"That wasn't a spar at all!"

"Too bad." I jabbed my Armour, trying to dig into it with the Kunai.

I wasn't making any progress.

I held up the Kunai, examining it.

Actually, I was damaging the Kunai more than I was damaging my Armour.

"We didn't even get to use any of our awesome ideas!"

"Too bad. You got distracted and I capitalized on it."

"They probably wouldn't have worked, anyway." Sasuke noted. "That armour is tough."

"I honestly didn't know that it was this tough." I tossed the Kunai away, throwing it into a pile.

My Armour seemed to be just this side of invincible when it came to 'mundane' attacks.

Where 'mundane' actually meant 'anything other than Darkness or Light'.

I held my hand out, summoning a sword and passing it to Jiraiya. "You know how to use pure Wind natured Chakra, yes?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I do."

I held my hand out, palm facing upwards. "Good. Try as hard as you can."

Chakra streamed down the blade, shimmering slightly.

He brought it down, the wind-enhanced blade colliding with my Armour and promptly breaking off, the other piece bouncing back upwards.

I caught it before it could hit the ground, examining the broken blade.

"Completely ignored the wind blade." Jiraiya noted.

He passed me the other piece of the sword.

I looked at it, seeing the two broken ends on both pieces.

This wasn't the best quality sword I had in my collection -understandable, considering that I'd picked it up from a particularly idiotic bandit- but it wasn't terrible.

That it had broken just like that was a testament to Jiraiya's strength. It wasn't particularly hard to impart enough force to break a blade, but doing it so easily...

"So, where'd you get that anyway?"

"Oh, around."

"You got armour that can block my sword... around." Sasuke deadpanned.

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Maybe if the original Keyblade Armour had been made with Light instead of Darkness...

Oh well.

I reached up and touched the left pauldron, deactivating it and letting the Armour return to its previous state.

"Sure is going to be useful, though."

"You're an immortal, regenerating shapeshifter. I somehow doubt that you need almost invincible armour on top of that." Sasuke scoffed.

"Nothing wrong with stacking the deck in your favour." Naruto noted. "Even the Kyuubi agrees with that."

"So long as it's not against him, you mean."

Naruto grinned, nodding. "When you stack the deck in your favour, it's perfectly fine. When your enemy stacks the deck in their favour, they're a cheating bastard."

All present made sounds of agreement. Even Sakura.

"Speaking of, since I haven't been around for the past few months, how are you and the Kyuubi... getting along?"

"Eh..." Naruto shrugged. "Kind... of better than before, I guess? He's still a jackass and everything, but he's... not a complete asshole." He frowned, looking down at his stomach. "Now he just tells me to 'fuck off' instead of going on a rant about how 'humans are weak sacks of flesh that don't deserve to exist' when I go to visit him." He looked back up again. "He also really hates my mom for some reason." His eyes shifted to Jiraiya. "Ero-sennin knows, but he won't tell me why."

I looked at Jiraiya, actually interested in that. "You kept that particular secret away from him?"

"You know?" He recoiled.

"I know a lot of things, Jiraiya. Probably a lot more than I really should." I noted. "So, I take it you have a good reason for it at least?"

Jiraiya sighed, settling down. "I haven't told him because of his father-"

"The Yondaime?" Naruto interrupted. "Why can't you tell me about that?"

Jiraiya stilled. "You know?"

"Do give us some credit." Sasuke scoffed. "The Yondaime picked Naruto as the Kyuubi's host. The Yondaime looks like Naruto. The Yondaime had a reputation of never asking others to do things that he wouldn't do himself. It isn't that hard to figure out."

"And yet, it seems like nobody else in the village did." Sakura stated lightly.

Jiraiya stared at them for a moment, before sighing again. "All this time... How long?"

"Me and Sasuke have known since we were eleven." Naruto said. "We told Sakura a little while after we teamed up."

"Right." I hadn't actually realised they'd known. Not like it ever came up. "So, any of your reasons still good?"

"Nope." Jiraiya shifted. "Alright, fine." He sighed again. "Naruto, your mother was the Kyuubi's previous Jinchuuriki."

"My mother was what?"

"Oh." He looked down, staring at himself. "All this time, I never even... I honestly have no idea what to say."

"Changes things, doesn't it?" Jiraiya smirked for a second, before returning to his previous serious expression.

"Yeah." He said, faintly.

"Why?" He asked. "Why was my mother chosen to become the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki?"

"From what I know, her Chakra was 'special' in some way." I answered this one. "She also had an ability which was known as the Adamantine Sealing Chains. It was possessed by some members of the Uzumaki Clan, one which allowed them the ability to restrain Bijuu."

"The Uzumaki clan had a Kekkei Genkai?" Sasuke asked.

"The Adamantine Sealing Chains weren't... exactly a Kekkei Genkai." Jiraiya stated. "Though, as a clan, the Uzumaki were all gifted with powerful Chakra, and strong life-forces. This meant that they all had a degree of longevity. Mito Uzumaki," Instantly, hate began to pool inside the Kyuubi's Heart. "For example, survived for over a hundred years and retained much of her vitality. Naruto himself has that, which is enhanced even further by the Kyuubi. It's why he's so hyperactive."

"I'm not hyperactive." Naruto protested.

"You are." Jiraiya nodded. "You really are, Naruto. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is why you're hyperactive."

Naruto pouted.

Then, he slumped, frowning.

He took a deep breath. "I'm going to need to have a long, long chat with Kyuubi."