Naruto: Shoton of Konoha

by Arch-Daishou00

: For Stormy Rebel, miss you, Joachim, and thank you: "By the actions of the traitor Mizuki. Naruto awakens a rare Kekkei Genkai. And his path has now changed. And in the darkness awakens an ancient threat more terrifying than the Akatsuki, which only stirs thought of myths from a lost and forgotten age." : huge world expansion story, OC. Co-Author: Etheral-23

34. Catching our breath

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto

Co-Author and Beta: Etheral-23

Arch: "Well you 'Shoton' fans are in for a treat. You will be having four chapters instead of the standard two coming out. You guys will be getting four! Hope you like."

Chapter 34: Catching our breath

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If there was one place Naruto hated the most, it had to be the hospital. To be told he had to stay put, do nothing for days at the time, being served that disgusting food instead of the ramen he loved so much. Naruto was not particularly religious, but he considered waiting on a hospital bed and counting time he had to remain there to be akin to hell itself. A place of healing everyone said, pfft, he was certain there was some god up there who deemed this to be his karma for something he must have done in a past life.

But, jiji had been clear; At least one day or two in observation. It wasn't every day you fought a bijū and the most you had were multiple light wounds (they were more severe at first; thank the gods for his Biju's accelerated healing). Any other day he might have gone insane.

"Your move" Came the bored droning voice of a certain Nara.

"What?" The very much surprised and confused glasses wearing Uzumaki girl replied as she looked at the shogi table in disbelief. "When... how did you...?"

"We told you Shikamaru was good" Came Sakura's teasing voice.

But today, he had good company to pass the time with.

Oh the room was crowded, something the nurses had admonished them for. But they had made it very clear they didn't care at all about protocol, after the whole mess that was yesterday, a single room crowded with visitors was actually fairly low in their priorities. They had entire hospital wings where the wounded were still being treated.

It was tight, but the large group managed to accommodate. Not only was his team and cousin present, but also Team 8, 10, and Team Gai. While friendly companions and fellow comrades at first, Sand-Sound Invasion had forged powerful bonds of camaraderie and trust between them. 'Fire-forged friendships' Kakashi-sensei had called them, when your life and that of your people are on the line, bonds like these would be tempered by the shared struggles they faced against their foes, under the heat of the battlefield.

Not exactly how Naruto liked making friends, but he wouldn't deny he felt closer to lots of these people then he had ever felt before.

"You need another pillow?" His mother asked worriedly, sitting at the edge of his bed. "Should I call the nurse? Morphine, do you need morphine? Nurse, nurse!" She clicked the button that would call on the nurse, in her worry she didn't realize it was the TV control, which was currently switching between a cooking show, an anime, and later a romcom movie. "My son needs drugs!"

Kiba deadpanned from his place against the wall next to the door. "Not an expert, but I think not giving your kid drugs is Parenting 101"

"Come now, Kushina-sama" Kakashi cheerfully called from his spot the window frame. "We can all see Naruto is fine"

"If he's anything like me I know he's acting tough!" They all sweatdropped at the doe eyed teary expression on her face. "My son must be in so much pain!"

"Am I even here?" Naruto wondered to Chouji. "It's like everything I tell her goes into one ear and escapes the other... Ahhh shit, now I know why my teachers in the Academy got so mad at me"

The Akamichi nodded and quipped; "Pretty much."

"Give it a rest Naruto" Sakura gave him a knowing smile. "Moms get like that; you wouldn't know how my mom gets when I just catch a cold... Though mine doesn't threaten to harm the doctors"

Ino deadpanned and shivered recalling not her mother, but her dad's antics whenever she caught a cold. "You just learn to get used to it Naruto."

"Who gets used to this?" Sasuke drawled thumbing to the overactive redhead beside her son. The Uchiha sat near Karin and Shikamaru observing their game with Shino doing the same.

"You'd be surprised what you can get used to," A snort came from Tenten who sat with her bandaged teammate Neji. Both sat by the Lee's bed who some by divine twist Naruto shared. "I work with these two nut cases plus Gai-Sensei."

The doctor said it was a miracle Lee's body was not too severely damaged thanks to the use of the eight inner gates. However his body was still badly hurt that required the boy to remain in the hospital for several weeks. Along with no missions or training for least a month.

Of course explaining to an (Obsessive) Taijutsu enthusiast he can't train, well that went over as well as attempting to tell an Uzumaki they can't have ramen for a year...

Neji gave his female teammate an indignant glare; "I take offense to that."

"I agree; that was quite hurtful Tenten." Lee also responded despite everyone dryly gazing at his reinforced restraints holding him down on the bed. Never mind the thick bandages over most of his body.

Tenten only rolled her eyes at the two with a snort that came from Naruto as he was handed a bag of chips from Chouji who sat on the blond's bed. Praise the young Akamichi for sneaking in 'real' food for Naruto munches on!

"Sorry it's not a cup of ramen Naruto." Chouji spoke apologetically to the blond who simply waved it off.

"Hey I'll take anything over whatever they call food here."

Kakashi weakly chuckled; "It's not that bad."

"Did you even see the food they give the patients, Kakashi-Sensei?" Shikamaru questioned dryly not taking his eyes off the shogi board.

"…Well it's nowhere near as bad as it was when I was kid." The copy-ninja weakly admitted.

Kushina cringed sticking out her tongue beside her son; "Don't even ask how bad it was when I was little."

Holding Akamaru, Hinata sat with Sakura and Ino, the shy heiress rubbed the little puppy's ear much to his delight while peering at the blond Uzumaki; "S-Still, you fought a Bijuu Naruto-kun, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm alright; anything to serious the grouch in my gut handles that." Naruto pointed to his stomach. Honestly a part of him was still surprised how the others reacted upon learning or being told by him that he was their village's Jinchurriki. He would have been lying to say he wasn't terrified, but overall nothing had changed one bit.

"You owe this 'grouch' your life" Kurama's voice gruffly echoed in his mind, he sounded... moodier than usual. This was saying something. "Make no mistake, whelp; we will have words about this... arrangement of ours"

That sounded ominous...

"Well, I guess that damn furball is good for something" Kushina said irritated at the thought of giving the Biju that nearly killed her child any kind of gratitude.

"It's a shame you can't hear me calling you a bitch" the fox replied, once more inside his head with none being all the wiser but him.

Well, back to his usual mood now.

"I'm just glad you made it out alright;" Kakashi eye-smiled as he continued; "Challenging a Bijuu is no small matter."

"I had a lot of help" The blonde Uzumaki acknowledged. "I don't think I would have made it out otherwise"

"Oh yeah, you summoned a giant ass dragon. That was so awesome!" Kiba gushed excitedly.

"Wow, for real?" Ino blinked rapidly, balking at the information while petting Akamaru.

"Yep!" Naruto grinned, feeling rather proud of himself. "Said she was Kamiko, the chief Genryu's daughter"

"Ohhhh I haven't seen her in so long!" Kushina grinned as the memories flooded back. "She was the size of a house last time I saw her. Hehe; must have gotten pretty big now" Her smile became softer. "Uzumaki and dragons fighting side by side against a big threat, as it should be" Her voice was wistful with nostalgia, "Like the family we are. Heh, rather literally in this case"

"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head in confusion.

"Oh yeah, Kamiko is like your cousin uhhh twice removed I think"

Karin looked up from her game along with Shikamaru, giving her aunt a flat gaze, "What?"

"Yeah Genryu is my grand uncle"

"...What?" The flat question was echoed by many of the younger generation there.

"Well he is my grandmother's brother. Half-brother if you wanna be technical"

"WHAT?!"

The silver-haired ninja deadpanned at the owlish looking redhead; "Didn't I explain that before?" Kushina questioned.

"No you didn't!" all the young teens chorused.

"Hmm, oh well. Now you know!" The former ANBU captain chirped happily. "Short version the Uzumaki and Eastern Dragon Clan do have bonds by bloodlines. Basically we're one big family 'ttebane!"

'AND WE'RE LEARNING THIS NOW!?' Naruto and Karin mentally bellowed in their heads before both groaned out a long sigh. Ugh! They both would deal with that later as they shook off the initial shock; "How is everything going around the village?" Karin changed the subject for everyone's sanity.

"Well, thanks to our new alliance with Kiri the clean up around the village is moving fast," Kakashi answered as he peered out the window. "I heard the Sandaime has enlisted reconstruction aid from several places, including Nami no Kuni." Team 7 sharply turned their gaze towards their sensei who eye-smiled back at the three; "Guess Tazuna is returning the favor. Even heard Inari will be coming."

"Surprised he is sober enough to do anything." Sasuke chided recalling the cheeky elderly drunkard.

"That's cool, feel like forever since I've seen those two." Naruto grinned as he bit into a chip.

"I know right?" Sakura commented. "Like, it's only been a few months but it feels like years"

"The Land of Wave" Neji, who had not been there quite for some time, spoke with a thoughtful look to him. "I heard this where your first real mission was"

"It was" The pinkette confirmed with a short nod. "Man it was harrowing but... in a way I'm grateful. Really showed me what I was in for"

"It shaped your path then"

"I guess you could call it" A teasing grin formed on her lips as she winked at him, "'Fate'" She said with a giggle.

The words were not an insult hurled at him, regardless of his heated rants at her during their fight, how he would call her nothing but cannon fodder, a civilian born, a fake ninja... And yet this civilian born had beaten him, she had played to his strength and taken advantage of his weaknesses, like a true ninja. What truly baffled him was how she could just stand here, talk to him like that as thought nothing had happened, as though he hadn't insulted her pride.

Lady Hinata... she was as always kind beyond measure, something he had seen as a weakness, but now came to see as a formidable trait. He honestly did not expect anyone else to treat him with such kindness, not after the way he acted like an insolent cur.

His defeat at her hands... he had won more that day then he could have ever imagined. As he was being treated, and his uncle came by to tell him the full story of his father's death, no... His sacrifice.

Ashamed, more broken than he had ever seen him, Hiashi bowed to him. At the failure of having been unable to change the Hyuuga, at having been unable to save his father.

Fate... his father had chosen his fate. Such as Haruno had choose to carry on the life as a ninja, that was the fate they were offered, the one they had taken despite it all.

Neji wanted to convey his gratitude to the Haruno but for once he lacked the words to express himself. All he could do was cast shameful gazes as he tried to swallow whatever pride he had left.

Unbeknownst to the Hyuuga, Sakura had noticed his not so subtle glances towards her every so often. The rosette couldn't really read his brief gazes towards her; she was rather unsure what was on Neji's mind. She did feel a bit nervous when seeing those penetrating eyes staring at her, but shook it off and kept conversing with Ino and Hinata.

She was not the only one who noticed Neji's actions as Tenten felt like face palming. Did getting his backside handed to him make him bashful all of a sudden? Well for one thing she was not going to let this get awkward. "Sakura."

The rosette turned her head at the mention of her name from the weapon mistress; "Yes sempai?"

...Now why couldn't Naruto learn to be this respectful to his seniors? Right, Uzumaki have a very eccentric view on respect. "Neji wants to apologize to you for being an ass." The people in the room stopped what they were doing as they all directed their focus to team Gai. Neji felt his eye twitch while he glared at his Kunoichi teammate; "Don't give me that look. You keep peering over at Sakura's direction, which she noticed by the way. But since she can't read minds she might assume you want to ask her out or something."

The rosette's cheeks nearly matched her hair while Neji chocked on his own saliva with blush on his cheeks; "WHAT!?" Lee nearly screech so loud everyone winced at his volumes. "Do you have feelings for Sakura-chan as well Neji!?"

"NO!" The Hyuuga older teen snapped with a flushed snarl before letting out a huff to calm himself. He turned his gaze over to Sakura; "As my teammate so crassly put it... I do wish to apologize for my behavior Haruno-San. I acted like an uneducated thug towards you and it was uncalled for." He bowed his head towards her; "I am sorry."

