Author's note: And here is the next chapter! I'm sorry for the wait, but I'm back! Let me know what you all think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and made up characters! :D

Warnings: Nothing really, maybe just language.

Word Count: 5,402

"Where are we?" Sakura asks, looking around the Fourth's yard with wide, curious green eyes.

"My dad's house," Naruto says illusively. Sakura turns around sharply to stare at him with wide eyes. She looks between Naruto and Sasuke, who still stares at her with impersonal indifference. While Naruto on the other hand, just looks a little happy.

"No offense," Sakura says slowly, "but I didn't know you had a father... er, I mean, I didn't know you knew who your parents were..." She runs a hand through her hair, working out the tangles in the long locks. "Uh, sorry. That sounded really bad..."

Naruto shakes his head and walks over to her. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan, I get it. I didn't know who my parents were until just recently. So, back to why we are here." He turns toward her, looking at Sasuke over her shoulder. Sasuke shrugs, hands stuffed into his pocket. Naruto pulls his eyes back over to the pink haired girl. "So we have a jutsu that will make learning more much easier, even getting more chakra which will encourage sensei to teach you more."

Sakura wilts a little. "So you noticed huh? I just... I don't know what to do."

Naruto smiles. "You just haven't found your niche yet."

Sakura shrugs a single shoulder and walks around a little, looking at the field. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is hung open. "This place is amazing! Is this why you and Sasuke are so good? You trained here?" She turns around to look at them.

Naruto and Sasuke both nod.

"Yeah, and we got a little help from my old man, he left behind a secret training technique. We should see if you can learn it," Naruto says, grinning broadly. "It's like an A ranked technique."

Sakura's eyes are as wide as saucers. "No way!"

"Wait, Naruto," Sasuke says, finally speaking. "We don't even know if Sakura has enough chakra to perform the technique."

Naruto tilts his head in confusion while Sakura deflates. "So, Sasuke?" Naruto says.

The young raven rolls his eyes. "I remember Kakashi-sensei saying that Sakura, while having the best chakra control of the three of us, has the lowest amount of chakra." Naruto stares at him blankly. Sasuke sighs. "If Sakura's control isn't enough and she ends up trying to use this technique without sufficient amounts of chakra, she could be hospitalized, or worse."

Naruto stares horrified. "What could be worse?"

Sasuke stares back deadpanned. "Death."

Naruto and Sakura both share identical looks of terror.

"What do we do, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks.

Sasuke looks between the two of them before rolling his eyes again. "Simple, the same thing we did when we were getting ready to learn how to do that jutsu ourselves." He stares expectantly at Naruto.

"We did a lot of things trying to get ready to learn that damn jutsu," Naruto says, eyebrows pulled together.

"Get Hinata!" Sasuke snaps. Naruto jumps running out the door and out of sight. Sasuke rolls his eyes again before turning back to Sakura. "Until they get here, I'll show you the basics." Sakura listens with rapt attention as he explains the Shadow Clone Training Technique. Sakura nods in understanding, adding a quiet, "The more advanced version of the clone jutsu" to which the last of the Uchiha agreed to. Sasuke then shows her what she needs to do.

About ten minutes later, Naruto and Hinata make their way through the gate and toward the two other people in the yard. Hinata smiles lightly at Sasuke, who nods back at her in greeting, before she turned her attention to Sakura.

"G-Good evening... Sakura-chan..." Hinata says softly, poking the ends of her pointers together. She avoids Sakura's green eyes.

Sakura waves her hand a little. "Uh, hey, Hinata. So... should we do this?"

Hinata nods. She activates her bloodlimit. The veins in her eyes pulse outward as her Byakugan appears. She looks straight at Sakura, assessing her chakra system. And like Naruto was telling her on their way here, Sakura has a very pitiful amount of chakra. Vastly less than she or any of their friends, even years ago. She'll need near perfect chakra control to be able to create even one clone and that might not be enough.

"I'll... need to see your chakra c-c-control..." Hinata says softly.

Sakura goes through simple chakra control methods, moving her chakra around, to her finger tips, up her arms, down her stomach, to her feet before letting it go back into her system. Hinata nods, slowly, doing the calculations in her head before deactivating her bloodlimit.

