"Talking"

"SHOUTING/SCREAMING/YELLING"

'Thoughts'

"Jutsu"

"Tailed Beast Talking"

'Tailed Beast Thinking'

Sound Effects

Date Time

Location

[Flashback]

]

Chapter 10

]

Hyuga Manor

Having returned from the council meeting, which in his honest opinion was a complete waste of valuable time, Hirashi Hyuga – Clan Head of the Hyuga clan sat down in the confines of his study and turned his attention to the scroll lying on top his desk, the very report which came in before he left for said meeting.

'A blue ribbon… which means the Academy,' Done untying the ribbon, Hirashi gracefully unfurled the scroll and read the first few lines, 'so today was the Battle Tournament? Hinata should have breezed through as usual,' With that assumption, he skimmed through the 'Insignificant matches' and focused more on the finals-

'What!' Grabbing a clean cloth Hirashi wiped both of his pale eyes, 'I must be seeing things,' Activating the Byakugan, the clan head once again read through the report but its contents were still the same, 'Dodging 9 strikes…'

"Summon Hinata!" He yelled to the branch member stationed in the hallway.

"Hai!"

'Misa Mitarashi,' He closed his eyes in thought, 'She's the ward of Anko Mitarashi and the girl the Civilians were making a fuss about in today's meeting.' Eyes opening, he glanced down and reread a particular sentence.

Successfully dodged 9 out of the 32 strikes and still managed to force a draw

'Most Jonins can barely manage 4 and yet an academy student who just reenrolled performed twice as much.' A smile pinched at his lips, 'The elders are going to be stupefied once they read this.'

Knock! Knock!

"My Lord, I've returned." The branch member announced.

"And Hinata?"

"She's with me."

"Spend her in."

"Hai!"

Slide!

The paper door slid to the side revealing his eldest daughter dressed in a light blue kimono with flowery designs, "Tou-san, you called?" Came her soft voice.

Dismissing all thoughts of how similar she was to his late wife, Hirashi gestured for her to have a seat before him, "So how was your day?" He started.

"Interesting," Hinata answered after taking said seat, "We had the monthly tournament today."

"Yes I found out, but why was it omitted during our morning talk?" He narrowed his eye.

The Heiress stood strong, "It must have slipped my mind." She coolly responded.

Eye contact initiated, Hirashi smiled inwardly when she neither flinched nor looked away, 'Good, she has toughened up but how long can she endure?' Curious, he decided to find out.

Their staring contest went for a full minute before he finally conceded it to her, "So" He began while leaning back, "how did the tournament go?"

Relived that she won, Hinata went straight to the point, "The Uchiha won the Male bracket after defeating Kiba-san in the final."

"This is the 5th time he has won it, right?"

"Yes."

"What about 3rd place?"

"There was no 3rd place match as the opponents of above two forfeited during the Semifinals."

"Really?" He leaned forward, "And they are?"

"Shikamaru Nara and…" She trailed off.

This earned a raised brow from the father, "And?" He mounted pressure.

"… Naruto Uzumaki." She finally answered.

"… I see," Hirashi breathed deeply as the boy was a… sensitive topic for the clan, "What about your performance in the Female Bracket?" He continued with the questions.

'Here goes,' Hinata braced herself, "In the finals, I ended up drawing against my opponent."

Her father grabbed a piece of paper along with a feather quill, "Name and description?" He requested.

Worried, but knowing that she can't keep silent, Hinata described Misa down to the last detail, "Misa Mitarashi. About 160 cm tall, long purple hair, yellow eyes, and an oval face. Her outfit consists of a black strapless short dress with matching boots and detached sleeves. She also wears a purple choker round her neck."

"Hmm," Hirashi jotted down the description before looking up, "You're free to go." He told her.

'Huh?' It was only sheer will that prevented her mouth from gaping, "A-as you wish," Quickly composing herself, Hinata stood up and bowed before heading towards the door. Once said door was shut behind her and with no one else in the hallway, the Heiress wondered whether her father overlooked the part about Misa evading 9 of her 32 strikes.

