'So, what 's your

play, kid? ' Jiraiya asked as he squinted at his newly found godson across the campfire shared between them.

Naruto had led him to his temporary home on the island. It was a relatively whole building close to the center of the village on the banks of the river, which wound through Uzushio. They sat outside, sharing fish and a cup of ramen for each of them. Jiraiya lazed back against the crumbling building, seemingly relaxed, though Naruto saw the remaining tension. He had accepted that Jiraiya would need time to adjust to him, so he ignored it and instead focused on the seal he was tinkering with by the firelight. Jiraiya himself held one of the scrolls Naruto had liberated from Iwa in his debut in this time. Naruto looked up from the scroll when Jiraiya spoke, his brush held aloft over the page. He carefully set that aside and focused on his godfather, waiting for an answer.

'Uh, ' Naruto stammered, as his brow furrowed, 'save the world before it needs saving? '

Jiraiya huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, amused at the dumbfounded expression on his companion 's face.

'In Konoha, I mean, ' Jiraiya elaborated, 'I 'm guessing you 're not going to just waltz up and announce you 're from the future. You convinced me, kid, but it was a close thing. '

'Oh, ' Naruto exhaled before he rubbed a hand through his hair that was now loose around his shoulders. 'No, not yet. I don 't want to live a lie for the rest of my life, but 'yeah, even I 'm not so dumb to go around announcing something like that. Plus, what 's the use of my memories if everyone knows about them? That 'll change too many things. No, for now, it 's you and me '.and I guess Jiji and Kakashi before everyone else. Not yet, though. They can wait until the first stage of the Chuunin exams at least. '

Jiraiya gave a shallow nod as he considered the implications of holding this secret from his teacher versus causing untold changes to the timeline and rendering the intel unusable.

'You know you 're going to come off really suspicious, right, ' Jiraiya cautioned. 'No matter what you do. There will be questions you will have to answer convincingly. You might be dragged into T&I at some point. '

Naruto grimaced and let out a groan. He leaned back into the tree trunk he had dragged over with a distinct pout on his face.

'I 'll tell them if I have to, ' Naruto decided and then shrugged as he met Jiraiya 's eyes, 'we 'll do as much on our own as we can, but I 'm worried about Danzou. As long as that creep is around and Jiji still trusts him, all of this is in danger. '

Jiraiya wasn 't sold on the intelligence of the plan, but he nodded in agreement. He saw the quandary the situation left them in, and this was the best solution for the moment. He had never trusted Danzuo, and after the things Naruto had outlined, which had come from the man 's ROOT friend Sai 'well, he couldn 't allow that to continue under any circumstances.

'Well, ' Jiraiya sighed, 'we 'll hold it off as long as we can. How good are your infiltration skills? You need to have a solid backstory and to be able to maintain that cover until you can live openly. '

Naruto threw his head back and laughed so hard that Jiraiya was worried for a moment.

'Wh 'what? ' Jiraiya asked, bewildered. Naruto wiped the back of his hand across his eyes.

'Nothing, Raiya, ' Naruto gasped, 'I just remembered. I 've been trying to convince Kakashi-sensei to send me on an infiltration mission for years! But he says I 'm too easily recognizable ' no matter how hard I try to prove him wrong, but here? Naruto Uzumaki is 12 years old and is not the hero of the Elemental Nations. Finally! '

Jiraiya had a very bad feeling about this '.

'. But he was wrong.

They settled on attaching him to his Great Aunt, who Jiraiya knew for a fact had died in Uzushio, but that Hiruzen would not have direct knowledge of. Over a month 's time, they traveled across the Elemental Nations to set the groundwork for his backstory. He used the name Kuniharu after a story a merchant told them of a boy with red hair (possibly a real Uzumaki) who had saved his daughter only to leave with fatal wounds.

The man was likely dead, but under Jiraiya 's skilled hands, the story filled out around the edges. Mixing bits of truth with lies to make up a story that they could rely on. The real find was in Uzushio in his Great Aunt 's house, where real letters from his mother had been sealed in a special box protected from the elements. Jiraiya had watched silently as Naruto held back tears as he read his mother 's enthusiastic words about Konoha, the last letter dated mere days before the invasion. The find was a gold mine for more than one reason.

