Chapter 5.

Apparently, and I don't know what happened, this story exploded today/yesterday... Over 1025 hits, and over 425 visitors... Craaazy...

Review answers:

kyunaru: No yaoi for me. Not my scene. You're safe, I suppose. I'm glad you like it so far, I wish I was getting better at training scenes, but there's something in this chapter, so I hope you stick with me.

Loiosh311: Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

-Namikaze: I totally agree with you. It really seems like the canon Jiraiya dropped the ball, and I'm glad the tact I took with Jiraiya makes sense to other people.

kakashidex:I'm sorry you didn't like the flashbacks. It seemed the best way to tell the story, but I understand your concerns. Through my first five chapters, I've noticed that I'm relying heavily on those flashbacks, and I hope to stop it soon, but it just makes more sense for me as I'm writing. Maybe, as I pick up the plot a bit, there will be less need for them. I'm hoping. As for your thoughts on Orochimaru, I don't think I can make him a good guy. I know it's an AU fic, but I have my doubts that writing him as good would come across as sincere. If I ever figure out how to deal with him at all, I would like to show some Akatsuki stuff, but the logistics of doing that when I don't even know what role he'll play is making my head hurt. Hopefully you still like the way things are going.

Story time!

-pp

Recap: Training has begun in earnest for young Naruto, as Jiraiya has begun to mentor the boy in the shinobi arts. While all seems well with the world, there are constant reminders of the danger confronting the young blonde as he grows.

Over the next few months, Naruto was having the time of his life. Every morning, he and gramps would go out to his practice field and work. Every day he got stronger and faster, so he knew he was on his way to being an awesome ninja someday. Then they would have lunch, which was ramen if he did well that morning. In the afternoons, they would either train, or he would go to the park and play ninja with his friends. Life was good.

Jiraiya, meanwhile, was shocked at his godson's progress. While his physical fitness was about average for someone his age, his chakra reserves were through the charts. His learning curve was astounding as well. At this point, Naruto was making fairly good progress with a variety of chakra control exercises, making it easily over the four foot line on the tree with tree walking, and doing it with five leaves stuck to his body. Jiraiya's only complaint what that his prowess with chakra was beginning to clearly out-pace his physical development. Still, that was a minor problem, and the boy was still growing. The entire process was amazing to watch, and the Toad Sage was swollen with pride.

The villagers, however, were oddly split as to how to treat his charge. While many of the shinobi began to gradually accept the young blonde, others seemed to walk on eggshells when the duo passed them in the streets. The civilians were torn as well. While some embraced the Namikaze heir, others treated him with scorn, and outward hostility. This treatment extended to the Sannin himself. It was an interesting dynamic to watch, Jiraiya would think, if he wasn't so involved.

In fact, it was not uncommon for a group of civilians to start to bicker at the mere sight of the two strolling through the marketplace. If one civilian would smile and wave at the boy, another would openly chastise him. If the first to act glared at the child, another in the group would begin adamantly championing the young man. Truly fascinating, if not totally frustrating.

As such, Jiraiya would never let the four year old wander the streets alone, lest he be accosted by the faction that hated him. Of course, the boy was never truly alone. Every time the two left the Namikaze compound, Jiraiya would sense the multiple ANBU members pick up their tail. Jiraiya recognized at least three of them at all times- their captain could be trusted- so he knew there was no threat. Just the old man, checking up on them to make sure there were no problems. On occasion, the Toad Sage would pick up a second ANBU unit, just as hidden as the first.

That was more problematic. Although recovering quite well from the attack of the fox, Jiraiya knew that his sensei could not afford to send two units to monitor Naruto at the expense of the village's workload and security. It was therefore doubtful that the second unit belonged to the 3rd. It meant that Danzo was sniffing around, which was always trouble.

For Naruto's part, however, he seemed completely oblivious to the drama surrounding him. He smiled and waived at the friendly residents of Kohona, and seemed to completely ignore the glares and harsh words directed at him. Jiraiya often wondered if he was actually that dense, or just didn't want to make a scene. His godson had become a little shy like that.

Naruto had hit a minor growth spurt, and needed to be refitted for new clothing and gear. It was hard to keep up with the four and a half year old's growth, but, thankfully, money was not a problem. Even though he had not taken an official mission in years, Jiraiya's books were international bestsellers, leaving him with almost limitless bank accounts. Naruto's inheritance was just as impressive, as the 4th had saved practically every dime he had ever earned. Jiraiya never touched the boy's accounts, but it was a nice luxury to have.

