The door to the hut swung open, and a sailor stumbled in, arms outstretched to keep himself from falling, "We're there!"
Arashi nodded and stood up, "Get everyone under the deck and don't go up until I give you the signal."
"Ay!"
The man stumbled out of the room, balancing himself in the narrow corridors before he rounded the corner.
"Alright then!" Jiraiya snapped his book shut and walked up to the bed where Naruto pushed himself up, "Time to blow something up kid."
"Finally!"
The man threw him up over his shoulder and followed the redhead out of the room and all the way up on the deck.
The storm was merciless and loud. Also perfect for what they intended to do. A bijudama bomb going off in the middle of the sea would attract attention but with the cover of lightning and roaring thunder, it would be hard to separate the carrying sound. The boat rocked from side to side, waves of water crashing down on the deck and would have washed the three of them away if it wasn't for the chakra under their feet that forced them to stick to the wood.
Naruto stumbled to his feet, swaying dangerously while simultaneously making a Rasengan in his hand to quickly get some of his chakra away and out of his system. It wouldn't be much but just enough for him to quickly get his focus back and switch to his chakra cloak.
The Rasengan kept growing larger and large as Jiraiya and Arashi backed off far enough to not get in the way.
While the technique drew a lot of chakra it wasn't nearly as much as Naruto needed. He grits his teeth, forcing wind chakra into the massive sphere as well. The drain was bigger, making thinking a lot more bearable. Still, he wouldn't be able to throw it like this but that was easily fixed.
Kurama focused his chakra to Naruto's hand, shielding it as the boy pulled his arm back and sent the massive sphere out over the sea while attached to a golden claw of chakra.
Arashi watched the small planet disappear between the waves and how the Kyuubi's chakra withdrew and disappeared from his form. Suddenly the ship began to shake violently from side to side, the sea quaking underneath their feet. Then it stopped.
Naruto slipped into his chakra cloak, golden fire wrapping around him like a second skin and steadily draining his massive chakra reserves away. It was with a loud sigh of relief that he begun to form a large bijudama in his hands and then threw it away towards the horizon.
So it continued, bijudama after bijudama sailed over the raging sea and detonated like spheres of doom while the sea itself pulled and tugged at the ship that was miraculously in one piece.
Both Jiraiya and Arashi felt enormous relief to have the man on their side at that moment. Being on the receiving end of those attacks was something they'd rather not experience. Ever.
Naruto, on the other hand, was having some difficulties with maintaining his chakra cloak. It wasn't until Kurama explained that his small size and developing body still wasn't suited to yielding the full extent of his power yet, that he understood that his chakra cloak was off limits until he was at least sixteen. His muscles were nowhere near as strong and his body far more fragile. Even his chakra control needed work as the former finesse he had was practically gone.
Yay for the tree climbing...
At the very least he knew he was still capable of using his skills along with sage mode. That was the only thing aside from his regular arsenal that he would have to keep to in the meantime. Nothing much he could do about that.
It wasn't all bad. It was kind of fun tossing bijudama bombs around and blowing shit up!
It was different. Very different from Uzu and even the old Konoha. For one, the main gate was orange. Sure, the color was Naruto's favorite but the thing didn't exactly spell 'stealth' in a green forest. If not green then they could have at least painted it brown or something.
But aside from that, a wave of nostalgia washed over him upon seeing the familiar streets he grew up on. It is hard to remember how the village used to look prior to Pein's invasion. Now that he walked the streets it almost felt like he'd found his long lost favorite shirt and realized that it still fit. It was a great feeling, warmth, and happiness soaring in his chest and a smile unable to remain hidden.
It was home. Home as it should always have been and from now on always will be.
Jiraiya was of similar thoughts. While he was practically a cripple back then, or in the future or however one would like to say it- the feeling of being able to walk again was indescribable and being able to fight even more so. He'd been useless after Pein's invasion because of his own recklessness. Had he not gotten his spine broken he might have been able to help them win the war faster or even prevent it the first time around and maybe even preventing Sasuke from leveling the village a second time. He wouldn't allow any of that this time.
He'd do anything to stop it from happening. Kill Orochimaru and even poison Mikoto herself and preventing her from ever giving birth to the blasted boy if he had to. Naturally, he'd go the diplomatic path first but he was ready to stain his hands if he had to. If it meant to prevent the awful things that were coming in the future then so be it. One innocent Uchiha's life was a small price to pay when the lives of every single soul in the village were at stake.
Still, that wasn't for many years to come. Perhaps it would never even happen, but the point was; he was ready should the time come.
But the most pressing issue right now was trying to explain to the old man why he suddenly had a son. He was hard pressed to make up a believable story about that. Didn't help that word had already reached Hiruzen about Naruto being the Jinchuuriki. Although he wasn't certain of what the message from the Uzukage said and what had already been explained to the Hokage. Still, he wasn't really looking forward to it. It was bound to be awkward.
Naruto and Jiraiya expertly ignored all and every single person that stopped to stare at the two. The two came to the conclusion that word must have spread already. How- they didn't really want to know. Probably a nosy secretary or something. Still, it would make breaking the news to Hiruzen all the easier. If not slightly more sheepish.
The two entered the Hokage building and stopped. The secretary was covering her mouth and trying to avoid eye-contact, the two Chunin next to her snickered and glanced their way, Jiraiya narrowed his brows, Naruto sighed and then-
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!! NO WAY!!"
Jiraiya soldiered forward and turned the corner towards the Hokage's office where he could hear Tsunade's hysterical laughter. With every ounce of his pride on the line, he held his head up high and entered. The laughter grew louder, and to his dismay, even Orochimaru looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.