The scene in the Hokage's office that morning was as rare and unexpected as it got. A- a crowd stood before the Hokage's desk, one consisting of no less than eighteen people, and that was just counting the humans.

Naruto, Ino, and Makoto Yamanaka stood boldly at the front of the crowd.

Shikamaru Nara and his father, Shikaku, were both slouched and trying not to attract attention; Chouji and Chouza Akimichi stood near by.

Tsume Inuzuka and her daughter Hana were both next to Kiba, their assorted Ninken huddled close by necessity.

Shibi Aburame and Shino were at the back of the congregation, as out of sight as they could feasibly be.

Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha stood alone -so to speak, as much as it was possible to be 'alone' in a the press of others around them- no adult to speak for them.

And finally, the year's three Jounin sensei lounged off to the side to round out the over-large group.

Hiruzen sighed at the headache he could already feel threatening at his temples, "To begin this with: Sakura, Hinata, why do you stand here alone?"

The pinkette inched closer to Ino, "My parents are both off on a mission, Hokage-sama."

Hinata looked like she wanted to sink into the floor when his -and several others'- eyes turned to her, "M-my father didn't d-deem this meeting imp-portant enough to c-come, Hokage-sama. I am here in my... in my capacity as Hyuuga heir."

He nodded and shuffled a few papers on his desk around, making small notations. He was disappointed, but not truly surprised, that Hiashi had decided to forsake the meeting. "Very well. Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, if it becomes required, your Jounin sensei will stand in to speak for you as an authority as a parent might, understood?"

They were Genin: the three in question had little choice but to straighten up and nod respectfully, "Yes, sir."

He nodded back and steepled his fingers in front of him, "I have called you all here on a matter brought to my attention by your Jounin sensei. All of you come from shinobi families, but it's come to our notice that all of you have shown a consistently greater knowledge of Jutsu and techniques than others of your age group. Not the least of which is several new or altered Jutsu that you failed to come forward with after discovering."

The children stepped up away from their families and settled into a line- more or less. Naruto stood with Sasuke on one side and the huddle of her sister's team on the other, and elbowed Shikamaru in the ribs. The dark-haired Genin sighed and stepped forward a single pace, his posture as horrid as Hiruzen had been led to believe was normal, "With the utmost respect, Hokage-sama, two days ago, we weren't even Genin yet. Even if we'd have told an Academy teacher... who would have believed us? Or not claimed the credit for themselves if they had? And with even more respect, respectfully, coming from shinobi households, all of us, we didn't have to tell anyone. Anything we came up with was ours by right, and the only sort of responsibility on any of us would have been to make a scroll of it for our Clan Archives." He sighed and tilted his head, "That said, we did plan on coming out about it all- when we made Genin and were strong enough to be taken seriously. Which, I guess..." Shikamaru shrugged again and gave a small smirk, "Surprise, we made some Jutsu."

Hana Inuzuka facepalmed as Kiba snickered. Shikamaru's father and the Aburame settled for sighs.

"With as much respect back, young Nara." Shikamaru twitched and Hiruzen withheld a smirk of his own; he had fully noticed the excess 'respect' the young clan heir had granted him verbally without even giving him the dignity of straightening from his slouch, "You cannot rightfully claim something known by no fewer than nine children a 'Clan Secret'."

"You can if the clans in question share a treaty."

The older generation jerked in surprise, all but-

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, "Makoto-san, you know something about this?"

The brunet Yamanaka stepped up, "I do, Hokage-sama, the children made me the executor of their treatise and concordat."

An aged brow rose, "And this wasn't seen as... unduly influential, given that two of your children were party to the... 'treaty' in question?"

She gave a half-nod in acknowledgement without admitting to any wrongdoing, "No, Hokage-sama." Her lips twitched, "With respect, I was acting as consultant on Clan laws involved in being the last member of a clan before I was brought into the fold on a more official basis. And I kept my silence because the heirs to no less than six other prestigious clans asked me for it."

"Do you have a copy I may read?"

Makoto bowed her head and held out her hands, summoning a stack of scrolls from a quick-release Seal, "As a matter of fact, Hokage-sama, I foresaw that reading it would be a high priority and brought several copies." She handed him the first, then turned and passed them out to the rest of the Clan Heads present, as well as Kakashi and Kurenai as acting, replacement parents for those not present.

Hiruzen's eyes widened as he unrolled the contract. No wonder the woman had kept silent; it must have been as if a block of gold had fallen from the sky and landed in her waiting lap. What rested in his hands was one of the grandest concordats he had ever seen and he had little doubt that Makoto had been the one to help with wording and certain laws, and it truly only could have been thought up from the minds of children- very gifted children, but children nonetheless, seen through the lens of innocence.