The room had become still as everyone turned their eyes to Sakura who looked at Neji owlishly. "Um..." Oh wow, how do you respond to something like that? "I-it's alright Neji-San; I mean all we did was fight."

Neji shook his head as he looked up; "It was more than that. You helped me see more than what I thought was absolute truth. For that I owe you a great deal."

'Wow...' Naruto, Chouji, and Kiba blinked at hearing that. Who'd thought Neji getting his ass kicked by Sakura would have had this affect.

Said rosette only blushed at Neji's sincerity towards her.

Wow, getting praised like this was really something she was unused to. Sakura didn't really know what to say, but it felt... good, really good, that she had changed a life for the better.

"Oh my" The very cat-like grin on Kushina's face gave the pinkette a really bad feeling, "Sounds to me someone has gotten pretty interested in you~"

Cue two sputtered and bashful looks from both young genin at the insinuation, followed by the shared laughter of everyone else in the room. Sakura shot Ino a glare the moment she saw that glint in her eye, "Don't you dare..."

As the mirth continued, Tenten and Lee smiled with great joy at seeing that all the bitterness and anger Neji had carried with him for so long had been taken off his shoulders. He looked like someone who had been born again, like he had been blind, and now he could see the color of the sky and its endless possibilities.

And they owed it all to her.

Team Gai had sworn from that moment forth, that Team 7 was their treasured companions whom they would fight with through anything, come hell or high water.

Hinata smiled tenderly at the sight, feeling beyond happy and relieved that things had come to pass like these. Naruto, Sakura, they had a strength she admired greatly, and felt blessed just by being able to witness the wonderful things they were capable of. Strength she lacked...

No, if all she did was mope and feel saddened at her own weakness, then she couldn't advance. She too had her pride, small as it was, she would one day stand shoulder to shoulder with these people, her teammates, her peers, her comrades and friends, as a fellow Leaf ninja.

The grin Kiba shared with her and the ever subtle nod from Shino told her she wasn't alone in this regard.

"Tch, so troublesome" The smile on his face betrayed Shikamaru's words.

"My, my" The amused and regal voice of womanly youth was heard, all eyes turned to the door and widened upon seeing the princess standing there with a soft smile on her lips. She wore a pink kimono with a flowery design, along with sandals over white socks. It was impressive how on the battlefield she looked like a born warrior and with a quick change of clothing she fit right in with the high society.

"Hime-sama!" Kakashi immediately leapt from his seat on the window and bowed dutifully. The genin all did the same, scrambling to look presentable before their princess. "You honor us with your visit!"

"Oh hey, nice to see you again!" Naruto waved at her cheerfully, "I heard you were pretty awesome during the battle, wish I could have-UGH!" The rough hand of his mother quickly shoved him over his mattress.

"Bow, you idiot!" She hissed. Even she had enough sense to show proper etiquette to their nation's royalty.

"Really, it's quite alright," Maiyuri waved a dismissive hand while sweat dropping; "Um... Kushina-Dono I think you might have hurt your son."

The redhead blinked before shrieking as she just realized she had thrown her son off the bed and onto the floor. Having literally forgotten her own etiquette she had quickly put her son back into bed and put the covers over him. "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" She spoke in such a panicked hurried tone it might as well been squirrel talk. This followed by the redhead dashing from one side of her son's bed to the other in a speedy blur going from emotionally back and forth from frantic to maternal crying in seconds.

All watched the spectacle with a pronounced sweatdrop, and Naruto attempting to calm his mother down. Assuring her he was alright. Kakashi only deadpanned while Kushina wailed she was bad mother; "And how is your day Maiyuri-hime?" He queried weakly while Naruto, Karin, and Sakura were trying calm down the Uzu woman with Ino and Hinata's assist.

Sasuke only rubbed his eyes; 'How my mother put with this woman is beyond me.'

"I'm...Well" The princess responded slowly; "I just came to see Naruto-san and thank him for stopping the Shukaku." She deadpanned as Kushina was given a tissue which she blew her nose loudly while whipping her tears. 'I honestly assumed the rumors of Kushina-dono being a bit 'touched' was hearsay...'

She cleared her throat and gave the blonde Uzumaki a grateful look, "All of you have done your duty in protecting the village, and you showed great courage and strength in the face of overwhelming odds. It was my privilege to have fought alongside you" To their surprise, the princess gave them a court bow. It wasn't often a person of such status would give a gesture like that to her own subjects.

"Um, you know" Naruto scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassed. "Just did what I had to do"

"And you did so without killing Gaara" Maiyuri noted, "In fact, from what I was told, he's acting strangely cooperative and calm compared to his... previous outbursts"

"Really?" He asked, with a nod of confirmation he let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad he's okay"

Maiyuri tilted her head, raising an eyebrow elegantly. "Most people would not be so forgiving considering the circumstances"

"Yeah well" The Jinchuuriki shrugged, "I heard what his village did to him, and... it wasn't right, it didn't sit well by me at all, having to kill him. All things considered I got lucky and he... I just couldn't" His voice was heavy. Kushina placed a comforting hand on her son's shoulder while the others gave him an understanding look.

"I see" Maiyuri merely responded, "The monks taught me that there is strength in forgiveness. The true measure of wisdom is knowing when to exercise mercy. Some would say that you took a huge risk at the expense of your village's safety"

Naruto flinched at those words.

"As for myself, I believe that was a difficult choice, but in the end you made the correct one"

A smile of relief and gratefulness grew on the young blond's lips. He was happy to know his nation's princess approved of his action not to kill Gaara.

"So how are you all feeling?" Maiyuri questioned as she gazed at all the young genin; "Yesterday was perhaps the closest thing to a war you all have experienced." Hopefully the last one as far she was concerned, but she needed to know how these young shinobi prospects handled the ordeal.

Sasuke was first to responded with a shrug; "The village was in danger, as ninja it's our duty to protect it and its people." If the princess was worried about them killing people he knew that wasn't going to be a problem for him.

"If I can be blunt," the Yamanaka heiress rubbed her arms as her eyes gazed at the ground. "I was completely terrified." A shiver coursed through Ino's body as she held her arms. "One minute we were watching the chunin exams, then the whole village was in chaos. Everything felt like a blur; from fighting someone who wanted to kill you, to watching giant snakes devour people right in front of you... I never had been so scared in my entire life..."

What she wouldn't tell their country's princess, nor the others was how when Ino got home she threw up in the bathroom. Had cried her eyes out being held by her mother who was doing the same. Ino knew she had killed at least few people, but knew it was to push out the invaders and protect her home and people she loved.

She also was not about to mention the nightmare when sleep finally claimed her last night.

Both Sakura and Hinata comforted their friend with Akamaru cutely whimpering at her. "My little sister was at my side when it started in the arena." Hinata bit her lip; "She refused leaving my or father's side when we got home. She slept in my bed with me... She cried herself to sleep..."

The princess shook her head, "To have seen such bloodshed at her age, she's just a child... you're all children..." She muttered the last part so low, yet so filled with bitterness that only those with much superior hearing could make it out.

The look of outrage in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular was particularly worrisome, that did not go unnoticed by the others.

"Hime-sama?" Kakashi tentatively called.

She blinked rapidly, snapping out of her thoughts. "Ah, my apologies. I have a lot in my mind" She excused herself, "My father is due to arrive, and we are still waiting for Land of Wind's response to Suna's actions. Their attack was a clear violation to our treaties, if the situation isn't resolved with their daimyo then things will become... problematic"

Kushina's back straightened out as she stared at the princess, "You think it could mean war?"

"Think war already happened..." Karin muttered.

"You don't get it" Kakashi said, a concerned look evident in his sole visible eye. "The princess doesn't mean between war just between Suna and Konoha, but between the entirety of the armies of Fire and Wind"

Shikamaru's eyes widened, "Wait, the actual standing armies? But they haven't waged war in... A century."

He sounded scared, for reasons that eluded Naruto. "It'd be a bigger war?"

"MUCH bigger" Kushina gravely nodded. "Back in the Clan Wars era, ninjas were being hired to act as pre-emptive forces to stop conflicts, or win wars before they started. This reduced the number of open wars between the nations dramatically. When the villages were founded, we pretty much replaced the need for the daimyo's to pin their armies against each other"

"You know that the Land of Steel managed to remain neutral for so long, for a reason" Kakashi continued, "Thousands of trained samurai can pose as much a threat as an army of ninjas. And the sheer size of the capital's standing armies dwarves a hidden village's able bodied ninjas by a wide margin. Warriors who can fight head on against ninja, along with entire regiments of archers, spearmen, cavalry, all sorts of siege engines. And worst of all, by the conditions the daimyos imposed on their shinobi villages, only their armies are legally allowed to bring gunpowder based weaponry to the field; Canons and firearms"

Back when the villages first received sponsorship by their nation's lord and had sworn loyalty to them, the rulers of the Gogyou-koku, the Elemental Nations, feared their ninja would grow too powerful and would eventually try to overthrow them. For that, they placed heavy restrictions on the ninja village. Firearms and common gunpowder based weapons would be illegal for ninja to wield, and if shinobi was found violating the law, then the nation in question would bring the full might of their power to bear to make sure the ninja wouldn't repeat the same mistake.

Of course, that had only driven ninja to work around the law and develop new and creative weapons that while not as efficient as a firearm, in the hands of a skilled user they would be far more devastating. In their careers, Kakashi and Kushina had seen all manner of weapons and engines of war. Kunai and bomb launchers, repeating machine guns that fired countless shruiken tagged with explosives, blasting seals that could unleash all sorts of terrible effects. That wasn't even going into the terrifying creations that were some weapons like the Seven Swords of the Mist.

Perhaps most infamous of all, was the greatest deterrent the shinobi had devised, the Jinchuuriki...

"The nations don't want to fight openly again like in the old days" Maiyuri assured them, already seeing the great concern in their faces. "They'd rather just let the ninja be the instruments that will further their agendas. But this war economy creates a cycle where only through conflict can profit be made, as we saw with Suna, their treasuries were emptying at an alarming rate while we kept filling ours with the money their own daimyo provided by hiring Konoha... This is no way for a country to subsist"

Not if she had something to say about it…

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Karin let out a dismissive snort as upon reaching home, her blond cousin plopped face first down on the couch in the living room. Apparently just two days in the hospital can drive some people crazy. Everyone had soon scattered upon Naruto's release save Neji and Tenten who remained with Lee.

To keep an eye on him...

Aunt Kushina and Hatake had to resume their work around the village. Uncle Saito and Same, along with Lyn and her girlfriend were lending a hand as well with whatever they could do. Soujiro was... somewhere around the village. This just left her staying by her cousin.

"Figured the first place you'd want to go to was Ichiraku." The bifocal redhead jested strolling into the kitchen.

"Do that in a bit, just wanted to get back home." As much as the demonic beast that was in his gut was howling at him; he just wanted to be back in his family's house. Hospitals had just a dreary blank atmosphere to them, he needed to be home and get the feeling of that place out of him.

"You got something more pressing to do before dosing off brat." Kurama's chimed in just as his host relaxed for a moment.

'...You're right.' Naruto grunted as he sat up just as Karin came back with a glass of water for both of them. "I'm going to talk with furball for a bit about something." He took his glass from her as she sat down beside him.

Karin's brow rose; "Are you trying to say I shouldn't be keeping an eye on you in case you do something stupid?"

A deadpan squint came from the Jinchurriki; "You would know where I would be going the moment I tried leaving the house." He shook his head; "Go hang out with Sakura-chan, maybe Ino and Hinata are with her."

"Hmm...Alright." Karin spoke slowly as she drank her water and put her glass back in the kitchen. "But any funny business I'll know."

Naruto waved it off with a grin which Karin returned before reaching the door. She didn't really want to go out, but if her cousin insisted he was alright she'd have faith in him. As the door opened and closed, Naruto closed his eyes and opened them to find himself in front of Kurama's cage.

