Himitsu

Summary: Naruto had been on a 3 year journey and is coming back soon. In the meantime, a group of children arrived in Konoha and appeared to be very familiar, but first, why the hell are these children that are playing matchmaker?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: Thank you so much for those who liked this story. I hope that you'll like this chapter just as you like the prologue. I had decided on which animals should be placed with some characters!

Also for those who wishes to see what the characters look like, go to this link: watersprite11224./gallery/

Pairings: Sorry, but the pairings are already chosen for this story. Whether this has slash or yaoi/hetero pairings, I'm afraid that you have to wait until later on in the story. :P

Ch1

The first things the children heard when they arrived in Konoha were the loud echoing sound Gamabunta made when he landed, a window slamming open, and a long string of curses shouted at the top of someone's lungs. Calmly as if use to the habit, the older kids covered the ears of the younger ones with a sigh. As the sentence from above slowly drifted into silence, everybody looked up to see a large bosom woman with blond hair tied in low pigtails and blue eyes staring at them in shock.

"You're the hokage, correct?" the tallest boy asked, "We'll head on up to your office." He waved his hand in the air. Nodding his head to the tower, he took the hand of the smallest child. "Let's get going," he said to the group.

Without another word, all nine children entered the tower. They didn't even bother to stop for directions, not even once, almost like they knew their way around. People in the tower would stare at the children curiously, whispering about the similar characteristics the children had with some well known people in the village.

The minute they entered the hokage office, a staring contest occurred between Tsunade and the nine kids. The leader of the group was the first one to break the contest when he bowed politely to Tsunade and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Minato." Minato has long blond hair with red streaks around his bangs tied into a braided ponytail with red strands encasing his face. He looked over to the children with narrow blue eyes. "Naruto-nii and Jiraiya-jiji came across our group and offered to take us in for the past month. We wanted to see Konoha and explore the area so they sent us ahead," he said. He wore a white overcoat with red flames along the bottom, somewhat resembling the outfit the Yellow Flash had worn in his days, only with shorter sleeves with two buttons fastening the sides. He reached into the back pocket of his black pants and pulled out the letter. "Naruto-nii composed a letter that'll explain everything. He said to give this to you to keep you updated on everything."

Tsunade took the letter and eyed it cautiously. It's not like she doesn't trust his judgment, on the contrary, Naruto has the best judgment than anyone she knows. He may be naive and very trusting, but when it comes to the human heart, he's never wrong. Unless, of course, if the matter deals with him personally, then he's completely oblivious, like the crush the Hyuuga heiress once had for him when they were younger kids. She shook her head as she muttered, "That gaki always had a soft spot for kids." She looked up at the children and couldn't help but wonder if they were a hybrid mix of some of the clans found in Konoha. "Shizune," she called.

A young woman, in her mid twenties, entered the office. "Hai, Tsunade-sama?" She has short black hair that reached to her chin and dark brown eyes. Trailing behind her was a somewhat big, but not too large, pink pig. She stared at the children in complete awe the older ones possessed and the cuteness the younger ones have.

"Can you bring Naruto's friends up here? I think they might find something interesting," Tsuande said, "Tell them that Naruto sent a message." Shizune nodded her head and left the office. After two minutes, footsteps were heard rushing and a large group of teenagers burst in.

"Where's the fire?" an eleven year old asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone stared at him, despite his blond hair, his entire figure resembled the last Uchiha Konoha has. From his short blond hair fashioned the same way Sasuke did to the black eyes holding a somewhat superiority aura in them. It also seemed as the style of dressing was also the same with the dark blue t-shirt with black shorts this time only without the Uchiha trademark fan on the back of the shirt. There was also a gray bandana that was wrapped around his shoulders with a fingerless gray glove on his left hand that reached to his elbow.

"Great, just what we need, another one with a ten foot pole stuck up their ass," Kiba muttered, causing Sakura to hit him on the head for his language in front of the kids and Sasuke glaring at him since he knew that Kiba was talking about him.

