Chapter 12

Pre-note: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. They've been amazing.

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"I'm tired," Miki whined, dragging her feet slightly. Yasu gave her daughter a small, fond smile.

"We'll be there soon," she told the five year old. Sora was happy for her friend. It seemed as if she was really healing from the death of her husband. Miki looked down at the dirt.

"I wish daddy was here," she grumbled. "He'd carry me." Sora saw Yasu flinch slightly, before her expression filled with resolve.

"Come here sweet-heart. I'll carry you for a bit."

Yasu bent over, and Miki enthusiastically clambered on to her back. Yasu groaned as she stood up. It wasn't that Yasu wasn't strong enough to carry Miki, it was just that they were at the end of a two-day journey, and in that situation a five-year-old wears you down pretty thin.

"How much further?" Yasu asked softly. Sora grinned.

"Maybe two miles," Sora drawled. Yasu grunted. "You know… we could always go the long way around and see the beautiful memorial stone. That is, if Miki wants to."

"Oh yeah! Can we mom? Please?" Yasu looked at Sora dangerously.

"Sure."

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"Just a few months until the exam," Naruto muttered slowly to himself. He was sitting in the lotus position, eyes closed, going through his thoughts. It was still difficult for him to focus his mind and slow down his head… old habits die hard. Life had taught him that there was little to be gained from thinking that couldn't be gained later through perseverance. Or at least, most of his life had taught him that.

After Nori… well it was the whole trip really. He didn't feel like the same person. He didn't feel… like a child. Naruto nodded his head, deciding that was it. He felt older somehow. Not just that he'd gained years, but something more. Maybe that's what people called wisdom.

I should try my technique again, Naruto thought to himself, preparing to use Intention with his meditation as he had been for a few weeks now.

The results had been… interesting. It was almost as if he was communing with the elements themselves, and was having conversations with them. That wasn't really a good description he knew, as he never had anything to say, and they never had anything to tell, but all the same, he felt a two way flow of understanding.

And he felt an immense improvement in his chakra control. If only he had better control of the fox's chakra… Naruto pushed the thought from his mind. No use worrying about something he couldn't change.

Naruto reached out with his chakra, the familiar explosion of sensation and understanding that he was beginning to associate with the meditation coming instantly. The wind always seemed to speak the loudest, but all of the elements had something to say.

He often felt a similar feeling during these sessions as he did when experiencing the fox's chakra. As if he was being flooded with an understanding and power and wisdom that he couldn't even hope to comprehend.

The earth told him first, then the wind soon after. Someone was approaching the clearing…

Naruto slowly pulled back his chakra. He always seemed to come away with a better feeling if he slowly reeled himself in, as if he was a house guest and he didn't want to dash out without properly saying his good-byes. He opened his eyes and glanced over to where the person was coming from.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, realizing who it was. He quickly rose to his feet, dusting himself off as he ran over to see his girlfriend. She smiled sweetly and they embraced for a moment, simply enjoying the feeling of each other.

Hinata held him tighter than usual it seemed. Naruto had noticed that since the dinner with her father Hinata had been acting a little differently. She'd been moodier; both happier and sadder, swinging between the two more often than she had before.

Naruto shrugged it off, chalking it up to a "girl thing". Thinking back to all the girls he knew, they seemed to swing between moods rather quickly, no reason Hinata couldn't as well he figured. After all, she was a girl.

"What's going on?" Naruto inquired. Hinata's smile faltered a bit.

"Does something have to be going on for me to see you?" Naruto looked at her thoroughly confused.

"Uh, what?" He lifted an eyebrow, as if questioning her sincerity. "You don't usually visit me while I'm out meditating. I just figured…" He trailed off, unsure if he'd said something wrong.

"Never mind," Hinata said, her enthusiasm and smile returning full force. "I wanted to let you know! Sora finally got here. She's at your house now. She wanted to see you before she went and talked to Hokage-sama."

