Leafs new Tree

by CharitysSongbird

A mistaken trust leads Naruto to be neglected due to his Jinchuuriki sisters; as time passes Naruto fades from notice of his family and his village. But someone has other plans for the blond Hero. Watch as Naruto sets out to show Konoha and his family what he can do. Minato and Kushina alive, NaruHina, gradual development. NO GOD MODE! Enjoy

25. Chapter 23

I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.

…1000…..Favorites and Follows …. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this is thank you…thank you thank you thank you! I am so glad that so many people enjoy this story to such an extent, and I hope that you continue to enjoy my work. I know that I had a shaky start, and sometimes you wanted to punch me in the face over cliffhangers, and flashbacks, but thanks for sticking with it for so long. Let's keep up the pace and have this story keep growing till the end.

Ok with that out there I would also like to thank every single one of you who has been reviewing on my story, you are what makes me want to pull out my laptop and type up a next chapter, without you this story wouldn't have gotten anywhere…course that could be to my short attention span lol but who knows. I have another small announcement that people have pointed out to me. Some are starting to think that the seedlings are being given away in the last chapter….and that's not really what's happening. Think of it like this, they are mimics right, so if they stay with Naruto when he isn't doing anything they don't learn anything else, so if they are out with other shinobi they are learning and increasing in ability and intelligence, in simplest terms they are growing up. Also it's not like people are taking them apart to figure out how they work, the negative chakra element, as well as their abilities are still largely unknown because they mimic only what they are seeing, so unless in heavy combat the range of their abilities is not obvious. Don't worry they aren't going to be given away as party favors lol.

Ok small addition here because I have a few people asking me, yes the other tailed beasts are aware of Juubi's return, however they are also a little more composed than Chomei and Kyu. For Chomei I modeled the personality after someone who is ADD aka has the attention span of a nat, bug personality I think you can understand that. With Kyu keep in mind he was "born" only on that night 12 years ago when he was split from Kurama, he is basically a child in comparison to the others as far as his personality, the other tailed beasts all have their own personality which will appear later, but I am looking to make each unique, and not just bunch them up and make the all the same, i.e. a waste of character.

And that brings me to my final point…Mikoto. Ok I will be one hundred percent honest with you on this one, I had no intention of ever using her in this story, and I'm very hesitant to use her much here. I did establish her being alive earlier in the story, but with her appearance many have begun asking if I will do anything with her, and the answer is a big maybe. Look she is a blank slate she had something like three lines in the story just like Hitomi, actually she has more than her but you get my point not a lot to work with. If I make her a character that's another OC to create and make work, develop, and honestly for how little I intend to have her in the story it seemed a waste. Heck the only reason she is alive is because I don't like a story where children or women die…not kidding it bothers me a lot, heck I cringed during the Giver movie recently when they put the child to sleep it's just me I don't deal well with it, and if I had Itachi do that then you think Sasuke can be written bad, or that Jiraiya deserved a thrashing it would be nothing compared to the hell I would have put Itachi through…so I chose to avoid it by changing the mission and justifying that Minato wouldn't make the same black and white choice that the third was forced to. So I hope you understand if Mikoto, and a few other small characters don't show up prominently in the story, sorry but I have something like…wow 29 characters that I have either created or have altered enough to make them my own, i.e. shukaku like characters and well I have to draw some limits.

Ok enough of my A.N. let's get onto what you actually care about Fic time.

Chapter 23

"Talking"

"Thinking/Mental conversation"

"DEMON/God or the like"

"Jutsu"

-Reunion and Recreation -

"THERE YOU ARE KAASAN TREE NOW SHUT HER UP PLEASE!" called Fu drawing a couple pairs of eyes over to her as she ran forwards slamming her hands onto the tree's surface, even as she let out several panting breaths. There was then a small silent pause where only the sound of the wind occasionally interrupted by another heavy intake from the girl could be heard, until Chomei spoke up again.

"This is not Kaasan…" the metallic voice spoke in a huff that almost sounded like it should have been coming out of a pouting child. This was it for poor Fu, with a small whimpering breath she just let herself fall back onto the grass cackling as she did.

"Oh, of course not! Why would it be, after all it's just what you have been driving me crazy over why shouldn't it be a fake!" called the girl as from a small distance away she heard a forced cough. Turning her head she glared over at a pair of teens who were lying with their backs to the massive tree. The redheaded of the pair being the origin of the noise. Fu gave him an annoyed glare for a moment as he turned his own teal eyes lazily towards her.

"Hey mind leaving me alone, I'm trying to go crazy over here!" called the girl even as the redheaded boy gave a small silent smirk.

"Do what you will, Shukaku just wanted to tell Chomei that she should be acting a little more lady like in front of Kaasan, after all she hasn't seen in in what a few thousand years." Finished Gaara closing his eyes once again. For a moment both Fu and Chomei fell silent just staring at the redhead before a small movement caught their attention. Looking up Fu found herself looking up at a blonde boy with a pair of mismatched blue and purple eyes that was offering her a hand up.

"Hey Chomei, Juubi wants to say hi." Naruto said as he reached out and grasped the girl's hand. As the pair's hands met Fu suddenly felt a tug as the world around her seemed to shift slightly. For a moment the girl couldn't put her figure on what had changed, same big tree, same boy smiling with the mismatched eyes, same giant tanuki and pair of foxes…..wait. Fu was suddenly up on her feet her eyes bulging as she looked over at what she could idly recognize as at least three of the tailed beasts. Her reaction was….well interesting.

Before Naruto could speak a reassuring word Fu leapt back from the boy instantly going for the pouch on the back of her hip attached at her small white waist skirt, her eyes bulging slightly as a truly manic smile spread across her face as her left eye began to twitch, as a bit of manic giggling escaped her lips.

"HAhehahahehehehahahaha! THAT'S IT CHOMEI YOU DID IT I'M CRAZY BUT I WON'T GO THIS WAY YOU HERE ME YOU WANT CRAZY I'LL GIVE YOU CRAZY!" the girl called her voice cracking slightly as she spoke. Naruto adopted a look of confused horror as Fu's arms reappeared in front of her carry two large rolls of paper bombs, that Naruto could already see were lit. Naruto was about to leap away when Fu slammed the bombs down in front of her a wave of fire and smoke shooting out with a defining crash… Naruto threw up his arms to block the oncoming attack but, the pain never came…the fire wasn't hot. Just as Naruto noted this, the smoke and ash cleared away showing Fu face down on the grass her form blackened with soot and slightly smoldering a small trace of her insane giggle still escaping her lips.

More confused than anything else Naruto bent down on his knees idly reaching over to poke at the still smoldering form of Fu, still a little lost as to the context for this little episode.

"Hey there anyone left after that little explosion?" asked the blonde. For a moment there was no response for a moment till a small muffled voice came from the tan girls form.

"hehe boom goes the crazy….we sure showed them didn't we Chomei…I think I'm going to take a little nappy now." the girl huffed out to the confused boy.

Naruto crouched stunned for a moment before he looked around at the sound of laughter from behind him. There Kyu, Kurama, Juubi and even Shukaku were slumped against one another howling with laughter at the scene that had just played out. As the group continued to laugh, another slightly metallic chirping giggle joined the deeper bass of the three beasts, and the happy loving laugh of Juubi. One by one the rest of the group fell silent all turning over to look at the massive tree standing a few yards from the group. Juubi in particular had a massive smile upon her face as she spied the figure clinging on the side of the three the massive metal shell like body of Chomei, with its six wings folded back with its final green tailed body wrapped around the base of the tree.

Chomei turned its giant armored mask over towards Juubi looking nothing so much like a medieval knight's visor with a strong orange glow flowing out behind the grate. Juubi smiled fondly over at her youngest daughter for a moment before she seemed to pause looking the figure up and down before crossing her arms and quirking up one eyebrow even as the other three beasts managed to stifle their laughter.

"Chomei-chan? What are you doing hiding back there?" called Juubi, Chomei's giggles dying down as the massive insect shifted slightly to move its body further behind the tree, it's massive visored face never leaving Juubi's own.

"Sorry Kaasan but I'm not coming out or taking off my armor with Kurama Imoto there…last time I did he blew me all over the forest, it took me a week to put myself back together, though I did get to see this great waterfall, it was so cool Goku-niisan would have hated it, but I bet Isobu-niisan would have loved it…what was the question again Kaasan I forgot, oh hey Shukaku-Niisan, where's your sand?" the massive bug said firing one question after another so fast that Shukaku couldn't help but smack his own face into his open palm.

"Kaasan you know better than to get Chomei talking…we'll be lucky if she stops by next week." Shukaku said shrugging his massive shoulders before moving over to curl up on a small bed of sand that was slowly trailing out of thin air to form a cushion under the creature. Juubi in the meantime gave her eldest an annoyed look before with a small wave of her hand a small branch of leaves flew down from the tree to slide themselves like a calming hand over the face of Chomei silencing her speaking.

"Chomei, Kurama-kun and Kyu-kun have already been punished and they won't do it again, will you!" at this point Juubi pivoted to see both Kyu and Kurama moving their tails back around themselves and away from the apparent use as massive fans.

"Oh course not Kaasan!/Oh course not Kaasan!" both Kitsunes called slightly annoyed at getting caught before they could perform their prank once again on Chomei. Juubi fixed the two with a slightly annoyed look before shifting it back over to Chomei.

"Now come on Chomei I want to see my little Cho-chan!" called Juubi stepping forward her arms outstretched as if to hug a figure her own size. Naruto in the meantime was watching these events confused as to what the family was talking about. Still at the moment he just settled for moving the girl Fu over onto her back before plopping down beside her and just sitting back to enjoy the show. Meanwhile before him Chomei was slowly moving down the trunk of the tree until it was stretched out down the trunk vertically, its back facing the group. Just as Naruto was about to ask what was going on what looked light a bright golden line moved its way down starting at the base of Chomei's armored form to the very tip of its vented head. The light slowly grew brighter until there was a resounding crack that rang out around the grassy field rustling the leaves on the branches of the massive tree.

From the crack flooded a sudden bright golden light as the great armored form simply split open and what looked like a great golden shaking cloud that moved out from the armored husk before blowing around the tree, small flakes of golden pollen falling from what Naruto realized was hundreds if not thousands of golden wings their beating wings making no noise as the light around them continued to shine. As those present watched the golden mass moved down before a form seemed to coalesce out of the cloud of insects. The form that appeared looked to be about the same size of Juubi, her form more of an outline than an actual being. In fact as Naruto watched he noted that as the figure moved over and embraced her Kaasan he noted that the back of the figure was simply gone, like the insects had formed one massive shell on only one side as a few of the insects flew ideally around the form alighting on it every now and then as one could take flight.

