My first day as a member of the 3rd regiment...it was hot, sandy, chaotic, nothing at all like the training in Iwa. Of course, that's pretty much the way it was for all of us, wasn't it? All that preparation, all those years of training... it doesn't really prepare you for all the screaming or the blood, does it? Frankly I'm still amazed we ever made it through the first hour in Suna, never mind the first day.

Exerpt from journal of Ozawa Daisuke, Jonin of Iwagakure, 3rd regiment, First Shinobi War, Suna theatre of operations.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything that I make references to in this story. This is a fanfiction that I make no profit off of. I'm just doing this for fun.


Inoichi POV:

Inoichi had just returned home from interrogating a missing nin that had been tracked down and captured just a week prior. He was in his kitchen, kissing his wife passionately, when he heard pounding on the door.

"Again?" He growled, pulling away from her.

"It might be important." She said, her brown hair tussled from their activities just a moment ago.

Growling under his breath about 'shit timing', Inoichi walked over to the door and stretch out his senses. What he felt had him running to the door.

He felt Asuma's chakra and he felt his daughter's chakra and her most prevalent emotions.

Fear and shame.

Pulling the door open harshly, he saw Asuma holding Ino, blood coming from her nose, and she was crying uncontrollably.

"Ino," he gasped, looking at his sobbing daughter, "What happened?"

"I didn't mean to," She cried, "I'm sorry." she sobbed.

Inoichi looked at Asuma desperately, his look begging him to tell him what happened.

"She jumped into Naruto's mind." He said softly.

Inoichi froze, his thoughts grinding to a halt.

Please no. There's too many dangerous things in there.

Ino would have had her mind shredded if she encountered the Kyuubi, even he wouldn't have escape completely unscathed if he came across it in Naruto's mind unless he broke the connection quickly.

Ino, based upon her bleeding nose, had been violently driven from Naruto's mind, something Inoichi experienced first hand when mind jumping as a teenager, learning to pierce someone's defenses.

Naruto has the strongest mind I've ever seen for someone his age. Ino would have been totally unprepared for how vicious the bite back would be. How the hell did she even get into his mind in the first place? Her chakra isn't potent enough yet, nor is her control good enough.

Cursing himself for not telling her to never jump into Naruto or Rin's minds, he walked towards Ino and engulfed her into a hug.

"It's ok, sweety," He caressed her hair softly, trying to help calm her, "Tell me what happened?" he asked softly.

He felt his daughter's shaking lighten some, before she looked up to his eyes.

"I w-was sparring with Naruto and h-he beat me," She said slowly, trying to keep her voice steady, "He said I was getting better, but that I was six years too late to beat him."

Inoichi just nodded and continued to look down at her, still holding on to her.

"He said no Ninjutsu, but he used them against Asuma-sensei. So I did it too. He said 'If you ain't cheating, you ain't winning'."

Truer words aren't often spoken amongst Shinobi.

Ninja weren't Samurai. The samurai had a code of honour, but a Shinobi's ethics derived from one of two things. Will it help me survive, and will it help my friends survive?

"He turned his back and I jumped into his mind." She started shaking again.

Inoichi just held her tighter to let her know he was here, that she wasn't alone.

"What did you see?" he asked, worry leaking into his tone.

Ino started breathing shallowly, her left hand rising up to her chest.

"It hurt so much. I couldn't breathe." She choked out.

Inoichi stiffened.

Naruto's feeling when the Kyuubi attacked was a paralysing terror at being unable to breathe. The sealing felt like my tenketsu had been lit on fire, and that was when I insulated my mind from the memory, something Ino isn't as well versed in doing.

Inoichi knelt down to Ino and looked directly into her eyes.

"What else?" he asked, "What else did you see?"

Ino's eyes were slightly glazed, a very bad sign.

"So much Killing Intent." she whispered.

Inoichi felt an icy dagger work it's way into his heart, his worst fear becoming a reality right in front of him.

"Ino," He said, trying to keep his voice steady, "I need to look into your mind. I can make it go away. Do you trust me?" he asked.

Ino seemed to snap out of her trance slightly, her eyes refocusing on his face, before she nodded.

"Yes, daddy." she said weakly.

Inoichi smiled softly and stood up.

"Are you ready?" he asked softly.

Ino simply nodded, her eyes bloodshot from crying, and her nose having stopped bleeding.

Inoichi looked directly into her eyes and made a handsign to enter his daughter's mind.

He felt his consciousness jump forward, his living room disappearing from his view. He looked around his daughter's mind, looking for the most recent memories of today. He found the training memories from today, amused by what Naruto did to irritate Sasuke. He felt distinctly uncomfortable when he noticed how Ino's thoughts drifted to a more mature kind as she eyed the two shirtless boys.

I don't need this now, move forward.

He slowly sped up the memories, feeling the anger at Rin and his daughter's feeling of inadequacy at seeing herself as the weakest of her team. He got to the suprise she felt when Naruto requested to spar with her. Naruto had Henged to look like her and limited himself to the speed and strength she displayed when she first graduated. Inoichi felt the discomfort Ino felt at Naruto being in her personal space, her arms restrained in Naruto's grip. Inoichi focused on what Naruto said and did after that.

He wants her to know that she shouldn't compare her taijutsu to him and Rin.

Naruto seemed to understand why Ino was worked up over being beaten, wanting to let her know she was getting better, even if it didn't look like it at first.

Inoichi felt Ino's mischievous thoughts as Naruto turned his back. The thought of getting one over the boy who always seemed to have a comeback, some little quip that didn't have a counter.

She made the handsign, jumping into Naruto's mind. Inoichi felt her shock when she heard Kakashi and Asuma shouting. But she was even more so when she felt the terror coming from Naruto.

He might have been too shocked or frightened to make his mind focus against an intruder.

Naruto had been guarded whenever Inoichi had done follow-up appointments following him nearly being killed six years ago. He assumed it was because Naruto was more sensitive to foreign chakra after his Yin chakra was freed from his seal. He'd never mentioned his sensory abilities until after the incident. It was strange, but not impossible, that Naruto's sensing ability was blocked by the detachment of some of his Yin chakra.

Naruto had trouble letting me in afterwards. The logical reason I could think of is that he could actually feel me enter his mind.

Naruto would try and steer Inoichi away from certain parts of his mind, those parts causing terror to Naruto.

Probably the Kyuubi attack and him nearly being killed.

Inoichi focused back to why he was here, to see what Ino had seen.

Inoichi recognized the first memory. The memory being a very private one. Naruto was screaming at Rin, demanding why she had betrayed him.

His emotions and thoughts were flailing around.

Inoichi felt pained at the thought of Ino struggling to insulate her mind from Naruto's anguished thoughts of being alone, the person he held most precious seemingly abandoning him.

"I don't know you."

The next memory Ino was pulled into was what happened that very night, in an alley by a hospital.

Inoichi had already seen this memory, but it almost seemed more tortuous this time because he knew his daughter had experienced it almost as intensely as Naruto had.

