Author's Note: Well...crap. This chapter took a fuck of a lot longer to get done than it had any right to. Even with interference in the form of work, art, and family matters, it really shouldn't have taken anywhere near this long. For that I apologize. I hope to get the next chapter out sooner, but we'll just have to find out I suppose.

But enough of my idle chatter, here we are, the combined interlude and time skip that gets us to graduation. Things will start moving when we get there and we'll see Noriko taking more and more of an active role in the world to begin setting her serious plans in motion. Things will also be a bit lighter in tone, though there will be moments of seriousness.

Also we'll get to see Noriko being a little short-sighted in some of her pursuits in the first ever omake!

Twelve years. He had sat locked away for twelve years. It certainly wasn't the way he wanted to spend that time, but it had been far better than it could have been. His last container had crucified him upon a floating sphere of stone and then chained him down do that he couldn't move in the least. That had been...humiliating to an untold degree in Kurama's opinion. Now he was sealed behind a massive gate within and enormous sewer that served as his jailor's mindscape. Still frustrating and annoying, but far more tolerable.

Looking back, he remembered the way he had planned to rage and riot when he came face to face with his new jailor for the first time, and indeed he had to a degree. His desire to verbally assault the one caging him though had evaporated almost instantly when she had appeared within the sewer. He had expected to wait years to encounter her, but instead he had met her almost immediately after the sealing.

One of his tails flicked out to clang against the golden bars that locked him away, the memory of his first encounter with the one that would become Uzumaki Noriko playing out in his thoughts. That his jailor had been fully grown at that time told him something but dearly wrong, and in the he had time before the seal had fully settled and locked him away, Kurama had taken the opportunity to dig through his jailer's memories. He had been aware that something had gone horribly wrong if his jailor hadn't been a little baby, and the answer to most of his questions had lain within her mind.

Those memories had been something that had both disgusted and impressed him. For all that Kurama was and the unrelenting hatred he felt for humans, there were still traits that he could admit were admirable in the right situation.

Courage. Duty. Honor. Strength. And a few others too.

One had to be truly great to impress him, like Senju Hashirama. That man had fought and even defeated him and the monstrous Uchiha that had enslaved him with those wretched eyes, and strength of that caliber was something that he could respect, even if he resented it.

And that was why he had been impressed with his current jailor. She had gone through life normally until her health began to fail her, at which point she had poured her all into leaving behind some kind of achievement to be remembered by while her health had been poor, she had done what she could to become physically strong despite the futility of it. She had gone through a 'University' and obtained two of the highest awards possible for her efforts to master two subjects that even he had to admit had been beyond him until he looked through he mind for answers. But for all that determination and courage in the face of her fate, she had disgusted him at the very end. Laying in her hospital bed the pitiful ningen had given up and died rather than continuing to struggle and fight as she had before.

Seemingly aware of that failing and apparently disgusted with herself, his jailor had returned a week after their first meeting and confronted him of her own will. Not just that but the little ningen had had the courage and...bravado...to offer him a deal or she would kill herself at the first opportunity, taking him with her.

Needless to say he had eventually agreed with an oath on both their parts to ensure it was upheld.

Fortunately, the investment he had made in his jailor was paying dividends. Immediately his jailor had set to work laying groundwork for their success, even when she was too small and feeble too do anything but wait wait on a caretaker to change her soiled clothing. She came to him when she had questions and sought out the answers when she didn't. The impressive work ethic of her last life ensuring time was never wasted and that they would be as prepared as possible in the future. The integrity and drive Uzumaki Noriko had displayed was why he had stepped in and taken a more active role when things had gone wrong.

On the day of Noriko's sixth birthday, when everything had gone wrong, Kurama had stepped forward and made a decision.

He hadn't been moved per say, but he had been impressed by his jailor, especially when she successfully managed to kill three of her attackers. For that he took the irreversible step and began a new series of changes in his jailer's vessel. Snorting at the memory, Kurama shook his head behind the gilded bars as he considered the wisdom of that choice in hindsight.