Naruto was instantly full of energy, jumping up and down a few times before he grabbed Hinata in a huge hug and rushed off towards Konoha. "C'mon!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran. Hinata laughed at his antics as she followed, his mood was absolutely infectious.

It took them just a few minutes before they were at his front door, and sure enough the lights were on, though it was only midday. Naruto opened the door, Hinata right behind him, and was immediately greeted with a bewildered Miki.

"Hi uncle Naruto!" The young girl ran up and hugged his legs. Naruto patted her on the back as he saw Sora peek out into the hallway, a grin spreading across her face.

"Hey brat!" Sora called to him. Miki let go of his legs, turning her attention to Hinata, and Naruto walked over to give Sora a hug. He was much more comfortable now with physical contact having dated Hinata for so long. They quickly broke apart, and walked into the dining area where Yasu was sitting at the table sipping some tea, Hinata and Miki wandering in moments later.

Naruto took a seat, grinning like a madman, and wasn't sure where to start, but fortunately Sora saved him the trouble.

"How have you been?" she asked. Naruto, remembering the last two months, wondered where to start, but Hinata spoke up.

"Well, when we got here, things got interesting quickly."

Hinata and Naruto launched into an explanation of what had ensued, from the initial conversation with Tsunade, all the way down to the dinner with Hiashi. Naruto accidentally let slip that Hinata had spent the night before the fight at his house, which caused her to blush immensely, but thankfully he caught himself before mentioning anything about them sharing a bed. Sora, for her part, simply gave Naruto a stern look, who had the grace to look a bit ashamed, before whipping out her camera and taking a picture of the two. By the end of the story, Sora was beaming at them.

Naruto was about to ask Sora what her time had been like when there was a knock at the door. Confused, Naruto quickly answered only to see a familiar white-haired Cyclops.

"I heard there was a banshee visiting at your house so I thought—" The sound of a toppling chair cut him off as an irate Sora rounded the corner into the hallway.

"What did you call me Hatake?" The Jounin gulped. It was never a good sign when she used his last name. Naruto glanced between them suspiciously.

"Ma, I was just telling Naruto that I heard he had visitors and was stopping by to say hello." Naruto scrutinized his face, or what little of it he could see, for a few more seconds before waving the Jounin in to the dining room.

Yasu glanced at Kakashi, then back to Sora, catching her eye for a moment.

"Hinata, could you come with me for a minute? I had some research I wanted your opinion on." Hinata, being incredibly perceptive, knew something was up, but she knew that if it was important she'd hear about it later.

Glancing at Hinata's retreating form, Naruto turned back to Sora and Kakashi, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. They had a look on their faces like they were planning something.

"Well…" Sora began, glancing over at Miki who was occupying herself in the living room. "Before I came back Kakashi-baka came out on a recon mission and stopped by Nanashi's house." She gave him an evil eye. "And while he was there, I convinced him to sit down and talk with you about… you know… your father."

Naruto's expression relaxed. He hadn't pressed that issue with Kakashi because he was still a little upset at never being told anything about his parents, but he certainly was interested to hear about the Fourth. He looked between them carefully, before nodding.

"I think I'd like that," he said in a quiet voice. Kakashi looked at him seriously, trying to show that he cared about the conversation as opposed to the air of indifference he usually held.

"Naruto, I want you to know that I didn't mean for this to happen." Kakashi's single eye glanced at the young blond before staring at the table in apparent thought. "Sensei would have been upset with what happened; with everything that's happened."

Naruto wanted so badly to talk. Serious conversations always made him feel uncomfortable, and the way he dealt with that was being loud. But Naruto didn't hear Kakashi speak seriously very often, and he wanted to make sure Kakashi kept going.

"I'll tell you a bit about the Fourth, but first… there's something I want to tell you about me." Kakashi looked up at the last part, directly at Sora. Naruto glanced between them. Was Kakashi talking to him? "I want to tell you," Kakashi said slowly, still staring at Sora, "how I got my Sharingan."

