Chapter 41 The Crisis

Naruto and his friends, or extended family as he was beginning to think of them, arrived at his new place. For everyone except him and Sakura, this was their first time really seeing the place, so they made sure to look around.

"This certainly needs an artistic touch." Yakumo noted.

"Good thing Naruto-kun isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and do some hard sweaty work." Sahino said, grinning just a little.

"Sheesh Sahino, can you say anything about Naruto-kun that isn't filled with perverted undertones?" Sakura remarked.

"Well I could just be blunt and say he's got a great dick if that's better." Sahino replied, laughing when she saw the blushes on everyone's faces. "Seriously, I'm not that ecchi, am I?"

"More than we're used to, I would say." Hinata said.

"Where should we start?" Naruto asked, hoping to get things on track.

"The residential. That area needs it the most. Then we can work on this area." Sakura stated.

With that, everyone went upstairs. Naruto and Sakura blushed when they saw the room and the old futon where they had sex for the first time.

"Better throw this out. It's old and stained." Hinata said, grabbing the futon with Hinakura's help. The whiskered blonde and pinkette did not bother stopping them from removing it.

There was a pounding on the door from downstairs, loud enough that they could hear from upstairs.

"Who could that be?" Sakura asked.

Hinata activated her byakugan, then looked sour. "It's Jiraiya. He must have been looking for you and tracked us here."

Naruto grumbled, clearly annoyed by this.

"Do you want us to go tell him to get lost?" Sakura asked.

"No, I'll do it myself. But feel free to watch and jump in if he pushes back."

Naruto headed downstairs with the girls following him, then he arrived at the front door designed for customers to enter the building. It was locked obviously, but it had a window built in so he could see Jiraiya on the other side. Knowing better than to delay, Naruto opened the door wide enough that the toad sannin could enter, but he stood in the way to prevent him from actually doing so.

"What do you want Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya was a little taken aback by the bluntness and use of his real name, and he suspected that was the intended effect. "Naruto, I get that you're unhappy with a few things, but you should know that I have been working on something that will hopefully make it up to you."

"Make it up to me? You were supposed to be there for me when I needed a parent, but you weren't. You knew who my parents were, but you didn't tell me. You were supposed to make me a better fighter, but you always had other things to focus on."

"Dammit Naruto stop this right now!" Jiraiya essentially ordered, now looking angry. "I'm trying to do something nice for you, but if all you want to do is bitch and moan then why should I even bother? Why should anyone bother?"

"Don't you-"

"No, you listen for once! I admit I fucked up! We all admit it! But here's the thing, we're trying to do something to make you happy! And yet all you're doing is telling us what pieces of shit we are for hurting you in the first place! Do you want us to make it up to you? Or do you want to stay angry at us forever? Because if being angry forever is what you really want, then I'm done saying sorry! I'm not going to spend what's left of my life trying to earn your forgiveness if you have absolutely no intention of even giving me a chance to earn it! So which is it boy?! Do you want me to help you, or do you just want me to keep taking your punches?!"

Naruto said nothing, he just glared at the toad sage who glared back. The two practically had lightning dancing between their eyes.

"Naruto-kun, he's right." Hinata said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, not expecting this.

"I agree that what he did was disrespectful on many levels, but he is offering to do something to make amends. But this strike we are all on is all so that you can get reparations and a chance to earn a better future. He is offering a chance to make that happen. I know you're angry, but the Naruto-kun I fell in love with wouldn't choose to be angry forever."

"She's right." Sakura added. "If you could give Haku or Gaara or Neji a chance to be your friend, surely you can give this pervert a chance to apologize."

Naruto sighed. "It's hard, really hard. They didn't owe me anything, this guy was supposed to be there for me and he never was. And he's lied to me the entire time he's actually been there. How am I supposed to ever forgive that?"

"Talk to him and try to figure that out, or just look him in the eyes and tell him he's going to his grave unforgiven. It's bound to be one or the other Naruto-kun." Sahino chimed in.

Naruto was uncomfortable for a bit, but he slowly stepped aside and allowed Jiraiya to enter the building.

