Several young children all sat and stood around inside a classroom. The room was as loud as it could be, with just about all of the children talking to one another.
It had only been a matter of minutes, but many of the students had already created their own little groups.
Naruto sat with Sasuke and Kiba, as that trio was near inseparable. The next generation of the InoShikaCho trio was the same way, despite Shikamaru Nara not getting along so well with Ino Yamanaka.
Two figures in high-collared, grey coats sat next to each other and conversed quietly. Inago and Shino Aburame were comfortable around each other, and spoke much more to each other than to other people.
Sakura Haruno had her own group, consisting mainly of other civilians who wished to be ninja, and spoke reverently about Sasuke, almost to the point where it was like they were equating him with the son of Kami himself.
In the back, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan sat by herself, her pale lavender eyes set on a young blond boy who talked and joked with his two friends. Oh how she wished that she had the strength and courage to go up to him and talk to him. Her clan was on good terms with what was left of his, and despite this, she could think of no way to even approach him.
Despite all of the talking, their teacher had been sitting at his desk in the front of the class for the last twenty minutes. He had waited to see if they would notice him and stop talking, but it seemed like it wasn't going to be that kind of class.
"Alright everybody," He stated in a voice just loud enough to be heard by the class.
Nobody even looked in his direction.
"Everyone..." He warned them
Still...nothing.
"HEY EVERYONE! SHUT UP SO I CAN TEACH YOU ALL!" He hollered at them all, quickly getting the class to quiet down and get back into their seats.
Meanwhile, the teacher's assistant smirked upon seeing the teacher so agitated so soon into the class. His green eyes locked onto his elder. "They're just kids, and it's their first year. Ease up a little now and gradually get tougher on them. They aren't ninja yet."
"Quiet Mizuki." The teacher spoke to his assistant. "They need to understand that I'm teaching soon-to-be ninja, not children."
Mizuki simply sighed and shook his head as he looked down at the ground. "I wish I opted for trash cleaning in the Red Light district instead of this nonsense..."
"Now that I have your attention," The teacher stated to the class. "I am Kabe Renga, you will all call me Kabe-san. Is that understood?" He spoke to them in an authoritative voice, commanding respect and loyalty rather than asking for it.
The man known as Renga Kabe was seen to be quite tall, even as he sat in his chair at the front of the room. He had close cut brown hair and the standard Konoha jonin attire. He watched all of his students with brown eyes as cold and piercing as they could get.
Kiba snickered to himself at the hilarity of their sensei's name. He was unable to hold his laughter to himself, and earned himself a high velocity book to the face.
"I am your teacher, damn it! I would appreciate respect!" He called out Kiba, who fell down to the ground after being hit by a book. He was well aware that they were children, and he wasn't supposed to be yelling at them as if they were genin or chunin. He was trying not to become a total task master, but he needed to show them all how he could be on a bad day.
Clearing his throat, Renga scanned the room and looked over his class. "Now that I have introduced myself, it's time for the rest of you to introduce yourselves."
A single hand shot out at the speed of sound and pointed towards the Inuzuka boy.
"YOU!" Renga shouted. "You, the furry one. State your name, as well as anything that you'd like to have the rest of the class know. Just keep it short."
Kiba only blinked as he stared rather doe-eyed at his teacher. He heard what he said, but didn't fully process it until a moment later when the effect of the man shouting began to wear off.
Kiba then stood up and looked at the class. He knew some of them because of his relation to the clan matriarch and heir, while others were a complete mystery to him. Smiling widely, he spoke. "My name is Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka clan!" He announced to them all. "I really like dogs, especially my little buddy Akamaru, and I really hate it when Naruto uses his stupid clone guys in ninja tag!"
All of the children sat and listened to the wild child, taking in what he said and using him as an example for what they would say.
"In the future, I want to do dangerous missions with really cool people!" He smiled to himself and sat back down as the rest of the class clapped in appreciation for what he just said.
Renga looked around the class once more and continued to pick people out, all of them speaking using a similar format to what Kiba was using.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like to train with my brother, spar with my friends Naruto and Kiba, and take walks around Konoha. I can't stand natto, I just find it disgusting. In the future, I...I don't know yet, but I know that I want to be a good ninja for Konoha."
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like Ramen, training, my mother and aunt, as well as my family, and beating my friends at ninja tag! I don't like the three minute cooling wait for instant ramen... My dream is to become hokage...or at least a really bad ass ninja like my mother and aunt!"
"I am...Aburame Inago...I enjoy tending to the bugs in the clan, a small bowl of miso ramen occasionally, my friend Ino, and...I do not like Sakura. My wish for the future is to...Na..."
Inago and Hinata competed to be the reddest, most stuttering messes in the class that day.
All of the other children in the class followed Kiba's example, and soon enough, the time for introductions came to an end. Renga and Mizuki got to know a little bit more about the kids that they would be teaching. The two of them would be teaching the same class for the next four years, and in that time, all of them would surely grow.
As the class went on, Mizuki stole glances at the Uzumaki boy, looking at him with cold eyes and picturing himself putting the boy in his place. "I already have a psychopath of a teacher to work with, as well as a bunch of brats too., But the demon brat is the one topping this horrendous cake. Probably thinks he's so great since he fooled everyone into thinking he's a legacy child. I'll show him."
"Man, what a drag today."
"Give them some credit, Kiba. If Naruto hadn't told Kabe-sensei that history was boring, we wouldn't have been lectured all day, and we would have actually gotten to do some ninja stuff. But I guess if he didn't do it, then it would have been you."
"You're darn right it would have been me! I wanna learn how to be a badass, not how many independent nations there are, or how many towns are in Hi no Kuni."
"See?! See?! Somebody agrees with me!"
Kiba, Sasuke, and Naruto all walked away from the academy together as they usually did. Over the last six months, the three of them had learned surprisingly little about how to survive as a ninja, but rather how to survive as a homeless person with nothing to their name.
Little did the seven and eight year old children know that those two were just about the same thing.