Juubi in the meantime was simply holding the golden figure of her Musume, looking at the golden outline of her face, her eyes, lips, and hair all a golden shifting form made up of the cloud around her. The golden shell of a woman turned her golden outline of a face into a brilliant smile as she spoke, her voice seeming to come from a thousand tiny voices all singing out in tune.

"Kaasan, Kaasan, Kaasan you're back, I knew it, I knew you would be, I told them I did!" chirped the golden figure excitedly as two hollow golden arms wrapped themselves around Juubi's form, as the golden figure bounced excitedly up and down never letting go of her Kaasan. Juubi in the meantime just held her youngest musume happy tears falling from her eyes as she held the gold form of her musume. Naruto finally drew himself out of his stupor long enough to call out to the pair, causing the two to turn to face him.

"Hey, um Juubi why did your musume explode, and why are you hugging a swarm of insects?" called Naruto more than a little lost as to what he was seeing. Juubi looked like she was about to answer, however Chomei beat her to it. There was what looked like a small golden flash as the shell that Juubi was holding fell apart and rushed over to right before the boy crouching down before him the golden face of the swarm made figure looking into his own its head cocked to one side.

"Hey are you with Kaasan, is this your head, that's so cool he what happened to Fu? Why is she covered in black stuff, I hate black stuff, so hey you have different colored eyes, that's cool. HEY SHUKAKU-NIISAN COME SEE THIS KIDS EYES!" called Chomei as she waved a hollow arm back and forth as a few insects came loose before moving back into place, even as she leaned closer and closer to Naruto causing him to lean further and further back. From over on his sand Shukaku quirked an eyebrow up one black and gold eye moving over to look at Chomei.

"That's nice Chomei, Naruto run it's your only hope." Called the tanuki as it laid back down to sleep. Naruto in the meantime was edging back slightly from the figure before him looking a little worried as he did. Luckily for the boy he was saved by a small groan coming from beside the boy. The two looked over in turn as Fu slowly fidgeted before blinking her orange pupil less eyes open looking up at the golden figure leaning over the boy beside her.

"Well that didn't work I'm still crazy, hey golden girl mind handing me another roll of explosive tags from my pouch?" asked the girl as Chomei looked over confused at the girl.

"But Fu you have to meet Kaasan first, if you blow up again you'll miss your chance, oh and this is his head, neat huh, hey isn't it neat how we can't get hurt in here, why do you have all that black stuff anyway?" asked Chomei in another rapid fire series of voices before Juubi moved over with a small wave of leaves moving over to wrap around the swarm form creating a large orb with a small grate like the one on Chomei's armor one side.

"Huh Kaasan? Why did you put me back in a cage? I just got out of my armor, hey Fu get Kaasan to let me go!" called Chomei as Fu leaned up looking bamboozled at the now recognized Chomei before looking over to Naruto and Juubi before letting out a heavy sigh.

"So…I'm not crazy am I?" she asked looking around as everyone from Shukaku to Naruto shook their heads slowly as Fu let her head droop.

"I knew it, the world is the crazy one." finished the green haired girl as she fell back on the soft grass with a little sigh.

---

While the family reunion was underway, Minato had finally managed to clean the last of the paint from his office just as a rap came at the door causing the man to look round with a small twitch in his eye.

I swear if this is one more appeal from the council I will burn every single form I can lay my hands on before declaring a war on all paperwork everywhere. Thought the blonde as he moved over to plop down behind his desk a small hum coming from below the desk.

"Easy there Seedling, remember your in hiding until Neko comes back." Minato whispered down to the hidden seedling as a hum escaped from below his desk before going silent as Minato turned to face the office doors.

"Come in." he called as the doors slowly opened and Tsunade marched shutting the door behind her as she moved to plop herself down in the seat across from Minato. The two blondes faced one another for a moment before with a sigh Minato bent down into a drawer of the desk pulling out a bottle of Saki as he reemerged. In silence Minato set a pair of dishes down pouring a generous amount into both. Before the Hokage could even set the bottle down Tsunade had already pulled the dish up and emptied it in a single swig and followed that up by slamming the dish back down and gesturing for more. Minato gave the women a sad little look before pouring another helping and moved to take his own dish from the table.

"So I take it he is still not speaking." Minato asked his fellow blonde with a tone that made it clear this was a statement and not a question. Tsunade answered by letting out an angry snort before taking the bottle in hand and pulling a solid swig from it.

"That baka clamed up on everyone, he just sits there staring out the window barely doing anything, heck he isn't even trying to flirt with the Nurses…he is acting like a child!" Tsunade managed before taking another swig as Minato gave his head a sad little shake following it up by taking a drink from his own diss.

"That worried are you?" Minato spoke once again his tone carry the same declaration as before. Tsunade for her part didn't even seem to notice as she took another swig, before letting her body ease back into the office chair.

"About that baka, never, I'm just angry how he's acting…he could be doing something, fixing what he did…trying…like we did!" Tsunade replied as she took another massive swig finishing the bottle. However, behind her bravado Minato could see the traces of tears in the women's eyes. She had been like this for the past few days, just as long as Jiraiya had been in his silent state. Shizune had been the one to notice first, she had come to Kushina and Minato looking for help, but so far none of the three were able to manage to do more than run damage control on the women. It hadn't taken long to figure out what was happening to the women. She was watching another loved one die, and once again she couldn't seem to do anything to fix that someone she loved… and that knowledge was eating her up inside.

After a moment Minato let out a sigh drawing Tsunade's gaze up towards him, her brow cocked as if expecting him to say something. As the silence stretched on the women finally couldn't take it anymore and spoke up.

"What you want to tell me how this isn't a big deal, how Jiraiya will be ok, or that I shouldn't be worried, that I should just push through, hu, you tell me how I'm supposed to look at him like this and know I helped put him like that. If I had tried harder, if I had come back sooner then…then maybe he…" here her voice broke slightly causing her to look away from Minato her eyes pressed closed as a single tear worked its way from her eyes even as her blonde hair hung over her face shielding it from view. For a moment Minato didn't speak as he raised his glass to his lips once again taking a small sip before setting it down in front of him and fixing his fellow blonde with a sad stare.

"I was going to ask you the same thing Tsunade, how do you fix something like that. Look at me, you're closer to my Sochi than I am, and I don't deserve any better. I destroyed his life and now I'm fighting to make up for it, but it all feels so pointless…I keep blaming myself for all the times that I could have made a better choice…all the times I wish that I could go back and fix it..so tell me Tsunade, how did you do it…how did you find a way to know Naruto the way you do? Answer me that and maybe I'll know how to help you to help Jiraiya." replied Minato in a somber tone that cause Tsunade to raise her head slowly to look over at the hokage, her face of mix of anger and pity for her fellow blonde. After another pause she let out another heavy sigh she leaned back further into her chair.

"Fine but I need a drink." She replied as Minato nodded waving a hand ideally in the air sending out a small pulse of chakra. Tsunade was about to ask what he was doing when a seed slowly moved out of the shadow of Minato's desk before unfolding into a miniature Anbu in a Neko mask that looked the two over with a small hum of greeting.

"Hey grab another bottle from the seal would you." Asked Minato shaking the empty bottle for good measure. The seedling in turn looked at the bottle before striking up a passible salute before moving over to a small cabinet with scrolled laid across it as though they were in a wine shelf. With a hum the seedling picked on before moving back over to Minato and handing over the scroll giving the man another salute before shifting back into a seed and moving back under the table. During the entire event Tsunade had watched Minato with one eyebrow quirked up as if asking the man "really you're doing that?" Minato simply gave a shrug as he pulled another bottle from the scroll matching the women's silence as he poured out a glass for each of them again. As Tsunade pulled the cup up she looked down into the crystal clear liquid her own brown eyes looking back at her the sadness in her face mirrored upon the reflection.

"Well I guess it just took time, heck first time I actually hung out with the kid it was just lunch, after I told him about Nawaki all I did was sit there like a stump as Shizune and him talked…I felt like an idiot the whole time just watching him laugh. Took me another week before I was even able to get myself to try to meet with him again." Started the blonde as she took a sip from her Saki dish.

-Flashback-

A week after her first meeting with Naruto Tsunade founder herself standing in front of the Namikaze home once again knocking on the door as her mind raced at what in the world she was doing there.

Great this is just brilliant what am I doing here, sure I want to see that gaki but what am I supposed to do, just stand and just look at him he'll think I'm nuts, I could offer to help with his medical work but Shizune already has that covered….gah how the heck did I let this happen. Oh just shut up Tsunade you're hear now so just shut up and get to working. The blonde argued just as the door to the home swung open and Mito looked out blinking up at Tsunade before her face burst into a wide grin.

"Baba-chan!" cried the small redhead as she sprang forwards impacting the women's legs with enough force to almost boll the poor women over. Tsunade managed to remain standing, as she smiled down at the excited girl reaching a hand down to ruffle the girls long red hair.

"Wow there gaki, it's nice to see you too." Smiled the blonde as Mito turned her head up to beam at the women. A small sound of motion caught Tsunade's attention as she looked up to see that Kushina was now standing in the doorway, dressed in her Uzumaki armor, as she crossed her grieve covered arms giving the two before her a knowing little smirk which Tsunade returned.

"So you decided to take the position hu, haven't' seen you in that armor for ages. Sure you're not too old for it." Chuckled Tsunade as she looked across the black bodysuit with it's almost samurai like armor covered in a sea of seals that gave Kushina the look of some kind of legendary warrior. In response Kushina puffed out her cheeks a bit a small annoyed look and blush creeping up her face.

"Hey it hasn't been that long; I'm still a young woman!" fired of Kushina causing Tsunade to let out a little laugh at the women's look of surprise.

"Besides do you really want to discuss age Baba-chan." Kushina finished a knowing look as Tsunade gained her own annoyed smirk to match the redheads. The two women glared at one another for a moment before their serious masks broke and the two started to laugh as Kushina stepped back to allow Tsunade to enter Mito now running back down the hall ahead of the pair. As the women entered into the living room Tsunade spied Hitomi out on the back porch along with Hanabi. As she watched Mito raced out into the yard a single golden chain grabbing Hanabi as she raced by dragging the boy after her.

"I asked Hitomi-chan over to help look after Mito while I was training, I want to keep it secret from Naruto so I can surprise him during team placements, and luckily it seems I haven't lost my touch." Chuckled Kushina as she looked over at Tsunade. Tsunade in turn gave a small nod before she found herself looking around the attempting to find some trace of a particular blonde. From beside her Kushina seemed to notice the women's action before a small bit of understanding slowly washed over her face.

"If you are looking for Naruto, then he will be here in just a bit, he and Hinata-chan went out to grab something for the kids, if you wait he will be here soon enough. Make yourself at home while you wait." Kushina said as she marched her way back to the front of the house on arm raised enough to give a small parting wave.

