Sorry everyone for taking so long to update this story. Unfortunately this time I do have a reason and it is not a good one. Shortly after my last update while spending a few days at a friend's house I had taken my laptop with me so I could work on this story. While I was working on it at night (I suffer from insomnia) my friend woke up in medical distress. I had called for an ambulance but he passed away in his living room in front of me and his roommate. As a result I lost my will to write for a while. However like I said before I intend to finish the story so here is the next chapter.


"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon / summon talking"

'Demon / summon thinking'

Jutsu/ technique

It was about 10:00 am the day after the incident at the academy and 2 men are seen walking in to the administration office in the Hokage Tower. They quickly move towards the property sales and registration. Upon getting to their destination one of the men addresses the secretary asking to see the person in charge of the department for an appointment. 10 minutes later they are in an office with a man named Hashimoto Ken'ichi. He is an older man about mid to late 40's brown hair and a receding hairline.

"Vrbada-san, to what do I owe this visit," he asks. The man he addressed stands 6'1 looks to be in his mid 30's and is wearing black sandals, grey pants and shirt, and a black robe with a design of smoke traveling up from the waist in a somewhat random pattern.

"Hashimoto-san, it is good to see you in good health. I'm here to transfer possession of the land I bought and the compound that was built on it. There shouldn't be too much trouble doing so should there?"

"There shouldn't be an issue, but I must ask who you are giving the land to and why? You only had possession of it for the last 3 years and that was all used for construction of the compound. Speaking of, I heard that several people have been seen entering and leaving over the last few days. Could you tell me why that is?"

"To answer your questions, why I'm giving the land and compound over is I bought the land and had the compound built for some friends of mine that were going to be rebuilding their clan here in Konoha. The people that have been seen coming and going are those people, and the man next to me is the one who they have authorized to sign the papers in their stead," he says motioning to his right. "This is Scorpion, he is signing on behalf of the joint Lin Kuei - Shirai Ryu clans."

"I see, well then let's get to it. The sooner this is done the better for all of us."

Academy - noon

Kitsune and Skarlet were sitting in the shade under a tree on the academy grounds with Shikamaru and the others sitting with them talking. They were discussing various training methods they use and current events in the village as Kitsune and Skarlet are rather new to the village. While talking about training Kitsune has a thought and decides to ask something.

"Kiba-san, would you be able to setup a meeting between myself and Hana-san?"

"Why, you got the hots for my sister already? You only met her once."

"No not that, some of our classmates approached me yesterday after the council meeting and asked if Skarlet and I could tutor them and help bring them up to a more appropriate level of skill. I was going to ask if she could help out as a medic in case of injuries."

"Troublesome as it is, that sounds like a good idea," says Shikamaru. "Are you going to do it?"

"I'm seriously thinking about it. Weighing the options and outcomes I think it would be a better idea to help them out. At least if I try I won't feel as guilty should something happen to them while on a mission as I would if I didn't try to help them."

"Would you mind if I came along to?" asks Miyako. "I would like to train alongside you guys and maybe I could help the others."

"Um… I think it would be a good idea as well. Besides I think some of us are starting to lack in skill because of us holding back due to Sasuke and his arrogance."

"That is something else I was meaning to talk to you guys about. Don't worry about Sasuke, don't hold back in spars against him. If you do you will only be hurting yourselves by not improving."

"Onesan, what about me?" asks Hanabi while looking at Hinata and then at the others. "Can I join your training too?"

"That will be up to your father Hanabi-chan," says Kitsune. "What do you say Skarlet? Want to help them out? Some of them look like they were some of Sasuke's fan girls."

"Why not, I might enjoy tormenting those ones. And I can help whoever needs it with accuracy or kenjutsu."

"I'll talk to Hana-onesan about it but just so you know she isn't a regular med-nin, she specializes as a veterinarian so she may not be able to help out."

"Even if she is a veterinarian, she was the only medic that was willing to try and help Skarlet and as such the only one I will trust this to. Even so however, I need to talk to Iruka-sensei first and see if it is allowed."

"It is about time to head back to class. And most of us still have to finish the testing that we started yesterday," says Shino as he and the others start to get up and head back to their class.

