"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

Here we go!

So here's the chapter I'm sure a lot of you out there have been waiting for :) I'm so sorry I didn't get this posted as soon as Christmas, but I had a bit of writer's block with this chapter among other matters that I might address later… Anyway, a lot of stuff goes down in this chapter. I suppose there's no need for me to make a lengthy introduction, so let's just cut the chase and get straight to the action ^^

But please be sure to leave me a review and let me know what you think of the latest chapter :D Enjoy! Allons-y!

Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling

Chapter 13: Concentration and Kurisumasu

{{The Dementors Converge by John Williams}}

"Nooo," moaned Naruto, "Please… noooo!"

At least twenty dementors glided in a gathered black mass towards the blonde wizard. The icy cold penetrated his insides as fog began to cloud his vision again. Perhaps it was the fog, but he could have sworn he saw more of them appear out of the darkness, until he was completely surrounded. They hovered above the ground and started encircling him, like sharks.

'Naruto, think of something happy!' Harry yelled as he distinctly remembered saying the exact same thing to Hermione.

The blonde wizard raised his wand and shivered as he looked around and aimed at the tall, menacing creatures. Naruto couldn't believe this was even happening. Until now, he didn't believe dementors existed in this world. But after he discovered phoenixes, Whomping Willows, and thestrals were real in the shinobi world, it didn't seem too farfetched at this point. Nonetheless, he blinked furiously and shook his head as the faint screams from his worst memories started again.

'Think about Iruka-aniki,' he thought to himself, 'I'm going home! I'm going to see him and Anko again! I'm going to save the Sandaime! I'm going to save Konoha! I'M GOING HOME!'

As the dementors closed in and formed a solid wall around the teenager, he forced himself to think about Iruka, Anko, Sarutobi, Teuchi, Ayame, the rest of his friends, and began to chant: "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped from his wand and hovered above him like mist. Naruto raised his wand higher and formed the shield, like in the mindscape. He took advantage of the moments and turned around him, forcing the dementors to back off when they were at least ten feet away. One dementor in particular flew straight for him, but was blocked by the shield and sent hurtling away in a rasping cloaked mass. Another dementor tried the same and the shield held strong against it before it retreated back into the shadow.

But like before, his knees felt weak and he was soon drained. Naruto buckled and felt his knees hit the frosty grass. The wind picked up and he felt even colder as he saw one of the dementors hover closer than the others. Naruto saw as it lowered its hood and faced him. Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray, scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. And then he saw the mouth, a gaping, shapeless hole sucking the air with a twisted, rattling breath.

Such a sight caused Naruto to become paralyzed with terror and his formless Patronus flickered and died.

"Noooo…" he moaned as the white fog returned and blinded him.

But he had to fight. He was a shinobi of Konoha and he would not give up until the end.

He tried to raise his wand and screamed, "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

But it was useless. Naruto couldn't concentrate and focus on even one of his memories. The sounds of the invasion of Suna and Otogakure filled his mind as the despair of losing his swordsmaster began to claim his heart again. Gaara's screams and thoughts of his mutated face clouded his brain before he heard the distant roar of the demon fox sealed within him.

Then a pair of strong, clammy hands attached themselves around Naruto's neck. The creature holding him forced his face upward and he could feel its rattling breath.

It wanted him. He could feel its putrid breath as the sound of Harry's hysterical screaming filled his ears.

Then he felt like the monster started to draw something out of him, something so much more potent and precious than air from his lungs. Naruto felt darkness consume him. He couldn't resist and felt more air being sucked out from his mouth as each second, he felt weaker and weaker. His memories started to fade, one after another, as all the happiness he knew faded out of his mind.

The sound of Harry's screams were going be the last thing he ever heard . . . that is until another, unexpected voice called out his name.

"NARUTO!"

The rattling breath ceased and Naruto felt himself fall forward onto the grass. Facedown, too weak to move, he was shaking. He weakly opened his eyes and assumed the dementor must have released him. And then he saw what appeared to be a light, a bright blue light surrounding a tall figure with broad shoulders. The figure brought his hands together, like a shinobi, and Naruto could sense chakra. But what he felt was a large, utterly massive amount of chakra released in waves of blue, ethereal light. Pouring through the trees, each wave washed over him and the presence of each dementor was driven back. Naruto could barely hear the rattling breaths of the creatures before they were suddenly whisked away . . . The screaming and roaring stopped and the cold was ebbing away. The air wasn't warm but they were leaving.

With what little strength he had left, Naruto raised his head and saw the blue waves fade out as the last dementors flew off into the skies. Eyes soon blurred with sweat before he was suddenly turned over onto his back by strong hands. Naruto couldn't think anymore as a blurred face mixed with red and white came into view, a sobbing, desperate, familiar voice called out his name again while large hands shook him. But Naruto felt the last of his strength leave him and his head hit the ground as he fainted.

Naruto felt very groggy and extremely weak.

He could have sworn he heard a voice whispering, but it made no sense whatsoever. He didn't have a clue where he was, if he was back home, in a hospital bed, nestled at the hotel suite, or in the mindscape. He couldn't recall how he had got there or what he had been doing before he got there. All he knew was that every inch of his body was aching, as though he had been beaten.

But what little he could remember, he distinctly recalled what was perhaps the scariest thing he had ever seen… The scariest, as he remembered black, hooded figures, cold, scabbed, rotten hands, and the screaming. Screaming more terrible than the horrors of Gaara's mutation and wrath.

Naruto moaned, too frightened to open his eyes and still too weak to move. He shook his head from side to side as his moaning grew louder and more like a small, frightened child. The blonde shinobi felt sick and scared as he tried to shake the frightening hooded images out of his brain.

"Noooo… Noooo! No! NO! NO!" he cried as tears leaked out from his eyes in torrents.

But then, someone grasped his wrist, as he was about to lash out at whatever it was. He then felt another large hand grab his shoulder and keep him down on his back with little effort. It now occurred to Naruto that he was laid on the warmest and most comfortable mattress he had ever been in. But Naruto still struggled, expecting a rattling breath and a deep cold, but soon stopped as he heard a warm, comforting voice calling to him. The blonde shinobi soon remembered Harry, his older brother, but the voice he heard did not belong to him. It sounded older and a lot more masculine, but it held an unusual but inviting warmth and softness.

"Shhhhhh," soothed the deep, whispering voice of the Toad Sage, "You're safe… it's over, Naruto… They're gone… You're safe now… You're gonna be okay, kiddo… Please calm down… You're gonna be fine… I'm not going anywhere this time… I'm not leaving, kiddo."

Naruto was able to calm down and breathe easier as his head was laid back against a mountain of soft pillows. His breathing slowed down more, as the man's hand reached out and smoothed against his forehead. His hands were large and scarred but still smooth and warm as thick fingers brushed wet blonde hair out of his eyes.

The blonde rookie soon slipped back into the black of sleep, the man's words soothing him to rest.

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He was lying on his bed in his bedroom at the suite. But the bedroom had been significantly altered; the windows were boarded up and barricaded, the room was also filled with various blankets and pillows, most them stacked on his mattress and currently almost burring him. A lot of blankets were also laid down on the floor beside his mattress with a few pillows to spare. And resting in a chair beside his bed, leaning down on the mattress with his arms folded, slumbered a drooling Jiraiya.

He looked exhausted and seemed to have been sleeping on the floor, hence the scattered blankets and pillows. Naruto suspected the older shinobi hadn't left his side since the attack. He figured, as he still wore the same garments he wore when he last saw him, minus the cloak, headband, and shoes.

There was medicine on the table and an untouched bowl of soup and cold cup of tea. But it didn't seem like the food, drink, or medicine was for the Sannin. Naruto stared at the older man with a newfound appreciation… or even fondness. It was his voice that called out to him and saved him from the dementors. Naruto let a weak smile curve his lips before he sank back into the pillows and the old man stirred.

"NARUTO," he snapped up before slowing down and Jiraiya's tired, alarmed eyes softened at the sight of his student's revival, "You… You're awake!"

"Mmmmm," he muttered with a little smile.

"Thank heaven," the older shinobi breathed and then the Sannin did something Naruto never expected he would do; Jiraiya reached out and actually embraced him.

"I found out about the creatures while I was in town… I thought… for one second I thought I was too late," he said as he lowered the teen back down on the bed to rest.