"Well?" Naruto asks.

Hinata rubs her shoulder slightly in nervousness. "It'll be h-hard for her to perform r-r-right away and until she gets it... will only be able to p-perform the jutsu once a day. T-Twice if she's lucky. A single clone."

Naruto stares wide eyed while Sasuke flinches, cursing their luck. Sakura blushes deeply in embarrassment. Hinata looks around at them apologetically. "I-I had better go. I told K-Kurenai-sensei that I would o-o-o-only be gone for a few minutes..." She looks down at her shoes, noting the dirt that has collected beneath the nails from the days training. She makes a mental note to clean her feet extra well in her shower tonight.

"Thanks, Hinata," Sasuke says. Hinata nods and with a polite nod to all of them, she turns and heads back out with a soft goodbye. Once she's gone, Sasuke turns back to Sakura and Naruto with pursed lips. "So, we'll teach you the jutsu and hope that you can get it soon. Naruto, if you will?"

Naruto nods and performs the jutsu, creating three clones. Sakura nods slowly. Her attention goes to Sasuke as he too performs the jutsu, making two clones. All the clones pop a moment later. Sakura rubs her chin in thought.

"Do you think you can do it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks.

Sasuke scratches his head. "Should we do some meditation first? Get her some more chakra first?"

Naruto shrugs. Sakura shakes her head looking determined. She will impress Sasuke with how fast she can learn this jutsu. "No! I... I just need to see one more time." Naruto looks a little concerned but nods, performing the jutsu again.

Suddenly, Sakura is nervous. All throughout her schooling she never gave much of a thought to what she actually wanted to do with her life after she became a shinobi. All that really mattered to her was the fact that she only had a limited amount of time to impress Sasuke. And then she graduated with him on her team and then the time extended. But now, now Sakura's life is on the line, she's a shinobi, but she doesn't know what to do. There isn't anything special about her. All that Sakura really has to her name is her smarts and her impressive chakra control.

She never gave it much thought. She doesn't really know what she can do in the way of a shinobi. So now, here she is, being trained by her teammates because, essentially, she's not worth her own sensei's time. And that's a low blow.

Sakura blinks back into reality when she realizes that both Naruto and Sasuke are both staring at her, waiting for her to try to do the shadow clone jutsu. Sakura mimics the hand sign she saw them use, feeling her chakra move accordingly, but hesitates again. "Um, maybe one more time," she says to Naruto. He blinks a few times before nodding, creating two more clones. They pop a moment later. Sakura steels herself and prepares to do it when she hesitates again, her back going stiff. Her chakra supply is so pitiful, she will only be able to do this once, today and if she fails, she'll need an entire night's sleep to get her supply back up again.

"Um, maybe one more time..." Sakura says again. This time Naruto doesn't hesitate. He creates two more clones. They pop. Sakura falters again, chewing on her lower lip. She opens her mouth to ask for him to show her again.

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice is sharp, causing the small pink haired girl to jump. "Calm down. You can do it. If not now, later. Just..." he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Just try."

Sakura nods slowly, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She performs the hand sign and takes a few more deep breaths before performing the jutsu. She hears the poof next to her. She looks over to see a clone of herself staring back at her. Tentatively, she reaches out and touches the shoulder, feeling the smooth skin, so much like her own beneath the pads of her fingers.

Sakura and Naruto cheer at the same time, throwing their hands up in the air. Sasuke stares, wide eyed, not expecting that she would be able to pick that up so quickly. Her first time performing the jutsu and she managed to do it? That's crazy! Sasuke snorts a little, turning away slightly.

"That's amazing, Sakura-chan! You did it on your first try! That took us at least a couple days!" Naruto says, turning to his friend, grinning broadly at the disgruntled look on his best friend's face. Sakura falls back onto her bottom, dizzy from the loss of chakra. Naruto falls to her side. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" Sasuke steps closer but doesn't reach out to touch the pinkette.

The female member of team 7 nods slowly, breathing heavily. "Yeah, just a little winded from chakra loss." She smiles faintly up at the blond. "I did it, though. Didn't I? Now what?"

