Chapter Forty-Two

"Dad's suspicious," Kota said, through a mouthful of bacon.

Tomoko halted a forkful of egg halfway to her mouth and looked at her little brother quizzically. He'd asked to come over for breakfast this morning, claiming he'd missed his big sis all of a sudden, and had even helped her cook. "Suspicious of what?" she asked.

"He's got this crazy idea that you have a boyfriend now," Kato said seriously, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Oh …" Tomoko whispered, the bottom dropping out of her stomach. Oh, shit.

"I know I'm the younger sibling and all, but if you want my advice," he said between bites, "you might want to bring him over to meet them. Make it happen on your terms, y'know?"

"That's really good advice," Tomoko said, even if the thought made her shiver. She snorted and pushed the dread aside. "When did you get so wise, lil brother?"

"When I became a chunin," he said smugly.

"Pfft, I've still got seniority," Tomoko rebutted.

"You calling yourself old?" Kato fired back.

"No. I'm calling you a baby."

"Take that back!"

The sibling squabble rapidly devolved into a food fight, which led to Kato spending an hour after breakfast cleaning his elder sister's kitchen under her watchful eye.

"Your parents know about us?" Ken asked. "Wait, was it supposed to be a secret?"

"Not really," Tomoko replied, "to both questions. Kato says my dad's just suspicious. And if he's caught a scent, then my mom's been thinking it over. And she doesn't miss much."

"She sounds like a smart woman," Ken said. Tomoko smiled and giggled behind her hand. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. She is a smart woman." Tomoko's smile faltered and she fiddled with her hands. She glanced over at the back of the Uzumaki household and two blurs at the sides of the windows showed Naruto and Karin were spying on them. "I think we should introduce you on our terms, though, instead of it coming from somewhere else."

"Introduce me?" Ken asked warily. "How?"

"The classic way," Tomoko chirped. "At a family dinner."

And that was how Ken ended up dressed in some of his nice clothes with Tomoko guiding him by the arm in the pretty yellow sundress she'd worn the first time he saw her out of uniform. They walked in companionable, if somewhat tense, silence to a house across the Sarutobi compound from Tomoko's. She gestured to him and he knocked briskly at the door.

The knocks had barely faded to echoes before the door opened to reveal a familiar face. "Ah, Mr. Uzumaki. Welcome."

"Mrs. Omasa?" Ken asked. "What are-?" Ken blinked as puzzle pieces seemed to rapidly click together in his mind. "Huh. So that's why you seemed familiar when we first met," he commented, glancing between mother and grinning daughter. "I can certainly see the resemblance."

Omasa chuckled and opened the door to usher them in, dressed in a silvery-grey blouse and dark skirt with a white shawl, her long hair braided. Tomoko kissed her mother's cheek and led Ken into the living room to find a square table set for four with a crisp white tablecloth.

Tomoko's father, Daichi — dressed in pressed slacks, a crisp white button-up, and a black vest — was setting a covered dish when they entered and looked up. Given the wide smile that crossed his lips, he saw Tomoko first. "Good evening, Sweetie," he said warmly. Then his gaze flicked and his expression turned neutral, even chilly. "Hello."

"A fine evening to you, sir," Ken said nervously.

"Mom, I know you two have already met," Tomoko said with a smile. "So Dad, this is Ken Uzumaki."

"Already met?" Daichi asked.

"Ken was assigned as a sealing consultant for one of our projects a few months back," Omasa explained. "He came with the highest recommendations from the Lord Hokage, and his performance did not disappoint in the slightest."

"Really?" Daichi said as he pulled out the chair for his wife.

"Ken wouldn't shut up about that for days," Tomoko said as Ken pulled out her chair, too. "He said it was, how did you put it?" She tapped her chin. "Oh right, a 'stimulating challenge'."

"It was," Ken said quietly as he took his seat between Tomoko on his left and Omasa on his right. Daichi was looking at him with narrowed eyes as he finally took his seat across from Ken. He maintained eye contact as he removed the dish cover from the middle of the table to reveal grilled steaks that he passed to each of them.

"Itadakimasu," they all said before starting to eat.

"So, Ken, how are your new clanmates doing?" Omasa asked brightly.

"They're adjusting quite well," Ken said. "Karin has risen the ranks in her class at the Academy and has even helped Naruto with his studies. They're shaping up to become fine future shinobi."

"Uzumaki …" Daichi said, the name apparently finally clicking. "You're the caretaker for our village's jinchuriki."

"I am," Ken said firmly, his gaze turning flinty.

"I've heard the boy is in good hands," Daichi admitted. "After everything he's been through, the lad deserves a good home."

"Agreed," Tomoko said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if Ken is slated for a promotion soon."

"Promotion?" Omasa asked.

"As a tokubetsu jonin," Tomoko said, smiling at Ken's bashful look. "He's already a beast with seals. If he didn't get a promotion, it's be a shame on the village."