"Can I ask one thing from all of you?" says Kitsune with a bit more of a serious tone. "Stop holding back in class. The Uchiha and the council have no say in how we train and have no right to try and demand anything from any of us. And besides that you holding back not only will prevent your skills from improving but also hinders the improvement of your training partners."

At this the group looks at him then each other then back to him again and nod in agreement. The group then splits up with Hanabi going back inside for her classes while the rest of the group go back to the training area around back of the academy. While they are walking Kiba's curiosity gets the better of him.

"Hey Kitsune I'm kinda wondering. Who was it that asked for your help in their training anyways?"

"They only gave me their given names but they were Akio, Minami, Hotaru, Yuuko, Ryou, and Miyu. Three of them fought yesterday so I'm gonna keep an eye on the rest of them during the spars and see if I can find where they need help."

A few hours later

Most of the class had finished their performance test, and neither Kitsune nor Skarlet were impressed. Most of the boys went for fancy maneuvers that in a real fight would get them killed, while most of the girls showed little to no sign of ever having trained. However Kitsune still kept an eye out for the three others that asked for help.

In the case of Ryou he seemed to have a large amount of physical strength but not the speed to use it, nor the intent to strike his opponent as he was on the defence the whole time. His defence however was solid, even with his opponent being faster than him Ryou blocked most of the attacks that came his way. The match was actually called in his favour due to his opponent trying to go for an ax kick to Ryou's back and breaking his own leg with the amount of force he put into it.

Yuuko was showing signs of having been on a diet recently. She has little physical strength or stamina, however she did show signs of knowledge of anatomy and skill in evasion as she would avoid her opponent's attacks and then strike at their joints to disable them. However even though she wasn't moving around as much as her opponent when the match was called she fell to her knees gasping for breath.

Unlike the other girls in the class Miyu didn't show signs of dieting. However she still looked to be favouring her left shoulder after her fall the previous day. During the fight her opponent tried to capitalize on this but she proved to be very skilled in evasion and managed to get several hits in. However what caught Kitsune's attention was when she took a hit to her left side, a hit that she should have easily seen coming. The match was eventually called in her favour but it didn't look like anyone else noticed what happened besides himself and Skarlet.

Speaking of Skarlet, her fight was so one sided it wasn't even funny. Her opponent was Haruno Sakura. A fan girl that despite what had happened the previous day was still swooning over the Uchiha. Skarlet outright told her to quit the academy before she got hurt or worse due to her lack of training and Sakura went into a rage and blindly lunged at Skarlet with a fist pulled back ready to strike. There were three hits in the match. Sakura's fist hit the ground where Skarlet once stood, Skarlet's hand delivering a chop to the base of Sakura's skull, and Sakura's head hitting the ground as she was knocked unconscious. As Skarlet was heading back to the rejoin the class however she noticed that Kitsune had his head lowered and his eyes looked to have a red glow.

'No, he hasn't done any control exercises in a while. How can I get him to expend that chakra?' While Skarlet is thinking this she is discreetly looking around before deciding to talk to Iruka and turns to him.

"Iruka-sensei, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"Hm, sure what's up Skarlet-san?"

"It's about Kitsune. You see he has a condition in which his body produces excess chakra and he needs to constantly do control exercises. I just now noticed that he hasn't done any for a while now and saw the signs that he may lose control of it soon. Is there anything we could do that would cause us to expend chakra so he could get it back under control?"

"Well I was going to leave it for tomorrow but if the situation is as you say I guess I will have to start the ninjutsu testing now. How bad is he at the moment?"

"If I had to guess, I would say that he could hold out for another 10-15 minutes but he would have to use a B-rank jutsu in order to stabilize."

Iruka nods at this "OK, go and rejoin the class and I will get the test setup. Mizuki, can you help me get some targets setup for the next test?"

"Next test, I thought that we were doing the ninjutsu tomorrow."

"We have enough time that we should be able to do it today."

