Chapter Six: Of Fights, Trades and Seals
Naruto leaned back against a tree on the outskirts of the camp, lying beside him was a small cheetah, it only went up to his waist, since it was lying down it's back was currently below his knee level. His head shot up at the light whistle from the darkness around him, a moment later a figure dropped down beside him, a blond eyebrow rose at the sight of the person who was now standing beside him. "Deciding to be a girl today, Sasuke," Naruto asked as he took note of the boy turned girl's outfit. Her hands and legs were wrapped like usual, however, instead of her habitual shorts, Sasuke wore tight dark blue leggings with a red skirt over it. She was wearing a mandarin style black tunic with a phoenix embroidered on the front of it while on the back was embroidered the Uchiha clan symbol.
Her black hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her dark eyes glanced at him at his question and hummed lightly before she said, "yeah, besides," she added with a smirk, "we should reach the border between Frost and Kaminari tomorrow afternoon. As you know, Sensei plans to enter us into the Chuunin exams if we're in the village," she then cocked an eyebrow at him as her eyes glinted mischievously. She then said with a grin, "how confused would both the civilians of Konoha and the Kumo Shinobi be if the Kumo teams thought I was a girl…" She trailed off as Naruto began to giggle, the cheetah lying between them began snickering as she listened to the humans conversation. After the pair had managed to stop laughing, Sasuke said, "go to sleep. Remember, Miaka-San wants to leave early so we can get there sooner than expected."
Naruto snorted but dismissed his cheetahs and clones before he headed to the tent, he then changed into his nightclothes and fell asleep. Meanwhile outside the camp, Sasuke had summoned five clones and six hawks. Two of the hawks were male while the other four were female, Sasuke snorted before she pointed at each clone as she said, "Nova, go with her," she had pointed at the clone on her immediate right before she pointed to her left and said, "Kaze, you're with her." Both small hawks nodded before they settled on their respective clones shoulder that had a leather guard over it, the now female Uchiha then pointed at the final three clones in front of her in turn. "Rikku," the female diplomat/spy landed on the shoulder of the middle clone while, "Satiah," went to the left clone and "Mizu," went to the right. Sasuke then said with a soft smile, "Solo, you're with me," out of the six hawks summoned Rikku had the largest wingspan of nine feet.
Both Sasuke and Solo watched as the five clones and hawks left to go do patrol, the hawk then settled onto Sasuke's shoulder. If it weren't for the training in chakra that allowed a Shinobi to augment their strength then neither Sasuke nor her clones would be able to bear the larger hawks weights. As it was the sheer size of them still made for precarious patrolling if the hawk wasn't in the air, Solo was perched upon a branch just above Sasuke's position, which was halfway up a tree. Thankfully all six hawks had excellent night vision and could see upward to two miles away from them so they were perfect as scouts and nighttime watchers/guards.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Four hours later as the Caravan and team seven were making the final leg of their journey, one of the women of the caravan asked Kakashi, "Hatake-San," the silver haired man hummed lightly to show he was listening. "why has the young Uchiha become a girl… And just how did he do that anyway," she asked in a puzzled tone. Those near them listened in since Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi had been referring to Sasuke as a her or a she all morning so they were extremely curious as to the older Shinobi's answer.
Kakashi huffed a laugh before he said as he glanced at her, "Sasuke is merely playing a prank on the Kumo Shinobi and as of how he became a she is simple. Naruto created a jutsu that allows a male to turn themselves into a female version of themselves, what you're seeing is merely what Sasuke would have looked like if he had been born a she." At that all of those listening goggled at the teen before they turned their shocked gazes back toward Kakashi when he had idly commented as he turned a page in his book, "Naruto's taught at least three people how to perform the move. Myself is included in that number," he had tacked on the last part with a hidden smile as he ignored their stares he idly imagined what Obito would have looked like if he had known the move. He knew that if Obito had known the move when he had been alive then his teammate wouldn't have wasted a moment that he could have performed it but that was Obito Uchiha for you.
Unknown to Kakashi, the blond had taught the move when he first developed it to two other people and one of those two was currently pregnant. However, if anyone in Konoha, or any other country for that matter, learned about that little fact they'd probably faint from shock due to his choice of the paternal parent. Especially, his old fan girls, Kisame wasn't exactly their ideal form of beauty or indeed their preferred partner for the Uchiha even if said partner wasn't them. However it was Itachi's choice and the Crow summoner clearly adored his shark, even if Kisame still has no utter clue why his partner considers him to be perfect for him.
An hour after the conversation, the caravan approached the meeting point, as they did, a hawk landed on Sasuke's shoulder, the teen easily took the weight of the small bird. "Missing nins approaching from the east, south and west," she reported to her summoner.
Sasuke snapped her dark gaze toward her sensei and raised an eyebrow in inquiry, both Sakura and Naruto also stared at him with questioning looks, the silver haired man sighed but gave them a signal to have fun. All three gave him rather shark like grins before they fell into a discussion concerning a plan of attack on the approaching nins, they quickly decided that Naruto would be the rear guard while Sakura took the right side of the caravan to the east. As Sasuke fell into step by one of the wagons she dismissed her summons since she didn't want the Kumo nins aware of the fact that she had signed the hawk contract. Naruto had done the same with the few cheetah's and snakes he had summoned during the walk, before they had been alerted to the approaching Nuke nins the blond had a snake snoozing across his shoulders.
Sakura drew one of the girls of the caravan into a loud discussion on the current fashion gossip and what she found cute in a boy, the area that they were traveling through in caused sound to carry. Thus allowing for their conversations to be heard by both the Kumo nins and the group of Nuke nins. All of the nins, unknowingly shared the same thought, it was thought gleefully by the Nuke nins, however the Kumo ninja thought it with a sense of sardonic amusement and that thought was, 'yay, it's a fan girl…'
Twenty minutes later, the nuke ninja burst from the foliage and lunged at the three Genin, believing them to be the most venerable, to the surprise of the Kumo escort Kakashi merely leaned against the lead wagon and opened his book to begin reading. The other caravan along with their escort overheard as Miaka asked, "are you not going to assist your students, Hatake-San?" At her question the other group goggled as they all wondered just why the Copy-Cat ninja was training a group of Genin.
