Chapter Text
DREAMTIME
“I half expected, if we did meet, you’d be pestering me to start teaching you jutsus,” the Kyuubi said, sitting in a conjured chair in a place that only existed where two minds barely touched.
The prison looked puzzled. “I don’t think you think of anything you do that way. Am I wrong?”
The being that humanity called “Nine Tailed Demon Fox” blinked at this question, and had so often happened as of late, found itself startled into honesty. “I... no. Not as such. But both your predecessors figured out ways to use my chakra...”
And now it was cursing itself again, because surely ever little detail was building up to a bid for control, wrestling its rightful power away from it.
Any second now.
“Well, when we get to know each other better, we can work on that.”
The Kyuubi held back a frustrated growl. The prison was not, by any means, an idiot. There were over a dozen times she could have asserted more control. Why wasn’t she? What was her game...?
“Hey! I just had a thought! You and the other bijou...”
The Kyuubi growled. “About them...?”
The prison laughed. “Well, that says a lot right there. I was going to ask if you guys get along!”
The Kyuubi was about to growl and chide the prison... until a thought occurred to it.
“Well, actually, that would depend on whether or not we’re bound at that point.”
“What?”
The Kyuubi growled, slightly. “Unless I’m in a human prison, I’m no more articulate than any other... all I am, Vessel, is rage, and hate, and the need to destroy. It’s only when I am imprisoned I have clarity of thought. So we can only be said to have opinions of the others when contained.”
The lip jutted out, childishly. “So, the only time you can appreciate being free... is when you aren’t? That... kinda stinks.”
The Kyuubi stopped mid growl. When put like that...
DAY 4: BLACKOUTS, BLISS, BALANCE
“Iruka-san. Please do not tear the files; they have only just been declassified.”
At Ibiki’s dry tone, Umino Iruka relaxed his grip on the document in his hands. “My apologies, Morino-san. This is... I always knew things were occasionally rough for her, but... the casual unkindness is almost as bad as the attempted beatings. ”
“Ibiki,” the nin corrected. “More than half that file was black bands. Though do note that my fellow ANBU, regardless of their feelings, never let those attempts get too far.” He smirked at Iruka’s nod of acknowledgement, and then the head of Torture and Interrogation gave a wry little chuckle. “It was probably wise, classifying all this. If I had known... the question would have been where I started, not if I would act.”
The third and youngest member of their group set his stack of paper down. “It is... alternately disappointing and heartening, reading this. The number of people so foolish as to shun a jinchuuriki when this village has seen two of them in times past, both beloved as citizens... And the number so willing to risk being shunned socially while skirting the well meaning law to help her...” The young, silver-haired shinobi shook his head. “Utatane-sama is correct, we are only saved in that we can see our flaws if we let ourselves.”
“This really gets to you, doesn’t it, Shin?” Ibiki said.
The young Ne ANBU sighed. “I take my father’s mandate very seriously, Senpai. My division is the root of Konoha. We live for Konoha, and make it a place people wish to live for. We are the anchor of security, and the long root tapping information far and wide to nurture our home. This not only ensures the happiness of the village, but pragmatically-- one is more likely to give one’s all for a place one loves. The fact Naru-chan loves our village so much... and it is not a lie, either. You understand that, Iruka-senpai.”
Iruka nodded slowly. “You’d think she’d be screaming she loves it to keep herself from hating it, but she’s too much of a natural optimist for that. Konoha is her home.”
“Despite how some of them treat her,” Ibiki said, his voice darkening. Which was saying something. “Take this one... I have plans for him...”
Iruka’s face grew tighter as he read the report. “He spits at her? One would assume--”
“Only twelve of us knew initially,” Ibiki said, “the ones closest to the battle itself. He was not one. His team mate... died in the battle. Some figured it out later, like Hyuuga-sama-- which is why he practically wrestled the boy’s guardianship away from the Uchiha. As for Tani Ryu... I don’t think it even crossed his mind. The man’s lived in a haze of pain since that day. I can understand the resentment, but...”
“If he knew Uzumaki Kushina-sama personally,” Shin said coolly, “He should know a Jinchuuriki can be as stable as anyone else.”
Iruka kept reading, and his eyes narrowed. “He’s redirecting his own guilt.”
Shin raised an eyebrow.
Iruka pointed to the line that caught his ever observant eye and passed the file to Shin. “I’m not saying I’ll stop Morino-- Ibiki-san-- from acting. But I can see the progression now. He hasn’t used it since, notice.”
Shin considered the line in question and nodded slowly. “I see it,” the Ne said, then frowned. “But considering who their teachers were...“ He slowly smiled. “Actually... Senpai, if you would not mind, considering who Tani-san is... may I attempt to give him a second chance?”
Ibiki smirked. “Going to bend the rules, Shin-kun?”
“Only in the most amusing and laudable ways, Ibiki-nii.”
“Good boy, go to it.”
Iruka chuckled. The other two looked at the much respected academy sensei, who smiled a small smile. “Speaking of teachers... has anyone told... her?”
Shin grinned instantly, and Ibiki’s puzzled look faded as realization hit. “Why, no, Iruka,” the head of T&I said. “I do believe even Hiruzen-sama has neglected to tell her.”
The three men shared the smile of co-conspirators.
“I’ll compose the message,” Iruka said.
“I’ll get one of the messenger birds,” Ibiki offered.
“I think Sai has finally mastered that distant imaging jutsu...” Shin mused.
“I think it’s dead, Haruno-san.”
Sakura started, turning in a ready stance she knew was even sloppier than usual. Akunoyosha Meizu smirked. “Would have had you twice before you even stanced.”
“Likely,” Sakura said, measuring her disdain carefully.
“Still, you have the right attitude around me,” the Kirigakure nukenin said. “Haku-senpai’s proven himself, we haven’t.”
Sakura shrugged. “I’m trying to pay attention to my sensei these days.”
Meizu jerked his head toward the splintered sapling before her. “He get fresh?”
She looked at it, but didn’t entirely take her gaze off of the Oni, “Practising.”
“Maybe, but something’s on your mind,” Meizu said, kneeling next to her victim. “You’ll want to get those splinters removed.”
Sakura looked down at her hand, sure enough. “Damn it.” She started digging the bits of wood out. “Alright, so a little preoccupied.”
"Eager to get home-- stop that, you'll make the wounds worse. I meant see Haku about it.”
“I can--”
“Fuck up your hand to the point you’ll be out of action.”
“Like I’ve been in action!” Sakura hissed.
Meizu raised one eyebrow. “Speaking as one civilian born shinobi to another, stop fucking yourself over.” His voice was harsh, with a slight grate to it his twin lacked.
Sakura blinked. “... really?”
“I’ll bet it’s even rarer back home than in Konoha. The political climate there didn’t exactly encourage it. Anti-bloodline wasn’t the only bias the Mizukage encouraged, Haruno-san. C’mon, Haku-sempai is back at camp.”
They walked slowly in silence for a bit.
“Narukun... isn’t exactly popular back home,” Sakura said quietly. “Part of me is... scared to be her friend, scared of the stigma. I lost friendships, fan-girling after Sasuke. Add to that they’re the ‘Most Surprising Ninja’ and ‘Rookie of the Year’... I’m not as strong as I should be yet, even if I only look at me now compared to me a year ago...”
