Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I own none of it.

Summary: A more rational Danzo takes on team 7. The world changes accordingly

Chapter 10 - Dawn of the First Day

As per usual, life in Team 7's apartment started at 5am. Naruto was watering his plants while Sakura was in the shower and Sasuke made breakfast. The… normality of it was comforting to all involved.

Once they were done with breakfast and everyone showered and got in their training gear they sat around the table and started to actually go through the bundles Danzo had given each of them. Unsurprisingly it was Sakura that finished first and started to summarize what Danzo had left her with.

"Alright so I'm supposed to basically manage my own physical training in the mornings with some guidelines Sensei included, increased weight training too. Training starts with Jiariya every day at 1300 hours and… Apparently I'm supposed to start carrying around a 200ibs piece of steel rebar at all times?" Sakura groans as her head hits the table. Naruto gives her a little pat on the back as Sasuke starts.

"Same thing, self guided physical training, Kakashi at 1 starting tomorrow. Today Danzo made me an appointment with a Doctor just outside of the city that apparently used to deal with my clan. Lots of notes for lightning manipulation and exercises to increase my reserves." He nods towards Naruto signalling he's finished.

"Same with you guys for morning training. In the afternoons I can either go train with some Anbu codenamed Tenzo or go play Shogi with the Nara clan. Twice a week Danzo has a few hours set aside for me. Most of the notes I have are on the highest forms of wind manipulation and… detailed notes on the creation of the shadow clone jutsu? Ugh it's too early for me to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing with these."

"Wait what?" Sakura grabs at the stack of notes he's got in front of him almost in awe. "Holy shit this is a direct copy of Lord Tobirama's journal! Do you guys have any idea what these are worth? How the fuck was Danzo able to get these?"

Sasuke "Hn'd" before chiming in. "He did say when we started training he had access to all sorts of stuff no one should." He holds up a journal labeled "Uchiha Izuna, Copy" as if to punctuate his point.

Naruto shuffles through his stuff a little more thoroughly. "Yeah honestly guys a lot of this stuff is a little technical for me. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal for me to have some of this." He shows them a couple notebooks entitled "Dead Demon Consuming Seal" and "Eight Trigrams Sealing Style".

Even as stars started to shine in Sakura's eyes at the motherlode of technical and extremely classified information being dropped into their lap. Sasuke's eyes narrowed a little.

"I can't imagine many people would be happy with you having that information. But I doubt it's illegal." To illustrate his point he opens one of them to the first page and points at the first line "Developed by the Uzumaki clan" clearly visible. "I doubt he expects you to learn sealing at this level, but it could help you better understand your relationship with Kyuubi. Even if we do need Sakura to translate it."

But suddenly Sakura stops rifling through papers as an idea occurred to her. "Wait. No we could do sealing." She grabs the Eight Trigrams notes and flips through them quickly. "Yeah not like this, this isn't the place to start but I can follow the interactions. If I learned the components and maybe brush up on chakra theory a little more…" She pauses to look at her team before deciding to fill them in a little.

"Look, sealing only really needs three thing. Comprehension, Precision, and Power. The seal provides all the guidance so it doesn't even need to be controlled. But no one ever said it had to be one person providing all three. If I can learn how it works I can design seals, and I'm supposed to be training with Jiraiya who's supposed to be a seal master. I'm sure he can give me some stuff to get me started. And Sasuke, your eyes can memorize and replicate anything they see perfectly, and your calligraphy is already beautiful so even if my prototypes are sloppy when you make it it should come out perfect. And Naruto, you have even more chakra then the Lord Third does without Kyuubi." Naruto and Sasuke share an unsure look.

"No you guys don't get it. We don't have the normal limits most people who do sealing have! We have every advantage!"

More silence.

"Oh just trust me on this, it'll work. Come on let's go start our morning workout." She unseals a 6 foot long steel beam and starts trying to figure out how to hold it on her back with chakra without getting in her way too much. "Fuck that's heavy" she groans out as they all head towards a training ground.

