A/N First I'd like to start out by giving two apologies, first, sorry this is so late, I know I promised to have it out in the first part of July and now it's more like the middle. Also this chapter was getting so long I had to cut it in half, but the second half is almost done and will be out in about two weeks. I'd also like to say thank you for the reviews, my review goal for this story was 500 and I am now at 501. So thank you to eveyone who reviewed and helped me keep this goal. I hope you all will keep writting me reviews though, they let me know that my story is still entertaining. :)

Chapter 25 – One Month part 3

Jiraiya was scowling as he made his way to the Hokage's office; this summons couldn't have come at a worse time. He was having all sorts of success with his spying and now his sensei wanted him back in Konoha. The sanin shoved open the door to the office and took a deep breath to give his rant a good start. That rant died as soon as he laid eyes on his old sensei, "Holy crap, sensei, you look like you're half dead, and really ticked. Are you okay?"

"At my age I'm sure I'm much farther along than just half dead. It's always a pleasure Jiraiya." the Third said sardonically, "Have a seat, you're just in time for Inoichi's summary of his psychiatric evaluation on Uchiha Sasuke."

The sanin willingly plopped himself down in a chair across from his sensei and then both kage level ninja turned their attention to the only jonin in the room. Inoichi took the attention in stride as he said, "Sasuke is sane, from a certain point of view, but I strongly believe he suffers from an Antisocial Personality Disorder, most likely caused by his experiences on the night of his clan's massacre. But-" Inoichi paused in thought.

"But-" the Sandaime repeated expectantly.

The Yamanaka looked up, "Well, it's difficult to say for sure, but I think Sasuke might fall into a very dangerous subgroup of APD, and if he falls into this subgroup then he was most likely born with this disorder. The clan massacre may have exacerbated it, but not brought it into being.

"And this subgroup would be?" Jiraiya asked.

Inoichi's brow puckered in frustration. "Let me see if I can explain, you see everyone is born with a gene called the MAOA gene, and this gene encodes the enzyme that metabolizes norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. Recent studies have shown that individuals with low activity in the MAOA gene are more likely to be psychopathic. I checked the activity levels in Sasuke's MAOA gene, and it was subnormal. Which means he might be a psychopath."

Hiruzen sighed sadly, "What does that mean for Sasuke?"

Inoichi hesitated, "It's not good Hokage-sama. If my diagnosis is right, than Sasuke is incapable of feeling guilt. As long as what he does benefits him, he'll see it as the right thing. I don't even know if Sasuke can be treated for this. But I strongly suggest that he be retired as a ninja. Psychopaths are extremely prone to being sadistic, and allowing him to remain a ninja could very easily cause him to become a criminal psychopath. It may already be too late. In his own mind he killed Gato and according to Kakashi he showed none of the normal markers a genin shows on making their first kill."

"Honestly all I can say is retire him from ninja life, permanently seal away his chakra and the curse seal, and set him up with a really good therapist that knows he's a psychopath. Then keep a close eye on him and hope he doesn't develop any of the malevolent traits psychopaths are know for." Inoichi hesitated. "I must stress that he's not guaranteed to become a liability. Like children, psychopaths must be showed immediate consequences to all their actions, rewarded for good actions and punished for bad ones. They're purely narcissistic, so they must be shown it's in their own best interest to stay in line."

Sarutobi released a breath of air as he clasped his hands together over his mouth. He spent several minutes just thinking then looked to Jiraiya, "Seal away his chakra as well as the curse seal, and affix a seal to him that will let us know if he tries to leave Konoha." He turned to the Yamanaka, "Inoichi I assume you have someone in mind to be the boy's therapist?"

The blond man nodded, "Yes I do. My cousin has experience working with psychopaths and should be able to do a good job."

The Third nodded, "Good. Inform him of his new mission he will be in charge of all medical matters that pertain to Sasuke." Hiruzen stood, "Come Jiraiya, I will inform Sasuke of what has been decided, and you will do your job."

The sanin stood as well, and the three men dispersed to do their duties.

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Ibiki yawned as he made his way back to his office, it was sad that only a few days ago he'd been looking forward to a much deserved vacation. Since now he was nearly as busy as normal and none of it was with the enemy, stinking genin. Yesterday he'd plotted with Hokage-sama the best way to get Naruto away from Danzo and today he'd had to help his leader deal with the Uchiha, poor kid. He really hoped he could at least have a bit of time to himself in his office.

The T&I head's hopes were dashed as he saw Naruto sitting in front of his door. Then again, he did need to start working on the whole keep his student out of the clutches of an evil mastermind and now was as good a time as any, "Hey Naruto, what's up?"

The blond looked up and grinned, "Hey sensei! I found a teacher for when I become chunin but I need you to sign off on your approval."

The jonin frowned, "Let's head into my office." Naruto shrugged and followed the man in and as soon as they were both seated Ibiki continued, "Now, why don't you tell about this person."

"It's the councilman Danzo." the blond said, "As head of ANBU information you should know more than enough to know he'd make a good teacher."

The Sadist nodded, "It's true that I do know a lot about him. Why him?"

The blond looked thoughtful, "Well, he did compete against Hokage-sama for the position of Sandaime, and you can't do that unless you're strong. Plus he's well connected and I'll need all the political support I can get if I want to achieve my dream. All in all, he's a logical choice."

