Thank you for your reviews.
I have conflicted feelings about this. But thanks to KamiKageRyuuketsu, I got the first completely negative review on my fic. Others were all positive criticism and corrections, not that I'm not grateful for those. So first of all I will answer his review.
I normally do not do this but since not everyone looks up the review section, I will copy his review here, "go kill yourself you pathetic sack of dog shit hinata fan boy trash."
Well yeah, I am somewhat of a Hinata fanboy. And I understand that you hate her, for whatever reason that may be. But in this hate filled world try to spread love instead of hate. You are free to hate Hinata, me, sliced bread, yourself etcetera etcetera. But keep it to yourself and your fellow haters. I already mentioned it was a NaruHina story, instead of reading it you should have bailed the fuck out of here. You don't even write anything, just follow another guy who also hates Hinata, who also doesn't write anything except comment negatively on other NaruHina stories. I don't know what your existence even means here. If you have time to read the summary of my story and then comment on it on how much you hate me because you hate Hinata, then I've got a news for you. No one, except for similar sad cases like you, gives a fuck about what you think. Save yourself some time and comment when you actually have something valuable to write.
Sorry about that. I was itching to write that for a week now. I had many more words to say, but those would have been wasted words. Now for people who do matter,
orien123 – Okay first thanks for all the corrections you suggested. You reviewed quite a lot and after the above rant, the word count will increase unnecessarily, so I will keep this as short as possible. Yeah the council thing is overused, but these were some ideas I had way before I thought of writing them down and changing them could have changed the whole story setting, so I had to keep it that way. The rest of the fic though I hope you will find unique. For the same reason, I used 5 Chapters to set the story. Also, my fic is kinda divided into arcs, even though I don't mention them. You can call the first five as The Beginning. The descriptions of all the clothing was difficult for me anyway, but it was done mainly to show Naruto's wardrobe change and for the people who don't actively follow the original Naruto series. Also you are right, I'm from India and not a native English speaker. I am multilingual, most Indians are, so my English is affected by many languages. The prepositions are an effect of my German.
Hmason – Yeah that's true. But its also his duty to inform them of what happened. If you actively keep secrets from the people who help run the village for you, then distrust will start to grow. The shinobi already know that the Kyuubi can't die and even if it does it will re-emerge somewhere else after a few years. Killing the Kyuubi would have made them Jinchuuriki-less and without a Jinchuuriki Danzo would create a lot of problems. So he cannot just up and say that 'Kyuubi died' to those people and they will question what happened to it.
TheWateringWizard – You are one of the readers who has been with me since the day I uploaded the first chapter. First of all thank you for that. Next, Naruto's team weak? Maybe, but remember Sakura is not a useless fangirl in this one. I just haven't shown what she can do. And Kiba is definitely strong. So don't worry team 8 will also be strong. As for Menba Fuyou, just wait and see. Or read.
Okay enough that's 600 words right there, let's get on with the story,
"Speaking/YELLING"
"Bijuu/Summon speaking/ YELLING"
'Thinking'
'Bijuu/Summon Thinking'
This is a bother really, Naruto does not belong to me.
Chapter 10: Let's get to know each other
Before the team placement - Hokage's Office
An array of Konoha's Elite soldiers, Jounins, was present in the Hokage office. Nine of them to be precise. A few of them were quite famous.
The most famous of them would be the man with gravity defying silver hair. He wore the standard Konoha jounin uniform. His face though was almost completely hidden, save for his right eye, by a mask upto his nose and his forehead protector kept slanted to cover his left eye. That eye was special. It was given to him by his dying friend. It was a Sharingan. Because of it he was called by many monikers like the Copy-cat Ninja or the Ninja with a Thousand Jutsus. His real name though was Kakashi Hatake, widely also known as Kakashi of the Sharingan.
Beside him was another tall but lanky guy. He was Asuma Sarutobi, son of the current Hokage. He was previously affiliated with a group called Guardian Shinobi 12, known for guarding the feudal lord of the Fire country, the Fire Daimyou. He came back after the group was disbanded because of some issues. While he didn't have any fancy eye, his skills with his Trench Knives was nothing to scoff at.
