Hana smiled down at Mizuko and said, "I saw what you did Mizuko, you did well. Now, we take over."
Mizuko asked, "What do you…" as she looked past Hana and saw a veritable army of Konohan shinobi. "What are…"
Hana said, "When your father received reports about a coup d'état in the Land of Vegetables, he immediately sent us to put an end to it. But, we seem to have gotten here too late to do anything about it ourselves." Mizuko laughed tiredly. Hana said, "Your punishment for your stunt can wait for now."
"My…huh? What are you…ohhh…the clones, huh?"
"Yes, the clones."
"Sorry about that, but Aniki and I wanted to get underway as soon as possible, then Sasuke came and stuck his foot in his mouth, so, by the time that the clones were destroyed, we were about twelve kilometres away. Where're Miwa, and Isamu? Did they come with you?"
"No. When you and your brother decided to galivant around the nations together, your father disbanded the current team structures in order to let the genin gain more experience in different situations, with different teammates. That's how Kurenai ended up with Chōji and Sakura."
"I see. I had wondered," Mizuko said, in a disappointed tone.
Hana sighed and said, "I thought that you'd gotten that bragging habit of yours under control."
Mizuko grinned and scratched the back of her head as she laughed cheekily. She said, "Well, I try." She then pushed herself up and looked at Renga. She said, "Hey, Renga."
"What is it, girlie?"
Mizuko grinned and said, "Since I defeated a Legendary Janin, does that make me a Legendary Seinin?" causing all those in hearing range to cringe. Mizuko looked around and demanded, "What? Was it something I said?" causing about half of them to burst out laughing, causing a lot of confusion in the younger shinobi that had come with them.
Naruto said, "Never mind Mizuko. It's over. You won. Titles don't matter."
"I guess," Mizuko said, shrugging her left shoulder.
Renga said, "Nor does your victory here."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I've left the Land of Vegetables devastated, and, without a strong leader, it will soon fall to its neighbours."
"What?! Do I need to hit you again?"
Hana put a hand in front of her student and said, "Didn't I tell you to leave it to us?"
Mizuko looked at Hana and said, "Huh?"
"The Land of Fire has an alliance with this one that includes lending military might in times of need. On top of that, your father sent warnings to the neighbouring lands not to try anything. But, most of us will be staying here for a while."
"So then, you'll be too?"
"No. I was sent along with the force because, with your brother out here with you, I'm the best tracker in the village. Your sister and Isamu are training with Kakashi until I get back."
"I see," Mizuko said. "Hey, could you tell me about when nii-chan copied your jutsu?"
"Eh? Why? Did he tell you about that?"
"No. Kurenai-sensei did."
Hana asked, "Why'd she bring that up?" as it was still a sore point with many members of her clan.
"I was…teaching Sakura a lesson when Kurenai sensei asked me what nii-chan has been teaching me and I told her that he'd been teaching me some of the stealth techniques that you taught him."
"I see," Hana said, glaring at Naruto from the sides of her eyes. She sighed and said, "Well, it wasn't them. It was…a different jutsu that she was probably referring to. I won't go into details, but, suffice it to say, a rather stupid member of my clan tried to declare that your brother didn't know what hard work was. Needless to say, Naruto took it as a challenge and recreated one of our hidden jutsu. I was…less than impressed…by what he'd done and made sure to remind him to leave well enough alone when it came to hidden jutsu, at least, those from my clan anyway."
"I…see," Mizuko said.
"I doubt you do, but that's the long and the short of it." Hana turned to one of her men and said, "Akira, restrain him," nodding at Renga.
Akira nodded as he said, "Ma'am," causing Hana to roll her eyes, having gotten into more than one argument over it in their time together in ANBU.
As Akira moved to restrain her opponent, Mizuko moved over to watch what he did, in case she could learn something from him. As she did, Naruto said, "Hana," and nodded to the trees. Hana silently nodded and followed him until they couldn't be seen. She didn't waste any time slapping him, hard. Naruto said, "Well, I suppose I deserved that."
"You suppose?"
"Eh," Naruto shrugged and sighed. "In any case, the red clouds of dawn came knocking in the Land of Rivers."
"! Seriously?!" Hana quietly exclaimed. "How? Your bases are very well hidden."
