I do not, nor have I ever, owned Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.

The Character Himura Seijuro is of my own construction.

-)::(- Hagakure: the way of Samurai; hidden in the leaves -)::(-

It was summer, three years to the day that the young Naruto had left with Jiraiya to train. And three years since Hinata had left for training with the last of the Himura Clan. Konoha was calm and quiet in the absence of its orange dervish, but that wouldn't last. As several travelers were making their way along the roads leading to the village gate. A tall teenage boy in a black and orange outfit, with a strange white coat laughed as he talked to a purple haired girl walking beside him, a bedraggled white haired man following close behind.

"Man, it was really a surprise to see you Hinata! I didn't know you were on a training trip as well!" the blond smiled at his companion, who shook her head with a smile.

"you did leave before me Naruto-kun, how would you have known?"

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "thats true... still, I never would have guessed you'd decide to be a samurai, thats so cool!" he pointed at the sword hanging at her side and pantomimed a few sword swings for effect. Hinata smiled back at him and laughed lightly amazed at how easily she was talking to him. They had run into each other that morning as the two groups were returning to Konoha. Her sensei had left her with Jiraiya and departed, saying he needed to return home quickly, to aid Houshi in a business deal with a nearby town. She didn't mind, not when she could enjoy Naruto's company so fully. She knew she was blushing slightly still - Naruto had commented on it, but she supposed that was just the way things would be.

"Naruto-kun, what did you train in?" Hinata noticed him pause, a look of worry on his face.

"Er ... well, I trained to be strong enough to protect everyone, so I mostly worked on strength and control of the stuff I knew before I left, like Rasengan." He seemed nervous and agitated by the subject, so Hinata let it drop. He was quick to recover however. "Oi! Look! Its the gate!"

Sure enough the green gate that shielded the entrance to the village stood before them, Hinata couldn't help but smile as Naruto ran ahead laughing merrily. Jiraiya walked up next to her as she watched the boy, "that gaki, how he managed to get your attention is a mystery to me. But... I'm glad he has someone who cares, even if he doesn't know" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, his expression was one of regret, and sadness. "I... should have been there for him, I knew his family ... Tsunade too ... but, we though he would be happy ..."

Hinata looked at the sennin, he had always seemed so energetic, it was strange to see him so sullen. She refuted his obvious worries, "Ano, Naruto-kun is happy now, I don't know what happened in the past that you are worried about, but I know Naruto-kun wouldn't want you to worry about it."

Jiraiya laughed hollowly, "I know, but ... I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you some of it … I was, no, I am his godfather. A lot of help I was to him eh? Never there to help him as a kid, only sending money through sensei to aid him with bills. I don't think I'll be able to face the boy's parents when I meet them in the afterlife." Hinata didn't say anything to him for a moment, the weight of his confession laying hard on her mind.

She had a sudden thought and turned to the aged ninja, "why not tell him now? He's not the kind to hold a grudge."

Jiraiya handed the identification papers of the trio to the gate guards on duty before replying as he and Hinata moved on into the Village. "Its not that I don't want to tell him I'm his godfather... its that doing so would mean having to tell him who his parents are."

Hinata whirled around to face the man, her face stern and her pearl eyes cold, "And why would you not want to tell him that?"

Jiraiya blinked at the young kunoichi before he exploded into laughter, "That gaki sure got a good one in you! … who said anything about not wanting to tell him!" he grew serious once more "the fact is, his parentage is a guarded secret – S class. I cant tell him, or you for that matter, without Tsunade's approval. Its for his own protection against his parents enemies."

Hinata watched as the man walked over to were Naruto stood standing on a telephone pole yelling his return to their home. She smiled as she watched the boy shout down at his white-haired sensei, the white jacket she had given him fluttering dramatically in the wind. He jumped down and turned to face the group of gennin she recognized as Konohamaru's team approaching from the left. As he conversed with the younger ninja she could see the large kanji emblazoned on the coat's back - "Aku". Seijuro had given her the coat telling her it belonged to, "whoever she thought best exemplified the idea of a bare-knuckle fighter of justice - who she wanted as an ally". Giving it to Naruto had never even been a question, not that she had told him the full extent of her reasoning. He had reacted poorly to the decorations of the thing at first, but walking around with "Aku" on one's back is a bit odd. So she had told him the story of the jackets original owner. Naruto had instantly been inspired by the tale of Sagara Sanosuke, and had put the jacket on immediately at that point, declaring that he would were it every day – she had no doubt that he was serious.

