Chapter 54 Trainers

The next day saw all of Team 7 gathered around their usual training area. Each one was wondering what was going to happen that day. Well that and both Sakura and Sasuke noticed that Naruto was nervous, they just didn't know what he was nervous about. After ten minutes of him pacing, Sasuke had enough and decided to get down to what was bothering Naruto.

"What the hell is with you?" Sasuke asked annoyed. "You act like the end of the world is coming or something."

Naruto paused as he looked to his friends, he still wasn't sure to tell them his big secrets even after a fitful sleep. He had been tossing and turning nearly all night with what to do with them, Hinata and the dinner coming up. Then there was the training and his match against that Mist guy as well. All in all this was the most stressful time in his young life and he was not enjoying it, he was the one that usually gave other people stress damn it.

"Hinata asked me to go to her family's place for dinner, apparently her dad wants to talk with me." He sighed.

"Oh." Was Sasuke's only response, he guessed that would explain things.

"Well at least Hinata's father likes you right?" Sakura knew that Naruto had been on good terms with the Hyuga for years now. She still remembered visiting him in the hospital that one time when Hinata was nearly kidnapped. In fact thinking back on it, hadn't he said something about getting stabbed in the chest? That had been a very long time ago but she was sure that's what he said, she remembered the bandages on his chest. But he had no scar on his chest, she had seen him when they all went swimming that one day, and there was no indication of a scar. She had completely forgotten about that until now, was this another thing to do with his big secret?

She wouldn't push him on it, but looking back there were certainly some odd things about Naruto's health. He never had a sick day, not once while in school. Any injuries he did have seemed to be gone the next day, she hadn't thought much about them as he just claimed he was a fast healer. But scars like the one that should be on his chest don't just 'heal', at least not normally.

'Naruto, what are you keeping from us and will you ever trust us to tell us?' Sakura thought and she hoped one day he would.

Naruto himself was deep in thought about tonight, he didn't know why he was so nervous it wasn't like Hiashi would forbid him from seeing Hinata, would he? The man was the head of the clan so it was possible he could order her not to. He was taken out of that line of thought as a familiar sense of dread came over him. His instincts kicked in as he moved just enough to let a kunai pass back his cheek.

There was only one person that kept on trying to 'toy' with him like that ever since he had started to wear the masks, which she started anyway!

"Damn it stop doing that!" Naruto yelled at the trees as Anko jumped down grinning at him.

"Aw, but it's just so cute how angry you get squirt." She laughed a little.

"Well I don't like you ruining my masks!

Anko just brushed it off as she walked over to Sakura and looked her over, "Well, looks like you and me will be spending a lot of time together. Now let me just say, I won't go easy on you and this month will be most likely the most gruelling and tough month of your life. So I want you to give me everything you got and then some, I want you to keep training until you puke blood and then get back up for more, got me?"

Sakura gulped and nodded her head, not really trusting her voice. When Anko got serious she could be very intimidating.

Anko gave her a long look as if she was judging Sakura, which in a way she was, she was trying to see if the girl really meant it. The body seemed weak but the girl's green eyes had that spark of fire in thatm. That was good, she would need that for the month. "I'll hold you to that."

"So everyone is here," Kakashi said as he and an older man with long spiky white hair came walking to them. Sasuke and Sakura didn't know the strange man, but Anko had a look of surprise on her face. Even with her ninja training she couldn't wipe the surprise off it, it wasn't every day you meet one of the Legendary Three. She had only met Tsunade once, when she was first brought back after being found. Then her old Sensei being another, it was rare to be able to say you meet all three, at least for those in her generation that is.

Naruto however did know who this was as he got a smile under his mask as he pointed at the all man. "Ero-sennin! I haven't seen you since me and Konohamaru ran into you!"

Kakashi gave the old man an amused look, "Ero-sennin, huh?"

"Couldn't you have taught him some manners?" Jiraiya muttered to the younger man.

Kakashi just shrugged, "Tried it and failed, so I gave up. It was too much energy as I doubt he would ever change besides he usually gives nicknames to those that are special to him so take heart with that."

Jiraiya gave a sour face, that wasn't much of a good thing. The least the boy could do was to give him at least a somewhat decent nickname.

"You know that guy?" Sasuke asked his blonde teammate.

