"Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah," babbled baby Naruto as he finished eating his mashed banana with his fingers and got about half of it around his face and on his bib.
"Good-boy Naru-chan, you ate all you bananas. Although you got at least half it on your face and clothes you little devil you," cooed Tsunade as she went to pick up Naruto out of his high chair and smiled at him.
"Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma," babbled Naruto as he saw his mother coming to pick him up to which he giggled as she lifted him out of his chair.
"You're a messy little boy aren't you aren't Naru-chan," Tsunade continued to coo as she looked down at her messy son who just giggled more, then put one of his fingers in his mouth to make himself look innocent and more adorable.
She just shook her head a smiled slightly, "You're just like your father, a real charmer when you want to be." Naruto laughed and clapped his small hands together as if agreeing with her.
"Shizune! I'm going into the next room to change Naru-chan out of his messy clothes; will you please clean his high chair up and put it away while I'm doing that?" Tsunade called as she went to the next room.
"Certainly Tsunade-sensei," Shizune answered from the kitchen.
As Tsunade was changing Naruto out of his dirty clothes, she thought about when she left Konoha and when Naruto was born.
During that time not much had happened since Tsunade made sure to keep a low a profile. This past year she had traveled mainly around Fire Country and the other smaller nations with baby Naruto and Shizune. They would stay in small villages, towns, or cities for a few months before they would move off again not wanting to attract unwanted attention.
When they traveled or was not in the privacy of her current home, she would put a special henge over herself and Shizune to change their appearance to everyone but Naruto so that he would not get scared or confused when he did not recognize them. This was to make sure that if someone was looking for them, they would be unable to know where to start looking.
As they traveled to different places she would offer her services as a healer to people with different illness or injuries. Though she did not need the money since the money Minato had set up for Sarutobi to send them through her Slug summons was enough to allow them to live simple but comfortable lives. Tsunade did it because it made her happy and gave her something to do when not caring or playing with Naruto.
Also during the year, Naruto was growing up to be a very active child. He loved to play around in his play pen with his different toys and when he started crawling about three months ago he could hardly stay in the same place for too long. He would also grab anything he could get his hands on and that he could put in his mouth. On more than one occasion, Tsunade and Shizune had just barely stop Naruto from swallowing or choking a coin, a marble, and other small objects.
He also had a knack for getting into trouble. On several occasions Naruto somehow climbed up onto a chair, table, or even a shelf whenever he saw something he wanted on them. This resulted in him nearly falling off and getting hurt each time but thankfully Tsunade or Shizune where able to catch him and keep him from getting hurt. Though Tsunade nearly had a heart attack each and every time it happened. It was after the second one of those incidents that both Shizune and she decided that one of them would always have Naruto within eyesight for their own peace of mind.
After Tsunade finished changing Naruto, she lifted him up in her arms and cooed "Now that you're nice and clean again, you're a handsome boy. Aren't you my little Naru-chan?" Naruto just replied by squealing in delight and clapping his hand again.
Tsunade then went out to the main room where Shizune was just finishing putting away Naruto's high chair. She then went to sit down on a chair and began to loosen up her robes and lowered the strap to her bra to expose her left breast. She then brought Naruto up to it so that he could start feeding. After which Shizune then went to another chair opposite Tsunade and began to read a new medical book she had recently bought.
It was just about five minutes after Tsunade began that someone suddenly came through the open window that was next to her. With Tsunade so engrossed with feeding Naruto and Shizune in her book, both of them failed to notice the "intruder". When the "intruder" saw Tsunade's current manifestation and what she was doing he suddenly let out a large cry.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
After which the "intruder" was sent across the room by a massive nosebleed and hit the wall hard knocking the "intruder" out.
When the two women heard the cry and the thud of the "intruder" hitting the wall, they both immediately sprung into action. Tsunade went into a protective stance covering Naruto who was crying after being interrupted from his feeding time, while Shizune went into an offensive stance wither her senbon needles out and ready.
When the two women looked over at the unconscious "intruder", Tsunade growled under her breath angrily and began muttering curses upon seeing whom their guest was. Said "intruder" was twitching a little with blood coming from his nose and a very perverted smile on his face and drool coming from his mouth.
