Chapter 10

Naruto stood in front of one of the many doors within the hotel, trying to keep himself calm and wondering what to say. He had come here because this is where Jiraiya always lodged when he was in town - probably due to it's proximity to the most populated spa in Konoha.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked once on the door. Shifting his weight to one side, he relaxed his left leg and put most of his weight on his right foot. Ever since he had run the Gauntlet, the favoring of his right foot over his left was happening on a subconscious level. He realized it was a bad habit to have, and made a conscious effort to correct himself, shifting most of his weight back onto his left side. The foot itself was fine now, but for some reason the memory of stepping on that lightning tag always made his foot tingle.

Naruto knocked again, louder this time. The receptionist had informed him that Jiraiya had in fact booked this room for one night stay, so that meant the man would be leaving again after today. To where, Naruto had no idea, so he figured he should probably clear the air with his... 'guardian' before the pervert disappeared again.

Unfortunately, the white haired man wasn't answering his door so Naruto contemplated trying again later. He found a part of himself becoming slightly agitated at Jiraiya's absence. If the man wasn't answering his door, that could only mean Jiraiya had either gotten an early start on his research since he was only going to be around for a day, or he had been running himself ragged and was passed out sleeping.

The other part of him was slightly relieved, as he was still trying to figure out exactly what it was that he wanted to tell the Toad Sennin in the first place. Naruto had forgiven the man, certainly. But just saying sorry seemed to be rather insignificant in comparison to all the things that actually needed to be said between them.

He turned and started walking away from the door, only to see another door at the end of the hallway - where the stairs were - opened up. The person Naruto was both trying to find and avoid stepped through. Naruto stopped in his tracks, trying to think of some kind of greeting, but for some reason his mouth refused to open. The Toad Sennin hadn't noticed Naruto yet, as the man had been looking at the ground in front of him as he was walking. As soon as he had passed the threshold of the doorway, he had crossed one arm over his chest while his other was rubbing his chin, which usually meant he was deep in thought about something.

Naruto continued to stand there, words refusing to come forth, but it didn't matter since the white haired man eventually looked up to see how far down the hallway he was. He was still several doors away from where he needed to be, but that didn't stop him from spotting his godson, who was the only other person around. Naruto had a hard time trying to interpret the exact kind of facial expression the man had when he spotted the teen, but the grim smile that settled on his face as he slowed his approach spoke volumes.

"Gaki." It was both a statement and greeting. Jiraiya nodded as he said it, and Naruto realized he was going to have to be the one to break the wall down between them. He was the one who put it up, after all.

"Hey there... Jiraiya-jiisan." Though Jiraiya had slowed his walk as he approached, now he was completely stopped. He looked at Naruto with wide eyes for a moment, before his grim smile turned into a more genuine one.

"Does this mean I've been forgiven?"

Naruto was contemplative, asking himself the very same question. "For the most part, yes. But I do still have some questions..."

Jiraiya held up a hand, forestalling Naruto's reply. "Before you start grilling me, understand that there may be some questions I really don't have the answer to."

Naruto nodded. "That's fine, if you honestly don't know." Naruto let the sentence linger for a moment before he pressed on. "I don't have a lot of questions anyway, but the ones I do have are mostly about this." As he finished talking, he slowly pulled a kunai from his leg pouch. Jiraiya's eyes lit up with recognition immediately.

"I was wondering why that was in your hospital room last night. Tsunade filled me in on the full details just a moment ago." He walked past Naruto towards the door to his room. "Come on in, take a seat, and we'll talk."

Naruto nodded and followed Jiraiya into the room. The room itself was rather sparse, but it had all the necessities, which was understandable for a hotel room. There was a single bed, a small table with two chairs, and a small kitchen area for preparing meals, but no big items such as a refrigerator. Naruto grabbed a seat and set the kunai on the table, sliding it over to where Jiraiya was going to sit.

The Sannin stared at the three pronged kunai for a moment after he sat down, then reached for it. "So where did you come across this? I thought sensei had taken them all and locked them away."

Hearing the man tell him that the Sandaime locked them all away made him wonder if he would get Inoichi in trouble for keeping his. But since he wanted the truth from Jiraiya about certain things, Naruto figured he should tell the truth as well. He was arguing with himself for a moment longer than he thought, because when he finally made his decision, Jiraiya was staring at him intently.

"If you don't want to tell me, I unde-"

Naruto cut him off. "No, it's fine. I don't want him to get in trouble, but Yamanaka Inoichi gave it to me."

"Inoichi, huh?" Jiraiya's brow scrunched up in thought as he examined the small weapon. "I do know that the Ino-Shika-Cho group were out of Konoha a lot after the Kyuubi attack to examine the damages in Fire Country, so he probably wasn't around when sensei issued the proclamation to have them turned in. I think that would suffice for any excuse needed. Since sensei has passed on, however, I doubt anyone would really care now."

Naruto nodded, appreciative of the fact that there was a way around the question should it ever come up.

