DISCLAIMER & A/N: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. And who said everything in life was easy?
Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
"That guy is more of an asshole than I ever was."
Mito's eyebrows climbed into her hair as she turned inward. She seriously doubted that - especially considering that split or not, she and Naruto housed the same fox that he was referring to. Plus, Kurama used to be a real piece of work.
'Ruto-chan had dropped by for a snack but had taken off on her again. Now Mito was laying down in both her bed and within her mindscape, totally spent.
But she beat Tsunade!
She'd beaten her TWICE!
Tsunade had been proud of her - but underneath that was a certain fury that Mito was sure she would have to face in the future. She had a strong feeling that the Slug Princess, Senju Tsunade-hime, herself, was going to REALLY begin training and sparring regularly again.
And then that woman will probably destroy me. She grinned at Kurama, realizing that she hadn't answered him.
"You said your other self just woke up for the first time since being sealed into Naruto?" The big fox bobbed his head slightly - he had it resting on his hands as he often did, and his eyes were closed. "I can imagine that he's really mad about being locked up."
"He was there when it happened, Mito-2. It's his own fault that he's been asleep all this time." It was strange talking about what was essentially himself as if the other wasn't him.
"I guess." Mito's part of Kurama slept most of the time, too, though. "He was sealed a lot tighter than you, and Naruto had never gone to see him or anything. Maybe that's why he's been zonked out."
Kurama watched as the female groaned and tried to get comfortable in front of his cage, eventually staring at the clouds that covered it - or at the weak bars of his cell that climbed infinitely into the clouds. Mito-2 had changed her mindscape again and now he had a lot more room. Mito-2 had become quite adept with space-time fuuinjutsu, her imagination broadened, and it seemed that she'd finally realized that she could give him (Ha) as much room as he desired. There was no reason to have him locked inside the basement of her nearby Mind Palace/"one-day beach house," as Mito put it.
The air in the seal wasn't unpleasant as it once was, years ago, and almost - ALMOST- felt like that of the forests he grew up in.
The setting was serene, as sunny as he liked it - not that he'd ever tell her that - and there was only one pesky human near him. Nice, really, considering that there aren't more nearby.
…Did I just think that?
Inari-sama: I'm getting soft, aren't I?
Kurama thought about his siblings, and of the power of his other two or so tails that he now missed. He remembered being sealed repeatedly; he vividly recalled Mito-1 and Kushina's detachment over it while Mito-2, on the other hand, had panicked when he was sealed within her. He had been ripped apart and was furious and weak then.
Mito-2 had been terrified of the Shinigami that night and, from the beginning, warned him that he was there even as her chains wrapped around his neck, sucking out his chakra. As if I wasn't aware of the presence of the fucking God of Death.
Inari-sama: Mito-2 had been stupid then.
But it was as if she cared even at that point…
Realizing that Mito-2 was falling asleep, he spoke up. Maybe it was because he was soft, or perhaps (more likely) it was because he knew that Mito-2 was considering unlocking his seal. "I had more than two human brothers as siblings." He'd been thinking of his family often lately - after seeing his brothers and then a part of himself in that sewer-like mindscape the rest of his chakra was stuck in.
Mito turned over on her belly, realizing that Kurama's hand/paw/thing was poking through the bars. She tried to fight a strange compulsion to pull out her very cool massaging kitty brush so that she could brush the orange fur she could reach. Or maybe file or paint Kurama's big ol' nails, although they look okay; just sharp. She snickered to herself, imagining painting them purple. "Okay?"
Kurama opened an eye and raised an eyebrow at the way she was looking at his nails. "Father had two sons and several daughters."
"Really? That's a lot." Kurama rolled his eyes. "Were the girls also talented?"
"They were there."
"Ouch. Please tell me that you're not a misogynist."
"You know very well that I am anti-human, Mito-2."
"Good point." Kurama hated all humans and women were just part of the problem to him.
"As always," he hummed before letting out a snort. "One of them… what was her name? –I can't recall but she wanted to fight: to learn jutsus; more than the ninshu they practiced. She snuck into Indra's vault. He killed her. Another was a priestess… I believe they may have been fraternal twins."
"He killed his own sister? What a scumbag! –And just because she wanted to do what her older brother did? Indra was older, right?"
Kurama bobbed his head. "I told you that Indra and his descendants are the worst of human stains."
