The news spread across the village in a matter of hours. It must also be said that the disturbance had been pretty major and difficult to miss. Obviously, many details had been smothered so the village was aflame with the wildest rumours.

Sasuke Uchiha had been attacked by a mysterious ninja in the bright of the day during the second stage of the chuunin examination. Which was weird because Sasuke Uchiha was obviously not participating in the exams. However, the Katon jutsu, the smoke and the residential building housing the last Uchiha catching fire left little doubt as to the fact that it was indeed an attack.

So the rumour mill was milling. Mainly wind and empty speculations because the Hokage had been on-site quickly with his ANBU and Sasuke had been brought to the hospital in a hurry.

The village mourned two ninjas that day. They had been there when the attack had happened and tried to intervene but had been ruthlessly dispatched with an efficiency that was concerning.

The Hokage had no doubt that Orochimaru had been in the village for a time. Obviously, the snake was now gone, having achieved what he sought to do. Sasuke Uchiha had been marked with the cursed mark of heaven, one of the traitor's juinjutsu. A twisted piece of fuinjutsu that, unless neutralized in some way, bent the will of the victim to Orochimaru's whim.

Of course, it offered power and tempted the one marked to use it, for the more it was used, the faster the corruption happened, until the recipient was nothing but an obedient slave.

The Hokage immediately applied a triple seal, a superposition of two uneven and one even fuinjutsu that dampened the temptation of the cursed mark to almost nothing. A more permanent solution would be to seal the Uchiha's chakra coils but that would condemn him to the life of a cripple and Hiruzen didn't want to inflict that on the boy.

So, on the recommendations of Inoichi Yamanaka, who had been following Sasuke to help stabilize and heal him, Hiruzen trusted the Uchiha to resist the temptation and emerge of the ordeal stronger.

Orochimaru's method of infiltration was revealed when the bodies of a team from Kusagakure were found, a few days later, in the northern forest of Fire Country, already rotting. The fact the four corpses were missing their very face was the only clue needed to conclude that Orochimaru had impersonated this team.

It also meant that at least three henchmen of his had been in Konoha for a time, doing Kami knew what. A thorough search conducted by T&I over a week revealed two large bombs planted near the hospital and the forges. The counter-spying bureau was hard at work to find the logical third one.

Naruto followed these events with a distracted ear. Sasuke had been doing better and it was a dick move to place such a disgusting juinjutsu on him but that was the extent of the blond's feelings on the matter. Naruto simply hoped the Uchiha wouldn't do anything stupid. As for the bombs, well, he had been employed to look for them, flooding the village with the Mass Shadow Clones jutsu and searching every nook and cranny he could think of.

In Ibiki's opinion, Orochimaru expected these bombs to be found and they were simply a decoy. After all, there was a entire month between the second and last stage of the exams. Largely enough time for the bombs to be found - even by accident - and disarmed. The fact the third one hadn't been found yet worried the head of T&I to a great extent. Naruto agreed with his master.

Right now, however, Naruto didn't care about all that. He was instead standing in front of a hospital room, the picture of his mother the Hokage had given him in his hand. Quietly, he knocked.

"Yes? Enter?"

He opened and closed the door with care before he took a deep breath and turned to face the occupant of the room.

His breath immediately itched and something felt stuck in his throat.

"Yes? Who are you?"

Slowly, Naruto looked at the photo of his mother then back at the girl who was laying in the bed. She had those same violet-reddish eyes. She had this same burgundy-coloured hair.

"I'm…" Naruto breathed deeply. He had promised the Hokage, he knew that. But if there was even a tiny little chance that this girl shared blood with him, he had to take it. He had to know. What he would get, he didn't know but he would bear the consequences later.

"My name is Naruto." He said in a whisper. "Naruto Uzumaki."

The way the girl's eyes widened immediately told Naruto he had been spot on. He could barely keep his own tears from coming which was a weird feeling, considering he had a smile that was trying to split his face in two. He wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or laugh.

So he did both. The girl did the same.

Karin Uzumaki - that was the name of the genin from Kusagakure - was immediately sympathetic to Naruto. It wasn't just because she was a cousin, as remote as the relationship was, but also because she had a personality pretty similar to Naruto's: straightforward and full of "dattebana!", her own language tic.

