Chapter 4: New Friends

When Naruto told Jiraiya about his run in with Kurama, Jiraiya nearly had a heart attack before ripping off the blonde's shirt to inspect the seal. Seeing everything was fine with the seal, Jiraiya was able to relax a bit, though he was still freaked out that the fox could talk to Naruto. After a lot of arguing with a surprisingly willful Naruto, having Naruto meditate several times to get more details from Kurama, weeks of studying the seal, and consulting with Gamamaru, Jiraiya finally agreed to let Naruto rip of a small piece of the seal in his mindscape. The toad sannin even found himself somewhat sympathizing with the fox just wanting a glimpse of nature and some type of connection after nearly a century of total isolation.

Kurama was overjoyed to finally have a glimpse of nature after over a century in darkness, though he would never admit that. One unexpected change that came with the sharing of Naruto's senses was that he could now speak with Kurama without being drawn into his mindscape. As a show of good faith, Kurama decided to share with Naruto, and therefore Jiraiya, the rest of the details he knew about the night of the attack, which admittedly was not much. He informed his host that one moment he was in darkness and the next he was out and set to run securing his freedom. Unfortunately, he was quickly confronted by a man wearing an orange-spiral mask with just one opening for the right eye, which happened to be a sharingan eye with a strange design.

Jiraiya knew he had to see the Sandaime to relay this information, Konoha had what appeared to be a powerful enemy out there, and they would have to prepare for whatever may come. Knowing he would have to leave soon, Jiraiya gave Naruto a series of exercises to start working on. Naruto was a little disappointed that he wasn't being taught super amazing jutsu like breathing fire, but Jiraiya explained to him that he had to learn to crawl before he could walk and run. Having set up Naruto and supervised him for a few days, Jiraiya set off for the Hidden Leaf Village to discuss things with his former sensei.

It had been nearly another six months and Jiraiya had come and gone several times, and Naruto had been working diligently on all the exercises Jiraiya had shown him. Every day for the last several months Naruto would wake up and begin his physical conditioning, various exercises such as running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, swimming, and various plyometric exercises like sprints and a series of jumps. After his physical conditioning, Naruto would have breakfast and then work on his punch and kick reps. He had yet to start learning any taijutsu style, but Jiraiya showed him proper form for punches and kicks and had him practice as much as he could. Naruto would then spend some time playing with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, which often included finding ways to prank the other inhabitants of Mount Myoboku and stealing candy from the Great Sage Gamamaru.

After lunch, Naruto would work on his chakra control. Initially, this mainly consisted of him meditating, getting used to the feeling of his chakra and the way it felt to pull on it. He then progressed to the leaf sticking exercise where he had to stick a leaf to his forehead and hold it there with his chakra. After nearly half year he'd been working on it, Naruto had added leaves to his shoulders, elbows, backs of his hands, hips, knees and his feet. Naruto would usually practice hand seals after his chakra control exercises, but after a few months, Jiraiya had him combine the two. The split in his concentration more or less put Naruto back at the beginning, only able to hold a single leaf on his forehead.

After playing with the toad boss's kids, Naruto would work on his calligraphy, and again after dinner. Initially he hated it, the idea of just sitting there writing was just too boring to his young mind. But Jiraiya managed to hook the jinchuriki's interest by showing Naruto one of his homemade explosive tags. Needless to say, after witnessing the explosion, Naruto was all to eager to do whatever he needed to in order to make his own explosive tags. To help keep him interested, Jiraiya let Naruto paint pictures with his brush in addition to practicing his calligraphy.

Another big change was Naruto's relationship with Kurama, which had developed into a somewhat antagonistic friendship. Mainly, Kurama would poke fun at Naruto and rile him up only to tell him he was tired and taking a nap when Naruto would try to argue. Kurama wouldn't tell anyone, even if he could, but he had been enjoying the picturesque natural environment of Mount Myoboku.

All of his hard work was evidenced just by looking at Naruto. Despite only approaching his fifth birthday, most of his baby fat was gone and he was developing impressive muscles for such a young kid. More notable though was his chakra, which had grown at a rate that shocked Jiraiya. While the Sannin knew Naruto had nearly as much chakra as the Sandaime when he first drew upon it, Jiraiya could see the boy's chakra now easily dwarfed the elderly hokage's.

