Jiraiya had planned on taking Minato aside and speaking with him as soon as they were inside, but the red headed kunoichi cornered the blonde shinobi in the kitchen and began chattering away about something Jiraiya could not manage to understand from what he heard. She was talking about teammates, other shinobi and Minato was listening intently while also trying to manage the breakfast cooking on the stove. The girl was talking almost a mile a minute, and Jiraiya had no idea how Minato was following any of it.

Kushina Uzumaki, he thought. That last name. So she's from Whirlpool is she? She must have had it rough.

From what Jiraiya could recall, the Whirlpool country and village had been a place of war since the First Shinobi World War and many battles had been fought there. It had held out until recently, when Kirigakure had nearly wiped out the entire village. The refugees and few shinobi that were left had fled to the Leaf Village. If it wasn't for the Leaf, the entire village would have been wiped out. The Mist ninja had been disturbingly...thorough. This girl is lucky to still be alive.

Frowning, Jiraiya attempted to remember what little he did know about the village, and what he had learned in the one visit he had made there. Uzumaki had been a very common last name in the Whirlpool village, but hard as he tried, he could not remember the significance of it. He did know that the village had been rebuilt many times before its final destruction at the hands of Kirigakure. The people from there were stereotyped as stubborn and unwilling to give up. Jiraiya had liked the sound of that.

From what he had seen though, all Kushina had was a lack in proper manners, and a tendency not to show respect for anyone with a little white in their hair. He strolled over to the two, who were still talking amongst themselves excitedly.

"Um...are you young people going to chat the day away or will I get a chance to catch up with my favorite student?" Jiraiya asked, looking at Minato expectantly.

"Student? Minato...you were taught by this guy?" Kushina asked, turning rapidly from him to Jiraiya.

"Yeah, you haven't heard of him? He's one of the Legendary Sannin." Minato said, looking at Kushina in disbelief.

"No way...you're telling me I'm in the same house with the Yellow Flash and one of the Sannin? What the hell is going on here? Are you two trying to seduce me with your titles?" Kushina asked, looking at them suspiciously. Minato threw back his head and laughed and Jiraiya chuckled.

"Of course not." Minato said, at the same time Jiraiya said "I'd like that." The two looked at each other and laughed again, while Kushina shook her head and muttered something derogatory about men.

"Minato...I must say, you picked right this time. She's better than most of the hussies you have up in this place whenever I come to visit. Well...that actually reminds me of that one time that you had those three babes over here. Man, what happened to those girls? They were...energetic when I invited them to spend an evening with the gallant Jiraiya." Jiraiya chuckled, while Minato did everything he could to avoid Kushina's sudden look of incredulity.

"Wow Minato, three girls at once? I guess the Yellow Flash isn't as innocent as he appears when it comes to women." Kushina said, voice strangely neutral.

"HAHA! Looks like someone is jealous, esteemed student." Jiraiya said, addressing Minato and ducking when Kushina aimed a swipe at his face.

"I am not! Me and Minato are not in a relationship, for your information! He's just a really good friend. I don't give a damn about who he sleeps with, you old pervy sage!" Kushina yelled defensively, though her face reddened noticeably. Minato seemed to be looking at the wall as if he wanted to burrow through it and into the next room, away from the two other arguing shinobi.

"I think I have to go to the bathroom. Make sure the bacon doesn't burn." Minato said, cutting across the kitchen and into the next room, slamming the door in his haste. This left Jiraiya and Kushina alone in the kitchen. Jiraiya rounded on Kushina once the blonde had left.

"Now look what you did, you scared him off." Jiraiya said, shaking his head as Kushina looked at the closed door Minato had just went through.

"Wow...he sure left in a hurry. Touchy subject?" Kushina asked.

"Touchy? No way," Jiraiya waved a hand dismissively. "Minato is a natural with the ladies when he wants to be. He's even better than yours truly. I guess when I trained him, some of my good looks transferred to him and now he's a stud, just like his teacher. I'm so proud!" Jiraiya said, taking out a tissue and dabbing at his cheeks. Kushina fixed him with a flat expression.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he doesn't like all the attention?" She asked. The sage stared back quizzically.

"Are you trying to say...that he might be gay?"

"NO! Of course not! I'm just saying that maybe he doesn't like all the attention he gets from women. Some men actually manage to do a good job of being modest. Very few of them. I know that's probably not in your dictionary, but Minato is a genuinely nice person. It's completely understandable if he doesn't like to be fawned over like some specimen in a museum. All those women just want him because he's the most famous shinobi in the village. They don't really care how great of a personality he has, or what kind of person he is. He's probably looking for real love, the kind you can only find with one person." Kushina said simply, scraping some of the smoking bacon off onto a plate.

