"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

We're back! With a new chapter and all!

But I would like to take a moment to take care of the business with the previous chapter, about the drug scene. I decided, after I took some time to think about it, to delete the scene and replace it with Naruto gently refusing Hayate's offer of weed. But I don't want to get rid of the scene altogether (since I thought it was a fun scene and I worked hard on it) so I left it in at the end of the chapter as an alternate scene. I felt that Naruto's acceptance of marijuana was a serious moment of weakness for his character and he should have been above that. So in the small re-write, he refuses the offer and Hayate doesn't mind it that much.

I also wanted to take this moment to say that I didn't mean to make a statement that marijuana is good or anything with the old scene I wrote. Hayate's statement on marijuana illegalization was adapted from a line from Brian Griffin in the Family Guy episode, "420" I wanted to include the drug scene for a bit of comedy I felt was needed to break the tension but it didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. Maybe it's because I watched "This Is The End" and a lot of other Seth Rogen movies in the last few weeks :P But I still have the original scene available to read at the end of the chapter, so no harm done.

Azeroth44: You should have kept it in, dude! I liked that scene!

K: I did keep it in! Check it out! It's right there!

AZ44: Oh… There it is!

K: Yeah!

AZ44: Still, I don't think you had to do that. The scene was fine.

K: I know, but I did have some reservations about it from the start. But when it comes to the crunch, it's not role model behavior.

AZ44: But… Well… Fine, whatever, dude. The original scene is still there, so no harm done.

K: Exactly! Shall we move on then?

AZ44: No.

K: …

AZ44: …

K: Enjoy the new chapter, folks!

AZ44: I said no!

K: Bite me!

AZ44: Ok!

K: WTF, AZEROTH?!

Remember: Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling

Chapter 15: The Summoning Jutsu

Iruka moaned when he woke up the next morning with a massive headache. He shivered, cold until he realized he was on his bed, uncovered with his blankets and futon beneath him. He rolled onto his side and saw a various assortment of resolves and headache medicine that had been laid out for him. Curious, he touched his bare forehead and flinched when he felt a bruise. He forced himself to sit on the mattress and took some headache medicine. The chunin drank a little water, and let the medication sink in, as his memories of the previous afternoon came back. He smiled as he remembered how much fun he had but then he moaned as he let his head fall into his hands with embarrassment. He remembered his little brother had come home and saw his number-one role model stoned off his tits.

Iruka feared his little blonde-haired brother would resent him forever. But then he felt a bit better, and assured himself that it could have been a whole lot worse. He had seen what worse substances could do to even the best of men, and Iruka would never succumb to a far more destructive substance. But still, he looked and acted like an idiot last night and he felt he had to redeem himself.

The tan-skinned chunin stood (the medicine enchanted to cure bruises and cuts fast, thanks to Naruto) with his head cleared and he bolted to take a shower and wash out the stink of his antics.

Once he had finished his shower and dressed into a clean uniform, Iruka exited the hall, shocked to see the rest of his house had been cleaned. But the kitchen was still somewhat of a mess. Naruto and Hayate were in the television room and Iruka snuck in to hug his little brother from behind and almost crushed him in his arms. After a short-lived but affectionate reconciliation between the two siblings, Iruka sat down with Naruto and the two of them discussed the matter at hand and Iruka admitted to his mistakes. But Naruto didn't resent him too much for his mistake and admitted he was thankful he didn't use anything real harmful that could have destroyed them.

With the situation with the drugs behind them, Naruto informed Iruka about Kakashi and Sasuke.

"That doesn't make sense, Naruto… You searched all over Konoha?" the chunin asked.

Naruto answered, "Yes. I used over a hundred shadow clones and couldn't find either of them. But I could summon a few more and check the Hero's Memorial now."

"No. You're turn in the search is over, dude. I said I had it covered," insisted the swordsmaster, "Since we kinda trash the kitchen here, how about we visit this café downtown? One of the other Tokubetsu should meet me there with information. If no one has seen either of them, then we'll take this to the Sandaime. How about it?"

The blonde-haired wizard hesitated before he said and then he asked, "Well… Ok. It won't be Ebisu, will it?"

"No, he's a dickhead," the Tokubetsu shook his head and then he mentioned, "Besides I heard he took a little snooze at the bathhouses and now he's a human lobster. You could have seen him there. Weren't the bathhouses on that Sandaime's list?"

Naruto remembered when he saw the dreaded senior shinobi and still didn't seem to care much about him and said, "Uh… Yeah… I didn't see him there…"

"That reminds me, what about the seal?!" asked a concerned Iruka, "You met with Jiraiya-sama?"

The blonde wizard nodded and he smiled for once, "Yeah, it's all fixed! I wouldn't have been able to create over a hundred shadow clones if he didn't fix it. Ero-Sennin was weird but he knows all about seals and chakra! And he's an excellent teacher!"

Both Iruka and Hayate were lost at what Naruto told them. Neither one of them were familiar with the name he used. The two shinobi looked at each other and then looked back at Naruto, in need for answers.

Iruka was the first to ask, "Who's Ero-Sennin?"

"That's what I call him. I saw Jiraiya look at naked women at the bathhouse and he wrote the Make-Out Paradise series. He called it his research. I don't think he even noticed the nickname until after I left to search for Sasuke and sensei," smiled Naruto

Hayate stared at the blonde wizard and asked him after he waited a minute to soak it in, "You named one of the Sannin Ero-Sennin?"

"Yeah!" the blonde wizard nodded and he still smiled a little bit.

Iruka snorted, unable to scold Naruto after he learned one of the most famous modern shinobi was the author of one of the most obscene book series of all time. He soon broke down into laughter after his little Naruto reduced one of the most influential shinobi, once in line for the title of Hokage, was reduced with such a ridiculous name.

The tan-skinned chunin couldn't hold it back and be mature about it like he used to and let it all out, "You are unbelievable, Naruto! That's hilarious! Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sometime around ten o'clock, the three shinobi left Iruka's home in search of the café Hayate had recommended. There was no food left in the house for breakfast or lunch, so the three of them settled for a small meal and a drink. The swordsmaster led his friends to a normal café down the street, called, Luchino Caffe, a normal café with a few customers scattered about various tables. There were a few civilians and one or two shinobi, and a waitress with dark hair and dark skin. Naruto didn't think much about the location and sat down with his friends at a table next to the window. For a moment, Naruto almost believed his invisible older brother sat down in the extra chair of their table while the three shinobi sat down and ordered a few bits of food, coffee, and tea.

But after the dark-skinned waitress took their order with a welcome smile, Naruto stared down at the table, still worried about Kakashi and Sasuke. He rubbed his knuckles on the smooth red table, the surface cleaned so much that he could still smell the disinfectants.

While the blonde-haired wizard counted the seconds and looked outside for a Tokubetsu to come in, Iruka noticed his unease and tried to comfort him

"Naruto, relax," he insisted, "The Tokubetsu will be here soon. If we don't know where Kakashi is we'll talk to the Sandaime at once."

The blonde wizard nodded, "I know… But I also have to meet Ero-Sennin at noon."

"What for?" the chunin asked.

And Naruto answered with a small smile, "I convinced him to train Sasuke and me for the month. I don't know what he could teach me but whatever increases our chances to win, I'll take it."

The drinks arrived in the middle of their conversation. Naruto drank some tea and flooded it with sweet and delicious cream, while Iruka and the swordsmaster treated themselves to coffee and fueled their bodies with caffeine. Iruka took an interest in Naruto's battle and started to ask him more about it.

He asked his little brother, "You have to face against Neji Hyuga?"

"Yeah. But I don't know how to counter Gentle Fist," he answered as he nodded and admitted, "I'm not sure if Ero-Sennin knows either. Not even Kakashi-sensei seemed to know much."

Iruka then said, "I do."

"You do?" the blonde wizard turned to look at the tan-skinned chunin, and stammered.

The tan-skinned chunin then said, "When I was in the Chunin Exams, I faced off with another member of the Hyuga clan."

"I had no idea, aniki!" the wizard smiled as he admired at his older brother.

"Yeah, I don't remember his name, but I do remember he was difficult to deal with," he advised as he drank from his coffee, "It almost cost me a heart via Gentle Fist but I took him down in the end."

