The Journal (Patreon)

Naruto eyed the book handed over to him by Jiraiya, it looked quite similar to a journal. Maybe because it was.

He was never intrested into books, he couldn't read one for hours on day to learn some theory. That had been bane of his academic years, he had never been able to attentive enough to read those.

"What's this, Ero-sennin? Some kinds of porn novel or something?" He asked irritated.

"Stop calling me that, Gaki." A tick mark appeared on his master's forehead.

"Then tell me what this is," He retorted with a glare.

Jiraiya eyed the boy amused, it had been on whim that he offered the boy to travel with him. Obviously, he was the gaki's Godfather. He had the duty to take care of him after Minato and Kushina died, but he couldn't dare to.

Jiraiya was an orphan, with no family and prior connection, he was starved for attention. His teammates and sensei filled that gap at first, but soon after becoming chunin they became distant and moved towards their own seperate ambitions.

He had tried to find solace in those Ame kids, but duty called him again and he returned to Konoha as another war was on horizon.

He took up Minato as a genin, and after becoming chunin Minato remained attached to him. His other two teammates were from famous clans, thus they moved into clan duties after achieving the rank of chunin.

Minato was an orphan same as Jiraiya, and was too attached to his master just as Jiraiya was to his own.

But where he was ignored in favour of his talented teammate, Minato was taken under his wing. He taught the brat summoning, basic fuinjutsu and build up his ninjutsu arsenal. His forage into advanced fuinjutsu was due to his own interest in Kushina, and her family legacy.

Minato had become like a son to him, and Kushina while being quite a spitfire had came to see him as family. He had been quite close to the both of them, and their death had hit him hard.

He had felt again like a five year old, alone and distanced. He knew he had some responsibilities towards Naruto, and even though the brat wouldn't hold his pain against his master, he felt bad. He felt bad for Naruto, he felt bad for himself.

And it had only taken him one month to understand that Naruto was a mix of Minato and Kushina, he wasn't a nerd like Minato but had good reflex and speed. His exurbent personality and inability to study from books, and better by practice was all Kushina.

And thus he has decided to take him on a three year training trip, it was guise mostly. Because frankly he wasn't experienced enough to teach Naruto, who was so much like Kushina. For Minato he had only passed on books, theory and notes; Minato had adapted to them and worked through them to become a what he was.

Naruto wasn't like that, he need one on one training. Jiraiya could handle Taijutsu, and general shinobi art. Rest he couldn't.

But here was giving Naruto, what could be considered as his legacy. This was a journal that Minato had taken to writing, since he started learning fuinjutsu. After the decimation of Uzumaki clan, the master of the art were rare and notes on the technique nearly non-existent.

At first it was about to be a book on basic of fuinjutsu, but Minato's training advanced and the book became more like his explanation on study of different arts. It contained sensitive information that shouldn't be let out in public, the book had explained description of techniques Minato had invented and discovered.

Such information was valuable, enough that Iwa, Kumo or any other nation would kill and destroy to get their hands on it. The legacy and mastery of Minato wasn't easily forgotten, even after almost one and half decade of his death.

And Naruto was rightful owner of this book, it had been a year since they departed Konoha. Naruto was growing and so was his strength, Jiraiya had no doubt that the orange-clad boy would make his old man proud.

"It's your father's," He said a bit amused. His eyes dancing with mirth, at the wonder Naruto showed.

"Did you know him? Why was it with you though?" He asked in rapid succession.

"Of course, I did. He gave it to me for safekeeping, and I think you're ready to have it." He replied with nod.

"Ne Ne, Ero-senin. What is this all about? What's in this book anyway?" He asked perturbed.

"Why don't you look it for yourself? I am going to get some supplies, you should read it while I get here." Jiraiya replied.

Naruto nodded before opening the journal, the index page contained divisions: Fuinjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu and Bukijutsu.

He knew all of them except one definition wise, although it was not the ones taught in book. He knew Ninjutsu let you perform jutsu with elements, Taijutsu was hand to hand combat, Genjutsu was illusional jutsu, Bukijutsu involved Weapons. It was Fuinjutsu, he has no knowledge about.

He knew the sealing scrolls and explosive seals he was so found of worked on scribbles, even Iruka sensei was somewhat knowledgeable of those scribbles and had tried to teach him more than once.

Unknown to him it wasn't simply Iruka, even Hiruzen had been all down for teaching him rudimentary Fuinjutsu, as it was his heritage. But the boy had been hyperactive and unable to sit out for that long to learn that art.

Now, he wasn't that much better than his younger self, but he was calmer. And the name of his father has given him the motivation to at least read the text, and try it out.

"Huh, I'll try ninjutsu first. I think my father would've been awesome like me." He said smiling, turning to the pages of ninjutsus.

'Rasengan: A jutsu created by me for brute strength, the chakra is molded clockwise while maintaining...'

