Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. It has what many people have been long awaiting. It took me a little while to type up but that's mostly because I first had to get and properly set up my new laptop. It took a bit to get used to but now I'm all set.

Ana: Thanks for your vote. If I do end up going with the surrogate, I'd say I like the idea of merging their DNA in some way. It would make things interesting.

RoxasisReal13: I've been getting into Kingdom Hearts finally and Roxas was the one I immediately latched onto. He's become my absolute favorite character now. Now if only I had a ps2 so I could actually play the first two games…

Hitsugayatoushiro1220: Thank you. I didn't process that I was actually graduating until the actual event. It felt pretty surreal to me. Now it's off to medical school…

Disclaimer: You all know the drill.


Chapter 27: A Long Awaited Reunion

Jiraiya waited at the Training Grounds, waiting for the three Chuunin aspirants to arrive.

'They're late,' he thought, wondering if Naruto was beginning to adopt some of his sensei's unfortunate traits.

He quickly pushed that thought out of his head. Naruto had looked too determined to prove himself to pull off such a sloppy move now.

'Something must be holding them back,' Jiraiya realized as he went to go investigate.


Shikamaru sighed as he sat with his parents for lunch. He had come home to ask his dad to help train him for the Chuunin Exam finals but got snagged by his mother instead.

They had all been relatively quiet until…

"So what is this I hear about you kissing one Uzumaki Naruto during the Preliminaries?" Shikaku asked his son, smirking in amusement as the young genius choked on the water he'd been drinking.

Shikamaru turned bright red in embarrassment. "How did you hear about that?" he queried.

"You virtually accost the young man in front of a large audience and you don't expect us to find out?" his father retorted, seeming to enjoy how flustered his son was getting over the ordeal. "It's alright, you know."

Shikamaru gazed at his father in confusion. "What is?"

"It's alright to like Naruto," the scarred man replied. "He's a nice boy and he deserves to have someone care for him… something he has been denied for far too long."

Shikamaru was more than a little surprised to hear that. He thought most of the adults disliked Naruto…

"You… don't mind that I like Naruto?" he queried with a raised eyebrow.

"I see no problem with it… nor does your mother. Besides… it would be too troublesome to have any objections to it," Shikaku responded.

Shikamaru felt a wave of amusement. He should have figured he'd get such a response from his father. He was glad that they approved of his choice. It would have been a drag to have to go against his parents to be with Naruto… not that he would let that stop him.

Shikamaru looked at his dad with a smile.

"Thanks," he stated.

"Don't mention it, brat," Shikaku replied gruffly.

"There's something I wanted to ask you," Shikamaru asked the elder nin after a few silent moments.

"What is it?" Shikaku wondered.

"Can you train me further with the family jutsus? My opponent during the Finals will be difficult to fight and I'm determined to win," the young genius stated.

Shikaku raised an eyebrow. Since when did Shikamaru ever take an initiative when it came to his training? More importantly since when did he care so much about winning?

"Who are you fighting?" he asked.

"Tanaka Daichi, an Iwa nin," Shikamaru said.

Shikaku was starting to get an idea of what was driving Shikamaru to be so determined but he had to make sure.

"Does this have anything to do with Naruto?" the elder Nara asked. Shikamaru looked surprised. How had his father been able to pick up on that so quickly?

"The Iwa nin have fixated themselves on Naruto for some reason… especially Daichi. I want to protect Naruto from them but as I am now, I wouldn't stand a chance," Shikamaru admitted.

"I'm not surprised that they're interested in him, given the circumstances," Shikaku thought. Naruto grew to look more like his father with every passing day. It was getting harder to hide the resemblance.

Shikamaru looked at his father curiously.

"What circumstances?" he queried.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with this, brat. You don't need to know," the Jounin said.

"This has to do with Naruto… of course, I have to know. How can I help him if I don't know what he needs help with?" Shikamaru pressed.

Shikaku gazed at his son with an unreadable look. "You really like him, don't you?" he mused. He hadn't realized Shikamaru's feelings were that strong.

Shikamaru nodded silently. There was no need for words.