"Of all of people and of all times," Tsunade said sourly as her right eye twitched several times, "HE had to show up unannounced!"
"Jiraiya-sama," Shizune said a bit worriedly as she went over to the now unconscious Toad Hermit.
"Shizune, leave him until I at least finish feeding Naru-chan. The last thing I need is that perverted Toad watching me as I'm feeding the baby," Tsunade angrily said as she tried to calm down the still crying Naruto.
Shizune just nodded in acknowledgment and went into the kitchen to get a few things to treat the Toad Hermit while her sensei finished.
- (Twenty Minutes Later) -
After Jiraiya had regained consciousness and his composure, long after Tsunade had fully fixed her robes, Tsunade tried to force Jiraiya to clean up the mess he made but Shizune volunteered to do herself, saying that she didn't want to risk Naruto catching anything from him.
Tsunade was sitting at a table with Naruto being cradled in her arms and Jiraiya was across from them. He was smiling as he looked at them since the memory of Tsunade breastfeeding Naruto was still fresh on his mind.
"Why are you here anyway Jiraiya?" Tsunade inquired with a slight frown. She was still a bit annoyed with him for arriving unannounced in the way he did.
"Can't a man come every now and then to visit his godson?" asked the smiling sage.
"Not in the way you do," Tsunade deadpanned.
"Ah! Hime, don't say that you make me feel unwanted. Besides if I had announced my arrival then I wouldn't have been treated with the heavenly sight that I saw not long ago," Jiraiya replied grinning like no tomorrow.
"The boy's living a genuine privilege that is not given to just anyone. I envy his good fortune."
Tsunade frowned and snarled at Jiraiya not missing the perverted meanings behind his statements while Shizune looked at the older man in disgust.
"If I wasn't holding Naru-chan right now you would be half way flying to Suna right now" Tsunade said through narrowed eyes.
Jiraiya just chuckled nervously and decided to change the subject as to why he was really here.
"Alright hime, all joking aside, your right there is a reason why I'm here," Jiraiya spoke, all humor leaving his face.
Immediately Shizune and Tsunade straightened up and began to listen intently to what Jiraiya had to say.
"As you both know, I left the village to reconnect with my spy network to keep an ear open for any news about anything that may concern you or the gaki here," Jiraiya said while motioning to Naruto. Both of them nodded since they knew this, although Tsunade did frown at Naruto being call a gaki but decided to let it slide for now at.
"Currently the other villages are watching Konoha closely to see how badly the military strength was hit during the Kyuubi attack and the loss of Minato. Thankfully sensei's been able to keep the other villages in the dark about how badly Konoha was hurt, so as far as the other villages are concerned Konoha is still strong. Plus, Konoha's alliance with Suna is also another thing to make the other villages hesitant to try anything. So I don't believe that they'll try to attack the village," Jiraiya informed to which Tsunade just nodded for him to continue.
"Also, no one knows about you having Naruto, so I don't think you have to worry about anyone coming after him anytime soon. But you should still lay low like you've been doing since we don't want any trouble, especially at this point and time," to which Tsunade was in complete agreement.
"Another thing I learned just last month, some new group is coming out. They're keeping below the radar so to not attract attention and are highly secretive. From what my informants tell me they'll be big trouble in a couple of years."
"What do you mean by that," asked Tsunade.
"The group is currently made up of six missing-nin and not you're run of the mill missing-nin. These guys are all S Class missing-nin," replied Jiraiya.
This shocked both the women present. S Class missing-nin was the highest types of Ninja's there were, except for few others who was credited with being given a double S Class rank; those being Tsunade's Grandfather Senju Hashirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hashirama's arch rival and nemesis Uchiha Madara, and Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato.
It made Tsunade especially worried since shinobi of that caliber rarely ever try to work together since they usually end up fighting or killing one another. The only way for any of them to willing work together would be if they were being lead by someone stronger than any of them. Tsunade was worried because anyone that was able to get five other S Class missing-nin working together would have to be incredibly powerful.
"Do you know who the members are?" Tsunade asked.
"I known one member but that's it. The rest I don't since like I said, the group is highly secretive," responded Jiraiya.
"Who is the member that you know of?"
"Our old teammate, Orochimaru."
