"Family Picnic"

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Naruto was sitting on the couch in the living room as she got Obito dressed in his clothing while Menma was on the floor playing tug-a-war with Ume.

The puppy growled as she tried to pull the rope out of the black haired boy's hands, but he wasn't giving up so easily.

Koji and Koichi then walked into the room with Kiba who had two bento boxes in his hands.

"Dad, seriously, we'll be fine! Don't worry so much." Koji whined at his adoptive father.

"Hey, it's your first C-rank mission. I just want to make sure you guys are well prepared. And those ration bars don't taste so good after a while." Kiba told them.

Akamaru baked in agreement which had Naruto smiling at the sight of her husband acting like a mother bear over their sons.

"But the food will go bad soon enough anyway, even if we seal them into scrolls." Koichi pointed out.

Naruto then cleared her throat making the three males and large ninken glance over at her as she stood up with a fully clothed Obito in her arms who was playing with her hair.

"You do realize that I'm a fuinjutsu master, right? Just hand me your scrolls and I'll make stasis seals for them to preserve your food." She said.

Smiles appeared on the Uchiha twins' faces as they nodded.

"Thanks, Mom!" They chirped.

Kiba pouted at the fact that the boys listened to their mother more than they did him, but he supposed that it was because they were the momma boy types.

They had grown up in the care of their mother Kikyo, a beautiful woman with sapphire blue eyes and chocolate brown hair, who worked hard as a nurse to care for the boys until Sasuke had arrived in their village in Kiri to rest.

He had heard about the twins from Itachi who had left him a scroll about them and begged his younger brother to keep them safe.

Neither of the boys liked their uncle because he gave off an aura that frightened them and they tended to avoid him when he walked around the house.

Kikyo allowed Sasuke to live with them, but when she was ill and on her deathbed, the Uchiha had confessed to killing Itachi and she told him that she knew it was the way her lover wanted to go; by the hands of his little brother.

She didn't hold a grudge against him, but Koji was angered by what he had heard while Koichi grew even more fearful of their uncle.

After Sasuke had brought the twins to Konoha and were adopted by Naruto and Kiba, they avoided their uncle if they ever saw him in the streets.

Sasuke was still shunned by the villagers, but Naruto and Kakashi did drop in a few times to check on him and dilvered some food since most markets refused to let him inside which landed them in hot water with the Rokudaime whom they had also wronged in the past.

Kiba didn't feel jealous over the kindness that his wife displayed to the Uchiha because he knew that deep down she still viewed him as her brother and he also felt sympathy for the man.

"Alright, let's get to work." Naruto said as she handed Obito to Koichi who took the baby with a smile and laughed when the blond started sucking on his clan pendant.

Menma cried out as Ume pulled him forward sharply, causing the boy to fall onto his front while the puppy held the rope in her mouth victoriously.

Kiba laughed at the sight as he handed the bento boxes over to Koji as the twins followed Naruto into the kicthen while the Inuzuka walked over to his pouting son.

"Looks like she's getting pretty strong, eh?" Kiba asked.

Ume barked happily at this before she then whined at Menma, begging for him not to be mad at her.

Not being able to hold a grudge, the boy's blue eyes lit up as he picked up the puppy and hugged her which made Ume lick his face happily as her little tail wagged rappidly.

"Yeah, she's gonna be bigger and stronger than Akamaru one day. And then I'm gonna become the most powerful ninja in Konoha. Just watch, dattebayo!" Menma cheered.

The sound of glass shattering was heard as Naruto dropped the jar of ink she was holding much to the shock of Koji, Koichi and Obito who were all staring at their mother who was frozen in place.

Her mind was realing over the fact that Menma had just used the male version of the word dattebane which meant that ANOTHER Uzumaki had inherited Kushina's verbal tick.

Inside her mindscape, Kurama was snickering at his kit's expanse and found it to be payback for all the years she had burdened people with hearing that annoying word.

"Did Menma say what I think he just did?!" She yelled.

Smirking, Kiba then faced his confused son.

"Why don't you go tell your mom what you told me, okay?" He suggested.