"Now," Sasuke says stiffly, shrugging off his slight jealousy at the fact that the least experience of their team managing to perform an A ranked technique so easily, "we need you to build up your chakra supply. This one clone thing isn't going to do. So for as long as we deem necessary, you will spend your free time meditating." Sasuke nods to the clone still standing there.

Sakura looks over at the clone and nods. The clone sits down where she is and begins meditating.

"Do you have any more chakra?" Naruto asks, still kneeling next to the girl.

Sakura smiles stiffly, shaking her head. "No, sorry." She puts her hand over her chest. "My heart is pounding," she says breathlessly.

Naruto smiles comfortingly. "Don't worry. It'll get easier."


After Sakura and Sasuke leave for the night, promising to meet up again the next morning before training, Naruto goes into the house, for the first time since he walked out on the Hokage and that strange Jiraiya man that the old man had brought in to help look through his parents' things, and it's unearthly quiet. Instead of going downstairs to look through the rest of the stuff that he skipped out on when he ran away, he makes his way up the dark stairs to the second floor.

He reaches out and opens the first door, it's a bedroom. But it appears to be a guest bedroom. Neat, organized, but impersonal and covered in a thick layer of dust. Naruto steps out and makes his way further down the hall. The next room is a full bathroom. The room that immediately follows makes Naruto weak in the knees. It's a large baby's room.

Over the handmade wooden crib in large letters spell out N-A-R-U-T-O. At one point, they were probably bright letter but have faded as the dust has settled over them. Hesitantly, Naruto steps into the room and looks around. There is a toy chest, play pen, dressers and sitting on the rocking chair in the corner of the room, is a blue book.

The young blond walks over to the book and picks it up, wiping away the dust. It's a baby book. Everything but his name written in is empty. Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, with little hearts as the dots over the 'i's and another large heart at the end. Naruto lays it back down, hands trembling. He walks over to a picture on the wall and wipes the dust from that away. It's of Minato hugging a grinning, pregnant Kushina from behind.

Naruto puts it back and turns away, tears threatening to fall. He quickly wipes them away before they can become real. He walks out of the room, shutting it behind him. He's a mixture of happy and sad. Happy, because the evidence of his parents love for him pile up more and more with each inch of this house that he uncovers but he's also sad, seeing the life he could have had.

The young blond backs out of the room, softly closing the door behind him and walking further down the hall. The next door he opens makes Naruto sigh in exasperation. "Another library!" He cries out loud, throwing his hands up into the air. "Is this guy some kind of... of..." Naruto waves his hands around, not knowing the word for it.

"Know-it-all? Yes."

Naruto spins around to see Jiraiya standing against the wall just behind the blond with his arms crossed over his chest. Naruto didn't even know he was here!

"How long have you been here?" Naruto asks, willing his racing heart to calm down.

Jiraiya releases on hand to wave it around ambiguously. "For a few hours. I heard you kids show up a little while ago but I didn't want to bother you while you were training. It's interesting to see Minato's training in use. Thankfully, put to good use. I heard you walking around up here and decided to see how you were doing. You seemed kinda shaken since the last time you were here."

Naruto shrugs a single shoulder. "Maybe. Were you down in the basement?"

The older man nods. "I've been looking through more of the house. The basement to be specific. I've been... saving the upstairs three stories for later." His voice is even, as is his face, but Naruto caught the slight pause in his voice when talking about the rest of the house. Naruto is about to comment on it but decides not to at the last minute.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes before the young blond finally asks, "Were you... really close to my parents?"

Jiraiya nods. "Moreso your father than your mother, that was Tsunade's girl. Tsunade loved Kushina. Minato... he was my beloved student. So, I guess you could say we were close."

Naruto stares at Jiraiya with a look that is almost as keen as Minato's stare. The older man feels a pang of sadness in his chest at the shocking similarities between the two. But the sharpness in the boy's eyes fades away and is replaced with a dopey look much similar to that of one of Kushina's looks.

"Who's Tsunade?" Naruto asks.

"A distant cousin of Kushina's. They are related through Tsunade's grandmother, Lady Mito, who was an Uzumaki." Jiraiya says. "Tsunade was also my teammate a long time ago."