The scene as Team 7 finishes up a morning workout that would make even Gai proud was an unsurprising one. Naruto, with his freakish endurance, was happily munching on some snacks that Sasuke brought. One thing that would never change about him was his monstrous appetite, it couldn't be easy filling those massive reserves of his after all. And while Sasuke was certainly whipped out from the morning ordeal he was certainly doing better than Sakura.

Sakura, who had just finished throwing up in the stream, was laying face down in the grass groaning, her steel beam still attached to her back via chakra. If you listened closely you could hear her muttering. "Stupid Sensei. Stupid Steel. Stupid Chakra."

It wasn't really a problem of weight, her limb weights and weighted vest were heavier.

It was the chakra cost of holding it to her back. Her control might be perfect but her reserves had never been fantastic. And even while receiving her curse seal had forced her chakra paths a little wider her body just wasn't adjusted to using chakra like this.

But one person had heard her muttering the three of them hadn't expected. Someone that managed to sneak up on them. Someone who, while they knew they would have to deal with at some point they were still wholly unprepared for.

"Ah don't worry about it too much. That thing on your arm will speed up your natural healing a bit if the notes I got were right." Three sets of eyes flew towards the white haired giant that was suddenly standing next to them. And while the three of them were frozen in shock for a moment he continued. "But you'll all have to forgive me, I have you at a disadvantage. Allow me to introduce myself!" And he struck a goofy pose, but before he was able to continue his introduction a loud CLANG boomed through the field and everyone's view was filled with dust. As it settled the new scene was one few would believe.

Jiraiya of the Sannin, wide eyed and bent forward slightly holding the end of a steel beam with both hands. A now L-shaped steel beam with the other end held by a 13 year old girl with pink hair.

"Hey hey hey, woah now. You didn't even let me introduce myself there Pinky!" He waved his hands as he backed away from the beam, trying to keep the mood light.

That wasn't likely to happen, because for reasons he wasn't aware of Team 7 knew exactly who he was. And Sasuke had no inclination to let either Naruto or Jiriaya diffuse the situation as he stepped in front of Naruto, sharingan blazing. "We know who you are Jiriaya."

"Oh you do? And just who do you think I am 'cause this is not how I am usually greeted."

"Oh is that so? Oh forgive me Lord Jiraiya" Sasuke spat at him. "You were expecting us to be excited to meet you then? The teacher our sensei arranged for Sakura because there was no other option. Which, by the way is because your teammate decided to fuck with us personally." And while the sage flinched at that Sasuke wasn't done. "And how strange, that as a condition of giving that training said Sannin wanted a private lunch with another one of my teammates. A blond haired blue eyed genin that grew up with no family, and no one to show him love or kindness for the first 12 years of his life." Naruto tried to put a hand on his shoulder but Sasuke shrugs it off. "Gee, doesn't that sound familiar though? Say, didn't your last student have blond hair and blue eyes? He was kind of a big deal too and from what I hear basically the son you never had." Jiraiya had no idea where Sasuke got all this information but his gaze was starting to harden as he interrupted.

"Now listen here genin-" Oh, there was that steel beam flying over his head into the stream as the sannin ducked. An ineffective attack but it gave Sasuke the opportunity to go for the finish.

"NAMIKAZE MINATO TRUSTED YOU!" The clearing went perfectly still as he continued more quietly. "And your Godson grew up not even knowing if his parents loved him. His clan legacy hidden from him. Neglected and discriminated against he was so malnourished the only reason he survived is the same thing that turned almost the whole village against him." Everyone looked on in shock as Sasuke's voice began to crack "His father trusted you, and instead of providing a life of love and care you were what? Galavanting? Writing smut novels?" Sasuke was actually crying at the end of it. But Jiraiya? Jiraiya's eyes were soft but his face could have been chiseled from stone.

"That would be called coping son. Distracting yourself from a reality you can't change. You want to know why I wasn't there? You really want to learn why?" But before Sasuke could try and answer Naruto pulled him around and into a hug whispering into his ear as he did.

