Disclaimer: Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi, Paplyli tumany nad rekoy. Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha, Na vysokii bereg na krutoy.
The Rise of Prince PuffyTail
Part 03 of 'Whirling Sparks' - What If chapters 21 and 22
Hinata had finished dusting and vermin extermination when her master bounced back into the laboratory.
"I'm back!" Naruto announced.
"W-welcome b-back, Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a faint blush. "S-s-someone came to s-set up an appointment w-with you."
"Did you tell them they had to wait in line?"
"Y-y-y-yes, Naruto-kun," the girl agreed. "Before we start on the others, c-could you do another p-project for me?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure!" Naruto agreed. "Anything for you, Hinata."
It took several seconds for the girl to regain control of herself and several more to explain what she wanted, all the while her brain was running several dozen simultaneous simulations on positive outcomes of what she would like to request, but didn't have the nerve to, yet. Thankfully the new modifications to her brain and circulatory system kept her both upright and conscious.
To say that Naruto was pleased by the girl's initiative would be a gross understatement.
IIIIIIIIII
Machi ambled into town wearing the least convincing disguise the gate guards had ever seen. She was dressed in what passed for standard whirlpool ninja attire which consisted of normal ninja attire coupled with a white lab coat, tool belt, goggles, and forehead protector used as a belt buckle. But with the addition of a bowler hat, which the minions assured her was the height of fashion, and an enormous fake looking black handlebar mustache.
Luckily, the guards had been briefed and had dug into the handbook to read over the sections dealing with Uzu and Uzumaki.
"Name?" the left guard asked, trying to sound bored.
"Machi Uzumaki!" she replied loudly. "Wait, I'm supposed to be incognito until I've had a chance to speak with the minions. Hmmm . . . is it too late to change my answer?"
"We can start over from the top if you like," the right guard offered.
"Great!"
They stared at each other for a few moments. "Name?" the left guard sighed.
"Machi . . . I can't think of something convincing," she confessed. "I've never done any of this covert stuff before." It tended to be left to minions she'd specifically modified for that purpose.
"You could use your favorite animal or a place name," the right guard said helpfully.
"Right, Machi Shokushu," she said confidently.
"Purpose of visit?" the left guard continued.
"To spy on my cousin for a bit, then leech off him after I get bored of doing that," she replied. "The first part's a secret so don't write it down."
"Right," the right guard agreed. "Just remember, no experimentation without first getting either permission from the Hokage, a higher up in their clan, or your test subject."
"Of course not," she agreed, scandalized by the very notion that she'd experiment on someone without asking... unless she was bored, or it was an emergency, or to get one up on someone, or as a joke, to get even, or because it was Tuesday, or because it was some other day of the week... "I'd never do that."
"Right." The guard handed over two entry passes. "The first one is issued to Machi Shokushu who is specifically listed as a common ordinary civilian and not any sort of ninja or Uzumaki." He'd used those exact words. "The second is to Machi Uzumaki, ninja of Uzu for when you get bored of using the first one."
"Thanks!" she cheered. "Can I go in now?"
"Yes," the guard agreed, and god have mercy on their souls.
She took a couple steps in and took a deep breath. "MINIONS!"
"Yes, Mistress Machi!" A group of normal looking civilians plus cool hats and sometimes extra appendages appeared.
"Report!" she barked.
A short man in an apron with two large bolts protruding from the sides of his neck and six fingers on each hand stepped forward. "Um . . . in front of them, Misthress Machi?" the chief minion asked, nodding towards the two listening gate guards.
"They know how to keep a secret," Machi said confidently. "Don't you?" The two gate guards frantically nodded.
"Yety, Misthress Machi," the chief minion agreed. His was not to reason why, his was but to do what he was told.
