Naruto sat on her bed, staring at her goggles before flopping back in frustration. Her mother's soft laughter attracted her attention and she sat up to see Kaachan leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. The retired Jounin straightened up and stepped into the room proper, "Having a problem?"
Naruto sighed and held her goggles out in front of her with both hands, "I don't know what to do about them. I can't just throw them away, these are special. They've been on my head for years, they're, like, a milestone in my life."
"You could still wear them, and wear your Hitai-ate somewhere else- your neck, for example."
Naruto fixed her with one of those looks only children could give their parents, "Kaachan, it's a headband, I'm not wearing it on my neck."
"Ino wore hers as a belt last night."
The blonde scrunched her nose, "Yeah, but... That's just so girly."
Makoto held a hand to her chest dramatically, "The horror." She laughed and easily caught the pillow her daughter threw at her head.
"Kaachan, this is serious."
Mako's chuckles trailed off as she sat on the bed next to Naruto and pulled her close, leaning over her shoulder to look at the goggles in question with her, "Well... Maybe you could use them to start a Memory Wall."
Curious ocean eyes glanced up at her, "Memory Wall?"
"Yep. Lots of young shinobi start them. A wall of trophies they can look back on and remember their greatest accomplishments. Your goggles could be the first marker in your life, then these-" she pulled gently at Naruto's pierced ears and the whirlpool earrings in them, "-when you make Chuunin and get matching studs with your team. Eventually leading up to putting your new headband up when you finally get that hat you're reaching for."
Naruto tilted her head, "Hmmm... I dunno. Maybe. Can I think about it some more before I decide?"
Makoto looked at her with a blank expression, "No, you have to decide this second. I'm stealing your goggles and turning them into seedling planters if you don't reserve them for the Wall otherwise."
The new Kunoichi gave her a dry look, "You know, when you say it like that, it's hard to tell if you're being serious or not."
Mako gave her a completely innocent smile, "You'll never know."
Naruto ducked out from under the playful ruffling of her hair and put the goggles in her pocket, "I'll think about it more and figure it out later."
Her Kaachan nodded, "Are you going to go poke your sister awake and tell her you made it?"
Naruto grinned and shook her head, "Nah. I want it to be a surprise. I want to go get my picture taken early before she gets up and wait for her at the Academy."
"Sneaky little thing. ...I like it~ Want some breakfast, or you gonna grab some on the way?"
She bounced to her closet and pulled out an exact copy of the orange jacket she'd dirtied last night, "Out. Iruka-Sensei promised me ramen if I passed, and... I passed~!"
Mako chuckled as she stood up, "That you did. I'm proud of you, Naru-chan."
The small blonde's smile was heart-melting, "Thanks. Are you alright now?"
"Right as rain. Iruka probably is, too, now, with how all the cute little Medi-nins were swarming over him. Go ahead, Naruto-chan, I'll be here when you get back."
She pulled on her jacket and tied her hair up into its signature twin tails, hesitating for only a second before tying her Hitai-ate into the place of honor her goggles had once occupied, "Kay, later!" She kissed her mother's cheek and dashed out.
It didn't take Naruto long to find her favorite teacher; they both had the exact same responses to good news and recovering from injuries or illness: Ichiraku ramen. Iruka and Naruto shared a special bond that came from two enthusiastic souls sharing a deep respect and love for something. The something in this case being a certain stand's outstanding noodles. Paired with how Iruka used to be as much of a prankster as Naruto herself was, the scarred Chuunin was practically her older brother. Kaachan had all but adopted him anyway, with all the times Iruka-sensei had walked Naruto home after detentions and been invited to dinner. It wasn't like he had family waiting on him to get back home.
Naruto's steps slowed as she approached the stand, lagging the closer she got as her thoughts swarmed her. By the time she was only a street away, she couldn't force herself to take another step. Naruto leaned around the building to look and sure enough saw the familiar short ponytail that marked her favorite Chuunin, arm moving animatedly as he talked with Teuchi about something. Naruto couldn't bring herself to move from her hiding spot as she watched him.
