Chapter 4

"...Huh? Where, where is this place...?"

When Natsuha woke up, the first thing her violet eyes saw was a twilit sky dyed in the orange and red hues of dusk. This, coupled with the feeling of soft grass beneath her, the little blonde quickly realized she was lying on her back and soon sat herself up and took a good look around, hoping she might spot something, anything, familiar that might tell her just where this place was... which was right when she heard 'her' voice.

"...Oh, so you're finally awake, are you? You're quite the heavy sleeper, by the way."

"...Huh? Who?" Though a little startled, Natsuha did her best to not let it show as she slowly stood up and turned towards where the oddly very familiar voice was coming from, only to be completely shocked by what she saw.

"...! ...What the..."

There, sitting underneath a large tree in the center of the field she found herself in was a barefooted girl about her age dressed in a dark red, black and orange yukata with nine ephemeral, almost ghost-like tails gently swaying behind her without a care in the world. Her long, dark red hair was styled in two, long familiar pigtails that framed her her pretty, delicate features that accentuated her pale, almost snow white skin and big, bright golden yellow eyes that almost seemed to glow while staring back into her own bewildered violet ones.

"...Hmm? What is it?"...

"Your face!"

Her mysterious lookalike, the other 'Natsuha', simply smiled as she got up and walked over to her, stopping just a few feet in front of her. "My face? What about it?"

"...Why, why do you look just like me?"

"Oh, that? Well, it's simple really. I'm the piece of you that was taken away, and you're the piece that Kyuubi needed to be whole again. That being the case, why shouldn't we look exactly alike? After all, you define me in the same way that the Kyuubi does!" replied the other 'Natsuha' while spreading out her arms in a slightly exaggerated, almost theatrical fashion as a light breeze, as if on cue, decided to pick up right then and there, tussling their hair as if for dramatic effect.

Though the red Natsuha's words were a bit hard to fully wrap her head around, blonde Natsuha was still smart and aware enough to pick up on the biggest detail her mysterious lookalike let slip, after all-

"...Th, the Kyuubi? Bu, but Jiji said the Kyuubi was defeated... that the 4th Hokage defeated it...!"

Instead of being angry, annoyed or even offended, the other 'Natsuha' only smiled and nodded, confusing the little blonde even more.

"Defeated? Yes. But gone? No, not at all. In fact, she's a lot closer than you think."

Natsuha learning that the Kyuubi, the most powerful and feared of the Tailed Beasts, was actually a 'she' was one thing, but to learn that she was close by was another matter entirely. However, before either fear or another question could escape her lips, the other 'Natsuha' cut her off, as if reading her mind.

"You see, when the Kyuubi no Youko attacked Konoha six years ago, entirely against her will and under the control of another I might add, your beloved 4th Hokage and many of the Konoha-nin under his command did everything they could to try and stop her from destroying their Hidden Village only to quickly realize that nothing they did put so much as a scratch on her mighty and towering frame. After all, unlike you puny little humans, Tailed Beasts, and many other demons for that matter, are solid masses of sentient chakra that can move and think on their own. In the end, the best the 4th Hokage could hope for was to bind and seal the Kyuubi. Unfortunately for him the previous vessel was no longer available, leaving him only one other option and precious little time to do perform the ritual to bind and seal her into a new 'prison', a new Jinchuriki before Konoha became a smoldering crater," explained the other 'Natsuha, smiling as she saw a brief flash of understanding flicker across her blonde and whiskered reflection's face, a myriad of rapidly changing emotions going through her widening, violet eyes.

"...Sealed? But, then, that... does that mean that... But, if that's true then..." It was preposterous, but the more Natsuha thought about, the more things made sense as she thought back to the last two years of her life; the sudden, extreme shift in how almost everyone treated her and why her Jiji looked so sad and frustrated from time to time. She really, really didn't want to believe it, but even if she was only six years old, there wasn't anything else that made sense; a fact that the other 'Natsuha' immediately picked up on and mercilessly confirmed.

"That's right. The 4th Hokage had to use the previous Jinchuuriki's small, newborn child; you," the redheaded lookalike matter of factly said, pointing at the shocked little blonde who took a step back from hearing the revelation.

"...Wait, if th, that's true... then... are you. Are you the-"

"-the Kyuubi?"