Truly, had anyone told him in any way, shape, or form that he would be making a pitiful ningen his heir six years ago, he would have laughed uproariously before eating them. That was then though. In the now it had been a little more than six years since the process began and he couldn't help but be satisfied with the progress. Six years of waiting and his heir had progressed to a point where he could actually admit to being proud of Noriko.

She now bore two long, flexible, prehensile fox tails that extended from her tailbone and was well on her way two a third. Tall, perky fox ears rested slightly on the sides of her head though they were significantly higher in position than her original human ears. The fur on these additions was, of course, a dozen different shades of red like the spiky mane that she wore in a manner similar to that wretched, white haired pervert, the tips of all the additions were black though which added a curious contrast to the colors and left him rather pleased overall with how things were coming along. Her strength was now high enough that he easily felt she could mop the floor with the insane tanuki and at the very least give Matatabi a run for her money.

Really he couldn't have picked a better ningen to become his heir, and better still she was only now coming into her growth spurt that accompanied puberty. Her growth rate had been impressive before, but now it was simply exponential. Even returned to full strength, with both his Yin and Yang halves merged together thanks to his heir. Kurama couldn't help but wonder how close she would be to him in strength when she was fully matured. She wouldn't reach that point for years, a decade or two maybe, but she'd be well on her way there when they eventually fought Akatsuki.

That was to say nothing of her personality. The little ningen that held him locked away within herself was a supreme pragmatist, a trait which he could appreciate. She saw what laid ahead of her and took the necessary steps to ensure that at the end of everything she came out on top. Really, if Noriko had been aiming to become Hokage like her idiot counterpart there wasn't anything that could have been done to stop her anymore.

Nothing short of a superior bijuu, an army, or an unrestricted member of the Sannin or Kage was going to bring her down.

He couldn't have been more proud.

Twelve long years.

Hiruzen honestly wondered where the time had gone as he looked over the profiles of various academy students as he prepared the list of new teams for this graduation. He had stopped though on one in particular; Uzumaki Noriko, or rather Namikaze Noriko.

The picture in the file showed a well tanned face framed by spiky red hair and three whisker marks on each cheek with a positively foxy grin and mischievousness glinting in vivid purple eyes. He couldn't stop a chuckle as that grin brought to mind some of her more audacious pranks, as she always wore that expression when confronted in the aftermath.

Whenever she was in his presence she just had such a lively air, always grinning and asking questions. Truly she was amazing in how she withstood the hatred of the village. He had been deeply, deeply worried after the attack on her sixth birthday, but something had stopped him from sending her off to Yamanaka Inoichi for therapy, over the objections of Inu and Weasel though. Instead he had doubled her guard and had her watched ever so closely now that she was back on the scene after disappearing from the orphanage. He had no idea how in all the world she had kept from being found within the relatively tiny confines of the village, but that wasn't as important as ensuring she hadn't completely snapped. Noriko had made use of the Kyuubi's chakra that night and that had aggravated the entire council. The civilians had wanted her dead and even the shinobi had been wary, time and information had calmed and reassured the shinobi half of the council, but not the civilian.

That had been six years ago though.

Since then Noriko had come to him and confessed to having met her 'tenant' and learned just who she was, claiming the bulk of the inheritance that her parents had left for her. As it wasn't public yet, she hadn't claimed her parents home nor their family seats on the Shinobi council, but he could tell she was close to doing so. He wasn't quite sure what she was waiting for though.

After all this time, he had come to see far more of Noriko than just the cheerful mask she put on for others. The girl he considered his granddaughter was intelligent, terrifyingly so in his opinion. He knew she hadn't told him everything she had found or accomplished with her inheritance, but even what she admitted to managing was more than enough to raise eyebrows. She was honestly a genius on the level of Itachi and Kakashi, and more than them she had the chakra levels necessary to properly make use of the Kage Bushin technique to aid in her training. As such no one had a clear idea of just where her skill levels laid.

All of this was to say nothing of her visions. The less said about her ability as an oracle the better in his opinion, preferably nothing, so far only he, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Jiraiya of the Sannin knew about that ability.

