Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of the author. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 5

Turning round the corner to see the baths, who should we see peering through a gap on the wood, than a white haired, creepily giggling old man taking notes. I knew who he was immediately.

"Jiraiya." The Hokage said, in a tone similar to a teacher still scolding their student years after they had stopped teaching them, "Again?"

"Hokage!" the white haired man said, putting his hands behind his back quickly, probably hiding his notes, "What a surprise to see you! I was just passing by when I heard a scream, so I thought, being a powerful shinobi, I would come and check what was wrong! I was doing my shinobi duty to Konoha by protecting the citizens, you see... e-heh-heh... what did you want?"

"Jiraiya, meet Natsuki."

His eyes widened as he spotted me behind the Hokage, and his grin widened considerably. "Ah Hokage, I don't need help with the ladies, but if you insist..." he had now grabbed my hand and moved as if to kiss it, when I managed to disappear to the Hokage's other side. I had to smile at the bewildered look on his face as he looked around for me.

I saw the Hokage's lip twitch a little too.

"Jiraiya," the Hokage said, getting his attention again as he motioned to my new standing spot, "Obviously she is not quite like other women you know of. I need you to help train her."

A serious look spread across his face, and for the first time since meeting him, I saw a true shinobi, "Why me?"

"She has the same ability as one of your old students."

"Who?"

"Minato."

A silence stretched on for quite a while, as the men both endured a staring contest.

"Fine, but I need help."

"What would you like me to do?" the Hokage asked, a confused expression on his face.

"Not you... Kakashi. He would have spent a lot of time with Minato as well, he can help me train her." Turning to look at me, he gave what I assumed to be his version of a sexy smirk, "You better be ready, I'm gonna train you hard."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "You can try."

"Natsuki, I will need to tell Jiraiya and Kakashi about you, do you understand?" the Hokage said to me.

Smiling at him, I nodded my head, "I trust those two completely. Now, I need to go buy some ramen, Naruto will be wanting some when he comes home, he had a long day."

Jiraiya startled at my statement, "Naruto?"

"I'll send Naruto over after school," the Hokage said, before I watched him lead the sannin down the road, presumably to explain about me, "Now Jiraiya, let me tell you about a girl..."

I just smiled at the pair, before turning and making my way to the store. Beef, or pork ramen tonight?

At home that evening and making several cooking pots of ramen, I heard a knocking at the door. Going to answer, expecting my Naruto to be there, I saw two added guests. Jiraiya stood smiling at me holding a fidgeting Naruto, while Kakashi as ever was slumped against the wall opposite the door. He was exactly as I had pictured him, and his hair stuck up from his hitai-ite, shining sparking silver. His visible eye was half-lidded, and watching nothing in particular I thought.

"Hello Natsuki-chan, I hope you have enough for two more!" Jiraiya said with a smile, before leaning towards me so far that I had to lean back a little, "Or shall we ditch these two and get to know each other a little better in private?"

Rolling my eyes, I took Naruto out of his arms and walked back into the apartment. Putting Naruto down in his room and telling him to do his homework. After I had made sure that he would do his homework, I returned to the living room to see that the two men had let themselves in; Jiraiya looking at the few photos on the wall and Kakashi lounging on my sofa. An awkward silence reigned across the room as I nervously twiddled my thumbs. I was nervous. How could I not be? I was stood with the Legendary Toad Sage, one of the Three Sannin, as well as the deadly Copy Nin Kakashi. I had waited a long time to meet them, but I was clueless as to what to do now.

Plus...

They knew my secret.

"Tea anyone?" I asked.

"Yes please my dear." Jiraiya said, Kakashi merely nodding. I was surprised he hadn't retrieved a certain book from his pocket. If you could call it literature.

I hurried off to the kitchen and quickly fixed up a pot of jasmine tea, my favourite. I didn't really have anything else. The others were too expensive for my budget right now. I put the kettle to boil, and turned around to get the teabags when I was face to face with a familiar masked face. I knew I was blushing, even though I had never blushed before, because I felt a warming in my cheeks. Up close, I could almost make out all his features through his mask, and I had concluded that he would be quite handsome without the mask, which of course made me blush more. I shuffled past him to get the teabags and cups, and waited impatiently for the water to finish boiling.

"You adopted Naruto?"

I almost jumped in shock when I heard his low voice break the silence. "Sort of, I'm his sister though, not his mother."

"Ahh..."

"Erm-"

"And you believe you can do the Yondaime Hokage's jutsu?"

"Yes-"

"You think you're special?"

"What?- "

"You really believe you're from another world?"

"I'm not crazy-"

"I didn't say that, but now that you mention it..."

"WHAT?"

"Well you can't really blame me. What am I supposed to think? That I really am some form of fiction in 'your world', and you were somehow transported her for some unknown reason?"

"Yes!- "

"Maybe the Hokage asked me to watch you, rather than train you. You could be a hazard to the village's safety with what you think you know. I will not allow that to happen."

"So what? You're my babysitter?"

"Most likely."

The nerve! I prodded him in the chest, and by the widening of his visible eye I knew he was a little surprised by my actions, "You can think whatever you want to, but as long as you're my teacher and I'm your student, you will be teaching me how to control this jutsu!"