She paused as she thought back to Jiraiya's statements, fingering the Tsuba of her Sakabatou-no-ken in thought. An S class secret? Who could possibly be so important that their existence as his parents could endanger him? Frowning she decided she would have to investigate this further.

"Oi! Hinata! Look!" Naruto's voice cut into her thoughts and she looked over to him in confusion

"Oro?" ... so she may have picked up some habits from her teacher, she mused to herself, that happens. She followed the direction of Naruto's obviously pointing finger to the Hokage Monument, and to the completed face of Tsunade on the mountainside right next to the Yondaime's. She blinked and activated her Byakugan, comparing the Yondaime's visage to Naruto's own. It was so obvious! The face, the hair... she thought back to pictures in their textbooks at the academy. Even that smile was the same! And... she frowned, he had died on that night, the Kyubi's attack. So that was what Jiraiya meant, she mused; the orphan of a Kage. Entire nations might try and kill Naruto for petty revenge. She shook the thoughts out of her head and turned smiling to face Naruto "Oh, Tsunade-sama is up there now! I guess that really makes it official"

Naruto grinned impishly "yeah, but they got it all wrong."

Hinata blinked at him in confusion. "Oro? It looks like her to me..."

Naruto shook his head still smiling, "exactly, its based off the appearance she uses for that gen-jutsu of hers. She's really a lot older looking than that. You'd think they'd make her at least be honest for that."

Jiraiya appeared next to them and smirked "brat, be glad she's not here to hear you say that... she'd punt you across the village."

Naruto laughed, "well then its a good thing she wasn't, right Ero-Sennin?"he grabbed Hinata by the hand - the girl blushing in surprise at the contact - and ran towards the heart of town. "come on! We still have to report in!" Jiraiya shook his head and followed after them, already planning ways to make fun of the young blond and samurai girl for this later.

Their arrival at the tower was not without incident, a chunin in his late twenties, one Hinata had never met before attempted to deny Naruto entry into the tower. She had wasted no time in threatening the man's position – Hyuuga eyes made such bluffs all too easy. Naruto was astounded by this new assertiveness Hinata had, and he decided he wanted to train with her later to see what she had learned in her time with Seijuro. But before they could do any training, they had to face the Hokage and give there reports as to the results of their training.

They walked into the third story lobby together, and noticed several things right off the bat that had the two of them amused and in Hinata's case rather surprised. Across from the Hokage's office near the briefing room stood Konohamaru and his teammates chatting happily to another genin team that Naruto didn't recognize and Hinata knew only one of them – her sister Hanabi. Udon and Moegi were talking to the two unknown members of the other team, but Konohamaru was focused on the younger Hyuuga. Hinata blinked and had to then stifle a laugh, as she recognized some very familiar behaviors coming from her young sister, who has poking her fingers together and blushing slightly at Konohamaru's attention.

Naruto leaned over to Hinata and whispered "Oi, Hinata, do you know who that Hyuuga girl is?"

Hinata nodded, whispering back "Hai, she's my imouto, Hanabi" That seemed to startle Naruto and he paused, looking between the two girls with an odd pondering look in his eyes. "Naruto-kun whats wrong?"

he looked at Hinata startled and smiled, "um, nothing … it looks like your sister has a crush on Konohamaru though."

Hinata sweat dropped at this remark, 'he recognizes what that behavior meant when Hanabi-chan does it around Konohamaru? But not when I do it around him?' She smiled however and nodded lightly to him, "maybe, Hanabi has always been more outgoing than me, so I'm surprised she so shy about it."

Jiraiya laughed from behind them, "Just goes to show that you and your sister are a lot more like your father than you know... I remember when little Hiashi first met Tsuki, he stumbled over his words for years; it was rather amusing."

Hinata blinked "you knew my father when he was our age, Jiraiya-sama?" the Sennin laughed, "knew him? I was his sensei! He was on the genin team of the fourth! He and the fourth were close friends back then."