"Now... Tsunade tells me that you actually managed to perform Hiraishin. Care to explain how you managed to pull that off?"

Naruto's eyes went wide in surprise, but then he frowned. "I did Hiraishin?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a curious look. "Well, lets go backwards first, then move forward from there. What's the last thing you remember before you went into the hospital?"

Pausing for a moment, Naruto looked out the window. What did he remember?

"I remember messing up around the end of the Gauntlet, and Kakashi-sensei was going to make me pay for it. He threw a kunai at a tag that would set off other traps in the area. I tried to throw a kunai to intercept his, but missed."

Jiraiya held up the Yondaime's old weapon. "So you threw this one?"

Naruto shrugged. "I was in a hurry, and just grabbed the first one I could get from my pouch. I was a little surprised that I had managed to grab that particular one, but I didn't really notice until after it had already been thrown."

"But apparently you missed, since Tsunade said that the weapon became lodged into the ground at the finish line seconds before you appeared."

"So that's what happened..." Naruto had a speculative look, as if he was going over past events in his mind. "I remember it missed Kakashi-sensei's kunai; my hands had too much blood on them, so it slipped out of my hand toward the end of the throw and wasn't on target. After it missed I was only thinking about somehow getting away from the traps, but then my foot gave out on me because of a lightning trap I had set off earlier."

"Wasn't the Kyuubi taking care of your injuries?"

Naruto frowned. "It was... but not as fast as normal. It's complicated, but apparently I have more control over the seal than I thought. I can explain that in more detail later, though Kyuubi's chakra is healing me just like it used to once again.

Jiraiya nodded, but still appeared concerned. He filed it away in his mind as a question for another time.

"Anyway, my foot gave out on me when I tried to jump, so I ended up tripping instead. I fell forward, and I was so tired and drained that I didn't think to use chakra to stick to the branch. Then as I was falling, parts of my body felt like they were being pulled away against my will. I was going to be hit with a fireball if I didn't move, so I let the pull take me. Next thing I know, I'm standing in front of baa-chan and the others. I don't remember anything after that, so I guess I fainted."

"She said you fainted shortly after you arrived. Not only that, but that there were big cuts all over your body and large bruises forming right in front of her eyes, which meant massive internal bleeding. She had never seen anything like it." Jiraiya shook his head, setting the kunai down on the table. "You're lucky she was there, as well as Shizune and your girlfriend."

Naruto was frowning the whole time, staring at his open hands. However, his head shot up and he focused on Jiraiya when the man referred to Sakura. "Wha- Who said anything about me having a girlfriend?"

Jiraiya smiled and leered at him. "Tsunade-hime told me. Apparently she had just finished asking your girlfriend about it, because I saw Sakura walking out of Tsunade's office and her face was almost the same color as her hair. Besides, it's been a while since I've seen a smile that big on Tsunade's face, so I had to ask."

Naruto grumbled, he had wanted to be the one to tell both Jiraiya and Tsunade... but then figured that Sakura had more of a right to tell Tsunade. Sakura had trained under the Hokage for two years, who might as well have be a second mother to the girl. It was just his bad luck that Jiraiya was around right after Tsunade found out.

Jiraiya had noticed Naruto was upset. "If it makes you feel any better, I had to threaten her with some... pictures... before she agreed to tell me."

Naruto just slapped his forehead and sighed. "Blackmail. It figures."

Jiraiya just chuckled, and figured he should get the conversation back on course.

"Regarding Hiraishin, I have an idea as to what may have happened, but we'll have to check later to see if I'm right."

Naruto went from looking exasperated to excited in a split second.

"Do you think I'll be able to use it?"

Jiraiya frowned. "Hard to say. I don't know how Hiraishin works, your father said he didn't want anyone other than his family members knowing it. The only other person who may have an idea would be your mother... but no one knows if she's even still alive."

Naruto frowned and nodded his head. "Do you think we can at least figure out how it worked?"

"I have my own ideas." Jiraiya pointed at the blood-covered seal on the handle. The blood had long since dried and was now a dark brown. It looked more like dirt than blood. "You got quite a bit of blood on the seal. Your father probably attuned the seal to his own blood, which is why he was the only one able to use these kunai to do his technique."

Naruto was staring hard at the kunai, contemplating the Toad Sennin's words. "So you're saying... that by getting my blood on the seal, it recognized my father's blood in me and allowed me to use it?"

Jiraiya smiled. "Your father was a genius, and it looks like you're finally starting to follow in his footsteps."

"Uh... thanks." Naruto looked away and blushed ever so slightly. After so many years of not receiving any kind of compliment, he still felt a little awkward when he did get one.

"So the seal recognized your fathers blood in you, and let you use the technique. You didn't use any hand seals when you used it though, did you?"

Naruto slowly shook his head negatively, with a frown. "I didn't even know what was happening."

