Sealkeeper: He Who Binds

by Eyazahrid

His sister may have been given the Kyuubi, but armed with Namikaze Minato's greatest sealing masterpiece, Uzumaki Naruto will carve his way through the shinobi world- one body at a time.

65. Into the Pack

Wow, this chapter is so late I'm not entirely sure what I should say. It was possible for me to post this earlier, but around mid October I actually got around to finishing it only to decide you all deserved a longer chapter with that kind of wait. Halfway through November and I realized that it was nearly the third anniversary of this story- or would birthday be more appropriate?- and I needed to do something more for it.

Ten thousand words was no longer good enough, so I rushed to finish another ten thousand for a three-year anniversary chapter. The plan was to have it done on November thirtieth so that ncpfan would have time to look it over and get back to me before the fourth so I could post, but considering I just finished the last scene and am writing this before going back for spellchecks at 5:57 pm on December third, well, that didn't really work out as I had intended it to.

Oops.

So I'm not sure when this will be posted, but this is the Three-Year Anniversary of Sealkeeper; He Who Binds, so I have for you here a twenty thousand word chapter. I hope it can make up for some of the wait.

Thanks, as always, goes to ncp for looking over my work.

With that said, I believe it's time to enjoy the show.

Raise the curtains!

---

"Ya know, I'm thinking that I should have just stayed quiet." Kankurō grumbled as they continued through the forest. Trailing behind him was his poor puppet who had been cruelly turned into nothing more than a luggage cart as Temari had decided to get into the spirit of vacation early.

The changes he had made to his puppet to support this were undoable and he would have to scrap everything except some of the inner components he had removed earlier to bring this abomination about.

Not that he would say anything directly about it, oh no. Gaara wanted to see snow and Temari had promised that so long as they stopped by Yu no Kuni on the way there they'd visit Yuki no Kuni to see it.

That had been all it took to get support from the little Tanuki, and with that kind of backing Temari was now more or less queen of the sand.

Damnit.

So here they were, making their way to Wave to visit the wolves. Temari, her eminence, was walking with a noticeable spring in her step and her head in the clouds imagining her upcoming vacation. Gaara trailed slightly behind her, one of his hands held in hers as she gently swung it back and forth. He, Kankurō, was behind them with his beloved Karasu- or what used to be Karasu.

The worst part of his puppets fate had been how unnecessary it was. They hadn't needed anything to carry their things on the way to Konoha, so why had they unsealed their packs to force his poor puppet to carry them?

Admittedly, it had been kind of relaxing to build with his puppets and Karasu had been heavily damaged in the second exam anyway, but he tried not to think that Temari's many bags and Gaara's sand gourd were currently giving the broken Karasu purpose just so he had an excuses to put it together in this form.

Sure, they were siblings, but that was just too damn thoughtful to be possible.

Still, it was nice to think that they had done this for that very reason. For now he'd just blame it on a temporary bout of insanity brought about by all the green they were still surrounded by in these Hi no Kuni forests.

It simply wasn't a sane color, which explained Konoha and all that had happened there perfectly.

Ahead of him, Temari and Gaara shared a small, secret smile.

---

He was pushed to his knees, two hands staying firmly upon his shoulders to ensure he stayed down, and as his head raised to take in the one he had been brought before he couldn't help but think his little princess had become a queen. It was far more painful than he could have ever imagined, but perhaps that was more from guilt and shame than the fact that she was growing so quickly.

Opulent robes of the finest fabrics had been draped over her small form to add both size and status. She had taken to growing out her hair, apparently, and just now did he notice that it had become long enough to be gently pulled behind her head in a small ponytail. In the next year or two it would probably reach the floor whenever she sat in the traditional head seat which used to belong to him.

The seat was pretty much the same, except for the pillows. Considering the seat was, in fact, a small pile of pillows on a slightly raised floor in the formal meeting room, it meant very little. These pillows, it appeared, were chosen more for comfort than his had been. Soft, fluffy things in soft colors that suited her well. Even the environment seemed to be tailored to this new and improved young woman.

Odd that it had taken seeing her in subtle makeup, no doubt applied with careful consideration by a team of branch maids over several hours, for him to realize that she wasn't quite the little girl he had thought her as.

He had to admit, after seeing her like this he wouldn't be able to think of her as cute ever again. She was pretty, on the cusp of being beautiful, and he was sure that when she grew up she would be even more gorgeous than his late wife.

If he lived long enough to see it.

Despite their famed eyes, Hyuuga Hiashi had recently realized how very little they had seen.

It had become common many, many years ago to ignore the very existence of branch members until you needed them for some task. Likewise, the branch members had become very good at blending into the background and avoiding notice even from the Byakugan.

It was not that hard to see how they could have been planning something like this.

What was surprising was that they had reached out and found allies in thew Wolves. Or, rather, his little princess had.

Briefly his eyes went from his firstborn to the Wolves standing guard to either side of her.

'Standing guard to protect her' He couldn't help but wonder. 'Or to keep her hostage to their master's will?'

There was more than a small amount of doubt that she had done this all on his own and even more worry that whoever she had gone to- or more likely had approached her- was simply using her and the Hyuuga clan she now had control over for their own purposes.

Still, in some strange way, he was proud. He may hate what she had done and how she had gone about accomplishing it, but she knew what she wanted and did what was necessary to see it happen.

He had always wanted to be able to see one of his children take his spot. This had been neither the child nor the method he expected, honestly, but he supposed it really didn't matter now.

He did, however, have to wonder what had become of his youngest daughter.

Fate willing, he prayed that she was safe.

---

Hyuuga Hanabi stared at a blushing Kin incredulously.

"You're going to be in a book about what?"

---

She had considered asking him about Sasuke, but in the end Mikoto decided it was better to push him from her mind entirely. Instead she sat on one of his couches, arms wrapped snugly around him as she reveled in the knowledge that her most precious person managed to get through the invasion unharmed.

Naruto himself, in one of the strangest seats he had ever found himself upon, continued to go over his paperwork and ignored the smirking Wolf who dutifully held the rest of it for him.

"You know," He commented as he handed another completed piece to the Wolf. "You really didn't need to come. Everything was under control." She squeezed tighter.

"That doesn't make me any less worried Naruto-kun, you should know that."

"You might be caught. Konoha has beefed up security now and are still on the lookout for infiltrators who may not have been able to escape yet."

She gave a light giggle. "Naruto-kun, I am an infiltrator who has yet to escape." The lightness left her voice. "Still, it would be worth it to know you're safe."

Naruto paused for a moment at her response, appreciating the sentiment but realizing just how damaging her good intentions could be.

"It pleases me to know you care so much, Mikoto, but please exercise more caution in the future. You're with me at the moment, if they were to catch you..." He trailed off and could feel the way she stiffened in shock behind him. Obviously she hadn't looked at it from that angle yet. She may have been making sure he was safe, but her visit was also putting him in danger.

She was, after all, both an Uchiha survivor and a member of Akatsuki. Well known it might not be, but Kage would be well aware of the group of S-Ranked rogue Shinobi and would be appropriately cautious.

"I'm so sorry Naruto, I didn't even-" One hand lazily waved off her apology. He really was feeling a bit too comfortable in his current seat.

"It's fine, Mikoto, you overlooked something. I will ensure everything works out."

Perhaps she saw the subtle power play, but it was more than likely missed in the relief she felt that he was not angry. His Wolves, however, shared a small, amused look amongst themselves. Despite the woman's claims to be his mother figure, Tsukiyomi was very careful to ensure he portrayed himself as the responsible authority figure between the two and with her wanting little more than to see him safe and happy, she completely missed the way her actions looked from the outside.

As far as the Wolves were concerned she was just another servant of their master, and a very willing one too. The fact that she didn't even realize it invoked both amusement and slight pity but, in the end, it mattered little compared to the fact that she served him.

It was, after all, the only real matter of importance to the Wolves.

"You've been away from Ame from a couple days now, haven't you?" He inquired, making no effort to remove himself from his current seating arrangement. "Will they miss you?"

Oh, he was going to have to pry himself away soon, he was going to fall asleep any minute now if he remained surrounded by her soft warmth. He tried not to think too hard about the pillow his head was resting against.

He felt more than saw her shudder, as though his question somehow disturbed her greatly.

"Oh," She confirmed. "I'm sure they'll miss me, some more than others, but not in any way that would compromise us."

'Us'- what an interesting choice of word, as if they were both trying to hide from the Akatsuki. Now that he was in full possession of Shukaku he supposed he should start thinking about keeping off their radar.

Actually, speaking of which, he needed to make sure Gaara was protected, Akatsuki was prevented from going after him, or both. He had a responsibility to the boy now, not because the poor child had started to see him as a father- and he really didn't feel like dwelling on that fact at the moment- but because it made his 'Mother' more docile.

Keeping the giant demonic Tanuki content and eager to please was most definitely a priority. He had no desire to deal with her angry, even if she had no means of escaping him.

Of course, thoughts like that brought his mind to the first being he had a similar relationship with. She, as it so happened, did have a way to leave him. Sometimes he had to wonder if that was better tan having her trapped between the seal and his mind, forever raging at the warden she had come to loathe so entirely.

No. It was better this way. Her leaving was bad enough, but being trapped with her when she wanted nothing more than for his existence to cease probably would have crushed him before long.

Banishing those thoughts from his mind before they corrupted the pleasant seating arrangement he found himself a part of, he focused instead upon the words of his spy.

"Are they giving you any trouble?" He asked, honestly concerned. While the Wolves would always be with him, the number of non-Wolf allies he had was limited and he was loathe to surrender him. Just as he took care of the pack and the pack took care of him, he would look out for those who had chosen to stand with him.

"It's nothing I can't put up with." She beamed down at him, though he couldn't see it, and began to run her fingers through his long crimson hair. "And when it does get too much, well, I'm in a very good position to eliminate the traitor of the Uchiha."

He hummed, either in agreement or content- perhaps both- and said nothing more of the matter.

Naruto had noted before the curious way she avoided saying Itachi's name and the fact that he was never, ever, referred to as her son. The only time he had inquired about her son she had given him a soft giggle and a smile and asked why he wanted to know about himself. He had not missed the hard look in her eyes and, regardless of his knowledge that she wanted to see him happy and well cared for he was smart enough to know pushing the former ANBU was a very bad idea.

He hadn't come close to making the same mistake since.

Attempting to fight off- and failing spectacularly- a large yawn, he was aware that his Wolves had packed up his remaining paperwork and vacated the room, as if declaring him done for the time being. Preposterous, he had too much to do. Almost as if summoned by thinking of them, one of the Wolves who had surrounded him returned to the room carrying a big, fluffy blanket that he was absolutely positive he didn't own.

He didn't have to imagine the smirk on her lips long, for as soon as she had snugly engulfed him with the fluffy monstrosity she removed her mask to plant a kiss to his forehead before helping Mikoto into a more comfortable position reclining across the couch.

In the end, he wasn't able to muster the energy to resist either of the women or the call of sleep. Perhaps he had been working a bit too long after all.

Or, more likely, Mikoto was just too damn comfortable.

He was certain both of them were loving every second of him snuggling further into her embrace and surrendering to the comforting warmth.

He was asleep moments later.

---

Inuzuka Tsume stared blankly at her bed, distinctly noting the lack of her new blanket.

It had been a long day, filled with council meetings going over Konoha casualties, prisoners of war, and their response to Suna's invasion. All she had wanted to do was come home, take a hot bath, and curl up into a ball amidst a nest of pillows and blankets that had been especially chosen due to their superb level of fluffiness.

