Chapter 7

"Normal Conversation"

"Kyuubi or Summon Talking"

: Naruto Mentally Conversing with Kyuubi :

: Kyuubi Mentally Conversing with Naruto :

'Normal thoughts'

'Kyuubi's thoughts'

'Jutsu'

Disclaimer!

Come on...really?

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Jiraiya smiled as he watched both of his students, former and present, interact with one another. The two were currently talking animatedly and currently ignoring Jiraiya.

Despite the smile on the Sannin's face, it was obvious that he was out of it. He frowned as he thought of the current situation.

'What now?' He asked himself as he continued to watch Minato and Naruto with a frown on his face. 'Minato… He's back and alive no less.'

His eye twitched as he remembered another thing. 'Naruto already has a family and with Minato here, how will he cope up with it? He's already grown up and has his own life, his 'family.' Crap, and there's the Iruka problem too.'

Jiraiya sighed inaudibly. 'Iruka… He loves Naruto like his own son. He's protective of the boy and for heaven's sake, the kid even calls him 'father.''' His eye twitched again and wished that there was a way they could solve this without a fight. 'Minato… He's going to do anything to be with Naruto or to attain Naruto's forgiveness… Wait, he's already been forgiven. Then, I guess he'll do anything to be with his son even if it means decimating the village.'

Jiraiya held back a groan and slapped his hand over his forehead. 'Damn, I forgot about the village. There's no way we'll be able to explain this properly. And there's the Tsunade factor. Ugh,' Jiraiya looked up at the sky and blinked. 'I wish I wasn't caught in the middle of this chaos.'

"Sensei," He snapped out of his reverie and looked at his students.

"As amusing as it is to watch your changing expressions--" Jiraiya's eye twitched "--is something wrong? You look out of it," Minato looked at his sensei with a mixed expression of amusement and concern.

Jiraiya sighed once again before he looked at his former student. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, gaki. You know full well that with your sudden reappearance, things could turn out bad."

Minato's eyes suddenly took a determined glint and his lips pursed in a thin line. "I'm not one to back out on challenges. I'm no push over, sensei and if anyone dared get in the way of me and my family, then they'd be wishing they were never born."

Jiraiya raised a brow before smirking. "Stubborn as always, eh," He gave a slight chuckle before he looked at father and son. "Now I know the kid doesn't only get his stubborn genes from his mother."

Naruto glared at his godfather while Minato smiled as he ruffled his son's hair. After a little bit of glaring, he spoke seeing as his glare did nothing to his sensei/godfather.

"Well," He began as he swatted away his father's hand that had taken refuge in his head. "We should probably talk to Tsunade-baa-chan about this first. God knows that old lady hates being left out in these kinds of things."

Jiraiya blinked before nodding and speaking. "You're right. I don't want to be her punching bag again." Jiraiya grinned as he remembered something. "You know, if you keep calling her 'old', she's going to punch you all the way to Suna."

Naruto grinned back at his sensei. "Oh? Well, I haven't seen Gaara in a while and it'll save me time." Jiraiya's grin faltered before completely vanishing and he rolled his eyes.

Minato, on the other hand, stared at his son like he had grown two heads and another pair of arms. This kid was nothing like him in personality! 'I wouldn't have a single doubt that he's really Kushina's son.'

Thus, the three hurried back to the village. Minato replaced his Genjutsu and Jiraiya schooled his features into that of indifference. Naruto, however, remained as he was and didn't even bother putting up his 'Mask of Happiness.'

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"…--yelling and boasting. Heck there wasn't even a single speck of orange on him! That had to be an impostor!"

Tsunade gazed at the former ANBU and his students blankly. She idly wondered if she could get away with having the whole team admitted into Konoha's Mental Institution. Iruka, who was submitting a mission report when the team came in, was trying his best not to laugh or to even smile.

The Chuunin had informed Tsunade of Naruto's plan and they were having a good conversation before Team 7 walked in looking like they had seen a ghost. Tsunade knew that she shouldn't be doing this however, being completely bored; she decided to play a little with Hatake and his idiotic students.

"Look Hatake," Tsunade began as she acted like she didn't understand a single thing that the Shinobi had reported. "This doesn't make any sense. So, just give me a minute and I'll try to make something out of this."

Tsunade rubbed her temple before beginning. "You guys are telling me that Naruto --"

"It wasn't Naruto!" The trio cut Tsunade off.

