"My dad?" Naruto looked at the picture some more. "But If I'm the son of the Hokage of the leaf why I'm I in Takumi?"
"I have a theory for that, but first." Riku took the bingo book from Naruto and flipped a few pages. "If Minato is your dad and looking at the picture I'm pretty sure he is then this is your mom." Riku Showed Naruto a picture of a red-haired woman with the name Namikaze Kushina. Naruto looked at the picture for a little bit thinking what his family was like. "You also have a twin sister."
Naruto was blow out of his thought. "A what?!"
"A sister she also a Jinchuuriki." Riku said.
"Jinchuuriki?" Naruto said with a confused look.
"A Jinchuuriki is a vessel for a demon in your sister's case the Nine Tails, but I'll tell you more about that later, for now my theory." Naruto made sure to pay close attention to Riku. "Now remember I could be completely wrong, but I believe that your parents sent you here."
"What?!" Naruto said not believing his own parents would send him away.
"Let me finish." Riku said. "You see Jinchuurikis are almost always hated by their village either because they believe that the demon will get out or they hate what the demon did to them before it got sealed. Now this is a secret, but the good thing about Takumi is they get merchants for all over the elemental nation and merchants talk a lot about things they shouldn't. They talked about on October 10th the Nine Tails attacked the village and killed a lot of people before the Hokage could seal it. You need a new-born baby to seal any one of the tailed beast so the hokage sealed it in his daughter. Since you two are twins this means your birthday is October 10th in case you wanted to know. Anyway the Nine Tails killed a lot of people so the village was probably really mad at the Jinchuuriki and wanted it killed even if it was the Hokage's daughter. Now the Hokage has to do what the village says or risk being replaced. In terms of strength it would be incredibly stupid to kill or get rid of a Jinchuuriki so in order calm the people and keep the Jinchuuriki the Hokage said you were the Jinchuuriki, but because he loved you he didn't kill you he just sent you somewhere and told the village that he killed you and after a couple of years the village was calmed down and could think with straight minds the Hokage revels that your sisters is really the Jinchuuriki and since the village isn't blinded by anger they see just how power a Jinchuuriki is and accepts her."
"If that's true why didn't my dad come get me after he told the village that my sister was the Jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked.
"Your dad might not know where you are he probably just told an Anbu to take you somewhere and told him to never say where you were. So he wouldn't be tempted to get you because the village would have killed you believing you were the Jinchuuriki, but now that it safe for you to come back your dad and mom probably want you back desperately because they love you, but remember that's just what I think. What really happened could be completely different from what I just told you. Like I also thought about how you could have been taken by an enemy ninja, but the problem with that scenario is if that happened you would have been killed or be trained in that village not here."
Naruto looked down very sad about the news. As much as Naruto didn't like it the first story made a lot of sense.
"Now Naruto you have a huge choice to make." Naruto looked up at Riku wondering what he was about to say. "Naruto are you going back to Konoha and even if you don't do you still want to be a shinobi."
"What do you mean?" Naruto said.
"If you go back to Konoha I won't stop you, but remember the Land of Rivers borders the Land of Fire. If you go back to Konoha you could be hailed as royalty and have a loving family being the son of the Hokage however Konoha doesn't know that Takumi has a ninja army, but we will still attack Konoha ninja more often since there closest. So could you bring yourself to fight to fight me?" Naruto didn't like the thought of fighting his only friend. "However this works both ways, could you bring yourself to fight the village your dad leads and possibly your sister. You could just stay here and not become a ninja if you want."
"No." Naruto said looking right in to Riku eyes with such determination. "I will stay in this village and I will become a ninja even if I have to attack my father or sister because even if they love me and want me back I don't know them, but I do know you and I love this village and I want to be a part of it. Plus I don't want to be treated like royalty just because of whom my father is I want to be known for my own power.
Riku smiled at Naruto and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. That great, but don't become too famous because we wouldn't what Konoha trying to get you back after they fucked up and put you here." They both had a good laugh.
