AN: Sorry all, these chapters were suppose to go up last night, but we were away (long drive) and I didn't manage. For future reference, the updates will be every Sunday. Enjoy.

AN: Sup boys and girls (and you rare non-binary out there), here's the next chapter. Below is a list of japanese words to help improve your reading comprehension. As always, we own nothing.

Sensei - teacher

Gaki - brat

Matte, matte ne - wait, wait…

Nani - what?

Yatta - exclamation

Arc – Transition of Power

Chapter Two – A Spy Master's Apprentice, Part 1

Jiraiya squinted into the distance, the bright sun only mildly distracting as he continued forward with only the 'clop, clop, clop' of his clogged feet filling the silence. As he travelled deeper into the outskirts of the Land of Fire, Jiraiya cherished this rare moment of quiet as he glanced back down at his notes. Finally, he could hear himself think, his reluctant travelling companion currently lost in his own thoughts.

'Naruto-kun,' he thought, his gaze briefly lifting from the coded words before him. 'My…godson.' Even in his thoughts he had trouble saying the word, trouble carrying the weight of the responsibility that came with it. And it wasn't because he didn't like the boy. No, the truth was far from that. Even now, without the boy's normally lively chatter, Jiraiya felt a surge of warmth for the boy. A warmth and fondness that only seemed to grow with time because truthfully, Naruto-kun was something else.

'Sensei's briefings hadn't done the boy justice,' he continued, his thoughts on the few words his Sensei had used to describe the blond throughout the years. 'But then, maybe there are no words that can do Naruto-kun justice,' he finished, a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips. The boy was an experience that was for sure. 'Your parents would have been proud,' he thought somberly before returning his focus to his notes.

Guilt crept at the edge of his consciousness as he re-read the same line for the third time. 'No, stop. Don't do this to yourself,' he commanded, gaze once again lifting to watch the boy walking beside him. 'He's happy. He's safe. And he turned out far better without me looking after him,' he thought pushing back the wave of shame. There wasn't time for him to indulge in his guilt now. Wallowing would do nothing but dampen the mood. There was, after all, nothing that could change the past. 'No matter how much I wish that wasn't true,' he thought bitterly, his mind on the plethora of things he would change, if only it were possible, his prior treatment of Naruto-kun among them.

Not that it mattered now, anyway. Shaking his head, he tried to turn his attention back to his notes. Him, guardian material? He was barely Sensei material. Just barely. And given his previous track record, he was being generous with that assessment. Minato-kun really should have known better than to try to pass him that kind of responsibility.

'Godfather,' he thought with a scoff. He could barely take care of himself let alone a newborn. And then, when the boy had gotten older, Jiraiya had been too busy with his ever growing spy network. He'd been away from the village nearly as much as Tsunade in all honesty. And that just wasn't a life for a child. He couldn't… It wasn't…

Jiraiya sighed at the familiar excuse as his gaze found Naruto-kun once more. He'd been telling himself the same lie for the last thirteen years. But time hadn't changed the truth. He'd been a coward. A wreck with his last student gone, his last friends within the village dead or just gone. Being near the kid then had just been too painful. Like picking at an open wound over and over again.

Of course being near the kid now, told him a different story. Just maybe this bundle of energy could have helped him. Could have healed those open wounds faster. And just maybe, his godson wouldn't have had to make the best out of a bad situation all by himself. Sure maybe the kid still would have been a right terror, but Jiraiya could have lived with that.

He could just see Kushina-chan's face now, smiling at her boy's mischief. 'I think you would have had a hernia, Minato-kun,' he thought with a laugh, remembering how high strung his student had been, at least, before Kushina-chan. Nostalgia colored his vision as he thought, wishing, as he often did, that the young didn't always have to die so soon.

'But that's all going to change,' Jiraiya thought as he pushed onward with renewed vigor. It didn't matter anymore what he'd done, or hadn't done in the past. All that mattered was that he was here now. No more excuses. Naruto-kun wasn't a baby anymore, he wasn't still struggling his way through the Academy. He wasn't even a Genin anymore. No, Naruto-kun was blazing through life, and if Jiraiya wanted to be apart of it, then he had to act now.