Tsunade frowned upon hearing this. Although she was not there when Orochimaru treasonous acts were revealed by Sarutobi, she had heard about them not long after. Although she had severed her ties with Konoha, his betrayal still hurt her, he was still her friend at one point.
"I'm surprised he would be willing to work with others again considering he usually prefers to work alone," spoke Tsunade.
"My guess is it was a matter of convenience. They most likely protected him and helped him elude the Oinin and us. But knowing Orochimaru he'll most likely betray them like he did us when it suits him best" Tsunade just nodded her head in agreement.
"So what exactly do they call themselves? Surely their group goes by some kind of name and what exactly do they want since S Class missing-nins wouldn't really work together without some kind of reason?" Shizune asked.
"They call themselves the Akatsuki and you can recognize them by what they wear. They all dress in the similar outfit, each member wears dark cloaks with red clouds with a red interior, a chin-high collar, and wear a conical straw hat with small spike-like balls hanging down to cover their faces. As for their plans, I don't really know for certain but from what my sources tell me they're going after Jinchūriki. To be more precise, they're after the bijū's inside the Jinchūriki," Jiraiya answered, shocking both women and causing Tsunade to hold onto Naruto tightly.
"A-a-are y-you certain Jiraiya?" asked a worried Tsunade to which the sage just nodded.
"My advice Tsunade is that if you ever see anyone who matches the Akatsuki description, get out and run as far away as you can. Although you could possibly take on and beat one of them but these guys travel in pairs. When you see one, the other is not far behind and not even you could take on two S Class Nin by yourself and protect Shizune and Naruto simultaneously."
Tsunade could not help but reluctantly agree with what Jiraiya had said.
"Do you know what they want the bijū's for?"
"No I don't but what ever it is I bet it not good but despite this there is some good news, since they have no idea about who the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi is. Sensei's keeping a tight lip on it all. They know for sure that the Kyuubi is sealed into a child but they don't known which one and not counting Sensei we're the only ones that know that Naruto is Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. As long as that is kept a secret, they shouldn't come after him."
This of course gave Tsunade some relief but the nagging fear in the pit of her stomach was still there.
"Also from what I have gathered they won't make any real move against any of the other Jinchūriki for a while since they are still trying to recruit more members for their group and funds for financing the operations what ever they are. It'd be a few years before they make any real move against anyone and it means we still have time to prepare Naruto," which got a look from Tsunade that said he better not be talking about what she thought he was thinking of
"Now Tsunade don't give me that look, I know you don't want to hear this but you have to since it for Naruto's good as well as everyone else's. The Akatsuki members are no amateurs. They will eventually figure or find out that Naruto is the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi and when they do they will come after him. So when Naruto is old enough we will have to train Naruto to be a Shinobi." At this point Tsunade was about to interrupt, telling him no but before she could Jiraiya cut her off and continued,
"Tsunade, like sensei said, Naruto has the blood of some of the strongest shinobi to ever exist running through his veins with you being among them as well. I doubt you could stop him from becoming one and the stronger he becomes the better his and our chances are against the Akatsuki when they do finally come. Also Naruto will have to learn sooner or later that because of whom he is who he related to and what he is, he will always have to watch his back. There will always be those who will want to either use or destroy him because of what he may one day become," said Jiraiya with finality.
After Jiraiya finished speaking, Tsunade remained quiet and just looked down at her son who had finally stopped squirming and was falling asleep in her arms. As she did she found herself silently cursing Minato for the one thousandth time for turning her son into a Jinchūriki. After several minutes of just looking down at her sleeping son, Tsunade finally looked back up at Jiraiya. When she did Jiraiya saw a look of determination in her eyes that he had not see in many years
"If that's the case, then so be it. When he is old enough, we will both train him. If any of these Akatsuki bastard try and take my son from me they will have to go through me first and they will find out first hand why I am a Sannin" said Tsunade with a fire of determination in her eyes.
Jiraiya saw this and just smiled and nodded. He could see that the love she had for Naruto and her maternal instincts to protect her child had reignited Tsunade fighting spirit, one that he thought had long been extinguished.
Shizune herself also made a silent vow as well to help with Naruto's training. Although she was not as strong or knowledgeable as either Jiraiya or Tsunade, she would help to protect her godson in what ever way she could.
