Finally!

Jiraiya was expecting the punch, of course, but he didn't think Naruto would subconsciously use the Nine-Tails' chakra along with his own. He would absolutely need some healing later. For now, he needed to focus on the rightfully pissed blonde boy in front of him.

"Why, dammit?! Why would my own damn father do this to me?! Do you know anything about what the hell I've gone through because of him?!"

Naruto was shouting with tears streaming from his eyes, now red with slit pupils. Jiraiya looked down in guilt.

"Of fucking course you wouldn't know! Because you decided to ditch me here so you could go off peeping in hot springs! What kind of godfather lets his own godson get beat on his birthday?! Where were you when I was in my bed trying to hide?! Where were you when I was chased into alleyways?! Where were you when I woke up alone in the hospital?!"

Jiraiya walked over to Naruto, who was no longer using the Nine-Tails' chakra. He hadn't stopped the boy as he knew he needed to vent his frustrations out at some point.

"I didn't care who it was, or what they were, as long as they would be there for me. Instead, I'm living alone with neighbors that I've barely known for more than month. Why did my family leave me here alone?"

Naruto collapsed to his knees, clutching the grass beneath him.

"I asked the old man so many times who my parents were. I just wanted names. I wanted to know what they were like. I wanted to know if they loved me."

Jiraiya crouched in front of Naruto, carefully placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Naruto, the reason nobody could tell you was because you'd be either killed or kidnapped within hours of it becoming known. The only reason I'm telling you now is because you've matured to a point where I can trust you not to spread this information. They loved you, kid. Both Minato and Kushina were so happy when they heard she was pregnant. For nine months, nobody ever saw a smile leave either of your parents' faces. And... I was named your godfather when your father decided on your name."

Jiraiya saw Naruto look at him in slight disdain before he revised what he had said.

"No, it wasn't from my Make Out Paradise books. It was from my first book. It was your father's favorite book, you know."

At that, Jiraiya took an old book out of his pocket. It had a dark green cover with the title "The Tale Of The Utterly Gutsy Ninja". The title made Naruto chuckle a little as he wiped his tears away.

"He named you after the main character. Funnily enough, you act almost exactly like him."

Naruto smiled as he took the book, putting it in his jacket pocket.

"I just want to say, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't hate myself for leaving you here. I argued with the Hokage to take you with me. Unfortunately, I'm always on the move and could probably have people after me at any moment. Not to mention the fact that taking a kid with me who looked like the Fourth Hokage would raise suspicion. While I was gone, I've been tracking any possible enemy both inside and outside of the village. The moment they would even think about making a move against you, I promised I would be there in time to protect you. Saying 'I'm sorry' for the rest of my life wouldn't even come close to being an acceptable apology. But that is the only thing I'm able to say right now."

Jiraiya was surprised when Naruto jumped up and hugged him, tackling him to the ground. Jiraiya sat up with a warm smile as he ruffled the boy's hair. Jiraiya sat there for a few minutes, giving Naruto plenty of time to calm down. The two got up, Naruto slightly exhausted from all of the information he had received and the emotions they brought up.

"I think it's time you came out now, little girl."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya in confusion. He looked towards a bush as he heard rustling. His eyes widened as he saw someone he hadn't seen since the day he graduated from the academy.

"H-Hinata? W-What are you... Why are you..."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto before looking at the nervous girl with a serious look.

"How much did you hear?"

"I-I h-heard e-everything, L-Lord Jiraiya..."

Jiraiya sighed as he looked back at Naruto. He raised an eyebrow as he saw the boy was looking extremely worried. Naruto hadn't looked up at the girl once since she entered the clearing.

"I-I w-won't say a-anything about w-what I

h-heard."

Jiraiya nodded, though Naruto didn't seem to react. The girl walked closer, now being less than a meter away from Naruto.

"I-I understand if you hate me after what you heard, Hinata-"

Naruto was shocked as he had received yet another hug today. This time, it was Hinata who was hugging him. And she was the one crying. Naruto gently patted her back as he heard her sobs.

"I-I'm sorry I w-wasn't th-there when y-you had nobody else. I-I only w-watched as you s-suffered alone. I'm so sorry."

