A Tale of two Sisters

by Clutus

[Prologue re-written] This is a Naruto fanfiction (slightly AR/AU) based around the two Hyuga sisters. When both were young did Hinata made a bet with Hanabi hoping to help her sister improve. That backfired on her however resulting in her becoming her younger sisters slave. Both are young and clueless to this topic and still family. Who knows what will happen? Rated M to be safe.

35. Chapter 34 - Friendship at risk?

Authors Note: Okay, uhm... I'm not really sure what came over me when I wrote the training field scene.
I guess it was bound to happen, after all the tension that built up since they became genin and all. But if it was bound to happen... I guess it ended too quick? Kakashi backing them up went okay - but Naruto was swayed too easy, wasn't he?

Ayup, time's running away pretty fast... Still, a new chapter.

I wrote that chapter split over like four or five different periods since the last chapter. My own personal situation and emotions changed during these times as well. I guess that shows inside the different scenes of this chapter.

XXXXX

A Tale of two Sisters - Chapter 34: Even good friends fight over disagreements

The sun was setting down already, casting a redish aura onto the sky and the village Konoha in general. People in the streets were still busy, but quite a lot of them were on their way home, to prepare dinner for their families or to just finish the day for good and relax. Only a few people took their time to actually look up at the sky and enjoy the scenery. It was one of those peaceful and lazy days one could use to relax all day, rewarding oneself with this nice scenery to top it off.

Hanabi was none of these people however. Her day so far was stress pure and all she could think about was finally reaching her home to relax. Their mission turned out succesful and the walk back was uneventful. But once they reached the village her day just became the worst. She didn't even realized how long she was at T&I, the only bigger clue being the setting sun.

She was paying no attention to nobody or anything at all, quickly navigating between all other citizens and making progress towards the Hyuga compound. Ignoring the guards at the main entrance as well, they weren't paying her much attention anyway being the daughter of the clanhead, she reached the house her family lived in. Once inside she let out a sigh of relief, sure that she finally had time to calm down.

It didn't take her long to realize her mistake however, to realize that she let her guard down too early. "Ah, there you are, Hanabi. I was wondering when you would finally be back. Be a dear and join me, will you?" a voice called out to her from the kitchen a bit down the hallway. A voice she knew quite well, a voice that belonged to a person either having sensed her presence or having waited for her with his Byakugan activated. Either way, the tune of that voice and the choosen words didn't exactly match with the way she remembered from before they left for their mission. It was too friendly.

Giving into her fate, she could still decide to storm off should the encounter turn out to be to her dislike, Hanabi entered the kitchen. "Hello father." she greeted the person waiting for her and took a seat opposite to him. Without really realizing it her hand snatched some of the food he had on the kitchen table and ate it. The moment her taste buds reacted to the food her body remembered her that she had nothing to eat since breakfast. If anything she should thank her father for the food later.

"You don't look too good, if I may say so." he started, his tune still too friendly for Hanabis liking. "But I suppose this is to be expected after that mission you went on. Or being summoned by T&I upon return. I hope you are okay nonetheless?"

These few sentences, innocent as they may be, sent the alarm bells within Hanabis mind into action. She just came back home, but her father seemed to be knowledgeable about events he couldn't know about. "Did you have anything to do with T&I?" she asked her father wary, her eyes scanning for any visible reaction. If her father was the one to have set her into Inoichis radar...

"Not at all." came the answer paired with a disarming smile. "Hinata told me about it when she came back home together with your teammate. I just happen to have an idea about what could have happened there, considering that Inoichi is involved. So, are you okay?"

"So sis is back too? That's good..." her reply was more automatic and not really intended, but she didn't realize as her mind was fighting to grasp another thing. Just what had happened during their absence that turned her father into this caring person? After all these fights they had prior? "...and I'm okay." she added after some time of silence.

Now that she had calmed down enough she figured that her session with the Yamanaka wasn't too bad. It was mainly the initial shock about what had happened that threw her into a frenzy. But all things considered, not that she could tell for sure just yet, it might have helped her. At least a little. Maybe. "Yeah, I'm okay." she repeated. "I guess T&I isn't too scary, as long as you don't enter it as enemy."

Hiashi nodded, a small smile on his face. He had to admit that it went better so far than he had expected after his earlier encounter with Hinata. And if Hanabi could warm up to him, even if just a little, he was sure that his older daughter eventually will too because of the sisters unique situation. "That sounds about right." he agreed. "So, I heard your mission went a bit crazy. Care to tell me?"

This set off another alarm bell inside Hanabis mind. Her eyes narrowed while she pondered over her father. "Sis didn't tell you." she stated matter of factly. "So you must have talked to C...". Judging by the missing reaction of her father she figured she was right. "And you asked him more things about us.". Again no reaction. She let out a sigh and stood up from the table. "Thanks for the food. Good night, father."

