"The fights are as follows..." The sudden and intimidating voice of Ibiki brought Naruto out of his intense glaring to a certain red-head. "In the first match Nara Shikamaru will fight Uzumaki Naruto, in the second match Haruno Sakura will fight Sabaku no Temari, in the third match Sabaku no Kankuro will fight Aburame Shino and finally in the fourth match Hyuga Neji will fight Hyuga Hinata."

"You're forgetting my name..." Gaara's voice was menacing, full of hatred and bloodlust but Ibiki wasn't phased in the slightest.

"Because there's an odd number of participants, you Sabaku no Gaara will be facing the winner of the first match, win or lose the progress of your opponent in the tournament will be decided by their match only." After he said that, Ibiki didn't take any questions and dismissed the Genin.

Naruto was mad, he can't remember ever being this angry and perhaps that's why he did what he did. After the match announcements had been made he walked up to Gaara and stated.

"I will destroy you."

He then walked away, only stopping in the place where Lee had laid before being taken to the hospital to receive far better treatment than what he could hope to get in the tower's infirmary. Naruto looked at the still fresh blood of his friend and knelt, he took it on the palm of his hand and squashed it hard as he made an oath.

'I will make sure he pays for what he did to you bushy-brows, I swear I will.'

"Naruto-kun?" A stern and concerned voice called out his name and it was only then he was finally brought out of his own thoughts. He looked around and found that Lee was still asleep in the hospital room he himself had refused to leave for the past two days. The only person who would ever come to visit Lee besides him was Gai-sensei and that only made him feel a stronger need to stay by his side.

"I'm sorry Dr. Teruya, I spaced out a little 'ttebayo!" He rubbed his nose sheepishly in that silly way he always does when he's apologetic about something, it didn't really feel natural this time, not with his friend lying in bed right beside him.

Dr. Teruya chuckled at Naruto's antics and waved off his apology as she made her way to him and took a seat right by his side. "So, how are you feeling dear?"

"Me? You want to know how I'm feeling?" That seemed like such a dumb question to him, why was he suddenly the object of her concerns when he isn't even her patient. "What about Lee?"

"Now, now. Don't get all judgemental on me young man. Lee is doing as well as he can given his circumstances, I just wanted to know how you're feeling, that's all." She gave him a look that dared him to say otherwise and that seemed to stir up something in his mind as he slumped his shoulders.

"I'm sorry..." Naruto was never rude, at least not intentionally, he had been a little testy after the prelims were over, perhaps it was the lack of sleep but at this point he was merely guessing.

"Don't be, now tell me, what's got you so upset?" She asked.

"It's just that I-, I feel like I should've done something for him... Kakashi says there's nothing I could've possibly done to prevent what happened but I still can't shake the feeling that I failed Lee." It was most likely because he knew. He knew Gaara was dangerous and never warned him, he knew what Gaara was even if just shortly before his match but he still didn't tell him, it ate at him.

"Well, I'm not Lee - though I'm sure you noticed - but if it were me, I wouldn't even think of you when looking for someone to blame, if anything, I think Lee is really fortunate to have such a good and loyal friend." Kaiya's comment made Naruto brighten up a little and she pinched his cheek like a grandma would do her grandson, making Naruto chuckle and visibly relax.

"There's actually something else I've been meaning to talk to you about Naruto..." As she spoke, she looked around the room, and even though it was empty, she knew the walls had ears. "Come with me, I would like to discuss this with you in my office."

The old woman led Naruto away from Lee's resting room and into her own secluded office in a not so accessible part of the hospital, the office was at the end of a corner with only one way in and out that could be watched from the inside at all times. When reaching the office Kaiya fished a weird looking key from her pouches and allowed Naruto in, making sure to lock the door again after he had taken a seat.

Naruto looked a little nervous as Dr. Teruya's wrinkled visage was taken over by a serious look he had only seen once before, the woman stood in front of him and activated a silencing seal under her desk that he knew to be the work of the Hokage himself. "So... what's this all about Dr. Teruya?" He asked as he nervously shifted his feet.