'There's no way he missed that, right?'

]

Dining Room, Yakumo's Manison

Once Yakumo had regained consciousness, she and Misa reclaimed their seats on the table then pondered over the bomb that Naruto had just dropped on them.

'Dragon blood pill, aren't they those pills that were said to grant abundance to withered lands, rejuvenate all destruction, heal the most incurable of all illness while elongating the individual's lifespan?' Misa tried recalling what she read about the pill.

'No wonder he said that the Daimyos' will be after him if it got out. They are the only ones in possession of the last remaining pills and when one goes on auction,' Yakumo suddenly lost a lot of skin color as she remembered how much the previous pill sold for, 'A 100 million ryo! He's willing to part with that much fortune because of me? Even if I swore a life time contract of servitude it won't still be enough and my future-'

"Okay, okay!" Naruto clapped his hands, bringing the two girls out of their thoughts, "I know this came as a shock and you probably have a ton of questions," Multiple nods came his way, "So I'm going to answer the obvious ones. Firstly, the pill was given to me as part of my twelfth birthday gift by a mysterious benefactor, it was two pills initially but I took one and it resulted in the changes which you see today." He gestured to his own body and girls nodded once again.

"Secondly I'm aware of how… expensive the pill is," The Uzumaki calmly stated, "Even the wealthiest clan in Konoha – the Hyuga clan, would have to empty a good number of their coffers just to get their hands on a single one of the pills. Then finally the most important question," He made eye contact with Yakumo, "What do I gain from giving said pill to the Heiress-no, the exiled Heiress of a now out of grace clan?"

Misa glanced worryingly at her friend, it was obvious that a chance like this will never come again, but if Yakumo accepted it then she will be greatly indebted to the redhead.

He could literally ask anything of her and she will be expected to carry it out without fail.

'I have no choice,' Yakumo made up her mind, 'The only thing I have to offer is myself, I can't catch cold feet now,' Declining will certainly end up with her rejecting it later, "What do you want in return?" She bravely inquired.

The Jinchuriki opened his mouth, "What I want from you…" She braced her while Misa watched on in silence, "is to be the best Kunoichi that you can be."

"… Eh?"

Naruto didn't bother to hide his amusement, "Were you expecting a ridiculous request?"

"Well… yes." Yakumo was the literal definition of confusion, "I was expecting you to take advantage of me somehow."

The boy leaned back on his chair, "Didn't Misa tell you? I'm not that type of guy."

"You aren't?"

"I'm not," He insisted, "When She was in my debt, all I asked for was to be friends."

"I-I see." She glanced at said purple haired.

'We'll take later.' The Mitarashi mouthed back.

"So Yakumo," The Uzumaki called her attention, "About that demonstration."

"Ah yes, Misa." She pointed to the painting instruments, "Hand those over to me then go stand against that wall."

"Sure." Handing to the brunette what she requested, Misa stood up and walked over to the mentioned wall before twirling round to lean against it, "All good?"

"Perfect!" Yakumo nodded, "Now Naruto." She presented him the portrait which was a perfect representation of their purple haired friend, "What do you think?"

"Wow!" The Jinchuriki found himself exclaiming, "It's beautiful." He told her.

The brunette smirked, "The portrait or Misa?" She asked in a low voice.

"… Both." Naruto confessed.

"What are you two talking about?" Misa questioned from where she stood.

"Nothing~" The Heiress sang while turning the portrait over, "Now Naruto." She propped the top of the painting against the edge of the table while resting the bottom part on her thighs, "I got a question for you." She dipped her paintbrush onto the color palette before placing it on the painting.

"Ask away." Naruto urged her.

"What the color of the choker round Misa's neck?"

"Purple." He answered instantly.

Yakumo raised a brown brow, her paintbrush withdrawing from the portrait, "You sure about?"

