AN: I know, I know! It's been a long time coming, mostly because I forgot where I was going and lost what few notes I had on this. That being said, this remains a side project, so you really should expect irregular updates, and sometimes really long wait times.

REALLY long wait times.

Disclaimer I do not own either Naruto or Huntik

Chapter 11: Okay, so where do we go from here?

Naruto was visiting perhaps his favourite place in the village: Ichiraku's Ramen. He had missed those heavenly noodles, and the absolutely sublime broth...

He had also missed the father and daughter duo who owned and ran the place. The older man treated Naruto like the young man thought a grandfather might look upon a grandson, and the older girl seemed to take a delight in treating him like a younger brother. These two, more than any other person, held a place in Naruto's heart as a kind of pseudo-family. They always had a smile and kind word for a young orphan boy that usually down on his luck.

"Hey, Naruto, I like the change in outfits," Ayame said, the brunette waitress smiled teasingly, "but I thought you loved that orange jumpsuit of yours. What happened?"

Naruto slurped up a quick mouthful of noodles before replying. "A big fight put a lot of holes in it, and a river finished the rest off. Besides, while I like orange, I don't mind the change either. White looks good on me, right?"

"Well, that and your servant Haku burned it while you slept." Arc interjected silently in his mind.

The brunette girl got an approving look in her eye, and a small blush on her cheeks. "Yeah, it does. If I didn't see you as a little brother, I might have tried my luck."

The blonde coloured in embarrassment, "Uh, thanks."

He paused a moment to hear Old Man Teuchi in the back laugh, then said cautiously, "By the way, did you know I'm married now?"

Ayame's jaw dropped. Naruto thought that if it fell much further it would make contact with the counter. The look on her face was more than enough to get a chuckle from the blonde.

Seeing her face redden, and not knowing whether it was anger or embarrassment, Naruto hurried to explain. "What I mean to say is that due to some old laws and traditions, and a series of otherwise unbelievable events, I am now a married man…"

"Oh," was all Ayame could get out. Did she sound a little disappointed?

"... Three times over."

Cue the ancient warning sign that all men learned: The Twitching Eyebrow of Explain Yourself Now.

He waved his hands somewhat ineffectually in front of himself. "It wasn't my idea! Each of them swore themselves into my service, and the Hokage and her Councils decided that the three of them are now my wives! I swear, it wasn't my fault!"

Ayame sighed as Naruto breathed hard to regain his breath. Okay, if it was a result of both the women in question and the meddling of the Hokage plus Council, she would at least not blame Naruto for it.

… Much.

Naruto hung his head and gave her his best puppy dog look. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

Ayame held herself back from squealing at the cuteness of the act only by sheer force of will. Even at the age of sixteen-almost seventeen-that damned thing is still effective, she mused silently.

With a shake of her head, Ayame capitulated to his expression, "No, Naruto-kun, you aren't in trouble. Not unless you're making life hard for those girls."

He waved his hands in front him with wide eyes, he needed to cut off that idea quickly!

"Not a chance, Ayame-nee!," He paused, a lost expression crossing his features, "But I don't really know what to do either. They all say they are happy to do anything for me, and one of them acts far more like a slave than what I would have expected a woman to be comfortable with these days-not my fault!" His hands came up again in defence, "Her previous teacher never bothered to stop her from acting like he was the sun and moon, so it seems to have stuck."

As he continued to explain his situation, Naruto felt something akin to retribution as he watched his sister-figure's jaw drop more and more.

What? For all the years where she not only loved him like a brother, but scared the living crap out of him, it was rather satisfying to see her completely speechless for a change. Don't you judge him!

He didn't really hold back on the information, but didn't say anything about the titans either, just referring to the amulets as ancient artifacts. He also made certain that only Ayame and her father could hear what he said, keeping an eye on the sporadic foot traffic going past the opening of the ramen stand. He didn't really trust the many civilians of Konoha, even if he didn't bear much of a grudge against them for their previous actions.

By the end of his explanation the young woman was slowly shaking her head, her mind overwhelmed with just how much had happened in such a short period. Her father wasn't really much better, as Teuchi almost burned his next batch of ramen broth in his surprise.

Before Ayame could get her bearings and grill him for even more details, they were interrupted by a familiar voice, "Yo, Naruto! There you are. We've been looking for ya."

Iruka entered the stall, followed close on his heels by one Mitarashi Anko. They each took a seat and ordered something, then turned to a somewhat nervous-looking Naruto. A quick glance to his companion gave Iruka the answer as to why his former student looked nervous as Anko was giving the boy a rather predatory look.

"Anko, behave," Iruka said sternly, though not with an obvious smirk at his former student's discomfort.

"Aww, alright." The woman pouted.

"You can torment the poor boy later," Iruka promised.

