Ketto no Namikaze

Ketto no Uzumaki II

Place In the Leaf

Hidden Leaf Forest

Umino Iruka and his best friend, Mizuki, are leaping through the trees of the Hidden Leaf. They were not merely exercising however; they were committing treason. The duo had infiltrated Hokage Tower and stolen one of Konoha's most prized possessions, the Scroll of Sealing.

The wind had begun to blow, for which they were thankful, as it would help disguise their movements even further. It had started out as a gentle breeze, which had gradually picked up speed, and oddly enough began to howl, through the eves of the trees. If they were ever one to believe in ghosts, the way the wind sounded, would almost make them believe the tales of vengeful spirits, or even tales of banshees, harbingers of death in the shape of women, foretelling of impending doom, that merchants brought from the West. It was an eerie sound, which seemed to speak of pain and loss, it was making these hardened ninja feel jittery, and they shivered.

They reassured themselves of their purpose by taking stock of their equipment. Mizuki in addition to the usual compliment of kunai and shuriken and wearing the normal uniform, and hitai-ate of a Chunin of the Leaf, was carrying on his back, two giant, four-pointed Fuma shuriken. Iruka, carrying the scroll, was dressed, and equipped the same, but was wearing the sword from his ANBU days, on his back. Iruka looked over at his childhood best-friend, and smiled reassuringly, "you still with me, Mizuki-kun," he asked, "once we meet up with our contact, we can trade what's in this scroll for a place in his ranks," Iruka assured his companion.

"I'm with you, Iruka-kun," Mizuki replied, "do you think we'll be made Jonin, once we get there?"

"I doubt it, we'll still have to earn that, which isn't a wholly unpleasant aspiration, but at least we won't be passed over for promotion or position, simply because we don't come from a clan," Iruka answered bitterly. "Everything we get we'll earn, but it's better than working your ass off for years, only to have the position you wanted, taken from you and given to someone who hasn't been an active teacher in the academy, since she became a mother. Then simply because her clan was massacred, she gets appointed to the headmistress spot, as if her absence meant nothing," Umino-san finished in a frustrated growl.

"Yeah, we'll earn it," Mizuki agreed, "I mean what's loyalty if it isn't rewarded, after all our sacrifices for this village, to know that all you have to do to get ahead here is be friends with the Hokage."

"My point exactly," Iruka shot back, "loyalty should go both ways, we've been members of Konoha Ninja Forces for fifteen-years. We were orphaned by the Kyūbi, which I'm okay with, at least it's dead, I was an ANBU for a few years, and when I completed my tour there, I decided to give back to Konoha by becoming a teacher at the Academy. Six-years, I endured the abuse of snot-nosed, little brats, and entitled clan heirs, all I wanted was to find a permanent post to live out my life, and maybe try to raise a family, Kami-willing, and the moment I've dreamt of was snatched away from me forever, thanks to that Uchiha-meinu."

All of a sudden, the wind just died, and the air became as still as a tomb. The knotted ends of Iruka's bandana began blowing in the wind, before it began picking up speed and force. Yet, Mizuki, standing right beside him was not feeling anything. They may have trouble believing in ghosts, their belief in coincidences, however, was completely eroded away, which was all they needed to bolster their confidence. They knew in their traitorous hearts; they were never going to get away from Konoha without some form of opposition. Iruka lit upon a hanging branch, while Mizuki landed on the side of the same tree, "show yourself, coward, come out and face us like men."

There was a sudden, intense burst of wind that buffeted Iruka, but as quickly as it began it just stopped. Mizuki just began looking around from his perspective, when he suddenly heard the creak of timber tearing, and an "AH…," trailing away towards the forest floor! Mizuki whipped his head around as the sound died away, and studied the stump that remained of the branch, his best-friend once stood upon. The end of the stump was as smooth as if it had been sanded, as if it had been sliced off by a deft hand, somebody used to using chakra as an artisan's tool. Mizuki was just about to dive after his friend, when out of the night, a flight of arrows came flying at him. Mizuki dodged all of them or so he thought, because as soon as the flight of arrows ended, as he was about to move to go after Iruka-kun, he found himself stapled to the tree, by the clothes on his body.

…With Umino Iruka

Iruka found himself falling toward the forest floor, but he was still a former ANBU Chunin, so as calmly as if he was on a stroll, he threw out a kunai with ninja-wire attached at a tree. The kunai struck true, and he was swinging down more slowly to the ground, which is when another gust of wind came out of nowhere, cutting the cable holding Umino aloft. While his speed was slowed, the sudden uncontrolled momentum, imparted enough extra force to send him into a faceplant in the dirt.

