Chapter 5

Disclaimer : Naruto's not mine..

It was three days later when Jiraiya gave Naruto a rest from the arduous forced march. There was no sleep and little food and water, and no matter how many times Naruto wanted Jiraiya to carry him, Jiraiya refused. This forced Naruto to walk the whole of seven miles, with frequent rests along the way. Naruto and Jiraiya finally reached the new training ground/spa area on the night of the third day.

Naruto collapsed on the ground. "I'm sooo tired."

Jiraiya kicked at him. "No your not."

Lifting Naruto up, Jiraiya said, "You're going to learn how to climb a tree today."

Naruto laughed wearily, "I know how already!"

In the blink of an eye, Naruto found himself on the tip of a tall pine tree gripping on the top for dear life. Jiraiya was below him, somehow standing on the trunk of the tree. Grinning mischieviously, Jiraiya announced, "Your going to be stranded up here until you can somehow climb d-"

Naruto let go, smashing onto Jiraiya and sent both of them hurtling to the ground. Naruto rubbed his butt in slight pain, which had been nicely cushioned by Jiraiya's head. On the contuary to Naruto's relative healthiness, Jiraiya could feel his nose was broken, that his arm was bent in the wrong direction and that a few ribs had snapped. A trickle of blood ran down his face. "Mother f-"

Naruto stewed around in the newly setup tent. He had set it up. Jiraiya was 'indisposed', whatever that meant. Now he got no dinner...or breakfast the next day. It wasn't like it was his fault 'Raiya-baka broke his arm. Tch. He shuda made his arm out of metal or something, so it wouldn't break. And maybe he should have fallen on his head instead of his face. Might've made him smarter. Hmph. (That made perfect sense! Right?)

Jiraiya sat inside a seperate tent with bandages, disinfectant, among other things. His eyes a hard obsidian, Jiraiya swore internally, 'I'm going to watch that kid suffer tomorrow.'

When Naruto woke up the next morning at 4:20 AM, he saw that he was tied to a tree. Jiraiya was sitting infront of him, playing solitaire. When he noticed the boy move, Jiraiya walked up to him and triumphantly smirked, "Okay you little bastard, I'm going to teach you a lesson. We're going to fight."

Naruto snorted in laughter. "Me...fight YOU? I'd kill you! You have a broken arm and everything! I'd be a slaughter!"

Jiraiya glared, "Oh no Naruto, its not me you're fighting. Its HIM!"

A tiny frog walked out of the underbrush.

"Hi. My name is Gamasutoomu (Frog Storm)! You can call me Gamu."

Naruto snorted again. "You're sending me to fight this little frog? Come'on, lemme at 'im. I'll squish him beneath my foot."

The frog lept up into the air and kicked Naruto squarely in the head. "Owww! That frog's stronger then he looks. It doesn't matter though, a mere frog can not defeat the GREAT NARU-"

Naruto fell unceremoniously onto the ground as Jiraiya cut him from the tree. "Okay Naruto, now just remember, I have two bottles of beer riding on Gamu to win."

Naruto twitched, "Wait you're betting on that FROG to WIN?"

Jiraiya simply nodded and any other response was cut short as Gamu uppercutted Naruto. Landing on his back, Naruto scrambled for a stick, finding one among the hundreds scattered on the ground.

Charging at Gamu, Naruto swung his stick downward like a sword, only to be tripped and once again, ended up spawled on the ground. Jiraiya had taken out a bottle of champange and was relaxing on a lawn chair. 'This is the good life.' Taking a sip of his champagne, Jiraiya roared with laughter as Naruto ran into a tree.

Gamu saw the opportunity when Naruto fell and had taken the liberty to take Naruto's underpants and pull it over his head, provoking squeals of pain. His eyes covered, Naruto swung around randomly, batting the ground for a few moments before crashing into the same tree again. Robbing Naruto of his stick, Gamu poked Naruto in the side. Pulling his underwear off his head angrily, Naruto rolled over, slapping the ground where Gamu was last.

Gamu had jumped up to avoid the incoming blow and head-butted Naruto's stomach. Coughing and gasping for breath Naruto's hand moved quickly enough to trap the squirming from inbetween his fingers. Lifting Gamu up, Naruto threw the kicking frog at Jiraiya. Unperturbed, Jiraiya lifted his champange bottle and batted Gamu back at Naruto who kicked it up into the air. Landing on a tree slightly bruised, Gamu gave a powerful leap off the tree branch hurtling at Naruto. Naruto hit the ground as Gamu whizzed over him. Gamu had hit the ground powerfully, and was now extremely disoriented. Naruto took his stick and lashed out with it, hitting Gamu on the head with the first blow. As the second came, the frog raised his webbed paws, trapping the stick in between. Jumping at Naruto, Gamu let go of the stick catapulting into Naruto's ribs, knocking him into a tree. Scrambling back up, Naruto chased after the frog, diving onto it. Gamu then jumped into Naruto's shirt.