Jiraiya just nodded, as if confirming a theory in his mind. "Your father used hand seals before he used the technique. His main element was lightning, so I think I've finally been able to confirm where the 'Yellow Flash' comes from. It wasn't just his hair, like everyone wanted to believe. Rather ingenious for him to mask his technique that way..."

Jiraiya rambled on, more mumbling to himself than actually talking to Naruto. It wasn't until the teen cleared his throat that Jiraiya remembered he was there.

"Oh, sorry. I was just confirming to myself that Minato used his lightning element to sort of... buffer... his technique."

Naruto looked confused, and it didn't appear as if he was going to come up with an answer on his own this time.

"Let's go back once again before we continue. It will make all this easier to understand. Tell me, do you know why whenever lightning flashes in the sky that you hear thunder afterward?"

Naruto leaned back in his chair for a second, obviously trying to go through the things he actually did learn in the Academy.

"All I remember is that it had something to do with electricity and heat..."

Comprehension dawned on Naruto's face right after he spoke. He stopped talking and looking at Jiraiya, mentally asking if he guessed correctly. Jiraiya smiled at him.

"Your father let the lightning travel in front of him as he was pulled to the seal, it made the air in front of him expand. His body followed right behind the lightning, through the expanded air. This greatly reduced the amount of resistance that was placed on his body as he traveled near instantaneously between the seals. However, while the lightning did heat up the air around him enough to make it expand and reduce resistance, the technique wasn't completely silent. Any type of air expansion that happens that fast will cause noise. That's why there was usually a distinct popping noise when he arrived at his destination."

Naruto frowned as he remembered the pain he was in when he awoke in the hospital. But he simply shrugged it off as another thought entered his mind, which caused him to chuckle. "I guess that's why he called it the Flying Thunder God technique. He was supposed to take the place of the thunder."

Jiraiya sat there baffled for a second. Then it was his turn to realize something. "You know, you're right. I never really thought about the name that much. I know Kumo has a technique of their own that uses the same name, but it makes a lot of noise, so it's understandable how it got its name."

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto again. "You're finally beginning to show his traits."

Naruto looked away again, though he wasn't sure if he should take that as a comment or just at face value. "Is it possible for you to... explain what you mean by that, now?"

Jiraiya sighed, and grabbed the kunai in his hand once more. He frowned while he looked at it, carefully running his fingers over the blade. Naruto was about to tell him never mind, but Jiraiya spoke before he could.

"It is said that there is one person every generation who is better than any other ninja who had come from the generation before. Minato was the ultimate ninja of his generation. I can say without a bit of doubt that he was a true master in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and fuuinjutsu. His genjutsu wasn't particularly strong, but any weakness in that field could be filled in by strengths in fuuinjutsu."

Jiraiya stared at Naruto with a steady gaze. "Now, I know you have some friends who refer to themselves or have been referred to as extremely hard working. I know the same goes for friends of mine, or past friends, who are referred to as geniuses."

"Yeah... Fuzzy-brows, Neji, and... Sasuke-teme."

Jiraiya grinned a little at the pet names for two of them. "Well, take what you know about a hard worker, and a genius... and combine them. That was Namikaze Minato. A hardworking genius."

Naruto blinked owlishly for several seconds, before he let out a noise that was a mix between a sigh and a grunt. "Well, at least I inherited the hard working part."

"We've seen quick glimpses of his genius, too. You just showed me a little bit not too long ago."

Naruto ran his hand back through his hair. "Yeah. It's strange. Ever since I went on that scouting mission almost a week ago, and since I've learned about my parents... I feel like I'm able to understand things a lot better."

Jiraiya shook his head, but smiled. "Remember when we were walking home from our vacation..."

"I don't see how you can call that a vacation."

Jiraiya continued on, without missing a beat, "...and I thought you were being a moody little brat, but you told me you were working on that little thing called maturity?"

Naruto grimaced. "Yeah. I remember."

Jiraiya just chuckled. "Well, there's a little thing that goes with maturity, most of the time we call it patience. When you use those two things together, and actually think things through before acting, you'll find yourself coming to understand things a lot better than you ever could before. But maturity alone is a great thing, patience is just a bonus."

Jiraiya stood up as Naruto was mulling over his words. He gave the boy a hard pat on the shoulder as he walked past. "But you need to be mature for the things you're going to be dealing with soon anyway. While your loudmouthed self reminds me a lot of your mother, if you have people's lives in your hands, you can't act like that."

"My mother... was loud?"

Even though Naruto couldn't see Jiraiya's face, he could hear the grin in the man's voice. He was currently hunched over a sack that was sitting on the bed, digging through it. "Boy was she. You could hear her from a mile away. Was quite the tomboy, if I've ever seen one. At first, your parents couldn't stand each other. But then after a while, she began to grow on him. Supposedly it was a special power of hers, that she could get anyone to like her. A power which I think you inherited."

The sennin turned around as he finished talking, and headed back towards the table. Naruto was still listening if the man decided to keep talking, but he had grabbed the kunai and was examining what he could see of the seal that wasn't covered in blood.