"Nevertheless, I still can't tell you. It's not my place," the patriarch of the Nara clan responded. "The only one who has the right to share such information with you is Naruto himself."

Shikamaru sighed in frustration. At this rate, it would take forever to unravel the mystery surrounding his elusive blonde.


'What's going on here?' Jiraiya wondered as he came across Naruto, Ino, and Gaara fighting against two Oto nin.

Thanks to his spy network, Jiraiya recognized the Oto nin for who they were: Orochimaru's pawns.

'This explains why they're late,' Jiraiya thought to himself. He pondered over the idea of interfering but decided against it. He would see how his three prospective students got out of the sticky situation. Considering their spar was interrupted, he would use what appeared to be the last stretch of this fight as an initial assessment instead.

"You picked the wrong day to mess with me, bastards!" Naruto scowled as he leapt out of the way as Dosu tried to attack him.

Dosu was forced to relent as torrents of sand suddenly surged forth, attempting to trap him. He dove out of the way, only to be met with Ino's Shitenshin no Jutsu.

"Gotcha!" Ino cheered from inside Dosu as she turned on Kin and used Dosu's abilities to knock her out before the other Oto nin could react to the situation. She then let Gaara trap Dosu in his sand before releasing her jutsu.

"…What?" Dosu blinked when he found himself in such a precarious situation. He hadn't expected to be defeated so easily.

"As I said… it was the wrong day for you to come here and kick up a storm. I've got something I need to do and I'm not letting anyone get in my way!" Naruto hissed as he made the finishing move, punching Dosu's lights out.

"I can't believe it's over like this," Ino commented. The Oto nin were hard opponents as they were. She hadn't expected things to go so smoothly for them.

"Keep in mind that they're most likely still reeling from their injuries from the Preliminaries," Gaara pointed out.

"That may be so but our strategy definitely worked out," Naruto remarked with a smile.

'Your teamwork was pretty seamless," Minato complimented, seeming impressed by their first time working together.

"We're so late…" Ino murmured as she glanced at her watch. "Jiraiya-sama will never consider us now…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," a voice rang out and the group turned to see Jiraiya walking up to them.

"You saw everything?" Naruto realized.

"Pretty much," Jiraiya conceded. "I must say you worked together quite well for not having ever teamed up together. Your abilities seem to balance each other out well. Now let's see what you can do against me."

Naruto shared an evil look with Gaara and Ino. He had known Jiraiya had been listening to their earlier conversation, meaning that the Sannin could easily predict combining their strengths into the right type of battle strategy. Therefore, once the pervert had left, Naruto had formed an alternate strategy that they could use, even blocking Minato out so that his father wouldn't know.

The three Genin made identical hand signs and called out their incoming jutsu.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, Jiraiya found himself surrounded by a trio of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen… other than Tsunade, that is.

Naruto looked like his typical Naruko self, Ino looked like an older version of herself, and Gaara looked like a porcelain-skinned beauty with large, wide sea foam eyes and waist-length red hair clothing her body.

Jiraiya flew back with the mother of all nosebleeds, a perverted smile on his face.

Minato sweatdropped. When he'd mentioned manipulating Jiraiya's weakness, he hadn't quite meant this.

'You really like twisting my words around, don't you?' Minato remarked dryly as Naruto approached the twitching Sannin.

'It makes things interesting,' Naruto replied without remorse as he loomed over his godfather. He lightly punched Jiraiya's shoulder. "We win."

Jiraiya smiled lewdly once he had recovered. "I like you three," he stated firmly.

"I bet you do," Ino muttered, embarrassed to have used such a degrading jutsu simply to gain a win against the Sannin. She still couldn't believe she'd let Naruto convince her to use the move in the first place.

"As unconventional – and enjoyable – as your method was, I suppose a win is a win," Jiraiya commented. "So from now on, you three will be my students. That doesn't mean I'm taking you away from your Jounin-sensei, however. I'm just going to train you on the side. I see a lot of potential in you and I aim to bring it out to the fullest."

"But what about our Jounin-sensei? Wouldn't they not like it if you just started training us?" Ino wondered.

"Leave that to me, I'll get their permission to train you as soon as possible," Jiraiya assured the girl.

