A/N: Another week, another chapter! It feels like this story's developed so fast! It's like watching a baby grow up into a little kiddo, a word baby… a story baby, per say. Thank you all so much for the reviews and feedback. I enjoy reading through them and seeing you guys enjoy what I write makes me want to write more and more! Anyways, enjoy this chapter folks!

Chapter 8: Some Explosions Aren't Colorful and Pretty

There are several rumors floating around the Hidden Leaf Village about the infamous black sheep of the Fourth Hokage's family, Sera Uzumaki.

"Rara, stop flicking the leaves off my face! It's super hard gettin them ta stick, ya know?!"

The civilians say that she had gone mad from the war and facing the corrupt nature of the Demon Fox's chakra was the final straw that broke her psyche. Causing her to dye her hair from the vibrant red to a deep black color and waving around a pink wand like a lunatic.

"Toto, if you can't even keep a single leaf on your forehead from being flicked away, how do you expect to kick butt and take names of all your sworn enemies?"

On the other hand, the shinobi population had a much different, and tamer, theory: Sera Uzumaki… had just figured out what her outlet was.

"Hey! I can totally kick butt! The Academy's just dumb, they make us read boring books and stuff."

Every shinobi worth their salt knows that those who make it to the rank of Jounin pick up a special quirk in some form or another. Some drank excessively. Others chain smoked all day, and some took a… different approach, like reading erotic literature in public or wearing skintight spandexes while yelling how "youthful" everything was.

"Yeah, books are pretty boring, but what does dad always say?"

"That reading will make me smart and smart is what keeps the world moving… Wait! But mom says that she hates reading boring books and studying!"

"Toto, just because mother hates reading doesn't mean she didn't read and study in the Academy. She actually graduated as the Top Kunoichi in her class."

"Oh… Well, I'm gonna graduate as the Top Rookie! Just you wait!"

Sera chuckled at her little brother's enthusiasm and flicked the leaf off of his forehead again, "Of course, kiddo. Your big sis is cheering for you."

To her fellow shinobi, Sera's "weird" behavior of wearing a so-called magical girl outfit and swinging a wand around was just another byproduct of surviving through a Great War at such a young age. As long as she could perform missions effectively and function well enough in her day-to-day life, Sera was one of the normal ones.

"Anyways, anything fun happen at the Academy?" Sera asked as she kept on eye on Naruto's chakra levels.

If it were up to her, Naruto wouldn't be training right now or for another couple years, in fact. Just because she was a "child prodigy" doesn't mean that Naruto also had to be one. The Elemental Nations weren't at war currently, on the surface anyways, and the dire need to replenish the Hidden Leaf's forces weren't as bad as six years ago.

"Yeah, yeah! Nata totally kicked this mean purple haired girl's butt with her words and saved a pink haired girl! Nata was totally the prince, right?! Sasu said that Nata can't be a prince because she's a girl, but Nata totally was a prince, she even princess carried the pink haired girl!" Naruto waved his arms around excitedly, losing focus on the leaf which caused it to fall off.

Sera smiled along with her brother and mentally made a note to look into the two girls he mentioned. She didn't know who the purple haired girl was off the top of her head, but she did know who the pink one was.

Sakura Haruno, a civilian born from two career Genin who were paper pushers at best. Decent family income and the shinobi background, while small, wouldn't case any issues with Sakura becoming a full-fledged kunoichi, probably.

The girl had caught the eye of Hiro on the day of the opening ceremony. According to her Hyuga friend, Bright Pink would apparently have phenomenal chakra control once she learned to hone her chakra later on. Her chakra was calm and controlled even in its currently dormant state, and the only issue Hiro saw was her lackluster chakra pool.

"So, did you or Hinata get the name of the girl?" Sera asked, keeping the conversation flowing.

The leaf exercise was a rather simple chakra control exercise for many, but to the Uzumaki, it is one of the hardest due to their large and dense chakra pool. They would have better luck trying to water walk then holding a single leaf on their forehead.

On top of that, getting nervous or hyper focusing on the leaf would only lead to the person losing control, which was why Sera was trying her best to keep Naruto's thoughts flowing.

"Um, I think her name was Sakura. Yeah, Sakura Har- something. She had a white circle on the back of her shirt," Naruto answered, putting the leaf back on his forehead without a second thought.

"Anything else going on?" Sera asked.

