And here we go for the next chapter. Just found out I need surgery on my ankle. Sick tits.

Chapter 27

Tsunade leaned back, her eyebrow raised slightly. "Yes, we have all established that Minato was an exceptional mind. So what else has he done to further this?"

Pulling out a couple of sheets of paper from within his coat, Jiraiya slapped them down on Tsunade's desk. He then stood back grinning happily. Shizune moved up beside her friend, curious to see exactly what was going on. Gesturing, Jiraiya encouraged them to look deeper.

"Go on, what can you see? Look underneath the underneath."

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the well over used statement and leaned in. "Ok, well, all I see is a bunch of scribbles 'n' stuff."

Shizune nodded her agreement. While a profound media, neither women were much chop when it came to high level seals. Chuckling, Jiraiya nodded. "Yup. Unless you're one of the greatest seal masters ever, like myself, you can't see a thing."

Ignoring Tsunade's growl, he then quickly reached out and flipped them upside down. "Can you see anything now?"

Again, blank looks dominated the faces of the teacher and student. Seeing this, Jiraiya couldn't help but stir up a little trouble. "You know... it was Genin that clued me into the seal..."

Flicking Jiraiya a frustrated look, Tsunade leaned back. "Well good on them. What do you want, a medal of recognition for them or something? I hate seals. They're boring and time consuming. Just spit out what's the secret and stop stalling like some dramatic film actor. You aren't near good enough for that."

Grumbling, Jiraiya's ego deflated a little and he pointed to one of the seals. "Fine then. Don't come crying to me though when I'm a superstar. Anyway, I'll walk you through this. This is Naruto's seal."

Ignoring Tsunade's growl, he pointed at the left one. "And this other one is Naruko's. Can you see a difference between them?"

Only waiting a moment, Shizune pointed at a specific line segment that encompassed Naruto's seal. "The other one doesn't have this."

Flashing her a dashing smile, Jiraiya nodded. "Indeed! And that little difference is what makes this seal so ingenious. Care to hazard a guess at what it looks like?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, looking like she wanted to be down at the bar. Shizune though, ever diligent, was studying it intently. Taking a few more moments, she sighed. "I duno. It looks really familiar, but I just can't pinpoint it."

Conceding her point, Jiraiya explained. "Well, it is more advanced than what you normally would see but you did well so far. The only reason this Genin could pick it out was because she works with seals every single day as part of her training. In fact, the girl is actually lucky to have been able to spend as much time with me as she did, seeming she will never meet anyone as great as myself."

While Jiraiya was talking, he failed to notice Tsunade's temple throbbing as her patience wore thin. As his directionless, self inflating drivel continued, her temper grew until she finally decided to take a short cut. Standing sharply, she grabbed the papers, grabbed Jiraiya, and quickly stuck all three to the wall with the help of a few pens.

While being stuck to the wall was a novel experience, Jiraiya was more baffled by the fact he was actually hanging a half foot off the ground. It was a pretty good effort from the blond woman, considering Tsunade was near a foot shorter than him.

Standing back, Tsunade looked up at him, smiling acidly. "Ok, no more head-swelling. Cut to the chase and spell it out for us less informed people."

Chuckling nervously, Jiraiya swallowed. "Right you are. I s'pose trying to help you work it out yourself was a bit of a long shot."

The pen that imbedded itself in the wall just under his most manly of manly places helped him realise that that probably wasn't the smartest thing he could have said to calm the volatile woman. Taking a few moments to make sure he wouldn't squeak when he spoke, he started again. "Ok, so we know there's something different about Naruto's seal. That's actually because it was designed to hold not only the Kyuubi, but something else."

Nodding, Tsunade motioned for him to continue. "Now, for the life of me I couldn't work out what was sealed in there, but it wasn't until I looked at it from another angle that I worked it out. Usually, you simply assume that you store an object and then remove it as necessary. You don't seal people simply because when you do that, you cut off every one of their senses from the outside world. It's like they die upon sealing, and when they are unsealed, depending on the length of time they are sealed, they can come out with only a severe case of claustrophobia, ranging right up to a complete lobotomy. The unique case with Naruto however, is that the Kyuubi, while encaged, can see outside the seal! So, if that's the case, what could that other seal hold?"

