A message had been sent out informing Naoko that two representatives of the Hokage had come to speak to him. He in turn had sent a message back that he would return sometime the following morning. That evening Jiraiya and Tsunade got to enjoy dinner in the Uzumaki main house with the entire clan (minus those at the front.) Per request Kushina had been allowed to sit next to Tsunade, the two of them had taken an immediate liking to one another. Jiraiya got to sit between a couple lovely Uzumaki girls who were eager to hear about the great toad warrior. As they ate Tsunade asked if it was normal for the entire clan to have a meal together or if this was a special occasion. She was surprised to hear that the clan came together every evening to share dinner. She was even more surprised to hear that while there was a main family there was no sense of separation or distinction within the clan. Any member of the clan could say anything to the clan head without fear.

Jiraiya laughed when he heard that. "Can you imagine Hyuuga Hirzo doing that? Letting anyone in his clan speak their mind?"

Tsunade laughed as well. "I think he'd die of shock if anyone even tried it."

Kushina looked curiously at her new friend. "What do you mean by that Tsunade-chan? Aren't all clans like this?"

Tsunade smiled down at the cute little twelve year old war veteran. "Not at all, though it would be good if they were. Some of the clans back home like the Nara or the Akimichi or the Inuzuka are a lot like yours, they really consider themselves to be a single large family. But there are also clans like the Hyuuga who make distinctions and treat each other like masters and servants. There's no real love between the two branches of the family, and often there's outright hate."

Kushina stared at her; she literally could not imagine a clan acting like that. "I wouldn't want to be in a clan like that!"

Tsunade chuckled. "Neither would I."

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, as was his habit, Shinzou woke up about five minutes before his alarm was set to ring. Yawning and three quarters awake he headed towards his bathroom to take a shower and begin the day. He turned the bathroom light on and passed by the mirror heading for the shower.

He froze.

He came suddenly and completely awake. Staring at the image of his own face he saw the word, 'BAKA' spelled out backwards and in black ink across his face and cheeks.

XXXXXXXXXX

"YOU ARE SO DEAD KOOKY!!" Shinzou's cry of fury reverberated through the entire house.

Tsunade and Jiraiya both awoke and opened their doors in time to see a twelve year old red head racing past with a furious seventeen year old right behind her giving off unbelievable killer intent. They saw her burst through a door at the end of the hall. "Mom! He's going to kill me!" They heard her shrill cry.

Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya. She was in a robe given to her by their host; he meanwhile had on only boxers. For just a fraction of a second she let herself admire her teammate's rippled and hard body. The softness and weight that would come with age was nowhere to be seen. For just that fraction of a second Tsunade wondered if anything might have ever happened between them if she had not met Dan. But as soon as the thought came she dismissed it, he'd had his chances. But he was too much of a womanizer and a lecher for her to be with.

"I'm not sure if I should laugh or be worried," Tsunade said.

Jiraiya chuckled. "I'm sure it's just a family squabble."

"He's right, Kushina and Shinzou are always fighting," a young red headed girl dressed in nothing but Jiraiya's shirt said as she appeared behind him.

"That's true," a second girl, this one wearing his jacket said. "This is pretty normal for them."

Tsunade glared at her teammates as he grinned back weakly. They were guests of the Uzumaki and here he was bedding two of its members! This is why we never got together!

"I can explain," Jiraiya began. "You see…"

"Shut up you disgusting man whore!" She slammed her door, almost tearing it off the hinges.

The two girls looked at Jiraiya. "She isn't your lover is she?" One of them asked.

He smiled. "Why yes, yes she is." He put an arm around both of them and shut the door with his foot. "Now let's try and make her even more jealous!"

The two girls giggled.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naoko looked at his daughter, just looked. She almost jumped. When he'd arrived home this morning he'd found his son locked in his room refusing to come out in public until he'd gotten Kushina's handiworks removed. From past experience they both knew it would be an all day process. He'd found his daughter sitting quietly in his study with her usual air of sorrow and apparent repentance. He'd spotted two of his nieces sneaking out of a bedroom window. All this before even meeting the Hokage's representatives.