"'Tsuki-chan?"

I spun round to face Naruto, who had no doubt smelt the ramen cooking, "What is it Naruto?"

"Is the ramen ready yet? And who are these guys? Are they staying? Do I have to share my ramen? I don't want to share my ramen!"

I had to laugh at his pouting face, "Ramen's almost done, the guys are staying but there's enough ramen for all of us, so you don't have to share." Naruto grinned now. "Go set up the table, the quicker it's done the quicker you can eat." He was practically a blonde blur as he raced around the kitchen for utensils, before running to the small dining room we had. "NO RUNNING INSIDE NARUTO!"

"Sorry." He threw back, slowing to a jog.

I sighed in defeat, turning back to the tea and ramen. Strange combination, but edible at least. I poured the just cooked ramen into seven bowls, and attempted to balance the three cups of tea and a glass of milk as well, before a few pairs of gloved hands took some of the bowls and cups from me. Kakashi and his clones were helping me? I didn't question it, help was help. We made our way to the dining room and put everything on the table, only for Jiraiya to stand up.

"I'm sorry my dear, but I've been called away; urgent call for help from my publisher. I'll see you on Monday, bright and early at the training grounds, after you drop Naruto off at school. And don't worry about your job; you've got weekends for that. Bye!" he managed to steal a kiss on my cheek before skipping out of the apartment.

I wiped my cheek.

"RAMEN!"

Kakashi, Naruto and I dug in, Naruto devouring his four bowls, Kakashi having two and I had a single bowl. I managed to distract Naruto while Kakashi was eating, didn't want my soon-to-be-teacher to be embarrassed here while he ate quickly. Naruto contributed little to the conversation, finding his food a more worthwhile subject to concentrate on. Kakashi and I however were discussing anything and everything (that was appropriate in front of Naruto at least), and found a lot in common, and a lot in contrast. The biggest faux pas for me about him was his choice in literature. He tried to convince me to read his books, and I tried to convince him not to. But the trouble with arguing with a genius is that you probably won't win. He had somehow managed to hand me one of his copies of Icha Icha Paradise and I had no idea how it happened. All I knew was that I'd be putting that on a high shelf, out of Naruto's reach. No need for him to become a pervert, at least not this early.

"It's disgusting!"

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"Have you actually read the series?"

"No but-"

"Then you have no valid reason to disagree with me, as I have read the books. It's quite interesting and enlightening-"

"You realise that the series is a result of a perverted old man spying on women in secret, because no sane woman would 'service' him and his insatiable needs."

"And what about my 'insatiable needs'?"

What? Oh god, the blush was back, how could he keep a straight face like that? "Th-Then you need to find a real girl, not a figment of someone's imagination."I was a hypocrite.

"And where would she be?"

This could get potentially more embarrassing, on my part, "You need to stop asking questions Kakashi-kun, and start looking then."

"Maa... too much work, I don't have the time to look and be a shinobi. I'll just read the books."

"You're impossible!"

Eventually time seemed to have flown by, and Naruto was drowsily nodding off into his empty stack of bowls. Picking Naruto up and putting him to bed, I kissed him goodnight and made to leave when he reached out and held my shirt.

"Is Natsuki-chan going to become a kunoichi?"

Ahh... so he had been listening, "Maybe."

"That's nice. I'll still protect you though, date..bayo... zzz"

Smiling down at him, I removed his hand from my shirt and tucked him in tight. Putting the night light on for him, I closed his door quietly as I made my way back to the living room where I saw Kakashi lounging on the sofa with his feet on my coffee table. Passing by him to sit on his other side, I kicked his feet off the table. Stupid ninja genius, thinks he can dirty my furniture. We talked quite late into the night, and he told me stories of his time as a student of Minato, with his teammates Rin and Obito. I couldn't help the small twinge of jealousy at the delicate way he spoke of Rin, nor the sadness which filled me when he told me of Obito's last mission.

"Rin's not been the same since... we used to have... well, it doesn't matter anymore..."

I really wanted to ask what he was talking about, but saw his blank expression. I had learnt through our conversations that that blank look meant I'd get no further on the topic. It was like looking at a dead end. It was saddening and frustrating, but I couldn't really expect him to trust me so soon... I was still upset though. Time for a new topic.

I told him of my family back home, there weren't really any friends for me to talk about. But he seemed to enjoy listening to the 'adventures' that my cousin and I got into, and the trouble that we got into after failed 'missions'. It was nearly midnight when he made to leave. I was a little sad; I had really been enjoying his company.

Here goes nothing,"Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I could really use some help learning about chakra and, all that. There's only so much Naruto can explain to me before he stops making sense and starts to get hungry."

I heard him chuckle, before nodding, "Meet me in the training grounds at one. Be ready for quick-fire lessons." Meet at one? That would mean he'd arrive there at about four I guess.

"Okay, I'll be there."

"I'll be seeing you then."

I led him to the door, where he handed me another Icha Icha book, before giving me a peck on my cheek to my surprise. I was probably bright red when he had left...

But I didn't wipe my cheek.