Naruto then noticed, for one brief moment, the Sannin never before looked vulnerable. He seemed shaken but relieved, fighting hard to keep up his usual tough and proud composure but failed, as his eyes seemed a lot shinier. It reminded Naruto a lot of Iruka, at times whenever the chunin wasn't afraid to show his tears. And soon, Naruto felt his fondness of the Sannin really begin to blossom, knowing now that the older shinobi actually cared as much about his well-being as another particular chunin.

Jiraiya's concern betrayed his established eccentric manliness as he uttered, "Your skin turned gray when that thing had its hands around your neck… If I were one more second late, it would have…"

The Sannin couldn't finish, and Naruto was glad he didn't. The blonde-haired teen let Jiraiya take a breath and discretely wipe away the tears threatening to run down his face. Naruto would have liked to tease the older shinobi if he still were not so drained. The blonde rookie could only stare at the ceiling as his fingers twitched beneath the sheets. He started to remember rattling breaths, hooded cloaked figures, and a deep cold in his heart that still made him shiver.

He soon said, "That was the scariest thing I have ever seen…"

The Sannin seemed more like himself as he frowned and pitied the weakened genin.

"But it's over now," assured the Sannin as he motioned toward the barricaded windows, "I think the swarm has fled, but I barricaded us inside the suite… Just to be safe."

Naruto then commented on the barricade with a weak laugh, "After what I went through, I'm surprised you didn't use cement."

"Heh," the Sannin chuckled softly, probably for the first time since before the attack.

The blonde rookie felt his own smile grow and even let out another weak chuckle. But it didn't last as the dementors were still on Naruto's mind. It seemed about the right time for him to investigate, but made sure he was careful and asked the Sannin the right questions.

"Jiraiya-sensei," he started without his usual nickname for the lecher, "What were those things? What were those creatures in the cloaks?"

The Sannin blinked again at the respect Naruto showed him as a teacher. But then he frowned and stared out into space when the he fully processed his student's question.

Jiraiya soon answered with some hesitation but remained serious as he said, "They don't have a name that I know of… But I do remember hearing about them in stories, back when I was a brat… I first heard about them in old folk legends and stuff like that; tales about wicked creatures that dwell in the deepest, coldest, dampest, and most uninhabitable corners of the world… But sometimes, when winter comes around, they come out in search of people to feed on, like zombies or something like that… Some people that believed in those stories described hooded creatures with no eyes that were once human beings themselves. The stories mentioned these beasts were once shinobi or maybe wild woodsmen that sought spiritual enlightenment, eternal life, or something along those lines. Those stories claim these characters ran into a wicked demon that tricked them into accepting an offer. They were granted unnatural long life, but it came at a price… they were forever cursed, doomed to wander the earth and sucking the life from the living for all eternity."

Naruto wasn't sure if those stories held much truth but after a pause he asked, "It seems like the legends were true, then?"

"Those are just stories," shrugged the Sannin, "No one knows what those hooded creatures really are. I do know that they've been around since before shinobi even existed. I only encountered one or two of them in my lifetime and heard rumors about them wandering the mountains way up in the countries further north, hiding in the mountains and marshes, only rarely coming out during some winters when it's most cold… But I've never seen so many of them gathered together in one place at one time."

The blonde rookie asked, "Have they ever been near Konoha?"

"No, I don't think so. Nowhere close," the older shinobi shook his head and said with more profound interest as he lectured, "Chakra has a unique effect on them. It can attract them, but when it's concentrated and released in the same way I did, it's too much for them to handle. It can scare them off, or maybe even dissolve one of them if they're close enough and if you're really, really lucky."

Naruto seemed a bit more reassured as he nodded, "So they're all gone now?"

"Yeah, I think so," the Sannin nodded back as he cracked a small smile, "But just to be safe, we're gonna stay here until you recover and then we're hitting the road. We'll go someplace safer, further down south and away from the mountains."

The rookie sighed in relief, "That's fine with me."

"Is there anything I can get you? Anything you'd like?" asked Jiraiya, as he seemed to take Naruto's sigh as a sign of weakness and seemed more than glad to aid him in anyway he could to help his recovery.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the Sannin's concern for him and felt some color returning to his cheeks as he asked in a soft, slightly choked up voice as he fought back a tear, "Could I have some chocolate, please?"

"You got it," the Sannin smiled before he stood up after he clapped Naruto's shoulder in an affectionate gesture.

It didn't take much more time for the Sannin to return from the kitchen with a thick chocolate bar. Naruto didn't question when or where he got it from and took it gladly. Jiraiya seemed pleased as Naruto took a generous bite, but it was the rookie that felt better. To his great surprise (though he shouldn't be since Harry showed him the positive affect chocolate has on someone following a dementor attack in the Pensieve) he felt warmth spread to the tips of his fingers and toes.

"You look a bit better already," smiled the Sannin.

Naruto felt more color return to his face as he smiled with a mouthful of chocolate, "I theel uh bit bether already."

Jiraiya let out a small chuckle in his throat and remained at Naruto's side for the next several hours, simply talking to him.

Naruto later finished his chocolate and had two additional bars. With his stomach full, he felt warm and he could feel cheerful again. But the experience with the dementors still haunted Naruto and sleep seemed impossible to him. After Jiraiya left to use the restroom, Naruto lay there on his luxuriously decorated mattress and tried to go to sleep. But even as all the warmth and happiness in the world seemed to come back, it wasn't enough for him to shake off those rattling breaths and the feel of that terrible cold.

But then a familiar, warm voice called out to him and made his heart melt, 'Thank goodness you're okay. And your soul is very much intact.'

The blonde wizard was able to will himself into the mindscape, letting his body fall back and rest. Though as soon as his head hit the pillows, he opened his eyes and found himself wrapped up in Harry's arms as the older wizard rubbed his back and didn't let him go. Naruto let him hold on to him as much as he needed, understanding how he probably felt when he remembered his screams.

"I still can't believe it," the blonde wizard said when Harry eventually loosened his hold and released him, "I can't believe dementors exist in this world, Nii-san."

Harry nodded, "Believe me, I'm still shocked as well."

"But if dementors exist, and so do phoenixes, Whomping Willows, and Gillyweed, what does that mean exactly?" asked an anxious Naruto.

"I think…" Harry paused as he tried to think up an answer to summarize what he had been theorizing since the ordeal in the forest, "I think it's safe to assume I didn't end up on another world. It's even more possible now that we live in what once was the same world I came from."

Naruto blinked and stared at the older wizard before he reminded him, "But you said the maps of this world are very different from the maps of the world you were from. There was no map of the shinobi world that matched the countries you grew up remembering."

'That's true," he nodded in agreement and then he argued while sounding like a philosophy lecturer, "But continents can shift and change over the course of thousands of years. Cities can be destroyed or sink into the oceans, polar ice caps can melt, and new continents and mountains can rise out of the sea. Perhaps it is as I once theorized: the wizarding world geography has simply changed… and if that's the case, I have been away for a very long time."

"Do you honestly believe this is the same world now?" Naruto asked, feeling uncertain.

Harry looked down at Naruto and nodded with a slight frown, "It's very possible. And after our encounter with the dementors, I'd like to think so."

"But if that's true, then where are all the other wizards?" asked the blonde wizard, "What happened to the Ministry of Magic and the schools, like Hogwarts?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted as he sounded a bit sad, "In the time since I died at Hogwarts, perhaps the wizarding world diminished; maybe their numbers became fewer and fewer over time until none of them remained. Or maybe something similar to the lost city of Atlantis or how the Library of Alexandria vanished… knowledge could be lost over a long period of time, following global wars, famine, disease, and unavoidable natural disasters… If the wizarding world endured, then at least one of the old governments would have survived and noticed our activities. If that were the case, they would have at least tried to make contact with us… Or arrested us, take your pick."

It took Naruto time to fully process everything Harry told him. He seemed to understand well enough but wondered how the wizarding worlds could ever die out when they were so organized and had so much power at their disposal. Then he started to remember some of the history lessons from his time at the Academy, when he and Harry first investigated possible leads on witchcraft being practiced before Konoha was founded.

With that in mind, he soon replied, "Not very likely if there were a bunch of witch-hunts less than a hundred years ago."

"Good point," the older wizard admitted and sighed, "Then… it's possible… that maybe there's a chance we're the only wizards left."

Naruto looked up at his mentor and seemed slightly unsettled, "The last ones?"

The older wizard noticed Naruto's reaction and shook his head.

"Whatever happened to the others, I'm sure we will find out in the future," the older wizard reassured him, so that Naruto wouldn't assume the worst, "But now really isn't the time for us to be worrying about that."

