First off, sorry that this chapter is a little shorter. I got to a certain point in the writing of it and it just felt right to stop where i did. Sometimes that's just how life works, right?

Anyway, Naruto meets someone very important in this chapter, she starts training, Gaara gets peeved, and the other sand sibs start some plotting. Don't forget to tell me what you think of the chapter with a review, hmm?

notice-ff style, disclaimer no jutsu!

Naruto walked absent mindedly through the village as she handled the kunai that the Hokage said was her fathers, coming to grips with everything that had been said. She trusted her jii-san, and believed he was probably right, and Kankuro, even, had noticed how much she looked like the previous hokage and his wife. Naruto had to agree with that one, once she had seen the picture of the two of them together, holding her as a baby. Now, however, she was wondering how she might be able to find Kakashi sensei.

The first reason was to ask what happened the night she was born. He was the only person who had witnessed her birth and still alive. Only he could give her the full story. After learning that he was trained by her father, and seeing that he must have had his sharingan before the yondaime died, she realized that he must have had the sharingan even then, and based on what jii-san had said, this kunai had been part of one of her father's greatest jutsu's, and she hoped her sensei had managed to record it, and that she could use it, too.

Of course she knew that Kakashi would be training Sasuke hard for his match against Gaara, but only he would know how to use that jutsu, if anyone did, and part of training was always leaving the student alone for a bit. It only does so much good to spend all your time teaching someone. To truly master a skill, you had to learn the most important parts on your own. Only then were you truly the master of that jutsu. That was part of why new jutsu's held so much prestige; they showed you were a master of something no one else was…yet. The honor only held on for as long as there remained only a small number of people capable of learning that jutsu.

She had Ebisu to train her, of course, but she'd never really liked him anyway. She told him, when he caught her outside the hokage's office, that she needed to rest today and she'd meet him tomorrow. After a nod from the hokage he agreed and said he'd be there to pick her up first thing in the morning. She was hoping to have found Kakashi-sensei by then. Twirling the kunai in her hand she blinked as she heard an odd giggle. Looking around she took stock of her location. She was at the hot springs near the edge of town. She hadn't even realized that she'd been walking that long she'd been thinking so hard. Then she spotted the source of the giggling.

Crouched down by wall, an old, white haired man was looking through what must have been a small hole on the women's side of the baths. At this angle she didn't recognize his headband, but it suggested he was a shinobi…even if he was the most oddly dressed shinobi she's ever seen. He wore those type of shoes…clogs? And dark green pants with a red jacket, and his backpack had a scroll as large as the forbidden scroll Naruto has stolen from the Hokage's tower just months prior. To top it off, he had the spikiest hair she had ever seen. And, she registered, he was peeping at the women in the baths. He was a grade 'A' pervert.

Deciding she didn't like him, she quietly walked up behind him, masking her intent by focusing on a rock near the road. That was how she did most of her diversions in pranks. Shinobi could sense each other's intents, so it was foolish to really try and hide it. No, what you had to do was mask it with another intent. Many chuunin ran right by her hiding places because she projected an 'I'm out in the open' intent rather than a 'I'm hiding' intent. Jounin were a bit harder to trick in that regard since most of them had learned that trick. Naruto had discovered it on accident while pranking and experimented till she got it right, Anko giving her pointers as she went. It served her well.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't yell out to all those women that there's a freaky old pervert out here," she said coldly as she pressed the steel of her father's kunai against his throat. The old man opened his eye that wasn't busy peeping to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Aren't you a little young to be threatening someone little girl? You don't even look like you know how to handle that…kunai…" Suddenly she had the man's full attention as he actually caught the shape of the kunai she held and the seals on its handle. He whipped around so fast Naruto almost fell over.

"Alright, I'm game to listen to you after all. Tell me what you know about that kunai you have there. If you actually know how to use it, I might be impressed."

"What?" Naruto looked at him, confused by the change in demeanor. She looked back and forth between him and the kunai he was now so interested.

"The kunai," he said, waving a hand as though impatient. "Tell me what you know about it. Jiriaya, the legendary toad sage, doesn't give out many free chances for small brats to impress him." Never would have thought she'd be working on that jutsu this young. I thought I was keeping good track of her progress, but maybe I've been more lax than I thought I was…

Meanwhile, Naruto's mind whirled as she tried to remember where she'd heard that title before. She was certain it was something she should remember, but she couldn't get a grasp on it. Even more confusing was his interest in her father's kunai. She decided she'd stall for time as she tried to remember who he was.

"What makes you so interested in this kunai? There's a lot of kunai out there, after."

