DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I'd love to hear what you think of the story, your preferences, or anything else, so please leave a comment! I will take advice and suggestions from my readers while continuing the story.

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

"Genin Uzumaki. What have you done now?"

Turning, she saw him and could barely speak. "Eh - Ero-sennin!"

"Don't call me that you brat!" Jiraiya watched his goddaughter's - and dear gods has she grown up - eyes well up with tears. They quickly streamed down her face.

Here we go again...

"I did nothing, Ero-Sennin," Naruto shrunk back as Jiraiya approached her.

"You were talking to a nuke-nin, Naru-chan," Jiraiya barked, as he continued to step toward his goddaughter who was still backing away from him.

Naruto flinched at being called that once again. It was one thing for her to be called that by people she knew in this lifetime, but for Jiraiya to call her that now? He had only begun calling her that occasionally after he realized she was a girl shortly before he was killed.

"He's actually not a rogue, ya know?" Trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice at seeing the man who had meant more to her than almost anyone in her past life was nearly impossible. "I think he never was officially affiliated with a village, 'ttebayo." Naruto looked for a way to escape: seeing him out of the blue, or out of a toad, rather, was just too much for her right now. She had enough to deal with!

"Naruto," Jiraiya began. The girl began panicking and Jiraiya grabbed her by the scalp. "You've grown up! Too much, in fact! Put those away," he ordered as he pointed to her breasts.

"Pervert!" Naruto tried to run back into Tazuna's house. Keyword being "tried."

"Oh, Naruto. What am I going to do with you?" Jiraiya asked in a somewhat forlorn voice while holding onto her arm, thinking about his previous interactions with his goddaughter that he supposedly wasn't fit to raise. He received updates from the Hokage, but it wasn't nearly enough! He'd made a promise to Minato! "Look kid, we've met before, but you just don't remember. After what Pa said, I need to know everything NOW." Naruto's teary eyes bugged out, making the Toad Sage grin and finally let go of her, although he did pat her head lovingly. "I'm so glad to see you doing well, hime. It's been too long."

Naruto stood staring at the man she'd thought of as a really perverted father so long ago for a long time, and sensed no lies or ill-intentions. "Did you come back and remember everything, too?" she asked shakily.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and thought of how to respond to that. Unfortunately, nothing came to his awesome mind. "Explain, Naruto. You are the one who first told me about the Akatsuki when you were a little kid, and," he paused for a moment while Naruto cursed and began calling herself names. "You were right. Why don't we start with what happened when your team met up with the Mist nins, then go backward, or maybe start from the beginning from there. Either way," Jiraiya's order was met with the young woman throwing herself into him, wrapping her arms as far as she could around him.

"I missed you so much, Ero-Sennin," she said, shaking all over.

"Don't call me that!" He held his goddaughter and pet her head and hair, marveling at how much it was like Minato's. "You really lucked out in the hair department, kid. Considering your parents, it's not like you'll ever go bald, though. Now spill."

"Okay," Naruto wiped her eyes and finally let out a half-crazed laugh despite herself. "Umm, okay. Hey, can you teach me that hair jutsu?!" Seeing that Jiraiya was serious, she nodded and fisted her hands. "Alright. Never mind that right now: let's go deeper into the forest. I'll have more clones in a perimeter just in case, but if I tell you, you gotta keep what's happened to us to yourself. I mean, if you can do something about what's to come, that would be great, but..."

"You don't trust sensei," Jiraiya stated more than asked.

Naruto's shoulders went limp as clones burst into the area all around her before running off in different directions. "Well I do, but he - well, he trusts that asshole, Danzo. You have no idea of what that man's wrought upon not only the Leaf but other villages, too! And I don't know if I can trust you not to go into dangerous places alone! You gotta have a team, man!"

"Well, why don't you tell me, brat? And what did you mean by 'us?'"

So Naruto did tell him everything that she and Shika had experienced and what their plans were to stop all of it from happening again. And as horrified and in near disbelief as Jiraiya was, he believed her. Holding his crybaby goddaughter as they sat against a tree after she ended her narrative, he continued thinking about all that he'd gone through just to get to this point with her at his side.

