Ch. 9

Narukos blue eyes snapped open to the sound of her refrigerator being shut. She let out a soft breath as she blinked. She slowly sat up as she heard one of her kitchen drawers being opened before the sound of silverware being rustled around was heard.

'Who the hell is in my apartment?'

Quietly getting out of bed, she leaned down and grabbed the kunai she had stashed under her pillow before grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her shoulders, making sure that her hands, and the kunai, were hidden.

Silently stepping towards her bedroom door and quietly opened it as the silverware drawer in her kitchen was slammed shut.

She quietly walked down the hall and ignored the way the bright lights of both her living room and kitchen irritated her eyes. Coming to a stop in the kitchen threshold, she stared silently at the back of a tall man.

He had long spiky white hair that was put into a low hanging pony tail, a red vest over a long sleeved dark green shirt and a pair of matching pants. Under his feet were a pair of wooden sandals that clacked loudly against her kitchens tiled floor.

The unknown man spun around and froze. In his left hand was a steaming bowl of freshly made ramen and in his right hand was a pair of chopsticks that had a bundle of noodles stuck between them.

His face was one of surprise, most likely from being caught off guard by narukos sudden appearance, but it also gave her the opportunity to see the man's head band. It wasn't one she had ever seen before. Instead of the usual flat metal plate with the leaf symbol etched into it, this man's headband had two little 'horns' sticking up from it with the kanji symbol for oil embedded into the metal.

The two stared at each other in silence. Naruko with her dark orange blanket wrapped around her shoulders, messy blond hair and cold blue eyes.

The man stared at her with slightly wide black colored eyes and his face frozen in that classic ' I was just about to take a bite of my food' pose.

"Eerrr..." the man began.

"You have exactly sixty seconds to tell me who you are and why you're inside of my home before I shatter every rib on the left side of your body."

The man let out a nervous chuckled as he lowered his chopstick, and the noodles, back into the bowl. He sat it on the counter before giving her a nervous chuckle while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Now now, no need to get so violent." He put his hands up in surrender." You really wanna know who I am kid?"

"Fifty second left to live old man, talk fast." Was her short reply.

Suddenly the man broke out into multiple strange poses.

"From the north! To the south! My name is on every beautiful woman's lips! Men wanna be me! Women love me! I'm the leaf villages greatest, and only, toad sage! Master of the ninja arts! Jiraiya of the legendary sannin!" He finished his 'amazing' introduction with a clap before throwing his hand up in the air with a satisfied look on his face.

"Zero!"

With a loud thunderclap, Naruko was in front of him with her right fist drawn back. Before he could properly react, she buried her fist deep into the left side of his torso.

Jiraiya let out a high pitched whine as he was sent sailing through the kitchen window and into the roof of a building across the street.

Growling at the hole in her wall, she turned around to stare at the her kitchen. Cabinet doors were flung open and the small table she had in her kitchen was knocked over, along with the two wooden chairs.

She sighed softly as she walked over to the blanket that was now lying on the ground covering the kunai she had dropped.

She kicked the blanket to the side and stared down at the cracked floor before her. The damages would not be cheap to fix.

*SLURP*

Naruko turned to look into her living room and found the man she had just punched out of her apartment sitting on her sofa slurping away at the bowl of noodles he had prepared for himself a few minutes prior. Jiraiya swallowed a mouth full of noodles before speaking.

"Sensei wasn't kidding when he said you were both fast and strong." He said with a small grin.

"How are you not dying in the street right now?" She asked with genuine curiosity. Yeah she may have held back a lot as to not destroy her entire apartment, but the man before her should still be lying somewhere with broken ribs and a punctured lung.

"Ehh, I've been hit way harder then that kid." He answered with a nonchalant shrug, idly thinking of a certain blond senju." Plus, I am a sannin so naturally... I'm pretty freaking amazing." He added with a smug look on his face.

Naruko huffed in annoyance." So what the hell do you want?" She asked, seeing as the man, Jiraiya, wasn't going away anytime soon, she decided it'd be a good idea to figure out why the hell he had broken into her apartment at this kami awful hour.

'Seriously, it's like three in the morning.' She thought as she rubbed her eyes.

"Well, sarutobi-sensei told me to come see if you were okay." Hearing the hokages name, Naruko frowned and tensed up a little." He said you wouldn't wanna see him after everything that's happened between you and him. He was worried about you." Jiraiya sat his half eaten bowl of ramen down on the wooden coffee table located in front of the sofa and smiled sadly at her.

Naruko crossed her arms over her chest." If you're just here on the hokages orders then you can leave now." He waved her right hand towards the front door." I told him I didn't want anything to do with him anymore." She added calmly.

