A New Path

Ch. 10 A Trip with Jiraiya

Naruto sat atop the Fourth Hokage's head with a content smile. He wore his Chunin vest on top of his long-sleeve black shirt, signifying that he was now a chunin-leveled shinobi. He could see many people, villagers and shinobi alike, helping in the reconstruction of Konoha. It had been a few days since the invasion and things were already returning back to normal. Naruto had had his share of duties on helping reconstruct the village as soon as he got out of the hospital. Genins helped with small stuff, giving them a lot of free time. Naruto as a Chunin, Naruto was expected to help the most he could. It was no wonder that Shikamaru hated being made a Chunin along with Naruto.

The blond hadn't seen much of Ino in the last few days due to his busy agenda. It wasn't until today that Naruto got taken off Reconstruction Duty, as the Third called it, and the blond was looking forward to a few days off. He found himself happy at being able to spend time with Ino again since she had become an important person in his life. Thinking about Ino, Naruto couldn't help but sigh.

On his last visit to the Hokage's office, he had run into Jiraiya. The sage had told him of an upcoming trip the two would be taking. They were to search for the legendary medic Tsunade for an undetermined amount of time. Naruto had been exited at first but Jiraiya told him that he would train him on using the fox's chakra. The blond hesitated but finally agreed after Jiraiya pestered him for about a day. He was afraid of using the chakra and paled when Jiraiya suggested telling his friends about the fox. The reason being that if he were to use that power in front of his friends then they would be wary of him subconsciously since they wouldn't know where the unknown power came from, it was best to tell them beforehand.

Jiraiya had told him that telling his closest friend about it would make it a lot easier to tell his other friends. The sage told him to do it when he was ready but telling them sooner would keep them from fearing him. That had been three days ago and Naruto hadn't had the courage nor time to tell Ino about his burden. He knew that Jiraiya was right which is why he was currently on top of the Hokage Monument, admiring the view of the village. It gave him a sense of peace that he would need since he planned on telling Ino about the fox that same night.

Naruto stood up and gazed at the village. "I have to tell her," the blond muttered to himself with a sigh.

The Third sighed as he looked over the large amount of paperwork on his desk. Orochimaru was truly evil, having an attack on the village had increased his paperwork immensely, an evil plan indeed. Papers with many different kind of permits filled his desk. This was probably the worst part of being the Hokage, he knew that Naruto would give up on his dream if he learned about the evils of paperwork.

"You look like hell old man," Jiraiya said from his sitting position on the window's railing.

"Jiraiya," the Third said with a nod, "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to know how the meeting with the elders went," the toad sage said with a grin.

Sarutobi sighed. "They were quite concerned with what you're planning to do. Their fear for the fox is too strong and they disapproved of you teaching Naruto how to use it," he explained, "We discussed it for hours until they finally agreed with me. They didn't want to listen to me until I told them that if Naruto was trained in the use of the fox's chakra, that would mean that Tsunade would be needed back in the village. Their desire to have Tsunade back on the village made them accept my proposal."

Jiraiya scoffed. "As if they could've done anything against your orders," he sighed and shook his head, "I take it you made it official then."

The Third nodded and tossed a scroll to Jiraiya. "That contains the mission of searching for Tsunade," he explained, "It is an A-rank mission due to the time it could take."