Chapter 1 : A New Start

Naruto looked around the small village he and Ero-Sennin (Jiraiya the Toad Sage) had just entered, like most of the villages he had been to in Hi No Kuni (Fire Country) the buildings were all made out of a mixture of wood and bricks, and were modeled in a western style with flat rooftops and square architecture. Most of the buildings were shops that sold various wares and goods, which was obvious when Naruto observed the numerous people that were milling around looking in the windows. It had only been about a week since Naruto had left with Ero-Sennin on this training trip and the two had already been in two other cities in Hi No Kuni.

"So what are we going to be doing here Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked as he looked up at the larger male.

Jiraiya was a fairly tall man, standing at about 6'5" making him taller than most of the people in Konoha with the exception of Kakashi. He had white hair that spiked up before going down to about mid back, it was held in place by a Hitea-ate with two horns and the kanji for oil on it. He was wearing a green gi under a red vest and had wooden geta sandals rather than the standard shinobi sandals.

Jiraiya looked down at his student and scowled, "What have I told you about respecting your elder's gaki?"

Naruto shrugged, "You'll get my respect when I feel you've earned it. So far all you've done is go to whore houses or peek on women and I have yet to actually learn anything from you."

Jiraiya sighed at his students rather apathetic attitude, ever since they had left Konoha Naruto had… changed. He had become a lot more quiet than the loud mouth the Sannin had met during the Chunin exams; in fact he hadn't spoken more than a few words since they left Konoha, it was like the loudmouth had suddenly vacated the boys head and this new person took his place. Most of the time Naruto stared at nothing and seemed to be in deep thought. Jiraiya was not sure what was bothering his apprentice but figured that he would find out what was wrong in time.

"Alright, alright," the Toad Sennin sighed, "I have to meet a contact here who has some valuable information for me. After this is done I'll begin training you, how does that sound?"

Naruto nodded, "that's fine."

Jiraiya frowned at his godson's lack of enthusiasm but left it alone for now as he headed off.

Naruto walked around the town, not really bothering to pay attention to where he was going at the moment. Truth was he had been thinking a lot, mostly about himself and how he had not really taken his training seriously. When he was in the academy he had been more concerned with playing pranks to get attention, which had seriously hampered his ability to learn. Of course half of the problem was that by the time he had found a teacher willing to actually teach him rather than try to sabotage his training, Naruto was so far ingrained in his pranking and loudmouth tendencies that it had simply become a habit. He shook his head and sighed, despite that it still wasn't an excuse for not bothering to learn when he was able to. Had he actually applied himself to learn what he could he may have been able to keep Sasuke from leaving the village.

There was another of his problems, Sasuke Uchiha had been someone he had considered a brother. He had always thought that even with the small rivalry they had going that they were still friends and always would be; that feeling had been dashed when Sasuke plunged to Chidori into his chest not once but twice. Naruto was no longer sure if he could keep his promise to Sakura by returning the boy, not that it would matter anyways. Naruto was beginning to doubt that Sasuke would ever willingly return, even if Naruto forced him to come back; he doubted team 7 would ever be the same.

Naruto shook his head of the morbid thoughts, now wasn't the time to be dwelling on such things. Sasuke's defection had opened Naruto's eyes to the reality of his situation. He needed to get stronger, he had to train and try his hardest to become a real shinobi, not the loud brat who could not even bring back someone he considered a brother. As he was now, Naruto was lacking in every aspect of being a shinobi, sure he had the Rasengan (Spiralling sphere) and Kage Bunshin's (Shadow Clones) but that was really it. In every battle he had fought so far if it were not for the Kyuubi, Naruto knew he would have died. During the battle on the bridge, in the Nami No Kuni (Land of Waves) he had used it to fight Haku. During his fight with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death he had been forced to use it. His fight with Gaara, his fight with Sasuke, every major battle he had been in he had used it. Add on that he could not even use the Rasengan without the aid of a clone, he did not have proper control of his chakra and no set taijutsu style, or rather he just swung until he hit something, Naruto knew he had a lot of problems to fix.

Looking up he found himself standing in front of a store that appeared to sell shinobi clothing, Naruto looked at his own attire. His bright orange track suit had been with him for as long as he could remember, not because he wanted to wear it. No despite the fact that orange was his favorite color and was good for getting attention, the only reason he wore it was because it was the only thing he could afford. All the stores in Konoha had black listed him, making it nearly impossible to get a decent set of clothing; hell the only food he could even afford was ramen which was why he ate it all the time. Even these clothes he had were costly, the man who sold them to him making him pay three times the price most people would spend for normal clothes. Deciding that if he wanted to become a real shinobi he should look like a real shinobi, Naruto walked into the store.

The shop itself was fairly standard; there were many racks in the store with different styles of shinobi clothes in various colors. There was also a few area's that sold weapon's, most of which were the standard Kunai, shuriken, ninja wire and basic sealing scroll. Unlike Konoha this was not a ninja village so they did not have any specialty clothing and weapons.

Naruto began to walk around the store to see what he might like; he looked at various forms of pants first. He wanted them to be in a dark color, looking at a few of the different styles and colors he decided to buy several sets of dark blue cargo styled pants. They had several pockets that looked like they were designed to hold various scrolls and were of a sturdy material that would not wear down. The next thing he went to were the shirts. Looking through them he went with a dark blue and black colors. Buying several sets of both sleeveless and long sleeved shirts so that he would have some variety before he moved on, looking to see if there was anything else he might want. He eventually bought several other things, a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back, a pair of black combat boots with steel toed tips and a sealing scroll so he could carry it all.

Walking up to the cash register which had an old man sitting at it, Naruto set the clothes down. The old man looked at him and began to tally up the price, "That's quite a lot of stuff you bought young man, the total will come up to 4,000 yen."

Naruto reached into his pants pocket and pulled out Gama-chan, his frog wallet. Opening it up he looked to see how much he had, it was not well known but Naruto was despite not looking like it, very stingy when it came to money. Living on the streets and having to be careful where he bought stuff and how much he bought, Naruto had been taught the value of cash. Right now he had 6,500 yen, he would be using about 2/3 of his savings, but in Naruto's eyes it was worth it. Taking out the necessary amount Naruto gave it to the old man.

"Excuse me but do you have a place I could change?" Naruto asked, using a more respectful voice then he ever had before.

"Yes right over there," the old man pointed to a small changing stall that was somewhat hidden in the corner.

"Thanks," Naruto replied moving over to the stall.

"No problem young man."

Naruto went into the stall and changed, opting to go for the sleeveless shirt instead of a long sleeve one right now. He looked himself over in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction, sealing the rest of his clothes inside of the scroll he bought.

Walking out of the store Naruto created a Kage bunshin and told it to go find Jiraiya and tell him he was going to get some food. Walking around Naruto eventually found a small stand that seemed to offer a variety of different foods, Naruto eventually settled on Domburi with Gyudon (beef) and began to eat. A few minutes later Naruto blinked as the memories of his clone finding Jiraiya drunk off his ass with several girls hanging off the man hit him. What was that? Naruto wondered as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He had never had that happen when he made a clone before, of course normally when he made clones he would spam them out as if they were going out of style, so maybe he just never noticed. As he ate he absently wondered if this could be used for training or if he only retained the memories of the clones when they dispelled. He would ask Ero-Sennin when the man found him.

A little while later said man walked into the stand and sat down next to him, he ordered a small bowl of ramen and waited for it to come. When it did he began eating for a bit before deciding to speak, "We'll be staying the night here, tomorrow we're going to leave early and start your training."

