12 Mind Games

Konohagakure, 12 years after theKyuubi attack.

/////////////

Group one, pop!" I shouted, sweat dripping down my face.

I was doing some intense training, Rin currently not here because she was visiting Hinata.

Two hours of constant running and strength building without chakra, combined with going through the correct Taijutsu katas, while my clones worked on both Lightning and Water release.

The ones working on lightning popped first, causing me to let out a groan of pain as a temporary headache set in.

I didn't do anything for a few minutes, squinting my eyes at the sunlight.

It was high noon and I still wasn't physically fatigued, Uzumaki blood keeping me flying high and mighty.

"Group two!" I called put, the others now popping.

They did so and this time it was less intense, water release training feeling less painful for some reason.

I sat down and let my mind process everything, the amount of progress I just made tickling me pink.

Once I was ready, I jumped up and made a clone, the twin smile on its face cluing me in to what I wanted to try.

"Ready?" I grinned, my hands up to make hand seals.

"Believe it!" The clone shouted intentionally.

I went through hand seals and pooled chakra into my gut.

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.

A wave of water was shot from my mouth and I felt my clone's chakra crackle.

Right as I finished blasting the water out, my clone shoved its hand into the water, shooting electricity through it.

I watched as the bootleg version of Storm release tore into a group of trees, the wood exploding under the pressure and impact of lightning.

Smiling as the Jutsu ended, I high fived the clone and it popped, leaving me alone.

Pleased with another step of progress, I gathered up everything and left the training ground, whistling for the clones on overwatch to disperse as well.

Now, I was on my way to train with Kakashi. He didn't know about my independent training, and I was fine with that.

Kakashi can keep his Sharingan to copy jutsu. Kage bunshin is king.

////////////////////

'That hurt'. I thought.

Throwing up my arms, I blocked a kunai strike from Kakashi. His breathing was slightly labored, a slash across his arm was bleeding freely, and he was drenched in water.

We were going all out, and I was making him work for it. It would come down to whether my chakra and stamina would carry me over, while Kakashi's two decades of experience was keeping a slight edge over me. A substitution got me away from him, a water clone left in my place. A jet of water I shot was promptly dodged by Kakashi and we were back to a taijutsu fight.

Things sped up as I was seamlessly stringing together punch after punch and I kept light on my feet to avoid him from tripping me up. A strike deflected, a deft jab stopped, a rising knee. Neither of us seemed to maintain an advantage.

Kakashi's breathing was a little more erratic by now, I saw a flash of desperation in his face. The next thing I saw was a flash of his Sharingan and the tomoe spinning. The momentary Genjutsu placed on me gave him time to pull a quick Shunshin. I dispelled the Genjutsu, only to find Kakashi charging straight for me, Chidori in hand.

'The hell, Kakashi?'

My hesitation from shock is what got me. I didn't notice that there was a great deal of standing water, that I was in the middle of. He simply slammed his fist into the water, insulating himself from the electric shock by forcing chakra into his arm and feet. I didn't have time to do that.

My whole body tensed up from the shock. I fell to the ground slightly smoking. I didn't even need to look up to know I was done. I looked up and saw a kunai a few inches from my face.

Kakashi looked like shit. Breathing heavily, he still had a slight grin, judging by the crinkling of his eyes.

"I win, again." he said breathlessly, offering me a hand.

I waved him off. I needed a little bit for the numbness to wear off.

"Just a sec." I said. "I almost had you a few times."

"A strong water affinity makes it hard for me to hit you without hurting myself." he said simply.

He was right. I was undoubtedly a rarity in Konoha. I had a very strong water affinity. The last person to have this degree of one was Senju Tobirama.

The last two years did wonders for me and Rin. Kakashi was in better shape, in both body and spirit, than what he would have been had things played out the way they had in "Canon". Mine and Rin's presence helped give him purpose. Even with his better mindset, I still made him work for our fights. If I limited myself to using lightning jutsu, I'd be screwed. I had the chakra and brains to nullify most of Kakashi's game winning jutsu. Chidori was a no go. And a great deal of his tactical ones like Hiding like a mole and his Sharingan were hampered by me flooding the ground, making the Mole jutsu near useless, and me making mist coated in my chakra limited his Sharingan's vision.

Kakashi had the misfortune of fighting against someone like me. He fared much better against Rin or Anko. I actually had a great deal of trouble facing off against Rin or Anko. Kakashi was a straight hitter, a mixture of strength and speed, neither winning over the other, and had a disturbingly high level of Ninjutsu to draw upon. I had no doubts that he'd kill me 9/10s of the time if we fought to kill. The training we've been doing was to get me even better at mixing Ninjutsu and taijutsu in an active fight. Kakashi was using it to get himself into better physical shape, forgoing the use of jutsu that would end the fights quicker.

Simply by hearing Gai go on about his eternal rival seeming to rediscover his youth showed that Kakashi was healing, in no small part due to me and Rin.

Speaking of Rin, Anko is the number one nice person on my shit list. I know it's because of her that Rin harasses Sasuke the way she does. Non-stop flirting, calling the other girls "dumb bitches", and getting into Sasuke's personal space.

I had no issues with what she calls the fangirls. Seeing your little sister shamelessly try to embarrass a boy who is about to go through puberty is a little too much for me.

'It's because I screwed with Anko.'

She knows I love Rin. She knows I'm protective of her to the point of the extreme. I pissed off Anko by responding to her insanity with flirtation. Treat me like a pincushion, my eyes won't leave your chest.

'I think she won.'

I hated admitting defeat, but Anko won. My sister now knows the way to get back at me. Pretend to like Sasuke. I couldn't tell her why it made me uncomfortable. Part of it was because I knew we were getting older and I knew there would come a point where I couldn't be around to protect her, but the largest reason was because I knew Sasuke. Better than anyone alive.