Her mother would always love her, even if they weren't blood. Even if she was a monster- even if she was a demon. Naruto didn't doubt that anymore. But Iruka wasn't Kaachan. She didn't even know how Ino would react to the news, she wasn't sure she wanted to. And she hadn't really gotten to talk to Iruka last night with everything that had happened. She was still the Kyuubi, wasn't she? Still the one who had taken Iruka's parents from him. What right did she have to impose on his space, on the place he frequented, on his time? What right did she have to try and coerce ramen out of him when she'd killed his family?
"If you don't hurry up, I'll eat it all without youuu~!"
Naruto jerked in place like she'd been hit with one of Kaachan's famous Lightning Jutsu, her feet moving her forward without any input from her mind. She fidgeted in place next to Iruka as he waved Teuchi for Naruto's usual order. She took her normal spot to his left and chewed at her lip.
"What's wrong Naruto?"
She glanced over at him, the shine of a brand new Hitai-ate catching the early morning sun from his forehead. Naruto couldn't help reaching up and touching her new matching one, feeling the tiny scuffs and scratches from a headband worn for years. She let her hand fall and looked away, "Iruka-sensei?"
"What is it?"
"Why... Why are you nice to me? None of the other adults are, and I know why, now... But, why are you nice? Even Mizuki-sensei was because- But you... you pushed me out of the way, let yourself get hurt just to save me. Why?"
"Naruto..." he sighed, "It's true that the fox killed my parents-" she flinched, but he went on, "-but you aren't the fox." She glanced over at him to see Iruka looking down and poking at his ramen with a smile, "Actually, I guess you could say it was sort of my fault they died." Naruto jerked in place, her head coming up to stare at him, "You see, I snuck out to the front lines to fight with them. They sent me away, and when I refused to go, they told me it was a parent's duty to protect their children. They had another shinobi take me away to safety. They didn't die for foolish reasons; my parents died for what they believed in. They died as heroes, protecting their village, protecting me." He looked at her and smiled, "They died to protect the future of the Leaf, and I want to live my life how they lived. Because even though they're dead, my parents aren't gone. They live on in me, and in the will and knowledge I instill in you and all my other students. So I'll live my life the way they would have wanted me to, and I'll protect the future of the Leaf- and that includes our resident prankster and future Hokage."
Naruto poked at her own ramen as Teuchi set it in front of her and turned back around to give them privacy, "You didn't kill them."
Iruka reached over and ruffled her hair, "Neither did you. You're entering a new phase of your life, Naruto. It'll be full of strife and mistakes, regrets and sorrows enough as it is, don't take on guilt that isn't even yours. Keep your head up and keep on keeping on like you always do; I know you'll make it."
Naruto reached back up to touch her Hitai-ate again, feeling the tiny scuffs and scratches from a headband worn for years. Years of experiences and care that Iruka had trusted her with, the same headband that had kept him safe for so long. She smiled softly as warmth settled in her chest, chasing away the cold dread that had been encasing her heart since Mizuki's accusations the night before. Her hand fell away, and she beamed up at her favorite teacher with her signature foxy grin, "Believe it!"
She turned and dug into her ramen with renewed vigor, her appetite reasserting itself, especially since she'd skipped dinner because of the whole mess before. Iruka copied her and waved Teuchi over for another round.
"Naruto, you need to retake your photo..."
She pouted at the Hokage. Naruto looked down at her file, where her own blonde visage grinned back at her, leaned too close to the camera, both hands in twin victory signs on either side of her closed eyes, "What? It looks like me..."
"This," Hiruzen tapped the photo with a single finger, "is not the photo of a professional. You want to be taken seriously as a Kunoichi, don't you?"
"It's only fair someone who sees my photo know what kind of person they're getting, right? And this," she leaned forward and tapped the shiny photo paper, "is me."
The door behind her slid open and a shout filled the small space, "Hiyaaa! Today I take that hat from you, old man! Prepare to- agh!" Naruto blinked at the small form that tripped over its scarf and sent a shuriken skidding across the floor. She pinned the stray weapon in place beneath her sandal.
