Two days went by and I managed to make my rasengan more powerful and my jolt clamp stronger within these two days. Jiraiya was satisfied with my progress, so he decided that today he would teach me a new water ninjutsu.

"Okay, Hana," Jiraiya nodded. "Let's teach you that new water style,"

I looked at him, my eyes sparkling with excitement. 

"This is a jounin move," Jiraiya started. "It's called the 'water fang bullet',"

He weaved some signs. "Water style: Water fang bullet!"

A circle of spikes made out of water rose around a rock and the spikes came crashing down, pulverizing the rock. I was amazed to see how powerful it is.

"Now this jutsu makes it hard for your opponent to dodge," He said. "Always make sure that you're near water when you use this because it'll work way better. If there's water beneath you, then it'll be way more powerful,"

He had me try it now. 

"Water style: Water fang bullet!" 

My spikes only chipped the rock instead of crushing it into pieces. 

"Pretty good for a beginner," Jiraiya complimented. "Some people don't even manage to lay a scratch on a rock the first time they do it,"

"Now what?" I ask.

"I'll teach you a few more jutsus and you can practice on your own," Jiraiya said.

He taught me a lot more than I knew and then told me to practice them on my own. He sat down against a tree and took a piece of paper and a pen out.

I focused my attention to the training post in front of me and started practicing all of the new moves I learned. I wanted to become stronger so I could prevent a situation like the Forest of Death from happening again. Even though Kuroshi wasn't a real enemy, I still wanted to protect my team from any danger.

My mind went to the night my parents were killed by Shinji. I wanted to know why he did it and I knew I had to become strong to learn the truth.

A few hours went by and I managed to do way better on all of the jutsus that I've learned.

"Hey, Jiraiya-Sensei!" I shouted, trying to get his attention.

He was too distracted to notice me and was staring off into the distance as if something was troubling him.

"Sensei!"

He still couldn't hear me and I knew just how to snap him out of his daze.

"Perverted-Sensei!"

"How many times have I told you, Squirt, don't call me that!" Jiraiya retorted and I laughed.

"You were zoning out," I smiled. "How else was I supposed to get your attention?"

"Pft," He put his papers away. "What is it?"

"I finished! What else are you going to teach me?" 

He stood up and walked over to where I was. "We're going to go over chakra control so you can learn how to walk up a tree and on water,"

He explained everything about chakra control. He went over what we did at the academy and I realized that this is exactly what Kakashi had shown me when we had that mission over at the Blood Mist.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I know what you're talking about, I learned how to do this because Kakashi showed me how to walk up a tree,"

"So, you already know what to do?" 

I nodded.

"Okay, just keep practicing that and work on your taijutsu. You need to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat so you can throw off your opponent," Jiraiya said and sat back down to go back to writing.

Everything was pretty easy overall. I couldn't help but feel that someone was watching me though.

I slowly walked onto the surface of the water and saw that I was walking on it like I was on land. After twenty minutes went by, I walked over to Jiraiya to tell him that I was ready for a break.

He stood up and then looked over at the bush. "Okay, you can come on out now. I know you're there,"

We both watched, ready for an attack.

Instead of an attack, the bushes rustled and a small yelp came from it. Then we heard some curses and a little girl tumbled out of the bush.

"Stupid bush!" She hissed.

I saw a mop of chestnut brown hair and I realized it was Mariko when the girl looked up.

"Mariko?" I asked, confused. "What are you doing here?" 

I rushed towards her and picked out the branches and leaves that were tangled in her brunette curls. 

"I snuck out of the hospital," She said as if it wasn't a problem at all.

I hugged her and then gave her a stern look.

"Why did you sneak out? You're supposed to be recovering so you can get better!" I scolded. "And how did you find me?"

"I have this kekkei genkai that I was born with and I can sense other's chakras nearby. I looked for yours and found you here. I snuck out because the hospital is boring and I wanted to tell you something," She replied.

"What did you want to tell me?"

"I heard what you told me when you visited,"

I looked down.

"Oh...you hate me, don't you? I left you alone at that estate and couldn't stand up to Rentaro and Yukio," 

I clenched my fists in frustration.

She tugged on my arm and looked up at me. "Hana, how could I hate you? You saved my life! You escorted me even though you knew that taking that mission would get you in trouble and because of you, I'm alive. Please don't feel bad,"

"Mariko, how am I not supposed to feel bad?" I ask. "You now have a scar on your back because of them. They took me down with one hit and held me down. I'm weak, I-"

Jiraiya cut me off and gave me a stern look. "Hana, I've heard enough,"

Mariko looked over at him.

"I'm not training you because you're weak, I'm training you because I know that you're strong and I want you to get stronger. I knew there was something bothering you for the past few days," 

"But Sensei, those people broke my pride as a ninja. They took me down and she got hurt," I replied and looked down.

"So, you're going to let one defeat get you down? What's the matter with you?" Jiraiya asked. "Before all of this, you were determined to become the Hokage and you said you would become Hokage for sure. You've been through a lot in the Forest of Death too, so why let a couple of rogue ninjas get you down like this?"

I had no words.

"Hana, all of the great ninjas that you've heard about, even they had some failures," Jiraiya continued. "I failed a bunch of times when I was your age and look at me now, I fought in the Second Shinobi World War and I'm a sannin now,"

I looked up at him.

"Do you want to become better? Do you want to become strong enough so that never happens again?"

I nodded.

"Then stop downing yourself. You can't get better when you continue to beat yourself up over one defeat. That's part of being a ninja. In the ninja world, you're going to have some victories, you're going to have some defeats, and you'll have to make sacrifices. If you trust me on this, I can guarantee you that you can win the final rounds,"

"The old man is right, Hana." Mariko said.

"I'm not old..." Jiraiya muttered.

"Okay I trust you," I said. "But what happens if I fail to protect those I care about? I may dislike Rin, but I still care about her. I can't bear the thought of losing Rin, Obito, Kakashi, Minato, Kushina, and Mariko. Even you."

I can't lose Anko, Kurenai, Asuma, or Guy either. 

"If that were to happen, Hana, you just have to learn from that failure so you can prevent it from happening to another person. Just remember that you have to be prepared for anything that is thrown your way."

Jiraiya called it a day after that and we took Mariko with us to go eat dinner. After that, she had to be taken back to the hospital and she was being difficult about it.