Aljan Moonfire does not own Naruto or any other recognizable references.

Chapter II – Fox Fire

Forty-five minutes earlier…

It did not take long for the small squad of Anbu to determine that something was wrong. For one, the shift before them wasn't there to greet them and confirm the status of the one they were supposed to be protecting. That was only the clearest sign. On further inspection, it became clear that the watcher shift wasn't the only thing missing - the child was too.

The orders of the captain were immediate, anger attempting to suffuse his voice and only partly succeeding. "Saru, Tori, hold this location and search for anything suspicious, and report immediately if anything is; Neko, report this to Hokage-sama; Taka, Hebi, you're with me. We'll be tracking down any traces left by whoever took her." The tall figure in the dog mask barked out his orders rapid-fire.

"Hai, Inu-taichou!"

The figure in the cat mask disappeared in the direction of the Hokage's residence, and the monkey and bird masked individuals began another perimeter search of the area before moving to search the entire building as well. Left on the roof with the captain of the squad, the hawk and snake masked ninja watched as Inu bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood and flipped rapidly through a series of hand signs before slamming his palm into the tiled roof.

A spiraling series of seals spread out from beneath the man's hand as he whispered, "Kuchiyose no jutsu." (Summoning Technique). When they reached a certain point they were enveloped in smoke that exploded to cover the area above the seals. It then rapidly dispersed to show what had been summoned.

A tiny, delicate looking pug was revealed. It wore a small Konoha hitai-ate tied above his ears and an appropriately sized blue vest with a white henohenomoheji sign on the back. The tiny pug then raised his paw and said, "Yo," in a surprisingly deep voice for a dog so small.

"Yo." The Anbu captain raised a hand in greeting as well, and then continued, "Pakkun, I need your help – someone has taken Uzumaki Noriko, and I need you to track them, and her, down."

The pug nodded and said, "You got it, Boss."

"The apartment through that balcony," Inu gestured to it, "has both scents. Get to work."

The dog yipped sharply before vanishing first into the apartment, and then into the night, nose working furiously. Inu, Taka, and Hebi all followed rapidly.

.-.

Blinking slowly in shock, Noriko stared dumbly at the form the Kyuubi had taken. "Become…your…heir?" She slowly repeated what had just been said, the words not quite registering.

Waiting patiently for the small girl to regain her composure the Kyuubi nodded in confirmation. "Yes kit, My Heir."

Ever so slowly the girl tilted her head in slight confusion, "What's an heir?" Noriko asked rather blankly.

The kitsune deadpanned for a moment before chuckling. "An heir, Noriko, is one who inherits; it is someone you bequeath things to when you die – things like your physical things, or your position, in the case of rulers. Another word for it, would be a 'successor' or – and this is where the word comes from – an 'inheritor."

"And you want me to be yours?" the girl's eyes had mostly cleared of their dumbfounded shock and stared straight at the fox, looking for any kind of deception in her eyes and movements.

"Yes." That was one thing the Kyuubi was now sure of.

"Why! And what exactly do you want me to 'inherit' anyway," she added suspiciously.

"Because I, we, really…" she hesitated slightly before continuing, "We have no other choice, Noriko." The Kyuubi cast regretful eyes down to meet the human child's questioning gaze and then looked away, bringing her hand up to rest on the slim black collar that was wrapped around her neck and had somehow gone unnoticed until now. "You are about to die and I…I…I am facing what could be the end of my existence as well."

Noriko's eyes widened in surprise once again at this pronouncement, "What do you mean by that?" She asked tensely.

The Kyuubi gave a sigh and began to explain; knowing that to hold back relevant information at this point would only hinder what she was trying to do. "I mentioned it before, did I not? That I have had previous Jinchuuriki?"

Settling in for what promised to be a rather long story Noriko nodded in confirmation. "Yes. You said that my mother was one," she prodded.

"Yes, I did. But this starts a bit beyond that and directly involves the first leader of this rotten village."

Ignoring the slur to the village, after tonight she could kind of understand that point of view, she had to question that last. "You mean the Shodaime?"

"Yes, of course," she absently confirmed. "I had been summoned by Uchiha Madara and forced against my will to help him battle the Senju, your Shodai. It was a fierce battle; I will admit that much, and one of the finest I had ever seen as fought by humans. Their battle split the earth where they fought into a great valley, and both were sorely wounded by each other. In the end though, Madara lost and ended up just barely managing to escape with his life. In order to do so, however, he abandoned me to the Senju's tender mercies."