Hiashi watched his daughter leave the kitchen, not making any attempts to stop her. Despite all the fights and disagreements they had in the past, he could tell what his daughter was thinking right now. He would have been upset about the same thing, that much he knew. Relying on a masterspy to get information about the own family is not exactly honorable. And the Hyuga clan, even so his daughters were defying their rules quite a lot, had it's core rules based around honor and tradition.

Still, the simple fact that Hanabi sat down with him for this short conversation was quite the progress for him. And despite the fact of his betrayel against his daughters did she thank him for the food and wished a good night. Yes, he made progress indeed.

Hinatas room

She heard quiet voices nearing the door to her sisters room. Something she was surprised about for a short moment, before remembering her fathers words that she came back together with Naruto. But that he was still there, it was getting late and dark outside after all, was at least unexpected. But then again, he was living alone and had no real rules to follow, so he could of course stay out as long he wanted.

Without a care in the world she simply entered the room without knocking or announcing it. Both occupants looked up and at the door, Hinata slightly angry about the unannounced enter, but that shifted into a smile the moment she realized who entered. Naruto had a more surprised look on his face which quickly changed into a bright smile. "Hanabi-chan, welcome back. Are you okay? What happened? And why do you charge in here like you own the place?" he questioned her, the last question paired with a smirk.

Hanabi blinked her eyes at these questions and at the scene in front of her. Hinata was laying on her back inside her bed, her upper body pushed up by her arms to look at the door. And Naruto sat on the chair at her desk. This scene was too innocence for her liking and she mock pouted, picking up the most stupid question to answer. "Well, technically I do own this place. At least do I own her, so I own her things too, right? And since we are, technically of course, not on our mission anymore..." her face turned into a grin.

She hadn't forgotten how Naruto stabbed her into the back before they reached the village, by scolding her that they were, technically, still on their mission. But now? Now she was in her element. Now Naruto had no chance against her. Now she could get him back... "And you intend to prove a point by now getting violent for no reason?" ...and of course he had enough wits to point out the obvious.

Her shoulders dropped and she let out a sigh. "No... this wouldn't be fair to Hinata..." she admitted quietly and walked over to her sisters bed, crawling into it and snuggling into her sisters side. "Besides, I'm tired anyway. Ran into father too when I arrived..." she mumbled into Hinatas body before moving her head to look at her. "So, what were you two doing here?"

Hinata started to comfortingly stroke her sisters hair, a slight smile on her face. "Not much. I showed him my collection. And we talked a lot about this and that. That pretty much sums it up." the answer was truthful, but Hanabi wasn't exactly happy with it.

"That's all? Seriously sis, how do you intend of keeping Naruto-kun as your boyfriend if you, you know, not do anything with him?" the scolding tune made Hinata blush, but she didn't interrupt her younger sister. "I told you before, if you won't be careful someone else will snatch him away from you. And I'm sure that Ino-chan has an eye on him."

"Uhm... you are aware that I can hear you too, right Hanabi-chan?" Naruto asked a bit irritated. It was less the way the younger girl talked to her sister. He was used to it to a point, not only because of their relationship but also because Hanabi always was the more open one and Hinata listened to her even in the past due to her shyness. It was more the point that she was that blunt about that topic. In his presence of all things.

"So? Doesn't make it any less true." she shrugged, her body moving even closer to her sisters by that.

"Well, it is true that every girl from our class was fawning over Sasuke, except for her..." Hinata said quietly, her hand never stopping to stroke her sisters hair. "But I don't think she is into Naruto-kun."

Trying to shift the topic, he really wasn't too fond of speaking about who might or might not have a crush on whom, he continued on another bit of information. "Speaking of, has any of you seen Sasuke since... what happened?"

"I haven't, no..." Hinata shook her head.

"Why do you care? He tried to kill you." Hanabi added, turning her head to look at Naruto.

"But he still was our classmate." Naruto countered.

"Yeah, til the point he tried to kill you the first time." Hanabi rolled her eyes at the stuborness of Naruto.

Hinata gave a slight nod. "I have to agree with her. He tried to kill you. Twice. He never was a friend of us."

"I'm still curious about his whereabouts. He's gone since that day after all." Naruto said with a finality to his words which actually managed to calm down this current discussion.

The room became quiet for a few minutes before Hinata got surprised by the even and calm breathing of her sister. "Oh, she fell asleep... must have been pretty tired out after this day." she spoke quietly, trying to not disturb the now sleeping girl. "Would you mind leaving now, Naruto-kun? I think I could use some sleep too."

"Sure thing, Hinata-chan." Naruto agreed and got up from the chair he was sitting on. "Will see you tomorrow. Sleep well." he spoke and turned to leave, just to stop and turn back to the girls with a smirk on his face. "But before I go... want to prank Hanabi-chan?". The worried, but at the same time somewhat conflicted look he received from Hinata was answer enough for him.