And someone had stolen her new, favorite, blanket.

She had some inexplicable urge to blame the Wolves. For some reason, when not under orders, they seemed more like children than a trained private army. Must have been something to do with whatever conditioning they had gone through.

Still, taking her blanket was a bit absurd, even for them.

They were far more likely to take the liberty of simply sleeping in her bed.

It wouldn't have been the first time she had returned to find Wolves cuddled up in her bed like a litter of newborn pups. Annoying the first time, exasperating the second, somewhat amusing the third and endearing every time after, she had come to grow fond of the Wolves and their strange quirks.

Even when they did shit like this.

Well, there wasn't much she could do about it at the moment and she wasn't about to sleep without a blanket when she needed to cuddle something. That of course, gave her an idea. Sure, she could always take Hana's as her daughter was staying in a hotel as the Governor of Nami no Kuni, but why do that when she could just find Mai and slip in bed with her?

It was the girl's fault for bringing the Wolves into her life anyway, so she was partly to blame for Tsume's lack of blanket.

Besides, she had been excited at the prospect of cuddling up within her blankets, the chance to have both the blankets and a warm body was just too good to pass up.

The head of the Inuzuka had to hold back an amused snort at the thought of just moving in with the girl, but maybe she could be persuaded to take up a room in the main house of the compound.

Swiftly gathering her things for an impromptu sleepover, a grinning Tsume left her room. It had been a while since she had any sort of girl's night.

---

She should have expected him to show up sooner or later but, really, was it so much to ask that it be a little later than this? Hell, earlier would have been fine, too, but when she was about to retire for the evening?

Anko had always known that Ibiki was an evil, sadistic bastard- it's why she liked working with him, after all- but this took things to a whole new level.

"Really?" She asked, arms folding over her chest partially to show her annoyance at his unannounced invasion of her home and partially to cover the giant pink heart that dominated the front of her loose purple sleepshirt. She actually wished it was just a bit tighter, just so it stopped threatening to slip off her shoulder and give her coworker- superior, actually- a free show.

Not that he would be interested, as far as she could tell he was completely asexual and she was rather confident in thinking he was creating an army of his clone-children to terrorize the world. Well, not the whole world considering his rather die-hard patriotism towards Konoha, but certainly the rest of the world.

She still hadn't managed to find where he was stashing them away to bide their time, but she would eventually.

Certainly not tonight, however, as even if he wasn't here for some sort of pseudo-interrogation – and she was sure it would be as unpleasant as a regular one anyway- she had been rather looking forward to collapsing into her bed.

She didn't mind the fighting during the invasion, but the cleanup afterwards was an absolute bitch.

Next time, could they please be the aggressors so they could still kill things without having to deal with this bullshit afterwards? Please? Pretty please? Even her thoughts were ready to start pouting in hopes she would convince some great entity to make it so.

Unfortunately for her, the almost-pout went unnoticed and she was still trapped in a room with her boss wearing a loose purple shirt and a pair of pink shorts that were far too tight for her to be comfortable wearing before him- even if she did think he simply spawned more of himself and had absolutely zero interest in the female form.

Actually, she may have been more comfortable knowing he might have paid the slightest amount of attention to her form. Being so exposed- though she wasn't any more exposed than she was when out in public. In fact, she was probably more clothed- to someone who didn't even notice was kind of insulting and made her question herself in a way she wasn't comfortable with.

She was very proud of both her looks and her sensuality, damnit, it's who she was. Take it away and she simply wasn't as awesome as a proper Anko was to be, and that was unacceptable.

A crime against the world, really.

For some strange reason, she didn't think the impassively watching Ibiki would agree.

Wait, how long had she been thinking about this? Had he been staring at her this whole time?

What a creep.

Well, that was pretty obvious by the fact that he had broken into her home as she was getting ready for bed, but just staring at her? Perfectly understandable if he was attracted but she was certain he just liked staring at people.

Or creeping them out.

Perhaps a bit of both.

He continued staring at her for a minute before saying anything.

"Yes." it took her a moment to realize it was a response to her earlier question. He had really waited this long to answer her? Gods above she worked with some strange people. Hell, he would probably be considered one of her friends.

That was a disturbing thought, actually.

She needed more friends-

And to repair the relationship with some of her old ones.

"Well?" She questioned her boss. "Let's get on with this, my bed is calling."

He gave a grunt and a shrug in response before motioning her to follow him as he took a seat at her kitchen table.

Grudgingly, she obeyed, dropping into a seat opposite him with her arms still crossed.

"So," He took a moment to stare at her, just until she was uncomfortable, she was sure. "Would you like to explain why Konoha was aided by Snake Summons when I know for a fact you did not perform any summons after the invasion started?"

"Erm, well." One of her arms dropped from her chest, moving to rub the back of her head nervously. "No?"

He shot her a blank look. Oh well, it was worth a try.

"Well, I may or may not have an acquaintance-" Unfortunately true, she wasn't sure she was allowed to call Naruto a friend anymore, which is something she needed to rectify. "-Who, possibly, is associated with the Wolves. It also so happens that those Wolves are, quite likely, allied with Orochimaru for their own purposes. Seeing as the Wolves claim Konoha as their territory, they may or may not have called upon their ally Orochimaru during the invasion to keep it out of Suna's greedy hands. Maybe."

His blank look didn't change in the slightest as she spoke and maintained itself for several minutes after her lackluster finish. Sure, she wasn't the best orator in the world, she was still perfectly Anko in every way that mattered which meant, naturally, that she was perfect.

That was Anko-Logic and Anko-Logic couldn't be beaten, only denied.

And denial didn't make her any less correct.

Finally he spoke.

"Okay." As he stood up and turned to leave she couldn't help but gape at him. Really, he disturbs her and makes her uncomfortable in her own home and is satisfied with just that? She knew she should consider herself fortunate and that pressing the issue would probably be detrimental to her, but damnit if she wasn't just the slightest bit disappointed.

He was the best interrogator in Konoha, possibly the world, and that was, well, kind of lacking.

"Really? That's it? You interrupted my sleep for that?" She, naturally, was more upset about the sleep than any worry his sudden appearance had caused, despite the fact that she may have been dragged back to the office as an interrogatee rather than an interrogator for an official questioning. That would not have been good for her career.

Not that it seemed to be going anywhere anyway.

"He helped Konoha." Ibiki shrugged. "That's really all that matters until either he or one of his subordinates ends up in one of my cells."

"That's..." Her expression turned incredulous. "the most uninspiring thing I've ever heard. You added the pro-Konoha in how he helped us, but you'd think that would lead one to be more against the man..."

"Allies, enemies, they change often enough. It's just easier to deal with whoever shows up in my cells as they come."

"..." Anko stared at him for a long minute. "...I think I've lost all respect I had for you."

That seemed to be the only thing that had thus far surprised the man.

"You respected me?"

"Just...Just get out." She sighed in defeat. To think she had, at any point, been worried about this. "I'm going to bed."

He gave a grunt and saw himself out, the door closing firmly behind him. She failed to control the twitching in her brow as she heard him work on the lock from the outside, locking it behind him when she was perfectly capable of doing it on her side of the door.

She really needed to make new friends.

---

"Did you know you're a grandmother?" Naruko asked. Kushina promptly began choking on her ramen. Huh, death by ramen, what a way for an Uzumaki to go.

It was probably a good thing that it was only the two of them within the Ichiraku ramen stall, choking on her food in such an undignified manner was not something the rest of Konoha needed to see when she was in control of two clans.

Even if one of them had reputation without members and the others had members and no reputation.

So, more like two half clans.

The thought of making the Yamanaka into Uzumaki clan members had crossed Kushina's mind before, but she didn't really believe they deserved such an honor. Still something for her to keep in mind, however, should it ever look like the Uzumaki weren't going to properly recover. At least then the name would live on.

Still, that wasn't anywhere near as important as Naruko's seemingly random question.

"What?" She asked when she finally defeated her noodley foe. She was pretty sure she wasn't a grandmother unless Naruko had managed to both get with a man and hide the pregnancy from her for the past nine months. Then again, Naruko wasn't her only child, was she?

"Yeah," The grin on the Chūnin-hopeful's face- Konoha would contemplate promotions after the mess with Suna was properly resolved- showed that she was quite enjoying this and Kushina wasn't a hundred percent sure why. It would make far more sense for her to be upset that her brother had apparently had a child with someone she had never met.

Unless Naruko had met the woman, but that still wouldn't make her seem this pleased unless she really approved of his choice.

Of course, she may be reading this incorrectly. Was she happy about the fact that her brother apparently had a child, because she was an aunt, or because she had this information that Kushina didn't?

Or maybe she just found the sight of her mother choking on ramen amusing.

That last one was a pretty damn good contender, one she'd be tempted to bet money on.

"And?" Kushina prompted. She needed to know more about this, especially seeing as Jiraiya hadn't mentioned anything of the sort on his last visit. Something like this would have had the man proudly declaring how amazing his students' son was. Not that he could actually phrase it that way, it kind of defeated the entire purpose of keeping it a secret. "When did Naruto become a father?"

Naruko actually pouted at that. "What? Why does it have to be Naruto, I could have had a kid." Kushina gave her a blank look, not buying it for a second. She was pretty sure Naruko hadn't touched a man beyond dragging her injured teammate around the Forest of Death since she hugged Naruto all those years ago.

The thought that she might have slept with a man and bore him a child was ridiculous.

"Fine," The girl huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ruin my fun." She had really hopped the reveal would be more amusing but her mother had instantly made the connection and seemed far more curious than upset. Really, she expected her mother to be more concerned that her son ended up a father without her knowledge but then again Naruto had always been more mature than her. Perhaps Kushina was of the opinion that he was ready for parenthood?

Che, yeah right!

There's no way Kushina was okay with that, but it was obvious that the woman felt there was more to it than Naruko had already said. She never was able to hide things from her mother anyway, she shouldn't have been surprised that her intentionally misleading deliverance of news had been seen right through instantly.

"I told you about that Sand kid that helped our team in the second exam, right?" She continued when Kushina gave her a nod, all attention drawn from her ramen to her daughter. "Well during the invasion I chased after the three of them, thinking they were up to something being the Kazekage's kids."

Kushina gave her another nod, it made sense.

"Turns out they were actually running away, wanting nothing to do with it. In fact, they claim that the Kazekage had ordered the invasion to be abandoned when an ally of theirs had withdrawn."

That sounded sensible and from the man's reputation alone she could believe it. He may not have been the best man, but he id do whatever he felt was necessary for his village as any good Kage would. It was not a stretch to think he would go from being ready to attack Konoha to withdrawing as soon as his village no longer had the support it needed rather than risk it.

"Okay, how does this tie in to me being a grandmother?"

Naruko waved her question off. "I'm getting there. While I was confronting him the redhead, Gaara I think, mentioned that his father was still in the village and wouldn't like the invasion. But then he mentioned things like having multiple mothers and multiple fathers before he suddenly decided I must have been his auntie."

The Uzumaki clan head blinked in surprise. She had suspected it wasn't as clear-cut as Naruko had tried to imply, but if she was going to say what she thought she was...

"Wait, you don't mean to say-"

"Oh, yeah." Naruko cut off her mother, smiling somewhat smugly. "Gaara fully believed that Naruto was his father."