Noriko's eyes were wide at this personal recounting of a story she had only heard once before, from the old man.

Kyuubi smiled slightly at the innocence that still shone in the girls eyes, and continued, "The Senju's wife was an Uzumaki, much like you are, and her maiden name was Uzumaki Mito. She was a master of human sealing techniques. As the Senju subdued me with his Mokuton techniques, the woman sealed me into her own body. I will not explain the mechanics involved right now. What is important now is that you know that if Mito had died while I was sealed inside her I would have simply been freed."

Noriko relaxed back into the snow as the story continued, forgetting for a moment just who was telling the story and enjoying the first time someone had ever taken the time to tell her something so clearly personal about themselves.

"But the Senju's woman knew that as well, and so, almost sixty years later, when she realized she would soon die, she summoned her great niece - your mother - from her home village, Uzushiogakure, to become my next vessel. Your mother was no more than five or six years old at the time, I believe. The transfer was successful however, despite my efforts, and a few weeks later, after they had confirmed there were no apparent problems, Kushina entered the Konoha Ninja Academy. It was there that she met your father for the first time."

"They used the same seal on your mother that Mito had used on herself; it just was a bit more secure and not quite as rushed. As such the same rule applied; had she died I would have been free. Now, as your mother and father grew up and eventually fell in love she taught him a few of the Uzumaki sealing techniques. He used quite a few of the concepts involved to eventually develop the seal that binds the two of us."

As the kitsune stopped to reflect on this Noriko looked up at her eagerly, excited to be learning something about her parents, "What happened next?" she asked, hoping to get the fox to continue.

Giving the young girl curled up next to her an amused look at the unsubtle prodding the Kyuubi obliged, "And so it eventually came to be that you were conceived. This was celebrated mightily by your mother and father and the others that knew of your impending birth. However it also brought up a few problems for them. A Jinchuuriki's seal is most unstable at two points of their life: during childbirth and just before death. I am sure you understand. Just after your mother had birthed you and had yet to recover she and your father were interrupted. Whoever it was that did so managed to temporarily distract your father by putting your life in danger. The man then, while your father was ensuring your safety and your mother was too weak to fight him off, ripped open the seal and set me on Konoha."

Noriko gasped at this, though she had known that it was coming, eyes wide as she watched the kitsune shift uncomfortably as she continued. "I must admit, I do not remember much after that. I vaguely remember fighting and crushing buildings and people beneath my paws but that is about it," the bijuu carefully lied. She then paused for a moment. "The next thing I knew I was once again sealed, this time inside of you, and have I have spent the last few years analyzing this seal." She finished tugging sharply on the collar again.

"I see," said Noriko, reflecting on all that the fox had said. "But that doesn't explain why you're about to die too."

"This seal is easily one of the most complex I have ever seen." the bijuu said in reluctant admiration. "It has multiple functions, but there are only two that are very important right now. The first, is that this seal forbids me from doing anything that may cause you harm - directly or indirectly - unless it is to save your life. The second binds our very souls together, making it so that when you die I too will cease to exist."

Noriko nodded in understanding at this.

"However, there is a slight loophole, one your father either overlooked or didn't know enough about kitsune to give enough thought to. I can give you my power – as long as I am not fatally injuring you, and, in fact, doing so with every intention of permanently ensuring your wellbeing. He likely would have thought that such a thing would be impossible, but it is not. If you agree to become my heir, you would become a kitsune, likely the most powerful to ever exist. You would live for thousands of years and take up my position as the most powerful of the bijuu when in this dimension."

The vixen then took a deep breath and repeated the question she had asked earlier, "Will you become my heir, Noriko?"

The girl was more than slightly overwhelmed by the weight of what the fox was asking, but if there was one thing she had learned from her life so far it was that there was always, always, a catch. "So, what's the catch then, Kyuubi? What is the cost for doing this on my end?"

'Smart girl…' "You will not get all of this at once, and even then it won't necessarily be my power that you are absorbing. While I do have nearly infinite stores of chakra, that will not be what I am giving you. In order to inherit what I am, I will, one by one, when I think you're ready, be giving you my tails."

"Your…tails?" asked the girl, confused.

"Yes, my tails. My tails are what make me what I am. They represent what I am, as a kitsune…and as a tailed best – and yes, those are very different things. You will have to gain your own experience with them and master them yourself though. However, when the time comes for you to absorb my final tail, you will have ten of them."

"Ten? But you only have nine, right?"