"Yeah, I met him once before he's the guy that wrights those books of my dad's, I'm sure you remember, right?" Naruto grinned as Sasuke turned a slight shade of red. He never did forgive him for making him hear one of those books all those years ago.

"He's also one of the strongest ninja alive," Anko said as she swatted the back of Naruto's head lightly. "You should show some respect brat."

"Maybe when you stop acting crazy," Naruto muttered.

"What? Is that any way to talk back to me, I thought I was you're 'aunty Anko', or has that status been changed since I've been dating your dad?" Anko couldn't help but smirk as Naruto got very uncomfortable. It wasn't like he was against them dating in fact he actually liked the idea. But he just didn't like the mental pictures of them together alone, that came up. There were just some things a child didn't want to know about his father.

Kakashi walked over to Anko, he was glad to see her arm out of that sling although he could tell she was still hurting. Hell, he still was as well but they couldn't wait to get better, they might not be a full strength but they didn't have any time to waste. He dug out the scrolls that he had made for Sakura, she would need them.

"Here, these are for Sakura." He said handing them over. "She's a water type so I thought it would be good for her to use these."

Anko took them and placed them in her coat. "Sure thing, she'll need everything she can get."

She signed as a thought hit her, "A whole month apart, man this is going to just drag on."

He chuckled as he gave her that one eyed smile of his, "Yes it will but I can't wait until it's over so we can make up for the time."

She smirked as that thought brought a smile to her face. "Pervert."

"I thought you liked that part of me?" He whispered into her ear, he could see her trying not to shudder at the sensation of his breath there.

She ran a slender finger over his jaw line, "Who said I was complaining?" She could tease him just as much as he could. It would be a very long month, but she had a student to take her frustrations out on plus she was looking forward to when they were together again. Sure they hadn't dated much but they were still in that phase when everything was still new and exciting.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Naruto muttered deadpanned seeing them like that, he was too far away to hear what they were saying but you didn't need to hear with what he was seeing.

"I think it's cute," Sakura told him as she giggled at the sight, Sasuke just shrugged it off, he really wasn't the romantic type anyway. Jiraiya how ever was making some notes while no one was looking this was definitely going into his new book.

-Sasuke-

Sasuke wasn't sure what to think at first, Kakashi had led him into some underground chamber with torches lighting the area and then told to take his top off? If it had been anyone else, he would have had a very bad feeling about this. But as he did so he noticed that Kakashi was drawing on the ground. Sasuke watched as the jonin drew a seal but one he had never seen before. Then again, he didn't know much about seals. He was told to sit in the center and so he did so, it was cold and he wished he could at least put on a shirt.

Kakashi then took out some kind of ink as he started to make seals onto Sasuke's body. He was getting bored of just waiting around for this to finish so he figured he might be able to get some answers.

"So, this will help with that mark on my neck?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, the barrier seal I'm putting on will help with the effects. But, it will only work as long as you will it too. It will work on your will power if you actually try to draw on the curse marks power it won't be effective."

That wasn't a problem, so far the thing was nothing but trouble, hell it was actually slowing his progress. He really needed this power to be controlled if he ever wanted to continue with this plans to find Itachi one day. There was something else that he had been thinking while in the silence.

"This power, is it anything like what Naruto has?" Sasuke asked as he looked for any kind of reaction but Kakashi just painted on like he hadn't even heard him. That actually kind of annoyed the boy, he had been hoping for some kind of reaction. "I don't know what it is, but both myself and Sakura know he's hiding something. He's got something hidden in the forest I noticed it. We don't know what but we guess he'll tell us when the time is right."

Kakashi was very silent for awhile and Sasuke guessed he was thinking on the subject, then without warning he spoke up. "I'm sure he will, when he's ready. Let me just say this, he had a weight of a mountain on his shoulders now and I hope you and Sakura will help him with his burden. I've tried but I can only do so much."

"I don't think I can do much for him," Sasuke said with a shrug, he couldn't guess what was going on but he doubted he could lend any kind of moral support. He had his own issues to deal with as it was.

"Actually you can, he does think very highly of you. He not only sees you as his rival, but as his best friend…well best male friend, I think Hinata won out years ago." Kakashi chuckled at that.

"Why?" Sasuke did consider Naruto a rival and a friend, although he would never admit the last on out loud.