He had spoken to his two nieces, not as clan head or even village headsman, but as an uncle. He'd quickly gotten a confession out of both of them as to just what had happened. Though angry he had decided to just let them go without informing their parents. It wouldn't help things with Konoha if part of his clan declared a vendetta against one if its ninja.

He had decided to just leave Shinzou be. There was no need to humiliate him any further in front of the leaf nins.

As for Kushina…

When he entered his study she came to stand at rigid attention. He looked at her for a moment and then spoke in a calm and quiet voice. "Remove your katana and sheath."

"Wh… what?" She asked taken by surprise.

"Remove your katana and sheath," he repeated calmly. "And give them to me."

Hesitantly, she took her katana from off her back and gave it to her father.

"Now go back to your room and change out of your bodysuit, from this moment on you are forbidden to wear the red and black."

"What! You can't do that! I'm an Uzumaki ninja! It's my right…"

"It is not a right," he told her coldly. "It is a privilege. Your katana and your clan dress mark you as an Uzumaki. What you do when you bear them reflects back on the clan. If you insist on behaving so shamefully, and in front of guests, then I cannot and will not allow you to shame the clan as well."

"But that's not fair!" Kushina said angrily.

"Fair, fair, fair, life is not fair Kushina!" Despite his best efforts a little of his frustration slipped through. "How can you still have this childish idea that life is somehow meant to be fair? Life owes you nothing Kushina; we deal with things as they are not as we would like them to be. If the world were fair we wouldn't have damn rock nins swarming through our country. Now go upstairs and change, along with everything else I will require you to apologize to our guests for waking them this morning."

She wanted to argue with him, wanted to scream at him that it wasn't right she be treated like this because of a prank. But the look on his face warned her that any resistance would be a bad idea. Before she went though there was one thing she had to know. "How long will I be punished?"

That was when her father said something that turned things from bad to worse to unbelievably soul wrenchingly bad.

"That will be your sensei's decision."

XXXXXXXXXX

Orange. Not just any shade of orange either. But bright, damn near blinding, orange. The kind of color that did not call for attention but jumped up and down shouting for it while waving its arms. It happened to be her favorite color and she had a surprising number of items in her closet. Black and dark red were ideal colors for a ninja; they blended and disappeared into most backgrounds. Since she wasn't allowed to wear the clan bodysuit she had decided to go to the other extreme and highlight out wrong it was for her not to be dressed in her usual gear. What hurt even more was strapping on her old sword. Having her katana taken from her was like having a part of her soul torn away.

Neither her father nor their guests commented on her appearance. Though Jiraiya did snicker a little. She stood rigidly in front of them and then gave them a deep and respectful bow. "Please accept my most sincere apology for disturbing you this morning. My behavior was childish and completely inappropriate. Please do not judge my clan or village by my own disgraceful actions."

Jiraiya laughed a bit. "Don't worry about it, I was already awake anyway."

Naoko and Tsunade both gave him a flat look.

Tsunade turned back to Kushina and gave her a warm smile. "That's all right, though I'd like to hear the details later."

Kushina looked down feeling embarrassed. It suddenly occurred to her how… how childish what she had just done would seem to anyone outside the family. She hadn't really considered that, she'd just seen the opportunity to annoy her older brother and had taken it.

"My daughter will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. In fact why don't you let her be your guide while you are here in the village?"

Tsunade smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Permanent ink?" Tsunade sounded disbelieving. "Why would you use that?"

Kushina smiled evilly. "Because it's really, really hard to get off."

Tsunade just shook her head. Following the meeting with Naoko she had asked for Kushina to give her a tour of the village. Part of that was her mission, along with negotiating a treaty she was also to investigate the civilian population and see what their moral was like. Jiraiya was currently going with Naoko to take a look at the front line and see what sort of shape the whirlpool nins were in. Sarutobi-sensei wanted to know whether or not whirlpool was going to collapse. From what she had seen so far that certainly didn't seem to be the case. The people had a strong faith that their ninja would keep them safe.

She had a second motive as well, and that was to get to know the girl a little better. Though they had only met Tsunade already felt a strong fondness for her. Though still young the girl had a strong will and was not afraid to speak her mind, two traits they shared.

