Kurenai congratulated Tsunami again on passing on to the final round of the exam.
"What's the plan for the next month, Sensei?" Tsunami asked.
"Training," she replied. "I'll help you prepare for the Finals as well as continue with Sakura-chan's training while we wait for Hinata-chan to recover.
Tsunami nodded. Most of her "real" training would be with her mom will she slept, but Kurenai would have some useful insight that could be used to refine the techniques that she "found" in "old clan scrolls."
"We need to go and get Karin-chan," Tsunami said.
"Hokage-sama told me to tell you that Karin-san must be interviewed before she has free rein of the village," her sensei said carefully.
Naruto frowned and then sighed. She should have realized this would happen. She hoped that Karin had a better first interview than she had had as Tsunami.
Kurenai led Tsunami and Sakura back to the village where they hugged each other before separating for their own houses.
When Naruto got back to her apartment, she promptly changed back to her birth form. He sighed. He truly did not mind being a girl and if it were taken from him somehow, he would miss it, but being one for long periods of time without changing made him anxious. He wondered if the opposite were true now too? He had never been in his birth form for more than a day since he had started the experiment with the Hokage. Since graduating from the Academy, he now mostly was a boy while relaxing around the apartment and a girl while with her team. The only consistent exception to this was when he practiced with Kakashi's team.
He wondered how this affected him. He was mostly the same in either of his standard bodies, but hormones did have an effect. As a boy, it was a little easier to lose control of his emotions and he lost like his temper a little more easily, but as a girl, her emotions persisted longer and it was a little bit harder to regain control of her temper once she lost it. Of course, this rule of thumb did not apply as well around the time when she was menstruating. He considered himself lucky that she did not menstruate as frequently as other girls because of time spent as a boy. He thought that switching back and forth, might make the effects of his hormones on his emotions were more obvious to him than they were to most people. Sometimes he missed his pre-puberty days when his emotions were simpler to control. He shuddered as he thought that it would only get worse; he was only twelve.
That night when he appeared in his mindscape his mother enveloped him in a hug. He had not visited her in the Forest of Death because he was worried about being alert enough while sleeping; he usually did not visit her while on missions—a fact that drove her crazy with worry, but that she understood. In the tower the first night, he had not visited her because his clones were watching Team Seven. After that, he had not visited because he was worried that she would be angry over Kabuto getting the drop on him and mutilating him—and their experiments to recover. He had been tempted not to visit tonight, but could not bring himself to worry her more—plus, he missed her.
After she let him go, he described what had happened in the Exam. She laughed at what had happened to the Oto team and was delighted to hear about Karin. She raged at what Kabuto had done. The tension he had been holding released when he realized she was not angry with him for being reckless. She was fascinated to hear about Karin's bloodline ability.
"It sounds like your newly found cousin is descended from Uzumaki Aika," she said. "She was the first to have that ability and it manifests among her descendants regularly."
"How closely related are we?" he asked excitedly.
"I'm not sure," his mother responded. "Actually, you're descended from Aika too, but the ability never manifested in the Daimyo's family for some reason. If I were to guess, however, I'd say you're probably third or fourth cousins."
When she heard about how he and Karin had solved Hinata's eye problem, she beamed at him. "That's very clever of you, Naruto-kun," she said. Then she turned serious. "Be very careful using it. The Hyuuga don't tolerate losing the Byakugan at all." She sniffed. "Plus, you have a perfectly serviceable Uzumaki sensing technique."
He rolled his eyes. "I know, Mom. It was a spur of the moment idea; I'm not sure how much I'll use it. Plus, I think Hinata–chan was happy to share."
She glared at him for his flippancy. He shrunk into himself until she stopped. Nobody could glare like the Red-Hot Habanero. While he had never seen her in full rage, he had an inkling of how she had gotten the nickname.
When he told her about the preliminary match, she smiled at him proudly and hugged him tightly. "I'm so proud of you, my child!" she gushed. "The Chuunin Exam Finals as a rookie!"
He blushed. "My opponent was a push over. . ."
"Nonsense," she stated. "It's true that he was one of the easier opponents, but dealing with that sicko, Kabuto, makes up for it."
"Will you help me prepare for the tournament, Mom?" he asked. "Kurenai-sensei is good for our team, but she doesn't really know my style."
His mom gave him the biggest smile yet and gave him a crushing hug. "Of course, Naru-kun," she said. "I'd love to help you."
He told her about who was in the tournament. They started with strategies and tactics for fighting Aburame, but they both made sure to include ways to deal with out-of-control jinchuuriki.
The next morning Tsunami went to see the Hokage to see how things were going with Karin.
"Jiichan," she said sternly after he had engaged his privacy seals, "You better hope that Scarface is treating Karin-chan better than he treated me."
