Chapter 88 The choice

The party had gone well for everyone but soon the Sand Siblings had to leave as they had to get back to their own village and report on the mission. Naruto wanted to see them off at the front door as the three of them stood there.

"Hope you guys had a good time," Naruto asked them.

"It was...fun," Gaara spoke up and his face had a softer expression on it than his normal one. It wasn't much of difference but if you looked closely enough you could see the small differences.

Naruto grinned behind his mask, "That's great."

Then he noticed the sour look on Temari's face as he leaned over to Gaara. "Hey, why's she so pissed?"

Kankuro heard it and decided to answer, "She's just pissed she couldn't finish her last game."

"I would have won that time if you hadn't stopped me," Temari snapped at him. She had managed to get in a few wins but he still came out ahead. It wasn't losing that she minded too much, it was just losing to him. Then just when she was certain the last game she was going to win they had to leave.

Although she hadn't liked it she knew that they did have to leave, although not before she told him they were going to finish what they started. Of course he had just sat there with that damn expression on his face calling her troublesome, which only made her more pissed. Then he had done something she hadn't expected, he had actually gotten a smile on his face as he told her that he would play her any time if she wanted.

She was a bit surprised by it and didn't have any kind of retort back other than just that next time she would be ready for him. Still despite everything she had been enjoying herself, the boy was a lot smarter than he let on and through their games she had seen the kind of mind he had. It was just a shame he never applied himself more, he had a gift and she hated that he didn't seem to want to use it.

Still it was nice to actually doing something with someone that wasn't intimidated about her father or little brother. For years she had learned that many gave her family a wide berth because of it.

"Well it was actually kind of fun," Kankuro smiled as he had gotten to know some of the Leaf ninja. He had actually kind of hit it off with that Kiba guy, mainly that they were kind of similar personality. They had agreed to a spar next time they saw each other something he found himself looking forward to. He used his puppets as his 'partners' in battle but Kiba used his dog. So it would be interesting to see how things would turn out in a spar.

Naruto was glad so far they had enjoyed themselves but he turned to Gaara. "So you enjoyed yourself Gaara?"

"It was...fun," Gaara had enjoyed his first party even though he might not show it. It had been the first time he had been with kids his own age. It had been kind of a rough start but with Naruto and Hinata helping he had slowly made progress with how to interact with people. All his life people had shunned him so actually being around others felt nice.

"Well come back any time," Naruto told them all.

Gaara nodded his head it was nice having a friend for the first time. Although he had to get back to his own village, this showed him that he had a lot of things he had to accomplish. He knew that he had done things in the past to make his village fear and even hate him. It was time to change that, he knew it wouldn't be easy but if he could turn things around it would be worth it.

They said their goodbyes as Naruto waved them goodbye, after that everyone else started to file out. They all had their own things to do for the rest of the day as Naruto thanked them all for coming. He especially took time to spend with Hinata on her way out.

"So Hinata-chan are you busy tomorrow?" Naruto asked her.

Hinata thought about it, "I have some training in the morning and maybe a little more in the afternoon with my team. After that I should be free, why?"

"Well I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if we spent the afternoon together."

Hinata suddenly realized and she smiled feeling her cheeks warm a bit. It had been some time since they had spent time together given how busy the village was lately. Spending time with him at the party had been fun but it would be nice to be alone with him.

"I-I would like that," She told him.

"Great," Naruto grinned giving her a quick hug, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

She couldn't find her voice as she just nodded happily.

Kakashi and Jiraiya stayed behind as they watched everyone leave. Kakashi had just seen Naruto and Hinata and he mentally sighed. If things went a certain why they might not be able to spend that time together, something he knew that Naruto was looking forward to.

But he was entering an adult world and that meant hard choices sometimes. He remembered all those little things like how Naruto first learned to walk, his first words, his first day of school. It just seemed like yesterday that his son was asking for a story before bed but here he was, and Kakashi might not see him for a long time. The next time he saw his son Naruto would be a young man.

Kakashi felt a sense of loss at that, he never knew that he would think of those carefree days and wish for more time. There had been a lot of good times that he wouldn't mind revisiting or doing again.

"Well everyone's gone," Jiraiya told him pulling Kakashi out of his thoughts.

"Alright," Kakashi walked up to Naruto. "Hey son, can you come with us, we have something to talk to you about."

