How's it goin people? It's been a while! So yeah, all back from America now and finally had time to poke this out between riding, working and training. I won't keep you any longer though so I give you the latest update!

Chapter 26

Jiraiya sat pondering the peculiar duo sparing in the middle of the field. Having left them with instructions to practice taijutsu, he had retreated to sit in the shade of one of the many trees surrounding the training grounds. Hearing another loud battle cry, he frowned in confusion.

The puzzle he was currently trying to work out was Naruko. Certainly, she was like Naruko in many ways, but it was the fact she was an individual that had him so stumped. Having only just been 'born', the old Sannin expected her to be much more boyish. The fact she was so naturally girly was just bewildering. It was like she had lived within Naruto since day dot, developing a personality and identity all of her own. Shaking his head, Jiraiya sighed.

In any case, it didn't matter what he thought until he worked out the seals. Thinking back, he remembered what the pair first said about each other.

"Like they had known each other their whole lives... there must be something else within that. But what?"

Groaning, the man pressed a hand into his temple and stood up. Calling out to the pair, they finished up and jogged over, hardly spent even after half an hour of high energy output.

"What's up Ero-Sennin? Wana teach us something now?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "No, not just yet. Now, hoist those tops up. I gotta take another look at those seals."

Both teens raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you copy them down before?" Naruko's eye's thinned. "You're not just trying to get another look at my body are you?"

Jiraiya snorted. "Please, you honestly think your adolescent body interests me that much? If I was really that desperate, I could have just run down to the baths and had a quick look while you two trained."

He quickly stored that brilliant idea away for later use. With those two keeping each other company, research will be much easier.

Naruto glared at his teacher sceptically. "We can't be too sure. So what's the real reason?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "I find it flattering that you think I truly am that perfect, but I'm sorry to break it to you that even I, the mighty Jiraiya-sama, make mistakes from time to time. If I missed even a tiny dot, that could explain why I can't work out anything."

Sighing, the twins complied and rolled their shirts up carefully, only exposing as much as necessary. Bringing the seal to the surface, Jiraiya knelt down and began studying his notes.

'Hmmm... it looks perfect.'

Glancing from paper to skin, he double, triple and then quadruple checked his work. Not a single thing was missing, and yet, it still felt like there was something glaringly obvious he was missing.

Narrowing his eyes, he fixed his most powerful stare on the seal in hopes it would reveal its secrets. 'Come ON! What am I missing?'

The blonds above him looked down in disinterest. "So, are you done yet? We've been here for like ten minutes and we're hungry."

Jiraiya hushed them. "Just a few more minutes. I'm sure you can last."

XxXxXxX

Slowly walking back to the training field, the bun-haired girl sighed. After witnessing that crazy explosion of power from the twins, Jiraiya had suggested she go for a walk to clear her mind. She refused, wanting to see what would happen next, to which Jiraiya picked her up and threw her over the trees, calling out to her that she should really go for a walk. Pouting at the memory, she kicked at the ground grumpily. It was so not fair! Next time he tried something like that, she'd be sure to lodge a kunai in his arm. Wandering back into the area, she looked around curiously at the lack of bodies and training.

"'EN'EN!"

Hearing the muffled call, she looked around and saw the pair each with a box of ramen in their hands, sitting next to Jiraiya. Blinking, she jogged over.

"Hey guys... what's up?"

"'Eh, 'iria w'n'ed oo 'heck ou' 'ose pheals."

Tenten sighed. "Swallow first, Naruto."

She watched him heave down a mighty mouthful. "Yeah, Jiraiya wanted to check out those seals."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "And the ramen?"

Naruto went to speak but was cut off. "Ah-ah-ah swallow first."

Nodding, he swallowed and burped. "Well, he was taking so long that we got hungry, so we sent a clone to get us take away."

Agreeing it was a good idea, the girl dropped to the ground besides the older man. Leaning in curiously, she checked out the two seals. Her eyebrows rose as she took in the complexity of them. She gasped softly, eyes soaking up every detail.

"This is... unbelievable! Did you design this Jiraiya-sama?"

The tall man shook his head slightly. "No. I'm trying to work out something within them that I just can't seem to get. It feels like I'm looking right at it though..."

