"Ok Uzumaki," Naruto whispered to herself, "You can do this."

Tentatively, the 10 year old academy student placed one foot on the surface of the water, only to trip and fall in with a sudden splash. "Damn you Shisui! Damn you to hell!" She called out, despite knowing that the older jonin was somewhere deep in Iwa territory by now.

It has been a full month since Shisui left for some top secret undercover mission; and in that month, Naruto had yet to even begin mastering water walking. It was not from a lack of trying, after all, Naruto has been persistently attempting to learn this blasphemous form of chakra control ever since Shisui described it to her before he left. Only now she was realizing how much more difficult it is to learn something without Shisui's supervision and hints.

She had taken Shisui's expertise for granted, despite the idiotic boy being a complete insufferable pain in the neck, he was also a really good sensei. She had grown accustomed to his helpful hints hidden beneath teasing words.

But she wasn't going to fail. She had promised her roommate that she would have this completely down by the time he came back, so Kami help her she was going to do it!

Sighing, Naruto cast a sorrowful glance towards the lake. It's been a full month, yet still she hadn't improved. Perhaps what she needed was some real motivation. That was when she got the idea to relocate her training to a near by hot springs; perhaps the threat of falling into piping hot water might force her to improve.

"I hate my life." Naruto muttered as she spat out the boiling hot water that had taken residence in her mouth. She had been at it for three whole hours, and while she had improved to the point where can place at least one foot on the surface, she was still far behind mastery.

Before she could make another attempt, a high pitched giggling stopped her. Glancing around nervously, Naruto was dismayed at not being able to place the source of the odd sound.

"He he he." There it was again. Naruto followed the laughter, only to find a man submerged inside of a bush, the only part of his body visible being his waist long white hair, his red haori, and a large scroll strapped to his back.

"Watcha doin?" She asked loudly, confused as to why the older man felt it necessary to bury himself in shrubbery while giggling to himself oddly.

Quickly, the man exited the bush, his eyes round in panic, throwing a hand to cover the young girls mouth. "Shhhh!" He commanded, throwing his gaze around nervously, "I can't be caught!"

Naruto licked her captors hand, grinning victoriously when the old man withdrew it in disgust, "Caught doing what?"

The white-haired man sighed, running his hand down his face in annoyance, "I'm doing research for my novel. Now shhhhh, and let me get back to it."

"You wrote a novel? What kind of novel?" Naruto asked curiously, her head tilted to the side adorably.

The old man grinned as he stood up with a flourish, mysteriously taking out a book from who knows where, and throwing it to the young blond. He must be a powerful ninja, Naruto thought, only strong jonin have the power to summon books from no where.

Naruto widened her eyes when she glanced upon the orange cover, "That's not a novel! That's just porn!"

The author quickly ducked beneath the bush, harshly whispering through gritted teeth, "For the love of Kami, would you keep your voice down!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, following his gaze behind the shrubbery to find a hot springs full of scantily clad women, "Are you… spying on naked women?"

"No no no," the man shook his head, "Spying is such an ugly word. I'm doing research for my novel is all."

"You're a pervert." She deadpanned.

"No, I'm a super pervert!" He exclaimed.

Naruto rolled her eyes, "I swear to Kami, all powerful ninja have something seriously wrong with them."

The white-haired man set his gaze on the young academy student, "How did you know I'm powerful?"

"Only powerful ninja have the ability to mysteriously summon books from no where, so I'm assuming you're powerful. Am I wrong?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"That you are not! I am the powerful Toad Mountain Sage, one of the Sennin of Konoha, the Great Jiraiya!" He introduced himself with an idiotic dance.

"Right…" Naruto was starting to wonder if she had some sort of beacon that attracted weird ninja's towards her, "Well Ero-Sennin, you have two choices. Either you help me master this infernal water walking, or I will scream off the top of my lungs that you're peeking on women."

"Are you… blackmailing me?" Jiraiya asked incredulously. Really, this little blond girl sure had nerve.

"Yup. For sure. 100 percent. So will you do it?" Naruto confirmed, nodding in affirmation.

"I'm only in town for a few days," Jiraiya admitted, "I have no time to help some academy brat."

"Let me guess, you're too busy 'conducting research'?" Naruto mocked.

"What's an academy student doing learning how to water walk anyways?" The Toad Sage questioned. He was only here for a few days in order to pass some information to his old sensei, but last he heard, Naruto was a below-average academy student with no dedication in improving her mediocre skills.

Naruto sighed as she thought of how to answer him. She didn't know the old man, but he was strong, and more importantly, a stranger. It wouldn't hurt telling him the truth, "My bastard of a roommate went on a two-month long mission, and before he left, he made me promise to learn water walking. It's been a month already and I haven't made any improvement."

Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly. Why did his Goddaughter have a roommate? Why was this roommate a ninja? Why was he male?!