"Well, I've got to go home, Itachi-nii said he was going to spar with me!" Sasuke excused himself from the trio as they neared the Uchiha compound, leaving just Kiba and Naruto to talk to one another.
"Hey Naruto, want to check out your panther? It's been doing pretty well around the nin-ken. Most of them have gotten use to her being around, and aren't really defensive when she gets close." Kiba offered, looking at Naruto as he remembered how well it seemed to be doing in a compound filled with dogs.
Naruto nodded eagerly. "Sure!" He replied. "I've gotta tell someone at the compound first, though. Kaa-san might freak out again like last time...I'll meet you at your house."
Kiba nodded back at his friend and began to pet Akamaru, who sat atop of his head and watched the people around them. "Sure thing. I'll see you there."
Surely enough, Naruto arrived at the Inuzuka compound mere minutes after leaving Kiba and Akamaru, only being at his own compound just long enough to utter a simple "I'm going to Kiba's!" before making a mad dash to his friend's home.
Knocking on the door, Naruto waited impatiently for someone to answer the door. Like all of the other times he came to the compound, the barking of several dogs quickly followed after him knocking, which was sure the gain the attention of someone.
"I'm on my way!" Naruto could hear an all too familiar voice call out to him.
Soon after, the door opened to reveal Hana Inuzuka and the Haimaru triplets.
Over the last six months, Hana had been working on, caring for, and examining the panther that Naruto had left at her home. In that time, she had decided that she wanted to spend the rest of her career as a ninja-vet. It was a job similar to being a med-nin, but specializing in animals rather than people.
She had also started growing once more, now standing at just over five feet and two inches. She was about the average height for her age, but stood as the runt compared to her teammates however.
Hana wasn't the only one to have grown. The Haimaru triplets were also starting their growing phase, and were starting to become quite big.
Looking down at the boy before her, Hana smiled and moved aside. "Hey Naruto, come on in. Kiba said you'd be here to take a look at your panther."
As he entered, Naruto walked past the Inzuka heiress and into the main house of the compound. "Thanks Hana." He said in reply to her, a smile on his face as he turned to look at her.
Hana then closed the door and walked around Naruto, motioning for him to follow as she led him throughout the house and into the back where the panther was currently being held.
The heiress tapped her chin as she spun around to look at the boy. "You know, you still have to name her, Naruto." She told him. "I still can't believe that you haven't thought of a name yet."
Naruto sighed and shook his head as he approached the back room, opening it for himself and stepping inside to see his panther.
As soon as he opened the door, the aforementioned panther looked around the room to investigate the new, yet also familiar presence of Naruto. The cat instantly got up and tackled Naruto into a 'kitty hug', licking his face and purring lowly as she guarded and greeted her master.
Naruto didn't expect for the panther to have such a reaction to his presence, but the boy wasn't against it as he laughed and petted her.
He turned his head to look at a smiling Hana. "I just can't think of a name, sorry."
Hana shook her head and could only smile more. That panther was just as close to Naruto as the Haimaru triplets were to her, and it was surprising because of the short amount of time they had been together. "It's okay, Naruto. I can help you think of a name, but she has to agree to it too. She seems smart enough to help decide on her own name."
He was quite happy to see the panther in such a good condition, just as Tsume had promised him and his mother.
Both Naruto and Hana hummed in thought, the former still lying under the panther that was yet to be named.
"What about Felinus?" Naruto asked.
Hana shook her head. "No, you can't just have her species and -us at the end of it." She sighed and began to pace back and forth in the room. "Senka?" She said Naruto.
Naruto took a moment to think before shaking his head.
"Hulda?"
"Kunti?"
"Najwa?"
"What about Raz?" A new voice spoke up, getting all six heads in the room to turn towards the door.
Tsume leaned casually against the frame of the door as she looked inward. She could easily see the panther that was just as big as Naruto lying atop the boy.
She had done her best to evaluate the Panther in her time at the Inuzuka compound, and took notes to compare them to the last time she had seen the panther.
The black cat on everyone's mind was currently watching Naruto with a close eye, occasionally looking from one person to the next as she lay on the blonde boy. She began to purr and close her eyes as she felt a hand on her head. She could always let her guard down near Naruto, which was surprisingly contradictive of what Tsume, Hana, and Naruto were led to believe. When Naruto left, though, the panther returned to normal, simply sitting around and watching the people around her.
"I think she likes it." Naruto spoke up, smiling at the newly named Raz, that was currently purring and enjoying the treatment that Naruto was giving her.
Shrugging, Tsume pushed herself off of the door frame and proceeded to walk out of the room. "Well, I'll be gone for a bit." She announced to the genin and academy student. "Hana, you watch over your brother. We don't want another 'incident', now do we?"
Laughing nervously, Hana shook her head and moved towards the door to push her mother out of the room. "Of course not, we'll see you later!" She said quickly closing the door as soon as possible and leaning against it, only to sigh and slide down to the ground.
Naruto was only able to look at Hana with confusion, not knowing what 'incident they' were talking about.
As dense as Naruto could be at times, this was one of the times that he knew well that he shouldn't dig into what Hana was trying to avoid. Instead of investigating further on an incident that he wasn't around to witness, he looked to his panther.
"Raz." He said to her, getting the panther to open one of her eyes and look down at him.
He smiled at her. She seemed to respond to the name well, and it sounded cool as well. He had been told that there was a small phase throughout the entire nations where using uncommon letters such as R, Q, and Z was considered cool and hip.
"Off?" He asked her, his efforts being rewarded as she climbed off of the boy and laid her body down next to his.
Naruto sat up and looked to Hana, who smiled at the panther and boy. They were getting along well, as they always have whenever they met up. The newly named Raz would respond to most of Naruto's commands and requests, and would go against him or make an attempt to stop him when she believed that Naruto wouldn't do well with the current plan.
"Hey, Naruto." Hana spoke up, the boy already looking at her with curiosity and wonder. "Since Kaa-san is gone for a little, and I'm in charge until she gets back, I want to try something with you and Raz, okay?"