They quickly agreed to not reveal anything about their respective village that they thought was too important to talk about after their first conversation came to an awkward stop because of a sensitive topic.

They held their meetings secret and short of course but Naruto saw her every day for an entire week. He had rarely felt so happy. He had a family, related to him by blood.

Unfortunately, their time together was soon cut short. Seeing as she hadn't qualified for the last round of the exams and that she was soon healed, she had to depart. For a second, the blond was tempted to abduct her but thought that it probably wouldn't go well with Kusagakure if a genin from Konoha abducted one of their kunoichis, even if the two were related.

Naruto and she promised to stay in contact somehow. Such a thing would prove tricky, Naruto knew that but at least, they were from allied villages. As soon as she departed, the blond got to work on a new, long-distance shinki.

He didn't get to work on it for long, however, as he was called in the Hokage office at the beginning of the second week of the month-long break to meet none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"You're going to sign the Toad Contract and learn the Summoning jutsu," informed him the tall, large man with an easy-going smile.

Naruto noticed three things. Firstly, Jiraiya wasn't wearing a Konoha headband: his mane of shaggy white hair were held by a hitai-ate engraved with the kanji for oil. Secondly, he wore a strange get-up made of a green gi and a red haori. Bad taste, in Naruto's opinion. It lacked blue and orange. Lastly, the man was the tallest individual the blond had ever met. Also, he was built like one of these big wardrobes, the ones that were huge and had a mirror on their doors.

Considering the man was one of the legendary three ninjas and a student of the Sandaime plus a war veteran, Naruto easily interpreted his easy-going smile for what it truly meant:

"I'm so above your level, I could sneeze and you'd die."

So Naruto nodded his agreement to the offer. It wasn't like he was opposed to having a summoning contract in the first place. Those were rare. He also accepted the explanations that were given to him as to why he was even receiving such an honour.

He had a lot of chakra which meant he could summon the toads contrary to a lot of people. That simple point eliminated a good number of potential candidates. Seeing as Jiraiya wouldn't be in the village in a month time, leading Konoha's forces against Suna's, Naruto having the toad contract was an insurance of a sort. If anything turned sour in the village, there would be a few powerful warrior-summons to help.

Lastly, Naruto was the student of the Sandaime. Period.

Well, there had to be few advantages in addition to the stellar tutoring and the tips and tricks on chakra theory of a sixty-year-old ninjutsu specialist, right?

So after an hour-long question and answer session during which Naruto checked that he wasn't going to get taken advantage of - it was a contract after all - he signed the large scroll. He obviously noticed the name signed on the large box that came before his.

In dried blood, the name of the Yondaime was inscribed, the calligraphy perfect. Naruto knew, of course, that Minato Namikaze had gone into battle riding atop the boss toad Gamabunta. The Yondaime had been his favourite Hokage and he had studied the man closely. Nowadays, however, Naruto refused to think about it.

Bright blond hair and azure eyes weren't traits spread largely in Konoha. Actually, the two individuals who shared them were Naruto himself and Minato Namikaze. He knew that because he had been spending most of his time observing the entire population of Konoha lately. The boy also knew his mother's name was Uzumaki and she had had red hair. If the Sandaime were to be believed and the Yondaime had not killed his parents and given he hadn't chosen another child to seal the Kyuubi, it left very few possibilities. And now, Naruto was made a toad summoner, just like the man had been.

But, the boy decided, those points were all merely coincidences. He wasn't ready to accept them as anything else. So instead, he bought the explanations given to him by the Hokage and the Toad Sage and met Jiraiya the following day to learn the summoning jutsu.

Learning the summoning jutsu with Jiraiya told Naruto two things.

Firstly, the man was a pervert. Naruto didn't call him out on it, he would have felt like a hypocrite given he had breached the personal life of countless civilians over the past few weeks. But there was spying in the name of national security and just staring at naked women. The blond also understood it was part of the Jiraiya's cover but the man was enjoying himself a little bit too much for part of it not to be genuine.

Secondly, Naruto hoped he would never have to learn anything else from the man, given Jiraiya's explanations amounted to "here are the hand signs, good luck".