It was around two in the afternoon when Naruto and Jiraiya reached the shinobi supply depot. The owner was a retired ninja, who had served under Jiraiya in the Second War, and served with Minato in the Third. Seeing him behind the counter, and nodding, Jiraiya turned to his ward. "Now kiddo, you need to pick out some new duds. I have a quick errand to run, so don't cause any trouble for Tamura-san. Oh, and Naruto... for the love of kami, don't pick out anything orange. I am so sick of that nonsense."

"But gramps, orange is so cool! When I jump into a battle wearing orange, everyone will turn and stare at how awesome I am- Oof!" The blonde began to rub hit head where Jiraiya had just knocked him.

"When you're actually in a battle, kid, the last thing you want is everyone staring at you, knucklehead. I'll be back in a few minutes, and then we can look at the weapons together, ok?" The blonde nodded, and the Toad Sage turned and exited the store.

Stretching his arms dramatically, Jiraiya quickly assessed to situation on the rooftops. He had been training non-stop to increase his sensing abilities. He already was one of the most stealthy ninja in the world, but the Iwa incident at the playground had clued him in that all the stealth in the world doesn't matter if you had to see your enemy or wait for them to use their chakra in order to find them. There will always be someone better, and waiting for that chakra was like sealing your own death warrant.

So he had began to enhance his senses. It started with the boy. He would instruct Naruto to hide somewhere in the woods on the Namikaze compound, and then try to find him using around ten clones, meditating. Through experimentation, he found that ten was the ideal number for the sensing exercises. For Naruto, it was a fun game of hide and seek, when he didn't get distracted and run after the animals.

After a few months, he would find the boy regularly, and began practicing on his clones. Jiraiya prided himself on his chakra suppression and stealth, so finding his clones in the woods was remarkably difficult. After being able to consistently locate two or three, he began to increase the number, mentally marking their location, and increasing the distance of his senses.

A little over a year later, Jiraiya was extraordinarily pleased with his progress. He would never be as adept as a sensor type shinobi, but he was able to consistently sense and find even chakra-suppressed clones up to one hundred and fifty yards away. He honed his skills wandering the village. With so many civilians wandering around, his getting an accurate count of the villagers within that distance was impossible for him, but he was able to make a mental layout of all the people within thirty feet, and could pick out those with developed chakra quite reliably. Now, it was relatively easy to sense the location of the eight hidden shinobi located nearby, watching him.

It seemed as if Danzo's men and the Hokage's were well aware of each other, but neither was inclined to make a scene. Thank goodness for small favors. Quickly locating the "friendly" ANBU of the Hokage, and mentally marking the Root agents, Jiraiya subtly quirked his fingers, and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

The ANBU captain straightened from his hidden position. This was not going to end well. He had told the 3rd of Danzo's increased activity in monitoring the boy, and the Hokage had specifically ordered him to do nothing but observe. While those were his orders, he wondered how this situation was going to resolve. He knew Jiraiya recognized him, he always did. A hand gesture here, a wink there, and the captain knew that his cover was blown. Of course, what was he to expect from one of the legendary three? He knew that he and his squad were safe from the wrath of the Toad Sage, but if the Sannin was going to go after the hidden Root agents, in the middle of the afternoon, on a public street, what was he supposed to do?

Quickly, he bit his finger, and made a few hand signs. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A small puff of smoke erupted from his palm. When the smoke cleared, a small pug wearing the Kohona headband appeared into his view. "Pakkun, trouble." The captain grunted from under his porcelain mask. "Tell the old man that it's the toad and the root." The dog quickly turned and scurried off in the direct of the Hokage tower. The captain then made quick signals to his squad to stay hidden unless civilians were in danger. 'Jiraiya-sama, I hope you know what you're doing.'

Jiraiya, in the meantime, had carefully hidden henged clones throughout the area. Danzo's agents hadn't moved, which he found amusing, but he wasn't too concerned. He knew there were searching for him, just as the Hokage's men were. As he positioned himself behind one of the Root shinobi, he noticed a flare of chakra coming from the ANBU captain. 'Careful Kakashi,' he thought, 'don't get involved in this one...' Jiraiya immediately smirked, as he noticed the Root agent in front of him turn his entire attention to the hidden ANBU captain. It was time.

Hatake Kakashi had removed his mask and lifted his headband to reveal his sharingan eye. It probably wasn't necessary for this situation, he knew there was no one in the Root ranks that could match him in a straight battle. He had been hailed a genius his whole life. A student of the 4th, Kakashi had graduated the academy at five, became a chunin at six. He had risen to jonin quickly thereafter, but of course that was during war time. He was only seventeen, but he was an ANBU captain, and already had more experience than the majority of the men under his command. He was a killer, trained in assassination, and had been rumored to have stolen over a thousand jutsu with his sharingan.

