Hey guys, here's the next instalment... I'm still not done with exams just for FYI, and I really shouldn't be here still, but here's another chapter I managed to squeeze out in between my exams. So, hopefully you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara

XxX

Chapter 1

Ends and Beginnings

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

Naruto wasn't really sure how he felt about this 'mission' Uzumaki-jiji had sprung on them as suddenly as he had. On the one hand, he was a little sad that he'd be leaving. Despite not having any family in Uzushio aside from his cousin Kushina, this was his home. He'd been born and raised here, albeit by the orphanage, but that was besides the point. Uzushio was all he knew, so the nervousness he was feeling about leaving, while not necessary, was understandable. Change was a scary thing. Even more so for a couple of eight-year-old's. But change was a necessary part of life. Naruto understood that, but it didn't make the fact that they had to leave everything they knew behind any easier.

On the other hand however, he was excited, ecstatic even. Konoha was hailed as one of the strongest, if not the strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations. His potential for growth would be limitless in a place like that, and the thought of learning and experimenting with medical ninjutsu as seen and taught from their point of view had him squealing in his mind like a giddy schoolgirl.

It was an embarrassing feeling actually now that he took some time to think about it, so he immediately halted that line of thinking and coughed into his hands, shrugging his backpack a little further up his shoulders. It was filled with a blank scroll and all his other essentials for fūinjutsu, with all of his other personal possessions safely sealed away within a storage scroll. Everything he'd need packed and ready to go for their relocation.

He continued walking towards their destination at the harbour, Kushina not too far behind. She had literally been bouncing off the walls once they'd eventually been ushered out of Uzumaki-jiji's office, and it was clear as day to see that she was more than chuffed with the mission they'd received. He glanced back just in time to see a body flying at him from the sky, and he took a small step to his left as the girl who'd nearly drilled him into the ground landed in a crouch, a childish pout on her lips after her target seemingly sensed her approach. Naruto just had to ask. "How're you so excited?"

His response was a pair of legs being thrown over his shoulders and a pair of fists tapping on the top of his head incessantly. Incidentally, a ride on his shoulders seemed to be the answer.

"How are you not 'ttebane?! Konoha's the strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations! And do you know what they have that we don't?" she questioned with wide eyes, leaning forward and peering at him upside down from over his head. At the shake of his head, she leaned back before springing forward and landing in front of her redheaded cousin, walking backwards while facing him with her arms held out far and wide. "They have a Hokage! A Hokage 'ttebane!"

She span on her feet and matched pace with her cousin again, shaking her head softly with a huge grin as if the very notion of it was inconceivable. Naruto just rolled his eyes before an evil grin suddenly split his face. 'We're probably not coming back here anytime soon, so might as well make the most of our last few minutes!' Grabbing a paper bag as they passed a fruit stand, he quickly covered his cousin's head with it before shooting off towards the docks, dust kicking up around him as he sped away. "Race you to the harbour!"

After struggling to take the bag off for a few seconds, Kushina eventually just ripped it down the middle and gave chase after her cousin, her hair whipping around her wildly as that oppressive aura from earlier returned full force. "Naruto! When I get my hands on you I'm gonna pound you into oblivion!"

A few seconds passed before a yell was heard in the distance, his reply only succeeding in aggravating her more. "You'll have to catch me first... slowpoke!"

The vein in her temple throbbed in anger, and she clenched her fists at her side as she began planning what was to be his excruciatingly painful demise. 'You'd better make peace with whatever demons you've got cousin, because you are so dead once I'm done with you!' Never let it be said that Uzumaki Kushina was a liar. Because she was gonna make damn sure that she followed through with that promise of pain. Her prey thought he was in the clear? Oh Kami how wrong he was.

XxX

The Uzushio docks were surrounded by a natural harbour of land on all sides, the only exit being straight ahead through a smaller opening of earth. The natural harbour itself was surrounded by whirlpools as well, providing a perfect defense against any unwanted intrusions. The relatively narrow passageway of water where the earth gave way to the only exit to the harbour also had its own smaller whirlpools running through the passage in addition to the ones surrounding it from the outside, however these ones were artificially created through the use of fūinjutsu.