"That's- That's absolutely absurd." Kushina finally declared. "Why on earth would he think Naruto's his father? You're sure he didn't just treat him as his father?"

"Nope, he honestly seems to believe that Naruto is his dad." A smirk worked its way across her lips. "Apparently he's been calling his sister Kaa-san, too, so maybe it's related to that..."

Her delivery of the information belayed how much she disliked it. Sure, he'd be expected to bring back the clan one day but she'd much rather they connect as a family before there were more members of his own. Adding other people they were going to have to learn to accept was going to complicate the healing of the Uzumaki clan.

She supposed, though, it didn't matter all that much in the end as long as he was happy. That really was far more important even if they sometimes overlooked that in their desire to bring him back into the family.

"He has a girlfriend already?" Kushina was more distressed at being left out than angry and Naruko realized that there had been a critical error in her plan. Sure, the absurdity of the shocking news may have made her mother laugh and delivering said news could have been amusing to her, but it also tied into Naruto and the fact that he wasn't really a part of their lives.

The fact that they were sitting here in Ichiraku and more or less gossiping about him as if he was some sort of stranger only compounded that fact.

Quite the oversight on her part, she'd admit, and she should have recognized that things weren't going in as humorous a vein as she had been expecting it to.

When she first learned that Gaara thought Naruto was his father she didn't have the energy to deal with being dragged into whatever madness was circling the – apparently former, and she'd need to look into that- Jinchuriki. Looking back on it, however, gave her the mental image of Gaara following her brother around like a lost puppy- or a curious Tanuki kit- and calling him Tou-san.

She had found the thought amusing and when the two of them had gone to Ichiraku after a long day of helping the recovery of Konoha she thought it might serve to cheer up her overworked mother.

Perhaps her delivery needed some work.

"Who has a girlfriend?" The cheerfully inquisitive voice of Konohagakure's Greatest Waitress- which was a title tied to an A-Rank entry of the International Culinary Bingo book- Ichiraku Ayame broke the two of them from their thoughts.

Surprised by the unexpected interruption, Kushina nevertheless responded quickly. "Ah, Naruto-kun seems to have gotten himself a girlfriend."

"Oh, did he decide to go steady with one of them, then?"

"Eh?" Naruko and Kushina spoke at the same time, equally confused by the young woman's words.

"I mean, he's not here too often but I remember a couple of the young woman he's brought with him."

"Are you saying Naruto-nii's been taking girls out?" Now that she thought about it, hadn't she seen him with that young woman and the purple-haired skank back when they had first returned? She hadn't even considered that doing something like that might have been regular for him.

"Um, yeah, I guess so. There was that Yamanaka a few years ago, terrible what happened there, and Kato-san meets him here sometimes when she's not working in the hospital. Mitarashi's been here with him before and I think Yuuhi-san joined them once." As she spoke she counted off on her fingers, paying no mind to the surprised looks of the faces of the two Uzumaki women. "He probably comes most regularly with Mai, but she's been coming here with council member Inuzuka lately, so I'm not sure what's going on there." The young woman paused to frown in thought. "Hmm, I think he had the former Hyuuga heiress here with him before, too, though I suppose if the rumors are true about the revolt of the branch family than she's probably in charge of the clan now.

"Aaaaand, I think that's all of them I've seen with him." She finished brightly, having absolutely no idea how much hearing this was troubling the Uzumaki duo. The two of them shared a concerned look- how had they been unaware of all this?

More troubling, which one would they be eventually inviting into the family or was Naruto, somehow, planning on being with them all.

Almost simultaneously they blushed, their thoughts nearly identical.

They really needed to figure out what was going on in his life, it might be time to resort to Jiraiya more fully. This sort of thing was right up his alley.

Ayame, meanwhile, simply looked at the two blushing woman in confusion.

"Ah, is everything okay?"

The two only seemed to blush harder.

---

"Yo, Kotestsu, you ever get the feeling that people just keep us around as some sick form of comedic relief?"

Kotestsu looked up from his work, tangled in the multitude of wires that had been used to broadcast the first task to the Jōnin Sensei. Turns out taking it down was even more complicated than setting it up.

Who would have guessed?

"What," Asked the other Chūnin. "The hell are you talking about?"

Izumo shrugged. "I don't know, just a thought that occurred to me."

"Well, how about a little less thinking about how much of a joke you are and more trying to get me out of this?!"

Two fists planted themselves upon Izumo's hips as he narrowed his eyes at his best friend for nearly two decades.

"Well if you want to be rude about it, you can get yourself out of this mess."

"You're the one who got me tangled up in this shit!"

---

The two Wolves shared a look and shrugged. While not having been granted explicit permission to enter, they didn't imagine Mai would mind all that terribly.

Stepping aside, one of them opened the door for Mai's unexpected- but probably not unwelcome- visitor. They made no comment on the woman's attire, but they could quite honestly say that neither had really expected to see the Inuzuka matriarch walk up to them in her pajamas.

At least, not here. Such was to be expected if they were doing something at the Inuzuka compound, especially in her house, but not so much the entrance to Mai's private chambers.

Actually, it was simply an apartment across the street from the main entrance of the subterranean base, but it functioned as Mai's residence.

Sometimes.

Usually she stayed with Tsukiyomi in his apartment or in a guest room at the Inuzuka compound. In fact, they were pretty sure she had spent more nights asleep in her office within the base than she had in this apartment since she first got it.

The fact that the Inuzuka matriarch had been informed of it was unusual enough, for her to come to it on one of the rare nights Mai was actually in? It had to have been some sort of divine intervention.

Why Tsukiyomi would be so accepting of Mai and Tsume spending the night together neither knew, but they wouldn't question it too much.

Tsukiyomi's will be done.

Of course, that didn't mean they wouldn't speculate about it. The Wolves did so love to gossip, especially about Tsukiyomi.

---

"So will you do it?" Surprisingly, the man didn't seem eager to agree, which was strange considering who he was and what had been requested of him.

"Ah, Kushina, I'm sure there's nothing to worry abou-" He stopped at her glare.

"I told myself that last time, and things ended up going horribly wrong. I won't make that mistake again." Declared the Uzumaki matriarch. "Now, will you look into Naruto's...erm...love life?" Her voice lost confidence at the end, trailing off awkwardly.

Normally she'd be against Jiraiya peeking on anyone or prying into personal matters, but when the well-being of her son was on the line she'd make an exception.

Now, why didn't he want to do this? It was exactly what he liked to do. Was it because he had been given permission? Did that somehow make it less enjoyable?

The great sage gave a deep sigh before nodding. "Sure, I'll look into it. What, exactly, do you want to know about?"

"You know, the things you'd normally write about." Her response earned a raised brow.

"Just that?" With a ponderous chin-scratching he looked to the sky for a moment. "I don't think that'll yield much, he doesn't seem to be at that stage with any of those around him. Perhaps soon, but certainly not now."

"Well, what do you already know that might lead into that?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Ah!" His triumphant grin was nearly blinding "That's the right kind of question." He paused for a second before asking "What, exactly, do you already know and what do you suspect?"

"Erm, does it really matter?" Asking him to look into it was embarrassing enough, actually discussing Naruto's love-life was too much for either of the Uzumaki women.

"Well, I have to start somewhere, yeah? Unless you want me to pull up a chalkboard and start drawing diagrams and lists of people I suspect..." He trailed off, not having actually prepared for something like that but more than confident that he could whip one up on the off-chance she'd actually accept.

Not that it was likely.

"Uh, I heard hes' been visiting Ichiraku's with various women and Naruko mentioned that Gaara of the Sand called him father and his sister mother." She tried to ignore the pure joy that erupted over the man's face upon hearing that. "There may be something between him and Ino and I've heard that he's taken Hyuuga Hinata under his wing."

"I see," And she could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he said that. "Some of that I was unaware of, but there's plenty more I can tell you about. Was there anything else?"

"Ayame had a list of women she had seen him with, but I have no idea what their relationship may be." She did, actually, but she didn't want to think too hard on it.

"The cute waitress at Ichiraku? I'll have to see what she knows later. In the meantime, let's go over what the Gallant Jiraiya already knows about his God-Nephew."

Kushina blinked in confusion. "About your what?" The sage just waved her question away.

"Don't worry about it, it's a working title." His hands rubbed together eagerly. "Now, where to start..."

Kushina shot a nervous glance to Naruko who had thus far remained sitting quietly in the main room of the Uzumaki home. It wasn't something they really wanted to talk or hear about, but with it being brought to their attention it was something they felt they needed to know.

It wasn't going to be very easy to become part of Naruto's life again if they ended up on bad terms with those currently close to him. He had already made it clear that the new life he had made for himself took precedence over a past he chose not to dwell on.

She'd make sure to have a nice long chat about avoiding your problems sometime after their relationship was repaired.

She was brought out of those thoughts by Jiraiya's rather boisterous voice.

"Suppose I'll start with the one I'm rooting for, then." At their surprise he look somewhat affronted. "What?" His hands went to his hips in a way very reminiscent of the Slug Sannin. It suited him surprisingly well. "Am I getting those looks because I actually have an opinion or because I implied a singular candidate that has my support?"

The Uzumaki women shared a look before speaking in unison.

"Both."

The pout suited him well, too. Really, he would have done well in theater if he hadn't been a Shinobi. Then again, perhaps it was something he picked up as a Shinobi. Despite his strange mannerisms Jiraiya was not someone to be underestimated and even his teammates usually couldn't tell how much of what he showed was acting or real.

To demonstrate the duplicity and deception of the Shinobi there was no better example than Jiraiya.

Of course, he did it so well it was sometime hard to remember that.

He wasn't a Sannin for nothing.

"Hmmph! Fine then, be that way. One day I'll meet someone who respects me and my opinions." His pout cleared as easily as removing a mask and his mood followed with it, changing to become the serious spymaster that hid within.

Well, as serious the spymaster can be when he's talking about the love-life of his student's son to his student's widow.

Actually, that was kind of a depressing thought. Back to the ladies.

"Well, the one I'm cheering for has to be Mai. Cute little thing, pale with long dark hair. Little older than our Naruto and far too serious for her age." He gave a grin at that. "Kind of like Naruto, eh? She relaxes a bit when around him and the two seem very comfortable with each other. Going on three years of the two knowing each other, so it's a solid relationship already, and she's completely devoted to him."

He paused before amending his latest statement.

"They're both pretty devoted, actually, trying to look after each other even when they just get in each other's ways. He seems to really appreciate her company and she would do anything if she thought it would make him happy. I'm not sure if they're romantic at all, or what role her friendship with Tsume plays in their relation, but I could easily see them happily married."

Jiraiya gave a broad grin. "Now that I think about it, I'd say they practically are. Still, who knows where it might go down the road." His face became serious. "It could very easily become a great tragedy, really, one worthy of the greatest theaters."

The sage of Mt. Myōboku fell silently into his own thoughts before slowly withdrawing an old, worn journal and scratching down a few sentences. Taking great care he returned it to his person but Kushina couldn't say she had ever seen it before. His usual notebooks were very distinctive. Modern things of vibrant color that reminded everyone who saw them of the covers of his books.

Perhaps, however, that was a question best left for another time.

The mood of the room had become somber and with a shake of his head- and consequentially his great mane of white hair- Jiraiya sought to dispel it.

"Anyway, that's who I'd like to see him with. Besides, I'm sure the kids would look great!"

Kushina shot him a small smile, much more comfortable with a cheerful Jiraiya than the mostly broken man that was hidden beneath.