However, their unspoken question was answered before Kakashi had even replied to Miaka's query by the dark haired girls eyes turning red with black markings that began swirling. Their eyes had widened in shock when Kakashi commented in a extremely nonchalant tone, "my kids can handle a rather pitiful group like this by themselves perfectly fine." He then smirked at her before he quipped, "besides, Sasuke and Naruto inherited their mothers attitudes as well as their talents while Sakura is the only other person besides Iruka to be able to control the pair. So no, Miaka-San," he said as he returned his gaze to his book, "I'm not going to fight unless one of them gets too close for my comfort."
Naruto had swiftly knocked out just over a dozen enemy ninja, he had then started to, there was no other word for it, play with the last two Nuke Nins near his location. When a Nuke Ninja lunged at a child of the caravan, he was startled when a hand had clamped down on his shoulder and when he looked over that shoulder he was punched. To the surprise of the other six ninja near them, the one who had knocked the man unconscious was the innocent looking pink haired fan girl. Except she no longer looked so innocent anymore, nor was she acting anything like a fan girl.
Her punch had caused the ninja to fly through the air and slam into a large boulder, upon impact from the body the boulder cracked, she then turned her narrow green eyes upon the other ninja. To the amusement of Kakashi and Miaka's caravan, all six nuke ninja had given shrill girlish screams. The most amusing thing to them was the fact that all of the ninja were large burly men, yet there they were terrified of a little slip of a girl. However, their reactions mostly caused severe annoyance in Sakura, especially since as soon as she took one step in their direction had caused them to turn tail and run. They had begun to run faster when she had snarled, "oh no, you don't! No one gets away with running away from me in a fight," with that snarl she chased after them, as she did she summoned a pair of badgers, whose backs reached her hips.
As Sakura chased off after the men, Sasuke had finally knocked out her first two opponents, she then smirked before she caught the next pair with her eyes as her hands flew through a set of seals. "My mom liked to call this little move, 'nightmares on a silver platter' I think that the name is rather appropriate," with that said both men began screaming in pain and fear.
At that all of the people goggled at her in shock, that is everyone except her teammates, after nearly five minutes of the two men screaming Kakashi said, "I think that's long enough. You shouldn't keep them under it for too long, I'm sure that the head of Kumo's Torture and Interrogation squad would prefer to break them on his or her own." With a pout Sasuke released the men from her genjutsu and both men collapsed in front of her in an unconscious pile. When she turned her eyes toward another three men, they took one look at their four unconscious comrades before they ran away. Sasuke scowled before she growled in an outraged tone, "so they're going to make me chase them down are they…" Her scowl deepened further as she stomped off after them as she grumbled under her breath, "I hate it when my enemies do this, it pisses me off and ruins a perfectly good fight!"
Naruto snickered as he overheard the grumbling that Sasuke was doing before he put one of his opponents into a chokehold and while he waited for her to fall unconscious he asked idly, "Kakashi-Sensei, did your teammate, Obito, hate, chasing down enemies as much as Sasuke does?"
Inside of Naruto's seal a red haired man rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "why yes, Naruto, he did and let me tell you something… Sasuke's mother was just as bad about that as her sons because Itachi-San really doesn't like having to chase down an opponent." Unknown to the fox however, Itachi had met someone who loved the chase and who was perfectly happy to chase down all of their enemies that Itachi didn't want to chase.
"Truth be told, Naruto-Chan," Kakashi said as he turned a page before he pinned the blond with a bland stare as he said in a deadpan tone, "Obito was much worse."
Naruto sighed as he shook his head ruefully before he dropped the unconscious ninja to the ground as he did his shadow clones were gleefully beating the rest of the Nuke ninja senseless. "I was kinda hoping that Sasuke was the exception not the norm, Sensei," the blond finally told him with a resigned expression.
Kakashi laughed before he told his student with an eye-smile, "Sasuke and Obito are the exceptions, your mother often joked that every once and a while the Hyuga blood in the Uchiha clan would be overridden by the Uzumaki blood." The silver haired man shrugged as he commented, "it was the Uzumaki blood combined with the Hyuga eyes that gave the Uchiha clan their Sharingan eyes. A female of the Uzumaki clan married a lesser noble of the Hyuga clan, this was from before the clan split into two," he frowned as he thought about it before he muttered, "actually I'm fairly sure that this is what caused that to happen…" He shook his head before he continued the explanation, "the man took a new clan name since he had been disowned by his own clan after the marriage went through despite their objections to it. The couple had chosen the name Uchiha as their new clan name and the man then swore the loyalty of his clan to his wife's clan ."
He shrugged as he said quietly, "the Uzumaki clan had supported their decision to marry, thus the loyalty oath," he hummed softly before he said with a hidden smile, "truth be told I think that loyalty oath is still in effect…" The Kumo ninja goggled at him in shock at the revelation that if the man hadn't refused to marry anyone but the woman he loved then the Uchiha clan wouldn't have existed at all.
Kakashi then continued to speak as he turned a page in his book, "the Uzumaki clan could be either serious or mischievous depending upon their mood and the situation. According to their family legend, the most dangerous members of the clan were the ones who were unpredictable or be serious and mischievous at the same time. After having watched your mother fight several times, I'd have to say I agree with the family legends." Kakashi then glanced up at him as he said blandly, "after her death and watching the Uchiha clan, I also agree with her statement that the more serious of the Uchiha clan took more after the Hyuga clan then the Uzumaki."
A moment after Kakashi turned back to his book, Sasuke stomped out of the woods and dragged three unconscious ninja behind her, she was scowling and after she dragged them to the middle of the clearing she kicked one of the groaning men between the legs as she snarled, "oh, shut up already!" Her actions caused all the males, minus Naruto and Kakashi, to wince in sympathy for the man, especially since his groans turned into a high pitched shriek before he blacked out. Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow at his student before he said in a placating tone, "I don't think he's going anywhere, Sasuke-Chan, you don't need to hit him while he's down."
She scowled darkly at him before she growled, "I have every right to hit him while he's down since he and the other two made me chase them down. I don't appreciate being made to do that!" Her dark eyes flashed red as she snarled that before she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed as she looked away from him just as Sakura came out of the forest, she was also dragging a group behind her.
