Chapter Thirteen: Of Nervous Captains and Excited Elves
As the cheetahs observed Naruto during the day, Nobuyuki sighed quietly as the small female next to him snarled in anger, "did you see that!" She jerked her head toward the silver haired instructor seemingly giving Naruto sound advice on correcting his Taijutsu stance. The cat continued to growl as she snarled, "he just purposefully told him the wrong stance!" Her eyes narrowed with rage and she wailed a few minutes later, "that's going to take us hours to fix!"
She then turned to a much younger but larger male adolescent and snarled, "mark his name down. The younger male quickly nodded before he spoke the name into the auto-inking dictation quill that their summoner had bought for them from Hogsmeade last year. The lone female turned back to the scene in front of her while muttering about making certain offenders pay for hurting their precious cub, the cheetahs had, over the past year, come to think of Naruto as a cub of the Pard and thus to be protected at all costs.
Nobuyuki sighed again at his baby sisters theatrics before he said, "what I don't like is how his jumpsuit makes him a walking target. Why does he wear it? I get the fact that he improves his stealth by being able to lose his trackers while wearing it… Hell some of the ANBU should take notes on his tricks and traps."
His sister sighed before she answered him, "because it's the only thing he has. He made it himself out of the only fabric that was cheap enough that he could afford it and it wasn't wanted by anyone else so he bought all the bolts that the store had. Since it was all that he had he forced himself to love it after several years of wearing it." She sighed again before she muttered, "truth be told I think he'd rather wear any other color but orange. He really only started to wear it after the Uchiha massacre, as before they disappeared he would get some of the clothes that the Uchiha mothers older children had out grown years ago. Why did you want to know, Nobu'," she stared at him with a confused expression as she asked.
He grinned at her before he replied casually, "his birthday is coming up soon. I was thinking about suggesting to Kushina-Sama about getting him new clothes as a present."
The other cheetahs blinked in shock but his baby sister merely grinned at him before she cried out happily, "that's brilliant! What colors do you think he would like to have?"
Nobuyuki shrugged lazily before he muttered absently, "how should I know… I was just going to give the suggestion to our summoner and let her decide, after all he's her cub." With that he turned back to stare down at the exercise yard as Naruto practiced then as Naruto as he entered the academy. Three of the five cheetahs followed Naruto from the academy to Ichikaru ramen shop and watched carefully as he ate several bowls of Ramen then the three followed him back home.
Naruto made a beeline to a stack of scrolls and after searching through them for several moments he pulled one out with a quiet, "ah ha!" He then read through the scroll on the Taijutsu stance he had been having trouble with according to Mizuki, he found that although his stance was slightly wrong it was due to his height and weight, not with how he was standing. The notes on the stance stated: this stance may be adjusted by the user to their comfort level, so long as the basics of the stance remain the user may adjust as much as they like.
Naruto scowled down at the scroll before he thought furiously to himself, 'he showed me how to do the improper stance not the correct one! Note to self: never trust anything Mizuki-Sensei says unless first checking about it with Iruka-Sensei, a book or Ryuu-Okasan first! End mental note!'
Unknown to Naruto a sticky note appeared on the wall opposite of Kurama's cage, the large fox read the message before he began to snicker at it. After he had calmed down his laughter at the note he muttered, "good boy, Naru-Chan." He then settled back into his nest to take a nap before he said grouchily, "of course I wish you'd hurry up and fid out I'm here. I'd like for you to change my prison," he glanced around at the sewer while sneering in disgust.
As his sister and the younger male settled down into lazy sprawls to watch Naruto at home, Nobuyuki said, "I'm going to see our mistress and tell her about our suggestion for his birthday present." His sister looked up from her rather lazy sprawl before she nodded at him in acknowledgement, she watched as he vanished in a puff of smoke. She then turned her attention back to the rather angry blond boy and snickered at the thought of what their mistress was going to do to everyone who had harmed one hair on her son's head.
Nobuyuki reappeared in his summoners living area at Hogwarts, he sniffed the air lightly to try to see if she was around. Although he found her scent easily enough and although it was still a fresh scent, that could either mean that she was still in the rooms or she had just left. He heard a soft chuckle from behind him and he glanced over his shoulder at the painting of his summoners mate. "You just missed her, Nobuyuki," Minato said to the large spy.
The large cat sighed before he jumped up on the couch and settled down to wait for her to arrive back. As he did so he asked, "how long do you think she'll be gone, Minato-San?"
The former Hokage shrugged before he said thoughtfully, "I don't think she'll be that long, she was just going to check on something really quick. She might slip down to Hogsmeade tomorrow even though the first weekend is approaching rapidly…" The cheetah snorted before he laid his head on top of his paws and closed his eyes to take a nap.
Meanwhile, Kushina had slipped down to the Kitchens to ask the house elves if they could prepare her a cake on October tenth with the writing being a bright orange on a dark blue background. She told them that it should state, 'Happy Birthday Naruto,' the elves happily agreed, they so rarely got birthday cake requests anymore. After that was done she headed back upstairs to the common room and her rooms, she greeted Karin with a ruffle of the younger girls black hair.
Karin swiped at the offending hand as she grumbled, "darn cousins who have to mess with the hair!" Kushina merely laughed before she entered her rooms to find Nobuyuki snoring quietly on the couch, he was completely ignoring the chicks cheeping plaintively up at him from the floor.
She smiled in amusement before she turned to Minato and asked, "how long has he been here?"
The blond haired man smiled at her cheerfully with dancing blue eyes before he said, "he arrived shortly after you left to see the house elves about Naruto's cake."
Her golden colored eyes lit up in amusement before she scooped up the three chirping chicks and placed them into her bedroom before she firmly shut the door to keep them in there. She then walked over to the couch before she reached down and tapped the slumbering cat lightly on the nose. He woke up with a light snort before he blinked blearily up at her, after a few moments he yawned widely and scratched behind his right ear with his back paw. "Hello, Mistress Kushina. How have you been," he asked after he had finished scratching his ear and stretched lightly.
