Chapter Two: Out for a jog

"It's time to get up, Naruto."

"…"

"I'm not telling you again."

"Fivemoreminutes."

"Last chance."

"Go'way."

"You were warned."

SPLASH!

A soaking wet three-year-old Naruto jumped up out of bed, delivering a death glare to Jiraiya, who was holding a now empty cup of ice water.

"You didn't have to splash me!" Naruto shouted, very upset that he had been splashed with freezing cold water in his bed.

"I told you to get up. Now, if you want breakfast you had better get dressed and downstairs." Jiraiya ordered, a slight grin on his face at Naruto's mad scramble around the room for his clothes, goggles, and weights. "We're going to train today, so hurry up."

Naruto paused at the comment, looked at Jiraiya once, and kicked himself into overdrive getting dressed. Jiraiya walked out of the room, his grin much wider now as he walked down the stairs into the kitchen of his two-story house. Arashi, the kid is so much like you. It's a shame that you can't be here to be experiencing this for yourself.

Three minutes later, a now-dressed Naruto walked down the stairs with a yawning Gamakichi perched on his head. "Wha's for breakfast?" Naruto asked, trying not to yawn.

"Waffles and toast. You better hurry up and eat, we're starting out with laps this morning." Jiraiya answered, giving Naruto the same once-over that every parent gives their children before they go outside. Naruto was dressed in a metallic orange and black shirt, green goggles worn like a headband, and matching orange pants with black ninja sandals. Above the sandals, Naruto wore ankle weights and matching wrist weights. Under the ankle weights, bandages were visible, preventing rough folds that might rub and chafe after long training or running around in water.

Gamakichi jumped off Naruto's head to land on a small place mat set specifically for him at the table. "Let's hurry up then, the faster we get done with running the faster we can do something fun!" the toad chattered at his Jinchuuriki partner.

"What are you complaining about, I'm the one who does all the legwork!" Naruto argued good naturedly, taking a bite out of his waffle.

--Twenty Minutes Later—

Naruto, Gamakichi, and Jiraiya arrived at a small two story house built into the village walls, climbing the stairs next to the house to get on top of the wall. At the top of the stairs, Yuffie and Yuay were stretching, warming up for the group's morning run around the village. Yuay was dressed in a similar outfit to Naruto's, except his shirt and pants were black, a simple red ribbon holding his hair up out of his eyes. Yuay had blond, spiky hair that was far longer than Naruto's, if it were wet it would reach down to his shoulders. Yuay also wore black weights with white kanji for 'strength' and 'faith' inscribed on them. Yuay's dragon partner, a silver dragon roughly the same size as a large puppy, named Silva was riding on top of Yuay's head.

"You guys ready?" Yuffie asked after Jiraiya and Naruto had a chance to stretch a little.

"Yeah, let's go!" an over-enthusiastic Naruto exclaimed.

"Okay, on your mark," everyone got into a starting position for running, facing so they would run around Konoha counter-clockwise. "Get set, GO!" Yuffie shouted.

The first twenty minutes of the run was uneventful, except for the speed at which the group was moving, they had started out roughly a mile and a half away from the west gate and were now turning at the southeast corner of the wall. By some twist of fate, Yuffie, Jiraiya, Naruto, and Yuay weren't the only people out for a morning run on the village walls this morning. The southeast area of Konoha is the location of the Uchiha compound, and two brothers were beginning their morning jog just as Naruto's group rounded the corner.

"Mind if we tag along?" Itachi asked Jiraiya as he slowed down to let Yuay and Naruto catch their breath.

"Not at all, but you guys better keep up." Jiraiya responded.

Itachi nodded. He knew Jiraiya by reputation only, he had never had the opportunity to meet any of the legendary Sannin before, and he was honored that he would get to at least jog with one. Itachi took the moment before they started moving again to take a look at the rest of the group. A Wutaian? I didn't think that any of them ever immigrated here. Itachi thought as he saw Yuffie, who was instantly recognized for being from Wutai by special mark on her headband.

"High, my name's Naruto, what's yours?" Naruto asked the younger of the two Uchiha's.

"My name's Uchiha Sasuke. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sasuke answered, shaking Naruto's hand.

"My name is Yuay." Yuay said, also shaking Sasuke's hand. After the pleasantries had been exchanged, Yuffie got the group running again. Once they got back into the swing of running, Itachi asked a question. "What's a Wutaian like you doing in Konoha? Not that I'm saying that's bad or anything, just curious."

"The main reason I'm here is those kids. Sarutobi-ojii-san asked me to stay after my sensei died. She was from Konoha." Yuffie replied, able to answer with ease despite the quick pace that she set.

