Chapter 21

"-at what is now called the Valley of the End. So devastating, the battle literally altered the landscape, forever leaving their marks upon the area." The teacher finished.

Narumi had listened intently, hanging onto every word of the boring monotonous sensei. He was not interesting to listen to in the least, but the content had captured her. Those people were so incredible that they had ripped the area to shreds! She wanted to become that strong, no, she had to be even stronger! People would have to stop ignoring her then!

The little redhead slowly raised her hand, "Sensei, you said Hashirama won, but what happened to Madara?"

"It was such a colossal battle, so intense, that statues were erected in remembrance." Said teacher ignored her completely.

Internally depressed at having her question ignored, her hand lowered back upon the soft ball of fur in her lap, flowing through it a moment later for comfort. The purring response rekindled the warmth within her heart, causing a smile to slowly drift onto her face.

She glanced to the side to see Hinata petting the golden fox twin. It had become a regular occurrence for them to bring the foxes to class. Rather, they came with her, and one would sneak into Hinata's lap. The other kids, mostly non-clan she eventually realized, had quickly taken to ignoring, making fun of, or bullying the two. Bullying was mostly against Hinata, while the rest were avoiding her. When together, they thankfully avoided both, giving her bluenette friend a reprieve.

Still, now that Narumi was no longer forced to stay out of the classroom, she could learn. Even when the teacher told the students to open their books, Narumi finally had her own to use! ..It would go forever untold that they were stolen. It was bad, but she reasoned that it was supposed to have been given to her anyways. And in the past few weeks, Narumi had even gotten far enough to make sense of most sentences! Many were unreadable, but the content added up into something that could be made sense of. Eventually...

Loneliness was still there. Pain evident whenever alone. But it was slowly dissipating. Her sisters - something that she still couldn't believe existed, and wondered if it were even true, but too similar to deny the fact - had broken into her heart quickly. Their actions had improved her life in so many ways. Narumi only recently realized she was more mature than others her age, having had to constantly be aware of her surroundings for her own safety, but still knew very little compared to them. But it wasn't quite what she thought, and eventually realized she had life smarts, instead of knowledge, and that she was just as smart as them, but not the same way.

No matter what others told her, she knew they were lies… she hoped. Not knowing who her parents were, she couldn't deny what they called her or them. Not knowing why she was hated, not knowing why she was ignored and avoided, so much that they told her could not be refuted. And so much of it she had believed. Only recently had she taken to thinking about it.

And only recently had she thought that maybe they were lying…

But what if it was all true? Why else would people avoid her? Hate her?

Was she a demon? Did her parents really hate her? Toss her away? Was she a bastard child?

The purring in Narumi's lap broke through the painful thoughts, crushing them, and throwing them out of her mind. It was a quiet, calming sound, with comforting vibrations that warmed her. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she had people who did care.

"...Hey, I heard a rumor a few days ago." A veteran genin whispered across the table to her friends, catching their attention. "That the demon actually has a tail."

"What?! No way.. I've seen it!" A male with a chunin vest frowned in denial.

"Yea, but what if he hides it… What if the boy is just making itself appear normal?" Another older genin reasoned.

"But the seal… the Fourth did it. He even said to treat the kid as a hero, right? Would he really mess up like that?" The chunin again refuted.

"Everyone messes up. It's strength could have possessed it or something! Heck, I even heard that the boy is hiding it's true ears!" The first added.

Behind them, a few civilians had wide eyes. The whispers were quiet, but still very clear.

In the middle of a clearing, two laughing children were moving about.

Red hair fluttered in a manner that was eerily similar to the tail below it, giving off an impression that neither, or both, were not what they seemed. Only the clearly abnormal movement of the lower half of red gave any indication that it wasn't lifeless, as it swayed.

Across from this, golden hair flitted about in a fashion all too similar, nearly exact, to the opposing colour. Just below, another length of gold followed through, then swayed in fashion with its twin.

These two colours had twin lines of their opposite to add into their remarkable beauty. It was only an addition to the mimicked motions of their holders. Legs twirled around before one lifted on either side, an arm lowered to shift weight. A flowing balance easily marking the two as more than simply symbolic.

Slowly, but surely, the motions slowed. It wasn't smooth, without lumps, or unnecessary pausing, but the reflecting motions gave it a life that tried stating otherwise. A few more seconds, and neither body was moving. Then the tension broke as joyous giggles escaped.

It was far more interesting than either girl was willing to admit. It was such a simple idea to use coordinated movement. If their Kunoichi teacher wasn't such a.. yea, they would have to refrain from thanking her. But it was still something they found truly enjoyable.

"..he, hehe. I didn't know that doing this would be so much fun!"

"Haa~ I know. AH! It's getting dark already? Mngh~" Frustration welled up within the golden-blonde.

"Well, we can always play through the night, ya know~?" Haruna giggled, grasping at her blonde highlights, and twirling them through her fingers. They were obviously getting longer, and would need to get cut soon, if she wanted them to keep covering her whiskers. That would mean so were her sister's.