"Thanks for fighting for me Sasuke, I'll take it from here okay?" Sasuke nodded into his chest as Naruto patted him on the back before stepping forward and locking eyes with the Sannin.

"Yeah, actually I do. Even if you could have just visited. Even now I don't know if my parents loved me, I don't have any memories or pictures. My Dad's face is on that mountain but I don't know anything about him other than he put the fox in me." By the end Naruto's voice is cracking too and his eyes are glistening with unshed tears.

For all Sasuke's rage and Sakura's… Well rage had been a surprise, but he wasn't totally unable to deal with it. After all this is a man that's flown the entire length of the village courtesy of his blond teammates fist.

But the genuine hurt and longing Naruto made no effort to hide? There was no defense for that.

"Oh, come on now… Hey look it's… It's not all that simple okay." Jiraiya rubbed his hand in his face as he sat down, gesturing for the team to sit down. "Look, I wasn't even in the village for the Kyuubi incident. It hadn't been long since Orochimaru defected and by the time I got here it was already over…" He took a deep breath before he continued. "You have to understand… or maybe you don't. But when I got here and found out that your parents had died and that I had been too late… That maybe if I hadn't spent so long chasing after my bastard teammate and wallowing in my own sorrow I could have been here?" He wiped some tears out of his eyes. "When sensei said you'd be looked after and that he needed me in the field… I should have pushed back but I didn't. I didn't want to be here, without my teammates, without Minato and Kushina… It felt like everything I'd fought for my whole life had been torn away from me. That the future I believed in?" The pained look on his face as he exhaled and un-clenched his hands symbolically. "Poof. Gone."

It took Jiraiya a while to continue, crying silently as he stared at nothing.

"So you're right. You're all right. I was weak, and I betrayed my best friend." He nodded as he said it. "And I asked Sarutobi how he was doing every so often and he always said he was fine. But I never came back to check myself. I was always either working, drinking, or whoring. And I can't fix that now, and I can't expect you to forgive me. But right now we all know there's bigger stuff at play then just us, and I really am the only person who can help your teammate. So… Tell ya what, scratch the lunch, and Sakura can take today off. If you ever want to talk just let her know and I'll swing by." The Sannin dusts himself off as he stands and turns to walk away.

Team 7 shared a look, Naruto's pleading look at Sasuke bringing out a groan before nodding.

Jiraiya was genuinely surprised when he heard Sakura's voice call after him. "Hey! You think you can get out of having lunch with Naruto that easy? Get your ass back here we always pack too much anyways." His smile hadn't been wider in years, but he schooled it back into a smug grin so he could play his favourite character.

The man he wanted to be.

"Weeeeellllll I don't know, I suppose I could fit you lot into my busy schedule right now. You know it's not just anybody that gets to spend personal time with Jiraiya the Gallant you know!" He says with a booming belly laugh, before turning to sit back with them. "So what are we having?"

"Oh like it matters you're getting a free meal. And you owe me a new steel beam."

Seeing Naruto laugh and smile at that was all the proof Jiraiya needed that just maybe, the future he believed in wasn't gone.

"Lunch" ended up being a much longer affair than anticipated, and while Sasuke stayed aloof Naruto and Sakura weren't as immune to the charms of the charismatic sage. Say what you will about Jiraiya; he was a wonderful storyteller, captivating his audience with theatrical gestures and colourful commentary.

As much as he might play it off like he was doing the genin some big favour, it was easy for anyone to see that he was enjoying himself as he told tale after tale. Snippets from his adventures, stories he'd heard, but most importantly stories of Naruto's parents. It seemed to be going perfectly, that is until they hit a sore point.

He had just finished his tale of how Minato had rescued Kushina from Kumo shinobi by following strands of her hair when they were only genin, when Naruto asked some of the questions he'd been afraid of.