And little Naruto-kun didn't seem to know how to do things small either. 'Marrying the Hyuuga heir?' Jiraiya shook his head at the thought. Who would have guessed Minato-kun's son would have such high aspirations? 'The kid has a better chance of marrying one of the Fire Daimyo's daughters. Shit becoming Hokage as a Chuunin would be easier'. Which was saying something because Jiraiya was almost positive at least one of the Fire Daimyo's daughters was already married and no one had ever become Hokage as only a Chuunin.

'Heck, I'm sure the kid has better luck with joining a monastery, renouncing all things ninja related, and maintaining all of those silly vows than marrying the Hyuuga heir,' Jiraiya thought with a small laugh. Trying and failing to imagine Naruto-kun quietly performing a cleansing ritual. The kid never did anything quietly. 'Well, almost never,' Jiraiya thought as he cast a suspicious gaze at his student.

'Any minute now,' he thought, waiting patiently for the silence to be interrupted. Surely there was at least one question on the blond's mind. 'Nothing,' Jiraiya thought with a frown. 'Now that's downright eerie,' he continued as the silence persisted. This was the first time since he'd properly met the kid that he'd been able to keep his trap shut for longer than a few minutes. Even when the kid was relentlessly focused on fuuinjutsu, the only task he bothered to practice in the Sannin's presence, the blond never stopped talking, always running a constant commentary even if it was just between his clones. 'Shit, he even snores loudly.' Jiraiya's only moments of quiet were the ones away from the blond.

Shaking his head, he turned his focus back onto the kid. For days on the road, Naruto-kun hadn't shut up, asking question after question. Picking Jiraiya's brain on everything fuuinjutsu. Everything. From ink compositions to layering techniques, the kid soaked up fuuinjutsu like a sponge, which really wouldn't have been a problem if the boy bothered to ask about anything else.

Hell, Jiraiya would have been happy with just one question unrelated to the sealing art. Just one. It didn't even need to be training related. A 'how old are you, or what's your favorite color', just one question not about ink and brush strokes and layering which really shouldn't have been that much to ask for.

'Look at me now,' Jiraiya thought with a roll of his eyes and a frustrated sigh. 'I'm a legendary Sannin turned into a one trick pony. It's a damn waste of my considerable talents.' And the worst part was Jiraiya wasn't entirely sure if the kid just didn't know what a Sannin was or if he really just didn't give two flying fucks.

'Oh well,' he thought as the quiet remained. The kid was clearly still lost in thought. Either he was sifting through countless memories from one of his way too many shadow clones littered around Konoha, or he was thinking about his precious princess. Yeah, the gaki had some balls to have ambitions like that. 'Married to the Princess of Konoha.' Jiraiya shook his head in disbelief. Sure that best friend was just the new youth code for girlfriend, or at the very least it meant that for Naruto-kun.

With a shrug, Jiraiya let the thought go. Sure the silence was slowly creeping him out, but it was quiet. An occurrence more rare than a total eclipse. The least he could do was enjoy it. As it stood, it wouldn't, couldn't, last much longer.

Returning his focus back to his research notes, Jiraiya's gaze ran along a brilliant piece of pose if he did say so himself. And he did. Quite often in fact. Which of course meant that the giggle that followed was completely unavoidable. This bit about a busty blonde and her powerful chakra reserves would go over well he was sure. He giggled again as his mind sunk further into thoughts of just how she could use said chakra reserves next.

His giggle turned into a gentle nod as he continued to read through the page, mind only half present as he occasionally jaunted down a note or two to pursue later. He was of course doing more than just reading the not so innocent lines of his text. No, with each pass of his gaze, he took in more of his carefully crafted intelligence information. Words and phrases alike scratched into the text about buxom women and the powerful, confident, completely irresistible man that they flocked to that when strung together and translated with one of his many ciphers held only the most important, pertinent information ready for the Hokage's eyes only.

Really, he was an absolute genius to have created this craftily information network that allowed his research notes to serve a dual purpose. An absolute genius. Or at least he'd thought so before the gaki had had the gall to destroy them all. Jiraiya sighed as he remembered the great loss. Not only would Kenshirou-san never get to plow his mighty sword into Tsuki-chan's forbidden garden, but he'd also lost months of detailed accounts. All rather sensitive information that would take twice as much time to regain as he painstakingly replaced it.

'My beautiful, beautiful Tsuki-chan gone,' he lamented as he remembered the busty brunette fondly. 'Oh, and my spy network,' he added as an afterthought, remembering the rather embarrassing meeting he'd had with his Sensei following the incident. He may have gotten a lackey out of the destruction, but Sensei had been so disappointed, and he hated disappointing the man that was like a father to him.

