Author's Note

Again, thank you all for reading. As promised, I shall be responding and acknowledging all reviews currently on the story, and from here on, every five chapters I shall address any new reviews.

kent-jensen: I'm glad you're enjoying it :)
Lordofzzzz1: I certainly plan on continuing, hope you continue to enjoy as well.

BusGrunts: The dialogue in the beginning was meant to feel a bit stilted and rough, as I was trying to demonstrate that Naruto was a six year old child who had never known warmth or comfort, and thus was extremely socially innept. As the story progresses, I hope to capture more of a personality with Naruto as he ages and gains new experiences and friends.

FallenSage: Thank you!

Thelow: Actively continuing.

Glitner: I'm sorry you disliked the "drama and emo feels" from chapter one, I hope you'll find yourself enjoying the rest as I continue to update nonetheless.

BusGrunts 2nd review: I thought it would be nice for Naruto to meet Koyuki as a kid, as it'd give him a connection to the Land of Snow for later plot reasons I shall not disclose :)

SPark681: Jiraiya was certainly okay, though he certainly had a close encounter with Deidara.

ACertainJester: No such thing as stupid questions, only stupid answers. And my answer for you is that, yes, there are bad devil fruits amongst the Naruto populace. You may even see some side characters, and maybe even one or two major characters, with one of these weaker devil fruits in the future. I'll give you a hint: a duo of missing mist ninja have impeccable teamwork... some would say too much teamwork if you catch my meaning.

And that's all of the reviews so far! Again thank you to all of my readers for enjoying! As this chapter is coming out, there are 62 favorites for this story and 81 followers, so to all 81 of those keeping an eye on things, please enjoy this latest chapter!

Chapter Five

After Naruto was told he had perfect chakra control, he decided to focus on his devil fruit and his theory of combining it with fuinjutsu, by using ice to create a shiki formula. First, he decided to practice with a simple explosive tag. He went out into the woods and put his hand against a tree and focused. Slowly, frost began to creep from his hand, etching out a simple explosive seal. After about five minutes of focus, sweat dripping from his brow, Naruto grinned to himself, and channeled a small bit of chakra into the ignition formula, and jumped back. He waited… nothing.

Naruto frowned, and reapproached his frost seal. He didn't spot any flaws in the shiki, and the kanji was clean. He looked even closer. Suddenly, his vision went white, then black as his head blew off. A moment later, his head reformed and he gasped.

"So… chakra takes longer to react through a seal made from raw ice… what if I infuse the ice with my chakra as I create it?" Naruto went and did just that, silently thanking Kami he had his logia, or otherwise he wouldn't be around from just a small mistake. Another five minutes later, he had a new seal. He triggered it and disengaged with a chakra enhanced hop. Right on time, the seal exploded, the timing right as he set it. He nodded, satisfied. His theory worked, now he just needed to get faster at sketching seals out of ice. As he was, it took way too much concentration to create a seal from ice, too long to be used in combat. He eventually wanted to just slap his hand on a surface and imprint the seal.

He spent the next week practicing increasing the speed of imprinting his seals. First, he practiced with a standard explosive tag, before applying his modified ones with about 10x the oomph. Once he had gotten them down to instant speed, he began practicing with other combat seals. A vampire seal, a chakra suppression seal, a four violet flames formation barrier seal he created by extending four lines of frost and sketching four seals at once. That one took the most practice, as he had to both sketch four seals at the same time and make sure they were equally infused with his chakra, and then activate it, while also modifying the seal to allow the line of frost into the shiki without damaging it, and supplying enough chakra to keep it activated. Basically doing four shinobi's jobs at once. He was extremely grateful for the amount of chakra control he had.

Naruto also practiced applying a contract seal, which he had read would allow him to disrupt the connection between a summoner and their summoned creature, which would be extremely useful if he ever had to deal with a summoner, despite their rarity. After hearing about other Jinchūriki, he had done some research into suppressing Bijuu chakra, both for himself, and in case he ever had to fight another Jinchūriki. Or… if Fuu ever lost control of herself and Naruto was nearby to help, despite the odds of that happening. So, he did some research into his own seal. A double layered four symbols seal, making an Eight Trigrams Seal. Naruto noticed that his wasn't completely overlapped, and wondered if that was deliberate. If it was, it meant the Fourth Hokage wanted Kurumi's chakra to merge with his… Naruto immediately began to panic at this.