"Of course," He had a look, "It's… Red?" He uttered in confusion at the sight of the red collar which Misa placed a finger on.

"It's seems you were wrong," He glanced back at the brunette, "Now what's the color of her boots?"

"Black lined with purple."

"Wrong, its grey lined with red." The Heiress corrected.

"Huh?" He took a look at said boots and discovered that he was once again wrong, 'There's no way I was wrong about that.' The Uzumaki clearly recalled them being purple when he held the Mitarashi in his arms back at the academy, 'Something is going on here.'

Misa on the other hand was admiring said boots.

"Next," The brunette continued, her paintbrush descending onto the painting, "What's the color of her dress?"

Naruto didn't bother answering as his gaze remained locked on the purple haired.

A second later, her dress switched colors with black fading to grey as purple bled red, 'Genjutsu!' He realized before placing both hands in a hand seal, "Kai!" He released a burst of chakra but no change.

Misa giggled, "That won't work."

"Then." He raised a thumb towards his lips.

"Neither would that," Yakumo stopped him, "In order to break my 'Super' genjutsu, you have to possess any ocular ability on par or even greater than the Sharingan."

"Super genjutsu?" Naruto raised a brow at the name.

"We're still working on that," The Mitarashi sighed as she made her way back to her seat, "But for now that's what we're calling it."

Nodding, he threw a question at the Heiress, "How different is it from normal genjutsu?"

"'Super' genjutsu doesn't require the use of hand seals; instead it uses paintings as conduit to cast illusions."

'Paintings as a conduit,' Naruto thought of the pros and the cons, "It's an interesting application," He admitted, "but it has some obvious shortcomings."

They weren't surprised that he discovered said shortcomings, "How many?" Misa asked.

"Three."

Yakumo was impressed, "Same as we, but list them in case you found something different."

"Okay, I will start with the first one," He pointed to the cloths Misa currently had on, "It appears that 'Super' genjutsu only affects inanimate objects as you only changed her outfit and not Misa herself."

"You're right," The Brunette confirmed, "Apart from plants, it doesn't affect animals, humans or demons."

"You tried it on Ido?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, but that's a tale for another time," Yakumo told him while glaring at Misa who just snickered.

"It must have been an interesting one."

The Mitarashi grinned at him, "Oh, you have no idea."

"Ehmn," The Heiress coughed, "Moving on."

"Right, secondly is the time required to paint," The redhead continued, "I take it that requires a considerable amount of time?" Yakumo nodded, "Unfortunately you won't have that much time in battle." The redhead remarked.

"The opponent will take advantage of you," Misa added, "I was the one discovered that flaw."

"So that's two weaknesses," Yakumo noted, "What's the third one?"

Naruto pointed to the painting, "I have a feeling that destroying it will break the genjutsu," They both nodded, "So with these weaknesses, I don't think 'Super' genjutsu will be of any help to Yakumo when she's in battle."

"You're right," The Brunette agreed, "This genjutsu won't be of any help to me in battle, but I have my other genjutsu to fall back on."

The redhead frowned, "Is that wise?" He questioned her, "In the past decade, there has been a significant drop in the number of Genjutsu practitioners because of the large amount of counters developed against the art."

It was also why Illusionary Arts was scraped out of the academy's curriculum; all the students now needed to know was how to detect an illusion and the methods of freeing yourself out of one.

Yakumo smiled at his concern, "You're right to be worried, but you seem to have forgotten how my bloodline works."

"I have forgotten," The Jinchuriki replied, "Through the use of your bloodline, it tricks your target's brain into thinking what happened in the illusion also happened in…" He trailed off.

Both girls were now wearing smirks on their faces, "Now do you understand?"

"I need a demonstration."

"Yakumo." Misa urged her friend.

"On it," Said brunette quickly weaved a couple hand seals, "Genjutsu: Haze!"

