A friend for life

Jiraiya's lessons for Naruto started straight away. While they walked Jiraiya handed Naruto several scrolls and told him to read them.

They were all different types of taijutsu kata's. It was strange to Naruto because it seemed that everything he was would read it would instantly make sense to him like he had known it for year's.

"How are you going with those scrolls there kid?" Jiraiya asked.

"Good, I think I have got the hang of most of these, there far easier than the Academy style they tried to teach me back in Konoha" Naruto answered.

"That's good, we will be stopping for the night in a little while, I want you to show me what you have picked up" Jiraiya said.

"Alright sure thing sensei" Naruto said and he went back to studying the Kata and performing what moves he could while they walked.

Half an hour later they stopped and Jiraiya ran through several hand seals before summoning a giant toad.

"Wow that's amazing! I wonder if I could do that" Naruto said and he started running through the same hand seals as though he had known them all his life.

"Wait Naruto don't you need to sign a contract" Jiraiya yelled but it was too late and Naruto placed both palms on the ground.

There was a huge puff of smoke and Jiraiya was expecting Naruto to be taken to which ever animal he had an affinity for like he did when he was young and tried the same thing. What shocked Jiraiya however was when the smoke cleared Naruto was still there and there was also a Toad that Jiraiya had never seen before. And it had the Rinnegan.

"Yeah I did it, I summoned a toad" Naruto yelled happily.

"You sure did, but how? This isn't one of the Toads of Myobokuzan, I have never seen it before" Jiraiya admitted as he looked at the toad, it seemed ho have lost all expression and the only way you could tell it was even alive was it was breathing.

'Interesting. Hm I wonder' "Naruto order the toad to do something?" Jiraiya said.

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Anything try something simple like jump" Jiraiya suggested.

"Alright. Toad... Jump!" Naruto ordered.

The moment Naruto thought the order the toad started jumping in one spot. "I think it responds to my thoughts. Here watch this" Naruto said confidently. 'Stop and turn around' he thought.

The toad complied without questioning. "Amazing, but can it do complex tasks, ask it to go collect water we can use for our camp" Jiraiya said.

"Uh sure thing sensei" Naruto replied.

'Go collect, enough water for the two of us to use tonight' Naruto ordered.

Without showing any signs of understanding or confusion the Toad left. When it came back it looked like it was swollen with water and just sat there.

"I guess it works but he didn't have anything to fill with water. I want you to dispel it by ordering it to leave then try and summon something else, anything will do" Jiraiya ordered.

Naruto complied and the toad dispelled and this time Naruto summoned a large two headed dog.

"So you can summon what ever animal you think of. What an amazing ability, you would be able to always summon the best animal for a certain role. I had no idea the Rinnegan could do this. I knew it had the ability to process information at an incredible rate and granted the user with the ability to use all five forms of nature transformation. But this is something else, what other secrets do those eyes hold?" Jiraiya said to himself mostly but Naruto could easily hear him.

"Well as awesome as this is you were supposed to be teaching me, I want to show you all the taijutsu styles I have been able to pick up" Naruto said eagerly.

Needless to say Jiraiya was impressed, but it just reinforced what he had seen before with Nagato. There was just something about the Rinnegan that aided in learning jutsu.

After Naruto ran effortlessly through the Kata, he paused as if in deep thought. "Um sensei, you said these eyes were really rare right?" Naruto asked.

"The rarest Dojutsu there is why do you ask?" Jiraiya replied.

"Well it's just that, while most people may not know what they are, some people are bound to, and I really don't want people to think I am special just because I have these eye's, is there anyway to hide them?" Naruto asked.

"Hm good question, I know that a simple Henge wont work, the

other person who had those eyes had the same problem. But I think I may know of someone who can help you out, her henge is a bit special, however I don't know how helpful she will be. I wouldn't worry to much about your eye's though, nobody will recognize them, most people just think that the Sage of Six Paths and the Rinnegan are just a myth, so they will just think you have strange purple eyes. And with me around nobody is going to try anything, because if they do by some chance know that you do indeed have the Rinnegan, they will almost certainly know who I am and know not to mess with the Almighty Toad Sage" Jiraiya said.