“Actually, I was telling Haku-senpai you probably are starting at the most solid ground of your whole team. He agreed.”
Sakura blinked. “I... compared to Narukun and Sasuke?”
Meizu stopped in his tracks and looked at her, the intensity of his gaze unwavering. “Compared to the young woman who was actively sabotaged-- who, by the way, is holding something that can level the village in her? Yes. Compared to the guy who, from what I hear, lived through a massacre on a scale not matched by many perpetrated by the one man everyone thought absolutely would not do such a thing? Yes. Fuck yes. From what I glean, you have so damn much they want, and take it for granted. A family that cares? Friendships to ruin in the first place? You’ve got a stability I’m envying, and I barely know you. Teachers should be chomping at the bit to teach you three. Do you realize the other hidden villages already fear the next generation of Konoha? You hear things out here. They call you the Konoha Nine, the three promising teams that graduated this year. The other villages scrape around for every scrap of information they can get about you. If you can find your balance, you three alone... your friend’s godfather had me trembling like a goddamn genin on an S class because he’s one of Konoha's Legendary Three. You three... have the inkling of being that, and better, if you find your balance.”
“The way you say that,” Sakura murmured as they started walking again.
“Balance? It was one of Zabuza-san’s favourite lectures,” Meizu said. “A good nin should count balance among their most important skills-- physical and mental. Start with finding your own personal points of balance. From there, the point you balance with your team... with your peers, with your village, and so on.”
“Until you balance with the world?” Sakura asked, a bit incredulous.
“No, you’re right,” Meizu agreed, with a hard but not unpleasant chuckle. “Balancing yourself, one, with the world as a whole is often a fool’s game. Maybe a sennin like Jiraiya... but no. There are too many unknown unknowns. You can only balance with the knowns and the known unknowns.”
“Known unknowns... the things you know you don’t understand yet...?”
“Right. You have to be able to recognize when information is missing. And understand none of us can see all the gaps. And accept that what is balance for you may look horribly insane to an outsider. Ah, here we are. Senpai! Need some splinter removal; the brat went overboard with her training.”
Sakura had a lot to think about as Haku-kun removed the wood from her hand and arm.
“I am going to make that girl and her intended the biggest batch of nikujaga ever...” Akimichi Asami muttered. “Even as a girl, she’s undernourished. Especially as a girl!”
Chouji blinked as his mother rose. Of all the reactions he had expected after carefully feeling out whether it was okay to share the details of Naruto-kun’s letter... this had been a distant dismissed one. Naruto-chan? Naw. Naruto-kun.
“That explains the petition Inoichi showed me,” Chouza muttered. “Her sensei seems keen on ending some of our less impressive customs regarding Uzumaki-sam...” His father trailed off, and Chouji decided not to press it. But that had been a cut off sama, not a san. He filed it away, the way Shikamaru had always said he should such ‘troublesome’ things. Maybe bijou jailers-- jinchuuriki, that was the word-- maybe they were more appropriately accorded more respect...
Instead of pursuing that, he asked, “Tousan... why all the secrecy?”
Chouza frowned in thought. “Some things I’m not cleared to share yet. But... understand, Chouji. Naruto’s entire life has been a balancing act between your friend’s safety and the pain caused by what she holds inside.” Chouza sighed. “Hopefully, this will lead to enough changes that more of our history can be shared. Some very noble people do not get their due right now because of the need for secrets...” Then he sniffed the air. “And hopefully your mother’s got enough beef for us to have some of that nikujaga...”
“She might not?” Chouji asked, a note of worry in his voice. His mother’s beef and potato stew was a glorious thing.
“I couldn’t get back to sleep,” Naruto explained, settling beside Hakun. “Where’s Sensei?”
“In the trees,” Hakun said, and her man had an arm around her instantly. Mm. Cool heaven. “He cannot, technically, allow either I or the twins a watch alone.”
“Probably taking the chance to read his Icha-Icha without risking Jirai-jiji going nuts on him.”
Hakun gave a small, barely there chuckle. They sat side by side looking into the fire a while.
“When you turn 15.”
She blinked-- and yes, damn it, she had been dozing, and it wasn’t her watch. She was allowed!
“What when I--”
“We’ll formally marry. Kakashi-san says that’s about as young as you can be in Konoha and not have too much... ill advised protest.”
She blinked, and hurriedly covered the blossoming dopey look on her face with a patented foxy grin. “And what if I’m not ready?”
In seconds she was draped halfway across his lap, his hands on her cheeks, his lips at hers, and his tongue requesting-- gaining entrance to her mouth.
They’d shared a couple of pecks. Innocent-- well, okay, not innocent, but a good deal chaster affection to them than this. This- this- evaded even poetry’s ability to pin down the sublime.
Hakun broke the kiss-- bastard-- and inclined his head to whisper in her ear.
“I am wondering how we’ll manage to wait, quite honestly.”
“Can we-- the lips and the hands and the tongue-- again, do it?”
DREAMTIME
The Kyuubi raised one hand like paw to its face. Damn its prison for making it think.
“If I could choose only one person to hate... Madara.”
The girl nodded slowly, and then frowned. “Is it only because I made you choose, though? I mean, if my dad and Madara were in front of you...”
“Assuming I was still a thinking being... Yes. Madara.”
“Why?”
She sounded so honest in her interest. “Well, I can understand what the Shodai did and why your father would want me lessened and contained. Even unfettered, I’ve got survival instincts. I can understand that. But Madara...” The growl crept back in. “He used me.”
Its vessel nodded, slowly and thoughtfully. “You were a weapon to him. He didn’t respect you.”
The demonic kitsune thought about the weight that word was given. “Yes. Your father at the very least... acknowledged me.”
Its container smiled, as if the Kyuubi had said some sort of magic word. Humans.
DAY FIVE: THE HARSH GLARE OF THE TSUN
“What?” Jiraiya said, noticing everyone staring at him. Or rather, behind him. But that was silly, only two people alive could consistently get the drop on him. And Hiruzen wouldn’t exactly come and see their progress himself. That only left--
“Ero-Gama...”
It was very hard to swallow. Slowly, the sage of toads leaned his head back.
“Tsun-tsun,” he breathed.
Her fist hit him square on the forehead, earning a loud, “Ee-ja! That hurt!” as he toppled prone.
The blond vision standing over him was smiling far too sweetly. Kami, even in her early fifties, she was a vision!
“What did we forget to do?”
“I locked up the good sake on purpose-- contact you! contact you!” he answered, raising his hands even as she readied her fist. “It was horrid of me! Terrible! Gamma-idiot!” He gave himself a token clunk on the head.
“Yes,” she agreed. “An academy chuunin had to use one of Ibiki’s pigeons to message me. And I didn’t even have any of the good sake to settle my nerves!”
“Well. You have to admit, you can’t sip it to save your life-- EE-JA!”
“Oi, Jirai-jiji...” Naruto said, and as his tormentor turned to the girl, Jiraiya sat up and smiled.
“My beautiful, youthful, attentive Tsunade has every right to beat me, Naruto,” Jiraiya said.