"Naruto sent them here," Tsunade told them, "And I was wondering if some of you wouldn't mind taking them in, seeing as how he trusts us to look after them."

"Where did Naruto-kun find nine children?" Neji asked. He stared curiously at the one with blond hair tied loosely into a ponytail, but what really got his attention were the boy's lilac eyes that strangely resembles the Hyuuga's eyes. He wore a long white button down shirt with a silver chain on his left part of his waist with black shorts. There was also a gray headband wrapped around his forehead with a gray bandana around his shoulders, similar to the child before him.

"Before we do anything, do you think you can introduce yourselves to us," Minato said, "It would be easier if we all knew each other." As the names were introduced, the kids learned or rather relearned everybody from Naruto's teammates, Sasuke Uchiha, to the teachers, Iruka Umino.

Together all nine children bowed to the group. "From the oldest the youngest, my name is Minato and I'm twelve years old. I enjoy cooking and inventing jutsus, I, however, hate arrogant and biased people who hurt my family and precious ones, I especially hate it when my sister uses pranks as revenge against other people."

A girl that looked similar to him gave a mischievous smile as she said, "My name is Kumiko, Minato's twin." The others couldn't help but think that the name suited her since she was a very beautiful girl with long red hair with gold highlights near her bangs tied into a side ponytail right above her right ear. Her red eyes were wide and held a somewhat secretive aura in them. She wore what appeared to be a dark red kimono with silver flames on the bottom that only reached to her mid-thighs with a long black sash tied around the waist. She also had on black leggings that that ended at her knees. Like the two previous boys, she wore a gray bandana around her shoulders, only hers has a the word 'hi'(1) on the back. She wore a sneaky grin on her face as she added, "I enjoy training and also inventing jutsus, I love to pull pranks and I believe that if you're a ninja and can't escape from them, then you're not worthy to be a shinobi. Anyone who hurts my family will have to deal with me."

The one who reminded everyone about Sasuke just shook his head to the side. "Eleven years old. Satoru. Training with Nagi. Hurt my precious ones and you die," he said, short, simple, and straight to the point.

The boy who had caught Neji's attention elbowed the previous boy and glared at him disapprovingly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Nagi. I'm eleven years old. I enjoy training with Satoru and my family. I dislike anybody who believes it's right for them to treat others as inferiors."

Another boy sighed as he muttered, "Yakkai(2)." He had black hair that reached the a bit below his neck and was tied together with a brown hairband. With a bored look in his blue eyes, he introduced himself, "Shinji. Ten years old. I like to watch the clouds and play board games with my otou-san, but I hate it when he gets too lazy. (muttering) Why did hahaue marry that guy to begin with?" He wore a gray t-shirt with a brown short sleeve jacket over it. He also wore long brown pants that ended where bandages were wrapped around his ankles.

Smiling at them with a somewhat tight grin, a boy with short cropped blond hair and narrow black eyes waved at them. "Hiro's my name and I'm nine years old. I love to draw and paint, but I hate it when people criticize things they don't understand." He wore a black vest over a white long sleeve shirt with dark blue pants. Strapped on his back is a, strange enough, large wooden paintbrush and by his waist was a scroll.

The second girl had long black hair that fell down to her mid back with a dark blue butterfly clip pinning her long bangs to the side. Her blue eyes were focused more on Shino than anybody else. "My name is Sora and I am eight years old. I like butterflies and playing with Hiroki and Kimi. I dislike people who judge things before understanding it fully." She was wearing a long black dress with a gray hoodie over it that has blue butterflies decorating it.

"Hiroki, seven years old," a quiet looking boy said. His bright blue eyes seemed to contrast against his short pale red cropped hair. He wore a dark red long sleeve shirt with tan pants stopping at his knees. A gray scarf was wrapped around his neck. "I like my precious people and playing with Sora and Kimi. I hate strangers who try to take advantage of hahaue's kindness or anybody who tries to hurt her."