Naruto crossed her arms and tilted her head, "Well your first mistake was announcing your attack... Your second was not checking your wardrobe. And your third," her lips split into a grin, "was thinking that you'd get your hands on that hat before me."
The young boy looked up at her wonderingly for a moment before jumping to his feet and pointing at her accusingly, "You! You tripped me!"
Naruto narrowed her eyes and her foot shot out. The boy squeaked and flinched as the shuriken below her foot disappeared in a flash and sunk into the wall with a satisfyingly hollow 'thunk!', pinning him to the wall by the end of his scarf. "No excuses. Accept your mistakes and push ever onward; that's the only way to overcome your weaknesses!"
The door opened further to permit another and Naruto turned away with a sigh as she saw an adult she recognized. The blue-clad ninja went to his knees before the kid, "Honorable grandson, are you okay?" then he caught sight of the shuriken holding the child in place, "Wha- Who would dare attack the Honorable Grandson?!"
He whipped around and Naruto grinned ferally at him, giving a half-assed wave that, to a shinobi with any self-respect, was more insulting than if she had just ignored him, "Yo."
Naruto could see his brows settle into a scowl even above his dark, eye-hiding glasses, "Hmph, I should have expected the Kyuubi Brat to be at fault."
Her entire body tensed, ever-so-subtly beginning to glow. Tokubetsu Jounin or fucking not, Naruto wasn't about to let him put her down like that anymore! She was not the fox! And if anyone would know, it'd be Iruka-sensei. He didn't acknowledge her slipping into an aggressive stance at all, in fact, he turned his back on her, to go back to the boy again.
"Honorable Grandson, I know you want to be Hokage like your grandfather; just pay attention to my lessons and I'll have you on the fast-track to becoming Hokage in no time."
Naruto turned away in disgust and waved off her leader's concerns, "It's who I am, Hokage-Jiji, if the clients don't want me because of one picture in spite of my skills, I've got more things to worry about than looking professional."
Sarutobi sighed and let her go, biting his pipe and hiding a smile as his grandson slipped out after her in the middle of his teacher's lecture. Naruto slipped through the early morning streets, hands threaded together behind her head as she muttered in anger about the asshole Jounin.
She ground her teeth until her jaw ached, "Let that bastard ignore me when I'm Hokage! I'll give him a post in a hellish northern region, just see if I don't!" Naruto's hands dropped, her right trailing down to her chest and clenching in the fabric over her heart. There was a storm inside her chest, a rolling thunder that drowned out the shouts and jeers of the villagers, blinding lightning striking every time another person turned their back on her. But through it all, there was the image of her mother smiling at her. Naruto would show the whole village that Kaachan's faith in her wasn't misplaced, she'd make them sit up and take notice, show them all what a flower girl could do! A Yamanaka that couldn't do Yamanaka Jutsu, she'd show them all. She was going to take the world by storm, and no one was going to ignore her ever again.
She took a deep breath and blew it out, calming down, and the pain in her chest faded enough to pull her hand away. Her ocean blue eyes glittered with her determination, a maelstrom ready to strike. Then they blinked as she halted in place, staring disbelievingly at lumpy, sideways slats of fencing. "...The slats are supposed to go the same direction as the real ones..."
"Aha! Just to be expected of my rival!"
Naruto blinked again, "Rival?" Dear Kami above. Naruto hated studying; her sister had to chain her in place to get her to open a book or scroll, and only ever actually got somewhere if she read out loud to her. She was the clan failure and had never been able to do a single one of the Jutsu. She was a prankster who caused chaos just to be noticed.
And she had never failed so spectacularly at being a ninja as using the Cloak of Invisibility turned the wrong way. Not even in her early years. If this was the extent of the kid's knowledge on being a shinobi, Naruto's opinion of that idiot Ebisu fell even further if he was even a pseudo-sensei.
The kid nodded and pointed at her, "My rival for being Hokage!"
"Kid, at this point, 'rival' is an affront to my pride as a ninja. You tripped over your own scarf and then blamed someone else, then used a cloak the wrong way and attributed unnecessary skill to the one who saw through it. You aren't my 'rival'. At this point I'd be rather embarrassed to call you an Academy student."