I should have told her to never do a mind jump into Naruto or Rin.

It was an oversight. An idiotic oversight that had bit them in the ass.

The Genjutsu took hold, Naruto's thoughts drowning in despair at what he repeatedly saw, screaming words that weren't understandable. The blast of chakra that caused a burning feeling in his tenketsu. The kunai. But that was when the memory felt different. There hadn't been a nauseating level of Killing Intent when this happened.

Did Ino almost stumble across an echo of the Kyuubi memory? Did I miss it the first time I saw this? It could be possible, this memory here was seen by her years after it happened. Naruto might have seen this as a part of the Kyuubi attack in his psyche, polluting the sensations in this memory with another.

The inability to breath was still there. Naruto had been blindly grabbing at something, probably the blunted kunai he had dropped when the Shinobi had driven a knee into his gut.

Again, the memory was slightly different than before.

An individual with a lightning affinity stood above him, chakra radiating from his hands. The hands grabbed ahold of him and lifted him up. That was when Ino was blasted from Naruto's mind, the connection breaking.

The signature felt similar to Kakashi's, but different. Did Ino's jump mess with Naruto's memory unintentionally?

A torture method the Yamanaka had thought of to get information out of strong willed individuals during the Warring States period involved something like that. When they couldn't get information, the Yamanaka would splice individual memories or strings of emotion and put them together. It was easier to cut apart and 'glue' together faces and emotions that were already entrenched in the prisoners mind than it was to falsify memories for the sake of torture.

Giving a false memory of killing your children was easier to see through if you didn't have a good memory template. 'Shiny' was what the false ones were described as when they were tested on Yamanaka volunteers. But putting the face of the prisoner's daughter, who would preferably resemble her mother, onto the mother's body in a memory of the prisoner making love to his wife was more effective. No father wants a memory of them sleeping with their daughter forced into their heads, being nearly unable to differentiate it from reality. Any memory that involved the father hugging or embracing his daughter would have the feelings of desire he had around his wife sewn into it to further fortify the terror in their minds. Henging an aide to look like the daughter would be the final step of the mind game.

The accuracy and the near inability to see through the false memory was reliant upon the individuals in the target memories and the content source. Memories that involved killing enemy Shinobi that surrendered could never work when you want a false memory of a man killing his brother. The enemy nin meant nothing to him, he had no love for them, in contrast to the love he has for his brother. But memories of those you love could and did work. Even if love of children and love for lovers were very different, they were still located in the same part of someone's mind. Inoichi had no doubts whatsoever that a highly skilled Yamanaka would be able to twist Naruto's memories of a friend into that of a lover if there was a reason to, if they had a stronger will than him in the first place. The only method that was found to potentially break through it involved intense Genjutsu torture that caused implanted memories, no matter how well crafted, to unravel.

Thank Kami there's only a few who have the skill to do that.

Inoichi, as the clan head, and his father and a few cousins knew how to do it. It was one of the most dangerous memory techniques they had, as it ran the risk of melting the targets entire mental state if done incorrectly.

I need to check on Naruto to make sure that wasn't what happened accidentally when Ino jumped in his mind.

Inoichi prepared to leave his daughter's mind, but before he did, he grasped ahold of the memories she witnessed and pulled. The terror and anguish that went unfiltered into her mind was muted to the degree that Inoichi himself had felt when his insulation was active.

His vision changed back to normal, and his living room and his daughter came back into view.

He saw that Ino's eyes were no longer unfocused and she was no longer shaking. But her emotions still showed that she felt shame for what she did.

"Feel better?" He asked her, his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded to him, her face relaxed.

"You'll have a headache for some time," he explained, "Sleep is the most helpful for me when something like this happens." he finished.

Ino nodded again, her eyes downcast.

"Will Naruto be okay?" She asked quietly.

"I'll need to see him to be certain." He replied kindly, "But I don't think he will have lasting damage if he has any."

Ino didn't seem to care though. "I felt everything in the memories I saw," she whispered, "He's terrified of losing Rin and anyone close to him. He's scared of being weak." she whispered.

Inoichi continued to hug her. "Your mother will be here with you," he said gently, "Where is Naruto right now?" he asked Asuma, looking towards the other man.

"Hospital on the east side." he replied.

Ironic.

Inoichi let go of Ino, kissing the top of her head.

"He won't blame you," Inoichi told her, "You didn't know what would happen. I should have told you to never enter his or Rin's minds, they have traumatic memories."

Ino seemed to slump at the last part, but nodded her understanding.

"I'll be back." He promised, before following Asuma to the hospital.


Sasuke pov:

Rin had practically dragged him to the hospital to check on Naruto, Hinata right behind them. He could tell she was frantic about seeing her brother, something that seemed over the top, even for her.

What the hell even happened to Naruto?

He didn't know the details of the Yamanaka's mind Jutsus, but he was pretty certain it wasn't supposed to cause the user to get a nosebleed and the target to start rambling in another language, blindly grabbing at something and then attacking someone.

He felt Rin's hand tighten around his own as he walked/was dragged through the streets to the hospital, his hand beginning to hurt. He noticed a few of the civilians doing a double take at the 'Precious Uchiha heir' holding hands with the 'demon bitch'. He still had no damned clue why the two were hated so much. The only clues he had going was that according to something he overheard Kiba say, Naruto, and Rin even more so, smelled like a fox. Both Rin and Naruto had birthmarks on their faces that looked like whiskers, both of them had slightly longer canines than anyone but the Inuzuka, and Naruto, Rin, and Kakashi flinched when he jokingly called Naruto 'Fox'.

Maybe their mother or father was something like what the Inuzuka are, except for foxes instead of dogs.

The Inuzuka had more 'feral' behavior and looks compared to others. Most of the reason was because their chakra was more attuned to their ninken, which seemed to, at least what his grandparents' generation of Uchiha theorized in the journals he came across in the clan library, imprint on the Inuzuka's chakra. The chakra imprint would cause them to adopt slight physical similarities to their ninken, mainly enhanced hearing, sense of smell, and their canines becoming more prominent.

I've never heard of a clan similar to the Inuzuka with a connection to foxes though.

It might have been a small clan that their mother or father was a member of and had fled the war, finding refuge in Konoha. Sasuke didn't know, and he wouldn't pressure the two to tell him. His teammates knew when to not press him on certain subjects. They'd force him to talk, but not about things he didn't want to. He was fine with them dragging him into a conversation, but not one that involved his family or what happened that night. Those things were private, only to be brought up on his own terms, which they thankfully knew.

They finally reached the hospital and he was able to pry his hand out of Rin's grip. Looking towards Hinata, Rin voiced her thoughts.

"What room is he in?"

Hinata activated her eyes, the veins expanding around her eyes.

"Room 17," she said, "He doesn't look happy."

The way she said it made Sasuke slightly worried.

Naruto does things that are considered almost cruel when he's bored. What the hell would he do when he's pissed?