"Yes, but you eventually will develop the tenth and ultimate tail from your own, what used to be human, chakra. But you will have to work very hard to earn this. I will not hand my tails over to a weakling. I will only transfer them to you when I deem your body and mind ready to handle the strain; and even then it will hurt more than you can imagine."

The Kyuubi then closed her eyes asked for the last time, "Will you, Namikaze-Uzumaki Noriko, become the heir of all that I am?"

.-.

Meanwhile…

Half an hour after they began their search found the three Anbu and the nin-hound perched unobtrusively atop the roof of another building, blending almost completely in with the shadows of series out cropping balconies.

Pakkun woofed softly and growled before pointing a tiny paw in the direction of a building across the street. "She's in there," he stated. The building was quite a bit smaller than the one they were currently paused upon, which was understandable, considering that it was clearly a private home instead of an apartment building. "And," he sniffed again, as if to make sure, "she's bleeding…a lot. Maybe even too much."

Inu tensed, but didn't make a move quite yet. "And the one who took her?"

"Not here. He's already moved on." The tiny pug inhaled slightly once more and continued, "Judging by the age of the scent…he may very well be completely out of the village by now."

Hebi cursed quietly at this disappointing news, and Taka shifted unobtrusively. Inu didn't make any move, but his chakra shifted slightly. "Taka," the captain said, "take a look."

The other man shifted and raised a hand in a basic one handed seal and murmured, "Byakugan," quietly. If this had any outward effect, it was hidden behind the hawk mask and the enveloping cloak. He then spoke, beginning in the tone of someone giving a standard report, before trailing off in growing horror. "Three floors, all inhabitants are in the basement. Twenty-seven hostiles, all in close proximity to the girl; two have chakra above that of a civilian, one of genin level, the other high chunin. The girl is…badly injured. …They seem to be…torturing her. She is alive, but…she has lost far too much blood…I…"

His report was cut off by a sudden explosion of killing intent from the man crouched beside him. It was quickly contained, but it was still the most intense he had ever felt from his direct superior – and that was saying something.

"Is there anything else to report about the situation, Taka." They all tensed in surprise and spun into defensive positions at the sound of the meticulously controlled voice that had spoken from behind them. Sarutobi Hiruzen had no energy to spare for feeling amused at their jumpiness. It was taking all of his effort to control the surging rage he was feeling.

"Taka." He repeated, dangerously.

"Sir! There are twenty different entry points – four doors, sixteen windows – but only one entrance to the basement were they are holding her." He didn't pause for a moment in his report as two other teams of Anbu landed on the roof behind the Hokage, and he spotted another halting on an adjacent rooftop. "The girl is dangerously weakened, and may be used as a hostage. She –"

He was cut off from reporting further by an explosion of burning noise erupting from the house before them. They had less than a split second to register the sound before they were thrown back by a massive shockwave of concussive force. Pakkun was instantly dispelled by its sheer strength. But Sarutobi was instantaneously on his feet again, Inu not more than a few seconds behind him, and racing to the edge of the roof once more. They stared in horror at the sight that greeted them. A towering pillar of impossibly hot, vividly white fire was still expanding from source of the explosion – the very same building Taka had just been reporting on.

They could feel their skin blistering at the sheer heat, and it seemed to grow even more intense for a moment, before abruptly subsiding, the pillar of fire shrinking in height and width even as they watched. In moments, it was gone, and the building that had previously stood there, had vanished as well. All that remained was a small slumped form collapsed in the center of the shallow crater.

Sarutobi was at its side in an instant, blatantly ignoring the sheer heat still radiating from the ground. He knelt down slowly, heart breaking slightly as he confirmed who it was. The tiny blond girl before him was covered in stab wounds and burn torture scars, some still bleeding sluggishly, and others healing even as he watched. "Noriko…" his voice trembled slightly as he murmured her name, "Noriko, what have they done to you…?"He whispered. Only Inu was close enough to have heard him.

He carefully gathered the unnaturally still form of the girl-child into his arms, and turned to face his subordinates, "Squad 2, Squad 3, secure the perimeter, begin the investigation, and evacuate any and all residents from the block while the investigation continues, Squad 4, you're with me, Squad 1…" he looked at the three remaining members of the original squad and continued, "gather your other teammates, and track down whoever it was that took her from under our noses. You have three days to give me results before I put you back on guard duty. I need to know where the holes in our security are."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the four squads chorused thunderously, before all but one raced away to begin their newly assigned duties. The last fell into formation around him as he raced towards the hospital.