Now though he was looking at just what team to assign her to. If he went by the academy scores, he would be assigning her to a team with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura under Hatake Kakashi as team sensei. The team looked good on paper in theory, as it was the traditional two best students paired with the dead last, but having taken the time to personally watch some of Noriko's classes he knew it was wrong. He was aware of just how brilliant Noriko was so her position as dead last was baffling. At least it had been until he had asked her about it.

As it turned out much of the Academy's staff, sans Umino Iruka, were against her, constantly mid marking her grades and failing to give her proper instruction. He had nearly stormed down there himself, but Noriko had asked him not to, sporting her customary foxy grin. When he saw that, he had just known something truly horrible was in store for the bulk of the Academy staff come graduation. Still, he had watched and studied to ensure she would be alright, something he had had time to do after Noriko had told him the secret to paperwork. Now shadow clones handled the bulk of his paperwork, looking over things in detail and catching more and more of the absurd measures the Civilian Council had been trying to sneak by him. That of course had lead to him starting to review the decrees and laws and bills that had crossed his desk in the last twelve years, and the results of that were quite unsettling, but those thoughts were better left for another time.

His thoughts were back to assigning teams for this year. If he had had his way, he would have assigned Noriko to a team with Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata. Those three were a close knit group of friends and had been pulling together ever since Sasuke had returned to class after the massacre. The Uchiha boy had been primed to become a die hard avenger, but the contact from Noriko and the fact that some of his family had survived that night had seen to it that he didn't follow that path. What had started as Noriko and Hinata shielding the boy from his screaming fangirls had developed into an honest friendship after four years of effort on the part of those kids. They trained together, studied together, and supported each other as only die hard friends could. That those two knew of Noriko's burden was a sign of just how close they were and how much his surrogate granddaughter trusted them. As such, it would truly, truly be a shame not to put them together on a team.

Noriko's efforts hadn't only seen to the development of Sasuke Uchiha though. She had started out on the first day of class by making friends with the Hyuuga heiress before proceeding to pull the girl out into the world, helping to break down her shy exterior and increase her confidence. They sparred together and after the two years before the massacre, little shy Hinata had reached a point where she not only stood up for herself, but her father had even admitted that he was proud of her. That had done more for the shy girl than anything else had Hiruzen believed. Now she had formed one part of what could be the most promising team to come out of the Academy in years.

What was stopping him though from making that team though? Noriko had come to him a week previously and told him of another vision she was having. In this one she had failed the graduation test by being unable to perform the normal Bushin only for the assistant teacher Mizuki to tell her of a secondary exam she could perform to graduate. That fake exam was to successfully sneak into the Hokage tower, steal the forbidden scroll, and learn a technique from it. After that, Mizuki would find her, tell her about Kyuubi hiding in her gut, try and kill Iruka, and subsequently be beaten within an inch of his life by her. Upon the completion of which Iruka would give her his own hitai-ate and he would approve and make her a gennin, putting her on a team with Sasuke and Sakura.

When he had asked her just what could happen from changing this event, Noriko had simply shrugged and said she didn't know, but she could guess and that things would vary from the prediction. She couldn't see any further than that event, but that was enough for now.

As such, they had decided to let things proceed as they did in her vision, though Noriko had begged permission to tell Sasuke and Hinata not to worry when she failed as it would actually be a mission from him to bait a traitor. He had relented and agreed to let her do so, and now he waited for it to inevitably happen. Iruka would turn up anytime now, depressed, with the list of graduating students. Honestly the chunin teacher was a gift from Kami to him and Noriko. A genuinely good man, Umino Iruka had been hesitant about Noriko at first but he had eventually warmed up to her and now seemed to see her as something like a little sister. He tutored her when he could and even treated Noriko to ramen at Ichiraku's stand fairly often. Though there was a limit to how often that happened given Noriko's terrifying ability to devour ramen, not unlike her mother he mused.

Still he was unsure about teams.

Kurenai wanted her tracking team, but if Hiruzen was honest with himself he would give Noriko a better team if only to make up for the failings of the past.

His thoughts were halted as a small monkey bearing a scroll appeared on his desk in a puff of smoke.