"Your, uh roommate, is training you?" He asked incredulously. He was going to find this ninja, and he was going to kill him.

Naruto nodded as she flipped through the orange book that Ero-Sennin threw at her, "He is. As annoying as he can be, he's actually a pretty decent sensei. But the fact of the matter is, I'm stuck without his guidance, and there's no way I'm going to admit defeat. So are you going to help me, or should I test just how powerful justifiably angry civilian girls could be?"

Jiraiya waved his hands nervously, "Oh come on, there's no need for that! I'm just a poor, insanely good looking, older man! I wasn't kidding when I said that I didn't have time to teach you how to water walk. Surely you can find it in your heart to-"

"Five." Naruto interrupted, beginning the countdown.

"Oh come on brat! I gave you a free book! I'll even sign it for you!" He stammered anxiously.

"Four." She continued, not looking the least bit affected.

"What else do you want, huh? A pretty doll perhaps?" He continued to beg.

Naruto narrowed her eyes in annoyance, "Three."

The Toad Sage was starting to sweat, "Money?! Is money what you want!?"

"Two."

"Ok fine! Fine! You win, you vindictive little brat." Jiraiya cried out in resignation, "I'll teach you how to water walk."

Naruto grinned victoriously, "Great! Come on Ero-Sennin, we only have a month left!"

Jiraiya sighed, following the young blond who was skipping ahead, "I regret this already."

Shisui Uchiha cursed silently as he wrapped another bandage around his bicep. He had been undercover in Iwa for the last month, until he finally received intel on a smuggling operation that was occurring tonight. After collecting the important information, Shisui sent word to the Konoha team positioned right outside the Iwa border, letting them know that it was time to make their move. Attacking the base, the Konoha team was successful in stopping the current operation, only to uncover an even deeper smuggling network in the process.

Currently, his team was camped outside of the Iwa borders, as he wrapped his wounds up tightly. He never did trust anyone else to take care of his injuries; with the exception of one blond girl, of course.

"Hey Shisui," Genma called out as he exited his tent, "How've you been man? Haven't seen you for the last six months or so."

"What are you talking about? I saw you at the bar with Anko and Kurenai only a few weeks ago." Shisui asked in confusion.

"Yeah, but you looked a little busy flirting with Kurenai, so I didn't want to interrupt." Genma teased, waggling his eyebrows.

Shisui rolled his eyes, "Why does everybody think that I'm a flirt?"

"Because you are." His friend deadpanned.

"Ugh it's not even worth it."

"So why were you gone for so long anyways?"

Shisui shrugged, "I was on a long term mission, only got back a month ago."

"You've been in the village for an entire month?" Genma asked in surprise. It was no secret that Shisui was an accomplished jonin, it was even less of a secret that he was also a workaholic, spending more time on obscure missions then he did at home.

"Forced medical leave." Shisui simply explained.

"Ah," Genma nodded, "Makes sense."

"Speaking of which, I heard you moved in with Guy a few months back." Shisui remembered. He'd actually been meaning to ask his friend about that, but Genma was a busy ninja himself. Despite only being a chunin, he was the perfect support ninja in missions such as these.

"Yeah, rent in the building was getting way too expensive. The land lady is kind of a bitch." Genma answered.

Shisui snorted in agreement, "You got that right."

Genma eyed his friend suspiciously, "How did you hear about that anyways?"

The Uchiha was famous for many reasons, his ability to keep his cool under pressure being one of the more important ones. Shrugging, he answered candidly, "I tried looking for you when I got back, but one of your neighbors told me that you moved in with, and I quote; your 'green-freak of a boy-toy across town.' I took that to mean that you moved in with Guy."

Genma sighed, "Let me guess, did this neighbor also refer to me as 'the weird long-haired dude with an unhealthy oral fixation'?"

Shisui refrained from laughter, Naruto was just absolutely precious, "Yes, yes she did."

"I see you met Naruto. Nice girl, slightly questionable choice of language though."

"What do you mean by that?" Shisui asked, seemingly innocently.

"The girl is ten, and already can curse better than any seasoned veteran I've ever seen. Seriously, I've probably only spent a total of five minutes in her company, and already I've learned several different curse word variations." Genma admitted.

Shisui covered his laugh with a cough, "Sounds like she's an interesting girl."

The chunin nodded, "Even when you don't consider the fact that she's our jinchuriki, she's definitely a special girl. And maaan, she's going to be quite the looker when she grows up."

The small smile on Shisui's face was quickly wiped off, "She's ten."

"Well, yeah, I know, but that doesn't change the fact that in approximately six years from now, I'm totally going to ask her out."

Shisui felt the odd need to grab his kunai, "It's a good thing the girl is smart enough to not want anything to do with a guy who has an oral fixation."