*Konoha two years later*
Michiko was sitting in class listening to Iruka lecturing aging this time it was about Kiri. Michiko was bored out of her mind and she could tell she wasn't the only one Sasuke always had a know-it-all look on his face, but Michiko knew that he was frustrated about the pace they were going. They were in their third year at the academy and the only ninja thing they had done was basic taijutsu, weapon training and chakra control lots and lots of chakra control.
After the boring lecture Iruka announced something exciting for once a kunai throwing test. He led the students outside and called them one by one to throw ten kunais at a target about fifteen feet away. The target had an outer circle an, inner circle and a bull's-eye. A couple of people went, but the only interesting things that happened were Sasuke hitting the bull's-eye with all ten Kunai. Shikamaru hitting the inner circle with all ten kunai doing painfully average like always, and Sakura who managed to hit the outer circle once. Michiko loved Sakura like a sister, but she wasn't really sure why she wanted to be a ninja she wasn't very good at it, and she spent almost all her time arguing with Ino about Sasuke or staring at Sasuke. Then Iruka called her name and she got in position.
Michiko wanted to prove that she was the best ninja in the academy so she would have to get ten bull's-eyes just like Sasuke. She didn't think she be able to live with herself if she let Sasuke beat her. Right now she was the top kunoichi in the class, but that didn't me much since her competition weren't exactly A-class ninja. Ino and Sakura were both to busy yelling at each other and Hinata was a stuttering wreck. Michiko felt bad for Hinata having to put up with a family like that.
Michiko returned her thought to the task ahead. She took her kunai and threw it at the target and…inner circle. Michiko was mad she screwed up on the first throw. She wouldn't let it get to her though even if she was a little pissed she was coming in behind Sasuke aging. She threw two more of them and they hit the bull's-eye, but the fourth hit the inner circle. In the end Michiko got six in the bull's-eye and four in the inner circle. Michiko was pretty frustrated with her performance.
Meanwhile inside the Hokage tower Minato was dealing with a huge issue and that issue was the coup d'état the uchiha clan was planning. They were doing a good job of keeping it a secret too. Minato wouldn't have even known if Itachi hadn't told him. Now he had to do something that when against his very being, have Itachi murder his entire clan and then become a missing Nin.
"Itachi I'm so sorry." Minato said to him as he was sitting in a chair in front of his desk right now.
"Hokage-san I know you would be the one to do it if you could." Itachi said.
Itachi was one of the very few people who knew that he didn't actually have any power. It was Konoha's most guarded secrets.
"All the preparations are done." Minato said and Itachi just nodded. "Like you requested Sasuke will be spending the night at my house with a bunch of other friends under a pretext of a sleepover." Itachi nodded aging, Minato sighed. "Then I guess you ready for tonight?"
"Hai, I will take my leave." Itachi said.
"Minato put down the papers he was holding on his desk. "Itachi," He looked back at the Hokage. "I don't have any right to ask you this, but if you find Naruto could you point him in the direction of the village."
Itachi looked I Minato for a while. He didn't think there was a chance in hell the Naruto was alive, no matter how much the Hokage wanted to believe. "If I see him then I'll send him back." Itachi left the room for the last time.
Later that night Sasuke and all the other academy students were at the Hokage's mansion for a sleep over with Michiko and he hated it. It wasn't that Sasuke hated his friend he just though sleepovers were the worst thing in the world, but that was mostly because there were two certain girls yelling about who was going to sleep next to him and they were giving him a headache.
They were all laid out in the living room and Kushina was making dinner in the kitchen and the Hokage was still at the tower. The kids were al talking to one another, but all Sasuke wanted to do was go home. Sasuke slipped into the kitchen.
"Excuses me Mrs. Namikaze." Sasuke asked as polity as he could.
"Yes Sasuke what do you need?" Kushina said. She was trying to hide her emotions because she was really sorry for the boy he was about to lose his entire family and he would probably hate his bother.
"I was just wondering if you could call Itachi and tell him to pick me up." Sasuke said.
Kushina almost broke the spoon she was holding in two. There was absolute no way Sasuke could go back, she suspected the Itachi was killing his clan right now. "I'm sorry, but your brother told me you would stay her all night and it would be rude if I told him to come get you."
Sasuke didn't look happy by this, but before anymore could be said Michiko walked in the room. "Sasuke why do you want to leave, we're never all together like this?" she whined.
