The tongue came out of her mouth as she tried to intimidate the Sanin. Tsunade just shook her head and kept dragging the wrist of the thin thirteen year old on the worn dirt path towards Konoha. "Struggling won't help; you'll have to deal with reality. Your parents are dead and your country is gone."

"I'm fine with that! You're hurting my wrist, you old hag!" She screamed and pressed a foot on Tsunade's thigh; kicking off she freed herself from the grasp. "I'm thirteen not five; I don't need to be lead around like a goat!" She rubbed it gently and turned a deepened glare up at Tsunade and pointed a thinly finger at her. "Oh, listen you boob brained bimbo! I'm Kushina Uzumaki! I'm the last of the great Uzumaki clan of the Land of Whirlpool! You better had show me some respect because some day… Hey!"

Tsunade grabbed her wrist again and kept pulling her. "A girl who shaved her head… Who'd believe it?"

"It grew back some, see." Kushina said using her free hand to play with it. "It's almost long enough I can spike it. Anyway, I figured it was the best disguise for me, no one would believe I was a girl!"

"Not even if you told them." Tsunade muttered turning her head to see the river. "Why don't we stop for a break?"

"I don't need a break, I'm a great ninja!" Kushina said as her wrist was released. "I could use training though, come fight with me on the river, old woman! I'll bet I'll kick your ass five times over!" She said holding out all of her right phalanges.

"Alright." Tsunade said and eased her way out on the river and stretched in her ANBU uniform. She casually held up one finger and grinned. "Come on little boy, I'll show you what this boob brained bimbo's made of."

"If you think I'd come rushing at you," Kushina said in a completely different and completely confident tone, "you're just as big of a fool as those idiots invading my country."

Kushina took a stance and raised her hand. Tsunade smiled and began running at the tomboy when several wisps of water came up and began lunging at the Sanin in sharp movements. As Tsunade dodge and came close to her she began to lecture. "You're good, kid, but not good… enough?"

Her fist went through the stomach and a water close dissipated. From behind Kushina rose out of the water giggling as Tsunade stumbled on the surface of the river, "you're fun, old hag. Most people don't fall for that."

Suddenly Tsunade was behind her and about to hit her as Kushina noticed her. A hand caught Tsunade's fist and they both turned. "A little cruel Tsunade, don't cha think?"

"Jiraiya… hmm." She said and stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Spying on me again?"

"Don't flatter yourself too much; I'm taking my new team out to train in the wilderness." Jiraiya said pointing out to three kids looking over in amazement. "What's a nice kid like this doing being beaten up by you?"

"The kid…" Tsunade said loudly, "has been insulting me ever since we left Whirlpool!"

"She nearly broke my wrist, mister." Kushina pouted pathetically and loudly. "A couple times she's thrown me into a tree and made me cry!"

"You're a bad lair kid." Jiraiya flatly pointed out.

"Actually, it's the truth. Somebody kept trying to spar with me." Tsunade said and turned and began walking away. "I'm done; you take Uzumaki on your little outing. The brat's all yours."

Tsunade hopped away into the trees and left the two and the team of Genin watching her. Jiraiya shrugged and held out his hand. "I'm Jiraiya, what's your name, boy?"

"Kushina, and I'm a girl." She said stiffly. "Can't you tell?" Jiraiya looked at the inch long hair, the hole-y old orange tee-shirt and a pair of white pants she was sporting along with a large green duffle bag. "I know, it's a good disguise huh?"

"Very good disguise, you look like a street urchin. You can't tell. Alright, come meet my team." Jiraiya said holding out a hand to direct her over. They walked over and Kushina stepped foot on the land and looked them over quickly. She noticed immediately that she was taller the all of them by two or three inches even when she was barefoot and them in shoes. "This is my team, team, this is… Um, what was your name again?"

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki of the Uzumaki clan of Whirlpool where I was about to be named a chunin." She said clenching her fist. Her mind quickly changed and a bit of hormones kicked in as she looked over at the blonde. She held out a hand to greet him with, "hi."

"Um, hi. I'm Minato Kamikaze." He said shaking her hand. He reached to let go of it but she held on and smiled. 'What's this guy up to… it's kind of creepy.' He yanked his hand back and took a couple of steps back and nervously muttered, "Nice to meet you."