.-.

She opened her eye and took a deep breath before immediately letting it out with a soft whoosh of air. She stared blankly at the obnoxiously white ceiling for a while. Closing it again, she struggled for a moment to remember what she had been doing that would land her in a hospital of all places. The slow beeping of a heart monitor echoed abnormally loudly in her ears.

Abruptly, she noticed that she hadn't been able to open one of her eyes. Blindly raising her hand to feel what could be obstructing her left eye, she was startled to feel her fingers meet the unmistakable cloth of soft bandages. Her other eye flew open as the memories struck her.

- the blade of a kunai slashing across her eye -

Now remembering, she raised her hands to her face and stared in a sort of entranced horror at the jagged scars etched deeply into the palms.

- the weight of a grown man's body pinning her to the ground as too large fingers spread open her hands, and something - something sharp and pointy that hurt and hurt and hurt - drove through small hands, pinning them to the floor -

Hands that dropped back to her sides as everything else that had happened on that endless night raced through her head. Her other eye fell closed again in remembered pain. One small hand made its way to rest on her stomach, clutching at the place she now knew a seal was forever etched as memories flashed behind her eyelids.

- giant red eyes behind bars that reached up for forever and ever and ever -

- 'Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune' -

- sakura and snow, but no cold -

- a slim black collar around a deceptively delicate throat -

- 'Will you become my heir, Namikaze-Uzumaki Noriko?' -

She passed out.

- '… I will.' -

.-.

"So, how do we do this, Kyuubi?" asked the girl, staring unwaveringly into the unnerving red eyes of the kitsune.

"You accepting the offer of your own free will has already started the process," replied the Kyuubi. "You have already started to become a…daughter, of sorts, to me. Right now your body is in no condition for me to transfer even my first tail to you. But our agreement cemented a sort of contract between us and it has already begun to affect the seal, see?"

With a few delicate fingers she directed the girl's attention back to the slim collar around her neck. The girl stared for a few moments before she detected any clear changes. She suddenly realized that the choker was not just a slim band of black fabric but a solid band of numerous overlapping symbols that could only be seals. The only reason she noticed this was because the seals themselves were shifting and changing, and the odd seal would occasionally glow red before transforming into an entirely different symbol.

The vixen gave a slight smile at the look of awe on the child's face before she continued with her explanation. "I will explain the particulars of the seal and the contract to you when we have more time. Right now what you must do is allow me to temporarily channel my consciousness through you so I may remotely assist you when you wake."

"What exactly does that mean?" asked Noriko. While the girl was far more intelligent than most children her age, she still got a bit lost when adults started in on the high level vocabulary.

"What it means is that, while you are in a kind of danger that I know you are incapable of getting out of alive yourself, we can temporarily kind of…merge." Holding up a hand to forestall any protests the fox continued to explain. "You will still be in control for the most part, but you will be heavily affected by my demonic energy. It will not allow me to take complete control of your body, but it will allow me to control some of your movements when you fight to stop you from getting yourself killed. This will allow me to help you obliterate all the mentally deficient imbeciles that thought it was a good idea to abuse MY vessel in such a way. Do you understand?"

After the explanation the girl thought about it for a time before agreeing.

"Now, I must first warn you that, because you are not used to so much power flowing through you, you will immediately pass out once you are safe. While you are out of it I will draw up a schedule that will get you into a good enough condition to accept one of my tails within the next few months." The Kyuubi then gave her a rather sadistic smirk, "I hope you are prepared, Kit."

Noriko swallowed rather nervously at the look of anticipation on the face of her new…foster mother. She then gave her head a small shake to get rid of the apprehension rising in her gut and then nodded fiercely, "I'm ready."

The smirk widened into a smile and the Kyuubi gave the girl a swift hug before setting her back into the snow and standing upright. "Good." As a tide of red chakra swept the small girl out of the mindscape and back to the land of the living the fox muttered to herself, "I really hope you are ready for this, kittling."

.-.

"…die, Kyuubi!"

As the kunai rapidly descended to slash into the girl's unresponsive eye Noriko suddenly awoke to what was about to happen and managed to close her eye and tilt her head just far enough away from the sharp implement that it wouldn't completely carve out her eye. Feeling a warm, all-encompassing energy begin to flow into her body from the seal she began to struggle anew at her restraints even as her tormenters were blown back by sudden explosion of energy.

