Naruto 1. first day

She hummed softly as she cast an eye over her desk. Immaculate, she thought contentedly brushing her shoulder length dark hair back and out of her eyes. Yet still it fell forwards again, her Leaf headband overpowered.

Hearing a noise in the corridor outside her classroom, she spun and faced the door with speed born of long hours of training. A head popped round the door, another academy teacher, an older woman. _No doubt a mother figure_ she thought concealing a sigh, she wasn't disappointed.

"How are you feeling?" the woman asked. "It's your first day of teaching isn't it? The first years?"

Unsure of which question to answer first, she faced the still floating head and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine although I only made chuunin a few months ago so I'm a little nervous, first years are usually quiet right?"

The other woman chuckled, "Well yes after they stop screaming."

She paled, "After they what?"

"It's a scary time for them, but just be patient." She smiled and nodded and then the head was gone.

She sat down in her chair with a thump, "Screaming?" She shook her head, "Come on Tokoa, you're a sensei now." She grinned, "Tokoa-sensei," she repeated liking the sound of the name.

Glancing up at the clock, she grimaced, time to go and greet the masses.

Outside the academy gates there was a small riot taking place, hordes of students and parents littered the area. The older of which, sauntered about glaring at the first years, all of whom where around five years old, and looking as though they owned the world which only served to terrify the little five year olds further.

Teachers of other years attempted to restore order by quickly whisking the older students into their classrooms, most of those students were between six and twelve as a student only advanced when he or she passed the exam to become a genin.

Moving quickly among the frightened first years and anxious parents, Tokoa stopped every so often to reassure a particularly frightened student. As most calmed down and moved into the classroom to look around and find a seat her eyes fell upon a small boy with startling big blue eyes and a shock of golden hair. He gazed up at her looking as though he didn't know whether or not to be frightened or excited. As Tokoa had done with the others, she knelt beside him as he stood next to his ninja parents.

"Hello," she said, "I'm Tokoa-sensei."

The boy hesitated before replying shyly, "I'm Arashi Uzumaki."

Tokoa nodded smiling warmly, "Would you like to come in and find a seat?"

Arashi looked up at his parents and nodded.

His mother bent down and gave him a bone-crushing hug while his father ruffled his hair. Arashi hugged his mother back but let go of her long before his father had to pull her off of him.

"Come on Merelko, he'll be fine, we've got a mission," the child's father said.

"I just want to see him in," his mother replied.

After sighing, he acquiesced and followed Tokoa, and is wife and son into his son's new classroom.

The classrooms tiered seats had been nearly all filled, and the students and their anxious parents filled the bright room with chatter. Arashi stopped just inside the door with his parents behind him and stared apprehensively at the mass of people. Tokoa turned back towards him.

"Arashi? Its ok, come on in, we'll find you a seat."

Arashi nervously took a few more steps into the room before suddenly grinning, his bright blue eyes sparkling. He turned to his parents.

"Mum, Dad, I like it here!" he declared, before swiftly moving forwards and securing himself a seat next to a large window, three tiers up. His parents smiled, his mother a little sadly, and turned to leave.

After the parents had been persuaded, cajoled and in a few cases of over-protectiveness threatened, to leave, and all the students had a seat, Tokoa smiled at her first class as an academy teacher.

"Hello class I'm Tokoa-sensei," she said firmly, "I'm going to teach you all how to become ninja."

At this her class pricked its collective ear. And all fidgeting ceased.

As she outlined the main lessons, she appraised her new students, most seemed to be paying attention except for Arashi, who was staring out of the window. Sighing, she barked, "Pay attention!" Immediately causing his eyes to focus on her. Satisfied she continued.

At break, outside in a large playground the new students kept mainly to themselves, discussing their first lesson. Except one who was of staring at the sparring arenas. Arashi watched the older kids spar for a few minutes before turning away. The fighting students were so big and from the thuds and cries of pain, strong too. He would not be allowed to spar anyway, despite both his parents being ninjas, his mother was so protective, and he wouldn't even be here if his father hadn't put his foot down.

A few of the sparring older kids noticed him and snickered. One, a large boy, sauntered over, at several years older than Arashi; he towered over the small boy.

"So," he drawled, "Yuh think yuh could fight us, do yuh?"

Arashi considered his options, they were not good, on the one hand he could accept the challenge and fight, but he was neither big nor strong and would most likely be beaten and besides word would almost certainly reach his mother as first years were not allowed to spar, no one graduated and became a genin before they had spent several years here. But if he backed down he would avoid a beating but be forever seen as weakling. Arashi stared up the older boy and said nothing

The boy bristled, "Well?" He shoved his face into Arashi's who blinked. "Well I'm gonna pound yuh into the ground." The boy declared before clearing the arena with a glare at the other students.

From the speed with which the others got out of his opponents way, Arashi surmised that the boy was either very strong or cruel, or both.

The students gathered around to watch the battle, drawing his own class to the area, with their not so muted whispers of "Oooh that kids gonna die," and "He's so small, shouldn't we do something?"

Arashi did not know how to get out of this and tried to edge his way into the crowd only to get pushed back by the mass of students.

A girl of about six immediately ran to get Tokoa-sensei, while his opponent sneered derisively at him. Arashi was roughly pushed onto the arena and watched through worried eyes as his "opponent" took up his battle stance. Not knowing what else to do Arashi stood where he was, a few yards from the other boy.

He became aware through his fear that Tokoa-sensei had arrived and was yelling at him to not be so stupid, that guys twice your size you idiot and get down from there right now!

Arashi tried to tell her that none of this was his idea but for some reason his throat just wouldn't work.

Tokoa-sensei, unable to get through the crowd of students in time, began shoving them out of the way as the bully began running towards Arashi.

The boy reached his tiny opponent with his fist raised and launched a punch at Arashi's head; Arashi yelped and ducked, the others fist went sailing over him. Tokoa reached the pair and caught the boys' fist as he tried to strike again.

"Stop it the pair of you," she snapped.

The older boy shrugged, and jumped down from the arena. Tokoa turned to Arashi who had not straightened up from his duck yet. Tokoa sighed and gently shook his little shoulder. Arashi peered up at her and finally straightened.

The gathered students dispersed and disappeared back into their class rooms as the bell that announced that break was over rang. Tokoa and Arashi walked back to the classroom amidst the bell that announced break was over.

They entered the classroom and Arashi hurried to his seat. The rest of the class stared at him as he walked past.

Arashi noticed their looks and stopped on the steps.

"What?" He demanded, with his hands on his hips. The few students in the class who held his gaze shrugged and turned away.

"Ok everyone settle down." Tokoa-sensei said and in a few minutes was able to start her next lesson.

Arashi walked home late, he had been kept back by Tokoa-sensei to explain what had happened at break.

He sighed, she had wanted to know, how he got into a fight and why he fought.

He had answered as best he could, telling her that he had been challenged for simply watching a fight, that he had tried to back down and that the other boy just wouldn't let him, but he didn't know for sure if she had believed him.

Tokoa-sensei had studied him for several minutes and then told him to go home. He was not looking forward to it; doubtless his parents already knew that he had been fighting.

He trudged up the path to his house and pushed open the door.

Arashi walked into the house and headed for the kitchen where raised voices where coming from, pausing before he entered he listened to his parents conversation.

"Calm down, he's a ninja, strength is proven through combat," came his fathers' voice.

"He is not a ninja, he is a child, and fighting is dangerous," his mother flung back.

Arashi flinched back from that; did his mother truly not consider him a ninja? Overcome, he turned and fled from the house and the implications of his mothers' voice.


	2. parents

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer I have never and will never own Naruto; however other characters in this chapter are my own creation.

High atop the village of Konoha, a small boy with a shock of golden hair and big blue eyes perched on the head of the Third Hokage carved into the cliff. The sky was painted with brilliant oranges and reds and the shadows where lengthening over the land.

Arashi had never been particularly afraid of the dark; he had gotten over the childish fears of monsters and ghouls hiding under the bed at a young age. His father never having stood for such nonsense although his mother always had a hug and a reassuring word for him if the need arose. But nor was he allowed out too late, mainly due to his mothers protectiveness than any fear of danger, this was after all Konoha.

Still, Arashi was quite content to sit there and watch the last rays of light disappear from the world, until tomorrow that is. He couldn't go home just then anyway, it was past curfew, and an explanation as to why he was late would involve him confronting his mother over what she said, something he wasn't ready for.

He shivered at the memory.

"_He is not a ninja, he is a child."_

His stomach clenched and he breathed hard through his nose. Admitting she had a point, he was not yet a ninja, was surprisingly dehabilitating, as Arashi had never even considered being anything else. But to hear the words from someone whose support he thought he could count on was crushing.

Night drew in, the air turned frigid and Arashi began to doubt the wisdom of his choice. His parents would be looking for him by now, with questions and accusing stares. Although still not sure if he could face the situation, he was definitely on the chilly side, and eventually his chattering teeth won the silent argument with his head and Arashi got up to go home.

Casting one last look at the empty streets below him, Arashi did not turn as his father silently dropped to his side.

Father and son stood side by side in the darkness, neither speaking. Minutes ticked past and eventually Arashi mumbled "Sorry."

His father didn't move, "I lost track of time," Arashi ventured after a few more minutes had past. This was kind of true, he reasoned, he _had _lost track of time after all.

His father looked at him, as if reading his mind "You're not there yet, but you will be." Not a hint o smile marred his face illuminated by the faint light of the moon.

Arashi was glad he wasn't smiling; it meant that he was serious. "Thanks dad."

His father nodded and bent down to offer his son a piggy back home. Accepting, Arashi jumped onto his back and hung on as his father began walking home.