- (That Night) -
Tsunade was sleeping peacefully in her room. All was serene until Naruto started crying in his crib. Tsunade woke up to this and got up off her futon.
Going over to Naruto, Tsunade picked him up and held him, resting his head on her shoulders while gently rocking him in her arms. Naruto soon calmed down and quieted much to Tsunade's delight.
After another minute, Tsunade said thoughtfully, "I bet your hungry my little Naru-chan."
Tsunade sat down on her futon with Naruto and prepared to breastfeed him.
Just as she was about to open her night kimono, the door to her room opened, revealing Shizune cradling something in her arms.
"I'm sorry Tsunade-sensei," Shizune said,
"I came in earlier to change Naruto's diaper when you where sleeping and I was just bringing him back now. I didn't want to wake you."
Tsunade then saw that Shizune was cradling a fully awake Naruto in her arms. When the Slug Sannin saw that she knew that something was definitely wrong with this scene.
"Wait a minute," Tsunade exclaimed.
"If that's Naruto, then who am I-"
Looking down at her arms, Tsunade saw that she was cradling a wooden log in her arms.
While cradling the log, she turned and saw 'Naruto' quietly attempting to crawl and sneak away from her towards the opened window.
As 'Naruto' was making his way towards the window, he then felt an extreme bloodlust approaching and coming from behind him as well as the sickening cracking of knuckles that became infamous whenever Tsunade was about to dish out pain a lot of pain.
As he fearfully and slowly turned his head, he thought of one word that he thought might have saved him with puppy dog-eyes and the sucking of his right thumb, "Mama..."
Sadly it did not work and Tsunade sent him soaring out the open window where she quickly followed after him.
The same small figure came crashing hard into the ground, forming a crater in it. The figure transformed back into his real self and was in much pain. He felt several of his bones break and was sore all over.
"...Oooooooww...," Jiraiya mourned.
"...So close...Damn that Shizune! I was just a few seconds away from Paradise...and I was really looking forward to having some of that good stuff she treats Naruto to..."
But before Jiraiya could finish what he was saying he suddenly felt a dark shadow hovering over him as well as a familiar bloodlust and killer intent on him again. He slowly and fearfully turned around and was again faced with Tsunade who had a sadistically sweet smile on her face again.
"You didn't think you get off that easy did you?" Tsunade asked rhetorically as she hovered over him.
As she came closer to him, Jiraiya could only whisper one word,
"Mercy."
But sadly for the Toad Hermit there would be none
For about ten minutes, terrifying screams of pain and abject misery could be heard by all who were still awake.
- (Several miles away) -
A young couple who were quietly looking up at the full moon and a bright star in the night when suddenly the women pointed up at a small object was soaring through the air.
"Look, it's a shooting star lets make a wish."
"I don't think that a shooting star, sweetheart," said the man
"Then what is it," asked the women
"I don't know?" he replied when suddenly a loud ear splitting cry.
"YA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!"
- (Several miles further away) -
The "shooting star" then came crashing hard into the ground, forming yet another crater.
The shooting star was in fact Jiraiya who slowly crawled out of the crater before checking himself for whatever additional damages that was done to him by Tsunade's beating and as a result from the impact to the ground.
In any case, he was in for a long crawl back to Tsunade house and a whole world of pain.
- (Meanwhile back where Jiraiya first landed) -
A very pissed off Tsunade was standing out side the first crater Jiraiya landed in and looking up at the night sky.
"Dam perverted excuse for a life form," Tsunade stated.
"I just might kill him if he pulls that stunt again."
After which she then went back to the house to kiss her son goodnight before going to bed again.
- (One month later) -
A month after Jiraiya came to give to his news on the Akatsuki and his failed attempt to be breastfed by Tsunade, things settled down again. The house even had one new occupant, said occupant being Jiraiya. He had decided to stay for a little while to spend some time with his godson and get to know him a little. In which case, he acted as part time babysitter whenever Tsunade and Shizune were out helping to treat the villagers.
Both women agreed to allow Jiraiya to baby-sit on the condition that he not try and corrupt Naruto into becoming a pervert like him under the threat of castration and disembowelment with dull kunai and bare hands.