Naruto honestly felt insulted. For six months, he had been learning under the foremost ninjutsu specialist of Konoha since the Nidaime. Moulding chakra wasn't a matter of hand signs. There was a slew of different internal manipulations to consider depending on the jutsu and the effects the caster wanted to achieve.

The most natural method to mould one's chakra was to follow the orientation of the body's coils. They were called coils because, well, they coiled, towards the left or right, depending on the individual. Moulding against this orientation was difficult but had its use. In the same way, one could mould from top to bottom, bottom to top, in a halved fashion, quartered, mirrored and Naruto hadn't bothered to remember the technical denominations of all the possibilities. Instead, he had given them his own set of names.

So when told to "just do it", Naruto had been a little bit peeved. He honestly expected better from someone who was also known for his ninjutsu, had learned under the same teacher and had taught the Yondaime.

The blond figured it out, obviously, because chakra theory was something he had become knowledgeable about thanks to his Jiji. Chakra reacted to hand signs in various ways but basically, one could recognize that the way they moulded their chakra was the right one for the intended jutsu when a certain something happened when the energy was directed through the seals.

Naruto could not put in better words because it was a sensation to be experienced, not explained. Thankfully, the blond was good with sensations. He learned better by doing, by feeling.

So he focused like he rarely had focused, ever, and carefully moulded his chakra in all the possible combinations while running through the hand signs until he got the right sensation. At the end of an entire day dedicated to trial and error and much chakra wasted, Naruto summoned his first toad.

A small, small orange toad who introduced himself as Gamakichi.

The blond tossed the little amphibian a chocolate bar - it had been specified in the contract in small text to have an offering at the ready, one paragraph even specifying what to prepare depending on the toad summoned.

"Hello, my name is Naruto, I'm-"

"Our new summoner!" Gamakichi cut him immediately with enthusiasm. "And you're young! Cool! Jiraiya is cool and all but he had his habits with the older toads and he'd never call me."

Naruto nodded before he scratched the back of his head. "Hum, not to be rude but… You're… Small."

Gamakichi shrugged - could a toad shrug? Apparently yes - and nodded. "Well, yeah, I'm young so it's normal. We toads are much like you humans," informed the orange amphibian matter-of-factly. "I'll have my growth spurt and then I'll be much more impressive." He gestured, bringing his palm together before abruptly separating them, mimicking a sudden and impressive gain in size.

"Okay. That was the wrong way to say it," said Naruto. "Can you fight?"

"Sure," nodded Gamakichi. "Suiton is my forte, like all the toad but I also know Yuton and-"

"Yuton?" Naruto interrupted.

"Yep, oil release. It's slippery and I can make it extremely flammable. I have to warn you though, it takes me more chakra and I've nowhere the capacity of my pops. He could flood the entire village if he wanted," the little toad explained proudly.

"Your pops?"

"Yup, my pops. He can produce more oil than anyone else, that's why he is the boss."

Naruto swallowed thickly. "Wait… You're the son of Gamabunta?!"

Gamakichi gave the blond a sideways glance. "Well, yeah. Did you think us toads are born from a well or something?"

"What? No, of course not but… Hum… Will it be a problem? For you to fight, I mean?"

Gamakichi rolled his eyes. "I'm not made of glass. I have to do my pops proud and I can only do that if I earn my blue tattoo and I can only do that by fighting. So no, it won't be a problem for me to fight."

"Blue tattoo?"

"The mark of a toad warrior," explained Gamakichi proudly. "You're not truly an adult until you got one."

Naruto nodded. It was kind of like his own forehead protector. The blond scratched his chin.

"Okay, Gamakichi-"

"Call me Kichi. It's shorter and everyone does it."

Naruto smiled. "Okay Kichi. So, I anticipate that I'll soon find myself in a fight so I'll definitely call upon you for support." The blond said before he bit his lips. "Now, I don't want to offend you but I might need to get to know someone a bit… Bigger?"

Gamakichi sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'm too small and-"

"No no no no," Naruto chuckled nervously. "I mean you're small but that's not the problem. We honestly are expecting giant snakes and I don't think it would be wise for you to engage them."