"Because you guys are all annoying." Sasuke said with an annoyed looked that Michiko returned. "Whatever I'll just walk home." He said then headed for the front door.
Kushina was about ready to stop him, but Michiko ran and blocked the front door." Oh no you don't you can be with your brother any time, but you rarely get the chance to hang out with all your friends so you are staying right here."
Sasuke was getting very angry at that point. "Let me thought." Michiko shook her head. Sasuke was very anger at this point. "You know what I think. I think that you're mad because I can see my brother whenever I want and you'll never even get to see yours once!"
Michiko stiffened after hearing Sasuke talk about her brother. The whole room was silent. All the kids there knew that her brother was a touchy subject for Michiko and whenever someone talked about him it made her very depressed, after all there had been no news of Naruto for eight years and most people though he was dead, but Michiko believed he was alive and one day she was going to find him.
"Sasuke that was uncalled for!" Kiba said standing up.
Sasuke just glared at him. "How was it uncalled for?! We all know the truth and it time Michiko got out of her fantasy world." Sasuke said turning around to look at Michiko, who was griping the wall in anger and sadness. "Naruto is dead!"
Kushina was watching the whole thing and was not happy with Sasuke telling Michiko her brother was dead when she and Kushina both believed Naruto was alive. If it was any other time she would have sent Sasuke home, but she obviously couldn't do that, but what worried her most is that she could feel some of the Kyuubi's chakra leaking from Michiko.
Then Michiko lifted her hand and Kushina was afraid so was going to hurt Sasuke, but there was a loud sound of flesh hitting flesh. Sasuke head was turned sideways after Michiko had slapped him. She had tears falling from her eyes. "Naruto is not dead." She said then ran upstairs. Kushina was surprised even though she was crying she had said it with such confidence it made Kushina think of a certain blond Hokage when he was a kid.
Kushina wanted to go comfort her daughter, but she had to stay down here and make sure Sasuke didn't try to leave. "Sakura, Ino, Hinata would you go make sure Michiko is OK." She said sweetly the girls nodded and headed upstairs. Now Kushina could focus on Sasuke. If he hated sleepover so much she was going to make his night hell, getting his entire clan killed be dammed no one makes her little girl cry.
*Takumi Village*
Naruto and Riku were walking towards the mine. They had grown very close over the years and Naruto started thinking of him as a big brother. He never regretted his choice to stay in Takumi Village he like it here and he thought Riku was much better than the sister he could have had. Naruto was fully prepared to fight and even kill his twin sister if necessary or any Konoha Nin for that matter.
Naruto and Riku had changed over the past two years. They had both gotten taller although Riku was still a head taller. He also started calling Naruto Dwarf. He said it was so when they went on mission. If the hokage was looking for him they wouldn't be using his real name. Riku had talked with the orphanage and confirmed that Naruto was left with that name; though Naruto thought Riku just liked calling him that. They both had well-built bodies, but were still slender. Riku didn't change much of his clothing since Naruto and first met him. The only things he changed was he switched out his white headband for a black headband there was still no meatal on it since Takumi village didn't want their ninja to wear their symbol otherwise the world would know they had ninja. Riku also had gotten ride of his undershirt and only wore his brown jacket leaving his chest and abs visible. Naruto thought he only did this for the girls though. The village knew that they were both planning on become ninja and they were strong for their age which got them a lot of respect and fan girls, Riku seemed to really like that part.
Naruto didn't really change his style either, but in order to be more like Riku Naruto wore goggles on his forehead like Riku did with his headband. However Riku hair fell over his headband while Naruto in an attempted to not be recognized as the Hokage's son so easily had pulled his hair back so instead of spiking upwards it spiked backwards and Naruto thought it looked cool.
They had also found something very interesting about Naruto. He had huge chakra supplies. They could only guess that it had something to do with Naruto mom begin the Jinchuuriki at the time of his birth and he somehow got some of the Nine Tail's chakra, but they had no way of knowing if he actually had demonic and neither of them thought he did, so for their purposes Naruto only had regular charka. Riku guess that he had about as much chakra as the Three Tail which was more than anyone needed Naruto had also found out about Riku's ninja abilities. First he loved poison and was always trying to make new ones all of his weapons had poison on they. The second thing is that he had lightning nature.