He had known just what to say, but then he always did. It was part of the bond that they shared. His father would know just what his son needed and would provide it, no explanations, no showing off, and Arashi loved him the more for it.

His mother went out of her way to protect him, and although he loved her dearly, there was a way that his father would look at him that didn't assure him that everything was alright in the way that his mother did, because more often than not things weren't alright. His father looked at him and told him this but let him know that he and his mother were always there to fix it.

"Your mother and I have a mission tonight," Arashi's father said over his shoulder, "we'll be back before you wake up."

Arashi nodded into his back, and safe in the knowledge that everything was alright closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Sunlight flooded in through the window across from his bed. Arashi yawned and snuggled into his covers, it was still early. His eyes snapped open, his parents should be back from their mission, he flung his covers off, and padded down the hall in his pyjamas to his parents room.

He flung open the door. The bed was empty and had not been slept in. Perhaps they were still downstairs.

Arashi tried the kitchen first but that too was empty, panic starting to creep in, he ran to the lounge only to find no signs of life anywhere. Jumping slightly as the doorbell rang he sighed in relief, they had just forgotten their key.

He pulled the door open, ready to berate them for their forgetfulness, but blinked when the uniform of a jounin stood on the doorstep. Craning his neck to look up at said uniforms head, Arashi stood there wondering what was going on.

"Arashi Uzumaki?" asked the jounin.

Arashi nodded.

"I'm sorry kid, but your parents . . . they . . . there was an accident on their mission. They where killed."

Arashi stared thinking that this wasn't a very funny joke, but then everything went black just before his head hit the step.


	3. pranks

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer I have never and will never own Naruto; however other characters in this chapter are my own creation.

I would like to say a big thank you to shonen ai girl and Rabbit of Woe for brightening my day. Thanks guys.

The jounin lunged forwards and caught the small boy before his head hit the step. Straightening up with the child in his arms, he sighed before making his way to the hospital. It was just dawn and the streets were empty, the only sounds were those of the birds greeting the day.

Giving the boy into the care of a nurse at the hospitals reception, the jounin sighed, he hated this part of the job.

The nurse laid the boy down on a hospital bed in a bright room, just shock, nothing serious. Still he was going to be upset when he awoke, the child was only five and both his parents had just been killed. He was going to need a lot of help to get through this. But at such a young age, she hoped he would.

Sunlight flooded in through the window across from his bed. Arashi yawned and snuggled into his covers, it was still early. His eyes snapped open, his parents should be back from their mission, and that was when the illusion stopped and reality came crashing back. His parents where gone. Tears filled his eyes and he wept uncontrollably as he had every morning for the past two months.

He was allowed to continue living in his parent's house, although he was not sure if that was a good or a bad thing, every room was alive with memories. He could hear his mother cooking in the kitchen; smell the aromas of breakfast, lunch and dinner. He could hear his fathers' footsteps along the floor, so quiet when moving around outside, he didn't half stomp around indoors.

Arashi shoved the covers back and clambered out of bed as a fresh wave of grief threatened to overwhelm him. He had discovered early on that doing something helped to distract from the pain, and so he busied himself. Tokoa-sensei had said when he had showed up at class two days after the incident that he didn't need to be there yet. But the distraction was welcome and so he had refused to go back to the large empty house and sit in silence.

Nevertheless, despite perfect attendance, his grades were shocking; he couldn't concentrate, alternately being filled with an inane urge to make a nuisance of himself and lethargy so complete he could barely keep his eyes open. Although the latter was improving, helped by friends and neighbours, for he had stubbornly refused to be moved from his home, he could cook and clean and shop, his parents had left him money so there was no real need for him to leave.

But he was still a nuisance; he couldn't seem to help it. He didn't concentrate, he showed up late, he pulled pranks and he continued to fail in tests.

Tokoa-sensei didn't know what to do with him. Although she was sympathetic to his loss, she couldn't help but think that at this rate he was never going to become a ninja.

Arashi walked into the classroom, a half hour late and ignored both Tokoa-sensei's sigh and his fellow students annoyed mutterings.

"Thanks a lot Arashi, now we're gonna have to go back over it," whispered the guy who sat next to him angrily. What was his name? Arashi couldn't quite remember. It was something like Sokky . . . no Sakky . . . Sacachi that was it.

"Like I care," Arashi snapped back.

Sacachi huffed and faced front once again. "Whatever."

Arashi turned his attention to Tokoa-sensei with a great effort and focused on what she was saying. "Everyone line up and one by one show me your henge no jutsu."

Arashi frowned, henge no jutsu, a transformation? Did he know how to do that? Still frowning he took his place in the line between Sacachi and a chubby girl called Perelta.

Tokoa-sensei moved steadily down the line, pausing in front of each student with her clipboard. Watching as the made the hand sign, shouted, "Henge no jutsu" and reappeared as a copy of her in a puff of smoke. After giving each a mark out of ten she moved on.

"Sacachi, your turn," she said smiling.

Sacachi nodded, made the hand sign and shouted "Henge no jutsu." One puff of smoke later and a copy of Tokoa-sensei stood where he had been.

Tokoa-sensei smiled and nodded, marking something down on her clipboard. "Good. Arashi, your turn."

Repeating the movements, Arashi shouted "Henge no jutsu," and vanished in puff of smoke. When it cleared he was standing there as a less than perfect copy of his sensei.

Tokoa blanched as the students around her erupted into giggles at the sight of what their teacher would have looked like with dumbo ears and an overly large nose. Shushing the students, she turned to Arashi who had released the jutsu.

"You haven't been practising your chakra control, have you?" she asked.

Arashi looked away, it was all the conformation she needed. "Arashi, at this rate you're never going to become a ninja," she said gently.

The small golden haired boy looked at her eyes wide. "You have to practise, being on time for lessons is usually good to and finally, these pranks have to stop!"

Arashi looked at her. She sighed, "Arashi, your going to get in trouble, if you keep pulling pranks of the calibre of yesterday."

Unable to entirely conceal a smirk, Arashi looked away.

**Flashback.**

_Villagers screamed and dived out of the way as a small blonde boy came tearing around the corner with two chuunin ninja racing after him. Swinging wildly from the boys arms where two large cans of paint, one blue and the other red. Great splashes littered the ground and walls to mark where the boy had been, but worst of the all was the beloved cliff face monument._

_The three carvings of the First, Second and Third Hokage and been covered in painted graffiti, in blue and red. Coincidence?_

_The boy raced around another corner, paint cans swinging wildly, always managing to stay just ahead of the ninja chasing him. _

_SMACK! The paint flew into the air and landed straight on the pursuing ninja as the boy fell victim to a third waiting just around the corner._

_The boy struggled in his captors' arms, before being unceremoniously carted off to the Hokages office._

**End flashback.**

Arashi grimaced the resulting conversation had not been pretty.

"Arashi don't you want to become a ninja?" Tokoa-sensei was asking him.

Arashi considered, before his parents death it had been his dream, the only thing he ever considered being. But now with them gone he just didn't know. Was it worth it any more?

He looked at his sensei, "I don't know," he whispered.

To all my readers, reviews make my world go round, and result in faster updates. So please review but this is my first fic so be nice although constructive criticism is ok.


	4. leaves

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer If Naruto was mine then the fourth and Obito would still be alive sob

Arashi had never really liked the hero's stone. It was an okay stone, as far as stones went, he supposed. Big, grey, solid. All the things a stone should be.

But this one had names carved on it. He remembered, when he was younger, he had asked his father why there were names carved on it. He had been told that the names were those of ninjas who had died during battle or on a mission.

Arashi decided there and then at the age of three, that the hero's stone was a good deal less than a memorial to ninja, to be on the stone you had to die in battle, but what of those that weren't killed. Weren't they heroes as well? The small boy had looked up at his father and remembered the tears that fell for fallen companions and friends and decided that to live on sounded more heroic than dying.

But now as he stared at his parents names at the end of a long list, he wondered, where his parents heroes? Or did they die for some stupid cause?

Ninja fights and wars were, he decided, stupid, just a bunch of highly trained people being paid to do some one else's dirty work. Kill this person for me, steal this, deliver that. Rich people hired ninja's to do jobs that they won't.

That was what his parents died for.

The wind blew, mussing his hair and blowing leaves past his face. As one brushed his cheek he caught it and held it to his skin. Bringing the leaf round in the palm of his hand he looked at it and his eyes widened.

This is what his parents died for. The village. Konoha. The people, the animals, the buildings, the trees. All of it, because they loved the village.

_And so do I,_ he thought.

They died to protect this village and that's what makes them heroes. They fought as ninja, but they loved as humans, and it was this place that centered in their thoughts when they undertook a mission. They fought and died to keep Konoha safe, as do all ninja. _As will I_.

Returning to the academy, he stopped in the doorway of his classroom. Tokoa-sensei looked around at him from where she was seated at her desk and smiled at him, "Well?"

Arashi nodded, "I will become a great ninja!"

Okay a short chapter here, but they will get longer, as always reviews are appreciated.


	5. shadow clones

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer These things kinda suck so think of something witty that involves me not owning Naruto and pretend I said it wink

Six months ago Arashi had said, _"I will become a great ninja!"_ today he'd settle for average. No mater what he tried he couldn't get the Henge no jutsu. To his chagrin the other students in his class could perform the lousy jutsu, and his sole consolation was that he excelled in chakra control, a feat almost unheard of at six and a half, and a most trying fact for his classmates who had barely any chakra to speak of let alone any form of control over it.

So while his friends Sacachi, and Perelta and the rest of his class where climbing trees the old fashioned way, Arashi was walking up them, literally. The class hated him for it, _jealous probably,_ and took every opportunity going to tease him about his lack of transformation jutsu, an essential element to graduating.