"Yes, I'm sure a promotion would be an excellent idea," Daichi said, his tone somewhat off. "If he's impressed your mother, there's no doubt he's ready. And as soon as possible."

"Daichi," Omasa scolded. "That's enough of that."

"What's wrong?" Ken whispered to Tomoko. His girlfriend suddenly looked sick.

"I dunno," Tomoko whispered back, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "But I'm sure I'll find out," she muttered.

As their clan head was out on his meet-the-family dinner, the rest of the Uzumaki clan were enjoying a night of relative peace. Kaori was knitting, as passtime she'd had little time for since becoming a mother and had recently returned to, while Karin and Naruto were reading.

Ever since he'd first picked up that book from Lord Jiraiya, Naruto had become much more invested in reading. After re-reading it for the dozenth time, he'd taken to finding descriptions of the techniques described in its pages and writing them in a separate notebook. He was convinced that such a thing was a key to unlocking powerful ninjutsu when he was further along with his Wind chakra training.

"You're chasing a fairy tale," Karin sing-songed from across the small living room as she read from a medical textbook.

"I'm researching," Naruto ground out, his head hurting from focusing for so long. "Isn't that what you're always telling me I should do more of?" Then he grinned. "So, how's your Water Release practice going?"

"What'd you just say?!"

"Knock it off, you two!" Kaori snapped, before a fight could break out. And they did.

As the dinner continued, tension slowly grew between Daichi and Ken. Despite Ken's numerous attempts to lighten the mood, supported by Tomoko and Omasa, Daichi seemed determined to dislike the Uzumaki. When everyone was done eating and the dishes were cleared, Daichi finally dropped the bomb.

"I challenge you to a duel, Mr. Uzumaki," he said, cold and unyielding.

"What?" Ken asked in muted shock.

"You what?!" Tomoko shrieked.

"Daichi-" Omasa said in a warning tone.

"You heard me, boy," Daichi said as if no one else had spoken. "A shinobi must always be prepared, and now we shall see how well you do so. Ten minutes. Backyard. Prepare to fight for your life."

He moved deeper into the house, presumably to a store room or bedroom to arm himself, and Omasa shot both of them an apologetic look before following her husband with an irritated air.

"What just happened?" Ken asked.

"Ken, you don't have to do this," Tomoko said, steel in her voice. "Dad's being overprotective. We can just go home and leave it for another day." She took his hands in hers. "Ken, he's been ANBU for twenty years. This isn't going to be a quick ordeal."

"You don't think I can win?" Ken asked, honestly a little hurt.

"I think that no matter who wins, you're both going to beat each other bloody," Tomoko said, eyes misting.

Ken squeezed her hands as he thought over a few things. "He's not going to let it go, is he?" he asked. Tomoko hesitated before opening her mouth to reply, but Ken spoke again. "And he's not going to respect me or us," he motioned between them, "unless I do this, is he?"

Another hesitation. And that was answer enough.

Less than ten minutes later found Ken and Daichi facing each other in an improvised sparring ring the elder Sarutobi had carved with Earth chakra, with large, blazing torches standing at the four corners of the square to provide ample light. As part of his citizenship test, Ken had learned all about formalized Konoha shinobi duels. They were somewhat outdated, but still very much legal with at least two witnesses. Outright murder was forbidden, but nearly everything else was permissible. Victory came either from forcing your opponent to surrender or step out of the square fighting ring.

Rather than the ANBU gear that Ken had expected him to don, Daichi was dressed in red plate armor resembling illustrations of the Lord First Hokage, his hair bound in a topknot and his Konoha headband keeping his bangs out of his eyes. He was breathing deeply and steadily, almost ritualistically, and stretching himself in vaguely simian motions that Ken had long since come to associate with the Sarutobi fighting style.

Ken had sent a shadow clone to retrieve some gear from the house, much to his family's surprise, and had hastily donned it. His chunin flak jacket and armored bracers and greaves didn't make him feel much better, but the seals painted onto them loaded with gear certainly did. As did the small scrolls holstered on his biceps that contained some special surprises. He was certain he wouldn't use them, but simply having the option was a comfort. As he, too, stretched and prepared himself for the duel, he tried to hush the voice in his head that persistently reminded him that Daichi was a long-time ANBU operative, just as his grandfather had been.

And that Ken had never once won in a serious sparring match with his grandfather growing up.

"Daichi, this is your last chance to rescind this foolhardy challenge," Omasa said coolly.

"I will not," he said determinedly.

"Ken, are you sure you're ready?" Tomoko asked from beside her mother.

"No, but let's do it anyway," he replied stiffly, sweat beading his brow.

"Very well, you bull-headed men," Omasa sighed regally. "Hajime! Fight!"