"Um… I'm still trying to convince Sasu that taking over the world is a good idea," Naruto said with his arms crossed, "He keeps saying that its stupid and that no one can take over the world because 'its good big, dummy'."

"Not with that attitude," she quipped, imagining the little Uchiha acting all haughty and mighty. Ah, the growth of an Uchiha's pride was an interesting thing to watch. Especially, since Sera knew that Sasuke would most likely turn out more like Shisui than anything else. The boy was Naruto's best friend and that's a nonrefundable position.

"That's what I said!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down, "If we rule the world then no one would be sad, and every day would be ramen day!"

Sera nodded along to the sagely statement, "You should take Sasuke to Ichiraku tomorrow and make sure he eats so much ramen that he starts liking it. Show him the light and bring him towards the truth."

This seemed to bring a shine to Naruto's eyes as it grew wider than before, "GENIUS!"

Before Sera could say anything, the little blonde ball of energy was gone from the backyard and on his way towards the Uchiha compound. A certain tiny Uchiha would most likely spend his late afternoon stuck in at one Ichiraku Ramen stand.

"Wonder who's gonna tell him he's got a leaf stuck on his face," Sera thought out loud as she chuckled. Her little brother had been trying so hard to complete the leaf exercise when all he needed was to just relax.

Even if she didn't want to see her little brother training at such a young age, she knew that it was inevitable. In this world children are raised to believe that they had to live and die for their village, entrusted with the knowledge and abilities to kill at the age of twelve. In some cases, even earlier, just look at her for example.

With a grimace, she tapped the ground with her foot, causing an intricate purple colored magic circle to appear on the ground of the backyard. Sera swirled her wand around in a circle as the backyard started to rewind back into an ordered state. All the stray leaves and broken branches returning to their original place and the trampled grass standing up right once more.

Stasis Magic.

A simple, basic magic that all Devils should strive to learn and perfect. It's usually used to restore arenas after Rating Games since rebuilding an arena over and over again would cost a hefty sum of change.

"Two seconds," Sera frowned, "Still not fast enough."

In her prime, she could restore an arena the size of a city instantly. Even though her soul may be the same, her body was new. Just because she got her magic back didn't mean she retained the excellent control and muscle memory of a couple centuries amount of living.

Sera took in a deep breath to clear her mind; the negativity wasn't worth mulling over. Shit happens and this was the hand she was dealt by that bastard Death God. She would just have to work with what she got and make the most of it, "I am definitely going to turn that bitch into a dog and dress em up in cute frilly outfits. THEN I'm going to feed it to the toads. A gross and slimy death."

No one would deny that the Fourth Hokage was a patient man.

"Kushina, this has gone on for too long. The people are getting curious. Hell, just the other day I heard a couple of my Chunin gossiping about it. Gossiping!"

However, six years is a long time. Minato wanted to give his wife the benefit of the doubt and hoped that she would pull herself out of the hole she dug for herself all those years ago. Then, the months turned into a year, then two, then six.

"Gossiping about what?"

As the village's leader, Minato needed to keep up an image of dependency and strength, that also extended to his family. He didn't doubt that everyone in his family were strong people, there's no denying that his wife and daughter were powerhouses, but there was more to strength than just raw power. Familial cohesion was also important. His people looked up to his family to see what a good family should be.

"Don't feign ignorance Kushina, we both know what I'm talking about. It's been six years. What is the issue here? You won't talk to me and you won't talk to her about it. How can we fix… this if you don't tell anyone what the issue is?"

The redhead in question frowned deeply and glared at her husband, "Why can't you just let this go Minato? We've been doing alright so far, so why dig it up?"

It was the blonde Hokage's turn to frown. He knew that everything was NOT alright, and he knew that Kushina knew as well. She was denying the truth and for the first time in their marriage, he couldn't recognize the woman he had fallen in love with all those years ago.

"Kushina. Please. We NEED to fix this."

"Fix WHAT Minato?"

"You can't keep pushing Sera away, people are notice-!"

"Sera this, Sera THAT! Why can't you see that the problem here, Minato? Why can't you realize that whoever living under our roof isn't our Sera?!"

A thick, uncomfortable silence fell between the two adults as they tried their best to keep standing. The truth had come out. Everything that Kushina had been keeping to herself had been expressed in just three sentences. Short, concise, and almost irreplaceably damaging.

"… What?" Minato finally asked after a few minutes of thinking. A million thoughts ran through his head and he just wanted to just… stop, and think, but he knew that he might never get another chance to talk about this.