Naruto and Sora were both shocked at this. Naruto had never heard him talk about it at all, not even in a joke or in passing. Sora knew whose Sharingan it was… but he'd never told her how it happened. The white-haired cyclops sighed and collected his thoughts.

"I had become a Jounin not long before. It was during the war with Iwa, and we were on a mission to a bridge." Kakashi paused, a faraway look on his face. "I wasn't a very good teammate, Naruto." The boy scoffed. All the Jounin ever talked about was teamwork.

"That's hard to believe, sensei." Kakashi gave him one of those short, piercing, lazy stares before looking back into empty space.

"Rin and… Obito. Obito Uchiha. I didn't care much for them. I always felt like they held me back… a lot like how Sasuke would act with you and Sakura." Kakashi grinned under his mask. It seemed it was becoming easier for him to talk. "Obito was a lot like you, Naruto. He was not your typical Uchiha. He was a very good friend, and he rejected the stoic superiority that most Uchiha had.

"Part of that was that his clan viewed him as useless. You see, Obito was never able to awake his bloodline. Because of that, and because of his view that Konoha was more important than the clan, most Uchiha shunned him."

Kakashi looked briefly at Naruto, but the blond felt like Kakashi wasn't seeing him. It was like the Jounin was looking at Naruto's face and seeing something different. The way he was talking, Naruto had a pretty good guess what that was.

"But just like you, Naruto, Obito never let that get him down. He was always smiling and laughing and finding the things that were important to him, and never letting go." Kakashi sighed. "But war isn't kind to the optimistic. It wasn't any more dangerous than the missions we had done before, but that was the biggest problem. I was overconfident, and Obito wanted to prove his worth. Rin… would have agreed to anything we decided. And your father… your father wanted to help me.

"But we were ambushed." Kakashi paused for several seconds. "In the end… Obito saved me. He activated his Sharingan and saved my life, taking my place. I walked over to him. At the time, I didn't understand it. I didn't understand why he saved me. I didn't understand how he could ever be gone forever…"

Kakashi reached up and softly touched his covered eye. His expression was the same as it always was, but it was obvious that he was affected by the memory.

"As he died, he gave me his eye. He told me to take it, and remember him."

Naruto nodded. So many things made more sense. The way that Kakashi treated Team 7, and his insistence on teamwork were given cause, and Naruto could finally understand why Kakashi had always been so focused on Sasuke. He had been trying to teach Sasuke something more important than fighting; a lesson that had been painful for him. Naruto suddenly steeled his resolve.

"Well don't worry, sensei," Naruto said surely. "I'm not gonna die on you or the stuck-up Uchiha prick!" Kakashi smiled fondly, his spirits obviously lifted. Naruto was good at that.

"Now, how about your father?" Kakashi drawled slowly. Naruto looked at him eagerly. "What do you want to know?" Naruto thought for a moment.

The question he really wanted to ask he suspected Kakashi couldn't answer. In fact, he was fairly certain that no one except his father knew the answer to the question he cared about the most. Instead, Naruto decided to ask about the simple things.

"What was he like before he was Hokage?" Kakashi smiled, thinking back to his old sensei.

"Minato was unique. He didn't have a past really, but he never let that stop him or get him down."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, nodding. "Jiraiya told me how he found him." Sora looked at her little brother startled.

"When did that happen?" she asked. Naruto shrugged.

"A month ago… maybe two." Kakashi jumped in, getting the conversation back on topic.

"Well, I don't know too much about what he was like at the academy, but since I graduated, he was an amazing sensei. He believed in hard work, but even more so in community." Kakashi looked Naruto right in the eye. "Your father believed very much that Konoha was bigger than anyone here."

"Sounds like Jiji," Naruto said, thinking of the Third. Kakashi nodded.