Jiraiya sighed, running a hand through his hair." I won't beat around the bush Naruko, I prefer to be more up front so I'm gonna give it to you straight, Kay kid?" Seeing Naruko nod her head with her brows furrowed a bit, he continued.

"What sensei did, hiding the truth about your parents from you, well I never agreed with him on that. I tried to tell him that it wasn't a good idea but he didn't wanna hear it at the time." He told her." But I'm not here to get in between yours and senseis pissing contest or whatever." He said with a shrug." So let's get down to biz." He waved his hand towards the chair across from him and Naruko walked forward and took her seat in said chair.

"Before we start I want you to know some things." Jiraiya began, a frown on his face." I don't see you as the nine tails or some super secrete hidden weapon to be thrown at whatever enemies the village has, I never liked that sort of thing. I see you for who you are. Naruko uzumaki, resident of konoha and a damned strong kid. You've been through a lot, lied to a lot and I won't disrespect either your or the fourth in thinking that you're anything but a hero. Even if you didn't get a say in anything."

Naruko frowned softly but stayed quiet, though her blue eyes seemed to regain some of their missing warmth. Jiraiya scooted further towards the edge of his seat and rested his elbows on his knees.

"After the fight between you and sensei he sent me a message about it and I told him to keep me updated. A few days ago he sent me another message vie summons and asked me to return. He told me that you weren't showing up to class anymore and that you've been going around telling people about you being the container of the nine tails. Ha! I heard inochi even fainted when his brat asked him about it."

'Inochi... never heard of him.' Naruko thought with a mental shrug.

"Now I'm all for doing things your own way but your actions do have consequences Naruko." Narukos eyes narrowed a little as the man's tone began to grow more serious." The shinobi council has been keeping tabs on you since the tower incident two weeks ago and now that you've pretty munch dropped the academy they think you're a flight risk." He told her with a small nod.

Naruko gritted her teeth in annoyance." And what?" Naruko snapped at him." You're here to reign me in? To make me be a good little weapon and go back to school just to put a stupid head band on my forehead and force me to protect the village?" She growled lowly as she stood up and glared down at the seated man.

"No." Jiraiya said softly as he stood up. He reached forward and gently grasped her shoulder." I'm here to tell you what's going on and try to help you out." He explained. Seeing the skeptical look on her face, he continued." I'm gonna be real with you kid, I knew your parents." He admitted as he took his hand off her shoulder and sat back down on the couch. He looked down at his hands with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Your mother, kushina, was an amazing woman. A real spitfire that one." He didn't have to look at the blond across from him to know that he had her full attention." When she first came to konoha and joined the ninja academy, she was bullied a lot for her red hair, well they tried to bully her. She kinda just kicked most people's asses." He chuckled." They called her tomato and it always set her off. She grew up to be a strong, beautiful woman." He looked back to Naruko to see her sitting back in her chair with an interested look on her face. "I see a lot of her in you and I know she'd be proud of you for standing up for yourself, against the hokage and the ninja council."

"What about my dad?" Naruko asked softly.

"I can't tell you his name, even I'm not above the hokages law but I can tell you what he was like." He offered.

"Okay." She agreed quietly. While she was annoyed that she still wouldn't be finding out who her father was, she took comfort in the fact that she was about to find out something about him and so far the man seemed to be genuine in his want to inform her about her parents and what they were like.

"So your mom, she was hot headed and quick to anger but she had a big heart, she cared about the people she loved more than anything else. She was a passionate and expressive woman." He smiled a little as he remembered kushinas extreme temper. It used to scare the hell out of him.

"You're dad though, he was level headed, he was the only one that could calm your mom down when she lost her temper. He was a thinker, he always had a plan and he was a strong one too, a real prodigy." He said." But while he was an amazing ninja, he was also a very loving man. He enjoyed spending time with those around him and he would do anything for those he cared about. When he found out your mother was pregnant with you he was so happy." He gave the blond across from him a sad smile." I'm sorry that they aren't here with you Naruko. If I could go back and change things I would, in a heartbeat."

"Me too." Naruko muttered out as she looked down at her lap. While a part of her was sad that neither of her parents were with her today, another part of her was happy to know that they loved her so much.

Jiraiya cleared his throat, swallowing the emotions he felt rising up before he continued.

"Anyways." He said." Back to what I was saying about the council thinking you're a flight risk." He saw her shoulder stiffen a little." While I don't think of you as anything more then Naruko, the council is different. To them your the villages property, their war deterrent." He frowned at his own words." If they start thinking that you're gonna make a run for it then they're gonna try to take you down before you have a chance to escape. They're getting nervous already and have been debating on what to do about you."

"Sensei has been stalling them for a bit now but it won't last, eventually even he will have to cave in if you actually do try to run. I know that he does care about you Naruko, even if you don't see it right now but at the end of the day, he is the hokage-."