5 minutes later Mizuki and Iruka had the targets set and were looking at the class. Skarlet however was looking at Kitsune and was starting to get worried as it looked like she may have been wrong as to how long Kitsune could hold out for. His eyes were glowing crimson and his nails had started to grow and sharpen into claws. Skarlet however wasn't the only one watching Kitsune. 3 other sets of eyes were on him belonging to Shikamaru, Miyako, and Sai and all 3 had different thoughts. Shikamaru was observing and wondering if this was what he meant when he said that his chakra was hard to control, Miyako was wondering why the change in his looks seemed familiar, and Sai was trying to determine if this was something that should be reported to Danzo.

"OK everyone this will be the last test to see where your current skills are at. This is a ninjutsu test as you can see Mizuki and I have set up several test dummies should you have need of them. For this test you are to use the basic 3 the Henge, the Bunshin, and the Kawarimi. After that you may use any other jutsu if you wish. Don't worry if you are having problems with any of them this is what you are here for, to learn and improve. With that said who would like to go first?"

At this one of the civilian born students a girl named Maki goes up. She uses the Bunshin and makes 1 clone that lasts for 10 seconds before it destabilizes. She tries to Henge into Mizuki but her concentration wavers and becomes a mixture of Mizuki and Iruka, and when she tries to use the Kawarimi she somehow ended up upside-down a half foot in the air before falling and landing on her back winding herself. She didn't have any extra jutsu to show.

The next up was Sakura who had woken up while the dummies were being set up. She used the Henge to turn into a perfect copy of Sasuke. She created 3 Bunshin that lasted 20 seconds before destabilizing, and then used the Kawarimi with one of the dummies landing on her hands and knees breathing heavily afterwards. Even if she knew another jutsu she didn't have the chakra to use it.

The third person to go up was Skarlet who used the Henge to turn into Iruka with some minor flaws in appearance. She makes 5 Bunshin which she dispels after 30 seconds and Kawarimi with a dummy and back again. She then draws one of her tanto and runs the blade across her left hand before flinging her hand out at the dummy she used saying Chiton:Ketsueki-kyu. A ball of blood launches from her hand and hits the dummy with a cracking sound as the dummies head was taken off and lands a few feet behind it. Skarlet then walks up to the head of the dummy and puts her hand on it absorbing to blood back into herself before going back to the group.

Seeing Skarlet throw a ball of blood had several different reactions ranging from awe to disgust. However there was 1 person whose reaction was shock. That person was Miyako, and the shock was because she had seen that jutsu used before and remembered it perfectly. She had tried to find someone within Konoha that could use it in hopes of finding someone else in the village that liked Naruto, but in the end she found that no one in the village had even heard of it and now here is Skarlet who does. This made her curious.

The next person up was Kitsune. First he uses Kawarimi with a dummy, he then he uses Henge to turn into someone that few of them recognized. The person was a woman standing 5'4, with bright red hair and dark blue eyes. She is wearing a blue Hitai-ate with her hair tied up in a high ponytail, a standard Konoha flak jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt and black form-fitting pants that reached her calves.

"Kitsune… do you know who you turned into?" asked Iruka while most of the students were wondering why he would ask this.

"Yes I do. This is Uzumaki Kushina the 'Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero)' and she is a lot stronger than she looks. This got the attention of several of the students. The males were thinking about how hot she looked, while the females were wondering what she did to look so good.

Kitsune then releases the Henge and draws a kunai Chiton: Ketsueki no Bunshin he says before cutting his hand open and letting the blood fall to the ground in front of him. The blood starts to rise and take shape turning into an exact replica of Kitsune before it starts to walk off to the side of the training field and stopping 30 feet to the left of the dummies. While the clone was walking to its destination Kitsune started to focus his chakra into his right hand.

"You all might want to back up about 15 feet," says Skarlet as soon as she sees his right hand start to ignite. "It may get very hot over here." As she is saying this she is walking back away from Kitsune and stops at a point she deems safe. Most of the others follow her lead; Mizuki and Sakura on the other hand decide to stay where they are thinking that nothing will happen.

After giving the class a minute to backup Kitsune swings his arm at his clone like he is throwing something and launches a ball of fire about 4 inches in diameter at the clone, Jigoku Hi he says as the ball leaves his hand. Upon impact the ball explodes into a 10 foot wide 20 foot high cyclone of flame. The students in the back of the group which were 80 feet away could feel the heat while the closer ones which were 40 feet away could swear they thought they just got a very quickly done tan. When the flames died down all they saw in the area of the attack was a charred circle with all the grass within the next 20 feet of it being browned due to all the moisture being evaporated out of it. The closest of the training dummies had scorch marks on it, and there was nothing left of the clone, not even a drop of blood was in the area as the heat caused the blood itself to evaporate.

