United I Stand
Chapter Two: Testing and Meetings
It had been two hours since the original Naruto was split down into three and the trio sat in their ratty apartment in front of their scratched up wooden table, eating their dinner of cup of ramen.
"So…What happens next?" Menma asked suddenly after he slurped down his mouthful of noodles.
Naruto and Naruko looked up from their ramen cups at Menma with a confused look on their faces. "Oh come on," Menma said with a frown. "You two can't seriously be confused at what I mean. We were all one person and now we are three?"
"I'm just going with the flow of things," Naruko said with a raise of her cup of ramen. "Just like the breeze Menma. No sense in stressing about it."
"Yeah, what's done is done," Naruto replied with a shrug. "We became shinobi. That was the end goal remember?"
"We can't just go with the breeze on things like this," Menma said with a frown on his face. "This is just far too bizarre."
"You're far too uptight Menma," Naruto replied before he looked to Naruko and asked "Were we this uptight when we were one being?"
Naruko giggled and answered, "We had our moments but admittedly, Menma is right. We should be taking this more seriously."
"You guys are right," Naruto said as he sat down his cup of ramen, his carefree gaze becoming serious, as did Naruko's. "So, let's go with what we know. We are now three separate beings but we share the same soul and the same lifespan. If one of us dies, we all die."
"Not only that, three of our strongest personality traits were split between the three of us. Menma has proven he's more serious and little cynical. I'm more carefree and relaxed but not too sure about you Naruto," Naruko said.
"Who knows," Naruto said with a shrug.
"But regardless, that would mean some of the more nuisances the original Naruto had would be within us as well. But with that said, with us being separated, we have the ability to grow stronger and when Inoichi teaches us that combining jutsu, we'll be one again for a short time but our power would triple. It seems worth it," Menma continued.
"It seems fair. More power but more risks like splitting us up and sharing our lifespan," Naruko said as she crossed his arms.
"Speaking of which, you guys think I should change my name as well?" Naruto asked suddenly.
"What brought this on?" Menma asked.
"Well, Naruto was all of us right? I just don't feel right taking the helm with our shared name," Naruto admitted.
"I think it would be good if you kept it," Naruko said. "The villagers and our…Not friends but um…um…"
"Acquaintances," Menma said.
"Thank you! The villagers and our acquaintances will be shocked that there are three of us roaming around. One of us a female and one looking exactly like you. They need a familiar name to tack on one of you," Naruko said.
"Besides, what would you name yourself?"
"Arashi? Yusuke? Kuwabara? Hiei maybe?" Naruto suggested with a shrug.
"Hmmm all good names but you should keep it Naruto, for simplicity's sake," Menma said.
"Very well…However, there must be more to this jutsu than we know. How about we do some testing?" Naruto suggested with a playful grin on his face.
"Testing?" Naruko repeated.
"Yeah, we share a soul right? There must be some perks to that, I would think. Besides if not…" Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a notebook. Both Naruko and Menma soon shared the devious expression Naruto had on his face.
"Tomorrow morning before the Academy class starts in the afternoon. We'll do it then," Menma said.
"That's a good time to do it. Not many people would be out," Naruko said.
"It's settled. We'll do it first thing in the morning then," Naruto said with a smirk.
"Um, a thought occurs," Menma suddenly said. "Clothes. I mean, as nice as wearing orange goes, we only have one orange jump suit and there are now three of us."
"Good point," Naruko said. "I mean I don't think wearing pajamas outside will be suitable."
Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought before a mischievous twinkle appeared in his eyes. "Just chill here and leave that to me…"
Naruto quickly rushed out the apartment.
Twenty minutes passed and Naruto flew back into the apartment with two clones holding a bunch of clothing. "Thank goodness that old bag Himori didn't think to lock her backdoor," Naruto said as the clones placed the clothes on the table in front of them.
"Awesome. Looks varied too," Menma said.
"You even got Pajamas too and boxers too," Naruko said excitedly.
