In the Hokage's office, Minato heard his son's name and sighed as he thought, 'What did you do this time, son?' truly concerned for his son's life, remembering when he had been put into the hospital for a week after the last time he'd pulled a trick on Hana with his clones. Then, he got doubly worried as he realised that Naruto had probably dragged his sister into whatever ruse he'd come up with. He sighed and said, "Neko, please go and get Inuzuka Hana for me. I don't think you'll need me to tell you where she'll be."

"Hai!" Neko said and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Soon Neko returned with the irate Inuzuka, who slumped into the armchair across the table from Minato and blew a lock of hair off of her face. Minato sighed and said, "What did he do this time?"

"He ran off with Mizuko without even seeing me and then had the utter gall to tell her to make a clone to leave behind as some sort of sick and twisted joke!"

Minato sighed and said, "He and Mizuko were actually headed out of the village when Team Seven was on its way back and Sasuke thought that it would be a good time to try to demand that Naruto train him so that he could kill Itachi."

A disbelieving look made its way onto Hana's face as she said, "Exactly how did he think that Naruto was going to take that?"

"I don't know that he 'thought' anything about it."

"So then…he didn't leave the clones behind as a taunt then?"

"No, he ju…"

Hana cut Minato off in a most unfortunate way when she said, "So, he planned to just leave without even saying a word then, did he?"

"Well…that's not exactly…"

"So, that's a yes then. What of my team while Mizuko is off galivanting around the elemental nations with her flake of a brother?"

"Well, I haven't really had the time to look into that just yet, so…" Hana slammed her hands on the table and was about to start making completely unreasonable demands that she, had she been in her right mind, should have known wouldn't be met. Hana was cut short though when Minato, in a firm tone, said, "Hana!" causing her to sit back down in her seat. "If you want to discuss what happens with your team, Miwa is probably headed to Ichiraku's in no better mood than you are. I can't imagine that Isamu will be incapable of finding her there either. So, if you want, I'll leave deciding what happens to you. Alright?"

Hana nodded and said, "Alright."

"In the meantime, I'm sure you'll be happy to learn that Naruto managed to teach Miwa two Raiton jutsu on their last mission."

"He…! What the HELL!? How did that…no…why did that happen? I told Amayah very specifically not to do it if something came up!"

"Oh? Well, if you like that, you'll like the jutsu he taught them even more."

"What did he teach her?" Hana asked, fury intermixed with dread at any jutsu that Naruto decided to teach her students.

"I…think that it's probably better that they tell you themselves."

"Wait. What do you mean 'they'? Why did they have Naruto teaching them anything?"

"Apparently they ran into Zabuza, who dragged Itō Daichi into the mix."

Hana exclaimed, "Both of them on a C-Rank?"

"Apparently the client lied about that to us due to some financial difficulties."

Hana sighed and said, "I swear, you leave them alone for even a day and…" Minato grinned sheepishly. She sighed again before continuing, "Very well then, Hokage-sama. Thank you for telling me all of this." She then stood up, a lot calmer than when she'd first come in.

XXXXX

When Hana got to Ichiraku's she heard Miwa's voice saying, "…and then that Baka-Nii-chan used this insane jutsu that shredded this Takeda guy and…"

At that, Hana rushed in and clamped her hand over Miwa's mouth and smiled sheepishly at Teuchi and Ayame. She said, "Sorry you two. My student doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut." Hana blinked when she saw the fifteen bowls of ramen stacked up on the bench next to Miwa and said, "Miwa…how long have you been here for?"

"Hmmm…about two hours or so. Why?"

"Two hou…Seriously!?" Hana exclaimed as even she hadn't thought that Miwa had picked up her brother's penchant for drowning her sorrows in ramen.

Miwa said, "Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

Hana thought, 'There are so many things wrong with it that I don't know where to start.' She sighed though and said, "Can I get a mild-spice chicken ramen, Teuchi?"

"Of course," Teuchi said, turning to make the order.

As he did, Hana turned to Miwa, who was ordering another bowl of Miso-pork ramen from Ayame. She sighed and said, "Miwa. All the ramen in the world isn't going to get him back any faster."

"What's your point?" Miwa asked.

"What's my…Look how much you've eaten!"

"Oh, this? This isn't sorrow ramen."

"What? 'Sorrow ramen'? What the heck is that?"

"Are you seriously saying that you don't know what sorrow ramen is?!" Miwa exclaimed as if it was somehow scandalous that she didn't know what it was.

Hana clutched her forehead and leaned on to the bench as she helplessly said, "You're going to have to explain this to me."

