My good readers, I got over 30 reviews for that last chapter! Thankyou so very much! You sure know how to make a dude's day =D

Now my peeps, here we go with the next chap! With this, the little comp I was running has ended. Thanks to everyone who had a shot at working out the question! I now present you the answer to all that has been happening up until now. Read on my good people, read on.

Chapter 22

Jiraiya now stood in the recently sealed Hokage's room, rubbing one eye sleepily and casting a minor wind jutsu to rid the area of the recurring smoke billowing from the boy... girl... boy... girl... Naruto. Seeing Tsunade nibbling her lip in worry, Jiraiya stored that sexy little memory for later and got down to business.

"So how long has this been happening?"

Tsunade didn't look away from the disgruntled child before her.

"Only just seconds before I summoned you. It's stabilised... I think, but stable isn't really something we can call this right now."

Jiraiya nodded. Cracking his fingers, he wriggled the stiffness out of them and then strengthening his wind jutsu, walked over to Naruto.

Lifting the blond's shirt, Jiraiya took one look at the seal and whistled. Watching the woman lean in, Jiraiya quickly mustered up his trademark sneaking skills and took a good look down her top. After getting his fill, he spoke.

"Have a look at this! The seal is warping slightly with every change, but with how quickly Naruto swaps genders, it looks like its moving! Really is quite interesting if I do say so myself."

Tsunade slapped her head in exasperation and then cuffed Jiraiya. "That's all you can say? Really? I thought you would be so much more useful than this."

Pride wounded, Jiraiya looked up at Tsunade in a pout. "I may be amused but that doesn't give you the right to knock my seal skills! You damn well know that I'm the best since The Fourth. So let me finish what I was saying before you distracted me."

Clearing his throat, the man traced a line that was slowly growing down the middle of the seal. "This is what is concerning me. I have a general knowledge of every seal stroke on Naruto except this one growing down from the top. It's also the one that is forming the fastest. I'm honestly stumped. But, unless this new line is a threat, I can confirm again that there is nothing structurally wrong with the seal, no matter how strange it looks. It really is amazing."

Tsunade growled and stood up, hands on her hips. "Well that was a great load of help. You just told me the exact same thing as you did last time."

Jiraiya shrugged. "There's only so much I can do. I wouldn't dare tamper with the seal as it is now. Who knows what would happen. All we can do is sit back and wait it out unfortunately."

Tsunade sighed and leaned back on the desk. Her eyebrows crinkled in concern and she looked at the seal again. It was almost mesmerising the way it slowly moved; the way the whole thing was being pierced by that one growing line. The swirls and strokes and dots and circles all seemed to dance around each other in perfect time, some growing, others shrinking, but never loosing time to the inaudible beat.

Shaking her head, Tsunade rubbed her eyes. Staring at that thing for too long could hypnotise a person. Taking another look at the boy, her heart went out to the poor child. If she could just have worked out what was happening with him, she would have used every available method to fix it for the kid. Rubbing her neck, she glanced at the seal again. Only this time though, something about its design sparked her memory. Walking up, Tsunade traced a long nail over Naruto's stomach. The flesh beneath her finger rippled as Naruto let out a laugh.

"Oi baa-chan, watch out! That tickles!"

Smirking slightly, Tsunade poked him a little more to get her to laugh. Relenting, she leaned back as she studied the seal again. Nodding slowly, she definitely recognised something.

"Oi, Jiraiya, have a look at this."

"Hmm?" Strutting over, the tall man eyed up the seal. He looked at the lengthening line. It was going to touch the other side of the seal soon. "What's up?"

Tsunade pointed to the seals design. "I've seen something like this before. Can you think of anything?"

Jiraiya cupped a hand to his chin, absentmindedly blowing away the smoke. "Well... I can't think of anything Hime. What do you see?"

Tsunade leaned back. "Something I see every other day of the week."

The line jumped closer to the bottom edge.