Naruto blinked. “Senju Tsunade...? You... Jirai-jiji says you’re the greatest inin ever, an’ the granddaughter of the First, an’ beautiful-- he was right about that--”
“Thank you.”
“Why are you beating up my godfather?”
“Because your godfather,” Tsunade said, kicking her heel into said godfather’s thigh and making him wince, “neglected to tell your godmother you needed us.”
Naruto looked at Tsunade, then at Jiraiya. “You’re my godmother?” At the woman’s nod, the look at the Senju-hime and the Gamma-sennin was repeated. “How’d he manage to marry you?”
“Hey!” Jiraiya whined.
Tsunade sighed. “... your dad helped talk me into it.”
“Oh.” Naruto reached out and patted the old woman’s arm. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Hey!” Jiraiya protested.
“It’s okay. He’s decent in bed.”
“Hey!” he echoed, but his warning glare merely earned an eye roll.
“Plus, he’s somewhat cute when he gets indignant. Some of us love men like that,” Tsunade advised her in a stage whisper.
“Meh, to each their own. Speaking of, that’s mine,” Naruto grinned, pointing at Haku. The boy sat up straighter under the inin’s glare, whereas the twins seemed to want to be looking at anyone else. "Believe it!"
“Nice,” Tsunade admitted. “Kakashi, look at you!” Jiraiya allowed himself a small chuckle as his wife pinched the jounin’s masked cheek. And what always happened when Tsunade got maternal with him happened.
“Hello, Tsunade-hime-sama,” Kakashi managed.
“Look at you, Mr. I’ll Never Pass a Genin Team!”
“It is an important team, Hime-sama,” Kakashi murmured.
“And your sensei’s daughter! Teaching her just as he wished!”
“Hai, Hime-sama,” Kakashi stammered.
Jiraiya grinned as he stood. “From cool and hip to--”
“Look! It’s Daddy!” Tsunade said with a smirk.
The grin was replaced by primal panic. “Oh, no--”
There was a squealing oink of joy, and Jiraiya once again found himself knocked prone-- this time under a decent sized, quite affectionate pig.
“Hi, Tonton,” ‘Daddy’ managed.
“Squee!”
“Yeah, missed you too-- Shizune, did you have to let her go?”
The dark haired girl smiled apologetically, “You know how she is when I miss my cues, Ji-sama.”
“Right, right. Any chance I can get up, Tonton-kun?”
“Oink.”
“Didn’t think so,” Jiraiya grumbled.
“Is that your pig, Baa-chan?” Naruto asked.
“Baa-- do I look like a grandmother?” Tsunade muttered to her apprentice. Shizune wisely stayed silent on the matter.
“She’s so kawaii!” Sakura said. “Aren’t you?”
Somehow, Tonton conveyed her thanks and the fact that was obvious in one oink.
“You’ll never be a inin,” Tsunade noted, and nodded as Naruto shrugged. Other than the baa-chan thing, she found the girl to be so many of the things that made Minato and Kushina so... special... mixed up and producing new, amazing things. The miracle of children.
“Sakura-chan,” Naruto said, grinning. “She’s got the control to be a inin, I bet!”
Tsunade looked at Shizune, and they both looked at Sakura.
“Really?” Tsunade said.
The pink haired genin was blushing and nervous, even as she stroked a rather enraptured Tonton’s belly. Ah, good, she hadn’t lost the “Clinical Glare”. It was a good form of killing intent for a inin to cultivate, appraising to just the degree you focused it. It could make a patient pay attention, a target pray for the chakra scalpel... or let a possible apprentice know they were being sized up.
“You’d have to stay in Konoha to teach her, Hime-sama,” Kakashi noted.
“I thought as much, Kakashi-kun,” she said, and she knew he was blushing as he had back when he was a new jounin far too young. “If she proves interesting, it will be worth it.”
“Why would you avoid Konoha, Baa-chan?”
Something told Tsunade that once Naruto chose a term of affection, it would take... actually, she wasn’t sure she had any idea of how to change it. So she bit back the correction and smiled sadly. “I love Konoha, Naruto; don’t get me wrong... but my brother and... someone I cared about--”
“Dan was a good man, and he was with you first,” Jiraiya said flatly, and she spared him an annoyed, but fond look.
“They... both died during the last Shinobi War. The one that was part of the World War.” Tsunade looked into the fire. “It took your father and one of Konoha’s greatest elders to get me back on my feet. Even then, I’ve been spending time away, helping your godfather build up Ne’s informant network...”
“Ne?” Sasuke asked voice sharp.
“Yes,” Tsunade said sadly. She noted Naruto and Sakura looking puzzled and made a note to explain later. “I... met your brother, once or twice.” She shook her head. “Too much about that night makes no sense whatsoever...”
Sasuke gave a little displeased ‘Hn’, “I’m coming to see that myself. And not in the ways I thought.”
“We’re talking to the elders when we get back,” Kakashi said.
“Well, if Sakura-chan proves to be equal to the task, that’s three reasons I’ll have to stay at home for a while. Train her, help sort out the Uchiha mess, and keep my promise.”
Naruto looked up at her. “What... what promise was that...?”
Tsunade smiled at the young girl before her. “Well... since my chakra control is so good, and you Uzumaki tend to have so much of it, I promised your mother if she wasn’t there, I’d help you--”
Of all Naruto’s possible responses, stressed out wailing and being clung to was the... second last on Tsunade’s list. The last time anyone had broken out into song for her... well, that fifth year of marriage...
She awkwardly patted the girl’s shoulder, and the crying actually got worse.
“I’m sorry,” Naruto managed. “It’s just that-- a month ago, I only had Iruka-sensei and Jiji and maybe Ayame and her dad that acknowledged me, and now I’ve got a fiance, and my team mates care, and I’ve got a godfather and godmother, and my sensei knew my dad, and it’s so much at once!”
As the Slug Princess cuddled the sobbing girl, she looked at the rag tag group heading back to Konoha. The intensity of the Hyouton user’s gaze earned him several points, and his twin friends showed admirable loyalty, the one obviously struggling not to snarl, the other-- she could tell his mind was calculating something terrible to be done to anyone who tried to harm his friend’s betrothed. Sakura was moving beside Naruto already, and the Uchiha was flexing his hand awkwardly. His frown spoke volumes.
Her gaze settled on Kakashi.
I’m already working on it, he signalled in the old code Jiraiya and Minato had created back in Minato’s genin days. She nodded slowly. That was a start... but as they returned, she’d get a full accounting.
And then, she’d decide exactly how much of her Senju Fury her sensei and advisers would face.
After Kakashi was done, of course. It was his team.
“So the Hyuuga are on board?”
“Hiashi is,” Kakashi corrected quietly. He was more comfortable around the Legendary Slug now that things were down to business. Though he couldn’t help the lingering thought that the Gamma-sennin was a very lucky man. “You know how they are. It might take him a while to shut up the elements calling for his head, but the Hyuuga don’t have a council running things. He’s law.”
“As long as he can keep his fellow Souke members from resenting it enough to oust him,” Jiraiya noted.
