Three days later, Mizuko and Naruto reached the Land of Rivers. Six hours after that, they reached their destination. It was a large creek that had a log house that had half of it standing on stilts over the water. Mizuko marvelled at the scene and said, "What is this place?"

Naruto said, "This, is where you and I will be training for the next six months."

"Here!?" Mizuko exclaimed. "In that house?"

"Yep."

"Can we…you know…actually do that?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be able to?"

"Because it…you know…is somebody's house!" Mizuko said as if it should be obvious.

"It is," Naruto said. "It's mine."

"It's yours?!" Mizuko exclaimed.

"Mmhm," Naruto nodded. "You didn't think that I spent all of those three years on the road, did you?"

"Well…I didn't really think of that."

"Most Hunter-nin own property in multiple countries."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I've also got ones in Fang, Oni, the far side of Kaze and even one in the Tiger Empire."

"Seriously?!"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"I told you. Even the most dedicated hunter-nin need a break from time to time. On top of that, at times, it's better to have a common base of operations if you're working with a team."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zabuza had been staying in one of his when you met on your last mission."

"Wait…aren't most of those countries you just named around the Land of Wind?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

Naruto grinned. "There are some questions that are better left unanswered. In any case, here we are," he said as he opened the door for his sister.

Mizuko's eyes widened to cartoonish proportions at the size of the interior. She rushed back outside to check that her eyes weren't deceiving her. Then, she went back inside and walked to the archway leading into the kitchen and waved her hand in the air, causing Naruto to burst out laughing. Mizuko glared at him and his laughter slowed. He said, "Sorry sis', but that reaction never gets old."

"It nev…so then who else has been here?"

"Hmm…let's see…there's Neko, Inu, Oni, Hebiko, Ōkami…"

"Uhh…who?" Mizuko asked, a confused look on her face as the names that her brother was giving her were beyond nonsensical.

"Oh! Right. Sorry. When you join ANBU you are given an animal designation to use instead of your actual name."

"Okay. Why's that?"

"It's done so that the village you belong to has something called plausible deniability."

"What?"

"Basically, what it means is that they can deny doing anything untoward another village, or nation, and there is nothing that the affected populace can do to prove otherwise."

"Isn't that…you know…illegal?"

"People from one nation are not beholden to the laws of a foreign nation Mizuko."

"Seriously?!"

"Well…in theory that is. In practice, we all try as much as we can to cater to the rules and customs of those nations so that we can go about our business as quickly as possible."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Anyway, your room's that one over there," Naruto said, nodding at a door at the far end of the room.

"Cool. Thanks," Mizuko said and went into the room to unpack her bag. When she started putting things away she found something that she wasn't expecting. She called out, "ANIKIII!"

"What is it?" Naruto called back from his room.

"The last person that was here…it was the Mutt, right?"

"The Mutt?"

"Y'know. The silver haired ANBU."

"Inu. Yeah. Maybe. It's been a while since I've come to this one. Why?"

"Because, he left one of his trashy books here."

"Seriously!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ye-ah," Mizuko said.

"Well…I guess that means that we won't have to go and look for any kindling tonight then."

"We get to burn this one then?" Mizuko gleefully asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Dad keeps on telling me 'n' Miwa that we have to respect other people's belongings."

"Oh. Well, you should. But I keep on telling Kakashi not to leave that pervy trash lying around here."

Mizuko placed it on top of the chest of drawers and kept on putting her clothes away.

XXXXX

At the same time, in Konoha, Minato was standing in front of the head of every clan, and one representative of every shinobi family that had offspring that were, or were planning to be, shinobi themselves. He said, "Alright, everyone quiet down," causing all of the muttering to come to a stop. When it had, he said, "Thank you."

"Why are we here?" Sarutobi Takeo demanded, annoyed at having to cancel his meeting with his clan's armourer.

Minato tersely said, "I will apologise for any…inconveniences that this meeting has caused. However, this is vital information that you must all be informed of. It has recently become known to me that family contracts can only be passed down to one child, should you desire to." That caused the clans to explode into protest about why they hadn't been told before and Kage overreach. The shinobi that weren't part of a clan, started to protest the hoarding of contracts by the shinobi clans and denying them to others, entrenching themselves in positions of power whilst excluding them, along with withholding such information entirely.

The representatives all sat back down and shut up when Minato unleashed his killing intent on them. He said, "Look. I am aware of the complaints that you all have, but many of the same arguments have been made time and again over the hidden ninjutsu used by the clans. This is why I have gathered all of you here and informed you of this at the same time. Keep in mind that I have no intention of implementing any new laws in regard to the possession of contracts. You all are welcome to do whatever you want with them, and we do still have the contract section of the ninjutsu library if anyone wants to sign a contract. I just felt the need to pass this information on. Now, are there any questions?" When they all started talking at once, Minato yelled, "One at a time!" over the top of them, shutting them all up. When someone raised their hand, Minato said, "Yes, Unkai?"

"How did you come across such information?"

"I recently tried to let Miwa sign the contract that I have with the toads."

"What happened then?" Kurama Unkai asked as voices started to rise.