Soon, Naruto remembered his task at hand and his mission to save the Sandaime and return home with Tsunade. It was far more important.

"Yeah. You're right," he nodded and stood up from the mattress in the mindscape, and then he sounded a bit more optimistic as he said, "You know; if this world really is the future wizarding world, I'd like to know where Scotland is now. Maybe if I'm lucky there may still be one brick left of Hogwarts Castle."

"Yeah! I like that idea," Harry smiled as he also felt more optimistic about the future, then he teased his little brother, "Certainly a lot better than your ridiculous idea with the unicorns."

Naruto shook off his friend's little snide comment and pouted, "You're just jealous because you didn't think of it first!"

Harry laughed and felt even more relieved after the incident with the dementors. He would make sure Naruto mastered the Patronus Charm soon, and prevent him from ever suffering that horror ever again.

{{The Scavenger by John Williams}}

Almost an entire week passed by as Naruto recovered and the town seemed to rebuild as well. Most of the festivities for the November festival were cancelled with the appearance of the dementors, with many citizens and visitors fleeing the town for greener pastures. It seemed, as soon as Jiraiya had removed most of the barricades from the windows and doors, he and Naruto were among the few souls left in town. But not for long, Jiraiya was determined to leave with Naruto as soon as possible.

Though in the week since the incident in the forest, Naruto secretly continued his training. He took a few filled water balloons with him to bed to hold onto them and bounce them in his hands until he went to sleep. Holding the balloons and making them slosh helped him think about how to tackle the first step. When he went to sleep at night, he trained vigorously within the confines of the mindscape. Naruto didn't show much progress even while pushing himself as hard as he did. The tip Jiraiya previously offered didn't make much of a difference either. This forced Naruto to believe he must have been doing something different than what the Sannin demonstrated.

On the morning he and Jiraiya were set to leave, Naruto woke up groggily to use the bathroom. He noticed the manager's cat wander around the halls before it came up to him and meowed cutely. Naruto smiled at the kitten and went about his business as usual. When he emerged from the bathroom, he noticed the same little kitten found one of his water balloons. The cat was using its paws to bounce it around faster and faster, back-and-forth, like a ball of string. Naruto was about to reach out and take the balloon back, until (out of nowhere) the balloon burst and frightened the cat.

Naruto flinched as well while the cat ran up to him and hid behind his legs. As the creature hissed at the remains of the balloon, the blonde rookie stared at the remains in awe. He started to remember when the Sannin first demonstrated the first phase; how the balloon burst a moment ago made him remember how the first balloon was covered in bumps moments before it exploded.

And soon Naruto beamed and breathed, "That's it!"

About an hour later, back at Jiraiya's room, Naruto hovered over the Sannin with a new balloon. The man moaned and drooled with one of his hands reached down his pants. Naruto tried to wake him, but he had no such luck as the old man snored and drooled some more. The rookie assumed it was the first time in a while the Sannin ever went to sleep without the aid of alcohol. If that were the case, he had a mischievous idea on how to wake him.

Naruto held the balloon in his left hand this time and used his right hand to bat the balloon over and over again all over it. He then pressed his right hand down on top of the balloon as it became practically identical to how Jiraiya had first demonstrated. The balloon stretched out far in all directions and then it burst, as it was first demonstrated. The freezing contents of the balloon crashed down upon Jiraiya's face and tossed him out of his slumber.

He sputtered in a frenzy as he toppled out of bed and hit the floor, "WHAT THE-"

The Sannin stopped when he faced a smirking Naruto, his hands wet and his arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto then boasted, "First stage finished! Not bad, huh?!"

Jiraiya needed a moment to think and come to terms with what had happened.

After an explanation and a proper demonstration in the main room of their suite, Jiraiya nodded and smiled. Naruto decided to improvise with batting the balloon multiple times to help with his chakra control. It helped to swirl his chakra in multiple directions until it burst. Naruto told Jiraiya he had to practice over two dozens times until it worked.

Needless to say, Jiraiya was impressed.

The Sannin smiled and nodded, "Well done! It's a little bit unorthodox, but what's done is done! You've cleared the first stage!"

"YES!" the rookie cheered as he raised his arms.

But then he flinched and felt his arms and hands twitch. Jiraiya noticed and frowned a little bit, as he recognized the signs as strain on Naruto's chakra circulatory system.

'Hmm… The next stage isn't going to be easy on his chakra,' he thought before he smiled a little bit, 'But he's getting this down a lot faster than I thought he would.'

{{Rey's Theme by John Williams}}

Later that morning, Naruto and Jiraiya packed their bags and checked out of their suite. The blonde rookie made sure to pet the manager's cat as thanks for helping him figure out the first stage before moving on. Naruto then followed close to Jiraiya as he led him out of town as fresh snowflakes fell from the clouds. The mountains in the north became icy gray and the water of the rivers he and Jiraiya ventured past looked like chilled steel. The ground was covered in frost as the fresh snow stuck to the earth piled on.

December rolled in, it seemed, which meant the winter holidays were approaching.

Naruto and Harry certainly had mixed feelings about the winter festivities in the shinobi world. Back in Konoha, the citizens did a lot of similar traditions to the holiday of Christmas with decorations, singing, excessively good food, and generous present exchanges amongst friends and family. But the holiday didn't seem to have any exact religious ties to it in this world; it was simply a holiday celebrating goodwill among all men in the world for one day near the end of the year, on the twenty-fifth of December, which was called, "Kurisumasu".

The two wizards had mixed feelings about the holiday due to the Konoha Council. After the elders forced him to leave the Sarutobi clan, Naruto almost always celebrated Kurisumasu alone in his old apartment. The Sandaime did visit him whenever he could around the holidays and even brought him presents from himself and his clan, in addition to his allowance. Naruto fondly remembered the old man bringing him an entire treacle tart; fresh from the special bakery the Sandaime went to, which became a tradition of sorts. But after Harry came into his life, the two wizards did everything they could to have a fun and memorable celebration. Harry surprised him with new spells to practice and decorated the interior of the mindscape, complete with a decorated tree and clouds that snowed crystal flakes and golden angel decorations that sang traditional carols.

But this year in particular, however, Naruto wasn't very sure he would be home in time to celebrate. But he couldn't dwell on the matter as Jiraiya still had the next stage in store for his pupil, as the two of them walked to the next town.

The three of them soon reached a distant village that seemed to be the host of a small community. There was a long street that ran through the center of town, leading to a large market in the center, followed by an assortment of shops, a few taverns, a hot spring resort, a casino, and a few host clubs. It seemed like the perfect place for Jiraiya to carry out his research, based on the slightly deranged look of childish excitement on his face.

Naruto wasn't as amused, though he did take an interest in the market, as well as the general festive atmosphere.

While the two of them walked for a while, the town looked like something out of a Christmas card. The roofs of the cottages and establishments were capped with white snow, like icing on gingerbread houses. Each house and store was decorated with virtually endless shades of red, green, white, and gold. Doorways were baited with mistletoe and there was frost on every passing window. Even music could be heard in the air as carolers sang in the distance, while the streets were busy with shoppers and wandering salesmen.

Jiraiya led Naruto away from the madding crowds over to a small meadow at the edge of town. The area was quiet and enclosed, making it seem reasonably safe. Jiraiya scouted the area briefly before returning to his student and smirked proudly while throwing out his chest.

"This area should be a safe place for you to train while I'm working on my research," he explained as he unfastened an additional baggage he carried with him.

The Sannin showed Naruto a satchel full of white rubber balls and tossed one of them to him, "Time for us to start working on the second stage! Catch!"

Naruto caught it with ease and raised an eyebrow at the ball in his hand.

Jiraiya smirked as he raised his arm and demonstrated, "This time, you're going to try bursting one of these!"

No more than a second later, the ball in his hand exploded, much like he did with the water balloon. Only this time, the ball didn't bulge outwards in various directions, it simply exploded.

"It's a hundred times stiffer than the water balloons," he warned.

Naruto took the balloon in his left hand and did what he did with the water balloon earlier. The ball expanded with bumps and lumps but then it went back down to normal, unaffected.

The rookie frowned, "Wow… You weren't kidding…"

"The first stage is about rotation, and the second one is about power," the tall Sannin explained, "Because there is no water inside it's a lot harder to visualize the chakra and swirl the chakra around."

Naruto took a minute to look at the white ball in his hand and think about what he needed to do to make the ball explode like Jiraiya demonstrated.

