Ummm…Heyyyyy…

How's everyone doing…?

I want to give a massive shout out to Kilare T'Suna and Jojo the shadow . They have great ideas and they're amazing people. They've helped out with some of my stories and helped keep up the flow of updates when I was less busy with the stuff going on in my life at the moment. I appreciate the hell out of these guys.

Anyways…

Guess who's changing history again?

A little warning, there will be an altered history lesson here, it might interest you.

[Update: 11th December, 2022]

Yup, I cut down on most of my old author's note.

I want to say I appreciate everyone who's reading. For the first time or returning readers. This story brings back so many memories for me. I've got some really good and really bad memories attached to three of my unfinished stories, this one included. So, reliving this brought everything back to me.

I'm sorry for abandoning it.

And thank you for giving it another chance.

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 2

Tracing a family's history could be incredibly hard, especially when you're from a clan.

This was strange because every clan kept a well organised record of their bloodline, whether or not the members married outside or not. It continued on till present. This was hard because one had to sift through generations and generations of families, irrespective of whether or not the record had been restored.

Quite frankly it was boring.

The plus side was that at least it was all there, no one was excluded from the record.

This case was same with the Namikaze clan, which was the sixth oldest clan in history.

The first being the Otsutuski clan, then the Uchiha, Senju and Uzumaki clans, then the Hyuuga clan and finally the Namikaze.

The Namikaze clan was an off-shoot of the Uchiha clan, specifically from the second-born son of Indra Otsutuski who could never truly activate his sharingan. He was cast out of his clan for this defect at the age of fifteen by Indra.

This Namikaze descendant's name had been too obscure for generations, so he was simply referred to as Papa because he was the first, and even though he couldn't use the sharingan he had been blessed by his father with other things before he was kicked out so that he would be able to survive the outside world.

Papa rejected his Uchiha name and called himself Namikaze, because the place he had been dropped off on was on a cliff; a combination of wind and water in its purest form.

Papa Namikaze had a large well of Yin chakra to compensate for not having his former clans doujutsu. This lightened his bones and muscles exponentially, making him fleetfooted, almost to a supernatural level. He trained this speed, honed it to a lethal sharpness, meanwhile working for years as a mercenary. The Namikaze forefather possessed a popular trait among Namikaze men; he was very active beneath the sheets, so it shouldn't come off as a surprise that dozens of women came to him in droves, claiming that they were pregnant for him. This was possible because, naturally, people born in the Sage's Era were extremely fertile. He was, quite frankly, the most virile Namikaze in history and the very first one to possess the Flash Step release his clan had patented.

He accepted these women, their children, whether they were truly his or not, and any extended family that wished to join his growing family.

Many texts wrote that Papa Namikaze yearned for familial acceptance and love, and when he received this from his harem and his new extended family, his Flash Step release elevated to Ghost Speed release.

It was difficult discerning truth from fiction when it came to texts written in the Sage's Era. The reality might be that Papa Namikaze trained and learnt harder and better, each and every day, in order to better protect his large family. This was more believable than saying the Namikaze forefather evolved his bloodline due to the power of love.

Thus, the Namikaze clan was formed, and so it spread.

Papa Namikaze broke apart and reassembled the Uchiha fighting style to better suit his bloodline speed, agility, and the vulnerabilities while running. He named this fighting stance the Hummingbird taijutsu, making it a clan taijutsu style. It was a fighting style that made use of the raw speed to overcome opponents rather than brute force. When the old man had discovered that he and his clan mates were good at separating and combining their chakra affinities, especially towards water and wind affinity chakra. He, along with his children, joined hands with the Uzumaki clan and paved the way for the perfection of jutsu like Wind release: Great breakthrough and Water release: Water Wall Encampment, among others.

The old clan was initially a nomadic clan, travelling around the elemental nations with no particular home to call their own, mercenaries for the highest payer, and herding cattle and goats to make a living seeing.

They later chose to settle down in the same place Konoha was to be founded after Papa Namikaze had reunited with his older Uchiha brother, his Senju and Hyuuga cousins.

The Uzumaki forefather that the Sage of Six Paths had personally trained alongside his sons, who had been blessed with his longevity, chakra capacity and chakra density had long since moved to a secluded island he had created from incredibly powerful jutsu and started his own family, he called this island the Country Hidden in the Whirlpool; they were still on good, familiar terms with him despite the distance.

Each clan agreed to set aside their differences and ally with each other mutually to better survive the chaotic world they were in, supported by their surrogate brother, the first Uzumaki.

It was six hundred years after Papa Namikaze progenitor's death, and there were over ten thousand Namikaze men and women did they finally call the Uchiha-Senju-Hyuuga-Namikaze settlement Hidden Leaf, formerly called Leaf, named after the leaves of the forest their home was surrounded by.

They called the treaty between the original clans' 'The Memorandum of Understanding of the First Four'.

To give legitimacy and recognition for their hidden village, the founding clans carved out a large chunk of the surrounding area and installed a Daimyo to govern the new lands, ensuring the new Head of State and his appointed Head of Government formally agreed to allocate and defend Konoha its independence. This period of forming Fire country was a bloody era, filled with war and death, whereupon the founding clans claimed lands and battled those that resisted.

Arguably, this was the very beginnings of the feud between Konoha and Iwa, as several acres of Iwa territory had been sliced off and annexed for Fire country.

Till this day, fighting for those pieces of land had not been resolved, only downplayed.

The first Hokage was chosen by a collective decision from the four original clan heads, with the exception of the Uchiha clan head. The decision was respected for years until Madara Uchiha defected. Before the position of 'Hokage' came about, the four origin clans formed a council of clan heads to govern Konoha. More clans joined Konoha, namely: Aburame, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Hatake, Inuzuka, Kurama and Shimura clans, fortifying Konoha even more.

The Namikaze clan was a legendary clan that chose to stay away from the formal leadership of Konoha out of respect for the two more dominant clans; the Uchiha and Senju clans, so they preferred the position of Konoha's traders since history has ingrained years of nomadic lifestyle into the heads, the other option would have to become mercenaries but they couldn't for obvious reasons.

Despite their silence and humility, they were never to be underestimated or prodded, and it always seemed that each clan head was stronger than the last.

The clan was a family-centric clan, taking a page from Papa Namikaze, they never rejected a clan mate if he or she wasn't able to unlock his or her bloodline ability. And so far this had helped them for many generations, there had been no quickly resolvable internal feuds and their clan compound was frequently used to settle matters between other clans, origin clans or not. It was when the fertility rate gradually began reducing did it raise alarms throughout the clan.

Every method to correct this was unsuccessful, giving them no other option than to let nature take its course.