Any vessel that wanted to enter or exit the docks of Uzushio had to have a specialised seal inscribed on their ship's hull, which would periodically deactivate these smaller whirlpools as you proceeded. Having many smaller whirlpools lined up behind each other prevented any other unwanted vessels from tailgating a ship straight through to the docks and subsequently infiltrating the village itself. A necessary fail-safe that had needed to be implemented after their previous use of one larger whirlpool had failed in years past.

Hatake Sakumo sailed through the air with his pony tail billowing behind him, landing on the deck of the vessel he'd arrived on without a sound, not a single ripple out of place on the water's surface around the boat. It was a trade ship that proudly sported the symbol of Hi no Kuni upon its sails, and he'd hitched a ride with them on their way here in order to keep a low profile. It had just been going about its normal rounds along the trade route between the port in Hi no Kuni and this one here, and the contents of its cargo were largely unknown to Sakumo. All he knew was that it was something that only required a few more minutes loading time before it was deemed ready to return to the mainland, which meant that he and his two passengers could head back to Konoha immediately.

Looking up into the sky to gauge the time, he predicted that if they left now they'd most likely hit the port back at home in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It was around a two and a half days' journey back to Konoha from where they'd be landing in Hi no Kuni for your average three man cell by foot. Factoring in that his charges were only eight years old, he reasoned they'd probably add about an extra two days to that estimate.

His train of thought was halted however as a massive dust cloud could be seen in the distance, only increasing in size and nearing the ship at a rapid pace. As the cloud got closer however, it was clear as day to see what was causing the commotion, and the forms of two small redheads could be made out from within. Naruto was running ahead of Kushina with a big smile on his face, while the girl for the most part looked nothing short of demonic. Sakumo ventured a guess that they were probably racing again if what Uzumaki-sama had told him yesterday about their relationship was true, but Kushina didn't seem to care so much about winning as she did about wrapping her hands around Naruto's neck and applying a good deal of force.

Naruto himself had completely lost himself in the race, and he was none the wiser to the dangers that were to befall him as soon as he stopped. So when he skidded to a screeching halt in front of the boat with Konoha's White Fang aboard it with a jump and aloud 'Yip!' of excitement, he was taken completely by surprise when a fist impacted with the back of his head and launched him over the boat and into the water on the other side.

Sakumo craned his head to watch the redhead's arc and let out a low whistle of appreciation at the distance he'd managed to travel. 'Uzumaki-sama was dead on with his assessment of Kushina-san. Her temper is quite formidable indeed.' Watching as the red-haired girl huffed tiredly off to his left with a smirk of satisfaction on her face, he cleared is throat and sent her a disarming smile. "I'm glad to see you both made it on time, and in one piece... more or less I hope?"

Kushina turned her head and her eyes widened in embarrassment at his question, her arms quickly flailing around in nervousness. "O-Of course Sakumo-san, he's had much worse than that before, he'll be perfectly fine."

Her words seemed to appease him for now as he smiled gently, although internally Sakumo had to wince at that. 'And she says he's endured worse than that?' He shook his head softly and directed her aboard the boat, moving over to the other side to try and catch sight of his other wayward charge. 'I must remember that although they're young, they're still both Uzumaki's. In that case, the trek back to the village should only take about an extra half a day at most. Their endurance levels never cease to amaze me.'

Nodding to himself, the silver-haired Hatake moved to peek his head over the side of the boat, but before he even made it to the edge, a tuft of red hair made itself visible. Two hands followed right after and then the entirety of Naruto himself, vaulting over the edge of the ship and landing on the deck with a squelch. He was soaked to the bone, and Sakumo just had to ask: "Was whatever you did really worth all that trouble?"

Looking up at the man after giving himself a good shake to try disperse most of the water, Naruto's face broke out into a wide grin. "Hells yeah it was! I'm four up now with 23 races to 19. She's gonna have a lot of catching up to do if she wants to take my spot at top of the podium!"