Naruto nodded and proceeded by standing up. He then walked over to her, the curious look still etched onto his face. "What are you going to try?"
Hana shook her head, humming briefly before speaking. "Wrong words, sorry, I want you and Raz to try something."
"Okay," was Naruto's simple reply.
Hana opened the door back into the hallways of the compound and motioned once again for Naruto to follow. This time, Raz went along with the two of them and the Haimaru triplets.
The Inuzuka heiress led them outside and towards the back of the compound, where an open field was that was meant for training. While it seemed people tried to keep it clean, and succeeded for the most part, it was in rough shape due to the type of training that took place there. There were small patches of dirt all over the field, with most of the nearby trees and rocks obviously shown to have taken a few beatings.
"The training grounds?" Naruto asked, looking at the teen.
Said teen nodded, whistling at a rather specific pitch and calling her dogs in front of her. "That's right. I want to see something about you and your panther. No worries if it doesn't work, though." She told him, but was hiding the fact that there would be a few concerns if it were to work.
"Now Naruto, I want you to focus on my hands and try to match the seals, okay? You guys have gone over Chakra by now, I'm sure." She was well aware that Anko and the rest of Naruto's family had been training him since before the Academy began in various basic ninja arts and a few advanced ones too, and he was most likely at a low or mid genin level by now.
Naruto nodded and put his hands together. He paused, looking over at his panther and pointing towards a spot in front of him, mirroring Hana and her dogs. "Raz!" He called out, wanting to use the name as much as possible, as well as get the Panther's attention.
Raz stalked towards the spot that Naruto pointed out, her eyes carefully watching Naruto and every little movement he made.
"Alright Naruto." Hana spoke once more, her hands joined together as well. "Match my seals, and the chakra should just flow naturally, Now!" Instantly, she began the hand seals. For the justu she was preparing, there weren't that many seals, and it should be a rather basic jutsu for Naruto. She had slowed down quite a bit for him to match them correctly, since she did not expect for him to be able to watch movement at top speeds just yet.
The blonde haired boy copied Hana's seals to the best of his abilities. He was thankful for the fact that the seals were slowed down, and was able to copy each and every one.
Meanwhile, Raz instantly became focused on the movement of Naruto's hands.
"Fang Mirroring Fang!" Hana called out, releasing a burst of chakra, which the Haimaru triplets almost instantly replicated.
Naruto did not call out the words to the attack, but still released a burst of chakra.
Raz roared loudly, releasing her own burst of chakra which connected and intertwined with Naruto's.
Quickly after, Naruto felt himself being compelled to get down on all fours. His instincts felt heightened, and he could sense Raz's presence and chakra.
Hana followed suit, getting down on all fours and crouching low. The triplets mirrored her movements, crouching low as well. The four of them howled in unison before moving quickly around.
Naruto was unable to handle this feeling well. He didn't feel like himself anymore. It was a strange thing for him to even attempt to explain to himself, but it was almost as if he were connected to Raz for the time being.
As if she had heard him, Raz growled and looked at Naruto, who seemed to be able to understand what he was thinking. She crawled closer to Naruto, who did the same.
Once they were only a foot away from one another, they stopped moving. The two simply looked at each other in understanding.
Apparently, they had stood like that for several minutes, as Hana was standing on two legs next to Naruto with a smile on her face.
Naruto and Raz broke the connection between one another, with the former standing back up and looking around.
"What was that?" Naruto asked in amazement.
Hana giggled and glanced at her dogs before looking back at Naruto. "That was an Inuzuka technique, just don't tell Kaa-san, okay?" She smiled knowingly and putting her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's to see if an Inuzuka and her ninken can truly bond with one another. Kaa-san was worried that you and Raz wouldn't be able to do it, and something would go wrong, but that went great!" Her smile only widened as she stole a glance at Raz, who was still eyeing Naruto intently. "The Fang Mirroring Fang technique is pretty much like linking your minds together. Apparently it was originally called the Bonding Fang technique, but was renamed soon after."
Naruto nodded at Hana and moved his fingers across his lips, pretending to zip them up and lock them. "I promise not to tell. It's not that cool to use another clan's techniques, even if you are allowed to." He shrugged and began to look around the weathered training grounds. "I guess it's a little more okay since you're the clan heir, but still."
Hana sighed and looked down at the ground. "I know I should have instructed you on how to use an Inuzuka technique, especially one that could go wrong if Raz wasn't meant to bond with you, but I had to take the risk. There's so much more that I know the two of you can do since you're well on your way to being fully bonded."
While the two of them continued talking, and the triplets and Raz began to walk around their masters, a figure could be seen on the far end of the training ground, watching them with mixed emotions before leaving without a trace.
After having spent the next few hours at the Inuzuka compound, Naruto started his journey back to his own home. After preforming the jutsu with Hana, he conversed with her for a little longer before going to play with Kiba.
In their conversation, Hana told him that the jutsu could have gone wrong a number of ways had Raz not been the perfect match for Naruto. The jutsu only needed to be done once to see if they could bond, and Hana was still extremely wary that an Inuzuka clansman could have walked out to the training grounds to see a non-Inuzuka person using a technique that wasn't theirs.
Naruto understood her reasoning behind keeping quiet about the situation, and swore by blood to not tell anyone at all about the jutsu they he had performed with Raz. The rest of the day was spent playing with Kiba and Akamaru.
Reaching the door to the main building of the Uzumaki compound, Naruto slowed to a stop. The boy placed his ear against the door in hopes of being able to tell if anyone was in the living room or not. It was dead silent as far as he could tell, and proceeded by entering.
The door opened gently and slowly. It was getting late in the day, and he couldn't remember if anyone was in the living room when he had said that he was going to Kiba's house earlier.
Fearing the worst, Naruto took a step inside the house, looking around carefully. Just as his foot hit the ground, a seal appeared under him.