But Arashi didn't particularly care, he had already been made fun of for most of his life and he had developed thick skin. His hair had always been a favourite topic, people just couldn't seem to grasp how he expected to hide when his hair, "Shines brighter than the sun, you moron." Tears used to be shed over the hurtful remarks but now calluses had grown up and healed over old wounds.

And besides while his fellow students were stuck inside with Tokoa-sensei learning the basic elements of chakra, he was outside, on a beautiful sunny day, practising water-walking.

He carefully stepped out onto the stream again, he had been told to learn on still shallow water, but where was the fun in that? Moving water presented a challenge, and although he had calmed down considerably he was a far cry for the best behaved in the class.

Moulding and maintaining his chakra on his feet, he began taking shaky steps on the streams surface, bobbing up and down slightly with the waters movement. Elated he punched the air and yelled "**Hell Yeah!**"

On the shore, hidden behind a large tree, a tall, white haired man watched as the small blond boy accomplished something that many chuunin couldn't do. The mans headband had the word "Oil" on it, although half hidden beneath his long, spiky hair. He had been watching the boy since he had come across him practising a half hour earlier and had noticed an extraordinary amount of chakra for one so young.

The man chuckled as the child lost concentration and teetered on the brink of falling in, only to save himself a second later. With a small poof of smoke the man vanished.

Arashi grimaced that had been close. He walked to the edge of the stream and sat down on the bank, the problem of his Henge no jutsu troubling him. Although it had shown a definite improvement it was not perfect and he could not pass the exam without it.

_Still,_ he thought, _there's always the other one._ Unbeknownst to anyone Arashi had secretly been working on another technique and was very close to completing it. _It should be ready by tomorrow_ he thought excitedly. _I'll pass the test for sure._

"Alright class," Tokoa-sensei's voice rang out, "You've all done well so far, only one more test, the Henge no jutsu."

Well accustomed to the drill by now, the class lined up, Arashi was at the end, next to Sacachi. One by one the class all transformed into a double of their sensei. And Sacachi was, as usual, no exception.

And finally, "Ok Arashi, it's your turn."

The class watched as Arashi made a hand-sign and was engulfed in a puff of billowing smoke. From the midst of the smoke Arashi yelled "Kage bunshin no jutsu." Tokoa-sensei frowned, that wasn't even a jutsu.

As the smoke cleared off, the class stood stunned, standing there, perfectly formed, were five Arashi's.

"H . . . How?" gasped Tokoa-sensei.

"It's my new jutsu, shadow clones. Unlike a normal clone jutsu these clones have mass. Pretty cool huh?"

Tokoa-sensei smiled, _he created a new jutsu, at his age? _"Very," she agreed, "But it's not a transformation jutsu."

Arashi's smile fell. He could feel it coming. "I'm sorry but you fail."

Yep it came.

Alas, will he ever pass the exam, tune in next time folks.

Reviews are key to future chapters, so make sure you review the story. Thank you.


	6. flash

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer the two constants in the universe, 1 the disclaimer and 2 I don't own Naruto.

Okay I'm not the type to rant, but I unfortunately feel one coming on here, I have had hundreds of hits for this story yet only 7 reviews! I must confess that I'm feeling a little put out. If the story isn't good enough to review then why are reading it, I mean really? We're six chapters in and over 450 of you have nothing to say about this story, if it's no good then either stop reading or review or let me know why. To my wonderful readers who have reviewed then this obviously does not apply to you, but to those who haven't reviewed would it truly inconvenience you that much? Okay my rant has ended, here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!

The sunlight shone down through the branches of the tree. Dappled shadows played across Arashi's mournful face. Although he had promised himself that he would not cry, it was a difficult promise to keep when the rest of his class stood not twenty feet away receiving their head bands and congratulations that came with passing the graduation exam. They where going on to become ninja while he sat on the swing and watched from afar.

Feeling a presence behind him he turned slightly on the swing that he was sitting on to see Tokoa-sensei smiling sadly at him.

"I'm sorry Arashi," she said softly, "but the transformation technique is essential if you can't do it you won't survive as a ninja."

Arashi refused to meet her eyes, he could do it, he knew he could. It was just that every time he tried he mind was filled with conflicting images and the end results came out as a mish-mesh of them all.

Still, that wasn't good enough. He could distantly hear some girls talking about him. "Look at him," they where saying, "I hear he's the only one who failed; he'll never become a ninja."

The words burned!

Tokoa-sensei must have heard them as well, for after a moment she offered, "Don't listen to them; you've got every chance of becoming a ninja, maybe even reaching the level of chuunin eventually."

If those words where meant to comfort him then they failed miserably, Arashi thought, he wanted to become a great ninja like his parents. "Tokoa-sensei I'd like to be alone," he said quietly, before slipping off the swing and walking away.

Arashi wandered the streets for a while, his mind seething with the problem of his transformation jutsu. His other skills weren't a problem; he could handle weapons and had a good aim, his chakra control was unrivalled at the academy, his taijutsu was good, and he was the fastest person at the academy, although no one knew about that, he corrected himself, it was not a skill that he bandied about.

It was simply his transformation jutsu that was the issue here. He turned another corner, oblivious to the time ticking on, completely unaware that he was supposed to have been back at the academy hours ago, unknowing of the fact that several academy teachers, including Tokoa-sensei were looking for him and so preoccupied that he didn't realise that someone was following him.

Tokoa-sensei leaped onto yet another roof, catching a slight glimpse of her fellow academy teacher as he sped by on the search. Arashi had been missing for a while now, and although he could take care of self, an alert had come in from the Hokage's office, that a foreign ninja had infiltrated the village, with unknown intentions.

Most of the ANBU were currently out on long-term assignments and those that weren't were guarding the Hokage and his family. Similarly most of the jounin were also out of the village and the available chuunin were watching over the civilians. So a few of the academy teachers had agreed to help her look for Arashi before something happened to him.

Arashi kicked a small stone in his path, feeling vaguely satisfied when it hit the wall ahead with enough force to leave a small crater. He walked on taking care to seem normal, keep his footsteps regular and not to breathe too quickly. If he didn't alert whoever was following him to the fact that he knew, then he might be able to get away.

No footsteps betrayed his stalkers presence, nor did any rasp of fabric or sound of breath as the person kept pace with Arashi, and from this Arashi knew it was a ninja, and not one from Konoha. Arashi had already tried to determine who it was by using his chakra control skills to try and pick up his followers chakra signature, from the way the persons chakra was concealed he knew the person was not from this village. No Konoha ninja concealed their chakra while inside in the walls for security reasons. Such as this he supposed.

Picking up a little more speed Arashi turned another corner and continued down the path, the streets were empty of life, and his own footsteps sounded very loud in the quiet. Becoming slightly more unnerved now, Arashi extended his chakra senses out further searching for someone whom he knew, within seconds his chakra brushed over the familiar sense of Tokoa-sensei's and he altered his course accordingly.

Perhaps his stalker had realised what Arashi was attempting for he suddenly burst out of a hidden alcove in the street and rushed towards the small boy. Arashi stood stunned for a moment before fear overtook him; just narrowly dodging the ninja's outstretched hand he took off with a burst of speed towards Tokoa-sensei.

Tokoa-sensei landed lightly in the street, she stood tensed for a moment, barely feeling the chakra of her companions, who were rushing to her aid, as a huge amount and strength of chakra was speeding towards her more quickly than the Hokage himself could travel. Readying a kunai she crouched defensively and prepared to meet the incoming chakra. Her eyes widened, streaking towards her was a bright yellow flash, the source of the huge chakra. And sprinting some distance behind the flash was, judging by his clothes, a stone-ninja.

As the flash reached her, it slowed down, and Arashi came into view, saving her surprise for later, she reached out and propelled him behind her, preparing to engage the stone-nin. Her companions had not reached them yet and the stone-nin was closing in.

When he was twenty feet away Tokoa-sensei lunched at him and brought her kunai up. The stone-nin met her challenge and their kunai clashed; a contest of brute strength then ensued, which to Arashi's dismay Tokoa-sensei lost and was flung backwards. As she landed on the ground, an impulse to protect her kicked in and he jumped between her and the enemy ninja.

The stone-nin sneered derisively, "So the cub thinks he has claws does he?"

Arashi snarled, allowing his hands to form the seals automatically, he yelled Henge no jutsu, and transformed into a carbon copy of the stone-nin. Taken off balance by the unexpected manoeuvre the stone-nin dropped his guard, and once again displaying an extraordinary amount of chakra for a ninja of any age Arashi ran forwards too quickly for the eye to follow and delivered a powerful kick to the underside of the stone-nins chin.

The enemy ninja flew backwards stunned and landed a good fifty feet away. He didn't get up again.

Arashi released the transformation jutsu as Tokoa-sensei rose shaking to her feet and stared at the small boy in front of her.

Arashi turned to face Tokoa-sensei but his attention was grabbed by a sudden round of applause from the surrounding rooftops, where it seemed that most of the academy teachers and not a few other chuunin had seen the fight.

Blushing modestly he looked up at his sensei and grinned. Tokoa-sensei smiled back, before hesitating. Reaching up she untied her own head band and knelt down in front of Arashi. Arashi stared at her as she held it out to him with a broad smile. "Congratulations," she said, "you pass the graduation test."

Arashi took the head band and tied it around his forehead. He hesitated for only a moment before flinging his arms around his sensei and burying his head in her shoulder, he had done it, he had become a ninja.

Tokoa-sensei's arms went around her students back as she hugged him back as above them the cheering started.

Well he made it, but we all knew he would, can't become the fourth without becoming a ninja first, or could he? Hmmm…..

Please review.