Jiraiya giggled as Naruto clawed at himself, desperately trying to get the frog off his body. Taking off his shirt, Naruto grabbed the frog off his stomach and in a splurt of anger threw Gamu at a tree. To his amazement, he could feel energy concentrate on his arm before releasing - just as the frog left his finger tips. Gamu had flown through three trees before he finally came to a stop.

Groaning, Gamu disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya's grin had disappeared as a huge toad appeared along side him. It was Gamabunta. "Ok sleezeball, wheres the beer?"

Jiraiya twitched as he pulled out two chilled bottles from under his chair. "Bah. The only reason you won is because I chose who to back first."

Gamabunta took the two bottles and smirked, "Yeah, and you chose wrong. Could it be the new Legendary Sucker!?"

As he disappeared, Jiraiya's face reddened considerably, almost able to see the fat toad boss rolling in laughter.

Rising from his easy chair, still clutching his champagne, Jiraiya grabbed Naruto by the arm. "Okay boy. So you can beat little frogs. And you can use chakra - without knowing what the hell you're doing. This will be tons of fun."

Naruto felt like crying as he heard the unspoken addition to the sentence "-for me..."

Jiraiya planted Naruto next to a tree. "See how you threw Gamu through those trees?" Jiraiya inquired.

Naruto nodded hesitantly. "Well you're going to do that again. Punch until you make another hole. Or you have to fight Gamu again."

Wincing at the terror of the 3 inch frog, Naruto started pumpelling the tree, and to Jiraiya's satisfaction, not so much as a dent appeared.

"Well good luck with that!"

Jiraiya waved to Naruto as he finished off his champange and walked toward the nearby spa. "I'll be back with dinner. I expect you to practice until then!"

Naruto put his shirt back on before looking at the tree. 'Bah, I can't punch through that tree and Jiraiya knows it! I need to figure out a way how and show that moron once and for all that I'm the best! ...hmm. I can kinda make a creepy clone of myself AND I can launch myself into the air before falling back a couple miles onto the ground..."

Walking over to Jiraiya's backpack, Naruto reached in and took out a single iron gauntlet. 'Jiraiya has like everything in his backpack. I wonder how he fits it all. Probably a ninja trick or something...'

"Okay, now that I have this metal glove thingy...all I have to do is make a stick launcher and master the replacement jutsu and the clone jutsu...this should work fine!"

14 Hours Later

Naruto groaned, satisifed with his accomplishments. It had taken alot of work, but he had finally managed to finish the replacement jutsu and the clone jutsu was decent. It worked fine - except that he was usually missing an arm or a leg. Naruto had a handful of strawberries next to him, left over from 'lunch, and was munching away. Feeling a semblance of energy return, Naruto got up and stretched. Hidden away behind him was his catapult, which had been made to launch sticks high into the air. It had been made through much trial and error and collapsed after one launch...but it worked and thats all that mattered. Concentrating, Naruto focused his chakra again... "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Jiraiya smiled happily. It had been a good day (If you didn't count that his ribs hurt when he walked). He had spent the whole morning researching before stopping by a local town and gambling away the afternoon. Unlike his team mate Tsunade, Jiraiya had actually made a small profit - where as Tsunade ,the Legendary Sucker, would have gone completely broke.

To his surprise, when he returned to camp, he saw Naruto standing beside a clone of himself. 'Jeez, he's managed to figure out the Bunshin no Jutsu in two days. Average, I have to say...but with no prior ninjutsu training and no guidance... Impressive... He's already on par with the children of more minor clans at his age."

Outwardly, Jiraiya disguised his amazement. "I thought I told you to punch trees, Naruto, not to work on your jutsu," Jiraiya said disapprovingly.

Naruto smirked, "Heh, I can punch a hole through a tree 'Raiya baka."

A smile crept over Jiraiya's face. 'Heh, knowing this kid, he'll take out a power drill or something and tape it to hand.'

Looking down, Jiraiya adjusted a package he was holding and slid it behind his back. When he looked back up, he noticed that the real Naruto was gone. The bunshin still stood there gazing at him. Jiraiya stared back. "Well?"

The bunshin flashed a smile before running. He gained speed until it seemed like he was throwing himself toward the nearest tree.

The real Naruto had run into a clearing and found his catapult sitting behind the bush he had hid it behind. Beside it was the gauntlet. Naruto donned the metal glove and loaded a stick onto the catapult. He kicked out one of the supports of the catapult and as the catapult collapsed, the stick was sent into the air. Naruto watched it rise.

The bunshin had almost reached the tree and Jiraiya was watching, interested at what would happen next.