"Even from Baki?" Gaara frowned. Considering how Suna intended to invade Konoha, he couldn't see how Baki would agree.

"Trust me, kid, I'll get him to come around," Jiraiya promised before turning to Naruto. "So about that seal…"

"Will you get it off now?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"I promised, didn't I? I never go back on my word," the white-haired shinobi declared, causing Naruto to blink in surprise. It looked like he didn't just share his nindo with his father.

'Who do you think I learned it from?' Minato pointed out and Naruto had to concede the point.

Naruto raised his jacket and shirt to reveal the seal while Jiraiya made his preparations.

Anticipation filled the three Genin. Would the Yondaime Hokage finally be freed?


Observing from above, the goddess known as Fate frowned in displeasure. She had done so much to keep Minato and Naruto separated from one another. She was determined to prove to the Shinigami that he was wrong to have gone behind her back to return Namikaze Minato to the living plane. He no longer had a place in the design Fate had for the world.

Naruto's soul mate – the one meant to help the Jinchuuriki fulfill his destiny – was Uchiha Sasuke… of that, Fate was certain.

The Shinigami had disagreed. He believed Sasuke was unfit to play such an important role. If he was the one to help Naruto, they would fail for sure. When the Yondaime Hokage fell into his hands so readily, the Harbinger of Death had seen his chance to throw a wrench in Fate's plans.

Fate had never forgiven the Shinigami for his meddling and while she couldn't do anything to him, given his equal god status, she could take her rage out on the next best thing: his champion.

However, even she had not predicted how Naruto would have been able to overcome every obstacle she threw his way.

"Just admit defeat, Fate. You won't succeed in breaking them apart. Not even I would be able to do that now," the Shinigami declared, entering her realm. "Their souls have intertwined themselves together so deeply that it's hard to know where Minato ends and Naruto begins."

"That's only because you made them that way," Fate snapped. "Namikaze Minato served his purpose when he brought the Chosen Child into existence and sealed Kyuubi into him. He was not meant to be sealed into his own son and he was not supposed to fall in love with a demon."

"I only set up the circumstances," the Shinigami stated gruffly. "I didn't have anything to do with how closely they bonded. That was all their doing. Kami gave humans free will for a reason. Not even you can control that."

"I can try," Fate retorted hotly. "Your champion may have won this round but that does not mean it's over. One day, I'll find another opening… and when I do, there will be hell to pay… for both you and the Yondaime Hokage."

The Shinigami gave Fate a stoic look. "Your stubborn nature knows no bounds…" he groused. "I can see there is no reasoning with you. The humans really have you pegged. You are a bitch."

Anger raged within the goddess but before she could lash out, the Shinigami disappeared.

"Damn that bastard…" she cursed. Once she found the human who coined that phrase, she would utterly destroy him.


"Gogyou Kaiin!" Jiraiya called out as he released Orochimaru's seal.

Both he and Naruto let out loud yelps as a surge of chakra flashed between them, sending them flying away from one another.

'That wasn't supposed to happen,' Jiraiya frowned as he got back to his feet. He glanced worriedly towards his godson, only to get the shock of a lifetime. 'I'm seeing things,' he decided in a daze.

Naruto was sprawled, not on the ground, but on someone's lap. A someone that Jiraiya was certain was dead.

"M-Minato?"

The transparent ex-Hokage glanced at the shell-shocked Sannin.

"Hello, Sensei," he greeted with a small, bittersweet smile. "It's good to see you again."

Jiraiya didn't respond. He just stood there, gaping.

'I think you broke him,' Kyuubi commented, sounding rather amused by the turn of events.

Minato would have responded if he hadn't suddenly got bowled over by his very happy son.

"You're here! You're here! I thought you would never be freed! I'm so happy right now I could cry!" Naruto poured out all at once in a stream of excited chatter. He clung to Minato as if the legendary Hokage would disappear if he so much as loosened his grip.

"You better not," Minato responded, hugging Naruto with equal vigor. "I might just join you."

'Kami forbid Naruto seeing his big, strong Daddy shed a few tears,' Kyuubi taunted playfully.