Naruto had learned this the hard way. One day Naruto was arguing with Riku because he wanted to change tunnels to one that actually produced something. Riku kept telling him that the tunnel wasn't for mining it was for training. This went on and on until Riku sighed and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto thought he was giving up, but all the sudden Naruto felt like he was getting electrocuted. Riku had poured his lightning chakra in his hand and since he was touching Naruto he could electrocute him. Needless to say they were still in the same tunnel.
They walked down the wall since they both had good enough chakra control to do it. Naruto turned to the stairs were all the normal miners went down and saw a boy who looked like it was his first day. He was looking at Naruto with awe. Naruto smiled as he remembered how awesome it was to see a ninja walking down the wall. He waved at the boy and it seemed to make his whole day. However no matter of cool that kid though he was. Naruto still wasn't a ninja yet and it was killing him. Naruto wanted to take the genin exam last year, but Riku said they weren't ready and Naruto trusted Riku decision. However this year's genin exam was coming up and Naruto was going to ask Riku about it once they got to the tunnel.
They made it to the bottom and walked to their tunnel. It had changed a lot since they were the only two ever there they could put a bunch of stuff in it. There was a table and chairs. There were targets littered with kunais most of them in the bulls-eye. There were also a bunch of books on everything from the 5 major ninja villages to taijutsu techniques. Now a day's they only did three hours of mining and the rest was for training. Normally Takumi was all about managing its resource and people were resource too and miners would never be allowed to slack off, but since it was so obvious that they were going to become powerful ninja the mine boss allowed it.
"Hey Riku are we going to take the genin exams this year?" Naruto asked.
Riku sighed. "Dwarf you're in such a rush to get yourself killed."
"What?" Naruto said.
"Listen Naruto the genin exams her is a lot harder than anywhere else and do you know why?" Riku asked. Naruto shook his head. "You see since we do mostly underground work we're going to get harder jobs than any normal genin would ever get and if we are really good then were going to be put in the bingo book sooner or later and let's not forget the normal graduating age is twelve and your eight and I'm nine. You get what I'm saying."
Naruto looked down very sad. "So you're saying we're not going to try until I'm twelve?"
"I didn't say that." Naruto suddenly looked happy aging. "You see we're much stronger than the average genin already. I'd say right now we're high-genin level, but you see I want to be mid- chunin before we take the test. So I've thought about it and I think we'll take it when I'm elven and you're ten."
"That's only two more years." Naruto said excitedly.
"Yeah, but we are still going to train hard every day, right Naruto?"
"Hai." Naruto said and started mining.
*1 year later*
One year had done wonders from Naruto's and Riku's reputation. They were pretty much haled as hero because they were the most promising ninjas in a long time and Takumi village loved strong ninja.
They were walking towards the mine being greeted by everyone they passed saying thing like "Hey when you guys going to take the genin exams, I'm sure you'll pass with ease." Or "I love you guys!" Riku almost always had a perverted blush on his face whenever a girl said that to him.
Naruto also had quite a few fan girls and had to ask Riku for a crash course on how to deal with them. Riku explained that you could basically get them to do whatever you want, but make sure to watch out for the crazy ones because they try to rape you in the street. Riku had made sure to explain to him about sex after Naruto asked why he wanted girls to love him so much. So Naruto didn't like the idea of someone forcing it upon him so he made sure to stay away from those types of fan girls. Even though they were both probably ready to take the exam they decided that they would stick with the originally plan and what till next year to take it.
Today was like any ordinary day, but about two hours into to their shift someone came to visit their tunnel. They were mining like usually when they heard someone walking towards them. A year ago this could have been a new miner sent to the tunnel, but once they figured out that there was only rock there they moved on and since it was clear Naruto and Riku were becoming ninja a new miner hadn't been in their tunnel for a year. Naruto and Riku were wondering who it could be.
They were both surprised when a girl turned the corner. Girls weren't allowed in the mine since it was as Riku called it 'man work.' Girls were blacksmiths and merchants while boys became miners or ninjas. Now boys could become blacksmiths or merchants if they wanted to, but girls could never become miners or ninja since they were weaker than men.