"I have to get some more work in, tell Naruto I'll be back in time for our lesson." Called Kushina before the snap of a door closing told Tsunade that she was now alone in the Namikaze home. Finding nothing for it Tsunade moved over to one of the armchairs of the home sinking slowly into it with letting her eyes slowly scan the room around her. As she did she spotted a photo she hadn't remembered seeing before, sitting a small distance away on an end table where it could be seen from anywhere in the room. With an air of curiosity Tsunade found herself leaning forwards slightly to get a better look at the photo.

It wasn't very large, only about the size a large book might be, set in a simple frame, but for some reason that didn't seem to register with the women the photo inside seemed to have an almost alluring nature to it. Tsunade found herself smiling as she inspected the photo, there in the center was what could only have been Naruto as he was now giving the camera the largest smile he could fit on his little face, a huge bowl of ramen sitting before him, as behind him Kushina stood half bent so that her smiling face took up a corner of the frame, both flashing the camera a thumbs up. Ideally Tsunade noted that the Naruto in the photo could not have been more than seven or eight, but before she could thing on this more something else drew her attention. With a small jolt Tsunade heard the door open aa a pair of voices ring out.

"Hinata-chan I'm telling you if you and Sakura keep this up you two are going to be the greatest medical shinobi ever!" called a familiar male voice.

"Nar-naruto we both have a lot of work to do, besides we only just passed the exam, and we still have a lot to learn from lady Tsunade and Shizune-sensei." Replied a softer female tone. Tsunade could almost see the blush that was likely adorning the girl's cheeks as she spoke. Soon the two teens entered the living room their arms loaded down with a few bags of what could only be food for tonight's dinner. As the two entered both turned to see Tsunade sitting her brown eyes turned towards them, as a small smile played across her lips.

"Hinata is right about that gaki, they still have a long way to go, but if they keep it up who knows they may just make me and Shizune look like the apprentices." Smiled the blonde as Naruto and Hinata both look over at the sage obviously surprised to see her there. Before either could speak, however, Tsunade continued.

"Hinata-chan could you let me borrow you boyfriend for a little while, I promise I'll bring him back in one piece." The women asked looking over to Hinata who gave small nod of her head obviously still a little off guard from finding Tsunade waiting for them. After she and Naruto had taken care of the bags, Hinata had giving Naruto a quick hug before moving out into the back to find a place beside Hitomi leaving the two blondes alone in the room. For a moment the two just looked at one another before Tsunade finally broke the silence.

"So Naruto…do you want to take a little walk with me?" Tsunade managed before mentally berating herself for her lame choice of words. Take a little walk is he five what the heck is wrong with me, gah I was right I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, I should have let Hinata stay, heck maybe bring Shizune at least then I'd have something to talk about. However, before the women could get much farther into her rant Naruto's voice rang out.

"Um ok, where should we go?

The boy's words caused Tsunade to halt her mental discussion and look with an air of almost confusion over at the boy in front of her before her mind kicked back into gear.

"Ah, well I was thinking we could just kind of take a walk and get to know one another a little better, you know just wanted to get to know my godson a little." Tsunade replied before falling back into another mental discussion. Oh that's great remind him of how you don't know thing one about him, that just freaking perfect, I swear you are the dumbest blonde I know! But once again just as the women began to build up steam Naruto's voice spoke up once again.

"Ok but there isn't really that much to me hope you don't get bored." Chuckled the blonde as he turned towards the door casting a look over his shoulder at Tsunade as he did.

"Well are we going?" he asked causing Tsunade to snap out of the stupor she had fallen into before standing up and moving over to follow the boy out of the house and into Konoha. The two walked for a time Tsunade firing off questions and Naruto answering them before firing off his own. The two found themselves continuing this until eventually the pair of blondes found themselves sitting on a park bench. Together the two sat looking out over a small fountain as it bubbled up the smooth waves of water dancing down its sides in the midday sun.

For the majority of the walk it had been question and answer but now the question's seemed to have mostly run dry. The two found themselves sitting in silence just listening to the bubbles of the fountain as a small breeze moved through the trees around them. Finally Naruto broke that silence.

"Um hey Tsunade?"

"Ya gaki what is it?" the women replied turning her head to look down at the boy beside her who seemed to be momentarily occupied in watching his own feet.

"I was…I was wondering why you wanted to get to know me now…I mean I didn't think you liked me like you did Naruko, Minami and Mito…did I do something wrong?" finished the boy looking over at Tsunade a sad weight in his eyes that caused Tsunade an almost physical pain to look into. However, this time there was not mental battle.

"NO!" the blonde women thundered out, loud enough to cause Naruto to jump slightly in his seat. Getting ahold of herself Tsunade relaxed slightly before continuing.

"Sorry Naruto, but no you didn't do anything wrong…"

"I did, I was well I was scared… you remember what I told you about my Otouto Nawaki right?" Tsunade asked as Naruto gave a women a small nod as she relaxed back into his seat.

"Well I lost him, along with a lot of others during the war…it hurt so much that I ran form the village…heck I ran from everyone…"

"Then when I came back and you were born you looked so much like my little Nawaki…heck you two even acted the same…and it hurt to see him again, so I ran…just like I always did." Finished the blonde women suddenly sounding much older than her youthful form would suggest. Naruto seemed to consider the women's words for a moment before she felt a small weight on her leg looking down to see one of the boy's hands lying gently upon it.

"So why did you stop running?" asked the boy looking straight into the deep brown eyes of the women above him, and once again the answer came forth without a moment's hesitation.

"I guess I realized that running was only hurting what I cared about more. And I'm tired of hurting those I should be caring about…hurting people like my godson." Replied Tsunade as Naruto slowly nodded giving her a small smile.

"ok baba-chan, that's good enough for me!" smiled the blonde as despite herself Tsunade let out a small laugh at the boys energy. On the way home the pair had stopped off briefly at a nearby ramen stand continuing their discussion as they went. After their meal Tsunade and Naruto had headed back to the Namikaze home still talking as they went, Tsunade teasing the boy while laughing at how easy he was to rile up. In the weeks that followed the two blondes continued to meet, each time the discussion becoming easier, each time the distance between them shrinking if only by a bit. Meanwhile a new photo had joined the one of Naruto and Kushina showing a pair of blondes both smiling at out from another simple picture frame.

-flashback end-

As Tsunade wrapped up her tale Minato let out a small sigh as he took up his dish taking another swig from it before leaning back in his chair his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

"So just have to stop running hu… sounds easier that it is." Minato said as from across from him Tsunade nodded.

"I guess that's all we can do… I stop running from my past…any you stop running from your feelings…go to him Tsunade…go and give he a reason to want to stop running, kami knows you both know you want to." Finished the blonde as he set his glass down. Tsunade in turn looked over at the man for a moment before giving a small nod of her own.

"Hai…I suppose that is all I can do." She finished as she pushed herself up from her chair and turned to exit the hokage's office.

---

As the meeting in the office was coming to an end, Fu was just coming back to consciousness with a grown rubbing her head as she did. Slowly she took not that she was lying against something and in a sitting position. The girls groans were enough to drawn the other two boys attention both looking over at her as she finished coming too.

"Hey welcome back, sorry I didn't warn you but kind of hard to say, oh hey I'm going to suck you into my mind so that we can have a family reunion, so ya sorry about that." Called Naruto raising a hand up to wave sheepishly over at Fu. Gaara in the meantime let out a sigh before settling back to get some more rest. Fu in the meanwhile just looked over at Naruto with an annoyed look on her face.

"Well gee that makes me feel oh so much better." replied Fu as she leaned back letting her mind relax taking a moment to recognize that she could no longer hear Chomei screaming away inside her head. This was a happy enough realization that it caused Fu to burst out into a wide grin.

"Ha silence oh thank you Juubi-Kaasan silence at last!" called out Fu throwing her arm sup in happiness as she spoke causing a small annoyed grunt form her left.

"Silence would be nice wouldn't it, mind trying for a moment." Called Garra his tone slightly annoyed to which Fu simply have him a slightly superior smirk before she pushed herself up looking down at Naruto with a small smirk.

"So Naruto Hu what do you do for fun around here, or is everyone as exciting as Mr. Tanuki boy over there." Asked Fu jabbing a thumb over at Garra who just continued to look forwards attempting to fall asleep. Naruto let out a small chuckle pushing himself up on his feet as he did his eyes looking around the apparently deserted arena before waving over at a corner after first causing Fu to wonder if the boy was mental.

"Hey Neko can you look after Gaara so I can take Fu out on the town for a bit?" called the boy as a female Anbu appeared for.

"You know some time you have to explain to me how you are always able to find us?" asked the Anbu looking between Naruto and Garra as she spoke. Gaara just continued his apparent nap as Naruto flashed another wide grin.

"Don't worry about it Neko-san; Gaara now you be a good boy, come on Fu lets go." Called the boy as he moved away Fu moving after him an excited little skip in her step as she moved forwards. Soon the pair were out in the village Fu looking around excitedly as she marched through the its many streets. After a time she called out causing Naruto to hold his progress and look back at her.

"So what's it like growing up in a village like this, it must be crazy." Called Fu slightly twirling to look around at the village around her. Naruto in turn couldn't help but smile at the girl's question.

"Hai it was a pretty amazing place." He replied before a call caused the two to look round as two familiar figures approached them.

"Hey Niisan what's up, Hey is that the girl who blew herself up Kyuubi's been laughing about for a while now!" called Naruko waving as beside her Minami gave a small chuckle remembering the story that Kyu had explained to her. Fu at hearing this blushed slightly before looking at the pair crossing her arms as she did.

"So I guess your my fellow jinchuuriki, wow can't walk a block in this town without tripping over one of us. What is Konoha looking to start up a collection?" chuckled the tan girl as Naruko and Minami reached the pair grinning over at the green haired girl.

"Hai we do seem to be multiplying, blame Niisan for that, names Naruko by the way." Finished the blond stretching a hand out to Fu as she spoke. Fu took the hand before grinning back at the girl.

"Well at least we are on the same page." Chuckled Fu as she turned to greet Minami who was still smiling at the girl.

"So did you really try and blow yourself up? Minami by the way." Minami said taking Fu's hand in greeting. Fu gave the girl a small annoyed look, before she smirked at Minami.

"Ya I did, but how would you react to a crazy bug chirping out you for days on end, true I didn't handle it well, but hey there are crazier things I could have tried, Kyu mentioned something about a time you tried to drowned him out by jumping in a lake." Fired back Fu causing Minami to blush as both Naruko and Naruto gave the redhead look of apparent amusement. Fu in the meantime let out a small chuckle as she looked around at the three triplets before her.

"Well it seems all I meet in this village are crazy people, but I have to say better than the assholes I'm used to dealing with." Fu finished her words getting a sad look form the three. The Namikaze's knew of the girls problems, jinchuuriki were rarely seen as anything more than a weapon, and to a small village like Taki it was likely even harder on the girl before them.

