A/N: Thank you for your support and the reviews.
Random Name1: Welcome to the story. I hope to continue to hear from you. I am not certain whether or not Naruto will reach Sage of the Sixth Paths. This is part one to a series and it is nearing its end. I'm estimating ten or so more chapters are left. Naruto has so many other paths he can go on at the moment, it is not likely that he will enter Sage of the Six Path, but as I said it is not set in stone yet. I have only planned out through the next part.
DarkRevie: As always thanks for the review. I always look forward to hearing from you.
Sultryvoice: Thank you for your review and being my beta as always. You are right about earning Naruto's trust. Jiraiya and Kakashi both have a long road ahead of them. Thank you for talking out the idea of this chapter with me.
Shy911: Welcome to the story. I am glad that you love my story. I do know about my mistakes that need to be fixed. Sultry and i will be getting around to fixing them sometime likely in the upcoming year.
TigrezzTail: You have become a familiar face in my reviews these last few months. Thank you for your continued support. I have to agree with you about Jiraiya digging himself into a hole. It takes time and effort to heal the damage done.
Hayate's POV
After leaving Chun he went to find Kakashi. After hearing about whom Naruto's father was, he wanted to confront his fellow jounin. Part of him felt like an idiot. He should have seen it earlier.
His student was the splitting image of the Fourth Hokage. Everything about that night, almost 13 years ago makes more sense. Their leader had not chosen a random kid. He had chosen his own child to protect the village.
He hadn't even been the one to hear about it. Chun had found him right after leaving the kid's apartment. It made him feel like a moron for not figuring it out before. His anger at the village continued to rise the more he found out about his student's past.
As expected he found Kakashi training his team. None of them had made it to the finals of the Chunin exams. No doubt the jounin had been greatly disappointed in the three.
He watched for a moment taking in the training. Sasuke Uchiha was training in swordsmanship. The boy was good for only practicing a few months. Still it didn't seem he had the natural grace that Naruto had. A sword should not be his first choice in weapons.
Next his eyes trailed over to Shino Aburame. The bug wielder was practicing his taijutsu against a shadow clone. There was noticeable improvement from when the boy had competed in the preliminaries. Still he had a long way to go.
Last was Sakura Haruno. She was learning genjutsu. It was likely going to be a specialty of hers. Her chakra control was perfect for it. She would be good for healing if they could get Tsunade to return. He had to believe his student could pull it off. The boy had performed miracles before after all.
Kakashi greetings drawing him from his thoughts, "Hayate what brings you here? I have genin to train and I would have thought you would be celebrating Naruto's promotion."
Hayate turned his cold eyes to his comrade as he replied, "I'm here to talk to you about Naruto. This is unlikely something you want the kid's to hear. After all it's not common knowledge."
The white haired man raised an eyebrow but dismissed the genin anyways. Once they were gone Kakashi asked, "What's this about Hayate? There isn't much I have done that you don't know my reasons behind. What have you so worked up?
"Minato practically adopted you when you were just a boy. Why did you not take, Naruto in? How could you leave him to be hated by the villagers?"
"What? How? Who told you?" questioned a flabbergasted Kakashi.
Hayate glowered at the man as he whispered deadly quiet, "Jiraiya practically announced it to Chun. Who in turn inform me. Don't dodge my questions. I want to know why?"
Kakashi had to take a moment to gather his thoughts. For his part the swordsman was trying his best to reign in his temper. It wasn't often that someone pissed him off so bad he yelled. The last time it had happened was when he found out the way Iruka was treating Naruto. That was before he even really got to know the boy. Now he felt an urge to protect the boy against anyone that wanted to harm him. It also urged him to kill those who had harmed his boy./span/p
A twinge of realization hit him. These were almost like paternal feelings. Like when a parent was feeling protective of their child. His own father used to speak of such feelings when he had just been a boy. Back when the third shinobi war was just brewing. Unlike Naruto he knew his father. The man had taught both him and Chun swordsmanship from a young age.
He wondered if the Fourth had lived, if Naruto would have learned to use special kunai instead of a sword. If the man had lived a lot of things would have been different. Not just preferred weapons. In all likelihood Naruto would not have become close to Hayate. They would have never met at the training grounds. He wouldn't have had to take a practically starving child to Ichiraku's./span/p
For all that had happened to his young student he didn't regret meeting the boy. Not for a moment. The blond had become a shining light in his dark world. Maybe he should see about adopting him officially. That would be something to look into when he was done here.
His eyes shot back up to Kakashi when the man said his shoulders slumping in defeat, "We are the same age, Hayate. Tell me, can you picture yourself at that age taking care of a child? I was so young and had just been promoted to captain over the anbu. I was rarely in the village and I couldn't even maintain my apartment, much less take care of a newborn. Lord Hokage assured me he would be taken care of."
Hayate was not so easily placated. He snarled out, "What about when you returned as a regular jounin? He was young and from village records had just been kicked out of the orphanage! That would have been a perfect opportunity for you to take him! No the real reason you didn't take him was because you were a coward. I can see it in your eyes. You were a coward."
