Chapter 28 Hotspring Days

"Hey Naruto. I thought I'd find you here." Kakashi said stepping into Ichiraku's.

"Huh? What's up Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, slurping up a mouthful of ramen. Kakashi had caught him on his indulgence day where he treated himself to a few bowls of Ichiraku ramen. He didn't have them often, only once every other week depending on how his training was going.

"Maa… Just checking up on my cute little students."

"Oh. Well, okay." Naruto swallowed another bite. "I'm doing fine Sensei thanks for checking in."

Kakashi sat down at the stand besides Naruto and ordered a bowl of pork ramen. "Do you have any plans for training just yet? I can help find you a teacher if you need one. You haven't come to me for help yet, I'm a bit worried for my pocket change."

"Oh! Thank you for the offer sensei but I'm fine. I plan on asking the Hokage to let me out of the village on a training trip. I'm taking it easy for a day before I officially begin my training."

"Aah. That's a good idea. I'm training Sasuke right now and Kiba has gone to his mother." Naruto winced. He prayed for Kiba's survival. "So you better not fall behind. Oh and if your relaxing today maybe visit the hot springs today. I hear the waters great."

"Alright, I'll do that. And I'll be sure not to fall behind. Thanks Sensei."

"Mm."

The duo ate slowly in content silence, well Naruto did. Kakashi's food simply appeared to disappear between blinks.

"Hey Naruto." Kakashi suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"You know that the Rasengan isn't a completed jutsu just yet, right?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah of course. The notes mentioned wanting to add a chakra nature to the jutsu."

"Aah. Good good so you know. Maybe you can complete what your father never managed to do. I believe in you."

Slightly touched Naruto blushed, "O-oh. Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi patted Naruto on the head and in a flash the rest of his ramen vanished. The man then left to do who knows what. Leaving Naruto with the bill.

Minato grew a tick mark. Damned Kakashi still hadn't changed that annoying habit of his.

Naruto left the ramen stand soon after and meandered his way over to the hot springs district of Konoha.

When he had reached the hot springs he found a painfully familiar sight waiting there for him. A man with long white shaggy hair dressed in a red haori and green clothes was giggling perversely as he peeped through the wooden walls at the women's bath. The man had streaks of red running form the corner of his eyes down to his chin and he was busy taking notes as he peeked.

It was Jiraiya. His old mentor. His son's Godfather.

The man was subtly channeling nature chakra so Minato hadn't sensed him before arriving at the hot springs.

A white hot flash of rage surged through Minato's body as he watched his former Sensei chuckle to himself. He simply couldn't find the words to express his anger at the moment.

Unbeknownst to Minato, his whisker marks had begun to darken and his bright blue eyes became slitted. Kurama perked up inside of the seal. He was guaranteed a show with the storm of emotions Minato was currently experiencing.

Minato stormed up to the wall and yelled over it, "Help! There's a pervert out here!"

Immediately there were screams and shouts from the woman's side of the bath.

Several angry Kunoichi stormed out in towels with kunai knives and buckets held threateningly in their hands.

Jiraya gaped wide eyed at Naruto for a precious second before screaming like a girl and running for his life. The angry Kunoichi chased after him quickly throwing all manners of projectiles, ranging from bars of soap to actual weapons, at him.

Minato unconsciously growled as he watched the man run for his life. The Kyuubi howled in laughter at watching the man run wildly. In Minato's memories the man had always been painted in a positive light no matter what. It was only until Jiraiya had abandoned Naruto to the village that Minato began to critically inspect his teacher's actions.

Minato was guilty of always thinking the best of Jiraiya and often justified his actions in a positive way. But no longer. Jiraiya had his faults and didn't deserve to be called a teacher. In fact Jiraiya's teaching techniques were extremely lackluster now that Minato thought about it. Jiraiya would often throw a jutsu at Minato and then expect the young man to have learned the technique without assistance. Sometimes the man would offer helpful tips but those instances were few and far between.