Kakashi chuckled. “Actually, he’s pretty much sharing clan sentiment here-- whether due to thinking it lacks decorum to treat Naruto badly or being more invested in it, as Hiashi-sama is, most in the Hyuuga will support this, I think. Souke and Bunke. And as Naruto’s true gender means that there is less threat Hiashi’s daughter will overwhelm her off springs' limit with the Uzumaki vitality, fewer of the older members will resist their friendship.”
“Bah,” the Namekuji-sannin said.
“I know. You gave your considered opinion when Hiashi-sama enquired. The kekkei genkai may seem to vanish, but it will likely emerge stronger within a generation or two,” Kakashi added, smiling. “Hiashi-samma and I know to listen to the established expert.”
“Good boy.”
“Haruno’s mother is also an important factor, dear,” Jiraiya said. At his wife’s raised eyebrow, the sage continued. “They have a minor kekkei genkai... something to do with the hair of the women... so she is on both the Citizen and Clan Council. And she’s rather respected, which tends to surprise those playing to Shinobi Superiority. Never lets the civilians forget who protects the village; never lets the nins forget who brings in the trade and goods. I’ve had occasion to report to her when the Citizen Council is being briefed by Ne.”
“As it should be,” Tsunade noted. “Speaking of, any one on any council explicitly aiming shuriken at our girl’s head?”
“Most are neutral, but there’s a...” Kakashi gritted his teeth, “disturbing--”
“Talk plain, we’d both prefer it,” Jiraiya said.
Kakashi nodded. “There’s at least one dean of idiots in the Merchant and Manufactures' Council who has made clear any claims about Naruto will be taken at face value and reported damages to merchants repatriated from a special fund. It may be an organized group, or one or two of the guilds each working on their own to ‘seed’ their members against her. Thus, the brat gets a reputation as a thief and vandal... beyond what her pranks cause. And the pranks are usually easily fixed misdemeanours at worst. These accusations are often felonies. People are willing to lie for the money, and even her minor infractions are inflated. Instant undeserved reputation. Ibiki’s been chomping at the bit to clean things up.”
“Is he now being allowed to?” Hime-sama asked with deceptive lightness.
“Shin’s heading the effort,” Kakashi said, and his smile was as evil as Tsunade’s and Jiraiya’s.
“Shin’s such a good boy,” Tsunade cooed dangerously.
“Anko and Hokuto apparently drafted themselves to help,” Jiraiya added.
“You’re just trying to butter me up now. You know I love those girls.”
“Yes,” Jiraiya said with a weak chuckle. He licked his lips nervously and his tone grew a bit anxious. “Is it working?”
“Maybe...”
Kakashi cleared his throat. “Also, the Aburame boy has already returned Naruto’s note, offering to spar and discuss things with her. He’ll likely want to talk to you as well, Jiraiya-sama-- he made comparisons to his clan’s bugs and how Naruto and the Kyuubi might interact.”
“Sounds like a smart boy,” Jiraiya said.
“He is. Kurenai’s got a good team. They all need polish,” Kakashi admitted. “But... I think the other villages are right to worry about these nine. Though, on a somewhat worrying note...”
“Yes?” Tsunade said, and her voice promised doom unlike any other.
“The Yamanaka girl sent the letter Naruto wrote back unopened. She did include a note saying to tell her when we got back, that she was too busy to read a long note. It is odd, I expected her need for gossip to at least... well.”
“Kakashi... perhaps I misunderstood... but was not the letter formatted as an official communication?”
Kakashi nodded slowly, eyeing the Senju-hime warily. “Yes. I insisted, in case any of their parents tried to pry or refuse.”
“Paper,” Tsunade growled. “Do we still have the letter the brat wrote?”
Kakashi produced it.
“Official seals and all. Your seal approving the others as well. They are still taught to recognize such in the Academy, correct?” Kakashi nodded. “Her parents’ names?”
“She’s Inoichi’s girl,” Jiraiya said.
If anything, Tsunade’s face grew sterner. “Inoichi’s daughter should have better manners. I’ll advise him to correct her.”
“Are we going for raw emotion, or--” Jiraiya started to ask.
“Jiraiya, you will polish this into a finely honed, piercing barb that will make clear a key new reality of Konoha,” Tsunade answered.
There was a pause both men decided it was best not to break before the Slug Princess was ready.
Tsunade took the offered scroll and pen.
“Nobody fucks with our goddaughter. Nobody.”
DAY SIX: GETTING THE HOUSE IN ORDER
“She sent it back?” Akimichi Chouji said, frowning, pausing midway into reaching into his bag of crisps. Iruka just smiled when their eyes met. He knew damn well, even after providing them with a fine breakfast from the selections Ichiraku offered while getting ready for the lunch rush, that Chouji needed his crisps the way Hyuuga Hinata needed to release excess tension with a press of her fingers.
Nara Shikamaru nodded, solemn flavouring his usually laid back manner. “That she would revel in ignorance... troublesome. She tried to get me to catch up on it like it was a bit of gossip once she learned we had all got one... though breaking this particular law for her... too problematic. But that is why she is not here.”
Iruka looked at the assembled members of his recently graduated class. “Understandable. You couldn’t invite her here without breaking the law, at this point.”
“I do not recall Naruto and Ino being close, but she never seemed to suffer those that would torment him...” Aburame Shino reasoned. “It wasn’t sent in the manner of a personal note... perhaps she dismissed it as minor as it was from Naruto? Or assumed a prank?”
“His sensei-- her sensei signed it too,” Chouji said. “I mean, isn’t that a tip off?”
Shikamaru sighed. “Sometimes Ino can be... rather hasty to prioritize things out of convenience rather than true consideration,” he said, and actually looked a little pained to admit the failing of a childhood friend.
There was a lull, and then Hinata spoke. “Sensei, I hope we are not imposing-- Otousan had concerns our home would attract too much attention as a meeting place, and--”
Iruka raised a hand. “No, no. I’m glad to lend you my home, modest though it may be.”
Shino raised an eyebrow, and then it fell. “Ah. Sorry, Sensei. I forgot you grew up with family and clan around you. That would make such a fine home seem empty.”
Iruka bowed his head in thanks for the compliment and the understanding.
“Naruto...” Inuzuka Kiba said slowly. “He... she said... that you were there when she found out about the fox.”
“I can’t really share details...” Iruka said slowly. “Neither can she. And yes, we are all finding that... rather confusing. What exactly did she tell each of you...?”
“I talked to each of the others personally, though I have not seen the missives,” Shino said. “It seems we all know of the fox, which she does not blame us for any... untoward actions we may have performed due to the impressions we got from our elders...”
Hinata frowned, “That really annoys you, Shino-kun...”
“My father and mother... they not only never spoke ill of Uzumaki-kun, but stated that the perception many have of... her... is flawed. It is some of my other clan mates that cause me shame.” The Aburame actually pulled down his mask as his kikaichuu bugs gave a low buzz. This in itself was odd; the naked disappointment on his face was even worse. “While rationality should never be mistaken as the absence of emotion, the degree to which they allow the flaws in human thinking to overturn theirs... I’m angry at them, Hinata-chan, yes.”
