Legacy of the Toad Sage

-12-1-2013-

AN: I own nothing.

Atop the Hokage tower stand two men, gazing over the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The afternoon seemed to bath the village in twilight and all seemed peaceful. Only today will Konoha receive its newest batch of genin, just having graduated from the academy. All of the excitable new shinobi run home to be congratulated by their parents, other than a certain duck haired Uchiha who was ecstatic as he seemingly takes another step towards his lifelong goal of vengeance. All is right with the world as the village reveled in its happiness, a sentiment shared by all except for a certain orange wearing blond who had failed to pass his genin exams.

"So the brat didn't make it?" One of the men says with an odd tone in his voice. This man was over six feet tall with long spiky white hair and two red tear like markings on his face. This man was Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin, the spymaster of Konoha.

"That's right Jiraiya-kun. It appears despite his best efforts Naruto-kun was unable to pass the Genin graduation exam. I'm sure you can figure out why I called you just before you were planning to leave." Sarutobi Hiruzen, an elderly man in red and white robes, says as he takes a drag of his pipe.

The Toad Sage nods sending a quick, almost unnoticeable glance at most recently added of the massive faces on the Hokage Monument. "The deal I made with Kakashi four years ago right? If the kid graduates then Kakashi gets to have him in his team but if he fails I take him as my apprentice and have him rotate through the teams when I have to manage my spy network."

The Hokage blows out a ring of smoke. "He's quite distraught Jiraiya-kun. Had you not been in the neighborhood I would have found some way to pass him even if it was only on a technicality."

Jiraiya shrugs "It's probably better this way anyway. If he's anything like me then it's probably better that Kakashi isn't his teacher. By the way do you want me to tell him about the fox? If I do I can have him summon Gamabunta using its chakra like I initially planned.'

"No I would prefer you didn't unless you had no other choice. I intend for Naruto-kun to remain unaware until he achieved chunin rank and at the moment I see no reason to inform the poor boy. Especially not while his heart is still heavy from failing his exams."

"I see... I guess I could start him on the Rasengan..." Jiraiya mumbles rubbing his chin.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Jiraiya-kun? The whole reason he couldn't graduate in the first place was due to his lack of chakra control."

"Well what else do you expect me to do? I'm running out of ideas here!"

"Why not work on the other problems that stopped him from graduating? Fix his taijutsu, educate him in genjutsu, and perhaps work on his chakra control to fix the problem he had with the bunshin no jutsu. Not only that but you could also teach him about tactics, politics and many other things he would need to know to become Hokage."

"About that... there's a reason I want to beef the boy up. I'll explain the specifics later but long story short there are people who are planning to hunt the Jinchuriki. Strong people who know exactly what they signed up for. As he is now Naruto's no better than a civilian and he'll stand less than a snowballs chance in hell."

Sarutobi's eyes narrow at the uncharacteristically serious look on his student's face. "Exactly how strong?"

"S-rank. All of them and Orochimaru was just recently kicked out by that brat Itachi. That's how I know about them."

The Sandaime's eyes widen at the mention of Itachi's name. The Uchiha was easily S-rank in and of himself. While Hiruzen was sure that Itachi would never do anything to harm the village from the way Jiraiya had said it, it sounded like it wasn't just one person...

"How long do we have, Jiraiya-kun?"

Jiraiya grimaces "Four years at the most."

Taking a puff of his pipe the Sandaime tries to calm his nerves. While he has to worry about the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi as the Hokage there is also a part of the old man who truly saw the yellow haired boy as a grandson and wants to do everything in his power to protect him. The Sandaime Hokage is no fool. He knows that in the time that this mysterious group begins hunting the Jinchuriki he himself would be in no position to defend his surrogate grandson due to his age, and the number of shinobi he has that could defeat an S-rank nuke nin while defending even a jonin level shinobi were in the single digits at best. S-rank shinobi were the cream of the crop, nuke nin even more.

