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?

The fresh new graduates had approximately two months between the end of their academy lessons and their assignment to Genin teams. This gave the Hokage and the Academy teachers time to deliberate on which kids to group up and what instructor to assign them to. That time also gave the kids plenty of opportunity to pick up new skills. Most of that time though that time was most often spent doing typical stupid preteen things.

"We're going to do a Test of Courage!"

All eyes in the yard turned toward the feral looking Kiba Inuzuka. The group of graduates had assembled themselves in a training yard at the behest of the Inuzuka boy. He had been very insistent in fact otherwise most of them wouldn't have braved the hell-like heat that afternoon offered them.

"That's the best idea I've heard all day!" That was Naruto.

Sakura rolled her eyes, those boys were like two peas in a pod. Though not the best of friends they had enough of a similar mindset to get along most days. Other days it set them against each other rather viciously, today was not one of those days. The same could be said of her and Ino but the only similarity between them, atleast according to her, was their admiration of Sasuke Uchiha.

Speaking of Sasuke Uchiha the boy was sitting in the shade of the nearest tree. Next to him was Akane Namikaze drawing a tick-tac-to pattern in the sand. Most of the other females in the area were glaring at her. Hokage's daughter or not how dare she get so close to their beloved Sasuke!? Akane had long ago become a pro at ignoring them and simply scratched a X in the middle space. Akane passed her stick to the Uchiha boy

"Who'd do something stupid like that?" Sasuke asked putting O in the top right.

Akane silent took the stick and drew another X to the right of the original. Sasuke blocked her on the other side. Naruto and Kiba glared at them both for not taking the situation seriously.

"It isn't stupid! It'll be the perfect chance to prove our bravery to each other!" Kiba defended his idea.

Naruto nodded his full agreement, "Akane will do it! Right sis?"

Akane nodded absently, "Sure."

She drew another X in the bottom right corner. Sasuke gave her a look like he couldn't believe she'd agreed to it. He put his own mark in the top left. She put one in the bottom middle hoping to trick him. It didn't work as he dropped one in the top middle and got three in a row.

"Are you guys done now?" Kiba asked impatiently.

Akane's answer was to swipe the game away with her hand and turn to Sasuke, "It won't hurt to give it a try would it?"

Sasuke grunted lightly, "I'll think about it."

That usually meant he wouldn't show but there was always a chance. It pretty much guaranteed Ino and Sakura's participation, just in case he did show. The timid Hinato Hyuuga surprisingly agreed to it too. Ino goaded Chouji and Shikamaru into it. Shino not wanting to be left out agreed as well. Two other boys by the names of Kogeki and Yasashi also joined the ragtag bunch.

"All right! We'll meet at Chisai Hill at dusk." Kiba told the group before they split up.

When Sasuke entered his house he was greeted by the sound of Rin Nohara giggling. Obito Uchiha was tickling his girlfriend on the living room floor. The young woman was laughing so hard she kicked her feet and wheezed a little between giggles. She was stuggling to get away. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the pair.

"Welcome home Buddy." Obito called over his shoulder.

Rin used his distraction as an opportunity to wiggle away. Her boyfriend pouted like a kid who's favorite toy had been taken. Sasuke slipped past the pair to retreat to the quiet solitude of his room. He tossed his bag into the far corner and dropped face first into the bed.

He'd been living with Obito since he was nine due to certain circumstances. It wasn't terrible but it was far from how his life should have been. Obito was a nice enough, he supposed, but he had too much energy for Sasuke's liking. When he was home he was constantly bugging Sasuke about his day, training, or if there were any girls he liked. When he wasn't home he left sticky notes on every possible surface to do it for him.

Rin was a nice addition to the home if only because she distracted Obito from harassing him, and her cooking was actually edible.

There was a soft knock on the door frame. He grunted into is bed.

"We're going to be making dinner. Anything you want?" Obito asked.

Sasuke shook his head but it only made it look like he was nuzzling into his sheets.

"Tough day Bud?"

"I'm not your Bud." He grunted.

"Rin's cooking so you better eat. If you don't neither of us will hear the end of it." Obito changed the subject then left the room.

Sasuke didn't react in anyway but resigned himself to having to sit through a meal with the couple. Rin had learned how to be a particular kind of persuasive from her Sensei's wife, and she had learned very well. No one tested Rin Nohara or Kushina Namikaze.

Later as he sat at the kitchen table a quick series of knocks echoed from the front door. Obito and Rin shared a look as if to ask if either was expecting someone. Both of them looked at him to which he only shrugged. Obito got up to answer the door. A white hair man about the same age as Obito stood there. Like Obito his right eye was covered though he used his ninja headband to do so where Obito had an actual eye patch. When Rin saw the man at the front door she too stood up and joined them.