Sakumo just stared at the boy with an amused smile. "Uh-huh. Best get you out of those wet clothes though and into something dry. You may be a medic in training, but you're not immune to getting sick yourself." Although as Uzumaki's with heightened vitality, even Sakumo couldn't be completely certain if that were true or not. He didn't think on it for long though before chucking a towel he'd grabbed at the boy as he began stripping. "I'll show you to our quarters in a moment, I just need to send word out to the Hokage that we're on our way."

Naruto just nodded dumbly as he wrapped the towel around his body, his head the only appendage visible as he watched the silver-haired shinobi.

Sakumo grabbed a small vial-sized scroll from his flak jacket before quickly scribbling down his note and rolling it back up. He placed the scroll between his lips and ran through a set of hands seals too fast for Naruto to keep up with, slamming a hand to the wooden deck below. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

A seal matrix spread out underneath the man's hand before being enveloped in a puff of smoke. As the smoke dissipated, what remained was a small pug-like dog with cream-coloured fur and a dark brown snout and ears. It was wearing a blue vest with a heno-heno-moheji seal, as well as a blue Konoha hitai-ate on top of its head. The small dog shook its head softly, sending its ears flapping this way and that before raising a paw in greeting. "Good evening Sakumo. What do you need?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the sound of the dog's soft female voice, but he didn't express his awe at the fact that a dog was talking after figuring that such things in the shinobi world weren't as uncommon or impossible as he probably thought they were. 'I mean, what's so weird about a dog talking... I can walk on water for Kami's sake.'

Sakumo bent down on one knee and rubbed the dog's head, a small smile on his face at the sight of his ninken familiar looking good and well as always. "Good evening to you too Sachi. It's good to see you've recovered from our last mission. But on to why I've called you here. I need you to deliver a message for me to the Hokage, and to the Hokage only. This is of a time-sensitive nature as well, so I'd appreciate it if you could make sure to get it to him within two days."

The small pug bowed its head and got up onto all fours. "In that case I'll make sure to get it to him within one. Be sure to call on me again if you require my assistance Sakumo." With that, Sachi opened her mouth and closed her jaws around the scroll that was given to her by her summoner, bowing her head once more before leaping off the boat with great speed, disappearing from view within a few seconds.

Sakumo watched his trusted summon run off into the distance in the direction of his home before turning back to the small redhead and ushering him towards the inner cabin, their quarters being below deck. "Now that that's all taken care of we can go get you properly clothed before you catch cold. The ship will be departing shortly, so best we remove ourselves from the deck so as not to get in any of the crew members' ways."

Naruto nodded and wrapped the towel around him a little tighter, taking one last look at the slowly setting sun before following Sakumo in through the door. Well, they were just about ready to head on towards Konoha. And in all honesty... 'I'm actually getting a little excited now myself... damn you Kushina and your infectious excitement 'ttebayo!'

Highway just beyond Konohagakure no Sato's village borders...

The sweltering midday sun of Hi no Kuni hung high in the air, the position of its arc indicating that it was most likely rounding on four o'clock in the afternoon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky for miles, the weather a typical occurrence for a day in Hi no Kuni. Birds chirped loudly in the distance, and a soft breeze rustled the leaves of the trees that were so prominently scattered all around the land.

Three figures approached from the horizon moving at a leisurely speed. The three figures consisting of one Hatake Sakumo, with his two charges Uzumaki Kushina and Uzumaki Naruto. Flanking them from the trees on all sides were several of the Hokage's best trained Anbu, however they were the best trained for a reason, and their presence was wholly unknown to the young Uzumaki's.

Both redhead's had nervous smiles on their faces as they neared their destination, their anticipation reaching new heights as they came to the conclusion of their journey. Both handled their nervousness in very different ways however.