Another noteworthy jounin was Kurenai Yuhi. Even though she was promoted recently, her prowess in the art of Genjutsu was dangerous. Though not on par with Genjutsus casted by the Sharingan, hers were still deadly enough to earn her the rank of jounin.
They were all standing in attendance to know who they were meant to lead. Their Hokage had already briefed them about the teams 1 to 6. He announced the next team, "Team 7 will be led by you Kakashi. Your team will have Sasuke Uchiha, Namiko Senju and Shino Aburame."
The jounin in attendance were shocked to see a team having both an Uchiha and a Senju. That was something that had never happened before. But Kakashi didn't care about that. What he did care about was why weren't Naruto and Namiko put in the same team?
"Hokage-sama if I may, why weren't the Senju twins put in the same team? Being twins, they have amazing co-ordination and would make a great team." Kakashi asked.
"Indeed. What you point is true, Kakashi. But it is for that same reason that they are not together. There is no doubt that they are strong, possibly the strongest among the current batch of Genins and would become even stronger if put together. But that will result in an imbalance of power within the team. You also know that parents and guardians are allowed to provide recommendations for their children's and ward's team placement. This was suggested by their mother Tsunade." The Hokage answered.
Kakashi couldn't argue any more so he nodded. If their mother wanted it like that then there was nothing more he could do about it.
Kurenai was thinking about her own team during all this. She was supposed to lead a team of trackers, so she had guessed it would have an Inuzuka, a Hyuuga and an Aburame as usual. That meant that she was supposed to have Shino in her team. But if he was now in Kakashi's team, then he would have to be replaced by someone that would have been in that team. So Naruto would probably be in her team now along with Hinata and Kiba.
"Now the next team is team 8 to be led by Kurenai. You have Naruto Senju, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka in your team." The Hokage announced.
It seemed her guess was wrong. She thought she would get a team of trackers. Naruto had a wide sensing ability, so he was okay. Kiba, she expected anyway. But Sakura, she didn't have any tracking abilities. She was going to ask about it but was stopped by the Hokage, "I know you were supposed to be get a tracker team Kurenai. But this time I have decided to change the pattern of the teams. I will explain after all the teams are announced." Kurenai withheld her curiosity for now.
The Hokage continued, "Team 10, since 9 is already being led by Gai, would be under Asuma. You will have the standard Ino-Shika-Cho team with Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi."
Asuma nodded, he had expected that team. Kurenai though was confused. All the jounins had been assigned a team and Hinata was still left to be assigned. She had briefly overtook the Hyuuga heiress's training after she wasn't able to perform at the level the elders of her clan expected. She found her to be a very sweet girl albeit very shy. She didn't excel at her clan's fighting style mainly because she didn't like to hurt others. Though that somehow, even Kurenai didn't how, changed after she started training with the Senjus. Shortly after that she was relieved of her duty because of the change Hinata had gone through. She still kept a soft spot for the girl and knowing how she was now, it was impossible for her to fail. She wanted to ask the Hokage about it too but was surprised on the sudden entry of another person.
Anko was someone who liked to be free, but she also had a sense of decorum, a bit at least. And she respected the Third Hokage very much. So she didn't crash through the window like she wanted to, instead just hopped in through it. Her entrance brought surprise to not only Kurenai but to everyone except the Hokage. Unlike them, Anko was not a full jounin. She was instead what was called a Special Jounin, a title given to the people performing tasks special to them and were too strong to be called a Chuunin. Their speciality didn't always lie in fighting. While Anko was a very good fighter, enough to be one of the strongest Kunoichis of Konoha, her speciality lay in Interrogation. She worked at the T&I department of Konoha.
Before the surprised jounins, Hiruzen was rubbing his temple. Anko had a bad habit of barging unannounced as well as earlier than needed. He sighed before saying, "At last, since there is a lack of genin in the current graduating class, Anko will lead team 11 having Sai, Hinata Hyuuga and Menba Fuyou. So on this moment, Anko Mitarashi is promoted to a full Jounin."
The name Sai confused everyone else but Kakashi and Anko. He was still an ANBU when Danzo's ROOT was brought down and young ROOT trainees were taken into regular ANBU for rehabilitation. Sai was one of them. Anko was put in charge of interrogating many former ROOT members to judge their loyalty. She was also told about her team beforehand because just like her last job, this one also came with a special task to be performed.