"Oka-ay…For sorrow ramen, something needs to have happened that doesn't have a time frame to be fixed by. Joyous ramen, is when something good has happened and you want to celebrate with your friends. Revenge ramen, is reserved solely for family members."

"Revenge ramen?!" Hana exclaimed. She sighed and said, "You know what. I don't want to know," and saw Ayame smile sympathetically.

"So, why're you here, Hana-sensei?" Miwa asked as her next bowl was prepared.

"I'm here because your father just got through telling me some of what happened while you were in Wave."

"Oh? What'd he tell ya?"

"That you all got taught some techniques by your brother."

"Oh! Right. So, did he tell you what they are?"

"No. He left that to you."

"Well…Nii-chan taught Mizuko his Suiton: Mizurappa, Namikaze-ryū: Reisui no Tsurugi and Suiton: Kaichō no jutsu."

"He taught her all three techniques!? In the space of what, a week?!" Hana scoffed before saying, "Must have been using those bloody clones of theirs."

"…and…he taught Isamu this really strange, but awesome, taijutsu, though Amayah-sensei was kinda annoyed since she'd asked Nii-chan to teach him some kind of ninjutsu."

"I see. I suppose that I'll have to thank him for that at least. I'd been intending on doing that when you'd gotten back anyway. So, what style was it?"

"I don't know that it actually has a name. But it turns out that Gamanata was helping him, so…Frog-fu...maybe?"

Hana blinked as she said, "Gamanata? How is he? It's been a while since I've heard of Naruto summoning him."

"You know him?"

"Yeah. He really helped all of us when we were getting ready for our Chūnin Exam."

"Really? What's he like?"

"You didn't meet him?"

"No."

"I see. Well, he can be rather…unforgiving…but that's only because he cares. Kind of like your brother really."

"Nii-chan is…hu-uh?" Miwa asked, scrunching her face up in confusion at her brother being described in such a way.

"Oh. Right. You haven't seen that side of him, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Miwa…your brother can be very…hard headed…when it comes to certain things. That is something that your sister is going to learn very quickly."

"O-kay-y…" Miwa said, not really getting what Hana was saying.

"Anyway, what did you learn?"

"He taught me how to create the Raiton: Raiu Bunshin and the Raiton Shūrai no jutsu."

"Are you serious?!" Hana exclaimed, a desperate look on her face that Miwa had never seen before.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Miwa. I believe that there is a very special part of Hell reserved for Bunshin users. So far it is filled up by people with blue or blonde hair."

"Sensei…you're scaring me!" Miwa said as Hana clutched her shoulder.

"Good," Hana said. "Because I don't want you to use that Raiu Bunshin when I am with you. Do you understand?" Hana said in a nigh-on deranged tone.

"Uhh…sure…whatever you say sensei."

"Good." Hana let out a calming sigh before saying, "Now, while your good-for-nothing brother and wayward sister are out of the village, what do you want to do, other than eating ramen?" Hana asked as Miwa ordered yet another bowl of ramen.

"What do I want to do? Can't we just keep on doing what we are now?"

"We could, yes. But, I was thinking of cutting back on the missions we take for a bit."

"Cut back? Why?"

"Well, none of us are in any particular need of extraneous income, and we can use the extra time to focus on training."

"More raiton jutsu?" Miwa eagerly asked.

Hana sighed and said, "No Miwa. Not for more ration jutsu. I keep on telling you that that will only be able to take you so far."

"Nii-chan said that you were wrong about that."

"He…" Hana sighed and said, "Of course he did." She sighed again. "Alright. I'll tell you what. Come with me," Hana said as Miwa finished off the bowl of ramen.

"Okay," Miwa said and pushed the bowl away before leaping off of the seat and starting to walk away.

Hana called out and said, "Hey! I'm not paying for that!" pointing at the pile of bowls on the bench.

"That's fine," Miwa said and waved to Teuchi and said, "You can put it on Nii-chan's tab jiji!" before walking away from the stall.

With that, Hana blinked and said, "Ah. 'Revenge Ramen'. Now I get it."

"Actually," Ayame said, "There are some other rules related to revenge ramen, though we've never really been quite able to figure them all out ourselves."

"I…see…" Hana said, still no clearer about these 'types' of ramen that only the Namikaze siblings seemed to have any inkling of.

Hana paid for her meal and joined Miwa outside before leading her away from the ramen stand. As they walked, Miwa asked, "So, where are we going, Hana-sensei?"

Hana said, "We are going to see our village's preeminent raiton user." She thought, 'If I can't get it through your thick skull, then maybe he can!'

"You mean Dad, right?"

"Well…other than your father, who is quite busy at the moment."

"Really? Who is it then?"

