The slow walk through the tunnels, back to the top of the Hokage Mountain where the opening had been carved, was silent. The pace was sluggish since Kaminari was in no condition to move quickly. Once or twice the Hokage or Hatake had glanced at her, their gazes watching to see if she stumbled. When such glances were met with her prideful eyes, she would straighten her back and begin taking longer strides. After a while, both shinobi gave up and allowed her to limp on without comment or concern.
Naruto had been surprisingly silent as well. Though it wasn't of his own choice. Kakashi-sensei had given him a silent glare whenever he opened his mouth to speak. Plus, there were a few times when his interest had landed on the flicking length of hair at the end of Kaminari's tail. Outstretched fingers, ready to just touch it, had been crushed in his sensei's gloved hands. It was clear that he should leave the poor female alone for now. He didn't understand it, but at the risk of making his usually laid back teacher really angry, he obeyed and simply followed behind.
Speaking of the jounin, he was beginning to get exasperated at the blonde's normally endearing antics. It was like the boy wanted to get clawed or something. Not only was he exasperated, but his mind was whirling with thoughts. The thin thread of chakra connecting him to Kaminari had lost its glow and was now all but invisible, but he could still feel it. And he could feel Kaminari's chakra fluctuating as she used it to give herself the power to walk. The female was stubborn, that was for sure. Instead of allowing herself to show weakness, she used her massive amount of chakra to push her frail body into motion. He had seen her when they stepped out into the well lit hallway. Her limbs were sticks at the most, the skin clinging to the bones with nothing between the layers. It was only her face that appeared untouched by starvation, the cheeks still round and her eyes full. She was dirty was well, grime caked and covered in a thick layer of dust. Immediately, the dust had begun floating off as she moved.
He had no idea what the Hokage had in mind in terms of housing her. Nor did he have any inkling of how the old shinobi expected to hide her unique features. The villagers still scorned Naruto for harboring the demon fox within himself. There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that Kaminari's appearance would not be met with friendly smiles. And gods help them if the councilor's Danzo, Homura, and Koharu got wind of this. They would simply think that Kaminari should be used as a weapon, such as they believed Naruto should have been used. It had taken quite a bit of the Copy-nin's self-discipline to not threaten the old bastards when he had gotten wind of the rumors of the fate of Minato-sensei's son. As it were, the Hokage had been able to silence the Council on the matter of Naruto.
No, Kakashi was not in a good mood. And as he walked behind the mysterious female in front of him, he dreaded all of the troublesome matters that were apparently going to follow being the guardian of her.
Kaminari herself was having a bit of a problem, aside from goading her deprived body to move. As they got closer and closer to the opening of the tunnels situated at the top of the Hokage Monument, the degree of light in the hallway continued to rise. Her poor eyes, stuck in darkness for so many years were starting to burn from their inability to adjust. Of course, within the next few hours her body would recognize the injury and begin to heal them, but until then, she was faced with slowly becoming blind. Shutting her eyes would be the best thing, but doing so in front of these shinobi would show weakness, something her pride wouldn't allow. However, as they were finally within a quarter of a mile from the entrance, her eyes betrayed her out of instinct and closed, refusing to open, less they be damaged by the harmful rays of the sun.
The group came out of the entrance and a great sight met them. Konohagakure sat in front of them, spread out in all of it's glory. The Hokage sighed in appreciation of the view, though he had been there millions of times, the sight never ceased to amaze him. This was his to protect, and protect he had. At the thought, he glanced over at the female, noticing her grimaced face and closed eyes and quickly deducted the problem. She wasn't able to stand the sunshine yet after being imprisoned in darkness. Well, a medic would have to look at her anyway because of her emaciated state, healing her eyes would simply be on the list of things to take care of.
He turned around to address the group and his ANBU, as well as Kakashi, stood at attention.