Naruto then asked, "Could I have some advice, aniki?"

"I won't end it there." the man smirked.

"Huh?"

The tan-skinned chunin rest his drink down on the table and said, "Hayate and I talked about it last afternoon. Neji Hyuga was one of the finest students to graduate from the Ninja Academy to date, behind Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha at the time of their graduation. With that said… we both decided to help out whenever and however we can to ensure you a fair fight."

"You two would do that for me?"

Hayate smirked a little bit, "Of course! Iruka was the one who recommended it!"

"Whenever we're not at work and whenever Hayate isn't tied with the duties as one of the instructors of the final matches…" said the enthusiastic chunin, "We could meet each other at one of the fields and train together."

Hayate shrugged his shoulders while he mentioned, "I don't even have that much to do, so I have time to waste. We could train with swords!"

"And we could work on how to counter Neji and the Gentle Fist!" added Iruka.

Naruto had to hold out his hands in resistance to the bombardment of selfless offers from his friends, it was too much for him to accept, "That's incredible, Iruka-aniki… But I have one of the Sannin and Kakashi-sensei to do all that… I mean, it seems like a bit much and I can learn from four teachers at once, even with shadow clones."

"You can do that." said the swordsmaster in a nonchalant tone.

Naruto was forced to ask, in a more irritated voice, "What now?"

Hayate revealed to Naruto, "You can do that. You can use shadow clones and learn from several mentors at once. That's how the clones work."

"What about the clones?" asked the dumbfounded rookie.

The swordsmaster asked and then he lectured his first real student, "You don't know? Whatever experience a shadow clones obtains within its individual existence is transferred to the user once the clone had ceased it's existence. Shadow clones can also double the amount of experience the user obtains with the number of clones that are created and used to train. For example, if a user creates one shadow clone and trains with this clone for one hour, then dispels the clone; the user will obtain two hours of training in one hour."

Naruto's eyes widened once he took a minute to soak it all in. He had no idea shadow clones could ever do that. He always thought of them as tools he could use and risk to take a kunai for him without harm. But then he started to realize that whenever a thought back to a certain battle he could remember what the shadow clones did, and almost all of his memories of battle were detailed from various points of view.

"I…" he stammered, "I never realized…"

Naruto took a minute to discuss the matter with his wise older brother.

'Nii-san, is that true?!'

'Yeah, it is! It's written in the Scroll of Sealing! I should have noticed it earlier!'

'Could have saved us a lot of time in the Land of Waves if I knew that!'

'But at least we know that now for the Chunin Exams! Fantastic!'

'But now I can be with four teachers at once! That almost better than a Time-Turner!'

'I bet a hundred Galleons if Hermione could have used shadow clones, she wouldn't have resorted to a Time-Turner.'

'I sure could use one now. There are a lot of moments I wish I could redo or do different.'

'But to think, if she hadn't return that damn Time-Turner we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble. I mean, a lot of trouble! You have no idea.'

Naruto beamed and he could have thrown himself across the table to embrace his older friend, "I never noticed that before, Hayate! You're brilliant!"

Both senior shinobi held him down in his seat and took his enthusiasm instead of a hug. Naruto calmed down, excited to work with four teachers at the same time. But then his mind turned to other matters he never thought he would have time for, but now he did. His thoughts turned to Hinata and her current condition in the hospital. He felt; after he witnessed her match and started to know her better than he ever did in school, he should start to know her more and even become close friends in the future. He felt he at least owed her that much, aside from his inevitable match with her abusive cousin.

"This is incredible!" the blonde-haired wizard beamed before he lowered his voice to a more somber tone when he started to think about Hinata's unknown condition, "Now I can find the time to do what I didn't think I had time for… I should see her now that I have the time…"

Iruka blinked, "Who?"

"So how about it?" asked Hayate, before the chunin next to him could determine what his little brother meant, "Wanna train with us?"

"Yes, I'll do it! But…" he hesitated, as his mind turned back to his teammate and sensei, and then he continued, "Once we find Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. I think I should cut down on the shadow clones. I wanna beat Sasuke in the finals, but I wouldn't want to be too unfair. He at least deserves a chance."

Iruka reassured him and was about to move on to more detail until he noticed a certain woman arrived at their table, "You don't have to do that. You'll have to hold back a little and…... Anko."

Naruto and Hayate turned to look at the familiar kunoichi that ran the second examination. Both of them seemed to be pleasantly surprised to see her, while Iruka felt and looked like he walked into a room full of people, naked from head to toe. His smooth tan face lost a little bit of color before the blood rushed right back into his cheeks, while Anko's face filled with a little more red than usual.

She half-muttered when she noticed the tan-skinned man at the table, "Oh… Hi there, Iruka…"

"It's… Uhh..." he hesitated, "been a while…"

The woman nodded and hid her blush as well as she could, "It sure has…"

"Yeah…" he agreed.

Anko nodded and tried to look in another direction, "Yeah…"

"Wow, this is awkward…" he said after fifteen silent seconds, unable to think of what else to say.

Naruto looked between the kunoichi and his brother and he asked, "You two know each other?"

Anko turned to the source of the voice, relieved to hear someone else draw in her attention. And when she saw who it was, she smiled, her awkward feelings switched off as all her attention turned to who she believed was the true rising star of the Chunin Selection Exams.

"It's the little lion cub!" she exclaimed, and she found her chance to admire the boy that stole the show, "Oh! You have done excellent in the exams so far, kid! Some of the best I've seen from someone who isn't from one of the clans! It's so rare to see that! You are the main attraction to all of the instructors so far! And it's not Ibiki and me alone who think that! All of the shinobi and kunoichi involved in the exams so far have taken notice to you! I mean… You're the main attraction, next to Sasuke Uchiha, which isn't much of a shock, come to think of it... All of the Uchiha have been show stealers in the Chunin Exams before, but…" the woman shivered and then beamed as she offered her last praises, "You know how to steal the show right back! I love that in a rookie! Good work!"

"Thanks, Anko-sensei!" the blonde wizard blushed as he felt a little bit over-showered with praise, but he still liked the attention, before he asked his previous question again, "So… You know Iruka-aniki?"

Anko blinked and then she turned to look back at the chunin with no visible blush on her face this time, "What the frick?! You're this kid's older brother, Iruka?!"

The tan-skinned man nodded and smiled a small bit, "Adopted. Naruto has lived with me since the start of the summer."

"So…" the blonde wizard stretched as he insisted someone answer his question after he asked it three times, "You two know each other then?"

Iruka answered him at last, "Anko and I used to date."

"WHAT?!" the wizard almost choked on his tea before he outraged, "Aniki! You never told me about this!"

The tan-skinned man's face started to flood red as he remembered his unsuccessful but intimate relationship, "It was back before I was a teacher, before we even met… We had a bit of a romantic relation that went too fast, we slowed down a bit, went too fast again, and then we…" both Anko and the tan-skinned chunin started to flush red like he did when he saw his brother's Sexy no Jutsu and cut off from there before his nose bled out, "I shouldn't have said that… I don't want to talk about it!"

"Oh…" the awkward blonde-haired shinobi tried to look the other direction as he mumbled, "This is more awkward than Nii-san and Cho Chang's romance…"

'I TOLD YOU NEVER TO MENTION THAT!'

Determined to break the uncomfortable tension, Hayate made a move and asked his fellow Tokubetsu for the information he requested of her, "Anko! You have the news I wanted?"

Anko cleared her throat uncomfortably and said, "Yeah! I do have news about the whereabouts of Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto perked his ears and he asked, "What about them?!"

Anko shook her head and said, "There's no need to call for alarm, the two of them are both fine. It turns out that Kakashi and his student Sasuke Uchiha left Konoha to train for the month. The two of them left Konoha as soon as the Uchiha was free to leave the hospital, almost as soon the finalists were announced."

Naruto felt himself be hit with a wave of various emotions. At first he was relieved to hear his teammate and sensei were in no danger at all. But then he learned the two of them had left him and Sakura behind, without a word or someone to tell them the news or train him for the finals. His stomach turned cold and sank into his intestines, while the blood in his face drained but felt hot. He felt like he had been forgotten and left behind to fend for himself as the weight of Kakashi's selfish actions fell on him like a ton of bricks. He didn't want to believe it.

"What?" he asked.