The same person who stabbed someone he called his best friend with a Chidori. The same who betrayed his home for revenge. The one who tried to kill the Kage. The one who forsook his brother's wish for him to protect Konoha. Not that I didn't have my own issues with Itachi. Why would he torture his brother like that? No reason that I could think of.

But Sasuke was dangerous. If I couldn't get a change in his personality, I'd be forced to kill him. And that wasn't something I wanted.

Kakashi looked at me with an expectant eye. "Ready for lunch?" he asked.

I pushed my hair down slightly, the electric shock having caused it to stick up, before answering. "Sure thing. Let's go find Rin and Anko."

Kakashi nodded as we left the flooded training ground, on route to the outskirts of the forest of death.

//////////////////

"Not good enough." Anko shouted, landing another hit on Rin.

Rin's taijutsu varied from Naruto's. His involved more power than hers. While hers involved speed and flexibility, much like Anko's fighting style.

'And he's still faster than me.' She thought.

Try as she might, she couldn't keep pace with her brother. Taijutsu, he would outsmart her. Ninjutsu, his jutsus helped him dominate the battlefield, although her wind jutsus were a terror when she would slice right through his clones like a thresher. Their full spars looked more like entire squads going at it. Complete chaos with non-stop substitutions, jutsus being flung everywhere, and the two trying to pound each other into the ground.

'But I still can't beat him.'

She had finally brought him to the ground last week. She beat him into the ground. And yet, he still won. Somehow, he had pulled off making a water clone without a hand seal behind her. She never could beat his intellect.

'But I'm better than everyone else.' Nobody at the Academy, aside from Sasuke, had a chance at making a spar difficult. She had listened to her brother and kept a low score. "Don't attract undo attention" he had said. She learned recently that the two of them were jinchuriki. She was pissed when she found out Naruto already knew. He'd told her of the memory he had, how he didn't want her to know that he saw their mother die, and of how he remembered the Kyuubi being sealed into them. She shuddered at the thought of remembering any of that.

'He remembers Mom's voice. And it was as she died.'

She was drawn out of her thoughts by another poison laced strike from Anko.

"Better." she said simply.

Both her and Naruto had developed a resistance to most poisons due to being Jinchuriki and getting hit repeatedly by Anko. Painful, but it was helpful.

Blocking the strike, she retaliated with a quick substitution and a blast of wind chakra sent towards her target. Anko's response was a B-rank fire jutsu.

'Uh oh.'

 Rin never forgot the first time she tried to use wind against fire. Nearly burnt an entire training ground to a crisp. Substituting with one of her clones and sinking into the ground after making a few hand seals, she was able to avoid the wind enhanced flames. She still flinched at the clone's memory returning to her.

Rising from the Earth, she made a clone and then made handsigns for another wind jutsu.

Anko thought she was going to mix the two together, but she was wrong. A quick substitution with a rock 20 meters away made the trajectory of the jutsus different from one another.

Both were launched at the same time, Anko having to Shunshin out of the way, the only safe space being the trees. It's not recommended to use a Shunshin near trees, unless you have the Sharingan of course. Anko ended up crashing into a tree, giving Rin the opportunity for a kill strike.

Before she could get there, Anko called the fight.

"You did good. You learned from your fight with Naruto." she said, I look of pride on her face.

Rin smiled at that, thankful that she felt like she was making progress.

"I could do better." she said to herself.

Anko just scoffed at that. "Don't be like your brother. I worked too hard to beat that out of him. I don't need you doing the dumb shit he pulled a couple years back."

It still bothered Anko what Naruto had been willing to do to try and squeeze out a little bit more in training. It reminded her a little too much of her bastard sensei.

Speaking of the her twin, she could see both him and Kakashi making their way towards them, neither looking in the best of shape.

Kakashi was still wet, and Naruto's hair looked like he touched a live electrical circuit.

"Have fun?" she asked with a grin.

Kakashi just looked at Naruto, then back at her. "You could say that." he said simply.

Rin looked at her brother's hair, smiling. "You ready for another round, sparky?" she quipped.

He squinted an eye at her. "Not really, already had to deal with mr. pervert here, I've had my fair share of crazy today."

Rin hated that word. 'Crazy.'

Only Naruto could get away with calling her that without getting suplexed into the ground. The fangirls found out what happened when they called her either that, or bitch.

Rin just growled under her breath, muttering something about idiot brothers.

"Now, now, use your words." he said, as if he were talking to a misbehaving puppy. "Don't be like Sasuke."

Rin's face couldn't help me break out into a smile at what she thought. "What about my Sasuke-kun?" she asked sweetly, relishing in the look of disgust on her brother's face.

"Don't do that." he groaned, disliking her talking excessively girlish about Sasuke.

"But I want him to be the daddy of your nieces and nephews." she said, a fake look of sadness on her face. "Why won't you respect my choices Big brother?"

Naruto maturely responded by Shunshining away.

Rin just snickered at her brother's predictability. "Works every time."

///////////////////////

Following their taijutsu training, Kakashi made his way to the Hokage Tower to give his report to Hiruzen on the progress made. It was getting to the point that there wasn't a great deal left that he could teach Naruto. Only the higher end Jutsus such as Chidori and Raikiri were left untought. Naruto had been hard focusing on his water element. It would be at least a few more months before he felt safe to teach Naruto how to do the Chidori.

'He probably made the right choice going water.' Kakashi thought. The sheer amount of versatility water offered was a boon for someone as creative and prodigious as Naruto was.

Arriving at the Tower, he walked to the Hokage's office. Knocking and hearing a "come in", Kakashi pushed open the door to see the Hokage at his desk, taking a break after finishing all the documents needing overview.

"Ah, Kakashi." He said, a soft smile on his face. "What news do you bring?"

"Naruto and Rin's progress." he said simply.

Hiruzen sighed and then leaned forward to look straight at Kakashi. "Very well," he said seriously. "Please go ahead."

Kakashi got straight to what he wanted to say. "Naruto will be better an A-rank with probably two or three years in the field."

