35. Being Chūnin

"… So you are telling us that your parents are Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, our Yondaime…" Anko started to speak.

"That Jiraiya of the Sannin is your godfather…" Shikamaru continued.

"And that you have a cousin living in this village: one that was formerly working for Orochimaru?" Hinata finished.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly in response. The Hokage had given him the okay to inform anybody he deemed trustworthy about the 'revelations' he had learned the day before. He knew his teammates were trustworthy and would not spread the information, and therefore, he wasted no time in telling them. When Anko invited the team to a celebratory home-cooked breakfast at her apartment to congratulate them on earning their promotions, Naruto decided that was the time to let them know.

Just like him, however, the three other members of Team Three were quiet and in deep-thought after hearing everything. It was a lot to take in all at-once. The silence was finally broken by Anko with a deep sigh.

"Well damn. I guess becoming a chūnin doesn't really mean much after all of that." The newly-appointed jōnin commented. "Still, Namikaze Minato? The fucking Yondaime?" Anko then leaned forward to get a better look at Naruto's face. She then proceeded to chuckle. "Don't know how none of us have seen that. Honestly, you look a lot like him."

"I guess a little." Naruto replied with a smile. "But I like to think I got the looks from both of my parents. I have some of my mom in me!"

"Uzumaki Kushina actually sounds like a familiar name to me, but I can't really remember where I heard that name before." Shikamaru commented as he closed his eyes in thought. "I think my dad may have said something about her once."

"Kushina…" Hinata mumbled to herself. 'That name sounds so familiar to me… but where would I have heard it before?'

"I'd be surprised if that was the only person you heard about her from." Anko snorted at Shikamaru's words. "She was a fucking legend amongst kunoichi that actually gave a damn about their career. And, honestly, I think she actually was in the running for the Yondaime position like your father."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Jiraiya and the Old Man didn't really say too much about her skills. All they told me were her nicknames in the bingo books and that she was a good shinobi."

"Better than good, kid!" Anko declared. "Just look one of those nicknames up in one of the older books and I'm sure you'll find something interesting about her."

"Will do." The Uzumaki replied in mock-salute. He then brought his hand to the back of his head once again and rubbed it sheepishly. "Anyway, I don't want you all thinking differently because my parents were badass shinobi or something. I just wanted to let you guys know since I just heard about it, and I'd want you all to know."

"Naruto, you could be the direct son of the Rikudō Sennin and it wouldn't change my opinion of you. You're still the same annoying blonde that I've known since the academy." Shikamaru chuckled in response.

"Oh, ha ha. Funny." Naruto rolled his eyes. The blonde did have a smile on his face, however, after hearing the Nara's words.

"Not trying to be. Just saying my opinion." Shikamaru continued to chuckle. "Although, in all seriousness, I think it's pretty cool that the Yondaime is your dad and that this 'Kushina' woman was your mom."

"I think it's amazing that you found out who your parents are, and I'm so happy for you Naruto-kun!" Hinata stated with a wide smile on her face. The Hyūga heiress had a very strong read on Naruto and his own personal desires. She knew how much he wanted a family of his own and, therefore, knew how much knowing who his parents were, no matter who they were, meant to him.

"… Thanks Hinata." Naruto replied as a small blush developed on his cheeks.

Before anyone could properly realize that Naruto was blushing, a loud 'rumbling' noise came from the blonde's stomach. His blush intensified and he was now chuckling in embarrassment. Shikamaru shook his head in amusement, Hinata giggled, and Anko proceeded to laugh loudly.

"Damn kid, you're hungry." The jōnin commented with a smirk. She then walked over to the counter in her apartment's kitchen. "Can't blame you though. You all came over for breakfast and then you dropped the ball on us with your announcement, so I forgot to get working on food again." She then hurried over to her fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. "We got to hurry and eat, too. We all need to meet up with the Iwa shinobi before they head out."

"Yeah, I know-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence and looked at his jōnin-sensei in surprise. "Wait, the Iwa shinobi are leaving?"

"Yeah. Kurotsuchi told me last night." Shikamaru answered, frowning at the thought of the Iwa kunoichi leaving. "They're not Konoha shinobi, you know? And the Tsuchikage is with them. They really can't afford to just sit around and waste time here. They have their own home they need to head back to."

"… I see." Naruto sighed in response.

The Uzumaki was going to miss spending time with Rōshi and Han. He had become close with the Yonbi jinchūriki and even closer to the Gobi jinchūriki and really enjoyed every second with them. He also really liked both Kurotsuchi and Roto and didn't want them to leave. He didn't want to imagine his friends leaving, especially if he didn't know when he would see them again.

"So let's hurry up with breakfast and get out so we can see them off on time." Anko replied as she started to crack one of her eggs. "You guys are in for a real treat, by the way. This is your first time having a meal prepared by yours truly. Now, prepared to be amazed by the best damn omelet you will ever have: cooked Mitarashi style!"

Breakfast at Anko's apartment went by quickly for the members of Team Three. Anko was not kidding: she could indeed make an amazing omelet and earned the approval of all her students. Each of them happily finished their meal and thanked their sensei multiple times. Once they had finished, the group chatted amongst each other about the exams as they killed time before they needed to meet up with the Iwa shinobi.

Time went by fast, however, and it soon became noon: the scheduled departure time. The members of Team Three hurried over to the gates of Konoha where they saw the group of Iwa shinobi waiting. At the front of the group was Ōnoki and Hiruzen. The two Sandaime kage were chatting quietly with each other about something. Team Three ignored them, however, and focused on a group of five: Rōshi, Han, and Han's students.

"You guys made it on time. For a moment there, I thought you were all going to arrive late and miss us." Kurotsuchi commented with a smile. Her eyes were focused on Shikamaru as she emphasized the word 'late'.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Please, I'm more than funny. I'm fucking hysterical." Kurotsuchi replied with an eye roll.

