The next day, Anko got up bright and early, incredibly grouchy. She rubbed her eyes as she left her room to see what the racket was. She saw Mizuko rubbing her head as she stood back up, clearly after being knocked into the side of the house. She angrily demanded, "What the hell, is going on, you pair!?"

Mizuko said, "Just some early morning sparring. Why? Is something wrong?"

Anko sighed and said, "Right. I forgot who I was dealing with," having come across Naruto when he was doing one of his 'early morning sparring sessions' with a clone when they were on a mission once, and been stupefied as to how he could possibly go all out, and still have more than enough energy to go the rest of the day. "But, while Tenten and I are here, could you please dial it down a bit?"

Mizuko said, "Uhh…" and bowed at her waist. "…sorry, Anko-sensei…but I don't think that that would be particularly useful."

"What?"

"Well…what would be the point really? I mean, if we don't go all out, how am I supposed to improve?"

Anko sighed and said, "Now see here…"

Naruto said, "Don't worry about it Anko. I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually. Look there…" He nodded at the seat on the veranda next to her. "…Tenten is fine with watching."

Anko looked at where Naruto was indicating and said, "Are you sure you're alright with their insanity?"

"Oh, trust me, this is nothing compared to what Gai-sensei and Lee usually inflict on me 'n' Neji."

Anko sighed and said, "In any case, now that I'm up, should I take over?"

"Not just yet," Naruto said, letting the water of his sword and dagger drop into the lake. "Come on Mizuko, time for breakfast."

"Really?!" Mizuko beamed.

"Yeah."

"Cool! What's it going to be today?"

"How about rabbit omelette?"

Mizuko said, "Sounds good," as she followed her brother into the house.

Tenten shook her head and said, "Unbelievable," as she stared after the siblings.

Anko asked, "What is?"

"Well…those two…they're so similar to Gai-sensei and Lee that it's scary, but, when they aren't trying to beat the living daylights out of each other they're…almost…I don't know…normal."

Anko sighed and said, "I wouldn't concern yourself with that."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally people try to identify certain traits and match them to people in order to make dealing with them easier. The thing is, that there is no single box that applies to Naruto, Mizuko or Miwa."

"What about Yondaime-sama?"

"Him too, to a point. But, those three get it from their mother."

"Did you know her?"

"Not personally, no. But, I was told that she moved from Uzushiogakure to Konoha when she was really young and the first thing that she did when she joined the Academy was declare a desire to be Hokage…and start to beat up the guy closest to her when the class started laughing at her. When Naruto stated the same, the class started laughing at him too, claiming that just because his father was, didn't mean that he would be."

"What happened then."

"Naruto, is very much his father's son, so didn't straight up beat them up. He took his time to make out as if he was a dead-last before outclassing them in everything when it came to testing and got moved up multiple classes for his effort."

"That doesn't sound much like his sisters."

"No. They tend to take after their mother in their directness, though Naruto can be pretty blunt when he wants to be too."

That was when Mizuko popped her head outside and said, "Hey, do you two want any breakfast, or are you good to go hungry?"

"No no! We're coming!" Tenten almost squealed as she launched herself out of the chair that she was sitting in. She and Anko went inside to see that, somehow, they were already laying plated omelettes on the table. Anko blinked and said, "But how did…?!"

Naruto grinned and said, "Sorry Anko, trade secret."

As she sat down, Anko asked, "So, what do you want me to do today?"

"Keep on helping Mizuko with her summoning jutsu."

Mizuko said, "I think that I'd rather keep watch over Kaisei today."

Naruto looked at his sister and asked, "'Kaisei'?"

"The fox that I healed yesterday before these two showed up," Mizuko said, indicating Anko and Tenten."

"You've named it?"

"Well, why not? It's better than just calling it 'the fox', especially when it has multiple tails like Gisei; and, given the condition that it was in when it came stumbling into the clearing, I'd say that Kaisei is an appropriate name for it, wouldn't you?"

"Well, you do have a point there," Naruto admitted.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Mizuko asked, a look on her face that Naruto saw as a mix of confusion, sadness, anger and determination.

Naruto sighed and said, "No. Not really. But…just be careful. Alright?"

"Be careful? Why?"

Naruto sighed and said, "I didn't want to tell you this, but I think that it's probably better that you know now after all.