"That you did." She'd almost fallen asleep (again) when Kurama spoke up, once more. Tsunade may have lost their spars today but she'd totally worn Mito out.
"He claimed that he did not kill her." Kurama shook his head. "Father believed him - though, by that point, he had feared that Indra was in fact changing."
"Maybe Indra didn't do it, Kurama." Mito turned over again, realizing more and more that she enjoyed their time together.
Mom would be freaking out about that, wouldn't she? Considering that Mito was (probably) more comfortable with Kurama than she was with anyone outside of Asuma, she really had a problem.
"I'm tellin' ya, Kurama: not all of the members of that clan are bad." (Uchihas: DON'T SAY THE WORD!)
"Let us agree that I know better." He drew his head back, frowning, as he studied his vessel more. Now that he really considered it - and aside from the weird hair, scars, and those ridiculous "cat tracks" on her arm, Mito-2 looked somewhat like his father's eldest daughter, the priestess.
He groaned when he disgustingly realized that his father's wife was an auburn-haired, testy but ultimately kind-hearted woman. Inari help him; she was probably one of those damned Uzumakis. The priestess-daughter and the other female that Indra presumably murdered both had even redder hair. Perhaps they were predecessors of the horrid clan.
How was that possible? Could it be?
Could it be that Mito-2 is a third reincarnation? One that I did not know of? Asura wasn't here, he was nearly certain. He was probably only hopeful.
Since when did the Master of Hate feel hope? Kurama asked himself.
Mito-2's (often repeated) words came to his mind regarding that: it was undoubtedly true that "hate can be exhausting."
Like she's one to talk.
But that's how she knows how exhausting hate can be. Kurama wasn't sure whether or not Mito-2 still truly hated that Obito-filth or not anymore. She did when she fought the bastard. That was what was important.
"Hmm." Kurama tried to remember his priestess half-sister but she had… She had definitely been at his temple but he believed that… Yes! She had visited or perhaps oversaw his siblings' temples or shrines: wherever they had preferred to live back then - so long ago - as well.
"Kurama-ani."
"You have returned, Hana."
Hana: her name was Hana!
"My senses tell me that there is something out there, brother: something that is… evil. Vile."
Kurama smirked. "And I thought that you saw Good in everyone?" When he realized how serious and, dare he say, "afraid" his sister looked, he rubbed his face and body against her.
I was so small then. He had only come up to her shoulders and was on his hands and feet back at the time.
"You are gentle and good, Hana. Bring that vile person to me and I will deal with him!"
Hana chuckled as she ran her fingers through Kurama's fur. "It's my job to protect you."
"Ugh. You sound like Asura."
Hana was alright. Kurama stood up, pressing his face low and against the cage bars as Mito blinked up at him in surprise, rather stupidly.
What the HELL was he thinking?! Hana spent her short life trying to protect him and his young siblings, to find the perfect place for the nine of them in the world: to spread ninshu. And he thought that Mito was the same?!
Kurama threw his head back and laughed and laughed. Being caged was making him insane!
Mito's lips drew up until she was smiling broadly at him, trying not to laugh, too. What in the world was he going on about? She'd never heard him laugh before like this… Mito gasped, jumping up, her heart pounding when she felt an ANBU team (and her father) sunshin into her bedroom. The three dudes had their weapons out! "What the fuck?!"
"Are you alright?" Minato asked urgently. There had been an enormous surge or blooming of chakra coming from the third floor of his residence.
Mito grabbed her yukata and threw it over her cami and shorts, (no bra!) feeling mortified. "You owe me a hell of an explanation for why you thought it was alright to bring a group of assassins into my room! For YOU thinking it was alright to invade what's supposed to be my space like this." She glared at all of them and couldn't feel any satisfaction from the way two members of her father's guard were paling. Her hair was flying up all around her, she knew. "Get. Out." When no one moved, she flashed to a Hiraishin marker Asuma let her put up in his apartment's spare bedroom. She stayed there, sitting on the floor and holding her knees or pacing and seething for nearly an hour before she returned to get some clothes to demand a mission outside of the village.
Had Kurama's laughter made their chakra combined expand or something? -Big fucking deal!
When she returned, it didn't look like anything in her supposed space had been touched and fortunately for them, no one was there. Just in case, she trapped the fuck out of the apartment, putting down seal after seal after seal that no one else could get past but her. She thought it best to warn Naruto to stay out of it before she left and decided to drop by the Academy to tell him.