"hm alright, uh sensei I do have one more question, did these eye's give the other person with them a second chakra source? Because I can feel one inside of me" Naruto asked.

"You can feel it? Tell me what does this second chakra feel like?" Jiraiya asked.

'If he can feel the Kyuubi's chakra that mean's I can't keep the fact that he is a jinchuuriki a secret, I will have to tell him' Jiraiya thought while he waited for Naruto's answer.

"Well, while my normal chakra seems to flow and is calm, this other chakra is wild and uncontrollable, it almost feels evil. What's more it seems to be coming from my stomach and nowhere else" Naruto explained.

"Well I guess I better tell you then" Jiraiya sighed.

"Tell me what?" Naruto asked.

"What do you know about the night that the Kyuubi attacked almost nine years ago?" Jiraiya said deciding to see what the child knew and then fill in the blanks and correct the lies.

"Well I know that the Yondaime Hokage gave his life to kill the Kyuubi and save the village" Naruto answered.

"Well that is not exactly true, you see a Bijuu is not really alive, so it can not be killed" Jiraiya said.

"How can the Kyuubi not be alive?" Naruto asked.

"Well you see a Bijuu is a massive ball of chakra given a consciousness. Why the Kyuubi takes the form of a fox, I could not say. Anyway the Yondaime Hokage could not kill the Kyuubi, so he did the next best thing. He sealed it away where it could not hurt anyone" Jiraiya said.

"No... It cant be, tell me your lying!" Naruto yelled, but the more he tried to deny it, the more it made sense, all the hate filled glares, nobody allowing him to enter there shops, being kicked out of the orphanage at the only four years old.

"Naruto calm down, you are not the fox, you are Naruto Uzumaki, you said it yourself you have two chakra's, one that is yours that is calm and one that is wild and uncontrollable, I think you will find that would be the Kyuubi's. And if you don't believe me take off your shirt and channel some chakra through to your feet" Jiraiya explained.

Naruto nodded and did as Jiraiya said. Channeling some chakra to his feet the blond looked down and sure enough a large seal appeared on his stomach.

"That is the Eight Trigrams seal that was used to seal the Kyuubi away. Kyuubi lives inside of you, and in time I will help you control it" Jiraiya said.

"But why did they choose me? Did my parents just give me up as a sacrifice?" Naruto asked still distraught.

"Your parents would never have done that, I cant tell you how I know, but just believe me please" Jiraiya said.

"Alright sensei, but you have to teach me something awesome to make up for it" Naruto said.

"Alright, how about I teach you how to climb trees without using your hands" Jiraiya said, knowing that even mundane everyday ninja tasks would be impressive for an eight year old, even if that eight year old did hold two of the greatest powers the ninja world has ever known.

"That sounds awesome, I will have this down in no time" Naruto said and eagerly awaited Jiraiya to show him what to do.

Just like with the summoning and taijutsu kata, Naruto picked up tree walking in very little time.

'Amazing, it seems the Rinnegan grants the wielder greatly improved chakra control, I have never seen anyone pick up this stuff so easily' Jiraiya thought as he watched Naruto run up and down a tree like it was nothing.

"Ok Naruto that is enough for today" Jiraiya said

"Aw I wanted to see how long I could keep it up" Naruto replied.

"No, you will need your strength for the trip tomorrow, we need to get to Konoha by night fall" Jiraiya said.

"Why night fall?" Naruto asked.

"Because we don't want anyone to recognize you, if they find you, they will probably try and force you to return to Konoha for good, and once they recognize those eyes of yours they will be even more protective of you, and there will be people who will stop at nothing to turn you into a weapon for the village" Jiraiya said.

"I don't get it, aren't you a Konoha shinobi?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah I am, and I love Konoha, it will always be my home, but I don't like what they have done to you, and if they find you I am sure you will be even more isolated and lonely than before" Jiraiya said.

"That would be difficult, I never had any friends when I lived in Konoha, everyone just avoided me and the sensei's at the academy were really mean, even the children in the academy treated me badly always laughing at me because I was the dead last" Naruto said clearly downhearted.