The girl looked like she was Naruto's age, but slightly taller than Naruto, but still shorter than Riku. She had green eyes and dark blue hair. She was wearing dark blue shinobi sandals, a light blue skirt with black shorts underneath. She also hand on a short shelve shirt and her hands were wrapped in bandages to make fingerless gloves. Naruto thought she was very pretty, he just hoped she wasn't a crazy fan girl.
"Hey Riku what's she doing down here?" Naruto asked
"Sometimes girls sneak down here to tell miners or future ninjas that they love them. Don't worry I'll handle this." Riku said and walked towards the girl.
"I'm sorry girl." The girl looked confused. "I know you came all the way down here to ask me if you could have my baby." The girl's face turned bright red. "However I'm too young to do such things, however when I'm older I will gladly consider you. Just tell me your name"
The girl's face was embarrassment mix with anger. "That not what I came here for you bastard!" She yelled and then crossed her arms "My name is Susumu Yukiko by the way."
Riku rubbed the back of his neck. "How did you even get down here?"
Yukiko pulled out a bag and when she did Naruto noticed she had a lot of small scars running along her fingers probably from when she cut her self; sharping or fixing ninja tools. Naruto also bet that those bandage gloves she wore were covering plenty more on her hands. "I told the guard you forgot your lunch and if I could bring it to you."
"Fine." Riku said. "But I have two questions first why did you come to see us and can I have that lunch?"
Yukiko threw the lunch box at his face, but he grabbed it easily. She started biting lower lip as if what she had to say was very hard for. "I want to become a ninja." Naruto was shocked why would she come to them to become a ninja?
Riku on the other hand looked a little mad. "You want to be a ninja?"
Yukiko looked down at the floor like she said something wrong. "Yes" A kunai went flying at her and cut her arm. She grabbed it in pain.
"You want to become a ninja and yet you couldn't even dodge that and let me guess you have no chakra control. You don't know how to use jutsu and you don't have any taijutsu style!" Yukiko looked father down every time Riku said something conforming it was true. "And people wonder why kunoichi are so much weaker than their male counterparts. That why girls don't become ninja in this village."
"No!" Yukiko screamed. "You don't know anything." Riku stopped talking and just looked utterly shocked that he was stopped. "You don't know how good you guys have it. I don't know anything about chakra because when I went to the library to get a book about chakra. The guy laughed at me and said girl were too stupid to become ninja." Yukiko had tears running down her face. "So I left and later I found out in order for a girl to get any kind of ninja book they have to get permission from a ninja or a boy who has enough standing in the ninja word and even if I'm a super great ninja a still need a recommendation to take the genin exams."
Naruto was surprised that she couldn't even use the library. Naruto remembered the first test Riku gave him he would have been screwed if he couldn't use the library.
"I know all that already I asked why you came down here." Riku said sounding a little angry.
Yukiko whipped away her tears. "I was hoping you two would give me permission to use the library and a recommendation to take the genin exams with you."
"Why did you come to us when we're not even ninja yet? Why not ask someone who has more power than us?" Naruto asked.
Yukiko looked ready to cry aging. "I did I probably asked every ninja in this village twice and they all told me to get lost and give up on being a ninja." Yukiko fell on her hands and knees and stared crying. "You two are my last hope since you're so respected as soon to be ninja and since Riku dad is a ninja I believe your recommendation should be enough. So I'm begging you being a ninja has been my dream since I was a little girl and it might seem like an easy thing to do for you boys, but to use girls it almost impossible to accomplish."
Naruto didn't see a reason not to give her permission, but Naruto didn't want to do anything without Riku approval.
"You know what you're asking right?" Riku said. "It not as simple as writing on a piece of paper that I give you permission to go to the library. I have to take responsibility for you it would be like adding you to the team. Which means you would have to take the genin test with us which we're planning on doing in less than a year. You on the other hand don't know a thing which makes you a liability. I'm not putting mine and Dwarf's life in danger just because some girl came crying to us."
"Riku I don't mind." Naruto said and Riku's and Yukiko's head snapped to Naruto both with shocked looks on their faces.
"Listen Dwarf are you sure about this?" Riku asked in disbelieve.