They changed his clothing style to fit Uzumaki traditions. Jiraiya even conned him into getting his ears pierced. It wasn 't technically necessary, as the practice hadn 't been super popular with the younger generations, but Jiraiya thought it added just a bit more authenticity to the outfit. Plus, he thought it would look cool on his godson, whom he found himself growing unbearably fond of at an alarming rate. Naruto knew how he functioned and how he saw the world. It was like meeting your best friend for the first time, but they already knew everything about you. This, more than anything, gave credence to Naruto 's claims.

Jiraiya took to randomly quizzing him at inopportune moments, like when he was just waking up, in the bath when he had soap in his eyes, and even once when they lazily fought off bandits. Naruto wasn 't terrible at acting. He would even make an excellent spy if his skills and personality weren 't so 'specialized and loud.

That was another issue. Konoha was stamped on practically every technique he did, so Jiraiya became his sensei a second time. All he really had to do was augment things with different styles to be just different enough that he wouldn 't appear too much like a Konoha shinobi. Uzushio taught mostly the same style, so it would work if Naruto didn 't overdo things 'Needless to say, they planned for the eventuality of Naruto overdoing things.

Jiraiya conceded to the cover story that he used Shadow Clones in front of Naruto and had taught him the technique because so much of Naruto 's fighting style relied on the ability. In exchange, Naruto reluctantly agreed to hold off on Rasengan and Rasenshuuriken until Jiraiya could teach Chibi Naruto and pass it off as teaching him as well. Naruto pouted for a week straight, but Jiraiya was going to be in enough trouble for the Shadows Clone as it was. He was not going to explain to the Hokage why he thought teaching a strange nin Minato 's technique was a good idea 'much less what would convince Jiraiya to divulge something so personal in the first place. Of course, then there were the toads.

'Just look Ero-sennin, ' Naruto goaded his sensei as he leaned back on his hands.

They had been sparring for hours for Jiraiya to get a firm sense of his abilities before he could begin teaching Naruto how not to scream that he was clearly from Konoha to anyone who observed him fighting. Jiraiya rolled his eyes but still summoned the contract. Of course, he didn 't go around checking it every few seconds, but surely, he would notice '

'What the hell?! ' Jiraiya exploded as he unrolled the contract to see the name Uzumaki Naruto scrawled beneath Minato 's in a chicken scratch that could hardly be called handwriting. He looked up to see Naruto grinning at him.

'How? ' he demanded, ideas of Naruto sneaking up on him and somehow stealing the scroll when he wasn 't paying attention filling his head. The toads would kill him if some stranger, even his godson, managed to steal the contract and sign it without his permission. Naruto shrugged as he tugged on the earring that he still wasn 't used to hanging from his earlobe.

'Came with me, ' he explained, 'I tried it as soon as I figured out I was in the past. It worked like usual. Apparently, the Toads were brought along through the blood contract. They gave me an earful about being abruptly pulled back without a say in it, but when they realized they could see you again 'well, they forgave me eventually. '

'But 'but, ' Jiraiya stuttered before memories began to play in his mind.

Almost a year before, Gamabuta, Fukasaku, and Shima had summoned themselves and then just stared at him with large, tear-filled eyes before they disappeared without saying another word. Then, the others had come one by one, saying nothing before they disappeared. When he called them back, they acted as though nothing had happened. Nothing that strange had occurred again.

Perhaps the Toads were a little more willing to linger after a fight or when sending a message to Hiruzen, but 'Jiraiya quickly completed the summoning technique and waited for the smoke to clear. Gamabuta grumbled about being called, as was his normal entrance until he saw Naruto lying across the ground, grinning up at him with Jiraiya a step away. Then, the Toad grinned larger than Jiraiya had ever seen.

'Hey, boss, ' Naruto called up with a wave before he stood up to throw an arm around a stunned Jiraiya, 'told you it wouldn 't be much longer. '

'Long enough, Gaki, ' Gamabuta spat, but his voice held no venom.

'Why didn 't you tell me? ' Jiraiya asked. There was a tinge of concealed hurt in his voice.

Naruto winced and looked apologetically up at Gamabuta, who sighed.