"Is there anything else we should know about her?" This question was asked by Naruko and Jiraiya's surprise indicated that it was, perhaps, ever so slightly possible that he had forgotten she was there.

"Should know?" He scratched his chin. "Well, not really. Must have some claws, considering how terrified some of Naruto's guards were of her wrath, but I suppose that's to be expected when she's in charge of his security."

The man's brows furrowed for a moment. "I'm making an assumption there, actually, not sure if she's the head of his security or just has influence over it, but if I had someone who cared that much for me I'd definitely want them in charge of making sure I was safe."

"Guards?" Kushina looked concerned, as if the thought of her son having guards had never stuck her. "Why would he need guards?"

Jiraiya could only shrug. "Who says he does? He still has 'em. Probably more precaution than anything else. He's involved with Hi no Kuni's newest noble house, after all. Someone will eventually feel that eliminating him will help them somehow."

Both Uzumaki women had known he was associated with the Wolves, even if they hadn't really wanted to believe it at first, but the significance of the statement hadn't hit until now. It wasn't just some group of people he had fallen in with, they were involved with the politics of Hi no Kuni's Imperial Court and that alone meant the group had enemies.

With an unpleasant suddenness, Naruto's involvement with the Wolves became something real.

"I suppose you're right. Better he has them, just in case." Almost resigned, she continued. "Anyone else he's close to?"

"Well, there are a couple I've heard about but two stand out. The first of them I know nothing about." He paused to shudder violently. "But she looks about your age Kushina and reminds me of a female Orochimaru, so that's all I'm saying on that matter."

The Uzumaki matriarch was reminded of the strange words the man had spoken when she had been meeting with Ino and felt she could understand a bit better what had happened.

Still, Jiraiya wanting to avoid a woman? The world must be coming to an end.

"The second one, however," Jiraiya gave a massive shit-eating grin. "Now that's someone I'll happily talk about." From somewhere on his person he pulled out another journal, this one much newer but stuffed full of loose pieces of paper and photos. Taking one of the photos he placed it on the coffee table.

"This is Kin." he introduced the picture to the two Uzumaki. "She's a year older than Naruto and is currently living, along with her two teammates, in Naruto's apartment. She's an Oto Kunoichi who didn't manage to make Chūnin this go around but should have a good shot next time."

He brought out another photo, this one picturing the young woman dressed provocatively in nothing but familiar furs that barely reached her upper thighs.

"Wait, aren't those-" Kushina was cut off by Jiraiya who was having an absolute field day being able to share this.

"Yep, Naruto's furs. One of his favorites, from what she tells me, but she learned that secondhand." It was the same thing he had worn when he had met with the Kushina and Inoichi all those weeks ago. On him it was the garments worn by a nomadic prince, on her it looked like she had covered herself with the rug she had been laying on by the fireplace. Jiraiya thought it was wonderfully suggestive and had the picture taken both to serve as inspiration and remind him to include a scene by the fireplace.

"Wait," Objected Naruko as she shot him a suspicious glare. "Why do you have this kind of picture of her?"

The old pervert rubbed his hands together eagerly, his grin somehow growing.

"Oh, that's the best part. Not only does she like to call him master but she wants me to write a book with, erm..." In that moment he realized exactly what he had been about to say and, more importantly, who he was about to say it to.

Oh shit.

Naruko seemed to have been somewhat satisfied by the partial answer, enough that she had gone from glaring to simply looking on curiously, but now it was Kushina's turn to wear that suspicious glare. It actually looked really good on her, Jiraiya thought, but it was a bad time to be contemplating that.

He could definitely see where Naruko had gotten it, however.

"Yes?" Prompted the Uzumaki matriarch, one delicate brow rising challengingly. "What kind of book were you going to be writing about this young woman who apparently calls my son 'Master'?"

"Well, uh, you see..."

"Hmm? I'm waiting, Jiraiya."

"I was looking into Naruto's life, yeah? And when I visited his apartment last she was there. We got to talking but she wanted em to write a book featuring her. Being me, the gallant sage Jiraiya and a wold-famous author I really couldn't pass on the opportunity that was presenting itself. As it turns out, she, maybe, wanted me to include Naruto within the book. Naturally, I agreed to cast him in one of the roles."

And now Naruko understood what was actually happening. He knew they had the same glare, but having them both glare at him together was something else.

Really, an experience he'd have rather avoided.

"What role might that be Jiraiya?"

"Erm, uh," He spoke quickly, knowing better than to lie but desperately hoping they would either mishear or decide his answering was more important than the answer itself. He had a feeling he wasn't that lucky. "He's going to be in the book as her master."

Kushina blinked a few times, processing what had been said and trying to wrap her head around the fact that Jiraiya actually had the gall to say that. A coward one could not call the old pervert.

She remained silent for a few long moments before her arms crossed her chest. Never a good thing, and not just because it blocked his view.

"I'm a fair woman, Jiraiya. You have ten seconds to run while I grab one of my spare blades so I can remove that second head you prize so much and sheath it up your ass."

You didn't have to tell Jiraiya twice.

Temperamental redheads always got his blood flowing, just usually not in the way he'd prefer.

---

A knock sounded at her door and she didn't even have to guess who it might be. Shizune was the only one who had access to the compound, after all.

"Come in." Called Tsunade, never looking away from her desk. Sitting in the garden crying and wallowing in self pity may have helped her feel a bit better, but the invasion reminded her that there was still much more she could- and should0- be doing.

Which is why she sat at her desk writing down as much medical knowledge as she could draw from her mind. It was more difficult than one might imagine as she struggled to include things that seemed second nature to her after years of being the worlds greatest medic.

Still, it was better that as much of it be recorded as possible, just in case.

She wasn't going to be around forever, after all. Not that it was something to worry about too much, having spent years training Shizune as her replacement. The girl had never really been interested in combat, however, and had no desire to become the Slug Sage.

That was fine, really, she had no desire to loose another loved one to the Shinobi lifestyle. The girl could do plenty of good from behind the safety of Konoha's walls. The recent invasion hadn't shaken that belief too much.

Shizune was, after all, unharmed.

The door clicked open to admit her apprentice and she could barely make out the faint footsteps. Only when she knew the young woman was directly behind her did she turn. The expression on the girl's face, however, was slightly worrying.

The nervousness was actually pretty common, but the almost resigned determination in her eyes didn't fit at all.

Tsunade wasted no time in putting down her pen and turning fully to her apprentice. "Is there something you needed, Shizune?" Gods knew she had failed the girl in everything but medical training over the years, but she'd be damned if her late lover's niece didn't know she was there to help with whatever she needed.

The young woman took a deep breath, straightening herself before her teacher, and the first thing to leave her lips was an apology.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade." She said. "But I can't keep doing this."

Tsunade would like to say she was surprised by this, but she was more surprised it had taken this long. This had been expected years ago and she had been thankful for every day the girl remained with her. Perhaps she should have shown it better.

Shizune continued. "It's been over a decade now of following you around the world. Everything I did was to keep you out of trouble while you tried to drown your sorrows and now that we've returned to Konoha you've avoided every opportunity you had to pull yourself from your misery and simply sunk deeper into it."

Actually, having been sober for a while now certainly helped and realizing the good she could do by making her medical knowledge more readily available for her grandfathers' village was doing wonders in helping her recover, but Shizune was right. It had been a long time that she had dealt with the broken woman Tsunade knew she still was. It would have taken its toll on anyone.

"I've decided that it's time I became my own person." She looked down at a piece of paper in her hand, gathering herself to continue. When she looked back up the determination was as strong as Tsunade had ever seen it. "I received a job offer a while ago and have spent a lot of time thinking about it. I'll be taking it, I decided, even if that means I'll never finish my apprenticeship."

Tsunade felt the tears gather in her eyes but did not let them fall quite yet. Her heart, still fragile, cracked just a bit more but at the same time she could feel it swell with something she had never adequately expressed to the girl- pride.

She was growing up, becoming her own woman, and living her life as she wanted to.

The Slug Sage was certain the majority of tears she was holding back were from happiness.

Shizune deserved this, that was certain.

"Oh, Shizune." She gave a watery, bittersweet smile. "You never wanted to be a Sage- you completed all your medical training years ago." The girl never believed it, but she really was as good as Tsunade herself. All she lacked was confidence and experience and those would both come with time. Working this new job by herself, too, would probably help her grow as a medic.

Tsunade continued when Shizune gave her a surprised look.

"All you need is more experience and confidence in yourself, neither of which I can teach you. I know it might not mean much, in fact it might be more curse than boon, but if this is what you want go with my blessing." She opened her arms as she finished, her captured tears escaping to trail down her face, and Shizune- the daughter she'd never had- wasted no time in burring herself in her teacher's embrace.

"Master, I-"

"Shh, it's okay, Shizune. This will be good for you and if you ever need help I'm here for you, even if I'm not the woman I once was."

"No," Agreed Shizune as she peered up at the woman who was all but her mother. "You're getting better than the woman I knew."

---

"...And with the recent invasion reminding me of my age, I feel there is no more appropriate time to announce my chosen successor. I give you the man who will become the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, my son, Sarutobi Asuma!"

Standing on a nearby building, Naruto turned to one of the Wolves guarding him as he witnesses the Hokage's village-wide announcement.

"Inform Orochimaru that she and her team will need to make their departure immediately, I don't want to risk their presence during this...transition. Ensure our Wolves have been deployed to Kiri, too, we need to avoid as much attention upon ourselves as possible."

Hopefully any movement in the next few days would be seen as the Wolves returning to Nami after being gathered to help crush the invasion. He made a mental note to ensure they all detoured through Nami on their way to their actual destinations. They probably already planned on it- they were professionals, after all- but it never hurt to make sure something hadn't been overlooked.

"Of course, Naruto-sama." With a bow to his Alpha and a nod to his packmates, he departed to ensure Tsukiyomi's will was carried out.

Hopefully things didn't change too much, but Naruto wasn't counting on it. Asuma was not a tired old man with too much sentimentality after a lifetime of loss, he was bound to start off suspicious of the Wolves regardless of his father's friendship with the Uzumaki.

Best to not give him anything to be overly suspicious of.

---

Nervous was not a suitable description for what she was currently feeling and she considered, not for the first time, just giving it up and accepting her mistakes.

That would mean turning around and returning to an empty, lonely apartment and lately she couldn't stand it. She had become far too comfortable around the Wolves and all of Naruto's various allies.

She supposed she could spend some more time with Kurenai and mope about the fact that they had both failed him to some degree, but that really didn't sound like a fun time to her. She was sure Kurenai would rather not dwell on that, either, especially when she was doing better with the young man.

She didn't spend as much time with him ever since Anko had found herself unwelcome among the wolves, but Kurenai was certainly in better graces than herself. Who knows, maybe someday soon Kurenai would be as comfortable around Naruto as she had apparently been around the Yondaime Hokage.

Something about that thought bugged her, telling her she was missing something obvious, but she ignored it for the time being. What mattered at the moment was Naruto and fixing her relationship with him.

And Kurenai. It was much easier for the Genjutsu mistress to be around him with Anko present. So, in a way, this was also for Kurenai.

Actually, thinking that really did help harden her resolve. It wasn't just about her and it wasn't just about the young man who probably didn't need her. Kurenai was counting on her to make things right.