"Really?" Anko switched from pouting to anticipation in a moment. "You know just what to say, Iruka-kun!"

Naruto deadpanned at his old teacher, "Gee, thanks, Sensei. I can really feel the love."

"Consider it legitimate payback for all those pranks you pulled."

"Touché," Naruto admitted. "So, what can I do for you, Sensei?"

"We've got a small mystery, and I've heard you are Konoha's newest authority on weird shit."

Naruto popped an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Hey, don't mock the shinobi grapevine," Iruka stated.

"... I don't have snark for that one," Naruto admitted. "So what's the weird shit happening to you?"

"Well, Anko here used to have a curse mark like your old teammate, Sasuke." Iruka started, "and now she doesn't. It's become something else."

Naruto blinked, then blinked again. "And what makes you think I know anything?"

"A hunch?" Iruka hedged.

Naruto just stared at the man.

"Not gonna fly, huh?"

"Iruka-sensei, no offense, but the only times you come looking for me is when something goes wrong," Naruto said bluntly. "Usually in regards to a prank of mine, I'll admit, but come on, give me some credit here. I haven't pulled a prank in months."

Iruka blinked.

Anko laughed.

Ayame facepalmed.

The teacher shrugged, "fair enough. But seriously, Naruto, it's on the scuttlebutt has it that you're the person to come to with weird things these days."

"Scuttlebutt?" Naruto looked amused. "You mean this is the kind of thing you actually talk about?"

Iruka shrugged again,"I like to try and keep up with my student's lives, even if they're no longer my students."

Naruto sighed, "alright... after I've eaten we'll take this back to my place, and I'll take a look at that mark. No promises beyond that, though."

Iruka looked at Anko who shrugged. "Fair enough."

XxXxXxXx

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed as he examined the new mark Anko bore in place of her old Cursed Seal. "I could swear I've seen something like this before, and recently, too, yet. And you say Iruka-senei has something as well?"

Iruka just bared his left shoulder. Naruto blinked, moved over to take a better look, then moved to one of the shelves of books lining the walls of his study. Plucking a book seemingly at random, he quietly conversed with Arc.

'What do you think, Arc? Is it one of yours?'

"The one on the woman, no. The man, however, bears the mark of Sorcerel. She's one of a set of twin titans, though her sister is a warrior, unlike Sorcerel who is a magician."

Naruto absently muttered to himself as he put the book back and pulled out another.

'Then what about this whole other mark on Anko?'

"It seems that Sorcerel, even dormant in the bloodline of this Umino family, has decided to take steps when she felt the taint on someone so intimately connected to one of her potential summoners." Arc paused for a moment before continuing, "Sorcerel lost her amulet centuries ago, I'm not entirely certain as to how, but her Spirit lived on in special crystals until she found an appropriate summoner. Afterward she bound herself to the power of her summoner, and somewhere along the line she seems to have bound herself to a bloodline with potential."

'Hardcore Spirit,' Naruto thought. 'What about that sister titan?'

"Sabriel? She also eventually lost her amulet and bound herself to the power of her summoner." Arc sighed, "Those sisters were both so... stubborn. It didn't help that Sabriel possessed the ability 'Unaffected by Injury'. It pushed her to fight par past her limits, to the point that she destroyed her own amulet in the process of trying to save her summoner."

'Tragic, but not pertinent... and I suppose I've stalled long enough. Which of these books contains Sorcerel's information?'

"Third case to your left, fourth shelf down, seventh book from the left... and are you seriously treating me as an index?"

Naruto wisely did not answer that question. Pulling the book in question from the shelf, he flipped through until he found the section on Sorcerel.

"Here it is," he said as passed the book to Iruka for the teacher to peruse. "Sorcerel, Magcian-type Titan. Exceedingly loyal to her summoner, but I'm afraid that my knowledge on her is minimal at best. Somehow she became bound to your family, Iruka-sensei, no idea how, when, or why, and is now actively working for your betterment."

Naruto paused for a moment to let that sink in, then continued. "Considering that I have only recently started my own studies on Will I have no doubt that Sorcerel can pull shit off that are simply labelled as ridiculous."

Iruka snorted. "Pot and Kettle."

Naruto glared sullenly with a pout, "shut up."

Anko giggled. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you two really were brothers. Looks like there's some truth to those rumours."

"Rumours?" The two men asked in sync.

She grinned evilly. "I'll just leave that to your imagination."

Naruto and Iruka glanced at each other and sweatdropped. Right, they had forgotten this woman was a sadist.

Iruka recovered first with a shrug. "Thinking of trouble," he spared a glance at Anko who just smiled, "where are those ladies of yours?"

With a shake of his head Naruto focused on the new topic. "Kurenai went to the kunoichi-only hotsprings, should be there for a while yet. Haku is out shopping. For what, I don't know and don't want to know. And Hinata... well, she went to visit Hiashi."

