The Lightning Sage

The trio of Maito Gai, Hatake Kakashi and Sarutobi Asuma walked down one of the busy streets of Konoha as they made their way towards a bar for light drinks. A few minutes ago the trio had attended a meeting with the Lord Hokage along with other jounins who had a genin team. The meeting was to ask the jounin sensei whether they felt that their team was ready to compete in the chuunin selection examinations that were going to be commence in a week in Konoha. The trio had also entered their teams in this exam and it was the first time that their teams were going to be competing in such an important event. Of the three, two of the jounin's teams were rookie teams who had just graduated out of the academy a few months prior. Though normally such a thing would cause an uproar but the three rookie teams which had entered the examination this year were rather special because of the genins of the teams.

"So Asuma, where did Kurenai leave in such a hurry?" asked Kakashi as he lifted his head from the orange book as he eyed the jounin who was currently taking a drag of his cigarette.

Said jounin spoke after he exhaled the smoke which filled his lungs because of the drag, "Don't know! She was talking something about bonding between kunoichis…" suddenly he felt the eyes of both his companion on him "… don't ask as I myself still don't know what the bonding thing is."

Kakashi eyed the beard jounin for a couple of second and return to reading his book. Meanwhile the third jounin of the trio who had his black hair cut in bowl style went into deep thinking as he heard what his fellow jounin had to say.

After a couple of minutes of deep thinking Gai finally spoke (or rather in his case shouted), "Yosh! We should follow the examples of our fellow youthful kunoichis and have a male-shinobi bonding time."

Asuma looked at Gai with a horror expression on his face as the cigarette fell of his open mouth as he spoke, "Gai, do you even know how… weird that sounds!"

"Actually I think it is a brilliant idea!" spoke Kakashi without looking up from his book.

"WHAT!" Asuma shouted completely going wide eyed.

"Yosh! It seems you too are starting to think in a youthful way, my youthful rival!" shouted Gai to which Kakashi cringed.

Asuma finally calmed down as he lighted another cigarette taking a drag of it as he finally spoke after exhaling the smoke, "Kakashi, you can't be serious?"

Kakashi looked up from his book directly at Asuma as he spoke, "I have heard of this bonding session from Sakura… I don't know what exactly they are… but somehow it seemed to help her grow as a kunoichi…."

"Well now that you mention it… Ino won't stop about it", said Asuna as he remembered the times Ino would come from those bonding things and would be more eager for training or missions.

"Even my youthful student Tenten seems to love it", said Gai.

"So I thought it will somehow help our other students would also benefit from such male bonding…" said Kakashi to which the other two nodded "… though it would have done us better if we knew what they actually did."

"Why don't we just ask on of the kunoichis as I am certain they would tell us about what they do during the bonding sessions…" said Gai.

"If it was so simple, we would have already known by now what the girls did…" said Kakashi to which Gai looked a bit defeated.

"Say Kakashi, did you by any chance follow Gai's lead…?" asked Asuma getting the attention of both the fellow jounins on him as both looked at him with a questioning look.

"And what would that be!" asked Kakashi as he felt a little bit of sarcasm in Asuma's voice but found the said jounin's eyes not looking at him.

"Teaching a young one, your fashion sense!" said Asuma as his eyes met his fellow jounins and gestured them to look where he was looking.

Both Kakashi and Gai looked in the direction where Asuma was looking at and for their surprise found that his eyes were fixed on a boy. The boy in question was dressed in a light blue tracksuit with three orange stripes on his sleeves, a mesh undershirt, dark blue trousers and dark calf-length sandals (similar to Namikaze Minato's clothing during his academy years and genin days). As for the facial attributes, the boy had fair skin and had spiky hair which were strikingly similar to the Yondaime Hokage apart from they were red and the bangs framing either side of his face were not as long as the Yondaime's bangs. Apart from that the boy had bright blue eyes which again were similar to that of the Yondaime Hokage while his face below his eyes was hidden by a light blue mask he wore similar to that of Kakashi.