Naruto nodded, "Speaking of training, I noticed that I gained the memories of my clone when it dispelled."

"Hoho," Jiraiya said with a small hint of surprise and pride, "so you found out the secrets of the Kage bunshin eh?"

Naruto turned to face Jiraiya with an incredulous look, "So you knew about this?"

"Of course I knew kid," Jiraiya snorted, "I've been waiting to see when you would figure it out yourself."

Naruto nodded again, deciding not to bother getting bent out of shape about over not being told, "Do you think I would be able to use it for training?"

Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment, "That could work… with your reserves you could easily learn things in months that many others would take years to get down. Though I imagine there would be some draw backs to this method of training."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya spent the next hour explaining the draw backs of using Kage Bunshin to train.

XXXXXXXXXXX

1 month later...

Naruto grunted as he came up and did another set of pushups, he had been going at them for about an hour now and was just about finished. It had been a month since he had learned the Kage bunshin method and Naruto's training had been progressing far faster than most people could ever hope to. Every day Naruto would create about 200 clones, half of them would go through the taijutsu kata that Jiraiya was trying to teach him. The style was called Hamingu Tori No Ken (humming bird style) and relied on high speed attacks that were designed to inflict significant damage on the weak spots of the body such as joints. The other half would work on chakra control, which was easily Naruto's worst subject with Genjutsu being a close second.

Naruto had been told by Jiraiya that because of his massive reserves, doing things like Genjutsu and medical jutsu would be impossible. However if he got his control up, Naruto should at the very least be able to dispel high level Genjutsu even if he could not cast them. So his clones would do a mixture of exercises, most of them would run around on a body of water with several large rocks sticking to different areas of the body while balancing senbon or kunai on his fingers. He hoped that he could at least get Anbu level chakra control by the end of the training trip.

While his clones were doing that Naruto would work on the physical aspect, training his body to withstand high speed combat. Every morning Naruto would wake up and do his work out. Currently he would do a 15 mile run, 400 pushups, 400 sit ups, 200 pull ups, 1000 squats, 500 kicks and 500 punches; each week he would add 5 miles and 100 more of each exercise. He had gotten inspiration for the training regimen from his friend Rock Lee, a boy who could only use taijutsu. While Naruto was considered a ninjutsu specialist he had strong hopes that he could also match Lee and Gai in taijutsu. Finishing his pushups Naruto started on his sit ups.

A little ways away Jiraiya watched his apprentice work with a frown, while he was proud of the boy for pushing himself so hard he was also worried. Naruto had been doing nothing but training for the entire month since they had started, the boy would only stop to eat and sleep; though Jiraiya was positive the boy was only getting half as much sleep as he should. Jiraiya's original decision to take Naruto on this training trip was too focus on helping him use Kyuubi's chakra, but the boy had been so adamant on learning to fight without it that Jiraiya had decided to focus on actual shinobi training before going to that. While the blond had improved a good deal, going from mid gennin to about high Chunin level, he would eventually crash if he kept at it.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called out, "I want you to stop for a second and come here!"

Naruto looked up and nodded; finishing his set he stood and made his way towards Jiraiya. "What do you need Jiraiya-sensei."

That was another thing that was different about their relationship; whenever they were training Naruto would always refer to him as sensei. Of course once they were finished it was right back to Ero-Sennin, but at least it was progress.

"I want to know what's eating you," Jiraiya said narrowing his eyes as Naruto looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about sensei," Naruto said, though he still wouldn't make eye contact.

"Don't give me that crap," Jiraiya scowled, "you've been quiet ever since we left Konoha. In fact you haven't been your typical loud mouth self since you got out of the hospital now that I think about it, I've rarely ever heard you speak more than two words unless it was about training. Now spill it or I won't train you anymore."

Naruto winced at the obvious threat, for a moment he was silent before he sat down with a sigh. "It's just… I realized just how badly I've handicapped myself all this time. When I was younger no one would ever teach me anything, I had to learn to read and write on my own because the lady who owned the orphanage said 'Demon's don't deserve to learn how to do human things' and when I went to the academy it was the same way. I thought that since the old man was letting me go there I would finally be able to learn and show everyone what an awesome ninja I could be if given the chance." Naruto closed his eyes, "That never happened. I was always sent out during important lessons or assignments, when they taught us taijutsu I was taught incorrect stances, the list for the things they did go on… I eventually decided to stop paying attention; I played pranks so people would notice me. And by the time I found someone who was willing to teach me it was too late, I didn't care anymore. Sure I always said I would be Hokage but I never really worked at it, I want to change that."

Jiraiya sighed as he realized what the problem was; he should have known that Sarutobi-sensei would not have been able to protect the boy like he should have. Jiraiya should have been far more adamant about taking Naruto with him after the Kyuubi's attack, he was sure that a life on the move would have been better then a life of hatred. "I suppose I can understand that," Jiraiya said, "but you're still going to burn out if you keep this up."

"I know…" Naruto sighed, "But I can't help it. I want to become better; I don't want to be considered the dobe, the loser anymore."

The toad Sennin looked at his godson for a long while before smile broke out on his face, "Alright then, get back to your training and I'll make sure you become the best shinobi in Konoha if not the entire elemental nations."

Naruto grinned before running back to his spot where he began exercising again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Naruto and Jiraiya entered the next town, the Toad Sannin immediately turned to Naruto. "Listen I'm going to go and find one of my contacts here so I can look for some information. You can wander around just stay out of trouble, got it?" he asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the man, "I'm not you Ero-sensei."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the new nickname; apparently Naruto had decided that because Jiraiya had earned his respect he would give him the sensei title. Of course he later told the man that because he was still a pervert he would not be removing the 'Ero' part any time soon.

"I'll be fine, I'll just go and see if this place has any ramen, maybe do some training afterwards."

"Whatever brat," Jiraiya stated as he ran off, Naruto having been with the pervert for the last month recognized that the man was heading towards the red lights district.

"Informant my ass," Naruto mumbled as he began walking around town. He didn't really bother taking in the sights, having seen one city in fire country, he noticed that they all kind of looked the same.

Instead he looked around at all the people, even though he had been out of Konoha for over month, actually having people smile at him rather than glare was a novel experience. He still was not really sure how to react, but he would occasionally return someone's smile with a tentative one of his own. As he was wandering he noticed something else that made him curious; he had passed several groups of girls his own age, and not one to be rude to well, anyone really, he had offered them a smile. This had the unexpected side effect of the girls doing two things, the first was for the girls to blush at him, the second was to huddle in whatever group they were in and start giggling while looking at him. He really was not sure how to react to this, having never had experience with girls aside from getting his face to cave in whenever Sakura hit him, he had not even touched a member of the opposite sex before (he did not count Tsunade-baa-chan, Shizune-nee-chan or Ayame-nee-chan) at least not without bodily harm done to him.

And so he was left confused as he made his way around town, looking for a stand that would sell him some good ramen. After several minutes of searching, he finally found a stand that looked promising, he walked in and sat down at one of the stools.

At the sound of his entrance the chef turned around and spotted him, "What'll you have kid?"

Naruto frowned as he looked over the menu, "Hmm… I'll have five orders of your Miso Ramen, four orders of your chicken ramen and two orders of your beef ramen to start!"

The man behind the counter just looked at him for a second, wondering if this kid had some kind of mental deficiency. "Um… are you sure you can eat that much kid?" he asked.

Naruto looked at him with his newly created 'do you know who the fuck your talking to' look, "of course I'm sure, if I wasn't I wouldn't have ordered it."