In a flash, the Jinchuriki found his sight obstructed by so much dust that he could barely make out the table which was in front of him, 'Impossible,' He quickly covered the lower half of his face while squinching his eyes, 'Not only I can see, but I can also hear, smell and feel the illusion.'

The discovery went against everything the redhead had been taught about genjutsu, with the principle one being that it could only affect one of the 5 senses at a time.

'Yet I'm in one which is affecting 4 of my senses!' Saying that the Uzumaki was mind blown would be an understatement, 'Now what will break it,' He raised both hands and formed the release seal, "Kai!"

A pulse of chakra, but the illusion remained in place with the addition of the girls giggling.

'Okay, next method,' He rose a thumb to his mouth and bit down, the brief burst of pain was enough to shock himself out of the illusion, "Self-inflicted pain," He sounded impressed, "that the only way to break out of your illusions."

"Correct," Yakumo smiled, "Since all 5 senses are involved, the only way to convince the brain that what it's experiencing isn't real is by overwhelming one of the senses with a sensation caused by said owner of the brain."

"But that's not all," Misa entered the conversation, "as long as Yakumo keep spamming genjutsu the opponent will be forced to inflict more pain on their person and if they keep doing that-"

"They will end up wearing themselves out." Naruto finished as he played it out in the head.

Enemy nin continuously biting their lips to break out of an illusion while fending off attacks from him and Misa, with Yakumo recasting said illusions whenever they're broken.

'Even if she doesn't fight at the frontlines, sticking to the rear while spamming illusion after illusion would be of massive help… Did Kurenai and the 3rd not think of this?' The 14 year old teen wondered, 'Well it's their loss.' He shrugged.

Mind made up, Naruto reached across the table and grabbed one of the brunette's hands with both of his own, "Yakumo." He called her.

"Y-Yes?" She stammered from the contact as Misa watched on with a great deal of interest.

"You're going to be a great Kunoichi."

Not expecting such words, the girl was too late to stop the waterworks, "A- Thank you," She wiped both eyes with her sleeve, "You're the third person who genuinely believes that." She sniffed.

"Third?" Ido and Misa immediately came to mind, 'Of course.'

"Yeah, but you're the first guy."

"I will accept that."

"Thank you Naruto," Misa bowed her head at him, "You've done far more than I expected."

"Don't mention it," Naruto told her as he, using his left hand, positioned Yakumo's right hand so that the palm was facing upwards, "Now," He slipped his right hand between the folds of his jacket and accessed the seal there, "I believe this belongs to you."

Yakumo nearly lost her breath as a white capsule was placed onto her palm, "I-is this?" She lost her voice.

"Breathe Yakumo, don't forget to breathe." Misa reminded her before taking a closer look at the capsule, "It's big," She noted, "How is she suppose to swallow it?" Her question was valid as the capsule was around the size of an orange.

"The actual pill is about the same size as a pepper," The redhead clarified, "what you're staring at is its protective case."

"Oh!"

"So," Yakumo looked up at him, "Is there any preparation I should be aware of before taking the pill?"

"Ah yes," The Jinchuriki grimaced, "Someone should probably stand guard over you while you're unconscious."

"Unconscious?"

The male nodded, "Once you ingested the pill, all your body operations – except those considered vital, will be shut down for at least 24 hours and since ROOT is still after you, well that's the worst state to be in."

"What about Ido?" The brunette brought up her inner demon, "She's mostly in charge whenever I'm asleep."

"That's when you're asleep," Naruto emphasized, "the state you're going to be in after taking the pill is much closer to a coma."

"A coma?"

"So both of them are going to be incapacitated?" Misa took over.

"Yes."

"Then I will stand guard."

"No," The boy declined, "You can't as we both have school tomorrow."

"Then you can make a shadow clone-"

"That only worked today because everyone was distracted/exhausted by the Tournament," He interrupted, "Tomorrow you're certainly going to be confronted by angry fangirls and if situation turns violent, a single hit is all takes to dispel the clone."