But both Kakashi and Gai knew that the question Asuma asked was just to give them a reason to focus on the red-haired boy. It was simple as both could tell with just a single glance that the boy was trained in the shinobi arts with the way the boy's body movements were. Also there was the fact that the boy was not wearing a hitai-te signifying he was not a shinobi of any of the hidden villages that were here to participate in the Chuunin selection exam as they didn't know of a boy of that description a student of the Konoha ninja academy.

All this warranted an investigation to know who exactly the boy was especially considering the amount of chakra the boy possessed. Neither of the three were sensory-nins but that didn't mean that they were incapable of sensing the amount of chakra one possessed as they were one of the elites of Konoha. So it was quite surprising for the trio to find a boy about the age of their students to possess chakra levels on par with them as there was only one among that age whose chakra levels was on par, no even greater then their level. But the said student was an exception as it was considered to be because of her being the Jinchūriki of Kyūbi no Yōko.

The trio decided that it was better to get to know who the boy was and the best way was a direct approach. But as they walked towards the boy, they watched him remove a piece of paper from his pocket which they recognized it to be the tourist map of Konoha when the boy unfolded it. They watched as the boy's eyes searched the map for something and when his found what he was searching for his eyes started to sparkle as they could feel him grinning behind his mask. Somehow they couldn't help but feel that the facial expression of the boy currently resembled that of the resident pervert of Konoha and they were not thinking of Kakashi.

They watch the boy take the right alley which led to one of Konoha's tourist spot which was rather favored by travelers who visited Konoha. But the jounin trio could tell that the boy didn't intend to visit the place for reasons a normal tourist would visit the place.

"Should we follow him?" asked Gai to his fellow jounins.

"Yes…" said Asuma as he took another drag of his cigarette "… but it would be wise to keep some distance from the boy."

Kakashi agreed but added his two cents as he said, "A rather long and safe distance, I would suggest."

The three jounins nodded to each other and vanished in smoke indicating the use of Shunshin no jutsu.

…With the Super Pervert Jiraya…

Currently hiding in one of the trees close to one of the most famous bath house of Konoha was Jiraya – member of Konoha's Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja) and the Gama Sennin (Toad Sage). Jiraya was using a small telescope to spy on the kunoichis as he had heard that there was going to be some sort of gathering of them at the onsen. He had heard this as he heard a couple of young kunoichis talk about it as he had come to the village to meet his godchild before she entered the chuunin selection exams for the first time.

Normally despite his reputation as a super pervert, Jiraya avoided spying on the bath houses/onsen here in Konoha as the place consisted of three fearsome women who had some sort super senses to hunt him down as he would be busy in his research. One was his former teammate and just like him a member of the Densetsu no Sannin and famed as Konoha no Namekuji Tsunade-hime (Konoha's Slug Princess Tsunade) – Senju Tsunade and the other two being the wife and daughter of the current Hokage. But today was one of the days when he disregarded his inner voice which screamed him to stay away from the bath house as not only was there a gathering of kunoichis of various age but also Tsunade herself was going to be there. Thus even if Shinigami was to come to earth to take away his soul, he would fight the death god until he got the view of the wonderful, beautiful and gigantic breasts of Tsunade.

This spot and the telescope in his hands were giving him a great view of the onsen. Though Tsunade hadn't yet arrived at the bath house but still there were others like the likes of Yuuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, Uzuki Yuugao, Inuzuka Tsume and some others which he didn't recognize which made it worthwhile. Also there were other girls who were around the age of his godchild whom he just glanced once thinking that they would one day grow into beautiful kunoichis and nothing more.

Suddenly he felt an unknown but a powerful chakra signature close by him. His eyes travelled to the source of the chakra signature to find a red-haired boy around the age of his godchild crouched on the other branch of the tree. The said boy was holding a binocular to his eyes as he watched the same wonderful view which he was watching. Even with the mask hiding the remaining of the boy's facial features, Jiraya could tell that the boy sported a huge grin on his face. He decided to go confront the fellow pervert and also educate such a young one in the true art of perverts as he jumped next to the boy.