Everyone's jaws dropped at this display. When Kitsune turned around he took a look at every one then his shoulders started to shake then he started to laugh. The cause of this, Mizuki and Sakura. They stood so close that Mizuki's clipboard was turned to ash and both of them were now missing their eyebrows. When the rest of the class saw this everyone minus Skarlet was on the ground due to laughing so hard.

Skarlet walks up to Kitsune while everyone is trying to get a hold of themselves. "Feeling better now?" she asks. "Much."

"Kitsune," they turn to see Iruka walking up to them. "What rank is that and how much chakra did you put into it?"

"Well it's supposed to be a low to mid C-rank that hits one target, but I accidentally used 5 times the chakra I should have. That would put it to high B low A-rank, I think." He says rubbing the back of his neck before walking back to the rest of the class.

End of class in the classroom

The rest of the day went without any problems. After the class was let out for the day Kitsune and Skarlet stay behind to talk with Iruka about helping the others with their training.

"Iruka-sensei could we talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Kitsune, what can I help you with?"

"After class yesterday some of our classmates found me and asked if I could help them with their training outside of class. I was wondering if doing so would be alright or if it might cause problems."

"It is preferable that students get their training from the instructors here in the academy or from their clans, but there is no rule or law stating that they can't train together. All I would ask is that you have an experienced shinobi watching over the group in case something happens. May I ask who came to you for help?"

"Originally it was only 6 people; Minami, Hotaru, Akio, Miyu, Ryou, and Yuuko, however when I mentioned it to some others they asked to join in as well."

"Who were the others?"

"Shino, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Miyako, Shikamaru, and Hinata's sister Hanabi."

This caught Iruka off guard. Most of these people were clan heirs, and they were asking an outsider for help. "One more question Kitsune. Did they tell you why they wanted you to help them instead of coming to Mizuki-sensei or myself?"

"I actually asked them that as well. They said that you were already giving some others extra help and didn't want to run you ragged, and that Mizuki-sensei seemed to favor the Uchiha. They also said they wanted to keep their training secret from others in the class."

'It is true that I'm tutoring almost half of the civilian-born students in the class and hiding your abilities is a common practice for shinobi, but I had no idea that Mizuki was playing favorites in class. I need to talk to Hokage-sama about this. In the meantime I don't see any reason to deny this group training so I'll approve it.'

"Very well Kitsune, I'll approve this group training session. However, every 2 weeks I want to come and see how everyone is doing. Is that fair?"

"I see it as more than fair considering they are your students. And having you come and watch could help us find things that we may otherwise miss."

This earns a nod from Iruka. "By the way. Who are you going to have supervise the training?"

"I spoke with Kiba-san during lunch about getting his sister Hana to help us as she is able to help with injuries. And I was going to see if I could get one of my sensei from when I was out of the village to help as well. If all goes well we should be able to start helping the group train by next week."

"Just so you know I'm going to have to inform Hokage-sama about this as well. When it is all setup I want you to let both of us know, alright?"

"I understand and thank you for this chance Iruka-sensei. I think we have taken enough of your time for today. See you tomorrow sensei," says Kitsune with both Skarlet and himself giving him a slight bow with their left arm across their chest with a closed fist before standing straight and walking out.

When Kitsune and Skarlet left the building they come across Kiba, Hinata, Hanabi, and Miyako standing by the gate talking. Kiba being the first to notice them waves them over. "Hey we were waiting for ya, what took so long?"

"Had to talk to Iruka-sensei about the training. He approves of the idea but has added a few conditions."

"What kind of conditions?" inquires Miyako.

"Nothing too big, just wants me to keep the Hokage and himself informed and wishes to supervise us every once in a while. So why were you waiting for us and where is Akamaru?"

"I sent Akamaru ahead of us to the compound with a message saying you wanted to talk to Hana and waited for ya so we could show ya the way. The Hyuuga compound isn't far from the Inuzuka so we decided to wait and walk together."