Immediately entering his mindscape, still covered in snow, he ran towards the two story house that represented Kurumi's cage and let himself in. Spotting her reclining on a chair with a copy of a book Naruto had read in her hands, he dove towards her, wrapping her up in a hug, startling her.

"Naruto? What are you doing?"
"Did you know?"

"Did I know what? Why are you crying, Naruto? What happened?" Kurumi began to run her fingers through Naruto's hair, a befuddled look on her face.

"I- The Fourth- I-" Naruto struggled, sobbing. Kurumi began to shush him, rubbing his back as she pulled him closer.

"It's okay, Naruto, take a breath." After a minute or two, Naruto managed to calm down enough to speak. Sitting back, still in Kurumi's lap, he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"When the Fourth Hokage sealed you into me, he layered the two Four Symbol Seals slightly off, so they don't completely overlap. Which… which means… your chakra is being merged with mine… you're dying, Kurumi."

"I know…"

"What?"

"I could feel it. It's slow, likely won't be complete until you're in your 30s, but I knew. It's one of the reasons why your chakra pool is so large, beyond your heritage. I have accepted it."
"I don't want to lose you, Kurumi…"

"It's okay, Naruto."

"I- I could try to modify the seal? Fix it?"
"Don't. I'm old, Naruto. Incomprehensibly so. I… I have been ready to die for a long time. Don't-" she cut off Naruto's protests. "Naruto, most of my existence has been sealed, feared, or ostracized. Even a tailed-beast can get tired. In fact, I am so grateful that the last few years I have left are with you, the first human who didn't immediately judge me, or hate me. Thank you, Naruto." Naruto was left speechless at the confession, and simply buried his face deeper into Kurumi's shoulder, sobbing. Quite some time was spent like that, and eventually, Naruto separated.

"I want to be selfish… but I understand, I'll respect your wishes… Besides, I doubt I'd be able to modify the seal at this point without killing myself. We're likely too intertwined at this point." Kurumi nodded, and Naruto sighed, before vanishing from the mindscape. He made his way through the palace, and found Koyuki waiting for him in his room. She brightened upon his approach.

"Naruto! Jiraiya's back!" Immediately, Naruto brightened, his previous mood put into the back of his mind. Koyuki led him to the throne room, where Naruto immediately spotted the white mane of his Godfather, and sprinted towards him, throwing himself at him.

"Ojisan! You're back!" Jiraiya caught Naruto with a laugh.

"Did you miss me, squirt?" Naruto nodded vigorously, grinning.

"Does that mean we're leaving soon?"

"I'm afraid so, kiddo."

"Darn." Naruto turned to Koyuki and Sosetsu, and bowed his head. "I thank you for your hospitality, Lord Sosetsu, Princess Koyuki." At the formal address, Koyuki rolled her eyes and dragged Naruto into a hug, earning a squeak and a laugh from the younger boy.

"You better visit one day, you hear?"

"Yes ma'am." Naruto nodded. Koyuki sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"It's 'yes dear,' Naruto." Naruto looked at Jiraiya in confusion, while Koyuki flushed slightly, before grinning slyly. Leaning over, she gave Naruto a small peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, Naruto. It's 'Yes, dear.'" Naruto stood confused, a small flush on his face from the kiss.

"Uh, okay? Yes, dear?" Koyuki squealed and hugged him again.

"You're adorable!"

"I am so confused." Jiraiya shook his head in mock disappointment.

"You'll learn one day, my precious godson. I will teach you." Koyuki offered a slight glare at Jiraiya.

"Don't corrupt him. Pervert." Jiraiya laughed and waved her off.

"Well, I supposed we should be off. I've volunteered to convince my teammate, Tsunade, to return to the village, so we'll be traveling to Yu no Kuni, before making our way back to Hi no Kuni if we can't find her there." Jiraiya turned to Sosetsu, and shook his hand.

"Thank you for watching over him." Sosetsu nodded, smiling.

"He's a remarkable young man. Take care, Lord Jiraiya."

"Thank you, Lord Sosetsu." And with that, Naruto and Jiraiya had left, Naruto holding back a sense of melancholy and sadness at the thought of leaving yet another friend. He promised to himself that he would return to Yuki no Kuni one day.