A bar inside Konoha

Entering after a long and eventful day, not to mention after the latest mission, Kakashi strode up to the barkeeper to get himself something to drink. His eye wandered around and soon spotted some familiar faces. Taking his drink he moved over and greeted them with a wave. "Yo."

"Now look whos back from his first mission with his team." Asuma greeted and gestured at an empty chair. "So, how was it? And how did your team? I mean, it is unusual for the first mission to be outside the village right away."

Kakashi sat down and took a sip from his drink before shrugging with his shoulders. "Well, they are all back alive. That's at least something, right?"

"What do you mean with that?" Asuma asked iritated. "Sure, your team got a C-rank and all, but they aren't THAT bad, are they?"

In response to his question did the two females at the table start to snicker. "You haven't heard yet, have you?" Anko asked innocently, giving him a sly smirk.

Asuma let out a groan. "Apparently I haven't. Heard what?"

"Oh, nothing important, really..." Kurenai answered instead of Anko, waving it off. "I mean, you were busy training your team and all. Unlike Spooky here who took his freshly assigned genin team on a literal suicide mission..."

That got her the attention of Asuma and she grined at him. But before he could manage to get some words in did Kakashi beat him to it. "Wait a second. Asuma actually trained his team? Our lazy 'I don't want to, but my father said so' Asuma?"

"Funny." came the annoyed reply. "Yes, I started to train my team because I figured that if they died out there it would be my fault to a certain degree. Not that Shikamaru and Chouji would be that motivated. Ino is, though." he shrugged. "And it does sound like you should have done the same instead of taking a mission outside the village. Anyway... will someone tell me now what you are trying to hide here?"

"Well, I do wonder how they seem to know about it..." Kakashi gestured towards the females. "...but since Anko-chan is involved with C am I not too surprised to be honest..."

"Actually, it was Nai-chan here who got the information first." Anko interrupted with a smirk.

"Very true." she nodded in confirmation. "Not my fault when C is reporting to the Hokage while I'm present with my team for a debriefing."

"As I was saying right now..." he ignored the interuption. "...did it turn out that our employer lied to us in regards to the mission. In fact were some missing nin involved..."

"For which I'm really thankful." Anko interrupted again. "I mean, I still don't get how you managed to capture two of them alive AND bring them back here for interogation without having returned to the village, but they sooo managed to sweeten my day."

Having listened so far Asuma couldn't help but to comment on it now too. "Ah, right, I heard about that from Inoichi. That they got hands on some missing nins. So it was your team, Kakashi?"

"Yes it was. So, as I was just saying it turned out that they were only subordinates of the real missing nin working for the crime lord surpressing the village we headed to..."

Again he got interrupted. "The Demon of the Mist, right?" Kurenai spoke up, receiving a confirming nod from Anko before she moved on. "I tell you, Kiba got totally pissed when C was talking to the Hokage and re-evaluated the mission to an A-rank."

"Ah." Asuma nodded. "I can see why you would say that your team at least got back alive. A group of fresh genin against such an opponent really borders on a suicide mission."

All eyes turned at Kakashi when he didn't continue to tell the story and the silence got too long. "What? Based on all your interruptions you don't want me to finish, so why should I bother to continue?" he asked and took another sip from his drink.

"Nah, we just like to annoy you when we feel like it would be fun." Anko waved off with a dismissing gesture.

"True." Kurenai agreed with a shrug. "Shouldn't surprise you, though. You always made for a good victim."

Kakashi remained silent and Asuma nodded slightly. "Well, sounds like this is the end of the story anyway, right? Your team survived, you beat the Demon and the rest turned out well."

He let out a frustrated laugh. "I wish! No, we also had a not too friendly encounter with the Organization and to top it off went the family of the bridgebuilder we guarded missing even before we arrived."

The group fell silent at that revelation and all four were drinking their drinks. Some minutes passed like that before Asuma spoke up again. "Right, at least your team got back alive..."

Hokage office, the next morning

Hiruzen Sarutobi was on his way towards his office when a commotion catched his attention. It was unusual that something was going on this early in the morning. Most citizens were still asleep. Only the nightguards and early risers were awake right now. Even more strange to this commotion was the simple fact that the source seemed to be inside his office. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked an ANBU that was standing outside his office, the door being closed.

"Ah, Hokage-sama, sir. The Trickster decided to break some rules. Cat is trying to deal with the situation and to solve it peacefully. We have... everything under control, sir." the ANBU reported.

He got a slightly confused look in return. "The... Trickster? Who is that supposed to be?"

"Ah, my appologizes, sir. That's the name the ANBU gave that stray of yours." came the dutifully reply.

Just that the Hokage couldn't place this new answer either. "Stray? Ah, you know what, just step aside." he ordered his man and pushed the door open, entering his office.