A task that the Hokage explained, "Sai is the first former ROOT member to be placed in a genin team. As such Anko is given the task of keeping an eye on him. Young Hinata's Byakugan can help her in that regard." After getting a few nods, he continued, "Now regarding the nature of this team arrangements. Unlike the old times where Genins were placed according to their performance in the exams, hence sometimes overspecializing teams, this time I've decided to make teams with mixed specializations. Each team will have Genins that either specialize in one or more of these fields or can be trained to do so: Tracking, Capture, Interrogation, Espionage and Combat, along with at least one Medic. All of this along with the recommendations from their parents or guardians were taken into account to form these teams."
The advantages of this type of arrangement were apparent to the jounins present. Many of them had lost their comrades because there was no medic on their team or because their tracking team didn't have enough power to take down an opponent if needed. By making the teams like these, they wouldn't have to rely on other teams, when tasks other than the one designated to them would be needed to be performed.
But Kurenai wasn't convinced enough to accept Hinata being placed in a team with a possible enemy, even with her friend being the Jounin Sensei. "But Hokage-sama, is it safe to place genins with a former ROOT member?" She was mainly concerned about Hinata but she didn't want to show favouritism in front of the Hokage.
"I understand your concern Kurenai, but Sai has been given a clean chit from the ANBU as well as the T&I department. And Anko is assigned as the team lead for that extra safety measure after all." The Hokage explained.
Kurenai wanted to argue more but was cut off by Anko, "Don't worry~ Kurenai-chan~, I will take care of your girl." While Kurenai was angry on being called upon her favouritism to Hinata, she didn't argue anymore.
"If all of your questions are answered, you are dismissed. Iruka must be ready to announce the teams, I advise you check out your genins." The Hokage said dismissing everyone.
Present Time – Training Ground 11
Hinata was a nervous wreck. Sitting in front of her jounin sensei and between her two teammates, she felt really uneasy without either Naruto or Namiko. After she started training with them, they had become constant companions to her, unless she was at the Hyuuga Compound. But now, she was with a former ROOT with an odd smile and one of those civilians who hated the ninja clans, technically hated her.
Unaware of the Hyuuga princess's thoughts, Anko started while sitting in front of her new specim… students, "Okay. It goes this way, tell me your names and whatever shinobi skills you have. Some I already know, but lets hear it from you. So you, pale guy, you first." She said pointing at Sai.
Sai, not letting his smile wane, answered, "I do not remember my original name, but I was named Sai before Danzo died. I can use special ink based ninjutsu to make any thing I draw alive." Neither did he have any allegiance to Danzo nor any respect, but he still knew not to call him respectfully.
Anko nodded. She knew most of the things about Sai already, but procedure required it, so she had to ask. "Now you, guy with the sword, your turn." She said pointing at Menba.
Menba scowled at her. He may be a civilian born, but he knew some facts about jounin senseis. One of them was that they tended to do background checks on their genins, so she had to have already known his name. But he complied anyway, "I'm Menba Fuyou. I can use the Academy Jutsus and am very good with my sword." He was the son of a sword smith. His father may have not been a ninja or a samurai, but he did know quite a lot about swords.
Anko nodded again then turned to Hinata, "Now you princess."
Hinata had gained a lot more confidence than she used to have before her meeting with the Senju twins, but apparently lost a majority of it when they weren't with her. She twiddled her fingers, which made Anko frown a little, before speaking up meekly, "Um…I am Hinata Hyuuga. I can…um…use my Byakugan to scout as well as use my clans Taijutsu with it to fight."
Anko was definitely not pleased with her meek answering, 'So this is what the Old man was talking about. She losses her confidence as soon as she is separated from the Senju prince and princess. I can see why he divided them up.'
But she still had another job to do before she could plan on how to improve her confidence even when the Senjus were not around, "Okay. Like you already know I'm Anko Mitarashi. I used to work at the T&I department, so you can say I specialize in that, but that doesn't mean that I can't fight." She said before grinning wide and continued, "But don't think you are genins just yet. The test you took was merely to weed out the weaker bunch of you. Though your class seems to be better since everyone passed, but that means jackshit to us jounins. All of us have our own ways to test our genins. This test has a 66.6% rate of failure. Unless you pass this, you cannot become official genins."