Iruka regained his hands and feet, and shook his head free of dirt and cobwebs, he growled to himself. These tactics could only come from one person in the Leaf, someone my ex-girlfriend sees as her little brother, Iruka looked around warily to try to find where the little bastard was hiding. The former Konoha Ninja Academy instructor got immediately to his feet, careful to keep the scroll behind him. He looked up, scanning the canopy of this section of forest, though from what the Snake-whore has told him about, Uzumaki Naruto, he could be over 600 meters away and still be able to take you out.

Then as fast and powerful as hurricane force winds, Iruka was struck in the face by a dragon-palm. The force was strong enough to snap Iruka's head back and away, with unimaginable velocity, but the punishment was not over yet, because the figure immediately pressed his attack. He was keeping the seasoned Chunin on the ropes, and Naruto was still a Genin, though only because he and his team have not taken the Chunin Exams, for the entire year they have been out of the Academy. It was even more impressive, because winning the fight was not the goal of this confrontation, getting the scroll away from the Chunin, was the objective.

While the Genin shinobi kept the other ninja occupied, another Naruto was approaching the fight. The fighting Naruto allowed the former schoolteacher, enough time to make an attack against him, but it was a set-up. Iruka thrust a spear-hand at Naruto's ribs, Naruto caught it and pulled the Chunin off-balance, over his shoulder into a pin. This gave the non-fighting Naruto ample time to bound forward and strip Iruka of the Scroll, and dash away into the forest.

As that happened, a four-pronged, Fuma shuriken, buried itself in Naruto's back, but instead of spewing blood as they expected, there was a sudden outburst of wind which buffeted Iruka with irresistible force. It was not enough to kill him, but Iruka did have the wind knocked out of him. Iruka recovered a second later, one thing was abundantly clear, "the brat took the scroll," Mizuki chided his friend, "if we don't have that scroll when we meet up with Orochimaru's man, not only will we not be accepted into his ranks, we could be killed for failing."

"I know, Mizuki," Iruka said, getting to his feet, "let's go get it back," he urged while leaping up into the trees. Mizuki nodded and followed soon after, they moved fast enough that, they caught sight of the fleeing Genin almost immediately, he was studying the scroll exterior when they caught sight of him. When Naruto looked back the way he came, the two Chunin registered the look of shock on his face, which vanished immediately as he took off frantically. He ran like a bat out of Naraka, dodging and ducking, jigging and juking, through the forest, doing his best to stay out of their reach.

Naruto gained a big enough lead that they lost sight of him for a moment. They came to a stop on the forest floor, and Mizuki started to berate his best-friend, "how could you lose the Scroll, Iruka, how?"

Iruka stared hard at his friend before looking away, "because it's not just anybody who took it from us, it was Uzumaki Naruto."

That widened the silver haired Chunin's eyes, as well as it should have. Not only was he the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, but in the past year he has gained a reputation as a powerful and resourceful ninja, but he was fiercely loyal to Leaf. It has been rumoured that he is the second coming of Senju Tobirama, only with Wind as his primary element, instead of Water, which was one of the reasons he began using a bow. When a person can utilize Wind as effectively as SUN Naruto, it behooves that person to find a weapon that will allow them to utilize such effects, in the most efficient manner possible.

They spent several minutes searching for the Namikaze brat, when Iruka came upon him in a clearing, leaning next to a small shed. Naruto had the scroll out and open and was reading one of the jutsu listed in it. Iruka crept closer to the child of his hero, the Yellow Flash, when the brat spoke, "I see where you're coming from, Iruka-san. I really do understand the reason for your decision to defect from our village," Naruto added, not even bothering to turn his head. "You feel that the position for which you have worked towards, Headmaster at the Ninja Academy, was unfairly awarded based on loyalty to clan, rather than credit. That may well have been the reason our Hokage, appointed Uchiha-sama to that post within the village, there could be other reasons, I don't know, and I don't care." Naruto turned his head swiftly to face the former Academy teacher, Naruto looked Iruka in the eyes with heat, "but you shouldn't have called my aunt a bitch. If you hadn't done that, I would have still taken the scroll back, but I would've let you two go otherwise. You called one of my girlfriend's mother, a bitch," Naruto stood up straight, rolling the scroll up and sealing it, before placing it on his shoulders, "and now because you said that, I'm honor bound to take it out of your hide."

