A/N: Sorry for updating late (if you're ahead of British Summer Time) I've had a bit of a hectic day. I hope you're all enjoying this fanfiction and thank you again for the continuous support. I'm just going to hide think in the author's note because my friend has started reading this and it's possible that she may skip over the author's note - therefore prolonging my inevitable punishment for another week or two - I've used your name in this fanfiction and I've put you in Slytherin. Just saying; not that the Slytherin thing matters because that's your house group, but I used your name... and half of your mother's maiden name. Sorry. Not sorry. Anyway, I may have to switch to fortnightly or monthly updates; but I'm not sure yet so I'll have to let you guys know in my next update.

I think that's what I wanted to say, I can't remember.

Enjoy!

~Fox

Naruto stared at the white haired stranger with a mingled expression of confusion and shock. He blinked a few times before he regained his confidence and his voice.

"Why should I talk to a creepy old pervert when I don't even know who you are, y'know?" Naruto huffed; turning back to his ramen again.

Then allow me to introduce myself." The stranger offered. "I am the most holy Hermit Sage of the Mount. Myoboku toads; otherwise known as the Toad Sage, Jiraiya!" The man struck an impressive pose as he grinned at the blond boy.

Naruto stared at the with an expression of disinterest before he slowly raised his arm to point at Jiraiya. "Pervy Sage." He dubbed the man.

"Pervy Sage?" The man repeated in a disgruntled tone while Teuchi laughed at him.

"Well you are!" Naruto argued defensively. "I don't know what a Sage is, but you're definitely a pervert!"

"Haven't you ever heard of respecting your elders, brat?"

"Haven't you ever heard of setting an example, pervert?"

"Heh." Jiraiya smirked as he eyed Naruto. "I like you, kiddo. What's your name?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at Jiraiya; taken aback by the abrupt change of subject. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto Uzumaki, eh?" Jiraiya mused. "By the way Naruto, Ravenclaw is the house for the intellectual."

"I said don't tell me, y'know!" Naruto burst angrily while Jiraiya threw his head back in hysterical laughter. "What did ya have to go and tell me for? I was so close, y'know!"

"Of course you were." Jiraiya teased; shoving Naruto's chopsticks back into the blond's hands. "Now hurry up and eat your ramen before it gets cold."

Naruto begrudgingly obliged; glaring at Jiraiya while he ate his noodles. As soon as Naruto had finished his bowl, Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder to prevent the boy from leaving and ordered two more bowls of Teuchi's ramen for himself and the blond.

"What's this for?" Naruto enquired; tilting his head to one side in bewilderment.

"Let's just say that I'm treating you." Jiraiya offered with a smile as he began to eat his own bowl of ramen."

"But why?"

"Because I feel like it." Jiraiya replied with a shrug. "Tell me a little about yourself, brat."

Naruto swallowed his mouthful of noodles and gazed up at the stall's ceiling pensively. "There's not really much I can tell you, y'know. I don't know anything about my parents or if I have any other family, I grew up in an orphanage so I didn't have any friends until I met Iruka. I was schooled in the orphanage so there's not much to say about that either." Naruto frowned. "I guess that's it, y'know."

"Nonsense." Jiraiya chuckled. "Surely you have some hobbies?"

"I like pulling pranks." Naruto shrugged.

"That's a start." Jiraiya nodded at Naruto. "Got any likes or dislikes?"

"Hm…" the blond contemplated his answer. "I like Iruka and I like old man Teuchi's ramen, but I don't like Mrs Birkenhead or the other kids at the orphanage. They always look at me as though I'm some… some kind of monster." Naruto scowled for a moment before turning back to Jiraiya. "What's with all the questions?"

"Just trying to get to know you." Jiraiya stated; finishing his ramen. He paid Teuchi for both bowls of noodles and stood up; storing his papers away inside his green kimono shirt. "I suggest that you pick up a copy of Hogwarts: A History if you're passing by Flourish and Blotts." Jiraiya gave a small wave as he backed out of the ramen stall.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Naruto exclaimed; jumping off of his chair and scanning the street for the white haired man - but he had already disappeared. "Hey, he's gone already!"

"That was Jiraiya; other than Iruka, he is one of my best customers." Teuchi told Naruto as the boy ducked back into the stall and regained his seat. "He's one of the Legendary Sannin."

"Legendary Sannin?"

"Some wizards can form an elite magical unit; Jiraiya - along with two others - formed one of these elite units during the recent Wizarding War. Due to their efforts in the war, they were awarded the title of Legendary Sannin by some feudal lord."