"Hello there, young one!" said Jiraya as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder startling the boy as the boy turned his head quickly at Jiraya as the he tried to hide the binoculars behind him with a small fearful look.

Jiraya was completely taken back as he stared in the bright blue eyes of the boy which were so similar to his student an also shined with the same intensity. Now that Jiraya took a better look at the boy, he couldn't help but notice the startling similarities the boy had with his student. It was not just the eyes as the blonde wore an almost similar outfit like Minato when he was a genin and also his spiky hair was structured in the similar way as Minato apart from it being bright red and the he bangs framing either side of his face reached his ears and not his jaws.

"Say old man, you wouldn't be handing me to the girls down there, would you?" Jiraya heard the boy ask with a small bit of fear in his voice breaking him out of his thoughts.

"No, young one! I am not here to hand you to those beautiful ladies down there but rather I am here to teach you the art of perverts", said Jiraya.

But before he could say any further or hear the response of the boy, his instincts told him of the arrival of Tsunade in the onsen. He quickly used his telescope to spy on the onsen and as always his instincts about Tsunade didn't fail him. From his telescope he watched Tsunade enter the bath house along with the duo of mother and daughter and her apprentice covering their bodies with the bath towels. But the moment Tsunade had entered the bath house he lost interest in the girls and the women in the bath house as she was his sole focus. But before he could completely loose his senses viewing the naked beauty of Tsunade, he glanced at the boy next to him and found him to have followed his lead as he was also spying on the onsen with his binoculars. A smile appeared on Jiraya's face as he looked at the boy for a second as the boy would be a perfect apprentice to whom he could pass 'the true art of perverts' as none of his apprentice till date had turned into a pervert like him nor even closet perverts.

With that thought in mind, Jiraya returned his focus back on to spy at the onsen or rather Tsunade to be specific. From his telescope he watched as his former teammate remove the towel and stand there in her complete naked glory feeling the wind. A small trickle of blood left the nose of Jiraya as he looked at the girl he loved and still did in her complete glory. He watched as she entered the hot water and couldn't feel but think that the water that touched her body made her look more beautiful. His eyes then travelled to the most noticeable asset and he was certain that they had grown a few centimetres from the last time he had laid his eyes on them. But before he could bath all of his senses with the sight of the naked Tsunade he was interrupted by the voice of the boy next to him.

"Say old man, aren't you to old to be doing this?" Jiraya heard the boy ask.

Jiraya couldn't believe his ears at what the boy had just said, calling him – the great Jiraya old. It seemed the boy didn't recognize his greatness as of yet and it was time to teach the boy his greatness. He jumped from the branch in the clearing down below and gestured the boy to join him down in the clearing. He heard the boy mutter about stupid old men and their stupid ways before the boy unwillingly joined him in the clearing. It was time to teach the boy to respect his seniors and especially someone as great and awesome as him.

"Boy, do you even have a clue who you are calling old?" asked Jiraya.

Jiraya watched as the boy looked a him from head to toe and then saw his eyes widen which he concluded that the boy finally realized who he had called old and was going to apologize to him an admit his greatness.

"Nope…" the boy said to which Jiraya face faulted "… Who are you?"

Jiraya couldn't believe his luck as the boy seemed completely clueless to his greatness and to be a worse the boy was a fellow pervert and still didn't recognize his awesomeness.

"Alright, hold on!" said Jiraya as he summoned his most faithful of all summons or rather the only one who joined him in his awesomeness – Gama.

Jiraya now stood on top of Gama taking the traditional Kabuki pose along with Gama posing with him as he started with his awesome introduction.

"Thanks for asking! I am Mount Myōboku-Gama's holy master Sennin also known as Gama-Sennin and the member of Konoha's Densetsu no Sannin! I, Jiraya am the epitome of manliness! When you are someone like me, you'll only have to flash the sexiness to have women fall at your feet!"

Jiraya was certainly liked seeing the shocked look of the boy when he started with his introduction but inwardly frowned when the boy's shocked face turned into a look of horror. He didn't want to scare the boy as he intended to take the boy as an apprentice who would follow his legacy becoming the second coming of the Super Pervert Jiraya. He decided to assure the boy that there was nothing to be scared off but before he could assure the boy, he saw the boy's face morph from the scared look into a bored and what-the look.

