Naruto sat on a small chair at the corner of his balcony, his gloved hands clasped together. He listened to the bellows of children below, with a massive ring the bells situated above the academy sent the birds flying, the spring festival had arrived in Konoha. Students ran out of the building and into the street, weaving through moss-grown gardens and avoiding members of the older population dressed in warm green robes.

People would crowd around the many musicians on small make-shift stages, listening to the pleasant music and smiling. Naruto hadn't left his apartment complex in twelve years but every first of April he would step out onto his balcony and listen to the festivities taking place around him.

His house was bare, no decorations, the only thing being his bed and a small wardrobe for his clothes. The door to his apartment was always locked; nobody ever comes, only slipping letters under the door. He had no deep understanding of time, only able to tell one what month it was. He was a hermit of sorts, not by choice but by unfortunate circumstance. In that time he taught himself three skills, the ruling three he called it. Observation, Armament and Projection. Observation allowed him to extend his senses, more specifically, sensing the presence of others. Armament was his most important and well developed ability, not only did it keep his "Kekkei Genkai" at bay.

The constant thin layer of chakra surrounding his body prevented his destructive ability from running loose and assisted in keeping his body from deteriorating further.

His skin was left cracked and dry and his joints, bones and muscles were in a constant state of regrowth and decay. He seemed to have been born with a healing factor focused solely on keeping him from crumbling under the weight of his own ability. If he took any great damage then he would without a doubt die. Not from the injury but from his body quite literally eating itself.

Projection was the last technique he developed, it was a simple technique, a simple and continuous projection of chakra that would ward off any strangers that lingered around his apartment. Chakra was not inherently emotional, a neutral force that only became malicious or euphoric once a human consciousness was applied to it. Of course, people like Hiruzen would ignore it and still deliver their mail and try to make conversation with him through the door.

The doorbell chimed and he slowly looked back, slowly standing up and walking over to the door. He peeked into the peephole and saw Hiruzen with another man, "Slide it under the door!," he said.

Hiruzen knocked again, "I'm not delivering mail," he replied. Naruto made sure his chakra was fine tuned and covered his hands properly before he slowly grabbed the door knob and pulled the door open.

He quickly stepped back and let them in. Watching as they walked in and surveyed the apartment. "Naruto i would like to introduce you to…JIraiya, a former student of mine and one of the three sanin." Hiruzen stated. He and Jiraiya couldn't sit since Naruto didn't own any furniture. Naruto stared at Jiraiya, his face twisting and scrunching into an awkward smile, Jiraiya frowned and gave Hiruzen a look. The older man returned the look, just as confused as the sanin was. Naruto cleared his throat, "H-hello." he said. His voice was hoarse and painful sounding. "U-uh, well, i know that he can probably introduce himself better than i can so…"

JIraiya nodded and stepped forward, "How's it going…i'm assuming that you know who your father is, well i'm the guy that trained him. The gallant Jiraiya, the man who makes women swoon and silence a baby with a single look. So be weary boy you might find yourself falling for my devilish charms."

"...Okay and?" Naruto asked as he looked at Hiruzen and then back to Jiraiya. Hiruzen's face palmed and sighed while Jiraiya seemed to deflate at Naruto's response, Minato was immediately won over when he introduced him, practically falling at his feet and begging him to become his disciple. "Um…well, I was hoping to talk to you about getting out of this…white walled hell, get out of the village for a while and see the world. What do you think?."

Naruto frowned, looking between the kage and sanin. Thinking for a moment, "I have to politely decline, I must decline, No, I don't want to leave just yet…No will do just fine."

He continued to stare at the two men, his mouth falling open and a meek sure falling out. "Damn it!." he thought. "Good, good, um…this is good, I was actually hoping you'd say yes so I could train you outside of the village, plus I need a companion for my new mission." Jiraiya said as he went to give Naruto a pat on the shoulder only for the teen to jerk back and let the hand pass by.

Jiraiya frowned and retracted his hand, "Um, me and you are going to be tracking down the old man–"

"I'm not that old." Hiruzen interjected.

"You've been hokage as long as i've been alive, that's quite old." Jiraiya said, "Anyway…me and you will be tracking down Tsunade Senju…the only candidate for the seat of hokage."

"What about that Danzo guy? He's known Hiruzen forever and from what I've read he seems qualified." Naruto inquired.

"Danzo is…like Orochimaru, an unstable and unsatisfactory candidate." Hiruzen said."Huh," Naruto replied simply.

"I was hoping to leave today, you aren't doing anything important are you?." Jiraya asked

Naruto felt a spark of annoyance. "Nice question smart guy."

Hiruzen sighed and suppressed a chuckle, "certainly inherited Kushina's sarcasm."

Jiraiya nodded, understanding what Naruto was getting at, "I..i'll see you at Gate B in one hour." he said as he walked out, Hiruzen following.

Naurto shook his head and walked into his bathroom, standing in front of the mirror and grinning, his mind flashing back to an image of a cartoon man laughing. "Ha, Ha, Ha…no not like that you moron, it has to be natural. From the chest and through the throat like a cough." he whispered as he began laughing and grinning again.

After some ten minutes he began to close his eyes and laugh, looking away from the mirror in the process, "loosen the head movement." he whispered.

For the next twenty minutes he stood in his bathroom laughing and smiling before he eventually set off to meet Jiraiya.

