I'm back! I resolved to get chapters out faster...and it didn't quite work out the way I hoped. Lots of things happened, working 3 jobs, taking 2 vacations in a short span of time, and PGandEs bullshit blackouts haven't helped matters either. All I can do is resolve to try harder.

BUT, for those who may have been getting sick of this training arc, I have good news:

This is the last chapter

And there's also something of a bonus story in here! I hope you enjoy!

Meditation was no problem. At least, not as much as it used to be for Naruto. He was not known for patience, but as he grew he managed to reign in the impatience he was known for. It was at least not too much of a problem for him to sit still and close his eyes.

To his surprise, it was the Frog Katas the sage was trying to teach him that were getting to him. "Remember, you must extend your limbs!" he instructed from his perch.

"This is a bit different from the Taijutsu I remember." Naruto muttered as he listened to him and adjusted his position. He thought the physical part of all things would be easy for him!

"Taijutsu, when used in Ninjutsu, was modified for quick movements." The Sage explained. "This is an ancient martial art meant to train mind AND body. It can be difficult for beginners, but I promise it will pay off." He assured him.

"I think I've done this before." Naruto said as he looked at the rock slabs.

"Then show me." The Sage said.

Naruto groaned. "It's not my favorite thing in the world. It hurts."

"Do it anyway."

Naruto sighed, and concentrated, just like Jiraiya showed him during their training trip years ago. He made slow motions with his fists, circling as he prepared for the real blow. Finally, he shouted and slammed his fist through it. Though he successfully shattered the slab, he retracted his fist and hissed in pain as he cradled his hand. "Aah…" he whined, trying to stop himself from crying.

"You are able to break the rock, but at the price of damaging your own body and causing yourself pain." The Sage said. "With the natural energy, you can toughen up your body and smash through it easier, without concentrating."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Sakura-chan can do that. She focuses her chakra to do these things of monstrous strength." He said. Naruto's eyes widened reflexively in horror. "Uh…Sakura-chan doesn't like it when I call it that."

"Yes, what you will be doing something very similar." The Sage confirmed. "The difference being is that you're absorbing chakra from the atmosphere, as opposed to focusing on your own."

Somewhere else, a young woman with pink hair sneezed. Gently laying her dishes in the sink, she rubbed her nose. "Someone's talking about me." She muttered. Looking to the side, she saw a photograph from five years ago, her and Naruto leaning against each other, giving off their best goofy faces. "I miss you…" Sakura muttered.

Naruto made the last punch as he kiyaed. "Perfect!" the sage shouted excitedly. "You have memorized the form!"

"Great." Naruto relaxed. "So, what's next?"

"Now, I would like you to try it with the senjutsu."

"Sure thing." Naruto went ahead and took a seat. While he was meditating, the sage quickly looked around, and ducked under a crevice in a boulder.

Within a minute, Naruto's skin was covered in warts, his nose grew larger, and his digits fused. Finished, he stood, and began the form. He got low in his stance, and threw the first punch. A sudden shockwave of force tore through the air, digging up a trench in the earth directly in front of him and taking out the side of a mountain.

Jiraiya sat calmly as he sipped some fresh, natural tea. Suddenly, something knocked him off and he was sent tumbling forward. That would have been bad enough, but falling face-first into the tea was the real kicker. "AHHH!" Jiraiya blindly rushed towards a nearby river as he desperately cupped the water and splashed it on his face. After a few minutes, Jiraiya finally calmed down. "I wish the old man told me WHEN he was going to add the senjutsu to the kata…" he grumbled.

Naruto blinked. "…What just happened?"

"That kata was meant to harness the energy as an extension of yourself." The sage finally climbed out of his hiding hole. "With every move you make, the energy expands beyond your body like a spring and recoils back. Even if an opponent dodges, the shockwave will surely catch him."

Naruto blinked, looking at his hands. "Wow." He smiled. Clenching them, he cried "Well, let's get to it then!"

"Hold on!" the sage said. He jumped at Naruto, and threw out his webbed hand. Naruto suddenly felt a strong pressure that sent him flying.