A promise of aid against any enemy past or future for any of the treatied clans in question from all the others, barring that one of the other clans wasn't the target, and formal forgiveness for any past wrongs on the part of each of the other clans. Sharing of any Jutsu discovered that was not specifically made with the intent to be part the individual clan's style or secrets, to be defined by the clan head or heir and at least one other treatied clan, and with the specification that it not be the same one as the previous choice to prevent power plays by two clans. At the bottom was a list of Jutsu already shared with the collective and a second one of suggestions for additional techniques.

All nine children's names were signed, in their authority as clan heirs -and Hiruzen's eyes narrowed on Naruto's where she was put down as the heir to the Kino clan's holdings- and a promise that the treaty would be brought up again when they were the heads of their respective clans in the event of their parents vetoing the current one with their power as Head to override decisions made by the Heir.

This was... Hiruzen shook his head. It was insane. Thirteen-year olds (and in Naruto's case, not quite that yet), and they had made a power play against their own parents. The scroll he held in his hands, if acknowledged as valid by the adults in the room, would give each of the clans involved several dozen new Jutsu at the very least right off the bat, none the least of which would come from the truly vast library of the nearly-extinct Uchiha clan, most of enormous store of Jutsu they had copied over the years kept private. And Sasuke's name, scrawled confidently at the very bottom of the document, showed how little he apparently cared about those Jutsu compared to the potential allies he could make in trade.

The Uchiha had always been somewhat feared and mistrusted in Konoha, even at the best of times, for their secretiveness and the numerous Jutsu they hoarded. One could never know just what a given Uchiha would know and could strike or counter with. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Sasuke's place as the last legal Uchiha was tenuous because of his being alone and young. If this contract was upheld, that would all change in an instant, and the nearly-extinct Uchiha would quickly become one of the strongest in the entire village for sheer manpower in allies.

He sat back in his chair, thoughtful. It was a good contract- for all involved. There were sections outlining help from the Hyuuga for training and Jutsu creation with how they were able to see chakra and systems. Help from the Aburame, to keep fleas and other harmful insects from the treatied clans' animal partners should they have them present or future, and to keep termites and other structurally damaging bugs from households- or employ them in the case where demolition was required. Meditation and inner-peace techniques were offered by the Yamanaka clan. Chakra-sealing and sharing were offered by the Kino, most prominently to the Aburame to whom there was already a previous treaty, but the basic teachings of which would be offered to those interested and would be especially useful to any hoping to practice Iryoujutsu to become Medical Ninja. Help with construction and the harder demolition beyond the Aburame's abilities was offered by the Akamichi, as well as several high-calorie, easy-to-make recipes that were vital to shinobi on missions. First consideration -after the clan itself- for ninken pups to any who felt drawn to it.

And with it all, the open-ended offer for fostering. With that clause, there would be no more Narutos in the treatied clans: those who felt left out and incapable of doing their own clan's Jutsu; they could just foster with another clan for a season, learning basic Taijutsu and lessons until they found one where they fit in. It was genius, really, because it also allowed youngsters to get out with approved clans' own children and encouraging future marriage between the clans and ensuring closer ties and fresh blood to the lines.

It was mind-boggling how thorough the scroll was. This wasn't something that had just happened in a night, it had to have been thought up and edited, added to and whittled down again, over a course of months. And while it was instinct to think 'ah, the Nara is responsible' because of the extent, only the heirs to each the clans involved could have come up with such in-depth plans for their own additions to the concordat- and that's what the document was, a highly beneficial agreement of mutual interest. Really, any of the clans that denied such a brilliant accord would have to be out of their minds or drowning in their own hatred and pride. ...It would be highly interesting to see how the Hyuuga handled this when it finally came to Hiashi's attention.

Something so grand seen through the eyes of the young to make it possible. The children saw one another as friends and allies of the highest order, and while he had no doubt about their clan fealty, they spoke and lived as a unit. Trust was implicit, which was what allowed the contract to have been stuctured as it was, because there was none of the clan posturing, pride, or old hurts getting in the way of it.

Well played, young ones. Very well played. That was a promise to a great deal of power, in much the same way Konoha had been originally founded, and Hiruzen made a mental note to officially request Konohamaru and the Sarutobi clan be added to the treaty. He would likely not be in power long enough to worry about one of the clans in the concordat gathering enough power to become a threat to the Hokage, but it would be best to give his own clan a fighting chance anyway, and Konohamaru always was saying how he'd become Hokage someday. Hiruzen certainly wasn't going to do anything to sabotage that effort if it ever came to fruition.

The beauty the agreement was -almost- enough to distract Hiruzen from the reason he had originally called for the meeting. He sighed and set the scroll aside. Never underestimate a Jounin, an Uchiha, or a Nara. He clasped his hands together again and cleared his throat, "As... interesting as this is, it's not the reason for this meeting. You said that you did if fact intend to share these new and altered Jutsu with the village, so could you please give a list of the Jutsu in question and explain how it is they came about?"