"What is it?"

Naruto sighed again and said, "A few years ago, while I was on the trail of Takeshi, Gisei and I came across the tailed cat clan."

"What's that?"

"Like Gisei and…Kaisei,…" Naruto said, his head twitching in a mix of disgust and anger.. "…they were part of a clade of animals that possess multiple tails. Unfortunately, at the time, a rival line of cats emerged as a tailed clan. As they grew in power, so too did their ambition, which led to a clash between the two tailed cat clans. Given the differences between Kaisei and Gisei, she and I are…concerned…that something like that could be happening with their line…in which case, Kaisei could have been sent here to spy on Gisei in order to gain intel on what her line is capable of."

"But…you and Gisei are…"

"Look, I'm not saying that that is what is happening, just that it's a possibility. Should that be the case though, if you get too attached, when it comes down to it, we would probably find ourselves on opposite sides in a war between the two tailed fox clans."

Mizuko exclaimed, "I would never…!"

Naruto sighed and said, "I wish that were true. Really I do." Naruto sighed again. "But, unfortunately it's the Uzumaki in us that will draw us inexorably to that conclusion."

"What do you mean?"

"We fight for what we believe in, and for those we love and care about, and when we do, almost nothing short of death will stop us from fighting, even should it be family that we're fighting against. I will fight for Gisei, as she will for me. I can't help but think that the end result of you bonding with Kaisei would end up anything other than the same way."

"That won't happen," Mizuko said, "I'll make sure of it!"

"Well, if you say so. I'm just saying that it's a possibility, that's all."

"That better be all it is," Mizuko said with an angrily doubtful expression.

"It is," Naruto laughingly said, holding his hands in front of him."

Mizuko pointedly said, "Good."

Naruto said, "In any case, now that we're done, let's get going," motioning towards the door with his head.

"Right," Tenten and Mizuko said before leaving the house followed by Naruto and Anko.

As Naruto and Tenten set up on the shore, Naruto said, "Hey Tenten, you're still a genin, right?"

"What's your point?" Tenten said, it being a sore point with her team as two of the shinobi from their class had already been promoted whilst they had been held back from entering even a single Chūnin Exam."

"Does that mean that Gai's been holding you back from entering the Exam?"

"That's right. What's your point?"

"Oh…nothing really. It's just that…we should probably move this into the forest for now."

"Why's that?"

"Since Gai sent you to me, he must be considering entering your team this time around. Since the reason that I brought Mizuko here was specifically to get her ready for it, I don't think that you'd want her to know what you can do, right?"

"And what about her?"

"What about her?"

"Aren't you going to tell her what you've taught me?"

"I haven't even told Miwa what I'm doing with Mizuko."

"Seriosuly?!" Tenten exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because, there are one on one fights involved in all Chūnin Exams. This one is going to be no different and I want them on a relatively even playing field."

"I see. Hmm…alright then. You're right, we should move this away from here."

"Alright then," Naruto said, moving packing up his tools and leading Tenten into the forest.

On the water, Mizuko saw her brother leading Tenten away and said, "Hey, Anko-sensei."

"What is it?"

"Why is Aniki leading Tenten away?"

Anko sighed and said, "He believes that 'information is the lifeblood of shinobi'. Since the two of you are entering the same Chūnin Exam, he's probably doing it to deny extraneous information to the two of you, to give you the greatest challenge that is available."

"I see. I guess that makes sense."

"Hm. So, get to it."

"Alright already," Mizuko griped before biting her thumb and forming hand seals.

XXXXX

Five hours later, Mizuko slammed her hand on the lake's surface and said, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" When the cloud of smoke cleared, this time, a metre long black and blue snake that had a flattish tail appeared."

Anko blinked and said, "Mizuko."

"Yes?"

"That's a Banded Sea Krait."

"What's your point?" Mizuko asked.

"That's a sea snake."

"Again, your point?"

"That's not what should have been summoned! My contract is with land snakes!"

"Well then, I guess that that must just mean that I'm awesome, right?"

Anko said, "You're something, I'll give you that." She thought, 'She's as bad as her bedamned brother!'

"So, what do I do now?"

"I'm…not entirely sure."

"Eeehhh?!" Mizuko whined. "Why not?"