"Whoa!" Naruto smacked right into a mountain with the force of a hurricane. Even with the natural chakra coursing through him, it still hurt a ton. "You can't do this carelessly! With the Senjutsu, you are effectively a force of nature! First, we must have you train someplace safe!"

Naruto had gotten used to the thick forest when training. Now, he was someplace completely different. He was in a wide field filled with spikes, surrounded by the mountains. Naruto heard stories from Jiraiya about some martial artists putting themselves through dangerous training like this, but those stories were probably tame compared to what he was seeing around him, and what he feared the sage would put him through. "Doesn't this seem a little bit extreme?" Naruto gulped.

The sage smiled as he balanced on the spike. "At your current level, extreme is just what we need!" Coughing he said "Anyway, you will now practice the kata here. The adamantine mountains and spikes are resistant to the power in your blows. Now, begin."

Naruto meditated for a minute as he gathered the natural energy. When his form changed, he jumped onto a spike tip and began.

Well, in a moment he would. Even in his current form, that step hurt a ton! He took his first step, and threw the punch. The shockwave tore through the spikes. Though they vibrated, they held firm. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief…and felt his foot slipping. "Whoa!" Naruto put his foot back, as he realized just how little area he had to stand on. "I need to be careful!"

"I forgot to mention, this is a tad different from planting your chakra where you're used to!" the sage warned him. "The narrow surface area makes it much harder to get stable footing, so please be careful!" For a moment, Naruto just stood there, making sure his feet were absolutely steady before his next move.

"What are you waiting for!?" The sage shouted. "You've still got several more sequences to do!"

Naruto gulped, but made himself continue. So he kept punching, kicking, transitioning stances, nearly falling each time. By the time he was ready to finish, his foot slipped once again; this time he was stretched too thin and fell down into the spikey crevices below. "AHHH!" A spike poked him in the back; the still rational part of his mind thought for sure he was about to be skewered, but somehow his body rolled over. He hit several more spikes on the way down, until he reached the bottom. "Ohhh…" Slowly, his eyes reverted to normal. Though Naruto sported several cuts and was bleeding profusely, after a few deep breaths, he realized he was okay. "I…I'm alive!" he panted.

The sage jumped down to his level as he held his cane behind his back. "The senjutsu protects you, but it doesn't make you invincible. These spikes, so long as you maintain the senjutsu, cannot actually pierce you." Tapping it, he said "But if you fall, they still hurt like hell."

Naruto sighed as he held his head back, his transformation receding . "And I thought I was on the cusp of it all…"

Whenever Naruto took breaks between training sessions, he and Jiraiya went back to work on his cabin. The basic structure was done; now the basic necessities needed to be installed. While Naruto's clones dug out the trenches, Jiraiya got to work installing the pipes. There was an underground stream to supply the place with water, which they were tapping into. As he fastened the pump in, water began pouring out. "Yes!" Jiraiya said. "We've got the water going!" He called to the others.

"Awesome, Ero-senin!" One of the Narutos exclaimed, giving him the thumbs up. "Once we get the floor ready, we should be ready to install the rest!"

"I've still got a few more meters here!" Jiraiya reminded him. "Take your time!"

As the clones got back work, one of them walked up to him. "Hey, Ero-senin!" He exclaimed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Even if I said no, you would have asked anyway." Jiraiya jabbed at him playfully. "What's on your mind, kid?"

"Though I'm making this place to be a family getaway..." Naruto looked away slightly, his cheeks blushing slightly. "...the first time we use it, I'm hoping it will just be me and Sakura."

"Ah, I see." Jiraiya smirked. "Truth be told, I don't know what your girl's opinion on that is." As he jammed another pipe into an opening, he said "Kabuto did a number on her. I'm not going to sugar coat that. But she and Tsunade are cut from the same cloth. When they fall, as long as they have someone, they'll get back up. Even separated, your girl still feels you there." Jiraiya nodded. "When you get back...and not IF...just talk to her honestly. I've a feeling it will work out." Jiraiya looked to the sky; it was starting to get cloudy. "Let's hurry up; looks like it's going to rain!" Everyone went back to work, making sure their hard work would not be ruined by the rain.