"My son's name disappeared. After that happened, I summoned one of the most knowledgeable toads and he told me that siblings possess the same blood signature that links them to the summoning realm. As such, the newer instance of that signature will overwrite the older one. No matter how long the original has possessed the ability to summon animals from that contract."

Shikaku said, "Minato, does that mean that your son…"

"Has lost the ability to summon from the toad realm."

This got the jōnin talking amongst themselves, realising exactly the ramifications of what had happened. Shikaku even more than most. He said, "Minato, has he re-signed it?"

"No," Minato said.

The jōnin's talking amongst themselves changed to cries of trying to get Minato to order Naruto to re-sign the contract and applying a permanent contract seal to Miwa. That was when Minato decided that enough was enough. He set the tables shaking from his killing intent, interfering with the weaker ones' ability to even think. He said, "I will not be ordering Naruto to re-sign the contract and if anyone tries to mess with my daughter in any way, shape or form, it won't just be the perpetrator that will be punished. The same fate will be meted out against your family and/or whoever put them up to it. Am I clear?"

There were lots of shinobi saying, "Hai, Hokage-sama!" or some variant thereof.

There was one that wasn't. it was Danzō. He thought, 'So, Minato does have 'it' in him after all. I'd thought him too attached to Hiruzen's ways. But, this thing with contracts is troubling, to say the least,' thinking of two supposed 'brothers' in his ranks that had successfully signed the same contract. The problem being that they were both survivors of the Hagoromo clan and could use their clan's hidden ninjutsu that he had kept hidden off the books due to the clan's supposedly being an earlier offshoot of the Uchiha, though the sharingan had long been extinct in their bloodline. He silently made his way from the meeting room as Minato started to get peppered with questions.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Miwa was getting nowhere fast with her Summoning jutsu. So far she'd only been able to get a tadpole with legs, let alone a toad that would actually be anything remotely close to useful on the battlefield. She fell back and blew a hair out of her eyes, annoyed at the errant lock. She wondered, "How did Dad make it look so damn easy?"

"You know," Hana said, "you are actually doing quite well on this Miwa."

"Stop lying Sensei."

"I'm not. Your brother took twice as long to get that far." 'Granted, he didn't exactly have the time to work on it, but that probably won't help here.'

"So, what am I doing wrong?"

"You need to gather more chakra before casting it."

"That's all?"

"Well, pretty much. Although, you are losing a lot when you change from gathering to moulding it."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How would I go about fixing that?"

"Hmm…" Hana said, thinking on the question. She sighed and said, "I suppose that I could teach you one of your brother's more annoying jutsu."

"One of nii-chan's…wait. Why is it annoying?"

Hana scoffed and smiled. "He basically copied one of mine, put his own spin on it and renamed it with a name similar to my original to mock me."

"That's not how it looks to me, Sensei."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess his 'swords' could be considered as such, but I think that when it comes to jutsu from here, he does it as a sign of respect."

"Heh, I suppose you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are his sister after all."

"Oh."

"But, that aside, I think that that might be a better way of looking at it."

"So, what is it?"

"It's this," Hana said, holding her hand out, palm up. When Miwa was looking, she generated some sparks, then manipulated the shape into foot-long, sparking, needles. "Granted, even now mine aren't nearly as good as his."

"Why's that?"

"Because, your flake for a brother's ability to apply shape manipulation to elemental chakra is far superior to even your father's."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then…is Nii-chan stronger than Dad?"

"Not to my knowledge, though I'm not sure that the two of them have ever actually gone all-out against each other before."

"I see," Miwa said. She sighed before pushing herself back up and getting back to practicing her Kuchiyose no jutsu."

XXXXX

Meanwhile, back in the Land of Rivers, Naruto was saying, "Alright Mizuko. Now, on to your first bit of training."

"Okay!" Miwa eagerly said, launching herself from the chair. "What is it, Nii-chan?"

Naruto grinned and said, "Chakra control."

Mizuko's face went from almost joyful, to near crazed. She said, "Chak…ra…con…troll?! Are you…ya know…joking, Nii-chan? Cause…if you are…it's not very funny."

Naruto's smile widened and he said, "Nope. Not joking at all."

Mizuko collapsed and demanded, "Why?! I can use the Shōsen no jutsu and that needs a ton of chakra control to use!"

"Yes, but so can your sister. Tell me, who learnt it faster?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Oh, alright, fine. Miwa did. What's your point? It's still really good already."

"You are right. But, it can be better."

Mizuko sighed and said, "Alright, what'll it be this time? Walking on clouds?"

"That's not a bad idea Mizuko," Naruto said in a serious tone. Mizuko looked at her brother with a deadpan look on her face. Naruto said, "Come on, that was funny." Mizuko's look didn't change. Naruto sighed and said, "Oh, alright, fine. No walking on clouds today then."

Mizuko thought, Then…was he actually serious about that?' she shook her head to refocus on what her brother was saying.

"All jokes aside though…"

'So, he was joking then.'

"…you'll find that my methods of training your control aren't anywhere near as inane as the way they teach them back home."

"Okay, so how do you do it?"