"Ah, but so very few in that…shape," he said, trying to say mysterious. "Mostly it's the single blade kunai. A fair number of shinobi use two pronged kunai, but three pronged? The number there is almost negligible." Naruto scrutinized him for a moment longer before her eyes widened.

"Wait! You're one of the three sannin! I remember now; Anko-chan told me about you guys." She looked at him oddly. "Why do you want to know about my kunai?" He waved a hand.

"If you don't know anything about it then there's no point in asking. No, if you don't mind, I have some research to get back to…"

"Do you know how to use the yondaime's jutsu?" The man paused, slowly turning back to the girl.

"What jutsu?" Naruto motioned to the kunai.

"My…the yondaime, he had a jutsu he needed this type of kunai to use. I need someone who can teach me that jutsu. Do-you-know-how-to-use-it?" The edge of Jiriaya's lip quirked upward as he was reminded of his student's wife before his eyes narrowed.

"What is that," he asked, pointing. Naruto looked over her shoulder before slapping her forehead.

"Gaara," she muttered.

"Gaara? What's a Gaara?"

"He's a 'who,' and one of Suna's genin in the chunnin exams. He thinks I'm his long lost sister, so he's taken to, literally, keeping an eye on me." She frowned at the floating sand eye. "He can't seem to take a hint that I don't appreciate his presence." Jiriaya's eyes had widened during the explanation as he scratched his chin, analyzing the odd jutsu.

"Alright then, I think we can manage something here." He reached to hold Naruto's shoulder, lifting up a hand. "Secret research jutsu!"

Somewhere else in the village, Gaara was preparing to fetch his sister when she disappeared before his sight. He frowned. This was not good. What had that old man done? Where was he taking Naruto? Making his eye look around he spied a burst of smoke in the pattern of a shushin technique, right where they had been standing. So, it was simply a form of invisibility. No matter. He'd be more stealthy with the use of his eye until he caught up with them. He canceled the jutsu and activated it again, keeping his goal on Naruto. He frowned. How are they hiding from me?

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"What did you do?" Jiriaya laughed heartily at Naruto's bewildered expression.

"Oh, I've become quite good at hiding, so I activated my ultimate stealthy jutsu. Whatever method he's using to track you won't work now," he explained, smirking.

"Wow…that's not too bad, pervy sage." He face faulted.

"HEY! Don't you call me that! I'm one of the legendary sannin, the great three, master of many jutsu! I'm Jiriaya the great!"

"Fine, fine," Naruto said, waving a hand uncaringly. "You never answered my question, though; can you teach me how to use my dad's jutsu?" They stared at each other for a moment before Naruto slapped her face. "Crap; I gotta work on not doing that."

"You…know who your parents are, then? I thought you would be older before sensei told you."

"What? How do you know jii-san!" Jiriaya grinned weakly.

"Well, he was the teacher of us three sannin…and it's not just him I knew. I knew your father, too."

"Huh?...how?"

"I…was his teacher…and your godfather." If nothing else that day had fazed Naruto, this was the one that would do it. Not only was her father famous, but he'd been trained by one of the three sannin, and was close enough to him that said sannin had been named her godfather. Her godfather was a sannin. She stared at him for a moment, then slapped him as hard as she could.

"Where have you been," she demanded, crying. "Why have I never seen you before? Dad trusted you, and the first time I meet you your peeping at a girls bathhouse? What kind of man are you? What kind of friend are you?" The man hung his head, waiting for Naruto to stop.

"Not a very good one, I think. I know I just boasted about being 'Jiriaya the great,' but I've made too many mistakes in my life. My best friend deserted the village, my students are all dead, I've failed in my obligation to the toads, the most important book I've ever written just sits in used book stores collecting dust…and I can't even do more than drop a gift off on my goddaughter's birthday."

"Gift? What gifts? Every gift I've ever gotten had a name on it, and none of them was ever yours."

"I would look around for what I thought you would like before hand, and then give the money to sensei and he'd buy it for you. That set of hair ribbons, for example, was one of my gifts." Naruto absently touched said ribbons as she continued to question him.

"If you had enough time to find me presents, why didn't you have enough time to talk to me, to act like a god-father?"

Jiraiya covered his face. It was one of the few times in life that he allowed others to see him in despair.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto. Nothing I have done is a real reason. I've always preferred being alone, and I did have my spy network for Konoha, but if had enough time to visit the village, I had enough time to talk with you. If I had done that, maybe things wouldn't have been so confusing for you, but I'm not going to fail anymore." He uncovered his face, standing to his full, and impressive, height. "From now on, I'm taking my role as your godfather seriously. I'll watch over you all I can, and from now on you'll be my apprentice. I'll teach you everything I taught your father, and all the wisdom that he bestowed upon me as well. This I promise." Naruto was awed in spite of herself. She wanted to keep being angry at him, but something in how he'd just declared himself was inspiring, and made her want to forgive him. She shook her head and looked off to the side.