"He… He sounds great. But I just don't get it… If he was that strong even as a genin, and he did all these other amazing things… How did Kyuubi get out of my Mom? How come he had to make me it's Jinchuriki? Why did they both die? None of it makes sense…" Naruto was clearly distressed, being unsure of how to deal with this new kind of grief.

Jiraiya's sigh was heavy, because he knew no one would be happy with his answers. "I wish I knew Naruto… Truly I do. A Jinchuriki's seal is vulnerable at all the same times you're vulnerable. When you're sick, or injured, or… Or giving birth. And it shouldn't have been a problem, Minato and Kushina were both seal masters, and Sarutobi Sensei's wife and a full team of Anbu were present at a secure site outside of the village. But… Something did happen… I don't know why Minato did what he did. But trust me when I say he was the greatest shinobi to ever live, and I have to believe he had a reason for what he did."

"That's a lot of trust to place in someone." Sasuke had somehow found something negative to say, refusing to warm up to the normally jovial man.

"Yeah. It is… You couldn't understand kid. I truly believed he was going to bring peace to the great shinobi nations… And maybe this is all still part of his plan-"

"Oh so you believe it was his plan for Naruto to be neglected and abused then?"

"Okay, look. You're intentionally taking things the wrong way-" but Sasuke interrupted again.

"And you spent 12 years without once checking on a child you were supposed to raise-"

But now Jiraiya was losing patience. "Now you listen here kid-"

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" Naruto was on his feet, unshed tears in his eyes again. "We still don't know everything Sasuke. There's still so much we don't understand, and I'm not saying what anyone did was right but we're here now." Naruto took a shuddering breath before continuing. "We're here now, and I have my family. And I'm not saying Jiraiya is a part of that family yet, but Sasuke you know I know when someone's worth trusting. Jiraiya isn't a bad guy, he's just made mistakes. And if he's willing to put the work in, and the time, and to be here not just for me but for all of us… Then yeah I'm gonna give him a chance." He locked eyes with Sasuke now, pleading.

Even if it was against his better judgement, saying no to Naruto was hard. Boys shouldn't be able to use puppy dog eyes like that.

"Hn. Fine." At some point during it all they had all returned to their feet, and Sasuke chose to get up in Jiraiya's face. Well, as well as he could with the height difference. "One chance. One. You hurt him and I do everything in my power to make your life miserable."

But Jiraiya can work with that, his big goofy grin making its return. "Yes sir! Shall I have her home by 11 then?" Naruto turned bright red at the insinuation of Sasuke playing "Dad" of the group, even as Sakura guffawed.

"Hn." Sasuke turns his back to the older man. "We should go wash up, I have an appointment soon. Naruto's coming with me." Naruto seemed as surprised by this as anyone as Sakura finished packing up and joined the rest of them on their feet.

"Cool, where should we meet up after Jiriaya-sensei?"

The older man was shocked she wanted to train with him after all that, but he had agreed to it so."Umm, where's your favourite place to meditate that we could go?"

Sakura's smile widens, finding a chance to visit a friend at the same time. "Definitely the Yamanaka Clan Gardens, I'm besties with the clan heiress so they'll let us in."

"If you say so. Meet you there at like 1400, didn't expect to be here so long and I have another meeting I need to attend."

"Yeah cool, no problem. See you then sensei!" And with that Team 7 was off, the first morning, of the first day, of what would prove to be a very busy month finished.

"So why are we meeting this doctor person outside of the village anyways?" A curious Naruto asked as they walked.

"No clue." Well that wasn't super helpful. Luckily habits keep Naruto pretty aware of what's going on around him and he'd just gained some intel. "There's some people in front of what looks like an old temple. I think one's Lady Tsunade?"

"Hn. That would make sense, she's the best medic to ever live and supposedly refuses to enter the village itself." Sasuke replied, while internally sighing with relief that his eyes would be getting the best care possible.

As the genin approached the two kunoichi (Was one of them holding a pig?) It became obvious that they were bickering.

