I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Naruto:

Hinata - 15

Sakura - 0

Fuu - 2

Karui (from the Cloud) - 3

Single Pringle - 0

Okay so there are a lot of NaruHina shippers out there (not surprising). I probably won't do FuuNaru since "For the Future, I Wish to Change the Past" was already FuuNaru. And Karui guys? I really can't see that happening. . .

Sasuke:

Sakura - 6

Hinata - 1

Karin (not a fangirl) - 4

Fuu - 1 (??)

Single Pringle - 3

Probably ain't gonna do SasuFuu because honestly, I can't see that happening. And why are you guys so cruel to my little duckbutt? DX

Sakura:

Sasuke - 7

Gaara - 2

Lee - 2

Shikamaru - 9

Single Pringle - 0

I really like the idea of Shikamaru and Sakura. . . I have to try this. Last time I tried GaaSaku so I might try this ShikaSaku. . . it's a unique pairing.

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Within three hours, Jiraiya and Naruto were ready to leave, and the blonde boy was feeling quite excited. Jiraiya, on the other hand, just couldn't shake the uncanny resemblance the boy bore to his deceased student. It was creepy.

After Mikoto finished lecturing Naruto on how to take care of himself for the three-day journey and threatening Jiraiya if he ever dared to take her "innocent, sweet little fox" to the bathhouse, the two of them headed off to find the future Fifth Hokage.

"Sorry about my mother," Naruto sighed as he walked along with Jiraiya.

Jiraiya glanced at the boy beside him, surprised. "What for?"

"She threatened to castrate you, pull out your fingernails, toenails, pull out your hair, castrate you, pour acid all over you, throw you off the Hokage Monument, castrate you again and many more things," Naruto deadpanned. "I think you deserve an apology."

Jiraiya grimaced. "It's alright, kid."

"How would she even castrate you three times. . .?"

"She's an Uchiha and a woman, Naruto," Jiraiya sighed. "She could place me in a genjutsu where I would repeatedly be castrated, or whatever her demonic mind can think up of."

Naruto gulped slightly, thinking of his pinkette friend. "S-So, on another note, who are we looking for?"

"My former teammate and another one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade Senju," Jiraiya replied.

"Senju. . . like the First Hokage?"

"That's right. Why the sudden interest in that?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto hesitated. "I can trust you, right?"

"Well I should hope so."

"Okay, well. . . I have the Mokuton, and since Tsunade is a Senju, I was hoping she might be able to teach me something about it."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up for just a second!" Jiraiya cried, waving his hands. "You have the Mokuton? How did that happen?"

"We're still trying to figure it out," Naruto admitted. "But yeah, I have the First Hokage's kekkei genkai. It's still a secret from the village, and only a handful of people know, now including you. And if you don't believe me, I'll give you evidence. Wood Style: Tree Wall Barrier."

Jiraiya's jaw dropped when countless wooden branches grew at high speed from the ground, interlacing to form a wide, net-like wall. It was the jutsu that Naruto had accidentally performed when he was experimenting with Earth jutsu combined with Water.

"I'm. . . still having trouble comprehending that you have the Mokuton."

Naruto shrugged. "Don't worry, most people do."

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed his head. "Well, I don't know a lot about the Mokuton, but I guess I could try to teach you Hashirama's signature technique. . ."

"Really? What is it?" Naruto asked, perking up.

"Hashirama Senju was Tsunade's grandfather, so I kind of knew him, I guess. Sarutobi-sensei was taught by both Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, the First and Second Hokage. Hashirama's signature technique was Wood Style Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees."

"What does it do?"

"The user forces trees to grow on any surface, easily creating a dense forest anywhere they choose. A small plant can grow into a forest in an instant," Jiraiya explained. "By generating chakra, the user can manoeuvre it as they see fit for attack or defence, and it can even capture the enemy if you are skilled enough."

"Sounds interesting. . . can I start learning it?" Naruto stepped a little to his left and absent-mindedly laid a hand on the trunk of a nearby tree, causing a small branch to extend from the tree and some small flowers to bud from the same branch.

Jiraiya smiled at the little display of skill. "No, we can try that later. Even though I can see you mastered quite a few Mokuton jutsu, try the Wood Clone Technique. The hand signs are Tiger, Dog and Snake."

"Sounds easy," Naruto commented as he joined Jiraiya's side again.

The Sannin raised an eyebrow as Naruto went through the three hand signs and five wooden replicas of Naruto emerged from behind him. The blonde cocked his head and threw a kunai at one of them, who took the damage and grinned.