The Hokage leaned back and sighed. "As much as I want to believe that Uzumaki-san is innocent of being a plant, I just can't take that chance. You're too important to trust to that kind of blind faith."
"So, you admit that she's my cousin?" Tsunami asked archly.
The Hokage rolled his eyes as he did whenever she questioned him adversarially like this. "We did a blood test first thing. She is an Uzumaki and probably a third cousin."
"And what's this about me being important?" she said. "I've never been treated like I was important."
He snorted. "Do you think just anybody can see me whenever they want? You're like a grandchild to me and so I give you as many of the same protections that Konohamaru-kun has without being too obvious about it. That doesn't even consider the other factors."
She arched another eyebrow at him, but even under the privacy seals he was not going to come out and say that she was the hidden child of the Yondaime or the village's supposedly hidden jinchuuriki. The second thing was so well known that it was hardly worth obscuring other than the fact that she was actually her "brother."
The Hokage leaned back and then pulled out his pipe and started filling it. "What you really want to know is when Karin-san will be released to you, correct?"
She nodded.
"Three days, if nothing unexpected comes up." He lit his pipe with an E-rank fire technique.
She frowned. "Why so long?"
"While I'm sure that Karin-san would rather not be detained," he said with a wry smile. "I'm also sure that she would rather avoid our more rigorous interview processes. Doing it this way allows us to let her have some comfort and breaks."
Tsunami sighed. "Alright, Jiichan. If it has to be this way."
He smiled sadly. "I'm afraid it does." His smile turned amused. "I've had a request for your 'brother' to visit the hot springs."
Tsunami's jaw dropped, being quite startled. "The owner or manager wants Naruto-kun to visit?" Maybe they had heard about her seals and wanted a privacy shield installed?
If anything, the Hokage's amusement deepened. He blew out some smoke. "No. One of the. . . frequent patrons would like to meet your 'brother.'"
It did not take Tsunami long to figure out who he was talking about. "So, my delinquent godfather has finally decided to make an appearance, huh?"
The Hokage leaned back and took another puff. "Do not judge Jiraiya-kun too harshly. He has felt that he could serve you best by making sure that your family's foreign enemies did not find you and by not drawing attention to you. He did provide the money that has supported you since you were orphaned."
"Money was the least of what I needed," she said bitterly. She knew that was not really true, but she could not change the way she felt. "Visiting me in disguise was well within his capabilities."
The Hokage's silence indicated to her that she was not wrong.
"He does not get to drop into my life and pretend to be my godfather now that I don't need one," she snapped.
She glanced at the Hokage. A touch of sadness was visible in his eyes.
"I may have hinted to him obliquely that he ought to check in on your 'brother' within the next few days," he said.
She shrugged as she turned to leave. "See you later, Jiichan."
"Good luck preparing for the tournament, Tsunami-chan," he said to her. "I know you'll do well and make Konoha proud."
Since Hinata was recovering at the hospital, Sakura was her only teammate at training. Sakura graciously agreed to help Tsunami train for the Finals. Kurenai set up a schedule for them to follow. This consisted of physical training the first thing in the mornings, followed by a couple of hours of discussing tactics and planning. Afternoons were to be dedicated to practicing her skills and spars with Sakura and Kurenai. By this point, Tsunami was comfortable enough with her team to show them more of her Uzumaki-specific skills: Chakra Seal Manifestation and her combat seals.
After team training was done, Tsunami decided to do something she had been thinking of off and on since the preliminaries: warn her friends about Suna's unstable jinchuuriki. Since she was more familiar with all the people she was going to warn as a boy, she changed into her boy body.
Since Sasuke was likely to face him first of all her friends and acquaintances, Naruto went looking for him. Unfortunately, he could not find either Sasuke or Kakashi anywhere. Frowning, he went to look for Shino. He found him at the Aburame compound.
After his brief explanation to Shino about what "his sister" had observed, the stoic Aburame said seriously, "Thank you, Naruto-san. I will take your sister's warning into account and plan accordingly."
When he asked about Sasuke, Shino said that Kakashi had taken him out of the village to train at an undisclosed location.
Shikamaru was cloud watching in an open area of the Nara compound.
"Troublesome," he muttered after Naruto had explained. Then he shrugged. "If I make it that far, I'll just forfeit. Based on their match-up scheme he would be my third fight. I'll have already passed or failed by then."
Naruto shook his head and chuckled. He really should not have expected anything else from the lazy boy.
He briefly considered telling the Lee boy, but decided not to. Neither of his identities knew the boy and he was worried that it would come off as an attempt at intimidation (i.e, trying to get him to quit). What ultimately decided him was the fact that based on his observations of the boy, he felt that it would only pump him up. He had already decided not to tell Hinata's jerk of a cousin. He did not deserve any warnings and he doubted that he would look favorably on one anyway.