The once mighty Namikaze eventually half-died off until Minato's father, the former clan head died, in battle against a battalion of Hidden Darkness ninjas, leaving him to fend for himself at the age of five with hundreds of years of jutsu only the Namikaze could use. It was only providence that the woman he fell in love with, Uzumaki Kushina, was from a clan of high fertility rate, which negated his own low sperm count and passed it onto his children.

This meant that the Namikaze clan might have a chance of returning.

Minato had been able to trace his family's history straight back to Papa Namikaze, and he found why his son was able to use the sharingan.

His grandfather many times over had married outside the clan and the child married outside again, the person they had married was an Uchiha who married outside again, this outside marriage went on three more times, watering down the Namikaze and Uchiha bloodline until another child married into the Uchiha clan. This child wasn't able to use the sharingan so she married a Namikaze, the child married a Namikaze, then another married an Uchiha. Finally, the outside marriages ended when the Uchiha-Namikaze offspring married back into the speedster clan until three more generations later Minato was born. He assumed that it could only take a monumental amount of fear and devastation that made Naruto unlock his doujutsu. Naruto loved his mother like Rin loved her father, so it shouldn't come off as strange that watching her die sped up his sharingan's activation.

Or at least that's what he thought…

The blonde Namikaze Hokage didn't know that Naruto had unlocked his sharingan when he was four years old after he had witnessed his father use the flying thunder god seal to destroy the battalions of Iwa ninjas that attempted to infiltrate Konoha, a feat that contributed in making his notoriety and also a feat that cemented his place as an S rank, flee on sight ninja.

Naruto snuck away from his caretaker and his sister to watch his father fight. The sheer speed and brutality of it unlocked his sharingan and evolved Flash Step release his Ghost Speed release, right before he passed out from sensory overload. Only his sister and Itachi knew of his doujutsu because, despite having a wicked rivalry with the Uchiha, they were also very good friends. The red-haired boy was a known prodigy, albeit a playful one, like his sister, so evolving his eyes to three tomoe took a year to accomplish. Watching his mother die had unlocked the second highest form of the sharingan.

Mangekyo sharingan.

Minato suspected that his son had those eyes already but he would have to ask him to show him at his own time.

His eyes might also be why he was already an A rank at seventeen, but if he used that line of thought why was Rin also an A rank?

The blonde man sat back on his chair and propped his feet on his desk; his receptionist had gone home and he was waiting for his children to have the usual evening discussion as they go home. It was nine in the evening and he suspected that Naruto was at the tower in the Forest of Death while Rin was in the hospital; he allowed the dim lighting and the darkness to take his mind away until they arrived.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

With Naruto

The Red Demon walked silently through the emptying halls of the tower; tomorrow was the beginning of the third part of the exams and everyone was getting as much sleep as possible. Not for him though, since he was part of the patrol group for the tower and the Forest of Death.

His fiery purple eyes looked around the dimly lit corridor as he walked past each room. He gently, slowly cracked each door open to check if the occupants were sleeping, nodding to see that they were. Until he stopped at the door his sisters team were assigned to.

His face remained blank, albeit with a small upward twitch of his lips, when he opened the door a little and saw his sister snoring and drooling on her bed. The pink haired girl in Mikoto's team, snorted, shifting restlessly on her bed and then went back to sleep. Naruto finally looked at the last member of the team and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that he was doing quiet push ups. He opened the door a little more, there not being enough light in the hallway to change the lighting in the room by much, allowing him to quietly observe the Uchiha for ten minutes before he walked into the room with practised, silent motions. The Uchiha stopped abruptly and turned his head to the older sharingan user.

"Can't sleep?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms.

"Not like you care."

Naruto snorted, rolling his eyes. "You're Itachi's brother. Of course, I care."

"Well…whatever. What do you want?" the boy said as he continued his push ups.

"I was wondering why you can't sleep, especially when you guys have such an important day tomorrow." Naruto looked around the dim room at where the team had stashed their equipment and weapons. "Don't you have a point to prove?"

"A point?"

"Yes, a point. Don't you have one?"

"I don't know what you mean." Sasuke asked with a huff. He kept powering through the push ups until Naruto kicked his stomach with the flat of his foot, lifting him into the air and having gravity deposit him on his bed in a huff. "What the hell was that for?!"

Naruto shook his head and placed a finger on his lips for silence when he saw Sakura flinch in her bed.

He trusted his sister to sleep like a log even if there was a hurricane and she was in a boat on the sea.

He continued when the pink haired girl began softly snoring again.

"Did you know that sleep deprivation is the number one cause of death in a shinobi?" the boy remained defiant for half a minute, staring straight into Naruto's blank purple eyes until he sighed and shook his head. "I thought so."

"Ok. But…why do you care? And don't say it's because I'm Itachi's brother."

Naruto tipped his head to the side and replied. "When I was younger, about your age, I wanted to be just like Kakashi, believe it or not."

Sasuke actually scoffed out a small laugh. "Yeah, right. You? Like Kakashi-sensei? That weirdo?"

Naruto smiled a little, or tried to. "It's true. He was my role model. I spent twenty-two hours and thirty minutes training every single day of the week ever since I was four to be exactly like him. I even started dressing like him at one point. Mask, gloves, porn and everything." A small, amused smile spread on his face when Sasuke turned wide eyed at this. "It's true. You can ask Rin."

"Then what happened? You're obviously not like Kakashi-sensei."

"When I turned Chunin, I was training well past midnight and I passed out from exhaustion. He took me to the hospital and when I woke up, he told me one thing. He told me be myself."

"He did? I would have thought sensei would love to have an admirer for once."

Naruto smiled at that, continuing. "For some time, I was heartbroken but then he told me that if I really wanted to be like him, I had to make my own path. I didn't even know that he had been my guardian since the day of the Kyuubi attack."

"What's the point of your story then?"

"Don't be like me; it's not worth it." He said and some underlying sadness lurked in his eyes as they drooped almost minutely before he looked back at the young sharingan user.

A memory of his dead mother smiling sunnily at him flashed through his mind quickly.

Then another memory-

Kushina heaved, a gaping hole in her chest and her mouth choked with blood. In her husband's arms, her head turned to her son, hidden far from sight and horror-struck and paralyzed as his mother paled.

Silent rivers of tears ran down from his eyes.

The tanto he brought with him to help in the fight laid useless on the earth.

Kushina winked.

-He shook away the memory and hoped the boy didn't notice.

Sasuke didn't.

The young Uchiha leaned back in surprise. Fumbled for control. "And who told you I want to be like you?"

"Itachi told me. Besides, with the way you go around brooding, combining the Uchiha and Namikaze combat styles, and how you try to run faster than your level is evidence enough." The red-haired teen smirked at how flustered the Uchiha got.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about?"

Naruto ruffled his hair. "Don't worry kid, your secrets safe with me…and my sister…and Itachi…and your parents…and my father…and the whole Uchiha clan…" he leaned back in shock, realization hit him. " Wow. You are terrible at keeping things secret; pretty much everyone and their moms know." He laughed a little and closed his eyes, a small grin spread on his face; his hand was still on the boys head as Sasuke crossed his arms in frustration.