Iruka and Anko both did a double take, then Iruka asked, "is that entirely safe? I know the elders of that clan were trying to to kill her when they sent her after you. What's to stop them from trying again, more directly?"

Naruto just gave them a smile. "You haven't heard, Iruka-sensei? The Hyuuga Elder Council has been practically gutted by Hiashi, and imprisoned for daring to falsify the Hokage's Seal."

Iruka gaped. How could anyone be that stupid? Especially people who were retired shinobi? The idea boggled his mind.

Anko laughed.

XxXxXxXx

Meanwhile, at the Hyuuga Compound...

Hinata sat calmly in the manner taught to her befitting a young lady of good breeding, nursing a cup of tea. All in all Hinata could rarely remember such a peaceful time spent within the halls of the Hyuuga clan.. The elders weren't bursting through the doors, spouting out long tarnished and dead traditions, nor were they decrying her for being "weak" in their eyes, nor doing any of a thousand other things that genuinely pissed her off.

They really should be glad that Hinata was such a kind, caring, and very much patient soul.

A polite clearing of a throat brought Hinata's attention back to the man seated across from her. Looking at him now, the man whom she had called Father all her life, Hinata fully admitted to herself that there was no true family resemblance outside the base colour of their eyes. His features were sharp and angular, definitively squared off in the chin, and overall hard. Her own were, thankfully, much the same as her mother's.

Hinata's gaze shifted to the other occupant of the room, her younger sister, Hanabi. There was plenty of resemblance between the young girl and Hiashi, but where Hiashi's features were stern and forbidding, Hanabi's softened it into something a fair bit lighter. Hinata had little doubt that her sister would grow into a classic beauty with an exotic appeal given time.

She shifted her attention back to Hiashi just as the man began to speak. "I understand you wished to speak of something rather delicate and uncomfortable?"

Hinata nodded, and gathered herself. "I am aware of the truth regarding my mother and your brother." Hiashi didn't so much as twitch, so Hinata continued, "That they were lovers and that Hizashi is my birth father. That Hanabi and I are in truth only related by our mother. That Neji is -in truth- my actual brother."

She paused for a moment as Hanabi seemingly fainted, and Hiashi just shook his head. "Yes, it's part of the clan, not just you."

Hinata blinked, "I see. That answers that old question at least. However, a more pertinent one would be this: are these truths I spoke the reason you were so hard on me?"

Hiashi sipped his tea, and said firmly, "No. I was well aware of my brother's love for Hitomi, and of hers for him. The marriage was simply one more way of your grandfather's to try and reign in Hizashi and Hitomi, both of whom were strong in the Gentle Fist. I simply looked the other way whenever they contrived to meet, and continued to act that part of the dutiful son until I could actually do something. Which you and the Uzumaki boy finally gave me."

Hanabi roused quickly enough, "Wait! What's this about Nee-chan and I being half-sisters?"

Hiashi turned to Hinata for help in explaining, but found her blocking him by elegantly taking a long sip of her tea. He knew that action well from her mother, and his own mother as well. It was the universal female statement of "You're on your own, buster." He sighed silently to himself, and decied that short, sweet, and to the point was probably best.

"It's quite simple, Hanabi," he began. "Your sister is actually the daughter of your mother and my brother."

The young girl blinked, "but what about Neji?"

Hiashi simply took a sip of his tea, then levelled an expectant expression at her. It took the poor girl a moment, before she flushed in embarrassment as she realized the answer.

"B-but-!" She tried to protest as she simply could not conceive how it was possible.

Hinata smiled gently, and decided to explain it for her. "It's really quite simple, Hanabi. Mother gave birth to Neji outside of wedlock, and barely a few months later was wed to Father. I came along just under a year after that."

Hiashi stared at Hinata with disbelief in his eyes. "Hinata, you would still call me father? Despite knowing the truth?"

She smiled in return. "The truth doesn't change the fact that you raised me, and did your best to protect me. The truth may be different, but you are always going to be the man I honour as Father."

Tears stood out in Hiashi's eyes as he said, "And you shall ever be my daughter."

XxXxXxXx

Naruto sent off a letter to Tazuna the following morning, completely ignorant of what was just around the corner for him.

XxXxXxXx – Ending Notes

Not much to say at this point, but to remind everyone of who has what right now...

Current List of Titans

Naruto: Arc, Kunoichi, Hoplite, Megladeath, Lindorm

Hinata: Tao, Shinobi, Hoplite, Undine, Kilthane

Haku: Behemoth, Myrmidon, Hoplite, Triton, Kilthane

Kurenai: Araknos, Medea, Hoplite, Kilthane

Tsunade: Freelancer

Shikamaru: Springer

Chouji: Undergolem

Kakashi: Bulregard

Inuzuka Clan (somewhere): Fenris