Naruto went back to work on the kata. Several times, he fell back into the pit. Sure, it hurt to fall down each time. But more importantly, every fall just pissed him off. With every fall, he took another step back from getting back home. By now, he got most of the form down by memory. But it wouldn't be over until he stopped falling. The sage also stopped calling out his flaws, instead just watching intently. Any flaws were criticized afterwards.

Naruto was almost finished, but then he felt his foot begin to give way as he felt the s-Ike once more cut his sole. As his leg stretched out and his balance faltered, Naruto dug his teeth in. "No more!" He told himself. "I've fallen enough times! Mastery is within my grasp, and I know what to do! SO DON'T LET GO!" Naruto's body seemingly reacted on its own, changing the way his natural energy was stored and channeled. Suddenly, Naruto pushed his foot back into place and stuck it. The tip seemingly did nothing to impede him, and Naruto finished the kata, his last punch screaming as the shockwave passed through the spikes. He didn't notice the stunned look on the Sage's face.

Naruto sighed as he put his feet together and his hands in prayer position. "I did it." He said. "I finished the kata."

"That's not all you accomplished." The Sage said as he hopped towards Naruto. Holding a mirror, he handed it to him. "Look."

Naruto took the mirror, and his new eyes widened at the sight. Almost all of his frog-like features from his senjutsu had disappeared, except his eyes. The pupils remained frog like, and his eyes seemed to have red shadows. Other than that, he was pretty much normal. "What happened?"

"This training wasn't JUST for you to memorize a kata. This was to help build your muscles and chakra-reserves to achieve the true sage mode. When you trained you were changing your body so it could accept the natural chakra without the amphibious features. In addition, this change harnesses the chakra more efficiently, therefore making y0ur sage form even more powerful."

Naruto rubbed his face as he felt it flow within him. If the way the natural chakra flowed within him before was like a creek, now it was like a raging river. "So, what now?"

The sage smiled. "Nothing. You're finished."

Naruto just stared at him silently. "What?"

"It's as I said; you're done. You've mastered it!" Still, Naruto said nothing. "What's wrong!? Have ya gone deaf!?" The sage's eyes widened upon closer inspection. Naruto was staring blankly, CRYING.

"I...I thought this day would never come!" He choked out. Quickly, Naruto bowed and clasped his hands together. "Thank you, master!" He exclaimed. "I know my motives for this may not have been pure, but I truly valued your teachings!"

The sage chuckled. "There is no such thing as 'pure'. But if I were to be honest, I can't think of any better reason to master this style!" The sage said as he lightly tapped Naruto's side with his stick, then bowed back. "It was an honor having you as a student, Naruto." The two bowed to each other again. "I imagine you're eager to go. But, if I may ask, would it trouble you to stay the night? The Missus thinks of you as our own; she would love to have you for dinner one last night."

"Of course." Naruto nodded.

"Kanpai!" Everyone in the hut shouted as they raised their mugs full of sake and clanked them together.

After everyone had a sip, Naruto sighed. "It's been lovely here. I'm going to miss it."

"We're going to miss you." The lady toad said.

"We haven't had this much fun or company for years!" The sage agreed.

As they sat about enjoying their feast (at least as much as the two humans could), Naruto just stared at his bowl. "So..." Naruto broke the ice. "...how long have I been here?"

Jiraiya was about to answer, but Naruto continued to ramble on. "I had this terrible nightmare one night, were Sakura was raising our kids all by herself until they were old enough to be genin, always in debt, and the kids don't even believe she's their real mother for some reason and go off to find me to get some answers!"

The two toads just stared at him dumbfounded. "Well, that certainly sounds like like a terrible story." The sage said, taking a sip to erase that from his mind.

"U...Uh...yeah. Very incompetent indeed!" Jiraiya quickly downed his drink. "Well, there goes my first draft..." Setting his class down, Jiraiya wiped his sleeve and said "Anyway, to answer your question...you've been gone three years"

Naruto blinked. "Three years..." he sighed. "That's still too long..."

"I don't blame you." Jiraiya agreed. "And I'm sorry I never told you. But in order for this to work, we couldn't tell you. If you got worried about how long you were gone, you would begin trying too hard and stifle the process. Once you reached that state of mind you did when you got the gist of it, we had to keep it there. There was no other way."

