DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Naruto speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"There's my cute little… Well! What do we have here?" a man with light brown hair asked pleasantly. "These friends of yours, Ami-hime?" he asked quietly. –Dangerously.

Kakashi turned and sent a kunai straight at the target he was aiming for. His throw was slow but deliberate. "Finally got it." He turned toward the man he could sense was a shinobi and raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

Naruto slapped herself in the face.

"You two are so rude," Ami said incredulously. "You know that?!"

"Now, now, hime-sama. Pointing something like that out can also be considered to be rude," the unknown Jonin scolded as he seemed to relax. "These are new friends of yours?"

The little one, he knew, had too much chakra to be a civilian. And she might be trying to hide it… And if she was doing that, the older kid could be doing the same. They were both young, however, and he'd run into kids with decent chakra levels that hadn't yet been trained. But this is suspicious.

Ami pulled a face before she finally nodded and then gave her uncle another hug.

"Forgive me for not properly introducing myself. You two can just call me Daisuke-oji."

Kakashi clicked his tongue. "Too familiar." He threw another kunai and hit his target before turning back to the adult who had begun chuckling at him.

"You three shouldn't be out this late at night."

Ami pouted at him "But how else am I going to see you?"

"Do you have nighttime clandestine rendezvous-es a lot, Ami-hime?" Naru asked mischievously. And wrongly - like a normal little kid might, she thought.

Ami gasped and shook her head in disgust, unsurprised that little Asura-chan was saying something that could be construed to be dirty at this point. She knew that Asura didn't mean anything by it, but…

"You seem like a smart little girl, Asura-chan."

"She's not," Kakashi said before picking up some of the kunai that were littering the ground - and moved aside when Naruto sloppily sent one at him. He made sure to improperly hold some of the kunais since they were pretending to be civilians but made sure not to cut himself. "Daisuke-oji" grabbed them from his hand.

He was fast. And his hands were not only heavily calloused but had also been burned in the past. Repeatedly.

"You're going to hurt yourself holding them like that."

"Oh. Thank you," Kakashi replied, alarmed that this guy now (most likely) had even more weapons. Fortunately, the shinobi sat down on the grass and Ami joined him.

Ami began complaining about the rest of her family while Daisuke scolded her lightly and chuckled while listening to her stories.

Naru was channeling chakra into her ears so that she could hear them and kept both in sight as she continued throwing kunai at the tree, purposely missing almost every time.

The Jonin came over to correct her form but paused, his hand still holding hers, when he felt another similar chakra signature approaching. Whoever it was was stomping their way forward.

"What are you two doing out this late at night?" Kushina furiously scolded as she paced up the hill, knowing what they were supposed to be doing. She had given them more than enough time to mess around, gather intelligence, and get their little asses back to their room, however. "Who the hell are you?!" She grabbed Naru and yanked her away from the unknown shinobi as she glared at all of them while resuming her acting. "DID YOU TWO BRING AMI-HIME OUT THERE?! DO I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOU TWO CORRUPTING HER AND GETTING US INTO MORE TROUBLE AND…"

"Maa, maa, Shina-chan!"

"Don't you 'Shina-chan' me you brat!" Kushina's hair started to rise up but Naru yanked at her hand and frantically shook her head, making her realize that her chakra was actually rising even though she was trying to control herself. She huffed at her disguised Genins and Ami and turned her glare to the unknown element. "Are you holding my sisters hostage? I will kick your ass!"

"Daisuke" took a step back. Whether or not this was a kunoichi - and he figured she was - she was scary. "NO! No, ma'am. Asura?" The little one nodded her head. "Asura-chan, here, was holding her k-nife improperly and…"

"So you're a shinobi?" Kushina interrupted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't like shinobis."

"Daisuke" narrowed his eyes at the blue-haired woman. "Why would you think I'm a shinobi?"

"Duh," Kushina drawled, nodding toward the kunais he was holding. "And 'cause you're a dick."

"Shina-chan," both her Genins gasped in pretend shock. Naruto's shoulders were shaking with shaky, silent laughter despite how serious the situation was.

