After packing up, they stood out on the outside of the town. Gai had Sasuke on his back.

" Alright, Dad," Aceso began. " We'll leave Sasuke in your hands. He nodded.

" Master Jiraiya?" Gai requested. " Find the Lady Tsunade, Bring her back to us."

" Don't worry, you can count on us," Naruto assured. " We'll have her back in the village in no time!" Gai looked at Naruto as Jiraiya laughed putting a hand on Naruto's head.

" Naruto, nothing impresses me more than guts, kid," Gai said. " Come here, let me give you this." He reached into his jacket. " Lee got stronger with this."

" Really, what, what is it?" Naruto asked in excitement. Gai gave a smile and thumbs up before ripping out a green jumpsuit.

" Check it out!" Gai urged. Jiraiya was dissatisfied, Acseo was questioning it and Naruto was all for it. " It's breathable, retains moisture, and offers complete freedom of movement, all in one sweet package. If you wear it while you train, you'll notice a difference immediately. They really grow on you. Pretty soon, you'll be wearing them all the time, just like Lee. I've got a bit of a thing for them myself."

" Oh, man!" Naruto cheered. They laughed while smiling, Gai's teeth shined as he gave a thumbs up.

" Oh I got something for you too, Aceso," Gai laughed.

" Not another one," Jiraiya grumbled.

" Huh?" Aceso asked.

" Lee made a special request as he saw me leaving," Gai said as he pulled out a flower and held it in front of her.

" Oh, thank you," Aceso smiled as he handed it to her. " It's really pretty, tell Lee I said thank you." He then waved at everyone and made his way back to the village.

" Pretty cool, huh?" Naruto asked as he held up the green jumpsuit.

" Don't even think about it," Jiryaia denied as they watched Gai walk away. " I mean, look at that guy."

" Huh?" Aceso asked they looked at him.

" Man, now that is goofy," Jiraiya said as Gai turned to look back at them, gave them a thumbs up and his teeth sparkled.

" He's my dad, I wouldn't want it any other way," Aceso said as she looked at her flower. The three then continued on their journey, it got a bit misty, but nothing too bad. They walked in silence, all thinking about what Itachi said, then Naruto stopped.

" Everything alright?" Aceso asked as they stopped and looked at him.

" So, Pervy Sage, what exactly do those guys want with me, anyway?" Naruto asked. " Come out with it Pervy Sage. You know, don't you?"

" Don't get the wrong idea," Jiraiya advised as the breeze danced past them. " It's not you, they want. It's what's inside of you."

" What the hell is this thing, anyway?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the center of his body. " Some horrible demon that terrorized the Leaf Village. That's why everyone is so afraid of it, right? So why do these guys want it so bad?"

" The Nine-tailed Fox has appeared in times of consequence, all through the ages," Jiraiya explained. " A ghastly spirit destroying all that lays in its path. As powerful as any act of nature, men trembled before it. As for what they would want with that malicious monstrosity, that's a hard question to answer, Naruto. I honestly can't say. I suppose with the Nine-Tails sealed up inside you, they might be thinking of somehow seizing control of that power, bending it to their will. It's a bitter pill to swallow knowing that those two will be after you now. But that is your fate. Not worry, now. After all, you will have me around."

" Oh well, I'll just have to hurry up and get stronger," Naruto said. " No other choice."

" That's the spirit," Aceso cheered.

" All right!" Naruto exclaimed. " Let's find the Tsunade woman you're talking about, so she can fix up Sasuke a bit more and we get down to some serious training." 

"Let's keep moving then," Aceso said, they began walking again, and Naruto soon made another sound.

" What now?" Jiraiya asked.

" This beautiful woman you got us out here scouting around for, is she the Tsunade that you mentioned?"

" Hey, not bad, kid," Jiraiya complimented. " You're pretty sharp, aren't you? Why, what's on your mind, then?"

" Well, you said she was one of the legendary Sannin," Naruto recalled. " The same as you right, Pervy Sage?"

" That's right," Jiraiya confirmed. " What's your point, already?"

" How old is she?" Naruto asked.

" Same age as me," Jiraiya answered.

" Is there anything else we should know about her?" Aceso asked. " What's this Tsunade lady, like? "

" Curious, are you?" Jiraiya asked.

" Yes," Aceso nodded.

" What can I tell you," Jiraiya began to think. " Well, for one thing, she's kind of unpleasant. Plus, I guess there's the fact that she's known far and wide as a die-hard gambler and all."

" Great," Naruto giggled. " This should be a piece of cake, then, if she's as famous as all that.

" Oh, she's famous alright," Jiraiya agreed. " You might even call her legendary...The Legendary Sucker."

" Legendary Sucker," Aceso repeated.

" But as legendary a sucker as she may be, I doubt she's going to be all that easy to find."

" Why, what makes you say that?" Aceso asked.

" She's not the type to grow old gracefully," Jiraiya answered. " Probably using some kind of Jutsu to mask her appearance. She's actually 50 years old, but I'm sure she'll look more like she did in her '20s. That's not all. The word on the wind I hear of late is she started transforming on the fly, going from her teens to her 30s, her 40s--all so she can cut out on any moneylender she's in too deep with."

" That's awful," Naruto said as he shook his head. " Aww, man. She sounds like a charmer."