"The only thing that I can think of is that Itachi has linked up with them."
"Was he among them?"
"No. There was a guy and a female Hana-ninpō user that was clad all in pink."
"Is that why you came here?"
"Partly. We were on our way somewhere else when I heard some drunken shinobi blabbering about a planned coup, so, we took a detour to the capital, but Kurenai called us down and we decided to lend a helping hand with her mission, which…well, you know..."
"Alright, then where were the two of you off to?"
Naruto grinned and said, "Does that really matter?"
Hana sighed and said, "I guess not, but is it really that wrong to want to know where my student is?"
"And here I thought that you wanted to keep track of me."
"Don't push your luck."
"Alright, alright," Naruto said, holding his hands up defensively.
"In any case, I was only told this after you left, but apparently old man Fugaku named you as his successor to the Konoha Military Police Force."
"He…seriously?!" Naruto exclaimed, his face contorting strangely. "I told him multiple times not to do that!"
"I know. I was there one of the times that he broached it with you. You were…quite convincing."
Naruto sighed and said, "Not convincing enough apparently."
"So, what are you going to do?"
Naruto shrugged and said, "Who knows. I suppose if the Hyūga are doing a good enough a job of it, there's no real need for me to come in and take over."
"That's assuming that Hiashi wants to keep on being the leader."
"What do you mean?"
"It's hardly a secret that the problems with the split Hyūga clans have been smouldering for years. Apparently, that incident with Hiashi's brother magnified them and he has been looking to step down to take care of clan business, but he doesn't trust that his direct subordinates are capable enough of taking over."
Naruto sighed and said, "Well then, when you get back, tell him two things for me."
"Two things?"
"The first is that, even with the byakugan, he is a blind jerk. The second; that I'll be back soon."
"How soon?" Hana asked, a desperate look on her face.
Naruto smiled sadly and said, "Not soon enough, for either of us."
Hana sighed and said, "Well, that aside, should I tell Hokage-sama that it's alright to start Miwa on the Rasengan?"
"No."
"But Mizuko can clearly use it."
"That wasn't the Rasengan."
"It sure looked like it."
"Maybe so. But, what she did was mimic Renga's jutsu and circle the water around itself in a self-perpetuating loop."
"I see. So, are you going to teach it to her?"
"No." Hana raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Naruto laughingly said, "Seriously. You saw those wings that she was using, right?"
"What about them?"
"I'm going to have her working on mastering them, and that Hahonryū that she came up with will work as a perfectly acceptable substitute for now."
"So, you going to copy them?"
"No. She deserves to have a branch of jutsu unique to her."
"You know I don't believe that for a second, right?"
"You can believe what you want, I've never been able to stop you before."
Hana grinned and said, "You know you love it."
"You're right, I do," Naruto said, grabbing Hana by her waist and bringing her into him to kiss her.
Gisei said, "Alright, that's about enough of that."
Hana glared at the fox and angrily said, "Gisei!" furious at the vixen's continued attempts to interfere with her 'Naruto time'.
"Mizuko's looking for you two."
"Right," Naruto said, sighing shaking his head regretfully. Then, seeing Hana's glare said, "Actually, what is with you two?"
Hana and Gisei simultaneously said, "I don't know what you're talking about!" and glared at each other before looking in the opposite directions to each other. Naruto sighed and shook his head as he walked back into the rocky terrain.
When he was with Mizuko, she said, "Hey, Aniki, is this the guy that you said talked incessantly about tea?"
Naruto nodded and said, "Akira."
Akira nodded and said, "Namikaze. Knowing you as I do, can I assume that you worded it differently?"
"Somewhat, but that's about the gist of it."
"I see."
"Oh! That reminds me too." Naruto said, "Hinata, Sakura," looking at the two kunoichi. "If you'd like to come with me for a bit, there are a few techniques that I'd like to show you before we leave."
Sakura hesitantly asked, "Us? Why?"
Kurenai said, "Just go with him, Sakura."
"Well…if you say so, Kurenai-sensei."
Naruto and Mizuko rolled their eyes at her actions. Kurenai smiled as she thought, 'Well, if there was ever any doubt about them being related, it's all gone now.'