"I'm - I'm not," the unknown muttered before handing "Kashi" her weapons back. "Shina" smacked her younger sister's hand and took them from her, scolding her scathingly while the kid wilted and began to complain about "losing my treasures." The littlest one was snickering. Maybe he had just been paranoid about them being trained kunoichis.

Kushina put her fingers in her mouth and whistled as if to round up a herd of cattle. "You three are with me! Ami-hime, I should tell your father about you being out this late, but I don't want to get these two into any more trouble - as long as you come inside with me right now!" Ami began to complain but Kushina was not moving and Ami didn't want to be in any more trouble with her father.

"I gotta go, I guess, Daisuke-oji."

Daisuke ruffled her hair and told her that he'd see her later. He called the oldest of the three sisters back as she wrangled the kids toward the palace. "Shina-chan, is it? Would you like to meet me for a little talk or maybe… something to eat tomorrow?"

Kushina whipped around toward him, her hair flying all around her. She had pulled out a fan and held it in front of her face, ignoring the way that Naruto was gaping at her. Her little cousin looked horrified which would, in any other situation, be hilarious. "I'm staying at the palace and I'm sure if you request my presence from Daimyo-sama, he'll send a messenger for me," she said smoothly.

"Daisuke" nodded and allowed her to go. He knew this was a problem, though.

Naru pulled Kushina's hand, gulping as she did so. She needed a way to bring up what she'd sensed from that Jonin and since Kushina needed a little reminder about something similar, she whispered into her ear. "You're channeling your other chakra."

Kushina went pale and Naru winced as her hand was gripped MUCH more tightly. When she let go after pushing Ami into her room and taking them back to theirs, Naru was about to cry. "Kashi-chan, get ready for bed."

Kakashi could tell that she was seriously irritated so he did as she requested without saying anything.

Kushina jerked Naru into a broom closet. "What did you mean by that?" Naru rubbed the hand she'd been holding and tears began to fall from her pretty blue eyes, freaking the Jonin out. "Oh, gods! Naruto! I am so sorry," her hand lit up in the green hue of iryo-ninjutsu as she healed her little cousin. She'd dislocated one of her knuckles and pulled a muscle in her upper arm! "I'm so, SO sorry! Oh no… Oh my god!"

"It's okay," Naru sniffed. She understood about getting carried away and losing control, plus she was fine! And it was kinda cool that her Kaa-chan was so strong, although it sucked that she was such a weakling. "We have bigger problems, ya know. That guy? He had earth and lightning chakras! He couldn't be related to her!"

Kushina stood up straighter, leaning against the wall when she was sure that her cousin was alright - at least physically. "How long have you been able to sense chakra types?" she asked hesitantly. And how would that mean that Ami and that shinobi couldn't be related?

And aren't you worried about my "other chakra?!"

"I dunno," Naru said, although she knew that she'd been able to do it since the middle of the Fourth Shinobi War when it all just seemed to "click" for her. "But that guy just like, appeared - REALLY FAST! …Oh. And don't tell anyone I can sense that kind of thing, please."

The last thing Naru needed was Danzo finding out that she had some weird ability.

Kushina tilted her head at her and tried to keep her lips from quivering. "You're not mad that I hurt you?" She knew her mission was to protect Ami and she needed to get back to her immediately but she just felt so horrible about what she'd done. She loved kids but look at what she'd done to one of her own!

Naru's eyes went wide. "No! Why would I be? And you protected us out there, nee-chan! I was worried cuz I didn't think me and Kakashi could take him by ourselves." Which totally sucks.

Kushina slouched, feeling emotionally exhausted as she always did when she accidentally accessed the Kyuubi's chakra - which had been happening a lot lately (as it never had before.) At least Naru didn't seem to know what her other chakra was or wasn't questioning it. She thanked Kami that it wasn't Kakashi who had realized what she'd done because that brat was a genius and knew way too much. Dang that Sakumo-sensei teaching him things and encouraging his masked mini clone. "Indeed you couldn't - and again, Naru: I AM sorry. Why don't we go see your sister, huh?"