What he saw nearly brought him to break out into laughter, but he managed to hold it in. "I told you that you can't just take that seat there. And put your feet down!" Cat argued angrily with C who was sitting at the Hokage desk, his feet prominently placed upon it.

"Oh, didn't you say that I shall free this chair just a moment ago? And now it's only taking my feet down? Seriously, Kitten, you aren't making much sense right now. Besides, it's just a chair and it was free. So I sat down on it to wait." came the witty reply from C, the grin on his face getting wider the more Cat got worked up over this situation.

"Move your fricking ass or I'll..." she started with an angry hiss, her eyes narrowed behind her mask.

Though she never got to finish her sentence cause she was interrupted by C. "...go whine about it to Anko-chan in hope that she will punish me for my behavior." he finished for her with a laugh. "Honestly, you know how pathetic that would be, right?"

"You little..."

"That's enough." the Hokage interrupted, deciding to solve this situation himself before it would get ugly. "Cat, you can leave. This is nothing to get worked up over, as I wasn't here until now. And C, I'll listen to what you have to say, once I've taken my seat."

"Yes Hokage-sama..." Cat acknowledge, her eyes lingering on C for some more seconds before she disappeared out of the room, finishing her nightshift.

Clearing the chair and moving in front of the desk C waited for the Hokage to sit down himself before he started right away. "Alright, I got an intresting report and thought that you gotta know about it. See, Jiraiya is going to come back to town."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, he is a shinobi from Konoha. So it's not too surprising for him to visit the village. Beside of the fact that he wasn't in town for over a decade... Say, why do you think he's coming back?"

"Rumours." came the simple answer that stood inside the room for some moments before C continued. "They say that Orochimaru might currently be inside the Fire country. And if this wouldn't be reason enough, there are also rumours about my whereabouts being most likely within Konoha too. If he's just half the masterspy he's supposed to be will he clearly show up here. Both because of his former teammate and also to search for me."

"Hmm, I see..." the Hokage nodded slightly and stroke his beard. "Do you think that..."

"I do." C answered the question before it was spoken. "I'm sure that 'She' suspects me to be here since I killed the tracker back then. But I doubt that the Organization will do a large scale operation just to kill me inside the village. She wouldn't risk that much, that I'm certain of."

"So all we have to do for now is keep our eyes open for any clues on Orochimaru, if he is really inside the country. Thanks for the report. If there's nothing more, you are dismissed."

Leaving the building C spotted the angry Yugao standing outside, openly glaring at him. Her ANBU mask was stored away as her shift was over. "You owe me a breakfast for that trouble. And I don't want to hear any excuses.". Giving her a nod he knew better than to decline just now. Teasing one of the most dangerous kunoichi of the village was one thing, pissing her off for real was a different story.

Hyuga compound, Hinatas room

"Oh sis..." came the overly sweet voice from Hanabi out of Hinatas bathroom, sending a dreadful shiver down Hinatas spine. "Be a dear and come in here for a moment, will you?" she finished in a sing-song tune that promised nothing good.

Knowing that she had no choice at that moment Hinata walked towards her bathroom she offered her sister to use first after waking up this morning. Opening the door she peeked her head inside. "Yes, Hanabi-sama?" she asked neutrally.

Hanabi stood in the middle of the bathroom, one hand placed on her hip, her head slightly crooked to the side. She was watching her image in the mirror, being completely naked except... "Care to explain 'that' to me, sis?" Hanabi asked in the same sweet voice she used before, her other hand barely touching and trailing along the collar around her neck that had her name engraved on it.

"Uhm... Naruto-kun wanted to see us sisters similiar collared before he left last evening..." Hinata explained quietly, not daring to look at her younger sister. "He said it would be a cute image the way you were snuggled into my body and asleep."

"..." Hanabi turned her head and looked at her sister in disbelieve, trying to figure out if she was serious right now or trying to screw with her head. "And you thought it was a good idea to let him? Why didn't you stop him? You know that you are implying that he wants both of us as his own slaves, right?" she questioned her sister wary, still trying to figure out if Hinata was truthfully to her.

"He said it would be a good way to prank you..." Hinata admitted, still not looking at her sister. "But, uhm... you know that you..." she bit her lip. "That you needed til seeing yourself in the mirror to realize you are wearing it, right?"

A blush entered Hanabis face upon that revelation. "That... that... that's not the point here. I was still half asleep!" she blurted out. It was true that she hadn't realized the collar before seeing it. It didn't felt like a foreign object to her. It sorta felt right in a strange way she couldn't explain, as she hadn't worn a collar beside the short moment those years ago when they ran into the Organization. "And it doesn't change the fact that you still allowed him to do it."

Finally looking at Hanabi Hinata couldn't help it and had spoken before even realizing what it was that she spoke. "...and why haven't you taken it off yet?"

The blush Hanabi sported intensified and she quickly took the collar off her neck, tossing it to her sister. "Just put it back..." she grumbled before entering the shower she was preparing for.