	7. sensei

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer Just in case you haven't realised by now, I don't own Naruto…

Outside the sun was shining in a big blue sky, the birds were singing, the people were going about their business as normal. Konoha was as it should be.

Inside, a young boy, small for his age, with a spiky shock of golden hair and the biggest, brightest blue eyes to ever dominate a face, paused outside of a classroom door to just savour the moment.

His entire class had thought that he couldn't do, but he, Arashi Uzumaki had become a ninja. Something that he was quite looking forward to rubbing their faces in.

Today was the day that the graduates from the academy were assigned their jounin sensei. An elite ninja who would take a group of three genin and teach them what they knew.

Grinning, Arashi pushed open the door and stepped through. At once the room went silent and all heads turned towards him. Haughtily ignoring them all, he strode forwards until he reached his friend Sacachi, who was staring at him open mouthed.

Arashi calmly sat down and adjusted his chair, before turning to his friend and asking "Yes?"

Sacachi finally picked his jaw up off of the floor, and said, "But I thought you failed."

Arashi grinned and flicked his head band, "Nope," he replied, knowing that the lack of details would drive the older boy absolutely wild. However before Sacachi could leap the distance and throttle him for information, the door opened once again and Tokoa-sensei walked in carrying a scroll.

All heads immediately swivelled from Arashi to Tokoa-sensei as who their teams would be was obviously far more important than the dead last actually managing to scrape through and become a ninja.

Sacachi caught his eye, and Arashi grinned back, it seemed that Sacachi wanted to be on a team with him also, which Arashi supposed was a good thing since no one else seemed to.

Tokoa-sensei cleared her throat, "Congratulations class on making it this far, as you know you will now be divided into three man cells and assigned to a jounin-sensei, your teams are as follows: Squad one, Tsume Inuzuka, Shibi Aburame and Hizashi Hyuuga. Squad two, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka."

Loud groans could be heard from the back of the room, Tokoa-sensei, however continued as though no one was disappointed in their teams.

Tokoa-sensei continued to call out the squads and their members until, "Squad six, Sacachi Tokanaru, Choako Yalgo and Hiashi Hyuuga."

Arashi and Sacachi groaned, "I don't wanna be on a team with a Hyuuga," whispered Sacachi glancing up to where the stoic boy, sat next to his twin Hizashi who was tilting his chair back with his eyes closed. Hizashi opened his blank white eyes and seeing Sacachi looking, flashed a grin and winked.

"Maybe it won't be so bad," murmured Arashi.

"Squad seven, Mikoto Uchiha, Tanho Kenaro and Arashi Uzumaki."

Arashi looked around to take in his new team-mates reactions to being on a team with him, Tanho glared back at him while Mikoto looked indifferent, Arashi sighed this was going to be fun.

After the rest of the teams where announced, Tokoa-sensei asked them al to sit in their groups, when that was eventually accomplished, she smiled at them, "Your jounin-sensei's will be here shortly, good luck everyone and see you around."

As she left Arashi vaguely wondered how they would know who their new sensei was, but that question was swiftly answered as not five minutes later the first of the jounin arrived and called out a squad number.

The room gradually emptied as each team left with their new sensei, until finally only squad seven was left. Planting themselves as far apart as possible, Arashi, Tanho and Mikoto waited. A half hour ticked past, then an hour, bored, Tanho started pacing, while Mikoto just sat in her chair with her eyes closed. Arashi meanwhile busied himself with trapping a dusty board eraser between the door and the wall, so that when the door was opened the eraser would fall on the persons head.

Mikoto cracked open an eye and asked in a bored sounding voice, "What are you doing?"

Arashi faced her defiantly, "That's what he gets for being late."

Tanho glared, "Idiot!"

"Hey everyone else left with their new senseis already," protested Arashi, and Mikoto had to agree, still…

"He's a jounin, an elite ninja, if you think he's gonna fall for that trick…"

At that moment the door opened and the eraser fell straight onto a head of long white hair.

Arashi burst out laughing, while Tanho stared. Mikoto's eye twitched, _I can't believe he fell for that,_ she thought.

The man looked at them, "Well my first impression is … I don't like you."

Ten minutes later saw Tanho, Mikoto, Arashi and the white haired man seated atop the Hokages tower. The man perched on a railing facing his three new students. "Okay why don't you tell me a bit about yourselves," he declared.

"A bit about ourselves," Mikoto repeated confused.

"Yes, you know, your name, likes and dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future," the man replied, "Who wants to go first?"

"Why don't you go first?" Tanho sneered.

"Okay, my name is Jiraiya, I like … writing novels, I dislike kiwi and gratin. My hobbies include research for my novels and my dreams for the future are something that I don't feel like telling you."

"You're not just a jounin are you," said Mikoto after a moment, Jiraiya looked amused, "my father spoke once of the legendary Sannin, Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya."

Arashi and Tanho gaped at the man with long white hair and a red line running down from his eyes on his face.

"You got me," said Jiraiya laughing, "now who wants to go next?"

"I will," Arashi volunteered.

Jiraiya looked at the small boy and nodded. "My name is Arashi Uzumaki, I like ramen and learning new techniques, I dislike waiting three minutes for cup ramen to boil, my hobbies are chakra control techniques and my dreams for the future are to become a great ninja and protect the village like my parents did."

Jiraiya frowned, _Arashi Uzumaki eh? So he's the one the stone-nin was after, the Hokage did say…_

**Flashback**

_Jiraiya stood in front of the Third Hokages desk, facing the man himself. The Third sighed, "Jiraiya, we are on the brink of war with the land of Earth. Our calls for peace go unanswered and I fear that soon the lands of earth and Fire will erupt into a ninja war! Just yesterday Konoha was infiltrated by a stone ninja who seemed to be after a young boy named Arashi Uzumaki."_

"_Why this boy?" asked Jiraiya._

"_We don't know, although those who witnessed the fight did report the boy as having an amazing amount, strength and control of chakra as well as strength and unmatched speed. The boy has also created a jutsu he calls Kage Bunshin no jutsu."_

"_A clone technique?"_

"_Yes but these clones are solid, they have mass."_

_Jiraiya frowned, "That's quite impressive."_

"_Indeed, which is why I'm assigning you to be his teams sensei."_

**End Flashback.**

Jiraiya nodded, "Good, next."

"My name is Mikoto Uchiha," aid the girl, she was the tallest, had black hair tied back and flicking over her head, her eyes where dark and her bangs framed her face. A pretty girl she nevertheless gave off the aura of the Uchihas, Konoha's most powerful clan, mysterious and dangerous. "I like fighting, I don't like laziness, my hobbies are fighting styles and my dreams for the future do not concern you."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow but nodded, before turning to Tanho.

Tanho scowled, "My name is Tanho Kenaro, I don't really like anything, but I dislike pretty everything, I don't have any hobbies and my dreams for the future are to become powerful."

At this both Jiraiya's eyebrows disappeared under his white hair but he chose not to comment. "Well okay then, a nice mixed group. So for our first mission I want you to meet back here at eight tomorrow morning, having not had breakfast, for a survival training test."

"Survival training? But we did that at the academy," said Mikoto frowning.

"Yes," replied Jiraiya, "but this is a test, if you pass you become genins if you fail you go back to the academy."

"What!?" yelled Arashi, "After all that work to get here it's not over? Another test?"

"What's the point?" snapped Tanho.

"The point is to weed out those who will not become genins this time around of the twelve teams that graduated only three will become genins."

Dun Dun Dun!!!!!!! Will they make it through? Read the next chapter and find out. Reviews are vital for the next chapter…


	8. Bell part 1

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer Nope

Previously:

"Survival training? But we did that at the academy," said Mikoto frowning.

"Yes," replied Jiraiya, "but this is a test, if you pass you become genins if you fail you go back to the academy."

"What!?" yelled Arashi, "After all that work to get here it's not over? Another test?"

"What's the point?" snapped Tanho.

"The point is to weed out those who will not become genins this time around of the twelve teams that graduated only three will become genins."

Jiraiya smiled belligerently as three shocked looks were directed his way. These three were his first genins, but he had heard from other senseis about "The Look", and now seeing it for the first time, he had to admit that they were right, it was priceless.

Predictably Arashi recovered first, "But that means that we've only got a twenty five percent chance of making it through."

Jiraiya blinked surprised, that was a calculation he hadn't expected any of them to come up with, let alone this kid, who lets face it didn't exactly give off the "I'm a bright spark" vibe. If anyone was going to figure that out he would have thought it would have been the Uchiha, Mikoto. The Uchihas' were Konohas genius clan, although that didn't necessarily mean anything he mused.

"Sensei?"

Jiraiya came back down to earth with a bump, shaking his head; _Whoa how long was I spaced out? _

"About two minutes," came the helpful answer, apparently he had said that outloud, hmmm have to watch that.

"Watch what?"

Oh God he was doing it again. "Never you mind."

"Sensei why is the pass rate of the next test so low, I mean what's the point?" asked Mikoto frowning.

"The point is to weed out those who aren't ready to become genins yet. You see the academy exam was just to see if you had the basic skills. Now we're going to see if you have what it takes to be a ninja. Meet at the training grounds at eleven oclock and skip breakfast."

"Skip breakfast?" yelped Arashi shuddering, "but why?"

"Well you can eat if you want," replied Jiraiya shrugging, his smile turned sadistic, "But if you do then you will probably throw up."

Arashi trudged along the path towards the training grounds his stomach growling from hunger. He forced one foot in front of the other, convinced that he was going to keel over at any moment he was moving on determination alone.

Mikoto approached from the opposite direction to Arashi, she could see his blonde head bobbing along in the distance, the stupid boy actually looked like he was about to faint. She snorted and held her head up high, good ninja don't let weakness show, at that moment her own stomach gave a disturbingly loud rumble, and a faint blush coloured her cheeks.