As he finished speaking, Naruto charged directly at Iruka, but Umino-san was a former ANBU, plus… he had a sword. In one swift motion, Iruka drew his blade and sliced down at Naruto, trying to angle it to cut the brat in half. Naruto blocked the downward strike, with a hastily drawn kunai, then brought another into the mix with a horizontal strike at Umino's midsection. Iruka gave up on the test of strength and jumped back, before landing and charging right back in, to press an attack. Naruto waited patiently, keeping his guard up and narrowing his eyes, when at the last possible moment, he sidestepped the teacher's attack, and was immediately behind his guard, delivering his own horizontal attack. The slash gave Iruka a good-sized gash along his flank, but the attack was more blunt-force than blade, which sent the traitorous teacher to the ground. He was back up instantly, holding his hand over the wound and hissing in pain.

Naruto did not want to give him time to regroup, so he began going through hand signs rapidly, "Wind-style: Vacuum bullet," before sending a projectile made of wind at Iruka. Iruka's eyes widened at the bullet's velocity and did not have time to do anything but dive out of the way. The wind projectile shot by Iruka and into the trees behind him, gouging a hole through several trees, each hole getting wider until the jutsu dissipated, back into the atmosphere. Naruto charged at Iruka hoping to end this quickly, when a sudden whistling caught the Genin's attention, he looked back just in time to see a giant shuriken closing the distance with him rapidly. He did not have time for any actions before the Fuma struck, burying itself in his back. Naruto stared in shock for a moment, before dropping to his hand and knees. He vomited up some blood before falling face-first into the dirt.

Iruka lay panting like a bellows, as Mizuki came down from the trees. He walked up to the prone form of the Uzumaki, eyeing him carefully for any signs of playing opossum. The rapidly expanding pool of blood surrounding the dead Genin, confirmed the death of Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. Mizuki walked up to the dead boy and wrenched the Scroll of Sealing from his cooling body, before placing it around his own shoulders. By this time, Iruka had recovered from his encounter with Naruto, and stood shakily to his feet. He walked over to his best-friend and grinned, "thanks," he nodded.

Mizuki turned his back to Iruka, "come on, we need to make it to the Valley of the End by sunup," Mizuki did not wait to insure his friend was with him before he leapt back into the canopy. Iruka gave one last mournful glance at the body of the boy, before following his friend into the leaves.

On the ground, Naruto's mind begins to go back over the last year, his first as a genin for Konoha.

FLASHBACK: 1 year ago

Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto stood with his best-friends and teammates, Uchiha Sakura and Uchiha-Senju Yoshiko, more like leaning against each other and panting heavily, as they tried to catch their breath. They had just completed the bell-test, as administered by their sensei, mother and godmother, Konohagakure no Sato, Jonin Commander of Ninja Forces, Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, and to say the experience was harrowing would be a gross understatement. It was not their teamwork that Kushina was testing, it was their objectivity: hers and theirs. Each member of the nascent Team Nine, had prior history together.

The newly minted Genin have been best-friends since they were toddlers, both of the young ladies are in love with the sole male in their midst, and those feelings within him, for which he was returning, were just as strong. The relationship between genin and sensei was just as deep, because other than their own mothers and a Hokage for a grandmother and great aunt, the two Genin kunoichi have always viewed, Kushina-sama, as one of their heroes and role-models, viewing her as a perfect example of what kind of kunoichi they wanted to be. Kushina has also, always viewed the two young ladies as nieces and treated them as the daughters she never had, teaching them almost as much about life and being women as their own families.

The lone male of the team, Naruto, has had crushes on his two female friends since before he even liked girls. They were his first friends growing up, and while friends like, Rock and Tenten, came along later, Sakura and Yoshiko, will always hold a special place in his heart. He often viewed his future to include one or the other as his wife, and mother of his children, he just has not figured out which one it will be, because one thing he knows to be true is this. When he makes his choice, whichever one he does not pick will be hurt, and might even cut ties with them, and that is one of his biggest fears. Yet, the one person, at the moment, which he loves more than anyone on Earth, is his mother. He would never admit it to anyone, though he is sure that many people already suspect, he is a mama's boy, and his mother, has just become his sensei.

Therefore, the test of objectivity administered by Kushina, was as much of a test for her, as it was for her Genin. They all had to be able to turn off their emotions as ninja, or at least subdue them, to fulfill the mission objectives. Not an easy feat, even for teams, who did not carry heavy emotional ties before their first meeting as a team, it was almost impossible when they considered each other family. During the test, all four ninja failed to completely subdue their emotions toward each other, but surprisingly that did not hinder their performance, if anything their previous relationship to each other, enhanced their performance. Each of the Genin, wanted to see the other succeed, even if they had to be sent back to the Academy to await a future team, which made them do everything they could to make sure they got the bells. If they got the bells, they would turn them over to friends, and humbly accept a demotion back to the Academy.