"Because, Mizuko. Since you summoned a snake of a type that I have no experience with, I have no clue as to the specifications of what it can do, or how large they can get! Thus, what techniques will, or won't, work with it!"

"Alright then…" Mizuko said, "…maybe you should summon one of yours, and ask it about this then?"

Anko sighed and said, "You haven't exactly given me much choice in the matter, have you?"

Mizuko grinned and said, "I guess not, huh?"

Anko sighed and said, "I really wish that you'd stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?"

"Never mind," Anko grumpily said, somehow knowing that she wouldn't like the repercussions of what would happen if she answered. She bit her thumb and formed the same sequence of hand seals that Mizuko had made before saying, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" when the smoke cleared, Anko and was standing on the head of a gigantic snake and said, "Hey, Phistus."

"Anko! It's been a while. Who are we fighting this time?"

"No one."

"Then why have you summoned me?"

"I let that blue haired brat sign the contract and look what happened."

Phistus looked down at Mizuko and the snake that was wrapping itself around her. He said, "Ohoh! It's been a while since one of them signed our contract."

Mizuko demanded, "What do mean 'one of them', you overgrown seaslug!"

Anko's eyes widened in fear of what her personal summons might do, but was stunned when he began laughing. Anko said, "Uhh…Phistus…what's wrong?"

As his laughter died down, Phistus sighed and said, "Nothing. I was just remembering a story I heard growing up of when Uzumaki Ashina faced off against my great great grandfather on top of Cabrina. Now he could really trash talk."

Anko said, "Then does that mean that they grow as large as you?"

"Yes. Easily."

"Can the same jutsu be used with them as I do with you?"

"Hmm…that, I don't know. You'd need to summon one of them to find out."

"I see."

"Was that all?"

"Yes. Though if you want to stick around for a while, you're more than welcome to."

"Alright. I think that I'd like to see what the Snakelet can do."

Mizuko entered her 'hell-demon mode' and angrily demanded, "Hey! Who's a damned snakelet!?" before dropping out of it and asking, "Actually…what is a snakelet in the first place?"

A sweatdrop appeared on the side of Anko's head as she thought, 'Nope, worse than her brother. Definitely worse.'

Phistus said, "A youngling."

"Oh. I see. I guess that makes sense. Say, you said that you didn't know what techniques I'll be able to use with these sea snake things, right?"

"That's right. Why?"

"Well, could you please tell me where I'm going wrong then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I make the seals, gather up the chakra, and then voila, I get this guy here!" Mizuko said, picking up the snake that was coiling around her neck. "But Anko did the same thing, and she summoned you."

"I see. It could be a few things. Do it again."

"Alright," Mizuko said, biting her thumb. She did the seals and gathered up her chakra before slamming her hand on the ground. When the cloud of smoke cleared Mizuko exclaimed, "Damn it!" The same thing had happened again she looked at Phistus and said, "What the hell is wrong with this stupid thing?"

Phistus said, "You…have seen someone using the summoning jutsu multiple times, yes?"

"That's right. Aniki and I flew here on his giant eagle. Why?"

"Even if you are using the correct hand seals for your summoning jutsu, you seem to be utilising your chakra the same way that your brother did with his summons."

"What's your point? Aren't they all the same anyway?"

"Yes…and no."

Mizuko vehemently stated, "I hate 'grey areas'!" causing Anko to grin, as 'grey areas' were where Naruto spent most of his time.

Phistus said, "I'm sure. But, summing up, even if the techniques to summon the animals in question are similar, they are still distinct from each other, as are the chakra manipulations and the amounts required."

"So…what are you saying?"

Anko sighed and said, "Dumbing it down, it basically means that what you're trying to do, is summon a giant eagle rather than a snake."

"What?! No I'm not! You take that back!" Mizuko said, starting to get angry.

Anko exclaimed, "Woah! Hold up a second and calm down would you?" Mizuko let out a calming breath. "Now, what's got you so worked up about that?"

Mizuko sighed again and said, "It's…nothing, now…" and brought her thumb up to her mouth.

Before Mizuko could bite it though, Anko pulled it out and said, "No. It's not 'nothing'. What is it?"

Mizuko yanked her arm free and said, "It doesn't matter," and tried to summon a snake yet again. This time, she got a two metre one. She exclaimed, "Yatta! I did it! I really did it! Although…it is still pretty small." When she'd finished saying that, Mizuko had to swivel out of the way of the snake that sprung at her from the surface of the lake. As it flew by her, she grabbed it by the base of its head and brought it up to her face and yelled, "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

"You're not very big yourself."

