2 years late, I have returned to this story. Let's just say a lot has changed. Naruto ended, which is still trippy to me. I will say I really liked the ending, and can't wait to see the English sub of Naruto: The Last (though it may already be out). I also can't wait to see what Kishimoto has in store for us with his new mini-arcs he plans to release. But ultimately, it is up to us fanfic creators to get the ball going on new Naruto content until and after then. Shoutout to Solvdrage, whose litany of recent work has kicked my ass back into gear. Let's hope it stays in gear. Sidenote, yes, the official pairings are out, and NaruHina won, much to my pleasure. My true OTP, however, is InoxGaara, something I have not written on and failed canon realization. While this story is NOT InoXNaruto, I will not guarantee that canon or my OTP will be in this fic IF it lasts that long. Anyway, here we go.

…..

Naruto Uzumaki hated Tuesday's. First off, it was the really crappy part of the week, even worse than Monday. At least on Monday's, you had the day before free. Tuesday, no such thing, and the week was still really long. Secondly, Obasan made him work in the flower shop once he got off in the academy. That also happened on Saturdays, but at least he had free time that day as well. And finally, Iruka-sensei did extra math classwork. But Naruto knew he was going to be a super awesome ninja fighting and doing jutsus. How much math did he really need to know? Yeah, as his nee-chan had pointed out, if he really wanted to be Hokage, he would have to know how to do budgets and stuff, but that was just addition and subtraction with really big numbers, and he could do that with some pen and paper. So of course, Naruto was skipping out on class, headed for his favorite ramen shop that he couldn't visit that often over the last six months.

Ino Yamanaka hated Tuesday's as well. Almost for the same reasons as well. Except that for her, it was listening to her nii-san gripe about working in the flower shop that sucked. She also knew exactly where her nii-san had run off to, that ramen shop where he wasted most of his money he earned from working in the flower shop. Not that the ramen was terrible or anything, but he spent a couple hundred ryo there a week. He was really ridiculous at times. She couldn't actually be that mad at him though. The last few months with her brother had been pretty great. Yeah, they fought a lot, but he was still a good person. He was also pretty fun to hang out with, which she was surprised at. They hadn't gotten along this well before the discovery of their family relations. She was pretty glad with her current life, and her birthday was coming up. She couldn't wait. She turned her attentions back to her sensei, who was going over the basics of something called Algebra. 3X times 2Y = 40 +Y, and they had to plot out every possible positive answer? What the heck was the point of that!

Sakura Haruno was excited about how easy this work was. It would allow her more time to spend staring at Sasuke. She was pretty sure she liked him. She fiddled with the ribbon in her hair. She was beginning to think Ino liked him as well. She really hoped not. She had been a little odd lately, highlighted by her calling herself the sister of Naruto Uzumaki. She didn't see the appeal of that idiot. And he was skipping. Again. He was a total idiot, a useless guy, unlike Sasuke-kun.

Sasuke Uchiha was grumbling as he began to sketch out the math problem. It was a stupid task, and one that did not help him get stronger. He was also grumbling that a certain blonde idiot was missing. He had been keeping an eye on him the last six months when an odd new twist occurred in his life. Ino Yamanaka, the strongest female in the class, suddenly proclaimed he was her brother and he said she was her sister. Something was off about the whole thing, especially when they explained the circumstances. Naruto gets his butt kicked protecting someone who was stronger than him, and that makes them family and moves in with her family. He would suspect something more akin to love for such a turnaround, but he saw that Ino was among his admirers, so it was not that. And Naruto was definitely an orphan, so it wasn't that either. He dropped the line of thought, and continued the stupid graph.

Hinata Hyuga could not help but wonder as to where Naruto had gone, While she was not surprised he was skipping class, she was simply curious as to where he went. The thing that she was most curious about, however, was his sudden relations to Ino Yamanaka. She had heard the story, and knew that it was her who Naruto had protected, not Ino. Though she hadn't been sure at the time, when she was being pulled away from here family member from the scene, she thought she saw a young blonde girl in the distance. Hinata reasoned that had to be Ino. But she was clueless as to what the truth was. She had no idea as to why they suddenly considered each other brother and sister, and wasn't sure if revealing she knew their story was a lie was a good idea. But rather than think about all of that any longer, she instead focused on the repetitive classwork at hand.

