Disclaimer: Maybe in an alternate universe I own Naruto, but in this universe I don't.
Naruto, Rei, and Iori all froze when they heard Soun's captor refer to Soun as brother. Slowly they all turned as one to look at Chouza who was standing where he was with a stern look on his face. Before Chouza could say anything in battle sign language, Naruto signaled that he was going to use the Ranseigan to see what they were up against. All the rest of Team Chouza just said back and waited for Naruto to tell them what he had seen. His plan was, after all, a very sound plan and besides it wasn't like Naruto could see them disagree while he was throwing his point of view.
Naruto positioned his point of view above where he heard the voice coming from so that he was looking down on the scene. Thanks to his extensive training on throwing his point of view Naruto wasn't at all disconcerted by how he was looking at things. Instantly Naruto noted that there were only four people in the small clearing behind where he body was. Two of the people were your stereotypical goons with the slightly dumb look on their face thrown in for free. Besides dumb and dumber, Naruto could see a man tied up in a chair looking like he had been hit a few times. Finally the last man looked a lot like the person that was tied up and that last person had a slightly maniacal look in his eyes.
After making one final check to see that he didn't miss anyone, Naruto disengaged that part of his bloodline and returned to his original point of view. The rest of the team all got a stormy look in their faces as Naruto passed along what he had seen. Knowing that they didn't have the experience to quickly plan out what they should do, Naruto, Rei, and Iori all turned to Chouza and asked him what they should do. Less then a minute after they asked him what they should do Chouza gave them the battle plan. Naruto and Iori were to move around and kill the two goons. At the same time, Rei was supposed to kill Soun's questioner. Noticing the slight shock in the trio's eyes that they weren't supposed to try and incapacitate, Chouza pointed to one of the many crates behind where he was. Chouza then explained that the drugs that were in those crates all carried the immediate death penalty for trafficking in them.
Naruto, Rei, and Iori all slowly nodded their heads in unison to show that they understood what Chouza was trying to tell them. Sparing these criminals would be pointless because they would just be put to death anyway. Once he had looked into each of his students' eyes to make sure that they were still up to what they had to do Chouza motioned for the plan to start. As they took off Iori headed to the right while Naruto and Rei started to circle around their targets from the left. When Naruto stopped traveling with Rei do to the fact that he had reached his target, he continued to pay attention to Rei. Team Chouza had during their training sessions planed for such an attack like this and the plan stated that the other teammates would wait for the one who had the furthest to travel to give the attack signal.
When Rei got to the closest point to her target while still being in the shadows, she brushed her thumb against her bracelet summoning her naginata into her hand. Rei then glanced and saw that Naruto and Iori were both ready with their blades in their hands. Knowing that both boys' eyes were on her Rei gave the signal to attack before she rushed at her target. Rushing at her target, Rei quickly jabbed her naginata up and into the interrogator's heart. Unlike most naginatas Rei's naginata had been modified slightly so that the end of its curved blade had a small jabbing point. This small point was what allowed Rei to use her naginata like she had just done.
Tied up in his chair, Soun Tsuji couldn't believe what he had just seen. Soun's brother, who had been pulling back his fist to punch Soun again, was suddenly skewered by a blade from behind. Quickly looking to his right and his left Soun saw the big guards that his brother had had watching over him suddenly meet a similar fate. As the bodies of his brother and his brother's goons fell to the ground Soun could see three young teens standing behind the falling bodies. The blonde haired teen to Soun's right looked at Soun and said in a friendly voice, "We're a Konoha ninja team and we're here to help you Soun Tsuji."
Before Soun could reply to the blonde's comment Soun felt his bindings being cut. Turning around slightly Soun saw a very large man step around from behind the chair. This big man then said in a calm voice, "Alright Naruto, Rei, I want you two to get Soun out of here. Iori, Once everyone else has left the building I want you to torch the warehouse. I'm going to go and destroy that barracks we saw earlier. With a bit of luck tonight we'll destroy the Fiery Death gang completely. After this is all over we'll all met back at the Todo household. Miss Todo after all should be one of the first to know that her fiancé is safe."
In the morning, Kasumi had insisted that Team Chouza say at her place for the night after they brought Soun back, Team Chouza, Soun, and Kasumi were all sitting around getting ready to talk. Soun held the small pendant that Rei had given him when they all got up and he said somberly, "So much trouble for something so small." With a said look in his eye Soun continued on talking. "This pendant has been in my family for four generations. It was given to my great grandfather by a wandering monk as a token of thanks for my great grandfather sharing his dinner with the monk. Ever since then this pendant has been passed down in my family whenever the family heir is about to be wed."
