Road to Kakou city:

"Ok we're far enough away now." Said Jiraiya as he lowered Sasuke onto the ground, before gesturing for Naruto to do the same with Hinata. Once they were both on the ground he preformed a sequence of hand seals before his hands started to glow green. Starting with Sasuke Jiraiya began to heal their wounds.

As Jiraiya treated his two wounded teammates Naruto could only stare on, blaming himself for their injuries. 'If I wasn't on this team then Itachi and that blue skinned guy wouldn't have came for them' Naruto clenched his fists in range 'If only I had been stronger I could have stopped them. But Kakashi's gone.'

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as his fox climbed out of his backpack and yipped in his ear. Startled Naruto jumped into the air yelling. He started to clam down when he realized it was only that fox he had been stuck with. "Don't do that. How did you get here? Didn't I leave you at home?" it was that moment that Naruto realized something. He didn't know the fox's name. Just as the fox was about to explain how it snuck into his bag and had been hiding in their ever since he was cut off when Naruto asked "Say…What's your name?"

"Okibi, my name is Okibi. And even if you try and leave me behind it is my responsibility to protect you." Naruto just nodded unsure what to do with the small fox.

Jiraiya let out a small grunt as he stood after taking care of Hinata and Sasuke "They should be fine, sore for a couple days but fine."

Letting out a sigh of relief Naruto turned to stare at the toad sage, "I want you to teach me." Naruto said in a tone that sounded halfway between a command and an order.

Jiraiya resisted the urge to smirk as he returned "What happened to not wanting me to teach you?"

Tensing slightly Naruto looked down at his feet "I…I was selfish. I didn't want you to teach me because...It would mean accepting Kakashi-sensei is dead…but…but I can't do that anymore. Hinata, Sasuke, They got hurt because of me. If I was stronger… so I need your help…I need you become strong enough to protect them. They…Their all I have left."

Nodding sombrely Jiraiya threw a water balloon at Naruto. "Catch."

Naruto awkwardly caught the balloon, juggling it between his hands a few times before he managed to get a solid hold on it, "What was that for?"

"It's the first step for the Jutsu I'm going to teach you, watch." With that Jiraiya pulled out a second water balloon and held it in his right palm. After a few seconds Naruto was about to ask what he was suppose to see, when the balloon began to violently stretch in several directions at the same time, before exploding sending water everywhere. "That is the first step of the Rasengan."

Naruto looked on in awe, before asking, his voice full of glee, "How do I do that?"

Seeing Jiraiya's smirk Naruto knew that it wouldn't be as simple as an explanation, his words confirmed it "You'll have to figure that out yourself." Before Naruto could retort Jiraiya had already picked up Sasuke and started down the road.

'Stupid geezer, how can he expect me to train and carry Hinata-Chan at the same time?!' as he walked down the path, following a step or two behind Jiraiya, Naruto's mind began to wander onto various unlinked topics in a completely random matter. Kakashi had once described this wandering as 'It's either a sign of stupidity and insanity, or a sign of pure genius at work.' It was this abstract way of thinking that lead Naruto to many strange and wonderful ideas. Today however his mind wandered onto the topic of the girl resting upon his back. 'Why does she love me? I saw the dedication in her eyes, hell she even dreamed of me, but why? She's the heir of the Hyuga clan, a princess by all rights. So why? Why would someone like her love me? I'm nothing compared to her. A lonely orphan. A Jinchuriki. I might have the Sharingan, but that doesn't explain it. Do I even deserve to be loved? And if I do, do I love her back?'

Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Jiraiya coming to a halt. Nor did he notice the railing he was rapidly approaching, it was only when Jiraiya yanked him back from the edge did he realize just how close he'd came to sending both himself and Hinata to their painful squishy deaths.

"We're here." Announced Jiraiya as he stared down into the crater below. Inside the grater was a bustling city. While not on the same scale as the cities of the land of fire's capital it was definitely one of the larger cities around. Below screams and explosions could be heard, however these were not the signs of a battle, but of a festival. As the city below celebrated some sort of festival, most likely local, people wandered the streets, visiting stall after stall. It was easy for the ninja to note that there were more people at the festival then the city could support, more then likely from surrounding farming communities.