Biting her thumb nail, Tsunade looked over at her partner. "If you're hinting what I think you're hinting..."

Shizune however, was completely in the dark. "What? What else is in Naruto's seal?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well, I'm not sure, but it could certainly hold something like –"

At that instant, the door to Tsunade's office was smashed open, an absolutely livid Hiashi Hyuuga glaring at all three members in the room. His piercing gaze rested on Jiraiya a moment longer than the other two, but then passed him on, deeming him to be unworthy of his recognition at the moment. Stomping in, his form then revealed an amused Tsume Inuzuka following him. This had the three original members of the room raising their eyebrows, as it was common knowledge that the two heads of their respective clans very rarely spoke.

Not waiting to be questioned, Hiashi decided to jump right into it. "Hokage-sama, I have very distressing news I must bring to your attention."

Ignoring him for the moment, Tsunade leant to the side to get a glance at the Inuzuka head. Straightening, she then looked up at the Hyuuga.

"Really now? Please elaborate."

Steeling himself as only the most proper Hyuuga can, Hiashi began. "It has come to my attention that a certain superfluous individual has been involved in a number of destructive excursions. It also seems that the person in question has seen fit to draw my eldest into his web of ruffian behaviour."

Taking a moment to convert all that into laymen's terms, Tsunade cocked her eyebrow. "Really now? And what proof of this do you have?"

Gesturing to the shorter woman by his side, Hiashi stepped back. "Nothing has been attempted on my grounds as of yet, but I brought a victim to validate my claims. If you would, Inuzuka-san."

Brushing him off, Tsume stepped up. "Yeah, it seems like what stuffy said is the case. I saw Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun and some other blond chick running around the boarders of my territory just before everything went to hell."

Sighing, Tsunade rubbed her eyes as she heard Jiraiya let out a snort. "That brat is fast to make it here to there in only a few minutes."

"Shut up Jiraiya, you're not helping." Resigning herself to her fate, she closed her eyes. "Alright, mind telling me what happened?"

Scratching her cheek, Tsume let out a growl of approval. "Well, while nothing was actually destructive, it was just very time consuming. That boy actually has a streak of brilliance in him. If his brains were dynamite, he wouldn't be able to blow the wax out of his ears, but let him loose on a pranking run and he's a genius. I still don't know how he got past all of us undetected. A couple of the things those three got up to were like taking the hinges off ever second door, rigging the windows up with rubber bands to snap on the hand of whoever opens it, replacing perfume with bitch pheromones..."

She trailed off at Tsunade's questioning look.

"We keep some 'puppy juice' around to help the older dogs when they can't seem to get the jig into their legs. That being said, when a few of the female members of our pack were dressing up for tonight, they got the fright of their lives when they were swamped by a few dozen horny young males. Human and otherwise."

She thought of her daughter Hana. Poor girl didn't know what hit her. Grinning at the memory, Tsume continued. "That was one of the big ones. The other major one was they went and half filled all the dog bowls with sake. So we basically had an entire house full of drunk, concupiscent animals either rolling all over the floor, or rolling all over our woman. I'll tell you what though, we pretty quickly found out which human members of our pack drank the dogs water."

Tsume let out a bark of laughter, Jiraiya joining in heartily. Tsunade heard even Shizune let out a delicate snort before composing herself. Allowing herself a smirk, Tsunade then motioned at Tsume. "So what do you want to do about this?"

Butting in, Hiashi stepped forward. "I propose that we severely discipline this thug, as well as his female counterpart and have my daughter returned to me immediately. This cannot continue!"

Holding up a hand, Tsunade silenced him. "Hold on one second there. Let me get this straight. Tsume, these three pranked your house?"

Seeing her nod, Tsunade continued. "Now, Hiashi-san, did these three do anything to your house?"

Shaking his head tightly, Tsunade grinned. "Alright! With that established, it means that Tsume, you have the right to bring any complaint you deem worthy of recognition to the table, as well as any suitable punishments. Seeming nothing has actually happened to you yet, Hiashi, you have no say in this."

Tsunade then sat back smugly, watching the furious look on Hiashi's face develop as he realised he had been snookered. Tsume seemed to love every minute of it too, if the look on her face was any indication. Grinning, Tsume shook her head. "Nah, leave those three alone. If anything, they showed us the flaws in our defences."