Looking at Team Chouza and in particular the trio Soun gave a small smile. "I'm sure that you are all wondering why I was kidnapped by my brother over this little thing. Don't look bashful I can tell that you three young ones want to know. You all I think deserve to know what went on and I think that talking about it will help me deal with this whole fiasco." Naruto, Rei, and Iori all looked slightly embarrassed that Soun saw their curiosity but they were all glad that he didn't complain. Chouza, who was sipping some tea, was also glad to hear about why this whole mess got started in the first place.
Closing his eyes, Soun was quiet for a moment as if he was collecting his thoughts before he softly spoke. "My elder brother Kaworu was born during the height of the depression that occurred between the Second and Third Great Ninja wars seven years before I was born. Although the Tsuji family fortunes had gotten a lot better by the time I was born, those times of poverty made a big impact on my brother. Kaworu always seemed to desire to make more money; wealth just seemed to be an obsession with my brother. By the time I was in my teens Kaworu apparently lost his morals when it came to making money. I remember coming home one day from school when I was fifteen to find out that my father had thrown Kaworu out of the family. At first I was shocked that my father would do such a thing but then I found out that Kaworu had been making deals with the local criminal groups. For 10 years until this week I did not know the whereabouts of my brother."
Soun paused for a moment to take a sip of his tea before he continued his tale. "I'm sure all of you are wondering in the back of your minds 'what does Kaworu's history have to do with the pendant?' My brother's interest in the rabbit pendant had nothing to do with some mental victory against our father if that is the conclusion that you've drawn in your heads. You see, Kaworu's motivation for capturing me and trying to obtain the pendant was driven by the only thing his craved: money. During my captivity I overheard my guards speak about how Kaworu had gained a manuscript that talked about a great stockpile of gold that was hidden away. From what I can piece together from what I overheard, Kaworu's manuscript apparently said that a wandering monk was given the key to the stockpile and that this key was supposed to be a small item. Kaworu must have assumed that the monk my great grandfather helped and the monk described in the manuscript were the same monk. Therefore Kaworu believed that the rabbit pendant was the key to this stockpile and so he came after me to get the pendant."
Team Chouza could barely keep their shock and disgust for Kaworu's actions from being too noticeable on their faces. For Naruto his disgust originated with Kaworu's obsession; its one thing to have a goal in life and it's another thing to be consumed by the goal. Rei and Chouza, who both came from loving families, had trouble accepting that a person could do such a thing to family. The thing that got Iori the most was the fact that Kaworu was willing to give up his morals to try and achieve his goals. Personally Iori could sympathize with having a great ambition but if sell your soul to get there what is the point of trying?
Soun apparently noticed Team Chouza's disgust and he said, "Please don't hold my brother's actions towards me against him; he wasn't all there in the head. All I feel for my brother's passing is pity that he turned out the way he did. Back when I was a little boy Kaworu was actually a decent brother; before he became too obsessed with money. I can only hope that he turns out better in the next life then he did in this lifetime." The room was silent for the next few minutes before anyone was willing to start talking again. After a few minutes of small talk Team Chouza quietly left the Todo household saying that they needed to head back to Konoha now that the mission was accomplished. Kasumi and Soun were standing by the door and politely waving the team goodbye as Team Chouza left the Todo household.
As the sun started to sink towards the horizon Team Chouza, who had been traveling at a more relaxed pace at Chouza's insistence, pulled into a small town about 8 km from Otafuku Gai. While the team could push ahead towards Konoha, which was only twenty km away to the northwest, Chouza had stated that they were stopping in this town for the night. When Naruto asked why they weren't pushing ahead Chouza told Naruto that the gate guards are a lot friendlier during the day then in the middle of the night. What Chouza didn't tell his students was that he was trying to let them have a breather space to fully get used to what had happened on the mission.
Currently Team Chouza had split up into three groups. Chouza himself was busy checking the team into the town inn for the night. Iori was currently strolling around town taking a look at the various resturants that were available because he had won the right, in a rock-paper-scissors game, to pick where the team was going to eat for the night. Naruto and Rei were currently sitting next to a small stream that ran just outside of the inn that Chouza was checking the team into. As Naruto and Rei waited, for Chouza to finish checking in and for Iori to come back, they talked to each other to pass the time. Their conversation didn't touch on their last mission at all due to the fact they were both still a little sensitive about it. Instead Rei and Naruto talked about various training strategies that they each liked to do back in Konoha.