The pink haired girl took one look at the sulky brunette before she stated rather than asked, "they ran away from you and you had to chase them down," she sighed before she stated in a deadpan tone, "which, of course, you hate having to do." As she had spoken she had dragged her group toward Sasuke's pile of Nuke ninja. They had been bound using rope, most of the Kumo ninja were making mental notes on the three Genins but especially on Sakura since she was only using one hand to drag the six men. While Sasuke was clearly an Uchiha and thus someone that everyone knew was dangerous to be crossed, Naruto on the other hand, was a complete unknown until they can figure out who his parents were.
Sasuke snorted before she asked, "were your opponents as weak, sloppy and completely incompetent at fighting as mine were," the question was uttered in a sardonic tone.
Sakura snorted in amusement at that before Naruto sighed and said in a chiding tone, "now, now, there is no need to be so bloodthirsty, Hawk, Badger," he had looked toward Sasuke as he said the first name then he turned to Sakura at the final name.
Both girls growled at him as they snarled in chorus, "shut up, Snake!"
Naruto pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled to himself as he sheathed the swords he used to beat the last to Nuke ninja near him. As he did Sasuke glanced at them curiously before she asked, "aren't those the swords that your mother was wearing in those pictures we found."
Naruto beamed at her as he said happily, "yeah, Dad had these made for her when she had been promoted to Chuunin and when she'd been pregnant with me, Mom had left them with her summons." He looked down with sad eyes as he said quietly, "she had told them that if anything happened to her and I survived then they were to give them to me." Naruto had smiled at the blades in fond sadness, he didn't really remember his mother but several people had told him about her. And when he told Ryuu about some of his odd dreams, she had told him that some of them were actually memories.
Sakura tilted her head to the side and said, "how come they're not read then, in the pictures of your mother they were glowing red. So, why aren't they glowing now," she asked in a vaguely puzzled tone. At her comment quite a few of the caravans along with the Kumo escort froze in shock. There had only been one Chuunin to own a pair of swords that glowed red, Naruto's reply merely confirmed their fears.
"Because they're chakra channeling blades, like Kaka-Sensei's Tanto," the blond gestured to the man in question, who merely waved at them, before he said, "and I'm not channeling chakra through them right now. According to Mom's letter, the swords will only glow red for certain members of my family when they channel chakra through the blades. Others will get a different color altogether when they do that," at his teammates looks of comprehension he had beamed at them before he said gleefully, "watch, I'll show you!" With that he began feeding his chakra, which after having contained the Kyuubi near his chakra coils for almost twelve years was red, into the blades. The two swords started to pulse a blood/crimson red in time with Naruto's heartbeat, as they glowed a Kumo ninja stared at the blades in shock, her father had used a tale of one of his first missions as a Chuunin as her bedtime story. It had been a caravan escort mission, the caravan exchange had been attacked by missing nins like this one had, only the one her father had told her about had been attacked by S and A ranked missing nins. So either the Nuke nins that attacked this time were lower leveled or she really pitied the Genins that had to face team Seven in the next Chuunin exams.
However, she remembered how her father had said that the name of the woman who had wielded the red swords was Kushina Uzumaki, if this kids mother was indeed Kushina, then she'd know for sure that the two women were one and the same. While she contemplated the relationship between the blond and the Crimson blade wielder, Kakashi had whistled sharply before he said, "enough chatter, Team Seven, fall in!" He then looked at the leader of the Kumo escort and asked, "could you take them to your village to have the bounties collected? I'd do it myself but this mission is more important. That and your village is closer than ours and Suna," as he had spoke he had pointed at the pile of bodies behind him.
The leader was the woman whose father had told her tales of the caravan and it's protectors, she had nodded as she said, "of course, Hatake-San. I would ask the same if I was in your position, could I inquire the names of your students so their countries know where to send the bounty money and for the record?"
Kakashi snorted but nodded in agreement, he walked over to the three and as he said their names he walked behind them, "Sakura Haruno, Medic Nin in training," the pink haired girl got a clap on her shoulder. "Sasuke Uchiha, Genjutsu adept in training," the other girl received a tug on her ponytail, "and last but not least, Naruto Uzumaki, the most unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja in all of Konoha," the blond got a ruffle of his hair.
To the rest of the people's surprise, the leader of the Kumo escort asked as she cocked her head to the side, "any relation to a Kushina Uzumaki?" Her team gave her odd glances at that question while Kakashi's visible eye narrowed in suspicion.
Naruto stared at her before he said in a deadpan tone, "she was my mother," he then raised an eyebrow at her as he asked, "why did you want to know?"
She waved her hand dismissively as she said airily, "no real reason, my father had met your mother once," she smirked with wry amusement before she said, "he was very impressed by her." At that her entire team goggled at her in shock, they were shocked even more when she turned to Kakashi and said, "he was also very impressed by your father. Until they day my father died, he had a drink in your fathers name on the anniversary of your fathers death," she shook her head as she said, "he told me this: 'Sakumo Hatake was a good man and a hero of his country. Despite being an enemy he deserves to be honored for that,' I've never forgotten my fathers words even though he only ever said that once to me."
As she had spoken she had written down the names of the three Genin on the scrolls that held the men that they had defeated. She noted that Naruto took down the most of them but he also played with them a lot less than the girls did. Sakura's tally had been seven, same with Sasuke, she had taken down two Mist nin, four from Rock and a single Waterfall ninja. Sasuke had also taken down four Rock nins but she had taken down three Mist nins not two. Naruto had taken out the remaining eight Mist nin, two Rock nins and the last five Waterfall ninjas. The mere size of the group had made her suspect that the group was low level Nuke nins since higher ranking Nuke ninja rarely ever traveled with any company.
Once the paperwork had been signed and exchanged, much like the caravans had been, Team Seven had gotten underway toward their next destination. As they walked back to Kumogakure, the leader was asked by her second-in-command, "why did your father respect them so much," the second-in-command was from a civilian family and had no one to tell about old missions.