"Hmmm, and what do your instincts tell you?" Ibiki asked.

Naruto's face blanked, "I don't listen to my instincts. They're unreliable."

The jonin frowned, "That's unfortunate. Instinct's are important, they help you know what to do when logic fails." the Uzumaki quirked a disbelieving brow so Ibiki continued, "It's true, if I believed everything my prisoners told me I wouldn't be a very good interrogator. While it's true that I can usually use my eyes and all the other tool's I've been taught to sift out the lies; sometimes I get a really skilled liar, and none of my tools work. That's when I start trusting my gut, and you know? It's rarely wrong."

The blond looked envious, "Well your lucky to have a well trained gut. I'm not."

The Sadist Shook his head, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. It's often the kids with the hardest lives that have the best instinct. For them being able to trust their gut is a matter of survival, and it was for you too. So the instincts are there. So, I want to know, disregarding logic entirely, what does your gut tell you about Danzo?"

The genin paused, "That he's full of it, and to him I'm only a tool." Ibiki's smile of triumph seemed to goad Naruto into continuing, "But my instinct also said that you were trustworthy, and within a few months of meeting you, you had me tortured."

The jonin's smile fell away, "Point. But in my defense it was something that your entire class needed to learn and you and your teammate's were the only one's of your year who could survive it without going nuts."

The Uzumaki snorted, "Right, and that's supposed to make me feel better?"

Ibiki frowned, "Maybe not, but you're going to need to learn that no one is entirely altruistic, and while someone might occasionally do something for you just out of the kindness of their hearts. We all have things we're trying to achieve, including you. Do you honestly expect everyone to pass everything their planning by you. Do you think you're that important."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, "Well no, but it would be nice if people clued me in on my own life."

The Sadist gave a disappointed sigh, "You're a smart kid Naruto. In a few years I'd say you'll be even with Konoha's greatest spies and interrogators, but sometimes I forget how much you still have to learn about the world. I'm not gonna sign off on your sensei transfer just yet. I want you to remember that while logic is necessary, you need instinct too. Logic can be twisted by leaving out fact's or slightly altering them. You know that, I taught you that. That's why instinct is so important it tells when logic is twisted. Think about what I've said today Naruto, and apply it to Danzo. If you still want me to sign off after that I will."

The blond did not look happy, but he did reluctantly agree to do as his sensei had said, and the boy quickly left Ibiki's office after that.

The jonin watched his student go and couldn't help but feel like that entire conversation had gone in one ear and out the other, he was beginning to understand why Inoichi always complained about being a parent. With a sigh he leaned back in his chair and tried to think of a better way he could reach Naruto. Like a clear mist the idea came to him and he almost dismissed it without thought it was so small. However, after a short preview of the idea he shot up in his chair. It was prefect! The man ran out of his office he needed to tell the Hokage about this... this inspired idea quickly.

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Hiruzen didn't know whether to expect good news or bad news when Ibiki came to see him, but on hearing his T&I head's plan, he smiled, "An excellent idea. Get it done."

The jonin saluted to his Kage and hurried out to find Naruto and give him his newest mission.

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Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku's half-heartedly slurping up his ramen while Ayame looked on in concern. It wasn't like her favorite costumer to eat ramen so... not like himself. With a frown the girl set aside the rag she'd been wiping the counters down with and focused on the boy, "Is everything alright Naruto? Much as it surprises me to say this, you don't seem to have much of an appetite for ramen."

The genin looked up, "Hmm? Oh I'm fine Ayame-chan, just thinking trough an assignment my sensei gave me."

The girl furrowed her brow, "Well, would you like to run it by me? Maybe I can help."

The blond looked thoughtful but then shook his head, "Sorry Nee-chan, but it's got a lot to do with ninja stuff, and, well, you're a civilian."

Ayame nodded in understanding, "All right, well if you ever do want to talk about something, You know you can come by and talk to me, right?" Naruto smiled and nodded. With a grin the girl carefully pushed the boy's ramen bowl closer to him, "Good, now eat all this up before I start thinking you like my fathers ramen more than mine."

The blond stared at the waitress with wide eyes, "You made this nee-chan?" at her nod he continued in a shout, "Wow! I couldn't even tell the difference. You're awesome nee-chan!" With that Naruto lifted up the bowl and started inhaling the ramen with his usual gusto. Ayame smiled at his returned enthusiasm.

It was as the genin was slurping down his third bowl of ramen that Ayame got a new customer, a jonin that she greeted warmly and asked what he'd like and he ordered a pork ramen. Ayame glanced at Naruto to see if he'd need a new bowl, but he had stopped eating and was sitting very stiffly. Ayame saw the jonin sit down next to her favorite customer and greet him. The girl watched with concern as Naruto's greeting was less than enthused, but at a rather pointed glance from the jonin she turned around to serve up the pork ramen, but made sure to keep a close ear in the conversation taking place behind her.

"Please tell me you're just here for the ramen Ibiki-sensei.", Naruto said.

The jonin shook his head, "While Ichiraku's does have the best ramen in town, I'm here to talk to you."

The blond sighed, "If it's about what we were talking about this morning, I haven't decided yet."