As she listened, Machi's ever present grin got wider and toothier as the sparks of madness lit her eyes with a creative glow. It seemed her little cousin was a chip of the old block. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" her laugh echoed through the streets of Konoha, causing several of the residents old enough to have heard tales of the Uzumaki to lock their doors and several more who'd had close personal experience to not bother, as it wouldn't do any good anyway. Her laugh confirmed the rumors that the Uzumaki were back. Whether or not that was a good thing was a matter of much debate.
IIIIIIIIII
Hinata snuck back onto the sprawling Hyuuga compound and immediately set about her task of 'liberating' her sealed relatives.
"I'm sorry I had to put things in your food, cousin Michiko," she whispered to the unconscious branch member. The girl pulled out a large syringe and prepared to stab it into the seal on the woman's forehead. "But you have to understand that I had to do it for Naruto-kun."
"What'cha doin?" Machi demanded, appearing next to the now startled girl. The Uzumaki took a moment to examine the syringe in the little Hyuuga's hands and then the shivering branch member on the ground.
"Naruto-kun will treat them much better than the main house ever did," Hinata insisted. "I won't let you stop me."
"Stop you?" Machi was confused. "Why would I do that?"
"Ano . . . so you don't have a problem with the fact that I'm stealing the branch house away from the main house to be Naruto-kun's minions?" Hinata asked cautiously.
"No, still not seeing why I would," Machi confirmed, a look of profound confusion on her face. It's not like the Hyuuga main house was family or anything.
"It's just . . . It seems to be the sort of thing people tell me not to do," Hinata confessed. It didn't make sense to the girl why anyone would have a problem with being forcibly recruited to serve the greater glory of Naruto, but it was something the academy instructors had been quite firm about. "Would you like to help?" she asked shyly, glad she'd finally found another kunoichi in the world with some sense. Maybe they could be friends?
IIIIIIIIII
Jiraiya stopped at the edge of what had once been, and he supposed was again, Uzu's territory and settled down. If his luck was good, a group of minions would come by to investigate. If his luck was bad, they'd have an Uzumaki with them. If his luck was great, he'd be able to tell the Uzumaki that he had business with the Uzukage before they decided to do something irreversible.
IIIIIIIIII
Hinata returned to her master's lab and took a position two steps away from his operating table. She didn't have to wait long before the boy looked up from his work.
"Ah, you're back, Hinata," Naruto said with a wide toothy grin. "How did things go?
"V-very w-w-well, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied, automatically filling his hand with the instrument he wanted. "Th-the branch house is y-y-yours to command."
"Great." He handed back the tool and she replaced it with another. "You take care of that for me, okay, Hinata?"
"Y-yes, Naruto-kun," Hinata agreed, blushing a beet red.
"Finished," Naruto announced. "Wake him up, Hinata."
"W-w-waking him up, Naruto-kun," the girl agreed.
Danzo was pleasantly surprised to find that the first thing he saw upon regaining consciousness was the smiling face of the Uzumaki's pet Hyuuga. Much more pleasant than the inside of a stasis jar or any one of a number of possibilities the Uzumaki presented. He glanced down at his arm and his nose wrinkled in confusion. "Is there some reason you turned them blue?" Danzo asked, looking down at the blinking eyes imbedded in his arm.
"I asked him to." The man was inordinately proud of himself for not reacting when the face on his shoulder spoke up. "Red isn't really our color."
"I see." Danzo regarded the face. "And blue is?"
"Yes. You should also do something about those unfashionable bandages." The face paused. "If you must keep them, how about something in silk? We'll have to see what designs and colors fit our new look. Oh, it will be so much fun!"
"We'll discuss it in detail later," he promised the face. Blue eyes and time with an Uzumaki meant he no longer had to conceal anything, not with the perfect alibi he'd just been given.
"You said you were going to pay Naruto-kun," the little Hyuuga said calmly and with a barely detected hint of menace. Just enough to let the man know that if he tried to cheat HER Naruto-kun, that she would start by forcing him to eat his own testicles without even the courtesy of detaching them first and get progressively nastier.
