Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed

Chapter 11: The Toad Sage

The morning of the appointed meeting, Naruto headed to the tower overlooking the hot springs where the meeting was to take place, trying to keep an eye out for Jiraya the toad sage; Naruto knew the sage both by reputation and his parents' memories when he lived through them, but he considered that the perverted sage would come disguised in order to keep animosity; in addition Naruto wanted to make sure that the letter was not a trap sent by one of the order's enemies.

Several hours later

Naruto's fears turned out to be unfounded as Jiraya had showed up to the allocated area, he was disturbed however because of two things; first, Jiraya did not come disguised, he came in his signature flashy cloths; second, the pervert was living up to his reputation, he was peeking on the women in the baths.

"You do realize that if you got caught they won't leave a bone in your body as it is." Said Naruto; he had decided to interrupt the sage before he did anything that could cause trouble later down the line.

Jiraya turned around looking at the person who had interrupted his head to the speaker and proceeded to attack the person who had interrupted his fun, half way through the hand seals he noticed the person he was faced with was dressed in the assassin attire, and had a nostalgic air about him, that had stopped him and caused him to take a better look at the boy he was faced with.

"Mi….Minato?" said the Sage. "No… it can't be; your Naruto right?"

"The Toad sage Jiraya, I am honored to meet my father's Sensei" said Naruto bowing down.

"I see you found the headquarters; it's an honor to meet you Uzumaki Naruto, Grandmaster of the Assassin order" said Jiraya as he bowed down. "Look at you Naruto, the last time I saw you, you were only a few months old, I have to apologize for not being there while you were growing up"

"Don't worry, I understand, I used the animus seal so I do understand why you did what you did; I read the letter, what is this about the Akatsuki?"

"Oh, right, I almost forgot when I saw you; the Akatsuki are a group of S class missing Ninja who appear to be attempting to gather the Jinchuriki and Bijuu under them, as I said in my letter, they seem to have the Mizukage under their control, which was the reason behind the current civil war. I came across them as I was attempting to track down Orochimaru, he joined up with them for a while, but it appears he left them."

"I see; do you know anything about their main objectives?"

"Unfortunately I do not; they are far too secretive, however, there is someone who might be able to shed some more light on the subject, he was your mother's apprentice before her death."

"Wait a minute; you are saying Uchiha Itachi is a member of that organization?"

"Yes, he joined up with them after the Uchiha massacre, the problem is that he never finished his training, so he is not really an assassin rather a Shinobi who betrayed his village"

"I think you'll find that you're mistaken about his betrayal Jiraya-sama, I have found evidence of him being ordered by the village to commit the massacre; however, you are correct, I cannot contact him as he had not completed his training, he won't know what to look for in his travels and I will not be able to reach him that way."

"I see; if I encounter him in my travels I'll talk to him."

"Ah… right… I forgot to tell you, Orochimaru is in the village."

Jiraya's feature's turned to anger as he heard the name come out of Naruto's mouth, "I… I see" said Jiraya as he took a breath in to cool himself down, the presence of Orochimaru meant that something major was going to happen, that did not sit well with him.

"I would like to request of you to remain in the village for the duration of the exams; I have a bad feeling and the presence of one of the Sannin would help counteract Orochimaru's threat"

"I agree, Orochimaru's presence would indicate danger for this village, he could not have shown himself, if he was not prepared for something big. On a separate issue, how would you like to sign the toad contract, like your father?"

Naruto's eyes momentarily widened, he remembered his father's memories and the big part the toads played in them; and now he was being offered something that brought him a step closer to his father.

"YES!" Naruto screamed, for a second he had lost his self-control, when he realized he recalibrated and said quietly "Yes, I would be Honored."

"HAHAHAHAHA" Jiraya laughed at the outburst "so this is your real personality, you've been suppressing it for too long, you don't have to act in front of me, I'm your godfather" he said.

Naruto breathed in again and looked at the sage, he had been putting an act and acted calm, he has not been able to let go and relax for a long time, it felt really refreshing, "Thank you" he told his godfather.