Natsuha slowly, shakily and cautiously nodded. She tried not to let it show, but the mere thought that the girl who looked so much like her was the dreaded beast that rampaged through and leveled half her home was terrifying, doubly so if said demon fox was really and truly sealed inside her. Would she escape? Could she escape? How could such a beast be safely trapped inside her So many such fears and thoughts ran through her mind so she barely heard the other 'Natsuha's' reply.

"Well, that's actually a bit of a complicated matter."

"...Huh?" elegantly replied the now even more confused, but still just as scared out of her mind little blonde.

"If this were before the sealing, then my answer would be unequivocally be yes. However, the 4th Hokage and your mother, my former Jinchuuriki, used a very special containment seal that not only bound me to you, but would partially merge your soul to my chakra essence, effectively making us one and the same on some level. A feat only made possible because he had split and bound my Yang half to himself before completing the sealing ritual and dying."

"...Is, is that why you said that I'm 'the piece that Kyuubi needed to be whole again'?" Natsuha half asked, half whispered, almost too afraid to know the answer.

The other 'Natsuha' nodded. "Yes. Now let me ask you; Haven't you found it odd that, even after all that unfair and brutal treatment by the villagers, you have never come to truly hate them ? Angry, sure. But can you honestly tell me that you've ever felt more than that even when no one would blame you if you did?"

Now that caught the little blonde off guard. After all, the redhead was right. She'd been sad, hurt, and even very angry at the way the village had treated her these past two years but even in spite all that, no. No, she couldn't say that she truly hated them for it even if she understood that at least a small part of her should have. After all, even as a child, she knew that nobody was without at least some darkness inside them. She'd seen it enough times in the other children her age who treated her just as badly, if not worse, as the adults around her. Yes, children were innocently cruel like that sometimes, especially when they are simply imitating those around them. "...No, I don't. I don't, hate them..."

The other 'Natsuha' just smiled, apparently satisfied by her other half's answer and confused look on her whiskered face. "Don't you remember what else I said? I'm 'the piece of you that was taken away'. I'm what should have been your hate, darkness, and everything else you try to hide from everyone else just so you could keep on smiling and convince yourself, your Jiji and everyone else you care about that everything is fine and that you're okay. Oh, don't bother trying to deny it. Everyone is like that to one degree or another. And, even if I am your darkness, I'm not all of it. The fact that you can get sad angry because of their unfair treatment is proof that you aren't broken or anything like that."

"...Okay..," was all Natsuha could say in reply. Though a good chunk of it went over her head, Natsuha supposed that she didn't really need to fully understand considering she couldn't deny the reality of staring at her 'other half'. Said 'other half' just chuckled seeing the little blonde tilting her head, delicate brows furrowed in frustrated concentration trying to wrap her head around just how there could be two of her now.

"Strictly speaking, I took what I needed from you to make up for the half of me the 4th Hokage took when he sealed what was left of me into you. The end result, as you can see, is the reflection of you that is 'me'."

"...So, does that mean that I really am the Kyuubi...!?" she asked, trembling a bit at the thought. 'Were the villagers right? Am I a demon then?'

The other 'Natsuha' shook her head. "No. No you're not. You are simply the girl charged as my jailer and nothing more. Though, it is true that our 'souls' are connected now, and much more closely than what was originally intended thanks to the darkness and Yang chakra I took from you. So, I suppose you could say that you and I are something akin to twin sisters sharing the same body. Don't worry, you are still 'you', and I am still 'me'."

"...Oh. So, we're family then?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Um so, do you like ramen?"

"While I haven't personally eaten it myself, we do share senses, so... I suppose I do."

"...Huh?"

"I taste what you taste, feel what you feel, and see what you see. Like I said, while I may not have eaten it myself, I still know what it tastes like and have found it to be, tasty. That said, you really should learn to savor it more and not simply inhale it. I might learn to like it much more if you did."

"...Oh, um... okay. So you've never had human food before?"

"No, I have not."

"Then, I guess you'd want to try new and different stuff too, huh?"

"That would be nice, yes."

"Okay!"

"What brought that on?"

"Um, well... I still don't really get most of what you said, but we're sisters now right?"

The redhead nodded. "More or less."

"Well then, as your sister, I should take care of you! Um, that means letting you try new things and stuff like that!"

"I see," 'Natsuha' smiled, liking her 'sister's' simple way of looking at things. "I think I'd like that. Maybe some curry?"

"Okay! I've never had curry before either!"