The tall man's face began to grow red as he barely restrained his anger. Spluttering, he turned to face the cheeky lady by his side. "T-this is preposterous! How can you let them get away with not even a slapped hand?"

Patting his arm, Tsume looked up at him. "Oh hush you old prude. Kids will be kids, even if they are officially recognised as adults. Let them have some fun once in a while."

Snapping his arm out of her reach, Hiashi glared at everyone before spinning sharply and storming out of the room. Waiting a few moments, Tsunade then finally allowed herself a laugh at the proud man's expense. "Well that was unexpected. So how did he even talk you into coming along?"

Tsume shrugged. "I duno, he overheard me talking about them and before I knew it, had me standing here."

Nodding, Tsunade understood Hiashi had that strange ability. Shrugging, Tsunade leaned back on her desk. "So, anything else you wish to add?"

Imitating her superiors shrug, Tsume looked up in thought. "Not really. Though I would recommend that Naruto be officially let loose through the village every six months or so to prank everyone. If anyone can help keep our security tight, it's that boy. I can't imagine too many other people sneaking through the holes that kid can."

Nodding, Tsunade quickly wrote it down on a scrap of paper. "Alright. We'll have to put it to the board, but why not. We get half the clan heads to raise their hands, and little Naruto has a new job."

Grinning, Tsume nodded. "Can't think of anything better for the kid actually."

A ripping sound filled the room which was then quickly replaced with the bodily thump of something solid hitting the ground. Looking over, the three women noticed that Jiraiya's clothing had given way under his weight and deposited the regal man in a heap. Thumbing in his direction, Tsume looked up questioningly at the Hokage.

Noticing her look, Tsunade waved her hand dismissively. "That? Just ignore it. I had him in a time out."

Snorting, the furry lady rolled her eyes. "Well, if that's it then, I'll take my leave."

Seeing Tsunade motion, she waved bye to Shizune and strolled out the door. As the door closed behind the woman, Tsunade turned to face Jiraiya climbing to his feet, clutching the ripped fabric over his shoulders in an effort to keep the clothing on his body. Dropping into a seat, Jiraiya sent Tsunade a pouting look. "You went and ripped my clothes! Do you have any idea how much these things cost? Not to mention what could happen if they fall off me while I'm out and about. Women for miles would betray their husbands!"

Tsunade snorted. "I doubt it. Anyway, get back to what we were talking about before we were interrupted."

Sighing, Jiraiya decided to just get on with it and save as much of his pride as he could. "Well, yeah, as I was saying, the seal within the seal would be able to hold not only inanimate objects, but living beings as well."

Shizune finally caught on and leaned in. "Wait, so you're saying a person is in Naruto's seal?"

Tsunade sat down and leaned back in her chair. "Not anymore it seems."

And with that, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place for the girl. "Naruko!"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yup. Seems that the girl has been inside Naruto from day one. Though for the life of me I have no idea how those two devious parents managed to hide it. Any ideas, Tsunade-hime?"

Cupping a thoughtful hand to her chin, Tsunade frowned. "Sometimes, though extremely rarely, twins can have such a close chakra pattern that even experienced medical nin can't pick up the fact there's two of them. But upon delivery, you'd have thought that everyone would have been notified that there were twins. Unless..."

Shizune lent in. "Unless what?"

The blond looked over. "Minato sealed the Kyuubi straight into Naruto as soon as he was born. Now, I theorise that maybe, just maybe, he sealed Naruko into Naruto as a precaution. Yes, he wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero, but Minato wasn't dumb. He must have assumed that on the off chance that the village did reject them, it would have been safer to have a little boy face the brunt of it, rather than a girl. Naruto got away without too much damage, but think about what if it was Naruko? Being a girl, she could easily be more susceptible to more... physical... attacks."

Both Jiraiya and Shizune blanched at the thought. That anyone could even think of doing that to a little girl was just sick. "So Minato sealed Naruko into Naruto for that reason?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. It might have been for that, it might have been for a totally different reason. Right now, it's all just speculation."

The room fell silent for a moment as the information sunk in. Shizune frowned at the revelation, until something else came to her attention. "So... seeming Minato and Kushina knew about the both of them, you think they would have named Naruko something else then?"