Her joke earned a grumble from the Nara, but a laugh from the other members of Team Three, Rōshi, Roto, and even Risho. The Uzumaki noticed the Kurogane's laughter and turned to face the boy for the first time since their match.

"How are you doing, by the way, Risho?" Naruto asked slightly hesitantly. "Is everything… you know… okay?"

Risho's eyes moved slightly to the side as he looked towards another group of Iwa shinobi towards his cousin, Kusari. The elder Kurogane clan member had a scowl on his face and was purposely looking away from him. Risho eventually turned his attention back to Naruto and sighed.

"I'll be fine. I… had a good talk with Rōshi and Han-sensei. I'm not going to get kicked out of my clan, but I know my cousin's going to damage my reputation amongst them." The Kurogane Clan member sighed.

"Your cousin is an asshole." The Uzumaki stated loudly.

The rest of the Iwa shinobi in the area heard his comment. Kusari turned to face Naruto and glared at him, but gave no other reaction. Seeing his cousin's reaction, Risho started to laugh again.

"He really is. You don't even know the half of it." He commented between his laughs. Once he finally calmed down and stopped laughing, he gave the Uzumaki a curious look. "By the way, you were being serious after our fight in the exams, right? You want to rematch me someday?" Naruto nodded in response, prodding the Kurogane to continue. "Then you best start preparing for it. My training regime is going to be doubled and the next time you see me, you'll be facing the best swordsman Iwa has produced in years!"

"Cocky, aren't ya?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

Risho returned his smirk with one of his own. "A little, yeah, but you have to set your expectations high. If they're too low, you don't really have much to try and reach for." The Iwa genin then extended his fist towards Naruto and his smirk turned into a good-natured smile. "You beat me once before, so I got to work to get back to your level and take you down next time. So you're going to need to train hard as well, because I want to earn my victory over you."

"Believe me, you're going to have to work hard for it!" Naruto commented as he fist bumped the Kurogane clan member.

The teammates of the two shinobi noticed the interaction between Naruto and Risho and smiled at their comments. Hinata turned to Roto before she spoke to him.

"Risho-san seems to be a lot nicer towards Naruto-kun. And Konoha in general." She noted.

"Yeah, he has. I still think he's still kinda a dick, but he does seem to have a better attitude towards everyone. Losing to Naruto probably did help him." Roto commented with a shrug. He then reached into the backpack he was wearing and pulled out a small notebook. "Anyway, I wanted to give this to you before we left, Hinata-chan."

'Hinata-chan?' After hearing the name, Naruto turned his attention away from Risho and looked at Roto and Hinata.

The Hyūga heiress was currently looking through the book with curiosity. It was a book of flower species: many of which she had never seen before. Each page was filled with a new flower, its common and scientific name, the environment where it would grow naturally, and any poison and medicinal benefits of the flower. The girl continued to turn through each page with great interest.

"Most of the flowers are from Tsuchi no Kuni, so if you are ever in the country on a mission there, you'll know what to look for." Roto commented with a smile. "You know, if you're still looking for a species to make a good medicinal cream."

"It'll help me a lot!" Hinata declared as she finally closed the book and gave the civilian-born Iwa genin a smile. "Thanks you so much Roto-kun!"

A slight frown crossed Naruto's lips as he watched Roto chuckle in response. The Uzumaki, when he heard that Roto liked Hinata from Rōshi, thought that the Yonbi jinchūriki was lying to just get a reaction from him. Seeing the civilian-born genin now, and thinking back to his interaction with Hinata, he realized that it was no lie: Roto did like Hinata. And he was not the most subtle person about it.

"You know, I don't think she's aware he likes her. Somehow" Risho commented nonchalantly with a shrug as he noticed Naruto staring at the other two genin. "But I guess it doesn't matter. She'll know the next time he sees her. Roto told us that the next time we meet you guys again, he's going to ask her out."

"… I see." Naruto shook his head in response as his mind began to process that information. 'Okay, I have to talk to Hinata before that then.'

"Hey Naruto, you doing okay?" Kurotsuchi questioned, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Ah, I'm fine." Naruto replied, turning his attention towards the Iwa kunoichi. "I'm-"

Naruto's words died on his tongue as he a realization came to his mind. Although Kurotsuchi had warmed up to the idea of accepting Konoha and understanding their actions during the Third Shinobi World War, she was still not fond at all of the Yondaime Hokage: Naruto's father. She had even already asked him about his relation to him when he did not know about it.

A frown crept up on his face as he imagined how she would react to learning about who his father was. Would she care? Would she hate him for 'telling a lie' about who it was? Would she hate him solely because of what her father did to Iwa during the war?

"Yo, Naruto! Pay attention." Kurotsuchi spoke up as she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Ah!" He moved back in surprise at her actions. It took him a second to calm down before he looked at Kurotsuchi and sighed. "Sorry, I'm kinda spacing out a bit. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Care to talk about it?" She offered.

"I… next time. I'll have everything resolved and can talk about it the next time I see you." Naruto told her with a smile as he held out his hand towards her. "Does that sound good to you?"

"I suppose." Kurotsuchi nodded her head as she extended her hand and shook his. "Keep training hard Naruto. I'm aiming to become a jōnin A.S.A.P, so you should be doing the same if you don't want to get left behind."

"I'll be a jōnin too, then. You're not getting ahead of me. I got to become Hokage before you become Tsuchikage, after all." The Uzumaki replied back.

"As if that'll happen!" Kurotsuchi grinned in response. She then turned her attention towards Shikamaru. "You should try to get promoted too, Shikamaru. I don't want you following behind as well, just because you're a little lazy."

"I'll see what happens." Shikamaru sighed in response. "I won't try and not get promoted."

"That's… probably the best I can hope from you at the moment." Kurotsuchi sighed. She broke her handshake with Naruto and walked towards the Nara with a smile. "It's been really fun. We'll see each other again sometime. So, you take care of yourself, okay?"