"So why exactly are you here?" Jiraiya asked, looking around.

"This is our new home." Naruto explained, going over to the counter.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well we need a bigger place to live and some real friends gave me this place."

Naruto sat down and had five girls by his side. Jiraiya felt rather envious of his student, but knew they were judging him as much as the whiskered blonde was.

"Naruto, we're working on a few things, and for some of the big stuff we will need help from the clan heads to make it legal, but there is something we've got that we can give you now. We're working on something we're calling the Clan Creation Act."

"Hold on, isn't that basically the same thing as the Clan Restoration Act?" Sakura asked.

"Actually no, that's the whole point. The CRA would restrict and basically imprison Naruto for the rest of his life. This one, the CCA would allow him freedom to act and have control over his life."

"So how is it actually different than the CRA?" Hinata asked.

"As we said before, the Clan Restoration Act is intended to ensure a clan is restored from the brink of extinction. At any cost. So in the same vein, the Clan Creation Act is intended to create a whole new clan. So to do that, a few criteria must be met." Jiraiya started.

"Such as?" Naruto asked.

"Founding members for one. Enough to ensure that there will be another generation for sure. Right now I'd say that's not a problem, but at the same time one could make the argument that having only Naruto as the male parent in this will lead to problems later. Basically, there are two ways this can be approached. Either several man-and-woman couples come together, take on the same name, and agree to raise their collective children together to form a united clan, or Naruto is allowed a polygamist marriage but none of his children will be given the luxury. The clan needs diversity if there's any hope of it growing and flourishing, so it has to start somewhere."

"I can assure you that we have no intention of being with anyone other than Naruto-kun, so we're going to have to go with the second option." Sakura declared.

"Hold on." Yakumo interjected. "I'm a lesbian. Hypothetically speaking, there's nothing to stop me from getting impregnated from a donor. So if I were to choose to be a part of this new clan, would it cause a problem if I did that? It would add in diversity, but would that compromise Naruto's right to more than one wife?"

Jiraiya thought it over. "Hmm... I don't know. I'd have to bring that up in the debate to finalize this. But that is a fair point."

"Yakumo? You'd be willing to join in?" Naruto asked.

"It's just a hypothetical Naruto. I don't plan on being your wife, sorry. And honestly I'm not even sure if the Kurama would allow me to marry outside the clan. But I figured it was better to ask than to wonder."

"Another thing that is needed is a clan specialty. You see, the reason Konoha allows clans certain privileges in the first place is because they bring something to the table, so to speak. Be it a bloodline or a unique style of fighting. You can't just have a bunch of shinobi who fight the same way anyone else can fight, there has to be something that makes them stand out. So to make a new Uzumaki clan, you need something that makes you all special."

"What made the original Uzumaki clan special?" Hinakura asked.

"They all had exceptionally high levels of chakra, allowing them to be jutsu powerhouses. They were well known experts at fuinjutsu, using seals of all kinds that made them truly unpredictable and always prepared. And they had double the average human lifespan. An Uzumaki who lived long enough to die of old age would be closer to 200 years old instead of 100."

"Damn." Sahino said, impressed.

"Naruto might have that, but that by itself may not be enough right now. Especially if one argues that the Kyuubi does most of it for him." Jiraiya added.

"I think I have something that can cover that for us. My clan apparently has a hidden ability I've unlocked. It's called the Hekikai." Sakura claimed.

Jiraiya looked to Tsuande's apprentice. "And what does it do?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out. But what I do know is that it allows me to make minds stronger and more stable, sort of like a Yamanaka, and it allows me to create new members."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean create new members?"

"It's... hard to believe. But two of the girls in this room were 'born' because of the Hekikai."

"Hi." Sahino said with a wave. Hinakura just held up her hand, looking rather shy in the process.

Jiraiya looked at them then back at Sakura. "I'm confused. What does this ability have to do with them?"

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order. Oh, I should find Ino and see if this time we can do it on purpose." Sakura mentioned.

"I was thinking we should see if Ino's available. This will be her home too, after all." Naruto added.