"Go introduce yourself to your new apprentice first. I need to think about this. Be sure to get those 'specifics' to me later."

The Toad Sage nods before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

-0-0-

Uzumaki Naruto sighs for what seemed like the thousandth time today. He had failed. It was so unfair. If it wasn't for that one jutsu Naruto would have been able to pass, the dead last yes but still able to pass. He would be a super badass shinobi and one step closer to achieving his dream of being Hokage and being acknowledged. But no, just because of the stupid bunshin he wasn't able to pass his genin exam. That meant no head band. No becoming a shinobi and no Hokage.

Letting out another sigh Naruto picks up a pebble and throws it at the river ahead of him. The round stone bounces off the water's surface a few times before sinking. At the moment the yellow haired Uzumaki was deep in the forest in front of a small river. He wanted to stew in his depression alone. In order to avoid being found Naruto had switched the jacket of his orange jumpsuit for a dark blue t shirt with an orange spiral motif. While the boy was normally all for displaying the awesomeness of orange to the world, orange was a color for awesome shinobi, not failure shinobi-wana-be civilians.

Picking up another round stone, this one the size of his palm, Naruto feels his anger rising. It was so damned unfair! Alone he had struggled these past four years and would have graduated if it weren't for that stupid clone jutsu! No one had helped him, no parents for him to come home to, no teachers to assist him and no friends to support him! Alone he had struggled and just barely managed to get his grades up and if it wer-

Naruto's eyes widen, a loud cracking noise filled the clearing as a sharp pain shot through his hand. Looking down he realizes that the stone he had been gripping in his hand has shattered, the shards embedding themselves into his hand. Once again sighing the boy lets his legs fall from under him, landing on his butt. Pulling out the shards imbedded in his hand the blond boy ignores the blood seeping from his palm and began staring into the river contemplating his failure. Naruto wasn't actually paying attention to what he was seeing, his mind unable to focus on anything but how his dream was forever out of reach. The river just happening to be in the direction of his eyesight. However, had he been paying attention to his reflection in the river he would have noticed its irises turn from a blood red back to a normal sky blue.

-0-0-

The Toad Sage grumbles as he trudges through the village. Even though he had been looking for the boy for a good two hours he hadn't been able to find hide nor hair of him. The kid wore bright orange for kami's sake! How in the world was it so hard to find him?

Passing a hot spring Jiraiya can't help but let his eyes drift to the women's section of the springs. The sound of feminine giggling and splashing water could be heard over the fence. Letting out a perverse giggle of his own the Toad Sage snuck over to gather some 'research'.

Carefully navigating his way over to the designated peek hole for this hot spring the old man giggles once again as he gazes through the circular warp in the wooden fence surrounding the baths. The Toad Sage's eyes rove over the many naked females in the baths, their modesty only preserved by the (un)fortunate density of the stream at certain places.

"So did you hear? The Kyubi brat didn't pass his graduation exam." Says one of the females in the bath "Maybe the Hokage will finally get rid of it."

"Maybe he already did? It's not like anyone would miss it."

From what Jiraiya is able to tell the two women that are talking are just civilians, those who have no idea about the true nature of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki but that knowledge did nothing to ease the pain in his heart. That pain was only compounded by the reminder of how he had failed the boy in his duty as his godfather. From what his sensei had informed him over the years, the people who truly accept and care for Naruto in the village could be counted on one hand and that was even when he included Jiraiya and himself. And of those people two of them never even bother to interact with the boy or really have any impact in his life at all.

'I'm supposed to be comforting the kid right now and instead I'm here doing this...'

His mood spoiled the Toad Sage stands up with a sad frown on his face. Preforming a quick shunshin Jiraiya appears in a forest clearing. While he could do this inside of the village it was easier when he was in an area where nature was less disturbed. The Toad Sage allows a small amount of natural energy to mix with his chakra, not enough for him to initiate Sage Mode but enough so that he can sense the energies in the surrounding area. For a moment the energies in the surrounding area are clear to his mind's eye and using that he zeros in on the chakra of his godson. While each person has a unique chakra Naruto's chakra had always felt bright and energetic but for some reason now it is now dull and lethargic. Jiraiya had known that Naruto would be depressed from not being able to graduate but he didn't think that it would affect him this much.