Naruto grinned and said, "Come with me," leading the way out of his house.

When they were outside, Naruto hopped onto the river and Mizuko followed him out to the centre of it and drew two of his kunai. When Mizuko was standing opposite him, he said, "Alright Mizuko. When you were fighting against Daichi, you were imitating me. Badly by the way," and activated both Suiton: Kaichō no jutsu and his Namikaze-ryū: Reisui no Tsurugi. "So, now I'll be teaching you the right way to do it."

Mizuko did the same and, as soon as she had, fell straight into the water. She shrieked, "AHHH!" and started splashing about before realizing two things. The first being exactly where she was and how she got there. The second thing being that Naruto had known what would happen and was laughing about it. She stopped splashing about and pushed herself up, out of the water and said, "That. Wasn't. Funny!"

"Sure it was," Naruto said. Seeing the glare he was getting, he said, "Look, it's better that it happen here, when it's just us, than if anybody else had been here too, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah. Miwa would probably never let me live it down."

"Probably-y," Naruto aid, remembering the way their mother had reacted when he did it.

"Is that personal experience talking, Aniki?"

"Yeah. Mum tortured me with it for almost a year."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I'm just glad that Hana or Tsume were never there when she did."

"Yeah. I can imagine," Mizuko said, thinking of the hell that Kiba had gone through when Miwa said that he smelt like wet dog in earshot of one obnoxious Inuzuka, who conjured up some sick story about her friend's preferences and spread them around the Inuzuka Clan Compound. It was only after Miwa had twisted the Inuzuka's words around that the rumour backfired and he'd been booted from the clan for forsaking their principles.

Naruto said, "Now, do it again. This time, focus."

"Right!" Mizuko said and did as she had before, this time staying on top of the water.

"Good. Now…" Naruto said before kicking the water, causing Mizuko to fall into it again.

"Hey! That is getting really old, really quickly!" Mizuko exclaimed as she pushed herself out of the water for the second time.

Naruto said, "Maybe. But you kept your blades up this time."

"Mizuko looked at her hands and saw that Naruto was right. "Then…does that mean that it's better already?"

"Better than it was, certainly. But, it's not yet good enough. That is why this time, we won't be fighting. I'll just be taking you through some forms for now."

"Why? It worked well enough before."

"Yes, well, you were learning an entirely new way of fighting that you were going to have to use in a couple of days. There was simply no time to go through the proper process. Besides, if we do that now, you'll just be spending half the time getting back up out of the water again, and where do you think that that would get us?"

"Nowhere fast I'd bet."

"You'd win that one, believe me." Naruto said, "Now, the first form is…' and started walking his sister through the first form he'd created

XXXXX

The next day, after breakfast, Mizuko asked, "So, are we doing that again, or something else?"

"No. I'll be walking you through the forms like I did yesterday in the evening. During the day, I want you to focus on two things."

"Two things? What are they?"

"Wind-style nature transformation, and fūinjutsu. "

"Eh?!"

"What do you mean, 'eh?'?"

"Well…it's just that…you know…you can just buy ready-made sealing tags, so I don't really see the point."

"Really?" Naruto asked in a flat tone.

"Uhh…ye-ahh…that's kinda why I said it."

Naruto sighed and thought, 'Just like Hana-chan.' He said, "Mizuko. Take out one of the kunai that I gave you."

"What about it?" Mizuko asked, taking one of her brother's kunai out of her kunai pouch.

"See the handle?"

"Yeah. It's wrapped in paper. What of it?"

Naruto sighed and said, "Take the paper off."

Mizuko did, tearing it in places along the way. When it was off, she blinked and said, "Naruto-nii…this is…wait! Why can I…get…what the parts do to each other?"

"Because, Mizuko, like me, you inherited Mum's Uzumaki genes, and their inherent talent with fūinjutsu."

"Then…does that mean that I can use this, then?" Mizuko asked, holding up the piece of paper.

"No," Naruto laughingly said. "You are far from being able to use it yet. One day, maybe. Who knows? It could be that you will end up having to reengineer your own."

"I'd have to…why would I need to do that?"

"While I can make use of the seals that Dad uses with his Hiraishin, it is too slow to be worth the effort, so I redesigned the array to use with my wind element affinity."

"Why did you do that if suiton is easier for you?"

"Because, wind has a direct strength over lightning."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much," Naruto shrugged.

"So, how are we going to do this?"

"You and I are going to make a single clone and then, we are going to go for a bit of a walk while we leave the clones here to study fūinjutsu. Alright?"

"Wouldn't it be better for me to make more than a single clone?"

"Maybe. But I've only got one beginner's guide to fūinjutsu."

"Oh. I see," Mizuko said and made a single clone, as requested. She then followed Naruto from the house.

XXXXX

Meanwhile in Konoha, Miwa was griping about how "This time it was a bunch of weeds! What's next, paint some old guy's house!?"

From the other side of his desk, Minato said, "Now that you mention it, I think that I saw a request for a team to paint Councilman Homura's house somewhere if you want it that badly, Miwa."