The little toad's mouth opened in understanding. "Ha. In this case, you want to summon Hiro. He has something against snakes. He wields two swords. Or you could go for Ken. He is a more defensive kind of guy, with a shield and a sasumata."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks a bunch, Kichi. You know what they like?"

"Hiro is a big fan of century-eggs. As for Ken, anything will do even if I think he has a weakness for honey."

"Century-egg and honey-based sweets, okay. Thanks a lot once again, Kichi. Would you like to train together maybe?"

The young toad nodded with enthusiasm. "Sure, I'll show you what I can do."

Kichi proved to be a much better sparring partner than Naruto envisioned at first. Certainly, their respective size made it difficult to engage in a real taijutsu contest but nonetheless, the blond learned that the toads had their own martial art, something called the Kawazu Kumite.

Naruto didn't dare ask why it was called "frog kata" when they were toads.

The blond also traded several suiton ninjutsu the little toad knew of against some doton techniques of his. Gamakichi wasn't sure he could use them but it couldn't hurt to try.

For the duration of the month, Naruto summoned Kichi every other day to train a few hours with him. The blond did not forget to introduce himself to Gamaken and Gamahiro, who both agreed to help him if he were in need. They warned Naruto to not summon Gamabunta anytime soon, however, as the toad boss would likely be busy helping Jiraiya. All the same, they instructed the blond to not invoke both of them at the same time for the same reason and taught him how to feel when one was already summoned somewhere else.

Naruto readily agreed to the stipulations of the two giant toads - he couldn't wait for Kichi to get this big and apparently, Kichi couldn't wait either.

When Naruto wasn't with the little toad, he was with the Hokage getting his ass handed to him or with Gai and Lee, also getting roughed up, if to a lesser extent. He had finally found a way to repay the two taijutsu enthusiasts for their continued help and gifted Lee with a collection of ready-to-use tags with various use.

Lee found the present most youthful once Naruto explained how the tags worked and what they did.

The kenjutsu lessons with Kakashi continued, Sakura making the effort to show up in spite of her obvious fatigue and Sasuke returning to being broody.

The Uchiha had been vocal about his ambition when Team Seven had been formed so Naruto knew full well Sasuke wanted nothing more than to kill the man who had killed his clan. The blond understood. His pranks, in addition to making him feel noticed, had been his way of obtaining some form of justice against the meanest villagers when the official instances had failed.

The problem with Sasuke was that he wanted nothing more. The Uchiha boy lived for, around and through his quest for revenge while nothing else mattered.

Naruto acknowledged he himself had problems but getting back at assholes was only a small part of his goals in life. Though the blond supposed enduring insults and glares all day long wasn't exactly the same as enduring the murder of your entire family. It felt unfair, however, to graduate the horror of his and Sasuke's respective lives.

Naruto would never say Sasuke had it worse much like the blond would never pretend the Uchiha had it better. Shit was shit and they both got plenty of it. Where the two boys differed was the way they dealt with it. Naruto had pushed the hate away, Sasuke had embraced it. Naruto fought to form bonds, even if he didn't understand them, Sasuke refused to even consider replacing those he had lost.

However, Sasuke had been getting better. He was still the same silent and reserved boy but the contradicting mix of haughtiness bred by his upbringing and his blatant superiority complex had been resorbing. Through Inoichi's efforts, the Uchiha had been learning to allow a little bit of love in his heart, amidst all the hate.

Naruto did not know what Orochimaru had whispered to Sasuke's ear when he gave him the cursed mark but it had corrupted the dark-haired boy's psyche, the progress rotting away to reveal the festering darkness once more.

The cracks in Naruto's schedule were taken by learning about dangerous substances with Anko - the blond had to walk on eggshells around her since it had become known in the ninja circles that Orochimaru had been in the village - and visiting his friends.

Like that, the month passed and too soon, it was the day of the tournament.

AN: This was a "Meanwhile" type of chapter but it's 3k words long. I had to cover what happens during the month, even quickly. Next time on Dragon Ball Z, finally, the fight between Goku and Frieza. Or something like that. I'll try not to drag it too much but the next few chapters will be all about something really difficult to write: fighting. I hope I'll pass the test. Leave a review.