But the kunoichi confirmed, "Yeah, Kakashi bolted with Sasuke Uchiha almost as soon as he was discharged from the hospital. The two of them both had tents, backpacks, survival equipment, the works! I thought it was weird he didn't take the lion-cub with him too; I assumed he would follow or he was even ahead of them. He is the more enthusiastic character on the dream team. Didn't he mention this at all, lion-cub?"

The kunoichi had asked him, but Naruto remained silent for an intense moment. He felt his insides twist as a bubble of anger and jealousy brewed within him. His face flushed a little bit as the bulbs above the tables flickered; Naruto felt betrayed and abandoned by his sensei and could have lost control of his magical abilities had it not been for his lessons on self-control. He bit down hard and locked his hands into fists so hard until his knuckles turned white.

Naruto then answered Anko with a darker tone of voice, "No, he didn't... He didn't tell me a thing."

Iruka and Hayate both let their shoulders fall as the two of them noticed how visibly upset Naruto had become, both of them well aware that he didn't take abandonment well at all. The tan-skinned chunin frowned before he felt his brother's hurt feelings and he couldn't believe Kakashi would favor Sasuke over Naruto and never even consider teaching both his students. It wasn't fair. Even if Naruto convinced a Sannin to teach him and had his friends to aid him too, the blonde wizard still intended for the Sannin to teach Sasuke as well, and he mentioned he would have held back on the number of teachers he had in order to be fair to his rival.

Hayate felt about the same as his new friend, while he scratched his head and imagined what remarkable strain this would leave on their team.

"Sensei had me so worried and I wasted all that time... I convinced a Sannin to teach us both and he turns his back on me?!" the blonde wizard raised his voice more and more before he slammed his fists down on the table, then he half-shouted, "And after all that talk about teamwork and friends?!"

Some of the other people in the cafe turned to look at Naruto after he slammed his fists on the table and noticed his face turn red, like a tomato, with anger and hurt. But soon, he started to lower his voice. However, his face was still red; furious, embarrassed, hurt, and abandoned in favor of his rival without a word, his arms and hands trembled as he tried his best not to lash out on the table and be kicked out.

The wizard then said with a heartbroken voice as his thoughts turned to Kakashi, "He said he wouldn't let me down... Back in the Land of Waves, he swore to me he would never..."

He ended it there. Naruto forced the blood to leave his face, he calmed down somewhat, but he was still bottled with hurt and frustration as the thought of his sensei's face started to infuriate him, knowing Sasuke would receive his favor.

Iruka was about to move in and talk to his little brother, as he said, "Naru..."

But the blonde-haired rookie stood at once and started to march out of the cafe.

He said as he stood from the table, his face drained of redness, but still raw with hurt, "I have to leave. I'll be late to see Ero-Sennin."

"Naruto..." the chunin tried to reason.

"We'll talk later, Iruka…" the little wizard walked off before he slammed the cafe door shut and his friends heard him shout, "This is bullshit!"

The glass door could have cracked from the force of the slam, but luck was on Naruto's side as the door remained intact as he walked off, his face a little flushed as he walked toward the hospital and a few tears ran down his face, out of his control. Back in the cafe, Iruka and Hayate were saddened and furious at Kakashi, but the two of them remained silent as Anko looked on, bewildered at the scene before she broke the silence.

She said, "I sense he has some abandonment issues."

About an hour and a half later, Naruto traversed across Konoha to the location that Jiraiya had mentioned the last time the two of them met. With his hands in his hoodie he located the waterfall the Sannin had told him about. And for a moment, his mind had become blank: the area was massive, but overshadowed with a tall cliff that created the immense waterfall and bled into a small lake of clear water and mist. There women there at the lake, near the waterfall; not as old as Iruka, but much older than Naruto, and all of them wore bikinis. Naruto blushed, and he turned his attention from the women and looked around the lake some more. He noticed the lake lead out into a river decorated with a riverbed and shore made of white rocks. The river curved around the lake, obscured from view with a series of bushes and trees. And as soon as Naruto looked at the bushes, he recognized a familiar mess of white hair, followed with the sound of mischievous snickers, cloaked with the sounds of the women that bathed in the lake and the sound of the enormous waterfall.

Naruto moved out of sight from the women in bikinis, and marched towards the bushes. Jiraiya was there, his head shoved in the bushes as he spied on the oblivious girls and watched them splash each other with cool and clean natural water. The Sannin could have sworn stream rolled off from their unbelievable warm bodies as he failed to notice his newest student was behind, tempted to kick him in the butt.

The blonde shinobi crossed his arms, furious like a cross teacher, as he heard the Sannin start to have a nosebleed as he chuckled before he shouted at man, "YOU ABSOLUTE PERVERT! Leave those women alone!"

Jiraiya rolled backwards like a ball, before he threw himself at Naruto and covered his mouth with one of his massive hands. The blonde-haired shinobi couldn't breathe as Jiraiya covered his nose with his thumb, the Sannin's blush faded as he held Naruto like a vice to muffle all the noises he could have made.

The Toad Sannin hissed, "I'm in the middle of some valuable research, brat! Don't screw me over!"

Unable to breath and irritated with the man's childish behavior, Naruto licked the Sannin's hand to force him to let go. Jiraiya froze, shivered, and then he released Naruto from his hold and rolled backwards some more before he stood on his wooden feet, still hidden from the women with the trees as cover.

"EWW! Don't do that! That's so sick!" he shouted as he tried to clean his hand.

Naruto stood straight and tried to clean the foul taste in his mouth, unsure if the Sannin ever bathed and he said, "Whatever! You would have been seen no matter what, with that hair and that bush as a cover even without me! You look like David Bowie in flares! WHO THE HELL WOULDN'T NOTICE YOU?!"

"Bah!" the Sannin dismissed the comment.

The blonde shinobi then shouted with a little less volume, "You lured me out here to see the bikini-women bathe in the waterfall?! That's the reason behind this secret, exclusive location?!"

Jiraiya shook his head and scratched his hair as he sat back down and faced Naruto, furious at his defiant behavior and worried that his voice would alert the bikini-women.

"I'll be found out soon if a certain little blonde brat doesn't shout over the waterfall to talk to me-" but then the Sannin was silent, he noticed the rookie was alone and more bitter than usual, "Wait a minute… Where's Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke Uchiha?"

Naruto sat down and said as he crossed his arms, "Sensei ditched me. Sasuke-teme too… Both of them ditched me to train in the mountains and left me behind!" he clenched the cloth of his sleeves and then he ranted as he let off some steam, "I do all I can to be the best teammate and this is how I'm rewarded…"

The Sannin blinked, but then, as Naruto looked down at the rocks, he seemed somewhat satisfied as a small smile stretched across his face. The tall man crossed his arms and continued to listen to the blonde-haired rookie. He let his smile fall and acted like his usual self as he waited for Naruto to end his rant before he ended it himself.

"I can't believe sensei would ever do that to me… I'm so…" the blonde shinobi shook his arms, furious and loaded with hurt, "I'm so…"

"Sooooo…" the Sannin leaned closer to the rookie and asked him in an aloof voice, "You still wanna train with me?"

Naruto looked at the Sannin, face-to-face, tears about to be seen before he forced them back and became determined to learn as much as he could.

"Yeah," he answered the Sannin, "Screw them!"

Jiraiya smiled and then he said as he leaned back a little, even with no chair to lean on and look cool, "Just the two of us then…"

Naruto took a minute to calm down and close his eyes. He heard the Sannin stand and assumed he worked about with scrolls or swords while his new student calmed down and focused. Soon, the blonde-haired rookie stood, and stretched out his arms and his back.

He then asked, "So what do you have in store to teach me, Ero-Sennin?"

Naruto blinked, and then he noticed Jiraiya was nowhere in sight. He looked around, side-to-side, but no Sannin. He then turned around and saw the tall white-haired man, crammed back inside the bush and watched him shake his butt from side to side as he watched the girls at the waterfall.

"Hehehehehehehe!" the perverted Sannin giggled.

But then Naruto roared before he kicked the Sannin in the butt, "EYES OVER HERE, YOU GIANT PERVERT!"