Upon entering the town Jiraiya immediately took team seven to the first hotel he located. Dropping Sasuke onto the top of a bunk bed he turned to Naruto and handed him a key "Watch them." As he walked out again.

As Naruto gently lays Hinata on the bottom of the second bunk bed, he grumbles "Stupid Jiraiya, he probably went to chase girls, I bet he's a pervert, that's it that's why he ran after that girl back in Atafuku he's a pervert. Damn I'm going to have to make sure to keep Hinata safe from him."

Sitting down on the floor in front of Hinata's bed Naruto holds the balloon Jiraiya had given him early and stared at it. If a stare could inflict some form of physical damage onto an object, then this balloon would have simply disintegrated from the hateful stare it was receiving. As it was the balloon would probably suffer some serious mental damage, that is if it had a brain to inflict mental damage upon. However due to its inanimate nature the balloon just sat there in Naruto's hand, rocking backwards and forwards as if mocking him.

Wishing nothing more then for the balloon to explode at that moment Naruto began to pump it full of chakra. However Naruto's desire for explosions and the general destruction of the balloon was left unfulfilled. For instead of exploding in a shower of water signalling his success it stretched out into a larger but still intact balloon. This resulted not in Naruto's wanted joy and excitedness over the completion of this step, but his continued anger and rage.

'Wait his seemed to bulge so maybe it wasn't an equal force. It kinda looked like it was…spinning. That's it' pumping the balloon full of more chakra, his hopes soaring to the sky, only to come crashing down as the balloon failed to explode…again. This time instead of the balloon uniformly stretching it flattened out into a disk shape.

Cursing at the balloon Naruto wondered why it didn't explode like Jiraiya's, it had been amusing to watch the balloon expand in many directions as if trying to escape before been engulfed in its own explosion. "No…that couldn't be…it's not possible!" groaned out Naruto as he applied his idea to the balloon. The results were spectacular. While Jiraiya's had exploded, it was more akin to the water balloon after it hit someone, there was a shower of water in a very localized area. Naruto's did not look at all like that. This was a true explosion. A fine mist of water sprayed throughout the room. Naruto himself was blown back from the force of the chakra been released. The chakra burst was so great as to cause Sasuke to groan and Hinata to stiffen.

A few more sounds came from the two sleeping Genin before they slowly opened their eyes. Well Sasuke opened his eyes; Hinata focused the chakra for the Byakugan, holding it back just a tad before her eyes snapped open. Seeing she was in an unknown environment Hinata allowed the chakra to reach her eyes, veins bulging Hinata stared in three hundred and sixty degrees studying every small detail of the room, before leaping up when she saw that Naruto was sprayed out against the wall, as if thrown by someone.

Naruto's rapid yelling of "Its ok Hinata, it was just me training." Managed to stop her leap, however it was too late to prevent her from banging her head on the bottom of the bed above her. The downside of x-ray vision, if you're not paying close attention you can look through walls and not realize they're there.

Sitting on her bed nursing a slightly bruised head Hinata asked "What happened?"

"We were attacked by nuke-nin, two S-ranks, Uchiha Itachi and someone called Kisame. Luckily Jiraiya showed up and they ran away, however they hurt you two and you guys have been out ever since.'

Sasuke just stood by and watched, feeling left out, 'Why is it that Naruto and Hinata are always talking, Is there something going on there?'

However unfortunately for poor Hinata and Naruto, Sasuke has yet to learn how to properly block his own thoughts; as such Naruto was left blushing while Hinata hit the ground with a soft thump.

"Ero-Sasuke, Just because you are mute doesn't mean there is something between me and Hinata-Chan!" the blushing Naruto yelled, to which Sasuke simply replied with a knowing smirk.

As Hinata slowly awoke from her faint induced sleep Naruto started talking again "Hey Hinata-Chan, there is a festival on right now and I was about to go and check it out, want to come with?"

Stuttering, for the first time in along time when alone with her teammates, Hinata's reply comes out a barley audible "Y-y-yes n-n-Naruto-kun." However it was quickly made clear that Naruto had heard her, for seconds after this she was been dragged to the door. This stopped when Hinata uttered a small "ow."

Letting go of Hinata Naruto turned around, face overflowing with worry, and asked "A-are you ok Hinata-Chan?"