The man just looked at him before shrugging, "well if you say so…"

One hour and twenty three bowls of ramen later, Naruto left the stand leaving a very happy ramen chef and the feeling of his wallet several pounds lighter. He decided to continue his walk through the city before finding a nice quiet place to train, he wasn't too worried about getting lost, Jiraiya somehow always knew how to find him even when the man was drunk as a skunk. As he continued Naruto noticed he was getting more and more of those look's from the female population. He was not sure what they meant but the looks had the odd effect of making him swell with pride, and at the same time want to run away screaming. Though, he could have sworn he had seen those looks before…

He shrugged the thought off as he looked at some of the stores, wanting to see if they may have anything interesting. He didn't go into any of the stores right now, since he could not see anything interesting, instead he satisfied himself with window shopping to see if there as something he might want. As he was looking into one of the stores he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. Turning around he found himself staring at a girl around his age, she had long light brown hair, green eyes and a decent figure for someone who he recognized as a civilian. She was giving him the same smile with that light redness across the cheeks that he had noticed other girls giving him as he had walked around the city.

"Um…" Naruto was really not sure what to say, he had next to no experience with women so he was completely unsure on what to do. He decided to be… quieter then he usually was, after all Sakura would hit him when he was loud, so there was no reason to assume other females would not do that either. "Can I help you?" he asked.

He picked up several giggles coming from behind the girl, turning his head slightly he saw a group of them just a little ways away looking at the two of them. He did not know why but this instantly had his danger senses going haywire, telling him to run and never look back.

The girl continued to give him a small smile, "Actually me and my friends were just wondering… if you wanted to go shopping with us?"

Naruto blinked, opened his mouth, closed his mouth and blinked again. No one had ever asked him to do something like this with them before; it went without saying that he was stumped on what to do. "What?" he asked in a voice that sounded like he had not heard what the girl had asked.

The girl talking to him could not help but think he looked extremely cute with his confused look, she starting giggling again, "I asked if you wanted to go shopping with us?"

Naruto for reasons he did not know, felt his cheeks become inflamed and he was positive he looked like a tomato; this was confirmed when the girl and her friends in the distance started giggling again. Naruto thought the giggling was kind of cute, yet at the same time felt it was the single most terrifying thing in existence. He was tempted to just run and hope these girls could not find him again to ask him, yet at the same time he had never actually spent time with anyone his own age outside of the academy and missions.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Naruto said as he gave the girl his mega watt smile. After all it would be nice to hang out with people his own age just to be with them instead of on a mission or training.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Naruto was unsure what had happened, but he soon found himself being dragged by the arm to nearly every store in the city. The girls did not do any shopping, however they had decided to see what kind of clothes he liked to see them in. Apparently they wanted a guy's opinion or something, he wasn't quite sure since they were talking so fast it was next to impossible to understand them. In any case, every store they went to, the girls would grab a bunch of clothes, change into them and model for him while asking for his opinion. Naruto having never done anything even remotely like this before was completely unsure what to say to them, instead he found himself spending that time blushing and trying to speak, only for no words to actually come out, or for his words to sound more like he was choking on a piece of food. Unfortunately for him, rather than irritate them, this seemed to endear the group of females he was hanging out with even further. They began calling him cute and asking him things like if he had a girlfriend, one was even bold enough to ask if she could touch his whiskers.

Luckily helped arrived, as he was walking down the street, two of the girls having somehow latched onto each of his arms, Naruto noticed a large dust cloud being kicked up and coming his way. He and the girls stopped and watched as Jiraiya passed with a horde of barely clothed women coming at him with bats, pitchforks and many other devices used to maim and cripple, all the while yelling about 'perverts' and 'getting what he deserved'. As soon as they passed Naruto got out of the girls grip and turned to them, "Er… sorry for cutting this short but it looks like I have to save my perverted sensei from his rightful execution." With nary another word Naruto was gone, leaving the girls to watch the second, smaller cloud of dust he made.

Naruto found Jiraiya just as he assumed he would have, lying unconscious and twitching as the women walked away after beating him. Walking up the blond toed the spastically twitching Toad Sannin, a second later said Sennin jumped up and dusted himself off as if nothing had even happened.

"I knew you weren't going to be meeting any contact Ero-sensei," Naruto said once the man was up, "stupid pervert why can't you ever just act normal?"

"Normal is over rated gaki," Jiraiya exclaimed as a smirk formed on his face, "besides, you have no right to talk, I saw all those females you were with. I have to say I'm quite impressed," his smirk turned into a lecherous grin as he saw Naruto's face turn beat red.

"I-it's not like that you god damn pervert!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at his sensei. "They asked me to go shopping with them, and I was just trying to be nice!"

"Oh ho, so they came on to you eh?" Jiraiya wiped away a fake tear, "my student is growing up so fast, to have women asking him to spend with them…"

"Shut up, shut up shut up shut up!" Naruto shouted, covering his ears.

"Now don't be like that gaki," Jiraiya said with a grin, "it's quite impressive what you did. In fact I'm so impressed that I'm going to give you some tips on how to please women…"

As the two went to the hotel Jiraiya had rented before deciding to do his research, Naruto was forced to listen to his sensei giving him tips on how to please a women. He tried not to listen to the man, knowing that all he was talking about was some perverted crap that he did not want to know, however he somehow found himself listening anyways. Half of it he didn't even understand, having been sent out of class during the sexual education course he did not actually know about sex, even his infamous Oiroke No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) was merely the bi product of having seen the front cover of Icha Icha when he caught Ojisan reading it several times.

Jiraiya had finished talking by the time they reached their room, and Naruto being Naruto used his way with words to form a comprehensible and well thought out sentence after listening. "What the hell are you talking about Ero-sensei! What in the hell is a pussy? Is that like a cat? Cuz I seriously hate cats!" Naruto shivered as he remembered his horrendous times with Tora.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto as if he had sprouted wings and grown several tails, "Are you telling me you've never heard that word? Shouldn't you know this stuff? Kami I thought they would have taught at least a little sexual education in the academy!"

Naruto blinked, "I think they did mention something about it once…" he frowned as he tried to remember if they had a class on that.

"And you didn't listen?" Jiraiya asked, sounding for all the world frustrated. The kid had been getting a lot better at being a ninja, he acted smarter too, Jiraiya was sure the boy was not as dumb as he acted, or used to act to a certain extent. But about other things he seemed he was still an idiot about.

Naruto looked down at his feet, "Well I would have, but I didn't have Iruka as a teacher back then… they sent me out, telling me that because of my pranks the other day I didn't deserve to know about this."

Jiraiya found himself frowning. He had learned a while ago that because many of the teachers had been biased against Naruto due to the fox, that they would often send him out during important lessons in class. It was part of the reason Naruto had next to no knowledge about being a shinobi. "What about your Oiroke No Jutsu?" Jiraiya asked, "How did you come up with that if you had no knowledge of sexual education."

"Oh that," Naruto said in a dismissive tone, "I saw Ojisan reading that perverted book of yours and saw the cover, I got the idea from that."

"But the girl in the front cover isn't naked," Jiraiya said.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "Neither is mine, what do you think that smoke covering is for?"

Jiraiya found himself feeling stupid as he heard that, he had assumed that the smoke covering had been used to tantalize the person Naruto used it on into wanting more. Apparently from what Naruto was saying that was not the case, and the only reason the smoke was there was because Naruto did not know enough about female anatomy to actually create those parts. This meant that his apprentice knew next to nothing about sex, or the opposite sex. It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Naruto happened to be with a man who made his living off of books that were little better then porn.