"Look interesting?"

Naruto shrugged as Jiraiya walked past. "I don't understand what it does, even if it looks cool. Kind of like the seal on my stomach."

"Or even an explosive tag?"

Naruto shrugged once again. "Can't say I've ever really looked at one closely."

"That doesn't surprise me. Here."

Naruto's gaze went back to the table as Jiraiya slid a book over to him. The cover was a bit faded and the spine looked a little bent out of shape, but otherwise it was in decent condition. He set the kunai down, and picked up the book. Gazing carefully at it, but not yet opening it, he noticed that it appeared as though it had suffered from some water damage too.

"What is this, some of your vintage smut?"

Jiraiya just frowned, which led Naruto to believe that whatever it was, it was rather important.

"Hardly. They're notes I had been taking for years on fuuinjutsu. The Academy only teaches the basics, because seals are a very esoteric and ambiguous field. You can do almost anything you can think of with seals. The trade off is generally that massive amounts of chakra is required, not to mention the frustration when a seal doesn't work the way you want or expect it to."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya, frowning. He had a hard time believing that. "Can you really do anything at all with them?"

"You should understand that better than almost anyone."

Naruto's frown deepened. "Why would I? I don't get it."

Jiraiya fixed Naruto with an impassive stare, and spoke in monotone. "The Kyuubi no Kitsune is largest and most powerful of the bijuu, which themselves are literally nothing more than giant masses of chakra with self-awareness. Under normal conditions for a sealing, you need enough people to pump out an equal amount of chakra to meet the bijuu's amount, while one person maintains the focus needed to perform the sealing ritual. We didn't have nearly enough people with the amount of chakra we'd need to seal away the Kyuubi. There are rare shinobi with the ability to suppress a bijuu's chakra, like the Shodai Hokage, but those people are extremely rare, and Konoha had none."

The white-haired man's expression was dour. "There was only one other way to get the amount of chakra - or power, really - needed to seal away Kyuubi."

Naruto gave the answer, but it was barely more than a whisper. "The Shinigami."

Jiraiya nodded with a grim smile on his face. "Nothing in the world is more powerful than death itself, other than perhaps Kami... but no one has been able to call on Kami and receive visible results so far. The Shinigami has appeared in the past, however, and your father managed to prove that it was possible to call on it. A little known fact is that no one has been able to call on the Shinigami's powers without giving something in return. With the use of the Shiki Fuujin, your father offered the highest sacrifice than any human could - his own life and afterlife. It was the only way to really guarantee that the Shinigami would appear."

Naruto was still staring at the book as Jiraiya was talking to him. He knew the man had stopped talking, but was still trying to absorb everything that he was just told. It was definitely a lot more detailed than anything they tried to teach in the Academy. Not only that, but the Academy had definitely stretched the truth in regards to the Kyuubi and exactly how it was defeated.

"You should take a look inside."

The blond bit his bottom lip, and set the book on the table. He gently grabbed the top cover, and slowly opened the book. The first page was blank, but upon turning the page, he noticed that all too familiar scrawl of the man sitting across from him.

"A primer on the study of Fuuinjutsu..."

Jiraiya nodded. "Like I said, those are my notes on seals, from the basics all the way up to complex container scrolls and beyond. Now... flip towards the back of the book... you'll notice the handwriting change."

Naruto did as he was instructed, and immediately noticed a set of handwriting that was much, much neater. He looked up at Jiraiya, waiting for an explanation.

"I started taking notes when I became a jounin. Orochimaru helped me add information to the book for a little while, but after a time he started concentrating more on ninjutsu than fuuinjutsu."

The teen frowned when his sensei mentioned the pale-faced member of the Sannin. "I guess he didn't appreciate the things which didn't show how powerful he was, huh?"

Jiraiya grinned, but it didn't look like a cheerful one. He leaned back in his chair, letting his head tilt forward while closing his eyes. "Orochimaru was always interested in anything that would make him stronger, but fuuinjutsu took a lot of work and testing... while ninjutsu's results are generally immediate and highly visible. There is no doubt that fuuinjutsu is the strongest form of jutsu when applied properly, and that was apparent even to him. But Orochimaru was never known for his patience, and that is one thing seals require a lot of. The Heaven Seal is apparently the culmination of a project he worked on for years with his associate Kabuto... and it only took me a month to figure out how to contain its worst effects. However, I haven't really had the time to look into finding ways to remove it, yet."

The Toad Sennin lifted his head and opened his eyes. This time he did smile. "But I do have patience, and I continued my journal and my notes. I eventually became the first Seal Master that Konoha ever had."

Naruto looked skeptical. "You have patience?"

Jiraiya scoffed. "Sometimes I have to wait for hours for appropriate material to arrive for me to conduct my research. Not only that, but I trained you, didn't I?"

The boy just pouted and crossed his arms, then slouched down in his seat. The grin returned to Jiraiya's face.