Naruto shakes his head, running a hand through his messy hair. "How come I've never met either of you? Or at least you, till now? And her, not, so far."

Jiraiya's face droops a bit in shame. He closes his eyes and feels very, very old. "Tsunade's life is a long and sad one. She's lost everyone that has every meant anything to her. She associates Konoha with death. Her family died here. Her brother. Her lover. Only per Mito's request before she died, did Tsunade return to be in Kushina's life, but once again, Kushina's death hit her hard and she swore to never return again. I doubt she even knows about you."

Naruto scratches the top of his head, not all that sure what to say to that. Naruto can't imagine what it must be like to associate your home with death, but he does know what it's like to lose so many important people. He's been able to build up new relationships with more people, so he can't imagine having nobody anymore. To be so alone and to have no home to return to.

"And what about you?" Naruto asks, looking at the older man with a tilt of his head.

Shame floods Jiraiya's chest and trickles out onto his face. He turns it down hoping the poor lighting would help hide it. "I don't have a good reason, Naruto. I wasn't here because I was a coward. I was weak. There is no good reason as to why it has taken me so long. I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto laughs. The noise shocks both him and Jiraiya, who looks back at him with wide eyes. Naruto waves the surprised look on Jiraiya's face away. "Sorry, sorry. Just because you knew my dad doesn't mean that you are obligated to do anything for me."

Jiraiya blinks rapidly before wilting back into a glum mood. "I may have... I was a friend of your father. I... I'm also the one who named you." He looks away.

Naruto's laughing abruptly stops. The words sink in and he stares at Jiraiya in confusion. "You... you're my godfather? W-What? Where have you been?" Naruto yells, throwing his hand up into the air. "Isn't a godfather suppose to take care of his godchild if the parents can't? Am I wrong?"

"No," Jiraiya says, flinching. "No, you aren't wrong."

Naruto lets out a long breath, all the anger going with it. "Did you..." his eyebrows pull together, his brain filling to the brim with all kinds of questions. He doesn't know what to ask first. And then he hears his own voice squeak out, "Was it me?"

"No!" Jiraiya says sharply, nearly jumping across the hallway at the boy, but manages to just walk over there jerkily and settle his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "No, it wasn't you. It was me. I was scared to come back after Minato and Kushina died and before I knew it, years had passed and it just felt... too late by then. I've been looking for a reason to come back when... well, when the Third called for me. And here I am." He gestures around his person.

Naruto stares at him for a long time, wrestling with some kind of inner conflict. It's so obvious but Naruto can't figure out what he's seeing. "You... my dad meant a lot to you, didn't he?"

Jiraiya sighs, letting go of Naruto's shoulders to step back. "Yes. And he would be rolling in his grave if he found out that I left his kid alone for thirteen years. Then he'd somehow bring himself back to life to kick my ass."

Naruto smiles shyly. "Would he?"

Jiraiya nods. "Yep, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't already half way here."

In fact, Jiraiya really wouldn't be surprised. The proud teach could sing the praises of his beloved student until his face was blue but Jiraiya was one of the few people that knew of the darker side of his student. The side that would do anything to destroy his opponent. As kind and caring as Minato was to those that he liked, and especially loved, he was cold and ruthless to those that got in his way. That threatened those that he loved.

As strict as he was about one thing or another, he was always fair. Even if he didn't like the person, he never treated anyone unfairly. And he had infinite patience for those he loved and saintly patience with those he didn't. Minato managed to immediately gain the respect of the village elders; Homura, Utatane and even Donzo, within two or three Council meetings. As much as Minato despised the councilmen complaining on and on about useless things, he had made it his business to know everything that went on in the village.

Minato and Donzo had a special bond. Minato shows respect to Donzo, knowing he wasn't an elder for nothing, while at the same time, challenging the older man when he didn't think he was right. Minato has made it blatantly clear that all he cares about is furthering and protecting the Leaf and it's future. As far as Jiraiya knew, there was only one person that Minato would forsaken everything for: Kushina.