Naruto began giggling at Kakashi's expense again. Kushina smiled down at her, realizing how much she already loved this little girl.

"I should make a clone to stay with Ami-hime in case that guy shows up in her room or something."

Kushina hummed as she considered it. "I've sealed that room, but… I'll agree to it IF you promise to have your clone dispel when or if he comes around; I'll need to know right away. I don't want you to react in any way other than a five-year-old untrained child, 'ttebane."

"I'm six," Naruto pouted. And dispelling a shadow clone is not "normal five-year-old" behavior.

Kushina snorted. "Yeah, but you're short!" Kami, she felt terrible for hurting Minato's little sister. Although she didn't want to, she planned to tell him as soon as possible. She hoped he would understand and forgive her.

Naruto glared at the ground. My being short is your fault. Her father was tall, but Kushina was supposedly not when she was little. Her clone went to work while she went into their quarters with her mother. Kakashi had taken off his much-hated kimono but was still in the garb he wore underneath it. He was leaning against the wall.

"That guy had a lot of chakra," he said simply once the door was closed and Kushina had resealed the room.

"Jonin level," Naru agreed, pulling at her obi as if she was trying to tear it apart. Kushina gently took the little girl's hands away and began untying it for her. "Earth and Lightning." Kakashi hummed at that but her mother just continued with what she was doing as she chewed at her lip. "And he had a foreign accent."

Kushina went still.

"I didn't detect that," Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes at the two Uzumakis.

"You were farther away and I was channeling chakra to my ears while he talked to Ami-hime." Naru had barely detected it: the guy was good, but she just KNEW he was from Iwa. She pouted up at a distracted Kushina so that she'd help her get out of this damned kimono.

Kushina began deftly moving through the elaborate ties and rolled her eyes when Naru leaped out of her costume with a gleeful yell. Like Kakashi, Naruto was wearing a tee and shorts underneath it although he had his mask on.

"Earth and Lightning," Kakashi mumbled to himself as he paced around the room slowly, hands in his pockets. "Kinda like me?" His natural affinity was lightning, but recently his father told him that he believed he might have a secondary Earth release ability.

"No," Naru drawled, wondering if he would…

"Maa, with a foreign accent? …He had scars on his hands. Maybe he's from the Iwa Explosion Corps."

Naru couldn't help but chuckle to herself although, honestly, she was jealous. Kakashi was supposed to be a genius on par with or exceeding the hot Naras, though, and she supposed that genius showed itself early. Shikamaru had remarkably hidden it until the Chunin exams, but Kakashi didn't bother to.

Kushina looked at the two Genins and realized that they were serious. She immediately summoned three hawks and wrote messages before sending them out. "Go to bed, you two."

The next day -

Naruto couldn't believe it: Kakashi was better at the tea ceremony than she was. How the hell was he not spilling the tea, considering all of the stupid, big, old utensils they were using?! This sucks.

Kakashi didn't care one way or the other about the tea but the sugary-sweet snacks they had to make earlier for the "proper" tea ceremony were disgusting. "Maa, maa, Asura-chan! Don't pout! You need to show more patience to be a proper lady." He was smirking behind his obi because Naru's face began to turn red and contort. "I guess you are little, though."

"'Mnot!" Naru refused to cry although the tears were right there! She detested being small and Kakashi was only a month older than her - plus she had a whole 17 years behind that! And the idiots at the Capital actually believed he was years older than her right now. How could anyone think that he was mature when he hid his face behind part of his damn obi?! "The only thing worse than this would be if we had to do math."

"Funny that you mention that, Asura-chan," the old sensei said with a sly grin. "After your history lecture, we'll be studying something called polynomials." All three of the children groaned. "Now, now! Remember, the tea ceremony is a sacred tradition with purity, tranquility, harmony, and respect as its full partners. Her gaze lingered heavily on the short-haired girl. "Respect entails kindness, especially to your family members and guests, Kashi-chan."

Kakashi swallowed heavily - at least for show, he told himself. "Forgive me, Asura-chan."

Naruto blew out her cheeks. "If you ask like that, who am I to deny you?" The part of Kakashi's face that was visible went red. "Jerk."

