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Story of a Boy and a Girl

Chapter 2: Jiriya

Jiriya walked casually down the dirt road, his long stride making it difficult for even his energetic new pupil to keep up. He stared down at the boy, studying him. With spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, a blinding orange outfit and a stupid grin plastered on his face, Naruto always stood out. At face value he was a happy go lucky fool who seemed too dumb to understand failure. Jiriya knew better though. Naruto had a powerful demon called the Kyuubi sealed inside of him and had been hated by his whole village because of it. It had only been recently that he had learned about the demon sealed inside of him as the reason for their hate. But instead of letting it get him down the boy had instead strived to prove himself and change everyone's minds. He didn't let anything bring him down and he never gave up in his goals. Even after his best friend Sasuke had betrayed and nearly killed him Naruto still planned to bring him back to the village as a friend. The older ninja admired his spirit and this training journey they were on was to help him reach his goals.

"Hey Pervy Sage!" said Naruto in his usual loud voice. "When are we going to start training?"

"Soon," assured Jiriya. "We're heading to a nearby town famous for its hot springs first."

"I thought we were going to train not relax!" protested Naruto. "I could take a bath back in Konoha!"

"There's a purpose to this," explained Jiriya calmly. "Before I can train you in more advanced arts we need to make sure you're comfortable in your own body. We'll also get the kinks and crap out of your body. A ninja's body is their greatest resource and weapon."

As he said this, Jiriya saw Naruto's face fall in disappointment, his sunny mood disappearing. Jiriya had expected annoyance from the boy, not genuine depression. The blond boy's response worried him, but before he could question him, the town came into view.

"There it is!" exclaimed Naruto, becoming energetic again. A large smile was on his face, but Jiriya noticed an edge that hadn't been there before. "Let's hurry up and get relaxing then!"

Naruto rushed ahead of Jiriya, making the older ninja feel like he was being ignored and avoided. He had raised many pupils throughout the years, all very different. The person he had met most similar to Naruto wasn't a student though, but Naruto's own mother, Kushina. Jiriya actually knew more about Naruto's past and family history than the boy did. He wondered if the blond boy's dejection was related to the Kyuubi inside of him.

They made it to the town and checked into an inn. The two dropped their stuff off in their room and headed to the hot spring bath. After washing off they entered the warm water, just relaxing for a few minutes. The bath was empty except for the two of them and what sounded like a very large, very active group of giggling young women on the other side of the divider.

Jiriya carefully observed Naruto while pretending to be extremely interested in his own big toe. Even in the relaxing waters the blond boy was tense and on edge. Something was clearly bothering him. The older ninja could tell he wanted to talk about something but was afraid to bring it up. Jiriya knew enough about people to know that sometimes things just needed to be said.

"Is there something on your mind?" asked Jiriya, looking up at Naruto. The boy was startled momentarily, but soon regained his regular grin.

"Nope!" replied the boy with slightly too much cheer. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"You've been distracted and tense all day." Jiriya softened his voice and expression. "Don't worry while we're travelling together, if there's ever anything wrong you can tell me."

Naruto's face brightened for a second but he became morose right after.

"I'm not sure I can," replied the boy despondently.

"Sure you can! I already know about the Kyuubi and I honestly admire how well you've managed as it's host!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You might not have any talent," said Jiriya with a crocked smile, "but you're the most impressive young man I've ever met."

It was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Naruto's face turned into one of the most heart wrenching expressions Jiriya had ever seen.

"I don't want to be a young man!" cried out Naruto. Whatever he had been keeping inside was finally bursting out. "I just want to be what I am on the inside!"

"Show me," said Jiriya simply.

"Huh?"

"Show me your true self, what you are on the inside," repeated Jiriya soothingly. "I would like to know."

"You would?" asked Naruto, hope in his eyes. "You promise not to find it weird?"

"I promise," replied Jiriya, leaning forward towards the boy and sticking his pinky out. Naruto stared at it for a moment, then wrapped his own finger around JIriyas. Jiriya smiled encouragingly at him and he disengaged. The blond boy stood up in the water, and made the hand signs for an illusion. Smoke erupted from the jutsu, and when it cleared, Jiriya had a hard time containing his surprise.

In front of him was no longer a boy but a girl. She wasn't like the usual female form Naruto would make with his Sexy Jutsu, but just a regular girl. She was slight of figure, but growing into more like any girl her age. Slight breasts, still lacking any real curves, she looked just like the girls JIriya had used to spy on when he was a kid going through puberty and trying to see what girls his age looked like. The girl had long blonde hair falling down her back and hopeful bright blue eyes, staring at him. The shy, mortified expression on her face told the old man how embarrassed she was doing this, but also how much she wanted to.