"That should hold us for a good while," Naruto said with a grin. "Now tomorrow, we begin our tests!"
"Okay what's the first step?" Naruko inquired once the trio arrived at a large area where the Shinobi Memorial Stone stood in the middle of it.
Menma wore a simple skin tight black shirt with a black vest on top of it, baggy black pants and black shinobi sandals.
Naruko wore a black shirt that stretched down to her knees, Naruto's goggles around her neck, dark blue bicycle shorts beneath it, dark blue gloves and dark blue shinobi sandals.
Naruto wore a navy blue shirt and his orange jumpsuit pants, with his orange jacket tied around his waist and navy blue shinobi sandals.
"Let's see if we can read each other's mind," Naruto said.
"Why are you jumping straight to that?" Menma questioned.
"Well…Since we share the same soul, maybe we're connected through that. Mind reading is the first thing I would think of so why not?" Naruto asked with a shrug.
"Good point?" Menma replied.
"Good then let's do this!" Naruto exclaimed before he shut his eyes. 'Vocal percussion on a whole 'nother level?' Naruto thought with a curious tone.
At first there was nothing until Menma's replied, 'Coming from my mind.'
'Vocal percussion on a whole 'nother level…' Naruto thought once again, with a hopefully expression to Naruko.
'Coming from my mind!' Naruko excited voice sang out as she leapt into the air happily.
'Haaaaaa haaaa-ah. We're Golden Wind!' The Trio sang out in unison before they burst out laughing outwardly.
"Okay, okay. Beautiful," Naruko replied. "So we can hear each other in our minds. Let's see how far out this can reach out now."
"I'll go to the east side of the village near Kikyō Castle. Menma, go to the Hokage monument and Naruko, you go to the west side of Konoha near the Konoha Mountain Villa and in twenty or so minutes, we come back here. Got it?" Naruto asked.
"Got it," Menma said with a nod before he dashed off to the west.
Naruko smiled and dashed off towards the monument before Naruto made his way to his destination.
"This place always gives me the creeps," Naruto frowned as he stared at Kikyō Castle. He had no idea why anyone would ever stay in this creepy ass place. "Well…I made it here, Let's see if it works..." Naruto said out loud before he thought, 'My private eye (We're never going to make it)...'
A few minutes went by until Naruko's voice replied, 'Look to the sky (Someone is out to get me)...'
Another few seconds went by before Menma's voice added, 'The Gemineye (I've had all I can take, I think)...'
'It's time...I go my separate ways!' Naruto finished with a wide grin. 'Yes! I can hear you both perfectly. Seems there's no distance we can't hear one another, This'll make us stay in contact without anyone overhearing us. Let's meet back up at the monument.'
'Understood,' Menma said.
'Gotcha!' Naruko added.
"Yo Uzumaki!" A familiar voice said behind him.
Naruto turned around to see an exhausted Yamanaka Ino and she was walking straight towards him. And she looked annoyed. What the hell did he do this time? Ino stopped before him and shouted, "I outta strangle you!"
"Um…What?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.
"My dad woke me and mom up at this ungodly hour talking about you doing this weird ass Yamanaka Jutsu. He and mom spent all night being hype about it and about how you succeeded in doing," Ino explained with narrowed eyes.
"I'm sorry?" Naruto replied with a confused toned.
Ino let out a deep sigh. "You lucky you're cute…" Ino replied tiredly, which made Naruto blink in surprise.
"You think I'm cute?" Naruto replied as a slow smile began to form on his face.
"It's too early," Ino moaned out before she tilted her head. "Hmmm you only have one whisker mark on each cheek…Don't you usually have three on cheek?"
Before Naruto could answer, Ino reached up and ran a thumb across the single whisker on his right cheek, which caused Naruto to back away with a deep blush on his face. "Oi! Personal space Ino!" Naruto exclaimed as Ino gave a smug grin.