He wilted more with every word, "I'll get there someday... Ebisu said-"
Naruto felt her teeth nick the inside of her cheek as her eyes narrowed, "Tch. I will never be your rival so long as you follow that jackass." the boy flinched back at the dark look on her face and she knelt down in front of him, "There is no 'fast-track' to being the greatest ninja in the village, and that asshat is a liar for claiming anything else. That hat goes only to the one most worthy of it, the strongest shinobi. There is no shortcut to that, power is the result of effort expended. It takes work and practice and years, and anyone who says otherwise is a damn fool." she stared deeply into his wide eyes, "Are you a damn fool?"
He shook his head, "No way! I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi!"
Naruto gave him her signature foxy grin and laid a hand on his helmeted head, "Nice to meet you, Konohamaru. I'm Naruto Yamanaka, and I'm going to become the first female Hokage!"
His eyes sparkled at her unwavering belief and he stood up on his tiptoes, "Teach me! Help me get stronger so I can be Hokage, too!"
She blinked at him, "You... want me to train you?"
Konohamaru nodded vigorously, "Yeah, yeah! Teach me, Boss!"
Naruto cocked her head. Well... it wasn't like she had anything else to do before she had to head off to the Academy. And she liked Konohamaru's enthusiasm. He reminded her of herself a bit... even if his skills were a little lacking.
"Okay, I can do that." She nodded and stood up, "Let's see. We'll start with the three basic Academy Jutsu." she paused, "Or, well... two of them. Okay, what do you know about Substitution Jutsu?"
He blinked at her, "That... It's a Jutsu."
Naruto facefaulted, then chastised herself for thinking a child not even in the Academy yet would have it down. (Still, he was part of the Sarutobi clan, wasn't he? What was that useless Jounin teaching the kid?)
"Oookay, guess we'll start with the basic-basics. You know what Jutsu are, right?"
"Yeah, yeah! A ninja uses Jutsu by mixing the spiritual energy of the mind with the physical energy of the body. By mixing these two energies in different portions and focused through the use of different Hand Seals, they perform Ninja Techniques."
She smirked and looked at him sideways, "Been quoting the first-year books to yourself, have you~?"
Konohamaru blushed but leaned closer, "What's next?"
"Can you sense your own chakra yet?" Even most civilian students had some access to their chakra when they first entered the Academy, assuming they had any quantity of it.
"Yeah, I can do that. I can even do the Leaf Concentration Exercise."
Naruto hid her wince well. She didn't even want to think about that exercise... "That's pretty good chakra control for a Pre-Academy student." Or so she knew in theory. "Okay, the Replacement, or 'Substitution' Jutsu, works on this premise: you swap the chakra source that is your entire body with a previously 'primed' object."
"Primed?"
"You can sense your own chakra. Have you been able to feel the chakra traces you leave on things in the natural course of life?"
Konohamaru shrugged, "Kinda... I think."
"The idea is to 'charge' something with your chakra. Things you would normally touch in the course of battle: the trunk of a tree, leaves on the ground; anything, really. If you charge it with enough chakra to leave an 'imprint' or 'prime' for a couple minutes, then later in the battle, if you get into a situation where you can't dodge an opponent's attack, you can use the Replacement to swap those two sources of your chakra, leaving the object while you take its place. This can allow you to strike from an advantageous position if you swap with the right thing."
Her new student nodded, "I got it!"
Naruto smiled at him, "Then here." She held out an unsealed log from a quick-release seal and held it out to him, a kunai following, "Charge this with your chakra. It might help poking your finger; blood makes a stronger connection than chakra alone. Then I'll toss it and you use Substitution to trade places. It always works better if you have something of a similar 'mass'. You can use things bigger or smaller, but the further it is from your own size, the more chakra it takes."
Konohamaru grabbed the kunai -properly, at least- and, looking away, jabbed his finger and wiped it on the log, staring intensely at it. He took a breath and finally let out a sigh a minute later, "Ready!" Naruto held up the log and pitched it like a javelin. It sailed through the air and landed on the ground a good three and a half yards away. Before Naruto could tell him the five Seals for new students to use until they got the hang of molding their chakra properly, Konohamaru's chakra surged and he disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Naruto stared at the space he'd occupied, blinking. No. Way... When she turned to look at the log, it felt like slow motion. Her blue eyes were wide as she caught sight of the young boy on his back three and a half yards away. She looked back as a blood-stained piece of wood clattered to the ground.