Kushina on the other hand, did not want to be the one to stand in the way of the girls' let alone her son's careers, so she tried to do everything she could think of, to keep them from getting the bells. So, she decided to go all out against them, doing everything short of deadly-force to send them back to the Academy. This forced her Genin to up their game to desperate levels, they gave everything they had to each other and by some miracle, they were able to complete the mission objective and capture the bells, by the skin of their teeth.

Naruto, holding the bells finally caught his breath, and began to speak, "here you go, ladies," he stated, getting their attention, he took the string and parted it, handing a single bell to each one of them. Sakura and Yoshiko were looking at the bells in astonishment, as if wondering how they got there, before slowly looking up at him in curiosity, "I have no problem going back to the Academy, if it means you two will get to become full-fledged ninja. I would rather see you two, happy and succeeding, even at my own expense, you're both so beautiful, but nothing brightens your faces more than when you smile."

Sakura blushed and ducked her head, as much to hide her smile at his compliment, as to keep from losing herself in his deep, warm, violet-eyes, and give her time to quicken her resolve. She looked at the bell in her fist, before closing her hand and eyes, and opening them with something like steel coming into them. "No, Naruto-kun," she said with determination, as she looked him directly in the eyes, and thrust the arm back at him, "you deserve to become a ninja more than me, you want to surpass your father in strength, and you can't do that while staying at the Academy. I at least knew my father, before he was murdered by my brother, you never got the chance to know yours, Naruto-kun," Sakura noticed the hard look forming on his face, "and, no, this is not pity, though it is empathy with a dash of sympathy. No, this is merely a way, for me to alter the karmic scales and allow you the best of chances to succeed in your goal."

Yoshiko had also blushed, when her Naruto complimented her on her physical appearance, but she did not look away. She had no need to screw up her resolve like her cousin, because she knew right away what she had to do. She reared back and threw the bell right back at him, and feigning anger which surprised him as much as Sakura-chan, "do you think I need a man's benevolence to become a ninja, Naruto-baka," she asked with apparent righteous anger? "I'm the product of two of the founding clans of Konoha, as well as two of the Sen'nin, I don't need some man doling out scraps as if I was a dog begging at his table, I can make it as a ninja on my own!"

Naruto had whipped his head back to Yoshiko, as soon as she started yelling at him, "that's why you think I'm giving you the bells, you think I see you as a charity case? You are far from being a charity case in my eyes, Yo-chan," Naruto bellowed, while getting in her face, "and you insult me and yourself by thinking that! It just so happens I feel both of you deserve to be a Genin more than me," Naruto continued shouting, and waving his arms, "it was you, who came up with the winning strategy we needed to defeat our, sensei!"

"So, what, you and Sakura, were the ones to exchange more attacks with the enemy than me," Yoshiko rebutted, "I couldn't even use ninjutsu for fear of striking you and Sakura-itoko with my inexperience!"

"Yeah right," Naruto scoffed, "even if, I believed your folks would disobey the law, and teach you anything beyond elemental manipulation – I may not have Nara-level intelligence like you, but I know your mom and dad – I know you helped us by using that very same elemental manipulation, to keep Kushina-sensei pinned down. Especially, during that last exchange, which was instrumental in the final assault to get the bells."

"Naruto-kun is right. Itoko-chan," Sakura interrupted, before Yoshiko could refute what Naruto stated, "you were instrumental in taking down, Uzumaki-sama." They turned to her, so she went on in a rush, "without you distracting her, we may well have lost and have been sent back to the academy altogether. You're one of those rare people that come along every few decades or so, and when you appear you usually alter or accelerate, or otherwise change human history. While I am not as fatalistic about Fate as some ninja I could name, I do believe in divine provenance. You and Naruto-kun are nearly mirror reflections of each other; Naruto is the product of the Uzumaki, Namikaze, and Senju; you come from the Uzumaki, Senju, and Uchiha, and who knows where Jiraiya-sama came from, he was an orphan." Sakura gazed at them, "both of you are rare and precious, whereas I'm a dime-a-dozen, you don't need some mediocre girl holding you back."

Before either of them could refute what Sakura said, they heard a sharp clap, which got their attention. They turned to look at Kushina, who was smiling in delight, "you've all managed to get the bells, now which one of you will go back to the Academy?"

"Me, Kushina-sensei," Naruto yelled pointing at himself! Mother and son had reached an agreement the night before, when they were in team settings, they would address each other by first name and appropriate honorific! It was a promise they made to each other, and both of them set great store by their promises to each other, they never went back on their word, which was their nindō. Their ninja way.