Hinata and Sakura then followed him into the forest. Soon they were out of sight of the rest of the shinobi and Naruto turned around to face them. He said, "Okay, first things first. You cannot go to Kakashi about this if you have any difficulties, Sakura. Understand?"
"Why not? If I'm having problems, shouldn't Kakashi-sensei be the first person that I talk to about it?"
"Normally yes, but in this case it's a little…more complicated than the usual problems that you'd have when learning a new jutsu. You'll just have to trust me on this. If you do find yourself with any issues, you can talk to Miwa, my father, or even Sasuke. He should still have access to the Uchiha library and they have lots of information about all types of jutsu and chakra manipulations there."
"Is this an Uchiha jutsu that you're showing us then?"
"No. this is actually one of my few original raiton jutsu."
"Alright then, what is it?"
Naruto slowly made the hand seals that he'd linked with his jutsu, saying their names to imprint them on the young girls' minds. When he was done, he said, "Did you get all of that?" Sakura listed off all of the hand seals that he'd done and, after getting prompted, Hinata did the same. Naruto said, "Good, now, I'll perform it so that you can see what it does."
"Alright," Sakura said, still unsure of what suffix she should use with her torturer.
Naruto went through the signs faster than the girls could follow and, when he was done, said, "Raiton: Raigeki Enjaku!" and, instantaneously, the clearing erupted in a high-pitched cheeping as what the girls thought to be hundreds, of small birds made of lightning appeared around them, all of which were connected to Naruto's hand by streams of lightning chakra.
Hinata said, "This is…" amazed at what she was seeing.
Naruto said, "They can also be controlled as I wish, due to the streams attaching them to my hand." He then gave them a demonstration, causing the birds to fly around the clearing, coming close and darting around the three.
Hinata said, "What happens…if you stop controlling them…Naruto-sensei?" having no qualms about addressing Naruto with the proper title.
Naruto retracted all but two of the birds back to his hand. when he was done, he said, "Now, watch closely." He then thrust one of the streams forward and then let the bird loose. The bird continued flying forwards in the direction that he had thrust it in, picking up speed as it flew. He said, "That's what happens when you give it a direction. If I just cut it off from my hand though…" He did it and said, "That happens," as it burst into sparks before disappearing.
"Why are you…showing this to us?" Hinata asked.
"Well, to be honest, it's more for your benefit, Hinata. In Sakura's case though, even I can admit that I may have gone…a little overboard when I was teaching Sasuke a lesson about letting his arrogance get the best of him."
"I…see…" Sakura said, a sad look on her face, disappointed that she was just an afterthought.
Naruto, guessing what was in her head, said, "Don't think that that makes you any less able than Hinata with this jutsu, Sakura."
"But you just said that…"
"It's because of her Byakugan that she will be able to use it even better than I can that's all." Sakura frowned, angry at what she was hearing, always having considered being from a non-shinobi family a point of pride. "Don't be like that, Sakura. Trust me, I had Itachi Uchiha and Hana Inuzuka on my team…actually, come to think of it, you have both of their kid brother's on yours, don't you. I guess that makes us kind of the same, in a way."
Sakura smiled wanly as she thought, 'There's no way that's the case.'
"Anyway, as I was saying, Hinata. Your possession of the Byakugan will allow you to not only target more enemy shinobi more easily, but you'll also be able to attack their tenketsu, making fights with shinobi like Jiga, a lot easier."
"I…see. Thank you, Naruto-sensei."
Naruto smiled and said, "Now, the second one, really is for Hinata alone, but you can still watch if you want, Sakura."
Sakura thought, 'Hmm…if it's just for Hinata, then it's probably pointless to stick around, but, maybe…ah well, what have I got to lose?' She shrugged and said, "Sure, I'll stick around."
"Alright then," Naruto said before turning to Hinata. He said, "You'll want to activate your byakugan for this part."
Hinata nodded, saying, "Hai!" before forming hand signs to activate her Byakugan.
Naruto asked, "You still use signs to activate it?"
"Yes. My father…stopped training me…before I went to the academy."