Reaction to that varied very less. Expect for Sai who still did not let up his smile, both Hinata and Menba had fearful expressions on their faces. Hinata, already low on confidence, was very scared of taking a test such as that. She had confidence in her strength, but not in her resolve. Menba was gritting his teeth. He thought the ninjas were making it harder and harder for civilians to become ninjas. He had enough trouble to pass the genins exams and she said this one would be even harder.
Anko relished in her test subj…students' expression, bar Sai that is. His fake smile creeped even her, her of all people. "So now that you know, I am giving you till tomorrow 7 in the morning to prepare. Be here tomorrow at that time to take your test if you think you have what it takes to be shinobi. If you do not, feel free to bail out now because once you become a shinobi, only death will remain as your exit." She was lying of course. There was nothing saying you cannot quit being a shinobi midway. But she knew that, they didn't. She Shunshined (Body Flicker Jutsu) out before they could say anything.
They were worried, expect Sai of course. It seemed nothing affected him or he was rather skilled at hiding his expressions. Or he did not have any whatsoever, expect for that obviously fake smile.
Menba, not wanting to stay with a clan princess and a former ROOT member, left without saying anything. He didn't have any intention of mingling with them. Hinata saw him leave and turned to Sai. He was still staring at her with that smile. Intending to be a good teammate to at least one of them, she said, "Umm…I guess we should prepare for tomorrow's test. What do you think will it be, Sai-kun?"
Sai looked at her for a few seconds creeping her out before answering, "I don't know what the test will entail." Apparently he was a man of few words.
Her question answered, she was raking her brain to say something to keep the conversation going, before she decided to ask something she probably would regret, "Sai-kun, what um…nickname were you going to give me before?" She was looking around to check if either Naruto or Namiko were around. Somehow she knew the nickname he would give her wouldn't sit well with them.
She knew right. As soon as Sai said it, she was glad no one was around to hear. Sai smiled at her and said, "I was going to call you…"
Everywhere in different training grounds, with different teams, the same thing was happening. Everyone were introducing themselves. Everyone expect team 7. After waiting for nearly 3 hours, they were just now sitting on the roof of the academy building in front their sensei. As legendary as Kakashi was for his battle prowess, his tardiness was no less legendary. While her other two teammates didn't know that, Namiko knew about it very well. She was very well acquainted to Kakashi's tardiness. That is why whenever they had to call him for anything to their home, they normally gave him a time that was 3 hours earlier then needed. He was a very good friend to the Senjus and almost an older brother figure to the twins. He was the lone surviving student of the Fourth Hokage, the student of their perverted uncle after all. But while she knew about his tardiness, it didn't mean she didn't get annoyed by it.
"Ehh…let's start with some introduction. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes and dreams for future." Kakashi said lazily, nose buried in an orange book.
Namiko wanting to get some revenge on him for showing up late, imitated Kakashi and said, "I'm Kakashi Hatake. I like reading smut written by a perverted old man, I dislike being on time. My dream for the future is to be late for my own funeral." Although none of her audience laughed at her joke, Kakashi did get annoyed a little, but didn't show it.
"Very clever. Let's do that then. You, Aburame, tell me about the brooder next to you." Kakashi ordered Shino. The said brooder scowled at his name, Shino though didn't give any reaction to it except saying, "He is Sasuke Uchiha. His likes are unknown to me. His dislikes are probably fangirls. His dreams, while I may have some idea, I cannot say for sure." Sasuke 'Hnned' at his description. Truth be told even he didn't know what his future goal was anymore.
Kakashi sweatdropped at it though. He wanted to use Namiko's taunt on him in getting to know his genins, but it looked like it backfired. But since he started it, he could not just take it back, so he turned to Sasuke, "Now brooder, you say something about Shino here."
Sasuke frowned. He wanted to open up to others more now, but still hadn't started it yet. And Shino was a mysterious guy anyway. Even his friends didn't know much about him. So he decided to wing it by using what he knew about the Aburame clan, "Shino Aburame. Likes probably bugs, dislikes…insecticides maybe? Dreams, I really don't have any idea."