Catching the collar Hinata nodded and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Just a moment later she put the collar back into her shelf and sat down on her bed to wait for Hanabi to finish and clear the bathroom. She didn't dare to do anything just now and simply waited, her hand unconciously trailing along her own collar in the process. Her mind went back to the evening before, to the doubts she had at hearing Narutos proposal for the prank on Hanabi. Thinking back to it, she should have protected her mistress from it, not allow her teammate to do it.

It took a while for Hanabi to finish and she stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed. Hinata wanted to stand up from the bed and go next, but the look Hanabi gave her was enough to sink back down. It seemed like she wouldn't get out of this situation without a scolding. A scolding she most likely deserved.

"You know sis..." Hanabi started, her eyes locked onto her sisters. "I'm really disappointed right now. I was thinking about a proper way to punish you for your bad decision, and..." she let out a sigh. "My first thought was to go through the supplies I got from C to look for a proper punishment. My second thought was to give you a spanking."

Hinata was listening to her sister, no, to her mistress, and nodded slightly. It was just supposed to be a prank, but she understood that her misbehavior couldnt be ignored by her. But being honest to herself, she feared that Hanabi would get violent now. It was her right, yes, and they weren't on a mission, so the agreement with Kakashi wouldn't stop her from getting violent either. All she could hope for was that Hanabi would see reason and keep her temper in check.

"...but then I remembered what I was talking about with Ino-chan and her father yesterday." she continued while letting out a sigh and walked over to her sisters clothes. "Since you thought it was okay for Naruto-kun to put a collar on me... I'm sure you won't mind showing yours around.". She picked up her sisters Konoha headband and put it away into one of her pockets. "You won't be needing this one for today, so I'm going to watch over it. Now go, get yourself ready."

Without giving her sister another look Hanabi left the room. Hinata sat on her bed for another minute before letting out a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding in. She wasn't sure if she was lucky that she avoided her sisters temper. So her punishment was to be humiliated by openly showing that she was owned. Considering that most likely the whole village heard about it by now, this wasn't too bad. Or at least she tried to convince herself about it.

Not wanting to give her another reason to get mad at her she finally got up from her bed and entered her bathroom to get ready for the day. They had training sheduled by Kakashi after all. She just wasn't sure for whom she doesn't want to be late: their sensei, Kakashi, or her sister and mistress, Hanabi.

While taking her own shower she settled her mind on Hanabi. She don't wanted to let Hanabi wait too long for her after the day started the way it did. If they were late for training, so be it. It would be Hanabis decision if she wanted to delay the showing up on the training field. But even without having gotten a timelimit, she wouldn't let her wait too long to join her for breakfast.

A bit later, one of the training grounds

Naruto slowly got nervous and questioned himself if he was at the correct training field. After their debriefing with the Hokage Kakashi told them to show up at the training field that morning. But it was already past the time they were to meet and he was the only one present. He wasn't surprised that Kakashi wasn't there yet, but that the girls were late too got him worrying. Just that there was nobody he could ask whether or not he was at the correct field. And if he left now to search for them...

Already waiting 45 minutes he decided to wait more and luckily was spared of making the decision to leave or not, as finally Hanabi and Hinata showed up. Seeing them a smile entered his face and he waved in their direction, shouting a greeting across the field. "Hey, Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan! I was worrying you two wouldn't show up. Or that I got the wrong training field. Glad you are here."

He was wondering why Hinata seemed strongly subdued this morning and noticed that she was looking at the ground while following Hanabi. Once the girls got closer to a normal talking range Hanabi answered him. "I just didn't felt like hurrying this morning. And I don't feel like forgiving you either, Naruto." she spoke to him, a glint in her eyes the only warning he got before the younger girl charged at him.

He barely ducked under her first punch and dodged the follow-up, trying to get some distance between them. "Whoah, what's wrong, Hanabi-chan?" he asked confused, his eyes scanning her over. "This is no after effect of our mission or your session with T&I, is it?" His voice sounded concerned, but that enraged the girl just more.

"Oh, this certainly has nothing to do with these things, Naruto-kun." she said sweetly, with anger clearly inside her undertune. "You simply picked the wrong girl to mess around with." was the last thing she said and continued her attacks on Naruto.

Parrying and dodging the punches he looked over to Hinata for support. But all he received from her was an appolegetic smile and a motion pointing at her collar. It was enough for him to understand. "Alright, calm down, Hanabi-chan. Don't tell me you are upset about that prank?" he asked while still moving, not having attempted any attack himself yet. "It was just that, a prank. Beside, you two looked cute like that."

"This is nothing to joke about!" Hanabi hissed back. Her attacks weren't graceful at all and they followed no pattern. They were a simple mean of getting her anger out of her system. "After all we went through... after all that happened to us... and you are putting a collar on me?!"

