Hello guys, some more politics and stuff this chapter, I hope you enjoy, and don't worry there will be more action soon enough.

By the time Naruto was back at the Hokage tower she was much more composed than she had been, sobbing in the head of the Hyuga Clan's office.
They had arranged for her to come in three days time to the meeting with the elders, she'd arrive an hour early to go over their strategy for the meeting, at which she'd have to act as formal as she possibly could-she planned on asking Itachi for some advice over clothes-he'd been to clan meetings and the Uchiha were probably the only clan that had been quite so stuffy as the Hyuga clan could be, he'd know what she should wear to make a good impression.

In any case she let herself into Tsunade's office, the older woman raising an eyebrow at the sight of the blonde, "Have you-brat are your eyes redder than normal."

"Everything's fine." Naruto gave a tight little smile, "Hiashi-sama just gave me some old photo's."

"Ah." Tsunade nodded, "I see. Other than that how did the meeting go."

"Well I think, we discussed the new seal itself and I have to make some more alterations and fix it all up so that it'll work right, he's asked me to be the one who removes the old Caged Bird seals once everything's all sorted."

"That's reasonable." Tsunade nodded, "You've already proven that you can do it without injuring anyone."

"I'm going to have to spend a fair bit of time working on the seal." Naruto dropped down into the chair opposite from Tsunade.

"You can do it here." Tsunade decided, "I want you to be here." she glanced at the clock, "Are you hungry brat?"

"Yeah actually, I kinda am."

"I'll ask for someone to bring us some sushi." she flicked a button and spoke into a little machine on the desk, "Can someone get us a selection of sushi?" there was a tinny yes and Tsunade leaned back. "That should work."

And so they descended into a comfortable silence, Naruto focusing on the seal work while Tsunade worked her way through some of her paperwork-taking a short break when their sushi arrived before getting back to work, Naruto switching to brush and ink after about an hour since she had the basic design down.

About two hours after their meal Tsunade let out a thoughtful noise. "Brat."

"Yeah Baa-chan?"

"You able to take a break from the seal?"

"Yeah, sure." Naruto nodded.

"Good, come round here and look at these Council meeting transcripts-they're talking about the Academy's training programs-some of the civilian families are complaining that the Academy is too rigorous and unfair for the non-clan kids, I wanna know what you'd suggest doing."

Naruto took the papers Tsunade slid across to her and she flicked through them, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I don't really know much about the Academy's curriculum so I can't say much."

"I can get you the files." Tsunade offered, "I need to look over the Anbu's budget, two of us working together will get work done a lot faster."

"Of course." Naruto grinned softly as Tsunade pressed the button once again and made her request, and less than ten minutes later Shizune was bustling into the room, smiling warmly as she set the files down on the desk.

"Here's the files you asked for."

"Thank you Shizune-chan." Tsunade smiled, "I thought you were at the hospital today,"

"Rin-san let me finish early, she and Sakura-chan have everything under control at the moment so I decided to come and check in on you two."

"That's good, at least the hospital has been whipped into shape while I've been here."

"I'll appreciate that when I steal your hat." Naruto grinned brightly and Shizune laughed.

"You won't have to steal it."

"Hush now Shizune, why don't you go and relax for the evening?"

"I will do." Shizune gave a little wave and headed out as Naruto set to work, reading through the files.

It took a good few hours to read through it all, and Naruto let out a low groan when she finally shut it.

"You managed to read it all?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "How's your head feeling."

"Aching a bit, but Kurama will take care of that." Naruto let out a breath, "On the plus side I may have some thoughts."

"Oh, care to tell me what you're thinking?"

"Well." Naruto shifted, "I'd have to look at the overall budget to figure out if it's possible and how it would be arranged but I think there should be a pre-academy class for the non clan kids. That way they can have a few basic lessons that their parents won't have been giving them. I mean, from what I can tell in the reports kids like Sakura do sometimes struggle because of a lack of help from parents-she was a massive bookworm so she figured out all of the practical knowledge but-I mean as much as I love her she wasn't that good when I first met her, they need the extra support with the physical training that their parent's can't support."

"And what do you think about the comments about the Academy being too hard?"

"I think they're crap." Naruto shook her head, "Listen... I get the need for extra support for the civilian kids who want to become shinobi and I support that, but the Academy is not too hard. They don't even teach chakra control exercises like tree walking! If anything I'd say the main problem is that the Academy isn't flexible enough with their requirements. They need more funding so that they can offer better support for kids like Lee-san. According to the files he only passed because of Gai-san pulling some strings. I wouldn't have passed for that matter-"

"What?"

"One of the justsu you need to be able to do is the clone jutsu." Naruto tapped the file, "Which I physically cannot do."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Oh come on Naruto-chan I highly doubt that."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and flicked through the handsigns, summoning three basic clones, and all three of them were practically colorless and slumped, one of them looked half melted, and Tsunade blinked slowly.

"Did you purposely fail-"

"Nope. That's why my mom taught me the shadow clone jutsu. I have so much chakra that's it's near impossible for me to use such a precise amount as hopeful Genin are expected to do."

"I see." Tsunade nodded slowly, "Once you've dealt with the Hyuga situation and with your letters I want you to draft up a proposal for changes to the Academy."

"Of course Baa-chan." Naruto nodded, "I can do that."

