Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

(Ichiraku's - Naruto and Iruka)

"So today's the day huh? It sounds like you'll be away for some time," said Iruka. A man in his early twenties. He wore a green chūnin vest along with a dark blue long sleeve under and dark blue pants. One noticeable thing about him that stood out was the scar he had running over his nose, one he had gotten when in active duty.

"Yup, but don't worry Iruka-sensei when I return I'll be stronger than ever dattebayo!" shouted Naruto. A blonde boy with crystal blue eyes. He was a genin level ninja. Though he didn't look much like a ninja. He wore an orange jumpsuit that set him as a big target automatically.

He never had any attention when he was younger which is most likely why he wore an orange jumpsuit and always played pranks on everyone. As an orphan, he never had what most take for granted, a parent's love. He never knew who his parents were either. He would always get rejected when he asked about them.

To make things worse. People treated him like yesterday's trash in his village. Things have started to get better though ever since the chūnin exams. A test where the best of the best genins in the elemental nations compete against each other. He ended up making it to the finals and won his match.

Shortly after, he defeated the Ichihi jinchūriki that was set to burst free and destroy the hidden leaf village. He couldn't let that happen, so of course, he saved the village from it's destruction.

A tall, white haired man with a metal plate on his head with the kanji for oil walked in and told his newest apprentice that it's time to leave for their training trip. This man was known as Jiraiya, the Toad Sage.

Naruto nodded and turned towards his former academy teacher.

"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei for not paying but I promise once I'm rich and famous I'll pay you back dattebayo!" yelled Naruto and Iruka laughed at his remark. He was always going on about that.

But he knew one day Naruto would achieve his goal. Nothing could stop the kid. Even after all the trauma he had to go through as a child he always stayed positive and that's what he loved the most about Naruto.

He was sad at the fact that he wouldn't see Naruto for another three years but he knew it was for the best. After all, not everyone gets to be personally trained by one of the legendary sannin. Especially Jiraiya, known to be the one to mold Minato Namikaze the Yondaime Hokage into the great shinobi he became.

"It's okay Naruto. Just make sure you always train hard and always believe in yourself. I'll be waiting for you Naruto. Make me proud!" said Iruka. He knew his surrogate little brother would make him proud.

"Thank you for everything Iruka-sensei and don't worry i'll make you proud! I won't stop working hard until I become Hokage and even then I'll keep on working harder to protect the village! See ya iruka-sensei!" yelled Naruto.

Iruka watched as Naruto walked off. "Good luck, Naruto. I know you'll be able to surpass every hokage you look up to." he thought to himself with a smile.

Naruto ran to catch up to Jiraiya but stopped halfway. He turned around looked at the Hokage Monument. His source of inspiration.

"Just wait... Yondaime, Sandaime, Nidaime, Shodai Hokage... I'll surpass all of you!" Naruto then turned around and started heading out the village gates. Looking back one more time he couldn't help but feel excited about these next three years.

X x X

(Time Skip - 1 month into the trip)

Jiraiya spoke up, "Alright kid looks like we're gonna stop at this town. I need to go and meet up with one of my contacts so why don't you go and get some new clothes or something, seriously."

Naruto looked up at his sensei and asked, "Why does everybody hate orange so much?!"

Naruto honestly didn't know why people didn't like it. Now that he thought about it though, he didn't really have anything else to wear because of the storekeeper's always charging him 3x the price or kicking him out of their shops.

Naruto spoke up again, "Actually, I think I might go for something else Ero-sennin. I feel like darker colors would probably look nice," he muttered. Naruto left Jiraiya gaping like a fish.

Jiraiya then started shouting, "Who are you?! Where's the real Naruto?!"

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "Umm... I'm right here Ero-sennin. Anyways, I'ma go shopping see you later!" Jiraiya stood there, with his jaw-slacked. He then turned around and chuckled, grateful that Naruto was finally getting rid of that orange monstrosity of a jumpsuit.