"Because you two are a lot alike in some areas," Kakashi explained.

Sasuke snorted, "He's got a family and friends, what has he ever lost?" It came out a bit more bitter than he wanted to but to him there was no way anyone could understand the kind of pain he had to live with. The fact that the older search brother he had idolized, the one that he wanted to be like more than anything, had done such horrible things. Sasuke's life had been torn down to nothing and he had to build it back up from the ground. It was a long and painfully lonely process, but he took strength that he wasn't broken.

"You're wrong," Kakashi said silently. "Naruto has lost, you see I don't think he's ever told you this but he's adopted. His parents were killed during the Nine-Tailes' attack all those years ago. They were his only family and he never got to know them, so you see when he found out he found out he had a hole in his life. I've tried to fill it, but I know what it's like to lose those you've never known. I don't remember my own mother and my father died when I was young."

Kakashi wasn't sure what made him tell this, but he felt that Sasuke needed to know, to see that others felt his pain as well. That maybe, he wasn't as alone as he thought he was in the world.

Sasuke for his part hadn't known anything about that, sure he had guessed that Naruto's mother had died, but he hadn't known that Naruto was adopted by Kakashi. He had always thought that Naruto just took after his mother in looks. With the mask and how he acted at times, everyone just assumed that he was Kakashi's son. He looked at his jonin teacher but the man just was continuing to paint on the seals.

"You knew his parents?"

Kakashi nodded, "They were as close to me as family, I took in Naruto to honor them. I was alone like you were at that age, but still I took on Naruto. I had no experience and was just a kid myself, it was a long struggle and it was most likely the hardest thing I've done. But in my darkest of hours, Naruto was the light that gave me hope and the strength to continue on."

"I would do everything all over again without even thinking, being a father has been one of the best and worst experiences of my life, filled with joy, happiness, sorrow, worry, and so many other things. But in the end it was all worth it. And I feel my life is richer for it."

Sasuke was lost in thought he knew the kind of darkness that you could live with, and he had lived with it for so long it had become natural to feel it. But then something had changed, ever since Team 7 was formed that darkness had slowly been lifting. He did feel better these days, with Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura, he felt bonds forming that he hadn't had in years. He was still lost in thought when Kakashi told him this next part might hurt.

"Wait, what did you say?" Sasuke asked not sure if he heard right, then the blinding pain as Kakashi applied the seal. He saw white flashes of light and his body felt like an electrical current was running through it, then he collapsed into the darkness.

-Sakura-

For Sakura she was led into a different training area, this was one she hadn't been in before as she followed Anko. There seemed to be various trees and rocks that were large enough to hide behind. In fact she saw how a few rocks had scratches and nicks from weapons most likely on them. There was also a decent size lake. Anko sat on one of the rocks as she took out the scrolls that Kakashi had given her.

"Okay then, seems like you're a water type. Well I only know fire jutsus so you're out of luck there, but I do know of someone that can help out. In fact when we got to talking we decided to train you and her student together since you're both water types."

"Someone else will be coming?" Sakura asked.

"Yep, and here they are now." Anko smiled as Sakura looked behind her.

Sakura was surprised to see none other than Hinata and Kurenai walking up to them. She hadn't known that Hinata was going to train with them, why was she training if she wasn't advancing? Well then again, thinking on it, it would be a good idea to keep training for the month, no need to slack off right? Plus maybe she was also trying to get better for next time, either way it would be nice to have the other girl around. Sakura was closer to Ino, but Hinata was the only other female friend she had growing up.

"So you're training with Kurenai-sensei? I thought you'd be training with your family?" Sakura asked Hinata.

"I-I felt that I wanted to broaden myself," Hinata said looking down as she played with her fingers. "I need more than just my gentle fist skills."

"Yes and since you're both water types we'll both be training you in how to use them," Kurenai said as she and Anko looked through the scrolls that Kakashi had made up.

"Yep, that is if you don't have any objections to Hinata learning from these," Anko asked.

"No not at all." Sakura told her honestly.

"Good," Anko was also glad for Kurenai agreeing to this, she had more experience in water chakra search control plus she already had a team of her own. Sure, Anko trained with Sakura with the tonfas now and then but Anko had never trained anyone for this long a period. Anko looked over both girls, they would have to work on their strength and endurance for sure, Sakura she knew about but Hinata she didn't know as well. Maybe a friendly spar between the girls would help in seeing how they progressed now and then would help out.

