Still a Genin… After being trained by him?

In anticipation of the forthcoming and unavoidable encounter with both Akatsuki and Orochimaru, Naruto as was previously known, decided to depart from the village and thus embarked on an extensive training regimen guided by Jiraiya.

Simultaneously, his fellow team member Sakura commenced her apprenticeship under Tsunade, while the last member, Sasuke who had left the village in pursuit of power, honed his skills under the tutelage of Orochimaru.

Consequently, the three original members of Team 7 were now engaged in individual training sessions under the mentorship of each of the Legendary Sannin.

Or so was supposed to happen in the original happenings of the world of Naruto.

But something seemingly changed as this time, the Naruto that came to the gates of the Konoha village with his sensei Jiraiya was somehow different.

For a starter, his clothes were nothing like it was supposed to be.

This time, it consisted of mainly the black color more than the orange.

Of course, orange was a synonym for Naruto. As such, it was included. But it was only a few compared to before. Two vertical thin lines on his chest, and bands on each wrist.

Finally, on the ninja pants, only the bands on the bottom-most were orange.

One could simply tell that this Naruto was different than before.

As the two men walked to the gate and started to do the necessary procedures, Naruto raised his head and looked upon the village with a smile.

This Naruto, apart from the color change was different in his body build.

It was visible with how tight his clothes were, that he was much more stronger in musculature.

His body was packing some serious muscles, which would suggest he was quite strong unless he would be all show but no power, but that was doubtful.

Following this, the two were allowed entry, and Jiraiya suddenly complained as they were walking.

"So, when are you going to tell me who trained you to become so strong?"

If anyone else heard them, they would face plant because supposedly it was him, Jiraiya that should have trained Naruto.

They would surely punch him, and retort that: it was you!

However, Jiraiya had not been able to teach Naruto much.

Well, not exactly, since at first he was able to teach him to balance his chakra, and how to use the frogs summons, but that was only the first few months.

Later on, an accident happened, and Naruto got lost from Jiraiya. Admittedly, that was on him.

However, when Naruto returned later, despite how Jiraiya spent the day searching he couldn't find him, he was different. And that only became more apparent until now.

Since that day, Jiraiya hadn't trained Naruto at all. Naruto would spend the day lazing around him and doing nothing, and the next day he would suddenly know something new he hadn't thought him. So Jiraiya was sure there was another teacher besides much stronger in fact since he couldn't detect him no matter how much he tried.

As he looked at Naruto he couldn't help but guess if it was the nine-tails.

But Naruto ignored all that and only cheekily laughed as he looked at a simple black pin with the two-letter UG written on it in white.

"Yeah, you can keep guessing that Ero-Sennin"

Then Naruto burst into speed and climbed a pole that was nearby until he reached the top and laid his eyes on the whole of Konoha.

"Konoha, I, Naruto Uzumaki, am back!"

As he laughed to the wind and ignored how everyone was looking at him, Naruto, spread his hands and enjoyed the moment.

But suddenly from a distance, he heard someone running.

"Naruto? Is that really you?"

A pink-haired girl spotted him and how much he had changed.

Naruto upon seeing her, made a jump from there and landed near her as he hugged her.

"Sakura-Chan, it's been a while"

**********

A while later.

"Eh?" A visible noise of confusion was issued.

"EHHHHHHHHHHH?"

Followed by more confusion.

And since it was by yelling it was obvious who was responsible for that.

"Naruto, you're still the same as ever, which I'm thankful for, but can you not yell all the time?" Tsunade, the fifth Hokage, messaged her temple as she was reminded of the shenanigans of Naruto.

A reprimand from Sakura was all it took for Naruto to stop fussing about.

"That's right, stupid!"

The two had been reacquainted earlier along with Konohamaru.

In fact, Sakura was still visibly confused. So much, so that she only reprimanded him and hadn't hit him like she would have usually done.

This Naruto in front of her was so much different than before, that she couldn't act rashly with him. This was what she had been thinking since earlier when he hugged her.

This feeling was shared by all those inside the room excluding Jiraiya who knew Naruto was still himself despite changing so much due to spending two years together. 

"Hahahaha"

Naruto just laughed sheepishly.

'That sounds like something teacher would say… hehe'

Naruto thought back to his teacher.

The teacher that really taught him how to be strong.

Not to take anything from Jiraiya, but his teacher was just magical in his teachings so much, that the Naruto of now couldn't dream of reaching the same heights he reached now if he was trained by Jiraiya.

And this was Jiraiya we are talking about here. One of the three legendary Sannin.

It spoke volumes about how much Naruto respected and valued this 'Teacher' of his.

Still though…

"How come I'm still a genin?" Naruto didn't forget about his reason for complaining earlier.

Tsunade had just explained to him how his friends had become chunnins, with Kankuro even becoming Jonin along with Temari and even Neji.

Apparently, Gaara had even become a Kage.

That was way before he became the Hokage, how could he have let that happen?

Naruto sagged in his place, his body becoming like noodles as he waved around.

The surrounding people laughed out loud since it seemed like Naruto was still the Naruto they knew.

Following after they all bid him farewell, and Naruto left with Sakura to find Kakashi.

They were told that they would be a team of Konoha from now on the three of them.

When Kakashi saw that Naruto was down Sakura proceeded to explain to him what happened, following which he tried to cheer him up.

"Ma, ma, don't be so down Naruto, after all, you can always take the test the next time…"

Kakashi gave his former student an eye smile as he calmed him down.

Which, sort of worked out since Naruto suddenly perked up.

"That's right!"

He gained a happy smile on his face since he knew he could easily ace the test, possibly even the Jonin one.

"Aha!"

Then he suddenly remembered something.

"Kakashi-sensei… This is something Ero-Sennin left for you!"

Kakashi took the object covered with a cloth carefully, unwrapped only a bit, and saw what it was.

His eyes lit up like a star as he hid hit very quickly and coughed.

"I will make sure to thank Jiraiya-sama personally!"

Sakura and Naruto both shared a look and shrugged.

Tak!!!

Kakashi brought their attention back by clapping his hands together with a smile.

"To commemorate us becoming a team, we're going to have another bell test just like the old times, hehe,"

Kakashi laughed as he brought out two bells and waved them.

*shing* *shing*

Sakura and Naruto shrugged again.

Both feeling confident about their growth.