If Naruto had to characterize his relationship with Konohamaru he would call him a little brother. So, when the little pest showed up at his door early in the morning with his arm still in a cast demanding to learn the rasengan he didn't complain. Well not too much. After all he had promised to teach it to him once he became a genin and he always kept his promises.

He still had some water balloons in his apartment from back when he still pulled pranks and after filling them he led his friend to the veranda. Naruto explained everything as best as he could and at least in his own opinion doing a better job than Jiraiya had. After that he let Konohamaru have at it and he sat back to watch. Occasionally he would drop a comment or shout encouragement.

After a while he became bored and started to toy with the idea of sending a clone out to collect some leaves. Kakashi had shown him how to cut a leaf with his chakra last night and had explained if a bit vaguely why it was the next stage in his training. Then a thought occurred to him. He discovered that he would learn anything his clones learned a few years ago. Maybe he could use that to speed up his training. A hundred clones cutting a hundred leaves. He could learn it a hundred times faster.

A sharp cry yanked him out of his thoughts and he was just in time to see Konohamaru tumble backwards cracking his head against the railing. Naruto was at his side in the second, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine I'm fine," Konohamaru said waving him off before he felt the back of his head. "I think I almost had it that time."

"No," Naruto said looking around for the remnants of the balloon. Finding a large piece he showed it to Konohamaru. "See when you do it right there shouldn't be any of this left. You have to remember to rotate in all different directions so it looks like a spiked ball before it pops."

Konohamaru nodded dejectedly and asked, "How long did it take you to do this?"

Naruto thought for a minute, "Well it took me about a month to learn the whole thing but, you're making great progress for your first day," he smiled and added, "of course that's because I'm such a great sensei."

Konohamaru smiled weakly, "Well great sensei I'm hungry so I'm taking a break."

Naruto glanced at the clock, "Ichiraku should be open by now. Come on I will treat you," he turned to leave but Konohamaru didn't follow. Turning back he saw Konohamaru hadn't moved and was staring out at the village. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering about yesterday." Glancing over at him Konohamaru asked, "Why did Moegi's mom get so angry with you? I mean she's always so nice."

Naruto froze feeling sweat break out on his brow. He had known fear before but those times somebody had been trying to kill him. He shook himself this was Konohamaru his friend someone he thought of as a little brother. Still, he thought about lying to him but, he didn't want start lying to them now.

He quietly walked back to the veranda. It felt like the building was shaking beneath his feet. Sliding down across from Konohamaru he met his curious gaze. Not knowing what he was going to say. After a minute he licked his lips and started in a quiet town. "Konohamaru the night I was born the Kyuubi was attacking Konoha. They couldn't kill the Kyuubi but they were able to seal it. They needed a baby and I was it."

He met his friend's eyes who cocked his head thinking. After a long minute of silence Konohamaru spoke. "Okay but, why was Moegi's mom upset with you?"

Naruto's vision blurred and he quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Konohamaru," he said with all seriousness "I'm buying you a Hokage size portion for whatever you want."

When Tsunade first became Hokage she wondered why mission hall where she would dispatch teams for clients and the office where she worked in and dispatched ninjas for the village were so far apart. It took her months to realize that it wasn't a design flaw. On an average day she had to walk there and back at least twice a day even when things were hectic like they were now. The walks functioned as a forced break in the day. For a few minutes there were no reports to be read and no paperwork to be done.

Unfortunately, this blissful state of existence came to a premature end as she saw Morino Ibiki waiting outside of her office. "Tell me you have good news," she had assigned him the task of interrogating the surviving intruder that Sasuke had caught last night.

Ibiki peeled himself away from the wall his face expressionless, "The information is intriguing."

Tsunade led him into her office almost groaning when she saw that her daily paperwork had already been delivered. Taking a seat behind her desk she gestured for him to continue.

Ibiki handed her a single piece of paper which was short for one of his reports. "Before the subject regained consciousness, I conducted a thorough search through the bingo books both our own and ones we've obtained from other villages. The man appeared in none of them. However, a medical examination did reveal that a seal had been applied to him. Upon closer inspection it was revealed that it was the seal used exclusively by the Ishi clan."

That clan sounded familiar to her but, it took her a minute to remember. They were from Iwa. There kekkei genkai allowed them to turn any part of their body into stone instantaneously. Well that might explain Kado's concussion. Then she remembered the details of the seal. Like the Hyuga's seal it could kill but, it also had a suicide feature. She remembered finding that out during the war. "They may not have put a bounty on him in fear that a village might try to recruit him."