The next thing Naruto knew was that he was hanging upside down and was dangling in the air. He could hear soft laughter coming from one of the hallways, in which Tsunade emerged with a smile on her face.
Her hazel eyes locked onto Naruto, focusing on the boy and watching as he struggled to get back down to the ground.
"Well, I was wrong. He doesn't look roughed up from training." Tsunade spoke casually back into the hallway which she revealed herself from.
Kurenai stepped out soon after and walked over to Naruto, a small book with a slip-over cover to keep the orange cover of the book hidden in her hands. "I told you he was heading to Kiba's. He even smells a little like dog." She teased him, laughing to herself as she helped untie him.
Naruto was released from the rope that kept him suspended in the air, but fell with his stomach on the ground from not being able to flip over onto his feet in time. He was inwardly relieved after hearing that Kurenai did in fact hear him before his departure to the Inuzuka compound.
Groaning, Naruto stumbled to his feet and looked between the two women before him. "Why'd you put that rope seal there?" He asked them, rather annoyed by the fact that they could have just as easily asked him where he had been all day.
Kurenai smiled more and cast a glance at Tsunade. "Tsunade was wondering where you were earlier today, and we had a mild argument about where you'd be and what you'd be doing. Not to mention that it's late and you're so lucky that your mother isn't here at the moment. We had to punish you at least a little to prove that nothing goes without consequence."
Naruto understood how his mother could be at times. While she was usually laid back and relaxed, there were a handful of times where could be just as scary as Yoshino Nara. If Anko had found him while she was in this mindset, he was sure to get punished much worse than the little slap on the wrist he had just been given.
The Genjutsu Mistress glanced down at the book in her hands and shifted her weight from one side to the other. Quickly, she hid the book away from open eyes and put it into a small pouch on her waist.
Naruto sighed and lowered his head. "Sorry I worried you guys." He said to them. He knew that Kurenai had heard him, but he was hardly in his home long enough earlier for anyone to utter even a single word to him before he bolted out the door to the Inuzuka compound.
Both women smiled at him and shared a small glance to one another.
"So, Naruto." Kurenai said to him, the boy looking up to meet her eyes. "How was the academy?"
He grunted as a response and looked down at the ground. "Kabe-sensei gave us another lecture on ninja history. We didn't do a lot of cool ninja stuff today." He scoffed and remembered that he was already pretty far ahead in his class, and could easily compete with Sasuke for top spot in class.
Kurenai gave him a look of worry. "Naruto." She warned him. "I know you have this entire clan and everything in it, but remember that you have just as much to learn as all of the other kids. You may have a little advantage over them, but you aren't above them. Okay?"
Naruto nodded and sighed a little. He was getting lost in a different world, and he needed to keep himself where he was at.
When it came to self-control, Naruto was the absolute worst person to discuss it with. He was impulsive almost always, and was led by his gut. Despite this, he had always refused to let his power and pull as a clan heir go to his head. He was lucky to get where he was now, and he was thankful for that.
"You're right." He said back to her. "I guess I just don't like being lectured all the time. I know that ninja wars were important and all, but I wanna focus on being a badass ninja and become the Hokage! Then I can protect everyone and take out the bad guys!"
Kurenai and Tsunade smiled at him. His heart was in the right place, but the sharpened steel that he was needed more temperament.
With a will like his, Naruto's dream might just become a reality.
Tsume walked through the streets of Konoha alone, contemplating the events that had taken place over the last two years. She wasn't against believing that Anko continued after she herself had left the project, but she was rather surprised to see these most recent events unfold the way that they did.
When she had left the project a little more than a year ago, it was because she feared that things wouldn't go as well as they hoped that it would. What she had just seen before her own eyes made her a little more open to the idea she once shared with Anko, but was still skeptical about the outcome.
"It's just not going to work!" She remembered herself saying to Anko. "They're too far apart from one another. If it does happen, it'll be because we both signed a piece of paper, not because they wanted it."
Anko was silent for quite some time after that, Tsume could recall clearly. The idea they had was just too ambitious, and the two of them never talked about it until just recently.
"Anko." She spoke in a serious tone of voice. "Would you mind telling me just what Naruto brought to my doorstep?"
Anko did not fear the Inuzuka matriarch, and looked at her with the same serious look that she had been given. "Training is like an elastic band. You can't just stop, or it'll hurt you. It's something that needs to be eased out of to get the best results. By the time I was done easing her out of it, it was already too late. It's ingrained." Her words came off coolly, still refusing to waiver under the gaze of Tsume.
Tsume grunted. "So you continued the t-" She yelled, but was cut off by the other person in the room.
"I stopped all of the Inuzuka stuff!" She fired back. "That wasn't an issue. We didn't get far with all of that, and there isn't much she knows. I stopped with all of that as soon as you walked out the door. She can still track, and she can still hunt, but that's the furthest that her training from your clan's area has gone."
Tsume paused and soaked in the information. "Thank you..." She said quietly. "What have you been teaching her since I left?" She admitted her curiosity for progress.
Anko smirked slightly and nodded to the older woman. "Speed, power, reflexes, even a little on chakra." She said to Tsume, who growled lowly just as Anko put her hands up in defense. "I know, I know. It's your territory, but we started it, and I couldn't stop in the middle of it. She can't do much with it, but she can use it. She's even strong enough now to take on the average chunin with only a little trouble."
The Inuzuka matriarch sighed as she placed her head in her hands. "Kami, Anko. She can do a few good tricks, but this is a dangerous game. I'm not putting any charges against you, but we both know the council will jump the shark, I.E. me, and file something against you and Naruto for using techniques too close to the Inuzuka clans. Remember they did the same thing when you got all of those justu from the Uchiha? Fugaku had to tell the civilians that they had no place in ninja affairs and that he fully authorized the transaction. This is so much touchier than that, and I think you know that."
Tsume sighed to herself as she turned a corner. Now more than ever, the civilian council could find one way or another to place charges against Naruto and the Uzumaki clan. They had kept the entire thing under wraps, though. They were the only two who knew about the project at the time, but eventually had to let a third person from an even more powerful clan in on the secret.