"And you take of yourself as well." The Nara said back with a smile of his own. "Don't overwork yourself too much."

"I won't. Just don't slack off too much either." The Iwa kunoichi replied.

Before Shikamaru could say something back, Kurotsuchi reached forward and hugged him. Instead of replying verbally, the Nara opted to returning the hug.

"Not to be rude and interrupt something, but we really should be heading out." Han spoke up, clearing his throat and getting the attention of the group. "The Tsuchikage and Hokage are done conversing with each other."

The group nodded to each other. Team Three said their goodbyes, once again, to Roto, Risho, and Kurotsuchi. They then said goodbye to Han and Rōshi. Naruto was the last one to walk up to the two jinchūriki. He smiled at them.

"Old man, Han-nii: you two need to come back some time again." He told them.

"Or you come up to Iwa. There's a couple places in our village that I think you'd like. At the very least, we have a couple of ramen stands for you to try." Rōshi chuckled.

"Regardless, whether in our village, yours again, or somewhere in the world, we will see each other again." Han noted in a cheerful tone-of-voice. He brought his hand down to Naruto's head and ruffled his hair, causing the Uzumaki to chuckle in response. "Take care of yourself, otouto."

"And you take care of yourself, Han-nii!" He replied.

Rōshi and Han, along with Han's students, noticed in their peripheral vision that the Sandaime Tsuchikage and the other Iwa shinobi were stating to leave. Waving goodbye one last time, the five Iwa shinobi followed behind the others. In a few minutes, the group was completely gone and the gates to Konoha were closed.

"… Well, I had enough sappy moments to last me for the rest of the day." Anko replied with a chuckle as she started to walk enough. "I know I'm not technically your sense anymore, but I really got used to training with you brats. Stop by the training field at our usual time whenever you want and I'd be more than happy to keep working with you guys."

"We'll be there." Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru told her in near-unison.

Anko grinned in response as she waved goodbye to them as she walked away. With the jōnin gone, Hinata turned to Naruto with reddish-tinted cheeks.

"Uh, Naruto-kun? Do you care if we go on a walk for a little bit? I kinda wanted to talk to you…" Hinata questioned.

Naruto nodded in agreement, a smile developing on his face and his cheeks turning red as well. He opened his mouth to verbally agree, but he was interrupted by another person's voice.

"I hate to interrupt, but do you care if I borrow Naruto-kun first?" Hiruzen spoke up as he walked toward the group.

The newly-appointed chūnin looked towards the Sandaime Hokage. They had forgotten that he had even been at the gate with them, seeing off the Iwa shinobi. Naruto noticed the serious look on the Hokage's face and he nodded in understanding. He then turned to Hinata and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Er, I think I need to go do this. I'll meet up with you soon, okay?" He promised her.

"Y-Yeah, that's okay." Hinata replied with a small smile. "I'll see you later Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama."

Both the Uzumaki and the Hokage nodded as they walked off, towards the academy and the Hokage's office. Hinata and Shikamaru were left alone. When Naruto and Hiruzen were out of hearing distance, the Hyūga heiress let out a frustrated groan.

"I was finally going to talk to him about my feelings." She grumbled to herself.

"Heh. Were you, now?" Shikamaru teased the Hyūga.

Hinata noticed a trace of doubt in Shikamaru's tone-of-voice. She looked at him with a determined look on her face. "I was! I really was! I…" The Hyūga heiress sighed in response. "I'll just talk to him later now, I guess."

"I believe you, I believe you." The Nara reassured her with a chuckle.

"Hmm." Hinata hummed to herself as she closed her eyes in thought as she began to wonder exactly how she would talk to Naruto. Another thought, however, entered her head and she looked at the Nara with a sly, teasing smirk developing on her face. "I'll worry about that later. Anyway, how are you and Kurotsuchi doing? That was rather long for a hug between friends, you know?"

It was Shikamaru's turn to blush brightly in response. He grumbled in response, trying to come up with some coherent response. He ultimately failed, however, causing Hinata to giggle, much to his chagrin.

"Jiraiya? Tayuya-nee? What are you two doing here?" Naruto questioned.

When the Hokage had asked Naruto if he could talk with him, he requested that they headed to his office. Once they arrived, they were greeted by Jiraiya and Tayuya, who were already present in the room. The Sannin was currently writing something down on a notebook and didn't seem to immediately respond to the presence of Naruto or the Hokage. Tayuya, on the other hand, focused her attention solely on the two.

"I don't know. I'm here because my presence 'was required'. I can't leave my prison cell for any other reason after all." Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Hey Old Man, what do you want with me?"

"You're here because you, Naruto-kun, and Jiraiya are all going to go on a mission together." Hiruzen replied as he walked over to his desk and sat down in the chair.

Both Naruto and Tayuya looked at the man in confusion. Naruto was surprised to hear that he was getting a mission so fast since his promotion to chūnin and was even more surprised that it was going to be a mission with his cousin and his godfather – his only known living family. Tayuya, on the other hand, was surprised simply that the Hokage was treating her as if she was a shinobi of Konoha.

"… You do know that I'm not one of your ninja, right? Or is your old age starting to affect your memory?" She reminded him sharply.

"I'm aware you aren't a shinobi of Konoha, Tayuya." Hiruzen replied. 'Yet.' He pushed that thought to the side as he began to speak-up. "However, this mission is something I thought you'd be interested in and I'm willing to let you go on it. I need a group of shinobi who are able to investigate the ruins of Uzushiogakure."

"Uzushiogakure?" Naruto repeated the name in surprise. "You mean… the home of the Uzumaki Clan?"

"Our clan?" Tayuya continued, her eyes blinking over-and-over again.