"Mn nn. We should go sleep. Just 'cause we don't need it, doesn't mean we should avoid it either."

The redhead groaned, "I know~ but still. And we've only practiced copying each other. I wonder what it's like if we did it with different movements, while trying to avoid each other."

"That would be incredible! 'ttebane!" Fuyuna squealed at the thought, as her tail echoed with its swaying joy.

An onrush of memories had the two blinking their slitted wide eyes in disbelief. "Did we just…"

"Yea, we did. aha-HAHAHA~" Soon enough the other joined in laughter.

"W-We, hah, made sensei ahaha, teach in we-w-wet un-ha-u-underwe-wear! Kyahaha!"

"A-And his hair! I d-din't know Narumi could do~ aha tha-at!"

Laughter and giggles resounded in the surrounded woods for quite some time…

In his years as Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen many things in his life.

He had fought in wars. Seen his friends and family die. Watched as children grew up to be respectable people, albeit some with less sanity than others. Felt for his shinobi etched many a name upon the memorial stone. Smiled as another face was added to the monument.

So much time had passed. And so much has happened. The current situation wasn't even all that unfamiliar. But it had been years since a child so young could pull it off. Not all too much time, though, since it has occurred. But with who had caused it, Hiruzen could only fear for the future...

As such, he would not let up his stern gaze, which had never once been focused upon this particular child. It should never have had to. But it can not, will not, let up. No matter what kind of face he gets in return.

"...do you have anything to say for yourself, young man?"

"Hmph, can't prove it was me…" The child replied.

"I know it was you!" The tar-victim growled out, nearly snarling.

"You always blame me!" Pouted a little redhead.

"Of course it was you! Three times.. Three TIMES already! I demand his expulsion!"

"EHH~? You can't do that!" The 'boy' cried out. "You still don't have evidence to say it way me! ..Though I really do wanna, when you ignore me! But you still can't prove anything!"

The Hokage sighed, "Naruto, just because there isn't any proof, doesn't mean it wasn't you…"

"WHAT?! ..Everyone always sides against me." Narumi's face darkened in sadness, confusing Hiruzen. "Even when I wasn't even there, couldn't do it, people still don't believe me when I really don't."

That tugged a knot the Hokage didn't want pulled. He knew much of what the girl had to endure. The mobs, people trying to beat her, others attempting to poison her. It was only for a short time, but so much happened within a the few weeks between her birthday and enrollment. There was a reason why he had her pretend to be a boy. It would have been far worse, had he not been doing so from the start, ever since he learned the negative reaction the village had towards the innocent Uzumaki child.

Still, the elder kept his face straight, no matter what he felt inside. "Naruto is correct, however. There is no proof. It could have been anyone. Besides your. . . unique hairstyle, wearing wet underwear could have easily been a personal choice."

Naruto's teacher, a once bland male, growled again. His current situation was similar to the first prank that got the previous teacher in such deep trouble. However, this time, his hair was somehow styled into a spiky style, coloured in pink, and sparkling. "You and I both know the facts." He turned to the cause. "This isn't over…"

The other two watched him walk out, before Narumi burst out laughing.

Hiruzen chuckled along for a moment, before turning serious. "I would refrain from doing such. . . unique forms of revenge again. Some people don't take well to such acts."

"But Jiji, I-"

"No buts. Just because there's no proof, doesn't mean we don't know it was you. What you did is remarkably similar to your first prank, which we both know was you."

"...Similar, huh?" Narumi thought, ignoring the glare she received.

"Uzumaki Narumi." The redhead started at that. It was never good to hear her full name. "You will refrain from causing such trouble. I do not need you endangering yourself with such petty forms of revenge."

"B-But he doesn't answer my questions!"

"...I shall talk with him."

"That won't change anything!" Narumi indignantly refuted.

Sighing, Hiruzen simply shook his head at the overly mature child. She seemed closer to ten than six and a half, a fact that saddened him greatly. "Just restrain yourself, please."

"Hai…" Narumi nodded before dismissing herself out the door.

"The resemblance to her mother is incredible…"

The aging man jumped and looked towards the voice, "Jiraiya!"

"Heya, sensei. Sorry it took so long, I had to find someone that might be able to shed some light upon the matter." The white-maned man hopped from the open window to the sofa. "Now, please explain everything in detail."

Hiruzen studied his student for a few moments, then nodded, ignoring his worry of this 'someone'. "So long as you think this person can help, and can truly trust them to be discreet with even your most personal secrets, I'll allow it."

"You can trust her. Now, please explain…"

He had an inkling who Jiraiya meant. Still, Hiruzen didn't know if it was from from finally returning to Konoha, where his beloved student had recently perished, seeing a living reminder of the man, or simply just the situation at hand, but the seriousness Jiraiya displayed was slightly unnerving compared to usual. "..It started with-"