"Okay!" Menma grinned widely as he showed off his canines.

Standing up, Menma then raced into the kitchen to tell his mother about how great a ninja he would be and the word dattebayo slipped out once again which made the blonde Uzumaki whine in despair.

She hoped Obito wouldn't pick it up next...

(In the Digital World...)

Daisuke was humming as she fixed up the food for lunch while Veemon and Youko were standing behind her as they watched.

Today the Digidestineds were planning on going on a picnic to relax and enjoy themselves rather than worrying over the Digimon Emperor.

"Hurry up, kit, we gotta go meet the others soon. And I'm starting to get hungry." Youko whined.

"Aren't you always hungry?" Veemon commented making the fox give him an annoyed look.

"Hey, no arguing. Between the three of us, we eat enough for a whole army." Daisuke grinned.

This made the fox and dragon look at each other as they nodded in agreement since they knew she was right.

As a Digimon, Veemon needs to eat so he has energy to digivolve and fight while Youko needs food to fuel his chakra.

Daisuke on the other hand was a ninja and they tend to eat a lot so they didn't faint or get sick from using their chakra, but since the girl was an Uzumaki she had larger reserves and needed more food, though not as much as an Akimichi.

The Akimichi were constantly tormented for their weight, but many people were unaware of the fact that they needed to constantly eat and all that fat they had was actually caused by their chakra.

If an Akimichi got skinny, then it meant they were running low on chakra and needed more food to eat to replenish their reserves.

"Okay, is this enough or should I make more?" Daisuke asked.

Looking over the shrimp, rice, cherry tomatoes, dango, daifuku and taiyaki filled with custard, she wondered if she had enough food for herself and the others.

"You really do have a sweet tooth, kit." Youko shook his head in amusement.

Though, he may have his sister to blame.

When his human had first fell into the Digital World, she had to live off of berries until Youko convinced the boss of the fox clan to reverse summon the girl and his sister, Hotaru the island fox, taught Daisuke how to cook so she could survive.

Hotaru speacialized in baking all types of sweets and fed them to the human who loved each and every one she was given while the rest of the foxes worried about the amount of sugar their mistress was consuming.

"I don't have a problem with that." Veemon chirped as he shoved one of the colorful dango in his mouth.

"Yeah, well, maybe the others will have vegies or something. I don't know. Come on, help me pack this food up. We need to meet the guys soon." Daisuke said.

Grabbing bento boxes and scrolls, the girl then sealed the food into them and placed them in her holster before she then grabbed her devices.

"Okay, do we have everything?" Daisuke asked.

Veemon then held up the kunai pouch and scrolls that consealed weapons towards the girl.

"Will you be needing these?" He asked.

"You might wanna take them. You never know what'll happen." Youko told her.

"Thanks guys." The girl grinned as she took the pouch and tied it around her thigh while she put the scrolls in her holster.

Beeping filled the room as a message was sent on the D-Terminal and Daisuke grabbed it to check.

"It's Yolei. She said they're here now. Let's go." She said as she flipped the screen shut.

Jumping onto Youko's back, Veemon hung on as the fox clamped his teeth onto the hem of the human's shirt as her hands then flashed through the seals.

Feeling the familiar pull of the jutsu, the trio of Courage soon appeared beside Yolei who barely flinched at the appearance since she was starting to get used to it.

On Yolei's other side though was a 15 year old girl who had candy pink hair with hot pink streaks and star clips while she had caramel brown eyes and wore a short sleeved blue and red shirt with a white stripe and star on the front that exposed her stomach, a white skirt and matching boots that reached her knees.

"That was fast." Yolei commented.

"You're still wearing that transportation seal I put on ya." Daisuke told her.

"Okay, where is it? Because I can't see it anywhere." The lavender haired girl said as she glanced over her body.

Reaching out, Daisuke lifted the green bag that Yolei always wore and zipped it open to pull out a kunai that had a tag attached to it with the teleportation seal.

Curiously, Yolei took the kunai and looked it over as she studied the kanji written on the paper.