Standing up and expelling the small amount of natural energy from his system the Toad Sage executes another series of quick shunshins and appears in a forested area near the edge of the village. The sound of rushing water reached his ears. Trudging through some more shrubbery the Toad Sage comes upon the form of his godson. The boy is sitting cross legged with his hands in his lap and it appears to Jiraiya that the boy has not noticed him yet. Now how is he going to do this…

-0-0-

Hearing the sound of stone crunching underfoot Naruto turns with a raised eyebrow to see a large man with long spiky white hair walking towards him. For some reason he gives off a comforting aura that reminds him of the old man…

"What do you want Ero-jiji?"

The man face faults mid stride. "What in the hell?"

"Well you're old…" explains Naruto as though it was the most obvious thing in the world "and I get the feeling that you're pretty perverted... Who are you anyway –ttebayo?"

'Good instincts…'thinks Jiraiya before jumping back onto his feet taking a kabuki stance.

"Oh so you want to know who I am? Then I'll tell you! In the lands of the Elemental Nations I am one whose name is only spoken in hushed tones and voices filled with awe! Whether in Kumo, Mizu, Suna, Iwa or Konoha you only need to speak my name to have the men huddled on the ground in fear and the women running and calling my name with lust in their eyes! I am the great Sage whose name is known throughout all the land. The manliest of the Densetsu no Sannin, the Gallant Toad Sage Jiraiya-sama!"

The silence of the forest blankets the two and the Toad Sage Jiraiya begins to sweat as Naruto stares at him with that same squinty eyed expression.

Despite his outside expression Naruto was actually very excited on the inside. While he had no idea what most of the mumbo jumble the old man had said meant it sounded like the guy was a super awesome shinobi! It was a stretch but...

"Hey Ero-sennin can you train me to be Hokage –ttebayo!" exclaims Naruto his blue eyes shining with hope.

It took every ounce of the Toad Sage's self-control to not just agree right there. "And why should someone as awesome as me train someone like you?" Jiraiya declares, a pompous look on his face, as he crosses his arms.

Instead of the loud rebuke he had been expecting Jiraiya is treated to the sight of his god son crouching on the ground as a visible aura of depression hangs around him. "That's right. You're probably some super strong shinobi who graduated the top of his class. Why would you want to train a dead last drop out like me?" says Naruto as he draws obscure images into the gravel at his feet.

Ignoring the slight stab of pain in his chest from the off handed reminder of his former best friend Jiraiya walks over and crouches down, putting his hand on the depressed boy's head "I never said I wouldn't train you brat I asked why. Why do you want to be Hokage?"

The boy looks up from his imaginary canvas to the owner of the hand resting on his head. It was a fair question. Why did he want to be Hokage? Well the old man was the Hokage and everyone respects and looks up to him… "So that everyone will acknowledge me like they do the old man –ttebayo!"

"But why, why do you want that?" Naruto turns to give the old fart a piece of his mind but sees nothing but honest concern in the old man's eyes. 'He says that he's willing to train me… so I may as well answer him…'But that led to another problem. Why was being acknowledged so important. Well that was…

"Because no one ever talks to be or even looks at me and even when they do it's like their looking at something else that's not me! I want to be seen as me and acknowledged as me, not as whatever the heck that everyone else is seeing! That's why I want to be Hokage!" Naruto proclaims loudly pointing a finger at the still crouching Toad Sage, who now had a small smile on his face.

'Really good instincts…'thinks Jiraiya as he rises to his impressive height. "Alright brat that's a good goal and I'll help you. But you'll have to help me."