"You did the same to Hinata-chan." Naruto replied while sidestepping another punch. He quickly turned aroung to face the next attack just to realize that none was coming.

Hanabi made a few steps forward after passing Naruto, before slowly coming to a halt. Her head was bowed down, her face covered by her hair. "That... that's different..." she said quietly, not daring to move or look back at Naruto. "She... and I... we..."

Naruto let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know. You two agreed on it because of a stupid bet in your past. Want to know what I think? That you are taking it way too far with that. It was a bet between you two when you were young kids fooling around. And that's what kids do, fooling around. Heck, I was pranking people left and right at that age to get any kind of attention!"

He just had enough of it. Since the day of their true genin test, since the day the girls told him and Kakashi about their relation, couldn't he understand it. He couldn't understand why Hinata seemed to be okay with that situation. He couldn't understand why Hanabi took it all so serious and even registered her own sister as a slave with the village. And he clearly couldn't understand why Hanabi was that upset about a prank of him. Though that could have something to do with her being super serious about this whole situation.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata spoke quietly, not sure if she should interrupt these two or not. "It's okay, really. I made my decision about it. You don't have to be like that towards Hanabi-chan."

"But I don't get it!" Naruto shouted out loud. "After all that happened with C and his Organization, how can you two keep this up?" Now that he had started on it he couldn't help but to continue. They were friends, yes. But this didn't meant that he had to accept everything.

"It's their way of being close and caring for each other..." a new voice started to explain. "You are around them for some years by now. Clearly you noticed the bond they have. It just took a form different from what you would expect between sisters. Doesn't mean their bond is any less valueable."

Both Hinata and Naruto looked towards the new voice and spotted Kakashi leaning at a nearby tree, reading in his book. Hanabi however still stood there, her head bowed down. "I don't want to loose her..." she said quietly. "I need her. Even if you can't understand it... as our friend... can't you just accept that it is the way it is?"

"Am I the only one here thinking that something is totally wrong when a sibling is enslaving her own sister?" Naruto asked in frustration, not happy about the way this discussion turned. And when did Kakashi show up?

"For a fact, yes." Kakashi stated in a calm manner. "And this is because you grew up without any kind of family and just can't understand why family would act like that towards each other."

"And you are okay with them being like that?" Naruto asked wary, his eyes switching from one girl to Kakashi to the other girl.

Kakashi put his book away and let out a sigh himself. "Well, I was planing to train with you, but it seems like we need to get some things solved prior. Yes Naruto, I'm okay with them being like that." before Naruto could start to protest he raised a hand to silence him. "If this is the way for them to be happy, let them. Every day could be our last day, that is the risk of a shinobi. And every shinobi has their own ways of enjoying life to the fullest and handle the stress. And this can often manifest as a kind of deviancy, insanity, quirk or kink."

"I'm happy, Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke with a smile. "Because my sister and I are close. Because we trust each other. I have choosen to become hers and I don't regret it. It was my own decision. I willingly entered her care. Unlike the majority of our clan..." she trailed off at the end, but that catched Narutos attention.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" he was honestly confused now.

"The Caged Bird Seal." Hanabi answered his question. "It is tradition within our clan that members of the branch family are branded by it. While it isn't called 'slavery', it technically is. Our clan is build on and lives from slavery." she spoke quietly and still hadn't moved.

"Never thought I would see the day when a Hyuga would say it that bluntly." Kakashi remarked with a knowing smirk.

"We aren't stupid, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata commented. "Like I said, I choose the position I'm in now and I'm happy with it. In fact..." she let out a sigh. "Even so I only learned about that recently... if I hadn't, one of us two would have been branded by it too. It is better the way it is now."

Naruto stayed silent for a while, pondering about what he learnt just now. "I... still don't really get it..." he started, looking from one girl to the other. "But I think I understand that you two are fine with it. I'll try to accept it, as your friend. For now at least."

"Thank you..." Hanabi said quietly. "And sorry for going berserk..."

"Now that we got that cleared up can we start with our training." Kakashi smiled at his genin who all currently seemed subdued to him. Not that he could blame them. "Hanabi, you broke the rule of getting violent towards your teammates. And you two were late too. For that will all of you run two laps around the village as a warmup."

The girls both nodded, accepting their punishments. Hanabi was well aware that her actions lead to this situation and she would take responsibility. It was the only right thing to do just now. That and talking to Inoichi once more. He did speak about helping her with her temper too. Hinata too was in acceptance. But she saw that less as punishment but more as training, what it indeed is.

"Wait, why me too?" Naruto shouted out loud, his eyes fixating on Kakashi, before his mind finally voiced the one question nagging on him since their sensei announced his presence. "And if you were here all the time to watch all of what happened, why did you let me wait?"

Some days later

Naruto was alone on the training field, his team got free time after having completed a D-rank mission inside the village. But instead of spending it together Hanabi went over to T&I to speak to Inoichi. And Hinata excused herself and went straight home. Not that he could blame them, the tension still present between them.