Sarutobi, right. Was the kid one of those prodigy types? She stared at it unblinkingly. Just what the fuck was Ebisu doing with this kid?!
Konohamaru grumbled as he picked himself up, "Ow..." his hands fisted determinedly as he looked at her, "Give me one more chance, Boss! I almost had it, I swear! I'll get it this time!"
"N-no problem. You can practice more later..." She shook her head and turned to him in earnest, "Let's move on to the Transformation Jutsu."
Konohamaru's face lit up, "I've heard of that one! Shinobi use it to turn into other people or things. If I could do that, I wouldn't have to use the cloak anymore!"
"This one is also a whole lot harder. You need to keep up a constant stream of chakra, and while you're doing that, you need to also keep the exact image you want in your mind. All of that while other things are going on around you, and if something touches you, you need to be able to alter the chakra flow in order maintain your form. For example, if you turned into a chair in an empty room, it probably won't be too hard to concentrate, but in a crowded classroom is another matter, and you'll need to exert more chakra if someone was to sit on that chair in order to keep it going. This is one of my best techniques because I have lots of chakra to put into it and don't have to worry much about varying it when I come into contact with things since I keep it at a consistently higher level than what the environment exerts on me." She paused and looked down at him, "...Understand?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Focus, constant chakra, careful 'bout stress."
"That's pretty much it. And now I'll demonstrate." She put her hands into the Ram Seal, "Transform!"
In an instant, Konohamaru was looking at an exact copy of himself, "Whoa!"
Her chakra surged again, "Transform!" Another poof, and she was suddenly an older blonde with bright silver-blue eyes and long, pale gold hair, done up in two Odango with twin tails streaming from them. She used this form a lot in order to get around the villagers when she was wanted to go out and eat alone without being charged ridiculous prices. ...She might also have been guilty of using it when she was being chased by other kids in order to scold them for being little pricks. She lifted a hand to run it across smooth, whisker-markless, pale cheeks. She looked back down at Konohamaru, "Now one thing to remember is that if you transform into an inanimate object, you have to surge or cut off your chakra in order to release the Jutsu or Transform into something else, since chairs obviously lack the fingers otherwise necessary."
Konohamaru nodded, "Got it! My turn." He put his fingers into the Ram Seal, "Transform!"
Naruto sweatdropped at the blubby... person-thing standing there, "...What exactly were you going for?"
He looked down at his arms, "A girl."
She laughed nervously, "I'm guessing Anatomy isn't one of the things you've been learning..." Naruto scratched at her cheek for a minute, then waved him closer, "Follow me."
Naruto sighed and crossed her arms as they were tossed out of the store. Well it wasn't like she had her anatomy book on her, and there wasn't much difference between a proper shinobi anatomy book and a porn magazine. Just her luck the civilian-run store didn't accept her headband as a proper ID of age like a shinobi establishment would have been obligated to.
She grabbed Konohamaru's scarf and dragged him away, "Okay, new plan."
Five minutes later they were outside of the (shinobi) hotsprings. Naruto put her hands together in the familiar Seal and felt her chakra flow, "Transform." The smoke cleared away to show a young woman with vibrant, long gold hair and deep blue eyes, a large, bright red bow on the back of her head to hold her hair back.
Konohamaru blinked up at her, "Naruto?"
She grimaced, "Actually, in this form, I call myself Minako."
"But... why?"
She glanced away, fingers coming up to play with her hair, "Surely you noticed the look your Jounin tail gave me when he came in the room. I'm not... very 'well-liked', among the adults of the village. They say things... do things..." she clapped her hands together and turned back to him with a sunny smile that wasn't at all like 'Naruto's foxy grin, "So~! Let's go relax and soak for a bit. I could use the tension-relief."
He looked her up and down, "Should I...?"