They turned as one to enter the Godaime's office and report; meeting an amusing, if not altogether unsurprising scene. Tsunade was leaned back in her chair, a folder draped across her face to hide her eyes from the light. A slight but rhythmic snoring could be heard from under the folder. Naruto grinned as he read the folder's label - "Finances and Budget Allocation" and underneath that had been scrawled in Shizune's handwriting, "Not for use against personal debt – this means you sensei." Hinata coughed into her hand to try and wake her, but Jiraiya laughed slightly, "that wouldn't wake Tsunade-hime from a daydream much less one of her naps... I swear she's narcoleptic... now if we were to open this." He produced a rather expensive looking tokurri of sake from his vest and opened it. Smirking lightly he waved the opened bottle under his teammate's nose, and did not react in the slightest when Tsunade's hand snapped up reflexively to grab the bottle.

"Mmm... is that Kiri's Shiroutsuki brand?" Tsunade mumbled as she sat up in her chair and removed the folder to be greeted by the sight of her teammate and the two genin. "Heh, about time you brought me something worthwhile you idiot." she smirked as she taunted Jiraiya. "and if the Sake is as valuable as this..." she gestured to Naruto and Hinata "I might just give you a raise."

Naruto laughed "I don't think you'd want to do that Baa-chan, you know he'd just use it to spy on women."

Hinata blinked as Tsunade erupted into laughter. "you're probably right... so Jiraiya, how did the training go"

Jiraiya gave Tsunade a strange look that did not go without notice by Hinata, "It went as well as expected, the kid's got spunk, reminds me of my old student."

Naruto beamed at the comparison to the Yondaime – and Hinata realized that the two adults were using a sort of code. Jiraiya had essentially told Tsunade "He's really taking after his dad" Hinata felt strangely like she was spying on them. They had no idea she had figured out the secret of Naruto's parentage – well his paternal half anyway, and were saying things that were obvious to anyone who knew the truth... then again, she thought, maybe they want the people who figure it out to know. Whatever the reasoning she realized she had stumbled upon a realm she had not be entirely prepared for. Three years ago she would have folded in on herself and drowned in her fears and misgivings about her inability to help Naruto. She smiled to herself; this was not three years ago, and she was far from the timid wall-flower she had been. Tsunade pulled her out of her internal revelry when she addressed the young heiress, "So miss Hyuuga, I know how Naruto's Training went, how about telling me a bit of how yours went.

Hinata smiled at the Godaime serenely and bowed, "Seijuro-Shishou has declared me a full master of Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, Tsunade-sama. He sends his thanks for your trust, and has promised to put in a good word for Konoha in his travels."

Tsunade grinned to herself, it seemed her gamble with the young girl had paid off, and the Hyuuga heiress had gained what Hiashi couldn't get her to possess via the clan's own methods – confidence. The young pearl-eyed samurai that stood before her was calm, focused, and most importantly, did not stutter or show any sign of fear.

Tsunade smiled with that fox-like grin of hers, "Well, then, once my new apprentice gets here, we'll have to do a little test to see what you three can do."

Hinata nodded, but Naruto excitedly questioned, "New apprentice? I didn't know you took on an apprentice! Who is it?"

Tsunade smiled, "why your old teammate Sakura" and as for the person testing you.

"That would be me."

Naruto jumped and whirled to face the new voice that had spoken directly behind him. "Kakashi-sensei! So you're going to test us eh? Awesome!"

Kakashi smiled at the young genin "you've grown Naruto. Nice coat by the way. Did Jiraiya get it for you?"

Naruto laughed happily "No, Hinata-chan gave it to me."

Kakashi shared a look with Tsunade and Jiraiya, "Did she now? Thats nice. Well the time for talking is over, lets head to training ground 7. I told Sakura to meet us there at noon."

Naruto frowned, "Its 2:30... you're late, and you made us late too! Common Hinata!" he grabbed the surprised girl's wrist again and sped off for the training grounds. Hinata smiled to herself as she ran, it wasn't much yet, but Naruto was beginning to notice her. She could hardly wait to show him what she could do.