"Phah!" Anko spat with a tone of disgust. "Most of the civilians can't tell the difference between a kunai and a farming knife."
Tsume turned to Anko, nodding absent-mindedly.
"Besides." She continued, her shoulders shrugging as the continued their walk throughout the streets of Konoha. "This is all ninja clan affairs. I've told you before, Tsume, they're well outside their jurisdiction if they try this crap again."
Tsume couldn't help but agree with that, but she also wanted to remind Anko that the civilians didn't care about how far their reach was, and would simply complain to the Hokage if they didn't get their way.
"We have solid ground and high fences. Even more so if you back me up on the entire thing. The Hokage will be on our side, I'm sure of that." Anko continued to speak, Tsume still being quiet and thinking deeply.
She was well aware of the fact that the Hokage would take their side in an argument against the civilian council, but her problem was the fact that the entire project was a secret that even he didn't know about. It would be near impossible to hold ground unless they talked about everything, and then it wouldn't be a secret anymore.
It was supposed to just stop. She had no intention of carrying it on, and she hoped that Anko would have done the same. Despite her wishes, Anko had continued, and set them on this strange and difficult path.
"But what if they find out?" Tsume finally spoke back.
Anko turned her head to look at the matriarch, but said nothing to her. She knew well of what she was talking about, and decided to let her say what was on her mind.
"We can't just reveal little bits and pieces. It's either all of it or none of it, and what if they find out about the original plan? She wouldn't trust me anymore, and I don't want to turn my only daughter away from me." She paused, taking a small breath after letting her more concerned and motherly side show. However, she smiled ever so slightly, looking down at the ground before her. "He might have a different view on it though. He wouldn't turn his back, and he'd probably do his best to understand how she sees the situation."
Anko smiled as well and looked to the setting sun. "You're right about that. He's incredibly selfless, even if he doesn't really notice it. He wouldn't think about how he was put into the situation, only the others around him."
The two of them stood side by side for a long minute, both contemplating everything that had happened, and that could happen.
"The Hokage is a little soft, but involving Naruto, he can become quite the taskmaster." Anko smirked, already forming plans to lure the Civilians to do something to mess up and get booted off the council by the Hokage himself.
Tsume smiled to herself. Anko had shared hits and pieces of her master plan of ridding the civilian council of their seats, taking away their stolen power in the process. Over the years, the Civilians had often claimed that the Hokage was much too old for his work, and offered to do the work in his place. By doing this, they were able to steal several responsibilities and powers out from under him.
Needless to say, Tsume quickly sided with Anko, offering her full support in crippling and the dismantling of the civilian council. They had seen it as fair, as the aforementioned council had tried time and time again to dismantle the Shinobi council and take what political power they could.
Even before Anko had entered the scene, Tsume kept tabs on all of the civilian council members, making sure she knew which ones were threats and which ones weren't. When Anko had taken up being Naruto's mother and the mantle as clan head, Tsume had also included a page on which ones on the council needed to have a little...accident...every once in a while.
Her smile remained on her face as she entered the T&I building. She always made a point to review things with Anko or even other members of the shinobi council before bringing them to Hiruzen himself.
"Anko?" Tsume called out. "We need to talk."
The Inuzuka matriarch walked about the building, have no problems finding her way to Anko's office.
"Anko?" She knocked on the door. "You in here?"
She waited for several minutes before hearing a reply on the other side of the door.
"What's the password?"
Tsume sighed to herself. "Dammit Anko we don't have time for thi-"
"What's the password?" She repeated, her voice gaining a more serious tone.
Tsume sighed as deeply as her lungs would allow. She knew that Anko wouldn't let her in unless she stated the password that she had created.
"'Aint no party like an Uzumaki party 'cause an Uzumaki party don't stop. UH," Was her unenthusiastic reply.
It was another seemingly long passing of time before Anko spoke again.
"Eh." Was all she replied.
"Eh?" Tsume replied, unsure of what she was getting at.
"Nah." Anko told her. "Say it again. This time with feeling!" The smirk worn on her face could be heard through her door.
"You're gonna be feeling something if you don't open this door!" Tsume's annoyance was quite apparent, and was replied with by Anko opening the door, grabbing Tsume, and dragging her into the dark interior of the room.
As soon as the two entered, Anko shut the door closed and directed Tsume to a chair, plopping the older woman down on it before walking away to her own seat on the other side of the desk.
The room always had a strange warmth to it, despite it always being in pitch black at worst, or dimmed lighting at best. It wasn't the warmth of a flame, Tsume was sure of that. It unnerved her. It was and indescribable type of warmth that radiated all around her.
Anko's gaze could be felt even through the strange warmth of the room, with Tsume sitting quietly in her seat.
"So?" The voice across from her spoke.
"So?" Tsume echoed incredulously. "You know why I'm here. It's going to get harder and harder to keep the truth away from people the more it goes on."
Anko was aware of the natural growth of the situation, but had not heard from Tsume about it in several days, which made her worry slightly of what was happening now.
"So what?" Anko replied. "We've handled it this long, and the growth of the situation is slow and steady, and if worse comes, we can jus-"
Tsume interrupted quickly, making it known that it was just too late for what Anko was suggesting. "They've already started it, Anko. We step in and put a stop to it now, then we lose their trust, and that partnership could take a dangerous turn without further temperament. We need to handle it differently."
The air around them began to heat up, and Tsume's vision allowed her to just be able to see Anko on the other side of the desk. It seemed as if she was in deep thought about what to do next. It was obvious that they couldn't take the route that they wanted to when handling this situation.
Several minutes passed in the darkness, neither of them able to come up with a solution, permanent or temporary.
"Pull out." Anko spoke suddenly, catching Tsume off guard with her choice of words.
Tsume replied in confusion, uttering only a simple "What?" as she did not fully understand what she meant.