“To be honest, I’m a bit angry at my generation as well,” Iruka admitted. “Myself included. I feel as if--”
“You have not failed Naru-chan!” Hinata protested, and promptly blushed as every eye around the kitchen table they sat at turned to her. “I... you’ve always been there for her. It’s... more than some of us have done. Though... Otousan did say things limited him from helping as much as he’d like...”
“We’re working on changing that,” Iruka said firmly.
“Is that why I saw the Ne ANBU’s most lauded member, the master infiltrator, and a special jounin noted for her non-lethal apprehension jutsu going through the stores?” Shikamaru wondered offhandedly. This, Iruka knew, meant the Nara knew that the visits were connected.
Iruka smirked, but knew better than to try to get the lazy genius to expound. “Yes. It is. At least one of them... knew Naruto’s parents.”
“How we could let the daughter of one of our greatest Hokage’s be treated this way worries me,” Shino noted. Catching the looks of surprise, he frowned. “No? Not even you, Nara-san?”
Nara nodded slowly. “I see it now. She obviously takes after her father with the hair and eyes. But, there’s surprisingly little about the Yondaime's wife in--”
Shino dropped a few sheets of neatly folded paper on the table. “From the family library. I... have a feeling my parents deliberately missed me taking it.”
Hinata slowly unfolded the paper as Iruka gave Shino a small smile. “Officially, I can neither confirm nor deny this.”
Shino’s nod and small smile showed the mountains of praise in Iruka’s own expression were received.
“That... Tousan nearly called her Uzumaki-sama,” Chouji said, setting his bag down. “I thought maybe it was ‘cause she was holding the Kyuubi... but it’s this.”
“Knowing that bastard, she’d likely hate being called that,” Kiba said with a smirk as he grabbed a few of the sheets.
“He... if she looks almost the same...” Hinata murmured.
“Hatake-sensei says she does,” Iruka noted.
“She has her mother’s face,” Hinata whispered. “The... shape of it. And... the whisker marks...”
“This says she was born with them,” Kiba said, reading one of the papers. “Before the fox was even in her. That her mom had them. Her mom held the fox before her.”
There was a moment’s silence.
“Otousan...” Hinata said. “He said that he was friends with Naru-chan’s dad. He... he said she didn’t mention it... he thinks it was so I’d be her friend because I wanted to be her friend. I... I think it’s the same with all of us.”
Kiba’s face set. “Even if he’s a she... even if her parents had been a couple of garbage collectors, even if they are our greatest heroes... she’s still the brat I got into trouble with.”
Iruka licked his lips. “The Hokage once told me... that the worse thing one can do to another is not ignoring them, or hate them. It is to deliberately not acknowledge them. Even if you factor them into your plans, even if you know they are a factor in what you do, to their face you treat them as not worth any consideration. As if they are a thing to be dealt with rather than a person.”
He looked up at his recent grads and was about to apologize for slipping into lecture mode during their visit, when an inspiration struck him. “Hatake-san is pacing their travel so they’ll be seeing the gates in a day on any approved approach route. By the next afternoon, at the latest, they’ll be here.
“When they come, watch the people on the streets. Watch how they react to her. Watch them with an eye looking underneath the underneath. Then... treat Naruto as you would any friend being exposed to that.”
DREAMTIME
“I am beyond gender,” the Kyuubi said, slowly and as if talking to a child.
The vessel sighed. “I guess. It’s just... when we refer to something as ‘it’, we mean a thing. Not something alive and thinking.”
The Kyuubi was silent for a long moment.
“He. I guess. I mean, your bastard father--”
“Hey, my-” She stopped. “Actually he might have been. I’ll have to ask Jiraiya...”
“Want me to stick to idiot until then?” The Kyuubi asked.
“Eh, I’m just bantering. Go on.”
That was interesting, having a jibe taken in good humour. “When your father, for highly justifiable but none the less annoying to me reasons--”
“Thank you.”
“--you’re welcome-- contained me, he left only my yang chakra. Well, bit of the Yang, otherwise I'd cease to exist. But, I understand you typically generalize it as male.”
“Inaccurately,” the brat muttered.
Kyuubi gave her a look.
“I... like to read,” the girl grumbled. “Why does that surprise people? Its how I learned most of my best jutsus, reading and doing...”
Hyuuga Yachi frowned. “Your candour is probably the most useful thing I’ve come across all day, Saito-san. It is still quite... vexing.”
Even stripped of her geisha make-up, and her dark hair down in a more relaxed style, the woman everyone know better than to nickname Hiashi’s watchdog carried herself with grace. That said grace could go from seductive to caring to deadly mid-blink was but one reason the Bunke Hyuuga was a respected member of her clan.
Right now, her elegance was diplomatic, sipping tea with a member of the Textiles and Clothiers guild as a representative of the Hyuuga as a whole. Here as a courtesy to a clothier who had made most of the clan’s formal wear since Hyuuga Hinata’s birth.
Saito Sugi held up the tea pot, and Yachi nodded. “I agree, Hyuuga-san. In truth, I am glad someone is finally asking about this.”
“You say your guild head was accompanied by two members of the Weapon smiths?”
“Two of Koshiko’s apprentices.”
Yachi’s face grew tight. “I see. I would not expect a man capable of such sterling work to be so... indiscreet. When the ANBU come, please mention Hiashi is sending Kou by to assist in your protection from reprisal.”
The tailor blinked. “Hyuuga Kou, Yachi-san? I--”
“Yes,” Yachi sighed with a smile. “The poor boy’s been going spare, now that Hinata is considered a genin. He is not needed to safe guard his dear little cousin as much.”
“I... thank you, Yachi-san,” Sugi said. “If... I may ask one further favour...?”
Yachi raised one perfect eyebrow in answer.
“The boy’s costume... he was buying fabric for it here, before... I had hoped to give him one of our full kits, before--”
Yachi raised one perfectly manicured hand. “Sugi-san. I have no doubt you will soon enough be able to give this gift to Uzumaki Naruto yourself.”
The smile on Yachi’s face booked no argument.
Tani Ryu woke up at noon with a hangover ringing in his head and a kunai pressing against his throat.
“I am sorry to disturb you in this fashion, Tani-sama. Please, excuse the ink.”
Ryu’s chest grew tight and his mind reeled. Everyone in town knew that phrase.
“N-not at all, Shimura-kun. D-does... your father wish to address something with me?”
He saw inky black... things that disappeared as he tried to focus on them. Oh, will of fire, why did this happen now, when he was an old washed up shinobi who had failed so many!
The Ne ANBU chuckled lightly. “Now, now, if Otousan wanted to address you, he’d do it directly. And if I were ‘addressing’ you for him, I’d already have cut your dick off.”
Ryu clenched his body. No. He would not void himself, even with the Inky Black Darkness threatening his life.
“To be honest, Tani-sama, I am here to hopefully ease your life in future. But... my father keeps saying I need to socialize more. Realizing this is the only way I knew how to introduce myself in this context was rather sobering.” Shimura Sai sighed and withdrew his knife.
Ryu relaxed to a more ready state. “Would it be alright if I sit up, then?”
“Please. It would actually make this easier. And I suppose I am a guest of sorts.”