Suddenly Naruto and Rei heard someone behind them start to chuckle and say, "Well, well, well. Starting to charm the girls a little young aren't you Naruto?" Rei and Naruto, both sporting the tiniest hints of blushes on their checks, turned around to see a white haired man with red lines coming down from his eyes looking at them. The unknown man shifted his gaze over to Rei for a second and then smirked. "Well Naruto, if your going to start early at least you're on the right track flirting with a beauty like this girl."
Naruto moved so that he was slightly in front of Rei and he also moved his hands so that they could quickly grab his kodachis if this unknown man started to cause trouble. In the back of his mind Naruto was wondering how on earth this person could know his name. After all, most of Konoha tried its best to ignore the fact that he existed and except for this latest mission Naruto had never left Konoha's walls. Narrowing his eyes Naruto said with a light edge in his voice, "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
The man then let out a good laugh and said while doing a strange dance, "Who am I? Boy, I am the holy sage of Myouboku Mountain, a man beloved in the North, East, West, and South, I am Jiraiya of the Sannin!" At this point Jiraiya ended his crazy dance and noticed the confused and slightly disbelieving looks that Naruto and Rei were sending towards him. In the back of his mind Jiraiya was grumbling at how Naruto and Rei were reacting to his introductions. "What is it with kids today; no respect. Oh well, at least the boy seems to be growing up all right. Wasn't expecting to meet up with the boy for a few more months yet so is it too soon to start helping the boy?"
While Jiraiya, Naruto, and Rei were standing where they were Chouza came out of the inn and started heading towards them. As Chouza got closer he spotted Jiraiya and then said in a slightly humble tone, "Lord Jiraiya, why are you here?" Chouza then noticed Naruto and Rei; particularly the defensive stance that Naruto was in. With a friendly fatherly voice Chouza said, "Don't worry Naruto; Lord Jiraiya is one of Konoha's most trusted ninjas so stand down. In fact, Lord Jiraiya was the student of the Third Lord Hokage and the personal tutor of the Fourth Lord Hokage." After seeing Naruto stand down from his ready position and go back to standing next to Rei, Chouza inquired with a questioning voice. "Lord Jiraiya, is their any reason why you're in this small town talking to my students? If so is there anyway that I can be of assistance to you?"
Jiraiya just stuck his hands in his pockets, gave a slight shrug, and then said in a nonchalant manner, "I'm just passing through Chouza. Tomorrow I'm going up to Otafuku Gai for some well deserved R and R. Also, I was planning on doing some 'research' there for my latest book." At that point Chouza's face formed a small frown; it was slightly embarrassing after all in Chouza's mind that a man like Lord Jiraiya would waste his time writing such trashy books. Just as Chouza's face went back to its previous neutral state, Jiraiya spoke up again. "Look Chouza, can I borrow Naruto for a minute? It shouldn't take more then a few minutes and then you and your team can go about your business."
Figuring that Jiraiya must a good reason for requesting Naruto's time, Chouza agreed to let Jiraiya and Naruto go talk. Jiraiya then led Naruto a little ways away from Chouza and Rei before Jiraiya started to talk. "Naruto, you most likely don't know it but the Yondaime was a very good friend of your mother. When the Yondaime heard that your mother was expecting you he wrote to me and requested that I allow your mother to sign the Toad Contract as a gift to celebrate your birth." Jiraiya then pulled a large scroll from behind his back before he continued on. "Due to Kyuubi attacking, your mother died before she could sign the contract. Now normally I wouldn't offer this Naruto but I'm going to offer you the chance to sign the Toad Contract in your mother's place. Knowing the Yondaime like I did I figure that he would most likely have requested that you sign the contract as well once you became a ninja."
Naruto stood where he was at that moment and thought about what Jiraiya had told him. The Yondaime being friends with his mother would at least partially explain why the Yondaime had chosen him to contain the Kyuubi. Recalling one of his and Iruka's private conversations, Naruto pulled up all that he knew about Summoning Contracts. According to Iruka, a Summoning Contract was a binding agreement where a ninja agreed to pay with his blood and Chakra for the help of one particular group of summon creatures. Once a person signed a contract, that person was forever bound to a particular group of summon creatures and would never be able to sign another contract. His enemies would become his summons' enemies and their enemies would become his enemies; the same thing went for friends at least according to what Iruka knew. Personally Naruto was willing to believe Iruka because Iruka never taught something unless Iruka was sure that it was correct.