"I understand." Naruto sighed, smiling slightly. "And thanks. If it weren't for that, I may not have been able to see them until they were grown up. If it came to that, I would have never forgiven myself." Looking into his cup, smiling more genuinely this time. "Now, I can raise them for most of their lives and watch them grow."

Jiraiya nearly teared up as he patted him on the shoulder. "Your parents would be proud of you." They clanked their drinks together and downed them.

The next morning, Naruto and Jiraiya packed their things and strapped their backs. "A part of me is going to miss this place." Naruto smiled.

"You'll be going back." Jiraiya said. He then leaned in and nudged him as he sported that wide, perverted grin of his. "And with that cabin of yours, I'd imagine you're going to traumatize the folks..."

Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching his head. "C'mon, I don't even know if..."

"It's going to happen." Jiraiya said. "You may have to wait until you're both older hags than me, but it's going to happen."

After a moment, they shared a laugh. "Well, we've got his certificate." Naruto said patting his backpack. "So, let's..."

"Naruto!"

Both looked up to see a giant toad, looking down on them from the canopy. "Gamakichi!" Naruto exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in years! Where you've been!"

Gamakichi sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I wanted to talk you much sooner, but the sage forbade me to contact you."

"He forbade you!?" Naruto exclaimed, angry at the news. "Why!?"

Gamakichi replied. "It's my pops, Gamabunta. He's dying."

"So, what's wrong with him!?" Naruto shouted as he and Jiraiya rode on Gamakichi's back.

"He's old, Naruto. Over 400." The orange toad answered.

"Four hundred!?" Naruto asked. "You guys can honestly live that long!?"

"Rarely, Naruto." Jiraiya answered for him. "But summons like toads easily outlive humans!" The sage looked away. "I took that fact for granted..."

"Don't feel bad; there was nothing any of us could do. I think he held on for so long just to talk to you." Gamakichi said.

Finally, they approached a bare mountain, where a congregation of warrior toads waited. Some Naruto and Jiraiya recognized, others were new to them. But they were definitely family. Gently, Gamakichi lowered himself so the two shinobi on his back could touch ground. "I've already said what I needed to say to my pops." Gamakichi said. "You two go on in. I don't think he can hold on for much longer."

The two nodded and helped themselves inside. Soon enough, they found Gamabunta, slouched against the cave wall and blocking up the rest of the way. Currently, he was snoring. His color had become pale, and it was clear he had lost a lot of weight. Even so, he was still massive. Silently, they climbed up his person until they were centered on his belly. Carefully, Naruto patted him. "Uh...big guy?"

Slowly, the large toad opened his eyes. Even his eyes were clouded. It seemed it took him a moment to recognize him. "Naruto..." He finally managed to say. He coughed slightly, almost causing the two shinobi to fall off. "Sorry." He said. "Haven't been myself for a while now."

"I'm sorry." Naruto said. "If I'd known, I would have come sooner."

"Well, you're here now. That's all that matters." Taking a moment to breathe, he said "I'm glad you're here."

The two shinobi and the toad sat together in silence for the longest time, simply enjoying each other's company for the last time. Eventually, Gamabunta spoke up again. "Hey kid; did I ever tell you how your father first summoned me?"

"No, not that you've told me." Naruto rubbed his chin, thinking back to their first battle together. Then, he had an idea. "He summoned you to rescue my mom, didn't he?"

Gamabunta nearly blanched. "Uh, no. But it did involve your mother. He summoned me...to impress her."

Naruto just stared at him, before slowly starting to chuckle. "I was kind of planning to do something similar with you once I signed the contract. Never thought we'd actually save her together."

"I remember that." Jiraiya said, smiling. "I actually forbade him from signing the contract until he was ready..."

"Sensei, you think I'm ready for the toad contract!?" A young Minato of about 12 asked excitedly as he and his sensei trainee together during a camping trip.

Jiraiya, currently in his 30s, just looked at him skeptically. "Sorry kid, not yet."

Minato just looked at him disappointedly. "Sensei, what do I have to do to earn it?"