Naruto sighed and said, "Hidamari-sensei's death hit him very hard. Frankly, I would have thought that he would have been able to move on from that by now, or, at least, not have it affecting his decisions quite so much. In any case, if you really want to learn the intricacies of your dōjutsu, talk to Dad about getting access to the locked off section of Konoha's shinobi library. I know that there are at least a few scrolls related to the Hyūga clan stored there. But, for now…" Naruto formed the bird seal and said, "Byakugan!" causing Hinata and Sakura to gasp, not having seen it when he was fighting against Renga.
Sakura exclaimed, "But how?! Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan is always active, so…"
Hinata said, "It's rare, but dōjutsu can activate in the eyes of people descended from the originating clan, so long as they possess the latent ability to do so. But, like Naruto-sensei's, they only ever activate in one eye."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, well, that's what Hidemari-sensei told me. But that doesn't matter." Naruto held his hand out, saying, "What does, is.."
Before anything could happen though, Sakura interjected, saying, "Wait! Hold up a sec. You used hand seals just now."
"What's your point?"
"Isn't it just a little hypocritical to criticize Hinata for using hand seals to activate it when you do the same?"
"I can activate it without them, it just takes a little longer." He held his hand out and said, "Now as I was saying, what matters, is this", as he formed a regular Rasengan. When he was done, he said, "This is the Rasengan that my dad came up with and taught me."
Sakura said, "That's the Rasengan? It doesn't look like much."
Hinata said, "No, Sakura…you're wrong. It's…more powerful…than you think…" seeing the mechanics of the jutsu through her Byakugan, as Naruto had known she would be able to.
Naruto said, "Now, this is the reason that I wanted you to stick around." Almost as soon as he'd finished saying that, the Rasengan changed colour to red.
Hinata blinked and said, "How did…" seeing that it had swelled to around twice the size of the regular one, and increased in power far, far, more than what the size should have been capable of.
Naruto released the chakra and said, "That was me changing the signature and nature of my chakra to resemble that of the nine tails that attacked us all those years ago. Now, I'm not entirely certain, Hinata, but you just might be able to change all of the chakra within you to achieve a similar effect, though I wouldn't recommend trying it with the type that I just used right now."
"Why is…that?"
"Because, I tried it once and, according to the medics that were treating me, I just about fried my chakra system."
Sakura exclaimed, "But if you did that, then surely you shouldn't be able to use your chakra again! So how can you…"
"Because, Uzumaki have truly amazing vitality, and I started healing almost as soon as I'd cut it off, about a second after I'd done it. Hana berated me for weeks after that."
"I…see?" Sakura said with a questioning lilt to her voice.
"Trust me, you have no idea. But, anyway, that was all I wanted to show you. If you've got any questions, now really would be the time."
"But…aren't you coming back with us?"
"No. Not yet. It's only been about a month since I'd left. There's still a lot more that I need to get into Mizuko's head before I return."
"I…see…" Sakura said, scared of what else he could teach her, if merely a month had gotten Mizuko to the level that she was at already.
"Of course, I was training her for a few weeks before that too." Sakura let out a very relieved sigh at that. Naruto asked, "Why do you sound so relieved?"
"Oh it's just…" Sakura let out a breath. "You see, back when we were in the academy, Mizuko…struggled…in the theory and ninjutsu portions of the classes. But, when we were fighting against those two ninja that we told you about, she wasn't fazed in the slightest and ended up killing both of them, while I just…" A disgusted look passed over Sakura's face as they started to head back to the rest of the shinobi.
Naruto sighed and said, "You can't expect things to stay the same forever," a saddened look making its way to his face. "People's abilities rise and fall all the time, as do they in relation from one person to another."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, who do you think would win in a fight against Sasuke and…there was an Aburame in your class, right?"
"You mean Shino?"
"I guess?" Naruto shrugged.
Sakura said, "Well, Sasuke of course."
"What if I told you that that would probably be true now, but in the future that would change?"
"I don't get it. how could that change? Even if Shino does get stronger, so would Sasuke, who is already stronger than Shino, so…"
"That's assuming that they maintain a similar growth rate and that they contain the same potential within them."
"Then how would Shino of all people, manage to beat Sasuke?"
Naruto said, "Alright, Sakura. How does Sasuke fight?"
"How does he fight? What do you mean? He fights like a shinobi. That should be obvious!"
Naruto sighed and said, "Now see here,…"
But he was cut off by Hinata, who said, "Sakura-san…I think…Naruto-sensei…was talking about…what techniques and strategies…Sasuke commonly makes use of."