"Whatever."

Naruto turned to leave. "Get some sleep kid; tomorrows a big day." He waved over his shoulder and closed the door. The Uchiha boy sighed and went to sleep; he might as well listen to his hero.

He vowed to impress Naruto enough in the Chunin exams to take him up as his protégé.

The redhead went to the top of the tower to watch the stars.

The red-haired Namikaze later finished up his rounds through the tower while his sister followed up on the lead he found in the forest; the silver-grey strand of hair.

She was scanning through Konoha's migration logs as the hair was being secretly analysed in a confidential Konoha crime lab to see if it was associated with any silver-grey haired man in their computer database, being done by a former Academy classmate they trusted, a lab technician that transferred out of the Academy in their second year to enrol in the Civilian Academy.

The ninja life wasn't for everyone.

Thankfully, the twins stayed friends with the lab technician.

Before we pan over to the blonde twin and watch her own half of the investigation, our red-haired hero's eyes caught something moving quickly in the forest.

He raised an eyebrow slowly and narrowed his eyes to see better, since there was no full moon to give any light.

He caught the slight glint of glasses.

He stood upright and looked back at the door he went through before his body disintegrated into red mist.

The world moved in slow motion after this; the real Naruto leaped over the railing of the building's top floor and had his feet touch down on the side so he could run down the wall in a blur. The buzz that came from this was so low it could be chalked up to the crickets chirping in the forest around the tower.

The fastest ninja alive appeared directly above his target on a sturdy tree, and made sure that his massive well of chakra was well supressed. He squinted at the person and caught silver-grey hair as he passed under him; the speedster crawled after this bespectacled man through the tree, as silent as one of his many monikers.

The Red Ghost of Konoha.

He bent down on a branch and his purple eyes glowed in the night, behind the person he was stalking, creating an ominous image if he was seen.

The person stopped outside the forest of death, on the west exit, and Naruto quickly summarized that this was the person that Orochimaru had met before his trail went cold. He began musing on whether or not to capture him but held back to see what was going to happen.

He didn't particularly remember the name of this Genin, if he even was a Genin, so he merely watched as the person stopped and another person dropped into the clearing; Naruto's sharp eyes caught the glint of the Hidden Sound forehead protector.

"What was so important that I had to come personally? Do you know how hard it is to sneak out of that place?" Kabuto whispered fumingly.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just scared that the Red Demon would get you." The person chuckled and made playfully haunting sounds until Kabuto shushed him hastily.

"Shut up, idiot. What do you want?" the darkness around them prevented Naruto from seeing a clear description of them besides the fact that his first target had silver hair and that the newcomer was a very bulky man. The teen squinted at them and refrained from activating his doujutsu; the chakra burst would attract their attention.

"Lord Otokage wants you to participate in the exams for as long as you can."

"Did he tell you why?" Naruto got comfortable on the branch, sitting on it with his legs crossed and his hands set on his knees.

"He's really interested in that Uchiha and the Yondaime's kid. Your one of the only people he trusts that's 'competent' enough to bring out their potential."

"Who is the main target now? Sasuke or Mikoto? Both?"

"Sasuke. But you know how Master is; he has his own plans for the Namikaze kid." The person paused and continued. "Hell if I know and hell if I care why he wants her so much. I'm just a messenger."

Kabuto screwed his lips to the side in irritation; he could easily beat both Sasuke and Mikoto, but if Orochimaru wanted to see him do it then so be it. "Alright, I'm heading back. Unless you've got anything else to say." He began hurriedly walking back to the tower while the other person too turned around and started going back to where he came from.

At that moment Naruto made a decision.

When Kabuto was more than twenty feet away from the messenger, and the hunter still had his eyes on the Sound ninja, Naruto fell back off the branch and landed softly on his feet, sliding into the full shade of the bushes when the messenger turned around sharply. The man shrugged and kept on walking, that was when Naruto's left arm appeared from a haze of low buzzing directly behind the man's neck, wrapped around the person's neck and his right poked a cluster of nerves on his neck, knocking the Sound messenger before he even knew it.

The rest of the speedster's body materialised with his arms and he hefted the person on his shoulder just before he and the person crumpled into a pile of red mist, scattered by the cool evening wind.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day

The Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves sat down with his fellow village leaders in their booth after he had announced that the third part of the exams will begin.

The aging Namikaze puffed out a sigh of relief and ignored the amused laugh Rin tittered out.

"It's not as easy as it looks, you know." He muttered; he could rally troops for war and lead the charge, but in peacetimes like these, it felt out-of-place to encourage children to fight as hard as they could.

"No, it certainly is not." The Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand, Rasa of the Gold Sand, grunted sourly and idly watched as the twins left the booth to stand outside, guarding the entrance.

Kamina Tsuki, the Leader of the Village Hidden in the Marshes also watched on. "You have a very accomplished family, Lord Hokage."

The blonde man smiled at her and nodded his thanks as he tried to steer the conversation away from him and his family. "Thank you. I hear your nephew is attending this exam for his first time."

The woman beamed and lilted in her seat. "Yes, he is. He was so excited I could barely calm him down."

"You are the sensei of their team, isn't that a little controversial?" Yumi Chou, the Leader of the Village Hidden in the Chill piped in.

"Not in the least. I don't give them preferential treatment or hand everything to them that I wouldn't give any other ninja." Kamina retorted across Minato. The fast man chuckled nervously as the chill leader bared her teeth at the other woman.

"Now, now, let's calm down. I trained the twins before and after they became ninjas until they became Chunin. They suffered and enjoyed as much as any other ninja in Konoha. Matter of fact, I'm training my son to be my successor if anything ever happens to me."

"I'm sure he deserves such a high calling." Yumi said with a wistful sigh as she looked at the Hokage. "What would you be doing after you retire, Lord Hokage?"

"I've always wanted to open a store, I don't know which one but I'll cross that bridge when I get there." He obliviously overlooked the way the Chill Leader batted her eyelashes at him, winking at her. "What will you be doing?"

"I guess I'll just be moving between Chill and Konoha. I like the warmth of this village. It's very inviting."

"We would gladly welcome you, Lady Yumi."

"That's enough flattery for today. We have an exam to watch." Kamina said with a deep frown, before she sent an accomplished grin at Yumi and winked at the Hokage. Minato furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then he shrugged and watched as the second match started.

The Waterfall Leader, Shibuki, laughed to himself at the legendary obliviousness of the leaf's Hokage.

Outside the booth, Naruto idly watched on as his twin sister juggled six shuriken.

Each village leader was at liberty to bring along at most two designated bodyguards for the exams, and these guards were seated on wooden seats outside the door of the booth, watching the peculiar Namikaze juggle sharp spinning stars.