'Still, I'll make the best of this situation yet,' Jiraiya thought as he took his eyes from his incomplete notes, gaze taking in the gaki beside him. Naruto-kun's potential was probably limitless, Jiraiya had known that with only one look at a handful of files from the kid's considerable rap sheet. If even just a fraction of what was in those few files was true then the boy had the potential to become the best spymaster Konoha or the ninja world had ever seen. After all, it wasn't every day that a kid earned an 'apprehend on sight' order by the Hyuuga Police.

Despite first impressions, the kid was actually a natural at infiltration, information gathering, and just simple observation skills. 'Now if I can just get the kid to value those particular ninja skills,' he thought with a bitter frown. While Jiraiya believed that there was no more honorable skill than the art of the spy, unfortunately the kid just didn't see things the same way. 'There's got to be a way to convince the brat,' he thought, mind sifting through every possible trick he could use because he already knew he couldn't just be straight with the boy. No, Naruto-kun was just too honest of a ninja. Too focused on fuuinjutsu and his Princess to ever listen to him on anything that didn't relate to those topics. If he was going to get the blond to embrace his natural talent for spying, then he'd have to trick him into it. There really was no other way around it.

'And that's not going to be an easy task,' he thought with a sigh. 'Oh well, that's a task for another day,' he continued, mind already focused on the mission at hand. After all, before anything else could move forward, Tsunade-chan had to be found. A task that would be nearly impossible with only the few tattered remains of his notes left.

'And that's not even the worst of it,' he thought with a frown. 'No, the worst of it will be trying to convince her to take a job even I don't want in a village she's sworn to never step foot in again.' So yeah, getting Naruto-kun to use his natural talent for the one true ninja art was going to have to wait. As it was, his godliness only extended to the ladies. For everything else, he was just like any other man putting his pants on one leg at a time. He could only focus on one impossible task at a time.

Glancing back down at his notes, Jiraiya deciphered the hastily put together information he'd managed to gather during their week long search. If his trusted sources were correct, then there'd be some trace of his teammate in a little town not far from their current location. He'd looked up the no name town in advance, noting the few sports bars where gambling, all illegal of course, was held every once in awhile. Surprisingly enough, a lot of money came through the small town during those events.

Jiraiya's instincts were pointing towards an underground operation of some kind, possibly even the one he'd had his eye on for a couple of years now but had disregarded following Gatou's arrest. He'd assumed it had fallen apart without the slimy mogul running it, but apparently that hadn't been the case. A fact for which he was incredibly grateful for simply because underground operations made for the best information spots.

This little dive would be just low key enough to go unnoticed by creditors, but large enough to cover the cash bets of some truly hardcore gambling. Which meant it was the perfect place for someone like Tsunade-chan, at least to cover the bets of the Chuunin Exam Finals. While he didn't expect to find her there, he was sure it would be the best place for a solid lead which was something they'd been lacking for nearly a week now. And hey, with any luck, he'd also be able to find a nice bathhouse, or better yet a hotspring, where he could do the really important research.

As an afterthought, he'd have to remember to get extra copies that weren't on him in case the gaki managed to destroy his notes again. He'd hate to have to start over. After all, Tsuki-chan needed her Koko just as much as he did. And it wasn't like they could write themselves or do themselves for that matter. Or could they?

Giggles escaped him, random spurts of high pitched noise as his thoughts turned to filthier things. Quickly, Jiraiya began to write down some more notes. Tsuki-chan was pleasing herself in front of her busty Koko all while his protagonist, Kenshirou-san, watched accidentally finding himself caught in her closet.

"Hey Ero-sannin." Naruto-kun's voice barely cut through Jiraiya's detailed picturing of the event.

'Oh no, Koko just found Kenshirou-san. But of course she's more than willing to share her precious Tsuki-chan,' he thought with another burst of high pitched giggles.

"Hey, Ero-sannin! Do I have to destroy those too?"

Jiraiya reflexively moved his notes out of the kid's reach glad for his short stature, before turning his eyes to the blond, "How many times have I told you not to call me that gaki?" As was becoming a habit, Jiraiya's fist came down on the blond's head only for the kid to pop out of existence before reappearing on his other side. He was actually pretty good at that technique, as annoying as it was to admit it.

