A/N: Yo! Sorry this took a while but my frustrating semester just ended. Hope you will stick around for the next chapters and for now I hope you enjoy this one!

The Leaf Village was on its way to going back to the way it was before the damage. The villages were putting their arguments aside and helping their fellow grumpy merchants to fix the streets and buildings. But the villagers were not the only ones helping, the ninjas were spending their free time assisting the renovations. Sakura was one of them as she was currently doing the more practical task of cleaning dirty windows on her building. Wiping the suds of the glass she blinked in surprise at the reflection she saw behind her. She turned around to face the person.

"Hinata? What are you doing here? Isn't it early for you to be released from the hospital?"

Hinata smiled. "I feel fine now so I insisted on being released so I could help out. Is there anything I can do here?"

Sakura looked at her for a few seconds before smiling. "Ok, but no physical tasks for you, I can tell by your walk you aren't fully recovered yet."

"I'm fine, really." Hinata waved her hands in front of her.

"Don't give me that, I bet that Naruto wouldn't even let you go outside until you're fully recovered let alone clean." Sakura winked at her.

Hinata opened her mouth to say something but just closed it and blushed. "J-just give me t-the sponge."

Sakura giggled and shook her head.

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" Naruto yelled at the tree he just hit with his unfinished Rasengan. "Why the heck are the craters getting smaller?!"

"Because you are exhausted."

He jumped a bit at the unexpected answer. Turning around he saw Shizune walking towards him with a basket in her hands. "You can attempt the jutsu so many times before you're completely out of chakra." She continued. "A jutsu like this could cost you your life if you attempt it more than a few times in a battle."

"I know that!" The blonde defended himself. "But I have tons of chakra! This has never happened before."

"Have you trained non-stop for almost 24 hours without stopping before?"

He opened his mouth a few times. "I… don't think so…"

"See?" She put the basked down and sat on the grass next to it. "You didn't come back last night… have you slept?"

He turned away a bit embarrassed. "Well… does passing out count?"

Shizune sighed and shook her head. "Have you eaten anything since?"

He shook his head slowly not facing her.

She looked at him sadly before smiling and opening the basket. "Here." She pulled out a bento and a pair of chopsticks and handed it to him.

He turned around and blinked in surprise before smiling awkwardly. "Thanks a lot but… that's gonna have to wait a little till my hands stop tingling." He turned his palms in her direction giving her a glimpse of his chakra burns.

"Naruto! Those are severe! I'll get you some ointment, I'll be right back." She began to get up but was stopped by his voice.

"No, no, no! I already have some." He waved his burnt hands to stop her.

"You do?"

"Yeah, here." He took the pot out of his pocket and hissed in pain dropping it on the ground. Gasping a bit he was about to pick it up but was beaten to it by Shizune.

"That was quite a worried expression you had there for dropping an ointment. Wooden pots like these don't break that easily." She commented opening it.

"Yeah well, my girlfriend made it for me so…"

Shizune looked at him in shock. "Your what?"

Naruto blushed and swallowed feeling uncomfortable under Shizune's shocked glare. "Geez, why is everyone always so surprised about that?"

Shizune chuckled. "It's just that… you are so young."

"So…?" He squeaked looking away making her laugh.

"Here, I'll apply the ointment on your palms and you tell me a bit about her, hm? She made this, you say?"

"Yeah, she likes to press flowers and herbs and stuff."

"I see. I'm a medical professional, I can tell how well-made this ointment is. The texture is very smooth and I think I can guess what ingredients she used by the smell." She said gently rubbing the ointment into his hands hiding a frown as she watched the wounds slowly close. She wondered…

"Say… Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know why your wounds heal this quickly?" She didn't think there was harm in asking as if he did not know she would say that the healing was due to the ingredients in the ointment.

He visibly swallowed. "Y-yeah… do you?"

"Yes." She looked at him seriously closing the ointment.

"How do you know?" He asked quietly.

"I stayed in your village a long time ago… I know what happened to the beast and I know your name but I never thought I would meet you."

"Why?" He asked even quieter.

"Well, mainly I didn't know if you lived or not."

"Are… you scared of me?" He looked down.

"Not a bit." She smiled.

Naruto looked at her. "Does the grumpy lady know?"