"Good." the woman eyed her for a long moment before tapping her fingers on the desk, considering Naruto for a long moment, "You head home now, try and relax for a couple of hours and I want you here the same time tomorrow."

"Of course Baa-chan." Naruto stood up, "I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning brat." Tsunade smiled fondly as Naruto darted out of the room quickly and headed home, where she hurriedly ate some instant ramen before she settled down in her room, spending the whole evening working on the seal, with four clones drafting up the letters to the other Hidden villages.

She heard voices downstairs a few times, but she didn't investigate-she'd consider it but she was busy with her work.

She didn't even look up when there was a knock on her door, calling out, "Come in!"

She heard the door creak open and then a familiar voice spoke. "Well look at that, my baby girl working away and hiding up in her bedroom."

"I've got a bajillion things to do." Naruto did turn her head then, "Baa-chan's got me doing a bunch of jobs. I guess she's preparing me for taking over."

"Oh? And what are you working on at the moment?" Rin moved over to Naruto's bed and sat down, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I'm working on designing a seal for the Hyuga's to use instead of the Caged Bird. Thankfully I'm not far off with that I already had a lot of basic idea's down."

"That's good then. And your clones?"

"Letters to the other hidden villages. We're extending the hand of friendship by telling them everything we know about the Akatsuki. We've already got an alliance with Suna and Kiri, and I know that as much as the Raikage probably doesn't like me hugely-don't ask-but he trusted my word enough to let me briefly meet one of Kumo's Jinchuriki and he knows I went out of my way to warn them about the Akatsuki. And we're including Iwa because we're being the better people here."

"I'm sure that the Tsuchikage will just love the realization that the daughter of Namikaze Minato is offering the hand of friendship."

Naruto let out a laugh, "Think I should deliver it myself?"

"Hah, I can picture his face." Rin grinned, "You look so much like him at times." her expression softened, "You've grown up so much."

"Getting sappy in your old age mom?"

"Oi." Rin laughed, "If I didn't know that your seals have a bad habit of blowing up if you're interrupted half way through I'd have thrown a pillow at you you little brat."

"Y'know soon it'll be like treason to do that."

"Hm, I'm pretty sure mom's are exempt from laws about throwing things at their Kage." Rin remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Gaara-kun says his Temari and Kankuro claim that siblings are exempt." Naruto remarked lightly, "He was complaining about that last time I visited him."

"See, if siblings are exempt then parents definitely are." Rin pushed herself to her feet, moving to Naruto where she was sat at her desk, leaning over her shoulder, brushing her fingers through the loose blonde hair. "Will you be coming downstairs to eat."

"I had some sushi with Baa-chan and some instant ramen when I got home."

"Hm." Rin's voice was laced with disapproval, "Honey remember you have to get a balance between life and work.

"I know mom." Naruto sighed, "I just... I need to make sure this week goes well."

"It will honey, you're capable, you know you are."

"I know." Naruto shifted in her seat, pressing her head back into her mom's hand-the gentle pull of the fingers running through her hair was almost comforting. "Don't worry I will take a break when I need it."

"I'll be keeping an eye on you honey. Is there anything you need?"

Naruto thought for a moment before shifting, "Actually I think I need to speak to Itachi-san."

"Oh?" the raised eyebrow was incredibly curious and Naruto laughed softly.

"I have a meeting with the Hyuga elders in a couple of days time. I have no idea how I'm supposed to dress. I would assume it would be formal dress but I don't exactly know.. and I know the Uchiha were supposed to be the only clan as stuffy as the Hyuga's and he probably went to some of their meeting so I mean.."

"So you want his advice on how to behave and dress. That makes sense. I can go and tell him you want to speak to him if you'd like?"

"I'd appreciate it."

"I'll leave you in peace then." Rin smiled fondly, heading out of the room and shutting the door behind her, though there was a knock less than five minutes later and Naruto once again called out.

"Come on in!"

"Rin-san said you wanted some advice about meeting the Hyuga clan elders." Itachi made his way into the room, shutting the door behind him and moving over to the bed.

"Yeah, that'd be amazing." Naruto admitted.

"It's about the balance." Itachi spoke calmly, "You have to be respectful but firm. You have to present yourself well."

"What should I wear?"

"Hm." Itachi frowned, "A kimono would be too much I think. You want to look respectful without making yourself look desperate to impress." he thought for a moment, "I know you tend to go for shorts but do you have any long pants? And probably a kimono style top that's not cropped? That or perhaps a dress that's at least mid calf, respectable but respectful at the same time."

"I can easily get some." Naruto glanced at the clock, "If you come with me we could go and look through the shops, see what I can get."

"And don't go for bright orange." Itachi added as together they moved towards the doors, Naruto pouted at that.

"You're no fun Itachi-san."

"I don't need to be fun." Itachi remarked easily, "I need to help you prepare for this meeting-and we'll discuss how to address the elders on the way to the shops."

"Hm, fine." Naruto shoved her hands into her pockets, a wry smile on her lips, "And maybe after that I can run some ideas past you for some letters and some plans for the Academy-"

"You've got a lot you're dealing with at the moment?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, an amused look on his face."

"What can I say, I like being busy."

"Well I did say I'd help advise you. We'll go through it this evening."

"Awesome." Naruto grinned, "You're the best Itachi-san."