The last child was also the last girl in the group. "My name is Kimi," she introduced herself cheerfully. She had dark blond hair tied into pigtails and wide brown eyes. On her cheeks were the two upside-down red triangular marks the Inuzuka clans are famous for, along with their love of dogs, which they suspected child to also have. "I'm six years old and this is Aki, we've been together since I first learned how to walk." And sure enough, a small puppy peeped out from behind her. She placed her hands inside the pockets of her black skort and grinned the same smile the ninjas had seen Kiba had done. "I love animals, ESPECIALLY dogs! I also love to play with Sora and Hiroki and hahaue, ESPECIALLY hahaue! I hate being left alone and people who treats animals like they have no feelings."

"So what now?" Ino asked, staring at the kids. She couldn't help but notice how some of their personalities coincide with her friends. Imagining how her children and friend's children in the future might grow up like these kids made her squeal in delight.

"Why not start things off first by reading the letter?" Shinji asked, "Then we can move in from there."

"That's something that Shikamaru would say," Chouji muttered in between eating the potato chips he had in hand.

Tsunade eyed the letter in her hand and took a deep breath. She opened the letter as everybody in the made themselves comfortable either on the floor (the children), against the wall (some of the adults), or just continued to stand (the ones who are too cool to slouch).

To everyone back home,

How is everyone doing? I can't wait to come back to Konoha there's just so many things I want to tell you about the places I've seen and the people I met. While I was traveling for village to village with Ero-sennin, an idea hit me. We just have to abolish the history lessons at the academy and just have the students study abroad instead. Think about it, the kids would use their skills to piece the different villages' histories together to get rid of the fiction and figure out the facts, not to mention it would help to strengthen the alliances or create new ones.

("That's what hahaue did," Kimi whispered to Hiroki and Sora.)

I'll be coming back in about a month during the Kyuubi festival for the unveiling. I can't wait to tell you guys all these stories and that would take a whole book for me to write in. In an accompanying scroll is a list of missions I had created and learned for the past three years, not to mention the recommendations of villages I've been through had sent. It actually surprised me that there are kages out there who don't mind doing their paper work instead of drinking and sleeping, like you baba.

("I'm going to kill him," Tsunade muttered, before continuing.)

I'm actually amazed at how far I've gotten, despite having a hopeless desperate pervert being my teacher. I use to think that all those bragging were just to attract girls, but I'm beginning to see the light and my respect for him rose. And then quickly plummeted each time he peeked at the women's hot springs, got caught peeking at the women's hot springs, flirting with girls three times younger than him, wasting money on women and alcohol, stealing my money to waste on women and alcohol, using the younger kids to attract girls…

(Tsunade's eyes twitched as she continued on reading the list that Naruto had compiled, which lasted half the scroll.)

But putting that aside, I'm sure that you're all wondering about the kids. No, I did not get anybody pregnant. Ero-sennin and I met them in a forest about a month ago. Their story was the fact that their parents sent them out there as refugees of some sort. Their story has some holes in them, but they don't have any ill intention against me or the village, so don't force them to tell you everything unless they feel comfortable enough.

And guys, you better take good care of them or else I'll be using you as a demonstration of the jutsus I had learned. Also, I have a feeling you guys will be surprised at what they can do, which is a lot more than what we could when we were their age. I told them all about you since they seemed very interested in my friends. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that they were long lost relatives of some of you guys. They just look and act so much like you that it's scary. Since the resemblance was there, I didn't get homesick.

See you all in a month!

Uzumaki Naruto

P.S. Kids, make sure that you behave yourselves. Minato, make sure Kumiko doesn't go overboard with her pranks when she's upset. You're the oldest so I need you to watch over the younger ones. I'll miss all of you.

