Immediately after the preliminaries concluded, Team Seven met up with Kakashi near the exit of the arena. "Yo" the cyclops said lazily, as his students approached. "Naruto, Satsuki, congratulations on making the finals. Sakura, you may not have made the cut this time, but with enough time, you'll easily be Chuunin material. I'm proud of all of you." Each of the three Genin blushed slightly at the praise from their teacher, who simply flashed a Hatake Eye-Smile (TM) at them.

"Now, then...Satsuki, you'll be training with me for the next month" Kakashi said, addressing the Uchiha. "You'll need as much speed and strength as possible to beat Gaara if you fight him, and Raiton jutsu will be your friend against him, the Hozuki and the Aburame, depending on who you have to fight. We depart for an old ANBU hideout ten kilometers from Konoha at 0800 hours, North Gate tomorrow morning" Satsuki nodded slightly in understanding.

"Naruto, I cannot train you very well, so I'll send you with anther special teacher. Initially, I tried to blackmail Asuma into training your Fuuton affinity, but he wiggled his way out of that because he's helping Shikamaru train...shifty little fucker" Kakashi continued, barely even whispering the last part. "So instead, I got someone else to do it. Meet him tomorrow morning at 0900 hours outside of the hot springs in the Northeast District." Naruto nodded, although he was slightly annoyed that Kakashi wasn't training him.

Turning to the last of the trio, Kakashi finished his lecture. "Sakura, I was initially going to just have you take the month off, but I get the feeling that won't sit right with you." The pinkette shook her head at the idea of doing nothing in her time off. "So instead, I decided to humor Yugito-san's request for you to train with Karui. Be at Training Ground Fourteen tomorrow at 0800 hours." Sakura couldn't resist breaking out in a smile with the idea of training with her friend from the Hidden Cloud.

"Good luck to you all; I'm very proud of you."

The next morning, Naruto wandered down to the hot springs from his dingy little apartment just before 0900 hours. As per usual, people glared at him plenty, but it was slightly less than he had remembered from before he had graduated the Academy and become an actual shinobi. "Now, where could this new teacher be...?" he wondered aloud, looking around. At the moment, he was standing in the section behind the bathhouses, where the actual hot springs bubbled up and were tapped for hot water.

The sound of...perverted giggling? Yeah, perverted giggling, attracted his attention to a section of the fence behind the women's baths. Sure enough, a man was sitting on a large toad, roughly the size of a person, peeping through a hole in the fence. "Oh great. My teacher is a pervert" Naruto groaned internally, before walking up to the man and toad. "Excuse me" he said "But you wouldn't happen to be the teacher that Kakashi Hatake assigned me?"

The man groaned. "Can't you see that I'm doing important research?" he asked, not looking down at the boy.

"Research? You're just peeping on women like some kind of pervert!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly.

The man snorted. "Pervert? I'm no mere pervert!" he said, before turning away from the peephole and shooting a lecherous grin at Naruto. "I'm a SUPER PERVERT!"

Naruto shook his head. "Whatever. Just tell me, are you Jiraiya of the Sannin?" The man smiled. "So my legend has traveled far indeed! Savior of man, lover of women and scourge of evil everywhere! I am the Gallant Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku...JIRAIYAAAA!" he said, giving his signature introduction.

The blonde cheered up a little. "Oh good. So you are my father, Old Man Teuchi and the teme's mom's teacher, right?"

Jiraiya immediately paled. "...Who told you that?" he asked quietly.

Naruto shrugged. "Hebi-teme dropped the first few hints, and then Kakashi and Hokage-jiji told the truth when pressed for information."

The white-haired toad sage sighed. "I guess that means you know about me being your godfather then. Guess I'd better teach you after all."

The sage's expression brightened. "So, what do you want to learn first? How to summon, how to use the Kyuubi's chakra, or how to do the Rasengan?" Naruto's grin widened as each of these was mentioned. He was going to get along just fine with this pervy old man.

Ten kilometers from Konoha, in an old ANBU hideout...

Satsuki finished strapping on the training weights that Kakashi had brought for her, while the cyclops stood nearby, reading his little orange book. "So, what are these supposed to do?" the kunoichi asked, testing her range of motion with the weights.

"They're to improve your strength and endurance as much as possible, ideally up to something approximating Rock Lee's level" Kakashi responded.

"While you're improving your physical condition that way, I'm going to teach you two more Raiton jutsu. The first is this simple C-Rank one. Raiton: Lightning Beast Running!" A blast of electricity in the shape of a wolf shot from his left hand, running in a wide circle before pouncing on a training dummy, blowing the dummy to pieces. "The other is this beauty." A massive ball of electricity gathered in Kakashi's right palm, before coating it in electricity as the sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the air. Witha quick thrust of his palm, the tree in front of Kakashi exploded into splinters, as the lightning palm dissipated.

"I call that one...the Chidori."

Training Ground Fourteen...

"Again!" Yugito commanded, as Karui and Sakura engaged in a quick hand-to hand spar, chakra chains rattling as punches were thrown and kicks were blocked. Nearby, Omoi exchanged blows with his blonde teammate, the duo sharpening their kenjutsu (pun fully intended) with every strike. "They've come a long way, haven't they, Kitten?" Matatabi purred. A small smile crossed Yugito's face. "That they have, Matatabi, that they have..."

Training Ground Five...

"Alright Lee, in order to defeat the Kumo boy, I will teach you how to fully open the Fifth Gate and use a technique I developed for use with the Sixth. I call it...Morning Peacock!" Gai said an indescribably manly voice, as Lee listened with stars in his eyes.

"Yosh! I will not disappoint you, Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

As an ocean sunset washed over Training Ground Five, Neji pounded a training dummy with dozens of Gentle Fist strikes. "That Kumo girl...my match with her will be the perfect way to humiliate both the Raikage and the Main House at once!"

Training Ground Thirty-One...

"Alright brats!" barked Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist, as he strode back and forth in front of his three students. "Two of you three have made it to the finals of the tournament, so you'll be training your asses off here for the next month. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Zabuza/Zabuza-sama/Momochi-sensei!" Suigetsu, Haku and Chojuro responded respectively.

"Haku, you will be training your Hyoton in a series of matches against Chojuro, who is helping me teach because he lost his match - better luck next time, kid" Zabuza said, as the dark-haired kunoichi and the timid bluenette boy nodded in acknowledgement. "As for you, Suigetsu, you'll be under my direct tutelage, learning something very important: the art of self-restraint in a situation that isn't life-or-death."

The groans of the Hozuki at this declaration could be heard throughout Konoha.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the lowlands of the Land of Fire...

The last ashes of the campfire dwindled away as two individuals wearing distinctive black cloaks with a red cloud print walked away from it. One of them, a tall, vaguely blue-skinned man with spiky dark hair, gills and a large wrapped package on his back, turned to his partner. "So, where to next?" he asked in a manner that was all too cheerful for his appearance.

"Konoha" came the simple response from his partner, a woman with dark hair, eyes like obsidian and two birthmarks below her eyes.

"Konoha? Really? Well, whatever you say...Itami."