It didn't seem too hard for him to figure it out when he wondered out loud, "Soooooooooo… in order to make the ball burst, all I have to do is the same thing with the first stage but concentrate a lot more chakra into it?"

Jiraiya raised his brow and opened his eyes wide at the rookie, and then smiled as he let out an amused, "Hunh!"

"Wait a sec," the blonde rookie blinked, and then he beamed, "Am I right?!"

"Yeah! A little bit! Good thinking," the Sannin smiled and clapped his hands before he complimented, "You're really starting to catch on, kiddo!"

Naruto felt a lot more confident and almost exclaimed enough to see his breath turn into fire, "Yes! I think I can do this, Ero-Sennin! It shouldn't be too hard!"

"You sure seem confident," nodded Jiraiya before he turned and blushed as he sported another one of his weird smiles, "So while you're busy with this I better get back to my research!"

"Wait!" the blonde teen held out a hand and the Sannin stopped in his tracks, "Don't you wanna stick around and help me out with my training? Checking out my progress and such?"

Naruto wanted the Sannin to stick around ever since he showed him his kinder side, in light of the dementor attack.

But Jiraiya remarked reasonably, "You pretty much got the basic idea of this next stage all on your own, kiddo. Besides, I thought we've been through this before: I can't keep holding your hand throughout your training. You have to learn to stand on your own two feet, like a shinobi."

"Fine," Naruto pouted, but then he asked with more upbeat optimism, "Got anymore hints or demonstrations to show me before you leave, then?"

Jiraiya held his hand out and demanded with a flat tone, "Pay me, first."

Naruto stared at the Sannin as the wind blew in their ears and then he shouted comically, "TURN AROUND, YOU HORNY TOAD!"

As the blonde-haired rookie trained hard in the real world, he did the same in his mind with his spellwork. In the mindscape, he and Harry worked hard to improve his work on the Patronus Charm. Though the first few tries were not particularly easy for Naruto. The older wizard was reluctant to continue their lessons after the incident, but Naruto was stubborn. Despite his own reservations, he insisted he continue until he mastered the charm.

Their lessons didn't start off well, as it was clear that Naruto was still shaken from the attack. He fainted as soon as the fake dementor emerged from the trunk; he didn't even finish the incantation before he blacked out.

But Harry wasn't giving up on Naruto and helped him through the first and worst few lessons.

After a few more tries and a few mugs of hot chocolate, Naruto was back on his feet and ready. But as soon as he heard that rattling breath and deep bitter cold strike his insides, he shivered and recoiled. Naruto kept his wand raised and tried to concentrate on his memories. In the time since he saw the holiday decorations in the town, all he could think about was Kurisumasu. Images of lit candles, snow, bright colors, and the rich smell of fresh baked gingerbread, sugar, and tea popped up in Naruto's mind. At first, those warm thoughts seemed like the ideal fuel for his Patronus. Then he thought about home and an image continued cropping up in his head; a vision of Iruka and Anko in a decorated home but their faces were sad, riddled with disappointment, as Naruto was not seated on the couch with them. When the false dementor rose from the packing case on the table and breathed louder, the memories and the vision became blurred with white mist.

The chamber fell cold and dark but Naruto chewed out the incantation, "Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The sound of Gaara's screams soon echoed in his head, but this time, the sound of his own voice was muddled in. Naruto's memories about home and his friends were tuned out in favor of white fog and vivid memories about darkness and cold as he failed to fend off the dementors in the woods. A little bit of bluish white mist breezed from his wand before it vanished and Naruto fell on the chamber floor.

Harry made the fake dementor vanish with a wave of his hand and held Naruto in his arms. The blonde wizard shook his head and managed to stay awake as warmth returned to the chamber.

"Naruto! Naruto… wake up…"

Harry tapped Naruto on the face until he blinked, shook his head, and despaired quietly, "I can't… I can't do it, Nii-san… I don't think I can do it…"

"Yes, you can," the older wizard breathed before he said, "You're just not concentrating hard enough on your memories… Holding onto that one powerful, happy memory, allowing it to fill you up, is essential to this charm working."

The nodded back but didn't look away from the floor as Harry frowned.

"Naruto," he sighed sadly and said, "I see you're still pretty shaken up from the real dementors. Anyone would be in your situation and I don't blame you. So I think maybe we should take a break and focus more on your ninjutsu for now."

"No! I can manage," the blonde rookie almost shouted as he got up again, "I've got to get this down! What if the dementors turn up again, Nii-san?! I won't last long if I can't at least keep a shield form going!"

Harry raised his hands and lowered them to get the rookie to calm down before he fell over again and said, "I see your point. I understand. But if that's the case, then, we should try practicing without the presence of a dementor. We'll work on making your Patronus stronger until you're ready to try with the fake dementor again."

Naruto still frowned as he pondered over Harry's suggestion.

"Does that sound better?" the older wizard asked.

The blonde-haired rookie looked at Harry and nodded as he looked back down at the floor.

Harry then said, "Believe me, I do understand how it feels. But sometimes these things take time. You'll figure it out, but you must be patient, think back, and concentrate on those memories… Trust me on this."

Naruto nodded again as he frowned and felt somewhat defeated at the setback. He didn't want to stop until he figured it out. He didn't want to be as weak as he felt when the dementors attacked. He wanted to be able to decimate dementors, like Harry could, and never feel that weak again. But he felt so drained at the moment and listened to his older brother.

He breathed, "You're right, Harry…"

"You can do this, Naruto," the wizard said as he stood before his pupil and rested his hands on both his shoulders, smiling, "You just need to concentrate."

Naruto was rarely seen in town, except for when it was time for bed at the hotel. He spent almost all his time awake in the forest. He took his earlier idea into practice and tried his best to focus a lot more chakra to make the ball explode. But thus far, it didn't seem to be enough. Naruto could get the ball bulging for a few seconds before the strain got to him and the ball returned to its normal smoothness. But over the next several days, he was steadily improving in a sense; he was able to maintain the bulging for increasing periods of time and felt like he was getting close to breaking the surface. Naruto was frustrated each time he failed to burst apart that first ball, but kept going at it, knowing he would succeed eventually.

While he was busy at work with the second stage, Naruto assumed Jiraiya worked tirelessly on a lead to Tsunade's trail. But Naruto tried not to dwell on it too much. His focus shifted back to the balloon in his hands and began to strike it. He drew a quick and sharp breath before his hand struck the surface of the ball and unleashed his chakra. Naruto kept going at it and thrust his hands down on the ball as hard as he could. The ball bulged and stretched outward, but then returned to its usual smoothness.

Naruto let out a tired, disappointed sigh and fell back on his behind. Exhausted from his continuous efforts, he took the time to catch his breath and squeezed the ball in his hand with disdain.

"Hey, Naruto!" he soon heard the Sannin call out to him as he approached.

Curious, tired, and dissatisfied at his progress, the irritated genin asked, "Yeah?"

"Go into town and make us some of that breakfast stuff we had back in the other town for dinner tonight," the Sannin tasked him with a relaxed smile, "I can't get over how delicious that meal was a while back!"

Naruto blinked and couldn't help but complain, "Why should I have to go out?!"

"Because I'm your teacher, and a student is always obliged to obey their teacher," Jiraiya smiled again with a chipper tone in his voice that made Naruto wish he could hex it off his face.

But the rookie obeyed his teacher anyway and catch a break from his rigorous training, but not before he asked with a twitching eyebrow, "You're gonna pay me back the money you took so I can purchase the items we need, right?"

The Sannin shrugged and took out a fair amount of cash. It wasn't close to the amount Jiraiya stole from Naruto's wallet but it was enough to purchase enough food for a few meals and perhaps even a small holiday roast.

Jiraiya grinned, "This should be enough."

Naruto took the money, still irritated at the Sannin for not owing him back his money, in addition to his lack of progress on his training.

The teen shouted back as he marched into town, "You better pay me back sooner or later, old man!"

The market indeed had all of the essentials Naruto needed to make the breakfast his teacher craved. Though he made sure to make a few healthier choices, in case the Sannin had an issue with cholesterol. And given the fact that he was over fifty years old, he wouldn't be surprised. And someone had to watch out for his health if he wasn't careful.

As he searched the rows upon rows of produce and collected the fresh eggs and tomatoes, Naruto thought about what he could roast for holiday dinner. After he found enough produce, he walked towards the butchers, mentally debating over settling with roast chicken, salted pork, or lamb. While on the way, he passed a section of various candies and grabbed a few large bars of chocolate.