His mind fused reading the whole explanation on Rasengan, that he so much loved. Terms such as 'jinchurikki', 'stability' and 'directed', made no sense for him but he still read the page on Rasengan.

There were other ninjutsus namely 'Hair jizo', 'Shadow Kunai and Shuriken no jutsu', and the books from where they were recorded. The section on Ninjutsu was divided into created and acquired, and further into Nature transformation.

It seemed his father had or acquired three affinities; Fire, Wind and Lightning. There were several techniques he had learned, not so much he had created though.

No, the section filled with his invented techniques was the fuinjutsu one.

But there was a page beside index that was more interesting to Naruto.

'To whomsoever who gets this books, you're most likely my son or descendants, because the sealing matrix on the book wouldn't allow another to read it.' it said.

'This was at first a journal that I wrote to note down my daily success over years with fuinjutsu, but kind of became a journal on my techniques and prowess.'

'But first, to use all these techniques you need to improve your skill with shurikenjutsu, calligraphy, natural transformation, increase your speed and agility. Some of the techniques explained here are quite advanced, and I advise against trying them without any guidance.'

There was a list of books that his father had suggested to read before trying some specific techniques, like there was one called as contract seals.

Naruto didn't understand any of it, but found it fascinating. He returned to the index and looked at the last section, which was body conditioning, training regime, diet and guide to skills.

He didn't know what each chapter meant, but he though he should start there. The words were a lot simpler, and he clearly wanted to learn how his father fought.

Jiriaya returned to find Naruto engrossed into the book, he dropped the supplies on the coffee table of their room and moved to take a shower.

He was surprised that the book could hold Naruto's attention for this long, maybe it had something to do with his father's name joined to it.

He knew Naruto was starved for any information regarding his parents, and their friends weren't allowed to introduce themselves to Naruto. It was stupid decision taken by the council, that Sarutobi sensei followed.

Jiraiya knew that it was lucky that the boy's isolation hasn't turned him into a raving jinchurikki, the likes of Suna had. Kushina had always stressed on containers finding love and support to keep the monster inside them under control.

It saddened Jiraiya to see that Naruto's interaction with population was limited, the list of his true friends was short.

Minato and Kushina had a few friends, even though friendship in shinobi world didn't last long on average. But even during the second war, Minato had kept his friends close.

He walked out of the bathroom to see Naruto scribbling something on a piece of paper from the book, his writing was as atrocious as his skill with a katana.

He peeked over his head, he was copying the body conditioning technique for the speed that Minato had acquired.

Maybe, it was the right thing passing the book to him.

The next day found Jiraiya waking early to move to the next town, his contact in the town has managed to gather little about Orochimaru, Akatsuki or Iwa's sudden movements in the grass country.

"Come on, gaki. We'll have to reach the other town by the evening. Try to maintain your speed while traveling on trees, it'll improve your chakra control." He instructed.

"Yeah—Yeah, I am on it." Naruto replied reading the text he had copied on body conditioning, it talked about protein rich food, a lot of fibre in diet, and carbs to maintain energy for the training sessions.

He bit into the rice ball he had made hastily in the morning before leaving, Jiraiya had been surprised but a rice ball was handed to him that kept his mouth shut.

Leaping through the trees, Naruto puffed out his chest, channeling his inner sensory master. "Right, Dad said close one eye for focus!" He squinted one shut, a determined furrow in his brow, and actually nailed the jump.

Emboldened, he thought, "Okay, level two: both eyes!" With a confident grin, he leaped into the void... and promptly smacked into the trunk of the next tree, tumbling to the forest floor with a surprised "Oof!"

Jiraiya, perched on a sturdy branch, roared with laughter. "Ha! You crashed like a lovesick toad, gaki!"

"Shut up, ero-sennin!" Naruto grumbled, rubbing his throbbing forehead. "It's harder than it looks!"

"Clearly!" Jiraiya cackled.

Naruto mumbled something about perverted old men and sensory deprivation before stubbornly climbing back up. This time, he wisely stuck to the one-eye method, muttering, "Extend those senses... just not that fa

His focused on the amount of chakra regulated by his legs, and the sound of bark being crushed under it. He wasn't a silent tree jumper like others, but now that he focused on it, he lessened his chakra output to release only enough to give a propel and not crush things under his heels.

Jiraiya side eyed him, the boy was making progress in his chakra control. He could see it, and by the decreased sound of tree bark's being crushed he knew Naruto was improving.

Rest of their trip passed in few bickers that the master and student had, and before the sun could go down they reached their destination.

They reached the red light street as usual, and Jiraiya moved in to book a inn nearby.

"Unpack your supplies, brat. We're gonna stay here for two weeks, this village has nice bathhouses and I have a few contracts to meet nearby." Jiriaya said. He laid out his storage seal on the ground, and with a puff of smoke his things appeared.