Anko looked at her, Tsume once again feeling her gaze set upon her. "Pull back. Let things take their course. This is what we wanted originally, and despite trying to get away from it, it seems a little too late. We have to let them take that path without obstruction, or nudging, from us. Let them advance in peace."
She now understood Anko's new stance on the situation. It would be for the best not to interfere, but they still had to work to keep things covered up from peering eyes. She wanted to argue, at least a little, but could find nothing that would support any other stance.
"You'll have to sign it...You know that you'll have to, if we let them go through with this." Tsume spoke in resignation. It was the last thing that she wanted to have happened, but if they really were going to let their heirs go through with their plan, then they had no other choice so that they would have council immunity, and protection from others trying to seize the two heirs for their own heirs.
Anko sighed. She knew that she would have to, even though she didn't want to, and nodded slowly at her friend. "I know. But we're going to hold off on that as long as we can. I don't want to seal their fates just yet."
The weekly council meetings and poker game took place on opposite ends of the week, with Monday housing the more serious meetings, while Fridays handled the poker games.
Up until several months ago, Naruto had been dominating every game. He had won so much that it was an anonymous vote to ban him from the weekly games, as they couldn't afford to bet any more favors or items of value. Had the boy played any more games, he would have had the entire village underneath his thumb through debt alone.
As time passed, his actions when playing poker became more logic driven, and were slightly less wild than when he had first started playing. He had never lost a game in his entire career so far, but refused to let it go to his head. If he got cocky, he'd get sloppy, and the chance of losing would rise.
Despite his infamy in the games, he was well liked by the other clans, including their heads and heirs.
Sasuke and Kiba were his best friends, always at his side and getting into trouble with him. Sasuke was the rock of their friendship, and kept them from doing things that were too crazy, even for them.
For most of the other clans, earning their favor wasn't a challenge. Inago, Ino, and Hinata were infatuated with Naruto, which he was clueless about, much to Anko and Kurenai's amusement, which helped in granting their respective clan's loyalty to his own.
The Akimichi clan praised Naruto and his company for his good character and astounding ability to eat anything and everything in sight, while the Nara clan simply followed suit because all of the other clans favored him. That wasn't to say that they didn't actually respect him and care for his cause, but they were the last of the clans to swear allegiance to him. In fact, Yoshino Nara gave her clan and the internal Nara council quite the scolding after finding out that they had yet to even discuss the topic due to being so lazy.
Currently, on this rather quiet Monday morning, the council was sitting at the large table like it usually did, discussing the current events of the week and any updates from previous topics.
It had been a slow week for Konoha's council. Nothing of real interest of importance to bring to the table, until Danzo decided to open his mouth.
The old man stood up slowly, getting the eyes of the council to turn to him.
"I have information that I believe is of importance to the shinobi council, regarding clan laws and clan affairs." The war hawk spoke out.
"I have learned from a trustworthy source that clan justu have been leaking out and are being used by other clans." He stamped his cane onto the ground just as the volume of the room began to rise. "I do not know which clan is using which clan's jutsu, only that it is happening."
Those words caused the civilian side of the council to begin chattering. From most, to all, of them immediately pointed fingers at Konoha's 'whiskered prince', out of unwavering faith in what they steadfastly believed in.
Anko and Tsume grew tense, but did not allow it to be shown to the others in fear of being snooped out.
Fugaku straightened himself in his seat. He did not enjoy it when people talked about that oh so dreaded night and how he lost to a boy in a game he was king at before said boy started playing. At a later game, it had been decided that Fugaku would come to the Uzumaki compound to regularly update the library with any new jutsu that anyone in the clan may have stolen, much to the older man's dismay.
"Danzo-san." Fugaku spoke. "We are all well aware of the fact that the Uchiha library of jutsu has been given to the Uzumaki clan. They have full access to all of my clan's jutsu, as a part of the agreement we settled."
Danzo said nothing and returned to his seat. It was impossible to tell what the old war hawk was thinking, but the ninja had a good guess that he was not happy with what Fugaku had just told them.
The civilians grew silent as well, knowing that the shinobi clans all stood for protecting the boy who killed their precious yondaime. They all knew that Naruto was Minato's son. They had for some time now, but they still refused to believe that Naruto was not the Kyuubi hiding as a human.
The air around them all grew cold and silent. It wasn't until Hiruzen himself spoke that the volume began to return.
"Alright. With that out of the way, I do believe that this meeting is over. If there are no further concerns regarding the village, I will be seeing you all Friday," The old man told them with a smile, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
The people from both councils grumbled and rose to their feet. It would be the last game of the month, which meant that both the shinobi council and the civilian council would be participating in the poker game.
Naruto had been kept out of the end of the month games to avoid disputes with the other council, but ever since he had been banned from the shinobi only games, Hana and Anko convinced the rest of the clan heads to let Naruto play with them for the last game of each month.
Now, with a larger amount of people, the stakes were naturally raised higher to produce an even higher pay for the winner, but since Naruto started playing against the civilians, he had been unknowingly setting up a monopoly around the village. They hardly had enough money to pay him for each game, so they simply had to owe him favors and discounts at various locations. The civilians were unable to do anything about it since the votes to keep him in the games outweighed the votes to ban him, which didn't bode well for the civilian council's coffers.
Naruto would have a legendary night.
Mebuki Haruno sighed to herself. As much as she didn't like participating in the monthly poker games, it was something that had to be powered through, or she would have to face the ridicule of the other council members for a month.
The monthly game wasn't as obligatory as it was socially required.
Her feet took her in the direction of a small bar. Due the amount of people in the full council, as well as how long it would take to do a full rotation, the big poker games were always held at The Rusty Kunai Bar and Grill.
While the location was reasonably sized, it was on the small side, but had two floors due to the fact that they only had so much ground space to work with. The bottom floor was for food and drinks. The top floor was for recreation, which was pretty much poker, darts, and other bar games.
