Title: Namikaze

Summary: In a world that is slightly different from the one we know Minato and Kushina live. Now the children of this world must grow up to become the amazing Shinobi we all know and love - only a little differently. Joined by a few new faces can the rookies navigate a world full of blood, politics, schemes, and mysterious enemies intent on killing them?

By the age of twelve Akane was convinced her brother would die a young suicidal idiot.

"You want to do what!?"

Naruto clapped a hand over his sister's mouth. He made a very dramatic 'shh' gesture before turning to stare at the door to her bedroom. He stared at it for awhile as if expecting a great beast, or their mother, to come busting through the doorway. Thankfully Mom was miles away in another village on a mission. They wouldn't have been too surprised if she had come through the door despite all that. Kushina was weirdly perceptive to her twins mischief.

In fact there was probably no need to be quiet at all since they were the only ones home. Minato was working late at the Hokage tower, he had sent an apologetic note home, and as stated before Kushina wasn't even in the village. Then again the pair always needed to be carefully of their father's ANBU.

"I need to st- I mean borrow a scroll from Dad." Naruto re-explained.

Akane eyed him suspiciously, "Why exactly?"

Her twin rolled his eyes like 'geez why couldn't she just trust him?' and sighed heavily . Then like he was being asked to explain the meaning of life he began his story. By the end Akane still wasn't sure she believed him. What teacher would tell their student to take one of their parent's scrolls? Not just any scroll either but apparently a pretty important one.

She set the book she'd been reading on the night stand. She knew Mizuki-sensei had pulled Naruto away from the rest of the class after the exams. Was that really so he could administer some secret test to her brother? Why? Because he was the Hokage's son?

It was true that having the son of the Hokage fail an academy test wasn't exactly good for their father's, or the village's, public appearance. Since the academy allowed students to take the test whenever they felt ready this had been the third attempt for the both of them. No one had expected them to pass on the first attempt but the second had been reasonably later when they were nine. Nine had been the average age of graduates between the second and third wars. There were rumors that now even if a kid technically passed the test if the teachers thought them too young, or immature, they'd fail the kids anyway.

Either way Minato wouldn't put such pressure on them to graduate early. Their father had never really cared about that kind of thing. He was the type of parent to let them figure things out and move on at their own pace. Akane wouldn't believe he had put their teachers up to this type of thing. Considering that the exams had just happened late that morning she wondered if her father even knew Naruto had failed yet. Akane herself had passed the test and if Iruka had realized his mirror image's left eye rolled around a little too much he didn't say anything.

Naruto feeling ignored interrupted her thoughts, "Pleeeaase, Akane. I need to pass. I can't get left behind."

Great. Now he was begging and Akane had always been a sucker for her twin. If a teacher had told him about this so called 'secret test' it though it couldn't be considered trouble making. At least she hoped. Naruto knew he had her when she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He snagged her in a bear hug and began jumping around the room. Naruto ignored all her protests at being manhandled. It took her awhile to finally convince him to let her go.

"When do you have to do it by?"

He glanced at her, "Remember you already agreed."

"Naruto," She stressed his name suspiciously.

"Tonight."

A while later and she was seriously regretting this. Naruto on the other hand was far too happy about the situation. Both thanked their lucky stars their mother was away on a mission. If she hadn't been this whole thing would have ended before it even began. She might be a goofy mom most of the time but she could be pretty terrifying if she thought her kids, or anyone really, was up to no good.

The scroll was located in the Hokage Tower Library. It wasn't top level security as far as the Hokage Tower went excepting the fact the Tower was the most secure building in the entire village. How were a pair of preteens going to get in? It helped that their father was the Hokage and their Dad also happened to be working late that night. Getting in wouldn't be a problem. Getting out on the other hand probably would.

Neither guards questioned it when she showed up, boxed meal in hand, smiling like the most innocent thing in the world. It helped that her trouble making twin was nowhere to be seen. Unbeknown to them said twin was busy shimming into the ventilation system. It was as easy as that. Under the guise that she was bringing her father dinner Akane was simply let in and Naruto had been sneaking past the guards for years.

This late at night the only people in the tower were mostly likely just the guards and the Hokage. If they were really unlucky the Elders might be there too. She was halfway down the hall to the Hokage office when a hand pulled her into a dark side hall.

"Naruto!" She hissed, heart racing.

Naruto only gave her a big grin in response.

"Now all we have to do is distract Dad and make off with the scroll." He said it with a laugh.

That had been exactly what she had been heading off to do. She refused to get frustrated, or at least show it. She fixed her brother with a stern stare. Any time wasted like this was increasing the risk of being caught.

"Yes, I know that. We talked about this before we left the house. I'll distract Dad. You get the scroll. We'll meet up at the old cabin in the woods." She did her best to remain patient.

"I know, I know. I was just making sure you remembered."

Opting to not respond to that she got up to leave while waving him off down the darkened side hall. She doubled checked to make sure no one was coming then went on her way. Meanwhile her twin was stealthily making his way through the dark corridors toward the library.

The blond preteen had long age memorized every hall this building had to offer. He'd been coming here his whole life after all. It wasn't really that hard to remember which guards walked which halls and when they walked those halls. Simply put it was easy for Naruto to sneak in and pull pranks on his father's staff. It helped that his mother had taught him all the best places to sneak and hide in.

