Here goes chapter two.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto cause' if I did I'd be swimming in money while yelling: "I'M RICH BTCH!"

SPOILER ALERT:

IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST MANGA CHAPTERS AND DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS THEN DON'T READ.

"Hello" character speaking.

'Hello' character thinking.

"HELLO" character yelling aloud

'HELLO' character yelling in his/her mind

LEGEND

PART 1, CHAPTER 2: POLITICS (aka FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF THE SWORDSMAN KIND)

The professor sat in his office staring at the latest search report and… it did not fill him with any confidence at all! It wasn't because the kid was incredibly good at covering his tracks and left no evidence of his presence, 'No! That would be against the horrible hand that destiny dealt me recently!' he thought, it was because there were too many traces of him at the scene that made it nearly impossible to find him! Apparently Naruto had flooded the forest with Kage bunshin during his fight with Mizuki turning the search for said kid into what could be considered an Inuzuka's worst nightmare.

'It's been nearly a week since he left and still not one trace of him! Nothing!'

Yep! Sarutobi Sasuke, legendary ninja, God of shinobi (It was later noted that he had stated several different times that: 'If anyone truly deserves that title it would have to be Namikaze Minato! The Yondaime Hokage!'), Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato was in a very foul mood.

'And as if that wasn't bad enough, the council has been riding my ass to place his name in the nuke-nin bingo book for the theft of the scroll of forbidden jutsu.' Now his face started even more aged and sour. 'I just hope the kid is does not hurt himself trying to learn some of the most dangerous techniques sealed within the scroll or worse yet: release the Kyubi no kitsune by accident!'

Then he had to think about the loss of a very capable academy teacher. Iruka no longer felt like he was qualified for teaching at the academy and had requested for a reactivation in the active duty roster. There was a reason why he had been taken off it but from what he had told Sarutobi, he hoped that during any of his missions outside the village; should he encounter Naruto, he might be able to bring the kid back home.

'Poor Iruka's blaming himself for having failed Naruto'

Yes, Sarutobi had gotten back an incredibly talented shinobi but the price had been too high.

Just as the saying goes: 'When it rains, it pours' Indeed, a most certain truth!

Suddenly he felt the hairs of his back stand up, a very dangerous presence had entered the room without him noticing it. He recognized him almost immediately.

"Jiraiya" He said tiredly.

"Sarutobi- sensei" Was the answer. Anger radiated out of every pour of his body.

Now the Sandaime winced. Normally his former student would not be formal at all 'Hell! Does he ever show respect for anyone!?' It would always be Saru-sensei, Old man or Sandy funny hat when he felt playful. 'But I guess it's understandable' He sighed.

"Please take a sit"

"What happened?" Jiraiya asked before he even finished taking a sit. "I know you could not tell the whole story in the message that you sent me" He sat down in front of his former master, expecting his response.

And so Sarutobi related to him all that had occurred starting from the day Naruto left. Of course, he tried to downplay the harsh treatment that the boy was subjected to by the people of the village. He knew that if push came to shove he would not be able to stop Jiraiya if he decided to vent his anger on the villagers. 'Ha! Who would have thought all those years ago that out of my three students, it would be the dead last that I would not be able win a fight against?' 'Yes' he thought 'Too many regrets from those times'

He would not delude himself into thinking that he was fooling Jiraiya though, the man before him had become an intelligence gathering master. He would know everything that happened in the boy's life, all he could do was minimize the damage. 'Well we will cross that bridge once I'm done debriefing him'

Once Sarutobi once done with the story, the explosion of anger that he expected from his student did not come; and that had him worried. Instead, Jiraiya was looking at him right in the eyes with an intensity he had seen very few times.

"I told you this would happen" He said in a calm yet accusing tone "I told you that I should have taken the boy!" He started showing more emotion now. He gave a resigned sigh and asked "What are you planning on doing now?... to correct this mistake?"

Sarutobi, looking even more tired than before, looked down into his desk. "You know as well as I do that as soon as you walked out of here with a blond child behind you, the nations we… no HE defeated during the last Great Shinobi War would have put two and two together and sent one assassination squad after another to kill you both. But that's in the past." He paused. "Now all we can do is keep looking for him… and try to keep the council from ordering his death."

The response Sarutobi received was not what he expected "You have become senile and too soft in your old age sensei. The way things are now the council will roll all over you, even if you have Homura-jisan and Koharu-basan on your side." He then continued. "You might raise the support of most of the council by revealing the truth about Naruto's parents. However, I would not entrust that slime-ball Danzo with that bit of information even if my life depended on it."