Sasuke remembered all too well what Naruto did and said to him during the bell test, the memory sticking with him.

"Come on." Rin demanded, grabbing ahold of his hand again.

Sasuke swore he heard the bones in his hand pop slightly.

He was dragged towards the room, hearing shouting from the other side of the hallway.

"If you tie me down, I'm gonna shit in your fucking bed and piss all over your fucking toilet seat, bitch! I'm gonna pull this bedsheet over your head and Skullfuck you!"

What the hell is happening?

The three of them entered the room and saw two nurses and a doctor right next to the bed Naruto was in, Kakashi watching the spectacle.

"You need to calm down, young man," The doctor said, trying to put what looked like a chakra suppressant tag on Naruto, "your chakra is constantly flaring. I need to put this on you."

"I'm flaring it on purpose," He snarled, sparing Sasuke and his teammates a glance, "I got mind fucked by a Yamanaka and I can still feel her fucking chakra in me."

"There's nothing in your system," The doctor countered sharply, "Your not thinking clearly. The mind jump might have addled your thoughts."

"I'm perfectly fine," Naruto stated, "Kakashi," He turned to their Sensei, "Tell this fucking muppet I'm fine. I don't want a damn tag put on me that will burn out in seconds."

Kakashi just rolled his eye. "Naruto, you're not thinking reasonably," he said simply, "I don't know whether Ino's chakra is still in your system or not, but you need to stop flaring your chakra, it's scaring people."

"Well fuck them and fuck you," Naruto raised his hand to flip off his Sensei, "I can't even sense you properly because her fucking chakra is still in my tenketsu. It's worse than fucking Kurenai."

Kakashi stepped forward, the air crackling sharply. "Your eyes are violet, Naruto." he said simply.

Naruto seemed to still for a moment, before forcing himself to take a deep breath, leaning into the bed.

"Don't put a fucking tag on me," he glared at the doctor, "I'll stop flaring my damn chakra."

The doctor nodded, him and the nurses stepping away.

The three went to leave, the doctor looking at Kakashi.

"Make sure he behaves," he whispered, "Two children were born today and they were screaming when he flared his chakra."

Sasuke saw Naruto twitch in the bed.

He heard that. I could barely hear it and I was several feet closer. It has to be a bloodline, nothing else makes sense.

After they left, it was just Team 7, Kakashi, and Naruto.

"Why'd you get angry out of nowhere?" Kakashi asked, requesting the answer.

Naruto closed his eyes, the normal blue visible after he opened them.

"You know how I act when that gets brought up," he said, giving a knowing look, "My sensing is off, and my head is pounding."

Rin decided to step in.

"What happened?" she asked, "What did Ino see?" she spat the other girls name like it left a foul taste.

Naruto's face was twisted in a grimace, before answering.

"She saw the memory of what happened in the alley." he said quietly, his hands scratching at his temples.

Sasuke heard Rin and Hinata gasp audibly, the two evidently understanding what he meant by that.

If he reacted this badly, it had to have been a bad memory.

What Naruto said next suprised him and everyone else in the room.

"Sasuke, can you leave the room?"

Sasuke raised a brow.

"Why?" he asked.

Naruto was avoiding making eye contact with him.

"I think Ino pushed some of her thoughts and feelings into my mind. I keep thinking of random types of flowers and how hot you and I look without shirts."

Sasuke almost choked on his spit from the abrupt intake of air he took at what the hell he just heard.

What!?

"You," Sasuke trailed off, having clue what to say to that.

"Actually," Naruto continued, "Could the three of you leave? There's too many different chakra signatures and it's hurting my head." he finished, his eyes shut and his voice tight.

Rin looked at Naruto sadly, but nodded and turned to leave.

"I'll tell you what's going on once I'm out." Naruto said softly, looking at his sister.

Sasuke and Hinata turned to leave as well, following Rin who seemed to know her way around the hospital.

They made a couple turns and found their way to a waiting room, where Rin made a beeline to a chair near one of the free tables and sat down, her head dropping onto the table with a soft thud.

"Fucking Ino," He heard her growl quietly, "I knew she was a dumb bitch, but I didn't think she'd be this stupid."

"Rin," Hinata scolded her, "Don't say that. Ino didn't realize that Naruto had traumatic memories. She probably didn't know what to do when she came across it."

Sasuke was even more curious on what the memory was.

"What memory did she see?" He asked, looking towards Rin.

Rin's head jerked up and she leaned towards him, her violet eyes glaring at him.

He leaned back slightly, shocked by the amount of anger in her gaze.

She seemed to calm down, her features softening.

"I don't think Naruto would have a problem with you knowing." She mumbled.

Sasuke waited patiently as Rin seemed to ready herself to tell him.

"When we were six," She said quietly, "We had a fight and Naruto ran away," She took a deep breath, "Someone told him I'd been taken to the hospital and Naruto believed it."

Sasuke just sat there quietly, entranced by how completely different Rin seemed compared to when he was normally around her.

The last near 2 months caused him to start seeing Rin and Hinata as more than just simple teammates. He was close to the point of tossing his caution aside and confide in them as friends.

He didn't tell Naruto one of the reasons why he was disgusted when he did his female Henge. One, he knew it was Naruto, a guy, under the Henge and was acting seductive. The second reason was one that frightened him.

Naruto reminded him of Rin.

Even if they were fraternal twins, they still had similar mannerisms and the inflections in their voices. Naruto's female voice could have almost pass as Rin's if you weren't paying attention. He didn't want to think of Rin doing any of the things Naruto joked about or doing something more than jokingly flirting with him.

Even if he didn't show it, he considered Rin to be very pretty. Hinata was as well, but Rin was different. She seemed to positively glow when she was happy. She felt like the sun, she could be warm and bright, but you could get burnt if you weren't careful when she was angry.

She was just as strong as he was, if not more so, she was pretty, and she was kind. She was everything he could ever want in a girl. But he was frightened by how easy it would be. Easy to let go of the armour he put around his heart. But he couldn't. He overheard Ino's father talk of what Itachi did to Izumi. Her mind had been nearly melted by a Genjutsu similar to what was used on him. Inoichi couldn't even decipher what the genjutsu even was due to the damage done.

If he was willing to do that to someone who loved him, what would he do to Rin, Hinata, and Naruto?

Sasuke remembered how Shisui acted around Itachi. Shisui would always make light of a situation, always remaining upbeat but professional when needed. Itachi almost seemed to be a different person when his 'best friend' was around.

Naruto almost seems to act like Shisui...What would that make me?

Sasuke shuddered at that. He didn't want to think of his own reclusive behavior as the same as his. Rin had managed to continue what she was saying, her eyes shining slightly.

"Naruto was led to an alley, by this hospital, and the person tried to kill him."

Six? Six years old when this happened?

Sasuke wasn't looking forward to hearing what was next, memories he tried to suppress were letting him know they weren't gone.