"Dead last huh? Well don't worry about that, with me as your sensei you will become a greater shinobi than any of them could ever dream of" Jiraiya said.

"Yeah I have already have been able to learn more with you as my sensei than I did all year in the academy" Naruto said.

"Well that just goes to show how great of a teacher I am" Jiraiya said pompously.

'It also show's just how useful a tool those eyes of yours are, they may not copy jutsu like the sharingan, but they seem to aid in learning almost as much' Jiraiya thought as he set up a camp for himself and Naruto.

The following day was rather uneventful, Jiraiya and Naruto sped across the county side as quietly as possible avoiding the roads so as not to been seen by shinobi that may be looking for either Jiraiya or the young blond.

It was just on the verge of darkness when Naruto and Jiraiya made it to the outskirts of the village. The hokage monument was bathed in the burnt orange glow of the dying sunlight as the lights of the village began to flicker on.

"Ok kid, time for a quick lesson, I want you to channel chakra into your eyes and tell me what you see" Jiraiya said stopping Naruto from moving any further forward towards the village.

"Um okay sensei!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Much to Naruto's surprise a large barrier appeared that surrounded the village. "Whoa, what is that!" Naruto asked his eyes widening in awe of the large barrier.

"That is one of Konoha's key defenses that keep any unwanted people from entering the village without raising an alarm, the moment we cross that barrier a team of Anbu will know about it and inform the village rapid response teams, who will come and investigate weather we are a threat or not" Jiraiya informed his young charge.

"But I thought you wanted to get in and out without anyone knowing about it" Naruto said confused as to how they were going to continue.

"Right you are, that is why I am going to disable the seal for us to enter undercover" Jiraiya said.

"But wont they know something is wrong if the seal goes down in this area?" Naruto questioned.

"No because the only people who know how to disrupt this seal, are the top Anbu captains of the village, the Hokage and myself. However if I really wanted I could enter undetected without the need to disrupt the seal, but then again I am a spy master" Jiraiya explained.

Jiraiya then went up to the large barrier and after performing several hand seals, Naruto saw the barrier fade back away from a small area around where Jiraiya was. "Come on, we don't have all day, this barrier will close in a minute" Jiraiya informed the blond who hurriedly followed after his new sensei.

As Naruto followed Jiraiya though the village he was amazed that the man could know the perfect way around without ever being seen. "Do you have anything you want to get from your home kid?" Jiraiya asked as they slid out from a back alley into an abandoned street.

"Just some clothes, but I most of them are not appropriate for a ninja to wear" Naruto confessed.

"Well, I don't think that matters, at least until we get away from the Land of Fire, you at least need s change of clothes, those are getting kinda rank if you ask me" Jiraiya said.

"Actually now that I think about it, I have gone though a growth spurt in the past six months that I have been away from Konoha, I doubt any of my clothes will fit anymore" Naruto sighed.

"Oh well, looks like we will just have to get you something to wear later, there are a few stores outside of Konoha that sell ninja gear in the Land of Fire, although it wont be of the high quality that you can get here" Jiraiya said.

"It wont matter, I was never allowed into any of the good stores in the village anyway, they always kicked me out, all I could ever get was these bright orange jumpsuits or I had to wear civilian clothes" Naruto explained.

"Is that so. I knew you would have had it bad being a jinchuuriki and all, but this is far worse than I imagined. To not even let you buy proper equipment" Jiraiya said shaking his head.

"Well is there any place you used to go to be alone that nobody would think to look? I just don't think it would be a good idea for you to come with me to see the Hokage, I don't think the old man is going to be happy when he finds out that I am leaving and wont be reporting back in for awhile, and no doubt if he finds you with me he will want you to stay in the village" Jiraiya said.

"Well I was kinda hoping to see Jiji again, but I guess there is a park that I like that people rarely go to, mostly because I like it" Naruto said.

"How close is it to where we are here?" Jiraiya asked.

"Real close, only about two blocks away" Naruto informed the toad sage.

"Perfect, I will drop you off there then go to see the old man" Jiraiya said. Alright, um sensei, can you tell the old man something for me?" Naruto asked.

"I guess so, what is it?" Jiraiya replied.