"I know that it's part of why he chose your father to become Hokage. Your father loved this village." Kakashi grew thoughtful for a moment. "The only thing he loved more than this village was your mother." Naruto perked up.

"Why did they love each other?" Sora gave him a skeptical look before jumping in.

"Kid, why does Hinata love you?" Naruto looked taken aback at the inquiry.

"How should I know? I've been trying to figure that one out for a while!" Sora smiled at him.

"Exactly."

Naruto had a face of understanding for a moment, before smirking.

"Why didn't they live together then? I remember what me and Sora talked about but… I just…" He wanted it so badly. Talking with the two of them, his parents seemed more real. These were people that had actually talked with his mother and father. That had actually known them.

For these people, his parents had been living, breathing humans that they'd loved and hated, laughed and cried with; that they'd kept secrets from and kept secrets for.

"Naruto…" Kakashi began, tilting his head to the side, thinking. "Your father was bound by duty to the village. You remember how the Third always used to talk about the purpose of the Hokage? Your father exemplified that more than anyone I knew." He looked back at Naruto. "Your father wanted everything to work out, but the villagers can be… troublesome at times. You understand that I'm sure."

Naruto looked down, thinking of his own past. "Yeah…"

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. It made Sora nervous, and she was about to talk when a knock sounded at the door. Hinata and Yasu came around the corner, interested in who was visiting at this hour, as Naruto got up and went to open the door.

"Hey," Naruto said curtly, eyeing the ANBU with reservation. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to retrieve Sora," the masked ninja said simply. Naruto rolled his eyes. The old hag couldn't wait it seemed.

"Sora-nee-chan, looks like baa-chan doesn't want to wait for you anymore." Naruto could hear indistinct grumbling as she came into view and approached the door. She stopped and looked at the ANBU briefly before turning to Naruto.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," she said. "Get Yasu and Miki settled if you can." Naruto nodded. He had more questions for Kakashi as well.

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The Sannin snorted. He simply couldn't believe he was doing this… so much valuable research was being lost… But he'd made up his mind. This was too important, and he owed Minato this much. Plus things were getting… interesting.

Jiraiya stepped up to the house, its familiarity bringing him momentarily back to a happier time when his best student was still alive… still smiling. He sighed and knocked on the door. After some thumping behind the door, a familiar tuft of blond hair greeted the older man as it opened slowly.

"Ero-sennin?" Jiraiya grimaced slightly. He hated it when the kid said that. "What are you doing here?" Jiraiya gave him one of his big smiles.

"I heard some new women rolled into town and are at your house," he said mischievously, his fingers twitching in what Naruto felt was a rather threatening manner. Naruto eyed him suspiciously.

"Both of them would skin you alive if you tried," Naruto said evenly. "What are you really here for?" Jiraiya sighed.

"I promised I would train you," Jiraiya said sternly. "I keep promises." A blue-haired head popped out into the hall, staring in Naruto's direction.

"Who is it, Naruto?" The blond opened the door a little more and smiled.

"Ero-sennin!" Hinata 'meep'ed and bowed quickly.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Hinata rushed over and opened the door. "Come in!"

While Naruto complained to Hinata, ("But I've told you how perverted he is!") and Hinata tried to contain her reaction, ("You at least invite him in!") Jiraiya couldn't contain his smile. They looked like a married couple. His favorite student would be proud.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata-san," Jiraiya broke in. "Naruto and I have to leave anyway." Both of them stopped mid-sentence and gave him a confused look.

"We're training now?" Naruto finally asked. Jiraiya gave an overly enthusiastic smile.

"No time like the present!" Naruto sighed and turned to Hinata.

"Ummm… I don't know how long this will take." He scratched behind his head, looking a bit sheepish. "I know it's kind of a pain, but would you mind staying and taking care of Yasu and Miki until I get back?" Hinata smiled brightly.

"Of course, Naru-kun." She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, before whispering in his ear: "Good luck with your training."

