After they had failed to capture the redhead Neji and lee went back to their hotel, having decided that it would be fruitless to continue their search. When they got there they ran into Yūgao and Hana in the lobby. Hana asked, "So, you came up empty too huh?"

"Yes. Though not entirely."

"What do you mean 'not entirely'?"

"We found a redhead that seemed to be about our age."

"Your age? There's no way that Naoko could be...unless..."

"She has a daughter" Yūgao supplied, finishing Hana's thought.

"Yes, unfortunately she seems to be just as cunning as Naruto," Neji said, thinking back on what had happened at the park.

"Excuse me?" Hana asked, not understanding what Neji meant.

"She was wearing this weird cloak that she somehow managed to blind us with and, this is just a theory, it may also have been what concealed her presence when she left."

"What?" Yūgao asked.

"When she blinded us I could still feel her presence for about thirty seconds, then it just disappeared. I can't think of any other way to explain it."

Yūgao sighed and said, "So, the legendary sealing capabilities of the Uzumaki live on."

"Excuse me?" Lee asked, not having heard of an Uzumaki clan.

"I'm not sure what the Hyūga tell their children, but in the Inuzuka we learn about all the different villages and their specialties. I don't mean 'The Five Great Shinobi Nations', but all of the smaller villages. In recent times there has been more focus on ones that use traditional ninja skills, but back before you guys were born there was a village called Uzushiogakure."

As Hana informed them of the former existence of a village that they didn't know about Neji looked up in surprise and said, "No, in the Hyūga it's mostly about loyalty, both to the Main Branch of the Hyūga and to Konoha."

"I see, well then, I'll continue. Although Yūgao already knows this, I think that it would probably be best for you two to as well."

Neji looked at Yūgao and frowned as he asked, "What don't we know?"

Yūgao looked up and sighed. She said, "Hana, I'll tell them, after all, I know even more than you."

"Alright," Hana said.

"Okay, I'll start with Uzushiogakure's specialty." Neji looked interested, wanting to know more about the Shinobi World's history. Lee looked interested simply because he wanted to be able to better fight against the redhead that they had come across earlier. "The ninja of Uzushiogakure were masters of Fūinjutsu." Seeing that her audience was about to say something, Yūgao raised her hand and said, "Don't interrupt, all the questions that you have will probably be answered anyway." When she saw that the questions had been put on hold she continued, "Uzushiogakure unlike any other village, either of it's time, or ours. You see, it was a village entirely consisting of one clan, the Uzumaki."

"One Clan! How many were there?" Neji exclaimed, having been born into a large clan like the Hyūga.

"Well over 500." Neji's eyes widened when he heard the number. Before he could say anything, Yūgao continued, "but what was even scarier than their Fūinjutsu, was their belief that, above all, one thing should be protected, their family. That, along with the emergence of Uchiha as a world power, led to the creation of a type of weapon unique to their village. The weapons of Uzushiogakure were both prized and feared around the world, prized because of the varying types of abilities that they granted, feared because only an Uzumaki could use them."

"Do you mean to tell me that the Uzushiogakure ninja actually found a way to limit the number of people that can use a specific weapon?" Neji asked.

"Oh no, anybody can use them, it's just that if anyone outside the Uzumaki clan uses them the weapons will turn on the user."

"What? So the weapons are alive?"

"No, they forcibly draw the users chakra from them."

"That's not..."

Yūgao smiled and said, "I know, if you think about it logically, there's no way that that should be possible, right?" Neji nodded. "Well, think of what Naruto has done, can you apply logic to him?"

"Well, that's true."

"Now, imagine a village full of people just as unpredictable as Naruto and you can see why some of the Shinobi Nations would want to destroy it. As a matter of fact, that symbol on the back of your flak jacket, Lee, it the symbol of Uzushiogakure."

"So you're saying that the ninja of Uzushiogakure were all ninja-tool users?

"Yes."

"Thank God Tenten isn't here."

"Why?"

"She'd be all gaga after hearing that...Wait a second though, how do you know all this?"

"I was wondering when you'd get to that. Naruto's mother, Uzumaki Kushina, was my Jounin-sensei when I graduated the academy."

"Then if you knew who his parents were then why didn't you tell him?"

"The Sandaime made a law that said basically, if you tell anyone who Naruto's parents are, you will be killed, it was probably to protect the village. I asked to be allowed to teach him some jutsu but the Sandaime claimed that, since the villagers already hated him, there was no need to put fuel on the fire."

