For once the air seemed to quiet down. The Autumn wind blew through the stadium carrying red and gold leaves. Ki'iro and Hizashi stood opposite each other as they did almost every day. They trained together so often in the past eight years that they already knew what the other's first move was, but neither could deny the thrill of their fights. Ki'iro's long red hair waved in the breeze and she cursed herself for wearing shorts and a midriff. Hizashi was quite comfortable in his traditional Hyuuga robes and his short dark hair barely moved in the wind. The cousins each had a single Byakugan and they glared at each other with it; something they called the 'Evil Eye.' A man to Ki'iro's left had his hand raised. He looked at them both with a serious face and dropped his hand.
"Begin!" he said and the air filled with cheers once again.
Ki'iro moved first and rushed forward with her Jyuuken, but Hizashi retreated, pulling out his scrolls of ninja tools. He unfurled one and ten shuriken erupted from the paper, but Ki'iro easily countered with her Kaiten. She lunged forward to strike Hizashi's tenketsu, but he countered her attack with his own Jyuuken. They each traded blows, neither one managing to strike the chakra points perfectly. Hizashi ducked a blow and retreated again.
Both shinobi were breathing hard now, but their smiles showed how much they were enjoying this. Ki'iro brought her thumb to her lip and drew blood before summoning her favorite frog: Gamaka. The large red toad croaked once and spat fire at Hizashi who leapt into the air. He summoned some kunai and threw them at Gamaka. The blades sank deep into his skin and exploded, causing the frog to disappear in a cloud of smoke. Hizashi landed and rushed toward the cloud where he knew Ki'iro was, but when the smoke cleared, Ki'iro was holding a Rasengan. Hizashi skidded to a halt just as Ki'iro launched her attack.
Hizashi instinctively called on his fox; Izanagi, for help and the Kyuubi's Cloak enveloped him. The Rasengan hit him in the chest, but the Cloak took the brunt of the attack and Hizashi was only knocked backwards. An ugly look washed over Ki'iro's face; they had promised not to use their foxes in this fight. She scowled and called upon her own fox; Izanami. The Cloak blossomed around her as well and she used it to form a Rasengan in each hand. Hizashi smirked and using his Cloak he held four large shuriken. They each prepared their attack, but then a whistle blew and the crowd roared in frustration.
Ki'iro reluctantly allowed her Rasengans and Cloak to dissipate and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hizashi do the same. The man who had started their match moved between them and faced the crowd. He formed a seal and when he spoke; his voice was amplified by his chakra.
"The match has been decided." He announced, "The Hokage decided to end the match here for fear of the shinobi destroying the stadium and also because he realizes they are evenly matched. He has therefore called this match…a draw."
The audience booed their disapproval of this decision and the cousins shared in their disappointment. The fight had just started getting good. The man raised his hands once more and eventually, the crowd calmed down.
"As we have two winners of this tournament, they shall both be awarded the title of Jounin."
Ki'iro and Hizashi shared a look and their hearts soared with the cheers of the crowd. They gave each other a quick hug before turning and waving to the crowd which only grew more excited; even as they left the field. They arrived in the waiting area and found their friends waiting for them.
Iwa was first to greet them. He rushed forward and slapped Hizashi on the shoulder. His hair was still the same as Lee's but since his eyebrows had never grown in, he now sported a thick moustache. He still shared his father's fashion sense as well, the bright green body suit and leg warmers proudly displayed.
"Congratulations, you two! Now you're both Jounin like me!" Iwa said happily.
Shikage was next and she ran up to Ki'iro, wrapping her in a hug. Her long blonde hair mixed with Ki'iro's red before she finally released her. Shikage wore the functional clothing of Suna; a long dark dress cut to the hip worn over a pair of long pants. On her back she carried a large scroll that contained her favorite puppets.
"You were amazing, Ki'iro! It's no wonder you knocked me out of the tournament in the early rounds." She said with a smile.
Finally Kurotsubaki came forward. She was wearing glasses, shorts and her Chuunin vest over a tank top. She was always changing her hair color to match her favorite flower, but today it was lavender. She snapped her book shut and smiled at her two friends.
"Congrats. It's no surprise I lost either." She said simply before returning to her book.
The five friends left the arena an hour later after the promotion ceremony and decided to celebrate at Ichiraku's. This had become a bit of a tradition since Naruto had brought them here post every successful mission. They each ordered their usual meals and continued to celebrate. They didn't even notice that the sun was setting until a familiar face poked in through the door.