"I should, Kushina-sama," Sakura exclaimed!

"Send me back to the Academy, Kushina-oba-chan," Yoshiko requested calmly, "please."

"All of you seem to be in disagreement over this issue," Kushina mused, fingering her lips, "that means it's up to me, as your sensei to tell you," she paused ominously, then her face broke into a brilliant grin, "THAT YOU ALL PASS!"

To say Naruto, Sakura, and Yoshiko were totally surprised would be the understatement of the century, but after Kushina explained the meaning for the test and they got over the shock, they had a lot to celebrate. The very next day, they began team training and started doing D-rank missions. Each of them had their own individual training to sharpen their personal skills, so none of them were lacking any personal attention. They started learning actual ninjutsu, in accordance with their nature affinities, as measured in their second year at the Academy, and Kushina almost immediately began teaching them tree-walking.

This time was a time of learning and growing, but for Naruto it was a time of discovery. It was during this period of time, that they found out something truly miraculous was happening with Naruto's chi, and because Jukobushi, does not require Shigaisengan or Byakugan to be effective, Kushina was able to learn it too.

It was a few months into his time as a Genin, when his grandmother came for one of her routine visits. Tamiko-Dai-miko (High Priestess), Atama-miko (Chief Priestess) of the Hi no Shinden (Temple of Fire), since learning of her grandson has tried to visit Konoha as much as she could, she knows there will never be anything she can do to make-up for not being in her son's life. The tales her daughter-in-law would tell Tamiko, about her son as a child, helped ease some of the guilt she had gone through, since she abandoned him. It may have reinforced her decision to leave, rather than see him with the Caged-Bird-Seal upon him, the bottom-line was she abandoned her son, and made him doubt his worth as a person, regardless of his achievements until the date of his death. She could not be a part of her son's life, so she was determined to be as much a part of her grandson's life as they would allow her.

"Sobo-chan," Naruto shouted as he opened the door! He and his teammates had returned from a routine C-rank bandit extermination mission the night before, so there was no training for the day, he and his mother had also decided to sleep in for the day. Naruto stepped forward and brought her into a tender hug, before stepping back with a smile on both of their faces. "Sobo-chan, you look great," which was a comment Naruto always made when he saw her, because growing-up around girls all his life, has taught him how women of all ages liked to be thought of and talked about, so there were certain things he did almost automatically when he greeted them, like commenting positively on their outward appearance.

Tamiko's smile widened, "why thank you, Naruto-mago," she beamed, then she saw that he was still in his sleepwear. "What's this," she asked coyly, gesturing at his dark-colored, short-sleeved t-shirt, thin red and thick black, crossed horizontally with thin yellow and even thinner royal blue pajama bottoms, and bare feet, "a genin, lounging around in pajamas while the sun is up, this is prime training time?"

Naruto looked down at what he was wearing, then back up, and with an embarrassed laugh and back of the head rub, "yeah, normally you'd be right, and any other day, me and mom would already be at our training grounds, but we just got back from a C-rank last night, so Hokage-sama, and Kushina-sensei gave the team the day off."

Tamiko was puzzled about his form of address toward his mother, until she remembered her meeting with the Hokage, just before coming to visit her last true family. "Aw, yes," Tamiko realized, "Tsunade told me that you and her granddaughter, won the Nidaime's challenge and were able to choose your own teams and sensei, congratulations, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks, grandma," Naruto beamed.

"You deserve it, dear," Tamiko acknowledged, before looking around, "but where's your mother?"

"Ka-san is still asleep," Naruto informed his grandmother, while closing the door and leading her into the kitchen, "since it's only the two of us, and we're both considered to be adults, we've decided to divide the household responsibilities. We take turns cooking, and make sure common areas don't become cluttered with litter. Today happens to be my turn to cook breakfast, so she gets to sleep in," as Naruto showed her to a chair at the kitchen table, he explained how he and his mother, have been living together since his graduation, and concluded with, "but if you really want to speak with ka-san, I can get her here faster than the Hiraishin teleports."

Having an inkling as to what he was talking about, Tamiko grinned impishly, "oh, and just how would you do that?"

Naruto returned her grin with one of his own, and replied, "like this," as he channeled his chakra into a seal written on the coffee-maker, from where he stood from across the room, standing next to his grandmother. Almost immediately, the scent of brewing coffee filled the atmosphere of the Uzumaki-Namikaze kitchen, and there was a sudden thud from somewhere in the house. Kushina appeared in a blur of motion, she waited for the coffee pot to finish percolating, watching it like it was her favorite show on television. Kushina's focus was so intense, a biju could have been standing right next to her and she would not have cared until she tasted her dark ambrosia.