Genma rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah yeah, make fun of me now, but mark my words. Six years from now, she's going to be an absolute knock out."

Jiraiya was seriously cursing the day he agreed to come back to Konoha. His Goddaughter, while adorable, and precious, and a perfect mixture between his student and his favorite red-head; was an absolute pain.

She had a stamina unlike any other, able to exert herself for hours more than any other regular ninja. In the month that he had been unwittingly training her, he had learned next to nothing about her mysterious roommate, but practically everything about literally anything else. He knew her favorite ramen, she enjoyed dragging him to Ichiraku Ramen almost everyday. He knew everything about her classmates, having to hear multiple rants such as, "Temi is such a freaking idiot!", and, "Kami above if Ino doesn't shut up!"

But as annoying as he found Naruto to be, he found her even more amusing. Her anecdotes on common occurrences made him wheeze in laughter, her pranks pulled on various important clans had him wipe away tears of joy, and her sexy jutsu? Needless to say he practically bowed at her feet for that accomplishment.

Which was why, at the end of the month, when Naruto was finally able to perform katas on top the water without a single ripple, he was both happy and sad. He was glad the girl had finally accomplished her goal, but he was also incredibly disappointed in the fact that he was unable to teach her for much longer.

He had a job to do; the spy network doesn't run itself after all. He had spent more time than permitted already by agreeing to teach Naruto, originally he was supposed to be out of Fire Country three weeks ago. However he made a promise to his Goddaughter, so he stayed until he was sure that she had perfected the task set forth by her roommate.

"Good job brat!" Jiraiya called out, "You finally mastered the art of water walking."

"YES!" Naruto cried out, running back to shore, "I am a genius! Thank you Ero-Sennin!"

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I really am a great sensei."

"When I said to master water walking in two months," A warm, sultry voice interrupted, "I didn't mean that you should recruit a Sennin to help you."

Jiraiya quickly turned to face the voice, surprised to see the prodigy Uchiha standing there in standard jonin uniform, a grin spread across his face.

Naruto crossed her arms in mock anger, "Yeah, well you're the idiot that told a ten year old to learn a Genin skill, and then left without leaving any proper instructions."

Shisui chuckled as he reached over to tussle the blonds hair, "Well I knew how resourceful you could be. Although I must say, convincing Jiraiya-sama to teach you is certainly a surprise."

Naruto blinked in confusion, "Ok, I get that Ero-Sennin is a powerful ninja and all, but did you just add 'sama' to his name?"

"Oy Brat!" Jiraiya interrupted, "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm deserving of respect?"

Naruto ignored the old man, returning her attentions to the Uchiha instead, "He's just a pervert!"

"A pervert he may be," Shisui admitted, ignoring Jiraiya's insulted cries, "But he was also the sensei of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, "You taught the Yondaime!"

Jiraiya puffed out his chest narcissistically, "I did."

Shisui smiled suspiciously, "In fact, back when I used to work with Minato-sensei's squad during the Third Shinobi War, he used to mention Jiraiya-sama quite often."

"Woah, how come I never knew this?"

Shisui shot a look towards the younger girl, "Perhaps because you never pay attention during history class."

"Oh yeah." Naruto said sheepishly.

"Naruto," Jiraiya called, "I want to talk to your roommate here for a minute. Here's some money, treat yourself to some ramen."

"Sweet!" Naruto took the money before running off, "See you at home Shisui-kun!"

The smiles that adorned the two ninjas faces slipped off as they regarded one another seriously, "You worked under Minato during the war?" Jiraiya asked.

Shisui nodded, "Only briefly. I had an advanced Sharingan that his team needed for a few missions, so I was recruited to help."

"You've spent quite a bit of time with my student then?" Jiraiya probed.

"I did. Not as much time as I spent with Kushina-née though. We were assigned to the same assassination squad towards the end of the war." He admitted.

Jiraiya's widened in understanding. There was only one reason for Shisui to bring up Kushina, "You know then?"

"That Naruto is their daughter? I do. Minato often spoke about The Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, so I would recognize the name 'Naruto' anywhere. Besides, she even has her mothers last name, it's a wonder how nobody else seemed to put this together."

Jiraiya sighed, "As you know, very few people knew about the marriage between Minato and Kushina. I'm surprised that you're one of them."

Shisui shrugged, "Like I said, we were close. I think Kushina-née liked to take care of me because of my age, there weren't many four year olds on the front lines of war after all."

"I'm sure I don't have to warn you of the dangers that would follow Naruto if word about her parentage were to get out?"

Shisui snorted, "You forget that I was a witness of the massacre that Minato lay on Iwa. I care for Naruto, no harm will come to her as long as I'm around."

Jiraiya smiled, "I'm trusting you with the life and health of my Goddaughter. Don't screw it up."

Grasping the older mans hand, Shisui promised, "I won't."