"Message from Jiraiya, Hiruzen-sama."

"Ah, thank you Tenji." He replied as he accepted the scroll, memories of Jiraiya's last visit to the village, and his first encounter with his goddaughter, came unbidden to his mind.

Privately, within the safety of his mind of course, Hiruzen wondered if Noriko's...retribution upon Jiraiya had had any effect upon his student's ability to procreate. Granted he wouldn't dare question her choice in punishment for her wayward godfather to her face. Still, he had to acknowledge that even for the bright and cheery face Noriko put on while dealing with the village and the academy, she had developed a vindictive streak a mile wide and at least three long.

It mostly showed in Noriko's revenge pranks against particularly rude and cruel villagers Hiruzen reflected, but on the rare occasions he'd had to see his surrogate granddaughter actually get angry he had seen something dark and perhaps even frightening lurking in her cerulean eyes. A particularly vivid occasion had been when Danzo had stopped by his office during one of Noriko's visits. She had immediately tensed and gone on edge at the man's presence, her gaze sharpening into a hard glare. Though the expression had lost some of its effectiveness with her childish visage, the anger and loathing in her eyes had been clear as day all the same.

That was to say nothing of the killing intent that had suffused the room. It was barely gennin level, but to come from a seven year old with only a year of formal training made it impressive enough.

Danzo thankfully had kept the meeting brief, but his eye had strayed to look at Noriko rather often as she maintained her glare throughout his entire conversation and until the elder had left the room.

Shaking his head with a sigh and a repressed his worries about Noriko -she had graduated after all and would be going on missions- he opened the letter and began to read the toad sage's message.

"Sarutobi-sensei,

I'll be coming back to the village about a week before the chunin exams start so we can go over the information I've picked up with Shikaku and Bear. Everything I've seen so far points to Orochimaru being on the move but I haven't found either his location or his target yet. I do know that he's set up his own hidden village somewhere in Rice Country, but no luck locating that yet. I suggest checking in with Noriko-chan to see if she's had any visions regarding the snake along with the immediate future.

More worryingly than that though, there's rumors of a group showing an especially unhealthy interest in the bijuu. They go by the name Akatsuki from what I've found and they're the ones that Itachi joined up with. What I've picked up suggests that there are ten members total but I've only identified a few. Itachi is one of course, as is Hoshigake Kisame former Swordsman of the Mist, and Akasuna no Sasori. Beyond that I haven't had any luck though.

See you soon, sensei.

Your student,

Jiraiya

P.S. Your signed, advance copy of the next book is in the storage seal at the bottom of this letter.

P.P.S. Keep an eye on my goddaughter and make sure she gets the other copy in the seal. I don't know when little Noriko-chan picked up reading my books, but if it helps protect me from her wrath then I will happily send her advance copies as well."

Hiruzen paused as he processed everything that had been in the letter, sighing as he read up on his former student's current movements. Orochimaru was not someone he would take lightly in a fight and for the thousandth time he found himself regretting letting him escape. All that he had done was cause misery ever since he had left...

And that was to say nothing of the fact that there was a group hunting information on the Bijuu and Jinchurriki by extension. Nothing good would come of a group trying to either kill or capture the nine Bijuu, no matter the reason.

Oddly, it was the fact that his surrogate granddaughter had picked up Jiraiya's books that worried him the most. That he was being coerced into ensuring the girl got her advance copy of the new book Icha Icha Maid Service only frightened him. He had no choice in the matter.

If he didn't hand it over, then there would be hell to pay when Noriko learned he had withheld it, and he knew that it was every man for himself in this fight. If little Noriko confronted Jiraiya about not getting her copy, then the perverted sage of Mount Myouboku would happily rat out Hiruzen's part in preventing her from getting her book if only to avoid the young girl's anger.

Decisions, decisions...

Sighing, he took a heavy pull on his pipe before shaking his head and activating the storage seal to see two identical orange books pop out from a cloud of smoke. Quickly sending an ANBU off to fetch Noriko, he settled for opening one of the copies to the first page and beginning to read.