She tilted her head and looked down at him, "Hmm... maybe not. You can't transform very well yet, and there's probably going to be a good bit of stress at first. Mixed bath it is."
She led him inside. After washing off thoroughly for the first time since the excitement the previous night, Minako sighed in pleasure to feel the grime sluice away. Konohamaru was doing everything in his power to look anywhere but at her. She didn't much care where he looked, actually. She was a Kunoichi now. She'd taken numerous classes before to get over any form of body shyness. Hell, their sensei had had them all strip down one day and point out each other's flaws. That had not been a fun day. But a Kunoichi had to be prepared to do battle in whatever state of dress (or undress) that could happen. If the enemy was bearing down on them, Hanako-sensei wanted their first instinct to be reaching for a weapon, not covering their nakedness.
Minako opened the doorway into the springs, barely covered by her towel with Konohamaru next to her in swimming trunks. She took off her towel at the edge and sank into the hot water with deep sigh.
"Minako."
Deep blue eyes opened and she smiled at the brunette, "Oh, hey, Tenten. Didn't know you'd be here today."
The 'younger' girl leaned her head back against the edge of the pool with a fantastic groan, her normally bunned-up hair down in a small cascade of chocolate locks, "Guy-sensei had us spar yesterday."
"That doesn't sound too bad..."
"All day, yesterday." The blonde winced, having heard plenty of horror stories about the mysterious 'Guy-sensei' and his torture- er, training techniques. Dark eyes opened again and flicked over to the young boy determinedly staring at the surface of the water and nothing else, "What about you?"
Minako reached up to massage the spot where her neck and shoulder met, "Rough time last night."
"Who's the kid?"
"That's Konohamaru. I'm watching him this morning since he got away from the idiot actually supposed to teach him. Hey, wanna help me with a lesson?"
"Sure, what do you need?"
"I'm trying to teach Kono-kun the Transformation Jutsu, but his anatomy lessons are lacking. And by 'lacking', I mean nonexistent."
Tenten leaned her head back and laughed, "That explains why he's three shades of red. Want to use me to provide variety, huh?"
Minako smiled and nodded, "Exactly." Minako's own proportions were based on Makoto, who was the most prominent female figure in her life. But most girls weren't as... 'talented' as her mother.
Tenten sat up straight with a slight groan and stood up next to Minako when she got up herself. A sharp little whistle split the steamy air, "Oi, chibi-kun, eyes up front."
Konohamaru's head snapped up, then to the side. Tenten gave Minako a questioning look and she shrugged, leaning in close to the other girl's ear, "His mom's dead and he doesn't have any other female relatives."
Tenten nodded, understanding his shyness now. Nearly all of the children that had clans were used to seeing those of the same and opposite sex naked since most families bathed together. Whatever body shyness remained was wrung out of them in the Academy.
Or, at least, it was nowadays. It was a fairly new practice that had been started in the previous few years because of the influx of girls training to be ninja. The rate was a staggering one kunoichi to every three shinobi. In previous years, woman who wanted to be ninja had been the odd ones out. But it was becoming ever more common by woman who wanted to control their own lives. After all, the life of a kunoichi would seem more attractive to some than being a bartering chip in a political marriage, or the very real risk of being kidnapped or snatched off the street and turned into a slave or whore.
Nonetheless, it was still highly shocking to most of the older shinobi still on duty.
"Now pay attention, because we won't repeat ourselves."
Tenten pointed out the places on her and Minako's bodies that could be used to cause pain and kill, and Minako labeled key points of the female anatomy, explaining important or variable points such as woman having different bust sizes from each other, and even different sized breasts on the same woman. "A girl's usually bigger on the side of her dominant hand, because the muscles behind the breasts are used more."
She pointed out how her hips were wider than Tenten's, but how Tenten's abs were far more developed. The brunette crossed her arms, "Of course, it's possible for a girl to maintain a decent bust size if she eats properly and partakes in certain exercises, and some are just naturally gifted, but by and large, smaller is better for a Kunoichi. I have a fuller range of motion than others, and large breasts have to be bound very carefully so they don't interfere or cause breathing problems."