A little girl with her hair in an up do held out her hand, "Hi I'm…"

Kushina quickly held up a hand in her face and stopped her from saying anything else. "I don't care who you are. You don't interest me in the least bit. Same goes for you chubby." Kushina turned her head to glare at the other boy on the team then resumed her cheery disposition. "Where are we headed to, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya shrugged in somewhat of disbelief at Kushina. "Uh, I was just going to keep walking until nightfall and we'd spend the night out there." 'Tsunade was right… Damn.'

"Oh, so were going camping." She said and turned and jumped up on a tree branch. "Let's go."

"We can't jump in trees yet." The girl said quietly.

"USELESS!" She said and hopped back down.

"How about the adult leads?" Jiraiya asked grabbing the shoulder straps of his bag. "Alright kids, let's go have some fun and bonding time! Maybe if we can find one, we can stop by a hot spring!"

Jiraiya, lost in a filthy train of though, began happily walking away. The three turned to look at Kushina as she slung her bag down and pulled out her forehead protector with a large slash through the whirlpool and tied it tightly around her head. She put the bag back up and began walking. "Come on you guys, the guy might up and start running!"

The three followed Kushina back up to Jiraiya and they kept walking until the sun set over a small, thickly wooded area around the path. The Sanin stopped and held up a kunai. "Does anyone know the kunai rule about camping?"

Jiraiya's team looked amongst themselves quickly but stopped when they heard a distance 'thud' and saw Kushina in front of Jiraiya, right arm extended. "You camp just beyond the average throw of a kunai, away from any water sources. It give you time to react to an attack and stay out of sight from an average enemy."

"You were trained well. That's right. Now… we just have to find the kunai," Jiraiya stopped and noticed the thread in her hand. "That is seems you've attached a wire to. You're really good."

"I have to be when there's a price on my head." She said and calmly began walking back into the forest. Jiraiya looked down quickly. 'You didn't tell me I was to protect the kid, Tsunade.' He nudged his head towards the forest; his team quickly moved into the shadows. Jiraiya raised a hand and several clones hopped away to set various traps and alarms.

"We need to set up assignments!" Kushina said taking charge while Jiraiya was out of sight. "We need dry firewood and to clear this place up a bit so we can sleep without stabbing ourselves on sticks. Useless chick and chubby boy, clear out the sticks, also check for any traps that enemies might have lain down in the past. Minato's with me on getting firewood."

Kushina said and grabbed Minato's hand and ran, dragging him along, far enough out of ear sigh to a down tree. She dropped his hand and began breaking off large chunks of the hollow trunk and handing them to Minato. Minato looked at the pieces and adjusted them in his arms. "Do we really need this much firewood?"

"It's thin, it won't burn for long. Haven't you ever been camping before?" She said and pulled off a huge chunk and setting in on the pile in his arms. At that point Minato collapsed over. Kushina stopped and panic a little tossing all the pieces off him. "Oh, are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah, it's just a little beyond my carrying capacity." Minato laughed and Kushina helped him to his feet. "I've got a better idea."

Within a few minutes Minato and Kushina were on opposite side of the log and set it down next to the camp site which was nearly spotless. Kushina dropped her end after Minato let go of his side and walked in to inspect it. "Wow, nice work you two. You should start a cleaning company."

"Actually we were kind of hoping to be ninjas." The girl said and suddenly got a glare in her eyes, "I'm not taking anymore instructions from him! Jiraiya-Sensai is our leader, not him! He's just another dumb refugee who's country went down the hole!"

"Noriko-chan! Please be nicer to him. He's not used to the slower pace out here in Fire country." The chubby boy said and he turned to Kushina and bowed. "Noriko-chan's not used to having competition for the leadership role, please excuse her!"

"Don't apologize for me Makoto!" She said angrily. "I think it's time I let you know, I am the leader of this group! I'm not playing girly anymore! Now, I say that you go and help Makoto get fresh water, you sickly stupid homeless bastard."

Noriko went flying into a tree and Kushina watched as she dropped in surprise. Minato pulled his fist back and rubbed it. "Noriko, when are you going to learn we all have to get along? He was complimenting you."