After they had left, Sosetsu turned to his daughter, and smiled.

"When he returns, spring shall come to Yuki no Kuni. I finally have completed the project." Koyuki turned to her father with confusion.

"What do you mean, spring? There is no spring in Yuki no Kuni." Sosetsu laughed.

"Not yet, my dear. Not yet." He took off the crystal necklace he usually wears and handed it to her.

"Bring Naruto to the rainbow glacier when you next see him. You'll know what to do then." Koyuki stared at the crystal in confusion, before shrugging.

"Yes, father."

Naruto and Jiraiya had made their way to the coastline away from the capital after a new day's travel. Along the way, Jiraiya inquired about Naruto's training. Naruto was extremely excited to show off his perfect chakra control, and the ideas he had with his devil fruit. Jiraiya was startled to see Naruto create an explosive tag out of ice, along with demonstrating perfect control over his mast pool of energy.

"Just like her…" he mumbled, and Naruto tilted his head.

"Like who?"
"Tsunade, my teammate."

"Oh, she's the one we're going to try to find, right? Why are we searching in Yu no Kuni?"

"Well, as the name would entail, they're famous for their hot springs. Tsunade is a vain woman, though if I ever called that to her face she'd likely punch me through a wall. Anyway, if she's not there, she's likely in a gambling den somewhere around Hi no Kuni."

"Oh, great. One Sannin is a pervert, the other is a traitor, and the last one is a gambling addict. Am I gonna be crazy like you when I get older?" Jiraiya laughed extremely hard at that.

"Kiddo, trust me, it's not an age thing, it's a shinobi thing. My teammates and I have all been through two different Great Shinobi Wars, and we have seen a lot of death… eventually, all veteran shinobi develop some way to cope. For me, it's the pleasure of the flesh, women, and my writing. And now, raising you. For Tsunade, it's drinking and gambling. She lost her fiance, her son, her distant cousin that she saw as a daughter, and her little brother. I've lost people too. Your- my student, Minato, and Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. Orochimaru… he lost his mother and father at a young age, which always had an effect on him. Combine that with what he saw in the wars, he became afraid of his own mortality. He kept spiraling, and there was nothing I could do to help, until he eventually became… what he is now."

"Oh… I don't know if I want to be a shinobi, Ojisan." Naruto frowned, before sighing. "Though, from what I've learned about Jinchūriki, I don't think I'll have much choice. At that, Jiraiya winced. He loved his sensei, and knew that he'd want nothing more than for Naruto to live a peaceful life, but he was also aware that, as Hokage, he had to consider the strategic value of a Jinchūriki, and that the council would never allow Naruto to be anything but a shinobi.

"Unfortunately, you're right, Naruto…" The duo was silent for a while.

"So… how was your journey to the village?"

"Small talk, Naruto?"

"I'm used to conversation now, because of Koyuki."

"Oh, your little girlfriend?"

"Yep."

"Wait, she's your girlfriend?"

"Yeah? She's a girl, and she's my friend. Girlfriend." Naruto looked at Jiraiya in puzzlement. Jiraiya choked on his spit, before laughing.

"Oh, you poor sweet innocent lad. Don't worry, Ojisan Jiraiya will teach you his ways."

"...I suddenly feel very in danger."

"It'll be fine."

"I need an adult."

"I am an adult."

"No you're not. You're a child with a drinking permit." Naruto responded in a deadpan. Jiraiya stared at the seven year old, wondering where exactly he learned to sass like that. Naruto internally high fived Kurumi, who was helping him.

"You know what? Let's just find a boat to Yu no Kuni."

"Yes sir, Ojisan sir."

"Brat."

"I love you, Ojisan."

"Love you too, kiddo."

A month passed, and Jiraiya and Naruto have been in Yu no Kuni for a bit over a week and a half now. Naruto quickly learned that Jiraiya had a hidden agenda in visiting the land famous for its hot springs. Naruto stared, his face locked into a creepy, emotionless stare to the wiggling, giggling form of his Godfather peering through a hole in the wall separating the male and female hot springs. The town they were in, Esubireji, was a very large town, bordering on being called a city. It was famous for its hotels, casinos, hotsprings, and brothels. Apparently it was founded by a clan that used playing cards as shuriken during the Warring States Period, who decided to settle down as a peaceful clan, tired of the conflict.