"He was put under a Genjutsu," she said, her voice shaking slightly, "An ANBU tried to help, but he was too late. The man threw a kunai at Naruto...it hit him in the chest." She finished.

No wonder he was gasping for air.

Naruto had almost been killed in a way that was a nightmare to Sasuke. Not being able to breathe as everything faded to black.

"That's why he reacted that way." He said softly.

He had wondered what could have possibly rattled Naruto so much that he looked at Kakashi with such raw vulnerability after regaining consciousness, like how a small child would look at a parent.

Or an older sibl- no. Don't think of that.

He didn't want to think of those memories or comparisons. This had been a productive and daresay good day. He didn't need it stained with his nightmares.

Rin just looked away from him, not wanting to talk further.

"He'll be fine," he said awkwardly, not exactly knowing what to say to help his blonde teammate, "He's strong enough to argue and shout at the doctor's. He'll probably be out within an hour."

Rin just snorted slightly, "Probably." she said simply. "There's a cafeteria not far, you guys want food? I'm buying." She added, looking at him and Hinata.

"Yes," Hinata answered, "That sounds nice."

Rin turned her gaze towards him, requesting an answer.

"Sure," he said, "I could use some food."

Rin seemed to get back some of her exuberance as she smiled and stood up, walking towards the hallway, probably heading to the cafeteria.

Sasuke and Hinata both followed, letting Rin guide them.

If Naruto is Shisui, I won't be him. I'd rather die than end up like that. I won't kill Naruto. I won't kill Hinata. I won't kill Rin.


Naruto POV:

I'm going to give Inoichi and Asuma a rash of shit for this.

I didn't blame Ino. She didn't know better. She never thought that jumping into my mind would be like swan diving onto a landmine. Her dumbfuck father and chain-smoking, dipshit Sensei should have fucking told her not to mind jump me or Rin under any circumstance.

Deep breath. Calm down. No point in getting worked up again.

My sensing was messed up. Kakashi's chakra felt weird now. When I was trapped in the memory and when he shocked me, it felt almost foreign. Whatever he did evidently corrected it partially, as it didn't feel completely different now. It felt like I was looking through a dirty window, unfocused and discoloured.

I didn't care what Kakashi or the damned doctor said, Ino's chakra was in my damn system. Whenever Inoichi did a mind walk, there'd be a faint echo of his chakra, sometimes having a nearly imperceptive emotion tied to it, normally muted focus. Ino's felt like the equivalent of a bass boosted Soviet National Anthem being blasted point blank into my eardrums. Ino obviously didn't know what the fuck to do when jumping into the mind of someone who had such a staggering ratio difference of chakra strength to her.

I'd tried to flush her chakra out in the way I did with Hinata's when she'd tag me with a Juken strike. But it wasn't working. Ino's, for lack of a better term, felt slippery. Hinata's and Neji's chakra burned when it lingered in my tenketsu, likely from them having a fire affinity.

It would make sense that fire would be countered by my water affinity. Water trumps fire, and my chakra is significantly more potent than a Hyuga's.

If I had to guess, Ino had a water affinity, which made it a pain in the ass for me to rinse my system out with chakra blasts. Her lingering chakra had some of her sensations and emotion in it. I freely admit that I'm self-confident in my ability, along with a noticeable amount of arrogance, but I wasn't so narcissistic to think how hot I looked without a shirt.

I've never thought of fucking one of my clones. And Ino's 'desire' for me is fucking with my head.

I wanted Inoichi to get his ass here so I could fuck with him. Once I had my pound of flesh, I'd call it even. But he wasn't here yet. Only Kakashi was.

"So," Kakashi prompted, the door closing as Rin, Hinata, and Sasuke left, "How are you feeling, really?"

I winced at his tone.

"Sorry for being a dick," I replied, "I'm not exactly comfortable having a girl's feelings in my damn head. It would be like you wanting to get screwed by Asuma if Kurenai's feelings got pushed into your head."

Kakashi cringed at that, not wanting to imagine the thought.

"And not even you doing the screwing," I continued, "you'd be getting screwed, or you screwing yourself, given that Ino evidently can't decide who's better looking, me or Sasuke."

"Inoichi probably won't like hearing that." Kakashi said to himself.

"Yeah, well. He and Asuma can fuck off for now."

Kakashi raised a brow in question.

"Neither thought it was important to warn Ino to not do any mind shit to me or Rin." I said simply.

"They probably overlooked it." He said, trying to probably prevent me from staying pissed.

"The same way I overlooked cooking my brain with lightning chakra?" I asked rhetorically.

Kakashi shot a glare at me.

"That's different."

"Not really," I said, "I didn't realize exactly what would happen if I wasn't careful... Inoichi and Asuma know precisely what would happen if an inexperienced Yamanaka tried to do what Ino did. Do you know how close she was to stumbling across Mr. Big, pissed, and furry?" I asked.

Kakashi's glare turned into worry when I mentioned the last part.

"How close?" he asked.

"Enough to rattle the tightenings." I said, before seeing his eye widen further, "She didn't damage anything," I added, trying to prevent him from assuming the worst, "Her ham-fisted jump caused more of its chakra to get dumped into my system, probably why I'm fucking pissed right now, too much anger."

Even with the tightenings, the Bijuu chakra that leaked through was still enough to elevate my anger or frustration to borderline rage. I wouldn't have been shouting at everyone with as much venom if I'd had a clear head.

Kakashi seemed to relax slightly at my clarification.

"How bad was the memory?"

"Almost as bad as it was when it first happened." I whispered softly.

Again, the Genjutsu was the worst part. I don't know what the hell Ino accidentally did, but the part where I couldn't breathe seemed different. I didn't experience killing Intent when I hadn't been able to breathe during that memory. The Kyuubi attack was different. I remembered that one. It poked at one of the terrors I had of being somehow unmade. My memories were precious to me. Anything that involved mixing them together or damaging them was nearly sacrilegious to me. Something that was inconceivable to me in my past life.

"She did something to the memory," I said, looking to Kakashi's visible eye, "I didn't feel Killing Intent when I got stabbed."

Kakashi was about to say something, when my head tilted to the left. Even with my muddled sensory ability, I felt a wind and water affinity coming towards the room, the water one almost feeling like what was currently refusing to get purged from my system.

I'm going to be an asshole to let Inoichi know how pissed I am that I had to relive shit and how close his daughter got to being severely hurt or killed from an avoidable oversight.

Inoichi and Asuma entered the room, Inoichi looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Naruto." He said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Inoichi-san," I greeted him with mock cheer, "I must congratulate you on such an amazing daughter you made. Even when she isn't even in the room, she has left me spectacularly erect with just a thought." I finished grandly.

Inoichi's eyes shot straight to mine, his shock visible at what I just said about his little girl.

"Wha-"

"She left her wetness all over me," I continued with a lecherous tone, "And I left something so dirty in her."

Kakashi looked to be trying to not snicker at how I was framing my words.

Inoichi's face was turning a distressing puce colour, his expression twisted into one of disgust.