Really, at some point, he'd need to properly thank Noriko for telling him to use the Kage Bushin so that he could finally have some leisure time.

Laying on his stomach in his hospital bed, one Umino Iruka, chunin ranked ninja and teacher at Konoha's Academy mused over the events that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours. He used his thoughts as a way to ignore the uncomfortable twinges from his back as the iryo-nin above him tended to the deep gash that Mizuki's fuma shuriken had left in his back.

Truly, he had never expected that his assistant teacher would turn traitor, much less try to kill both him and a student. He just couldn't understand the degree to which the man had hated Uzumaki Noriko. True he had been wary and distrustful of the girl at first. How could he not be? After all, the little redheaded girl contained the monster that had killed his parents and devastated the village. But only a few months of exposure had shown him that the girl wasn't the demon sealed inside her. No, she was kind, intelligent, playful, and more than a little snarky. Honestly she reminded him to an almost uncomfortable degree of himself when he had been a kid!

And that...nostalgia maybe?...had driven him to interact with the girl beyond the classroom. He had helped her straighten out some of the flaws in her taijutsu techniques, few though they had been, and had even helped her understand more of the theory and history behind things in the academy that they were taught. After barely a month of this quasi-mentorship he had been sure that Noriko was actually smarter than him. The depth and breadth of her insights left no doubt to that and when he had confronted her about holding back so much, she had congratulated him.

Congratulated him!

Honestly he would have been insulted if she hadn't gone on to explain the lengths she went to in order to hide her intelligence and skill from the village, keeping herself far below notice to ensure that no one paid extra attention to her. She was honestly impressed that he had caught on though she admitted to having been sloppy in there more recent conversations and showing more than she should have.

Things had gone beyond a mentorship at that point to becoming colleagues instead. They sought each other's opinions on subjects and often debated subjects far above the Academy curriculum. Still, he knew Noriko was a child, a ridiculously smart child, but a child nevertheless. The pranks she played and the childish actions she indulged in were more than enough to remind him of that fact. And if they hadn't, the entire closet full of copies of Maito Gai's green abomination were.

Where had she even found that many green jumpsuits?!

The night before, though, just hours earlier; had been a harsh reminder that Noriko knew more than he could possibly imagine and that she had depths no one had been privileged to witness.

She had somehow failed the gennin test, which shouldn't have happened and then proceeded to mope around. While he had wanted to speak to her about the test, her emphatic refusal of company had sent him to the a Hokage who had simply told him that this was expected and that he shouldn't worry. And he had done his best not to.

That had worked for all of a few hours before the alarm had gone off and he had learned the Noriko had stolen the forbidden scroll. Fearing for her safety, he had chased he done, only to be joined moments later by Mizuki who had attacked him from behind -impaling him with the fuma shuriken- and then spilled the beans on the secret of why so much of the village hated her.

And then Uzumaki Noriko, student of the Konohagakure Ninja Academy had thrown her head back and laughed.

It wasn't the normal cheerful laughter she made after a good joke or a successful prank. No, instead her laughter had been so cold and so cruel she had honestly terrified him, rooting him to the ground with fear.

Then she had spilled her own secret.

She already knew, and this entire debacle had been a trap to lure out Mizuki. The arrogant traitor had simply stated that he would simply have to kill them both before escaping with the scroll then.

The smile Noriko had given and the killer intent that had flooded the little clearing had left both chunin trembling as the cruel grin on Noriko's face had made Iruka feel as if he was looking upon the Kyuubi all over again before the sensation vanished and Mizuki attacked -Noriko disappearing in the same instant- only to reappear as he was thrown backwards against a tree, screaming in pain.

The reason was obvious.

His arms had been severed just above the elbow and his legs severed just above the knee. The charred, smoking stumps on his body being the only sign of what Noriko had done as she reappeared surrounded by the limbs severed from Mizuki's body. Her grin was gone, replaced by a satisfied smirk as she deactivated what looked to be a weapon frighteningly similar to the Raijin, a brilliant white blade tinged with a faint violet sheen vanishing into the black and silver hilt which then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She had explained how she had known that Mizuki would try something and that measures had already been taken, as evidenced when a squad of ANBU appeared and taken away Mizuki and his limbs with another member staying to provide him with first aid before taking him to the hospital.