Kakashi sweatdropped again. Another dead-end. At least Shino showed some expression at that, even though it was just a raised eyebrow. In what sense though, he didn't know. But he knew a lot about the next person and since she introduced him so beautifully, he wanted to return the favour.
"Okay, let's see, Namiko Senju, likes her brother and dislikes whoever hates her brother or whoever her brother hates. Dreams for future hmmm…marrying her brother maybe? But I would suggest against it. It's not appropriate, you know, to think about your brother like that." Kakashi chastised her mockingly. Namiko's brother complex was not a secret to many people. Actually it was not a secret at all. Nobody just pointed it out. But Kakashi decided to take a dig at it.
Namiko was embarrassed at being called upon her admiration towards her brother, but she was not ashamed of doing so in the slightest. So she just pouted and faced away from Kakashi.
Though Kakashi found the childish behaviour cute on the whisker marked face, he still had to inform them about the True Genin test. So he went with it similar to Anko with some of his own spin to it. Before he left though, "Be at training ground 7 early 7 in the morning. I should advise you to skip breakfast otherwise you will end up puking it." He warned before Shunshinning out of there.
Unlike team 11 though, none of them in team 7 was much worried. Mainly because Namiko had somewhat of an idea of what Kakashi's test would be, Sasuke was confident in his skills, and Shino was…well Shino. He, just like Sai, rarely showed any expression on his face. But unlike Sai, he did have expressions. You just had to know him well to spot them.
Both of the boys were preparing to leave before Namiko stopped them, "Before you leave, I must tell you, do not follow his last advice. I know him very well, he is probably playing some kind of trick on us, so take your breakfast tomorrow. I would have told you to come a bit later too, but we can use the time he is late for to make up some strategies, just in case his test needs teamwork, like I think it will." She advised before locating her brother and leaping towards it. Apparently his team meeting was done and was already home. She also wanted to know why she and her brother weren't put in a team together. She had a feeling that her mother had a hand in it.
Sasuke and Shino looked at each other after Namiko's departure and after nodding their agreement, went their own ways.
Senju Compound
After Namiko met up with Naruto at their house, they started exchanging stories about how their team meeting had gone. Currently Namiko was ranting about how she had to wait for Kakashi to arrive for almost three hours and how they didn't get to know about each other because of his stupid way of getting back at her, which she promptly avoided saying. Naruto, as always, was listening patiently. He knew Namiko liked to tell him about how her day went, even though they were mostly together so there was nothing new to say. And he, like a loving –too much- brother, listened to his sister.
After she was finished she asked, "So Onii-sama, how did your team meeting go?" Naruto started to tell his side of story.
Flashback
Training Ground 8
Unlike other…quirky jounins like Anko and Kakashi, Kurenai was rather straightforward. She took her role as a Kunoichi very seriously, not that other ninja's didn't though. And since this was her first genin team, she wanted to come out as a reliable leader. So without any ado she said, "Okay, you already know my name. I'm Kurenai Yuhi. I like sake and I hate sweets, especially cakes. I am a Genjutsu specialist. My dream is to prove that Kunoichi can be as effective as male Shinobis. Now, I want you to one by one introduce yourself the same way. Let's start with the Kunoichi of the team."
Sakura, on being addressed, answered, "I am Sakura Haruno. I like to study medics and…", She giggled with her cheeks red making Kurenai frown and Naruto sigh. Sakura shook her head to concentrate and started again, "I hate Ino-pig and whoever picks on me because of my forehead. My dreams for future, I want…" She squealed with another blush, not being able to say 'a family with Sasuke-kun'. She was going to drift off to her fantasy world but was brought back by Naruto, who yelled, "Sakura! Take this seriously." Sakura squeaked out a 'Hai Senpai' before ducking her head and sitting quietly. Apparently Shizune had trained her well.
This was not news to Kurenai. Since Namiko and Naruto were the first students of Tsunade after Shizune, every other student who came after called them Senpai. Sakura was no exception. Though, she obeying Naruto so readily was indeed a news to her.