'Wanting multiple girls to already live with him before marriage. Naruto you're somehow both the luckiest and unluckiest person I know.' Jiraiya thought.

The girls agreed and he sent a clone to the Yamanaka compound. "Now, tell us more about this act."

Ino regained consciousness, finding herself confused and tied to a chair. Right away she felt like she was in a cliche scene from a movie, but that gave way to fear at why she was in this situation. The room was dimly lit, one lantern on a table, so she couldn't see where she was. But she could tell that there was one other person in this room with her.

'Remember your training Ino, this was covered in kunoichi class. You know how to escape a hostage situation.' The platinum blonde thought, recalling lessons from years ago. "What's going on?"

"Silence girl, speak when you're spoken to." An old man's voice told her.

"You don't know me that well." Ino remarked, inspecting her bindings. To her surprise, it wasn't rope or twine or anything like that keeping her trapped in the chair. In fact, she couldn't see anything tied around her. Instead, she felt more like she was glued. That complicated things. Her hands were stuck, but her head and neck weren't, so she could look around but she couldn't use jutsu. Whoever did this knew what they were doing.

The man in the room stayed in the shadows, just enough light reflecting off him to give an eerie outline and let her know he was there but unable to identify him. "You will listen if you wish to remain unharmed."

Ino scoffed. "I'm not afraid of you, and if you harm me you'll be pissing off the most powerful fighter in the whole village."

"You seem to have quite the high opinion of Uzumaki." The old man noted.

Ino grinned. "Thanks for confirming your motive, because I never said his name. You're after me because of him, you must have a death wish if you want to risk getting him this angry."

"I'm risking nothing. I'm aware soon the boy and your clan will notice your absence and come looking for you, and when they do, they'll create the opportunity I've been looking for."

Ino paused to consider that, then frowned. "You want Naruto-kun to go crazy looking for me, so you can use it as an excuse to discredit him. But then what? Naruto-kun has been discredited his entire life, what good will making him look bad do you now?"

"You're mistaken. Making Uzumaki look bad to the public is unnecessary. His reputation has already done that. What I need is for him to do something for me."

"And you think kidnapping me will make him want to cooperate?" Ino asked. "No, you're not that dumb. I'm not just bait, I'm leverage. You're using me to force him to agree to whatever demand you want, counting on his well-known habit of prioritizing promises to work against him."

The man in the dark grinned just a little. "If Uzumaki comes charging in recklessly, it will only cement the fact that he is unworthy of being hokage. Ever. If he comes in and makes a deal with witnesses, he'll have no choice but to keep it, no matter how much he may hate it. And if he breaks his promise, even if no one holds it against him, he won't forgive himself and he'll know he's unworthy of being hokage. Either outcome benefits me."

'This doesn't add up.' Ino thought. 'He's counting on Naruto-kun finding this place, which means there must be something left behind at the flower shop to lead him here. Naruto-kun has many talents, but tracking isn't what he's known best for. And what was that about witnesses? I can't sense other people around here. Are they hiding their chakra better than I can sense it? Or does he mean the public? That's it, he would want the civilians to see what Naruto-kun does, which means wherever we are, it's still inside Konoha. Possibly one of the busier areas that will get the most attention if anything unusual happens there. Wait, that means I could still be close to home. IS that a coincidence, or does he know about the locater?'

"And what promise could be so important that you'd go to such lengths to make Naruto-kun agree to it?" She asked.

"That will remain between me and him."

Naruto's clone arrived at the Yamanaka house, where he was greeted by Noriko.

"Ah, welcome back Naruto. If you're looking for Ino, she's in the shop around the corner. But she's working so keep it professional."

Naruto's clone nodded and thanked her before heading to the store. He went inside, finding it empty except for dozens of plants and gardening supplies.

"Ino-chan?" He called out, but there was no response. Figuring she must be busy or on a break, he went over to the counter and leaned against it.

All of a sudden, images flooded his mind. He saw Ino standing behind the counter and Sai walk into the shop, some small talk was exchanged and then Ino was restrained and taken away by the pale boy. Then he saw Sai bring her into one of the nearby udon shops and with help of the employees there take her in back before going down a staircase to an underground chamber.