Ryu slowly sat up. “I... regret I have no refreshment ready--”
“Eh. Your sake is too cheap for my tastes, though I suppose you are not buying it for the flavor. Attend.”
The young shinobi dropped a picture on the bed before him. “This is your genin team, correct?”
Ryu had to take a minute. “Yes. Yes it is.”
“Your sensei, team mates-- what were they to you, honestly?”
“... As blunt as they say,” Ryu murmured, a rueful smile on his face.
“It is alternately a blessing and a curse.”
“... do you know my history? What my family was like?”
Sai nodded slowly. “And that affected how you saw your team?”
“They...” Ryu sighed. “Sai-kun, they gave me everything that my bastard father never did. They made my mother’s last years a joy. I-- would have married one of them.”
Sai nodded slowly. “That... is encouraging. Did you plan the future together, then?”
Ryu couldn’t help the heart ache that crept into his voice, as he ran a hand over hair that had not been properly buzzed in years. “We planned so much... before the Kyuubi...”
Shimura Sai was silent a long moment. “I am going to show you three pictures now, Tani Ryu. It may be painful to see them, but I hope... I hope they will tell you what your friends would have you do.”
The first picture made his guts tighten. The second brought tears.
The last, a fine portrait in graceful ink with a few lines of notes below it, made his eyes widen and his voice seize up.
“I... I...”
“Your sensei has left a glowing report. He has never doubted if you were to rise to what you were... you would be among our best again. But never mind that.”
Shimura Sai leaned close. “Speaking as an orphan, the greatest day of my life was when someone simply recognized my needs... and filled them, because not doing so would be wrong.”
Ryu closed his eyes, tears falling as they had that dark day when he heard his lover, his friend, his friend’s wife, the child... that they were all dead, all gone.
“I... cut hair in our household,” the boy offered. And suddenly, he sounded very much like a boy. “They’re-- on their way here; the gate guards have reported seeing them.”
He managed to smile for the boy. “I... thank you, yes. I need to bathe first though.”
“I’ll wait. I have some... documentation for you to review, in this case.”
Ryu got out from under the covers, and paused. Thankfully, he had left his trousers on. He rose, and headed to the washroom.
The man in charge of the Leaf’s Own Shinobi Bank had on one of the finest shinobi business outfits, uwagi and zubon cut more for style that battle, obi ornate and distracting. New for this season. He stood in the bank’s lobby/ waiting area, flanked by chuunin guards commanded by the sort of jounin only one of Konoha’s oldest, most trusted banks could hire. The live plants, planted from shoots from Konoha’s Heart, were a cherished gift from the Yondaime, and the floor was marble from the lands west of the Elemental Continent. Expensive.
The man stood nervously between the two shinobi that had refused his invitation to his office.
“I am so glad you brought this to my attention, Shin-san. I did not know this vital fact,” Hiashi said. He turned toward the bank manager, by now wringing his hands between the Ne ANBU and the clan head. “I will be withdrawing all my funds, and my clan’s funds, in total. Now.”
“S-surely Hyuuga-sama...”
“I’m sorry, Hyuuga-sama,” a new voice said. “Did I hear you correctly?”
Hiashi turned and gave his daughter’s sensei a polite smile. “That depends on what you heard, Yuuhi-sensei...?”
“That you were withdrawing all funds under your control from this bank?”
“Ah. Sadly, yes, and I must ask that if you were bringing Hinata here to cash or deposit her mission pay, you no longer do so.”
The dark haired genjutsu master frowned, which made her face dangerously closed as opposed to its usual reserve. “I see. I will of course abide by your wishes, but may I ask why? I have used this bank for years.”
“A guard who worked here informed us that a shinobi of Konoha was refused service here,” Shin explained.
Kurenai raised her eyebrows. “I see. How unfortunate. I will need to follow suit, then. Regretful.”
“Yuuhi-san,” the bank manager began, “I’m sure once I explain-- the boy is a known troublemaker--”
Kurenai reeled on the banker. “If said ‘boy’ is Uzumaki Naruto, you had best stop there. If you insult a friend of his daughter-- my student-- in front of Hyuuga-sama... one you have made your ignorance about plain... I am not sure either he or I would be inclined to stop the ANBU in attendance from correcting you.”
Shin smiled more and more pleasantly as she spoke.
“I will be withdrawing my funds as well,” another voice barked. “Clan and personal.”
The three standing in front of the banker parted as Inuzuka Tsume came forward, face molded in a snarl worthy of one of her ninken. “And if you are not penniless for what you did to my son’s friend by the end of the day, it’s only because we have left you the dregs.”
The banker fell to his knees and wet himself. Tsume growled.
“I’m sorry, I thought this was a shinobi bank.”
Kurenai smirked. “I suppose it’s one that has got incredibly soft. Shin, if he’s here babbling too long--”
The Ne’s smile was now supremely pleasant, to the point of being disturbing to many in the area. “Oh, the ANBU will of course exercise the seizure and return clause of the Shinobi Bank Guarantee. The Nidaime’s idea. Wonderfully expedient-- oh! It even has an acceleration clause should the bank representative go foetal!”
“Remarkable foresight on the Nidaime’s part,” Hiashi said lightly, as Shin ducked out.
As the Ne ANBU returned with several of his masked counterparts, announcing the seizure, and as the chuunin guards and even the jounin commander began helping... the Hokage walked in.
The bank manager met the Old Professor’s gaze... and whimpered at the slightest touch of killing intent, voiding himself further.
“Really, Azusa. You were in the last war...” he chided. “Shin?”
“Hai, Sarutobi-sama. Akai Neko!” A violet haired ANBU whose mask resembled a cat’s face with three red marks on it was instantly before him. “The Hokage’s token, please!” Shin instructed her. She bowed and set off for the vault, gesturing for a teller and a bank chuunin to follow. One of her fellow ANBU in a similar mask with blue replacing the red instantly joined her.
This made the banker get to his knees. “N-no! No, please, Hokage-sama, at least leave us that! We can rebuild, as--”
“As long as you hold a token deposit from me, your certification as a shinobi bank stands,” Hiruzen finished. He leaned closer to the nin turned banker. “I eat ramen with the child on a regular basis. Not just the birthday bowl all the orphans get. That should have warned you by itself.” He stood, and turned to an ANBU with a peafowl mask. “Kajaku.” He gestured to the plants growing by the door. “Minato would not want those growing here.”
“Hokage.”
Hiruzen turned, ignoring the thud from in front of him as Kajaku gathered the plants for transport. “You’re early, Ibiki.”
“He’s passed out, Hokage-- is that Azusa of the Endless Assault?”
“Mm. Apparently, the Assault has ended. Take him. Full treatment for him and a beginning probe for the tellers. Find out who deserves my leniency, Ibiki.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama.”
The Hokage looked up to find three of his finest looking back. “What? Oh, Tsume-kun. Did you want to toy with him more?”
“Shin?” Hiashi asked.
“Danzou’s already salivating over what the files might show,” Hiruzen admitted. “And... Danzou suggested I could no longer be so... neutral on these matters, to help set a new tone--”
He blinked as the three bowed low. “Oh, stop, stop. I swear you people know that annoys me. Decorum, yes-- Hiashi, stop!”