"Urk!" Miwa exclaimed, her face losing all of its colour. She said, "No no, that's fine. Really!" a rather pathetic excuse for an exasperated smile on her face.

Minato thought, 'Well, at least it wasn't white eyes & flailing hair this time.' He sighed and said, "Well, that's your mission done for the day. How is your Kuchiyose going?"

Isamu thought, 'Miwa-chan is learning the Kuchiyose no jutsu? Maybe I should speak to uncle about learning to summon too.'

"Not so good," Miwa said, "so Hana-sensei has me working on this ration jutsu that nii-chan developed."

"Oh? So, you copied one of Naruto's jutsu, did you, Hana?"

"I figured that turnabout was fair play after everything he did to me!" Hana said.

"I suppose that's fair," Minato agreed. He then turned to look at the genin and said, "Okay, you two can go now, I'd like to talk with Hana for a bit."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Isamu said.

"Yeah, see ya later Dad," Miwa said before leaving through the window, Isamu making his way down through the tower.

When they'd both left, Minato said, "I thought that you wanted her to move away from relying on raiton?"

"I do, and I'm still going to try and get her on to other things."

"Then what's this about?"

"She's struggling to summon an actual toad, so I figured that teaching her how to use shape manipulation would help in getting her further along."

'Oh? Hana-chan's getting her to work on shape manipulation is she? This could be good…or…maybe not,' Minato thought, imagining his son's reaction if he taught Miwa the rasengan before Mizuko began to learn it herself."

"Is there anything else, Hokage-sama?"

"Hmm…how's Isamu doing?"

"He's fine. Why?"

"You might want to look at the tekkō and suneate that he's wearing," Minato cryptically said, having seen his son wearing something similar back when he'd first mastered fūinjutsu.

"Okay, why?"

"You can go now," Minato said, hoping that he was wrong, because he didn't need Hana's frustrations with his son boiling over. After all, an angry female Inuzuka was only slightly less of a threat than an irate Uzumaki…or more recently, Namikaze, or a brooding Uchiha. Not for the first time, Minato thought, What was Hiruzen thinking, putting those three on a team together?' and shook his head, bringing his mind to the present, which was full of paperwork.

Ten minutes later, Hana found Isamu at the training ground that she had used for their test, going through some katas that highly resembled Naruto's style and she sighed and rolled her eyes as she thought, 'That'd be right now, wouldn't it? Not only his sisters, he has to go off and rope Isamu into his little plot too!'

Hearing the sigh, Isamu looked over and exclaimed, "Sensei!"

"Isamu," Hana nodded.

"Not that you're not welcome, but…why are you here?"

"Hokage-sama just asked me to take a look at your new armour. So, if you don't mind?"

"Sure," Isamu said, shrugging before setting about removing them. When he was done, he handed them over to Hana, saying, "Here you go sensei."

"Thank you," Hana said and sat against a tree, placing the armour at her side. "Hey Isamu, that taijutsu you were using just now…"

"What about it?"

"That isn't the style used by the brother of Miwa and Mizuko."

"That's right. Gamanata-san helped me develop it."

"Oh! You've met Gamanata then?" Hana said. "Did he tell you what happened when he was 'helping' Naruto with his taijutsu?"

"No, actually, he didn't mention it once. Why?"

"Heh," Hana laughed, remembering what happened. She said, "Naruto couldn't even touch him for months."

"Seriously?!" Isamu exclaimed.

"Yeah. Of course, the idiot was wearing-!" Hana's eyes widened, seeing exactly the last thing that she wanted to see on the inside of his armour. "So, he did give these to you then," Hana said, her sclera seeming to darken ominously.

"Uhh…sensei…" Isamu said, never having seeing anything like what was happening from Hana before, the marks on her cheeks starting to glow an angry red.

Hana shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, her facial markings returning to normal. She stood up and said, "Well, at least he only gave you First Grade ones."

"'First Grade'? What do you mean 'First Grade'"

Hana sighed and said, "I don't know if Naruto is still using that training method, but his 'First Grade' Inryoku Fūin has the amount written into the seal and it cannot be changed. The Second Grade seals, generate a level based on the amount of chakra used when they were activated and his Third Grade seals have levels written into them that can be selected. Now, you need to tell me the truth here Isamu. Did he give anything similar to either of his sisters?"

"No. Not that I saw. Why?"

Hana let out a sigh and said, "That's a relief."

"Why's that?"

"I tried training with them on once and ended up in hospital for about a week after fighting with them off."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well maybe that's why he had me training with them both on and off."

"Well, what do you know. Maybe even Namikaze can learn from their past mistakes."

"What do you mean by that?"

"After he created his first 'sword', he used it in full public display at the Chūnin Exams against Itō Daichi. It led to him actually getting kidnapped by a team of jōnin from Takigakure because they thought that he'd insulted them by recreating their technique and giving it his name." Isamu just looked stunned at the news as nothing he'd seen of his teammates' brother would have led him to believe that Naruto was capable of being taken by surprise. Especially since Gisei was constantly by his side. "As a matter of fact, it almost led to war against Takigakure."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Hokage-sama sent an entire company, headed by Fugaku-dono after him, though I'd say that Kushina-sama had had a lot to do with that. In any case, there were very few of us that were too happy when we found Naruto waltzing along the main road to the Land of Fire after having settled everything himself."