Hiruzen straightened at that. "So soon?" he asked.

"He's like me." Kakashi said. "Or like It-" he paused.

"Itachi." Hiruzen finished softly.

"Yes." Kakashi said. "Like Itachi."

"He won't end up like that, Kakashi." Hiruzen assured him.

"I know." Kakashi said. "But out of all those hailed as "geniuses" Konoha has produced lately, I'm the only one that isn't dead or a traitor. It doesn't give a lot of assurance." he finished.

Hiruzen understood his worry. Kakashi didn't know what transpired around the incident involving Itachi. Nobody could know.

"You couldn't have forseen what would happen, Kakashi. Itachi lashed out and left. We both know Naruto wouldn't do that."

Kakashi nodded, wishing to continue the debriefing. "His substitution is something I never thought you could pull off. It likely isn't something anybody but him can pull off."

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked.

"Did he ever explain to you about the peculiarity of him being knocked out?" Kakashi asked.

"Not in detail."

"He can still think and sense things around him. He can also manipulate the chakra outside his body. He made a sealless water clone from the mist he had projected."

Hiruzen was shocked at that. "How is that possible? That almost sounds similar to what the Yamanaka do."

The Yamanaka could project their chakra and consciousness outside their bodies. To do so was very difficult to do, but to manipulate your own chakra outside your body? With no handsigns? It wasn't something Hiruzen thought could be done effectively.

"Does he know how he does it?"

"He thinks it's because of his high yin density. He thinks it gives him the ability to push some of his consciousness into his chakra, similar to how a shadow clone can work.

"Could he do it with other jutsu?"

"No," Kakashi answered, " He's only able to do it with water and it has to be deeply coated with his chakra to work."

Hiruzen was silent for a few minutes, deep in thought.

'Could it be because water aligned chakra flows? That could make sense. Tobirama-sensei never humoured the idea of projecting mist and making a water clone from the mist behind an enemy. If he thought it was possible, he would have tried it.'

The only other person Hiruzen had heard that may be a better water user than Senju Tobirama is Hoshigaki Kisame, the Tailless-Beast. If Naruto was thinking of things at the age of twelve that Hiruzen never saw a hint of in his Sensei's journals, it boded very well for Konoha.

'I probably need to show some of Sensei's journals to Naruto. Give him better perspective from one of the most dangerous Shinobi in history.'

"I sense there's something else you want to say." Hiruzen said to Kakashi.

Kakashi just pulled off his jonin flak jacket, showing a slash in the back of it.

"He did this," Kakashi said, pulling his shirt sleeve up to reveal the bandaged slash on his arm, "and this in one move. If we were enemies, I'd be dead."

Hiruzen was suprised at that. Training prospective Shinobi involved the trainer to slowly raise their level of effort in the fight. What did Naruto do that would have killed a higher A-rank nin like Kakashi?

"What did he do?"

"The closest thing to a poor man's Hiraishin." he said quietly.

'What?'

"He flung a kunai at me. He can lace weapons with wind chakra to increase the velocity, but not much else. The kunai had a leaking chakra storage seal with his blood on it. I was charging at him, the kunai went over my head as he did a quick step Shunshin. He then substituted with the kunai."

Naruto understood the concept of forward momentum being important in substituting with a moving object. You had to be moving at a fast pace yourself if you're wanting to maximize what he had tried to do.

"I tried to dodge them. The kunai clipped my shoulder, and Naruto mistimed his slash as he was behind me. I later won the fight, though."

Substitution with an object much smaller than you was very difficult. Shadow clones were the easiest. Same size and had the same kind of chakra. Living things were a good choice as well. They had their own chakra, which added a little more weight to fix the discrepancy. Shinobi didn't generally substitute with kunai, particularly flying ones. Too much chakra waste and the concentration needed the pull it off was steep.

'And he got around that by putting an intentionally leaking storage seal and his own blood on it.'

"Do you think he knows?"

This had been a point of contention between the two. Kakashi suspected that Naruto knew who his and Rin's father was. Hiruzen didn't think so. He remembered the day six years ago when Naruto had the broken look on his face.

'So my father's dead then.'

"I don't think he does." Hiruzen replied, "But he'll figure it out eventually."

Kakashi slumped slightly. "Do you think he'd forgive us for keeping it from him?"

"Undoubtedly." Hiruzen said, "He more than anyone understands keeping a low profile."

Naruto succeeded in making almost every student and teacher think he was a class clown and an idiot who happened to be good at taijutsu. Only the Nara heir and the Hyuga heiress knew what he actually was. The Nara boy being just as bright as his father was at that age, and the Hyuga girl being a close friend of the twins.

"What about his tracking and clandestine skills?" Hiruzen asked.

Kakashi was positively glowing with pride. "He can evade me for hours. His henge is on point. When I give him five minutes to prep, He henges dozens of clones as different people and disperses in different directions. He's gotten to the point that he can suppress his chakra signature to that of a genin. He found out how to do a solid transformation on himself."

"On himself?" Hiruzen asked, shocked that could be done.

Clones, since they were chakra constructs, could undergo a solid transformation into practically any object. It usually shortened the clones lifespan as it required a greater deal of chakra to maintain the form instead of the normal human form.

"How did he pull that off?" Hiruzen continued.

Kakashi just grinned. "I wouldn't have thought to do it because I don't use the Kage bunshin as much as Rin or Naruto. He modified the creation of one so that a shell of chakra would surround him. His chakra is dense enough that he can rein in the chakra emission that comes from a solid henge."

(I've not come across how a solid transformation would be seen as an E-rank when the possibilities are limitless. I'm going with the theory that there's a difference between a solid and illusionary henge. If I'm wrong, please correct me in a comment.)

Hiruzen was stunned.

' No chakra emissions? That's what gives away a henge disguise when viewed by the Byakugan, Sharingan, or a sensor. If he could do that, he has a peerless assassination tool.'