"So tell me Jiraya-sama, why are we doing this again?" the boy asked with emphasis on the word 'again'.

'What does he mean again!' thought Jiraya as by now Gama had returned back to the village of toads.

But before he could ask the boy what he meant, he heard the snapping of knuckles as his danger senses went on an all time high. Jiraya's head turned in a mechanical fashion towards his right and the sight that he saw drained all the colour of his face. Standing in front of him were all the kunoichis who just moments ago occupied the onsen as their bodies were covered by towels and their face in an expression which said 'you-are-dead'. But that was what not caused his features to pale as it was the trio who were in front of all the kunoichis. The trio consisted of his former teammate Tsunade who was currently cracking her knuckles to deliver to him her super punches, the wife of his student whose bright red hair was flowing wildly around indicating why she was named the Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero) and last but not the least was his godchild who was shaking her head and muttering of how her O-jii-san never learned lessons.

"So Jiraya, I hear that you are the epitome of manliness and women fall at your feet because of you manly charms…" said Tsunade in a sweet voice which sent chills down his spine.

"Now, now, Tsunade, you know I was just…" Jiraya tried to put forth his defense but was interrupted by Tsunade.

"Shut up, Jiraya! But do tell me who the boy is? Your accomplice in the crime…" said Tsunade still retaining the sweet tone in her voice.

But before Jiraya could tell her who the boy was and how he ha come across the boy, the boy spoke for himself.

"I am no accomplice of Jiraya-sama in th… this crime", shouted the boy as he turned towards the group of kunoichis with a red face.

Jiraya couldn't again believe that the boy called such a delicate art which even he was practicing a crime. Also he didn't miss the small gasps that left the mouth of Tsunade and Kushina as he turned towards them to find them staring at the boy with wide eyes. He also noticed that they were not the only ones who looked shocked as other kunoichis/women who were around the age of Kushina and were friends with her were also staring at the boy with a bit of curiosity.

Now that Jiraya thought about it, the boy just didn't resemble his student – Minato but also had startling resemblance with his student's wife Kushina. The boy had bright red hair just like her and also the shapes of their eyes were strikingly similar. If only he could see the remaining face of the boy which he hid behind the mask and somehow find out that he boy had dyed his blonde hair red then he would say that it was 'him'.

But it was not right to again draw conclusions as Jiraya knew well enough that 'he' was dead. Though neither he nor Minato, Kushina and Tsunade on subconscious level believed that 'he' was dead but they had buried his small body and had come in terms with his loss in their lives. He watched as it was both of them somehow calmed themselves before Tsunade spoke again.

"So you are not the pervert's accomplice! Then do tell me, what are you doing here?" asked Tsunade in the same sweet voice she spoke till now.

"It was because of Jiraya-sama…" said the boy with fear in his tone as he pointed at Jiraya.

Jiraya's jaws dropped as his eyes narrowed at the boy's statement as he thought 'what the! How is it because of me?'

It seemed like everyone kunoichi shared his opinion as Tsunade asked, "How so!"

"I… I saw him as I was passing by one of Konoha's street (pointing at Jiraya). After looking at him for a couple of seconds I recognized him to be one of the members of the Densetsu no Sannin – Jiraya. So I went and asked him for an autograph but he went on to do some stupid introduction dance and told me since I recognized his greatness he would teach me something awesome instead of an autograph. Though he looked a bit, you know stupid as he did that introduction but still he is the great Jiraya and so I couldn't refuse it as I got to learn something from him. And this is the place he brought me for my first lessons", said the boy with a small fearful tone.

Jiraya was wide-eyed by the end of the little reasoning the boy gave for him being present here. All of it was a complete lie with a capital L. But with the way the boy spoke the lie so fluently, he was certain that if he didn't know the truth or it wasn't about him then he sure would have believed it. And now looking at all the kunoichis, he could tell that all had bought the boy's little story as it was either the words of the self-proclaimed/well known Super Pervert Jiraya who was not allowed to speak against an innocent and scared looking boy.