'The Gaki asked us not to burden you with it, ' Gamabuta explained, sounding old and tired. 'He thought it would be cruel to involve you if he was just going to pop back into his own time. Us too. Messing with time is a dangerous thing, but the Gaki tells us there 's no way back, and if that 's so 'well, there 's no way are we going to let the mistakes of the past repeat. '

Jiraiya was conflicted. On the one hand, one of his most precious people had lied to him, keeping a godson who needed help away from him. On the other, he had been protected by those precious people. People who, though it wasn 't their choice, decided to intercede in time on his behalf. It also confirmed everything Naruto had told him and then some. There was no way he could doubt him now. Later that night, after Naruto had summoned Gamakichi and they had sparred against each other, Jiraiya asked why he had not had the toads speak up for him during the interrogation.

'Oh, ' Naruto hummed. 'Well, I was going to if things went sour, but I didn 't want to make you feel like you were being ganged up on. I mean, some stranger comes around saying he 's your godson and then summons your trump card? Woulda freaked me out ' I wasn 't gonna do that to you. '

It was perhaps the most thoughtful thing Jiraiya had ever heard from Naruto 's mouth in either lifetime. He was thoroughly gone at that point. Naruto was his kid, and he wasn 't going to let his kid down like his counterpart had in Naruto 's past.

They were both students of Fuuinjutsu together in their spare time between plotting and gathering rumors about Akatsuki 's movements. It helped that the foundation of Naruto 's sealing came directly from Jiraiya himself. Their sealing technique was very similar even after the independent study Naruto had put in. They poured over scrolls about Uzumaki sealing techniques late into the night, passing sealing theory back and forth in hot springs before Jiraiya had the urge to do 'research. ' Then, like a good godson, Naruto bailed him out by using a henge of his younger self to pull the old father-son routine of his younger years. He allowed himself to be mauled by pinching fingers as Jiraiya snuck out the back. Jiraiya was so impressed he promised to teach Naruto Hiraishin if he successfully managed to become a Konoha shinobi without being dragged to T&I in the first week.

He would still teach it to him anyway, but in exchange, Naruto would also have to take writing lessons from him. Jiraiya was determined to pass on his porn abilities to someone before he died, a feat that his previous incarnation had apparently failed to do. Naruto doubled down on his training to become Kuniharu to make this happen without repeating the cringe-worthy writing lessons. He had learned the hard way that leaving a clone behind just irritated Jiraiya, and he was still stuck with the memories anyway.

Despite the jab of pain each time he was referred to his alternative name, he forced himself to endure it. He wouldn 't force his chibi self to share his name, not to mention it would be outlandish that Naruto 's supposed cousin was named Naruto as well. Still, for so long, it had been the only gift from his parents he had and a connection to Jiraiya 's dream. It hurt to lose it, but Naruto had lived 'no Kuniharu had lived 24 years as Naruto. It had to be enough.

One month later and they have done everything they could to prepare for Kuniharu 's introduction into Konoha. It would be up to Kuniharu 's acting ability, Jiraiya 's backstory holding up, and the good humor of Hiruzen for the plan to work. Kuniharu sat with the shoji screens open that led from their room to outside with his legs hanging out the side. Jiraiya was in the garden giving instructions to the messenger toad to update Hiruzen.

They were waiting for one of Jiraiya 's informants, who claimed to have information on Akatsuki 's movements. They would head to Konoha immediately after. Kuniharu frowned when, after the messenger toad disappeared, another reappeared to hand something to Jiraiya. His expression softened when Jiraiya came closer, and he saw the familiar ice pops that Jiraiya had always shared with him when he had done particularly well in training. Just as his Jiraiya in the past/future, he separated the ice pop and handed it over before sitting companionably beside him.

'You 're going to do great, kid, ' Jiraiya muttered and put a hand on Kuniharu's tensed shoulder.

Kuniharu was shocked that Jiraiya had seen through the bright smile to the anxiety writhing beneath. Kurama would occasionally poke out from his naps to snap at him when he got too depressed. He was worried about re-meeting his precious people under a new identity but didn 't think Jiraiya would know him well enough yet to see through the bullshit.

'Promise to dig me out of T&I before I go crazy if things go bad, ' Kuniharu half-joked.

Jiraiya hummed around his ice pop before he squinted at Kuniharu.

'You bet, Gaki! Me and the Toads will spring you if it comes to that, ' Jiraiya said before he gave a wicked grin, 'but remember you 'll have to write your own masterpiece in payment. '

Kuniharu laughed and began to eat his ice pop as he rolled his eyes.