She smiled fondly down at the eldest spy of the cheetah summons before she commented, "I'm fine, Nobu'-Kun. What brings you to my rooms? I wasn't expecting a report this soon after all."
Nobuyuki shook himself out before he answered her, "I'm not here to give you the report. As you are no doubt aware, Naruto's birthday is soon, the other cheetahs and I thought that some new clothes might be appreciated as a present…" He trailed off as he noticed her bewildered stare, he then looked down and muttered, "or perhaps something else could be found, maybe something just a bit more stealthy then what he has…"
To his surprise she laughed before she muttered, "sometimes, Nobuyuki, I think the cheetahs have been my personal summons for too long…" At his puzzled stare she elaborated, "I already chose to give him some new clothes for his birthday. Then when he graduates the academy I'll give him the Uzumaki clan uniform in our clan colors." She shrugged before she said casually, "I plan to tell him a bit about our clan when I give him the clan uniform."
Her gold eyes gleamed in mischief as she commented wickedly, "including how an Uzumaki was married to one of the founding Senju brothers. As well as his mothers, or rather my, old burden that he now carries, that is if he doesn't already know about it. If he does know about his burden I'll tell him how his mother coped with it."
Nobuyuki blinked before he nodded and said, "that will reassure him. It bothers him that he doesn't know much about either of his parents except for what you and we summons have told him about you two." The spy cocked his head to the side before he asked, "do you want us to look for some of your photo albums? You know, the pictures of you with Mikoto and her family, or perhaps of you and Minato as well as pictures of you with Sakumo?"
Kushina hummed in thought before she nodded decisively, "yes, go ahead and search for the albums. But bring them to me so I can look through them, I want to remove any pictures that might have us be lovey dovey to each other in them. The other pictures can stay as they aren't very incriminating, although Naruto might wonder just how close the fourth was to his mother to be in so many pictures and if no one remembers the White Fang he might wonder just who the white haired man is in so many pictures…" She smiled wryly before she quipped, "hopefully he won't think that Sakumo is his father. Although the look on Kakashi's face if he is asked by Naruto if he's his brother would be hilarious and I have no doubt that Sakumo would laugh about it if we did prank him like that!"
Nobuyuki stared at his mistress in amusement before he shook his head, his mistress had a strange relationship with the White Fang sometimes. He then said, "very well my mistress," with that he bowed to her and vanished with a puff of smoke.
Kushina snorted before she shook her head at the spy's antics, she then waved goodnight to Minato's portrait. She called out over her shoulder as she entered her bedroom, "goodnight Minato-kun!"
She heard him call back quietly, "goodnight, My Beloved."
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The next morning, Kushina snuck down to Hogsmeade, she stopped by Gladrags and asked one of the assistance, "would it be possible for me to buy some bolts of fabric?"
The young assistant blinked a bit at the odd question before she said, "yes, if you wish to you can buy several bolts of fabric. Is there any particular color you are looking for?"
Kushina smiled at her cheerfully before she said, "yes actually I am!" The assitant pulled out a pad of paper to take down the colors and Kushina rattled them off, "one bolt of blood red. Four bolts each of black, charcoal grey, ice blue and sea green. I also need three bolts each of forest green, sunshine yellow, and maroon red as well as one bolt of sea foam white. I need several spools of the same colors of thread," she added absently, the assistant quickly jotted down the order.
As she started pulling the fabric down she asked, "do you need any particular spells or enchantments woven into the fabric?"
Kushina hummed before she asked, "can the fabric be spelled to grow with a child so that they wouldn't need to buy clothes so often? Also can the fabric be spelled so that an expansion charm be placed on the pockets after they've been sewn?"
The assistant looked down at the red haired witch before she said, "of course, all of our fabric can be spelled, it allows us to place cooling and warming charms into the fabric. We use Runes to place expansion charms on the clothes and it wouldn't be all that hard for someone to do the same at home." As she spoke she had continued to pull down the bolts of fabric from the niches hidden in the walls.
Kushina nodded before she smiled up at the assistant and said, "thanks. I'm making a few items of clothing for someone, the only reason I'm not going to let you sew the clothes is that the clothes are somewhat of a uniform that has been in his family for countless generations. I really don't think his family would appreciate someone outside of their clan knowing their secrets, the only reason I know is that I'm directly related to the family via my father so I'm allowed to know…"
The assistant nodded in understanding, some of the older families could be very peculiar about their family secrets after all. After Kushina paid for her order she then left the village to head back to Hogwarts, she ducked into the shrieking shack. After she had entered she shrunk her purchases, she then placed the shrunk packages into the seals that she'd sewn into her clothes. As she walked through the tunnel she shook her head and wondered why it hadn't dawned on her Papa that he was by all rights technically a grandfather… She told him before Sirius' innocence had been proven and before they had found her Dad alive, the only reason she hadn't told her Dad was because she wanted Kisuke to remember their child first.
As she reached the end of the tunnel she double checked to make sure that she had all of her bags placed away, she then reached up and pressed the knot. Once the tree had stilled she used Shunpo to reach past the tree line of the Forbidden Forest, she then walked out of the forest casually as if she had gone in to run around. Most of the school no longer even batted an eyelash over her going in and out of the forest, but all of the students knew that very few things could hurt her and none of those things lived in the Forbidden Forest.
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By the time October fifth, the first Hogsmeade weekend, had rolled around Kushina had finished all of Naruto's clothes. Out of the bolts of black, charcoal grey, ice blue and sea green she'd made five pairs of pants, six shirts, two jackets and four pairs each of arm and leg wraps. She had sewn the Uzumaki spiral on all of the clothes, she had also made him a forehead protector, it only needed the plate and it would be finished. She wrapped up each color set in excess fabric to be given to Naruto once he had graduated the Academy, she had also sewn him some new clothes for his birthday.
She had managed to get seven shirts, seven pants and two jackets each out of the bolts of forest green, maroon red and dark blue. The sunshine yellow produced six pants and shirts along with three jackets, she only made five shirts from the bolt of sea foam white. So the total of shirts was thirty-two, sixteen were regular shirts while the other sixteen were muscle shirts, there was twenty-seven pairs of pants and nine jackets, she'd wanted to make sure that her child had plenty of clothes to wear if any got torn.