"I don't want Kaminari's true appearance to be announced quite yet. The only ones who will currently know of her true existence will be Team Kakashi, myself and you.", he nodded to the ANBU. "Until we can formulate a way for her real identity to be known, this is what we will say if anyone asks of her. She is a woman from a very rural area from the Kirigakure. Her family is known for their kekkei genkai, however as it is well known, they were driven out during the Purge, when those with blood traits were thought to be suspicious and were killed. This story should give us enough time to figure out a way to introduce Kaminari fully."
The shinobi around him nodded without argument. At least some of Kakashi's worry was slightly taken away with the Third's plan. Naruto was simply nodding because everyone else did and he didn't want to appear stupid. He really didn't understand anything that the Hokage had said, especially the stuff of kekkei genkai and blood traits. He'd ask Kakashi-sensei later.
The female in question was gritting her teeth slightly at the thought of having to assume a new identity. She was Kaminari Ryuu! Not some faceless human female! But, as the new 'pet' of these humans, she supposed she didn't have a choice.
"Naruto, I would like you to find your other teammates and inform them of my decision. Do not forget to tell them that Kaminari's true identity is to be kept secret", the Hokage addressed the blonde. "Kakashi and Kaminari will have to come with me to the Tower so we can take care of a few things. I have no doubt that this will cause quite a bit of paperwork for my assistants." Sarutobi sighed with the thought of how many signatures he would have to sign in order to forge the paperwork needed for Kaminari to be allowed to stay in the village.
Naruto's face twisted like a toddler's that had it's favorite toy taken away. "Aww, but Hokage-jiji! I was supposed to show Kaminari Ichiraku's ramen!"
Kaminari snorted in disgust at the idea of trying this food, while the Hokage stifled his laughter at her response. "Now, now, Naruto, I'm sure you will have plenty of opportunities to show Kaminari around the village. However, we need to get her situated first.", the Hokage raised an eyebrow at him, as though daring him to complain again.
The blonde just sighed, knowing that he had lost. "Fine old man, I'll wait then. See ya Kakashi-sensei, bye Kamin-"
Before he could finish the sentence, the blonde perked up, smiled sneakily, and bounded forward to the female, who was still currently blind. Wrapping his arms around her torso and dodging the wings, he gave her a great bear hug before quickly leaping back to avoid her fist.
"I'll see ya around Kaminari-san! Just wait until you try Ichiraku, you'll want to eat anything else!", he giggled impishly.
The reptilian female was already snarling at the blonde as he bound away down the mountain. How dare he invade her personal space like that! The stupid gaki had put his scent all over her now and she could smell his repugnant stench even as he ran away. A small part of her had actually enjoyed the contact of another living being touching her after being alone for so long. However, that small part was currently being squashed at the anger she felt at the brat's gall and the fact that it was a HUMAN that had initiated that embrace.
"If you shinobi wish for that blonde idiot to survive to adulthood, I suggest telling him not to do that again.", she growled out evenly, her hands clenching and unclenching to show her vexation.
The group that was left merely chuckled at her. It was Naruto after all, the knucklehead had more brawn that brains after all. Even the Hokage sighed at the blonde's antics.
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At the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi sat back in his chair and glanced at the two people in front of him. The ANBU agents had resumed their posts around his office upon his return, so now Kakashi and Kaminari were left alone with the aged man. The journey from the Monument to the Tower had been an interesting one. Despite her blindness, Kaminari had been able to navigate with them over the rooftops of Konoha with ease. At a closer looks, he had noticed that the small tendril of chakra that connected the silver haired man to her had been what she used to follow him. The ANBU and himself had followed behind.
It appeared that she had great skills in chakra detection. That is what prompted him to begin speaking.
"It appears to me that you have a great amount of skill to offer to the village. As per our agreement, I believe that it would be a good thing for you to begin taking missions with Team Kakashi. The jutsu that binds you and Kakashi together will not allow you to move more than a mile away, and being with Kakashi's Team will allow you to see how shinobi work together in a unit, so this is suitable for our agreement, yes?", he looked to her for a response.