"Okay then, I'll have to work on your daydreaming afterwards. Now since you already spoke, why don't you go Naruto." She said.
Naruto nodded, "I am Naruto Senju. I like my family" He was interrupted by a cough from Kiba, a suspicious cough. Kurenai could have sworn it sounded something like 'sis-con'. Naruto though continued like nothing happened, "and ramen. I hate traitors and people who treat their family badly" he was interrupted again by another cough from Kiba, which Kurenai was sure sounded like 'Hyuuga'. This time Naruto got a tick mark on his forehead and glared at Kiba before continuing, "My dream for the future is to be a Hokage or help my sister become one."
Kurenai nodded. A good goal, he had a good chance of accomplishing it too. Kurenai then looked at Kiba, "Okay last one."
Before Kiba could start, Naruto elbowed Sakura and whispered to her, "She said last, you know like 'deadlast'." His whisper though was not quiet enough, intentionally. Kiba growled at him before starting, "Kiba Inuzuka. I like my ninken Akamaru" The white puppy barked his agreement before Kiba continued, "And others dogs" He was interrupted again by Naruto's not-so-quiet whisper, "and dogfood." Unlike Naruto, Kiba could not hold himself and blurted out before he could stop, "Hey they happen to taste very good, you ramen freak." Naruto though was not affected while Sakura was giggling at Naruto's joke. Kurenai herself was trying to hold off a smile and told Kiba seriously, "Enough Kiba, continue." Kiba was shocked that his sensei didn't say anything to Naruto. Indeed Kiba was just getting his payback so Kurenai didn't think of stopping Naruto. Kiba growled again before continuing, "I hate cats" He was again cut off by Naruto saying, "and baths." Sakura couldn't hold herself anymore and fell back laughing while Kiba looked ready to pounce on Naruto. Kurenai stopped him though, "Naruto that is enough, let him finish."
Kiba wanting to get revenge on Naruto said, "My dream is to beat this sis-con to being Hokage." Naruto though didn't react on being called a sis-con. He loved his sister, he didn't see anything wrong with it. They were twins after all. They were, according to what their mother told them, rare identical twins, separated from a single zygote who were of different gender. So technically they were one and the same being. Though that didn't mean he had to love his sister like that, he did it anyway.
Kurenai sweatdropped at Kiba's way of announcing his goal. Naruto's sister complex, just like Namiko's brother one, was public knowledge. But it was another thing to call on it openly. Though Naruto didn't seem to be bothered by it, which made Kurenai's sweatdrop bigger. Apparently while she wasn't quirky like some other jounins, her students were instead.
She sighed at that thought before she took upon a serious expression again, "Okay enough. Now, you are not genins just yet. There is something called the True Genin Test." She said surprising her prospective students. She then went on explaining the test before dismissing them.
Flashback end
Naruto obviously avoided saying anything about the sister complex. Both of them were aware of what other people thought of their relationship. They did the complex thing just to embarrass the people around them, like a prank. Though their love for each other was also not false. They also knew that both of them had other love interests. But while Naruto's interest in Hinata was quite apparent to everybody except Hinata, Namiko's not so much. Only Naruto, Hinata, Tsunade, Shizune and a few others knew about it. It was funny to watch a proud and composed guy like him turn bashful as soon as he saw Namiko.
Their attention was taken away by door to the house opening. While they could sense chakra from almost half a mile away, they didn't keep this ability always on. Doing so would probably fry their brains with information overload. So they were surprised on the sudden entry of their mother in the living room followed by Shizune as well as someone who they hadn't seen for a long time.
Following Shizune was a tall man with long spikey white hair tied into a pony tail. He was donned in a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armour that was visible at his wrists and ankles. He wore a unique horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' instead of the leaf symbol.
He was not alone though. With him was a young a bit feminine looking boy. He had long black hair, pale skin and large dark-brown eyes. He wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around his waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice, under which was a pinstriped outfit which was apparently a norm in Kirigakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Mist), from where he originally was before Jiraiya found him on the streets. His long hair was gathered in a white bun holder, while two locks of his hair fell loose framing his face, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends. He did not wear any forehead protector, probably because he was not affiliated to any village.