But the most painful thing to Minato, was that Jiraiya had treated him well. The man had been like a father to him. They had been extremely close. There were many things that Jiraiya had done for Minato without Minato asking him to do so. Jiraiya was a good man. But he had also abandoned Minato's sole request to take care of his son for nearly thirteen years. And now he was back in Konoha and merely indulging his lust.

Minato huffed. He really needed a relaxing bath. He entered the locker rooms and took off his clothes. Sighing as he washed his body he considered what Jiraiya was doing back in Konoha. Perhaps he had heard of Orochimaru's meddling and was here to help? It was also equally as likely that the man had wandered back in search of a set of hot springs to peep at.

He was lucky that the hot springs were empty of people. He entered the bath and sighed, relaxing. He closed his eyes and fell into a light meditative state. It was not time for negative thoughts. It was time to relax before he began training. He briefly popped into his mindscape to wave 'hi' at Kurama. Kurama simply waved a lazy tail at him and started napping on a comfortable patch of grass.

"Hey kid! What the hell was that for!?" A familiar yet obnoxious voice interrupted his silent relaxation.

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He turned towards the voice and found Jiraiya fully clothed and crouched at the edge of the hot springs with a pinched expression on his face.

"Don't you know you've interrupted the great research of a famous author?"

Minato sat in the springs and considered all the things he could say. His anger had just returned two gritted his teeth, "Just who the hell do you think you are?" He ground out.

"Me? Good question!" The man said jovially. "I am the great Sage of the Mount Myoboku toads, otherwise known as the Toad sage! Pleased to meet you!" He declared striking a dramatic kabuki pose.

"No." Minato slashed a hand through the air and splashing the water. "What I mean is. Who the hell do you think you are. Godfather?"

The jolly man sobered instantly. "How did you know?" He asked quietly.

"My father left notes." Minato spat. And he had. It was one of the happier days of his life, asking his Sensei to be his son's godfather. "You abandoned me to this village and didn't bother checking in on me for nearly thirteen years."

Minato angrily climbed out of the hot springs and went to dry off and put his clothes back on. He was disgusted by Jiraiya. He couldn't stand the sight of him.

Jiraiya silently followed him out of the hot springs as he left to go back home.

Naruto turned to Jiraiya in an empty alley, "Stop following me. Don't act like you care after all these years."

"Look kid. I'm sorry. But I couldn't take care of a child and manage my spy network at the same time…"

"Then why did you accept the responsibility of Godfather? Why did you say you would be there when you knew you couldn't and wouldn't do it!?" Minato angrily yelled.

Jiraiya looked crushed. "I… I thought…" He lowered his head.

"You thought? You thought my parents were immortal? That there was no chance of danger in the life of a Shinobi?!" Naruto roared.

Jiraiya raise his head and reached a hand out to Naruto, "Kid… I'm sorry…"

"NO!" Minato's eyes became slitted again. "Sorry isn't enough! You left me! You left me to an abusive village for thirteen years! In fact I bet you didn't even come back to help with the Orochimaru situation! I bet you came back to do more of your useless degrading research!"

"Kid…"

"I have a name. A name that you came up with."

"Naruto… I'm so sorry. What do you mean by abusive village? The Sandaime said you were fine whenever I asked about you…"

Minato scoffed. "Feh. The village hates me for what I hold. They believe me to be the incarnation of the Kyuubi."

Jiraiya looked as if he had been slapped in the face. "What?"

Minato turned away from the man and continued his angry march home.

"Naruto wait up! What do you mean?"

Minato ignored him and kept walking. He ignored the man's confused questions all the way until he reached his house.

Reaching home he slammed the door in Jiraiya's face. Cutting off the man's hurried attempts to get him to wait.

Minato leaned against the door and slid down to a sitting position. He put his head between his knees as he listened to Jiraiya slowly give up and leave.

The man would most likely have left to confront the Sandaime over Naruto's treatment from the villagers.