In the lower lighted area of the Hokage's office, and since her eyes had slowly begun to heal, she looked at him through squinted eyes. No, this was not suitable, she had seen the group that this human called Team Kakashi. It was made up of three brats and an adult, including that evil blonde brat and his annoying scarecrow of a sensei. She didn't want to be stuck babysitting, but once again, it came down to her having no choice in the matter.
"Since I doubt that there is a better situation for you to put me in, yes, I will take missions with the scarecrow and his brats.", she grunted. This prompted a chuckle from both of the shinobi in the room.
"Well then, all that we have left to discuss is housing and other financial matters.", the Hokage took out his well used pipe and began stuffing it with tobacco. "Until you have enough missions under your belt to provide for yourself, I will provide necessary items such as food, housing, and clothing. If that is alright with you." The Hokage looked towards her as he used a small fire jutsu to light the now ready pipe. Cherry smoke began flooding the room with it's aroma.
The woman sniffed at the intrusion on her olfactory system and nodded, "You do not need to provide me with clothing, but I will accept the housing and food."
Kakashi and Sarutobi looked closely at her when she spoke this. The only clothes that they could see on her were hardly clothes at all. More like scraps of cloth held together by strands of thread and, in certain parts, chain mail. The tattered remains of a kimono over the chain mail was definitely not suitable to walk around Konoha with.
"Are you sure Kaminari-san? Where do you have clothes to change in to?", Kakashi spoke up, allowing his leader the respite of not having to ask such a question. Both shinobi had noticed the female dragon's aversion to help or anything that might show weakness.
She snorted and raised her arms. Taking careful swipes with her claws, she scraped away the dirt, grime, and dust that coated her like a second skin. Underneath it all, pale, almost blue-like, skin with odd tattoos began to show. As she finally cleared off the rest of her forearm, they were able to see a set of seals inscribed there.
"During the war between our two species, it was important to always be on the move and have the ability to quickly clear away a campsite in case of attack.", she slowly explained, annoyed at even having to tell these humans something that was so common to her. "We dragons were the original inventors of seals. To put it bluntly, it was easy to create storage seals that we could carry on our bodies, which allowed us to carry all of our earthly possessions on ourselves. I have enough clothing to last me a lifetime." Little did they know, she also had a seal on her back, between her shoulder blades, that held all of the powerful weapons of dragons that had fought before her. It had been mission to gather them all before the humans could get their hands on them.
Unbeknownst to her, she had completely flabbergasted the two seasoned shinobi in front of her. They had never thought using seals for that purpose. Nor had any shinobi before them if they remembered correctly. Even the great Jiraiya of the Sannin had never mentioned such a thing.
"Well, that's useful.", Kakashi provided bluntly, his eye wide and surprised. Once again, Kaminari snorted, "You think so?"
The Hokage cleared his throat. Hopefully in the future, this strange guest to his village would give more information about certain things, such as the odd techniques she appeared to know. If the feeling in his gut was correct thought, it would be quite some time before that. They would need to gain Kaminari's trust before they could ask her such secrets that appeared important to her clan.
"Very well then. It appears that you are well provided for then Kaminari. As for housing, I believe that there is an apartment right below Kakashi's that would suit you. I will have one of my shinobi send a letter to the landowner informing him of his new tenant." Sarutobi took a piece of parchment and began writing and he continued speaking. "As for missions, I will allow Kakashi to be in charge of that. You will be at his command and any missions that his team take, you will also be a part of. Until I deem that it is safe for the jutsu between you too to be broken, this is probably how it will always be."
He took note of a low growl coming from the female as he spoke of her being Kakashi's subordinate. He was not a foolish man, if he had assessed her correctly, when she was healthy and had full chakra reserves, she could probably put Kakashi in the hospital. No, this was to try and get her to accept humans more, if that was even possible. Not only that, but he was hoping a certain blonde troublemaker could break through her walls. He had already made an attempt if his earlier embrace to the dragon was anything to go by.
This was certainly going to be interesting to watch.