"Eh? How could I help you?" Asks Naruto confusion evident in his eyes. After all he was only a failure academy student while this Jiraiya guy seemed to be an accomplished shinobi.

"I'll teach you how to become the Hokage but I have a very important job that takes me out of the village a lot. During that time I want you to rotate between the other jonin-sensei's and polish up on the basics so that you're ready for what I want to teach you. I'll leave you a project each to that I want you to finish before I get back but other than that make sure to focus on getting the beginner stuff down pat ok?"

"What? Why can't you just teach me some super awesome jutsu that will instantly make me Hokage?"

Sighing Jiraiya puts his hands on his godson's shoulders "Naruto I gota say, for your dream you've got the right attitude but the wrong one all at the same time."

Naruto tilts his head clearly confused "What do you mean Ero-sennin?"

'That's not going away any time soon is it…'Jiraiya thinks with a tick mark on the back of his head. "Brat I mean you have the right reason but the wrong way of going about it. In fact I think this will be your first project. What is the Hokage's greatest weapon?"

"His jutsu obviously!" Naruto instantly responds.

Sighing the Toad Sage rubs Naruto's hair. "That's not quite right brat. Think about it and we'll talk about it tomorrow alright? It's getting pretty late. If you can figure it out I'll get you started on a B-rank kinjutsu that I think would be perfect for you."

"Alright! Just you watch Ero-sennin I'll have this figured out in no time!" having said his piece Naruto dashes into the forest, leaving Jiraiya standing next to river with an exasperated smile on his face.

"That went better than expected. Welp time to fill Sarutobi-sensei in on those details…"

-0-0-

Naruto walks through the streets of Konoha his eyes closed in thought. His brain works harder than it ever has, repeatedly attacking the question posed to it. What is the Hokage's greatest weapon? Well the answer was his jutsu obviously but the Ero-sennin had already rejected that answer!

Contrary to the belief of the civilians, his teachers, his peers… and just about everyone in the village… Naruto was actually much more clever and intelligent than others would believe. Of course it was dampened due to how much of that mind power goes towards doing pranks in a village full of shinobi as well as Naruto's headstrong nature, but never the less Naruto was not quite as dumb as others made him out to be.

'Ok if ninjutsu isn't the Hokage's best weapon then what is? Hmm…'so caught up in his musings Naruto didn't notice as he unconsciously walks to the ramen stand. Realizing where he is Naruto decides to go for some ramen before he sleeps.

"Hey Teuchi-jisan!" Naruto says before noticing the stands other occupant, who is staring at the boy with noodles hanging from his mouth. "O hey Iruka-sensei how's it going!?" Naruto says with a smile.

Said man only stares with noodles hanging from his mouth as the boy he had been looking for all afternoon walks up and orders a miso ramen. After the graduation exams Iruka had truly felt bad for the yellow haired prankster, having known that the boy had truly given his all but had just fallen short. The man had looked for the boy but hadn't been able to find him, a fact that only caused the man's depression to grow. Realizing how late it was Iruka had decided to grab a quick bite to eat before going home to finish finalizing the graduates' papers. Realizing that his noodles were still hanging from his mouth Iruka quickly slurps them up before facing his former student. "H-hey Naruto-kun. Are you ok? I was looking for you earlier because I figured that you would still be upset about failing the exams…"

Naruto's smile doesn't waver. "Oh yeah I was upset at first but then this Jiraiya guy said he would train me to become to best Hokage ever!" having said his piece Naruto turns back to his ramen in the process missing the shocked look on Iruka's face.

The man coughs and pounds his chest having choked on some of the noodles he had been eating. "Jiraiya? As in Jiraiya of the Destsu no Sannin? The one who trained the Yondaime Hokage?"

This time it was Naruto's turn to choke. "What? That pervy old man trained the Yondaime!? That's awesome! I'll be taking that old man's hat in no time –ttebayo!" Naruto pumps his fist in the air.