Naruto eyed the show with contemplation, before shrugging and unpacking his things on the other bed.

He was soon done, and sat down with his father's book and a paper as Jiraiya moved out to enjoy the night life of the town. It wasn't like Naruto planned to spend the evening studying, but if they were gonna stay here for two weeks he should make a routine for himself to follow.

He started noting down the taijutsu kata, and the tried to copy the resistance seals shown to increase speed. But the first try resulted in his sleeves catching fire, and the second one got a long gash on his arm, he immediately aborted the attempt.

That night Jiraiya returned to a sleeping Naruto with burned sleeve, and a healed gash in his arm. The burned paper still on ground, and the unsuccessful seal laying beside it.

He frowned, picking up the seal. He eyed it before looking at Naruto speculatively, the seal matrix on the paper was almost identical. The mistakes were due to Naruto's atrocious handwriting.

He hummed discarding the paper before falling on his own bed.

Jiraya woke up to an empty bed beside him, Naruto had disappeared to Kami knows where.

After taking care of his morning business and a quick shower, he was walking around the village outskirts searching the boy.

He found him pounding a tree trunk with familiar looking taijutsu techniques, obviously without a proper master and just a book for guide, his stance had holes.

Jiraiya moved close, eyeing him go through a familiar enough kata. His arm snaked out and corrected blonde's elbow position, Naruto was startled at first but went with it with a nod.

"Thanks, ero-senin. This is much easier," He said brightly.

"Hmmm, bent your knees a little. That will give you more stability, and allows you to move faster." Jiraya said easily.

He had been there when Minato developed the Taijutsu style for himself, it was more dependent on fast paced kicks and punches. There weren't a lot of holds, the two holds in style used Minato's height and speed.

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked.

"Why do you think your father trusted his journal to me? I helped him develop his skills to master," Jiraiya said with a smile.

"You? I doubt that, ero-senin." Naruto mocked with a laugh.

"Stup up, brat. I am the legendary Jiraya, the super pervert of Mt. Myoboku." Jiraya boasted giving a pose.

"Yeah, whatever you say. Pervert."

It took Naruto two months to get the hang of style, but without Minato's natural speed it wasn't that effective.

If he could increase his speed, then he could move to more advanced moves. But as he was, he was limited to punches and kicks.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya had started his own training with summoning jutsu, and refining his control on Rasengan. He couldn't still form it one handed, but the requirements of clone has decreased to one.

They had moved to another town and stayed here for One and half month, they would stay here for another month, before moving to some secret location Jiraiya has found for training with Kyubi Chakra.

Honestly, Naruto didn't want to do that. As the chakra was corrosive, and overuse caused him pain. He wanted to be strong without taking the help of fox's chakra, just like Hokage jiji had been.

He has continued his training with focusing on his chakra, and regulating the amount he excluded and in the last two months his control has increased tremendously.

He has also taken to taking proper meals, although he didn't like vegetables much and preferred meat. And doing extensive training had increased his appetite, so Jiraya had taught him a few recipe he could use on road.

At the moment Naruto was dodging and parring Jiraya's strikes, the old man used Toad style which suited him. Naruto had learnt a few moves from Toad style too, but his father taijutsu style was his obsession.

He had something of his father, one of his parents. He didn't know who he was, but learning the taijutsu style his father used, made him feel a bit closer to his father.

Maybe, he should look into those resistance seal, if he could not write them up himself, he should take the help of Jiraya. After all, his master was a renowned fuinjutsu expert.

Naruto ducked under another punch and returned with a punch of his own, Jiraya stopped it with his arms and moved into his guard to deliver a straight kick. It was lightning fast, too fast for Naruto to counter.

"You're too fast, ero-senin. I need to get to that speed first, and Dad has advised to use resistance seals. I can't draw them though." He whined.

"And with your handwriting, it doesn't seem you'll able to learn it any sooner, if ever." Jiraya drawled, an amused smile at his face.

Naruto's left eye twitched in irritation, before he sighed, accepting his weakness. He never had formal teaching in either reading or writing, other students be it civilian or shinobi had learnt from their parents before entering academy.

Without a guardian to look after, it was impossible for him to understand much, and practice writing without being prompt wasn't first thing a child does.

"I can't teach you calligraphy though, I was natural in it. Also, I am not that patient of a teacher, Yondaime was a quick learner and same was the case with my other students." Jiraya said.

"Then who is gonna teach me? I won't be able to learn sealing then." Naruto said.

Jiraya thought for a moment, there was no other fuinjutsu expert outside the leaf village whom he trusted. The only other fuinjutsu expert he knew was Ma, the old toad wasn't a master by any length but she knew her sealing enough to teach Naruto.

It would also introduce Naruto to Ma and Pa, the elder toads would be delighted to know him. They were always asking after him, and Jiraya had been postponing the meet because either one of them wouldn't leave a chance to embarrass him.