Minato leaned back and let the back of his head thunk against the door. He sighed. He wouldn't forgive Jiraiya so easily with just empty words and meaningless promises.

He pushed himself up off the floor and stood. He walked by the mirror in the hall when he stopped abruptly. Minato carefully inspected his features in the mirror. He had been unconsciously channeling Kurama's chakra apparently. He had originally designed the eight trigrams seal used to seal the Kyuubi to allow some of the Kyuubi's chakra to seep into Naruto's body over time. This was quite the surprising effect.

He poked at his pronounced whisker marks. 'Hey Kurama… does your chakra enhance my physical abilities when I'm angry?'

"Hmph. I suppose since you are rarely heavily emotional you haven't noticed before. But yes."

'I see… I suppose you would mind if I took your chakra without permission then?'

"...Yes I would mind. Kushina and Mito never asked before…"

'Well then. I promise to ask before I use any of your power. Though I know you would rather not have your power wielded by a human. I promise to only use it when protecting something dear to me.'

"I suppose that is acceptable to me…"

'Thank you very much for your kindness Kurama.'

"Hmph."

Minato smiled softly. The Kyuubi had softened up considerably ever since he had changed his mindscape. He felt like he was getting to know the Kyuubi better than ever. It was truly an honor being the host of a Biju. They were fonts of wisdom and snarky comments.

The next day Naruto visited the Sandaime's office to request leave of the village in order to train.

"Hey Old man."

The Sandaime looked up from his paperwork, "Oh, hello Naruto what brings you to my office today?"

"I came here to ask if I could leave the village for a month to train for the Chuunin exams."

"May I ask why exactly you need to leave the village to train?"

"I plan to visit Uzushio and see if I can learn anything from the ruins or find scrolls on fuinjutsu."

"I see… Unfortunately the island is cursed and surrounded by a constantly regenerating barrier. During the war the Uzumaki summoned the Shinigami, their guardian deity, to kill everyone on the island so that their secrets would never be lost. As the people of longevity, they worshiped the Shinigami himself. Anyone not of Uzumaki blood that tries to step foot on the island is instantly struck down by unexplained forces."

Naruto stared at the old man quietly. The old man stared back. A few seconds passed before the Sandaime slapped himself in the face.

"Of course. Who am I talking to." The Sandaime sighed, he was getting old. "Even so. I cannot let you out of the village right now, Naruto. The situation with Orochimaru is serious and we can't afford to have the village without a Jinchuuriki."

"Of course…" Mianto thought for a bit. "What if I left a long lasting shadow clone behind? I could also bring back valuable fuinjutsu to strengthen the Konoha barrier since Orochimaru seems to be easily circumventing it."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow, "How long would this shadow clone of yours last and what would its capabilities be? For that matter how would you make it so that it could last a month?"

"I have a seal that is designed to store chakra and strengthen the durability of a shadow clone. I can apply it to a shadow clone and it will have the same abilities as me and will last a month."

The Sandaime huffed out a breath. "Remarkable... Just how far have you progressed in sealing Naruto?"

"Far enough that the resources at my home and in the Konoha Archives can no longer help me."

"All on your own as well. Amazing work Naruto. You may have even surpassed your father's prowess. May I have a few of these tags to examine?"

Minato chuckled awkwardly. "Of course."

"Very well then. I give you my permission to leave the village so long as you create a shadow clone to take your place. Now leave so that I can tackle this." The old man gestured to the mountains of paperwork piled on his desk.

Minato tilted his head slightly. "Old man you do know you could have been using shadow clones for your paperwork right?"

The man lowered his head. The office was silent for a few minutes as Naruto nervously assessed the Hokage. Suddenly the Hokage started cackling wildly.

"So that's how Minato did it! Thank you my boy! You've solved a decades old problem for this old man!" The old Kage stood and hugged Naruto fiercely.