"Anyway, back to the journal. Your father expressed interest in fuuinjutsu when he was a Genin... he was always asking me how an explosive tag worked, and things like that. So I began teaching him basic fuuinjutsu on the side. He was a natural."

Naruto sat back up again, and was slowly turning pages and scanning their contents.

"Once your father became a Jounin and got his own Genin team, I decided to pass along my notes. That is his handwriting. He took many of my ideas and seals and expanded upon them. It was incredible. Thus, he became the second Seal Master of Konoha."

Naruto was still flipping through the pages, understanding nothing. "Have there been any others since?"

Jiraiya frowned. "Seal Masters? None that I know of. Sure, there are a lot of folks who know the basics... that's where you would get your explosive tags and such from. There are others, like Kakashi, who have modified some seals to suit their own purposes, but he's too lazy to get into the intricacies of the art."

The young jounin sighed, then gently closed the book. "So by giving me this, are you trying to tell me to become the next Seal Master?"

Jiraiya laughed outright, startling Naruto. "Ah, blunt as always. I'm not telling you to, this is just an offer. The book is yours just as much as it is mine. I gave it to your father, and I'm sure he would have given it to you. It's not easy at all, but you'll end up saving a lot of money that you would normally spend on traps, tags, and scrolls if you can make them yourself. If you learn enough, you may even be able to get this to work for you one day." Jiraiya tapped the kunai that was still resting on the table.

Naruto nodded, then slowly stood up and stretched. He grabbed the book after he was done, gave it a once over, then shrugged. "Eh, why not?"

The sennin stood up as well, smiling all the while. "If you have any questions, save them for when I visit and I'll see if I can answer them."

Naruto grinned back, but the grin gradually faded to a more somber expression.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto looked around the room absently, while his hand rested on the back of the chair he had just been sitting in. "I... I'm sorry."

The older man looked confused. "What for? I'm glad that you decided to at least give fuuin-"

"No!" Naruto spoke up louder than he intended, apparently startling his godfather into stunned silence. "I mean... I'm sorry for overreacting in the hospital. Earlier. You know."

Jiraiya was silent for a moment, trying to wrap his thoughts around the sudden topic change. "There is nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should still be apologizing for keeping it hidden from you for so long. I'll apologize for Tsunade too, though she says she wants to say it herself before you leave."

They were both silent again, Naruto merely nodded in acceptance. It was rather stupid to argue about apologies, after all. His gaze fell back down to the book again, but promptly returned to Jiraiya when the man asked a question.

"So... is this going to be a new look for you?"

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion at first, he had no idea what the man was getting at. Looking down at himself, his eyes went wide as he realized what he was wearing.

Instead of his usual orange and black clothing, he had to settle on wearing just his mesh shirt with loose black sweatpants. It wasn't that he actively sought to change what he typically wore, he just had a lot on his mind when he woke up and wanted to get things taken care of before he had to leave on the mission. Not to mention he had come from the hospital and hadn't been to his apartment yet. The clothing he was wearing during the Gauntlet was shredded beyond repair, so it had been trashed.

Naruto scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "No, not really. I just haven't been to my apartment to change yet. I came here first thing."

Jiraiya scratched at his chin. "Maybe now would be a good time to change what you wear then."

This aroused Naruto's interest. "Why? Even you have approved of what I normally wear."

There was a barely audible sigh, and the Toad Sennin turned toward the bed with his bag still resting on it. He walked over and grabbed it, then turned back to Naruto with a small smile on his face. He approached the boy, chuckled a little, then clapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gently turned him towards the door.

As they started walking, Jiraiya clarified. "You're a Jounin now. The lowest class of Jounin," Naruto snorted at that comment, "... but a Jounin nonetheless. So you're going to get one of those standard issue Jounin vests to wear."

Jiraiya sneaked a glance at his apprentice as they were walking down the hallway, and he couldn't tell if Naruto was happy or sad about that. The boy's face kept flashing between two distinct looks, apparently happy about getting a vest, but upset about losing his trademark orange.

They entered the stairwell and continued walking in silence until they exited the hotel. Once they were outside, Jiraiya turned to Naruto once again, eyes squinting in the sunlight.

"Listen, gaki... I know you like the color orange. More than I think is healthy, but your mother was actually the same way, so it must be something in your blood."

Naruto's eyebrows shot sky-high at that remark, but he resisted commenting, much to Jiraiya's surprise. The man was clearly expecting some sort of outburst, and appeared to be fumbling for words before he finally just smiled.

"It seems as though you'll be surprising me for a while yet. I was expecting a barrage of questions."

Naruto merely shrugged, surprising the sennin yet again. "I'm happy to know who my parents are, but I've already learned some stuff about them and I need to let it all sink in. Besides, with everything thats going to be going on in the next few days, I won't really have time to think about it."