A soft smile made its way onto Hinata's face at Naruto been worried enough to stutter, "I'm fine Naruto-kun, I don't think I'm fully healed yet, so just be gentle." Nodding slightly Naruto grabbed her hand, this time with the gentlest of touches

"I-Is this better?" receiving a nod in reply Naruto slowly started walking out the door with Hinata, hand in hand. All the while Sasuke sat on his bed smirking

"Nothing between them eh? Doesn't seem like nothing to me." He muttered to himself "Well good luck to Hinata, she'll need it to be with Naruto."

Kakou city: Festival grounds:

Hinata and Naruto are walking side by side down the main street of the festival grounds, they had made it all the way out of the hotel before they realized something, they were holding hands, this resulted in a rapid release of each other, followed by blushing, all in all an amusing event. Wandering along Naruto saw an accuracy competition. If you could hit the bullseye with the senbon you could chose a prize. Pointing at the stand Naruto asked "Want me to win you something?" receiving a slight nod Naruto headed off in the direction of the stand with Hinata trailing behind. However when they got to the stand the manager immediately yelled "No Ninja!" While pointing to the sign that did in fact say "No ninja". Sighing deeply Naruto said "Come on Hinata." As he wandered off with his head down 'I really wanted to win her something.'

The stand operator saw as the young boy wandered off with the other ninja, clearly his girlfriend, following behind him. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered taking his girlfriend to the festival to win her something, then the feeling of worthlessness when he failed. Yelling out he called Naruto back "Hey ninja boy, you want a go?"

In less then a second Naruto's head had snapped around and he was staring dumbly at the operator "B-But didn't you just say no ninja?"

Shrugging the guy replied "Sure, but I'm willing to cut you a deal, shoot from the other side of the road, while moving and pick a smallish prize if you win and I'll let you have a go."

Nodding swiftly Naruto handed the man his money and took the offered senbon. Standing on the other side of the road, fifteen metres up the road from the stand, Naruto began to run; just as he passed the stand he threw the senbon. It landed halfway on the bullseye, close enough for a prize. Walking over to the stand he asked "What do you want Hinata-Chan?" seeing her point at a small fox Naruto smiled and told the man "Well then I guess we'll take that one." After giving the fox to Hinata and thanking the man for letting him have a go Naruto and Hinata started off again down the road through the festival grounds.

The two young Genin found themselves playing game after game, enjoying the games they were denied as children, and enjoying the last fragments left of their childhoods. They ended up sitting on a bench eating a mystery dish as the parade started. The main star of the parade was a fox. A nine tailed fox. The nine tailed fox.

Hinata and Naruto both gasped in shock at the realization that this was a festival celebrating the Kyuubi. Naruto was completely frozen stiff. So it fell to Hinata to ask the closest person "W-why a-are y-you c-celebrating t-the k-Kyuubi?"

To which the man just stared at her with a 'what the hell?' expression on his face, until he saw the forehead protectors on them "Ah your Konoha Shinobi, then I guess you wouldn't really appreciated the Kyuubi after what he did to your village. While it is true that the Kyuubi caused chaos and destruction, the fires left in his wake helped to fertilize the ground. The Kyuubi, despite his red fur, was an Inari fox, if it wasn't for the Kyuubi then none of the people of this city would be here, for this is a heavily agriculturally based city, with the surrounding farms providing the goods we sell here. With out the Kyuubi's flames there would be no plants, no plants no farms no farms no city, so every year around this time we celebrate Kyuubi-Sama's existence and await his replacement from Inari."

Hinata could only nod, finding it hard to believe the demon fox that had caused so much death and damage could possibly be viewed in such a noble light. So she just sat there in silence with the still stunned Naruto as the festival dragged on. After spending several hours at the festival Naruto and Hinata found themselves heading back to the hotel as it started to get dark. As they got to the door Naruto stopped "Hay Hinata.'