"Look Shizune, all I'm saying is it doesn't matter how easy it is to fix it matters that it was allowed to get like this! My grandparents built this temple and the village owes her more than letting it rot." As she finished the now identified Shizune was attempting to bring her attention to the two boys arriving.

When Tsunade finally looked she seemed unimpressed. "Uchiha, you're not only late you've brought your girlfriend."

Naruto turned bright red and hid behind Sasuke a little. Which of course caused Sasuke to groan and rub his face.

"Ugh, Naruto's not my girlfriend he's my teammate. And I'm sorry we're late we were held up by" Sasuke grit his teeth as he fought to stay respectful "Lord Jiriaya. You're of course familiar with his antics though Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade's eyes widened a little, surprised both by the Uchiha's attempt at being diplomatic despite his clear distaste for her teammate, and his companion being Uzumaki Naruto. "Yeah there's no cure for that Toad I'm afraid. If he was going to grow up it would have happened by now I think." She chuckles a little before she turns towards the temple. "Give me a minute to set up my field office here."

At this point Naruto finally noticed the Uzumaki swirl hidden in shadows on the semi-collapsed temple. But as Tsunade rested her hand on the front pillar a flash of green chakra could be seen on contact, and something amazing began to happen. They could all feel Tsunade's verdant chakra rush into the building, and seemingly be answered by something else. And before their eyes they watched the Temple come back to life, the pillars lifting themselves straight, the old planks filling with life and vigor once again.

As the two genin, and even the more experienced Shizune looked on in wonder, Tsunade began to speak again.

"My Grandfather may have gone without ever passing on his Wood Release. But as long as there is a Senju in Konoha his legacy can never die." She closed her eyes for a moment, seemingly in prayer.

When she opened them again she turned to the members of Team 7 present. "My grandmother wanted this shrine built to preserve the secrets of her clan in the event of catastrophe." As the Uzumaki Symbol finished rising to its rightful place above the temple she finished. "Her name was Uzumaki Mito, and she would have been your great aunt, Naruto. Your Mother was my cousin."

As it turned out, Naruto was not a shinobi without limits. And between the on coming war, a confrontation with Orochimaru, finding out about his father, then his godfather, and now his great aunt?

Sasuke was actually pretty disappointed in himself for not realizing Naruto's limits and had done nothing but pout since he fainted. Sasuke insisted on being the one to carry Naruto inside, and when Tsunade laughed about him fainting, Sasuke snapped at her rather sharply. "Look, in less than a week everything he knew about his life has been flipped on its head, and at the same time we've all got more than a little pressure on us."

Tsunade was more of a tough love sort though. "Yeah well, better to get it all out of the way at once right? Besides when I saw your team's security clearance level I kinda figured that meant you guys were ready for this kind of pressure."

But that just left Sasuke perplexed. "Security clearance?"

"Oh like you don't know. Your team somehow has Jounin level clearance with a few S-Class exceptions made. Or did you think every genin had as much intel as you?"

No, he thought they had chunin clearance. The journals and jutsu notes were starting to make more sense though. He wouldn't tell her that though, luckily Uchiha always had a response for everything.

"Hn."

Which of course made Tsunade burst out laughing. "Whatever Uchiha, leave Naruto with Shizune and I'll take a look at those eyes of yours." Following her directions Sasuke took the chance to examine the room they were in. Seemingly the main room of the temple, at the back wall there was a display of some truly creepy demon masks. Being familiar with creepy temples Sasuke mostly shrugged it off though.

"So tell me, what happened that got Danzo all twisted up. I've never known him to actually show concern for someone." Frank and to the point, Sasuke could appreciate that.

"We had an encounter with Orochimaru. He tried to mark me, but Sakura got in the way. When we made eye contact I did… Something and Orochimaru froze, but I passed out. It gave Naruto an opening to get us out but he says my eyes were bleeding when I passed out, and it used all my chakra."