"Are you finished?" He demanded.

"Funny," I said, "I think she said that as well."

Kakashi visibly shook from trying not to laugh.

Inoichi glared daggers at me.

"I'm not in the mood for your jests," He said angrily, "I had to console my daughter, find out she likes both you and Sasuke, and I had to pull your emotions from the memories she saw," his breathing had deepened, "I don't want to hear any of your juvenile attempts at angering me."

I just shrugged.

"This could have been avoided if you two jackasses had made sure she knew to not mind jump into Rin or me."

Both Inoichi and Asuma flinched at that, looking down at the floor for a moment.

"It was an oversight." Inoichi whispered, shame in his tone.

I just shook my head.

"Doesn't matter. I got to relive a shitty memory, and Ino got a front row seat." I said. "How is she?" I asked.

"She didn't know how to filter out the intensity of the emotions you were feeling in those memories." he said, "I had to remove the emotions from them myself." he flinched, "It wasn't pleasant."

At that, I thought of something to ask.

"Is she a water affinity?"

Inoichi looked up at me.

"I am," he said, "but I'm not sure about her. Why do you ask?"

"I can feel her chakra in my system," I said, "I can't flush it out like a Hyuga's."

"Hmm," Inoichi nodded, "How does it feel?"

"Like I'm trying to staple Jell-O to a tree." I deadpanned.

Inoichi nodded again.

"That sounds like what happens when a mind jump is interrupted," he muttered, "Some leftover chakra remains in the target for a little while."

"How long is a little while?" I asked, almost demanded.

"Depends on the affinities of the caster and the target," He answered, "It would be prolonged if you had the same affinity, which it sounds like it does."

No. Fuck that. I'm not dealing with thoughts of 'Sasuke-kun' and his sweaty muscles for however the fuck long it takes for this to end.

"Tell me it can be fixed with something other than 'wait'?" I asked, begging for anything.

"There is," Inoichi nodded, "But it's not pleasant."

"I don't care it's unpleasant," I said irritably, "I don't like the thought of a doppleganger of myself shirtless and sweaty with Sasuke right next to it, not being able to decide which one looks better." I shuddered.

Inoichi seemed to cringe as well, knowing that it was a thought that originated from his daughter.

"You'll need to flare your chakra slightly when I tell you to," he said, "I'll pull Ino's chakra from your tenketsu, as it's mostly residual Yin chakra. It will be very uncomfortable." he warned.

I nodded and readied myself.

Inoichi stepped forward and put up three fingers to count down. As his last finger dropped, I flared my chakra.

He wasn't lying when he said it was uncomfortable. Imagine the feeling of a feeding tube being removed from your stomach and out your throat, now imagine that feeling all around your body. My eyes ended up rolling up into my head and I spasmed so violently for a split second that I almost fell out of the bed.

Inoichi held me steady as I almost fell over.

"Your fine. Your fine," He said, holding me firmly, "It's over now."

I just groaned and dragged my nails across my scalp.

"You weren't lying," I grimaced, "Kami, I hated that."

"You should be fine within the hour now." he said letting me go and stepping back.

"Are you going to need to have a look?" I asked, gesturing towards my head.

"Was there any issue with your train of thought or emotions?" he asked.

"She almost stumbled into the part of my mind where the Kyuubi is." I stressed the almost part to let him know she didn't, "I blindly grabbed out and evidently dragged her into a couple memories, which you'd know which ones if you checked her mind." I then went on to answering this question, "I have more of its chakra flowing temporarily in my tenketsu. I'm on a hair trigger right now. It'll probably go away by the end of the day like it has before."

I'd overdone it before when I tried to push out more of Kurama's chakra than I was used to. The tightenings pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn't be able to channel or control much, but the amount I did screwed with my emotional restraint.

"I think she screwed up one of my memories." I added, the worry I had lacing my tone.

Inoichi's face betrayed his concern.

"How so?" he asked.

"I didn't feel Killing Intent when I was struggling to breathe when I almost got killed. It was only during the Kyuubi attack that I felt that much. I don't know why." I trailed off at the end, being at a loss at understanding why. Inoichi adopted a look of thought, before speaking.

"I have a theory," He said, "But first, I have a question for you."

I looked at him, waiting for the question.

"How much do you relate the memory of the Kyuubi attack with what happened in the alley?" he asked.

What?

"Huh?" I was confused, not knowing what he meant.

"You relate eating at Ichiraku's with spending time with the Hokage, right?" at my nod, he continued, "When you think of what happened in the alley, do you also think of the Kyuubi attack?"

Ah, so that's what he meant.

"Yes," I answered, "I do."

Inoichi relaxed at my answer.

"I think Ino accidentally stumbled between the memories and her presence carried the emotions and feelings from the Kyuubi attack into your memory in the alley. That's the best explanation for why the memory felt different. It was a partial blend of the two. It's happened before when I was learning to shift between memories when I was younger."

I nodded at his theory, it making the most sense out of everything else.

Kakashi stepped into the conversation, looking at Asuma.

"Did you let the Hokage know what happened?" He asked.

Asuma nodded. "I made a clone to relay a message." He said.

We waited there for nearly 20 minutes before the Hokage arrived. He barged into the room, his posture showing his worry.

"Naruto." He said.

"Jiji." I replied simply.

"What happened?" He asked.

I repeated what I'd said to Inoichi, Asuma, and Kakashi, the Hokage giving me a look of understanding.

Exhaling deeply, the Hokage pulled out his pipe, lighting it and putting it to his mouth.

"Inoichi. Asuma," He started, "May you give us some privacy?"

Inoichi and Asuma both nodded, exiting the room.

Hiruzen stepped towards the doorway and dropped a tag, a sound suppressant one by how it felt.

"Was there anything left out?" he asked.

I shook my head, not remembering anything else that would be important.

"Sir," Kakashi said, "There was something."

I turned sharply towards Kakashi, suprised by that.

Did something happen when I was out of it?

Hiruzen gestured for Kakashi to clarify.

"He used the golden chakra to try and cut my head off." he said simply.

What?

"What golden chakra? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, being completely lost.

Hiruzen turned towards me.

"I think you have an ability that existed in the Uzumaki clan," He started, "One of your grandfathers had what I think you have."

I frowned at that.

"You didn't think to tell me more about my clan's abilities until now?" I raised a brow.

"You and Rin would have been told this week," Hiruzen replied, "But this incident moved the necessity of it forward."

I was contemplative for a moment, before looking back to him.

"What is the ability?"

Hiruzen pulled his pipe out of his mouth, exhaling some smoke.

"Bear with me," he started, "As I only have some knowledge on it. Any knowledge I have came from comments by your mother and her great grandfather, Uzumaki Ashina."

This was something I'd wanted. Very little detail was given about the Uzumaki clan or any family of mine that went further back than one generation.

"What do you know of sealing chains?" Hiruzen asked.

I raised a brow.