Naruto and Namiko both were surprised on seeing him. It had been a long time since he was seen in the village again. "Haku!" They both exclaimed.
Haku smiled at both of them, "Long time no see, Naruto-sama, Namiko-sama."
Naruto snapped out his surprise first, "Indeed it has. Three years long I think. Its good to see you again."
He turned to see Namiko's reaction and immediately sweatdropped while Shizune giggled. Namiko was standing there looking dumbfounded with a slight blush on her face. Shizune came up to Naruto and whispered, "She seems more than surprised."
Naruto nodded, "She always was a sucker for long haired feminine looking guys. Haku fits the bill I guess." He grinned before adding, "Too bad he doesn't have white eyes." effectively snapping Namiko out. She glared at her brother and older sister before greeting Haku, "It's nice to see you again, Haku."
Fortunately Haku didn't seem to have caught their byplay and just nodded. Jiraiya decided to butt in then, "And here I come to meet my cute nephew and niece and all they care about is the handsome looking guy. I'm hurt." He made a hurtful expression to go with it.
Before they could answer however Tsunade decided to do it first, "Should I tell them that you are late because you were peeping at the bathhouse again?" Jiraiya immediately turned his attention on Tsunade, "But you already told them. How's that fair?"
"It's okay Ero-oji, we already know you are a super pervert. We knew you would visit the bathhouse first anyways." Namiko said.
Jiraiya fell down crying anime tears while mumbling, "No one respects me." Haku sat beside him, patting him saying, "There there, Jiraiya-sama. I respect you."
After everyone got their laughs and greetings out of the way, they sat in the living room. They already had an idea of what was to transpire, so Jiraiya decided to cut to the chase. Without any previous humour, he addressed the twins carefully, "Now heres what we are going to do. I have the keys to your seals, which you seem to have figured out Naruto, good work. I will use it to loosen it enough, so that you we will be able to contact the Kyuubi. I want you to talk to it and try and make a deal or if possible make peace with it. It was rampaging the last time it was out in the world, we don't know what its feeling now. So be careful."
This was a news to Tsunade though. She didn't know they were supposed to contact the Kyuubi of all things, "Jiraiya! What the hell are you talking about? Make a deal with the Kyuubi? Don't you think its dangerous to do that?"
Jiraiya turned his attention on Tsunade, "No Hime. It is very important to make peace with it. Loosening the seal is like a double edged sword, while Naruto and Namiko get to use its Chakra, it also gives a way for the Kyuubi to get free. And you should know it better, Bijuus are not mindless creatures, they are sentient beings. So the Kyuubi would know too that loosening the seal will give it a chance to escape. It can make Naruto's and Namiko's life difficult. It will not be able to take direct control of their bodies or anything though, so don't worry. The seal will still be in place." He assured at the end.
Tsunade could not refute his point. Unlike her grandmothers or Kushina's seals, the ones on the twins were very advanced. Advanced enough to allow sharing of chakra between the Jinchuuriki and Bijuu without any harmful effects. But this posed another problem. The Jinchuuriki and Bijuu both had the way to influence the other, since there was a constant connection between them, unlike her grandmother's seal which completely immobilised the Bijuu with no contact between the host and the tenant, unless the host allowed. Therefore if peace was not made with the Kyuubi, he could basically refuse to give chakra, misbalancing their chakra network. So she reluctantly nodded.
Namiko, wanting to relieve her mother, said, "Don't worry, Kaa-chan. I'm sure we can make a deal with the Kyuubi."
Jiraiya shot her down though, "Don't hope too much for it. It has stayed inside you, locked very tightly for 12 years now. I don't think it will be happy about it. I know I wouldn't."
Namiko however gave her uncle a determined nod, "Don't worry. We will do it. Right, Onii-sama?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah Ero-oji. We will get through him. No matter what. You can bet on it."
Jiraiya smiled at their determination, 'Confident like their father and stubborn like their mother.' Then he saw Tsunade smiling similarly, 'Both of them.'
Jiraiya then clapped his hands, "Okay, now lets get down to business. Both of you show me your seals."