"Alright Naruto," Jiraiya said as he pulled out his first addition of Icha Icha volume one, "I'm going to be teaching you all you need to know about women."

As soon as Naruto saw the little orange book he knew he had to escape, he shot towards the window, hoping to make a quick exit. However Jiraiya was far faster than he was, before the blond even knew what was happening he found himself being tied to a chair and trying not to stare or listen to his sensei as he talked about sex and used his perverted book as a reference.

His screams and pleas could be heard all throughout the night.

The next day found Naruto at the library, looking up knowledge on females and sex. He had been forced to listen to his damn sensei for more than half of the night, now he felt like he had been scarred for life. However the toad Sannin's talk had also made him curious. Jiraiya had told him a lot, but he also felt that the man had left a lot out; after all he had only focused on the perverted parts about sex. So here Naruto was, along with several clones, reading books on human anatomy, the reproductive system and intimate relationships in general; he had even gotten a few romance novels, hoping it would help him understand more about women and relationships with the opposite sex in general.

After all there was no way he was going to let his sensei corrupt him with his perverted ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

6 months later...

Naruto grunted as he was kicked in the face and sent flying backwards, flipping himself in mid air Naruto landed on his feet and skidded across the water. In burst of speed Naruto shot off towards Jiraiya, one hand going to his kunai pouch and the other began a series of one handed seals. He threw several shuriken at Jiraiya before thrusting out his palm.

"Fuuton: Repuusho! (Wind Release: Wind gale Palm)"

The shuriken which had already been going forward at high speeds soon became a nothing more than a streak of silver as they head for Jiraiya. The toad Sennin jumped out of the way, knowing how dangerous Naruto was when he used his wind element for anything. However Naruto knew his sensei would dodge; after all Jiraiya was not a Kage level shinobi for nothing and had in fact counted on him dodging. Naruto put in a small but intense burst of highly concentrated chakra into his legs, literally disappearing and reappearing right in front of Jiraiya. The blond shinobi aimed a punch at his sensei's solar plexus; Jiraiya swatted it to the side and downward in the hopes of knocking Naruto off balance. No such luck as Naruto went down and pushed himself into a handstand, launching a kick that managed to hit Jiraiya in the face and make the man stumble back. Pushing himself into a flip Naruto went for an axe kick to Jiraiya's collar bone; Jiraiya put up both arms to guard and immediately regretted it as he was forced to a knee.

God damn Gaki and his stupid strength training, Jiraiya grabbed onto Naruto legs with both hands and was about to flip the boy over. However Naruto used his other leg to jump up and over Jiraiya, using the man's grip to keep himself balanced and launched a kick to the white haired man's face. Jiraiya was forced to let go of Naruto's leg as he tilted his head to the side and dodged the kick. He turned around and managed to kick Naruto in the chest on the blonds way down, said boy moving with the blow and going into a series of flips as he jumped away to gain some distance. Jiraiya took out a kunai and threw it at the blond, going through a few hand seals as he shouted.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bunshin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai multiplied into two dozen kunai as they all headed straight for Naruto, said blond just looked at them with a smirk. Going through a few of his own hand seals before Naruto called out his jutsu.

"Suiton: Suejinheki! (Water Release: Water Encampment wall)"

A large wall of water formed around Naruto blocking the kunai, once Naruto heard the popping of kunai being dispelled end he went through several more hand seals.

"Suiton: Saryuudan No Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu)"

The wall of water soon began to swirl around Naruto, before taking the shape of a 60 foot water dragon with glowing yellow eyes. As soon as it did Naruto created a seal less Kage bunshin and had it go through a few hand seals as the water dragon launched itself towards Jiraiya.

"Fuuton: Renkudan! (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)"

The clone smashed a fist into its stomach and shot a large ball of compressed wind out of its mouth; it went straight for the water dragon. The water dragon's power and speed were soon increased as the Renkudan merged with it as it headed towards Jiraiya, said Sennin swearing enough to make a sailor blush as he jumped out of the way. The water dragon made slammed into the water with a loud crash, water erupted everywhere looking something akin to a large explosion.

Using the distraction caused by his jutsu Naruto threw several kunai and went through the hand signs Jiraiya had used earlier.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bunshin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai became forty one kunai as they headed for the still air born Jiraiya, noticing the kunai the Toad Sennin went through his own hand seals to counter.

"Ninpou: Hari Jizou! (Ninja Art: Underworld Guardian Spikes)"

Jiraiya's hair wrapped around his body and became hard as steel as it deflected the kunai, when all the kunai were gone Jiraiya whipped his still long hair around and called out another Jutsu.

"Ninpou: Ke Senbon! (Ninja Art: Hair Senbon)"

Several hardened needles of hair were launched at Naruto who took out two kunai, spinning them by the rings he went into his taijutsu stance with both kunai held in a cross guard. Naruto's hands soon became a blur of motion as he deflected the hair senbon away, whatever he couldn't deflect was dodged as Naruto flipped and twirled in an amazing acrobatic display.

When the senbon hail storm died down Naruto looked around not seeing Jiraiya anywhere, he frowned before closing his eyes trying to sense out the man's chakra. Having felt Jiraiya's chakra signature for six months now Naruto could pick it up fairly easily, he finally found him however his eyes widened when he realized the man was right under him. His realization came too late as Jiraiya came out of the water and smashed a fist right into Naruto's chin, before Naruto could fly too far he felt hair wrap around his body and harden immobilizing him.

Jiraiya grinned at his student who was currently hanging upside down; the boy had come quite far in just six months. His physical abilities and taijutsu were now extremely impressive, definitely high Jonin level with all the work they had been doing to bring it up to snuff. His chakra control was also coming along nicely, being at around mid Jonin level; which was good, especially considering the fact that it grew at a near constant rate. However it was Naruto's ninjutsu that took the biggest leap, particularly in the field of elemental manipulation. Jiraiya had decided that since the boy was doing so well they would get started on learning elemental nature manipulation, something that Jiraiya had planned on having Kakashi teach the kid when they returned. Now he was glad that he didn't go through with that plan; since Naruto appeared to have three elements, Fuuton (Wind), Suiton (Water) and Raiton (Lightning). It had been a shocking discovery and Jiraiya had to wonder if it was some kind of bloodline or if it just came from his parent's. Minato had been a Fuuton user starting out, but had later learned to use Raiton during the third Great Ninja War. And Kushina had an affinity for Suiton Jutsu, so he supposed it was possible but it still didn't make much sense. He actually planned on having Naruto tested when they returned to Konoha in three years, if he did have a Kekkei Genkai of some kind it could cause problems.

Jiraiya shook his head, he would worry about that later, "Nice job Gaki, but your still too early to beat me!"

Naruto gave Jiraiya a pout before it turned into a grin that instantly put the Sennin on guard, "Oh really?" Naruto asked right as Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"Shit!" Jiraiya jumped out of the way just in time to dodge a large explosion as the now identified Kage Bunshin he was holding blew itself up. As Jiraiya landed he felt cold steel against his neck; he couldn't help but chuckle, "You've been waiting to use that tactic haven't you?"

Naruto grinned as he put his Kunai away, "Well… yeah, you tend to immobilize me a lot with those hair techniques of yours so I figured it would be a good way to beat you."

Jiraiya nodded as they had sparred quite often, by now it was obvious that Naruto would know Jiraiya's tactics. That was going to be an issue since others would not fight like he did, nor would they pull their punches. He would need to have Naruto gain some experience, maybe he could see if Tsunade would give them some missions to accomplish? "You're getting better," Jiraiya complimented as he thought about how to give Naruto some real life experience. "Anyways let's set up camp for the night, tomorrow we'll head into a town a little ways off."

