Aki to the Narutoverse: Picker Upper

A continuation of the Aki Raising Naruto idea from Chp 6: New Year.

Konoha Ninja Academy...

"Quit lying Naruto. We all know you live alone!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Sure you're-"

"Is there a problem here?" a cool voice drawled from behind the children.

Naruto whirled. "Nee-chan!" he cried happily, his classmates forgotten.

Aki smiled widely down at him. "Hello, Naruto," she greeted before turning sharp eyes on the other children. "Who are your… friends?" she asked with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

Some of the children glared at her for interrupting them. Others stared at her cautiously. A few blinked up at her in open curiosity… All of the children that had been taunting Naruto felt the little hairs on the backs of their necks as their subconscious minds registered that they were in the presence and had the attention of something exceptionally dangerous.

Naruto blinked turning back to the group of suddenly nervous children. "Oh, these are some of my classmates!" he chirped, pasting on a wide, mischievous grin. "Guys, this is my sister, Aki!"

"Naruto, you're an orphan!" one of the girls snidely told him. "Orphans don't-"

"Have parents," Aki interrupted, fixing the girl that had spoken with a steady, unsettling stare.

"Wh-what?" the girl stammered as something cold trickled down her spine.

"Naruto and I have no parents, they died fighting the Kyuubi," Aki explained, never breaking eye contact, never blinking. "So we are orphans. However, we have the same mother and father. Therefore, we are brother and sister." She spoke slowly, emphasizing her words clearly as if she was speaking to a particularly stupid toddler.

The girl blushed, angry and embarrassed.

"Naruto's never mentioned a sister before," Shikamaru pointed out, though not unkindly as he bravely leveled a shrewd glare at the girl. "And I don't remember ever seeing you around the village before."

The girl actually smiled, seemingly appreciating Shikamaru's protective behavior. "That's because I was kept out of the village until now," she explained guilelessly.

"Why?"

Aki's smile widened ever so slightly, becoming wolfish and… unkind. "Because our family has very dangerous enemies," she answered in a tone that was as much a warning as it was informative of just how dangerous she meant. "I'm here now because I'm... ready to deal with them, shall we say."

Shikamaru's eyes widened ever so slightly along with several of the other clan children at the thinly veiled promise of violence against anyone who threatened her family. Worse, from Shikamaru's point of view, she didn't look much older than they did. She was in her early teens at most. What kind of monster was she that she was ready to face people considered dangerous by a culture of professional soldiers and assassins?

"But you're barely older than us!" someone protested, echoing Shikamaru's unspoken question.

The supposed sister's eyes drifted lazily to the speaker. "Well spotted," she drawled. "Would you like a pat on the head?"

"It's a valid question," Shikamaru protested. "You look like you just graduated from the academy. How could you be so much farther ahead of everyone?"

"Necessity."

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" one of the children demanded.

"It means," Aki replied, unfazed, "that I had a choice to grow stronger… or die."

The children froze. "D-die?" one of them stammered.

"Slowly and painfully," Aki confirmed. "I decided I didn't much fancy being raped or tortured by the monsters that were after me. So, I chose to be the bigger monster."

"That's sad," one of the boys muttered.

Aki eyed him, something strange and almost… hopeful dancing in her eyes. "Yes, it is," Aki agreed softly. Then she turned to Naruto, the melancholy evaporating off her face. "Come along Naruto, it's time to go home."

Konoha Ninja Academy...

"Hello, I'm Umino Iruka," the young man greeted pleasantly. "I'm Naruto's homeroom teacher, and you are?"

"You may call me Aki," the girl replied with an easy smile. "I'm Naruto's older sister."

Iruka blinked. "Sister?" he repeated suspiciously.

"We technically share the same parents," she explained with a careless shrug, completely unbothered by his scrutiny. "It's all rather abstract, but the short of it is that I recently returned to the village and have decided to stick around to take care of some… problems. The Sandaime is more or less aware of the situation and has accepted it."

Iruka sighed in relief. He'd have to confirm it later to be sure, but if the Sandaime really was willing to allow her close to Naruto, that boded well. It certainly helped that Naruto himself seemed to adore her.

"You should be aware that some people can be, ah, unreasonable where Naruto is concerned," Iruka hedged, unsure of how much he could safely share with the girl.

"I'm well aware of how people have reacted to his status as a jinchuuriki," Aki responded, something sharp and flinty dancing in her eye.

Iruka sighed in relief. "And you have a plan to deal with them?" Maybe she had a house that was more secure? Or they could get one? She couldn't take him out of the village-

"Permanently."

Iruka blinked. "Uh… excuse me?" he asked, startled. Surely…

"I plan to deal with any threat to my family permanently," Aki answered simply.

Iruka licked his lips nervously as his mouth went dry. "You don't mean-"

"That is exactly what I mean, Iruka-sensei," Aki told him evenly, all geniality set aside. "The first few have been lucky. I was preoccupied, so their deaths were relatively quick. However, I have no intentions of being so generous in the future."

Iruka broke out into a cold sweat as she spoke and he realized that she wasn't just making threats. She had already killed people to defend Naruto and had every intention to do it again… and drawing it out to send a message.

"So, do me a favor, Iruka-sensei?" she asked. "Spread the word. The Uzumaki Clan is off-limits. Those foolish enough to test us will not last long enough to see the Hokage's justice… but they will live long enough to regret their actions."

"There are a lot of people who won't like that," Iruka warned her. "Powerful people."

"Good, I need to make a powerful statement," Aki replied, an unsettling smile spreading across her lips.

"You're a child!" Iruka hissed pleadingly, struggling to keep his voice down. "Some of these people are jounin! Veterans! Elders of clans!"

"Then I will bury them with the other jounin and S-Ranked enemies that thought I'd be an easy target," Aki replied smoothly. She delivered these words with an easy, beatific smile. She was unmoved, unruffled, unconcerned. As if the idea of facing some of the most dangerous individuals in the world being out to kill her or worse was no more than a mild inconvenience.

Something that had been niggling at the back of Iruka's mind finally filtered into actual thought.

We technically share the same parents…

Technically. It was an odd quirk of language, oddly specific. It was completely unnecessary, unless… Iruka broke out in a cold sweat. "Are… are you the Kyuubi?" he asked, unable to stop himself. Had the demon found a way to escape? Had it manifested itself in a new form somehow?

The girl blinked, cocking her head curiously. "The Kyuubi?" she wondered, her voice gaining a lilting tone of amusement. "No, no I'm not."

Iruka sagged in relief.

"I'm much worse," Aki added as her smile widened, showing too many teeth that were much too sharp.

Iruka prayed.