I don't own Naruto. I do have Itachi to huggle ^_~

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Early morning sunlight streamed in through the open window. The warm beams shed light across a rather haphazard assortment of items. In the middle of it sat a white-haired man. Jiraiya sighed as he sorted through another set of scrolls that his student had had in his possession when he had been found. He had tossed around in his bed for an hour or so after putting the girl to bed in the room next to his, but he had never drifted into more than a light sleep. Finally, he had given up, and looked for some clue as to what could be wrong with Naruto in his things. Perhaps there was an odd weapon that he had brought back from the fight, or a scrap of clothing torn off. Heck, maybe he had gotten lucky and the kid had been hunting and studying the guy who did this to him.

There had been the usual assortment of camp supplies. Pots and pans, a tent, a random assortment of blankets and clothing. From the look of it, Naruto had been around in quite a variety of places, judging from the cut of the shirts and the designs on some of the blankets. They varied from the very lightweight materials found in Suna and Kaze no Kuni, to the heavy wool common in the far northern climes. The rest of it was pretty utilitarian fare, which didn't change much in design, no matter how far one traveled.

On a separate pile, the toad sage had sorted out those possessions which were clearly the little girl's. He held up a smaller square of well-worn fabric. From the bright flowers printed on it, along with the softness, the man made the assumption that it was probably the child's blanket. He tossed it on top of the pile that already contained a few spare items of clothing, a couple books, and a handful of toys. He grinned as he noticed the well-worn stuffed toy frog. Apparently, his student hadn't completely forgotten about him, or his summons.

'Which reminds me…I need to get in touch with Ma and Pa.' Jiraiya mentally noted. Had the toads been aiding Naruto, or were they as in the dark as he was? The last time he had talked to them, the elder toads hadn't had any information on his boy's whereabouts. He shook his head, clearing that thought for a later time, and continued his investigation.

The pile of scrolls was next. A quick peek into a number of them showed a stash of sealed weapons and training gear. He had to give the blond brat at least some credit for not leaving that stuff where a child could come across it. Mixed in with the supplies was a tattered bingo book. There was no specific affiliation listed, so it was probably a copy developed by a bounty office. Jiraiya flipped through it, and found hand-written notes penciled in along the margins, along with a number of the names crossed out. Bookmarking those pages were receipts for bounties collected. Naruto had been working as a bounty hunter, it seems.

The next scroll gave him some pause. With a few hand signs, the contents were revealed. Sealed inside was an album of sorts. The leather binding was smudged with dirt in several places, and cracking along the spine, but he could still identify it as the one the kid had brought with him when they first left Konoha, all those years ago. He found several pictures which were familiar. The very first picture was of Team 7. Of course. The nin flipped past it. He chuckled at the picture of a younger Naruto wearing his sensei's hat, grinning like a fool. Jiraiya wondered vaguely who had taken the picture. There were a couple pages of random shots of his team and of the other kids in his age group. The last picture he recognized was one he had had taken a few weeks before the accident. He and Naruto were standing underneath a shade tree and posing for the camera. One of his large hands ruffled the blond's hair, causing him to give the typical Naruto pout in the picture next to it.

He stilled when he reached a photo he didn't recognize. There, in middle of the page, was a photo of a slightly older Naruto. He still had the roundness of his developing years, but the sharp features began to show through. The lankiness had also started to into a lithe, strong frame. A fond smile graced his lips as he recalled the uncanny resemblance to his previous student at that age. If it wasn't for the shape of the eyes and the whiskers, they could have been twins. It was the other figure in the picture that surprised him. There in his arms was a very pretty teenage girl. Dark, raven hair tangled around her as she was laughing at something the blond had done. Her pale skin and emerald eyes sparkled with a deep emotion that he could only call love. The next couple pictures contained some combination of the two in different settings. In a few, a very noticeable baby bump was seen on the raven teen. Finally, there was a picture of the entire family. Jiraiya's heart ached at the sight. So many things that he missed in his godson's life. So many memories that he wished he could have been a part of. He slowly paged through the rest of the book, as if trying to absorb what he could of Naruto's life through the dry leaves of paper. The little baby grew into what he could clearly see as the child he had found.

Jiraiya was vaguely puzzled when the dark-haired beauty abruptly disappeared from the pages. The next picture was obviously taken a number of months later, showing an older Naruto and much bigger child. "What happened?" Jiraiya whispered, staring at the pictures.

The toad sage was shaken from his thoughts with the sudden screaming of a child. He darted from his seat, nimbly avoiding stepping on any of the scattered items. He charged into the neighboring room to find the little blonde sobbing, tears streaming down her face. The white-haired man hesitated. In theory, he knew what should be done, but it had been years since he had taken care of a young kid. He scooped the girl up into his arms, trying to calm her. Large hands moved in soothing circles, but he wasn't having any huge success.

"What's wrong?" A groggy brunette asked from the doorway.

"I don't know. She just woke up screaming." Jiraiya blurted out, a little overwhelmed at the moment.

"This is the girl you brought back, right?" she asked, taking a few steps forward. Jiraiya nodded.

"She's probably just scared. Did you grab any of her stuff? Most children have comfort objects. Did you find a toy or blanket? If we can give her something she knows, she might calm down." The woman explained.

"Hang on a sec. Could you hold her for a bit, Shizune?" The sennin pleaded. The med-nin carefully slid the girl from his arms, and tried calming her down. He slipped from the room, and grabbed the blanket and the frog that he had just found. He offered the frog to the girl. The moment those bright green eyes landed on the frog, it was snatched up and hugged so tight, Jiraiya feared for the stuffing. Shizune sat on the edge of the bed, and wrapped the blanket tight around her. Whether it was the feel of the fabric, or the smell, the girl started calming down from her scare.

"There, better?" Shizune asked, as she wiped the remnants of her tears away.

The little head nodded, resting against the warm body holding her. She glanced around; spotting the familiar man crouched next to her.

"Ero-sennin?" She whispered. Shizune giggled at the nickname coming from such a small child's lips. Jiraiya sighed. "Damn brat," he mumbled under his breath.

"Your dad always called me that, but my name's really Jiraiya. I was your dad's teacher when he was younger." He finally replied. "This nice person is Shizune."

"Hello." Was the quiet response.

"What's your name?" Jiraiya gently questioned. The kid needed a better name than "the kid".

Silence. The sage pondered whether the brash child he had run into had been scared into semi-muteness with everything that had happened. He was about to give up when he got an answer.

"Kaiya."

"Kaiya. That's a pretty name." Shizune smiled, getting a small one in response from the little girl sitting in her lap. Seconds later a tiny growl sounded from the little girl.

"Are you hungry, Kaiya?" Shizune asked. "How about some breakfast?"

Kaiya nodded shyly.

"We'll be in the kitchen if you need us," Shizune informed him, before taking the young girl to get some food.

With the crisis over, Jiraiya returned to his own quarters, and the scrolls he had been searching. Several minutes later, he came across a scroll with several dark smudges on the outside of it. The seal master unraveled the roll of paper to find a large storage seal. Jiraiya pushed the piles of belongings to the sides of the room, and laid the paper out flat. Hand seals and a small puff of smoke later, lying on the floor of his room was the puppet body of Sasori of the Red Sands, legendary rogue puppeteer of Suna, and notorious poison user.

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A/N: Yay updates, lol. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of feedback I got on the latest chapter. While the audience isn't as large as other stories, I'm glad that those few let me know how I'm doing. ^^

I hope this answers some questions, but hopefully not all. What would be the point if I just dumped it all? That wouldn't be any fun. :P

Drop me a note with your thoughts!

Have a great week!

Soprano-in-Waiting