"Y-yes n-Naruto-kun?" came the stuttering reply from Hinata

"This was fun, we should do it again." Finished Naruto as he walked inside. Only to dash back out as he heard a thud. There was Hinata passed out on the ground. Picking her up and carrying her inside he stopped when he saw both Jiraiya and Sasuke sitting across the room staring at him with perverted smiles on there faces. Blinking Naruto wondered what that look was about, then he felt Hinata shift in his arms as she snuggled up closer to his chest. Blushing the reddest red Naruto yelled "It's not like that!" which was followed by the laughter from both Sasuke and Jiraiya. Gently putting Hinata down on her bed he turned around to see Jiraiya whistling innocently and Sasuke reading an Icha Icha book.

The second Jiraiya saw the book he stopped and stared, before laughing. Confused Sasuke and Naruto stared at him before their silent question was answered "I see even children such as yourself Sasuke read my work."

Blinking once, twice, three times Naruto and Sasuke stared at Jiraiya in pure shock. Before they both simultaneously asked "You write Icha Icha?" receiving a nod from Jiraiya, just as he was about to go into his dance introducing himself he was stopped when Sasuke said "Can you sign my book?" while suddenly been right in front of him with the fan girl look in his eyes.

At the same time Naruto snorted in disgust before groaning "Why are all my teachers perverts?"

Both Sasuke and Jiraiya answered at once "It's your destiny, come over to the pervy side, we have porn."

Groaning once more Naruto just climbed onto the bunk above Hinata's before saying "well I'm going to sleep." Leaving Sasuke and Jiraiya alone to talk all about Icha Icha.

When Naruto awoke the following morning he found Sasuke and Hinata attempting to awaken Jiraiya from a deep sleep most likely caused by the sake flask in his hand. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, he grabbed a waterfall from the box next to Jiraiya's bunk bed, 'Pervert probably left them for me to train with.' And held it over his head. Then Naruto started stage one of the Rasengan. Less then a second later Jiraiya was covered in an explosion of water.

Awaking with a cough and a splutter Jiraiya glared at Naruto, the water dripping from Naruto's hand and face a sign of his guilt. Flashing Jiraiya his foxy smile Naruto said "I finished learning step one."

Jiraiya could only stare in muted horror. 'How could a Genin, with less then a year under his belt master the first step of the Rasengan in a day?' Breathing in deeply to regain his composure Jiraiya said "Well then, I'll have to start you on step two then."

AN:

Wow, sorry for the month long wait, again. Unlike the last chapter I don't really have that much of a reason, besides the fact that this arc (the whole Tsunade hunting arc) is rather hard to right, kinda cus it reminds me a lot of cannon. I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to diverge it from cannon, cus cannons just boring. So hopefully I think of something, and expect to see the beginning of Hinata and Sasuke's training under Jiraiya (Cough ignoring them cough)

oh and for some reason i found myself switching to first person after naruto woke up, i changed it back but if i missed something feel free to point it out.

Few points:

Naruto's change of heart regarding training:

In the last chapter we see Naruto as rather upset at Jiraiya, mostly over having his teacher and more or less father, replaced so shortly after his death. This however changed after Itachi. Naruto say that he stood no chance against the two nuke Nin. He Saw Hinata and Sasuke injured. And he realized, he needed to be stronger. So he put aside his anger and frustration, and grief, and insisted on getting stronger

The high speed learning of Rasengan:

Well as far as I know there are two tricks to this step, the first is enough control to spin your chakra and the second I realizing that it must go in opposite directions. Naruto has 'good' control thanks to Kakashi training him for a long time, however it's not perfect, not the level it should be for the Rasengan (closer then cannon Naruto thou) however he makes up for this through power. His spirals are not perfect and as such are not as efficient as they should be, but by overloading them he can counteract this affect so it appears he has more control then he does. Of course there is a down side to this.

The Kyuubi festival:

As I said earlier the Kyuubi is not evil, nor is it good. It destroys, but it also creates. The Kyuubi is a part of the natural cycle, just like every other animal. As for the whole Inari fox thing, I don't know if the Kyuubi is, probably isn't, but that's not the point. The people of the village believe the Kyuubi is an Inari fox and that's what matters.

I hope everyone enjoyed the little dateish thing between Naruto and Hinata. This is Naruto spending time with Hinata to determine how far his feelings go. Are they just feeling of friendship and camaraderie or are they something deeper.

One final the story hit over one hundred thousand hits between last and this chapter. I would like to thank everyone who has read this so far and thank you for making this possible.

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