Kurenai was like a sister to her, but Anko tried not to think of how strange that made things. Because if Kurenai saw Anko as a sister and Naruto as a brother, and Anko say Kurenai as a sister, did that mean she was supposed to see Naruto as a brother?

She tried to see it, but she really couldn't. An older brother made more sense than a younger, but she was probably more inclined to call him uncle than brother. Hell, even...

Anko paused mid-step, having to take a moment to process her own thought.

She could actually picture him, very easily, as a father. Immediately she was torn between wondering what was wrong with her and finding it to be one of the most amusing thoughts she had ever had.

She'd have to keep that one in mind to tease him with later, she ultimately decided. Hmm, 'Tou-san' didn't really have the effect she wanted. Maybe something like Tou-kun? She was reasonably certain that no-one had ever butchered the language in that specific manner but that was okay, she could be the first.

The fact that there was probably a term for exactly what she wanted to convey was inconsequential. Anko-speech was better than anything a bunch of ancient windbags could have come up with.

'Now,' She thought. 'Let's go make up with Tou-kun.'

No wonder she had the friends she did, there was definitely something wrong with her.

---

It was strange for the apartment to be so empty he thought as he sat in his office. Not much had changed save the departure of four guests but even so he could feel the lack of their presence.

Strange, considering he only really interacted with two of them.

Then again, with that moron Zaku's idiocy, it was hard not to notice his presence. He would certainly not be missing that failure but the lack of the others just seemed to make the apartment feel less lived in.

Which was odd, considering the amount of time he spent here. He knew he was surrounded by Wolves, too, but when they were on duty they weren't the best of company.

Perhaps part of it was that Mikoto was gone too, having slipped out during Hiruzen's announcement. Which was good, because the scrutiny the Wolves might soon be under did not need encouragement in the form of an Uchiha matriarch who should have been dead.

Still, it was going to take a few days to get used to be alone- or at least as alone as one could be when surrounded by guards.

Strangely enough the paperwork seems to have lessened after the invasion. He knew it wasn't because Mai was hording it all to herself- the Wolves still answered to him first and he had them check. Twice.- so it must mean that there was simply less paperwork after the invasion than before.

Which was odd, but he supposed he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Even without the regular paperwork he had plenty to work on. He should be receiving reports from the initial force sent to Kirigakure soon enough and he needed to find a way to somehow become involved with Yuki no Kuni so he could learn more about those trains of theirs they guarded jealously.

He wasn't fool enough to attempt stealing the secrets outright and risk alienating one of the most advanced countries of the elemental nations.

Well, not initially. Trains weren't that important at the moment, but if everything else failed he'd consider it.

He was just really interested in those trains, the possibilities were fantastic.

Actually, he should probably be more focused on the fact that a group of Rasa's loyal Suna Shinobi and a host of Kaze no Kuni civilians were expected in Nami any day now. That needed to be sorted out before he started laying down any tracks for other projects.

Come to think about it, he wasn't certain if all of Nami's projects had finished yet. He was sure he had signed of on things for his country recently, but with the amount of papers that crossed his desk- including many that Mai would be of the opinion shouldn't- he was having trouble recalling what they said.

A rather big failing on his part as a Daimyo, if he was honest. That was a job that deserved far more focus than he was currently sparing it.

"I'm going to need all the filed reports from Nami again." He said, still mostly lost in thought but aware that one of the Wolves in the room left to retrieve them for him. Just like he needed to be less of a Shinobi and more of a Commander, now he needed to be less of a Commander and more of the Daimyo he was.

Arrangements would need to be made to move more control of the Wolves to Mai and Sai. He briefly considered moving it completely to Sai's control so it was one less thing Mai had to be directly responsible for, but the young man was still absolute crap at budgeting and other administrative duties.

He would either need more coaching in those skills or he'd need his own personal Mai- he couldn't have the real one because she was Naruto's- to assist him. For now, however, there was little choice but to split the responsibilities between the two.

Hopefully not for long, he was fairly certain he was going to need her as he tried to run a country.

A knock at the door announced the return of his Wolf, but oddly enough he wasn't alone. Not that there weren't people who visited him- or that he needed to visit, the two Hyuuga sisters coming to mind- but he certainly wasn't expecting anyone soon.

He was even more surprised by the identity of his guest and as the other Wolves in the room moved from lounging about to standing ready to defend their god he stood to greet them.

"Ah, Anko, what a pleasant surprise. I had not expected you to return." She winced slightly at his words, almost guiltily, but shot him a somewhat sheepish grin all the same.

"Heh, yeah." She stopped before his desk, her shoulders coming up in a half-shrug. "Surprise?"

A fond smile twitched over Naruto's lips, he really did enjoy her company and her absence had most certainly been noticed. He did have to note that his productivity had probably gone up with her away, though.

"It's good to see you again, Anko." He gestured to a chair before his desk as he returned to his seat. "Please, make yourself comfortable-." Before he had a chance to finish she had jumped onto his desk very much like her former master.

Naruto had to wonder if this is what Orochimaru's mannerisms would have been if they had been born female or if Orochimaru based their female self after his- er, her- former apprentice.

An amused smile tugged at his lips which earned him a more confident grin from the snake summoner.

"So," Naruto leaned back comfortably in his chair. "What brings you here?"

"What, I can't visit my favorite Gennin?" Anko gave a very Anko pout- Anko being both the best noun and best adjective as far as she was concerned- that brought a great lightness to his chest. He simply couldn't help be cheered up by even the simplest of Anko's antics.

"Of course you can, Anko, I just figured you were here because you needed something."

She looked down slightly and Naruto could just barely make out her next words.

"Just you."

"I'm sorry Anko, what was that?" he could see her body tense and relax as she tried and failed to steel her resolve. In the end she turned to face him again almost meekly, which was very un-Anko for the most Anko person to ever exist.

"I-I missed you, Naruto." As happy as it made him to hear that, those words also brought with them a heavy load of guilt. She may have declined his offer for the Wolves, but surely he should have been able to make some time to spend with her as Naruto, right?

One of his hands reached across the desk to squeeze one of hers comfortingly. He hoped his smile was warm and welcoming, but he was sure it was more sad than anything.

"I missed you too, Anko, I'm sorry I didn't make any time for you." He didn't get much further than that before Anko recognized where his thoughts would be going with this. With a hop she launched herself from the desk and into his lap, smacking him over the head even as he winced from the sudden impact of a larger body.

"Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this, Naruto, I was perfectly capable of dropping in to visit at any time and you've been busy." She scolded. A moment later she swatted him again. "And that was for wincing when you caught me."

His smile was small but genuine. "Suppose I needed that Anko, thanks." A beaming smile was his response.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll always be around to knock some sense into you." She attempted to curl into him but, unable to get comfortable in the chair, she opted instead to lift him from it and steal his place. It was mere moments later that the Daimyo of Nami no Kuni found himself dragged onto her lap, her fingers running through his crimson hair.

Both were aware of the snickering Wolves in the room, but they couldn't really bring themselves to care.

They sat like that in silence for a few minutes before Anko broke the silence.

"Say, Naruto?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember when you asked me about working with Orochimaru?" She asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well, I've been thinking." Anko paused briefly, using their current seating arrangement to strengthen her resolve. "I can't promise anything, but I'd be willing to give it a try."

Naruto blinked in surprise before looking up to see she was avoiding his gaze as she awaited some sort of reaction.

"Really?" It had been a longshot when he first proposed it, he had never expected that she might revisit the subject.

"Yeah, really." He could feel the soft smile in her voice. "For you." As happy as it made him to hear this, a frown still crossed his face.

"You know what's being offered, don't you?" He was referring to a position within the Wolves, serving him as they did. In fact, if she went through with this she would be the first outsider brought fully into the pack. Hana had been honorarily accepted, but it wasn't the same as being marked. That was, after Orochimaru, Naruto's biggest concern about the offer.

He had initially gained her friendship after removing someone's mark from her, he wasn't confident that she'd be willing to be marked again.

"I have a pretty good idea." And she did, she knew it was a position serving him and working very closely to the Wolves and her former teacher Orochimaru. What her official status would be she wasn't too clear on, but she figured that would be explained as it became relevant.

"Are you aware that you'd be marked with a seal again?" That stopped her short. She hadn't even considered that, but it was a fairly common practice. Orochimaru marked others to control them and increase their power, which also made it easier for him to take over their bodies should it be necessary.

Danzo, the old war hawk, used it to ensure loyalty and silence from all his operatives. It was kind of expected that anyone dealing with secrets would make use of seals not because they doubted their operatives, but because there was no valid reason to not take such a precaution.

Of course those working for Naruto, the one who managed to undo her own Ten no Juin in moments, would involve a seal.

She considered his words for a few minutes, her fingers still running through his hair, before she spoke again. "It's your seal though, right?"

"It is."

This was it, her chance to decide her future with Naruto and his strange family. Knowing what was at stake, it wasn't a hard decision for her to make. Besides, if she had to trust anyone to have power over her, it would be Naruto.

"Then it's fine," She declared finally. "I'll wear your seal with pride."

He caught one of her hands between his own, temporarily halting her ministrations, before looking her in the eye with a smile,.

"Then let me be the first to welcome you into the pack, Anko-chan."

---

Rasa stared at the boat- ship, the captain had vehemently corrected several times now- and wondered if it was too late to reconsider. There were no issues he could see, though he was admittedly the last person to know anything about naval travel or vessel worthiness, but the fact that this was something arranged by Orochimaru still gave him pause.

An Orochimaru so devoted to that godchild of theirs that they didn't hesitate to throw away months- and possibly years before they had contacted Suna- of planning just because it may have upset them.

Words could not possibly convey how horrifying that idea was, and that wasn't even considering the kind of might said godchild would have at their fingertips. A single command would see armies raised and wars ignited, but that was nothing. When dealing with someone as unstable as Orochimaru something as simple as an errant comment would have them committing the greatest of atrocities in an effort to bring to bear that godchild's desires- even if that hadn't actually been something they wanted.

There were, after all, worse things than simple war and death.

And Orochimaru was a master at them.

Still, perhaps he was looking at it too negatively. There was a chance that introducing another element- the godchild- might serve to stabilize the dangerously unpredictable mixture that was the Snake Sannin.

He could only pray.

It did seem like Orochimaru was a bit more grounded the last time he had met them, now that he thought about it. He just hopped that having the godchild as an anchor didn't backfire horribly. He couldn't even contemplate the horrors that would be unleashed upon the world by Orochimaru should anything happen to them.

None of that was a real issue at the moment, however, the problem was the boat- ship, he corrected himself as he recalled the three hour lecture the captain had already given him the last time he called it a boat aloud- and the fact that Rasa really didn't want to be on it.

The fact that Orochimaru chartered it was irrelevant, the destination was irrelevant, and the fact that he was leaving Kaze no Kuni was completely irrelevant.

Rasa simply did not like the water.

Okay, maybe that was an understatement.

Hydrophobia was only one of the reasons he had stayed safely within the confines of his desert paradise.

He supposed he'd have to overcome that as his people settled into Nami no Kuni which, unfortunately, possessed an abundance of the accursed liquid.

He'd much rather spend his time in Konoha where things were nice and warm most of the year, even if it wasn't' filled with his beloved sand.

Kabuto, still stuck in Nami no Kuni much to his ire, would be discovered to be a kindred spirit. The two were bound to spend much time in one of Nami's bars lamenting the hydration and getting absolutely sloshed.

It'd probably be good for the two of them to have a drinking buddy.