"She does. And she's not always like this. She's a good person, she's just going through a lot at the moment."

"Going through a lot of money you mean?"

Shizune sighed hiding a smile. "Gambling helps distract her a bit even if she keeps losing. I'd rather she stopped but I can't order her to."

"How can losing money make her feel better? Her snatching my wallet didn't make me feel any better. Especially since I just won all that money and she's gonna waste it on sake and her gambling shit." Naruto was getting more upset the more he talked. "And what will she do with Gama-chan when she wastes all the money, throw him away?"

"Gama-chan?" Shizune raised a brow in confusion.

"You can't let her do that! You have to get him back! Gama-chan wasn't a part of the bet! She only wants the money, right?" A bead of sweat traced down his now pale cheek.

"Oh, you mean your froggy wallet?" She giggled.

"Yeah, it means a lot to me, I have to have it back."

"Did you girlfriend give it to you as well?" She asked handing him the ointment.

He put it back in his pocket. "Actually, I have no idea who gave it to me…"

"How so?"

"It's a long story…"

"Well then, why don't you tell me about it after you eat something, hm?"

Naruto grinned and nodded vigorously. Ten minutes later, after he gulped down the whole bento box in record time, he took another sip of water and began telling Shizune the story.

"You know… when I was little I got bullied and attacked a lot…" He stared into space with a sad expression.

Shizune hung onto his every word gripping the water bottle in her hands.

"And if I ever wanted something… I never got it…" He looked at his almost fully healed hands. "One day… a few days before my birthday, I was walking by a shop and I saw the wallet in the window. I've always liked frogs and toads so I really liked it… I know it seems childish but… I don't know, I just liked it…"

Shizune nodded suppressing a smile.

"But… I didn't have enough money to buy it so… I just looked at it through the window for days… I've never bought anything like that for myself so I was thinking whether to ask the old man Hokage to give me a few ryo so I could get it."

Shizune's smile dropped.

"It's weird to think about it now cuz it was cheap actually…" A small smile sneaked through his lips.

"In the end I decided to wait until the old man gave me my allowance and then I would buy it. But the next day I looked into the window and it wasn't there anymore…"

Shizune blinked a bit confused.

"I was so sad cuz there were so many other wallets there. A cat, a dog, a bird, a tiger… out of all of those why would someone get the frog one? I mean, I remember catching a toad once when I was little and the other kids screamed that it was gross." He smiled suddenly. "I did scare a bully with it once though, heheh!"

Shizune matched his smile with hers.

"Anyway, I got really bummed out about it but I was used to bad things happening to me so I didn't cry about it I guess… and then on my sixth birthday someone knocked on my door which was weird cuz no one ever knocks on my door. I looked through the peep hole on my door and there was no one there so I thought it was a prank so I would walk out and someone would throw rotten eggs at me again."

Shizune cringed discretely.

"But I vividly remember that the knock sounded different… it was softer… so I opened the door and there was a box on the ground… with a note that said happy birthday… again, I thought it was a prank cuz the old man usually treats me to ramen on my birthday, he doesn't get me things cuz I told him I don't need anything."

Shizune's expression softened.

"So I open the box and there it was… Gama-chan… I still have no idea who it was or how they knew I wanted it. I asked the old man but he said it wasn't him. It was the first actual birthday present I ever got and the second time I got something I really wanted so I treasure it." He finished with a deep sigh.

"How nice." Shizune smiled but then raised a brow. "Wait, the second time?"

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, the first thing I really wanted was to try ramen cuz I would always walk by Ichiraku and it smelt really good, heheh."

Shizune smiled. "Well, I promise to give it back to you in case you lose the bet but… considering Lady Tsunade's bet record I'd say you have a good chance of winning."

"Oh, I'm gonna win for sure just you watch!" He got up getting ready to continue training. "And then I'll have all the money I want."

Shizune paled as a thought came into her head. "Uh, Naruto? You don't plan on selling the necklace do you?"

"Huh? Well, Pervy Sage did say it's worth a lot but… why? She wanted to bet on it, not me. Why didn't she sell it when she's in debt?"

"Well, uhhh…" Shizune fidgeted with the empty bento box trying to close it. "You see… that necklace is uhhh… cursed."