"Oh..." The woman lost her serious look and started chuckling at Naruto's expense, making his eyebrows twitch in irritation. "Are you that scared of me, Naruto-kun? I must say I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

She got what she wanted in the form of Naruto, visibly relaxing. She was thinking hard the whole time and didn't realize her look was unnerving. "There is something I would like to talk to you about, propose even."

Naruto replied by giving her a questioning look.

"Months ago I mentioned to Kakashi that I was interested in coming up with a way for you to use your Sharingan like a regular eye, as in making you capable of turning it on and off at your leisure." She explained.

"Just me? Why not him too?" He asked and caused her to smile in pride, it truly was refreshing to see someone as selfless and concerned for others as Naruto.

"I don't know how much you know about the incident that resulted in Kakashi getting his sharingan but, unlike you, he was forced to use it right after he got it and it caused some serious damage. I'm not saying it's impossible, just way beyond what I'm capable of." She had been the one to give Kakashi a thorough examination when he returned from that mission. The damage Kakashi's eye socket had received when he lost his own eye had been bad enough, top that with the stress using the Sharingan right away put on him and well... it wasn't pretty.

"How would that even work? You do your glowing hand thingy on me and that's it?" He asked, rubbing his chin.

"You really need to learn a little about medical ninjutsu Naruto-kun..." She said as she giggled at Naruto's question before continuing her explanation. "But to answer your question, no, it would technically be a minor surgical procedure, I'd go in and rearrange the nerve terminations in your eye and do some work on the chakra pathways that lead to it. If it all goes well the Sharingan will recede back into the natural form of Sasuke-kun's black eye."

"Oh... yeah." Naruto didn't think about that, he wasn't against the idea of having two different eye colors or anything but... having used the Sharingan as little as he can, sometimes he forgets it's even there. Looking at Sasuke's black eye every single day, a daily reminder of the fact that Sasuke isn't there anymore.

He doesn't know if he's ready for that.

"I know what you're thinking dear, I might not have known little Sasuke much but- I'm sure he would appreciate you taking him with him wherever you might go and not only for fights."

I'll become your eye, and see the future with you

"Yeah... I think he would 'ttebayo!" Naruto discreetly wiped a lone tear away from his face and went back into business mode. "How long would that take though, I kinda have to train to beat the crap out of Gaara y'know?"

"Well, the procedure itself shouldn't take me more than a few hours. Normally, a person would need at least a month to recover from such a thing. You? You'll be good to go in a week." She said as she playfully ruffled his hair, oh how she wished she could recover as fast as he did.

"Is it okay if I talk to Nii-san about it first?"

"Of course dear, come back tomorrow if you decide you do want it."

—

"I think you should do it."

"W-What? Just like that? At least think about it 'ttebayo." Naruto crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance making Kakashi chuckle.

"It's a rare opportunity, and definitely worth it. Besides, a week is not too long, you'd still have three whole weeks to train for your match with Shikamaru and Gaara." Said Kakashi closing his book and putting it back in his pocket.

"I guess you're right... I'm just nervous y'know? I haven't been able to use my eye in public for a while now." It was still very exciting for him, there was something about wearing his headband on his forehead like a proud shinobi that he had always found appealing, now that he won't have to cover his eye with his hair he can wear it like he used to.

"Well... officially you lost it, I wouldn't go around showing off an eye you're not supposed to have, sharingan or not." Now that made Naruto feel dumb. "It's actually great timing, I was going to ask you to tell Sakura that I won't be able to train you guys for about a week."

Naruto asked Kakashi, "What? Why?"

–

"So they sent their Jinchuuriki to the village... that is troubling." Hiruzen's chin was resting in both of his hands as he sat on his desk and thought hard about what he had been informed by Kakashi about a certain red-head.

"How would you feel about taking Inu's mask for a little trip, Kakashi?" He asked suddenly, rejoicing in the look of shock he had gotten out of his most aloof Shinobi.

"A black ops mission?" He asked.

