Ok ya, I was on a super long break. A big sorry to everyone. Feel free to shout at me. I don't know about the future updates but I'll do what I can. Thanks to all those who supported this story. This chapter is a bit boring but tell me how you think it is OTHER than it being boring! Naaa you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. Oh and there might be a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes in this, but I'm pretty sure I got most of them!
So, Enjoy!
In the small island close to the land of fire, two figures slowly walked by. The shorter of the two wore a pure white cloak with a slight hint of black and orange here and there. Like his companion, he also had a hood up that effectively hid his bright blonde hair. Only murky broken blue eyes could be seen poking out from underneath the hat. Meanwhile his older partner looked worriedly at the short boy who marched. Jiraiya sighed. It was probably a bad idea to bring Naruto here. However, he could not do anything. Further ahead, Naruto stopped right in front of massive bridge. On the arc that announced the name of the bridge, the words The Great Uzumaki Naruto Bridge could be clearly seen. Naruto's mouth dropped down at seeing the name of the bridge. He spun around facing his sense, who was smiling.
"Thought of surprising you, " Jiraiya replied to Naruto's unasked question, with a shrug of his shoulders. Naruto nodded and turned back to look at the massive structure. Looking at the bridge, the memories of his first C rank mission sprang into his mind. So much had happened after that. The slightest smile hovered by his mouth, but it was soon replaced with an expression of sorrow. So much death and sacrifice had happened on this very bridge. It was where he decided to finally take his life as a ninja seriously. This place had changed him and had inspired his Ninja Way.
" Ero-sennin, could we go to a place before we reach your safe house? "
"As long as you make it quick I suppose. We really don't have the luxury of staying out for too long without proper disguises "
Jiraiya grumbled to himself as he followed Naruto to the edge of a forest.
" Tch! I can't even do research! And where on earth is the gaki taking me?"
Instead of crossing the bridge, Naruto had veered to the right going into the slightly dense forest. Wasting no time, he almost subconsciously pushed his chakra into his feet and leaped onto the sturdy branches, with Jiraiya following right behind him. Naruto's white traveling cloak bellowed behind him as he jumped on the numerous branches. His place slowed down as he reached a small clearing. A giant metallic grey sword could be seen poking out from the ground. The edges still had a wicked shine to it despite being unused for a long time. Beside it two small tombstones could be seen, one Zabuza's and the other Haku's. It was placed at the very edge of the cliff overlooking the village. Both had been Naruto's opposition on the mission that changed his perspective of everything. They may have been enemies, but Naruto's beliefs and Ninja Way were inspired from Haku. Naruto stood in front of them while Jiraiya tactfully moved back to give the boy a little room.
"Hey guys. It's been a long time, huh? I hope you guys finally found each other in the afterlife. A lot has happened between the time I met you guys and now. You know something? When I met you, Haku, in that forest I looked up to you. I also wanted to have precious people. But now the two people I treasured the most betrayed me. And you know what? For some reason, I don't even feel angry at them. I feel like showing them what they did was wrong. I want to get stronger. I'm tired of acting like an idiot. Now all I want to do is show them how wrong they were to do what they did. I don't know if what I'm thinking is even right but that's what my emotions are telling me" Naruto sighed and looked up at the sky as chilly breeze flowed throughout the clearing rifling the leaves of the numerous plants and leaves, " Haku, I wish you were here now. You would known what to do. I never had the chance to tell you this but had you lived you would've been like a big sister to me. Thank you for everything "
He walked back towards Jiraiya while rubbing his hands across his eyes. Jiraiya noticed and gave the boy an one armed hug.
Naruto whispered to Jiraiya, " Ero-sennin, I want to get stronger. Much stronger!" Jiraiya smiled to this. The boy still had some spirit left in him.
" Oh don't you worry, I'm going to make you the best of the best, a legend to be remembered throughout the ages"
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It had been five days since they had arrived at Wave. They were staying at one of Jiraiya's many safe houses. Coincidentally this one was near Tazuna's house though Naruto had yet to meet them. The safe house was quite impressive Naruto had to admit, as he lay musing in bed. It was underground, but to get access to it he had to enter a small, pathetic looking hut which looked as if it had seen better days. As he entered his chakra imprint which was unique to each person was automatically scanned using Jiraiya's unique chakra imprint seal. This seal also had a dual purpose. Any attempts to fool it wouldn't work. It could detect genjutsu, henges, disguises and much more. The moment it determined it was actually him and not an impostor, the other protective seals acted up. It was similar to a domino effect. His smell would then be suppressed by another seal. The entire rotting floor of the moss-covered hut was weight sensitive thanks to another seal, however it wasn't fully perfected, so therefore it was not completely accurate. Although it now worked on taking a rounded figure. Ero-sennin was working on perfecting it and along with making other protective seals in his spare time. From there to finally access the stairs leading down, he had to release a minor genjutsu. The moment he walked down the stairs though, several other seals would activate to make sure the hut was the same way it was before he came in. The genjutsu would be re-applied, the seals that granted entry to the hut would reset. Even dust would be copied to down to the last molecule. It was quite an impressive amount of seal work and it certainly demonstrated Jiraiya's mastery of seals. However when Naruto had first arrived, Jiraiya had to demonstrate each step as well as reprogram the seals to allow entry to Naruto as well seeing as they were going to be together for a long time. The only snag was Naruto could not break through the genjutsu, so Jiraiya came up with the idea of using a seal which Naruto could place on the floor which disabled the genjutsu which was nothing short of brilliant in Naruto's mind. But the real beauty of it was that it could be reused.
" Hmmm...but to think seals could this useful. I can't wait to see their effectiveness in battle. I think I'll ask Ero-sennin to start teaching me fuuinjutsu. It should be worth it..." Naruto thought to himself. He gazed around the room. It was actually quite large. There was space for everything. A wardrobe, a desk and chair, a bookcase, a couch, a spacious washroom, a dressing table and of course a super comfortable bed which looked as if it was made for three people to sleep in. Naruto slowly smiled. It was different from his previous home, but Ero-sennin had really gone out of his way for him. He owed the perverted geezer. With that merry thought, Naruto switched off the lamp and drifted off into his first dreamless sleep in a long time.