"I see. Well then, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yup! But um, so what now? And um... Right! Where is this place anyway?" Natsuha asked, suddenly remembering that she had no clue where she was now that everything else was more or less cleared up for the time being.

"Ah, right. We're inside your Mindscape, your 'inner world' if you will. You can just think of it like being in a dream. As for what's next? Well, I just thought it was time that we meet and to let you know that I'll be around a lot more often from now on. At any rate, you'll be waking up soon so the rest will have to wait for later. Ah, but before I forget. Be sure to thank Mister for me too, alright?"

"Oh, right! Mister! He, he's okay too then? What about Anko-chan ant that other girl?"

"They're all okay for the time being, though Mister was hurt pretty badly. Don't worry though, I can tell he's very tough. Anyway, time for you to go."

"Oh, um okay... but how do I-"

Before she could continue, Natsuha's world once again abruptly went black as she was suddenly yanked back into the waking world.

xxx xxx xxx

"...!"

Eyes snapping wide open and sitting straight up, Natsuha was the first to wake up and as her senses and thoughts kicked into overdrive in trying to figure out just where she now found herself. Looking around as carefully as she could, it didn't take her long to find just the people she was looking for.

"...Oh, good! Anko-chan and that other girl are alright...!"

Hand to her chest, the little blonde let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the two girls in question were just sleeping and not severely hurt. Looking a little closer, she spotted that all three of them had what looked like a bracelet made of the same black chains that her Mister used to protect them. Gently tapping her own bracelet, Natsuha noticed how pleasantly warm it felt and how it covered her whole body somehow.

"...Okay, but where's Mister?" she quietly asked herself, looking around the other side of the room.

Thought it was dark inside, the dim moonlight filtering in from a nearby window was just bright enough to let her make out another person lying on a slightly larger bed not too far from her and the others. Deciding to take a closer look, Natsuha cautiously and quietly hopped off the bed only to squeak a bit at how cold the floor was. Fearing that she'd woken up the others, the little blonde took a quick glance to either side of her, relieved that she hadn't woken up Anko and the other girl. Then, tip-toeing over to her Mister's bed, finally got to see the face of the man who saved them.

"...He's all bandaged up, but not bleeding. That's good, I think. Um, he is okay though, right?" Tall, dark grey hair, and kind of muscly; her 'Mister' also seemed a fair bit older than her too. Probably even older than Iruka-nii, maybe around Dog's age though? On a side note, Natsuha had a thing for older men, though she was still too young to realize it yet. "Anyway, where is this place and how did we get here?"

Due to the last two years of her sudden, very severe mistreatment and social isolation Natsuha, sadly, had developed a habit of thinking out loud to try and keep from bottling things up and exploding. On the other hand, that same habit also helped let her avoid seriously sticky situations more often than not.

"Now what? Do I, get back into bed... or do I go and try to take a look around this place some more?"

But, before she could make a move either way, the door she didn't notice that was behind her suddenly opened up, letting in some more light followed by the soft sounds of another person's footsteps.

"Oh? And what do we have here? Looks like one of you woke up already, hmm?" asked the newcomer in a kind, gentle voice.

"...Eeep...!" Natsuha really, really didn't want to but she couldn't help but jump up in surprise, quickly whirling around to face whoever it was that came in.

"My, aren't you a little cutie," said the newcomer with a light giggle.

"...Wh, who are y, you...?" cautiously asked a now on guard Natsuha after taking a step back while looking up at the older woman smiling and standing in front of her. She was fairly tall and slender with a well proportioned figure dressed in loose and long sleeved dark blue robes, had a healthy snow white complexion, long, slightly wavy silky black hair that fell past the small of her back. Most striking of all though, were the golden, slitted almost snake-like eyes that carried a kind and gentle warmth in them as the looked down on the little blonde.

"Me? Hmm. Well, you can call me Inada, Makami Inada; a pleasure to meet you. And you are?"

"...Oh, um. I'm... my name is Uzumaki Natsuha...!" Natsuha then turned to look over and point at the still sleeping Mister, Anko, and Hinata and asked with evident concern in her voice. "Are you the one who brought us here? Are you a doctor, Miss Inada?"

Thoughtfully, Inada put a slender finger to her chin and took a moment to think of how best to answer the little blonde's question. "I'm something like a doctor, yes. As for how you ended up here? Well, you can thank that young man over there."

"Mister?"

"Yes, " Inada calmly nodded. "He was very hurt but thankfully not enough that I couldn't treat him while you three were just sleeping so just needed some warm beds."