Ibiki shook his head, "It's possible but in my opinion it's not what happened. You see there is no record of an Ishi either defecting or even being successfully interrogated. Once I learned that I intended to keep him at a low level of consciousness in hopes he would not activate his seal but I was unsuccessful."

Tsunade nodded not surprised. During the war her team had ambushed a group of ninjas from Iwagakure. They had managed to capture several alive but, when they attempted to interrogate the leader he had slumped forward blood pouring from his ears. It was the first and only time she had ever met an Ishi but, the casual disregard for one's own life had always stuck with her. "I suppose you don't think he could've been the first to defect then?" She already knew the answer.

"If he was a defector he would've probably tried to cut a deal. Even considering that Orochimaru does manage to inspire loyalty, I don't think that was the case this time."

She dismissed him with a nod not bothering to tell him to keep this classified. He was already on the short list of people she trusted implicitly. There were advantages to having helped deliver some of her subordinates. Slowly turning around in her chair she wondered if Iwa was the reason that her former teammate seem to have inexhaustible resources.

It made sense but, why would Iwa sacrifice their own ninja to fight a proxy war. Even considering they only seem to be lending out low-level ninjas their supply would not be infinite. They probably intend to use Oto's war with them to weaken Konoha and then smash her village with one blow. Iwa must have thought that Konoha would be a lot weaker after that little raid if they had risked somebody who could tie them so directly to their village.

Well at least this seemed to put Kumo in the clear. Having three villages in a conspiracy against them stretched credulity. Especially when Iwa and Kumo were involved, they had no desire to share a border. Turning her mind away from that now she wondered if Jiraiya was going to get back soon. She needed him to check out the seal for the record room. It still angered her that somebody would steal a medical record.

A knock followed by the door opening pulled her out of her thoughts. Shizune walked in holding a letter in her hand, "I was filing the reports we received this morning when I noticed this letter was mixed up with them. I thought about opening it but figured it was meant for you."

After taking the letter Tsunade held it up to the light not really expecting to see anything suspicious. Turning it over she saw that it was sealed with a drop of wax which made it seem formal but, there was no crest. Splitting the wax with a fingernail she pulled the letter out and quickly reading the brief message a grimace crossed her face.

"Is it that bad," Shizune asked not attempting to hide her concern.

She hesitated answering and decided to summarize. "The missing file is at the Hyuga estate. Hiashi claims that the file was placed in his office in an attempt to discredit him and his family. Furthermore he would like to return it immediately but subtly. Of course, he has not looked at the file."

There was a long pause before her assistant spoke, "And you don't believe him?"

"I believe him up to a point. He probably received the file unbidden but, I'm sure he read it. As for the claim that somebody is trying to discredit his clan I doubt it." She hesitated for a second wondering how much she should confide in Shizune but, if she did it now it would save time later. "No, I think somebody just tried to bribe him."

"With all respect," Shizune interjected with a nervous smile, "that isn't much of a bribe."

"Not the information itself but, you have to remember how they would see it. We were keeping an emerging dojutsu from them. Now we're not obligated to tell them but the Hyuga could still feel slighted." She didn't add that she could no longer trust the Hyuga implicitly. The way Hiashi had handled the situation said that he was loyal to Konoha but she shouldn't expect him to stick his neck out for her. "Assemble your old team I'm assigning you an S ranked mission."

"Yes immediately," Shizune turned to leave but paused, "Genma has taken on a genin team. Do you want to pull him off that duty?"

Tsunade winced at her forgetfulness. Now that she thought about it Genma had a Hyuga on his team. She cast around in her mind for somebody she trusted that was up for the mission. "No, let him stay where he is. Kakashi can take his place and one more thing. Send a message to Sakura I want to see her today."

Alone in her office she pondered the new information. Perhaps the Hyuga had stolen the file but, it seemed unlikely. They didn't have the right people in the right positions and when the file had been stolen they could all easily be accounted for. Danzo was a more likely culprit or at least his organization especially since he disappeared around the same time the file had.

If he had stolen the file or ordered it stolen and then had given it to the Hyuga that was treason. She didn't even consider the ramifications of why he wanted to give it to the Hyuga clan. It was starting to look like he was preparing to assassinate her and was paying influential people to look the other way. For a brief moment she wondered about the other clans in the village but, quickly dismissed the paranoid thought. The last thing she needed to do was start jumping at shadows. Right now she had enough information to at the very least throw Danzo to Ibiki for a while. If he resisted the team she was sending after him was more than capable of eliminating him.