"No, I know you'll need more time to think about that," Ibiki leaned back to let Ayame put his ramen in front of him and took a bite, "I'm here because Hokage-sama has a new mission for you."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Really? But I'm already on a mission, am I allowed to do two missions at one time?"

The jonin nodded, "In this case yes. You can do your new mission without interfering with your old one. Especially since this mission is solo."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, "What? I've never had a solo mission before, why now?"

Ibiki shrugged, "This mission doesn't need three people, and, while either of your two teammate's would do fine, you're particularly qualified for this mission."

Naruto nodded, "Alright, what's my mission?"

The jonin pulled out a scroll, "This is too public a place to discuss it, but all the details are in here. Your mission starts tomorrow so you'd better start preparing."

The took the scroll with a sigh and paid for his ramen, "Hai sensei." He turned to Ayame, "Thanks for the ramen nee-chan, it was great!" Then Naruto hurried out to find out just what he'd be doing.

Ayame watched Ibiki finish off his own bowl of ramen and pay with a polite smile. Then vanish before her eyes. The girl huffed, couldn't ninja leave like normal people?

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The next day Naruto sighed as he lay in the upper branches of one of the academy playground trees. He was once again perusing his new mission scroll and was not very happy about it. He had been assigned to pick one academy student and turn their loyalties from the Hokage by whatever means he thought necessary, his only limitation was that he had to make sure that this mission didn't actually harm Konoha. The blond snorted, as if he'd do anything to harm his home.

After he had read the mission he'd gone to ask Ibiki-sensei why they were doing something like this and he'd said it was to make sure that the academy students took being ninja seriously, and also so that they could learn how easy it is for a skilled manipulator to cause you to hurt your home. It was an important lesson to learn, but he still remembered how hard it had been to be the object in an object lesson. He really didn't want to force that onto someone else.

Naruto heard the recess bell ring and looked up to see the first year academy students come pouring out onto the playground. He'd already looked at the kids for the other three years and hadn't yet decided on who he wanted to pick, although he did have a few very good options. He had wanted to pick a class bully for this unfortunate assignment, but he knew that the lesson would be better driven into the other kids skulls if he picked one of the strong, respected members of the various classes. One of those poor kids was about to become victims of their own success, but if he taught the lesson well this time none of these academy students would have to go through something like this again.

He looked over the first year students to decide who looked the most influential when he spied Konohamaru. The blond quirked an eyebrow, that little brat was in the academy? Naruto smiled, this mission just got a little easier. He'd known Konohamaru since the kid was born and what better way was there to drive the lesson home than by turning the old man's own grandson against him. The fact that he'd gat a little revenge on the old man was also a plus. He wrote down Konohamaru's name and then jumped down from the tree. He needed to tell Ibiki-sensei who he'd chosen and then get to work on snaring him.

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Konohamaru was frustrated. He'd been trying to hit that blasted bulls eye for almost an hour now and still no luck. With his hope waning he threw one last kunai, and hit the edge of the training log. "Dangit!" the boy shouted, "Why can't I hit it!"

"You're holding the kunai wrong." Konohamaru turned to see who had said that with a glare on his face. His eyes widened, however, when he saw Naruto. The blond spoke again, "You're holding the kunai too close to the blade, that throws off your aim.

Konohamaru's glare returned, "I don't need your help! I can do this on my own. What do you know about throwing things anyway?"

Naruto shrugged, pulled out a kunai, and expertly flicked it at the target. The kunai hit dead center and came out the other side. Konohamaru's eyes widened, "Whoa. How did you do that?"

The blond smirked, "Aside from a lot of practice? I listened to the good advice people gave me." Naruto looked at where his kunai had made a hole in the target, "Besides, I've been declared lethal with all but throwing weapons so these are all I'm allowed to have. Now do you want to accept my advice and actually hit the target, or do you want to keep practicing fruitlessly on your own?"

Konohamaru scrunched up his nose in distaste, "Well I guess if getting help will make me stronger... what do I have to do?"

They spent the next half hour with Konohamaru throwing kunai and Naruto carefully coaching him into throwing it right. Finally the young boy manged to hit the target four times in a row. "Yes!" The boy shouted while raising his arms, well his left one anyway; when he tried to raise his right arm he winced and let it drop back to his side. An action that did not go unnoticed by Naruto.

The blond grabbed the eight-year-olds right arm and pulled it to where he could see it better, "Why didn't you tell your arm was hurting? Over training can be just as destructive as no training at all."

The young boy wrinkled his nose, "I didn't think you'd bother to meet up with me again if I stopped."

Naruto shook his head, "Idiot. I told you I'd help you learn this and I never go back on my word. Well, not to allies anyway."

Konohamaru's grinned, "You would have come back and helped me?" at Naruto's nod the boy jumped into the air, "Awesome! That settles it, from this day on your my leader boss!"

The blond blinked in surprise, "Umm, Ok.

"Sweet!" the clearly hyperactive kid shouted, "Then I'll see you tomorrow boss!"

Naruto watched Konohamaru run off while shaking his head, "Well that was easy." He said aloud, now that first contact had been made and an apparently good start to friendship had been started, he could start to poison thoughts. The blond started to whistle happily as he made for Ichiraku's, it really hadn't taken long at all to get to Konohamaru. With things so far ahead of schedule he had time to take the rest of today off. A part of him worried that his target had opened up to a complete stranger so easily, and, although he didn't like to admit it, he could see why this mission was necessary. But still, a naïve kid sure made his mission easier.