Sakura looked to Naruto and asked, "Is that what you were asking?"
"That's right."
"Well…Sasuke's an all-rounder, so he uses everything. You fought against him, so you should know that."
Naruto sighed, thinking, 'She's a lost cause.' But said, "Alright, since you're clearly not going to get there, I'll spell it out for you. Every technique that Sasuke used against me, even when he was trying to get behind me, had chakra involved. Aburame, use a technique that lets them drain an opponent's chakra, so, if they can stick it out long enough with their other skills, it is relatively easy for them to defeat a shinobi like your teammate. That said, he should be able to curbstomp Hana's brother pretty easily if he's awakened his sharingan."
Sakura said, "He's always been able to do that, even before he activated his sharingan."
Naruto thought, 'Oh, I doubt that. I doubt that very much, since the first time that they would have met would be after the Uchiha Massacre. Either way, I can't tell them about that, that'd be up to Kakashi or Sasuke himself to take care of.' He said, "Anyway, Hinata, when you get back, could you please give my dad a message for me?"
"I…suppose. But wouldn't Kurenai-sensei be…"
"No. It doesn't really matter who, but, you are Hidamari-sensei's daughter, thus kind of like extended family. And this is a family matter, not a shinobi one, so, I figure that you delivering it would be more appropriate."
"I…see…" Hinata said, with a strange smile. "What is…the message?"
"Tell dad that I'll be staying at Gisei's holiday house, and that the river delta tendered an arrangement of flowers in a vase at dawn."
"That…makes no sense!" Sakura exclaimed. "A river delivers flowers?! What does that even mean?"
"It's a code, of course it's meant to be nonsensical to someone that doesn't know what it means."
Sakura demanded, "How could anybody possibly know what that means, huh?"
"There are only four people still alive that would be able to translate it. Only one of which really matters. Now, do not tell anyone other than my father about this. Am. I. Clear?" Naruto said more threateningly than he'd intended.
"Y-yes…of course!" Sakura said, seeing a flashback of the 'lesson' that her team had had with him.
Naruto sighed and shook his head as they came into sight of the rest of the shinobi once again. When they were with Kurenai, Miwa and Chōji, Naruto said, "Well, we'll be off now."
Kurenai asked, "So, not going to stick around for a while then?"
"No," Naruto grinned and said, "If we do, I might do something that Hana would get even madder about."
"That…is true…" Kurenai said, having overheard Hana's misery, and what she intended to do to the blonde, when she was in a bar getting drunk the night after he'd left.
Naruto grinned and said, "But, before we leave…" He reached into the pocket of his cloak and drew out three kunai that had a paper tag wrapped around the handle. He held them, hilt out, to Kurenai's genin and said, "Here, you can have one each."
"Uhh…alright?" Chōji said, taking it, unsure why he was giving them away.
Naruto said, "If you're ever in over your head, and you can't get away, or get help, then throw that and make the activation seal and I'll be there in a flash."
Sakura took it and slipped it into her kunai pouch. She said, "If that's the case, wouldn't it have been better to give Miwa and Mizuko one?"
Naruto said, "I did try that once," as Hinata took the third. "But, Miwa, called me back after two weeks when I was on a mission."
With a foxy grin, Mizuko said, "Oh yeeah, I remember that. That was pretty funny." Naruto grunted in disapproval.
Sakura looked at Mizuko and asked, "What's so funny about calling someone away from a mission, Mizuko?"
Naruto said, "I was trying to hide the more…gory…details of my job as a hunter-nin from my sisters, so I told them that I found things for the village. Miwa took that to mean that I could help her find a ribbon that she'd lost, so, I had to take them away from the two of them. I gave her one when I stopped back home before we left though." Naruto paused before saying, "Well, that's everything. Come on Mizuko," and walking a bit away from Kurenai's team so that Hiwashimaru would have enough room when he summoned him. When he had finished summoning him, Naruto, Miwa and Gisei got on his back and took off, banking towards their original destination.
XXXXXXX
A/N
Whoever correctly figures out the code's meaning and posts it in the reviews will get to come up with a last name for Danzō's grandchild, and a full character bio for his daughter.