"Alright Ero-sensei," Naruto said as he grabbed several scrolls from his kunai pouches.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey Ero-sensei," Naruto said as the two sat around a camp fire.

"What is it gaki?" he asked as he took some meat off the stick over the fire and began to eat.

"I was wondering," Naruto started as he ate some of his own food, "do you think that it's possible for me to bring Sasuke back?"

Jiraiya sighed, he had expected this to come up soon. Naruto had recently been getting quiet and contemplative again; which had not happened since the first month of their training. He also knew about the kids promise that pink haired girl who the kid had a crush on, though judging by the amount of times he had caught Naruto talking and even flirting with other girls now, he was sure that crush would be gone soon. He resisted the urge to give a perverted giggle at that thought before speaking, "I'll be honest with you Naruto; even if you brought Sasuke back it would only cause more problems. Sasuke is like Orochimaru in many ways; he desires power and will do anything he can to get it. I don't need to remind you of how he had nearly killed you trying to leave for that traitor. If you brought Sasuke back it would just cause him to resent you and Konoha more, he left because he felt that the village and his friendship with you was holding him back; if you did succeed in forcing him back he would only hate you more for trying to block him from gaining power."

Naruto's shoulders slumped, "So you're saying I should forget about him?"

Jiraiya patted the boy on the shoulder, "I know it's hard, hell when I tried to bring Orochimaru back and failed I was just as hurt as you were. But being a shinobi and especially if you want to be Hokage means that you sometimes have to make hard decisions."

Naruto nodded to himself it had been on his mind a lot recently, he had a feeling that this would be the case but he had wanted a second opinion. He didn't like it, he had wanted to bring his best friend back; but if that was not possible it would be better to forget about him. "I understand," Naruto said with some conviction, "I was wondering, do you think we could extend the training trip?"

Jiraiya blinked in surprise as he answered, "Well… I don't see why not." Jiraiya smiled at the thought of all the things he could teach Naruto if they stayed longer, "I had originally planned for a 4 year trip anyway, this will allow me to teach you much more and with your Kage Bunshin you could easily be Kage level by the time we return to Konoha."

Naruto grinned as he finished eating and threw the stick his food was on away. He felt as if a small weight had been lifted off of him. Before Naruto went to sleep he made a vow that he would train to become the greatest shinobi ever.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he looked at the blank piece of paper in front of him and wondered how he got roped into doing this. I can't believe I let Ero-Sennin somehow convinced me to write a book, he thought with a sigh as he remembered the bet he had made with his perverted sensei.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback…

Naruto and Jiraiya were currently arguing again, many people would probably wonder what the two could be arguing about. The answer was quite simple, Jiraiya had just been caught peeping again and because Naruto needed his sensei to teach him he had ended up bailing the fool out… again. This was the 1,700,560th time that Naruto had been forced to do this and he was getting sick of it.

"Sweet Kami Ero-Sensei can you for just once in your life not go peeping in the hot spring and act like a pervert!" Naruto yelled in the middle of the heavily populated city in Tsuki No Kuni (Land of Fangs).

"Shhh," Jiraiya whispered as he looked around seeing many of the women currently glaring at him. "Keep it down brat, you're gonna make it harder for me to pe- I mean do my research if you yell like that and alert all the ladies."

"Good maybe if they don't go to the hot springs you won't go peeping," Naruto stated. "Then perhaps you can actually write a good book that's not perverted."

"Hey are you saying my books are bad!"

"Did I stutter?"

"You damn brat, my books are the best and every one with half a brain knows it!"

"Then how come all the woman absolutely hate your books?" asked Naruto who grinned when he got a glare from his sensei. "Besides I could write a book that would sell 1,000 times more copies than your perverted crap."

"Ho ho! That's a good one gaki; would you care to bet on that?"

"What are the wages?"

Jiraiya went into a thinking pose, "Hmmm… if I win you will not only have to keep helping me out when I get caught doing research, but also use your Oiroke No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) to help give me some material as well."

"Fine and if I win you have to not only stop being perverted as long as you're still training me but also…" Naruto thought about what else he wanted for a moment before giving a smile that sent shivers down Jiraiya's spine. "tell me about my father."

Jiraiya nearly choked on his own spit when he heard that, he had in all honesty been planning on telling him after his training was complete. Telling him at this stage could be detrimental since his father had many enemies, right now Naruto was only at low to mid Jonin since shadow clones could not be used for physical training and he lacked experience. Not only that but Naruto might get angry at his father and end up hating the man for sealing Kyuubi inside of him.

On the other hand it could prove to be beneficial and give Naruto something of a measuring stick, making him push himself harder in order to surpass his father. Though he was already pushing himself far more than others could. Jiraiya sighed as he figured it couldn't hurt.

"Alright brat you've got yourself a bet," Jiraiya said holding out his hand. "If your book ends up selling more than mine I'll stop peeping until your training is over and tell you about your father."

Naruto grinned as he took Jiraiya's hand, this would be no problem.

Flashback end…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Damn this is harder than I thought," Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Having fun brat!"

Naruto turned to see Jiraiya grinning at him. Naruto favored him with a glare but said nothing which only caused Jiraiya to grin more. Moving to look over his students shoulder he decided to push the blond shinobi's buttons.

"My, my Naruto look at all that writing you have done," Jiraiya said with evident sarcasm. "I'm sure you'll have a book that beats mine in no time with such A grade material."

"Shut up," Naruto growled.

"Not as easy as it looks is it?" asked Jiraiya in a taunting tone.

Naruto abruptly stood up and left, not looking back as he heard his sensei laughing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sighed as he slammed the now empty bottle of sake on the table before ordering another. Sake had become something he found he enjoyed drinking especially since he couldn't get drunk and just enjoy its taste thanks to the Kyuubi.

"Hey there handsome, do you mind if I join you?"

Naruto looked up to see a woman standing in front of him. She was about 5'6" and wearing a red and black Kimono. She had a fairly nice hour glass figure with nice curves and firm round breasts; she had black hair and emerald green eyes as well as pale milky skin. All in all Naruto found the woman to be very beautiful.

Naruto grinned at her pleased with the small compliment she had given him, he had of course been called handsome before by other woman he had interacted with, but it was still good to hear. Naruto had changed a lot since leaving a year ago; at 13 years old he now stood at a height of 5'7" having hit a rather spontaneous growth spurt about six months ago, about a month after he and Jiraiya left on this training trip. His body was also more defined; even with the civilian clothing he was currently wearing, it was rather easy to see the strain denoting to his well defined pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles and arms. His face had chiseled out as well, having lost most of his baby fat with his harsh training, giving it a masculine look; add on the whiskers and he had what many girls had described as roguish good looks mixed in with feral sex appeal. "How could I possibly refuse such a beautiful woman's company?" Naruto asked rhetorically with a charming smile.

The woman smiled at him as he ordered a drink for her while she sat down, "Thank you it's hard to find good company these days." She said looking around at the various tables.

Naruto looked around to and realized what she met, every where he looked men were eyeing her with lust.

"I see what you mean," he started before giving her a sly look. "Though I do hope that you're not just using me as a shield," Naruto affect a mock hurt expression.

The woman giggled slightly, "Of course not," she started before pausing in thought. "Well not completely, you seem like decent company. I'm quite good at detecting gentlemen who would actually be able to hold a conversation without looking below my face."

"That seems like quite a talent to have," Naruto said as he favored her with his patented 'foxy' grin. "A beautiful woman such as yourself must be used to sensing perverts rather easily."