"Who is 'Kushina'?"

"Hokage-sama's wife."

"I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that a spouse's desires would affect a Kage's decisions."

"That's only because you never met her."

"Even so."

"Alright. You know Miwa and Mizuko's 'enraged hell-demon modes' that they go into at times?"

"N…nn…no Sensei! I've no idea what you're talking about!" Isamu said in a high-pitched tone, backing away as he saw one of said teammates enter the clearing in said 'enraged hell-demon mode'.

Miwa growled, "Sensei-ii!"

A sweatdrop appeared on the side of Hana's head as she thought, 'Speak of the devil…' she said, "AN-Yway, as I was saying…Naruto, being the way he is, acted as if we hadn't been travelling as fast as we could to get there and rescue him and greeted us as he would normally, which, somehow, abated their anger." With that, Miwa's hair, and eyes, returned to normal.

Isamu said, "Sensei…when you were talking about…that..." his eyes flickering at Miwa. "Did you mean to say that 'Kushina-sama' also…"

"Oh no. she combined both on a semi-regular basis where Miwa's brother was concerned."

"I see. Then, in that case, maybe I do believe that such influence could be possible."

Miwa blinked and asked, "What might be possible?"

"Uhh…never mind," Isamu said. "It's not really that important anyway. But, why are you here?"

"Sensei was going to teach me a new jutsu."

"Really? What is it?"

"It's a raiton jutsu!"

"Eh? Seriously?" Isamu doubtfully said.

"Yes. Seriously," Hana said.

"No offence, but why? Ever since you took on our team, you've done nothing but try to get her away from using them."

"Well, there's a…"

Miwa cut Hana off, saying, "Sensei's seen the error of her ways and has come to realise that me 'n' raiton are made for each other."

Isamu started to back away as Hana said, "Miwa-a!"

Miwa got a hesitantly sheepish smile on her face and said, 'Sensei…i…uhh..hehe…umm…"

Hana sighed and complained, "You're just like your damn brother."

"Really? Miwa asked with a happy smile on her face at being compared to Naruto.

"…and just as bad as your sister apparently."

"What does that mean?"

Hana sighed and said, "She and your brother left a pair of clones behind for a couple of hours after they'd left."

"Oh! So, was that what that thing about 'clone users in hell' was about?"

"Yeah. Though I have held that belief for almost as long as I've known your brother. It's only this last week that there was an addition."

"I see."

"In any case, it's probably going to help if you do this training too, Isamu."

"What is it?" Isamu asked as he started putting his armour back on.

"It's this," Hana said as she held up her index and middle fingers before spreading them apart. She generated a small ball of lightning that she then shaped into a senbon.

"Uh…I'm glad that you have faith in me, sensei…but there is a slight problem with what you are suggesting."

"What's that Isamu?"

"I can't use any elemental ninjutsu. So how can you expect me to…"

"Ah. I see your point. That is why you'll be doing it with your normal chakra."

"Wouldn't that be…you know…kind of pointless though?"

"No. the training is what is important. Not what you do with it."

"I don't get it."

Hana grinned and said, "I'm sure you don't, so I'll tell you what the point it…once you've finished it."

"That's not exactly very fair, sensei."

Hana said, "Maybe not, but that's neither here nor there."

"Huh?"

"Just do it, then I'll explain," Hana said and sat down with her back against the same tree as before to watch over her students.

XXXXX

At the same time, in a dark room under Konoha, there was a meeting going on between an annoyed, dark hared man that had bandages covering his right eye, and a man with red hair that was sweating under the dark-haired man's gaze. He said, "Danzō, I…"

"Why did you lie?"

He sighed and said, "It wasn't my idea."

"That's not what I asked."

"I…" He sighed and said, "There's no excuse."

"Is Hideo your son?"

"No."

"Is that why you gave the Hitokiri no Tsurugi to Tsuneo, the lesser swordsman?"

"Yes. Only a Hagoromo can wield it."

"Is it also why he can use Shōton?"

"That…I don't know for sure."

"You do realize what this means, don't you, Takao?"

Takao sighed and said, "You want Hōshuko, don't you?"

"If she is actually one of yours."

Takao sighed and said, "She is."

"Does she have any special abilities?"

"Yes. Hideo managed to teach her Shōton too."

"But she is your daughter, correct?"

"Yes. But she's even more talented with Shōton than Hideo is."

"I see. Very well then."

"Just…"

"What is it?"

"Please. I get that she will be a shinobi, but don't send her on missions that she can't handle."

"I'll see what I can do."

Takao sighed and said, "I suppose that that's about as good as I'll get, isn't it?" Danzō just looked at him, not saying a word. Takao sighed and said, "Well, goodbye."

Danzō said, "She's going to be put on a team with my grandson. I've no desire to lose him as I did his father," willing to give the girl's father some comfort at least.

Takao looked over his shoulder and sombrely said, "Thank you," before leaving.