Tamiko and Naruto looked at Naruto's mom, then at each other before they burst out laughing at how the absurdly powerful kunoichi that is Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina could be waylaid so easily. All you would need to do was wait until the morning, and brew coffee.

A few minutes later, the ladies were seated in the breakfast nook in the kitchen, while Naruto bustled about in the kitchen prep area. While he was working, two of his favorite women were catching up on each other's lives, chatting about everyday things. After a moment, Tamiko asked, "so how is it being your son's Team Sensei?"

Kushina had a soft smile, "it hasn't been easy, I mean this is my second team, and it's been a little tough. I have to show my son the ninja part of me, something I never thought I'd have to do. I only ever wanted to show him, my mother-side, even a little bit of the woman that is Kushina, but now I'm sharing with him, my kunoichi-side. During the few last months, since he and his teammates completed their sensei administered skills test, we've been defining our boundaries, how to conduct our professional relationship, while also keeping our familial relationship strong."

"Well as a sensei, you're doing a good job," Tamiko complimented, "his chakra control, from what I observed before you got down here is proceeding wonderfully." At Kushina's confused expression, Tamiko elaborated, "he was able to start the coffee pot from across the room, while standing next to me."

Kushina smiled ironically, "that didn't come from me, mother-in-law, that came from your training."

"What do you mean," Tamiko asked?

"Let me first tell you something about chakra and chi," Kushina began. "They are not the same thing, if chakra is your hand, then chi is your foot, both are fundamental to all of life, not to mention necessary to live a full life, but you cannot view them as having the same function. Chi is purely internal, chakra is more versatile and may be used both internally and externally, as you know. Understand," she asked the older woman, who merely nodded? "That means, in all of Uzumaki history chakra and chi have never been successfully blended," at the other woman's quirked eyebrow, Kushina continued, "they can be used at the same time, and even in the same organ system. Chakra is a temporary enhancement, while chi is more permanent," she added, "and one organ system, chi can never be used on is the chakra-circulatory system."

"What does this have to do with Naruto's chakra control," Giri no haha asked?

"Remember about two years ago when you began visiting and training Naruto," Kushina reminded the elder lady, "you trained him to use his dojutsu, and taught him your own style of the jūken?"

"Of course, I remember, they have become my most precious memories," Tamiko-Dai miko retorted with a fond smile.

Kushina shared the same smile with Minato's mother, before continuing her explanation, "well, to make a long story short, there is something about your Jukobushi, that allows Naruto to actually combine chi with chakra. Specifically, it has allowed Naruto to weave his chi into his chakra-circulatory system, and the most notable result was an unprecedented level of chakra-control, that is enhanced even further with standard chakra-control exercises."

"That's remarkable, Kushina-chan," Tamiko said in awe to her daughter-in-law, I'm going to have to take on Shana-miko as a personal protégé when I return to the temple, as an Uzumaki she would benefit from the same training as my grandson.

"I know," Kushina agreed, "his control is getting so good, I've been tempted to see if he might be able to use genjutsu. Which has always been the one area of ninja arts, Uzumaki have been unable to learn, because our massive chakra reserves, have always been impossible to bring under such tight control."

"Wow, I hope he can learn genjutsu," Tamiko gushed, "it would make him stand out even among such talented people as your kinsmen, Kushina."

Kushina smiled proudly at such a thought, before she suddenly turned shy, and folded her hands in her lap. She suddenly moved to kneel before her mother-in-law, pressing her forehead into her own kitchen floor, and made her request, "Tamiko-sensei, will you take me on as your student, to learn the taijutsu style known as Jukobushi, that I may also learn to integrate my chi with my chakra-coils?"

Tamiko looked upon her daughter-in-law and approved of her humble attitude when asking for a favor. Of course, Tamiko never even considered refusing her daughter-in-law's request, Kushina made her little boy's last few years of life the happiest in his life. Tamiko would be forever grateful to this woman for that alone, but Kushina also allowed Tamiko to reconnect with the only living family she acknowledged, her grandson, so Kushina did not even close her mouth before her mother-in-law, replied with, "Hai!"

Flashback: Kai

A few things happened after that, and they served to make Naruto, not only a better ninja, but a better man. Naruto lay on the forest floor in a pool of his own blood, he returned to the present. He felt the approach of a gang of people, most of which he knew as he considered them to be family. They landed at the edge of the clearing and gasped at what they were seeing. The wind in the clearing began to pick up, which caused the image everybody was seeing to begin wavering, like a leaf on a breeze.