She had chuckled as she said in a higher tone of voice, "the reason my father respected them was," she caught herself and corrected by saying, "is simple. Kakashi Hatake's father was Sakumo Hatake, AKA, the White Fang of Konoha and Kushina Uzumaki is better known as the Crimson Blade of Konoha, both of them were not Shinobi to be crossed." She smiled wryly as she said, "I find it rather ironic that my father had met them on this exact same escort mission that I just met their children on." She had flashed a grin at her subordinates before she commented in a serious tone, "mark my words, those three Genin will be just as well known, if not better known, as their teacher." After she had said that some of the newer Chuunin's protested and Miaka had cleared her throat. Once she had their attention, she began the tale of her childhood encounter with the White Fang and his partner, the Crimson Blade.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A week later, the caravan along with their escort and the prisoners had arrived in Kumogakure, after they had checked in and escorted the caravan to their usual lodgings. The group had wrote their reports then turned them into the mission desk to be read over and filed. The leader had turned in her report along with a small note before she handed over the scrolls containing the prisoners to the Torture and Interrogation squad.
Two hours after she'd handed in her report, it was on the desk of the Raikage, A's brother came into the office to find the Kage reading the note and he read it aloud from over the older man's shoulder. "To whom it may concern, these are my notes concerning the three Genin underneath Kakashi Hatake.
Sakura Haruno: She's far stronger than you would expect from a girl her size and looks. It appears that she acts like a fan girl to throw off her opponents, she is also a summoner of Badgers. It is unknown if her strength is the result of a bloodline limit or if its just a chakra augmentation.
Sasuke Uchiha: she uses Genjutsu, apparently she has activated her Sharingan. She seems to be a bit bloodthirsty and severely dislikes having to chase down fleeing opponents. She seems to rather enjoy making her enemies scream in pain and fear.
Naruto Uzumaki: he is the only son of the Crimson Blade, his father is unknown to me and he didn't mention his fathers name to anyone. He doesn't seem to be interested in playing with his opponents like his teammates do, he's more apt to punch them in the face. I was unable to recognize the Taijutsu he was using and the only ninjutsu he preformed was the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which only implies that he had a large amount of chakra for his age.
Notes: As I wrote earlier, their sensei is Kakashi Hatake, AKA, the Copy-Cat ninja, he had remarked that both Naruto and Sasuke inherited their mothers temperaments and talents. He also said that their teammate Sakura, is one of the few who can control them with ease, he mentioned that she was second only to someone named Iruka. I highly suggest that any Kumo ninja who encounter them proceed with extreme caution if they attempt to take on Team Seven. I also suggest that if any of the Kumo Genin take part in the Chuunin exams this upcoming exam be told to avoid Team Seven at all costs.
Signed,
Natsukai Kasimura."
B then snorted as he said, "father unknown, my ass," he then picked up the sketch of Naruto as he said while waving it around, "it's rather obvious who his father is even if his not using his fathers last name!"
A snorted but said as he took the sketch back form the rapping Jinchuuriki, "yes, it is and his sensei is the only child of his mother's partner as well as being the only surviving student of his father. Obviously, Hatake requested that he be placed in his team," he then held up the leaders report as he said, "he has also trained them well. All of the Nuke nins that his students took down so easily were all either B or A ranked in level, the fact that Hatake wasn't the least bit concerned caused our Shinobi to believe that the Nuke nins were C ranked at max."
B glanced over the report as he said, "so the son has the mothers swords and favorite jutsu," he raised an eyebrow as he smirked before he said, "kinda makes you wonder what he got from his father, huh?"
A gave him a conceding nod before he began filling out paperwork for the three Genin, B snickered at parts of the files and wondered what the reaction their people would have if they read the three files. He then read all three files aloud and commented on certain parts of it, "Name: Sasuke Uchiha
Age: 13," he raised his eyebrows at that before he remarked, "so she's only thirteen and took down at least seven B and A ranked Nuke Nins? She's good," he shook his head before he continued to read her file aloud, "Official Rank: Genin
Suggested Rank: High Chuunin," he stared at the paper then glanced at his brother and Kage before he said in a dead pan tone, "High Chuunin, isn't that pushing it a little, maybe mid-Chuunin would be better…"
A glanced up at his brother and said, "she took down not one, not three but five A ranked Nuke nin's by herself, if she's not High Chuunin then I'm going to be boggled at the incompetence of the Konoha council."
B shook his head but continued to read the file on the black eyed girl, "Teammates: Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki
Teacher: Kakashi Hatake
Summons: Unknown if she has signed a contract or not." He snorted and muttered to himself, "she probably has a contract with some type of bird, her brother Itachi had a contract with crows and if I remember right her mother Mikoto had a contract with Eagles." He then turned his attention to the notes at the bottom of the file and read them aloud in shock, "Notes: She is a rather bloodthirsty person and loathes having to chase down her opponents. Approach with caution, although far less temperamental then her teammate Sakura, she does have a temper. She appears to like using Genjutsu's and is talented at it, this implies that she has immense chakra control."
B looked at his brother before he commented blandly, "if this is what the first Genin's file looks like then I'm not to sure I want to see the other two files," he then raised an eyebrow and asked, "are you going to make a file on their teacher to disperse among our people?"
A blinked before he muttered to himself, "that might be a good idea actually, especially since we're writing files on his three students. Hatake-San might end up being like his own sensei and only train one team…"
B ignored his brothers rambling to read the next file aloud, "Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Age: 11
Official Rank: Genin
Suggested Rank: High Chuunin
Teammates: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno
Teacher: Kakashi Hatake
Summons: unknown if he has signed a contract or not.
Notes: Approach with caution, he's the son of the Crimson Blade and wields her swords. He's capable of using the Shadow clone jutsu but his full repertoire is unknown. Although I have an idea as to who his father is I shall not mention it until he has reached Chuunin rank due to the respect I feel for his mother, her partner and the man I suspect of being his father. I find that I'm eager to go to the next Chuunin exams, I've decided to attend with B and Yugito as my bodyguards." B stared at his brother before he asked in a deadpan tone, "you're attending the Chuunin exams that will be held in Konoha? After all these years of refusing to attend the exams whenever they are held there, you're finally going all because of the report of the Uzumaki kid? Why?"
A glanced up at him from his current task of writing a file on Kakashi long enough to say, "well to be quite frank, I owe Minato Namikaze for your sanity and continued presence by my side. Besides I want to see how well this Team Seven does in the exams and Yugito needs to get out of Kumogakure every once and a while." With that said he turned his attention back to the sheet of paper in front of him and began writing again with intense concentration.
