New Sensei - 3

Sakura and Hinata could not stay for very long. They ate lunch together outside near the swing, while Naruto explained how they had read the forbidden scroll and how they had also outwitted Mizuki.

"I never realized Mizuki-sensei was like that..." Hinata said quietly.

"None of us did," Haku admitted, "That's why it was difficult to fight him. We couldn't fully view him as an enemy until..."

He trailed off, not wanting to describe to them how Naruto had learned that he was the vessel for the Kyuubi and other sad discoveries.

"The point is that we proved ourselves as shinobi and graduated!" Naruto cut in, much to Haku's relief, "And that we kicked Mizuki's ass!"

"I still can't believe you stole that scroll Naruto..." Sakura snickered, "I mean...couldn't you have shown it to me and Hinata-chan too, at least?"

Gaara gave her an incredulous look, "Have you no shame?"

She smirked, "Well, since the three of you just browsed through it, I don't see why you couldn't have shown it to us! Didn't you think we'd be interested?" Hinata gave a small nod and Gaara sighed, hoping that this would've taught a valuable lesson to them.

But apparently he was wrong.

"There wasn't much time to think at all Sakura-chan," Haku answered, "We were desperate."

"I'm glad you took the scroll, Naruto-kun..." Hinata said softly, silencing her companions in surprise. Naruto who was halfway through a bite of his rice ball nearly choked.

Hinata wasn't the trouble-seeking type.

"If you didn't take it, then maybe Mizuki-sensei would still be teaching here," She went on, "That...that wouldn't have been good..."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully in agreement, "Yeah, she's right. No one knows how it could've turned out if Naruto didn't steal it."

Naruto nodded, pleased that they agreed with his actions.

"But he still fell into a trap." Gaara deadpanned. It snapped them back to the reality that if Iruka hadn't arrived, things could've gone very badly indeed.

"We should go and meet with our teams now," Sakura sighed, as she and Hinata got to their feet, "We'll come find you later if that's alright."

"Sure it is!" Naruto barked, looking almost offended. He then turned to his teammates, "Maybe we should find out who our sensei is too, huh?"

The girls departed after a short farewell, leaving the boys as they returned to the Academy.

"There were a lot of graduates." Haku began to speculate, "I didn't think that there would be enough jounin to attend to every team."

"Yeah, that was weird." Naruto scratched his chin, "I guess we just lucked out, getting placed on the same team huh?"

Gaara frowned, "Or maybe we were placed on the same team deliberately."

Haku grimaced. Who would want to mentor the three of them? After learning that the elder ninja of the village knew of their identities, few jounin would actually volunteer to train such a group.

Not that they needed supervision: they had been left unattended for six years and had done very well in perfecting their techniques on their own or with each other. Still, now that they had graduated to genin rank, they were probably going to need formal guidance from a personal instructor.

Who was up to the task?

Ten minutes of waiting at the front of the Academy left the three boys particularly anxious. And it wasn't until a distantly familiar grunt caught their attention did they realize that their instructor had snuck up behind them.

"Holy shit. You all got tall."

Jiraiya reveled in the marvelous sound of dropping jaws as Naruto, Gaara and Haku instantly recognized his scratchy voice.

Naruto, ever the opponent, rounded on the toad hermit, "Ero-sennin, where the hell have you been?" Jiraiya was shocked to see him smiling, "I thought you were too busy doing that nasty 'research' of yours!"

"Well, it has been a while and I am still pretty busy..."

Naruto went on, "It's good that you're here! You see we're waiting for our instructor."

Jiraiya was affronted, 'Does he really think so little of me?'

Haku chuckled sheepishly, "Uh, Naruto-kun...it's quite possible that Gama-sennin will be teaching us."

Gaara frowned at the dark haired boy, "Don't joke like that, Haku."

Jiraiya hadn't expected the 'welcome wagon' but this was more criticism than he had anticipated. And of course the sand kid just had to be a peach as usual.

"Oh ho, sand kid! Don't think I've forgotten you!" The super pervert glared daggers at Gaara, "We have a score to settle, you and I!"

"If you say so." It was a bland, snippy retort.

Belatedly, Naruto came to the frightening conclusion that Jiraiya had reared his fuzzy white head back in Konoha for only one reason other than peeping.

"NOOO!" Naruto stared wide-eyed at Jiraiya, "Not the pervert! There's no way you're teaching us!" He gave horrified looks to both Haku and Gaara who couldn't give him an exact answer themselves, "Right?"

"What? Is this really such a tragedy?" The sage was insulted, "Look, I've already had my share of Genin and you're lucky to have me as your sensei as it is!"

