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Naruto spent the next three days switching between jobs-at her request Tsunade had agreed to let her do some of her work at home-where Itachi often joined her to help her with her letters and the Academy proposals.

Naruto would, after working for most of the day, report in to Tsunade regarding her progress with the different tasks she'd been set, which the woman had seemed to be very pleased with given the fact that the blonde was had finished the seal, and was all prepared for her meeting with the Hyuga elders, and the letters were coming along nicely, given the fact that she had lists of the points she needed to include in each letters, it was just a matter of putting it all down on paper in a way that was polite and formal enough for the seriousness of the letters-the one to Iwa was trickiest given the very rough history between the two villages.

In any case everything was going brilliantly, and Naruto found herself oddly confident when she arrived at the Hyuga compound dressed in a semiformal dress.

It was almost kimono styled, long sleeved and it came down to mid calf, it looked smart enough with her coat over the top and her hair pulled back into a braid which had then been wound into a low bun.

Hiashi nodded approvingly when he greeted her at the gates of the compound. "Did you finish the design Naruto-san?"

"Of course Hiashi-sama." Naruto let out a breath, "So we go over the points in your office and then we go to the meeting itself."

"Yes." Hiashi nodded.

Shockingly enough the meeting itself took less time than the preperations had-though they had been very through during the hour long prep session.
The meeting took about forty minutes, in which Naruto had been as respectful as it was possible to be, which was incredibly hard when one of the elders had started complaining about the mere thought of dismantling ancient tradition.

The blonde had swiftly shut him up by pointing out that all clans had traditions that they'd long ago abandoned-the Inuzuka clan used to steal children who they found on their own before the founding of the village, and they were one of the kinder clans-some clans had killed any wandering children on their territory and no one was suggesting that erasing those traditions was bad now were they?

That had caused a lot of uncomfortable shifting and muttering but it had gotten the point through at least.

There had been a lot of discussion of course, a lot of convincing them-shockingly enough they'd been very upset at the idea of being expected to wear a seal themselves but Naruto had very smoothly pointed out that currently due to their lack of a seal they would be the ones targetted by enemies wishing to get their hands on their eyes and it was foolish to expect that they could always use members of the branch house as meat shields for main house members without causing considerable discontent and bad feeling.

By the end of the meeting Naruto was about ready to tear her hair out-and certainly ready to murder half of the elders, but they did agree to Hiashi's decision to remove the Caged Bird seals and replace them with Naruto's newly designed seal-though they insisted that it only be applied to the branch house members for now until it was proven how well it would work-and Naruto had felt an extra rush of annoyance at that-as if she was incompetent or something!

She was a Fuinjutsu master, and those old coots had insulted her skill.

Still she'd managed to hold herself back from saying anything, and she let herself breath and she and Hiashi headed out of the meeting room-and Naruto paused mid step, because outside of the room were three familiar figures.

Neji, Hinata and the girl who had to be Hinata's younger sister. All three of them looked curious and eager-though their was a certain undercurrent of anxiousness from Neji.

"Uncle, do-will they be insisting on reapplying the Caged Bird seal?"

"No. No they won't." Hiashi's expression was stoic, "The Caged Bird seal is to be removed from all members of our clan and it will be replaced with a new seal?"

"A new seal?" that was the girl stood next to Hinata, her eyes flicking to Naruto.

"Yes Hanabi-chan. Calm yourself Neji-" the boy had tensed, "It's a seal of Naruto-san's design."

"It is?" Neji's voice was soft, and his shoulders lowered slightly, tension leaving him as his gaze shifted to Naruto. "It won't..."

"The only person with any control over the seal would be you Neji-san. It can't be used to control you."

"T-thank you Naruto-san." Hinata stammered slightly, but she was smiling as she grabbed Neji's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"There's nothing to thank me for. I simply helped your father make his points and I've agreed to be responsible for the removal and appliance of the newer seals."

"Neji-kun I was hoping that you'd agree to be the first to have the new seal applied." Hiashi spoke up, watching Neji carefully as the teen hesitated before nodding.

"I trust Naruto-san's skill with sealing."

"I-if Neji-niisan has it done I want it too." Hinata's voice, despite her stammer was oddly confident, and Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Hiashi's brows furrowed and Neji's expression was stunned. Hanabi didn't seem surprised though-Hinata had probably told her younger sister what she was planning.

"Hinata-chan are you sure-"

"Yes father. If Neji-niisan has the seal then I want it too."

"Hinata-sama..." Neji's voice was slightly unsteady, "There's no need for you to do this-"

"If the seal is safe enough to use on you then it's safe enough to use on me. I'm sure Naruto-san wouldn't be willing to use it if she wasn't certain it would be safe."

"I wouldn't." Naruto smiled at the dark haired girl.

She might be shy as hell, and she let that shyness hold her back, but Kami Naruto had to respect the kindness of the other girl, her determination to support her cousin.

"If Hinata-neechan is getting it then I'll get it too." Hanabi was clearly more confident than her older sister, and based on the pride in her eyes she looked up to the shyer girl. That was good, Hinata deserved to have people looking up to her.

"Are you both sure?" Hiashi asked carefully, "I won't stop you if it's what you wish but I want you to consider it for at least a day. Naruto-san perhaps you could come over and apply the new seals tomorrow?"

"I should be able to make time for that." Naruto smiled at Hiashi and nodded, "What time would you want me here?"