"Your calligraphy is really coming along gaki," Jiraiya said after walking into the elder toad sages' home, "that's enough for now, go ahead and get cleaned up."

Naruto just nodded and began cleaning up. Jiraiya continued, "we'll head back to Konoha tomorrow, we'll only stay for a couple of days. I want to pick up some supplies to help with your training, a few scrolls, more Fuinjutsu supplies, and some training kunai and shuriken."

Naruto just nodded again, "I'm sure that cute ramen girl will be happy to see you again," Jiraiya said raising his eyebrows at Naruto.

"Jiraiya!" Naruto finally said something.

"Hahehaha, look, Naruto, I know you're worried, but I won't let you be alone, okay? And I can promise you the Uchiha won't dare try anything again," Jiraiya tried to reassure Naruto, "and it's important for you to get used to being around other people. Mount Myoboku is great, but it's no place for a human to live forever."

Naruto sighed, "I know, I was just a little worried after the last time. But I miss the old man, and I really did like the ramen. Maybe they got grasshoppers since last time!"

The two talked for a bit more and the now reassured Naruto finished cleaning up his Fuinjutsu supplies and got ready for bed.

Konoha

After checking in with the Hokage, Naruto and Jiraiya went to their first stop at Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto couldn't believe they still didn't have grasshoppers, but he inhaled several bowls of ramen anyway. Ayame could barely wait until Naruto was finished eating to grab him and nuzzle her cheek against his own, once again eliciting a purring sound from the young boy. After much teasing from Teuchi and Jiraiya, a still red-faced Naruto and the Sannin left for their next destination.

"Here we are!" Jiraiya said to Naruto as they walked up to a rather plain storefront with a sign out front saying "Higarashi Weapons." The pair walked inside the store and Jiraiya called out "Kaito, you in here?"

"That you, Jiraiya?" came a deep gruff voice. The voice was followed by a averaged height man with short brown hair. The things that stood out about this man were his massive arms and the fact that he was nearly covered in soot. "What brings you here?" Kaito asked.

"Time to get some training materials for the gaki here," Jiraiya said pointing to Naruto.

Kaito's eyes shot wide open, "I-is that. . . ."

"Hmm," thought Jiraiya, "I'm not sure what you're thinking, but if he were, I think that would likely be a secret of the S class variety. This here is Naruto Uzumaki."

Kaito gave an understanding nod "nice to meet you kid, I'm Kaito, the best blacksmith in Fire Country."

"It's nice to meet you too Mr. Kaito," said Naruto.

"And my daughter is around here somewhere, her name is Tenten, she's about your age." Kaito said. Moments after he finished the three heard a grunt followed by a surprised cry when a blunt training kunai nailed Jiraiya in the forehead. "Tenten!" yelled Kaito.

A young girl stepped out from between two aisles looking sheepishly at her father. Tenten was an almost six-year-old girl with long brown hair, though you couldn't tell since it was done up in two buns on top of her head. She wore a pink qipao style shirt with shuriken embroidered along the front and brown shorts.

Naruto turned to see who had nailed Jiraiya in the face and his eyes widened, "Panda-chan," Naruto whispered. All three of the store's other occupants heard Naruto and each reacted differently. Tenten, being the object of his statement turned a bright shade of red, her father, on the other hand, levelled a glare at the young boy.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, "Hahahehehahaha!"

Kaito muttered something unintelligible, but one could just barely catch the words "kunai" and "blonde-gaki."

"Hey Kaito," Jiraiya interrupted, "I actually have a couple of things to talk with you about, maybe Tenten can give Naruto a head start with his kunai technique to give us a few minutes."

After another minute or so of muttering, Kaito had Tenten take Naruto out to a small training field in the back of the store.

"So," started Kaito, "what can I do to help Konoha's Toad Sage?"

"For starters, I need to order a full set of training shuriken and kunai for Naruto, five cases of blank seal tags and two bottles of ink, and when they come back ten sets of whatever training clothes Naruto picks out," said Jiraiya.