"That explains why you, Hinata-san, and Hanabi-chan are here but what about Miyako-san?"

"Hinata and I train together every couple of days and I have permission to train with her at the Hyuuga compound. Today is one of our scheduled days." Replies Miyako as they start walking with Miyako falling in step with Skarlet. "I would like to ask you something if I may Skarlet-san?"

"I don't mind however depending on what it is will determine if I can answer you."

"Fair enough, it's about that blood jutsu you used today. Can you tell me who taught it to you?"

"Why would you like to know?"

"I had a friend years ago that died protecting me, the last jutsu he used was that same one. I was hoping to meet the person who taught it to him and learn more about him since I only knew him for a month before hand."

"Am I correct to assume that this friend was Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes but how…"

"He was the only person besides Kitsune that I have ever taught the jutsu to."

"Wait, you taught Naruto how to use that jutsu? I don't remember ever seeing you around the village."

"The day he died was the same day that Kitsune and I left the village. The 2 of us had seen too much of the darkness that was in the hearts of the villagers here. Unfortunately there isn't much I can tell you about him other than he was a kind-hearted boy and a determined friend that would do anything to protect those close to him. These fools have no idea what they cost themselves by treating him like garbage."

"I see I thank you for telling me about him. There are still very few people in the village who see him as a person and not as what he held."

"You knew of his burden then?"

Miyako nods, "yes. From what I figure he used it to help save me but unfortunately wasn't skilled enough in its use to save himself too."

"You blame yourself don't you?" asks Skarlet getting a nod from the black-haired girl. "Don't, he wouldn't want you to be rough on yourself. Instead work to become stronger and protect those that are close to you like he would. That is what I am doing."

"Thanks, this talk has actually helped me out a lot. By the way, about this extra training that Kitsune is working on setting up. Can you tell me what we will be working on?"

Skarlet shakes her head in the negative. "Sorry but I cannot. When Kitsune told you all was the first I heard of it myself. Why is there something you want to work on specifically or something you want to avoid working on?"

"I was thinking of taking up bukijutsu and mixing it with my taijutsu and was wondering if we could work on that."

"Shouldn't be too hard to help you with that. Kitsune and I already do that to an extent. What kind of weapon were you looking to work with?"

"To be honest I don't know yet. What would you suggest?"

"The best idea I have would be to go to a smith and see what kind of weapon you would feel comfortable holding. That is how we chose our weapons."

Meanwhile with Kiba, Hinata, Hanabi, and Kitsune. "Hey Kitsune, what do you have planned for this training that we would be doing?"

"My plan is to work on every ones strength, speed, reaction, stamina, and chakra reserves. I also intend to have us all spar to increase taijutsu skills and work on shurikenjutsu. By the way Hinata-san do you think you and Miyako-san could help Skarlet with a couple of the others that will be joining us? The reason I ask is because they look to be some of the Uchiha's former fan-girls."

"I should be able to, what would you need us to do?"

"It looks to me that they have been dieting quite heavily. What I would like you guys to do is find a way to break them of this mindset. I also ask that you work with them on any kunoichi specific issues as well, me trying to work with them on that would just be awkward."

"I'll see what we can do."

"Thanks."

"Um Kitsune-san I have a question if you don't mind," asks Hanabi.

"Depending on what it is I might have an answer for you. What's on your mind Hanabi-san?"

"I heard that you have some chains with kunai on them that you use to fight but I didn't see them on you yesterday or today and was wondering if it was true and if so where they are."

"Yes it is true that I have and use chains that you mentioned. As for where they are…" at this point Kitsune turns his right arm over showing Hanabi the inside of his arm and points to the forearm of his bracer. "They are sealed here in my bracers using special storage seals that are exclusive to my clan."

Hanabi nods her head in understanding knowing that anything clan specific is something she shouldn't ask about, in this case the seals. "I've never heard of anyone using a weapon like that before, do you think I could see you use the chains some time?" Kitsune looks at her suspiciously for a few moments before he shrugs his shoulders realizing she is just being curious. "Sure, but not right now there are too many people around."