Naruto and the young woman talked for about an hour; mostly he would ask her questions about herself while regaling her with the things he had seen on his travels being careful to leave out his status as a ninja. He learned her name was Aiko Miaki and much to his surprise she lived in Yuki No Kuni, (Snow Country) one of the countries he had saved which was now called Haru No Kuni (Spring Country). She was apparently here on business working as a trader for some of Haru's technology, which Naruto knew was more advanced than anything else in the elemental countries. Naruto would also throw in the occasional subtle compliment that made the young woman blush; he was quite pleased with himself for that accomplishment. Since his first encounter with that group of girls a little over six months ago, Naruto had made an effort to get better at speaking with women. He would never go to Jiraiya for advice of course, after that night where the Sannin had tried to teach him, Naruto had been scarred for life. However he had read up on intimate and sexual relations, as well as books that talked about girls in general and several romance novels; he never really like them but felt they helped. As he continued meeting different women in the elemental nations, Naruto found himself actually enjoying spending time and flirting with various women, he could at least partially understand Ero-Sensei's obsession with them; even if he felt the man took it too far with his peeping.

Aiko herself was pleased that Naruto was actually listened to her, she found herself blushing many times as Naruto used his charm and gave her subtle compliments and not just about her figure. It was definitely a pleasant change to people either putting her down for doing what some considered a man's job or only trying to get in her pants. It also helped that she was downing more sake than usual since she felt so comfortable in his presence.

When it was time to go Naruto noticed that she was having a little trouble standing up, she had obviously drunken too much. Deciding to do the gentlemanly thing he offered her support as he took her back to her hotel. Of course nothing ever goes right when you're with a young beautiful woman at night and the two soon found themselves surrounded by several thugs.

"Look what we have here boys," one of the thugs exclaimed.

"That's quite the woman you have their boy, too much woman for a scrawny thing like you," another commented.

"Just hand over the woman and all your valuables and we may let you leave," the one on his right stated as he pulled out a knife.

Aiko while drunk was sober enough to realize the danger she was in and pressed herself against Naruto. Naruto just sighed, what was it with all thugs being arrogant fools? Deciding to be quick he created a shadow clone to keep Aiko standing while he launched himself at the thugs.

He appeared right in front of the first thug and hit him square in the solar plexus with enough force to send him flying down the road, breaking a few ribs in the process. The other thugs looked in surprise before it turned to anger and they charged him. The one with the knife tried to stab him but Naruto deftly moved out the way and grabbed the man's arm hitting it right where the elbow joint was, breaking it. Ignoring the man's scream of pain he spun 180 degrees and launched snap kick at the other mans left knee cap, breaking that before hitting the man in the neck knocking him unconscious.

When that was done he moved over to the young woman who was looking at him with something akin to awe, respect and… lust?

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the woman.

"Of course I am thanks to you," she purred out as she grabbed his arm and pressed it into the valley of her breast.

Naruto tried hard to ignore that has he walked to the hotel she gave him directions to and walked her to her room.

"Thank you for escorting me Naruto-kun," Aiko said.

Naruto grinned as he scratched the back of his head, "Hehe it was nothing really I was just doing the right thing."

Aiko gave him a coy and seductive smile as she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. "Mmmm, I think such behavior deserves a reward," she said.

Naruto shivered as her breath hit his lips and found himself getting rather stiff in his lower region. "What kind of re-"

His question was cut of Aiko pressed her lips against his, for several second Naruto found himself frozen stiff; while he had kissed women before it was always him to initiate it. Thankfully instincts began to take over as he started kissing back; as Aiko moaned into the kiss Naruto licked her lips asking permission to enter. When she opened her mouth to grant him entrance and he tentatively probed her mouth. Wrapping his arms around Aiko he became more emboldened as she moaned into his kiss.

Naruto soon found himself in Aiko's room, pressing the beautiful young woman against the wall as there kissing became more impassioned. Aiko moaned as Naruto brought his mouth away from hers and began to lick, nip and bite her neck. The young woman began to pant as she grabbed fistfuls of his hair and started to grind herself against Naruto's increasing bulge.

It wasn't long after that, that they found themselves on her bed; where both of them eventually lost their clothes. Not that either cared at this point as passion and lust had taken an inexplicable hold over the pair; Naruto had one last thought before he completely succumbed to his growing lust. 'Thank Kami I learned an anti pregnancy jutsu from that medical book…'

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto held in a groan as the light from the window hit his eyes, opening them slowly he realized that he was in an unfamiliar room. He nearly panicked before he started to think rationally, last night was fairly hazy and the last thing he remembered was escorting Aiko to her apartment. It was then he heard a content sigh and felt something trying to burrow it's way deeper into his well muscled chest. Looking down he saw a mop of messy black hair, that's when he remembered last night.

He couldn't help but blush at remember what had happened, after Aiko had kissed him they had found themselves giving into the feelings of passion. He remembered having sex with the young woman for 4 hours straight before they had pretty much passed out in her bed, as well as all the positions they had done it in. Naruto was actually surprised with himself, not just the fact that he had been 'deflowered' but also that he had lasted so long, though he was also quite proud of himself. The blond had been curious about sex for awhile; ever since he created his Oiroke No Jutsu actually and when he left to go on the training trip he had decided that this was his chance to learn. Of course he didn't want to go to Jiraiya knowing the pervert would completely corrupt him, so he did the only thing he could. He picked up multiple books and read; one of the things he read was that most men do not last long, especially there first time. Though Naruto always did have high stamina; so maybe it was just brought over to his sex drive?

He heard a groan as Aiko stirred in his arms before lifting her head up and rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning Aiko-chan," Naruto said hoping that he would not get beaten for what happened, sometimes woman could become violent and she had been drunk so she might not even remember last night.

Aiko looked at him and for a moment Naruto was afraid he was going to be on the receiving end of 'the female fist of fury'. However she just gave him a saucy smile, "Good morning to you too Naruto-kun, I hope you enjoyed last night."

Naruto gave an internal sigh of relief as he grinned at her, "I had a very good time last night. I hope that you enjoyed it as well."

Naruto's answer was a steaming kiss on the lips, which soon turned into a small make out session. It lasted for a while before Naruto realized he had to go or Jiraiya might start searching for him, and the last thing he needed was that pervert to see this. Deciding to thank her for the amazing night he had several clones clean her sheets while he cooked her breakfast.

The breakfast itself was fairly simple, eggs, bacon and French toast with a side of orange juice. Aiko however loved it stating that it was the most delicious breakfast she ever had. One of the things Naruto had learned recently was how to cook, he found it was something he loved doing and was really good at blending spices and food. What he would consider a normal meal for him was apparently something that tasted like Kami had blessed it for others.

When Breakfast was over Naruto thanked her again and gave her another intimate kiss before making his way to his own hotel.

When Naruto got in he noticed that Jiraiya was passed out on his futon, and several sake bottles littered the floor. Naruto however ignored this as he went to his blank sheets of paper and began writing; last night had strangely enough done wonders to clear his head. He found that he had several ideas for a story and so he began writing. He idly wondered if having sex was the cause of his clear mind or if it was something else, humming a little tune he began to write.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end

the goddess descends from the sky

Wings of light and dark spread afar

she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

2 months later...

"I can't believe it," Jiraiya mumbled as he cried anime tears.

"Believe it Ero-Sensei, you lost," Naruto stated with a shit eating grin.

"But, but-"

"Ah, ah, ah no buts," Naruto wagged his finger at the depressed toad sage.