"What do you think?" asked the girl, her voice timid, afraid and hopeful. It wasn't the Naruto people usually thought of, brash, bold and loud, but it was him, or in this case, her.

He now realized what was going on with Naruto. The older ninja had once been hired for a mission by a man who had been in a similar situation. Younger, and less understanding Jiriya had thought him eccentric, possibly crazy. He had completed the mission and never seen or heard from the man again. Many years later on a rainy day after training some students he had thought back on the man, and regretted how he had dealt with things.

Jiriya looked at the girl in front of him and made up his mind.

"Honestly?" Jiriya cracked a smile. "You're one of the bravest Kunoichi I've ever had the pleasure to train, and I look forward to training you to take Tsunade's spot as Hokage."

Naruto's face brightened with happiness and some tears stared to flow down her face. Jiriya stood up and walked over to her as she wiped away the tears. He looked down at the blonde girl and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, curious. Another large round of giggling could be heard from the women's bath side.

"I have my first mission for you, do you think you're ready for it?" asked Jiriya.

"What's the mission?" asked Naruto, curiously. Now that she had gotten the secret off of her chest she seemed to be acting more like her usual self.

"As a kunoichi you'll need to be able to blend in with the natives, it'll be one of your greatest strengths. For this mission I want you to go and become friends with the girls over there," said Jiriya with a smile, pointing at the bath divider. "Do you think you could manage to have a good time doing so?"

Naruto's face positively lit up with excitement. She gave him a smile and a salute.

"Yes sir!" said the blonde girl, turning and running out of the men's bath, heading to go in through the other door.

"If you have any problems, I'll be over here if you need any help!" yelled Jiriya to the retreating girl. He saw her dress quickly in the changing room and then heard a door open and close hurriedly.

Jiriya slumped down into the water, enjoying the warm water on his skin. He was glad he had managed to keep any confusion or disgust out of his voice and expressions. As much of a front as he had put up, the whole situation was still weird to him. He was unused to thinking that something like this could be normal or healthy. But when he remembered the smile on Naruto's face when he had accepted her as she wanted to be, he felt that maybe it wasn't so wrong after all.

The older ninja activated a jutsu that increased his hearing and he leaned against the bath divider. The voices on the other side became recognizable and he estimated three young women to be on the other side. They were just talking about going to a festival when the door to the other side opened up. From the light, nervous footsteps and furiously beating heart JIriya guessed it was Naruto. He heard the sound of water splashing around as his pupil washed herself and finally entered the hot water.

The three girls continued to talk among themselves, Naruto keeping quiet.

"The festival is in two weeks and it'll probably get very busy here," said one of the girls.

"Ug!" replied a second. "That means we're going to be busy helping grandma run this place when all of the customers flood in from outside the town."

"I asked already and Grandma said we could go into town if we manage to do a good job," said a third voice.

"Yes!" yelled the first girl victoriously. "We'll need to pick out kimonos then! It's not a festival if you don't dress up!"

"Sounds like a lot of work," said the second lazily. "Why can't we just use the ones from last year?"

"We grew out of them over the year," replied the first girl.

"Kairi might have," smirked the second girl. "But you haven't grown any, especially your bust.

"Hey!"

"There's no need to get angry Riku," calmed the third girl who Jiriya guessed was Kairi. "Although you definitely need another kimono Sora, I can't believe how big your breasts have gotten!"

"Hey!" yelled the second girl, Sora. Jiriya heard splashing around and guessed a little old fashion groping was going on.

There was another yell and the sound of several people tripping and splashing into the water. Several cries of surprise and apology followed.

"I'm so sorry!" apologized Kairi. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," replied Naruto shyly.

I'm really sorry these two knuckleheads almost hurt you," said Riku. Two thunks and protests followed as the other two girls were hit over the head.

"Its fine," repeated Naurto.

"What brings you to our town?" asked Riku.

"I'm here with my grandfather to visit the hot springs," replied Naruto. Jiriya wondered if he should take offense at that or just be proud of the comment. He decided to take offense at the next comment though. "The pervy old man is probably trying to get a peek in here right now I bet."

"I hope not!" said Kairi.

"Don't worry, if I see anything out of order the old man will be seeing stars!" declared Sora.

The four girls all laughed at that. From there they continued to talk, introducing themselves to each other. Jiriya found it interesting when Naruto introduced himself as Naruko and filed the name away for later. They all continued to talk, joke and laugh happily. Jiriya could hear genuine mirth in his pupil's voice and was glad she was enjoying herself. He decided that when she was done bathing he would sit down and have a talk with her. As he had told her before, the ninja's body is their most important asset, and feeling comfortable in it was important. If Naruko wanted to become a girl for real, then they were going to need to head back to Konoha to research and talk to the Hokage Tsunade. There was probably no one else better suited to help the blonde girl, and he hoped his old friend would understand.