"There is one, the elder toads know fuinjutsu to some length. Particularly, Ma. You'll have summon her, and request to be taught." Jiraya explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with it." Naruto said excitedly.

"Okay then, you'll have to summon her. Just use half the amount of Chakra you use for Bunta, and say her name. It is Shima," Jiraya said.

"Ok," Naruto nodded.

He bit his finger went through the seals, "Summoning Jutsu: Shima.".

In a puff of smoke, a small purple toad, with green underside and purple marking around her mouth and the back of her body appeared. The top of her head looked as if she was wearing a hair net with hair-rollers underneath, giving her an 'old woman' look.

But Naruto didn't notice her, as he was looking above in the sky expecting the elder toad to be larger than Bunta. Because according to him, they were called elders because they were huge.

"Huh! Oye, ero senin. Nobody appeared," Naruto said annoyed.

"Were you pulling my leg or something?" he asked further.

"Look down, gaki. Don't embarrass yourself and me like that." Jiraya deadpanned.

Naruto looked down at Shima, "Her? But she's small, I thought the elders would be as tall as Gamabunta, or higher."

"Is this Naruto, Jiraya-boy? He looks strikingly similar." She said kindly, eyeing him up and down.

"Doesn't he? It's strange at first, but you get used to it." Jiraya said with a chuckle.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about? It's going over my head." Naruto said indignantly.

"Nothing for you to care about, Naruto," Jiraya waved off his worry. "You had a request, didn't you?".

"Um, yeah." He turned to the small. "I wanted to learn calligraphy from you, as I need to learn sealing but my handwriting is too bad to draw anything."

"Is that so? You look a lot alike, but your mannerism isn't there." Shima said with a laugh.

"Now about learning calligraphy, I can teach you that but you'll have to be a diligent student and follow my instructions carefully. Or I will use my Gunpai." She said.

"Is the gunpai necessary?" Jiraya asked a bit scared.

"You learned that way, he will too." Shima said.

"Now, summon me whenever you're free to strat practicing, you'll need some equipment. I am sure Jiraya-boy knows what they are, ask him to buy those." She said to Naruto before vanishing.

"Whew, those classes are gonna be hard. It'll take sometime for you reach a level where you could draw up resistance seal, in the mean time, I think I'll draw up some for you to use." Jiraya said returning to their room, Naruto following him diligently.

It has been six long months since Naruto has got his father's book, half of their training trip was done. Naruto was 14 years old nearing 15, his reflexes and chakra control had improved exponentially.

He wouldn't be able to learn normal bushin or Eryo-ninjutsu, but with his current chakra control and his reserve, he could easily throw around B-ranked jutsus on whim.

His Taijutsu had also gotten to a higher level, where it resembled Minato's style somewhat. It still needs to be refined. But the brat was laborious enough to complete it before their training trip ended.

He had made a habit of regulating his chakra constantly, and this had given him a kind of sensory ability. It wasn't like he was a natural sensor like Minato suddenly, but he had better understanding of his surroundings. It was extremely hard to sneak up on him now, not for Jiraya through. He was above Kage level, and there was a reason his spy network was so successful.

Even Shima had noticed his skill with the sensory technique, it would greatly help him in sage training. Jiraya had initially thought that he wouldn't break the ice on Sage mode for now, the Kyubi chakra a bit of combination training with toads and taijutsu would be enough.

But the move to hand over Minato's journal had changed everything, Naruto was more driven than ever. And the fire to proof himself, and learn his father's technique was leading him further than Jiraya had expected.

His calligraphy had improved enough for him to take up basic lesson on fuinjutsu, and learn to draw storage seals as that was beginner's guide to sealing.

Currently, Naruto was editing his novel. His calligraphy lessons had additionally improved his grammar, which wasn't that bad initially.

"Your porn contains disgusting details, Ero senin. Even if I hadn't learnt anatomy in academy, I would have became a master just by reading your smut." He whined.

"That's why they sell so rapidly, Gaki. People loves details, even if the plot doesn't make much sense to them."Jiraya said with an amused look.

"Whatever, I don't know what is so special here. It's just plain smut, I thought only girls like them."

"You're wrong on so many different level, Gaki. You'll know once you gets a girlfriend." Jiraya said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Naruto grumbled but returned back to the novel at hand.

The next day found Naruto practicing his Taijutsu on a poor tree, the bark was chipped and there several holes on it. He usually used his shadow clones to practice, but Jiraya had promised to teach him a few ninjustus today.

His arsenal wasn't too wide; with Rasengan, Shadow clones, Summoning jutsu, Sexy no Jutsu, Replacement and Henge, it came down to six only. He didn't need a lot of jutsu, as according to his master it was not the number of jutsu a shinobi knew which made them great, but guts.