Rage was building up inside of him. It wasn't like any kind of rage he had felt before. It was far greater. This man should have looked after Naruto. He should have been the one to raise him. Even if it had meant that they would have never known each other. Instead the man had chosen the cowards way out. Something that he didn't think he would ever be able to forgive him for.
He was however grateful that Naruto didn't know. The information would no doubt tear the young boy to pieces. He had enough self-worth issues as it was without adding this onto it./span/p
Kakashi tried to defend himself, "It would have put him in danger! Especially if people knew who his father was!"
"He shot back, "You could have taught him to defend himself. Instead he grew up treated like scum and not knowing why. It took him three tries to pass his graduation exam. Not because he's an idiot, but because regular clone jutsu wasn't right for him. If he had passed earlier on he might have been on the way to jounin. It's only now that the village is starting to see him for who he is. Not for what is inside him. I have heard of your test, yet you are the one who abandoned the comrade, who needed you the most. For that I don't think you can come back from."
With nothing left to say to his fellow jounin Hayate left. He didn't want to hear the other excuses. Nothing made abandoning Naruto, okay.
Kakashi's POV
Part of him wanted to deny the other's words. That he was not what Hayate claimed he was. Yet he knew the other jounin was right. He has abandoned Naruto as a child. Even though he, himself was little more than a child.
As an anbu captain he could have put more effort into being sure the boy was well cared for. He failed both Minato and Naruto. He was no better than an oath breaker./span/p
Frowning he considered how to go about the situation. No doubt Naruto didn't know of his heritage yet. When he did finally learn of it there would be hell to pay. The blond would be angry at everyone who knew or at least suspected it.
The more he thought about it the more he realized how correct Hayate was. The village had been far from kind to Naruto. They were incredibly lucky that he didn't turn out like Gaara.
He would try to talk to the boy. If he was lucky he would find him before he left with Jiraiya.
Naruto's POV
An hour after they left the village the old Sanin asked almost nervously, "I have a jutsu that I think would be good for you to learn. It's called the rasengan."
That was one that he heard of before. It had been the Fourth Hokage's speciality jutsu. It was also one of the hardest jutsus to learn. Despite popular opinion of him, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that this was an effort on the pervert's part to convince him to train with him. Not that it would work.
Still the other had peaked his interest. There was not a lot of information available to him as a genin. He hoped that he would be allowed into more parts of the village library now that he was a chunin. There hadn't been a chance for him to visit yet./span/p
Seeing his interest the old man tossed him a water balloon and then holding out his hand palm up, "First, you have to learn how to rotate your chakra. Second, you have to increase the power and density of the chakra. The final step is to contain it into a sphere form. It should look like this when it's done."
The man focused his chakra into his hand. At first Naruto didn't see anything. After a few seconds a ball of chakra had formed in the others hand. It was smaller than he expected yet he could sense the power that it contained. No doubt it would be a useful jutsu./span/p
Jiraiya said after dissipating it, "Focus on rotation. Once you finish that you will work on the next step."
The rotation was much easier than he expected it to be. His chakra control had increased dramatically in the last few months. It was because of all the ki and sword techniques he learned. They all required chakra or ki control, that he just didn't have at the time.
The look on the man's face had been well worth it. It was obvious that he didn't expect Naruto to get it so fast. Like so many others he underestimated him. It was so easy to forget that he wasn't the same idiot he had been just two almost three months ago./span/p
The next step was harder. Condensing his chakra was not an easy task. He was still working on it when they reached their destination that afternoon. The town was the closest gambling area that Tsunade didn't owe a debt to. It was the most likely place she would go to.
He didn't know what he expected when they walked into town but walking into Yoochun was not it. The dark haired man smiled at him with a carefree grin.
He asked in his usual carefree way," What are you doing here kid? What's with the vest?"
With a happy grin of his own he answered, "We are looking for Tsunade. I was promoted to chunin before I left."
Yoochun's eyes lit up as he said, "Congratulations are in order then. Listen kid, I am leaving to return to the Murim. Some things have happened that require my immediate attention. Good luck, stay safe."
A pang of hurt went through his chest. It seemed everyone was leaving him for one reason or another. It hurt far more than he felt comfortable to let on. Yoochun had become one of his precious person's. It was hard to let him go knowing that there was a chance he would never see him again.
Instead of asking him to stay like he wanted he gave the man a big smile and said," Good luck sensei. I hope to see you again."
As if sensing the dark way his thoughts had turned the man bent to a knee. This made it so that they were eye level when he spoke in smooth calm tones, "Naruto has Chun taught you why Murim don't say goodbye?"
Wide eyed he shook his head and the man continued," People like us don't say goodbye, Naruto. Instead we look forward to seeing each other again. If we say goodbye it is a sign of bad luck. The only time we do is when we lay someone to rest. Do you understand?"
Oddly enough he did. To say goodbye would be like saying they never expected to see each other again. So instead they looked toward the time when their paths would cross again. It would be especially true in this instance. Even when he left with Chun there was no guarantee they would see Yoochun. It could be years before he would see his teacher again.
Squaring his shoulders he said," I look forward to when we meet again, sensei. Be safe in your travels and may our paths cross again."
A smile of approval was what he received in return. With that Yoochun left. Another person he cared deeply about was leaving. He didn't know when he would see him again./span/p