"Sure thing dad," Naruto had no idea what was in store for him in that moment.

It wasn't long until Naruto looked around the living room and already he could feel the tension. He could tell something was up as he saw the serious expressions on everyone. Naruto took a seat in one of the chairs as the two adults looked at him.

"Well kid given what happened during that last mission I've had a thought about your training," Jiraiya started off.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto perked up a bit at the training part, he was always up for something.

The older man nodded his head, "Yes but there is a catch. You see I can't stay here to do the training. I've got to keep an eye on Akatsuki activities and also Orochimaru's. That requires me out in the field tracking down leads as well as getting reports from my informants and spies."

"So...we'll have to leave the village if I go with you?" Naruto asked thinking about where this was leading. That didn't seem so bad, after all he had done missions away from the village before. He had learned the rasengan in a month after all, so how much longer could that be?

"Cool, so how long are we going to be gone?" Naruto asked eager to get to training.

Jiraiya shared a look with Kakashi as the older man sighed. "Kid this isn't some simple training, for what's to come I need to help build you up physically and mentally. What's coming is a major storm Naruto and you have to be ready for it. This training will take at least a couple of years."

"Years!?" Naruto jumped out of his chair. This he didn't expect, he thought it might be a few months but years? "Why the hell will it take so long!?"

"Because there is a lot that I want to do," Jiraiya told him rubbing his face maybe he was getting too old for students. After all every single student he had ended up dead, so a small part of him was afraid that if continued on this path he might live to see yet another student die young. But there was something about the boy, there was just this spark in him that he had seen in the boy's father.

It gave an old man like him hope that maybe the boy was the one he had been looking for. It was a long shot but the boy had a lot of potential, rough potential at that and he wasn't as sharp as his either his biological or adopted father. But he made up for it in guts and tenacity, two things Jiraiya could respect.

"Look kid while we're training we're going to go around all this world. There is a lot you can learn in other countries and I think I know of a few people that can help smooth out some of your rough edges better than anyone else can." He had already a mental list of a few people one in particular might just push both Naruto physically but also the boy's patience.

"There's also another added bonus, while we're out we'll be moving all the time so if Akatsuki is looking for you, it will be harder to pin you down. Plus with me there they might think twice about going after you."

"Well why not just stay in the village then?" Naruto asked.

"I already said I can't stay here as I got work out there to do, plus you forgot that they already got in once," He told the boy. "Although I know that they are working on ways to prevent that, Itachi knows this place inside and out. After all Orochimaru got out of this village and keeps getting agents inside as well. There's no guarantee that Itachi, who is one of the strongest ninjas this village had but also was in ANBU. He might know of secret ways in and out that no one else knows."

He knew that Itachi might not know of anything like that but he also wouldn't put it past the man. He had walked right into the village after all without sounding a single alarm. A man like that if he wanted to get somewhere, he would find a way in.

Naruto crossed his arms he did remember that after all his father had been put into the hospital. He was just trying to figure out a way that didn't require him to stay away for years.

"Do I really have to do this?" Naruto asked them both.

"You're not being forced into anything," Kakashi told him honestly. "He's just offering you an option, if you don't want to go you don't have to."

Naruto was glad that he had a choice in this, "So I don't have to go if I don't want to? Then I can just stay here and train with my dad."

"That's true," Jiraiya told him. "And you can learn a lot from Kakashi here, he's done a great job so far with you. Although you have to remember you can't train for all those years, you'll have missions and he still has to look after your teammates as well. In fact isn't that Sakura girl getting training from Tsunade at the moment?"

Naruto paused, that was true and Sakura was learning a lot. If he stayed he would get stronger but if he trained under Jiraiya then he might get stronger faster. He had learned how to summon and the rasengan under him and that was just with two months of training with the old pervert.

"Can I think about this?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya started to say something but Kakashi jumped in, "Go ahead, this is a big step and you should really think about it."

"Thanks dad," Naruto told him with a long face as he left the room. He ended up leaving the house as he felt that he needed a walk to think about things.

Jiraiya turned to Kakashi, "You know this might be helpful to him right?"

"He's my son and he's old enough to make up his mind." Kakashi told him leaning back in his chair. "He's going to be an adult soon so he should learn to make adult choices. As his father I'll support whatever he chooses."