The Kyuubi's glowing eyes lit brightly his in dark prison; "We have some matters to discuss."

Count of the fox to get straight to the point...

"Okay, you wanted to talk" Naruto crossed his arms, given the fox an impatient look. "Talk"

"Do not give me any lip, you brat" The great foxed softly snarled in annoyance. "Do not forget, you are alive because of me"

"Funny, mom keeps telling me how you almost killed me as a baby"

"Your mother might be strong, but she is foolish and shortsighted. Whatever grievances we have, it's in everyone's benefits that the both of us remain alive" Naruto got the feeling that if Kurama could reach closer, his great eyes would be hovering right in front of him. "And you keep ignoring the fact that when you were way in over your head, I was there to pull you out of the fire"

Naruto's gaze shifted, finding no comeback to that. It's true, were it not for Kurama's power, then he wasn't sure how well he would have fared against Gaara. The two weren't like Yugito and Matatabi, their relationship was the complete opposite.

"I believe I deserve some... compensation. As well as my promise of being more... agreeable with you in the future should you need my power again"

The offer was, well, too good to pass up. If he could cooperate with Kurama, if they weren't at each other's throats, then he'd be much better prepared next time someone like Orochimaru came for him.

After a short moment of deliberation, Naruto asked, "What do you want?"

"To taste some freedom"

"...Yeah" Naruto said after a moment, drawling. "How about 'no'?" He was about to leave, had Kurama's furious snarls not stopped him.

"You imbecile, I did not tell you to remove the seal. All I asked was for some freedom beyond this cage!"

"Uh-huh" The Jinchuuriki was not convinced. "And how do you expect me to do that without breaking the seal?"

"It does not have to be all of me that is outside" The fox hinted, to which Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Let a bit, just a small tiny bit, of my chakra pass through your network, allow it to manifest through your body into the outside world, and I shall construct a small manifestation of my greater being, a sort of clone if you will"

"A clone..." Naruto repeated, trying of the potential consequences. "How much chakra are we talking about here?"

"Very small by my standards. Just enough for a tiny summoned creature, my manifestation will be no larger than a cub"

Well, that ruled out the fox being able to hurt anyone, but there was something else he needed to know. "And if I say yes, what would that clone of yours do while outside?"

Kurama almost sounded... wistful. "Walk through long fields of grass, sleep under the shadow of a tree, taste the things that had been taken from me, the sort your kind take for granted"

Naruto shook his head; "That's all you want?"

"I have been stuck inside three hairless insane monkeys for literally over a hundred years. Even immortals can go stir crazy too you know..." Kurama huffed; "Just want to feel the outside world again more than anything else. And yes that does mean more than thrashing this village into a crater."

That earned a fox a deadpan from his host before he got serious; "Before I agree to anything can I ask something?" He knew all he might get was silence, but least he could try; "Who is Yasaka?" The very moment he uttered that name everything shook as he saw Kurama's entire body gave a red hue glow as he growled. There was so much anger coming off him, but Naruto pressed for one more question; "Were you with the fox clan?"

"...I will say this only once. Yasaka is none of your business and we will never speak of her again." By Kurama's tone he broke no argument on that matter. Naruto gave a quick nod; "As for the fox clan... They had a disagreement on my views of killing the truly wicked."

Wait... killing the wicked?

"You went after bad guys?"

"Our moral compass as you humans call it is closer than you think, Naruto."

Oh... He seriously doubted that. Wanting to level a village full of innocent people was a glaring reason.

Kurama let out an annoyed grunt, "My past with the fox clan is irrelevant here. I've made my intentions clear; we both stand to gain from this. Now" A long claw slipped past the gate bars, stopping a few feet before the blonde. "Do we have a deal?"

Naruto breathed out through his nostrils, crossing his arms as his eyes closed, pondering his choice. "Fine" He finally answered and Kurama grinned widely. "But the moment I hear you're causing trouble, I'm gonna make sure my mom triples the seal strength if need be"

The fox did not even hesitate, "Deal"

Wow, he might actually be serious about this.

Naruto stepped forth and placed a hand on the claw, awkwardly shaking it due to the height difference, yet the result was the same. The pact was made.

"Now what?"

"Do not force the chakra back" Kurama said, if Naruto didn't know any better, he could almost swear the fox was giddy. "I'll do all the work"

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he was suddenly on his home again. Just as the fox said, he felt a tinge of his chakra course through his body. The blonde did not fight it, and just let it flow naturally.

It gathered on his shoulder, where it suddenly split off from his body, a small burst of smoke manifested, and Naruto felt a suddenly light weight. It did not last long for it jumped down his shoulder to the floor.

Blue eyes met red in a silence so deep one could drown in it.

"What?" Kurama's rough voice barked in annoyance.

"Oh, my, gods..." Naruto couldn't stop the grin from tugging at his lips, "You're just so... cuuuuute!"

Sitting on his hunches and being about the size of a normal red cub fox with a single tail that swayed about. A deadpan glaring twitch came from the kitsune; "I am not cute..." He growled through his teeth as his eye glowed.

But that did not seem to sway the blond as he gushed picking up the fox, much to Kurama's surprise. "Why can't you be in this form all the time? You look so adorable!" Hugging the now glowingly annoyed Bijuu.

'Did this brat take anything after that fool of a father of his?' Kurama mentally groaned before biting Naruto's hand as he attempted to pet him on the head. The fox leapt out of the blond's arms and back onto the floor who lightly screamed in pain. "Now listen to me brat!" The Bijuu snarled; "I am not some kind of pet, you got it!"

Naruto winced as he held his hand which quickly healed. "Did you seriously have to bite me?!"

"Would you have listened if I politely asked you to let me go?!" The two glared at one another.

"Well if I knew you'd still be an asshole then I wouldn't have picked you up in the first!"

"Why would you assume that?! You shouldn't judge things on their looks!"

"I wasn't-! Grrrrrr, oh just go run through the fields" Naruto looked away in indignation. "Chase butterflies or whatever it is you wanted to do, I don't care!" When he turned his gaze back to the fox... or rather where the fox used to be. The blonde then noticed the open window. "Oh, left already... Man I hope that asshole doesn't get me into trouble"

"I can still hear you, you know" Kurama's voice drawled into his mind. "I haven't actually left, that's just a small piece of me"

"Figures" Naruto drawled, "You're like bad weed, you never go away"

"Whatever, just shut up and let me sleep" The fox grumbled, "If I concentrate I can just transfer all of my consciousness to that clone of me, so don't bother me unless it's an emergency!"

With that, the fox felt silent, and Naruto felt his presence retreat to the depths of the seal. The jinchuuriki sighed to himself, "Hope his mood improves a bit at least"

Ugh, he was already getting a bad feeling from this. Maybe he'd go with Karin to meet up with the others; he needed a distraction from this...

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Karin's eyes were solemn as she strolled through the village. Her eyes took in the damage done by Suna and her former village of Otogakure. Cleaning all the debris was likely going to take weeks, reconstruction maybe a couple of months.

She was glad though they prioritized taking all the bodies first before anything else. The number of civilians and ninja lost were at least wasn't in the triple digits. The atmosphere of the village was quiet but busy. People were trying to get on with their lives, though for some it might be harder than others.

Maybe things could have been even worse had she not switched sides and told the Sandaime what she had known. Even if it wasn't much it got Konoha more alert didn't it? Karin hoped at the very least.

"Karin-chan!" The voice of Ino called out behind the redhead which made her turn around. She blinked as Sakura and the Yamanaka heiress came towards her; "Needed a break from our favorite knucklehead?"

"He had stuff to do" She said, leaving it at that. No reason to get the girls worked up about whatever it was Naruto wanted to speak to his Biju about. "What are you girls doing?"

"Well, we wanted to clear our heads" Ino beamed, "So we decided to do some shopping!"

"Again?" Karin drawled, "I think you went shopping three times last month, you're going to empty your pockets soon enough"

"That would be true for most people. But, you know, heir to a clan, so rich" The Yamanaka said rather smugly.

"Must be nice" The pinkette deadpanned, not all jealous. Really. "Wanna come with? Make sure her father doesn't disown her from spending all of the family's money"

Ino, choosing to ignore that comment, eagerly grabbed Karin's arms. "We can find more cute stuff for you!"

"Have you forgotten I'm still on probation? I have no money to speak of because I'm don't have a job. I'm literally living by my aunt's good graces"

"Doesn't Kushina-sensei give you an allowance anyway?" Sakura pointed out.

Truth was she did, but Karin was grasping at straws to avoid going on another shopping spree lead by the beast that hungered fresh clothes, otherwise known as Ino.

Not that she had anything against Ino, she really liked the Yamanaka. Kind, always looked after her friends, acted like the big sister among their group of friends. But she also had the energy and enthusiasm that could rival her crazy blond cousin!

Especially when it came to three subjects; boys, clothes, and gossip. And it was nigh impossible to stop Ino when she starts going.

Thus why Karin was being dragged by the blond girl towards one the open stores. "When we can ambush him. we need to get Naruto some new clothes." Ino stated with a smile.

"Naruto gets his clothes from Tenten's shop." The rosette mentioned as she followed. "Think they look nice."

The Yamanaka waved it off with her free hand; "I don't want to bad mouth Tenten-sempai's clothes at her shop or what she wears, but they are really bland..."

"Yeah, I don't think ninjas should really go for the 'look at me!' type of outfits" The glasses wearing girl deadpanned.

"Have you seen a ninja that actually wore full on dark traditional outfits all the time?" Ino dryly asked. "In fact, I don't think any type of ninja does so unless they are using camouflage, we are supposed to blend in with the crowd most of the time"

"Okay you're right on that first point" Karin was forced to admit, "But I hardly call what you, or a lot of ninjas for that matter, wear as something that 'blends in'"

"You just gotta look the part" Ino grinned, tugged at Karin's arm. "Now let's get you something nice!"

It was then that Karin felt her cousin's chakra closing in, she had resigned to her fate, but it was not too late to save him. Naruto turned around the corner, wearing a simple pair of shorts and an orange jacket over a white shirt, and waved cheerfully at the girls.

"Run Naruto, Ino wants to go shopping for clothes!"

Dread appeared all over his face, and turned to make a run for it, yet Ino somehow, defying the laws of nature, seemed to just reach over his neck and grab him by the collar (never mind there were quite a few meters of distance between them...). He made a sad sound as he was dragged over the ground by the Yamanaka.

"I tolerated that tracksuit of yours for years, now I'm going to rectify that"

"But I don't even wear that any-"

"Let it go Naruto" Sakura said, both with sympathy and resignation in her voice. "You can't win this fight"

"Need to get you to another spectrum of color to wear other than orange!"

"Orange is awesome!" Naruto spoke defiantly despite still being dragged by his fellow blond. "And I don't wear that much anymore, and they're not that bad!"

Well, that was true Sakura could admit. The orange he does wear now these days was of the dark burnt variety. Nowhere near as appalling as the tracksuit, gods your retinas felt like they were burnt just by glancing at that abomination of attire.

Ino however would have none of it; "We are getting you some new colors Naruto! It has already been decided. Both you and Karin-chan need more style; your mom has better style than you for heaven's sake!"

'Because anything just looks good on Kushina-Sensei,' the rosette of the group mentally retorted with slight jealousy. Yes, she was a young adolescent and was still growing. But Look at Haku, fifteen and she could resemble a princess from those fairy tales! Sakura hoped she would as beautiful as either of them in a few years! She shook her head and came to a stop when something caught her gaze. "Soujiro-Kun?"

The others stopped chattering and peered back to Sakura and then to where she was looking. Indeed there was the reserved young teen sitting on one of the bench's around in front of the buildings. His calm eyes surveyed the people strolling around the village before he heard his name being called. The young swordsman took note of his two cousins alongside Ino and Sakura coming towards him.

He gave the four a small grin; "Hello."

"So that's where you have been" Karin noted as they approached the ponytailed haired swordsman. "What are you doing?"

