Chapter Four

Kushika smiles as she sets foot out of the village for the first time. This was going to be fun. Shikana and Rei were also happy they just showed it in different ways. Rei had been working on learning how to use tonfa while Shikana had been working on genjutsu. They had to make sure that they were ready for just about anything that came their way. A mission could go pear shaped at any time. Kushika had her shadow clones out scouting, some of them were exploding shadow clones while she also mixed in water clones and earth clones. She knew that they had to be well informed of the situation around them. Never knew when bandits would try their luck.

Rei had her kikaichū out scouting as well and Burumara was on alert as well. Most green genin had never learned the importance of being aware of your surroundings. They had however as they had run simulations like this with the Uchiha boys. They'd pretend to be bandits, enemy ninja, hell the Aburame Clan would help out with these simulations as well, each one of them was capable of taking on ten opponents alone.

Learning that had been hard but the three had been determined to be able to handle themselves if a C rank were to elevate. Several Aburame Clan members had told them stories where a mission could go pear shaped due to bad intel. Several Nara Clan members had similar tales as well. That was mostly why Shikana was not a typical lazy Nara, not to mention that she had made sure to get her reserves up and create several genjutsu techniques of her own that she had written down once she had tested them completely, making them clan secrets.

Shikaku had been impressed with the genjutsu she had created so easily, though he had to admit that a Nara supplementing themselves with genjutsu was ingenious. Shikana was busy going over different possible scenarios and how to get out of them with a minimum amount of effort and bloodshed. Though Shikana knew that Kushika could take them out rather easily with her chakra chains or if she let loose. The girl had upped her resistance seals by two more levels since her spar with Itachi to get used to her capabilities when the seals were released.

The last time Shibi Aburame had actually sparred with her without using his kikaichū. He had wanted to work on straight taijutsu so it was actually a good thing for him. He hadn't expected her speed to be so close to Might Guy's though. Kushika and Shibi had taken it slow but in the end they had tied as Shibi had more experience. He had thanked her for such a spar and had promised to watch out for Naruto as much as he was able.

Kushika had been thankful for that and Shibi had promised to not discourage Shino, his son, from talking or playing with the blonde. Rei and Shikana both knew that Kushika would make sure she was in the village for her little brother's birthday as the civilians had a tendency to get out of hand otherwise. The Sandaime had promised that once she made genin she would be Naruto's protector on that day. Let's just say that there would be hell to pay if anyone managed to hurt him under Kushika's watch.

Konoha:

Anko curses when she can't find the blonde gaki until she hears a scream of pain. Hell no! Kushika was gonna go ballistic when she got back. Anko shunshins off and kicks a chunin away from Naruto, her eyes narrowed in fury. That was when kikaichū made their way over everyone whom had attacked Naruto, Shibi and Rei's mother, Rika, had been walking by when they heard the screams, the head of the Aburame Clan looks at Rika, " Help Tokubetsu Jonin Mitaraishi take these pitiful Shinobi to Ibiki, I will see to young Naruto's care. "

The women nod and Shibi shunshins off with the son of the Yondaime and Kushina Uzumaki. Poor Naruto couldn't know until he was a chunin, however that didn't stop his older sister from making sure he actually got trained. She also did it right under the noses of the Civilian Council. Hell, very few of the Shinobi Council knew and she was pissing Danzo and the Elders off because she was continually taking out his Root members. The kids she would remove the seal from and then they would sent off to be rehabilitated. She had already liberated a kid named Sai whom had a very unique Kekkei Genkai, with it he was able to bring ink based drawings to life. The kid was now living in the Uzumaki Compound until Kushika was completely sure he was ready for society.

She had also saved the boy he viewed as a brother, Shin, and gotten him the proper medical treatment for his illness as well. She couldn't believe how many kids she had removed from Danzo's grasp and sent back to their families for rehabilitation. Some clans didn't even know this had happened right under their noses. Hiashi was especially pissed when Kushika returned several members of his clan to him. All of them were main branch members that were thought to have been stillborn.