"Why Sannin?" Naruto crinkled his nose. "Why not warlock or sorcerer?"

"Sannin literally translates to three ninja, so their full title is actually Legendary Three Ninjas." Teuchi explained. "I've heard that the Legendary Sannin are almost on a completely different level of magic and utilise their spells in a fashion that is almost like that of a ninja; hence the title. I've heard of wizards who don't need to use a wand, but I've never though that they'd actually exist. Well, apart from Albus Dumbledore, of course."

"Is Albus Dumbledore a Sannin too?"

"No, he's much stronger." Teuchi shook his head with a small laugh. "The only person I can think of who even came close to Albus Dumbledore is Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was Jiraiya's mentor before the war started. Later, Jiraiya went on to train his own elite student - who was nicknamed the Yellow Flash. It's rare to find such an elite wizard, but their skills are said to be a mixture between that of a ninja and a wizard."

"The old pervert is that powerful?" Naruto stared at Teuchi incredulously. "How to I become one of these Legendary Sannins too?"

"It takes years of training and will power." Teuchi chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm. "It would be best for you to focus on your studies at Hogwarts before you start thinking about Sannin level magic."

"Maybe I can ask the Pervy Sage to help me." Naruto murmured thoughtfully. "I'm gonna go and ask him, y'know. Thanks for the ramen, old man!"

Naruto dashed from Ichiraku's Ramen and raced around Diagon Alley in search of the white haired wizard; ignoring the calls and yells of other witches and wizards who told him to slow down or watch where he was going.

After searching through Diagon Alley for what felt like the umpteenth time, Naruto begrudgingly returned to the Leaky Cauldron; stopping in Flourish and Blotts on the way to purchase a copy of Hogwarts: A History - as Jiraiya had suggested; he planned to read through the book and get ahead of the old pervert for their next meeting. He greeted Tom as he walked past the barman and ascended the stairs to room number nine; where he finally collapsed on his bed and succumbed to his exhaustion.

Iruka entered the small pub; shaking his sodden cloak off of his shoulders and draping it over his arm.

"Morning." Tom inclined his head at the brunet.

"Good morning." Iruka smiled wearily. "Is he ready yet?"

"I woke him up, but I think he's fallen asleep again." Tom shook his head. "He's been running around Diagon Alley since you left; he'll leave just after dawn and come back just before sunset. He's looking for the Pervy Sage. I haven't a clue what he's on about."

"I dread to think." Iruka sighed as he began to climb us the stairs. "I'm going to go and check on him."

Iruka walked down the corridor until he reached room number nine; where he stopped and gently rapped his knuckles against the door.

"Naruto?" Iruka called through the door. "Is it alright to come in?"

No answer came.

"Naruto?" Iruka called out again as he grew more worried. The brunet clasped his hand around the door handle and slowly pushed the door open.

Inside the room, he found Naruto hanging awkwardly off of the side of his bed; tangled up in his blankets with his face pressed against the floor. The orange toad with purple markings was happily sitting on Naruto's head. Iruka moved closer to the boy with intentions of shaking him awake, but he quickly stopped in his tracks after he caught a glimpse of a strange marking on the boy's partially visible midriff; the first thing that came to the brunet's mind was bruising. Iruka stooped down into a kneeling position on the floor next to the blond and gently lifted Naruto's pyjama top - whilst making sure that he was careful enough not to wake the boy.

The marking was vibrant; almost as though it was a fresh tattoo, it started from the blond's abdomen and spiralled out wards. Above and below the spiral feature were two more markings - almost connecting as though they were encasing the spiral - eight short prongs spurred off of these markings.

Iruka lowered the pyjama top and frowned to himself; he had never seen an imprint such as this before and certainly not on anyone as young as Naruto. Iruka remained in deep thought for a moment before deciding that the best course of action would be to research the mysterious marking.

Iruka finally nudged the blond. "Naruto, wake up!"

"Mmm?" Naruto hummed groggily. "Five more minutes."

"Naruto, come on." Iruka gave the boy a hard shove; causing the rest of the blond's body to crash to the floor. Iruka winced but did not drop his stern demeanour. "We'll be late if you don't hurry up."

Naruto slowly sat up; holding Gamakichi in one hand while rubbing his eye with the other. "Iruka?" Naruto blinked at the brunet haired man. "When did you get here?"

"Ten minutes ago."

"And why am I on the floor?"

"Because you fell out of bed." Iruka sighed as he rose to his feet. "Get yourself washed and dressed. We have to get you to King's Cross Station before eleven o'clock."