"Just so I'm certain I understand you, Kakashi," Hiruzen started, " Naruto knows the normal henge, the solid one, and has dense enough chakra that he can stop the chakra emissions without destabilizing the henge?"

"Yes." Kakashi said simply.

Hiruzen just smiled. "Cheeky little gaki." He chuckled. "I assume you had fun finding him?"

Kakashi flinched. "Not really." he answered, thinking about what occurred.

(Flashback)

//////////////////////

Kakashi had been unable to find Naruto. He'd been able to take down three henged clones but there were still several covering his tracks. He was pulled out of what he was doing by a familiar voice behind him.

"Yosh, Kakashi!"

'Not now, Gai.' Turning around, trying to not appear rude, Kakashi went to tell Gai that he would have to wait.

Gai was with his genin team. His mini-me, a girl with her hair in two buns, and a standoffish looking Hyuga.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival, what say we have a spar to show my wonderful genin how wonderous your flames of youth burn!"

"Youth!" the mini-me shouted.

The Hyuga got a tick mark at the side of his forehead and the girl just sighed exasperatedly.

'Something seems off. Gai doesn't normally train his genin team on Wednesday. He normally doesn't challenge me to spars with his team watching unless he wants to teach them something. He just did this three days ago...Naruto.'

Before he could attack, he saw "Gai's" eyes widened at something behind Kakashi.

"Kakashi, KUNAI!"

Kakashi knew it was a lie, until a kunai, with a tag tied to it, sailed just a foot away from his face.

'Oh.'

The next thing he knew, his vision went white and his ears were ringing horrifically.

'Damn flashbang.'

Naruto had developed a flashbang exploding tag that worked extremely well on dojutsu users, and could disrupt sensors to a degree.

By the time his hearing and sight came back, he saw Gai with his eyes squinted, standing in a defensive manner in front of his genin, the girl was the second closest to the blast and was trying to pop her ears to get the ringing out of them. Gai's mini-me was trying to rub his eyes, and the Hyuga was on the ground screaming bloody murder with his hands clutching his head.

'Naruto, you idiot. Those hurt ME when I use my Sharingan. You KNOW the Byakugan is worse.'

Naruto would pump his chakra into the tag so it would mimic when he would flash his chakra intentionally.

Kakashi felt a presence behind him. "Naruto!" Kakashi shouted.

He turned to see what didn't appear to be Naruto, but was a peculiar looking individual. The man looked to be wearing some kind of tunic looking thing with a clasp on one shoulder. In his hand was a long stick that had a fire hardened tip.

"MY NAME IS NOT NARUTO." the man shouted at the top of his voice, "I AM ODYSSEUS, DESTROYER OF CITIES, YOU SLEW MY COMRADES AND I HAVE TAKEN YOUR SIGHT FROM YOU, CYCLOPS!" He then blew a raspberry and dispelled.

'Yep. Naruto. Nobody acts like that kind of lunatic.'

Gai just stared at the sight of where the clone used to be. "Was that Naruto?" he asked, genuine confusion in his voice.

"Yes." Kakashi grumbled, popping his ears to try to get the ringing to stop. "We're doing a tracking exercise and I can't seem to find him. His clones are causing too much of an issue finding him."

Gai adopted a look of contemplation. "Kurenai was acting strange at the dango shop." he said finally. "She acted strangely around Asuma and me. Like she was hiding something."

"That's him." Kakashi stated, before making his way to the dango shop.

Unbeknownst to Kakashi, "Gai" started snickering. "You suck, ya jackass." before dispelling along with the other three clones henged as Gai's team.

Racing towards the dango shop, Kakashi spotted "Kurenai" walking on her own to who knows where.

'Probably for another ambush.'

Approaching "her", she turned to see him walking straight towards "her". "Hi Kakashi," she said. "Is there something wrong?" she added upon seeing the look he was giving her.

"Give it up." Kakashi said, "I caught you."

"What are you talking about, Kakashi?" she asked, confused by what he was talking about.

"Screw it. This day has been long enough as is." he said, before grabbing "Kurenai" by the arm.

"The hell are you doing, Kakashi?!" she shouted, wondering what the hell he was doing.

Kakashi then put his hand on "her" chest and hit "her" with a blast of lightning chrakra to drop the henge. Kurenai yelped and fell to the ground, slightly twitching.

"Why the did it not dispel?" he asked himself.

"Naruto, drop the damn henge!" Kakashi ordered.

"I'm not that idiot, moron." She growled, pulling herself up. "You grabbed my chest and shocked me. Don't try to lie to me with the brat henging as me."

Kakashi was at a loss for words.

'Gai said Naruto was here. It has to be him. Unle-... damnit.'

Naruto must have henged as Gai.

"K-kurenai," Kakashi said, hands up and backing away, "believe me, I didn't know tha-"

The next thing he knew, he was in a Genjutsu. In front of him was Gai, wearing nothing but a green speedo.

'Oh dear God, no.'

"Show me your flames of youth, Kakashi." Gai said, the tone in his voice having no business saying his name or the word "youth".

"This isn't real," he mumbled, "It's not real. It's not real." His thoughts became more frantic when he felt a hand on his cheek.

"Then why does it feel so right, Kakashi?"

Kakashi started screaming and tried to break the Genjutsu, but something was impeding his chakra. Thankfully, before the speedo came off, the genjutsu seemed to end, and he promptly lost consciousness.

//////////////////////////////

Kurenai was pissed. That wasn't a part of a deal. She made a deal with Naruto to get back at Kakashi for daring to openly read his smut book when she was trying to have a serious discussion with him. The plan was simple. Trick Kakashi in coming to the dango shop. Have him make a fool of himself by having a genjutsu put on him, and show Naruto where Kakashi lived to finish it off.

As two of Naruto's clones carried Kakashi's unconscious form to his house, Kurenai said to the clones. "You owe me another round of dango."

The lead clone just nodded before he resumed what the others were doing, while singing in words she didn't understand.