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Hiruzen was busy working through the intel his ANBU had been able to gather on suspicious activity within the village, and trying to use that and the information from team psych to create a clearer picture of what the invasion would entail. He'd been at this for almost an hour and had manged to make some good guesses when his focus was broken by a knock on his door. He glanced up, reached out with his chakra and felt Jiraiya on the other side of the door. He called for him to enter. When the door was shut behind him the Third spoke, "So nice of you to finally join me. Please tell me you're not turning into Kakashi, after all, I called for you an hour ago."

The sanin had the decency to look sheepish, "Yeah sorry about that, I got distracted by my work."

"Right." the Sandaime said disbelievingly, "Well, try to keep your 'work' to your own time."

Jiraiya shrugged, "Well I can try. So, what did you call me here for sensei?"

Sarutobi sighed, "I have a very... delicate mission for you, and it's one that you must succeed in."

The sanin leaned forward in his seat, "Oh? Well I am your best ninja, not to mention there's no better at finesse. What will I be doing?"

"I need you to befriend Uzumaki Naruto, and give him training for the third phase of the chunin exam. Earn his trust if you can." Hiruzen said.

Jiraiya's eyebrow's shot up in surprise, "My delicate and super important mission is to earn the trust of a genin. Why?"

The Third frowned and folded his hands together on top of his desk, "Naruto wants Danzo to be his chunin instructor. I need you to show him that he has other options for getting excellent training. You're my best information specialist, I don't think I need to impress upon you how important it is that Naruto not fall into Danzo's hands, if he does the balance of power I've tried so hard to maintain will fall to pieces within a year, and I have no doubt that Danzo will take advantage of that shift to start another war."

The senin was for once completely serious as he said, "Don't worry sensei, I understand how important this is and I won't fail."

Hiruzen smiled, "Good then get to it." Jiraiya nodded and quickly left, it was time to work out a plan for winning the trust of a cagy brat.

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Papers scattered on the street as the civilian Sakura had bumped into apologized and bent to help her retrieve the notes.

"Oh no, don't trouble yourself." Sakura said, "I was the one who was paying more attention to my notes than where I was going." The genin gave a sweet smile as she looked up to study the person she bumped into. He was obviously a civilian around her age, and Sakura had to suppress an amused smile when the boy glanced up at her and blushed. "I'm Haruno Sakura. What's your name?"

The poor boy looked like a deer caught in the headlights, "I-I'm Kento."

After the last of the papers had been picked up Sakura stood and held her hand out to the civilian who, with another blush, put the papers he had manged to gather into Sakura's hand, the pink haired girl gave another smile, "Well it was a pleasure to meet you Kento, and I thank you for helping me pick up my notes. They are quite important."

Kento's face lit up in interest and he seemed to loose a bit of his nervousness as he asked, "Really? Are they for some super top secret mission or something?"

Sakura suppressed another amused smile, "I'm a little young for those kinds of missions. No, these are notes about a jutsu I and a friend are creating."

The boy's eye's widened in surprise, "You can do that? M-m-make jutsu I mean."

The genin quirked an eyebrow, "Of course, how else would a ninja make a name for themselves?" Kento shrugged and Sakura looked down at her watch when it started beeping, "Crap! I'm sorry Kento it really has been nice getting to know you, but I'm late for a meeting. Thanks again!" With that said Sakura rushed up the wall and onto a roof for speedier travel. Leaving a slightly stunned boy behind her.

"I just met a hot kunoichi. Sweet! New bragging rights!", The boy didn't really notice the strange looks he was getting from the other civilians, nor the highly amused looks from the one or two older kunoichi who were around to hear, he was too busy rushing off to his own meeting, well, with friends anyway.

A few hours later Sakura was on her way home with slumped shoulders and a generally dejected air around her. Her meeting with Hinata had really not gone all that well. This new jutsu they were working on was a killer and, while they were progressing, progress was slow. Most of the time it felt like they weren't accomplishing anything at all.

The pink haired girl let out a dejected sigh and kicked a pebble out of her way. Her kick was soon followed by someone shouting "OWW!", Sakura winced. What was it with here and hitting things today. She looked up to apologize but the words died on her lips when she saw a grinning Naruto in front of her.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he rushed to give her a hug, "How are you? I haven't seen you since the day of the preliminaries. Are you okay? How's thing's? What-"

Sakura was laughing as she covered her friends mouth with her hand to get him to stop, "First of all, I'm sorry for hitting you with a rock." she backed out of the hug to make sure the pebble hadn't caused any harm, then she continued, "As for your kinda redundant question's, I'm doing well, and have been enjoying my down time. It has been awhile since we've seen each other, and we really need to work on that cause I haven't seen Shika in forever either and that's just not okay for a team as close as ours."

The blond gave an emphatic nod, "Here, here! We need to set up a weekly team dinner or something, just so our busy lives don't pull us too far apart." Naruto's eyes lit up, "And hey! Speaking of dinner I was just on my way to get some. How 'bout we go together and catch up a bit?"