XXXXX

The next day, in the Land of Rivers, Mizuko woke up before Naruto and got dressed. She was about to go outside and get in an early set of her katas on the top of the lake. Then she saw her brother's haori and thought, 'Eh, why not?' and took it off the back of the chair and slipped it on. When she'd put her arm through its second sleeve, Mizuko felt a massive weight bearing down on her and her eyes widened as she struggled to stay standing. She tried to move her arms so that she could at least shrug it off, but found that it wasn't possible. She glanced at the chair that she took it off and thought, 'If it's this heavy, then how did that chair…'

That was when Naruto came into the room and saw what was happening. He rushed over and took it off of Mizuko, who heaved a massive sigh of relief and started rubbing her shoulders. She exclaimed, "What the heck is that thing made of?"

Naruto sighed and said, "It's no different to yours, Mizuko."

"Don't lie, Aniki!"

"I'm not. Really," Naruto said, turning it inside out. "See, it's these seals that increase the weight of the one wearing it."

"How do you move with those things on there?"

"It's taken me a long time to get to where I can wear them. Well, that said, when I go into battle, I do lower the level of them."

"Can you put them on mine?"

"Hmm…I don't think so. Not yet anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because, you haven't mastered those kata yet. If I do that now, then it's just going to mess with your training and it will take even longer to complete."

"Oh. Alright then," Mizuko said and went outside, leaving her haori on the hook next to the door.

Naruto sighed and shook his head, remembering when he'd done something similar, though he'd only suffered chakra exhaustion as a result. He then set about making breakfast for the two of them.

XXXXX

At the same time, in a cave, a translucent, multi-coloured, figure said, "The Hokage's daughter has been sighted in the Land of Rivers."

Another figure said, "Which on is it?" His eyes turning red.

A third said, "What does it matter?"

The second figure said, "There are two. Only one of which was compatible with the chakra of the ninetails."

"Your point?" the third figure asked.

The second figure said, "Is there anyone else with her in the Land of Rivers."

"Why do you want to know that?"

A purple-eyed figure, said, "Answer him," in a gravelly voice.

"Hai, Pain-sama," the first figure said. "There is one other with her, but I fail to see the significance."

The red-eyed figure said, "One of the shinobi from my time in Konoha's ANBU has a residence in the Land of Rivers."

"Who is it?" said the figure standing next to the red-eyed one.

"Namikaze Naruto, the Hokage's son."

"Is he blonde?"

"Yes. And there's a fox that follows him everywhere."

"Then it is this 'Naruto'."

Pain said, "What do you know of him, Itachi?"

Itachi said, "It's safer to stay well away from him. Especially if his sisters are around."

"Couldn't we use them as hostages?"

"No. Even trying that would only result in making him even angrier. And, if he has one of his sisters with him there, then he's probably training her, so it is unlikely that any attempt shall be anything remotely resembling successful."

"Do you know which sister he'd be training?"

Itachi sighed and said, "No. they both have abilities that only he can train them to use."

"Hmm…" Pain said, closing his eyes. "I will think on this. In the meantime, continue on as you are now."

The figures all said, "Hai! Pain-sama!"

They all started flickering from existence until there were only two left over, along with pain and his partner. Pain said, "You two, wait," and the fading forms materialised and waited to be spoken to. They didn't need to wait long. "I want the pair of you to go to the Land of Rivers."

"Why? Red-eye over there said that there's…"

"Itachi, was on a team with Naruto. I trust Itachi, however, when it comes down to it, he is reputed to have been even stronger when fighting alongside Namikaze."

"So then…you're saying that you don't trust him then?"

"Not when it comes to the Namikaze family, no."

"Okay, so, do we attack, or just confirm?"

Pain closed his eyes and said, "I'll leave that up to you," and faded from the communication.

As they came out of the communication trance, the female, wearing rose coloured, tight, jōnin pants, red, knee-high, shinobi sandals, a rose coloured, long-sleeved, shirt and a red flak jacket. Her hair was long, dark pink and tied up into a side-tail. She cricked her neck and said, "Damn Jirō, I was beginning to think that we'd never get done with that meeting."

Jirō had short brown hair and was wearing a pair of blue jōnin pants a blue, long-sleeved, shirt and a sky-blue flak vest. He said, "I don't care, Yumi. Any plans for this?"

"I'd like to check this Naruto guy out."

"If Itachi was telling the truth, then this guy isn't going to be like the last one, and, if the sister doesn't do anything, I'm going to stay out of it."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," Yumi said.

"Good. Then let's go," Jirō said, standing up and heading off in the direction of the Land of Rivers.

XXXXX

"A week later, Mizuko exclaimed, "YATTA!" excited at finally making a storage seal that worked.

Naruto came over and said, "Congratulations Mizuko. You managed to seal your chakra blades in there."

"So…then there's nothing wrong with it, right?"

"That's right," Naruto said while Gisei started to laugh for some reason, which became obvious when Naruto went on to say, "Now, release them."

"Rel…argh!" Mizuko shrieked. "I don't know how!" Her head snapped towards her brother and asked, "How do I do it?"