"I take it we have some new Jounin among us?" Naruto asked.
Naruto was greeted with fresh cheers and Ki'iro launched herself into her father's arms, "I did it To-san! Hizashi-kun and I are both Jounin now!"
"Hizashi-kun, too?"
"Yes sir!" Hizashi said proudly.
"The usual, Hokage-sama?" Teuchi, the shop owner asked.
"Not today, Oji-san." Naruto said, disappointment obvious in his voice, "I actually have to take these five somewhere."
"Where to, To-san?" Ki'iro asked.
Naruto wouldn't say, but paid for the five bowls of ramen before ushering them away from the shop and down the street. He remained silent as they walked onward, but soon they realized that they were heading for the Hyuuga mansion. Hizashi lived in the mansion, but Ki'iro had visited to train and see her aunt Hanabi so often that she considered it a second home. The other three on the other hand had never seen the inside of the mansion and they did their best to hide their excitement. Soon they arrived, but the mansion was dark.
Naruto opened the front gate and allowed the teenagers to enter before him. Inside they found a single small fire burning in the middle of the mansion's courtyard. Standing in front of it was a person silhouetted by the fire. Naruto walked from behind the teens and moved to stand next to the silhouetted man. Naruto folded his arms and nodded to the other person. When he spoke, the man's voice was low and harsh.
"The two new Jounin, Ki'iro Uzumaki and Hizashi Hyuuga, come forward." They did as they were told, but glanced back at their friends who looked just as confused. They knelt before the shadowy figure and he continued. "You are now Jounin, that cannot be taken away from you, however, you still put many lives at risk during your battle. You also abandoned the teachings that Naruto drilled into your heads and used your foxes unnecessarily in battle." Ki'iro and Hizashi hung their heads in shame, "A punishment shall be decided, but for tonight, let us celebrate your promotion."
Suddenly the fire was extinguished and every light in the mansion flared to life revealing the other person to be the current Hokage: Konohamaru. People began to move out of the mansion and soon the courtyard was filled with friends, family, music and cheers. Small pops echoed through the mansion and confetti began to rain down on Ki'iro and Hizashi who both had not moved.
Naruto and Konohamaru approached the two Jounin and raised them to their feet. Ki'iro stared into her father's face; if he was upset, he didn't show it and she slowly returned his smile. Hizashi looked into Konohamaru's face which was stern, but at the same time warm and Hizashi understood. Both Jounin nodded and turned to greet the crowd. Hinata and Hanabi appeared next to Ki'iro and both wrapped her in a hug while Hizashi hugged Tenten and shook Neji's hand. Everybody else was there as well: Sakura and Lee with their youngest son; Midoriyama, huddled around Iwa, Shikamaru and Temari calmly talked with Shikage and Ino and Sai scolded Kurotsubaki for not trying harder. Even Moegi and her son Asuma had managed to come and they stood with Konohamaru. Many others were present at the party and soon the idea of a punishment was forgotten and everyone began to enjoy themselves.
A few hours in, Hizashi had had his fill of partying and after excusing himself from his parents, quietly made his way into the mansion. He had just slid the shoji door shut, when someone else tried to open it. Ki'iro burst in, too, looking worried.
"Are you ok?" she asked, standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hizashi said, "Just tired."
Ki'iro fixed him with a stare and studied him closely. Hizashi returned the stare nonchalantly. He knew that she had had a crush on him years ago, but that had faded into a simple love for a cousin. Still Hizashi couldn't deny Ki'iro's beauty and his heart beat a little faster under her scrutiny. She seemed to come to a decision and closed the shoji door behind her.
"You tied, too?" Hizashi asked, stifling a yawn.
"Not really…just tired of being surrounded by people."
"I though you enjoyed that sort of thing." Hizashi said with a smirk.
Ki'iro was about to retaliate but suddenly the music and chatter outside died. Ki'iro opened the door a crack and they both peeked out into the courtyard. An Anbu Black Ops knelt in front of Konohamaru and was giving what sounded like an urgent report. Konohamaru nodded and the shinobi vanished with a gust of wind. He then glanced at Naruto and Moegi, both nodding in agreement. The three excused themselves and followed the Anbu.
The party remained silent for a few minutes, but soon was back in full swing. Ki'iro and Hizashi returned to the throng and searched for their friends. They soon found Iwa dancing with his younger brother Midoriyama and Asuma. When he saw them, Iwa pulled them into his dance and they reluctantly joined it.