Three hours later

Naruto entered his compound and headed to the above ground training area, he found who he was looking for; Sakura was outing an unbelievable effort in her training, she had little doubt that she would be able to defeat Ino, but her fight against the makeup guy worried her; Kankuro had basically showed his hand incredibly early, which might appear as an amateurish mistake, however it was apparent that he did that on purpose, he wanted to give his next opponent the misconception of having showed all his cards, and that worried here; this meant that he had a much more dangerous triumph card hidden up his sleeve, which meant that she could not afford to slack in her training.

"You're not keeping your guard up Sakura, one hand attacks and the other defends, you know this; is there something on your mind?" asked Naruto.

"I knew it felt wrong somehow; sorry Naruto I was too absorbed" she answered.

"This isn't like you Sakura, are you going to tell me what's really on your mind?" he asked her yet again.

"I haven't seen Sasuke-kun since the end of the eliminations round and I'm worried about him; not to mention makeup boy, the way he won his fight, it makes me feel like he is lulling all of his opponents into a false sense of security, that is a fight that I know my only options are either victory or death, and it frightens me that he has something more terrible than that puppet, and it frightens me that he is Gaara's brother; and Gaara is going to fight Sasuke-kun, I fear for him, I worry he might end up like Lee or worse" she said the last part with a sob.

Naruto moved and placed his arms around her trying to reassure her that he was here and she was safe from everything; Sakura felt relaxed in his strong arms, it felt like it was where she belonged, it baffled her, she always assumed it would be Sasuke's arms she belonged in. The moment seemed to last forever, neither wanting for it to end, only it was moments later that they were interrupted; Naruto quickly let go of her before the person entered through the door.

"Naruto-sama, you won't believe what happened" said Haku as he entered the training grounds, "I got a date"

"Oh, it's wonderful Haku" said Sakura quickly recovering from the shock of being let go so quickly; she wished she could stay in his arms, however alas, they had to be rudely interrupted; however it only took her a few seconds to be thankful of Haku's interruption, 'aren't I in love with Sasuke-kun, why am I feeling this way towards Naruto.'

"Thank you Sakura-san" Said Haku beaming.

"I hope you have fun with the lucky girl," said Naruto "However, can you in the meantime help Sakura with her training? Ah, before I forget, Sakura, I want you to have this sword; it should help you against Kankuro." Naruto handed Sakura a short Ninjato "It's made with chakra metal so it can cut the Chakra strings he uses"

Sakura looked at the blade in her hand almost speechless; Naruto had already prepared something in order to help her with the fight against Kankuro, he probably knew that she would be worrying and so he prepared it for her; by the time she regained her ability to speak, Naruto was already gone, she looked at the door he left through and whispered "Thank you."

"So Sakura-san, Shall we begin?" asked Haku with a devious smile.

Omake

(With Haku earlier)

Haku had his head against the counter of the Ramen Bar Naruto would always go to, and let out a huge sigh, even with the short hair, he was still being mistaken for a girl, he did not know what else to do, he let out a sigh yet again.

"What is a young man like you have to worry about in such a beautiful day" said a feminine voice.

Haku looked up and saw the daughter of the owner looking at him across the counter. "It's a problem that has been with me since… wait you said young man?" he said.

"Of course, isn't it obvious? What else would I say?"

"Would you go out with me?" he asked her the second he heard her answer.

Ayame looked at Haku for a second, as if evaluating whether she should accept or not, and then said "Sure, why not, pick me up here tomorrow evening."

AN: Finally a happy ending for Haku, he deserves one.

I would like to thank all my readers who have been patient with me and have continued reading this story; I've been having a writer's block of sorts concerning it and I do apologize regarding how short it is, I will try to update as soon as the next chapter is finished and I hope I finish it soon.

On a side note, I look forward to your reviews, comments and Suggestions especially if anyone can suggest OCs or character from the Naruto vers to focus on.

Slices out