"Uncle Samenosuke said I should indulge in a hobby" The teenager merely replied, "I've found that I enjoy watching people go about their day"

"Isn't that something old people do?" Ino muttered to herself.

"I find it quite relaxing" He smiled as he turned to see a man walking his dog. "Isn't it curious to think that when people who enter your line of sight, only to disappear and most likely never see them again, have their own stories to tell? I can only wonder what goes on when you no longer see them"

The small group of four slowly exchanged a series of confused gazes, Naruto shrugged despite himself. Soujiro was... well he was really hard to pin down. Quiet, amazingly so for someone who shared his blood. Insightful, almost scarily so. And most definitely never acted like someone his age should. Half the time neither he nor Karin could understand what he was talking about, which had given how little he spoke...

"That's... neat I guess" Sakura slowly said.

"That man has been by Aunt Kushina's house when we were away" He commented upon spotting a passing by chūnin. "I believe uncle Samenosuke has been sleeping with him"

"Didn't need to know that" Karin quickly informed him.

The young man continued regardless, "That woman over there" He said, nodding towards a young woman in a yellow sundress who sat by a coffee shop table. "She's been here the last three days. From her expression I can tell she doesn't like coffee, but I believe she's interested in the waiter who serves it"

"I dunno man..." Naruto rubbed his neck. "This is sounding like goss-"

Ino was all too fast to sit next to the young swordsman, giving him a manic smile. "Tell me more. Give me ALL the gossip you have"

A trio of deadpans shone on the faces of Naruto, Sakura, and Karin as Ino listened in to what all Soujiro had been observing. Well, could divert them from clothes shopping Naruto hoped.

"Anything coming from outside the village?" The Yamanaka questioned with a bright smile to the reserved Uzumaki.

"Not much, though I did hear the music artist Kyuhoshi has a new album that came out today."

Moment those words left Soujiro's lips Naruto and Karin winced from the high-pitched squeal which erupted from both Sakura and Ino. "Her new album is out!" Both chorused with wide smiled and starry eyes.

"Who's Kyuhoshi?" Naruto regretted asking that as both girls turned their attention towards him like wild predators. Karin paled as her two female friends were now in front of her blond cousin.

"Are you kidding?! Don't you even listen to music? She is the top artist in the nation! She is on par in talent with the actress Koyuki Kazahana!" Sakura waved her arms wildly as she explained.

"Oh I've seem Koyuki's movies, they're awesome" The blonde Uzumaki cheerfully said, even as he slowly backed away from the two who were currently in full fangirl mode.

"Uh, I think acting and singing are two different-" Karin's words went unheard, lost in the sea of turbulent enthusiasm shared by the other two kunoichi.

"Oh we have GOT to buy it!" Sakura exclaimed, displaying the same kind of eagerness for shopping.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ino was hopping from left foot to right. "Oh we need to find the closest music store right away!"

"There's one right here" The moment Soujiro pointed to his left, the two girls disappeared so fast they might as well have used the shunshin technique.

The Uzumaki trio watched as they stood in front of a store that displayed all sorts of CDs and other promotional music merchandize. On a poster on the window was a beautiful blonde woman with honey-gold eyes and a mischievous grin, holding a mic close to her face while doing a cutesy gesture with her free hand and posing in her strapless white dress.

They giggled excitedly, mumbling incoherent words before disappearing into the store.

The two redheads and the blonde merely watched before Soujiro calmly asked them, "How was your day?"

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Less than five minutes later did the two kunoichi had come out, both holding their newly purchased CDs and skipped back to the Uzu teens. "Happy now?" Naruto quipped garnering a nod from both girls. "Good."

Ino pleasantly sighed as she sat beside Naruto and Karin on the bench; "Now for clothes and it will be an awesome day." Her fellow blond's head slumped forward with a groan. Karin only patted her cousin's back in equal despair.

Sakura who sat by Soujiro was showing off her new CD to the ponytail teen while talking about the artist. Naruto was half-listening to Ino's gushing about the singer while noticing Karin perked up and turned her head. "What's up?" His question got the others attention.

A deadpan came the glasses wearing redhead; "It's nothing, just sensing uncle Samenosuke being chased around by several females near the hot springs."

'...He's really just as bad as Ero-Sennin.' Naruto mentally drawled with an eye twitch.

Despite feeling her female ire rise Ino gave Karin an appraised look; "You're a really good sensor." The hot springs were a really long distance away from where they were.

"You have no idea" It was not bragging or smugness with what she said it, but instead she sounded tired. "It's hard to suppress my range. Usually I need to focus, or something really big happening that distracts me. Even if someone suppresses their chakra a lot I'll still find them eventually, unless there are other higher signatures nearby. People who conceal their presence through the use of seals or specific techniques, those I have trouble picking up"

"And right now?" Sakura asked with curiously.

"...I feel nearly everyone here" The red eyed girl retorted, sounding distant. "I can feel the ANBU hiding who are keeping an eye on me; I can feel the Hokage pacing in his office, his grandson sneaking through his things. Uncle Saito is training with Aunt Kushina. Kakashi and... The proctor woman from the second exam? Hmm, their chakras are really close-Oh" She blushed, adjusting her glasses and quickly focusing on something, anything, else. "The people going about their business, every single one of them, even if their inborn chakra is minuscule, I can feel their presence all the same. But most of all, what I feel is the people close. Their chakra, I can... interpret it, everyone's chakra gives a unique signature, something hard to put into words without sounding like you're spouting flowery poetry"

She turned to face each of them. "Naruto feels warm, like a meadow in a sunny day. Sakura is steady, focused, calm, yet can become very loud, like winds against the leaves. Ino feels like a stream, going through so many directions at once, some gentle, some rapid, but they never stop flowing. Soujiro... well, his chakra feel like ridiculously calm, like a cold pond in winter"

"That's... incredible" Sakura remarked in awe alongside Naruto who shared the same look. He knew she was a powerful sensor, but not at that level!

Karin gave an uneased expression; "Honestly it can be bit of a pain."

"How so?" Naruto questioned with a cocked brow; "Sounds pretty cool!"

"Well... I can also be influenced by the person or people, even the environment around me. Recall that one day we went out that one time Sakura and how I was completely calm for most of the day then acted like a hyper nut like Naruto out of nowhere?"

A deadpan glare came from the blond Uzumaki; "I'm not that bad... Anymore." He amended his words from the look he got from Sakura.

Realization came from their Yamanaka friend; "You're an empathic sensor."

"Empathic?" Naruto questioned in confusion. "Like, empathy?"

"It means she can feel other people's emotions"

"Not... exactly. But not wrong either" Karin slowly said, trying to find the right words to properly explain herself. "I'm not feeling what other people feel one hundred percent of the time, unless it's very strong and tied with how their chakra flows. You know how emotions can rise up one's chakra, like anger. But my sensory reaches so deep into the wavelengths of people's chakra that it causes a sort of... resonance that makes my chakra behave in a similar way"

"An empathic backlash" Ino muttered to herself, looking rather analytical over this piece of information as she placed one hand to her chin. Sakura knew her friend was smart, but it was the first time she's seen her so intrigued by a certain subject. It probably had to do with her clan's specialties and how Karin's abilities edged towards that territory. "So, the behavior of chakra around you can influence how your mood behaves"

Karin sighed, "It's gotten better since coming to Konoha, and there is something about this place..." She softly spoke as she looked up to the Hokage monument. "It's... so peaceful, the chakra here flows very gently"

Being around her family who love her unconditionally had also been a world of good for her. Sanity was a bit debatable though; "Can honestly say felt it had been a longtime since I could finally think clearly."

"So being around Orochimaru must have been worse for you." Sakura murmured quietly with a wince.

"The man is completely twisted, that is a fact." The redheaded young teen stated; "But I assisted him because I was inspired by his passion and drive for knowledge. Say what you will about him, and a lot of it is right. But there is no denying he is a genius scientist. Albeit a very twisted and evil one." Despite everything she did learn the way and drive of seeking knowledge from him, good or bad, she knows in her heart she is a scientist thanks to the traitorous Sannin.

But she refused to become a monster like he did.

Why she took such dangerous leap of faith and switched sides to the Leaf village. Karin was just grateful her open honesty with the Hokage proved her sincerity and let her seek asylum. Because she was truly terrified of what she might have become had she remained with Orochimaru.

"It was a good thing he choose to send me here" She muttered, "I don't wanna think about what that man would have turned me into"

"Don't say things like that" Sakura softly admonished her, "You did the right thing by going to the Hokage, and Orochimaru isn't your master anymore. You were pretty brave by leaving him"

Karin was honestly not convinced, "I don't know about that. Meeting you, having this village's chakra reassure me, those were the things that allowed me to actually move away from him"

"You believe you have no agency of your own" It was Soujiro who replied, it wasn't a question, but a statement. Once more showing that insightful nature of him.

The spectacled girl could only nod as she sighed dejectedly, "Pretty much"

"Okay that's bullshit" Naruto frowned, "I don't believe for a second you are not in control of your own life"

Karin smiled at that while getting a warm arm rub from Ino; "Given what my clan can do with minds believe me I understand. If you need help with it, or just talk I'm here okay." Her words kind, and full of understanding.

The redhead gave a nod, these were really good people. It took a blink as her head shot upwards and eyes went towards the Konoha gate. "What is it?" Sakura asked with some concern.

"...Someone is coming towards the village." Her eyes grew in size; "Scratch that, a lot of people are making their way here."

Instinct kicked in with Naruto with a crystal kunai forming in his palm. "Hostile?" They had enough bad guys trying to killing everyone days ago. But his cousin shook her head.

"They don't approach like the type that are about to strike, they'd be sneaking in otherwise... But I think the Hokage is going to be very busy"

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Kotetsu and Izumo both gawked in their guard booth at the sight of armored Samurai with their nation's insignia on their gear marched in procession with a large, quite regal looking carriage following drawn by several horses.

"Um... Is the Daimyo early?" Kotetsu asked weakly beside his longtime comrade.

Izumo only dryly stared back at his friend.

There had to be at least twenty samurai, their white Yoroi decorated with red accents, their Kabuto helmets didn't have many decorations, and they wore face masks which depicted the wicked fanged smile of a demon. Most of them carried swords, while other members of the regiment were armed with spears and bows. No doubt, these warriors were the elite guard of the nation; only a fool would dare attack them.

As they neared the entrance they stopped, two youths walking towards their post. One male and a female. The male was tall; he had an angular face with a defined jawline. Long dark locks with various bangs over his face which ended at white tips. He wore armor in the form of red shoulder pads and a chest plate, along with forearm and shin guards, with a sleeveless white haori that was elegantly decorated with wavy accents.

The young woman bore a cheerful smile. Her hair was snow white, except for long bangs of black in the front and sides of her face which reached the tips. She wore multiple layered shoulder pads, along with elegantly designed chest armor, her legs were protected by thin armor plates over long black stocks connected to her high heeled shoes. Underneath the armor she wore a white tunic with very long sleeves, which became an open waist coat with multiple coattails, the interior of the tunic revealing to be red rather than white.

The male youth joined his hands together and bowed curtly. "Miharu Katsumi" He introduced himself.

"And Namika Katsumi!" The young woman followed, in a much more upbeat tone than (what they believed to be) her brother.

"We are the bodyguards of Maiyuri-hime" He continued. "Akiha-sama requests you inform the lord Hokage he has arrived"

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

When Kotetsu had arrived all frantic, informing him that the daimyo had arrived, Hiruzen was quick to have everything prepared. His office was neatly organized, proper refreshments were quickly brought, and made sure every little detail of the room looked tidy and clean.

That was just step one, step two was quickly recalling as many high ranking shinobi as possible to stand in formation before the Hokage building. Right now around 40 of them were dutifully waiting, while many ANBU lay hidden, watching for any potential threat.

Jiraiya stood at his side along with Kushina, while the princess stood at his left, waiting for the daimyo and his entourage to arrive.