Tenten shrugged and leaned in. She regularly dealt with seals so who knows? Having no idea what to look at first, she twisted her head from side to side, trying to see it from a different angle. After a moment, something caught her eye. Shuffling around, she looked down at the seal from upside down. Her eyebrows widened and she looked up.

"Uh, Jiraiya-sama... can I ask you something?"

The man hmm'ed quietly. Taking it as a yes, Tenten carefully traced a section of one of the two seals.

"What's up with this? It's like a standard storage seal, only written differently from anything I've seen before."

"Hmm?"

Snatching the paper away, Jiraiya flipped it upside down and glared at the seal. His eyes began to widen as realisation sunk in.

'This... bah, I am so STUPID! For a little fourteen year old girl to spot something so simple! There is definitely something out about this though... wait a moment.'

Checking the other seal, he found the inscribing missing. He absent mindedly noted that it was also what differed between the seals. It still didn't explain its unique design though. Looking back and forward from paper to paper, the Sennin began to breath faster and faster.

'This is what I'm looking for! Now to try and work out exactly what it means!'

Springing to his feet in a blast of energy, he pointed at the surprised twins, now covered in food from the shock of his activity. "You two, rest of the day is over. Go gorge yourself on ramen or something. My tab."

Ignoring the joyous hollers, he then grabbed a shocked Tenten and with a surprised squeak, easily picked her up and hugged her solidly.

"My girl, you are a genius!"

Planting a careless kiss on her forehead, he then chucked her high into the air and took off like a bullet for the Hokage tower. Landing solidly on her backside, Tenten didn't even notice the bruise form from the landing. She had a powerful blush across her nose as the reality of what just happened sank in.

"A Sennin just kissed me... a Sennin!"

Looking back over to where the trio were previously, she found them absent, the only thing left of them being a dust cloud as the twins disappeared off to Ichiraku's.

XxXxXxX

"ME FIRST, ME FIRST, ME FIRST!"

That was the only warning Ayame had before the front of their shop exploded before the two hyperactive blonds. They continued to argue as they struggled for a seat, despite there being an entire row free. Finally pushing his sister down, Naruto didn't even spare her a second glance as she rolled away through the dust.

"AYAME! Hit me with two of everything on your menu and keep it coming!"

In a flash, Naruko was beside Naruto, now covered in dirt and dust but still beaming a thousand mega-watt smile.

"Same for me too!"

Taking a moment, Ayame looked at the two. "Didn't you just come in and buy a box each just a while ago?"

They nodded, drool beginning to ooze from the sides of their mouths. "Yeah, they were clones to buy us a snack to tide us over to lunch."

Shaking her head, Ayame turned around to her dad and called out their order. His voice floated back, not overly concerned, but still curious.

"So, how exactly are we paying for this round?"

If anything, the twin's smiles widened even further. "Ero-Sennin said tab him!"

Despite knowing he had a rather sizeable bank account, Ayame still felt a little sorry for the man. Once these two were finished, the small stall would have enough money to shut the doors for a month and still comfortably survive. Still, so long as the bill gets paid, the food shall flow. Catching the two bowls thrown at her from the back, she skilfully spun them around on her hands, bringing the warm bowls to rest in front of the ravenous duo. With barely a cry, they attacked the food with a gusto many found disturbing. Hardly a minute passed before they dropped the bowls from their mouths and called out for seconds. Smiling good naturedly, Ayame quickly replaced them and moved to fill the next bowl. Today was going to be a good day. Noticing a movement at the door, Ayame looked up.

A shy young girl had moved to enter, but had promptly taken to hiding by the entrance as she watched the two blonds eat. She had come in search of Naruto, but now that she had found him, all confidence left her body, again. Taking a few shivering breaths, Hinata summoned enough courage to step in the door and slowly made her way up to her not so secret crush.

"Hey Hinata-san! Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right with you."

Having their attention drawn to the girl behind them, both teens smiled happily and waved at her. Naruto shuffled over one seat and motioned for her to sit down, not wanting to spray her with partially chewed ramen in a failed attempt at speaking. Familiar blush springing to her face, Hinata hesitantly made her way over and dropped herself down between the two. Taking a moment to compose herself, Hinata looked up at them. While never one to question the motives of her love, she still couldn't quite understand why Naruto had a female clone eating with him. Hearing a voice, Hinata looked up at the boy.