Naruto was still reeling from the shock of learning she didn't hate him. Having no more tears to cry today, Naruto settled for leaning his head on her shoulder, Hinata doing the same.

"Wait, so you don't care about me holding the Fox?"

Hinata simply shook her head. Naruto pulled away slightly, not noticing how he was holding onto her waist, or how she was holding onto his shoulders. Hinata blushed deeply as she was the only one of the two to realize their position. Even so, she didn't once take her lavender eyes off of Naruto's cerulean ones.

'Huh... She looks a lot cuter than Sakura up close. Her eyes are pretty, too. Now that I think about it, she hasn't hit me even once like Sakura would.'

Making his groundbreaking discovery that totally had everyone and their grandma surprised, Naruto tilted his head slightly. He had delved into the deepest recesses of his mind to find a few memories he never knew he had before.

'Hinata is like an angel compared to Sakura. She's always been so nice to me. Wait... I remember, now. That one time in the academy during our taijutsu spars, I heard someone cheer me on. I couldn't tell who did it, though. Was that her? But then what's with her face turning red around me? She never seemed to be mad at me...'

Naruto's neurons had finally activated. His eyes widened as he realized Hinata only blushed like that around him, and she always seemed to be in a good mood when that happened.

'There's no way, right? I mean, how could someone like me... How could someone like her... This whole time, she... She likes me?'

Naruto snapped back to reality as he felt two soft hands leave his shoulders and gently pat his arms.

"N-Naruto, are you alright? Y-You can let go n-now."

It was Naruto's turn to blush as he pulled his hands back to his sides, rubbing the back of his head and looking away in embarrassment.

"W-Well yeah I... I'm uhh, fine."

Hinata let out a slight sigh of relief as Naruto talked. She noticed she was stuttering less as time passed, though she had no clue why.

"Hey, uhh... Hinata, would you maybe... would you like to... go... get something to eat with me sometime?"

Naruto slightly rushed the last part of his question, still looking away with a blush on his whiskered cheeks. Hinata was doing much the same, looking in the opposite direction Naruto was looking.

"I-I would l-love to, Naruto."

Naruto smiled as he looked back at Hinata. His excitement outweighed his embarrassment over the previous events.

"That's great! Uhh, when would you be free?"

"M-My team is off duty t-tomorrow. M-Maybe we could go get lunch together?"

Hinata turned her head towards Naruto, gaining more confidence as she did so.

"Sounds like a plan, Hinata! So... should I pick you up or...?"

"A-Ah, of course. I-I'll be in front of the academy at twelve tomorrow. M-My little sister, Hanabi, enjoys when I bring her a bento I make."

Naruto nodded with a wide smile. He and Hinata turned in a direction when they heard Kiba Inuzuka calling for her.

"M-My team will be taking a D-Rank missions soon. I-I need to go, now. I-I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto."

Hinata was surprised when Naruto gave her a quick hug, whispering in her ear before she could walk back to her team.

Naruto smiled and waved at Hinata as she walked away with her own smile and wave.

"Hey, Jiraiya, what do-"

Naruto cut himself off as he saw nothing but a small letter where his godfather once stood.

'Dear Naruto,

We'll start your training in two days. The rest of your team has those two days off. I can see you will be busy tomorrow anyways. I think it's time someone gives you your inheritance. With your shadow clones, we'll be speeding through your family's basics. By the time the Chunin Exams begin, you'll have mastered your mother's ability in no time.

His Excellency, Jiraiya

P.S. you have an ability that comes from your Uzumaki side, if the old man didn't already tell you. Also, you need to talk with the Fox.'

The letter burnt itself to a crisp right after Naruto read it. Naruto didn't seem to notice, though, as he had already collapsed into unconsciousness from the new revelation.

X

"Here's the apartment building. Just go in and talk to the old lady at the front. Naruto and I live on the top floor, the last two apartments next to each other on the right."

Zabuza and Haku nodded gratefully. Adrik had finished showing them the need-to-know places. He would rather they find out all of the good places to eat or shop on their own. Besides, that stuff mostly comes down to preference.

Adrik looked over as Haku walked towards him with a slight blush.