"What was that?" He asked, looking around and seeing nobody. But he had a bad feeling about it and rushed back to the Yamanaka house.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" Noriko asked when she answered the door again.

"I think something happened to Ino-chan. She wasn't there and suddenly I saw scenes of her being kidnapped. What was that all about?"

"Hmm... let me check something." Noriko said before doing a jutsu and putting her hand on the clone's head. "I can't see anything after you entered and before you exited the shop. It's like a gap in your memory. If what you're saying is true, then that means another Yamanaka planted those images in your mind."

"But then why wouldn't they save Ino-chan from her kidnapper themselves?" The clone asked.

"Good question, they must be in on it." Noriko said before going inside. The clone stayed out there waiting. Fortunately the Yamanaka matriarch didn't take long, but when she came out she was holding a quartz crystal.

"This will help us find Ino. You see, a fear of our clan is someone abducting our bodies when we leave them, so we create these as a way to locate our bodies if they go missing. This one is tied specifically to Ino, so if she's anywhere near where you think you saw her, this will tell us."

"You go ahead, I'll let the others know so they can help." Naruto's clone said before dispelling. This surprised Noriko for a bit, but she clenched the quartz tightly in her hand and headed for the only udon shop she knew close by to the flower shop.

"Okay, so along with a diverse range of members and a unique skill to offer, you will also need a clan name." Jiraiya continued.

"Oh that's easy. The Uzumaki clan." Sakura stated.

"Are you sure? I mean, if this unique skill is attributed to you wouldn't you believe it's rightfully your clan?" Jiraiya asked.

"Naw, I mean, let's face it, Sakura Uzumaki sounds much better than Naruto Haruno. And Hinata would never accept any name other than Uzumaki."

"Damn right." Hinata said with a nod.

"Okay then, well there might be a problem with that as there already was an Uzumaki clan, so instead of creating a whole new one this could be restoring the old one, which raises the question of why use the CCA instead of the CRA? So you'll need to think of a way to justify this that isn't just another way to say that you want to be in a polycule."

"A way?" Naruto asked.

"That's a fancy way to say harem." Sakura clarified.

"Can't we just say this village owes Naruto-kun?" Sahino asked.

"No. Remember this act has to be designed so that it doesn't only work once. Someday someone else might want to invoke this, and if that happened would you accept 'Because we owe you' as justification for it?" Jiraiya answered.

Naruto went rigid then gasped.

"What's wrong?" Several people asked.

"I just got the clone memories back. Ino-chan's in trouble. She's been kidnapped."

"What?" Hinakura asked.

"Yeah, apparently Sai took her and she's now hidden underground. Her mom is looking for her right now."

Sakura and Hinata jumped to their feet, eager to get to work.

"Hold it you two!" Jiraiya stated, earning him several glares. "Are you not on strike? By definition you cannot partake in shinobi work without it being a crime."

"No, it means that we don't get paid for doing it." Sakura countered.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Wrong. If someone's in danger, it's up to real shinobi to do something about it. Getting yourself involved when you're no longer employed is considered vigilantism at best. The only way any of you are allowed to be a part of this is if you renounce your strike. And that's not something you can do temporarily. Once you're off strike, there's no going back on it once your friend is safe."

Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata looked angry but had to concede the toad sannin was right.

"And what will happen if we decide to go for it anyway? Will we be arrested? Banished? Executed?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya looked uncomfortable. "I... i don't know. But you might become entirely ineligible for the Clan Creation Act. Naruto please, let us do this. Don't make things worse for yourself and your friends."

Naruto looked around the room, focusing on his friends. Sakura and Hinata looked concerned, be it for him or Ino he wasn't sure. Yakumo looked like she trusted his judgment, Hinakura looked uncomfortable, and Sahino looked like she was ready to ignore the elderly pervert and go find her friend.

"You've got one hour. If she's not saved I'm going in and to hell with what anyone has to say about it." Naruto declared.

Jiraiya didn't bother arguing, he simply vacated the building and headed towards the hokage tower as fast as he could.