Naruto's book had just been published a little over a week ago; Naruto had titled it 'Loveless' and brought it to Jiraiya's publisher. After looking at what Naruto had written the publisher had decided to put the book on the market, the results had shocked both Jiraiya and Naruto. Within the first few days the book had swept across the elemental nations by storm, beating out all three Icha Icha books in sales and was still getting more popular.

Jiraiya looked at the sales his student's book got and couldn't help but feel depressed. Naruto's book had earned a higher sales rate than his own books, not only that but there was not one mention of smutty goodness in it! It was inconceivable! Impossible! And yet here it was right in front of him.

"Come on you pervy old man a deals a deal."

Jiraiya looked at him before he grumbled about never betting against blonde gaki's who are too talented for their own good again as he handed him a scroll.

Naruto looked at the scroll before looking back at Jiraiya with an eyebrow raised in question.

"It's from your father, in case something ever happened to him I was told to give this to you when I felt you were ready," Jiraiya explained.

That was all Naruto needed as he opened the scroll and began to read its contents, after the first few sentences Naruto's emotions started to slip. His lips quivered and tears ran down his eyes as what he had suspected for awhile now was confirmed, he didn't know whether to be happy, sad, angry or elated.

Jiraiya watched his student's face flash through various emotions and became worried when the blonds face became blank; it was the look Naruto would get when they were sparring and showed none of what he was feeling. "Uh… Naruto?" Jiraiya asked in an unsure voice, he was not used to these kinds of things. Despite having been through two Great Wars Jiraiya had always had a problem at helping others with their emotional problems, he himself always preferred to get smashed and find a woman to have sex with; suffice to say he didn't think that would work for Naruto.

"I…" a small crack appeared in Naruto's façade, "I'm going to the hotel; I need to be alone for awhile…" Naruto left rather quickly.

Jiraiya looked up at the sky and sighed, he was not sure if this was the best idea but only time would tell.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat in his room as he re read the message his father had left him.

"Dear Naruto,

I bet your wondering who this is, ne? My name is Minato Namikaze and I went by many names, the Konoha No Kiroii Senkou (Yellow Flash of Konoha), and Yondaime Hokage were a few, but the one I am most proud of is father. Specifically your father, your old man's pretty cool right? Now onto why I am writing this, it's really a just in case kind of thing. Despite winning the War there are many people out there who want me dead and I'm not arrogant enough to assume that one might not get lucky. I am leaving this letter with Jiraiya, my sensei and your god father, should anything happen to me or your mom Kushina he is the one who will take care of you. I told him to give this to you when he feels you're ready.

Now that the boring stuff is over with I have some things to give you that I felt were too important to keep at home. On the bottom of this letter is a seal that is specifically designed to open with Namikaze blood, meaning only myself or you can open it seeing as how we are the only Namikaze's. Inside this seal you will find several important things the first being one of my Hiraishin Kunai, note that these will not work for you because of a specific blood seal that is tied to me and only me. The Hiraishin is simply too powerful a tool to use without taking great precaution to ensure it does not get replicated, but this should be a good basis for you to make your own Shiki (Formula) for your own Hiraishin is the key to the formula created, without it you won't be able to see all the seals on the Kunai. The last and just as important are my notes on the Hiraishin, they are not complete since I figured that if you're anything like me you will want a challenge but they should give you a basis to start with.

If I die I hope that this letter let's you know that I love you and hope that this can in some way bring us closer as father and son.

Love your father,

Minato Namikaze."

Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to stop the tears from coming but it was no use, and he soon found himself crying; it was both in joy and in anger. Joy at knowing he had a father who cared about enough to come up with a precaution in case something happened to him, to ensure that he would be able to protect himself and letting him know that his father did in fact love him. And anger at the fact that it was his father, the man he had considered a hero since he was little and listened to Ojisan tell stories of him was the same man who condemned him to a life of hell and loneliness for 12 years of his life.

"He was always pretty cautious when it came to you."

Naruto turned around to see Jiraiya leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed and a rare serious expression on his face. "What?" Naruto asked as if he had not heard what the man had said.

"He made that for you the moment he found out Kushina was pregnant," Jiraiya continued sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I don't think I've ever seen him or Kushina as happy as they had been when they heard she was going to have a baby."

"So I should just forgive and forget?" Naruto asked in a low voice, "Just move on like that because he was happy I was being born! I've lived in loneliness and pain for 12 years of my life because my own father sealed a giant nine tailed demon fox in my gut! Maybe you can forgive something like that so easily but I can't godfather!"

Jiraiya winced at the way Naruto said the man's title, Jiraiya knew he had not been much of a godfather to the blond; he could have disobeyed his sensei and the council. Taking Naruto with him and nurturing the boy into the man he should have been, but he had not done that. "Naruto, I wanted to t-"

"And where were you!" Naruto accused having cut off Jiraiya's speech, "you were supposed to take care of me should anything happen to my parent's! Where were you when the orphanage kicked me out and I was forced to live on the streets for a year! Where were you when I received my first beating by the villagers on my own birthday!"

"Naruto look I-"

"What were you doing huh! Peeking on woman so you could write those perverted book of yours and not accept the responsibility for your godson!"

"Look here!" Jiraiya yelled as he stood up and narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I wanted to take you with me! In fact I begged Sarutobi-sensei to let me take you away from the village! I pleaded with him, but he wouldn't budge! He said he wanted you to gain bonds with the people of the village, I told him that it would never happen but he wouldn't listen!" Jiraiya took a deep breath and calmed down, sitting back down he placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "If it had been my choice I would have taken you with me, but it wasn't. And it's not like I didn't come to see how you were doing…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked having calmed down a bit, though tears were still falling freely down his face.

"Who do you think gave you that wallet?" Jiraiya asked gesturing towards the seal on Naruto's leg that held Gama-chan.

Naruto blinked, "You gave it to me? But I thought that-"

"That it was Sarutobi-sensei," Jiraiya shook his head, "had it been him he would have given it in person."

"Why didn't you give it to me in person?"

"The council," Jiraiya sighed, "by the time I came back to visit you and saw how shitty your life was I begged Sensei to again let me take you out of the village. However the council had taken much of the Hokage's power after Minato's death, by that time Sensei was unable to do anything. I was ordered not to make contact with you unless it had something to do with the seal."

Naruto rubbed his eyes with his arms getting the tears out before he looked at Jiraiya with a smiled, "I guess I'll have to fix that when I become Hokage, ne?"

Jiraiya chuckled as he ruffled Naruto's hair, "I guess so, but you won't become Hokage by moping about like this…"

Naruto chuckled as he dried the last of his tears, he honestly felt better after crying a bit. But crying never got people anywhere, plus crying over spilt milk wasn't his style. He was just about to comment when he remembered something, "What about my mother?"

"From what I understand she wrote a letter for you as well, but it's at their house in Konoha," Jiraiya answered.

Naruto nodded, "Then I won't worry about that for now, I'll be able to read it when I get home."

Jiraiya nodded and smiled; "good now if you're done moping we have some training to do!"

Naruto grinned, "Right!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

3 months later...

Naruto looked out at all the clones he had created after finishing his physical training regime; he had gone from 200 to 300 and had them working on various things. Most of which were elemental manipulation, more specifically trying to find a way to combine them. He had just mastered his lightning Element just a month ago with it being the last natural affinity he had, so he had gone on to try something harder. Currently he had 100 clones working on sub elemental creation.