"I'm sure besides aren't genin teams normally three people." Naruto said.
Yukiko couldn't believe it after all this time someone was finally going to give her a chance. She jumped up and pulled Naruto into a huge "Thank you, Thank you, you don't know how happy I I'm right now."
Naruto was surprised to be pulled into a hug so suddenly and just patted her back awkwardly. "No problem."
Riku rubbed his forehead. "Fine I'll give you permission to use the library, but I will not have some weakling on our team. So this is what you're going to do." Yukiko gave her full attention to Riku. Me and Dwarf are taking the genin exams next year so you need to be a proper ninja by that time. The day before the genin test me and Naruto will give you your own test if you do well I'll give you a recommendation, but if you fail I will never give you a recommendation ever." Yukiko nodded. "Now what you need to be able to do in the next year, first you must come to the mine every day and if you miss a day or stop mining during the shift it's over no recommendation. Next you will need to be able to climb up the mine wall only using your feet like me and Dwarf do. You also have to be good at ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, weapon proficiency and you have to study medical jutsu since me and Dwarf are going to get hurt and we'll need someone to treat our wounds. If you can't do that, leave right now."
Naruto thought Riku was insane. He was telling her to go through seven years of academy lessons in one year along with mining and studying medical jutsu. There was no why she could do it.
"I'll do it." Naruto's jaw hit the floor and Riku's did too.
"Wh-wh-what?" Riku said trying to keep clam, but was failing horribly.
"You heard me. I will become a ninja not matter how much work you try to drown me in and remember you made a promise and ninja can't break their promises" Then Yukiko got a pickaxe and started mining. It took a while for Naruto and Riku to recover and once they did they just started mining in silence. They didn't even train that day.
After the shift was over Yukiko ran off to go the library to get the books she would need to complete Riku's insane assignment. She had a piece of paper giving her permission to go to the library with Naruto's and Riku's name on it.
After Yukiko left Riku pulled Naruto aside. "Alright Dwarf I have an idea on how we're going to get Yukiko to miss a day of mining?"
"Naruto was surprised normally Riku was laid back, but he spoke in a very serious tone as if they were on a mission. "What are you talking about why do we have to do anything to her?"
"Because we can't have a girl on our team." Riku said looking rather mad that Naruto didn't understand this.
"Why does it matter if she's a girl and besides I thought you liked girls?" Naruto asked.
"Girls are for pleasure they're too weak for business that why Takumi doesn't have any Kunoichi." Riku said. Naruto gave him a hard look, but didn't say anything else. "Anyway here's the plan." Riku pulled out a bottle with some pills in it. "We're going to poison her."
"What!? I don't what to kill her!" Naruto said in shock and anger.
"Relax not all poison is for killing." Riku said. "This poison only makes you feel sick for a day. It will keep her from coming to the mine and once she gets some sleep she'll be all better in the morning."
Naruto still didn't what to hurt her, but maybe if girls were as weak as Riku said then it's better to stop her from becoming a ninja so she wouldn't be killed in the field. So Naruto decided to stay with Riku, but not help him.
First they henged into average villagers and headed for the library where they were sure Yukiko was. When they got to the library they saw Yukiko in the ninja section looking very happy and picking out all the books she thought she would need. The librarian however looked angry that there was a girl in the ninja section and every time she grabbed a book he flinched a little. Naruto guess that he didn't want to let Yukiko in, but seeing the note he had no choice because Riku epically had a lot of influence with his dad being a jounin which was much harder to do in Takumi than any other village.
They watched her until she left heading for home. They waited a little bit before following her. They got to their destination; Yukiko's house the only thing that was unique about it was it was built on top of a blacksmith/weapon store which meant that they owned the store. Naruto was surprised he thought Yukiko worked at a blacksmiths. He didn't think her family owned one. Naruto made a note in his head to only buy his equipment from this store to make up for the pain they were about to cause her.