It was after a long day from healing a large number of people who had traveled from the outer parts of the village to get Tsunade to treat their various ailments that when she and Shizune came back to the house to find Jiraiya watching Naruto. The baby was playing with three small summon toads that Jiraiya had summoned for Naruto to play with which Naruto loved doing since he would waddle after the toads as they hop around the room with him trying to catch them.
When Naruto saw his mother and Shizune he squealed happy and waddle over to him mother to hug her and as he went over to her he said "Mama" which surprised them since they did not expect Naruto to be speak this way for few a more months. Since he had shown no real signs of trying to speak other than babbling
Tsunade then picked up Naruto and asked
"What did you say Naru-chan?"
"Mama" repeated the blond baby.
This caused her to hug and cry in joy for her son at speaking his first real word.
"What a smart boy you are Naru-chan you only started walking a few weeks ago and now you're starting to talk."
"Naruto can you say Hakubo (Aunty)? Can you?" asked Shizune as she gained Naruto attention.
"Nee-chan, nee-chan," Naruto said.
"I doubt you'd get any better than that Shizune," Tsunade chuckled.
"Oh well I guess being his Nee-chan isn't so bad," replied Shizune as she grabbed little Naruto nose and wiggle it a little which made him laugh
"Hey Naruto do you known who I' am? Do you?" asked an excited Jiraiya when he came up to Naruto to find out what he'd call him.
"Pervert, pervert." replied Naruto as he pointed at Jiraiya causing the sage to face fault and Shizune to giggle loudly while Tsunade smiled and laughed even harder.
"That's my little boy, such a smart boy just like his Kaa-chan," laughed Tsunade as she turned around to go into the kitchen with Naruto.
"I resent that remark, I'm not a pervert," cried Jiraiya as he stood up.
"Then what are you?" asked Tsunade turning around slightly "I'm a super pervert" grinned Jiraiya after which an annoyed Tsunade elbowed him in the face and sent him flying to the other end of the room, resulting in him hitting the wall.
"Dam pervert" muttered Tsunade was she went to the kitchen with Naruto and Shizune following closely behind.
- (One Month later) -
Currently Jiraiya was in Tsunade's house watching over Naruto again. Tsunade and Shizune had gone out to a small farm several miles out of the village to help the daughter of the farmer who was severely ill and in need of treatment.
As he was watching Naruto he was also trying to come up with new ideas for his latest book but unfortunately he was having a severe case of writers block. After a while he decided to take a walk around the village since he thought that the fresh air and exercise would do him good and reenergize his writer's imagination.
As he walked around the streets of the town carrying Naruto, many young girls and women came over to him when they saw him carrying him. They started to surround them, commenting on how cute he was and adorable his whisker marks made him.
Soon enough Jiraiya quickly realized that Naruto was a babe magnet and began cursing himself for not thinking of the sooner.
After the women that had surrounded him and Naruto left, Jiraiya quickly ran to the village hot springs entrance where he knew that most women came out at this time to go home for the night and quickly put his plan into action.
When Jiraiya saw a group of women coming out of the hot springs he quickly acted as though he was about to enter himself.
Jiraiya began to hum when the women ran toward him commenting on how cute Naruto was.
"Yes ladies, he is very cute isn't he?" queried Jiraiya.
"Is he yours?" asked a random woman.
"Why no he isn't, he's actually my godson."
The women then began to swoon over Naruto commenting how adorable he was with is whisker marks or how beautiful his eyes were and asking more questions about him to Jiraiya who was far to busy looking at their breasts to answer any of their questions.
As all this was happening Naruto grew more and more confused as to why all these strange ladies where surrounding him. Unfortunately, the confused look that appeared on his face made him all the more adorable to the women who began to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his spiky hair
Jiraiya smiled as he continued to ogle the swooning and silently thanked Kami for his godson's cuteness. Things seemed as though they were only going to get better when Naruto tried to grab onto the women finger with his small little hand which earned him even more attention from the women.
"Oh he's trying to grab my finger, he's so adorable isn't he." said a brunette woman.
Naruto who was still a little confused at where he was but when he looked up to see his godfather smiling back at him. He immediately giggled and decided to enjoy all the attention and began to bounce up and down in his godfather's arms which only made the women attract to him even more.