Before he'd been taken away though, Noriko had promised that everything would be explained when the chunin exams came.

He had left how she even knew about the exams for another time entirely as he was carted off to the hospital.

It was the day before team assignments for Sasuke Uchiha, one of the last few members of the famous clan. He was currently on his back beneath a large oak tree with his arms folded behind his head as he looked up at the slightly cloudy sky through the rustling tree branches, his mind abuzz with thoughts about the upcoming team assignments that would be given out tomorrow. Concern and mild aggravation plagued him.

He was concerned that his team would hold him back.

Even after his mother had straightened him out, and wasn't that a terrifying experience, Sasuke still desired to be stronger. He had to be! If he never became strong enough he wouldn't be able to confront Itachi-nii and get the answers he so desperately wanted from him. Why had his brother killed so much of their clan? Why did Itachi tell him to hate him and come kill him? It made no sense for his brother to have acted like that! Granted he had only realized that after he had been sat down and had the issue literally pounded into his head.

That worried him, the potential of being held back by weak teammates.

He was aggravated though because there was only a small chance that he would get a decent team. There was Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and the infamous Uzumaki Noriko. They were the only three out of the entire class of thirty something that could possibly keep up with him. The other students were either too lazy (Shikamaru), idiotic (Kiba), or they were fangirls (the majority of the class sans Hinata and Noriko).

Kami forbid he get a fan girl on his team!

A shudder of disgust shook his body as the mere thought of such an event occurring crossed his mind. The absolutely last thing he needed for a teammate was a weak, whining, screeching, stupid, dieting fangirl. Yes if he had his way he'd get two of the previous three he'd thought of. Either Hinata or Shino would be fine. Both were competent, intelligent, and quite capable. Neither was prone to messing around in the wrong situation.

That left the third spot to Noriko, and he honestly wasn't sure why he wanted her on his team. She was strong beyond a shadow of a doubt, as she had demonstrated dozens of times in their private training sessions, easily tossing Hinata and himself around like ragdolls at the same time. Her knowledge of jutsu and theory made him honestly feel like an idiot at times too. But then why was she the dead last in their year?

Getting an answer to that had been like pulling teeth with your bare hands. Noriko had avoided giving a straight answer at every chance she could until he had gotten Hinata to literally disable her via Jyuuken until they knew why Noriko was the dead last. That answer was not something either of the pair had been prepared to hear.

The sensei's and the books all lied to them. The Kyuubi hadn't been killed by the Yondaime, instead it had been sealed into a child that wasn't even an hour old. Of course that would have been enough of a specter to grow up under, but apparently some idiot had blabbed the secret to the whole village so instead of Noriko having a normal childhood, she had been constant hated and abused by the majority of the village, left to fend for herself for nearly her entire short life.

That knowledge had infuriated him. He counted Noriko -despite being a loud, obnoxious prankster- as one of the few people he would fight and maybe even kill to protect. She had shown him kindness after the massacre, and not in the stifling way that all the stupid fangirls tried to. Instead she had given him space, driven off the wretched harpies, and simply told him she'd be there to talk if he needed it. He wasn't sure when, but at some point the dislike she had had for him seemed to giveaway to grudging respect and eventually a mild friendship.

It was baffling in hindsight Sasuke considered, the small gestures hadn't meant much and really shouldn't have lead to the friendship they had, but those small gestures had been what he needed, an escape from the overwhelming attention everyone else thrust upon him. And to know that one of his few real friends was constantly suffering with hatred and abuse from a village that didn't bother to understand her left him absolutely livid.

It was at that point that he had realized Noriko wore a mask. Feeling the loathing that burned inside himself, Sasuke had met Noriko brilliant purple eyes and realized that the same fire burned away inside her, hidden deep from the world. A private conversation after the Hinata had left had shaken him even more.