"So, what's up first Anko-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well first we're going for a run through the trees, well you two will be. First we'll see how fast you can do it, then how fast while being attacked, after that warm up we'll work on building up your chakra on the water as you two will spar." Anko told them as she got into her all business mode. She may joke around but when she got serious people listened to her. She didn't make special jonin at her age for being lazy.

"Next will be water chakra training," Kurenai told them both. "This will give us an idea of where to take things from then on for the rest of the month."

Both Sakura and Hinata hadn't expected all of this already, but they were determined not to be scared off by the work load so far.

"Oh by the way, you'll both be wearing these," Anko grinned as she pulled out a scroll of her own and unsealed the items within. Two small vests with pouches in the front and back landed with a heavy thud, the pouches held weights that could be exchanged with heavier ones if needed. There were also shoes but they looked heavier than the normal ones, lastly were arm bands that looked to be all metal. "We need to get you girls into shape and fast, Sakura since you've done slight weight training you'll know what to expect when you two put these one."

Sakura paled at the heavy equipment, she should have known there would be a catch.

"Well what are you waiting for!" Anko yelled out. "Hurry up and put them on already and get ready for some running!"

-Naruto-

Naruto followed Jiraiya to a river deep in one of the forested areas of Konoha. He could hear a water fall nearby and the place looked pretty deserted not to mention well isolated. He wondered what the old man could teach him, from the history-that which he had bothered to stay awake for-Jiraiya was said to be one of the strongest ninja not only in Konoha, but in the world. There was no telling how much the man knew and Naruto hoped he was going to get some kind of kickass move that would totally destroy that Mist ninja.

"Well first off take off the shirt and jacket kid."

"What!?"

"I have to check the seal, Kakashi told me what happened and I need to see if I can fix what was done." He told him, Naruto was happy to hear this as it was really starting to get in the way. He took the black vest off and then was the orange t-shirt. Jiraiya told him to get some chakra going and he looked at the stomach as the seal showed up. It was easy to find what Orochimaru had done, overall it wasn't as bad as he had feared. Minato's seal had an even number setup, but Orochimaru had placed an odd number onto it. This would conflict with the seal, like two opposing forces.

It wouldn't break or damage the seal thankfully, but the boy would have a hell of a hard time getting his chakra working properly. Most likely Orochimaru just did this as it was the quickest way to deal with Naruto. That was Orochimaru for you, no elegance at all in his work. Well this would be easy to fix, it wouldn't be comfortable though.

"Alright, I'm going to remove it but this might sting so just close your eyes." He told the kid.

"Whatever it takes just get that thing off me," Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes. Then he felt Jiraiya slamming his fingers into his stomach. It felt like each finger was like a fist punching him in the stomach and he was literally knocked from his feet. He landed seeing some stars for a couple of seconds before jumping back up.

"What the hell, you call that a 'sting'? That hurt like hell!" Naruto said rubbing his stomach.

"Just try to walk on that water if you know how to do it and see how it goes," Jiraiya told him.

Naruto grumbled as he went to the water, this was a skill he had learned thankfully. He took a step and found that it was a lot easier to get his chakra flowing right. He would feel the difference now as he jumped up with a shout. He tried making his shadow clones and suddenly twenty of them appeared, now this was more like it.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at that the kid certainly had a hell of a lot of chakra to pull that off. That many clones should have put a genin of his age into chakra exhaustion. "Hey kid, how many of those can you make?"

"Huh, well, I'm not sure." The real Naruto said scratching his head. "I've never tried to see how many I could make."

"Alright, first thing we need to see is how much chakra you actually got. I want you to keep making them until you're about to drop okay?"

Jiraiya watched as the boy made fifty clones, then eighty, then over a hundred, he lost count somewhere around two hundred and sixty, and he was still going. Even a full grown adult wouldn't have this kind of chakra reserves. He knew that the boy was slowly absorbing the Fox's chakra into his own but to have this much at his age? He quickly tried to calculate how much it would be when he was an adult and what he came up with was surprising. The boy would be able to do high level moves several times in a fight.

