After the Genin were dismissed, Kakashi handed Naruto off to Jiraiya for his training before introducing Karin to Anko, handing the older woman more money than necessary for whatever Karin needed.
"You can use whatever is left for yourself if you wish."
Kakashi lay back on his couch in his quiet living room, letting himself relax, for once not responsible for any genin or kid for a bit.
Looking over at the wall, Kakashi gazed at his father's broken blade, the blade that made him the 'White Fang'. The blade had been broken during the Mission to destroy the Kanabi bridge.
'It's almost the day.....'
Kakashi thought, looking at the calendar and realizing that the anniversary of his Dad's death was approaching.
'I'll come to visit you soon, Dad.'
Kakashi internally vowed.
"Hmm, might as well."
Kakashi stood, taking the blade from the wall, pulling the handle off, and storing the short chakra metal blade in a storage scroll.
'I can have a sword forged using the metal, it'd save money and honor my dad in a way.'
Kakashi walked out of his house, knowing he couldn't afford to relax for long, the timeline wasn't set in stone, and he needed to get ready.
Kakashi created a shadow clone with a scroll containing several high-rank Mission pay, along with the scroll holding the chakra blade. The clone vanished in a body flicker to speak with Tenten's father, a weapon shop owner and bladesmith.
"Now, to find Sasuke and Sakura."
Kakashi too flickered away to find his students.
- With Jiraiya -
Having just finished a short spar with Naruto, Jiraiya felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingle.
'Kakashi, you've created a little monster.'
Jiraiya thought to himself before he spoke up.
"Not bad, kid. I understand where you stand in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. I won't interfere with that bit of your training, Kakashi has that covered."
Jiraiya held up his hand, palm up, before a spiraling sphere of blue chakra, the wind swirling and whipping around it.
"Rasengan."
Jiraiya spoke before slamming the sphere into a nearby tree, carving three-fourths of it into nothing; the medium-sized tree toppled with a loud crash.
Jiraiya explained the first step of the Rasengan, tossing Naruto a large bag of balloons, jabbing a thumb to his left at the river.
"You can fill them up over there."
Jiraiya heard some feminine giggles nearby and smirked like a total perv.
"Hehe~ I'll be over there in that bush."
Naruto watched his teacher jump into the bush, quiet giggles escaping him as he spied like a total perv.
"I think I know now why my mother wanted me to stay away from that guy."
Naruto sweat dropped, remembering the many stories Kakashi sensei told him of his mother.
filling up and tying up the balloons, Naruto got to work on the first step of the Rasengan.
*Pop*
Naruto blinked; the first balloon he picked up popped in a few seconds.
'Surely it wasn't that easy.'
Naruto pondered before picking up another balloon and popping that one too in a few seconds.
Naruto wondered if he should ask Jiraiya if he had completed the first step, hesitating when he heard the lecherous man giggle and the faint sound of scribbling coming from the bush.
'Maybe the purpose isn't to pop it, but to pop it instantly.'
Naruto made an excuse, wanting to make it so that he could pop the balloon in under a second.
With the limited number of balloons, Naruto was hesitant to use shadow clones, not wanting to run out and have to ask Jiraiya for more.
For the next hour, Naruto would work on popping the balloons. If the balloons didn't pop instantly, he'd refrain from popping them at all, eventually managing to get it down to two seconds, and under a second with another thirty minutes of working.
Walking up to the bush with a balloon in his hand, Naruto poked Jiraiya on the shoulder, the older man having pulled banoculers from sage knows where, watching the beautiful women play in the water below.
"Hmm? Need more balloons, Kid? Yeah, the Rasengan is quite the hard one to master."
Jiraiya reaches into his pocket for another bag of balloons.
"I've got it."
Naruto replied, Jiraiya's banoculers coming down in surprise, turning to Naruto and watching the boy pop the balloon instantly.
"Y-you, not only did you get it so quickly, but you managed to pop it in an instant."
Jiraiya couldn't be more stunned before he covered it with a cough.
"Good job, kid. Decent."
Jiraiya quickly withdrew a scroll from his pocket and handed it to Naruto, explaining the second step of the Rasengan to him as a refresher before shooing him off and going back to peeping.
'Mom, I promise not to become like this.'
Naruto thought as he walked away, ignoring the perverted giggles coming from behind him.
While the water balloons were easy for him, the rubber balls proved more difficult, the rubber popping in one place rather than bursting all at once.
"Focus."
Naruto took a deep breath and briefly thought about the explanation of this step from Jiraiya and the one Kakashi had given him a couple of years ago.
'Truly an amazing jutsu.'
Naruto admired his Dad a lot; Kakashi's stories made him seem strong, reliable, and relatable. He didn't look at his father with a hero lens; to Naruto, he was more than that.
Naruto worked constantly for an hour, managing to burst the rubber ball, but it was far from instant, picking up another ball and continuing to work on it.
"That kid."
Jiraiya thought about interrupting, but chose to trust the boy to understand his own limits. If he overexerted himself, he'd step in to stop him.
As Naruto continued to train, Jiraiya smiled and snuck off, the sun already casting a beautiful orange hue over the village.
Coming back about five minutes later, Jiraiya heard another loud burst as he stepped into the clearing.
"Why don't you take a break for now. You've got that step down, but I know you're going for bursting the ball instantly."
Jiraiya smiled, a hint of nostalgia as he pulled two blue popsicles from behind his back, breaking one off and handing it over to Naruto, guiding him to sit under a tree with him, the two enjoying the sunset.
Jiraiya gladly shared stories of Minato and Kushina, explaining how Naruto's name came to be and even handed him a copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. Jiraiya spoke of Minato's and Kushina's excitement and how Jiraiya was asked to be Naruto's Godfather.
"They were really giddy."
Jiraiya spoke as he gazed at the sunset, a bittersweet smile on his face.
"I had been on many missions with Minato up until he became a Jonin himself, and I, not once, saw him as nervous as when he learned about Kushina's pregnancy."
Jiraiya laughed, a full laugh.
"Sensei, can I be a good dad? Sensei, what if the baby is a girl? Would it be wrong if I threw a Flying Raijin kunai at any boys trying to flirt with her? Sensei, if it's a boy, I hope he's strong and brave like the character in your book."
Jiraiya quoted Minato's nervous rambling.
"It was only when they learned that you were a boy that I could breathe easy. The thought at the time made me nervous. Minato chasing boys away had you been a girl. However, I do not doubt that Kushina would have done that regardless of your gender. She was always adamant about you not getting with a fangirl."
Jiraiya bit off more of the blue popsicle.
"I wish they were still here."
Naruto gazed at the sunset alongside his Godfather.
"Me too, kid, me too."
- Chapter End -