"Oh, um... Then, thank you for looking after us then!" Natsuha said while offering up small, polite bow to the older, raven haired doctor(?). Natsuha, and most Uzumaki in general really, weren't much for generally respecting titles or observing formalities but knew when to do so when showing gratitude to those who helped them and/or those they held precious. Nothing, absolutely nothing, meant more to an Uzumaki than family and protecting those they considered family.

Inada gently smiled and patted the little Uzumaki's very soft blonde head. "It's fine. Anyway, how about I get you something to eat and show you around the clinic while your friends rest?"

"...Do you have ramen?"

"Ramen huh? Well, there's a nice little stand nearby that serves it, so let's have some delivered here, okay? I don't eat it very often myself, but it's very good so I know you'll love it."

"Yay!" the little girl quietly cheered, hopping up and down in joy, remembering to keep her voice down so she wouldn't disturb and accidentally wake up the others.

Inada giggle again before offering the little blonde her hand. "Alright then little Natsuha, let's go."

"Mm!"

xxx xxx xxx

- Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, one week after the 'Hyuga Incident' -

Hokage Tower, Hokage's office-

"Well? Any news, Jiraiya?" asked Sarutobi Hiruzen in a quiet and serious tone, fingers steepled together atop his desk.

Sadly Konoha's spymaster, the Toad Sage and member of the legendary Sannin, could only shake his head, a deep frown on his face. "Sorry Old Man, still nothin' yet. I've been running my contacts ragged but it's like the girls just disappeared from the face of the planet. Hell, if it weren't for that 'soulstone' necklace that Hiashi's other daughter had proving otherwise, I could only assume the worst. But, the fact that it's still clear and white means that her sister's still alive and out there somewhere. Seeing as they were together at the time of their disappearance, at least according to Kakashi and Yugao's debrief anyway, it's relatively safe to assume that little Natsuha and Mitarashi's girl should be with her too. Still, it's odd that I haven't heard anything at all yet. At the very least, an unbranded Hyuga would be really hard to miss, especially given how coveted their eyes are."

"...I see. Well, we haven't had much luck with analyzing just what that unknown spacetime jutsu the foreigner used either," said the aged 3rd Hokage with a tired sigh. "Frankly, the fact that he could apparently use multiple jutsu sealessly is concerning enough, but the fact that they're all powerful and unknown as well is even more worrying. Still, that he seemed to be protecting little Natsuha and the others does gladden my heart a bit. Honestly though, this entire situation has been nothing but a headache from beginning to end..."

"And what about those ROOT and the Kumo-nin we subdued? What did Ibiki and Inoichi have to say after I managed to remove those blasted 'secrecy' seals? Oh, and speaking of ROOT, what will you do with Danzou now that we finally have irrefutable proof of their illegal activities?" Jiraiya asked hoping that something, anything, good would come out of this tragedy and get his mind off this latest failure as the little blonde's godfather. "What he did was clearly against Konoha law the covenant the 1st Hokage established concerning the treatment and usage of Jinchuriki... though we would all be guilty of violating that I suppose. Either way, we could finally charge him and his supporters with clear acts of treason."

In a very rare moment of subtle but still very obvious near vindictively sadistic glee at finally being able to get rid of the rot plaguing the 'Great Tree' the 1st Hokage had planted smiled darkly before speaking. "Well, after Kakashi and Yugao gave their reports along with the footage from the recorder tags in their masks, as well as the late Dove's own last moments, I was able to formally charge Danzou with treason and have him taken to be held in an ANBU prison while I had every party related to him thoroughly investigated. As you might imagine, ties ran deeper than even I had guessed... which left me no choice but to purge them all. And, call me selfish if you want, I wanted to sweep them all away in one move in front of the whole village by having every last one of them sealed and publicly executed. Admittedly, this won't solve all of our problems, but things it's a start and the very least we can do to atone for the mistakes we've made in failing to protect Minato and Kushina's legacy."

"That's a good start, and about damn time too Old Man! But what are you going to do about ROOT now?"

"Yes, about that. I've had Inoichi and the rest of the Yamanaka Clan, in conjunction with the Kurama Clan, begin working on a program to deprogram and, hopefully, reintegrate them back into Konoha's regular forces, or even allow them to enter civilian life if they so wish," Hiruzen replied, pulling out and handing his former student a thick folder. "We might even be able to use them as spies both inside and outside Konoha since that was actually one of ROOT's main original roles before Danzou perverted the organization into his own twisted personal army."