Jiraya appeared via a shunshin and halted his progress with his arm, he had prepared to teach Naruto something Minato was a master of. Shunshin no jutsu.

It was true that Shunshin no Shisui had developed the technique into something else, even his afterimage could fight. But Minato wasn't too behind, his mastery over Shunshin accelerated his speed by several folds. It was said that the speed of his shushin made him appear as if he hadn't moved from his place and defeated someone.

Jiraiya had already seen how resistance seal has benefited Naruto, teaching him shushin would add to that.

"I'm going to teach you the shunsin, it's a high movement technique. Used for quick diversion, dodging and transportation, it's a versatile technique." Jiraya explained.

"The resistance seals have already improved your speed, and put in a habit of you constantly putting some chakra to move at normal speed." He continued.

"You'll now push more chakra without tearing your muscle or something, and try to move short to medium distance so fast that it seems you are teleporting." Naruto nodded.

He stood at a distance and start saturating his muscle with chakra, getting the vitality to move at such speed. At the first few tries he slipped, and fell face first. Overtime he was able to move rapidly, but it still wasn't fast enough.

However, due to the massive amount of chakra he had his compatibility with the technique was going to be top notch. In mere weeks he was able to travel as far as five hundred meters with the technique, and in a month that increased to Three kilometers.

The technique was perfect for him as it was augmenting his natural speed, making him accustomed to moving at high speeds.

In two months time, Naruto's natural speed had reached the level of chunin with the seals still on, without them he can beat elite chunins in speed if he forced himself.

Naruto also focused on shurikenjutsu, because according to his father. Aim was necessary to use kunai laced with elemental chakra or seals, it would him an edge in long range battle.

Even the Hirashin needed you to have perfect aim to teleport correctly, and Naruto's training with the toads hadn't been simply about summoning battle toads. He had seen how Jiraya used his summons in different ways, the amphibians were versatile and could help him in many ways.

At current, Naruto was moving toward the Land of Frost. There was a mission from Tsunade, Jiraya had handed over the mission scroll to him. His job was to pass on the scroll to an Anbu team of the land, he was under clear instructions to not engage.

If any issues arises he had to abandon the mission and move to the nearest village, contact Jiraya through the toads and let him handle the situation.

He was passing through the Land of Hot water, as his only other option was the Land of Rice. That was another issue he was avoiding, he had started this training trip be strong enough to bring back Sasuke.

But if his teammate was so interested to remain with that snake, then maybe he shouldn't force him. The boy was searching for power to defeat his elder brother, and he saw Orochimaru as an option to reach that goal.

So, he wasn't interested in getting into that. He would still try and get him to return, but he wouldn't chase after the boy. Jiraya had been right, maybe Sasuke didn't want to return.

He landed in a clearing and decided to stay the night here, he had already seen the map and knew the travel would take two days even at his increased pace.

He set up his tent, but didn't dare to lit a fire. Being a tourist in Land of Hot water was secure for you, you had a lot of protection due to diplomatic agreements. Being a shinobi of another nation passing through the area was not so safe.

Yugakure was the shinobi village of the country, and although they were peace loving, there was no guarantee that he would be safe.

He tapped a seal on his utility belt and two seals itched on paper appeared, these were basic seals listed into his father journal. One would hide his scent and presence from sensors, the second would alert him to presence of shinobi in one kilometer radius.

The next day found him leaving the Land of Hot water and enter the Land of Frost, he reached the clearing marked on the map. But something felt off, it was as if a blanket was covering the whole area.

He looked around but found nothing, it didn't take long for the anbu of Land of frost to reach him. There were four of them, masked and dressed in white anbu uniform.

It was summer so the outskirts of the country with heavy vegetation lacked the cold and snow.

It was still relatively colder than Konoha, and he could see snow on the mountain at some distance. He simply took out the scroll and held it out, it was certainly out of character for him to remain so silent but he understood the seriousness of the situation.

The one with green marking on his mask walked forward and took the scroll from him, he nodded and moved back still not turning his back on him.

Naruto frowned but with a quick nod he jumped back and returned to his way, Jiraya had said that these missions were a way to check his progress. Unlike a regular shinobi, who would be evaluated by his mission records, Naruto was on a training trip. So, Tsunade had taken to giving him B and C ranked missions, it was a bit higher for a genin but Naruto wasn't a genin by any means.

He was just passing through the land of Hot water when a group four of masked shinobi crossed his path, even with constantly regulating chakra and getting passive sensory skilled he didn't notice their presence.

"Look it's one of those fucking tree huggers, it seems to be traveling alone. Check the bingo book, he might be in there." One of them said.

"Nope, there has been a few recent addition by Iwa and Kiri, but none looks like him." His teammate replied.

"What say, boss? Should we capture him and extract some info from him? We'll finish him off after that." The one with red markings asked.

