12 years later…

"You knocked out my teacher!" Naruto exclaimed to the stranger in his presence after witnessing him take the person who was supposed to be teaching him a new jutsu out of commission. The young boy had no idea who the white haired man standing before him was, but was furious with him. He desperately wanted to become stronger for the Chunin Exams, but since his teacher was knocked unconscious he had no idea what he was going to do.

"Serves the idiot right for trying to interrupt my research." Jiraiya said as he continued to peer into the women's section of the bathing house.

Jiraiya just arrived in the Leaf Village and was exhausted due to his days of travel. He decided to relax in a bath house to unwind and put his tired body at ease. However, because of his perverted tendencies he ended up unapologetically peeping into the women's quarters when Ebisu, the Jounin ninja who was teaching Naruto the walking on water jutsu caught him in the act. Ebisu tried to stop Jiraiya from conducting himself in such an undignified manner, but of course Jiraiya's powers overcame the jounin's and Ebisu ended up knocked out cold with a bloody nose.

"He was in the middle of teaching me the walking on water jutsu!" Naruto shouted, "I'm supposed to be training for the Chunin Exams and you just ruined it!"

"Sorry kid." Jiraiya shrugged, trying so hard to appear as if he had no idea who Naruto was. The truth was that the sage decided to return to the village in order to officially meet Naruto and perhaps get to know him better. It was by pure coincidence that he encountered him at a hot springs. He wanted to run up to Naruto and tell him how much he has grown since he had last seen him. But he knew that Naruto had no idea who he was and was not privy to the relationship they shared. It killed him, but he was well aware of the fact that he could not let the twelve year old know just who he was and the role he played in his life.

Naruto was furious, but was positive that if the stranger was able to defeat a Jounin ranked ninja then he must be extremely skilled, "Who are you anyway?" He asked.

Jiraiya smiled to himself, pleased that Naruto was curious to know who he was. He turned to the young blonde and introduced himself, "I'm none other than Jiraiya, toad sage, handsome devil, and legendary Sannin."

"Sannin?" Naruto repeated, "But the Sannin are the three ninja who helped bring the Leaf to victory during the war. I learned about them in the academy." Naruto said, recalling one of the only lessons he managed to retain during his days spent in the ninja academy, "There's no way you're one of them!" He said as he pointed at Jiraiya, clearly unamused and unbelieving of the fact that Jiraiya was a member of the legendary three ninja.

"Listen kid, believe it or not I am one of the Sannin!" Jiraiya shouted, somewhat upset at how Naruto was so dismissive of his skills as a ninja.

"I don't believe you!" Naruto said as he stuck his tongue out at the sage, "As far as I'm concerned you're just a perverted old hermit who knocked my teacher unconscious!"

"What did you say kid?!" Jiraiya shouted.

"If you want to prove me wrong then you have to teach me the walking on water jutsu!" Naruto challenged him.

"I'll not only teach you the walking on water jutsu, but I'll teach you another awesome jutsu just to prove to you that I'm all that I say I am!" Jiraiya shouted back.

"You got yourself a deal, Pervy Sage." Naruto smiled.

Upon hearing the nickname that Naruto gave him, Jiraiya didn't quite know how to react. Should he have been offended or should he have thought of it as just a playful pet name. He wasn't sure but he was amused at the personality Naruto seemed to have. He wasn't respectful, nor level headed like his father. Instead, he was rambunctious, loud, and jokester like his mother. In fact, Jiraiya saw his younger self in the blonde ninja, for he was the same way when he was his age.

"Pervy Sage?!" Jiraiya repeated, "I told you I'm a toad sage."

Naruto rolled his blue eyes at his elder, "Yeah, a perverted toad sage." He said, "Are you gonna teach me a new jutsu or what?"