“Good afternoon... Shimura-sama,” the woman behind the bakery counter managed, bowing. She swallowed.
“Good afternoon, Yagi-san,” the Darkness of the Shinobi said. “I am correct, yes?”
“Hai, Shimura-sama. May I... help you?”
Danzou nodded pleasantly. “In a moment. I’m meeting someone here, and your bakery was highly recommended by a mutual acquaintance. Ah, here he is now.”
The man in question was wearing a black, stylish jinbei, suitable to the recent spate of warmish weather. The man had a large grin. “Danzou-sama! It is an honour to meet you face to face, at last! One of our greatest shinobi!”
“Oh. You flatter an old nin, Kogami-san. Or perhaps, we shall simply address each other as the friends we will undoubtedly become?”
The man looked earnestly touched. “If... Danzou, it would be an honour! Now, Narukun recommends this place so highly. We must try as much as we can stand!”
“Kousei,” the shinobi said to the yakuza boss, “I could not disagree less. Yagi-san, please, my friend and I would like a broad sampling of your product-- especially anything favoured by Naruto and his academy sensei.”
Yagi Hatsumi looked at the two men and grinned. “Riyouki! Endless Sweets Platter!”
“Oh! Endless Sweets Platter!” Kousei grinned. “I do like that sound of that.”
A man stuck his head out of the back. “Hatsumi, are you sure? The last group to order-- Shimura-sama! Endless Sweets Platter, coming right up!” The man turned back to the back of the bakery cafe.
“Riyouki!”
“Hai?” the man said, adjusting his glasses as he turned back.
“Do it the way Naruto-kun and Iruka-san like it.”
The man’s face grew even brighter. “Yes, darling.”
“Milk tea?” Hatsumi offered.
“Yes!” Kousei agreed, as Danzou claimed a seat. Then, suddenly, he grew somber. It was as if all his exuberance had become seriousness. “Yagi-san... Hatsumi-chan. I could not help but notice, your signage... it has been... damaged.”
Hatsumi bit her lip. “Yes, that... happens on occasion. We simply haven’t been able to afford a replacement yet.”
“Do you know... who is doing this?”
Hatsumi glanced at Shimura-sama a moment. “I am reluctant to place blame.”
In an instant, Danzou’s sleeve was rolled up, and he had tapped a complex design on the now exposed skin. In moments, a masked ANBU entered.
“Danzou-sama.”
“Inoshishi. Yagi-sama’s sign is being vandalized. She has reason to believe it is a shinobi or group thereof. Regardless, Kogami-sama and I are arranging a replacement.” He sipped at the tea that Kousei placed before him. “Ah, excellent. If our involvement is not enough to deter the miscreants...?”
“The watch I shall set will catch them,” the boar masked ANBU said evenly. “Shinobi or not, Ibiki-senpai will be given a chance to ask them about their intentions.”
“I have no doubt.”
Hatsumi’s husband had to ask her for help four times before she realized she was staring.
The two kunoichi turned very slowly.
“I’m sorry, what did you just say...?” Mitarashi Anko asked in a tone that would have screamed, ‘This is your last chance to not fail at survival,’ to anyone with half a brain.
Showing a remarkable lack of the instincts to prevent such failure, the rotund man met Anko’s eyes and said, “I said, snake bitch, loose women like you have no business being shinobi and the little oni deserves all he gets--”
A stream of water threw the man back against the wall. Soon, Hino Hokuto was doing the holding instead. “Let me explain exactly what your little lack of tact there means, little man,” she whispered harshly in his ear. The woman with the nori green hair smiled politely as Anko went to the door and flipped the sign to CLOSED. Her tone was now that of a woman discussing a movie she saw last night in a cafe the next day. “We were here merely as follow up on a citizen’s... observations. If we found anything worth following up, we would report to Ibiki-sama, and you be brought in for a polite chat. Did we find anything interesting, Anko-chan?”
Anko turned from the windows she was absently looking out. “Just a bigoted bastard and a rundown shop, Hoku-kun. I was all for passing him off to Civilian Relations for a warning.” She turned back to the window, and something caught her eye. “Oh. Be right back.”
As Anko stuck her head out the door and called out to someone, Hokuto continued. “I was for that too. But then, you had to go and break one of the Hokage’s laws.”
“Law? What law?” the man managed. “What? You’re going to pretend you don’t know what’s inside the brat--?”
Hokuto laughed a shallow laugh and then tightened her grip. “Not that one. The one that says you treat all citizens with equality and fairness. See, before, you were just a merchant serving who he wished. Now--”
The door’s bell rang.
“Whatever is it, Anko-chan?” a refined voice said.
“Yachi-san!” Anko squealed like a little-girl. “Yachi-san, that mean man called me ‘snake bitch’, an’ said me an’ Hoku-kun were loose women, an’ that we had no right bein’ nins, an’ he called that cute little brat Naru-chan an oni!”
The Hyuuga watchdog fixed her glare on the man, going from refined geisha to hardened killer with one look as her arms wrapped around Anko, pale eyes bulging as her Byakugan activated.
“There, there, dear. We’ll... educate... this poor man on manners before he has a nice, long chat with your senpai.”
Anko turned to look at the man, blood lust in her eyes. “We’ll have to educate him a lot, oneesan. I wouldn’t want Ibiki-senpai to get offended.”
“You-- you can’t do this! Shinobi can’t terrorize the village like this! I’m a civilian-- that geisha isn’t even a true shinobi--”
“Are you under the impression I’m going to do something as pedestrian as hurt you, little man?” Yachi said, smiling ever so slightly. “You forget we ‘loose women’ are armed with more weapons than blades and staff...”
The Hokage looked at the man before him. He was making the jounin sweat a bit, perhaps needlessly. Sai had already briefed him...
But he wanted to see, to make sure.
“Ibiki’s been keeping an eye on you,” Hiruzen said.
The nin bit his lip. “I... I would have, as well, Hokage-sama. My behaviour... I was given every opportunity... and I have wasted them. It should not have taken...” He sighed. “I have many excuses. But I have no excuse.”
The Professor nodded slowly. “Very well, Tani-san. I have a single condition to granting your request, and a task while you exercise it.”
The jounin with a shaven head and a red strip of fabric tying on a hitai-ate that had been polished to gleaming nodded. “Hai, Hokage-sama.”
“The condition is this: Whatever happens, however Uzumaki Naruto reacts to you... you accept it, and carry on from there as someone of your rank with dignity.”
Tani Ryu’s face grew even grimmer. “Hai, Hokage-sama.”
“Very well. You will deliver this note to Hatake-san, and travel back to Konoha as the group’s escort. I also expect a report on your first impressions of the three nukenin travelling with them after we debrief Team Hatake.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama,” Tani said, taking the scroll.
“And Tani?”
The nin met his Kage’s eyes.
“Please. Do not waste this second chance. It would bring me more heartache to an already burdened life.”
Tani blinked a few times. “H-hai, Hiruzen-sama.”
“Dismissed.”
“Ino. Please come in.”
Yamanaka Ino swallowed deeply her father’s voice came out of his study. That was his all so gentle reprimand voice. She was in trouble. As she approached the door, she mentally catalogued all the events of the past few days. No, she couldn’t quite finger what she might have done...