"So how ya doin' Hinata? Been training much?"

Hinata nodded slowly, her foggy mind trying to piece together a coherent sentence.

"S-so... Naruto-kun, why are you e-eating with a clone?"

Both blonds instantly swallowed and sent the girl beaming smiles that instantly made her head light. "Oh, you don't know yet do you! Hinata, this is my sister, Naruko. Say hello, Naruko-chan!"

Extending a slightly grubby hand, Naruko licked her lips of any remaining food. "Hey! Naruto-chan told me heaps about you. You gona have anything? Ero-Sennin's paying!"

Food was the furthest thing from the lavender haired girls mind as reality sunk in. 'Naruto-kun has a sister? Naruto-kun has been talking about me?"

Feeling her consciousness begin to wane, a set of strong hands grabbed either arm and held her upright until she was breathing normally again. Finally looking down, she saw each one belonged to each blond either side of her. Still wolfing down their food, they had concerned looks on faces as she composed herself.

"You alright Hinata-chan? You started going all weird for a second there. Ok now?"

Not trusting herself, she merely nodded as a bowl was placed in front of her. Looking up curiously, Ayame smiled.

"Naruto-chan ordered you something. He pretty much has unlimited food supply today so you just got included in that."

Sighing dreamily, the Hyuuga heiress took to poking the food happily, not quite believing that she of all people was being shouted a bowl of Naruto's precious ramen. It also did wonders for her courage and clearing her breath, tried to make conversation.

"S-so Naruko-san, I had n-no idea Naruto-kun had family! W-where have you been hiding all this time?"

She tried to keep the upset edge out of her voice. While she would have very much loved to have been by Naruto's side since the beginning, she also knew that if Naruko had been there, life wouldn't have been nearly as hard for her crush.

"Well, I've been living by myself as well for a long while. I used to have a grandad that would visit me frequently and taught me basic ninja techniques, but then he died and I've been on my own since then. It wasn't until some ANBU stumbled across me that I even knew Konoha existed! Not to mention a brother... I still don't even know what direction it was that I used to live in."

Giving her another smile, Naruko then went back to eating vigorously. As for Hinata, the girl was trying her best to understand just what happened. Could she really have come from something like that? As convincing as the girl sounded, it still seemed way too simple to be the truth. Real life was rarely like that. Calming herself, she tried to look underneath the underneath. While she didn't think she was the brightest girl, she still knew she was pretty good at sensing lies. She was a Hyuuga after all. Silently running the conversation back through her mind, she tried to see anything the girl did that hinted at a lie. But try as she might, nothing seemed to spring forward. It still seemed strange, but for the moment, Hinata was content to believe the story. Perhaps later when they weren't watching, she would have a closer look at the two with her Byakugan.

Naruto however, was secretly very proud of his sister! The story was highly convincing, somewhat mixing his own life in with the fabrication surrounding her. The way it slid off her tongue also made it sound very persuasive. Baa-chan was really the greatest for having come up with that idea! Slurping down the last of his bowl, Naruto called for thirds... or fourths... whatever bowl he was now up to. Greedily eyeing up the mixture, Naruto dug in.

XxXxXxX

Pen hit paper furiously, scribbling away at another scrap of paper as the seal master tried his damndest to unravel the mystery behind the upside down storage seal. He could already tell that it had been designed with a much more delicate function in mind than the average seal. The extra half marks surrounding the lettering indicated that whatever it was to hold was very long term, and was also to preserve whatever was contained within at a pristine level. Frowning again at it, Jiraiya checked over the crosses and spotted yet another tiny dot he had missed. Factoring that into the equation, he quickly crossed out his last idea. The seal wasn't just meant to preserve the contained object; it was to 'feed' it. He couldn't think of any other way to describe it as that pretty much summed it up. The seal was to draw a consistent amount of untainted chakra, straight from Naruto into the containment. Growling, the man nearly snapped his pen in frustration.

"Damn you Minato, why did you have to be so good at this stuff? What did you store in him?"