"Asura-chan!"

Asura, aka Naruto, snickered at the whole thing.

She bit the inside of her cheek, though, as they were forced to go through the ceremony again, carefully watching Ami-hime when it was her turn as she seemed to do everything so effortlessly. She tried to grasp the serenity or whatever crap the sensei was talking about being the key to doing this right, but Naru was so full of chakra it was hard to even go to sleep at night unless she completely wore herself out. It was difficult to even listen sometimes as her body was just buzzing with energy even when she distributed her chakra to so many clones.

Not enough clones. Jiraiya wouldn't allow her to go nuts with them like she needed to.

If it weren't for Danzo and all of his weirdos (sorry, Sai: I'll find you and your brother before he gets you; believe it!) being out there, she would've disregarded her pseudo-adoptive father's words, but both of them were extremely concerned with her getting taken by ROOT while Jiraiya was out on one of his MANY missions.

Considering that Ero-otou (Naru was definitely leaning toward that nickname) was doing his own missions PLUS following Orochimaru and Kakashi's dad around, trying to make sure that they didn't go off on the wrong path or die after an unsuccessful mission, Naruto needed to try to keep him happy. It was the least she could do for the man who had taken her in.

Hanaka-sensei, in the meantime, wasn't quite sure what to do with little Asura-chan. While Ami and Kashi gave eloquent (although Kashi was extremely brief and a bit abrupt) responses to the various pieces of art she had moved into the tearoom, Asura would only groan and say things like "that one's a drag and bumming me out," or "it could be a little louder, but that one is calling to me!" Daimyo-sama had asked for the little one to be taught, however, and Hanaka was known as one of the best private tutors in Fire Country.

Naruto once again cursed her attention problems.

At least now she was up and moving - something she felt was a great improvement. Hanaka-sensei had seemed to have given up on her, finally sending her to the monks "disguised" as a little boy with a ponytail, amusingly enough. Now she was moving through tai-chi forms although her mind was on her teenage sensei-mother and former-sensei, now-chibi teammate.

Chibi-but-still-taller-than-her-Kakashi almost dissolved into a temper tantrum (something she would highly encourage outside of missions because that kid needed to lighten up) when he learned that she'd get to "hang with the boys" and ACT as a boy for a couple of days so that she could burn off her excess energy while he had to do ikebana.

But then, in the evening, she returned to her little team and was forced to sit through the tea ceremony again.

Seriously. Why the FUCK is the tea ceremony so important?!

THIS was the question that she had for her mother-turned-teenaged-sensei when she stomped into their quarters that night AFTER SHE HAD TO STAY ALONE TO DO MATH WITH THAT MEAN OLD SENSEI! She stopped, though, when she saw that the redhead was especially made up and painting senbon with something that smelled like poison.

"What's going on?"

"Kushina-sensei is preparing a trap," Kakashi said with furrowed silver brows.

"Don't tell me that possible-Iwa guy went to Daimyo-sama?"

Kushina blew out her cheeks in frustration as she blew on the senbon before beginning to load them into a brace. "We're waiting for backup. I can't tell you anything else. You two stay in here until you're further advised by me or another Leaf Jonin you know well! NO CLONES, NARUTO."

After she left - Kushina's sizzling chakra had made the entire room warm - Naru slumped. "What in the world did I miss?!"

Kakashi fidgeted but eventually responded. "Maa, I'm not supposed to have heard or seen what I did, alright?"

"I won't say anything," Naru promised as she sat down next to him.

"That guy, Ami-hime's uncle? He's what Daimyo-sama is calling 'an old family friend.'"

"Seriously?" Naru asked, scratching her whiskered cheek as she thought about it. "I was sure that he was from… elsewhere. Iwa, to tell ya the truth."

"Kushina… sensei thinks so, too."

"So maybe Daimyo-sama called him that because – maybe he's being blackmailed?" Kakashi gave her a hard look that she'd come to associate with his adult self when Kakashi-sensei had been particularly serious.

"Or worse, Naru: maybe our Daimyo has somehow allied himself with Iwa."