She had tied his present in the traditional manner, she had sewn several protective runes into the fabric along with seals, the unicorns had donated some of their hair to use as the connecting stitches of certain articles of clothing. She had also sewn storage seals into all of the clothing, including on the back of the forehead protector that he wouldn't be getting for a while. She had sewn some repairing runes into the fabric so that if it did get torn it would repair itself, however the rune did have it's limits, she knew that Kurama could heal Naruto of life threatening wounds.
One of the reasons she had been so feared by the Shinobi of other countries was because every time they had thought that they'd managed to kill her, she'd merely reappear on a battle field laughing her head off at their shocked faces. Sakumo had found it hilarious that they were so afraid of her that they'd run away screaming in terror after they saw her get struck down by a life threatening wound and be back on her feet in mere minutes.
After she had finished wrapping Naruto's birthday presents she set them aside so she could easily grab them once she was ready to go. She then heard Minato clear his throat behind her and he said, "your friends wanted me to tell you that it's time to go."
She blinked a bit before she looked down at her watch before she swore in shock at the time, she then grabbed her money bag and ran out the door. She yelled over her shoulder at the almost fully fledged owl chicks, "be good you guys." She then raced out of the common room, she ruffled Karin's hair as she ran past her, she ran to the stairs and ran down them. She slid to a stop just at the edge of the Entrance Hall, she nodded to the three people waiting on her, Hermione was standing near the door reading a book while Ron was listening to Rukia explaining something to him.
As they exited the school they had to walk by Filch who checked their names against those allowed to go, he huffed slightly but allowed the four to pass him without comment. Rukia smiled sweetly at the irritable man before she walked past him, she followed her boyfriend out the door, Kushina glanced around before she asked, "where's Kenpachi?"
Hermione glanced over her shoulder at Kushina before she said, "Yachiru dragged him ahead of us. He's agreed to allow the four of us time to shop together before he drags me away from you."
Kushina smiled slyly before she commented, "oh, so he's planning to kidnap you then…"
Hermione blushed bright red before she glared at her while she asked sweetly, "and when are you going to meet up with Kisuke?"
She smirked at the red haired witch, who merely snickered as she said, "probably after he raids Honeyduke's. There is a reason he owns a store that sells candy after all… He has the worst sweet tooth that I've ever seen…"
Hermione stared at her and said, "you can't be serious… He can't be worse than Yachiru!"
Kushina stared at her skeptically before she muttered, "you'd be surprised…" She sighed and said grimly, "if you combine Yachiru's candy obsession with Papa's love for chocolate, you might, and I stress might, come close to Kisuke's love for candy…" The students near the four gaped in shock, they had all met the blond haired man and couldn't believe it, after all Professor Lupin was well known for his love of the brown substance and after several visits of Yachiru's captain last year the students were also well acquainted with her love of candy.
Hermione shook her head in disbelief before she asked, "so where are we heading first?"
Ron looked up and said, "well all of us need parchment, quills and ink, so lets head to Dervish and Bangs first. Then we can stop by the new store that the twins opened up, we can stop by the bookstore for Hermione and your books, then we can hit Honeyduke's last for the candy." Both Kushina and Hermione hummed in agreement while walking over to the stationary store.
The four emerged with their necessary supplies, Hermione had picked up more rolls of parchment, same with Ron, Kushina picked up regular rolls of parchment as well as self rolling parchment. Kushina picked up some regular quills along with self inking quills that were also dictation quills, they then went to the bookshop where Hermione picked up some books and Kushina had grabbed a few for herself concerning Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Shortly after the four had left the stationary store, Rukia had received a page about a hollow nearby, so she split from them before she promised to meet up with them in front of the Three Broomsticks later on. Kushina had frowned lightly before she asked, "do you need backup?"
Rukia smiled and shook her head before she commented, "no, I can handle it. If I need back up there are plenty of Captain and Lieutenants at Hogwarts for me to call for backup if I need any."
After the candy shop the four split up to do some shopping for birthday and Christmas presents, Kushina bought a few things for the Uchiha clan since she would be visiting them during Christmas holidays as well as a present for Naruto and some of the Konoha Shinobi.
The three met back up in front of the Three Broomsticks, the trio had grabbed some pranking supplies in-between the bookstore and the candy shop. Kushina had teased Theodore and Lee while she was in the shop for bit but backed off at a mild glare from them both, she merely grinned at them before she left the store.
They had all barely met back up when Rukia had returned, she was just in time to see Kenpachi show up behind Hermione, he had a house elf take her bags back to Hogwarts. He then scooped up the startled witch, he gave a grin at them all before he raced out of Hogsmeade. A mere two minutes after Kenpachi had kidnapped Hermione, Kushina had Winky take her, Ron's and Rukia's bags back to Hogwarts, she had done that not a moment too soon. Because soon after ward Kisuke showed up behind her and picked her up. Kushina barely had time to give a startled yelp before Kisuke nodded to the pair cheerfully before he disappeared from sight, Winky giggled at the sight of her Mistresses chosen mate kidnapping her.
Rukia's lips twitched in amusement as she watched Captain Urahara tip his green and white striped hat to her and Ron before he used shunpo to vanish from sight with his Fiancée. She then glanced over at Ron to see him doubled over with laughter and clutching his ribs as if they greatly pained him from the force of his laughter. After he had calmed down she asked cheerfully, "shall we go to lunch? I worked up quite the appetite from cleansing that hollow." He grinned at her before he nodded in agreement while the occasional snicker escaped him, he then took her by the arm and led her cheerfully inside the Three Broomsticks for a quick lunch.
After Kenpachi had scooped up Hermione he had adjusted his grip on her so that he was holding her in bridal style, he had one arm under her knees and the second was half-way between her waist and her shoulders. She had gripped her wrists with the opposite hand behind his neck to lock her arms around it, she then blinked up at him with a startled expression on her face.