"Ohh…I see. Sorry about that. But…" Mizuko said as she turned the snake in her hand to face Phistus. "…in comparison to him, you are."

"Ahh!?" The snake exclaimed, "What are you doing here, this is our territory!" and hissed at the far larger snake.

Phistus said, "I meant no disrespect! I was summoned in aid of your contracted summoner, who was having difficulties with the calling technique."

Anko and Mizuko simultaneously said, "Disrespect?!" looking at their respective creature, both shocked that Phistus was acting somewhat submissively to the far smaller snake.

Phistus said, "Some time ago our two clans were…in a disagreement…and it was decided between the leaders at the time, that the sea snakes would have reign over all watered locations, whilst we are free to roam wherever we will, so long as we stay away from the water…at all times other than the need to drink."

Mizuko said, "Is that so?" looking at her snake.

"Yes."

"Do you have a name?"

"My name iss Lacuda."

"Alright then, Lacuda, if I put you down, will you swear not to attack me again?"

"So long as you don't call me small, or some variant thereof."

"I…can only promise that I'll try."

Lacuda said, "Hs, I suppose that I could expect little else if the stories that gramps told me were true," causing Mizuko to grin sheepishly as she let him down.

When he was looking back up at her, Mizuko said, "So, Lacuda, are there any larger…what species were you exactly?"

"We're related to the blue banded sea krait, though, there are some obvious differences."

"Alright, I suppose that that's a given. So, are there?"

"Yes. My parents are even larger than that invader there."

Mizuko asked, "Is that so?" Lacuda nodded. "So, would my summoning you mean that I could summon your parents?"

"It is likely, but you may not currently possess the amount of chakra required to do so." Mizuko sighed and blew a stray strand of hair that had made its way into her eyes, out of them. "That said, it could just be that since you've been summoning all of these lesser snakes thus far, your chakra has depleted to the point that you would be incapable of generating enough at this time."

Mizuko asked, "Are there any techniques unique to your clan that are unavailable to theirs?" nodding at Phistus.

"Yes. But the lesser jutsu should work much the same."

Anko asked, "'Lesser jutsu'?"

"The Sen'ei Jashu, Mōjajūrin, the Hebi Bunshin no Jutsu and the Jarangeki. Any others, you should leave alone."

"Alright then, what about you?"

Lacuda looked at Mizuko and said, "For now, I would recommend summoning me, or one of my brethren until you can gain access to enough chakra to summon my parents. We may not be as large as them yet, but we are still very knowledgeable in many aspects of battle, and have mastered Dokuja-ryū, which we would be honoured to pass on to another Uzumaki."

"What do you mean 'another'?"

"Didn't you know, Mizuko?"

"Know what?"

"The snake contract originally belonged to the main branch of the Uzumaki Clan."

"There was an Uzumaki Clan?!"

"That's right. Though it has been many years since we have been summoned. Why is that actually?"

"Well, I've never even heard of an Uzumaki Clan. All I know is that my mother was one, but, personally, I go by Namikaze."

"It's the blood that matters. Not the name."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Well, if that was all, then…"

"Yeah, I guess," Mizuko said.

"Then I'll return and talk to my parents about this development. Do not try to summon me for the rest of the day. It's going to take a while to get to my parents' cave."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow Lacuda," Mizuko said with a grin, barely a second before Lacuda disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Anko said, "Right. Now that he's gone, you can tell me what caused you to snap at me before."

"Well…" Mizuko sighed. She said, "I really appreciate everything that Aniki's doing for me, taking me on this trip and training me, but…" she sighed. "I don't know…"

Anko said, "I think I might."

"What do you mean?"

"You like the training that he's putting you through and the time and effort that he's spending with you, but, ultimately, you feel like it's all making you into some kind of copy and want to distinguish yourself?"

"You…get it?!" Mizuko gasped, stunned that the person that she'd barely met could so easily put what she was feeling into words.

"Yeah," Anko said. "It was like that with the person that trained me too."

"Really? Who was it?"

"Orochimaru."

"You were trained by one of the Sannin!?"

Anko nodded. She said, "Yeah."