"Alright kid, I think I get the idea you can take them all away now," Jiraiya told him as the boy dispersed them all. After the smoke cleared he asked the boy what kind of Justus he had going for him, the two wind techniques were nice, although he could tell that the boy could use some work on it. The wind blade would be great to counter any water techniques. The boy also knew how to use that small sword he carried around on his back, apparently it was the sword of the White Fang himself, now fully restored. His hand to hand skills were above average, hell they weren't too bad actually although his style seemed to be a merger of several different ones, not to mention he made things up on the fly.

That was good being able to improvise in a fight was very handy to have. He had to admit, Kakashi had done well with the kid. He was definitely more than a genin at this point. For a moment he thought back to Minato, he hadn't been this excited to teach since that time. But as he continued to test the boy he did have some weaknesses, genjutsu seemed to be one of them. He didn't know much about that himself so they would have to skip that, chakra search control seemed to be another. It was one of reasons he had trouble with the wind techniques apparently.

"So have you been training with chakra search control kid?" He asked Naruto.

"Yeah but it's hard, dad says it's because of all my chakra."

Jiraiya nodded, "He's right about that, regular people have a decent flow like water pipes in a house, you're more like trying to control the flow of water from a dam. You got a lot more water and pressure behind it."

Naruto thought he got what the old guy was saying. "I wonder if that's why the balloon thing was so hard to do then?"

"Balloon thing?" Jiraiya asked curious as there was only one exercise that he knew. When Naruto explained he had to hide his surprise. Apparently Kakashi, had been teaching him the rasengan, or at least the first step. This changed some things, he had no idea that the boy had already gotten that far, he would have to see if he could get him to burst a rubber ball next. If only to see if he could do it, but then again he had a feeling this boy might surprise him.

"Well anyway I think I have something that might work out," Jiraiya said as he took the large scroll he carried with him. "I take it that you know of summons since you're dad holds the contract for the dogs."

"Yeah, I can't wait to sign it! Then I can get guys like Pakkun out anytime I wanted!" Naruto smiled happily.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at that; he honestly hadn't thought that the boy would want to make a contract with the dogs. Normally you could only sign one contract, it was true you could sign more but that was extremely rare. Many of the summon animals didn't like certain groups, it was hard enough at times to just get one signed as you either had to go to where the animals lived and earn their trust or the trust of someone that held the contract.

"Well the dogs are good for tracking but nothing much else, don't get me wrong they're decent at close quarter combat but I was hoping you would want to sign with the toads like myself." He pulled out the scroll as it unravelled and a list of names was shown.

Naruto thought about it, he really did want the dogs, "What good are the Toads? I mean there was that large one I remember you using."

"Kid they are great, they have techniques that are totally unique to them. Hell some of them are bigger than some buildings, while others are small enough to use as spies and letter delivery, they have a wide range of uses. Plus take a look at who was the last summoner." He knew this was kind of a cheap shot to get him to do it, but he felt it was the kid's birthright.

Naruto looked at the list of names, many he didn't know. There was Jiraiya and then he got to the last one before the blanks. It was the name of his biological father, he couldn't help but stare at the written name, and he only really had a picture of his dad and mother. This was written by him, a man he only knew from history books and the stories Kakashi told him. He couldn't help himself but trace his hand along the lines that made up the man's name.

"You knew him?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice.

"He was my greatest student, Naruto." Jiraiya said as he sat down with the boy. "A man like him comes once in a lifetime."

Naruto was silent a long moment as he thought this out, eventually he came to a decision. "If I sign this will you tell me about him? I only know what my dad told me and I want to know him more."

The old man smiled and nodded, "Hey I'd tell you even if you didn't sign it. It's every child's right to know where he comes from." He saw Naruto's surprised look as he stared at man. "Oh please, I was his sensei, you honestly didn't think I wasn't around when he and Kushina got together? Hell I still remember her pregnant with you boy, I'll even tell you about your mother as I knew her as well."

Naruto couldn't speak for a moment, he never knew someone else that had known his biological parents. Maybe the Third knew but Jiraiya seemed to have been a lot closer. "Thanks."

"Good then, now I'll show you how to sign this and we can get to some real training," the old pervert grinned and Naruto just grinned back.

Next up Chapter 55: Dinner at the Hyuga House