Dear Jiraiya-kun,
As promised, I'm again pleased to update you that the babe is doing well.
Hiruzen

That's all Sensei said for years!

.

Dear Jiraiya-kun,
It seems as though Naruto-chan may take more after her mother, although she still looks more like her father, in my humble opinion. She has repeatedly broken out of the orphanage and kicked and bitten the childcare providers and worse during her time there. I'm afraid they see her as quite the little monster, and not because of what she holds.
Hiruzen

.

Dear Jiraiya-kun,
As per your "request," I have placed a permanent guard with our favorite blonde troublemaker. I'm sure you are familiar with Uchiha Shisui. Before you contact me again to complain, know that Shisui's reputation is well-earned. Young, he may be, but he is a prodigy among prodigies.
Hiruzen

.

Dear Jiraiya-kun,
Your godchild made quite an impression on the Hyuugas.
You were right about Kumo, Jiraiya, although Inoichi confirmed that the members who attempted to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress acted on their own accord. One could say that Naruto-chan rescued the girl with the aid of her guard and his cousin.
Hiruzen

.

Jiraiya pouted when his sensei didn't even look up as he jumped through his window. Scaring the ANBU into reacting like chickens was always fun, though. "What the hell do you mean by she 'rescued the girl with the aid of her guard' and whatever bullshit you wrote in the note. I'm sick of this, old man!"

"Ah. Nice to see you, too, Jiraiya-kun. Aren't you supposed to be monitoring the situation in Kiri?" Hiruzen took another drag from his pipe.

"Don't you 'Jiraiya-kun' me! I want to know how she is and what the hell you meant about my goddaughter 'rescuing heiresses!'"

"Hush now, or you'll wake her, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya went still and turned around. His heart began to beat harder, looking at the small blonde girl who was zonked out and breathing steadily on the couch against the back wall of the room. He walked over to her quietly, noting that her messy hair looked like it had been cut haphazardly with a kunai and was just above her shoulders. "She's gotten so big!" Thanks to the idiot council's orders, he hadn't seen the girl since two weeks after she was born. "She looks like Minato, but I see Kushi's features, too."

"Jiraiya," Hiruzen said in a dark tone. He sent his ANBU out and considered sending two of them to have their memories of what Jiraiya had basically confirmed wiped. One guard remained and took a step toward Jiraiya from the side of the couch. Shisui's a brave young man!

"What do you want, brat?"

"Step away from Naru-hime. I will only ask this once," Shisui said calmly, his hand ready to grab his tanto.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, trying to keep me, a Sannin, away from my goddaughter?"

"Jiraiya!" Hiruzen was getting exasperated. No one was supposed to know of Naruto's parentage! Shisui had recognized who her parents were immediately, and despite the Hokage's insistence that she not do so, Mikoto had told him that he was correct in his assumptions. They still shouldn't talk about it, though! Jiraiya had enemies, too, and his relationship with Naruto only put the girl in even more danger.

"I believe I am Uchiha Shisui. I am the guard to Naruto-hime, our future clan matriarch. I was unaware of your relation to the princess..."

"Shisui-kun!" Hiruzen scolded.

"Hmph! That marriage contract was a ruse, you brat," Jiraiya stated, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "So you're her guard, eh? Tell me why sensei said that Naruto rescued the Hyuuga heiress then." He jerked his thumb back toward the Hokage and continued, "Old fart hardly tells me anything, so mentioning that must mean that she did something big or bad! Plus, what the hell can impress a stick-up-their-ass Hyuuga?"

Shisui didn't realize how sheepish he looked at that. Without consulting the Hokage he quickly answered. "For three weeks straight, Naru-chan was breaking out of the orphanage repeatedly and seemed to be spying on the Hyuugas." He ignored Jiraiya's snort at the idea. "I was observing when Uchiha Itachi approached me. We observed Naruto do the hand signs for a substitution, and the next thing we knew, the unconscious Hyuuga heiress was in her place."

