A/N: I've been updating kinda fast, which is unlike me; I just need to get this story out of my mind! Also, as a medic-nin I feel that Tsunade would be a morning person! P.S. I don't own Naruto or any affiliated characters…

Quickly stopping at Ichiraku's Ramen again, Jiraiya and Naruto waited until dusk to leave the village. While knowing Sarutobi wasn't going to stop him, Jiraiya didn't want to draw any attention to themselves.

"Jiraiya-sensei, where are we going for our trip?" Naruto was excited; he has never been outside the village gates!

"Well, for starters we are just going to Tanzaku Town for the night. It's a pretty large town and has some decent hotels. After tonight, we'll basically go where the wind takes us! We don't want to draw attention to ourselves and since we'll start your training we will have to move around a lot."

It was late at night when the pair reached Tanzaku Town. Normally, Jiraiya would've headed straight to the bars to find some…ehem…company, but he now had a young apprentice to look after. Instead, he headed to a hotel to find someplace to stay for the night. Settling into their room, Naruto's stomach could be heard growling. "Well, is room service okay with you, Naruto?"

"Yes, please! I don't think I can make it another foot!" With that, Naruto collapsed onto his bed, exhausted from the day's travelling.

"Sounds good; but you can't have ramen, you just had that for lunch."

"But Sensei, ramen is food for the gods!" Naruto couldn't have ramen?

"That might be, but you need to start eating healthier or the training I'm going to put you through is going to make you sick."

"Alright, I guess I will have some sushi rice and please." Jiraiya ordered their food and before long Naruto was fed and fast asleep. Jiraiya smiled, happy that Naruto would have a chance at a good life. Making a mental note to find Tsunade to do a check-up on Naruto, Jiraiya lied down and fell asleep.

The next morning, Jiraiya woke to the unpleasant rays of the sun on his face. Quietly showering and getting dressed, Jiraiya left a note for Naruto before leaving. Grabbing a few plain doughnuts and some fresh fruit for himself and Naruto, Jiraiya returned to the hotel room to find Naruto still sleeping. After getting rid of the note and then sending a letter to Tsunade via toads, Jiraiya proceeded to try and wake Naruto up. Confused, Naruto jumped up and out of bed before remembering what had happened and where he was. Smiling, Naruto thanked Jiraiya for getting breakfast and then got ready for the day.

As per usual, Tsunade woke up at dawn. After showering and getting dressed for the day, she walked out of her hotel room to Shizune up and ready too. In a small town near the border between the lands of Fire and Hot Water, the mornings were rather peaceful. Unexpectedly, a toad materialized in front of Tsunade as Shizune checked themselves out of their room. Setting her stuff down, Tsunade retrieved the letter the toad was offering.

Dear Tsuande-hime,

A couple days ago when I was in Konoha to give a report to Sarutobi-Sensei, I learned that he had not upheld his promise to take care of Minato's son Naruto. Yesterday I left Konoha, taking Naruto with me. He had been living on the streets for about a year and had put up with the villagers' abuse. Because of his situation, he hasn't got the proper nutrition and I worry that it will affect his training. I'm making sure he eats healthier, but would you be able to give him a check-up? He's already too small for his age, but I want to make sure there is nothing seriously wrong going on. We are staying in Tanzaku Town for the next couple of nights but will be moving on soon. I would really appreciate it if you could help; the boy needs to know that there are people that care about him. I'll tell you more when I see you…

Thanks,

Jiraiya

Writing Jiraiya a response on the back of the note, Tsuande gave the letter back to the toad; smiling she dismissed the summon. "Shizune, change of plans."

Anxiously awaiting Tsunade's reply, Jiraiya sighed in relief when his toad Gamapako popped back into existence. Retrieving the letter, Jiraiya dismissed his toad, "Thanks Pako, you can leave now."

Hello Jiraiya,

You're right, we have a lot to talk about when we meet. Unfortunately, Shizune and I are about two and a half weeks away in a small village near the border between the lands of Fire and Hot Water. By now, we have already left and are travelling at top speed to get there as soon as we can.

See you soon,

Tsunade

Jiraiya smiled, that's just like Tsunade, short and sweet. Looking over to his young charge, Jiraiya just chuckled, "Son, you won't even know what hit you." Getting ready for the day, Jiraiya sent a clone to get him and Naruto breakfast.

"Lady Tsunade, what's going on? I know you said we had somewhere to be, but normally we don't travel at top speed." Shizune was curious, what was so important that required full speed?

"Well, it's a little hard to explain right now because I don't have all the details myself. What I do know, is that there is a young boy out there that needs our help. Do you remember when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha?" Shizune nodded in response. "Well, the Yondaime didn't actually kill the beast. Instead, he sealed half the chakra in him and half in an orphaned newborn, his son. Naruto hasn't been treated well, and we're going to meet him and Jiraiya so I can take a look at him. We need to move fast because Jiraiya can't stay in any one place for too long and we have no idea if or when the council will send someone to retrieve Naruto."