"Not much," I said, "Kakashi mentioned something in passing about how they could be used to bind someone and their chakra."

Hiruzen nodded at what I said.

"That was an extremely rare ability that almost always manifested with female Uzumaki only. Ashina mentioned how there was an offshoot version that he considered 'lesser'." Hiruzen added, using air quotes at the end.

I've never heard of an offshoot version of Adamantine chains.

"What's the ability?" I asked.

"He demonstrated it to my Sensei, Senju Tobirama and myself once," he replied, before he adopted a look of deep thought, "I was around 16 or 17 when he did. He would project what looked to be a shell of golden chakra that he could shape into armour, as well as simple blades or rods of chakra."

This was completely new terrain for me.

Sounds like a bootleg version of Susanoo, if even that.

"How effective was it?"

"It could stop a focused wind blade, but would leave cracks in it."

Definitely a bootleg Susanoo at best. It's probably worse though.

"Did he ever explain how it was an offshoot version?" I asked.

"He explained that there was a malformation in how the chakra would exit his tenketsu," Hiruzen said, "One of his sisters could make chains, and she discovered that she could do what Ashina could by intentionally making her chains incorrectly."

"Couldn't he have just worked on his control to make chains?" I asked, confused by such an oversight.

Hiruzen shook his head, "No," he said, "Ashina said something about how neither he or a son of his, who had the same ability, could focus the chakra. Something along the lines of 'A false leg, no matter how refined, can never replace a real one'."

Who the hell is Ashina in the hierarchy of Uzumaki?

Hiruzen was speaking of him as if he was an esteemed elder, which given that he was mine and Rin's great great grandfather, he was probably very old when he was killed.

"Who was he exactly?" I asked.

Hiruzen's look flashed to that of melancholy.

"He was the head of the Uzumaki clan, and was Uzushiogakure's first and only Uzukage."

My eyes rose at that.

If Uzu was around for almost as long as Konoha, he had to have been Kage for decades.

"What happened?" I asked, wanting to know more.

Hiruzen was probably the only person alive who knew about mine and Rin's clan in depth. He had lived through all three wars and was Kage for two of them.

Hiruzen's face darkened.

"It was the later stage of the Second War," he started, his voice distant, "Konoha was stretched thin. My students and Hatake Sakumo were the ones keeping us still in the war. Iwa and Kumo were slowly driving towards Hi no Kuni's borders, and Kiri betrayed us."

I was listening with rapt attention, not knowing any objectively accurate details of the Second Shinobi War.

The series didn't give detail, and the history books in the Academy were riddled with misleading or vague information.

The books didn't talk of the barbarity of the wars. The things mentioned about the Sannin were how strong and heroic they were when they supposedly drove back Hanzo the Salamander from the battlefield.

Can't let civilians and kids know about what kind of Hell is unleashed when morally ambiguous individuals with near god-like power go at it with each other.

"Ashina told me to expect something big to happen," Hiruzen continued, "He had agents across the the region between Kumo and Uzu. He'd said a coalition was forming to invade either us or his Village. It turned out to be Uzu."

"How did Uzu fall?" I asked, wanting to know this more than anything else.

Uzushiogakure's fate was never expanded upon, nor was the clan given as much time to be understood as the Uchiha had been.

I can name half a dozen Mangekyo abilities in my sleep, but not Uzumaki exclusive techniques.

This was my family. This was Rin's family. This was a clan that was seen as dangerous enough to warrant extermination. I needed to know what happened.

Hiruzen took a deep breath. "This is information that has many gaps and a fair amount of speculation based upon the interrogation of captured nin over the following 10 years," he said, "But from what was gathered, we know that Ashina had been preparing his village for a massive battle."

"How many invaded?" I asked, wanting to know how feared my clan had been.

"Thousands." Hiruzen whispered, looking down.

"And how many were killed?"

"Thousands."

I was silent. I hadn't known it was that bad.

"Why wasn't help sent?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Believe me, I tried." Hiruzen said, his voice faltering slightly, "My students and the force under their command were less than two days away when the village fell. They had been ambushed by Kiri Hunter nin and Kumo ANBU, delaying them."

"More could of been done." I spat, my emotions slipping from my control.

Hiruzen's shot towards mine. "And you would know?" He almost demanded, "You, who is by all accounts a child in my eyes, thinks he knows more than I, the Hokage?"

I could feel his presence growing in my vision.

I didn't mean to poke at something.

"Ashina tutored my Sensei when he was a boy," He said sharply, " I suffered the loss of a man I had a great deal of respect for. The Shodai's wife, Mito, a woman who was precious to me in many ways, lost her father, her siblings, and her nieces and nephews. The granddaughter of my other Sensei and my student lost the other half of her family then. Don't pretend like you don't know what I mean," he scolded me, when he saw me scoff at the mentioning of Tsunade, "The Senju clan only had her left by then. Her grandmother was Ashina's daughter, and the both of them lost them all."

My head shot straight to his.

What the fuck did he say? Tsunade is my cousin?

Rin and I had a living relative. A relative that didn't take care of us. A relative who decided to traipse around, drinking her sorrows away.

"We have family?" I growled, "Family that didn't care for us?" I demanded.

"Tsunade had already left the village to fight when your mother arrived in Konoha," He said, "She hadn't been back from the front and her grandmother's death caused her to ignore your mother."

I just snarled under my breath.

She probably didn't even fucking know that my mom was her cousin. Mito died when Kurama was transferred to mom.

I'd definitely not want to speak with or be around the girl who 'replaced' your grandmother when you already had most of your family dead.

I managed to calm myself, before looking back at Hiruzen.

"Sorry," I said, trying to calm myself, "Please, continue."

Hiruzen reined in his presence, before continuing.

"The fighting lasted for 7 days. The streets of the village had been turned into a death trap. Some of the seals the Yamanaka saw when they interrogated prisoners were unexplainable, even for me." He said softly.

"What else?" I asked.

"Ashina evidently personally fought the Nidaime Raikage over the course of the last twelve hours," Hiruzen said, "Along with one of Iwa's Jinchuriki and one of Kumo's."

How the fuck?

"How old was he?" I asked.

"Around 90." Hiruzen stated.

"And he fought 3 S-ranks?" I asked incredulously.

"No," Hiruzen said simply, " He didn't just fight them. He killed the Raikage, both Jinchuriki, and hundreds of Shinobi. That doesn't include however many he killed in the first six days."

This man was a living nightmare.

I couldn't imagine an old man doing that, even an Uzumaki.

Hiruzen said he expected a fight. Maybe he had been preparing for a siege in the previous weeks. That would make sense. Even a slight heads up, let alone weeks, would help massively.

"And me and Rin are all that's left." I mumbled, not wanting to mention Karin, as it would be difficult to explain how I knew her.

"The time between the Second and Third War were terrible," Hiruzen said, "Far too many times, we arrived too late to stop an Uzumaki survivor from being hunted down and killed by Iwa or Kumo."