" Yeah, well Tsunade's always loved gambling more than anything," Jiraiya recalled. " It's too bad she never had any luck--or skill, for that matter." He stopped walking. " She was made a sucker so many times, the name just stuck with her. But then she would just borrow money and skip out on her debts. Ah, it brings me back, I tell you."

" Hey, we don't have time for nostalgia," Naruto said.

" What?" Jiraiya asked

" Come on, do you have a plan for finding her or what?" Naruto asked.

" Not exactly," the sage admitted. " We might have a little work ahead of us. But I'm sure the three of us will come up with something."

" Ugh, so you don't have the slightest idea how long this is going to take, do you?" Naruto asked.

" Not a minute will be wasted," Jiraiya said.

" Huh?" Aceso asked.

" All our time on the road will be devoted solely to you, Naruto," Jiraiya assured.

" To me?" Naruto asked.

" We've got to get you stronger," Jiraiya brought up. " Time to train!" Naruto smiled happily and dropped his bag, looking for something.

" What are you looking for?" Aceso asked.

" Ok!" Naruto exclaimed as he took out the green jumpsuit, Jiraiya groaned.

" Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Jiraiya protested as he knelt down. " Hold on a second. I already told you, I'm not having that. I don't want to be seen walking around with someone wearing that, that, that thing."

" Papa said Naruto could get stronger in it," Aceso recalled.

" You can get strong in anything, but not dressed in that ugly thing," Jiraiya insisted. He convinced Naruto to put it away so they continue walking.

" Come on, Pervy Sage, what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked. " Let's start my training already."

" All right, don't get ahead of yourself now," Jiraiya said. " I have to train you while we gather information on Tsunade. Otherwise, it's not going to mean anything to you.

" Gather information?" Naruto asked as they walked over to the fence and looked over at a town below.

" In this town," Jiraiya revealed.

" Whoa!" Naruto and Aceso breathed as they looked over, so many people were out. They went down below to embrace the liveliness of the town.

" Ah man, this is going to be great" Naruto smiled as he looked around.

" I've never seen anything like this before in my life," Aceso commented.

" Downtime is important," Jiraiya said.  " So have a little fun before we start your training. This festival will be going on for a while. We'll hunker down here until it's over. And then we'll start your training here too."

" All right!" Naruto cheered as he threw his arms out, he grabbed his bag and fished out his frog money pouch.

" Oh, baby, that is one fat frog you've got," Jiraiya commented. "You're filthy rich."

" Yeah, I've got a pretty big stash," Naruto laughed as he cuddled his frog. " I've been saving up bit by bit from my missions. Catch you later!"

" Stop right there, Naruto!" Jiraiya ordered before Naruto could take off.

" Huh?" Naruto asked.

" I'm going to hold onto your wallet for you," Jiraiya said as he took it.

" Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto demanded as he tried to get it back.

" Here, you can have this much to spend," Jiraiya said as he handed Naruto some of his money.

" What!?" Naruto exclaimed. " Only 300?"

" I don't want to hear it," Jiraiya scolded. " Honoring the shinobi's prohibitions is the duty of any upstanding ninja."

" Three prohibitions?" Aceso asked.

" What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

" What are they?" Aceso asked,

" You're two are kidding?" Jiraiya asked. " Don't you know? The three prohibitions are a trio of temptations that will bring a shinobi to his ruins--those three prohibitions are alcohol, pretty women, and worst of all, money."

" Yeah, well none of those things really apply to us all that much, so we're cool," Naruto said. " I mean, we're underage, so we can't drink yet. I don't really get the whole woman thing. And I worked so hard to save all that money that I really don't feel like spending a ton of it."

" You little fool!" Jiraiya scolded. " Don't take money lightly. Once you start spending, you'll never stop. Money possesses a frightful power. This woman, Tsunade, that we're searching for, has ruined herself with the pursuit of it."

" Pretty big talk coming from someone so addicted to the ladies," Naruto grumbled.

" I'm going to go see if I can gather some information," Jiraiya informed. " Here, I want you to hold on to y bag for me, ok?" He handed his bag to Naruto. " If you happen to get lost somehow, you can always rely on my tracker toad to sniff out my scent." Naruto huffed, stuck out his tongue, and walked away, Aceso make her way through the crowd.

 Aceso made her way around the festival, she got some food, and bought some medical supplies. She saw Naruto get stopped using ninjutsu at a fish-catching area, and she laughed. She was now reading a book while she was walking when someone flew past her, as a shop broke, pieces flew everywhere.

" I was holding back, " a voice said as people crowded around, it was Jiraiya. He and Naruto walked over. " Oh, you guys are hardly worth the trouble."

" Wait a minute, you're the legendary--" the man in the white monkey suit began.

" Sorry about that," Jiryaya apologized to the stand owner. " I guess we kind of messed up your stand."

" Here, this should cover it," the man trembled. 

" Ah, thanks a lot," Jiraiya smiled as he took the money. " Now then, my good man." He gave the money to the stand owner. " I'd like to buy every ballon you got, including water balloons. How's that sound?"

" Fine by me, I guess," the stand owner answered.

" Naruto, Aceso," Jiraiya called. " Let's get going. Time for Naruto to train."

" Yes, sir!" Naruto cheered.