Jiraiya's giggling suddenly ceased, as his voice choked up on him. His whole body stiffened in horror, and he turned to Naruto, ignoring the creepy dead stare he was giving him, vaguely reminding him of that one boy they found who could use Mokuton.

"Naruto, I found her. She… she found me. I must run, last time I got caught peeking on Tsunade I couldn't walk for a month. Good luck!" Jiraiya vanished in a flicker, right as the wall came tumbling down as a busty blonde woman in her early twenties came crashing through with a roar.

"Jiraiya! Get back here you fucking pervert!" She yelled, causing all of the various men to squeak in terror, covering their crotches with their hands and towels and awkwardly shuffling out of the hot spring area, bare asses exposed. Soon, it was just the huffing, towel clad woman and Naruto, along with various females staring in shock at Tsunade. Naruto swallowed awkwardly, as her gaze locked onto him, before widening in shock.

"Minato?" she whispered, and Naruto tilted his head in confusion. Minato? The Fourth Hokage?"

"Do I really look like him? Wait… oh. So that's why Jiraiya didn't tell me who my father was. Yikes."

"No, I'm Naruto… You're Tsunade, right? Ojisan said we were looking for you." His voice seemed to shake Tsunade out of whatever trance she was in, her name stirring a memory up from within her. Immediately, her eyes began to tear up, and suddenly she had Naruto in her arms.
"I thought you were dead!" she cried, and Naruto looked over her shoulder at a pretty brunette who stood awkwardly behind Tsunade, a pig held in her hands. She looked to be in her early twenties. Naruto was in shock, at suddenly being held, and panicked, ice suddenly shooting from his body, encasing Tsunade entirely and freezing the entire hotspring in a flash. All of the girls still on the other side of the hotspring squealed at the sudden change in temperature, and dashed away, with the brunette staring at the ice sculpture that was now Tsunade.

"Oops… Let me just…" With a quick gesture, Tsunade was released from her glacial prison, who immediately dropped to her knees in shock. She stared at Naruto.

"Jiraiya let you eat a devil fruit?"

"I mean, I wanted to."

"That old pervert. I should hit him… but… he's been taking care of you, right?"

"As of the last few months. He did leave me with the royal family in Yuki no Kuni for a month or so, but that's because he had ninja stuff to take care of. He's my Ojisan. I'm very grateful. It's nice to meet you, Lady Tsunade.

"Call… call me Baachan."

"What?"

"What?!" Naruto and the brunette both asked at the same time, with the brunette's exclamation being a bit louder than Naruto's confused inquiry. Tsunade smiled, and slowly reached towards Naruto, who after a bit of hesitation, allowed her hand to ruffle his hair.

"I'm your grandmother, Naruto."

"You're the Fourth Hokage's Mom?"

"You know?"

"I didn't for sure, but you just confirmed it."

"You're… a sneaky little devil, aren't you?" Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Yes, ma'am." Tsunade laughed, relief, and a tinge of hysteria in her voice.

"Since Jiraiya has been taking care of you, I guess I don't have to kill him… this time." As if her words were a magical summon, Jiraiya suddenly appeared, fully dressed, and grinned at the sight of a towel-clad Tsunade, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're a lifesaver, kiddo." Tsunade glared at Jiraiya, before gesturing to the brunette.

"Let's get dressed, Shizune. Jiraiya, meet me at the Ace Hotel, we can talk more there." The brunette, Shizune, deftly followed Tsunade into the woman's changing room.

"You should get dressed too, Naruto." Naruto nodded, and quickly vanished into the male's side. After he got dressed and collected his sealing scrolls containing the few things he had acquired on his journey with Jiraiya the duo made their way to the aforementioned hotel. Inside, they saw Tsunade and her apprentice, along with the pig, waiting for them.

"You better have a damn good explanation for me, Jiraiya, as to why I'm only now discovering my grandson is alive."

"I thought you knew."