Every once and a while, a small, expensive, and rather special case of whiskey would make its way to the bar. They only came around about three times a year, but they were amongst the best whiskey you could get. Whenever it happened to get to the shelves, it would disappear just as fast as it appeared.
The bar also often played a lot of drinking songs, some old, some new, others created in a spur of the moment. One of the favorites of many of the bars patrons, was a song called Charlie Mops, and it could be heard being sung no less than three times a day, every day, they even held contests sometimes where people were chosen, or volunteered, to make a drinking song from scratch based off a sentence that was chosen at random from the patrons by the bartender.
Mebuki's arm swung out in front of her, opening the door and stepping into the bar. The air was heavier inside, and the scent of various alcoholic beverages filled her nose. Saying nothing, she walked through the bar and up the steps.
She was aware of the fact that she was late, but just how much so she wasn't aware of until she saw only her seat vacant at the table.
The moment she laid eyes on the boy, her thoughts settled on every single time the young Uzumaki had won against everyone participating in the game. With the amount of favors he had, as well as the loyalty he had won through playing poker, he could easily take Konoha for himself. Maybe even the entire Land of fire if he started playing at other places around the country.
The table was organized so there would be one ninja councilman on either side of each civilian councilman, and vice versa. Naruto and Tsume were forced to sit next to one another due to the fact that there was an imbalance, and there was no civilian to sit in between them. Neither of them argued about it, and it seemed mutually beneficial for them to be placed where they were.
Now, the council poker games never followed the traditional rules. To keep everyone from going bankrupt and homeless, every person bet what they wanted to bet, and no minimum bar would be set to force people to put in more money than they wanted to. With this, they still had to put in a reasonable amount, and weren't allowed to skip out during a round.
As always, Ebisu was the dealer, and gave everyone their cards. He shot each card to its intended recipient, and soon enough, they were ready to start.
Fugaku had spent many weeks calming himself after his meltdown the first time he had played against Naruto, and was now in on the shinobi secret to why Naruto was in the big monthly games only. He agreed on the fact that they should knock a number of the civilian council members down a peg or two. But knew for a fact that not all of them deserved such torture to lose every time they faced Naruto at poker.
Kajiya Higurashi was one half of the two good civilian council members. He ran Higurashi weapons, and was the most successful blacksmith and arms dealer in Konoha. He also had an adopted daughter who was just as interested in weapons as he was, and knew that she was planning on being a ninja someday.
The other half was surprisingly Mebuki Haruno, who the Ninja council was still skeptical about. She had grown to be much less harsh than she used to be, and they had seen that it wasn't just about Naruto's position. She was a better person now, and walked away from the dirtier side of the civilian council.
The night went on like they usually did, and Naruto had somehow managed to pull a win from just about every game. The ones that Naruto didn't win were because he folded, as per the agreement to make things seem fair in the games. He still had the best hands, no matter what, but they couldn't risk disbanding the games or kicking Naruto out.
"Well, well, well, foxy." Mebuki taunted the youngest in the room. "Down to you and me, and these last few games you haven't been doing too well. What will it be this time? One of the many spots of land that you've accumulated from these games? How about a loyalty pact?"
Naruto laughed heartily. "How about I clean your house for you? The whole thing, and I'll even help you remodel!" He couldn't keep himself from laughing, and was mere degrees off from falling out of his chair.
The sandy blonde echoed his laughter, but was much softer than his. "Fine." She replied, a small smile upon the edge of her lips. "You win, and I'll..." She paused. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd wager, but it'd have to be a good incentive to keep him from backing out. "I'll be your personal assistant and secretary, for one whole year."
Everyone at the table looked at Mebuki. They must have thought that she was crazy for allowing Naruto pick out her sentence, or absolutely sure that she was going to beat him.
Even she knew that wasn't likely.
Nodding, Naruto agreed to the terms. Those were the final bets, and the two revealed her cards.
Naruto, with too much feigned surprise, won with a better hand.
Mebuki sighed. It could have been much worse, and knew that being the boy's personal assistant was the best of the horrible choices she had come up with for herself.
It could be far, far worse.
Omake: Food Fight - Anko's Nutrition Lesson
3 months after Naruto was adopted by Anko
Anko sighed to herself, her gaze set upon the little boy that she had taken in just three months ago.
That had been roughly ten weeks since she had signed the adoption papers, and since then she had been helping Naruto get used to a normal life without running and hiding in fear of his neighbors.
Of course, nothing with Naruto and Anko in the mix would be normal.
Naruto groaned. It had been one of the roughest weeks that he had since his moving in with Anko, and his body wasn't in the best condition.
The boy was currently bedridden, and a tray lay next to him with only a little food left.
Naruto sat upright in the bed. His body still ached and hurt from the intense training, despite his remarkable ability to heal in an instant. It had been two days and he still couldn't get out of bed.
The door to the bedroom opened, revealing Anko in rather tame clothing. She had been trying a little to be a bit more modest around her new son, though the addition of so much fabric annoyed her.
"Hey, how 'ya doing?" She asked him. She closed the door behind her and stepped slowly towards Naruto. Her eyes moved towards the plate, which at first glance appeared to be clear of food. Her eyes flicked back to Naruto. "Looks like you ate everything."
"Uh huh." Was Naruto's mumbled reply. He knew that Anko had good eyes, and would be sure to see that not all of it was gone, but he could only hope for a break just this once.
Anko pulled out a single syringe, flicking the needle and watching as a droplet escaped.
Her son sighed, looking down and away.
The woman laughed and smiled, moving it closer to him. "Don't be like that. It won't hurt much." As she looked around once more, she saw the plate and it's abundance of a certain food type.
Everything stopped, and Naruto knew he was screwed.
Her eyes didn't leave the food, but her words were clearly directed at Naruto. "You didn't eat your vegetables."
The air grew thick and cold. Anko's glare shifting towards the boy only made him more unsettled.
In turn, he looked away from her, trying to avoid the unavoidable.
"Naruto." Was all that needed to be said.