Tsunade "Hmm'd" as she started a diagnostic jutsu. "Yeah that's not uncommon when unlocking new sharingan powers. The Uchiha kept a pretty tight wrap on what abilities were unique mutations and what they all could do. But when new mutations occur it's usually during times of trauma, and usually the first time they just sort of take everything 'cause there's no time to figure out what the right amount is." Sasuke nodded at the explanation as she finished up her diagnostics.

"Alright, looks like you didn't do any damage. Keep in mind using eye based abilities you can wind up putting a lot of chakra in a small and sensitive area. Do that too often or with not enough control and you can start to burn tenketsu or even your retina themselves so train with care." Sasuke nods again at this, while curious about what his new ability could be more than aware of Uchiha who had burned their eyes out by forcing them too hard.

"See, if more Uchiha were as easy to deal with as you are during the last war I wouldn't have had to fix so many of their eyes!" She jabs good naturedly.

Sasuke doesn't really know how to take that though. No one really talks about his clan anymore… It wasn't bad, but… Maybe this is what bittersweet feels like. Tsunade realizes her potential misstep and stears into safer waters. "Anyways, let's say we get that teammate of yours up and at 'em. I'll need to show…" She pauses for a minute looking between the two genin. "Him?" Her gaze lands back on Sasuke.

He couldn't blame her really, Naruto was wearing a girls hoodie, had his hair done like a girl, and smells like a girl. Well, no one had told him anything so he just kinda shrugged. "Far as I know."

"Sure. Anyways, I'll need to show him how to work the security seals. I had them deactivated so you could meet me here, I didn't even know he was coming but since he's here he might as well have access to the place. It's as much his as mine." Her hand glows green for a second before tapping Naruto on the head, forcing him back awake.

He shot to his feet as he regained consciousness, spinning with a pulse of wind chakra pushing them all back slightly. From a low stance with kunai in hand Naruto began to figure out where he was and who he was with. As he did he sort of slowly lowered his guard and tried to laugh it off, scratching the back of his head as he did so.

"Oh, hey, ugh. Sorry about that guys?" Naruto stashes his kunai as he looks around a little more. "And say, where are we exactly? Last thing I remember is…. Oh. Oh I fainted didn't I?"

Tsunade chortled as he figured it out. "Took you long enough brat. Come on, I know you're a little out of it but I've got to keep on the move so you need to learn how to work these security seals." Naruto kind of numbly followed as she showed him where they were and how to manipulate his chakra through them. "Now, you're not a Senju so the building's chakra might not respond to yours like it does mine, but it's still well constructed and with a little work looking after it it should last basically forever. There's a scroll vault in the basement that will have another layer of security seals that will need your blood to access. Good place to stash anything if you ever need. Other than that, don't put the masks on and lock up when you're done!" Tsunade starts heading for the exit as Shizune scrambles to follow after her.

"It was nice to meet you both! Good luck in the exams!" The pink in her arms oinks at them as she waves and rushes passed.

They had both been gone for almost a full minute with the two genin just staring after them.

Shockingly it was Sasuke that spoke first.

"The world is just fucking with us now. I'm sure."

Back with Sakura

You would forgive Sakura for going in a little early to see Ino. Her team were off getting Sasuke's eyes looked at and she had some time before meeting up with Jiriaya, you know around the corner from here.

The bell chimed as she entered the shop. "Ino-chan! Guess who brought your favourite iced matcha drink and a whole box of assorted dango!"

Ino, who had previously been "tending the shop" which today equated to her sitting with her head on a desk twirling a pencil in boredom, shot to attention. "Forehead!? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training for the exams?"

Sakura recoiled theatrically, covering her face with the food in mock shame. "Oh Ino-chan, you wound me!" She fell to a knee as dramatically as possible. "I come bearing gifts, sneaking in time for you in my busy training schedule, and how do you repay me? Betrayal?" Still hiding her face she mock cries as Ino approaches and takes one of the drinks from Sakura.

"Gee, talk about will wilt without sun. What's wrong hun, your blonde was busy and you needed a sub?" Ino digs with a playful smirk.