Jiraiya decided not to comment on Naruto's blatant disrespect. The truth was that he wasn't even upset with him. He was just happy to finally be forming a relationship with the young boy and was excited at the prospect of teaching him a new technique. He could tell Naruto was becoming rather impatient, so he decided to start teaching him right away. However, he needed a change of scenery. Teaching his godson a new jutsu at a hot springs was not the ideal location he had in mind. In fact, he found it to be rather inappropriate. Therefore, he told Naruto to follow him and the two ended up at a nearby beach.

"The first step in mastering the walking on water jutsu is learning how to focus your chakra to your feet and maintaining it." Jiraiya explained as he sat on the soft, white sand.

An uneasy look rose to Naruto's face as he scratched his head, "Chakra control has never been my thing Pervy Sage." The young ninja admitted. Throughout his entire ninja career, he struggled immensely with controlling his chakra. While others excelled at more technical jutsu that required delicate chakra control, Naruto failed miserably. It was only recently that he managed to perfect his shadow clone jutsu, having it become his signature technique. But even so, he still found it rather difficult to disperse his chakra among multiple versions of himself.

"Just give it a try." Jiraiya instructed as he pointed towards the water, "Focus your chakra to your feet, and maintain it."

Naruto did as he was told and attempted to direct his chakra to his feet. When he thought he succeeded, he attempted to step onto the water. However, as soon as his foot made contact with the water, he fell in and became drenched from head to toe.

"I keep falling in!" Naruto shouted in frustration as he made his way out of the water, "I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" He proceeded to shed himself of his soaked clothes, leaving himself only wearing his boxers.

Jiraiya then noticed the sign of the five elements seal that was situated in the middle of Naruto's stomach. It was more than likely placed there when the child became the jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox by his father. Now it all made sense to the toad sage. The extra seal that was placed on the child prevented him from being able to effectively control his chakra. The Fourth Hokage probably placed that seal on his son out of fear of him not being able to control the two chakras that he had within. He did it out of love, but it acted as an impediment and needed to be removed in order for Naruto to reach his full potential as a ninja.

Jiraiya rose from his seated position on the sand and walked over to the frustrated twelve year old, "Go ahead and build up your chakra." He told the boy.

"But I did that already." Naruto whined, not seeing the purpose of trying it again.

"Just do it." Jiraiya repeated.

Naruto reluctantly closed his eyes in order to focus on his chakra control. Once his eyes were closed, Jiraiya placed his hand on the seal on Naruto's stomach and removed it with a seal removal technique. The action caused the young boy to laugh for it tickled. But once it was done, the seal was no more. Jiraiya was confident that it would help the blonde gain more control over his chakra.

"Now go try it again." Jiraiya instructed once more.

Naruto made his way over to the water for the second time. He was cautious as he placed his foot onto the water, but when he realized he was not sinking as the weight of his body shifted from the leg on the land to the one on the water, he became hopeful that he mastered the technique. He was then standing on the surface of the water, giddy with excitement, hopping around, showing off that he was doing the task that seemed to be so daunting a few moments ago.

"Look Pervy Sage, I'm doing it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Atta boy!" Jiraiya smiled, "I knew you could do it." Jiraiya was so proud to see his godson master a technique that he found to be impossible not too long ago. There was so much he wanted to teach Naruto, so much he wanted to show him, and he was finally getting the opportunity to do so. He was denied access to Naruto for so long that it felt good that he was actually in his company, teaching him the way of the ninja, and sharing in the joy the boy felt when he accomplished something great.

Naruto continued to hop around on the water until he remembered that Jiraiya promised to teach him another technique. He then ran up to the sage with joy on his face, "So what's the new jutsu you're going to teach me?" He asked, unable to contain his excitement, "It's going to be way cooler than Sasuke's jutsu isn't it?"

For the entire time Naruto has been on the same team as Sasuke, he just wanted to prove to him and even to himself that he could be just as strong as he was. He made it his mission to seek recognition from not only his friend, but from everyone in the village who have ever doubted him. Growing up as a jinchuriki definitely had its challenges, but Naruto was constantly trying to overcome them all.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Naruto." Jiraiya said, trying to calm the excited boy down, "It's getting late. We should call it a day and pick up on your training tomorrow."