"I got a letter from sensei saying he was dead. I left, since Konoha had nothing left for me. If I knew… I would never have left him, do you understand me? Family is everything to the Uzumaki and Senju. It's what my grandmother, Mito, taught me when I was a young girl. I- Did he- was he okay? In the village?" Jiraiya, at this, looked down, and Naruto looked away, staring off into nothing as he remembered yelling, kunai, and white masks. Loneliness. Tsunade looked like she was about to break. She knelt down in front of Naruto, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Naruto, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I- I didn't know…" Naruto glanced up at the young looking woman, remembering her appearance was because of a genjutsu. Jiraiya told him, so he would know what to look for. This woman was a stranger, but he felt she was genuine. She was family, and until Jiraiya took him in, Naruto didn't know what that meant. He… he felt like he'd like to discover more.

"It's okay, Baachan. You didn't know." Naruto hesitated, before wrapping the older woman in his arms. She began to sob. Naruto felt like something that he had been missing had finally clicked. Family. That's what's most important to the Uzumaki, right? Naruto resolutely nodded in his mind.

"That's what I shall become strong to protect. Family."

After Naruto was told he had perfect chakra control, he decided to focus on his devil fruit and his theory of combining it with fuinjutsu, by using ice to create a shiki formula. First, he decided to practice with a simple explosive tag. He went out into the woods and put his hand against a tree and focused. Slowly, frost began to creep from his hand, etching out a simple explosive seal. After about five minutes of focus, sweat dripping from his brow, Naruto grinned to himself, and channeled a small bit of chakra into the ignition formula, and jumped back. He waited… nothing.

Naruto frowned, and reapproached his frost seal. He didn't spot any flaws in the shiki, and the kanji was clean. He looked even closer. Suddenly, his vision went white, then black as his head blew off. A moment later, his head reformed and he gasped.

"So… chakra takes longer to react through a seal made from raw ice… what if I infuse the ice with my chakra as I create it?" Naruto went and did just that, silently thanking Kami he had his logia, or otherwise he wouldn't be around from just a small mistake. Another five minutes later, he had a new seal. He triggered it and disengaged with a chakra enhanced hop. Right on time, the seal exploded, the timing right as he set it. He nodded, satisfied. His theory worked, now he just needed to get faster at sketching seals out of ice. As he was, it took way too much concentration to create a seal from ice, too long to be used in combat. He eventually wanted to just slap his hand on a surface and imprint the seal.

He spent the next week practicing increasing the speed of imprinting his seals. First, he practiced with a standard explosive tag, before applying his modified ones with about 10x the oomph. Once he had gotten them down to instant speed, he began practicing with other combat seals. A vampire seal, a chakra suppression seal, a four violet flames formation barrier seal he created by extending four lines of frost and sketching four seals at once. That one took the most practice, as he had to both sketch four seals at the same time and make sure they were equally infused with his chakra, and then activate it, while also modifying the seal to allow the line of frost into the shiki without damaging it, and supplying enough chakra to keep it activated. Basically doing four shinobi's jobs at once. He was extremely grateful for the amount of chakra control he had.

Naruto also practiced applying a contract seal, which he had read would allow him to disrupt the connection between a summoner and their summoned creature, which would be extremely useful if he ever had to deal with a summoner, despite their rarity. After hearing about other Jinchūriki, he had done some research into suppressing Bijuu chakra, both for himself, and in case he ever had to fight another Jinchūriki. Or… if Fuu ever lost control of herself and Naruto was nearby to help, despite the odds of that happening. So, he did some research into his own seal. A double layered four symbols seal, making an Eight Trigrams Seal. Naruto noticed that his wasn't completely overlapped, and wondered if that was deliberate. If it was, it meant the Fourth Hokage wanted Kurumi's chakra to merge with his… Naruto immediately began to panic at this.

Immediately entering his mindscape, still covered in snow, he ran towards the two story house that represented Kurumi's cage and let himself in. Spotting her reclining on a chair with a copy of a book Naruto had read in her hands, he dove towards her, wrapping her up in a hug, startling her.

"Naruto? What are you doing?"
"Did you know?"

"Did I know what? Why are you crying, Naruto? What happened?" Kurumi began to run her fingers through Naruto's hair, a befuddled look on her face.

"I- The Fourth- I-" Naruto struggled, sobbing. Kurumi began to shush him, rubbing his back as she pulled him closer.