Jiraiya and Tsunade shared a glance. "Yes, though it must have never been documented, or hidden away somewhere deep in the books of old sensei somewhere. Either way, we couldn't tell them that because doing so would mean exposing Minato and Kushina to Naruto way too early."

Just then, a sharp rap at the door drew the attention of the three.

"Come in."

The door opened revealing an out of breath Chuunin, looking up at them desperately. "Please come quickly, it's the academy!"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"

Catching his breath, the Chuunin continued. "Well, it's pink!"

XxXxXxX

Hinata ran like a madman, fear filling every fibre in her body as she followed her two clearly insane blond partners. How Naruto could do this on a regular basis was completely beyond the heiress. She had to wonder though, where Naruko's priorities lay. The girl had been here only a day or two, and yet she was already eager to prank the neighbourhood. Granted, it had only been chalk dust... a butt load of chalk dust, but still. Hearing an angry cry from behind her, Hinata let the thoughts go for a moment and just concentrated on keeping up with the noisy duo in front of her.

Just then though, two blurs swept in, one catching the blonds in front of her and the other sweeping her up with a squeal. Barely a moment later, she found herself on top of the Hokage monument with Tsunade holding her up and a topless Jiraiya holding the twins.

Naruto noticed the lack of clothing and looked up. "Why you naked? You been training?"

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade. "No, unfortunately Tsunade-Hime saw fit to ruin my top."

Naruko glanced between the two. "You bein' a perve again?"

Tsunade laughed. "Close enough to it."

Setting down her package, Naruto and Naruko didn't receive the same gentle treatment as Jiraiya simply dropped them on their faces. Hinata opened her mouth to protest, before it died in her throat amidst the churning emotions. Seeing them jump to their feet though, Hinata felt content with the knowledge that they were ok.

"Oi what's the idea old man?"

"You wana go us?"

Laughing, Jiraiya shook his head. "Even with two of you, you couldn't take me. Now shut up and turn around. Tsunade-Hime wants to ask you some questions."

Glancing up at the taller lady, the two sent her a questioning look. Deciding to jump straight into it, Tsunade began.

"Alright, first things first. I got reports of all three of you vandalising the place. What gives?"

Hinata started spluttering out some form of an apology while the Uzumaki twins just raised their hands to the back of their heads. "So? It's not like it hurt anyone. Besides, the more the merrier."

Tsunade crossed her arms. "You could atleast show a little remorse like Hinata-chan here. Had Tsume wanted, she could have punished you for what you did."

A pair of bright grins appeared at that. "Nah, she's cool! She wouldn't do something like that! Besides, it was a good prank, am I right?"

Naruto elbows his sister and she giggled before nodding. Raising an eyebrow, Tsunade tried not to agree. "You're just lucky Tsume is 'cool'. Had you gone and pranked someone like, say, Hinata's father here, you would have been in a whole other world of trouble."

Hinata started to sway on her feet at the thought of what her father would do to her had they really gone through with the twins original plan. The look on the blond kids' faces wasn't too promising either.

"Yeah, we'd have to be extra sneaky to get past his eyes. Damn bloodline. It does make things more fun but!"

Looking up at Jiraiya, she saw the man shrug. It's not like they could actually change their minds now that it was set on it. So with that, she decided to drop Tsume's idea.

"Ok, Naruto, you remember when I told you I'd let you remodel the Hokage tower's security system?"

Placing a finger to his lips Naruto nodded. "Yup. Why, you calling me in on this?"

Shaking her head, Tsunade smirked. "Nope, not yet. However, despite you ransacking the Inuzuka compound, Tsume was thoroughly impressed with how well you managed to exploit the holes in their defences. She requested you be assigned a special mission every six months."

Both Naruto and Naruko's eyes lit up at the prospect, eagerly awaiting the details. "So what is it, huh, huh? Saving a princess from some evil over lord? Destroying an enemy ninja compound? Escorting a shipment of ramen?"

The twins started drooling and both adults present shook their heads in dismay. Talk about a one track mind.

"No Naruto, this will be a mission kept within out boarders. You will however find it is right up your ally. Tsume wants to have you allowed to go absolutely wild with pranks every six months on the whole village to keep everyone on their toes. In times of peace, people get lax, but with you appearing every now and then, it'll be sure to keep the ninja sharp."