//////////////////////

Kakashi woke up in his bed, wondering how he even got here.

'What was the last I remember? Hunting Naruto, Kurenai, talking with Gai. GAI!'

Looking around frantically, he saw no one aside from him in his house.

"It was a dream." he muttered, "Thank Kami."

"What was a dream?"

He saw Gai in the doorway, no shirt on.

Kakashi started hyperventilating.

"Are you alright, Kakashi?"

Kakashi flung his clock at Gai.

"Gai" dispelled.

Kakashi growled to himself, "I'm going to kill you slowly, Naruto."

Pulling himself from his bed, he headed to the bathroom to get a glass of water to wet the dryness in his mouth from the trauma he had witnessed.

Standing in front of his mirror, he pulled off his mask. What he saw was arguably more infuriating than what just happened.

There was a penis drawn on his face, in Fuinjutsu ink, meaning it wouldn't come off for weeks.

Breathing heavily, he saw a note on the counter. Snatching it up, he read what it said. The note crinkled, then burst into flames from the chakra that was shot through it.

I traced it.

(End Flashback)

//////////////////////

Kakashi pulled itself away from the horrible memory. "I really don't want to talk about it." he said.

Hiruzen nodded, knowing it was likely very unpleasant, knowing how creatively vindictive Naruto can be.

"What about Fuinjutsu? Where are the two of them at?"

Kakashi just shook his head. "There's only so much I can teach them. Rin is actually better than Naruto. She's more like Kushina and Naruto is like their father."

Hiruzen was suprised at that. Rin was always behind her brother. Still noticeably above-average, but still behind her brother. If she was better than her brother at fuinjutsu, if even just a little bit, that's phenomenal.

"What level would you rate them?" he asked.

"Both can make sealing scrolls and exploding tags of several different varieties. Naruto came up with his own brand of flashbang, and Rin made it better. The resistance seals they've started using were made by her."

Two creative seal users. Jiraiya would be pleased to hear that.

"Thank you for the report, Kakashi, you are dismissed."

Nodding at the dismissal, Kakashi left the office, leaving the Hokage alone in his thoughts.

'I definitely need to give Naruto Sensei's journals. Rin would likely get more out of some of Mito's books, I'll see if I can get them out of storage soon.'

He needed to tread carefully. Twins that look like the Yondaime and are both jinchuriki and fuinjutsu prodigies could potentially garner a great deal of attention, and not the good kind.

/////////////////////

I don't want to be around the little devil." Rin grumbled, the two of us going to meet with Hinata for dinner at the Hyuga compound.

Hiashi had told Hinata that he would like to talk with his eldest daughter's two closest friends in a relaxed setting, thus the dinner invite.

But Rin didn't wanted to go for one big reason. Last week was the first time she ever met Hanabi when Hinata went to get some cinnamon rolls, and Hanabi wanted to come along.

The little firecracker seemed to be guarded around me, but straight up turned her little nose up at Rin, calling her loud and rude like a dog.

Hinata and I had to keep the two apart, while I was laughing at how two diametrically opposed people instantly did not like each other.

"She's not a devil, Rin," I rolled my eyes at overdramatic sister, "She's just a little cold sometimes. And besides, she's probably jealous of your hair."

Rin was wearing a fairly good quality kimono that I bought her with some of the money I got from selling Fuinjutsu tags at a discount to the village. Of course, she insisted it have some orange to it, which it did on the sleeves while the rest was more of a silver colour. And I went through the effort of helping her style her hair just enough where it went well with her outfit, which was not fun.

I was much easier. A kimono of mine, red trimmings of course, and my hair pushed back a little bit and I was good.

All in all, it was to show Hiashi we were willing to go through the effort of being respectful guests to the Hyuga.

"She's an annoying brat." Rin grumbled, the gates to the compound in sight.

At least in appearance.

"Fine," I agreed, "A younger sister would know best about how annoying they can be."

I ducked the slap Rin aimed at my head and stuck my tongue out at her.

"Jerk.' She muttered.

"You love me." I said simply, waving at the guards at the front of the gates.

"State your reason for being here." The one on the left said stiffly, Byakagun active.

"To bring about the corruption of the Hyuga clan heiress and destroy your clan." I replied simply, hiding my amusement behind cold detachment.

Rin really did slap me this time.

"Hiashi-sama," Rin made an impressive effort to sound formal, bowing her head some, "Invited us to a dinner to learn more about us. Please excuse my brother," She shot a glare at me, "He was dropped as an infant."

"You were dropped," I said in English, "And I was thrown at a wall."

Rin fought the urge to hit me again, managing to continue smiling at the guards.

"Hinata-sama and the day shift warned us that you had a penchant for juvenile humour, Uzumaki-san." The one guard said, stepping aside, "You may enter."

The gate opened and Rin and I walked forward.

"Thank you." Rin and I said as we entered, the gate closing seconds later.

Hinata was outside her home, standing on the porch. Her entire body perked up as she spotted us and she walked towards us, her eyes widening slightly.

She had on a lavender kimono and her hair, which was around shoulder length, was tied back in a ponytail.

"Rin," She smiled at my sister, "Naruto-kun." She smiled at me as well, tilting her head at my clothes, "Where did you get the clothes?"

"Bought them with some of the money I made selling some things." I replied, not wanting to potentially raise awkward questions about making the money off of selling explosives to a military village, even if it was the one that we currently lived in and were basically conscripted into.

Hinata nodded and her eyes went back to Rin, specifically her hair.

"Your hair looks very lovely, Rin," Hinata seemed to marvel how it stayed together in several curls, "How did you do it?"

Rin had a faint pink tinge on her cheeks, but she smiled lightly as she gave me an appreciative look.

"Naruto read a book on styling hair and spent over an hour helping me to do it."

Every single moment I had to teach myself was worth it when I got it to work on Rin.

I could practically see Hinata's eyes glow as she realized the effort we took in making a good appearance for her father.

