Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters in Naruto or Naruto Shippuden. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Human Talking"

Human Thoughts

Jutsus

"Tailed Beast/Summoning animal Talking"

Tailed Beast/Summoning animal Thoughts

CHAPTER 10

A Mysterious Ally

It has been nearly two months since the incident with snakes happened in their garden. Tsunade had read most of the famous Ornithology books ever published in the elemental nations to find out which species does the mysterious bird belongs to, which saved her son from that dangerous python. Tsunade was now in the living room, reading another one of the Ornithology books.

"Bald eagle... No, that's not it..." She muttered and flipped through some more pages.

"Golden eagle... not this one too..." She flipped some more pages.

"Harpy eagle... Hmm..." She hummed in thought while reading more about the species.

"Harpy eagles possess the largest talons of any living eagle, and have been recorded as lifting prey which is equal to their own body weight. This allows them to snatch a live sloth from tree branches, as well as other proportionately huge prey items.

Males usually take relatively smaller prey, with a typical range of 0.5 to 2.5 kg (1.1 to 5.5 lb) or about half their own weight.The larger females take larger prey, with a minimum recorded prey weight of around 2.7 kg (6.0 lb). Adult female harpies regularly grab large male howler or spider monkeys or mature sloths weighing 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb) in flight and fly off without landing, an enormous feat of strength." She paused in her reading.

But what I saw was no ordinary eagle... It lifted a massive python, which weighs around 150kg (nearly 330 pounds), and that is not just any ordinary feet of strength..! She thought with a frown marring her face.

"You'll get wrinkles soon, if you keep on stressing yourself like that."

Tsunade turned her face towards the source of the voice and found Jiraiya coming in through the window of their house into the living room.

"If you don't know, we have a fine looking door that works..." she said sarcastically.

"Nah... Windows are more suited for my style..." he said with a stupid grin, but then he became serious and asked, "So what happened, that you need my assistance..?"

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(Few moments later...)

"Does Katsuyu, know anything about this bird that you are talking about..?" Jiraiya inquired.

"She was as surprised as we are... And that's what makes me nervous that even Katsuyu, who is around for more than a thousand years, does not have any idea about what this bird is..." Tsunade exclaimed.

"But you also said that the bird just saved Naruto from a python that could possibly be there to attack him, didn't you?" Jiraiya questioned.

"Yeah... and it didn't even make any moment even when I was approaching it. It just kept on looking at me, and then lifted the python like it was just a feather..." she said remembering the encounter again.

"This is troubling..." Jiraiya said scratching his chin. "I will see if I can find any info about this in Mount Myoboku, write down the appearance and details of the bird and give it to me." He said handing her a note pad and pen that he always keeps with him. Tsunade wrote what she could remember about the bird and handed it back to the Toad Sannin.

"So, where's my trouble maker godson...?" Jiraiya asked feeling happy to meet his godson.

"He's in the garden with Shizune..." Tsunade said while leading the way to the garden. Jiraiya soon followed her out.

Naruto was once again found playing with a small Katsuyu, while Shizune was keeping a close eye on him making sure that no more incidents like what happened last time take place. Naruto was hugging Katsuyu like a teddy bear. His eyes then caught something.

There was a cute looking baby red fox kit which could be no longer than 2 weeks old. The baby fox's fur was gray, but there was already a red coat growing on its fur. The kit seemed to be not able to walk properly because of its young age. The fox kit was probably an orphan now. There were a lot of orphaned baby foxes whose parents were killed off because of the demand for their fur or just as an entertainment sport for some stupid people (The sad reality of the world we live in).

As soon as Naruto saw the kit, he started crawling towards it. The kit seemed to walk away from the baby Naruto whenever he tried to reach it. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune saw the scene and thought its adorable.

After trying to reach the cute baby fox two or three times and failing, baby Naruto puffed his cheeks like a stubborn child. Jiraiya could have laughed if he didn't see what happened next.

Naruto put his hands on the ground for support and tried to stand. He stood up with shaking legs and took a step towards the baby fox, which seemed to come to him at this point.

Jiraiya was surprised in a positive way and Shizune gasped as she got to her feet with her hands over her mouth. Tsunade's eyes watered with happiness as she saw her son taking his very first steps. Naruto started to pet the baby fox in his own way with his tiny hands.

"Naru..." he heard his mother calling him. He turned his head away from the baby fox and saw his mother standing there. Tsunade opened her hands urging him to come to her. As soon as Naruto saw his mother, he forgot all about the fox and started to walk shakily towards Tsunade. Jiraiya recovered from his surprise and took out his camera that he always keeps with him in order to peep on women, but this time he decided to capture this special moment for the mother and son.

Tsunade watched her son take one step and another with shaking legs, "Come on Naru... Come to mama..." She encouraged him with eyes filled with tears of happiness.

Naruto took two more steps and just when he was about to reach his mother, he stumbled on his legs. Before he can fall, his mother picked him up and she was crying in happiness. She hugged him in her warm embrace. Baby Naruto got confused when his mother started to cry. He rubbed the tears off from her cheeks with his tiny hands as best as he could with an adorable cute expression. Soon Shizune also recovered from her surprise and joined the mother and son duo.

"Caught each and every step..." Jiraiya muttered while going through the pictures he just took.

One picture shows Tsunade opening her hands urging her son to come to her. Next two pictures show Naruto taking one step after another towards his mother. Another one shows Naruto almost reaching Tsunade. Next picture shows a very emotional Tsunade hugging her son who was trying to wipe his mother's tears. The Final picture shows a happy Shizune making faces at Naruto making him giggle and Tsunade to smile.

It will be a gift for my godson, on his first birthday in a few days... Jiraiya thought. Soon he also joined them in urging his godson to walk towards him too, which Naruto happily did.