"Hey why don't you come home with us for now, the days about over anyway." Suggested Naruto getting a nod from both his neesan's as they looked over at Fu. In turn the Taki Jinchuuriki looked around the three before giving a small shrug.

"Sure I'm fine with that, I have to meet the hokage and his wife at some point but I'm sure I can find them tommorw." Replied Fu as the triplets looked around at one another, with a look that caused Fu to pause.

"What you all look like I just said something funny?" asked the girl as the three siblings looked over at her with knowing grins.

"Don't worry you'll figure it out soon enough." replied Naruto as the four turned and set off towards the Namikaze home.

Soon the group found themselves standing outside the home as Naruto moved to open the door. Fu meanwhile hung back slightly, although everyone so far had been pretty accepting of her she was still a little nervous about meeting anyone else besides her fellow jinchuuriki. Her time as in Taki had made her more than a little hesitant to trust easily, heck the only reason she had been open with the three around her was thanks to their own status…well that and she couldn't help but admit that it was nice to have some people that didn't look at her as a monster.

Just as she was contemplating this point the door began to crack open. She noticed vaguely that the three before her were suddenly tensing, and moving to either side of the door. Alarm bells started to go off in her head but before she could act a red rocket suddenly shot forwards flinging past the three and straight into her, bowling her over with a loud cry.

"Yay you're back I was so bored Kaasan left to have lunch and!" cried out before looking down to notice the girl under her was not in fact one of her siblings. Mito blinked down at Fu for a moment longer before giving the girl a happy smile that Fu answered with a confused look.

"Hey who are you? I've never seen you around? Are you a friend of Aniki's, hey I know you know Juubi! Do you know Kyu he's so fluffy, I know I'll introduce you, wait where's Kyueed you'll like him he's fluffy to" fired off Mito with her usual excitement, this of course gave Fu the equivalent of horror flashbacks to her last few days with Chomei, causing a rather intense reaction to the little redhead.

Without any warning Fu let out a small cry of panic as twin wings erupted form under her back and she shot up causing Mito to roll back head over heal ending up laying down looking up at the sky. Meanwhile the triplets also found themselves looking up to see Fu clinging to a street lamp looking down at Mito with apparent fear in her eyes.

"Chomei has found a way to get out, she'll never leave me alone now, she is inside, and outside, I'm doomed, run for you lives!" called Fu in a panic as Mito picked herself up her eyes sparkling as she looked up at the girl hanging above her.

"You can fly that's awesome, Aniki lets me fly with seed-kun sometimes, but you can do it all the time, that's awesome, hey can you teach me to, please, please! I'm Mito hey come on bug girl!" called Mito excitedly as Naruto held out his hand causing Seekaku to rise slowly out of Naruko's pack and unfolded into the tanuki seedling Its mismatched eyes focused on the scene before it, as it let out a small annoyed mix of hum and huff as it allowed its sand tail to wrap around Mito causing her question to be silenced at last.

In the meantime Naruto looked up at Fu a small smirk on his face.

"Ok Fu you can come down now my ooh so dangerous imoto is taken care of, you won't be harmed and don't worry the world isn't being overrun by hyperactive annoying creatures… just Konoha" Called the blond as Fuu gave the group an embarrassed little glare before hopping down her wings fluttering slightly allowing her to slow her fall, until she landed giving the triplets a slightly embarrassed look before she straightened up.

"Thanks for that, by the way, you could have warned me you lived with a red headed attack dog." Called Fu in apparent annoyance pausing as she spotted Seekaku looking back at her seemingly bored with her somehow. Fu in turn gave the seedling an equally annoyed look.

"you have something to add tanuki boy?" called the girl as Seekaku looked over at her again before turning to walk inside Mito still clutched in its massive tail. Fu gave a happy little snort at this as he left turning to look around at the three with a smirk.

"So what's with tall dark and tanuki?" asked the girl as the rest just chuckled as they moved to enter the home waving the girl to follow after them.

---

While Fu was experiencing her indoctrination into the Namikaze home, across the village a pair of cloaked figures were moving through the streets their straw hats pulled low over their faces as they pushed their way through the crowds of the village. The two stood tall the red clouds that decorated their black cloaks cause a few eyes to turn their way, but every eye that did so soon found itself turning away again as though their minds were somehow gently pushed aside. The taller of the pair let out a small chuckle as another pair of villagers who had turned in their direction found themselves suddenly very interested in the nearby contents of a shop window.

"I have to say Itachi you do make walking through a town a bit more relaxing; heck almost makes me wonder why we bother with these blasted hats." Spoke up the larger figure looking down at his fellow a small shark's grin spreading across his face as he did. The smaller of the two simply turned his bright red pinwheel eyes up at his fellow with an annoyed glare.

"My genjutsu's well keep us unnoticed as long as we do not go out of our way to draw attention to ourselves, seeing myself or a large bipedal shark is beyond my scope to keep suppressed, I am a shinobi not a miracle worker." Replied Itachi getting a happy chuckle from his fellow.

"Oh did I make you angry, I swear it's the only time I get more than one word out of you, and the tall dark and brooding is just plain annoying, I swear Hidan is at least entertaining with his madness. Though it was blessing when he ran out of those pamphlet scrolls." Chuckled Kisame as he turned back ahead happening to spy a small restaurant a few yards away, and smirking.

"Hey mind if we grab a bite haven't had a decent meal for the past few days, besides you can't tell me you don't want some home town cooking." Chuckled Kisame, as Itachi once again gave his fellow an annoyed glare, before shrugging and turning to enter into the restaurant with Kisame following behind him a happy little smirk on his face. Soon the two found themselves sitting in an open booth a cup of tea before each. For a time the two simply shared a silent meal until Itachi suddenly stiffened, his eyes swiveling up and around the restaurant for a moment be swinging back around to focus on Kisame. As the Shark looked up he felt a small pulse of chakra, but simply brushed it off as he saw a pair of chunnin a few tables away looking suddenly away from them.

Yep a handy little trick that Itachi has. Thought the ex Kiri shinobi as he turned back to his menu not noticing as the women slowly slipped into the booth beside him, nor did he notice as Itachi slowly leaned back in his seat his entire form relaxing as he did an almost physical calm coming off of the man as he did. The women across from him in the meantime turned her bright red pinwheel eyes up to look at her eldest Sochi a sad smile upon her lips.

"Itachi-kun… it has been a long time Sochi… how are you?" sked Mikoto as she stretched a hand across the table a little over towards Itachi, stopping just past hallway making no move to get closer to the red eyed youth. For his part Itachi remained silent just looking across the table at his Kaasan his face impassive and remote. After a time his eyes turned down not able to meet his Kaasan's eyes, and only then did he speak.

"Why are you not rushing to summon Anbu…and why are you not attacking me for the deaths of our clans men…your husbands?" questioned the youth as from across him Mikoto let a small sad smile cross her lips as she looked across at her Sochi.

"Come now Itachi-kun, did you really think that I wouldn't demand to know the truth, you may have fooled those that didn't know you, you may have managed to stop Sasuke-kun from knowing of your true actions, but I know my sochi…you were never a monster…you were and still are a shinobi of Konoha, and if not for our clan's foolishness you would still be living here now. No Itachi-kun all I have to say to you is to beg for forgiveness for not being strong enough to force my child to fix the mistakes of our family." finished Mikoto as Itachi's stoic form shifted slightly his eye's widening in surprise at the women's words. The ex Anbu captain found his usually calm standing shaken slightly. She knew…she knew of his mission and his actions… and yet she was here just speaking to him…apparently happy to see him. Many things Itachi had expected when he reentered Konoha…this was not one of them.

For a time the two simply sat there before Itachi slowly reached his hand out across the table his hand moving over to softly rest against the smooth skin of his Kaasan's, a happy warm sensation coming from the simple contact with his Kaasan once more. Despite himself Itachi couldn't keep a small warm smile off of his face as he looked over at Mikoto, who has small tears forming in her eyes as she looked across meeting her sochi's eyes for the first time in years.

"It was my choice to make Kaasan…how much do you know?" Itachi asked as Mikoto gave a small nod, before speaking.

"I know everything Itachi-kun…after you left I confronted the Hokage and Kushina…after a time they told me the truth. I almost attacked them then and there for asking you to stop our clan… but after a while I was forced to recognize that it was never something that they had any choice in. Your Tousan and the Uchiha council put them in a situation where the only choice they had was to protect their home…I only wish I had been strong enough to stop it before it reached such a level…I only wish I hadn't just agreed with them." Continued Mikoto as she reached up a hand to wipe a few stray tears away. Itachi in turn simply bowed his head listening to the women's words before speaking.

"Di-did it work…are the rest afraid of becoming monsters… are they now afraid to let their power dictate their actions… are they afraid of becoming me?" asked the red eyed boy not looking up from the table his tone laced with an almost pleading note. Only that tone told just how desperately he prayed that his actions had saved his family…that he could be the symbol to keep the Uchiha from turning upon their own arrogance and pride once more. From across the table Mikoto let a few more tears fall from her eyes as she looked at her eldest…the boy who had taken the sins of his clan onto his shoulders to protect the innocent…to become the monster that may keep them from the same end as those he had been forced to slay that night.

"…Hai Itachi…it worked. the little ones…all of those left now fear falling to their own pride…they now find comfort in others…strength through bonds and not their own pride… they will never take the path of your tousan…you saw to that. But Itachi please you've done enough please you don't need to give your life…please my Itachi… not matter what else anyone says I will always love you…and I pray every day that you will someday come back to me. " finished Mikoto as Itachi looked up at her with a sad little smile.

"I hope that to Kaasan…but I still have a part to play in protecting my home…and my family. But someday I will come back to you…I promise." Replied the boy giving his Kaasan's hand another squeeze before releasing her hand and leaning back his eyes turning back to look across from him towards his associate. Mikoto in turn gave a small teary eyes smile before moving to stand moving slowly past the table till she stood beside her Sochi. Then before Itachi could protest had leaned down to wrap the boy in a tight hug, conveying more emotion in the simple gesture than any amount of words could possible do. This was her Sochi…this was her child, and even if he was a villain to the world he would always be perishes to her. Then before she lost control of herself she pushed herself away moving to exit the store holding her head high knowing the pride that comes with having such as shinobi as a child. Itachi in turn forced his own emotions down; fighting to keep the genjutsu he had laid over himself in play so as not to alert his comrade. After at time he was finally able to pull himself back together and breathed a sigh letting the genjutsu fall.

"and I mean come on there is no way that I'm working with Kakuzu bastard stiff you on every bill, by the way I suppose you have this one covered?" finished Kisame as he looked over at Itachi who gave no visible sign of interest towards his words. Still with Itachi this was a common enough response that Kisame simply shrugged it off.