"So, I was wondering Ero-sannin," he continued without pause. "Do you think I can start training with weights like Gai-sensei and Lee-kun? I mean everyone goes on and on about how crappy my taijutsu is, so I figured this could be a good way for me to get better at it."

Jiraiya sighed at the question. He'd expect a query like this from the moment he'd met the boy, especially considering how much time he'd spent with the taijutsu specialist in question. After all, it looked interesting and useful, but more importantly it looked easy. Like a shortcut to some kind of awe inspiring power even though it was nothing of the sort. Yeah, Jiraiya clearly had his own problems with that type of constant weight training, several good points actually not that any of it would matter to the brat. No, the kid would only be able to see him as the bad guy, taking away an opportunity to quickly gain power no matter how Jiraiya might try to explain it.

Naruto looked up at him expectantly. "Well, what do you think?" he asked again. "I could get really fast training like that, finally be faster than Sasuke and Sakura," he grumbled the last bit more to himself than to the man standing next to him. Jiraiya almost an afterthought even as they walked together, the only two people for kilometers.

Jiraiya sighed again as he eyed that bright, excited look in the boy's eyes. Knowing there wasn't an easy nor nice way to shut the idea down, he didn't bother with being pleasant. "Sure and maybe Kumo will realize that they really like the Hyuuga right around the time the Uchiha decide they're absolutely fine with what little power they have. And while they're at it, maybe the Hyuuga will gain a sense of humor and the Uchiha will become polite, reasonable members of society more than willing to work with the other clans for the betterment of the village."

"Yeah, that sounds reasona… Hey, wait just a minute. While I'm sure that first thing could totally happen, I know for a fact that other stuff is never going to happen."

"That's the point kiddo. We're on a mission. One that requires us to remain incognito for the majority of it. And as much as you might want it to be true, there just ain't no way you can hide a training set of weights well enough," Jiraiya replied flippantly, gaze drifting back to his notes to feign complete disinterest.

The silence that followed stretched out longer than it should have, causing Jiraiya to refocus his attention on the boy next to him, the blond already deep in thought as he contemplated his options. 'No, he couldn't possibly be…' Jiraiya thought, but interrupted himself before he completed the thought. This was Naruto-kun he was thinking about, the same kid that went around in an orange jumpsuit and thought he was stealthy. Of course he was thinking about those hideous monstrosities. Yeah, that wasn't happening, not on his watch.

"No! You will not go around wearing those ridiculous orange leg warmers. It's an eyesore and it'll make you stand out even more than you already do, which again is the opposite of what the word incognito means."

"Nothing wrong with orange," Naruto-kun muttered under his breath. "I hide just fine," he grumbled louder, clearly trying to be a smart ass.

"Yeah, and I'm sure you're the next great Houdini, but we aren't trying to hide. We're trying to remain incognito. Can't have small townspeople who already know everyone getting suspicious because we're walking through town." Jiraiya shifted in his spot, eyeing the blond brat before continuing. "No need to make this harder than it's already going to be," he finished with a slight frown.

"Well, you're a seal master. Why don't you just make me a weight seal or something?" Naruto-kun challenged clearly unwilling to let this go.

'Well doesn't this kid sure know how to pick 'em,' Jiraiya thought with a shake of his head mind already churning through every last hurdle for a seal like that. "Impossible," he muttered under his breath before turning back to the brat sarcasm coating his every word. "Yeah sure, why don't I get right on that? It won't take any time at all creating a dimensional gravity seal. It's not like simulating gravity is all that hard. You just have to create a hole in space where a large mass comparable to a planet exists, which on top of all that can be regulated in size to increase and decrease the gravitational force at will. And then somehow have just the gravitational force spill over into this dimension. A cake walk. And you know what? While I'm at it, I'll just negotiate a permanent peace between the five great nations while simultaneously ending all Clan conflicts because, you know, it's just that easy."

Naruto-kun opened his mouth, likely with his own sarcastic reply, but Jiraiya cut him off before he could so much as finish taking a breath, "Matte matte, I just remembered one other little detail. Nothing major really, just the pesky little problem of making sure the seal doesn't affect anything else. Because heaven forbid you're walking down the street and everyone within a four-meter radius is suddenly thrown into your dimensional gravitational pull. Or if I somehow manage to get it small enough so that it's only just centimeters away from your skin, let's just hope no one touches you accidentally, or better yet some unaware insect or animal just so happens to perch on your shoulder and smash! Tiny little animal guts everywhere. I hate to break it to you kid, but I'm not cleaning up a mess like that," Jiraiya finished with a sharp glare. This kid was something else that was for sure.