Jiraiya was still squinting at the boy because of the sun. Meanwhile, Naruto was staring off into the distance in the direction of the Hokage Tower - probably thinking of who he had to meet up with next. Jiraiya understood that the boy was going to be distracted for a while, so he'd just have to meet up with the teen later and answer any question there may be about his parents.

"Gaki."

Naruto's head snapped back around to Jiraiya, focusing on him. He gave the man a small smile.

"Go meet up with Tsunade to get what you need to get from her, and I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I have something to give you before you go which I think you will appreciate. After that, I have to go meet up with the person that is going to be training you."

Naruto's smile grew and took over the entire lower half of his face - a smile which Jiraiya hadn't seen on the blond in forever. "Alright! Thanks ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya frowned, grumbling. "Mention the word training and you go right back to your old self, don't you?"

Naruto chuckled, and started walking away. He looked over his shoulder and gave his mentor a small wave, the smile still visible on his face. "It's the only way to Hokage, so of course it makes me happy. I'll see you at baa-chan's place, ero-sennin." With that said, Naruto took off, leaping up to the rooftops.

Jiraiya just stood there for a few moments longer, shaking his head with a rueful smile in place. Remembering he had something to do, he took a quick look around to see where he was, then hopped up to the rooftops as well. Using the rooftops as a shortcut was definitely one of the perks of being a shinobi.

The perverted giggles coming from the man next to her was making Uzuki Yuugao's eyebrows twitch constantly. Several times already she had been slowly reaching for the ninjato on her back, only to have Genma grab her wrist. Every time he did that, she scowled at him, but he merely smirked and shook his head negatively.

This time, however, was the last straw. "Why do you keep stopping me, Genma?"

The tall, dark haired man moved the senbon in his mouth over to one side before he spoke. "Because it's not worth it. Remember, we're going on this mission with the King of Pranks himself. I'm sure he has some interesting ways for you to get payback."

Yuugao's eyes lit up. "Ah, that's right. Thanks for reminding me." She let out an evil cackle, somewhat startling Genma. An evil noise like that did not sound right coming from a woman of her stature.

Apparently, it attracted Kakashi's attention as well, because he casually looked up from his little orange book. "Something going on?"

Yuugao put a sweet smile on her face. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi just shrugged and went back to his book, while Genma sweat dropped. Yuugao glanced in his direction with a small amount of concern on her features.

"Did I make that sentence just a little too sweet? I didn't imply I'm attracted to him, did I?"

Genma just rolled his eyes. "I don't think Kakashi likes anything sweet, so I wouldn't worry about it."

Yuugao sighed, then a moment later adopted a serious look and glanced around. "Where the hell is everyone anyway? We actually got Kakashi here on time..."

Before she finished her sentence, three people landed in front of the small group of ANBU. "Sorry we're a little late, Ino-pig had to fix her hair."

"Not true, Forehead! You were concerned about looking good for your preci... phmm!" A hand had suddenly appeared over Ino's mouth, silencing her mid sentence.

"Pig! You said you wouldn't!"

Ino's face looked apologetic, and the pink haired girl slowly removed her hand.

Before either of them could say anything more, the third person interjected. "Looks like the beauty and the bitch need some quality bonding time."

"SAI!" Sakura whirled around on the boy, who was merely standing there with his small smile. She had her arm held back, apparently ready to hit the boy, but paused when she heard snickering next to her. Wild jade eyes turned to see her best friend trying desperately not to laugh outright. She let her arm fall back down to her side, as she wasn't sure who she wanted to hit more now - her friend or her old teammate.

But then a thought struck her, "How do you know you aren't the bitch, Ino-pig?"

Before Ino could say anything, Sai walked by in the direction of the gate and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder. "Why would I call her a bitch, hag?"

Sakura was rendered speechless, and Ino finally burst out laughing. She desperately tried to stop, but seeing the astonished look on Sakura's face, plus the grinning faces she could see of the casually dressed ANBU squad nearby, made it nearly impossible.

"Well, it looks like everyone is having a good time."

Sakura quickly turned to the voice, one she immediately recognized. "Shishou!"

Tsunade examined the scene. Between the grinning ANBU, a laughing Ino, and an ever-emotionless Sai, she had an easy enough time putting the pieces together. She grinned at her apprentice as she approached. "I thought you said you were finally used to your teammate and his wisecracks?"

Her apprentice frowned, waving her arms slightly. "Not in public, around others!"

Ino's snickering was finally settling down, and the ANBU dropped their smiles as soon as the Hokage appeared. Kakashi had even put his book away.

Tsunade was still looking at her apprentice. "Well, at least he is helping you get thick skin for when an enemy throws an insult at you."

Sakura was still frowning, arms now crossed over her chest. She grumbled out an 'I guess so' that only Tsunade could hear.

"Ano... pardon me, Hokage-sama?"

Everyone's attention focused on the female ANBU. She didn't seem fazed in the least as all eyes present turned to look at her.

"Yes, Yuugao?"

"I don't see Naruto-kun with you. Is he being held up?"