Tanho approached from yet another direction, it looked as though they would meet in the middle of the grounds, he sighed yet another day to be spent in the company of that worthless lump, and Mikoto who if truth be told he didn't mind at all, quite the opposite really. He glared at Arashi's approaching figure, the small boy, a year younger than his two team mates and slight for his age anyway, was walking along as though half dead. Tanho snickered, obviously weak from lack of food. In accordance with Jiraiya-sensei's orders he to had forgone breakfast, but was damned if a little inconvenience like that was going to slow him, after all he was going to be the best and then Mikoto would have to like him.

The three of them slowed to a halt in the middle of the training grounds and faced each other in a circle until Arashi groaned and sank to the ground, his ninja gear falling down beside him. Mikoto sighed and blushed as her stomach gave yet another rumble, fortunately neither boy noticed or if they did they were smart enough not to say anything.

At five past eleven Jiraiya-sensei showed up in a cloud of smoke. Arashi yelped in surprise, he hadn't felt him coming, and somehow whilst still sitting tumbled backwards. Mikoto gave a rare snort of laughter at the sight while Tanho merely glared. Jiraiya looked slightly amused but decided against saying anything, preferring instead to take note of Tanho's frown.

Once Arashi had righted himself, he looked inquiringly up at Jiraiya. In response Jiraiya held up two small silver bells. Blank looks met this display and Jiraiya sighed. "The object of this test is to take the bells from me," he affixed the bells to his waist band where they hung swinging gently. "I want you to come at me with the intent to kill me; otherwise you will not be able to get a bell. You have until noon to accomplish this."

"But there's only two bells, sensei," protested Mikoto, "someone won't get one."

"Right," said Jiraiya nodding, "The one who doesn't get a bell will tied to a post over there. Whoever fails to get a bell by noon will not get lunch. If you all fail to get a bell by noon I will eat my lunch in front of you."

"What? That's not fair," exclaimed Arashi, Mikoto nodded and even Tanho looked like he agreed.

Jiraiya shrugged, "I decide who will be tied to the posts. Oh and whoever is tied to the post at the end of the day, goes back to the academy. Okay then team start!"

Obediently all three students scattered and hid themselves in the surrounding area. The training ground was an open field with a few trees dotted about and a lake along one side, the other three sides where dense wooded area. Not able to see where his students where and as it would be cheating to use chakra to find them, Jiraiya turned his attention to the woods, the most likely area for a person to hide in.

Staying alert for any movement that might betray a position, the Sannin held his ground in the open and waited. His patience was rewarded almost immediately when several shuriken came whizzing out of the trees, nimbly dodging the attack, Jiraiya ran towards the tree they had come from.

Tanho quickly jumped to another tree branch as Jiraiya-sensei moved towards his tree, his shuriken had been to test his teacher, but they had also given away his position, he had to move quickly, hiding himself once more he waited until Jiraiya-sensei moved in closer before attacking.

Mikoto watched from her hiding place under a bush, as Jiraiya ran towards a tree that had apparently attacked him with shuriken, wondering which of her team mates had launched the attack, she decided it must have been Tanho as he was more commanding than Arashi, who simply seemed to mess around much of the time, and who probably didn't have very good aim anyway.

Jiraiya swiftly moved his arm up to block an incoming kick as Tanho launched himself at his head. Whirling around he caught a punch and quickly flung the boy away from him. Tanho landed on his face, keeping his balance, before charging in again. _Reckless, _thought Jiraiya absently as he easily blocked the boys' attacks, _although he has good taijutsu skills._ Parrying another kick, Jiraiya glanced at the boys' face, which was red from the exertion, deciding to end this little bout Jiraiya vanished. Tanho came to standstill and warily looked about him.

Tanho quickly checked all sides, craning his neck he checked above him, his eyes widened. "Bingo," came Jiraiya-senseis voice as a hand grasped his ankle. One panicked yell later and Tanho was buried up to his neck in earth, completely immobilised.

Jiraiya grinned, "Earth-style," he explained before turning away. Tanho's cheeks flamed. _How embarrassing!_

Mikoto witnessed this from her hiding place. _He's just toying with us_ she realised. _How are we supposed to beat him?_ Inching forwards she peeked out through the thick covering of leaves, waiting for the Sannin to drop his guard.

_Now! _She whipped a kunai knife towards her teacher with all the strength she had, but was disappointed when he had clearly known where it was coming from. He side-stepped and the knife drove harmlessly into the ground.

She backed up ready to run, but as she turned she came face to face with Jiraiya. She gasped, but within seconds the world faded to dark and a shadowy figure stepped forwards, cloaked in shadow with fiery eyes. Mikoto opened her mouth to scream in terror but no sound came out. She tried to flee but her limbs were frozen in place. The figure stepped nearer and his cloak fell away revealing the familiar features of her father. "Dad?" she whispered reaching for him, only to recoil when he spoke. "Mikoto you failure! You are not worthy to bear the crest of the Uchiha clan. Give up!"

Mikoto sobbed aloud once before darkness took her and she fell to the floor.

Jiraiya looked at the collapsed girl and rubbed his nose with a finger. "Oops, guess I overdid it on the genjutsu just a smidge."

Arashi perched high in a tree, secured to the limb with chakra had been watching the proceedings with interest, after watching both his companions fail he quickly reached the same conclusion that Mikoto had. _He's just toying with us; this is one of the Sannin. _Arashi frowned watching Mikoto collapse to the ground. _Our problem is how to attack him and win, but his problem is deciding how best to counter our moves so that we don't get to badly hurt._

Thinking about this Arashi wondered if there might be a way to use it to his advantage. He also considered Tanho and Mikoto, both had attempted stealth and had not accomplished anything. His father had once told him that the best way to win was to confuse your opponent. So where stealth had failed maybe a frontal assault would work. Jiraiya would not be expecting it and would therefore not be prepared for it.

Arashi jumped down the tree and landed in the field. Jiraiya slowly turned at the noise and faced the small blonde.


	9. Bell part 2

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer Naruto is still not mine.

Arashi smiled thinking of his first day at the academy when he had yelped and ducked; well now his future as a ninja was on the line and he would not run away. He had been taught how to use his opponents' size and weight against him and now he would put it to the test.

Jiraiya stared, what was the boy thinking? Did he really expect to beat him through sheer force? He didn't want to hurt the kid. However, he abruptly remembered the reported speed and strength of this kid as he took out a stone-nin. Maybe the kids got the right ides after all he mused. Jiraiya took up a fighting stance. _Alright kid, come get me!_

Arashi blinked, he hadn't been expecting this, still . . . he could show Jiraiya-sensei what he was made of. Sliding into his own fighting stance the two combatants stared at each other over fifty feet of field.

Jiraiya frowned; the distance was too great to attack, as whoever did so first would be wide open to a counter attack whilst charging the distance.

Arashi could almost see the cogs turning in Jiraiya-senseis head as he tried to figure out his best next move. But he had an advantage over sensei.

Jiraiya barely had time to blink before the yellow flash was on him, raising his arm barely in time to block a punch that left his arm numb to the elbow. _Gods this kid! _Regaining his composure quickly however, Jiraiya soon managed to get the upper hand.

Mikoto pushed her way past a low-hanging branch; she had been barrelling through the undergrowth since waking up on something that was definitely not her bed. After a moment of panic her memories returned and she remembered Jiraiya-sensei and some kind of vision. _Damn he must have used genjutsu on me. I wonder how long I was out, noon must be getting close. _She raced along a small clearing just before the open field and stopped very suddenly as shock overtook her system.

Tanho sighed having long given up squirming. No matter how he wriggled he was too deeply embedded in the ground. He vividly remembered being sucked into the earth by Jiraiya-sensei and shuddered. _I may have just discovered my worst fear – being buried alive! _Still at least Arashi wasn't around to see this. _That cowards probably dead by now anyway! _Or Mikoto, that would be awful, how was he supposed to impress her when he was quite literally stuck in the mud? He was sure that she would like him if he could prove to her that he was the best. A sudden noise caused him to look up from the patch of ground he had been resolutely staring at. His cheeks flamed red as his brown eyes met black. Mikoto was staring at him.

Arashi fell back as Jiraiya's onslaught continued; although he was barely managing to block him Arashi sensed that the Sannin was not trying to hard. _Damn he's good, I caught him by surprise earlier but he recovered so quickly. If I can't break out of this I'll never get a bell! _

Jiraiya grinned as he deflected yet another attempt on Arashi's part to grab one of the bells dangling from his waist. He had to admit that the kid was good, strong, fast and definitely devious in his tactics, but no match for the Sannin. At least not yet.

Arashi was beginning to tire, his limbs where beginning to feel heavy and some of Jiraiya-senseis attacks where getting through his guard. Blood flowed from a punch he had taken to the nose and bruises where rapidly forming on his arms and legs. Yet still, sensei was taking it very easy on him.

Seeing an opening Arashi dived for the bells, but just as his fingers grazed the silver Jiraiya-sensei twisted and caught both his hands. He sighed as he dangled a few good feet off the ground in Jiraiya-senseis iron-grip.

Mikoto cautiously approached the head. She recognised the head as Tanho's but failed to be able to put it with the concept that her eyes where presenting to her. Tanho didn't fail at anything. Not ever. It was as though he had some kind of aversion to it, it just didn't happen. She bit back a yelp as his eyes met hers and dropped to one knee in front of the head. "Um…" _oh yes brilliant Mikoto_!

"Would you like a hand?" she offered hesitantly.

Tanho blinked startled as Mikoto offered help. _Mikoto offered me help! _He began to nod but caught himself, _I do NOT need help!!! _The idea was preposterous. "No! I don't need your help."