"...don't get it... I don't get it... I just don't get it..." he spoke to himself while fighting against some of his shadow clones, practicing his staff skills. "How can they seriously say that they are fine with it when we were nearly sold into slavery by the Organization?"

His ranting was a good enough distraction that one of his clones managed a good hit into his side, a smirk on his face, just to get dispersed by a counter from Naruto. The next clone taking the place of the dispersed one fell quickly as well, with Naruto letting his anger out on his copies. There was not much grace in his movements right now and he left many openings to his clones, but every one that took advantage of one of those fell quickly by yet another counter attack.

"You know, if you think about it enough, they mentioned they decided on it even before the kidnapping happened. I'm not sure if your argument has any real weight behind it." one of his clones answered him. It was the only clone not participating in the ongoing brawl. Instead it sat leisurely below a tree and watched the spectacle, creating new clones for the fight whenever the amount went too low. "And remember Spookys words. It makes sense to have something to counter the stress, a way to enjoy life. They do look happy."

"So what? You saying I should simply ignore it and look away? Hanabi-chan enslaved Hinata-chan and even registered her with the village. Hell, she has official papers signed by the old man to proove it and all!" the real Naruto growled loudly, taking out three clones at once with a rotation of his body, his staff landing clean hits. In return he received two hits in the back, on which he quickly turned around and charged at the responsible clone.

"Yeah, something like that." the clone agreed. "Or you find your own thing to handle the stress, boss. Cause if you are honest, we don't have anything we could use as a counter balance. And I believe that Spooky really had a good point."

The real Naruto stopped his movements for a moment to think the words of his clone over, only to receive some nasty hits from the fighting clones. Another loud growl later had two more clones dispersed by his furious attacks, the bruises on his own body increasing. "Wouldn't you agree that training is a good way to handle stress? Just wish I had more things to train on than just the staff." he whined in frustration before dodging another clone just to land a clean hit on it as well.

"How about joining the girls and getting your own licence? Just need to find a willing slave. While Hanabi-chan looked good with that collar, I highly doubt that she would agree on it." the sitting clone replied in thought, before his eyes went wide when the staff of the original headed straight for him, dispersing him with a clean hit on the chest.

Naruto, still standing in the position he used to throw his staff at his clone, took some deep breathes. His eyes were fixated on the spot his clone sat til now. "What is that for a stupid idea?" he asked in irritation, anger in his eyes.

The remaining clones that were fighting stopped their attacks and watched the original carefully. One of them couldn't help but to point out the obvious. "Uhm, boss? You are aware that we are just copies from yourself, right? So his suggestion isn't that far off. You surely had these thoughts yourself before."

That earned the clone a punch straight into his face, the anger within Naruto increasing. "Not gonna happen! I'm not going to enslave any friend of mine, dammit!" he shouted at his remaining clones.

The last three clones looked at each other before the next spoke to the original. "'course not, boss. But you really need something to blow off some steam and, to be honest, attacking and hurting yourself is no real option. So, yeah..." he finished before the last clones dispersed themselfs, leaving the angry original behind by himself.

"I know that, dammit!" he shouted in frustration. "Doesn't help that I don't have anything beside the staff I could focus on. It's just frustrating."

He simply stood there for some minutes, taking deep breathes to calm himself down. When he finally felt his anger fading he created a new shadow clone. "'Sup boss." the clone greeted. "All of our friends have their own thing. Shikamaru plays shogi, Ino-chan is intrested in flowers, Chouji eats, Spooky reads his porn, the girls have each other. You sure you want to continue fighting?"

"As long as I don't find anything else and have enough energy for it, yeah." Naruto replied with a grin.

He was surprised that his anger was gone already, his discussion with his clone really helped him a lot. Being able to actually speak to himself about the things going on in his head was a real helpful thing. His clones were of course right, he really needed a way to relieve his stress beside of training with himself. He wouldn't partake in the thing the sisters choose, that much he was sure about. But he couldn't deny that they really were relaxed whenever they were together and acting on it.

But how to find his own thing?

Some distance away Kakashi watched the now evenly matched fight between Naruto and his single clone. "He just has to surprise me time and time again. Never thought he would figure it out that quick. I just hope that the tensions between them will be solved now. But I think his brawl just now brought him closer to acceptance, at least a little." he spoke to himself, leaving Naruto to himself.

Later that day

Sitting at Ichirakus and eating some ramen Naruto was deep in thought, thinking over the discussion with his clones and what he figured out by it. He was so deep in thought that the voice calling out to him went unnoticed. Once, twice, he just wasn't reacting to it. It wasn't that surprising when he startled and shot up from his chair the moment a hand was placed on his shoulder. "What the..." he shouted in surprise, turning around to face whoever disturbed him there.

