Chapter 9: Preliminaries

A/N: Heya guys back again with some more time travel goodness for you all. For those that don't read my other stuff and haven't read my new story I've put a couple chapters out for please give a warm welcome to my new beta Kiba Winterhalter! Thanx for the help man, the readers appreciate it too I'm sure! Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Time in the tower passed fairly quickly for the blonde once his soul mate arrived. He had only waited a day when he felt Kiba's chakra, along with Hinata and Shino, enter the tower.

He instantly went to find him and came upon him just outside the entry hall, not much worse for wear. He had a few minor cuts here and there but nothing major. They hugged each other tightly and pecked each other's lips.

"I'm glad you're safe," Naruto whispered in his ear. "Hey, of course I'm safe. The only one out there that could hurt me was Orochimaru and Gaara you know that. I mean I was head of the Hunter nin for a reason ya know," Kiba smirked reassuring his husband.

"I know I was the one that promoted you to that position, remember? You did excellent in it too," Naruto laughed back.

They separated and went to the dining hall to eat. They spent the rest of the days hanging out enjoying each other's company. On the fifth day the exam ended and all contestants were summoned to an arena in the tower by the Hokage.

"Welcome one and all and congratulations for passing the second part of the exam. In this room is some of the finest genin that I have had the pleasure of seeing since the Yondaime Hokage took this exam himself," Sarutobi beamed at them all kindly.

He nonchalantly nodded his head at Naruto who nodded back in acknowledgement. "Unfortunately you all are too good. Too many of you have made it this far so we are forced to have a preliminary round to eliminate some of you. I wish you all the best of luck in the rest of the test," Sarutobi announced, causing a slight outburst of anger.

"Your proctor for this match will be Jiraiya of the Sannin," Sarutobi announced. Everyone began to whisper at this. "He will also be proctoring the third and final round of the exam," Sarutobi continued. Naruto looked a little shocked at that. Sarutobi hadn't mentioned to him about that fact and he felt it would be bittersweet to see his godfather and master again.

In truth an idea had been forming in his mind about a possible way to get him back and so far the tests had been successful the way he thought. He had tried summoning a toad not too long ago, Gamakichi to be specific, and was shocked to find that he had been summoned with all of his memories of their future together.

Further study and thought into the matter had shown that since it was a space time jutsu to summon them it pulled their memories from the future into the current body because Naruto's soul was linked to the future version of them. He had been getting hopeful that if he summoned Ma and Pa then they could reverse summon Jiraiya pulling his memories from the future. The only reason he had yet to try was that he was afraid.

He was afraid that Jiraiya would be angry with him for the choices he had made recently. For changing the past into what he thought it ought to be.

Still in his mind he had to try. Jiraiya had given his life to buy him time. He had taught him everything that his dad held dear and had shown him unconditional love.

Naruto missed the man every day since the day that he died. He knew that after the preliminaries were over he had to try. Another thing he contemplated was delving into the seal to find his father's soul. He would love to have another conversation with the man, same with his mother. Since he was in his past body the fragments were in there still.

When he zoned back out of his thoughts on the matter he noticed that the fights had begun. The first fight had been Sasuke vs Shino and Sasuke had won with a fire jutsu. Arrogant bastard destroyed half of Shino's hive.

Now in the ring it was Hinata vs Neji. It was going much the same as it had last time with Neji dominating. Though oddly not as much as Naruto remembered. Naruto looked at Kiba next to him who smirked at that the fight going on. Naruto knew then that Kiba had been helping to bolster Hinata into who they both knew she could be.

In their time she was the proud head of the Hyuga family and chief of the revived Military Police. She had led the police made up of Hyuuga and Akamichi's alike that were too old or slow for missions but still wanted to help the village.

She was a notoriously dangerous person to get on the bad side of and led elegantly. Kiba must have given her a push to become who she someday will.

When the match ended in Neji's favor unlike last time when Naruto stepped in to help Jiraiya was on him before any one but Naruto could follow.

"Stand Neji Hyuuga. The match is over and you dare attack a fellow leaf ninja when their back is turned?" Jiraiya glared in a rarely seen serious face. Neji quailed under the powerful gaze from the second strongest person in the village.

"For your disgrace and cowardice I hereby disqualify you from this exam. You better think long and hard about your actions and who you're loyal to. The village or your preconceived fate," Jiraiya tossed him back and he left still shaking from the killer intent laced stare.

Naruto stared at his one time sensei in a way like he hadn't seen him before. In truth he had never really seen the serious side of his beloved godfather and now that he had he missed him all the more.

The next match that came up was his own. His opponent was Gaara of the Sand. He blinked then smiled thinking, Oh I see what you're doing old man. Genius. I can take him out of the invasion plans right now and fuck up everything they had going. Clever alright let's do this.