"You heard what I said," Kushina said quietly, gripping the back of the living room sofa, "The Reaper Death Seal is a sacrificial technique, an eye for an eye on a literal sense. You offered up your soul in order to seal the soul of the Nine-Tails. So, if that's the case then how is 'Sera' still here, hm? Tsunade even said that she's not the same Sera on a biological level. So, who the FUCK is the person parading around as our 'daughter'?!"

"Kushina…" was all Minato said, all that he could say. How was he supposed to react when his wife dropped a bomb like that on him? Sure, he knew the ins and outs of the sealing techniques that went into the Reaper Death Seal, but he hadn't the time to learn all the intricacies when he used it.

In his mind, Sera had always been his daughter, biological or not. She was the sweet little girl that he raised with his wife, trained to become a phenomenal kunoichi, and nurtured into a respectable adult. It didn't matter to him if she looked different because in the end, she would always be his little girl. His sweet angel.

"Why," Minato whispered.

"Why… what?" Kushina huffed angrily, crossing her arms.

"Why does it matter to you so much?" Minato asked solemnly, "She has all the memories, her personality is still shining as always, and her love for us is unconditional. She would take a knife for Naruto, a firestorm for you, and even the Death God's sword for me."

"So…" Minato continued, "Why does her difference matter so much? Is she still not the girl we raised? No matter what, family stick with each other. Isn't that what you always say? Uzumaki are a clan who are family first then comrades next? If that's the case then how is Sera any less of a family than before?"

Minato didn't get an answer, at least not right away… or from the person he asked. He had activated the sound barrier seal on the living room once he and his wife had begun talking, but he hadn't realized that there was one more person who was keyed in to all the seals around the house.

"Because I'm not an Uzumaki anymore in her eyes."

The two adult's head snapped towards the shadowy hallway where a black-haired girl with pigtails stepped out into the living room light.

"I lost my trademark red hair."

She took another step.

"I can't make Adamantine Chains anymore."

Another step.

"My vitality, gone. My chakra density? Thinned out."

Step.

"My biology replaced."

Stop.

"Kushina, you were so wrapped up in your Uzumaki pride that you forgot the one thing that makes someone an Uzumaki more than their chakra and techniques. More real than having red hair and infinitely more precious than some blood tests."

Sera now stood at eye level with her mother, mere inches away from the face that had given her countless sleepless nights and silent tears. The face that once brought joy now only brought pain and regret. Thought about how different everything would be if she hadn't jumped in front of that sword six years ago.

"And what can I say? You're right. I'm not the Sera Uzumaki you once knew," Sera spoke, glaring at the redheaded woman to cut her off when Sera saw her move to speak, "I offered up my Uzumaki heritage in exchange for dad's life. A trade that was appealing enough for that bastard God. Apparently, the cunt just so adores Uzumaki chakra. So yes, I'm not an Uzumaki by blood anymore."

Sera then looked at her dad with tearful eyes, "But I would make that trade over, and over, again because to me, I would gladly give everything I have to make sure that my family is alive to see another day. So yes, Kushina Uzumaki, I may not your daughter anymore, but I sure as hell am my dad's little girl and no one, no human or god, can change that."

She then waited. Waited with baited breath for either of them to respond.

All she got was silence.

So, she did the only thing she could think to do at that moment. She ran.

"Man, you two are so gay for each other."

Shisui and Hiro looked up from their seats to see their third teammate sitting idly on a nearby roof top, legs swinging and wand twirling.

"Sup losers?" she asked as she jumped down next to the two, sliding onto half of Shisui's seat, scooching the boy over with her butt, "How's it hanging?"

"As if," Hiro scoffed, and without missing a beat, "I'm too good for this bum. Look at this prime Hyuga material, you can't get specimen this good just anywhere. Good looks, high intellect, and a gentlemanly personality, I got the full package."

"Sure, if you got the full package then I must be overflowing," Shisui snickered as he hid behind Sera to evade Hiro's intense glare.

"Ok, first, ew. Did not need to hear you two comparing dick sizes," Sera blanched, "Second, I'm sorry Hiro but I've seen better."

This earned a squawk from said Hyuga and Shisui almost fell out of the chair from laughing too hard. He would have stayed on too but a kick from Hiro and a shove from Sera resulted in the Uchiha laughing his ass off on the floor of the restaurant.

"Anyways, you two got any plans for tonight?" Sera asked as she stole bits of Shisui and Hiro's food.