"Just in case of a dementor attack," he muttered to himself, or rather Harry, 'I think I might settle for a rack of lamb… Assuming Ero-Sennin doesn't want to eat anything but sausages, fried chicken, and fried tomatoes all the time.'

The blonde rookie reached out for another bar of chocolate, unable to contain his love of sweets, when he heard a small child practically screaming nearby.

"Dad! Daddy! Can you buy me a chocolate?!" he turned his head to see a small boy begging his father for a snack, "Please, daddy? Pretty please?!"

The boy's father surrendered to his son's begging and selected a relatively small bar of chocolate, "All right, let's get this one… And let's split it."

"Awww, but I can finish it all by myself," the little boy whined.

But the father insisted, "No, no! No spoiling your appetite! Mommy is waiting at home with dinner ready for us…"

The child relented and happily enjoyed his share of the treat with his father. The boy and his father soon walked away, hand in hand, as they paid for their groceries. Naruto watched the whole scene play out in silence, feeling thoroughly depressed as the man and his son disappeared into the cheerful holiday crowd. The blonde rookie decided to leave and pay for his groceries, no longer feeling any strong desire to pick out a roast.

After sundown, Jiraiya returned to the hotel early and he was surprisingly still sober. Naruto assumed he was probably excited to sample more of his cooking and decided to refrain from alcohol for the evening. Dinner later that night went swimming well for the two of them as Jiraiya enjoyed his meal with gusto. Naruto had to keep himself from snickering as he watched the Sannin avariciously stuff several sausages into his mouth at once. It was downright impossible to understand a single word the Sannin said with each mouthful, though Naruto was able to catch one or two words.

Though as soon as the Sannin calmed down, had his fill, and sat back in his chair with one hand on his bloated stomach, he noticed how quiet his charge had been all evening.

"You seem a bit quiet, Naruto," he probed, "What's up?"

The blonde rookie blinked when he heard the Sannin call his name but soon looked back down at his plate, "Nothing… It's something stupid…"

Naruto wanted to drop the matter that had been on his mind since he saw the boy and his father. He didn't think the Sannin would understand.

But the Sannin insisted, "C'mon, then, tell me. Don't be shy."

The rookie sighed and looked up at the older shinobi, doubtful and reluctant to address the issue.

"Well… It's around mid December now, right?" he asked.

The Sannin nodded, "Yeah."

"The holidays are coming up and," Naruto didn't believe this would settle well with the older shinobi but it ached his heart to keep holding in how he felt at this point, "Well, this holiday was supposed to be a very special one. It was supposed to be the first time I'd spend the holidays with Iruka-aniki. But now I'm…" he hesitated again as the vision of the chunin and Anko came to mind and he admitted, "I know now I'm not going to be there… I'm sure he won't be alone on Kurisumasu, but… it just really sucks because I can't be with my 'family' for the very first time," the young man looked down at the table, hiding his eyes in shadow as he said, "it was supposed to be special."

Jiraiya didn't say anything for a little while. The brief silence caused Naruto to look up at him only to slowly start looking back down at the table.

"You can't really think about that stuff right now," the Sannin reminded him as Naruto's eyes became more and more shrouded in the shadow of his hair, "You still have a ways to go with your training… and we also still have to find Tsunade and convince her to come back to Konoha with us. You know what's at stake with this mission."

Naruto's mouth curled into an increasingly awkward frown. His insides felt like someone had been churning them with an eggbeater as the older man's words got to him. His shoulders tensed up for a moment and he almost shivered as he became filled with doubt.

But then, he froze and suddenly perked up as all the color building up in his face was flushed out, "Suppose you're right!"

The blonde rookie forced a smile on his face with his eyes closed. The Sannin sat in his chair and frowned at his pupil.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and blushed a little bit and said, "I still have to figure out how to burst this damn ball! And we got the Sandaime's life on the line, after all! I should be the one nagging about that!"

Jiraiya still frowned and nodded before he stood up and threw his red vest back on. Naruto dropped his smile for a moment and his eyes followed the man as he walked to the door.

"Well, I better head back out and continue with my research," he said as he turned back and looked at the rookie while he got a short scarf wrapped around his neck, "You stay here and get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."

Naruto smiled again and nodded back before he shot the Sannin a more cross look, "You better be talking about Tsunade and not some random bimbo in a dress!"

"HEY!" the old man snapped in a more humorous tone before he walked out, "I like those bimbos…"

Naruto's stared at the door for a while as his smile vanished. It wasn't until he was frowning like before that twin streams of tears ran down his face.

For the next week or so, with Kurisumasu right around the corner, Naruto and Jiraiya very rarely talked to each other. Ever since that evening with breakfast for dinner, the Sannin had been out looking for new leads while hopping from bar to casino to host club. Naruto on the opposite spectrum was burying himself in work with his training. Each time he tried to burst the little white ball, he poured his anger and frustration into each attempt that followed.

He still wasn't making a lot of progress, but with each failure Naruto became more determined to succeed, but also grew angrier. So he focused his anger and hatred into the exercise, but it almost went too far when in his latest failure he threw the ball into a tree. It bounced back at him but he caught it in a flash. Then he tried to tear the ball apart with his bare hands. He threw it again, but this time threw it far into the bushes, never to be seen again.

Naruto sauntered over to the satchel of more white balls and kicked it in a fit of rage. The bag practically exploded and white balls few into the air and bounced around on the icy ground. Naruto sat down in a rush, slamming his back into the face of tree behind him.

Harry could sense Naruto did not want to talk to him, so the wizard remained silent. The young man watched sadly from the mindscape but felt some relief as Naruto started to calm down and breathe. His breath turned into fog in the crisp cold air while Naruto shivered against the tree. The blonde shinobi wished he could have packed a winter cloak that wasn't enchanted or warmer clothes and shoes if he knew he would be away from home as long as he was. Naruto curled his toes and swathed his arms around his own torso. He shivered, this time from the strain he'd been placing on his chakra coils. And he looked down at the numerous balls he left on the ground.

'All I'm doing is draining chakra,' he thought, 'Forcing more chakra into the ball is only making the nerves in my hands and arms hurt more and more…'

Naruto thought about when Jiraiya first demonstrated the stage when he made the ball explode. Naruto could still feel a little bit of the force he felt then and now felt the need he had to make it happen again, no matter how much it hurt.

That's when Naruto frowned at the scattered balls, forced himself to stand, and snatched the closest one he could find.

With the ball in hand, he took a few breaths to calm his mind and thought, 'That's what I have to do… Keep going at it no matter how much it hurts! No more holding back and no more flinching!'

Naruto took one last calming breath and snapped his eyes open before repeating the exercise. He focused as much chakra as he could and tried his hardest to keep it contained. Naruto plugged at it harder and harder. Just as he felt the familiar strain in his hands getting to him, he kept on going, pushing himself through the pain. It was almost unbearable, 'But not as bad as when your arm was broken.'

That echo he heard in his mind was the motivation he needed and Naruto slammed his hand down on the ball. But then, one of the bulges went farther than the others and a loud pop was heard. Naruto held his breath and felt the cold from outside reach his stomach as he looked down and felt the ball flatten in his hand.

Naruto couldn't believe it and beamed at his accomplishment.

Then a familiar voice called him from behind and sounded as cheerful as Naruto felt, "It looks like you made some progress at last!"

"Oh," the blonde rookie turned around and was surprised to see Jiraiya approach him with two steaming hot cups, "Ero-Sennin?"

The Sannin stood before Naruto and blushed a bit from the cold but also a little bit from some embarrassment as handed him one of the cups, "Here! Congratulations for getting this far on your own! You earned it!"

Naruto took the cup and felt the warmth invade his freezing hands as he picked up the rich scent of one of his favorite beverages, "Hot chocolate!"

"With extra marshmallows," the Sannin added with a smile but then he asked with some caution, "I hope that's okay…"

"It is," the blonde rookie exclaimed, "I love marshmallows!"

The blonde shinobi took a sip a burned the tip of his tongue a little, but the rich flavor was too good for him to care. The liquid warmed up his insides and breathed new life and energy into him. Naruto sighed and took another sip, careful this time as he smiled and sat down on a fallen oak. The Sannin sat beside him and smiled at his student, but with a little air of sadness to him.

"Look, I, uh, I'm sorry for not taking time to monitor your training," the man started to rub the back of his neck while he admitted, "You made a lot of progress on your own, but I keep forgetting that you're still a kid sometimes."