Jiraiya nodded at hearing that, especially at the idea of using them to expand their intelligence network. "Now that's a great idea! Hell, it'd finally give me some real breathing room to act more freely since I won't have to worry about security leaks quite so much. After all, I also have my duties in overseeing the Jinchuuriki's seals as outlined by the covenant the other villages made with the 1st Hokage. It'll also allow me to devote more time to look for my goddaughter, the Hyuga girl and Mitarashi's kid too."

"That's what I had in mind. However, that will have to wait for now."

"What, why!?" angrily asked the Toad Sage who now had a scowl on his face, not at all happy hearing that.

"Because there's an urgent S-Class assignment that I can only entrust to you and that needs to be handled as quickly as possible, that's why."

"...Is this about what I think it is?" Jiraiya asked in a rare moment of seriousness.

Hiruzen nodded gravely. "Yes. I need you to look for Tsunade and bring her home. It's high time she return and fulfill her duties as both the last remaining Senju and kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"...And if she refuses?"

The aged Hokage closed his eyes and in a severe and solemn tone that Jiraiya hadn't seen since the days of the Third Great Shinobi War. "If she refuses to return and you have exhausted all other options and avenues of persuasion, forceful or otherwise... then I will have no choice but to freeze her personal Konoha based accounts and seize all remaining Senju assets in the name of the Village before immediately declaring her a Rank S Missing Nin with 'kill on sight' orders. I don't want to go that far but, frankly, I've let her roam free long enough and no longer have the patience, or time, to deal with her adult onset petulance. Konoha has lost far too much already and I still have a long, long way to go to make up for many of its, and my own, mistakes..."

"..."

"I know that I"m asking a lot of you Jiraiya, and I know full well the pain that Tsunade has gone through, but the fact remains is that she wasn't the only one who has lost those dear to her, or suffered because of life's cruel unfairness. Besides, she's Natsuha's godmother and last remaining blood relative. It's high time she pay her dues just like the rest of us."

Jiraiya didn't say anything for a long moment before finally letting out a long, resigned sigh. "...No, you're right. Besides, it's not like I can really say anything in her defense either... or that I've been much help to the kid, especially now. Alright, when do you want me to go?"

xxx xxx xxx

"...Hmm?"

Slowly, groggily and carefully, the young man fluttered his eyes open and found himself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, vaguely aware that he was currently resting in a warm bed somewhere.

'...Hm? ...Where, is this pla-'

"Oh! He's up!" said the little purplette, being the first to notice the young man wake up.

"...Mmmf? *sslluuurrppp!* Ah, he is! Hey Mister, you okay? " asked the little, twintailed blonde after she hastily finished up the last of her ramen before dashing over to and plowing into the young man in a hug.

"...Oof!"

"Na, Natsuha-chan! You can't just run up and hu, hug him like that! He, he's still recovering and j, just wo, woke up...!" shyly admonished the lavender eyed dark bluenette coming up over and trying to pry the little blonde away.

"...Oh, right, ehehe~! Sorry about that...!"

The young man, not really bothered by the sudden display of affection, simply patted the girl's head while quietly confirming that the three girls he'd saved were safe and unharmed. 'Well, at least they seem to be doing well. Plenty of energy too, if this little one is anything to go by.'

Meanwhile, Natsuha, starved for physical affection and acknowledgment, relished the feel and warmth of the older man gently ruffling her blonde locks, eyes closed and practically purring in contentment while Anko looked on with a mix of mild envy and amusement. Hinata, on the other hand, was blushing from the rather embarrassing and not very Hyuga-like thoughts going through her head a mile a minute at the sight.

"...My, my. Aren't we rather popular, Mister..."

"Hmm?" Turning in the direction of the new and much older female voice that spoke up, the young man saw a pale, raven haired beauty smiling at the sight from the entrance of the room the four of them were resting in. '...I'm guessing that she was the one who looked after us then? For now though...' "I'm Lyner, Lyner Reid. And you are?"

"Lyner, is it? A bit of an unusual name, but not as strange as those from the Land of Lightning at least. Are you perhaps from the Land of Iron then? Ah, my name is Makami Inada by the way. Anyway, how are you feeling? These little ones here refused to leave your side and have been taking turns watching over you," explained the beautiful ravenette gesturing to the now very flustered trio of little girls trying to hide from him.