Letting out a small sigh at Naruto's antics Iruka smiles. He truly feels joy that his former student was finally receiving the attention that he deserved as Iruka himself had been far too busy during the school year himself to help the yellow haired boy. Last year Mizuki had been ousted as a traitor and because of that the responsibility of teaching the graduating class had fell to Iruka alone. Iruka himself had been strong armed into helping the clan heirs in his class and more or less ignoring the civilian and orphan students of which included Naruto. In fact from what he could remember only two students not affiliated with any clan had passed, and the orphan one of those two only barely. Having seen Naruto's grades Iruka was sure that if someone had actually taken the time to help the hyper active boy he would have had no problems passing the graduation exam, even with his inability to perform the Bunshin.

"I'm happy for you Naruto-kun." Iruka says with a smile "If you ever need help with something don't be afraid to come to me and I'll try to assist you as best I can. I'm sorry I couldn't help you myself during this past year."

"Don't worry about it Iruka-sensei! I'll be a super kick ass shinobi in no time –ttebayo!" Naruto says as he digs into his newest bowl of ramen before suddenly stopping. "Actually there is something you could help me with now. Ero-sennin asked me something I can't figure out the answer to."

Iruka chuckles, identifying 'Ero-sennin' as Naruto's way of referring to Jiraiya. The man's perverseness was just as legendary as he was after all. "Alright Naruto-kun. What did he ask you?"

Naruto crosses his arms and squints his eyes, accentuating his fox like features. "He asked 'What is the Hokage's strongest weapon?'. I said it was his jutsu but Ero-sennin said that was wrong!"

"He was right Naruto-kun." Iruka chuckles at the incredulous look on Naruto's face.

"What? The Hokage has to be the strongest person in the village right?! So what would be more important that his jutsu!"

Iruka taps his head with his index finger "His mind Naruto. You know how Sandaime-sama seems to always have the answers to everything? A Hokage has to be both strong AND wise. Not just strong."

"Oh well I guess that means I really can't be Hokage…" Naruto says, a visible aura of depression forming above him.

"Wh-whoa Naruto-kun what's wrong?" Iruka asks not sure what he said that set his student off as well as more than a little concerned about this out of character behavior.

"You said that the Hokage's greatest weapon is his mind right? Well my mind sucks! I couldn't even graduate the academy after three tries…" Naruto says curling into a ball, his depression blanketing over him.

'Looks like failing his exam affected him more than I thought…'Iruka thinks, realizing that for the first time Naruto's headstrong nature had betrayed him. It was Naruto's character to never give up until the very end, evident by how the boy had stayed in the academy for six years, despite failing twice. But now that he had failed it had caused a crack in Naruto's formally unshakable confidence. Even the knowledge that he was still going to be able to become a shinobi didn't help as Naruto had still failed and now even in his own eyes he was now a failure. "Hey Naruto-kun that's not true it takes a lot of… something to do the pranks you do in the village!"

"Really?" asks Naruto peeking out from the ball he has curled himself into.

"Yeah!" Iruka says "Think about it. If you were in an enemy village those pranks could be used to do a lot of damage. It takes a pretty clever mind to set those up in a village full of shinobi. If you would only sit down every now and then and actually use that mind to tackle a situation instead of just always charging in without a plan I'm sure that you would make a splendid shinobi!"

Naruto slowly uncurls himself and smiles at his former teacher after which he drinks the rest of the broth in his bowl. "So do you really think I can be Hokage?" asks Naruto an odd look in his eyes

The man with a scar across the bridge of his nose gets up, putting enough money on the table to pay for both himself and his former student. He puts a hand on the boy's shoulder, an honest smile on his face.

"I think you can do anything you set your mind to Naruto-kun. Just remember to slow down and use that thing in between your ears every now and then."

-0-0-

Watching the interaction between Naruto and his former teacher the Sandaime smiles. "It looks like you've done a good job Jiraiya-kun. Naruto-kun looks back to his old self."

