"The girl's got potential." Jiraya argued.
The legendary sannin was leaning against the wall in the Hokage's office, speaking with Tsunade about Mina. He had sensed a latent power in her and he wanted to bring it out. He suspected that her built-up power was from years of abuse that she suffered at whoever beat her. If she was trained properly, she could be a powerful asset to the village. Tsunade admitted that was a good point, however, she pointed out that Mina could easily turn her back on the Leaf, like Sauske had.
"How do we know that she won't do what he did?" Tsunade demanded.
"She won't." Jiraya replied. "Naruto has a good influence on her. As long as she remains with him, she shouldn't turn her back on us."
Besides which, he thought, she had nowhere else to go. That was why Tsunade had Naruto help Mina out in the first place so she could get settled and established in her new life. Apparently, just because the girl wasn't a threat initially, according to the fifth Hokage, she could easily become one later if she was trained. She had a valid point, though, Jiraya had to admit, considering what had happened with the Uchiha boy. However, he had a good feeling that Mina would not turn her back. When he saw her interacting with Naruto, he knew that she would grow as a ninja and develop good moral values and the blonde knucklehead would help her.
"So, do you propose training her with Naruto as a support system?"
Jiraya nodded. Tsunade gave some serious thought to his proposal. She sighed after awhile. He had made some valid points that she could no longer argue. She stared him down with her serious brown eyes and said:
"So be it."
Mina's POV
I was hanging out with Naruto and some of his friends, whom I had just met today, when Jiraya showed up out of the blue. It scared me so badly that I had actually punched him. I punched him so hard that I had actually sent him flying across the village. Everyone just had looks ranging from shock to total indifference (Kakashi, of course, who just showed up to socialize). Kakashi just had a deadpan look on his face, or in his eye, considering that he still had that stupid mask on. Naruto then started to laugh out loud.
"Good hit!" He exclaimed.
"Don't scare me like that!" I screamed.
Jiraya was a little bit slow getting back to us. I could have sworn that I heard him mutter about being too old for this, which made me smirk. He deserved it for scaring me. I gave him a withering look when he looked back at me. He admitted that I had hit him with pretty good force, which was pretty good for a rookie. I cocked my head, kind of like a puppy who was trying to understand what was being said. Kakashi, on the other hand, knew right away where the sannin was going with that last statement.
"You plan on training her?" He asked.
"Huh?"
I had forgotten that Jiraya had offered me the opportunity to become a ninja. I hadn't made my decision officially, but I was more inclined to accept the offer. I had realized that I hadn't woken up in my world and that was when I came to the conclusion that everything around me was real. I was no longer living in what I thought was reality. My desires for a change in life had come true. I looked back to the older ninja, who saw that I had made my decision.
"I'm definitely willing to train." I said with resolve.
Naruto cheered me on, though he hadn't been expecting that he would be helping me with training. Kakashi, though, had to remind the sannin that I had to go through the Academy and learn all of the basic things that were expected of ninja. I was okay with this. If I was going to survive in this world in which the Akatsuki were the main antagonists then I needed to learn everything that I needed to know. Jiraya then turned to the rest of the group and told them to help me out whenever I needed, although Naruto would be my primary tutor. He eagerly agreed to this, which made me rather happy.
"Your training with me will begin after you get through the Academy." Jiraya said.
I nodded.