She was his "light" as he put it. That girl who could do no wrong in Minato's eyes. To him, she was this perfect creature. She is perfect because she's imperfect. She doesn't try too hard to be someone she's not. Minato didn't mind Biwako trying to change Kushina, because he knows the red head so well, he knows that prim and proper wife-of-the-Hokage that Biwako was trying to make Kushina into, would never last.

Kushina is a strange and wild creature, that can't be controlled.

Not many people knew this, but Minato could be a very vengeful person. He has a very clear cut vision of right and wrong and was every watchful of people who walked a similar path that he did. Which Jiraiya has yet to meet someone else like the young blond, but Minato is a man of constant vigilance. And an excellent judge of character, very few people catch Minato off guard. But even though he's such a good judge of character, it's hard for Minato to trust people. He's always so secretive and weary of other's.

Which is why Fugaku and Minato's relationship is a spectical to all those that know Minato very well. Their first meeting was set up by Mikoto to get her two childhood friends meeting her newly met fiance. The two were polite with one another, for Mikoto's sake, but not overly friendly or all that interested in one another. But something must have caught Minato's attention, because before long, he was seeking out the older man for advice and talking about one thing or another and what started out as friendly interaction, turned into friendship. And then the two became inseparable.

They would hang out all the time and then it was just common to see them together. Mikoto and Kushina were originally best friends in the entire world, but then the men in their lives became best friends, and the quad was formed. Dinner together most nights. Going out to movies. Lots of double dates. They went into battles having each other's back and moving in sync.

"You should tell me sometime..." Naruto says softly, pulling Jiraiya from his thoughts. "About them... I mean."

The Toad Sage nods. "Yeah, I have a lot stories."

Naruto gestures toward the library. "Why so many libraries?"

Jiraiya walks past him into the large office, the walls lined with bookshelves and books. A large desk at the end, covered with papers, much like the others. A worn couch sits in the corner of the room. It looked like it was a new couch a few years ago, but something tells Naruto that that couch has seen a lot of miles. Something tells Naruto that his dad is a workaholic.

"I don't know. He just... liked to keep things separated, I guess," Jiraiya says thoughtfully, leafing through some of the mess on Minato's desk before stopping. He picks up a sheet of paper and raises his eyebrow.

Naruto brushes the dust off of the couch, cringing at the gray tinge on his hand before clapping it away. "What is it, old man?"

Jiraiya snorts at the name but doesn't comment on it. His eyes scan over the paper before lowering it slightly. He taps the edge of the paper to his lips in thought. Naruto calls out his question again, which brings Jiraiya back. "Sorry. I was just thinking about how he coded this house, and how I think I just found something with a coded message."

Naruto's eyes widen as he bounces over to the older man. "Seriously? What does it say?"

"I don't know. I'll need some time to decode it." Jiraiya folds the piece of paper and puts it into his pocket. "How about we check out the rest of the upstairs?"

Naruto deflates a little, but nods and follows the older man out of the room. Jiraiya shows him to the rest of the floor, another bathroom, another guest room, and Minato and Kushina's room, which has another bathroom attached to it. It was neat and clean beneath all the dust. A newborn crib by one side of the bed. Pictures all over the walls. But Naruto found himself standing by what he can assume is his dad's side of the bed because of the Fourth Hokage coat pinned up on the wall with a single, three pronged kunai right under it, eye level with Naruto.

Naruto pokes the end of the kunai tentatively. "Who's is this?"

Jiraiya steps up next to him. "Oh, that's one of Minato's special kunai."

"What's so special about it?" Naruto asks.

Jiraiya twists the kunai around to point to the seal around the hilt. "It has his seal on it. He uses it to utilize one of his most renown jutsu. The Flying Raijin or Flying Thunder God, as it is also known by. He uses those kunai so that he can rapidly transport from one place to another in a blink of the eye."

Naruto shakes his head. "That is amazing! My dad is so amazing! How cool! Having a technique called the Flying Thunder God? Awesome!" Naruto glows. Jiraiya nods.

"He was, wasn't he?" He steps back and turns for the door. "Come on, we have one more library to look at."

Naruto groans loudly. "Another? Where?"

Jiraiya turns slightly, pointing up. "The third floor. Minato's main office. His personal sanctuary. It's the only office where we will find the Hokage papers that he brought home before he... um..." Jiraiya scratches his head. "I'm sure the Third would appreciate getting those papers back."