"I didn't think it was that bad an idea," he grumbled under his breath, head down and shoulders slumped in defeat.

Confident that the kid wouldn't bring the subject back up for the foreseeable future, Jiraiya patted him on the back in as comforting a gesture as he could manage. Thankfully, the brat was too distracted by his sound logic to realize that his argument didn't hold up to a set of weights across his torso. After all, he hadn't thought of a good argument against that one. Not yet anyway.

"Hey, don't worry so much kid. We'll get you faster the good ol' fashion way."

"Huh?"

A devilish grin spread across Jiraiya's lips as he spied the completely clueless look of his blond companion. Oh, this was definitely going to be fun. "So, you see that tree over there," Jiraiya paused as he pointed to an outcropping of trees barely visible in the distance. Naruto-kun nodded, squinting his eyes as he spotted the aforementioned tree. "Good, now go touch it."

For a moment, the kid did nothing. Just continued to stare confused at the distant tree. "Come on kid, we don't have all day," Jiraiya stated with a small push in that direction. A frown on his still confused face, Naruto-kun moved forward at an easy jog. "Come on now. You'll never get faster if you move that slow," Jiraiya egged on. "Sprint!" And with that the brat sped away kicking up a small dust trail as he went.

Moving at his own leisure pace, Jiraiya focused on the issue of training the kid something that was made especially difficult given the fact that the boy seemed to only listen to him if it was fuuinjutsu related. 'And that's not going to be good enough,' Jiraiya thought as Naruto-kun finally made it back to his side.

Half bent over, the kid barely managed to catch his breath before Jiraiya was forcing him onwards. "Hey, I never said you were done. Go on, same tree and don't stop until you can't feel your legs," he ordered, ignoring the annoyed roll of the kid's eyes as he scowled already running back to the still distant tree. "Hey! You call that running?" Jiraiya taunted, determined to run the gaki into the ground. "I've seen grannies run faster!" Jiraiya ignored the obscene gesture thrown back at him. After all, the taunt had done the trick, pushing the blond to run faster despite the mundanity of the task at hand. A miracle considering who his blond pupil was.

'Now if only I could get him to learn anything other than fuuinjutsu from me as easily as this,' Jiraiya thought, frustration filling his every pore. He'd briefly thought about trying to teach him the rasengan as the technique was one of the flashiest he knew. Surely something that eye catching would peak the boy's interest, but then again nothing but fuuinjutsu seemed to even turn his head so that was probably a no go.

'And it's not as if the kid's all that interested in the Hokages so it's not like I can sell the technique that way,' Jiraiya thought as he eyed the still running boy. "Hey, don't slow down now, we've only just begun!" Jiraiya encouraged, gaze already eyeing the next crop of trees in the distance.

No, there was only one real way to get the kid to do anything and that was to trick him into it. 'Now if only I had a good way to fool him. Maybe pass different things off as chakra training.' Of course training with the Kyuubi's chakra was out, at least until the brat finally managed to access it himself. Really, it was a shame he couldn't just force it out of him, throw him down some chasm and let him figure it out. But knowing the kid's luck, he'd just use that fancy substitution technique of his and poof away from danger. But that was fine. It wasn't like they were in dire straits just yet. There was still more than enough time.

'Still, I must be missing something,' Jiraiya hummed to himself, letting his mind wander as the gaki continued to run back and forth between the trees. Nearly an hour later and no closer to finding the perfect solution, Jiraiya caved. 'Fuck it. I'll wing it,' he thought before calling out to the gaki.

"Alright kid, that's enough running for now. You're going to make my head spin," he said, one hand on the boy's shoulder before he could shoot off again into the distance.

"But I can still do more. I'm not tired yet," Naruto-kun huffed, his breathing coming in quick exhales.

"Yeah, well I'm tired of watching you run. So walk with me for a bit." Nodding once the blond had properly fallen into step with him, Jiraiya reached into his satchel, fingers easily grabbing the piece of chakra paper he'd been saving for just such an occurrence. "Now, put some chakra through this," he commanded, passing the small piece of paper over, mentally praying that the gaki would just do what he asked for once without question. Miracles could happen.

