AN

Well- it's been quite some time.... sorry all...

End AN

Naruto came in to the wedding hall and made his way to the front as Gaara's best man beside Chouji, Shikamaru's best man.

"What happened to Kankuro?" Naruto pointed over at Kankuro who was wearing bandages over most of his head.

"He made a comment about Temari's dress," Chouji said simply.

"What kept you, you were almost late, and the last to arrive, besides Kakashi anyway."

"I was at the hospital visiting Shirei."

"How is she?"

"A lot of internal damage, I never even saw most of their battle," Naruto frowned, "It was too fast."

"I heard a little from Sakura, but she couldn't tell me much…"

"They both had the same bloodlimit technique, I've faced it once before this too, but back then I only won because I lost control of the Fox- and then he sacrificed himself to save his partner. This time, all I could do was stand and watch." Naruto's fists were clenched hard enough to draw blood.

"Form what I heard, you did better than Itachi and the others, who had to just stand and watch to keep the new three-tail safe."

"Itachi was the only one that knew enough about Hidan to fight him, and he could both fight Hidan and keep Lyle safe from Hidan. In order to keep his promise to protect Lyle, he had to watch Hidan slaughter the rest of the underground," Naruto explained sadly.

"Shh, looks like it's starting."

It was a mostly dull service, aside from the awkward moment when everyone glanced at Ino when the priest asked for objections.

Naruto was yanking off his bow tie as he re-entered Shirei's room in the hospital. He scowled in clear discomfort…

"So, he can look civilized when he chooses," Shirei smirked.

"Not like you go wondering around in the latest fashions," he retorted, chucking the bow tie in the trash bin as he walked over. He took off the jacket and set it on the arm of the chair nearest to the bed.

"Fashionable and civilized are hardly the same thing," she rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath and released in a long suffering sigh. She forced herself to sit up, her one good arm leaning against the headrest. She winced as she did so. "I told you at the end of the tournament I wanted to help you learn your water side…"

Naruto nodded, but didn't speak.

"That may not be the only think I can teach you…" She looked down and sighed again… "There is a ritual- a blood ritual… I knew it was possible once I learned your elements matched mine- but I didn't seriously consider the option until after my defeat at the hands of Ikana…" She looked up to gauge his reaction as she spoke again, "I can share my bloodlimit with you…"

Naruto's head bucked back in shock without his eyes leaving hers. He blinked, but was still trying to form words.

"Like your first Hokage and his hybrid element Wood, which no one else has managed to master, I can use my blood to give you power over the hybrid element Ice."

"But if such a technique-"

"Because the few who knew are almost gone- only two families ever possessed the knowledge to do so… mine, and the Kaguya clan- which was killed off." She smirked cruelly, "If those fools who assaulted them had only known- they might have at least tried to pry the secret- but the Kaguya are of course remarkably hard to detail against their will… They might have escaped if only they had hinted at their knowledge, but always they were driven by their bloodlust…"

Naruto frowned at the slip of venom in her tone. "You think they deserved it."

She sighed, "Maybe not that literally, but their obsession with blood of course meant they would die in a horrifically bloody manner themselves."

"And your clan," Naruto pressed, sitting in the chair beside her bed.

"God I don't know," she scoffed… "I look at my grandfather and see all the arrogance and pride that led to our initial fall… But I see my aunt who settled with a simple man- who freaked when he learned his wife and son were former ninja- and that they had a blood technique to boot…" She shifted and turned away, "I know- I know what he thought when he learned… He thought 'my god- how could this woman- the mother of my child- have lied to me… what kind of monster is she- that she's capable of such horrible bloodshed… And Haku… God if only I hadn't been in a child's form again- I could have shielded him- or- something- god I don't know now…" She slumped back down in her bed. She scowled and turned back to Naruto, "But that's water under the bridge, or will be once Ikana is gone."

"Which you're asking me to help you with," he smirked.

"It does coincide with your own interests after all- and it's certainly the last thing he'll expect."

Naruto scoffed this time, "Right- and you just want to trust me with that knowledge?"

"Well as they say, desperation makes strange bedfellows…"

Naruto gave a half-shrug of a nod. "I wouldn't know- I haven't had anything close to a bedfellow since I reverted to a kid."

Although obviously a joke from how his said it, the comment caught Shirei off guard as she gawked at him for a moment. It was only after Naruto smirked and started laughing that Shirei caught up with the joke. She turned and glared, radiating a lack of amusement.

"What good is being a kid again if you can't laugh at yourself about it," Naruto defended.

Shirei huffed, "What good is being a kid again when because of it you can't do the things you want to do for everyone… There's no good to come of it, even the power we gain from it only makes people fear us…"

"The fear the monster inside, and they confuse it for us, but it's not us, and for whatever we may fail to do because of it- we are keeping our people safe from it," Naruto said in the seriousness she had become accustomed to in him, having only been around him in desperate situations forcing him to drop the childish shield he used…

"Why do you act the way you do around others?"

"Uh-oh- who've you been talking to- Sakura-chan?"

"Among a few others…"

"There are more than a few things you don't know about me- and it would take a long time to fill any one person in on the whole, even more so for someone who doesn't at least have one part of the story or another…"

"I don't want your life story, but if I'm going to trust you with my family's technique, I'd at least like to understand you enough to know how you'll use it…"

Naruto sighed, slumping his body in the seat again. "Okay, we'll squeeze what cliff notes we can in…" He took a deep breath, "After I grew up the first time, I of course took a fairly standard career ladder, a bit faster than most, but still the same rungs- genin, chounin, jounin, team leader… taught by Jiraya, a learned a fairly loose teaching method, I had some fairly varied students. One of those students was always trying- he rarely succeeded, but he tried time and again, he was both the best and worst ninja possible, in that he gave everything time and again to complete the mission without any losses- in the end he even sacrificed himself rather than leave a teammate behind…" He sighed, "I kinda started emulating him as I grew up this time," he put a hand behind his head sheepishly.

"The pranks though," he continued, "are a mix of two things, first, to test my skills in ways that don't immediately draw attention to me in ways that make it obvious what I'm doing, and second- like I already said, what good is being a kid again if you can't act like one every so often and just laugh…" He scowled, "I lost pretty much everything when the Kyuubi attacked, my life as it was- was over… So I became this new one, whole heartedly… I kind of envy you for being able to hang on to some of what you were…"

"I gave up my old life long before I took in the Bakeneko," she muttered. "I was in hiding because my village would destroy me for what I was- it was only when the Bijuu came I dared trust anyone, and like now, it was because I was desperate, I turned to the now Fifth Mizukage, and all it got me, was one trainer after another who was too afraid to treat me as anything other than a monster forced on them…" She sucked in a long and clearly bothered breath, "Ikana is at least as big a threat as a Bijuu, if not more because he's in complete control of himself as he does it all. Once he's 'acclimatized' to the current world situation, he will most likely try to avenge himself against all of Kirigakure."

Naruto chuckled, but instantly looked guilty for it, "Even after all this you're still loyal to your village, while I admit it's not surprising, it is mildly amusing."

"You're loyal to your village…"

"My village never tried to kill me, just a few misguided individuals in the village."

Shirei shrugged it off, "I'm tired, come back later, I'll need to have come a long way in my recovery to attempt to share my blood…" With that she laid back down and turned away from Naruto.