She started at the sight on the desk before her. A toad and a slug. Some how... bigger than they should be. Sitting as Hatake-san’s ninken had. Messengers.
“Ino, Uzumaki Naruto sent you a letter recently,” her father started. He placed a scroll before her. “Would you mind telling me what you see sealing this letter?”
Ino picked up the scroll and looked at it, intently. “Uzumaki’s name. And an official... no, several official business seals. And.. Hatake-- his sensei’s seal.”
Her father nodded. “Given all that, do you have a good reason that it was returned, unopened? It seems even his sensei thought it important enough to seal it...”
Ino bit her lip. “I... admit. I was in a hurry and might not have noticed the full gravity of it. Naruto-kun is... a bit goofy. I thought it could wait until he returned. I sent him a note saying such...”
Her father waited, and the realization slowly came.
“But if I had time to write that, I had time to at least check the note’s importance.”
Her father nodded sadly. “Indeed. And now, you have upset two people that apparently care for Naruto-kun deeply as well. They have sent their own messengers.” He gestured to the desk. “Senju Tsunade was particularly upset, and asked if I had taken any hand in your training at all.”
The bottom fell out of Ino’s stomach. “Senju... Tsunade...?” The full implications of what her father had said hit her, and she flung herself at him, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!” To suggest to a member of the Shodai’s clan that her father had not properly trained her...!
Her father patted her back gently. “It is good you regret this. But Ino... I am not the one you need to apologize to.”
They separated and Ino looked at the letter, and her father’s laid out writing implements.
“Hint hint,” she murmured.
Her father stood, and ran his hand through her hair on his way out. “Please do take it, dear.”
After he was gone, Ino sat down. “Gimme a minute?” She said to the messenger summons.
“Sure,” the slug said in a manner that would have made Shikamaru proud.
There was a moment, and then the toad asked, “Got any candy?”
The slug seemed to be glaring daggers at it, but Ino still smiled as she dipped into the chocolates her father snacked on while writing reports. It was only proper to pay a summons when asked.
Ino opened Naruto’s letter.
It was about a quarter of the way in she started cursing herself a idiot.
When Jiraiya noted Naruto freezing in her tracts, he looked up.
“Ryu,” he said, keeping his voice neutral.
But Tani Ryu payed the sage no mind. He kept his eye on the girl before him.
The plan was to politely offer his package, apologize, turn, and go, escorting at a distance.
But now that he knew, and was face to face with her...
He sank to one knee in front of the blond genin.
“You have your father’s eyes-- how did I not-- and your mother’s face...”
That face was puzzled, a little nervous... and was there a bit of hope there? “You... shaved your head, Anata-san.”
Ryu managed to smile. “Hai. I wore it this way when I was a genin, until... just after the Kyuubi attacked.”
“Oh,” the girl said, and he could see the confusion, the wondering what to do now in her eyes, the way her mouth couldn’t settle on an expression, her furrowed brow.
“That day... we lost so many good nins,” Tani said.
Naruto bit her lip. “Iruka-sensei lost his family...”
“Yes. Sarutobi-sama-- his wife was helping your mother deliver you. We lost her. The Hyuuga lost a great many people from both houses.” And here was the hard part. “My team mate, Ai,” he said, finding he needed to explain, owed her one, “She and I were engaged. She died fighting it.”
And now, sadness. Lip trembling. He had to finish before he broke down with her.
“And my team mate and his wife... died sealing it up. I only just found out who they--”
He was nearly knocked over when she flew at him. At first he relaxed to take the attack he deserved, but then he found that his friend Minato’s daughter was clinging to him, hugging him, babbling like mad.
“I’m sorry! I mean, I didn’t do it, but I understand! You must miss them so much! I didn’t even know my daddy was anyone until recently and I know the Hokage hid it to protect me, so you didn’t know and it’s okay, you were just hurting!”
Tani Ryu hugged his team mate’s daughter back and met his Sensei’s eyes. He knew he must look almost as out of it as when he was drowning in sake.
For the first time in years, Jiraiya-sensei looked proud of him. And Tsunade-sama was giving him that look-- oh, kami-sama, he was going to be tough mothered to an inch of his life, full medical and all!
“I’m... Tani Ryu,” he managed around the lump in his throat.
The girl leaned back, lip jutted out. “Tani Ryu. Ryu-niisan,” she tried, and then frowned-- Minato! his brain finally noticed. Then, her eyes lit up, with a small smile-- Kushina! -- and she declared, “Taniisan!” Then, she frowned. “Jirai-jiji didn’t mention you when he was talking about mom and dad’s friends, Taniisan...”
Ryu managed to smirk. “That’s because I’ve been busy being a horrible old drunk for several years, and your godfather knew it would be unwise to interrupt me until I was done.”
The girl chuckled. Her mother was a chuckler rather than a giggler as well. Then he was being dragged to his feet, being introduced to a bemused pair of twins, a cool and composed fiance, a team mate trying to be as cool, and another one eying him warily.
“And... oh, you likely know Sensei...”
Kikashi’s eyes tipped him off to the jounin’s smile, and he had to restrain from frowning as his best friend’s only remaining student bowed far lower than Ryu ever deserved. “Tani-san.”
Giving a polite bow in turn, Ryu held out the Hokage’s missive. He smiled as Kakashi broke the seals. “I am to accompany you the rest of the way home, Kakashi-kun. No doubt to insure you don’t run into a lost cat that, it turns out, can talk. Or a boy drowning in a cursed well. Or a team of genin with their specially trained attack pets...”
The jounin-sensei looked up from reading the Hokage’s note. “Did... you read my mail? Because it’s bad enough when Ero-sama does it.”
“Hey!”
“Oh, Jiraiya, just let it go,” Tsunade said.
“No, why?” Ryu asked. “Does the Hokage remember your lamest hits too?”
“He tried to tell us he ran into Son Goku earlier,” Naruto groused. “Honestly!”
“Right,” Kakashi said, crisply. “Come kawaii genin and hangers on--”
“Oi! My betrothed is not a hanger on!”
“Thank you, Naruko.”
“The twins, maybe,” the girl mused.
“I need to behave,” one of said twins started chanting, to the other’s amusement.
“--onward to Konoha!” Kakashi finished, pulling out a book as a lineup formed, with Sakura taking up a position behind their guests and Sasuke in front, and the Legendary Duo in the rear. Ryu had heard rumors that Kakashi was being a bit too lax training his genin, but he saw none of that now. Though Naruto seemed to have her mother’s issue with stillness...
Ryu frowned at Kakashi’s reading. “That’s... have you changed that much?”
Kakashi looked at the cover of Gutsy Shinobi Takes All. “I am defending Jiraiya-sama’s perception of his god daughter.”
Ryu slowly smiled. “Minato, or Kushina?” he murmured.
“She’s worse than either of them,” Kakashi confided.
“I don’t see how...”
“She made a jutsu called Sexy Jutsu. It knocked the Professor out due to blood loss. It has a Harem variant.”
Tani Ryu was torn a moment, then burst out laughing.
He would explain why to no one as they headed back to Konoha.