Sasuke did not like the hospital. Not that he liked much of anything but, after last night he was hesitant to leave Kado alone even if there was an ANBU posted at the door. He would've preferred to have him recuperate at home but the doctors were refusing to release him.

If there were in the Uchiha district he could've stopped the near constant stream of visitors. There had been his team which was a given but then that loud kid who reminded him of Naruto and his quiet friend had drifted in late in the day. It had become rather loud which probably wasn't good for Kado's concussion.

It still angered him that anyone had dared attack his home. It brought back memories of broken bodies and of a night he would never forget. Not for the first time he wondered if moving back into his old home had been the right decision. It had been a statement to himself that he would concentrate on rebuilding his clan but, his brother still lived. Sometimes he felt compelled to walk the grounds remembering what had happened.

Those walks made him wonder how close he was to killing his brother. Sometimes he felt so close almost as if he could just reach out and grab him at other times he still felt like he was eight years old. At times like that he hated Kado. He hated him because he didn't care about Itachi and had even once said he didn't want Sasuke to go after him. Why didn't he understand? In his more introspective moments he could answer that question.

The sound of the door opening pulled him out of his thoughts and his hand went to his sword hilt preparing to draw. He had frightened more than one nurse but a quick apology was preferable to not being prepared.

A blond head poked in and he immediately relaxed. Ino glanced over at the bed and saw him sitting in the chair next to it. A small smile crossed her lips as she moved towards them. "How is he?" She spoke in a whisper trying not to wake Kado.

"He's fine," glancing over at the sleeping boy he added, "it's only a concussion and not even that severe."

"So, why is he in here than?" She perched herself on one of his armrests.

Normally he would be annoyed when somebody invaded his personal space but, it wasn't so bad when she did it. "I think they want to keep him under guard until they know the coast is clear. This way they only have to sacrifice one ANBU to guard the door while at the compound they would need at least one team."

"And even with a guard at the door you stay right by his side. You're dedicated."

Was she being sarcastic, he couldn't tell. Wanting to avoid an argument or worse a discussion about his relationship with Kado he changed the subject. "He helped you learn that move you used on me."

She giggled softly, "Yeah, it took most of the month you were gone but it works. I'll admit it is strange learning from a kid but, now I can beat you every time."

"Learning the shadow step is a lot easier when you have a sharingan user to practice against. If you can trick our eyes you can pretty much trick anyone's but, don't get cocky. It worked on me once because I wasn't expecting it but now I know what to look for and you have only learned the one series of movements."

"That's where you're wrong. You see I have found your weakness. You don't just use your sharingan you rely on them and I can trick them every time now. You'll see the next time we spar." She winked.

Sasuke blinked in shock, she was right. He always activated his sharingan when they practice kenjutsu together. When had he started doing that? He couldn't remember. It just seemed natural to use his kekkei genkai but, could she use it to her advantage now. Then he thought of Itachi.

For years he thought he would have to learn fine muscle control to trick the eye for every movement every technique but, might he be able to use it to kill like Ino had done against him. It was worth thinking about.

Ino was full of surprises he thought. When Kakashi had told him that another student would be joining him for kenjutsu training he had been less than thrilled. He had almost groaned when he had found out it was a former classmate. At first he couldn't really place her. She had been one of those annoying girls that had always bothered him at the Academy but, beyond that she hadn't stood out in his mind.

He didn't think she would last very long but she had thrown herself into the training. Soon they were scheduling times where they could train with each other. His sensei had even commented once that their development was remarkably fast. During their brief breaks they had started talking. It was never about anything important but he liked it and she hadn't been trying to get him to go out with her. Now that he looked back he had half suspected that the only reason she had wanted to train with the sword was to get to him. That was a little arrogant in hindsight.

"Ino, why did you want to learn kenjutsu?"

She looked down at him her face devoid of a smile. Glancing over at Kado again as if she wanted to make sure he was still out of it she answered. "My father died while he was on a recon mission during that trouble we had a few years ago. It hit me pretty hard. My dad and I weren't particularly close at least I don't think so but, it was the first time anyone I knew had died like that. I guess I kind of just looked at myself and was a bit disappointed at what I saw. I wasn't particularly strong and without either of my two teammates I was pretty useless.