At this the group continues to walk in silence. While walking Kitsune takes notice of looks of apathy and distrust, all of which are directed at Miyako. It was taking all his willpower to not lash out at the people around them when he sees the hurt look in Miyako's eyes. As they begin to enter Konoha's clan district someone lands in front of them.

The person then turns to look at the group showing to be a boy around their age. He is wearing a khaki shirt, dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, with bandages wrapped around his right arm and right leg and a black Hitai-ate. He has dark brown nearly black hair that reaches the middle of his back and pupil-less pale white eyes. His attention is immediately directed to Hinata.

"Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama has asked requested the presence of yourself, Hanabi-sama, and Miyako-san as soon as possible."

"Neji-neesan, we are already on our way home so we can speak to tou-sama when we get there." Says Hinata.

"I'm afraid that he isn't at the compound and asked me to bring you to his current location. He is at the Nara clan compound. It seems that the clan heads are having a meeting and have asked that the heirs come along." He then turns to Kiba. "Inuzuka-san I passed your mother and sister on the way here and they asked that I have you accompany us."

"Looks like I'll have to talk to Hana-san another time then," says Kitsune.

"Am I correct in guessing that you are Kitsune-san?" "Yes I am Kitsune. Why do you ask?" "Inuzuka-sama asked me to bring you as well." "Very well then, lead on."

After another 20 minutes of walking the group arrived at the Nara clan compound. Looking around Kitsune recognizes several of his class mates standing next to the current heads of their respective clans.

"Hey, does anyone know who that guy is?" asks Kiba catching the group's attention as he points out the person he is referring to.

"We do. His name is Vrbada Thomas." Says Skarlet upon seeing the person in question. "He is also one of the clan representatives."

"What do you mean clan representative? What about your clan head?" asks Hanabi.

"Our clan head has other duties and is currently unable to deal with matters in public so they gave permission to Smoke-sensei, Scorpion-sensei, Hasashi Hanzo-san, and Thomas-san to act on their behalf." replies Kitsune. Soon an aged sounding voice is heard and everyone turns to the speaker.

"Ah good it looks like everyone is here. What say we go and get this meeting started with hm?" The speaker was none other than the Hokage himself who was currently walking up to the massed clan heads with a single ANBU following him as well as a tall man, with brown eyes, short, black spiky hair, and a beard. He is wearing a standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way, flak jacket, blue shinobi sandals and forehead protector. He has a sash with the kanji for "Fire" marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.

At this Shikaku steps forward with a woman standing next to him. "I welcome you to the Nara clan compound if the clan heads and current heirs and heiresses will follow me I will take you to the meeting hall and we can get this meeting started. As for everyone else my wife Yoshino will attend to you." And with that he turns and leads the group into one of the larger buildings.

As the one group left Skarlet looks around to see the besides herself the only others still there are Hanabi, Kiba, Miyako, Neji, and the newly introduced Yoshino. Yoshino has long, brown hair kept in a low ponytail with three strands framing her face. She wears a pink blouse and dark-coloured skirt. She also wears a pair of simple hoop earrings.

"Excuse me Nara-sama, would you happen to have a training field we could use?" asks Skarlet getting Yoshino's attention.

"First no Nara-sama, I am not the clan head so just call me Yoshino-san, second yes we do have a training field. May I ask why?"

"Miyako-san and Kiba-san are in my class in the academy and I thought we could train together for a bit while the heads have their meeting."

"I think that would be acceptable. Follow me." With that Yoshino turns and leads them to the training field.

Meeting

The meeting hall was a rather plain looking yet large room with tables and chairs setup for everyone to sit at in a rough circle. It was in the very center of the largest building in the compound with no windows and one door in the middle of each wall. After everyone was seated the Hokage gives a nod to Shikaku who then speaks.

"I am sure all of you have some important clan business you have to deal with so let's get this meeting started. Since we have a new clan joining us why don't we start off by introducing ourselves and our heir or heiress. Hokage-sama if you would like to start."

"Very well, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen the head of the Sarutobi clan and the man with me is my son Sarutobi Asuma."

"I am the head of the Nara clan, Nara Shikaku and the boy with me is my son Nara Shikamaru."

"I am Aburame Shibi the head of the Aburame clan and this is my son Aburame Shino."

"Akamichi Choza head of the Akamichi clan and this is my boy Akamichi Choji."