Naruto laughed and patted the old man's back fondly. "Alright Old man that enough. I've gotta go say goodbye to my friends."

The Hokage let go of Naruto and formed two shadow clones immediately. The clones glared at him but began to sort through the paperwork on the Hokage's desk. Naruto giggled and left as the old man crossed his arms proudly and watched the shadow clones work.

Naruto first visited the Inuzuka compound to tell Kiba he would be gone for a month. He knocked on the door to Kiba's house and was greeted by Tsume.

"Ah Tsume-san, hello. I am here for Kiba."

Tsume crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway casually. "The brat is training with Akamaru, he can't be disturbed right now. I'll take a message for him."

"Ah I see. Then please tell him I will be leaving for a month for training. Oh and tell him I told him good luck with his training."

"Hmm… you too brat." Tsume ruffled his hair roughly, "You might even face my Kiba in the tournament so do your best!"

Minato straightened his hair and said, "Thanks Tsume-san."

He left the Inuzuka compound for the Uchiha compound.

When he arrived at the Uchiha clan head's house he heard loud voices coming from inside of it. It sounded as if people were arguing furiously.

He hesitantly knocked on the door to the house. Izumi opened the door with an awkward expression. She looked much better now that the curse mark was sealed but she was still paler than normal from dealing with its effects.

"Hello Izumi, may I come in and speak with Sasuke?"

"Ah Naruto! Thank you so much for sealing the marks away for us and well… Maybe you should come in and try to talk with Yamada…"

"Huh?"

"Just come in Naruto…"

"Oh! Um. Okay."

Naruto walked into the Uchiha household and followed Izumi to the living room where the shouting was coming from.

"Don't you see!? He can give us the power to kill Itachi!"

"He killed our family Yamada!"

"They were weak anyways. What does it matter if Orochimaru is offering us the chance to kill Itachi!?"

"You can't go to him you'd be deserting Konoha!"

"No I wouldn't! I'd come back as soon as I killed Itachi! Besides! It wouldn't matter anyways! As soon as I've killed Itachi, Konoha would welcome me back with open arms!"

"You don't even know what he wants from us and you're going to go to him willingly?!"

"He's giving us the chance to kill Itachi!"

"Think about this a little more Yamada it's suspicious!"

"It's more than you've done to kill Itachi!"

"Yamada!"

"What's going on here?" Naruto interrupted.

"Naruto!"

"Naruto-san!"

Yamada rushed up to Naruto, "Naruto-san! Please remove your seal! The mark gives me power!"

"Wh-what?" Naruto stuttered. What he had heard was pretty worrying. Was Yamada really planning on deserting for the sake of killing Itachi?

"Please!"

"Yamada! Calm down!" Izumi yelled.

Yamada turned to Izumi pleadingly. "But he's the one who sealed the mark! He can take it off then!"

"Yamada. I won't remove the seal. The mark is bad for you. There is a portion of Orochimaru's soul in the seal that will constantly exert its influence over your mind. You're not thinking straight right now." Naruto said firmly.

"I am thinking straight! Haruka, Izuru, and Haruto agree with me!"

"Then you're all not thinking straight!" Sasuke shouted. "That man killed our family! There's no telling what he'll do to you!"

Yamada whipped toward Sasuke. "You don't understand! We have to kill Itachi!"

"I do understand! There's something strange about that night though! Itachi wouldn't have done that without a reason!"

"Whatever! It doesn't change the fact that he killed everyone!"

"Enough!" Naruto snapped.

Both boys stopped arguing to stare at Naruto. Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yamada. I need to check your seal. You've never mentioned anything close to this subject. What did Orochimaru tell you?"

"Take the seal off then! He just said that he could help us if we needed power! And we do!" Yamada said frantically.

Naruto motioned to Sasuke and Sasuke grabbed the boy and held him still in front of Naruto. Naruto inspected the seal closely. He frowned deeply. Someone had tampered with the seal holding back the curse mark. Thankfully they hadn't been able to remove it completely but it had been weakened considerably. Who could have done such a thing and when? The Uchiha were constantly being guarded by the ANBU now.