"If they hate him for the Fox inside of him, why would they try and get him back?"

"Some see the boy as a weapon because of the Fox, and they don't want it to fall into the wrong hands." Done with the conversation, the two women focused on the task at hand, getting to Jiraiya and Naruto as soon as possible.

As Naruto was eating his weight in the rice and grilled fish that Jiraiya had gotten him, Jiraiya started up a conversation. "So kid, are you excited to start training?" Naruto looked up from his food a nodded vigorously. Smiling, Jiraiya continued, "Well, we can start as soon as you're done eating." Naruto's eyes lit up and quickly finished his food.

Leading Naruto to a quiet opening outside the town, Jiraiya motioned for Naruto to sit down. "The first thing we're going to do today is meditate. You may not like this exercise and it may be difficult at first, but it's great exercise that will one day come in handy. Eventually, you will be accustomed to meditating when you get up before training and before going and cleaning off after training. For now, I'm just going to get you used to the idea of it." Naruto nodded. He didn't exactly like the idea of meditating but if that's what he was told to do, he was going to do it. This is the first person that showed an interest in him and he'd be damned if he was going to mess that up.

"Alright, the key to meditating is staying absolutely still, so the first step is to find a comfortable position. Generally, that means sitting down, but you will need to find what is most natural for you." Sitting with his legs crossed, Naruto waited for the next step. "Next is placement of your hands. I would recommend placing your hands either palm-up or palm-down on your knees or placing your hands into the ram seal." Not knowing how much Naruto knew about hand seals, Jiraiya made sure to show him how to make the seal. "By placing your hands on your knees, it's a very relaxed posture for you to meditate with, but by using the ram seal, you can focus your energy on your hands and relax that way too. As you learn different seals and how to meditate, you will learn what works best for you too." Placing his hands in the ram seal, Naruto waited for further instruction. "Last step is the hardest part about meditating. You need to completely clear your mind. Through meditating you should be able to feel an energy running throughout your body-that's your chakra. Feel your chakra run through your body. Okay, let's start. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, empty your mind and feel your chakra." Naruto did what he was told and worked on clearing his mind.

After about twenty minutes of trying to clear his mind, Naruto was having trouble feeling his chakra. "Sensei? I can't do it." Jiraiya opened his eyes and looked at his student. "That's fine for today. It will be hard to be able to feel your chakra when you haven't used it for jutsus. I mainly wanted you to practice sitting still and clearing your mind. Over the next few days I will be teaching you chakra control and some simple jutsus so you can learn how to use chakra. After that, you'll be able to meditate and calm your chakra." Naruto nodded, a little relieved that he was doing okay.

Stopping for a quick break, Tsunade and Shizune walked into a small tea house to get some food. "We're travelling at a good pace, we should make it to Tanzaku before Jiraiya leaves."

"Mi-Lady, how long will we be staying there?"

"I can't say for sure. If everything looks fine with Naruto it probably won't be very long. Of course, I don't know if Jiraiya has other plans for us as well..."

Alright, stand up. Let's begin with taijutsu. I'll be teaching you academy basics to start with. There are a plethora of different taijutsu styles, but the academy ones are the easiest to learn and are good to start with. Eventually, you will either learn my style of taijutsu or you will create your own."

"Create my own?"

"Yep. But first we need to build up your strength and stamina." Taking something out of a scroll, Jiraiya handed it to the boy in front of him. Looking at the arm and ankle bands in his hands, he asked what they were for.

"These are special weights. They are specially designed to distribute the weight evenly throughout your body using a set of seals. They will help you build your stamina and increase your strength and speed. I'll have you start with 15 lbs. on each arm and leg. Once you get used to the feeling and aren't affected by the weight, I will slowly increase it." Naruto added the weight and could instantly feel the effect. "We'll start of simple, do 10 push-ups, sit-ups, and laps around the clearing. I want to you to focus on your form and adjusting your body to the weight. I'll be watching you warm up today, but from now on you'll be doing it by yourself before breakfast." Naruto wasn't too pleased at the idea of getting up early, but he wanted to become a ninja, so he was going to deal with it.

Jiraiya watched Naruto start and finish his warm up and began teaching him the basic katas of academy style taijutsu. Looking towards Tanzaku Town, he could only hope Tsunade would be there soon. He and Naruto weren't in any danger right now, but he doesn't know if the Council realizes Naruto's gone and if they're going to do anything about it. Plus, I haven't seen Tsunade-hime in a while…

A/N: I've done a few JiraTsu stories, but how many of you would like to see Tsunade stick around in this one?