Sakura gave a soft smile, "That sounds like a good idea." her smile changed to a wicked smirk, "This kinda reminds me of the academy days, you asking me out to eat and me-"

"Not threatening me with bodily harm if I didn't quit?" Naruto interrupted with a quirk of a blond brow.

The Haruno blushed, "Okay, so it is pretty different... So! Where do you want to eat? Ichiraku's I assume."

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Nah, I'll let you decide where we eat, after all it really has been awhile."

Sakura gave a teasing grin, "Wow! Your not demanding we eat ramen. Should I be asking 'who are you and what have you done with my friend'?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm not that bad. Now where do you want to eat I'm starved."

The Haruno hmmed, "How about that new ongiri place in east side?"

The blond deadpanned, "Seriously? A whole city of tasty food and you go for the least fatty place?" Naruto looked at his friend askance, "Do I need to set up a diet intervention?"

Sakura gave her friend a glare, "No. Now your the one who said you were hungry," the Haruno took off at a dead sprint, "race you there!"

"Cheater!" Naruto shouted as he tried to catch up.

A few minuets later two breathless genin skidded to a stop in front of the ongiri place. Sakura looking very smug for having won the impromptu race.

It was as the two genin where beginning to eat that Naruto restarted the conversation, "So what have you been up to in the last two weeks?"

Sakura paused in the action of taking a bite and then put her ongiri back down as she thought about whether she should tell Naruto about the new jutsu she and Hinata were working on, but in the end decided to wait until she had more to show. With that topic unavailable she was embarrassed to realize that she didn't really had anything really exciting to talk about. So she deflected, "Oh not much, but I heard both you and Shikamaru had a bit of an adventure with Sasuke. I really don't know if I should feel relieved or put out that Sasuke never got around to sparring with me."

Naruto looked confused, "You wanted to fight Sasuke?"

The Haruno stuck her tung out in disgust, "Heck no! I'm just a bit put out that Sasuke didn't consider me an equal threat to you and Shika."

The blond shrugged, "Well Sasuke always was a bit of an idiot."

Sakura gave Naruto a disbelieving look, "Yeah, because idiots are always first in their class at school."

The Uzumaki looked indignant, "That's not what I meant!" at his friends questioning look he explained, "When it comes to ninja stuff Sasuke's always been brilliant, hard working too, and no one can argue that. But, when it comes to people, I don't think I've ever met someone more out of the loop."

The Haruno nodded, "Yeah, it does seem like he's always relied on ninja life to keep him balanced and now he doesn't have that to fall back on. It's kinda sad."

Naruto looked confused, "What? Why wouldn't Sasuke have ninja life to fall back on?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "You mean you haven't heard?" at the blonds blank expression she continued, "Wow you really need to work on your Konoha contacts, everyone knows about what happened to Sasuke."

"Except me." Naruto said, "So will you tell me already."

The Haruno nodded, "According to Shika, after he reported Sasuke's attack on him the Third was in the process of calling an ANBU to bring Sasuke in when you saved him the trouble by bringing Sasuke in trussed up like a roast pig. Shika said Sandaime-sama wanted Sasuke to take a psych evaluation. I guess he failed, because the next day his ninja license was revoked and his Sharingan and chakra were sealed. He also appears to always have some kind of ninja babysitter following him around and enforcing his good behavior."

"At least, that's what I got from the one very brief time I ran into him. I didn't stick around long because the minuet Sasuke laid eyes on me he lunged at me and started shouting at me to tell him where you were, how you had ruined his life and he wouldn't rest until he had his revenge. He really seemed unhinged. Anyway it was at around that point in his rant that his babysitter knocked him out, apologized to me on Sasuke's behalf and whisked him away. Needless to say, I've tried to avoid Sasuke since then."

Naruto looked very troubled, "He blames me?"

Sakura nodded, "Apparently, but I wouldn't worry everyone knows it isn't your fault. After all it was Sasuke's own actions that led to the psych eval that he failed. He probably just blames you because you were the one who brought him to Hokage-sama. I'd bet a months pay that if an ANBU had taken him in it would be that ANBU at the center of Sasuke's blame."

The Uzumaki was still frowning, "That's true enough, but I still hate it when I'm blamed for things when I'm innocent."

The Haruno gave Naruto a sympathetic look and looped her arm through his. She decided the best way to pull her friend out of his gloomy thoughts was distraction, "Apparently Ino did something to majorly tick off Shika, quite a feat considering, and Shika decided to get revenge by tricking her into a date with Lee. Even though Lee's a really sweet guy, Ino still shudders when ever she sees certain shades of green, I hear she's planning a return prank, with any luck we'll get some pre-third exam entertainment."

Naruto cracked a smile, "Maybe I should give Ino some pointers, I always did love a good prank war."

Sakura smirked, "Or even better, we could just do the prank ourselves and then blame it on Ino and see what happens next." Naruto's eyes gleamed and he and Sakura spent the next few minutes tossing prank ideas back and forth. Then with a much lighter atmosphere, they moved on to other topics.

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"HOT!" Konohamaru shouted as he flew out of the boiling hot spring.

Naruto laughed, "I think that's why it's called a hot spring."

The little boy glared at the blond, "You're having way too much fun torturing me."