"-And he'll always put the village first." Naruko finished the man's sentence and he nodded his head." So what do I do?" She asked with a defeated sigh. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes looked so tired.

"The way I see it, you got three options here kid." Jiraiya began." Option one, you make a break for it and try to make a life for yourself outside of the village. You'd always be looking over your shoulder and you wouldn't be able to stay in one place for too long, konoha would hunt you for the rest of your days."

Narukos frown deepened as she listened.

"Option two, you suck it up and head back to the academy, play the part, become a ninja and-"

"I can't!" Naruko told him, cutting him off as she stared up at him." I can't be a ninja!" Jiraiya stared at her in silence for a few moment.

"Why not?" He asked softly." You'd have a life kid, a team, friends, the whole shebang." He said, waving his hand a little.

Naruko ducked her head in an attempt to hide the shame that was no doubt written all over her face.

"A part of me, even after everything that's happened, still loves the village. A part of me still wants to be a ninja, to become the hokage.." she wiped her teary eyes with the back of her right hand." But I can't do that cause...cause a part of me hates them so much." She admitted softly.

" After everything they did.. they ignore me, they pretend that I don't exist and when the do see me all they do is glare at me and call me a monster. They talk about me when they think that I can't hear them.. they treat me like garbage and yet they expect me to continue to keep them safe from the kyubi.." Naruko sniffled." They call me a monster, a demon but what they don't understand is that I'm not the monster, I'm not the demon, they are." She looked at Jiraiya with a frown on her face." They think they're so perfect! The world thinks that the leaf is the best but it's not! It's full of two faced bastard that don't deserve my protection!" She growled and her blue eyes flashed red." I want them to disappear!" She suddenly shouted, standing up as her eyes glowed, her whiskers darkened and her nails grew into claws.

Jiraiya stayed seated, his face impassive as he did his best to ignore the killing intent rolling of the emotional girl in waves.

"Why should I spend the rest of my life protecting them when they wouldn't do the same for me?" She asked, her voice was deeper, darker then it had been a moment ago.

Jiraiya leaned forward, reached his right hand forward and grasped narukos hands gently, his larger hand was big enough to fit both of the child's hands in his palm.

Narukos red eyes flicked down to her held hands and she quickly began to calm down. Her eyes returned to their natural blue as her darkened whiskers lightened and her claws retreated. She retracted her hands from his grasp and sat back down in the chair.

"Like I was saying.." she spoke, her voice was normal once more." I can't protect them, I just wanna be left alone." She finished with a sad look on her face.

"I know kid." Jiraiya responded with an understanding nod." But we both know that, that won't be happening anytime soon." He added." But I do have one last option for you, if you'll hear me out?" He asked.

"I'm sure it can't get any worse then the others so sure, why not." Naruko said with a shrug.

"The last option is this. I take you on as an apprentice-" he grinned seeing her eyes widen in surprise." While I am a konoha ninja, I'm also the village spy master so my duties take me away from the village, sometimes for a few years at a time." He explained." Should you become my student, you'll have to come with me in order for me to teach you but this will also give the council and the hokage some peace of mind if they find out that I'm training you." He told her." They'll leave you alone and won't try anything as long as I'm around, they aren't stupid enough to get on my bad side."

Naruko bit her lower lip as she thought about his offer. On one hand, if she accepted his offer, the council wouldn't do anything to her, she'd be safe from their schemes. On the other hand... she'd be training under him to become a ninja..

"I know you don't wanna be a ninja and I won't force you into that if you don't want it." He told her, seeing the worried look on her face." So long as you're still training under me and you don't sign any paperwork, then technically you won't be a ninja." He explained." This will give you some time to think over what you wanna do later on down the road, the kids you're age won't be graduating until you're thirteen so there's plenty of time left for you to make a decision and who knows? Maybe one day things will get better and you'll wanna be a ninja of konoha. At the same time, should you choose not to be a ninja then you won't have to be." He smiled at her.

"By that time, you'll be strong enough to completely ignore the higher ups so long as you don't go off the rails and kill anybody that doesn't need to be killed." He joked with a chuckle.

"Can I have a few days to think about your offer?" Naruko asked softly as she began to chew on her thumb nail.

"Of course brat." Jiraiya replied with an understanding nod. She was a little kid being forced to choose her own fate, it was a lot to handle and he didn't blame her for being overwhelmed.

Jiraiya stood up from the sofa and looked down at the blond before him." I'll be back in two days for your answer." He reached over and patted her on the head." Try to get some rest and by the time you wake up, the hole in your kitchen will be fixed." He didn't wait for her response before vanishing in a small cloud of smoke.

Naruko sat in her chair, chewing on her thumb nail and staring blankly down at the coffee table before her.

She had a lot to think about.