Thirty minutes after he scooped her up he set her down on her feet, as he set her on the ground she loosened her grip on him. She then stepped away from him to look around the large clearing in shock, she took note of the small lake nearby. After several moments of awe she looked over her shoulder at Kenpachi, she stopped and stared at him, he was seemingly setting up a picnic, as she watched him a slow pleased smile spread across her face.
Kenpachi looked up from where he was placing the last plate on the blanket beneath the large tree he had chosen to shade the spot. He blushed at the rather soft and fond look in her eyes as well as the sweet smile she was giving him. Before he had met her, if anyone had said that he had a softer side to him, everyone would have scoffed in disbelief. The very fact that she could scold him with a mere look and a soft murmur of his name had caused her to gain the respect normally only given to those of captain level or those who had fought Kenpachi and lived.
The very first time that Kenpachi's squad had seen him back down about something due to her had shocked them to the point that they had been gaping at her and it made them wonder just what she had done to gain his attention. Many women had tried to get it before her, however where they had failed at it she had somehow succeeded in gaining his full attention. What none of his division knew was that as soon as Kenpachi saw her for the first time, she had captivated his attention, although he had pretended not to notice her too much.
Three weeks after meeting her for the first time, the eleventh division got a clue just why she had succeeded where many had failed before. She had decided to visit him in the Seireitei, when she found him he was quite angry with several members of his squad and his Reiatsu was flaring in his anger. Most people were keeping their distance from the angry man, however Hermione had taken one look at the scene and promptly stalked up to him. Much to the stunned surprise of the onlookers, which included several captains and lieutenants, Hermione had reached up and removed his eye patch before she casually said, "calm down, Kenpachi. I'm sure that they are very sorry for whatever it was that they did and that they will never do it again…"
The rest of the onlookers who hadn't passed out from the force of his released Reiatsu stared in surprise that this slip of a mortal girl was standing that close to Kenpachi Zaraki. Especially since the only other people near him that were still standing was his lieutenant, his third and his fifth seated officers, Hermione was the only other person besides those three that was standing after that burst of Reiatsu, everyone else was passed out.
The head captain, who had shown up shortly before Hermione had removed the eye-patch, sighed and merely accepted the fact that Kenpachi was courting a human woman. He then decided that unless the courtship negatively affected the Shinigami's performance he would allow any courtship between a human and a shinigami. However so far all of the courtships seemed to be helping the shinigami with their jobs, Shunsui was actually doing his own paperwork. Byakuya had loosened up some, he had returned to the same disposition that he had before his wife had died which was a relief to most of his fellow captains. Yumichika had pretty much kept a steady rate of work and Kushina seemed to help Kisuke's creativity instead of hampering it, and Rukia Kuchiki had improved so much that even her brother was recommending promotion to Lieutenant of her division.
Kenpachi cocked his head to the right and held out his left hand to Hermione, she took it allowing the scared man to pull her down onto the blanket. Her eyes lit up at seeing her favorite picnic foods laid out before her, the two dug into the food demolishing it quickly. They drank Butterbeer with the sandwiches and other side dishes, after all of the meal was finished, Kenpachi reached into the basket and pulled out two slices of red velvet cake with a white chocolate cream cheese icing. After the pair had finished off the desert they packed the dirty dishes away into the basket, they then moved the blanket to beside the lake.
The pair laid back onto the blanket, Hermione was resting her head on Kenpachi's chest over his heart and together they watched the clouds rolling by. After several silent moments of cloud watching, Hermione asked, "how did your squad take it when they found out you were courting a human?"
Kenpachi blinked a bit at the odd question before he rumbled, "at first they didn't take it well. However after they found out that I was courting you they changed their minds about it and instead congratulated me on my choice… I really don't get it…"
To his delight she started laughing at that, after several moments of laughter she managed to gasp out, "who knows how they think… So long as they won't make a fuss about it!"
Kenpachi grinned at her laughter before he quipped, "if you thought that was funny you should have see Ikkaku's reaction to finding out that I'm the one who recommended him to be the captain of the fifth division!"
She giggled as she pictured the outraged and shocked look that would have crossed the bald man's face at the knowledge that his own captain had recommended that he be promoted. Kenpachi grinned manically at the laughter coming from the brown eyed girl that way lying on his chest, he sat up resting all of his weight on his right forearm and looked down at the smiling woman next to him. He then asked, "how are your parents? Do you know where they decided to have their vacation this Christmas?"
Hermione smiled up at him, she was happy that he had asked how her parents were much less what they were going to be doing for the upcoming holidays even though her parents made him nervous. She sat up and with dancing brown eyes said, "as of their last letter they are fine. They hope that you and Yachiru are well, they plan to take a cruise then stay in Australia for a little while, I think they want to visit the Sydney coastline, it is rather beautiful after all…" She then poked him in the side and said playfully, "they said you better be taking good care of me or else…"
He chuckled nervously before he asked, "what else are they up too?" He then listened intently to her as he ran his fingers through her hair, he had already decided to ask a certain question of her parents during the next summer. However, no matter their answer to him, in the end it would be the sole decision that was given by the brown eyed girl at his side.
Kisuke murmured into Kushina's right ear, "close your eyes, my dear." Although puzzled by his request she followed it without question and in what felt like almost an hour later he set her down. He then said cheerfully, "you can open your eyes now, my dearest muse."
She blinked her eyes after she opened them, her eyes had gotten used to the darkness and thus she need to let them adjust to the brightness. She gaped in shock at what surrounded her and then took a few tentative steps forward to the large temple in front of her. After several minutes she whirled around to ask him, "how did you do this?"
He looked at her from underneath his hat while his bright blue eyes twinkled in amusement at her obvious surprise and delight. He opened his fan and said as he walked toward her, "as it turns out, one of the families that married into the Potter family left this to a particular descendant. During one of his trips to Gringotts your father found out you inherited this island and a vault, although you cannot access the vault until you are married you can use this island as much as you wish. His only restriction beside the vault access age was that the temple must stay maintained as it is now." He then closed his fan sharply before he lightly tapped the statue on the right side of the entrance of the temple. As he tapped the statue he said with a sardonic twist to his mouth, "rather ironic don't you think?"