"You're sensei was from here? Who was she, I might have known her?" Itachi asked.

"You did know her, she was your sensei's wife." Jiraiya responded for Yuffie.

"Wait, Cloud-sensei's wife? Tifa-hime? I didn't realize that she took students from other countries." Itachi said, startled.

"It's not a fact that many people know, I have to ask that you keep it that way." Yuffie responded.

"Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me." Itachi answered, trying to smile while running.

--The Uchiha Compound, Clan Hall—

"You should have came to me that night, Hokage-sama. He is my sister's son, after all." Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Konoha Police Force and leader of the Uchiha clan, said.

"You're right, of course. However, I did promise his father that I wouldn't tell anyone else until I told him. Everyone who knows, besides Naruto and Yuffie, had to figure it out for themselves." Sarutobi answered, taking a sip of tea.

Fugaku turned from the window he had been looking out of to face the elderly Hokage, a sour look on his face. "I know that, but he should still be here, raised with his family. I know that village law dictates that the next of kin on the father's side of an orphaned child has the first chance to claim him, but Tsunade, Arashi's closest relative, has more or less walked off the face of the earth. Since that is the case, his mother's clan may legally claim him."

"True, but do you think you can back up your claim in the clan council?" Sarutobi asked, again sipping at his cup of tea.

"I'm positive that I can. Above all, I will not allow my nephew to live alone like this. Yes, I know that Jiraiya-dono is raising him, and I would welcome him as Naruto's permanent guardian into the clan council, but an Uchiha should be raised by Uchiha." Fugaku replied angrily.

"If that is your personal decision, I'm not going to stop you. I know that you don't view the boy as the Kyuubi, but the same can't be said for all of the rest of your clan. If your clan council agrees to your claim on Naruto, then all is well and good. If they don't the currant arrangements stay. Is this acceptable to you?" Sarutobi asked.

"I agree to your terms." Fugaku said, deflating slightly. "For some reason, it seems to me that this is a lose-lose situation for Naruto. If he gets claimed by the clan, then the council can assert it's pressure on him to turn him into a weapon. If he isn't claimed by the clan, I don't think that the village's opinion of him is going to change."

"You may be right, my friend. Let us hope that it doesn't come to that." Sarutobi replied, lighting his pipe.

"The clan council meets three days from now, can I ask you to be there for moral support?" Fugaku asked.

"I'll be there, but in between now and then we should explain the situation to Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke."

--Later that day, Training Ground Three—

"Alright, it's a rather simple exercise, and one that you'll find useful for just many things." Jiraiya explained. "You take a set amount of chakra, focus it in your feet, and walk up the tree."

Jiraiya demonstrated, walking up a tree parallel to the ground. Naruto and Yuay sized up the tree, each boy drew a special kunai, a rubber training kunai with a special dye on it that marked whatever it touched red, focused chakra to their feet, and set off running to try to make it to the top of the tree. Naruto made it about four steps up the tree before he fell, Yuay made about four and a half steps up before falling.

Yuffie laughed, both boys stood back up, dusted themselves off, and tried again. "Well," she told Jiraiya. "They certainly can be persistent at times."

"It seems that they're gonna be occupied for a few hours, so I'm gonna slip off for a few minutes." Jiraiya said, slowly moving toward the edge of the training ground while he was talking.

"You're going where, now?" Yuffie asked innocently, fingering a folded fuuma shuriken while watching Jiraiya out of the corner of her eye.

Oh shit! If she figures out where I'm really going, she'll kill me! "Just for a drink, all this training is thirsty work." Jiraiya said nervously.

"That's not a bad idea, why not bring back drinks for all of us?" Yuffie again asked with a voice of complete innocence, in stark contrast to the evil smirk starting to cross her face. If you think I bought that line of bull, Jiraiya, then you deserve a good thrashing.

Jiraiya sighed in defeat. Damn it, Tifa! Why did you have to raise another anti-pervert student? "Alright, I'll bring back drinks."

"Thank you so much, Jiraiya-kun." Yuffie said, her smirk threatening to take over her entire face. Jiraiya, you're problems are only just beginning.

A/N: Another chapter down. Much lighter than last chapter. I'm having a little difficulty in deciding, so I'm holding a poll, who should be the third man on Naruto and Sasuke's team? All of the original rookie nine, Yuay, Neji, and Lee are available for the position. Before I get any reviews asking, no, Itachi will not be going psycho and killing off the Uchiha clan, both he and they are going to be sticking around. I thank each and every one of you who reviewed, please keep them coming! As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames shall be noted and added to my nest of ashes. Your ever-burning author, this is Shining Pheonix signing out.