"Well, for one, you need to stop this obsession on getting a one-up on that Uzumaki girl." Jiraiya said as he took another puff from his pipe. "Pride and vanity will get you nowhere with the toads."

Minato' s normally pure face just scowled as he turned away.

As the two of them camped out for the night, Minato just couldn't sleep. That darn Kushina was getting ahead of him! He had to get ahead of her somehow! His eyes turned to his teacher, snoring away as his face was covered in a smutty erotic novel. His eyes then turned to his backpack, containing the scroll.

Quietly, he tiptoed over to it. The scroll was even bigger than him, but it was still light enough for him to lift over his head. He nearly jumped when he heard Jiraiya's snore halted. Minato desperately tried to blend in, but relaxed when he saw his Sensei simply turned over in his sleep. Sighing, Minato tiptoed out of the tent as quickly and quietly as he could.

Minato smiled as he unrolled the scroll. He saw his Sensei summon several toads into battle, helping him accomplish amazing things. He couldn't wait to try it on his own. Jiraiya promised they would share the contract one day, but he couldn't wait any longer. "If it's going to happen anyway, why wait?" That was a famous line from one of Jiraiya's many smutty novels; he figured it applied here. "First, I need to cut my hand..." Minato sliced his hand with a kunai, biting his lip. "Then, I sign it with my palm print..." Minato rubbed his hands together, spreading the blood. He then pressed his palm against the paper, signing the contract. "Now...what were the signs again?" Minato recalled a time when his sensei summoned some toads into battle, clearly seeing the signs.

Confident he remembered it right, he gave it a try. "Boar, dog, monkey...and ram." Completing the signs, Minato slammed his palm against the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Jiraiya was considered a heavy sleeper. His sensei and teammates often got on his case for that, but he had enough sense to get up during an emergency. That same sixth sense alerted him, causing him to jolt up from a dead sleep. He held out his kunai, looking around. The one thing he noticed was his student missing. "Minato?" Suddenly, an explosion of smoke blew the tent off and the sheer force sent Jiraiya flying. "AHHHH!"

A summon was always expected to do a contractor's bidding. However, alpha summons like Gamabunta often held their contractors to high standards, and would protest to unreasonable requests. He and Jiraiya had to work on their relationship overtime, with the ninja using him mostly as a last resort. As Minato looked into his eye, he could see the giant toad wasn't impressed with him. "Who are you?" He demanded. "Where's Jiraiya?"

At first, Minato was quite scared. Slowly, he began to smile confidently. "I'm your new boss."

Gamabunta's eye narrowed. "Boy, I don't have patience for jokes!"

"Ah, come on!" Minato complained. "I signed the contract, and I cast the summoning!"

"And why exactly did you summon me?" Gamabunta growled.

Minato gulped. "To be honest...no reason." A sharp breath from the toad made him jump. "I just wanted to see if I could do it." He whimpered.

Suddenly, Gamabunta's eye narrowed. "How dare you!"

Jiraiya's hand reached over a boulder as he hurried back up. "AH!" He breathed. Jiraiya looked up and saw his strongest summon hop away. "Gamabunta? What is he doing here!? I didn't summon him!" Jiraiya suddenly saw the summoning scroll on the ground, and his eyes widened. He really hoped he was wrong as he ran over to inspect it.

Unrolling it and witnessing its contents, he just stood there for a good minute. His hands then began to clench the paper as he lowered it, his face now red with rage. "MINATO!"

The next morning, a Konoha jonin and her team was training, her favorite pupil Kushina besting her two male teammates. The two boys made a charge for her. Kushina blocked them first with her kunai and followed by tripping him up with her leg. The other made a similar motion, but Kushina suddenly threw a mangiku-gusari from her shirt, tripping up his legs. "Mate!" The jonin kunoichi shouted. Kushina stopped, as her teammates got back up. She offered her hand to one, but he smacked it away. Kushina scowled; for some reason, even when she was gracious in her victories, they treated her with contempt. "Very good, Kushina!" Their sensei clapped. "Minotomo. Saiba. You need to push yourselves harder." She told her two other students.

Kushina smiled proudly, while her two teammates just scowled. "Hmph. Of course sensei is biased towards her."