Kushina tried to get the word 'she' in but was cut off. "Shut up you spoiled little prodigy! Everything comes naturally to you just because you're a Namikaze! Some of us actually have to work for our aptitude!"

"Hey! Hey! What's going on here?" Jiraiya said dropping down quickly between them. "We're supposed to be bonding, alright?" Jiraiya stopped and looked around. "Good job cleaning up the camp site, and I see we have a log to burn. Good work everyone! I have good news! I brought stuff to grill!"

For the next hour they went about setting up the fire and arranging their own areas to camp in with sleeping bags and pillows, except for Kushina who pulled out a tattered old blanket from her bag and a folded up piece of clothing. Jiraiya went on about hot to properly grill the chunks of meat while his team watched. Kushina however pulled out a small picture frame with an old photo showing a tall man with bright red hair and a woman in a fancy purple kimono and her when she was far little smiling over at the camera with a large stuffed teddy bear in her arms. Kushina rubbed her wrist on it and cleared away some of the dirt and grim on the glass. She smiled at it and quickly shoved it back in her bag remembering her parents.

Jiraiya clapped his hands together, "Alright kids, why don't we go around and tell a few things about ourselves? My name's Jiraiya, I'm a Sanin and I'm a writer."

He turned his head to Noriko and she sighed. "My name's Noriko, I specialize is tactics, and I'm the best kunochi you've got."

"I'm Makoto, I like nature and having fun." The chubby boy said and turned his head to Minato.

"I'm Minato, I'm currently the village prodigy and I want to be Hokage!" Minato said confidently and gave his biggest smile.

They all stopped and stared at Kushina who was busy drawing a picture of a beach in the dirt. Jiraiya coughed and she looked up. "Oh, am I included in this?" She straightened up. "My name's Kushina…. I don't really have anything besides my name and my bag." She said petting it on the side.

"Well what's in your bag?" Makoto asked, "I bet you have lots of super cool stuff in their from your travels!"

"Some." Kushina said and began digging through and pulled out a conch shell that was at least a foot long with a jewel encrusted whirlpool on the side. "This has been in my family for generations. Before the country was founded, we used this to call for help; of course it's too dangerous to blow it out here."

"It's so pretty, can I see it?" Noriko asked and Kushina passed it along via Jiraiya. Noriko looked it over and fingered the jewels. "This must be worth a fortune!"

"A couple fortunes really. The inside's lined with pearls too." Kushina said ruffling through her bag again and pulled out a small leather bound book. "This is the original treaty that untied the Whirlpool clans." She flipped it open and pointed to a name. "That's my grandfather, he was always hasty to get things done so he signed first and declared it legal."

"Really?" Jiraiya said and took it from her. He looked through it and shoved it away in his coat. "This document's a little too important for a kid to be carrying around. I'll have the Hokage put it somewhere safely when we reach Konoha."

"Whatever." Kushina said and Noriko passed the shell along to Makoto who looked at it carefully. Kushina grabbed something she smiled about and pulled it out. She held it up for everyone to see. "This is the comb my grandmother gave me, she said she wore it at her wedding."

She flipped it back over and looked at the hand carve wood with a large painted flower on it and finger it carefully. She quickly put it back, "that's all the really interesting things I have."

Makoto passed the shell along to Minato who looked at it carefully. "What kind of a noise does it make?"

"A…conch noise…. I'm not that good at describing things." Kushina said turning to him. "When we get closer to Konoha I'm sure it'd be safe for you to blow it."

"Could we Jiraiya-sama?" Minato asked quickly. "We could use it to announce our arrival!"

"You like flashy things then, huh kid. I guess when I say we're close enough to Konoha, you can blow the conch shell. Now let's eat!" Jiraiya said picking up a stick with grilled meat on it and sniffing it happily.

"Here." Minato said offering the conch back to Kushina.

"If you want, you can hold it until you have a chance to blow it tomorrow." She said and turned to take a stick of meat and quickly began chewing piece off it. Minato shrugged and sat it next to him on the pillow.