"Uzushio and Konoha were allies long and it's one of my own personal regrets that we, as a village, couldn't stop the attack that destroyed the village." Hiruzen's eyes went downward as he recalled hearing the news and learning about the destruction. "… Too much time has passed and many villagers seem to have forgotten the importance of Uzushio to our village. Therefore, I think it's time I finally send a group to investigate the destruction."

"You never sent one before?" Tayuya questioned, both out of curiosity and in suspicion.

Hiruzen shook his head. "I wasn't going to send a group that didn't have an Uzumaki in it. Unfortunately, the only Uzumaki in the village was your mother, Naruto-kun, and Kushina was not comfortable visiting the ruins."

"Mom didn't want to go?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Hiruzen opened his mouth to elaborate, but he was interrupted by the former Sound Four member.

"What do you mean that you weren't going to send a group without an Uzumaki?" She asked.

"As you surely know, Tayuya, the Uzumaki Clan shinobi were renowned for being experts in fūinjutsu." Jiraiya spoke up, putting away his notebook and giving full attention to the conversation around him. "There are many areas in Uzushiogakure that are protected by their seals to this very day: seals that prevent any person that does not have the Uzumaki blood from entering."

"So only an Uzumaki can enter the village?" Naruto asked.

"No. I think all protective seals of that nature were destroyed when the village was invaded." Jiraiya answered glumly. "In the village, however, there are certain areas still being protected by their seals. And there are traps that'll injure or kill any non-Uzumaki intruder."

"… Ah, I see. So that's why I'm here." A scowl started to develop on Tayuya's face. "You think that I'll be your guinea pig and will give out my clan's secrets to you, huh? Well newsflash, shithead, but I won't-"

"I'm not asking for your clan's secrets, Tayuya!" Hiruzen spoke up loudly, interrupting her speech. The Sandaime then immediately sighed. Tayuya's constant cynicism was still something he was getting used to. "All I want to know is the condition of the village and that the traditions of the Uzumaki can be passed down to the surviving members of the clan: you two. If you want to share information with Konoha, then I'd be willing to take it. But I just want to make sure that any information there will not be permanently lost. And if you and Naruto-kun think that the information should remain a secret for only you and your descendants, then so be it."

The red-headed Uzumaki was stunned into silence at the Hokage's words. He was willing to let her keep secrets about Uzushiogakure if she wanted to? It was already surprising to her that he was going to allow her to leave her prison and Konoha to travel to her clan's ruined village. To hear that she would be allowed to learn her clan secrets and keep them private was a surprise to her: one she had a hard time believing.

"I… I don't know if I think things should be kept a secret for our clan or if things should be known to the village. But one thing's right: I want to see the village and see what my ancestors had kept hidden there. I want to learn as much about the Uzumaki as I possibly can." Naruto declared as he looked at the Sandaime Hokage with determination in his eyes. "I'm ready for the mission, whenever."

'Learn about our clan…' Tayuya repeated Naruto's words. '… All the surviving Uzumaki should be able to do that. Maybe…'

"… Am I in a position to ask for a request? Or do I simply have to go along with what you order us?" The red-head spoke up quietly.

"You can ask something. If it's not much of a hassle, then I will agree to it." Hiruzen informed her.

"I discussed with you earlier that I know of another Uzumaki in Kusa." Tayuya stated. Her words gathered Naruto's attention, who was surprised to hear that there was another known Uzumaki alive. "If it's not too much… I'd like to send a letter to her and invite her to go with us."

"You want to invite a shinobi of Kusa?" Jiraiya questioned. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion at the former subordinate to Orochimaru.

"No, I'm not. Karin may be a shinobi, but she's an Uzumaki first. I'd like to invite another Uzumaki to take the opportunity to visit our ancestor's village with us." Tayuya spoke up.

"I'm fine with that." Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Although he did now know who this 'Karin' was and what she was like, the idea of meeting more 'family' to him was important. He was willing to trust her and wanted to see what she was like.

"I'm fine with that." Hiruzen voiced his opinion.

Naruto grinned in response and brought his left hand and right palm together. Tayuya and Jiraiya, on the other hand, were looking at the Hokage in shock at his request.

"You… You're going to allow her to come with us?" Tayuya questioned in disbelief.

"You are right: an Uzumaki should be given the right to visit that village." Hiruzen informed her with a smile on his face. "Write me a personal letter for her and I'll send it, along with a request letter, to Kusa. They'll respond back immediately and, if she is given permission to come, then the mission will begin when she arrives here."

"O-Okay." Tayuya replied. A smile developed on her face as she looked at the Sandaime Hokage. "You have my gratitude, Old Man."

"See, I told you he wasn't that bad. Old Man Hokage is actually a really nice, cool guy." Naruto informed his fellow Uzumaki with a chuckle.

"I can see that now, I can see." Tayuya admitted with a chuckle.

With the decision about the mission made, Naruto was dismissed and allowed to return to his apartment. Tayuya was then escorted by another shinobi back to her cell, where she would await the arrival of Karin and the beginning of the mission. The Hokage was now left alone with his student.

"Sarutobi-sensei, are you sure it's wise to bring along this girl from Kusa?" Jiraiya questioned.

"I suppose this is a risk, but I really do want Tayuya to trust us. I'm willing to allow this. I trust you will know if she is a potential threat to the village and will handle her accordingly, like you will Tayuya if she actually tries something on the mission." Hiruzen informed him. "Besides, I was being sincere when I said that I would like the information of Uzushio to pass on to the current living Uzumaki. I knew too many good Uzumaki in my lifetime that would want their knowledge to be passed down. If it means sharing that information with Kusa, then so be it."

"… If you say." Jiraiya sighed. He then started to walk towards the window. "Anyway, I'm going to back and visit Naruto again. If we have some downtime before the mission, I'm going to begin training him."

"You do that. I'm sure he wouldn't mind learning from one of the Sannin." The Hokage chuckled in response.