Two days after his visit to the Hokage, Naruto's evening was interrupted by a loud, forceful knock on the door. Nobody visited him at his apartment—not even his teammates. Frowning, he changed into his girl form and her persistent clone swapped to his boy form. If she needed to defend herself, better to do it in the form that was registered as an active shinobi.
She activated her monitoring seal and got a view of her visitor. It was a tall bulky man with white, bushy hair that was long in the back and an outlandish outfit that included a headband with the kanji for oil on it and a large scroll strapped to his back. From the photo album in her mom's house, she knew this was Jiraiya, her so-called godfather.
She opened her chakra senses and then the door and rested her hand on the invisible seal that activated her apartment's security.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Tsunami," she replied with a frown. "I live here. Who are you?"
His face brightened and she knew she had made a mistake.
"I'm glad you asked!" he said as he began a shuffling dance. "From the East to the West! From the North to the South! The one the men want to be and the one the women want to be with! I'm the famous Toad Sage of Mount Myouboku! The fabulous, awe-inspiring, ever-gallant, Jiraiya!" He ended his performance with his arms open. It was as awful as her mom had said.
She rolled her eyes and said, "What do you want?"
He pouted and then looked past her.
"Hey, Naruto-kun," he said with a smile. "I came to see you. Won't you invite me in?"
"I'm hardly in the practice of inviting strange, old men into my apartment at night," her clone drawled.
"I'm not old!" Jiraiya whined.
"You look like an old, wrinkly pervert," her clone said.
The old man brought a hand up and proclaimed, "I'm not a pervert! I'm a super pervert!"
Tsunami arched an eyebrow while inside she was trying not to giggle. He had actually said that in front of a pre-teen girl! His buttons were too easy to push, just like her mom had said.
"You think I'm going to let you in after you admitted that?" she said incredulously.
"Yeah," her clone added. "I'd be worried about my sister's virtue."
Jiraiya's expression hardened as he repeated, "Sister?"
Tsunami pumped chakra into the security seal, turning on its active mode. She did not think she was in any real danger from her godfather, but did not want her apartment destroyed if he made an issue of it. Chakra shimmered in the doorway as the seals on the doors and walls became visible, the Uzumaki swirl that acted as the base matrix gleamed in the fading sunlight. She concentrated on his chakra to try and figure out what he would do.
Jiraiya stepped back and examined the seal while stating coldly, "You don't have a sister."
"How would you know?" her clone said equally coldly.
Jiraiya's chakra flickered, but he kept his face impassive. "I was a close friend of your parents."
Pure spite lanced through her as she said, "I doubt it, else you'd have shown up before now."
His chakra flickered again. Tsunami thought she recognized guilt, shame, and sadness before it steadied again.
"Duty has kept me out of the village," he said.
"What about your duty to us?" her clone asked coldly.
"I don't have a duty to her, Naruto-kun," he said, "only to you."
A spike of sadness pierced her heart upon hearing her godfather say that; she could not help it. She knew he did not know her true circumstances and that this was the first time they had met since she had been a baby, but it still hurt.
"That was cold," her clone said as he moved forward and put a hand on her shoulder.
Jiraiya shrugged and said, "This seal won't stop me for very long."
It was probably true. Her mom told her she was talented, but she was only twelve and the Toad Sage had studied seals for around forty years.
"Do you really think I'll talk to you if you destroy my apartment and hurt the only real friend I've ever had?" her clone asked.
The sad thing was that it was more or less true. As Naruto, her only real friends were her clones. Naruto was friendly with Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino, but nothing more. Sasuke may be in the process of becoming his real friend, but it did not measure up to the friendships she had with Hinata and Sakura as Tsunami. Tsunami's friends were politely distant to her when she was Naruto.
"What do you suggest I do?" Jiraiya asked. "I don't feel comfortable leaving you here with an imposter."
"Talk to Hokage-sama," Tsunami said. "He'll vouch for me."
Jiraiya looked at her appraisingly for a few moments before nodding. "I'll do that."
The old man left and she shut the door with a sigh.
"That was a lot harder than I thought it would be," she said.
Her clone wrapped her in a hug. "I know," he said. And he did. He was she, after all.
The next day, after Tsunami's practice session with Kurenai and Sakura, an ANBU dropped off a note to go see the Hokage. It told her she could bring Naruto or come by herself at her pleasure. She knew it was about Jiraiya. Her mom had not said much about him last night other than to say that he had a good heart, even if he was supremely annoying at times.
With a sigh, she headed to the Hokage Tower. She supposed it was better to get this over with. She elected not to make or send for a clone, figuring it was best to keep the focus on herself as Tsunami.
She noticed Jiraiya sitting on the edge of the Hokage's desk as she entered the office. The Hokage activated the privacy seals as she entered.