"You know, you shouldn't do things like that to your brother," Tsunade said seriously.

Kushina looked up at her a bit upset. "What are you talking about? He deserves them! He's my sensei as well as my brother and he never lets up on me! He's totally brutal!"

Tsunade grinned knowingly. She had been that way with her little brother sometimes. "Tell me something, have you gotten stronger since he has been training you?"

"That's not the point!" Kushina insisted.

"My sensei used to be pretty rough on me and my teammates too, but he only did it to help us. Thanks to all his efforts the three of us are considered to be some of the most powerful ninja in our village. Don't be angry with your brother because he pushes you hard. It's all to make you stronger."

"But it's not even just that!" Kushina said. "Everyone loves him! He's the genius of our clan, the heir, a fifth level blade master, and an ANBU captain. Everyone is always telling me how great he is and how I need to be more like him! It's not fair!"

"So you're upset with him for being a powerful ninja?" Tsunade asked.

"He's only stronger because he's so much older than me! When I'm seventeen I'll be an even greater ninja than he is!"

"Maybe you will," Tsunade said. "But try not to be upset with your brother just because he excels." She paused for a moment. "I had a little brother named Nawaki. He wanted to be a great ninja and to always protect out village. I was his role model and he always strived to be as strong as I was. He never resented the fact I was a strong, if he had it would have hurt me terribly."

Kushina had picked up her sadness as well as the word, 'had.' "What happened to him?"

"He was killed on his very first mission as a Genin."

They walked together in an awkward silence for a bit.

"I'm sorry," Kushina said sincerely. "I've lost a teammate and an uncle but I know losing a brother would be worse."

Tsunade nodded. "For awhile I was totally devastated. I still miss him even now. That's one more reason not to resent your brother. You should try and be close; you never know what might happen in the future."

"Well I am worried about my other brother Temjin, but not Urusai. I've seen him fight, if anyone survives this war it will be him."

Tsunade shook her head. "You call your brother, 'shut up?'"

"That's my name for him, the same way he always calls me kooky."

She was about to reply when she noticed what they were passing. "Is that a gaming den?"

Kushina looked over. "Oh, yeah we have a few of them. Mostly they dice and play cards."

"Why don't we go in for just a few minutes?"

"You want to go in a gaming den?" Kushina was surprised. "Do you like to gamble?"

"Just a little bit," Tsunade said with a grin. "Maybe I'll just play a quick hand of cards or toss the dice a couple of times. We'll just be a little bit." She steered her young guide towards the den.

XXXXXXXXXX

Four Hours Later

"That was amazing!" Kushina said enthusiastically.

"Heh, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Tsunade tried to grin.

"I've never ever seen anyone lose so much money in one sitting! You must be really rich to have so much cash on you and be able to just throw it away like that!"

The little girl's admiration was making Tsunade feel like the world's worst role model. "I am rich, so I can afford to lose a little. But you shouldn't try and be like me. Gambling is a bad habit and you should avoid it! Despite what you saw I only gamble once in a while."

"I understand," Kushina opened her purse and took out a thick roll of ryu notes, most of them were from Fire country. "Though I can see why some people enjoy it."

Tsunade sighed. "Do me a favor Kushina; let's keep this our little secret, o.k.?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Early the next morning she found her brother sitting at the breakfast table fully dressed and waiting. He had a cloth sack with the handles to two wooden swords sticking out. His face looked kind of raw. No doubt due to countless washed with hot water and scrubbings. Despite the red in his face his lips pulled back in a big genial smile the second he spotted her. His eyes had a malevolent look about them. To her he seemed to be radiating pure evil.

"Good morning my dear little sister," Shinzou said sweetly.

Whenever he was nice to her in front of their parents it was always bad news.

"I hope you had a good night's rest, be sure and have a big breakfast. I have something special in mind for today's workout."

"You're not planning to take me out and then hunt me down and kill me for sport are you?" She was only half joking.

"Of course not," he said jovially. "I'll be doing it for revenge not sport."

For the life of her she couldn't tell if he was kidding.