Wincing at the pain in her hands the girl, at the urging of the almost sentient energy, harshly ripped one of her hands free of the kunai and then reached over to rip out the one pinning her other hand to the floor. Barely feeling that pain in her hands, the girl sprang to her flipped onto all fours, landing with an artificial grace that allowed a suddenly perfect sense of balance, despite her many wounds. The girl didn't even seem to notice the rapid regeneration of her worst wounds, focusing instead on the small crows of people that were just barely regaining their bearings after being flung all over the room by the first surge of the Kyuubi's chakra through her body.

Trying to suppress the over-whelming bloodlust rising in her at the sight of the mob of 'mentally deficient imbeciles' that were attempting to kill her, the girl was abandoned all effort to do so when one of them, the first it seemed to realize what had happened, shouted out, "There! The demon has revealed itself! Kill it before it kills all of us!"

At this shout, the people that made up her small mob of torturers almost became unrecognizable as human themselves. Mouths frothing with a madness inducing combination of fear and anger the mass of frenzied bodies hurled themselves at the small form of the girl they had kidnapped.

'If they want a demon, then I'll give them one! Kyuubi!' the girl's voice snarled through the mindscape and was answered with confirmation of the immense creature's existence.

'I am here, Kittling. You'd best prepare for some fire!'

Noriko's eyes flashed a menacing red before the red aura that suffused her small frame pulsed once, powerfully, and then shifted into a roaring corona of impossibly white fire. The voice that then emerged from the young girl's throat was only partly hers.

"KITSUNE-BI!" (FOX FIRE). The yell wasn't even acknowledged by the swiftly approaching attackers and they only had time to give brief cut off screams as the blue-white flames swiftly engulfed the building. At the fox's urging the girl swiftly followed the spreading flames, untouched by the intense heat.

A few had not rushed forward with the others, and hesitated for a brief uncomprehending moment at the sight of the girl engulfed in the red chakra. "Impossible…" one of them muttered, as his comrades were eradicated in mere seconds. His frightened eyes met her red ones. "Impossible… What are you?!" he screamed, terrified. "Monster!"

Noriko's eyes were suddenly blue again, wide with a cross between shock at his words, and then fear of herself.

"What are you?!" He cried again.

And Noriko screamed as her world was engulfed by white light, flames flickering impossibly at the corners of her vision.

.-.

"…injuries had already been mostly healed by the time you got her here. The only thing that might cause problems for her is that eye. It won't be completely confirmed until she actually wakes up, but it's very likely that she'll be at least partially blind in it. More likely…she won't be able to see out of it at all. An injury like that is honestly very rare and because it also affected her temple area it's impossible to know how completely it'll affect her until she's fully aware. There is also the added complication of it being affected by the…energy that had been running through her at the time. While her energy levels have returned to normal in the rest of her body, some of…it's…chakra still remains in that eye."

Noriko, on waking once more, frowned slightly at the slightly muffled voice of the woman describing horrible injuries right outside of her door. She frowned even more as she recognized the voice of the man replying.

"And will she have any visible scaring? …Especially on her face." The Sandaime voice grew louder and clearer as she heard her door open as well. She continued to listen in slowly growing horror as she realized that the one they were speaking about was her. She opened the one eye she could to watch them as well.

"Sadly enough, yes. The person who cut into her eye must have heated the kunai as far as he could without melting it and was wearing gloves or something when they went to slice open her face. Not only will she have a clear cut scar across and on either side of the eye, across part of her nose, around over her temple and up into her hairline, but there will be thin burn scars spreading out from the original cut as well. A simple eye patch won't be able to cover it. She'll also always have those crucifixion scars through her hands, as well a few of the most severe others. I'm honestly surprised she'll be able to use her hands again at all. With the way she was pinned she should have never been able to move her fingers again."

"I suppose that cursed fox came in handy somehow then." The Kyuubi seemed to be the very definition of a mixed blessing. Without the fox she would most likely be dead by now, but she also would have likely never been in such a position if it weren't for its presence. Giving a harsh sigh, the Third turned to look at where the previously comatose girl was lying and was more than startled to meet the steady gaze of the girl's only undamaged eye. "Noriko! You're finally awake then," he said, sighing in relief, "Thank God."

Noriko slowly made to sit up, and the healer hurried forward to assist her before leaving them alone, knowing that the Sandaime had all the information they did on her condition. "Not God, Saru-jiji, Kyuubi."

"Kyu –" he cut himself of staring at her in shock, and then resignation. "…You know then?"

"Yeah." She looked at him, confused at sad for moment before asking, "Why didn't you tell me about it, Jiji?"