"They don't dispel after being attacked," Naruto mused. "So they're not like Shadow Clones."

Jiraiya smiled at the boy's musing. "No, they're not. They can take damage to a certain degree, and they can communicate with you. Although, if you are preoccupied with another Mokuton jutsu, it won't be able to reach it's full potential."

Naruto nodded, absorbing the information like a sponge. After Naruto experimented some more with the jutsu, the two of them started walking to where Jiraiya's spy network last located the Slug Princess.

Jiraiya found himself enjoying the blonde's company instead of feeling uncomfortable with the presence of the boy who strongly resembled his former student. He was very mature for his age and picked up the techniques rather quickly, and Jiraiya noticed how Naruto often stopped to help some plants along in their growth. He also noted how Naruto never shouted out the jutsu name, only said them quietly. It was strange, but Jiraiya didn't ponder it.

'He has the same talent as his father, the same kindness and the same unmistakable bright blonde hair. If it wasn't for the whisker marks and the orange jacket, I would think it was Minato himself,' Jiraiya thought fondly. 'But there are subtle differences between the two - he still has bouts of childish gleefulness and curiosity that his father never really had, and I don't think he has mastered the Hiraishin yet.'

"Ne, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Yeah kid? Wait, did you just call me "sensei"?" Jiraiya stared at the kid who was shifting under his gaze.

"Uhm. . . well you are kind of my sensei, aren't you? You're teaching me stuff and I don't really feel comfortable just calling you by your name," Naruto said quietly. "Should I not call you that?"

Jiraiya smiled. "It's fine, kid. You just. . ."

"Look a lot like my father and he was your student, I know," Naruto sighed. "This happens all the time."

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, the resemblance is uncanny and kind of creepy. And I thought your heritage was supposed to be a secret."

Naruto shrugged. "I'm not an idiot, I know the Fourth Hokage and his wife are my parents. The villagers really are idiots, though. Those who knew my father personally, or taught him, or were taught by him all recognized me immediately. Why didn't they? He was their Hokage!"

Jiraiya sighed. "As you said, they're idiots."

Naruto shook his head and changed the subject. "Are we there yet?"

"Oh yeah, according to my spy network Tsunade should be passing through this field anytime soon," Jiraiya said as he looked at his surroundings. "While we wait, why don't we start you off on Hashirama's signature technique?"

Naruto brightened up considerably. "Really?"

"Yep. Now to start off, try Wood Style: Nativity of a Sea of Trees. It's a similar jutsu, only on a smaller scale."

"What are the hand signs?"

"It's just one hand sign - Snake."

Naruto nodded eagerly and made the seal. "Wood Style: Nativity of a Sea of Trees."

Grass and trees growing up quickly and turning half of the area into a vast forest in only a matter of minutes. Jiraiya was impressed with the results, and Naruto was fairly awed at his creation as he looked around him in wonder.

"Well you got that nailed down," Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto smiled and released the hand sign. "What are the hand signs for Hashirama's jutsu?"

"Ram and Snake."

Naruto eagerly tried them out. "Wood Style Secret Technique: Nativity of a-"

Before he got a chance to complete the jutsu, the blonde was cut off when a rough voice shouted,

"What the hell's goin' on here?"

Jiraiya's head snapped up to see a busty blonde woman stalking towards them with a black-haired girl holding a pig hurrying behind her.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya greeted cheerfully.

Naruto sighed as he released the Snake sign, only to place his hands in the same sign again as he mouthed, "Wood Style: Stocks."

Stocks made out of wood popped up out of the ground, dragging Jiraiya to the ground with a yelp and trapping him.

"Naruto what the hell was that for?" Jiraiya cried indignantly.

Naruto smirked. "For letting her interrupt me when I'm trying a new jutsu. You know I don't like being interrupted when I'm doing something for the first time."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Let me go, Naruto. I have business to attend to."

"Let me think about that. . ." Naruto pretended to think about it with a finger tapping his chin before he deadpanned, "no."

"Aw come on!" Jiraiya whined.

Naruto plopped down by the Sannin's head. "No means no. I'm not letting you go until you tell the lady to go away so I can try the jutsu."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Just do it here, she won't interrupt you."

"She has a name," Tsunade growled.

Both males blatantly ignored her and continued "bantering" back and forth until Jiraiya finally had enough and yelled,

"Just do the freaking jutsu, she's the granddaughter of the First Hokage so she won't freak out!"