He made short work of getting to the library doors. Unfortunately they were locked. He could try to pick the lock or find another way in. Peeking along the walls and ceiling he spotted another portion of the ventilation system he'd use to get into the building. Chances were that this vent connected to one in the library but he'd never been in this portion of the system. He didn't know what kind of nasty surprises were in there. Picking the lock might catch someone attention if the door creaked or set off a trap of its own. Geez, what a dilemma.

At about this time Akane was knocking on the doors to her father's office. She didn't get a response at all. How weird. She was sure her dad was still at work. She went to knock again when a hand appeared above her head. Startled she jumped and whipped around to face the person who'd snuck up on her. It was Genma. He put a finger to his lips quietly then shoved the doors open. Peeking inside she saw that her father was in fact there. At his desk. Snoring. She almost fell flat on her face.

"Your Dad works hard, huh?" Genma whispered pushing the doors all the way open.

Akane nodded with a proud little smile and stepped inside. She put the boxed dinner on his desk quietly wondering if she should wake him up. Perhaps she shouldn't. If he was awake he might sense Naruto sneaking around the building and that wouldn't be good. She turned to leave perfectly content to let him continue dozing at his desk.

She almost made it to the door.

"Akane, what is your brother up to?"

Her heart nearly hammered out of her chest at her father's voice. Before she could answer another member of the Hokage Guard Platoon sped into the room. Raido skidded past Genma and herself to a halt just before the Hokage.

"Sir, your son stole the Scroll of Sealing!"

Naruto was long gone and lost to the forest by the time Raido had sounded the alarm. Happily he tracked down the old cabin Mizuki sensei had told him about earlier that day. Following trail markers was much harder at night then during the day but he somehow managed. Finally arriving at the decrepit old building Naruto was unimpressed. He was expecting something a little more cool, like a top secret hideout. Anything really other than a molding old wooden shack.

Sighing in disappointment he set the scroll down on the ground and rolled it open. There were tons of different jutsus. All of them were pretty interesting and Naruto wanted to memorize them all but knew he didn't have time. He picked the very first one listed in the scroll. It looked the simplest to do despite being a clone jutsu. Without waiting for his twin he set to work, she'd show up eventually.

He lost track of time repeating the hands signs over and over again. Pushing chakra through his body until the combination made something happen. Suddenly he was staring a perfect clone of himself. His clone put his arms being his head and chuckled at him.

"Whoa!" He laughed performing some actions that were instantly mirrored by the other him.

He repeated the process and shoved more chakra through his system and this time he produced three clones. He kept it up until he started to feel tired. He'd managed to make about ten to fifteen clones before he decided taking a break was a good idea. He rolled the scroll back up and slung it across his back and began to wonder where his twin was.

A thump in a nearby tree alerted him someone had joined him. Expecting to see Akane he was surprised it was none other than his teacher Iruka sensei. He chuckled nervously at first then realized that perhaps Iruka had come to test his new jutsu. Maybe Mizuke hadn't been able to make it? Either way If he could just pull it off in front of Iruka he'd pass for sure. He wouldn't be an embarrassment to his parents or village!

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing!?" Iruka scolded.

Naruto grinned, this was his chance, "I'm taking the test! Mizuki sensei told me all about it. All I have to do is perform a jutsu from the scroll right?"

If Naruto was concerned about the confused look on Iruka's face he didn't show it. At that point Iruka shoved Naruto away as a flurry of weapons pinned him against the cabin. Everything happened rather fast at that point. He remembered Iruka telling him to run, to not let Mizuki have the scroll. He wanted to listen to Iruka. He wanted to run but his legs refused to listen and stayed rooted in place.

"Go back to the village!"

Mizuki grinned, "Why would you do a thing like that? That village doesn't want you. They want the thing inside of you."

"Mizuki! Stop!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto couldn't think of a smart response. Normally he'd be all big talk and shouting things like 'I'll be a better Hokage than Dad!' but not now.

All he could manage was a very intelligent, "What?"

Mizuki continued to taunt the pair as he pulled the large shuriken from his back. It was surprising the force he was able to put behind such a large weapon. Still frozen and unresponsive Naruto could only watch as it spun his way dangerously. Iruka was coming his way too but it felt like it was in slow motion compared to the way his heart drummed in his ears. The shuriken seemed to spin faster, in time with his heartbeat.

Naruto finally found his feet and turned to flee. He didn't have enough time and a thump told him the weapon had embedded itself. Fresh blood hit the ground in front of him but oddly there was no pain. Then he heard Iruka wheeze above him.

Mizuki made a tsk noise, "I really don't understand you two. Iruka you were orphaned because of the monster sealed inside that kid. And you, Naruto, this village will never accept you even if you are the Yondaime's son with that thing in you. The same goes for that sister of yours."

Iruka ignored the man. Instead he was much more surprised as Naruto pulled himself out from under him. A determined glare was set in his eyes as he removed the scroll and set it down with a thud. There was fire behind the bright blue of the young boy's eyes.

He pointed at a finger at Mizuki, "I don't really get what you're talking about but don't ever talk about my family or my village with that tone!"

He preformed a series of hand signs and shoved all of his chakra through his body. In a flash of smoke and popping noises more than two dozen mirror images of himself appeared from thin air. Without so much as word from him they all swarmed Mizuki taking him down before he could finish a surprised scream.

I'm trying to go between Naruto and Akane equally in this chapter. It something I'm definately going to try to continue doing to bes to of my ability.