"My father wouldn't care for such a reception" Maiyuri said with humor in her voice. "He knows the village is very busy"

"Your father is the lord of this nation" The Hokage merely replied, "So to not show proper respect would bring shame upon us as his subjects"

As much as the princess wanted to retort she knew the elderly shinobi was correct. She recalled vividly the lessons of her tutors, all the aspects of proper etiquette a highborn such as herself should follow. While tedious she took to all her lessons, least at the best of her ability and patience.

"I haven't seen Akiha-sama in ages. Think the last time you were still a kid Maiyuri-hime." Kushina murmured absently.

The rosette haired princess blinked for a moment as recognition came to her; "It was when your late husband was made Hokage wasn't it?"

Kushina nodded adorned with a sad smile while a whistle came from Jiraiya; "That takes me back. Not sure who was a bigger nervous wreck. Minato for his promotion or Tsunade praying Red here didn't cause a scandal."

At that the redhead's eye twitched with a deadpan; "Which came from a gambling addicted/functional alcoholic mind you." She grumped crossing her arms under her bust.

Maiyuri winced at the biting tone from the former ANBU captain before all turned serious as the procession of Samurai and carriage came near the tower and stopped. As the door opened all formally bowed along with the princess before she paled at the sight of her two personal bodyguards' leaping off the carriage. Both with heated pointed looks towards her that made her want to shrink somewhere. Soon the Daimyo of the Land of Fire stepped out.

Lord Akiha was average in height, dressed in a regal white robe with a sleeveless blue and gold haori. A blue obi kept the haori in place along with his robe. Adorned his head was the headpiece with the fire symbol at it center and tussles hung from its sides. In his mid to late forties, Akiha had a long face with small, circular eyes and dark pupils.

Which were quickly settled upon his daughter. "I see my daughter has been quite the handful for you Hiruzen-dono." She shrunk at her father's tone.

Be they peasantry or royalty, the 'I am disappointed' tone a parent could convey was universal.

Hiruzen softly coughed, diverting the lord's attention. "We are making preparations to meet Suna's delegation in a couple of days. If you would please come to my office, we can discuss all the details"

"Indeed" He conceded with a tip of his head.

The Hokage dutifully lead the daimyo through the Tower, with Jiraiya and Kushina at his side. Maiyuri followed behind her father's steps, accompanied by her two bodyguards. The two were making a poor attempt at whispering their conversation.

"Seriously, just an 'I'll be back soon' note" Miharu hissed reproaching, "I swear, we nearly got our heads cut off"

"I won't apologize for wanting to see my people" Maiyuri firmly replied, "But I am sorry if my actions affected your position"

"It's you we were more worried about that" He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You could have told us..."

"Yeah!" Namika grinned widely, "We could have helped you sneak about better!" The brother facepalmed loudly while Maiyuri sheepishly laughed to herself.

Kushina couldn't help but snort, "Well it's nice to see they're more than just her old playmates"

"Oh I'm sure my daughter counts herself blessed to have such friends" The daimyo replied with a soft smile as he held his fan wide before his face. He gave a curious look to the redhead. "Pardon me, Uzumaki-san, but it has been years since I've last saw you. I do believe you were a tad... dead"

The Uzu matriarch sighed, "A long story, my lord. Suffice to say I got lucky"

"Well, it is heartening to see you amongst the ranks of the Leaf once more. Why, I remember all those years ago when the choice for the Fourth Hokage was brought" He fanned himself. "Your accomplishments have always impressed me, but Minato-kun had the right savvy to become the military and political leader of the village"

"Honestly" Kushina shrugged, "I wasn't even mad, Minato was the right choice"

"Oh indeed, everyone thought so" Akiha closed his eyes as his smile widened, "Why, when your name was suggested I remember nearly the whole table laughing for a full minute!"

Hiruzen and Jiraiya sweatdrop along with Maiyuri at the sight of Kushina's head slumped forward. "I wasn't that bad was I?" She murmured weakly in a dower tone.

"As a Jounin and ANBU captain not at all." Akiha cheerfully praised. "However your temper mixed with that... 'Unique' personality of yours would likely cause all-out war as Hokage."

The redhead slumped further with a cloud of gloom over her head. Jiraiya patted her back out of sympathy as they went up the tower stairs.

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Like outside, the hall of the tower had ninja standing at attention on either side. Asuma and Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage office door. Both kept their professional gazes with Anko and Kurenai at their side doing the same. However the four cocked a brow upon the Daimyo and princess with guards along with their Kage, Jiraiya, and a very depressed looking Kushina.

All the shinobi gave a respectful bow to their nation's leader as Asuma opened the door. Akiha paused with a smile; "Ah! Young Sarutobi, good to see again."

"Likewise Akiha-Sama." After the small greeting the group went into the office as Hiruzen's son shut the door for them. He sighed. "Well this will be a long few days." It reminded him of his Guardian years.

Kakashi nodded beside a perturbed Anko; "ANBU could least have some manners to let a woman have her private fun time." Asuma and Kurenai only deadpan beside a weakly chuckling Hatake.

Inside the office Akiha surveyed the room with an approving nod before seating himself. The rest followed suit save Maiyuri's guards who both stood behind Daimyo and princess. Kushina and Jiraiya also remained stand behind Hiruzen as he sat at his desk. "I must compliment you Sarutobi. The alliance you made with Kirigakure was most timely. It has been a long time since I last spoke with my fellow Daimyo Hiromu-dono"

Hiruzen recalled the water Daimyo as a very cautious man. But thankfully not outright unreasonable; "I hope you two can rekindle your old friendship."

"Indeed, now shall we discuss business? It is my understanding that the pact with Kiri will be similar to our accord with Suna, will it not?"

"Indeed" The Hokage nodded in confirmation. "The Water Daimyo is glad that he finally recovered control of his village, but Kiri is still in the process of rebuilding. By sharing our resources, both financially and with our manpower, to aid in its recovery we have a non-aggression pact. As well as establishing more trade routes. Not only that, but to avoid a repeat of Suna's situation, Mei-dono will discuss with her daimyo about properly regulating a more equal number of mission opportunities between our countries"

"Very good" Akiha nodded in approval as he softly fanned himself. "Now" He held up his hand, and Miharu quickly placed a folder in his grasp. The young black haired and white tipped man bowed as he returned to his post. Setting his fan on his lap, the daimyo skimmed through the folder's contents, his gaze remaining on the picture of Sabaku no Gaara for a moment. "The Suna Jinchuuriki remains under Konoha's custody, good, that will give us a greater leverage for the negotiations"

Kushina wasn't sure if she liked the idea of using the boy her dear Naruto had saved like that, but she had a job to do, she was not allowed to let sympathy dictate her actions.

The daimyo tapped over a particular word that caught his attention. "They still employ that weak seal for easy bijuu deployment" He pursed his lips, "Is the boy still a threat? I shudder to imagine him letting his Tailed Beast out in the middle of the village"

"Kushina and Jiraiya here will reforge his seal" Hiruzen explained, quickly easing the lord's worries. "That will be a non-negotiable issue we will bring up at the meeting. It will work as a proper restraint to the Ichibi. Besides, Naruto-kun managed to talk young Gaara into standing down after his defeat. We are constantly monitoring him, but the boy lacks the sheer killing intent that he displayed so zealously before"

At that, the daimyo looked up surprise, "Truly? Oh my" He set the folder down, "Such strong power in his words for one so young" He grabbed his fan again, unfurling it as he handed one of his daughter's bodyguards the folder back. "You must be proud, Kushina-san, that boy truly is his father's son"

A smile grew on the Uzumaki's lips; "More than I could have ever hoped for Akiha-sama."

"I also hear the young lad had awakened a bloodline limit."

"Yes." Kushina gave a nod; "Shoton. But as far as I could remember this is the first time such thing appeared in the Uzumaki."

Akiha fanned himself as he thought for moment; "Sometime I'd like to speak with your son. Thank him for protecting the village." The redhead gave a nod; "Now, to a more sullied matter. Orochimaru and his Otogakure... It appears the past as come back to haunt us."

"Yes." Hiruzen grimly responded; "Unfortunately the few Oto prisoners we captured have been quite not forthcoming with information of their leader and group. The next interrogation session will be a Yamanaka, and our chief specialist will ensure we know what the traitor is doing."

"I was informed he went so far as to desecrate the Shodai, Nidaime, and even Daisuke's tombs with that unsightly reanimation jutsu." Disgust rang in the Daimyo's voice.

Kushina bit her lip but stayed quiet, Jiraiya spoke up; "We have all three sealed and freeing them so they can rest once more."

"But what worries me the most" The daimyo spoke with severity, "Is that we do not know how often he can use this technique, or what kind of weaknesses we can exploit"

"I've had my research teams look into the Forbidden Scroll to investigate the Edo Tensei" Hiruzen said, "See if they can unearth anything that would give us an edge to neutralize the technique"

"I see" Their lord merely said, sighing. "I guess all we can do now is to wait and prepare"

"Indeed" Hiruzen agreed, "Now, if there are no further matters to attend to, we have prepared your quarters for your stay, Akiha-sama"

"In a moment" The daimyo stood up from his seat, his expression carefully guarded. "I would like for you to leave the room, there is something I'd like to discuss with my daughter privately"

The princess in question shared a worried look with her bodyguards and friends, she knew this lecture was coming and there was nothing she could do about it. But perhaps she could seize this chance, talk to her father about her ideas, how the shinobi system didn't have to continue operating this way anymore.

"Of course my lord" The Hokage and his fellow ninja bowed dutifully as one by one they left the room.

Namika mouthed a silent 'good luck' as she and her brother departed with the rest, the sound of the door closing felt along as the room fell silent.

Maiyuri merely stood before her father, who rubbed his tired eyes and shook his head warily. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

The princess bowed her head in remorse, "I am sorry, father"

"The fact that you went so far to sneak out the palace made think that perhaps you should be allowed some time away, but I did not want to draw any more attention to you so I let you think you were successful in your attempt" His stern gaze met her downcast eyes. "But the moment I heard you joined the battle that took place... What were you thinking?!" He pointed his folded fan at her.

"I was trying to protect my people!"

"Your duty is to lead this nation one day" Akiha replied, his voice unflinching. "And yet you risked your life, and... And...!" The anger in his voice died down, replaced with fatherly concerned, "Even if the battle had ended, the mere thought of you getting hurt..."

Maiyuri said nothing.

Ahika sighed to himself, pacing through the room until he stood before the windows, staring out into the village. "I once lost your mother to war; I will not lose you as well"

"...The war that claimed mother's life" The princess spoke, passion rising in her words with every second. "The same kind of war that came to Konoha, the kind the Hidden Villages have been waging for so long, it is a sickness that has plagued our nations for so long" Her father turned back to look at her in surprise, "Father, can't you see? We allow this bloodshed to continue by using the shinobi as we have. We call it peace, but this status quo is nothing but an interval of conflicts that drain our nation's blood. We cannot continue on like this" She swiped her hand through the air in a fierce gesture, determination shining in her green eyes. "I will not let this continue"

The daimyo just gazed at her with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to change things" She said, placing a hand on her chest, "I want to change the shinobi system, to bring true peace and prosperity to the nations. So we no longer rely on blood money, so we no longer have to send children to become soldiers"

For what felt like a small eternity, the daimyo remained silent. And Maiyuri felt blossoming hope in her heart that her father was seeing the truth of her words, that we was seeing what she had seen. That all this bloodshed was naught but a frau-

"And how do you plan to achieve that?"

She blinked in confusion, taken aback by his question. "Huh?"

"How" He spoke with surprising candor, a great contrast with his usual easy going personality, "are you hoping to achieve this 'ideal' of yours?"

"W-Well" She stammered before her father's piercing eyes. "I would unify the nations; I'd make sure we don't need-"

"And how will this 'unity' of yours work then?" He stepped forward. "How could you possibly make the people who have been fighting for generations listen to you? What can you offer them that they wouldn't take for themselves? Why would they even listen to you in the first place if you have nothing to show for than pretty ideals and dreams?"