While the Toad Sannin had his mouth stuffed with wild berries from the sudden kick he received, another version of Naruto was out and about. He had taken his friend's advice and had sent a shadow clone to see Jiraiya instead. Meanwhile, the real version of him walked to the hospital to see someone he owed a visit.

Naruto checked with one of the nurses where Hinata's room number was (while he was transformed into someone else so he wouldn't be shooed) and learned she was on the second floor, her condition still serious. Once there, he located Hinata's room in no time. But before he entered the room, he took an unused vial from a storage rack and took a flower from a "Get Well Soon" vase reserved for another patient. Naruto then used his skills from his countless Transfiguration lessons to transform the simple vial and flower into a small but intricate glass vase with the ordinary flower turned into a wondrous but simple little lavender lily. He then summoned a small amount of enchanted water with his wand, to fill the vial with a faint blue light.

Once satisfied with his craftsmanship, Naruto opened the door and entered the room. When he looked inside, he saw Hinata at once on the bed; she was unconscious, pale, and wore a clear mask to help he breath with various tubes and wires attached to her arms that fed her with fluids and oxygen. Naruto became crestfallen to see his old classmate in such a weakened state as he heard the cardiac monitor tone each second, the sound like a bell that carved a new crack into his broken heart. Naruto let his face fall into a sad frown when he walked closer, her bruises still fresh from the harsh hands of her cruel cousin. He should have been furious to see those bruises, determined to find Neji now and beat him senseless for what he did to such a kind kunoichi. But in truth, Naruto couldn't do it. He didn't think Hinata would appreciate it if he came down to visit him and see him, his face twisted in rage. All he could do now was feel his heart break in sadness, as he observed Hinata's weakened and defenseless form. He didn't feel he could become wrathful in front of her, even while she was unconscious. So he rested the enchanted vase down on the bedside table, sat down in the chair, and watched her while he tried to form the courage to form words.

"Hinata…" he said in remorse, "I sure wish we could have known each other sooner… Lord knows how much I would have liked to have another friend, was like me a little bit… I never noticed, not even once… You didn't deserved to be ignored like that when we were in school… I should have…" the blonde-haired rookie hesitated, unsure what needed to be said that he failed to mention, but soon he leaned forward a little bit, his voice more confident as he swore, "I don't know how I'll do it, but I swear, I'll beat Neji… I swear I will…"

He would have reached out to touch or even hold Hinata's hand, but Naruto flinched when he heard the door behind him slide open. The blood drained from his face, terrified if someone from Hinata's clan or even worse, her father had come to see his daughter, to see a strange boy in her room. But then the blonde wizard relaxed when he heard a familiar but toneless voice.

"Naruto…" said Shino Aburame.

The blonde wizard turned around and said, somewhat relieved but also a tad bit awkward, "Oh… Hi, Shino…"

Naruto did not know how to feel around Shino, let alone know how to talk to him. Ever since he learned more about his clan, he felt more awkward around him, revolted and afraid now that he knew he was invested with a cloud of small insects. But he forced himself not to shiver around him and tolerate him as much as he could, determined not to offend him.

The taller rookie had arrived with a small box of cinnamon buns, which must have been a his teammate's favorite treat, and then he asked after he left the box on the bedside table, "You came to visit Hinata?"

The blonde rookie would have flinched at his voice, but he resisted. Naruto turned to look at Shino and nodded.

He then looked back at Hinata, "Yeah… I found some time to come around…"

The blonde wizard stared at the unconscious kunoichi, his heart a little heavier as he listened to that cardiac monitor and heard her slow breaths, each one sounded slower than the last.

Naruto asked Shino, "Will she be ok?"

"She will recover in time, Naruto," the older rookie answered with an usual tone that contented him, "There's no need to be worried."

The wizard felt like he could breath and he could hear Hinata's breathe return to normal as the cardiac monitor sounded as normal as ever, "Whew… that's a relief…"

"Yes," the clan heir answered back.

Naruto remained seated, relieved to know the kunoichi would be ok sooner or later, but he did not want to leave her behind after that, "I think I'll stick around for a little bit more, until she's awake. I don't think she heard me earlier, but I wanted to tell her-"

"It'll be a fruitless waste of time," said Shino, and then he made a clear statement before the blonde wizard could oppose, "She's unconscious, Naruto. She's been in and out of consciousness since the end of the match… You should be out training for the finals… You wouldn't want her defeat to be in vain."

Naruto didn't want to leave Hinata with a shadow clone to do the work for him this time, but it sounded like Shino almost wanted him to leave in the most polite manner possible (be it to save him from someone of the Hyuga clan to arrive soon or otherwise), so he asked, "You're sure? Because I could stick around for a while."

"I'm sure. But I'll be here to watch over her in the meantime," the older rookie assured him before he stated in support for him, "Please. Set out and train well."

"Ok…" the blonde wizard hesitated, "Thanks, Shino…"

The wizard offered Hinata a few more seconds of his time to wake, but when she didn't seem to move (other than movement of her chest as she breathed) he walked out of the room. He was satisfied that he was able to see her after the match, but wished he could have at least talked to her. Naruto made a mental note to visit her soon before he looked at the vase he left behind and let loose a small smile before he left and his smile faded.

Once the door was closed, Shino turned to Hinata and sat down on one of the other chairs aside from the one Naruto sat in. But while he sat there, unable to choose what words he had to offer to his teammate, he noticed her start to blush. Hinata stirred, and then she awakened. She looked at her teammate, smiled while he nodded back, his face still masked from visible emotion. Hinata was content to see that her estranged teammate cared about her so. But with what little she was able to move, she turned her head to see Naruto's enchanted flower vase. She stared at the vase as it let out an unnatural but beautiful blue shine. Hinata was so enthralled, that she couldn't turn her head from it.

So she asked her teammate, her voice so weak from the battle, "Shino-kun… that vase… Who left it?"

"It was Naruto," he answered in a rather blunt manner, "He came here to visit. You were unconscious at the time. I don't know when he arrived. I think he could have been here for a few hours at least."

Hinata froze for a moment after those last few sentences. Her heart raced and the cardiac monitor went nuts. Hinata's face turned as red as a tomato, she looked back at the vase one more time, and then she fainted. As soon as his teammate lost consciousness, Shino couldn't resist the small curve of a smile form underneath the tall collar of his coat.

While Naruto walked to leave the medical clinic, he failed to notice a furious mother entered one of the rooms near Hinata's and slammed the door behind her. The woman was Tsume Inuzuka and she was furious with her son. After she slammed the door, the mother seethed at her son on the mend. Kiba seemed to have received serious head trauma; his skull had been cracked and several of his ribs had been broken where Naruto landed his feet. Kiba also had severe bruised areas all over his chest and face, so much that it looked like he had a rare skin disease. He needed a truckload of medication to be able to endure the near-constant world of hurt that Naruto had delivered him.

But Tsume didn't seem to care that much for she was furious at her son. She had discovered the bad blood between Kiba and Naruto after their match was over and she talked to his sensei about Kiba's failure at the hands of his rival. In addition to the match turnout, Kurenai had informed her of the details of her son's school-based activities that he had hidden from her well ever since he sent Naruto to the hospital after their first week of school. After she had learned that her son had bullied and terrorized the innocent jinchuuriki, she stormed into the clinic and roared at him like there was no tomorrow.

"KIBA INUZUKA! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH YOU! I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU'VE HIDDEN FROM ME FOR ALL THESE YEARS! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!" she screamed as her son cowered back, Akamaru tucked on his stomach, "HOW DARE YOU EVER HARM THAT BOY!HE DID NOTHING TO DESERVE A BEATING LIKE THAT AND YOU WENT AHEAD AND BULLIED HIM FOR THE REST OF YOUR SCHOOL YEARS?!"

Kiba sat on his cot, frozen with terror as he tried his best not to wet the bed. He covered his head with his arms after his mother slammed him on the crown of his head and almost rendered her son unconscious. Guilt-ridden and scared out of his mind, Kiba admitted what he had done to Naruto when his mother demanded him to confess.

"Ok! Ok! Mom! Cut it out! Cut it out! I was in school! I was dumb! It was a little mistake! I didn't mean it then!"