Jiraiya scowls from his seat atop the window sill, glaring at his sensei's crystal ball as he watches the smile on his godson's face drop as his lips thin to a slight frown, complete with empty eyes as the boy made his way back to his empty apartment. "Not really. I'm sure that the kid's going to be in here this time tomorrow morning shouting about how he's going to take that hat from you but I know you saw it as well as I did. His confidence took a massive hit. I really wish I had been able to be there for the kid, even more than I did before. Minato's son shouldn't have to live like this. He doesn't DESERVE to live like this."

"I'm sure you're not the only one who thinks that way Jiraiya-kun. Kakashi-kun actually dropped by and requested for Naruto to be put under his care when you aren't in the village." The Sandaime says remembering an earlier conversation with the silver haired shinobi.

"Did you give him a confirmation?" Jiraiya asks. The Sandaime shakes his head no "I was actually planning on having Naruto rotate though the jonin sensei's so he could work on his weaknesses. I'm sure Kakashi feels guilty for nothing being able to be there for the brat but for him it was a choice unlike me." Jiraiya says referring to his spy network and how it would often keep him out of the village for months at a time.

"Speaking of which how do you plan on teaching the boy? From what it sounds like with this Akatsuki group lurking in the shadows that you're going to be even busier than before."

"Well I can send him a scroll every other week once he signs the summoning contract…" Jiraiya says sheepishly looking to the side as Sarutobi tried to glare a hole into his head

"Jiraiya-kun! I thought you said you were going to spend more time with him to make up for the past twelve years!" The Sandaime admonishing his student who is looks distinctly guilty.

"It's not like I can do anything I mean it's… not… like… actually… hey sensei…"

The Sandaime face palms "No Jiraiya-kun you cannot take Naruto-kun with you when you leave the village."

Jiraiya squawks not unlike a bird "Why not? It would be perfect! I could take care of the brat and train him while keeping him safe from Akatsuki and maintaining my spy network all at the same time! Not to mention while not quite as much as you I'm getting pretty up there in my years as well. I could train Naruto to take care of my spy network! It's perfect!"

"Naruto-kun's not going to like it…" The Sandaime murmurs rubbing his head "You know his dream is to be Hokage. He can't exactly do that if he's always out of the village."

The Toad Sage waves off his teacher's concerns "Details! It's a good way to get him used to the life of a shinobi instead of the glorified crap that most academy students see it as. Plus with a certain jutsu I have in mind for him the brat will have no trouble being the Hokage as well as maintaining my spy network!"

"Oh? And what is this jutsu?" Sarutobi says with a raised eyebrow

"The Kage Bunshin!" Jiraiya exclaims "It's the perfect jutsu for him considering how he can't use the bunshin and his massive chakra reserves! The brat could take care of my spy network while he just leaves a bunshin here to take care of the paper work and why are you looking at me like that?"

Jiraiya slowly creeps away as the Sandaime's expression morphs into something between horror, disgust, anger and pure admiration. "So that is the answer…" Sarutobi whispers his voice filled with reverence "THAT IS THE ANSWER TO MY PLIGHT! NO LONGER WILL I TOIL BENEATH THE CRUEL MISTRESS THAT IS THE PAPERWORK!"

Jumping out the window Jiraiya sweat drops. He and the other Sannin had figured out the secret to paperwork many years before Orochimaru had even defected but had decided to keep it from their sensei as a joke. As a maniacal laughter filtered through the night Jiraiya thinks that it might have not been such a good idea.

-0-0-

AN: Not much to say. Basically the nail in this story is that Naruto failed his exam since Mizuki wasn't there to do his whole little shpeal. I don't think Sarutobi would let his village's Jinchuriki become a civilian so we would probably call Jiraiya back or something like that and that is the premise for this story. Favorite and follow plz. Review so I know how to improve.

Edit1: Changed the tense style to mostly present tense. I had changed it earlier but apparently the file didn't save so I went back and did it again. Thank you to Decius23