7.Sarutobi-sensei

"I will Tsunade-baachan. Just keep that Hokage seat warm for me until I get back," Naruto said making Tsunade's eyebrow twitch. She proceeded to grab his cheeks and squeeze them hard.

"You really have a mouth you know that," Tsunade said while Naruto yelled out in pain. She finally let go and Naruto rubbed his cheek while sticking his tongue out at her. Tsunade glared at Naruto and simply waved it off. She had no idea what made her think she would miss Naruto, but the truth was that she would. She really couldn't wait till he got back. It would be amazing to see how much he would grow.

"Take care Naruto-kun," Shizune said giving Naruto a softer hug. Naruto grinned with a nod and came up to Kakashi. The jonin was still reading his book, but patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"Your not a kid anymore Naruto. Come back stronger than you are now," Jiraiya said to him and lowered his book which showed an eyesmile to the blonde. Naruto nodded and was about ready to go. He turned to Jiraiya and the toad sage smiled at him.

"Come on Naruto. We've got to get moving," Jiraiya said before Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said I was early," Naruto said and Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders.

"No use spending time here. I already have our first destination in mind so let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover," Jiraiya said walking past the gates. Naruto nodded and immediately the two set off away from the village. Naruto turned back to look at Konoha one last time and sighed before moving back with Jiraiya.

"He's gonna be a headache when he gets back," Tsunade said and Kakashi had to nod in agreement with her. Shizune merely smiled and walked back to the Hokage Mansion. Tsunade walked back with her and Kakashi shunshined out of sight to take care of some other business that he had to deal with.

With Jiraiya and Naruto

The master and student duo had been walking for awhile now, but much to Jiraiya's surprise the trip was relatively quiet for the most part. Sure they just started and weren't that far from the village, but he thought Naruto would be bugging the hell out of him with what he would be learning; however as luck would or wouldn't have it, Naruto was in some deep thought that obviously continued from last night. He wondered about some of the issues that would revolve his life and while he seemed to like the positive, he wasn't blind to the reality that things could go to hell for him. Naruto still seemed to be off in his own little world. He wasn't even really paying attention to where he was going. Jiraiya had never pegged Naruto for a deep thinker about anything so this was entirely new to him.

"Hey brat, we've been traveling for twenty minutes and you haven't said a word the entire time. What's the matter with you?" Jiraiya asked and immediately Naruto snapped from his thoughts. He hadn't realized that he was thinking so much.

"Oh sorry Ero-sennin just thinking about this training that your going to have me do. I'm gonna learn some killer techniques right?' Naruto asked making Jiraiya sigh. So that's what it was or so he believed.

"Always training with you eh? Of course I'm gonna teach you something good, but not today. We'll begin first thing tomorrow. You'd better be prepared brat," Jiraiya said and Naruto's eyes gleamed in excitement. He could only imagine the great things that he would be able to do after his training was complete.

Soon silence reigned with the two again and Naruto looked at the ground. He seemed confused or rather uncertain of something. The blonde looked up and turned to his teacher for the next two years.

"Ero-sennin what was your first kill like?" Naruto asked making the toad sage narrow his eyes at the unusual question. Naruto already was unusual, but to add that question made him even more unusual. Jiraiya turned to see the blonde looking at the ground before he looked back up at the road in front of him.

"What's with this question? It's not like you Gaki," Jiraiya said getting a little worried. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and softly smiled, but the look in his eyes told Jiraiya that the blonde was contemplating something.

"I guess it's curiosity. Sorry for being weird about it. I just wanted to know how you dealt with it. I wonder if you'll have me fighting bandits or something so I just thought I'd be prepared for whatever," Naruto said and while Jiraiya could see the small logic in Naruto's thinking, he was still concerned though against his better judgement he decided to tell Naruto.

"For me it didn't go well. I really thought low of myself to kill someone. It was back when I was a genin like you. I cried and cursed myself. I even stopped eating for about five days. Luckily Sarutobi-sensei and Tsunade helped me deal. Orochimaru tried, but he wasn't the comforting type, but he told me in his own way. They just reminded me that this was a part of my job and it came with the responsibility. As long as I don't fine the joy in it, then I'm still human," Jiraiya said and Naruto nodded like he had just affirmed something for himself. Jiraiya saw the small smile on Naruto's face and the sight of it made the man's heart lighten a little. He then spotted the seal on Naruto's right hand and gazed at it. It looked very complex and powerful. Even he with all his knowledge on Fuinjutsu didn't know what type of seal it was.

"Hey Naruto, what's that seal on your hand?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto mentally gulped and cursed that he didn't have the common sense to try and hide the damn thing. Of course people would ask him where he got something like this. Who wouldn't? Even Sakura asked what it was and she normally didn't take any interest in what Naruto did. The blonde looked at his seal, his connect to the Shinigami, the God of Death.