"Huh. How did I never notice that?" She asked.

"I was originally going to place it on TK or Kari, but it would have stuck out and been too obvious. When we first met and I saw your bag, I decided to give the kunai to you. I slipped it in when we were walking back to the portal." Daisuke explained.

"Very crafty." Hawkmon commented.

"So, who's the new girl?" Youko questioned as he looked over at the pinkette who was staring at the kunoichi with awe.

"Hi there, my name's Mimi Tachikawa. It's nice to meet you." She smiled.

Recognizing the name, the kunoichi knew exactly who the pink loving girl was.

"Ah, that's right! You're Palmon's partner! She used to talk about you all the time when I was a kid." Daisuke grinned.

"Oh, really? All good things I hope." Mimi said as a fond look fell over her face at the mention of her Digimon.

"Of course!" Daisuke laughed.

It was Gomamon who actually told her tales about how Mimi used to complain about everything and acted like a bit of a ditz when she was younger, but she was still kind and had a pure heart.

"Hey, Daisuke, I thought you were bringing some food with you." Kari questioned when she didn't see the girl carrying any bags.

"It's in here." Daisuke answered.

Holding up one of her scrolls, she smirked in amusement as everyone stared at it curiously while Mimi was confused.

"Oh, I get it! You sealed the food in the scrolls just like you did with those fans." Yolei smiled.

"I'm impressed, gaki. You're picking this up pretty fast. I didn't think you had it in you." Youko smirked.

Yolei turned red in the face as she fumed over what the fox said and Veemon held his hands up to pacify the angered female.

"Just take it as a compliment." Veemon told her and the lavender haired girl backed off, though she was still steaming.

The others all laughed at the sight as they found it was becoming a habbit of having Yolei and Youko clashing.

"Now that that's done, we should get going now." TK said.

"Right/Yeah/Let's go!" Everyone cried as the group set off to find a place to set up their picnic.

While walking, the group started up some light hearted conversation until it took a turn to the issue that was facing the Digital World.

"Digimon Emperor?" Mimi asked as she looked at Yolei who was walking beside her.

"Yeah, he builds these control spires to take over the Digital World. They act like a receiver to the dark rings. When we break the spires, the rings don't work anymore and free the slaves." Yolei explained.

"So if there are no control spires, are we safe?" Mimi asked.

"That's why we picked this spot for our picnic." Yolei told her.

"Gee, we never would have thought about having a picnic here in the old days because we'd be too worried about giant digital ants." Mimi joked.

"So far, every time we've come here it's been to destroy a control spire, but since it's Saturday, we thought we'd just come here to have some fun." Yolei said.

"We should pick out a spot around here to lay out the picnic blanket and dish out the food." Cody spoke up.

"Sounds great." TK nodded.

"No way. It's way too early for lunch. Let's keep walking." Daisuke told them making everyone pout.

"I am a little hungry." Kari mused hoping it would change the girl's mind.

"Yeah, well, so am I, but the grass is too wet to sit down on." Daisuke said.

"The kit's right, angel cake. Just wait until the sun dries the place up a bit more." Youko advised.

Kari was curious of the new nickname that the fox had bestowed upon her while Yolei was frowning.

"Oh, sure, Kari gets the cute nickname." The lavender haired girl mutters.

Mimi giggled in amusement as she then quickened her steps to get to the front of the group to speak with the new child of Courage who seemed to have taken over the reigns of leadership without even knowing it.

"So, Daisuke, I heard that you're a ninja. What exactly does the job entail?" The child of Sincerity asked.

"Well, first of all you have to go to the academy to learn about history, chakra and a few jutsus. Then when you're 12 you're old enough to take the final exam to graduate from the academy." Daisuke explained.

"How many years does one stay in this insitution?" Hawkmon asked.

"Six years. Although, some kids that are found as prodigies can take the exams early." Youko said.

"Isn't that dangerous though?" Mimi frowned.

"It's not that bad. You see, after the students graduate from the academy they're at the rank of gennin. But when they're placed on a team, the sensei gives the three kids another test to see if they're good enough to continue on or get sent back to the academy." Daisuke informed.