"Nope, we were talking about finding something to do before you came crashing down on us," Hiro answered as he pushed the rest of his food towards the girl, "What's up? You got something in mind?"

"Eh, I was bored and was wondering if the boys wanted to run a heist to pass the time," Sera shrugged.

"You mean mission," Hiro corrected.

"Heist, mission, same difference," Sera waved off.

"Uh huh, and apples and oranges are the same fruit," Hiro deadpanned.

"Now you're getting it," Sera smirked.

"Uh, either of you gonna help me up?"

Sera and Hiro looked down at the ground where Shisui was laying on his back, looking relatively comfortable despite the fact that he was on a restaurant floor that probably was stained with various foods and housing a hoard of splinters.

"Get your own ass up ya lazy bum," Hiro quipped, nudging the Uchiha in the shins with his foot, "Sera ate all our food so let's go already."

Shisui let out a loud and exaggerated groan, "Fiiiine. You think Teach has enough energy to roll with us? If its not 'too troublesome' as he says."

"Depends on the mission I guess," Hiro replied, "What is the mission anyways?"

The two boys looked towards their friend who was sipping on Shisui's tea, "What? The mission? Apparently, some upstart douchebag with a shit ton of money is trying to take over the Wave by force. The feudal lords from the capital don't like shady stuff like that happening so close to the Land of Fire. Plus, the village could use some extra funds, you feel?"

"Huh, Teach might actually tag along for this one," Shisui said.

"Yeah, he'll probably say that just sending the three of us would somehow lead to a diplomatic disaster that would land the Hidden Leaf in debt," Hiro nodded.

"Well, what are you two waiting for?" Sera asked as she stood up and brushed off her skirt, "Last one to Teach's house is a sore loser!"

In an instant, Sera disappeared in a cloud of sparkles and confetti, leaving behind two confused and slightly tilted teens.

"She totally dined and ditched on us," Shisui said to Hiro

"Yup," Hiro said with a tired tone as he fished out the appropriate amount of money for the meal.

"I'm telling Teach," Shisui pouted, "He'll make sure she gets some kind of punishment for this, right?"

Hiro scoffed, "If anything he'll just give her a high five and call us slowpokes for not ditching first."

"This is unfair."

"Life is unfair."

"Well, you smell."

"Very clever Uchiha, very clever."

The two left the restaurant and began walking towards the Nara Clan's compound near the edge of the village.

"You notice that she didn't call us by our nicknames?" Shisui asked seriously, the usual playful tone gone from the Uchiha's voice and a blank look replaced his goofy smile.

"Something must have happened with her family. That's the only thing she can't just freeze to death and forget about," Hiro responded with his own serious look.

"Think we should ask her?" Shisui asked.

"You know her better than I do," Hiro said with a grimace.

It was true. No matter how long or how well the Hyuga would be and know Sera Uzumaki as a friend, he would never replace Shisui as her number one best friend. It was something that used to bother him but after a while, he just stopped caring since he knew that Sera viewed both him and Shisui as equals, not by some arbitrary friendship scale.

"The ticking time bomb may have exploded," Shisui said with a frown.

"So, nothing we can do about, huh?" Hiro's shoulders sagged in an un-Hyuga-like manner.

"She'll tell us when she's ready."

"I hope you're right."

The rest of the walk was spent in silence as the two didn't feel like talking anymore. How could they just brush it off? Their closest friend, a sister at this point, was suffering and the two couldn't do anything but just stand on the sideline, watching it all go down, waiting for Sera to approach them first.

"Fucking hell, what took you two so long? Were you sucking each other's dicks or something?"

The two looked up at the second story window of their old teacher's house to see Sera leaning out with her hands cupped around her mouth.

"Ok, ok. I have no need to know or hear about my ex-students' genitals or sexual activities," Shikaku said as he slapped the back of Sera's head and pulled her back inside, "And stop being so loud. It's nighttime already."

"Okie dokie!" Sera saluted before rushing outside to her friends.

"Ready slowpokes?"

"A Hyuga is always ready."

"That kinda sounds dirty dude. It's like if I said an Uchiha is always ready to pounce."

"I'm putting a stop to you three's dirty talk. If I'm going on this mission then keep the course language to a minimum."

The three teenage Jounin nodded and looked towards their Jounin Teacher. Even though the team had disbanded almost a decade ago, the four would always remain a team, a family of sorts.

"Team Four, let's head out."

"Aye aye captain!"