The now named Lyner nodded before asking. "Thanks for that you three and are you a doctor then, Miss Makami?"

"Well, like I told Natsuha and the others earlier, that's close enough I suppose. At least for the time being anyway," Inada somewhat vaguely replied. "At any rate, these three have already told me a bit about what happened to them before I found you but you'll need to fill in the rest."

Lyner nodded. "I see. Well...-"

- Half an hour and one explanation later -

"I've heard of high level spacetime based teleportation jutsu before, but what you described is just... wow. And it's even capable of mass transport."

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to set up proper exit coordinates and was was pretty low on ether before taking some more of those weapons to my back. The rest was pretty much just me moving on instinct at that point."

"Hey Mister, what's 'eee-thur'?" Natsuha asked, finally joining in on the conversation after Lyner finished explaining how they escaped and ended up in Inada's care. "Is it like that chakra stuff Jiji told me about?"

"I'm not sure," Lyner replied, genuinely unsure. He had an idea, of course, but he needed to be sure. "What's 'chakra'?"

"In simplest terms, chakra is essentially the fusion of both physical and spiritual energy that, when molded together and directed by a living being through the use of methods such a shinobi's hand seals or through a samurai's katana, lets one perform jutsu," Inada explained before demonstrating by going through a few hand seals and covering her left hand in the characteristic, warm green glow of medical chakra. "By the way, 'jutsu' is simply an ancient word for 'technique' that has come to specifically refer to chakra based techniques and skills like this 'Mystical Healing Palm' here."

"I see. Well, thank you for the explanation."

"Not at all. Anyway, does chakra sound anything at all like that energy you called 'ether'?"

Lyner nodded. "It's similar enough in concept anyway. By the way, is it just 'living things' that possess chakra, or is it present in the environment in general as well?"

"It does, and we refer to it as 'natural chakra'. However, people don't normally use or interact with it much on its own. That said, I have heard that it is possible for one to learn to gather and use it alongside their own internal chakra reserves through very intense and dedicated training, with those who succeed being known as 'Sages'."

"...Interesting. So it's common for sorcerists around here to only rely on their internal ether to use artes huh?"

"Artes? Sorcerists?" Inada asked, having never heard those terms before.

"Artes are what you call 'jutsu' and 'sorcerists' are like your shinobi or samurai, though we don't normally need hand seals or catalysts to use them. Well, some do. Mostly for stylistic or personal reasons more than anything else though," Lyner said by way of explanation before producing a small sphere of flames atop his open palm, immediately prompting varied but very excited reactions from his three little charges. "And yes, as you can see, I am also once such sorcerist."

"Oh, wow! That was so, so... COOL!" Natsuha exclaimed, hopping up and down at the sight "Hey, hey! Can you teach me how to do that too? Can you, please? Please, please... PLEASE!?"

"What the...! The chakra not only molded itself into the right sequences needed to produce a flame, but a good portion of it was gathered from the air around him! Wait, so he's a Sage...?" Hinata quietly observed in total awe as her now fully activated byakugan saw the whole arte/jutsu form right in front of her from start to finish.

"...Whoa! Papa could only do something like that using seal tags or his katana...!" was all Anko could manage to say before her mind raced a mile a minute to try and figure out what she was seeing.

"...Hmm." Meanwhile, Inada's oddly snake-like, golden eyes flickered with the light of scholarly curiosity as she silently worked to analyze what, exactly, Lyner had done before finally speaking up. "Fascinating. Completely sealess chakra shape manipulation and elemental nature transformation, and all with master level control as well. Even most Kage level shinobi could barely pull that off outside of perhaps their own specialties."

"In my homeland, performing artes heavily depend on mental imagery and focus to properly mold and direct it while fueled by the necessary physical vitality and stamina needed to properly manifest them into reality. Essentially, the physical and spiritual aspects of ether work in parallel towards the desired result. For sorcerists, ether is seen as a singular force rather than being composed of two separate energies," Lyner explained while extinguishing the small sphere of flames in his hand. "I suppose it's just a difference in how we look at and interpret how to use that energy more than anything else."

"I see. And would it be possible for you to teach me how your people use chakra?" Inada asked, eyes shimmering at the possibilities. Naturally, she wasn't expect him to do it for free of course. "In exchange, I would do the same and teach you what I know of chakra theory and usage."

"...So, an even trade of ideas is it?"

"Exactly."