"It's okay, Naruto, take a breath." After a minute or two, Naruto managed to calm down enough to speak. Sitting back, still in Kurumi's lap, he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"When the Fourth Hokage sealed you into me, he layered the two Four Symbol Seals slightly off, so they don't completely overlap. Which… which means… your chakra is being merged with mine… you're dying, Kurumi."

"I know…"

"What?"

"I could feel it. It's slow, likely won't be complete until you're in your 30s, but I knew. It's one of the reasons why your chakra pool is so large, beyond your heritage. I have accepted it."
"I don't want to lose you, Kurumi…"

"It's okay, Naruto."

"I- I could try to modify the seal? Fix it?"
"Don't. I'm old, Naruto. Incomprehensibly so. I… I have been ready to die for a long time. Don't-" she cut off Naruto's protests. "Naruto, most of my existence has been sealed, feared, or ostracized. Even a tailed-beast can get tired. In fact, I am so grateful that the last few years I have left are with you, the first human who didn't immediately judge me, or hate me. Thank you, Naruto." Naruto was left speechless at the confession, and simply buried his face deeper into Kurumi's shoulder, sobbing. Quite some time was spent like that, and eventually, Naruto separated.

"I want to be selfish… but I understand, I'll respect your wishes… Besides, I doubt I'd be able to modify the seal at this point without killing myself. We're likely too intertwined at this point." Kurumi nodded, and Naruto sighed, before vanishing from the mindscape. He made his way through the palace, and found Koyuki waiting for him in his room. She brightened upon his approach.

"Naruto! Jiraiya's back!" Immediately, Naruto brightened, his previous mood put into the back of his mind. Koyuki led him to the throne room, where Naruto immediately spotted the white mane of his Godfather, and sprinted towards him, throwing himself at him.

"Ojisan! You're back!" Jiraiya caught Naruto with a laugh.

"Did you miss me, squirt?" Naruto nodded vigorously, grinning.

"Does that mean we're leaving soon?"

"I'm afraid so, kiddo."

"Darn." Naruto turned to Koyuki and Sosetsu, and bowed his head. "I thank you for your hospitality, Lord Sosetsu, Princess Koyuki." At the formal address, Koyuki rolled her eyes and dragged Naruto into a hug, earning a squeak and a laugh from the younger boy.

"You better visit one day, you hear?"

"Yes ma'am." Naruto nodded. Koyuki sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"It's 'yes dear,' Naruto." Naruto looked at Jiraiya in confusion, while Koyuki flushed slightly, before grinning slyly. Leaning over, she gave Naruto a small peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, Naruto. It's 'Yes, dear.'" Naruto stood confused, a small flush on his face from the kiss.

"Uh, okay? Yes, dear?" Koyuki squealed and hugged him again.

"You're adorable!"

"I am so confused." Jiraiya shook his head in mock disappointment.

"You'll learn one day, my precious godson. I will teach you." Koyuki offered a slight glare at Jiraiya.

"Don't corrupt him. Pervert." Jiraiya laughed and waved her off.

"Well, I supposed we should be off. I've volunteered to convince my teammate, Tsunade, to return to the village, so we'll be traveling to Yu no Kuni, before making our way back to Hi no Kuni if we can't find her there." Jiraiya turned to Sosetsu, and shook his hand.

"Thank you for watching over him." Sosetsu nodded, smiling.

"He's a remarkable young man. Take care, Lord Jiraiya."

"Thank you, Lord Sosetsu." And with that, Naruto and Jiraiya had left, Naruto holding back a sense of melancholy and sadness at the thought of leaving yet another friend. He promised to himself that he would return to Yuki no Kuni one day.

After they had left, Sosetsu turned to his daughter, and smiled.

"When he returns, spring shall come to Yuki no Kuni. I finally have completed the project." Koyuki turned to her father with confusion.

"What do you mean, spring? There is no spring in Yuki no Kuni." Sosetsu laughed.

"Not yet, my dear. Not yet." He took off the crystal necklace he usually wears and handed it to her.

"Bring Naruto to the rainbow glacier when you next see him. You'll know what to do then." Koyuki stared at the crystal in confusion, before shrugging.

"Yes, father."

Naruto and Jiraiya had made their way to the coastline away from the capital after a new day's travel. Along the way, Jiraiya inquired about Naruto's training. Naruto was extremely excited to show off his perfect chakra control, and the ideas he had with his devil fruit. Jiraiya was startled to see Naruto create an explosive tag out of ice, along with demonstrating perfect control over his mast pool of energy.