Tsunade looked at the children. The younger ones looked really happy to hear Naruto say that he'll miss them. Minato eyed his twin sister, who was just smiling innocently at him. "Well, if the brat says that you're trustworthy, then you can stay," she said. Ignoring the cheers and the high fives the nine children were giving to each other, the hokage turned to the group of young adults. "So, who is going to take the children into their humble abode?"

"Can I stay with Shino-niisan?" Sora asked. All the adults looked at her, all confused as to why she would want to stay with a bug-user. Playing with her fingers, like a young Hinata once did, Sora whispered, "Shino-niisan knows a lot about insects, so I was hoping for him to teach me more about butterflies. I still need practice on using them in battle."

Kimi squealed as she embraced the older brunette tightly. "That's a great idea, Sora-chan!" she shouted. She raised her hand into the air, screaming, "I'll stay with Kiba-niisan to learn more about nin-inus(3)!"

Shinji just sighed and said, "Naruto-nii said that Shikamaru-san is great with strategies. That might help me against otou-san in shogi."

"Sai-san is an artist, correct?" Hiro asked, "Perhaps you can help me with my drawings. I'm still practicing using my art for combat." He pointed at the large paintbrush on his back. "Naruto-nii said that you can make your drawings come to life and I would very much like to learn how."

"I would like to learn more about the Hyuugas since everyone said that my eyes are similar to theirs," Nagi said, "I wouldn't mind staying with Hinata-san and Neji-san." He turned to Satoru and asked, "You all right with that?"

Satoru shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, if you stay with the Hyuugas then I guess I'll stick with the Uchiha." He smirked at hi friend. "What better way to continue our rivalries then to stay at the rivaling families' home?"

"Then that leave the three of us," Kumiko said, looking at her brother and Hiroki.

"Is there anybody that uses sand?" Hiroki asked.

"Hokage-sama, the kazekage is here," a chunnin said at the door.

Still somewhat speechless at the children's reasons for staying with the adults they've chosen, Tsunade nodded her head and motioned the chunin to let the wind nation's leader in. Gaara and his two older siblings entered the office only to be staring face to face with Hiroki, who was standing in front of them with a blank look on his face. "Is it just me or is there a chibi Gaara staring at us?" Kankuro asked, looking at Temari.

Hiroki smiled gently at the three Suna shinobi with his bright blue eyes sparkling. "Naruto-nii, told me that you know how to manipulate sand, is that true?" After seeing the tight nod, Hiroki said determinedly, "I'll stay with Gaara-nii then. Naruto-nii said that whenever the kazekage comes to Konoha for political reasons, he stays in the residence made for him."

Temari narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "Just who are you?" She glanced around the room to see a group of foreign children staring at her right back. "On second thought, who the hell are these kids and what are they doing here?"

"Do we really have to go over introductions again?" Satoru asked, "I don't know about you, but I'm out of here." And with that, he walked out of the room with his hands in his pockets and a frown on his face.

"Satoru!" Nagi shouted. He smacked himself on the head as he muttered, "Why is he being so difficult?"

"Wow," Kankuro said, whistling as he watched Satoru disappeared into the hall. "At first I just that that only their appearance is the same, now I see that he also acts like that spoiled brat of an Uchiha." He grinned cheekily at Sasuke, who glared at him.

"I apologize for Satoru's rude behavior," Nagi said. He bowed politely. "He's just upset about coming here so he's taking it out on you."

"I thought Satoru-nii is always like that," Kimi said. She stared down at the brown puppy. "Hiro-nii always say that Satoru-nii acts like he needs to get laid." She knelt down to pick up Aki and didn't notice Nagi and Minato glaring at the blond artist. "What does Hiro-nii mean by getting laid? How can Satoru-nii get laid if he can't lay eggs?" She lifted up the puppy and glanced over to her two best friends. "Ne, Sora-chan? Hiroki-chan?"