"My men have been moving more lab equipment into the building across the street which now belongs to you," Danzo stated, trying and failing to convince himself that he absolutely wasn't afraid of the little Hyuuga. "I also included a full machine shop on the first floor and a small library on the second."
"Across the street?" Naruto mumbled. "Do you know what this means?!"
"Th-that you have a n-new building to m-m-modify, Naruto-kun?" Hinata suggested shyly.
"That too," he said absently. "That-"
"I finally have a chance to do a field test on Mister Tunnel Bunny Tunneler Mk 5!" Machi cheered.
The appearance of a second Uzumaki convinced Danzo that he had business on the other side of the village. "I'll be in touch when I have other modifications I need made," he called over his shoulder as he fled.
"You!" Naruto shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the woman.
"ME!" she agreed, hands on her hips. "Uzu's number four greatest genius and number two most beautiful, Machi Uzumaki! OHOHOHO! I have been sent by grandma to keep an eye on you in secret!"
"Grandma?" Naruto asked.
"The Uzukage," Machi explained in a normal voice. "Where was I?"
"You were sent by grandma to keep an eye on me in secret," Naruto replied.
"Right. Ahem, and keep an eye on you I shall! Introducing . . ." She reached into her pocket. "My newest and fifth greatest invention! The cousin watcher Mk 1!" Her hand opened to reveal a fist sized eyeball with a propeller protruding from the top of it. "FLY! FLY COUSIN WATCHER MK 1!" she commanded. "BWHAHAHAHAHA!" The little propeller began to spin and the eye took up a position three feet behind and two feet above Naruto. "I am such a genius!"
The device worked for about fifteen seconds before the propeller froze and the eye began spinning. The explosion that occurred widened the grins on the two Uzumaki's faces as did Hinata's shy offer to keep an eye on Naruto for Machi. Though for different reasons on the second. Naruto was happy that his chief minioness was getting along with his newly returned family, Machi was happy for decidedly less innocent and decidedly more perverted reasons as she handed Hinata a video camera that had special effects filters to remove annoying little things like red eyes, lens flare, and clothing from the shot.
"Minions!" she screamed.
A dozen men wearing large hats appeared out of a dozen spaces, most of them much to small to fit even a mouse. "Yeth, Mithtrethh Machi?" the lead minion, a hunchback, replied.
"Go back home and get my Mister Tunnel Bunny Tunneler Mk 5," she ordered.
"It thall be done, Mithtrethh Machi," the minion agreed.
"And stop by wave to make sure my babies aren't lonely without me," Machi added.
"Be sure my friends are okay while you're there," Naruto said. "Oh, and make sure Tsunami is following my instructions to take care of the garden I made around her house."
"Yeth, Mathter Naruto," the minion agreed. "May we have the nameths of your friendths at Wave?"
IIIIIIIIII
Jiraiya was not surprised when his suddenly empty camp was filled with people or when he noticed what he'd though was his breakfast being eaten by a non-euclidian horror. A lifetime of training saw to that.
"Going in or out?" he asked cheerfully.
"In," a hunchback that he presumed was the chief minion replied. "You are?"
"Jiraiya the Gallant," he replied, puffing his chest out.
"Yethss, the Mithtrethss wanths a word with you," the minion said ominously.
"Would it help if I told you I was the boy's godfather, that he had a strong breakthrough at a very early age, and that we never would have sealed him if Uzu was still around?" the Toad Sage asked hopefully.
"It helpths you in that it meanths we don't break your legths without orderths to," the chief minion offered. Not till after they got back to the village anyway, much easier for all concerned if they didn't have to carry him, saved effort.
"Well . . . better than getting my legs broken as a matter of course, I suppose," Jiraiya said weakly. He really really hoped the Uzukage was in a better mood than she was the last time he'd seen her.