Sasuke knew the man's name, it was Kakashi Hatake, but not much more than that. He'd come around Obito's place plenty but had never stayed very long. He probably didn't like the messy state the place had often been in before Rin started hanging around more. The three adults had an exchange, they even peeked at him once, before the man left. When Obito and Rin returned to the table they had a suspicious glint in their eyes.

Chisai Hill was home to a long abandoned shrine. Many people in the village held on to the belief that it was also home to angry and vengeful spirits. It was the perfect place to host a Test of Courage. It was also all the way on the other side of town from where Akane and Naruto lived. This meant they would have to leave well ahead of time to make it there at dusk. This meant getting past their mother while she was still awake.

Simply walking out the front door wasn't an option. Did they dare go out a window?

Yes.

Akane watched her brother jump out her bedroom window before joining him. They landed at the base of the house in the backyard. Thankfully the area was completely enclosed with a privacy fence. No nosy neighbors would see them sneaking around. The twins carefully skirted the edge of the house ducking under the living room window. As they turned the corner Akane spotted someone coming up to their front door. She stopped dead causing her brother to bump into her back.

"Naruto, Kakashi-nii is at our front door." Akane stated sound more confused than anything, it wasn't like Kakashi to appear so randomly at their front door.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Who cares? Can we get past him?"

Akane peeked around the building, "Mom's letting him in. Hang on."

As soon as the white haired man disappeared through their front door they made their getaway. The pair scurried across the street and into an alley spooking a feral cat in the process.

They made it just in time to see most of the kids who agreed to come had arrived. They were just short one Uchiha. Naruto was notably pissed. How dare Sasuke agree to come, even though he really hadn't agreed to anything, and then not show! It turned out though Naruto had gotten angry over nothing as minutes later Sasuke did indeed join them, he had a somewhat disturbed expression on his face too.

"Adults are disgusting." was all he would say on the matter.

They were standing at a fork in one of the old foot trails that formed a maze around Konoha. This was were the trail to Chisai Hill met up with the rest of Konoha. From here they would walk toward Chisai Shrine. The path hadn't been cared for since the superstitions had started up and was severely over grown.

Kiba being the organizer of the event began setting the ground rules. They would walk in pairs to the Chisai Shrine as soon as it got dark. Ino and Sakura were beyond pleased until Kiba added an additional rule: they would draw lots to see who went with who. He produced an empty can of dog food with twelve popsicle sticks in it. Each one had a number on it, one through six. Whoever had the same number as you was your partner.

The pairs ended up being Shikamaru and Chouji, Akane and Sakura, Kiba and Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke, Shino and Kogeki, then finally Yasashi and Ino.

They went off in order of the numbers they had pulled, each pair with a lantern. Shino and Kogeki were first. Neither seemed particularly ruffled by that as they set off down the trail. A few minutes later Kiba and Hinata followed then Shikamaru and Chouji. Ino pulled a rather frightened Yasashi behind her, apparently the boy was as timid as Hinata. Akane and Sakura were next with Naruto and Sasuke being last.

The trail was longer than Akane expected and twisted and turned in ways that just struck a person as odd. The excessive vegitation didn't help. No wonder there were so many odd rumors about the place. She looked at her partner as they walked along. Thankfully Sakura was remaining pretty level headed.

"Do you believe any of the rumors about this place?" Akane asked.

Sakura gave her a puzzled look, "Rumors?"

So she didn't know then. Akane was kind of surprised as kids dared each other to go to Chisai Shrine all the time. Then again Sakura didn't seem the type to be interested in that type of stuff so maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise. Then Akane got the fun idea to fill the pink hair girl in.

"Well they say there are all kinds of weird things that happen up here and there are vengeful spirits and all that. People say that they hear some one calling their name or that they feel like they get touched or grabbed. There was that one kid who said he saw a full bodied ghost along this very trial too." Akane explained.

"Oh. Do you believe it?" Sakura asked looking a little perturbed.

Akane thought about then shook her head, "Nah."

That's when they heard a scream come from the path ahead of them. Both girls jumped and moved a little closer to each other. That had sounded a lot like Ino. They squinted up the path but couldn't see anything in the darkness. They both gulped nervously then suddenly a shadow charged toward them down the path. Neither had time to scream for help.

A few minutes later Naruto and Sasuke came up the path. Both boys gave each other a weird glance when they spotted the two girls standing in the middle of the path. When neither moved as they got close they got a really strange feeling. Naruto went to touch his sister's shoulder.

Both girls turned around. Their eyes were pure black. Naruto and Sasuke screamed and hightailed it off the trail into the overgrowth.