Maiyuri remained silent, her firm belief quickly wavering before her father's words. How indeed, her resolution, once strong like steel, felt now weak like brittle iron.

She just wanted everyone to have a better future that perhaps once they saw what they could accomplish by laying down their arms then...

"No, there is only one language the people of the Gogyou-koku understand. If you want your ideals to be taken seriously, then you need the power to make them true" His voice dropped in volume, "And that means war"

"No!" Maiyuri shot back desperately, "That is the opposite of what I want!"

"There was once a man who claimed to fight for unity. His campaign was long and brutal, and eventually all those who once believed him either turned away from his ways, or merely continued following out of fear... That man was Hanzo of Ame"

The princess gasped softly, eyes watering. The thought of her father comparing her vision to what that horrible man had brought...

"You say you want to change things, but you cannot change anything if you aren't willing to fight for it, and that means doing the very thing you want to erase" He shook his head in disappointment.

"But... But..." She willed herself not to cry. "If things don't change then..."

"Things don't need to change" Akiha said, "This system has existed for generations because it works, because it has stopped the nations from delving into a far greater bloodshed than any of the Hidden Villages fighting could bring. The sort of bloodshed you would bring by trying to achieve your desire"

The princess just stood there in silence, her ideals shattered before by the cruel hand of reality.

"Oh Maiyuri" Her father sighed, compassion warming up in his voice once more. "You are too smart to be deluded by such childish notions. I see in you the makings of a great leader, one that will lead this nation properly when the time comes. And for that" He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You must let go of those silly dreams, they are impossible to achieve... they're just not worth it"

"...Yes, father"

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Namika winced beside Kushina and Anko who all had their respected ears to the door. "Akiha-Sama is not pulling any punches today." She hissed out a wince.

"Well it is his daughter; any parent would be upset if their child put themselves in danger." Kushina addressed in maternal wisdom.

The snake mistress wasn't so sure; "I'd be proud if my future brats were as half as badass as Maiyuri-hime."

"You do know outside of a silence seal those walls are pretty thin." Kakashi remarked in his usual nonchalant manner. Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Asuma, Kurenai, along with every shinobi in the hall deadpan at the three eccentric young women eavesdropping.

Miharu only groaned rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"So um" Kurenai awkwardly stood by the side, unsure of what to say. "Those are quite the... revolutionary ideas"

"Crazy ideas" Asuma grunted, "Look I'm not going to pretend things are fine, but to change things so drastically... I dunno, feels like inviting conflict"

"Oh like it'd actually be any worse than today" Jiraiya cynically snorted. "I agree with the girl, we've dug ourselves into deep shit for decades now. We need to pull ourselves back out before there's no going back anymore"

"Oh don't you start again Jiraiya" Kushina groaned, folding her arms under her bust. "It's always the same with you. 'We should get peace!', but you never offer any solutions. You had filled poor Minato's head enough already"

The Toad Sage frowned irritably, "What, you don't want the villages stop killing each other? Your son will grow up to see another damn war if this keeps up"

"Sure, but all I only heard from you two were goals, never any ideas on how to reach them" The redhead replied, frustration seeping into her every word. "Not everyone wants peace; people can't just ignore all the bloodshed between them..." She gaze became downcast, "I know I won't ever forgive Kumo and Iwa"

Unlike her late husband Kushina was no peaceful idealist. Nor was she very forgiving, at least when it came to those who destroyed her village and clan for no reason. Nor Kumo on trying to kidnap her. Why at best Kushina 'tolerated' Samui and her team was only because of her son.

"The scars made by Kumogakure and Iwagakure were never forgotten in the capital Kushina-sama." Miharu addressed everyone. "Uzushiogakure was a true friend and ally to the nation. But some have let their anger consume them and want nothing more than to turn both villages into ashes. Do you share their opinion Uzumaki-hime?"

Kushina was taken aback by the young man's words. However she grew silent as she turned gazed at the ground.

"Regardless." Hiruzen spoke up garnering people's attention; "We should focus on what we need to do presently."

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Seriously do the ANBU enjoy scaring the hell out of him, or was this just payback for the pranks... Oh who was he kidding. Naruto grumbled as he ran up the stairs of the Hokage tower. Not one minute ago was the blond sitting at home, eating ramen before Kuma appeared out of nowhere. Not only scaring the daylights out of him but dropping his bowl! Naruto did not even have time to complain before the towering man grabbed him and brought him to the Hokage tower.

'He said it was important but didn't say why...' the blond groaned as he neared the last step. 'This karma for that spring trap prank a few years ago?"

A snort came from Kurama.

It wasn't long before he reached the hallway to the old man's office, and to his surprise Yugao was there waiting. Dressed in full ANBU gear, the purple haired young woman turned her mask wearing visage to him sharply the moment he approached.

"Good, you're here" Without warning, she knelt before him and began stretching and adjusting his clothes, despite his protests. "Stay put, you need to look presentable"

"For what, Yu-?" He stumbled on his words when those dark eye holes in the mask seemed to stare into his soul. "Uhhh, Neko?" Right, no names in public.

"The daimyo has asked to meet you"

Naruto didn't know how, but he was sure he choked on his own breath.

"You're the village's jinchuuriki, so of course he is informed about you and your role in the shinobi corps. But not only that" She tried, fruitlessly, to neat his spiky blonde hair a little, "You managed to defeat Gaara, so he'll want to personally congratulate you"

"Um, ahhh... wow"

Her shoulders sagged, "Please try to be more eloquent when meeting him. Do not use crude language, always use honorifics. Never forget to bow. And thank him for every compliment he gives you, understand?" She added emphasis by holding his shoulders. "This is not Hokage-sama who sees and treats you like his grandson. Understood?" Naruto nodded as Neko patted his cheeks. "Okay." Letting go of him she spun around to stand and knocked on the door. "Naruto Uzumaki is here."

"Enter." Came Hiruzen's voice from behind the door.

His mother's former student opened the door and Naruto walked in. Within the room was his mom, Ero-Sennin standing behind the kage who sat at his desk. On one of the couches was Maiyuri-hime, who appeared solemn but greeted Naruto with a small smile and nod. Behind the couch were two people in armor, siblings by how they resembled each other, but he was guessing. Standing in front of the of Jiji's desk was the man Naruto had seen a picture of back in the academy.

Yugao closed the door as Akiha gave a smile; "Naruto Uzumaki."

The blond froze for a moment before noticing his mom and Hiruzen both mouthed out 'bow!' "D-Daimyo-sama..." His voice shaky as he lowered his head.

"Let me take a good look at you boy" The daimyo good naturedly spoke as he approached the young genin. Naruto stiffly straightened as ruler of the Land of Fire gave him a look over. He did not appear as a stern nor threatening man, quite the contrary, but still this man was their lord after all. As ninja they had sworn loyalty to Konoha, and as such to the daimyo who sat on their nation's throne. This man was the highest authority here, even higher than Jiji.

If the daimyo ordered you to jump, you didn't bother asking 'How high?' you just did it without question.

"My, oh my, you are the spitting image of your father" He spoke with fondness as he fanned himself. "No doubt, the Namikaze blood is strong in you. Ah, no offense to Kushina-san's lineage" Akiha turned with an amused smile at the Uzumaki matriarch

"Well" Kushina sheepishly chuckled, "Guess not all can be redheads"

"But from what I heard" The daimyo turned to young genin once more, who was doing his best to remain quiet unless directly spoken to. "You are very much like your mother in spirit. Quite a prankster as well, oh a troublemaker to the bone"

"Hehehe" Naruto laughed nervously, "Just pranked those who had it coming..."

Hiruzen's eye twitched. He knew for a fact that was NOT true.

"Oh but there is more than mischievousness in that Uzu blood of yours" The daimyo said appreciatively, "There is courage, there is drive, against overwhelming odds. Such as the type you displayed against Sabaku no Gaara" The daimyo gave a small bow; "For stopping your fellow Jinchurriki and the Shukaku I thank you."

Naruto gave a bow in turn; "I wasn't alone, had help stopping him."

"Modest, just like your father"

"T-Thank you" Being compared to his father made his chest swell with pride. "Umm, Daimyo-sama, what will happen to Gaara?"

"That will be a topic of discussion once the Wind Daimyo comes here." Akiha address in a neutral tone as he waved his fan; "But you're wondering of his well-being hmm?" Naruto nodded; "Since you calmed him down days ago he has not shown any signs of aggression. He along with his brother and sister are in a cell in the ANBU HQ. Along with their sensei. At moment though Jiraiya-san and your mother have a job to do on the matter of the boy's seal."

"The idea is to modify his seal" Hiruzen further explained. "So that his Bijuu no longer goes on a rampage when he falls asleep. It's a demand we will hold over the negotiations"

Ahh, that's good. That means mom and Ero-sennin could have a design ready just in case.

He hoped that meant Gaara would be able to sleep from now on.

"Daimyo-sama" The jinchuuriki respectfully spoke. "Can I make a request?"

"Hmm?" The lord gave him a curious look, "Speak"

"I'd like to visit Gaara and talk to him, see how he's doing"

The daimyo pondered for a second, "Doable. Your mother is bound to inspect his seal after this meeting; you can accompany her with my authorization"

Naruto allowed a relieved smile to blossom in his lips; he bowed at the waist as he spoke with sincere gratitude, "Thank you!"

"It's the least I can do" Akiha said while fanning himself. "A question for you, young Naruto. They tell me you want to become Hokage, is that so?"

"Huh?" A bit taken aback by the sudden inquiry, he straightened himself. "Y-Yeah actually"

"Not an easy undertaking" The daimyo smiled jovially, "But, I see a lot of your father in you. If you continue working hard and prove you are worthy of the title, I might consider your name in the future. I'll be following your career with interest"

"O-oh!" NOW he was taken aback. "I'll do my best!" He swore.

To have received such encouragement from the daimyo himself, Naruto doubted many got that privilege.

Although, come to think of it. It's been sometime since he ever entertained the thought of his dream about becoming Hokage. Ever since he got his mom, his family back, he had been so content with his life that his goal had taken a backseat before the sudden and joyous developments. Like, it wasn't as important as it had been in the past.

Huh.

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

Naruto gingerly strolled beside his mother while Yugao walked in front down the hall of the tower leading them to ANBU HQ. "Been a while since I was here." Kushina addressed with a grin. "Besides Iguru, Kuma, and Fox who is still around from my old squad?" The redhead questioned her student as they walked.

"Kame."

Naruto took note of his mother's expression switch in a blink from happy to pure disbelief; "How the hell is that man still alive?" she uttered in pure shock.

Neko glanced to her teacher; "Trust us, we have no idea either."

"Something wrong about this guy?" Naruto brought himself into the conversation with a cocked brow.

"Well… Try to imagine the single most hardheaded person you have ever met." Kushina peered down to her son. "Then amp that up to a hundred, and there you have Kame." She groaned out remembering dealing with the man. "Please gods don't let him be in HQ…"

"He's on surveillance patrol."

"THANK YOU AMATERASU!"

About the only person Naruto could think of was actually Lee. But the thought of someone being more hardheaded than he was... The blond felt a chill crawl down him spine. He shook it off as he eyed his mother; "Been meaning to ask, what was your animal codename in ANBU mom?"

It was like lightning had struck his mother as she froze, being ramrod straight with her cheeks now matching her hair. Both Naruto and Yugao had stopped, but both having different reactions.

Bewilderment from her son with pure amusement danced in her student's eyes. Neko was about to answer till finding herself wrapped in golden chain, her mask literally vanished with her teacher behind her and hand to her mouth.

"We will NEVER speak my codename to anyone. Am. I. Clear?" Yugao and Naruto shivered as a red glow covered Kushina's form with her hair seemingly moving on its own. The purple haired woman nodded finding herself freed from the chains and mask back on. Kushina having returned to her son's side with a sweet smile; "Shall we go?" She hummed as she walked passed them.