Jiraiya couldn't believe that Naruto could get him this much action and made a mental note to hint to Tsunade that he could watch him whenever she needed him to.
Jiraiya began to think about how he could milk this even further when he suddenly remembered the time when Naruto wouldn't stop crying when he first baby sat for Tsunade and he summoned a toad which he almost squeezed into oblivion.
Jiraiya smirked and patted himself on the back for his brilliant thinking and then quickly summoned a small toad and ordered the toad to hop into Naruto's view.
While Naruto was hoping up and down in Jiraiya's grasp, the toad jumpped onto Jiraiya's shoulder. Naruto immediately stopped bouncing when he saw the toad and began to reach for it.
The women awed at Naruto's actions and became even more infatuated with the young boy when he was able to get a hold the toad and begin hugging it for dear life.
Unfortunately as Jiraiya was busy trying to make his move on the young village women, Tsunade and Shizune were entering the village after finishing with helping to treat the daughter of the farmer.
They then decided to head for the hot spring to relax a little before returning home since they believed that they deserved a little down time after helping the young girl.
When they were nearing the hot spring entrance they saw a large group of women surrounding a tall white haired man with a small blond haired boy in his arms who was squeezing a poor toad to near death. Tsunade quickly realized that the blond boy was her son and the tall white haired man was Jiraiya. She then quickly realized that Jiraiya must have been using her son to attract women, when she realized this one thing was on her mind.
"Kill Jiraiya...slow... and painfully...."
As Jiraiya was about to make a move on the women, he suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over him and realized that his teammate must be somewhere near by.
Jiraiya's fears were confirmed when he turned around and saw Tsunade stomping right towards him with a very angry Shizune right behind her. She too knew what Jiraiya was doing with her Nephew/Little Brother/Godson and for once she would not try and calm Tsunade down, she would actually help her "Kill" Jiraiya.
"Hi Saaya (1) what's up?" asked a very nervous Jiraiya.
"Oh not much, I was just coming back from helping that young farm girl who got ill and decided to come her to relax a little and then I saw you and Naru-chan here. I was just wondering why you were here when I thought you be at home," said Tsunade all too sweetly for Jiraiya taste.
"Oh....well you see.....eh...I just wanted to spend some time with him.... and ....eh!.....as you can see he is very happy," spoke Jiraiya nervously as he tried to come up with a good excuse so to avoid being beaten to a pulp by Tsunade and probably Shizune as well.
When Tsunade looked at Naruto, he was indeed happily squeezing a poor toad to death.
"Well Jiraiya tell your friend's goodbye because we need to get Naruto back home before it gets too late since it's nearly his bed time," said Tsunade with a look in her eyes that promised pain when they got back.
Jiraiya informed the women that he and Naruto had to go and all the women sighed though knowing that the boy's mother wanted him home. So they reluctantly said goodbye to the pair.
"So Saaya lets get going," said Jiraiya
"Oh I agree whole heartedly," said Tsunade who took Naruto away from Jiraiya who began to walk away.
"And just where are you going Jiraiya?" said Shizune who was twirling her Senbon needles which made Jiraiya very nervous.
"Back to the house like you said."
"Oh! We have a much quicker why for us to get there," said Tsunade.
Tsunade and Shizune each then placed their hand on Jiraiya's shoulders and the four of them were shunshin'd back home.
"Well Tsunade I should get going, you can put Naruto to bed and I'll go myself since I better get back on the road again," Jiraiya quickly said and tried to get away but Tsunade grabbed him by the collar and forced him to the ground.
Tsunade looked at Jiraiya and then told Shizune to put Naruto to bed while she had a "talk" with the terrified Toad Sage.
Shizune left the room with Naruto who was cuddling the toad while Jiraiya pleaded with Tsunade.
"Shizune, before you put Naruto to bed see if he might be hungry," said Tsunade as she began to crack her knuckles
"I will Sensei but please save a piece of him for me, please," Shizune replied as she went to the next room.
"I'll try but no promises."
"Hime, I'm sorry I just wanted to take Naruto to meet some new people, that's all I swear," pleaded Jiraiya on bended knees.
"I see. Jiraiya I would like you to meet someone that you are very familiar with."
"Who?"
"The end of my fist."
After which for the next hour screams of pain from a certain super pervert could be heard for several miles around.