"Tell him that the person that kidnapped me from the village was one of those weird people with the white eyes, Kou I think his name was. Oh and tell him I said thank you for keeping me as safe as he could while I grew up here, and that I would never forget that" Naruto said showing a maturity that was far past his years.

"I guess I could pass on that message, but that would mean basically telling the old man I know where you are, that might make for a difficult exit to the village, but hey it might be fun" Jiraiya said with a warm smile.

Cutting through several back streets the pair soon arrived at the abandoned park, there wasn't even any lights to light the area which Jiraiya thought was perfect for the job they needed doing. "Alright kid, I will be back before you know it, just try and not draw attention to yourself, and if anyone asks do not let them know who you are" Jiraiya said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

'Aw man, I really wanna learn how to do that' Naruto thought as he marveled at the place his sensei had just vanished from.

(Hokage Tower)

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not having the best of time's, his paper work was piling up and there seemed to be growing unrest in the Uchiha clan. To top it all off, all attempts at finding his spy master had failed.

"You look like you have seen better day's sensei" Jiraiya said from behind the hokage causing several Anbu to appear out of nowhere and take up defensive positions around the old Hokage.

"Jiraiya-kun! I have been looking everywhere for you" Hiruzen said, signaling for his Anbu to leave them to speak in private.

"I know, your trackers are a pain to continuously avoid" Jiraiya said.

"Why were you avoiding them?" the Sandaime asked.

"Well, if they found me so would have Orochimaru, who was watching there every move, I needed to stay out of sight so he wouldn't know that I was following him" Jiraiya said.

"I see, and what of Orochimaru? What is my old student up to now, no good I presume" Hiruzen asked.

"Orochimaru has joined the mercenary group known as the Akatsuki, all I know about them is they are a group comprising of S ranked missing ninja and are growing, I ran into some of there handy work when I was in the Land of Earth last. The Tsuchikage hired the group to take out a small hidden village that was attempting to form inside the country, they didn't leave anyone alive" Jiraiya explained.

"I see, an organization for missing ninja, do you know anything of there final goals? Do they plan to start there own village, a safe haven for criminals?" the aged Hokage questioned.

"I couldn't say, all I know is that nothing Orochimaru get's involved with is ever completely clean. Well now that is out of the way I have a question to ask you" Jiraiya said changing his tone of voice from friendly to deadly serious.

"Uh yes, and what might that be?" Hiruzen questioned.

"How could you loose Naruto! I think I made it clear that he was supposed to be cared for and protected!" Jiraiya said angrily.

"He was, I had one of my most loyal Anbu watching him, but the attacker knew when to strike, I believe but can't prove that he was working with a member of the Uchiha clan who knew that Itachi would be Naruto's only guard on the night he was taken" the Sarutobi said.

"You think that's enough, do you have any idea where he could be right now! Think of what would happen if Iwa got a hold of him, not only is he Minato's son, but also the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Iwa would see this as the perfect opportunity to crush Konoha!. And what about Kumo, they would turn him into there own personal weapon. Have you even tried to get him back!" Jiraiya yelled.

"That's enough! Do not think for one second that I don't care about what happened to Naruto-kun. As we speak Kakashi Hatake is still out looking for him!" the old Hokage roared in retaliation to Jiraiya's accusation, a shadow of the old 'god of shinobi' shining through as the power and presence of the Hokage filled the room.

"And what? Bring him back to a village that clearly doesn't want him, to a life of loneliness and isolation where after this event he will never be allowed out of the counsels sight, I can already see those old team members of yours whining to turn the kid into a mindless killing machine for the villages use. That is something I will not allow!" Jiraiya yelled back.

"What are you saying Jiraiya?" Hiruzen said stunned by his old pupils words.

"I'm saying that I found him, but he will not be returning to this village, nor will I have him become a ninja of this village" Jiraiya said.

"What are you saying, his father gave his life to preserve the balance between the villages, and you are going to tear it all apart just on a whim?" Hiruzen asked.