"Jiraya! To take advantage of a boy's innocence and make him join your crime of peeping on women…" growled Tsunade as she punched him in the guts.

The punch by Tsunade was followed by the worst beating he had received so far in his marvelous life for peeping on women. He didn't know how long the beating lasted but was sure that it must have been an hour since they found him and the boy. Only one positive thing happened in the beat-down was that the younger-generation-kunoichis stayed out of it out of respect and it was also right of them to stay out since he was certainly not spying on them. Maybe in a few years when they would grow old enough as all of them showed signs of being beautiful kunoichis in the future.

…With the Jounin trio…

The trio of Kakashi, Asuma and Gai watched the beatings that Jiraya-sama was receiving with pity for the great man and also a small amount of fear watching the fury of women especially kunoichis. The trio was currently hiding behind a tree at a safe distance from the scene as to not be labeled perverts. They had arrived at the place following the red-haired boy who had avoided a beating from those kunoichis in a real smart way as he forced the blame on Jiraya-sama.

"We better leave before someone senses us", said Asuma to which the other two agreed and used Shunshin to get the hell out of there.

…Back with the Super Pervert Jiraya…

"So tell me boy what are you doing here in Konoha? As I am certain I have not seen you around in Konoha?" Jiraya who was half conscious heard Tsunade ask the boy.

Jiraya also wanted to know who the boy was since the boy had amazingly avoided his share of beatings albeit he was the one who took the whole blame and beatings. But still to survive and that to without a single scratch after spying on kunoichis/women/girls in the onsen and later being caught by the said kunoichis/women/girls had earned he boy respect in Jiraya's eyes. So he was also curious to who the boy was.

"Oh! I am a ronin! I am here to take part in the chuunin selection exams!" said the boy which garnered interests of the kunoichis especially the younger-generation who was also going to participate in the said exams.

"Oh shit! And again I got side tracked with my main objective!" the boy shouted as he palmed his forehead with his right palm to which all sweat dropped.

So finally Jiraya got some info on the boy and as he had concluded the boy was certainly a ninja but he couldn't tell which country he belonged to as he wore no hitai-te. But the boy being a wandering ninja piqued his interests in the boy more since unlike the past at the founding of hidden villages the number of ninjas not affiliated to a certain village or clan had decreased greatly and especially now-a-days there were hardly any present.

"Ahhh! I should leave! I have to go register myself!" the boy shouted as he put his hands in the Hitsuji (Ram) seal.

"Wait!" said Kushina to the boy to which the boy obliged.

Jiraya was surprised to hear Kushina for the first time in the last hour since they had been found out also she seemed a lot calmer in today after finding him peeping on women. At first he thought it was because she let Tsunade handle the situation but bow hearing her ask the boy to wait he got a clue at her behaviour till now. She just like him and Tsunade were shocked seeing the boy but for her it had gone beyond that as the boy resembled her son. Jiraya remembered how she had been broken at that night seeing the corpse of her child. She had somehow pulled herself back from depression from sheer willpower for her daughter's wellbeing and slowly over the years the old Kushina resurfaced hiding the pain of losing one of the twins in the depth of her heart. After she had recovered from her depressed state, she was the one who believed the most that her child was still alive somewhere in this world.

"At least tell us your name…" said Kushina sounding calm but Jiraya could tell and he knew so could Tsunade and some others that it was a desperate attempt of a mother to know who the boy in front was.

"AH! I forgot to introduce myself…" the boy said as he scratched the back of his head and even with the mask on everyone could tell that he had a stupid/sheepish grin on his face.

"The names Naruto, -ttebayo!" said the boy which froze three people in their spot while most didn't seem to care much apart from a few who knew how much that name mattered to those three.

Jiraya just stared at the boy with wide eyes as so did Tsunade and Kushina as to not only the boy had so much similarities to Minato and Kushina but also the boy seemed to have a personality like that of Kushina. And of all was the part was that the boy's name was Naruto and also he used a verbal tic similar to Kushina furthering their doubts.