---

"No, we're not lost." She declared, one hand on her hip and the other held firmly in her youngest brother's. The middle sibling shook his head.

"Well, no, because I know where we are." He corrected. "We're just going the wrong way."

Temari shot him a glare.

"I'm the oldest here and I'm certain we're going the right way."

"Age has nothing to do with it when you spent our geography lessons doodling 'Temari, Goddess of Wind' in your notebook." Was Kankurō's counter.

Temari flushed a rather fetching red.

"Well, I have Gaara and that makes me right."

Kankurō raised a hand to object before stopping short. She was absolutely right, much to his ire. It didn't matter much if you were right or wrong when you had Gaara because objecting would be rather foolish.

And pretty suicidal.

Actually, mostly suicidal.

Kankurō was many things- most of which he was only considered such by himself- but suicidal was not one of them. He'd have purposely angered Gaara long ago if he was, it was too easy and reliable a method to have been overlooked.

"That's- well, that's a fair point I guess. Lead on." She looked very happy that he had surrendered so easily, but she hadn't left him much of a choice when she immediately jumped to the big guns.

That might have been the point.

Before Temari could get them anymore lost, however, they were joined by a company of familiar masks.

Both groups seemed equally confused by the presence of the other but Kankurō, having spent the last month dealing with Konoha insanity and having more or less surrendered to the fact that it has irrevocably tainted his siblings wasn't even fazed at this point.

"Yo, Wolf, we're trying to meet up with your base in Nami no Kuni, which direction should we head?"

The Wolf paused for only a second before raising their hand and pointing them in the right direction- the exact direction Kankurō had said it was.

He tried not to seem too smug about being right.

He was also very careful not to consider why there were Wolves here or where they might be going.

The less involved he was the better. One of the Subaku siblings needed to stay sane, after all.

---

Gaara, Temari, and the Wolves watched in silence as Kankurō turned and immediately started in the direction the Wolf pointed, a smug smile in place despite the fact that he didn't actually want to be going to Nami no Kuni in the first place.

His puppet, once a state of the art piece of weaponry and now reduced to a glorified beast of burden, followed dutifully behind him. It was a testament to his skill that he could make this relatively new variation of his puppet walk in such a realistic manner without even looking at it.

A few moments later, as he started to disappear from their sight, Gaara tugged on his sister's hand before heading after him.

The Wolves shared a look, wondering what they should do, before one of them spoke up.

"Er, did you guys need an escort?" The Wolves were well aware from their time in Konoha that two of these three were directly associated with Tsukiyomi.

Temari, however, just waved them off as Gaara continued to pull her towards their middle sibling.

"It's fine!" She called out. "We've got Gaara!"

The Wolves shared another look and a mutual shrug.

Well, if that was taken care of they'd just proceed as instructed. Now if only all complications solved themselves so easily.

---

"...And that's how I escaped Ta no Kuni after assassinating the Daimyo with a watermelon, three silk scarves, a half-drowned Koi, and a very confused Geisha I borrowed a Kimono from."

Jiraiya finished his grand tale with a grin, leaning back into his seat and reaching for the Sake that had been poured for him already. Both he and Naruko did their best to ignore the Wolves stationed about the room acting as both security and servants.

It was an odd mix.

"Wait," Questioned Naruko. "You escaped Ta no Kuni using those or you assassinated the Daimyo with them?"

"Yes!" Laughed Jiraiya before the realization struck him. "Hey, wait a minute, I just told you the full story!" When a sheepish look crossed her face he pressed the attack, accusing her of a most heinous crime. "You weren't paying any attention, were you?!" He had leaned forward at this point, his finger jabbing angrily in her direction.

"Ehe, maybe?"

"Gah!" He shot back into his seat holding his chest dramatically. "Oh, woe is me! The Great Jiraiya surrenders his precious time to impart valuable lessons upon the next generation of Shinobi and they don't even pay heed to his words!"

"Would those 'Valuable Lessons' be before or after you threw an octopus at the Princess of Ta no Kuni screaming about- and I quote- 'Tentacle Love Attack!' ?" Naruto chimed in from his own chair, not looking up from the latest folder to be handed to him by his Wolves.

Both Jiraiya and Naruko tried to pretend they weren't watching every time a Wolf entered the room to whisper in his ear and hand him a new manila folder full of papers. Most of them were just briefly glanced at before being added to a pile on a side table but there were a few that the young man had immediately scrawled something down upon and returned directly to the Wolf who brought it.

It was worth noting both that it wasn't the same Wolf bringing in the papers each time and that only one of them was having any success in pretending not to watch.

It shouldn't be any surprise that it was the Master Spy.

Of course, as they were a Master Spy everyone in the room already assumed they were paying close attention to everything and so pretending otherwise was kind of pointless.

"Well, erm, that was a perfectly valid distraction." The elderly- er, well lived, sage tried to defend his actions.

Naruto rose a brow in response, lifting his head to meet Jiraiya's gaze blankly.

"You utterly failed to distract anybody seeing as your actions drew all attention to yourself."

"Exactly, everyone was distracted by me!"

The blank stare remained decidedly unamused.

"That is the weakest defense I've ever heard, and I'm well-versed in Anko-Logic." Jiraiya was somewhere between being proud of Naruto for spending time with a scantily clad older woman, being sympathetic that someone had to experience Anko-Logic to the point they were used to it, and being embarrassed at having chosen such a poor justification for one of his many, many mishaps over the years. "Everyone here is well aware that you did that mission solo, so there was absolutely nothing to be gained by distracting people with yourself. It defeats the entire purpose of you employing a distraction in the first place."

"Ah, heh, Suppose so." Jiraiya agreed with a sheepish chuckle. "Still a good lesson though, isn't it? Teaches you to be careful with your plans lest they backfire- or something."

"Seeing as I pointed it out, I'm going to go ahead and say people probably don't require such a lesson."

It was Jiraiya's turn to give him a blank look, gesturing to the Wolves around them, the stack of manila folders on the small table by Naruto's chair, and the Wolf currently serving Naruko another cup of tea.

"Uh-huh, and you would consider yourself to be an average Gennin?"

Naruto blinked in surprise, not having considered that angle, before he responded with a shrug.

"Average enough, I suppose." Technically not wrong, he was a pretty average Shinobi. He simply also happened to be a few things other than a Gennin of Konohagakure no Sato, such as the Daimyo of Nami no Kuni. "I'm certainly nothing extraordinary."

Both Jiraiya and Naruko shot him a slight glare at that declaration and were caught only slightly off-guard when the Wolves around the room gave soft growls of displeasure.

Obviously, Naruto was the only one here who even remotely thought such.

That, too, seemed to catch him by surprise, almost as if he hadn't expected the present company to have such high opinions of him.

Which, perhaps was understandable with Jiraiya and his sister as they had not spent much time together, but was a major oversight when it came to the Wolves. His divinity had initially been a joke, but it seemed to be not a small number of the Wolves who honestly believed in it.

That was concerning, actually, he already had one cult in his hands, he didn't need to be creating another one out of his soldiers.

Of course, he couldn't really call them his soldiers either, it just felt wrong.

They were his Wolves and nothing was going to change that.

He would have to consider the merits of calling them 'pups' or something similar. It seemed to work well enough for Tsume.

Jiraiya seemed amused by the Wolves show of support- though it made him even more suspicious of Naruto's relation with them- and Naruko seemed slightly smug that the Wolves had sided with them in support of her brother against her brother.

Really, everyone here except Naruto put him above everyone else in the room. Judging by the fact that he was still going over papers while this was going on made it pretty clear who he put first.

Not surprising, really, the Wolves- his children- were a major part of his life and had been for years now.

He just needed to learn to put them first in a different way, because the way things were currently going just wasn't cutting it.

"Well, now that we've cleared that up." Grinned Jiraiya. "I suppose we'll call it a day. I've still got a lot of research to catch up on."

Naturally, that gained both Naruko's attention and ire. "Just call it peeping, you old letch!" Everyone present was pretty sure that if she wasn't sitting at the moment she would have kicked him in the shin. The fact that she had just picked up her tea, too, probably helped.

"Hehe, regardless of what we want to call it, I've work to do." He continued grinning like a fool up until Naruko set her cup down and made to get out of her chair. The smile dropped immediately. "Uh, I'll, ah, see you later Naruto. I've got to go."

He was off as if a woman was telling him he was the father. It was actually rather surprising to many to learn that there had never been a woman to claim to carry his child. Mainly because he already knew and they were smart enough to keep it quiet.

He took very good care of his children, thank you, even if he wasn't always there for them.

Accident happen, after all, and with the number of times he had tempted fate over the last few decades it shouldn't come at any surprise that he had a dozen or two children scattered around the Elemental Nations.

Still, he fled from an angry Naruko as one might imagine a young Jiraiya would flee from a woman he had accidentally knocked up.

It was easy enough to picture.

Naruko followed after him, nearly at the same speed, and those that watched were pretty sure Jiraiya was keeping his speed just enough to remain out of her reach without completely outclassing her as a Sannin inevitably could.

And while she didn't stop at any point in her pursuit of the old pervert, she did call back a farewell as she ran.

"Bye Naruto-nii, I'll see you next week!"

His lazy wave was seen only by his Wolves.

Adding more people and obligations to his life was probably a bad idea, but what's the worst that could happen spending time with his estranged sister and great god-uncle?

The stories served as an amusing break, too.

---

Well now, it certainly had been a while since the whole family had sat down to dinner. Even before Hana had left for Nami no Kuni conflicting schedules usually meant any member of the family would perhaps share a meal with a single other member.

Sometimes that meant you would have one meal yourself- typically running out the door late- and then you'd have lunch with one member of the household and dinner with the other.

Of course, even that was pretty inconsistent. Inuzuka were not known for their planning.

Shit just kind of happened, and that's the way they liked it.

So, for the three of them to be sitting together at the dinner table was quite a noteworthy occurrence. In fact, it was more than just the three of them, as some of Hana's Wolf guards were acting as servers and a few of the other Inuzuka clansmen were in the kitchen cooking the meal to celibate Hana's visit home.

Fortunately the Wolves had enough sense to remove their masks and Kiba was oblivious enough to not notice anything.

He was, however, not so oblivious that he had not noticed the absence of his sister- or the way the clan celebrated her return- even if he had in fact been oblivious enough to have absolutely no idea where she had been.

"So, Nee-chan, you finally found a man to run away with and you can't even drag him back with you for a visit." It was pretty common for him to make comments about her being single, even though the thought of her having a boyfriend or, gods forbid, a husband seemed beyond strange to him.

It would be almost as bad as when he learned his mother was seeing someone regularly.

In fact, he was pretty sure she still was and that it was the same person. He had to wonder what might come out of that. Regardless of the results, however, he wasn't calling anyone else 'dad'.

"No, I haven't- Actually." She paused, tilting her head in contemplation as Kiba dropped his utensils. "I did meet a young man over in Nami. He'll need some work, but I guess I might give it a shot." Sai was far from the worst choice she could make if she wanted to try for a relationship, though the same could be said for Tsukiyomi himself.

Mai, however, had dibs on him already. Wait, Mai and Sai were siblings, weren't they? So if Mai ended up with Tsukiyomi and she ended up with Sai that would make her and Tsukiyomi siblings too, wouldn't it?

What a strange family that would make.

Then again, it already was a strange family that surrounded Tsukiyomi. She knew that already.

And she was a part of it.