'Oh, hush you,' Minato replied, simply happy to have Naruto back in his arms.

It was around that time that Jiraiya snapped out of his daze. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he pulled out a kunai.

"Release my godson, now," Jiraiya growled. The man in front of him couldn't be Minato, he just couldn't. It had to be an imposter. He wouldn't let the shameless bastard get away with manipulating Naruto.

The Yellow Flash blinked in surprise at the turn of events but his attitude changed quickly. He shifted Naruto so that the boy was riding his back, piggy back style. "What will you do if I don't?" Minato replied coolly.

Jiraiya started pouring out a lot of Killing Intent. "I'll kill you."

"Even if Naruto's life was at risk?" Minato queried as he gracefully dodged Jiraiya's first lunge. Naruto just let out a whoop of excitement as he was taken along for the ride. He wasn't doing a very good job of playing hostage.

"I'd never let you harm a hair on his head!" Jiraiya yelled, once again trying to get Naruto away from the elusive imposter.

"You haven't done a very good job of that so far," Minato sneered coldly, startling Naruto. Now the Genin was beginning to see this as more than one of his father's mischievous games. "You were supposed to take care of Naruto in his parents' place. You didn't. Where were you when he was neglected at the orphanage? Where were you when the villagers started to beat him whenever he left the safety of his own home? Where were you when he struggled to learn the ways of the shinobi when no one else would teach him? Tell me that much and I might just spare you!"

"Tou-san…" Naruto murmured, seeing Minato's inner emotions sneaking to the surface. His father had always been so in control in Naruto's eyes. Seeing what his father tried to keep buried inside was a very new experience.

Jiraiya caught Minato by surprise when he actually landed a heavy punch to the spirit's stomach.

Minato gagged and doubled over, stunned. He hadn't felt pain for such a long time that it had taken him completely by surprise. He didn't know he could have even felt that before…

Blinded by the return of his ability to feel pain, Minato barely registered Naruto being ripped away from him.

He looked up gingerly to see a pissed off Jiraiya.

"I wanted to be there for him. I fought tooth and nail to gain custody of Naruto but the damned Council blocked every attempt. They didn't like the idea of the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi leaving Konoha as was bound to happen if he was in my care. It got so bad that they literally banned me from even being in the same vicinity of Naruto until he became a Genin. The most I could do was provide financial support and trust that Sensei would protect him. Now tell me, Minato… what else could I have done with the Council so determined to keep me away from your son?" Jiraiya argued back before realizing what his heart already knew. His knees collapsed from underneath him and he found himself at the same level as the hunched over blonde.

"You're… you're really him," Jiraiya spoke after a few moments of stunned silence. He shakily reached a hand out and nearly broke down as he felt the soft blonde locks of hair brush against his fingers. It really wasn't an illusion…

Bitter anger appeased by Jiraiya's explanation of the truth and his success in protecting Naruto, Minato rewarded Jiraiya with a sad smile. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Sensei…" he stated.

"You had every right to," Jiraiya responded. "I always thought you'd been mistaken in naming me as Naruto's godfather."

"Kushina and I would never have made you godfather if we hadn't been certain that you were the right choice. You were like a father to me, Sensei. Who else could I have trusted with my son?"

"There's that Nara that you'd been close friends with," Jiraiya pointed out.

"Now that would have been awkward," Ino murmured as she tried to imagine how Naruto's life would have been if he'd grown up beside Shikamaru. They could have turned out more like brothers than lovers.

"Why?" Jiraiya asked, looking confused.

"Naruto and Shikaku's son are… romantically involved," Minato admitted with extreme reluctance. He really didn't like it but Shikamaru made Naruto happy. Minato didn't have the heart to get in the way.

"Really now?" Jiraiya turned to the blushing Naruto. He'd have to meet the Nara boy himself and see if he was really worthy to chase after his godson's affections. After all, not just anyone deserved the right to Naruto's heart.

Pushing the distracting thoughts away, Jiraiya turned to Minato.

"How are you here?" he finally asked the big question.

"It's a long story," Minato declared.

"I've got the time," Jiraiya replied stubbornly.

Minato and Naruto looked at each other before sighing. There was no point wasting any time.