"Minato also wanted his son to be seen as a hero, that was never honored was it! When I met the boy he had been adopted by a family in the Land of Forest's, but they had just been killed by Kumo ninja, from what the boy told me they were the first people other than yourself and a father and daughter that run a ramen store that had ever treated Naruto with any kindness, he felt more at home in the six months outside of the village than he ever did when he lived here! This is not the Konoha I love, the Konoha I fight for and work for. The population of this village is spitting on the memory of Minato with the way they treated his son and I will not stand for it any longer. So I came here to tell you that I quit! I will not be working with Konoha, at least not until the kid is old enough to fend for himself. I will see that he becomes a ninja that will have the ability to change the world" Jiraiya stated.

"You Quit? Please be reasonable about this jiraiya-kun, I already have Tsunade who refuses to return to the village, we cant afford to loose you as well, and we need your spy network to keep us ahead of any possible attacks on the village" Hiruzen said almost pleadingly.

"Don't get me wrong sensei, I will still help Konoha at any chance I get and will send on any vital information I might receive, but I will not be taking on any missions, or answering any summons until I feel the village has paid for what it has done to my godson" Jiraiya said.

"Very well, if there is no way to avoid this then I guess I have to accept, and I am pleased to hear that Naruto-kun is safe. Tell me did he say who it was that kidnapped him?" Hiruzen asked.

"As a matter of fact he did, he said it was a member of the Hyuuga clan, Kou or something like that. So I don't think he would be working with the Uchiha clan, they have never been on the best of terms with the Hyuuga after all" Jiraiya said.

"I see thank you for this information, I can promise you the perpetrator will be harshly punished. Did Naruto-kun say anything else?" the aged Hokage said.

"Yeah, he asked me to tell you thank you for keeping him as safe as you could while he lived here and he would never forget that... Anyway I think it is time I was leaving, till next time sensei" Jiraiya said and with one final wave dissolved into the wooden wall completely out of sight.

(With Naruto)

Naruto turned around after a while of staring at the area that Jiraiya had just shunshined away from and began to look around.

'I wonder how long he is going to be, this place might be empty but it sure can be creepy at night' Naruto thought as he looked around squinting to see in the dark.

Still having a hard time seeing Naruto decided to try something in an attempt to aid his sight, and channeled some chakra into his eyes. The effects were instantaneous. While there was no night vision, they did allow his eyes to focus and become adjusted to what little natural light there was.

'Well, that's not as cool as being able to see the massive barrier or being able to summon any animal I want but it is still kinda useful. But now that I think about it I would say most eyes could do this if they channeled chakra into them' Naruto theorized.

It was at that moment Naruto's senses were bombarded again, although not by a sight, this time it was a sound, the unmistakable sound of a girl crying. 'What is that? Maybe I should check it out. But sensei told me not to draw attention to myself and try to avoid being seen, oh what do I do!' Naruto thought as he was fighting an internal struggle to decide weather or not he should investigate.

In the end Naruto's curiosity got the better of him and he slowly approached the area that the sound was coming from. Hiding in a nearby tree Naruto peered out to see a young girl with short hair crying under a different tree. 'I cant approach her, she doesn't look in any danger so I should just go' Naruto thought and began to back away keeping himself well hidden from view. Unfortunately he stepped on a weak branch that snapped under his feat and he almost fell from the tree. 'Shit she will know someone is here for sure, I need to make sure I don't move at all for awhile' Naruto thought as he deliberately froze in place.

The young girl had noticed the branch break from the tree and knew right away that there was someone watching her. "Who's there!' she stammered seeming almost scared that she was caught.

Naruto didn't reply he just remained a still and silent as humanly possible.

"Come out, I k-kn-ow that you're out there" the young girl stammered again shakily.

Once more Naruto refused to reply and closed his eyes as if to beg for the young girl to drop her investigations.

He had no such luck. "Very well, if you wont come out, then I guess I will just have to f-f-find you my-myself... Byakugan!" she said.

'What did she just do? Can she sense people? Was that a jutsu?' Naruto thought frantically while still not moving.

"I can see you in the tree. Wait! Na-na-na- Naruto k-k-kun! Is that y-y-you" the girl stammered worse than ever.

'Fuck!, not only seen, but recognized, I guess I have to go talk to her and tell her that I am not me' Naruto thought before dropping from the tree.