"Sounds to me like you might have a little crush on him." Jiraiya said, watching her carefully. She spun, and opened her mouth as if to give him a tongue lashing, but it fell closed without a sound. Looking abashed, she turned back to the stove and started putting food on her own plate. Her cheeks had a slight tint of red.

"Still," Jiraiya began. "That was pretty eloquent. Beautiful, intelligent, and stubborn. You are definitely from the Whirlpool"

Kushina did not turn from the preparing her plate, but Jiraiya saw her jump a little in surprise, before turning halfway around to stare at him suspiciously

"You are familiar with my people?"

"I've come across them in my travels. I've only been to your village once, but I was impressed with what I saw. The ability of you Whirlpool types to endure is admirable. Not only that, but even with war raging all around it, the village managed to retain its beauty." Jiraiya said, remembering that beauty fondly. Kushina looked away from him, but not before Jiraiya could see some sadness in her eyes. He immediately felt bad for bringing up her old village. It probably brought her many painful memories. She spoke again, though, her voice masking the sadness she no doubt must of felt at that moment.

"Yes, it was very beautiful. When did you visit, and why?"

"It was about five years ago, and I was looking for a new village in which to do research. It was right before the war started and I was curious about the Whirlpool village. You see, I had never been there. Needless to say, it was time well spent. One visit was all it took to realize how extraordinary your village really was, or rather, its people. Here in Konoha, we would say that you all had a very strong unified Will of Fire." Jiraiya said, smiling as he reminisced. Kushina smiled back. Jiraiya was taken aback by this. She was beautiful as she was, but when she smiled, a whole other beauty was revealed. The sadness was still in her eyes, though. It made Jiraiya's heart clench.

"Thank you. Your words touch my heart." She said softly. "I like to think that I am still a Whirlpool shinobi, and always will be, regardless of whether or not the village is...destroyed. I have many painful memories there, but it is still my home. It feels good to talk about it again." She said, sitting down to eat. Jiraiya joined her and they spent the next half hour talking happily about her homeland.

Suddenly, while Kushina was in the middle of telling Jiraiya about popular foods in the Whirlpool, Minato burst into the kitchen from the room he had retreated earlier. He was wearing his Jonin gear this time. Jiraiya and Kushina looked at him curiously. His entrance had cut off their conversation and they were both wondering what he had been doing in there the entire time besides avoiding the uncomfortable situation he had been put in before. He looked back and forth between the two of them before his eyes settled on Kushina.

"You there, you crazy redhead. You're gonna be a Jonin right?" He asked, his voice cool and smooth. It reminded her of the first time she had met him, when he had faced down all the Kirigakure shinobi outside the Whirlpool village in all that mist. Still, the question took her off guard. It took a few seconds for her to answer.

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask? You finally wanted to talk to me about it instead of locking yourself up in your room?" She asked, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and looking at him expectantly. He instantly put an amused look on. If any of his mannerisms could be said to annoy her, it was that amused stare. It was as if he was making fun of her in his mind.

"No, actually. I wanted to help you train." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Help me train?"

"Yeah, you're going to have to preform at your peak in order to pass the exams. The physical portion of the exam tests your fighting ability and your ability to survive in a battle situation. Your taijitsu and ninjutsu need to be at their peak. So I figured I'd help you as much as possible. I put your name up for these exams, the least I could do is help you prepare for them. Besides, I'm curious as to what kind of ninjutsu you use." He said, turning to Jiraiya now. "You can come too, sensei. I think you can help Kushina out too. I also want to work more on the Rasengan if we have time. I haven't gotten the chance to lately, because of the war, and I think I'm close to figuring something out."

"The Rasengan? What is that, some super jutsu?" Kushina asked, looking back and forth between Jiraiya and Minato. Minato scratched his head and shrugged.

"I wouldn't really call it a super jutsu, but it is pretty strong. It's just something I came up with one day when I was experimenting with elemental chakra. I'll show it to you if we have time." Minato said, fumbling in his bag for something. He took out a kunai with a special seal on it.

"Oh man, and I thought my teaching days were over. Still, I suppose I can impart some of my wisdom." Jiraiya said, yawning and slouching in the chair.

"Sounds good sensei. Let's get to the training grounds!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Woo! You guys will get to see some of Kushina's ninjutsu next chapter. It should be exciting. Also, maybe some KushinaxMinato development near the end of this next chapter. I told this chapter mostly from Jiraiya's point of view but it kind of changed towards the end there.

Anyway, Jiraiya is one of my favorite characters so he might have a major supporting role in this story. Expect more characters to be introduced as well as more scenes including Minato's Genin team that we know so well.

Thanks for reading everyone and please keep reviewing! It gives me so much encouragement to continue the story and the people begging for me to continue were what made me come back from that long break I took from this awesome story!