"You're saying my 3-year-old godchild not only activated her CHAKRA but also performed an Academy-level jutsu?" Jiraiya was so pissed off and proud that he didn't notice the girl beginning to stir.

"It was more impressive than that, Jiraiya-sama! She didn't substitute with something like a log! No, she did a long-range substitution with a person!" Shisui watched as the Toad Sage sunk onto the end of the couch the princess was on. "When Itachi and I found her, she had engaged the Kumo nin with spray paint and smoke bombs. We arrested the men, and Naru-hime stopped Hiashi-dono from killing the kidnappers by spraying him with orange spray paint as well. She nearly blinded the Hyuuga Clan Head!"

"You let my goddaughter get kidnapped," Jiraiya said darkly after being silent for a few excruciating moments. "DO YOU REMEMBER THAT THEY KIDNAPPED ANOTHER UZUMAKI NOT LONG AGO?" he yelled at the Hokage. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY"D DO TO HER? She's THEIR daughter! If anyone found out..."

"Ero-Sennin?" a small voice quivered, and Jiraiya looked into the big blue eyes that were just exactly like his student. Eyes that were tearing up rapidly.

"Hello, Naruto-chan. Uhh... were you talking to me, little one?"

Naruto jumped up and shook her head, then was in Jiraiya's face. "You dirty Ero-Sennin! You died on me, you prick! Going off alone like some kind of ego-maniacal dumbass," the tiny girl began to rant, shaking her little fist at the white-haired pervert who had his hands held up in surrender.

"Language young lady!" both Hiruzen and Shisui yelled. Shisui was now holding Naruto back by her small shoulders as she was trying to punch Jiraiya.

"How could you do that?! How could you never tell me?!" Naruto broke into sobs and jumped out the Hokage's window, Shisui on her heels. Jiraiya panicked for a second, but looking out the window, saw that Naruto had landed safely and was being chased toward the forest by the Uchiha kid.

"What the hell was that about?!" Jiraiya asked his mentor. Hiruzen's shrug as he went back to his paperwork led to another heated exchange about the welfare of his goddaughter. Whether she had guards or not, he couldn't believe that the old man had just put Naruto in her own apartment at not even four years of age.

.

While Naruto prattled on about the Uchiha massacre, and how Itachi had ended up being the biggest hero the Leaf had ever known in her past life, Jiraiya remembered how he first heard about the massacre...

"Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya looked up from the seal he was writing at the ANBU who approached him near the Kiri border. "Weasel. What can I do for you?"

"Jiraiya-sama, 'He pounded her into the mattress with thrusts so hard that the entire bed moved. Her supple thighs glistened with...'"

"Alright, brat. Code accepted. I'd normally enjoy letting you go on, but I've got a massive hangover. Now, what's the deal?"

Itachi finally took off his mask, formally introduced himself, and told the tale of Danzo initiating his clan's massacre. He also explained that the Sandaime had sent him to Jiraiya to use as he saw fit outside of the village. Itachi hoped that being directly under Jiraiya's command would keep him safe enough to check up on Sasuke and Naruto while they grew up. He explained this to Jiraiya as well as his stipulations about leaving the two children, before getting to what he hoped would move the Sage to immediately act. "Jiraiya-sama, Naru-hime was attacked when trying to get to the Uchiha Compound the night this all happened." Jiraiya paled and felt weak. "I have a crow watching and she's still alive. Her injuries are grave, however. I - I ask that you find Tsunade-hime and bring her back to the village to treat her.

"It's that bad?"

"It is, sir. The medics there cannot be trusted with her, which makes Tsunade-hime's return to the village, at least for temporary assignment to heal Naru-hime, all the more important," Itachi said gravely.

It only took a day and a half for the two of them to find Tsunade. She greeted Jiraiya as harshly as ever but didn't expect Jiraiya to stab her with a tranquilizer dart in the neck. Jiraiya snorted as he remembered using an animal tranquilizer - not that he'd ever call his teammate an animal to her face, but damn... Shizune and the pig were hot on his heels as he ran straight back to the village and into the hospital, Tsunade tossed over his shoulder.