"Hmm…" Naruto said, twisting his lips strangely as he considered what he should do.

"ANIKII!" Mizuko plead.

"I don't know…" Naruto said. "Maybe I shouldn't. After all, you did ignore my warning about playing around with seals that you don't fully understand."

Gisei said, "Do you want me to tell her about 'that' time?"

"Urk!" Naruto gasped, grimacing at the time that he learnt that particular lesson after using his marking ability when testing an attachment seal on a tree. His mother hadn't let that one drop, ever. Nor had Gisei. He sighed and said, "Alright, alright," and made a few seals before saying, "Kaija Hōin," and tapped the seal that his sister had sealed her chakra blades in.

After the blades had been released, Mizuko saw all of her work disappear from the scroll. She blinked a few times before exclaimed, "W-what?! Where'd it go?!"

"The Kaija Hōin releases and destroys seals that have been placed on people or objects."

"Why did you do that then? Couldn't you have just…you know…released it, or something?"

Naruto sighed and said, "No. that's not how the Fūnyū no jutsu and Kaifū no jutsu work."

"The Kaifū no jutsu? What's that?"

"It is the counterpart of the Fūnyū no jutsu that you just finished and will release an object that has been sealed and leave it free to be used."

"So, why didn't you just use that?"

"Because, it only works if it is done by the one that originally did the sealing. There are other jutsu that could be used in place of the Kaija Hōin, however they all take a lot longer, and generally more chakra, to prepare and use."

"I see. Can you teach me that one then?"

"Maybe eventually. For now though, let's…" then he was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. In an instant, Naruto was all business. He said, "Mizuko, arm up."

"Eh? Why?"

"No-one should know about this place."

"Seriously?!" Mizuko exclaimed as she did as she was instructed, going back into her room to get her weapon and tool pouches.

While she did that, Naruto went and opened the door. When he had, he saw two people wearing Akatsuki robes, one with long, red, hair wearing a pink jōnin uniform with dark pink gloves, knee-high boots and flak vest. There was a man with her with short brown hair wearing a red jōnin uniform that had one loose sleeve that was missing a sleeve on the other arm and a brown flak vest. He thought, 'Akatsuki? So, they heard that I was here with one of my sisters and came to check us out, did they?' He said, "Hi."

The female said, "Hi, I'm Yumi and this is Jirō," indicating her partner. "We've just moved into the neighbourhood and thought that it'd be a good idea to meet the people that live nearby."

Naruto and Jirō both thought, 'How stupid does she think this guy/I is/am?' Naruto considered calling the, clearly ditzy, pinkette out on it, but figured that doing that would only cause more trouble than it'd be worth. He just sighed and said, "Is that so? Well then, do come in, please," and opened the door wide for them.

Jirō's eyes narrowed at the blonde as he thought, 'Either he's as big of a ditz as Yumi, or he's leading us into a trap.'

As they entered, they blinked before going back outside, checking that they hadn't actually missed something on their approach. As they re-entered the house, Naruto asked them, "Would you like something to drink?" as if they hadn't just checked to see if they were imagining things."

Yumi said, "Yeah, sure thing got any green tea?"

"Yeah. I think so. You?" Naruto said, turning to Jirō.

"No thanks," Jirō said, thinking, 'Someone has to be on their guard.'

Naruto went into the kitchen, prepped the tea dispenser and filled a mug with cold water before stirring it a little. He activated a seal on the bottom of the mug that would heat it as he went back to the dining/living room. When he was in there, he saw Yumi with a tight-lipped smile. She was glaring at Mizuko as she said, "Of course it is. It's Yumi!"

"Oh! Like the bow?" Mizuko asked, causing Yumi's eye to start to twitch. Mizuko didn't give her time to reply before dismissively saying, "…well, it doesn't matter anyway. My name's Mizuko."

Naruto clutched his forehead and sighed before going over to Yumi and putting her tea down. He said, "Here's your tea."

"Thanks," Yumi said, taking a sip of it. When she tasted it, she let out a groan and said, "Damn, it's been while since I've had some that good. Where'd you get it?"

"The Land of Vegetables"

"Seriously?!" Yumi exclaimed. "Why? The Land of Tea borders this one."

The Land of Tea does have a wide variety, certainly. But, when it comes to green tea, nothing comes close to the stuff from the Land of Vegetables."

"I know, right?"

Naruto nodded as he thought, 'Well, what do you know? Akira's obsession with blabbering on about tea actually came in handy for once.' He said, "So, what brought you two to the area?"

"I've always loved the water. How about you?"

Naruto said, "The privacy…and the sun at dawn is really something special."

Jirō thought, 'So, he does know, and yet he still invited us in anyway? Okay, definitely a trap.'

Yumi thought, 'Nah, must be coincidence.' She said, "So, anywhere good to fish around here?"

"Just about anywhere will do, but it's better during winter and storing them for the rest of the year." As Naruto said this, he motioned for Gisei to stand next to him and rest a tail against Mizuko's leg under the table. When she had, he nodded at the ring that Yumi was wearing and asked, "Is that a wedding ring?"