"Not sure what she sees in that tomato." The other whispered.

Kushina' s eyes suddenly turned furious as she clenched her fist and her hair stood up as if it was on fire. "What was that!?" Before anything more could be said, the earth shook with a mighty tremor. "Uh, that wasn't me." Kushina said, her attitude forgotten.

The earth shook violently again. "What is this, an earthquake!?" One of them said.

"This is no quake!" Their instructor shouted as she pulled out a kunai. 'Something's coming! Get ready!" They did as they were told, preparing their weapons. For a moment, nothing happened.

"Is it over?" One of the boys asked.

Suddenly, a shadow was cast over them. Looking up, a massive object was heading straight down for them. "Everyone! Scatter!" Kushina shouted as everyone ducked for cover. Whatever it was, in landed with enough force to blow several trees over. The ninja planted themselves on the ground while they waited for the shockwave to subside.

Once it did, Kushina looked up. At first, she couldn't tell WHAT it was. It was so big, it was blotting out the sun! She looked at it more closely, it's shape becoming clear, and when she realized what it was, her face turned white in fear and disgust. "Is...is...ISTHATAFROG!?" She practically screamed.

The creature turned to look at her, it's features illuminated as it moved out of the sun's light. "Sorry about that, little miss." Gamabunta said to her. "Blame this brat who summoned me!" At that point, the shock caused Kushina to pass out. Her teammates could have sworn they saw her soul hanging out of her mouth.

From there, Minato appeared on top of the toad's head. Though his hair was a mess and covered in debris, he stood triumphantly, smug with finally "taming" the giant toad. "Hey Kushina! I summoned a monster toad! What do you think of that!?" When he got no response, he looked down. "Uh, Kushina?" He then saw her prone form on the floor. At that point, Minato panicked. "Kushina!"

"So, this is that 'powerful adversary you told me about? If this is all it took, I'm disappointed in you." The toad grumbled.

"Kushina has a fear of frogs." The Jonin instructor answered, now recognizing him as a summon as well as Minato. "I do apologize for Minato's behavior. He and Kushina have something of a rivalry going on."

"Hm. First human I've seen today to make sense. Thank you." The toad replied.

"In Minato's defense, he is VERY talented. I think he will make a fine master for you someday." She then glared at Minato. "First, he needs to learn about humility. Excuse me while I get some smelling salts."

Before any more could be said, Jiraiya came in riding a toad the size of a buffalo. "Gamabunta!" Jiraiya shouted. Touching down, he put his hands together apologetically. "I don't know how Minato summoned you, but I'm really, really sorry!"

At this point, Kushina was revived and helped to her feet. Though she was still revolted by the big toad, she was able to at least look at it as she observed the conversation taking place. "Ah, so he DIDN'T have your permission?" Gamabunta said as he eyed Minato above him. The young blonde chuckled nervously as he adjusted his collar. "Well, what's done is done. He signed the contract, so if he really needs me, I'll be there. Hopefully for something more important than getting the girls to let him mount them."

"What did he just say!?" Kushina shouted in horror.

"See ya!" Gamabunta vanished in a puff in smoke, causing Minato to fall.

"AHHH!" Despite the surprise, Minato landed on his feet. Before anymore could be said, he looked at Kushina, smiling smugly. "Hah!" He said. "Well, looks like I'm up one! How do you like that!"

"Minato..."

"You were going to risk your life riding a dangerous and disgusting animal!?" Kushina shouted, pointing at him accusingly.

"Hey! Gamabunta is my sensei' s finest summon!" The blonde retorted.

"Minato..."

"It doesn't matter!"Kushina yelled, pointing at him accusingly. "I knew you were pig-headed, but endangering yourself just to spite me!? That's beyond idiotic!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't so full of yourself in the first place, maybe neither of us would have anything to prove!"

"MINATO!"

The two turned to Jiraiya, whose face was almost completely red now and huffing in fury. "Uh, hey sensei!" Minato chirped nervously as he waved. "Uh, sorry?" He shrugged.

"Ow!" Minato screamed, as he was laid across his sensei' s legs, the toad ninja spanking his student.