Her father? Well, he could get the fuck electrocuted out of him if he tried a stunt like that again.
She swallowed hard, calming herself (and reminding herself that he was the Hokage and could send her away again.) If only he would. …Or he could execute me: what a fucking thought. Rethinking her plans, she summoned Kei to warn The Hokage about everything, letting the big cat know that it was fine to bite her father if he tried to get into "her apartment" again.
Another hour later, it was confirmed that she had UNKNOWINGLY been taken off the ANBU roster.
"You look miserable," Jiraiya said once he took a good look at his student after dropping in through his office window. "I thought you would be ecstatic these days." Minato only groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "I told you the Hokage job sucked! You should've listened to your all-knowing sensei."
Minato had already signaled his guard to leave and groaned once they were gone. "Mito left a very large lynx to warn me that she - and I quote - 'trapped and sealed the… F out of her apartment and to bite (me) if (I) tried to go upstairs.' - Unquote. ...Something like that."
"Good girl," Jiraiya smiled, approving entirely. He was glad that Mito was being careful. He'd pounded things like that into her kawaii head even before she got exiled.
"...and she destroyed a wall at ANBU HQ."
"A load-bearing wall?" Jiraiya asked reasonably. ANBU was pretty secure but you never knew.
"No," Minato nearly pouted, folding his arms over his chest. "She also threatened Ensui" (to "shove his head up his ass.") He really needed to do something about that but wasn't sure where Mito was right now. "I took her off the ANBU rolls but hadn't told her yet. …She's busy enough as it is."
Jiraiya gave Minato an increasingly incredulous look. "Mito, an ANBU, found out the Hokage took her off the rolls without him requesting it first? That's insulting, Minato."
"I'm not required to ask them anything."
"Yes, but it's polite and customary. You know this and it's what you would do with anyone else! Sure, if an ANBU op were to refuse your request, you can always insist and relegate them to the regular forces anyway. ...Mito knows that! They ALL know that!
"...Whether or not YOU considered her to be 'real ANBU,' my teammates and I - hell! The Sarutobis also made sure Mito knew ANBU procedures and protocols through and through. She was proud to be in that organization."
Minato knew that but she was his little girl - whether or not she's still a little girl anymore. "She brought down a wall there when she shoved it and her chakra destroyed some stairs when she stomped out."
"And that's surprising?!" It wasn't. Jiraiya's long-standing, life-saving motto was "don't piss off anyone with Uzumaki blood."
Minato didn't really want to discuss or think about it anymore. "You're here to report?"
Jiraiya flopped into a chair next to his student's desk. "Hanzo still leads Ame; he's still as paranoid as ever. One of my former students, Konan-chan, IS alive: bless her heart - and it looks like she leads a rebellion force there. I guess there's a slight chance that she's a… part of his forces - maybe part of an elite group - but there was something else going on."
Minato waited for the spymaster to continue but Jiraiya seemed lost in thought. "As long as Hanzo's focus and influence remain on Ame and only Ame, I think we're all better off. Ame is stable, ne?"
"From what little I saw? Yes. …The uniforms Mito saw Itachi and Konan-chan wearing: black cloaks with red clouds embroidered on them? It's an organization called the Akatsuki."
Mito frowned more and more. "And this Akatsuki is an Ame organization? Why would they be in Kiri, attacking the Mizukage, then? Why would Obito or Itachi-kun be in it?"
"We both know that Yagura was a terrible thug of a leader. Maybe Ame was making a statement. Revenge… That kind of thing." Jiraiya scratched his head, knowing that this was a shitty, half-assed report.
"And?" Minato finally asked after a long period of silence.
"Well, ya see… I got caught and sealed in a cell. In Ame."
Minato lowered his chin as his eyebrows raised behind his hitai-ate into what felt like his hairline. "I beg your pardon? –Goddammit, Jiraiya! Am I going to have to deal with Hanzo as a result of this?"
.
Obito lay in his bed considering everything that Zetsu and Kisame had said.
Unlike Kisame, he really didn't care about what Namikaze Mito, aka Fox, had done to him. Yes, it was painful… and disturbing and… emasculating but it soon wouldn't matter. Once there was a perfect world…
Ah, who was he kidding? He would definitely get her back for what she'd done to him if Kisame would leave her alone long enough - or would leave something of her behind once he was through with her. His one real "friend" (of sorts) in their organization aside from Zetsu was so damn sore about losing his chakra-eating sword. Try losing your leg and balls, asshole.