"Thank you," She said quietly, sniffing lightly, before grabbing ahold of me and hugging me, "You're a good brother, Naruto-kun."

I returned the hug and the two of us broke away, Hinata turning towards the entrance to her home.

"I'll show you around." She pushed the door open, a man with long brown hair that I hadn't seen in person for some time standing there with a girl at waist height with the same eyes and hair.

"Hiashi-sama." I bowed respectfully, my eyes meeting his after I bowed.

Rin followed suit and Hinata was glancing between her father and us, trying to fight the urge to fidget nervously.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Rin," Hiashi actually smiled, even if it were extremely faint, "My daughters have spoken to me about you two, particularly my eldest."

I could tell he had some degree of surprise and respect for us actually taking the effort to dress up a little better, and I nodded at his statement.

"I hope that it has been positive." I looked at Hanabi, who was absolutely adorable as she glared at my sister, who was glaring back in turn.

"Hinata speaks very highly of you," His normally stoic face twitched as he looked at his youngest, "Hanabi is rathe-"

"She called me a vacant eyed chibi." Hanabi's eyes bored into Rin's own. "Dog."

"Hanabi," Hinata chastised her sister lightly, her voice remaining the same, "They are guests. Do not be rude."

Hanabi muttered something about 'dog' again and got quiet.

Hiashi maintained his emotionless expression, but the tightening around his eyes suggested that he was expecting something like that.

"Dinner is nearly ready," He said simply, walking towards the room I assumed was where we were to eat, "Hinata informed me of your preferred foods. Chicken," He glanced at me, "Miso soup with beef?" His eyes turned to Rin.

Rin preferred red meat, while I was an addict for anything chicken.

"Yes," I replied, "And thank you very much, Hiashi-sama."

"As friends of Hinata, you may refer to me as Hiashi."

I gave him my thanks after getting over the initial surprise and we entered the room.

Given that I didn't know if Hyuga could tell if I was sensing the area, I didn't use my sensory ability.

To my surprise, Neji was there, giving me a speculative look, before his eyes went to Rin.

"It seems you recognize my nephew." Hiashi looked at me, a confused look on Rin and Hinata's faces.

"Hatake Kakashi uses some of his free time to help Rin and me with training," I looked at Hiashi, then back to Neji, "He's talked of Maito Gai and his students."

The boy a year older than us seemed to decide on being civil, given that we were invited by his uncle.

"I hope my Sensei spoke well of me." Neji replied, glancing at Rin and me again.

Neji probably didn't have anything against us, given that he likely knew Kakashi's competence and assumed the two of us were skilled enough to have his attention.

"Aside from being a little withdrawn," My eyes flicked towards his outfit, which was a plain white one, then back to his pale eyes, "You're supposed to be an extremely skilled taijutsu fighter, praise coming from Maito Gai no less."

I was going to be diplomatic with him to try and see if I could have a more civil accord. Sadly, anything disparaging towards Hinata cancels it out. She's my friend and I won't tolerate Neji's Fate yammering.

Neji nodded slightly and glanced towards Rin, before he seemed to think to himself.

Seeing that Neji wasn't interested in talking, I looked around to take in the contents of the room.

It was fairly traditional, with mats on the ground and several lamps across the room for lighting.

We sat down and Hiashi signaled a servant, the young woman nodding and exiting.

The next few minutes involved food being handed out by servants, which was definitely a strange thing for both of us, even more so for me. If I ever tried to request food from a sibling, they'd've chucked it at my head with a crappy nickname towards me.

We all ate in a companionable silence for some time, Hiashi's stoic gaze moving between Rin and me.

"I can tell that the two of you are being exceedingly polite and quiet, despite the supposed rumours of your lack of propriety."

Rin looked a little nervous, having been fidgeting slightly from keeping still, which was definitely a tall order for her. I simply shrugged and set my utensils down and returned a flat gaze towards him.

"Hinata told us how you and her clan are very reserved, something contrary to mine and Rin's normal attitude," I decided to be merciful to Rin and talk to Hiashi instead, the man was fairly intimidating to someone who wasn't comfortable with people she couldn't read well, "And since this dinner was meant for you to know us more, we wanted to show we're ready to be out of our comfort zone for our friend."

"And it is noted," Hiashi nodded, "But I would also wish to know more about the two of you yourselves. I remember your mother and she was a kind woman."

I smiled and nodded, beginning to tell Hiashi a little about myself and relaxing some. Rin did so as well once I finished and she too was less prim and proper.

Hiashi almost undoubtedly knew who our father was, but kept quiet on it, sometimes glancing at Hinata.

Once Rin started explaining some training we had done, Hiashi cut in.

"Hinata has progressed faster since she has befriended the two of you," He glanced at his eldest daughter, who's face was starting to redden at the focus on her, "Do I see a pattern?"

"Y-yes, Tousan," Hinata said quietly, her hands fidgeting a bit, but she kept her eyes on him, "Naruto-kun has helped me with some training."

I felt my eye twitch when I heard Neji scoff.

Here we go.

"It is not befitting of the clan heiress to train in techniques that are not of the Hyuga clan."

Hiashi turned sharply towards Neji as Hinata seemed to sag in sadness, but I beat the Hyuga clan head to the punch.

"I thought the arrogance of the Uchiha was absent in your clan, Neji," I said coldly, "Why shouldn't Hinata learn some of the things Rin and I have taught her? She's gotten better and is at the top of our class for Kunoichi. Unless you believe the teachers are biased because of her status as heiress?"

Neji's eyes narrowed and Hiashi seemed to take a step back to hear what his nephew's response would be.

"The Juken is the most effective taijutsu style in the Elemental Nations," Neji's eyes, which almost reminded me of Hinata's, but extremely cold, were levelled at me, "I doubt anything you could have learned could be beneficial to Hinata-sama."

He didn't seem to be making jabs at her capabilities, likely from him knowing that she was better, but he still was a little irritant.