Kushina ran her fingers lightly over the statues left arm before she said with a hint of a smile, "yes, it is rather ironic I suppose… how come this place is in such good condition?" As she asked the question she glanced at him curiously, to no surprise to her he was smiling smugly at her.
He clapped his hands together before a house elf appeared in front of them, it was dressed in a toga. It bowed to them before it said, "the Master called for me? How may I serve you and our Mistress, Master?" Kushina recognized the rather shrill pitch to be that of belonging to either a female house elf or a very young elf, as well as being surprised by the elf's rather better speech than most elves had.
At the surprised look on Kushina's face the house elf smiled knowingly before she said, "you've never met an educated elf before have you? Or at least a formally educated elf. When the owner of this island and temple hid them from the destruction of the old temples by the Christens he gave the house elves a standing order to remain educated as well to keep the island and temples in perfect condition. The villages on the island were included in the order, we were also to be educated as high priests and priestesses of the temples."
Kushina's eyes lit up in delight before she asked, "how old does a house elf have to be before they can no longer be taught?"
The house elf blinked up at her new mistress, even though the mistress had yet to bond to them, she then said, "even very old elves can learn. Although the ability to learn will be limited the older an elf gets, why do you ask?"
Kushina grinned down at her before she said with her golden eyes twinkling in excitement, "I have three elves that I would like to take lessons in how to speak properly and proper etiquette. Two of the three should still be young enough to learn most of the lessons, the third might be too old to learn most of it but I'd still like for him to try."
The elf stared up at her in shock before she cocked her head to the right at the woman who would hopefully bond with them all and asked, "do you want us to teach them?"
Kushina nodded before she asked hesitantly, "do you want to bond with me or would you prefer someone else?"
The little elf bowed before she said formally, "we would all be delighted to bond with you. We haven't had a master or mistress for many a moon, not for over three hundred years. Our last master had the sight, he foresaw that one of his descendants would love and protect this island along with the temples with all her heart and soul. Thus he left all of is possessions to her and her alone…" The elf frowned before she murmured, "he never explained why you would love this island so much…"
Kushina smiled down at her before she said while thrusting her arm to the side, "spread thy wings and bare thy blade. Arise before me, my warrior." With a flash of darkness Thanatos appeared beside his Mistress, his wings were mantled on either side of him. His dark hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and he looked through his bangs with glowing supernatural blue eyes.
He then stood up smoothly before he looked over at his mistress and said blankly, "you called for me, my Lady?"
Kushina reached up and ran her fingers through his bangs, parting so she could see his eyes clearly. She then smiled at him and ran the back of the same fingers down his right cheek before she said to the house elf, "this is why I would protect this place with all of my heart and soul.
The elf gaped at the pair, she recognized the winged man immediately, a statue of the man was on the right side of the temple entrance. Then with a puff of sand another man appeared beside her new Mistress and the elf gaped even more as this man had a statue on the left side of the temple entrance.
Kushina glanced over at Anubis and raised her left eyebrow at him due to the way he looked. His left ear was cocked to the side while the other rotated to listen behind him, he then said, "good day, My Lady." He then glanced around before he looked at her oddly and asked, "where are we, my Lady?"
She pointed behind him at the smiling blond haired mad inventor before she said, "ask him, he dropped this place on me all of the sudden as a surprise." Kisuke had folded his fan and placed it in a seal that Kushina had sewn inside of his Haori sleeve. He cheerfully smiled at them before he walked into the temple while gesturing for them to follow him inside.
The two men shrugged before they followed their mistress who had obeyed her fiancé's request to follow him. The four reemerged from the temple a few hours later to find many house elves waiting in the clearing around the temple. The first female elf stepped forward and said, "I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I am Fiana and the ones standing behind me are the high priests and priestesses of the other temples." The other elves bowed to her and the three men. Thanatos and Anubis drew closer to their wielder while Kisuke retrieved his fan and snapped it open.
Kushina lightly shoved the two overprotective spirits before she said, "I'm glad to meet you all of you. Have many of you wish to bond to me?"
The house elves blinked in unison before they started whispering to each other then several minutes later Fiana stepped forward and said, "all of the elves on the island have indicated a wish to bond with you along with their families."
Kushina held back a slight sigh before she asked carefully, "is there a way to bond to all of them collectively? Or do I have to bond with each elf individually?"
Fiana giggled before she said, "you can bond either individually or you can bond entire elf families to you. Bonding to the entire family is less stressful though and it can be done as a mass bonding unlike the individual bondings."
Kushina couldn't hold back the sigh of relief this time before she asked, "how do you do a mass bonding? I've only bonded to a single house elf not an entire family before." Thanatos and Anubis were leaning against their respective statues while Kisuke was playing around with a pad of paper and scribbling madly away. Kushina and both spirits were pointedly ignoring the blond haired man, it was times like this that she really missed her partner.
Sakumo would have smirked at her before he rolled his eyes at Minato's antics which would have made her laugh. Every Shinobi that had been partnered with the pair or had encountered the pair on a mission had sworn that the two were reading each others minds. They didn't use any visible form of communication between them, they didn't speak nor did they use hand signs, it appeared to everyone that they simply knew each other so well that they could predict each others movements.
It had been uncanny the way their written reports would flow seamlessly together for a single detailed report. After Sakumo's death Kushina had been placed as an ANBU trainer instead of an active operative, she had been removed due to her having lost her usual partner and it was deemed imprudent to try and get her used to another partner. This was done after she had completed many missions after his death, although not one mission failed she had returned with grave injuries that even the Kyuubi had trouble healing. After five time of this happening the third Hokage had decided to allow her to train an ANBU team, she had been allowed to choose who she trained for the team.