Jiraiya was escorted into town and put up in the third best hotel in the village of Uzu. The food was superb, the service exquisite, the rooms both large and quiet, the population of land-squid in the lobby sufficiently off putting to keep the place from being ranked number one.
"Wait here till summoned?" Jiraiya asked as the minions departed.
"Or you wake up in a jar," the last minion agreed.
IIIIIIIIII
Hinata's face was tomato red, her eyes unblinking, as she stared into the view screen on the camera provided by her Naruto's cousin. Granted, she could get the same effect with her newly improved eyes, but it seemed much less sordid to combine her regular stalking with Machi's request.
"Everything okay there, Hinata?" Naruto asked, noting the girl's red face and making a note to look into it when he had a spare moment.
"Y-y-y-yes, Naruto-kun," Hinata agreed.
"Anything I can do to help?" he asked innocently.
"C-c-c-could y-y-y-you d-d-d-do s-s-s-some p-p-p-pelvic th-thrusts, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked hopefully. "T-t-t-to test th-the-" The girl froze, to test what? "M-motion th-thingy," she squeaked.
"Sure, Hinata," Naruto agreed, giving the girl a thumbs up. "No problem." He only managed three before his minion's eyes rolled and she passed out on the floor. Looked like he was going to have to take a look at her sooner than he thought.
"What's up?" Machi asked, sticking her head into the room.
"I think I made a mistake when I was improving Hinata," Naruto replied with a frown, his brow wrinkled as he tried to figure out what.
"Oh? What happened?" She picked up the fallen camera and reviewed the footage. A grin bloomed on her face. "Never mind. I think I see what the problem is."
"What?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with. It is only I, the great and dead sexy genius Machi Uzumaki, who can unravel the the coils that ensnare this poor maiden's heart!"
"I'm pretty sure I didn't leave any loose coils around her heart," Naruto disagreed. "Maybe around her left knee, but I'm almost fifteen percent sure I didn't leave any around her heart."
"I was being poetic," Machi explained. "Just let me deal with it, I promise it's no big thing."
"Okay," Naruto agreed doubtfully.
"Which reminds me!" She stepped fully into the room. "Look what I found in the forest!" Machi announced. The woman held up the leads to three leashes and gave them a hard jerk, causing three self conscious looking giant tigers to slink into the room. "Aren't they just the cutest things ever? I think I'm gonna call the first one Mister Snugglebottom, the second one Prince PuffyTail, and the third Mighty Tim."
"Those are awesome names!" Naruto exclaimed, shooting his cousin a thumbs up.
"I know," she said, preening. "Anyway, I didn't come here just to show off how awesome my naming skills are, I came to ask for a favor."
"Sure," Naruto agreed. "Whadda ya want?"
"Mind if I borrow your operating theater?" She blushed, one didn't normally share lab space until they had a much closer relationship than she and her newest cousin shared. She gave the boy a once over and filed that thought in the back of her mind. "I wouldn't normally ask but there's only so much I can do to improve my new pets without some decent equipment."
IIIIIIIIII
The Uzukage was still when her minion finished his report on Konoha's Uzumaki. To be quite frank, one of the things in it did not fill her with any amount of joy. "The whole Hyuuga clan is now his?" the Uzukage said flatly. "I see."
"It theemths Master Naruto'th chief minionethss wath the clan heirethss and uthurped the caged bird theal," the Chief Minion explained.
"Was that why he made the heiress his chief minioness?" the Uzukage's voice was devoid of emotion as she prepared herself to give a series of very unfortunate orders.
"It wath not, Mithtreth, thee wath waiting in hith lab when he arrived. Theemed quite eager to thwear herthelf to hith thervice. It theems her chief motivation to thteal the clan wath to better therve and protect her mathter."
The Uzukage smiled. That last bit of information turned the situation from what seemed to be a potential problem to address in such a way that it was never a problem again into the most romantically adorable thing she'd heard in decades. "Pictures!"