"Wait a second wouldn't Naruto's mother have had some of these weapons that you are telling us about?"

"Yes, she actually had many of them, but when we went to retrieve them the day after we found her body they were gone. We practically tore up the town looking for them, since we didn't want anyone to be injured because of them, but no luck I'm afraid."

"I see," Neji said.

"Well, no matter, we'll just have to start our search over tomorrow."

"Well, we'll be seeing you tomorrow," Neji said as he and Lee left to go to their room.

Meanwhile, at Naoko's house the redhead that Neji and Lee had met, Naoko's daughter Noriko, entered through the front door. She turned to look at her mother, who had started to cook their dinner, and said "Hi mum, how were the markets?"

"Good, I ran in to some shinobi from Konoha today."

"Really? That's odd. So did I."

"Ohh, so who was it?"

"I don't know, but at the very least there was someone from the Hyūga clan."

"What about the second one?"

"Second one?" Noriko asked with a slight blush.

"Yes, Konoha shinobi move in platoons of four Noriko, how many times have I told you that?"

"Well, he wasn't from one of the clans, I don't think."

"Why do you say this?"

"Well, you told me that the clans will usually have some kind of distinguishing trait, right?"

"Yes. Why are you asking me this? You know I've told you that many times before."

"Well, there was certainly a distinguishing feature on the second one."

"And...well, what is it?"

"His eyebrows," Noriko stated.

Naoko, in shock, asked, "His eyebrows?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm just having difficulty in understanding how eyebrows could be considered a distinguishing feature," Naoko said as she finished cooking the fish that she had acquired earlier.

"The eyebrows were...were..." Noriko said as blood started to trickle down from her nose.

Naoko thought 'how can this be, how can some ninja that she just met cause her to be so...so...urgh!' she then asked, "So, how'd you get away?"

"I blinded them then hid my chakra with the cloak that you made. I think that the Hyūga thought that he had the drop on me just before I activated the seals."

Naoko laughed at the picture that her daughter was painting and said "I wish I could've seen his face, a Hyūga, prized for their sight, blinded by a seal. That said, I want your opinion on this Noriko."

"Opinion on what?"

"Do you want to lead them on for a few days, or just meet them outright?"

"Hmm," Noriko let out thoughtfully. Then she thought of the green-clad ninja and said "I think that we should meet them, find out what they want, and then decide what to do."

Naoko smiled as she thought 'I thought so'. She then said, "Alright, we'll meet them tomorrow afternoon. That should give you time to finish your painting of the ducks."

Noriko's face paled at the discovery that her mother actually knew what she was doing when she was meant to be practicing the Fūinjutsu that her mother was teaching her.

At noon the next day, after Noriko finished painting the ducks, she packed up her easel and canvas and rushed to the cafe that she had been told to meet her mother at. When she got there she saw that her mother was sipping a cup of coffee and a glass of Autumnal Temptations(a mocktail), was waiting for her on the table in front of the opposite seat. She sat down in the seat and said "you know that they're on the roof over there, right?"

"Oh yes, I was just waiting for you to arrive before calling them over here, speaking of which, you're two minutes late."

"Uh, sorry, it took longer than I thought it would to get the bulrushes finished."

"Well, no problem...ah, waiter!" Naoko called out. When the waiter was there she said "there are some people on the rooftop over there." The waiter looked up at them as Naoko continued to talk "would it be possible for you to give them a glass of water and a message for me?"

"Yes it would ma'am."

"Thank you, oh yes, and bring the glass here before you take it to them please."

"Very well ma'am. What is the message that you would like me to pass along?"

"To cool down," Naoko said as she smiled.

"Very well ma'am" the waiter said as he went and got a glass of chilled water from the bar. When he brought it back she touched the bottom of it with her finger and said "there you go, and thank you."

Noriko looked at her mother and asked "did you just..."

"Yes, I carved a seal into the bottom of that cup."

"But won't that ruin the cup?"

"No, it's set to go off once and once only."

"Okay, so what does it do?"

Naoko smiled and said "you'll see. Just watch."

Meanwhile on top of the roof a fierce discussion was taking place. Lee was saying, "Why don't we just move in on them now? They clearly know that we're here."