"Whoa, take it easy, Naruto." the responsible person said in a disarming voice, his hands lifted up into the air to show that he want him no harm. "I called out to you, but you weren't reacting. Something on your mind?"

"Oh, Iruka-sensei..." he answered with a slight nod, motioning for Iruka to take a seat next to him while he sat back down on his own. "What do you do to counter the stress? What is your thing to balance out the stress, to enjoy your life?"

Iruka looked back at Naruto with surprise on his face, mainly that Naruto was already thinking about this topic, before realization hit him. With Kakashi as his instructor and the Hyuga girls in his team was it bound to happen that this topic would come up sooner rather then later. "So you reached the point at which you are too stressed already, huh? Well, for me it would be teaching at the Academy."

"You are kidding me, right?" Naruto replied without missing a beat, his face frozen in a disbelieving state. "Isn't that the most stressful thing in your life? How can that be your stress relief?"

"Well excuse me, but I enjoy teaching all these kids. Besides, the most stressful time was when you did all your pranks. It became rather peaceful once you stopped with them all together." a slight tick of irritation was on his face, but he managed to keep his cool.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, thinking about it for a moment before a grin entered his face. "Say, Iruka-sensei, remember when we managed to get these boys with the paintbombs? You know, the ones that were later thrown out of the Academy?"

A smile entered Irukas face when he nodded. "Of course I do. That was very well executed. And one of the only days during which Hinata wore a skirt instead of her usual clothes."

Both of them thought back to it for a moment before Iruka spoke again. "You know, as your former teacher I guess I shouldn't tell you that, but..." he started, getting the full attention from Naruto. "...I believe that you had found your stress relief in the past already. Why you decided to drop it though, I can't say. Might have had something to do with both Hinata and Hanabi focusing on training and the Academy in general soon after."

Deep in thought Naruto considered what his former teacher just told him. After a while the smile on his face became even brighter. "Pranks, huh? Well, they were fun. I can't believe I've forgotten about them completely. Thank you, Iruka-sensei, you are the best!" his voice was cheerful now. "Why don't you order some tasty ramen? My treat!"

Hokage Office

Being the leader of a village is a hard job. Deciding things that will effect all the villagers, always in need of keeping a cool head, to think about things others would never consider. It can be stressful at times, at other times rewarding. He is loved by his own villagers, that much he knew, and even the other villages respect him. Something that he knew he shouldn't take for granted.

But all that made it even harder for him to do the thing he is planing to do. He didn't have to. In fact, it was just a thought that crossed his mind and whether or not he would actually do it, that wasn't decided just yet. Nothing wrong with at least checking the possibilities however.

"Yo, bossman, heard you need me?" C asked causually while entering the office without knocking.

A small smile sneaked on the face of the Hokage. It was a welcomed change to have someone carefree in his office, someone who wasn't intimidated by his status. "Yes, I do indeed. Thank you for coming." the old man greeted. "I hope that you are doing okay?"

He sat down on the couch in the office and made himself comfortable. "Oh, so this being a social visit? Nothing more important on your mind?" C asked with a small grin. "I'm fine. You know, with one of the most dangerous criminal organisations on my tail and stuff."

With a slight nod the Hokage acknowledged this statement and took out his pipe. "I can see how this might be troubling you. However, you are one of us now, and we will assist you like any of our people."

"While I appreciate that, you just aren't aware how this will come back to you and bite you in the ass." C couldn't resist but to laugh at his own words. "I know firsthand how agressive they'll pursue their goals. So, you going to tell me what you want from me, bossman? It isn't an idle chat, is it?"

After taking a deep inhale of his pipe and blowing out the steam the Hokage nodded. "Well, you might have heard that we are hosting chunin exams soon." Upon seeing the nod from C he continued. "Good. That is where I need your help. I want you to look into the rules, laws and regulations of the chunin exam if you can find any loopholes in them."

Now that catched the attention of C. "Well, I can look into it, but... why? I mean, you are the village leader, right? If you don't like the rules, why don't you change them?"

"Oh, I could certainly do that." a chuckle escaped him. "But why change something, that might not be in the need of changing? Just look for loopholes and we will see if it will work out or not." The room went silent for some moments, before he let out a sigh, feeling that C was aware that there was more to it. "Well, that and the fact that we invited the other countries and villages to participate and send their genin. It would be a bad signal if I simply changed the rules. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Whatever you say, bossman." there was a simple shrug as reply. "Anything in particular you need a loophole for to plot your shemes?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." the reply was without any hesitation and the smile on his face an honest one. "I just wish to know if there are any loopholes at all."

"To lie without any sign. I'm glad to not have you as an enemy." C got up from the couch. "Gimme some days."

Once alone in his office again Sarutobi let out a long sigh. He really was not sure whether or not to go with his idea. It would lead to major consequences, that much he knew. If it was possible to begin with. But for that to check he now had someone discret at work.

Just what might Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konoha plotting...?