Shikamaru looked at the rest of the Rookie Nine, but when it became apparent no one else was going to volunteer as spokesperson for the group, he sighed and his shoulders dropped just a little lower, "I guess that's me, then... Troublesome. Some of them I won't speak of, since they fall under that Clan Secrets part of the concordat, including one that Naruto and I came up with the other day. The rest I'll explain as well as I can.

"I trust I don't have to start with the Advanced Substitution since I'm sure Kakashi has given you a more than thorough report on it already."

"Once more, please, for those who weren't here to read that report."

Shikamaru glanced back over his shoulder at the adults, "It'll be easier to just explain the basic process, I'll provide a list of the Jutsu so they can be added to the Archive. One of us will come up with an idea- normally Naruto, Kiba, or Sasuke for the more insane or risky Jutsu, and Sakura or Ino for the easier, more practical kind, others are rarer. That begins the idea stage, where we'll start randomly pitching ideas and theories back and forth at each other until we come up with something that sticks, assuming the base idea isn't discarded for whatever reason. For example, turning raw earth into water for places like a desert, but we abandoned the idea when a little experimentation proved that changing one raw element into another would take more chakra than even Naruto had. Otherwise we go onward into the planning and experimentation stages. Hinata is the most help at that point, because she can see the chakra as we mold it and stop us if she sees that it's going to explode. I'm usually the one to work out the Hand Signs needed with Hinata's help on the weaving and Naruto supplying chakra and Sakura with control. Shino helps by using his insects to suck out chakra before things go awry if we managed to miss something."

"That brings us to the matter the Jounin were especially... wary, of. This sharing of chakra between you all and fusion Jutsu."

"That comes from Kino Clan teachings that Makoto-sama shared with Naruto and Ino and they shared with us. The rest of us don't have enough chakra to begin with to reach deep enough into the earth to tap the Leylines, so Naruto offered to let us use hers since she could do it."

Naruto looked away, "I don't know as many Jutsu -I never did like studying- but I've got lots of chakra to use and my friends have techniques that use lots of chakra. Seemed like a good idea."

"There was just... one thing..."

Hiruzen bit the end of his pipe, "And that would be?"

Naruto squirmed, "We found out my chakra kind of... burns other people. So the others have to be careful in how they take my chakra."

Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who nodded, "It's rather like any heat: you can get used to it with enough exposure. None of us could figure out why it happened- before."

Kiba snorted, "Yeah, demonic indigestion kinda answers that question."

The silence that engulfed the room was deafening as Hiruzen's pipe fell from his lips to clatter against his desk. "You-"

"Know?" Kiba shrugged, "Yeah, we all know."

Ino stepped protectively in front of her sister, "We don't hide anything from each other- ever."

Did the surprises with these children never end? "And none of you think less of her for this?"

Hinata tilted her head, "Why would we? N-Naruto-chan's our friend. We've kno-known her for years..."

Hiruzen slumped back in his chair, "Is that all I need to know?"

The children -no, the young adults- traded looks and shrugs, and Naruto rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, eh, is it okay to use other training grounds than the ones assigned to our teams? We're getting kind of tired of holding our Tag Battles in community areas or Clan land. Kaachan's always yelling at us for wrecking stuff."

"Tag Battles?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah-yeah-yeah! We've been playing Battle Tag for years- and sometimes Capture the Flag, to test and hone our awesome ninja skills! It's how we managed to beat Kakashi-sensei so easily." The Jounin in question sighed in exasperation and hung his head. Naruto ignored him and went on, "We've been itching to try it out now that we've got official teams, so can we? Can we, pleaaase?" Naruto leaned forward, half across the desk, and widened her eyes pitifully at him.

He had a sudden sympathy for Kakashi's plight, "You need only requisition a certain training area or get your sensei to, Naruto-chan. Certain ones are off-limits, though, until you possess the appropriate shinobi rank or express permission from both myself and your sensei."

Naruto whooped and glomped the person closest to her, in this case, Sasuke on her right, "YEAH! WHO-HOO!"

Hiruzen shook his head and tipped his hat down, unable to hold back a smile that was echoed in one form or another by nearly every other adult in the room. It was wonderful to see Naruto surrounded by friends who knew who and what she was and not only stood by her, but considered it an asset. Such a lively and promising group, too, and Hiruzen wondered just how far and fast they would go, embracing the ideals of the Leaf and the Will of Fire as they did. He couldn't wait to see.

xxx

DONE! Long exposition chapter over. Hope that helped clear up some things about where and how the Genin know their new Jutsu and how close they are.

I sort of planned -originally- to expound some on the Minako-Kakashi interaction and build them up more, but my bunny just wasn't biting, so there will be a one month time-skip between this and next chapter so we'll finally be onto the Wave Arc.

XXX