Naruto felt the weight on his heart lessen more and more each second as he observed the Sannin, "It's okay, you're just-"

"No, it's not okay," Jiraiya firmly insisted before he looked off ahead into the forest, his eyes looking more forlorn as he said, "I haven't taught a single person in years and I haven't worked with children in such a long time, not since my jounin days…"

The Sannin took a sip of his cocoa before he looked back at his new student, still looking sad but a lot more understanding, "You've been through a whole lot in just the past few months alone and missing out on the holidays with your loved ones isn't making it any easier for you… I'm sorry for not being more sensitive about it when you brought it up back at dinner… I could tell you were really upset about it but I thought I'd give you some space so I wouldn't have to hear you cryin' 'bout it. I'm really sorry about that. I haven't been a very good teacher at all."

Naruto didn't expect Jiraiya to apologize to him. But the Sannin showed a lot more heart than he had ever seen from him before now. It reminded Naruto of his closest friends and even made his chest feel extra warm. The blonde rookie smiled as the heat of the cup in his hands warmed his fingers.

He then looked up to the tall man and nodded with a small smile, "Apology accepted."

The Sannin smiled back, not his usual bright over-the-top beams but a small, warm smile of his own.

Jiraiya then sat back in a more comfortable position on the fallen oak, "You know… if it makes you feel any better: you don't have to keep thinking about what you're missing out back in Konoha. You'll only be punishing yourself by doing that."

Naruto watched the Sannin as he offered, "Instead, why not try thinking about how much more amazing the next holiday will be with your loved ones?"

"The next holiday?" asked the now curious rookie.

The Sannin nodded, "I know it must be tough for you and I'm really trying not to sound like I don't care… I really do understand… But coming from experience, missing out on one particularly special holiday will only make the next one even more special… Because by missing Kurisumasu this year, it will only make the new memories you make with the next one all the more precious. The possibilities are endless. Infinite potential."

"Do you really think so?" blinked Naruto.

Jiraiya nodded as his smile grew wider and more, "Absolutely!"

The short blonde shinobi dwelled on Jiraiya's words for a while and started to smile more and more. The cold, combined with the warmth of the cocoa made Naruto's cheeks rosier and earned Jiraiya's attention. The Sannin could have sworn he saw a little tear forming in his pupil's eye, which caused him to roll his eyes briefly and surrender to his softer inside.

Jiraiya was still smiling as he drew Naruto into a one-armed embrace, "Awwww! Okay! Come over here, kiddo!"

Naruto was even more surprised at the sudden affectionate action of his mentor. But he did not withdraw from it. Jiraiya was very strong anyway, so he didn't think he could resist even if he wanted to. Naruto had seen Jiraiya's more caring side after the dementor attack, but now it felt like the Sannin (despite his numerous faults) had become another true friend to him.

"Thanks, it means a lot," was all he could get out as he secretly let that one loose tear leak down his face and into the cloth of Jiraiya's coat.

Jiraiya grinned a little bit wider before he relinquished his hold over Naruto and stood up quickly. Naruto sniffled and wiped his face clean before he stared up at the Sannin.

"Anyway," the older man exclaimed, "I also wanted to come around and show you a little trick to help you master this stage!"

"You are?! What is it?!" the rookie questioned eagerly.

"Let me show you," the Sannin ordered, "Stand up! Up! Up! Now hold out your right hand!"

Naruto obliged, switching his cocoa into his left hand before holding out his right hand, as commanded. The Sannin drew out one of his number brushes and a bottle of ink. Balancing the bottle, brush, and his hot chocolate effortlessly, he painted a small circular dot on the center of Naruto's palm. The blonde youth was understandably confused as he waited for the ink to dry. Then the Sannin unfastened the gauntlet on his own right hand, revealing an identical tattoo on his own palm.

"Soooooo… what's this all about?" the rookie asked.

Jiraiya reached into his coat and took out a blank sheet of white paper, "Alright, Naruto, look at this piece of paper."

"I'm looking at it," he said as his eyes wandered around the sheet, looking for some hint or clue hidden in plain sight.

"Good," the Sannin chirped before he took the brush in his hand and showed the paper once more, "Now look at it again!"

Jiraiya had written a small black dot on the center of the sheet, identical to the one on his and Naruto's palm. Needless to say, the blonde runt was beyond confused. He didn't know how to respond until he gave up and asked.

"Okay, so there's a dot on it too," he commented, "What about it?"

"It's not terribly complicated," the teacher smiled with the brush secured between his teeth, "The first time you were looking at the sheet, you were probably looking all over it, trying to find something on the paper?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I suppose so."

"But then you were looking directly at the dot after I drew it?" asked the Sannin, "All your attention was focused on the dot?"

"Yeah," the teen slowly nodded and then was forced to ask, "So what does this have to do with the second stage?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes in exasperation and stated, "Focus! Concentration! That's the key to this stage! The dot on the paper drew all your attention to it; your eyes automatically zoomed in on the dot as opposed to wandering around aimlessly on the paper. The meaning behind it is to use the dot to focus on a single point during the second stage. If you can relax, remain calm for an instant, and utilize that level of concentration you can draw out incredible power."

The wheels started turning in Naruto's head as he looked down at the dot on his hand. Already he started visualizing his chakra on the small black swirl mark on his skin.

"Sooooooo," he said as his brain processed everything Jiraiya's brief lecture addressed, "I'm basically using the dot on my hand to concentrate my chakra better for the second stage?"

Jiraiya smiled and nodded, "Basically, yes!"

"Heh," the small blonde shinobi smiled, as he understood what he had to do next.

But then Naruto slowly began to frown as he looked back down at the mark on his hand. The bitter cold wind breezed against his face and the infuriated look on Iruka Umino's face came to mind. He remembered being scolded alongside a few of his friends and performing a special exercise neither Naruto nor his friends ever took to heart at the time.

He then sighed, "Then this is the same thing as before…"

"Huh?" the Sannin overheard as he returned the bottle and brush into his coat.

Naruto looked up at him before he looked back down at the dot on his hand, "I remember… back in school, Iruka-aniki forced me and some other kids to stay after class and made us do this exercise with a leaf. We weren't concentrating in class and goofing around, so he made us do this trick to stick a leaf on our foreheads with our chakra…"

Jiraiya seemed a bit intrigued and nodded as his student remained fixed on the mark on his hand.

The rookie then asked, "This is basically the same thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," answered the man as he shrugged, "I'd say it's pretty similar."

"I used to act like such a idiot back then…" the blonde shinobi frown but then he stared at the mark on his hand with more determination, then he licked his thumb and reshaped the mark on his palm, "But there's no point in crying over spilled milk!"

Jiraiya looked over Naruto's hand before he saw he had shaped the mark into the mark of a leaf, the symbol of Konohagakure no Sato.

Naruto looked back up at the Sannin and said with a fire in his voice, "You go ahead and finish up your research! I'll keep going at this until dusk! I should be fine!"

Jiraiya was a little surprised Naruto wanted to work on his own now. But he was impressed by his determination to master this stage. He figured the kid still wanted some supervision or attention from him. But the Sannin would give the kid some time to work with the help he gave him before he came back.

"Alright, then," he smiled as he walked and waved his hand nonchalantly, "If you insist, kiddo! Way to go and break an old man's heart!"

While Naruto went at work with the help Jiraiya gave him, the Sannin decided to visit a local tavern. Once inside, skipped ordering a drink and mingled with the patrons. He targeted the local patrons that wore fancier, more expensive clothes and simple kimonos. He showed the few people he asked an old photo of Tsunade taken at the time when she was in her twenties. But none of the patrons he asked had ever seen her and returned to their drinks.

Jiraiya sighed before a man behind him sitting at the bar earned his attention, "Yeah! I've seen her!"

The man sitting at the bar had a simple goatee and no eyebrows, sitting beside another man with glasses. Both of them wore nearly identical kimonos and their faces were blushing from the alcohol. It appeared the two men had been celebrating for quite some time.

"And I know where she's going," the man with the goatee added.

Jiraiya tried to suppress a smirk, as he knew it wouldn't be difficult to get answers out of them, "Let me buy you another round."

Back in the forest, Naruto collected almost all the balls that he scattered in the field. But in the several hours since Jiraiya's departure he only succeeded in creating a small pile of deflated white balls. He achieved the same results he managed earlier in the day and not much else. Naruto was really getting tired and cold, but he never gave up on his goal.