"Alright, fine. I forgive you, but," she continued, pointing a finger at him while her other hand rested on her hip, "only if you promise to teach me everything you did my dad." As impressive as his declaration was a moment before, his facefault was its antithesis.

"What! You shouldn't go around forgiving people that easily! Don't you know what will happen to you out there if you keep that up?" Naruto rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Yes, I know; jii-san tells me the same thing all the time, and Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun, and Iruka-sensei and Anko-nee-chan and-"

"Alright alright, I get the point! Oi." He shook his head. "Girl, we're going to have to work on that." She shrugged.

"So I've been told." Her eyes lit up. "So what's first? You gonna teach me dad's flying thunder god? Or maybe his wind blade? Oh! I heard he was great with the-"

"Hey, slow down kid! Those are advanced techniques! You're not ready for them, yet. Heck, for all we know you may not be able to perform some of them for reasons no one can control, just no one besides Minato was able to perform the flying thunder god." Naruto's face began to fall. "But, I can show you one of his best techniques. The main requirement for this one is a lot of chakra. Most kids your age wouldn't be able to do it just because of that. It's almost impossible for kids to have build up their chakra reserves this high, but thanks to your little furry friend, you have the ability to perform…the summoning jutsu!" Naruto's eyes lit up again.

"You mean I could summon snakes like Anko-nee-chan?" Jiriaya bit back a look of disgust, thinking of his lost teammate.

"No, not yet. I've got a different summon for you, and someone else has that contract anyway."

"Oh yeah; Anko-chan said there was a contract to sign." The girl looked thoughtful.

"What will you be teaching me to summon?" The toad sage grinned.

"Toads." Naruto stared at him for a moment.

"Eeeeewww!"

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That evening saw the toad sage carrying a slumbering Naruto into the hokage's office, much to the surprise of the old man.

"Well, I suppose that would account for why I couldn't find her in my crystal ball earlier. I almost sent out a search party before it was confirmed that…certain parties were also frustrated."

"Ah, you mean that Gaara boy, yes sensei?" He set Naruto down on one of the large cushioned chairs in the room as the hokage looked at him in surprise.

"How do you know-"

"Naruto told me," he said, waving a hand. "This girl trusts people way too easily, you know."

"Yes. I've told her the same many times." Jiriaya grunted a chuckle.

"Yes, so she said, along with just about every other person she knows. I wanted to talk about this Gaara, though."

"Yes, I see. What about him."

"You know he's been spying on her?"

"Yes, with his sand eye. A very unique technique, probably original to him alone."

"Yes, probably, but like you crystal ball, my jutsu can still hide from it."

"So it would so seem. My anbu reported that the boy became rather frustrated earlier as his 'sister' disappeared."

"Good. I don't want him to be around her too much. I can keep her hidden from him, but for her training for the exams, I think I'd like to keep her with me. I can't keep the jutsu going forever, but neither can he. So, I want to keep her in places that are unfamiliar to either of them as much as I can until we can deal with it properly at the final exam when the Kazekage comes." Sarutobi stroked his beard a moment.

"Hmm… Perhaps that would be the best way to handle things, though I don't like the idea of not seeing her for a whole month. Konohamaru won't like it much, either. He hasn't gotten to see her for a week already, and he would be one that Gaara would associate as being near Naruto." His gazed shifted over to the girl as she smiled in her sleep and snuggled deeper into the couch. "I approve your idea. Have you told Naruto yet?"

"No; we were very busy training today." The hokage raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I got her to sign the toad contract. Minato signed it, after all, so I thought she'd like it." His nose scrunched like he smelled something bad. "She was hoping it was the contract for the snakes for some reason." Hiruzen chuckled.

"Well, Anko has been her sister figure for years now."

"Anko? Anko…"

"Mitarashi. She was Orochimaru's apprentice before he… left."

"Ah, so that's why she was into snakes. Funny, though; she thought toads were gross."

"That may be Anko's influence as well." The sage rolled his eyes.

"Naruto will see how much more valuable Toads are soon enough."

"Of course. Now, tell me what you did with my granddaughters training."

"Well, first was the actual signing of the contract, then after her first attempt, I had her do some exercises for chakra control. That much chakra in her system, she'll need a lot of work controlling it, as I'm sure you know."