"You eat it, I hate vegetables. It's like eating barf." He replied, looking at his mother with just the smallest amount of fear.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT VEGETABLES ARE GOOD FOR YOU, NOW EAT IT!" She yelled at him, pushing the plate into his face in an attempt to force it into him.
Naruto managed to push it away, even if only a little. "FORGET IT, I HATE WHAT I HATE, YOU KNOW I DON'T EAT THAT CRAP!"
Anko quickly put the plate down and balled her hands around her hair. "Jeez, if you keep this up you're always going to be the size of a bean!"
"A bean!?" Naruto looked at her incredulously.
Anko smirked at him, leaning up close and holding the back of his head. "Yeah, a bean."
The blonde boy grumbled and snatched the plate, quickly inhaling the remains of the food and putting the plate back down. "There, I ate it."
The smirk never left her face as she walked out, a small successful sway in her hips.
She had won.
Omake: Fangirl Wars - chapter three
The child, teen, and young adult population of Konoha had been split into two distinct factions, and the rift between them grew as time passed.
Ino and Inago led the Naruto Fan Club, which had grown in size and popularity since its founding almost two years ago. Hinata Hyuuga had been a big help in pushing the group forward, and was just a little below Inago in the ranking system they had created, being a Second Tiered Whisker.
Sakura led the Sasuke Fan Club on her own. Despite this, she still had a rather decent amount of people fighting for her cause rather than her former best friends turned rivals.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto were completely confused as to why the two fan clubs fought against each other and sabotaged each others plans at getting closer to their chosen heroes. The Uchiha boy and Uzumaki Heir were close friends, and only fought jokingly and in the spirit of good fun.
Once again, the two butted heads at what was supposed to be equal ground for both factions, but always ended up as a war-zone.
"Naruto is going to get rookie of the year!"
"No, you idiot, Sasuke's going to blow Naruto out of the water!"
If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Ino and Sakura could always find something to disagree upon when it comes to Naruto and Sasuke.
"Sasuke has Itachi, who knows like a million jutsu! Fugaku also knows a bunch of jutsu, and Sasuke will soon too!"
"Naruto-san has the ever-expanding Uchiha library at his disposal, as well as Senju and Uzumaki techniques. He was even able to combine many forms of taijutsu into a completely new style suited for only him and his mother. He is wonderful."
The two boys had tried once before to get the two factions to stop fighting, but their efforts only further stoked their 'flames of war'.
Inago seemed to have a better understanding of the actual friendship between the Uzumaki and Uchiha boys than just about everyone apart of both fanbases. It wasn't the so-called secret hate that Ino and Sakura went on about. It was legitimate friendship, and she was honestly surprised that nobody else understood that.
Despite her views on their friendship, Inago still believed that Naruto was the better and frankly more interesting of the two. She herself harbored no hate for the other boy. He just wasn't someone who interested her.
Of course she had tried to make Sakura and Ino see that the boys didn't have some sort of secret violent rivalry. She had tried time and time again over the past year and a half, but neither of them had been able to see it her way. Despite this, she continued in her... studies in peace, and continued to assist Ino in proving to Sakura that Naruto was the better of the duo.
Ino and Sakura continued to fight, and the Uzumaki household had yet to see the bugs moving around the compound in secret.
Omake: New Uzumaki Clan Style Seals, Mine Seals
The air was heavy, warm, and reeked of indescribable smells. A young boy smirked to himself as he continued perfecting his prized seal.
It had all started as just a prank seal used around the house and other places, but an off-handed remark from Kurenai gave him the inspiration to continued working on it for tactical purposes.
He had created proximity seals.
There was a whole assortment of variations he had created using his friends and families jutsu to utilize the elements. Most caused explosions infused with the elements, but others created sounds to distract people, produced smoke clouds, and many other dastardly things.
A lucky feature with the seals was that they disintegrated from sight after being activated, leaving no trails for his mother to trace back to him with.
The door to Naruto's room flew open as he carried a bundle of scrolls with him outside and to the training grounds behind the compound.
Outside, Sasuke was waiting for him, already warming up to help Naruto with whatever crazy thing he wanted to do this time.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted to his friend. "I'm ready!"
Naruto opened the scrolls and scattered them on the ground. A wild smirk could be seen on his face as he did so.
The Uchiha boy looked at Naruto with much curiosity. He didn't know what they did, but he assumed that Naruto wanted to fight with those in play.
Naruto dropped into his unorthodox stance, taunting Sasuke by messing around. The boy turned around and began to shake his hips in Sasuke's direction. "Come on! You know you want it!" He laughed and taunted.
Sasuke grunted and took off after Naruto, careful to avoid the scrolls on the ground.
However, Naruto dropped back into his fighting stance, quickly knocking Sasuke to the ground with a low sweep.
Sasuke spun sideways, his head mere atoms away from slamming into the ground before the scroll below him activated and caused a mighty gust of air to send him back into the air.
The Uchiha was quick to believe that all of the scrolls did that, and was planning to use them to his advantage. As he began his descent, Sasuke attempted to move to another seal, only to be hit with a wave of water, sending him into another scroll that released a thick layer of fog around him.
He could no longer see two feet in front of him, and treaded lightly.
Despite this, he managed to get caught in every single seal.
The day did not end well for Sasuke Uchiha, for by the end of it, he smelled of something downright fowl.
Not all of them were for war, however. Naruto had designed numerous proximity seals to be used in pranks.
A mental map of the ANBU headquarters was engraved into Naruto's mind, as well as the Ninja Academy, the Jonin Lounge, the Hokage Tower, and several other locations that were integral to the village.
He had big plans for these seals, and if done right, the chaos would be everlasting...
Hello everyone, and welcome back after quite some time of a break! I'm sorry that the chapters have been taking so long, and I did want to have this one out during the one year anniversary of the story, but things got in the way, and it came out a little late. For that, I'm sorry.
Looks like things are shaking up for our hero, but things are far from settling back down. It'll only rise from here, and the next few chapters will be going in a bit of a different direction.
Until next time!