Jiraiya ran his hands through his hair he couldn't help but think this would be much easier if Naruto had no family at the moment. Then he chided himself for that thought, Naruto had grown into a fine kid because of the parenting he had. The old man sighed, well either way he had to make the offer for the kid. He really didn't have any time he could spare as Akatsuki really was starting to worry him recently. They knew virtually nothing about this group or the members, going into a battle without any kind of proper intelligence was a sure way to get people killed.

He had seen that first hand too many times in the last war to see it repeated with this generation. There was an ill wind blowing and Jiraiya didn't like what he thought that would bring. The last thing he wanted was to live to see yet another war or whatever it was that Akatsuki was going to bring. Throw in Orochimaru and hell, it just seemed like bad times were coming.

"Well I better go get things ready, let me know what the kid's choice is." He pushed himself up ready to get back to his room and pack up. He had to leave soon at any rate, he just wondered if it would be with company or not.

As Jiraiya left the Hatake home he looked around, he did love this village with all his heart. Looking up at the monuments of the faces of the previous Hokages he saw the familiar faces of his teacher and his greatest student. It wouldn't be long until Tsunade got her face up there as well. Maybe by the time he got back it would be there.

Although he loved this village he had to leave because he loved it. There were many that wanted to see it harm and it was his job to find out about it. What had happened with the Sand and Sound was proof of that. Orochimaru was still out there planning all kinds of things against the village. Plus he had no family to go home to, no real home here either.

He moved around a lot that keeping a home was kind of pointless for him. He usually just crashed at a hotel or at someone's house. He could have settled down and made a family of his own but the only problem was that there had been only one woman for him, The Woman in fact.

But she had found someone else and although he had been happy his heart broke. Then when he died he tried to comfort her but he had closed herself off from the world. So he tried to go about his life, with his work, with his writing. He trained Minato to help fill the voice in himself and it had worked for the longest time. The boy had been the closest thing to family he had ever had, then even that was taken.

One horrible night and everything changed and Jiraiya felt alone again in the world and he also felt the hope in him die as well, the hope that he would one day see the peace in this world that he longed to see. Then out of some quirk of fate here he was with yet another possible student and the hope that had long since died finally seemed to blossom again.

Naruto would be his last student of that he knew with a certainty, there was a lot of potential in the boy and he hoped that things worked out, he really did.

A grin grew on his face, maybe before he left he would see Tsunade one more time. After all it would be a long time before he got to see her, plus she looked so damn good when she got pissed. He chuckled to himself as he went in the way of her office.

While Jiraiya left to see Tsunade, Naruto was currently sitting by one of the rivers that ran through the village looking out at the flowing water but still lost in thought. He had a lot on his mind, given what Jiraiya and his dad told him. He walked down the small slope and sat down by the river. He crossed his legs as he slumped over, he picked up one of the small rocks and tried to skip the stone but he only skipped once before sinking.

Naruto frowned as he tried again with the same effect, on his fifth try he managed to get three skips. He stopped getting bored of the distraction. He had a major choice to make and honestly he wasn't sure what to choose. Yeah he could learn a lot from Jiraiya but it was two years away from home. Away from everyone that mattered, his friends, his dad and also Hinata.

Yeah there were good points but there were also points against it, there was no guarantee after all he could be stronger going with Jiraiya, although given who the man was and he had trained the Fourth Hokage, Naruto's biological father there was evidence that Jiraiya could train him well in those years.

Naruto had spent his time just mentally going in circles and it seemed like he wasn't sure which way to go. He tried making a mental list but he kept adding to each side that they were both even. Then he tried thinking what might be for the best but then he kept second guessing those points because he wasn't sure if those points would work out in the future.

"Aww, this sucks!" Naruto nearly pulled his hair out of his head as he fell onto his back glaring at the blue sky. "Stupid Akatsuki, why the hell did they have to show up? Things were going fine before those jerks came into my life."

The big problem was that no one knew why they did the things they did or why they were looking for people with the Tailed Beasts inside of them. Although he doubted that it was for anything good but the only two members he knew about were really strong, like insanely strong and he knew at the moment, he didn't stand a chance.

Staring up at the clear blue sky and white clouds rolled by he sighed just watching them go. He just laid there looking up for several minutes before frowning.

"Why the hell is Shikamaru always wanting to do this? This is just really boring," Naruto said to himself, he really didn't get the lazy genius sometimes.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked up the hill seeing Sakura and Sasuke looking down at him both looking at him wondering what in the world he was doing.