All of a sudden, the image disintegrated like dust blowing away in the wind. They saw Naruto walking towards them as the image dissolved. Among those present, Hokage-Senju Tsunade, her husband, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, SUN Kushina, Uchiha Mikoto, as well as, the Hokage's ANBU guard detail. Naruto sauntered up to Tsunade, took the Scroll of Sealing from his back and tossed it to her, which she caught of course, "here you go, Hokage-sama," Naruto grinned smugly, "I found this just lying around on some traitorous shinobi's back, from what I overheard as I followed them, they were taking it to give to Orochimaru."

Tsunade just shook her head, "you don't need to go into details, your Kaze Bunshin, filled us in, on what brought you into this mess, including how the fight went. It's too bad you couldn't have captured even one of them for questioning…," as she was speaking Naruto's expression became devious, and the Hokage had to ask, "what, Naruto, why are you smiling like that?"

"If you and your entourage would please, follow me, Hokage-sama," Naruto asked, as he turned upon getting a nod? He leapt into the trees and looked back to find everybody on his six, he led them along a more direct path, than he used to get to the cabin, back to his surprise. He led them to a particular tree, and once they got there, Jiraiya took one look at the sight and just burst out laughing.

Even the women could not help but to giggle, as they landed on the side of the tree, because they were watching a trained shinobi, a Chunin in fact, appearing to struggle against something that was not even really there. It was Mizuki, and he appeared to have been stapled to the tree he was leaning against by some arrows, which appeared to have pinned him to the tree by clothing.

"How the hell, did he ever become a Chunin," Mikoto asked, as soon as her mirth ceased, it was now replaced by utter embarrassment. "No offense, Naruto-kun," she added, "but even a Genin could've seen through that illusion, without the Sharingan."

"I'm not offended in the least, Mikoto-oba-san," Naruto stated, as he turned to face her, "I've only been learning genjutsu for six-months, I know I've still got a lot to learn about the art." Naruto thumb-pointed, "like I told the teme's butt-buddy, Iruka, while I would still have taken the Scroll back, I would have let them go afterward, with a few bruises. If they were this incompetent against a simple genjutsu like this, then our village was well rid of them, let them be the Snake prick's problem. But they pissed me off, so I decided to visit a world of hurt on them and the people they were betraying us for."

"What did they say that angered you so much, musuko-kun," his mother asked?

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, and did not look at Mikoto when he answered, "he insulted one of my girlfriend's mother's, I couldn't let that shit slide."

Mikoto understanding she was the one he was talking about, smirked with a little blush in her cheeks, asked, "what did you do, you let Iruka go, but kept Mizuki here?"

"The Mizuki with Iruka now is a wind clone, and I substituted the Scroll of Sealing with another one of my own," Naruto informed them.

Kushina's eyes went wide, "which scroll, musuko-kun," but all he did was give her a truly evil grin. "Terumitto (Thermite)," she asked, at his nod, she visibly paled?

"What, Kushina," Tsunade demanded, "what has you so scared, the scroll he substituted can't be so bad, could it?"

Kushina only nodded, "if it was anybody else, I'd say it was overkill, but with Orochimaru, if he opens the scroll personally, it might actually be enough to kill him."

Thus, Always to Traitors

The headquarters of Otogakure, was built under a tree, like the snakes for which Orochimaru is famed, the majority of the base was below ground level. The entrance reminded the Chunin and clone, as they approached it with the guide, they had met at Tenshi bridge, of the entrance to a house. There was a set of steps leading down into a courtyard. It had a cobblestone path leading from the steps to the entrance, two walls surrounded them, one of the walls was straight, and the other held an extra section leading off at an obtuse angle. The entrance was just a hole in the shape of a door, and their guide, a member of the Fuma clan, by the name of Arashi, led them toward the entrance.

Arashi sported long, smooth, chin-length purple hair and grey-coloured eyes, with bangs hanging just over his eyebrows. His attire consisted of a green, short-sleeved shirt, white collar and sleeves, along with two black arm sleeves on his lower arms, and long grey pants. Arashi led them to the dark portal when he stopped, "my mission was to lead you to this doorway, and let you navigate your own way to Orochimaru-sama's courtroom. I have fulfilled my mission and now must take my leave, if you walk straight without deviating, you should get there without any delay." Before C-Mizuki or Iruka could make a move, or otherwise prevent Arashi from leaving he shun-shinned away.

