Unleashed Potential

Chapter 2

Naruto took his sandals off and locked the door behind him before sitting down at the table with jiraiya.

"So what the hell are you doing in my apartment, you old fart?!

Jiraiya frowned. "I'm sorry for intruding. I was told you should get off at three, but you happen to be a couple hours late."

"I took the long way home had a lot on my mind ya know"

The toad sage simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and pointed to his headband. "As you know from yesterday I am Jiraiya, one of the three legendary Sanin and the toad sage. I am also your Godfather.

Naruto leaned closer, noting that he looked a lot like the portrait on the Hokage's desk, the portrait containing the old man's genin team, that is.

"No way! what-... G-Go-God-Godfather?

Naruto was shocked, and Jiraiya simply nodded. "That's right. I am. I've been away for some time, but I'm here now, so how about you have dinner with your godfather tonight? I'll explain everything.

Naruto was frozen. 'Godfather. Godfather.' "Wait. That means you're like family?

Jiraiya almost flinched at that. If they were family, then he's the worst at his job. "of a sort, yeah. Now go sit.

Naruto placed his hands around his head. This was big, really big. A godfather meant so many things for him, and he finally had someone on his side ,maybe, and the hokage wasn't always there and if jiraiya was here it meant he wanted to get to know him at least . But what if the man was lying to him?. He had so many questions to ask that he didn't even know what to say. Where had he been? Who were his...

Naruto whirled in his direction suddenly. "If you're my Godfather, then only my parents could have appointed you as such, right?

Jiraiya paled at that.

"Can you tell me who they were? Please?!

Jiraiya held his hands up in a placating manner. "That is a very hard question to answer but since you are already showing signs of your mothers bloodline it would come out eventually so i can tell you about her, your father however is very complicated" .

"Who is she?"He wanted to know everything but wouldn't push ,at least he would get to know about his mother.

Jiraiya nodded. "I promise I'll explain everything, but talking over a meal would be better".

Naruto scowled and nodded. "ok, but if you try anything funny, I will cut you," he said as a chakra chain manifested behind him with its pointed edge pointing at jiraiya.

The two ate their dinner, with Naruto stuffing himself silly while Jiraiya ate slowly.

He grimaced at how Naruto was eating, but considering he's been growing up alone, it's no surprise that he has no table manners. He'll have to fix that whenever possible.

The boy wasn't expecting Jiraiya to be capable of fixing up something so delicious. He was against anything other than ramen, but it seems he may need to broaden his horizons.

He pulled himself together and slowed his eating, wiping his mouth and clearing his throat.

"Okay, first off, you claim to be my godfather, but you've been completely absent for nine years of my life. Why?

Jiraiya felt that this was the question to get out of the way first. He'd done a lot of soul-searching, and he felt that this was his moment of truth.

"I wasn't in the village when you were born, and I wasn't present for the Nine tails attack either. I was chasing after my old teammate."

The man sighed and ran his hand over his long hair. " I run a spy network that stretches across the elemental nations and can't leave it unattended for too long. At least at the time, I couldn't. But as things are, I've found some trustworthy shinobi and overseers to make this job easier on me. But this was done only a short while ago."

Jiraiya looked Naruto straight in the eyes. "I'm going to be straight with you. I couldn't take care of you, even if I tried my hardest. But I should have visited and at least let you know that you weren't alone and that there was a link to your family. That there was someone who could have been there for you. I'm so sorry, Naruto. I'm sorry. I was mourning the loss of your parents. You look so much like them that it simply reminded me of how I failed to be there when it mattered the most. It's the greatest blunder of my life, save for not being there for you when-

Jiraiya cleared his voice, and Naruto choked up a bit. Tears ran down his face, his mouth clamped shut so as not to sob, his body shaking with grief and something he'd been feeling since he was little: hatred and anger. But now that he knew this man was connected to his family, he was struggling with wanting to embrace the only thing he could possibly call family. But it was mostly anger.

Before Jiraiya could say another word, Naruto stood to his feet and punched the man in the gut with all the force he could muster toppling him and the chair he sat on to the ground.

Jiraiya simply sighed at that, pulled himself up, to look at the crying face of Naruto, He hugged the boy and felt his arms wrap around him. After a while he asked " you feeling better now"

"Yes and i would like to hear about my mother"

"Hmm where to start,your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, also known as the Red Hot Habanero here in Konoha,Up there with the Sannin in terms of combat ability, yes. You haven't had a class on her because of the nature of her ascension to S-rank status, but if you want, you can read up on her in the older bingo books. She's actually well known in most shinobi circles, rivaling my ex teammate Tsunade for the title of strongest woman in the world at her peak, she would have been even stronger if she was still alive. She embodied what the elemental nations her clan"

Naruto was very intrigued. "she sounds... so cool , so strong but wait clan like the Hyuuga"

"Yes. Unfortunately, they were wiped out by a coalition of shinobi villages when she was very young. She was in the land of fire with her great aunt because of a treaty between konoha and Uzashio."

"Why were they targeted"

"The Uzumaki clan were masters of fuinjutsu, able to change the laws of nature with a stroke of their brushes, After the death of your great grandfather Arashi Uzumaki they were at their weakest and Cloud , Stone and Mist smelled blood and attacked"

"So I'm the last of my clan then,like Sasuke?"

"Maybe there have been rumors that some managed to escape the massacre and have scattered throughout the elemental nations"

This caused Naruto to smile "then if there are any Uzumaki out there i will find them and I will bring them here and protect them."

" Her goal was also to restore her clan and bring together the lost members of her clan in Konoha." Jiraiya said smiling thinking how much like his mother he was even if he looked more like what he would imagine minato would look like if he was an Uzumaki with whiskers.

His statement making Naruto beam even brighter

"Tell me more," the boy whispered.

Jiraiya nodded. "Before I do, though, I need you to keep quiet about this, okay? Her wealth is unclaimed and was to be liquidated, but she went through a lot of hoops and loops to prevent that. Understand? There are many merchant nobles, major clans, and minor clans that want a piece of that wealth, and not just here in Konoha but throughout all of Fire country."

Naruto. "ok. I won't say anything."

Jiraiya nodded and proceeded to tell him all he could about his mother. It was a lot, but the boy never blinked or spoke up. He found himself talking about things he didn't want to recall for a long time, but he did it anyway because it was for Naruto. It was all for Naruto.

By the end, Naruto was wiping tears, and the two older men also felt emotions when recalling what they could about the woman.

Jiraiya cleared his voice to lighten the somber mood. "You take after her. You are just like her and think like her as well. So don't go calling yourself dumb, because she was far from that. She was unorthodox and a rather terrifying shinobi, but she never went back on her word. Her honor was everything to her, as it should be to you. You have a lot to live up to, understand?"

Naruto nodded and gave the Sannin a hug the older man wasn't expecting. He blinked down at him for a few moments before hugging back and patting the boy's head.

"I'll make them proud," Naruto said in a hushed tone. "I'll make all of you proud."

He smiled at that. "I don't doubt it."

AN

Hope you like the second chapter if you have any ideas about the story feel free to pm me or post a review.

Next chapter will see Naruto begin to learn more about his Uzumaki Heritage and Fuinjutsu from Jiraiya and scrolls left behind by Kushina and the Uzumaki clan