It was something that neither girl had thought about, though Sakura had suspicions she never thought that the secret behind Uzumaki Naruto was such a big deal. Now she had the displeasure of comforting her childhood best friend about something that they were both guilty of, which is adding to the torment of that same Naruto. Sakura by looks alone seemed less affected by the news but… but that was far from the truth. She had just gotten to know how the boy worked in their travels as Genin, and the countless experiences and missions that came with it, but that was before he went on this two-year trip with the Toad Senin, and now she did not know what to think. The way that she had looked at him even an hour ago was far different than the way she would have to look at him now from her understanding the feeling between the two was mutual, and it hurt her. Wrapping her arm around Ino's shoulder was the only thing that she could think of at the moment as she watched her cry, the only clue that this was helping was Ino leaning into the touch resting her head on Sakura's shoulder as they sat meters from the door to the Hokage's office.

So there they sat, Ino for whatever reason refusing to move from her spot. For minutes on end, they just sat in silence until the Toad Senin exited the office. "Oh, you two are still here?" The man asked, confused at the two teens still being there. "If you are waiting for Naruto you can go home… He is going to spend the rest of the day with Tsunade." He spoke as if knowing the answer to that same question, but as he was about to leave he was stopped by a hand grabbing at his pants as he tried to pass the girls.

Jiraiya looked at the hand and then at its owner Ino, looking at him with puffy swollen eyes with a determined expression on her face. "Wait." Ino said, staring the man down before getting up. The action surprised Sakura because she did not know what was going through her friend's mind.

The man who was stopped however was intrigued as to what the reason why he was stopped in the first place. "If it's about what we just discussed then I have said all I could say, and anything else has to come from those two." Jiraiya retorted blindly, answering a hypothetical.

"I-it's not that…" The blonde answered looking away for the first time since this conversation started. She took some time to complete the thought but what she ended it with caused the other two to pause. "I was thinking, from what Sakura said… what Naruto said… you had returned early from Naruto's training, is that right?"

"Ye-yes…" The Man answered.

"Then for whatever time that you had remaining with him… I wanted to ask if you could put me through the same training… that is if you don't mind."

The response had Jiraiya even more intrigued, and her friend confused. He studied the girl's pensive face for a moment trying to understand why she would ask him that, not that he was against it, but it was more than odd with a girl her age coming to him instead of Tsunade. Out of the three Senin, he tended to repel the opposite sex, especially with his secondary line of work. "Might I ask why?" He asked the girl.

The girl grabbed at her skirt and bit her lip looking down before she looked him in the eye with determination in her eyes returning. "I want to know everything that I can… and you have some of the answers. I also feel that I need to get stronger as soon as I can, so please…"

Jiraiya sighed and turned around fully intending to ignore her request. "I'm sorry but you are barking up the wrong tree, Missy. If this is about Naruto I don't think you will find what you are looking for with me." He started walking away, but this time she grabbed his top.

"Please wait…" Ino said with a bit more authority in her tone. She looked almost angry when the Toad Senin turned his head to look at her again, and smiled when their eyes met. At that moment that expression, that look in her eye was the same as Uzumaki Kushina's. "Naruto, knowing him better was not the reason that I asked you to train me… I asked you for myself." That look did not waver as she let go of him.

"Interesting." He said turning around and scratching his chin. "Six months won't be enough for you. Plus hime is going to ask you to go on Naruto's next mission so we are going to need extra time if I am going to be sticking around." A smile began to start forming on Ino's face. "Fine girl, I will train you…" As soon as he answered her she closed the distance between them and embraced the man.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Ino said, rubbing her face into the man's chest.