B goggled at the man he called his brother and tag team partner before he turned his attention back to the third file in his hand, "Name: Sakura Haruno
Age: 12
Official Rank: Genin
Suggested Rank: High Chuunin
Teammates: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki
Teacher: Kakashi Hatake
Summons: Badger Contract
Notes: Use extreme caution with her as she is far stronger than she appears to be and apparently has a temper to match. She is capable of keeping her teammates in line and has the respect of the badgers."
B did not deign to make any comments about her file like he did her teammates and A rose from his seat as he commented, "lets go eat, I'm feeling famished besides we need to check on Yugito to see how she's recovering from her injury. I need her ready to go for the Chuunin exams and those take place in a mere three months or so." B looked back and glanced at the file lying open on A's desk.
Name: Kakashi Hatake
Age: 26
Rank: Jounin/ex-ANBU
Students: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki
Teacher: Minato Namikaze
Notes: see his Bingo Book Profile for details. Do not cross, he has trained team Seven for the last three months and has managed to bring them up to High Chuunin level in that short amount of time so be cautious.
################################################## ######################
Sasuke was walking ahead of the caravan, she heard Sakura and Naruto chatting from their positions, Naruto was perched atop the rear wagon facing backwards while Sakura flanked the left of the caravan. Kakashi was on the right side, Sakura still had one of her badgers out from when she'd been on watch the night before. It was padding along beside her, the caravan they were escorting not only had less items and people but it also had fewer wagons so it was taking far less time to travel then with the other caravan. They had already crossed the border between Hot Water and Fire, they were making their way to the land of Rivers so they could cross over it into the land of Wind.
She glanced at the surrounding area and calculated how long it would be before they neared Konoha, from her guess it would be around a week to reach the land of Rivers at their current rate of speed. It all depended upon how fast they could travel combined with how long they were willing to travel, as it was they had been traveling since dawn until shortly after dusk.
"Hey, Sasuke!" The dark haired girl had glanced back at the shout that had come from Sakura, once the pink haired girl had gotten the brunettes attention she had continued by asking, "do you think that the Kage of Kumo is going to come to the upcoming Chuunin exams?"
She gave a shrug before she said idly as she stared up at the sky as she walked, "I don't know for sure but he might since I think Kumo plans to enter a couple of teams into it." She then gave the other girl a smirk as she said, "I fully plan to blow all the other competition out of the water when we take the exam." Her eyes gleamed as she said darkly, "after all, we do plan to be more infamous than the Sannin, the Yellow Flash, the Crimson Blade and the White Fang combined!"
"Or at the very least, match their infamy," Naruto interjected idly, Sasuke conceded the blonds point with a nod, all three of them knew that even if all of the other countries considered Naruto to be more famous than the Yellow Flash, in Naruto's mind, he would always try to surpass the man. But that was due to him being Naruto's father, not because he was the Yellow Flash but simply due to a child's desire to make their parents proud of them. Unknown to Team Seven, Minato/Kisuke was already immensely proud of his son and he doubted that the blond child could ever disappoint him since Naruto acted far too much like his mother for that to happen easily.
Kushina was also proud of him due to how quickly he had picked up her old moves, she also doubted that her son could ever disappoint her. Even if he decided to abandon Konoha and join with Madara, then and only then would she even become slightly disappointed in his choices. Just as she was of her baby brother's choices, Kimihiro had decided against joining Konoha's ranks, or any other countries for that matter, after the destruction of their village. She hadn't blamed him at all for that, she was just disappointed in his choice but never in him, she told him as much when he had questioned her on it. A fact that Kimihiro had never forgot, even years after her death, he kept both her words and Minato's written offer for him to join the ranks of Konoha at anytime he chose to join as well as at any rank he chose.
In the letter was a standing order for Konoha, if Kimihiro ever came to Konoha he was allowed to use either the Uzumaki compound, long since left empty since the destruction of the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. Or if Kushina and Minato were deceased, the use of the Namikaze compound was to be granted. If they died after they had a child the letter stated explicitly that Kimihiro was allowed to lay claim to their child to raise or, if the child was a Genin, train as he saw fit. They also had given Kimihiro permission to claim their child as his heir if he wished to do so, in a sense the pair had left a small last will and testament with Kushina's baby brother. A fact that would shock the civilians of Konoha if they knew about it, as far as they were aware Kushina had niether a brother nor a child. Only certain members of the Shinobi forces were aware of the child and an even smaller number were aware of her brother.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sasuke caught sight of a large snake slithering through the underbrush, she recognized it as one of Naruto's favorite snake summons. To let the snake know that she had seen it and the scroll it had hidden, she began to lightly sing a song. A fact that had captured the attention of the caravan's children, Sasuke had learned the song from Naruto, who had in turn learned it from his Ryuu-Okasan. And although there was no music, Sasuke tapped out the beat on her hip as she sang, she also did a couple cartwheels as she sang the jaunty tune. As she preformed one of the cartwheels she had snagged the scroll and skillfully tucked it into her weapons pouch, only her teammates realized that though.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Later that night after dinner, cooked by Sasuke at that, Naruto sent his clones to take care of the night watch, earlier in the day Kakashi had told his Genin to use their clones to do the night watch since they couldn't afford to be tired during the day. Once he had done that, Sasuke handed him the scroll she'd picked up earlier, the snakes had informed them as they passed through the area on the way to Hot Water that Kushina had some informants in the area. The snakes proposed that the informants might still be willing to give information to the snakes newest summoner. When Kakashi had stated his worry over the informants leaking the fact of Naruto's existence as Kushina and Minato's child to anyone, the snakes had stated, "Kushina-Sama had all of her contacts sign a secrecy oath. They cannot reveal any information pertaining to Kushina Uzumaki or any of her blood kin to anyone who, either hasn't already sworn the same oath or is a blood relative to Kushina."
Naruto opened the scroll to find three separate scrolls sealed inside of it, sealed within each of those were yet more scrolls, however these were clearly labeled with dates while the letter inside each of the three scrolls bore Naruto's name on them. He then proceeded to read them aloud to his teammates and teacher, "Uzumaki-San,
You have no idea how glad I am to hear that your mother had a child before she died, those of us within her information network had feared that we would have no one to report to. However, I feel I must give you my condolences, your mother was a brave, tenacious, fearless, kind but formidable person. Most of her enemies had, at the very least, a grudging respect for her and her abilities. She was one of the most loyal people I knew, she stayed loyal to her partner and never took another after his death. Although, she did take some students as a compromise to her Kage, I've included several reports with my letter about various rumors concerning the area. Normally I wouldn't include my own suspicions but this time I have, I've heard too many things that I cannot confirm due to a blockade from the place.