"Hello, Jiichan!" she caroled. She looked over at Jiraiya and then added, "Ero-chan," with a sniff.
Jiraiya blinked as she used her mother's nickname for him in just about the same manner that her mom often had. Her mom had had her practice that sniff.
"Now, now," the Hokage scolded lightly. "Surely Jiraiya-kun hasn't had time to earn your ire just yet."
She looked at him incredulously. Surely he knew Jiraiya well enough to know that the man needed very little time to get into trouble—especially with a girl. She sniffed again. "He was quite rude to me when he visited our apartment last night, Jiichan."
The Hokage sighed. "Well, we can't have that now, can we?" He shook his head and looked at his errant student. "Jiraiya-kun, apologize to Tsunami-chan."
Jiraiya exploded, throwing his arms in the air. "Sensei! You know she's not Naruto-kun's sister!"
The Hokage took out his pipe and started to stuff tobacco into its bowl. "On the contrary, Jiraiya-kun. Tsunami-chan and Naruto-kun share the exact same parents. The how, however, is complicated. . ." He looked over at Tsunami and took a few puffs of his pipe. "I highly recommend that you show him."
Naruto sighed as she looked over at her errant godfather who was looking back and forth between her and the Hokage. "Fine," she said petulantly, "but only because you asked, Jiichan."
She changed back to her birth form.
"So, Godfather," he sneered. "What made you finally seek me out?"
"Naruto-kun!?" Jiraiya exclaimed.
"Of course," he replied smugly. "Uzumaki Tsunami is just an alias I adopted to make my life easier. I'm just awesome enough to be both of me at once."
Jiraiya stared at him with his mouth open before shutting it with a snap and starting to chuckle. "This is great! My godson can enter the women's baths to peep and no one ever knows! I'm so proud of you, my little pervert-in-training!"
"What!? No!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not a pervert! When I'm a girl, I'm really a girl! I even have monthlies!"
Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow at the Hokage.
The older man removed his pipe and chuckled. "It's true, she came to me all distraught when they began. Nearly removed a year off of my life trying to figure out how to explain menarche to my young surrogate grandson. Luckily she caved and told me she'd already had it explained to her."
Things clicked in Naruto's mind and he pointed at the Hokage and exclaimed, "This is revenge for that, isn't it? You knew he'd react this way, didn't you?"
The Hokage chuckled again and said, "You wouldn't deny an old man his small revenge, would you Naruto-kun? I've been waiting for this moment for almost a year."
Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever, Jiichan."
"How is this possible?" Jiraiya asked. "No one's Disguise Technique is that good!"
The Hokage said, "We think it's due to Naruto-kun's special condition. Supposedly, his mother's technique was this good as well, but she never told anyone for fear that it would land her in Infiltration and Seduction. Similarly, Naruto-kun's skill is secret to relieve him from being pressured into that and to allow him his little game."
Naruto frowned. "It's hardly a game when being Tsunami allows me the peace and freedom I've been lacking."
The Hokage blew out another puff of smoke and said, "As you say, Naruto-kun." He could see a small touch of sadness in the old man's eyes.
Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Naruto turned to glare at the younger old man. "What brings you around, Ero-chan? I thought you were too busy to bother with me."
A flash of regret and sadness flashed on Jiraiya's face.
Both older men said, "Naruto-kun. . ." Jiraiya's voice was filled with sadness and the Hokage's voice was gently scolding.
Naruto glared at the two men before focusing on the Hokage. "Fine," he snapped. "I won't shut him out as a favor to you, Jiichan." He turned to the Toad Sage. "But you're not my godfather anymore. You squandered that opportunity, Ero-chan. However, if you want to visit me and tell me stories about my parents and teach me some tricks you've learned in your long life, I won't turn you away." He smirked. "You can be the slightly senile uncle that makes everyone a little uncomfortable but you have to put up with."
He turned back into his girl form and walked toward the door. She looked over her shoulder and called out. "See you later, Jiichan, Ero-jichan."
"A moment, Tsunami-chan," the Hokage said. "Karin-san will be released from her interviews by the time you get home."
"You haven't been holding my newly-discovered cousin hostage until I agreed to meet with this guy, have you, Jiichan?" Tsunami asked with a frown.
The Hokage laughed as he shook his head. "No, I just thought this should be resolved before you picked up a new houseguest. I've been leaning on Jiraiya-kun to meet with you sooner rather than later once he told me he wanted to meet with you. He would have put it off until the end of your Exam break if I hadn't."
She rolled her eyes. "You're lucky that Jiichan is looking out for you, Ero-chan," she growled.
A she exited the room, she heard the Hokage chuckling again and Jiraiya muttering, "That boy is way too much like his mother, not even considering this special skill. . ."