"…I can do that." One of the Marsh bodyguards said and threw six shuriken in the air. He immediately regretted it as he fumbled with his hands and closed his eyes, ready for impact any second but three seconds later he opened his eyes and saw that Naruto had each shuriken between his fingers and thumb.

"It's an illusion." He simply said.

True to his words the 'shuriken' that the blonde speedster was juggling disappeared in numerous puffs of smoke which quickly cleared to show that she had indeed been juggling red balls. Rin caught the balls in her hands and grinned at the flustered waterfall guard.

The redhead allowed the guard to feel shame as he handed him his flying stars back.

One of the Sand guards sighed wistfully and leaned sideways on Naruto, her shoulder touching his. The teen looked at her with a raised eyebrow and let his eyes travel over her body; she was in brown khaki pants and a short sleeved black vest with her brown Suna Jounin flak jacket over it. There was also a long camo scarf draped over her shoulders and neck numerous times and trailed down to her brown boots. She had blonde hair and tanned skin with teal green eyes that didn't hide her intentions for the boy.

His eyes moved from her to the TV monitor hanging over the guards in front of him showing a live feed of the exams.

"So…how does it feel being the child of a Kage?" she purred and her comrade rolled his eyes in exasperation as he leaned on the wall behind him. A mundane, pointless question to every ear that heard it.

"It's great actually!" Rin quickly answered before Naruto could, she shared a rage filled glare at the Suna woman. "It's really awesome." She grit, her teeth bared under her closed lips.

"I won't say it's awesome, but y'know, I don't have any complaints." Naruto shrugged and looked at both of the girls; one was leaning heavily on his shoulder and the other was trying to drag him away. "Is there a problem…?"

"No. Not at all." The Suna guard rumbled.

"Dude, she's just horny." Her Suna comrade said, amused yet uncaring of Naruto's predicament.

"Bumi!" the kunoichi screeched.

"What? I'm just being honest." The man said and held up his hands defensively. "Didn't you say you wanted to see if he could live up to his reputation?"

"My reputation?" Naruto said in confusion, the other guards perked up at this and listened in. "What reputation?"

He didn't want to come off as cocky but he needed to be a bit more specific about the reputation.

"Yeah. In Suna, we call it 'Lord Red Demon Week', Lord Kazekage even enacted a state of emergency when it happened." he nodded. "Not a whole lot of people know it, mostly the ladies. I'm guessing the guys that know don't want to talk about it."

Except him, apparently.

Small droplets of sweat began forming on the Namikaze's temple.

"Why did he enact a State of Emergency?" the Suna guard named Bumi kept quiet, but it was the flirtatious woman that sighed in frustration and started the story.

"Legend has it was that eight months ago, when you were on mission to my village, you were meant to spend a day there. A friend of mine said that you walked into a brothel with three boxes of condoms, paid in full for a whole week for the entire building and made rounds on each and every escort there. Three. Times!"

Silence reigned over them as the guards, men and women looked at Naruto with admittedly more respect.

The red head tried to keep his face blank but he couldn't suppress the cold sweat that dripped down his red face. He tried to focus on his younger sister's fight, which was being screened on the monitor.

The ninja continued her story. "Even the matron tagged in, making twenty-eight women. After your first round, more than half of the escorts had passed out and the noise had attracted a few kunoichi who were patrolling at that time. When they found out, they invited their friends and these friends invited theirs and so on…and so on." The storyteller pouted, crossing her arms. "I was outside the village on a mission, that's why I couldn't come…but friends of mine sent me letters telling all about it." Her grumbling deepened, sour at the loss.

Naruto gulped and avoided the shocked look in his sister's eyes.

"I knew you were a horn dog, but I didn't know you could get this horny…" she muttered in shock.

"Well don't leave us in suspense; why did the Kazekage enact a State of Emergency?" a female guard from chill asked insistently.

"Every single or unfaithful kunoichi that wasn't on a mission heard about what was going on and went to that brothel that same night, and Red demon did them twice before he moved on. He even used shadow clones. My friend said it was the most satisfied she had ever been in her life and probably the last time she ever will, unless he comes over again. We even have a teeny tiny, small club about you. Definitely not a cult." She laughed dismissively, causing more than a few sweat drops and face palms. "It's a fan club, I swear".

Bumi shrugged, not sure if he should be bothered or not that a Leaf ninja had spent the week decimating the female population of Suna's ninja force, right under the nose of every guy. "That week, the guys didn't hear the screams because we sealed off the building."

"You haven't told us why there was a State of Emergency!" the Chill girl exclaimed, abruptly covering her mouth with her hands to contain her excitement. "I'm sorry. This is just too good."

"I know right?" her partner, a male, added with a deep laugh.

"Well, Lord Red Demon here did them all so many times and so damn hard that they weren't able to walk for three whole days. Lord Kazekage thought it was an epidemic." She allowed a laugh to erupt from her lips and the other guards followed. Naruto even laughed nervously but stopped when his twin punched his arm. "No one was able to make any coherent words or think straight during that time, so he only found out about what really happened a week later. One of the reasons I came here was to see if I can get some Red Demon dick." She looked at Naruto and waggled her eyebrows. Naruto was inclined to smirk, if not for the death jabs being driven into his side.

"Can I assume you are also in his cult-I mean fan club." The same chill girl asked mockingly.

"I'm the Assistant Secretary-General." The woman said proudly; with her campaigning and the kind of votes she got, she would have been Vice President, only that she hadn't been blessed by Lord Red Demon.

The guards laughed loudly when Naruto ducked his head in shame. "I took some chakra replenishing pills, the ones Akimichi use when they're really low. I guess it worked too well and I went a little stir crazy. I vowed to myself that that would be the last time I did that sort of thing."

"Oh no you don't. When you come to Suna, splurge all you want, keep your vow outside my village."

The legend of Lord Red Demon Week was strong in Suna.

"Alright, back off hot stuff." Rin barked so suddenly the guards jolted in surprise. "Leave my brother alone; he doesn't need any of your craziness."

"And what if I don't? I will have Lord Red Demon, over and over and over again." The woman said with a nasty smirk. "You can't have him all to yourself, you know; even you aren't that strong."

"You know what?!" Rin abruptly stood up, her face turning an unpleasantly deep shade of red. Naruto just barely held her back, bright yellow lights crackled off her skin and popping as they fell to the ground. He lifted his twin onto his shoulder and quickly walked to a corner, away from their prying eyes. "Let go of me, damn it!"

From that point, the guards couldn't clearly hear what they were saying.