Those were just rumors, Kakashi mused, it was only around four to five hundred, but rumors and innuendo kept a shinobi alive. Still, sensing the chakra signatures of the Root shinobi, he knew that he had them outclassed. While it was foolish to underestimate opponents, he knew that only one of them had jonin level chakra, and he had a major advantage. He nevertheless had to consider damage control and civilians, which made the situation tricky.

Kakashi swept the area with his eye. He still hadn't found where Jiraiya had gone. It was incredibly frustrating to the prodigy. The man could not have just disappeared, and yet, he could not pick up the slightest chakra signature of the Sannin. 'Where is he?' he thought to himself. 'I'm better than this, I must find hi...'

Kakashi's thoughts halted as suddenly when, without warning, all four of the root agents winked out. It wasn't that they died... that would leave some residual chakra in their area. No, they had just simply disappeared. He quickly caught the rapid hand signals from his squad mates, who were just as unnerved as he was. He quickly signed back for them to stay hidden and returned to frantically scanning the area.

"Tell the old man I have some prisoners for Ibiki to have a chat with." Kakashi felt a chill run down his spine as he slowly turned to find the Toad Sage leaning up against a water tower on the roof. He hadn't sensed the Sannin, he hadn't heard him, hadn't felt him- he even avoided detection by the sharingan! "You need to stop relying on that eye so much kid, your sensei wouldn't appreciate you becoming a one-trick pony."

"B-but but how?" Kakashi stammered, blinking both eyes in disbelief.

"Now now, I can't give away all my secrets. A word of advice," Jiraiya mused, "that eye a tool, the same as a shuriken or kunai. Even if you are a genius, a tool is only as quick and as good as its user." The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes and smiled, "You're not in my league yet."

With that, the Sannin disappeared again, leaving Kakashi stunned. This time he was able to immediately spot the white haired legend walking back into the shinobi supply depot. Reaching back into his satchel for his ANBU mask, he found a small slip of paper. Palming it, he scanned the contents before burning it quickly with a flick of his fingers. It read, in Jiraiya's scrawl: "Swing by the house when you're off sometime kid, the knucklehead would love to hear stories about his dad, and I may be able to show you a few tricks. By the time you decide to show up, you'll be able to enter the compound. Cheers"

Kakashi shook his head as he signed to his team to stand down. 'Now, how did he do that?'

Jiraiya walked back into the store to find Naruto dressed in a black mesh shirt with a short black coat. He wore 3/4 length black shinobi pants with open toed sandals. On his head were a pair of goggles. Naruto was staring into the mirror with a frown on his face. Noticing his godfather in the mirror, the boy turned around. "Tamura-san picked this out for me." He walked up to his protector and began to whisper. "I don't like it gramps, but I don't want to be rude about it. There's no color at all. How are people supposed to notice how awesome I am if I look like I just came from a funeral?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Well kid, I suppose that really isn't you. I'm sure Tamura-san can help you pick out something slightly more colorful." He nodded to his former ally, who smiled. "Just make sure there's no orange... Anywhere!"

A/N: So we have now met Kakashi. Personally, I think he gets a bad rap in a lot of these stories. I know the manga and anime only showed that he taught Naruto tree-walking in the first part of the story, and nothing else. But, keep in mind that Naruto knew practically NOTHING when he left the academy. Remember his henge?

On Team 7's first real mission, he and Sasuke had perfect teamwork, his taijutsu had drastically improved, he had mastered henge, and he was still working hard on his chakra control. Then during part two the chunin exam, he had progressed even further. I'm not saying that Sasuke wasn't favored, or that it doesn't piss me off that Kakashi didn't bother to tell Naruto that he could use the kage bunshin for training (it does), but to say the man didn't do anything is silly in my opinion.

I think maybe Kishimoto didn't feel like drawing or writing simple training scenes because they were boring, and it's easier to just demonstrate the skills they learned through the action. But maybe that's just me projecting, because I don't feel like writing training scenes. Who knows?

Anyway, long story short, I think Kakashi is treated a little unfairly by the fanfiction world. I'm going to try to avoid that.

In other news, I still haven't the foggiest on how to deal with Orochimaru. I'm avoiding it like the plague. Help me out, folks.

I don't know if my schedule can keep up with my updates. I have been pumping out a new chapter every day or so, but I may need to calm down a bit- I don't want to burn out.

Anyway, hit me up if it turns out that I took something from someone.

Later,

-pp