A few questions here and there and Noriko had straight up admitted to the absolute malice she held for nearly the entire village and her vehemence had terrified him even more as she spilled out killing intent before quickly squelching her emotions as she said that she just didn't care enough to deal with the villagers.

He couldn't understand. If she hated them so much why would she just ignore them?!

She told him why. It was because the villagers, for all their hate and anger, were irrelevant in the long run. Eventually, she had said, she would stand victorious and the villagers would realized their mistake when she would leave without a backward glance. She had said she would abandon them to whatever fate awaited them when she left, and it wouldn't matter to her whether it was salvation or damnation that claimed the village once she finished playing her part in the future.

She had flat out refused to tell him any more after that, from what was in the future to where she would be going if she left the Leaf.

It worried him.

Four years...

My how the time flew by when you looked back on it. A lot had happened in that time. I had finished putting together dozens of plans, spreading a hidden influence across the elemental nations, laying traps that would lie in wait until the day they were needed. My skills were sharpened to the fullest extent, my power pushed as far as it could go. I had done everything that I possibly could to prepare for the coming darkness. I had every tool and trick I could think of ready to be used at a moment's notice. Yet I was still worried.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, I knew that, and that was why I was prepared to fly by the seat of my pants should everything come crashing down around my ears. I didn't think it would but I would be prepared if it did. Things would start tomorrow, an irrevocable path that would set the whole of the Elemental Nations on a path to war.

Only time would tell if I had made the right choice.

Author's Note: Finally! Jesus Christ on a cracker this chapter did not want to get written. Between computer issues, health issues, writing issues, and family issues I just could not get this chapter done, but it's here now and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for 196 reviews, 465 favorites, and 613 follows for this story. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Now for the fully CANON Omake that I promised you guys.

OMAKE: Kurama idly watched through his Kit's eyes as she slapped her palm down on the floor of one of her training rooms, earning a cloud of smoke from the summoning jutsu which quickly cleared to reveal the summon.

It was a small one as far as the dragons went, about the size of a large Turkey he noted as he observed it. The dragon looked like an eagle made from metal plates, with bright, shining eyes that resembled shining gems rather than actual organs. The metal of its body was a dull silver-gold that shone slightly in the room's light.

"So this is Horus..." Noriko mumbled to herself, something he of course heard as he watched the summon meet Noriko's eyes with its own before he cut his connection as settled in for a nap.

Of course it wasn't like the kit would let him get any sleep.

"Tou-san, you have any ideas on how I'm supposed to take care of this guy?"

"Finding out what it eats would be a start." He grumbled, noting that Noriko was reaching forward to run her hand over the dragon's head.

"HOLY FUCK!"

Instantly Kurama's eyes were wide and alert as he took in the state of the situation, only to sweat drop as he saw that Noriko was swinging Horus around like a toy, desperately trying to shake the metallic dragon-bird off of her hand, the fingers of which were firmly clamped within Horus's beak.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! LET THE FUCK GO OF ME YOU FUCKING METAL TURKEY!"

The dragon didn't respond as Noriko started banging it on the ground in retaliation before Noriko howled in pain as Horus went arching through the air to hit a tree.

"Well it seems partial to finger food Noriko, I suppose that's a start." Kurama chuckled as he felt the tiny pull on his chakra as four of Noriko's fingers quickly regrew.

"Not now Tou-san! I'm gonna cook this fucking bird for dinner!" She shouted in reply.

"Oh calm your tits, kit, it's not like it did any permanent damage."

"It's the principal of it! I'll eat anything that tries to eat me!" She shouted back as she stalked towards the summon which only just seemed to have realized the danger it was in as it gave a metallic squawk before taking off through the trees to escape becoming dinner.

"I'm so kicking Fafnir's ass after I eat this little shit!" Noriko declared.

Really, if the situation hadn't been so entertaining, Kurama might have felt a pang of concern for the golden dragon that was in charge of hatchlings in the dragon clan. As it was he was instead enjoying watching her adopted daughter lose her nearly unflappable exterior in favor of showing how she really felt.

Really, it was almost as good as that time when all the male members of the Inuzuka clan had gone looking for the source of her scent during her first heat a few months ago.