The pair continued their meal for a time, before finally moving back out into the village. The two moved to find lodgings for the night, before continuing their mission the next day. As they moved though the village the pair couldn't help but notice the massive addition to the village in the stadium. Pain had sent the pair to investigate the recent invasion, and the odd rumors of some kind of creature that could account for the location of another Jinchuuriki. At the time the locations of most of the creatures were accounted for but a few including the three and six tails were still unaccounted for.

"I swear being here is such a waist, I mean so far all we have seen is a big tree whatever rumors were going around are probably just that." Spoke Kisame as Itachi simply nodded his mind still focused on the recent encounter with his Kaasan.

---

That night when Minato and Kushina arrived home they found Fuu along with their children gathered around laughing with one another. Poor Fu had frozen when she recognized Minato quickly offering apologies even as she shot death looks at the triplets who were smirking at her having been waiting for this reaction for a while. After the introductions had been made the family had after a meal turned in for the night without much incident. The next morning found Minato having to take Fu to the hokage's office for matters of getting her identification to move freely around the village without an escort, while Naruko and Minami had taken Mito with them to visit Hanabi, Kushina mentioning that she and Naruto had needed to take care of a minor mission for the team since Hinata was starting training and Kiba was busy with clan business saying they would be gone for no more than a few days before the pair headed out.

Thus did Kushina and Naruto wind up on the road outside of Konoha the two walking side by side headed for a small village a few miles from Konoha under the presence of a simple delivery mission. As the pair marched down the dusty road Kushina couldn't help smiling down at the boy beside her, his blonde hair so much like his Tousan's blowing lazily in the wind as he surveyed the area they walked with a kind of calm serenity about him. Kushina found herself simply marveling that the boy…no the shinobi, her little maelstrom…had it only been a few years ago that he had been a child chasing after his sisters without a care in the world. Naruto seemed to notice the redheads gaze turning his mismatched eye up along with his happy smile to focus on her.

"Hey Kaasan what's up you've been looking at me like you expect me to bolt on you." Chuckled the boy flashing the women a familiar ear to ear grin he had inherited from her. Kushina in return was snapped form her daydreaming blinking a few times as her mind returned to reality.

"Hu, oh sorry Sochi just daydreaming I guess." Replied the redhead bopping herself comically on the head as she mirrored the boy's wide grin.

"You know for someone who doesn't have another voice in their head you sure do let your mind wander."

"Hey I had Kurama in my head since I was a child thank you very much, I think I am a card carrying member of the voices in people's heads club." Fired back the redhead as Naruto's grin grew larger if that was possible.

"Only you would argue for that position."

"Hey I put in my time." She shot back.

"Since when was having voices in your head a job. And heck if that's the case I get overtime, I'm hosting the biju family reunion in this thing." Chuckled Naruto as he jabbed thumb at his head. Kushina considered this for a moment before having to chuckle at the image of Juubi trying to corral her children to actually attend anything like a family sitting.

"I suppose you would at that sochi." giggled Kushina as she looked down the road spotting a small snack stand maneuvering her walk over to it with Naruto trailing after her, his orange coat blowing behind him as the wind caught it. As the red and orange clad figures approached the building Kushina once again found her mind wandering slightly. This continued even after the pair had ordered and sat on the bench outside of the small sweet shop Kushina's red armored form making a fine contrast with Naruto's own orange and black outfit. After a time Naruto spoke drawing her once more out of her musings.

"So Kaasan what are we doing out here, I mean I know we don't have a mission or anything, so what's up?" asked the blonde as Kushina looked at him genuinely surprised at the boys question.

"How did you?"

"Know, come on Kaasan you always play with your hair whenever you're nervous, heck Mito picked it up from you and once got a chain stuck in there." Chuckled Naruto as Kushina noticed for the first time that her left hand had been ideally playing with one of her crimson bangs. Despite herself Kushina found herself blushing with embarrassment at being found out so easily.

"I…I don't always do that dattebane."

"oh yes you do dattebayo!" chuckled back Naruto pointing at the women's hand that was even then raising up to grab at her bang again. Kushina stopped for a moment looking at her own hand before looking back at her smiling Sochi before both of them let out small spurts of laughter that soon blossomed into a full belly laugh from the pair.

"Haheeh Ho-how did you fig-figure that out?" Kushina managed to say between spurts of laughter as she looked down at the blonde. When Naruto finally managed to regain enough control of his voice he looked back up the remnants of his laugh still clinging to the grin he wore.

"Because I'm you sochi…I'm supposed to know these things." Smiled Naruto as he ideally raised a hand up to scratch behind his head causing Kushina to smirk in return.

"I suppose so, but I guess I still have a ways to go before I can point things out on the new you." Replied Kushina the small sadness in her words apparent even though the smile she wore. However before Naruto could comment Kushina had taken a breath pulling out a scroll from behind her back and handing it over to Naruto with a happy smile.

"Still I do know that this is one thing that you'll be looking forwards to." Smiled Kushina her happy tone returning carrying a bit of excitement with it in turn. Naruto accepting the scroll giving Kushina a small confused look before unrolling it, his eyes flashing back and forth down the words till his whole body seemed to stiffen.

"Ka-kaasan is-is this real?" asked the boy unable to keep the hope out of his voice as he spun his eyes to see Kushina wide smile.

"Hai Chunnin Uzumaki Naruto it is, and as to why we are out here there is a special shop in that village that will help you customize you vest, consider it a gift from me as your" kushina began but was cut off as Naruto flung himself into the women's chest taking the pair back and over the bench they sat at Naruto laughing happily the whole while.

"Kaasan this is awesome! I'm a chunnin! Thank you, thank you, thank you! dattebayo" called the boy as he held himself close to Kushina the women not even bothering attempting to push herself up but simply wrapping her arms happily around her sochi laughing at the boys happiness.

"Hai Naruto but you earned this on your own dattebane" chuckled Kushina.

After Naruto had finally calmed himself down enough the pair found themselves once again on the road naruto excitedly thinking of all the cool new missions and jobs he would be doing as a chunnin.

"This is just awesome! I'm already on my way to changing the world!" cheered Naruto smiling over at Kushina as she returned his smile in kind, before a small thought entered her mind.

"Hey Sochi?"

"Hu what is it?"

"It's just you keep talking about changing the world a lot, and up until now I kind of thought that it referred to our family, I was wondering would you mind telling me what you mean by that?" asked Kushina having been wondering about the boys manner of speech for a time, but never knowing just how to breach the subject to the boy. Naruto in turn shook his head slightly before answering.

"No I don't mind Kaasan, you see I just figured that if the world right now has a lot of problems with it, I mean people like Gato and Orochimaru are running around in it hurting families and that's not the kind of world I want to live in. Since I have the ability to help change this world for the better that's just what I'm going to do, cause I won't have people like that hurt the world that I want to share with the people I care about. It's what I promised myself when I agreed to work with Juubi that she and I would help to make this the best world we could for those we care about." replied Naruto his tone carrying a confidence along with the happiness that caused the words to have a strange kind of weight to them.

Hearing the boy Kushina could not help but feel that Naruto was not just speaking ideally, he had meant every word of what he had just said, and as she thought back to the events in wave particularly what had become of Gato she could not help but feel a little sorry for whoever tried to get in her sochi's way.

"But those are things I have to get stronger to accomplish but I'm on my way now Kassan, and I'm not doing it alone anymore, you, Hinata, Kiba, Naruko, Minami, and everyone else is starting to help, just wait and you'll see us make my world a reality. Count on it." Finished the blonde flashing Kushina another smile that wiped away any doubts she had concerning her Sochi.

Soon the pair arrived and after a brief discussion with the seamstress and a small amount of measuring the pair set off to find a place to wait for the women to finish her work. Soon the pair arrived in a small clearing as Kushina pulled the second scroll she had been carrying from her bag drawing Naruto's eye as she did.

"What's that Kaasan?"

"Well…Minato sent this along with me, and asked me to give it to you… he said that he didn't want his participation to be something to keep you from accepting the gift. He would still like to help you but he thought it would be best for you to be the one to choose if you wanted it." Finished the women as she opened the scroll revealing the necessary elements for Minato's second prized Jutsu the Rasengan.

Naruto stood dumbfounded as his eyes traveled over the document, small flashes of all the times he had seen Naruko and Minami working to master the move as well as his own hopes to be there learning it alongside them. For a moment the memories threatened to overwhelm him before he let them wash past, before he took in just what this scroll symbolized.

He wants to give this to me…but he doesn't want his own failures to stand in the way of me receiving it… I guess in an odd way that makes since…I guess Minato-baka is serious about trying to make things up to me. Thought the blonde as his eyes began moving over the details of the scroll. As his eye's passed over the second step Juubi who had been remaining silent up until this point let out a small cry of shock startling the pair enough for Kushina to activate her armor and for Naruto's remaining pollens to rush out around him forming a swirling mass of purple and black leaves that drifted around their pair as if caught in a sudden wind.

"Juubi what the heck you nearly gave me a heart attack!" called Naruto as the pollens slowly drifted back to lay themselves back onto his clothing once more blending with the cloth so that they were indistinguishable to the naked eye. Kushina as well relaxed the golden glow of her seals fading as the hulking form of her armor vanished.

"Sorry, Sorry I was just…wow who would have thought I'd see something so close to my own technique turn out so different, I mean this really is eerie." Chuckled the women as Naruto and Kushina exchanged confused looks.

"Um Juubi what are you talking about, it's just the rasengan, come on we've seen it a million times, heck we fought it remember how is this a shock to you?"

"Naruto just because you see a jutsu doesn't mean you know how it works, I'm not a blasted Uchiha, heck I had no idea how the thing functioned and neither did you."

"Um sorry but what's the big deal?" asked Kushina just as lost as to what was happening as her Sochi. Juubi in turn let out a sigh before replying.

"Kushina let me ask you something first do you know how your husband thought this technique up, I mean how he developed it?" asked the Juubi as Kushina gave a small shrug.

"Sure he saw one of your kids shoot a bijudama I think it was the five tails, and he made the rasengan based on that does that help?" finished the redhead as Juubi let out a small chuckle.

"hehehahaha oh this is perfect this is just what I needed, Naruto looks like your Tousan has moved down from a total maiming to a simple beating from me next time I see him this is great." Continued the women as the pair continued to be oblivious to what the women would possibly be talking about.

"Um Juubi mind stopping with the whole half answers and crazy laughing and tell us what the heck is so funny?" called Kushina Naruto smirking slightly at his Kaasan's bluntness.

"Wha, oh ya sorry about that Kushina look think of it this way the rasengan was created based on the bijuudama right, well the bijuudama was based on my own move which till now I had no idea how to translate to Naruto, but by using the rasengan I think we can make it work, congratulations Naruto looks like you finally get that awesome finisher you always wanted." Finished Juubi as Naruto broke out into a huge smile he turned to show Kushina who couldn't help but return the look.