"The leader of Team Seven."

"You mean the pervert?"

"The…" Hana started laughing and said, "I suppose Kiba told you that, didn't he?"

"He…may have mentioned something of the sort."

"Well, don't let Kakashi's…proclivities…fool you. he's still one of the strongest shinobi in the village."

"Like Nii-chan?"

"Not quite," Hana said, thinking, 'I can't let her know that Naruto is stronger if I want Kakashi's words to hold any meaning to her.'

"So, where are they?"

"Sasuke apparently tried to be a brat and demand training from your brother, so he decided to…'educate'…Team Seven at the old Uchiha Military Police Force Training Ground."

"The Uchiha Military Police Force Training Ground? I've never heard of that before!"

"I'm not surprised. Only members have been able to open it and, with your brother gone, and me with the Inuzuka Training Grounds, there hasn't really been much need for it recently."

"Wait! You are one of the…Hold on! Why can't Sasuke use it if it belonged to his family?"

"I just told you. The Training Ground has been sealed off for years and only Force Members know how to unseal it."

Miwa grinned as she thought, 'I bet Sasuke was pissed when he found that out.' With a far more confused look, she said, "Just a sec. Why did Sasuke think that he could demand anything from Nii-chan?"

"He seems to have been under the delusion that because he was an Uchiha, then that automatically made him head of the Uchiha Military Police Force, now that there are none other than him that could claim the title."

"I see. I guess that that makes a kind of sense," Miwa said, still highly sceptical of the logic involved.

"There's just one problem with that."

"What's that?"

Hana grinned and said, "Old man Fugaku had written up a deed making your brother head of the Uchiha Military Police Force in the case that he passed without announcing another."

"Nii-chan is…but doesn't that mean that Nii-chan has been shirking his duties?!"

"No. Even he doesn't know about it."

"Seriously?!" Miwa exclaimed.

"Yeah. He was out of the village when the Uchiha Massacre went down, and he's barely been here ever since. Luckily, your father managed to convince the Hyūga to temporarily fill the role until the leader comes back and reinstitutes it."

Miwa thought, 'Hinata's clan?'

"Anyway," Hana said, "Here we are," and walked through the gate. When she was in there, she saw Kakashi in the clearing that he had been in before. She said, "Kakashi," nodding her head in greeting.

"Hana!" Kakashi exclaimed. "It's been a while. Come up with anymore insults lately?"

"No. I've been a bit too busy for that. Although, if you've come up with something new, I'd be more than happy to do so again."

"Uhh…thanks, but that's alright. Speaking of which, why are you back?" then Kakashi saw Miwa coming in behind her. He said, "Oh! If it isn't Miwa."

"Heya, Mutt," Miwa said with as much tact as Naruto had ever had.

In an annoyed tone, Kakashi addressed Hana, "Why did you come here?"

"I would like you to discuss something with Miwa as a fellow raiton user."

"Oh? And what would that be, exactly?"

"The usefulness of having access to more than one type of jutsu."

"Ah. I see," Kakashi said and sighed. "Alright Miwa, if you'd like to come with me for a bit…?"

Miwa shrugged and said, "Eh, I ain't got anythin' better to do."

"Alright then. Hana, could you please look after my genin for a while?"

"Certainly," Hana said. "Which one are they on?"

"The second."

"They're that far already?"

"Well…to be totally honest, I'm not entirely sure."

"Oh, for Kami's sake!" Hana exclaimed and took off in pursuit of Kakashi's team as fast as she could, sending two of the Haimaru brothers after Sakura, one after her brother and headed after Sasuke herself, lacking any confidence that the arrogant Uchiha would heed anything other than a jōnin stopping them from going any further.

While that was going on, Kakashi led Miwa back to Ichiraku's in silence. When they got there, Kakashi ordered two miso-pork ramen, one for each of them. as Teuchi made the order, he said, "So, you've got a raiton affinity as well, do you?"

"Yep," Miwa grinned.

"That…could potentially be a good thing…depending on how you train it."

"Nii-chan gave me the speech about the different varieties of elemental ninjutsu, if that's what this is going to be about."

"I see. That's good. Since he did, and Hana still brought you to me, can I assume that she wants you focus on areas other than raiton, at least for a while?"

"Yeah. But Nii-chan, when giving his speech, said that she was wrong about that."

"I would imagine so."`

"Why do you say that?"

"A lot of your brother's jutsu are very versatile and he's made wind equivalents for every one of his suiton jutsu and can even switch between them instantly."

"Yeah. He showed me."

"Really? Which ones did he use?"

"Suiton: Kaichō no jutsu and Fūton: Hien."