Further up the trail Shikamaru threw a tired glance back over his shoulder. So far their trip had been uneventful despite the screams echoing up the path from behind them. He held up the lantern that had been given them to illuminate the path ahead. There was nothing of interest to note.

"What's got into those guys?" Chouji asked hearing another set of screams.

"Who knows? Those guys are way to high strung for me." Shikamaru sighed peeking back over his shoulder again.

Shikamaru kind of expected Chouji to continue the conversation. When the other boy didn't he turned to look at him only to see a look of pure horror on the boy's face. Following Chouji's line of site he spotted the thing that had scared him stiff. An odd little thing kneeled in the middle of the path. It was a white colored featureless apparition about the size of a child with large hollows were eyes should have been.

"Have you seen my mommy?" It asked.

For once Shikamaru's brain didn't know how to respond. Chouji fainted on the spot.

Kiba and Hinata were nearly to the shrine. Kiba could see it perched at the top of the hill. Kogeki and Shino's lantern flashed lazily in the wind. Hinata nervously walked alongside him. Her white eyes kept looking around waiting for something to come flying out of the trees at them.

The night remained eerily calm. A full moon hung in the sky like a foreboding warning. There was little to no breeze. Something was off. Kiba could smell it.

"Shouldn't we have made it there by now?" Hinata asked.

That was true. They should have made it to the shrine by now. It seemed no matter how far they walked though they weren't getting any closer. Kiba stopped to sniff the air. There were some strange smells but he couldn't place them. Then a sudden a fog rolled in surrounding the pair.

Spooked Hinata activated her Byakugan. Slowly she watched as human shaped shadows slowly started to emerge from the fog. She ducked behind Kiba grabbing his jacket tightly. The things only got closer even as the two preteens kept backing up. With each step they took the shadow people seemed to take two more. They kept backing up in till Hinata felt herself back into something soft. She snapped her head around only to have her vision blocked by something large and black.

She screeched.

Kogeki and Shino had been waiting at the Shrine for awhile. At least Kiba and Hinata should have been there by now and yet no one had shown. Muffled screams had been coming up the path but neither boy had run into anything they thought was so terrifying. The rest of the preteens must have been easy to spook. They continued to wait and watch the lantern flicker in the dark between them.

After another short while the shape of a person emerged into their light. As they drew closer the light illuminated the person more until she was recognizable. It was a young Jounin woman they remembered seeing around the village but neither knew her name.

Rin Nohara only smiled at the boys, "Sorry guys its time to head home."

"Ah, but we were waiting on our friends to get here." Kogeki protested.

"No worries. We already made sure to send them on their way home." The way she said it with a light chuckle made shivers run up Kogeki's spine.

Shino didn't seem to mind it though and only nodded.

He grabbed the lantern, "Perhaps we should head home too then."

It wasn't really a question but a statement and as he walked off with their only light source Kogeki had to follow him. Rin smiled and waved them off.

As the dark completely closed in around her again she was joined by Obito and Kakashi.

"Ah, I'm so glad we chased Sasuke out of the house. The look on his face when they saw the 'girls' was priceless." Obito laughed.

Picking on the groups of fresh Genin dumb enough to come wandering around this place at night was a favorite pass time of the old Team Minato. Hopefully it would teach the young ones to be careful of the places they wandered into in the future, only Rin really cared about that though. The two men just really liked the laughs they got out of it and had a great time spreading the rumors that got the kids to come in the first place.

It turned out the only ones they didn't need to do anything to spook was Yasashi and Ino. All it took was a breeze strong enough to push a gnarled branch of tree into Yasashi's path. As the branch brushed against him in the dark the boy went into full on panic mode, screamed like girl, and than ran for the hills. Ino was hot on his tail.

They didn't need to scare Akane and Sakura either. Yasashi had been the one to scare the the pair. He had charged past them with such blinding speed they must have thought some sort of monster was coming to kill them. They too ran for it until Rin stopped them and calmed them down enough to assure them ghost didn't exist and they should head home, never admitting that she was about to scare them herself. Once she started leading them down an alternate pathway to send them home Kakashi made the eyeless illusions of the pair that would scare the boys coming up behind them.

The trio shared a good laugh and walked away from the supposedly haunted shrine. Perhaps now the gaggle of new Genin would actually focus on learning something instead of wasting time.

This chapter wasn't really neccassary for any plot purpose. The idea just got into my brain and would leave but it did let me establish some differences from canon. Why does Sasuke live with Obito? I'm sure you'll be able guess. Who is Kogeki and Yasashi? All in due time. As always thanks for taking the time to read another chapter and please if you liked it leave a review.