The Uzumaki snorted, "My sensei is the head of the torture and interrogation department, be glad that the cruelest thing I'm doing to you is making you learn water walking on a very hot hot spring. Which, by the way, will help you learn this faster." at Konohamaru's grumbling Naruto added, "You don't have to do this. I'm just trying to help you get stronger like you wanted, but if you don't want to take my advice there are certainly other things I could be doing."

The boy's eye's widened, "No! I can do this, I want your help."

The blond smiled, "Good, then get to work. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll have water walking mastered."

Konohamaru still frowned as he got ready to go out onto the hot spring again, but he didn't let himself grumble.

Two hours later found Konohamaru still jumping out of the hot spring with a yelp. Only this time when his feet touched the ground he winced and fell forward onto his knees.

When Naruto saw this he frowned, "Konohamaru stop. Let me see your feet." The blond went over to his young friend and saw the mild burns on his feet. "Your feet are burned, granted it's mild but I should still get you to Sakura."

"NO!" Konohamaru shouted, "I haven't mastered water walking yet."

The Uzumaki sighed, "I'm sorry." at Konohamaru's confused look Naruto continued, "I should have realized this would happen. My entire team did learn water walking this way but neither Shikamaru or Sakura are powerhouses. They always stopped well before this and I heal quickly. The thought that repeated exposure to very hot water would cause burns didn't cross my mind. But now I know and I'm not letting you get back on that water until your feet have been healed and you've had a chance to rest. We might even switch these practices to a cool stream or something. So come on lets go see Sakura, she'll have you fixed up in no time."

"No!" Konohamaru was adamant, "I'm going to keep going until I have this mastered."

Naruto frowned, "No your not. The hot water will only aggravate your burns and make them worse." the blond paused and gave Konohamaru a searching look, "Why are you so determined to master this today? Your only eight years old and it's not like your lacking for time. Most kids don't learn this until they become genin."

Konohamaru snorted, "Yeah most don't learn it till their older, but when did you learn it?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "I figured it out when I was nine."

"You see," Konohamaru said, "You learned it when you were nine and I have even more important reasons then you do."

Naruto gave the rather naïve kid a disbelieving look before asking, "Then what are your reasons?"

Konohamaru shifted from kneeling to sitting cross legged on the grass, and then he picked a piece and started shredding it to avoid looking his boss in the eye, "My grandfather named me Konohamaru after Konoha, but no one calls me that. They all call me 'honorable grandson' or something like that. They all pretend to show me respect but they don't even see me. They only see the grandson of the Hokage."

"Whenever I look in their eyes it's like I came see the way they're plotting to try and get on my good side so that they'll have a better connection to the Hokage." the boy snorted in disgust, "I just- I want to get strong enough so that when they look at me they see me and not the 'honorable grandson' that they can use for a power play."

Naruto gave Konohamaru a penetrating stare and then let a small smile flash across his lips, "Well then I guess I'll just have to help you get there won't I?" The little brunette looked up at the blond with a hopeful grin until Naruto continued, "But you're not gonna get any stronger by working yourself to the point of injury. So we're done for today."

Konohamaru's smile fell into a pout and he tried to whine his way into being allowed to continue but Naruto would have none of it and eventually created two shadow clones to pick up the brunette and take him to Sakura for healing. The real Naruto stayed behind shaking his head in amusement before he too started to make his way away from the hot spring.

When Naruto came into view of the fence around the woman's hot spring though he frowned and called out, "Hey pervert! Why not give those poor women some privacy huh?"

There were shrieks, and shouts of outrage coming from behind the fence as the white haired man that Naruto now recognized as Jiraiya of the sanin whipped around and glared at him, but as soon as the pervert laid eyes on him another expression flickered across his face before it was replaced by an even firmer scowl. The sounds of angry women were getting closer so Jiraiya started to run, but paused by Naruto's side and said, "You little brat. I wish I could stick around and watch the beating that these women were going to give you when they come out and think you're the pervert, but alas if I stick around I'll be pummeled too so see yah!"

Jiraiya took off and Naruto stared after him in surprise. That man's statement had almost seemed like a warning, couched in animosity though it was. So too curious to walk away Naruto shouted, "Hey Ero-senin wait up!" then he took off after sanin

.

.

Danzo sat in Ichiraku ramen sipping his tea while he waited for his food to cook. While he'd never tell Koharu or Homura, and certainly never Hiruzen, all the time he'd spent with Naruto had led to him developing a particular fondness for shrimp ramen. Of course he didn't indulge in eating it very often. After all it wouldn't do for people to find out that he liked such a simple dish. But today he had an excuse, Naruto was meeting him here to talk about his offer to join root. If all went well he would get more than a guilt free meal.

The cripple was just getting ready to take his first tasty bite when he heard a voice shout, "Hey Band-aid!" Danzo turned and gave Naruto a small smile.

"Hello Naruto," the man said, "How have these last two weeks been?"

The blond beamed, "They've been great! Oh you'll never guess what happened!"

Danzo quirked his visible eyebrow, "Do you actually want me to guess or should I just ask what?"

Naruto gave him a weird look, "Umm, 'what' I guess." the boy perked up and continued before Danzo had a chance to respond so the cripple went to take another sip of his tea, "But any way I met Jiraiya today and was able to convince him to give me some training during the next two weeks! I'm gonna get training from one of the sanin starting tomorrow! Isn't that great news?"