Your friend,
Sincerely,
Hidiko Akosuka," Naruto stared at it before he said with a frown, "well that was an odd letter." With that said he placed the first letter down and picked up the second to begin reading it.
"Greetings, Uzumaki-San, I was most pleasantly surprised to find Beka waiting in my garden for me this morning. I am delighted to know that your line survives according to your messenger, you resemble your Father greatly but the majority of your personality is all your mother. Thus it is with confidence that I have sealed my reports of activity in the area around my home within this scroll.
Sincerely,
Akino Himura," Naruto then placed the letter down before he picked up the third letter.
"Uzumaki-san,
I was gladdened to here of your survival, I feared that your mother had perished before she had birthed you. I'm afraid that I have nothing of real interest to report to you but I've included my notes about my observations from my travels. If you are indeed as much like your mother as Beka claims you are, then I cannot ask you to stay safe, so instead I ask that you be as careful as you can.
Your Ever Loyal Servant,
Ashe." Naruto goggled at not only the way the spy of his mother had worded the letter but at the fact that the spy only used a single name. He then looked up at his teammates before he asked, "do you think we should read the notes over before we hand them over to the Hokage?"
Kakashi put down his book before he rose and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, "I'd suggest waiting until we're in Konoha to read them. But that's just my opinion," he called back over his shoulder as he rummaged through the cupboards for a glass.
Sakura shrugged before she pointed at Kakashi and said in a deadpan tone, "what he said, besides," she added in a chipper tone, "if we wait until Konoha to read them no one will interrupt us unexpectedly." Sasuke had nodded in agreement with the pink haired girl, so Naruto sealed all the scrolls back into the original scroll before he rose from his position. He then padded into his bedroom to go to sleep, the other three followed his example, the four changed into comfortable clothes that they wouldn't mind fighting in before they crawled into bed themselves.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
One week and four days later, the caravan crossed over into Wind, Kakashi had estimated that it would take them another three days to reach Sunagakure itself. He turned out to be right, once the caravan had been reassured that the four Shinobi were perfectly capable of keeping up with the horses most ground eating energy conserving pace, the trip had sped up considerably. They had ended up reaching Suna at nighttime and after they had checked in with the gate guards the four escorted the caravan to their usual spot before finding a place to bed down themselves.
Sakura and Sasuke, who was still in female form, shared a room while Kakashi did the same with Naruto, both rooms had a pair of queen sized beds in them. Before they had split up to go to bed Kakashi had warned the two girls, "make sure to get up early, we're to report to the Kazekage. After all I have a message to deliver to him," he had added before he turned away and led Naruto to their room. As he had spoken his only visible eye had a serious look in it so all three of the Genin knew that Kakashi wasn't joking with them as he was apt to do.
The next morning, the team met up in the lobby of the inn, both girls were wearing leggings and loose shirts to keep cool in anticipation of the later heat. Kakashi was dressed in his habitual outfit and Naruto was wearing a white shirt, blue pants as well as the same color arm and leg wrappings. All of them wore their forehead protectors in their usual locations, the blond noticed that Sasuke had painted, or Sakura had done it, her nails red with her Sharingan markings in black polish on them. Kakashi had promised the three breakfast after the meeting so he led them straight to the Kazekage's office, whereupon he gave the man a small respectful bow and his students followed his example.
"Kazekage-Sama," he had murmured before he presented the scroll sealed by the Sandaime Hokage. As the man opened it to read it, Kakashi had summarized his report for him verbally.
The Kazekage had hummed lightly before he said with serious eyes, "the plan looks sound enough but I do have some concerns. Would you be willing to wait until I have my reply ready for your Kage before you leave so you can deliver it?"
Kakashi nodded sharply before he said, "of course, the Hokage thought you might want to make a few revisions to the plan so he told us to stick around and bring your reply back to him." He then gestured to his students as he asked with a tilt of his head, "could we use one of your training grounds while we're in Suna?"
The Kazekage had already gotten back to his work so he merely waved his hand dismissively as he said loudly, "of course, you may use one of the training grounds. I'll send for you when I've completed my reply to your Kage," with that said he ignored them and Team Seven left the room then the building.
Six hours later, an hour after the team had finished their training for the day, Sasuke was strolling through the open market when she overheard a person muttering fearfully, "demon, demon be gone!" As she turned to reprimand her for referring to Naruto like that, she had assumed that her teammate had followed her to play a prank, she then realized that the old woman was staring at a red haired preteen. The boy was ignoring everyone and radiated a clear attitude of menace, similar to Naruto when he got pissed, pulled out his moms swords and made them glow blood red.
The dark eyed girl assessed the younger boy, she noticed the slight gleam of to his eyes that to most would look like insanity but she could tell actually meant that the boy was becoming desperate and could possibly tip over the edge soon if someone didn't pull him back. She also noticed the bags underneath his pupil-less eyes as if he didn't get much sleep, or if he got any at all. Sasuke was taken aback by her own urge to bundle the younger child up and mother him until that haunted look disappeared from his face. With a determined glint to her eyes and a firm set to her jaw she stalked over to him. She dropped down next to him, completely ignoring the looks of utter shock on the people of Suna's faces as she did, she placed her right arm across the back of the bench.
That action caused quite a few to gape in shock at the pair while Gaara frowned in puzzlement, he never had anyone since his uncle be this close to him without Shukaku start snarling at them. For once the Tanuki was completely silent as if it was shocked by this foreign girls audacity to be this close to the demon of Suna. "You are aware that you are sitting next to a demon, don't you," the red head managed to get out after several moments of silence.
At that comment, Sasuke had glanced over at him before she said with a politely confused tone of voice, "really? Which one are you then," at Gaara's question most of the Suna civilians had blinked, they had then blinked even more when they heard Sasuke's reply.
"The one tail," he finally answered her as he glanced away.