Konohamaru blinked, "Boobs cause breathing problems?"
Tenten facepalmed while Minako answered, "No, improper binding of the breasts causes breathing problems. Like this." she turned him around and held her arms across his torso, squeezing just tight enough to restrict his breathing.
Tenten leaned down and flicked him on the nose, "See? That's why you have to be careful, even in a transformation."
It was in that position that their bathing room was broken into by a blue-clad Special Jounin: to see two naked woman -neither of which was the Kyuubi Brat- with Konohamaru sandwiched in between them. "Honored Grandson?! Wh-what is going on here?!"
The kunoichi shared a single look before turning back to him and speaking at the same time, "Anatomy lessons."
Ebisu fainted dead away, blood trickling from his nose.
Tenten and Minako shared another look, this one not the least impressed and sighed at in time with each other, "Pervert..."
Minako picked Konohamaru up and set him outside the pool, "You think you got all the relevant stuff?"
Konohamaru nodded and once again his hands fell into the Ram, "Transform!"
Before them stood a girl that could have been their daughter, silky hair a few shades lighter than Tenten's, dark eyes a mix between Tenten's black and Minako's deep blue, a moderate-but-perky bust and slim hips. They both looked 'her' over, poking and prodding here and there, then stood before the transformed boy with smiles, "Good job."
"I'll say, especially for someone so young. Keep this up and you'll be hailed as a prodigy."
Minako raised her arms over her head and stretched, "I think that's good for the day. The steam and heat have helped me get out all my aches, and you've learned what you needed to. Time to head out. Are you staying, Tenten?"
The brunette shook her head and hauled herself out of the water, "Nah, I'm good, I've been in here a while." She sighed, "Besides, Guy-sensei's creed on muscle pain is more of what made them sore in the first place."
They walked back to the washroom together and chatted about 'girl-things' as Minako took it upon herself to help Konohamaru wash his hair like her mother had done for her for so long. He accepted her help with silence and a blush, not looking at her. Tenten giggled about it being cute as she dried off, done the fastest of them. As soon as Tenten left, waving them a fond farewell, Naruto let the transformation fade and then scrubbed down all over again.
She and Konohamaru made their way outside, faces pink from the heat and washing- and for Konohamaru still for a little lingering embarrassment. Naruto breathed in deeply of the comparatively-cooler air. There was nothing quite as refreshing as a soak at the hotsprings.
She turned and walked off, fully expecting Konohamaru to leave now that he'd managed to mooch some Jutsu off of her, but she was surprised when he trailed after her still like a loyal duckling. She checked the position of the sun and shrugged. She still had time before the Academy. She led him to one of her thinking spots, a tall tree that looked out over the river and was high enough to see Hokage Mountain from. Naruto watched Konohamaru struggle to climb the tree she had scaled effortlessly, finally taking pity and hauling him up by his scarf to sit on the branch next to her. She leaned against him, pinning him between her body and the tree trunk so he didn't have an unfortunate fall.
"Konohamaru, why do you want to be Hokage?"
"You heard Ebisu, too, right? My name is Konohamaru, for the village. Everyone knows that, but nobody ever calls me by it. It's always 'Honored Grandson' this and 'Honorable Grandson' that. That's not my name! Ko-no-ha-maru. How do you forget the name of someone named after the place you live?" He pointed towards the Monument, "Someday I'm going to be up there, and everyone will know my name!"
Konohamaru startled as she pulled him close to her side, blushing again as she nuzzled the top of his head.
"N-Naruto...?"
Naruto shook her head, chest tight. Konohamaru was just like her, but he didn't even have someone there for him like she had. She pulled back and looked him in the eye, "You can do it." He jerked in her hold, staring at her in wide-eyed surprise. No one had ever told him that before. No one had ever believed him. "I know you'll get there someday, Konohamaru. Work hard, reach high, never give up, and I know you'll make it."
He stared at her blankly for a moment, then his eyes shimmered with tears and he buried his face in her orange jacket, "I will! I'll become Hokage, I swear!"
Naruto held him close as he cried out the strong emotions, smiling, "I believe it."