"Sensitive," Ino teased. "That's for having my folks keep me up all night with their hype."
"Oi, what are you doing here anyways?" Naruto asked.
"Dad is making me do a flower run," Ino answered as she held up a scroll. to emphasize. "I just happened to see you and decided to give you a piece of my mind. Otherwise, I would have done it later after class lets out."
"I'm surprised you didn't just slug me in the face," Naruto responded with a raise of his eyebrow.
"That's more Forehead-chan's deal. But I will slug you if you do something that makes my parents freak like that again. Are we clear?" Ino said as she placed her balled fist beneath his chin. But despite the threat, she had a smile on her face.
"Crystal," Naruto confirmed with his hands held in a surrendering motion.
"Good. I better off then. Time frames, you know?" Ino told him before she walked around him and walked away. As Naruto turned to watch her leave, Ino paused and turned around with a curious look. Naruto took a chance to give her a wave, which caused her to grin before she walked away.
'That was the first time Ino and I actually had something akin to a pleasant conversation,' Naruto thought curiously.
'Seriously? Motor Mouth Yamanaka and you had a conversation?' Menma's voice asked. 'And I missed it? Next thing you know, Sakura-chan would fall in love with us.'
'We can only hope,' Naruko's voice murmured.
'Look, I know we all hold kind of a torch to her but we need to let her go. She likes Sasuke-teme. Besides, she treated us like trash when we were one person. Who's to say she won't do it as three separate entities? We should just stop chasing her,' Menma's voice said with a tired tone.
'I've been thinking about it a lot too,' Naruto said as he began to make his way back to the monument. 'As much as I don't want to give up, she's made her feelings painfully clear.'
'I don't know,' Naruko replied. 'I mean…She was the first person who was ever nice to us.'
'Now don't go telling that lie,' Menma replied. 'There was another…but there are dozens of Hyūga in the village. We'll never find her…'
'You really need to lighten up Menma,' Naruto told him with a grin on his face. 'Never say never, you know? That Hyūga is somewhere. We just haven't met her yet.'
'Ugh…Far too positive,' Menma muttered.
'Guys, speaking of Sakura…She's heading my way and she looks furious…' Naruko murmured.
'Oh boy,' both Naruto and Menma winced in unison.
"Naruto-Baka! How dare you show up in that perverted jutsu form?!" Haruno Sakura yelled angrily in Naruko's face.
'Just play dumb,' Naruko thought to herself before she replied out loud, "Perverted jutsu form? What are you talking about Miss…?"
"Don't play dumb! Break out of that jutsu!" Sakura yelled. "You should be ashamed of yourself for making that!"
"Well excuse me," Naruko defended. "First and foremost, I'm not Naruto. I am Naruko. Big difference."
"You can't fool me Naruto," Sakura warned, her emerald green eyes glaring daggers into Naruko before she reached up and landed a hard blow to Naruko's head. Naruko bent down with tears in her eyes from the hard impact.
"What was that for?!" Naruko angrily exclaimed only to see the confused look on Sakura's face.
"Y-You didn't change back…" Sakura stammered out as Naruko stood back up while she rubbed her head in pain.
"I told you, I'm not Naruto! I'm Naruko," Naruko stated with a hard glare.
"B-But that can't be," Sakura stammered. "You look just like it."
"I don't know what you're talking about. If I look anything like Naruto its because he's my…." Naruko paused.
'Cover story, cover story, cover story!' Naruko chanted within her head.
'Um…Um…Tell here we're siblings!' Naruto's panicked voice yelled out.
'And here we go,' Menma's dry voice added in.
"Brother…He is my twin brother in fact," Naruko said, sounding more confident in her answer.
"Twin brother?" Sakura repeated.
"Yeah. Part of a set of triplets! Me, Naruto and Menma," Naruko said with a grin on her face.
"But we've never seen you before," Sakura stated with confusion.