Naruto blinked, lifting his cheek out of his palm. "Why didn't you say that earlier?"

"I did!" Jiraiya yelled. "I told you Hashirama was her grandfather on our way here, weren't you listening? Or do you just have bad memory?"

Naruto turned to stare at Tsunade. "That's the Slug Princess?"

"What were you expecting?" Jiraiya sighed, deciding to give up on the blonde who was proving to be impossible to reason with as he seemed to have a rather large arsenal of smart comebacks to counter your reasoning.

"I don't know, probably someone a little older and with less. . ." Naruto seemed to be thinking of the proper word before finally settling on, "boob, I guess."

Jiraiya choked on thin air and started hacking as Tsunade stared at Naruto and the black-haired girl beside her started giggling.

"I can't tell if that's an insult or a compliment," Tsunade said at last.

"It's a complisult!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, oblivious to the three deadpans around him.

"You are very blunt, Naruto," Jiraiya coughed.

Naruto smiled lazily and finally released the Sannin from the wooden stocks. "And ain't that my best quality, if you haven't heard my sarcasm."

Jiraiya rolled is eyes as he rubbed his wrists and cracked his neck. "Ah, that's better. Thank you for finally releasing me. Now, I believe proper introductions are long overdue. Tsunade, this is Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha. Naruto, this is Tsunade Senju."

Naruto gave Tsunade a simple nod before turning back to Jiraiya. "Can I go practice now?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "I thought you wanted to ask her about the Mokuton."

"Yeah, but practicing the First Hokage's signature technique? That's gotta be one's first priority above all else!" Naruto whined.

"Even getting more knowledge on it?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Naruto grumbled and Jiraiya let out a hearty laugh, patting the boy on the back.

"Fine, you can go."

The blonde cheered and ran to the clear side of the field to start practicing.

"Start explaining," Tsunade said bluntly, seeing the fond look in Jiraiya's eyes as he observed the blonde create a small forest that was steadily growing larger.

"Ah, about his Mokuton?"

"Yeah, how does that brat have it? I'm fairly sure there aren't any other Senju members alive except for me."

"We're still trying to work that out. . . but there's a bar nearby. I'll tell you my suspicions there."

"And the brat?"

"He can stay here and practice. From what I'm seeing, he still hasn't got it down to pat unlike the other techniques he's tried. I'll let him know I'm in the bar if he needs me and he can stay out here to practice. He's a hard worker, alright."

The Toad Sage went over to the boy and waited until Naruto noticed him before speaking. When he came back, Jiraiya turned to the black-haired girl and asked,

"Shizune, would you mind watching him to make sure he doesn't exhaust himself?"

Shizune quickly nodded and Jiraiya smiled at the young girl before taking Tsunade into the bar. Five bottles later, both adults had grown fairly subdued, and the gloomy atmosphere hanging around them so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"But Tsunade, aside from that."

The blonde woman glanced at her former teammate as she downed another cup of sake. "What is it?" she slurred lowly.

Jiraiya sighed heavily, looking at the remaining liquid in his cup. "As you know, Sarutobi-sensei is growing old. He wants to retire, but if he does, he knows that the old war hawk will take over and you can only image how terrible the village's downfall will be with him as a leader. So he wants you to come back to the village and take the hat."

As Tsunade opened her mouth to protest, Jiraiya quickly interrupted her as he downed his cup and stood up to leave.

"Tsunade, don't think about this as your duty to Sarutobi-sensei or as a Leaf shinobi, but as your duty to Naruto."

Tsunade frowned slightly as she watched Jiraiya leave, thoughts whirling around her head. "Troublesome," she muttered as she snatched the bottle from the table and chugged it down in one go, reaching out to swipe another bottle from the passing waiter and gulping it all down before he could even attempt to take it back.

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As Jiraiya left the bar, he noticed the empty clearing had turned into a massive, looming forest. He sweatdropped at the forest and found a blonde sitting on the ground and talking to a black-haired girl.

Smiling at the new friendship, Jiraiya walked over and ruffled the blonde spikes. "Hey kid, it's time to go."

Naruto looked up and smiled at his new "sensei" and stood up. "It was nice talking to you, Shizune-san."

"The pleasure was mine," Shizune smiled back as she stood up. "It was good to see you again, Jiraiya-sama. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check up on Tsunade-sama."

"She's probably drunk, Shizune," Jiraiya called. "She's got a lot on her mind."

Shizune waved her thanks and hurried faster into the bar, leaving the two spiky-haired males behind her in the forest.

