CHAPTER TWO.

"What are you doing here-ttebane?" Kushina was clearly pleased to see the boy. Her face was as bright as the sun as she caught the attention of the boy, even her cheeks were in the lightest shade of pink. There were definitely special feelings involved.

Kaya turned back to the figure that was approaching them steadily. He was wearing a tracksuit that had three stripes on the sleeves, a pair of black bottoms, and the typical shinobi sandals. Noticing how he wasn't wearing a headband, she concluded that he was off duty. As he walked, Kaya could see the smoothness of his movements, her brain analysing him, only stopping when he stopped in front of them.

"Kushina, it's nice to see you," the boy said in a calming voice that Kaya predicted he would have. "I was just heading over to the training grounds," he answered. Then, his attention turned to Kaya, his eyes full of curiosity. "Who might this be?"

"Ah-" It seemed as if Kushina had forgotten the presence of the purple-head as soon as she became aware of the blond boy. "This is Kaya," she quickly introduced in a flushed manner. "She just arrived in the village today and I'm in the middle of giving her a tour-ttebane!"

On cue, the newcomer bowed her head at the blond, smiling as she spoke. "My name is Kaya," she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The boy returned the bow quickly. "No, no, the pleasure is all mine, Kaya-san," he said, scratching the back of his neck before holding out his hand in a friendly manner. "My name is Namikaze Minato."

"Just Kaya, please," the said girl shook his outstretched hand firmly. Already, she was feeling comfortable with him to speak informally. "We're the same age, right?"

"Then call me Minato," he replied, shaking her hand.

They released their grips on each other's hand simultaneously and then turned to Kushina, who looked as if she had something she wanted to say.

"Since you're here, Minato, why don't you join us?" Kushina suggested with hope laced in her voice. Kaya internally hummed to herself as her speculation was pretty much confirmed by the red-head. She was almost certain the invitation was just to cover up her wanted to spend some time with him.

Minato, on the other hand, blinked at the offer, clearly caught off guard. He had planned to spend his day-off doing some training exercises, but the expectant eyes of Kushina only made him go along with her idea.

"Sure, if that's okay with Kaya," he said.

"Of course, it's okay!" Kaya replied quickly. "Having an extra guide will make the tour more interesting, right?" She smiled at the beaming red-head, happy for her invitation being accepted. "Where to next?"

"We should show you the training grounds-ttebane!" Kushina exclaimed, her grin still in place, but seemingly back to her usual energetic self. "You were just heading over there, right Minato?"

With the affirmation from the blond, the trio made their way to the Third Training Ground, which according to Minato was quite the famous spot for training. Immediately, Kaya knew she wouldn't like training there, since she was the type to train alone without having to mind others, especially as she grew up knowing she was a little different from others. She made a mental note to search for a secluded area where she could train privately – perhaps she could ask the Hokage about this, since he knew of her condition.

"Kaya!"

Kushina's loud voice interrupted the said girl's train of thoughts, making her realise that she had been missing out on whatever was said to her. Sheepishly, she smiled at the duo, gesturing them to repeat their words.

"I was saying," Kushina started, "You never told us what rank you're at-ttebane!"

This time, Kaya caught every single word. "Well, since I didn't graduate from the academy like you two, I don't really have a specific rank," she said as she recalled the Hokage's words. "Hokage-sama knew of my training outside the village and thought that I might be at a jōnin level, but due to the lack of experience, he assigned me as a chūnin for the time being."

Amazement was evident on Kushina's expression as she gaped at the newcomer. "You at jōnin level already?" The volume of her voice was certainly a clear indication of her surprise as she had never expected her to be so advanced at such a young age. When Kushina was first told about a newcomer, she had expected someone older, but as soon as she saw Kaya and how young she was, she thought the purple-haired girl was barely a chūnin.

Kaya watched the shock Kushina received and laughed awkwardly, unsure if her reaction was a good one or not. "Like I said, I'm not at a specific rank so please don't be so surprise," she said. "The Hokage's prediction might be wrong!"

Realising that Kaya was rather nervous, Kushina quickly apologised for her reaction. "S-sorry, that's so amazing, right Minato?" she turned to the blond to see him nodded in agreement. "I mean, you're so young!"

"Kushina, we're of the same age," Kaya chuckled, evidently more relaxed. "I doubt you're any weaker than I am."

"Out of the three of us, I'm sure I'm the weakest," Kushina said, looking between Kaya and Minato.

"You don't even know that," Kaya argued. "You haven't even seen my do anything!"