She pulled back, leaving a very Hinata-like blush on Naruto's face. She smirked a bit. It made him look so cute… Naruto grumbled about 'women' and 'perverts' as he pointedly ignored Jiraiya's suggestive eyebrows.

They walked out towards the training grounds slowly, not saying anything until they finally got there. It was a different experience for both of them.

Jiraiya was an old man by Naruto's standards, and in that time he'd seen and experienced many things. In truth Jiraiya rarely let himself be around someone else without putting up a front, and often that front was bombastic and ridiculous. It wasn't a coping mechanism, it was defense mechanism. Jiraiya was a master of information, and he denied it to those around him. People had a difficult time getting a read on him through his goofy exterior.

Naruto usually attacked head on, whether it was a ninja fight, a conversation, or a feeling. There was no point in anything else. Or so he'd thought, once upon a time. In truth this was the biggest lesson he'd learned while he was with Sora: your mind can get you out of situations your heart can't, and visa versa.

In fact, as they approached the training grounds, it was lost on neither of them that the other was quiet. They were in fact having a conversation, and it was one that would have been completely lost on Naruto just a few short years before. Jiraiya was testing him; his silenced asked the question 'Are you serious about this?'… Naruto was answering; his silence responded 'Yes I am!'

Jiraiya gestured to the ground, a square, flat slab of rock embedded in the ground. Naruto sat on one side and Jiraiya sat at the other. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before the Sannin reached into a pouch and pulled out a scroll.

"Your father was a seal master." He rolled the scroll out, showing the first few bits of the apparently blank scroll. Naruto looked at the material curiously as Jiraiya reached back into the pouch and pulled out a bottle of ink and a brush. "It, more than any other quality, is what made him a great ninja." Naruto watched the white-haired hermit pick up the brush and dip it into the ink well before dragging it across the scroll in regular motions, the silence between them continuous.

"Nothing to say?" Jiraiya asked, half amused, not taking his eyes off the scroll. Naruto looked up at him. "No demands? No witty comment? No calling me a pervert?" The blond scrunched up his face, looking back down at the scroll.

"I take training seriously," he said simply, no hint of his normal light-hearted nature in his voice. Every time Naruto trained himself, all he could see in his mind was Nori and Itachi. In many ways, that day he lost his innocence. From then on, when he trained, he knew the stakes. Every single training session could be the difference between someone he cared about dying or living. Jiraiya nodded, recognizing the look in Naruto's eye.

"This," the older man started, "is a primer. It describes the basic principles of sealing, and gives you the first tools you need to learn sealing." Jiraiya pushed the scroll towards Naruto, who began looking it over. But the Sannin was not finished.

"Naruto," he said, an emotion the boy hadn't heard before creeping into his voice. "I know what you think about me and about my work." Naruto scoffed slightly. "But I take this seriously. I know what can be lost if you don't." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Seriously?"

"Yes." The man gave frowned at the scroll he'd just finished. "I have only had one student before that I've given this type of instruction to. It would make sense that his son was also worthy." Naruto's heart fluttered. Such praise was quite genuine, and rarely thrown around, and Naruto was so unused to hearing it. True, both Sora and Hinata had been quite encouraging, but this was different. This was real respect.

"I won't disappoint you," Naruto said surely. Jiraiya nodded.

"Sealing is a complex art," Jiraiya intoned. Naruto looked up from the scroll again, curious. Jiraiya must truly mean what he said… he'd never actually personally instructed as far as Naruto knew. "And it is very much an art. There is a certain creativity to it that baffles some and lets others shine. Your father was one such man. He was known late in his career as the Yellow Flash for his own technique: Hiraishin.

"Such a technique was beyond the comprehension of most ninjas. It allowed your father to teleport instantly from anywhere to any of his seal tags." Jiraiya pulled out a small slip with an innocuous looking seal on it. "Like this. No matter the distance or circumstance, Minato could disappear to any of these, leaving behind only a bright flash of yellow light where he left.