"LIAR! YOU TREATED NARUTO UZUMAKI LIKE SHIT FOR YEARS! KURENAI TOLD ME ALL ABOUT IT! HOW YOU MOCKED HIM, RUINED HIS POSSESSIONS WITH AKAMARU, AND NEARLY BEATEN HIM TO DEATH IN THE SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL! I AM AMAZED THE NINJA ACADEMY NEVER SENT ME A LETTER ABOUT ALL THIS!"

Kiba's face went white but if he held back the whole truth she would have killed him, so he confessed while he was ahead, "Uhhhh... To be honest, mom..."

The Inuzuka heir was forced to recount the whole tale: after his first detention, he raced home to his clan's mailbox and tore the letter Iruka had sent to Kiba's mother to inform him of his actions and threw it in the furnace. Kiba then admitted he threw out all other forms and documents from school to avoid notice from Tsume. And when his mother learned about that, she turned another shade redder. Her face resembled the same color as a tomato, about to burst before she let out one more horrific scream.

"YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE! YOU WERE IN DETENION THE WHOLE TIME?!"

Tsume raised her arm to beat her miserable son to death. Kiba flinched and held his arms over his face, like a coward. But then his mother held back when she saw her son cower. Her clawed hand trembled as she tried to hold back the intense desire to punish her son, but she resisted and started to calm down

"You little shit-box…" she commented on Kiba's cowardice and then she said in a cold, heartless voice, "It's not even worth the effort now, is it?"

Kiba felt shaken at his mother's comment and felt even worse when she talked in that cold voice, and then he almost blubbered, "M-Mom... I..."

"Don't talk to me, brat…" she scolded in a more controlled voice, and then she said, "You are unbelievable… I cannot even fathom this behavior…"

Kiba remained silent, ashamed at his mother's cold demeanor and almost wished she had hit him instead. While her son sat on the mend with his head faced down in shame, Tsume crossed her arms and shook her head at her son. She was well aware of Naruto Uzumaki's condition, but unlike most citizens in Konoha, she didn't seem to hate Naruto at all, but instead considered him to be somewhat of a noble hero that he carried such a terrible burden. But never once did she ever believe he deserved to be abused or tormented at the hands of her fellow man and kunoichi, let alone at the hands of her own flesh and blood.

"You're a little monster compared to that kid…" she criticized as she scolded her rotten son, "You have no idea what it must have been like for him to take that kind of treatment… You sent him to the here to this same clinic but no one came to visit him or take him home or licked his wounds. He had no mother, no father, no sister or brother to even consol him… You think it felt bad after that bastard-husband of mine left us? Imagine how Uzumaki must have felt to have no one around at home to make him feel better?!"

Kiba flinched at the mention of his father. But soon, his insides started to twist as he sank into the seat of his soft bed. He remembered how awful it felt after his dad left the clan and never returned. It was the most dramatic and traumatic moment of his childhood; he had never felt so hurt and so alone in his life and he took it all out on someone who had to deal with it all the time. Just like that, the full weight of Kiba's countless actions on Naruto fell on his shoulders, so much that he started to hunch over and feel sick.

Kiba stammered as he realized how horrible he had been this whole time and how much Naruto must have hated him, "I... I didn't think..."

"That's it," his mother stated, "You didn't think at all, Kiba..."

The Inuzuka rookie heard his little white canine start to whine and then he said as he swallowed down whatever pride he had left, "Gomenasai, mom..."

"I don't want to hear it," said Tsume.

The woman turned her back on her son to let him know how furious and serious she was about his behavior and to make him realize she wasn't the one he had to apologize to. But the silence didn't teach Kiba, so much as it motivated him to break the tension and be free of the silent treatment he and all other men detested.

"Just curious, then," he asked his mother to break the uncomfortable silence, "How much trouble am I in?"

Tsume turned around, but did not look at her son when she answered with a curious look before she cracked a small smirk, "I don't know this time. Looks to me like Uzumaki did all the work for me. You're out of the Chunin Exams and stuck in this clinic for the next three weeks."

While he felt remorse for what he had done to his rival, Kiba was still bitter from the reminder of his defeat at Naruto's hands and he couldn't resist the next statement he made.

He crossed his arms, looked to the side, blushed in embarrassment while he said, "Naruto beat me once... But that doesn't mean he's still not a dobe..."

"Newsflash, son," the mother turned to look at her son and slammed her hand down on his bedside table to make him flinch and then reminded him, "That dobe isn't the one that's bedridden with a fractured skull. Uzumaki is one of the finalists and a shoe-in for the chunin rank! Who's the loser now?!"

Kiba flinched at his mother, relieved that she would look at him, but when he relaxed more he also started to realize that Naruto wasn't the loser he believed him to be. That remorse he felt for his actions returned as he realized Naruto was ahead of him. If he succeeded in the finals and showed off his skills to the audience, then he would become a chunin. And if the situation ever called for it, Naruto would be the boss of him and call the shots while on a mission. His rival would advance to the next rank level, and he would remain a rookie.

"Oh…" was all he could muster as he visualized his rival with a chunin vest.

Tsume then instructed her son, determined to end the turmoil between the two children and make amends for her sons actions, "Don't think for a minute that I'll let this slide... You better find Naruto Uzumaki soon, have a talk with him, and reconcile. It's been long overdue and he could be a chunin soon. You wouldn't want to be on his bad side if that's the case. You understand?"

"I understand, mom..." he answered with a small nod and a remorseful look stuck on his face.

With that answer, Tsume left her son alone in his room to recover and soak in what he had learned and realized. After his mother left him alone with Akamaru, he let his head lean forward to shadow his face in shame. He started to think back to all the times he ever tormented Naruto; ruined his favorite comics, threw out his lunch, and when he beat him into the same condition he was in now. He felt all alone, save for Akamaru curled beside him. Kiba then started to think what it must have felt for Naruto, with no one around to consol or comfort him while he sat on a bed and healed from the abuse he suffered but with no one around to set aside the emotional hurt. Kiba felt choked and he felt even worse than he ever did before about his actions. His mother was right, that he didn't think, never for one second what it must have been like to receive that kind of abuse and after all this time. Just as Kiba was about to slink back onto his bed, Akamaru whined and crawled closer to him. The Inuzuka rookie reached out and stroked the fur of his little white friend and nodded.

"I know, Akamaru…" he said, "I feel bad, too…"

As soon as Jiraiya had channeled out the oblivious near-naked women at the waterfall from his concentration and let out a snarl aimed at Naruto's shadow clone, he sat down in front of Naruto on a seat on the shore of the white river. He then cleared his throat and entered into a teacher-mode, while the clone of Naruto sat down across from him.

"Ok… Let us start then..." he said.

Naruto offered him a flat, irritated look, 'It's about time…'

"First, I have to know, what kind of other rookie do we have to deal with in the finals?" asked the Sannin.

The blonde-haired shinobi answered, "His name is Neji Hyuga. He's member of the Hyuga clan and knows Gentle Fist taijutsu. He's tough, strong, a little bit feminine, but he's not one to mess with."

Jiraiya nodded and then he commented before he said, "Kakashi thinks Sasuke has it bad, look at this kid's situation… So taijutsu against him is outta the picture if it's Gentle Fist…"

The toad Sannin remained silent as he rested his chin on his thumb and scratched the almost invisible white stubble that coated his face. Naruto stared at the Sannin and then look more alarmed or uncomfortable when the Sannin started to check him out; he felt his arms and patted his sides as if it were an inspection before the tall white-haired man made a deduction.

Once done, Jiraiya deduced, "Well, let's see here… You can't win in taijutsu if this other kid knows Gentle Fist. So we'll have to take him down with another method… You a lot of genjutsu, brat?"

"No. I'm terrible at it," he confessed.

Jiraiya breathed out through his nose and decided before he asked, "Ok, then ninjutsu it is… How's the old chakra control?"

"Well… I can focus it down and I can run real fast whenever I want. I'm not as fast as Lee, but I can move. I can also walk on water for a while and I can stick to most solid surfaces, like walls. But I cannot create basic illusions and it's hard for me to break out of a genjutsu."

Jiraiya seemed to take a minute to think or meditate on what he learned from his new student. Naruto could determine what he could think with what skills he had as an Occlumens but he didn't have to dwell on that when the Sannin broke his silence and asked him a rather sensitive question.

"You ever used the demon fox's chakra before, Naruto?"