Naruto met Gaara in the center and smiled sadly at his old friend that looked so crazed now. He knew he could help him but first he had to beat him like last time. He'll get all his old friends back and that was a promise.

He could see the worry in Jiraiya's eyes and it melted his heart to know that Pervy Sage cared without even having met him yet. Naruto winked in response and signaled with a special code that Jiraiya taught him in the future that he had this in the bag. Jiraiya's eyes widened having understood the message but not knowing how the blonde could possibly know the code that he and his father had created years ago.

The fight began with Naruto rushing at Gaara at high speeds that few could follow. He threw out a kick that was blocked by Gaara's sand, the redhead not moving an inch or even flinching. He retaliated by spreading his sand up Naruto's body to try and crush him.

Naruto focused and drew Kurama's chakra around his leg and used the acidic demon chakra to burn off the sand. Gaara's eyes narrowed at that, recognizing the demon chakra.

"You are like me. Good when I kill you then it will prove my existence all the more," Gaara growled. Naruto stared in pity at him. "I'm sorry Gaara but you will lose this fight. I know all your moves intimately and I know that you can't hope to beat me. Give up and I will help you get sleep. I can fix your seal so that you won't hear Shukaku ranting anymore," Naruto promised.

"You know it's name? I thought that only I knew that. No matter, you can't help me. No one can. Now die!" Gaara screamed in rage, pulling on his demon's power slightly.

Naruto sighed in defeat and gathered some natural chakra to increase his speed. When his body erupted into the golden flames he flew at Gaara faster than anyone could see and faster than Gaara's chakra could protect. His hand glowed with a seal that he slammed into Gaara's stomach, sealing off the demon.

Gaara fell to the ground almost unconscious from the low amount of chakra flowing through his body. The match was called in Naruto's favor and he could tell his godfather had some questions for him after the exam.

The next few matches went by quickly and it came time for the winners to find out who they would fight in the finals. The matches would be Naruto vs Sasuke, Kiba vs Kankuro, Shikamaru vs Temari, and Lee vs Hinata who moved on since Neji was disqualified.

Naruto wished his husband good luck then took off toward his house. He could feel Jiraiya following him though and veered off to a training ground where he waited for him to appear.

He didn't wait more than a minute till his godfather jumped into the clearing across from him. "Hello Naruto, I am the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya. Though you already know that obviously. You seem to know some things you shouldn't. Like that hand sign code or the sealing techniques. How did you come across this information," Jiraiya questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"Hello Pervy Sage. It has been a long time. I could explain but I think I have a way to show you and it'll be a lot easier to explain this way. Allow me the freedom to do so," Naruto informed using his Kage voice as Kiba had dubbed it.

Jiraiya's eyes widened at the familiarity of the way Naruto spoke and nodded his head giving Naruto the go ahead.

Naruto bit his thumb then ran through the hand signs for the summoning jutsu. When he was finished there in front of him was Ma and Pa toad. They looked at him not knowing who he was for a minute looking at Jiraiya questioningly then they began to shake a little.

Their heads seemed to shift slightly then it stopped and they looked dazed. "What did you do to them," Jiraiya growled dangerously. "Don't worry Pervy Sage, they are ok. That was just a lot of information being downloaded into their heads all at once. Give them a second and they will be ok," Naruto smiled. Jiraiya reluctantly nodded and waited.

After a few minutes their eyes came back into focus and they smiled at Naruto. "Ah Naruto my boy, so good to see you. You look so young, what has happened?" Pa toad questioned. Naruto merely pointed at Jiraiya. When they noticed him they both went wide eyed and started to tear up.

Jiraiya was surprised at this reaction, having seen them not too long ago. "Is it really you? Ah then we must be in the past," Ma sighed when she got a nod to her question from him. "Naruto boy I think I understand what you want from us then. You want us to reverse summons Jiraiya boy here to give him his memories of our time like we got," Pa said. Naruto nodded on the verge of tears. "We can try but I can't guarantee that it will work," Ma warned. "Please try," Naruto pleaded.

They nodded in response then went through the hand signs. There was a big puff of smoke and when it cleared Jiraiya was standing there. He looked confused having been standing ten feet away then he got the same shifting and glazed look as Ma and Pa had. When he came back into focus he looked around stunned. When his eyes landed on Naruto they started to tear up before he fainted.

Naruto caught him easily and hugged him tight. He could feel in his heart that it had worked. He carried his sensei back to his apartment crying tears of joy. They had a lot to talk about when Jiraiya woke up, that was for sure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: Annnnnnnnnnnd done! What did ya'll think of that huh? Sorry about the lackluster fights ya'll know i am hideous at fight scenes. The real juicy part was Jiraiya hehe. Didn't see that coming didja? Hope ya'll liked it. Lemme know in the comments what ya'll thought. As always fave, follow and review! Cya!