"Too true; and if any of our former enemies got a hold of those facts it could spell a lot of trouble for the Leaf and for the boy, he has no one to protect him now." He answered. 'Now…' he thought 'for the hard part.'

"Jiraiya… " He began speaking. "As you know I was supposed to retire ten years ago…" Jiraiya didn't like the sound of it, not at all. "And just as you said I've grown old and soft, I need a strong successor and after your former student you are the strongest shinobi that Konoha has ever produced." Sarutobi took the plunge into the abyss. "I need you to succeed me as the Godaime Hokage." There! He said it!

"HELL NO!" Jiraiya finally lost his composure. "I won't become Hokage to this bunch of ingrates… and… and… MY RESEARCH! MY PRECIOUS RESEARCH! Who would bless the world with the beautiful and uplifting literature I write!"

Now it was Sarutobi's turn to lose it. "JIRAIYA! Get a hold of yourself! The boy needs you! You know as well as I do that the council would not dare go against you!" Jiraiya seemed to calm down at this. "I've already failed the boy once and I'm not planning on failing him again! For his sake YOU MUST BECOME HOKAGE!"

Jiraiya knew it was the truth, his reputation and power were feared and respected all over the Elemental Continent. The council would not want to get into a conflict, either of wills or of the more physical kind with him. He had no choice but to accept but first, there was something that needed to be done. He resigned himself to his fate and sighed in defeat.

"Ok, I'll do it!" He said with a childish tone. "But! Before I take office you have to promise me something!" Sarutobi asked: "And what is it?" Jiraiya's only reply was "Nuh-uh! First promise me you will do something for me" The old man nodded accepted, somehow he knew this would come back to bite him in the ass but it had to be done.

Jirairya continued "There is something else that I need to do or rather there's someone we need to find" Understanding dawned on Sarutobi's face. "I have an idea of where she is and if I'm right I should be back with her in about a week."

"You really think that Tsunade will return willingly?"

"Well she has a spot secured in the council and once she hears that some of those bastards are planning on having killed her only living blood relative and son of her favorite student...well, I think she'll come running so fast that people will have to ask themselves why they gave the nickname of Konoha no Kiroi-Senko to Minato!" He finished the last part with a grin.

Sarutobi also had to smile. Jiraiya spoke once more: "You really think that the kid will keep his promise and come back? I mean, I know about him but I don't know him, so I don't know if he'll keep that promise."

"Well… I know him very well and if there is something about Naruto that the people of the village have to admit, no matter how much they hate him, is that he always… always keeps his promises." The old man smiled broadly now, remembering the little blond bundle of joy. He then continued "We have to set up a meeting with the council to announce your accession to the Hokage title as soon as possible and I'll have the transition ceremony ready for when you return."

With that they left the Hokage Tower and immediately headed to the council chambers. When they were finally in front of the chamber doors Jiraiya could not help a smirk that came to his face, he was feeling giddy 'They are so not going to like this! Good! Let the fireworks begin!' Were the thoughts running through his head. He certainly did not like most of the people in the council, nope indeedy!

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Jiraiya found himself at the east gate of Konoha, ready to depart the village in his search for the Slug Sannin: Tsunade-hime. With him Sarutobi and his old teammates whom had come to wish him luck and a safe trip.

They had said their goodbyes and Jiraiya turned towards the gate heading east to a small gambling town that had recently opened. 'Much to Tsunade's pleasure I would venture saying' He had to chuckle at that thought. He then remembered something, and smiled darkly. From out of nowhere shadows came and engulfed his face. He turned to face his old master who looked visibly shaken at the sight before him.

"Oi! Saru-sensei! You remember that promise you made when I accepted to become Hokage?

Sarutobi paled at this question. His former teammates discreetly backing away from him as fast as they could.

'He could rival Ukemaru now!' His smile grew wider and became sickeningly sweet as he spoke once more.

"Well I was thinking that when, not if, When Kushina wakes up from her coma you'll be the one that gets to tell her everything!"

Now Sarutobi became a statue that cracked and broke down on the floor.

Jiraiya once more turned around running out of the village while letting out a maniacal laugh that had everyone that heard it calling out for their mommies.

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Naruto had been on the run for more than a week and he had yet to see signs of any pursuers.