"Just like her…" he mumbled, and Naruto tilted his head.

"Like who?"
"Tsunade, my teammate."

"Oh, she's the one we're going to try to find, right? Why are we searching in Yu no Kuni?"

"Well, as the name would entail, they're famous for their hot springs. Tsunade is a vain woman, though if I ever called that to her face she'd likely punch me through a wall. Anyway, if she's not there, she's likely in a gambling den somewhere around Hi no Kuni."

"Oh, great. One Sannin is a pervert, the other is a traitor, and the last one is a gambling addict. Am I gonna be crazy like you when I get older?" Jiraiya laughed extremely hard at that.

"Kiddo, trust me, it's not an age thing, it's a shinobi thing. My teammates and I have all been through two different Great Shinobi Wars, and we have seen a lot of death… eventually, all veteran shinobi develop some way to cope. For me, it's the pleasure of the flesh, women, and my writing. And now, raising you. For Tsunade, it's drinking and gambling. She lost her fiance, her son, her distant cousin that she saw as a daughter, and her little brother. I've lost people too. Your- my student, Minato, and Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. Orochimaru… he lost his mother and father at a young age, which always had an effect on him. Combine that with what he saw in the wars, he became afraid of his own mortality. He kept spiraling, and there was nothing I could do to help, until he eventually became… what he is now."

"Oh… I don't know if I want to be a shinobi, Ojisan." Naruto frowned, before sighing. "Though, from what I've learned about Jinchūriki, I don't think I'll have much choice. At that, Jiraiya winced. He loved his sensei, and knew that he'd want nothing more than for Naruto to live a peaceful life, but he was also aware that, as Hokage, he had to consider the strategic value of a Jinchūriki, and that the council would never allow Naruto to be anything but a shinobi.

"Unfortunately, you're right, Naruto…" The duo was silent for a while.

"So… how was your journey to the village?"

"Small talk, Naruto?"

"I'm used to conversation now, because of Koyuki."

"Oh, your little girlfriend?"

"Yep."

"Wait, she's your girlfriend?"

"Yeah? She's a girl, and she's my friend. Girlfriend." Naruto looked at Jiraiya in puzzlement. Jiraiya choked on his spit, before laughing.

"Oh, you poor sweet innocent lad. Don't worry, Ojisan Jiraiya will teach you his ways."

"...I suddenly feel very in danger."

"It'll be fine."

"I need an adult."

"I am an adult."

"No you're not. You're a child with a drinking permit." Naruto responded in a deadpan. Jiraiya stared at the seven year old, wondering where exactly he learned to sass like that. Naruto internally high fived Kurumi, who was helping him.

"You know what? Let's just find a boat to Yu no Kuni."

"Yes sir, Ojisan sir."

"Brat."

"I love you, Ojisan."

"Love you too, kiddo."

A month passed, and Jiraiya and Naruto have been in Yu no Kuni for a bit over a week and a half now. Naruto quickly learned that Jiraiya had a hidden agenda in visiting the land famous for its hot springs. Naruto stared, his face locked into a creepy, emotionless stare to the wiggling, giggling form of his Godfather peering through a hole in the wall separating the male and female hot springs. The town they were in, Esubireji, was a very large town, bordering on being called a city. It was famous for its hotels, casinos, hotsprings, and brothels. Apparently it was founded by a clan that used playing cards as shuriken during the Warring States Period, who decided to settle down as a peaceful clan, tired of the conflict.

Jiraiya's giggling suddenly ceased, as his voice choked up on him. His whole body stiffened in horror, and he turned to Naruto, ignoring the creepy dead stare he was giving him, vaguely reminding him of that one boy they found who could use Mokuton.

"Naruto, I found her. She… she found me. I must run, last time I got caught peeking on Tsunade I couldn't walk for a month. Good luck!" Jiraiya vanished in a flicker, right as the wall came tumbling down as a busty blonde woman in her early twenties came crashing through with a roar.

"Jiraiya! Get back here you fucking pervert!" She yelled, causing all of the various men to squeak in terror, covering their crotches with their hands and towels and awkwardly shuffling out of the hot spring area, bare asses exposed. Soon, it was just the huffing, towel clad woman and Naruto, along with various females staring in shock at Tsunade. Naruto swallowed awkwardly, as her gaze locked onto him, before widening in shock.