"Uh hi, I think you have me mistaken for someone else" Naruto said although as convincingly as he could muster.

"No you are Naruto-kun I am sure of it, I know what your chakra looks like!" the young Hyuuga said and even in the moonlight it was clear she was going red.

"You know what my chakra looks like? What does that mean?" Naruto asked completely shocked.

"Well, you have several points of red chakra on your stomach that I have only ever seen on Naruto-kun so you must be him, beside you look just like him so you are not fooling me!" the Hyuuga continued getting even redder at what seemed like disbelief that she had just said that to Naruto.

"Well I guess I cant hide it now. Your Hinata Hyuuga from the academy aren't you?" Naruto asked hoping to get the conversation off of him.

This time Hinata's nerve seemed to have left her and she was only able to nod. But then something new about Naruto's appearance caught her eye, not the fact that he was almost a head taller than the last time she saw him on the day of his abduction, or the muscle tone he put on, although she had noticed these things, no she had only just realized that his usual blue eyes were gone, she hadn't noticed before, the light had been to bad to make out any detail of color, but the flicker of a streetlight made the changes glaringly obvious.

"Your eye's... what happened!" Hinata blurted out uncontrollably, she couldn't help herself she knew this was Naruto, of that she was certain, his voice his chakra everything was Naruto. But these eyes were not the warm inviting blue that she remembered the cold metallic purple of the Rinnegan shocked the young Hyuuga Heiress.

"Ah I sorta underwent a change, and I guess my eyes changed color" Naruto said offhandedly trying to make the new appearance nothing special.

"Is that why you haven't been at the academy in months? Will you be returning now?" Hinata asked hopefully.

"No I was kidnapped from the village and I am only back now because my sensei is here to see Jiji Hokage" Naruto said.

"So you are leaving again? When will you be back?" Hinata asked Sadly.

"I don't know, in truth I don't know if I will ever come back, this place holds quite a few bad memory's for me" Naruto answered.

"But why? isn't Konoha your home!" the young Hyuuga asked.

"It was, but not anymore. I want to make a new life and I met someone who has promised to help me and train me to be a great shinobi" Naruto said.

"But what about everyone at the academy, and your friends?" Hinata asked.

"You have seen me at the academy, the person who is remotely friendly towards me is Shikamaru. During my time out of the village I made a friend he became like a brother to me, but he died and I promised myself I would become strong and never let that happen to anyone I cared for ever again, and with my new sensei I believe I can make that dream come true" Naruto said remembering all the things Jiraiya had taught him in such a short space of time.

"I will miss you, your confidence when you were at the academy inspired me to try and show that I can improve despite my family calling me a failure. You always kept trying no matter how many times you failed. I know it doesn't mean much, but thank you and good luck" Hinata said still blushing like mad.

"Heh.. thanks, I really didn't think anyone had noticed me at all. It's a good feeling to have someone say that. So I wish you luck and if you keep trying I have no doubt you will show your family that you are not a failure. Oh and before I go, please promise me you will not tell anyone that you saw me, the fact that I am here is supposed to be a secret so it would mean a lot if you kept this little chat to yourself" Naruto said.

"O-Okay, I promise Naruto-kun... I will n-never t-t-tell anyone" Hinata promised. It was at that moment Jiraiya arrived landing on a tree branch behind the blond.

"Hey gaki I thought I told you not to be seen or talk to anyone" Jiraiya said but he did not seem to be angry.

"Uh sorry sensei, I was kinda caught hiding" Naruto admitted.

"Well I guess it is kinda hard to hide from a Hyuuga, and I am sure even more difficult to hide from the heir of the clan" Jiraiya said.

"I'm sorry, I promise not to tell anyone I saw either of you" Hinata said with a respectful bow.

"That would be really helpful, we gotta get out of here kid, the old man probably wont leave us alone for too long, and once his advisers find out about it, well let's just say it would be better if we were outside of the Land of Fire by the time that happens" Jiraiya said.

"Okay sensei, let's go. Goodbye Hinata" Naruto said and with one final wave Naruto was gone. And it would be the last the village hidden in the leaves, saw or heard of the young jinchuuriki for quite some time.

End Chapter!