"Oh! So, does that mean that you've developed your own streaming jutsu?"

"Yep," Miwa grinned. "I call it Raiton: Shūrai."

"Well then, in that case, I'm sorry to say, but he's probably already copied it then."

"Eh? What do you mean? Nii-chan can't use raiton."

"Did he tell you that?"

"Well…come to think of it, he might have said that he doesn't use it. But don't they mean the same thing?"

"Generally, yes. But not in this case."

"Then he lied to me!"

"No. He was telling the truth."

"How can you sit there and say…"

"Because, he was," Kakashi smiled. Or rather, Miwa assumed he did. "You see, all of his raiton jutsu are too weak to be particularly useful against the types of opponents that he usually ends up facing, too damaging to his own body, or take too long to use. So he just doesn't use them."

"So…why'd he develop the ability to use it anyway?"

"He was on a team with an Inuzuka. Why do you think?"

"Ah. So, who won?"

"She did. Hana does have a natural affinity for it after all."

"Sensei does?"

"Yes. Didn't she tell you?"

"It must have skipped her mind when she was trying to get me to stop using it."

"I see," Kakashi sighed. "That's probably because of happened with her sensei."

"What happened?"

"Well…it's not really my story to tell, but the short version is that she could really only use taijutsu, though she had been branching out because of your brother, and they ran across a very skilled shinobi that could use multiple elemental styles on a mission and…well…it ended badly."

"But they got away, right?"

"Yes. Barely. Even then, it's only because they could all summon large creatures to aid in their escape." They were both silent for a time. Eventually Kakashi said, "But, as to why Hana wanted you to talk to me, is probably because something similar happened to me, resulting in the deaths of both of my teammates."

"Really?" Miwa asked, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Yeah," Kakashi sighed. "It was our first mission without our sensei…your father in fact."

"You were taught by dad?"

"Mmhm. When it happened, I'd just reached jōnin and developed my own unique raiton technique."

"Seriously?! What was it?"

"Hana developed a similar technique, so you can ask her about it if you want. In any case, it was a close-range raiton jutsu, but it needed me to rush in to strike the enemy. Unfortunately, at t he time, that caused me to develop a type of temporary tunnel vision, which let the enemy stop the attack before it hit. That led to my teammate leaping in to try to save me, but he really was always too loud and the enemy released me to kill him."

"So, how did you survive?"

"My teammate lived long enough to give this to me," Kakashi said, lifting his hitai-ate and revealing his sharingan. "…after that the man left, deeming us as good as dead. After my other teammate performed the transplant, the jutsu was perfected and I no longer suffer from the tunnel vision. In the years since, I developed the ability to use both doton and suiton, though I haven't developed any techniques for either of them yet."

"I see," Miwa said, with a saddened, but serious, look on her face. "Maybe I should look into other branches of jutsu."

"In any case, if you want any help with your raiton jutsu, you can come and look for me and I'll try to make some time," Kakashi said, standing up. He then left via the shunshin jutsu, leaving Miwa to foot the bill.

After he'd left the ramen stand, Miwa said, "Well, I suppose that I might as well see Dad about summoning and that shunshin jutsu that Mutt just used." She then stood up and said, "Well, I'll see you later jiji," waving goodbye.

After she'd left, Ayame said, "Are we putting these on Naruto's bill as well?"

"I guess so. He did only just leave after all."

Miwa then went to the Hokage Tower, scaled the outer wall and waited until her father was done with the meeting that was about something called a 'Five Kage Summit'. She didn't really understand too much of it, so just tuned most of it out. When the meeting was over, Minato called out, "Miwa, you can come in now!"

"Thanks Dad," Miwa said, stepping through the window. When she was inside she sat up on the edge of Minato's desk.

"So, why are you spying on my meetings?"

"I wasn't. it was too boring to be worth listening in on."

"Then why are you here?" Minato paused before continuing on to say, "And it's 'Hokage-sama' in here."

"Maybe on official business, but I'm here as your daughter."

"Alright then, what do you want?" Minato asked, all tension draining from his face.

Miwa asked, "Can I sign the toad contract?"

Minato's eyes boggled at the words coming from his daughter and he said, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Well…yes…but…" Minato then put his hand on Miwa's forehead and his other on his own.

Miwa slapped his hand away and said, "I'm not sick, Dad!"

"Okay. Then what did you do with the real Miwa?"

"Da-addd!" Miwa exclaimed, her hair starting to move.

"Uh-hh…" Minato said, seeing the tell-all sign of his daughter's rising anger. "Okay, okay. All jokes aside, what brought this on?"

"I just had a talk with the Mutt about what happened to Nii-chan's sensei and how they only escaped because they could summon large creatures."

