Naruto
Wings of a Butterfly
Chapter XVII
With all the matches for the preliminaries over, Hiruzen walked into the center of the arena. The aged Kage sighed he knew that the exams were dangerous but still he had hoped to avoid any deaths in the exams, but it seemed fate had other plans.
"The final phase of the exams will take place in six weeks, two weeks of travel and four weeks of training. You will have one week to return to your home village, four weeks to train, and one week to return to Tetsu no Kuni. anyone who fails to return by the appointed time will be disqualified from the exams." Hiruzen explained. "Now go return to your teams and safe travels to you all."
XxXKonoha One Week LaterXxX
Naruto was walking the streets of Konoha. He was no longer in the exams but he couldn't just do nothing for a whole month. But he knew Kakashi was off training Sasuke for the finals while it was still a mystery as to who was fighting who in the finals Kakashi was training Sasuke for any possibility.
As Naruto was walking he passed the out wall of the hotsprings which were walled off for privacy. As Naruto passed however he heard a perverted giggle as pure rage built up in Naruto. Turning on his heel Naruto found a man with long white hair looking through a peephole at the unsuspecting women of Konoha.
Naruto reared his fist back and then forward with all his might unconsciously tapping into the Kyubi's chakra and using advanced chakra control to make his punch deal more damage. As Naruto's fist met the man's face the man was sent flying off into the air.
As Naruto turned to walk away he heard a voice from behind him.
"That's some punch kid where'd you learn it?" the man who Naruto had just sent flying asked.
"Nowhere I'm just good with chakra and taijutsu." Naruto said.
"You know you remind me of someone. Golden blonde hair, cerulean blue eyes. No, it couldn't be. Minato produced an heir after all." the man said.
"What of it? You got something against my old man?" Naruto asked.
"Kid, I'm Jiraiya of the Sannin. I trained your old man when he was a genin." Jiraiya said introducing himself.
"The Sannin? I heard about them. Didn't think that one of the legendary shinobi would stoop as low as to peeping on women in a bathhouse." Naruto said with a smirk on his face.
"What's your name kid?" Jiraiya asked.
"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.
"Wait Minato sealed the Kyubi into his own son? No, I shouldn't be surprised by Minato, if you yourself aren't willing to sacrifice your own child, how can you ask another to sacrifice theirs." Jiraiya said. "Look kid I trained your father, how about you let me train you and maybe we can get you in a place where you can protect those dear to you."
"You got a deal, Ero-sennin." Naruto said.
"Ero-sennin? How did you know I was a sage?" Jiraiya asked.
"The Kanji on your Hitai-ate means Oil meaning you have ties to Mount Myoboku. That meant you trained there which leads me to believe you underwent sage training. And you're a massive pervert so I dubbed you Ero-sennin." Naruto explained.
"How do you know about Sage Mode and Sage Training?" Jiraiya asked the young blonde.
"Ero-sennin I'm a ninja I can get into places I'm not supposed to be. Look, the point is I know about it. I did some research on my father and stumbled across a journal that mentioned sage chakra." Naruto explained.
Jiraiya sighed. "A genin shouldn't know about sage mode. It's powerful and hard to master and it takes a long time to learn without help." Jiraiya said.
"I'm not interested in sage mode." Naruto said. "Sure it's powerful and would be a good tactic but it's not without drawbacks."
"Indeed." Jiraiya said. "So what do you say about becoming my apprentice? I can teach you many things about your father and even a couple of his jutsu."
"And why exactly do you want to make me your apprentice?" Naruto asked.
"Kid, your name comes from my very first novel, the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. Plus if you really are Minato's son that makes me your Godfather and I'll be damned if I don't get the chance to train you."Jiraiya explained.
"So, you're my godfather?" Naruto asked before pausing; he wasn't looking for an answer. "If that's true then where the fuck have you been all my life? I've had to endure things that no child ever should in this village for all its talk about teamwork and the will of fire. I've been shunned, beaten, tortured, and nearly killed."
"Has it really been that bad?" Jiraiya asked not wanting to believe that he had ignored the only connection he had left to Minato.
"Yes it has. Now I'm all for letting you train me, however if you're going to train me then do it seriously and don't slack off in your training." Naruto said.
"You sound just like Kushina." Jiraiya said with slight amusement. "Alright kid, let's get out of this place and we can start your training. You're in the Chunin Exams right?"
"No I scrubbed out, lost control of the Kyubi and almost killed someone." Naruto replied.
"Then I don't have a deadline on when I need to get you back from training. Go pack your back, we're leaving Konoha." Jiraiya said. "Meet me at the main gate in an hour."
Naruto went to his and Sasuke's apartment and packed his bag. He didn't have to worry about Sasuke as she was already off training exclusively with Kakashi. One hour later Naruto was at the main gate of Konoha to see Jiraiya with Hiruzen waiting for him.
"So you finally met Jiraiya huh Naruto?" Hiruzen teased. "Truth be told, your meeting wasn't by chance. I had Jiraiya return to Konoha to train you though I hadn't planned on you two meeting the way you did. Now go with Jiraiya and learn everything he has to teach you. I already told him not to worry about you not being at the final exam but to have you back in three months' time. Try and enjoy yourself, Naruto."
A/N: Hey all Azrael here. So a break from the exams basically this chapter is a prelude to something bigger than the exam. Since most of you seemed to be disappointed with how I set up the finals I will not be covering them instead focusing on Naruto and the aftermath of the exams. I will confirm now that I plan on making the Kinoha Crush still relevant even though the final exam will not be the launch of the attack.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and how Naruto met Jiraiya. There will be a major role in their training in the next chapter but I won't reveal what their training involves until next time see you soon. Ja~ne.