Scratching his head, Jiraiya stood up and walked over to the window. He looked out over the town and sighed. Pushing his hands into his back, he popped his spine and sighed again happily. Taking a whiff of fresh air, he turned and observed the room he had rushed into. Such was his excitement that he hadn't checked out where he had ended up. It was now glaringly obvious that it was the janitor's room, complete with mops, brooms and other equipment hanging from the wall. He turned back to the window with an unamused look on his face. It figured that the mighty Jiraiya would unravel the most complex seal ever conceived in some little closet. Resting his chin in one large hand, he began revisiting what he had discovered so far.

"So what we have is one crazy seal holding back the Kyuubi. Within that seal is a storage seal that acts like a leach, equipped to maintain its contents via Naruto. The seal isn't on Naruko's belly for some reason though. What does Naruto have that Naruko didn't?"

Pondering it some more, Jiraiya noticed a few small finches playing around outside the window. He chuckled, wishing that sometimes he could just fly away too. Not to mention baths would be so much easier to infiltrate. Groaning, he turned away and went to sit back down. Rubbing his tired eyes, he ran over the idea one last time.

"A storage seal on Naruto. What in heaven's name is it?"

Closing his eyes, he began replaying that thought over and over in his mind. He reached an arm under his shirt to scratch his stomach but paused. Something had clicked. It couldn't be possible though, could it?

Scratching through the seal papers again, he focused on the unique design for one last time. And with that, saw exactly what he was looking for. Grin spreading across his face, the Sennin kicked the door off its hinges and charged off to find Tsunade.

XxXxXxX

About a half hour earlier, the Uzumaki twins and Hinata had exited the ramen stall all looking very well fed. Even after stalking him for so long, the Hyuuga girl still couldn't fathom where the object of her affections managed to put away all that food. And after witnessing Naruko easily match him bowl for bowl, Hinata was more than prepared to admit the girl was of the same blood. There was hardly a soul who could keep up with that boy. Smiling a little, she blushed when she thought of what the food bill would be when they were happily married. It was a good thing her family was rich!

"Oi! Check this out! Hinata, quick, follow us!"

Broken from her lovesick dreams, the shy girl saw the two blonds dash off into an alleyway, something trailing behind them. Wondering what they had now, she tried to catch up to them. Rounding the corner, she found out that Naruko had managed to swipe a few helium balloons. Before she could say anything though, one was thrust into her hands.

"Ok, on three, we all inhale the whole thing! You good, Hinata?"

Not quite following, she nodded unsurely but never the less undid the knot. Naruto and Naruko weren't half as delicate, instead opting to simply rip a hole next to the knot with their teeth. Both grinned widely before looking at Hinata.

"Ok, 1, 2, 3!"

Breathing out, all three teens inhaled the gas and stumbled backwards into the wall as their heads swam. Hinata moaned, but to her surprise a high pitched squeak emerged from her lips. Naruto and Naruko both burst out laughing, the sound of their own voices only adding fuel to their fire.

"Bahaha this is great!"

"You sound like a chipmunk!"

"Oi Naruko, squeal as high as you can!"

And with a nod, the girl let out an ear piercing whistle-note that made all three of them cringe. Looking at each other, the siblings burst into laughter again before looking over a Hinata.

"Hey, hey, Hinata, what do you sound like?"

"Yeah, say something!"

Blushing slightly, the heiress stuttered out a shy hello before quickly slapping her hands over her mouth. That didn't stop the pair before her from losing it again and drop to the floor, tears sliding down their cheeks. Breathing deeply, Hinata rid herself of the excess gas in her lungs and let out a sigh as her voice returned to somewhat normal. The next thing she noticed, Naruto and Naruko were whispering furiously between themselves before looking up at Hinata. Not having been on the end of this particular look before, she backed up, not sure what to expect.

"Hey... Hinata, can we trust you with something?"

Nodding hesitantly, Hinata swallowed.

"Great! Ok, what we need you to do is go distract that store owner for a moment. Just ask him a question about his shop or something, alright?"

Not quite understanding what they were planning, the girl still left and hesitantly walked up to the owner.

"Uh, h-hello there..."

Seeing a Hyuuga heiress of all people standing out the front of his store, the man ran up to her.

"Hyuuga-san! How are you? What brings you here?"

Pausing, Hinata tried to think up something to distract with. "Uh, I just wanted... um, I was just curious to see if you had a-any fox masks?"