"I am Hyuuga Hiashi the head of the Hyuuga clan and this is my daughter Hyuuga Hinata."

"I'm head of the Inuzuka clan Inuzuka Tsume and this is my daughter Inuzuka Hana." says Tsume indicating the younger woman with her. Hana has long brown hair which she wears in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face over her large, black eyes. She has the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks in addition to a tattoo on her upper right arm that resembles a flower. She is wearing a form-fitting variation of the Konoha flak jacket which doesn't have any chest pockets with the front of her jacket unzipped, exposing her cleavage. She also wears a pair of form-fitting shorts cut just above the knee, and bandages just below her tattoo and wrist-warmers.

"I am Yamanaka Inoichi the head of the Yamanaka clan and this is my daughter Yamanaka Ino."

"I am Kurama Unkai the representative of the Kurama clan and this is my niece and the clan heiress Kurama Yakumo." States Unkai looking to the girl next to him. Yakumo possesses long brown hair and light brown eyes. Her hair is straight on one side, but on the other side it is in a braid. In addition, she sports a clip with two circular designs. She wears a pink kimono held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front. She also wears violet baggy pants and red mesh armour underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that are orange in colour.

"I am Vrbada Thomas and I represent the joint Lin Kuei – Shirai Ryu clan, the boy with me is the clan heir Kitsune."

Shikaku gives a nod, "With that out of the way is there anything you would like to ask Vrbada-san?"

"I do have a few questions. First is why we are meeting at a clan compound and not in the meeting chambers in the Hokage tower? And the second is what the purpose of this meeting is?"

"Those are both valid questions," responds Hiashi. "To answer your first question we have found hidden seals within the meeting chamber that both alert the civilian side of the council to any meetings and are used for spying on anyone in the room. We have tried several times to eliminate the seals but someone either interferes or reapplies them. So we decided to hold shinobi council only meeting at clan homes every month with the exception of emergencies, we rotate the location every month by a random draw held after the meeting that only the clan heads or representatives are privy to."

At this point Hiruzen takes over. "While most here hold positions of power within the village, in this room we are all on the same level, we are all equals. That bring us to the answer to your second question. The purpose of this meeting is first to welcome you to Konoha and second for us all to go over current events within and without the village and make decisions based on that info."

"Regardless of what some people may think we have members of our clans in almost every occupation in the village." This time is was Choza who spoke. "We of the Akamichi for example have people in several restaurants but we also have some in the outlaying farmlands, construction/demolition, and craftsmen services. Every clan also has something they contribute to the village outside of shinobi skills."

Thomas nods with a look of understanding, "I see. The Shirai Ryu and the Lin Kuei, while called clans, had the same basic setup as shinobi villages. Right now there are only 5 members in our clan; the clan head who is currently doing jobs for Hokage-sama, Scorpion and Smoke who are working on teaching Kitsune the customs of their respective clans and protecting the compound, and Skarlet and Kitsune who are both students in the academy. When this meeting is over I will speak to Smoke, Scorpion, and the head and see what we can contribute and inform you at the next meeting."

"I think we all would agree that would be acceptable," responds Shibi. "I propose that we let the heirs leave to get to know each other, after all the rest of this meeting is not something they need worry about. This was just to introduce everyone."

Tsume gives a nod, "I agree with Shibi. Let the pups mingle outside until we finish the meeting. I hear Kitsune has something he wishes to speak to Hana about." She then turns to Hana, "only met once and already has an interest in ya. Don't do anything I wouldn't," she says with a grin causing Hana to blush in embarrassment but remain silent, she knows if she says anything the teasing will just get worse.

With that the clan heirs/heiresses stand and give a bow of respect to the heads and go to leave. Kitsune was seated furthest from the door and as such the last to leave. As he is going through the door he hears Tsume say something that stops him for a moment before he continues to meet with the others.

"Good to have you back little fox," she says with a smile. The rest of the clan heads look at her with a wide-eyed expression. There was only one person that Tsume ever called that.


In response to the guest that reviewed on last Halloween you were very close on your guess about the pairing. Not telling how close you were though.

So how was it good, bad, please let me know. Criticism is always welcome, insults however are not. Until next time.