Naruto spotted a shinobi clothing store and walked in, he walked over the clothing section and started grabbing clothes. He bought a couple of pairs of black anbu pants, a couple of black t-shirts, and two pairs of blue shinobi sandals.

He then bought some gloves with metal guards on top. He had seen ANBU using them and he thought they were pretty cool. Finally feeling like he had enough he walked up to the counter to pay. He payed and then changed in one of the changing rooms, looking himself over in the mirror, "Yeah, I look good in this," he thought to himself before walking out and thanking the man behind the counter.

Once outside, he went to go look for a hotel where he could rest at. He knew Jiraiya would find him so he asked for a room for two. He walked into the room and sealed everything into a storage scroll. He was thankful for being taught how to use sealing scrolls, as carrying a lot of things in a bag sucked.

He laid down and went to sleep. He woke up a couple of hours later to find Jiraiya walking in drunk. "Of course", thought Naruto. This always happened wherever they stayed at. He saw the pervert lay down on the bed across from his and he went back to sleep.

X x X

(Next Day)

Naruto woke up feeling good from the much needed rest. He had a lot to do and he wasn't going to waste the time he had to train. He had to become stronger. Stronger than Sasuke, stronger than the Akatsuki, stronger than everyone! He wouldn't stop until he became the strongest and even then he would keep pushing his limits.

Lately though he hadn't worked on anything except chakra control exercises. The pervert hadn't taught him anything so far during this trip and he was starting to get frustrated. As they were walking Jiraiya noticed Naruto in deep thought and asked, "Oi gaki, what's up you're normally never this quiet?"

Naruto broke out of his stupor and looked up at Jiraiya, "I want to to start training, I need to become stronger. Especially if I want to beat the Akatsuki and surpass the Yondaime. So far all we've done is waste time. I need to get stronger, please Jiraiya-Sensei!"

Jiraiya stopped dead in his tracks. He could've sworn he saw little Minato just now, and then he realized what Naruto had just called him, "Jiraiya-Sensei! Finally!" He thought to himself raising a fist in the air. He didn't like being called Ero-Sennin, especially in-front of other people, "Alright gaki, as long you are willing to put in the work I'll train you, just know it won't be easy!"

Naruto looked at him with a determined focus, once again he couldn't help but be reminded of Minato. "I wish you could've been here to see your son grow up, Minato." he thought to himself with a reminiscent smile.

"Alright Naruto, from now on I'm going to work you into the ground, but it'll be for the best. Think long term. Give me a couple days or so, so I could create and revise a training routine for you for the next 3-4 years. First though, we need to find what your elemental affinity is. You're lucky I have some chakra papers with me," he said as he reached into his bag and took out a simple piece of white paper.

It was anything but simple though. He handed one to Naruto and took another for himself to show him an example.

"Alright, so all you need to do to find out what your elemental affinity is, or 'affinities' as some people have more than others, you just channel chakra into the paper, like this," said Jiraiya as he then proceeded on applying chakra to the paper, it crumbled and then it was lit by a small flame, destroying the paper.

Naruto stared in awe, his sensei had two affinities, now he wondered what he had. He couldn't wait to try it out!

"As you saw, I have an affinity for both Earth and Fire, fire is most common in the Land of Fire though obviously. Now, if you're paper splits in half you have a wind affinity, if it crumples you have a lighting affinity, and obviously water shouldn't be hard to figure out." As he finished, Naruto applied chakra and what happened next had Jiraiya surprised.

"Of course," he thought to himself. Naruto ended up having three different affinities. Wind, Water, and Lightning. Jiraiya was sure Naruto got wind and lightning from his father, and water from his mother. Naruto though was busy jumping up and down, he couldn't believe he had three elements, three!

Jiraiya chuckled and then spoke up, "Alright calm down gaki, yes you have three affinities but that doesn't make any difference as you haven't mastered any yet. So that's what we're going to start working on. I have a good plan on how we can get you to master all three during this trip," he said.