"Here thee iths, Mithtreth," he said, handing over a photograph of the girl in question and a file containing everything they'd been able to learn about her.
"What a little cutie," the Uzukage cooed over the photo.
"Yeth, Mithtreth," the Chief Minion agreed. "Here are thome of the otherths we took of her."
"Assemble a team and take . . . Ichiro with you to look at what Naruto did in Wave," she ordered eyes focused on the stack of photos in her hands.
"Yeth, Mithtreth," the Chief Minion agreed.
"Be sure not to forget to look in on Machi's pets while you're there or we'll never hear the end of it." The way that girl spoiled her creations. The Uzukage snorted, not that she was much better with descendants or the village she'd created. She glanced at the clock. The pathetic toad pervert could wait another day or two, she had more important things to occupy her time. A volume of manga was pulled out of its hiding place and she got to reading.
"It thall be done, Mithtreth."
"And get me more pictures of this little cutie that's got her eyes on my grandson," the Uzukage ordered. "Maybe a couple blood and tissue samples if you think of it."
IIIIIIIIII
Jiraiya wasn't sure if there was some hidden meaning to the fact that the minions has placed him in a waiting room in which all four walls were made from giant panes of glass. The glass was part of a tank holding back millions of galleons of some sort of nutrient solution and hundreds of human brains, their eyes still attached by thin strands of optic nerves. In one motion, every eye swiveled to regard him as he took his seat, showing evidence that they were both alive, aware, and one of a myriad of possible fates that befell those unfortunate enough to get on the Uzukage's bad side. He just hoped he wouldn't be joining or envying them at any point in the future.
He tensed when a group of heavily armed minions entered the room. "The Mistress is busy today, you'll have to come back tomorrow."
"Wonderful," Jiraiya agreed, forcing himself to believe that it was a good sign she snubbed him. Upon careful consideration, he decided it was. Uzumaki were known for many things but never their patience, if she'd already made up her mind to do something horrible to him it would have occurred the first day. Either she was annoyed but not to the point of experimenting upon him or she hadn't decided. Either one was better than the alternative . . . well, unless of course that the alternative was that she was happy with him, that would be ideal.
He got up to leave and was stopped by the minions. "That's the way in," the lead minion explained. "You'll want to take the other door, it's the way out. Don't worry, it's very educational."
"Is it?" Jiraiya asked weakly.
"Down the hall of frozen screams," one of the other minions added. "It's where Mistress keeps the people that annoyed her that she turned into living statues. They can feel hunger, they can feel pain, they can feel thirst, they can feel the need to breathe, but they can't move, they can't go insane, and they can't die."
"I see." If he could be sure of nothing else, he could be sure that the Uzukage was annoyed with him and wanted him to be well aware of what had happened to people foolish enough to annoy her in the past.
IIIIIIIIII
After three days of waiting and witnessing horrors of the sort that would have broken his hold on sanity, should he have been without a lifetime of training and experience, Jiraiya was finally ushered into a meeting with the absolute and undisputed leader of the village of sparks.
"You're responsible for what happened to my grandson?" the Uzukage said in a low dangerous voice. "Responsible for dimming his light and robbing the world of his creations?" Every Whirlpool nin and a number of unspeakable horrors prepared themselves to do violence. "Give me one reason I shouldn't declare war on Konoha, raze its buildings, kill its ninja, and condemn its population to be test subjects at the academy!" Veins were bulging on the enraged woman's face.
"Well." Jiraiya had been a ninja for decades, had not only survived but thrived in a profession that killed or retired the majority of its practitioners by the age of thirty. "I wanted to see what would happen."
"Oh, all right then." The Uzukage blinked then smiled. "I look forward to reading your notes."
"Regrettably, I was too close to the test subject and was forced to remove myself from the area so as not to compromise the experiment. I did, however, appoint my old teacher as a stand in. Why don't I just send a messenger to him with a request to send on his observations, shall I?"