Gritting her teeth, the Mitarashi cursed said fangirls, 'I'm going to beat to snot out of them tomorrow.' She vowed.

"Misa don't," A single look told Yakumo what the taller girl was thinking, "You just enrolled and the Hokage seems interested in you."

"The Civilian Council has considerable influence in the Academy, you attacking the girls outside of approved combat would give them the ammunition they need to mess you up so I advice that you don't." Naruto added his own piece.

"Fine," The purple haired growled out, "So what do we do concerning Yakumo?"

"I say she waits until tomorrow evening to consume the pill, since the day after isn't a School day, you can stick around and watch over her."

Both girls noticed that he left himself out, "What about you? Won't you be staying over?"

A sigh escaped his lips, "I would have, but unfortunately the surveillance on me is a lot stricter during the weekends and we don't want them finding out that I'm seeing the Heiress of the Kurama clan."

"You're right, that would be bad."

"What a shame."

The redhead sensed their disappointment and was amazed, "Y-you two actually want me to spend the night?"

"W-well yeah." Misa looked away.

"Your presence would be appreciated." Yakumo also avoided eye contract.

'No way, they are blushing!' The male could hardly believe it, 'They were actually looking forward to me spending the night with them?'

"They know a fine catch when they see one." Kurama spoke his mind.

'Hold on a second! This isn't just fast, its ultra fast,' He never expected either of his relationships with them to progress this quickly, 'Still I've to cheer them up somehow…' An idea came to mind, "Say girls."

"Yes?" They both glanced at him.

"How about when Yakumo join us at the Academy, we all celebrate by throwing a sleepover?" He suggested, not knowing that sleepovers were supposed to be gender mixed.

"Hmm," They shared a look before nodding, "3 nights." They uttered in unison.

Naruto blinked, "In a row?"

"Yes."

Knowing that he had no choice, the Uzumaki nodded, "Okay, 3 nights." He promised and the two erupted in cheers.

Gong!

All eyes went to the wall clock, "Wait, its 6 PM!" Misa shot up to her feet while crying, "Anko-nee is going to be mad at me."

"You didn't tell her you were coming?" Yakumo questioned her in surprised tone.

"I didn't!" The purple haired headed towards the nearest window, "Hopefully, she will understand."

As Misa raised the glass, Naruto faced the brunette and told her, "Keep the capsule in a safe place, tomorrow I will send a couple Shadow clones to accompany Misa as backup."

"I promised not to lose it," The Heiress vowed while clenching her hand round said capsule.

"Good, I will see you next week."

"Bye Yakumo!" Misa said, leaping through the window with Naruto right behind.

"Bye bye!" Waving them off, Yakumo glanced at the hand containing the capsule before smiling, "Things are looking up."Rising to her feet, the brunette headed towards the stairs, 'Now where's that safe I found awhile ago."

]

Hokage Office

Shutting down the crystal ball, which has been showing nothing but static for the past 4 hours, Hiruzen leaned back against his seat and released a tired sign.

'He's masking his location, there's no other explanation.'

]

Outskirts

Dashing through the forest, Misa turned an eye to the male running besides her, "Hey Naruto." She called.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

The Jinchuriki shook his head, "You and Yakumo have been saying that a lot today."

"I know but we can't help it," She confessed, "Your noble act really struck a chord in not only Yakumo's but my heart as well."

"O-oh."

"Look," The Mitarashi started, her tone serious, "If there's anything you desire from me and I mean ANYTHING… all you have to do is ask okay?"

"… You shouldn't say such things," He admonished while staring at her from his right eye, "I could end up asking for something you might not be willing to give."

She snorted, "If you're referring to my body then I will be happy to oblige."

Her declaration left him stumped, "I-I see," He stuttered a bit, "but seriously you don't have to promise me that."

For a slight second, her lips dipped into a frown, "Well there's no rush," She relented, "We will get there sooner or later." She added confidently.