Yumi and Jirō's eyes flashed to her ring and Jirō thought, 'Please say yes,' not having much faith that Yumi would.

Yumi said, "Something like that."

"So…you're not married then?"

Jirō piped in, saying, "We are what passes for marriage in our religion," having zero faith that Yumi could come up with a suitable lie.

With the answer, Naruto thought, 'So he is the one to look out for then.' He said, "Really? Can I see it?"

"Sorry, one of the tenants of our religion. Can't take 'em off even once for the first five years after we take our vows."

"I see," Naruto said as he thought, 'Damn! I can feel the seal on that thing.' He said, "…that's too bad then."

Thus far, Mizuko had just looked from one speaker to the next, not really getting what was going on, but also feeling that there was more to the seemingly inane conversation than it looked. She asked, "So, are the two of you shinobi?"

When Yumi said, "Yes," without thinking, Naruto and Jirō covered their eyes and sighed.

Naruto looked at Jirō and said, "'Yumi', uses Hana-ninpō, doesn't she?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Yumi demanded.

Naruto, still addressing Jirō, said, "In my experience, they tend to be even more ditzy than Mafūma can be."

Jirō sighed and said, "Sadly, Yumi is no different."

"HEY!" Yumi yelled. "You take that back!"

Mizuko, helpfully, said, "Why don't we all just calm down," not wanting to go to Plan B.

"I am calm!" Yumi declared, all evidence to the contrary.

"O-kay. That's…nice," Naruto said. He sighed before saying, "Alright. Now that that is out, why don't we stop playing games."

"That's fine," Jirō said, wanting to avoid a fight breaking out if it was possible.

"Good. Now, let's start with the obvious, shall we?"

"Usually a good place."

"You are with Akatsuki."

"That's right."

"So, why are you here?"

"Two reasons. One, to see if you were actually here with your sister and, if you were, we were to determine if it was the jinchūriki."

"And if I am?"

"Our orders are capture if possible, or leave."

"Well, this is the wrong sister."

"I see. Then in that case, we shall be seeing you."

"Not too soon, I hope," Naruto said, getting up at the same time as Yumi and Jirō. He escorted them to the door and said, "Well, it's been nice meeting you."

Yumi said, "Yeah. You too. Say! Will you be at that festival in the Land of Tea next month?"

Naruto looked at her incredulously, and said, "Goodbye, Yumi," and closed the door on them as Jirō started to drag her away. He sighed in relief as he lay back against the door. He said, "Thank goodness that's over."

Mizuko said, "Why? I thought she was nice."

Naruto sighed and said, "That's only because it didn't turn into a fight. Regardless, go and pack your things Mizuko."

"Pack them? Why?"

"We're going to one of my other houses."

"Why? What's wrong with this one?"

Naruto sighed and said, "Just pack your stuff and meet me outside."

"Alright," Mizuko said and went to her room to start packing. When she was done, she went outside and stood next to her brother and said, "What now?"

Naruto did a couple of handseals before saying, "Namikaze-ryu: Shukushaku Kasei," and placed one of his hands on Gisei's neck, causing her to get covered in a cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared, revealing Gisei in her two-tailed form. Naruto continued forming seals before biting his thumb and slamming his hand on the ground, saying, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" summoning a giant eagle under the three of them.

The eagle let out a cry before he took off. As he did, he asked, "So, what is it this time?"

"I just need you to take us to the Land of Vegetables. But, there's something that I need to do first," as they rose up above Naruto's house. When he'd deemed them far enough away, Naruto made a series of seals and said, "Zetsudai Bakuhatsuryoku no fūinjutsu."

Mizuko marvelled at the size of the explosion that her brother's justu caused. When it was over though, she asked, "Why'd you blow it up?"

Naruto sighed and said, "What's the point of having a secret hideout that isn't secret?" Mizuko made a few sounds indicating her agreement. He sighed again and said, "It's a pity though, I really liked that one," as his giant eagle flew off, headed towards the Land of Vegetables.

XXXXXXX

A/N

Please review these chapters. I do value input and am liable to change the story based on reviews, however kindly refrain from nitpicking typos and grammatical errors. In the upcoming chapters, I will be giving you the chance to help me create a character.

Jutsu / Techniques

Inryoku Fūin / Gravity Seal

Naruto's Gravity Seal is a fūinjutsu application of Magnet Release. He has made multiple versions of the seal and refers to them as 'grades'.

First Grade: Doubles the effect of the magnetic field's impact on the user

Second Grade: Generates a level to increase the user's magnetic field based on the amount of chakra used when they were activated

Third Grade: Has a number of 'levels' written into the seal, linked to different seal sequences that can be used interchangeably, though they need to be deactivated by the person that originally activated it

Namikaze-ryu: Shukushaku Kasei / Namikaze-style: Reduced Scale Reinforcements

Returns Gisei to the size of her two tailed form, though she maintains the ability to use all of her powers.

Zetsudai Bakuhatsuryoku / Immense Explosive Power

Activates a series of interlinked seal arrays that are spread throughout a building, resulting in an explosion far larger than what could be achieved by individual explosive seals or tags.