Even the Hyuuga Elders were indebted to the red headed genin, this meant that they had to protect Naruto and not exacerbate the situation that the civilians had made. Not to mention their Caged Bird Seal had been stolen from the Uzumaki Clan, Kushika had informed then that she would be demanding restitution for that and any harm that came to her brother if a Hyuuga was involved or could have stopped it. Most members of the Hyuuga Clan remembered her mother and knew the only reason Kushina hadn't asked for restitution was because of Hitomi.

They hadn't thought that a mere child would be able to play political hard ball like that, but she had and more importantly Hinata could never be marked and she had removed the mark from Neji as well, telling him the truth of what had really happened to his father. She honestly didn't understand why he hadn't been told. Her parents' wills kept Naruto from knowing about their father but once Kushika was a jonin she was going to tell him about their mother. Several of the older ninja shivered whenever she walked past as her mother had taught her how to harness KI when she was younger and she used it to great effect.

Shibi takes the boy to the Nara Compound and Shikaku curses, he did not want to explain to her daughter why her son had died, " What happened, Shibi? " Shikaku asks as he summons one of his best clan medics.

" Some chunin took it into their heads to try and kill him. It is highly illogical to even presume that Naruto is the fox. " Shibi answers.

Shikaku's eyes flash, it looked like he would have to gather the Shinobi forces and remind them that they do not attack civilians! As the jonin commander it was his job to keep them all in check, " I hope they are all having appointments with Ibiki and Anko. Kushika is going to be pissed that her little brother was attacked like this by ninja whom should know the difference between the kunai and the scroll. "

Shibi barely twitched but that was a full body shudder for an Aburame. Kushika was very much her mother's daughter and he feared the day she took her spot at the council, though Shikaku had the Namikaze vote and Mikoto the Uzumaki, as Kushika wasn't going to allow Danzo or someone else to get her clans votes. Shikaku knew how Minato would have voted and Mikoto knew damn well how Kushina would vote. This kept the Civilian Council from getting too far out of hand.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was infuriated that his own ninja would attack an innocent child. If not for the training Kushika slipped to her little brother and the fact that he knew a few people whom actually cared about him then Hiruzen had no doubt that Naruto would level this village. Hell, Kushina would do it for what they were doing to her Sochi. No one had known she was a Jinchuriki and Hiruzen had foolishly thought Naruto would be treated decently. He should have known better, especially with all the horror stories about how other villages treated their Jinchuriki.

He knew that when Kushika made jonin the village was going to get shaken up as Mitaraishi Anko was keeping track of every wrong small or large done to Naruto. He knew that it was needed and warranted, because of the way that the Civilian Council had seized power after Minato's death. He was slowly going through all the past decrees and repealing them when he wasn't inundated with paper work. Kushika had been the one to tell him that her father had used Shadow Clones to get it done.

He had banged his head on his desk for not thinking of it himself. He was the goddamned Professor and he hadn't thought of that. Minato had been the one to beat the bane of all Kage's and he had taken the secret to his grave. Hiruzen decided then and there that it would be a secret that only the Hokage knew. That way they could lord it over all the other Kage that they knew how to defeat paper work. Because of that revelation he was able to repeal several decrees, he had always made sure to read over every law that was placed before him, he was not a doddering old fool. He was actually looking forward to Kushika becoming a jonin as she would finally deal with the damn civilian council.

Nara Training Grounds:

Koji sighs as he goes over his seals knowledge again and then makes one Shadow Clone to test his new seal. This was a seal to store a particular jutsu if a ninja was low on chakra. He and Kushika were still working out the logistics of a chakra replenishing seal. This seal stored the Grand Fire Ball Jutsu. If it was going to blow up he'd rather it blow up his Shadow Clone. Shikaku was all right with him possibly hurting some of the trees because if it worked then that seal would be a gold mine. Plus, Shikaku was impressed with his knowledge of poisons and the fact that he was taking the time to become immune to them. Most Uchiha relied on their Sharingan, Koji would not make that mistake.