It started with incoherent yelling, then a thump on the wall they assumed was a punch (or a body bouncing off the wall after a punch), then quick conversation that bordered on gibberish, before silence that delved into soft crying. A long, deathly quiet followed, ending with a long sigh and low, mumbling conversation no one could clearly grasp. There was a distinct, airy moan that came then, before it ended in a longing groan, then finally a secretive laugh and a small giggle after, before the more feminine laugh shushed the masculine teasing hurriedly and both twins walked back to where the guards were assembled.

Rin was smoothing out her flak jacket with her sweaty palms, her cheeks blazing red and her blonde hair, formerly set in a neat pony tail, was now messy.

Naruto's blank face showed no clue on what they were doing outside their field of vision, but his eyes sparkled with a peculiar achievement.

They silently watched the twins; Naruto had whipped out a book and was reading it and Rin was shakily tidying up her hair into the ponytail, her eyes looking anywhere but at them. The blonde twin broke the silence, subdued and shy. "So…does anyone know any games?"

The door to the Kage's booth burst open suddenly and each guard stood at attention as their respective Kage nodded for them to follow. Neither twin knew that this much time had passed.

Minato looked between the trussed-up appearance of his daughter, her cheeks blazing red and using her palms to cover them, and Naruto had a half lidded, lazy look in his eye as well as his usual lazy backwards lean, something he still kept during his Kakashi-craze phase.

Their father noticed that his usually messy hair was a little bit scruffier with barely visible hand trails, their tantos were sheathed and in their grasp, they didn't know that he had her weapon and she had his, but Minato noticed.

No Namikaze spoke for an extended while as the pair's father scrutinised them critically with his eyes, until Naruto's eyes widened suddenly. "How did Mikoto do?"

The man allowed him to veer his attention away from them, just that once, as he walked ahead. The twins stalked at his sides. "She's going to fight next month against the Kazekage's son."

"The one you helped correct his seal?" Rin asked.

"The very same."

"Is he stable?" Naruto question.

"More or less. He doesn't really speak during his fight, so I won't know." They exited the building, choosing to walk through the forest of death to the village rather than follow the well-lit underground tunnel. It was more relaxing. "When the last part of the exams come around, the guards are permitted to stay with us in the booth. There's enough space for all of us." The twins nodded and Minato continued, partly paying attention when Naruto glared darkly into the dark recesses of the forest, anticipating a giant tiger about to leap on them. The animal whimpered and slinked back from them. "What has Ibiki said about our Sound friend?"

Rin answered her father's question. "He said that the guy must have a really high pain tolerance, both psychological and physical, so he couldn't squeeze much out of him besides what Naruto told you." The blonde father furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion and motioned for the girl to keep talking. "Ibiki asked for his name and the reason why the Otokage wanted Sasuke and Mikoto, but he didn't say anything. Even after he told him that he knew that Orochimaru is the Otokage. He was just really surprised, but except for that, nothing."

"Did Ibiki set Anko on him?"

"Yup." The blonde girl nodded. "Still nothing. She thinks she's losing her touch." She sniggered behind her hand and kicked a small rock out of her way. The rock hit the forehead of a gorilla, knocking it out instantly.

"I advised him to allow Inoichi to look at the Sound ninja." Naruto added, holding his sheathed tanto by the leather strap, allowing the sheath to drag on the ground, creating a thin line as he walked. "He was much more successful than the other two, understandably."

"And…?" the Hokage prodded his two most trusted ninja, who doubled up as his oldest children. They were among the few shinobi he allowed knowledge of S class secrets since they had proved time without number that they were indeed loyal to Konoha; the other few were Yugao, Tenzo, Shikaku, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Plus, they were A rank shinobi; it would take a large amount of effort to capture them to and torture the secrets out of them.

"The written report is in your office in the A class cabinet-"

Minato interrupted the boy. "Why A class?"

"Turns out that Orochimaru still wants to kill you, so he theorizes that killing Mikoto first would break you."

The legendary ninja laughed darkly. "If he kills her, I will kill him. He should know that by now."

"He does, but the snake summoner is crazy and unpredictable. The messenger doesn't know all that much why he wants Sasuke." Naruto continued. "Let's assume it's because of his sharingan."

"So, no invasion just yet then." The older Namikaze mused.

The red head looked at his sister shortly and continued. "I honestly think that if he does try an invasion it would end before it really starts; there are many high ranked ninja allied to Konoha in attendance." The spectating Chill, Marsh, Sand and Waterfall ninjas were the first people that popped into the older man's mind. The rest included Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, Kurenai, the guards, and many more people. "It would be a really stupid move on his part if he invades."

"Not only would we know where his base is but we will, of course, retaliate." Rin finished. "But like Naruto said, he's crazy and unpredictable." She raised a suggestion to her father. "Do you want us to call Jiraiya-pervy-sage back or maybe look for old lady Tsunade."

Minato and Rin caught the quick twitch on Naruto's jaw at the mention of the Slug Sannin's name.

He didn't say anything though.

"Jiraiya is investigating something in Demon country for me, and Tsunade is still nowhere to be found. Shizune keeps us updated about her but she's hesitant to tell us their travel plans; she says it's as far as she wants to go behind Tsunade's back." He half-frowned, musing aloud to his children. "We have more than enough ninjas to defend Konoha if anything happens." They nodded in agreement and exited the forest. They were immediately greeted by five ANBU ninjas, the Hokage's guards for when the twins were too occupied. "I want you two to focus on our barriers and the migration logs. At about midday, take a walk around to the clan compounds. Hopefully they won't mind too much. Make sure you help around. I'll see both of you tonight."

The look in his eyes made them know that he had a reason for them doing this.

"Hai, Lord Hokage." They said curtly, giving their father slight bows. The old Namikaze spared them a smile and walked off into the town as his guards followed, stalking in the secrecy of his surroundings.

The Yondaime placed a lot of trust on his oldest children, an amount of trust people would consider unadvisable, but he wasn't a lot of people.

They were his greatest pride and he always felt like they were still trying to prove something to him.

Namikaze Mikoto had big shoes to fill, considering just who her father was and her older siblings; she was born with a chip on her shoulder and bore the full weight of expectation.

The twins and their father had to repeatedly remind the young girl that she was already considerably strong for her age; she didn't need to go over and beyond to show them she was a progressively capable kunoichi.

The twelve-year-old Genin wanted to use the Chunin exams to show them that she could reach their notoriety.

Winning it was just an added bonus.

Her biggest challenges would probably be the Kazekage's son, Sabaku no Gaara, the youngest child of the Uchiha clan head, Sasuke Uchiha (who also had a chip on his shoulder) and the mysterious medic ninja, Kabuto Yakushi.

Gaara's match was among the shortest since he immediately crushed his Chill opponent into unconsciousness. Fortunately, he wouldn't die from his wounds, but he will be out of commission for a while. He was a silent spectre, much like her older brother, and this made her wary of him whenever they passed by each other in the arena.

However, she refused to show any fear.