Mikoto flinched hurt, before her countenance rushed back and shielded her. "Fine," she snapped, "You deserve to stay in the ground anyway after that pathetic performance." She rather neatly side-stepped her own less than perfect run-in with Jiraiya.

Tanho's eyes flashed angrily, "Oh and you and the weakling did better did you?"

Mikoto swallowed a snarled reply, where was Arashi? She straightened up and grabbed Tanho by the small piece of collar visible above ground and yanked. For a moment he didn't move and she feared that she wasn't strong enough, but then the ground gave and he whimpered as she hauled him clear. Glaring at him, which he stonily returned, she hissed, "Where is he?" unsure if at that moment she meant Jiraiya or Arashi.

Tanho, though, obviously thought she meant Arashi. "I don't know, there have been some sounds of battle but that coward probably got surprised in the trees and died of fright."

Mikoto nodded and took off in the direction of the open field, Tanho at her heals.

Arashi only hung there for a few seconds before aiming a kick at Jiraiya's stomach and causing his grip to loosen on his wrists, twisting free Arashi spun in midair and punched the side of Jiraiya's face. When Jiraiya blocked that attack Arashi aimed his next at the Sannin's neck on his other side. Again Jiraiya blocked him with his other arm, but a swift kick to the side of the ribs sent Jiraiya sprawling. Arashi flipped and landed right side up in a runners crouch.

Mikoto gasped from her hiding place only a few metres away. Beside her Tanho crouched similarly stunned, Arashi could do that? Since when? He was always the drop-out, bad grades, never in class, how was he so powerful? Mikoto glared, _Damn it, how dare he? My clan is powerful and yet he doesn't have one! _Born and raised in the Uchiha clan Mikoto was well aware that everyone had high expectations of her. An Uchiha was best at everything, a genius, none could surpass. To have team mate that was this much stronger than her, and younger too, was insulting.

Tanho as well felt anger at their team mates' display. A desire to be the best raged strongly within him, he had worked hard at the academy, busted a gut every night practising, and achieved great results. Yet he had hardly been able to keep up with the Sannin, let alone land a kick.

Arashi straightened up and glanced to his right as the bushes moved. Mikoto pushed her way forwards, her mouth a thin line, with Tanho at her side. Arashi stayed where he was as they glared at him. _What did I do? _

Jiraiya picked himself up and faced Arashi, only to notice that the other two had emerged. If the glares where anything to judge by, some of the fight had been witnessed and jealousy was starting to take hold. It was vital that they discover the meaning of this test and soon or all would be lost.

Well that's another chapter done, hope you guys enjoyed it. Reviews are essential if you want to read further.


	10. Bell part 3

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer Ha Ha . . . . Good one!!!!!

Arashi desperately tried to keep an eye on Jiraiya-sensei but with his team mates closing in fast that was proving to be difficult task. Both Mikoto and Tanho looked as though they could rip his limbs off, and from the worrying way Mikoto's mouth was a thin line she was probably going to.

Arashi's vision became almost double as Jiraiya-sensei picked himself up in one eye and his team mates came to a standstill a few feet away from him in the other.

Mikoto raised her fist and aimed a whack at his head. Reacting on impulse Arashi yelped and ducked, _Again with the ducking? Why do I keep doing this?_

Jiraiya also noticed, _Odd, he'll go all out with a Sannin, but gets scared when faced with a minor threat from someone his own age?_

"Coward!" sneered Tanho, "Can't take a hit from a girl."

Arashi bristled, "Can so."

"You just screamed like a girl, idiot," Tanho shot back.

Arashi started forwards angrily, "At least I was fighting, where were you?"

Tanho snarled and raised his fists ready, but as Arashi reached him his own fists raised, Jiraiya appeared between them in a puff of smoke and grabbed each of their raised fists and threw them past each other. Arashi hit the floor and skidded for several yards before grinding to a halt at the end of a newly formed trench, in the opposite direction, he saw as he gingerly raised his head, Tanho had fared similarly.

Mikoto stared at her sensei with a slightly guilty look upon her face. _Arashi was right, we weren't there to help him, he was fighting solo, and we are meant to be a team. But we were so caught up in our stuff, Tanho and I each wanted to beat Jiraiya-sensei on our own to prove something. But not even to ourselves, I was trying to prove myself to my family, but in battle that will get you killed. And Arashi was the only one who got that._

Jiraiya stood tall and surveyed his students. Arashi and Tanho where both on the ground stunned, although Arashi was groggily attempting to rise. Mikoto however, was staring at him, _she's either contemplating my greatness or she has figured it out._

Arashi regained his footing, wobbling slightly; his blonde hair was filthy and tousled cutely, but his big blue eyes where slightly unfocused. _Hmm maybe a little less force was warranted_, thought Jiraiya absently, _oh well he'll recover._

Tanho also stood and glared at Jiraiya through narrowed eyes, squinting in the light after a head knock. Jiraiya stared back, not in the least fazed by the thinly veiled threat of a seven year old genin. After a moment Tanho dropped his gaze and shuffled his feet. Jiraiya resisted the urge to curl back his lip and snarl, these two older genins had left the youngest and most vulnerable member of the team to fight alone, alright so the kid had kicked ass but that wasn't the point, in a real fight all three of them would be dead.

"Alright lunch time," remarked Jiraiya as the clock struck noon. Three pairs of shoulders slumped as the kids realised that they had failed to get a bell

"Why in the hell am I tied to the post?" yelled Tanho in outrage, squirming under the wealth of rope that bound him securely to the upright wooden post.

Jiraiya grimaced at the pitch, and Arashi and Mikoto both edged away from the post. "Because you performed the worst," Jiraiya snapped.

Obviously Tanho was an arguer. "That's such a lie, what did those two do? Aside from fail?"

"Just like you." Tanho snarled. "They, despite failing to get a bell, performed better on the test as they, eventually, got the point."

"Oh? And what was this amazing point?" bit back Tanho.

Jiraiyas facial muscles worked furiously as he fought a silent inner battle not to throttle the boy. "The point was team work. You are put into three-man, or woman," he added generously, "teams for a reason. If you had all come at me together you would have had a chance of getting a bell."

Mikoto frowned, "But someone would be left out sensei, there are only two bells."

Jiraiya nodded, "Yes but a shinobi is faced with impossible situations all the time. As it was if you had got the two bells all three of you would have passed."

"So now we fail?" asked Arashi hesitantly.

Jiraiya heaved in a deep breath, "I'll give you one more chance, after lunch you'll have one hour to get the bells from me. Now, for lunch, your food is here."

"But there are only two bento boxes," protested Mikoto.

"True," chuckled Jiraiya, "Tanho remains tied to the post with no food, if either of you tries to free or feed him, all three of you go straight back to the academy!"

Tanho hissed at him, while Arashi and Mikoto stared in astonishment. Jiraiya grinned and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Arashi and Mikoto slowly turned to stare at each other; they both knew that they'd feel awful eating in front of Tanho when he couldn't eat. "Should we move away?" whispered Mikoto.

Unfortunately Tanho's hearing was quite good. "That's right move away!"

Arashi picked up the bento boxes and handed one to Mikoto who was now glaring at Tanho. She accepted the box with a flick of her black hair and sat down on the spot to eat.

Arashi surveyed his angry team mates and then the surrounding area, unable to detect Jiraiya either by sight or via his charka the small boy opened his bento box. Grabbing some rice with the provided chopsticks he offered it to Tanho.

Tanho stared at him, while Mikoto spat out her mouthful, "What are you doing, we'll be sent back to the academy!" she screamed.

"Jiraiya-sensei's not around and we'll all need to be in fighting form if we intend to pass this test," replied Arashi calmly, still holding the food out for his team mate.

Mikoto spluttered but apparently could not find the words to argue with him as she settled for verifying that Jiraiya truly was not around.

Tanho's gaze flickered back and forth between the food and Arashi's smiling face. "I'm not hungry!" he declared as his stomach gave a particularly loud rumble, reminding him that he had not eaten since dinner last night.

Arashi's smile spread, "Sure you are." Tanho glared. "It's not pity," Arashi murmured insightfully too low for Mikoto to hear, "we just need you to be on fighting form, we can't do this without you."

Tanho brightened slightly, but still looked slightly hostile towards Arashi, but as he accepted the food that Arashi offered, he reasoned that Tanho had always looked like that towards him and that this was probably as good as it was going to get.

The sky darkened, lighting flashed and the furious form of an all-powerful Sannin warrior appeared with a crash in front of them. "Didn't I tell you not to feed him?" Jiraiya roared. Arashi jumped and dropped his chopsticks, Mikoto also leapt to her feet and stood next to Arashi protectively. Arashi blinked in surprise at the gesture. Jiraiya also looked taken aback but quickly recovered. "Who fed him?" The three genin looked confused, hadn't Jiraiya seen Arashi feed Tanho? Arashi stepped forwards. As did Mikoto.

"So the team banded together?" Jiraiya sneered, "Well then, you all… pass."

"W…what?" asked his team in unison.

"You've finally started working together; you're ready to be ninja!"

Okay another chapter down!

If you guys want another update its going to cost 5 reviews….


	11. Babysitting

**More than a Legend**

**By Deathpenguin37**

Summary He was more than just a legend, he was a person too.

Disclaimer Narutos still not mine.

AN – Sorry about the wait guys, took a while for this chapter huh? I took a small time out when a plot bunny attacked me, so I'm going to take this opportunity to pimp my new one-shot, "I will have what you took from me." Give it a read and let me know what you think.

On that note I find myself in desperate need of reviewers for this story so please leave a comment, please.

Ok on with the story.