The cup that had been making its way up to Danzo's mouth paused, and the man let a brief frown cross his lips before turning to Naruto with a smile, "That's excellent news. I admit I can hardly believe it. Jiraiya has always seemed to be a bit of a loner to me. But, well I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. He is your godfather after all."

All the excited energy in Naruto stilled as he growled, "What?"

The cripple looked at Naruto in confusion, "You look surprised Naruto, but surely Hiruzen, or Jiraiya himself told you of this. After all, there's no reason for them to keep it from you now that you know about your father."

The blond's frown grew darker, "Maybe lying is a hard habit to break." He pushed away from the table, "I'm sorry to leave so quickly Band-aid, but I've gotta go."

Danzo's eye widened, "Already? You haven't even gotten a bowl of ramen yet."

Naruto sighed, "I know, and I'd like to stick around but I still have a few missions to complete and with my new training I won't have much time." the blond's voice lowered as he muttered, "If I take the training that is."

The cripple gave a sad nod, "Well I can certainly understand the pressure of missions, and while I'm sorry you can't stay longer, well, you are nearly a chunin. Good luck with all you need to do, and remember that I'm always here if you need help."

The blond gave Danzo a sad smile, "Thanks Band-aid." With that he hurried from the restaurant, and Danzo turned to take his first bite of shrimp ramen with a smile.

.

.

The next day Naruto sat by the stream that flowed through training ground nine, and tried to stay focused on the leaf cutting exercise he was doing. He was here to meet Jiraiya, but he had lost all of his enthusiasm. The blond had spent the majority of last night pacing, trying to figure out what he should feel, do with the knowledge that Jiraiya was his godfather.

Jiraiya, was the man who was supposed to raise him and protect him from all the things children weren't yet capable of navigating on their own. But was instead the man he'd met by chance for the first time outside of a woman's bath house. The thought sent a stab of pain through his heart that was quickly echoed in his hand as he lost control of his wind chakra and cut his palm. With a yelp Naruto dropped the cut up leaf and held his bleeding hand with his other as he watched the cut heal.

He watched the skin seal over where the wound had been and he could feel something similar happening inside. As the fire of anger swept through his heart and burned out all the pain, leaving behind it a scorching indignation. He only wished that his heart could be as scarless as his now fully healed and unblemished hand.

He was pulled out of his thought's as Jiraiya appeared in an overly dramatic puff of smoke, "Hey brat! I hope you are ready to work your but off cause I've got a whole lot to..." Jiraiya trailed off as he got a good look at Naruto's face, "Hey are you all right kid?"

Naruto glared at the sanin, "Oh I'm fine. I just got some startling news yesterday and am still trying to process it."

Jiraiya quirked a brow, "And that news would be...?"

The blond frowned, "None of your business. Although, I think I will tell you, if only so you can answer a question I have. When were you going to tell me you were my godfather?"

The sanin's eyes widened in surprise, "Who told you that?"

"It doesn't matter. When were you going to tell me?" the boy pressed.

The man shrugged, "I don't know when I knew you better maybe, does it matter?"

Naruto gave a hollow laugh, "Does it matter? All this time I've been the godson of one of the strongest ninja alive and I spent my childhood getting food out of dumpsters because the store owners refused to sell to me. I was stuck in a rat infested, cockroach ridden apartment while my godfather is a bestselling novelist and an S-ranked ninja. I spent my childhood alone, ignored, wondering what disease I could possibly carrying that made everyonewant to stay away."

"And your asking if it matters? Well maybe knowing your my godfather wouldn't have been worth much. But you wanna know what would have mattered? Having you there in my life when I was almost completely alone. Maybe then I could have lived without wondering if some moldy piece of bread was going to be my last meal, lived without the fear that this next hate filled glare was a precursor to an attack. So tell me, if you would, where were you?"

"Where were you when I was going through hell? What could have possibly kept you from raising me like you promised you would when my parents died? Heck forget even raising me. Could you not be bothered to even shoot a bit of cash your godsons way so he wouldn't have to gain an intimate knowledge of what starvation felt like? "

Jiraiya's face paled in shock as he listened to what Naruto's life was like. But then the blond continued, "Were there just too many onsen to hit? Would a little kid have cramped your jet setting lifestyle? Did you even bother to find out if I was still alive after the Kyuubi attack, or did you just leave?"

The sanin's lips were pressed together hard enough for there to be a ring of white around them. Then the man spoke in a voice that was all the more striking for it's soft, restrained tone, "You little brat. How dare you assume so much about me and my honor with so little information. I thought you were one of the T&I prodigies, but I guess your still learning the value of good information. I loved your father, he was like a son to me and I would never disrespect his memory by failing to keep my most important promise to him. To look after his son."

"You want to know where I was? I was out traveling the world and making sure none of the other hidden villages found out the identity of Konoha's jinchuuriki, or that the Yondaime, one of the most terrifying ninja to ever exist, had a son. Who might have the potential his father had had. I confess it wasn't all that much of a hardship for me to travel the world. I prefer to be outside the village."

"I also admit that I had no idea your life was that bad back here, but everything I've done in the last twelve years has been for you, to keep you safe. Your life was... completely unacceptable and I won't deny that. But imagine how it would have been if you had assassins coming at you on a weekly basis trying to cut short your life before you could surpass your father, or kidnappers coming to steal you and you potential and forcing you to live and serve as nothing more than a weapon."