He had put whatever he had actually learned from Iruka-sensei about outdoors survival. He remembered his dear sensei's words very clearly: "Shinobi have to know how to live from the land. It is one of the most important sets of skills that you will need to survive in the wilderness during a mission where supplies are non-existent, if you are lost, or get cut-off from friendly forces behind enemy lines."

He had barely understood his words but during practice he had been one of the best. He had to be, for several times merchants had refused to sell him any food and he had been forced to catch his own in the forests near the village.

Now he hoped that the Old man would understand why he had gotten away from the village and that he would forgive him for taking the scroll. He had learned two more techniques contained within it. Unsurprisingly, they had been clone related jutsu: the kage kunai bunshin no jutsu (Kunai shadow clone technique) and the kage bunshin daibakuha no jutsu (Clone: great explosion technique). He did not understand why these two jutsu were classified as forbidden as they came very easily to him.

His thoughts now strayed to his supply situation and a sigh escaped him as he thought of the most horrifying thing about the last week. No, it wasn't taking that traitor's 'Mizuki-teme' life, it was 'NO RAMEN FOR A WHOLE FREAKING WEEK! I'm having withdrawal symptoms, whatever that means.'

He then noticed something ahead, the forest was clearing. 'It's a road! It leads to a town! It leads to a town with RAMEN!' Yep! No matter what the situation, you can always count on little Naru-chan to think about ramen.

As he got closer to the clearing he noticed a caravan, a caravan that was under attack by some 20 bandits. 'I can't let this injustice continue!' And he exploded into action.

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A wandering swordsman was walking down the road towards the village of Hokuryu, a place renowned for its sake and beautiful women. He giggled at his thoughts 'Fine sake and women after being on the road for so long will hit the right spot!'

The man in question did not look to be anything but an ordinary samurai, except for his God-awful white-seems-like-it's-alive cape. A beautiful katana safely secured at his waist, his short dark red hair loose around his face and mischievous dark brown eyes that seemed to shine whenever he thought about… yes, you guessed it: sake and women.

With these happy thoughts going around inside his head his body decided to add a skip to his pace to reflect its happiness and anticipation for the fun that was soon to come. All of this combined belied his true deadly nature for if anyone were to look attentively into his eyes they would see death given human form.

Suddenly he stopped, there were screams of men and women 'Young women! Possibly beautiful, eager and willing young women!' he thought, the telltale sounds of struggle going on behind the next curve of the road becoming clearer the closer he got.

Now he was bounding towards what he hoped were beautiful ladies in trouble all the while screaming: "I'M COMING TO YOUR AID MY BEAUTIFUL LADIES! DO NOT DESPAIR! A YOUNG, GOOD LOOKING HERO IN SHINING ARMOR HAS COME TO YOUR RESCUE!"

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Naruto came out into the road, jumped in front of the caravan and yelled (not something a stealthy ninja would or should do): "STOP EVIL DOERS! SUPER NINJA UZUMAKI NARUTO WILL STOP YOU!" Now, you must understand that our hero is still ten years old and no matter what he has seen or done there is a lot of inoscence and naivete left in him.

The people fighting around the caravan just turned around and seeing a scrawny, dumb looking little kid whom they promptly ignored in favor of continuing to hack at each other.

Naruto, mad at being ignored one more time in his life; put his hands in the increasingly familiar cross seal and called out the name of the technique: "Taiju Kage bunshin no jutsu!" and suddenly out of nowhere the bandits found themselves surrounded by an orange army and only had time to gape before they were assaulted on all sides by a sea of orange and yellow.

It was to this scene that our wandering swordsman came bouncing into still screaming about beautiful young ladies, and they doing things as thanks that made most guys blush and the females scream in anger at the dirty bastard that uttered them.

What he saw once he came out of his perversion induced dream world was something that left him confused, a little kid standing in the middle of a bunch of beaten up would be bandits.

Naruto locked eyes with him and both had to suppress a shudder.

'What a horrible getup!' They both thought at the same time.

And a fated meeting or a very unlucky event, as they would call it from time to time later on in their lives, had occurred.

A/N

I had a blast writing this chapter and I hope you have a blast reading it. Hokuryu is a real village in Hokkaido, I just googled 'japanes village name' and there it was. Looks very beautiful in the pictures.

Next chapter: Jiraiya goes searching for Tsunade. The dynamic between future sensei and student is not like one would normally expect but when it comes to Naruto, hardly anything is normal.

Chapter 3: Hiko Seijuro.

Feel free to post any criticism (constructive) or suggestions.

Thank you for reading!