Hyuugas were just as arrogant and relied on their eyes too. Very few actually learned jutsu that weren't related to the Jyuuken in some way. That was the failing of clans with Kekkei Genkai. The Naras weren't nearly as bad but they still relied on their shadows far too much. That was why Shikana was a breath of fresh air in that clan. His preference was Aburame Rei though and like Itachi would most likely marry into the Aburame Clan. Mikoto was not an idiot unlike her husband and predecessors that seemed to think the clan needed to remain pure.

Team 5, Three Days Later:

Kushika curses as she draws her jitte and engages her chakra chains, their mission had just upgraded to a B rank due to the missing nin that were attacking them for the medical supplies. Thankfully she had them sealed in a sealing scroll that only she could access them from. Shikana was laying the groundwork for a sealing array that worked with her Shadow Possession Jutsu. Rei was using her allies to drain the chakra from their enemies while their sensei was getting overwhelmed by twelve men.

They just had to get a new sensei, didn't they? She had met Kaiza and his family before they had left Wave, Nami, and had left behind several seals. She had told Kaiza not to be a hero and come to Konoha to seek asylum. If necessary she would probably be able to get someone to pay for the assassination of whomever was a threat if that came to pass. Nami was close to Uzu, her mother's home country that had been demolished. Kushika tore through the opponents surrounding her, her mother's kenjutsu style was quite deadly.

That was when Yuri went down. All three genin curse and kick it into overdrive, Kushika forming several Shadow Clones that went to protect their sensei. She wove through the enemy ninja easily enough, Itachi was more of a challenge than these fools, must be genin drop outs for the most part. Not worth collecting the bounties for then. Shikana has hers killed through a combination of fuuinjutsu and her clan's shadow possession technique. Rei just drains hers of chakra though she also took the fight to them as well.

The three genin converge towards their sensei as the last shadow clone falls. All three shunshin, Rei with a bug variation, Shikana a shadow variation, and Kushika used the water shunshin she preferred. The genin surround their sensei and her ninken, " Burumara, go get help. Something tells me we're going to need it and there is no way in hell we're going to abandon our sensei. " Kushika snaps, even as she blocks several kunai that were thrown at her with her jitte by spinning it around with her chakra.

The ninken races off even as Rei's allies cover her escape quite easily. " It just figures that we're more prepared for something like this than our sensei is. Shikana, put that damn brain to work. " Kushika snaps, her chakra chains whipping to and fro through the enemy ranks, defending her friends and sensei, even as she fends off more kunai, shuriken, and senbon.

" Troublesome red head. " Shikana mutters, she was already thinking at hyper speed but every plan she had was with their sensei able to fight too. It was taking far too long to reformulate the plans for just the three of them. Shikana knew that she had to think fast and then she grins, " Trap Alpha. "

Kushika straightens and then smiles widely, her hidden adversary blanches. That was the smile of an insane Uzumaki plan. Shit, the girl actually was a blood Uzumaki. He pales further upon realizing exactly how much she resembled the Red Death. " Everyone, fall back, the red head is the Red Death's daughter! "

Kushika frowns when they all retreat post haste, " Why, Kaa-san, why do they fear you so? " she asks heavenward.

Heaven:

Kushina chuckles at her Dōta, poor girl wasn't happy that her reputation had scared off her current foes. Hitomi rolls her eyes at this, but she had to admit Mikoto was doing her daughter a world of good. Hinata was starting to develop a bitch mode and it would be needed within the Hyuuga Clan. Plus, the Uchiha Clan head was dealing with the dissenters nicely enough. Well, with Kushika's help, hopefully there would be no coup now. Damn arrogant Uchihas.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.