Despite the ungodly earliness of the hour, the halls outside the Hokage's office where already bustling with ninja personnel. Arashi looked around with wide eyes, as he and his team-mates traipsed after their sensei, Mikoto, however, looked around haughtily, while Tanho merely looked bored.

Jiraiya walked with practised steps towards the mission room, well aware of his student's reactions; after all he had been the same as Arashi on his first mission assignment while Tanho had the same look as Tsunade and Mikoto had the same look as Orochimaru…once his best friend now…a fire-country traitor and Konoha's biggest threat. The Third-Hokage's students – not unlike his own.

His own students – it still felt strange. He recalled clearly the day not too long after he had achieved the rank of Jounin, at the age of eight, when he had stormed up to his sensei and declared that he would never take genin. Sarutobi-sensei had laughed at him and said that time would tell in a voice that was clearly meant to be mysterious but managed to come out as a rather garbled croak. Jiraiya had merely twitched at this, not paying any attention to the words.

Now, he smiled slightly as he pushed open the door. His sensei was seated at the centre of a long curving table, with an academy teacher on his left and another ninja on his right. The Third raised an eyebrow at him as his genin filed in after him and Jiraiya hastily wiped the smile from his face – the mission room was a place of business after all.

Tanho and Mikoto stood tall and proud on either side of him, so that Arashi felt even smaller. The Third Hokage looked at him and he quailed slightly under the penetrating gaze. His tension was broken slightly by the slight wink from the ninja on the Hokage's left, Arashi brightened slightly as he recognised the person – it was Tokoa-sensei.

Tokoa looked at the three genin standing in front of the table; Arashi had the same nervousness as his first day at the academy – like a civilian before a kunai. Tanho, similarly, had a look she recognised from the academy. Bored seemed to be his permanent facial expression. Coming from a shinobi family, Tokoa knew he put the effort in at home, practising under the watchful eyes of his clan. Shinobi clans often competed amongst each other to be the best, but at the academy he sat at the back of the class paying little attention, acting as though he knew it all – unfortunately a common ailment among the children of shinobi families.

Mikoto had it as well, that bored look of superiority, although it was currently coming across as arrogant. Born and raised in Konohas genius clan, Mikoto had been well conditioned by the Uchihas to think that she was superior. Tokoa only hoped that their team would break these two out of it, with some effort she turned from scrutinising her former students and listened to what the Third was saying.

"….on this mission," at the word mission all three genin brightened while Jiraiya looked slightly pained, "you will be babysitting three toddlers, all aged two years old, while their parents go shopping. This mission is three hours long and is ranked at level D."

"Babysitting?" scoffed Tanho, "That's not ninja stuff." Jiraiya leaned over and neatly clipped him round the ear. Tanho yelped and stumbled to keep from being knocked over.

"Speak when spoken to idiot!" snapped Jiraiya.

The Third Hokage smiled, "As impatient as ever, hey Jiraiya?"

So much for a place of business. Jiraiya grinned, "Aye sensei."

The Third chuckled, "Here is the mission address," he handed Jiraiya a small scroll, "Good luck."

Jiraiya nodded and walked out of the door. After a moments hesitation and a quick bow to the Hokage the three genin followed him.

As it turned out, the mission address was a handsome house only a few streets away. Jiraiya had practically route-marched there and had evidently expected his students to keep up. Mikoto and Tanho, being at least a good three inches taller and ten months older, had had a slightly easier time of it but where still jogging to keep up with their sensei's long strides. Arashi being small for his age had quickly fallen behind and had sprinted the last street or so.

Upon reaching the door Jiraiya turned and was pleased to note that all three had kept up and that not one word of complaint had been uttered. "Right, I want professional behaviour in there, from all of you." Three identical nods followed his words; Jiraiya raised one eyebrow sceptically but decided not to comment. Turning around he knocked smartly on the door.

Arashi grinned, this was their first mission. He reached up and tightened his head band. Mikoto glanced over with a small scowl. Arashi smiled brightly back. Jiraiya-sensei wanted professional behaviour well then he'd get professional behaviour.

The door swung smoothly open and they where greeted by a rather portly woman who frowned upon seeing them. "And you are…?"

Mikotos scowl deepened before Jiraiya said, "We're the ninja team sent to baby-sit."

The woman's gaze shifted over Jiraiya before he seemed to meet some approval. It then moved onto the genin, "I'm not having them baby-sit my children, they barely seem to be out of diapers themselves."

Mikoto and Tanho snarled and Mikoto took a threatening step forwards before Jiraiya curtly said, "My team are fully fledged ninja and are quite capable of handling your children, Madam!"

The woman blinked angrily before submitting under Jiraiyas furious stare. Acquiescing she backed into the house followed by Jiraiya, Mikoto and Tanho. Arashi followed on after carefully shutting the door behind him.

A cluttered hallway wound past many doors and staircases to a brightly lit room with large doors flung open to reveal a garden. In the middle of the room was a play-pen in which three small children where seated. One dark-haired girl clutched a doll staring up at the sudden abundance of people, a flaxen haired girl lay next to her fast asleep while a dark-haired little boy sat across from them absorbed in building blocks. So intense was his concentration on stacking the blocks that he hadn't noticed the ninja come into the wooden floored room.

The woman rushed to the play-pens rim and leant over cooing at the children. "There there darlings, did the ninja frighten you?"

All four ninja twitched, but the woman didn't seem to notice, nor did the children deviate from their respective activities. The unpleasant cooing was disrupted by the timely arrival of a small man in a drab grey suit. He glanced at the ninja then at the woman and sighed, "Shishi, they'll be fine." He waited for a response but when none was forthcoming he turned instead to Jiraiya, "She's very overprotective," he explained.

"That's all right," replied Jiraiya grandly, Mikoto and Arashi both rolled their eyes at this, but neither adult noticed.

Unfortunately the woman – Shishi – heard them, spinning around she fixed the small man with an icy glare. "I'm overprotective? Overprotective! At least I care, not like you, willing to leave them with anyone, even these people," she added in a furious stage whisper.

"But dear, we hired these ninja specifically to look after the children."

"But we don't know who they are; they could be any kind of ninja riffraff."

"Oh I'm sure they're…."

"Excuse me," Jiraiya interrupted, "Riffraff?"

"Well you don't look all that respectable!"

"Shishi, I'm sure that Hokage-sama sent the best of ninja."

"What, three small kids and an old man?"

"Old man?!" screamed Jiraiya finally losing his cool.

"What happened to professional behaviour sensei?" murmured Arashi slyly.

Jiraiya ignored him, "You foolish woman, you have no idea who you're even talking to. Only the three best genin of the year and one of the Hokage's own students!"

The small man gasped, "Jiraiya-sama? The legendary Sannin?"

"Damn right! I…how did you know it was me?"

"Your hair sir, it's famous."

"Well then, I suppose its ok, come along then dear we're going to be late for market, you can't stand around gossiping all day," Shishi decided.

"But I …. Yes dear."

As the two civilians left the room Jiraiya preened unabashedly while his students stared in mixed horror and disbelief.

"Sensei?" Mikoto ventured after a moment.

Jiraiya looked down at her and grinned, "Watch the kids," and then he was gone in a small puff of smoke. The three genin looked dumbly at the spot that their sensei had just vacated before apprehensively turning to the play-pen.

A piece of paper fluttered down before the three genins. Glaring at it as though it had done him some personal insult, Tanho huffed and fixed his attention on the window. Mikoto and Arashi glanced at each other before Mikoto shot him a venomous look that clearly said that this was all his fault, Arashi sighed and tried to figure out the reasoning behind that.

After coming to the conclusion that was just a bad dream and that it probably be best to go with it, Arashi picked up the paper. At the top were the words, "Mission Briefing." "I think its instructions," ventured Arashi quietly after a moment, "It says,"

"Mission briefing, genin: Mikoto Uchiha, Tanho Kenaro and Arashi Uzumaki. Sensei: Jiraiya. Objective: For three hours to look after three children aged two. Keep them safe and well. Good luck." And at the bottom in an untidy scrawl were the words "heads high."

"Like we need luck," drawled Tanho, then he fixed a smirking gaze on Arashi, "Well maybe you do idiot."

Mikoto huffed a small laugh while Arashis' face burned. "Lets just get this over with," she said and moved forwards to choose a child. Giving the children what was clearly mean to be an encouraging smile she bent down and picked up the dark-haired little girl.

Arashi glanced at the paper he still held again, "It says her name is Namayo."

Tanho snorted then moved forwards to the playpen, surveying the toddlers he announced, "I'll watch that one." He indicated the boy.

"Hatuyu," Arashi supplied, Tanho gave no indication that he had heard him.

Arashi moved forwards as well, "So I get Katoshi."

How hard could this be?

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As it turned out, very hard. One hour into the mission, all three kids were awake and active. For three small children they were tricky. They were fast, slippery and silent until the next ominous crash sounded. In one long hour they had managed to evade their genin babysitters and had wreaked a path of destruction through the house.

Arashi was sure that he had permanently pulled out his hair from the amount of times that he had tugged at it in despair. Mikoto was hidden in a closet somewhere, were she had been since she discovered that Namayo was not nearly as scared of her as she was of Namayo and Tanho had disappeared completely. Arashi was really hoping that it had been him that had stormed out of the house and banged the door behind him, because otherwise they were down a child and he couldn't find them to verify.

He tore into another room and did a quick survey, nope not in here. He did a ninety degrees turn and moved onto the next room. He had been searching for the three toddlers for nearly ten minutes and the distinct lack of crashes was worrying him. They had not yet gone more than five minutes without breaking something and if they broke something new he could use it to pinpoint their location.