"This...Is...What...You...Get...For...Not...Listening!" Jiraiya yelled between the slaps.

"For...The...Love...Of...Kami! Ow!" Minato yelled. "I'm...Twelve...Years...Old!"

"Then...Don't...Act...Like...You're...Two!" The other team looked on in shock, seeing one of the legendary three disciplining his prize pupil in such a way. Kushina in particular cupped her face. After the last one, Jiraiya allowed his student to stand and pull up his pants. "Think about what you did!" Jiraiya huffed. "I'm going for a smoke!" Jiraiya walked off, while Minato limped the opposite way.

Later, the blonde genin held onto a low-hanging branch as he hunched over, not ready to sit just yet. He looked to his side as he saw Kushina to his side staring at him intently. It seemed she was the only one who seemed genuinely horrified at what she saw. Her cheeks began to puff up, and suddenly let out a mad laughter as she fell over, kicking her legs. "You're not human!" Minato shouted.

"Oh, come on! You totally deserved that!" Kushina said, sitting up as she tried to calm down. "For what it's worth, though, it WAS incredible that you were able to summon such a high-level animal."

Minato's eyes widened slightly in surprise. He couldn't help but notice a slight blush across his face. He only hoped SHE didn't notice. "Uh, thanks." He said.

"Look, I think your sensei is proud of you." Kushina assured him. "He's just mad you did something without his permission, and for worrying him so much."

Minato tried walking away, but he was still sore from that spanking. "Here, let me help you." She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and supported him. "Listen, Minato. I know I can be a bit of a braggart and everything, but you don't have anything to prove to me, okay? Just don't do anything crazy like that again, okay?"

Minato smiled slightly as they walked back. "I can't make that promise; not if you're in trouble again."

Kushina looked away, blushing. The jerk would never let her down over that incident! "I'll...try to keep that in mind." she mumbled.

Naruto just sat there as he took it all in. He heard from others how his father was a wise and intelligent shinobi. But it seemed he was only human in the end, and once a child as well. He looked back at Gamabunta, who just lay there, breathing heavily. "Thank you so much for sharing that story. And for all the years we shared together." He said, bringing his hands together.

Naruto tried to hold his tears, but they flowed down regardless. "It's okay, Naruto." Jiraiya said, patting his shoulder. "Let it go." Naruto began to quietly sob.

"We'll take care of him." Gamakichi said. "I made sure to say everything I needed to before the time he passes. And I'm glad you got that chance too."

"Thanks for everything, Gamakichi." Naruto sadly smiled as he raised his fist. "I'm looking forward to sharing battles with you."

"Same here." They gently bumped fists, and went their separate ways.

As Naruto and Jiraiya walked down the path out of the mountains, the younger one sighed. "It's finally over."

"I guess after being here for so long, you realize you're going to miss it." Jiraiya nodded.

"It's not so much that, though I admit I've enjoyed the tranquility after a bit." Naruto said. "It's just...I'm nervous."

"I can understand why." Jiraiya nodded. "And I don't blame you." Patting him on the shoulder, Jiraiya added "But the two of you will work out."

"It's FOUR of us now, remember?" Naruto smiled nervously.

"Oh. Right. Kids." Jiraiya replied. "Well, you're fucked." The two shared a nervous laugh together as they descended down the mountain.

"I can't believe you spanked my dad." Naruto suddenly said out of the blue.

Jiraiya chuckled. "I did tell you he was pig-headed once before. Everyone talks about the man he became, but no one knows the little hellion he once was."

Naruto's eyes perked up. "You know, we've got a while before we reach the village." Jiraiya turned to him. "Tell me everything."

Jiraiya's smile became wider. "Did I ever tell you about the first time we went to peak at the women's baths?"

"I'm regretting this already..." Naruto groaned.

I am very glad to get this out of the way and finally reunite Naruto and Sakura! I'll make it worth your wait!

Also, I included the Minato story because I distinctly remember Jiraiya mentioning the 4th was as pig-headed as Naruto. The official canon...didn't support that. So I thought about telling a story from his childhood. You know there's no way in hell you're a perfect angel when Jiraiya himself is your teacher.