Author Notes:

Dark and Alive Minato, Minato fans beware.

Alive Kushina.

Darker Naruto.

Original Characters x Established Characters

Not sure what everyone's big beef is with a background coupling but it's not going to change, might as well stop reading now.

Chapter 6: A Moment of Vulnerability

It had been a month since the two supposed trainers had arrived at the Uzumaki compound. Naruto had been less then pleased or impressed with them. Darious seemed to be trying the 'wait and let him come to me' approach with Naruto, something that anyone who knew Naruto advised against. Kiro on the other hand ,seemed to be partially insane in Naruto's opinion. He was always complaining about a scent that no one else could smell, it seemed to be the one thing that man was able to talk about. All in all, Naruto felt more tempted to try and kill them than let them train him.

Currently Naruto was rather annoyed, besides dealing with the newest annoyances to his life, his plan with his teammates had both worked and failed at the same time. While it inspired Naruko to train and even inspired Shikamaru as well, the princess wouldn't leave him alone. Constantly pestering him about wanting to train or spar, it didn't matter how many times he said no. Even though he had no interest in training with her, telling her such multiple times. In his mind it was just proving the point that the blond haired girl was at least a little mentally challenged.

Tapping his fingers on the table, resting his head on his other hand Naruto heard Naruko and his mother outside training. That was when he heard another chair being scooted out which pulled him out of his inner thoughts. He saw Darious sit down across from him with a slight smile, "Hello Naruto."

Said teen just stared at the man for a moment before going back to tapping his fingers on the table. With an irritated tone he responded back to the older man, "What is it that you want Darious?"

Shrugging that man just continued to smile at him, "I don't have any motives, I am just wondering if you're interested in training with me today."

That was when Kiro rounded the corner into the dining room, scoffing at the comment, "The boy obviously doesn't want to get stronger senpai, might as well just leave it alone. Just start to think of this as a vacation like I have."

Glaring at the man Naruto scoffed in return, "I do want to get stronger, you two have been less then impressive."

Darious focused his eyes trained eyes on Naruto, "How would you know that? You have been very adamant in not letting us train you so you do not know how powerful we truly are."

He went to respond but as he went to speak the back door opened. Everyone looked over to see Naruko and Kushina coming into the house. The blond teen girl had a large, proud smile as she received praise from Kushina, "You have come very far Naruko, you should be very proud of yourself. Given enough time you may be able to even rival Naruto-kun in battle."

The boy scoffed then muttered under his breath, "Sure she will, right after I go give my father a big loving hug and hell freezes over."

Kiro gave a small snort of laughter at the comment, "So you can be something other than a snotty little brat!"

A glare from Naruto was his response as Naruko and Kushina came over to the table. Kushina kissed Naruto on the top of the head, "Are you giving them more problems Naruto-kun?"

He just continued to glare at Kiro then shook his head no as he looked over at his mother, "They give me all the problems. I was happily sitting here debating on what I want to do. That was when they came over here with their bullshit spouting of being powerful again."

Kushina sat in her seat with a sigh and a shake of her head, "Don't swear Naruto-kun."

Naruto gave her a confused look, he swore all the time and she never had an issue, hell he had learned most of the words from her. His eyes went over to Naruko who was sitting next to him, "Why are you still here? And why are you sitting so close to me?"

That was when Kiro spoke up, "And why do you smell heated?"

Naruko's face turned a bright crimson red from the question. She scurried out of the her chair and looked over at Kushina before giving a small bow, "Thank you for the training today Kushina-san. I will see you in a couple days when we have our next training session."

The red headed woman nodded her head while giving the young girl a soft smile, "See you then Naruko, have a safe trip home."

With a nod the girl rushed out the door, still a bright red and trying to hide her face in embarrassment. The adults in the room looked at Kiro with a disapproving look on their faces. The man looked at them with a confused look, "What?"

Darious sighed then rubbed his temples in frustration, "I swear, between you and sensei I will die young from stress and humiliation..."

The younger man looked at Darious, the look on his face showing that he clearly didn't understand, "I don't know what you mean senpai?"

Kushina then spoke up, "Why did you ask her that? You humiliated the poor girl!"

The man looked a bit confused, then Naruto spoke up, "I don't see the issue with it. I have asked her why she smelled heated before as well but she didn't answer me either. Princess is a very odd person like that."

The Uzumaki matriarch stared at her son, her mouth hanging a bit in shock, "Why would you ask her that Naruto-kun! I taught you to be more respectful towards women."

Sighing, knowing that he had just gotten himself in trouble with his mother, tried to defend himself, "Well she irritated me and it just kinda happened."

Kiro spoke up again, "Plus you always smell heated around Asuma-san."

Darious quickly slapped Kiro upside the back of head, "Bad Kiro! Do not disrespect the woman who is letting us stay in her home! BAD!"

The man growled a bit at that, "I am not a dog you know... I do not like Konohagakure. The brat won't let us train him, the Yondaime is boring as hell to follow, I can't make jokes and that scent is driving me insane!"

Everyone rolled their eyes before Kushina commented, "Great... here we go with this again."