The Hokage gave a barely perceptible nod. "Something like that. He was talking with Jiraiya briefly before I left them. He should be along momentarily." She turned to look at Ino, and held her gaze for a few seconds before she turned to Sakura. "You should probably start your gear checks if you haven't already. I trust you made good use of the container scrolls I supplied?"

Sakura nodded as she and Ino removed their packs. Both girls dropped their bags on the ground and began double checking their contents. As they were going through them, Tsunade stepped around Sakura and looked over her apprentice's shoulder. "Did you remember Naruto's stuff as well?"

Sakura nodded, and looked at the Hokage over her shoulder. "Yes... though he doesn't really own much. Everything of his fit in one scroll. All my stuff used three. I still have two extra scrolls."

"Well, he is an orphan, and has always been rather frugal from what I've seen. It seems like he was an expert at getting others to pay for his meals whenever he ate, as well."

Ino chuckled. "He's eaten everything mom has thrown at him."

Tsunade just grinned again. "I don't doubt that for a second."

There was a quick noise of feet hitting the ground close to them, and everyone turned to look. What they saw made everyone except the Hokage and Sai go wide-eyed.

"You guys must have been talking about me a lot, I was sneezing the whole way here. Sorry to keep everyone waiting." Naruto had both hands behind his head with a big grin on his face.

However, almost everyone there wasn't looking at Naruto's face. They were looking at the rest of him.

He was wearing the standard black jounin pants, and the black mesh undershirt was clearly visible. He had received his jounin vest since he was wearing it, although it wasn't zipped up, revealing through the mesh that he had a very well defined abdomen. There was one unusual thing about his attire that stood out, which Sakura picked up on right away. She brought her hand up to point at it, while trying to suppress the blush she knew was on her face. Naruto was...well... hot!

"Naruto... isn't that?" Sakura stepped closer, still pointing at the object around his neck.

Naruto gave her a big smile, and nodded. "Yeah, you remember these goggles, don't you?"

Behind her, Ino snorted. "I'm amazed you still have that thing. You used to take it everywhere."

Naruto's smile remained, but it definitely became more somber as he rubbed his finger on one of the lenses of the goggles. "This was the first present I ever received from Sarutobi-jiisan. I don't think I could ever give it up. He told me it used to belong to my mother. I've kept it in a safe place ever since I got my hitai-ate, which is why it wasn't packed."

No one was quite sure how to respond to that, so everyone just bowed their heads a little and remained silent. Naruto could tell that everyone was quiet because of him, so he immediately laughed a little, trying to brighten things up again.

"Plus, I had to go and make sure that Shizune-neechan was going to take care of my plants while I was gone. I grabbed the journal while I was there, too." Naruto's hand dipped into one of the pockets on his new vest, and pulled the little journal up so that the top of it was visible.

Ino's interest was piqued. "Are you going to make a new garden?"

Naruto shrugged. "I was thinking about it. If not, I think that we can at least grow some vegetables to eat since there will only be a few of us there for the first few months, right?"

Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest. "That depends on how fast you can get the fort built up and start taking local missions. Obviously, the more money you can bring in, the better and easier things will be. Just try not to draw too much attention to yourselves too quickly... Akatsuki is not the only threat out there."

Nearly all present nodded their heads, agreeing silently. Naruto reached up and scratched his chin idly, which caused Yuugao to chuckle. Everyone looked at her, confused. When they saw who she was looking at, they all turned to look at Naruto as well.

But Naruto looked just as confused as everyone else. "What's so funny, Yuugao-chan?"

She had a grin on her face, and a hand on her hip. "I see you still can't get away from the color orange."

At this, everyone finally focused on the part of Naruto that was orange... his gloves. The fingers were cut off at the first knuckle, but otherwise covered his hands completely. They had a metal plate affixed to the back of them, though it was blank with no engraving. That meant they were likely brand new.

"Ah! Yeah, Ero-sennin got them for me. He said I couldn't wear orange anymore, but that an accessory should be okay."

Kakashi spoke for the first time, startling almost everyone. "Well, at least you're no longer a walking target."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head again, not sure if he wanted to feel sheepish or pout. However, upon looking at Kakashi, then Yuugao and Genma, it was his turn to notice something odd.

"Ano... Kakashi-sensei... why aren't you in your ANBU uniform?"

It was Yuugao who answered. "We are ANBU, yes, but this is not an official ANBU mission."

Naruto looked confused, as usual, though he was not alone this time. Sakura and Ino didn't look like they understood either. Tsunade cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"ANBU answers directly to and only to the Hokage. I ask for missions to be assigned for them, and give any special instructions. Usually ANBU headquarters takes care of assigning squads to missions, but this time I had special instructions..."

Genma cut in, "... to make a long story short, putting us in ANBU was the only way for her to get us out of Konoha without causing a ruckus among certain Council members and Danzo."

Tsunade glared at Genma, and he just gave her a small smile as everyone else chuckled lightly at Genma's interruption.