"What rank would you be at right now?" Cody asked.

"I'm not sure." Daisuke mused.

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she was about at chunnin level by now." Youko said.

"Is that good?" Armadillomon asked.

"It's better than gennin, but it's not the best. The ranks go up as gennin, chunnin, jounin, sennin and sage. Daisuke's mom is at sage level." Veemon joined in on the conversation.

"What is a sage anyway?" TK asked.

"Well, let's see..." Daisuke trailed off as she tried to remember what her mother taught her.

"A sage is someone who can blend natural energy with one's chakra, creating senjutsu chakra. Sage Mode allows users to tap into the natural force of the world, opening up new techniques to them and allowing them to power up existing ones with the new senjutsu chakra." She explained.

"Users of Sage Mode must possess 'extreme chakra levels' to invoke senjutsu. It is also important that their bodies be strong enough to support the increased power. In order to enter Sage Mode, the gatherer must remain absolutely still in order to be one with nature and balance the natural energy with their own physical and spiritual energies. If the user puts too little natural energy into using senjutsu, the technique will not work. Conversely, if too much natural energy is taken in, their body will turn to stone forever; humans will also be transformed into whichever animal's school the senjutsu was learned from." Youko explained further.

"Oh, so that means that if you ever trained in senjutsu then you would take on the appearance of a fox?" Yolei questioned.

The vulpin faced teen turned to the other girl with a grin as she nodded in confirmation.

"I don't think I'd ever be ready for that kind of power though. There were only a handfull of people to ever reach that level." Daisuke said.

Jiraiya had worked on developing the technique ever since he was a child and then taught it to Naruto, but when he was killed by Pein/Nagato Uzumaki it forced the girl to go train with the toads.

With their help, she fully mastered the power and was able to create her own jutsus and used the power to control every one of the elementals (such as Ying-Yang release) and could share her chakra which would create a cloak around others to enhance their abilities.

"Hey guys, let's lay out the picnic blanket over here!" Cody called from the tree he was standing under.

Youko went over to check out the area, looking to see if there was anything wrong with it or if any wild Digimon were living in the tree and would attack them.

"We're good here!" The fox called.

Thrilled to be able to finally eat, the group rushed over to the tree to set everything up.

TK pulled out the picnic blanket and set it on the ground while Kari, Yolei and Cody set their bags down as they started unpacking the food they brought.

Pulling out her scrolls, Daisuke set them on the ground as she then pumped chakra into them which released the food she had prepared that morning for everyone.

"Wow! That looks so yummy!" Mimi exclaimed as she stared at the colorful dango.

"It smells good too!" Patamon licked his lips.

"Let's dig in!" Armadillomon grinned.

"Here, Daisuke, why don't you try this?" TK held up an aluminum can towards her.

"Is that juice?" She asked as she took the can.

"No, it's soda. Do they have any in your village?" The blond asked.

"If we do, then my mom never let me or my brothers drink it." The girl said.

Looking the can over curiously to find out how to open it, she then pulled on the metal pin that was on top and she found that it opened the can.

The sound made her, the fox and the Digimon jump in surprise which made the humans laugh in amusement.

Taking a hesitant sip, Daisuke's eyes lit up at the sweet and bubbly taste of the drink known as soda and she started chugging it down quickly which made TK quickly snatch it out of her hands.

"Hey, take it easy! You don't wanna drink it too fast. It'll make you sick." He told her.

Her responce was a hiccup which made the boy give a nervous grin.

Maybe he should refrain from giving her sugary carbonated drinks from now on.

"I brought these from my family's convenience store. You want some?" Yolei asked as she pulled something out of her orange duffle bag.

"Ah, is that what I think it is? A chocolate covered rice ball. I haven't had one since I was a kid. I love 'em!" Mimi gushed as she accepted the dessert while the others laughed.

"What'll you have?" Yolei asked Hawkmon.

"I'll have whatever Armadillomon is having." The bird said.

Across from him, Cody was sharing his bento with Armadillomon, the Rookie munching on his California roll happily.