"While I do agree with you Lee, there's no actual proof that they know that we're..." Hana said as the door to the roof opened up. They looked up at the sound of the door opening and, when the waiter was closer, Hana asked, "What are you doing up here, isn't your job to cater for that cafe..." as she finished her question she realised that the waiters presence could only mean one thing, that the two redheads knew that they were up there.

The waiter extended the glass to Hana and said "the redheaded lady asked me to give you a message."

"What is it?" Hana asked as she retrieved the glass from the waiter.

"She said to tell you to cool down."

As the waiter relayed the message the water in the cup burst into a mini-typhoon, drenching Hana's head and hair. Hana's eyes widened in confusion, then they narrowed in rage as she ground out, "I'm going to kill her!" just then they heard the laughter of two redheads outside the cafe. The four shinobi dropped down to the street opposite Naoko and Noriko, ostensibly to go over and talk rationally with Naoko, but in reality Yūgao, Lee and Neji were attempting to stop a fuming Hana from destroying the cafe. When they got to the table that Naoko and Noriko were sitting at Naoko said "please, take a seat," causing Hana's already considerable amount of anger to rise a bit more. Naoko, seeing the drenched Hana, said "oh, did you take that glass?"

"Yes" Hana angrily replied.

"Then I apologise."

"Huh?"

Naoko turned to her daughter and said, "I see what you mean," as she looked at lee. "Although, I fail to comprehend the reason for your infa..." Noriko quickly covered her mother's mouth with her hand as her face turned red. When Naoko raised her hands in front of her, as if to say 'alright, alright, I'm done messing with you', Noriko removed her hand. Naoko turned to Yūgao and said "so, what is it that you want?"

"No beating around the bush then?" Yūgao asked.

"My sister wouldn't train a shinobi to do so."

"How did..."

"Oh come on, surely you don't think that I can't tell who my sister trained? Now, spit it out, what could one of The Five Great Shinobi Nations, want with little old me? Surely you aren't thinking of trying to get me to join Konoha now, are you?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Tsunade-sama asked us to come here to tell you something. Depending on how you react to that information we have been ordered to act either of two ways."

"I see, and what way's would that be?"

"Leave you be, or leave you dead."

"I see, do go on."

"Very well. First off we are to inform you that the day of your sister's death she gave birth."

"Yeah, and it was a stillborn, that is no news to me."

"I see, so that's what they told you."

"What?" Naoko demanded, seeing where the conversation was going, and not liking it one bit.

"In all fairness, it was a lie told to the majority of the village too, but Naruto survived."

"Naruto?" Naoko asked, appalled at the name chosen by Kushina. She then commented, "Well, I suppose that that is a name that she would choose, that ramen addict."

"Ramen addict?" Neji asked. He looked at Lee and said, "it would appear that a love for ramen is hardwired into Naruto's DNA."

"Excuse me?" Naoko asked.

"Well, when Naruto is not training, then he can usually be found at The Ichiraku Ramen Stand."

"So, what kind does this Naruto like?" Noriko asked.

"I don't really think that he has a favourite," Neji replied, "granted, they're all the same to me."

"All the same? How dare you!" Noriko exclaimed, in shock as to how someone could so underestimate the gloriousness that is ramen.

Naoko sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose and said "and there's another one...I don't believe that of all the things that my mother could pass on that would be the one thing that survives."

"Well...anyway...so, will you come to Konoha with us, or not?"

"Yes, of course I will. Just out of curiosity, why only now are you informing me that my kin still survives?"

"We don't really know. Tsunade-sama didn't give us a reason, merely to contact you and to then return back to Konoha."

"I see." Naoko said as she thought, 'So this Naruto probably came upon some Dyrnwyn and Tsunade, being related to an Uzumaki, realised that someone would need to teach Naruto how to use them.' She then asked, "So, what's Naruto like?" as she and Noriko got up from their seats.

Neji replied, "From what I've seen so far he seems to be somewhat similar to you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's considered by many to be Konoha's #1 Unpredictable Ninja."

"Is that so?" Naoko asked. "Well well, it would seem that we shall get along swimmingly then. For now though, we'll meet you on the road out of this city in about an hour, that should give you enough time to get there, shouldn't it?"

"Yes, but you don't need to worry about us, that's more than enough time. You should be more concerned about getting there yourself rather than us...After all, you will be taking more than..."

Naoko laughed and said "never you mind about me and Noriko, we'll be packed up long before you."

"Huh?" Neji said, "but you've..."

"Look, never mind about them," Yūgao said as she had a feeling that she knew what Naoko was going to do.