Minato patted her on the head. "You don't need to know, Kimi," he said. He stared at his twin, who was laughing. "I'm so glad you find this amusing, Kumiko," he said sarcastically.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Kumiko said, just grinning back, "Tell them now and we don't have to tell them when they're older."

"Yeah, and traumatize them for lie," Minato said in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, okaa-san," Kumiko said, waving her hand nonchalantly.

"Stop calling me that," Minato scolded.

Kumiko just grinned mischievously. "Sure…the minute you stop acting like hahaue," sje said. Minato just glared at his sister, who just continued on smiling.

"Are they always like this?" Tsunade muttered as she watched the two oldest of the nine have an intense staring contest.

Nagi just sighed as he leaned against the hokage's desk. "Pretty much," he replied, "But it's only whenever Kumiko-nee does something Minato-nii doesn't approve of. Then Kumiko-nee will call him 'okaa-san'."

"Why okaa-san," Sakura asked.

"Cause he's a mommy's boy," Kumiko said, teasing him.

"Am not," Minato muttered, looking away.

"This coming from the guy who spends all day with hahaue," the redhead said, "You help her with the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping…you're just training to be a housewife."

"Somebody's gotta do it," Minato argued, "As the oldest, I have to take care of the house and family if hahaue or chichiue can't." He crossed his arms over his chest as he sighed, "Since you're a girl, shouldn't you be the one practicing domestic chores(4)?"

"Like hell I'm gonna give up training and just be a housewife for the rest of my life!" Kumiko shouted.

"No one's asking you to," Minato said calmly, "I'm just saying that you should help out more. I can't always be around to look after you!"

Just as Kumiko was about to retort, Ino grabbed the two by their shoulders to pull them apart. "All right, you two, knock it off," she said sternly.

"That'll never work, the only one who could get them to stop is her," Sora said. She held her hands up, forming a circle with her right hand forming the bottom half and the left hand forming the top. "She always does the guilt trip with them and then she acts all worried and thinks it's her fault that they're fighting." Her hands then formed a closed sphere.

"Who?" Neji asked.

Minato and Kumiko looked down with embarrassment. "Hahaue," they muttered.

"Wow, she must be something, huh?" Rock Lee said softly. He clenched his left fist tightly and his eyes were closed with his body trembling. When they were open, flames of fire could be seen in them as he shouted, "SHE MUST BE BURING WITH HUGE FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

Sakura just hit her boyfriend over the head with her fist. Everyone watched as he kissed the floor. "Lee, knock it off. You'll scare them." She glanced over at the children, hoping that they weren't disturbed by his antics, but instead was shocked to see them not fazed by it. "Wow…they're acting like it's a normal thing," she muttered.

"Naruto-nii told us all about you guys and warned us about Lee-san's 'unique' personality," Hiro said,

Shinji just shrugged his shoulders. "Not to mention, we know somebody similar back at our home village," he said.

Nagi looked out into the hallway, looking right and left. He glanced back into the room. "Guys, I think we should try to find Satoru. I'm worried that he might do something stupid," he said.

Hiroki stared up from his scroll in hand. "Like what?" he asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Nagi sighed, "You know Satoru's personality. Whenever he's annoyed, everything coming out of his mouth is an insult."

"You mean like all the time?" Hiro added sarcastically.

Nagi glared at the other blonde. "Yes, like all the time," he replied.

"Why don't we just get the ANBU to look for him?" Iruka suggested, "He's probably still in the building so if he is we could just send an announcement to find him." He scratched the scar on his nose as he laughed. "I mean, how hard can it be to find a kid that looks like Sasuke only with blond hair?"

"It's not that easy…if Satoru-nii doesn't want to be found, then it's really difficult to find him," Shinji explained.

"I'll go look for him since I'm the closest," Nagi said. He walked out of the door. "Hopefully I'll find him before he does something stupid," he muttered right before disappearing down the hall.