Sasuke's match wasn't too long either; he had used shuriken connected to strings and fire jutsu to scorch a path through Kankuro's puppet collection.

Sasuke was Mikoto's longest rival, as she and the boy had met when Naruto dropped her off at the Uchiha compound with her namesake, Auntie Mikoto Uchiha, for the day while he went to run a quick house errand with Itachi for the Uchiha clan heads wife; Rin had left for a solo mission a week prior.

She and Sasuke were just three then but the amount of loathing they had for each other was staggering, even to the Uchiha matriarch, so much so that the simple matter of passing a glass of water to the other would take five minutes because they preferred glaring at each other. This was mainly because Naruto and Itachi were rivals, their childish logic summarized that they too should be rivals.

Their spars in the academy were so serious that Iruka preferred not to let them fight each other.

The times they did fight, Mikoto always won.

Then lastly was the Sound medic, Kabuto.

The bespectacled man always gave her the creeps with the way he smiled at her randomly. He was pitted against a Marsh Genin and he used thirty minutes to play with her, making it painfully obvious that he was not just a normal Genin.

She promised herself that she would put him down, no matter what it takes; the way he smiled at her made her feel like he was undermining her.

That infuriated her like nothing else.

Punch after punch, kick after kick, the youngest Namikaze offspring never relented in her assault of a seal-enhanced training dummy, jammed on a wooden pole in her family's training ground.

Her katana had been discarded in the living room of the house and her blue-black apron shirt was off to reveal the form fitting black wifebeater underneath, matching her tight black shorts and her black knee high socks.

She glared at the smiling dummy, hating it more and more as it continued rising back up after each blow; she spun on her heel and the kick connected to the side of the dummy's head, continuing in the turn to drive her elbow through the inanimate object's ribs. It fell back with the pole holding it up but slowly rose back up again, its drawn shit-eating grin making her feel like it was looking down on her.

She yelled and was about to drive a clawed fingers through its head, her intention to tear it to pieces, before a hand grabbed her shoulder.

She quickly turned around and the knee she sent to the person's stomach was effortlessly slapped back down. Mikoto pulled her deflected leg back and thrust her palm forward; the person leaned to the side, away from the hand and simply tripped the red-haired girl.

As she tried to struggle to her feet and regain the air that had been driven out of her lungs, a foot was placed on her stomach, holding her down.

The girl growled at the person and squinted her eyes up, trying to see past the sharp beams of sunlight until her eyes focused on the persons face.

Mikoto slowly relaxed and closed her eyes when she saw that it was her older sister, Namikaze Rin, who looked down on her with a concerned frown. The blonde speedster gently removed her foot and helped her sister up when she noticed that she had calmed down.

Mikoto opened her eyes and realized that Naruto was standing behind her twin.

Rin dusted the younger girl's back for grass and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look into her eyes, purple and blue met then as the purple orbs searched the blue stare for any clue on what was wrong.

She then found what she was looking for. "Your fight was epic, Miko-Miko." The blonde girl beamed. The younger girl's lips twitched upwards but she hurriedly suppressed it as she crossed her arms.

"How would you know that? You weren't even there."

"We're really sorry that, Mikoto, we were dad's guards and we had to stay with the others." Rin replied apologetically. " But we did watch your match from there. I can't be any prouder." She brought the distraught girl into a strong hug, her arms remained limp around her older sister.

"Oh yeah? Then who did I fight?"

"Tatsumaki Kurojin of Suna." Naruto answered. "We even downloaded your fight into our computer." He grinned when her cheeks reddened. Rin cooed and hugged her even tighter, this time Mikoto slowly circled her arms around her sister.

The fight had been spectacular.

Tatsumaki was a short sword user with high proficiency in using her weapon. The fight admittedly pushed Mikoto close to her limits. It ended when the Namikaze used brute strength to break her opponent's weapon, following up with a kick to the midsection and a nin-kenjutsu move her mother's clan created called the Nin-kenjutsu: Wind release: Yami sickle and scythe.

The jutsu started with her stabbing her weapon into the ground violently, creating cracks that followed after her opponent's airborne body. A wall of transparent wind sickles rose from the ground and held her in place while Mikoto went through a long chain of hand seals, with each hand seal short-handed wind scythes materialized and nailed Tatsumaki all over her body, all except her head and her heart.

The bloodied girl called for a forfeit before Mikoto could begin another chain of hand seals. The only reason the jutsu wasn't A rank instead of B rank was because it could easily be broken out of if the victim channelled even a drop of fire affinity chakra. That is, if the victim is able to see through the haze of blood and pain to do so.

Sadly for Tatsumaki, she didn't know how to channel fire chakra, only wind.

The red-haired girl had accompanied her opponent to the infirmary.

Naruto looked at the sun and said. "You should take a few days to rest. I'm sure your tired." He raised his hand when the girl was about to object. "I know you much better than I know my own chakra." She wanted to complain about that but a pointed look from him kept her quiet. "I promise we'll go shopping for a claymore tomorrow."

"And I'll come too!" Rin said as she released the little girl from the hug. "It'll be our own 'Namikaze's Day Out.'"

"Thank you, big bro, big sis."

"Don't sweat it." The older red head replied. "And dad said that we're going to be with him in his booth for the next part of the exams, so no throwing any more tantrums, ok?" he smirked in amusement as she mumbled her reply.

"Ok…"

"Good. Now, go watch some TV or something." He glanced up toward the sun again and continued. "I think Captain Yoruichi and the Island of Dreams is on."

"I'm twelve, damn it! That show's for kids." The female twin shared a knowing look with her brother and they looked back at the girl silently. Mikoto put her foot down. "I'm not five damn it!"

"You still wear your Captain Yoruichi pyjamas and you still have her poster up in your room." Rin teased.

"Yeah, but only cuz I keep forgetting to take it down."

" Uh huh, sure. If you insist." Naruto muttered and watched as the girl stomped down the training field and into the house, idly picking up her discarded apron shirt on the way and slinging it over her right shoulder. She sent the twins a defiant raspberry as she finally entered the house, not even five seconds later the catchy tunes of the children's show blared loud and the twelve-year-old Genin slurred curses as she hurriedly tried to reduce the volume, swiftly ignoring the loud cackles of her older sister. "She's just too cute." Naruto said with a shake of his head. It was funny how he was Sasuke's role model and Itachi was Mikoto's role model; the older Uchiha brother never let him live it down, and vice versa.

The A rank twins then took their time as they walked to each entrance and exit gate together. At each gate they asked for the migration logs and looked for any suspicious characters; it was possibly the most tedious and boring job they ever did, given that dozens of people moved in and out of Konoha on a daily basis. The log books were each a foot thick. It might have been the Chunin gate keeper's jobs to thoroughly look through any persons ID and personality, but it was now apparently their duty to double check.

It was nearly pointless.