"Well the Sandaime separate us when we were born," Naruko informed. "He sent me and our brother Menma to different villages but after last night's adventure, Naruto found out about us and Sandaime reunited us. I was actually going to meet him at the Memorial Stone but I got lost…"
'That was super convincing,' Menma's dry voice stated.
'Well you think of something next time!' Naruko raged.
"Oh…Then that means I…Oh Kami I'm so sorry!" Sakura said as she bowed profusely to the now awkward looking Naruko. "I shouldn't have hit you! I just thought it was Naruto-baka pulling some pranks."
"That's okay…" Naruko replied. "But does that justify hitting him like that? You hit like a damn truck. I can practically feel the concussion coming on."
"Well yeah, the guy is such a pain," Sakura said with a frown as Naruko inwardly flinched. "But I'm not going to talk about him like that. Especially to his newly acquired sister. I don't want to paint the wrong picture about him to you. Hey! Why don't I show you where the Memorial Stone is located? This way you guys can meet up."
Naruko frowned and stammered, "T-That's okay. I don't want to hold you up."
"Nonsense. This is the least I could do for thinking you were Naruto-baka," Sakura said with a sheepish smile.
"V-Very well…" Naruko replied.
'Oh fuck, this outta be grand,' Menma's voice grumbled.
'Well what was I supposed to do? Just say no?' Naruko questioned.
'I don't know, I'm just a newly built human trying to make a living,' Menma replied.
'You ass,' Naruko told him.
Naruko heard Naruto snort in amusement.
'Well, I am on my way back to the Monument…plus one…' Naruko sighed.
'I'll be there shortly,' Naruto replied.
'Ditto,' Menma added.
Menma opened his eyes and found himself overlooking the village from on top of the Hokage monument. While Naruto and Naruko could brush aside what the Hokage had said earlier, Menma could not. Everyone in the village knew their secret of holding the Kyūbi and yet they didn't deserve the right to know it until someone blabbed?
It was insulting to him that the Hokage kept that secret.
'I wonder what else he kept from us,' Menma thought softly before he heard something rustle from a bush behind him. At first he shrugged it off as nothing but it was then he heard a shriek of surprise, which caused him to turn around to see Hyūga Hinata jump from the bushes.
And what followed her was a small little garden snake.
"S-stupid snake," Hinata stammered in annoyance until she noticed Menma staring at her. Hinata's face took on a shade of red as she stammered out "N-Naruto-kun…G-Good morning."
"Good morning. What are you doing out here so early?" Menma questioned, momentarily ignoring the name she had called him.
"I-I am u-usually out here m-meditating b-before class…" Hinata said with a shy smile. "I-I s-saw you c-coming and I-I hid…"
"But why? I don't mind the company," Menma replied. "I'm always by myself, you know?"
"I-I know," Hinata replied. "Y-You look different somehow."
"Do I?" Menma asked.
"Your c-clothes," Hinata said. "And your eyes…."
"My eyes?" Menma said.
Hinata nodded and walked up to Menma and said "T-There is sadness in them. Sadness is n-normally there but it's more pronounced than b-before. I-it's burying all o-of the other emotions that you usually have…" Hinata seemed to remember who she was speaking to because she suddenly looked nervous."O-Oh! I shouldn't h-have said a-anything. I-I should g-"
"How can you see this?" Menma interrupted with a curious look.
"H-How?" Hinata stuttered.
"Yes…How?" Menma asked.
"M-My mother says that I-I am an empath…" Hinata explained.
"Empath…What does that mean?" Menma asked her.
Hinata looked from left to right and licked her lips nervously and replied "M-Mom says that e-empaths are highly sensitive individuals, who have a keen ability to sense what people around them are thinking and feeling."
"I see…" Menma replied softly. "And you can sense my sadness?"
Hinata nodded.
Menma turned around and looked out at the village and said "Maybe I am feeling a little more melancholy. I shouldn't. I became a shinobi last night with my sensei's blessings and I stopped a traitor and yet…I feel…Like I've been lied to all this time by someone I trusted and deep down, I feel there are more things he's keeping from me. I just don't know how to deal with it. That's all."