Everyone else was eating the different kinds of food that was brought while Daisuke tried to snatch her soda back from TK who was trying hard to lean away from the girl who had no issue with crawling on top of him to get her drink back.

"He's eating sushi." Yolei informed.

"Excellent. I'll have one sushi please." Hawkmon requested politely.

"Comin' right up." Armadillomon picked up a roll and held his arm up, about to pitch it.

"No, never throw food!" Cody protested.

His efforts were too late since Armadillomon already threw it and the roll fell onto the ground and started rolling away.

"Oh! Come back little sushi!" Hawkmon flapped as he chased after it.

"Wait, Hawkmon, come back! It's just a California roll!" Yolei called as she ran after him.

"Yes, well, it's rolling all the way back to California." Hawkmon commented.

Taking pity on the poor boy of Hope who was trying desperately to push the girl off of him, Youko snapped his teeth down on the back of Daisuke's top and pulled her back down beside him and Veemon.

"Stop bugging the boy, kit. Sit and eat your food." He told her as he pushed a box with rice and sushi over to her with his paw.

TK sighed in relief while Gatomon and Kari giggled at his misfortune.

"That was an experience!" The blond groaned as he fell onto his back.

"You should probably work out more." Gatomon commented as she ate the shrimp.

Shaking her head at them, Kari then turned her attention back over to Daisuke as she watched the girl eat and decided to talk to her about moving to the human world.

She and Tai had spoken to their parents about allowing a friend of theirs to live with them and told them that the girl's family was going on a buisness trip and she needed a place to stay for a while during that time.

After discussing it, Yuuko and Susumu Kamiya agreed to allow the girl to stay with them if it was fine with her parents, now all Kari needed to do was ask the girl if she wanted to stay with them.

"Yolei and Mimi have been gone for a while now. I'm starting to get worried." Cody spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little worried too." Kari said.

"Let's go look for them. Come on." Daisuke said as she stood up.

Standing, the group all wandered off to search for their missing teammates and were unable to find them which made them all worry.

"Hawkmon! Mimi! Yolei! Where are you?" Daisuke called.

"Hawkmon! Mimi! Yolei! Where are you!" The others all repeated as they searched the area.

Youko's nose was to the ground as he tried to pick up the scent of the three, but he was trained for battle and not tracking.

Opening her mouth to call out for them once again, Daisuke was then stopped when her Digivice started to beep which made her pull the device out as the others began to gather around her.

"I think it's from Yolei, but the signal's weak." She explained.

"They must be nearby, but in what direction?" TK asked.

"The Digimon Emperor must be blocking the signal." Cody said which made everyone groan.

"Couldn't you use your teleportation jutsu to find them?" Kari asked the kunoichi.

"Yeah, but then I'd have no way of coming back to you guys. Also, I can't bring you all with me since I can only take two passengers with me." Daisuke informed.

"We need a tracker." Youko stated.

Sharing a look with the fox, Daisuke nodded as she bit her thumb to break the skin which stunned everyone when they caught sight of the blood.

"What's she doin' now?" Armadillomon asked as he saw the girl's hands flash through the seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She cried.

Smoke appeared as everyone stared at the ground to see a small fox with white and golden brown fur sitting on the ground in front of them and was staring up at her mistress.

"You called?" She questioned as her large ears twitched adorably.

"What is that?" Armadillomon asked.

"Guys, this is Tsuki. She's one of my fox summons." Daisuke informed.

"That's a fox?" Patamon inquiered.

"She looks so different from Youko." Gatomon commented.

"Youko-senpai is an arctic fox while I'm a fennec fox. There are many different breeds." Tsuki said with a kind look in her black eyes.

A fennec fox was actually the breed that Kurama was even though his fur was a dark and beautiful orange color.

"Tsuki also happens to be a very advanced tracker. If anyone can find Hawkmon, Yolei and Mimi then it would be her." Youko explained.

Whiel he was talking, Tsuki was sniffing around the Digimon curiously since she had never seen them before up close, but had heard about them.