Naruto nods, following after. He pauses at the door to give one last look around his parents room before leaving and closing the door behind him. Jiraiya pulls down a folding latter and climbs his way up. Naruto follows and steps back to let Jiraiya pull the stairs back up. Naruto walks around the room, it's not so much a library as it is just a study. Another couch, a t.v, a single bookcase, another desk, huge windows against the back side of the room, a small fridge on the floor by the desk and a door leading to another room opposite of the windows.

The young Uzumaki walks over to the desk to pick up the small, leather-bound book at the edge of the desk. It's one of those hand held, calorie counter books, but instead of counting calories, it's weight. There's dates and pounds attach to limbs. None of it makes any since to Naruto.

"Hey, old man, come take a look at this!" Naruto calls. He hands the book to the sage when he gets to him and watches as the older man puzzles over the book. After two whole minutes of silence, Jiraiya makes a surprised noise and leans back against the desk, like he can't hold himself up anymore.

"This..." Jiraiya mumbles, flipping through the pages. Two white eyebrows are pulled together tightly. "It's some kind of training regiment."

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Then what were all those numbers for?"

Jiraiya flips to the front of the book, skimming it thoughtfully. He whistles loudly and shakes his head. "Minato was testing out another training regiment to give to the Chunin and up ranks. He created weight seals that depending on how much chakra is put into it, depends on the weight it added to the object it was attached to. Minato's been testing them for years, adding more and more weight as he got used to it. His last entry," Jiraiya flips to the end, he shakes his head in disbelief, "says that, before he died, he had 3,740 pounds on his jacket, 1,050 pounds on each arm, 4,610 pounds on each leg and 940 pounds on his chest."

Naruto stares blankly. "Bullshit. That would kill anyone!"

Jiraiya nods. "It would. But before that, it would make it impossible to walk, but it appears that he made a counter seal to it. And bone density seal. It toughened his bones to withstand the pressure of the added weight..." Jiraiya shakes his head. "No wonder getting punched by him was the equivalent of getting hit by a freight train."

Naruto stares wide eyed. "Seals are so cool!"

Flipping to the front page, Jiraiya studies the two diagrams to the seals written on the front page. "Yes, and they look relatively simple to replicate. Something like that is extremely useful to have circulating through our shinobi ranks." Jiraya puffs out a laugh. "Your dad was one smart man."

The blue eyed boy nods slowly to himself more than to the white haired man. "I think I'm starting to get that."

"Wait a second..." Jiraiya shakes his head. "What the hell was happening with you, Minato?"

"What?" Naruto asks, trying to look at the book but he's too short. "What do you see?"

Jiraiya's face twists into worry. "Minato had chakra seals on his body too. It's where you would put chakra in order to have a backup. Like, if you ran out of chakra, you would have an ace that holds your chakra in that you could release at any time."

Naruto stares blankly, not sure what the issue was. "And what exactly is wrong with that?"

"Nothing is wrong with that..." Jiraiya says slowly. "It's just that, according to this, the day he died, he had only 40% of his chakra supply in his body, the rest was in his seal."

"Like me?" Naruto asks.

Jiraya makes a face. "Sort of. But your chakra was suppressed so you couldn't use it. His was placed somewhere so that he would be able to use it in a moment of need. In case he runs low on chakra he has more than his entire body's worth of supply in his seal that he could use. And while Minato didn't have the world's greatest amount of chakra, he had a lot. Not as much as Kushina, but he was close."

The young blond scratches his forehead, trying to understand what the older man was saying. He takes a moment to process it. When he thinks he understands, he asks, "So, what's so interesting about this?"

"According to first responders," Jiraiya says slowly, "Minato died of chakra exhaustion and bodily fatigue. That is, before he vanished. They weren't exactly able to get him to a lab to give him an autopsy, but yeah..."

"If he felt himself tiring, why didn't he release that chakra seal thing and those weight seals?" Naruto asks.

Jiraiya lowers the book to stare blankly across the room, his mind racing. "That's a good question, Naruto. That battle with the Nine Tails... for how long it lasted... there is no way that would have been enough to kill him."