Returning home
"Wait a minute… Haru, what kind of job involves red tape and loop holes?" asked Naruto, remembering a conversation he had with Shukaku earlier.
"The kind I really hate. The only thing that deals with that is…a lawyer."
"You're partially right. Try lawyers and politicians," said Sasuke.
"Took you three long enough to figure it out. That snake that possesses Orochimaru is a lawyer/politician here. Now you know why I said you'd have another reason to hate and/or kill him," said Shukaku.
"I got two words for ya, Shukaku…" said Haruto.
"What?"
"Blackmail anyone?" snickered Haruto evilly.
"What?"
"I wonder how much Orochimaru will like snakes when he finds out the truth about them. I sincerely doubt he enjoys dealing with red tape and rules!" laughed Haruto.
"You've got a point. Do you think once Orochimaru finds out about his snake he'll remove this seal on me?" said Sasuke.
"Probably not. It's worth a shot though, right?"
"It's decided. You can take the ones who've given some of their powers to the humans back with you. We'll deal with Manda and his army of lawyers," said the three-tailed turtle.
"Hai!"
It took less than two days to locate the creatures (and the plant) and tell them of the problem. They all agreed to assist in any way they could. The next day, Kyuubi and Shukaku prepared for the trip back. Sasuke, Naruto and Haruto were all eager to return; they wanted to start right away! The demons that would accompany them each had an assigned family to go to. The list went as follows:
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Kage (bat demon)—Hyuga clan
Kai (Nekomata)—Sasuke Uchiha
Wolf—Inuzuka family
Butterfly—Akimichi family
Deer—Nara family
Plant—Yamanaka family
Scarab—Aburame family
Various others—yet to be known
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Kyuubi began the spell and then they were all back in the human world without a problem. Now the hard part came; the demons had to find their respective families before the truth came out! Haruto helped the first four on that part. The plant and scarab however, had to figure it out on their own. Naruto and Sasuke showed them who came from their assigned clan, which helped immensely.
Here's how Kage did when it came to finding his clan…
Hinata was running to meet up with her team. (She had overslept.) Right as she passed a tree, she heard a strange noise. She immediately went on guard; it came again, and she investigated alone. What greeted her was the one thing she didn't expect! A silver-furred bat was trapped and injured in a cage meant for a small bird. She took pity on it and helped it get free. She let it go, only to find out it was too badly injured to take flight. She gently carried it in her pocket where it was safe until she put some medicine on its wounds.
While Kage waited for the girl to help him, he noticed certain things about her. The first thing he saw was that she was from his respective clan, the Hyuga. The second thing he idly noticed was that the girl was timid, which sent a bell in its head that she was more unique than the usual kunoichi.
After Hinata treated its wounds, Kage pretended to have grown fond of her and stayed around. She reluctantly kept him with her for the rest of the week.
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Next was the wolf. (His task was easier than Kage's!)
Akamaru and Kiba were on their usual walk when they caught the scent of canine blood nearby. They went to the source and found a wolf which had been badly injured. It showed no fear of humans and allowed Kiba to approach. Kiba had a tough choice to make; he could either walk away and let the wolf fend for itself…or he could bring it back to his house and let it recover there. (He chose the latter; Inuzuka members can rarely stand by and let a canine suffer!)
"Kiba! Where did you find this wild animal?!" scolded his older sister, who was also a respected veterinarian.
"It was in the woods outside the village. It let me come close so I thought it would be safe to bring it home and help it recover!" defended Kiba.
"It let you near it? In this condition? All right then…it can stay. But the minute it starts to act hostile to the others it goes back to the woods! Got it, Otouto?"
"Yes, Onee-san!"
It took three days for the wolf to fully recover. By that time, the Inuzuka family had begun to grow attached to the supposedly 'wild' animal. They had even begun to figure out its name. It wasn't until Akamaru was talking with the wolf that they realized the truth. It turns out that the wolf was not only the source of the Inuzuka clan's ability with dogs, he was also Akamaru's great (er, 7x great) grandfather! Because of this, the wolf was immediately accepted into the family without question.
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It was the butterfly and deer's turn to contact its family. (Their job was one of the easiest!)
Choji was going with Shikimaru were going to meet their sensei; Shikimaru was mildly surprised to find a deer come out of nowhere and approach him. Choji on the other hand, had paused to free a strange yet beautiful butterfly which had gotten caught in a web. It fluttered to his hand, which surprised him; butterflies normally don't come to people unless the human is perfectly still!
"Hey Shikimaru…check out this weird butterfly! It seems to like me for some reason!" said Choji.
"You think that's odd, take a look at this deer! It keeps following me around!" griped Shikimaru.
"Weird… I wonder what's going on with these creatures?" said Choji, who set the butterfly on his shoulder. They set off to see their teacher and Ino. What greeted them was Ino with what looked like a mutant plant around her neck.
"So you guys too, eh? What you get stuck with Choji and Shikimaru?" asked Ino.
"This weird deer."
"And this cool butterfly," said Choji.