"I've been hearing rumors about Suna's discontent, it is no secret that the wind Daimyo has cut funding from them and given many of their assignments to other Hidden Villages, especially ours." The game of politics in the 5 Great Nations has always been shaky at best, recently the Wind Daimyo had randomly decided that he preferred to have less and less dealings with his own Hidden Village for some reason.

Tensions had begun to rise in both nations, mostly because the wind Daimyo had decided Konoha was his best choice when it came to missions, giving Sunagakure only the more mundane of tasks. You could argue that Konoha could simply refuse him but it wasn't as easy as that, outright denying your services to an allied nation was simply not in the realm of possibility. The Hokage had still made it a point of finding ways to reject as many missions as possible in hopes of maintaining their friendship with suna.

"Suna openly boasts of their Jinchuriki as a weapon and I want to know why they sent him here. I want you to do a little spying, find out if this is them just sending a Genin to be promoted or a statement."

Kakashi of course accepted the assignment without so much as a second thought and made his way to meet Naruto at his house at the boy's request. Kakashi was excited at the prospect of wearing his ANBU mask after so long, he also felt a little trepidation but that went unsaid.

–

"Hokage-sama gave me a special assignment that he would like completed as soon as

possible."

"A special assignment?" What does that even mean?" Naruto looked up at his sensei, crooking his head to the side.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be back in time to help you both train"

—

Sakura was picking up the belongings that she had in Naruto's house, "Is there anything else you need, Naruto-kun?" The procedure had gone pretty well, and Dr. Teruya sent Naruto home to rest with a bag full of a high dosage numbing medicine that had a drowsiness effect.

Not as high as Naruto was when he woke up though.

Sakura being the amazing friend she was had gladly taken Naruto back to his house and watched over him so he didn't do anything stupid. The drugs were completely out of his system by now and no longer needed anyone to watch over him.

"I'm alright now Sakura-chan but thanks for taking care of me, I really appreciate it y'know?" He said as he helped Sakura store the rest of her things before escorting her to the door.

"Remember Dr. Teruya told you not to remove your patch until the week is over, don't try to use your eye either." Sakura stopped and added. "If anyone asks what happened to your eye, tell them your wound got infected." As she walked away from him again.

"Wait!" Naruto tripped on his doorstep as he clumsily grabbed Sakura's arm to stop her. "Do you know if they checked Lee while I was out?" He knew Lee was supposed to receive a thorough examination by Dr. Teruya to assess the damage when she deemed him stable enough.

"Yeah... about that." A sad look made its way in Sakura's features and Naruto could feel his stomach gripping at the defeated look on her face. "Apparently the damage done to his spine was too severe..."

"Lee will never walk again, I'm sorry Naruto."

She left shortly after that but he didn't notice, he sulked in his living room for hours and wallowed in guilt. Kaiya's words rang deep in his brain, his own common sense was telling him there was no point in blaming himself for what happened to Lee but he still did.

What would his parents do if they were in his situation?

That's the question he kept asking himself over and over whenever he found himself at an impasse ever since he discovered his parents identity. Would the legendary Yondaime Hokage wallow in guilt and self-pity over things he had no control over? What about the feared Hot-blooded Habanero?

Naruto smiled lightly to himself and stood up, he wasn't told he couldn't go out of his house and he needed to relax a lot before he could face Lee, perhaps a little trip to the local onsen was due.

—

"Oh yes, move around a little beauty." A man with long white hair tied in a ponytail was giggling and doing a little perverted dance as he spied inside the woman's side of the bath through a peephole.

Who even does that?

"Oi old man! You can't do that 'ttebayo!" This wasn't Naruto's version of a relaxing time. Sure, he could definitely appreciate the beauty of the female body, but he would never fall so low as to violate their privacy.

Well, perhaps if it was Sakura in that onsen he would maybe consider it.

"Get lost brat! I'm doing very important research." Replied the man without even taking his eye away from his spying spot, making Naruto get even more annoyed. He wasn't having a good day and this stupid old man wasn't being helpful.