Menma then chuckled and said, "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this. Not even they know how I'm feeling about all of this…"
"I-it's good to let out a-all that hurts you. Even i-if t-they are a stranger…" Hinata softly replied.
Menma nodded and let a small smile appear on his face. "Thank you for listening to me."
"Y-You are welcome Naruto-kun," Hinata replied before she flushed and looked away. "W-Will you be in class today?"
"I will…Although not alone," Menma replied.
"W-What do you mean?" Hinata asked.
"You'll see…" Menma said with a teasing smile.
Hinata flushed and poked her index fingers together nervously before Menma said, "By the way, I'm not Naruto."
"O-Oh?" Hinata stuttered lightly with confusion.
"You called me "Naruto" twice now…I'm not him…My name is Menma," Menma told her with a small smile.
Hinata tilted her head and repeated, "M-Menma…" and then asked, "Did you change your name?"
"No, this has always been my name. The situation is more complicated and its better if you see it versus me explaining it. I'll be at the academy with the explanations so you won't have to wait long," Menma replied.
"Alirght. Then M-Menma-kun…I'll see you at the Academy," Hinata softly told him. "A-Also! C-Congratulations!…I-I knew you could d-do it."
But before he could say anything, she quickly ran away, leaving Menma alone on the monument but the heaviness in his heart began to lift slightly.
'Thank you Hinata…' Menma thought softly. 'I better get back to the Monument.'
"Whoa…Naruko-san you were telling the truth," Sakura said with awe in her voice as she saw Naruto and Menma sitting beside each other, both in thought.
Naruko let a small grin appear on her face and replied, "Yep, there they are."
Naruto looked over and felt a grin appear as he stood up and exclaimed, "Hey Sakura-chan! You found her!"
"I sure did Naruto-baka," Sakura said. "How about next time you meet up with her at a well known place. Who knows how long she had been looking for this place!"
"Sorry, sorry," Naruto grumbled.
"I think Naruko-san deserves the apology here, not me," Sakura said.
"Sorry Naruko," Naruto grumbled.
Naruko grinned and replied, "No problem. "Well thank you for leading me here Sakura-san. Naruto can take it from here."
"Anytime Naruko-san. Well I'm off. Nice to meet you!" Sakura said before she ran off.
"She didn't even ask my name," Menma noted with a raised right brow.
"No idea why," Naruto replied.
"I think you guys are right," Naruko said. "Sakura-chan can be nice but it took all her will power not to talk down about us…you, Naruto. Not to mention she hit me super hard and that shit hurt more than usual."
"Yeah," Naruto said with a sigh. "She'll be a great person in the future but maybe we should back off of her."
The three nodded in agreement. "Okay, now that the test is done, open up that damn notebook so we can get to the heavy duty shit!" Naruko exclaimed.
Naruto smirked and pulled out the notebook and read out, "Well…There are two of these. Tenohira no Soyokaze (Palm of the Soft Wind) and Bōfū Sōru (Hurricane Soul). These two look to be joint jutsu. Can't learn one without the other."
"Oh! Gimme," Naruko said as she snatched the page from the notebook.
"Alright. Next one up…This one looks good for you Menma. There are three of these. Mehana no Kōri (Eyes of Ice), Tōketsu Hāto (Frozen Heart) and Tsume no Nigai shimo (Claws of the Bitter Frost). Looks to be another joint jutsu," Naruto said before he held it out to Menma.
Menma took the paper and said "So it seems these are Taijutsu but it requires the jutsu in order to use it properly…Okay. Makes sense."
Naruto then looked at the next jutsu and grinned, "Yo, I want so badly. Hibana no Aoi honō (Spark of the Blue Flame) and Genkotsu no Tenka (Fist of Ignition). There are like six more Forbidden Jutsu in here but I think these would be a good start."
