Three weeks later Naruto, Amayah, Nanami and Amayah's two other Genin arrived at the waterfall that served as the entrance to Takigakure. When they stopped in front of the waterfall Amayah turned to Naruto and said "Alright Naruto, this' going to be your home for the next few years, alright?"

"Yeah, sure is Amayah-nee." Amayah smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "There's just one teeny tiny problem," Naruto said, holding his thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart.

"Yes?" Amayah asked with a raised eyebrow, smiling at the question that she knew was coming.

"This is a waterfall."

"Yeah, I know. This is Takigakure after all. It's in the name, so of course there needs to be at least one waterfall in the area. That said though, in this case the waterfall is actually the gates to our village. The village is through there" Amayah replied, pointing at the waterfall. As they went through the waterfall Amayah continued, "because it's your first time here we'll be taking the longer, safer, way."

Amayah's team then proceeded on to go the long way up to their village. When they were at the entrance they were met by five armed guards, one of them, clearly the leader, asked "Uzumaki Amayah, who is this with you?"

"Get off that horse Hiroke-chan, it doesn't suit you."

"Amayah," Hiroke growled out, warningly.

"Oh calm down, this is Naruto, a cousin of sorts."

"Cousin?"

"Yeah, turns out that an Uzumaki managed to reach Konoha after the village was destroyed. I've received permission to train him for a few years, and then he's heading back."

"Have you gotten permission from the elders for such a..."

"Oh screw those old fossils, and don't forget that I know you, Hiroke. You've never been some councilman's lapdog."

Hiroke growled and Naruto asked "What's wrong Ossan?"

"Eh?" Hiroke exclaimed.

"What? Is there a problem?" Amayah laughed at Naruto's wording of the question, and Hiroke's reaction, accompanied by the rest of the guards along with Amayah's Genin. After that the rest of the guards let Amayah's team through with no problems. When they had reached the entrance to the village Amayah dismissed her team and Naruto looked up at her and asked, "So, what was wrong with that Ossan back there?"

"Oh nothing, Hiroke is just pissed that all of his Genin were thoroughly trounced by mine at the Chuunin exams. You see, when he and I were growing up our mother thought it would be a good idea to foster a sibling rivalry between us, you know, so we would push one another to be better that the other. Well, it worked, kind of."

"Why kind of?"

"Well, I scored higher than him in the academy, then, when we competed in our first Chuunin exam, I defeated him in a preliminary match before going on to be promoted. The next Chuunin exam he got promoted, after that he challenged me to a fight, I won again. And so on and so forth."

"Oh, I see" Naruto said as he followed along beside Amayah as she headed to the house that she shared with her brother. "He must be pretty weak then."

"Actually, and don't tell him I said this, I think that he's one of the strongest shinobi in this village."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you see, there's many different types of strength."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there is strength of fist, strength of mind, and strength of heart."

"Really, what are they?"

"Strength of fist means that you are physically strong and can win every fight you get in; strength of mind, that means that you can think your way out of any situation that you get yourself into. Personally, my favourite type of person seeks the last one, strength of heart. That means that you have the courage to never give up and trust your friends to be able to handle themselves, it also means being able to follow through on anything you set your mind to."

"I see" Naruto said.

"Well, here we are."