Out of the various Summoning Contracts that Naruto knew of, he figured that the only contract besides the Toads that Jiraiya was offering that he had a shot at getting to sign was the Monkey Contract. However there were two important facts in Naruto's mind that had in impact on his decision. First of all his family apparently had at least a passing association with the Toads. Second, and most important in Naruto's mind, was the issue of future Summoners. Both Jiraiya and Sarutobi were quite old as far as active ninja went but there were differences between the two that were relevant for Naruto's decision. Sarutobi had his children, Konohamaru, and a few younger grandchildren to pass the monkey contract on to when Sarutobi died. While Jiraiya on the other hand was the last living member of his family and all of Jiraiya's students had died. If there were no living summoners for a contract then the contract would be taken away by the summons to their home.
That fact made up Naruto's mind and he decided to accept Jiraiya's offer. There was no way that Naruto would allow the Toad Contract to vanish if he had a chance. Although all summon home locations were tightly guarded secrets, only Jiraiya knew where Myouboku Mountain was so if the contract vanished it would most likely stay gone until someone managed to stumble upon Myouboku Mountain again. Besides, Naruto had always admired the toads when he heard about how the Yondaime was known to use them in battle. With a serious but still cheerful face Naruto said, "Alright Jiraiya, I'll sign the Toad Contract."
Placing the large scroll on the ground, Jiraiya opened the scroll so that his name, Minato Namikaze's name, and a few blank columns were visible. Looking up from his squatting position Jiraiya said, "Alright Naruto sign the contract. Remember that you need to write your name in your blood and then place the finger prints, also in your blood, of your dominant hand at the bottom of the column that you sign your name in." Nodding his head, Naruto bit his right thumb and proceeded to do as Jiraiya had directed. After Naruto was finished Jiraiya rolled the scroll back up and said in a business like way, "Congratulations kid, you are now the latest summoner of the Toads. Since it looks like your teammates are waiting on you I think you should go back now. Don't worry about not knowing the handsigns needed to summon as all summoning contracts use the same exact sign sequence. Besides, you would likely forget them if I showed them to you right now anyway." Naruto ignored Jiraiya's last comment and headed over to rejoin his team.
On the morning after Team Chouza got back to Konoha, Iori woke up and headed downstairs after he had changed into his regular clothes. His mother was currently cooking at the small family kitchen and his father was currently sitting at the table nearby reading the newspaper. After greeting his parents Iori went over to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. Closing the refrigerator Iori walked over at sat across the table from his father. Iori took a gulp of his milk and then said, "So dad, anything in the paper today that isn't a load of rubbish?" A small smile appeared on Mrs. Kusanagi's face as this was something of a morning ritual in the Kusanagi household.
Putting down his newspaper, Iori's dad looked strait at Iori and then he said, "Yes Iori there is a lot more then just rubbish in the newspaper. Perhaps if you bothered to actually read the news once and a while you'd see that for yourself." Mrs. Kusanagi noticed that her husband seemed a bit more tense then usual and inquired as to what he had read. Pinching the bridge of his nose Mr. Kusanagi said, "Sorry dear, and sorry Iori for sounding a little sharp today. I just read about how the Wind Daimyo died last night due to falling down a flight of stairs because he slipped on some tea."
Blinking his eyes Iori took a second to process what his father had just told him. After his mind processed the information, Iori shrugged his shoulders and said, "A suitable ending for a stupid buffoon." All Mr. Kusanagi did about Iori's comment was to ask for some more coffee. It was an open secret that most of Konoha's higher level ninjas had no real respect for the Wind Daimyo and would be glad to see him go. In fact the only people who would more the Wind Daimyo's passing would be a few civilian councilmen and some paper pushing ninjas who would miss the decline of missions from Wind Country. That those missions would decline was a given as heir to Wind Country was known to have opposed his father on many domestic and fiscal issues.
Going on to more pleasant topics, Iori was asked how his mission went as he had only given vague details about it when he came home yesterday. Figuring that there was no harm in telling his parents about the mission, Iori gave them a detailed report on the mission. Iori then went on to talk about the journey back to Konoha and in particular his teammates' run in with Jiraiya. On hearing that one of Iori's teammates had signed a summoning contract, Iori's parents gave each other a quick glance. After looking at each other for a moment they nodded their heads and Mr. Kusanagi spoke, "Well Iori that sounds like an interesting mission you just went on. Before you go met with your teammates today why don't you sign the family summoning contract? You were going to get it latter but your mother and I think that you've shown enough maturity to be allowed to sign now. Besides, this way you and your teammate can learn to summon at the same time."