"The things we've helped her with are things Rin and I learned from Hatake Kakashi," I smirked as I saw his eye twitch, "I think I'll listen to the Copycat nin on what is helpful for a prospective genin over a Branch member."

"As if your word could be trusted," Neji said coldly, his eyes narrowed, "I've heard enough about the two of you to be certain that Hinata-sama will be hamstrung by cavorting with you two."

Rin tried to jump up, ready to smack the idiot, but I grabbed her shoulder and held her in place.

"Naruto-kun, please." Hinata looked worried that I was going to be the one to punch Neji through a wall, but I was more restrained than that.

"That is very rude to say to guests of your uncle, Neji," I narrowed my own eyes, glancing at a concerned Hanabi and Hinata, "You insult his hospitality and it reflects upon him and your cousins. Know. Your. Place." I finished coldly, staring directly at his covered forehead.

Neji's glare intensified and he turned towards Hinata, ready to say something, but Hiashi seemed to decide now was the time to step in.

"Neji." He said with a faint coldness, his expression otherwise flat, "The two are guests of mine and Naruto-san is correct. Perhaps some time away will clear your thoughts."

Hiashi was more polite than Neji deserved, but I chalked it up to Hiashi not wishing to distance his nephew further.

Neji, without speaking, stood up and left the room.

Hiashi sighed as his nephew left and shook his head, glancing towards Rin and me.

"My apologies," He inclined his head a small amount, "Neji can be rather...short with others." He looked a little uncomfortable at the comments made by Neji.

"It's fine," I shook my head, letting go of Rin's shoulder and giving her an apologetic look, "We've gotten used to it."

Hanabi was quietly trying to shrink away from it all, while Hiashi seemed resigned to hearing that.

"Hinata," He turned to his daughter, "Why don't you show them the house. Your room, perhaps?"

"Yes, Tousan." Hinata practically jumped to her feet, wanting to exit the situation.

Rin and I followed her, going down a hall and making a right, our escort stopping in front of a door.

"I'm sorry Neji-niisan said that." Hinata seemed to shrink into herself, "He," She paused, "He doesn't realize that he can be cruel about things."

I knew why Hinata was being generous towards Neji, but I still didn't like it.

"I wanted to kick some sense into him," Rin grumbled, folding her arms across her chest, "He's a jerk like the others."

Hinata sighed sadly and she looked between us, eventually focusing on me expectantly.

"Fine," I sighed, "I'll trust your judgement on him because you know your cousin better."

"Thank you." Hinata said, opening her door, "This is my room. Please, don't touch anything."

Before the last sentence left her mouth, Rin had already picked something up from Hinata's table.

"What's this?" Rin grabbed a sheet of paper, Hinata letting out a squeak in response.

"N-nothing." She stuttered, blushing profusely, "It's nothing."

Rin looked at the sheet and her eyes widened, a soft smile on her face as she looked at me then back to the paper.

"I didn't know you could draw, 'Nata." Rin whispered, handing the sheet to the embarrassed girl.

Hinata was avoiding looking into my eyes as she tried to hide the paper.

"Hinata," I said quietly, putting my hand on hers, "You don't need to feel embarrassed. We're your friends. We won't laugh."

Hinata managed to look into my eyes and I saw her calm herself and the colour left her face, her hand that held the sheet lifting towards me.

"I-I've been practicing for a few weeks," She looked nervous as she showed me the sheet, which I looked closely at it.

I gasped softly as I looked at it.

"Yo-" I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat as I kept looking at it.

It was a drawing of Rin and me, sitting on the rooftop of our apartment and looking at the sunset, a brilliant orange that looked almost exactly like it.

"You said something about liking the sunset," Hinata whispered nervously, her fingers tapping as she tried to gauge my reaction, "So I tried to draw it."

"How," I wiped my eye as I felt moisture build at the edge, "How long have you been practicing?"

"Um, a few weeks," Hinata repeated uncertainly, glancing towards a box under beside her dresser, "I still don't think it's good. I wanted to s-surprise you two for your birthday and I-"

I stopped her by lifting her up and pulling her into a hug, biting back a snicker as she squeaked like a mouse as I held her up.

Setting her back down, I smiled brightly as her face was flushed red again from me hugging her with all my might.

"Consider us surprised." I hugged her more lightly, Rin wrapping her arms around the two of us as well.

"So," I eventually whispered, breaking the silence, "Is that why Hanabi is jealous of Rin?"

Hinata giggled and the three of us let go of each other, the soft spoken Hyuga setting the drawing back on the table.

"I think she's jealous because I'm spending time with you two." Hinata admitted, "Ever since I've trained more with you, she has been wanting to know how I have improved."

"Then why wasn't she acting like that towards me, only Rin?" I asked confusedly.

"Maybe it's because I'm a girl and she sees me as her replacement, kind of." Rin said uncertainly. "I don't know. And I'm not like the little brat."

Hinata sighed and gave Rin the closest thing to a warning look she'd usually give at her little sister being called a brat.

"Rin," I assured her, "You don't have a vacant stare because of your eyes."

I then smiled in a way that Rin did not like.

"Your's is because you're a blonde."

I decided to let Rin smack me, her palm striking my temple as she glared at me.

"Jerk." Rin muttered, "And why'd you let me hit you?"

"To guilt trip you." I shrugged, "Don't give an opponent leverage, Rin." I reached out and pinched her cheek, causing her to scowl.

"Don't you feel lucky Hanabi isn't like Rin, Hinata?" I smiled, ignoring my twin's squawk of indignation.

Hinata looked torn between agreeing with me or defending Rin, and my sister didn't like that.

"Don't make me answer, Naruto." Hinata eventually said, "Would you choose between a friend and your sister?"

"Yes." I immediately said, shooting a smirk towards Rin.

Rin rolled her eyes and ignored me trying to rile her up, simply looking around at the room.

"Your room is tidier than mine." Rin mumbled, her eyes dim.