After checking the logs of the four gates and finding nothing of note, the twins proceeded to the clan district, which was the biggest, widest and oldest district in all of Konoha. The first clan in the district they visited was the Nara clan, since it was the closest to the entrance to the district, the reason being that it would be too 'troublesome' if they had to walk far before they left the district. Naruto had to help round up some deer that had escaped their enclosure and Rin gossiped away with the Nara wives.

The Yamanaka didn't really need that much help; rather the male members of the clan kept throwing blatant suggestions at Rin, which flew right over her head.

Naruto's dark presence kept them away.

The Akimichi clan were like their mind walker friends, the female clan members flirted with the oblivious red head, with him chalking it up as them being overly friendly with him. They stuffed his pockets with cookies and they serenaded him with poetic cooking recipes.

That didn't stop Rin from barking at them to back off, which they did when they the veiled venom of Rin's threats.

The Hyuuga clan head had asked Rin to spar with their older students to show them how much harder the real world ninjas were compared to their instructors as well as possibly give them a goal to surpass, while Naruto was asked to help a branch clan instructor with his class by adding in helpful, theoretical advice when it was asked.

The fact that he was one of the most well-versed hunter ninjas that was still alive in Konoha as well as his very, ominous presence cast a looming shadow over the class, subduing the students in fear induced paralysis; which wasn't his intention but it was what the branch member instructor had asked him to do. Apparently, the branch member students were among the rowdiest recorded.

The Kurama main branch family had been murdered by the dead clan heads own daughter in a demonic fit of rage, so only branch family were spared before Yakumo was contained by the villages ANBU. The twins helped the nine-year-old orphan do some chores around the house and keep her company. Naruto checked and reinforced her Ninth Circle Demon Containment seal and Rin helped bring the girl's spirits up; it would take years of continued effort but she was prepared to see it to the end. The girl barely allowed them to leave, though after getting reassurance from the red-haired twin that they would be back she let them leave.

Kakashi, the last known Hatake, had moved out of his clan compound for personal reasons, so they didn't need to visit his clan compound.

The Shimura clan had been reduced to a single, old and senile man named Danzo, who served as one of the Hokage's advisors. Every time he saw them, he would always give them an unnerving stare and spoke like he was at the end of a tunnel; in a very hollow, empty voice. They helped the old man with maintaining his empty clan house and quickly moved to the last clan compound, situated in a cluster of trees and away from the other clan compounds.

Naruto's hand reached forward and he firmly shook the hand of the Aburame clan head, Shibi Aburame.

They had been let into the compound and led to the clan heads house, seeing as it was a tradition to greet the owner of the house before a visitor was at liberty to move around. This was a tradition the twins respected since they were also from a clan and that they wouldn't be happy to see a stranger walking around their clan compound, even though it was presently deserted since they had all moved to the Uchiha clan compound.

Naruto could hear a low buzz from the stoic clan head, nodding respectfully before their unclasped their hands.

The red-haired Namikaze looked over his shoulder and saw his wife, Yume Aburame, also sending her a nod. The woman exchanged nods with her sister, who stood beside him and followed her brother in shaking the clan head's offered hand.

"Your father said we were to expect you two, Naruto, Rin." Shibi droned as he started walking back into the compound with Naruto at his side and his wife and Naruto's twin following from behind. "We want to use your visit as an opportunity to study how a non-Aburame would handle a dangerous hive."

"You want to place a hive in us?" Rin said sceptically, dreading the answer but sighed when the man shook his head.

"No. We want to see how, with your combined exposure to vast insects and florae, will tame a nest that has been giving us trouble." They walked through the compound and most Aburame clan members stopped what they were doing to watch them walk toward their hive breeding chamber. Without looking the man noticed Naruto's attention. "Do not worry; we are just not too accustomed to having visitors."

"I wonder why." Rin muttered but ducked her head when Naruto glared at her over his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"There is no need for apologies. It is the reason why our ancestors moved here."

The silent clan feared rejection almost as much as they feared a hive rebellion, it was why they actively strived against confrontation among allies; it was best not to hear and see the rejection than feel it.

"So, about that hive…" Naruto asked. The three ninjas and one housewife ended up in a medium sized building that was made completely out of steel, the roof was flat and the walls were thick; from what Naruto could see, there weren't any holes big enough for a bug to crawl through.

The twins were among the short list of people that the Yondaime allowed knowledge of the intricate ways Konoha ran; this included how each clan operated.

This knowledge was heavily guarded by each clan member but they were entitled to share this with the village leader, as sited in Konoha's Founding Charter, amended to include this clause when the title of Hokage was created and occupied by Hashirama Senju.

These clan secrets were recorded and stored with these various clans, rather than with the Hokage, who wasn't made aware of their location; in case they were ever stolen the blame would be on the clan and not the Hokage.

The clans were allowed to keep their clan-based secrets and personal secrets confidential, but when it came to secrets that affected the way the village ran.

Like with why the almost extinct Hatake clan always wore half masks over the lower half of their faces or why the Kurama clan even had the demon in the first place, or even why the dying Shimura clan were able to use wind affinity chakra to the extent that it could be classified as a clan-based ability.

These seemingly small things greatly affected the village. This was why Shibi, who was well aware of who the Hokage wanted to know these secrets to, didn't hesitate before he began explaining exactly what he wanted from the twins as they stopped directly in front of the door.

"Naruto, do you remember when you were fifteen and you personally sought me out here?" the clan head asked and the teen nodded. "You pleaded for me to teach you all I know about Praying Mantis."

Evidently, there were different Aburame containment houses for different kinds of hives; the one they were in was unarguably be the strangest in history.

There was a single blood red female praying mantis female sitting frozen in the centre of the room with hundreds of tiny mantises marching around her. The Red Queen of the Praying Mantis was about two inches in height and the reason they assumed she was the queen, despite the obvious fact that there were hundreds of her kind walking protectively around her, was the golden leaf like crest on her head.

This crest shone in the low-lit containment area.

"When you agreed to give us a single Queen from your summons, we studied it and discovered that it was able to multiply itself limitedly; that is, only ten subdivisions before it stops, then then clones would multiply for only ten more generation. The Queen and the first two generation of Queen-Clones would self-fertilize and lay eggs, and the remaining clones take care of these eggs. Although there is a distinct difference between offspring from the Queen and offspring from the clones, they chemically appoint themselves needed positions in the nest, having some sort of knowledge when there is a saturation in a particular position. Did you know this?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head; outside of his summons internal hierarchy, they're power, and their blood-chakra demands, Naruto didn't think much about the reproductive habits of his summons.

Who would have though his Gold Leaf Praying Mantis summons self-fertilized their own eggs, making sure there were just enough soldiers and Queen-Clones?

Not too many, not too few.

"They had refused any other person near them. I wanted to see if you could calm them down."