Naruto was bursting with excitement, he was finally going to learn cool jutsus and become stronger. Akatsuki who?

As they walked into another town Naruto couldn't help but think of what's to come. He knew he would have to really work hard but if it meant becoming stronger to protect his loved one's then he was all for it, believe it.

X x X

(Time Skip - 5 Months Later)

Naruto had been training hard and he was improving everyday. Jiraiya's training had been grueling, leaving him exhausted daily but he knew it was worth it. He was starting to see results. He even started eating healthier, which had certainly improve his body. By now he had grown from 4'11 to 5'3. He was also starting to add on some lean muscle.

Naruto always created fifty shadow clones for training. Which drained Naruto a bit but it's not like he hadn't done it before. Ah, the benefits to being the host of the Kyuubi.

They split into five groups, ten each. Groups 1 through 3 would work on Naruto's elemental affinities. Group four would study the sealing arts as Naruto had found the art of fuinjutsu interesting and group five would work on calligraphy.

Jiraiya wasn't surprised to see that Naruto was a natural at Fuinjutsu since both of his parents were seal masters. Especially his Father, Minato Namikaze. There was no one better than him when it came to fuinjutsu. No one more dedicated than him either.

Jiraiya was glad that Naruto picked up on his father in that aspect. Naruto was a workaholic. Which was bad sometimes because he would pass out from chakra exhaustion every a lot but Naruto never worried because the next day he would be back to one-hundred percent. Mainly because of the Kyuubi's quick healing prowess and his Uzumaki genetics.

Uzumaki's were known to have strong life forces. Mito and Kushina Uzumaki had shown that to be true, hosting the Kyuubi no Yoko and keeping it jailed away.

Lately though, Jiraiya had been thinking about telling Naruto about his parents and giving him the notes to the hiraishin, a technique that only Naruto would be able to master. He told himself that he would be telling Naruto later on tonight, the boy deserved it.

It's been half a year already since they left and time was of the essence. By the time they came back to Konoha he wanted Naruto to have surpassed the Yondaime and he knew it was completely possible. With the shadow clone training Naruto was getting years of training in only 3-4 years. He just had to play his cards right.

"Forgive me for this Tsunade but I think it's about time someone told him about his parents," Jiraiya thought to himself with a small smile.

X x X

(Later that Night)

"Hey Naruto, I have something important to tell you, I hope you'll understand why this was kept from you and why it was done. Okay?" said Jiraiya in a serious tone Naruto had rarely seen.

"Erm… What are you talking about Jiraiya-sensei?"asked Naruto, getting nervous.

"What is he going to tell me? Am I finally going to find out who my parents are? No, that can't be true, nobody knows who they are…" he thought somberly.

"I'm talking about telling you about your heritage. Your parents, Naruto." Jiraiya said.

Naruto stood there with his mouth opening and closing trying to speak, "You know who my parents are?! Who are they?! Were they great ninja?! What's their name?!" Naruto was excited.

"Finally!" he thought to himself excitedly, after all of these years he was finally going to find out who his parents were.

"Calm down gaki!" Jiraiya whacked him on the head, "One question at a time, and yes… I did know your parents. Actually, I was your father's sensei at one point in time and we also went on a training trip like the one we're going on now. His name was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage," Jiraiya expected two reactions from Naruto. One, to burst out in complete disbelief, the other was Naruto to be pissed about the information.

The way he was treated was because of the Yondaime, he would expect Naruto to be mad that his father was the one who sealed the Kyuubi inside of him. In all honesty he wasn't expecting Naruto be happy about it.

Naruto though, didn't know what to feel. Should he be happy or mad? Happy that he finally knows who his dad was and out of all people, the Yondaime Hokage, his hero. To find out that his hero was actually his father he was beyond happy. But he was also angry because he was never told who his father was, or the villagers for that matter.