Contrary to popular belief sub elements were not the result of a bloodline, while there were of course elemental bloodlines they usually centered around specific techniques such as Haku's Hijutsu Makyou Houshou (Demonic ice Mirror's). There were also bloodlines that had specific powers that were used through sub elements, such as Hashirama Senju's ability to tame the Bijuu. Otherwise the shinobi he ran into in Yuki would never have had the Hyoton Jutsu's (ice techniques) that they had been known for before it became Haru No Kuni(Spring Country) after team 7 saved it. Even though they only manipulated the pre existing ice it still took the ability to combine water and wind elements to form the shapes they wanted. Anyone with enough control over their two elements and sufficient chakra control could create sub elements; of course some were harder than others. Naruto had even heard rumors that there was a person who could use Yoton (Lava Release) which was a combination of Fire and Earth elements. And Futton (Boil Release) which was combining two contradictory elements; fire and water to create an acidic base that could melt a person's opponents. He was unsure how the Kekkei Genkai worked for that person but he assumed it allowed for a subconscious act of coating the walls of the throat with a layer of protective chakra. So far Naruto had only been able to create Hyoton, but he was hoping to see if he could combined more than just Wind and Water.

Another 100 were working on a mix of Tai and Kenjutsu kata's, after Naruto had decided it would be good to learn how to use a weapon other then kunai and shuriken. Despite not having any style to go off of right now Jiraiya had told him he was pretty good with a sword. It was Naruto's hope that he would be able to create his own style, like his taijutsu style which he had learned was his father's style the Kenjutsu relied on high speed combat. Though rather than aim for joints, nerves and delivering bone crushing blows this style was designed to kill, going for the eight vital points in the human body. Its movement was also based off of his affinity with Wind and Water, the style was meant to 'flow' so to speak. The user would move like the water, flowing in and out of attacks like water flows around a rock. However it was also fast and unpredictable like the wind, it could be calm and centered one moment then have all the power and fury of a raging hurricane the next.

Right now the sword he was using was one he had custom made when he and Jiraiya had gone to Tetsu No Kuni (Iron Country), a country which had been considered autonomous for many years and was well known for their powerful samurai force. The blade was a total of 2"6' in length making it a Kodachi class weapon, with a pitch black finish while the edge was a vibrant silver color. The guard was that of the Uzumaki swirl made to look like it was made of nine fox tails in a dark orange color. The handle was also wrapped up in a dark orange cloth, with a gold pommel at the end and 3 tassels on the bottom. The sword was made out of a powerful Chakra conducting metal that was found only in Tetsu No Kuni, it was the same metal that allowed that nation's samurai to launch chakra based attacks from the blade; it was also very expensive to have made.

Along the edge of the blade were several powerful and hidden seal arrays of Naruto's own design, their purpose was to store elemental chakra so he could launch elemental attacks rather than the standard chakra attacks to give him an edge in battle. He also gave the sword what he called a chakra circulatory seal, what this did was give the sword it's very own chakra system complete with artificial tenketsu points that were bonded to Naruto's own chakra coils. This allowed Naruto to utilize more power if the seals ran out of chakra in battle, it was based off of the few things he had heard about on the Samehada; a semi sentient blade that could absorb foreign chakra. Though Naruto's was not Semi Sentient it was connected to Naruto in a way that most swordsmen would never be with their swords, he had given it the name Susanoo (God of Storms).

The last 100 clones were doing a variety of different things, most of which were reading. Naruto had found an immense desire to learn after wanting to change himself. He would read anything from tactics and shinobi history to politics and gardening, not limiting himself to just shinobi related subjects. However other clones were doing things like playing Shogi to help work on strategy, jotting down notes on ideas for a new jutsu or seal, or even trying to create a new seal. Though those ones had to be replenished often as they usually had rather explosive results.

Naruto turned his attention back to the notes in his hand; it was the one thing he had continued to have troubles with and the one thing he refused to use Kage bunshin to help recreate at all. Of course it was also a very linear technique so creating a bunch of clones would be next to useless for this jutsu. It was the one thing that he was striving to recreate, the prized jutsu that had made his father feared throughout the elemental nations and earned him his title.

The Flying Thunder God or Hiraishin.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his father had left very few notes on just what exactly the Hiraishin was, the notes were vague adhering to describing what the jutsu did but not tell him much on how it was created. What he did know was that through the means of a Shiki (formula) and the use of his father's infamous tri-pronged kunai, Minato was able to utilize a space time Ninjutsu that allowed instantaneous teleportation. Naruto assumed the principle behind the technique was similar to the Kuchiyose No Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu), in that it revolved around space time manipulation. So far Naruto had only made a miniscule amount of progress in the jutsu, since he had nothing to go off of except a description on what it did and the Kunai with the Shiki; though he was using a summoning array to start as a basis.

"Hey Naruto it's time to pack up!" Naruto looked up to see Jiraiya waving at him, standing up he made his way over to his sensei.

"We're leaving?" Naruto asked as he created a Kage bunshin and dispelled it, letting his other clones know to dispel themselves in groups of 10 every five minutes.

"Yep!" Jiraiya said with a smirk, "it's been about a year and I think the only thing you're really missing is experience."

Naruto blinked, "So we're going somewhere I can gain experience?"

Jiraiya looked at him and grinned, "Not us, you."

Jiraiya had sent a message awhile ago about giving Naruto a long term mission to help him gain experience and he had just received a reply. Kiri (Mist) was apparently still locked in a civil war with Kekkei Genkai on one side and the Mizukage on the other. Mei Terumi the apparent leader of the bloodline side had petitioned Konoha for help, hoping that their love of bloodlines would give her some support. Normally Konoha had a policy of non aggression and keeping out of international affairs that did not involve them, however with Jiraiya's recommendation that Naruto needed to experience some things Tsunade had hesitantly given this mission.

"Me?" Naruto asked in confusion, he was unsure what Jiraiya meant by that. "Where will you be?"

"I have some business to take care of, Tsunade assigned me a covert operation to gather info on the different hidden village's to see which ones are a threat to Konoha and find out more on Akatsuki. It will be easier for me to sneak around without you, no offense but while you're a damn good fighter you can't speak for shit."

"Hey!" Naruto pouted puffing up his cheek's comically, "I was able to paint the Hokage Monument in broad day light and not get caught until I was done. I think that shows how skilled I am!"

Jiraiya chuckled, "True but this is not Konoha I'll be going to, many of these places are most likely not friendly and a few may kill you for who you look like.

Naruto was silent as he thought about that, it was true that he was starting to look more like his father. Each day that passed he grew more and more like the man, no doubt if Iwa or some other country that harbored a grudge against his father were to see him they would send assassins out. Naruto was not stupid anymore; he knew that while he was strong, at least mid to high Jonin by now he was far from invincible. He could hold his own well enough against Jiraiya, but even when the man went all out he held back some so as not to kill Naruto. Others would have no such compunction and would no doubt not hesitate to kill him. It was also as the man said, he lacked the experience to make full use of his abilities and that could cost him.

"So where will I be heading?" Naruto asked having decided this would be a good opportunity to see how well he could do against someone other than Jiraiya.

The Toad Sennin gave Naruto a mission scroll, "you'll be heading to Kiri which is currently locked in a Civil War." Naruto unrolled the scroll and began to read it while Jiraiya spoke, "you will assist the bloodline side until the war is over. The rendezvous point is in the scroll as well as a code word and information about who you will be working with."

Naruto nodded as he finished memorizing the information and handed the scroll to Jiraiya who burnt it with a Katon Jutsu. "I'll contact you via summoning from time to time to see how you are doing and give you any info that I feel you can use. Make sure you stay safe, ok gaki?" Jiraiya finished.

Naruto nodded, "Don't you worry Ero-Sensei, I'll do my best."