"How do I know that you won't bail on me?" Naruto asked with a hint of hurt in his voice. He was someone who had been disappointed many times in his life, so it wouldn't surprise him if Jiraiya disappointed him as well.

Jiraiya placed a reassuring hand on the young boy's shoulder, "From here on out, I will be your teacher." He said with a smile.

"But what about Ebisu Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry about him." Jiraiya laughed, "There's nothing that man can teach you that I can't. Trust me, you're better off with me."

"Well aren't you full of yourself." Naruto noted.

"I am one of the Sannin after all." Jiraiya said boastfully, "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's get something to eat."

"You bet!" Naruto said happily and quickly dressed himself before leaving the beach with his new master. He didn't know much about Jiraiya, but for some reason he felt comfortable around him, as if he had known him his entire life. It was going to be interesting being under his tutelage, but Naruto was excited about becoming stronger and felt as if Jiraiya could get him to where he needed to be.

The two ended up at a ramen shop located within the resort per Naruto's request. It wasn't surprising to Jiraiya that ramen was Naruto's favorite food since the meal was basically how he received his name. They seated themselves at the counter and waited on the owner of the establishment to take their orders.

"So Naruto." Jiraiya started, "Tell me about yourself."

"Why?" Naruto asked, not understanding why the sage was curious to know more about himself.

"A master ought to know about his apprentice." Jiraiya explained, "When I was your age, my master wanted me and my peers to introduce ourselves before he started to teach us anything."

"Well what do you want to know?"

Jiraiya wanted to know everything. He wanted to know how well he did at the academy, even though he pretty much had an idea due to Naruto's lack of refinement. He wanted to know about his friends, his teachers, and even those he wasn't too fond of. He wanted to know about his strengths, his weaknesses, his dreams, his fears. But most of all, he wanted to know how he managed to cope with his unfortunate reality, being without parents and being the vessel of a demon who terrorized the lives of so many. How did the villagers treat him? Did the Third Hokage do his best to shield him from the ugliness of bitter, angry people who lost everything due to the nine tailed fox's attack?

Despite the fact that Jiraiya wanted to know every detail of Naruto's life, he knew he had to limit his questions. He couldn't give the child any idea that perhaps Jiraiya has known about him for his entire life.

"Just tell me anything you want." Jiraiya said.

Naruto thought about what he was going to say before revealing details of himself to his new mentor. He had been through something quite similar when he was introducing himself to Kakashi and his teammates, but this situation felt somewhat different. It was just Jiraiya and himself with nobody else around. It was as if they just formed a brand new partnership, so perhaps he could tell Jiraiya things that he wouldn't necessarily share with team seven, "I didn't exactly have an easy life." Naruto started, "I've been living alone since I was eight years old so I struggled in many ways. There would be many times that I would feel lonely and sad. I often wondered why other kids my age were allowed to have a family and I wasn't. The villagers treated me poorly and I didn't understand why. Things got better when I met Iruka Sensei, Kakashi Sensei, Sakura, and Sasuke though. Even though I went through a lot in my life, I didn't let it get me down. My dream is to become the Hokage and I know I'll make it happen. I'll never give up."

Jiraiya did not know what to say. The Third Hokage promised him that Naruto would be well taken care of. The child was the son of heroes who saved the village so he should have gotten first class treatment from not only the Hokage, but from everyone in the village. But it seemed as if the Third Hokage did not keep any of the promises he made. He didn't inform Jiraiya of any of the happenings in Naruto's life, and as soon as he was able to be on his own, he was left to his own devises. How could he expect an eight year old child to fend for himself? Jiraiya was so angry. He wanted to somehow shield Naruto from all the sadness and pain that came with being orphaned, but he was denied that chance. He put all his faith in the Hokage but he failed him in every way possible. The only thing that kept him from marching into the Hokage mansion and giving his old teacher a piece of his mind was the fact that despite his past, Naruto wasn't bitter or filled with hatred. Therefore, Jiraiya took comfort in knowing that Naruto had a dream and he was trying his best to make that dream into a reality.