Maybe if they knew who his father was he wouldn't be treated like trash, but he didn't care now. The past was the past and he had noticed that the villagers were starting to warm up to him. He knew that his father wouldn't seal the kyuubi inside of him for no reason

He knew that the Hokage would need to do everything in their power to save the village, putting their personal feelings aside.

He had to ask one question though, "Did my parents love me?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

Jiraiya got up and hugged him, "Of course they loved you gaki, why wouldn't they? Your parents loved you very much, so much that they sacrificed their lives for you. Your mom always used to talk to you when you were in her stomach, and your father would too. It was very hard for them to do what they did but it had to be done. I hope you understand." he said as he stood there still hugging Naruto, who was crying his eyes out.

"Listen Naruto, I just want to say I'm sorry for not being there for you when you were younger but the damn old man and the council wouldn't let me. I tried and tried but they always rejected my request to adopt you. I am your godfather, after all, I hope you can forgive me." Jiraiya, in truth, was thinking that Naruto would be mad at him, but he was proved wrong once again but the boy's pure heartedness.

"It's okay Jiraiya-sensei, I forgive you. I know how dumb the council could be as I always heard Jiji complaining about them and I'm not mad at my father either. I know he did what had to be done and I'm happy to know that my parents loved me," he said with a smile as he continued, "That's crazy though, out all people the Yondaime is my father."

Jiraiya smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, he then took out a scroll that had some of his father's belongings and gave it to Naruto. Before Naruto opened it though the boy had one more question.

"Can you tell me about my mother Jiraiya-sensei? What did she look like and was she strong like my dad?"

Jiraiya started chuckling when Naruto said that, oh she was strong alright and scary too.

"Hmm, how to put it… your mother, she was very beautiful. She had long, bright red hair, dark blue eyes, and beautiful skin. She was a formidable kunoichi too, aside from Tsunade she was probably the strongest one in Konoha before she was pregnant with you.

"She had a nickname as well, Konoha's Red Hot Habanero, because of her red hair and her feistiness. She had another side though, her goofy side. Which is where you get a lot of your personality from. Your father had that side as well but your mother was there to always keep him in check.

"Overall, your parents were very good people and I'm sad thinking of how it ended for them, but at least they had you. They sacrificed their lives so you can live yours. They knew in their hearts that one day, you would be great. The greatest shinobi ever!"

When Jiraiya said that Naruto found a new level of determination. He wasn't going to let their sacrifice go to waste. He would become stronger and protect konoha and his loved one's. He would defeat the Akatsuki and he would save his best friend from the darkness he kept himself in.

Naruto spoke up with newfound determination that didn't go unnoticed by Jiraiya, "I've made a choice sensei, I will surpass my father and bring Konoha to prosperity like my parents wanted to do. I won't let anyone keep me down not even the Akatsuki! I will surpass my father and become Hokage!"

Jiraiya smiled. He was glad that Naruto took all of this new information the right way.

"Open up that scroll gaki, it contains some important stuff that, in the wrong hands, could bring great consequences to the world so keep it safe okay?" Naruto nodded and opened up scroll, he added chakra to the scroll and out of it came many books, and a metal container.

The metal container contained the Yondaime's famous hokage coat, twenty of his three pronged kunai, and a notebook that said 'Hiraishin'. He was beyond excited at seeing that, he spoke up, "Jiraiya-sensei, this is the same technique that made my father famous right? The Legendary Hiraishin!"

Jiraiya looked at him while nodding, "Yes gaki that is it, I want you to take that notebook and study a lot to master the technique okay? You've got plenty of time to master it and if you do you'll be on another level, no doubt about it. Especially with all of the training we've done so far. It's what your father would've wanted," he exclaimed.

Naruto nodded quickly, "You don't have to tell me twice!" he said.

He then created ten clones and they all picked up a book each. All of the books were on fuinjutsu and had notes that his father took while studying them. It was very helpful for Naruto as this way he could weed out the important information from the others quicker.

On this day, Konoha's new Yellow Flash was born.