Naruto gave a bitter snort, "A weapon. Isn't that what I am here? With a father who made me into a monster to intimidate the other villages into being peaceful, and a leader who spent the first twelve years of my life lying to me and manipulating me so I'd only be loyal to him?"

"Silance!" Jiraiya shouted and then took a moment to calm himself down before continuing in the same steady voice as before, "You have no right to condemn their actions, and even less right to disrespect them. Those two men have done more to bring peace to this village than any of the rest of us combined, and no one has suffered greater personal loss for the sake of this village than those two."

"I don't know you and maybe if I had chosen a different path I might, heck things may have even been better, kidnapping and assassination attempts aside. But as it is, I don't know you, and I have no idea how loyal you are to this village. But if you are loyal to this village, if you love this village. Then, no matter how much it might hurt, you should be able to understand why those men did what they did. Because, it was all for Konoha."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he heard the sanin's words. Jiraiya turned away from the brat he didn't know, "If you chose to overlook what I have done for you these past twelve years, and focus instead on what I haven't. That's your choice, but you had better think long and hard about whether the people your hurting with your rapid fire judgments deserve it. I'm leaving for today, if you still want to train with me come find me." With that Jiraiya vanished and left a very stunned Naruto behind him.

.

.

Naruto halfheartedly kicked an empty can out of his way as he wandered aimlessly down a Konoha side street. A thief saw him as a short little boy and an easy target, until he saw the headband and quickly melted away. The blond didn't notice his near miss. He really had no idea of his surroundings. All his thoughts were focused inward on what Jiraiya had said.

Awhile later he was pulled slightly from his thoughts by the noise of many people and he looked up to see he was in an ally that lead onto Konoha's main road he could see the road in front of him teaming with people, occasionally one of those people would see him and glare before turning away and pretending he didn't exist. Naruto tried to ignore the pang those dark looks gave him. Usually he could but with Jiraiya's words still ringing in his ears he kept seeing himself in every civilian that walked by with a glare.

How many times had he seen Iruka-sensei since their falling out? Did he act any differently toward Iruka than these people did towards him. With a thoughtful frown he turned away from the thoroughfare. He didn't want' to bother with people right now. His thought's once again held his mind captive as soon as he re-entered the shadows.

Naruto didn't know how much time had passed before he was once again pulled out of his thoughts, this time by a childish giggle. He looked around and realized he was on the path to the top of the hokage monument, in fact just around a bend and some trees and he'd be at the top. He came around that bend just in time to see Konohamaru throw a water balloon over the village. He watched the balloon as it fell and popped on the village below in a splatter of yellow paint.

"Hah!" Konohamaru crowed, "See if you guys can beat that!"

Naruto shook his head, "Konohamaru, what are you doing?"

The boy whipped around, "Boss! Oh this is perfect I was giving my friends Moegai and Udon a taste of what it was like to be your underling. We're pranking Konoha!" The other two children grinned as the Sarutobi picked up another balloon and threw it as hard as he could. They all watched it fly though the air before splatting, a few seconds later they heard some really loud cursing.

"As happy as I am to see you carrying on my pranking legacy," the blond said, "I doubt that was the first person you ticked off with your prank and it isn't going to be hard for them to figure out where the balloons are coming from." the three childrens eyes widened in alarm, "I suggest you get out of here quickly and take anything that might lead them to you."

The kids gave little gasps of alarm before they quickly vanished leaving the unused balloons behind them. Naruto smiled, shook his head, and then his eyes caught sight of the hokage tower that was in his throwing distance. He had a half-filled bucket of paint balloons and a target that really wanted to attack. He bent down and picked up a balloon filled with orange paint and raised his arm to throw it.

But then Jiraiya's words once again filtered through his head, '...if you really loved this village then you'd be able to see where they were coming from...', he thought back on all the people he thought had betrayed him over the last few months, Ibiki with his torture, jiji with his lies, and Iruka with his broken promises. Before they betrayed them he would have bet a months earning that they really cared about him, and he never lost a bet. So if they weren't doing it to hurt him, what were their motivations? And, more importantly, did they matter? Would he be willing to forgive them if he knew why? They had still all hurt and betrayed him, did they even deserve his forgiveness, regardless of why?

He lowered his arm and thought about the villagers and Sasuke, the villagers hated him for something completely out of his control, ever since he started this hurt and betrayal cycle it seemed like he was willing to push people away for smaller and smaller things, would he someday reach a point where he was like the villagers; having no one to blame so blaming it on someone who was innocent but might be guilty? Then there was Sasuke, out of all the people he knew there was no one who more deserved to hate someone for their betrayal and he had hated, really really hated. That hate seemed to ruin his life, did he really want to follow in Sasuke's footsteps by hating those who had betrayed him? Naruto shuddered at the thought.

The blond looked down at the balloon in his hand then back up at the hokage tower, and he made a decision. He was still hurting, and he didn't know if he would ever trust those who had betrayed him again, but he'd forgive them and give them a chance. Naruto let the balloon fall from his hand as he turned away from the edge. He heard the splat as it hit the ground but he was busy thinking of how hard his new task would be, but he'd never failed at something he truly wanted before, and he wouldn't fail at this.