The old man gave a tired sigh and met the girl's gaze steadily. "Partly, it was because I wanted you to have as much of a childhood as I could give you. Originally, I had only meant for the council to know, and once I told them I made the circumstances of the Kyuubi's defeat a SS-class secret, but one of them blabbed and before I could do any damage control half the village thought you were the Kyuubi reborn." He sighed heavily as he recalled that disaster. "The other reason is that, until recently at least, you were just too young to understand the consequences of telling just anybody about it. You are only six after all. I haven't exactly had much of a chance to tell you."

"…I can understand that. But… my parents?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you who they –"

"No, no. I already know who they are." As the Third gaped rather unattractively at her Noriko continued, unperturbed, "What I meant, was why you didn't tell me anything about them."

Pulling himself together he answered rather woodenly, "Once again, it's because you were too young." Frowning slightly, he continued, "Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't have bragged about who they were to someone?"

Conceding the point, the girl changed the subject. "So how long have I been out for?"

"Almost two days. With injuries like yours anyone else would have been out for at least a week, if not more."

The girl simply nodded as if she had expected something like that. The old man on the other hand still had some questions for her. "Who told you about all of this, Noriko?"

Said girl gave the old man an odd look and said, as if stating the obvious, "The Kyuubi, of course," with an innocently wide eye that belied the immensity of the revelation.

Choking on what he was about to say the Third could only make a few incoherent sputtering noises as the girl continued to explain some of what the Kyuubi had told her. Needless to say, while she told him that she and the Kyuubi and made a deal of sorts, she left out any mention of being the fox's 'heir'...partially because she herself still didn't completely understand it.

Relaxing a bit after the explanation, they sat in comfortable silence for a few long minutes before Noriko reached up to begin unwinding the bandages from around her head. When Sarutobi made to stop her she said, "Kyuubi says it's about as healed as it's ever going get and that I might as well take a look at the damage." She then continued to tug the wrappings off her head.

Sighing resignedly at the girl's stubbornness, as she finished unwrapping the bandages and removed the pad cushioning her eye, he reached over to the side table to grab a small mirror placed there for that purpose. Turning back to face her he winced slightly at the sight of the scars and, with guilty eyes, placed the mirror in her outstretched hands.

Forewarned by the Hokage's grimace, Noriko took a deep breath before she looked into the reflective surface of the mirror. It was both worse than and not as bad as she'd thought it would be. A thick pink scar carved deeply into the left side of the bridge of her nose before it skidded up over her eyelid, making it so it wouldn't open fully and giving the eye itself a lazy, half lidded quality. The scar then jerked down slightly to etch itself over the bone of her eye socket before drawing sharply off over her temple and smoothing into the hairline, where her mop of bright hair had been partially shaved away to facilitate cleaning of the wound.

Off of every part of the main scar lighter and thinner burn scars drew themselves in spider webbing blotches across her forehead and cheek. They faded into nonexistence as they reached her hair line and mouth, the latter of which thankfully allowed her to speak and other wise move her mouth normally. The eye itself no longer had a discernible iris or sclera. The entirety of the orb was a pale blue, almost white, color that reminded one of cloudy ice, with only a barely noticeable pupil of a slightly darker color that was almost imperceptible.

The entire effect was rather unnerving, and Sarutobi would be rather ashamed to admit that when the girl asked him what kind of masks she would be able to wear he was a bit relieved.

They sat and talked for a long while, as Sarutobi wouldn't have to get to the Hokage tower for a while, before the subject of Noriko's parents came up again. "Did they leave me some kind of house that I could live in? …I…don't really want to go back living in my apartment."

The Hokage nodded in sympathetic understanding before saying, "Well, it would be a bad idea to reveal who your father is to anyone by having you blatantly live where he did. Your mother rented out a flat herself, but I believe she did inherit some land from Mito-sama. I'll take a look at what it was and get back to you on that later. Is that okay?"

"It's fine." Glancing out the window Noriko couldn't help the next comment, "And don't you have a job to be getting to sometime soon?"

As she watched the Sandaime glance at the clock and realize the time she said, "Don't forget to bring me some ramen when you visit next. Hospital food sucks." The Third gave her an indulgent nod as he disappeared from the room with in a hurried shunshin technique.

She then pouted as a nurse rolled in a trolley with a tray of said hospital food.

Author's Note

And, the next chapter.

I hope you like the new parts of this chapter, and R & R.

~ Aljan Moonfire