The next two rooms were also empty so Arashi moved on to the last room in this corridor, shoving the door open he skidded to a halt just inside the room and gaped. _How on earth did Hatuyu get up there? _The dark-haired little boy was swinging from an ornate chandelier at least twenty feet up, with no visible means of getting up or down, while his siblings looked on in excitement.

Arashi picked his lower jaw up off the floor and raced over to stand beneath the tiny child clinging on tightly and shrieking in delight. The blonde-haired genin however was worriedly watching the straining fixings that were barely holding the chandelier to the ceiling.

Namayo and Katoshi were dancing in circles around him, hair flying, and smiles upon their faces. Hatuyus' happy cries suddenly turned to screams as one side of his precarious perch tipped and Arashi braced himself quickly gathering chakra to the bottom of his feet. High above him Hatuyu lost his grip and fell with a terrified scream the chandelier coming down fast with him.

The moment Hatuyu was within range Arashi grabbed him and his sisters and streaked away with a yellow flash, sliding on the polished floor, and coming to a halt just before the door. Behind them the chandelier hit the ground with a deafening crash. The three children burst into terrified sobs burying their small faces into his chest. Arashi murmured soothing words while feeling vaguely ridiculous, he was only three years older than these children.

"It's OK," he ventured after a moment and was rewarded with three faces looking at him trustingly. Arashi smiled and released his grip, "Oh damn!"

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God-Damned earthquakes! The floor had been shaking for a least an hour, which was making his stool wobble so therefore he was wobbling unsteadily. Not debilitating just irritating. Jiraiya tipped his head back and swallowed the warm sake, that would be his third or fourth, oh never mind, what did it matter? There was no way he was drunk on just four cups of sake. He reached across the bar for another bottle only to find it snatched out of his reach. Jiraiya blinked and stared at the now empty spot, "Where'd it go?"

"You've had enough old friend," rumbled the deep voice of the bar-tender.

Jiraiya snorted, "I've on'y had three or four."

"Or nine or ten, I'm cutting you off."

"Ten!" Jiraiya screeched indignantly, "I have not; if I had I'd be drunk! And I'm not drunk because I've on'y had four!"

The bar man laughed, "Four? When did you lose count and start again?"

Jiraiya took a moment to process this; at last he said proudly, "I can _so _count."

"Well done," the bar man said dryly, "don't you have students to look after?"

Jiraiya yelped and sprang to his feet, "Damn!"

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A few hours later, the bar man was entertaining patrons with the ridiculously funny tale of how one of the Sannin, one of the best and most graceful ninja alive got tangled up in his stool and fell but was snoring before he hit the floor.

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Tanho turned a corner onto another street and grimaced when the rock he had been kicking along flew between two boards and disappeared. It just hadn't been his day. Babysitting was not ninja stuff; he should be out fighting not looking after some snot-nosed little brats.

When he had first realised he had gotten Jiraiya as a sensei Tanho had been secretly pleased. This man was legendary, one of the strongest fighters ever, surely he would teach him everything he knew and then he, Tanho, would become even more legendary, even stronger. But instead, that blonde idiot had messed it up for him. That _kid _had gotten in his way and he hadn't been able to fight Jiraiya properly. And to make matters worse, Mikoto hadn't even looked at him, but she'd looked at that tiny idiot!

Tanho snarled and launched a kick at a fence, pleased when the wood splintered with a crack. He had walked out of that _mission_, left the other two to it. He had no place there, not if he wanted to be the best, that was kids stuff. Tanho kept walking, his frustration growing with every step.

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Mikoto winced as another crash sounded from above. It was dark in the cupboard that she was crouched in, but she didn't dare turn on the light those kids would see it. No not kids, she amended, little devils in human form. Mikoto had been sure that this would be an easy mission, a little beneath her perhaps, but a good mission to prove her worth. Namayo had looked so innocent when she had first started looking after the small child, but then, it was like the kid woke up, and all hell broke loose.

Arashi and Tanho had gotten easy kids to watch thought Mikoto furiously; Namayo had pulled her hair, bitten her and run away. She paved a path of destruction and Mikoto couldn't keep up. Eventually in despair she had hidden in the cupboard leaving the boys to deal with the kids.

Another crash sounded, Mikoto sighed, she really aught to go and help, she was an Uchiha; she didn't run from little kids! Warily she pushed the door open a crack and peered out, there was no sign of the triplets. She cautiously stepped out into the corridor and tiptoed to the end, when there was no one around the corner either she smiled. Now she just had to find the boys.

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Arashi sprang after the triplets as they bounded away. He cursed silently, what on earth had possessed him to let them go he had had them. Now they where escaping, he had to stop them. Quickly he reached into his weapons holster and took out four kunai, as he raced past a table he gave a sharp tug and grinned when the table cloth came free. Stabbing one of kunai through each corner of the cloth, he then launched his new net at the kids retreating backs, and whooped with joy when all three kids were effectively pinned to he wall.

Arashi stopped in front of his catch to find the kids squealing happily at the new game. Arashi released the kunai and quickly tied off the ends of the cloth to make a bag. Taking into account of the amount that the bag was bigger and heavier than him Arashi decided against carrying it and decided to drag the kids back to the playpen.

After losing his way several times Arashi finally emerged into the room with the playpen and . . . discovered that he couldn't tip the kids back into the playpen. Eventually the end product of much deliberating left Arashi with a plan. By tying some string on to the top of his make-shift sack he could run the string through the ceiling fixtures and create a pulley-system. This would then give him the leverage to deposit the kids in the playpen.

It was a good plan right up until he had tied off the string while the sack was suspended over the playpen. At that point Mikoto walked in. "What are you doing?" she screeched in horror.

Arashi rubbed the back of his head, further messing up his hair. He had to admit this probably did look bad. "Um watching the kids?"

Mikoto blinked, "You've got them all in there?"

Arashi shuffled his feet and nodded. Despite herself Mikoto was impressed, "That's completely idiotic; just wait till I tell Sensei!"

"Tell Sensei what?" came the voice of Jiraiya from behind her.

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Jiraiya awoke several minutes later to a pounding in his head, no wait make that the back of his head, or maybe the top, or perhaps his feet. Opening his eyes groggily, he could just about make out the impatiently tapping feet of someone standing next to him. He turned his face upwards and grinned, he could see straight up Tsunades' skirt. Unfortunately, a split second later Tsunade realised and sent him straight into the wall with a kick.

"Pervert!" she snarled.

Jiraiya hauled himself to his feet and shrugged good-naturedly. He sauntered over and grinned at the good-looking blonde woman, "Hello Tsunade."

"Idiot!" she snapped hitting him on the arm, "You're here getting drunk when your genin are on a mission?"

Jiraiya smirked, "They can handle it."

"They're just genin, Jiraiya."

"Yes," he agreed, Tsunade stopped and stared at him suspiciously, "But they're capable."

Tsunade glared, "You're still supposed to be watching them, now GO!"

Jiraiya grinned and backed away, casting one last appreciative glance at her breasts before running out the door and narrowly dodging the stool she sent flying after him.

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Mikoto spun around to face her sensei; she dramatically pointed at Arashi and declared in a ringing voice, "Sensei, Arashi tied the children up!" Obviously completely ignoring the delighted squeals emanating from the sack.

Arashi flushed and opened his mouth to argue his case but before he could force out any words he was interrupted by the sound of a rich laugh. Sensei was _laughing_? Arashi grinned; Jiraiya really did have a dirty laugh.

"Well," Jiraiya said once his laughter had subsided, "You have some unusual methods kid, but the kids weren't harmed and you got the job done."

"But sensei?" Mikoto squawked indignantly.

"Where were you?" Jiraiya suddenly said sternly, turning to Mikoto, who flushed guiltily.

"Well I . . ."

"She had just gone to get some drinks," Arashi suddenly piped up.

Mikoto and Jiraiya both looked at him; Arashi looked Jiraiya in the eyes, craning his neck right back to meet his sensei's sceptical gaze. "Oh is that so?" Jiraiya asked. Arashi nodded. "Mikoto?" She glanced briefly at Arashi before also nodding. Jiraiya grinned, "In that case where's Tanho?"

Arashi and Mikoto looked at each other and winced.

"Well? Where is he?"

Mikoto shrugged and looked down at her feet while Arashi stared resolutely out of the window, he really didn't know where Tanho was. "He hasn't been gone long sensei; he's probably just gone to the bathroom or something."

Jiraiya glowered obviously not buying it. "Right!" he growled and teleported himself out with a hand-sign. Arashi and Mikoto sighed before a giggle alerted them to the presence of the kids.

"Oh yeah," Arashi murmured and cut the sack away to let the three back into the playpen.

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Jiraiya had tracked Tanho by homing in on his chakra signature and now stood on a rooftop watching the boy kick a rock along the pavement. He sighed and jumped to the ground landing in front of the kid, barely concealing a smirk at the surprised jump and small "eep" that escaped the boy.

Tanho glared at the tall white-haired man and Jiraiya stared angrily back. "Where have you been?" Jiraiya asked in an icy voice.

"What does it matter?" Tanho shot back.

"A ninja never deserts his mission like that!" Jiraiya ground out, trying hard to keep from gnashing his teeth.

"It was a stupid mission."

Jiraiya snarled softly, "All missions are important Tanho."

"I'm sure the brat handled an easy mission like that."

"Don't disrespect your team-mates," Jiraiya roared, finally losing control, "there will come a time when you're depending on them for your life. And that "brat" covered for you when he didn't have to."

"I don't need favours from him! And anyway _sensei _where were you?"

Jiraiya flushed in anger, "Listen moron, shape up or go back to the academy!"

Ooooh a bit of a cliffy here, although not a very good one, or perhaps you disagree? Drop me a review and let me know.


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