"Whatever," Naruto-kun mumbled before actually doing as he was asked.

Jiraiya watched as the paper easily split in half. 'Wind, figures,' Jiraiya thought with a slight frown. It was the one element that he had almost no jutsu for, at least nothing flashy. 'But that's okay. I can work with this,' he thought as he plucked a leaf from the ground without pausing his stride. The basics of this particular affinity was easy enough to explain.

"Alright, now cut this leaf in half with your chakra," he ordered, hoping he could get two for two in orders today. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky.

"And why would I want to do that?" Naruto-kun questioned his suspicions raised. "Last time I checked, you were supposed to be teaching me fuuinjutsu, and this isn't it."

"Yeah, well this is part of that training. Chakra control. You of all people should know how important that is for fuuinjutsu," Jiraiya countered not bothering to look at the boy as they continued walking. After all, it was easier to lie when you didn't have to look someone in the eye.

"I'm calling bullshit, you old pervert. I know chakra control exercises and this isn't one of them. This is chakra manipulation and has no part in improving my fuuinjutsu. Trust me. I checked," the blond replied as he tossed the leaf behind him.

'Shit, he's going to be harder to lie to,' Jiraiya sweat dropped, one hand rubbing at the back of his head as he thought up a better argument. "And what do you think chakra manipulation takes? Chakra control." A quick glance down at the boy beside him told him that Naruto-kun had yet to be convinced so he forged on. "Look, chakra manipulation, chakra control, it's the same thing," he said with a wave of his hand. "Either way, you're controlling your chakra, manipulating it to do as you command. This," he paused momentarily to liberate another leaf from the ground. "Is no different."

"I don't care what you say, old man. Chakra manipulation isn't chakra control. Control is internal. You know that feeling of chakra moving through your veins, your seals. Manipulation's not like that. It's all outside the body. More like chakra shaping, which isn't necessary for seal making. So not the same thing. Now, teach me some more advanced sealing techniques, not whatever this is. You're supposed to be helping me become a Seal Master," Naruto-kun argued heatedly, a fire in his eyes like no other. It was the determination to do whatever it took to become the best. That same fire he held whenever he thought or talked about his Princess.

'His Princess,' Jiraiya thought, an idea quickly forming in his mind. 'Yeah, I can definitely use that.'

"You must think you're hot stuff now because you're a Chuunin, huh?" Jiraiya taunted, gaze focused back on the road.

"What? No. That's not what I…"

"Let me break it to you easy kiddo," Jiraiya interrupted, not allowing the brat to finish his thought. He had to keep him off kilter if he wanted this to work. "Chuunin ain't good enough."

"Nani?"

"You heard me. All the fuuinjutsu and taijutsu in the world won't be good enough. Not if you want to keep up with your Princess."

"Hinata-hime? What does she have to do with any of this? You promised to teach me fuuinjutsu if I came with you," Naruto-kun replied, clearly affronted at the insinuation that he wasn't good enough for his Princess.

"No, I promised to get you stronger. Do you think your Princess is just going to sit around? That becoming a Chuunin would be good enough for her?"

"Well no, but…"

"Because it won't," Jiraiya interrupted, continuing as if Naruto-kun hadn't said a word. "Not for her. Not with her father's death."

"I know that," he replied, something darker coloring his tone for all of a second before he continued. "That's why I've got to become a master. Nothing else will do."

"And that will get you where exactly? Maybe the rank of Special Jounin if politics blow in your favor. Which, let's face it kid, they probably won't. While your Princess is off become a Jounin, because that's what it takes to lead her clan."

"Matte ne? I thought she already was leading her clan," he stated clearly confused. "She certainly works like it," he added under his breath, a grumbled muttering of words that Jiraiya just barely caught.

"You honestly thought a Chuunin could become the head of the Hyuuga Clan? Of any clan for that matter?"

"Well, I mean." Naruto paused to scratch his head still very much confused. "Then who's leading…"

Jiraiya stopped him there, interrupting before he could fully form the question. "There something about a regent, or something like that. It's too complicated for me to explain right now. That's not what matters," he stated with a dismissive wave of his hand. 'That and I don't understand it half the time. Hyuuga politics is more complicated than Konoha politics, and I hate Konoha politics,' he thought as he let the kid think on his words.