…

"Say what?" Naruto blinked and suddenly yelled. "Ah! I know what she's doing! She knows she's gonna lose so she wants to stick a curse on me so I'd be broke and full of bad luck like she is! Well, fuck that stupid necklace then! She can keep it! I don't need the money!" He stomped away in anger.

"Oh dear, I shouldn't have said that…"

Naruto glared at the tree like it had eaten his last bowl of special fire chili ramen before a familiar sound distracted him.

Meow.

"Hey, where have you been?"

Later that night Jiraiya sat in his room scribbling in his notes. He gulped down the last few drops of sake he had and wondered if he required a refill after the stressful conversation he just had with his fellow Sanin. The excuses she made for not wanting to be named the Hokage and go back to the village were unbelievable. The door behind him slid open revealing a messy Naruto who just grabbed an extra pair of boxers out of his backpack and mumbled something about needing a long bath. Jiraiya chuckled. He was amazed by his student's will to master this jutsu. And there was the bet on top of that. He wanted the boy to win as well, not only because he wanted Tsunade to accept the offer but also because he really wanted her to give his money back remembering his pupil's words about wanting to get his girlfriend a gift. There was something deep in him that was telling him he would win. In his student's own words if you put your heart into it you can do anything. Believe it. After all, he did master the first two phases rather quickly. That seems even more impressive now that his former teammate commented on it during their earlier conversation.

Flashback:

"You are unbelievable, Jiraiya. Teaching a brat like that such a powerful jutsu. He's going to blow himself up into pieces." Tsunade crossed her arms over her bosom angrily.

"If his whole life couldn't blow him to pieces no way he'd do it himself." Jiraiya calmly replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She said calming down a bit.

"Naruto's childhood was tough… way too tough for a child who was protecting a whole village from a beast." His eyes met hers and for a moment her gaze changed into a pained glance. "Everyone in his village hates him, calls him a demon and ignores him. The Fourth Hokage made a law that strictly forbade the beast from being mentioned. Those who broke the law were punished by death."

Tsunade's eyes widened.

"The adults didn't want their children to be around him so they told them to hate him for no reason so he didn't have any friends let alone someone to take care of him. The fact that he seems so carefree and spoiled despite all that's happened to him tells me clearly that he IS capable of handling such a jutsu."

Tsunade listened wordlessly intrigued by the boy's reality.

"It took him just under three and a half weeks to master the first two phases of the Rasengan, he proved he could handle it." He smiled.

"No way… what is it that keeps him going?" Tsunade rubbed her temple.

"He gave his word to Hiruzen that he would bring you to the village, and he never goes back on his word. It's as simple as that."

Tsunade looked at her feet in shock before her hand subconsciously touched the crystal on her necklace.

"Do you even want to win this bet?"

Her head snapped up to face him.

"Don't get your hopes up. Should have warned you but the kid told me he's never lost a bet." He grinned. "As a matter of fact, everyone who bet against him in the final phase of the chunin exams lost a lot of cash."

"He made it to the fin- ?! Ah, why am I surprised, of course he did!" She sighed causing Jiraiya to laugh.

"You shouldn't repeat my mistake of underestimating the, errr, what did Kakashi call him?" He rubbed his chin. "Ah, yes… The Leaf Village's number one hyperactive, unpredictable, knuckleheaded ninja."

End of flashback:

Jiraiya smiled then rubbed his chin again. "Did I even put those adjectives in the right order?"

During their conversation Naruto was living up to that name.

"AAAHHHCHOOO!"

And just like that the large rock next to his targeted tree now has a crater in it.

"Yeah, NOW I had to sneeze… Geez." Naruto rubbed the sweat off of his forehead. A weird noise drew his attention to his right where the cat was slowly scratching her way down a tree trunk she climbed startled by the sneeze… and the explosion following it. He stared at the kitty struggling to get back down before it jumped next to an empty tuna can.

He laughed at the sight. "Ate too much?" The kitty just laid back down on top of his discarded jacket.

"How I wish I could just relax like that…"

His smile fell.

"How I wish I could ever relax…"

His gaze steeled and went back to the tree as he began molding his chakra into his palm once again… and again… and again…