Sakura commits to the bit and falls face first on the floor, muttering ghostly "I don't even get a name and this is the treatment I get?"

Ino just tosses her hair back and giggles. "Oh get up Sakura, I'll close up for a bit and we can catch up."

Sakura shoots up from the floor, a beaming smile on her face as Ino flipped the open sign and locked the door. "That's the spirit Ino-chan!"

"Ya-ya-ya, can it and spill girlie. Team 7 comes out the gate and basically runs the whole exam right under the proctors nose? You think we didn't figure it out, we're an information specialist team!"

"Oh come on Ino-chan, you know I couldn't tell you anything beforehand. I really still can't tell you most of it. It's just the way Danzo trained us-"

"How!" Ino threw up her hands. "How did he train you that you're all like-" She gestures at all of Sakura "This! Fucking hell 6 months ago you could barely do a push-up and now you're carrying a steel fucking beam on your back. For training I assume? Do you ever stop training?"

Sakura shrugged kind of weakly. "Uhhh, I mean… I get more free time now? I mean I'm here-" But she didn't get to finish again.

"Uh huh, because you managed to squeeze me in to your "Busy Training Schedule"" She used big air quotes

Sakura shakes her head, completely baffled by what she was hearing. "I'm sorry? Are you mad that I got stronger?"

Ino stomps at that "I'm mad that you let us make fools of ourselves like that!" She yells before cooling off, seeing Sakura go wide eyed. "You knew. You knew from hanging out with me that our training was nothing like yours. And you knew we were planning to enter the exams. You could have just told us you were going to sweep this one and let us go next time." She falls back a little to lean on the desk with a sigh. "I know the team we got our second scroll off was basically gift wrapped from Naruto and I know that was your idea. And while it made sure you got all your friends through the forest it's embarrassing for us. We got handed a win and then got crushed in the preliminaries which just made it even more embarrassing. And it's even worse for Team 8! Poor Hinata, the clan heiress being beaten by one of her branch cousins? Her home life is going to be even worse now."

Sakura was shell shocked. "Ino… I… Fuck I didn't even…"

Ino just groaned though "Ugh, I know you didn't even. It's no surprise you've been living in a bubble after all. You have to think about the politics of things too, and it would have been better for Team 8 and Team 10 not to compete against you."

Sakura nodded and made eye contact despite her shame. "You're right Ino. I tried to do something good but I should have talked to everyone involved beforehand and in not doing so I made it all worse."

Ino lets the room sit in tense silence before breaking eye contact with the pinkette. "Oh fine, I know you only make a mistake once. Besides you'll make it up to me." She finishes with a wink before dragging Sakura off to eat their Dango.

"About that… Do you know Jiraiya of the Sannin?"

"Oh shut up, you do not know Jiraiya of the Sannin."

The girls spent almost an hour sitting around the Yamanaka gardens before Jiraiya arrived, his huge frame casting a shadow over them by the time they noticed the shockingly stealthy shinobi.

"You know, I always told your Dad he looked like a girl when he was your age. Now I have all the proof I need you're his spitting image!" The Sannin's booming belly laugh carrying through the gardens.

Ino's reaction was to punch Sakura in the shoulder "You weren't fucking with me? A fucking Sannin is training you now? Where do I sign up for this kind of training?"

But Sakura just laughed "Take your vitamins and say your prayers then!" Sakura lunges and gets Ino into a headlock. "Cause I have evenings free so we can train together then! Right after I'm done training with Jiraiya." She lets Ino out of the headlock. "Which we were hoping we could do here? I'd owe you a favour? ﾝﾅﾥ? ﾝﾅﾘ? ﾝﾅﾯ" She finishes in a sing song tone.

"Ugh, fine." She huffs playfully. " You two weirdos have fun. I'll tell Daddy you're out here." She calls over her shoulder as she jaunts back towards the shop at the bottom floor of her house.

"So Sakura, tell me what you know about nature chakra?" The sage opens with once they've gotten some privacy.