At that Sasuke snorted before she said in a casually negligent tone, "oh, well then I guess I know how cautious I should be of you then…" With that she looked up at the sky and utterly ignored the boy beside her, which caused both him and the people around them to gape at her. She opened a single eye from where she had closed it as if to say 'I needn't be concerned about you,' to state in a nonchalant tone, "if you think that you carrying the one tailed demon inside of you could scare me, you're crazy. After all," she added as she shut her eye again, "compared to Kurama, Shukaku is a fluffy kitten that has been de-clawed and whose growls sound like purrs."
She then chuckled suddenly as she commented, "besides, it's kind of hard to be afraid of someone who looks as if he hasn't had a good nights sleep in days."
She stopped laughing and began growling in anger when Gaara had said, "actually, I haven't slept since I was about four."
Her eyes narrowed as she snarled, "you mean to say that you haven't slept for around six years!" At his confused nod she leapt to her feet then reached down and grabbed his hand as she said, "I'm taking you to see Naruto, there has got to be something wrong with your seal!" More that a few people followed the pair to one of the eastern training grounds, in the training ground were three people: a silver haired man, a pink haired girl and a blond boy. She then marched Gaara up to the blond and demanded, "Naruto meet the Jinchuuriki of Shukaku, his name is…" She then blinked as she realized that she didn't know the boys name so she poked him in the shoulder and said, "tell him your name, Panda-Chan."
Gaara twitched at both the prod and the nickname but did as she bade with a sigh, "Gaara no Sabaku."
Sasuke blinked at the name before she said, "I like Panda-Chan better. Panda-Chan, meet Naruto, the Jinchuuriki to Kurama, otherwise known as Kyuubi no Kitsune." She then turned back to the blond, all of Team Seven were ignoring the gaping that the people of Suna were doing out of politeness after all it was bad manners to point out that they were showing emotion. "Take a look at his seal for me, Naruto," she said as she pointed at Gaara as she exclaimed, "he hasn't slept in years, that's not healthy!"
At that comment all three of her teammates stared at her in shock before the blond said, "that's not good!" He then turned to Gaara and asked him with a serious tone, "do you know where your seal is located at?" When the red head shook his head no, the blond sighed, "well," he tapped his chin as he spoke and his eyes were hazy as if he was thinking it over, "most seals are placed on the upper body if done during infancy so it's probably located there." He had then patted his stomach with a grin as he said, "mine is on my tummy, apparently the Yondaime decided that it was the best place to put it." He scrunched up his nose as he added in a puzzled tone, "although, I'd love to ask him just why he put it there…"
He shook his head wryly before he ordered the younger Jinchuuriki to remove his shirt, the red head glanced at Sasuke, who had merely nodded encouragingly, before he obeyed the odd order. "Now," Naruto said as he stepped toward the other boy, "I want you to form a Rams seal and hold it since I'm going to try to find your seal so I can study it so I can figure out just what's wrong with it. Okay," he asked with raised eyebrows, he refused to come any closer until Gaara had first nodded his agreement before he did as the blond said.
Naruto was looking over Gaara's back when the chakra flowed through the seal, thus causing it to be visible. When she saw it Sakura said, "it's on his front, Naruto."
He glanced at her over Gaara's shoulder before he nodded his thanks at her, he then walked around the green eyed boy. He took one look at where the seal had been placed before he started cursing in every tongue he knew, his words caused even the most battle hardened Suna Jounin's to blush and Kakashi to raise an eyebrow at it. Naruto's left eye was twitching angrily and he turned to Sasuke as he said with a grim look, "it's a good thing you brought him here. His seal is placed over his heart!"
The crowd around them stared at him in confusion while even Sasuke and Sakura looked puzzled along with Gaara, finally the red head asked, "what's wrong with it being over my heart?" He had tilted his head to the right as he stared the blond with confused green eyes, he was still trying to figure out just why his demon was so quiet around Sasuke. The apparent outrage that the blond had for the location of his seal merely added to his confusion over Sasuke's kindness and nonchalant attitude toward his Jinchuuriki status.
Naruto sighed but as he started unsealing his Sealing tools and began laying out what he would need to relocate the seal and improve it, he explained, "the location of the seal as well as the type of seal used can either hinder or help the host of the demon. The location and type that the Yondaime used to seal Kurama inside me helps me by allowing me to process the demons chakra, my seal acts as a kind of filter of sorts. It removes most of the taint from the demons chakra, thus allowing me to use it without almost any negative side effects. However," he frowned deeply as he continued, "the seal and it's location on you," he shook his head angrily as he snarled, "the one tail is able to feed it's hate and rage right into your heart while simultaneously taking every good emotion from you. The seal is so weak that the beast is able to speak to you and emerge if you are asleep or unconscious, long term sleep deprivation can cause neurotic and almost psychotic behavior in those experiencing it."
The villagers eyes had widened when Naruto began to explain why it was a bad idea to place a seal like Gaara's over someone's heart. As they stared at the five in shock, Sakura had asked in a curious tone, "what's the level of the seal?" They were confused as to why that was important, even Gaara was confused but he wondered if it had anything to do with the blonds comment about the weakness of his seal.
Naruto sighed before he grumbled, "I'd love to get my hands on a person who would use anything less than a five point seal to contain a demon." He glanced at the pink haired girl with a thin lipped expression as he said, "it's a two point seal, far less than what should have been used. My seal is one that was specially developed by the Yondaime Hokage as his Seal Mastery project, it's very strong but," he looked away as he said, "a seal is only as strong as it's bearers will." His blue eyes had flashed as he had said, "your seal's location combined with it's weakness prevents you from building the very thing that would have made the seal stronger. If I don't fix this," he pointed at the black lines on the red heads chest, "then one day your will to keep the one tail contained will break and it will be loose, free to wreak havoc as it pleases."
He scowled at the younger boy as he said while he lined up his inks and brushes on a mat, "so you are going to sit there and let me fix it because I really don't want to have to deal with Sasuke if that ever happens." He then turned to Sakura and said, "Sakura, I'll need you to check him over once we're finished with placing the new seal." She nodded in understanding, once she had Naruto turned to Sasuke and Kakashi, "I'll need the two of you to hold the one tail's chakra at bay. Kakashi-Sensei, I need you to unseal the beast when I give the order," the silver haired man nodded as he put away his orange book.