Silently congratulating herself on a fantastic strategy, she looked up hopefully at the man. Two blond blurs that disappeared into the shop didn't escape her notice either.

"Oh, yeah we just had a new shipment in today actually. Their hanging over here if you'd like to follow me."

Following the man, Hinata kept her eyes peeled for any sight of Naruto. Hearing the shop owner's voice, she turned to see what he had.

Her breath caught as he held up the most adorable little fox faced mask. He noticed it and grinned. "Not bad hey! Not too many people want fox masks these days though so these ones sell for cheap if you're interested?"

Nodding quickly, the girl counted out the money needed and handed it over. Another two blond blurs shot out from the shop and Hinata quickly thanked the man, slipped the mask over her head and ran off. Passing a bin, she heard her name called and backed up. Behind it were the twins, holding a large cylinder between them.

"That was great Hinata! Just what we needed!"

She blushed at the compliment but pointed at the metal tube. "So w-what's that for?"

Naruko looked down and grinned. "Oh, nothing really. We're just borrowing it for this awesome prank we just thought up! It'll be back before he knows it's missing."

Her brow furrowed as she began to worry her bottom lip. "A-are you sure?"

Naruto waved a hand nonchalantly. "Yeah, it'll be fine. Now come on! We have pranking to do!"

Hesitating a moment, Hinata swallowed her fear and took off after the giggling pair, wondering what on earth they had planned.

XxXxXxX

Jiraiya groaned again as another member of Konoha stated that the Hokage had just left to return back to the tower. He had been chasing the frustratingly sexy blond all over for the last half an hour, desperately trying to find her to let her know what he discovered. The chase had led him from one end of the city to the other, and now finally to the farthest shop in the whole community. Looking at the tower in the distance, he sighed and took off, hoping his crappy luck won't have him pointed back in a different direction.

XxXxXxX

Tsunade and Shizune wandered into the Hokage's room, chatting about the various errands they had just run. Shizune laughed at mention of a certain silver haired Jounin, dropping another full file on the desk before sliding into one of the few chairs in the room. Feet aching, Tsunade copied, sliding into her own grand chair. Unfortunately though, the two weren't given a moments rest as the door slid open.

Shizune's breath caught in her chest and Tsunade let out a very deliberate sigh, wishing she was a thousand miles away. Looking up at the man through her fringe, the blond tried to be somewhat reasonable.

"Hello, Danzo."

"Hello, Hime. And how are you doing this afternoon?"

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched. To hell with being reasonable, this guy rubbed her all the wrong ways like no one else could manage.

"Good, pleasantries are out of the road. Now, what do you want now?"

Taking his time, the old war hawk slowly walked around the room, looking up at Hokage's past. He said nothing until the twitch above Tsunade's eye became a full blown wink. Turning to face her, he began in his usual way.

"Oh, nothing much. I have however, heard an interesting little something from the grape vine. Might you have an idea what it is?"

Tsunade never got a chance to answer as Jiraiya burst through the window in a flurry of activity. "Hime! You'll never guess what I just worked out!"

Seeing the ticked off look in her eye, he backed up. Surely he hadn't done anything yet? Quickly looking around though, he found the source of her ire.

"Oh, Danzo. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

A ghost of a smile graced the old man's face. "Oh, nothing as important as what you were about to say, I'm sure. Please, continue."

Frowning, Jiraiya could have kicked his luck fair in the balls and still not be happy. He'd prefer to chase Tsunade all over the globe compared to this. Looking down at the woman, he saw her motion for him to continue. Shaking his head tiredly, he slapped a palm to the wall and created a sound barrier.

"Well, as I was saying, I discovered something about what I was looking into that you would probably be interested in. You seem to be caught up in something though so..."

Danzo shook his head. "Nonsense. I have a hunch though that what you were just talking about may have some form of reference to why I am here."

Jiraiya looked at him cautiously. "Do tell?"

Danzo started walking around again, stalling as much as possible. "As I was saying before you... arrived... I have heard of a certain something that could possibly be as much a threat to this village as it could be a benefit."

The two remaining Sennin's eyes narrowed.

"Sources indicate that there is now a second certain child running around. I don't have many details on what exactly is happening here, but from what I have been led to believe, there are now TWO Kyuubi jinchuuriki's running around."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "What would have given you such an idea?"