Yukiko went into the house. Naruto and Riku jumped onto the balcony the house had without making a sound. Naruto and Riku had excellent teamwork which let them do simple stealth mission like this without needing to talk to each other. They were also pretty good at stealth in general because Riku made sure that he drilled it into Naruto's head because you sneak around a lot when you're a ninja that works for a village that's not supposed to have any ninja, and your main missions are assassination. When they first meet Riku thought Naruto was never going to be able to do any kind of stealth being so loud, but Naruto was pretty quiet when he had to be.
They picked the lock to the door and went inside. It looked like everyone was on the lower level greeting Yukiko home. They jumped up to the ceiling and hide in the rafters. They didn't have to wait long because Yukiko and her mom and dad came up and took a seat at a table getting ready to eat.
"Yukiko where were you all day?" Her mom asked.
Yukiko was shining with happiness. "Mom you'll never believe it. You know those two soon to be ninjas everyone is talking about."
"I know who they are Riku and Naruto those two are going to make this village proud." Yukiko's dad said and Naruto couldn't help but smile.
"Well they gave me permission to use the ninja section of the library and they said they give me a recommendation to take the genin exams next year as long as I went to the mine every day and did some other stuff to make sure I'm a good ninja."
Yukiko dad almost choked on his food and why everyone was paying attention to him. Riku dropped the pill in Yukiko's water which dissolved into a colorless liquid.
"You're going to be a what!?" Yukiko's dad said patting his chest.
"I'm going to be a ninja with Riku and Naruto." Yukiko said then took a sip of her water.
Yukiko's mom put her hand on Yukiko's shoulder looking sad. "Listen honey I know you always wanted to be a ninja, but that's just not what girls do, and I know that those boys gave you permission, but they're still young and probably just thought it would be funny to get your hopes up."
"No they said and ninja don't break their promises!" Yukiko said them stormed off to her room. With both her parents following her giving Riku and Naruto the perfect chance to leave the house. Once they got out they said goodbye and went to their house.
Naruto couldn't help but feel bad the entire way home. When he got there he dropped his thing on the table and headed for the bathroom to take a shower hoping to clear his head. He took off his clothes and looked in the mirror and freak-out when he looked completely different until he realized he still had his henge on. He deactivate it a jumped in the shower.
The next day Riku and Naruto were at the mine about ten minutes before the shift started. Riku had already started mining while Naruto was waiting for Yukiko to show up.
"Dwarf I don't know what you're waiting for she not coming even if her parents let her the poison is going to keep her in bed." Riku said.
"You don't know that. We gave the guard the Ok to let her in and she still has ten minutes left." Naruto said bitterly. Riku just shook his head and went back to mining. The minutes ticked down and Naruto was about ready to accept that Yukiko wasn't coming when he heard someone dragging their feet towards them.
Naruto stopped to look at who it was and there was Yukiko holding a pickaxe, but she did not look good. She was pale and there was sweat dripping down her face. It looked like just the walk here was too much for her. Riku noticed this too and just looked utterly shocked.
"Hey Yukiko are you Ok?" Naruto asked knowing full well that she wasn't.
"I'm fine just felling a little bit under the weather, but I can still mine." She said with ragged breath. She walked to her spot past Riku who was staring wide eyed at her.
Naruto felt bad for her even though she put up all the effort to come down here there was no way she last more than an hour let alone an eight-hour shift. Riku would know this soon enough and get over his shock. Naruto seeing there was nothing he could do just started his own mining.
This was insane they had been mining for three hours and Yukiko was still holding on. Even though every time she lifted the pickaxe over her head it look like she going to pass out. Riku tried his best not to show how frustrated he was, but he couldn't keep it hiding.
Five hours in and Yukiko wasn't looking so good. She was paler than she was before and Naruto sower he saw her lose consciousness a few times, but pulled herself back as if nothing happened. Naruto was proud out how well she was doing now he knew that Riku was wrong. Girls were not weak.
Six hours in and Yukiko was barely on her feet, but she didn't complain. As she swung her pick she crumbled to her knees in pain and they she puked. She stayed in that position for a little bit just staring at the ground, but she soon got back up a started working aging without saying anything. Naruto wanted to help her so badly, but knew she would never accept it feeling like it would break the rules Riku had set.
Seven hours in. Yukiko didn't have any strength left. She couldn't even crack the rocks she was mining any more.