"Why don't you," she agreed. Though phrased like a suggestion, it was clearly an order and backed by the two most frightening words in the woman's vocabulary. 'Or else!'
"Yes, Uzukage-sama," Jiraiya agreed quickly.
IIIIIIIIII
Machi's bones vibrated when her cousin's chief minioness gave her a once over before allowing her entrance into the boy's abode. She gave the girl a brief smile before making a mental note to ask her cousin to see the notes regarding the girl's augmentation.
"Is my cousin in?!" Machi asked with a wide grin.
"Naruto-kun is in the laboratory," Hinata replied.
"Thanks," Machi said, skipping to the hidden switch that triggered the staircase down to the boy's lab. "Naruto, I've come to play!" Machi announced.
"Machi!" Naruto replied. "Why do minions have such great hats?" Naruto asked, switching topics at lightning speed and wondering if he should get one for Hinata to wear.
"Granny said something about the best and most loyal and most dangerous minions wearing cool hats a couple centuries ago and it stuck," Machi replied absently. "You know, if you replaced this with the heating filament we found in your neighbor's toaster, we could improve the efficiency by a factor of five."
"Hmmmm."
"It'll also prevent the village from disappearing in a storm of radioactive fire if the power fluctuates," she added absently. "Remember, safety seventh." Machi felt a warm glow as her cousin incorporated her improvements into his design. For once, she was beginning to understand one of the reasons grannie liked to keep the family close. She'd later learn that she'd discovered number seventeen. Making it slightly more difficult for her children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, etc. to gather resources to use against her was of course number five and to have a convenient supply of compatible organs at hand was number six.
IIIIIIIIII
Jiraiya's heartbeat slowed as he left the center of the Uzukage's domain and the messenger birds were sent. Back to the hotel to pack and then to the gates to wait for an escort out of Uzu's lands to someplace where the biggest danger was a rogue S-class nin or two.
"Jiraiya!"
The pervert turned and was pleased to find that the speaker was a woman with a figure that exceeded that of his old teammate and a face that begged to be immortalized in marble. "Yes?"
"I wanted a word with you," she continued, her voice a mixture of smoke and sex.
"Of course," he agreed instantly. With luck, one word would lead to two and two words would lead to night of delight with this angel made flesh. Wasn't like there was anything on the outside that needed his immediate attention.
"Most of us realize just how short the lifespan of a spark that emerged as young as he did would be outside the village," the stunningly gorgeous minion explained. "We're grateful for what you did, ensuring the young master lived long enough for us to meet him."
"Well, that's-" Jiraiya began, already planning what he was going to do to the woman in front of him.
"Of course," she said, interrupting him. "That's not to say we wouldn't cheerfully vivisect you on the Uzukage's orders for presuming to experiment on an Uzumaki of the main line." She smiled, revealing a face full of sharp pointed teeth. "In fact, it's only her orders that're stopping us from doing it on our own." No one experimented on an Uzumaki except another Uzumaki, it was one of the few laws without a dozen exceptions and loopholes big enough to drive a heard of elephants through that the village subscribed to.
IIIIIIIIII
Sasuke glared at the pink haired annoyance whom he saw leaning against front entrance to his third teammate's apartment building. They hadn't had a team meeting since they'd returned from wave which was a bit of a mixed blessing. True it denied him instruction, but it also kept him from having to be around his pink haired stalker of a teammate without his other teammate to act as a buffer.
"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed with a smile. "Why did you want to meet here? I brought the ether like you asked me to."
The boy's eyebrows knit together in confusion, hadn't their teacher been the one that had ordered them to meet at Naruto's building? As he was about to respond he saw the girl's left hand knock three times on the door and then pin a note just above the girl's right breast. It then pointed at him, gestured for silence, and shoved what appeared to be an ether soaked rag into her face. Sakura prattled, seemingly unaware of what her left hand was doing till she slumped to the ground. The whole incident did nothing but reaffirm his decision to avoid fangirls as much as possible.