Danzo blinked. "Let's just say a little bird told me there was an unusual amount of chakra output earlier in the day that matched the container. Upon investigation, there were two individuals who looked surprisingly similar exuding this energy."

Tsunade said nothing, just staring evenly at the man. Taking the silence as a challenge, he walked up to the desk and placed a hand on it.

"I know you know what I'm talking about. Said sources indicate that you both were at that location at that time of the morning. So I have come here with a proposal."

While nothing moved externally, Tsunade's gaze hardened significantly.

"I wish to have the girl given to me. You can keep the boy. Seeming the girl was never really here in the first place, handing her over to me would impact no one of any significant status in the village."

Tsunade bristled as Danzo indirectly called Naruto insignificant. "Now listen here you... old..."

The Hokage's speech slowed, her brow furrowed in confusion. Something wasn't right. Looking up at Jiraiya, she saw he had noticed it as well.

"Jir... Jiraiya... what is going on?"

The tall man would have started giggling if it wasn't so serious. Tsunade was starting to sound like a little girl.

"I honestly can't tell you, Hime."

His own brow furrowed in confusion as his voice took on a warped, somewhat nasally sound. Looking over at Danzo, he saw he was just as confused as they were.

"Hokage-sama, I request to know exactly what is going on."

A snicker from behind him had him spin around sharply. Shizune had a hand to her mouth, desperately trying to muffle the giggle that so very wanted to break free at the sound of his high pitched voice. Her own voice was now rather squeaky and she sounded like a little toddler who had played a prank. Leering over her, Danzo laid on a considerable amount of intent.

"Was this your doing?"

Despite the pressure, she couldn't help but laugh again at his voice. "N-no, Danzo-sama. Honestly, it wasn't anything I did!"

Hearing a snicker from behind him, he saw that the two older members had taken to laughing at him. Feeling his rage begin to rise, he made for the door as fast as his dignity would allow.

"This isn't the last you'll hear of me."

The room was just filled with more laughing at the squeaky quality of his voice. Whirling around, he stormed out the door, slamming it forcefully behind him. That broke the tension and they all laughed at the humiliated man for a moment before calming themselves.

Steeling his features, Jiraiya began to look around. "So what is the cause of this then?"

Tsunade let out an amused smile. "This is helium. I'll give you one guess who did it."

Shizune let out a bark of laughter that sounded more like a high pitched yip. Jiraiya slapped a palm to his face, grin still on his mouth.

"Of course. Dead set, that kid is a genius. None of us even noticed what was happening until our voices changed."

Looking around he called out in a loud, slowly deepening voice. "Oi brat! We know it was you that did it! Count your luck that I don't know where you are right now cause otherwise my foot would be so far up your ass your could taste the dirt on my sandals!"

XxXxXxX

Elsewhere, Naruto, Naruko, Hinata and the gas cylinder had made a clean get away, all three of them incredibly impressed with how well that went.

"Hinata-chan, you should come along some more! That Byakugan of yours is brilliant pranking material!"

Growing slightly woozy at the compliments, Hinata struggled to keep it together. "T-thankyou N-Naruto-kun. It was pretty fun, w-wasn't it!"

The glowing smiles that reached her eyes made her heart flutter but didn't have time to ponder it as the two blonds grabbed her hands and dragged her away rapidly, both excitedly conversing over who they should prank next with their newest member.

XxXxXxX

Back in the Hokage's room, everyone's voices were back to normal and Tsunade had to rub her head. That child was a true devil when he wanted to be. Looking up at Jiraiya, she gave him a lopsided smile.

"So what are you gona do with him?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well, I ain't letting him get away with this, otherwise I'd look soft."

Tsunade nodded. "Don't make it too harsh though, he really saved our necks just then."

The two other members nodded in agreement. Shizune then spoke up, bringing their attention back to why the man was in the room.

"So Jiraiya, what did you discover about Naruto?"

Jiraiya grinned broadly. "All I can say is that Minato is a freakin' genius unlike anyone ever before."

XxXxXxX

A/N – and there you go! Seeming it's taken me so long to get it up, I thought you guys deserved a long chapter as a peace offering. Yes, there is a cliffy and it is all to be revealed next chapter. Props to anyone who can work out what's been discovered!

Until next chapter,

Lanky