Try being left behind under a pile of rocks!
Shaking those morbid thoughts off, Obito guessed that he really needed to thank Kisame for staying with him and signaling Zetsu - and also dealing with Nagato: that asshole - otherwise, he might have died.
Then all this would be for nothing.
It was hard to put together the sweet, snarky little girl that had been Fox and the bitter, vicious, adult kunoichi that he'd battled in Kiri. He should've guessed that she was their daughter back then… He'd been an idiot not to realize that!
"Nice ta meetcha!"
"How's a little kid gonna help us win the Chunin Exams?"
Rin gasped and told me to be nice.
"Hey!" Fox shook her fist in the air just like Kushina-nee always used to. "I'm really strong: believe it. And if either of you gets hurt, I can heal you!"
"That's Rin-chan's job."
"Obito! Fox is Senju Tsunade-hime's apprentice!"
"Whaa! That should be YOU, Rin-chan! YOU should be that lady's apprentice."
Fox nodded eagerly, her pretty eyes twinkling behind her mask, surprising him. "I hear Rin-chan's really, really good! I can't wait to introduce her to Tsunade-ba-heehee- shishou."
Rin gasped and looked so happy - she was awed. Hope and determination danced in her soft sweet eyes. It had warmed his heart.
"I guess we can give you a chance… Fox."
"Thank you, Obito-kun! I won't let ya down!"
…
Preparing for the Chunin Exams, she always stood so close to sensei when we listened to him advise us.
I just thought she was in awe of the Yellow Flash.
Sensei was so charismatic; it was understandable.
And there was the way she used to skip up to Kushina-nee when she'd bring us lunch like she'd known Kushina her whole life.
Which she obviously did.
Duh.
…
"Obito, I need you to listen to me. And Rin! It's going to be okay! I've dealt with this venom before… Obito, I swear to God, if you don't stop thrashing around, I'm going to flick you and knock your ass out! Man up!"
He'd been such a crybaby back then. "Chibi Fox-chan's so mean! Owwww…"
Rin regained her composure and grabbed my hand. "Between the two of us, we can fix you right up, Obito-kun: don't worry!"
"I always trust you, Rin-chan."
Fox had made some kissy noises at them, which would've embarrassed him to death had he not been worried that he was going to die. Behind her ever-present mask, Fox's eyes were still happy even though they were in the literal Forest of DEATH and he'd just gotten bitten by something that looked like a cross between an overly large, long cat and a caterpillar.
"Aw, crap: Obito, did you get poisoned or stabbed earlier, too? When we were fighting? Or did ya get hit with something?"
Rin turned me over and began examining me everywhere - which had been a little mortifying at the time.
"Um, when? OWW, I don't like shots!"
"He's usually much braver and smarter than this, I promise, Fox-chan."
Rin was the best friend anyone could ask for.
"I've learned that plenty of times, Rin-chan."
Obito groaned but could admit that whatever weird witchcraft Fox was performing to pull some black crap out of him made him feel better. "Fox-chan? I guess you're not such a bad chibi after all."
"I hope once all this is over we can stay... I mean, we can be really good friends, ya know."
Rin had smiled at her beautifully. "We are really good friends, Fox!"
Fox-chan began sniffling.
"Although knowing your real name would be nice," he'd snarked before the girls quickly hauled him back to his feet. Then Fox had thrown herself at both of them, crying about how nice it was to have them - or it almost sounded like anyone - as friends. Over her head, he and Rin had looked at each other in concern and both reached to pet her little covered head at the same time.
"Gah! Don't mess with my cool mask!"
"You're a terrible brat, you know that, Fox?"
"Yeah, you're a terrible brat, Fox… Namikaze Mito. Now what to do with you?"
.
Asuma chewed the nicotine gum Mito prescribed for him. It was pretty good, minty, and really hit the spot when he was around Kurenai or Mito when she was on a rant. Or I'm with a client. He looked at the kunoichi who was eating for what had to be the sixth time today - nothing unusual there - and sighed. Spiderman's tail was wrapped around Mito's head: he was obsessed with Mito's weird hair plus she always shared her food. (Only with animals or summons.) "There's a short video I saw at your dad's office that features you."