"Ano, are you here to visit Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice caused Sasuke to turn around. The girl was carrying a stack of steel I-beams in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. A smile bloomed on her face. "He'll be so happy to see his teammates again."
Sasuke looked at the Hyuuga, glanced at the still form of his pink haired teammate, calculated his chances of escaping, and sighed in resignation. "Hn," he agreed. The boy walked over and picked up Sakura. "Please don't ever tell her I carried her anywhere."
"Alright," Hinata agreed. The girl walked over to the building and removed a brick to reveal a hidden panel. "Move three steps to your right," she ordered.
Sasuke complied and sighed again when the section of street he was on began to sink. It used to be such a nice, quiet, hidden ninja village.
IIIIIIIIII
The minions heard the sound of a child squealing in glee as they came to the footbridge connecting Wave to the rest of the elemental nations. Upon further investigation, they saw a child riding a tentacled shark escorted by four 'laser' armed sharks which vaporized any and every seagull foolish enough to get too close. Too close being defined as within visual range. It seemed that not only were her pets doing well, they'd found a new friend. Mistress Machi would be pleased.
IIIIIIIIII
The street sunk further and further into the earth until the sun was just a tiny speck in a sea of darkness above when they finally came to a halt. Sasuke followed Hinata as the girl took them through a maze of tunnels to stop before a giant steel door.
"Hand me that note on her shirt," Hinata ordered. Despite the risk of retrieving the note posed by its location, Sasuke hastened to obey. "Wait here."
The door opened, filling the tunnel with an ominous red glow and a number of disturbing sounds. "I'll be back to show you in when Naruto-kun wishes to see you," Hinata added over her shoulder as she disappeared into the passage. The door closed tightly behind her.
IIIIIIIIII
Tazuna watched as his innocent grandson played with the Uzu spawned horrors that had taken up residence in the straight where he was building his bridge. The men had refused to work, citing their very real fear of being violated and eaten until he'd pointed out how disappointed the Uzumaki would be if she returned and was not greeted by either a large bridge or a number of industrious workers trying to complete it. He'd had no more labor problems after that, nor had the remnants of Gato's organization been any trouble, not after the one time they'd tried kidnapping his daughter to use as leverage anyway. The man shuddered, as bad as the sharks were, they were nothing compared to the garden of horrors his daughter was lovingly caring for around the house. That's what he got for marrying a girl from Uzu, should have listened to his parents and gone with the fisherman's daughter.
IIIIIIIIII
Hinata took a few minutes to bask in her master's glorious presence as she watched him and his cousin work on something. Truly this was happiness, the girl thought to herself, truly this was why she'd been put on the world. Why else, but to serve the greater glory of her master?
"Ah, Hinata, you're back!" Naruto said with a grin. "Just toss those I-beams in the corner. You didn't have any trouble getting them, did you?"
"N-no, Naruto-kun," the girl agreed. The construction company owner had told her to take as many as she wanted if she agreed not to let go until after she'd pulled him back into his office on the fifteenth floor. He'd even been good enough to offer up everything for free as an apology for saying such nasty things about HER Naruto-kun. He'd even been humble enough to agree that sixteen broken bones and three dislocated joints was nothing less than he deserved for his earlier bad attitude. She was just glad they'd been able to resolve the misunderstanding without having to resort to any unpleasantness.
"Great!" Naruto cheered.
"Ano . . ."
"Yeah?"
"S-S-S-Sakura has a n-n-note for you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly, handing it over. "And S-Sasuke is h-here to v-v-visit you too."
"Show them in," Naruto commanded with a grin. It'd be good to see his team again now that he'd been reminded that he had one.
"Y-yes, Naruto-kun."
AN: Looks like I forgot to post this, oops.