Three hours passed and the three blondes laid beside each other, all three panting heavily with their clothing torn in several places.
"Well…That was perfect…I don't remember the last time we were so exhausted," Naruto said before he leaned up off the ground, his hands and arms slowly healing from the burn marks that littered them.
"I feel like my limbs have been stretched to hell and back," Naruko murmured, the skin on her body showing various slices on them, also slowly healing.
"I can't feel my right eye…or my hands…or my feet…" Menma muttered, his right eye closed as mist of ice flowed from his frost bitten hands and feet, also slowly healing.
"Well that was time well spent. I think I have enough chakra left to summon some Kage Bushin to carry us to the Academy," Naruto said with a tired expression on his face.
Forming a familiar hand sign, three clones of Naruto popped into existence and each one carried the down blondes and began their trek to the Academy at top speed.
When the trio arrived at the academy, the three blondes were completely healed of the wounds they had caused themselves during their training and were somewhat refreshed. "Thanks guys, take a powder," Naruto said before dismissing the three clones after they sat the three blondes down.
"So…You guys ready?" Naruto asked his companions.
"I'd rather not be ready..." Menma muttered as he slipped his hands into pockets.
"If we gotta, we gotta," Naruko said as she placed her hands behind her head with a foxy smile on her face.
Naruto nodded and pushed the door open and together, the trio walked into their classroom.
The moment the trio walked into the room, the entire classroom went quiet with surprise.
Surprise that Naruto was here or the fact that he came with two people that looked exactly like him, the trio weren't sure but they were hoping someone would speak soon, otherwise they were going to lose their collective minds.
"Come on," Naruto said as he walked to his regular seat, with Menma sitting to his left and Naruko sitting on his right.
"Oi! Naruto! I get that you're alone but creating clones of yourself is not the way to solve it," Kiba stated with a grin on his face.
"Get bent!" Naruto told him, inwardly glad someone was able to talk.
'Well if anyone is going to talk, it was going to be either him or Ino,' Menma thought to the pair, who nodded in agreement. "Well if you are so sure about that, We can test the clone theory out," Menma challenged as he leaned forward toward Kiba.
Kiba grinned but then Akamaru barked. "What? They are legit people? Not clones?" Kiba asked Akamaru barked again and Kiba blinked in confusion. "No way…"
"Good job Akamaru," Naruko chirped with a bright smile to the puppy, who looked bashful in return at the praise. "Naruto is our brother. Our twin brother," Naruko explained. "The Hokage separated us but after last night, he brought us back to be with him."
"Yeah," Menma replied with a nod.
"How troublesome. One blond was enough and now we have three," Shikamaru muttered.
"Well I'm Akimichi Chōji. This lazy sloth beside me is Nara Shikamaru, the one next to him is Aburame Shino and that is Inuzuka Kiba," Chōji greeted with a friendly smile.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruko and this is Uzumaki Menma," Naruko introduced.
"Man, you look super like Naruto's perverted jutsu. Makes sense though since you're his sibling," Kiba said.
Shino turned his head and gave a polite nod, which Menma returned.
It was then the female shrieks were heard.
"Oh god, here he comes," Shikamaru moaned out as he lifted his head off this desk.
"Here who comes?" Naruko asked, keeping up the act.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Last of the famed Uchiha clan," Kiba answered with a flourish of his hand.
"I don't know who this Uchiha Sasuke is, but he sounds like a dick," Menma said with dry tone just as the Uchiha Heir walked into the room, a blank expression on his face while a myriad of fangirls, Sakura and Ino included, followed him in.
Sasuke walked to his seat, which was above Naruto's, but paused as he noticed Naruko and Menma. "Dope," Sasuke began as he looked to Naruto. "Who are they? More clones?"
"His siblings," Sakura corrected. "I meet Naruko-san earlier this morning. The other…I never thought to get his name."
"Menma," Menma replied with a stare before he looked away.
Sakura looked slightly miffed by the short reply but thought nothing of it.