"Oh hey guys," He sighed sitting up.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked him, she and Sasuke had been just walking around talking. What surprised her was that it had been Sasuke to ask her. Something she was delighted about but tried not to show too much enthusiasm. Still it had been fun as they talked about small things as he actually started to open up a little to her.

But then they had come across Naruto and the last time they had seen him he had been looking really upbeat. Now he was the complete opposite.

Naruto let out a long sigh, "Something came up."

Sakura and Sasuke shared a look before both walked down the small hill and sat down next to him.

"So what is it?" Sasuke asked first as all three stared out over the river.

So Naruto filled them all in, telling them what Jiraiya offered and what it would mean. They already had an idea of what Akatsuki was like given they had only seen two of their members. So they had no idea what else they had in store for them in the future. Naruto told them what he had been thinking about since he didn't like leaving his home for all this time but on the other hand he most likely would need this.

There was a long silence until Sasuke of all people broke it.

"You should do it."

"What!?" Both Sakura and Naruto spoke up at once surprised.

"The choice is pretty clear to me," He told them picking up a small rock and skipping it several times over the water. "This sounds like something you'll need and it's not every day that one of the sannin says that they want to train you. In fact you two are lucky."

Sakura blushed a bit out of embarrassment as she had started training under Tsunade lately and the woman was the toughest teacher she ever had. The thing was, she couldn't deny that learning under Tsunade was a huge opportunity.

"Yeah the only other one kind of wants to destroy all of Konoha and wants your body," Naruto spoke up.

Sasuke winced at that, "Do you have to put it that way? It sounds just so wrong out of your mouth."

"Sorry," Naruto muttered scratching the back of his head, the words just kind of flew out of his mouth and he knew it sounded wrong as soon as he had spoken them. He felt a bit better just talking with his friends about all of this like the weight was slowly being lifted off his shoulders.

"Anyways," Sasuke was going back to his point. "Kakashi can teach me a lot with the sharingan and I can train with him. I can't get training to help out with my eyes with anyone else, plus with all the different techniques he's gathered I can learn a lot of those from copying him as well. I'm also still thinking of new ways to use jutsu in surprising ways." His fight with Itachi showed him that he might not be able to take his brother head on.

His brother liked to use genjutsu and come at you from the side of behind, so Sasuke knew he had to learn to be more surprising, to come at him in ways that even his brother wouldn't expect.

"That's true, plus I'll be working with Tsunade so you need to get stronger too or else you'll be left in the dust pretty soon," Sakura smirked at him knowing how competitive Naruto could be.

"What? Like hell I'll be left in the dust!" He proclaimed although he hadn't been even certain he wanted to do this kind of training. Now it seemed that his mind was slowly being made up to actually take the opportunity. Yeah it would royally suck not seeing everyone for all this time but they were making some decent points.

Both of them could learn a lot in the coming years and if he trained under Jiraiya there might be some things he could learn there that he couldn't learn anywhere else.

"Good because we'll all be here when you get back," Sakura told him with a soft smile on her face. "If you really are going to do this we'll be waiting for you to come home."

"So you better also get back stronger," Sasuke told him crossing his arms. "Because I'll want a sparring match with you when you get back and you better not disappoint me." He hoped that Naruto did get stronger, since their days at the academy he had been the only one to push him. Their rivalry helped Sasuke to push himself further and faster and in a way he held a respect for Naruto. Not that he would ever admit to something like that out loud, Naruto could get a major ego at times and Sasuke felt it was his job to put as many holes in that as possible.

"Oh don't worry, I'll kick your ass when I get back," Naruto grinned at him. It looked to him that he had finally made his mind up.

"So you are going then," Sakura pretty much knew it by now but still a part of her was sad that she wouldn't see her friend for a long time.

Naruto got a bit more of a serious expression on his face, "Yeah but first I'm going to have talk to someone." He got up and started walking. This next part was going to be hard, it wasn't all that long ago that he just got back from a mission and here he was getting ready to leave again and this time for a long time. He just hoped she took it well, this was going to be a long two years.

They both watched him leave as they had a pretty good idea who he was going to talk to. The two were left looking over the river as both of them were quiet for a long moment.

