride?" he asked, looked so cool by the way.

"Oh, Naruto!" she breathed. Gently she grabbed his hand. Before lifting off they both looked over at the beautiful sunset (it WAS midday a moment ago but through Naruto's amazing travels he had discovered the solution to time travel). They ascended, flying gracefully over the village, towards a rainbow in the distance…

"That won't ever happen." Jiraya snorted. "Ninjas can't fly."

"Ninjas can do anything." Naruto shot back. "That's the way of the ninja."

"Whatever." Jiraiya mumbled rolling over. "'Night."

Naruto sat there for a moment, then sat up quickly. "What am I doing, it's only 4:30!"

He swiftly got up off the ground, grabbed the spare key and left. There was still so much to do. If Jiraiya wasn't going to start training today, Naruto would just start without him.

Despite his reckless, hasty, and sometimes not well-thought-out behavior, Naruto was pretty good at training. After all, he'd learned the shadow-clone technique (a very high-ranked clone ability) in just five hours even before he had ever become a ninja. This was probably the only reason Jiraiya put up with the obnoxious behavior. (It was either that or he was his secret, long-lost godfather. You never really know these things.) With this said, training usually made Naruto confident, and he enjoyed it through and through.

But today was different. No, today was all about proving himself. Because minutes before, Naruto had faced disappointment. But no longer.

"I will stand up for what I believe in!" Naruto shouted once he'd climbed to the roof of the inn. "Because I'm Naruto, and I won't let anyone tell me what's what!"

And with that he gave a mighty roar.

***

It was almost around eight-o-clock when Jiraiya woke from his nap. He was just about to wake Naruto up to go get some food but found Naruto's bedding to be empty with a small note on the pillow which was not mentioned in the narrating beforehand.

Dear Master,

I've got things to do. If you really need me, I'm outside the inn. Believe it.

Naruto

Jiraiya stared at it blankly. What the hell was Naruto doing outside? He pocketed the note and walked out to go find him.

"Naruto!" he shouted when he finally got to the front door. "Naruto, where are you? I'm hungry, dammit! And I'm not gonna wait for you to hold me up from dinner."

A sudden bright light emitted from the bushes, pointing upward. Jiraiya turned to see Naruto, wearing a sheet around his neck and glowing under the spotlight.

"Jiraiya-sensei!" he bellowed. "I'm here to prove something to you! You can just go watch Good Will Hunting by yourself!"

Jiraiya groaned. "What is it, Naruto? I'm hungry."

"Behold!" Naruto snapped. "I will show you the greatness of the way of the ninja!"

"You aren't doing what I think you're doing, right?" Jiraiya moaned suddenly.

"I'm going to show you ninja's CAN fly." Naruto snapped, jamming a pointed finger down at the nonbeliever.

"We don't have time for this, Naruto!" Jiraiya complained. "Get down right now!"

"No!"

Naruto held both arms and closed his eyes. A sudden gust of wind fluttered the linen cape against the night sky.

This is so awesome, Naruto thought. I've never felt so alive.

He suddenly opened his eyes. "For Sakura!" he cried and leapt…

For a split second, Jiraiya actually believed Naruto was ascending into the sky…that is, of course, until he dropped like a stone.

Bruised and possibly scarred for life, Naruto groaned on the ground. Jiraiya simply looked down is dismay.

"Sorry kid." he sighed. "You tried."

"I think it worked." Naruto mumbled pathetically as he stood up. "You saw it; wasn't I flying."

Jiraiya shook his head.

"Naruto," he began. "I'll just say this now: you won't be flying in three years. Your training will make allow you to do better than flying. You're going to be really strong soon."

Naruto gaped in disbelief. Was Jiraiya…showing rare kindness? Jiraiya seemed to realize Naruto was took shocked to answer, so he grabbed him by the shoulders and hoisted him away.

"Come on." he sighed. "I'm sure you're hungry, too. Let's go get some dinner."

The two walked back inside, knowing their journey was far from over. What adventures await these two unlikely companions? I don't even expect you people and answer these questions! Tune in next time for,

"Transformers! Ninjas in disguise"

Author's Notes: It kinda feels good to write again. I'm enjoying this story so far (which is a very good sign) and I hope to see this story to the end.

"You can just go watch Good Will Hunting on your own!" –Ludo

See ya'll later!