They departed almost immediately, taking cattle-road down to a small gambling town that had been marked as a location that Tsunade was spotted at. Jiraiya looked over at Naruto, the boy was thin, short and his head sported a thick and messy bundle of blonde hair. He cleared his throat, "You know any good stories?."

Naruto thought for a moment, "Yeah…there was once a guy named Jiro, he liked to do yoga every morning…so one day on the first stretch his ball-sack split open and he died." Naruto said flatly. Jiraiya flashed a thin and confused smile, only saying "wow." in response.

They set up camp in a small wooded area away from the main road. Jiraiya felt mild discomfort as he surveyed the area, someone was watching them but he couldn't exactly tell where they were. Naruto was well aware of this fact but he didn't really care. Jiraiya looked over at Naruto, " before we arrive…i want you to know a few things, my teammate Tsunade is…well she's an alcoholic. And she has a very short temper…she doesn't take too kindly to annoying brats so i'd save the sarcasm for later."

"Will she be sober enough to notice?."

"Maybe not." Jiraiya replied with a smirk.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, "Do you feel them?." he asked.

"Yes…do you know where they are?."

Naruto brought his finger up, dragging it through the air for several moments before stopping at a tree that sat to the right of their camp. Jiraiya grabbed a few shuriken and threw them into the tree, watching as a black figure quickly leapt out of the tree and landed on the ground quietly.

Jiraiya quickly recognised the man from the visible half of his face, "You." he said with annoyance.

"Me." the man replied.

"Kabuto…i'm surprised you're still comfortable in showing your face considering the fact that you're on Konoha's top ten most wanted list." Jiraiya said slowly. "I wanted to chat with you and…this is Naruto I'm assuming?." Kabuto began as he eye'd Naruto.

"No, I'm Gaylord Focker," Naruto replied.

"Huh…good day I guess, Jiraiya, I've brought you a present. A gift from my former master." Kabuto said as he rooted through his pockets and pulled out a small, leather bound journal. "I saw a few Akatsuki members roaming around and that had me thinking, Jiraiya's after the Akatsuki, the Akatsuki is after the son of Minato Namikaze and I share a common interest with you. I–"

"And what would that be?."

"Complete destruction of the Akatsuki, they stand in my way so I thought we would engage in a…mutually beneficial relationship, just me and you." He slowly raised the journal, "This is one hundred and fifty pages of data gathered on the Akatsuki by Orochimaru before his passing."

"I've been doing my own research and while it's not as extensive as lord Orochimaru's it's a bit more up to date."

He tossed the notebook at Jiraiya's feet, "What's in it for me–konoha?." Jiraiya inquired.

"Information on your greatest enemy since Madara, consistent updates, and always knowing where the enemy is going to strike." Kabuto replied.

Jiraiya stared at the journal, "You don't seem to be worried about going against Orochimaru's final wishes."

"Orochimaru is dead, I have no interest in carrying on his legacy, the only thing he can help me with now is simply making me a better and stronger Kabuto." the young man said as he pulled back the hood, the entire right side of his face had gone pale and small scales were running across his skin. His black eyes now turned a dull yellow and a pair of fangs now seen clearly whenever he opened his mouth. "I'm not bargaining with the leaf, I'm bargaining with you, consider this, me showing you gratitude."

"Gratitude?."

"Nonou raised me until I joined Konoha's medical division where I met Orochimaru, he convinced me to become a spy for him and assist him with experimentation. We traveled a lot, the idea of home was foreign to me but the man was practically my father. But now he's gone, for a long time I didn't know who I was or what i'd do, the sound four took over Oto and I simply let them, then I began thinking about Jinchuriki."

Kabuto slowly put the hood back on, "more specifically, Naruto Uzumaki, i had never met the boy but i was thinking, did he consider himself to be Naruto or did he consider himself to be the nine tails. Did I consider myself Kabuto Yakushi or Kabuto, spy and chief of medicine for lord Orochimaru." He said, "I…assumed the best, that boy believed in his strength and saw himself as a separate entity, months after his death i attempted to cling on to what Orochimaru had instilled in me…but that didn't work…because of you i'm going to use what i absorbed from Orochimaru and move on."

Jiraiya nodded and picked up the journal, "So you don't want to destroy Konoha?."

"No, my goals require the death of the Akatsuki."

Kabuto began walking away, "I would keep my eyes open, like i said, there are red clouds hovering around."

Jiraiya flipped through the journal, reading a few words from every entry before closing it and putting it in his backpack. "He's a weird, weird guy," he said as he sat down. "Should've seen him during the academy, pimply little brat who was willing to do anything and everything for any one."

"Huh," Naruto replied flatly. Jiraiya frowned, "Any more good stories."

"I used to own a dog, well own isn't the right word, but i would put food outside of my door and he would come and eat. He would occasionally bring his friend, anyway i remember this girl telling me about how i looked funny and how it creeped her out…real bad stuff am i right, she doesn't like how i look. They drowned that dog's friend in a birdbath, to death."

Jiraiya stared at Naruto, his mouth opening and closing for a moment in confusion, "my condolences?."

"Don't worry it chased me around the neighborhood once and tried to bite me. I remember a few of the kids wrote him a mock will that just said, "kick Naruto in the balls for me."

Jiraiya nodded and looked around awkwardly, "what about…what about the other dog?" he asked.

"He's still around, Hiruzen occasionally fills up the bowl when he comes over."

"That's good to hear…i guess."