"Well Sochi I guess this little mission of ours may have some work to do on it after all." replied Kushina as she fully unrolled the scroll taking a seat as Naruto plopped down beside her eagerly looking over the first step of the rasengan.

---

Meanwhile back in Konoha Tsunade was moving through the halls of the hospital until she reached a hospital door guarded by a pair of Anbu. The pair nodded to Tsunade stepping to either side of the door, to allow the blonde sage through the door and into the hospital room.

As Tsunade entered she noted a few things about the room in general, first it was dark, darker than she would have thought it could be on a bright sunny day like today. The shades were drawn on the room, and all the lights had been either unplugged or shut off, so that only the barest of light was able to shin into. Coupled with this there was the figure who sat slightly hunched over facing the closed window with a clearly haunted look radiating from his entire form. Even as Tsunade entered the room Jiraiya continued to remain unresponsive, just sitting there unmoving, his form all but frozen dead to the world around him.

From her point of view the man looked nothing so much like a corpse that someone had set up for some twisted reason that escaped her. However, at the moment she pushed all of this aside focusing on why she was here…what she hoped to accomplish, rather than the madness that had engulfed the man before her… the man she hoped she could pull back from the precipice.

Slowly the blonde moved across the room ideally taking hold of a chair as she stepped forwards until she stood before the still figure. After a moment she dropped gently into the chair not taking her eyes off of the man before her for a second. As she looked she noticed the haggard look on the man's face, the simply lack of light behind his eyes, like he had somehow mentally checked out.

With a heavy sigh Tsunade leaned back in her chair, her eyes shifting up to the ceiling of the room where a fan's blade spun lazily blowing a cool breeze down upon the pair. As she continued to feel the cold breeze on her skin her mind slowly wandered memories of her time with her team…the battles…the celebrations and everything in between. Ideally she rose on hand up to rub ideally at her brow with a slightly pained expression on her face.

"You were always the slowest of the three of us weren't you…I was the princess of the Senju clan, I had all the help I could ask for and more. Heck by the time I entered into the academy I was ready for field work thanks to Aunt Mito's insistence. Then there was Orochimaru well whatever the bastard became he was always a genius…things were just easy for him, heck he and sensei got along so well we all thought he would be the next god professor…remember that we use to call him professor just to annoy the snake…"

"Always go under his skin…"

"And then there was you…Jiraiya just a kid from the orphanage...no support, no training, and not much else working for you." Tsunade half chuckled to herself as she continued to watch the ceiling fan spin, as small flecks of dust caught the small lines of light that managed to push through the close shades.

"I remember when you were first put on our team, Orochimaru and I thought we must have been the most unlucky genin Konoha had ever seen… how could we ever had been saddled with someone like you…and you didn't really help did you, running around perverted and troublemaking always fighting to prove how you were the greatest genin Konoha had ever seen." Continued the blonde as she dipped her head enough so that her brown eyes could look down upon the white haired man that had not moved an inch since she had begun.

"But you just kept trying, just like you kept asking me out, over and over, and over. You know after a while Orochimaru and I thought you were a masochist of some kind… heck you went out of your way to get in trouble with me… all the time…

"Whenever I was angry…"

"Whenever I was running around…"

"Whenever I was lonely…"

"And whenever I was grieving. "

"Especially on those last two…for being some kind of brilliant kunoichi it still took me a great deal of time to figure out that you were always there when I needed you…heck you were even there for me when I met Dan…grinning that same stupid grin you always did." The women finished as she allowed herself to lean forwards on to her knees her arms resting on them as she looked dead into Jiraiya's seemingly dead eyes.

"But you weren't really grinning then were you…you had us all fooled didn't you. It wasn't Orochimaru…it wasn't me, it was you that sensei really taught wasn't it. And you became the perfect shinobi didn't you…you put aside everything…bit by bit every single emotion you had, every single bloody thing that you ever cared about you sacrificed…you kept playing the fool so we wouldn't notice how much you had sacrificed… and not one of us ever figured it out till now…figured out just how much we had destroyed the man you were by not fighting for you…" at this Tsunade leaned forwards her hands reaching up to softly frame the man's face as she looked into his eyes.

"Jiraiya you aren't the only one what has made mistakes… and we have all been running from our mistakes for far too long…I ran from Nawaki and Dan…Minato and Kushina ran from Naruto…Orochimaru ran from life…and you ran from being the man who loved me enough to break my heart when you didn't come to comfort me when I needed it most..." finished Tsunade leaning forwards to plant a small kiss upon Jiraiya's brow before pulling back to look at the man before her.

"I'm done running Jiraiya…we all are…it's time that you do the same." Continued Tsunade as she stood up moving slowly back to the door pausing as she gripped the handle sparing the man behind her once more.

"For what it's worth we will wait for you…we owe you that much for running from you." Whispered the blonde as she opened the door and disappeared down the hospital halls.

Back in the room Jiraiya found himself blinking slightly the warmth from where Tsunade's lips had touched his brow still fresh upon his flesh. Ideally Jiraiya's mind slowly began to start coming back online his first thoughts being ones of sham…guilt…and loss…loss at what could have been. What he could have been. As all of this came to him down upon him a single tear found itself falling slowly from his face.

"Wha-what have I done?" Jiraiya whispered to himself as he found himself slowly sinking to the room floor his body shivering in self-loathing as the sun began to sink across the horizon the darkness robbing the room of what little light remained plunging the man and his grief into darkness.

---

As the next day dawned over Konoha Fu along with Naruko and Minami found themselves headed out in an attempt to find something to do before the afternoon reached them and work on some basic d-rank restoration mission would become available. The three girls had been slowly getting to know one another better over the previous few days, and Fu was finding that she enjoyed her fellow Jinchuriken's company more and more. Heck if she was being honest she was enjoying Konoha much more than she had her time in Taki.

When the pair of Namikaze's had insisting on introducing the green haired girl to some of their fellow genin Fu had been prepared for the group to react with fear or hostility. Instead the group had simply brushed off the girl's status introducing themselves and seeming rather pleasant towards her. In fact if Fu didn't know any better she would have sworn that the on wearing the concealing coat and glasses and been blushing the entire time she was present, though that could have just been her imagination. As with the past few days the three found themselves lounging below the shade of what they had affectionately dubbed the Kaasan tree. For a reason they could only assume was connected to the tailed beasts they held, the three always found themselves in a state of peace whenever they rested below the trees branches. Any agitation or emotional stress they might have seemed to vanish from them the moment their feet entered into the shade of that massive tree.

At the moment the three found themselves all walking up the side of the tree chatting between each other as they ascended higher and higher aiming to reach the canopy before taking a break.

"Well if this doesn't prove we have mastered tree climbing nothing will I mean this thing is massive!" chuckled Naruko flashing Minami a grin.

"Hai I guess when Niisan plants a tree he doesn't do it half way, what did they say this thing was bigger than most of the trees in the second exam, and dang it just popped right out of the ground." The redhead said almost to herself as beside her Fu let out bit of a panting breath.

"Re..remind me why I ca-can't just fly up there, I have wings just let me use them." Whined the tan girl as her fellow Jinchuuriki chuckled at her tone.

"Sorry Fu you said you wanted to train with us, old furball doesn't give us wings, or sand…or well anything really but a headache so we have to do things the old fashion way." Called Naruko.

"Kind of makes you think we got jipped on the whole massive chakra beast lottery doesn't it." Remarked Minami with a smirk as Fu and Naruko giggled slightly at the girl's words.

"Hey that's not true I'm the fluffiest of all my siblings Kaasan said so!" called Kyu through Minami's seal.

"Kyu for the last time fluffiness is not an ability!" called Minami as Naruko and Fu let out small snorts Fu almost losing her grip on the tree for a moment.

"I think Mito might argue with you on that one sis…Kyueed to for that matter." Chuckled Naruko as the redhead shot her a small smirk.

"Hey that reminds me what the heck are those black things that Naruto kept making I mean Chomei kept cheering about having nephews but that's about all I've got and she's been more scatterbrained than usual after she got here." called Fu.

"Oh ya you haven't really meet the seedlings yet, well from what I know they are like mini tailed beasts, kind of like sentient chakra, little buggers pack one heck of a punch though." Called Naruko just as she reached the lowest branch plopping down on it as she looked down at the other two.

"What? How can Naruto make his own biju? That's nuts." Called Fu trailing behind Minami as she swung herself up to sit beside Naruko her back to the trunk of the tree.

"I guess but you get used to it pretty fast, guess it just comes with him holding Juubi." Replied Minami just a Fu managed to hop up onto the branch beside the pair slightly winded.

The three took the chance to look out over the village their vantage allowing them to just see over the walls of the stadium. Below shinobi and civilians alike were moving in and out of shops, heading to work or returning from missions.

As the three jinchuuriki were preoccupied by the view bellow at the base of the tree two tall figures clothing in red clouded cloaks had just made their way into the base of the stadium their eyes trailing up the massive addition to the leaf.

"Wheeee that's a big tree, I knew you guys in leaf were into trees and all but come on this is just tacky." Chuckled Kisame as she gave his partner a shark's smile from underneath his straw hat. Itachi didn't seem to register his partner's words instead stepping forwards to examine the tree a bit closer his blazing red eyes roving up and down the plant as he did. As his Sharingan blazed he immediately noticed something odd about this tree. What appeared to be small black bits inside the structure were…well blank, missing as though somehow shielded from his eyes…curious.

"So I guess this is where the rumors started coming from, someone during the exams managed to cause this thing to shoot up out of the ground….still can't see why the boss is so worried about it." Chuckled the blue skinned man as beside him Itachi bowed his head in thought.

"No this is something to be concerned about; the only power known to utilize wood was the first hokage's the Senju line. That line also held the power to seal the biju, if that power is back it poses a threat to our plans…."

"Fuck of course it is, Itachi I'm saying it now you and I drew the crap detail here, we already have to go and find number seven and nine, but now you're telling me we have to search for someone else on top of that, there is no way our luck could be that bad." Kisame said letting out an irritated huff at the unfairness of it all. From beside him Itachi's mind was still trying to figure out just what this tree could mean when sudden noise drew the pairs attention up to where three figures were descending the tree two walking down the wide wood, while a third appeared to be hovering just off of the trunk thanks to a pair of insect wings fluttering madly behind her.

"I take it back Itachi maybe luck is on our side." Chuckled Kisame as he moved to draw his blade. Beside him Itachi shot his partner an annoyed look before reaching over to grasp the man's arm drawing the blue man's eyes.

"What Itachi they're right here, heck their practically gift wrapped what's your problem?"