"I should take my leave! I don't want to be late in submitting the forms!" said the boy as Jiraya could detect nervousness in the boy's voice as he saw the two women staring at him in a shocked face as he boy used Shunshin no Jutsu to move out of the clearing.

"Naruto!" Jiraya heard Kushina mutter from his spot as a small tear left her right eye.

Jiraya saw Tsunade walk close to Kushina as she placed a hand on her shoulders and whispered something into her ears which caused a smile to appear on the face of the mother.

…Later that evening at the Hokage Tower…

Today was one of the busiest days for the Hokage of Konoha as there was only a week left for the bi-annual chuunin selection exams especially because it was their turn to host the exams. Today he had made the news of the exams official to the jounins of Konoha who had a genin team and had asked them which of them were going to nominate their teams for the exams. Also surprisingly most of the teams that had decided to participate in the exams had arrived today of which h was currently holding registration form of three specific teams. First was a team from Otogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Sound) which by Jiraya's information network was believed to be a village linked to Orochimaru. The second one was a team from Sunagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Sand) composed entirely of the three children of the Kazekage of which one was he Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku (One-Tailed Shukaku). The last was the only team from Iwagakure no Sato (Hidden Stone Village) signifying the peace talks between the two countries were heading in a positive direction.

Finally setting those three folders down, the Hokage looked at the remaining team folders and tried to judge who looked a good and capable team and candidates for the exams. Finally examining each of the folders of the participating teams his eyes laid upon a folder which was labeled 'Ronin'. This surprised the Hokage a bit as the last he remembered of a team of ronin participating in a chuunin selection exam was when he had just received the rank of a chuunin and was asked to look on the preparations of the exams. As he remembered the team didn't do much good and was forced to forfeit in the team survival trial because of the death of one of their teammate. Putting that incident at the back of his mind, he focused back on the folder which was in his hand which he felt was very thin compared to all the other folders.

He opened the folder to find a recommendation letter from the Wasabi Family of Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea). He had heard from one of the information sources that a ronin who was traveling by the country had helped the Wasabi Family to gain ownership of the Degarashi Port. The ronin had helped the Wasabi Family's runner in the Todoroki Shrine Race against that of the runner of Wagarashi Family who had used help of some nuke-nins to win the race. And it seemed the ronin who was participating was the same ronin who helped the Wasabi Family as the letter spoke highly of him. He then checked the registration form of the team and was surprised as the form only had detailed of one ronin. In case of ronin, they were allowed to participate in a team of three or two and even alone as sometimes ronin worked alone.

But there was something else that had surprised the leader of the village which was considered strongest of the five great hidden villages was the info of the boy. Looking at the photo of the boy, at one glance he could tell the resemblance the boy shared with him and his wife. The boy had his eye colour but the shape of his eyes resembled that of his wife while it was the opposite with his hair. The remaining part of his face was covered with a light blue mask and even than he could tell he boy was grinning behind it as he showed the victory sign. Also the surprising part was that the boy's name was Naruto and he was the same age as his daughter.

Namikaze Minato lay back on his chair as a huge sigh was released from his mouth. The boy resembled his deceased son greatly as he thought his boy would look similar to the boy in the picture with only difference would be he would have blonde hair.

"I just hope Kushina doesn't meet the boy…" said Minato to no one on particular.

The trauma his wife had gone after the death of their child and the only reason she was able to be back like the old times because she had him and their daughter to look after. But even now he knew she had not forgotten about him as she sometimes cried in his arms remembering about him.

Well, I adopted this story from ruto-kun-nata-chan as he is going to rewrite it, while I'm going to keep the same format and do some editing. Basically Naruto will still have the sage mode inborn and very high regeneration along with the usage of ranton or storm style. However he will also have control over the chakra chains (the process of which they are gained will be revealed later on) as well as being a seals master. He will also have everything of the Uzumaki's possessions along with 2 summons. He won't be a lot overpowered but one has to recognize that the training schedule he endured when he was a child was for a child in the warring states not for a child inside a village. (2 eras clashing together people.!)

Zalz out :3