"Now, about this forest. . ."

Naruto chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Um, sorry?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Whatever. C'mon kid, I need to talk to you about something."

Naruto titled his head and hurried after Jiraiya, who was walking quite quickly. A few minutes later, the two were sitting down on the roof of their hotel. Well, Jiraiya was sitting. Naruto was lying on his back as he stared at the dark sky, the stars reflecting in his eyes and creating the effect of mini galaxies were swirling within his blue orbs.

Jiraiya's eyes softened as he watched the boy star-gaze. Minato had often done that as well, and Naruto seemed to have inherited the "galactic eyes" that everyone was often enchanted by.

"So, you have the "galactic eyes" as well," Jiraiya said at last.

Naruto shifted his head to look at the Sannin, eyebrows lifted in a silent question.

"Your eyes reflect the stars, and they look like miniature galaxies. Your father had the same type of eyes, and those who saw them were often enchanted by them. I named them "galactic eyes"," Jiraiya explained. "Apart from your father, you're the only person I know who has them."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. "Tell me about my father," he said quietly.

Jiraiya nodded. It was only right he knew.

"Your father was a brave and talented man. He was calm and collected, like you are. He balanced the relationship dynamics between him and your mother perfectly. As an Uzumaki, your mother, Kushina, was often short-tempered and so earned the nickname "The Red Hot Habanero". Your mother was kind as well, and she was best friends with your adopted mother, Mikoto Uchiha as well as the Hyuuga clan head's wife, Hitomi Hyuuga, although she's deceased now."

Naruto nodded. That explained why Hiashi was often kind to him and took the time to have a small conversation or asked him how he was doing when they met in the street sometimes.

"As you know, he was the Fourth Hokage and the Yellow Flash. He made enemies out of the Rock and I'm fairly sure that's why Sarutobi-sensei wanted to keep your heritage a secret, so that your father's enemies wouldn't go after you."

Naruto nodded again. It did make sense.

"Jiraiya-sensei. . . apart from Nagato, do you think I have any other biological family members left?"

"Nagato?"

"He's an Uzumaki, you know. My mother was his aunt, so that makes him my cousin."

"Interesting. . ." Jiraiya didn't say anything else on the matter, deciding to refrain from telling the small blonde that two more of his biological family members were still alive.

He would know in due time.

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"Farquaad," Naruto growled in frustration. After finally mastering Hashirama's signature technique, our favourite blonde is now stuck on another jutsu.

"Wood Style: Advent of a World of Flowering-"

"Naruto, come up here!" Jiraiya called from the roof of their hotel.

Naruto grumbled at the interruption but dropped the hand sign and jumped up to the roofs to join his sensei. "What is it?"

Jiraiya was narrowing his eyes at a clearing not far from where they were. "I can sense his chakra. . . Naruto we need to go over there now. I have a bad feeling that we're needed."

Naruto nodded and the two raced to the clearing ninja-style. Meaning, via rooftops.

The blonde's sharp eyesight caught movements coloured black, blonde silver and purple. His blue eyes turned slightly red as he drew upon Kurama's chakra to enhance his already sharp eyesight and the blonde blur was made out to be Tsunade and the purple rope to be a. . . giant snake?

Naruto sighed and the red receded from his blue eyes. 'Thanks Kurama.'

"No problem Kit, but try not to draw upon my chakra during this battle. We still haven't perfected our Bijuu Mode yet."

'I know, I'll keep that in mind.'

"Good, now have fun out there!"

"See ya Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto grinned, pulling out a unique kunai from his jacket pocket.

Jiraiya's eyes widened but he smiled at the boy. "Good luck."

Naruto threw the kunai and in a flash of golden flames, appeared in front of Tsunade who had collapsed to her knees in front of a bloody Kabuto Yakushi.

Tsunade's eyes widened as golden flames erupted before her. When the flames parted slightly, her eyes widened even further when a young boy stood protectively in front of her with his flames burning brightly on either side of him. His jacket was flapping wildly and his long blonde bangs flying behind him due to the wind that had kicked up.

"Minato. . ." she whispered.

For a second, a similar boy overlapped him, the only difference being that the image had a forehead protector and a grey jacket while the boy in front of her had no forehead protector and had an orange jacket.

The boy shifted his head backwards to give her a lopsided smile. "Don't worry Granny, I got your back."

A small gasp escaped Tsunade's mouth. 'He figured it out?'