"Well, I know there's chakra in all living things. I also know that supposedly this seal I've got can syphon and store it but I was told not to try doing anything with it without you."

Jiraiya nods along. "That's not a bad place to start. So yeah, there's chakra all around us, people have been trying to access it basically forever. Those that succeeded are known as Sages, like myself. Those that learned to access it but failed to balance it within themselves are known as statues now but most people don't even get that far." He takes a quick drink of water before continuing. "So for most people before doing anything else they have to learn to feel the nature chakra around them and draw it into themselves. So for someone like me what I normally do is meditate so I can feel the chakra around me, and stay perfectly still so I can harmonize with and draw in as much natural chakra as I can balance with my own. In doing so I enter what I refer to as "Sage Mode"." He pauses for a moment. "Still with me so far?"

Sakura nods so Jiraiya continues. "Alright, so with a normal curse seal it just uses Nature chakra to fuel all the stuff Orochimaru makes it do to people with his own soul holding the balance. So Danzo couldn't get rid of the part of the seal that basically hardlines nature chakra into your system, that part is too entwined in your chakra network now. But he scrapped the rest and built his own control matrix that he tied to what he referred to as your "Inner". So from what I can gather from the design of the matrix is that it's effectively faucet, he's left it to always let a little bit through which would explain the extra energy you've been feeling. So what we need to do is teach you and your inner self how to balance nature chakra with your own, but unlike me you won't be limited by needing to stay still. You'll be limited by the size of your own reserves. Because right now if we opened that seal up all the way you'd be a statue-" Jiraiya snaps his fingers "Like that, and I don't have the way to fix it here."

Sakura nodded again "Alright, go slow and careful, work with my inner to control the balance. I haven't really heard much about sages though. What are the benefits?"

"Yeah that's fair, not many sages around. You know, there's me. And well, Senju Hashirama… And oh the Sage of the Six Paths. You know, some pretty tough cookies." Jiraiya teases, but Sakura's exasperated look gets him to continue. "Oh fine. Huge gains in strength, durability, and regeneration. More potent jutsu, and sensory abilities. And because unlike me you won't need to stop and meditate to gather nature chakra you'll be able to basically constantly be in sage mode. But being a sage is a multiplier not a fixed gain, so your sage mode won't be as potent as my own until you have reserves like mine." He admired the steel beam he had replaced for Sakura. "Probably why Danzo has you lugging that thing around, building more physical energy and expanding your reserves all at once."

"Gotcha, so you said Danzo left it open a little for some reason?"

"Good catch. That way it doesn't build up in the seal and start poisoning your system or anything. And the little it's letting through is so miniscule your inner has already been mixing it into your reserves. Right now your seal is operating at about 1% of its potential. So over the next month I want to get your baseline to about 5% and your peak to 15-20%. For now we only change the level when meditating and together. Ready to get started?"

Sakura's smile is one of genuine excitement. "Hai Sensei!"

It was late by the time Sakura got back to Team 7's apartment. After she was done training with Jiraiya (which was mostly a lot of meditating for now) she ended up getting dragged into dinner with Ino and her parents, before her promised training session with Ino.

Okay maybe she'd bit off a little more than she could chew, but Ino wasn't wrong. They'd been given a lot of advantages that even if they had felt like torture at the time had put them significanty above the level of their peers. And clearly they were out of touch with the social aspects of being a shinobi that they would need once they were chunin so spending time with Ino was good on a lot of fronts.

So she was tired. And not at all happy with the looks on her teammates faces.

"Oh for the love of-" She palms her face "What? What more could have possibly happened when I let the two of you go without me?" She storms over to the table to take a seat before gesturing for someone to fill her in.

"We met Naruto's Great Aunt at an Uzumaki temple just outside the city."

Sakura's head hit the table as she groaned. "I was gone for like 8 hours. I was really hoping you could have a normal afternoon."

"I mean at least I know what fainting feels like now!" Naruto tried to brighten the mood.

But Sakura just let herself fall under the table as she groaned at the never ending madness of their lives.