Naruto slowly gazed up to Yugao who looked back; "Never mind." Both murmured before following the redhead.

Before nearing one of the many shelves in the hall both Kushina and Yugao stopped which made Naruto do the same. Both knelt to him and sternly made him promise to never tell anyone about this secret entrance. This was apparently one of many to ANBU HQ.

Seeing no one else was there, Kushina pressed a small button hidden in the shelf. In seconds it slide to the side revealing a well-lit cave entrance. His mother explained HQ was based deep inside the mountain with multiple paths, some heavily trapped for intruders. He having been allowed in was only due to the Daimyo's approval since Genin weren't supposed to be in here.

Despite being a cave the place was carved out well, looking like a proper hallway. The torches kept the area as well-lit as possible but not too much for ANBU to stay in the shadows. Coming to a larger intersection Yugao directed them to another hallway which turned into stairs going downwards.

Reaching the final step they came to a large stone door guarded by two ANBU. "Daimyo-Sama has given his approval for Naruto Uzumaki to see the Suna prisoners." Neko addressed in a stern tone. "Kushina-Sensei is also here to inspect Gaara's seal."

Both guards nodded before one opened the door.

Numerous large cells were on both sides of this long hallway as the trio strolled inside. But only one took notice to Naruto as he saw Gaara, his siblings, and sensei dressed in simple linen garbs sat in one cell with two guards.

Baki stood a bit straighter at the trio while Temari and Kankuro gazed at them cautious glares. Gaara who sat in the middle, in an also meditative position focused upon the blond Uzumaki who looked at the two ANBU guard. "Is it alright to be let in?"

The owl masked ANBU shifted his gaze to Yugao; "Ma'am?"

"I'll allow it; just keep a close eye on them if any of them try anything." The two guards nodded as they opened the cell door.

Naruto looked over to his mom; "You talk to them first. I'll look at Gaara's seal after."

"Why do you want to look at my brother's seal?" Temari questioned in a maternal protective tone.

Kushina gave the young teen an even glance; "We intend to fix that seal so the Shukaku won't hassle Gaara every time he closes his eyes. Something Sunagakure will have to accept from now on if they ever want you four back."

So their executions weren't on the table. Well, least here for the moment. Baki took some solace in that, though he was unsure what their Daimyo were likely to have something in store for them because of this.

Kankuro and Temari both were genuinely shocked while Gaara's brow rose. "So your Daimyo does not want our heads?" The Suna Jinchurriki asked as Naruto sat cross legged in front of him.

"Nope;" Naruto answered brightly; "Said he was going to speak with your Daimyo about things. Fixing your seal being a stipulation."

While his older siblings looked at one another Gaara cocked his head; "I see. Why are here though Uzumaki?"

"Friends do pay each other a visit," Naruto coyly spoke with a grin.

The Suna puppeteer gave some false cheer; "Oh that's nice, then be a pal and let us out."

"Kankuro," Baki spoke up; "We should be grateful we are allowed to be alive presently."

The young teen lightly grumbled before noticing Naruto giving him a long look; "What?"

"...You know; you look better with your sister's make-up on."

"Eat a dick, Uzumaki" Kankuro angrily snarled.

The blonde was about to reply, when; "Kankuro, Naruto" The puppeteer froze the moment his younger brother spoke up. "Don't antagonize each other, our situation is bad enough as it is" What surprised those presents was how calmly Gaara had spoken to the, bereft of any murderous intent and threats he carried, even to his own siblings.

After a few seconds of silence, both the Konoha and Sand ninja that had insulted each other turned their gazes and scoffed. "Sorry..." They both said, trying to convey as much sincerity as they could.

Naruto scratched his head before looking at Gaara once more. "So uh..." What he could say in a moment like this, he wondered. "How are you feeling?"

Gaara actually pondered before answering. "Better than what I was. I've been ignoring Shukaku's ranting, this will be easier with the adjustment to the seal. I will be most grateful"

Temari was very grateful for that. For all that Konoha did, helping her little brother like that. These tree huggers were a lot more than people thought them to be.

Naruto beamed at that; "Mom and Ero-Sennin are the best Fūinjutsu masters in the village. Glad they can help ya."

"That woman is your mother," The blond nodded as Gaara looked outside the cell seeing Kushina beside Yugao who waved at them pleasantly; "She is weird." Both Uzumakis face fault at that. A few chuckles came from the ANBU guarding the cell.

"That's mostly all Uzumaki in general..." Baki muttered dryly.

"So, what do you think will happen with your village?" Naruto curiously wondered.

"With fortune, peace may be restored without either side falling into war" The jinchuuriki explained. "The eyes of the other nations will be on us after today, waiting for a change to strike at our weakest" It was a subject that deeply disturbed his teacher and siblings, they worried about what they would do to their village, now in alliance with Kiri, Konoha could very well lay siege on their land if they wished so. Specially after they broke the treaty...

The blonde smiled cheerfully. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure the old man Hokage will stop war from breaking out"

That got him a few strange looks from the others.

"...What the hell is your problem?" Temari whispered, loud enough for the others to hear her.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked in confusion.

"We invaded your land, killed your comrades, and now you're just... hoping our villages stay on good terms?" The concept of someone forgiving them so easily was foreign to her. "Why do you even care?" Why did he care enough to help their younger brother..?

"Because being angry and hateful isn't going to help our villages now is it," Naruto retorts back in a dry tone. "Mom filled me in on why you guys did this, and let me say your daimyo is an asshole. But you guys think this could have helped your own village out?"

Baki spoke up for them; "We were desperate Uzumaki, with missions being outsourced and income dropping, we felt an aggressive action was needed to gain the right people's attention."

"How did that work out?"

The Suna Jounin only looked to the ground; "We lost our Kage, betrayed by our supposed ally and potentially damaged relations with not only the Land of Fire, but our own Daimyo. I had expected the headsman's axe."

Naruto did not know how to reply to that, so instead he focused his attention on the older sand siblings with a judgmental glare. "I want to know this from you two; Gaara said he was alone growing up. Where the hell were you guys? You knew damn well he needed you."

The girl with four pigtails let out a soft breath and rested her head against the wall. "Our father forbid us from interacting directly with him, then we were assigned on the same team when all of us became ninja"

"So?" Naruto didn't like what he heard. "You just went along with everything he said?"

Temari glared at his direction. "As I understand it you weren't raise by a parent, so you don't know how a small child, like we were at the time, must behave. When you're a kid you must always obey your parents, even if you don't like what they're doing you don't have a say in it. You do as you're told because your parent knows best" Every word of her was laced with anger, but Naruto didn't know if it was at him, or at herself. "Particularly when your father is the Kazekage, what he does is for the betterment of the entire village, and you're just supposed to accept it"

Naruto wanted to argue against it, he still thought it was wrong. But the truth was is that he never really ever listened to any adult growing up. He wasn't raised by his mother; he didn't know what it was like to listen to an adult so close to someone. The closest he's had to a family figure in his younger days had been Jiji, but even then Naruto didn't do half of the things he was told, and Jiji didn't raise him directly. So it was hard to blame someone for something they had no control over, particularly when they were little kids. A child doesn't question his parent's authority as he was coming to understand.

It made him wonder for a moment, when his mother was taken to Konoha so she could become the next Jinchuuriki, did she protest. Did they even ask her if she wanted that role? As he turned to see upon his mother's thoughtful face, he got his answer.

"You do what your father tells you" Her voice came barely above a whisper. "Because you have the outmost trust in him, even if you don't want it, even if you're afraid, mainly because you don't fully understand. It's part of your role as a dutiful child"

So he could kind of understand now. As kids, those two didn't have much of a choice.

But... "What about when you grew up? When you became a ninja and finally began making your own choices?"

"By the time that happened" To his surprise, it was Gaara who answered. "I was far too unstable, and they couldn't get close to me without risking their own lives. I did not make things easier"

Temari glared hard at the Kyuubi Jinchurriki; "And even when Gaara was like that, don't ever think I did not keep trying to be there when we became a squad. I love my little brother," her voice held immense conviction.

"I know I was an ass about it, but I am on the same boat with Temari. We love Gaara, even when he threatened us back then," Kankuro grunts.

Turning his sea foam orbs to his siblings, Gaara let out a sigh; "I never did apologize for that yet."

Temari's gaze went from scornful to understanding the moment her eyes shifted to her little brother. "It's okay, what they made of you wasn't your fault"

It looked like she wanted to get close to him, her and Kankuro, to hug him or place a hand on his shoulder. But it seemed like neither of them knew exactly what do to, or how to proceed with him at physical contact, like they were afraid of making even the smallest mistake.

"Gaara" Kankuro said his voice full of emotion. "We're your siblings, we care about you. From now on, we shall always be your family"

For what felt like an eternity, Gaara said nothing. His gaze just fell to the ground, his face barely showed any emotion."...Thank you" But his voice was another story, there was sadness, melancholy and joy mixing in one heartfelt tone. He lifts his head to look at Naruto's blue eyes. "Thank you"

---

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

---

The skies above were becoming orange as dusk settled and soon night would soon follow. Kushina let out a small sigh as she stood at the memorial stone. Her eyes going to the names of people she had lost. Going from mostly her late husband and best friend, she only glanced for moment of a large shadow beside her. Jiraiya said nothing as he also looked at the stone.

"Ever since you came back Kakashi hasn't stayed for hours here, staring at this thing. Even started to actually laugh again. Don't think that kid has done that in twelve years." The Gama Sannin commented as he crossed his arms.

That did little to alleviate her concerns for the last living member of Minato's team. Oh she had not been happy to find out his habit of spending ungodly amounts of hours here had not dwindled with the years.

Kushina couldn't remember the last time Kakashi had spoken with actual joy on his voice. Ever since Obito and Rin's deaths, that boy had shouldered an enormous guilt on his conscience. Always blaming himself, forcing himself to endure through so much tragedy around him.

Kushina didn't know how Kakashi could endure so much, but she couldn't be any prouder at his resilience and fortitude.

"Many of these names should not even be here..." The Uzu bitterly remarked.

Jiraiya let out a long sigh as he stood next to her, the orange glow of dusk slowly giving way to the shadows as more and more stars appeared in the sky. "Many things should not be in this world, and yet they are. I truly believe that the shinobi system can't continue"

"And what can we do, Jiraiya?" It wasn't criticism, but an honest question. "We are ninja; we buy our daily bread with blood money. What do we know of peace? Our hands are drenched in blood"

The white haired man crossed his arms, "So, you're not even going to try to look for a way?" He paused, his next words were deliberately chosen, knowing they would have the greatest effect. "Your grandmother would do something to actually make the world a better place"

He saw her mouth open, a furious retort ready to come out. But instead she held back, clenching her hands. "But she's not here... I don't know what she would have done"

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't try" The sage pointed out. "Otherwise Naruto will just live through his own wars like we did"

This time she couldn't fight back an angry growl, "I keep hearing about what 'I should do'. But I can't help but think 'you could have done'" The turned to face him, violet eyes enraged. "You keep crying about the state of the world, well guess what? It's like this because of you. People like you, ninjas who never questioned orders. We are in this mess because Hashirama was too idealistic, and then he dumped the problems of his generation to the next, and had the gall to call it a 'Will of Fire', when in truth it's just an excuse"

Any other ninja would have been driven to strike her for insulting that which they held as sacred to their village. But Jiraiya just listened.

"And I... I too am part of that problem" Her gaze lowered in shame.

So many dead bodies left behind on her goal for vengeance... How was someone like her going to make sure Naruto wouldn't live through that? She wasn't Minato...

It felt like a few minutes of silence passed, night finally settling in, before Jiraiya once more spoke.