"So," Naruto-kun began, taking a moment to recollect himself before continuing. "So, she's got to be a Jounin."

"Yeah, and fast." Naruto-kun looked up at him in that moment, as if he suddenly had all the answers. "And you'll be left behind at this rate," he finished with a pointed finger in the kid's direction.

Silence hung in the air between them for a moment before the gaki's tentative voice broke it. "How?" he muttered. "How do I become a Jounin?" he questioned, his voice growing stronger with each word. His eyes burned once more as he stared Jiraiya down, determined to do all it would take.

'And… I've got him!' Jiraiya thought with an internal grin before taking his time to answer. "Well, there are only two ways to do it. The first is a field promotion. You get promoted during or directly following a heated battle where the skills you display mirror that of a Jounin level ninja." Naruto looked up at him in excitement practically bouncing in place. "Which is never going to happen," Jiraiya finished, happy to watch the blond deflate like a balloon.

"And the second option?"

"The Jounin test," Jiraiya replied offhandedly, allowing the silence to fill the space between them once more. He was, after all, a master of the dramatics. And nothing beat a properly placed dramatic pause. Finally, when Jiraiya thought the kid was about to burst from the wait, he continued.

"The test requires you to show mastery of two elements and at least one weapon," he explained evenly a wicked glint entering his eyes as he moved to continue. "Now just how many of those criteria have you already accomplished?" he questioned taking more gleeful pleasure at the kid's downward look of embarrassment than was probably reasonable. "None. So…" Jiraiya shoved the spare leaf he'd been holding into the kid's face waiting patiently for the blond to take the hint and take it from him. "Cut this in half with your chakra. It's the first step in training your wind chakra element."

"And what about my fuuinjutsu?" Naruto-kun grumbled gripping the leaf tightly in his grasp. "Am I supposed to just forget about it for this?"

"You've got clones kid. Use 'em," he answered easily. "And you know what I'm feeling generous. So for every elemental step you master, I'll teach you an advanced sealing technique. And in the meantime, I'll give you little sealing tasks that will help you improve your fuuinjutsu for battle."

Naruto nodded as he started to form his favorite hand sign, the sight of which reminding Jiraiya of the horde of clones the kid was capable of producing. All of those blonds. Talking. Non-stop. 'No way in hell am I subjecting myself to that kind of punishment,' he thought before hastily continuing. "One more thing kid," he stated, just in time to interrupt the kid's summoning. "You can use only five clones for the fuuinjutsu training."

"What? Why?"

"Because we're incognito. I can't have a bunch of your clones running around giving away that we're ninja," Jiraiya lied easily. It didn't matter that the brat was one of the best stealth masters he knew. Hundreds of clones all identical to their creator, yeah totally not going to happen. He valued his sanity too much to let it.

Naruto-kun nearly exploded at the accusation. "My clones are just as good as I am with blending in and going unnoticed. You'll never know they're even there!"

Jiraiya shook his head, although on the inside he was practically dancing. "No, you can't use jutsu for disguise. It'll give the game away."

"We can do that! We've mastered the art of disguise!"

And yeah, Jiraiya already knew that, but this was a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone so he faked his disbelief. "Sorry kid. Until you prove you can keep yourself unnoticed. No more than five clones at a time."

"What! Just give me a chance. Five more clones, and I'll have them disguised in town, and no one will even know it."

"No way to prove, unless…" he began drawing out the word. He had the kid, his little spymaster.

"Unless what?"

"You bring back information." Jiraiya paused as if he really had to consider it. "Yeah, you bring back quality information, and if I don't hear about random blonds running around, then we'll talk about adding more clones later." Oh course he was never going to add more clones – his sanity was still his top priority – but the kid didn't need to know that.

"Yatta! We've got this in the bag," Naruto-kun yelled in excitement already summoning his limited allotment of clones without missing a step as they walked.

"But you're still not getting more than ten total kid," Jiraiya added, he didn't want there to be any mistaking how many of those gaki would be running around. He could only take so much after all.

"For now, pervy sage. Just you wait and see what I can do, then I'll be back to dozens of clones helping out like normal."

Jiraiya cringed but managed to keep the smile on his face as he looked down at the boy. 'Yeah, that's never going to happen. But at least making you a spymaster's apprentice isn't as hard as I thought it would be.'