"At first I tried to master my family's Jutsu but, I always had trouble learning from just reading and there wasn't anyone I could ask about them. Then I remembered some of the samurai I saw fight. They couldn't use chakra but they nearly beat us. So, I figured it might be worth a try. What about you Sasuke, why did you take up the sword?"

He shrugged, "Not counting last night my chidori has only missed its target twice. One of those was when we were fighting the samurai. I was charging one of them and he kind of just stuck his sword out. If I had continued I would've been impaled. I don't know who he was but he was a master with the sword and I barely managed to defeat him. I was impressed."

She snorted, "So, we both got inspired by the same thing." She paused for a minute, "So who was the first you missed with your chidori. I mean you can't mean that Gaara kid. You did hit him after all even if you couldn't get through all that sand."

"No it wasn't him. I don't want to talk about it."

Ino didn't push the subject further and he appreciated it. Itachi had been the first to survive his chidori unharmed. He had deflected it with ease and even years later it still bothered him. That was something he appreciated about Ino, she knew when not to push. He would never admit it but, Kado had been right. He was starting to like Ino.

Sakura had been to Ranmaru's apartment on several occasions. Which once she thought about it was a lot, he had only moved in a few months ago. On all those visits but one she had managed not to eat their though. He was actually a talented cook but he tended to have curry for dinner every night, which would be fine if it wasn't the special recipe that Sanshou had given them.

Now that recipe did have several unique qualities and might, if they manage to reduce it to pill form replace the soldier pills they use but, in its raw form it was an experience. Ice water was a requirement to have with it and even with that it was still a hard meal to swallow. Ranmaru could eat with virtual immunity but she was always left coughing.

Maybe if curry had given her the ability to walk like it had for Ranmaru she would have a different view on the meal but, even with his promise to tone it down she still wondered how much was socially acceptable to leave on a plate. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but, she didn't want to upset her stomach either. Although considering the news she was also planning on delivering tonight that might be the least of her problems.

Knocking on the door she was let in by Ranmaru. When he had invited her over for dinner he had literally meant dinner. The table was already set although the meal would require just a few more minutes. They chatted as he watched two pots and not for the first time she wondered if this was what was like to have a little brother.

Probably not she thought. The few people she did know with siblings didn't seem to get along with them all that well. She and Ranmaru were probably more like Naruto and Konohamaru.

The food was soon ready and she noticed that it was some sort of vegetable curry. Hers was a yellowish color which was different then Ranmaru's standard black which he was eating.

The meal was actually very good and she decided to wait until they finished eating to break her news although part of her realized that she knew she was just stalling. By the time they finished eating she knew she couldn't stall anymore. "I have some bad news that the Hokage asked me to tell you. It seems several days ago your private medical records were stolen." Ranmaru was not particularly expressive like Naruto but, it was pretty clear to her that he was worried.

"Does this mean," he paused swallowing and for a moment she had very violent fantasies about what she would do to the people responsible for the theft. "Does this mean," he started again "that I'm going to have to go through those tests again?"

Sakura couldn't help herself she laughed. Of all the things he should be worried about that would've been on the bottom of her list. "No you don't have to. We were able to find your file but, the Hyuga's know about you now. I'm sorry but you'll have to be really careful around them." She briefly wondered if he understood all the implications this implied. The birds and the bees were briefly covered at the Academy but, not in any real depth. Perhaps she should have a more in depth talk with him about it.

"They're the ones with the pale eyes right?"

"Yes," she answered. Part of her felt badly about scaring him about the Hyuga clan. The only one she'd ever really known was Hinata and while they hadn't been friends she had seemed nice if painfully shy the few times they had talked. Of course, individuals didn't matter when it came to clan politics or at least that's what she had been told.

"There was one in my class, she seemed sad."

The last comment caught her off guard. Occasionally Ranmaru would say something strange like that. Sometimes she thought he could see through people emotions as easily as he could see through objects. However, the rest of the time he was completely socially inept. "Well just be careful around her."

Ranmaru smiled up at her, "Don't worry I can deal with it."

For some reason his reassurance didn't comfort her. Most people in his position would just avoid anyone in the clan but, sometimes with Ranmaru two plus two could equal five. Sighing she ruffled his hair. "If you ever need help you know you can come to me right?"

He smiled and nodded.

Author's note: This chapter is a bit longer than usual so consider it an early holiday present. Happy holidays!

Spoiler warning back when I was writing The uprising I had the idea that Naruto was going to teach Konohamaru the rasengan. (It's in chapter 12)