"What would you two like?" The owner of the ramen shop asked with a notepad in hand.

"I'll have an extra large bowl of ramen with extra miso pork, a boiled egg, nori, and lots of scallions!" Naruto ordered with a big smile on his face.

"I'll have the same as him." Jiraiya said.

The owner scribbled down their orders on the notepad and went to the kitchen to prepare their meals.

"I have a question for you Pervy Sage." Naruto said.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked, somewhat curious to know what question Naruto had in mind.

"For someone of your rank, what are you doing away from the village?"

Jiraiya didn't quite know how to answer Naruto's question. How could he possibly tell the young boy his reason for leaving the village was to search for a woman he loved with all his heart. Surely the Genin would not understand the very concept of love and why it would drive Jiraiya away from his duties to the Leaf. The sage's mind then ran on the blonde woman who walked out of his life. It had been twelve years since the series of events unfolded between the pair, and even though it had been so long ago, Jiraiya felt as if it was just yesterday that she had been in his arms. He remembered every detail of the time they had together vividly. It was as if the one and only time they have ever been on the same page has been burned into his memory. He could not forget the happiness he felt once in her presence, nor did he ever want to forget. He often wondered how life had treated her over the years. Did she manage to overcome her trauma? Did she find happiness in someone else? He could never be certain so instead of thinking about the likelihood of her being in the arms of another man, he held onto the moments they shared, and the happier times when he was certain they would be together.

Naruto's persistence pulled him out of his thoughts and brought him back to his reality that unfortunately Tsunade was not apart of. He had to answer the boy's question. He could have told him a lie, but Jiraiya was not about to do that. So instead he came up with an answer that adults always tell children to dismiss the conversation, "Perhaps I'll tell you when you're older."

"Come on Pervy Sage!" Naruto whined, "That's such a lame answer! Why can't you tell me why you left the village? You're one of the Sannin, you're supposed to be defending the village not abandoning it."

"Stop getting so worked up Naruto." Jiraiya said while handing the boy a napkin to wipe the sauce from the ramen off his mouth, "I may not be residing in the village, but I am doing all that I can to protect it. The Hokage and I have an arrangement so don't worry about me not doing my part."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, deciding to believe in what his mentor was telling him. He finished the contents of his bowl and let out a satisfied sigh. Afterwards, he dug around in his pocket until he found his wallet in the shape and likeness of a frog. When Jiraiya saw the wallet that was in Naruto's possession, he couldn't help but feel happiness wash over his being. It was the wallet that his father gave to him, and the one he passed down to an infant Naruto. The Third might have went back on his word for a number of things, but not when it came to the parting gift Jiraiya left for Naruto. As promised, Sarutobi gave it to the boy when he was old enough, and the child was carrying it around to this day.

"This one is on me Naruto." Jiraiya said, stopping the boy from paying his fair share.

"Really?" Naruto said while looking up at Jiraiya. The only adults who have ever treated him to a meal had been Iruka and Kakashi. He just wasn't used to kindness from others, especially adults. He was accustomed to them chastising him and forbidding their children from playing with him or even talking to him.

"Yes really." Jiraiya said while he placed money down on the counter to cover both their bills, "What kind of Master would I be if I let my disciple pay for lunch?"

"Thanks Pervy Sage." Naruto smiled.

The two then checked into a room within the resort instead of heading back to the Leaf Village. Naruto was tired due to his training, and Jiraiya needed to rest his body that ached with pain after all the traveling he did. The following day would be a day dedicated solely to Naruto's training. He had to be prepared for not only the Chunin Exams, but he also had to get stronger in order to defend himself. No matter what, Jiraiya would protect Naruto, and ensure that he was ready for anything. The blonde was so much more to him than just another student. He was his godson, and therefore he was the only family he had left. Where matters with Tsunade were left unfinished, he knew that Naruto would serve as a constant in his life. Tomorrow was a new day, and the beginning of their new partnership.