"You're lucky I like you Genma, otherwise I'd stab that senbon where the sun doesn't shine."

Genma visibly paled, while everyone else started laughing outright, especially Yuugao. "M-my apologies, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade just grumbled and frowned at him. She then turned to Naruto, and the boy stopped laughing as her serious face came to rest on him. She stared at him for a moment and he began to get uncomfortable.

"Baa-chan, are y-," he was cut off as he suddenly found himself found in a tight hug. When he was younger, he used to suffocate in her chest, but now the two of them were nearly the same height, so returning the hug of his adopted grandmother was rather simple. She didn't let go for a while, and Naruto was slightly shocked when he thought he heard her sniffle.

As they pulled apart from the embrace, Tsunade started wiping her eyes frantically. It wouldn't do for anyone in the village to see the Hokage misty-eyed, after all. Naruto and the rest of the group were stunned into complete silence, none had ever seen the Hokage come this close to crying before. Naruto was especially uncomfortable, because he wasn't used to anyone fussing over him when he was completely healthy. The tears didn't usually appear until he had been beaten up a little.

When Tsunade did speak again, it was barely a whisper.

"Take care of yourself, you baka. If I lose you too, I don't know what I'd do."

Naruto gave her a gentle smile. "Nothing is going to happen to me, baa-chan. I've got to take your job after all."

Tsunade let out a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a sob. "Thats right. This job is starting to bore me." In seconds, Tsunade's demeanor changed entirely. She stood up straight and gave Naruto a steely gaze. The poor boy was stunned, and nearly stumbled backwards as she started barking out orders to him. It looked a little odd, because her eyes were still slightly puffy from the almost-tears earlier.

"Naruto! I want a report from you at least once a month on progress!"

"H-Hai, baa-"

"I want to know how many missions you are managing to finish in those reports!"

"Errr... yes Hok-"

"If anyone approaches you on a diplomatic basis, we need to know about it!"

"W-what do y-"

"Make sure you change your underwear every day! Take a bath too! Stay clean!"

Naruto was flailing about, trying to agree with her and to get her to stop talking to tell her he already knew what to do. Time seemed to stop with her last declaration, and Naruto felt his cheeks burning up quickly.

"Don't forget to-"

Tsunade stopped short with her next statement when she felt a cool hand rest on her arm. She looked to her side and saw Sakura giving her a grin. The girl's cheeks were red, but it was quickly fading.

"Shishou, I'll take care of Naruto. Don't worry."

The Hokage looked like she wanted to keep talking, but she eventually nodded at Sakura. "See that you do." While the statement itself may have seemed harsh to anyone that didn't know the Hokage and her apprentice very well, Sakura understood that Tsunade was trying to express her worry in the only way she really knew how.

Sakura turned away and walked back over to her backpack, she was aware that Naruto was staring at her back. As she started putting it back together, she looked over her shoulder and gave him a wink. Naruto saw it and blushed, then promptly turned his attention to where the three ANBU members were standing. Not seeing them there, he quickly looked around and spotted them with Ino, heading for the gate where Sai was waiting. Realizing that it would likely be a very long time before he would be able to see Tsunade again, he walked back over to her and gave her another hug, which she quickly returned.

"I love you, baa-chan. Take care of yourself."

There was a sudden intake of breath in his ear, then a choked sob and a slightly stuttered reply.

"I love you too, brat. Let me know if you have any problems. I mean it. Any problems."

"I know." As Naruto pulled back from the hug, he was tugged forward again as Tsunade leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on his forehead. The only difference this time was that she had to get on her tiptoes and pull his head down a bit to do it.

As Naruto backed away, Sakura took a moment and gave the Hokage a hug of her own. Tsunade seemed surprised at first, but then smiled and hugged Sakura back.

"Stay healthy, shishou."

"You as well, Sakura."

Sakura pulled back from the embrace and grinned at her mentor. "I have to stay healthy, because if I don't, who knows what kind of trouble this idiot will get into." The pink haired girl gave Tsunade a lopsided grin and jerked her thumb in Naruto's direction. Tsunade broke into a smile when the new jounin decided to pout, though it looked like a sad one because she seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Turning away, the young girl reached over and grabbed one of Naruto's hands. He seemed surprised at first, but eventually grinned and scratched the back of his head with his free hand as he let Sakura lead him away towards the gate.

"See you, baa-chan! I'll write when we're up and running!" He gave a big wave and almost tripped as Sakura started pulling harder on his arm so they could catch up to the rest of the group. Tsunade couldn't help but chuckle as she waved back.

The Godaime Hokage turned and started the trek back towards the Hokage's Tower. She was currently trying to embed the image of the big wave, crazy grin, and messy mop of blond hair into her memory since she knew it would likely be a long time before she ever saw her adopted grandson again.

Waving her hand quickly over her face, she subtly adjusted her permanent genjutsu so that it would hide the tears that finally began to flow.

Edited: January 27th, 2010

Up Next: I Spy