Shikamaru Nara had finished the classwork, having solved this problem twice when he was 7, and another time earlier that year. It was a quick task to jot down the answers, so he put his head down, his eyes ending up on the empty seat of Naruto Uzumaki. He had heard about the Naruto-Ino family relationship before the rest of the class, having been dragged by his mother on an errand to drop some of the "Special Nara Fertilizer" off at the Yamanaka Flower Shop. The cover story that the village would hear was not created, so all his mother and him got for an explanation was that "It's complicated." Figuring it out had been complicated, and he still didn't know all the answers. He had managed to come to the conclusion that Inoichi Yamanaka was not Ino's birth father, and in fact it was the same man as Naruto's father, and Ino had discovered this fact and decided family is family. The only question he still couldn't figure out was who their father was. Of course, he had never told a soul he had figured all this out. It was too… troublesome to do so.

Choji Akimichi was trying to sneak chips as he ate, and only hoped their sensei Iruka would not catch him

Iruka Umino did in fact see Choji, but had his attention focused on other matters, namely Naruto. He had expected him to bail on the math assignments that day, and had already sent a copy to his home for him to do as homework. That had proved to be a useful compromise between chasing him around and giving him 0's on everything. He wasn't stupid, he just hated to apply himself in things he deemed unimportant. His whole relationship with the Uzumaki had changed in recent months, where his burgeoning role as close confidant had been supplanted by an unexpected sister, Ino Yamanaka. Though he would never reveal it to them, he had gone to see the Hokage to see what had happened. The Hokage told the same story as he heard from Naruto himself, and explained that he had allowed it since he wanted to ensure the psychological well-being. His shinobi senses told him that this was far from the whole story, but he could not exactly call out the Hokage for not telling him the whole truth. So instead of becoming such, he fell more into a mentor role. Despite skipping class that day, Naruto had become a better student. Not a good one, but better. And he was happy to support Naruto in all of his endeavors going into the future.

Nikko and Inoichi Yamanaka were enjoying the day together, prepping for the major event occurring near the end of the month, Ino's 10th birthday. They were trying to figure out who they should invite, as the adoption of Naruto into their family for his sister's sake had revealed a few people they knew as jerks. In fact, the Touzo's had more people off the list this year than were still on it, much to Nikko's displeasure. Neither liked the realization of how neglected Naruto was from normal society. Both had conversed in private about how they thought it had been simple quiet prejudice, but it was a much more widespread and much more willfully outcast-creating then expected. They had made sure in the last six months to as fully integrate him into the family. It had been a difficult transition for them, as Naruto was use to his own rhythm in life.

Getting him to eat a better diet was still a major battle, as they had to balance their distaste for ramen with his obsession. Getting him to do homework and classwork as a struggle, and the fact they already had received his math assignments for the day told them exactly where he would be heading for the day. In the beginning they would ambush him at the ramen stand; but after talking with the chef Teuchi and the waitress Ayame they realized this stand not only stood for ramen with Naruto, but also acceptance. So they backed off on stopping him, unless it would ruin his appetite for Nikko's dinners. Also, they never realized the difficulties in putting a child to bed that wasn't naturally tired late at night. Yes, he was 9 and not some baby that needed to be put to sleep, but Inoichi especially knew the importance of being able to sleep on a schedule. Upon thinking about it, both realized that he was actually turning 10 as well a few weeks after Ino. They had to figure out something to get him for his birthday as well.

Jiraiya began his stroll back into Konohagakure in the first time in years with some apprehension. Months ago, he had received a message from Sarutobi-sensei about coming back to the village for a one to one talk as soon as time would allow. For weeks, he assumed it was some major news on Orochimaru or such until he realized the tone and wording of the message didn't fit that narrative. In fact, on re-read, he got a feeling he hadn't had since he was a genin learning his craft early on. The feeling that Sarutobi was "not mad, but just disappointed." He had no clue what it could be, though he really hoped it wasn't the fact he actually had a child. There was already one kid in Konoha he would have to handle in the future, he didn't want one that was his as well.

"Jiraiya-sama, welcome back to the village. What brings you back after so long?" The gate guard spoke familiarly with the famous shinobi

He nodded back, smiling. "Thank you. Nothing serious, just that the women of Konoha are still the most beautiful in all the nations, and my books don't write themselves!" He replied, grinning.

The gate guard pulled from behind his booth an orange book that Jiraiya had written. "I love all your work, and I hope this one is just as good. I know I'm not an expert or anything, but this might be the best literature in the world!"