Natsuha, getting more than a little impatient and annoyed that her Mister wasn't paying attention to her tugged on his sleeve and called out to him. "Hey, hey! Mister!"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't really get most of what you two were saying, but Miss Inada said she was going to teach you cool ninja stuff if you taught her about 'ee-thur', right? Then, can I join in? I wanna learn how to be a super awesome kunoichi too!"

Lyner, looking down at the little girl staring back up at him with her innocent and hopeful violet eyes, took a moment to really consider her request. Half a beat later, he turned to look at the two other girls and asked. "What about you two?"

"...Um, we, well," Hinata began with a stutter before taking a moment to steady her nerves with a few deep breaths before nodding as firmly and resolutely as she could. "Yes I would!" She was very intrigued at just what Inada and Lyner could teach her. After all, she wanted to do whatever it took to get even one step closer to her dream of tearing down the walls that divided her clan. As for Anko? Well, thankfully tings were much simpler for the little purplette

"If it'll let me do what you did then I'm totally in! Besides, not like I'm in any real hurry to go back to Konoha..." Inada suddenly raised a delicate eyebrow upon hearing that.

"Konoha? Is that where you're all from?"

The three girls nodded.

"You're all quite far from home then."

"Speaking of which, where are we exactly?" Lyner asked.

"Ah, right. You all fell out of the sky after using that strange spacetime jutsu of yours. Well, let's hold off on that for now and get you something to eat first. You've been asleep the longest out of everyone and are going to need ot start getting your strength back before doing anything else," Inada suggested, deciding that now would be the best time to take a break and let everyone really digest everything that's been said so far.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I suppose I could use something to eat. By the way, how long have I been a sleep anyway?"

"Well, Natsuha woke up four days ago with the other two waking up the follwoing day and you all arrived at my doorstep a day before Natsuha woke up... so, five days."

"...I was asleep for five days!? Really!?"

Inada nodded. "Severe chakra exhaustion will do that to you. Frankly, I'm amazed you're even alive. To be quite honest, the level of chakra exhaustion you suffered should've killed you and it's a miracle you woke up at all."

"Really?" Natsuha asked, eyes wide with worry. "But, he's going to be okay, right? Right?"

"Yes, somehow. Though I can't really understand why. The level of sheer vitality one would need to still come through near total chakra loss shouldn't be humanly possible yet here we are. That's why I suggested that we take a break for now and get him something to eat so he can start to get his strength back. Especially if he intends to teach us anything."

"Oh! Okay, I think I get it!" The little blonde then turned to grab Lyner"s hand. "Come on! We need to get you ramen and fill up your tummy so you can start teaching us how to be super awesome kunoichi!"

"...Can we get something besides ramen?" Anko asked, half pleading while Hinata just smiled and giggled at the little blondes antics and one track mind.

xxx xxx xxx

A/N:

And that concludes another chapter!

Well, this one both marks the start of the girls' new journey to becoming the best, and first ever, kunoichi flavored sorcerists seen in any of the Elemental Nations.

The term 'Sorcerist' here is something like a general, umbrella term for combat mage, which would pretty much be what a shinobi would be in the Narutoverse. So yes, the girls will be using mostly sealess artes rather than traditional jutsu. That said, the training they'll need to build up their reserves and control, thanks to how similar ether and chakra are in concept, are the same. So they'll still do things like tree and water walking, the leaf spinning exercise... things like that. Inada will be helping too so their overall skills will bear a strong resemblance to jutsu though only on the surface. Each of the three girls will have their own specialties too.

As for Kyuubi 'Natsuha'? Well, now we know what she really is and her connection to the little blonde is. I took a lot of inspiration form KH3/BBS with their relationship as it somewhat parallels Ventus and Vantias' own, though they aren't nearly as antagonistic. She'll stay more as a supporting teacher for now, but I do plan to have her physically show up more and fight alongside her 'sister' later on. Oh, all Jinchuuriki in this world have two elemental affinities by default by virtue of being Jinchuuriki though it's not an even split so much as 60/40 between their own native affinity and bijuu related affinity. For example, Natsuha's is wind and fire, though which is the dominant affinity actually depends on which Natsuha is in control at the time

Oh, and nearly every character here will be stronger than their canon counterparts simply to keep things more balanced to to avoid making Natsuha too overpowered, which is something I will do my best ot avoid though she will be much stronger than Naruto was in canon. That just can't be helped.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and see you next update!.