"Nah-uh, I can sense it already," Kushina closed her eyes and nodded confidently. "But, I think it'd be fun to see who the stronger one between the two of you."

Surprised by her words, Kaya looked at Minato, who happened to have his eyes on her too. Their eyes met and in a split second, they knew they were thinking the same thing.

Only Kushina would find it fun to watch people fight.

"A match between those two will certainly be entertaining to watch," a man said with a deeper voice as he suddenly joined the conversation with one arm on Minato's shoulders and another on Kaya.

The three chūnin turned around, their eyes widening at the abrupt appearance of someone unexpected, though they should have been able to sense him a mile away.

"Jiraiya-sensei!" Minato called in surprise. "It's be so long since I've last seen you!"

"Oho, isn't it my dear genius student," the white-hared man laughed. "I see you're as popular as ever with the ladies."

"Sensei, please don't say anything unnecessary," Minato sighed, though he was used to the antics of his mentor long ago.

Jiraiya let out another hearty laugh, his mouth open and ready to say something when Kaya interrupted him with a gasp. She had remained quiet as the teacher-student pair talked, watching them while the gears in her brain shifted rapidly.

"You're the Blondie that Jiraiya-ji always talked about!" the purple-head exclaimed as she pointed a finger at Minato, who was clearly confused by her sudden outburst. In the background, Jiraiya complained about being called an uncle when he was barely thirty, but of course his whine was not heard.

"Eh?" Minato tilted his head to the side as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. After sparing his teacher a look, realisation washed over him. "You're that Fluffball?"

This time, it was Kaya's turn to be confused. Her brows knitted at the name that was mentioned and she turned to Jiraiya, giving him a puzzled look.

"Fluffball? Is that what you call me behind my back?" she questioned, her mouth agape.

A fraction of a second later, Minato joined in. "Sensei, why do you call me Blondie out of all things?"

Together, they stepped closer to the Sannin, their eyes baring into the older man's.

"Now, now, that's not something you guys should be focusing on," Jiraiya said defensively, his hands out in front of his face in a surrendering manner.

"Jiraiya-ji, why Fluffball out of all names?" Kaya asked, almost whining, which sounded new to Minato and Kushina, since they have never witnessed this side of Kaya before, nor did they expect the girl to have a childish side too. On the other hand, Kaya relied a lot on Jiraiya, psychologically in particular. He was someone she could trust with her life, and since he oversaw her growing up, he was one of the very few important people to her.

Seeing there was no anger or danger, Jiraiya relaxed and wrapped his arm around Kaya's shoulders again, chuckling at her cute reaction. "Isn't Fluffball adorable?" he asked as he ruffled her hair, which did earn him a glare from her. If anything, Kaya hated it when people messed with her purple strands.

Kaya sighed, knowing that she could never win against him in an argument and gave Minato a look of pity. "I'm so sorry you have a teacher like him," she said with mock remorse. "This uncle only knows how to play with woman, it's a wonder how he actually became a shinobi," she added, quoting her guardian's comment about Jiraiya word for word.

"Who are you calling uncle?" Jiraiya roared, his hair standing in annoyance. "I'm not even thirty!"

Watching the exchange between his mentor and his new friend, Minato laughed whole-heartedly. Getting to see his teacher so riled up was rare, since Minato would never provoke Jiraiya, and the way he was interacting with Kaya almost made it look like they were parent and child. He then realised that perhaps Kaya wasn't fully grown yet and there were still remnants of childishness within her.

As Jiraiya grumbled about his age and other incoherent words, clearly upset with Kaya's words and Minato's laughter, Kushina looked at her two friends. They were both laughing and giggling over Jiraiya and his actions as if they had known each other for a long time, which was partially true since they were both closely tied with the Sannin. Kushina couldn't fully detect it, but there was a small tinge of jealousy inside her heart, especially as she had never seen the blond boy laugh the way he was laughing at that exact moment.

"You two know each other?" Kushina found herself blurting out. Perhaps she was genuinely curious, or perhaps she just wanted to interrupt. Either way, her question had caught the attention of the others.

Deciding to answer the question, Jiraiya spoke. "Well, not exactly," he said. "As you know, I was Minato's mentor and Kaya's guardian is one of my closest friends, so over the years I've been speaking about them to the other without them knowing."

Kushina nodded slowly as the words sunk in, her heart calming as she came to know the pair had no prior relations.

"But who would have known that Minato grew too strong for me to continue teaching and that cute little Fluffball had grown into a beautiful Fluffball?" Jiraiya grinned, knowing it'd tick the pair off.