'You got it Ero-sennin, ' he agreed, 'I 'll make triple sure it doesn 't happen now. '

Kuniharu ducked the jab to his face as he grinned widely. He allowed Jiraiya to coax laughter out of him with his super pervert routine. Jiraiya tried to weasel him into writing a novel without the incentive. It was an old argument between them in this life and the last. It grounded him more than Jiraiya would ever be aware.

The next day, Kuniharu made himself scarce to avoid being pulled into Jiraiya 's schemes toward Nanami-chan, their hostess. He meditated to center himself for the days to come. The moment that familiar electric chakra entered his orbit, he opened his eyes and smiled. He had a feeling Hiruzen might send someone to check on Jiraiya after receiving his coordinates. The fact that it was Kakashi just made it worth getting up for.

He stationed himself in the front, tracking Kakashi 's faint presence that was still barely discernible to him. He had trained with his former sensei since he had become Hokage to take on the burden of the hat from him eventually. Now, he could find Kakashi anywhere, even out of Sage mode. It drove his former sensei mad, but Kakashi had demanded the training to alleviate boredom and the fact of not wanting to be in the hot seat any longer than needed.

It made Kuniharu sad to think about how close he had come to taking that responsibility. To have it passed down to him from his sensei, who had once ignored him in favor of trying to keep Sasuke sane (not that it worked). Kuniharu had wanted to prove himself to the man almost from the moment he had first met him. Of course, he had done that during the war 'perhaps earlier when he learned Rasenshuuriken, or even during the second bell test. But he would have had tangible proof of the man 's faith in him when he passed the hat on down. Now, that was gone, but this life was here. He still had a chance to prove himself to Kakashi, the man, if not Kakashi, his sensei. Maybe it would be better that way. Less complicated with emotional landmines of unsaid accusations and equally unsaid apologies.

He felt eyes on him as he stared at the forest, careful not to look at the tree he could sense Kakashi in. He let himself be seen, but only that. He would see Kakashi in person soon enough, let the man measure him from a distance at first. He would enjoy shattering every preconceived notion about himself, real or imagined, later. Kuniharu began to lose the fight against a smile just a moment before Jiraiya burst out of the inn to 'punish him ' for not playing along.

Jiraiya had noticed Kakashi, too, or maybe he had guessed from Kuniharu 's behavior. Either way, the man gave him a gift by displaying their comradeship in plain view, That would ease his way just a tiny bit more. Kuniharu mentally shrugged as it occurred to him that Kakashi 's first impression of him would be what amounted to a catfight with Jiraiya. It couldn 't be any worse than the bell test. Nothing could be worse than the humiliation of the 1000 years of death. Not even being scolded by a civilian woman who came to just above his elbow.

<>

It was Jiraiya 's fault Kuniharu made an ass out of himself the first time he was introduced to Kakashi and Hiruzen in this lifetime. If the man hadn 't "gotten bored" on the road and then challenged him to yet another race, Kuniharu wouldn 't have forgotten that he technically shouldn 't just launch himself through the Hokage 's window. Of course, he had been cackling like a fool. Kuniharu played it cool on the outside, but inside, he seethed as he easily deduced this had been part of Jiraiya 's plan. The Toad Sage had likely calculated that Kuniharu would fumble over himself if they had a formal introduction from the start. Having him stumble in like a laughing moron put him on familiar ground. He knew how to play the laughing, unpredictable nin more than the might-be-psychotic prodigal son returned home. He would leave that to his Sasuke.

The most annoying thing was that it worked.

Seeing Hiruzen again was worse than seeing Kakashi. Kakashi had always looked the same with that ridiculous gravity-defying hair and his infuriating eye smiles. Not to mention the ever-present Icha Icha book to hide behind. He looked younger, yes, maybe a little less jaded without a student going psycho and finding out his best friend planned to destroy the world because of him. However, Kakashi had always had an intense, quiet aura around him, even when he played up his lazy, perverted side. Kakashi had always looked at him with that distant look that said he was thinking a million thoughts (half of them having nothing to do with him at all), even after they had gotten close. But with Hiruzen 'it was different.

His Jiji had never looked at him with anything less than warmth and acceptance. Here, he was greeted with cool politeness. There were hints of familiar amusement between the steel and the calculation, but it was clear just from Hiruzen's face that Kuniharu was no longer in the world he grew up in. He tamped it down, and when it got too much, he threw a glare at Jiraiya and received one in return that sent him back to center.

