AN: New chapter.
"Alright, who wants to play another game?" At her question, she earned a number of positive responses. Naruto's eager nodding while the blonde all but threw himself out of his seat in his excitement, and his friends were much the same with Kiba and the puppy on his head doing the same, Choji jumping up from his seat, and even the normally lazy kid Shikamaru perking up.
'I still can't believe I have to do this.' She did her best not to show how tired she was. Dealing with Naruto was one thing, something she was more than used to. Dealing with this whole play date Kushina had set up before that mission had surprised her?
She was definitely more than a little out of her depths.
'And where's did that last kid go?' She spared a red eyed glance around, was half tempted to call out a Shadowkhan or two to go and find him.
"Can we play in the Shadow Realm Jade-chan?" Naruto's excited question tore her out of her thoughts.
"Nope." She ruffled his mess of blonde hair with a smile. "You know the rule: If Mom and Dad don't say yes, I can't take you there." 'Not that it's a place a kid should even go. Learning to be a ninja or not.' Jade didn't get why exactly Kushina and Minato were fine with Naruto going a place as weird as the Shadow Realm but they allowed it.
Although, she wasn't one to talk with every mess she had gotten dragged in to just as a kid. From the hunt for the talismans in a race against Shendu to battling against the return of the Demon Sorcerers, her childhood had been absolutely wild.
"Oh come on Jade-chan. Can't we go just this once? Please!" Naruto's big blue eyes were something she resolutely ignored.
"Rules are rules kiddo." Jade crouched down to be closer to Naruto's level. "But, how about this." She whispered her idea into his ear, loud enough for the other kids to hear. She pulled back with a smile, Naruto's excited grin back with what she had just offered. "So, that sound cool to you too?"
"Yeah! Let's do that!"
"Alright, then everybody stand in front of me." She lifted a hand and her shadow leapt into it from the ground, formed into a hazy spinning sphere above her raised palm. No matter what his dad said, she hadn't seen his Rasengan, thought it was cool, and used her Shadow Magic to copy it. Shadows danced around her feet like fire, just a little show she learned to put on. The kids were quick to listen to her, excited smiles on all of their faces as she brought her hands together, the spinning sphere shrinking down as she closed her hands around it.
While she didn't need to, she copied a few of the hand seals Naruto had been showing her the past few weeks, ones she had seen Kushina and Minato help him practice when they had the time.
From the barely held back cheer coming from Naruto, the fact that Kiba was all but vibrating in place, that Choji was excitedly shaking Shikamaru, whispering about how cool this was about to be, she was putting on a good show. She even had a quick name she thought up for the act.
"Secret Ninja Art: Shadow Transformation Technique." She flexed her 'magic muscles' and put on a light show when the sphere of shadows in her hand ruptured. Strands of shadow shot out from the sphere, spiraled into the air above their heads, and fell down to completely cover them.
In the blink of an eye, she had all of them (even the dog) dressed up as Ninja Shadowkhan, let the kids take it all in and admire their new outfits.
"Awesome!" Naruto was amazed as always. "This is so cool!"
"Alright, remember the rules." She spun on her heel. "I'll count to twenty and then-" She spun around, arms raised as if to lunge at the kids and red eyes flashing. "I'm gonna get you!" She laughed as they took off, Naruto crying out "No peaking" as he ran off, the others following. 'If only he knew.' The fact that she had just given them costumes made of shadow made this game of hide and seek more than a little bit unfair.
If she wanted to go chase them down that is.
"Finally." She didn't even bother with counting, just dropped into the nearest seat. Shadowkhan magic or not, she was tired after dealing with the kids. "Just a few minutes. I still don't know how Kushina handles these kids by herself." A trio of Ninjakhan popped out of a nearby shadow, their knack for sensing out her mood coming to play.
She didn't need to look at them to know they were expecting an order.
She waved her hand in the vague direction the kids had taken off in. "Just go and keep an eye on the kids. And keep them out of trouble. I'll go get them…eventually…"
Without a word, they vanished into the shadows, raced after the four kids.
In no time at all, she had company across from her.
"All tired out?" Itachi Uchiha, one of Minato's bodyguards/errand boys/whatever he needed, was standing across from her.
"You wish." Jade laughed. "I can do this all day." One of the Ninjakhan she had sent out came back with a cup of coffee, obediently held it out for her to take. "Right after I have this little break."
"If I didn't have a mission today, I would offer to help." Itachi looked around, his eyes searching before they found what they were after. "Ah, there he is."
"Big Brother!" Sasuke finally showed himself, leaping from wherever he was hiding and onto Itachi's back. "Did I get you! I hid just like you taught me!"
"So that's where he was…" Jade had to admit, she didn't think to check the ceiling for a kid. 'When is Naruto going to learn that?' She almost shuddered thinking about how much mischief the kid was going to get up to with the power to walk on walls. "I guess you would've won Hide and Seek."
"You weren't even playing right!" With only the sassiness of a child, Sasuke pointed at her from how he had wriggled himself up on Itachi's back. "You didn't even start counting!"
"I was counting in my head." Jade answered back with that flawless logic (and complete lie). "Promise."
"I know, how about you help Jade count?" Itachi provided his (unhelpful) suggestion. "I'm sure she could use someone as great at hide and seek as you, Sasuke."
"Really?" When he turned to her with such big and excited eyes, Jade couldn't tell him no.
And just like that, Sasuke was enlisted as her helper.
And her break was cut painfully short.
"I'm going to get you for this." Jade promptly swore her revenge on a smiling Itachi. She had done the same show for Sasuke like she had done for the other kids, the only difference being that he wore a mask that copied her own over his face, that marked him as her "Official Ninja Tagger" or something, and sent him running off ahead.
She didn't wait to hear his response, vanished from the room only to reappear out of Sasuke's shadow. She also swept him up onto her back as she did so.
"Alright, which way do we go?"
"Naruto's totally hiding behind that tree!" Her "Official Ninja Tagger" pointed dead ahead at said tree.
"No I'm not!" The tree also shouted back, Jade spotting the blue eyes peaking around the trunk.
"I guess we'll start there."
"No!"
AN: Things continue to progress in the (mostly) went right timeline.
Review/PM if you want.
Peace.