Naruto knew she wasn't wrong, if she keeps up her advances and somehow manages to rope Yakumo in, 'Well it's not like it's a bad-'

!

Skidding to a stop, the redhead grabbed the purple haired by her arm and dragged her behind a large tree.

Surprised by the move, but not against it Misa allowed herself to be placed in position with her arms wrapping round the Uzumaki's torso, "I didn't expect you to act just after I made the offer-"

"Shh!" Naruto silenced her, "Suppress your chakra! Two Jonin level individuals are approaching!"

At the command, all traces of playfulness vanished from the girl as well as the random bursts of chakra which her body passively gave off. With a nod the Jinchuriki did the same and as a precaution activated the concealment seal he had inscribed onto his pants.

A minute later, the sounds of footsteps came.

"Man, I hate patrols," The whiny voice of a male was heard by the two teenagers, "Especially ones like this where nothing happens."

Slap!

"Fool!" Berated a feminine voice, "A good patrol is one where nothing happens besides," Her voice quickly gained a bit of venom, "Who's fault is it that we're struck on patrol duty when we are supposed to be on undercover missions?"

'ANBU!'

"I'm sorry okay," They heard the male apologize, "I messed up, but Captain shouldn't have included you in my punishment."

"He did it because you aren't mature enough to go out on patrols all by yourself."

"Now that's not true!" The male denied, "I'm mature enough for tasks like this."

"Then why the pranks?" The female questioned.

"Because there's no excitement at HQ! Just old men barking at our faces while calling us worms!"

'Wow!'

'That's tough.'

*Sigh* "Come on, we still got a couple more hours."

"… Fine."

As their voices faded away, the two teenagers remained perfectly still until Naruto couldn't feel their presence anymore, "They're gone." He breathed out in relief.

"Yeah," Misa agreed while placing a hand on his chest, "Your heart still isn't calm yet." She drew circles over said organ.

"Neither is yours." He replied before noticing a particular fact about her dress, "Misa?"

"Yes?"

"Your dress, it hasn't reverted back to its original colors."

The Mitarashi glanced down and just as the Uzumaki had pointed out, her dress was still grey and red, "Ah right, well 'Super' genjutsu won't wear off until either Yakumo says so or the painting is destructed and since she hasn't done either of them then she probably thinks the new colors suit me," Her yellow eyes met his blue ones, "Do they really?"

"They do." He answered truthfully.

"Then I will have her to keep it like this."

"Mhmm," Getting off of her, he walked back onto the path, "The Uchiha district isn't that far off." He told her, "At top speed we should arrive in 5 minutes."

"What about ROOT?" Misa asked of him, "Won't they still be roaming round the district?" She also walked back onto the path.

"They have orders not to make contract with Sasuke, so whenever he's around they make sure not to be anywhere near the district." The Jinchuriki answered as he started a light jog.

Misa joined him, "Who's your informant?" She suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Who supplies you all this juice info?" She clarified, "It's like you got your own information network."

"Actually I do."

"Really?"

Naruto nodded while increasing his speed, turning the jog into a run, "I make use of my Shadow clones, have them disguise themselves using the transformation jutsu then set them loose all over the village."

The Mitarashi couldn't believe it, "Wait, that's how you got all the information you have?"

"It's highly efficient and there's no risk of it being traced back to me as the Shadow clones have be instructed to go 'POOF' if the situation turns against them." Glancing at the purple haired, the Uzumaki could tell what was on her mind right, "You're thinking of how to convince me to teach you the jutsu right?"

Misa playfully punched his shoulder, "No mind reading!"

"I don't have such ability," The redhead laughed, "Your face said it all."

"No fair," She pouted, "First Yakumo and now you, who else is can tell what's on my mind?"

Naruto grinned, "I'm sure Kurama and Ido could."

"Demon's don't count."

"Says who?"

"Me!"

The back and forth continued until they snuck into the sewers of the abandoned district.

]

AN: Happy Thanksgiving!

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Chapter 11

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