"Sensei!"

"Jiraiya-ji, stop calling me Fluffball!" Kaya whined again, her face red with embarrassment. "Why can't you just use my name like any other normal person?"

"One, I'm not normal; and two, Fluffball is such a cute nickname!" Jiraiya replied in all seriousness, causing the girl to grunt in displeasure. "Don't you think Fluffball is cute, Minato?" Jiraiya purposely dragged his student into this as he knew Minato would end up in a tight spot trying please both parties.

However, to Jiraiya's surprise, as well as the girls', Minato said something completely out of their imagination.

"I think Fluffball is rather cute," he agreed with his mentor. There was a look of mischief in his blue eyes, and it was something that neither Kushina or Jiraiya had seen before.

Once over the initial shock, Kaya felt her face burning as blood rushed to her head. Minato was giving her a funny look, an expression that she knew he was making fun of her. Though instead of blowing up on him like she did on Jiraiya, she was quite entertained by this side of the blond boy. Deciding that two can play this game, she retaliated.

"Talk about yourself, Blondie," she said, her voice laced with smugness as she smirked.

The pair shared a look before both turning to Jiraiya. The latter realised that mocking the two strongest teenagers he had ever seen was not a good idea and quickly rubbed his palms together, silently begging for forgiveness even though neither chūnin had the intention of hurting him.

All this while, Kushina felt as left out as ever. It was as if she wasn't in the group. She wanted to know the things they both knew but she didn't know if she was going to be told at all. Hence, she set off to ask questions.

"Kaya," she called, "Who is your guardian?"

Feeling slightly apologetic for neglecting her red-haired friend, Kaya quickly turned to her and answered. "I was found by Tsunade-ba when I was a baby and she took care of me ever since."

"Wait," Kushina paused. "You mean you were raised by the Tsunade?" She gaped at Kaya as if she had grown two heads. Although Kushina had never met the female Sannin, Tsunade's name was just as well-known as Jiraiya's. Throughout her time in Konoha, Kushina had heard many stories about the First Hokage's granddaughter and had always looked up to the kunoichi, but Tsunade raising a child? Kushina had never heard of it.

"Yes, Tsunade did raise this little Fluffball," Jiraiya replied proudly as he ruffled Kaya's hair again. "And she did a fine job, don't you think? Especially at not passing on her temper."

Kaya could never understand why the man would want to embarrass her so much in front of her new friends. Brushing his hand off her head, she turned to shoot him a glare.

"Don't make me unleash my Tsunade fist on you," Kaya warned, causing the man to gulp and shrink in fear.

"Is Tsunade-sama's temper really that bad?" Minato asked. "I've only ever heard stories from Jiraiya-sensei, but since he tends to exaggerate with his words…"

Kaya wanted to laugh at the blond's question and her expression softened. "Her temper isn't half as bad as how Jiraiya-ji describes it," she said with a smile as memories of her guardian surged through her mind. "She's someone who has her own standards and as long as you're on her good side, she will never hurt you. However, since Jiraiya-ji is constantly on her bad side, well you know what I mean, right?"

The clear blue orbs of shone in understanding in an instant, and this time Kaya chuckled at his expression.

"Who care about her temper?" Kushina exclaimed. "She's strong and powerful, and apparently she's really pretty too-ttebane!"

"That, I can never argue against," Jiraiya nodded with a grin.

"Don't you think all women are pretty?" Kaya asked with a raised brow and the stifling of laughter was heard from Minato.

In his attempt to steer the conversation, Jiraiya cleared his throat, standing straighter and appearing proper. "Anyway, do you happen to know where Tsunade is?"

Seeing how he was asking an actual question, Kaya stopped her jokes. Shaking her head, she sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine," she answered. "You know she doesn't like people knowing where she is. Do you need to find her?"

"Nah, just curious," the white-haired man replied. "It's been a while since I've last seen her. I would have thought she'd at least accompany you here."

Kaya shrugged and offered a helpless smile. "You know how she is," she said in a softer tone. "I don't think she'd want to come back here after what happened."

The atmosphere between the two was visibly colder than before, almost sad as their minds were full of Tsunade, both well aware of her past as a kunoichi. Realising that it was not the time to be moping about, Jiraiya ruffled Kaya's head for the last time before patting Minato's head.

"I have to leave now, kiddies," he announced with his usual loud voice. "Remember to behave while I'm gone! See you later!"