Seven and a half hours in. It was over Yukiko passed out. She was lying by the side of the cave with a blanket and a pillow that Naruto got for her. She looked peaceful now, but Naruto knew when she woke up she'd be crushed.
"Well it looks like we won't have to deal with her anymore." Riku said very casually.
"Riku it's unfair you cheated she should still be able to become a ninja. Look at her she put herself thought hell just to make it down here and then mined for seven and a half hours when she knew she should be in bed resting." Naruto said looking at Yukiko.
"Naruto I told you Girls are weak. She could never be a ninja just drop it." Riku said.
Naruto didn't miss Riku using his real name which meant he was serious and Naruto never did anything to make Riku mad when he was serious; until now.
"She not a weak girl! She's stronger than half the idiots running around the Elemental Nations claiming to be ninjas! You're just sexist!
"You're just a kid who doesn't like how things work! So you're trying to change it!" They were in each other's faces and neither one was welling to back down. Then Naruto threw a punch at Riku's face. Riku stepped back to dodge and counter punched hitting Naruto in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Naruto quickly recover getting back on his feet. He felt the blood dripping from his nose, but other than that he was fine.
"Aw does the little brat have a bloody nose?" Riku said like he was talking to a baby. "Maybe he should run back to the Hokage and tell him what happened so he can make the bad guy go away. Then he can live his life without any troubles making all the commoner's lick his feet."
"Shut up!" Naruto rushed him and they stared exchanging punches. They were both equal when it came to taijutsu which was all they could use in the mine didn't want to make the whole thing cave in by using a ninjutsu. Unfortunately for Naruto Riku was taller which gave him longer range and made it harder hit him in the face, so Naruto started losing ground.
Naruto had to do something or he would be cornered. He saw noticed Riku was trying really hard to hit his face. This gave him an idea he lowered his guard on purpose, and Riku took the bait he shoot a punch at Naruto's face. Right before it connected Naruto took a step forward and pushed his head back. Riku's punch still connected, but it didn't hurt as much as it should. Naruto fell backwards put his hands on the ground and did a backflip and because of that step forward his feet were right under Riku's chin. Normally Riku would have been able to dodge an attack like that, but they had just finished an eight-hour shift and were tired. Riku was also very mad which clouded his reason; all this lead to Riku taking a kick to the jaw.
He went down hard the kick screwed up his balance. Naruto was quick to reacted he sat and Riku's stomach and pinned Riku's arms with his knees. Riku struggled but couldn't break out of the pin.
"Now listen here Riku!" Naruto yelled. "You and this village are so blinded by your discrimination against girls! That you couldn't even tell a strong Kunoichi if she passed out from poison right in front of you!" Naruto was panting from yelling so hard.
Riku looked like he wanted to kill Naruto. "If you don't like the way we treat girls here so much. Why don't you just go back to Konoha?!"
"Because Konoha has its own problems too and me leaving doesn't fix the problems here, and more importantly I really like it here. I became stronger than I think I could have in Konoha and I got to meet you and Yukiko." Naruto finished with a smile.
This however caused Naruto to lose his concentration and allowed Riku to break out of the pin. Naruto quickly got up ready to fight, but Riku wasn't even looking at Naruto instead he was Looking at Yukiko who was being to wake up. Somehow Riku looked calmer than before.
When she woke up and realized she passed out before the shift ended. She was crushed and started to cry. "Ninjas don't cry." Riku said and Yukiko looked at him in surprise. "You see today happens to be a very special day that only happens once in forever. The day when the shift ends 30 minutes early, so you didn't break any of the rules. You can still be a ninja." Riku finished with sigh then a small smile.
Yukiko didn't know what to do. Not only did these guys believe that she could be a ninja. They were also giving her a second chance. She ran up to Riku and gave him a hug that made them both fall on the ground. "Thank you, thank you!"
"Hey get off me just because you got lucky this time doesn't mean you can stop acting like a ninja and the rules still apply. Riku said trying to push her off blushing furiously.
Naruto just laughed at the scene. He loved this village and he wanted to enjoy it as much as possible because once they became ninja they have to do some terrible things to people who probably don't deserve it, and these happy times wouldn't come around as often. Even so Naruto would always complete his mission no matter who he had to kill.