"I was talking about art. The thing about art is that often no one is able to see a masterpiece the same way the artist is, and it was the same with Minato. No one, not even me, was able to decipher how it worked, or replicate its effect. When he… left… his secret died with him." There was a brief pause between them.

"The point is that sealing is a skill that no one can take from you, sometimes not even if they have all the parts. Not even with a Sharingan." Naruto thought on that. It was true… a blood-line limit would be useless for something that required knowledge like sealing, but it also seemed as if that knowledge wasn't required to use seals.

"But seals involve the seal, which can be taken, and sometimes hand seals, which can be copied," Naruto countered. "Why can't a Sharingan steal a seal master's ability?" Jiraiya smiled, dipping the brush back in the well and holding out his left hand. On it he drew a spiral diagram in the black ink.

"It's in the seal," he said. "Some seals, like those you've encountered before, are made to work with nearly anyone, but others are not. Some are too complicated to be made that way even if you desired them so. Some, like the seal on your stomach, require components which no mortal being can provide."

"What do you know about my seal?" Naruto asked suddenly. He wasn't upset as some might expect, but it was a piece of the unknown that he couldn't resist. Jiraiya grinned.

"The jutsu that creates that seal is forbidden. It was developed by Minato, long before the Kyuubi came, and once he had finished it, you father locked it away, deciding that it was too dangerous to let others know about." Jiraiya paused, the ink beginning to dry on his left palm. "I knew about it, and so did the Third, but no one else knew." He paused again, a thoughtful look on his face. "Except perhaps your mother. I don't know what your father shared with her.

"The technique calls upon the God of Death, who creates a seal which can imprison the chakra of one person in another. No mortal could create such a seal, and the price of such a technique is the user's soul itself. So powerful is this seal that it can even hold the strongest of the tailed beasts… the Kyuubi." Jiraiya paused. Whether to collect his thoughts or for dramatic effect Naruto wasn't sure.

"To create a seal, any seal, you first need a medium. Often this is ink, such as what I have here, but many different mediums are used, and all of them require special preparation. The ink on the scroll in front of you is not simply common black ink. It is specially prepared and created for the purpose of sealing, and one of your coming lessons, the next one in fact, which be on preparing a medium. Many things, like blood, or water, or even urine can be used as a medium.

"This is part of the art of sealing. Anything correctly prepared can be used as a medium; from the obvious to the obscure, from the simple to the… less tasteful. And each medium has different properties. Seals that work with one may not work with another, or may work better. Many seal masters spend their entire lives experimenting with unique combinations of mediums, researching their properties. This is perhaps what made your father so special. From when I first began teaching him sealing at the age of 16, he had a knack for understanding mediums.

"I never knew what it was or how he did it, but your father rarely experimented with a failed medium. He always seemed to be able to improve over his last attempt, and that is a quality that will make you a fantastic seal master no matter what your other qualities may be.

"But," Jiraiya said, grunting as he pushed himself to his feet. Naruto quickly followed, rolling up the scroll and storing it. "For now, read through the primer and practice the strokes. The scroll contains the 120 most common scripts in sealing, and you will need to know them well. Many of them are like glue that holds your seals together, and the more complex the seal, the stronger the glue must be." Naruto nodded curtly, and they stared at each other for a moment, before Jiraiya broke out into a grin.

"Now, what do you say we go back and spend some time with your girlfriend!" Naruto scoffed once more before cracking a grin.

"You better be careful ero-sennin. If Hinata doesn't kill you, Hiashi will. That man is like ice."

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Sora walked up the tower lackadaisically. She really wasn't looking forward to this conversation, and had hoped to put it off until tomorrow, but it seemed that the old bat was more upset than she thought, and had dragged her up here as soon as possible. She brushed one of her bubblegum braids out of the way before knocking on the door.