Iruka stepped out of the room to give Naruto some privacy. Naruto quickly dressed himself; throwing his pyjamas inside his Hogwarts trunk along with the books and robes that be had managed to leave strewn around his room in the past few days. He struggled to close the lid of the trunk, but finally managed to clamp the lid shut after throwing all of his weight on top of it. Naruto heaved a sigh of relief as he delicately placed his wand in the waistband of his orange track suit bottoms; hiding the wand's handle beneath his black t-shirt. He picked up Gamakichi, dropped the toad in his glass tank and tucked the tank safely under his arm while dragging his trunk with his free hand.

The blond finally trudged down the stair to meet the brunet haired man who was still waiting for him in the pub.

The pair waved goodbye and gave their thanks to Tom as they headed out of the door; into the muggle world, and climbed into the back of the black taxi that Iruka had arrived in earlier.

"Sorry about that." Iruka apologised to the taxi driver with a nervous laugh as he fastened his seatbelt. "Someone decided to have a bit of a lay-in."

Naruto shuffled in his seat guiltily.

"No problem." The taxi driver replied coolly; although Naruto was certain that he could hear a little annoyance in the man's tone. "Where to?"

"King's Cross Station, please." Iruka requested politely. He flashed Naruto a small smile as the taxi pulled away from the curb and joined the queue of traffic. "Looking forward to your first year of school, Naruto?" Iruka asked in a quiet voice as the taxi driver turned the volume on his radio up.

"I'm a little nervous, y'know." Naruto admitted with a shrug.

"That's understandable." Iruka nodded knowingly. "How was your time at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Good." Naruto grinned. "I went back to Ichiraku's every day, so I'm pretty good friends with old man Teuchi. He told me about his daughter and a sport called… uh… quid… qui… quail… quill…" Naruto stared at Iruka with a quizzical expression.

"Quidditch." Iruka smirked as he finished Naruto's sentence.

"Right!" Naruto's enthusiasm returned. "And I found a joke shop too, I got some stuff in there - like some fireworks."

"I can imagine." Iruka chuckled; he was suddenly reminded of his days as the class clown at Hogwarts. "Be careful with them, you could get yourself into some serious trouble if you're caught pulling pranks."

"They'll have to catch me first." Naruto laughed mischievously. "Hey, that reminds me! I met this really powerful guy at Ichiraku's."

"Oh?"

"I met the Pervy Sage." Naruto told Iruka happily.

"I was going to ask you about that Sage character." Iruka frowned slightly.

"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head at the older man.

"Did he tell you his name?"

"Hm." Naruto folded his arms across his chest and pouted to himself while he tried to remember the conversation between the white haired man and himself. "He told me that he was the Toad Sage of Mount. something-or-rather."

"Mount. Myoboku?" Iruka offered.

"That's it!" Naruto beamed. "Old man Teuchi said that he's a Legendary Sannin, but he's just an old pervert if you ask me."

"That must be Jiraiya." Iruka mused to himself in a quiet voice.

"Do you know the Pervy Sage then?" Naruto asked with a hopeful expression.

"I know of him, but I've never actually met him." Iruka confessed.

"Damn." Naruto whispered with a crestfallen look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I wanted to ask him to teach me to be a legendary Sannin too."

"Teach you to be a Legendary -" Iruka blinked at Naruto before a smile stretched across his features. "Let's get you through school before you try and overcome such a big feat, okay Naruto?" Iruka ruffled the blond's hair playfully.

The taxi slowed to a halt outside King's Cross Station. Iruka paid the taxi driver while Naruto retrieved his trunk from the boot of the car and placed it on top of a metal luggage trolley; along with Gamakichi's glass tank.

Naruto watched over his shoulder as the taxi drove away and blended in with the rest of the traffic.

"Iruka, how are you going to get home?" Naruto asked; following the brunet as he pushed the trolley.

"I'll apparate." Iruka replied with a small shrug. "I live in a fairly busy area, so it's easier to apparate without gaining the muggles' attention, but I always make sure I apparate within my wards, just to be safe."

"Wards?"

"Magical barriers; just to keep the muggles unsuspicious." Iruka elaborated as he pulled a small envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Naruto. "Keep that safe, it's your train ticket."

"Got it." The blond nodded; stopping for a few moments to take the envelope and tuck it away in his trouser pocket.

"This way." Iruka steered Naruto towards platforms nine and ten.

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion as he glanced around himself. "I can't see any other Hogwarts students, y'know."

"They're around." Iruka reassured the blond with an encouraging smile. "They'll be dressed in muggle clothes, just like we are." The older man explained.