"Naruto! You didn't tell me you had siblings when we met earlier," Ino said, which surprised Sakura.
"Honestly it's a brand new thing. I didn't even know about them until yesterday night," Naruto said with a sheepish grin. "It's taking some time to get used to it."
"Well then. I'm Yamanaka Ino. I'm sure it's a pleasure to meet me," Ino said while Sakura made a gagging sound behind her.
Naruko grinned and said "I'm Uzumaki Naruko and this is Uzumaki Menma. It's nice to meet you too."
"Can we stop introducing ourselves?" Menma asked with a hint of aggravation.
"Yes, if they are anything like the dope, they won't amount to much anyways," Sasuke retorted. "Actually, why are you here with your siblings Naruto? You failed the class yesterday."
"I'm surprised your keen eyes didn't notice Uchiha," Menma answered instead as he aimed a thumb at Naruto's forehead and said, "Take a look at his forehead. Look familiar?"
"I see…" Sasuke drifted off.
"Holy shit, congrats man!" Chōji said with a thumbs up and a grin on his face.
"Congratulations Uzumaki-san," Shino said with a nod to Naruto's direction.
"Yeah, yeah, congrats," Kiba said with a blasé tone.
Shikamaru merely nodded with an exhausted expression.
"And since Naruko and I are already Genin from out past villages, we are automatically shinobi here as well," Menma added. "Does that answer your question or did you have anymore I could answer?"
"None Menma-san," Sasuke said before he walked away, his group of fangirls following but Ino briefly stopped and gave Naruto a thumbs up before she followed as well.
Just then, Hinata walked into the room and she immediately blinked in surprise at the sight of the Uzumaki Trio. She then activated her Byakugan before she tilted her head at Menma in confusion before her faced heated up and she turned away to sit down.
"I'm going down there," Menma told his doubles, who nodded.
Menma stood up and walked down the steps to Hinata and asked, "Mind if I sit here?"
Hinata jumped and blushed faintly and nodded Menma sat beside her with a small smile. "See? I told you it was complicated."
"I-I can see…I-It's not a Genjutsu nor is it a clone…" Hinata murmured.
"They are my siblings," Menma said.
"S-Siblings…" Hinata stuttered but Menma could see a thoughtful expression on her face. Did she see something no one else could?
"Alright everyone!" Iruka announced as he walked into the room. "Take your seats. Today is your final day of class and the day of team assignments…" Iruka then turned around and glanced at Menma, Naruko, and finally Naruto himself. "Due to some recent changes, some last minute shuffling had to occur."
"Team 1…"
As Iruka began to read off the time, Menma leaned to Hinata and asked, "Why do you look so confused?"
Hinata stiffened for a moment before she looked back and whispered "When I activated my B-B-Byakugan…There were two very f-faint lines a-attached to you, Naruto-kun and your sister... One was thick and red and the other was a shimmering platinum silver. I-I never s-saw something l-like that before…"
'A faint shimmering platinum, silver strand…Is that the link?' Menma curiously thought .
'She was able to see it?' Naruko's voice asked.
'I wonder…After the team assignments, we should inquire more about this strand,' Naruto's voice replied.
"Team Seven will have Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Kuroi Sai. Lead by Hatake Kakashi," Iruka said. Team Eight will have Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Team Nine is still in rotation so Team Ten will have Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji, and Nara Shikamaru. Lead by Sarutobi Asuma. Final team is Team Eleven will have Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruko and Uzumaki Menma. Primarily lead by-"
Just then, the window beside Iruka's desk was shattered and a smoke began to form around the window. When it faded, an excited Mitarashi Anko was the first to appear, holding a "Welcome to Team Eleven" banner in her hand while an amused Yamanaka Inoichi stood by her side.
"Hello Uzumaki Trio," Inoichi began. "We are you Jōnin Sensei. Welcome to Team Eleven."
"This is going to fun!" Anko exclaimed.