The initial introduction (interrogation) went better than Kuniharu could have hoped. Kakashi was relatively friendly (for him), and Hiruzen hadn 't seemed about to sentence him to T&I the moment he let his guard down. There was no avoiding the suspicion 'their backstory was a little much, even Kuniharu could admit it. But they had the letters and Jiraiya to pull most of the heavy lifting. Kuniharu just had to stick to the story ' that is, after he had to stand in the hall like a naughty child again 'ah.

Seeing Iruka burst through the door, yelling his name, slammed him in the chest with heart-aching nostalgia. He avoided the pain by observing how young his Academy teacher looked, especially with the blush spreading rapidly across his face. Kuniharu had to resist the urge to go over and pinch his cheeks. He was so adorable (squishy) when compared to the memories of the steady and grown-up Iruka from his childhood. Age and experience revealed his teacher for the younger, uncertain man finding his way in the world that he had been under the layers of affection and hero-worship. Kuniharu found it both amusing and a little sad.

Of course, he noticed that Hiruzen telegraphed to Iruka not to mention his chibi self, but he allowed it to go by without a word. Both he and Jiraiya had decided to allow Hiruzen to choose when he would be 'made aware ' of his 'relation '. It would be the safest way for Kuniharu to proceed. Openly revealing he knew about Naruto would make him even more suspicious. Kuniharu would not

WOULD NOT

be forced to write his own porn novel to pay Jiraiya back for helping him escape. Not in this or any lifetime! It was bad enough that he was editing Jiraiya 's piss-poor attempts at literature again, and this time he didn 't even have the grace of it being a surprise. He was re-editing porn he had already edited before!

Kuniharu forced himself to be casual with Iruka, not to pull the man into a hug and cry all over him about the latest shit-storm to take over his life. It was a close thing. He could tell Iruka had his hackles up, perceiving a possible threat to his chibi counterpart. He also saw that soften the more he gave the man his happiest and most genuine smile. It was so nice to see him after the year of only his clones and Kurama 's charming (read gruff) personality to keep him company between his hilarious bouts with the various Kages and shinobi across the lands. His time with Jiraiya had helped heal the persistent loneliness that had plagued him since he had been stranded in the past, but there was just something about being with the person who had first acknowledged him that put that firmly to bed. He could do this. He would do this. He wouldn 't be alone anymore.

Kuniharu couldn 't help one final jab at Jiraiya before he left, a coded reminder that it was his time to take over. Kakashi 's scandalized reply was just icing on the cake. He grinned and chuckled to himself as he allowed Iruka to lead him down to the cafeteria that served on-duty shinobi. He felt Iruka give him side-long looks but allowed the man to gather himself instead of throwing him further off guard.

'You really edit Jiraiya-sama 's 'work? ' Iruka questioned as they turned a corner. He gave Kuniharu a judgmental glance that would have been terrifying had he not been on the receiving end of it for most of his life.

'Not willingly, ' Kuniharu groaned and rolled his eyes at the Academy teacher, 'he 's hopeless with punctuation. It 's a little painful, actually. '

Kuniharu gave a pained sigh and scratched at his whiskered cheeks before remembering a moment too late that it was a gesture his chibi-self often did when he was thinking of something to say. From the corner of his eye, he saw Iruka 's eyes narrow in on his fingers.

'But he 's a little more willing to spar for real if he 's finished with a chapter and happy, so I 've decided to just 'help him along. ' Kuniharu shrugged with a sheepish smile. It had been the truth in his past timeline as well. Jiraiya always taught best when he was on a writing high.

'Ah, ' Iruka conceded but still clearly did not approve... Kuniharu had to resist the urge to start cackling when the way he poorly phrased his last statement caught up to his former teacher and caused the man to turn red as a lobster. 'Oh. '

Kuniharu

almost didn 't

correct the assumption, but no, he wasn 't going to let his first impression in Konoha be that he might have a questionable relationship with Ero-sennin of all people. Gods save him if Tsunade ever heard the rumor.

'Not like that, ' he laughed and pat the man consoling on the shoulder, 'we are

so

not each other 's type. Jiraiya 's chronically straight, and his heart is currently crushed beneath a drunk gambler's heel. Sometimes, I think he only peeps to keep up appearances, the poor bastard. '

Somehow, he believed there was a better way to phrase that but couldn 't be bothered to care. Ah, well.