Tsunade, however, twitched. "-- Naruto came to training wearing something other than his hideous jumpsuit called clothing. You all didn't notice him when he arrived because he didn't shout. And then, he asked you --" She turned to Kakashi who nodded, "-- if there would be training today. Afterwards, he turned to both of you--"

The Kage looked at Naruto's 'teammates', "-- for a spar. None of you gave him a reply and so, he left and mentioned that he was going to look for that perverted teammate of mine."

"But that wasn't the dobe!" Sasuke insisted for what felt like the thousandth time for Tsunade.

However, before the Kage could reply, a knock on the door was heard. Tsunade nearly sighed in relief that someone decided to come today otherwise; she would've bashed her head on her desk if Team 7 kept up what they were doing. And now, she also understood what Naruto meant. She seriously had to get the Jinchuuriki off of the 'team' or she herself may just kill the squad.

"Come in," Tsunade called loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door.

The door opened and Jiraiya walked in with his usual face. Tsunade, however, raised a brow at that. "What happened to entering through the window?" She asked but before Jiraiya could even get a word out, the idiotic trio pounced.

"Jiraiya-sama, something's happened to Naruto!" Kakashi babbled and was soon replaying what has been recently dubbed as 'The Not Naruto,' by team seven.

Soon enough, even his detestable students were blurting out things. "Someone's impersonating the idiot,"

"He probably got himself kidnapped this time,"

"We have to do something!"

Jiraiya looked at the three of them in mild curiosity and amusement before bursting out, laughing. It so happens that a laugh is infectious and soon, even Iruka and Tsunade were laughing with him, clamping their mouths to try and at least stifle it.

Team 7, however, looked dumbfounded as they watched the three of them laugh as though nothing had happened at all. It slightly unnerved the copy-nin and now, all he wanted to do was call Konoha's asylum. About exactly a minute passed before Jiraiya regained his composure and looked at the still gaping team and spoke in a dismissing manner and tone.

"He perfectly fine," Jiraiya waved as though nothing had happened although it wasn't exactly reassuring on Kakashi's part. "I just talked to him a little while ago,"

The trio blinked before visibly relaxing. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Iruka, in contrast, wondered if they were truly worried about Naruto or just the fact that they could be under attack if that was an impostor. Nevertheless, the three didn't miss a beat and immediately, Tsunade gave a sudden order.

"Hatake," Tsunade called the Shinobi's attention and was pleased when he gave his full. "I'm officially taking Naruto off of your team and placing him under Jiraiya's full care."

This not only shocked the Jounin but also his students who were more than surprised by the sudden decision. Kakashi, however, seemed to have his brain malfunction.

"What? But he's… I thought… He's…" Tsunade put up a hand and immediately silenced the gaping, and stuttering Jounin.

"The decision is final. As for the reasons, why don't you try and sit down and think about everything that had happened between you and Naruto ever since he was placed in you care, hm?"

There was a slight edge in Tsunade's voice and it was then that Kakashi realized that he had just lost a student,again, and this time, he could not do anything about it. Finally, after another minute of silence, Jiraiya spoke, his face serious as well as his voice. "Then if you'd be so kind to leave the room? I have matters to discuss with the Hokage and Iruka."

Kakashi snapped out of his gaping and bowed to the Hokage before leaving the room, his students in tow still wondering how they lost a teammate in just a snap. Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples and soon noticed that Jiraiya still had a serious face. She immediately sat up straight while Iruka stood at attention.

"What's wrong, Jiraiya?" The blonde woman asked as Jiraiya looked at her with a poker face before he broke out into a grin.

"Well, I presume that those three already narrated the whole encounter earlier. When I was with him, something happened too." He confessed, his grin never wavering.

The pair, however, leaned in, in curiosity. "Naruto came to me that time and told me that he wanted to show me something. We went into a clearing and…" He trailed off wanting to keep them in a little bit of suspense and leaving out the little detail about the fact that he had been caught peeping before Naruto found him.

"And?" The duo prodded as Jiraiya stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Well," Jiraiya began as he leaned on the wall. "He basically created a simple wind jutsu and the Rasengan." He finished and smirked when the duo twitched. "But," And thus he continued to taunt them.

"Just get on with it Jiraiya," There was a threatening tone in Tsunade's voice that made the Toad Sannin gulp and his smirk falter.

"But, he managed to create Rasen-Shuriken again." Jiraiya confessed to the two and when he saw that Tsunade was about to open her mouth, he held up a hand. "Before you hunt him down, no, he didn't hurt himself,"

Tsunade gaped. Sure, she should be used to expecting the unexpected from Naruto but then again, this was Naruto we were talking about. Tsunade and Iruka wondered what the blonde Jinchuuriki could have done seeing as he could kill himself if he were not careful with the Rasen-Shuriken and here was Jiraiya, stating that the boy was unharmed.