"Okay, Tsuki, do your thing." Daisuke said as she kneeled down in front of the fennec and held out a star shaped hairclip she had found.

Sniffing at the clip, Tsuki caught the scent of orchids and coconut before she then stuck her nose to the ground and started running off.

The others all chased after the fennec as she wandered off and suddenly stopped on a certain area of the forest.

Tsuki frowned as she circled around and sniffed more, trying to see if her nose was deceiving her.

"Is something wrong?" Cody questioned.

"The trail stops here." Tsuki said.

Pressing her ear to the ground, she listened carefully and her eyes grew wide.

"It sounds like there's a whole other area down there." She explained.

"Whole other area?" Kari repeated.

"Maybe Yolei, Mimi and Hawkmon fell down there while they were walking." Gatomon said.

Youko walked over and stepped onto the ground where Tsuki was and suddenly the ground gave out and seemed to fall open like a trap door.

The arctic fox cried out as he fell down and landed on the ground below which caused him to cry out in surprise and pain as he fell on his side.

"Youko!" Daisuke gasped as she rushed over.

Everyone stared down into the new area that seemed darker, almost like it was night time down there.

"I'm fine! Nothing's hurt!" Youko called up.

Pushing himself up, the fox shook his fur off of the dirt and grass.

"Except maybe my pride." He muttered.

"Too bad Yolei wasn't here to see that." Veemon joked as Tsuki hopped up onto his head.

"Told you!" The fennec chirped.

"Great work, Tsuki!" Daisuke smiled as she scratched behind the small fox's ears which made the fennec yip happily.

"Okay, now all we have to do is get down there and look for the others." TK said.

Nodding at this, Daisuke grabbed Cody and jumped down with the boy safely in her arms and landed beside Youko in a crouch.

Everyone else then jumped down one by one, Daisuke and Youko catching them so they didn't get hurt.

An explosion was then heard making everyone turn to see that a control spire was further off from them and was tumbling to the ground.

"There was a control spire here!" Cody gasped.

"No wonder we weren't able to find Yolei. That thing was blocking her signal." TK explained.

Each one of the Digivices was now beeping as they showed off the signals of where Yolei, Mimi and Hawkmon were now located.

Running off to go find them, the group then came across a swarm of Geckomon and Otamamon who were pulling the dark rings off of their bodies.

"Look, it's the Geckomon and Otamamon!" Kari gasped.

One of the green frogs then looked up and smiled at the sight of the humans.

"Hey, long time no see!" He greeted.

"Are you fellas okay?" Armadillomon asked.

"Everything's kind of blurry." An Otamamon said.

"What are you doing here anyway?" A second Geckomon asked.

"We're looking for our friends. One of them happens to be Mimi." TK grinned.

"Princess Mimi?!" The swarm all asked excitedly.

"Yeah, we're on our way over right now." Daisuke said.

The Geckomon and Otamamon then followed the Digidestineds as they all rushed off to the area where the control spire was destroyed.

Soon enough, they arrived in the area and found Yolei, Mimi, Halsemon and a large cactus Digimon with red boxing gloves and an orange tuft of hair on her head.

"Here somes Daisuke and the others!" Yolei said when she noticed the group running over to them.

"Guys, we're over here!" Daisuke called as she held Tsuki in her arms.

"They told us you were back, Princess, but we didn't believe them." Geckomon said.

"Princess Mimi, we've been waiting for the day that you would return to us." Otamamon said.

Mimi smiled down at the group happily, glad to see that they weren't under the control of the Emperor anymore.

"Mimi," Togemon called.

"Huh? Togemon?" Mimi asked looking at her.

"I will protect this area now. You can count on me." Togemon promised.

"I've always counted on you." Mimi said softly as she hugged the cactus' boxing gloved hand.

"Who is that?' Cody asked.

"That's Mimi's Digimon, Togemon." Yolei explained.

"Wow, it's nice to meet you, Togemon." Cody smiled.

"Goodbye, Togemon!" Everyone called as they walked off.

"Ah, don't make me cry. Rubbing my eyes hurts too much." Togemon joked.

To be continued...