They hunted us like vermin, fearing what even children could grow up to do to them.

I was silent for a moment, still trying to keep my emotions stable.

Fuck you, Kurama. I thought.

The extra amount of his chakra was still messing with my emotions. I wanted to break something. Violently.

"Can we talk more later?" I asked, "I have too much of its chakra in my system and I feel like I want to break something. I can't think clearly enough about this. It hurts."

Hiruzen saw how desperate I was to end the conversation, and nodded.

"I can have Kakashi and Inoichi fill me in on anything else," He said, his tone soft, "We can talk more about your ability and clan when you're thinking more clearly."

I nodded gratefully and leaned back into the bed, closing my eyes to center myself.

"Can I have some time to myself?" I asked, looking at Kakashi and Hiruzen.

The two nodded and left the room, leaving me to my own thoughts.


Hiruzen POV:

Hiruzen collapsed into his bed, bringing an end to an already stressful day before he heard what happened to Naruto. He'd been thinking over what his grandson had said about the old man who gave him the letter to be given to him.

Konohamaru was a child. A relatively bright child, but a child nonetheless. He hadn't been trained to look for certain features or remember a face. He was a child after all. Hiruzen was told the man looked almost as old as him.

"Older than dirt." He says. Hiruzen had chuckled.

But it was the small little detail that his grandson happened to notice that Hiruzen had heard him say when Rin and Naruto happened to visit him when Konohamaru was there.

"The old man had eyes like Rin's."

Konohamaru said that after the two had left, having been looking at Rin for quite some time. He thought that his grandson was too young to be looking at girls, and it seemed he was sort of right. Konohamaru had looked at Rin and asked Naruto if she was his girlfriend.

The twin looks of disgust on their faces brought constant mirth to him whenever he thought of the memory.

Konohamaru took a shining to Naruto, and Naruto indulged him. He saw that his grandson could sometimes irritate Naruto, but the older of the two didn't seem to care too much. He'd play ninja with Konohamaru and his friends, even when he didn't have much free time on his hands.

His grandson hadn't come across Rin until recently, surprisingly enough. But his grandson had gotten quiet after he had asked whether Rin and Naruto were a couple and Rin got in his face, loudly saying that they were twins and to stop making jokes about them, her eyes blazing.

Anko had made more than one joke about how Naruto was everything a girl could want in a guy. He was smart, strong, handsome, and one other thing that both disgusted and embarrassed both Rin and Naruto.

Unlimited stamina.

Naruto had immediately understood and had been embarrassed. Rin took a moment before she turned a shade of green and loudly yelled 'gross' and stomped away, not wanting to imagine what Anko was saying.

Kakashi had been laughing as he told Hiruzen the second part. Anko had looked at Naruto and mentioned how there was something else that being an Uzumaki was good for when wanting to have 'fun'. She said two words.

Kage bunshin.

Kakashi could hardly speak clearly from laughing when he was trying to describe how Naruto's face twisted into disgust, and how he stomped away, muttering something about 'Rule 34' and 'The most cursed gangbang on Kami's green Earth.'

Naruto was fine with making dirty jokes at people, but Anko seemed to go to the next level to mess with him. Hiruzen had brought it up to Naruto in order to tease him some, which he regretted later that day. He got complaints of him and a white haired man gawking and giggling at women at the hot springs, obviously being Naruto's clones Henged as the two.

But back to what his grandson had said. The old man had recognized him as the Sandaime's grandson, saying how he looked similar to his grandfather when he was a boy. Hiruzen remembered what Konohamaru had said the man's first words were.

"Hello there. Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid."

Konohamaru had said how the man had white hair, but it had traces of what looked like red in it.

Hiashi also said what the infiltrator had said when asked who he was by the elder."Someone who should have died long ago."

He had no doubt that this "Hurin" was an Uzumaki survivor, someone who had likely been hunted for years and had hid the fact that he was perhaps the last remaining seal master from Uzu.

Why would he not reveal himself though? I was Hokage when Uzu fell.

Hiruzen knew how guilty Tsunade and Jiraiya felt when they didn't get there in time. Orochimaru had broken off with some Konoha forces to harass and eliminate the Kumo ANBU and Kiri Hunter nin that had plagued them the entire way to Uzu. Sakumo had stumbled across a group of Uzumaki Shinobi that had broken out of the ring of enemy nin surrounding Uzu and formed up a unit to ambush one of Kiri's elite forces. Sakumo had been disturbed by how vicious and suicidal the Uzumaki had been. The leader of their band had been Ashina's last grandson, one of his more skilled ones.

Hiruzen had made sure to tighten the security around the Uzumaki mask temple after Sakumo told him what Ashina's grandson had done. He had pulled out a mask and put it on. The mask was probably designed to enhance the wearer's chakra, but at a steep price. Sakumo described how the mask started cracking within seconds, and the Uzumaki forces promptly charged into the heart of the withdrawing Kiri forces. Sakumo said that Ashina's grandson had described his mask as a 'pale imitation of the ones grandfather made'.

Hiruzen didn't want to think of what the hell Ashina had cooked up in the decades he had lived. The 'pale imitation' had given the wearer the strength to kill over a hundred Shinobi, before he burned to ash from the shear level of chakra it was driving into him. His fellow survivors had killed the remaining Kiri nin that had survived the initial suicide charge, before breaking off from Sakumo's forces and going to launch attacks on Iwa's forces to the west.

Does this man hold Konoha responsible for his clan dying? Is that why he does not speak in person?

The man had shown he was capable of reaching children and the vulnerable, even with the Byakugan. He'd threatened to kill the entire Hyuga clan to get a letter to the Hokage to help the village. The next letter involved his grandson being used as the messenger boy to show that the man had the means to reach the Hokage's only grandchild.

His thoughts had been plagued by that when a clone of his son had barged into his office, telling him what happened to Naruto. That made the day even worse for him. Naruto had already commented on how paranoid he was about someone messing with his head. He hated the fact that he had another entity inside of him. He didn't like the thought of being influenced.

Hiruzen had gone to Naruto, only to be confronted with something he still had misplaced guilt for. Naruto was obviously not thinking clearly. His emotions were too close to the surface for what they should have been. He'd looked prepared to jump at anything that could be an excuse to get angry. His eyes kept flickering to violet as the Kyuubis' chakra kept flaring slightly with his anger. His eyes looked similar to Rin's, but not the same. They were still close enough to make him keep thinking of what his grandson said, as well as Hiashi.

Naruto had tried to blame him for not saving Uzu. He'd then gotten angry when Tsunade was brought up. Hiruzen had snapped at him to stop. Naruto only knew of these people as characters of Hiruzen's stories, not as the living breathing people they were. Naruto knew that Jiraiya and Tsunade were close to Hiruzen's heart, but he didn't know them as anything more than that. The same went for the events of the Second War. The history books didn't describe the fear, the terror at the thought of invasion. Word had leaked of a coalition preparing for invasion. The clans and civilians were certain it was aimed at Konoha, even when Hiruzen was receiving word from Ashina's agents that they were headed to Uzu.