The blonde-haired shinobi shivered at the mention of demon's chakra. His arm twitched as he remembered the burns he received when he first used it out of his control. But soon, he turned back to look at Jiraiya, who noticed the twitch but didn't think much about it.

Naruto then answered him; "I did it twice. The first time was at the Land of Waves, but I couldn't control it. The second time was in the Forest of Death when I faced Orochimaru. It was about the same as the first time, but the second time I did it, I at least knew whom I wanted to attack… But I don't see a reason for me to use it at all. It's not like I can control it."

"To be honest… You can control it," the Sannin smiled and then he said, "You can control that demon chakra and use it to defeat this Neji Hyuga. However… it will be difficult… You'll have to use it as a last resort and need to use a lot more chakra than usual in order for it to work…"

Naruto lost a little bit of color and tried to tell him, "No… I don't want to use… Not after what it did to me! You have no idea what it feels like…"

"I do know, kiddo… Sarutobi told me about the incident in the Land of Waves…" he assured the blonde shinobi clone and then he said with a smirk as he said in a more mischievous tone, "But believe me: it won't hurt as much as it did the first time…"

'Ewww… Did he mean for that last statement to sound sexual?'

Naruto started to feel a little bit better after Jiraiya's assurance, but he still felt awkward and uncomfortable after the last statement he made. Still, Jiraiya did make a point in that if he didn't learn how to control the demon's chakra, he could hurt someone he cared about and not realize it, with or with his magic and his older brother to hold it back or counterbalance it. The idea sure did scare him and he didn't know when he would be forced to use the red chakra in the future. But it could still happen and the next time it could turn into a disaster. In truth, he did need to learn how to control the demon chakra, should another event like before ever occur. Not to mention, if he could learn to control it before the finals, Neji wouldn't stand a chance. So the blonde-haired clone nodded and listened to his new mentor.

"Ok, I'll do it…" he answered.

Jiraiya then smiled and said, "Good…"

The Sannin then removed the massive scroll that he had on his back. He unraveled it and showed Naruto that it was an enormous contract with several names written on each vertical section. On the bottom of each name, there was a collection of fingerprints stamped in brownish-red colored ink. Naruto looked at the right end of the scroll and noticed the characters drawn on the end were animals. He recounted the last time he ever saw these characters and then he remembered them in class.

"Wait a minute! This is a summoning scroll," the blonde shinobi exclaimed, "You're gonna teach me how to summon animals?!"

Jiraiya looked rather overconfident when he announced, "That's correct, kiddo! You will learn how to use the Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Naruto seemed to set all his worries about the demon chakra aside as he was distracted with the skill to summon animals on command. This was the same technique that Orochimaru used in the forest when he summoned those snakes to attack Naruto and his friends. But this time, the animals wouldn't attack him, he assumed.

"Yatta! If I can summon animals, I can tell them to attack Neji," he almost screamed, "Can I choose from a list? What animal will I summon, Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya folded his arms and answered with, "Toads."

At that note, Naruto's excitement and his enthusiasm wavered, as the first visual that came to mind was Trevor, Neville Longbottom's unreliable familiar. Harry felt about the same, somewhat underwhelmed that his brother would have to choose a plump amphibian as opposed to other animals that could fly, breath fire, or fight.

"Oh… Umm… Do toads have certain abilities?" he asked, still curious.

Jiraiya smiled, he shook with excitement and bit down on his thumb, so hard that he broke the skin and drew blood. He then formed a few basic handsigns and slammed his hand down onto the earth. And then a cloud of smoke, like the one he created at the bathhouse formed. Jiraiya flew into the air as a massive toad formed from out of the smoke where the Sannin slammed his hand down. Naruto starred at the massive toad and remembered that the toad knocked Ebisu out cold and all it did was release it's maw. Back on the head of the toad, Jiraiya smiled wide, did a short kabuki dance, and looked down at his student as he showed off.

"You should have asked me sooner, kiddo!" he then boasted, "CHECK THIS OUT!"

Jiraiya formed a number of new handsigns as the toad's stomach and neck swelled to abnormal size. Jiraiya breathed in so hard that his chest swelled like the toad's stomach and then he roared, "Fire-Style: Toad Flame Bomb!"

The toad then shot out a thick stream of amber-colored liquid. At the same time, the Sannin released a thin stream of intense fire from his mouth, like how Sasuke was able to do. Once the stream of fire touched the amber, the stream was set ablaze and turned into monstrous flamethrower. Jiraiya was careful while he aimed further down the river, far from the trees and even farther from the waterfall now behind him. Naruto could felt the intense heat of the fire even when so far and winced back as embers fell down from above him. Jiraiya soon ended his demonstration with a smirk as he turned to look at Naruto, satisfied to see him stare at him in awe for once.

The Sannin crossed his arms across his chest and looked as masculine as he could be when he said, "That is but a small taste of the sheer strength that the toads of Mount Myoboku…"

"What was that stuff the toad threw out?!" asked Naruto in an over-enthusiastic voice.

Jiraiya landed back on the shore of the white river and leaned onto the toad he summoned as motioned to his headband and answered, "Simmer down, kiddo. There are ladies close to us… That stuff was natural oil. The toads of Mount Myoboku live in a land full of it. The toads bathe in the oil, and absorb natural nutrients into their skin, it enriches them and allows them to grow to enormous size."

With that information said, Naruto wondered if the Sannin ever bathed with the toads at this mountain he mentioned. If he did, it would make sense how Jiraiya was so monstrous in size for a human born in Konoha. But the blonde shinobi tossed the thought aside as the Sannin continued to lecture him.

"The toads absorb so much nutrients from the oil, in fact, that it can be utilized like it did for me now! Whenever a shinobi makes a binding blood pact with an animal summon, he can use ninjutsu to summon it to his side whenever he desires. It's sort of like a type of teleportation jutsu!"

Naruto unable to contain his newfound admiration and said, "Wow…"

"Wow, indeed…" said the Sannin, "Go ahead and sign it!"

Jiraiya motioned Naruto back to the scroll to sign the contract. Naruto looked around and checked his trousers for a utensil when he sat down in front of the scroll, but he didn't seem to have one on hand.

"You have some ink, Ero-Sennin?" he asked.

Jiraiya shook his head and scowled at the nickname Naruto stuck him with, "You have to sign the contract in blood. That's what I meant with blood contract, brat. Just bite a little bit at the thumb and write the name on the next clear section. Then dab some blood on the fingerprints on your right hand and make the same prints as the other names."

Naruto nodded and then went back to bite his thumb and drew blood. Naruto wrote his name in Japanese and dabbed his fingers with blood before embedded them at the bottom of the vertical section he had selected. But while he wrote his name, Naruto remained oblivious to the other names that were written. The name before his own was Minato Namikaze, which meant the Yondaime had chosen toads as his animal familiars. Unaware of this, Naruto cleaned the blood on his hands and let Jiraiya reclaim his scroll as he raveled it back to normal.

The Sannin smirked and asked, "You feel different?"

Naruto stood still and waited to feel different, but he didn't feel much. He did feel a small rush of excitement and adrenaline, but no more than that, as the bite mark on his thumb healed over fast. The blonde-haired shinobi shook his head at the Sannin and rested his hands within his hoodie while he stood there and watched the Sannin start to rumble with excitement. He shook his massive hands and almost bounced on his feet as he shivered and smiled.

Jiraiya couldn't contain his child-like excitement and said, "Mmmmm! I'm too excited! Go ahead and use it! Let's see it now, kid!"

"I'm on it," the blonde shinobi shouted before he used the handsigns, focused his chakra, and slammed his hand down on the white rocks and cried, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A blast of white smoke, half the size of Naruto blasted out from under his hand. Naruto smiled and waited for an enormous toad to show and block out the sun, but none arrived and instead, Naruto looked down to see an orange and black toad that was about the size of a basketball. It had blue tattoo marks that decorated its skin, amber-colored eyes with horizontal pupils. The small toad also wore clothes such as a cute blue vest and seemed somewhat overfed as far as toads went.

Jiraiya was somewhat amused at the fact that Naruto was able to summon a toad at all. He still looked underwhelmed, as he wanted Naruto to summon a toad like the one he used back at the bathhouses. Naruto looked down at the first toad he ever summoned and examined it from a distance. But then the animal bounced into the air and Naruto caught it in his hands. The blonde shinobi stared at the fat creature he held before he saw it wink at him and smile. Naruto then received one hell of a shock when the toad cleared its throat and talked to him.