In a flash, Daichi brushed a finger across the seal on his breastplate to summon a long yari spear with a wide crossguard and launched himself across the ring. In the same motion, Ken had summoned his favored tanto with the Earth chakra flow seal formulae and swung to intercept Daichi's thrust. The swipe connected and knocked Daichi's thrust off-course enough for Ken to slip away and prepare six shadow clones.

"Keep him busy," Ken ordered, and the clones nodded before engaging.

Ken kept a close eye on Daichi as he fought. It was possible that all of the sparring he'd done with Tomoko and her naginata over the last several months could give him an edge, but he winced as Daichi cut down his clones with a completely different style. Well, drat and curses. Time to do this in a less orthodox way. He slipped a sealing tag from his belt and prepared to engage.

Daichi had barely finished off the last clone before Ken came down with a battle cry and a two-handed slash. He spun out of the way and countered, but Ken parried as well and locked their blades. With a grunt of effort, he slapped his palmed sealing tag onto the haft of Daichi's spear and sealed it away. Daichi was taken off guard and overcompensated, giving Ken an opening to leap back and hide the sealing tag on his person. Memories from his first spar with Sir Yama came to mind and he smiled briefly at the thought.

"Clever boy," Daichi admitted, though it sounded like he'd rather be chewing glass. Then he smiled darkly. "But what Tomoko may not have had the chance to tell you," he said, clapping his hands into a Snake seal and his skin darkening to nearly black, "is that I am far more deadly without a weapon."

Ken chanced a peek with his mind's eye and gasped at the sight of Daichi's body flowing with Earth nature chakra. 'Earth Spear Technique,' Ken realized, something his grandfather had spoken of on occasion for when he reached the highest level of Earth Release.

"This is what earned me my title," Daichi said. "Stone Monkey Sarutobi."

Ken clapped his hands into his own Snake seal and erected three earthen walls to give himself space, but he'd barely been able to jump back before Daichi came plowing through them like a juggernaut. And then he just kept coming, striking with the speed of a serpent as Ken labored to parry the punches with his tanto, the weapon's own hardening via Earth chakra the only thing allowing it to remain undamaged.

"Is this all you've got, boy?" Daichi demanded as he kept coming. "And you presume to be worthy of my Tomoko."

Ken snarled and redoubled his efforts, not just on blocking Daichi's attacks but on dredging up his own trump card. He evaded one of Daichi's blows by a hair, rather than blocking, and the sudden shift in resistance threw Daichi off-balance for just the second Ken needed to leap into the air. He flipped and, when he was facing downward at Daichi, thrust his hand forward to release three Adamantine Sealing Chains at the ANBU.

Daichi cursed and leapt backward to avoid the unknown technique. No, wait a moment … not unknown. Memories from years before came to mind when he'd accompanied the one-and-only Kushina Uzumaki on a mission to back up a contingent during the Third War. She'd used those very same chains to devastating effect to shatter enemy defenses, defend from all manner of ninjutsu, and to bind adversaries in the unbreakable links for simple transport.

"Remarkable," Daichi said. "But a technique is only as strong as the shinobi wielding it." He shifted back into a hand-to-hand stance. "Come on!"

Ken flicked his arm and the chains with them, the links cracking like a bullwhip. He charged with his tanto in his off hand and thrust his other arm forward to send the chains racing for Daichi to bind him and end this quickly. But Daichi reached out and grabbed the chains to haul Ken in and off-balance.

Ken had expected this, though, and even as he staggered he grabbed Daichi's arm that he struck with and not only swung himself around and away — dispersing the Adamantine Chains into formless chakra that would return to his reserves — but tagging the Sarutobi with explosive tags of his own design that were much more powerful than the norm. As he sailed through the air, Ken formed a hand seal that triggered the tags and the force of the explosions blasted Daichi to his left to roll across the ring … and end up with his elbow outside the perimeter.

"Yes!" Tomoko screamed. "He did it!"

But Tomoko's cheers were premature as Daichi struggled to his feet and leveled a terrifying scowl at Ken, killing intent leaking from him in soft waves like heat from a furnace. He snarled, the expression just like an enraged ape, and his entire body went dark again as he lunged for Ken!

And when he was halfway across the ring, five conical pillars arose in a circle linked by strands of sealing formulae in a circle around him. The pointed tips of the pillars lit with blue flames … and Daichi was driven flat to the ground with a stony thud by a burst of unseen force.

"That's enough of that, Dear," Omasa said, the woman knelt down and sealing formulae forming a circle around the hand she held pressed to the ground as another line connected to the ring that held Daichi down. "He won, fair and square."

"Omasa, you know I hate this," Daichi said, the sound oddly modulated, as if coming from underwater.

"Then why must you force me to use it?" she asked sternly.

"What is that?" Ken asked, eyes wide with awe as his heart hammered from leftover adrenaline.