In the end she had chosen Ibiki Morino, Inochi Yakamana and Shikaku Nara, though many doubted her choice for choosing Ibiki she had muttered, "he'll do perfectly. You will all agree with my assessment one day, just you wait and see about that." The Hokage's idea to have her train an ANBU team to keep her mind off of her grief had worked perfectly, however she refused to replace her partner and requested that she be marked as solo mission only. The Hokage had reluctantly agreed but told her that if her missions started going poorly again he'd make her retire permanently.
When the village council had tried to force her to take another partner she had merely sneered at them before she said scathingly, "I have only one person that I would trust as my partner left now. That person is Minato Namikaze, I refuse to replace my ANBU partner of Wolf. Sakumo Hatake was my partner, my fitted half on the field of battle, we were a perfect pair, we never once failed a mission together. I don't know why you didn't wait until I was back in the village to send him on the mission, nor do I truly want to know. But I do know this… if I had been with him the mission wouldn't have failed and you wouldn't be pressuring me to take another partner. If I had been with him Konoha would still have its White Fang, now the village is down to only it's Crimson Blade and Yellow Flash, the trio is no more now." With that she had turned and stalked out the doorway, she made her way to the Hyuga compound and challenged them to a sparing match. Three hours later she felt better but several of the main branch now had smaller egos since they had been beaten by her.
Kushina was shaken out of her memories as Fiana said, "we can begin the bonding as soon as you are ready. As for how to do a mass bonding that's easy, instead of you touching one of us, all of us will touch you. You'll ask us if we are willing to bond ourselves and our families to you, if we answer yes they you will state that you agree to bond our families to your line."
Kushina hummed before she nodded and said, "well I guess we can do this now… Could you call the other heads of the families here, please, Fiana?"
Fiana giggled before she gestured at the multitude of elves around her and said, "they're already here."
The red haired witch blinked before she said, "oh, well lets get started then, shall we?" Thanatos, Anubis and Kisuke watched as Kushina stepped into the middle of the circle of house elves, thus allowing them to be able to reach her easily. The three males watched as the elves and Kushina exchanged the traditional words of binding to bond the elves to Kushina's family. With a flash of light the group disappeared from sight, when the men could see the group again the elves were giddy while Kushina was swaying tiredly.
Before she could crumple to the ground in exhaustion Kisuke caught her and cradled her in his arms against his chest. The elves gathered around their new Mistress and her chosen mate worriedly, however after Kisuke checked her over he sighed in relief before he announced, "she's fine. Just exhausted and sleeping soundly due to that," he brushed her bangs out of her eyes and she stirred sleepily. The elves sighed in relief at his comment but they were still confused, she shouldn't have collapsed like that.
Fiana cocked her head to the right before she said in confusion, "she shouldn't have been that exhausted even with bonding all of us and our families to her. The ritual doesn't require that much energy if a person doesn't exceed a certain energy level, at her age she should still have a relatively small reservoir… The only way she could be this exhausted is if she has a larger reservoir than normal and didn't know when to stop the feed of energy…"
The two Zanpakuto spirits glanced at each other before they sighed and Anubis said thoughtfully, "she always had a huge amount of energy. Enough that she could throw spells, Kido and jutsus for far longer than her enemies ever expected she could…" he trailed of meaningfully at that.
Kisuke nodded in agreement before he murmured, "you're right about that. Tessai and Hachi were startled by how long she could keep up a volley of kido spells." Kisuke then looked up at Fiana before he asked, "is there someplace she can lie down for a while?"
Fiana lit up at his question and nodded eagerly before she said cheerfully, "oh, yes. There is a village nearby, it's in that direction," she pointed to the north before she continued with, "no one has been there since the wards were placed. However it is in perfect condition as that was part of the order given to the house elves of the island, all of the villages must be perfectly maintained. We've been very careful at keeping it in perfect condition, she can stay in the Mayor's villa in the master suite of course." With that she lead the four through the woods to the north until they had reached an early Roman to Late Greek era village and up a large hill to a sprawling villa.
After leading the men through the villa to the master suite Fiana disappeared back to the temple, she said, "the elves of the village will prepare a feast in honor of our new Mistress and her guests. It will be ready in about two hours," she gave them all a bow and vanished from sight.
Kisuke laid Kushina back on the bed and covered her in a light blanket. He then stood up to leave the room after he had adjusted the blanket over her and brushed her bangs behind her ears. She nuzzled his hand briefly before she slipped deeper into slumber, he then exited the room. Thanatos and Anubis were leaning against the wall waiting for their mistresses mate to return from putting her to bed, they looked up when he emerged from the room.
Kisuke smiled at the waiting spirits before he said, "she'll be fine, we should let her sleep for a while until it's time to eat. She should be more hungry than a female dragon is while brooding." Both spirits sighed in relief before they disappeared back into their mistresses inner world to wait for her to awaken. Kisuke smiled and chuckled before he turned to walk back into the bedroom to wait for his Fiancée to wake up from her exhaustion induced nap.
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On October Tenth Kushina had summoned a Clone after dinner to take over teaching the Shinigami Arts Class, Kushina then snuck out of the school via Dobby who had teleported her to the outskirts of Konoha. She then snuck inside the village through the access tunnels that the Uchiha Clan escaped through, she made her way to Naruto's apartment, she had greeted the three cheetahs watching over her son with a scratch behind their ears and under their chins before she knocked on the window to get Naruto's attention. He beamed at the sight of her and let her through the window, she made her way to the kitchen after she ruffled his blond locks, she set the birthday cake on the counter as he pouted and whined at her, "don't do that, Ryuu-Okasan!"
She chuckled from behind the snarling mask at his whining, 'sometimes you really do resemble your father just a little too much, my Naru-Chan… Although I will admit that most of your personality resembles mine just a tad too much for the villages peace of mind, especially my love of Ramen. However your looks and your extreme love of the color orange belongs solely to your father.' She snorted before she thought to herself, 'how the village can be so blind to the way that you look almost identical to your father is far beyond me.' She grinned viciously behind the mask as a very wicked thought went through her head and she held in a cackle, 'they will rue the day that Kisuke remembers being Minato and the two of us return to the village!' Her eyes twinkled down at him before she said cheerfully, while Dobby hid the cake from Naruto's sight, "Happy Birthday, Naru-Chan!"