"And that is?"

Only a few more centimetres.

"Cells."

And in one final change, the line separated the seal in half.

In that instant, Naruto buckled forward, holding his stomach as a red light began to shine through the seal.

"Aw no I feel sick! Not, now, please not now!"

Jumping up in alarm, Jiraiya and Tsunade managed to catch the falling boy. The single medic started rubbing his back soothingly as the changes picked up pace.

"Breath Naruto, just breath. You'll be ok."

The twisting of Naruto's face made her doubt her words though. She looked up at Jiraiya for help as the transformations sped up even more. Her heart sank when she realised the old man was just as bewildered as her.

"Hnnnnn this hurts!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade were both taken aback by the strange mix of voices that came out. With Naruto changing so rapidly now, anything he/she said moulded together to give the impression of two voices coming from the one mouth. As the glowing seal picked up luminosity, so did Naruto's pain seem to increase. Really beginning to fret, Tsunade looked up at Jiraiya.

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

And for the first time in her life, Jiraiya gave her a totally lost look.

"I... really don't know."

Turning back to the blond, Tsunade just rubbed Naruto's back harder.

"Come on then, we'll get through this together. All three of us. We won't leave you. Not ever."

Naruto made no acknowledgement that he heard her say anything as he sunk to the floor, cradling his gut. He moaned in pain, eyes clenched shut.

"Baa-chan, I can't take this anymore! It hurts! IT HURTS!"

Trying her best to ignore the dual voices, Tsunade lay him down on the floor. "I'm here for you Naruto, don't worry, Baa-chan's here!"

Standing back, Jiraiya noticed the build up of chakra faster than Tsunade. Grabbing his old team mate, he dragged her back, earning a slap for his efforts.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET ME GO!"

Holding her back, Jiraiya shook his head. "Can't you feel it? His chakra's gona explode!"

And then, with an agonised duel yell from the floored child, it did.

The rapid succession of pops from Naruto increased to such a staccato that it began to hum deeply. Tsunade and Jiraiya had to hold up their arms as a mini whirlwind filled the office, paperwork, pens and all other manner of stationary items being whipped up into the air. Again Naruto screamed and then in an actual explosion, smoke filled the room, cutting the light to a third and reducing visibility to mere centimetres.

Coughing harshly, Jiraiya quickly summoned up his wind jutsu and began clearing the smoke. Tsunade held a sleeve up to her mouth and squinted through the haze.

"Naruto? *cough, cough* Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt *cough* hurt anymore."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Tsunade began to make out Naruto on the floor as Jiraiya's jutsu did its work. She giggled to herself. All this stress and smoke must have gotten to her. It almost looked like Naruto had too heads!

"Hnnn, why is there someone in my clothes though?"

Tsunade froze. That voice was distinctly female.

"Your clothes? My clothes!"

And that one was male.

"Who are you?"

"Nah, who are you?"

"I asked first!"

"I don't give a damn!"

Pausing a second, Tsunade then rushed forward and waved away the smoke. What greeted her sight was more than enough to stun her for a few good seconds.

"Baa-chan what the hell is happening?"

"Yeah, what's he doing in my clothes?"

"I already said they're my clothes! Get out!"

"NO! What will I wear? YOU get out!"

Jiraiya came and stood beside her, stunned into silence as well. The reason for this was there were two Naruto's in Naruto's clothes. The catch though was one was the usual boy, the other his Oiroke version. The fabric was being stretched to the limit of its capacity as both kids fought, each demanding the other get out. Working on auto pilot, Tsunade piped up.

"Um, just saying, but for one of you to 'get out' means that both of you will have to..."

Pausing, the two bickering 'twins', for lack of a better word, paused and looked at each other. Nodding, they came to an agreement.

"Fine, I get the pants, you get the top."

Girl Naruto nodded. "Yup, sounds fair."