"If you assault them now, it will draw attention to us. The hokage will arrive and at best we can hope to escape with our lives intact, we wait for them to reach the base of the tree, my genjutsu's will not have half the village on our heads." Replied Itachi is voice calm despite the way his red eyes blazed as they looked up at his partner.

"Fine." Shot back Kisame as he wrenched his arm free from his partner allowing the man to guide him off so that they would be in position for when the three reached the bottom.

---

As the three girls unknowingly made their way towards the two akatsuki members Naruto and Kushina were exiting the seamstress's building Naruto happily wearing his newly completed chunnin vest. The vest had been dyed to match the black outline of his undershirt, with most of the pockets for scrolls having been removed to leave a more streamline look to the vest. Along with that a small smattering of orange leaves had been added around the vests high neck and sides to match the design of his jacket. At first Kushina had wondered how Naruto could keep both the jacket and vest on his person at once, but as they reached a clearing the answer presented itself to her.

No soon had they reached the clearing then the boys jacket burst into a small cloud of his pollen leaves all except the direct center where the depiction of the tree, along with its seeds ,which moved gently over to affix itself to the rear side of his vest. As Naruto swung the vest on the leaves once more waved gently over affixing themselves together until they had incorporated themselves with the vest to form his sleeves and coat.

"So that's why you didn't need me to fix your coat after the finals were all said and done." Chuckled Kushina as Naruto nodded in agreement. Looking down at his new addition Naruto could barely keep the smile off of his face.

"Well I guess we head back to Konoha now."

"Well there's no real rush, we can get some work done on what Juubi mentioned. You already completed you mission looking after Fu before we left so we can take a day off to work on the jutsu, especially if you want to keep this one close to the chest." Finished Kushina as Naruto seemed to consider her words for a moment.

"Oh come on Naruto spend some quality time with your Kaasan and learn to blow some stuff up."

The pair of Uzumaki's couldn't help but chuckle at Juubi's words before Naruto looked over at Kushina still carrying the residue from his last laugh.

"Well Kaasan what do you say want to help me blow stuff up?" asked the blonde as Kushina pulled out the scroll from the day before a fox like grin spreading across her own face.

"Do you even have to ask." Replied Kushina as the two set to work studying the scroll while Juubi added in her modifications as they worked through it. Finally after reviewing the scroll several more times Naruto was ready to give it a shot, Kushina standing a bit back watching her Sochi's progress.

"Ok Naruto suit up we don't want this thing blowing up in your face, something tells me Hinata-chan may not be very happy with me if I return you damaged." Juubi spoke her voice carrying a slightly mocking tone. From a small distance away Kushina adopted an annoyed look.

"Hey she's not the only one Juubi try not to blow up my Sochi will you." Called the redhead as Naruto allowed two of his seeds to flow over his skin and face covering him in a layer of tightly compacted black chakra. As Naruto turned the pair of now glowing eyes that were the only markings on his face down be brought his palm up before him his entire body tensed with concentration on the dead center of his palm.

As Naruto and Kushina watched pail bits of purple chakra began to gather around the boy's palm little wisps of chakra slowly moving around flowing closer and closer to the center of the boy's palm. As more and more wisps gathered the chakra began to glow slightly a pail purple glow starting to shin out.

"Oh Naruto good that's the first step, the chakra is swirling, just be careful not to try and force it or it'll fall apart!" called Kushina as Naruto's masked face nodded slightly never taking his eyes off of his hand as he did so.

"Good Naruto that's enough chakra for now, the point is to get down the timing first, no need to get the full blast working yet." Called Juubi as Naruto slowly began to turn his palm to the side even as he pulled his other hand up to cup the small glowing ball so that the light shown dimly between the boy's blackened figures.

As Kushina watched Naruto's hands slowly began bringing his hands apart as the wisps and shining ball of light began to stretch slightly as the palms continued to get farther and farther apart. By the time that Naruto had his hands at shoulder length the small shining orb had elongated itself until it was about the shape of a senbon with wisps of chakra continuing circling around it.

"Ok good, now carful move your hand over to grab it." Instructed Juubi as both Kushina and Naruto let out a small breath a reaching the first step of the technique. However this momentarily loss of focus caused the needle like chakra to fall suddenly unsupported point down into the grassy surface below.

"Oh crap!" called Naruto as the point contacted with the ground below him. The next thing that Naruto knew he was flying back through the air until two arms caught him and swinging round slightly to keep from allowing the blast to blow the figure over. Naruto managed to shake himself enough to quiet the bells going off in his head and noticing Kushina smirking down at him.

"Well Sochi how was the flight." Asked the redhead as Naruto's black mask slowly slid away from his face revealing a small dizzy smirk.

"Oh it was great…could work on the landing." Replied the boy as the pair looked back towards where the boy had been standing. There where he had been standing a moment before there was now a small hole about the size of a Ping-Pong ball that seemed to be surrounded by a small concave of earth that formed an inverted cone with it at its center. The pair couldn't help but blink at the small distortion before looking back at one another in apparent confusion.

"Um Kaasan, what exactly happened that last thing I remember was dropping it at stage one, and then well I'm here." finished the blonde as Kushina shrugged.

"Sorry Sochi all I saw was a flash of light before I was moving to catch you. Hey Juubi what was that?" called the Uzumaki as she helped Naruto to stand, before the pair moved over to look down at the small impact sight. As the two reached the edge of the impact zone no larger than a couple feet in diameter Juubi spoke up.

"Well Naruto you dropped the technique before it was stabilized, when the point hit the end activated and all the chakra shot back driving it down and the wave blasted you back…nice job butter figures." Chuckled Juubi as Naruto blushed slightly at the Juubi's words.

"Juubi stop picking on Naruto. Don't worry about it Sochi just focus on mastering the first step, heck using the chakra in that way has to have some kind of advantages." Said the redhead looking to keep her Sochi's spirits up. Her words seemed to work as Naruto flashed a piece sign before moving back to attempt the first stage once again.

---

As Naruto went back to work back in Konoha the three girls had finally reached the bottom of the tree the pair of Namikaze girls giving Fu a slightly jealous look as she effortlessly alighted upon the grassy ground.

"Yep its official we got the short end of the tailed beast gene pool, I mean come on!" called Naruko gesturing over at Fu's wings before they slid effortlessly back into the girls tan skin. Minami in the meantime have Naruko's shoulder a small pat shaking her head.

"It's ok Naruko, we'll figure out what Kyuubi has hidden sooner or later, just let it go for now."

The blonde was about to fire back at her sister telling her that it wasn't fair when two figures made their presence known by moving out from the opposite side of the tree. As the three looked over they had only a moment to take in the pair's odd dress before all three suddenly felt a sudden pulse before their entire view was obscured by was appeared to be a pair of giant red swirling eyes.

Before either the girls or the beasts within them could blink all three found themselves falling suddenly into a dreamless sleep, their forms collapsing gently onto the grass.

"Well I have to hand it to you Itachi that was easier now how do we the these three out of here without all hell breaking lose?" asked Kisame as he started to march forwards towards the three downed figures. From behind him Itachi seemed not to have noticed his partner's words as his eyes began slowly circling the arena focusing on one particular point, before swiveling back towards his partner.

"Kisame!" called Itachi causing the taller figure to halt his hand instinctively traveling up to grasp the bright yellow handle that protruded from the mass of wrappings that he carried on his back. As the shark man began to turn back towards his partner he suddenly became aware of several chakra signatures from around the arena, his jagged teeth twisting up into a fierce smile.

"Well so much for playing in quiet!" called the ex Kiri shinobi as with a tug the massive blade swung off of his back pointing towards the where he felt the largest concentration of chakra signatures. As if that was some kind of signal over a dozen masked figures suddenly flickered into view all draped in Anbu gear their porcelain masks set facing the pair before them. Among the group one Anbu stepped out his uniform white signifying him as a captain his tiger mask swiveling around to face Itachi in particular.

"Itachi Uchiha, you are surrounded, you and your partner are to surrender immediately or be killed." Called the figure as around him the Anbu shifted into ready stances a few gripping the hilts of blades, or focusing on building the chakra for an opening Jutsu. Itachi in turn simply looked at the man before gently reaching up to pull the straw hat from his head showing his long black hair framing two bright swirling eyes. From beside him Kisame let out a bark of laughter before shooting a sideways look at Itachi.

"I have to say Itachi you really leave an impression if I didn't know any better I would say that they weren't happy to see you." Mocked the blue skinned man as he turned back to face the Anbu squad. Tiger was about to call out to the pair once more when Itachi reached up with one hand gesturing over towards the group of Anbu. The next moment the stadium was filled with howls of agony as Anbu found their bodies covered in wounds. Arms lying feet away from their owners in crimson pools even as a few dragged themselves over to comrades who were choking on their own blood kunai thrust to the hilt into their thoughts letting out a crimson rivers staining the green grass around them.

"Now where's the fun in that Itachi you didn't let me play with any of them." Called Kisame as he thrust a thumb over to where the Anbu were writhing captured in one of the Uchiha's genjutsu's so wracked with their own pain that they were unable to break free.

"We are not here for games Kisame, have you forgotten we have a job to do, indulge yourself later." Replied Itachi turning to move towards the three downed girls. However, before he had taken a handful of steps an odd sound reached his ears causing him to turn round his eyes focusing on a figure standing among the fallen Anbu, who still writhed in flash pain.

The figure looked nothing so much like a shrunken Anbu clothed in complete black down to the Neko mask it wore, its glowing purple eyes looking around at the mass of Anbu in apparent concern. Before Itachi could even begin to guess what it was he was looking at the mini Neko bent down beside a purple haired Anbu its hands reaching out shaking the figure while a series of slightly alarmed sounding hums escaped its masked face. To Itachi's shock as the creature laid its hands upon the women her writhing suddenly halted, as she turned to regard the black figure for a moment, before her porcelain face turned round to focus back on Itachi.

Just as he was about to comment he saw the purple haired Neko giving the creature some instructions before it raced off towards the closest Anbu falling beside it and once more shaking them. As the second Anbu seemed to come back to reality understanding flashed across Itachi's face as he called out to Kisame.

"Kisame take that thing out it's dispelling my genjutsu!" called Itachi as he spun around to parry an incoming blade from Neko. As Itachi turned the blade aside and buried a kick into the women's chest causing her to fly back across the field he was forced to jump back as a spear of earth shot up under where he had just been standing. Looking round Itachi' saw tiger flying through another set of seals his mask pulled low so that he could no longer see the Uchiha's eyes. As Itachi began to engage the pair Kisame was shooting forwards his serrated blade swinging round to catch the black Anbu before it could reach the next of its fellows.

With a satisfying crash the massive bandaged blade smashed into the figure taking it off of its feet and flinging it back into a nearby wall, Kisame following after the figure drawing back his blade for a second blow while massive blue black spins erupted along the bandaged length small daggers all aimed at the stunned figure before him.