"Ki'iro-san!" Asuma cried. He often saw her when she helped out Naruto in the Hokage's office and had come to think of her as an older sister. They often played together in the Hokage mansion when she wasn't needed and she had even taught him a few basics of ninjutsu. "Congratulations on becoming a Jounin!"
"Thanks, Ma-kun." Ki'iro said as she gracefully danced on the spot. "What did the Anbu have to say?"
"Some kind of disturbance up north." Iwa said lamely as he struck pose after weird pose.
"Sheesh, can you be more specific?" Hizashi said as he awkwardly shuffled his feet.
But at that point Iwa started striking poses even faster and seemed to be in his own world. Asuma and Midoriyama laughed and clapped for him and Hizashi knew he was unreachable now. Thankfully he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned, Shikage was standing there.
"Want to know what the Anbu said?"
"You heard him, Shikage-chan?" Ki'iro said, glad to be able to stop dancing.
"Not exactly." She said, "Is there somewhere a little more private? This information isn't exactly public knowledge." The three snuck away back into the mansion and up to Hizashi's room. Only when the door was shut and locked behind them did Shikage talk. "Ok, I'm not even supposed to know this. I overheard the Kazekage talking to my parents about it. It seems there have been reports of tailed monsters up north."
"You mean Bijuu?" Ki'iro and Hizashi said simultaneously.
"From what I heard they don't know for sure. I know the Kazekage dispatched ninja to investigate." Shikage said, "I can only assume that the disturbances are getting closer to the border with the Land of Fire since Konoha has now been made aware of them."
"Perhaps Ki'iro should go spy on them." Kurotsubaki said from the window, "She works there already anyway."
"K-Kurotsubaki!" they all yelled.
"What?"
"I thought this room was private!" Shikage hissed.
"Oh…am I disturbing something? My bad." Kurotsubaki said with a smirk.
"Don't misunderstand." Hizashi said opening his window.
The four shinobi plotted for an hour and as the party outside was coming to an end, they snuck across the roof of the mansion and leapt through the village of Konoha. Soon they came to the Hokage mansion and found two ninja guarding the front gate. As they approached the two ninja ordered them to halt.
"Sorry, Ki'iro-chan." One said upon recognizing her, "Top secret meeting: no one allowed in."
"Of course. We understand right guys?" Kurotsubaki said standing between her friends and the guards, "But you both are such good shinobi, I think I'll give you a present."
Both guards shared a look but then Kurotsubaki's cute smile reassured them. They nodded as she pulled out her ink and scroll and began to scribble on the parchment. Soon she had drawn a flower for each of them and after forming a seal, she lifted them from the page. She offered a flower to each guard and both accepted, taking the flower in their hands. Kurotsubaki gave them another cute smile before blowing them a kiss and they both collapsed at her feet.
"Desert rose." She said, her cute smile vanishing, "I don't even need to draw thorns anymore; the poison simply flows in through the skin. Never fails."
"You've got to teach me how to do that!" Shikage said, amazed at how easily Kurotsubaki had seduced the guards.
"Read the Icha-Icha series. You'll understand men after that." Kurotsubaki said simply.
They entered the gate and quietly made their way through the mansion with no further adversity. Ki'iro easily lead them to the Hokage's office where luckily the door was cracked. A light was on in the office and a beam of light spilled into the hall. From their angle, little could be seen save for Naruto and Moegi's backs. Konohamaru was also speaking in a low voice so it was difficult to hear him.
"Can you hear them?" Shikage asked.
"No, but these should help." Ki'iro said and summoned two small toads. "One listens and one speaks."
The others looked confused, but Ki'iro sent one toad into the Hokage's office and it stealthily made its way to Konohamaru's desk. Meanwhile the other toad opened its mouth and soon they could hear Konohamaru's voice coming from its throat. The others were impressed, but Ki'iro hushed them and they listened.
"But if they're Bijuu then you're going to want to send experts!" Naruto hissed. "There's no one better for the job than myself. Bee is getting older and it's hard for Gaara to leave being the Kazekage. There aren't any other Jinchurriki besides the three of us and I'm the only one who can go now. Send me!"
"We don't know if they're Bijuu or not yet, Naruto." Konohamaru said with a sigh. "I don't want to alarm the other countries by deploying the strongest shinobi in the world and then having it turn out to be nothing."