And with that, they began to undress. Whirling around, Tsunade grabbed Jiraiya and spun the old lecher around too. Ignoring the squabble behind them, Tsunade stood on her tip toes and whispered into her friend's ear.

"What the HELL just happened?"

Jiraiya just shook his head. "Until I see the seal, I know as much as you do."

"OI, MIND THE BOOBS WOULD YOU?"

Spinning around, Jiraiya's perve sensors locked onto the pair and he started panting furiously. Naruto currently had a full hand on his female counterpart's chest as he struggled to pull himself free from the top, thoroughly squashing the tissue beneath. Growling again, the girl bopped the boy on the head harshly.

"OW! Oh, you're gona get it now!"

Instantly degrading into a fighting pile of limbs, legs and swearing, Jiraiya just drooled on lovingly at the scene before he found himself face first in the wall. Sighing, Tsunade rubbed her head and moved to help the two. Unfortunately though, a harsh ripping sound filled the room and the two children tumbled apart as the fabric separated. Sitting up, the two of them stared at the remaining threads, tears glistening in their eyes.

"My jacket..."

"My pants..."

Jumping up, they glared at each other furiously.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Growling, they then jumped at each other, now a naked, fighting pile of limbs, legs and swearing. Eyebrow twitching, Tsunade raised a fist.

XxXxXxX

Both children now sat before the Hokage, wrapped in separate blankets and both sporting a large bump on their heads. They were glowering at each other out of the corner of their eyes, but neither moved for fear of another smack. Trying to find a way to breach the topic, Tsunade frowned.

"So, it seems this might be the end of it. How are you feeling Naruto?"

Both spoke up.

"Yeah, not bad."

"I'm alright."

Pausing, they then looked at each other unhappily. Tsunade sighed.

"Ok, first thing's first. What are we gona name you?"

"Who, me or her?"

"Yeah, who? Him, right?"

"Nah, don't be a retard. You're the girl. I'm the real Naruto."

"I'm just as real as you! After rubbed me up you should be able to tell."

"SILENCE!"

And that they did. Cowering under the furious glare Tsunade was giving them, they looked at each other sheepishly and muttered an apology. Maintaining the glare, Tsunade pointed at the girl.

"You. You will be renamed because being a boy, other Naruto won't have any problems with it. You however, will. So now's your chance to think up something."

Frowning in thought, the girl pursed her lips. "Nothing comes to mind just yet..."

Naruto then piped up. "What about Naruko?"

The girl looked at him, unamused. "Sasuke came up with that."

Naruto shrugged. "So? It's close to Naruto and it's all I can think of that isn't already taken."

The newly dubbed 'Naruko' ran the name over her tongue. "Hmmm, yeah, what the hell. It's not the worst name out there so it'll do."

Tsunade sweat-dropped. She expected them to take atleast a few hours. It wasn't her choice though so who was she to worry?

"Right, Naruko it is. With that settled, we need to check your seals to see what's happened and why you split."

Both blonds nodding, they channelled some chakra and opened up the blankets so their stomach's were visible. Waiting a few moments, Tsunade realised Jiraiya was still headfirst through the wall. Pulling him out, she dusted him down and pointed at the seals.

"Inspect."

Groggily looking at the two, the perve shook his head and got to work. He 'ummed' and 'ahhed' while tracing each seal. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled a notepad from within one of the many hidden pockets and quickly referenced the notes to what he saw. After a few minutes, his eyebrows rose and he leant back.

"Well I'll be."

The other three members looked at him. Tsunade poked him. "You'll be what?"

Naruto giggled and motioned Naruko in closer. "An all boy gang bang member."

Glaring at the snickering blonds on the floor, Jiraiya continued. "What I meant was that I worked it out and it surprised me. You know how there are an unlimited amount of seal variations in the world? Well, this is just another one of them. It seems that the Fourth worked out a way to write identical seals with a gender in mind. If you compare the two of you, both seals have the major structures in place, but the actual construct is different. Think of it as two bridges being built, one a suspension, the other a beam. Both do the exact same thing and have all the major things in the same place, but they're just built differently."