Right before the stick reached its highest point, Naruto had begun focusing chakra. Looking up, Naruto noticed when the stick had seemed to reach the highest altitude possible and released his accumulated chakra. There was a puff of smoke and right where Naruto had been...was the stick.

Now a couple hundred feet in the air, Naruto looked down and saw the dark red blob that was Jiraiya. A small distance away was his bunshin. Twisting his body, Naruto angled his body (and arm) toward the tree the bunshin was running for.

Jiraiya stared as the bunshin reached the tree. The bunshin pulled his arm back and just as his fist was about to hit it - the tree exploded. A huge dust cloud appeared and in the chaos, Jiraiya felt the bunshin dispel. As the dust cleared, Jiraiya found the real Naruto grinning at him. He heard a slight metallic tap as Naruto kicked something behind the tree, and true to his word, Naruto had created a hole in the tree.

"Well sonovabitch," Jiraiya gawked before sternly yelling, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? You could've DIED! What if you fell on your head?! What if you didn't go through the tree!? What if the impact broke your arm!?"

Naruto looked at Jiraiya curiously, more amazed at how Jiraiya knew how his little trick worked then the immense risks involved.

"How'dja know I did all that stuff?"

Jiraiya snorted arrogantly, "I'm a Sannin. Now if you ever, I mean EVER, do something this stupid again, I'm sending you right back to the Hokage."

Naruto brightened, "REALLY!?"

Jiraiya ripped at his hair. "No. In fact, I'll be making sure you only eat bread and water for the rest of your life."

It was a fate worse than death and Naruto started crying. "I-I'm sorry 'Raiya. I'll neeever do it againnnnnnnnn..."

Jiraiya nodded, 'Jeez. The thought of bland food really drives this kid up the wall.'

Taking out package, Jiraiya unwrapped it and the fume of savory smells permeated the air. "Hey Naruto, I got some take-out for you."

Naruto's tearfulness was instantly broken. "Wow! Real food! From Chu's Kitchen too... I thought we were days away from the nearest town 'Raiya..."

Jiraiya shifted uneasily, "We are, I just...found this on the ground on my way back! Thats it!"

Naruto considered it for a moment before agreeing, "Okay then!"

Jiraiya stared at the boy as he started digging in and when he was sure Naruto had lost himself in the new 'real' food, Jiraiya walked over to the tree. Bending down, he peered behind it. 'Heh, so thats what he used, my battle gauntlet. Not bad...not bad at all."

Sure he had figured out Naruto's plan, Jiraiya stepped another few feet over and found the remnants of Naruto's catapult. 'Yep. That kid mastered both the Bunshin and Kawarmi jutsus. He used the bunshin to try and fool me into believing that he was punching the tree. He then threw something up into the air and replaced it with himself. Using the gauntlet, the little bastard shot himself into the tree and made a hole. The idiots suicidal - and creative as hell.'

'Hmm...he's persistant, oh-so-slightly talented and seemingly ingenious with his stupid plans to victory.'

He sighed as he remembered Naruto's reaction to the restaurant food. 'And gullible as hell.'

Yawning, he headed back toward Naruto, who was stuffing himself. Before he took two steps, a chicken bone hit his head.

'That little... These next few years are gonna be hell on earth for that little cretin!'

But for now, Jiraiya contented himself with pushing Naruto away from the meal and diving into the food himself.

Yelling indignantly, Naruto pushed Jiraiya's face into a carton of chicken.

Grinning mischievously, Jiraiya took out a piece of chicken and threw it at Naruto, who responded with a barrage of vegetables.

The food fight was on!

Meat, rice, noodles, fish and vegetables filled the air, staining clothes and inciting giggles.

And thought Jiraiya had to change his bandages after the fight, he had to admit, he hadn't had that much pure fun in years. And grudgingly, he admitted to himself, playing with the five year old was more joyful then watching women bathe...but not by much.

Compared to the commotion during dinner, Jiraiya and Naruto spent rest of the night relatively quietly, with a chess match in which Naruto won. He had switched Jiraiya's pieces around when the Sannin wasn't looking and Jiraiya didn't have the heart to correct the kid. He took his defeat gracefully and shortly afterwords, Naruto fell asleep.

Deciding to sleep out in the open instead of in a tent, Jiraiya walked over to the clearing where the catapult was scattered. Laying back, Jiraiya stared at the stars that blanketed the sky. For some reason, these last few days seemed to mark a new begining for him, that a chapter of his life had ended and a new one was about to start.

He looked over at Naruto's sleeping form.

And it was all because of a stupid kid he found on a swing.

Yeah, pushing it. But these guys are supposed to be ninja! Surely they can take a fall of only a couple HUNDRED feet... Eh. Well that was the only way I could think of.