What he saw when he reached her room nearly made him vomit. Naruto wasn't healing for some reason, was black, blue, and green and had large handprints that he eventually learned were all over her body, from the neck down. Being drugged, Tsunade was forced to sit motionlessly and watch when they took the bandages off the girl's head. Shizune tried to heal the girl but finally said that what she was doing wasn't working.

It took well over an hour for Tsunade to be able to stand, then get it together, but she finally moved in and did the best she could. Nothing was working! "Jiraiya, there's only one thing I can think of: what if she's been sealed?"

Jiraiya picked up the girl's top and noticed that the seal on her stomach was showing - as in, activated or engaged - beneath all one of the disgusting large dark handprints, and had been tampered with sloppily. After taking care of that, the girl's bruising began to fade, although Tsunade would have to do surgery. Just before she was anesthetized, Naruto's blue eyes opened.

"Ero-sennin? Baa-chan?" Tsunade made an angry little noise at that, but Jiraiya walked up closer to the two females he considered family.

"Why do you call me that?!"

"'Cause, you're a Sage and a Super Pervert, 'ttebayo. Why are you alive again? Did Pa lie?" she asked weakly before frowning and getting adorably serious. "Are you an Edo-tensei? I'll make those Akatsuki pay, 'ttebayo." Naruto tried to grab her head as she flinched when her voice rose.

"She's delirious, Jiraiya. Let's get this show on the road. Shizune!" Tsunade tried to pull the gurney Naruto was on out of the room, but Jiraiya held on to it.

"What's the Akatsuki?"

"Are you serious? Those assholes that are hunting the Bijuu!" Naruto exclaimed softly. "Pein - well he's really Nagato and he killed you! Stupid-brave Ero-sennin," she whined, her eyes filling with tears. "If you're really alive, just know I'll beat your ass senseless if you ever go to Ame alone!" Tsunade snorted while putting a mask on the seven-year-old at the end of her diatribe that knocked the child out.

"What? You don't believe her, surely!" Tsunade asked her old teammate, seeing the hesitant look on the man's face.

"How the hell did she know about the Bijuu or... Nagato? Or fuck! Edo-Tensei?!"

"Who knows, Jiraiya: maybe she read about these things, or maybe she knows what she holds. Let's go see if that brat of yours can use his Sharingan to see if her mind's been sealed."

Two months later, Itachi found that Orochimaru was indeed in a shady organization called the Akatsuki. He was ordered to infiltrate it. Much later, when it was confirmed that the supposed leader of the group had the Rinnegan, Jiraiya headed to Ame to investigate whether or not his former student, who he knew had the eyes of legend, was actually alive. After repeated arguments and repeated visits that ended up getting him nowhere, Jiraiya almost lost his life fighting against his insanely strong former student.

"I've been out here too long, Ero-Sennin," Naruto said seriously as she looked at her godfather. "Kakashi's awake now and I waited way too long to see if he's okay!" Naruto got up and dusted the grass and dust off her shorts, then gave Jiraiya a hand to help him up.

"So Hatake-brat took a team, eh?" Naruto nodded. Jiraiya was relieved, knowing Sakumo's brat was finally out of Black Ops at last. From the way Naruto spoke of him a few times, he thought the silver-haired emo might have finally made some bonds outside of those that had left the kid long ago - the ones dead and buried.

"C'mon, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto ran ahead of him.

"Stop calling me that, you brat," Jiraiya called, slowly walking back toward the bridgebuilder's house. Meh, it'll be good to see my number one fan again... Who knows, Jiraiya thought, maybe the brat managed to settle down or at least get a steady girlfriend or something! Otherwise, he'd have to scold Kakashi-kun and maybe buy him a whore. From what he remembered, the young Hatake really needed to get laid or at least get his shit together.

Entering the house, Naruto felt a surge of irrational anger. Upstairs, Kakashi felt a chill and a bit of fear for what seemed to be absolutely no reason. He trusted his gut, though, and grabbed the kunai closest to him.