"I'm going to miss him," Sakura said quietly. "The village is going to be a bit duller without him around."

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded as they just silently sat there together. Although they had a feeling that this was a once in a life time chance that he should take advantage of, but for the moment they just sat silently together watching the water go by.

-Hyuga Compound-

Hinata was in her room feeding her pet rabbit, she giggled at how cute he looked when he ate the small carrot she had placed in the cage. She door was opened as the rabbit was actually slightly trained and well behaved for the most part. He did explore a bit but so far she had taken care of her pet well enough that her father hadn't complained about how she was taking care of it. Plus it was a major help that Hanabi helped out when Hinata had to leave the village.

Not that her little sister had to be asked, the younger girl adored the cute bunny.

As she was on her floor watching her pet eat its lunch she suddenly heard a tapping at her window. She looked to her left and was surprised to see Naruto there. He waved to her after he saw her looking motioning to open the window. She got up and went to her window and opened it as he quickly made his way into her room.

"Naruto-kun?" She wasn't sure why he was here already, they had already seen each other not that long ago not that she cared after all any time she got to see him was good to her.

"Hey I hope you don't mind me coming in like this but I really wanted to talk to you in private first," Naruto had spent enough time in this place to know a lot of the ins and outs. So when he wanted some time along with Hinata it was a bit easy for him to figure out a way around the usual guards. Plus they had seen him enough times to know he was a welcomed guest of the Hyuga for years.

So most people didn't question seeing him around, they might give him a curious glance but they would go right back to what they were normally doing. Something Naruto counted on, the only tricky part was getting past the guards without having an escort.

But at the moment he really needed to talk to her and he got the feeling although, she would be understanding she most likely wouldn't like it. Most likely she wouldn't even voice her displeasure given that Hinata hated conflict. One of the things about her that he liked, she had this heart that was too kind some days.

He was worried that the life of a ninja might one day taint that almost purity one day but many people looked at her and saw someone weak. He looked at her and saw someone with a strong heart instead, it took a lot more strength to keep that kindness than give up on it. Looking at her he wanted to memorize everything about her because pretty soon it would be one of the last times he would ever see her.

Naruto walked over to her bed and sat down, "Hinata-chan you might want to sit down, I got some news today and well...it will change things."

Now Hinata was worried as she sat down next to him, she listened as he explained everything. She knew about the fox inside of him and that there was this group Akatsuki after him and others like him. He had told her about encountering them on the last mission and she had been so relieved that he and the others made it back fine. Then he got to the offer Jiraiya had given him and at first she had been happy for him, ecstatic really but then he got to the downside of the offer.

Two years.

Two years she wouldn't be able to see him, to talk to him, to hear his voice or have him in her life in any way for that long a time. She felt like her heart had just dropped to her stomach, like the floor had been pulled out from under her. She just kept thinking that she wouldn't see him for such a long time.

She had known Naruto since childhood, he had been her first friend and more so. She remembered all the good times they had, even the bad ones like how he had been there on the night her mother had died as she had cried herself in his arms. She had gone at the most a month without seeing him during the chunin exams training time. She had missed him a lot in that short a time but for her to go two years was nearly unthinkable.

She knew that he came to this decision since he had come here and he explained his reasons, they were good reasons but that didn't stop the pain she was feeling. He wasn't gone yet and already she felt like she missed him. She just sat there listening to him more to just his voice than what he was saying at the moment because she knew that soon she wouldn't hear that voice for a long time.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto was starting to get worried by her silence then she suddenly learned against him.

"Please..." she whispered.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Just hold me," she told him because she didn't want to show how close she was to crying. She had to be strong for him but she still felt the need to feel him holding her. She felt his arm wrap around her shoulder as she felt him wrap around her as best he could. She felt the stings in her eyes but she didn't want to cry, she didn't want one of their last memories together in all this time to be of her crying.

She just wanted to remember every inch of this moment, to burn it into her memory because it would be all she had for the longest time.

"I'll be back."

"I know," she said softly.

"I'll always be thinking of you."

"I know, I will be too."

The two just sat there, it was a crappy outcome of the choice he had but Naruto felt he needed this and there was no way in hell it was going to take it any longer than it had to. He wanted to come back home and to everyone he cared about and to see her again. The two just sat there in silence wanting to just freeze this moment to last forever.

Next up Chapter 26: Goodbye but not Forever