Naruto and Naruko both looked at the old man like he had rocks in his head.

"What?"

Tsunade shook his head. "Never mind that you two. What I want to know is why the Fourth sealed Naruto to split like that! How did you even work it out in the first place?"

Jiraiya turned to face the Hokage as the two blonds on the floor promptly lost interest. "Well, to answer your second question, I reverse engineered it. Think about it like a maze. How hard is it to work it out going forward? It takes a while. But starting from the finish, you can trace it back to the start in a matter of seconds. That's just what I did. As for your first question, who knows? I can't understand the majority of the seal so this is just another thing to add to those in the list. Maybe he didn't want Naruto to be alone? Maybe he didn't even want a boy? I honestly can't say. I'd say just remember to ask him in the next life for me."

Tsunade's eye twitched. "Are you insinuating that I am old?"

Instantly realising his slip, Jiraiya jumped back, hands up soothingly. "No, no, not at all! What I meant was – "

Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief as Naruko cut the adults off.

"Oi, Ero-Sennin, me an' him were just talkin' about how old fuzzy's chakra spiked every time we swapped places. What was up with that?"

"Yoki, Naruto... Naruko. It's Yoki. As for why..."

Quickly scanning over his notes again, he nodded. "It seemed that the seal had been designed to drain the fox's energy for this to occur. That way you wouldn't suffer extreme chakra exhaustion during the process."

The blonds 'ah'd' silently, paused, shrugged and then got back to chatting. It was Jiraiya's turn to sweat-drop at the two kid's nonchalance.

"On another note though, how come you weren't surprised when you first appeared in each other's clothes? Surely you must have been atleast a little shocked?"

The pair shrugged. "I duno. It just felt like I had known her my whole life so something like that wasn't too unreal."

"Yeah. Besides, we were fighting for clothing rights anyway so we didn't have time to think about that other stuff."

Pulling the man aside, Tsunade then whispered excitedly into his ear. "Did you hear that? It was like they had known each other their whole lives!"

Jiraiya nodded, not quite following. "Yeah... so?"

Rolling her eyes exasperatedly, Tsunade spelt it out for him. "That means they're like brother and sister! What was the one thing Naruto always desperately wanted but never had?"

Understanding dawning, Jiraiya's face split into a genuine smile. "Family."

Leaning back, his smile was met with an equal one from his heart throb. "Precisely. But with how observant our two little siblings are, I think we're gona have to tell them."

Nodding happily, the two turned around. Taking the initiative, Jiraiya started it off. "Right, as much fun as this is though, we're gona have to work out housing for Naruko."

Looking up at him in shock, the girl's eyebrows crinkled together. "But – but I already have a home!"

Tsunade shook her head. "Naruto has a home. As for you though, the only time two juveniles can share a house is if they're brother and sister."

As planned, Naruto jumped up to the distraught girls defence. "Oi! I don't care if she's my sister or not! She can stay with me! I don't mind! Besides, she was me to begin with so that kinda does make her my sister!"

Having let the words rush out before thinking them over, both youngsters froze as what Naruto said sunk in.

"Wait, sister?"

"That makes you my brother..."

Turning, they looked into each other's eyes.

"So that must make us..."

"Family."

Turning to look up at the Hokage, they were greeted by her wide smile. "That makes you family."

Tears springing to their eyes, the blond pair looked at each other. Each knew exactly the kind of pain the other had to deal with their entire lives. And with that knowledge of never being alone ever again, they jumped into each other's arms, both crying happily.

XxXxXxX

A/N – And there's your answer. Kinda sappy, but I didn't mind it too much. There was more I could have thrown in but I think that's a good place to stop. Next chapter will feature more funnies and other stuff for everyone. Till then though, hope you enjoyed and I leave you to your lives.

Lanky Nathan