"So, what happened?"

"Lots of things. Eventually though, I started delving into areas other than what he was, or, at least variant areas anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Orochimaru was always looking into fūinjutsu and various mythic swords. So, I started studying juinjutsu and shurikenjutsu."

"Really? Could you teach me some of them?"

"Hmm…" Anko said. "Sure. I'll teach you some shurikenjutsu while I'm here, but I'm going to have to refrain from juinjutsu."

"Why's that?"

"I wouldn't want to get on your brother's wrong side, and that is a sure-fire way of doing it."

"Alright, then…hey! Can you use any elemental ninjutsu?"

"Yes. Why?"

"What kind?"

"Well…suiton and katon. Again though, why do you want to know that?"

"Well…Aniki can use fūton and suiton, like me, and I'm trying to create a different kekkei genkai using them, but, beyond that, he can also use raiton. So…I was hoping that you could teach me a different style of jutsu to that."

"Okay. I'm not going to make any promises, because, even if I do try and teach it to you, there's no guarantee that you will be able to use katon ninjutsu anyway."

"That's fine. It's the attempt that'll matter."

"Alright then. What do you want to do now?"

"I think that the katon training would be best. I read somewhere that katon jutsu tend to require a lot of chakra to use as well, so that would probably help my kuchiyose too."

"That's…actually a really good point there. Alright. We'll start with…"

XXXXX

That night, at the dinner table, Naruto asked, "So, how'd you go?"

"It was…alright…eventually," Mizuko said. "Although I had to stop summoning at around just before we all stopped for lunch."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Lacuda wanted to talk to its parents about something and told me not to summon him until tomorrow."

"Lacuda?"

"Yeah. That's the name of the snake I summoned."

"I see. So, you didn't spend the rest of the day slacking off, did you?"

"Nah. Anko-sensei started me on katon."

"Oh she did, did she?" Naruto said, folding his hands together and bracing his chin against them."

"That's right. Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

"No. Not wrong…exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"Alright then, Mizuko. What do you want to focus on for the rest of the trip?"

"What do I want to focus on? What do you mean?"

"What I mean, is that so far, I'm teaching you how to fight with my swords, taijutsu, fūton ninjutsu, suiton ninjutsu, mastering two kekkei genkai, only one of which I can help you with, the summoning jutsu, fuinjutsu and having you work on your wings. Now you want to work on katon as well. I can also probably assume that you'll want to learn some kind of combinations with…Kaisei, was it?" Mizuko nodded. Naruto said, "You may have forgotten this, but there are only so many hours in a day and you will eventually run up against chakra exhaustion if you're not careful. So I'll ask again, what do you want to do?"

Mizuko grinned foxily and asked, "What's wrong with everything?"

Naruto looked at her and sighed. He looked at Anko and said, "Can you explain this?"

"Nope," Anko said with a grin. "I'm having way too much fun, seeing you speechless like this."

Naruto sighed again. He shook his head and said, "Mizuko. I am getting you to the level that you will be able to pass the Chūnin Exams. You do not need all of that at this stage."

"Alright, fine. I'll go with Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Ninjutsu and Namikaze-ryū techniques!"

"Alright, then how about this. I don't teach you anything? Does that work?"

"What?" Mizuko asked, a distressed look on her face.

Tenten said, "Huh? I don't get it," as she looked at Anko.

Naruto said, "It's quite simple Tenten," answering for Anko. "What Mizuko just did, was dilute everything that I listed, into four categories that encapsulated every one of them."

Tenten looked at Mizuko, both confused as to why she thought that that would escape her brother, a jōnin, and amazed that she'd come up with a way to try and trick him into letting her do what she wanted within seconds.

"Okay, okay," Mizuko grumpily said. "Would you let me work on working with Kaisei on my own time, like the Inuzuka do? The Hyōton as well."

"I can't use katon myself, so you'll need to do that by yourself as well."

"You said that about raiton too."

"No, I said that I don't use it. Well…normally anyway."

XXXXXXX

A/N

Lacuda is based on a blue banded sea krait, but he can produce a viper-like hood when he gets angry.

Dokuja-ryū - Poisonous Serpent Style

A style of ninjutsu available only to aquatic snakes. It can be passed on to a human, but it is very rare that it happens, and even then, it is highly difficult to achieve.