Remembering the afterschool lecture on the leaf exercise drove him to do better. It was getting easier and easier for him to puncture the balloons now. But it still wasn't enough. Naruto took a break to calm down and catch his breath, sitting down on the snow to look at his twitching hand.

The blonde rookie looked down at his hand, staring at the symbol on his palm, before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them up he stood up and grabbed a new ball from the satchel. He stood in the centering of the clearing and took slow, calming breaths. He closed his eyes once again and did his best to relax and visualize the symbol on his palm.

'Focus… Focus… Focus… Focus,' he thought as he imagined his chakra encircling the symbol in a swirling vortex of immense power, and then he roared, "NOW!"

Naruto unleashed his chakra, bat the ball several times, and then the ball in his hand exploded with the force of a bomb, unleashing a powerful whirlwind of chakra that shook the trees and sent Naruto flying back into the woods.

"WAAAHH!" he screamed before his side struck the earth and dragged across the woods, until a hand reached out and stopped him.

The blonde rookie looked over to see Jiraiya smirking at him with pride.

"You've cleared the second stage," he said as he noticed Naruto's hand was twitching and burnt from the chakra, "I'm seriously impressed!"

The teen smirked back faintly, "Great… So how about that third stage now?"

Jiraiya shook his head and helped the rookie up to a sitting position, "Hold your horses, kiddo. I have some good news: I know where Tsunade is headed right now."

"You do?" the blonde shinobi shot straight up, "Where?!"

"Heh! Aren't you energetic," he laughed and then the Sannin added, "She's going to a town called Tanzaku. It's quite a distance from here and there's a snowstorm coming our way in less than an hour. We're going to stay here in town until the weather clears up enough for us to travel safely. Then we're headed straight there. No stops and no other distractions."

Naruto allowed himself to cool down. Not that it was a problem as the cold air around him did most of the work for him. As much as Naruto wanted to leave right away, getting caught in a snowstorm wouldn't help him. He nodded and let the Toad Sage take his hand and helped him stand up.

"Excellent," he beamed, feeling better than he had for weeks, "Dattebayo!"

The snowstorm arrived within the hour, as Jiraiya promised.

Looking outside now, Naruto was actually glad they decided to wait until it was over to leave. The storm was so intense; he could barely see more than two feet outside. The snow piled up in minutes and the wind was so strong it caused the windows to rattle. Before he knew it, the sun went down and Naruto was overwhelmed with exhaustion. Naruto was soon lying on his bed at the hotel, dressed in his pajamas, and staring out his window as the storm raged on. Judging by how severe the weather was, he figured they wouldn't be able to leave town and survive until the holidays were over. Naruto didn't let that bother him, figuring Tsunade wouldn't be going anywhere if the weather was this bad in Tanzaku Town.

But as he listened to the wind rattle his window, the rattling caused a chill to run down his spine. The rattling reminded him of the dementor attack, but he soon relaxed, taking deep, slow breaths and feeling a great relief when he couldn't see the fog of his breath escaping his lips.

He soon thought about what Jiraiya had told him earlier, about how much more special the next Kurisumasu would be if he missed this one and muttered, "Infinite potential, huh?"

Those words echoed in his mind over and over as he thought about his currently postponed anti-dementor lessons. He leaned back against his mattress and thought, maybe, that was exactly what he needed to apply to his lessons in the mindscape.

"I have to concentrate," he said out loud.

After he uttered that sentence, Naruto felt like a complete moron: Harry had told him the exact same thing about his memories. Naruto wanted to take his hand and slap himself across the face for his sheer stupidity but lacked the strength to do so. Instead, he closed his eyes and returned to the mindscape as he let his body rest. He would have run right into Harry, but this time decided to take a walk to the area where he had been practicing the Patronus Charm. While on his private stroll to the chamber, he thought about what Jiraiya had told him, about infinite potential, and started to relate it to what he planned to do next.

Sure enough, the case holding the imitation-boggart was still there, in the center of the room. Naruto approached it and stared the trunk containing the creature down as he drew his wand and gulped. For a few moments, the chamber was quiet; Harry didn't come barging in to stop him and Naruto had no intention on backing down now. With no time to lose before his mentor found out what he was doing, Naruto raised his wand and flicked it. The trunk clicked and then the room turned ice-cold as the candles lighting it went out with a bitter blast of cool air. The rattling breath returned and the dementor rose tall, looking directly at the lone blonde teenager.

Naruto shivered, his breathing shaky as his knees wobbled and his vision became clouded with mist. But then he blinked and stomped down on the floor as hard as he could, glaring up at the towering creature. He shook the distant sounds of Gaara's screams, the roar of the Shukaku, and the bombardments from Suna and Oto soldiers out of his head with an almost violent shake. He then took a deep breath and applied what he had learned that afternoon, thanks to the Sannin.

"I can do this," he breathed, "Focus…"

The blonde wizard's imagination was teeming with untold possibilities for his future. He could have been too distracted thinking about the worst possible outcomes of his mission that he never bothered to think of the best outcome for the future: He imagined returning home with two of the Sannin and the shocked looks of disbelief on the villagers faces. He then saw Danzo being sacked and his ROOT soldiers being arrested alongside the corrupt politician. Sarutobi came to mind, aged and in bed but alive and well with Konohamaru in his arms. His thoughts then turned to Kurisumasu future and while the images in his mind were obscure and difficult to make out, he felt the raw, warm, and powerful emotion behind them. At first, he could have sworn he saw himself, his mother, and a tall man with blonde hair and glasses, seated on a couch while watching the snow falling outside. Then he imagined the warm faces of Iruka and Anko with a decorated tree, towers of iced gingerbread cookies, treacle tart, and hot chocolate. And then (for a brief moment) Naruto imagined himself, but much taller and older, seated on a couch with a beautiful woman with long hair and two small children seated with them. But the next thing he recalled was pure, white snow, bright colors, the smell of a roast, and the taste of hot chocolate and butterbeer on his tongue. He thought of warm smiles, snow falling outside, wrapped up in a sweater, a hint of chocolate and cinnamon in the air, and the familiar sound of laughter coming from the people he knew were waiting to welcome him home.

Naruto then raised his wand and thundered, "Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing happened. The dementor remained where it hovered, breath rattling and arms stretched out to grab his throat.

But then the blonde wizard stood his ground, raised his wand higher and roared, louder than ever, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

{{The Patronus Light by John Williams}}

Naruto's arm shook, not from the fear or from the cold enclosing on his heart, but with raw power and determination. The dementor halted and then-something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wand. Not a shapeless cloud of mist, but an animal. He couldn't make it out from the sudden brightness illuminating the entire chamber and nearly blinding him. It had a tail and pounced on the creature with four, strong legs, and attacked the creature. Naruto felt as if a great amount of magical energy was being sapped out of him and struggled to keep standing. But the cold in his chest vanished as if it were never there; the distant screams of his worst memories and fears were gone. And while it took all his strength and willpower to stand and maintain his Patronus, he felt absolutely invigorated.

Harry finally caught wind of what his little brother was doing and ran into the chamber. But as soon as he entered, dressed in a light blue shirt and light brown vest with trousers, he stared in awe at what he saw, "Naruto…"

Naruto willed his Patronus to drive the boggart back into the trunk. Harry then flicked his own wand to shut the trunk and lock it. He then ran over to Naruto as he collapsed and passed out before he could even see his Patronus and the silver beast vanished.

Harry used a simple spell to help Naruto regain consciousness and smiled down at him and said, "You did it… and that was one hell of a Patronus."

"I think… I think I've had enough," the blonde wizard breathed and then smirked as he was raised into a seated position on the smooth stone floor, "Got some chocolate?"

The older wizard lightly smacked Naruto in the face in an affectionate gesture for his cheekiness, "You reckless little idiot… I think we both could use some."

Naruto grinned as Harry helped him back on his feet and half-carried him out of the chamber.

Before long, the two wizards were seated in chairs back in Harry's office. The two of them drank hot chocolate and tea, which Harry took a greater liking to as he kept getting up to pour himself another hot mug. Naruto felt his strength returning more and more but didn't feel like getting up from his comfortable seat. While he sat there, he thought about the form his Patronus took on and had a pretty good idea what it was.

While Harry poured himself another glass and filed some of his books back on their shelves with a wave of his hand, he asked, "What was the memory you chose?"