"Enter," the Hokage's voice called out. Sora pushed, taking a deep breath. Tsuande's lips tightened as she saw who was coming in, her eyes flashing briefly up to the ridiculous hair that she was sporting. "Nice of you to drop by," she finally bit out. Sora winced.

"Yeah, I was gonna get around to it," she replied evenly. Tsunade nodded, reach for a small stack of papers.

"Like your reports?" Tsunade pointed to the chair in front of the desk. "Please, sit." Sora heaved a sigh and slouched into the seat.

"Look, I'm sorry about the way things went on your end, but it all turned out okay. Naruto and Hinata got the training they needed, they returned safely, and they even succeeded in their mission." Tsunade cooled off a bit at hearing this. She was still skeptical of the younger girl's loyalties.

"So… you're here to stay then." It was more of a statement than a question. Sora simply shrugged before replying.

"That's the plan." Tsunade was thrilled, but also suspicious. She had most of the pieces, but this didn't fit… it didn't match what she knew.

"Why? You've never stayed anywhere before."

"I've never had a reason to." Tsunade thought for a moment before responding.

"Does this have anything to do with Naruto's father?" Sora looked a bit surprised at that before rolling her eyes.

"Told you did he? I thought I taught him to keep his mouth shut. 'Discretion is the better part of valor' and all that jazz. But noooo. I come back and what's he doing? Chilling in his father's old house." Tsunade was slightly amused.

"The house was left to him in a will," she informed the pink-haired girl. Sora looked a bit surprised. "A will that was found while he was away and didn't name Naruto to be Minato's son. So we come back to the question I asked: why are you staying?" Sora stared at the floor for a moment.

"Do you need to know? I'm here, alright?" Tsunade shook her head.

"Not for the Hokage. I have to give orders where I know what drives my ninja. I have to know why they do things, so that if they suddenly disappear on us, it is part of a calculated risk." Tsunade sighed. "I have to know that you won't just up and leave again Sora. And no matter what you say, I can't know that unless I know why you're here."

"Because of him," Sora said simply, a faraway look filling her face. "Because of Naruto."

"Why?"

"Because… Nanashi… was like a mother." Tsuande understood finally. Of course… Naruto was like her little brother… the family she could never have. It was actually poetic in a way, Tsunade felt. They'd both lost their families to the Kyuubi, but now they had each other.

"I see. You'll be staying with Naruto then I assume." Sora nodded her head, her mood picking up a bit. "You'll be happy to hear that Hinata has worked out… differences… with her clan. Naruto and her are past most of their trouble on that end."

"Yeah, the runts gave me the long version before I came here, including some priceless embarrassment of Hinata on Naruto's part," Sora said with a smile.

"On that note," Tsunade said, an odd glint in her eyes, "you did make sure that nothing… unchaste… happened between them, right?" Sora broke into raucous laughter.

"I gave them so little privacy they couldn't have if they wanted too, which as far as I can tell they didn't." Sora reached into a pocket and pulled out a small box. "And I have the pictures to prove it." Tsunade burst into her own fit of laughs before motioning for the box.

"Oh, I knew I could count on you. Now let me see those."

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"Shouldn't you be getting home soon?" Naruto asked, a playful smile crossing his face. Hinata and him finally had some time alone, what with Sora still at the Hokage tower and Yasu out with Miki. She gave him a coy look.

"The sun is just barely setting, unless you don't want me to be here." Naruto closed the distance between them and swept her up into a tight hug, pressing her firmly against his chest. She closed her eyes and held him tightly, relishing the moment. "I won't be able to… stay over… anymore," she said softly. "Because of Sora and Yasu…" Naruto let her go and looked directly at her, a warm smile on his face.

"Forget about that. This is my house now, not Sora's. We make our own choices." Naruto slowly lowered his head and gave her an ever-so-soft kiss on the lips. He pulled back and she still had her eyes closed for a moment before they fluttered open. "Whatever they are."

Hinata smiled at him fondly, turning to get a glass of water. Naruto scooped her into a hug from behind, startling her. He grinned maniacally.