"Early-Hinata and Neji have meetings with their teams and Hanabi and I will be training later in the day. Will you be free around nine?"

"I'm sure I could get here for nine." she smiled, "Thank you for involving me in all of this Hiashi-sama. I'm honoured to be able to help with all of this."

"It's I who should be thanking you." Hiashi nodded, "For finishing what your mother started all those years ago-though I should have never stopped her that day."

"We can't change the past." Naruto gave a very small shrug, "All we can do is shape the future Hiashi-sama. And I think you're doing a very good job if you don't mind me saying so."

"Thank you." Hiashi nodded, "I shall see you tomorrow."

"We'll see you tomorrow Naruto-san." Hinata smiled softly.

"I.." Neji nodded, "Thank you... just. Thank you."

Then Naruto was leaving the compound-she'd head home and pick up her paperwork before going back to see Tsunade.

Itachi had said he'd read through the last drafts of the letters while she was visiting the Hyuga's and she'd take them to Tsunade to let her read through them while briefing her on how the meeting had gone.

She let herself into the house, humming to herself as she headed through to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water-all that speaking had dried out her throat.

She raised an eyebrow at the sight of Itachi at the table, an open box of strawberry flavored pocky on the table, a cup of tea steaming next to him and the four letters laid out on the table. "Everyone else out?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-san has a mission, Karin-san dragged Sasuke-kun out for some training-I believe she wants to try her chakra chains on him-"

"Oh I almost pity him." Naruto laughed softly, "They seem pretty cool. I know my mom could use them and Kakashi-sensei said that she was terrifying when she used them."

"I'm sure Karin-san will be just as capable as your mother was some day."

"I hope so, it was amazing watching her just-she... if she hadn't arrived when she did..." Naruto shook her head, "I was trapped and Obito could have done anything to me to get mom to cooperate with him." she shuddered at that thought, a frown on her lips, and Itachi reached out, laying a
reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Thankfully Karin-san showed just what she was capable of and intervened."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded, "Yeah you're right." she let out a breath, forcing herself to relax, and Itachi must have noticed because he spoke up again, successfully drawing her thoughts away from might have beens.

"So Naruto-san. I assume your meeting went well-I was right the outfit is just right for such a meeting."

"Thank Kami for your experience with that sort of thing." Naruto gave him a bright grin, "I kept thinking 'Right, now what would Itachi say to do now' I mean admittedly it was usually that you'd tell me to keep my mouth shut and not start mouthing off at the elders but still, the tactic worked."

"And the Caged Bird seal?"

"Is officially going to be replaced by my new seal-only on the branch members of the clan at first but once they've been proven to work I believe Hiashi will push for all clan members to have it-it does limit the risk of eyes being stolen and having it on only Branch members just makes the main house bigger targets and he knows that."

"When will the removal process begin?"

"Those details still need to be sorted but Hiashi-san has already asked me to handle that and to handle the application of the new seals."

"Of course, he'd be a fool to ask anyone else to do it given your proficiency with seals and the fact that you created it."

"Yeah, though the first applications are going to be on Neji-san and Hiashi's daughters."

"Oh?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, "But they're members of the main house of the clan?"

"They asked for it." Naruto smiled faintly, "I think it was Hinata-san's idea. She might be incredibly shy but beneath the shyness I think there's a will of steel. She wanted Neji-san to know that he wasn't alone. And her sister adores her-she might be the more confident of the pair but I have no doubt that Hanabi-san would do anything for her big sister. As soon as Hinata decided she'd get the seal Hanabi joined her."

"Strong sibling bonds like that are always something to cultivate."

"Speaking of sibling bonds how are things between you and Sasuke?"

"They get easier every day. I believe he has a day off from training tomorrow, he was speaking about getting some Dango together."

"That sounds great." Naruto grinned, "So you're settling back into village life okay?"

"I am... though I admit I'm incredibly grateful for all this." he gestured to the letters spread over the table, "I was getting rather frustrated with having nothing to do. I might have hated the Akatsuki but there was always some job or another to do."

"Are you wanting to get back to missions?"

"Truthfully I'm not sure. I know Sasuke doesn't want me back in the field and I never enjoyed killing."

"Well there's always paperwork." Naruto grinned, "As an advisor that would be a huge part of your job right?"

"Hm." Itachi nodded, a smile playing across his lips "You may be right Naruto-san. Just as long as you don't try and push all of your paperwork on me."

"As if I would." Naruto shoved his shoulder lightly, "Lemme look at the letters a second."

Itachi slid them across the table and Naruto peered at them, humming to herself as she read them one by one, nodding.

"I'd say they seem about right. That is all of the intel we need to give them isn't it?"

"Yes." Itachi nodded, "Will they be being signed by Tsunade-sama or by yourself?"

"I don't know"

"My advice, the one to Iwa, when you sign it find a way to sign the name Namikaze as well as Nohara. It will have greater impact."

"Good idea." Naruto gathered up the letters, "And it has the added benefit of screwing with Iwa-y'know I wonder why they haven't said anything about me."

"Likely fear, after all the rumors say you're stronger than your father."

"I dunno about that-"

"Have more confidence in yourself Naruto-san. You're incredibly skilled. As the Rokudaime Hokage you'll need to be self assured."

"Right." Naruto nodded, smiling faintly, "Thank you Itachi-san."

"There's nothing to thank me for-now you go and speak to Tsunade-sama."

"Right." Naruto nodded, "I'll see you in a few hours I guess."