Haku nodded politely, while Naruto fretted over Jiraiya's naughty hobbies and Gaara pondered if he could continue throttling the hermit now that he would be teaching them.

With a sigh, the Legendary Toad Sage recalled how he ended up in such a position...

"I'm glad you could make it, Jiraiya." The Third Hokage smirked while he watched his former pupil shuffle into the office.

"Yeah well," The sennin grumbled, "This better be important, Hokage-sama. I'm on a deadline for the new sequel of Icha Icha you know."

'Time must be making him increasingly flippant...' Hiruzen reasoned. Jiraiya rarely showed disrespect, least of all to him.

"I'm sure..." The Sandaime sighed, "Jiraiya, please understand that I have called you here on strict business and I will have nothing but your full attention."

Jiraiya leaned against the chair placed in front of the Hokage's desk, "I'm listening, Hokage-sama."

"Uzumaki Naruto and his companions have achieved Genin rank."

"That's..." Jiraiya wanted to say 'alarming', "Er...great."

"You will be their mentor."

"WHAT?"

The Hokage's expression was serious, "Surely you had expected this position when you brought them here six years ago, am I wrong? If I recall, you did begin their training but you haven't yet completed it."

"Wait a minute!" The hermit barked, "Why does that obligate me to train the runts? I made no promises and I didn't sign any paperwork! So why me?"

"The other jounin do not believe they are up to the task." Hiruzen answered simply.

"So you want me to do it, tearing myself away from my hard work to train up another bunch of snot-nosed brats?" Jiraiya put on a childish pout, "I'm getting old, Hokage-sama!"

The Hokage looked at him for a long moment, "Jiraiya, I myself am getting old, but have I been any less active as a result?"

"...no."

"Exactly," The Third nodded, "Furthermore, these three young shinobi have special abilities that you have first-hand experience with. That makes you the perfect choice as their squad leader."

It wasn't very flattering, "So?"

"You also have past experience with training genin..."

"So?" Jiraiya was certainly pushing his luck, "You could always order someone else to do it."

"They are familiar with you," The Sandaime added, "And it also may please you to hear that young Naruto has become skilled in summoning toads."

This caught the sennin's attention.

"Er...well, that is good," Jiraiya admitted, grateful that Naruto didn't make light of the summoning contract he had been given, "What about the other two squirts?"

"Recently the three of them went on another fantastic escapade: stealing a forbidden scroll and reading its contents. I suspect they learned some high-level techniques." The Hokage went on airily, "Why don't you ask them yourself?"

'Darn, I'm being swindled...' Jiraiya thought to himself, 'Clearly there's no way out of this one.'

"So what if I do train the kids Hokage-sama?" The sennin shrugged, "What's in it for me? I mean, I am coming out of retirement just to train the brats. I need some kind of incentive."

"I assure you, Jiraiya, you will be compensated," Hiruzen told him, "Though I must warn you...they have become quite a handful."

"Let me put it to you this way," Jiraiya sighed, "I was appointed to train you by the Hokage, and if you've got a problem with that you can march your little butts up to him and tell him about it."

They didn't budge and the sennin inwardly sighed in relief, 'Whew! I really thought that had em!'

"Hokage-sama made you our instructor because you're acquainted with our abilities," Gaara surmised, "I can't argue with that."

Even Naruto came up with an excuse, "You may be a super pervert, but you know what you're doing..." He admitted, "And I have to show you this awesome jutsu I learned!"

"Save it for later." Jiraiya smirked as the blonde's face fell.

And of course, predictable Haku was always respectful, "I'm honored to have one of the Legendary Sannin as our mentor." After giving a small bow he had Jiraiya pegged.

He wasn't about to admit it, but he couldn't believe how much he had actually missed the 'annoying brats.' When the Sandaime had ordered him to lead their genin squad, he was somewhere between annoyed and excited to be reunited with them.

And a bitter feeling also sank into the hermit's stomach, 'Yeesh, they grew like weeds...I'm kind of sorry I had to miss it.' A large amount of guilt also hit Jiraiya when he looked at Naruto, who even in his absence, continued to summon toads as he had been told to.

It wasn't the most happy of reunions, but it was still worthwhile, Jiraiya figured.

"That's settled then. Now that there are no more complaints," Jiraiya smiled at them, "From here out you will refer to me as your sensei and I expect you to meet me at the fourth training area tomorrow at 9 AM sharp...got it?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Sure!"

"..."

The sennin frowned at Naruto and Gaara's faulty responses, "What was that?"

They spoke in unison, some more enthusiastic than others, "Yes, sensei."

"Good!" Jiraiya was grinning, "Now I'm off to continue my sequel. I have a deadline to meet!"

And he left the three new genin of Squad 2 with a very awkward feeling.