"I love that sound," he said in an almost gruff tone. It sent shivers down Hinata's spine, and made it difficult for her to stand. She could feel the warm moisture of his breath on her neck, and it was muddling her thoughts.

"Wh—What sound?" she asked faintly.

"That little squeak you make when I surprise you," he said. She blushed, and she was sure that even if he couldn't see it from behind her, he could feel it. Naruto kissed the nape of her neck softly, his arms wrapped around her stomach, eliciting another of the squeaks that Naruto loved hearing. She could feel him grin against her skin as he placed soft kisses.

"Na… Naruto… Tha…" She stopped trying to finish the thought as Naruto hit a particularly sensitive spot near where her neck met her shoulders, and she let out a sound Naruto hadn't heard before. This was not a squeak.

There was a loud sound from the front door and they jumped apart as if electrified, their faces both turning furiously red.

"I'm back!" Sora called out from the hall. Hinata busied herself with getting her cup of water, while Naruto pretended to be looking for food in the fridge. The older girl quickly walked into the kitchen and eyed them suspiciously. They were far too quiet, and the blush on Hinata's face was awfully deep. She got an evil grin across her face.

"Did I interrupt something?"

Hinata squeaked once again, before muttering something about it being time to go and heading straight out the front door, the kitchen sink water still on. Naruto glanced at the sink, then at his sister sheepishly before closing the fridge.

"Don't say a word," Naruto said. "Not a word."

"Who needs words?" Sora said brightly. There was a flash. Naruto groaned… of course she still had her camera with her.

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Author's Note: I'm sorry this has taken so long. Love has a way of kicking you in the ass… and I've been sort of dealing with that. Regardless, I apologize for taking so long. Things have just been weird. I don't really feel like talking about it. Hell, I haven't even talked about it with the person who knows me best. *shrug*

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review, nice or otherwise. ^_^ There are about 670 reviews, and about 650 people have alerts set up. ~_^ Just sayin'…

I've decided to wrap up this chapter with a first ever review response. I'm going to go through some of the reviews I've gotten and respond.

Ducks-Go-Aflack and others: My author's note about "angst" got quite a few eyebrows raised. I can imagine why. Few stories approach angst as a real emotion. For most authors it's an emotion which you only caricature.

But it is important to remember that no relationship is "perfect". Especially when in your first real relationship as Naruto and Hinata. I am not going to force "mistakes" or such simply because I feel like it. I know why you are apprehensive, but you're just going to have to trust me.

GinnyMyLove: Thank you for the kind words and welcome to Naruto fandom. ^_^ I also read and write HP fanfics, but not as much or as often. And I completely agree with your assessment as to how the two fandoms are similar.

Cerawitch: I'm glad someone enjoyed my "10 things about Jordan" segments. They were for exactly the thing you described: I want to be friends with my readers. ^_^ That's partly what this is about as well.

Broken Sexed Up Bloody Kitten: It's supposed to be "Shina-To-Be" and "Shino-Tsu-Hiko". Anything other than that is a typo.

Goodnightnurse: I am actually toying with the idea of writing something for publication. Still not sure about that one. It's easy for everyone here to say they'd enjoy it, but it's not as easy for everyone here to purchase it.

RhiaJ: Thank you, and I assure you we have not seen the last of Hiashi. ~_^

ladygoddess8: Naruto is not teaching himself Sage Mode in his training sessions. And that's all I'm saying about that.

Ben Lubbers: My average writing time for a chapter is actually about… 6-8 hours of writing. About 3 days actually working on it. The entire reason for the duration between chaps comes down to how… ummm… "emotional" my life has been over the last few years.

Zeron Tikara: Thanks for the amazing review, but I feel I've probably addressed your concerns in other responses. Still wanted to thank you for the wonderful review. ~_^

All my readers: Thanks for the reviews. I do read them all, and I enjoy them. ^_^