Iori was surprised when he first heard his father mention the summoning contract but then a smile appeared on his face. The Mongoose Contract had been in the Kusanagi family for generations and it was one of the few items that Iori's parents had been able to take with them when they fled from Grass Country. Although not as famous as the Toad, Slug, or Snake contract; the Mongoose Contract was respected due to the mongooses' noted abilities for being agile and for their knack in fighting other summons. Usually the Mongooses would dismiss a summoned animal after they attacked. However the Mongooses were known to occasionally kill another summon like Hadji, the Mongoose boss, killed Manda's father before Manda took over the Snakes. Mrs. Kusanagi then went upstairs and came back down a few minutes later carrying the contract in her arms. With a smile on her face she set the contract down on the table in front of Iori and said, "Hear you go son. Please put this back upstairs in the master bedroom once you're finished signing. After that, wake up the twins and tell them that breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes."
Naruto, Rei, and Iori were all sitting around at Team Chouza's usual training ground talking about what had happened since they had come back from their last mission. Naruto talked about how he and Iruka had gone to Naruto's favorite ramen stand to celebrate a successful C rank mission. Iori explained that he mostly just lazed about at home for that afternoon and that he played with 'the twerps' as well. Rei wasn't able to relax as much because her grandfather had her and her brother cleaning up the house because her cousin was coming over in a few weeks to stay in Konoha for the next month or so. Both boys offered to help Rei clean up her house but Rei turned them down saying that it was all taken care of already.
After that conversation quieted down a bit Naruto said, "You know we must be the oddest genin team in Konoha. I mean seriously, besides the things that already set us apart from our classmates we are probably the only genin team that all the genin have summoning contracts. Even the Sanin didn't get their contracts until they were all Chunin after all. And here we are, three rookie genin with contracts. Me with the Toads, Iori with the Mongooses and Rei here is going to get to sign the Raven Contract next week for her birthday. Which reminds me, I still need to go out and get you a birthday gift Rei." At that point Rei blushed slightly as she wasn't used to the idea of people outside of her family going out and getting her a birthday present.
Iori, who was lying on a tree branch above where Naruto and Rei were sitting, then chimed in and said, "Your right about needing to go get a birthday present for Rei, Naruto. How about we double check with her folks to make sure that we don't accidentally buy the same gift twice." Rei's face by that point was doing an impression of a tomato from embarrassment. Although Rei was quite embarrassed by Naruto and Iori's comments; she was very grateful that she had friends like the boys. After being isolated in her academy class like she had been Rei treasured Naruto and Iori's friendship for the simple friendship that it was. Being able to have people that she could relate to like Team Chouza was a dream come true for the 'ice priestess' as she had heard some girls call her behind her back.
Figuring Rei didn't want to listen to them talk about her birthday any more, Naruto decided to change the topic slightly. "While it might be odd that we're all going to have summoning contracts; it works out very well. I mean, once we all get some practice with our contracts we will be in great shape summoning wise. It is known that the Toad, the Mongooses, and the Ravens are all friendly with each other so we won't have to worry too much about summon conflicts like a few teams have to deal with. Also, the abilities of the Toads, Mongooses, and the Ravens complement each other giving us a good balance. True we won't really have to worry about that sort of thing for a while and we first have to learn to summon correctly but it is a good thing I think to think about." After listening to Naruto talk, both Rei and Iori nodded their heads to show that they agreed with what Naruto said.
Iori at this point hopped down out of the tree saying that he saw Chouza coming over and the other two team members quickly saw Chouza coming after they were told of his approach. Chouza stopped about five feet in front of the trio and then said, "Okay team here's the deal. First we are going to do our normal team exercises and then once that's done we're going to go and get a mission. Just so you know ahead of time, our mission will be a D rank mission. Konoha's regulations state that all rookie genin teams must take at least two D rank missions in between C rank missions. This is designed to give you guys the chance to better cool off and not get too psychologically worked up do to mission stress. They might be annoying but no one can really claim that D rank missions are stressful, unless it involves chasing after that cat." Team Chouza all had a good laugh at Chouza's joke before they all set about with their planed activities for the day.