Was there a traitor somewhere? Suddenly a thought hit Minato.

Back when the Sound nin had tried kidnapping Sasuke the first time. They had been lured into a trap by one of Danzo's lackies. Could it be? Was Danzo still supporting Orochimaru? Was this how he so easily escaped and entered the village?

"Izumi, bring Haruka, Izuru, and Haruto here. I need to see their seals. Someone has tampered with Yamada's seal." Naruto said. "Sasuke keep holding him down. I don't think he'll like it if I fix the seal."

Yamada began struggling in Sasuke's grip as Naruto took out his sealing supplies. Drawing delicate symbols on a moving person was a difficult job but Minato managed. He resealed the curse mark and the boy fell limp in Sasuke's grasp.

"What's going on here?" Asked Izuru walking around the corner. He looked down at the unconscious Yamada and frowned. "Was that really necessary? He's only speaking the truth…"

Sasuke tackled the boy. "Naruto now!"

"H-hey! Sasuke what the heck!?"

Naruto hurried over and began drawing symbols on the thrashing boy.

"NO! Stop it! Don't take it away!" Izuru shouted.

Minato and Sasuke stoically ignored the boy's shouts and successfully resealed the curse mark.

Then they went and found Haruka and Haruto. The two were quietly discussing the best way to sneak out of the village and were easily caught off guard. Naruto discovered that their seals had been tampered with as well but their seals hadn't been as degraded as Yamada's

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other uneasily over the unconscious bodies of the Uchiha members. They lifted the unconscious children and took them to their rooms to rest.

Naruto sighed as he placed Haruka on her bed. He wondered how Orochimaru had gotten to her. She was too young to know what it meant to have a large clan like the Uchiha. To think that her hate of Itachi was so strong despite never knowing a clan… Perhaps she had seen how sad the other Uchiha were whenever the topic was brought up. She was a kind girl after all.

He left the room and closed the door behind him. Sasuke was waiting out in the hall for him.

"Thanks Naruto… I don't know what's gotten into them all of a sudden." Said Sasuke.

"No problem Sasuke. Report to the Hokage that someone tampered with their seals would you? I have a suspicion of who did it but I can't be sure…"

"Who?"

"The same man who may have tried to arrange your kidnapping in our fourth year."

"What? Who then!? Give me a name Naruto!"

"I can't it's too dangerous Sasuke. Bring up the possibility of a traitor in Konoha to the Sandaime will you?"

Sasuke charged forwards and grabbed Naruto by the collar pinning him against the wall. "This is serious Naruto! Its my family we're talking about here! Why can't you tell me?!"

Naruto stared calmly into Sasuke's eyes. "Because all I have are suspicions and theories. Nothing concrete that would be able to accomplish anything. The Sandaime won't act without proof. If i rashly give you a name I could be putting you into further danger. I don't want to endanger my friends Sasuke."

Sasuke slumped and let go of Naruto's collar. "You can't keep us safe forever…" He lowered his head, "Why does this keep happening to me Naruto?"

Naruto looked down sadly, "I don't know Sasuke. I'm sorry."

Sasuke swiped a hand over his eyes and raised his head to look at Naruto again. "So what did you come here for?" He asked quietly.

"Ah… I came to tell you that I'll be leaving for a training trip to outside of the village for the rest of this month. If you need me I'll be leaving a shadow clone behind in my place."

"Oh I see. Good luck on your training Naruto."

"Thanks Sasuke, you as well. Kakashi can be a real slave driver sometimes."

Sasuke nodded at Naruto and bid him goodbye. Naruto left the Uchiha compound full of worrying thoughts. He hoped that this was the right choice leaving to visit Uzushio.

A/N: Credits to time parad0x for helping me out with planning what happened to the Uzumaki! Thanks for letting me use your headcanon for this fic!