"A deer, a butterfly, and a mutant plant. What's next?!" grumbled Asuma, their teacher.
"Wait a minute…aren't butterflies bugs? Why not go to Shino and see what the deal is?" said Ino. They did just that, only to discover that Shino had his own new 'friend' to deal with!
"Woah… What is that thing Shino?!" said Choji. On his shoulder was a bizarre insect with what appeared to be pincers and a beetle-like shell.
"This thing, as you called it, is an extremely rare beetle. It's an Egyptian Scarab Beetle; I've read about them but this is the first time I've ever seen one."
"Why's it so rare?" asked Choji.
"Because this species was almost wiped out by the Egyptian civilization due to their rituals. These beetles have been known to eat people from the inside out," replied Shino.
"Then why do you have it on your shoulder?" said Shikimaru.
"Because the others have told me that it has no intention of killing me…yet."
"Yet?!"
"Besides, Hinata rescued a bat which would is easily capable of killing the beetle if it tries anything," said Shino.
"A bat? There aren't any bat colonies around here! Where did it come from?" asked Ino.
"I could ask you the same about your plant. Now why did you come to see me about anyway?" asked Shino.
"Oh…Choji saved this freaky butterfly and we were wondering if you could tell us more about it," said Shikimaru.
"Let me see… It seems that this isn't your average bug. I've never seen a butterfly with such distinct markings before."
"What does this mean?" asked Choji.
"It means this butterfly isn't normal. But I don't see any poisonous markings so you should be okay," answered Shino.
"What I don't get is where these things came from…" started Shikimaru when the deer back-kicked him, hard.
"OW! What'd ya do that for?!" grumbled Shikimaru.
"I think it can understand English, Shikimaru," said Choji.
"WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE?!" grumbled the deer annoyed. Everyone turned toward the animal in shock.
"You've got to be kidding. That deer can talk?!" said Ino.
"If you think that's weird, you troublesome twit, then wait until that plant tells ya the truth!" snorted the deer with the exact tone that Shikimaru would use.
"Why do I get the feeling that Haruto is behind this?" said Shino.
"You're partially right…and before you lot jump to conclusions, me and my friends didn't come here to cause trouble. We came to help you with repairs after that blasted snake caused all this trouble."
"But that was months ago… most of the repairs are already done!" said Ino.
"Good grief… this is becoming more troublesome than we originally predicted…" grumbled the deer.
"Veni…tell them the rest already!" said a voice from Shino's shoulder.
"Not another one…" said Shikimaru.
"We can all talk, little boy. Including that overgrown morning glory on that girl's shoulder," said the voice.
"Am I imagining things or is that butterfly talking?" said Ino.
"Yes, I'm the one talking! And there is a second reason why we're here at all."
"What would that be?" asked Choji.
"To train you lot. Haven't any of you wondered why you and your families specialize in certain areas? Or where those Kekkei Genkai come from?"
"I used to, but I quit thinking about it a long time ago," said Ino.
"Figures…you might as well find someplace to sit; this is gonna take a while…" said the butterfly.
It took over two hours for the demons to explain the situation (excluding the fact that Naruto had Kyuubi inside him) and in the end, they acted calmer than any normal person should.
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"Why should we believe this tale? What proof do you have?" said Ino.
The deer stood up and muttered something under his breath. Within seconds Ino was paralyzed.
"What…what did you do to me?!" said Ino.
"Why don't you ask Nara? He should recognize this…" hinted Veni (the deer).
"That's…that's my Shadow Manipulation Jutsu!" said Shikimaru surprised.
"Where do you think you got it from? A fellow ninja with no relatives?!" grumbled Veni who released Ino.
"So you can do his jutsu. It still doesn't prove anything!" said Ino angrily.
"It doesn't matter whether you believe us or not. All that really matters to us is what you'll tell everyone else."
"You want us to keep this our secret until the village knows for sure that you mean no harm," said Shikimaru.
"If you don't mind… If you keep this from everyone except those you know you can trust, then we'll teach you some variations of your family's techniques. Like pig-girl's mind-control jutsu… that floral nightmare developed an upgraded version which can take over a minimum of two people and he hasn't found the maximum limit yet," said Veni.
"You're kidding!" said Ino in disbelief.
"Actually, he isn't…for once," said the morning glory.
"Now this whole thing is getting ridiculous…" said Ino.
"Tell me, Shino…is that girl in your team a Hyuga by any chance?" asked the scarab.
"You too?! And yes, Hinata's last name is Hyuga. Why?" asked Shino.
"Because that bat you talked about…his name is Kage and he was the one who gave her ancestors their Byakugan. And if I'm not mistaken, that girl may very well have a rare genetic trait…"
"What genetic trait?" asked Shino and Ino.
"It's possible that she might have what we call the 'Sight'. Though I don't know any more specific details about what it does," said the scarab.
"In any case, I think we've had enough excitement for one day. Who's up for going home and not tell the adults?" said Shino.
"I'm in," said the others.
(The next chapter will be all about Hinata! It's Hinata's time to shine…and kick some serious ass.)