Mito stopped inhaling noodles for just a second before shrugging - although she didn't like being photographed. She was a ninja, after all. "Kinky," she teased.
Her father better not have fucking filmed her!
"Not 'kinky.' you idiot! It's you in Kiri!"
Mito grimaced. She didn't think they had cameras in those latrines; that would be so embarrassing and she'd checked them several times! Just because she was a badass kunoichi didn't mean that she couldn't be shy about that stuff or have body issues. She was kinda "bottom heavy" and although she had pretty decent legs, her thighs were fairly thick. But then again, her big long thighs also allowed her to rip trees out of the ground and kick giant boulders into dust - or kick enemies into another country if she really went for it so having them so big was totally worth it. "What did you see?"
"It shows you attacking the Uchiha and burning down Kiri. One of the cameras must've been in a high tree next to a clearing. Another was in the woods."
"Ah," Mito said, relaxing a bit. "If it's really my fight with Obito, I want to review it: that's valuable data. I did NOT burn down Kiri, by the way."
"Your enormous fireball took out the camera and everything that was within its range." Mito just hummed as she chewed - obviously not caring about setting flame to what looked like half of a foreign village. "I need a favor. My mission," Asuma began, tracing his fingers along the knots in his wooden table; "I think someone's trying to reinstate ROOT or something similar to it."
Mito looked up, feeling her blood beginning to heat at the mere idea. Hadn't getting rid of Danzo taken that organization out, once and for all? "You need help?" Asuma gave her a sneaky tilt of the head that said he might.
"Utatane and Mitokado Homura looooove you." Mito rolled her eyes but she had to know that it was true. Asuma had missed a council meeting but heard that the two were fawning all over Mito afterward as they used to when she was a very little girl, living part-time at his father's place. "They're obvious suspects thanks to their association and support of Danzo. Quite a few former ROOT kids have gone missing, been classified KIA, or are out on assignments that the Genin Corps commander didn't assign. We're keeping it very quiet while the investigation continues. The numbers - at least the ones we know of - aren't that large but we don't want ROOT rebuilding."
"What do you need me to do?" Mito asked. She'd help! She'd love to help. Hopefully, she could clear the two old Elders even though they were troublesome and held onto totally old-fashioned beliefs. They had once been kind to her even if they gave her father a lot of shit ever since he became Hokage. They'd been cleared in that attack, she thought…
Of course, she despised their old buddy, Danzo. At the council meeting, she had been very pleased that the couple didn't seem to blame her for Hiruzen-ojii's death.
Danzo… He had been "involved" in her kidnapping and was the force behind all those soldiers at the capitol that day.
Mito still didn't know that Naruto had been kidnapped that day, too.
"Be your charming self with them." Moments later, Asuma snorted at the same time she did. "No, seriously. Maybe - as long as we agree on it first and you report back to me - you can… I don't know: fall for their charms. Just when you're not on missions. I'll put you on the payroll."
"That's a shit plan," Mito whined. "It's not like they'd reveal something to me!"
"Maybe if they knew you were pissed off at your father they would." Mito growled out a hum, obviously finding gaining their trust difficult. "Which you are," Asuma reminded her - as if he had to. Mito was not speaking to her Hokage father, right now. (He'd certainly been there with his own father so he wouldn't scold her for it.) "Be creative."
Mito was glad that he was asking her to help at all: it made her feel better. Being knocked out of ANBU had done a number on her self-esteem. "They did ask me to come for tea. I guess I can let them know I've changed my mind. - I'll go if they'll still have me."
"Stay out of trouble but see if you can find anything."
Mito nodded back at him.
Later -
At Mito and Minato's request, Tsunade finished her check-up on Naruto-brat. "So what's the deal, hm? You look like shit even though you seem to be healthy enough."
"I'm fine," Naruto said. He crossed his arms over his chest and slumped, looking petulant which told the Slug Sannin that he had something on his mind.
"If you're so fine, explain to me why you're acting like a brat."
"You ALWAYS say I'm acting like a brat!"
"NO, I always say that you ARE a brat: there's a difference." Naruto huffed at her. "Look, Naruto: you have bags under your eyes, you've been a real jerk to be around," (asshole is what she meant,) "and you bark at your family every time you sit down with either of them. Mito-chan spoke to Iruka-sensei…"
"She's got no right to go around doin' stuff like that!" Naruto might have flinched a little at the irritated, dangerous look he got from the Old Hag for that comment but he'd gotten pissed when he looked up to see his sister sitting on his classroom windowsill whispering to Iruka-sensei when he'd been sleeping (er, studying) in there one day.