"Minato?" she whispered, and Naruto tilted his head in confusion. Minato? The Fourth Hokage?"

"Do I really look like him? Wait… oh. So that's why Jiraiya didn't tell me who my father was. Yikes."

"No, I'm Naruto… You're Tsunade, right? Ojisan said we were looking for you." His voice seemed to shake Tsunade out of whatever trance she was in, her name stirring a memory up from within her. Immediately, her eyes began to tear up, and suddenly she had Naruto in her arms.
"I thought you were dead!" she cried, and Naruto looked over her shoulder at a pretty brunette who stood awkwardly behind Tsunade, a pig held in her hands. She looked to be in her early twenties. Naruto was in shock, at suddenly being held, and panicked, ice suddenly shooting from his body, encasing Tsunade entirely and freezing the entire hotspring in a flash. All of the girls still on the other side of the hotspring squealed at the sudden change in temperature, and dashed away, with the brunette staring at the ice sculpture that was now Tsunade.

"Oops… Let me just…" With a quick gesture, Tsunade was released from her glacial prison, who immediately dropped to her knees in shock. She stared at Naruto.

"Jiraiya let you eat a devil fruit?"

"I mean, I wanted to."

"That old pervert. I should hit him… but… he's been taking care of you, right?"

"As of the last few months. He did leave me with the royal family in Yuki no Kuni for a month or so, but that's because he had ninja stuff to take care of. He's my Ojisan. I'm very grateful. It's nice to meet you, Lady Tsunade.

"Call… call me Baachan."

"What?"

"What?!" Naruto and the brunette both asked at the same time, with the brunette's exclamation being a bit louder than Naruto's confused inquiry. Tsunade smiled, and slowly reached towards Naruto, who after a bit of hesitation, allowed her hand to ruffle his hair.

"I'm your grandmother, Naruto."

"You're the Fourth Hokage's Mom?"

"You know?"

"I didn't for sure, but you just confirmed it."

"You're… a sneaky little devil, aren't you?" Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Yes, ma'am." Tsunade laughed, relief, and a tinge of hysteria in her voice.

"Since Jiraiya has been taking care of you, I guess I don't have to kill him… this time." As if her words were a magical summon, Jiraiya suddenly appeared, fully dressed, and grinned at the sight of a towel-clad Tsunade, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're a lifesaver, kiddo." Tsunade glared at Jiraiya, before gesturing to the brunette.

"Let's get dressed, Shizune. Jiraiya, meet me at the Ace Hotel, we can talk more there." The brunette, Shizune, deftly followed Tsunade into the woman's changing room.

"You should get dressed too, Naruto." Naruto nodded, and quickly vanished into the male's side. After he got dressed and collected his sealing scrolls containing the few things he had acquired on his journey with Jiraiya the duo made their way to the aforementioned hotel. Inside, they saw Tsunade and her apprentice, along with the pig, waiting for them.

"You better have a damn good explanation for me, Jiraiya, as to why I'm only now discovering my grandson is alive."

"I thought you knew."

"I got a letter from sensei saying he was dead. I left, since Konoha had nothing left for me. If I knew… I would never have left him, do you understand me? Family is everything to the Uzumaki and Senju. It's what my grandmother, Mito, taught me when I was a young girl. I- Did he- was he okay? In the village?" Jiraiya, at this, looked down, and Naruto looked away, staring off into nothing as he remembered yelling, kunai, and white masks. Loneliness. Tsunade looked like she was about to break. She knelt down in front of Naruto, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Naruto, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I- I didn't know…" Naruto glanced up at the young looking woman, remembering her appearance was because of a genjutsu. Jiraiya told him, so he would know what to look for. This woman was a stranger, but he felt she was genuine. She was family, and until Jiraiya took him in, Naruto didn't know what that meant. He… he felt like he'd like to discover more.

"It's okay, Baachan. You didn't know." Naruto hesitated, before wrapping the older woman in his arms. She began to sob. Naruto felt like something that he had been missing had finally clicked. Family. That's what's most important to the Uzumaki, right? Naruto resolutely nodded in his mind.

"That's what I shall become strong to protect. Family."