"Do you plan on putting them into a child?" Naruto asked quietly as he carefully rolled up his black sleeves to show the summoning seals that were beautifully tattooed to his arms, warping hypnotically up to his elbows and reaching his shoulders.

"Honestly…I have some of my people looking into finding suitable candidates."

"The mantis are extraordinarily careful on who they allow in their nest, so much so that the last person to sign their contract was eaten alive by his own summons when he took one of their own without proper permission. Unlike what I did." He silently motioned for the people to step back. "But before I attempt what I'm about to attempt I want to make you aware of the consequences."

"Like what?" the bug user clan head asked blankly.

"This nest is an extension of my summons, which, since I was fifteen, is an extension of me. If I convince this nest that you people aren't a threat, then you should know that if they are placed in a suitable host then that host would be an extension of me, as this hive would soon have my chakra."

Through blood, bone and chakra, Naruto's Gold Leaf Praying Mantis summons were as part of him as his own heart.

Leveraging this deep connection, Naruto was saying that if he acquired permission from the Praying Mantis Empress; the infallible sovereign of her Praying Mantis children, her Sub-Queens birthed from the Empress and set prominently among her children, the armies those Sub-Queens commanded, and this Mantis Queen outside of the summoning realm, the Queen Mantis of the Aburame clan would be yet another extension of the Red Demon.

"…Understood. The Mantis are a rare summons that have been known to fight devastatingly. I honestly wish for it to be fully assimilated into the clan. Will you be willing to teach the host?" the dark man droned.

"I'm not sure what I will teach the person that you wouldn't be able." He said this over his shoulder as he walked unafraid to the swarming nest and stopped three inches away.

The Queen slowly looked at him and he could feel the condescending air she used in that single motion.

He looked at the tiny insect and levelled his palms at the female mantis, the seals on his seals glowed an ominous red and the soldiers around the woman prepared to jump in the way of the imminent attack if it ever came. They fluttered their wings threateningly, their united noise sounded like a violent vehicle revving up its engine.

The teen remained stone faced as the red glow finally covered his palm, spinning into a whirlpool to meet at the very centre before a short burst of smoke later and a tiny white seed shot from his palm, passing through the frantic defence the mantis were assembling and impacted directly in front of the utterly unimpressed female mantis.

The female looked down at the seed and poked it with a claw as Naruto's palm smoked to a stop and the red glow of his seal went back up his arm, blinking off. The mantis queen vibrated and a single soldier marched forward. The male soldier examined the seed more closely, even using its hooked claws to hold it up and turn it over as its beady eyes looked over it. It chirped and handed the seed to the queen with a deep bow; the queen took it and promptly ignored the soldier as it scampered back to the hastily formed defence as one of the flyers.

The queen looked at Naruto curiously and noticed that, despite the loud buzzing and the hundreds of mantis that were on his body, he stayed clam; his heart beat didn't waver with fear, despite the claws the mantis had on his neck, ready to sever the arteries of his neck at a moment's notice if he made any wrong moves.

The red haired Namikaze was a statute, knowing that if he even breathed a little deeper his life would be cut short.

The queen, ever so slowly, gnawed into the chakra seed, before it out rightly swallowed whole.

The regal female used her claws to scratch the ground once and the mantises on his body leaped off him, but hovered around him. She made a short motion with her other claw and Naruto spoke.

"They are good people, I swear in the name of your Empress."

He wasn't in any way beneath his summons, rather they had established a mutual respect for each other. He rarely if ever swore with his matriarchal summons leaders name but this was a possible move that would make Konoha stronger.

The queen seemed to snort in amusement at what he said but Naruto held up his right forearm to her, showing the symbol the Empress herself had engraved there before the summoning seal fully came about; two claw slashes going down vertically and a horizontal line near the very bottom.

The mark was the only part of the black and white summoning seal tattoo that remained red.

Recognizing her Empress's mark with a visible flinch, the queen raised both of her claws in the air, commanding her soldiers to stand down as she nodded to Naruto. The soldiers each bowed a little to him and resumed their circular march around their queen.

Naruto turned to his silent audience and smirked. "Well, I guess we now have a mantis nest in Konoha."

He and his sister silently left the clan compound, after biding the clan head and his wife goodbye.

An odd curiosity on the hierarchial structure of his summoning contract stayed at the forefront of his mind.

Later, he would speak to one of the Empress's Sub-Queens.

There were twenty Sub-Queens Mantis in the summoning realm and more than a dozen Mantis Sub-Commanders under these Sub-Queens, who were charged to command thousands of mantises at a time in specific fields like hunting, stealth, frontline combat, support, among many others. At the very top of the summoning clan was the Empress, who was much smaller than her giant, ideal-summon-sized Sub-Queens and Sub-Commanders, standing about five inches tall.

Sub-Queens were identified with the same golden leaf symbol that was on the folded wings of the Aburame's Queen.

The Empress, on the other hand, was a delicate creature made coloured entirely in fine gold and silver. The Gold Leaf Praying Mantis were strictly hierarchical and had so far survived by this chain of command.

How he had even found the summoning scroll was a story for another time.

The duo left the cluster of trees that surrounded the secluded bug clan and walked away from the clan district.

Naruto, who had stronger sensory abilities than his sister, slowed down a little so his sister wouldn't notice, and looked up at the top of a residential building situated in the upper-class district leading towards the Hokage's tower, and looked at Gaara.

The one tails holder was sitting cross legged on the edge of the building with his massive sand gourd strapped to his back.

The other redhead didn't seem fazed that Naruto had caught sight of him.

Rin obliviously kept on chatting away as Naruto stopped to stare down the boy his father had helped fix his beast containment seal. The sand user, for close to the first time in his life, didn't detect the usual fear others had for him in the A rank Namikaze. Matter of fact, he suspected that the older red head had sensed him the very moment he started stalking them, starting from when they left the clan district.

The sand user had his arms crossed as he wondered if it was a popular trait for Namikaze to not fear, like when Mikoto had shoulder checked him as they left the arena. It took him a monumental amount of effort to not instinctively crush her with his sand.

Minato had saved him from the crazy screaming in his head but the damage had more or less been done; it was only out of respect buried under layers of fear did he not kill the Genin Namikaze.

Make no mistake, he wasn't afraid of them.

He was just…curious about how a clan of speedster lacked the patented fear others, even strangers, held for him.

The Kazekage's son could only stare in open shock at the back of his red-haired opponent as she walked away; her brother had even choked on the air he was breathing at how relaxed she was, even after watching exactly what he could do in a fight. It was that sort of disrespect that…intrigued the solemnly quiet boy.

Intrigued and enraged him.

He abruptly glared harshly at the lax red head and disappeared in a sand body flicker.

Authors note

Done.

Don't forget to drop a review on your thoughts of this chapter, if you don't mind.

See you on the flip side.

Foy.