Iruka and C-Mizuki looked in the direction of their departed guide, then at each other, C-Mizuki just grinned and gave a courtly bow, indicating for Iruka to go ahead of him, "after you, Iruka." C-Mizuki still held the scroll he took out of the Leaf with him, the entire time they had traveled, first to Tenshi-Hashi, then here to this place, he had been fastidious about being the one to retain his hold of the scroll, to insure Iruka could never get a close enough look at the scroll, to discover Naruto's ruse. Never letting Iruka forget that it was he, who nearly cost them their price of admittance, it surely undermined Iruka's confidence, so that by the time they reached Orochimaru's base, he was hating his knew lot in life, not to mention his lifelong, best-friend.

Both shinobi, walk through the entrance, and from the exterior ten-minutes pass by, and all is quiet and serene. Then from far down the tunnel, the sound of an explosion is heard, followed by two sounds, they sound like a rumbling vibration and accompanying that, what sounds like the rushing of the wind. To anybody standing outside it would remind them of a blast furnace. Both of these sounds began to build upon each other, they were getting closer to the entrance, then after a small pause, a jet of white-hot flame burst from the entrance the two Chunin had disappeared through. While Naruto's new amalgam would have normally burnt itself out by now, the insulation of the tunnel, plus the addition of an infusion of oxygen from Naruto's Kaze Bunshin, and what would have been a fairly quick and cool fire, was slowed down which allowed for an increase in heat. This caused Naruto's prank to take an unintended breadth, the components of his recipe, if heated enough, begin to produce its own oxygen, and there was plenty of flammable material and organisms hanging around Orochimaru's base.

The conflagration within Orochimaru's base lasts for some time, long enough for the master of the base, to return from one of his other bases. The Hebi no Seijin, looked down upon his former home, with an annoyed expression marring his face, Orochimaru had been overseeing the disposal of the remnants of one of his failed experiments, which had been troublesome enough to cause him a small amount of delay, in returning to his primary base to receive a gift and a new pair of subjects. Fuck, came Orochimaru's thoughts, now I must find a new place to lay my head, luckily nothing of consequence was in there, one should always endeavor to keep one's work, from cluttering up one's home.

Reward for Services Rendered

Naruto stood in the Hokage's office at attention, as the Fifth Hokage read from a sheet of paper. Along the side, standing next to him were his teammates from Team Nine, Uchiha Sakura and Senju-Uchiha Yoshiko, plus his sensei and mother, Senju-Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina. "… for services rendered by stopping a pair of traitors from stealing one of our most sacred objects, the Scroll of Sealing, I, Godaime Hokage-Senju Tsunade, hereby forthwith affirm the following boons. A B-ranked mission shall be noted upon your permanent record, a sum of $10 million ryo shall be deposited into your account, and you shall be allowed to learn one jutsu from the very same Scroll you prevented from falling into the wrong hands. The third boon shall be available indefinitely, until such time as you are capable of learning said jutsu, if you prove unable to learn it at this time."

The Hokage laid the Scroll of Sealing upon her desk, and unrolled it, "step over here, Uzumaki-san, and look through the Scroll and choose which jutsu you wish to learn."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto replied as he complied with her orders. He poured over the scroll, and read the explanations of each jutsu carefully, Kage Bunshin, no, that's too much like Elemental Clones, so I don't need it. Same with multi-shadow clone jutsu, and bunshin dai-bakufu isn't something I'm interested in, but I will see if I can't create something similar for my Kaze Bunshin. Eight-Trigrams Seal, don't need that. Senjutsu, I'll wait for that, … whoa, wait there's a subcategory, Senjutsu no Yōso (Sage Art of the Elements) requires mastery of primary nature element to even attempt. I did cut the waterfall in half last week, that's supposed to mean mastery. "Found one, Hokage-sama," Naruto stated pointing to Senjutsu no Yōso!

"Elemental Sage Art, eh," Tsunade remarked, "you sure like to do things the hard way, Naruto?"

"I'll say," Kushina agreed, "Senjutsu by itself is difficult, adding in the elements makes it worse."

"The good news is, you may still learn Animal Sage Art, in conjunction with Element Sage Art," Tsunade informed him.

"Awesome," Naruto said in awe."

"Think you can try now, or do you wish to wait," the Hokage asked?

"Hai," Naruto said immediately.

Tsunade smiled, "Good luck, Naruto. Now, channel your wind channel into the symbol, or symbols representing your nature affinity."

"Hai," Naruto said, as he did as he was told. He began channeling his wind chakra, then directing it into the symbol for wind. As he did so a cyclone swirled up around Naruto, the funnel of wind engulfed him, then it began losing coherence, and when it completely dissipated into nothing, Naruto was gone.