"Five Mountains Compression Prison," Tomoko said, joining him and resting her hand on his arm to calm him. "It boosts and focuses gravity to imprison victims in the circle. Just enough gravity to keep them on the ground without harming them."

"That's brilliant," Ken breathed.

"Thank you, Ken," Omasa said, sweat beginning to bead her brow from maintaining the seal. "Such a polite boy."

"Omasa-" Daichi grunted.

"Don't you 'Omasa' me after this little show," his wife scolded. "I warned you not to do this, and you ignored me." Her lips tightened and coals of real anger arose in her eyes. "And to make matters worse, you violated the rules of a formal duel. The duel ends the moment someone concedes or steps out of the ring. Young Ken won fair and square, and you attacked him."

The gravity of the situation that had nothing to do with the seal pinning him flat on the ground seemed to don on Daichi. "Sweetheart-"

"No," Omasa said shortly, rising and ending the technique. The sealing script faded away and the blue flames atop the five pillars snuffed out. As Daichi stumbled to his feet, Omasa turned on her heel and walked back to the house. "You're sleeping on the couch tonight," she said, the words laced with cold anger.

"Omasa!" Daichi called, racing to catch up. He glanced at Ken and Tomoko as he passed, and the faint anger that he had looked at Ken with all night was gone. In its place was shame. He looked away with a faint grimace and continued to pursue his wife.

"Should we do something?" Ken asked.

"Daddy made his bed," Tomoko said, her voice wavering despite her best efforts to seem uncaring. "He can sleep in it. Or on the couch." She tugged on Ken's arm and led him out of the backyard and toward the exit of the compound.

It was quiet between the two as they returned to the Uzumaki house. They stopped on the porch and Tomoko faced Ken, weaving her fingers with his and lifting their hands to shoulder height. "I'm sorry about tonight," she whispered. "I didn't think-"

"It's not your fault," Ken interrupted gently.

"Ken, you're not-" She bit her lip, suddenly looking a little green. "I have to ask. You're not thinking of-?"

"Thinking of …?" Ken asked. Then his eyes widened as he realized her question. She was asking if this was the end of their romance. "No!" he shouted, drawing her into a tight embrace. "How could you think that?"

"I don't know," she whispered against his chest, her voice strained with the effort of holding back sudden tears. "It's dumb and insecure, but I just-" She trailed off and pressed her forehead to his collar.

"So your dad doesn't like me," Ken said with a forced chuckle. "You like me, right?"

Tomoko drew away and offered him a smile, lifting a hand to brush along his cheek. "Yeah. I really do."

"That's all that matters, right?" he asked, and kissed her palm. "And your mom seems to like me, so it's more than enough."

Tomoko let a single tear fall and lifted up on her toes to kiss him, the gesture warm and grateful. He smiled into the kiss and gently held her hips. They stayed like that for some time, trading kisses under the porch light, until a rapping at the door separated them.

"That's probably Kaori," Ken drolled.

"Like you're not in your mid-twenties and head of the clan," Tomoko giggled. She quickly kissed his cheek before stepping back out of his embrace. "Meet tomorrow morning for training?" she asked.

"Count on it," Ken smiled.

Tomoko waved and raced away in full shinobi style, leaving Ken sighing with delight. The parent issues could wait. For now, nothing stood between him and Tomoko. He shook his head to clear it and entered the house, bracing himself for a barrage of questions from Kaori and particularly young Karin.

Hey everyone! It's been a while, huh? Sorry about the long radio silence on this fic, but between work and my inspiration being drawn like iron to a magnet to other projects, it's been hard to drum up the will to give Spirals the attention it deserves. Hopefully finishing up a few other long-term projects will free up time for this without another months-long hiatus, eh?

And a special thanks to the various readers who asked about this work, as your interest was what urged me to keep writing through the funk. Particularly YetAnotherAnon, whose inquiry gave me the burst I needed to finish this chapter!

*"Stone monkey" is one of Sun Wukong's epithets, from him being born from a stone and possibly actually being made of stone. That long-since gave me the idea to incorporate Kakuzu's technique - that I really wish we had seen in others, since it's so cool! - into a Sarutobi. My assumption is that it is an advanced technique even among B-ranks, and so is really uncommon - a mark of Daichi's skill.

*Omasa's sealing prison is named after and inspired by Five Element Mountain, the mountain prison created by the Buddha to trap Sun Wukong for five-hundred years. After Buddha formed the mountain, one of his students placed a magic seal on the top to keep Wukong from simply tearing it apart to escape, which the monk Tripitaka was allowed to remove to earn Wukong's service.

*The idea of official duels in Konohagakure to solve grievances just makes sense to me given the state of the world when the village was founded.

Hope this was a fun read worth the wait! Here's hoping we don;t have another wait this long ...! Leave a review if you liked it, and may your own inspirations flow freely!