Minato thought, 'Kakashi, you clever git.'

"…and what happened on his first mission as a jōnin."

"Ah…" Minato said, a sad look falling over his face. "Alright," Minato said and summoned the Toad Contract for Miwa to sign.

As soon as she had, to her horror, Naruto's name disappeared from the contract. She said, "I…I…w-what just happened?" a desperate look making its way onto her face.

Minato frowned and said, "I'm not sure Miwa. Some contracts have certain…rules…built into them. We may have just stumbled across one of them."

"What can we do!? What happens if Nii-chan tries to summon a toad now?"

"He can't," Minato said. He walked over to his office door and poked his head out. He said, "Satomi, I'm going to take the rest of the day off," as he saw tears start to form in Miwa's eyes.

As Satomi started to say, "Hokage-sama, you can't! You've got to…" but it was too late and the door had already shut. Satomi sighed and looked up at the ceiling. She said, "Oh Lord Third, why, oh why, did you need to name him your successor?" bemoaning the fact that Minato was named Hokage over Orochimaru or even Fugaku for what seemed like the thousandth time since she'd been assigned as Minato's assistant.

As she did, Minato placed his hand on Miwa's shoulder and used the shunshin jutsu to travel to their home rather than use the more chakra-intensive Hiraishin, should he need the chakra after he summoned 'Pa'. Almost as soon as they appeared in the backyard, Minato summoned 'Pa' and said, "Hey, how are you?"

"Who are we fighting this time? Wait…!" Pa said, looking around and seeing no one other than Minato and his tadpole. "…There's no-one 'ere. Why have you summoned me this time, Mina-boy?"

"I just let Miwa here sign the Toad Contract."

"Oh-ho! So, a new summoner, eh? It's going to be interestin' ta see if she gets aligned wi' Bunta's line as well as you and your other tadpole."

"Hey! Nii-chan's not a damn tadpole!" Miwa exclaimed. "…actually…Hey! You called me a tadpole too, didn't you!?"

Pa turned to Minato and said, "So, another mini-me of your wife, huh?"

"Oh no, Miwa's even worse."

"Oh, is that so?" Pa said before turning back to see a fuming Miwa, whose hair was swirling like mad, her eyes totally white.

Miwa growled, "Watch your tongue, toad!"

"Urk! Uhh…right!" Pa said. "Sorry." Miwa then cocked her head and grinned, her hair back to normal instantly. Pa commented, "I see what you mean."

"Anyway," Minato said, getting them back on point. "When Miwa signed the contract, Naruto's name went away."

"Ah. I see. Well then, I can tell you why."

"So then, let's hear it," Miwa demanded.

"The contract that gets signed, linking you to the animal realm, is functionally equivalent to a Ketsueki Fūin. Which is normally fine. However, because it deals with blood, a problem arises when the blood of siblings is used."

"Why's that?" Miwa asked.

"Because the source of the blood is the same, they possess the same 'signature', which is what links you, to us. If two shinobi with the same blood signature sign the same contract, then the second one 'overwrites' the original."

"So then…that means that only Nii-chan or I can have access to your contract then, right?" Miwa regretfully said.

"Sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Minato thought of something and said, "Pa, is it the same for all contracts, or just yours?"

"It should be. Why?"

Minato sighed and said, "Because, my son has access to a second contract that he may have been thinking of giving to Mizuko."

Miwa's eyes widened. She exclaimed, "If he does that now, then…!"

"That's right," Minato said. "But even if that does happen, your brother will be fine Miwa. He's got Gisei after all."

"Gisei! So what? I mean sure, right now she is a lot bigger than she was, but she's still…"

Minato grinned and said, "There is a lot more to Gisei than you know, Miwa. But, if you are still really that concerned, I could arrange a mission for you to go and find him."

"Really!?"

"Yes. But it would be a long-term mission, which would cut into the time that you could spend doing what your sister will be while you search for them."

Miwa visibly wrestled within herself, but stopped when Pa said, "Don' worry, li'l' tadpole. We can still sense where your brother is for about a day until your signature completely erases his. We'll send him a message fo' ya. How does tha' sound?"

"Yeah," Miwa said. "That's probably for the best. Could you come back tonight with Nii-chan's decision?"

"Sure thin'," Pa said before turning to Minato and saying, "Well then, was there anythin' else while I'm 'ere?"

"No. Thank you," Minato said, thinking, 'I'm going to have to call for a meeting of the Shinobi Clan Council.' As he did, Minato said, "Well, now that that's settled…" and stood up.

He stopped when Miwa grabbed his leg and said, "Hey, Dad. Before you go…"