There was a warm feeling in her chest at that thought, a sense of belonging and warm security that being part of a pack was all about. She really was quite pleased the two packs had come together. Perhaps it wasn't to the extent that it could, but they could get there with time.

There was no rush in joining the two more firmly. She would, however, like to see it within the next two years or so. That should be plenty of time for them to get used to each other.

They didn't have to get along too well, really, siblings fought all the time.

It was just fortunate that the Inuzuka and the Wolves of Nami seemed to get on pretty well.

"Wait, you actually-" Kiba seemed somewhere between disbelieving, nauseousness , and being a bit upset. Whether that was because she was seeing someone or because he was only now hearing about it she couldn't quite tell.

"Well, not really, but they have some potential I suppose." She gave a shrug. "I'm already over there, so why not?"

Tsume let out a bark of laughter. "Come on, then!" The Inuzuka matriarch gave a wide grin. "Let's hear all about this 'potential'."

Hana raised a brow challengingly. "Oh? Nothing's happened on my end yet, how about we hear a bit about your 'potential' first?"

Tsume actually choked on her laughter, sputtering and glaring up at her daughter upon recovery.

"How did you learn about that?" A dry look was her response.

"You were on a date with them when I met the girls before I left. You weren't exactly hiding it."

"Erm." Her daughter was completely right, unfortunately, she had been pretty sloppy if secrecy was her goal. It hadn't been, not really, but it certainly wasn't something she was aiming to broadcast anytime soon. "Well, it's not all personal." She tried to claim.

"I met them through the- erm," She shot a quick glance to her somehow still oblivious son. How he had no idea they were working with the Wolves when there was an entire clan meeting on the subject she didn't know. She was absolutely positive he had been in attendance for it. "-Our allies." She settled on. She'd let him remain uninvolved for the time being. No real point in dragging him into this if he had somehow managed to avoid it for this long.

"They're my primary contact within the group, so we just tend to spend a lot of time together." Not wrong at all, a little misleading but not incorrect. She just hoped that-

"And how much of that time together has anything to do with our relationship to our allies?"

Annnnnd she had caught it. Sometimes Tsume thought she raised her daughter too well, most other Inuzuka wouldn't have seen through that. Perhaps not a great compliment for her clan, but they weren't thinkers and they liked themselves just the way they were.

"Uh, well, it's all spent er, improving relationships...?" Hana leaned forward at that, elbows on the table and chin cradled within her hands.

"Oh-ho? Personal or professional?"

Damn, she caught that one too.

"Well..." Before she could dig herself a deeper hole, Hana was kind enough to start shoveling on the dirt.

"How is Mai, anyway? Her brother hasn't heard much from her recently because whenever she's not working she's ah, 'improving relationships' as you say."

Tsume knew of Sai, Mai's brother, because he had come up in conversation a few times, but she had not heard anything of him knowing her daughter. Which, actually, was probably in part her own fault. She already knew Mai's time was rather limited and she had pretty much monopolized all of the young woman's free time.

Perhaps she needed more friends so she wasn't always going to Mai for company.

If Kushina wasn't having issues with her son, someone very closely connected with the Wolves, she'd try to resuscitate that friendship, but that wasn't really an option now. Mikoto, gods watch over her soul, was no longer with them after her son lost his mind and slaughtered the clan, so the only friends Tsume really had were lost to her.

Where would a clan head even make friends? Among the other clan heads? At some sort of social function? Wait, yeah, that last one was likely. She just never attended. She'd probably have to fix that.

"Oh, you uh, know Sai?"

"Mmmhmm, that would be the potential you asked about."

Hold on a second.

Tsume blinked once, twice, and a sudden feeling of nausea overcame her as she tried to wrap her head around what some of these relationships might mean. If they were to consider her with Mai, that would make her, in a way, the step-parent of her children. Sai, Mai's brother, would then be their step-uncle (maybe just uncle) but Hana was thinking about getting with her uncle?

If you reversed things, however, her daughter would get with Sai making him a son in law. Did that then make Mai a daughter in law?

There was wrongness to the thought that hadn't even touched upon the subject of age yet. Tsume was aware that Mai was somewhere between the age of her children. She was, quite literally, old enough to be her mother.

She would need to sit down and talk to her soon, because this needed to be sorted out if they were going to continue as they had been.

Tsume gave her daughter a serious look that caught her off guard.

"Have you considered at all what that would mean?" Asked the matriarch.

"Well, yeah." Hana wondered if there was something she was missing. "If I'm with Sai then Mai is a sister in law and Tsuki-" She paused. Wait, who was Mai actually with? Her brows furrowed and a thoughtful frown crossed her lips.

Sai had mentioned Mai's relationship with Tsukiyomi and the Wolves were aware of it too, but Mai and her mother seemed to be a thing too. Was this a love triangle or an actual three-way relationship? Things were complicated enough with just single relationships, but now it was beginning to look like a massive clusterfuck.

"Erm-" She turned to her mother, whose thoughts seemed to have gone the same direction. Hana was not prepared for how far down that path her mothers' thoughts had gone.

"You know, I'm pretty sure she's close to Naruto, too."

"Naruto?" Hana had heard of him before, in fact she had heard quite a bit right before she left for Nami. Almost without conscious thought she shared what she did know. "But I thought the girls were interested in him." By 'the girls' she was actually referring to her entire group of friends now that she thought about it, which was weird. She didn't' think Yugao was interested in him like that but she was pretty sure the other two were. "Last I heard he was sharing a bed with Anko and Yugao was helping him wash."

Oh, probably shouldn't have added that last bit. Yugao wasn't a suspect. Yet.

Tsume stared at her, processing that for a moment before becoming over one of the undercover Wolves who was trying desperately not to show their amusement.

They were failing miserably. After all, who were they to try to understand the ways of Tsukiyomi?

"Get me some sake, would you? I'm going to need it." They gave a silent bow and departed, their fellows watching with mirth dancing in their eyes.

Of course they would be amused, they knew how big the clusterfuck actually was seeing as both Tsukiyomi and Naruto were one in the same.

Strange family didn't even come close to describing it.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" The injection of a third voice had the Inuzuka women turning to the youngest of the family. Kiba looked beyond confused and the two women flushed realizing what they had been speaking about in front of him.

"The dude you've been seeing is really a chick?"

"Uh, yeah?" She had not been aware he knew anything about it. Perhaps he wasn't completely oblivious.

"Oh." He processed that for a moment before relaxing in his seat. "Okay then, as long as I don't have to call them 'dad'." Kiba returned to his food, completely unconcerned.

A small smirk tugged at Hana's lips. If any of this actually happened he'd be worrying about a lot more roles than just 'dad'. She shared an amused look with her mother as they simultaneously agreed to visit this later in a more private setting.

Or maybe they'd just invite everyone over to try ironing things out.

That was a lot of people actually, maybe just Mai.

She seemed to be involved with just about everyone, after all.

---

Mai paused at her desk, paperwork half finished. She had the strangest feeling someone had just called her a slut.

She wasn't.

Was she?

Turning to the Wolves in the room with her she voiced that exact question.

"Am I a slut?"

They were all smart enough to pretend not to hear the question.

---

"So, how was it?" She had planned on waiting until after the meal to bring it up, but Kushina found her curiosity getting the best of her.

Naruko looked up from her food, swallowing her last mouthful and giving her mother a small smile. "It was fun, I guess. Jiraiya-jiji told some pretty ridiculous stories, but I'm not sure he was making them up." The old sage had been less than pleased that Naruko had started referring to him in the same way her mother did.

Kushina had been insufferably smug about it.

"Naruto and I had tea and Jiraiya-jiji had some sake and we just kind of sat around for an hour or so, but I think everything went pretty well."

"Oh?" Kushina leaned over the table. "Did you talk with Naruto much?"

"Er, not really. It was more indirect, as we made comments on whatever Jiraiya-jiji was telling us."

The Uzumaki matriarch frowned briefly, but it was quickly wiped away. Both of her children had been together without issue and that's' what she needed to focus on.

There hadn't been too many issues when she met with him, either. Well, not from being in each other's company at least. Some of the decisions she had made were brought up and she said some things that, upon reflection, made the meeting much more uncomfortable than it shouldn't have.

Nevertheless, he had seemed perfectly fine sitting at the table with her. It was better than some alternatives, she supposed, as being seen as Kushina was better than as an enemy but it was still a far cry from Kaa-san.

She might never again be Kaa-san to him, she knew, but she stilled hoped that one day it might happen.

And if not?

Well, maybe she'd at least be able to get him to his Naruko as his sister again. It was a more achievable goal, too, seeing as she had been more or less dragged along on the trip. It would be much easier for him to resolve any bad feelings he might have for her than for the woman who had seemingly abandoned him.

If that was the best she could get, well, shed' take it. It might not be the same family coming together, but at least the Uzumaki wouldn't be completely divided.

"Well," She finally spoke. "Perhaps with more time you two will be back to regular conversations."

Naruko seemed to catch onto where her mother's thought had been going and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sure we'll be talking soon enough, Kaa-san, and I'll be sure to invite him over to the compound." Her mother was still trying to insert herself into her son's life, but this was a lot less intrusive than some of her earlier attempts. And if she really had learned her lesson and was toning it down then Naruko didn't see any problem in lending a hand at establishing some sort of rapport between the two of them again.

She still didn't know if they'd' all be a family again, but they could at least be friends.

Though, if Naruko was perfectly honest, she thought they had a far better chance as his aunt and cousin. Close, but not too close.

She'd save that suggestion for later.

---

Blackened skin cracked as it wept crimson tears. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke did his best to work through it.

'One, two, three,' He would not be weak again, he would not surrender himself and rely upon the damned Ten no Juin Most importantly, he would never have to relieve someone of the suffering he had caused. 'Four, five, six'.

Maybe he should rethink his Shinobi career and settle on something else. He did have quite a bit of property to his name and the Uchiha coffers hadn't dried up quite yet. There hadn't been so much as a sighting of Itachi in over two years- he knew, much of the clan coffers had gone to keeping an eye out for the bastard- so who knows if he was even still alive.

Bringing back the Uchiha really should have been his first priority, Itachi be damned.

Wasn't going to be easy, though. With himself as the only other Uchiha he was going to have to get a lot of help from a really good medical team as he tried to get the Uchiha clan to a point where it could continue to grow unaided.

Thank the gods that Uchiha blood tended to breed true, even if the Sharingan didn't always activate. Otherwise he'd never be able to get a population of genetically diverse Uchiha to bring the clan back properly.

Chakra mutations were what typically lead to clans and now it would be the only thing to keep his from dying out.

'Seven, eight, nine.' He ignored the blood that spilled onto the floor with every pushup. With all the blood that already stained the wooden floors of the Uchiha homes, what was a bit more? 'Ten, eleven, twelve.'

Hopefully if he managed to exhaust himself he wouldn't have any dreams tonight.

He couldn't stand to see her face while he was sleeping.

He already saw it too much while he was awake.

---

She stalked through ANBU headquarters violently, members both junior and senior scrambling to get out of her way before she decided it was easier to just cut them down. Konha's Crimson Moonflower might have been a recent title, but it was far from inaccurate and many of her comrades had borne witness to the bloody path she had torn through the invading Suna Shinobi.

They were not all that keen to experience it first hand, thank you.

And she had more important things to worry about than the fact that people were getting out of her way .