"Ok, let's see if he holds something interesting." The leader said, and signaled them to surround him.

Naruto was about to pass through a clearing when he heard the bush rustle around him, his hand was already inside his weapon pouch.

Soon as he saw a grey blur jump past him, he threw three kunai in a triangle pattern around him.

"Ninpo: Three pronged barrier." He said as a green barrier rose around him.

One of shinobi clashed with the barrier, it didn't bulge. Naruto eyed the shinobi with a frown, he hadn't pestered them. They had attacked him unprovoked, it was lucky that he had felt something wrong.

"Hey, what's the big idea? Why are you guys attacking me? I didn't do anything to you." Naruto exclaimed.

"Shut up! Konoha scum, you're gonna pay." Another one said.

"You're not gonna let me pass then bring it on. You're gonna face the future Hokage of Konoha." Naruto yelled deactivating the barrier.

His shunshin was silent as he appeared behind one of his aggressors.

"Doton: Head hunter jutsu." He yelled pulling them in the ground, one of Kakashi sensei's signature jutsu.

His shadow clone smoked away in the ground as it exhausted his chakra in the move. It was rather a clever strategy to mask creating a clone underground and masking it with shunshin.

He ran toward the three remaining shinobi, "Shadow Clone jutsu.". His two clones moved toward the other two as he focused on one he assumed to be leader.

He moved in with a right high kick, which was unexpectedly blocked. His opponent returned with haymaker which he ducked under, a punch to solar plex took the breath out his opponent's lungs.

He slapped hard on his opponent's chest, a paper appeared on the chest plate. "Fuinjutsu: First level chakra disruptions."

The shinobi backed away alarmed, his chakra control going haywire and leaking out everywhere. A kick to face knocked him down.

One of his clones vanished as a chokuto was plunged into its head, Naruto created two more clones to help his remaining one. He took the place of his vanished clone with a kunai in hand, his speed gave him some advantage but the kunai was too small to properly defend against the blade.

Naruto grimaced as the blade drew blood from him, he needed a longer weapon if this became a normal thing.

Naruto ducked under a katana swing, as one of his clones appeared behind the enemy with a quick shunshin. By now, the anbu had understood that Naruto wasn't some helpless leaf shinobi.

His clone pasted a paper on the back of shnobi, it exploded and pushed him forward. Naruto was waiting and punched him right in the face, knocking him out. Three down one more to go.

In a quick replacement he replaced his clone, and appeared behind his opponent. He tapped his utility belt and a paper with seal etched on it came out, he stuck it at the back of his enemy.

"Fuinjutsu: First level chakra disruption." He whispered, the shinobi had nearly exhausted his reserves fighting his clones. The chakra disruption seal knocked him out in a instant.

Naruto turned toward the still awake shinobi, body still buried under the ground. "You guys attacked me without any reason, I won't kill you as that's not my style. But next time I won't hesitate to capture you."

The seriousness and steel in his voice was new found, he had read in his father journal that a shinobi should stand for their morale, but still creating boundaries was necessary.

He decreased the level of resistance seals and covered the distance out of the area with a few quick shunshins.

Shizune barged into Tsunade office with a shocked face, "Shishou, You have to see this. I never thought he would..."

She handed a small black leather bound book to her, a bingo book. Page no. 340 on display.

(:-:)

Name: Unknown

Age: Unknown (Around 13)

Affiliation: Konohagakure

Aliases: None

Appearance: Yellow hairs; Blue eyes; Whiskers like marks on both cheeks

Rank: B

Prowess:-

Taijutsu- B rank,

Ninjustu- B rank,

Genjutsu-Nil,

Fuinjutsu- B rank,

Caution: The target knows a Solid clone jutsu. Has earth nature transformation, and skilled with fuinjutsu.

Bounty- 8,30,000 ryo- Dead or alive.

(:-:)

"That's...Does Jiraya know?" Tsunade asked with a frown.

"Hai, He sent me this with a note, and he sounded smug." Shizune said hesitantly.

Shizune handed over the note to her, Tsunade read it as a tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"That idiot was supposed to keep Naruto's identity secret, so other nations and Akatsuki doesn't know of this. Not compete with me." She thundered.

Shizune backed away, a bit alarmed. Although, she understood her master's frustration. Jiriaya had claimed to be superior master than her, as Naruto had been first among the genins to acquire a bingo book entry.

"I had thought he would refine Naruto's skillset in secret, but it seem he is hell bent on creating another shinobi like Minato." She said with some composure.

"But Shishou fourth was in a different league of himself. Do you think Naruto could become like that?" Shizune asked.

"Minato was a genius, he was talented. Naruto isn't like that, he is naturally skilled but not a genius. Despite that he learnt the Rasengan in a week's time." She replied.

"The answer is I don't know, he is hard working and if he puts his mind to it then he is capable enough to match his father." Tsunade admitted to herself.