Jiraiya nodded, unable to help think to himself about his first failed novel. "Good to hear. And make sure you buy it when it comes out." He then left in a hurry, taking the ninja highway to make his way to the Hokage's tower as soon as he could.

A quick flash of his spying skills told him his sensei was alone in his office, so he decided that the window route was the best route for the day.

"Jiraiya, I was wondering when you would be showing up." The Hokage said, not turning around to greet his former pupil.

Jiraiya shrugged, entering the room itself from the balcony. "Well, as spymaster it took a while to clear my schedule. I also had to be confident that a certain snake was not about to make a major move."

The Hokage glanced towards him and agreed. "Quite true. I would rather he plan a thousand plans than make one move on the shogi board. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Jiraiya let a small frown slip out. "I was afraid of that." He noticed the security seals go up, and checked the room for ANBU. They didn't think he was a traitor, did they?

"Ino Namikaze."

The use of his pupil's last name caught his eye. "Whom, sensei?"

"Ino Namikaze" He repeated.

"Minato was an orphan, so he should only have him as family, and definitely no Namikaze." He hinted towards Naruto.

"Alright then, does the name Nikko Touzo catch your eye?"

This one made Jiraiya freeze for a moment, but he recovered. "Nikko… Touzu. Wasn't she dating Inoichi Yamanaka? I'm pretty sure they got married."

"Yes, they did. They also had a daughter. A daughter named Ino Yamanaka."

This made Jiraiya's face drop, but not for the reason the Hokage thought. "So, you knew about the affair?"

"Hold up," Jiraiya began to defend himself, "okay, first off, I would never support adultery, so you can't blame me there. Secondly, I thought it was just some one time thing, when did a kid get involved?" He had been aware of the misdeed his student had down, he had come to him for advice about what he should do. While he would never admit he told him to say nothing, a few days later he came clean to his wife. And that was the end of it in his mind.

Sarutobi softened for a moment, and believing his student. "I am not shocked he didn't tell you either. As you are probably aware, Nikko became pregnant soon after, announcing it after her marriage with Inoichi. However, she would later discover the father was not him, but Minato. They then conspired to keep it a secret until they thought their daughter, Ino, was old enough to understand."

Jiraiya was shocked. Minato had a second child, raised by her mother, that he never told him about. He was his sensei, Kami damnit!

"So Nikko and Inoichi told her the truth?" He asked his sensei.

He shook his head. "No, they planned to keep it a secret. However, Minato knew he could have died before the day they told Ino, so he wrote a letter telling his side of the story. Nikko told me she couldn't throw it away, and one day Ino found out by accident. It escalated, and she ended up running out of her house and found Naruto, who had been injured in a fight protecting a girl from some bullies." Jiraiya could see where this was going. "The letter explained that Naruto was her brother, so she took him to the hospital where I checked up on him and found out the truth from her."

"What is the situation now?" Jiraiya was curious about the current fate of his godson.

"Naruto is living with them, as demanded by Ino. He was her brother, so they would begin acting like it. They are getting along quite well, like any other brother and sister. They told everyone that they bonded after Naruto attempted to protect her, and it is working for now. As a side benefit, I have heard he is doing better at school and the attitude towards him in the village has softened a bit." The Hokage explained.

He only had one more question for him. "How are they taking the news that Minato was their father."

Sarutobi paused for a moment before responding. "Ino seems to accept it in that it's a fact about her, but she still considers Inoichi her true father. Naruto, on the other hand, is quite excited and wants to boast. I managed to keep him from doing so, but I had to use a little seal, one I learned from Danzo years ago. It makes sure the owner doesn't spill the beans about a specific thing unless the other person is aware of it already. Naruto accepted it with only a little hassle, and I plan on removing it once he becomes a genin."

Jiraiya knew that, for an orphan like Naruto, it was probably best that their was a limiter in place to prevent such a secret from coming out. Had he known as a child his father was a legendary shinobi, he would have boasted loudly as well.

"Well, his tenth birthday is next month, right sensei? The 10th anniversary. If you don't mind, I will stay in the area until then." Jiraiya told the wise Hokage.

He could see faintly what was being implied, and nodded in agreement. "That would be fine, Jiraiya. Quite fine."

…..

So this is the next chapter to this story, and new work from me! I made sure to get the thoughts of everyone that is going to be in the next few chapters, so don't worry too much. Jot down a comment and tell me what you think.