The creature asked, "What's the matter, sucker-face?"

Naruto turned white, held his breath, and then he held the creature at an arms-distance, as he retreated. The blonde shinobi half-screamed before he let the creature fall in the river and drench it's blue vest wet.

"Ah! Ahh! AHHH!" he screamed and then he turned to the Sannin for answers, "You never told me the toads could talk!"

Jiraiya looked at Naruto as if he were the weird one and asked back, "Didn't I mention that?"

Naruto near-went nuts after that. He had studied summoned animals while in school, but never once did he ever learn that animals, such as toads, were able to talk like normal humans. Naruto could handle house elves or books that scream and form faces. But never once did he ever think he would ever see an animal talk to him, let alone scream at him.

The small toad that he had summoned marched out of the water, furious as he rinsed his vest and started to bounce after Naruto, "What's the deal here?! C'MON! The first time I'm ever summoned and it has to be at the hand of some nerd?! LOOK AT HOW HE'S DRESSED!"

"That is too weird! Even for me!" shouted Naruto, "How can toads even talk, Ero-Sennin?!"

The Sannin crossed his arms and then asked his student, "You didn't think toads that could be as massive as a ramen stand and live in enhanced oil couldn't form a sliver of human intellect?"

"NO! NO, I COULDN'T!" answered the terrified rookie.

The toad he summoned had heard that and took offense to his answer and started to bounce toward Naruto faster and faster, "Oi! I take that as an insult, nerd! You better have some snacks on hand or else I'mma be furious!"

"AH! GET AWAY FROM ME!" the blonde-haired shinobi ran from his familiar at once and headed toward the forest while the toad chased him down and screamed.

The small toad screamed, "OI! You summoned me, fool! REWARD ME WITH SNACKS!"

Jiraiya smacked his hand on his face when Naruto fled into the woods and his familiar chased him around, "Oh, this kid is a real scholar…"

Back in Konoha, Sakura had a late start at around noon. It wasn't until her mother knocked on the door did she wake and realize the time. She looked at the clock, not all that shocked at. After all, she had been restless ever since the events in the Forest of Death. With her withdrawal from the Chunin Exams with Ino, all that had been on Sakura's mind was her beloved Sasuke. The kunoichi was unable to rest as her dreams were filled with the horrid white face of Orochimaru and Sasuke's screams from the curse mark.

She tried to shake off these terrible dreams as she walked over to her window and looked at framed Team 7 picture. Sakura stared at Sasuke from an easier time from a few months earlier, back before the Chunin Exams, Zabuza, and Orochimaru were ever around. As she visualized the times when it all about missions, Sakura couldn't hold back her intense fears as she could hear Sasuke scream and remembered how he convulsed, and then she remembered what Orochimaru said before her mind went blank, unable to remember what became of her and Naruto after that: "I look forward to when we next meet, Sasuke-kun… I wish to assist in the conquest to obtain more power…"

Sakura remained fearful that Sasuke would want to follow on that man's offer and leave her and Konoha in the future. After he had received the curse mark, Sasuke didn't act like he used to. He had such a hostile and hateful look towards her when she was about to call the teachers. It almost seemed as if he wanted to throw himself into the fire that showed off a darker side to him that she remained oblivious towards.

"Was I wrong to remain silent the whole time?" she asked.

She thought back to when she visited the hospital earlier and discovered that it was forbidden to visit him. She became more worried about him until Kakashi came out of nowhere and saw her at the lobby, demanding to see Sasuke. He reassured her he would be ok, and insisted she didn't think about it. Sakura let her eyes wander from Sasuke's stoic face on the picture in her hand and she glanced towards Naruto's image. She then felt a small warmth in her stomach when she looked at him. She started to smile a little as Naruto's face made her feel more warm, as opposed to how his face used to disgust her. She then couldn't help but wonder where he was at the time.

'Kakashi-sensei must be out with him about now...' she thought as she recalled when she talked to Kakashi at the hospital lobby and relayed Naruto's message to him, she then smiled and thought, 'Sensei can really spoil him sometimes…'

Jiraiya was soon forced to track down his student after he didn't returned for at least half an hour. He searched the woods and checked the trails of broken branches, feet, and a trail of slime from the river. Within five minutes, he found Naruto in a tree, far above the floor of the forest that the little toad he summoned tried to climb but lacked muscles and too much fat. The toad continued to scream at him, demanded that he receive snacks from Naruto, while the blonde shinobi embraced the tree to his chest and seemed somewhat calm, but alarmed.

'How the hell did he even…' the Sannin was amazed that Naruto was able to hold onto such a thin amount of tree trunk as he watched the tree teeter side to side before he thundered from below, "Naruto! Get down here!"

Naruto tried to look down and look for the toad that chased him and asked, "Is that toad I summoned still down there?!"

"Of course it is!" the Sannin answered.

The blonde shinobi embraced the smooth tree harder and said, "Then I'm fine here! Go on then, Ero-Sennin! The naked women from the waterfall are still there! And look! No bikinis!"

"NARUTO!" the Sannin roared with a somewhat father-like tone in his voice, "Get back down here NOW!"

The blonde rookie would have relented at that unusual tone, but then he heard his familiar screamed, "Give me SNACKS!"

"PISS OFF!" Naruto screamed down at the toad in a more furious voice.

Jiraiya smacked his own face in irritation as the nonsense around him continued. He was about to kick the tree and forced Naruto to fall down and catch him in time, but then he looked down and noticed Naruto's rucksack. He didn't notice it until now and Naruto had left it at the base of the tree he climbed. The Sannin collected the rucksack and checked the inside for a second and looked down at the toad his student summoned. Jiraiya then smirked before he snatched the toad and stuffed him in the rucksack.

'Heh! Call a famous Sannin like me Ero-Sennin, huh, brat? We'll see about that!' the man thought like a mischievous child, before he threw the rucksack over his shoulder and called out, "Naruto! NARUTO! The toad's vanished! It went back home! Come on down now!"

Naruto looked down and checked to see if Jiraiya told the truth. When he couldn't see the toad he summoned at all or heard it, he fell back down to the forest floor and followed Jiraiya back to the river, relieved he didn't have to deal with that obnoxious toad.

Once back at the river, Naruto sat down and listened to Jiraiya as he chewed him out for his cowardice behavior with the toad.

"First of all, a real man doesn't run from a small animal and flail his arms about like he's on fire! Don't ever act like that around me ever! I won't have that! Second: You should know that whenever someone summons their familiar, the familiar won't listen to them all the time, this isn't some RPG with animal teams! You could summon a toad like mine or even the boss toad and there's a chance the familiar won't listen to a command. You could even be eaten for all we know. I do know for a fact that not all the snakes Orochimaru summoned back when he lived here listened to him. Still, show the animal whose boss and don't run like a coward!"

Naruto understood that he had one of his more idiotic moments there, but he was forced to ask, "Is it normal for the toads to talk?"

"Most of the toads can talk," nodded the Sannin, "The ones that can't, like the one behind me, can't talk. But sometimes that makes it easier to tame them."

Naruto nodded as he looked back at the toad Jiraiya had summoned and noticed how black it's face looked as it stared out and relaxed like a well-fed obese man on the beach.

"Now," the blonde rookie flinched at the Sannin's outburst, "Let's started to withdraw that demon chakra… First, we'll need to exhaust all the normal chakra. To do that, summon a few more toads or walk on the water. Your choice, kid!"

Naruto contradicted the Sannin and reminded him, "But if I exhaust all the chakra I have, I'll die!"

"No, no, no, no… this method will make it easier to invoke the demon's chakra…" he told him, "Plus, I'll be here the whole time. I have some medicine here in case the worse. Believe me, I wouldn't have moved forward with this if I didn't come prepared."

Naruto looked half-convinced but he still listened to him, now determined to work hard, much harder than Kakashi and Sasuke were now. The blonde shinobi bit down on his thumb to draw blood, he concentrated even more chakra than he did the first time, and slammed his hand hard on the rocks.

He shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Another cloud of smoke blasted out from underneath him, but this time there was more smoke and Naruto could hear a massive sound come from within. The smoke cleared and revealed a toad ten times larger than the one Naruto first summoned. Naruto beamed and then he bounced in the air, "Yes! This one is even better!"

Jiraiya looked a little bit impressed. He didn't think after the size of the first toad he summoned he would have much to offer. But it looked like Naruto's motivation to do better than his teammates enabled him to move on further in his efforts and break whatever limits were set for him in advance. The Sannin crossed his arms and smiled as he watched Naruto summon another toad, the third one about the same size as the second one, but this was a more exotic color. Naruto moved on to summon several more toads and each one was more massive than the last. With all the toads that crowed the shores, Naruto moved on to walk on the river. He used his new chakra skill to run across the river and back. He even focused his chakra to move faster and blurred down the river and back until he felt tired. Much to the Sannin's surprise and delight, it didn't look like Naruto was about to throw in the towel soon, not for a while. It made him think, for the millionth time since he met him, how similar Naruto was to his mother.

For the next several hours, Naruto did what he did best when he had a lot of free time on his hands, and trained like there was no tomorrow. Jiraiya had Naruto switched between his exercises on the river and had him summon more toads to fill the area. But after the next five or so hours, the toads Naruto summoned turned out smaller each time and he was soon into his ankles with water. Naruto had exhausted most of his chakra when his toad summons turned out to be tadpoles each time he tried to summon one, and he almost drowned in the river. Once it was close to sunset, Jiraiya had saved Naruto from the river, he rested Naruto's back on one of his toads let him be for a while.

After almost six hours, Naruto was now exhausted. So much that it was difficult for him to hold his head still to look at the Sannin when he smiled down at him with a weird smile. The blonde rookie would have lost consciousness had Jiraiya not been there to smack his face a few times and knock him back down to earth.

With all the other toads that were summoned vanished back to their domain, Jiraiya shook Naruto and smiled, "With all that hard work, I bet we're about out of chakra now, huh, Naruto?!"

Naruto wanted to vomit and die. He couldn't recall the last time he ever felt so tired after Jiraiya worked him to the bone, like a slave. The shadow clone tried it's best to retain it's existence and continue onward and succeeded as he crawled onto his hands and knees.

"Let's do it now… C'mon, I feel like it'll work! Let's do it! Summon one more toad, but this time let's draw out some of that demon chakra!" instructed the Sannin.

Naruto's vision was blurred far more than usual now. He tried his best to focus until he was coordinated to draw one last bit of blood and slammed his hand down.

He half-shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

But no more than a handful of white smoke burst from under his hand. Jiraiya looked down, his smile faded into an observant frown as he saw Naruto had summoned an egg. Jiraiya raised his head like a rusted machine and he starred at Naruto with a look so flat, that he could have been two-dimensional.

"YOU CALL THAT THE ALL-MIGHTY KYUUBI'S POWER? YOU'RE TALENTLESS!" he screamed after a tense silence.

Naruto was about to shout back at Jiraiya, but then he fell on his face with a loud thud, unconscious. The white-haired Sannin then decided it was time to throw in the towel.

"Looks like the brat's killed over… He won't be able to draw out that chakra, not in his condition," the Sannin then turned Naruto over onto his back and let him rest, "We'll continue this tomorrow, same time as usual…"

Jiraiya sighed, tired from all the talk and all the patience he showed. But while he sat down at the river shore and relaxed, the Sannin watched the kid rest for a little bit. He broke a small smile until he heard a few muffled noises and saw Naruto's rucksack rumble back and forth. The Sannin stood and walked over to the rucksack as he reviewed Naruto's advanced progress in summoning.

"Heh! Like father, like son… Looks like Naruto does have a little bit of his father's talent in him after all… at least as far as toads are concerned…" he said as he fussed around with the rucksack until he unraveled it.

The small toad shouted from within, "Let me outta here, Uncle Jiraiya! This is cruel and unusual!"

"Relax, Gamakichi, I have an official mission for a certain future toad boss," the Sannin held the toad with its blue vest clenched in his hand as he instructed the toad to enact his revenge for his nickname, "Now listen here, I want you to stick around with this kid for a little while. Do me a favor and annoy the crap out of him for me. You think you could do that for me?!"

The toad smiled, excited to mess around with the nerd, but he had his reservations thanks to his stomach, "Sounds like fun, but I'm starved! I'll wither if I don't have some snacks!"

"Cut the noise, toad face. Naruto has some snacks at his house," the Sannin smirked.

The Naruto shadow clone awoke a few hours later after which the Sannin handed him his rucksack and escorted him back home. The Sannin waved Naruto farewell, the shadow clone unaware that he smirked like an evil madman as soon as he turned his back. The Naruto shadow clone then entered the house with the real Naruto there to hand him back the rucksack. Iruka wasn't home and the real Naruto was alone until he returned in about an hour or two.

The real Naruto that went to see Hinata had returned home to sulk for the last several hours. But now that his clone had returned, the real version of him reached out to retrieve his rucksack. However, as soon as his shadow clone had burst, the real Naruto was overwhelmed with a sudden wave of exhaustion. With the rucksack in his hand, Naruto fell, face-first onto the floor with a new mindset. While he moaned on the floor, the real Naruto received all of the memories of the shadow clone and received all of the experience the clone had attained, as well as the exhaustion.

Naruto soon stood and marched to his unfinished bedroom. He locked the door and sat down on the desk with his rucksack down on the floor, beside his chair. He looked outside his window and watched the sun set for a minute before he waved his wand at a radio to listen to some music while he did some real research. Naruto checked his desk for a book about Konoha and the various clans it was home to. He felt he needed to learn more about the Hyuga clan in the off chance he could find a weakness he could use to defeat Neji. All was well in his research until Naruto was about to read on about an incident that involved the Hyuga clan and the Head Shinobi under the Yondaime Raikage. As he was about to learn more about the incident, he heard a rustle come from within his rucksack. Naruto turned to his rucksack, reached out, landed it on the desk, and unraveled it. And then out of nowhere, the toad he believed to have eluded bounced out from the rucksack, attached itself to Naruto's face, and screamed at him with maximum volume.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY SNACKS, NERD?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

To Be Continued…

There we have it! The newest chapter! I hope it was good! And now it's time for me to list the differences between this chapter and the previous version made back in 2010! But to be honest, I can't recall a lot of differences, other than the fact that I directly referenced Scott Pilgrim when Naruto comments on Iruka and Anko's awkwardness in the café and I borrowed a running gag from the television show, Big Wolf on Campus, which was one of my favorite television shows! I also deleted a scene between Neji and Tenten when Neji starts his training with the Rotation and a brief scene where Shino and his father are training together. I also added the scene where Naruto visits Hinata in the hospital and decided to throw Shino in there. Other than that, all the differences I can recall are the improved grammar and a few subtle differences here and there with locations and food.

I also wanted to take a moment to explain Kakashi's disappearance and how Jiraiya reacted to Kakashi's abandonment: in case it isn't obvious now or later, Kakashi has ditched Naruto under Jiraiya's orders.

In the original manga, Kakashi and Jiraiya discuss the Akatsuki and Jiraiya informs Kakashi that he will take over Naruto's training while he orders him to focus his attention on Sasuke. But this conversation takes place BEFORE the events of the Chunin Exams, which would mean (in my honest opinion) Naruto's transition into Ebisu's care could be interpreted as an elaborate action to transition Naruto into Jiraiya's care without raising a sense of superiority at the fact that he was being trained by one of the Sannin and to give him a healthier transition into the Akatsuki situation without giving Naruto more stress than his brain could handle. With that said, it could also be a good way of getting rid of the Kakashi-hatred that fuels Kakashi-bashing in the first place.

But in this new crossover universe, Jiraiya does the same thing, only he has convinced Kakashi to abandon Naruto in order to make Naruto despise his teacher and want to train with Jiraiya for the finals and then afterward when he needs to be trained for the Akatsuki threat on the horizon. Jiraiya does it in order to keep Naruto oblivious to the Akatsuki situation, and be reunited with his godson to make up for the years he wasn't there to take care of him.

So with that said and done and before Azeroth44 can attack me, leave behind a review for me to read and let me know what you think, guys! I'll get started on the next chapter as soon as I can! Until next time!