If there was ever a time that Naruto was in danger of killing himself by smiling, it was now. Tsunade honestly had to wonder just how the whole top half of his head didn't slide off. Seeing the outburst of energy imminent, Tsunade stepped back just as the twins exploded, jumping high in the air and high-fiving each other with a loud crack.

"This has got to be the BEST assignment EVER!"

Tsunade nodded but quickly motioned for Jiraiya to hold them still. Grabbing their arms, they still hopped all over the place so he chucked them to the ground and sat on them. They let out an 'oof' as the air was knocked out of them but kept grinning all the same.

"Now, just so you know, I'll have to have this passed by the council seeming it will involve all those present, but I'm pretty sure it'll be put through. The only reason I'm telling you now is because even if it doesn't I'll assign you a onetime only mission to do this. Clear?"

Beaming up at the Hokage, the twins nodded. "Yup! But we gotta have Hinata-chan come too cause she was the biggest help getting us into Kiba's home."

Eyes widening, the blond lady turned to Hinata. "Is this true?"

Blushing, the girl stuttered out her answer. "W-well, maybe perhaps I h-helped a l-little..."

Nodding, Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder. "Right. You'll be a part of this team too then. A perfect three man squad for this."

Whooping happily from beneath the heavy man, Naruko pointed at the shy girl. "Yeah! Go us! Hinata-chan, we need to make up an awesome name for our team! What do ya recon, The Killer Prank Patrol?"

"Uhh..." Not quite sure what to make of it, Hinata just nodded hesitantly as the two grounded blonds began exchanging name ideas.

Hearing a yawn, Jiraiya looked over and saw his crush stretching dreamily. Try as he might, he couldn't stop the small amount of drool oozing from his mouth at the sight of those delicious breasts bouncing with the movement.

"You all done for the day Hime?"

Rubbing an eye, Tsunade nodded. "Yeah, it's only early but to hell with it. Shizune can finish off, she loves paper work. As for me, I'm taking these two home."

Standing, Jiraiya picked at his tattered robes. "Well, in that case I'll go change. I can't really be seen going around like this."

Seeing her nod, he disappeared. Dusting themselves down, the blond pair smiled up at their stand-in mum. "So, home time you say?"

Nodding, Tsunade started walking.

"What about Hinata?"

Stopping, she looked over her shoulder. "What about her? She'll go home, sleep and then meet up with us tomorrow."

Seeing Naruko shake her head, Tsunade turned around fully. "Nah, we wana have a sleep over! Let her stay please? Just count it as part of the mission! Besides, it'll be an awesome excuse to build a pillow castle!"

Looking over at the hesitant girl, Tsunade sighed. Fighting this would just make for a troublesome night. "Do you want to stay, Hinata?"

Eyes widening at the offer, Hinata's small hands cupped in front of her chest nervously. "W-well, I wouldn't want to intrude, it is very sudden too so you might be put out, not to mention I don't have any sleeping clothes..."

The girl stopped mid sentence as a weight slung itself over her shoulder. "Awww, come on! You can just use one of Baa-Chan's old shirts! They make great sleeping nighties. Super soft."

Seeing Naruko's happy face right next to her own, the girl couldn't help but blush at the close proximity.

"Yeah, it'll be alright! Baa-Chan's got this sorted, right, Baa-Chan?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and they pressured the poor girl to come. She knew she would though, what with her crush on Naruto and all. Signalling, an ANBU member popped into existence beside her.

"Tell Hiashi that Hinata has been put on an overnight mission and won't be returning home."

"Yes, sir."

"That is all."

Sounding out an agreement, the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Looking back at the trio, she saw that Naruto was now hanging off Hinata's other shoulder, while the girl swayed dangerously. Grinning, Tsunade walked up just in time to catch the girl as she fainted. Motioning for the pair to follow, they began trotting after her, chattering away happily about how good life was for once.

XxXxXxX

A/N – Sorry about the wait but I've been sick and as such, the chapter has probably suffered. Not much story development, but hopefully it'll keep you entertained a while longer. Don't forget to leave some love. Love is always appreciated.

Catch ya,

Lanky