Beta by dogbertcarroll who once built a full sized model of the Eiffel Tower out of herring. You've never heard of it due to the fact that it was consumed by a horde of cats shortly after completion.
Typos by mjihde, ordieth117, firelordeg
Omake by mjihde
So many awesome things could come from this... and Hinata usurping the leadership of the Hyuuga and forcing Hiashi to act as a decoy is something that should happen more often.
I can totally imagine Shikamaru going to Naruto and having his shadow turned into an actual entity loyal only to the Uzumaki and Shikamaru.
Shikaku hung his head as depression crept up on him. "Shikamaru... I thought you were smarter than this..."
The Nara heir looked up at his father, his shadow stretching from beneath the reclined pre-teen towards the kitchen, where a multi-limbed blob was washing, drying, and stacking the dishes. "What are you talking about?"
"What possessed you to have Naruto 'upgrade' you?" Shikaku asked, using the term that had been going around for the ninja Naruto had 'helped'. "Don't you know how dangerous that was?
"Of course I do, but you're forgetting something: The Nara clan can only control shadows because the Uzukage got bored two hundred years ago. I figured it was only a matter of time before Master Naruto got around to 'improving' his classmates, so I decided to be proactive and ensure I at least got something useful out of it."
The older Nara nodded. "I can see why you'd think that, but-"
"He's a main line Uzumaki, dad." Interrupted the Genin.
"What?" Choked the Jonin.
Shikamaru shrugged. "At least, I think he is. He might have spontaneously spawned from a bowl of Miso, but I think the first is more likely."
The father seemed to deflate at that, a dark cloud gathering over his head and... raining on him? "What the hell?"
"Oh yeah, I think he and his cousin were talking about making it spread like a contagion when they put me under."
Shikaku twitched as he forced his own shadow to retract. "Anything else, son?" He asked, repressing the mention of a second Uzumaki in Konoha.
Shikamaru held up his hands to reveal a small mouth on each palm. "Apparently they heard about some Iwa guy named Deidara and wanted to see if they could copy him using a pair of pliers and a roll of duct tape. I wasn't going to complain after seeing what happened to Kiba."
What did Naruto and his cousin do to Kiba? That's for someone else to come up with.
Omake by amusedones
On the way to Konoha Tsunade decided to abuse her newly re-found youth. Or maybe it was youthful appearance, mused Shizune.
One quickly learned to treat language more as a suggestions than the strict definitions around the Uzumaki. And be very mindful of it less he wants to end with an extendable third hand.
But coming back to Tsunade.
Stiff slouched posture. Check. Mumbling under her nose. Check. Looking at the world around and willing to set it on fire with her sight?
Double check and few steps to the left just in case.
That is to say she was behaving like a proper teenager.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what Tsunade-sama?"
"That whistling sound, and reminds me, I have to upgrade your hearing later"
"Ye..."
The reply was stopped short by something blurred and vaguely girl-like slamming into the blonde.
"ANEEEEKII, you are back, finally back!" Tsunade stood firmly with her hands held in a hug a young girl with a twin buns on her head was holding her in. The girl proceeded to rub her face against Tsunade's.
"Ah, finally back the fun we will have together, I will finally have someone to mind your pet project. Did you know he can multiply. By budding. And his clone has a separate personality, though there is something wrong with moulding chakra..."
"Nice to see you too, Tenten."
"Oh, it's good to have you back. Wait, you are back because you've left me..."
"It was necessary?"
"Tsunade I had to suffer minding your experiment."
Huh? Where did she get all those weapons from?
"Tsunade-aneki it's all your fault. Prepare to die!"
Well, at least her master wasn't brooding any more"
***
Meanwhile in Konoha's training ground 23.
"Master, did you feel it?"
"Yes, my apprentice the giver of springtide has returned as it was foretold."
"YOSH, lets train!"
"YOSH, what a youthful idea!"
The third person present there just shook his head and left.