The golden haired boy gaped up at the masked woman before he blushed and sniffled slightly as he said, "thank you Ryuu-Okasan."
She looked up at him due to the slight sniffling she had heard come from him and her frown deepened at the grateful look on his face. She then looked around the apartment to try and find any signs that he hadn't been totally alone on his birthday, she saw a pair of cups sitting on the table and gave a silent sigh of relief. She then walked over and tapped the second glass before she said, "I see you had a visitor before me. Who dropped by to see you, Little One?"
Naruto blinked a bit before he smiled happily at her and exclaimed, "Old Man Hokage visited me earlier in the morning and Iruka-Sensei left shortly before you dropped by!" His smile got even wider as he said, "wait here," he then ran into his room and she heard him opening a drawer before he shut in and ran back to her. Clutched in his hand was a frog shaped wallet and he held it up to her with a gleeful smile before he said, "Iruka-Sensei gave me this for my birthday." Naruto smiled down at the wallet before he said with a chirping voice, "I'm going to call it Gama-Chan."
Kushina laughed at his enthusiasm for the small gift and was inwardly pleased that the little dolphin was visiting her son on his birthday, she was even more pleased by the fact that the dolphin was one of his teachers and was kind enough to give him a present. She was even more please that Sarutobi was visiting her and Minato's son to check up one him, she inwardly giggled at the thought of him being called Old Man by Naruto.
"So you haven't been too lonely on your birthday then," she asked casually while skillfully hiding the gaudy orange candles she was putting on the cake in front of her. She placed eleven of them on the cake carefully keeping to the edges of the cakes decorative picture, she then said over her shoulder to the highly curious child, "sit down at the table."
As she had placed the candles on the cake Naruto had answered her question with a quietly murmured, "no I haven't been too lonely. It's much better than the years before you started coming by…" At her command for him to sit he gave her an odd look but obeyed her order since not once had she ever hurt him nor had she ever threatened him. In fact she often protected him or as the cheetahs were concerned gave him a way to protect himself if she couldn't be there to do so herself. She also made sure he was well taken care of by bonding him to Dobby so that Dobby could take care of him personally, so he sat down at his kitchen table and waited for her to be done with whatever it was that she was doing.
She looked between the patiently waiting child and the cake she was still hiding from him before she said, "close your eyes for me, please, Naru-Chan."
He shrugged but did as she bade by closing his eyes and waiting for her to tell him to open them, she quietly placed the cake in front of him then lit the candles. Once she was sure all of them were lit and ready to be blown out she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "you can open your eyes now."
He opened his eyes slowly and when he saw the cake presented in front of him, he gaped in shock. The cake had been decorated and had the Hokage Monument on the top while written below the monument was the words, 'Happy Eleventh Birthday Naruto!' Along one of the longer sides of the cake was written, 'we hope you have many more to come,' while written just above the monument was written, 'Never lose your will of Fire!' The writing was in the same gaudy orange as the candles while the picture looked like the monument did on a perfect cloudless day in the summertime.
Kushina smiled happily at the gob-smacked expression on her son's face at the sight of the cake before she said cheerfully, "well, what are you waiting for? Blow out the candles and make a wish already!" She flicked him lightly on the forehead with a finger before she said in a mock stern tone, "just be sure to carefully think out what you are wishing. For as a person outside the barrier once said, 'be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.'"
Naruto grinned up at her before he shut his eyes and thought carefully to himself before he mentally murmured his wish while blowing out the candles, 'I wish that I could get to know my family someday.' Kushina watched him blow out the candles and bit her lower lip, to her delight all of the candles went out with the first try, that meant the wishing candles could fulfill Naruto's wish. If they couldn't have granted it then at least one would have remained lit after the first try, she sighed silently in relief before she set a knife down next to the cake and quipped, "since it's your birthday. You get to cut the first slice of cake."
With that Naruto beamed up at her and picked up the knife to cut the first slice of cake, to her surprise instead of taking it for himself Naruto gave her the first piece and then cut one for Dobby, who beamed at his little master, as he called him. Kushina took the knife from Naruto before he cut himself a piece and she made sure he got a large slice of cake. The three then ate the slices of cake and as Kushina was washing the plates and forks along with the knife she asked, "do you want to hear about some of the pranks your mother pulled on Konoha along with the help of one of her friends?" She then smiled slyly before she asked casually, "or would you prefer to open your present from me and the cheetahs before hearing the pranks?"
Naruto stared at her in shock before he asked, "you got me a present?" When she smiled at him and nodded he grinned and said, "present then story please!" She laughed before she pulled out the packages from the seals inside of her sleeves, she then placed them in front of him, he opened the packages and he gaped at the clothes inside of the packages. He then looked up at her and said, "thanks! I was getting a little tired of orange jumpsuits, so these are perfect." He gave her a hug before grabbing as much clothing that he could carry and ran to his room to put up his new pants, shirts and jackets. Kushina laughed before she picked up the rest of the clothes and followed him, she found him folding his pants and putting them in the bottom drawer of his dresser. She shook her head before she grabbed some hangers and placed the shirts and jackets on them, she handed him the rest of the pants to fold.
After the clothes were put away she herded him back to the living area and had him sit down on the couch before she murmured to herself, "where to start, or rather with which prank to start with…" She suddenly grinned and after she snapped her fingers together she said, "I've got it!" With that she began to gleefully tell Naruto about a prank his mother played along with her best friend on the ANBU headquarters at the tender age of thirteen. Naruto listened to her in fascination as she told him about the most well known pranks his mother played on the residents of Konoha, she kept silent about the pranks she played on the enemy nin she had come across. She included the prank she had played on the Hyuga Clan Council, whenever anyone had asked how she had managed it she would merely grin at them and that grin always seemed to say, 'that is a secret!'
After two hours of her telling him stories, Naruto started to nod off during the storytelling, or rather prank telling. So Kushina smiled as she shook his shoulder to wake him up and said, "I think it's time for you to head to bed, Little One."