Kiro growled a bit more then stood, "I will find out where that scent is coming from! I have tracked it to being in the clan district of this village somewhere!"

The man stormed out of the house to go and went to further his investigation of the scent that was driving him so crazy. The others looked at him leave before releasing a joint sigh and continued on with their conversations.

With Kiro...

The brown haired man landed on a roof inside of the clan zone, keeping low to not be spotted by any ANBU. Technically speaking, he wasn't suppose to be in here but Darious kept telling him to represent his sensei. The thought made him smirk, 'So I will investigate that smell in an area that I am not suppose to be in. I mean... if I really wanted to be like Jiraiya-sensei I would go find a onsen to spy on women as they bathe.'

Shaking his head of those impure thoughts he refocused then looked around to make sure he hadn't been spotted. Both he and Darious had been thoroughly trained in infiltration, espionage and covert work as Jiraiya's pupils. That still didn't mean that every now and then someone wouldn't get lucky with a brief sighting. Kiro closed his eyes then took in a deep breath, trying to further pinpoint the scent that had been driving him absolutely insane. Taking a second to process all the scents he narrowed in a little more on the smell before opening his eyes. With another quick glance around the area he darted off across the rooftops.

He may not be as fast as his sensei or senpai but he was getting there, that was something that he actively worked on. If it was Darious or Jiraiya there was hardly a chance to spot them when they were running unless by a trained eye that was looking for them. He noticed a door opening and he dove behind a wall to hide himself. He sat there silently as he heard a feminine voice speak, "I am going to work Kaa-san!"

For most it would have been a muffled voice that answered but since Kiro had heightened senses of smell, hearing and sight he was able to pick up the words easily, "Are you sure you only mean work? You are still in need of a mate! That's something that you need to get to work on, you're of age!"

There was a groaning sound before a yelling, "SHUT UP MOTHER! I SWEAR TO KAMI IT'S ALL YOU TALK ABOUT!"

There was a yelling in response, "OH COURSE! YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE AN EXAMPLE FOR THE OTHER FEMALES! DAMMIT HANA FIND A FUCKING MATE ALREADY!"

With another groaning sound a door slammed and very noticeable stomping, probably even for those without enhanced hearing, was heard. Kiro glanced around the corner at the young woman who was stomping away from her clan home. As he peered over the wall, his senses were assaulted by that scent again making his eyes widen as he just figured out where the smell had been coming from all this time. With an excited smirk he dashed off in the same direction the woman was going then after a few minutes she stopped, knowing someone was there from being able to smell him, "Whoever you are just come out, I am in no mood."

Kiro leaped from the roof and landed in front of her with his black ninja shirt and pants. He didn't wear a hitai-ate making his shaggy hair bounce a bit from his landing then hang there. He stood straight up and smiled at her with hazel eyes shinning a bit, "I heard, your mother seems like she is a very interesting person."

The woman growled, "So... you stalk people and eavesdrop on their conversations? Who the hell do you think you are!?"

The man scratched the back of his head, he found it a bit hard to argue with that logic, "Well... I blame some of that on my sensei but that is no excuse. I am very sorry if I offended you in any such way, it's just that you are giving off this scent that is driving me insane."

With a rose eyebrow Hana gave him a very skeptical look, "What do you mean my scent?"

Shrugging the brown haired man kept smiling at her, "I don't know how to properly describe it. I have been smelling it since I got here and it has been driving me up a wall basically. I don't know what it is... it's just... just so... alluring."

Taking a step backwards, she adopted a defensive look with a growl, "I think you need to stay away from me."

Kiro looked at her with a confused look before he realized how it seemed. He took a step back as well putting his hands up, "I won't do anything to you Miss. I will leave you be, since I now know at least what that scent is."

As the man went to jump away she spoke up again, "What is your name?"

Smiling at her he responded, "Kiro Ookami, may I inquire as to what your name is?"

Thinking about declining, she knew that he already knew her first name. Besides, she had just asked what his name was so it was only fair to answer, "Hana Inuzuka."

With a smile and a bow the Ookami responded again, "It is my pleasure to meet you Ms. Inuzuka, have a good day at work. Perhaps we will meet again."

With that he shunshined away, making her look around to try and sense him. When she couldn't ping his chakra anywhere she narrowed her eyes a bit, 'What the hell was with that guy... I will have to talk to Kaa-san about this whole situation later when I get back home.'

With Naruto...

The blond Uzumaki stood in his home's training ground with his eyes closed. He was practicing the control of Kurama's chakra, just cycling it through his body to different areas. The fox demon he held inside of him had told him that if he practiced cycling the chakra through his system then he would be able to handle more and more of it at a time, making his body become more accustomed to it. He heard the crunching of grass and opened his now crimson eyes to look behind him. That was when he saw someone he wasn't expecting to see, his sensei Asuma, "Hello Asuma-sensei."

The man smiled and nodded, "So Naruto, you have the Storm Release huh?"