Seeing Tsunade and Iruka's curious looks, he continued. "Normally, the Rasen-Shuriken is used for close combat but with the tweaking that Naruto did, he managed to actually use the jutsu as a shuriken. He threw the damn thing as though it was a normal shuriken. That jutsu also managed to create a new path through the forest about a kilometer or so from the onsen."

Tsunade continued to gape and this time, like a fish. Then again, the person who they were talking about was Naruto. Iruka looked at Jiraiya, half expecting him to suddenly laugh and say that everything he just said was a joke. But when he saw nothing but a serious face and a proud grin, he knew that the man was telling the truth. However, this revelation was just the tip of the iceberg.

"And, there's more," Jiraiya confessed quietly. "Someone was watching us the whole time,"

This got the duo's complete attention and the immediately counted off options who could have been watching them. Akatsuki? Orochimaru? An enemy nin? And the list would continue had not Jiraiya interrupted their thoughts.

"Don't worry, he isn't an enemy," Jiraiya reassured and the two visibly relaxed but were still slightly tense.

"Who was it," Tsunade asked as she looked at her former teammate, although her patience with the man was becoming dangerously thin.

"You won't believe who it is," He replied with a seemingly forced grin.

"Just tell us who it is you old pervert," Tsunade's voice once again gained a threatening tone and Jiraiya did nothing but meekly nod his head.

He went to the door, opened it, and beckoned for someone to enter. However, before the person could even step foot into the office; Jiraiya turned to his audience. "Please don't faint and don't scream. And don't kill me either."

The two nodded their head in mild curiosity as Jiraiya had made an odd request. The Sannin stepped out of the doorway and allowed two people to enter. One, they recognized as Naruto who stood 'mask-less', however, the other, they didn't and it didn't help that he was hooded either.

Our mysterious hooded man stepped forward near Tsunade's desk while Jiraiya and Naruto remained in the background. As soon as Jiraiya deemed that Tsunade and Iruka were composed enough, he commanded. "Remove your hood, kid,"

And so, he removed his hood revealing a familiar yet different face from the one they knew. Iruka stared along with Tsunade. However, the Slug Sannin was slightly more used to these kinds of things and gasped out one word. "Impossible,"

"Oh, but it is," Jiraiya spoke with slight amusement, probably caused by their reactions. "Gamabunta confirmed it for us. He's genuine,"

Minato turned his head and glared at his former sensei for referring to him as though he was a thing. However, Jiraiya ignored him and continued speaking. "The kid also promised an explanation and I figured it would be better if he explained it once only." Tsunade subconsciously concluded that Jiraiya's brain was still intact and working. "Also, from there we can figure out what to do and how to handle things from now on."

Tsunade continued to stare although she was soon shaken out of her stupor and told everyone to have a seat and get comfortable.

Minato sat directly in front of Tsunade and in between his son and former sensei. Tsunade sat on her usual chair with Iruka to her left. Iruka's eyes were now darting back and forth between the two blondes, his mind finally relating the image similarity between the two it had refused to in the past.

He gave a gasp of disbelief although that was quickly converted to anger and he began to glare at the man. Hokage or no, he was not worthy to call himself a father.

How dare he call himself that when he had left Naruto alone and didn't even bother to leave him to a capable family? What kind of father would put a burden as great as that on his own child's shoulders? Did he even know what had happened in the past? Did the man know what kind of situations Naruto had gone through? Did he even know that he had grown up all alone?!

Soon enough though, Minato noticed Iruka's glare and glared back full force. It wasn't his fault! He had done what he thought was best and it wasn't like he had any other choice back then. For crying out loud, he would have done it to another child but he didn't have the heart to do so. Heck, if he had another choice he wouldn't have laid the responsibility on Naruto!

This guy, he didn't need to shove it in his face that he had failed as a father. He was already guilty as it is and he wasn't helping his case!

The other three soon noticed the tension between the two men. They had also guessed that they were mentally arguing over whether Minato was worthy of being called a father or not. Thus, before it got to physical or verbal argument, Naruto decided to end it.

"'Tou-chan, Youfu, that's enough," Naruto reprimanded the two men who soon turned to him before silently apologizing sheepish looks on both their faces.

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at the three of them before they both chuckled at the same time. It was an amusing sight; seeing two fully grown men succumb to the will of a teenager, a decade younger than them. Seeing how they interact, it would be interesting to see what will happen in the future between fathers and son.

However, something much more important was at hand. She needed to know and figure out how this situation came about in the first place.

"Alright brat," Tsunade began as she looked at Minato square in the eyes. "Explain,"