Kiba stared at the seven children left. "Are you guys related? You like, siblings wise?" he asked.

Shinji stretched his arms up into the air before clasping both his hands behind his neck.
"What do you think?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Tenten spoke up, "Their personalities are just too diverse."

"Their features are slightly different, you know. I mean, sure their hair colors only focus around three different colors, but their eyes…that's a different story," Kurenai said.

"My family has the same facial marks as Kimi," Kiba said.

"And Nagi-kun has the same eyes as the Hyuugas," Hinata said. She stared at her cousin as she continued, "But there's no record of a Hyuuga living outside of the village."

Sora opened her hands and a blue butterfly appeared. "Whether or not we're related is really up to what you believe," she said. The butterfly flew up and stayed levitating next to her face.

"They could be related, you know, not siblings-wise not cousins," Sai explained, "I read in this book that there are different ways that people could be connected."

"They have a familiar scent surrounding them," Kiba said. He narrowed his eyes. "How do we really know we can really trust them if we don't know squat about them?"

"Nii-chan trusts them," Konohamaru said. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"That dobe will trust any sob story thrown at him." Kiba rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Don't insult Naruto-nii!" Hiroki and Kimi shouted. "Aki…" Kimi shouted as she looked dodwn at her puppy. Hiroki pulled out a brown stuffed raccoon from behind him as he added, "…Sunadokei(5)…" "GET 'IM!" they shouted. For the next few minutes, nothing happened and all that could be heard was silence and the constant barking of the brown puppy counting each second that passed by.

Kiba just stared at the small canine in front of him with an unimpressed look on his face. "You've got to be kidding," he muttered. He rolled his eyes as he continued, "Nice try, but I hardly doubt a puppy and a stuff animal is going to…AHHHHHHH!" Kiba was immediately buried under a large pile of sand that seemed to have been dropped from out of thin air. Kiba dug himself and took deep breaths that had been deprived of. He glared at Gaara and shouted, "FUCK! Gaara, did you have to do that?"

Gaara just glanced at Kiba at the corner of his eyes before looking back at Hiroki. "That wasn't me," he said in a monotone voice.

"Then…who did it?" Kiba shouted, "You're the only one who could control sand!"

"Kiba, above you," Shino said, pointing to the ceiling.

Everybody looked up and to their surprise, they saw several blue butterflies, similar to the previous one Sora had created each one in a certain position. If one would've connected the butterflies with an invisible line, it would seem that each insect acted as a vortex of an image similar to the hourglass insignia on the Suna's hitai-ate.

"What the hell do those puny flies have to do with that sand earlier?" Kiba shouted, still lying on his stomach with his legs still buried until the sand.

Sora's blue eyes narrowed as she said, "Nobody insults my butterflies and gets away with it."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Kiba was smirking as the long black-haired girl glared at him. He didn't even notice as the rest of the children began to move farther away. It wasn't until he noticed that behind the girl, hoards of butterflies flew up into the air, almost resembling when Shino would attack with his insects. "Oh, shit!" he screamed as the bugs chased him around.

"You would think that Kiba had learned his lesson with me," Shino said, shaking his head.

Kiba ran out around the large office, screaming at the top of lungs, "Shino, get her to stop!"

All Shino did was look at Sora and said, "Good job. Keep it up."

"TRAITOR!!" was the last thing they heard from Kiba as he ran out the door.

(1) hi, not the greeting, means fire, hence the flames on her kimono

(2) yakkai means trouble, bother, worry, or something else along that line

(3) nin-inus, if that's the proper way to say them, are talking about the ninja dogs that the Inuzukas have

(4) for any females that were insulted by this sentence, please don't be mad. Minato's not saying that all females should practice domestic chores and forget about being shinobis, he's pretty much telling his sister that he can't be the only one practicing them.

(5) sunadokei is the name of Hiroki's stuff raccoon and it means hourglass.