With that, the Sannin turned and walked away, not sparing the teenagers another look as he headed towards the Hokage's tower. The chūnin trio watched as his retreating figure shrunk until he was gone completely. To say Jiraiya was a storm was quite accurate, since he would just randomly show up and would never leave without causing some kind of ruckus, which Kaya and Minato were used to.

"That was… interesting," Kushina commented thoughtfully, her brain still trying to make sense of what happened in those short minutes.

"Sensei tends to be like that all the time," Minato laughed sheepishly, somewhat feeling apologetic in place of his mentor.

"Trust me when I say I've seen worse from him," Kaya chuckled at the memories of Jiraiya clashing with Tsunade. She began to recall a scene when Jiraiya was drunk and stumbled into Tsunade's bath, resulting in him with multiple injuries that Kaya was forbidden to heal. Minato listened closely to the story, laughing along and inputting small comments about his teacher and his not-so-charming habits.

On the other hand, Kushina studied the purple-head carefully as they spoke. Although she already thought Kaya was rather easy-going, witnessing her opening up immediately in the presence of Jiraiya was a surprise. It was like she was another person; but Kushina couldn't blame her, since she had known the Sannin for years prior to arriving in Konoha. However, it was the way Kaya and Minato were interacting now that bothered her. At first, they were courteous with each other, reserved and polite, but after meeting with Jiraiya, it was as if the two were friends for a long time. They were familiar and comfortable with each other, joking and laughing like old buddies that made Kushina felt uneasy. It had taken her months and a kidnapping before she could befriend Minato, and yet Kaya did it within minutes.

It wasn't only Kaya who seemed a little different, she noted; Minato was acting different too. He was smiling with the purple-head, laughing at whatever she was saying, which was something he rarely did with another girl, save for herself. Kushina wondered if the appearance of a mutual senior had such a large impact on the pair.

Several moments later, Kaya and Minato's conversation ceased, and only then did they realise Kushina didn't join in. Laughing nervously and apologetically, Kaya smiled at the red-head.

"Should we get back to the tour?" she asked, trying to reinclude Kushina. "We've talked enough of Jiraiya-ji anyway."

Nodding reluctantly, Kushina agreed. Though she wanted to know more about Kaya's past, it didn't seem like it was the right time to ask, especially as it looked like Kaya didn't want to talk any further regarding that matter.

Together, they resumed their journey to the training grounds. They were beginning to leave the streets of the village and enter a clearing, but a masked shinobi appeared out of nowhere, surprising the trio.

"Kushina-san, your presence is required in the Hokage's office now," the ANBU said emotionlessly. "Please report to Hokage-sama immediately." Then, he disappeared as if he was never there in the first place.

The red-head's shoulders slumped as she registered the words. "Why did he ask me to give a tour when he's going to call me back in the middle of it?" she grunted in annoyance as she turned to her friends. "Sorry, looks like the old man's having fun messing with me."

Minato offered a comforting smile. "It can't be helped," he said softly.

Kushina gave Kaya an apologetic look but the latter only shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," Kaya said. "Maybe you can come back as soon as you're finished with the Hokage!"

"I'll try to join you guys-ttebane!" Kushina nodded hopelessly before hopping onto the rooftop of a nearby building as reluctantly as ever. "I'll leave Kaya to you, Minato! Take care of her!"

Just as Minato was going to reply, Kushina was gone, leaving only the shadow of her bright hair as she jumped away. His eyes lingered on the spot she was at for a moment longer before directing his attention to the other girl.

"Still up for the training grounds?" he asked with a small smile. Since Kushina entrusted Kaya to him, he was going to do his best with the tour. Besides, he found Kaya's company to be comforting and relaxing as compared to other people he just met. At least their conversations ran smoothly and easily.

"Only if you're still willing to take me," Kaya replied, mirroring his smile.

The pair chuckled before heading off again, inching closer and closer to their destination. In the near distance, Kaya could hear the sounds of weapons clashing against each other and the shouts of the people training there. The noise level was way above what Kaya could deal with while training.

"It's always this busy, isn't it?" Kaya questioned rhetorically.

Minato replied nonetheless. "Always occupied."

"How do you train like this?" she huffed. "I mean, won't there always be someone or something interrupting you?"

"I guess, but you get used to it after a while," he said with a shrug. "Sounds like you don't like having a lot of people around?"

"I don't mind having people around, but I don't like it when they're there when I'm training," she answered. "My concentration goes haywire."

The blond let out a hum of understanding before a grin donned his handsome face.

"Let's go somewhere else."