Shizune eyed her in wonder, it seemed her master truly believed in the loud mouthed genin.

Naruto eyed the old toad with petuntaly, "But Why not? You can ride my shoulders too just like Ero-senin, I am not even a pervert like him."

Fuksaku eyed the boy amused, he had explained the boy that his and Jiraiya's connection was different. Jiraiya had training in sage mode, even if it wasn't complete.

Him bonding with the yellow-haired boy would turn him to stone, "You don't need me on your shoulder, Naruto-boy. I will teach you to harness sage chakra when time is right, I can clearly see the potential Shima often talks about."

"But it would look so cool." Jiraya chuckled as Naruto deflected.

"You're just too different from each other." Fukasaku muttered.

It was just a social call, Fukasaku wanted to meet the summoner Gamabunta, and Shima talked so much about. Jiraya claimed that this boy was possibly the child of prophecy, and Fukasaku clearly saw the potential in him.

But he was not there yet, he needed guidance and training. Shima and Jiraya were doing good job with that, and even Naruto was determined to learn everything he could that his father had.

Jiraiya reckoned that the boy with the help of resistance seal and tenant reach Minato's speed in a few years, maybe even surpass him.

Naruto's healing factor allowed his muscle to regenerate, and heal at a rapid speed, a tool that Minato never had. Naruto's body adapted to resistance training and strength training pretty quickly, in last three months he had burned out five resistance seals already.

He was on his sixth which had a wide range to choose from, his fuinjutsu training was going good. Tsunade had passed on some more side missions for Naruto to gain some experience, she was planning to give him field promotion on his mission success rate.

There had been no further hostilities during his later missions, and he had learnt some more non-elemental Jutsu from Jiraiya.

"Ninpo: Needle jizo" and "Ninpo: Wild Lion's mane jutsu" were his favorite till now, they were versatile and quite easy to use. Unknown to Naruto constantly regulating chakra through his body has made it easy for him to concentrate on a single body part, it was naturally easy for him to lengthen and strengthen his hairs to use these technique.

"You'll need to focus more if you want this to work," Jiraiya said passing another seal to him.

"I am trying, okay?" Naruto grumbled, pushing more chakra into the seal. It exploded in his face.

Jiraiya's body shook with laughter. He had been trying to teach Naruto one of his signature seals that would permanently disrupt the memories of its victim.

Naruto was finding it difficult, as he should, because the blond had grown arrogant over his basic mastery of fuinjutsu.

"You see, that is why you need to work up from basic seals to complex ones. A little bit of extra chakra would cause this sort of reaction," he said as Naruto pulled wooden shrapnel from his arm. The coffee table was no more.

It was the third town they had traveled to in the last two months. There had been recent movements of Orochimaru, and thus Sasuke had been spotted.

He had thought the mention of his stray teammate would excite Naruto, but he had only grimaced at the name and buried his head in his father's journal. Undeterred, Jiraiya had traveled to the nearest town from where they were last spotted, and his search had uncovered some troubling truths.

It seems Orochimaru had acquired a new eye. One of the pair in his socket had shone red, according to his spy in this area. However, Uchiha Sasuke hadn't been spotted with one eye; he had his original pair of two.

He didn't know how, but Orochimaru had acquired a new eye, and it seemed to resemble a Sharingan. Tsunade needed to know, as did Uchiha Itachi. But he was sure the latter already knew. Unlike Tsunade, who was dependent upon him and his spy network for news, Itachi roamed the nations.

It was unlikely that he didn't know this, and then it came down to Sasuke. If Orochimaru had already acquired a Sharingan, then what was he using Sasuke for? Was he truly attached to the boy and wanted to teach him?

No, that was highly unlikely. There was something else, and it irked him not to know about it.

"Now what did you learn, Naruto?" he asked.

The blonde glared at him but sighed, "That I should focus on other lower-level seals of Dad before moving to the advanced ones."

"Good... good, now pack your sealing supplies and go out and get some fresh air," Jiraiya said, rising. "It does no good to remain in the room for days. Your father was a nerd, you're not."

Naruto blushed, having read in his father's journal about his routine. Jiraiya was right; he had tried to follow it but wasn't his father and needed to vent.

"Maybe you'll find a sexy chick to spend your time with," Jiraiya said, lifting a teasing brow.

"I am not like you, you perverted sage," Naruto retorted loudly.

A tick mark appeared on Jiraiya's forehead. "I am not just a pervert, I am the super perverted Jiraiya of the Sannin!"

"Yeah, whatever. I am out of here," Naruto grumbled, vanishing in a shunshin.

Jiraiya deflated. Fortunately, Tsunade had only sent a second mission during all this time. He needed to pen a letter; she needed to know about their wayward teammate, and he needed to get a few more missions for Naruto to gain experience

Naruto eyed the building he was set to retrieve the files from. The mission Jiraiya had handed him was to get a file that detailed some trade deals that the Land of Rivers had made with neighboring countries.