"Woah, now." Jiraiya pushed Ino away while keeping a hold on her shoulders, looking her in the eye he continued. "I don't want to waste both of our time so I am going to need to test you." He spoke digging into his top for a scroll unraveling it and releasing a jutsu, revealing a rubber ball he had passed to her, Ino looked at him in confusion as she caught it. "There's a jutsu that I taught Naruto when we first traveled together that would be perfect for you to learn, you have a week to pop that ball with just your chakra. And if you aren't able to do it then I am calling off our training." She looked at him as if he had put a daunting task on her plate before Jiraiya continued. "If you want the same training as Naruto… I am going to treat it as such. Though there are limitations to what he can do that you can't, this should be enough for starters. The objective here is for you to imagine in the middle of that ball your chakra spinning in all directions at the same time, when you can do that, that is when I will start teaching you that jutsu. You are a Chunin so that shouldn't be too great of a task." He finished

Ino looked at the ball as if in mid-thought. 'Chakra spinning in all directions, eh?' She thought to herself thinking of Naruto's Rasengan, a jutsu that he had learned before leaving Konoha for the last two and a half years. She smiled at the ball that danced in the palm of her hand. It took a moment but as soon as she got the image of the Rasengan in her head the ball subtly started to deform from the inside out, with her surprise matching the raised brow on her new sensei's face, this was going to be easier than she thought. "Be ready, Sensei… Just give me a couple of days and I will ace this little test of yours." She looked up to him with a cocky grin.

Jiraiya returned the gesture with a smile of his own. "I can see what he sees in you, you have grit girl." He punctuated his sentence with a laugh as he watched his new student buckle and blush at the statement, him insinuating that Naruto liked that about her. 'It looks like it would be a disservice to her to take this training lightly, I wonder how I should handle this.' His thoughts went to the only other female student he had. "Well, I have other things to attend to, If you need me I will be around." He said starting to walk away.

Ino was about to watch the man on his way before remembering that she had no way of contacting him. "Sensei wait, how will I contact you when I finish this test of yours?" She asked, watching the man leave.

Raising a hand at her, waving, he answered her inquiry without missing a step. "Remember when I said that the Hokage is going to assign you to Naruto's next mission? Well I will see you at the briefing before you leave, and we can hash out a schedule then."

The two watched as Jiraiya disappeared around the corner. "Well..." Ino began while stretching. "Now that is out of the way, time to stop feeling sorry for myself." She added turning to her friend.

Sakura on the other hand was amazed at what just happened, although something similar happened between Tsunade and her, it was something else entirely to see it from the outside looking in. Her friend was going to be a student of a Senin just like she was and she couldn't help but feel pride in that... However, one question remained. "I thought you wanted to be like Lady Tsunade?" She asked out loud, and absentmindedly.

"It's not like I don't want to be like Lady Tsunade, I just feel that I need to take my own path as a kunoichi along the way." Ino answered, looking away with a blush. 'Besides she is close with Naruto... And I want to be standing by his side as an equal so I will have plenty of time to learn from her as well.' She thought as she played with her bangs. Now that she had thought about it, maybe Naruto had the right idea about her hair. If she was going to improve on her taijutsu she should really think about keeping her hair shorter. It might get in the way at its current length, she added another thing to her mind as she watched her long ponytail sway. Turning her attention to Sakura she continued where she left off. "And I have you to copy from, I may not have your chakra control or your knowledge in medical ninjutsu but... I'm not a slouch so you better watch out. I might surpass Jiraiya-sensei before you ever catch up with Lady Tsunade."

"What did you say? Ino-pig." Sakura was kind of miffed at her friend's declaration. Feeling that the time for comforting her friend was over she defaulted to the nickname meant to insult her childhood friend when they were romantic rivals in the academy.

"You are just mad that one of the only two guys that would give you a chance finally sees through that billboard brow of yours." Though she said it in a joking manner the sting that was delivered hit home as intended, now that she was a bit more interested in Naruto there was no way that she was going to let any insults directed his way fly, even if the worst offender turned out to be her best friend, she owed him that much.

Sakura for her part scoffed and began walking away. "Whatever."

"You know that I'm joking right?" Ino bounced the ball in hand once off the floor before following after Sakura. "Hey wait up." She said, stepping into step with Sakura.