The delay was what sealed Uzu's fate. Hiruzen still wondered what would have happened if he decided to defy the clan heads of the village, along with a majority of the Village, and personally led a force to reinforce Uzushiogakure in their darkest hour.

It was a rarity for a Kage to leave his nation's borders during a war. It seldom occurred and always was when desperate measures were required. Hiruzen knew he could have aided Ashina. The two of them could have broken through the blockade and made a fighting retreat all the way back to Hi no Kuni with the Shinobi and civilians of Uzu in tow. Many would have died, but the Uzumaki clan would have lived on, even in a diminished state.

But because of hesitation and fear, the clan that was cousins to the Senju, a clan that safeguarded Konoha by training Senju seal masters, giving birth to most of Konoha's sealing knowledge, was reduced to two children.

Hiruzen shook himself from his thoughts, realizing he would be up all night if he kept going on about 'What ifs'.

Tomorrow, I'll explain more to Naruto about the ability he shares with some of his relatives, I think I might know why it's so rare in the Uzumaki clan.

The Uzumaki almost always had a stronger yang alignment. Tobirama-sensei had mentioned how he felt Ashina's chakra, and that it was odd for an Uzumaki to have more Yin chakra. Ashina had waved it off and said how he, and a son of his, had more Yin chakra than normal.

There might have been a hereditary factor on top of exposure to Bijuu chakra prenatally.

Hiruzen now thought.

Ashina had mentioned how his ability might have been because he had 'freaky chakra', and that he had a couple relatives who had long passed away that had a similar peculiarity.

Shutting off his light, he pulled his blanket close and closed his eyes, hoping to get some much needed sleep.


Incredibly, the 3rd regiment survived the crucible of Suna, emerging battle-hardened, and ready for whatever the war and wind would throw at us.

Exerpt from journal of Ozawa Daisuke, Jonin of Iwagakure, 3rd regiment, First Shinobi War, Suna theatre of operations.

End Chapter:

I'd been thinking of having an ability for the Uzumaki that wasn't exclusively the Adamantine chains. It will be expanded upon more so in the future, with Naruto testing it out to see how it works. It is not like the Susanoo. Naruto just happened to think of that as the best comparison because he's unfamiliar with it. It also won't be some magical fixer of all dangers. It's a chakra construct that can act like armour/weapon to be resistant (Not immune) to certain types of attacks. It was blasted out like a blade when he was almost killed in the alley and acted like a sort of armour when he'd been thrashing around when the nurses had held him down. It won't be a massive area effect ability, more like a personal shield that could partially bolster your defense against chakra based attacks, mainly chakra blades. I've left hints on how it gets pushed out and used, feel free to guess.

Naruto doesn't seem to be the only Uzumaki that had atypical chakra, but his previous relative's situation wasn't exactly like his, where he had more Yin because this isn't his first life. Hiruzen thinks it's possible that the reason Naruto even survived having misaligned chakra was because his ancestors had a rare off chance of it happening without it killing them.

Nim2000: Don't be worried about me having a burnout. I currently have more time on my hands than I know what to do with. This story, and reading other fics, is what I'm spending my extra time doing. And I'm having alot of fun writing this. I now have a newfound respect for authors that write several stories that are hundreds of thousands of words long that are very high quality.

Amaterasu53: I've been building up the Rin part to shed light on Naruto's insecurities. He saw the jacket, but never thought to think that it could have not been the jacket. He doesn't want to think his baby sister is burdened with the world, and would rather shoulder it himself. The other parts I added build it up as well. My intentions were to show how preparation and being strong doesn't necessarily mean that you yourself will be the catalyst of change. I hope I've done a decent job at that.

I've put Sasuke's thoughts on Rin here for a reason. Even with the beatdown he received from Naruto, it will take him a great deal of time to pull himself together. He's not as far gone as he was at this point in canon due to being hounded by both Rin and Naruto, but he still has problems. (Side note: Even with the curse seal from Orochimaru, Sasuke was still not completely screwed up until Itachi put him in the Tsukuyomi again. Naruto and Sakura had managed to get through to him somewhat. Itachi is a beautifully tragic hero character, but I still can't reconcile how he inadvertently almost robbed his brother of even having a life if he would be driven to turn traitor and get twisted into being a cold blooded monster like Orochimaru. I get doing it the first time, he was a thirteen year old kid that had just killed his family, I wouldn't be thinking clearly if I had that burned into my mind. But the second time was him wanting to work Sasuke up into a frenzy to make sure Sasuke would kill him, which is selfish of him. But I still see why Itachi would desire being killed over nearly anything else. I both love and hate how his character leaves me conflicted when I think of him.)... Sasuke sees that she is a kind and pretty girl, but even better still, she's strong. Sasuke sees her as a 'forbidden desire' of his. Being with her would symbolize his freedom from Itachi. He can only have what he wants most in the world, freedom to love without losing it all, if Itachi is dead. Rin would not take kindly to Sasuke seeing her as a fulfillment of what he wants in the world, rather than for who she really is, a person with her own likes, wants, and goals. Sasuke would still need a lot of exploration of his own motivations before Rin would even humour the thought of him being worthy of more than her simply looking at him. That's also why I've waited on putting more of the pov's from her perspective. I'm not certain whether they'll be together. Shikamaru is a character that I'm pretty sure I could write well for that part, and Neji might work if I'm feeling adventurous.

Last part: I've found myself in a precarious position. When I started this story, I'd been 95% certain that I'd pair the MC with Hinata, if I had decided to pair him with anyone. I'm now conflicted on Ino. I've started to enjoy writing her perspective, along with Inoichi. I'd realized how much I liked writing Inoichi after I wrote the part of him, Choza, and Shikaku getting drunk and trying to get Shikaku back home. (Rereading it, it now reminds me of the Witcher 3 when Geralt, Lambert, and Eskel got plastered.) Inoichi has been fun to write, and Ino was an unexpected surprise. I can see the story going in two different directions based upon who I pair the MC with post-timeskip. I'm now split on what I'll do. 49.9% chance it'll be Hinata, 49.9% chance it's Ino, 0.1% chance of someone else, and 0.1% chance of it being both. (I can go the route of the CRA trope if I want to, but I'd rather save that for a non-insert story. I don't see the MC I've written going for it without immense thought. "Outfoxed" by Hazeleyes180 is probably the best multi pairing with Hinata and Ino. ) Whichever one I go with, the other will be the pairing in a non-insert I'll do in the future. I like both characters and would consider it a tragic waste for me to not use one of them at least once in any of my future stories.

Anyway, sorry for the obnoxiously long Author's Note. I'm wanting to clarify any misunderstandings. I freaked out when I teetered very closely to accidentally fucking up Kakashi's character early on. I don't want to accidentally do it again, so I'm explaining a few things somewhat.

But here's another chapter. Reviews are welcome, and have a lovely day.

Raging.