Staring at his sensei for a moment the teen turned his attention back forward, choosing to ignore the question. Asuma came and stood next to Naruto as the teen focused on controlling the flow of the Kyuubi chakra. Looking up at the night sky the sensei light a new cigarette for himself, "Your mother told me about your two new senseis, one is a water affiliate and one is a lightning affiliate. If you really want to master your bloodline then you need a wind affiliate as well. As you know that is something that I happen to be."

Naruto opened his eyes to look at him, "What are you getting at?"

Smiling the Sarutobi took a long drag off his cigarette, "I can progress your wind element manipulation while you let them help you with the others. The key to a bloodline like these are proper balancing of the elements. For example there was a clan in Kirigakure that used to be famed for ice manipulation, which is a blend of water and wind. Without a proper balance of those two elements the jutsu becomes unstable and deteriorates."

Giving a brief glance towards his sensei before returning to look forward, "I haven't even decided if I will let those two buffoons teach me. One of them just goes on and on about a scent that only he can smell. The other just complains about the first one while sitting around. I think that I would be better going forward without their interference, more then likely they would regress me rather than progress me."

Letting out a light chuckle the Sarutobi looked at Naruto again, "You said that your Kaa-san is the only one that you care about in this village right?"

Nodding his head quickly in response, Asuma nodded back then looked up at the sky once more, "Your Kaa-san worries about you almost as much as you worry about her. I know that if you would allow us to just help with your elements a little, just to the point of helping you understand and control them. Just enough to make it so you get a better grasp on this bloodline she would be much more at ease and a lot less stressed about it."

Giving his sensei a calculating look Naruto let out an irritated sigh, "You are suppose to help distract her and keep her happy. Perhaps I was wrong in my choosing of you Asuma-sensei."

Said man just rose his eyebrow at him, "You know that if Kushina-chan would have asked me herself you wouldn't have stopped her."

Naruto nodded his head then looked at the ground with crimson eyes, "The thing is that she stopped asking guys out for two reasons. One of them was me, since I don't care for others to much, something I have felt guilty about for years. Two is my bastard of a father, he doesn't like other men around her. I assume he still thinks in that fucked up head of his that she still holds romantic feelings for him... the fool is so wrong it actually amuses me though. I figured that you wouldn't be scared off by him and she holds these feelings for you..."

The boy, at least for a brief moment, flashed a look of pain on his face, "... I also figured that if you two were to have a child one day she would finally have someone to be proud of. I know I am not a good son to her, I cost her more than I give her by an exceptionally large margin. When the time comes that I confront him I will either die fighting him or be on the run for assassinating the Hokage. That being as it is, I will need someone to watch over her, someone to care for her. I figured if not me, you would be the next best choice. Though I black mailed you into asking her out, I know you both wanted it to happen so I thought it was what was best for Kaa-san."

The man just stared at Naruto, in disbelief that at least for a brief moment Naruto showed him a vulnerable side. The boy had actually opened up a bit to someone other than Kushina. Asuma rationalized that it was because of the fact that it was something Kushina would be upset with him saying. Naruto's eyes hardened again before he closed them, "I will consider allowing you and the buffoons teach me."

Asuma just stared at him for a moment then nodded his head and left to go and find Kushina. There were things that she needed to be aware of, whether Naruto wanted her to know or not. Naruto opened his eyes as Asuma left, watching the retreating form of the Sarutobi man, before letting out a sigh at his own thought, 'I am going to hurt her even more when he tells her...'

With Kiro and Darious...

Kiro arrived back at the Uzumaki compound scratching his head. His senpai looked up from the paper he was reading, seeing who walked in and then lifted it back up to resume reading, "So did the crazy man find his imaginary scent?"

The younger man said nothing as he got some water and sat down deep in his own thoughts. Darious folded down his paper and looked over at the man. Seeing that he was deep in thought he put down his paper, "What is wrong with you? It was just a joke you know, don't need to take it so seriously."

Kiro snapped his head up and over to Darious, "What was just a joke senpai?"

That made Darious' eyebrow raise up, "What is up with you Kiro?"

Said man just scratched the back of his head some more, "Well... I found the source of the scent but it wasn't what I expected."

The older man leaned back in his chair with a small smile as this reminded him of old times. Jiraiya had been relatively absent after accepting Kiro as an apprentice and most of his training fell to Darious. That being said Kiro also came to Darious with his questions and concerns. Darious held his small smile as he looked at Kiro, "What was the scent coming off of then?"

Kiro scratched the back of his head, "Well the scent was from a woman and I don't really understand it. Plus there is also the fact she thinks I stalk her and possibly thinks I was going to touch her without her permission. Perhaps our travels with Jiraiya-sensei have started to make people think that we are like him?"

Darious rose his eyebrow once again, "Well that is a concerning though. Did you say something specially that was so concerning?"

He shook his head no, "I just didn't think about what I was saying is all, I just said what it was. I told her that her scent was alluring to me and she quickly backed away from me. I think she thought I was going to try something but I could sense her power building at that moment. She didn't plan to go without a fight if I had been planning anything."

His senpai smirked at that, hearing the admiration in the younger mans tone, "Well what was her name?"

Kiro looked up with a small, pleasant smile gracing his lips, "Hana Inuzuka."