His student chuckled in response as he opened the window door. With a wave goodbye, the man left the room, leaving Hiruzen alone. The Sandaime Hokage, once again, returned his attention towards the pile of paperwork left on his desk.

'Almost done. Soon, I'll be done with all the post-invasion paperwork.' He told himself as he took the first sheet of paper. '… God, why am I still doing this job? I need to find a successor and fast!'

The Hokage continued to grumble to himself about candidates for the Godaime Hokage as he started reading the contents of the paper.

After leaving the Hokage's office, Jiraiya had intended on heading towards Naruto's apartment immediately. However, as he made his way down the street, he remembered the ideas he was writing in his notebook and was struck with inspiration to do 'research'. He promptly rushed over to the hot springs of Konoha and found a hiding spot.

He spent the next two hours writing down various ideas after seeing the women at the hot springs and hearing them to talk to each other. A cheeky grin stayed on his face the entire time and he had to stop his 'research' multiple times to rub away the blood dripping from his nose.

'At this rate, Icha Icha Tactics is going to be my best work yet! I can't wait to get it finished!' He told himself.

Once his research was complete, he left the hot springs and returned to Naruto's apartment. The Sannin entered and saw Naruto sitting at his dinner table, reading a book. The blonde looked upward at the sound of footsteps and a grin developed on his face after seeing Jiraiya.

"Hey! What's up?" He asked his godfather as he turned a page in his book.

"Doing good. Had a very productive afternoon." Jiraiya replied with a perverted giggle.

Naruto gave him a strange look for a second, but shrugged. He then turned his attention back to his book. This gathered Jiraiya's attention as he started to walk closer to Naruto.

"What book are you reading? You didn't strike me as the type to like reading for fun." He noted.

"I don't really, but I know the author so I wanted to look into it. Have you heard of Tengoku no Sato?" Naruto questioned as he put the book down.

Almost instantaneously, Jiraiya's face darkened at the mention of the book. His eyes narrowed in anger on the book and his fists tightened. He remained silent for a second before he finally managed to gather his voice and speak. "What?"

Naruto, seemingly oblivious to Jiraiya's darker mood, answered innocently. "It's a book about a hidden shinobi village. It's about its history and the cool shinobi that live there. I just borrowed the book from my friend, Dosu, and I'm loving it. It's so action-packed and it's really easy for me to imagine!"

Jiraiya shook his head, trying to forget that his godson not only was reading Tengoku no Sato of all books, but was actually enjoying it. He focused, instead, on another disturbing comment that he said. "… And you know the author? You know that old monkey Rōshi?"

"Uh huh. He mentioned once that he wrote the book series, so I knew I had to read it sometime. I promised him I would and would give him feedback once I caught up with his series. And I got to say, so far, it's pretty damn good." Naruto answered. He then finally became aware of his godfather's mood and gave him a concerned look. "Everything alright Jiraiya?"

"Everything's fine. Sorry. Let's… just say I have a bad history with Rōshi and leave it at that." Jiraiya answered ominously.

The Uzumaki blinked in confusion. He hadn't known either man for too long, but Rōshi was a fellow jinchūriki and Jiraiya was his godfather. Both were polite, funny, and slightly crude old men who meant well. He couldn't really process why the two of them would know each other, let alone dislike each other.

"… Ahem." The Sannin cleared his throat. "Anyway, that's not really what I was going to talk to you about. I was wanting to know if you wanted to train together while we wait for this other Uzumaki to arrive in Konoha."

Naruto immediately jumped up from his seat and looked at his godfather in excitement. This was going to be his first time training with him – his first time being trained by family. He was more than ready to begin training immediately!

"Hell yeah I'd love to train with you!" He declared.

"Good, cause I got a few things I'd love to teach you." Jiraiya answered with a chuckle. He then gestured towards the door to the apartment. "Come on. Let's head to the nearest training ground and get to work."

Naruto nodded fervently. He then rushed over and followed Jiraiya out of his apartment. The blonde looked up to the older man in curiosity.

"So, whatcha want to work on? Jutsu? Some cool spy techniques?" He began to question.

Jiraiya laughed in response. "I'll teach you some of my 'spying' stuff later. For now, though, let's work on a very particular style of jutsu: summoning jutsus."

"Ack!"

"Ugh!"

Both Hinata and Neji were knocked backwards with enough force that they were sent flying into the walls of the Hyūga clan's personal training room. The two groaned in pain as they began to pull themselves off the ground.

"You need to concentrate more with your strike to compress the air around you." Hiashi informed them, his activated-Byakugan eyes staring intently at his daughter and nephew. "I can see your chakra networks and you are using the correct amount of chakra and your chakra control is fine. You two simply aren't releasing the chakra from your body properly. Make your palm strike precise. Make it forceful. Force the chakra out of you to compress the air and deliver your attack."

The three Hyūga clan members had been practicing for four hours, trying to get Hinata and Neji to learn the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. After drilling them on the theory of the jutsu, Hiashi began instruction by having them try to create their Vacuum Palm to deflect his own strike.

Unfortunately for them, Hinata and Neji were still trying to perfect the proper manner to use the jutsu. As a result, they were taking the force of Hiashi's Vacuum Palms each time.

"We… understand, Hiashi-sama." Neji replied with short-breath once he and Hinata had finally finished pulling each other off the ground.

"… Neji, I have an idea that might help you. You know the Rotation, after all. Take the same method you use to form it and apply it to this jutsu. Like I said, focus solely on your palm at the moment and use enough force so that way you can release the chakra." Hiashi advised.

Neji nodded in understanding as he got into position to try again. Hinata replicated her cousin's stance, preparing herself for the next attack.

Realizing that they were ready, Hiashi extended his palms forward towards Hinata and Neji, releasing another Vacuum Palm towards them both. Both Hinata and Neji made a palm strike, trying to release chakra to create their own version of the jutsu.