"Wait." Naruto stared at Iruka. "How are you supposed to get a whole school of wizards onto one of these trains without the muggles noticing or at least have one of them accidentally board the wrong train?"

"Easy." Iruka chuckled. "We have a magically concealed platform."

"Really? Where?"

"There." Iruka clasped a hand around Naruto's shoulder to stop the boy in his tracks and with the other hand he pointed at a solid brick pillar between platforms nine and ten.

Naruto glanced between Iruka and the pillar disbelievingly. "Are… are you sure?"

"Positive." Iruka bowed his head seriously. "All you have to do is run at the pillar."

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the brunet. "I'm not falling for it, y'know."

Iruka heaved a weary sigh. "Good grief. Come on, Naruto. We only have fifteen minutes before your train leaves."

"You go first then."

"Huh?" Iruka tilted his head slightly.

"Prove to me that its not a joke." Naruto challenged the man.

"Alright, I will." Iruka shook his head at the boy. "But you have to admit that I was right when you get on the platform."

"Fine." Naruto accepted; he then watched expectantly as the older man braced himself for a run up to the pillar. "You're seriously going to do it?" The blond arched one of his eyebrows at Iruka.

"Of course I am." Iruka smirked. He jogged towards the pillar - dodging around any stray muggles - and then he disappeared into the pillar; as though the brick work had swallowed him whole.

Naruto did a double take and even left his trolley to check the other side of the pillar - in case Iruka had somehow snuck behind it to trick him. Naruto surveyed the surrounding Muggles with a bemused expression; they had merely continued about their daily lives as though nothing had happened. Naruto quickly returned to his trolley and eyed the pillar once more.

"Well, here goes nothing." He murmured to himself as he followed in Iruka's footsteps; closing his eyes tightly and flinching violently as the brick pillar drew closer.

He waited for the collision, but it didn't happen.

Naruto slowed himself down and opened his eyes cautiously to find Iruka standing beside a large, scarlet steam train with his arms folded and a smug look on his face.

"Alright, you was right!" Naruto burst. "There's no need to look so stuck-up about it, y'know!"

"Come on then, you knucklehead." Iruka laughed as he joined Naruto's side. "Let's find you a carriage."

The pair walked down the platform in search of an empty compartment on the train.

Naruto gazed about himself; noticing that some students were already dressed in their Hogwarts robes and others were calling out to their friends after a long summer apart.

He spotted a sign that read Platform Nine and Three Quarters; he had to double take after momentarily forgetting that he had passed through a magical barrier to reach the platform.

The pair stepped onto the train - Iruka helped Naruto with his trunk - to have a better chance at finding an empty compartment.

"I found one!" Iruka called back to the blond as he slid open a compartment door.

Naruto hurried to Iruka's side - dragging the heavy trunk behind him - and peered inside the compartment. Although it was small, the compartment still seemed quite homely; there were two seats opposite each other, a table was folded down beneath the window and there was an overhead storage compartment.

Iruka helped Naruto hoist his trunk into one of the overhead storage areas - as the blond was too short to reach it on his own.

"T- thanks, Iruka." Naruto panted as he flopped himself down on one of the train seats.

Iruka grinned at the blond as he securely fastened Gamakichi's tank next to Naruto's trunk. He then tugged a drawstring bag from his shoulders and handed it to Naruto.

"I've packed some lunch for you. It's not much, but it should keep you going until you get to Hogwarts."

Naruto peeked inside the bag curiously. "You made me a lunch?" Naruto asked in a nonplussed tone.

"Of course I did, I didn't want you to get hungry." Iruka replied. "A sweet trolley will come round to your apartment as well." Iruka paused for a moment. "I probably won't see you again for a while."

"You won't?" Naruto frowned up at Iruka.

"I'll be coming to Hogwarts soon to teach the sixth years." Iruka explained. "But it's very likely that I will be visiting during your lesson time. The probability that we'll see each other isn't very high."

"Oh." Naruto gazed at the carriage floor with a crestfallen expression.

Iruka gave a small jump of surprise as a whistle sounded on the platform.

"I have to go." Iruka told the blond. "I hope we meet again soon. If you need anything, just send me an owl, okay?"

"Right." Naruto gave the older man a smile - although the brunet could tell that the smile was somewhat forced.

Iruka ruffled Naruto's blond locks affectionately before he hurried back onto the platform; leaving Naruto to stare out of the window, searching the platform for the familiar brunet as the train shuddered into motion.

After finally pinpointing the man, Naruto waved goodbye to Iruka - who returned the wave - until the platform fell out of sight under the downpour of rain.