"She CARES about you. She doesn't even LIKE Iruka-kun…"
Naruto pouted fiercely. "What's that about, huh? EVERYBODY likes Iruka-sensei!"
"Not everybody likes everybody, brat." Mito's ESPECIALLY not going to like Iruka when he stood her up for their little date/"friendly meeting." Hopefully, that surprise morning paint explosion Iruka was hammered with while sealed to his chair will remind him to treat women better. "Some people just don't get along but I didn't think YOU were one of those people."
Naruto's face scrunched up while he tried to figure out what she'd just said. "Huh?"
Tsunade leaned against the wall in the examination room, trying to keep her temper in check as she always did with this kid. Although she loved him to death, Naruto drove her crazy. "Iruka said that your grades have plummeted and that you've done little but sleep in class for a week or so."
Naruto shrugged. "It's not like it helps."
"What does that mean?" When the boy only made a long rumbling noise, Tsunade did what she always did with the kid: she brought out the Hokage card. "You know that a good Hokage asks for advice and help when he needs it. In FACT, I know that all of Konoha's kages asked for help even before and after they became Hokage. That's one of the traits that are necessary and sought out in any decent leader. How else could they be effective if… NARUTO," she barked. Her patient had just nodded off on her!
Normally the kid had so much energy that she - or anyone else - had a hard time keeping him still.
"Uh… Hehe. Sorry 'bout that."
"How much are you sleeping at night?"
Naruto shrugged. "Eight to uhhh… twelve hours lately, 'ttebayo," he said and flushed.
"At NIGHT?"
"That's what I said, ain't it?!"
"And then you sleep in class on top of that?"
"That's what Mito says," he said in a snarky baby voice.
"That's what your SENSEI says, Naruto. …I don't get you, kid! You were really excited to finally meet your sister."
"I…" Naruto grimaced and let out a snarl as he grabbed his head. "Everything's changed!" Tsunade-baa-chan only nodded at him, encouraging him to keep talking, he guessed. "Can I just go?"
"I guess. But you'll have to see a Yamanaka-type if you're not going to talk to me. Whatever's going on is negatively affecting your grades and sleep, isn't it?"
Naruto shivered. "I don't want to see one of… them!"
"Then the solution is to spill here to me and avoid them."
Naruto glared at her, knowing that one of these days his glares would work on the old lady! Not today, though, huh? When Tsunade-baa-chan picked up her phone to possibly call one of those mind people - and gosh: he did not like loud, bossy Ino very much and he definitely didn't want her to be able to read his brain or stuff - he surrendered. For now. "The fox is uh… THE FOX IS THREATENING US!" He madly wiped at the tears that burned his eyes and tried to get it together. "Bastard fox is gonna break free and kill everyone and he says Mito-nee's seal is bad and… NONE OF THIS HAPPENED BEFORE SHE CAME! -Dad's worried and sad all the time and leaves to follow her and stuff and it's just not normal!"
"Oh, kid… Sometimes these things take time," Tsunade sympathetically explained to the brat. "And the fox? You need to learn to shut him out - although my grandmother told your mother that the way to deal with the Kyuubi was with love." Naruto's face scrunched up in disgust so much that his eyes closed shut. It made her want to laugh.
"No way. …What did Mom say?" Naruto always wanted to hear what his awesome mom thought about things.
Tsunade smiled sadly and patted his shoulder. "She said the same thing you said, not understanding Mito-obaa-san at all. In the end, she asked - or politely demanded - that the Kyuubi be quiet," she said truthfully as she shrugged. "Mito-chan says your seal is very strong: the fox isn't going anywhere. She used to talk to him monthly…"
"Talk to the fox?! Mito-ane talked to the fox on purpose?!"
"Yes, Naruto," Tsunade drawled as she checked his insane chakra levels for a nearly 12-year-old kid. Having him all checked out meant that she wouldn't have to do it again on his birthday - which was coming up. "Feel better after talking about it?"
"Maybe a little." He brightened up entirely - doing a 180 - with a big smile on his whiskered face. "I'm glad I wasn't forced to talk to the scary Yamanakas, 'ttebayo!"
Tsunade shuddered. "Kami forbid! Avoid them at all costs, Naruto!"