"It wasn't until the Second War that I fully understood" His voice was heavy, thick with emotion. "Though the toads trained me since young, taught me their ways and philosophy, I never truly saw... not until I saw the bodies once the smoke settled, ninjas and non-ninjas alike"

So much senseless loss of life.

"I traveled the world afterwards, saw the lives ruined by greed and petty grudges, until I couldn't bear looking at it no more" He muttered, "I went back to the toads, telling them I was ready to be a sage... and so the Great Elder gave me one last prophecy" Violet eyes turned to him once more in expectation. "That I would find and train the one would change the world, this child would ever destroy it or save it. Once, I thought it had been... somebody else. Then I met Minato, he was just so... amazing, so dazzling..."

At that Kushina couldn't help but weekly smile. He sure was...

"And then..." Jiraiya sighed with guilt and melancholy. "He died too. I thought that prophecy was the old toad finally going senile" A smile soon formed once more. "But then, I met that wonderful young boy you and Minato brought into the world, and I realized that maybe he-"

"No"

The words were spoken with such ferocity it made the sage stumble on his words. "I'm... what?"

"No" There was no mistaking the mother bear look in Kushina's eyes. "Leave my son out of it, don't you dare' fill his head with the same bullshit you filled Minato's. None of this 'prophecy'. You stupid old people need to be held accountable for your own mistakes and fix them. My Naruto will not bear the weight of the world on his shoulders because of mistakes other people made"

"Look, I get it-"

"You get it?" Kushina questioned with an incredulous glare; "How the hell can you get it? You don't have children Jiraiya. I might not have been here for twelve years for Naruto's life, but I am here now. And like hell I'll be having my son end up a broken mess like Kakashi. And I'll be damned he dies like Obito and Rin!" Fire rose in her eyes as she roared at the end with passion and rage. "My son will not be some figurehead that erases all the sins of the past made by people who couldn't do the job themselves! Let alone save the whole damn world!"

As much as she loved her husband, his idealism drove her up the wall some times. This was why Jiraiya could annoy her with his preaching. Kushina was no idealist, her grandmother Tsukiko was no idealist.

And idealism only took you so far without action.

Jiraiya had simply kept silent as he listened to Kushina words. The toad sage stared for least a minute at the redhead before opening his mouth. "I have a daughter..."

It was like the early crickets that had begun their song the moment nightfall set in had suddenly disappeared. Like there was no wind rustling gently against the leave. The area around them had become a vacuum of absolute silence.

Kushina swore she could hear her own heart drumming next to her ears, but she barely paid attention to it, it was like her mind had suddenly left her body and was now wondering on an astral plane, trying to comprehend the words that had just come from Jiraiya's mouths.

There was no retort she could come up with, the ability to think coherent thoughts had suddenly become lost to her. So she said the only thing she could in the most eloquent way possible.

"The fuck?"

"Yeah, I have a daughter" Jiraiya replied, awkwardly scratching her nose. "Her name's Yuma. Her mother is... a woman I met on my travels"

The Uzumaki took a deep breath, and counted to ten. "Okay" She slowly said, trying to process this information. "How long ago was this?"

"About" He seemed to shrink under her gaze, "Twenty... years?"

Her sharp intake of breath heralded a shout like no other, but the redhead held it back by biting deep into her fist and letting out her frustration with all its muffled outrage.

This time, she counted to twenty.

"And" Gotta give it to her, Kushina was doing her damnedest to remain calm. "You never told Minato and me because...?" She waved her hand, prompting him to her an answer. Fast.

"Well uh, it's complicated" He stammered, "K-Kinda has to do with who her mother is, or rather the people she works for"

"Mh-hm. And they are?"

Jiraiya muttered something inaudible.

"What was that?" Kushina turned her ear to him as to better hear him.

"Ka...ken"

"Still didn't catch that"

He let out an explosive breath. "Kageken"

The blood drained from the redhead's face; "Kageken..."

"Yuma also works for them... Part time" Jiraiya quickly stated the last part.

Like that made things better! "Are you out of your damn mind?!" Kushina screamed before the older man covered her mouth with a hand. He then screamed holding his hand due to the redhead having bit him. "Did you get drunk twenty years ago and just decide; 'I'll knock up some random woman who happens to be a part of the group that killed the Shodai!'"

Jiraiya deadpanned at the redhead's attempt to mimic his voice by deepening it. While yes, there was alcohol involved he wasn't going to admit it; "They are not the same as they used to be."

"Tell that to mom, the whole damn village, and the Daimyo while you're at it!" Kushina quipped loudly. "These people have a permanent 'kill on sight' order because their leader killed the founder of Konohagakure!"

"You brought that up already!"

"I'll keep saying it till you explain to me your lapse in sanity!" This coming from who many dubbed the crazy one in the village spoke volumes. "Hell if Jiji finds out your head is coming off!"

"Sarutobi-Sensei already knows"

"...Huh?" Was about the only coherent word that could come from the former ANBU.

Jiraiya groaned as he ran his hands over his face; "Sensei knows. The founder of the Kageken had realized too late what he had done by slaying Hashirama brought out global war. He came to deeply regret his action so he rebuilt the Kageken from the ground up. Assassins who went after the people who truly deserve it. Things could have been even worse across the nations if not for their work."

"You know, I feel like I need to sit down for this" Kushina just let her self-fall on her butt unceremoniously. Jiraiya joined her by sitting cross legged on the grass before her. "Oh my gods" She groaned into her hands. "So, what, all this time you've getting info from Kageken?"

"Pretty much" Jiraiya admitted, "They tell me of people who could harm the village, and I help them in return"

Kushina looked lost, and he didn't blame her, this conversation had taken many unpredictable turns. "It's just hard to believe, Hattori Masanari, the ninja every ninja knows about, the greatest and most successful assassin of all times... Just had a change of heart?"

"He didn't 'just' have a change of heart, kiddo. We both know war changes people. The First Shinobi War? Hadn't been something so chaotic since the Clan Wars era, Hattori felt responsible for it"

"No surprise there..." Kushina muttered bitterly.

Hattori the Shadow Blade, the greatest ninja to ever live, turning his mercenary unit into an order that fought for righteous causes was hard to believe. Oh he wasn't the powerful ninja, Hattori wasn't called a God of Shinobi like the Shodai had been, and indeed, if he fought Hashirama head on he would have lost.

No, Hattori killed the Shodai because he truly lived up to his title of being the most accomplished shinobi ever. He never missed a target, all his contracts were flawlessly completed (the ones that could be attributed to him anyway), because Hattori possessed the most invaluable ninja skill; the ability to be completely undetectable.

Stories painted the man as a ghost, no scent that animals could pick, no killing intent any self-respecting ninja would pick up on, and not even a single spark of chakra that even the best sensors could detect.

He slipped into Konoha during a festival, while Hashirama mingled with his people, and struck him in the back with a poisoned blade the moment he was distracted by the fireworks.

That man and his group had become the most hated people in Konoha's history, with only Madara competing for that spot... but Madara had failed, whereas Hattori didn't.

And now to hear this...

"I can see why you never told anyone" Kushina sighed, "Even Minato and me. But you could have-"

"Oh I wanted to. But damn it I didn't want to put Yuma at risk at any cost" Huh, and just a moment ago Kushina was berating him on not understanding how a parent feels. Gods she deserved dirt on her tongue for that one. "So I didn't take any chances... Until you guys died, well, Minato did- Ugh, the point is; you were gone, I lost my chance of trusting you with this so instead I told the old man"

"He took it well I bet" Kushina sardonically said.

"Oh he nearly threw me in prison on charges of treason the moment I told him. Took a looot of convincing, including meeting the current leader of Kageken, and finding out a lot of valuable information I used that saved the village on multiple occasions came from them. But trust me; sensei knows Kageken is different now"

"But it's still something he has to keep secret" Kageken had nearly brought down Konoha with that single act, the death of the Shodai had triggered the First War, and it was only the efforts of the Nidaime and eventually the Third that spared the village from falling. "The village wouldn't understand..."

Jiraiya sighed heavily, leaning back and resting on his palms.

For a moment, neither said anything.

"How is Yuma?" Kushina prompted with a soft smile.

"Oh you should meet her, she's just amazing" Jiraiya's smile was one of pure enthusiasm. "She's a swordswoman, and she'll be the best alive" He sounded absolutely certain. "I tried to be there as much as I could, but most of the work raising her was her mother's. Heh didn't stop her from picking my fine tastes" Jiraiya crossed his arms and turned up his nose with a rather proud smirk.

"So, she's a pervert like you" Kushina dryly pointed out. Of course...

"Hehe, not even training with the monks since childhood kept her from inheriting that" He laughed, "She's actually friends with the princess"

Kushina's eyes went wide; "Before you ask I have no idea if she knows about Yuma ties to the Kageken. She told me she'd handle that so I haven't got a clue."

The redhead sighed before giving a pointed look to the Sannin; "Sure she's your 'only' kid?" Given how much this man spent time at the brothels she's amazed Jiraiya didn't have a heard of them.

"I'm not Samenosuke," the man glared dryly back. "Yuma is the only one I got."

"Hmm" Kushina's eyes shifted as she choose her next words carefully. "I'm sorry for what I said"

"You didn't know" The sage replied in a heavy voice. "And I had made sure you didn't"

"But… you understand then, my fears" The redhead spoke, her violet eyes looking at him, pleading. "Not Naruto, please, not my boy. Don't make him bear that burden"

Gods, she sounded on the verge of tears. And he really didn't want to impose them on anyone, not if he had a choice.

But prophecy didn't work that way.

"It's his path, whether we like it or not, this is what he is meant to do"

Kushina's hands grasped the grass as they tightened in impotent rage. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her anger at the injustice of it all.

"…And he won't be the only one"

"Huh?" Her eyes snapped back at him.

"The sage told me the prophecy didn't mean a single person. Those who take action when they see injustice, who smile even in the face of darkness, who fight out of love for others and for this world" His words seemed to encourage him, a smile blooming on his lips. "Such determination to protect this world, it's a will that's been passed down since ancient times. Those are the Children of the Prophecy, the Heirs of Rama"

The redhead's eyes widened, the name tugging a cord at the threads of her memory. "Rama… I've heard that name. Tsukiko-baachan mentioned it sometimes. I… never heard the whole thing. Something to do with the god Vishnu?" The world had so many different gods, she couldn't keep track of them all so she stuck with the ones she knew.

She remembered baachan making prayers at an altar of the blue four armed god, while leaving offerings to the dragon god Ryujin and the sun goddess Amaterasu. Baachan had been spiritual like that.

Kushina rarely prayed to the gods anymore, not since Uzushio burned.

Jiraiya let out a thoughtful sound, "Yeah, but that's a whole long story. One I learnt from that woman Tomoe. All I ask is that you keep faith Kushina, regardless of what happens, whatever will befall the world in the coming years, I promise you Naruto won't be alone"

From that she told him, Heirs of Rama tended to flock to one another, forging everlasting bonds.

Kushina remained silent for moment, "Tell me what she told you" Her request caught Jiraiya by surprise. "No more delays, no excuses. My son will be involved with something much bigger than all of us by what you're saying, so I want the full story of whatever it is you learnt" Her eyes brimmed with motherly determination. "I'm not letting him go through this dumb 'prophecy' business alone, so I wanna know everything"

Jiraiya pursed his lips, "Are you sure? We'll be here all night"

She grinned, "No excuses remember?"

The sage let out a long sigh, before unsealing a large jug of sake from a scroll. "Well, buckle up kid. You're gonna have your world turned upside down"

"Oh please" She snorted, accepting a cup from him. "I can handle it"

"You say that now, just wait till we get to the part about your grandma"

At that, she blinked in surprise. "Wait, what's that about baachan?"

Jiraiya grinned, "Well, I'll start from what Tomoe told me about herself. She met Tsukiko-dono a long, long time ago, in a land called Japan…"

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Hope you enjoyed it!

Miharu is based on Nanashi from Sword of the Stranger

Namika is based on Nagao Kagetora from Fate/Grand Order