Once again, Hinata was hit full-force by the jutsu and was knocked into the wall. Neji, on the other hand, was able to create a small compression in the air around his palm that Hiashi's attack collided against. Hiashi's jutsu was still more powerful and, ultimately, pushed the branch clan member backwards, but he was not knocked back into the wall once again. He was, however, winded.

"That's an improvement, Neji. That advice seemed to help." Hiashi noted with a nod in approval. Neji couldn't give a proper response: he was too tired to reply. The Hyūga clan head then turned his attention towards his daughter. "Hinata, I realize that this technique may not be as easy for you due to your own variant style of the Gentle Fist. You may not normally use the proper amount of force with your attacks needed for this jutsu. However, I think it is necessary that you know how to use it. This technique will give you the ability to use the Gentle Fist at a slight range, and that is a definite benefit that will help you in fights during missions. With enough practice, you will eventually find success with this jutsu."

"… I know. I'm trying." Hinata replied with a tired expression on her face.

"You're doing well for your first day. When my father started training me like this, I couldn't last past the first three hours." Hiashi informed her. "It's just all about practice. If you two don't mind, I'd like to devote the next week solely to training you. I know you have your own teams and training sections, but I can't guarantee I'll have this much free time at the moment. I'd like to personally focus solely on your training and making sure you pick up on this jutsu and a few other techniques of our clan. So, with that in mind, let's take a thirty minute break before we get back to work."

Both Hinata and Neji nodded in understanding. At the mention of 'break', the two cousins fell to the ground in an attempt to rest and gather their strength back.

'Hizashi… they are acting like us when father started getting serious with our training.' Hiashi told himself, trying to resist the urge to chuckle.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

A poof of smoke appeared in training ground eleven after Naruto slammed his open palm on the ground. Once the smoke was cleared, a small, orange toad with a blue jacket appeared and started to hop on the ground.

"Hey." He greeted Naruto.

"Finally!" The Uzumaki shouted in relief. "I can summon toads now!"

"After how many hours of trying? I started to lose count when the sun began to set." Jiraiya commented with a chuckle.

After arriving at the training ground, Jiraiya gave Naruto the summoning contract to sign. The Uzumaki quickly signed it and began trying to summon toads immediately. He had expected to succeed immediately, but he ended up summoning a tadpole… and another tadpole…and another tadpole. No matter how much he tried, he kept summoning nothing but tadpoles.

Time began to pass by slowly. Eventually, the sun set and the moon appeared in the sky. Finally, after hours of practicing, he managed to summon a toad. The blonde was, needless to say, ecstatic.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm the next summoner of toads. Just like Jiraiya and my dad!" He declared to the toad.

"Nice to meetcha Naruto. I'm Gamakichi." The toad greeted. "Your pops was a summoner too? Was he that Minato guy that my old man let summon him from time to time?"

"Mhmm." Naruto nodded his head in response.

"I'll tell pops that you're his kid. He'll probably be excited to hear that." Gamakichi stated. "So, what're you like Naruto? Tell me a little about yourself! You're the first guy who's actually summoned me after all!"

"I'm…" Naruto began to speak before his excitement started to fade away and was replaced with an overwhelming feeling of tiredness. "I'm…"

He tried to speak one more time and form words, but his efforts failed and the Uzumaki fell to the ground. Gamakichi hopped over to Naruto and began to poke him in the face. He then looked up to Jiraiya in confusion.

"So, he's the kinda guy who can follow sleep mid-conversation?" He questioned with a shrug. "Weirdo."

"Give him a break, Gamakichi. He's been trying to summon a toad for the past four hours and has used way too much chakra." Jiraiya informed him with a chuckle. "He's lucky that he has so damn much. If that was me trying to do that when I first became a summoner, I would have passed out about two and a half hours ago."

"I guess so." Gamakichi shrugged in response. "Anyway, since he fell asleep, I'll head back home now. Does my old man know that you let him sign the contract?"

"I already talked to Gamabunta about it." Jiraiya nodded his head in affirmation.

"Kay. Then I'll just let him know that you did. He'll probably want to meet him at some point… just saying." The young toad shrugged in response. "Anyway, bye Jiraiya. Nice seeing ya again!"

With those words, Gamakichi disappeared in another poof of smoke. Jiraiya chuckled as he picked up Naruto's body and started to walk back towards his apartment.

'Well, he managed to summon a toad on his first day. That's better than Minato did.' The Sannin noted in his head. 'This kid will be going places. I'll spend the next few days just perfecting the summoning jutsu with him, but after that, we'll begin work on the Rasengan.'

The following day, Shikamaru pulled himself out of bed and after a light breakfast, he walked over to training ground seventeen. He had been expecting to run into the rest of his team already at the training ground. When he arrived, however, only Anko was present, doing push-ups on the ground. Once the Nara arrived, she stopped her exercise.

"So, you were able to come. At least of one of you guys could." She commented with a chuckle.

"What do you mean by that, Anko-sensei? Naruto and Hinata couldn't make it?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Okay, two things. One: you don't have to call me 'sensei' anymore. I technically don't have that title any longer. You're not some fresh genin anymore." Anko informed him with a shrug.

"I know I don't have to, but that's how I've always known you." The Nara shrugged in response.

"I don't think I could stop it if I wanted to. Besides, I guarantee you that Hinata and Naruto will still call you 'sensei' as well."

"… Point taken." The snake summoner chuckled in response. "Alright then, second thing: Naruto and Hinata won't be able to join us for training for about a week. I talked to them a little earlier today separately. Naruto is being trained by Jiraiya in preparation for a mission while Hinata is being trained extensively by her father the entirety of this week while he has the spare time to focus on her training."

"Hmm." Shikamaru sighed in response. "I was hoping they'd be here with us."

"Yeah, yeah. I was too. But whatever. We'll focus on what we can together." Anko shrugged in response.