Naruto tried to get him away from the bath a few more times but it was all to no avail, he had to give it to him, for all his antics the man truly was strong, no matter how hard he pushed he never moved.

Not even a single inch.

"Fine!" Oh, never one to be beaten so easily, Naruto went with Plan B. He went inside of the bath house reception and used his own Oiroke no Jutsu to turn into a female version of himself with two long blonde ponytails and a significant bust. He then picked a towel from the desk to cover his face and ran to the women enjoying their bath time yelling. "Pervert! There's a pervert spying on the wall!"

Every lady heard the fear in Naruto's voice and immediately dressed up to deal with the situation. Outside of the onsen, the screams of agony and "Don't kick poor little me." were music to his ears, this wasn't what he intended to do to relax but it definitely worked.

He might play a few more pranks again.

Having had enough, Naruto went to look for the man just to make sure he was still alive - so he could keep making fun of him - and found him sitting down in a tree as he rubbed a spot on his head.

"Got a little beat up pervert?" He asked mockingly, earning a glare from the man that quickly turned into a look of recognition. It didn't last long enough for Naruto to notice but he had been identified, so the man saw it fit to introduce himself.

"You interrupted very important research you damn brat!" He said as he fished out a book from his pouch and proudly displayed the cover, making Naruto realize just what book it was.

"It's you! You write those perverted books Kakashi-nii reads all the time!" Naruto yelled as he pointed an accusatory finger at the man and stomped his feet in indignation, he truly didn't mind all that much, but Sakura did and she complained loudly about it whenever she could.

The man only smirked as a response and performed a sing-less jutsu that made a cloud of smoke, it dissipated and revealed him standing on top of a human-sized red toad in a ridiculous pose. "Man cower at my presence and ladies swoon all over me, it is I the great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku Jiraiya the Gallant!"

"J-Jiraiya?" Asked Naruto with a slight tremble in his voice that caught both him and the legendary Sannin off-guard.

"Yes?" Was the slightly nervous reply.

"Jiraiya the Sannin?" He asked again, this time with a more serious look on his face.

"Yes." Was the short and boast-less reply.

Naruto looked at the ground, in a quiet voice he said, "You trained my father."

Jiraiya sighed and let the toad go back to where it came from; he knew of course that Naruto had been told about his father's identity the last time he was in the village, heck, he had been told he could approach the boy if he wanted to but never got around to it.

A little part of him was just hoping that knowing about his father wouldn't mean he knew anything about him. That was of course wishful thinking, how would a boy who idolized the Yondaime long before he even knew they were related not know everything there is to know about him?

"Listen Naruto..." The words came out but he was still unsure of what it was that he wanted to say, what was he supposed to say? At least he got the desired effect of getting his attention.

"You know my name?" Naruto knew from Kakashi's stories that Jiraiya and his father were really close, but judging by the lack of contact between them he had guessed long ago that the closeness probably didn't extend to him. He used to be bitter about it but let it go eventually, you can't force people to care about you.

In the end, no matter how lonely it got in that apartment, he always had someone he could go to.

"I know a lot about you, even what you hide behind that little patch of yours." The world seemed to stop for a second as Jiraiya's comment made Naruto gape like fish, for a moment he didn't know if he was supposed to know or if he could even trust that man.

It was a scary thought.

"Would you like something to eat, brat? My treat, I'm sure you have some questions."

Naruto silently accepted the invitation and led Jiraiya to his favorite restaurant in the village, Ichiraku Ramen. Ever since he was a little kid he felt attracted to the place. The energy inside was always so different from that of the entire village, he never knew how to explain it but, being there felt right, for some reason he always felt like he belonged there. The amazing people that ran the stand were obviously a big plus.

They both settled in and ordered some food, Jiraiya discreetly placed a foot on the ground and erected a little silencing barrier to keep whatever they talked about between themselves, having realized what the man had done, Naruto relaxed a little and spoke up. "Do you uhmm-? Am I? Do I-? Pfft..."