Kisame's blade crashed down once again ripping chunks of the stone wall with it as it tore down into the black Anbu before slamming it into the ground. Then with a terrible jerking motion the blade was ripped back the teeth like blades digging long black chunks out of the downed figure as above it Kisame's shark teeth shown in a visage of primal fulfillment. That grin didn't last.

No sooner has his blade cleared the last of the creature did there came a horrible shuddering motion form his blade as the bandages around it fell away the narrow form expanding swelling out a sickening gurgling accompanying the shift.

"What the fuck!" cried Kisame as the blades end opened wide its own mouth exposed as a shrill cry of inhuman pain shot out across the arena drawing the other parties eyes despite their battle. Although in the midst of battle Itachi and his two opponents couldn't help but pause at the display playing out only a few yards away from them as Kisame's blade continued to writhe in apparent agony accompanied by a hacking sound. A moment later, accompanied by a truly vial sound the blade seem to convulse before a solid glob of pure black sludge seemed to fall from the blades open maw, as the color of the sentient blades scales suddenly took on a paler hue. Before Kisame could do more than look down at the bile he felt a sudden pull as the blade he held began to drain his chakra at such a rate that it almost took the man off of his feet.

This opened him up to the blow that came next. The only warning being an agitated humming sound before Kisame felt a sudden bite of pain from his right leg. The man spun rage filled eyes down to find what was left of the figure he had torn, its back a mass of shredded blackness rags of what he could only assume were flesh and cloth intermingled both legs seemingly crushed by the stone dragged down from the wall. Yet despite this the whatever it was had managed to pull out one blade broken though it was and thrust the blackened thorn into the man's leg its bright purple eyes flashing in apparent anger as it gazed up at the man.

With a roar of pure rage Kisame ripped his now bleeding throbbing leg back from the creature the blade coming free form its grip as the man swung his other leg around to crash into the creatures head with enough force to fling the creature free of the rubble and out to impact against the massive tree with a sickening crunch, before it fell down flopping limply upon on of the unconscious girls.

---

Back with Naruto and Kushina Juubi suddenly cried out in rage as a voice rang out clearly enough for the Uzumaki's hear.

"KAASSAN! KAASSAN! HELP FU AND OTOTO ARE INTROUBLE!" called out a panic choir of voices as the three listeners eyes bulged with the words. The next second both Naruto and Kushina had turned towards the leaf village shooting off as fast as their legs could take them; their minds blazing with what Chomei had said to them as those words meaning sank into the pair.

Imoto…Naruko and Minami were in danger.

---

Back in the stadium Kisame had just yanked the broken blade out of his leg fighting through the horrible burning pain it left behind as he flooded his system with chakra dulling his pain as he turned to assist his partner not noticing as the figure he had broken began to stir along with the tan girl beside it.

Wha-what happened? Thought Fu as her addled mind fought its way back to consciousness. Ideally she could hear Chomei calling out in apparent panic, but the words were somehow fuzzy to her like they were coming through some kind of broken radio. Blinking some of the blurriness out of her vision she suddenly noticed the scene before her, over a dozen masked figures apparently unconscious or writhing in unseen pain scattered across the open grass before her, even as two cloaked figure push another pair of masked figures back.

As Fu looked around she also took note of the passed out forms of Naruko and Minami lying face down not a few feet from her, but before she could properly digest everything she had seen there was a movement on her back that alerted her to the figure collapsed on top of her. Shifting herself slightly her orange eyes meet the slightly dulled purple ones of the Neko seedling who even then was attempting to push itself up, but failing to do so thanks to the damage it had sustained.

Suddenly the Seedling's eyes flared its hum becoming more panicked as Fu turning followed its gaze to see Neko being thrown back thanks to a blow from Kisame that had shattered her blade into shining bits jagged metal that dug into her mask sending cracks along the surface. From inside of Fu's mind Chomei yelled out again, this time coming through clearly.

"FU! FUUU! HURRY FU HELP HIM, HURRY!" called Chomei's voice as Fu felt her mind waking once more.

"Cho-Chomei...what's going on?" Fu managed before Chomei's voice drowned her out.

"NO TIME KASSAN TOLD ME WHAT TO DO HURRY GRAB SEEDKUN! HURRY!" Chomei called again her chorus of voices almost causing Fu's head to vibrate thanks to their intensity. With a small effort Fu reached around her back finding what felt like a hand oddly cold and grabbing hold as she felt Chomei's chakra flooding through her, faster and purer than she could ever remember it being. Meanwhile on her back she suddenly felt a pulsing movement like something was shifting around some area's becoming somehow harder, while others lengthened stretching out. Ideally the girl noted that small black shadows were extending to either side of her as something smooth and black stretched out from whatever was occurring on her back. Then as suddenly as it had begun the shifting stopped and the chakra flowing through her fell away as an oddly metallic sounding hum came from behind her, reverberating against her even as a small cloud of sparkling purple powder fell across her exposed cheek oddly warm to the touch before its light seemed to simply fade away. Fu was about to look round when the pressure upon her back suddenly vanished accompanied soon bye an alarmed shout from across the field.

Across the filed Neko had been pushed back into a corner Kisame towering over her with his shark like grin showing in full force.

"Not bad, you would almost have been something impressive in Kira's standing, but your blade leaved much to be desired." Chuckled the man as he brought his blade up the scales still dotted with pail splotches form when it had unknowingly eaten the seedlings chakra. With a savage motion the man brought his blade crashing down towards Neko intending to shred the women with his massive blade before moving to support his partner.

Suddenly Kisame's instincts screamed at him to move, the ex Kiri shinobi turning suddenly as something black shot past him making little to no noise to land directly before the downed Neko, a sudden metallic humming coming to his ears. Kisame spun to see what had dared to attack him pausing as his eyes fell on his attacker.

His attacker was a mix of metallic looking parts that held a resemblance to Anbu equipment. In fact as Kisame noted it was as if an Anbu's armor had simply wrapped around sealing itself closer to a body overlapping where it meet itself giving he vision of some kind of armor like that worn by the samurai. However, this took a back seat to the six large wing like structures that decorated the creatures back three to each side looking like some kind of hybrid between a dragonfly wing and a scythe each ending in a sharp curved point. Even as the man watched the bladed wings relaxed folding together so that he could see they attached to a pair of slightly armor shoulders just where an Anbu vest would have connected over the shoulders.

On the other side of this Neko found herself looking up at the creature front the same mix of armor and smooth cloth like material dominating its front, as its wings slowly closed around it. As Neko looked up she found herself looking into a face unlike the one she had become use to seeing upon the creature. While one eye still carried the bright purple glow, its fellow had shifted to an orangeish light that blazed out of his face. Her vision was drawn down as a small metallic hum released a small cloud of purple shimmering dust that flickered out a few inches from the creature before dispersing. This drew the women's eyes to the creature newest facial addition. Where before there had been a simple black smoothness the new area now resembled a something like a medieval knights mouth guard with several vertical bars holding in what looked to be some kind of purple glow from which flecks of the same shining dust fell slowly fading as it reached a small distance from its face.

"I-is that you?" Neko managed as the transformed seedlings eyes focused down on her and a happy metallic hum escaped it grinning vent along with a small cloud of the dust, before it turned to face Kisame, Neko noticing as it turned what looked like some kind of short ponytail draping down from his head that seemed to waved gently along with its six wings.

Kisame for his part took in the creature's face noting the similarities just before the six wings spread themselves wide again swinging round their pointed ends flying towards him causing him to swing his blade up to parry the attack. To the shinobi's shock the points of the wings were not turned away by his blade but instead bit into it causing the blade to shriek once more in pain and horror. Before Kisame could act on this he noted a sudden gathering of some kind of shining purple dust vaguely blinking around him before there was a sudden flash as the light caught the speck each suddenly blazing like miniature suns forcing the man to screw his eyes shut against the blade and allowing for the seedling to swing its head around bringing its final addition around to lance out at the Jonin's unprotected face.

Just as the whip like appendage was about to crash into the shark man's face Kisame found himself pulled back landing a few yards away still cursing as he blinked the pain out of his eyes, and limbs.

"Damn it! Itachi what the hell is going on!" called the man as beside him Itachi helped him to his feet his red eyes scanning over to the odd figure that stood before them its mismatched eyes training on the two even now. Ideally Itachi noted Tiger pushing himself back to his feet from where he had been momentarily disabled by the Uchiha. Giving the battlefield one last scan Itachi looked over at his partner who was just then managing to get himself back to his feet.

"Kisame we are leaving, reinforcements will be here soon and there is an unknown element at play, we'll finish this another day." Finished Itachi turning his red eyes over to cut off Kisame before the man could voice an argument. Begrudgingly Kisame nodded as the two disappeared in a small flicker of leaves and wind. Neko began to push herself up when Tiger moved over to halt her looking around at the Anbu still shaking and convulsing before training his eyes over to the modified seedling who's wings had moved back to hang limply from its back while it turned the pair of mismatched eyes around at the pair with a small hum of apparent happiness before it began moving around poking at the fallen Anbu darting back and forth between them like some kind of a hyperactive child. As the pair watched this tiger turned over to Neko his voice attempting a small amount of humor.

"So um is he supposed to do that?" asked the tiger as Neko let out a small stiff chuckle at the scene before them.

Ok so this chapter came out a little faster than I had really intended and I have no idea why, like I said sometimes the chapters just come together faster than others, and well this is one of those times. To try and answer a few questions I can see people asking let me start by laying out a few things. Yes Kisame is powerful, heck I'm inclined to say he is the most overpowered guy in the show, next to the Uchiha, as he is immune to almost everything and can take down a jinchuuriki like he is picking up a gallon of milk at the store. So why did he have trouble here, easy his ability relies on him being able to feed off of his enemy by eating their chakra, now true this isn't his only move but it does account for his best offence and defense, and well as I have established Naruto's and by extension the seedlings chakra is basically toxic to normal chakra. So when his sword ate it, the seedling's chakra attacked all of the other chakra in the blade, and by extension the man attached to it…not good. Ok now with Jiraiya no he is not forgiven not even close, but Tsunade wants to see him fix himself, people don't just walk away from someone they see that is destroying themselves, like an alcoholic they are looking to try and save him from himself…will they ever fully trust him, that remains to be seen. With Mikoto yes she knows but it is reviled then the remaining clan, i.e. the women and children will be the target of hatred and scorn from the village, and so she will stay silent to protect them, and in her view the actions taken while horrible were unavoidable.

Small point here but I would like your opinion on my change in Chomei it is the first time I have drastically altered a tailed beast outside of Juubi and I wanted your take on it if you wouldn't mind. Thanks again to everyone who followed, favorite and reviewed the story, you are why it is still going and growing so thanks for keeping the little guy alive.

Songbird out.