"Hey, Adrik... I've never actually gone shopping for my own appliances. Since we've always been on the move, I was wondering if you could...help us?"

Adrik nodded as he saw Zabuza was also slightly embarrassed from asking the question.

"I'm gonna be honest, I've never gone shopping for house stuff either. I just have a mattress and a blanket, along with some space for storage if I need it. I'm mostly just Naruto's roommate until I have to sleep."

Haku looked at Adrik with her head slightly tilted.

"But you still pay your rent and such, right?"

Adrik nodded.

"Yeah. Even if I only go to my own apartment to sleep, I'm happy to pay for it. Besides, Naruto used to eat nothing but instant ramen before I started buying some real food. Oh, and..."

Adrik leaned in to whisper in Haku's ear.

"Naruto is really, and I mean really, good at cooking."

Haku giggled with her hand trying to cover it.

"It's a little weird for me, though."

She gave the boy a questioning look.

"Since almost a year ago, I haven't needed much food every day. It's...some sort of condition where my body runs just as good as it would if I ate three full meals a day. I even tried to eat as much as other people would, once, but I got sick from over eating."

Adrik rubbed the back of his head. Haku gave him a deadpan stare as she didn't believe a word of what he said. Never has she ever heard of such a weird 'condition'.

"Oi, you two gonna help me set the place up or what?"

Adrik and Haku looked up at Zabuza calling for them over the railing.

"Ah, sorry, father! We'll be there in a second."

Adrik and Haku nodded towards each other before making their way to the second story. Their eyes collectively widened as they saw some fancy looking furniture that hadn't been there before. Adrik whispered to Haku as Zabuza unsealed a comfy looking chair.

"I guess the appliance shopping can wait for a little bit..."

They both looked at Zabuza who looked back.

"Gato still had some good stuff in his mansion. I washed it all with a jutsu and put it in storage scrolls. Now come on and help. I need a second opinion on this kind of stuff."

Adrik grumbled about storage scrolls being 'unfair' as he and Haku went to help Zabuza. The father and daughter looked amused as Adrik weeped fake tears.

They had both learned of Adrik's lack of everything involving chakra while waiting for the Wave mission to end. Needless to say, they had many questions, but he and his team were still slightly concerned about this information getting out. For now, they thought it was some sort of odd bloodline.

Adrik made a mental note to tell Haku and Zabuza of his origin once they were off probation. You never know what could happen during that time, after all.

"Hey, brat."

Adrik looked towards Zabuza who was slightly adjusting a couch with Haku trying to make sure the positioning was to her liking.

"That ash and smoke bloodline you have... Have you tried making any jutsu with it yet?"

Seeing Adrik shake his head, he continued.

"I think you should try to make your own version of some basic ninjutsu. You may not have chakra, but I'm sure you can match it with whatever that bloodline does. If it doesn't work, kenjutsu would probably be your next best bet. Weapons are a specialty of mine, if you couldn't tell, and Haku never wanted to learn too much beyond what she knows about it now."

Haku pouted at her father's last remark, once again correcting him and making him move the couch. If she made him do it out of spite was up for debate.

"I don't know... There's some jutsu with easy concepts, like using ashes to act like the Earth Wall, but then there's stuff like the Body Flicker. I can't match that unless I wanna tear some muscles. I'm not even gonna start on genjutsu."

Zabuza sighed as Adrik made his point loud and clear.

"I heard your village has a case like yours. It's not to a point where they have no chakra or chakra system, but they can't use chakra effectively, if at all. Some lunatic jonin is able to match the strongest of ninja with pure taijutsu. While there are many ninja that at least try to be well rounded, everyone has some sort of calling for a specific art. We just need to figure out yours."

Adrik nodded. Zabuza was completely right. Thinking back to his previous fights against ninjas, Adrik realized the only reason he won them was because nobody knew of him or his powers. Another thing he noted was the fact that the 'special moves' he came up with were mostly improvised. They were techniques his mind conjured in the heat of the moment. He needed a consistent arsenal. That is something that everyone else had. Adrik sighed as he had a lot of planning to do. He hid his chuckles as Zabuza let out a frustrated yell from having to rearrange the couch for what the man probably felt was the thousandth time that day.