summary: in this story i am going to change the timeline abit so that naruto actually uses his training trip with jiraya, i dont like that in the anime, even after 3 years training he only had odama rasengan to show for it.
i dont own naruto, wish i did but i is my first and only disclaimer, so i say this once, i dont own naruto or any of the characters or techniques in this story
Chapter 1.
As he lay down in the hospital bed, he wondered how every thing was beginning to spiral out of control. "And now even sakura is trying to be strong for me, but I can see it in her eyes " he thought, "she is looking for someone to blame , and I jus happen to fit the bill."
"No", he said to himself, "no emo thoughts, I gotta get stronger " Hmm, maybe its time to take up Ero-sennin's offer and go on this training trip, although im kinda scared of goin down the same road like with Kakashi-sensie. Kami that was a dissaster, jus look at where I am right now. Damn this isnt helping I need to be objective, "wonder what Sandaime jiji would have me do?" he wispered to himself. He then thought back to when his first and at the time, only, pillar of strength was still alive.
FLASHBACK.
He was excited, his Jiji had invited him over to his office today for his birthday present . His week was one of the worst he has ever had and he suspected that's why his Jiji had caved and decided to give him his present a whole two weeks before his actual birthday. He idly thought to why his week was so rough and couldn't come up with a proper explanation. He wondered why people seemed generally rougher and mean yet they should be celebrating the 8th annivasary of the Kyuubi's defeat (A/N he has no idea about the kyuubi at that time).
Oh well can't let this get me down. He slipped into the morning crowd that was going about doing their daily bussiness as he made his way to the Hokage's tower. The secretary gave him a dark scowl as she buzzed him into the office. The wrinkles on the hokage's face became more defined as he smilled at the young boy who was saving him from that dreded paperwork."naruto my boy, welcome, I bet you are excited about your birthday presents. I actually picked up …" he stopped mid sentence as he saw that naruto's smile was ever increasing and wondered what it was. "you said presentSss". He burst out laughing, damn he loved this kid. "Yeah I did, I want to get you started on your dream of becoming hokage, so as of next term I am enrolling you into the shinobi academy. " he momentarily paused to smile at his figurative grandson, "And, I also got you a. . . . . SHOGI SET." He couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing at Naruto's fall out of his chair.
"Jiji, that was mean, and shogi is so boring I cant sit there watching a board all day. " He pouted as he finished his rant. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, I got you this set to help you organise your thoughts and think faster. It helps in all aspects of shinobi life, from the battle field to doing the paperwork of a kage. And you wanna know a little secret," he inched closer to the blond and wispered, "I still play shogi whenever I get a chance for the exact same reasons." The blond boy's eyes bugged out as he lloked at the hokage. Then with all the determination an * year old could muster, he told the hokage that he wold beat him at his own game.
"I hope you do Naruto, I hope you do. Now how about we go get some ramen."
END FLASHBACK.
He had a small smile as he reminised on all the times they played againist each other after that. He wasn't the best at it but he was at the time his Sandaime Jiji was still alive, he was always trying to think up the best strategies in order to try impress him.
He realised that his thoughts were drifting from his original objective so he decided to strategize using shogi as a base, he assigned pieces to different people. He thought about who he was playing and tried to visualize his enemy the best he can. He realised that orochimaru and sasuke were near the top of his list but not quite there yet. Reason being that Ero-senin had told him about ten s-class missing nins that were after him, "there has to be someone pulling all the strings from the background," he mumbled to himself, "that's who im playing, but he is unknown so I have to picture him as some sort of fallen god that has no weaknesses for now. I guess the only way to match up to him is to become so strong that others would say the same about me, and the most pressing matter would be to keep it all secret even from my most presious people so as to have an ace in the hole so to speak." " I also have to stop running away from the fact that im the host of the kyuubi jinchuriki, so I have to find a way to turn that into a controlled strength, not some cagedrabid animal that only comes out to play when his jailor is down." I guess ero-sennin is the closed way I have to accomplishing all that.
He was so deep in thought that he never realised that jiraya was outside his window listening to him ramble his thoughts so he was startled when the very person he was thinking about entered his room. "So have you came to the conclusion that I'm your best bet?" jiraya asked. "Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, so im guessing you heard all that," Jiraya nodded, 'I need your help, please." Jiraya simply nodded and told him to get ready coz they were leaving in the next two days. "Cant we do this tomorrow at dawn?" Jiraya sighed, "fine let me go talk to Tsunade-hime." As he left through the window he he said over his back, "we may be leaving for three to four years but luckily, orochimaru's body transfer doesn't happen for another four and a half years. Go and start packin gaki." And with that he lept off the window sill and was gone without a trace.
He walked out the hospital to find hinata walk in with a couple of flowers, "hey Hinata-chan, who are you visiting?" he asked nonchalantly. "Actually I….was coming in to see…y…you coz I heard about how the s….sasuke retrival mission went and ….y..you Chogi and N…neji-nisan are the only ones still here, the others are still in the operation room." "thanks hinata-chan that's sweet of you but I'm actually leaving on a training trip for a while and I was just checking out." "that's nice ….naruto..kun when you get back…..im sure that…you will….get sasuke…back …. "thanks hinata-chan that lifted my spirits abit, well I was heading to ichiraku's for some ramen, would you like to come." "t..thanks I would l…love some"
Hinata was esctastic and thia was because what had started as a small friendly gesture has turned into a date like experience for her and it was everything she thought it would be like and more. He ecorted her that night and just as they reached he turned to her and said, "thanks hinata-chan, that was nice, hey how about when I come back from this trip we do that again." "I would l..love to naruto…kun." She was so happy that through out the whole date, she hadnt fainted once and her stutter was decreasing as they went along. "well goodnight hinata-chan I guess I will see you later." And with that he left. Hinata watched him leave and vowed to herself that she would become stronger too and when he finally came home, she would confess her feelings for the blond.
Naruto was pleasantly surprised at the good time he had with her but decided to hurry home as he lost enough time as it is. As he entered his home, he found ero-sennin with an animated pose holding up planks that said "10" and "points" while constantly winking one eye at him. His eye was twitching as he looked at him and simply slammed the door on his face deciding to go see his baa-Chan before leaving. When he reached there, he found the comical sight of her drooling over her paperwork so he took one big breath and screamed "BAA-CHAN WAKE U..." he never got to complete as a paperweight firmly logged itself into his face. They got that out of their systems and simply talked the night away. As he was saying goodbye, he said to her, "When I get this job I'm gonna have my clones do all this paperwork as I sit back and relax." Her eyebrow twitched dangerously and Naruto could swear that steam was coming out her ears. He took a precautionary step back and asked if he said something wrong. Faster than he could blink he was crushed in a hug and thanked him profusely. He then decided to leave to finally pack before he slept.
The next morning found Naruto walking towards the gate, with the Hokage waiting for him and Jiraya by said gate. He then asked, "baa-Chan, I have been thinking, could you help Sakura in any way you can, she isn't in the best state of mind right now since Sasuke left , maybe getting someone to help with medical training," he stopped here a second to think before adding, "and Hinata too since I remember she kinda likes herbs and all." "Sure gaki, as long as you promise not to turn into a pervert …..Or any kind of pervert for that matter, not super pervert or little pervert." "You got yourself a deal."
It was then that the Ero-sennin showed up and they went off, with one final look back at his Sandaime's face on the Hokage monument and said "Watch me old-man."