Everyone watched as Kakashi unsealed the demon and Naruto began drawing the seal as his right hand flashed through single handed hand seals, once the seal had been drawn he dropped the brush as his left hand took up the seals. He coated the other hand with red tinged chakra and slammed it into the seal drawn onto Gaara's left shoulder blade. The seal flashed white and the sand like chakra that had been pouring out of the old seal, only been contained by Sasuke and Kakashi's Sharingan's, was sucked into the new seal with an angry shriek. The seal had pulsed with energy before it faded from sight while the seal over his heart became fresh ink and Sakura wiped it off with an alcohol soaked cloth. After that she checked him over before she pronounced, "he'll be fine, he just needs sleep." She smirked as she said sardonically, "I think having the seal moved allowed his body to tell his brain that he was exhausted and that it's taking a time out until further notice. My suggestion," she said as she stood up, "is to allow him to sleep until he wakes up naturally."
Sasuke nodded at her as she gathered the smaller child in her arms, as she did she scowled at how light he was, it seemed that he also didn't eat much either. Whether that was due to his personal preference or to the Shukaku's influence from the seal she would find out later. Her first priority was getting him into a bed, she said as much to Sakura before she turned to a tall man with tanned skin and a turban which covered one of his dark eyes. "If you know where he lives then you had better take me there or I swear he's napping in my bed until he wakes up," she said with a dark scowl that she directed toward the staring villagers.
"I'd do as she says, she's kind of vicious when she's angry," Naruto commented as he gathered his supplies from the mat, he made a face at the ink splattered mat before he rolled it up. The man blinked but led the dark haired girl holding his Kazekage's youngest child to the house that Gaara shared with his siblings. Kankuro and Temari stared in shock at their sleeping brother as they followed them, they were astounded that the reason that their brother was so insane was due to his seal. Their sensei led the girl to an unused guest room since Gaara's room didn't have a bed in it, the three watched as she carefully laid Gaara on the bed.
However, when she tried to rise up so she could tuck him in, Sasuke was stopped short by his grip on her shirt and shook her head with wry amusement as she tried to pry his fingers from her shirt. Key word was try, since she had only succeeded in almost waking the red head, she sighed again before she glanced over her shoulder as she said, "looks like he doesn't want to be alone. I can't loosen his grip without waking him and I don't want to do that since this is the first peaceful sleep he's had in years…"
With that said she kicked off her sandals and slipped off her forehead protector before she began lining up her loose weapons on the nightstand. After she was done with that she slid into the bed beside Gaara, who immediately cuddled into her side. She started carding her fingers through his hair and hummed a song softly as she did so. Once the boy had slipped further into slumber, Sasuke bit her thumb and summoned a hawk, she ordered it to inform her team that she was being a body pillow to a sleeping Jinchuuriki and not to expect her back for training or even at the inn until he woke up naturally.
The man then led the two stunned siblings out of the room once they had exited the house, he told them, "I'm going to informed the Kazekage about this."
Temari's eyes flashed as she said in a firm tone, "we're coming with you, Baki-Sensei," she scowled darkly as she growled, "I want a word with whoever it was that did my baby brother's seal!" Kankuro nodded as he scowled his agreement to his elder sisters words, a look that combined with his kabuki makeup made for a hilarious picture.
When they reached the Kazekage's office they were surprised to find Team Seven, minus Sasuke of course, in the office. Sakura was watching with amusement as her sensei and Naruto berating an old woman about the proper methods of sealing. "Stick to poisons instead of seals, I don't need incompetents trying to pass themselves off as masters," was one of the more vicious comments from Naruto.
The Kazekage looked stunned at the information that the lecturing duo was giving him about his youngest sons actions, he appeared to be relieved when he saw his other children. "Baki, Temari, Kankuro, get in here," he ordered softly, as they entered he remembered the conversation he once had with Minato Namikaze about Jinchuuriki and idly wondered if Kushina Uzumaki would be fuming over how he treated his youngest.
He huffed a soft laugh as he thought to himself, 'she'd probably be as angry as her son about his treatment and Minato would be just as angry about it.' He then cleared his throat and asked Baki, "how is my son?"
Baki nodded as he said, "when we felt the girl and Gaara, he appeared to be sleeping deeply, as far as I can tell he was content to keep a hold of her." He laughed softly as he rubbed the back of his neck before he said with a smile, "quite frankly, Kazekage-Sama, he refused to let go of her at all." He then turned to Team Seven and asked Kakashi, apparently he had left the berating to Naruto, "what is her name anyway? I'd rather not refer to her as 'the girl' until I can ask her myself."
Sakura laughed before she said with glinting green eyes, "you're right, you really don't want to do that. After all, that's pretty much a guaranteed way to make Sasuke swear vengeance on you!" She then collapsed into a fit of giggles, her words combined with the memory of Sasuke's dark glare caused Baki and the sand siblings to shiver in fear.
Kakashi rolled his eye before he said, "allow me to introduce you to my team, Kazekage-Sama." The man raised an eyebrow but gestured for the copy cat nin to go ahead, so Kakashi said as he pointed at Naruto, "the ranting blond over there is Naruto Uzumaki." He then pointed at Sakura as he said, "little miss giggles there is Sakura Haruno. My Genin that is currently cuddling your youngest child is Sasuke Uchiha," he smiled his customary eye smile as he commented, "apparently she's gained a maternal streak. Right, Naruto," he said with a questioning lilt to his voice.
Naruto paused in his berating of the old woman to tap his chin as he considered Kakashi's words before he blinked in shock as he screeched, "OH MY GOD! Sasuke's almost he perfect housewife!"
At that comment Sakura stopped laughing and stared up at him before she said with a raised eyebrow, "care to explain that comment, Naruto."
At that he raised his hand and ticked off each point to making, "Sasuke can cook, clean, balance a check book like no one else's business, do common household repairs. Just about the only think Sasuke can't do is laundry. Why do you think I do mine at her place, if I do Sasuke's laundry along with mine I get a free meal and a sparring partner." He then turned back to the old woman to continue his lecture, utterly ignoring the group behind him with ease as he did.
Kakashi shook his head and commented as he took out his book, "what do you know, Naruto's right about hat. Sasuke would make the perfect housewife, so long as her partner knows how to do laundry!"