Naruto for his part just kept his eyes trained straight ahead of him with his hands held behind his head, his outward appearance a direct contrast to the inner rumblings of his mind. His thoughts would otherwise be a constant series of questions. And the human brain was programmed to respond to questions, which his would do. Whether he had the answers or not, he would constantly be weighing up everything in his mind, drowning in his own thoughts. To keep this from happening though, he would recite medical procedures and theory, anything to keep his mind from wandering. It was a sort of coping mechanism he'd developed sometime after he'd begun medic training, and whenever he was particularly nervous about something, reciting medical theory was his best form of keeping himself composed.

His inner-parroting was brought to an abrupt halt however as a sharp pain emanated from his ribs. Glancing to his side, he found the source of the pain to be an elbow from his red-haired cousin who seemed to be on some sort of caffeine high. Seeing her expectant look, he ventured she'd probably asked him some kind of question. Sigh. "Could you say that again Kushina? I didn't hear you."

Sakumo's eyes widened from the front after hearing that, but he wisely opted to keep his mouth shut, lest he incur Kushina's wrath. He'd come to learn of her rather demonic ways quite quickly over the past few days, and he now knew better than to cross her path directly. Kushina herself seemed a little miffed that he hadn't been listening, but with a sharp intake of breath she decided to repeat herself any way.

"What I said was... whyareyouactingsoquietandwhydon'tyoulooksoexcitedImeanwe'reminutesaway—"

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before he promptly slapped a hand over her mouth, her muffled voice chattering on beneath his hand as if she wasn't obstructed in any way whatsoever. She carried on for a few more seconds before throwing her hands up in the air with an expectant look on her face, obviously waiting for the second time now for Naruto to answer her question.

While Naruto's nervousness was managed in a much quieter way, Kushina tended to revert to being a lot more vocal. It was just who she was however, so he slowly removed his hand from her mouth and wiped off all the gooey saliva that was now covering the palm of his hand. "Yum. How about we just take a nice deep breath together, huh?"

The fiery redhead pursed her lips but acquiesced nonetheless, taking a deep calming breath before grabbing her cousin's forearm comfortingly. "What if they don't like us 'ttebane? All I wanna do is fit in here, but with this red hair the only thing we're gonna do is stand out."

She pouted childishly at the thought, but Naruto just snorted and grinned broadly. "Who cares what everyone else thinks? If they don't like us then that's their loss. Besides, everyone knows that red is the best colour 'ttebayo!"

Sakumo couldn't help but smile gently as his two charges continued to chatter on animatedly behind him. He'd been able to get quite an accurate read on the two children during his travel with them from Uzu no Kuni back home. The two, despite not being siblings, had a very much sibling-esque relationship. Just like with every sibling relationship, they tended to butt heads more often than not on a lot of different things, either due to a difference in their view points, or simply a case of brotherly teasing that usually ended with a fist being planted into Naruto's skull.

The thought drew a soft chuckle from the silver-haired man. Originally he'd feared a little for the red-haired boy's life, but it seemed that the back and forth between him and Kushina really was a normal occurrence. If nothing else, their energetic and enthusiastic personalities would surely liven up Konoha, something the village could always use more of.

Glancing ahead, the front gates of the village were finally within view, and he turned his head back to get the two Uzumaki's attention. "Okay you two, it seems we're finally rounding on the conclusion of our journey. As your escort, I can safely say it has been a pleasure travelling with you, and I'm glad I was given this opportunity."

The two redheads smiled up at the tall man they'd been travelling with, and Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully. "Ah, you don't have to go make it all sappy and mushy Sakumo-san."

Kushina raised a fist and dropped it on top of Naruto's head, grinding it into his skull as she looked up at Konoha's White Fang with a sheepish smile before bowing softly. "What he meant to say was, it's been a pleasure as well Sakumo-san. Thank you for escorting us here from Uzushio!"

The silver-haired shinobi chuckled good-naturedly before rubbing the back of his own head. "Please, don't mention it. I was only doing my duty. Once I clear our arrival with the gate guards we will proceed to Hokage-sama's office, and I'll be leaving you in his capable hands."

Both kids smiled up at him in what he assumed they thought was assurance, but he could see the small sliver of doubt residing in their eyes. "There's no need to worry, Hokage-sama is a wonderful man, and you'll be perfectly all right with him. I give you my word."