Almost immediately, an idea entered the woman's head. Anko's eyes lit up in excitement as she quickly reached inside of her jacket for a scroll. She then tossed it over to the Nara, who began to look at its title.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu." He read aloud.

"That's a jutsu that I've decided to look into. It's B-rank fire style technique that channels your chakra and releases it in the shape of a flaming dragon's head. Besides being an overwhelmingly deadly jutsu, it can also affect the air currents in the sky and create lightning clouds. It could potentially create a storm to change the battlefield." Anko explained to the Nara. "It's a very powerful jutsu with some supplementary uses. And it's about time I finally tried my hand at learning it."

"It seems pretty useful." Shikamaru nodded in understanding. He then studied the scroll intently. "And you want me to learn it with you, I presume."

"Yup." Anko grinned. "Again, you're the only other fire-nature student I got. It would be a damn shame if I didn't try to help you develop your skills with your elemental nature. I'd like to make sure you are a competent a fire-style specialist!" A grin then developed on her face. "Besides, I'm kinda curious just how fast you can learn this jutsu compared to me. Consider it the curiosity of a teacher."

The Nara gave the jōnin a suspicious look. "You're going to turn this into some sort of competition, aren't you?"

"Yup." Anko nodded her head, her grin growing wider. "First one to learn the jutsu gets treated to dinner." Shikamaru opened his mouth to reject her offer, but she narrowed his eyes on him. "You can't reject this deal, by the way. Otherwise I won't let you try to learn the jutsu."

"… Troublesome. This whole thing is designed so that I lose and have to buy you dango." Shikamaru shook his head. Despite his tone-of-voice and his word choice, the Nara did have an amused look on his face. "Well, whatever. I take it we start now?"

"Not yet. We'll get to practicing it in a little bit. For now, I'm just getting a warm-up exercise in. You should join me." The jōnin informed him as she got into position to continue with her push-ups. "I'll even start over so we can do them together."

"Sounds fine with me." The chūnin shrugged as he got into position to join his former sensei. "How many are we doing?"

"I'm thinking maybe three hundred?" Anko answered nonchalantly. "After that, we'll move onto sit-ups."

"… Are you serious?" Shikamaru gave the woman a blank stare, expressing his surprise.

"You're a chūnin now, Shikamaru. Your excise routine needs to be taken up a few notches." Anko replied sharply.

'A few notches? This sounds a lot more than that!' The Nara inwardly shouted. However, the Nara was very aware of Anko's general attitude. With that in mind, he kept his opinion to himself and opted for a frustrated sigh.

"Anywho, let's get to work and start!" The jōnin declared as she began her push-ups. "One! Two! Three!"

"… Four. Five. Six." Shikamaru mumbled as he joined his former sensei in counting as he performed his own set of push-ups.

Training was about to become much more intense for Shikamaru…

Time began to pass by quickly in Konoha. A week went by since the visitors from Iwa and the other foreign villages officially left Konoha. The village was nearly finished with all the repairs since the Suna/Oto invasion and the village appeared just like it had before the attack. Konoha had now officially recovered and life returned to normal for most of the villagers. Civilians returned to focus on their own businesses and shinobi began to focus more on their own training and taking missions.

During this time, Hiashi managed to train his daughter and nephew extensively on his own personal techniques. Both Hinata and Neji managed to acquire the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm after only two days of training. Once they learned it, Hiashi focused on teaching them more complex techniques of the Hyūga clan. He also encouraged the two shinobi to experiment. Neji was beginning to study the theory of the Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms technique while Hinata began to incorporate the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms into her own variant of the Gentle Fist. Hiashi was impressed in the development of both his daughter and his nephew and continued to encourage them to develop their skills with the Hyūga clan jutsus.

Shikamaru continued to train with Anko every morning and slowly became used to her exercise routines. His body was becoming tougher and he was beginning to develop more muscle across his body as a result. The former teacher and student competed to learn the Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu. As Shikamaru had predicted, Anko did manage to learn the jutsu before him and he was forced to treat her to a night of dango. The chūnin managed to learn the jutsu not too longer after his former sensei, however. Once they had accomplished the jutsu and managed to practice it multiple times, Anko began showing Shikamaru different fire-style techniques she could to add to his repertoire. The Nara was grateful and studied every jutsu Anko gave him with a surprising amount of focus.

Naruto and Jiraiya spent the beginning of the week focusing on the summoning jutsu. Naruto continued working with the jutsu and trying to summon toads that he could use in battle. After about four days of trying, he managed to summon his first combat-oriented toad: Gamariki. Once Jiraiya felt comfortable enough in Naruto's ability to summon toads, he began working with Naruto on a jutsu designed by his father: the Rasengan. Naruto managed to make it through the first stage of training quickly, but he was beginning to struggle once he began working on the second stage. However, after a few days of trying, he began making progress and seemed ready to begin the third stage. Jiraiya was expecting him to learn the Rasengan within another week of training.

The members of Team Three continued to train independently, growing stronger during their first official weak as chūnin. Naruto, however, was about to take a brief break from his training, as a red-haired girl from Kusagakure started to approach the gates to Konoha.

The sound of a loud knock rang throughout Tayuya's prison cell. The red-head looked towards the door for a moment before she sighed.

"Whoever you are, you damn well know the door is unlocked. Just come on in already." She shouted to the person on the other side.

The door immediately opened and Jiraiya walked inside with Naruto standing right behind him. After seeing who her visitors were, the former Sound Four member gave them her full attention. She opened her mouth to speak to something, but she then noticed that Jiraiya was carrying a plain, brown bag of weapons and supplies. Sticking out of the bag was a silver flute that the girl recognized.

"That's my shit!" Tayuya exclaimed.

"You're going to need it in case we are attacked and you need to defend yourself." Jiraiya informed her.