"What about the reports from the Suna shinobi?" Naruto demanded, "They haven't returned right? That proves that these aren't just hoaxes."
"I think Naruto-san is right." Moegi said softly, "Even if they're not Bijuu, these things are still strong. Perhaps it's in our best interests to send Naruto. Even if it is just an abnormally strong animal, at least it'll be dealt with then and there."
"I'm sorry, Naruto-niichan, but I'm sending a scout party first. That's my final decision." Konohamaru said.
Through his Byakugan, Hizashi could see Naruto's hands clenching tighter, but he let his anger go and reluctantly accepted the decision. He turned on the spot, but in the process, kicked the listening toad and it burst into smoke. Immediately, Naruto activated his Golden Cloak and Konohamaru shattered the light with a kunai. Naruto rushed the door and he burst through it into the hallway, light from his own body filling the hall.
Naruto saw no one and let his Cloak fade, "False alarm," he muttered.
He stepped back into the room and closed the door behind him. Only then did each of the shinobi in the hall exhale and allow themselves to fall from the ceiling. Each landed silently and retreated out of the mansion. As they ran past, Kurotsubaki noticed the guards were coming around. She knelt before the one that seemed the most conscious and took his hand in hers, putting it over her breast. The guard's hazy eyes focused on her and then they went wide.
"What do you think you're doing?" she said in mock surprise.
"I-I don't-"
"Oh, I'm going to have to report this to Hokage-sama." She said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"What…but I didn't-"
"You pervert!" She said shoving his hand away.
"No…please don't…"
"P-Promise not to tell anyone you saw us and I won't report you." She said shyly. The guard nodded slightly and seemed to pass out again.
"You learned that from Icha-Icha?" Shikage asked, but Kurotsubaki remained silent. "Ok, let me try then."
Shikage knelt down before the other guard who was coming around as well and put his hand over her breast as well. He also took a moment to focus but when he did, he yanked his hand out of Shikage's grip.
"What the hell were you doing?" the guard demanded.
"I…I should ask you the same thing." Shikage stammered. "N-Now apologize or I'll tell on you!"
"Yeah right, you were the one doing weird things when I was unconscious, I'll just tell on you."
"W-W-Who would believe the guy over a girl?" Shikage said, completely taken aback.
"Please, mister shinobi, just let us go." Kurotsubaki said, her cute smile back with fake tears to boot.
"Oh, I guess it's ok…no harm done after all." The guard said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Thank you so much." Kurotsubaki said, bowing many times. Both kunoichi fled and found their friends snickering around the corner.
"What?" Shikage demanded, blushing madly.
"Oh nothing…" Ki'iro said, covering in mouth in a vain attempt to hide her giggles.
"Hizashi-kun…is Kurotsubaki-chan that much sexier than me?" Shikage said, using her own cute smile.
"Staying out of this one." Hizashi said holding up his hands.
This only made Ki'iro laugh more and she only stopped when Shikage summoned her puppet.
"Enough. Let's talk about what we heard."
An hour later, Ki'iro was making her way back to her house. She yawned openly as she walked through the streets. In the end they hadn't learned much that they didn't already know; just that Naruto wasn't happy with Konohamaru's decision to send a scouting party first. Ki'iro briefly wondered who would be in the search party: probably someone strong as well as being a good tracker. Her mind began to wonder and she didn't notice as a shadowy figure fell in behind her.
"Ki'iro.." said a scary voice.
She froze in her tracks; visions of zombies, vampires, and other monsters racing through her mind. She slowly turned on the spot only to find her father standing there with a stupid grin on his face.
"To-san!" she yelled, "Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, sorry." He said, never losing his smile, "Well what did you hear?"
"Huh?"
"I'm no fool, Ki'iro-chan. I know I kicked the listening toad and I sense all four of you in my Golden Cloak."
"Busted." Ki'iro moaned, "We didn't hear much. Just that there's rumors of tailed monsters up north."
"What do you think of this?"
"Me?" Ki'iro said, surprised, "Um…I don't know. There's a chance that the Bijuu have returned, but that's rather unlikely isn't it?"
"It is." Naruto agreed. "Currently there are three Jinchurriki of the Kyuubi, Killer Bee has the Hachibi and all the others were sealed away. There's only one other place they could have come from."
Suddenly Ki'iro felt a chill run down her spine. How could all of them have forgotten about that man, "Inchiki."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Naruto said ominously.