To be fair, Rin wasn't an absolute pig from how her room looked. Hinata simply had an immaculate one. In fact, I'd say it was better than mine when I was a borderline perfectionist about organizing my stuff.

I glance at how her bed was properly made, her notes on different chakra control exercises we'd shared with her after learning them from Kakashi were organized by date and were properly stacked.

"I see you like lavender." I eventually said, noticing her blanket was the same shade as her kimono.

"Yes," She said quietly, "My mother loved it and I do too."

Even if I'd been friends with Hinata for almost 4 years now, I hadn't ever asked to come to her actual home. Most of that was from the less than civil way I talked with Hiashi when we first met, but I should've requested so she didn't feel isolated.

Hinata blinked and she walked towards her dresser, grabbing a little booklet type thing. She sat down on her bed and gestured for us to come sit down, which we did.

Hinata opened it up and I saw it was her flower collection, each one individually pressed.

"This one," Hinata pointed at the newest addition, a red flower, "Is a Kaneshon. They are a symbol for love, while the red ones are a normal gift for mother's day." Hinata's smile turned a little bittersweet, but it seemed to vanish after a moment.

"Hinata," Rin asked a moment later, "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall and three doors down." Hinata replied.

Rin stood up and thanked Hinata, leaving the room for a moment.

Hinata continued to explain each flower I asked about, genuinely curious since I'd never had an interest in flowers.

Pink roses meant trust and happiness, Daffodils meant respect, and a Bluebell meant respect as well.

Rin eventually returned at some point, but I'd been focusing on Hinata pointing out the different collection of flowers that I didn't hear my name called.

"Naruto." Hinata whispered, tapping my arm.

I blinked and looked at her, noticing that she was looking at Rin.

Rin was looking at me with no small amount of concern.

"Hinata's dad wants to talk to you." Rin told me, fidgeting a bit.

With a sigh of resignation, I got up and left the room, focusing on locating Hiashi's chakra signature.

I eventually came across him in one of the front rooms that had several mats on the ground, speaking with Hanabi, his back remaining turned to me.

"I know you're looking at my eyes, Hiashi-sama," I raised a brow, several feet from him, but I could assume he was capable of reading my lips, even if i wasn't right behind him within earshot, "It's a bit awkward talking to someone who can see behind them."

Hiashi finished speaking with Hanabi, who looked like she didn't like the conversation with her father, and left me and her father alone.

"My apologies," He turned to face me, "I was speaking with my daughter about appropriate etiquette."

"Concerning my sister?"

"Yes," Hiashi replied, "I don't know why neither my nephew nor youngest were able to remain civil when I insisted upon it beforehand."

"Rin irritates people that most Hyuga are like, no offense to your clan," I added the last part, "But you clansmen are rather reserved and Rin, well, isn't."

Hiashi hummed his acknowledgement, before his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I request that you try to be more understanding about Neji's temperament. Hatake undoubtedly informed you of certain things and I would rather Neji not stew in hatred."

"As long as he doesn't insult my sister or Hinata, I won't respond in kind." I offered, "I'm sure you understand the bond between twins."

Hiashi's face twitched and I saw his jaw tighten slightly, an identical reaction when we first spoke.

"Yes," He replied with a steady tone, "I do."

"Is that all?" I raised a brow, "It's getting late and Rin and I need to get going."

"Yes," Hiashi nodded, "And thank you for accepting my invitation. This was an enlightening experience that I would very much like to repeat."

"You were an excellent host, Hiashi-sama," I replied respectfully, "And your daughter is a kind girl. You should be proud."

Out of all ways Hiashi reacted, I didn't expect his chakra to dim and his eyes to minutely flick away from mine.

"She is a soft-spoken, but a capable heiress," I couldn't tell why Hiashi almost seemed uncomfortable, "I thank you for being patient and helping her on your own time. You give credit to yourself for it. It is getting rather late now, though."

I noticed the tone as permission for me to leave and I did, going back towards Hinata's room. I opened the door and told Rin it was time to go, which she pouted and gave Hinata a hug before getting up.

An easy decision was made when I walked towards Hinata and gave her a hug as well, whispering into her ear as I did.

"The drawing was beautiful. Thank you, Hinata." I let go of her and Rin and I left the room, walking towards the door to the outside.

////////////////////////

"What did you think of Hiashi?" I asked as tussled my hair a bit, the two of us back home.

Rin just exited the bathroom, her relaxation clothes on and her fancy kimono put away, collapsing right next to me on the couch.

"Cold," She mumbled, looking up at me as she leaned on my arm, "But he cares for Hinata."

She then ran her fingers through her hair, cursing under her breath when her hand got caught in a curl.

"I can fix that." I lied, hiding the smirk on my face.

"Then fix it," Rin grumbled, "I know it makes my hair look pretty, but I want it normal."

Little did she know that I pulsed lightning chakra into my fingers, blue static dancing along the digits.

"Here you go." I pressed my fingers against the back of her neck, pushing upwards to drag my nails against her scalp lightly.

Rin nearly jumped out of her skin as I shocked her, a sound like a cat that got dropped in a bathtub coming from her mouth.

"Naruto!" She shrieked, glaring at me as I was laughing to the point I was wheezing.

Her hair was sticking completely straight, looking like a golden halo with bits of static in it.

"Fixed it." I giggled, wiggling my fingers to mess with her.

She growled and jumped on top of me, the two of us wrestling.

After a few attempts at punching me, Rin got up and stormed towards her room.

"G'night, Rin." I called towards her, her chakra making her hair stick out more as it irritated her more.

Annoying her was like a drug to me. She had such adorable reactions to it and I could do it all the time. Sure, she threatened to break my legs a couple times, but what's a threat like that when I heal quickly.

After she closed her door rather forcefully, I went to my own room and prepared for retaliation tomorrow, but I won this day.

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End Chapter.

The story will start progressing into the "canon" timeline of graduation time next chapter.

Later guys and gals.

Raging.