"I didn't realize training gear was such a confidential matter," Kaito said in a manner suggesting Jiraiya should continue.

"About that, I also wanted to pick up a certain katana for safe keeping. I'll keep it tucked away until he becomes a genin, but I want him to have something from his family." Jiraiya explained.

Kaito went to get a special sword and handed it over to Jiraiya. The two men continued talking for some time, catching up and reminiscing.

Training field behind Higarashi Weapons

Naruto and Tenten stood about ten feet away from a wooden dummy, Tenten was demonstrating the technique to properly throw a kunai. Naruto was impressed at how good the young girl was, nailing a bullseye nearly every time.

"Wow," said Naruto, "how did you get so amazing at throwing kunai?"

"Well when your daddy is a blacksmith and you grow up in a weapon shop, there's not much else to do, ya know?" came Tenten's answer, "why don't you go ahead and give it a try?"

"Alright!" said an excited Naruto, "just watch how a future hokage throws a kunai." Naruto wrapped his fist around the kunai, raised his arm above his head, and threw as hard as he could. The kunai went forward spinning sideways and smacked flat side at the bottom of the dummy.

"Hehehahehahaheheha, come here, Hokage Sama, let me show you how it's done," Tenten could bare speak she was laughing so hard. "Here, lets see if we can't fix you."

Tenten placed another kunai in Naruto's hand adjusting his grip until it was just right. She then positioned him so his left shoulder was facing the target. Standing behind him, she drew his right arm across his body and slowly moved it forward, her hand over Naruto's hand, she demonstrated how he should flick his wrist to release the kunai. She stepped back and told Naruto to give it a try. Standing behind him, Tenten couldn't see, but Naruto's face was bright red from the close contact with the girl.

A deep voice came from Naruto's mind, "finally found a vixen to be your mate huh kit?"

Naruto's already red face turned a shade that could rival a tomato. "Shut up ero fox! I'm only almost five-years-old!" Naruto shouted internally.

"So what?" asked Kurama, "a fox will find its first mate when it's only one-year-old."

"I'm not a fox, I'm a human, Kurama," was Naruto's reply.

"Hmph, it's not my fault you hairless apes are developmentally challenged. Go back to your vixen, I'm tired," said Kurama.

"What, but you're the one who, argghhh! Fine!" Naruto huffed. He then took some deep breaths trying to calm himself. Naruto then took his stance, right should facing the target, he adjusted the kunai in his grip and readied himself. Naruto released his breath and released the kunai just as Tenten had shown him. The kunai flew straight this time and nailed the target about six inches below the bullseye.

"I did it Panda-chan!" Naruto shouted, he ran over and wrapped his arms around Tenten, swinging her around.

It was Tenten's turn to blush, "Oh, uhm, yeah, good job Naruto, do you want to go show your dad?"

Suddenly Naruto got an ear-splitting grin on his face, between the grin and the whisker marks on his cheeks, one thought went through Tenten's mind, "Foxy-kun."

Back inside

"Well, this ought to take care of things for now, thanks Kaito. I'll go grab the gakis," said Jiraiya. He turned around to head towards the back of the store and as soon as he was facing the back, THUD! "NARUTO!" yelled Jiraiya.

Kaito, Tenten, and Naruto all burst out laughing, the latter two rolling on the floor. "I guess he's a quick learner," Kaito said in between chuckles.

Jiraiya started mumbling something but the only words that could made out were "sengan," "Bunta," and "blonde-gaki." "Come on gaki, we pick up the order later but for now we need to go see the old man." Jiraiya said, glaring grumpily at Naruto.

"Okay," Naruto said, "Goodbye Mr. Kaito, goodbye Panda-chan, thanks for everything!"

Tenten blushed lightly at her nickname but then grinned, "make sure you come back, and I'll show you how to throw a shuriken. Bye, Foxy-kun!" giving Naruto a blush of his own.

As the two walked out of the shop, Jiraiya pulled out a notebook and started scribbling away muttering to himself, "not even five yet and already giving me material!"

Back inside Higarashi Weapons, Kaito was walking back to his forge muttering to himself, "stupid blonde gakis and perverted old men."