Naruto stared blearily up at her before he pouted and whined to her, "but I wanna hear more stories about my mom!"
She chuckled lightly as she urged him into his bedroom and promised, "I'll tell you some more about her later. However, you need to go to bed, you were falling asleep halfway through a story. I'd rather have you awake and appreciating your mothers genius, when it came to pranks your mother had few equals…"
As she spoke Naruto changed into his pajamas sleepily, she then tucked him into bed and sat beside him on the bed. She ran her fingers through his hair as she hummed a lullaby, he quickly fell asleep and she made sure he was tucked in before she rose from the bed. She then went into the kitchen and cut up the rest of the cake to put it away in the fridge, she then left a note to her son about when she'd be able to visit again. She wrote that she'd try to visit him around Christmas, she then slipped out of the apartment and made her way to the village that the Uchiha were staying in.
She was a bit surprised to find that it was still daylight since Naruto fell asleep so easily, however one of the cheetahs who was running part of the way with her told her that he had been training before she had gotten there. The only reason he had been home was the fact that his teacher had seen him training and made him go home to rest. She snorted before she nodded goodbye to the cheetah as it continued further on while she diverted to the east. The guards of the entrance let her pass without comment due to her visiting earlier in the year, as she made her way through the village she took note of the bewildered and slightly perturbed looks she was getting from most of the Clan. However both Fukaku and Mikoto both greeted her with a smile, the pair was far too used to her pulling off impossible things, or very hard to accomplish things as she put it, to even be surprised at how she had been reincarnated.
The three sat down and discussed what the clan had been up to since she last visited them, Kushina told the pair how Naruto's training was going. She also told them what the cheetahs had seen of their youngest son, and how he was doing in his training. Although the pair were pleased with his progress and how he was quickly becoming the prodigy of his class they were worried about how he seem to be obsessed with killing Itachi.
An hour after Kushina arrived it was nearing dusk, she remarked, "it's getting a bit dark. I probably better head back soon," she sighed a bit before she stood up and made to leave the porch.
Mikoto's eyes lit up and she stood up as she said, "wait a minute, Kushina! I almost forgot to tell you," at Kushina's curious glance the dark haired woman elaborated, "some of the boys found a cavern to the north near the sea. We've discovered something, but none of us can puzzle out what it is, it seems to be written in code…" She cocked her head to the left and pleaded, "could you take a look real quick and see if you can figure out what it is?"
Kushina blinked a bit and wondered to herself, 'that's strange I don't remember hearing any stories about a cavern near the second village… Maybe they just didn't talk about it anymore…' She then nodded and said, "sure, I'll take a look at it. But I'll warn you I don't remember anyone talking about a cavern near this village…" With that she gestured for Mikoto and Fukaku to lead the way to this cavern.
The cavern was in a hard to get to area, hard to get to that is if you aren't a ninja, it was nestled in a sheer cliff face and the entrance wasn't visible from most angles. If you stood right in front of it you might not even be able to see it, the hole turned into a tunnel that ending in a large cavern, all along the cavern walls were lines and symbols. The pattern was familiar and Kushina gaped at it in shock, she stepped forward and reached out to touch the wall, as her fingertips grazed the wall all of the lines and symbols etched into it lit up.
To the surprise of the Uchiha's watching the symbols transformed into recognizable writing, the symbols now spelled out names and dates, some names were written in blue however most of the names were written in purple an very few were written in red writing. Kushina murmured in shock and the entire group watching gaped at her when her words reached their ears, "a self-updating family tree of the Uzukagerare village…" She blinked a bit before she added in an amused tone, "not to mention a family tree for each of the people allied with the village…"
As she traced the lines of two of the closest allies to the Uzumaki clan besides those based in Konoha she frowned, they now only had one name written in blue each, and one of the names attached to one was written in black. The color black meant only one thing in the family records, that meant whoever this person was he not only betrayed the Uzumaki clan, he had betrayed his family to death. However by his name was the mark of revenge served, that mean whoever he had betrayed had killed him for it, she smirked knowingly, at least he hadn't lived long after betraying whoever it was.
She sighed in disappointment, those two clans were some of the most loyal supporters, they would have guarded her son viciously if they had known he existed, the last of the Uzumaki clan to bear the name… They had both sworn an oath to the clan that so long as the Uzumaki clan existed they would forever be their allies and would never knowingly turn their weapons nor attack a Clan member. The very oath would prevent them from either harming or killing an Uzumaki Clan member, knowingly that is. The two clans had once be huge and very prosperous, to have them reduced to such a low number was disheartening, perhaps, just perhaps the two clans could be revitalized…
Kushina turned to Mikoto and asked her, "could you have some of your clan write down the names and dates of the people in the tree, if possible write down their status as well. If you can find those who are still alive and let them know about Naruto's existence, most of them would gladly protect him outside of the village, let them know that a new head of the Clan will be returning to Konoha in about a year or two."
Mikoto nodded and replied, "of course, I'm sure several of the youngsters that was born shortly before the Kyuubi attack would be willing to do so. How will we know what their status is?" She stared at her friend in confusion as she asked.
Kushina sighed before she explained, "blue means that they are alive and have sworn the oath to protect the Uzumaki clan, red means that they swore the oath but broke it. Purple means that they swore the oath and kept it until their death, any name written in black means that they betrayed the Clan somehow, or that they killed a clan member or an ally of the clan. If they have this symbol," she pointed at the symbol by the name above the only blue name in a line, "that means that the person was killed and the deceased member was avenged." She looked around at the clan members and asked, "does everyone understand that?"
They all nodded and Kushina smiled at them gratefully, "thank you."
Mikoto looked at her friend and said, "you don't need to thank us Kushina. Is there anything else we can do for you?"
Kushina shook her head before she remarked quietly, "no that's it. I better head back to Hogwarts before it gets dark and someone wonders where I am." The pair nodded goodbye to the red haired woman before she pulled a scythe out of no where and slashed it through the air, to their surprise a portal appeared, she waved goodbye to the clan members before she entered the dark portal and vanished.