XxX

Standing at attention in front of the Hokage's desk were the two red-haired Uzumaki's who had only several minutes ago stepped foot into Konoha for the very first time. True to his word, Sakumo had escorted them right to the Hokage himself before having a quick word with his leader and departing thereafter. The strongest shinobi of Konoha, the Shinobi no Kami himself Sarutobi Hiruzen sat mere metres away from the two now very diminutive-feeling redheads. The Hokage had tanned skin with dark brown hair and a small goatee, and a single inked line running vertically under the outer corners of each of his eyes. He wore the official Hokage's uniform that consisted of a haori with a red full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash, and the hat that was hanging off the corner of the chair's back rest, the symbol for Hi no Kuni emblazoned proudly on the hat's forefront.

He was no spring chicken like when he'd first been named Sandaime Hokage, but he wasn't old either, not by any stretch of the word. He was in fact 40 years old to be exact, and quite recently at that, if the haphazardly strewn about birthday cards littering his desk were anything to go by. His presence commanded respect however, and the power radiating off of him was difficult to miss. It wasn't stifling, not in an uncomfortable way. It was more just the constant aura surrounding the man. He was very powerful, that much was certain. He most definitely was not called the Shinobi no Kami for nothing.

Naruto, so focused on analysing every detail about the man in front of him, didn't realise he was thinking aloud until the man behind the desk himself let out an amused chuckle. Naruto's eyes widened in mortification, and he immediately bowed his head in apology after realising what he'd been doing. "I-I'm so sorry 'ttebayo!"

The man just chuckled again, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "That's quite all right Uzumaki-kun, that's quite all right."

Naruto slowly lifted his head, scratching at his burning cheeks in embarrassment and smiling nervously. "S-So uh, how much of that did you hear any ways?"

The man 'hmmd' in thought before shrugging his shoulders. "Not that much in all honesty." Naruto breathed a noticeable sigh of relief at that, but missed the way the Hokage's eyes once again lit up in amusement. "I may not be a 'spring chicken', but I'm still plenty young by the way, and still very much in the prime of my youth."

Naruto just chuckled nervously. It seemed he had heard everything right from the beginning. "Heh-heh, sorry about that. Happy birthday for what it's worth," he said with no amount of enthusiasm and a lacklustre effort, raising his hands into the air for an awkward and wordless 'woot-woot'. He turned to Kushina to try get her to join him, before her positively livid stare changed his mind and prompted him to drop his hands back to his side immediately, a soft gulp echoing in his ears. He was almost certain he saw a strand of her hair twitch, and when those fiery locks came alive, it never ended in anything less than physical pain for him.

The Hokage's chair creaked softly as he got up from his seated position and smiled at the two Uzumaki's. "I imagine you two must both be quite exhausted after your long trip. All the admin of this transfer can be taken care of tomorrow," he said with no small amount of annoyance, sending a small glare at the stacks of paper littering half of his desk before smiling gently back at the two eight-year-old's. "I feel it's probably best if I show you to where you'll be staying from now for the moment though. I assure you that you'll be quite pleased with the arrangements. You'll have a chance to meet and get to know a relative of yours that is originally from Uzushio as well."

This caused both Uzumaki's to widen their eyes in surprise. They didn't know of any Uzumaki that had previously left Uzushio for Konoha. It must have been quite a while back though, otherwise they would've definitely known about it right? But the question of 'Who?!' on both of the redhead's lips was asked with a much greater amount of confidence and what sounded like depseration than Hiruzen himself had seen of the children as of yet, and he imagined that they'd more than likely have an easier time settling in here being with someone from their own clan. Not to mention she was the current Kyūbi jinchūriki, but neither children knew that as of yet. No one but a handful of people did actually. It wasn't time for them to become privy to such information either however. Not for a while at least.

"I'm not surpised you don't know of her. She moved here to Konoha more than 70 years ago, and was around during the founding of this fine village. Her name is Uzumaki Mito, and she was in fact married to our very first Hokage and one of my mentors, Senju Hashirama-sensei, before he passed away some time after that."

Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly shuffled around his desk and placed a hand on each child's shoulder, gently directing them out of his office. "But that's of no consequence. Come, I'll escort you to her place of residence myself. In the meantime, how about you both tell me a few things about yourself, hm? I don't even know your names yet. Oh, and where are my manners... welcome to Konoha! I wonder... do you two have the Will of Fire within, as young as you are?"

Kushina scrunched her nose and voiced the question that was on both children's minds. "The Will of Fire? What the heck is that? Sounds like some kind of ritual if you ask me 'ttebane!"

Hiruzen had to chuckle to himself at that, and he held a hand to his stomach as he let out a laugh. Ah, it was good to laugh again. Hashirama-sensei had always been the one to liven things up around here, and after he was gone, Tobirama-sensei had sought to put an end to much of the tom-foolery that his older brother was known for. But alas, it was good to have some people around here that had such startlingly similar personalities to his former sensei. "In time, as shinobi of Konoha, you too will come to know of the Will of Fire. It is something that has been passed down through generations, something that was passed down to me by my predecessors and sensei."

"I'm still just as clueless about this Will of Fire as I was when you first mentioned it! Is it some kind of super jutsu?" Kushina asked with excitement dancing in her eyes.

Hiruzen smiled softly and glanced towards the faces on the Hokage Monument. "It is our village's indomitable strength to keep fighting and ploughing on in protection of this village, even when all the odds are stacked against you. As young as you are, I wonder..." He hummed softly to himself in thought, and Naruto and Kushina simply shrugged their shoulders in confusion. Well, whatever it was, it could take a back seat. They were just really looking forward to meeting another Uzumaki who had moved here just like them! If anything, she'd at least be able to help them out if they ever needed it, given their similar circumstances for moving to the village.

Well, that's a wrap and officially chapter one of JFO. I'm still a little curious as to what you guys think of the title. I'd originally named it based on Naruto and Kushina just following the orders of their leader and moving over to Konoha without any fuss, but I can't help but feel that it doesn't really have much oomph to it if you know what I mean, hehe. But oh well, we'll see how it goes, maybe I'll change it later if something cooler and awesome makes itself known.

On to this chapter, it was a bit of a filler chapter, but I'm thinking of sticking to around 5k words for each chapter. It might toll up to more chapters in the end, but it's a lot easier for me to write up shorter chapters in between Uni work and exams, even though I should really be doing something along the lines of studying, haha! If you've got any questions, drop a review or a PM and I'll answer as best I can without giving away too much so as not to spoil anything for you.

What I've got planned for the next chapter might also land up being a bit of a filler, I'm still trying to work through a bit of the admin if I can put it like that, so please bear with me for now if it's a little slow for you guys. I apologise in advance. But I'd just like to get your opinion on something... they're obviously gonna go to the academy, and things are gonna happen there, but I'd like to skip most of that because, lets face it, the academy times are a little boring. School is boring, so I doubt you'd wanna read up more on school when you're probably taking a break from school while reading this story, am I right? That being said, I'll write up a chapter that details a little about what's going on, who they're in a class with etc etc, but then I'm gonna have a bit of a time skip to their graduation, or at least, that was the plan. If you guys are completely against that, I'll try wangle up some chapters for their academy days, but I'd prefer to skip that if at all possible.

Okay, one more thing I have to say in this AN which is turning out to be a lot longer than I wanted it to... I'm not one for incest, and on that note, I'd just like to point out that this will not in any way be a Naruto/Kushina story! I'm not judging anyone who's into incest, to each their own and all that y'know, but I'm not particularly comfortable with it, so I'm gonna refrain from that. They're going to have something akin to a brother-sister relationship even though they're only cousins, but I've got other plans in mind for a pairing for Naruto when it eventually gets to that too!

I hope you guys are cool with that, but for those who aren't, I'm sorry, but you'll have to look elsewhere for Uzumaki-cest stories.

Any ways, only a few more exams for me to go, so wish me luck! I eagerly await your feedback!

ShadowedNara