"I don't know," Naruto answered as honestly as he could, "It wasn't so much a memory as it was kind of this feeling I had… Something Jiraiya said earlier about next Christmas being more special if I'm going to miss this one… I thought about how much more awesome it could be… And then I had this thought, I… Well, I don't know what it was, but… it felt good… It felt so good so I kept holding onto it, using what I picked up from one of aniki's old afterschool lectures."

Harry nodded; making a funny pouty face signifying approval before Naruto stared into space. He thought about the vision of the woman with long hair and the two children, distinctly remembering a pattern of leafs and snow in the background.

"I don't even know if what I thought about was real," he muttered out loud before he turned to his mentor and smiled, "But it's the best I have!"

Harry completely understood exactly what his dear friend was talking about and smiled as he nodded and sat back down across from him, "At least it works."

"Yeah," the blonde teen beamed and clenched his fist, "Those faceless freaks will not take me down! Dattebayo!"

The older wizard chuckled as he realized his rambunctious little friend found his fire once again, "That's the spirit!"

He would wait until later to tease Naruto about what his Patronus looked like before he revealed it to him. It would be a while before he had the strength to do it again.

The snowstorm continued on for the next several days, but it wasn't terribly debilitating for Naruto and Jiraiya's daily activities. If the storm wasn't too bad, the two of them would leave the apartment for groceries or, as the Sannin put it, stocking up on supplies for their trek to Tanzaku. Naruto had a pretty good guess that it actually had something more to do with drinks and women.

On the Eve of Kurisumasu, while he had the chance to pick up the groceries, Naruto managed to pick up a boneless lamb for dinner. It wasn't difficult to find one and make the purchase, as most of the civilians in town remained confined in their homes due to the snow. Naruto was actually forced to use his wand to make a path through the three feet of snow and wore his invisibility cloak for cover from the intense wind. His appearance at the store left a few unfortunate employees rather confused as to how he had even got there.

Naruto then decided, once he returned to the suite later that night, he would save the lamb he bought and the seasoning he grabbed as well for dinner. He held the tightly wrapped package of meat in his hands and smiled as he felt his mouth already getting wet, thinking about the taste. It was fortunate that the Sannin was able to book them another room equipped with a kitchen.

He laughed to himself, "I don't think this would cook very well in Teuchi's hot pot!"

He soon stored the groceries away to keep them fresh and retreated to his room. Once there, Naruto relaxed on his bed and practiced a few simple charms while he listened to his MP3 Player. There were a few holiday tunes stored among the many hundreds of playlists and albums. Eventually, after a quick change and storing away his invisibility cloak, he drifted off to sleep.

When Naruto woke up later that night, he tiredly made his way to the main room for a glass of water. But imagine his surprise when some of the lights were still on and Jiraiya was awake, slouched on one of the armchairs and drinking a glass of what he assumed to be sake. The Sannin had removed his boots, his red vest cloak, and looked over his shoulder and nodded, looking despondent.

He then said, sounding a lot less energized and sad, "Hi…"

Naruto looked over at the clock and it wasn't even midnight.

"Evening," he replied awkwardly, but then the teen walked over and sat down in a chair next to the tall, white-haired man, "Is something wrong?

It took a minute for the old man to collect himself and started talking, sounding nostalgic and even smiled as he recalled, "Back then… I used to visit Kushina on the holidays… She made the best meals whenever I visited her and her husband… I dunno, at that point she had become like one of my dearest students and she… It was some of the best food I've ever eaten… She used to make lamb roast."

Naruto blinked in surprise and the Sannin looked at him with a warmer smile, "I saw it in the refrigerator when I came back… Boneless and seasoned… Just like she made them."

As much as it warmed his heart to know he shared another thing with his dear lost mother, Naruto couldn't help but feel guilty, feeling like he accidentally triggered the Sannin into a depressing trip down memory lane, knowing he would never be able to share another dinner with her now, "I'm sorry."

"Don't ever be," Jiraiya said firmly, almost like an order, which made Naruto flinch before the Sannin said in a much warmer, happier voice, "Not for me, at least… Seeing that lamb really took me back to a lot of really good memories… I guess I needed a reminder."

The Sannin's smile grew warmer but his blonde-haired student was still concerned about him.

"But weren't you upset earlier?" he asked, "What were you so sad about?"

"It's nothing…" he replied as he frowned and stared out into space and then he confessed, "It's sad that I'll never get to sit down and have a meal with Kushina and Mina-" he stopped abruptly and cleared his throat, causing Harry to narrow his eyes slightly from the mindscape, but the gesture flew completely over Naruto's head as he frowned and pitied the older man, "Excuse me… or Minato, or any of my old students ever again…" he paused and then he looked over at the blonde kid seat close to him and smiled as he did before, "But at least I can still sit here and share a meal with one other student…" the white-haired man reached out and placed a large, warm hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled as he sounded more sober, honest, and genuinely happy, "You're a good kid, Naruto. I really don't deserve it, but thank you for making this whole experience all the more worth while."

Naruto felt the color rise in his face and started to feel hot-mouthed over Jiraiya's rare but kind words to him, but he blushed and smiled back at him, saying, "No problem," with a little more emotion than he intended.

"Which reminds me," the Sannin smirked as he checked the clock on the wall, "It's midnight, so…" he reach back to the other side of his chair and slid out a small heap of parcels, decorated in bright, shining, colorful wrappings and bows, and then the Sannin beamed, "Happy Kurisumasu, kiddo!"

Naruto was stunned, "I-I got presents?!

"Yeah," the tall white-haired man smiled and asked with a warm humor to his tone, "Well? You want 'em or not?!

"Yes! Yes! Thanks so much!" he nodded a dozen times and dove towards the parcels, sliding across the wooden floor at his knees while Jiraiya sat in his seat and smiled.

Naruto was about to tear off the green paper of the first box, but then he stopped. He looked over at Jiraiya, who quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering why he stopped.

"Before that… I," the teen hesitated and looked back at the kitchen and back to his teacher, "I didn't have a lot to eat or drink tonight, so… how about I get started on that roast?" he offered and then he said while he acted nonchalant about it, "I mean, it wouldn't be fair if you didn't get something too."

"It can wait 'til later," the Sannin smiled as he shook his head, then he stood up and staggered as he made his way to the kitchen, "But I'll whip us up some hot chocolate! How about that?! It's time to celebrate!"

Naruto asked as he noticed Jiraiya stumble and almost trip over his own, massive feet, "You sure you can do that?"

"Heh," the Sannin looked back and rolled his eyes as he laughed, "Gimme some credit here! I haven't drunk that much!"

Soon, the blonde teen stood up and figured he help him in the kitchen before he hurt himself, "Hold on! Watch the kettle!"

The two of them brewed some hot chocolate and settled down in their soft armchairs with two steaming hot mugs, filled with the brim with marshmallows. The two of them brewed it hot enough to turn their additional treats on the top into delightful, sugary foam that neither of them could resist slurping. Jiraiya had added in the marshmallows for them both and handed over Naruto's mug with special care.

Naruto asked to make sure, "Extra marshmallows?"

"You know it!" the older man beamed.

The blonde rookie shared a laugh with the Sannin and the two of them enjoyed their warm chocolaty treat as the storm continued brewing outside. Not long after that, Jiraiya took a break from his mug and pointed out one of the bigger presents for Naruto to open up first.

Despite being hundreds of miles from home and the number of horrors he faced since this mission started, Naruto had a delightful holiday and hoped his friends in Konohagakure were as safe and warm as he felt with Jiraiya.

To Be Continued…

I hope you guys like this chapter ^^ It was ridiculously long and I hope I made Jiraiya a little more likable in the process, despite everything he's done and the mistakes he's made thus far on this journey. I thought maybe him saving Naruto from the dementor attack and Christmas could be a good way to get his character going in the right direction.

I also included Boruto and Himawari's first 'canonical' appearance in this series, through Naruto's imagination ^^ drawing inspiration from The Last

Speaking of The Last, I know, it might be a little weird for Christmas to exist in the Naruto world but I thought I might do it after watching The Last and learning that Konoha actually experiences winter. Back then, I used to think the Land of Fire was a constant warm climate, summer and spring all year 'round. But I decided to call the holiday by a different name to avoid sounding too cheesy, lame, western, or necessarily make it a religious holiday. In this world, Kurisumasu is basically like Christmas, celebrating peace on Earth for one day. Also, Kurisumasu is the Japanese term for Christmas ^^' Not sure if you guys will like it, but I tried :/

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter overall and I look forward to reading your reviews ^^