Author's Note: And here's the Naruto one.

There were many things about his teacher that Naruto didn't understand. Most of it Naruto just chalked up to senility and the ero-sennin being hit in the head one too many times by the sandals thrown by the woman he pursued, but those traits were easily ignored. Naruto didn't see the appeal of alcohol, or gambling until you were out of money, or brothels, but neither did his teacher's liking of such things bother him. But this was different.

Naruto didn't know why it irritated him so much to watch the toad sannin clap his hands together and whisper a prayer every time before he went to flirt with someone. It just did. Mostly because it never seemed to work.

After seeing his teacher get rejected for the twenty-seventh time on their journey so far (seven months and counting), Naruto no longer bothered sticking around to watch the aftermath of Jiraiya's ill-fated attempts at scoring. Since his teacher was not around to train him (for obvious reasons), Naruto trained on his own. That was what happened the first time he left the toad sannin to his own devices, him meditating under a waterfall for several hours until Jiraiya came to find him. His teacher wasn't happy.

"Hey, brat, where were you? You carry all the money in case you didn't remember." This was something Naruto had insisted on after Jiraiya had gambled away most of their savings playing poker three towns back. "What if the girl had said yes, huh? I wouldn't have been able to take her anywhere."

"No girl ever says yes, ero-sennin."

Jiraiya scowled. "Watch your cheek, brat, if you want me to teach you a new technique tomorrow."

Naruto scowled back, but nodded in assent. Most of the time it wasn't worth fighting with his teacher about trivial stuff, if only because Jiraiya inherently held the advantage, being old and grumpy and inclined to kicking his ass.

They sat by the riverbank for a while, Naruto drying off in the warm breeze. That was once nice thing about this journey. They didn't have anywhere to be, so they didn't have to hurry. It was only after the sun had started to set that Jiraiya turned to him and asked in a low voice, "Hey, Naruto. Why'd you leave, anyway?"

Naruto thought about it. Then he shrugged. "Dunno. Guess I was sick of watching you get shot down." Jiraiya glared at him. Naruto just shrugged again. "It wouldn't be so bad, ero-sennin, if you didn't do that prayer thing every time. It doesn't seem to help at all. Seems stupid."

At that, his teacher looked thoughtful. Then he grinned at his apprentice. "Guess you're right about that, but I've been doing it so long that it's habit. Besides, it can't hurt. Who knows, one day the gods may look down upon me favorably and gift me with a woman who's willing to go at it after a glass of sake or two."

Naruto put his hands behind his head and fell backward onto the coarse grass. The sunset made the sky glow crimson. It reminded him of fire. "I don't know anything about the gods, except that they don't seem to be around when people really need them. Why do people pray to them all the time, if they don't do anything?"

"To give them hope, I suppose." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at him. "Didn't you ever get a religious education, brat?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. No one ever talked about it around me much. But I wouldn't believe in 'em, anyway. If the gods were so great, where were they when I needed them? They were even less help that most of my academy instructors when I was a kid." He began systematically picking at the grass with his fingernails, if only to keep his hands occupied. The weak roots gave easily under his pull. Gods didn't seem to be protecting them much either. "I doubt the gods will help me make Hokage."

Jiraiya frowned. For a moment, a shadow seemed to flit across his face. It was in a movement that Naruto was now well familiar with that the toad sannin took his pipe out of his bag and methodically stuffed the tobacco, pinch by pinch, into the top. He lit a match just as slowly, and it wasn't until the pipe was smoking that he replied. "So. How are you going to get there, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned. "Through getting so strong that no one will be able to deny that I'm the most powerful shinobi in Konoha. I've gotta drag Sasuke's ass back home where it belongs before I can start convincing everyone else, but after I'm done with that, I'll move on up. I need to train harder to be ready in time, but that's okay. I'm going to become Hokage. It doesn't matter if the gods are on my side or not. If they get in my way, I'll just take them down too."

Jiraiya laughed. "Arrogant little brat, aren't you?"

Naruto grinned. "Nah. Told you, I don't believe in them. They won't get in my way. I'm going to become Hokage. No one ever believed in me except myself. But they will. And I'll help them when they need it." His hands clenched as he looked at the sky. The stars were just starting to come out. They glinted. Beautiful. But also distant, and forever out of reach. "I'll be greater than any god. Because I'm here. And they're not."

END