The Sannin tossed the bag towards the red-head. Tayuya caught it immediately and then pulled out her flute, making sure that it was okay. She brought it to her mouth and played a note. Once she was satisfied with the condition of her flute, she sighed in relief and put it back in the bag. She then gave her attention to Jiraiya and Naruto, letting an excited glow develop in her eyes.

"So I take it Karin's here. We're finally going to be on the way to Uzushiogakure." Tayuya exclaimed.

"Yup. The Old Man sent us a message to pick you up and meet him at the front gate of the village. Our cousin is here." Naruto nodded his head in affirmation. A grin developed on his face as he mirrored the red-head's excitement. "It's about time we visit the village of our clan!"

Omake 4: Jiraiya and Rōshi's Relationship...

One week until the finals of the Third Exam…

'Damn, it's really been a long time since I've been back in Konoha…' Jiraiya told himself.

The Sannin had only stopped by Konoha approximately three or four times since his sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen, retook his mantel as the Hokage. Jiraiya's duties became even more important to Konoha after the Kyūbi attack and the man was forced to work double-time to check on all the enemy villages. His role became even more important once Orochimaru defected from the village and news of the 'Akatsuki' organization started to appear…

He was a busy man who simply could not afford to be in Konoha for long. Therefore, even though he was in Konoha on orders of the Hokage to investigate the presence of Orochimaru and prepare for the traitor's planned invasion, Jiraiya was simply enjoying being back in his home village.

The Sannin was walking down the streets to get something for lunch and was simply looking around the village, seeing everything that had changed since the last time he had been home and the things that had remained the same. He was so wrapped up in his own personal thoughts that he stopped paying attention to where he was walking and ended up bumping into somebody.

"Oomph."

"Ugh." Jiraiya grumbled in response. He pulled himself from his thoughts as he turned to look at the person he bumped into. "Sorry about that. I'll be more careful-"

The words on his tongue died as he realized who he had run into: Rōshi, the Yonbi jinchūriki from Iwagakure. The red-haired man rubbed his head for a moment before he looked back at Jiraiya.

Both men had wide eyes as they stared at each other in stunned silence. A few seconds passed by before the surprise started to fade. They then immediately pointed their index fingers at each other as a scowl developed on both of their faces.

"YOU!" They both shouted in near unison.

Invisible sparks started to fly from their eyes as both men glared at each other.

"Didn't think I'd ever bump into you walking around the streets of Konoha." Jiraiya commented in frustration.

"I'm here to personally train the Tsuchikage's granddaughter for the Chūnin Exams." Rōshi answered curtly as he gritted his teeth.

"Ah I see." Jiraiya mumbled in response. A smug grin then developed on his face. "So, Rōshi, how did your last novel in your series sell? What is it called again? Tengakure?"

"It's called Tengoku no Sato. I'm on the third book in the series." The Yonbi jinchūriki corrected immediately. "And it sold-"

"-less than Icha Icha Violence, if I am correct." The Sannin grinned.

Rōshi's eyes lit up in anger as he shook his head in defiance. "You can't even compare how our books sell! They're two different styles of novels for two different demographics!"

"You're right. Guess I just write for a demographic that'll actually, you know, read a book." Jiraiya commented, his grin still present on my face.

"How the hell are you even proud of your work?" Rōshi rolled his eyes in response. "I write real literature with a gripping plot and character development. Your work is nothing but shameless smut!"

"Smut? Now look here, I've only criticized your sells and your 'intended demographic': I've never once said a bad thing about your books themselves. So don't insult my work!" Jiraiya informed him sharply. "Icha Icha is also real literature-"

"Again, you mean smut." Rōshi corrected him.

Jiraiya ignored the comment and continued. "-it features a compelling plotline that keeps readers reading-"

"You mean long sex scenes"

"-it has high-quality artwork that helps readers become immersed-"

"You mean pornographic images that somebody could find in a magazine in the 'adult's section' of a store."

"-it has well-developed characters that readers care about-"

"I assume you mean only physically developed."

"-and it features plot twists that keep the readers guessing with every page."

"You mean 'compelling' plot twists like 'He didn't use a condom' or 'He was actually sleeping with her identical twin sister'?"

With each comment, Jiraiya and Rōshi's argument continued to escalate. Both men were now seething at each other.

"You know what, okay! So some of my books feature an occasional sex scene or two. But it's only written appropriately and they are written rather tastefully!" Jiraiya exclaimed. Rōshi scoffed in response, causing the Sannin's glare to intensify. "I don't even write every book with a sex scene? Have you heard of 'The Tale of Gutsy Ninja'?"

"I have. It's pretty famous as the only book you wrote without a sex scene." Rōshi stated. His face now developed a smug grin. "And we all know how that book turned out: a complete commercial flop. It sold horridly." The Yonbi jinchūriki's grin became wider as Jiraiya's mouth opened wide in shock. "Face it Jiraiya: you can only sell with sex."

Jiraiya continued to stare blankly at the man in front of him with his wide-open mouth. A few seconds passed by before his mouth closed. The Sannin scowled and he tightened his fists.

"You. Me. Training-ground forty-three. Right now." He informed him sharply.

"Heh. Lead the way." Rōshi replied, returning the man's scowl with one of his own.

With those words, Jiraiya and Rōshi walked off towards training ground forty-three, mentally preparing for a battle while also coming up with 'witty remarks' to say to the other when they won their battle.

Such occasions were commonplace whenever Jiraiya and Rōshi had the displeasure of running into each other. The two men, due to the Third Shinobi World War, did not meet under the best of terms and their relationship only continued to spiral downwards once they both became writers, vying for readership around the world. The two had developed a strong rivalry with each other: as shinobi and as writers.

… In the back of their heads, both men did respect each other's skills as shinobi and writers. However, neither of them were ever going to admit that to the other. Instead, they would do what they always do: have a big spar to show their superiority over the other.