Konohamaru walked after her, "Naruto, Boss, what about you? Don't you want to be Hokage, too?"
She smiled back at him, " 'Course. I'm going to be the first female Hokage, believe it! I'll keep the hat warm for you, though, kay?"
He nodded and caught up to her, "Hehe~ Got it! 'sides, it only makes sense for a future Hokage to have an awesome teacher. Like another Hokage."
"There you are!"
They both tensed, Naruto's hand automatically falling to her weapons' pouch before registering it was only Ebisu. She straightened up warily, more than ready to fight or flee if she had to. As it happened, she didn't have to do either, all she had to do was stand there and be shouted at.
"You kidnapped the Honorable Grandson." Not. You're just upset 'cause you didn't notice him giving you the slip. "Tarnished his innocence." We're shinobi, 'innocence' is a liability... "And left him with strange females on top of it all!" Because you aren't strange at all...
Naruto's battle instincts kicked in and she jumped back, surprised when a kunai thunked into the fence between her and Ebisu- closer to the Jounin than her. That wasn't just any kunai, it was her kunai, the one she'd lent to Konohamaru during Substitution training. They both turned to look at the little boy.
He pointed to Ebisu, "Don't you say all that stuff about Naruto! She's been helping me be a better ninja than you ever have! She explained things to me, and I'm going to work hard and be Hokage without taking any 'short cuts' like a damn fool!"
"Honorable Grandson! Language!"
"My name isn't Honorable Grandson! It's Konohamaru! I'll show you!" His hands made the Ram Seal, "Transform!"
In a poof of smoke, a significantly more buxom brunette than she had witnessed earlier stood there shrouded in wisps of smoke in a seductive pose. Ebisu's jaw dropped before he fell back into his second cold faint of the day. Naruto nudged him with her foot but got nothing more than a twitch.
She looked back to Konohamaru who released the Jutsu and flashed a victory sign before bouncing to her side, "I did it, Neechan! I did it!"
Well, he certainly deserves points for observation and pinpointing enemy weaknesses... She smiled and laid her hand on his head. "You sure did, Kono-kun." She blinked down at the helmet between her hand and his hair. Naruto was struck by inspiration like a lightning bolt and her Hitai-ate felt heavy on her head. She knelt down in front of Konohamaru so they were the same height, "Konohamaru, I'm proud of you for trying so hard, and sticking up for others. That's never a wrong thing to do. And I have a present for all your hard work."
His eyes lit up, "Really?"
She nodded and reached into her pocket, pulling out her goggles, "These are very special to me. I've had them for years, worn them until just last night, when I got my headband. I think you could put them to better use than I can anymore, though."
Konohamaru tugged off his helmet, brunet strands going everywhere in protest. Naruto subdued her snicker to a twitching smile as she settled the goggles on his head to help corral the mess. He reached up and touched them carefully, reverently, then threw himself forward and hugged her, "Thank you, Naruto-Neechan."
She hugged him back, throat tight. Always before, Naruto had been the youngest, the baby, the little sister. To have someone else look up to her, it was a better feeling than even when Iruka-sensei told her she'd graduated. "No problem, Kono-kun." She pulled back and grinned at him, "See that you live up to them, got it, Otouto?"
Konohamaru matched her grin and stuck out his thumb, "Believe it!"
Naruto noticed the sun and jerked in place, "Kuso! I have to go! Work hard and never give up, Konohamaru!" She waved at him and took off in a dead run, the small boy waving after her as she disappeared in a blur.
The grin on her face just wouldn't fade as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and Naruto felt like she was glowing. She'd found something so much better than some dumb memory wall. Her greatest achievements wouldn't be marked by artifacts on a wall, but by the changes in the people around her. Her first true step forward wasn't marked by the Hitai-ate on her head, but by the mark Konohamaru's respect and admiration left on her heart.
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This is NOT fanservace. Everything -and I do mean EVERYTHING- I'm writing here has a very specific purpose going forward. This showcased a certain way of training that couldn't be slipped in otherwise, as well as again deviating from canon because this Naruto doesn't think the same as canon-Naru did. This is also setting up the tie-in of a couple added SM characters because why not?
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