"Of course. She's actually done remarkably well. You may remember how much trouble the clone jutsu gave Kushina? Well, Naruto can actually do it right about half the time, but she has to concentrate which makes it ineffective for battle. However, she managed to learn the shadow clone technique, as I'm sure you know." Jiriaya scowled.

"Yes, I heard about that incident. The perpetrator was sentenced for life, wasn't he?" The hokage nodded. "Good. You might want to try interrogating him again, though. I think there was more going on than just trying to steal a scroll."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Simple. In the original report, Anko said he referred to Orochimaru, and now Naruto has seen Orochimaru again, during the second exam. He's been invisible for years. There has to be a reason why he's here now. I'd look into more myself, but my personal spy work is going to be minimal while I'm training Naruto, and my network is busy with another project at the moment. Something big, but I'm not sure what it is just yet."

"I see." The hokage furled his brow as he brought his fingers together in thought. "Yes, that is a good point. I hadn't thought to connect Mizuki to Orochimaru's appearance before now, but that is a good point. I think I'll have Inoichi interrogate him personally this time."

"Good idea; he should be able to get all the secrets out of him, especially since we can connect him to a more clear and present threat."

"Exactly. He won't be getting any soft hands this time around." The old sage nodded as he walked back over to the couch, picking up the sleeping girl as gently as he could.

"We'll be around the village, and I'm sure I'll treat her to a few meals, so you won't have to worry about her. As long as the Anbu keep their eyes open, you'll see that she's still safe."

"I'm trusting you with her, Jiriaya. I'm trusting you to treat her like the godfather you should have been all these years." His eyes were wet as he turned back to face his sensei one last time before leaving.

"So is she, and I promised her I would." With that the toad sage left the room, carrying the young blonde in his arms as she snuggled into his chest for warmth, leaving his sensei to wonder at the details of what happened between the two that day.

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"Well, she from what Gaara says I don't think she's in trouble," Kankuro was saying to his sister. "I mean, yeah, the guy is probably a perv is he was looking at the girls in the bathhouse, but I think she'll be fine." The oldest of the sand siblings growled.

"Well I don't like it, and I don't want some old perv hanging around our sister," she declared. "Besides," she continued, her voice softening, "I never got to explain why I did what I did at the prelims. I just can't stand remembering the look she gave us." The puppeteer nodded.

"I know, but we'll have time later to figure that out. Right now we need to prepare for the exams…and figure out what to do for the invasion."

"I think I may have something we can do," a new voice said. The teens jumped at the sound, relaxing only when they saw it was their sensei. "You see, your father has appointed me to be the liaison for Orochimaru for the next month. I will be in charge of coordinating attack locations for our two forces." Kankuro's eyes lit up.

"I see…this is the perfect infiltration," he said. "We can't stop the invasion, but we can make it so that our own losses are minimal while at the same times lowering the losses for Konoha, inflicting maximum damage to the sound village." Baki nodded.

"Exactly. Of course, strategy was never my strong point. Temari, I'll need you to help me out with this one. Everything I learn I'll be sharing with the both of you, and we'll do our best to plan things right. Suna must remain out of this battle as much as possible, and I'll do all I can to keep your sister safe." The girl nodded.

"That sounds like a good plan to me. We can't deviate too early, of course, or someone will realize what's happening, and I'm sure the anbu are keeping tabs on each of us, especially now that they now that we know about Naruto's true origins." She shook her head. "I just wish I understood why the people that seem to love her are keeping the truth from her. Mother was here," she said, "and the old man must have known. Why don't they tell her the truth?" Kankuro shrugged, not understanding either, and they continued to make plans for what they would do with the information that would soon start trickling their way.

Elsewhere, sitting on a rock and staring at the moon, a certain silver haired ninja sneezed, wondering why he was thinking of Naruto's parentage at that moment.

Not yet, he thought. She needs a little more time before she's ready. I'll tell her the whole story soon, including Minato sensei and Kushina. It's just…so hard to wrap a head around. She's not ready yet. Soon, but not yet. He sighed as he stretched and layed down. Tomorrow was going to be a hard one on his student. They were going to learn his chakra nature the next day to see if he had lightening. If he did, it would be a great aid against Gaara, and Sasuke had already had practice with his families fireball jutsu.

Soon…

Unfortunately I forgot to write up that little piece where Ten-ten draws the number 10 at the conclusion of the prelims. :( I would do it now but I have too much to do today. After I get this posted it's gonna be work work work!

Anyway, hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter. I don't really have anything to say at the end of this one. Just let me know what you think of how i'm doing so far. Take care ya'll!

~CaptainFlye

-ps

Love you Himeflye!