Things like her empty home, cold bed, and the fuckers who had taken her Hayate away. Suna had already paid massively, she had personally made sure of it, and she was firmly supporting those that wanted to return the favor and go after the rats who had scurried off to their desert, but they were not the only ones she held responsible.

For while it was true that Suna Shinobi were the ones to perform the act, they should have never been given the chance.

Regular Konoha forces couldn't have moved around too much in the days before the invasion without drawing attention to themselves and tipping of Suna, but there was a well known group within Konoha that answered only to the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni.

The Wolves, who obviously knew about it ahead of time, had decided they had better things to do than protect the village they made their home in.

And because of it Hayate was dead.

She could not forgive such a deliberate failing on their part.

A part of her, some small part deep within her, brought up the fact that Suna, the main culprit, was temporarily out of reach and the Wolves, who were only vaguely associated with this tragedy, were simply a target because they were both close and completely unassociated with he late lover.

She squashed that part mercilessly.

It certainly did not help that she knew someone with close ties to them, someone she had considered a good friend despite his age. With a heart already laden with grief, the imagined betrayal of that friend was simply too much for her to handle.

Someone would have to pay, and there was only one target close enough for her blades to cut.

Whatever she had to do, the Wolves were going to suffer.

Even if it took her last breath to make it happen.

---

It was an odd to realize she no longer felt as comfortable in her own base as she used to. The dark, eerie atmosphere used to be something she could enjoy but now it just felt empty. Then again, maybe that's just because she was no longer in the company of her crimson prince.

It might also be because the Wolves, ever dedicated, had gone to great lengths to ensure Naruto would be as comfortable as he possibly could. Their efforts were evident all throughout the sprawling apartment the young Daimyo called home.

Orochimaru's thoughts on her own living arrangements took a sudden detour at that odd notion. A Daimyo living in an apartment? That was absurd, regardless of how nice it was. A grand house was the absolute minimum for someone of such stature, but what he really needed was a palace of some sort.

A small smile crossed her lips, she had finally come up with another gift suitable for her beloved prince.

Before she could begin planning it out or have anyone else get started on it for her, however, she was distracted by four figures entering her office. Well, not her office, that was back at her main base, but there were offices for her use in each of her bases in case she should visit.

Scratching down the idea on a scrap of paper on the desk before she could loose it, she turned her attention to those she had called earlier. Interrupting any thoughts involving Naruto would usually be grounds for punishment, regardless of the fact that she had called for them, but she needed these four for a very important task soon and didn't have time to replace any of them.

Silently the three entered, falling to one knee immediately before their lord, erm, lady. Mistress. Kage.

She made a second note under the first to sit down and work those details out later. She was finding herself to be quite comfortable as a woman and would try to remain that way, but that means that there were some changes that would need to be made.

But she'd get to that some other time.

"I have a job for you, a very important job." Sometimes she liked to play with her subordinates but this time she dove straight in. She had plans to get back to. "It won't be long now until I need a new body and I already have one in mind. The four of you are to prepare to capture and retrieve one Uchiha Sasuke to serve as my next vessel."

She took a moment to glare at the four despite the fact that they wouldn't dare meet her gaze.

"Sasuke is currently my only option for obtaining the Sharingan before it is lost forever. Failure is completely unacceptable. My crimson prince cut off the limbs from someone he liked and fed them to the Wolves in Nami no Kuni. Any mistakes and I'll hand you over to him and you can be sure he'll be much less lenient with those that upset his beloved godmother."

The four of them shivered despite every effort to remain absolutely still. None of them had any desire to meet with someone that held so much favor and sway with a person like Orochimaru.

And someone who would be concerned and angered when Orochimaru of all people was upset?

Oh hell no.

Who knew what kind of monster that had to be?

---

"You sure you're okay? You seem kind of tense." Naruto looked across the training ground at his current sparing partner, a slight frown on his face and concern in his voice.

She hadn't at all been acting normally and it was even easier to tell as their blades clashed. Bouts of aggression would be quickly restrained until there was almost no heart even left in her attacks, like going through the motions by oneself.

That was not what he had come to know from Uuzki Yugao, Konoha's greatest swordswoman. Together with her more-or-less husband Hayate, they were the most skilled masters of swords within Hi no Kuni.

So for her to suddenly seem to be struggling with her control during a friendly spar? Something was up.

The problem was that this wasn't the first time he had asked.

"I'm fine." She huffed, blade coming to rest by her side as her other hand brushed away some of the long purple hair that had gotten into her face. "Just like that last few times you asked. Are you sure you're okay?"

He lowered his own blade, running his hand through his own hair with a sigh.

"Yeah, I'm good. Guess I've just spent too much time on other projects." Sheathing his blade, he tossed it gently to the grass and followed it moments later. She stared at his prone form a moment before opting for something a bit more dignified and taking a seat against one of the trees that marked the boundary of the training ground.

"And what projects would those be?"

He stayed silent for a time, basking in the warmth of the sun and enjoying the slight breeze. He had mentioned before that he'd tell her, and he did have every intention to bring her into the fold as he had Anko, but he didn't think it was quite time.

But Anko had responded positively in the end and Yugao didn't have hatred for one of his close allies, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to give her just a bit of information.

"I have some friends, you see." From his position in the grass he was completely unaware of the way her face darkened at the mention of the Wolves. "And they've been working to make a name for themselves. It's recently come to their attention that there are certain opportunities over in Mizu no Kuni."

"Ah, yeah, I did hear the Bloodline Rebels were looking for help."

"Mmhmm," Agreed Naruto. "And so was Yagura."

Caught by surprise, Yugao took a few seconds to blink it away before her dark look returned with a vengeance. It was pretty well accepted that the Rebels were in the right and only politics kept anyone from interfering directly.

She probably shouldn't have been so surprised that those bastards were supporting the other side, but she had still held out some hope that Naruto wasn't like that. Obviously she had been wrong and he cared only for the Wolves campaign of conquest.

Yugao knew what she had to do, and hopefully Hayate would be able to rest peacefully by the time she was finished.

Maybe she'd be able to rest peacefully too.

---

Masks were not her thing Anko decided as she rubbed her forehead. Just today she had managed to crash into people and walls no less than a dozen times because she couldn't see where the fuck she was going.

She would have to speak to Naruto soon about some alternate options. Someone to teach her how to move while wearing one would work too, but she'd much rather just have something custom- something that set her apart. After all, she was the first to be officially brought into the pack.

That should carry some sort of status, right? And if the only thing that status did was get her out of the Wolf mask and into something more suitable for her then that was fine as far as she was concerned.

Not much of a Wolf, though, if she wasn't wearing the wolf head. Maybe something that just covered her lower face and showed a maw of sharp teeth? She'd be down for that.

She'd have to cover the hair, though. It was pretty damned distinctive.

Maybe some sort of hood so her forehead and eyes remained uncovered? It would lend to the whole mysterious and deadly atmosphere of the half-mask in the shape of a wolfs' jaw.

Anko likey.

Tossing her current mask onto her new bed, she took a proper look around the room. Small, clean, and absolutely spartan. Shed' have to fix that.

Well, not really. This was her room within the Wolves' Konoha headquarters. She still had both her apartment and the room that was going to be set aside for her within Naruto's sprawling apartment- and even she didn't think asking about it was a good idea, just from the way he looked at doorways or walls and sighed- as soon as the Wolves decided how close to their god they wanted her.

And wasn't that something to learn about her favorite little Gennin?

The brat didn't just work for the Wolves, he led them. He possessed their complete loyalty and many of them practically worshiped him. There were quite a few who did worship him as some sort of god. He mentioned something about using the name Tsukiyomi once and things spiraling out of control after their involvement with the cult but she had been a little too stunned to learn that he was a Daimyo to properly retain it all.

Well, she could claim to have shared a bed with a Daimyo now, if nothing else.

For some reason she didn't think her friends would be too impressed with her for that, even if they learned it was Naruto. Perhaps that was better as "Especially if it was Naruto."

She was aware the others seemed pretty fond of him too- she couldn't blame him, he was great- except for Hana. Poor girl hadn't had a chance to meet Naruto yet. Hopefully when she eventually came back to Konoha- whenever that was- she'd be able to introduce the two of them.

Anko had a feeling they'd get along just fine. After all, he got along pretty well with the rest of them.

Oh! She was going to have to work extra hard now- she wasn't about to admit she hadn't actually made any special efforts previously- to help Kurenai and Naruto strengthen their relationship. She still wasn't sure what that relationship would be, but she supposed it really wasn't any of her business at the moment.

She could worry about that when she had something to tease Kurenai with.

Putting that in the back of her head, she rifled through the small desk in the corner and pulled out paper and pens. She usually didn't consider herself an artist, but she'd probably have better luck convincing Naruto to go along with her uniform changes if she had something for him to see.

It was time to make an outfit worthy of Mitarashi Anko.

And to think, her new seal hadn't even bothered her once today.

---

Shizune looked up at the rather intimidating building and had to wonder why the cleanest, most well maintained basic structure seemed far more sinister than any of the other buildings Konoha tried not to think about.

Maybe because it stuck out so well ,as if the surroundings couldn't touch it.

Looking back to her letter she confirmed it to be her destination. The two Wolves stationed outside its massive double doors helped too.

With a deep, centering breath she started towards them with as much purpose as she could muster. At the very least, she hoped she didn't come across as a terrified child, because that was pretty much how she felt at the moment.

Tsunade had given her blessing for this, which meant the world to the young woman who looked up to her as a mother, and the opportunity was something she couldn't just pass up, but that didn't make her any more confident in dealing so closely with the Wolves.

Despite being officially recognized as a noble house by the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni there was still much debate throughout Konoha about whether or not they were welcome. Hiruzen had seemed tolerating enough, but the populace was already well aware that his son Asuma didn't seem to fond of their presence.

Because of this many were still hesitating to deal with them even indirectly lest they somehow incur the wrath of Konoha itself.

She was about to accept an offer working alongside them, casting her lot in with them for the foreseeable future.

Gods willing, this wouldn't come back to haunt her.

As she drew near the building the Wolves stepped to the side and opened the doors wide for her. What few passerbys had dared near the building immediately scattered. Already Shizune was well aware of the attention she was getting from the residents of the district but she pressed on regardless. She had come this far, after all, it wouldn't do her any good to back out now.

The two guards gave shallow bows as they waved her in, closing the doors quickly behind her. Within another pair of guards waited before another pair of doors which were promptly opened for her. This time one of them left their post, motioning her to follow, as their fellow moved to stand before both doors.

With nothing else to do she complied, following behind them until she reached an office guarded by yet another Wolf. She had to wonder how many Wolves there actually were if they could use so many as guards.

Or perhaps just how important the person behind the door must be to warrant them.

The Wolves exchanged nods before she was ushered into a fairly comfortable office where a young woman with long back hair sat working. Looking up from her desk the woman smiled brightly at Shizune.

"Hello, I'm Mai." She greeted. "We've been waiting eagerly for your response, Kato-san."

Shizune swallowed her nerves and took a deep breath. This was it, the final action which would tie her to Hi no Kuni's new noble house.

"Shizune is fine, Mai-san." She gave a faint smile. "After all, we'll be working together now, won't we?"

Mai seemed absolutely delighted at the news. "Oh, Tsukiyomi is going to be pleased to hear that, Shizune-san, very pleased indeed."

They would spend some time talking about what was expected and how everything would be set, but those details were trivial in the grand scheme of things. What was really important was that the Wolves had finally managed to sink their teeth into a real medic.

They were going to do great things with her.