Turning back to face his opponent, Naruto's face hardened as all emotion left his blue eyes that were starting to take on an electrical shade, giving him a dangerous look. The blonde held out his right hand and blue started swirling around it.

'The Rasengan?' Tsunade thought, shocked. She vaguely noticed Jiraiya jumping down into the clearing to engage Orochimaru, who had previously been looking on in interest.

Naruto wasn't done with his jutsu yet as he ran towards Kabuto, his Rasengan evolving even further. Four large points started whirring around the Rasengan core, giving it the shape similar to that of a fuma shuriken.

As he neared the silver-haired shinobi, Kabuto gritted his teeth at the unfamiliar Wind jutsu that was forming and immediately whipped out a kunai to try and stab Naruto before he could use the jutsu against him.

Naruto was expecting it, and in his left hand he threw a tri-pronged kunai. Kabuto smirked and smoothly dodged it by leaning his head to the side.

'Silly brat,' he thought.

But Naruto had planned further ahead and at the last minute, Hiraishined above Kabuto and slammed it into the Sound shinobi.

"Wind Style: RasenShuriken!"

Naruto neatly flipped over Kabuto's body as the jutsu met its target, and he jumped backwards a safe distance to watch the jutsu take effect.

The results were instantaneous - the RasenShuriken detonated and produced a vortex of wind.

Naruto smiled. Within the vortex, countless microscopic wind blades would've been created and they would be attacking Kabuto's chakra circulatory system at such a degree that no amount of Medical Ninjutsu could heal it. If the damage was great enough, he was likely to never be able to use chakra again.

Naruto frowned as a thought occurred to him. "I'll have to ask Jiraiya-sensei to teach me senjutsu so I can throw it instead of driving it in like a normal Rasengan," he muttered under his breath as he turned and sat down in front of Tsunade.

Jiraiya watched Naruto's victory with a slight smile on his face until he turned to Orochimaru with a hardened expression.

"Kukukukuku, that apprentice of yours has quite the talent," the Snake Sannin chuckled. "But my, if he doesn't remind me of dear Minato. . ."

Jiraiya growled. "Don't you dare try to place that cursed seal on him," he snapped.

Orochimaru merely cackled again. "Kukuku, don't worry Jiraiya. I know I don't stand a chance against you with my current bodily condition. I won't go after him. . . yet."

Jiraiya growled but Orochimaru was already retreating. Within minutes, Orochimaru was gone and Jiraiya's body posture relaxed only slightly. The Toad Sage turned to walk over to Naruto and Tsunade, and his sensitive hearing caught a question that made him stop in his tracks.

Naruto stared at Tsunade solemnly, and asked quietly, "Are you my grandmother?"

Tsunade's eyes widened. "W-Why would you think that?"

Naruto merely shrugged. "I know my father is Minato Namikaze, and I get the feeling that Jiraiya-sensei was more than just a sensei to my father. I've never heard of the Namikaze clan, and you know blonde spikes aren't very common with shinobi. I think my father might've gotten that as a combination of you and Jiraiya-sensei. . . the blonde and the spikes. And you probably hid his heritage because you knew it would endanger my father if the world knew two of the Legendary Sannin had a son."

"Well colour me impressed. You really are your father's son."

Naruto looked up with a smile on his face as Jiraiya ruffled his hair and sat down beside him. "How'd I do?"

"Pretty much 100%," Jiraiya nodded. "But seriously, blonde and spikes? That might've been a bit of a stretch if it wasn't for the fact that it was true."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait, it's actually true? I thought it was a very big stretch."

Tsunade chuckled. "No, you're right Naruto. Minato was labelled an orphan at birth because Jiraiya and I didn't want to endanger him. All his life, Minato was an orphan and wondering who and where his parents were, until he became Hokage. The day he became Hokage, he called us both into his office and told us that he knew he was our son."

Naruto's eyes widened even further as tears started welling up in his large blue orbs.

"So yes," Tsunade continued. "We are your- oomph!"

A blur of yellow had launched himself into Tsunade's arms and was hugging her tightly, tears streaming down his cheeks, but he was smiling.

" -grandparents," Tsunade finished, smiling as she hugged her grandson back.

Jiraiya rested his cheek in his palm as he smiled at the heartwarming scene.

"Jiraiya?"

"Hm?" the Toad Sage lifted an eyebrow at the blonde woman. He was smiling, because he already knew what she was going to say.

Tsunade's smile grew as she ran her fingers through the long blonde spikes.

"I'm coming back to the village."