A B-rank mission, normally reserved for a squad of three chunin, had no targets to be eliminated, and the sole purpose was to remain anonymous.

Naruto was seated behind the flaps of a seafood shop, his attire that of a normal civilian from this part of the Elemental Nations. A black dye had taken care of his blond eyebrows and hair, and a small mask covered his whiskers. He had learned the art of make-up from Jiraiya and drawn a scar beneath his cheeks to give a reason for wearing a mask.

He noted the security guards patrolling the area. The administrative building looked quite unflattering and wouldn't be spotted if the board didn't declare its disposition. The security was lax, as expected from a minor village, whatever that meant.

He quickly rolled down a piece of folded paper that sizzled before releasing white smoke. The guards became frantic, trying to find the source. Naruto shed his civilian clothes and used his chakra to climb and reach the shop's roof.

One shunshin and he was on the other side, beside the administrative building. Another rolled paper masked his movements perfectly. He looked up at the slightly ajar window. Closing his eyes, he placed his feet on the wall and climbed to the window. There was a fat man sitting inside while a guard stood by, hearing the commotion from outside.

Naruto slid a slightly smaller piece of paper that emitted bright yellow gas. Covering his face with a gas mask, he waited. The guard fell first, and then the man slid off his chair.

He moved in, checked their pockets – nothing except change. He opened the topmost drawer; there sat an innocent yellow file. He plucked it, and two shunshin later, he was outside the town. But before he could move toward the camp Jiraiya had made, an explosion rocked the area. He looked behind to see the administrative building on fire.

He gulped. The man and guard had been there. As he saw the flames reach unprecedented height, he knew they were no more. Shocked and full of guilt, he ran off toward his camp.

"You told me the gas wasn't harmful," Jiraiya looked up, his face neutral.

"No, I told you it wouldn't kill of its own," Jiraiya corrected.

"I killed two of them. I left them in the building, and gas caught fire somehow and exploded," he uttered, sitting down heavily. Jiraiya retrieved the file from his hands.

He sealed it in a piece of paper and tied it to a messenger hawk.

"The shinobi way of life is unforgiving and brutal. Killing is part of the job. You don't need to like it, but you'll have to face it someday or other. There's no way around it."

"Did you do it too?" he asked, not looking away from the fire.

"I certainly did. My first kill was a rogue chunin. Hiruzen-sensei wanted him captured, but my enthusiastic younger self launched an overpowered fireball. The man was roasted like a sweet potato. Never ate them after that," Jiraiya said, sitting beside him.

"Did my father too?" he asked.

"He did, Naruto. When we pledge to serve the village, the Hokage, we also pledge to serve the people of the village. The missions we take are for their benefit. For that purpose, if death is what is required of us, then death it is that we give."

"Does the guilt go away?" Naruto asked as a few tears fell to the ground. Jiraiya didn't comment on them.

"It eases out, but no, it doesn't go away completely. This is the price we pay for their safety." Naruto nodded, taking his leave to return to his tent.

Jiraiya sighed. Maybe if Minato were here, he would have explained it better to Naruto. Alas, it was now upon him, and he was trying his best. Was it enough? He didn't know for sure.

For the next few weeks, Naruto was subdued; not even Shima could penetrate his gloom. Jiraiya understood it, he truly did. After all, he had endured two wars and countless conflicts throughout his life, performing his duty but abhorring the violence.

Hate, revenge, and violence were a vicious cycle. He had witnessed numerous formidable and skilled shinobi succumb to these traps. He had attempted to break it with the Ame orphans but failed upon hearing of their deaths. He would try his utmost to guide Naruto out of this destructive cycle.

They had arrived in a new town, situated quite close to the Wind Country border. Perhaps they would cross it, but for now, they would spend the week in this small town, which lacked red-light districts but boasted an abundance of palm trees.

Naruto had already departed to find a secluded clearing where he could practice his taijutsu katas.

A knock echoed on his door. He opened it to find Hiroshi, his local informant.

"Jiraiya-sama, it's been a few years since your last visit," Hiroshi greeted, stepping inside.

"Hiroshi, my man. How's life treating you?" Jiraiya asked, draping an arm casually over his shoulder.

"Good. I've bought a new house. I'm planning to open a tavern; the town needs it, especially after the new trade deals with Suna," Hiroshi replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, the new Kazekage was noble enough to sign it off. Some say it's due to the failed invasion of the Leaf," Jiraiya said conspiratorially.

"The rumors seem to hold some truth, but there's also news that a former Kiri swordsman has been spotted in a nearby village."

"Tell me more about that," Jiraiya said, pouring Hiroshi a cup of rice wine he'd brought from the Tanzaku quarters.

Disclaimer- All Rights reserved to Kishimoto.