Kushina grabbed a couple kunai and a few shuriken out of her bag and quietly stepped away without making a noise leaving everyone sleeping in the early morning light. Quietly she bounced tree trunk to tree trunk across the path they came from and into the opposing forest to stop by a small lake with a short waterfall over some large rocks. She carefully stripped and stepped down into the slightly cold water and sat up to her shoulders in the water under the falls.

"I hate traveling; I always have to be so dirty." She complained and began to scrub the dirt off her face. She stood up to her waist and pulled a leaf off a tree and began to use it to scrub her arms. "Dirt everywhere… I don't even have shoes."

She quickly sat back down and lifted one of her feet up. She groaned as they were black and began scrubbing with the rougher side of the leaf. Finishing one foot she threw the leaf in the water and grabbed another. "Damnable dirt, why can't this country have paved roads? Cement's not that freakin' expensive!"

"The countries pretty big though, it'd take years to pave everything." Said a voice from behind her. She quickly grabbed a kunai and turned around; she found herself to be glad she was still under water almost all the way. "Did I scare you?"

"A little, Minato. You shouldn't creep up on people when they're bathing, it's rude." She said and looked at him while he just stood there. "Well?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Jiraiya wants to have you back at camp immediately. He said you shouldn't go wandering off." Minato said quickly. "Come on so we can get back."

"I'm not getting out of the water with you here!" Kushina screamed. "Walk away or turned around or something!"

"You're really shy for a boy aren't you?"

Kushina's face flushed red with anger. "I'M A GIRL YOU IDIOT!" Suddenly he was hit in the face with a water ball.

"I'm sorry!" Minato yelled and turned around and crouched holding his head. "It's just you didn't look like a girl!"

"It's alright, it's my disguise, pretty good huh?" She said quickly getting out and shoving her shorts and shirt back on. She crouched down next to him and put a hand on his head. "The water ball didn't hurt you did it? I know sometimes it hits the eyes just right it'll stings."

"I'll be fine." Minato said sitting down and wiping the water off his face. "How'd you throw that?"

"I put my chakra in the water and form it into a ball and just threw it. We learn to do it at young age in Whirlpool so we can have water ball fights. I'll teach you later, alright?" Kushina said standing and offering Minato a hand up. Minato took it and Kushina pulled him up and wrapped an arm around him, "even though your really short for a boy, you're pretty cool. We're going to be good friends, huh?"

"Maybe." Minato said and they crossed the road and entered the woods on the other side. Minato pushed free and ran over to gather up his things but mainly to tell his two teammate this "Kushina's a girl."

"Oh my God; I had a crush on him." Noriko said quickly and began wiping her thoughts clean.

"This is why I don't draw conclusions about people too early." Makoto said picking his things up and swinging his bag around his shoulders. "I wonder where Jiraiya-Sensai went."

Kushina walked back in and swung her bag around her shoulders. "Alright, let's get going!"

"Our Sensai walked off." Minato said putting his bag on and picking the conch up and holding it in one hand.

"I caught breakfast!" Jiraiya said hopping down with a chipmunk in hand still alive and freaking out. Kushina quickly grabbed the creature and set it free. "But I was hungry…"

"You're a ninja; you should be able to go days without eating!" Jiraiya sulked and he led the group out to the path and they began to head back to Konoha. Every now and then they'd stop and point out an important place of direction or how the food at a rest stop was to Kushina who'd tell them that'd she'd eventually remember it all.

Jiraiya held a hand up and looked down a Minato. "We're about five minutes from the gate, you can go and give that shell a whistle."

Minato smiled and held it up to his lips and blew. It sounded like a dying cow and wasn't loud at all. "That's not a very good alarm."

"Let me try!" Noriko said grabbing it from him and ended up with worse results.

Kushina rolled her eyes and took it and blew a long, deep note over the area which caused the birds in the trees to scatter. "Amateurs!" She laughed and tossed the conch over to Minato and formed her lips. "Like this."

He took it and tried again. There was a loud high noise like a trumpet. "I did… better."

"Always like Jiraiya, being so noisy." Tsunade said walking out with the Third. "Always has to make an entrance."

"It seems the young Uzumaki is alright." The Third said walking over and offering out a hand. "I'm the Third Hokage, I'm going to get you set up in the village, alright?"

"Whatever." She said and tooked the conch from Minato. "I'll annoy you all later."