Naruto was the first one to do it. He unzipped his tracksuit and pulled up his mesh armour to show an intricate seal on his belly. The Eight Trigrams Seal (Hakke no Fuin Shikki) had two Four Symbol Seals around a spiral pattern, a norm for seals developed by the Uzumakis.
Jiraiya rolled up his right hand sleeve and moulded some chakra in it. A pattern appeared starting from his palm to his elbow. This was the key to the Yang seal on Naruto. He pressed his palm on the spiral on Naruto's stomach and rotated it counter-clockwise. He did it only slightly though. Even then Naruto felt a surge of energy but at the same time he realised his sensing range had reduced a little.
Jiraiya stepped back and asked, "So how does it feel? Does anything feel wrong to you?"
Naruto took some time to answer it, "I felt a rush of energy when you did it, but now its gone. My sensory range though seems to have reduced. Why is that?"
Tsunade answered that question, "I think because of the excess chakra of the Kyuubi flowing through you, your chakra control has gone down a little and since sensing abilities like yours greatly rely on chakra control, your sensing range has reduced."
Naruto nodded. That seemed to be a plausible theory. He was disappointed because of his loss of control, but he was determined to train it back to how it was.
Namiko was embarrassed to show her seal, mainly because of Haku's presence. She knew no matter how perverted her uncle was, he was professional when it came to work, especially sealing. Naruto was her Onii-sama, she didn't have any problem in showing him the seal. He has done so before anyway, when they became curious about the seals on them.
Jiraiya understood her problem and told Haku to wait outside. Naruto went with him to keep him company.
After both left, though Namiko wanted her Onii-sama to stay, Jiraiya nodded to Namiko. She untied her obi to open her kimono-blouse enough to show her seal. Her seal, to any amateur person, would look exactly the same as Naruto's. But to seal masters like Naruto and Jiraiya, it held some small differences. Differences that Namiko now knew was because of the different natures of Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside them.
Jiraiya this time rolled up his left meshed sleeve and moulded chakra. Another similar seal to the one on his right hand showed up. He repeated the same procedure he did on Naruto. Just like Naruto, Namiko also went through some lose in her sensory range.
After Namiko was properly dressed again, Naruto and Haku were called back in the room. Both the twins were told to sit in a cross-legged position on the ground and were being given instructions on how to contact the Kyuubi by Jiraiya.
Inside a dark place, a single red eye opened to show a slitted pupil. The head on which the eye was, rose a little. The head was not human-like, instead it resembled more of an animal's, a canine or a vulpine. It had suddenly felt like some weight was lifted off it, which disturbed its sleep. 'Those humans have finally decided to contact me I see.'
AN:
Somehow it has become like this, that there is no chance for an Omake in every alternate chapter because I would rather avoid killing Sasuke by some boring method like execution etc. Sorry for that. But this chapter is already long, so its better this way, I think.
You can take the Hokage's words about the team placements as my words. The teams are divided depending upon these: Tracking, Capturing, T&I, Combat, Espionage with a medic in the team. There is also Planning and Strategy, but that is something that would come after the teams are finalized.
I'm trying to give all the characters their own personalities, some similar to canon, some different and some both. I hope I am at least not doing a bad job at it.
So Ero-sennin re-enters as Ero-oji but he has a boy from Kiri with him. How? And a gigantic mass of chakra, two of them actually, has awakened and is ready to enter the story, consciously this time. You all are probably tired of all these mysteries I have kept unexplained, Danzo dying, Tsunade's first child and now Haku. But you must understand, all will have to be explained in their own time. And I WILL explain them. Just when the time is right, or sometimes over the course of the story. I believe that keeps it interesting.
And no, Haku is not Namiko's ship. But I brought him in since I think he (I truly believe it was a She though.) was a very important character in the Naruto series. Important enough to be reincarnated. He gave Naruto his nindo. And I thought Naruto bringing him back alive after the wave arc was a bit impractical and overused. This is fanfic, so I bent the circumstances a little to introduce him early and differently because I still haven't read a fanfic with Haku shown as anything other than Zabuza's partner.
What do you think Sai would have nicknamed Hinata in the canon? if he has not already. (I don't think he has) And what nickname would he give her in this fic? Tell me about it as well as the chapter in the reviews. Till next chapter